Before I fully knew what was going on, I dropped into a crouch, the missle going right past me and barrelling through the wall. Snarling with anger, I jumped up and knocked them down, not caring at that moment if they died or not. When I turned to face the group again, the higher ups all had handguns trained on me.
"Freeze!" the first one said, having recovered from his faint. "Now, you're going to give us some answers."
"The hell I am!" I took a step towards them, but stopped when they opened fire. I raised both arms in front of my face, protecting it with my forearms. But I kept walking towards them, and when they paused to reload, I brought one arm and slammed it down in front of them, effectively blocking their aim.
"You are going to give me some answers," I snarled. "Why do you want the EVA Units?"
"We're working for Adam Carson," the first man said, somewhat disgustedly. "He wants the Units so he can get the UN to agree to his demands. I swear, that's all I know." He looked up, trying to see around my arm.
I didn't move for a long moment. Then I slowly lowered my arm. "Leave, " I said again. "You won't find what you're looking for here."
I watched impassively as the entire team filed out through a hole in the wall. The higher ups all took the time to glare at me one last time before going.
When they were gone, I flipped the external speakers off and sighed, sitting back in my seat, not realizing how tense I had been. The Unit relaxed as well, throwing one arm against the wall and resting my head against it.
"How did it go?" Tashi's voice cut into the silence.
"They'll be back," I replied. "They weren't too impressed when I squashed their heavy-duty gun and the gunner, and they were even less impressed when their handguns couldn't affect me and I made them leave. They'll be back."
I heard him sigh, relieved. "Thank goodness," he murmured. "So, is there a Unit there?"
I straightened up and took a step towards the covered Unit. "Yes. I'm just checking now to see which one."
I reached out a hand, saw it in my viewscreen and froze, my mind reeling.
"Whoa," I whispered, my eyes widening.
"What?"
"I just realized...."
"Realized what?"
"I keep thinking of the Unit as myself...like it really was me.'
But I am. I am a part of you, and you are a part of me.
I took my hand off the controls and sat back in my seat, turning the internal speakers off and closing my eyes. I sat there for several moments, my mind utterly blank.
You can't keep me out. We are a part of each other. There is nothing to worry about.
"There is plenty to worry about!" I cried. "I didn't want to kill anybody! I didn't really want this -- "
Yes, you did. You've always wanted freedom from them. I could tell that right from the start.
"How?"
When you first stepped into me, without the entry plug. I wanted to close up around you, but I need the plug. You are so close to my first pilot...
I wanted to cry. I buried my face in my hands, willing myself not to talk to it anymore. I couldn't resist, though.
"Who was your first pilot?"
The thought softened. My son, Shinji.
I thought that over for a bit. "How can a machine have children, much less human children?" My internal speaker light was flashing urgently. I ignored it.
I wasn't always in this body. I was human once. And even this body isn't completely mechanical. This is just a protective armor of sorts. Part of me is organic.
"Then how did you survive this long?"
I had the distinct impression that the Unit was laughing. I'm not too sure myself. It must have something to do with how I was created. I was never told the details. And now, young one, you must uncover that Unit. The presence slowly extracted itself from me, staying in the back of my mind.
Recovering my senses, I put my hands on the controls. "Alright, let's do it," I said quietly. I pictured the Unit taking hold of the sheet and pulling it off, which it did. It was easy to fall back into the thought pattern that I was actually the Unit and not just plain old Mei. The cloth fell away, and my sensors read what I couldn't see in the dark.
I flipped on the internal speakers again. Tashi was in the middle of a tirade. "-alright? Mei, please, speak to me!"
"I'm here," I replied softly. "And I found another Unit."
"Oh thank heavens. Why did you turn off your speakers?"
"I needed to think a bit."
"Another Unit? Which one?"
I paused for a moment, my eyes glued to the viewscreen. "Unit-00."
There was a longer pause on his end. "What?"
"Unit-00, Tashi. They almost had hold of Unit-00."
It was quite awhile before Unit-00 was even remotely operational.
It was in far worse shape than Unit-01 had been. I found it kneeling, and I remember thinking somewhere in the back of my mind that it was awfully short for a Unit, seeing as the computer had said they were all around the same size. The reason why was obvious -- part of the leg was missing. It looked as though a lot of the structural support was missing. One arm was completely off, torn halfway up the upper arm. The rest was lying beside it, and it looked as though someone had started repairs to get it reattached. And it was just as dusty as Unit-01 had been, if not more. I think the fact that an air shaft was some hundred feet above it had a lot to do with that fact.
The entry plug was lying half-buried under some rubble that was probably created by the hole that the work force had blasted into the shaft. I cleared it off and lifted it out easily in Unit-01, though I felt like I was commiting sacrelige...the EVA's had been designed as Earth's last defense against the Angels, not as a hard labor force. The Unit assured me it didn't mind, but I still felt odd about it...
The entry plug was a bit battered up. The front end was definitely going to need some repairs before it could be used. That took both me and Tashi -- me out of the Unit -- an entire week to get it any where near usable. Then it took a few more days to get the manual door release working.
