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REGRESSION
Chapter 1: Unveiling
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Inside of the NERV Command Center, every technician and operative found themselves unable to tear their gaze from the main screen. Not in their worst fears had they ever considered they would one day be faced with the threat of the same thing they championed.
Commander Ikari snapped off an order to Maya Ibuki, bringing her and the rest of the crew back to their senses.
Disengage the pilot. Eject the entry plug."
No response, Sir," she replied immediately. So quickly, in fact, Gendo wondered if she had perhaps already attempted to do so before his order.
Shinji Ikari stared in disbelief at the ominous black figure that rose over the sunset-scorched horizon. It was marching steadily towards him as he sat tensed in his entry plug. It was still at least a couple kilometers away, and although he couldn't make out many of its features at this distance, he was acutely aware of two glowing orbs that burned a hole straight into him.
"It's... it's an EVA!" Shinji gasped.
Eyes.
Eyes of an Evangelion.
Eyes of the enemy.
"Correct," stated a stern voice over the comm channels of the three Evangelions, "that is your target."
Commander Gendo Ikari watched the main view screen with a look of heavily muted discomfort, which was further masked by both the orange-tinted glasses he wore and the two white gloves on which his nose barely rested. To think that he would have to sacrifice a perfectly working Evangelion was unexceptable. While the thought of wasted resources aggravated him quite enough, it was overshadowed by the thought of wasted effort. While a fourth Evangelion at his disposal was not completely necessary, it was planned for, and his plan had now backfired. Not only was the unit lost, but he would be forced to make its loss, its destruction, complete. That was the thought that burned him the deepest. His own instrument had turned on him, and now he had to destroy it before it could do the same to him.
"It... it can't be..." Shinji stammered, barely registering the confirmation he'd recieved from his father.
Rei Ayanami blinked once, and looked down at her gloved hands gripping the control handles of Unit 00. She rubbed them slightly back and forth, and returned her sight to her target.
"How could it have been possessed?" Asuka Sohryu whispered to herself.
Lt. Ibuki tensed, expecting another order.
Silence.
"Sir?"
Gendo sat absolutely motionless at his command desk. Had anyone dared to look at him at that moment, they would swear the sound had come from someone behind him as not even his response caused him to stir.
"Continue the operation, Lieutenant," he spoke smoothly.
"Sir," Maya nodded and continued monitoring the Evangelions as the rest of the crew followed suit and returned to their duties.
Three against one odds did not make them feel any better.
"But there's another kid in there!" Shinji protested, still staring at the marching black EVA. "Another kid just like me..."
"Irrelevant," Commander Ikari shot back over the comm. "It is an angel. You will destroy the enemy."
His words stung into the pilots brain. 'So cold,' Shinji thought, 'he doesn't even care, just like for me.'
He jumped at the sound of Asuka's voice blaring over the comm. "You mean you _still_ don't know? The pilot of Unit 03 is... he's...", she faltered.
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A memory jumped unbidden into Shinji's consciousness.
"Toji's absent again, maybe it's him" Kensuke lamented. He only cared that it wasn't himself that would ride off to glory in a magnificent new Evangelion, ready to take on the worst enemies the world had ever seen.
"Toji?" Shinji laughed, "I don't think so!".
That's just crazy. Toji, an EVA pilot. After all he's been through, Toji wouldn't get caught DEAD in a...
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Shinji's eyes widened, almost to the point where he could feel them strain. "Toji..."
Asuka gave no verbal response, but Shinji could hear her confirmation as clear as day.
"HOW COULD YOU?!?" Shinji screamed in his tube of LCL. It was a broad message, and though everyone in the Command Center heard it, the only person who did not acknowledge it was its intended recipient.
"You heartless bastard! He never hurt anyone! He doesn't deserve this, you... you... MONSTER!! WHY?!?"
Gendo simply stared, unmoving. He waited for the nearly inaudible murmur from the technicians below to stop.
"I had a use for him."
