CHAPTER 17
"All personnel go to first stage alert" the alarms went of as Asuka was entering here Eva.
"Another Angel?" she thought aloud.
"We can't attack it while it is still in orbit"
"Eva's weren't designed for close range combat," Misato said. "So unless it comes into out range there is nothing we can do?" she added. "How is Rei?"
"Rei and unit 00 are both in good condition," Maya stated.
"Understood. Launch unit 00 and use 02 as back up" Misato ordered. "Can we use unit 01?"
"Unit 01 is still in cryostats," Maya told.
"Put the pilot of unit 01 into 03" Commander Ikari ordered.
"But sir last time the pilot was in hospital" Maya objected.
"Irrelevant, prepare him in unit 03" he snapped and she nodded.
"Equip unit 00 for long range firing" Misato said as they prepared for launch. "Asuka be ready to back her up"
"Back her up? You want me to back up unit 00!" Asuka retorted. "No way. Eva launch!" she shouted as her Eva launched.
"ASUKA!" Ritsuko snapped.
"It is OK let her take the point," Misato said. "What will unit 03's pilot be doing?"
"Keep her as backup for unit 01. We shouldn't need her for this angel" the commander said as Mia walked into the control center.
"Is Shinji piloting unit 03?" she asked.
"Yes" Misato said and Mia said nothing.
"Launch unit 00 and 03 now" Misato ordered and both were launched.
"Not good" Mia said under her breath.
Outside in the rain the three Eva's awaited contact with the Angel. Rei was in rear backup and Shinji was on the right side while Asuka held her rifle ready to fire. Rain pelted down on the Eva's as Shinji concentrated last time was bad enough.
He heard screams and looked around paranoid but nothing had happened.
"Who is screaming?" he asked and the whole of central command looked from one to another.
"No one Shinji take your headphones out" Misato said and she shook his head.
"They're not in. I can hear someone screaming" Shinji said and Misato bit her lip. They should have only launched Mia in unit 03 not Shinji. A sudden bright light beamed down on unit 02.
Asuka screamed clutching her head as the angel tried to get into her mind. She fired aimlessly at the angel missing every time and only causing destruction on the city. Her ammunition ran out and she screamed over and over again and again.
"NO! Don't come into me!" she screamed as the bright light shone on her Eva paralyzing it. Words flashed into her head. ***Strangled, hatred, menstruation, shame, double suicide, invader, comfortable***
"Get out of my mind!" she screamed holding her head. "Stop raping my mind!"
"PSYCHOGRAPH CRITICAL!" Maya shouted out.
"We have to get Asuka out of there immediately" Ritsuko said. " Unit 03 take the rifle and fire at the target"
"The range is too far"
"Asuka retreat!" Misato ordered.
"NO!" she screamed holding her head.
"That was an order!"
"I would rather die!" Asuka screamed as Mia watched on as unit 02 convulsed under the bright light. Rei fired with the sniper throwing her Eva backwards.
"Unit 03 fire second shot!" Ritsuko ordered as Shinji took the rifle and got ready to fire. The Angel's AT field stopped Rei shot from penetrating it at all as it shone a second less effective light onto Shinji.
"AHH!" he screamed as the light shone onto him. He heard screams and felt as if he was being attacked. He fired senselessly at the building.
"Shinji what in the heck are you doing!" Misato shouted at him.
"It is attacking me"
"No its not"
"Ahh!" he screamed as the feeling of his arm being broken hit him. He clutched his arm as the screams became louder and the darkness shrouded him.
"Get him out of unit 03!" Mia snapped at Misato and all of the staff looked at her.
"Why?" Commander Ikari asked.
"You must!" Mia said and he looked back at the video feedback of Shinji attacking the building in front of him.
"You know why he is hallucinating?" he asked and Mia shook her head lying.
"Please sir" she muttered as Shinji's screams became louder.
"STOP IT!" he shouted firing at the building.
"Retreat unit 03" Commander Ikari ordered and none of them objected.
"Sir, can we send out unit 01?"
"No, unit 01 can not be touched by the angel" Commander Ikari stated as unit 03 was docked in the cage. Mia watched the video as unit 02 ceased activation and the life support system crashed.
"Can I go out in unit 03?" Mia asked and they all looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"A second ago you wanted your Eva retreated.
"I don't want Shinji piloting it," she said in a monotone as if she was being cold hearted. "Asuka will die if someone doesn't do something now" she said with a little more life in her.
