Hi guys, Calborghete here, how are you all? I hope everyone is doing well.

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So now without further ado, enjoy your reading.


"Dialogues"

- Thoughts -

"Radio Talk"

"Self talk."


Liability Note:

Evangelion, its characters and setting are the property of Hideaki Anno. Any brands, movies and series mentioned in this Fanfic are the property of their creators.


(*)

Chapter 16 - A New Beginning

Nothing much was happening inside the Wunder, the mighty warship had been sailing the ocean for over a month, the entire crew was enjoying this lull, many didn't know why the Wunder was dodging the enemy, but the vast majority didn't want to know the reason for it.

Everything was working as it should, the crew was working flawlessly, the command bridge was calm except for one person and that person was Midori.

"Absurd." Midori growled from her seat, slapping her console violently as she took out her anger.

"What now?" Tama spoke as he let out a tired sigh, not from her work routine, but from her colleague's angry episodes.

"And you still ask?" Midori retorted upon hearing Tama's response. "How are we spending resources on that criminal?"

"Midori." Koji spoke as he turned around, he was not in the patience to deal with the pink haired girl anymore. "You want it or not, he's one of us now, complaining isn't going to change the Colonel's mind."

Midori only stared at Koji with a dangerous look, but he was not intimidated one bit, he would have to do much worse to intimidate the oldest member of the bridge. "What? Hungry?" Spoke Koji sarcastically.

This only increased Midori's anger, having her hands on her console as she stood up in hopes of making her point. "Old man! He'll never be one of us!"

"Midori, I hate to agree with him, but Koji is right." Sumire entered the conversation. "The sooner you accept it the better it will be."

"And another, it wasn't Katsuragi's decision, it was the WILLE board's." Tama completed his co-worker's reasoning, receiving a nod of agreement. "Way above all of us."

Midori boiled over at this, she couldn't believe this was happening, judging that at least she would have the support of her co-workers. "I can't believe you guys, what happened to the people from two years ago?"

Everyone looked at each other, remembering clearly the day Shinji was brought to Wunder's bridge, Koji was the first to speak.

"Midori, that day was a long time ago." Koji spoke calmly as he stood up and crossed his arms. "And another, after all that happened, the fights the boy interfered in our favor ... A lot happened after that."

Tama and Sumire lowered their gaze, they could feel Shigeru and Hyuga's eyes on the conversation, this was noticed by Koji who only gave a slight nod to them. "The boy didn't have to interfere the way he did."

"He saved our lives what? A couple of times?" Sumire spoke as she completed Koji's reasoning, they both looked at each other.

"I don't believe it." Midori spoke indignantly. "Then we should close our eyes and pretend he's not the one causing this shit!" Midori pointed to the external display showing the current condition of the world.

"Listen Midori." Tama spoke as he leaned forward. "This is all too strange ... First, we were trained believing that Ikari destroyed the world, for many years I believed that he was flour from the same bag as Gendo ... But after all this in the last few months ... Damn I don't know anymore."

Tama sat down again with a tired look on his face, hid mind in serious doubt. "For he hunted the SEELE members ... He saved Wunder a couple of times ... He saved Captain Shikinami ... Doesn't sound like someone who wanted that shit to happen."

Midori's eyes widened at Tama's words, he had been a close friend of hers for a long time, to hear these words bordered on betrayal, she remembered how often the two of them would argue about how Shinji Ikari should be punished for his actions, he himself said he was dying to put a bullet in Shinji's face.

Tama only looked away from the intensity of Midori's gaze, he was reflecting a lot these days. "Look Midori ... I know you must be thinking, but don't you think this is all very strange?"

Everyone's eyes were on Midori, they could see her hands shaking with anger as she heard these words, she herself had grown up on this world, having no memory of what the planet was like before the third impact, all her years of life had come down to a WILLE installation until everything was completed.

"I can't believe that." Midori whispered as she closed her hands in annoyance. "You guys ... think him helping out in a few battles is going to change anything? Is it going to make my hatred for him lessen?"

"That's a big clownish thing to me." Midori grumbled as she bowed her head. "He ends the world and you guys are actually considering forgiving him?"

"It's not forgiveness, but..." Sumire began to speak as she raised her hands as a sign of peace, but she was soon cut off by Midori.