It was that moment that Evangelion Unit 01 turned at an alarmingly quick speed to face the direction of the Command Center. And its Commander.
The pilot of Unit 01 was about to unleash a primal scream when he felt his neck tighten severely. The pressure sent waves of pain coursing through his body as Shinji grabbed at his throat reflexively. His vision from the cockpit swung around 180 degrees to meet the eyes of the black EVA. Those piercing eyes. Now that he could see closer, he realized with horror that the eyes were accompanied by a demonic, red-toothed grin.
Its movements mimicking those of its pilot, the purple EVA grabbed at the wrists of the EVA-turned-Angel, but it was nearly impossible to fight back. Somehow, the Angel had imbued its host with the ability to elongate its arms to reach nearly three times their normal distance.
The EVA was also granted extra strength, it would seem, as Unit 01 was hoisted high into the air. Unit 03 lifted its prey over its head and slammed it headfirst into the ground, shaking Shinji violently inside his plug. However, the invisible hands still choked him and he couldn't even reach up to hold his aching head.
The possessed EVA jumped up and bore its weight down on Unit 01's chest with its knees. Shinji lurched forward in his entry plug as Unit 03 twisted its right hand sideways and siezed Unit 01's left wrist, thrashing it to the ground with so much force that it threw up a cloud of dust that easily covered both of the Evas.
With one hand restrained, Shinji worked furiously to remove the one-handed choke from both his and his EVA's throats. He started to feel a finger pry loose from both necks when fire shot through his left arm. His right hand grasped his left arm tightly, causing him even to ignore his throat as he screamed through the choke. His mind was so deeply immersed in his pain that he never heard his father's order.
"The Angel's attempting to merge with Unit 01! Nerve contamination spreading!" Lt. Ibuki yelled.
"Sever the left arm immediately. We cannot afford to lose Unit 01," Ikari ordered, silently adding to himself '...as well'.
"But Sir!" Maya protested. "The pilots nerve connections are still active!"
Gendo spat out each word. "Cut... it... off!"
Shinji's breath disappeared as his left arm exploded. He still felt it in his right hand, but at the same time it was gone. The pain finally broke his consciousness and he felt himself fade away. The last thing he heard before sinking into the blackness of his mind was a shrill warcry.
"Unit 01's arm has been severed... pilot has gone unconscious," Ibuki stated darkly.
The end of her statement was drowned out by a scream so loud it reverberated through the entire Command Center.
"DIIIEEEE!!!" Asuka screamed as Unit 02 slammed into Unit 03 with enough force to knock it completely off of the ground. It didn't land as Unit 02 propelled the both of them straight into the wall of a cliff several hundred yards away. Rocks and debris rained down on the pair of Evas like a hailstorm, battering them both as Unit 02 drew back, Prog Knife in hand, and gouged deep into Unit 03's neck. Unit 03 wailed in pain as the sonic blade carved down its collarbone and towards its chest. The knife stuck in place in the hardened Evangelion armor, causing Unit 02 to yank its weapon free and prepare for another strike, aimed squarely at its face.
Unit 03 siezed the opportunity and curled its knees up to its chest and shot both feet forward into Unit 02's abdomen. The red EVA toppled end over end and landed face down, dragging with it a hundred metres of earth as it skidded to a stop.
Asuka cursed as she lifted her head in time to see the black EVA descending towards from high above. She barely had time to register two gleaming objects, one in each of Unit 03's hands, as she instinctively rolled away from her opponent.
The attacking EVA landed in a hunch, both of its progressive knives digging into the ground in front of it where Unit 02 had just been. 'Shit!' Asuka thought, 'It's got mine and its own!'. Before she could continue that thought, red warning lights flashed from all directions inside her entry plug. She looked to her side as she dodged a full-on charge of two outstretched knives. The sparking end of a giant cable told her she only had five minutes to drop this Angel.
But that Angel had Toji.