"True, Rei go to Dogma and get the Lance" Commander Ikari said and Rei nodded as the central control personnel protested.
"You can't use the Lance of Longinus" Commander Fuyutsuki snapped.
"It is the only way to destroy the angel," Commander Ikari answered sternly. Mia hurried out into the launch cages and watched as Shinji was ejected from unit 03. As he made his way toward her she bit her lip, he grabbed her by her arms and held onto her tightly.
"What or who was screaming" he asked coldly and she looked away. "Mia" he snapped. "Who was screaming?" he asked loudly.
"I was," she said and he raised his eyebrow.
"How, it was inside Eva. You were in central command." he asked and she drew in a deep breath.
"Eva 03 is my mind, Eva unit 01 is your mind" she began but he interrupted her.
"So why were you screaming in your Eva?"
"I wasn't screaming in it, it is a memory of me screaming when I was younger," she snapped back at him but he pulled her closer to him so that he was an inch from her face.
"Why, stop hiding" he ordered.
"Later" she said pulling away. "I will tell you everything later" she said walking briskly back to the command center. Shinji paused for a moment before following her. As he entered the cold command center he watched as a video feed of unit 00 prepared to hurl the lance of Longinus at the angel. Rei took three steps and threw the lance as hard as the Eva could toward the angel; it pierced right through it causing everyone to rejoice momentarily.
"Target annihilated"
"Eva unit 02 is free"
Mia ran outside as Eva unit was brought back into the launch docks. Asuka was sitting in the middle of a roped of square in quarantine. Shinji followed her and they watched as she sat facing her Eva as it was descending down the lift.
"I am glad you're ok Asuka" Shinji called out.
"SHUT UP!" who in the hell is OK?" she snapped. "How could it get any worse? That little bitch rescued me! The little bitch rescued ME!" she said holding her knees close to her. "Don't you know that I would have rather died!" she screamed and Mia climbed under the quarantine ropes she slowly walked over to Asuka resting her hand on Asuka's back.
"I HATE YOU SHINJI! I hate everyone!" Asuka screamed and Mia sat beside her. Asuka looked at her. "Your on the wrong side of the rope.
"Screw the rope" Mia said as Shinji watched Asuka cry into her knees while Mia sat beside her just to be there for her.
* * * * *
Mia looked at her book that was just sitting there on the table. She could usually read at anytime but she couldn't read now. How could becoming an Eva pilot be so horrible, how could it turn even the nicest person in to a monster reforming their fears and turning their inner most terrible memories a reality?
"Nothing is fair" she whispered taking off her glasses and dropping them on the table, that leant on her book as she sat and watched it hoping that answers would just appear from nothing or that something would give her a reason to become nothing. A knock on the door made her jump as Shinji let himself in.
"Hey Mia" he said sitting down across the table from her.
"I take it you are here so that you can listen to me tell you about my past" she snapped and he said nothing. "Aren't you?"
"I don't want you to suffer," he said.
"How can I not? Telling someone about it just means that someone else knows" she snapped.
"Just tell me, I know pieces and I can't put them together," he said and she looked away with tears burning her eyes.
"Fine." She agreed. "This is what I know, my real father used to be a scientist who worked for Nerv on Adam from what I heard. He used to get up early and leave late but he was basically the light in my life. My mother was a simple person who just went along with everything, she me and all but my father meant everything to me, then one day when I was 4 went to work with him, he showed me the future, he showed me Evangelion 03" she said and Shinji suddenly felt himself lost in this story, how was this relevant? Was she destined to pilot unit 3 from the beginning?
"My father said that he was building this to help the world and that he was also working on something called Adam. I didn't know what Adam was back them and I assumed it was a system. Then one day there was an explosion in his laboratory, I was certain that he wasn't injured and that he would come home, but he never did. I guess that I am still waiting," she whispered and Shinji felt puzzled.
"Is that it?" he thought aloud.
"I wish," she said. "When I was 7 my mother started hanging around with this guy, my step-father, he seemed nice at first but when they got married he changed. He was a bastard to us and hated me. I was a waste of time and space and the only time he wanted me was when I could get him a beer from the fridge. He sued to beat my mother and she would lie about it all the time saying that she fell or something like that. One time I was up late watching TV when he got home from the bar, I hid under the table and he walked in stinking like vomit and alcohol. My mother walked out from the bathroom and kissed him on the cheek as usual, he walked into the kitchen and looked for a beer but she hadn't gone shopping because she was sick. He shouted at her 'where's my grog slut' and so on. I just sat there and watched him punch her in the face three time frozen, I couldn't move at all" Mia said and Shinji could tell why she was hurting, tears built in her eyes but she wiped them away.
