Chapter 40: Beginning to Crumble
Reaching the locker room, the pilots changed into their plug suits while Asuka was given an anti-heat one. She clicked her left wrist depressurizing the suit to her body.
"Even though you said it was an anti-heat plug suit," she stated looking at herself. "I don't see anything different."
"Press the right switch," Ritsuko stated looking at her small clipboard. The Second Child clicked it and the suit started to swell to the size of a large bouncy ball. When the inflation stopped, she was stuck between two opposite lockers.
"What is this!?" she shouted.
Ritsuko kept her professional face and explained to her how the suit kept her cool under hot temperatures. After the explanation, the doctor told her that her Eva was ready and fitted with the heat resistant suit. When all of them exited, they saw the Third Child already walking down the hallway in the direction of the cages. Following a distance away, they eventually entered the area holding the units. Once there, Eva-02 was already fitted in its volcano entry suit.
"No, what's that!?" she whined in protest from seeing her war machine.
Unit-02 was inside a white bulky suit of armor that covered the whole body like a plumped astronaut's suit. The stomach region was bulging out and had the label of Type-D Equipment. Though to Asuka, it looked her Eva was a white bland colored fat toy doll instead of the powerful and elegant red war machine.
"Special anti-heat, anti-pressure, and anti-nuclear suits. This is Type D-Equipment for extreme regions," Dr. Akagi stated.
"Is that my Unit-02?" Asuka asked seeing it was inside the suit already from the front viewing window. She frowned and turned towards the staff and pilots to the side of her.
"There's no way I'm going out in public with me and my Eva looking like this!" she protested placing her hands on her hips…more so her inflated sides.
She was about to point at the First Child, but then stopped. Asuka knew that Rei wouldn't be humiliated by doing something like this for it was seen as just a mission. The First Child would do it without question too. Her next choice was the Third Child. He was standing away from the group they were in. Thinking about it, she quickly dismissed the idea. She didn't want a psycho damaging her Unit.
'Damn, no one here is a fish in this shark tank,' she thought. The group saw someone walking on a platform above.
"That's disappointing. I thought I'd get to see your brave actions," Kaji said from a catwalk on the opposite side of the spacious room.
'…' he thought seeing the Third Child look up with his eyes at him. The angle made the boy look like he was giving him the evil eye. He felt better that he was on the catwalk and on the opposite side of the Eva cages. The redhead became surprised and embarrassed as she turned and ran toward a nearby doorway.
"Oh no…why does he have to see me like this. I'm not bold enough to show him this embarrassment," she said to herself while hiding on the other side.
"Is this going to be a problem?" Maya asked without turning to the doctor. Ritsuko sighed and looked at her clipboard.
'Ah the guilt trip game is always fun,' Shoji said offhand looking at the doctor's clipboard. Shinji said nothing as he started to hear a faint static in his ears. The other voices were in various places around the open space. Sno, Shonj, and Shoji were hovering around the women. The First Child raised her hand.
"I'll go with Unit-0,2" Rei offered overhearing the Ritsuko and Maya's small discussion. This instantly caused an impulse reaction from Asuka who walked over to her and slap the pilot's hand down.
"Sorry, but I don't want YOU touching my Unit-02," she stated glaring at the Ayanami.
Rei didn't say anything and just stared back impassively as usual. Sno grinned at the sight. The static in Shinji's ears got louder to the point where he couldn't hear anything else. After a few moments, he blinked. The white noise went away and was replaced with some metallic object dragging on the ground. It sounded far away.
Looking around at the other people, they didn't seem to hear the sound. Turning back forward, he scanned around the room and spotted the emitter. It came from a doorway on the upper floor catwalk where Kaji was. The sound came again seemingly familiar. His right and left triceps started to twitch in remembrance of a certain swinging action.
A dark figure started to walk slowly toward NERV's special investigator on the walkway slowly. All noise seemed to be muted like that time walking home in the grass field. Wondering if he could hear his own voice, nothing emitted when he breathed a word or two. Feeling someone immediately stand behind him and hold onto him, he figured who it was from not developing tremors immediately.