"But what!" Midori began to raise her voice, she had a look of shock and anger on her face. "He's a monster! Nothing more that Sumire!"

"Katsuragi is doing everything she can to make him 'comfortable' on the ship! She's being really nice to him!" Continued Midori about to explode.

"Midori." Shigeru decided to enter the conversation, he had a look of disdain on his face as he typed on his console. "Katsuragi has her reasons for acting like this."

"And what are they!?" Midori retorted as she turned and faced her long-haired colleague. "That she still thinks of herself as a mother to him!?"

"Midori." Shigeru spoke again keeping his voice calm, but he stopped short as he returned the look. "You don't know how things were before, you only know what you've been told."

Hyuga just looked at his colleague, soon he understood Shigeru's point, remembering the NERV times of his daily routine and everything that always happened, battles against the angels and everything.

"You didn't live through that time." Shigeru spoke as he crossed his arms, all the while keeping his voice calm and controlled. "Everything we experienced in the past only taught us one thing."

"And what is it!?" Midori retorted. "Should we forgive enemies!?"

Shigeru only shook his head negatively, he already had a good idea about almost everything that happened and his mind was almost always in order. "We who worked in NERV before everything, we saw a lot of things happen ... I myself remember all the times we were commanded by Gendo or Kozo."

All the younger people were looking at the speech of their older colleague, the accounts of the old days were always viewed with curious eyes.

"After a while, I started to always get suspicious." Shigeru spoke while maintaining a calm posture. "I was there that day ... First in line."

Everyone shuddered when the third impact was the focus of the conversation.

"Before the apex, I was in the command center when everything went to space, morale was low because of what happened with Shikinami, then an angel attacked." Shigeru spoke with a downcast look as he remembered that day. "Shinji had left NERV after what happened with Unit 03, he told his father to fuck off and left ... Our EVAS were easily destroyed and only Unit 01 was left which refused to function."

"We were so focused when the angel invaded the control room that we didn't even see when Shinji came back to pilot his EVA." Hyuga spoke as he remembered that day.

"Exactly." Shigeru spoke as he remembered. "We were ready to die facing certain death when angel was face to face with us, that's when Shinji appeared."

Everyone stared at him with curious eyes, to have an account of who lived through the third impact, everyone wanted to see the end.

"They fought and Shinji managed to get the angel out, but his EVA's batteries ran out." Shigeru spoke downcast as he remembered. "Maya narrated everything as we went to the surface ... Shinji somehow managed to reactivate the EVA and left with everything, he wanted to be able to save Ayanami, of course at that time no one knew of his origin and that's when everything happened ... We saw the gates of Guf open ... EVA awakened and that was it, soon I blacked out."

Soon a silence reigned, no one wanted to talk about it, a bad mood arose on the bridge, even Midori seemed to be affected, to talk about anything outside of what was in the official reports was extremely forbidden.

Shigeru gave a long sigh as he returned to the present. "The question I want to talk about is ... I'm not convinced by what we were told when the world got back on track."

"Talking like that makes it sound like it was all a big accident." Tama spoke as he crossed his arms, he always believed the official reports, but hearing accounts from those who lived it was another thing, lived experience always trumped any report.

"Whether it was or not that doesn't matter!" Midori spoke again. "He caused all this! We deserve justice!"

"Midori." Koji spoke again, he had not experienced what Hyuga and Shigeru had experienced, but he knew Kaji and he learned a lot of things, one of them was to always doubt any information. "What he tried to talk about was this. Never fall headlong into something you're not absolutely sure about."

Midori became tense, her mind screaming blaming Shinji, feeling an emptiness inside her body, seeing her colleagues beginning to doubt WILLE and all that has always been said.

"Now Shinji is one of us, I don't know the reason behind his decision and don't even want to know, but that's the truth." Shigeru spoke as he went back to typing on his console, he had a lot of work to do and couldn't waste any time. "He will fight by our side and we will give all the support we always give to the pilots, if they fall we will fall too."

Soon everyone nodded, with everyone going back to their work the only one who stood looking at Shigeru was Midori, her hands trembled with restrained anger so as not to explode, but Shigeru's words echoed through her mind.