"They used to say that if you were married it wasn't rape, I think that is bullshit. He raped her and I watched as she cried and screamed at him, pleading for him to stop but he didn't. When he finally did he spat on her and hit her again, I think he heard me crying and that is how he found me. He grabbed me from under the table and yelled at me over and over cursing at me of how useless I was to everything and everyone. Saying that my mother was a whore and that the only reason that I existed was because my father was a dumb ass hole who would sleep with just about anyone for a good time. I didn't know what this all meant but I shook my head and said that I loved my father." Mia bit her knuckles, as Shinji said nothing. She looked down at the table and watched as tears dropped onto it.
"He hit me, once, twice, three times and then I lost count, I pulled free of him and ran for the door but he caught me, he pulled me right up to his face and his eyes were just the darkest thing you could have ever seen, all black and empty, bloodshot. I cried and he threw me against the wall, I screamed and he slammed me on the floor before throwing me once more. He left me then, I just lay there unable to move, this time not of fear but just because I couldn't. My mother took me to hospital and told them that I fell out of a tree, at 2 am in the morning." Mia looked at Shinji whose mouth was open and speechless.
"I thank god for my real father assigning me to Eva unit 03. I thank god every day for training and school, because they took more hours from my life that meant I didn't have to be there in that house. Do you know how happy I was t come here? The only thing that made me think twice was my mother, but she told me to go and I didn't thick of it again," Mia said and Shinji took her hand.
"I never should have asked you to tell me, I am so sorry" he said sincerely.
"It is fine, it is just one of those things that I am trying to put behind me" she said with her eyes half closed. "I broke 56 bones that night, and haven't broken one since then" she said smirking and Shinji cringed slightly.
"Ouch" he said and she laughed halfheartedly.
"Well at least this explains everything now, even though it was horrible I appreciate you telling me about it" Shinji said and she smiled.
"That's ok, how's Asuka?" Mia asked changing the subject.
"Not so good, she hasn't come home yet" Shinji said looking away. "I think she is in too deep this time."
"All personnel go to first stage alert" the alarms went of as Asuka was entering here Eva.
"Another Angel?" she thought aloud.
"We can't attack it while it is still in orbit"
"Eva's weren't designed for close range combat," Misato said. "So unless it comes into out range there is nothing we can do?" she added. "How is Rei?"
"Rei and unit 00 are both in good condition," Maya stated.
"Understood. Launch unit 00 and use 02 as back up" Misato ordered. "Can we use unit 01?"
"Unit 01 is still in cryostats," Maya told.
"Put the pilot of unit 01 into 03" Commander Ikari ordered.
"But sir last time the pilot was in hospital" Maya objected.
"Irrelevant, prepare him in unit 03" he snapped and she nodded.
"Equip unit 00 for long range firing" Misato said as they prepared for launch. "Asuka be ready to back her up"
"Back her up? You want me to back up unit 00!" Asuka retorted. "No way. Eva launch!" she shouted as her Eva launched.
"ASUKA!" Ritsuko snapped.
"It is OK let her take the point," Misato said. "What will unit 03's pilot be doing?"
"Keep her as backup for unit 01. We shouldn't need her for this angel" the commander said as Mia walked into the control center.
"Is Shinji piloting unit 03?" she asked.
"Yes" Misato said and Mia said nothing.
"Launch unit 00 and 03 now" Misato ordered and both were launched.
"Not good" Mia said under her breath.
Outside in the rain the three Eva's awaited contact with the Angel. Rei was in rear backup and Shinji was on the right side while Asuka held her rifle ready to fire. Rain pelted down on the Eva's as Shinji concentrated last time was bad enough.
He heard screams and looked around paranoid but nothing had happened.
"Who is screaming?" he asked and the whole of central command looked from one to another.
"No one Shinji take your headphones out" Misato said and she shook his head.
"They're not in. I can hear someone screaming" Shinji said and Misato bit her lip. They should have only launched Mia in unit 03 not Shinji. A sudden bright light beamed down on unit 02.
Asuka screamed clutching her head as the angel tried to get into her mind. She fired aimlessly at the angel missing every time and only causing destruction on the city. Her ammunition ran out and she screamed over and over again and again.
