Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Genesis Crisis
The fifth day:
Don't know why
Rei stared at the huge fighting machine that was Evangelion Unit-02. It was currently lying face down on the tarmac of the airfield NERV were using to launch their expeditionary force from. The airfield itself was formerly the Tokyo-2 International Airport, located on the outskirts of Tokyo-3. Having been severely damaged in Unit-00's self-destruction NERV had taken it upon itself to repair the complex, for its own uses. The place was barely recognisable as the once bustling airport it had once been as NERV had only decided to rebuild the location to useable standards. Besides nobody wanted to come to Tokyo-3 anyway, there was nothing there for anybody.
It was very early in the morning and so the whole airfield was bathed in the dull grey light that came before the sun rose, making her new Eva's armour plates look dark blue instead of their usual red.
'My Eva?' Rei thought, still staring at the machine. 'This is not mine.' She knew all too well that she was merely standing in as the machine's pilot. Despite the fact that its previous pilot could not get the thing to move, it was painfully clear to Rei, from the way everyone talked about it, and even from the way that it looked, that this was Asuka's Eva. Whether she could pilot it or not. Not many things in Rei's life had ever truly been hers. Unit-00, which everyone always thought of as 'Rei's Eva,' had not been hers. She knew every time she piloted it that it despised having her inside of it. It had even tried to kill her before.
The smell of aviation fuel made it's way to Rei, who wrinkled her nose in disgust. She looked over to the source of the repulsive smell to see the huge v-shaped plane that would be used to transport her Eva to Choshi, where the operation would go ahead.
"Rei?" she heard a voice call. She turned again to see the figure of Misato Katsuragi approach. "I see you're prepared for the mission today," she commented as she halted in front of the red eyed girl. She looked her up and down, seeing that she already had her plugsuit on. Rei nodded. "Very well, you have already been briefed on the mission. Ground troops will land and secure the facility in Choshi, and then technicians will enter the facility and retrieve the necessary materials. You will only be required to pilot the Eva should the expeditionary force come under attack. Otherwise the transport plane carrying Unit-02 will simply circle the location until the mission is over."
"Yes, I understand," Rei said quietly.
"Very well then, good luck Rei." Misato then turned and headed off toward a group of technicians doing checks on the Eva's weapons, which were currently lying on the back of long trucks. Rei turned to look back at the Eva in front of her, lying prone on the ground. The first rays of sunlight crept over the mountains shining a yellow spotlight on the giant machine.
"Red," she whispered.
***
'I hope that we don't need her to fight,' Misato thought as she walked away from the First Child. One of the main problems she had spotted in the plans for the operation was Rei's lack of combat experience. She had fought against only a few Angels, and even then played no real part in their destruction. Except, of course, for her battle with the sixteenth Angel. And Misato was hoping that Rei would not be forced to take such drastic action today. Certainly Rei had been through the combat simulators just as all the other pilots had. But one of the first things Misato realised when she started to work for NERV was that no amount of theory could prepare you for real life.
"How are the preparations going?" Misato asked as she stopped at a group of technicians checking the weapons Unit-02 would take with it on the mission.
"Good. Everything's ready," one of the technicians replied. "We have a Palette Rifle and Rocket Launcher fully loaded and in top condition. Unit-02 has already been equipped with two prog knives and both spike launchers have been loaded."
"Good work," Misato approved them before moving on.
That was another thing that had Misato worried. Unit-02's lack of weapons. Due to the size and weight of the Eva's weapons it was only possible to take as much as the Eva itself could carry. In Tokyo-3 and the Geofront it was possible to keep supplying the Eva's with weapons almost indefinitely. However away from the Geofront this was not possible. Certainly the arsenal Unit-02 was taking with it to Choshi was enough to level a large city, but Misato had seen how much damage the new Eva's could take, and she wondered whether it would be enough to put one down. Another problem raised by using an Eva around the Choshi facility was the lack of power cables available for the Eva. The facility had been constructed before Project-E had even begun and had been closed just as the first Evangelion's had been completed. As such Unit-02 must be fitted with battery packs that contained enough power to keep the Eva going for roughly thirty minutes. It was better than having the Eva run off its own internal power source, but Misato still looked on the limited operational time as a serious problem. She hoped that any battle wouldn't last that long, but it was always a possibility.
Out of the corner of her eye Misato spotted Ritsuko Akagi sitting near one of the aeroplane hangars. She guessed she had picked such a place to prepare her equipment so she would be away from the others involved in the operation. Especially Rei. Misato had once been close friends with the woman, but ever since the incident in the Chamber of Gauf Misato had begun to doubt whether she had ever really known her. She knew it would probably be better to leave her alone, but there were some things that she wanted to know.
"Well, well, well Major Misato Katsuragi," Ritsuko commented tiredly as she looked up from her laptop at the purple haired woman. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"Ritsuko," Misato nodded her greeting, ignoring what the other woman had said. She folded her arms over her chest and looked down at the woman. "Listen Ritsuko I don't trust you. And I'm pretty certain you aren't very fond of anyone who works for NERV now, but I just need to talk to you about something. It will benefit us both."
"You trusted me enough to talk to me about Shinji," Ritsuko replied, her voice remaining level.
"That was different Ritsuko. I needed a friend then, and you were all I had."
"Huh," Ritsuko grunted dubiously. "What do you want to know then?" Ritsuko asked, looking back at her laptop.
"The Choshi facility," Misato stated, "what's in it?"
"It's the question on everybody's lips isn't it?" Ritsuko replied, a smirk appearing on her face. "But for once I don't have the answer."
"What?" Misato blurted out, shocked by the information.
"Project-N was closed down shortly after I joined NERV. It was deemed a failure and all information on it was classified. Only the Commanders know about it. I have heard that it had the same goals as Project-E, but I haven't been able to confirm this."
"The same goals as Project-E?" Misato asked, wondering what the blonde woman had meant by this.
"To create something using Angel technology," she explained, looking back up at her old friend.
"What did they try to create?"
"I told you I don't know," Ritsuko answered, sounding irritated. "However I do know one thing," she continued, deliberately teasing her old friend.
"What?"
"That the information learned through Project-N has been used since then… on two separate occasions." Ritsuko returned her attention to the screen on her laptop.
"I'm guessing you don't know any more than that," Misato deduced. She looked down at the ground, running the information through her head. She realised it could take a while to make sense of it so filed the information away in her memory for later. "Thanks for your help," Misato said, some of her trust for her friend returning. "And good luck today."
"Luck, hah!" Ritsuko said apathetically. "As if I would be here if Ikari thought we had any chance of success."
"What?" Misato asked, shock once again blooming in her.