She allowed herself only a split-second of concern as determination took over and she delivered a spin kick to Unit 03's midsection, causing it to lurch forward. Its leg still in mid-air, Unit 02 brought an arm down on the back of Unit 03's head. Asuka started to drop Unit 02's outstretched leg, but Unit 03 grabbed it with both hands, using the knives to dig into Unit 02's left thigh and calve, and spun about, throwing the red Evangelion towards the cliff.
Asuka screamed in pain, flying through the air to slam back-first into the rocky wall, Unit 02's arms and legs splayed against its surface. With lightning speed, Unit 03's arms shot out, knives in hand, to stab Unit 02's hands to the cliff like nails on a crucifix. Unit 02 struggled in vain against the knives, which were buried to the hilt in the rock wall.
"DAMMIT!!" Asuka yelled as she tugged at her restraints. Her face darkened when she saw the rogue EVA regard her for a moment, then turn to run towards where Rei and Unit 00 had been stationed on the other side of the cliff. Unit 02 kicked furiously at the cliff behind it, but the blinding pain in both of her hands prevented Asuka from concentrating, and with horror she watched Unit 02's activation time count down.
"Activate the dummy plug system on Unit 01," Commander Ikari ordered.
"But, Sir! The dummy plug has been fully tested yet! Dr. Akagi hasn't approved its use yet, Sir!" Maya replied, shocked.
"Unit 01 is of no use with an unconscious pilot, Lieutenant. That is the purpose for which the system was designed. Activate the dummy plug system immediately!"
Had Shinji been fully conscious, he would have noticed the light inside the entry plug change to a deep red hue, and he would also notice the mechanical droning of the dummy plug system activating behind him. As it was, he barely noticed the sound of the titanic beast in which he sat rising from the ground. Shinji was in a haze, a sort of walking dream. Only the most primal instincts buried in his mind were brought to the surface as he half-sensed the Evangelion walking slowly toward a huge black figure. It was hunched over an equally large blue one that was on the ground just as he was a minute ago. He felt the sensation of flying as the dummy-plug piloted Unit 01 charged towards what it recognized as its enemy.
In his dream-like state, Shinji saw the black figure become halted in a death grip by what he thought was his own right hand. He squeezed tightly and felt the creature's neck snap.
Unit 03's arms dropped limply to its sides as it wailed a death cry that would have shattered the ears of any human nearby. Luckily, the area was clear of both military personnel and civilians.
"EVA Unit 03... I mean... target disabled, Sir," Aoba announced, half relieved but still quite tense.
"Pilot lifesigns are all confirmed... including Unit 03's pilot," Lt. Ibuki sighed heavily. "We're getting a weak signal from external scans, but he's alive. Rescue crews are on the way, Sir," she added.
"It works," Gendo Ikari grinned to himself.
It would prove to be an fatal understatement.
Unit 01 dropped the lifeless black form of Unit 03 to the ground. It slumped down onto its knees and fell over on its side, crushing a small patch of trees as it crumpled to the ground in a heap.
"Pattern blue detected!" Maya exclaimed as warning lights flashed to life again in the NERV Command Center.
"What?!?" Fuyutski yelled back. "Wasn't the Angel destroyed? Where is it?"
Makoto Hyuuga stared in awe at the readout on the screen in front of him. He tapped a button without removing his gaze, and the image was posted to the main screen that looked over all of the Command Center. Previously motionless, Gendo Ikari leapt to his feet, kicking his chair to the floor.
His glasses clattered to the floor.
Over the intercom, a young girl's screaming was heard briefly, before it melted away to static.
EVA Unit 00 delivered a solid punch directly into Unit 01's face before it had any time to react. The purple Evangelion staggered backwards several paces and almost fell over before regaining its balance. Then it came lunging forward, fixed on the single, blazing red eye of the now-posessed Unit 00...
And missed its target completely as the blue EVA dodged by leaping several hundred meters into the air and landed in an all-out dash towards Unit 02. Unit 01 plowed head-first through a small forest and into and old concrete structure. The building collapsed on top of the Evangelion, and while it struggled to free itself by pushing aside the concrete blocks, another girl's scream could be heard.
