Heaven is Wherever You Make It.

(See Prologue for notes.)

Chapter 4: Vengeance

*Gunshots echo off the wall as the lights flicker and we see Yume hiding behind a wall.*

??????: Oh Yume where are you? Come out come out wherever you are.

Yume:(whispering to himself)Yeah like I'm going to tell you where I am.

*Kelsey walks up and smacks Yume in the head.*

Kelsey: Hey Yume what the hell are you doing?

*Yume throws his hand over Kelsey's mouth and turns back to see if the other person saw him.*

Yume: What where did she go?

*Kelsey starts struggling and breaks free of Yume and runs down the hall.*

Amy: Well Yume it seems that I have caught you.

*Amy levels her sword at Yume's neck with a wicked smile crossing her lips.*

Yume: What do you want Amy?

Amy: Why the bounty of course.

*Yume being as wise as he is uses his most clever technique for escaping as he edges towards the plug for the chapter's title.*

Yume: *Points behind Amy* WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?

*Amy turns around and Yume plugs the chapter title in and runs like a cold bat out of hell.*

Amy: What was it I don't.........*turns and sees Yume has escaped* DAMN YOU YUME!! I'm going to kill you and take you for all you're worth.

*Starts running after Yume*

Amy: Even if you don't own Eva.

Chapter 4: Vengeance

"AYANAMIIIIIIIIII!" Shinji screamed in terror as he watched Unit 00's body being shredded by the angel. Shinji reached up and grabbed the Prog. Knife from his Eva's shoulder blade (@@@ OK look I don't know the technical name for those things so that's the best I can come up with.). Shinji charged at the angel, as it ripped the chest-plate completely off Eva 00 with it's hideously deformed claws.

Maya and Ritsuko were typing at the console furiously trying desperately to get Rei's entry-plug to eject, but it seemed that the Eva was rejecting all foreign signals. Rei's anguished screams echoed through the control room as the technicians were trying everything they could to get her out. "Maya, try the second command code see if we can override the Eva." Maya nodded to Ritsuko and began typing again. But the same error appeared on the screen. "Negative doctor we still a get through to the Unit. It won't accept any commands we send it." Misato looked up to the commander, but he was sitting there with his fingers intertwined. A loud shriek fills the command center. Misato looks at Maya "Damn it! Where is her A.T. Field?" Maya looks at the display, "Her synchronization is dropping, and there is a flux in the matrix. She's getting too much feedback to generate a field." Misato just looked at Maya, "What the hell does that mean?" Ritsuko looked up from the errors on the screen, "It means that she is feeling too much pain and can't get the field up." Misato looked at the battle that was on screen. "Where are Shinji and Unit 01?" A map appeared by Shinji's image on the main screen, showing him on his way across the city. "Hurry Shinji you need to get her to a lift so me can retrieve her, she can't take much more."

Shinji vaguely heard Misato's command. Currently his mind had one thought that it was focusing it's energy on, 'It hurt Ayanami it must die, I must make it pay.' Eva Unit 01 began running faster its Prog knife drawn and in front of it. Rei's screams of pain echoed in Shinji's mind. He ran up and let out a primeval scream; somehow his Eva mimicked his action and let out a metallic/beast-like howl as it smashed into the angel causing it to smash through several buildings. As the angel began to pulls itself from the wreckage of the buildings Eva 01 was on top of it smashing its Prog knife into its shoulder. The angel began writhing in agony as the Eva used its own weight and strength to force the Prog Knife through its arm, cutting it off.

Shinji's animalistic rage began to subside as her heard Rei's pained breathing and light cries. As he wills his Eva to go over and assist Rei and Unit 00, then he hears Misato yelling at him, "Shinji behind you!!" Before he could turn around the angel shot another blast and hit him directly in the chest. He could see the LCL begin to bubble and feel the temperature rise although it wasn't as painful or surprising as Ramiel's attack was, it was a bit more painful and surprising than when he had to save Asuka in the volcano after Sandalphon's attack. He managed to regain his composure after the temperature stopped rising. When he was able to refocus his vision, he looked at the damage most of his Eva's armor covering its core was gone leaving the core exposed, his arm was severely damaged and bent at and odd angle. His inspection was interrupted as he heard Rei begin screaming again. Looking over through his haze he saw the angel had started to try and finish Unit 00 off. As he forced his Eva to stand he saw that there was a large crater which had begun to fill with water that came in from one of the nearby lakes. Coming to a decision he began to make another attack against the angel.

