Chapter 128: Explicit Connection
A couple of days went by in which Kaworu slowly adjusted to the position of student and Eva pilot. His efforts to garner the trust of the Eva pilots at school did not achieve much ground. Ayanami refused again in partnering with him and also refused to be his friend. Stating that given what they were, the aspects of developing a friendship bond was pointless. Not deterred, he searched and found the Fourth Child.
"Your friend? Hell no," Toji answered getting a drink from the vending machine.
"Oh? Why not?"
"Because you are a homo," he replied picking up the dispense drink and turning toward the Sixth Child.
"…" Kaworu said feeling his face become neutral from his statement. Understanding the term, the Sixth Child didn't understand the context of which it was used in.
"How does that affect the aspect of becoming friends?" he asked.
"Its unnatural and weird man," the jock stated with a frown then pointed at him with the drink in hand. "Don't be forward with me like you did with Shin-man. If ya do man, I'll punch you in the jaw…you got that?"
'…this is useless…' Kaworu thought putting his hands in his pockets before speaking.
"…I see…yes, I got it."
"Glad we came to an understanding. If I see you tryin' to be gay with my friends, I'll slug you too."
"You must actually like me if you are going to hit me that much," the Sixth Child commented with a small smirk.
"Wrong dude. I don't trust ya," Toji corrected then lowered his pointing hand. "Keep clean, we won't have issues. Capeesh?"
"…" Kaworu said feeling his face go back to a neutral expression.
Watching the jock walk away, the grey haired teen didn't realize that both of his hands had slowly clenched into fists. The aspect that he was not able to achieve what he wanted was getting him more annoyed and irritable. Shaking his head, he tried going after the female twin. Finding her with others during the lunch period, he approached the group and greeted them. Rana's friends introduced themselves and became a little chatty with him.
Smiling and answering their questions, he politely asked if he could talk to Rana alone for a few minutes. The twin's friends nodded and told her to not hog him for too long. The female twin smiled and nodded her head. Both watched the students walk away till they were no longer seen. Blinking, both stood facing each other more than an arm's length away.
"Thanks for letting me talk to you for a little bit," Kaworu mentioned with a friendly smile.
"Sure. What can I do for you Nagisa?" Rana stated. Her tone was neither pleased or annoyed.
"I was wondering if you could be my friend."
"Your friend?" she repeated with a blink.
"Yes. I feel making friends will be difficult being new and not from here. Since we both Eva pilots, we have something in common. If we create a bond, then the transition would be more comfortable."
"…I see…" Rana stated and looking down in thought. Recalling what Toji told her a couple of days ago, she remembered how emotional charged she became. Blinking, she did not let the same sensation come to surface and change her expression. Thinking about how to resolve the issues, a condition came to mind. Blinking again, she looked up at him.
"I'll agree under one condition."
"Really?" he asked smiling at her feeling relieved. "Go ahead. Name it."
"Stay away from Shinji."
"…" the Sixth Child reacted with a blink and feeling his eyebrows rise a little. The aspect that the Third Child again was a major factor irritated him more quickly than before.
"Curious…why is your condition to stay away from him?"
"I heard about what happened in the locker room after the synch test," she stated firmly with a small frown on her face.
"I see," he responded tilting his head a little. "Was that a problem?"
"I find it a problem. He does not swing that way."
'…swing?' Kaworu thought starting to feel impatient with the conversation.
"If am just wanting to be friends with you, why do I have to agree with this condition?"
"I see you don't get it," Rana stated with a stoic tone and narrowed her eyes at him. "You are going to have to earn my trust before asking to be friends. As of right now, I don't want to be your friend."
"…" the Sixth Child said clenching his teeth together.
Putting his hands in his pockets, he walked away without saying anything else. Once he got into narrow passageways to hid, he sensed where the Third Child was at school. Impatient and annoyed, he resorted to taking short cuts to get toward the Third Child quickly. Appearing instantly at the end of a passage way a few buildings over, he saw Shinji walking in a direction away from his position. Narrowing his eyes, he saw the male pilot suddenly stopped.
Not seeing anyone noticing, he disappeared and reappeared behind the Third Child. About to open his mouth, Shinji slowly turned around without swaying. Staring at him with his usual stoic face, the Sixth Child felt tense on the inside.
"Greetings Mr. Kaworu," he said with a small nod. "How are you?"
