Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Genesis Crisis
The first day:
A modern way of letting go
"You are extremely afraid of any kind of initial contact aren't you?" Shinji heard a voice say. He recognised the voice, it was a voice he thought he would never hear again. He looked around himself. He was sitting naked on a bench in the NERV showers. He felt an odd sense of déjà vu. He looked to his left, towards the source of the voice. His eyes fell on the boy, and as they did so his surroundings changed.
"It is possible for me to be killed, and whether I live or die makes no great difference," Kaworu said. Now Shinji realised he was in the entry plug of Unit-01, clad in his plugsuit. As he looked ahead he could see the Evangelion's arm stretching out in front of him. Clutched in the Eva's hand was the diminutive form of Kaworu. Despite his depressing utterance Kaworu had a smile on his face, as if he felt happy at the prospect of being killed.
"Are you that afraid of other people?" Kaworu asked rhetorically. Shinji looked at the grey haired boy, standing naked in front of him. Shinji realised he was back in the showers at the Geofront. Just as Shinji realised this the familiar smell of blood entered his nostrils and he was back in Unit-01's entry plug.
"The one truth the Lillum were never able to grasp is that death may be the only absolute freedom there ever was." Kaworu was still smiling, held in the Eva's massive hand.
"I know that by keeping others at a distance you avoid a betrayal of your trust, but while you may not be hurt that way you mustn't forget that you must endure the loneliness."
"What are you? I don't understand what you're talking about… Kaworu, don't make me do this." Shinji said, his voice shaking with uncertainty. He stared out of the screens in the entry plug at Kaworu, trying to make sense of everything that had happened.
"Man can never fully erase the sadness, because all men are fundamentally alone." Shinji listened as Kaworu explained his views on life, in that calm level voice of his.
"This is my wish," Kaworu paused, as if considering his next move. "I want you to destroy me, otherwise you will be destroyed. Only one lifeform will be chosen to evade the destruction and seize the future, and you are not the existence that should die." Shinji stared into Kaworu's blood red eyes, hoping that this was some cruel joke. But Shinji saw sincerity in his eyes, and he realised that it was no joke. "You need the future, it is what you Lillum live for."
"Pain is something that man must endure in his heart," Kaworu continued. "And since the heart feels pain so easily…"
"I thank you Shinji Ikari. My life was meaningful… because of you."
"…some believe life is pain." Shinji closed his eyes as the Eva's fist closed around Kaworu's fragile body.
***
"Aaaaaargh!" Shinji woke up screaming. He sat bolt upright in his bed. He stared at the wall, mentally trying to calm himself. His breathing was heavy, and his body was covered in sweat. It had been another dream, a dream like a nightmare. Only nightmares weren't real. Since Kaworu's death Shinji had been plagued by these dreams, full of the memories he wished he could forget. The door to his bedroom slid open and a purple haired woman appeared in the doorway.
"Shinji, are you okay?" Misato asked. Shinji didn't bother to reply, he didn't even bother to look at her. He lay back down in bed and rolled over to face the wall. Misato sighed and slid the door shut. She leant against his bedroom door, surveying her apartment. Since the conversation she had with Shinji on the lakeshore, on the night of Kaworu's death, Shinji had barely spoken to her. That was nearly a week ago. She was becoming worried about him now. With any normal teenage boy Misato expected that they would feel depressed for a short while, and then recover gradually. But Shinji was no normal teenage boy. Shinji had been through a lot of traumatic events, and maybe the loss of Kaworu, Shinji's closest friend, had been too much for the boy. Misato wished she could do something for him, but a long time ago she had come to realise that she was no good as a guardian. Misato looked over her shoulder at the door to Shinji's bedroom, and then looked down at her feet. She sighed again and then made her way to the kitchen to finish making her breakfast.
***
"We just got the order to activate them," Klaus Fritsch announced as he burst into the control room of NERV-03.
"When did the order come Major?" Commander Meissner asked.
"About two minutes ago." Klaus walked over and stood beside the Commander. He looked about the control room, surveying the army of data analysts as they busily went about inputting computer codes and other such tasks. The control room of NERV's Berlin branch was nearly identical to that of NERV's Tokyo-3 branch. All of NERV's complexes had been built using the same designs.
"Prepare for activation of the units," Meissner announced to the staff.
"Yes sir," nearly all of the analysts replied. The computer screens around the room changed to show a video feed from the Eva cages. Klaus shuddered slightly as the image of the white Evangelions appeared on the computer screen nearest to him. He didn't like to admit it, but those things scared him immensely. The two Eva's stood side by side in the cages, sleeping monsters waiting to be awoken. When he had heard that Eva Units 05 and 06 were to be constructed at NERV-03 he was slightly unnerved. He was uncomfortable with the idea of creating such a huge, and massively destructive, lifeform. The fact that these Evangelion were superior to previous models in nearly every way also scared him. After watching footage from engagements with Angels he found it hard to believe that a weapon more terrifying than the current Evangelions existed. He tried to put the mass-produced Eva's from his mind and concentrate on the task ahead.