With a snort she returned to her seat, she typed the functions she always typed, but her mind was focused on one person and that person was Shinji, she still wanted justice and that was something she would never change.

Tama was looking at the values, he saw everything he should see to keep Wunder flying, comparing all the values to the benchmarks, he too grew up in this world, having been indoctrinated to hate the person in charge, but like any normal human being, he began to have serious doubts.

Koji was keeping Wunder steady, but soon his mind fell on Kaji, remembering his old friend, Koji knew he was on a quest for the truth, he could only hope he could get it, this world deserved justice and it should be applied to the right person, WILLE shouldn't play with people and wait for it to work out.

Hyuga and Shigeru again went back to work, their minds remembering the old days of NERV, they still didn't know why they had been so hard on Shinji when he came back, really WILLE did a good job at washing people's minds.

(*)

Infirmary.

Soon Asuka's eyes were opening, feeling her body satisfied with the quality sleep she had had, feeling extremely comfortable, Asuka managed to let out a sigh as she adjusted better on her pillow.

But something wasn't right, she reopened her eyes again and saw the door facing the bed, frowning at not remembering that detail, but soon her eyes widened at that, she remembered where she was, noticing her senses finally awakening fully, she could feel the vibration of Shinji's heart below her head, soon her eyes widened even more at that.

Seeing that Shinji's eyes were closed, Asuka stood up as best she could, her mind remembering what had happened last night, her face flushed as she remembered almost proposing to Shinji, she remembered lying on his side just to stay for a little while, but that little while turned out to be the whole night.

Seeing Shinji groaning and opening his eyes slightly, Asuka quickly stood up and looked around, her face very flushed with everything that had happened.

Shinji was in the same situation, he couldn't remember when was the last time he had slept so much in his life, feeling his body aching for having slept without moving all night, but unlike the other times, now he could feel that he had rested, soon his eyes fell on Asuka who was near the bed, his face flushed as he remembered her entering his room.

"Good morning." Shinji spoke clumsily, he could see Asuka's back tense, this situation was very awkward for both of them.

"Good morning." Asuka replied quickly, she was trying to control her body, she could feel her cheeks burning. "I have to go."

Shinji only nodded when he saw Asuka getting out of bed, still staring at his back, he was thinking about the last time he had slept well, all he remembered was Asuka hugging him and then nothing else.

"Asuka." Shinji called out as he saw her approaching the door, saw when she stopped, but didn't turn around. "Thank you ... Really thank you."

Asuka gave a small smile, feeling her face blush slightly as she heard Shinji calling her by her first name again, this small gesture managed to make her smile. "You're welcome ... Baka."

Shinji smiled as he saw Asuka walking out the door, a rare moment when he was feeling good.

"They don't care."

Shinji lost his smile as he heard his paranoia speaking, but soon remembered Kaworu's words about everything he had been through, still judging if it was all true or not, but his words were true, everything he spoke was nothing but the pure truth.

Pushing that thought out of his head, he would really start to cooperate more, now he was in Wunder and that would change nothing, he had a chance to be able to get revenge on his father and SEELE.

Assenting with the thought, soon Shinji noticed a movement, seeing the door opening and Sakura entering pushing a cart, in it was her food, or something like food.

"Good morning." Sakura spoke smiling, she was very happy that Shinji had woken up, now her mind could be more at ease about it.

Shinji saw Sakura, his mind immediately downcast as he remembered her departure from Wunder. "Good morning doctor."

Sakura noticed this, bringing the cart closer to the bed, she soon spoke keeping her smile as she prepared the small table that would be placed on the bed, "How are you feeling?"

Shinji felt his eyes traveling from the tray of food and Sakura's eyes, his mind screaming that he wasn't worthy of this food or the medical assistance he was receiving, but he decided to answer the question by paying attention to his body and all the signals it was giving.

"Fine."

Sakura only faced him incredulously, she closed her eyes slightly when she heard this, not believing it, Shinji seeing this only swallowed, even though he had already faced angels and even death in certain cases, but the look of Sakura was giving him fear.

Resolving to rephrase his answer, soon Shinji tried to speak again. "I'm having a little pain in my chest, it hurts to breathe."