"Hello Ikari," he said standing an arm length away from the Third Child. He matched the same expression on the Third Child's face.
"I am fine."
"Is there something I can do for you sir?"
"Will you be my friend Ikari?" the Sixth Child asked without changing expression.
"If I am ordered to Mr. Kaworu, then I will comply."
"Why?!" he stated with a slight elevation in his voice and volume. Movement was seen from above toward his right but he ignored it.
"Pardon?"
"Forget it," the Sixth Child stated with a quick sigh. "It does not matter."
"I see. Is there something else I can do for you?"
"…" Kaworu answered stepping closer to him and looking directly into his eyes. Oddly, even when he tried to influence the Third Child's will, nothing changed. The pilot of Unit-01 stoically stared back at him without cowering, shaking, or showing signs of mental distress.
"Since the others have shared their opinion of me, I will tell you my own."
"Very well sir."
"You are nothing but a soulless vessel in flesh and bone. The very nature of your being compared to your twin sister is night and day. She shows the essence of having a soul where you do not. Either you are a clone or just a fragment of imagination. And yet," Kaworu said getting nose to nose with him. His expression took an irritated one while Shinji remained stoic and unfazed.
"You have changed people around despite your characteristics and behaviors…I find that more frustrating than curious. You seem to be the main factor in the others' decision to not bond with me."
"…I see..." the Third Child commemted blinking slowly and not moving from his position.
"My apologies that you feel that way Mr. Kaworu. Development of friends and creating bonds with the other pilots was not immediate in my experience. For Miss Hymity, she showed signs of fearing me than friendship for roughly two months. Mr. Suzuhara in the beginning was hostile towards me. It took under a month to form the beginnings of friendship. For Miss Ayanami, she was indifferent initially before changing. The major point of change was after she had an emotional and mental outburst of frustration and irritation towards me. Miss Souryu saw me as her rival in the beginning. To this day sir, I am afraid friendship will never develop between us due to circumstances."
"…?!" the Sixth Child reacted blinking in surprise that the male pilot offered his experiences. "So…it did take a long time?"
"Given my characteristics, mannerisms, and events with them sir, it would seem so."
'…I do not have time for that development,' he thought looking away and at the ground. 'Given how the others' viewpoint of me, that bond-ship will take longer.'
"Is there something else that I can help you with Mr. Kaworu?"
"…!?" the grey haired male teen said blinking in surprise again. Without him noticing, the Third Child was two arm lengths away from him.
'…no…that is not possible…he is just a lilim…and yet,' Kaworu thought feeling his teeth clench together harder.
"Mr. Kaworu, are you feeling alright?" Shinji asked tilting his head. No gruesome cracks were heard as the stoic dark magenta eyes stared back at him.
"…" the Sixth Child replied giving a small frown and putting his hands in his pockets. "I am fine. I have to go anyway."
"Very well sir. Until next time, good day," the Third Child said with a small bow then walked away.
'…I…don't understand!' the Sixth Child thought turning around and walking into a dark shadow. So lost in his thoughts of frustration and irritation, he didn't think about if anyone was watching. Vanishing in the shadow, a student looking down from a classroom window saw the small scene.
"..." the female student said feeling a small sense of nostalgia from watching the two. A small smile came to her face as she turned away from the classroom window. In watching the open front classroom door, she waited in anticipation for the Third Child. Till he male pilot appeared, Ayanami sat in her seat still feeling satisfied from seeing the Sixth Child's frustration boil over.
In the evening, a car was driving in the country roads to the forestry outside of the city. Misato was riding in the passenger seat of Kaji's sports car while he drove. They were heading toward a high vantage point on the road they were on.
"So is this just a recon mission or was there something else tied to this?" he asked seeing her point out an area up ahead that she wanted to use as the vantage point.
"More so me, I have a bad feeling about him. The aspect that the newest pilot scored a synch ratio higher than even Asuka's on the first day is a little too suspicious."
"Maybe a natural born Eva pilot?"
"…" the Major said giving him a look. "Natural born? With those attributes?"
"True. Those are a bit wild like Ayanami's," he agreed stopping the car. Misato opened her door and stepped out. Reaching in for the binoculars, she scanned the landscape. Partnering with Makoto earlier in reviewing satellite video, the Sixth Child seemed to come out here around this time frame. Recalling the general area was near a small lake, she used the binoculars to zoom in and search.