Asuka screamed as she saw the berserk Unit 00 charging towards her. She forced her EVA to kick at the cliff behind it and tug at the sonic knives buried in its palms.
"Move, dammit! C'mon move!" she yelled at the EVA, and the right hand of the EVA began to slide away from the cliff, pulling the knife with it. Asuka grunted in effort and forced the hand out completely, her arm sagging tiredly. She then dug down with all of her strength and reached for the other knife and... felt the EVA shudder to a halt.
"No! Not now!!"
"Unit 02's power reserves have been depleted, Sir! Commander? Sir?!" Maya called back as she typed furiously at the controls. She hadn't noticed that all that remained of Command Ikari in the Command Center was a pair of orange-tinted glasses on the floor in front of his desk.
Sub-commander Fuyutski called down to Lt. Ibuki. "Cancel the rescue attempts!Eject the entry plug, Lieutenant!"
Maya paused briefly as she tried to figure out why the Commander had abandoned them at this dire time. She quickly returned to her orders, as Fuyutski was now the highest-ranking officer, and she was not about to abandon the task at hand. However, as she attempted to command Unit 02's plug to eject, her eyes widened and her face became pale.
"Sir, Unit 02's entry plug is obstructed! We can't force eject it unless Unit 02 is moved, Sir!" she cried.
"Well, then, order Unit 01 to target Unit 00! Before it takes over _another_ Evangelion!" Fuyutski ordered.
There was a pause. A deathly silence hung over the Command Center.
Aoba spoke up hastily "Unit 01 is not accepting commands, Sir! Emotional readings are off the scale... it's out of control!"
Then the screaming started again.
Fuyutski slammed his fist down on the table where Gendo Ikari had been sitting a few moments ago. "Then shut the system down! Disengage the dummy plug system, and re-synch with Pilot Ikari!"
"But Sir... the pilot hasn't fully regained consciousness. If he's not able to defeat the Angel by himself, we'll have no choice but to engage Unit 00's self-destruct system!" Aoba replied nervously.
"Wait!" Maya interjected, "Unit 01 has intercepted the Angel..."
"Enemy," Shinji whispered as he felt the EVA lumber slowly towards the pair of Units 00 and 02. The blue EVA turned at shot a hand out towards Unit 01's throat, but Shinji felt as though he could see it happening in slow-motion. He effortlessly caught the blue hand and ripped it back behind him. The arm landed with a soft thud behind him and he grabbed the other Evangelion's shoulder, turning it to face him.
"Stop it," he muttered lifelessly, as though he was talking in his sleep. His blurry eyes looked at the face of Unit 00 and stared at the red orb in its center.
"Stop."
Shinji grabbed the Angel before him by the throat and twisted. Unit 00 grabbed at its own throat with its remaining arm, but its strength was unable to overcome the dummy plug-controlled Unit 01.
"Stop."
Shinji felt his hands go numb and his heart started racing. Unit 00's neck gave way to a titanic crack and its arm dropped lifelessly to its side. With its one remaining arm, Unit 01 slammed its enemy head-first into the rock wall against which the silent Unit 02 stood. With a sickening crunch, the armored helmet of the blue EVA caved in on itself, and Unit 01 continued to thrust Unit 00 backwards against the cliff.
"Stop."
"Stop it, Shinji! You'll kill her!" Asuka screamed, although he couldn't hear her. She jerked at the controls of Unit 02, but couldn't move it. She couldn't even eject from the EVA or she would splatter against the rock wall behind her.
"Sir, the dummy system's emotional readings are unreadable. It won't stop on its own!" Hyuuga yelled back to Sub-commander Fuyutski.
Before he could respond, a voice boomed over the intercom. The voice was Commander Ikari.
"Disengage the power supply on Unit 01! Shut off the dummy system now!"
"Yes Sir!"