Slowly bleeding out of the blackened figure, a bloody ax came out hovering in front of it. Shinji blinked and the figure was half the distance toward Kaji. Strangely, all his voices where seen scattered in different parts of the cage room. They seemed to be locked in the air by some unknown force that went against gravity. Glancing behind, Rana was shaking and holding onto him murderously. Even the NERV personnel around him seemed locked in time and not moving. The only people that seemed to move was the shadow figure on the catwalk, himself, and the voice behind him.
He blinked again to suddenly be splattered. Keeping his eyes closed a little, he opened them up to look impassively forward. Complete and utter carnage was seen throughout the whole room. His voices were ripped into pieces and splattered all over the walls and floor. Blood dripped down from the ceiling and walls while it also dripped from the floor toward the ceiling.
On some of the overhang hooks that were used to lift an Eva up, they were drenched with huge amounts of hanging skin. Iron smelling liquid was trickling out of them along with bones sticking in and out. Looking with his eyes to the right, the people nearby was slashed to pieces in a large pool of crimson. Feeling the voice behind him continue to shake like a leaf, its death grip had pierced his skin making his back start to bleed. Shifting his eyes back to where Kaji was, an ax was stabbed into his chest.
Instead of being on the catwalk, he was under it. The ax through his chest and the bottom platform. It kept him hanging there for a little bit as blood flowed out of his mouth and chest. The ax didn't hold his weight long as he and the weapon fell down into the pit below. A distant sound of splatter was emitted.
Blinking again, the dark figure was standing in front of him. He observed the silhouette as it started to form outlines of a body. When it stopped, it seemed to mimic his body. No eyes formed on its black featureless face. Looking down with his eyes, there was a familiar weapon that looked like it belonged to the silver-eye voice. Blinking, the weapon disappeared. Looking up, the dark silhouette was arm's length away from him.
'Who might you be sir?' Shinji mentally asked with a stoic face.
It didn't respond but the head moved up to look at him. Suddenly a shotgun fire was heard. The figure's stomach burst outward, showering the male pilot with black guts and blood. Closing his eyes quickly, his face was splattered again. Feeling his right eye twitch, he slowly opened his eyes. Another shotgun blast was heard from behind. His and Rana's stomachs burst forward spewing the dark figure with both of their red guts.
'…D…O…Y…O…U…R…E…M…E…M…B…E…R…?' the person replied in his mind with distorted voice full of dark mirth.
Rana was still holding onto him as he coughed up blood. Feeling the spewing of blood on his neck, the voice behind slid down till he fell through the large hole in the pilot's mid-section. The Third Child had to mentally strain himself to not give into the excruciating pain and sensation of being pushed to the ground. Large amounts of blood was pooling out of him. Looking down with his eyes, Rana was seen through his stomach with an equal size hole blown through his lower back and stomach area. The voice hanged breathing shallowly and moving very little.
Seeing this made him very confused and disoriented. The voices that developed over his past life were nothing but illusions despite being able to touch them and feel them. These two seemed different. Both gave him a surreal sensation that was overpowering. The two also provided him with an odd sense of wholeness which he never felt before. Blinking and looking up, all the carnage was still there. The dark figure face formed a crude split to where its mouth would be. Black blood and pale colored bile poured out of the fresh opening as it breathed haggardly.
"Ikari…are you alright?" someone asked to his right. Looking at the corner of his eyes, he saw several mouths floating above the dead women. Blinking, all the carnage disappeared. He saw Rei, Maya, Ritsuko, Asuka, and a couple of technicians looking at him.
"I believe so," he said with an impassive face blinking. "Why do you ask?"
"You were staring in wonderland idiot," Asuka said.
"I see," Shinji stated.
Turning a little, he started heading toward them. They were watching him carefully in which he never looked at them and walked passed them. Quietly entering through the doorway, he turned toward the loading area and didn't look back at the group. Touching his stomach with his hand, there was no large hole and Rana was not through it.
"Go find out what he has been doing you two. Go to your Eva Pilot Souryu and establish a comm-link with Eva-01. Pilot Ayanami, you will be on stand-by in Eva-00. Open a comm-link to Eva-01 as well. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am," both said and went into the hallway to follow the Third Child. When all three pilots were loaded into their Evas, comm-links were enabled. At the same time, preparations for transporting both Eva-01 and Eva-02 were underway. Shinji saw two links and opened them.