"What is the schedule?" Meissner asked. Klaus knew he would be eager to complete the operation smoothly.
"The Eva's are to have departed by four hundred hours. All nine mass produced units are to converge at the designated rendezvous point in the Philippines by eighteen hundred hours. Chairman Keel will take direct control of the operation at that point." Klaus explained.
"Very well." Meissner turned to face the multitude of people busily at work in the control room. "We have a forty five minute window to launch the Eva's. Organise yourselves into two groups. One group will handle pre-deployment checks on the Eva Units. The other group will oversee the preparation of the BX-98's for take-off. Let's try to get this done as quickly as possible."
"Do you think we're doing the right thing?" Klaus asked nervously.
"It's a bit late for second thoughts now Major," Meissner replied calmly.
"I suppose you're right," Klaus agreed.
"Third Impact is going to happen today, one way or the other. And I prefer SEELE's version over Ikari's," Meissner added.
"It's a shame that Ikari has turned against SEELE, I hear he was quite the poster boy for SEELE in his day," Klaus said, trying to start up a conversation and put his mind at ease.
"I did meet him a few times, and he always seemed to be in control of what was going on…" Meissner stopped mid-sentence and stared at a group of scientists as they argued amongst each other. "What is the delay?" he asked, a menacing undertone in his voice.
"We are experiencing odd energy spikes coming from Unit-06," one of the scientists told him.
"So do something about it," Meissner replied coldly.
"We are trying but the power fluctuations don't seem to be dissipating." Meissner paused to consider this.
"Will the fluctuations affect the Eva's normal activities?" he asked after a while.
"We don't believe so," the scientist said, sounding uncertain.
"Continue with the start up procedure then, we can try to fix that problem once we know the Eva can perform adequately."
"Yes sir." The scientists turned back to observing the Eva's activation, while Meissner turned back to talk to his Major.
"As I was saying, Ikari was held up as a prime example of someone dedicated to SEELE's cause. He was put forward as a role model for NERV employees. It seems he wasn't quite the teacher's pet he made himself out to be," Meissner explained.
"It makes you wonder why he turned against SEELE. He couldn't have expected to get away with it." Fritsch offered his opinions on the current situation.
"I heard he has personal reasons for-" Meissner was cut off as the occupants of the control room were forced to shield their eyes. A brilliant light was shining through the computer screens from the Eva cages. "What's going on?!" Meissner shouted, his hand still clamped over his eyes.
"Unit-06 is giving off some kind of immense energy output, some of it is being turned into light," somebody answered. Meissner made it policy not to get to know people under his command too well and so without visual confirmation of the speaker he was unable to tell who had said that last remark.
"Some of it is being turned into light?" Klaus remarked incredulously.
"Shut down Unit-06 right now!" Meissner barked.
"We're trying," somebody else answered.
"Start containment procedures for Unit-06," Meissner ordered.
"We can't, nobody in the Eva cages is answering to any orders, we don't know if it's the light or some kind of ECM effect."
"Lock down the Eva cages!" The Commander shouted.
"But sir, there's still people in there," Klaus argued.
"I don't care, I have to protect the base and SEELE's objectives at all costs. Lock down the cages!"
"Y-Yes, sir," a data analyst replied nervously.
"Why isn't Unit-06 shutting down?" Meissner asked angrily.
"It doesn't seem to be responding to any commands, and we're gradually losing status reports on the Eva's systems," a scientist replied. The light was still blinding Meissner and he felt extremely vulnerable not being able to observe the events that were taking place.
"Flood the cage with Bakelite," Meissner ordered after quickly running through his choices.
"But sir-" Klaus began.
"Shut up Major Fritsch, now is not the time for hesitation!" Meissner shouted at him angrily.
"Sir, another reaction is occurring within the Unit," somebody informed him.
"What?" Meissner shouted in disbelief. 'Just how much worse can this situation get?' he thought.
"We're getting strange readings from- Oh my God, its an-"
An explosion tore through the control room.
***
'I can't just stay in this bed all day,' Shinji thought. 'But… what else is there for me to do?' He sighed to himself. As he lay still in bed, the sheets pulled tightly around him, he could hear Misato making breakfast in the Kitchen.
Nothing of his past life existed anymore, he realised. In the mornings he would get up knowing he had something to accomplish, either to learn at school, or to take part in a test at NERV. Now, with the school gone, and the last Angel defeated, there was no real need for him to do anything. He was no longer called to NERV to take part in synch tests either. 'Nobody cares about me, now my job is done.'
He tried to think of something to do. On previous days he had wandered around the remains of the city, or the forests or hills that surrounded the area. Since the incident with the 16th Angel nearly everyone in Tokyo-3 had moved out, leaving most of the city deserted. So Shinji was able to walk freely through the city, with minimal contact with other people. And right now that was what Shinji wanted.
Shinji swung his legs out of his bed, and sat on the edge of it while he slowly pulled his clothes on. He wasn't up to searching his wardrobe for a set of clothes he liked, so he just grabbed his school clothes, which were lying on the chair next to his bed.