"I don't know how much you will be able to find given the vegetation. If the Angel battles had been more destructive where say half the city blew up, then you'd be able to see more," Kaji mentioned lighting a cigarette from the driver seat and rolling down his window.
"Possibly…ah-ha! Found him," she muttered out loud.
She walked around the car to where Kaji was. Handing him the binoculars, he looked through them and searched around a little. Finding the Sixth Child standing near a small lake area by himself, another individual stepped into view.
"Hmph," he said with a smirk. Realizing what the Third Child meant by informant when he was rescued, he felt humored by how things were developing.
"Looks like your suspicion was correct," the special investigator stated handing back the binoculars. Misato took them and looked through them. Seeing the other individual standing near the Sixth Child, she was not too surprised.
"Guess that affirms that both are involved with SEELE," she mentioned. Suddenly, she saw both individuals turn around. Both looked directly at her and gave small smiles. Flinching, Misato slowly lowered the binoculars.
"Got found out?" Kaji asked taking a drag and saw her nod.
"How can they know given the distance?"
"Maybe given their origin, they are natural born Eva pilots."
"…" Misato responded turning toward him with a look of shock. "You mean…they could be Angels!?"
"Maybe," he said and opened the passenger door. "Come on. Let's get before we have any unwelcoming party members. Still feel nauseous coming out here."
"Should we report them?" she asked going around the car and getting in the passenger seat. Hearing the engine turn on and the car move forward, she closed the door.
"I believe the Commander already knows…we just have to play our cards right."
"What cards do we have?"
"Right know…not much. So we will have to tread lightly, watch from a distance, and hope to not get picked off," Kaji mentioned as the car continued the long route back to the main road.
[What is going on?] a holographic image of the black monoliths were around both Kaworu and Rayne.
"…it is nothing. Just two lilims sightseeing. Do you want me to erase them?" Kaworu asked turning around.
[I see. If they were only sightseeing, then no. Now then, how has assimilating with the Eva pilots been?]
"…assimilation is going as planned," he said with a small frown on his face. Rayne saw that and didn't react. She kept quiet standing at attention.
[Good. In a matter of time, we will take over Neo-Tokyo NERV branch] 01 stated.
[Yes. Commander Ikari has been fooling around and has turned it into his plaything to act as a god. He will not follow the Instrumentality plan as originally stated. He must be stopped and contained] another member stated.
[Patience. He is not going anywhere. When the remaining Angels come into the play, then our project will begin to bear fruit] a monolith behind both teens stated.
[Listen boy. Until we tell you to, you are to refrain from taking control and rejoining with your body down in NERV's Terminal Dogma. Is that clear?]
"…why yes gentlemen…" he replied with a small smile and took a short bow.
[Prototype. Until that time is called, you will be our second point of contact until further notice. Is that clear?]
"Yes," she said without emotion.
[We will be watching the both of you. You are dismissed] monolith 01 stated when all the holographic images faded from the lake. Turning around, Rayne started to walk away when Kaworu called to her.
"I would appreciate if you cooperated with me prototype. Knowing what activities you have been doing, I should have reported you to the old men."
"Yeah?" she said continue to walk away without turning back to look at him. She stopped seeing that he hovered over to be in front of her.
"You don't believe me do you?"
"…" Rayne answered putting her hands on her hips. "I'm listening."
"I am glad you are seeing it my way. Now, I want you to my friend."
"…your friend? Any particular reason that I have to?"
"…" he said with a small smile. "It be in your best interest to become my friend."
"Let me think about it," she said closing her eyes for a second. Opening them, she gave a stoic face.
"No."
"…" he said narrowing his eyes keeping the same small smile. "I think I will change your mind."
Lifting his hand at her, he grabbed at the air and squeezed in her direction. A silence went between them when Rayne closed her eyes and put her hands at her side. Walking forward till she was in front of Kaworu, she quickly grabbed his neck with both hands. It took him by surprise as his eyes widen from the feeling of being choked.
"Listen pretty boy," Rayne said opening her eyes. Her two murky orange eyes were hauntingly glowing as she moved to be nose to nose with him.
"Just because I am labeled as a prototype failure, it doesn't mean I can't do the same stuff you do," she continued and squeezed more feeling him struggle a little.
"You understand?"
"…" he replied grunting a little and struggling to get free.
"Sorry I didn't quite get that," she said with a small smile. Pulling his neck down, she drove a high knee into his torso. Making connection, it caused him to become startled and coughed loudly. Letting go of him, he dropped to the ground.
