A.N.: Okay, it took some time to finish translating this chapter. Summer has hit Germany with all
its might and it´s really hot here. So, I fear that there are lots of mistakes...
Chapter 15 - Burning Heart
The lodging given to Shinji within headquarters was quitre large, larger than his room at home.
Under a large window a desk stood with a chair next to a very comfortable looking bed. A table
with two chair stood at the wall next to a board with a small TV set.
It´s quite different from the ones in the... other world...
He remembered the night in the tiny room given to Kaworu.
It had been before... an eternity? A life? A few days?
Shinji sighed and walked up to the window.
Even the view is different... this place doesn´t seem to be a fortress... Storehouses, Quarters...
large gardens...
Again he sighed. He turned around and left the room, stepped into the corridor.
Doors were to both sides of the corridor, but those of the other side were locked.
Storagerooms... without windows... he thought before turning left to the next door and knocking.
The sign next to the door read: Rei Akagi.
"Come in." it came monotously from the inside. "The door´s open."
Shinji entered - stopped at the doorstep, completly taken by surprise.
The table belonging to this room had been moved to the middle of it.
Around the table Rei, Asuka and Hikari were sitting and playing cards.
Asuka´s left eyelid was twitching, when she got a card from Rei, while Rei´s face stayed completly
expressionless.
Asuka sighed.
"Uhm, hi... do I disturb you?"
"You don´t." Rei said without turning the head, her attention completly on the cards in her delicate
hand. But within her voice was a warm sound that was reserved only for him.
"Hello, Shinji!"
Hikari nooded at him.
"Do you want to join us? We should be finishing this round soon - if only Asuka wouldn´t need
that long everytime..."
"What does Rei have to have such a pokerface?" Asuka argued. "I have got the joker just again!"
The next moment she clapped her hand against her mouth while Hikari started to laugh.
"Asuka, that´s no game for you."
"Ah, not?"
"No. And - you should never play for money if you don´t want to lose everything."
"Argh! If you were not my best friend, I would..."
Shinji got the chair by the desk and carried it over to the table, noticed Rei´s side-glance
and the smile that moved over her face for a short moment.
Why do just the two of us remember what happened? I´ll ask her when we are alone again...
"Ah, did they tell you when the synchtest begins?"
"This afternoon at two o´clock." Rei answered.
"Yes..."
"I´m quite courious how a real EVA is."
Shinji looked at Asuka.
Doesn´t she remember? She died inside of EVA-02...
He felt his knees starting to shake.
She´s not dead, she´s sitting next to me... She can´t have died...
But he remembered just too well finding the smashed remains of the EntryPlug... seeing something
rolling out of the remains of the capsule, something that had been surrounded by red hair...
No... no... no...
"Baka-Shinji, stop thrashing around!"
"Shinji-kun, what´s up?"
Rei placed a hand on his arm.
"Nothing." he pressed through clenched teeth.
"You look realy bad, maybe the doctors here should check it", Hikari suggested.
"It´s... it´s okay."
He forced himself to smile.
"Thanks for your concern, class-rep."
"Hm, without a class I guess I´m no class-represantive at the moment... I just hope my sisters
have no trouble without me, the commander was unable to tell how long I´ll be gone."
"Well, I think it´s great that we´re finally able to do something together - and your sisters
will master any kind of trouble."
"Thanks, Asuka. It´s just, well, since my mother´s ill a lot I´m taking care of the house, the
cooking... my older sister is able to burn water!"
´Oh, there I do know another one´, Shinji wanted to say but realized that he didn´t know if
the Misato Katsuragi of this reality was as a bad cook as in the other one.
Misato... she´s a teacher here...
"Ah, Hikari, they´ll get along - or they have something brought. Since my parents are always
argueing I´ve often been to the noodle-restaurant at the corner."
"Asuka, how is it, when your parents always argue?"
"Not nice..."
The redhead cast a last look on her cards.
"I don´t like to play anymore."
"I´m sorry, Asuka, I didn´t want..."
"No, no, the two of them are argueing loudly enough, I guess the half of the town does already
know. My father has a mistress and my mother would just love to kill him."
Hikari looked at Asuka with widened eyes.
"And you are able to say this that easy?"
"Why should I be ashamed? The relatives know, the neighbors know... Probably they´ll divorce soon."
"And what are you going to do? I mean, which parent will you stay with?"