"Isn't it obvious?" She looked up again. "I'm a liability to him, that makes me expendable. If this operation goes wrong he wants to make sure my name is on the casualty list. That bastard."
"So why don't you just refuse to go?" Misato asked. Despite her current distrust for her friend, she certainly didn't want to wish death on her.
"And spend the rest of my days in a cell? Besides, the way this situation is going I doubt any of us have much time left. At least out here I might be able to achieve… it doesn't matter." Ritsuko returned to her laptop, clearly showing she had finished with the conversation. Misato turned and walked away from her old friend. All of a sudden her fears seemed all too real.
***
"So you're running away again?" Asuka said scornfully. She stood in front of him in her yellow sundress, her hands on her hips, the only thing to disrupt the utter blackness that surrounded the two.
"What?" Shinji asked in confusion.
"Invincible Shinji can't handle it anymore so he's running away."
"But- but you told me to!" Shinji protested.
"That was not what we said," Rei said as she appeared out of the inky darkness next to Asuka.
"We told you to do what you wanted," Misato said as she materialised in the void.
"But- this is what I want!" Shinji shouted. His mind was a sea of confusion.
"Is it?" Rei asked.
"You just said you didn't want to pilot anymore," Misato told him.
"I don't!"
"Isn't it enough that you've left NERV?" Asuka asked him.
"I-I don't understand," Shinji said quietly, bowing his head.
"You're a coward Shinji, that's all there is too it," Misato said bluntly.
"You're weak and feeble, so you're running away," Asuka told him. "Your leaving everyone you knew to die, because you're not strong enough."
"But they don't care about me, why should I care about them?"
"What are you stupid? Do you think Misato would have done everything she had if she didn't care for you?" Asuka retorted.
"That's just her job. I'm only a pilot to her."
"Hah, you even lie to yourself!" Asuka laughed. "Just because you think you're disgusting you assume everyone else does too."
"I only hate myself because nobody shows any affection for me."
"Were you living under a rock for the past year?" Asuka snapped back at him.
"What of the friends you made?" Rei asked. "Did they not make you feel… happy?"
"Maybe, for a while. But it wasn't happiness. All happiness is just an absence of pain."
"Is that really what you think?" Misato asked, concern showing in her voice.
"Yes. Just look at what happened to Toji," Shinji paused for a moment. "What I did to him," he said, sadness welling up in his voice.
"You shouldn't blame yourself so much Shinji," Misato attempted to console him. "So you hurt some people? Things like that happen in life Shinji, you shouldn't get so caught up over them."
"You don't understand!" Shinji shouted back, lifting his head up to stare at the three women, clenching his fists. "None of you understand what it's like to be me!"
"Then tell us Shinji," Asuka said in a sympathetic voice.
"Tell us," Rei said.
"Tell us," Misato repeated.
"I- I can't!" Shinji fell to his knees putting his head in his hands, trying to hold back the tears. "I can't," he said quietly.
"Can you tell me?" a voice asked. It was a voice he had heard before, a voice that had once brought so much happiness into his life, before he himself had destroyed it.
"Kaworu?" Shinji asked, looking up. The three women had disappeared, replaced by a single boy with pale skin and grey hair, his hands in the pockets of his school trousers. He smiled, bringing a smile of joy to Shinji's tear streaked face. "But you're-"
"Dead?" Kaworu asked, a small laugh escaping from his lips. "Yes, Shinji, I am. But that doesn't matter right now."
"Why are you here?" Shinji asked, feeling confused again.
"To talk to you, Shinji. You seem to be in a bad place right now," he replied, concern showing in his voice.
"I-I'm confused. I didn't want to pilot, and so I left. But now I'm wondering whether it was the right thing to do." He stared down at his hands, hanging limply between his legs as he lay kneeling on the floor.
"Do you think it was the right thing to do?"
"I don't know." His head sank lower down.
"So why did you leave?"
"Because I didn't want to pilot anymore. Because it hurts too much to stay here."
"So why are you having second thoughts? It would seem that leaving would be the best thing."
"I don't know."
"Well, you ran away from things before, did that help?" Kaworu asked sincerely.
"I don't know. Whenever I ran away things never seemed to get any better. When I was living with my teacher things were boring, but they were stable. But I don't know if things were any better."
"So is running away the answer Shinji? Maybe what you are looking for is right here, you just have to find it."
"Maybe, but maybe it's out there somewhere?" he thought aloud.
"Hmm… uncertainty. It is what fills the Lilim heart with fear, but also what makes it seek comfort."
"So, what should I do?" Shinji asked, his desperation showing in his voice. He looked up into the crimson eyes of his dead friend. Absolute silence enveloped the two for a long while.
"I can't decide that for you Shinji," Kaworu said eventually, a sad look appearing on his face. "Only you can."
***
Shinji Ikari awoke, and bolted upright in his bed. The last words from his dream playing over and over in his head.
"What should I do?" he said to himself, hoping that somebody, anybody, would answer. "What should I do?" Just like he had in his dream Shinji Ikari buried his face in his hands, and wept.
***
Rei stared down at the ground far below her, taking in the scenery so as to familiarise herself with the area. Should the expeditionary force come under attack knowledge of the surrounding area could prove invaluable.
Choshi was a large city on a small island barely half a mile off the coast. The island it was on was originally an outcrop of land that stretched out into the ocean, but the rising water levels caused by Second Impact had severed it from the mainland. Several hills served as the centre of the island, and also were the location for the NERV installation that was the target for this operation. Surrounding these hills was a large green grassy plain. The main bulk of Choshi City was spread out across the coast facing out into the ocean. NERV were to avoid the city, since seeing unknown soldiers out in the open would only serve to panic the citizens. This was a good thing as from her height Rei could only make the city out as a grey blur along the coast. She could also spot a few farms dotted around the grassy plains, and small harbours around the coast.
The various transport helicopters had landed in the hills roughly half an hour ago and so far everything was running smoothly. The facility had been located and Dr. Akagi had already begun the process of breaking the electronic locks that prevented access to the interior. So for the past thirty minutes the transport plane carrying Unit-02 had simply circled the small cluster of hills, allowing Rei an excellent view of the small island.
"Rei?" Major Katsuragi's voice came over the intercom.
"Yes," she responded calmly.
"The operation is going according to plan, we have no need for you as of yet. How are you doing?"
"I am prepared for combat, should the need arise," Rei answered levelly.
"That's good, I'll contact you again in another ten minutes with another status report." Rei returned her attention to the ground far below her. The image tilted slightly as the plane made a small change in its flight path.
'No need for me?' Rei thought. 'Am I only useful when I am needed? Am I a tool?'