"Greetings Miss Ayanami…Miss Souryu."
[Alright Third, you got explaining to do!] Asuka stated before Rei could speak.
"What might that be Miss Souryu?"
[Where were you this whole week?]
"At school."
[I know that. What for?]
"I was asked to volunteer. The school staff stated they needed an extra hand with moving things and doing administrative duties."
[Ikari?]
"Yes Miss Ayanami?"
[Why did you agree?]
"I felt obligated since the staff asked me specifically."
[When was that?]
"When I retrieved the materials for our class on Monday. Staff members that were in the conference room asked if I could help them."
[That's great you being a goody-two-shoes and all, why didn't you say anything to us?]
"My apologies. I never got a chance to."
[Yeah right. You completed maneuvered around us all that day!]
"I believe that is just a coincidence Miss Souryu."
[Coincidence my foot!]
"If you wish to know about my whereabouts or wish to converse with me, you could have asked Captain Katsuragi for both my landline and cell number. You could have also asked her for my address if you wish to visit my home as well."
[…] both Asuka and Rei said opening and closing their mouths.
"Is there anything else you wish to know madams?"
[W-Whatever idiot] Asuka said and cut her comm-link.
[…] the First Child said as a frown grew on her face. The entire week of worrying and fretting about not knowing what he was thinking or doing was all her own doing. Being told that all she had to do was ask the Captain for his number and address made her extremely frustrated.
"Is something wrong Miss Ayanami?"
[…no…] Rei said impassively and cut the comm-link.
When the preparations were completed, Eva-01 and Eva-02 were sent to the surface. Once there, two aircraft bombers were waiting for them to carry them to the volcano site. Loading the war machines onto them, they flew to the location of where the dormant Angel was residing. Once close enough, the units disembark. Ritsuko and Maya had arrived at the site earlier.
"Unit-01 and Unit-02 have arrived," a female announced over the loudspeaker at the outside lab.
"Both units wait for orders at present positions. Prepare the laser shot and the crane quickly," Misato ordered within the institute's lab.
A roger was heard from the crew in front of her. The crane and laser was setup over a pre-existing dike that was still connected to the volcano about a mile away. Next to the crane was Unit-02 being prepped for connections of the large coolant tubes for sustaining high temperatures in the magma. It also doubled as her pulley support system for being raised or lowered in the molten rock. Next to it was Unit-01.
"Where's Kaji?" she asked looking around for him. A window opened up next to her.
[That idiot won't come. He doesn't have a job here] Misato said and the window closed.
"Darn. I want to show him my excellent work," the red head pouted.
Off in the distance in an uplift rail car, a discussion was taking place between Kaji and his contact. They were trading information from the organizations they work for. Shinji stared in the rail car's direction. A voice whispered about killing him with a large boulder came to mind. The other voices were debating back and forth on that thought when they decided to withhold on doing that. They figured since he was playing on the strings of others to get information, it would eventually get him killed. Shinji blinked then turned his attention to something above in the sky. There were a few aircrafts flying around.
"Are those UN planes?" he asked calmly.
[Yes, UN Air Force is on alert above us until the end of this operation] Ritsuko stated through a comm-link working. She was under a tent on setting up equipment with Maya helping.
[Are they gonna help us?] Asuka perked up.
"Are they here in case we fail Dr. Akagi?" Shinji asked.
[Yes.]
[What are they gonna do if we fail?] Asuka asked.
"They will want to destroy the Angel Miss Souryu. In that case, they'll drop N-2 bombs to make sure all evidence is erased."
[How terrible. Who'd order such a thing?] Asuka said in disgust.
"The Commander did Miss Souryu," the Third Child answered before Ritsuko could open her mouth. She looked at Maya who looked confused at her. His uncanny knowledge of things and orders bothered them a little. They went back to work.
The large crane that was over the open bedrock had a laser mechanism. It moved to a pointed position and fired one ball of light into the magma causing some of the molten rock to flare up upon impact. The next procedure was to lower Unit-02 into the lava. The crane moved toward where Asuka was positioned and lowered to her back of the suit.