"´Don´t know."
Shinji felt that she was only pretending to be cool. Way too often he had noticed that she had
cryed or heard her sobbing at night since her window was right above his. And he knew that the
whole house did already know about her parents.
"Uhm, maybe it will get alright again?!" he said against better knowing.
Asuka tried to smile.
"Maybe... but if not... I guess, I could get along alone."
"Really?" Hikari asked unbelievingly.
"Or maybe I´ll move in with Shinji... Eh, Shinji-chan, how´d you like this?" Asuka said.
"Ah..."
His jaw dropped.
"I´d know this." Rei mumbled.
"Ah, come on, Rei, I´m just joking."
"Hm."
"Ah. Well, my parents were quite happy to have me out of the house so they don´t have to pretend
to be careful. And it´s quite nice here, if you ask me. No school..."
"Yes." Rei agreed.
"Wow, Rei agrees with me... must be a good sign... hey, Hikari, draw a card!"
"I thought you..."
"Ha! Come on, draw a card."
"Okay..."
Asuka looked disappointed while Hikari put down a pair.
"Damned... Okay, that´s it."
She put down her cards in front of her for everyone to see.
"If you think so."
Rei collected the cards and put them back into the box.
"I know the reason they recruited us... but why are Touji and Kensuke here, too?"
"Maybe because of them being capable pilots?" Shinji said.
"Baka-Shinji, don´t interupt me! I´m just proofing the superiority of the female half of humanity!"
Hikari giggled.
"And how are you going to do this?"
"Ah, Baka, that´s easy! Just look!"
Asuka got up, moved away from the table. Then she let her shoulders slump forward and pushed her
jaw forward.
"Hello, I am Touji! I´m the greatest jock at the whole school!"
She made handmovements like she was dribbling a ball.
"Oh, Asuka, that´s nasty!" Hikari shouted but couldn´t stop giggling.
Asuka´s answer was bending her knees a bit and opening her eyes widely.
"And I am Kensuke, my best friend´s my computer!"
"Asuka, stop, they are my friends!" Shinji protested.
"And that´s the final proof..." Asuka laughed. "We women are way better than you. You should
carry us on your hands!"
"Asuka! ... Rei, please, say something."
"Hm... being carried on hands... I could get used to this."
Rei winked at Shinji.
"Say, where are the other two stooges?"
"Well, Asuka, it´s one thing to imitate Touji, but calling him an idiot..."
Asuka watched Hikari closely.
"Just say - you don´t happen to like him, do you?"
"Ah... uhm..."
Hikari turned red.
"That´s obscene!" Asuka shouted and grinned.
Hikari glared at her.
"If one of you tells Touji anything, I´ll... I´ll kill you! - The same goes for you, Shinji!"
The boy twitched heavily.
"Ah, yes."
"Eh, Hikari, that´s my line! - But in earnest, where are the two?"
"Uhm, they wanted to look around a bit within the Geofront... Kensuke wanted to visited the docks."
"That´s typical, they´ll walk right into trouble! Aida will stumble into some kind of high-security
zone and..."
This moment sirens started howling.
"What´s up now?" Asuka shouted. "I was just joking..."
Shinji jumped up, ran out into the corridor just to watch thick steeldoors closing at both ends
of it. At the same moment a steeljalousy closed in front of Rei´s room´s window. He returned to
the room to tell the others what he had witnessed.
Rei meanwhile stood in front of the TV-set, working at a small command port.
"I´m trying to contact somebody..."
The screen lightened, showed the face of a young man with shoulderlengthed hair, saying something
Shinji couldn´t hear.
Rei tunred around.
"We are to stay here, he said, we´d be safe here."
"Did he say what´s going on?"
"No, Asuka, just that we should stay together."
***
At the command center Shigeru Aoba interupted the connection to the childrens´ quarters.
"Four of them are within their rooms, the other two are at the docks."
"Good, they shall stay there."
Thomas looked downwards over his folded hands.
"Can you already tell me the reason for the alarm?"
"MAGI are still busy identifying the blue pattern."
"An Angeloi-construct within headquarters..." Deiko mumbled who stood by Thomas´ side.
"Are the backup-systems working as expected?"
"No problems. The two new MAGI-units are working well. But the target´s too small for the POLARIS-
sensors within the orbit... Wait, target´s been localised... the holding cells!"
"The cells?"
Thomas kept his breath.