Misato watched with horror filled awe as the angel renewed it attack on the already heavily damaged Unit 00. "What the hell is going on there has to be something that we can do she's going to be killed if someone doesn't do something fast." Asuka who had just walked in after rearranging the employee lounge was awe struck at what was occurring on the main screen. Unit 00 looked like it had been in some really bad infomercial for something that slices, dices, and shreds. The angel was ripping at the remaining armor and was beginning to pull away muscles. Rei's anguish filled screams were echoing off the walls of the command center as the angel continued to rip at her prone unit. "It looks like it's trying to get the core or the Entry plug. Either way it is trying to completely destroy the Evangelion." Everyone turned back to the screen when Rei screamed again. Suddenly everyone's head whipped back at speeds that would make a chiropractor wince and grin at the amount her would make repairing all the spines, as the Commander began to speak. "Activate the remains of the defenses try to distract the angel so that the Third Child can move her to a retrieval route. NOW!" At that the command center exploded with activity as everyone began to try and follow the Commander's orders. Soon the screen was filled with activity as the defenses began to fire at the angel; missiles, machine guns, everything they could operate was aimed at the angel and firing. Unfortunately the angel didn't seem to notice due to its A.T. Field. Asuka, Misato and the rest of Nerv watched in horror as the angel clawed more and more at the Eva's remains. Rei's screams were just dull sobs and whimpers as she had lost consciousness already. Suddenly the image gave out and there was nothing but static.

Shinji stood after having disabled all the cameras. He knew that the last thing he would want was for everyone to see what he was going to do. He looked at the angel and began expanding his A.T. Field. He watched as the angel turned and looked at him, its right arm/claw was missing the wound still bleeding heavily. The Eva and the angel began circling each other. Shinji having managed to pick up the rifle earlier let a volley of bullet streak forward and hit the angel knocking it back. Moving quickly Shinji grabbed the battered form of Unit 00. Hoisting it up as carefully as he could he carried it to the water filled crater. As gently as he can he lowers her into the hole, knowing that as long as the power cable remains attached and intact her life support system will be fine. After she is in the crater he quickly turns back to the charging form of the angel, just in time to use his leg and flip it over his head using its own momentum. But before he can regain his footing the angel has taken flight and is diving at him. As he narrowly avoids it he turns as fast as he can and grabs the angel holding at as best as he can as it struggles to get free. It begins to jerk violently, firing blasts all over the place. Shinji watched with morbid fascination as the blasts were ripping through the layers of armor above headquarters so easily. But before he was able to assess the exact number of layers that were destroyed the angel began using its claw to rip at his Eva's arm. Shinji reached his decision and acted, 'If I let this thing go now there is no way I will be able to beat it.' Shinji noticed much to his dismay that the angel's severed arm was regenerating, and also that his unit was not healing quite as fast. 'If this angel beats me there will be nothing to stop it from reaching headquarters and destroying everyone. It will kill everyone; Touji, Hikari, Rei, Kensuke, Misato, Asuka, everyone will die. I WON'T LET IT!! I WON'T LET THEM DOWN!!' Shinji locked the Eva on its current command and reached behind the seat and activated the Eva's self-destruct. He sat and watched as the clock ran down.

Misato looked at the screen for a few moments and blinked. The Commander stood and slammed his hands on his desk "WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!? GET A CAMERA ONLINE! NOW!!" Maya and the rest of the bridge crew typed furiously at their consoles. "We can't commander; all the cameras have been disabled somehow. We can't get a picture of the battle."

Suddenly a loud beeping drew the attention of Asuka as the bridge personnel tried to render the problem of no visual of the battle. She used the knowledge she had of the Magi terminals located on base and found what the problem was. The screen flashed four words in red bold letters, which caused her heart to drop into her stomach and splash around in her inners causing excess moisture resulting in her sweating. "EVANGELION SELF-DESTRUCT INITIATED". Her loud shriek drew a lot of attention, Misato was the first to her side and saw what she was shrieking about, barely managing to keep control as she read this, she turned to the bridge crew and began barking orders in rapid succession. "I want a camera online out there and I want it NOW!! Give me the statistics on Shinji and Rei, get me a link to both of them, and try to override Unit 01's destruct sequence! MOVE!!" Gendo visibly paled when he heard that the Eva was about to self-destruct. 'If I lose Unit 01, I will never have a chance at retrieving Yui.'