"NO! Don't come into me!" she screamed as the bright light shone on her Eva paralyzing it. Words flashed into her head. ***Strangled, hatred, menstruation, shame, double suicide, invader, comfortable***
"Get out of my mind!" she screamed holding her head. "Stop raping my mind!"
"PSYCHOGRAPH CRITICAL!" Maya shouted out.
"We have to get Asuka out of there immediately" Ritsuko said. " Unit 03 take the rifle and fire at the target"
"The range is too far"
"Asuka retreat!" Misato ordered.
"NO!" she screamed holding her head.
"That was an order!"
"I would rather die!" Asuka screamed as Mia watched on as unit 02 convulsed under the bright light. Rei fired with the sniper throwing her Eva backwards.
"Unit 03 fire second shot!" Ritsuko ordered as Shinji took the rifle and got ready to fire. The Angel's AT field stopped Rei shot from penetrating it at all as it shone a second less effective light onto Shinji.
"AHH!" he screamed as the light shone onto him. He heard screams and felt as if he was being attacked. He fired senselessly at the building.
"Shinji what in the heck are you doing!" Misato shouted at him.
"It is attacking me"
"No its not"
"Ahh!" he screamed as the feeling of his arm being broken hit him. He clutched his arm as the screams became louder and the darkness shrouded him.
"Get him out of unit 03!" Mia snapped at Misato and all of the staff looked at her.
"Why?" Commander Ikari asked.
"You must!" Mia said and he looked back at the video feedback of Shinji attacking the building in front of him.
"You know why he is hallucinating?" he asked and Mia shook her head lying.
"Please sir" she muttered as Shinji's screams became louder.
"STOP IT!" he shouted firing at the building.
"Retreat unit 03" Commander Ikari ordered and none of them objected.
"Sir, can we send out unit 01?"
"No, unit 01 can not be touched by the angel" Commander Ikari stated as unit 03 was docked in the cage. Mia watched the video as unit 02 ceased activation and the life support system crashed.
"Can I go out in unit 03?" Mia asked and they all looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"A second ago you wanted your Eva retreated.
"I don't want Shinji piloting it," she said in a monotone as if she was being cold hearted. "Asuka will die if someone doesn't do something now" she said with a little more life in her.
"True, Rei go to Dogma and get the Lance" Commander Ikari said and Rei nodded as the central control personnel protested.
"You can't use the Lance of Longinus" Commander Fuyutsuki snapped.
"It is the only way to destroy the angel," Commander Ikari answered sternly. Mia hurried out into the launch cages and watched as Shinji was ejected from unit 03. As he made his way toward her she bit her lip, he grabbed her by her arms and held onto her tightly.
"What or who was screaming" he asked coldly and she looked away. "Mia" he snapped. "Who was screaming?" he asked loudly.
"I was," she said and he raised his eyebrow.
"How, it was inside Eva. You were in central command." he asked and she drew in a deep breath.
"Eva 03 is my mind, Eva unit 01 is your mind" she began but he interrupted her.
"So why were you screaming in your Eva?"
"I wasn't screaming in it, it is a memory of me screaming when I was younger," she snapped back at him but he pulled her closer to him so that he was an inch from her face.
"Why, stop hiding" he ordered.
"Later" she said pulling away. "I will tell you everything later" she said walking briskly back to the command center. Shinji paused for a moment before following her. As he entered the cold command center he watched as a video feed of unit 00 prepared to hurl the lance of Longinus at the angel. Rei took three steps and threw the lance as hard as the Eva could toward the angel; it pierced right through it causing everyone to rejoice momentarily.
"Target annihilated"
"Eva unit 02 is free"
Mia ran outside as Eva unit was brought back into the launch docks. Asuka was sitting in the middle of a roped of square in quarantine. Shinji followed her and they watched as she sat facing her Eva as it was descending down the lift.
"I am glad you're ok Asuka" Shinji called out.
"SHUT UP!" who in the hell is OK?" she snapped. "How could it get any worse? That little bitch rescued me! The little bitch rescued ME!" she said holding her knees close to her. "Don't you know that I would have rather died!" she screamed and Mia climbed under the quarantine ropes she slowly walked over to Asuka resting her hand on Asuka's back.
"I HATE YOU SHINJI! I hate everyone!" Asuka screamed and Mia sat beside her. Asuka looked at her. "Your on the wrong side of the rope.
"Screw the rope" Mia said as Shinji watched Asuka cry into her knees while Mia sat beside her just to be there for her.