"Midori..."
"You don´t happen to think that...
He looked at her with eyes full of sadness. Then he got up.
"What are you going to do?"
"What I have to do..."
Once again he looked back.
"Captain Aoba, the pilots´ security is of top priority!"
"Understood, Commander. Target´s left the holding cell area!"
"Any visual link?" Deiko asked.
"Negative, visual link´s disturbed. Data point at the existence of a weak AT-field!"
"AT-field... that was to be expected..." the one-eyed whispered.
"Again: What are you going to do?"
"I should have seen the danger earlier... Deiko, Midori´s been possessed by a Bardiel. - I should
have noticed it!"
"That´s not sure, Thomas."
He just shook his head.
"Captain, have a way opened to my rooms through the defenses. Then you´ll take a team and bring
the children out of headquarters!"
And he left the control center.
"Damned, wait!" Deiko hissed when she closed up to him. "You are not really going to do what I am
thinking you are going to do, are you?!"
"We can´t fight an Angeloi here within headquarters without endangering NMROD´s controls. I will
try to stop the Angeloi on the lower levels... if I fail you will flood the lower level with
bakelite."
They reached the living-quarters of the Commander.
"You can´t be serious... What are we going to do without you?"
"You´ll get along."
He entered his rooms just to return with a weapon, a nearly six feet long spear with twin-tips
at both ends.
"Your Khadja... I haven´t seen you using it for quiet a while."
"I had no reason."
She looked into his good eye, found either mercy nor humanity...
"Thomas..."
"Deiko, if I fail... if I fail and the Bardiel manages to also possess me... you know what you´ll
have to do then..."
"Stay!"
"I have to try, I owe her..."
And he hurried down the corridor to the next flight of stairs. A security door closed behind him.
"Idiot..." Deiko whispered and turned to the next com-console. "Control center, this is Captain
Tamakura. Commander Shigen´s on his way to the lower levels. Since I´m the senior officer with
him gone, I´m taking command now."
"Confirmed."
"I´ll be waiting for a fully armed squat in five minutes at my coordinates."
"Yes, Sir."
Deiko pulled a gun out of her shoulder-holster and checked the magazine.
***
Thomas ran down the firestairs. Since the third flight he felt pain in his left knee.
It was never a problem before... but now all those old injuries sum up to a lot of trouble...
Only emergency light was on, but he´d have found his way blindly
His mind was busy planing a strategy to use against the Bardiel - while his heart kept asking
him if he really would be able to use it...
"Target enters level nine", Aoba´s voice whispered from the headset into his ear.
"I´m nearly there."
His own raspy voice startled him.
"Unlook the door."
"Confirmed. The section with the children´s secured, we´re preparing for evacuation."
"Understood."
"Captain Tamakura´s on the way with reinforcements."
"Yes..."
"We´ve lost contact to level nine."
"Are some of our people still there?"
"No, evacuation´s complete."
***
Darkness reigned on level nine.
Thomas stopped at the door that locked shut behind him.
Alone...
He removed his contact lense.
A single red eye glowed in the dark.
Where is she...?
The Khadja ready to strike he walked down the main corridor without producing any noise.
He was the Warlord...
***
One of the security gates was opened.
Shigeru Aoba waved at the waiting children.
"We´ll bring you outside."
"Did anything happen?" Shinji asked.
"Trouble on the lower levels."
"An angel? - Ahm, an Angeloi?" the boy corrected himself.
Aoba nodded.
"An intruder."
"We have to go to the EVAs to stop it!"
"No, boy, the mechas wouldn´t be able to enter the lower levels. The commander has gone to stop
the Angeloi himself."
***
Two red eyes were glowing in the dark.
He stopped.
"Midori", he whispered.
A blink.
"TABRIS..."
It was her voice, but it sounded raw and full of hate.
"TRAITOR TO THE IMPERATRIX..."
Thomas readied his Khadja-blade, went into a defensive position.
"Midori, fight it!"
"NO USE. MIDORI´S IRRELEVANT."
His eyes hardened. He changed to the language of the Angeloi.
"WHAT´S YOUR MISSION?"
"TO PREPARE FOR THE ARRIVAL OF HER MAJESTY. ARE YOU READY TO DIE, TRAITOR?"
A glow surrounded Midori Sekigahama when the Bardiel spread its AT-field.
"I WILL STOP YOU."
"TRY IT, TABRIS!"