Technicians got into positions to connect and secure all the coolant pipes. The mechanisms locked into a secure hold signifying that she was ready. The crane's conveyer belt powered up and lifted her Eva. Slowly moving her to the same position of where the laser fired, the NERV crew did last minute checks and saw everything was green.
"Alright. Asuka, are you ready to go?" Misato asked.
[Anytime]
"Go," Misato said after nodding. The crew watched the crane's pulley system proceeded and the Eva was lowered slowly to the molten rock below. As Asuka got closer to it, the temperature inside her cockpit began to gradually increase.
'Looks really hot,' she thought wondering if she'll turn into a crisp. She heard the techs announce that she was entering the lava. Remembering who was topside as her back-up, he hadn't seen her diving skills from earlier.
[Look, look Shinji!] she said over the intercom. She positioned her Eva with the legs in a large stride and the arms forward.
[Big Stroke Entry!] she said as her Eva entered the lava. The crew did not hear him say anything. Sno was the only one that smirked while watching.
"Present depth 170, descending speed 20. Everything's operating normally," a technician stated in the lab topside.
[Visibility zero. I can't see anything. I'm switching to the CT monitor] Asuka said over the comm-link.
Looking around, nothing but a hue of red on her windows and the red lighting inside her cockpit could be seen. Once she clicked the CT on, the windows still had shades of red but also black to show the formation of bedrock around her. Though it increased her viewing range to only 120 feet, visibility was too low for her comfort. The EVA reached the 400 depth mark as it continued to descend into the branch of a volcano. Maya announced the depth marks of every 50 meters causing a slight suspension of when the projected target length would be reached. Shinji stared down the vast opening of the bedrock.
"Suicide Mission you know," Shino said looking at the lava.
"She can take care of herself," Sno said flipping through a magazine.
"I would have to agree with Shino on this one. The success rate is around 40% or even lower," Shoji stated typing on his import laptop.
"Faith in yourself is all you need to win," Sno stated flipping a page and yawning.
"You seem awfully calm and confident that she won't die," Shonj said. "Why is that?"
"Like I said, Faith is all you need."
"You mean in a religious sense?"
"No, no, no. High self-esteem and confidence in your ability."
"That's one thing, but hers are blown out of proportion," Shino stated with a smirk.
Sno nodded his head in agreement. Shinji looked to his right and saw the silver-eyed Shinji reading a thick book. Its title read "Love and War". The voice put a bookmark on a page and closed the book. Adjusting its glasses, it joined the other voices conversation behind him. Looking back forward, Rana was sitting on the side wall of the entry-plug. His knees were pulled to his chest and he loosely hugged them.
'Are you feeling alright Rana?' he thought. The voice turned to him a smiled a little.
'Despite feeling out of sorts, I think I am okay. How about you?'
'I think I am well.'
'I've been meaning to ask, who is that fragment?'
'Which one?'
'The recent one that was a shadow. It asked if you remembered. Do you know what it was talking about?'
'…' Shinji thought blinking.
Nothing was coming to mind. He didn't have any recollection of who the shadow figure was supposed to represent. Thinking that it was something from the past, the male pilot could only recall a few years in the past. Trying to recall memories of childhood, there was nothing. There wasn't even a blur of memories of childhood almost as if he never experienced or lived through them.
For some reason, that failure in recollection gripped him. Shaking off the feeling and refocusing on the mission, something started to feel off. Blinking, Shinji felt less whole as if a part of him was not entirely here. Feeling similar sensations when in the Eva cages, he started to wonder if his hand would go through his stomach. Removing his right hand from the controls and touching his abdomen, nothing stopped the hand.
Blinking, he looked down. His entire right hand was in his abdomen. Looking closer, he could tell that a large surgical cut appeared on his stomach. A flashback came making him pull his hand out slowly. A cold, raw sensation took place where the slice was. He clenched his abdomen as tightly as he could a little surprise at how bone-chilling and raw it felt.
"Depth 1300. This is the predicted target point," Maya said from the readout.
Misato asked Asuka if she could see anything. The Second Child respond with a negative. The crew speculated that the lava flow had moved the Angel further down than the projected depth level. Crew members were a little hesitant to comply with Misato's order to descend more. Asuka continued to scan the lava for any sign of the Angel. Hearing metal starting to crack added a little impatience to wanting the mission to be done.