***
"How's the unlocking coming along Doctor?" the Captain asked. The badge on his chest identified him as 'Cpt. Nanasawa.'
"It's about seventy percent complete. It's taking longer than expected. Whoever sealed this was trying to make sure nobody got in again," Ritsuko Akagi replied.
"Well we have to get in there," the Captain remarked. The man was a NERV guard with a military background, he had been picked along with other guards with military experience to serve as ground troops during the operation. Although most attacks by SEELE had been performed by Eva's it was better to be prepared should SEELE use some troops of their own to attempt to capture the facility. The man was in his late thirties and had served during the brief and violent war that had followed Second Impact. A dark blue helmet and goggles covered most of his face. He was also dressed in full military gear, in black and dark blue, and casually holding a rifle under his left arm. All the other soldiers were dressed similarly, although looking a lot more apprehensive than their Captain was.
"That's the problem with most of these boys," he commented looking around at the assembled soldiers. He and about four others were positioned at the huge metal door marked 'Gehirn Choshi Facility.' He was standing in the doorway to the small booth at the side of the main door. Ritsuko was sitting on a chair in the booth, her laptop plugged into the computer terminal there and her fingers busily working on the keyboard. The other four soldiers were spread out around the perimeter of the entrance keeping watch on the road which led up to the facility.
"Most of these only have basic firearms training, they've never been in actual combat. I would hate to see what would happen if SEELE decided to take the Geofront with a squad of Commando's," he snorted in disgust. He glanced at the blonde haired woman in the booth and realised she wasn't paying any attention to him. 'Hmm, they said she was a cold bitch,' he thought.
"Captain Nanasawa?" a voice came over the radio attached to the collar of his uniform.
"Here," he said, pulling the black box closer to his mouth.
"We've detected a large airborne object moving towards your position."
"Another object detected," a voice could be heard in the background.
"Two airborne objects heading your way," Misato informed him. "Chances are good it'll be Eva's. Leave this to Unit-02, just make sure Dr. Akagi does her job, and retrieve the materials as quick as possible."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied. "Did you hear that?" he asked. Ristuko nodded. "We have hostiles incoming!" he shouted to the other soldiers nearby, his army training coming flooding back to him. "We're to hold the position, got that?" the other soldiers nodded. He pressed the button on the radio to transmit to all the soldiers in the area and repeated the news to them. "How much longer Doctor?" he asked after relaying the information to his troops.
"Only a few more minutes," she replied. He gripped his rifle tighter and looked up to see the large v-shape of the transport plane. He could make out the shape of the Eva's legs sticking out from under the plane where it was held horizontally beneath it. 'Christ,' he thought, 'I'd rather be shelled by nukes than go up against one of those things. I'd have a better chance against the nukes.'
***
Misato stared at the large map of Choshi projected over the cavernous space in front of the Geofront's control tower. Numerous blue dots marked the position of NERV personnel in the hills, and a large green triangle showed the position of Unit-02, currently flying above the hills on the underside of a massive transport plane. Two red triangles made their way slowly towards the blue dots in the centre of the map. She knew that while the two hostile Eva's were airborne they would be untouchable. She would have to wait until they had landed to deploy Unit-02 against them.
She also doubted her own abilities in being able to deal with the situation. And doubting your own skills was as close to losing before you began as you could get. Not only had her confidence been shaken by the loss of the MAGI, not even twenty four hours before, but her mind was nearly constantly on Shinji. He had said last night that he would be leaving today. What time, he hadn't said. She knew he could have left already and she never got the chance to say goodbye to him. But again she wondered what she could say to him if she did get the chance. Again she was torn. She wanted him to stay because she felt responsible for what happened to him, and she wanted some opportunity to help him. But then she thought it would be better if he just left, to end both their pains.
"Major?" Maya asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Yes?"
"Should we inform the First Child of the current situation?" Maya asked. Misato nodded.
"Put me through to her."
"Yes, ma'am," Maya pressed a button on her workstation.
"Rei, can you hear me?" Misato asked.
"Yes," Rei replied, quiet as always.
"Two MP Eva's have been detected heading for the facility. So far we don't believe they know of our presence, so we'll use this to our advantage. Once the Eva's have landed you will be dropped as near to the enemy as possible, hopefully you will be able to take advantage of their surprise," Misato informed the girl.
"Understood," she replied, ending their conversation. Misato had expected some degree of shock or protest from her against simply dropping the Eva from such a height. But she remembered how Rei was, she would have realised that such a fall wouldn't have damaged the Eva. However a disturbing thought entered her mind that Rei would probably still go ahead with the plan even if the fall would have killed her.
***
Above Misato, on the top level of the control tower Gendo Ikari sat at the large desk there, his hands, as usual, steepled in front of his face. He watched the coloured icons move their way across the large three-dimensional map.
"The situation does not look good," Kozo Fuyutsuki remarked, as he stood to his Commander's right.
"Rei will be able to delay the enemy long enough to retrieve the materials," Gendo replied, no sign of worry in his voice.
"What if Unit-02 is destroyed?"
"Then we are defeated. However the enemy is also attempting to seize the contents of the facility. Gaining control of the weapons will be a blow to our enemy. Risking Unit-02 was a gamble I was willing to take."
"I never thought you were one to gamble Ikari," Fuyutsuki remarked.
Gendo didn't reply.
***
"Doors unlocked!" Ritsuko Akagi shouted over the sound of metal grinding as mechanisms unused for nearly a decade sprang into life once again. Nanasawa turned to see the huge metal doors sliding apart to reveal a massive corridor leading down into the bowels of the facility.
"Finally," he breathed a sigh of relief. "Hayasaka, Tsubasa," he cried to two of the soldiers, "with me!" The three soldiers descended into the facility following the lab coat clad figure of Dr. Akagi. "Do you mind hurrying it up a little Doctor?" he asked, his irritation at her leisurely pace obvious in his voice. "And where exactly are these 'materials' stored?"
"We should follow this corridor for another hundred or so metres, then we'll reach the storage room," she replied, making no effort to hide her contempt of the Captain. After about fifty metres the corridor levelled out and branched off further into the facility. The corridor looked about fifteen feet high and fifteen feet wide. A wide strip down the centre of the corridor was obviously a track designed to allow vehicles access to the facility. The whole place was a uniform grey and dark blue. All the corridors that branched away from the main corridor were a lot smaller, the size of normal corridors in the Geofront. Many doors could be seen lining the other corridors, each identical to the next. The whole place looked cold and unfeeling, and the stale air inside told that the place hadn't been disturbed for a long while. He could see the other two soldiers looking about nervously. He could tell they felt it too, the awful foreboding growing inside him. They kept going straight ahead. Eventually they came across tall double doors which, like the entrance, were also electronically locked. However they took only a few seconds to break. The large doors slid ominously open, revealing a large cavernous room.