Inside, it was exactly the same as Unit-01's was. It even had the thought sensors and pilot suit in the seat. The suit was very obviously female, but by then, I had grown very attached to the one I was wearing and I even considered it mine. We were lucky to search the other shafts, finding a cage empty of a Unit but having an entry plug. The plug said Unit-03, but the Unit was listed in the computer as 'lost'. The plug had a suit and thought sensors in it, but we left the sensors there. The suit was far more to Tashi's liking; it fit him like mine fit me -- tight without being uncomfortable, and made him look fantastic.
I had seen pictures of the original pilots, but only as their security shots had depicted them -- sullen children who never seemed to smile. The files had contained a head shot and one full body, two of each if you counted the same sideways shot as a different picture. The original pilot of EVA-00 was a sad looking girl with blue or purple hair (it seemed to change between the two shots), red eyes and dressed in a pretty blue dress with a white blouse. The file displayed her name as Rei Ayanami. The original pilot of EVA-01 was Shinji Ikari, and I could see why the Unit was proud of him, though it never came out and said that. He had a quiet determination and courage about his face which was reflected in his dark eyes. He was dressed in dark pants and a dark shirt with a white one over top. The pilot of EVA-03 was another boy, taller than Shinji, and labelled as Touji. He had dark hair and eyes as well, dressed in a black running suit. He had a kind of arrogance in his picture, but even I could tell that he was sad about something. I later found out that he had no parents and his sister had died in the Angel attack on Tokyo-3 in which Shinji had first piloted EVA-01. I also found info on the other two human pilots, Asuka for EVA-02 and Kaworu for EVA-04, but their pictures were lost or corrupted and were unreadable. A few days after I had found those, I managed to hack into the classified files of NERV, where pictures of the pilots in their suits were found. Rei had gained an air of competence and determination, Shinji looked damned near impossible to stop, Touji had the look of one you didn't want to cross swords with (I don't remember where I heard that line...it must have been something Tashi said once) and I saw pictures of Asuka and Kaworu for the first time. Asuka was wearing a crimson pilot suit, her brown hair pinned back by matching thought sensors on her head. She had a look of foolish confidence on her face. Kaworu was very serious, though he had a dashing smile on his face. His eyes were the same colour as Rei's, though his hair was grey. I thought that was odd for a fourteen-year-old...
Tashi joined me at that point, placing a hand on my shoulder and leaning forward slightly. "Who's that?" he asked, tapping the screen with a gloved hand. We had both taken to wearing the pilot suits nearly constantly; they were very comfortable and our own clothes were wearing out. We had no idea where we could get more.
"Kaworu," I replied absently. "The original pilot of EVA-04."
"I wonder if that one is still here," he mused quietly. "Is there pictures of the pilots of 00 and 01?"
"Of course," I murmured and brought the pictures up without looking at the keyboard. First 01, then 00. Tashi drew in his breath sharply when Rei's picture flashed onto the screen.
"What is it?" I asked, feeling him tense up.
"I've seen her before," he replied. "In my dreams."
I frowned a bit. "You've seen her in your dreams?"
He nodded. "She never says anything, but she is always trying to show me something. I can never see it, and just when I think I can, I wake up."
I pondered that. "Well," I said briskly. closing the files and shutting the computer off. "Are you ready to try it out?" I stood up and turned to him. He searched my face for a moment and then smiled.
"You betcha."
I smiled back and then led him from the room. It was a bit of a walk to the shaft that held Unit-00, but I had planned for that and had left Unit-01 waiting as transportation. I climbed into the plug, closed the door and sat down just before it twisted itself down into the tunnel behind the panel. Then I connected with the Unit and offered the huge hand to Tashi. He climbed into the palm, and I curled the fingers in protectively before taking off towards the far shaft. It wasn't far by EVA, but it would have taken a human on foot -- especially with all the rubble that was still lying around -- at least a couple of hours.
Unit-00 had taken so many more repairs. When we had reattached the arm, I held it up in one hand, in line with the part that was still attached to the body, while holding Tashi in the other as he welded a lot of the connections back together. The leg repairs had gone much the same way.
Today would be the first time Tashi had attempted contact with Unit-00. The files all said that it was volatile and even tried to kill the pilot a couple of times. That told me that it had a personality as strong as Unit-01's and I was a little reluctant to let Tashi try and pilot it. I didn't know what I would do if it decided to kill him...
He got into the entry plug as soon as I set him down. Once the door was closed, I picked up the plug as levelly as I could and got it lined up for insertion into the Unit. "Here we go," I whispered to myself, and placed it inside the little bit it needed.
Nothing happened.
I frowned, and shoved a little on the back end. It slid in then, twisting around, although it did go grudgingly. Once it was fully in, the back panel slid closed over it. I waited a few tense moments. Then the left arm twitched once, twice, a third time. The Unit lurched to its feet. I jumped to mine easily, backing up two steps and dropping my arms loosely to my sides. Unit-00 turned jerkily to face me, looking at me unblinkingly with it's one eye. I turned my internal speakers on. "How is it?" I asked.
Tashi took a long moment to reply. "Wierd," he said finally. "I can sense it in here, but it refuses to fully join with me. I think -- " The speakers suddenly cut out.
"Tashi?" I said, worried. "Tashi, what's going on? Why aren't you on?"
I was surprised out of my skin then as Unit-00 leaped forward with sudden agility and attacked me.
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Characters & concept: © 1997-2002 Katsura /\ Evangelion © Gainax