"Asuka, are you doing alright?" Misato asked.
[It's still holding. I wanna complete the job soon and take a shower.]
"I know a nice hot spring nearby. We'll go there when it's done, so hang in there a little more," the Captain said. Asuka felt a little relax from the proposal, but it went away when hearing another crack. As the Eva descended, the utility belt broke off.
"Eva Unit-02 lost its prog knife!" a Makoto stated.
'Are you alright Shinji?' Rana asked. He saw Shinji bent in half in his seat and was laboring his breathing. The voice saw blood was slowly oozing out of the pilot's stomach region. He looked up to respond and was met with a worry gaze back at him.
'Why do you show me concern when the others used this to their advantage?' he thought. Straining himself, he was forcing himself to not clench his teeth and remain calm. His face was tense though.
'How can't I when you look like you are in pain?' Rana stated getting up and moving next to him. Looking down, a large slash on his stomach was oozing out red and blending with the LCL around them.
'I see…I am sorry if I have offended you…I was assuming that you would take the actions and behaviors of the others…,' he explained slowly. Painfully, he sat back up straight and let go of holding his stomach. Gripping his right hand on the controls and glancing at Rana, he was looking at something above him with a horrified face.
'…' Shinji thought and moved his head in the same direction.
"Depth 1780. Predicted target position after recalculation," Maya stated. After a little descending, Asuka saw something.
[There!] she said watching as a black oval object came into sight.
"Target visually confirmed," Makoto stated.
"Prepare for capture," Misato ordered. Asuka pressed a button that extended the capture bar to over twice the Angel egg's length.
"Remember that both you and the target are in the flow so you only get one chance of capturing it," Ritsuko stated over the intercom.
[I know. Trust me.]
The countdown to contact was made and Asuka made the last adjustments. She rotated slightly forward when the bar extenders went pass the diameter of the Angel. Lasers in the bars shot out forming an electromagnetic transparent right angled 3-D rectangle. A monitor in the lab showed a green icon stating that the capture was a success. The crew sighed in relief.
"Nice work Asuka," Misato said. The frightened feeling for the pilot's safety started fading a little. Asuka sigh of relief was heard through the comm-link.
[Capture operation complete. Ascending] she said as she heard the cables pull her Eva up.
[Congratulations Miss Souryu] Shinji said stoically over the comm-link while looking at the blackened whirlpool above his head.
[Well thank you Shinji. It's easier to do it than worry about it, you know?]
[Indeed] he stated.
From the vortex above him, a lifeless figure started to descend from it. The being was hanging in front of him when a large pointed needle started piercing out of it. It was stained with crimson as the sharp object started moving closer and closer to his face. His right eye began twitching as the needle was getting dangerously close to it.
[But, this is more like a sauna suit than a plug suit. I want to go to the hot spring.]
"Sounds like her tension is gone," Ritsuko whispered to Misato back in the research lab.
"Really?"
"You've also been worried about today's operation, right?"
"More or less. If we failed, we could have caused another Second Impact," she said with Ritsuko nodding her head. All the sudden two warning beeps were heard.
[What the hell is going on?!] Asuka blared over the comm-link starting to see the Angel egg starting to rumble all over and expand.
"The Angel has started its next stage of growth. What's the second alert?" Ritsuko said as two deep resonate roars were sounded. They heard one over Asuka's end and the other was coming from outside though it felt distant.
"Pilot Ikari's sync ratio is fluctuating steeply!" Maya stated watching his ratio go from 85% down to 22.1% in an instant then rapidly increase. It then started jumping to different percentages.
"Shit. Can we hold the Angel in?" Misato said to Makoto.
"No, it's bulging through."
"Abort the capturing mission. Release the cage," she ordered. Asuka released the cage before the Angel could grab her.
"Disconnect links 250 through 270 and increase fluid pressure in Unit-01!" Ritsuko ordered.
The connections were unplugged and pressure slowly began to build. A visual of outside came and showed the purple Eva clenching its hands into shaking fists. The mouth guard had popped off and indented the ground nearby. It was making grunts as its teeth started to clench off and on making sounds of biting noises. One of its hands reached toward a shoulder attachment and grabbed a prog knife. Not engaging it, the Unit to a couple of shuffles back. Taking a couple of running steps forward, it threw the prog knife into the lava with blazing speed.