* * * * *
Mia looked at her book that was just sitting there on the table. She could usually read at anytime but she couldn't read now. How could becoming an Eva pilot be so horrible, how could it turn even the nicest person in to a monster reforming their fears and turning their inner most terrible memories a reality?
"Nothing is fair" she whispered taking off her glasses and dropping them on the table, that leant on her book as she sat and watched it hoping that answers would just appear from nothing or that something would give her a reason to become nothing. A knock on the door made her jump as Shinji let himself in.
"Hey Mia" he said sitting down across the table from her.
"I take it you are here so that you can listen to me tell you about my past" she snapped and he said nothing. "Aren't you?"
"I don't want you to suffer," he said.
"How can I not? Telling someone about it just means that someone else knows" she snapped.
"Just tell me, I know pieces and I can't put them together," he said and she looked away with tears burning her eyes.
"Fine." She agreed. "This is what I know, my real father used to be a scientist who worked for Nerv on Adam from what I heard. He used to get up early and leave late but he was basically the light in my life. My mother was a simple person who just went along with everything, she me and all but my father meant everything to me, then one day when I was 4 went to work with him, he showed me the future, he showed me Evangelion 03" she said and Shinji suddenly felt himself lost in this story, how was this relevant? Was she destined to pilot unit 3 from the beginning?
"My father said that he was building this to help the world and that he was also working on something called Adam. I didn't know what Adam was back them and I assumed it was a system. Then one day there was an explosion in his laboratory, I was certain that he wasn't injured and that he would come home, but he never did. I guess that I am still waiting," she whispered and Shinji felt puzzled.
"Is that it?" he thought aloud.
"I wish," she said. "When I was 7 my mother started hanging around with this guy, my step-father, he seemed nice at first but when they got married he changed. He was a bastard to us and hated me. I was a waste of time and space and the only time he wanted me was when I could get him a beer from the fridge. He sued to beat my mother and she would lie about it all the time saying that she fell or something like that. One time I was up late watching TV when he got home from the bar, I hid under the table and he walked in stinking like vomit and alcohol. My mother walked out from the bathroom and kissed him on the cheek as usual, he walked into the kitchen and looked for a beer but she hadn't gone shopping because she was sick. He shouted at her 'where's my grog slut' and so on. I just sat there and watched him punch her in the face three time frozen, I couldn't move at all" Mia said and Shinji could tell why she was hurting, tears built in her eyes but she wiped them away.
"They used to say that if you were married it wasn't rape, I think that is bullshit. He raped her and I watched as she cried and screamed at him, pleading for him to stop but he didn't. When he finally did he spat on her and hit her again, I think he heard me crying and that is how he found me. He grabbed me from under the table and yelled at me over and over cursing at me of how useless I was to everything and everyone. Saying that my mother was a whore and that the only reason that I existed was because my father was a dumb ass hole who would sleep with just about anyone for a good time. I didn't know what this all meant but I shook my head and said that I loved my father." Mia bit her knuckles, as Shinji said nothing. She looked down at the table and watched as tears dropped onto it.
"He hit me, once, twice, three times and then I lost count, I pulled free of him and ran for the door but he caught me, he pulled me right up to his face and his eyes were just the darkest thing you could have ever seen, all black and empty, bloodshot. I cried and he threw me against the wall, I screamed and he slammed me on the floor before throwing me once more. He left me then, I just lay there unable to move, this time not of fear but just because I couldn't. My mother took me to hospital and told them that I fell out of a tree, at 2 am in the morning." Mia looked at Shinji whose mouth was open and speechless.
"I thank god for my real father assigning me to Eva unit 03. I thank god every day for training and school, because they took more hours from my life that meant I didn't have to be there in that house. Do you know how happy I was t come here? The only thing that made me think twice was my mother, but she told me to go and I didn't thick of it again," Mia said and Shinji took her hand.
"I never should have asked you to tell me, I am so sorry" he said sincerely.
"It is fine, it is just one of those things that I am trying to put behind me" she said with her eyes half closed. "I broke 56 bones that night, and haven't broken one since then" she said smirking and Shinji cringed slightly.
"Ouch" he said and she laughed halfheartedly.
"Well at least this explains everything now, even though it was horrible I appreciate you telling me about it" Shinji said and she smiled.
"That's ok, how's Asuka?" Mia asked changing the subject.
"Not so good, she hasn't come home yet" Shinji said looking away. "I think she is in too deep this time."