He walked out into the apartment living room. He headed straight for the apartment door, hoping to avoid Misato on the way out. As he passed the Kitchen he saw that Misato was still busy making breakfast, he kept walking. As he reached the door he heard Misato call out.
"Shinji?" she shouted, wondering who it was in her apartment. Shinji turned the door handle and opened the door. "Shinji!" She sounded angrier now. Shinji looked over his shoulder, he could see Misato's head poking round the Kitchen's doorframe. He stared back at her with emotionless eyes. "Shinji, where are you going?" she stepped out into the hall and placed her hands on her hips to emphasise her annoyance with him. Again Shinji offered no reply. "Aren't you at least going to have some breakfast?" Misato seemed to soften, some of her genuine worry for Shinji spilling out. "Come on Shinji, you can't just ignore everybody else for the rest of your life. You've barely said anything to anyone for a week. Shinji, I'm getting worried about you." She crossed her arms over her stomach and stared sorrowfully at Shinji as he stood in the doorway out of the apartment.
"I'm going to visit Asuka," he said to her.
"Could I come with you?" she asked, in a gentle voice.
"If you want," Shinji answered. He turned away from her and began to walk out into the corridor, towards the elevators.
"Shinji, can't you at least stay and have something to eat first?" Misato asked. Shinji sighed, then turned and headed back to the apartment.
***
"The time is at hand. Without the Lance of Longinus we cannot use Lillith to complete the project," the intimidating monolith marked SEELE-01 intoned. "Our only hope is to proceed using Lillith's only true offspring, Eva Unit-01."
"That was not part of SEELE's original plan," Gendo Ikari replied.
"Creating the Evangelion was the pinnacle of mankind's existence," Kozou Fuyutsuki added.
"Humanity must evolve and shape this brave new world, that is why we created the Eva series," Commander Ikari continued.
"We need not cast aside our human form to use Evangelion as our own private Ark," SEELE-09 reassured him.
"It's merely part of the process to free us all for rebirth," SEELE-12 added angrily, obviously frustrated at Ikari's hesitation at this late stage.
"The fate of destruction is also the joy of rebirth," another member of SEELE said.
"Through the sacrament of death God, Humanity and all living beings will be united and reborn as one."
"Death creates nothing," Commander Ikari replied, strong determination showing in his voice.
"Your death will create an opportunity," Keel said, anger and frustration clear in his voice. The monoliths of SEELE all faded at the same time, until Ikari and Fuyutsuki were left in a circle of light in the dark room.
"Mankind exists because it has the will to live. After all that's why she chose to remain in the Eva," Fuyutsuki said, trying to show that he believed that Gendo's plan was the right thing to do. "Do you think they will launch an attack?"
"Almost definitely," his superior answered. "It is highly likely that their forces have already been amassed and are ready to attack."
"So we must move quickly then," Fuyutsuki said.
"Not yet," Gendo replied, a degree of curiosity in his voice. Fuyutsuki gave his Commander a puzzled look. "Something else is going on, and it is worrying the old men of SEELE far more than our dissension is. You heard it in Keel's voice, he seemed almost scared." His faced remained blank, betraying none of his emotion.
"What could it be?" Fuyutsuki asked, sounding very worried himself.
"I am not sure. But if it is what I think it is, then I believe Third Impact is out of our control."
"But… I thought the Fifth was meant to prevent this."
"It appears that the prophecy is slightly more concrete than we previously thought."
***
Misato looked over to Shinji again. He hadn't moved.
Since they walked into Asuka's hospital room Shinji had stood perfectly still, his hands clenched by his sides, staring at Asuka. He hadn't said a single word, he had just stared at Asuka. He looked extremely uncomfortable, and this made Misato feel extremely uncomfortable. Misato was standing to the right of, and slightly behind, Shinji, not wanting to interrupt him from… whatever it was he was doing.
Misato wondered why he had came here. He didn't seem to be enjoying this at all. Misato began to think that seeing Asuka like this probably wasn't doing the boy's confidence any good. She sighed, and as she did so she saw Shinji noticeably stiffen up.
'Of course, it's not Asuka that's making him uncomfortable. It's me.' Misato thought. 'Shinji was hoping to spend some private time with Asuka, and I barged in and ruined it all for him.' She turned her head away from him, feeling ashamed. Misato realised that this method wasn't exactly the best way to try to bring Shinji out of his depression. But she knew that if she left now, to allow him his time alone with Asuka, it might do more damage than staying here would. If she left now Shinji might think she was abandoning him. Misato mentally scolded herself for being so stupid, and started what could be a long wait until Shinji was ready to leave.
***
"All access to and from Headquarters has been restricted?" Maya asked incredulously.
"We're on first level alert," Hyuga explained.
"That doesn't make sense, I thought Kaworu was the last Angel?" Maya replied.
"He was, all the Angels have been defeated," Aoba stated calmly.
"So if we're all safe then what are we doing on first level alert?" Hyuga asked, sounding puzzled.
"What's going to happen to NERV… and the Eva's?" Maya added. "I wish Doctor Akagi was here," she said sadly, lamenting the loss of her mentor.