Sakura softened her gaze, her mind was screaming with joy as she saw that Shinji started to cooperate without being forced, but hearing this only managed to remind her of her most important task, she had to get Shinji's lungs cleared, this made her slightly downcast.

"That's because of the red dirt, we are still thinking about how to remove it from his chest."

Shinji wanted to tell her not to worry about it, that they had to save their resources for their crew, that he didn't deserve so much treatment and effort, but something was stopping him, seeing all the effort of Sakura in helping him made him feel sorry for her, he only nodded.

"But we'll find a way." Sakura spoke as she cleared her mind, she want to break the ice in the room, speaking as she placed a tray on the bed and prepared another for herself.

Shinji saw the two trays, frowned in confusion at this act. "Who's the other one for?" His body was in fear that he would have to face two rounds of horrible food.

"Oh! The other one is for me, I figured you would want some company." Sakura spoke as she sat down and placed the tray on her legs. "If you want it of course."

Shinji blinked at the idea, but he decided not to go against it. "I think it's cool, but don't you want to stay with your friends?"

Sakura gave a smile, but her mind was downcast at Shinji not seeing her as a friend. "No problem, I always have lunch with Mari, Asuka and Rei."

Shinji raised his head in curiosity, he knew Rei was also aboard the Wunder and he wished he could talk to her. "How is she? How is Rei?"

Sakura took a bite of her food, remembering everything she could about Rei that came into her head. "She is developing well this two years ... She is still very closed off, but her development is very good ... When she's not with Ritsuko, she stays with me in the infirmary helping in any way she can."

Shinji gave a small smile upon hearing about Rei, but soon he heard Sakura again. "She helped me take care of you."

Shinji raised his eyebrow as he heard this, remembering feeling something pass across his face when he was with Kaworu. "I think I felt something." Shinji spoke as he frowned at the bad taste of the paste that was his food.

Sakura realized this, with a small laugh she spoke. "Does it taste bad?"

Shinji saw Sakura's gaze on him, seeing her smile he decided to speak. "It tastes like dirt."

Sakura giggled again as she took more of her portion. "In time you get used to it." But right after she mentioned it, a memory came up, she remembered hearing Mari saying that it was Shinji who cooked for Misato and Asuka in the old days. "Is that true?"

Shinji swallowed his food like thorns, but soon he thought of Sakura's question. "Is what true?"

"That you were the one cooking and taking care of colonel Katsuragi and captain Shikinami?" Sakura spoke as she wiped her mouth. "I remember Toji telling me something like that too."

Shinji visibly cringed when he heard the name of his old friend, his mind felt as if it had been punched very hard, he put down the spoon with the food.

Sakura saw this and immediately realized what she had done, acknowledging her mistake immediately, Shinji was very close to Toji, as was she. "I'm sorry."

Shinji only shook his head, his mind screaming in guilt, Toji and Kensuke were one of the billions of lives that were taken during the third impact and the chaos that resulted.

"No." Shinji spoke dejectedly as he analyzed the food in front of him, his mind being flooded with the memories of his two school friends. "I'm the one who should apologize."

Sakura lowered her gaze, she was upset that she had accidentally ruined the moment, thinking frantically about how to fix it, she knew that what had happened to her brother was not Shinji's fault, being one of the few people who believed in his total innocence. "Shinji ... Look at me."

Shinji didn't move an inch, Sakura knew what was happening, her medical mind knew that he must be remembering Toji in his memories, feeling sorry to see a person like Shinji having to carry this guilt.

"Shinji ... Please look at me." Sakura pleaded as she saw Shinji's head turn, seeing his lifeless and extremely downcast eyes, thinking frantically about how she was going to remedy this situation. "What happened to them was not your fault."

Shinji only lowered his gaze to the ground, his eyes burning with the emotion that wanted to come out, but he was not going to cry. "Yes it was ... I'm to blame for all this."

"But..." Sakura started to speak, but she was soon cut off by Shinji, he wasn't shouting or speaking aggressively, but the emotion he carried was enough to shut the young doctor up.

"I know what you're going to say." Shinji spoke as he looked Sakura in the eye, his voice was calm and extremely downcast. "I didn't want to cause the third impact ... I just want to be able to show that it wasn't on purpose, that I wasn't helping my father, but ... But it doesn't change the fact that it was me who was there, I ended up causing all this ... One way or another... Nothing is going to change the fact that I ended up murdering the whole world."