"These are the 'materials?'" the Captain asked, too shocked to notice the looks of horror on his subordinate's faces.
"Hmm, it all makes sense now," Ritsuko said calmly, observing the contents of the room. Nanasawa swallowed nervously and tried to take stock of the situation.
"We're going to need more men."
***
Shinji stood at the boundaries of Tokyo-3. The pavement, which covered the whole city, ended a pace in front of him. The road to his right stretched out into the countryside, away from the city. It was never used nowadays, there was barely a handful of people still living inside the once bustling metropolis. Mainly the hospital staff still tending for those too ill to be moved.
'Just one more step,' he thought, 'and I'll leave this place.' He turned to take one last look back at the city. The street was lined with small office buildings, the owners too poor to afford premises nearer the centre of the city, near the busy business district. But that was why they were still standing now, while their wealthier rivals had fallen. Not that it did much good, nobody wanted anything to do with Tokyo-3 now, so the buildings hadn't been used for several weeks. Far beyond these could be seen the tall skyscrapers of Tokyo-3. Their foundations shattered they teetered at awkward angles, seemingly straining not to collapse. Large white clouds lazily made their way across the sky, making the city look almost peaceful, and also obscuring the sun. The gradient of the street prevented him from seeing the lake that now replaced the city's centre. The lake that he had spent so much time at over the past weeks. Why had he gone there? The lake itself had been a product of 'her' death, and it had been the place where he had met 'him.' It held so many bad memories, yet he still went there.
As the cold water washed over him, soaking his clothes all over again, he had no intention of ever resurfacing.
He shivered. Both at the cold wind that blew threw the street, and the memory of that moment, as he sunk into the lake in an attempt to end his life.
'Why couldn't I do it?' he wondered, but shook off the thought quickly. It didn't matter any more, he was leaving this place. 'Just one more step.' He faced away from the city once again. He swallowed hard and balled his fists, mustering the strength to take that next step. The last step of his old life, and the first step of his new. A symbolic gesture, the severing of all the painful memories the place held. He took the step.
"I'm sure Commander Ikari is just busy."
'I can't move! why can't I move?' Shinji looked down at his feet. They felt raw, as if they didn't belong to him. He was still standing on the edge of the pavement, as if some invisible force was preventing him from moving any further.
"Nobody cares about me."
"Then what's keeping you here!"
'But I don't want to stay!' he thought, as if trying to convince his body to move. "I want to go!" he shouted.
"Maybe what you are looking for is right here, you just have to find it."
"There has to be something you care about!"
Shinji fell to his knees and pounded the pavement with his fist. The sun suddenly appeared from between the clouds, making the pavement feel warm on the palms of his hands as he supported himself. He noticed drops of water turn the concrete dark grey beneath him. 'Rain?' he thought. 'No… tears.' He squeezed his eyes shut. 'Why can't I leave? Why can't I leave?'
"Help me Asuka…" he whispered.
***
"You ever seen one of these Evangelions fight?" Ishida asked, scanning the area nervously.
"No, I've always been in the Geofront when an Angel attacks," Kikuchi replied, keeping a similarly nervous lookout.
"I saw one of 'em, fighting that big Angel that tore up the Geofront."
"Really?"
"Uh huh," Ishida nodded. "They're vicious, monsters even. I shouldn't be telling you this, but… it ate the Angel!"
"W-What?" Kikuchi looked at his new acquaintance with wide eyes.
"Yup, it tore the things arms off, and then it ate it!" Ishida repeated himself, chomping his teeth to add emphasis to his words.
"Will you two shut up!" Obari hissed at them, from over the other side of the road. All three men were on edge, and they had good reason to be. They were all stationed on the frontline, the base of the hill. If any ground troops were to make a push for the facility in the hills this would be the first place they struck. All three were crouched down in the tall grass by the side of the road that led to the facility. Ishida was the only one out of the small group to have no military experience, but he acted like a veteran, simply because he had been working for NERV longer than the other two. And had actually seen Evangelions in combat.
"How much longer 'till these Eva's get here?" Kikuchi, the youngest of the three, asked.
"About a minute from what I've heard," Ishida replied.
"About a minute?" Kikuchi repeated in horror, tightening his grip on the rifle he held. "Are we going to have to fight these things?"
"You never know," Ishida said ominously.
"Kikuchi stop talking to that idiot," Obari told him. He was the oldest, and had the most military experience of the three, so had been appointed the de facto leader. "We're here to stop enemy soldiers, not Eva's. If we're to come up against Eva's we're to pull back, got it?" Kikuchi nodded, feeling slightly relieved. "And besides," Obari continued, "these things can fly, so they're not gonna bother fighting their way up the mountain if they can just fly to the top."
"You have to spoil all my fun," Ishida grinned back at Obari. Obari glared back at the man. He didn't like Ishida at all and knew he would just be trouble when he was assigned with him to guard the base of the hill. The fact that Kikuchi was so gullible to whatever Ishida said just irritated him even more. The three had only met each other about an hour ago but already Obari wished he would never see them again.
"Sergeant!" Kikuchi hissed, stretching up to look over the top of the tall grass. "I can see somebody coming." Obari took a quick glance over the top of the grass and saw several figures moving slowly up the road towards them.
"Keep down," Obari waved his hand at Kikuchi and the man returned to his crouching position. Obari ducked down again. "They just look like civilians, maybe out for a walk, just stay down for the minute I'll contact the Captain. He lifted his radio up and pressed the large button on it to transmit. "Captain Nanasawa?" he requested. There was a long period of static.
"Here," a voice said eventually.
"Obari here, we've spotted civilians heading for the hill, requesting orders," he stated. Once again there was a long period of static.
"Tell them there are military manoeuvres going on, and to stay away," Nanasawa eventually answered.
"Understood, sir."
"And we're pulling out in five, make sure to be back at the dust-off point by then." Obari waved for the other two men to stand up and then stood up himself. There were eight people all dressed in civilian clothes heading along the road, Obari also saw more groups heading in the same direction in the distance. The group was a lot closer than he thought they would have been.
"Halt!" he cried out. "This area is being used for military manoeuvres and is off-limits, please turn back immediately." The group continued on as if they hadn't heard anything. "I said halt!" Obari shouted aiming his rifle at the man at the head of the group. The man turned his head to look at Obari, a vacant expression on his face, and raised his hand palm outward to point at him.