"I think NERV is probably just going to be disbanded. And I don't even want to think about what they're planning to do with us," Aoba offered ominously. He had seen spy films where, once a secret organisations task is finished, all its employees were killed to stop any information leaking out. He had seen enough of these to make him feel more worried about his impending redundancy than he should have.
"All we can do is wait and see," Hyuga finished.
Maya stared out at the holographic projection of Tokyo-3 in front of Terminal Dogma. She watched as the seconds ticked away on the digital clock.
"Good afternoon Commander Fuyutski," Aoba said aloud. Maya looked at him strangely, thinking he had went mad, but out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of Kozou Fuyutsuki walking towards them.
"Good afternoon Commander Fuyutski," Maya repeated.
"Good afternoon Commander Fuyutski," Hyuga said.
"Good afternoon," he replied, sounding doubtful that it was actually a good afternoon. "I'm sure you will all have realised that the Geofront is now on first level alert. Once all members of NERV are within the Geofront we will lock the base down. We are currently collecting together all NERV staff. I want you all to be ready for anything, understand?" The three data analysts nodded. "Good." Fuyutsuki turned to leave.
"Sir," Aoba said, grabbing his superior's attention. Fuyutsuki turned round to look at the man. "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is going on?"
"I already explained, NERV staff will be gathered here and the Geofront will then be locked down," Fuyutsuki answered calmly.
"But why is all this happening, sir?" Aoba pressed, determined to get an answer out of the man. Fuyutsuki sighed.
"Commander Ikari has recently had a meeting with SEELE. He believes they intend to attack NERV."
"Attack NERV?" Maya blurted out in shock. "But why?"
"They think the Commander has turned his back on them. They're going to try and seize the Eva's," Fuyutsuki relayed the information to them.
"Has he turned his back on them?" Maya asked, intrigued by these latest developments.
"That's not important at the minute," Fuyutsuki deftly avoided the question. "What's important is that they think he has, so you should be prepared for an attack of any nature."
"Understood, sir," Hyuga said, cutting off any attempts by Maya or Aoba to ask further questions.
"Very well, you may continue with your work," Fuyutsuki turned and walked away from the three data analysts.
"An attack by SEELE?" Maya asked in shock.
"It certainly looks that way," Aoba said, with little hope in his voice.
"So what do we do now?" Maya asked, to anyone willing to answer.
"Like I said, we wait and see," Hyuga repeated himself.
"I really wish Doctor Akagi was here."
***
Rei stared out at the world through the window in her tiny, chaotic apartment. She stood on her bed with her arms folded on the windowsill, her head resting in her arms. Her red eyes scanned the scenery. Over to her right she could just see the edge of the lake, which filled the centre of the city now. To her left she could see the rolling hills that surrounded the now ruined city. In front of her stretched out a strip of the remaining city, deserted apartment blocks and long since closed down shops.
As she stared out across Tokyo-3, and the surrounding area, she thought about what had happened to her over the past several weeks. One of the biggest developments for her was that she had died. Rei had always known that she, as an individual, was expendable. She had known that if she died she could be brought back. That was why, on several occasions, she had thrown herself into the mission with reckless abandon. And why, in her last battle in an Eva, she never hesitated overloading the Eva's generators to kill the Angel.
Knowing that she was not unique. Knowing that if she died, no one would care, or even notice. Knowing that there was really no way to escape this life of her's, not even death, always made Rei feel depressed. She knew that no matter how hard she exerted herself in life, no matter what she did, no one would care about it if she died. So she resigned herself to a life of servitude, following orders without question, and not doing anything she didn't need to do.
But now she was unique. Now if she did something it would be her that was remembered for it, not her cloned successor. Now if she died, that would be the end for her. This frightened Rei more than anything had before. The security of relative immortality had been ripped away from her, and she had been left feeling more alone than ever.
Since her not so miraculous resurrection it seemed like no one had paid any attention to her. She retained some memories of her past life, but they brought no comfort to her. She remembered standing on the catwalk that led to Unit-00 talking to Gendo Ikari, about what she couldn't remember, but she remembered feeling… happy. It was not an emotion she experienced often, so she definitely recognised it when it came along. But since her death her conversations with Gendo had been altogether a lot shorter, and very detached.
"You shall report to NERV every day, in order to keep up appearances. Other than that you should not engage in social interactions if not necessary, your memories are not complete. Although it would not be a disaster for the fact that you are the third Rei to become public knowledge, it would be… convenient if that information remained a secret." Gendo then dismissed her. And that was all he said to her in their meeting. Rei had nodded her acknowledgement and quietly left his office.
Even if she hadn't been told not to talk to anybody, she probably couldn't have anyway. She had never been known to be talkative before, and since her miraculous survival of the absolute destruction of her Eva people had avoided her as much as possible. She had overheard several of the staff of NERV talking about how she had, "Creeped them out." Normally this wouldn't bother her, but over the years of her life she had heard this many times, and in her current state these casual remarks seemed to really hurt her. Right now she believed that no one cared about her.
Gendo didn't care for her.
Maya didn't care for her.
Aoba didn't care for her.
Hyuga didn't care for her.
Asuka never liked her.