Makato spoke up; "We have a picture, rerouting to main screen now." The screen flickered as the sideways static filled image of the battlefield was shown. Unit 01 had the angel in what looked like a bear hug, as the angel whipped its arm around trying desperately to claw its way free of the purple colossus. Shigeru was the next to speak after his terminal beeped. "We have reestablished a connection to Unit 00. We can't get through to Unit 01 all external signals are being blocked from within the Entry plug." Misato nodded and turned to the main screen, more importantly the image of Rei Ayanami. "Rei what's going on out there? Where are you?" Rei looked around assessing her position and came to a conclusion, "I am underwater Major Katsuragi, I do not know how I I got here." Suddenly another beep and a loud computerized voice come over the speakers. "Attention, Eva Destruct countdown has reached 10 seconds and counting the point of no return has been reached." Everyone in the command center twisted their head and looked as the exposed core of Unit 01 began to, what seemed like, pulse. The collective of Nerv personnel all held their breath as the countdown reached zero. Soon a blinding white light flashed in the camera's lens was seen and soon the image gave way. The ground shook the rumbling was near deafening. The screen also showed Rei being rattled in the Entry plug of Unit 00. Then there was silence.

Rei was shocked as visual was restored to her Eva. She noticed that she was no longer surrounded by water, she began to survey her surroundings. She was in a crater that was next to a larger fresher crater. As she looked to where the water was draining from her crater to the other one she saw something that shocked and horrified her. There at the edge of the crater was the severed head of Unit 01, or what was left of it. The armor was dented and charred, the horn was half-gone and the remainder was bent, most of the plating around the left eye was gone showing only the smoking socket. She closed her eyes and shut off the visual sensors and wept. She didn't cry for a lost love, although she was certain she felt feelings for him that were stronger than friendship. She wept for her friend, and copilot. He had sacrificed himself in order to save everyone, to save her. She had wanted to get to know him perhaps even become closer to him, but now he was gone; never again to smile at her, never would she see him stare at her in class, she wouldn't even be able to hear him play his cello for her again. So she wept tears of grief, sorrow, but most of all bitter tears of loss.

Misato was shocked. No, that would be an understatement, she felt that this was one of the worst events of her entire life. (@@@ The top being what she witnessed during Second Impact.) She had lost Shinji, there was nothing she could do to get him back this time, he was simply gone. The boy whom she had welcomed into her home and felt as though he was her own son was gone. Asuka was not taking his sudden vaporization very well either. She was on her knees tear streaming down her cheeks as sobs wracked her body. 'That Idiot, he just had to be the hero. He had to save us all just like he always did.' Even after she had treated him so poorly the other night he still just shrugged it off and accepted her half-hearted apology with a smile. She had lost him and not any force on earth would bring him back. Apparently the Invincible Shinji wasn't as invincible as she made him out to be, and she had the proof, or lack-there-of because there wasn't much proof left from what she could imagine.

Gendo's mouth was hanging open and his glasses had slid down his nose then they normally would be allowed. He was shocked, plain and simply shocked. Not only had he lost the only thing he had that gave him a chance at reclaiming his lost wife. But he had also lost his son the last thing he had that showed he still had a connection to his wife. Both of them were gone in an instant. 'No this is unacceptable. I will not stand for this.' Gendo stood, closed his mouth, and pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He looked down at the silenced Command Center with his normal look of heartless indifference. "Major Katsuragi, organize a recovery team and go up there and retrieve what ever you can and have it brought back here immediately. Do I make myself clear Major?" Misato stood at attention tear slowly sliding down her face and saluted as best as she could. "Yes sir." With that Gendo turned to Fuyutsuki, "Handle things here." He stood on the lift and it took him down to his office. Once there he began to think about how he could fix things to his advantage. As he sat in his large darkened office he reached into the top drawer of his desk and pulled out a framed photo; it showed a younger Gendo with a small smile on his face as he observed a young woman who was playing with a small child. As he looked at this he could help but feel the complete sense of loss that this brought, although he didn't cry, years of indifference can do that to anyone, he was still immensely saddened. As he gazed at this picture his eyelids began to become heavy and soon he was asleep, photo in hand.

[To Be Continued?

Maybe after all I could end it there or continue it I'll make that decision when I want to =P]

(@@@

Yume: Finally. I finally got that chapter out of my brain.

Kelsey: Yeah but did you have to kill Shinji? I mean isn't he the main character?

*Yume assumes a Gendo-esque look and coldly replies to Kelsey*

Yume: The Third Child was not important to my plan and is therefore expendable.

*Kelsey jumps a bit as his near perfect imitation of Gendo failing to notice the silhouette against the window on the door*

Kelsey: So now what?

Yume: Now?

*Gets up and grabs her and runs*

Yume: Now we run that's what we do.

*Seconds later the door explodes and the room is filled with gunfire.*

Amy: Damn he got away again.