Light shot from her eyes, hit his passive AT-field, threw him backwards.
Pain raced through his body when he hit the wall.
"Midori, fight it! I know you can!"
He rolled aside, came back to his feet, pointing at her with one the Khadja´s blades.
She looked at him. For a moment the AT-field blinked.
"I try... but it´s so..." Midori whispered.
For a second the glow vanished from her eyes, just to return stronger than before.
Her hands turned into claws, then she charged him.
Thomas turned his blade away in the last moment so that he just stopped her instead of skewering
her.
The Bardiel grinned at him.
"YOU ARE WEAK, TABRIS. THE HUMANS MADE YOU WEAK!"
"NO... Midori!"
Again she threw him against the wall, he hit it hard with the head, his vision blurred. He dodged
the next attack, used his weapon to hit her legs and threw her to the ground. The next second he
was holding the blade against her throat.
"LET HER GO!"
"NO!"
A shivver ran through her body. Again the glow left her eyes.
"Kill me..."
"No!"
The Bardiel´s hands reached upwards, grabbed the blade, pushed it away, ignoring the deep cuts
resulting from this action.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!"
She kicked against his left knee with all her might.
The one-eyed lost his balance.
The next kick hit him at the chest.
He lost his weapon, was to busy trying to breath.
"AND, WHAT NOW, TABRIS? NO PLACE TO RUN..."
When he saw the next kick coming, he grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him.
A hit to the face by the Bardiel´s fist left a burning sensation behind.
He got a hold of her wrist, when she hit him with the other hand he also grabbed this one.
"Last chance, Midori..." he whispered. "Fight!"
With a pull he dragged her close, pressed his lips against hers.
The Bardiel´s eyes widened, the glow in it got weaker when it felt its energy drained away.
Fight... fight it... I love you...
The body in his arms went limp. But he didn´t break the contact, keep using his powers against
the parasite, sucking its life away. He only let go of her wrist to hold her.
And somewhen he finally broke the kiss that had destroyed the Bardiel. And a single tear of blood
ran down his cheek when he realized that in the end he had failed...
End of stage 2
*************************************************************************************************
Next: The PROMETHEUS takes to sea for Operation Fishingtour
its might and it´s really hot here. So, I fear that there are lots of mistakes...
Chapter 15 - Burning Heart
The lodging given to Shinji within headquarters was quitre large, larger than his room at home.
Under a large window a desk stood with a chair next to a very comfortable looking bed. A table
with two chair stood at the wall next to a board with a small TV set.
It´s quite different from the ones in the... other world...
He remembered the night in the tiny room given to Kaworu.
It had been before... an eternity? A life? A few days?
Shinji sighed and walked up to the window.
Even the view is different... this place doesn´t seem to be a fortress... Storehouses, Quarters...
large gardens...
Again he sighed. He turned around and left the room, stepped into the corridor.
Doors were to both sides of the corridor, but those of the other side were locked.
Storagerooms... without windows... he thought before turning left to the next door and knocking.
The sign next to the door read: Rei Akagi.
"Come in." it came monotously from the inside. "The door´s open."
Shinji entered - stopped at the doorstep, completly taken by surprise.
The table belonging to this room had been moved to the middle of it.
Around the table Rei, Asuka and Hikari were sitting and playing cards.
Asuka´s left eyelid was twitching, when she got a card from Rei, while Rei´s face stayed completly
expressionless.
Asuka sighed.
"Uhm, hi... do I disturb you?"
"You don´t." Rei said without turning the head, her attention completly on the cards in her delicate
hand. But within her voice was a warm sound that was reserved only for him.
"Hello, Shinji!"
Hikari nooded at him.
"Do you want to join us? We should be finishing this round soon - if only Asuka wouldn´t need
that long everytime..."
"What does Rei have to have such a pokerface?" Asuka argued. "I have got the joker just again!"
The next moment she clapped her hand against her mouth while Hikari started to laugh.
"Asuka, that´s no game for you."
"Ah, not?"
"No. And - you should never play for money if you don´t want to lose everything."
"Argh! If you were not my best friend, I would..."
Shinji got the chair by the desk and carried it over to the table, noticed Rei´s side-glance
and the smile that moved over her face for a short moment.
Why do just the two of us remember what happened? I´ll ask her when we are alone again...
"Ah, did they tell you when the synchtest begins?"