"Something's not right," Kikuchi said nervously, aiming his rifle at another person who had assumed the same position as Obari's target. Obari picked up his radio once again.
"Nanasawa, we are encountering resistance from the civilians, how should we proceed?"
***
"Resistance?" Nanasawa asked incredulously. He was now standing by one of the large transport helicopters watching the 'materials' being loaded on. Mercifully they had been stored in large containers fitted with shutters. There would be plenty of time to talk over them later, but for now the fewer people that saw them the better.
"There not listening to what we're saying and- what the?"
"Christ, look at their skin!" another voice on the other end of the radio said.
"What the- get off me!" another voice shouted.
"Damn it, open fire!" Obari shouted.
"What!?" Nanasawa shouted down the phone as the sounds of gunshots were heard. "Cease fire! Cease fire immediately!" The sound of an explosion was heard on the other end of the radio followed by static. "Obari? Obari are you there? Kikuchi? Ishida? Come in." He heard nothing but static coming from the radio.
"Is there a problem Captain?" Ritsuko asked, a small smirk on her face.
"What exactly are you so happy about?" Nanasawa snarled at her. Her amusement at his confusion coupled with her behaviour over the past hour had begun to irritate him immensely.
"Not happy really," Ritsuko said nonchalantly. "I was expecting to die on this mission, getting out of here alive would be a bonus for me. I thought I might as well enjoy my time here." Nanasawa suppressed the urge to shout at the woman and grabbed his radio again.
"Koizomi," he asked for the man over his radio.
"Here."
"Take some men down to the bottom of the hill. I lost contact with Obari, find out what happened."
"Yes, sir."
"Have we finished loading?" Nanasawa asked a passing soldier.
"Yes, sir, the helicopters are being prepared for take-off now," the soldier quickly replied before continuing on his way. Nanasawa spoke into his radio again.
"Major?"
"What is it Captain?" Misato replied.
"All the materials have been loaded, we'll be pulling out as soon as all troops have been recalled," he reported.
"The Eva's are nearly on your position Captain, get those men back as soon as possible," Misato informed him.
"Yes, ma'am." Suddenly a massive shadow passed across the sun. Everyone on the small plateau looked upwards to see what appeared to be two massive birds circling around them like vultures. Panic spread through the group as realisation dawned that the Eva's had arrived.
"Keep calm!" Nanasawa shouted over the din of panicked voices cursing and arguing. One of the bird-shapes turned onto its side and descended down towards them. As it neared the ground it twisted so it was vertical and flapped its powerful wings to slow its descent. Many men were knocked over by the powerful gale created by the giant creature. A loud thud echoed through the mountains as it touched down on the edge of the plateau. All the soldiers looked at it in horror. It stood crouched over slightly, its huge double-ended sword grasped in one hand as its wings retracted into its back. It seemed to survey the assorted helicopters and soldiers with its black eyeless head. Its lips parted in a hungry grin.
"Captain!" Misato's voice shouted through his radio. "The Eva's are right on top of you!"
"No shit," he said to himself, staring up at the huge beast.
***
"How did they get there so quickly?" Misato asked.
"It looked like they picked up speed as they got nearer to our position," Hyuga reported, quickly bringing up reports and records on his screen.
"Put me through to Rei," Misato ordered.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Rei?" Misato asked, as the small holographic window appeared in front of her.
"Yes?" she replied, patiently awaiting orders.
"The two hostiles have already touched down at our field base, we'll need to deploy you immediately," she informed the red eyed girl.
"I am prepared," Rei replied simply.
"We'll drop you as soon as we are able to find a drop point within shooting distance of the Eva's."
"Understood."
"Ma'am, only one of the Eva's has touched down, the other is still airborne," Hyuga informed her, looking away from the displays on his computer screen.
"Did you hear that Rei?" Misato asked, turning back to the image of the First Child. Rei nodded. "You'll have to watch out for the second Eva, the first is probably bait to draw out our forces, so keep watch. We'll monitor the situation from here." She looked back to the large holographic map, the first Eva hadn't moved yet, it simply seemed to be taking everything in. It was however causing panic throughout the makeshift base. She could see the small blue dots, which represented NERV troops, running back and forth hurriedly as if attempting to avoid the creatures eyeless gaze.
"Put me through to the Captain," Misato requested. Obediently Maya pressed several buttons on her keyboard to open a channel to the Captain.
"Nanasawa?" Misato asked once again.
"Yes, Major?" the man replied, she knew she didn't have his full concentration. The irritation that showed in the man's voice told her it was a bad time for her to call.
"What's the situation?"
"Bad, Major, it isn't doing-" he abruptly stopped the conversation when the sound of gunfire broke out. "Don't waste your ammunition!" the bridge staff heard him cry. "You can't hurt it! Damn it, Major, where the hell is that Eva of ours?" he shouted down the radio. She disliked the man's unprofessional tone, but she didn't know whether she could handle the situation any better than the man was.
"It should be there as soon as possible Captain. How many men are you waiting for?"
"About six- Oh, Christ!" Misato immediately realised what was the cause of the man's concern as she saw the large red arrow, which represented the grounded Eva, move. A large crunch, followed by an explosion and several screams, was heard. "It just took out one of our helicopters!"
"Captain, pull your men out now!" Misato ordered him.
"I'm not leaving those men-" he began before Misato cut him off.
"Then keep one transport behind, send the rest off!"
"Yes, ma'am," he responded, seemingly pleased and relieved at her order. Gunfire was heard to break out again just before the Captain ended the communication.
"The transport plane is in position," Aoba announced.
"Tell them to drop Unit-02 now!" Misato shouted.
***
Rei heard the double metallic clunk of the restraints disengaging. Unit-02 begin to slide backwards along the runners that held it to the bottom of the large plane. Her shoulders sagged as they were freed from their restraint. She felt the wind more strongly now as the Eva began its descent. Down below her she could see the small plateau, roughly half way up the hill, where nine helicopters were preparing to take off. She could see the burning wreckage of one helicopter in front of the black giant at the plateau's edge. She knew what she had to do.
She gently leant backwards to turn the Eva to a vertical position as it continued to fall, making sure not to push too hard in case the Eva went into a spin in mid-air. She had to remember to factor in the weight of the rocket launcher and palette rifle held in either hand, and the weight of the battery packs on each shoulder. She braced herself for the impact.