'…what…what is this?!' he thought slowly touching his neck and his ribs. Both areas felt achy and in pain. The two sensations he had felt before, but the injuries did not immediately healed. Remembering in the lab when he was subjected to pain, all injuries were immediately healed. However when the Fifth Child did them, he wasn't able to recover at all. The pain stayed which shocked him.
"…I…don't" he said weakly then coughed again. "…I don't…understand…"
"You don't huh," Rayne repeated narrowing her eyes at him. Reaching down, she grabbed his collar and forced him up. At the same time, she cocked back her other arm and formed a tight fist.
"Why don't you sleep on it!" she stated out loud and threw a right cross at his jaw. The impact sounded hard as he felt the brute force of the attack. Letting go of his collar, he fell to the ground in the direction her fist hit him. Cringing from the sharp agony of the blow, he couldn't stand it any longer and saw everything go black.
"Hmph," she said turning around and walking away.
'Hitting him does nothing. As soon as I get to a certain distance, he'll get up recovered like nothing happened…well…at least I know how to use it now after asking Shinji how to with an Eva…it will be my advantage…for now' she thought not looking back. After walking away a certain distance, the impact places on Kaworu immediately healed. Opening his eyes, he stared at the sky still in surprise from what happened.
'…this pattern…of new information,' he said. Putting his hands behind his head and crossing one leg over the other, he continued to lie on the ground.
'…is both intriguing and irritating at the same time…two emotions at once…rather new experience,' the Sixth Child thought. Instead of pursuing the ex-officer, he vanished and went back to his apartment. Lying down on his bed, he brewed his thoughts over and over trying to find a way to achieve the objective SEELE wanted him to do while fulfill his curiosity.
A couple more days go by until NERV received an alert of an Angel. Finding the new Angel was coming from outer space, it was a glowing white color like a lit fluorescent tube. Its shape was that of a double helix DNA strain that made a large ring connection. Descending through the atmosphere, it was not affected by Earth's gravity or the atmosphere. It seemed to defy human knowledge as no friction entry or burn up was seen. It just went through the space layers as if it were on an elevator.
"All right, listen up. This new Angel is coming in hot and defying the laws of physics. There is not much data collected on it so we are going in blind to battle it. Proceed with caution," Misato stated to the lineup of pilots minus one.
"Pilot Ayanami and Pilot Nagisa will head up to scout and battle with the Angel," she said looking at them.
"Yes ma'am," both spoke at the same time.
"Pilot Ikari, you will be Pilot Suzuhara's replacement given the emergency he had. You will be on standby in Unit-03 in the cage.
"Very well," he replied with a blink.
"Pilot Rana and Pilot Hymity will be the back-up pilots. You'll come with me to the bridge until further instructions."
"Copy/Roger."
"All right. Move out," Misato ordered.
The pilots nodded then headed toward their designated positions. Once there, tech teams helped load the pilots into their entry plugs. While going through the synchronization and start up procedures, the remaining two pilots followed the Major to the bridge. Once they reached it, the rest of the bridge staff were present at their stations.
'…' Kaworu thought when his synchronization passed through then looked up. He could feel where the Angel was coming from and where it was going.
'…who is it…ah Armisael,' he thought turning back to the cockpit controls. 'It almost pains me that I will have to eliminate you.'
[All Units are green to go Major] a lead tech piped in on the loudspeaker.
"You may proceed Major," Gendo stated sitting in his chair. Both Sub-Commanders were standing near him.
"Evas Launch!"
Both Unit-00 and Unit-02 shot straight up riding the railings. While the two Evas were being rushed to the surface, Shinji remained calm and collected in Unit-03. Sensing the human spirit in the dark blue war machine, it kept its distance from connecting with him. Emitting nothing from seeing that behavior, he closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing. Recalling his task, he waited.
Two large ground lift platforms suddenly open up and two Evas came out. Coming to an abrupt stop, the harness attachments disconnected and pulled away. Walking on the ground, both Units heard two more lifts open up with a large cluster of weapons to choose from. Kaworu selected an assault rifle while Rei chose to use the long-range rifle. Equipped, both headed toward their position points to see and wait for the Angel to come down and attack.
"Angel has broken through the Stratosphere. Contact in 40 seconds," Makoto stated from his terminal.
"Another big one huh," Misato said to herself.