"This afternoon at two o´clock." Rei answered.
"Yes..."
"I´m quite courious how a real EVA is."
Shinji looked at Asuka.
Doesn´t she remember? She died inside of EVA-02...
He felt his knees starting to shake.
She´s not dead, she´s sitting next to me... She can´t have died...
But he remembered just too well finding the smashed remains of the EntryPlug... seeing something
rolling out of the remains of the capsule, something that had been surrounded by red hair...
No... no... no...
"Baka-Shinji, stop thrashing around!"
"Shinji-kun, what´s up?"
Rei placed a hand on his arm.
"Nothing." he pressed through clenched teeth.
"You look realy bad, maybe the doctors here should check it", Hikari suggested.
"It´s... it´s okay."
He forced himself to smile.
"Thanks for your concern, class-rep."
"Hm, without a class I guess I´m no class-represantive at the moment... I just hope my sisters
have no trouble without me, the commander was unable to tell how long I´ll be gone."
"Well, I think it´s great that we´re finally able to do something together - and your sisters
will master any kind of trouble."
"Thanks, Asuka. It´s just, well, since my mother´s ill a lot I´m taking care of the house, the
cooking... my older sister is able to burn water!"
´Oh, there I do know another one´, Shinji wanted to say but realized that he didn´t know if
the Misato Katsuragi of this reality was as a bad cook as in the other one.
Misato... she´s a teacher here...
"Ah, Hikari, they´ll get along - or they have something brought. Since my parents are always
argueing I´ve often been to the noodle-restaurant at the corner."
"Asuka, how is it, when your parents always argue?"
"Not nice..."
The redhead cast a last look on her cards.
"I don´t like to play anymore."
"I´m sorry, Asuka, I didn´t want..."
"No, no, the two of them are argueing loudly enough, I guess the half of the town does already
know. My father has a mistress and my mother would just love to kill him."
Hikari looked at Asuka with widened eyes.
"And you are able to say this that easy?"
"Why should I be ashamed? The relatives know, the neighbors know... Probably they´ll divorce soon."
"And what are you going to do? I mean, which parent will you stay with?"
"´Don´t know."
Shinji felt that she was only pretending to be cool. Way too often he had noticed that she had
cryed or heard her sobbing at night since her window was right above his. And he knew that the
whole house did already know about her parents.
"Uhm, maybe it will get alright again?!" he said against better knowing.
Asuka tried to smile.
"Maybe... but if not... I guess, I could get along alone."
"Really?" Hikari asked unbelievingly.
"Or maybe I´ll move in with Shinji... Eh, Shinji-chan, how´d you like this?" Asuka said.
"Ah..."
His jaw dropped.
"I´d know this." Rei mumbled.
"Ah, come on, Rei, I´m just joking."
"Hm."
"Ah. Well, my parents were quite happy to have me out of the house so they don´t have to pretend
to be careful. And it´s quite nice here, if you ask me. No school..."
"Yes." Rei agreed.
"Wow, Rei agrees with me... must be a good sign... hey, Hikari, draw a card!"
"I thought you..."
"Ha! Come on, draw a card."
"Okay..."
Asuka looked disappointed while Hikari put down a pair.
"Damned... Okay, that´s it."
She put down her cards in front of her for everyone to see.
"If you think so."
Rei collected the cards and put them back into the box.
"I know the reason they recruited us... but why are Touji and Kensuke here, too?"
"Maybe because of them being capable pilots?" Shinji said.
"Baka-Shinji, don´t interupt me! I´m just proofing the superiority of the female half of humanity!"
Hikari giggled.
"And how are you going to do this?"
"Ah, Baka, that´s easy! Just look!"
Asuka got up, moved away from the table. Then she let her shoulders slump forward and pushed her
jaw forward.
"Hello, I am Touji! I´m the greatest jock at the whole school!"
She made handmovements like she was dribbling a ball.
"Oh, Asuka, that´s nasty!" Hikari shouted but couldn´t stop giggling.
Asuka´s answer was bending her knees a bit and opening her eyes widely.
"And I am Kensuke, my best friend´s my computer!"
"Asuka, stop, they are my friends!" Shinji protested.
"And that´s the final proof..." Asuka laughed. "We women are way better than you. You should
carry us on your hands!"
"Asuka! ... Rei, please, say something."
"Hm... being carried on hands... I could get used to this."