Sakura stared at Shinji's defeated and downcast look, she wished she could stay all day trying to change Shinji's view of himself, but she didn't know how. "But now that's the past, we have to think about the future."

"Future." Shinji spoke as he pictured the future in his head, but he knew that all that was in store for him was not his ideal, only a prison cell came to mind. "I don't like to think about my future." Concluded Shinji as he took a small portion of food to his mouth.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked curiously, but deep down she knew he wasn't going to say a good thing.

"For it is not good." Shinji spoke simply as he took a drink of water. "My life is already doomed."

"I don't see it that way." Sakura spoke trying to cheer Shinji up, seeing that he was now part of the Wunder crew. "Did you imagine that you are now one of us?"

Shinji gave a muffled laugh, dull and lifeless, he remembered having to wear a uniform, but he never felt part of the crew. "I'm not part of the crew." Sakura was ready to protest when Shinji continued. "I can dress like you guys, but I'll never be one of you, and do you know why? ... Because I'm the cause of WILLE existing, I'm the cause of everyone's life being shit and that's something I'll never forget and every time I look anywhere on this ship I'll remember ... Every time I look at a face I will remember."

Sakura only stared at Shinji's outburst in shock, but before she could say anything else, the door to her room opened and a person stuck their head into the room.

"Hi guys." Mari spoke smiling, she was at the door listening to everything, seeing how Shinji was feeling and everything.

Sakura was grateful to see Mari enter the room, the mood had frozen with everything being said, but she liked that Shinji had opened up to her and relieved herself a bit. "Hi Mari."

Entering keeping her posture calm and happy, Mari was wearing her pink plugsuit and a pink jacket, she was getting ready to go for a synchronization test, but since she had time, soon the girl with glasses decided to visit Shinji after waking up alone in her room.

Mari widened her smile when she found Asuka in the hallway as she returned to her room, Mari knew that Asuka must have spent the night with Shinji, for when she woke up in the early morning, Asuka was not there.

Approaching the bed, Mari spoke smiling, "So the fun hasn't started yet?"

Sakura and Shinji stared at Mari with a confused look, with Sakura feeling her blood freeze at Mari's gaze, knowing that soon the bomb would be dropped on the room. "Fun?"

"Yes ... You haven't started the puppy treatment yet and I want to know if we can do the three-way?" Mari spoke smiling like a cat.

"Mari!" Sakura blushed as she placed her hands on her breasts, she listened as Shinji's heartbeat increased. Blushing heavily at Mari's insinuation, Shinji blinked to get his mind back to normal.

Mari seeing all the shock she had caused, spoke again feigning innocence. "What? In porn movies that treatment always works."

Shinji just stared at Mari's smile, seeing how openly she teased him, soon his mind brought back his past moments, but unlike before it was Misato who assumed this role.

But as Sakura talked to Mari, Shinji took a good look at Mari's face, feeling a deep resemblance, he was still trying to remember where he had seen this person who loved pink.

Mari seeing Shinji's gaze on her spoke. "I know I am a spectacle of soul and body, I don't blame you for falling in love."

Shinji spoke right away, lowering his gaze as he remembered where he had seen Mari, nodding at the memory of her falling on him on the school roof. "You're that girl."

Mari blinked rapidly, she had not understood Shinji's sentence. "What?"

"That girl." Shinji spoke as he saw his memory as the day. "The girl who fell on me in parachute school."

Sakura only stared at Shinji, she didn't expect that they had met before, but before asking anything, Mari spoke smiling.

"You remembered!" Mari spoke in amazement as she recalled the moment, but soon she remembered one more detail. "And how would you forget, I remember giving you a perfect view of my ass while I was looking for my glasses."

Shinji only lowered his gaze with a small smile on his face, Sakura giggled as Mari managed to lift the mood in the room, including Mari who approached the bed with a softer look on her face, but he couldn't deny that it was a beautiful sight.

"So puppy... How are you? You gave us quite a scare." Mari spoke as she placed her hands on the protective bars of Shinji's bed.

Shinji let out a sigh, but soon he decided to answer. "I'm better, Sakura made sure of that."