"Asuka, the mission has changed to destroying the Angel," Misato ordered.
[Alright, this is what I came for] she replied confidently.
"Unit-01's prog knife descending at a fast rate. Contact with Unit-02 in 30 seconds," Maya stated.
'Why would…wait, Asuka lost hers when descending down,' Misato remembered quickly.
"Asuka, Shinji sent down a prog knife. It's coming down fast," she said over the intercom.
'I don't need his when I got…oh,' she thought remembering.
[Roger] she said as the countdown was at 15 seconds and the Angel had fully developed its form.
The Angel took a form of an ancient aquatic creature that had looks of a huge hybrid alligator. The swimming creature came after her with the swiftness of a swordfish. She timed the rush attack and released of her second belt to elevate her. It was just enough to evade it. She watched it go out of her visual range and looked up to see the prog knife coming down. She reached and grabbed it making the holster shoot off.
[Come on you big slime ball! Show me what you got!] she stated. Preparing herself for another frontal attack, she placed the prog knife in front of her. She saw the Angel coming at her for another frontal attack. It launched two of its arms grabbing hold of the right shoulder and the left leg of her Type-D Equipment Suit.
[…t…h…e…r…m…a…l…e…x…p…a…n…s…i…o…n…] Shinji said quietly. Through the comm-link, everyone heard him hyperventilating. The monitors showed his blood pressure and heart rate increase dangerously rapid.
[What!?] Asuka wailed.
[…kill…thermal…expansion…] he said again. The crew felt something ominous festering in their minds. His synch ratio was changing to different numbers frantically.
[…kill…] he strained.
[…kIlL…] his voice started changing and sounding slight warped.
[…k-k-k-kill…] the voice from the police video came sending goosebumps to all the crew members.
'…no…' Misato stated with wide eyes.
[Damn it Third! You are not help-!] Asuka wailed struggling to damage the Angel. She suddenly felt apprehension as the hairs on the back on her neck stand on end.
[k-i-l-l-b-y-t-h-e-r-m-a-l-e-x-p-a-n-s-i-o-n-s-e-c-o-n-d-c-h-i-l-d] the evil voice whispered in the comm-link from the Eva-01.
"…" Asuka opened her mouth from hearing that voice again. Seeing the Angel's mouth open and roar at her brought her back to reality. Shaking her head and thinking about what she heard, a plan popped into her head. She quickly cut a coolant pipe from the suit and shoved it into its mouth.
[Redirect all cooling pressure to number three! Hurry!] she ordered.
A technician hit a button and directed the coolant flow to the third pipe. Liquid nitrogen poured like a flood into the Angel's mouth. The severe degree in temperature change caused immediate expansion inside its body. It squirmed spastically not knowing what was happening as it felt itself dying. It tried to grab anything or do something to take the large humanoid with it.
[Die you bastard!] Asuka yelled swinging the prog knife into the Angel watching the sparks fly.
A few seconds longer and she would pierce through its tough skin. She looked up and saw the Angel's sharp claw about to grip the coolant pipes. Something large and black came down the pipes suddenly. Without warning, it opened its mouth and chomped on the Angel's claw. The Angel tried to break free, but soon lost all strength as the prog knife penetrated through its skin to its core. Letting go of its hold on the other unit, it dangled lifelessly from the mouth of the large black figure. It opened its mouth in which everyone watched as the Angel flowed with the magma going deeper and deeper before melting away.
"I did it, but…" Asuka whispered looking up to see that the black figure was Eva-01. Its left eye was glowing white while the other eye was red. Seeing it being on all fours and staring down at her, it didn't look friendly. A feeling of looking at a vicious predator came into Asuka's mind.
"Shinji?" she asked in wonder leaning back a little.
[Yes Miss Souryu?] his calm voice came over the comm-link.
Sighing in relief, she heard the topside team initiate reeling up both units. As the crane pulled them up, Asuka tried to shake off the apprehension feeling from staring at the purple unit. Uncomfortably, the sensation never went away throughout the entire ascent out of the volcano. Unit-01 never moved from its position of being on all fours and grinning at her.