III. Cause
Asuka's Eva made a rapid ascent up the launch tube to the surface of Tokyo-3. The rain was still pouring down, so hard that she could feel the vibration even within her Eva. She stood for a moment at the top, looking out onto the grey cityscape.
Far, far in the distance she could make out a slight glow in the sky, the only indication of the presence of the fifteenth Angel. Her Eva took a hesitant step forward.
"Target is still out of range," a tech report over the radio.
Then Misato's voice: "Eva Unit 02, proceed to waypoint Alpha. Unit 00 will be launched shortly."
"Understood."
Asuka glanced at the small map in her display, a glowing green dot marking the waypoint. She mentally urged her Eva onward, and the giant machine stepped out of the launch shaft. She maneuvered carefully through the dingy urban streets, trying not to crush any cars or signposts.
As she moved, she heard the announcement over the radio. "Unit 00, launch."
Another launch shaft emerged from the street not far away, and in short order a metal behemoth filled the space it left, coated in deep blue armor plates and bearing a single, red 'eye'. It, too, stepped away from its shaft and into the city, taking up another position not far from Unit 02.
Asuka stopped moving at the appointed place, hefting the rifle onto her Eva's shoulder. The giant length of metal tube was relatively unimpressive, but Asuka understood the incredible power it contained.
In the command center, the gathered staffers debated what to do with the still, silent enemy.
"We can't attack something in orbit," one tech said. "But it doesn't look like it's coming down here any time soon."
"Can we leave it be?" Misato asked. "If it's shown no hostile signs..."
"Too dangerous," Commander Ikari said from above her. "Even if it is inert, it is still the fifteenth angel and we must still destroy it."
"Yes, sir."
Suddenly Asuka's voice crackled across the radio, ringing throughout the room from large speakers.
"This has taken long enough!" she shouted. "To hell with weapons limitations!"
The red Eva charged forward, bringing its rifle to bear. With even less warning than Asuka had given her enemy, light descended from the clouds to rest upon the Evangelion.
"What...what the hell!?" Asuka cried. "What? No!"
She grabbed her head, fighting the intrusive sense that now probed her mind. Her Eva did likewise, convulsing in the same manner as its tortured pilot.
"No! Stop this!"
In the command center, Misato and the others could only listen with horrible detachment, not understanding what was happening. Maya's eyes flicked across the screen.
"Pilot's mental signs are off the charts!" she shouted. "There are two minds registering on the graph!"
"What!?" Misato said, louder than she'd intended. "You mean..."
"The Angel has invaded the pilot's psyche," Ritsuko finished.
"You bastard! Stop this!! Let me go!"
"I can't tell which is which anymore!"
Asuka seemed to regain her wits long enough to wrench the trigger on her rifle, firing a volley of pink energy balls which arched into the sky and fell several thousand meters short of their intended target.
"Where did those shots land?" Gendo asked calmly from the dais.
"No telling, sir!" Shigeru replied. "We can't devote the resources to tracking them at the moment!"
Gendo's displeasure was nearly palpable, but he kept his peace.
Asuka had returned to her frenzied screaming, her robot twisting horribly under her control.
"Bastard!! Get out of my mind! It's raping my mind!!"
"Rei!" Misato shouted into the transceiver. "Get up there and see if you can't—"
"It will not work," Gendo said evenly. "But I know something that will." He turned on a personal radio on his dais. "Rei, return to Terminal Dogma and retrieve the Lance of Longinus."
At his side, Fuyutsuki gasped. "But sir! The Lance—"
"The Lance is needed now. Do not forget, Sub-Commander, that our primary directive is to defeat the Angels." He resumed speaking to Rei. "You will use the Lance to combat the Angel." He did not wait before issuing the order. "Proceed with the operation."
"Damn you!! I'll kill you! You'll die"
The Eva reached toward the sky as though to grab the Angel out of the air. The convulsions were not as pronounced now, but they vibrated its entire body. Sobbing had begun to run together with screams.