Ritsuko despised her.
Misato never showed anything but superficial emotions towards her.
And Shinji…
"Shinji?" She stared down at the streets below. Far below her she could see a figure, dressed in school clothes, with dark brown hair, slowly making his way down the street towards the lake. "Shinji?" she repeated, recognising the figure below.
Behind her the phone started ringing.
***
Shinji pulled his wet hair away from his eyes. He was standing on a lump of rubble atop a pile of debris. The pile was high enough to leave it sticking out of the lake that used to be Tokyo-3. He didn't know why he had swam out to this place, maybe he was just trying to get as far away from other people as he could.
He stared at the statue looming out of the water. If he was in a different mood he might have laughed at it. The statue had been constructed as a memorial for all those who had died in Second Impact. It was ironic, then, that they had chosen an angel to stand on the memorial, as a reminder of those who lost their lives. It was barely recognisable now, partly through natural erosion, but mostly due to it being badly scorched from the explosion of Unit-00. Only the angel's vague shape could be made out now, its wing's, torso, head and arms were all that were sticking out of the water. The whole thing was facing west, so that at dusk it looked like it was watching the sunset. There was nothing special about this statue, there was no particular reason why Shinji had swam here, it was just a landmark for Shinji to mark the spot with.
His time spent with Asuka was shorter than usual, although Misato did find it hard to stand in silence for half an hour. As Misato had guessed it was her presence that was making Shinji uncomfortable. Usually he would talk to her while she was asleep, trying to get her to wake up, but with Misato there he knew he couldn't do that. It wasn't as if he didn't want to appear weak in front of Misato, but he knew if he did it, it would cause him to receive a lot more attention from her. Attention he didn't want. So he had stood there, in silence, for half an hour, and he had tried not to cry.
After they had left Asuka's hospital room Misato had said that she needed to get back to NERV, and so she had left. Shinji didn't blame her.
'She was just doing this for herself,' Shinji had thought as he watched her walk down the hospital corridor away from him. 'She just wanted to do something to soothe her conscience, so she wouldn't have to blame herself for what I'm going through. She did this for herself,' he repeated to himself, 'She doesn't care about me. Nobody could ever care about me.'
So he came to this place, to get away from the hatred and indifference he saw all around him.
'Nobody cares about me. I can't talk to anyone.' Shinji's mind wandered to those memories he tried to bury. Kaworu's death. Toji being injured. Rei's death. 'All I ever do I cause pain.' He bowed his head, as if in shame.
He stared at the water below. The water must have been deep as it turned a dark blue at about a depth of two metres, so dark Shinji couldn't see anything past that depth. He continued staring at the water. He stepped off his little island falling forward into the water. As the cold water washed over him, soaking his clothes all over again, he had no intention of ever resurfacing.
***
The sun was just dropping below the hills surrounding Tokyo-3, taking the dark red glow of the sky with it, when Misato Katsuragi pulled up outside the entrance to the Geofront. As she rode the freight elevator down towards the Geofront she thought of how Shinji was doing. She knew it was just like crying over spilt milk, but she wished she could have been there for Shinji when he really needed her. Before, when she should have been acting like a mother to Shinji, she was too busy with Kaji. After a long while in her life she had been really happy, and so she had paid no heed to the problems of others. And after Kaji's death, which affected Shinji nearly as badly as it did her, she was too busy grieving over him to pay attention to anyone else's problems. She sighed, and watched the lights in the elevator shaft pass by at regular intervals.
As the elevator juddered to a halt, and the clamps keeping her car in place released, she drove off towards the pyramid building that was NERV's headquarters in the Geofront. She parked her car in one of the many car parks in the Geofront used by NERV staff and continued on foot towards Terminal Dogma.
She had received the phone call to assemble at NERV roughly twenty minutes ago, and so had started out on the drive to the Geofront. Usually the drive took half an hour from her apartment in the suburbs, but since the encounter with the 16th Angel, and the subsequent abandonment of the city, journeys in or around Tokyo-3 usually took half the time. While she was en route she had called Hyuga to ask for an update on the situation. The NERV phone operator who had informed her of the first level alert seemed as shocked by it as Misato was. Hyuga had told her about the conversation with Fuyutsuki and the information it had yielded. Ever since Misato had discovered that Gendo had lied to SEELE about the invasion of NERV by the 11th Angel she new that he and SEELE would come to blows eventually, but she never expected them to launch an attack on the Geofront itself.
"What's the situation?" she asked as she entered the control room in terminal dogma.
"No change yet ma'am," Lieutenant Ibuki reported.
"Hmm…" Misato pondered this for a while. She would have expected SEELE to have made some move by now. 'Unless they're waiting for a night attack,' she thought. "Keep on the lookout," she told the data analysts, "SEELE are well organised. When they strike we had better be damn well prepared."
"Yes ma'am," the three analysts chorused.
"What's our status?" Major Katsuragi asked.
"All surveillance equipment is operating, we have some glitches on video feeds from the West-5 sector but we're working on that." Hyuga reported.
"I've installed a type 666 firewall in the MAGI, if they try to take them we'll be ready for them," Maya reported confidently.
