Unit-00 was returned to us that night.
I was sleeping very soundly, and I was having troubled dreams that eluded memory. There was a huge crash that showered parts of the ceiling down on me; the noise and the crumbling of plaster and cement and other choice pieces of the ceiling falling on me woke me up.
I got out of bed hurriedly, taking time only to pull on my pilot suit before dashing out of my room, still struggling to get the thing closed. I ran all the way to CC, hitting the suction button on my left wrist moments before bursting into the room.
Tashi was brushing ceiling bits from himself and the map, alternately. He looked pretty sour.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"I don't know," he said irritably. "Whatever it was, it was big, and it made a mess on my map." He looked up as the room shuddered again. "Damnit," he swore. "It's not natural, either, I'll bet. I'll track it; you see if the Unit will respond. If you have to, blast the umbilical cable away."
"Got it," I replied, dashing from the room.
It was somewhat easier to get in the EVA from CC, seeing as i had to go down some stairs to get level with it. Not much later, the Unit was active again.
"It looks like it's coming from the northwest, Mei," Tashi said once I turned on the radio to let him know that I was active. "In one of the launching shafts." He sounded puzzled.
"The launching shaft?" I repeated, also puzzled.
"That's what the sensors say," he assured me.
I shrugged. "Okay. I'll be back in a jiffy." With that, I disengaged the safety locks and went to investigate.
The power had went out yet again, and I was now operating on four minutes of temporary power. The ceiling continued to crumble in bits and pieces, and a part of my mind worried about the structure falling in on us. Then another part told that part to shut up -- NERV had been here for who-knew-how-long, so it wasn't likely to collapse anytime soon. That didn't stop me from worrying about being crushed, or -- more so -- about Tashi being crushed.
I couldn't let that kind of thinking bother me, because it was starting to reflect in the Unit's performance, so I started singing -- horrendously off-key -- to myself. I didn't know what I was singing; it was just a bunch of words to me.
I reached the northwest launching shaft moments later, tracking the disturbance by the amount of noise and destruction going on. Peering up into the shaft, I could tell that the innermost doors were just about ready to burst, so I stepped to one side of them and flattened myself as best as I could against the wall.
The doors burst downwards, landing on the floor with a great clatter, and Unit-00 fell down after them.
I was surprised. I suppose I shouldn't have been, looking back on it, but I was. I didn't think Unit-00 would ever be returned to us. Yet here it was, and somehow, I knew that it wasn't here with the express purpose of rejoining me and Tashi.
The Unit had fallen in a jumble of arms and legs, but it righted itself quickly. I stayed absolutely still, hoping that it wouldn't notice me. It didn't; it started to walk in Tashi's direction. I followed behind, matching it's footsteps exactly. I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have enough time; my counter read two minutes left.
Unit-00 paused at a intersection in the EVA-sized passageways; I took the opportunity and jumped on it from behind, knocking it flat to the ground. The pilot was surprised enough, I guess, to not fight back. Whoever it was had only started to fight back when I pulled up the back panel covering the entry plug and yanked it out. Unit-00 shuddered once and lay still. I grabbed the plug in my hand, got up and ran back to CC as fast as I could, the counter now reading less than a minute.
I was lucky, I got back to CC and knelt, laying the plug down on the floor and ejecting my own just as the counter ran out. Unit-01 froze in place, one hand still on the other entry plug.
The power had come back on, it looked like; Tashi joined me on the floor, carrying a large battery-powered lamp in case it went out again. "Power cord first," he yelled up to me. Waving to show that I had heard him, I jumped down to the floor, grabbed the power cable for Unit-01 in both hands and started dragging it back. Luckily, it wasn't far. Tashi helped me drag it back to the Unit, lift it up to the back and guide it back into place. I got back into the EVA, let the other plug go and cupped my hands around it and Tashi so that when he opened it, whoever the pilot was wouldn't get away.
I needn't have worried, it turned out. Tashi opened the plug, the LCL pouring out around his legs, and crawled inside cautiously. He was inside longer than seemed necessary and when he came out, he was carrying a semi-concious girl, no older than me. I lifted my hands, letting him take her away.
I went and fetched Unit-00, setting it up in the cage next to mine. Locking it in place, I put Unit-01 back into it's cage and went to join Tashi.
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Characters & concept: © 1997-2002 Katsura /\ Evangelion © Gainax