The giant blue robot walked backwards into the launch shaft, and the catapult dropped it back down at lightning speed.
"Rei, proceed immediately to the Dogma lift."
"Yes, sir." The girl's voice over the radio was frail and reserved, causing Misato to shiver for some unknown reason.
Almost before the catapult hit the ground Unit 00 had stepped off of it and was lumbering deeper into the base.
"Dogma lift has been reached," Maya reported.
"Release."
The robot began shooting downward again. Asuka's screams had become throaty and raw, and she was running out of ways to curse the enemy.
"Unit 00 has cleared the final Malbolgia. Approaching Terminal Dogma."
Fuyutsuki leaned over and whispered to the Commander. "Are you sure this is wise? SEELE will be quite upset when they find out what you've done."
"By that time we will have either destroyed the Angel or been destroyed by it. In the first case we will be justified in our actions, in the second it will no longer be an issue."
Fuyutsuki let slip a grim chuckle. "You aren't looking for justification, are you, Ikari? You want an excuse."
In Terminal Dogma, Rei stepped off the lift and into a vast, colorless wasteland. Far at the other end of the room was a gargantuan red cross, which nearly dwarfed even her own Eva. She traversed the space to it as quickly as she could manage, trying to avoid the strange protrusions scattered across the ground.
Mounted on the cross was a terrible monstrosity, a white giant with a mask bearing the seven-eyed sigil of SEELE.
"I've returned," Rei murmured to the beast.
She reached up and pulled a massive, brown spear from the creature's chest. The hole that should have resulted sealed instantly, leaving an unscarred white surface.
Rei returned to the lift, now fighting to balance her Eva against the weight of the spear. She mounted the lift and flew back up the shaft.
"Unit 00 ascending," Maya intoned.
The Commander opened his radio link again. "Rei. Proceed the surface as soon as possible."
"Yes, sir." Again, that frightening voice, so devoid of any emotion.
"Verdammt! D... Du Arschloch!" Asuka could not seem to find appropriately vulgar words to express her rage and pain and fear.
"Stop violating my mind! I'll kill you!"
"Unit 00 has reached the launch catapult. Launching."
Maya was struggling to maintain a level voice. "One hundred meters to surface..."
"Rei." Gendo's voice never changed. "Prepare to release the Lance."
"Unit 00 has reached surface level!"
"Bastard! Bastard! Die!"
Unit 00 took several large, rapid steps forward and pulled its arm back as far as it could. Rei bore the arm forward with as much force as her Eva could muster, firing the spear at an incredible speed.
The Lance flew into the sky, dead on the intended course, running the Angel through thousands of meters away and above. The light around Unit 02 vanished instantly, and Asuka's roaring degenerated into a throaty mix of sobbing and gasping for air.
"Send a crew to retrieve the pilot, and bring back the Evangelion," Gendo said.
"Yes sir," Misato replied. She motioned to one of the techs, who picked up a phone on his console and set up an operation.
"Pilot status," Gendo said.
Maya replied quickly, switching through graphs and readouts. "Pilot of Unit 02 has been completely mentally incapacitated. I've never seen brain waves like this before; I don't think anyone in the world has." She paused a brief moment, but nothing was said. "Unit 00's pilot is intact mentally and physically."
"And the Evas?"
"Both are completely undamaged."
"Good." Gendo switched on his personal link to Unit 00. "Rei, return to the cage and prepare for debriefing. Doctor Akagi will want to run some psychograph tests to ensure you have not been harmed." He looked meaningfully at Ritsuko, and she nodded at the unspoken order.
"Yes, sir." Rei's voice seemed somehow even more hollow than usual, and Misato felt another shiver run down her spine.
"Retrieval operation has commenced," a tech called. "Unit 02's pilot should be extracted inside of twenty minutes, and Unit 02 itself will be back in the base in an hour."
"Good," Gendo said again, steepling his fingers in front of his face.
On the streets of Tokyo-3, the rain poured down.