'She seems to be coping well without Ritsuko around,' Misato thought. 'I guess Ritsuko is a good teacher after all.' The thoughts of her friend brought back sad memories again, she tried to focus on her job and push them from her mind. "Have all of the NERV staff been brought here?"
"Most of them, there are still some members who we have been unable to get in contact with. We have agents from Section 2 out searching the city for them." Aoba replied.
"How many members are missing?"
"Seventeen, but they are mainly non-essential staff, we could run the Geofront without them."
"That's alright, but keep trying to locate them, we could need everybody we can get."
"Yes ma'am," Aoba acknowledged her request.
"What about the pilots?"
"Rei arrived a while ago, but we have yet to locate Shinji," Aoba answered.
'Shinji, this is not the time to go AWOL on us,' Misato mentally cursed. "I was visiting Asuka in hospital with him earlier today if that helps," Misato offered.
"I'll be sure to pass it on to the agents."
"And what about Asuka?" Misato asked.
"She is still unconscious. The hospital staff said it could worsen her condition if she is moved now. Since she won't really be any use to us while she's still unconscious we decided to leave her in the hospital."
"Very well," Misato said finally.
"What do we do now ma'am?" Maya asked, a hint of worry showed in her voice.
"We wait and see," Misato said confidently, trying to hide her nervousness.
***
"What the hell is that!?" Hyuga exclaimed.
"What is it? Status report!" Misato demanded. She had been waiting for nearly three hours now. She wasn't exactly glad that a battle was looking likely, but at least the waiting was over.
"One unidentified flying object coming in at 220kmh, West-8 sector," Hyuga reported. Misato looked up at the large holographic projection of Tokyo-3. To the northwest of the city she could see a green triangular symbol moving towards Tokyo-3.
"What is it?" she asked, leaning over his shoulder on his workstation.
"I'm unsure at the moment, sensors seem to be having a hard time getting a lock on it. I'm going to try and get a visual confirmation."
"Do it," Misato said, hurrying him to uncover the identity of this mystery intruder. A holographic display of the video feed from that area appeared in front of Terminal Dogma. Nothing much could be seen in the darkness, but a shape could clearly be made out, blocking the light from the stars as it made its way across the night-time sky. "Switch to night vision display," Misato ordered. The holographic display took on a green hue as the shape of the intruder became visible. Misato didn't recognise what it was at first, startled that such a huge thing could stay airborne. She had only seen the blueprints for the things, and was unaware of what they would look like in reality, so it took her mind a short while to make the connection that this was the finished version. The changes to how she expected them to look also threw her slightly. It's wings were a lot longer than she thought they had been in the blueprints, and strange bumps along the length of them made it look like they had feathered wings. Also she had thought that the final versions were all going to be white, but this was jet black.
"What is that thing?" Maya said, her eyes growing wide in horror.
"It's a mass production model Eva," Misato stated calmly. "So SEELE have finally perfected their S2 engine."
"Those things have S2 engines as well?" Maya asked, her eyes still fixed to the image of the huge weapon flying across the moonlit sky.
"Yes, it would be hard for them to fly if they didn't have a permanent internal power source."
"Another object appearing on radar," Hyuga informed the collected NERV staff, "It looks like another one."
"Another one?" Maya exclaimed in shock.
'Dear God, is SEELE sending all nine of them here? But without any ground support? This seems a bit reckless for SEELE,' Misato thought. "Has Shinji been located yet?" she asked, trying to prepare the base for what seemed like an inevitable assault.
"Shinji has yet to be located, we still have agents in the field. They've searched the hospital but it doesn't look like he has been there since this morning," Aoba reported.
"Damn it!" Misato slammed her fist down on Hyuga's workstation, making the data analyst jump in fright, "Where the hell is he?" She paused for a moment thinking what to do. "Maya can you rewrite Unit-02's personality data for Rei?"
"I suppose so," Maya answered sheepishly.
"How long will it take?"
"About thirty minutes, minimum," she offered.
"What's the ETA on the mass production Eva's?" Misato asked Hyuga.
"I'd say, eighteen minutes," he replied.
"Shit," Misato cursed. 'Ground troops aren't even going to dent those things, I need an Eva to fight them,' she thought. "Okay, get Rei suited up and into the Eva, I want her ready to deploy as soon as the personality rewrite is complete," she ordered, stern determination in her voice.
"But we're still not sure if Rei could synch with Unit-02," Maya said, she was sounding very worried by now.
"I know the problems, but I need Unit-01 free for when Shinji arrives. Prepare Unit-01 for launch as well," Misato added.
"Yes, ma'am," the three data analysts replied simultaneously.
"And Lieutenant Ibuki?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"I'd very much like not to die today, so can you get that rewrite done as fast as possible?"
"Yes, ma'am," Maya immediately turned to her workstation and begin inputting codes in a blur of activity. Misato set her jaw in a look of grim determination.
'Where the hell are you Shinji?'
***
Rei sat in darkness. The lukewarm LCL that filled the entry plug, and the metal of the command couch she was sitting in were the only things she could feel. The beating of her own heart was the only thing she could hear. The smell of blood was all she could smell. She could see nothing. Something about this situation unnerved.