Rei winked at Shinji.
"Say, where are the other two stooges?"
"Well, Asuka, it´s one thing to imitate Touji, but calling him an idiot..."
Asuka watched Hikari closely.
"Just say - you don´t happen to like him, do you?"
"Ah... uhm..."
Hikari turned red.
"That´s obscene!" Asuka shouted and grinned.
Hikari glared at her.
"If one of you tells Touji anything, I´ll... I´ll kill you! - The same goes for you, Shinji!"
The boy twitched heavily.
"Ah, yes."
"Eh, Hikari, that´s my line! - But in earnest, where are the two?"
"Uhm, they wanted to look around a bit within the Geofront... Kensuke wanted to visited the docks."
"That´s typical, they´ll walk right into trouble! Aida will stumble into some kind of high-security
zone and..."
This moment sirens started howling.
"What´s up now?" Asuka shouted. "I was just joking..."
Shinji jumped up, ran out into the corridor just to watch thick steeldoors closing at both ends
of it. At the same moment a steeljalousy closed in front of Rei´s room´s window. He returned to
the room to tell the others what he had witnessed.
Rei meanwhile stood in front of the TV-set, working at a small command port.
"I´m trying to contact somebody..."
The screen lightened, showed the face of a young man with shoulderlengthed hair, saying something
Shinji couldn´t hear.
Rei tunred around.
"We are to stay here, he said, we´d be safe here."
"Did he say what´s going on?"
"No, Asuka, just that we should stay together."
***
At the command center Shigeru Aoba interupted the connection to the childrens´ quarters.
"Four of them are within their rooms, the other two are at the docks."
"Good, they shall stay there."
Thomas looked downwards over his folded hands.
"Can you already tell me the reason for the alarm?"
"MAGI are still busy identifying the blue pattern."
"An Angeloi-construct within headquarters..." Deiko mumbled who stood by Thomas´ side.
"Are the backup-systems working as expected?"
"No problems. The two new MAGI-units are working well. But the target´s too small for the POLARIS-
sensors within the orbit... Wait, target´s been localised... the holding cells!"
"The cells?"
Thomas kept his breath.
"Midori..."
"You don´t happen to think that...
He looked at her with eyes full of sadness. Then he got up.
"What are you going to do?"
"What I have to do..."
Once again he looked back.
"Captain Aoba, the pilots´ security is of top priority!"
"Understood, Commander. Target´s left the holding cell area!"
"Any visual link?" Deiko asked.
"Negative, visual link´s disturbed. Data point at the existence of a weak AT-field!"
"AT-field... that was to be expected..." the one-eyed whispered.
"Again: What are you going to do?"
"I should have seen the danger earlier... Deiko, Midori´s been possessed by a Bardiel. - I should
have noticed it!"
"That´s not sure, Thomas."
He just shook his head.
"Captain, have a way opened to my rooms through the defenses. Then you´ll take a team and bring
the children out of headquarters!"
And he left the control center.
"Damned, wait!" Deiko hissed when she closed up to him. "You are not really going to do what I am
thinking you are going to do, are you?!"
"We can´t fight an Angeloi here within headquarters without endangering NMROD´s controls. I will
try to stop the Angeloi on the lower levels... if I fail you will flood the lower level with
bakelite."
They reached the living-quarters of the Commander.
"You can´t be serious... What are we going to do without you?"
"You´ll get along."
He entered his rooms just to return with a weapon, a nearly six feet long spear with twin-tips
at both ends.
"Your Khadja... I haven´t seen you using it for quiet a while."
"I had no reason."
She looked into his good eye, found either mercy nor humanity...
"Thomas..."
"Deiko, if I fail... if I fail and the Bardiel manages to also possess me... you know what you´ll
have to do then..."
"Stay!"
"I have to try, I owe her..."
And he hurried down the corridor to the next flight of stairs. A security door closed behind him.
"Idiot..." Deiko whispered and turned to the next com-console. "Control center, this is Captain
Tamakura. Commander Shigen´s on his way to the lower levels. Since I´m the senior officer with
him gone, I´m taking command now."
"Confirmed."
"I´ll be waiting for a fully armed squat in five minutes at my coordinates."
"Yes, Sir."
Deiko pulled a gun out of her shoulder-holster and checked the magazine.
***
Thomas ran down the firestairs. Since the third flight he felt pain in his left knee.
