4. Verhindernsonnenaufgang [preventing sunrise]
"okay, max-kun. we won't have time to test you on weaponry. take unit 02 to cage 5!" misato
shouted over the intercom. "get shinji over here! isoide!"
"so how do i do this?"
"all you have to do is take those reins that help you move and imagine the rest. you'll have
to act quickly. we're counting on you!"
"unit 02 now on catapult seven."
"unit 02 HASHIN [LAUNCH]!"
+++
max had traveled up the launch tunnels and now was standing on the streets of tokyo-3.
after the interlocks were cut, max lurched forward.
"max, just concentrate on moving right now. that's all you can do."
max imagined, and concentrated as hard as she could. she was walking, running, toward the target.
everyone in the control room was shocked. no one had grasped the concept of moving the eva so quickly before.
she had a gun with her.
[i can't fail!] her brain processed wildly, [zack and the others are counting on me! i can't fail
or else i'll be back at manticore for the rest of my life!]
"shinji! back up unit 02!"
"hai!"
[why do i have to back her up?] he wondered angrily, [she's a rookie, after all..]
max charged straight for the angel. it whipped out an arm at her and she dodged it with her superhuman
reflexes.
"sugoi!" hyuga whispered in awe, "manticore's children are just amazing!"
the angel hit her with an amplified AT field and she was knocked on her ass. she was
instantly on her feet again.
max was almost enjoying this. it was her feline DNA, she supposed. this was easy.
it was like zen.
shinji was disturbed by the calm on max's face during this. he remembered her words and shivered.
max lunged at the angel, snapping the AT field easily.
[i have to protect my family!] her mind screamed. adrenaline was in her veins now, not blood.
she began to scream wildly, repeatedly hitting the angel.
[i can't let lydecker have them!]
shinji covered his ears. he was scared now. just what the hell was max? what was his father thinking?
max continued to gut the angel. soon it was making feeble attempts to breathe. max and unit 02's shoulders flared out,
and she tore the head off the angel and simultaneously smashing her arm through its chest.
hyuga, maya, ritsuko and everyone else at headquarters stood with their hands to their mouths in horror.
gendo smiled behind his hands. it was damn good he'd managed to find this girl. he silently thanked
lydecker for putting these kids in such good shape.
max looked down, coming down from the adrenaline. she gasped at what she had done.
the angel was completely gutted.
she could hear shinji screaming and vomiting.
max went completely cold. sure, she took pleasure in kicking bad guy ass, but she rarely killed. she'd only killed once before.
that death row inmate who they thought was the 'nomalie..memories plagued her.
it all went black.
"unit 02 has gone silent!"
"nani?" shrieked ritsuko, "what the hell happened?"
"psychological disturbance near the ego borderline! we think they might
by traumatic memories!"
"eject the plug and recover the pilot!"
"01 has also gone silent, a few moments before 02!"
"what the hell is this?"
"he passed out. probably because of what he saw. remember when he had to kill 03 with toji inside? he passed
out and had to be removed forcably." misato said quietly, "alright, let's get UN dept. 2 out to clean up."
+++
max woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling.
"what happened?" she asked outloud. her mind was foggy from the over use of all that adrenaline. her
muscles faintly ached.
then she remembered the angel attack.
"oh god." she put a hand to her forehead. her hand began to quake. "fuck!" she muttered. there was no tryptophan anywhere.
she panicked. without it, she'd die.
shinji came in.
"looking for these?" he asked darkly, throwing her the pills. she shoveled them in her mouth until the seizure stopped.
"you were screaming." she said quietly.
"of course i was." he said softly, looking down. "you were kicking the hell out of that angel. i've
never seen anything like it. and that look on your face..." he shuddered.
"i can't apologize for that." she said, glaring at him. "it was the way i was made. don't you get it,
shinji? i was engineered to kill. but i haven't lived my life that way."
"i thought you were kidding." he said lamely.
"no. i'm not." she sighed and looked at her hands. "we were the defective generation, but the strongest so far when they made us.
there're x6s and x7s in the works, too. but not defective like me."
"you're not defective." he said after a silence. "you got away, didn't you? i can't get away from my past.
not from father..." he pounded the bed.
"you really hate him, don't you?"
"he tried to make me kill toji with my own hands! i do hate him!"
"i don't know how to feel about that one. i never really had parents. i guess you could say lydecker was,
but then again, he was too busy 'training' us to care.."
"father killed my mother!"
"lydecker killed all of our mothers. or put them in psych wards..."
the door opened and rei came in.
"ayanami!" shinji said, shocked, "you're better?"
"hai. i'll be functional in another day or two." she said mechanically. "so this
is the new pilot?"
"yes." max said quietly, "i'm max." she held out her hand. ayanami looked at it calmly.
"commander ikari wants to see you, max." she said, then spun on her heels and left.
"she's strange." max replied to the door.
"yes, she is."
"i guess i better go see your father.."