Sakura blushed at the comment, she was uncomfortable with Shinji's compliment, she thought about the days she spent studying and researching some solution for him.

Mari realized this and spoke cheerfully. "Good that you are getting better, we need our sheriff."

Shinji quickly remembered his first conversation with Mari, his defeated view of WILLE and how his help was going to be of great value in this fight, giving again in long sigh he spoke. "I will do my best."

Mari smiled genuinely. "I know you will." But soon another thought popped into Mari's mind, she remembered never introducing herself to Shinji.

"Oh! I almost forgot." Mari spoke as she clapped her palms together, she saw the look on Shinji and Sakura's face, approaching Shinji and extending her hand. "I am Mari ... Mari Makinami ... Nice to officially meet you. "

Shinji promptly took Mari's hand and squeezed gently, he already knew Mari's name, but he had never formalized it. "Nice to meet you."

"We are now officially brothers in arms." Mari spoke as she released Shinji's hand. "Welcome to team EVA." Shinji only nodded at Mari's words.

"Makinami ... You've been Asuka's partner for a long time." Shinji started talking curious to know more of this person's background. "How did you two meet?"

Mari spoke as she pulled up a chair and sat down and thought about the past. "Wow ... That's a long story."

Sakura already knew about the story, but decided to let it play out, it was good to have conversation outside of the norm in these times.

"I met the princess after everything about the third impact calmed down a bit, we were on a carrier after all the NERV people were arrested because of what happened." Mari spoke up, seeing the posture and Shinji cringing at the mention of the third impact. "The princess had just woken up and saw how the world was ... She was very downcast ... Especially since everyone was blaming you."

Shinji raised his head and faced Mari confused, Mari seeing this decided to continue. "She didn't think you were guilty at first, a lot of shit happened afterwards, the countries kept blaming each other and the shit hit the fan." Mari stopped to take a breath. "I was in Japan, Kaji helped me get in."

"Kaji?" Shinji asked confused.

"Yes ... Himself." Mari spoke as she remembered the man she considered an older brother. "He got me out of my stepmother's house, who was an annoying woman ... Then I joined IPEA and trained in hiding to be a pilot ... That's when I learned about the princess."

Mari saw Shinji's confused face about it. "Kaji pulled some strings and I discovered an amazing thing ... I found out that I had a sister." Mari saw the look of shock on Shinji's face.

"Asuka is your sister?" Shinji asked genuinely surprised.

"Yes ... Not from a mother, but we share the same father ... I'm older by two years or so." Mari spoke smiling as she gestured with her hands. "It was the greatest thing to have a family, I always wanted a sister and fate gave me one ... A boring sister."

Shinji giggled along with Sakura, Mari was happy to see both of them smiling, she didn't like sad surroundings, her cheerful nature always prevailed. "Well that's it ... Now I have to go." Mari spoke as she stood up. "I have to do those boring synchronization tests."

"When I have more time I'll tell you more about me and the princess." Mari spoke as she stood up and headed toward the door, but before she left, she turned and spoke to Shinji. "Puppy, thank you for making the right choice."

Shinji just stared at her, watching the door close and Mari disappear, Shinji somehow knew what she was referring to, he just bowed his head. - I hope so. -

Sakura seeing everything decided to speak up. "She's nice."

"Yeah ... She seems nice." Shinji replied as he gave a small cough, Sakura looked at him carefully if it was going to be necessary to intervene, but saw how quickly he recovered.

"We will find a way to help you." Sakura spoke as she saw Shinji nod, she would have to find a way to clear his lungs.

(*)

Mari hummed a tune as she walked towards the place where the synchronization tests would be done, her mind was on memories, with a sympathetic smile she thought of the day she found out that Asuka was her sister, for Mari that was the best day of her life.

Entering the section, Mari looked at Maya already getting everything ready to take the test, with Asuka already in her entry plug with her mind still thinking about the night she spent with Shinji, she was mentally cursing herself for almost talking too much that night.

Mari saw Asuka sitting through the viewfinder, she had avoided Mari at all costs today, with a smile she spoke. "Hello Maya ... Hello Princess."

Maya nodded returning the length, but Mari saw when Asuka became tense at her presence.