It was never a problem before... but now all those old injuries sum up to a lot of trouble...
Only emergency light was on, but he´d have found his way blindly
His mind was busy planing a strategy to use against the Bardiel - while his heart kept asking
him if he really would be able to use it...
"Target enters level nine", Aoba´s voice whispered from the headset into his ear.
"I´m nearly there."
His own raspy voice startled him.
"Unlook the door."
"Confirmed. The section with the children´s secured, we´re preparing for evacuation."
"Understood."
"Captain Tamakura´s on the way with reinforcements."
"Yes..."
"We´ve lost contact to level nine."
"Are some of our people still there?"
"No, evacuation´s complete."
***
Darkness reigned on level nine.
Thomas stopped at the door that locked shut behind him.
Alone...
He removed his contact lense.
A single red eye glowed in the dark.
Where is she...?
The Khadja ready to strike he walked down the main corridor without producing any noise.
He was the Warlord...
***
One of the security gates was opened.
Shigeru Aoba waved at the waiting children.
"We´ll bring you outside."
"Did anything happen?" Shinji asked.
"Trouble on the lower levels."
"An angel? - Ahm, an Angeloi?" the boy corrected himself.
Aoba nodded.
"An intruder."
"We have to go to the EVAs to stop it!"
"No, boy, the mechas wouldn´t be able to enter the lower levels. The commander has gone to stop
the Angeloi himself."
***
Two red eyes were glowing in the dark.
He stopped.
"Midori", he whispered.
A blink.
"TABRIS..."
It was her voice, but it sounded raw and full of hate.
"TRAITOR TO THE IMPERATRIX..."
Thomas readied his Khadja-blade, went into a defensive position.
"Midori, fight it!"
"NO USE. MIDORI´S IRRELEVANT."
His eyes hardened. He changed to the language of the Angeloi.
"WHAT´S YOUR MISSION?"
"TO PREPARE FOR THE ARRIVAL OF HER MAJESTY. ARE YOU READY TO DIE, TRAITOR?"
A glow surrounded Midori Sekigahama when the Bardiel spread its AT-field.
"I WILL STOP YOU."
"TRY IT, TABRIS!"
Light shot from her eyes, hit his passive AT-field, threw him backwards.
Pain raced through his body when he hit the wall.
"Midori, fight it! I know you can!"
He rolled aside, came back to his feet, pointing at her with one the Khadja´s blades.
She looked at him. For a moment the AT-field blinked.
"I try... but it´s so..." Midori whispered.
For a second the glow vanished from her eyes, just to return stronger than before.
Her hands turned into claws, then she charged him.
Thomas turned his blade away in the last moment so that he just stopped her instead of skewering
her.
The Bardiel grinned at him.
"YOU ARE WEAK, TABRIS. THE HUMANS MADE YOU WEAK!"
"NO... Midori!"
Again she threw him against the wall, he hit it hard with the head, his vision blurred. He dodged
the next attack, used his weapon to hit her legs and threw her to the ground. The next second he
was holding the blade against her throat.
"LET HER GO!"
"NO!"
A shivver ran through her body. Again the glow left her eyes.
"Kill me..."
"No!"
The Bardiel´s hands reached upwards, grabbed the blade, pushed it away, ignoring the deep cuts
resulting from this action.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE KILLED ME WHEN YOU HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY!"
She kicked against his left knee with all her might.
The one-eyed lost his balance.
The next kick hit him at the chest.
He lost his weapon, was to busy trying to breath.
"AND, WHAT NOW, TABRIS? NO PLACE TO RUN..."
When he saw the next kick coming, he grabbed her leg and pulled her towards him.
A hit to the face by the Bardiel´s fist left a burning sensation behind.
He got a hold of her wrist, when she hit him with the other hand he also grabbed this one.
"Last chance, Midori..." he whispered. "Fight!"
With a pull he dragged her close, pressed his lips against hers.
The Bardiel´s eyes widened, the glow in it got weaker when it felt its energy drained away.
Fight... fight it... I love you...
The body in his arms went limp. But he didn´t break the contact, keep using his powers against
the parasite, sucking its life away. He only let go of her wrist to hold her.
And somewhen he finally broke the kiss that had destroyed the Bardiel. And a single tear of blood
ran down his cheek when he realized that in the end he had failed...
End of stage 2
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Next: The PROMETHEUS takes to sea for Operation Fishingtour