Unit-02 hit the ground hard, creating a small crater in the side of the hill and sending clods of earth flying. The Eva's knees bent but didn't buckle. Rei spread the Eva's legs, shifting its weight, and kept the Eva stable despite the earth beneath her feet giving way and attempting to drag the Eva down the side of the hill along with it. Unit-02 looked up, its four eyes locking onto its enemy on the opposite side of the plateau to it. A helicopter flew in front of the S2 equipped Eva attempting to make a getaway from the creature. Its grinning head turned to follow the machines' ascent. Its arms strained and wrenched the large double-ended sword from the wreckage of the first helicopter and swung it up in an arc. The blade sliced clean through the centre of the flying machine, sending the two halves spinning off into the air before they exploded, showering debris down onto the hillside. Rei could clearly hear the panicked cursing and terrifies screams coming from the assembled soldiers. The beast then turned to face Unit-02.
"AT field active," she said, almost automatically, as she quickly commanded Unit-02 to drop to one knee and raise its right arm. She levelled the rocket launcher at the grinning beast in front of her, but found it hard to keep her aim steady having to hold the weapon one-handed. And her other hand was occupied, holding her palette rifle. She pulled the trigger, and the long silver barrel roared. The Eva rocked back slightly under the recoil from the weapon. The rocket streaked out across the plateau. Rei had been aiming for the Eva's chest, but the rocket instead struck the creature in its right knee. The whole of the Eva's knee, along with part of its shin and thigh, exploded, shearing its lower leg off.
The impact of the explosion also knocked the Eva off balance, so it teetered precariously on the edge of the plateau. It stuck its arms out in front of it in an attempt to regain balance. Its wings quickly deployed, beating furiously in order to keep the Eva from tumbling down the hillside. Rei took advantage of the opening and loosed another rocket at the Eva. This one did strike the Eva in the chest, sending a shower of blood across the plateau. Rei was unable to judge the amount of damage done to the creature, however, as it plummeted off the side of the plateau under the force of the attack.
"Rei, behind you!" Major Katsuragi's voice cried over the communication channel. Rei spun round in time to see the falling shape of the other MP Eva silhouetted against the sun. Its wings were outstretched and its sword raised over its head, ready to cleave Unit-02 in half. Rei's trained mind thought quickly how to proceed. She quickly ordered Unit-02 to drop down further and point its shoulder units towards the rapidly approaching enemy. This was hard to do considering that Unit-02 was kneeling, and facing in the wrong direction. She knew she could never bring the rocket launcher to bear on her attacker in time. So when the Eva's torso had twisted so its shoulders pointed towards the swooping Eva she pressed the small red button on each control, a button which was not included in either Unit-00 or Unit-01. The Eva's shoulder units spilt apart to reveal five closely packed holes looking like the barrels of guns in each. Two volley's of five steel spikes shot out at high speed to embed themselves in Unit-02's would-be attacker. One volley struck the Eva in the stomach, leaving what looked like five black tubes sticking out of the creature's abdomen. The other volley ripped through the airborne Eva's left wing, some spikes were left embedded in the wing, while others tore through the thick fleshy skin of the wing, leaving great gashes. This unexpected assault made the black Eva lose control of its flight and career wildly through the air. It missed a clumsy swipe with its blade but ended up colliding with Unit-02. The flailing Eva's stomach connected with Unit-02's face as it neared the ground, the butt of one of the steel spikes striking Unit-02 squarely between its four eyes. The weight and speed of the falling Eva knocked Unit-02 over and onto its side and both Eva's skidded along the plateau. Directly into one of the waiting helicopters.
***
"We've lost another helicopter," Aoba informed his superior.
'And that means more casualties,' Misato told herself. "What's the status of Unit-02?"
"One of its battery packs was damaged when the MP Eva struck Unit-02. It's down to ten minutes of power," Maya reported. "It looks like Rei also lost the rocket launcher in the collision."
'Hmm, one against one it still remains to be seen whether Rei can defeat this,' Misato thought. "How s the extraction proceeding?"
"Six helicopters have already left the field of engagement and are returning to base," Aoba reported. "Three have been destroyed and the other is being delayed by Captain Nanasawa to retrieve the missing soldiers."
"Good, once that transport has left tell the transport plane to pick up Unit-02," Misato ordered.
"But, ma'am, the First Child might destroy that last Eva," Hyuga pointed out, wondering why the Major seemed to be wanting to run from a fight.
"And she could also be killed, Lieutenant," Misato responded. "I've seen enough casualties for one day."
"The other Eva has become active again," Maya reported. The dull red arrow, which had fallen down to the base of the hill, glowed red once again and lifted up into the air.
'Oh God,' Misato inwardly cursed. 'Two against one are not good odds.'
***
Rei opened her eyes and tried to take in her situation. The rapid series of events had confused her senses and so she worked quickly to attempt to assess the situation. She could feel a pressure on her left side, a quick glance told her that this was the ground her Eva was lying on. Another glance told her the pressure on her right side was a black Evangelion slumped across Unit-02, its damaged wings acting as a kind of canopy over the two. And then her eyes fell on the destruction around her. Situated in front of Unit-02's chest was the wreckage of a helicopter, crushed as the two Evangelions plowed the earth up in their collision.
Spilling out of the wreckage were the mangled dead bodies of soldiers in their dark blue uniforms. But more disturbing than that was the other bodies. She could see part of the container that had been inside the helicopter. She could see the tubes of LCL inside the container. And inside the tubes of LCL she could see the bodies. They looked human, but there was something alien to them. They only looked about the same age as her, their skin was pale white, just like her own, their fully exposed bodies floating inside the tubes were completely hairless. Most of the tubes had been smashed in the collision, spilling LCL across the grassy earth to mingle with the blood. Many of these strange bodies lay broken on the ground, the one nearest to her lay bonelessly on the floor, staring up at Unit-02 with empty eyes. Their eyes, that was what disturbed her the most.
"Red," Rei whispered, unable to tear her eyes away from the dead gaze. She felt the Eva lying on top of her move. Her gaze shifted back to her current enemy, trying to push the horrible vision from her mind.
"Rei, incoming from above!" Misato shouted at her. Rei looked up to see another Eva land just next to her head.
'Another target?' Rei thought, but her eyes quickly fell on the bloody stump of the Eva's right leg and the gaping hole in its chest, revealing a red orb at the centre of the wound. She saw that it was holding its sword in both hands, raised high with the point facing downwards, ready to pierce through Unit-02's head. Rei quickly rolled her Eva onto its back as she saw the blade descend. The Eva lying on the red Evangelion was dislodged from its position, sliding off the fighting machine onto the grassy earth, and directly into the line of the falling blade. The one-legged Eva accidentally skewered its companion's head with its large blade, leaving it lying on its stomach powerless to do anything. Its tongue lolled hideously out of its mouth as the blood trickled down the side of its head, looking pitch black against its dark skin.