"Not as big as the last one though," Ritsuko stated.
As the countdown reached zero, Armisael slowed down to hover about two stories above the ground. Sensing both Evas at a distance, it decided to change its structure into attack mode. The double helix structure it had converge into a solid to look like a massively bright lit halo. A portion of itself detached to have two ends. One end slowly turned around a slowly crescendo its speed towards them. Both Rei and Kaworu open fired at the Angel; however, the bullets were deflected by the small AT-Field it had.
Both dodged out of the way from the rushing end of the bright lit creature. Successful initially, Kaworu was a bit more nimble at avoiding the Angel. Despite being able to dodge, Armisael zipped through the air faster and slammed into Unit-00's chest. Sliding on the ground a couple hundred feet, the light blue Eva was still standing.
"Unit-00 has been penetrated in the chest!" Maya stated reading her monitor.
"Is it attempting to make first contact?"
"Bio-fusion is starting!"
"…" Ayanami responded seeing something change on the inside of the entry plug. The cockpit controls made a sudden ripple followed by protruding veins that were festering quickly. Once it reached her hands, they penetrated through and spread up her arms. Her feet and legs soon were covered. In less than 30 seconds, a majority of her body had protruding veins bulging from her plug suit and skin.
In pain and clenching her teeth, a couple of veins went up her neck and stopped at her cheeks. Forcing harsh air through her teeth from the increased agony, she forced command the Unit to respond. Successful, she grabbed the Angel with one hand and tried pulling it off its chest. Unsuccessful, she re-gripped her rifle and moved the muzzle over a segment of the Angel's body. Firing at point blank range, a shockwave explosion occurred at the point of impact. She instantly felt the pain as she cried out. It felt like she was shot in the thigh.
"What happened?" Misato asked worried.
"Angel has mentally linked up with Eva-00 and Pilot Ayanami!" Maya stated. On the large screen, a window came up showing three brain waves forming a bold tri-color line. From an outside view, a bulging form of flesh was growing out of Unit-00. It slowly was taking shape of different forms.
"It is trying to fuse completely with both the Unit and the pilot!" Ritsuko replied in shock.
'So that is your goal,' Kaworu thought avoiding the other end of the Angel trying to pierce him. 'Sorry Armisael, I'm not ready yet to merge minds.'
Ayanami's vision started changing till the environment turned into something else. Once it stopped, it looked like one of her void dreams. Standing on a small bedrock island, she was surrounded by a sea of LCL liquid. After doing a full 360 degrees, she felt her legs become submerged in some. Looking down, she was knee deep in a dark color pool instead.
Looking around again, there was nothing around her. Trying to move proved difficult as if she was in slow motion or weighted down. Feeling ripples in the liquid she was in, she was able to turn around. Something was slowly protruding out of the pool about two yards away from her. Blinking in confusion, it was a clone of herself without the plug suit she was wearing. Thinking that it was the second voice that talked to her, it didn't seem to be the same individual.
'Who are you?…Are you another me from inside? From the Eva?' Rei thought to it. The clone gave a mischievous smile at her and tilted its head a little.
'…no…you are neither me or the other. You are…the Angel?'
'You are correct. How about we unite? It will further the cause,' Armisael thought back continuing to smile at her.
'No,' the First Child said shaking her head from side to side. 'I…am me…I will not unite with you.'
'Oh, but you will. It is already too late…I am becoming one with you. It is only a matter of…wait…' it stated dropping its smile and looking around itself.
'…what is…what is all this?' the Angel pondered in surprise and confusion.
'What do you mean?' Ayanami thought seeing the other continuously look all around the void. Various expressions would come on its face and change rapidly to another one.
'All these…emotions…sensations…experiences…self-will…self-identity…individuality…how…how did you obtain these when…?' it asked in wonder and curiosity. Something caught its attention and darted a look at her.
'…a…lilim?!…how…how can that be!?'
"…!?" the First Child reacted wincing and crying out loud in pain as the Angel dug deeper in her mind.
"Rei!" Misato yelled seeing the large floating worm Angel push Unit-00 to the ground and against a large hill pinning it. The growing flesh was about the same size as Unit-00 and continuing to grow. Looking at Unit-02, Kaworu was continuously dodging the other end of the Angel that had already severed the power cable.
"Commander! Request to send the Third Child as reinforcement!" Misato spoke out loud turning around and looking up.