Mari smiled as she saw this, she knew that communication was open at this point. "So Maya ... Did you know that the princess was doing 'things' with the puppy tonight?"

Maya stopped typing and blushed slightly, her eyes soon fell on Asuka's extremely flushed face from the monitor, soon her voice exploded.

"Four eyes!" Asuka shouted in shame. "Me and the brat didn't do anything! "

Mari only smiled. "Okay." Mari sarcastically retorted, but before she could say anything else, alarms sounded across the room.

"All personnel, we are on level one alert ... All personnel to their posts immediately ... We are on level one alert."

Mari only saw when Maya stood up and Asuka came out of the entrance plug, soon all the fun atmosphere disappeared, Mari saw Asuka running to the EVAS cages.

Misato was on the bridge, she could see that two targets were approaching Wunder and from the readings they were humanoid type, possibly Mark 09 models.

"Status?" Misato ordered her crew, she stood with her arms crossed and maintained her cool, calculated posture.

"Target approaching rapidly." Hyuga spoke as he typed. "T-minus two minutes."

"Fire at will as soon as it's in range!. " Misato spoke strongly, beside her was Ritsuko analyzing the figures on her screen.

Inside the EVAS, everything was already ready for implementation, Asuka took a deep breath knowing that she would now have to fight with everything they had, with them being one hundred percent now.

"Let's finish him off." Mari spoke smiling as she activated her EVA.

Outside, both EVAS were on the hull of the Wunder, they could see their target through radar, both were already prepared for combat, with Mari holding the scythe stolen from the enemy in the last battle and Asuka was holding some sort of spinning machine gun.

Holding her controls tightly, Asuka took a deep breath as she widened her vision, as dots appeared on the horizon. "Let's go NERV scum."

Both girls watched as Wunder's mighty cannons opened fire, seeing the line of smoke ripping through the skies toward their targets, soon blast balls appeared.

In the background, two Evangelion units were approaching, they were aiming to recapture Shinji along with Unit 01.

Seeing the shots, both units dodged delicately and with some ease.

"Shit!" Shouted Sumire as she adjusted her aim, these Units were very agile, taking aim was difficult under these conditions.

Soon Misato's eyes widened when she saw that nothing was hitting the targets, they saw their enemies, one unit was already known to all, a classic Mark 09 unit with its scythe, but the other was strange, very similar to unit 00, but his face was different, it looked like he had a mask with an X in the middle and in his hands he had a replica of the Longinus spear.

Seeing when both separated, Misato already knew what their targets were. "Mari! Asuka! We can't stop them with Wunder! They're headed straight for you!"

Mari and Asuka heard everything, seeing their targets approaching, Mari tried to get in fighting position, ready to start her battle, seeing Unit Mark 09 raising her scythe, Mari just waited.

With a loud thud, Mari defended herself using her gun, seeing sparks fly through the air with the violence of the impact. "Take that!" Shouted Mari as she spun her spear, but Unit Mark 09 leapt back and defended herself as best she could.

On the other side, Asuka watched as Mark 10 landed in front of her, he held the replica of the Longinus Spear in his hand, she could see the battle on the other side, the sounds of scythe impacts echoed through the air.

"Take that idiot!" Asuka yelled as she raised her gun and began firing, watching her bullets travel through the air, but Mark 10 only stood still, with the shots hitting his armor.

Asuka's eyes widened as she saw that her weapon was useless. "Shit."

With a quick movement, Asuka saw when Mark 10 advanced and tried to hit her face with the spear, raising her weapon to deflect, soon the spear had no problem destroying the piece of metal.

Dodging Mark 10's onslaughts, Asuka knew things were bad for her, using her hands to try to free the spear from her enemy's hands, but her efforts proved futile. "I need help here!"

Mari was still trying to land blows on Mark 09, but he seemed to be some sort of shadow, being able to predict every move she made, but hearing her sister's plea, Mari turned her head as she saw Asuka struggling not to be hit by Mark 10's spear.

"Damn it!" Mari screamed as she saw that this fight was going to be tough, using her scythe as best she could, she took a few steps back to gain space.

(*)

Infirmary

Shinji could feel when Wunder fired his cannons, he knew something was happening and it was big, he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest, knowing that most likely Asuka and Mari were out there fighting.