'Perhaps this is what death is like?' she thought. 'Where we have no senses to comfort us.' She sat in silence for a long while. For how long she didn't know, she found it hard to keep track of time in this environment. She tried to push all the bad experiences she had had in an entry plug from her mind. She tried to think if she had even had any good experiences in an entry plug. A memory surfaced in her mind.
"Ayanami! Are you alright?" she heard somebody shout. He sounded very worried. "Ayanami!" Rei slowly opened her eyes. The entry plug of Unit-00 swam into view around her. To her left she could see a shaft of light coming through the access hatch to the entry plug. Something was obscuring some of the light. As her eyes focused on the shape it began speaking. "Don't ever say that," Shinji said quietly, "that you have nothing else. Please just don't say that." Rei looked at him as he looked back at her, tears welling up in his eyes. "And don't say goodbye when you leave on a mission, it's just too sad." Shinji bowed his head, and began crying. Rei leaned forward to look at the boy, confused by this display of emotion.
"Why do you cry like that?" she asked. She felt like she should be responding in some way to Shinji opening up to her like this, but she didn't know how. "I'm very sorry. I don't know what I should feel or do at a time like this," she confessed. The boy looked at her, his lips curling up slightly at the ends in a small smile. He looked happy to her.
"Then why don't you try-"
"Rei, are you alright in there?" Misato asked over the communication system, rudely interrupting Rei's reminiscing.
"Yes," she replied.
"Good. Lieutenant Ibuki is experiencing some delays with the reprogramming." Misato paused, somehow Rei knew that she had paused to glare at Maya. "You're going to have to stay in there a little while longer. Once the reprogramming is complete you will have to launch immediately. Are you ready for that?"
"I am prepared," Rei replied calmly.
"Good. Now you know what you're going to be up against, so make sure you fight your hardest. I'll co-ordinate you from here, okay?"
"Understood."
***
Misato pressed a button on Hyuga's workstation to end the conversation.
'I don't want to send Rei out in Unit-02 alone, but I don't have any other choice,' she thought. 'Damn you Shinji, why are you doing this?'
"Major!" Hyuga called out. Misato turned to look at him.
"What is it?" She asked.
"The mass production Eva's have arrived above the Geofront," he reported in a panicked voice. Misato looked up frantically. A holographic projection of the video feed from above the Geofront showed one of the vulture-like Eva's land. It's wings retracted into its back. It began turning its head about, as if looking for something.
"Lieutenant Ibuki, hurry up with that reprogramming," Misato said, worry and stress creeping into her voice. "What's it doing?" she asked, as she watched in fascination as it continued to scan the area for something.
"It looks like its searching for something," Hyuga offered his opinion. On the screen the second Eva landed behind it, it's wings retracting into its back as it stood back upright. The first Eva turned round to look at the other, as if sharing some knowing nod. Then both the Eva's raised the great blades they had been carrying with them and began pounding them into the ground.
"What the hell?" Misato shouted aloud. "Are those things… digging?" She squinted at the screen, as if not believing her eyes.
"It certainly looks like it," Aoba commented. Misato looked around to notice that all the data analysts seemed equally intrigued with this spectacle as she was.
"Surely this is some kind of joke?" Misato said. "With SEELE's resources they could just blow the top off the Geofront with an N2 mine if they wanted." Misato heard Maya gasp in fright at the thought. "Why are they trying to dig their way into the Geofront?" The four NERV employees kept staring in amazement as the two jet black Eva's continued excavating great lumps of earth. "How long will it take them to reach the Geofront?" Misato asked, her voice sounding more curious than worried.
"At this rate, taking into account that many of the plates protecting the Geofront still haven't been repaired, I'd say roughly ten minutes." Hyuga estimated. Misato looked around at the data analysts, their eyes all seemed rooted to the screen.
"Well," she stared at the people around her, none of them moved. "Keep working then," she said angrily. The three NERV staff members busily resumed their work. 'If it will take that long for them to dig down,' Misato thought. 'Then I may be able to catch them by surprise.' A cunning looking smile crept across her face. 'I've just got to hope there's no more problems with the reprogramming.'
"Excuse me, Major Katsuragi?" an unfamiliar voice asked.
"Yes," she turned round to look at the man. He was wearing the familiar sunglasses and suit that was the hallmarks of a member of section 2.
"We have recently found-"
"Shinji!" Misato said angrily. Standing next to the man, looking nervously at his feet was Shinji Ikari. "Shinji, where have you been?" Misato demanded. The boy stayed silent. "It doesn't matter now anyway. Shinji get into your plugsuit then get into Unit-01, now!"
"Unit-01, but-" Shinji looked up at Misato and tried to voice his protest.
"This is no time for second thoughts, Shinji," she barked at him. "The Geofront is being attacked by two newtype Eva's. Rei is currently in no position to help so you have to deploy now to engage them. We will deploy Rei as soon as we can. Launch through the emergency Catapult with a positron rifle. If you're good enough you should be able to snipe both of the Eva's before they can counter-attack, got it?"
