Layra-chan, for the last time, dihydrogen monoxide is not poisonous!

Layra-chan: but it's a major component of acid rain! And it's corrosive, and if it gets in your lungs you die. And withdrawal is fatal!

DreyonLegacy: Sigh. This is why we take chemistry in school.

Disclaimer: How many times do I have to tell you, I do not own Eva!

Note for the reader: *…* indicates telepathic speech

Fourth Impact

Chapter 46: Games

*Hello, Misa-Chan*

"…and thus it fell, the empire stretched too thin to continue…" She closed her eyes as the teacher continued to ramble.

Her stomach suddenly jumped. She stood up, ignoring the teacher's demands that she sit down again, and strode out of the classroom and into the hall. Propping herself up against the wall, she swore under her breath. It was beginning to hurt again.

People passed her, staring at her, whispering to each other. She only glared at them. They didn't understand what it was like for her. They didn't lose both parents to a criminal syndicate.

She had been passed from abusive foster parent to abusive foster parent ever since. She had eventually found out that her parents were killed for betraying the syndicate. She felt no remorse for them. But the constant threat of being killed loomed too large in her life.

Nightmares plagued her every night, and she tried to withdraw from the world, only to be mocked for her silence or beaten for her disrespect. She hated everyone now, including herself. Drugs didn't help, neither did alcohol. All she wanted was revenge. But her life was no longer in her control, and she didn't enjoy the taste of cold retribution.

And the bomb lodged in her chest…She strode over to the girl's bathroom and stepped inside. Into a stall she went, pulling her shirt up. There it was, right beneath her bosom, the smooth red surface gleaming as if mocking her. She groaned as her ribcage protested the bomb's presence. But if she took it out, it would explode.

She stepped out of the stall, starting to pull down her shirt, when a hand touched her shoulder. She turned to see a girl with silver hair standing behind her. The girl had pale, almost alabaster skin and blood red eyes.

"I know who did this to you." The girl said quietly. "I can take you to him."

"I know who did this." She responded. "A bunch of thugs did this. They killed my father and mother."

"But you don't know who sent them. You know that it was a syndicate, but not who. I do." The girl told her. "And I can help you get revenge." She leaned forward, suddenly interested in what the girl had to say. "The one you're looking for is Adam. Black all over, skin, hair, eyes, clothes." The silver-haired girl told her. "Meet me tomorrow after school."

"Why are you helping me?"

"I also want revenge on him, for what he did to me and my family." The girl replied. "But I'll let you kill him. I'm not the one with a bomb in my chest."

The redhead peered at the girl, trying to figure out why she looked familiar. "Do I know you from somewhere?"

The girl smiled. "I doubt it. My name is Lillith."

"Misa." Came the reply.

"Lillith?" Misa asked. The silver-haired girl stepped out of the shadows and gestured for her to follow.

They made their way to an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city. "Here he is." Lillith told her as they hid in the bushes nearby. Misa looked up to see the words Tokyo 4 painted in faded letters on the front of the building.

"So, he's in there?" Lillith nodded.

"His base of operations is in there." Lillith told her. "He usually stays in there, running NERV from behind the scenes."

"NERV?" Misa asked.

"That's the name of the syndicate." Lillith replied. "Now, I can get you in, but you'll have to find Adam on your own." Misa nodded.

They went up to the guard at the door and Lillith flashed an ID. The guard stepped aside and they slipped in.

Lillith quickly abandoned her, saying that she was gong after her own revenge. Misa nodded and looked around. She spotted a ladder going up into the ceiling. Deciding that that was probably where Adam was, she climbed up and into a secret room atop the warehouse. She pulled out her gun as she jumped off the ladder.

There he was, sitting in a throne. Pure black, just as Lillith had described him. He was lanky, and very handsome.

She raised her gun. "Remember me?" she demanded. Before he could answer, though, two people stepped out of the shadows. One was a slim girl with light blue hair with a strong resemblance to Lillith, the other a tall, well built boy with brown hair. They both attacked her.

She fought back, holding her own against the two. But for some reason she couldn't pull the trigger. So instead she smashed a fist into the girl's temple, knocking her out, then delivered a snap kick to the boy's jaw, sending him flying across the room.

She turned to Adam, who had launched out of his seat and running toward her. She discarded her gun and punched him as he knocked her back.

The two wrestled back and forth until Misa got Adam beneath her, sitting on his chest with both hands around his throat.

Misato pulled her head up from the control panel, looking around. Suddenly she gasped as she realized what had happened. Grabbing a gun from a fallen security guard, she made her way to the room in which Misa had been hidden.

Ignoring the two guards lying on the floor, she ran to the run that Misa had been in and saw a boy standing in the doorway, a crimson spike in one hand. He was completely still, the spike held as if being pushed into something. A streaming orange cape flowed from his back. Raising the gun, she fired. The bullet tore through the cape, which dissipated, and the boy's body melted.

He had been holding a chunk of the Lance.

An orange AT field shot into place just before the boy's remains, and Misa was once again inaccessible.

The scene around her tilted sharply, then shattered into a million pieces. Misa watched as the boy beneath her became a girl. She spun as Lillith screamed and burst apart, revealing Raisho.

He fell to his knees, catching himself on his hands as sweat flew from him. A stream of LCL poured from his mouth for a moment. Then he struggled to his feet and glared at Misa. The LCL faded into the white that surrounded them.

*So, my body has been destroyed. I am trapped.* he said silently. *No matter. I will kill you anyway.*

"Who are you?" Misa demanded. "What are you doing here?" she got up off the unconscious girl and leveled a piercing stare at him.

*I am here to destroy Adam's soul.* Raisho replied. An orange blade appeared in his hand. He charged.