Already knowing what he should do, Shinji quickly nodded. "You know what ... Fuck this." Growled Shinji as he threw the covers aside, feeling the icy floor of the infirmary and trying to keep himself upright, the time he spent in a coma were taking their toll.

With small groans of pain, Shinji removed the tube that was attached to his arm to free himself, soon he was staggering out of the room, having to make it to his unit.

Sakura was at her post waiting for the injured, but her eyes widened when she saw Shinji walking out of the room as best she could. "Shinji!"

Shinji was leaning on the wall, he could see all the commotion in the place, but soon he noticed Sakura approaching. "What are you doing?!"

Shinji stared at her indignantly. "What does it look like? I'm going outside!"

Sakura didn't know if Shinji would have the strength to continue, but soon a long noise echoed through Wunder, the battle of Mari and Asuka on the hull of the ship only showed that things were not going well, this only made Shinji more determined.

With a roar, Shinji began to quicken his steps, ignoring all the stares he was receiving, he just wanted to be able to get to unit 01 and fight, Sakura was with one of her hands stopping Shinji's advance. "So what's it going to be Sakura, help me or don't get in my way!"

(*)

Outside, Asuka gave a growl as she took a blow to the side of her head, feeling the cold metal of the spear hitting her EVA hard, she quickly dealt a growl.

Opening the compartment and grabbing her progressive knife, Asuka spun it in her hand and dealt with trying to hit her enemy. "Take that!"

Mark 10 noticed the movement, jumped back and raised his spear blocking Asuka's movement, sparks flew as he hit Asuka's hand with the tip of the spear.

"No!" Asuka yelled as she saw her knife fly away, but when her attention returned to Mark 10, she only saw her fist.

Mari only saw when Mark 10 hit Asuka's face hard, seeing the red giant falling backwards, soon her eyes widened when she saw Mark 10 raising the spear high.

Seeing Mark 09 approaching, Mari would turn to leave, but soon she felt when the enemy hit her in the back, seeing her EVA falling to the ground, Mari saw when her enemy tried to stab her EVA in the chest, but her mind was on Asuka.

"Asuka!"

Asuka only looked up to see as Mark 10 prepared to impale his foe, trying to get up as best she could, Asuka noticed when Mark 10's foot held her to the ground preventing her from leaving. "Get off me!"

She only widened her eyes when she saw the two ends of Longinus' spear coming toward her head, closing her eyes tightly as she saw that the pain never came.

As she reopened her eyes, she only saw the two spikes dangerously close to her face, but this was not her focus, but rather on the owner of the hand that was protecting her from the attack, soon her eyes fell on the purple giant standing next to her.

"Shinji?" Asuka spoke confused as she saw Unit 01 forcing the spear away from its target.

"Get up!" Shinji's voice echoed through the entry plug of Unit 02.

Returning to the real world, Asuka soon tried to adjust, ordering her EVA to stand up, but her eyes never left Unit 01 that was pushing Mark 10 away, soon a smile entered Asuka's face, she knew it wasn't the time or place, but that didn't stop her mind from thinking.

Seeing Unit 01 pushing her enemy away, Asuka spoke up smiling.

"He came."

Mari only watched as Unit 01 came up as they pushed the enemy away from Asuka, she watched as Mark 10 tried to overcome the strong grip Shinji was giving, a wave of determination crossed her body.

With a smile, Mari soon dealt with looking again at Mark 09 on top of her. "Get off of me! "

(*)

Wunder's bridge was in chaos, no one had anticipated that unit 01 would enter the fray.

"What is Unit 01 doing there!?" Misato shouted as he wanted to know everything that was going on, all the confusion meant that no one saw Shinji going to his EVA.

Seeing that they now had communication with all the units, Misato soon tried to speak up.

"Shinji, what are you doing?"

"Later Misato!" Shinji spoke up as he punched Mark 10 in the face. "Can't do it now!"

Everyone on the bridge just looked on as Shinji began to deliver powerful blows to Mark 10 in the hope of making him drop his weapon.

But this was only the beginning, much fighting was still ahead.


Author's Notes: Hello Calborghete folks here, how are you? Did you like it? I hope so. As always be sure to follow and save it to your favorites so you don't miss any future updates.

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