"But I-"
"Not now Shinji," she interrupted him. "You," she looked at the section 2 agent.
"Yes major," he stayed standing rigid, his arms folded behind his back.
"Take him to Unit-01's Eva cage, immediately."
"Yes major," he grabbed Shinji by the arm and pulled him out of terminal dogma towards the Eva cages. Shinji stared at his feet as he was forced out of the room.
"Send word to the Eva cages that Unit-01 is to be launched as soon as the pilot arrives. And keep working on the reprogramming of Unit-02." Misato stared at the image of the two mass production Eva's digging downwards, and tried to force the intense feeling of guilt from her mind.
***
"Launch in five, four, three, two…"
Shinji grabbed onto the control sticks to brace himself as Eva Unit-01 went rocketing up the Catapult. After a few seconds the whole Evangelion rocked as the Catapult ended, bringing its massive acceleration to an abrupt halt.
"Shinji take cover, we can't have the mass production Eva's spot you straight away," Misato ordered him over the communication system. Shinji obediently dropped the Eva down onto one knee, allowing the tall trees and surrounding hills to partially obscure the Eva. He grabbed the power cable from its recess, near the exit of the Catapult, and plugged it into the back of his Eva. "Okay Shinji, commence your attack when you're ready."
'Why am I doing this?' Shinji thought, as he commanded his Eva to raise the positron rifle. He activated the targeting mechanism and a helmet lowered itself down onto his head. The display inside the helmet showed the two Eva's in front of him still busily digging away with their swords. They had dug quite a deep hole and so only the top halves of their bodies could be seen sticking out of it. 'I don't want to do this, all I ever do when I pilot Eva is hurt people. But so many people expect me to do this. I-I don't know what to do.' Shinji sighed. He altered the angle of his positron rifle slightly, so the targeting cursor lined up with one of the Eva's heads. He watched as the Eva's head moved up and down as it continued digging. He waited, watching the movement, until he felt sure his shot would hit its mark. Shinji pulled the trigger.
The second Eva looked around in bewilderment as it was showered with blood from its companion's exploding head. As the first Eva's body flopped lifelessly to the floor, with a very loud thud, Shinji lined up his next shot. As he moved the positron rifle, watching as the targeting cursor moved over the second Eva's head, he noticed the Eva was looking directly at him, holding its sword over its head. He stared at the Eva in amazement as it pulled the blade back, sticking its other arm out to balance itself, like an athlete about to throw a javelin. The Eva threw the sword. Shinji expected the sword to just fly in a short arc and embed itself in the ground not too far in front of the Eva. He knew that even something as powerful as an Evangelion couldn't throw something as heavy as those swords looked very far. What Shinji definitely wasn't expecting was the blade to transform into a Lance of Longinus as soon as it left the Eva's hand and streak across the landscape towards him.
"Shinji! Move!" Misato cried. Shinji jerked his Eva into action, trying to roll it onto its side to avoid the Lance. But the Lance seemed to be travelling at an impossibly fast speed towards him, and the bulk of his Eva made it feel like he was wading through quicksand. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion as Shinji willed his Eva to move faster, watching in horror as the Lance closed in on him. The Lance struck the positron rifle, held in his right hand, first. He rifle seemed to shatter as the Lance hit it, breaking into two and sending out a shower of shrapnel. The Lance then hit Unit-01 in its right arm, one of its prongs piercing straight through its arm. The force of the blow knocked the huge fighting machine back, knocking it flat on its back, the Lance pinning its arm to the ground.
Shinji screamed in pain as the feedback from his punctured arm caught up with him.
"Shinji, incoming!" Misato warned him. He looked up to see the remaining Eva spread its wings and soar through the air towards him. Shinji grabbed hold of the Lance stuck through his arm and, bracing himself against the inevitable pain, pulled as hard as he could. He strained and gritted his teeth, but it didn't seem to budge.
"The Lance, I-I can't pull it out," Shinji said in a panic.
"Calm down Shinji," Misato replied, but she sounded equally as worried as he did. "Try to find some way to fight it off."
"I can't, my rifles been destroyed," Shinji replied, his voices getting faster as his panic grew.
"Shinji calm down," Misato tried again. She looked at the display of information on Shinji's condition. His heart rate was rising fast. "Shinji!"
"It's coming right for me, I can't stop it!" Shinji said, frantically trying to pull the Lance out of his arm. "Help me, Asuka! Help me!" Shinji looked up to see the Eva ready to swoop down on him. Its mouth was open in a frenzied grin.
Shinji screamed.
End of the first day
Authors Notes:
Well that's the first chapter finished! I've spent a long time planning this so I hope you enjoyed it. My thanks go out to Daniel 'Syco' Brown, for his continued support for my writing endeavours. I'd also like to thank Bowburn for publicly admitting to liking my first crappy fic Neon Echo Evangelion, and Tyreal for actually hosting the monstrosity on his website (Go there people, it's a great site .) Also I got to thank my prereader Andre Laval, best damn prereader there is! That's all for now, the next chapter might take a while, so don't hold your breath.