Misa flung up her AT field around herself and the black girl, realizing that Raisho was after the girl lying at her feet. She watched as Raisho stepped back and launched a fireball at her, then a bubble, which settled on her AT field and exploded, trying to expand into her field.

The bubble was followed by a spike, jabbing at her. She could feel her defenses being worn away. It was only a matter of time.

Adamu charged at Kiran, using his stolen arm to block Kiran's bolts of fire. Kiran began to fall back, suddenly scared, and his shots became wild as Adamu approached.

Adam began to say something, but it dissolved into a roar as he swung the sword, chopping off first Kiran's left arm, then his leg, then his other arm. Kiran fell, fire spewing from his wounds.

Adamu didn't stop though, slicing off chunk after bloody chunk of Kiran's body, then jamming the Sword into Kiran's eye, tearing the orange half-mask that Kiran wore in two. Kiran instantly dissolved, the fires shooting outward and slamming into the buildings around them.

Adamu fell to his knees as the buildings collapsed, his AT field blocking the falling debris.

Misa could feel the whip curling around her field, crushing it in.

*You will die, Adam.* Raisho promised. *You will DIE!*

Suddenly the girl lying next to Misa stirred and rose to her feet, power crackling around her. "I am sorry to disappoint you, Lillith, but this is not over yet." Adam said softly. "You should have realized that you are not in a human mind, but in that of an Angel. And thus, my power dominates here."

She raised a hand and a beam of light shot out, passing through Misa's AT field and hitting Raisho square in the chest. The boy was flung back, landing with a dull thud. Adam didn't wait for the boy to recover before striking again. Her AT field expanded to meet Misa's, merging then shooting outward again like an explosion, picking up Raisho and tearing him to pieces.

"Tell Lillith that I'm waiting!" Adam shouted. "And I am AWAKE!"

Takoru dodged another hit, yanking the third hand off Unit 20's shoulder. Suddenly a fist caught him in the eye, and a pair grabbed onto his throat, lifting him into the air. As the air was forced from his lungs by a fourth arm, he tried to dislodge the hands around his throat but found himself unable to.

The Splinter Sword fell from his hands landing by Unit 19's feet.

Lilliko watched in horror as her boyfriend was slowly choked. She tried to get to him, but three hands held her back. She could only watch as Unit 20's feet kicked, then slowed, then stopped.

"NO!" he was dead. He was dead. It had killed him It had killed her boyfriend. It had killed the boy she loved. It had killed the one person who she had all to herself. And she had no one once again.

She was alone.

Alone.

Alone

…

I don't want to be alone.

"NO!" her scream turned into a roar as her sync ratio shot up.

Unit 19 tore the hands off its body and snatched up the Splinter Sword. The Sword's hilt sunk into Unit 19's hands, followed by the blade. Then the fingers of both hands burst into huge glowing crimson claws, the toes also growing talons. Unit 19's armor burst off as the neck shot out, lengthening as the head elongated and became lizard-like. Wings sprouted from Unit 19's back, and a tail flowed out from the hips. A line of red spikes lined Unit 19's spine as it fell to all fours, its head towering over Unit 17.

Unit 19 leapt forward, its claws rending Unit 17's body easily. It quickly chopped off all ten arms and sunk its teeth into Unit 17's chest, tearing out a huge chunk. Knocking Unit 17 to the ground, it used its four limbs to tear Unit 17 into four bloody pieces, then shredded each portion. Finally it reached the core. It picked the core up with its mouth, then crushed down with its teeth. The core shattered, exploding, but Unit 19 somehow contained the explosion between its jaws. Then it looked down at the carnage that had been Unit 17's body, and began to eat.

Moments later, the beast looked over at Unit 20's still prone body. It slowly walked up to it, trying to decide whether to devour this corpse or not.

"Lilliko?" came a pained, quivering voice. Unit 19 screamed and took to the air.

Ariline watched as a dragon launched up from the streets of Tokyo 4 and stopped Unit 16. "What…"

"The Fifth, Tenth, and Thirteenth are dead." Samantha told her. "This is it. It's just us three now. It's time for us to attack."

"Tomorrow." Dai-syo said quietly. Samantha turned to look at him curiously. "Tomorrow is the day. We want to all be at full strength."

"But even if we are at full strength, are you sure we can win?" asked Ariline. "All the others have been killed, even when in groups."

"But we are the strongest." Samantha told her. Then her eyes narrowed. "But when did you include yourself in the group attacking Tokyo 4?"

"I don't want you to kill Adam, but I don't want you killed either. I'm going in just to protect you, alright?" Ariline asked. "You're my friends, and I'd hate myself if I let you end up like the rest of Lillith's Chosen."

AN: It's almost time. I might not even make it to chapter 50. But don't worry, there's still plenty of story left, because the big fight starts next time. And I mean BIG fight.

Layra-chan: *interrupting* Tell them about Mercenaries.

DreyonLegacy: Do you think I should?

Layra-chan: of course! It's so cute!

DreyonLegacy: Cute?

Layra-chan: Yes! They absolutely hate each other, and then they end up getting—

DreyonLegacy: don't tell the entire story, alright?

Check out my original fic, Mercenaries of Carraelia. It's a mix of sci-fi and fantasy. The first chapter is full of typos because I wrote it when I was still sane—I mean fourteen.

Preview: "I'm sorry I grabbed you. I had no other choice if I wanted to remain inconspicuous." She paused, turning to him.

"I hate you." she told him. "I know exactly why you took me." He raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. "You just want a girl that you can use for a while, then dump off when you lose interest. All you mercenaries are alike." He sighed.

           "I'm losing interest already." He muttered, hoping that she couldn't hear.