Rei took advantage of the one-legged Eva's momentary confusion to strike. She had lost her rocket launcher in the tumble with the now-pinned Eva so she quickly brought the rifle in her left hand up and round to aim at the one-legged Eva's head. She squeezed the trigger, sending a hail of bullets into its soft flesh. Blood rained down from the Eva's punctured head as it sagged down, putting its weight on its sword to remain upright, further pressing the weapon into the ground and increasing its partners discomfort. Rei used this window to get Unit-02 upright once again. She knew she merely needed to destroy the S2 engine and the Eva would be defeated, and with the Eva's S2 engine exposed as it was that should be a simple enough task. Unit-02's shoulder unit obediently deployed a progressive knife and she reached up to grasp the hilt of the blade. She brought the blade down by Unit-02's hip, still keeping the palette rifle in her left hand trained on the one-legged Eva. She flicked her wrist, causing the retractable blade to deploy. She moved forward to strike at the one-legged Eva as it was still trying to recover from the near point-blank shots to its head.
Her right leg met resistance as she tried to move towards her target, looking down she saw the pinned Eva had grasped Unit-02's ankle. Blood spilled out of its mouth as its teeth parted in a sick grin. Whereas the previous pilot of Unit-02 may have become positively furious at this adversary's persistence Rei simply dealt with the situation as best she could. She realised that emotions would only cloud judgement in battle. She raised the Eva's right arm above its head, and then leant over towards the pinned Eva, bringing the progressive knife down in a stabbing strike, piercing the black Eva's wrist and pinning it to the earth as well. She then levelled the palette rifle at the small pyramidal lump between the Eva's shoulder blades, where the dummy plug was housed, and opened fire. The bullets chewed up the Eva's back and destroyed the red entry plug as soon as it was exposed. Soon after the rifle made the familiar click, click sound as its ammunition was expended. With the controlling dummy plug gone the Eva would be unable to move.
Rei saw the large blade remove itself from the fallen Eva, causing a small gush of blood to flow down the sides of its head. She realised the one-legged Eva had recovered from her previous attack and had wrenched its weapon free from its fallen comrade. The Eva turned its blade round so the longer side of the double-ended sword was pointing upwards. Rei noted that it seemed to have no problem balancing on one leg. Rei discarded her spent rifle and retrieved her final progressive knife from her left shoulder unit. The black Eva seemed to regard her with suspicion as it watched Unit-02 begin to circle round it. It stood patiently watching her, its long blade held in its right hand, and its wings outspread, as if attempting to intimidate her. Rei knew that she was at a disadvantage in this encounter. Even though her opponent was badly injured it still had a far superior weapon to hers, and could take far more damage than Unit-02 could.
She circled round the black Eva to the point where the Eva couldn't continue to face her unless it turned. The Eva began to twist its hip in order to turn and she saw her opening. Being within striking distance of the Eva she lunged forward with her prog knife. The black Eva's attention, however, was not entirely distracted by act of turning and saw the move coming. It brought its blade up to cover its chest and caught the prog knife as it moved in to strike. The two blades met and the purple glow of Unit-02's prog knife was extinguished as the blade broke and flew off. Rei was thrown slightly off-balance by the retaliatory strike, she was able to control Unit-02 but her momentary loss of concentration was all her opponent needed to justify an attack. The black Eva brought the blade round, from its guarding position over its chest, in a horizontal slash designed to separate Unit-02's upper torso from the rest of its body. Rei was able to rally herself in time to pull Unit-02 into a crouch to avoid the attack, and used the momentum from her strike to charge into her opponent.
***
Nanasawa saw the two titans tumble down, with Unit-02 landing on top of the heavily damaged MP Eva. He looked around the plateau. It was unrecognisable as the serene grassy viewpoint it had been mere minutes ago. The wreckage of helicopters, dead bodies and pools of blood littered the area. The ground had been churned up from the battle of the Evangelions. It was one of the most horrific sights he had ever seen. He still had no clue which way the battle would go, but with one of the MP Eva's down at least Unit-02 had more of a chance. He glanced to his left where the final helicopter was waiting to take off. He'd had to calm the pilot nearly every thirty seconds in order to prevent him from taking off prematurely. The man had military training but Nanasawa was now convinced that no amount of training could prepare a man for coming up against an Evangelion. He also noticed Dr. Akagi standing by the helicopter watching the two giants grapple with each other. That was one of the other things that irritated, and disturbed, him about her. She seemed completely unfazed by the carnage going on around her.
"Why didn't you leave on one of the other transports, Doctor?" he asked her, barely disguising his hatred for the woman.
"Are you irritated I'm still here?" she asked calmly, turning her head to look at him. A stray ray of sunlight was caught and reflected off her glasses. "I simply wish to see how this plays out Captain. I haven't had much news about anything over the past few weeks, and I'll take any opportunity I can to learn more about this situation."
'Yeah I bet you will,' he thought, grumbling to himself. There was definitely something odd about the woman, it felt like the more she learned the more dangerous she became. He couldn't quite place his finger on it but he knew she was up to something.
"Captain, look!" Hayasaka shouted. He had been standing watch on the path leading from the base of the hill. Nanasawa looked over to where the man was standing. He could just see the helmeted heads of soldiers appearing over the edge of the plateau as they came up the path.
"Thank God," he said in relief. He quickly jogged over to the helicopter and stuck his head through the side door into the transport compartment. "We're taking off as soon as the men get into the transport, get ready!" he shouted at the pilot. The pilot stuck his thumb up to show his acknowledgement and then began busily hitting controls in the cockpit. The handful of soldiers in the helicopter seemed to breathe a collective sigh of relief. Nanasawa stepped away from the helicopter and turned to Ritsuko once again. "You'd better get inside now, we're-" he stopped as he noticed she seemed to be staring intently at something.
"Black skin," she mumbled. Nanasawa followed her line of sight just in time to hear a scream. The three soldiers' who had came up the path had now surrounded Hayasaka. One had his arm around the man's throat while the other two grabbed his arms. His helmet was also lying on the floor an apparent victim of the struggle.
"What the-?" Nanasawa exclaimed as he saw the men all had jet-black skin. He raised his rifle and aimed it at one of the three attackers.
"Help me, Captain!" Hayasaka shouted as he struggled to free himself from their grip.
"Captain, what do we do?" Tsubasa asked trying to aim his rifle with shaking gloved hands. He was standing nearby Hayasaka and so was the first to notice the change that came over him. Suddenly black seemed to flow like oil from under his shirt up his neck. Hayasaka started screaming, looking with terrified eyes at his own body. He didn't know what was going on as his uniform covered all his skin, but it was obvious he felt something was happening to him.