Unit 01's power cable ejected and crashed to the floor. It continued its assault, however, and Unit 00's head was an unrecognizable stump of blue plating and blood.
"30 seconds of activation remaining... but the Dummy Plug is not responding! The EVA won't accept the commands, Sir!" Aoba shouted over the crushing noise that registered in the Command Center over Shinji's intercom.
Commander Ikari did not respond. All that could be heard in NERV Command Center was the sound of Unit 00 being destroyed, blow by blow, by Unit 01. Maya Ibuki cradled her head in her hands and rested it on her knees. Fuyutski stared at the floor, unable to watch any longer, as did many other NERV crew members.
Shigeru Aoba and Makoto Hyuuga, however, looked at each other for a moment, and looked back at the main screen.
"T-minus 15 seconds to Unit 01 shutdown."
Shinji gasped and realized where he was.
"What th... Rei?"
He jerked at the controls instinctively to halt Unit 01's assault. It didn't respond. He stared a the image of Unit 00 before him, its head a bloody mass and its upper chest caved in from repeated blows from his EVA's right hand.
"STOP IT!" he screamed. "What's going on?!? Why doesn't it stop!?! Father, stop this!"
Gendo Ikari didn't hear him.
Aoba continued to count down Unit 01's activation time. Each count was punctuated by the sound of a train wreck.
"5..."
*CRASH*
"4..."
*CRASH*
"3..."
*CRASH*
"2..."
*CRASH*
"1..."
EVA Unit 01's fist plowed deep into Unit 00's chest with such force that it nearly shook the cliff behind it. Shinji couldn't feel it, as he was no longer synched to the Evangelion, but he heard its fist strike solid rock.
"STOP IT!!!" he screamed.
The EVA obeyed. The whirring behind his head winded down to nothing, and all of the lights and warning signs in his entry plug vanished. Inside the now dark entry plug, Shinji curled his knees to his chest and sobbed.
Asuka Sohryu sat motionless in her EVA, her hands still aching from the "wounds" she'd recieved when Unit 03 had nailed Unit 02 to the cliff.
"I couldn't help." she sobbed quietly. "I couldn't do anything. I'm worthless."
Inside NERV Command Center, time stood still. Everyone in room stared at the main view screen. Unit 02 stood against the cliff, one hand stuck to the rock with a progressive knife, the other grasping the knife by the hilt. Unit 00 stood further down the side of the cliff from Unit 02, its head almost completely gone, its one arm hanging limply at its side.
Evangelion Unit 01 stood frozen with its right arm buried up to the forearm in Unit 00. Blood had splattered up the arm and spotted both EVAs' bodies. Several giant arms of different colors were strewn haphazardly around the area.
Sub-commander Fuyutski barely found his voice and called down to the technicians below. "Status.. report?"
"Unit 02 power levels at zero, pilot lifesigns nominal. Unit 01 has ceased activation. Dummy plug system inactive, pilot lifesigns in danger. Unit 03 still inactive, no signs of the Angel. Pilot lifesigns critical."
"What about... Unit 00?"
"U.. Unit 00... critical damage sustained... pilot lifesigns... pilot..." Maya shuddered.
Hyuuga continued, his voice low, "Pilot lifesigns are unknown... Unit 00's entry plug has been breached... Sir."
Fuyutski nodded slowly, "Send out the rescue teams now. Concentrate on EVA Unit 00 first."
"Yes Sir."
In the locker room of NERV HQ Section 83, the rescue team had only partially been readied when the order to stand down had come. Some of the members had continued to suit up, while others wait, not sure if or when they'd be needed.
"I heard one of the EVA's went crazy and is attacking NERV!" one of the squad members said whispered loudly. "I'm not going out there until they're all shut down or gone."
"Yeah, there might be bodies out there already... I don't wanna end up one of 'em!" his companion agreed as his adjusted his hazard suit.
One squad member sat off to the side quietly, cinching his boots up. He quickly slid a small video recorder into one of the suit's many pockets and smiled to himself.