"…" Gendo answered debating what on what outcome he wanted.
'With the destruction of the clones by Dr. Akagi's hand, if the last one is erased…then that will be less of a possibility of Instrumentality occurring,' he thought.
About to deny the request, someone put a hand on his shoulder. Looking up, it was Yui looking at him. She had a serious look on her face and gave a head nod. Cringing on the inside, he would have to figure another way of dealing with the First Child.
"Go ahead Major."
"Yes sir!" she stated and hit the intercom. "Shinji! Develop an AT Field once on the surface. Rescue Rei immediately!"
[Very well] Shinji calmly replied and opened his eyes. Unit-03 launched up to the surface. While going up, he concentrated harder than normal. Feeling a ping in his head sound, he ignored the loud terrified shout from the human spirit in the Eva.
'…s…i…r…i…t…w…i…l…l…b…e…g…i…n…' he thought. Feeling a burning needle sensation immediately shove into his frontal lobe, only his left eye twitched a little. A weak cackle in the back of his mind sounded. Giving a small internal nod, he let go of concentrating.
'…why…why did you communicate with it!?' the human spirit thought shouting with fear.
'Greetings madam. My apologizes from causing you worry,' he thought with slow blink. A couple of seconds later, the surface came into view. With a hard jolt, the lift stopped abruptly.
'If you stay with me miss, he will not seek you,' the Third Child thought feeling the harness disengage from the railing system.
Unit-03 leaned forward a little and took two steps forward before standing straight. Hearing the human spirit immediately comply with him, it connected with his mind. Bowing mentally, Shinji began to walk the Unit forward. As if he took the attention of the stage, there was an emotional outburst from someone.
"Ikari!" Rei called out in agony.
Her body had become tense and shook all over looking violated. She could only open one eye from cringing and taking quick short breathes. Knowing what the Angel was going to do, she forced herself to move. Starting to reverse her AT-Field inward, the Angel was not being pulled in. Immediately knowing why mentally, she heard someone speak back to her.
'You have defied me long enough you stupid child,' Ayanami's second voice spoke with the sound of satisfaction. 'If becoming one with Armisael will make you submit to me…then so be it.'
"…no…stop…don't," she whispered as fear festered in her.
'…' Kaworu thought focusing on dodging the Angel's other end. 'I am equally curious of what you found and will find Armisael. Go penetrate the Third Child.'
'…that's…' the Angel thought turning its free end to what appeared over some distance away. It was another war machine that was dark blue and it was calmly walking toward them. Recognizing the lilim inside of it from the First Child's memories, it darted its end hastily toward the Unit.
'That's the lilim!' Armisael thought to itself and Ayanami. 'I want these things that you have! Unification will reveal all to me!'
"No! Don't!" Rei shouted feeling tears falling down and shaking in resisting the Angel. She was reaching out her left hand in the direction of Unit-03.
"PLEASE STOP IT! DON'T GO NEAR HIM! IKARI!"
"…!?" Kaworu said in surprise from hearing and seeing the emotion turmoil pour out from the First Child.
'All I need to do is touch Armisael's body, then I will be connected,' he thought and sped toward the bright lit gigantic worm like body. Suddenly, Eva-03's eyes began to glow brightly.
'…y…e…s…' the evil voice stated in the Third Child's mind. Eva-01 in Terminal Dogma emitted a deep chuckle that echoed throughout the spacious area. Crimson irises appeared behind its helmet eye slots.
"Pilot Ikari's synch ratio 80%…100%…150%…200%…300%…it-it is still rising!" Maya stated shocked. All in the command center looked up at the video-link that showed the male pilot. The cockpit he was in was glowing brighter and brighter as the LCL pigment became distinct. Looking at the Third Child, his dark magenta eyes were shining eerily and icy.
"No…that's assimilation!" Yui shouted in shock.
Within a couple of seconds, the Angel slammed into the dark blue Eva's chest. It did not put up an AT-Field nor try to block or evade the attack. Despite piercing its chest, the impact didn't cause the Unit to fall backwards or sway. It was as if the Angel rammed itself into an impenetrable wall and immediately stopped. Even Ayanami reacted as if she slammed into a wall and gasped painfully.
"Shinji!" Misato shouted in fear. The video-link to Eva-01 showed Shinji closing his eyes before he vaporized. Leaving only his plug suit behind in the entry plug, the bridge staff stared with open mouthed faces.