Just then, a figure in a black vest strode quickly in and grabbed one of the squad member's gear. A quick glance at his insignia revealed that this was the LAST man to argue with, and the squad member walked sheepishly out of the locker room. The rest of the room went silent as Commander Ikari suited up.
The squad member in the corner sighed quietly. 'It won't matter in the end. After all, he should be present when he's exposed to all of NERV...'
"The rescue teams are enroute," Aoba told Fuyutski as he stood behind him. A grim air still hung over the Command Center, but the technicians had turned back to their work. Maya still sobbed silently at her desk as she typed away.
"Very well," Fuyutski responded. He glanced over at Maya, who was hunched over her desk. He spoke quietly to Aoba, "Report when they reach Unit 00".
"Understood."
Misato Katsuragi lay on a medical stretcher, her head and arm bandaged heavily. To her right was a smoldering hole that, earlier that afternoon, had been a NERV testing facility. Repair crew members scurried about as if scavenging the wreckage for some sort of answer as to how the entire facility had been destroyed in a single blast. They all knew the answer, though. The thirteenth Angel had posessed an Evangelion, Unit 03 to be exact, and had laid waste to the test station completely before lumbering off towards NERV HQ.
To Misato's left was a handsome young man whom, if no one else, she would awake for.
"K... Kaji?" she managed to whimper, her head wincing in pain.
A reassuring hand fell on her unbandaged left wrist. "Try not to move... you were unconscious when they found you..."
"Ritsuko?"
Kaji shook his head once and closed his eyes for a moment, managing a barely perceptible smile that seemed to be his trademark. "She wasn't hurt as bad as you. She was lucky," he said slowly.
"What about... Unit 03?"
The smile disappeared again from his face, leaving him with a grim expression that he tried to hide by turning away as she looked at him.
"It attacked the other three EVAs near NERV HQ... Unit 01 managed to stop it, but..."
Kaji felt a grip on his hand, and he looked over at Misato for a moment. She was facing the wreckage of the test facility.
"I never told him, Kaji. I never even told him... I meant to... but..." Misato's voice started to crack.
"He's fine... physically anyway. So's Asuka, and Suzahara will live, but he's in bad shape."
"What about Rei?" she turned back to him.
Misato had never seen Kaji's face so pale. He stared at the ground, unable to respond. She saw his head start to shake ever so slightly.
"Oh God..."
Kaji choked for a moment, then finally spoke, his voice a near whisper.
"Unit 00 was contaminated by the Angel before it could be... destroyed..." he swallowed hard and stood up suddenly, looking out over the horizon. "They had no choice but to destroy the EVA. There's a rescue team on the way now."
"Oh God... why, Kaji?" Misato gripped his hand tighter.
Misato didn't hear the response he whispered into his chest.
"Because the truth must be exposed... for the greater good..."
The rescue transport had reached the top of the cliff where Unit 00 stood and had blasted a hole in the ground behind it. There, they had dug their way towards the back of Unit 00 in an attempt to reach the entry plug slot, or what was left of it.
"I'm coming up on it now, Sir," one of the technicians announced loudly over the drilling equipment's grinding. Ikari stood directly behind him, watching unmoved. Everyone in the tunnel had noticed the abscence of his unmistakable orange-tinted glasses, but no one payed it any mind.
Behind him was a technician who apparently had no current job, as he stood much like Gendo did, watching the drills bore through loose rock towards Unit 00. His hand was in one of his pockets, grasping a small recording device.
In an empty black room far removed from Unit 00, twelve solid black monoliths were arranged in a circle. In the secret chamber of SEELE, one of the monoliths, labeled "01 Sound Only" spoke in a low, gravelly voice.
"Now we shall see if our informant has performed his task. Once Ikari's plans are made public..."
Another monolith chimed in with more of a nasal squeak than a voice. "... it will be impossible for him to stray from the scenario any further."
A third monolith spoke. "Yes. It has become obvious that his agenda differs sufficiently from our own that he requires... adjustment."
01 spoke again. "Indeed. Our plans will be realized soon."
Chairman Keel, the voice behind 01, watched a small video screen, which at the moment was blank.
"He will have no choice but to comply once his... side project... becomes public knowledge."
"Contact!" one of the technicians yelled above the crumbling of rock.
The tunnel suddenly opened up into a small cave, at the end of which was the massive bloody fist of EVA Unit 01. The walls of the cave were covered in gore and mechanical wreckage. At the bottom of this cave, up against the small pile of rocks that were being cleared away from the entry, was a mass of white-painted metal.
"We've found the plug!"
The NERV rescue squad member behind Ikari removed his video camera and switched it on. One of the other technicians, who had finished cleaning away the rubble from the cave entrance, shifted aside a large metal plate that had once been part of the entry plug of Unit 00.
Beneath it was the mangled frame of a small girl. Blue hair, dyed a dull orange in spots from the LCL that had once filled the plug, partially covered her face. Her petite body was twisted into a horrible position, her arms bent backwards behind her body and one leg twisted to the side.
Commander Ikari shoved aside the NERV technician before him and knelt down beside the body of Rei Ayanami. He brushed the soaked hair from her face with a gloved hand, and froze in place as he saw Rei's lifeless eyes staring up at the roof of the cave.
"Don't feel bad, Ikari... maybe the third time's the charm..." a voice said curtly.
Gendo Ikari's right hand balled into a fist as he stood and turned about to see a NERV rescue squad member holding a video recorder.
"Now everybody knows, Ikari. EVERYbody knows." the squad member said flatly.
Inside the NERV Command Center, an already exhausted crew jolted when the main view screen flashed for a moment. The tactical readout was replaced by a shaky view of a dark cave.
"What the hell?" Aoba yelled. "Someone's feeding us video over a private connection!"
"Where's it coming from?" Fuyutski asked, shocked.
He didn't receive an answer from the technicians, and he didn't need one, for the image brought into focus the battered body of Rei Ayanami.
"I'm supposed to tell you not to 'deviate from the arranged scenario', or something like that. But I think you get the mess..."
*BANG*
A single shot echoed through the tunnel. The squad member's camera fell to the floor and shattered. Its purpose had been served.
Gendo Ikari replaced his small handgun to his vest and watched the man fall before him. His mind reeled as to what would occur now. How could this happen? Another spy? One that didn't report to him like Kaji did. No doubt he had transmitted the footage back to NERV. Everyone in the Command Center now knew of Rei's death. 'Second death,' he reminded himself loathingly. This had happened before, but that time only one knew, and she had been disposed of accordingly. He could not hide Rei's nature from those who served him any longer.
He looked back at Rei's body, still untouched since he'd stood up to face the conspirator. No one in the tunnel had moved since he'd shot him. Ikari then turned away, walking back through the tunnel towards the surface. The NERV rescue squad stood motionless as he passed by, not even bothering to ask him for orders.
"Clean up this mess. It is none of my concern any longer."
With that, Gendo Ikari left the tunnel. No one watched to see where he walked, as the busied themselves cleaning the remains of Unit 00's entry plug from the cave.
That was the last any of them saw of Commander Gendo Ikari.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES
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Whew! Never thought I'd finish this!
OK, I know this is starting of pretty grim. The reasons for that are:
A) I wanted to write something as unWAFFy as possible (for the moment), and
B) It had to start this way without sounding really contrived
C&C is ABSOLUTELY welcome. The more the better, please ^_^ And don't worry,
it'll cheer up a bit next chapter. After all, with Old Gendo gone, the world's
a better place, right?
Right?
-Mezzanine (last of a dying breed, fan of Maya Ibuki)
dubiousbw@msn.com
A NEON GENESIS EVANGELION fanfic.
Rights belonging to GAINAX and AD Vision.
Used without permission.