"Shoot them!" Nanasawa shouted. He took aim at the man who had Hayasaka by the neck, he could recognise the man by his build as Sergeant Obari. He offered a quick mental apology to the man and pulled the trigger. He had expected the man's head to explode and his body to drop limply to the ground. What actually happened was a lot less graphic, but far more frightening. Just before the bullet hit its target an orange hexagon seemed to appear in mid-air, just inches from Obari's face, to stop the bullet before disappearing, leaving the bullet to drop harmlessly to the floor. Nanasawa stared dumbfounded at this. He fired a few more shots, each at the two other men, but each of his shots elicited the same reaction.
"What's going on Captain?" Tsubasa asked, his voice racked with fear. He had attempted to take down one of the men also but had been just as fruitless. By now Hayasaka had been completely overtaken by the black colouring moving over his skin. The three men released him, and then all four seemed to turn as one to stare at Tsubasa. The man took a panicked step backwards and tripped, landing on his back he tried to crawl away. Although the four men seemed to move very slowly they were close enough to Tsubasa to catch him with little effort. Nanasawa watched in horror as all four descended upon the helpless Tsubasa. Nanasawa put his hand on a grenade strapped to his belt and was about to remove it when Ritsuko spoke up.
"You can't kill them," she said coldly, regarding the scene with an odd fascination. "They are protected by AT fields," she informed him, "that grenade won't do anything to them."
"What?" he snapped at her, but he knew she was right. As if to reinforce his decision a group of civilians appeared coming up the path, their skin too was jet-black. "Damn it!" he cursed to himself. "Get in the helicopter," he ordered Ritsuko over his shoulder, "we're leaving, now!"
"Captain!" Tsubasa screamed in terror from under the four men who had pounced on him. As Nanasawa clambered into the helicopter and ordered the pilot to take off he tried to ignore the terrified screams of Tsubasa.
***
Out of the corner of her eye Rei saw the last helicopter take off. She returned her attention to her enemy pinned underneath her. She flicked her wrist once again causing the rest of the prog knife's retractable blade to shoot into place. She brought her arm back and again struck out at the black Eva's exposed S2 engine. The blade hit home, digging into the red orb. Sparks flew as the blade bit deeper into the Eva's weak spot. At the same time the black Eva brought its sword up underneath Unit-02 and jammed its point into the red Eva's chin. Rei's head was forced back under the pressure exerted by the blade. She could feel the blood dripping out of Unit-02's chin onto its enemy below. Pushing her jaw tight shut to stop her crying out in pain she looked out down her nose at the black Eva, she could only see the S2 engine on the edge of her vision. Sparks still flew from the prog knife as it cut further into the engine, but it still remained functional. She summoned her strength and pushed down as hard as she could on the hilt of the knife. As if in response the black Eva pushed harder on its sword. Rei gave a small cry of pain as the blade sunk deeper into Unit-02's chin. It felt like her mouth was filling with blood. She had to fight the urge to vomit and continue to press down on the blade. Something within the S2 engine seemed to give way and the prog knife sunk down into the red orb to its hilt. Suddenly the sparks from the prog knife ceased, and cracks appeared all over the black Eva's S2 engine. The MP Eva looked up at her, its lips spread wider apart, exaggerating its almost permanent grin, before its head finally flopped uselessly onto its side. The sword tip slid out of Unit-02's chin, the force holding it there now gone. Unit-02 stood up, it's head seemingly raised in triumph as blood still trickled from the wound on its chin.
"Good work Rei," Misato spoke to her. "You can return now." Rei nodded her acknowledgement, her face showing no sign that anything at all had happened to her. Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. She looked to her left to see the black Eva move. The black Eva which should not be able to move, because she had destroyed it's dummy plug. It pulled its legs up underneath it and pushed up with them. It's torso straightened up as it became upright. Rei saw it carried its sword in its right hand, and the prog knife she had used to pin its wrist was carried in its left hand. Blood seemed to pour from everywhere, its torn and useless wings, the wounds caused by the five spikes in its stomach, and the huge hole in its head, a product of a misjudged strike by its partner, gushed blood nearly continuously. It turned its head to 'look' at her again and grinned, baring its bloodstained teeth.
***
"Target-02 is moving," Maya reported.
"What?" Misato asked, not believing what she was hearing. "You said that if its dummy plug was destroyed an MP Eva couldn't function."
"It shouldn't be able to function with no orders, unless…" Maya trailed off.
"Berserker?" Misato offered.
"It's a possibility, but the thing doesn't seem to be acting any differently," Maya explained.
"It doesn't matter now, its still active," Misato said, deciding to put the conjecture aside until later. "Tell the transport plane pilot to pick up Unit-02 right now, and put me through to Rei."
***
"Rei," Misato began as her image appeared in Unit-02's entry plug. "Do not engage the enemy, pull out immediately," she ordered. Once again Rei simply nodded. The black Eva watched Unit-02 as it moved away from it and eventually went down the hillside to the plain below. The group of people, with strange jet-black skin, joined the black Eva as it watched Unit-02's exit from the battle. Looks of hatred were on all of their faces.
***
"So you ordered the First Child to pull back?" Gendo Ikari asked the purple haired major. Once again Misato found her facing the Commander of NERV from across his desk. His eyes, partially hidden by his orange tinted glasses, stared at her over steepled fingers.
"Yes sir, I believe it was the most prudent course of action. The mission objective had been achieved. Also Unit-02 was at a disadvantage, it was unarmed and had only three minutes operational time remaining," she reported. "Also an unknown number of enemy ground forces were moving up the hill, we had no knowledge of their capabilities."
"Yes, this mysterious enemy force that was mentioned," Gendo paused for a moment. "I trust everything else will be included in your report. You are dismissed."
"Sir," Misato spoke up quickly. "If you don't mind I would like to ask a question."
"It depends what that question is," Gendo answered, and stared back at her. Misato realised he was waiting for her question.
"Do you have any knowledge of this situation you are withholding?"
"Are you accusing me of deliberately keeping you in the dark?" Gendo asked, his voice betraying no emotion.
'Of course that's what I'm accusing you of!' Misato thought, but was able to stifle the urge to shout that out. "Of course not sir, I simply believe it would benefit you as well as I if we both had full access to all information pertaining to this situation. It would, for one, allow me to better plan further encounters."
"Well, Major, I'm sorry to say I know just as much as you. However I would like to congratulate you on dealing with the situation effectively today," he added.
'Is this some attempt to buy me off with complements?' Misato wondered. She knew if the Commander was being openly congratulatory towards people that he must have his own reason to do so. "Thank you sir, but I do not believe the situation was handled as well as it could have been. We did suffer thirty five percent casualties, and lost several valuable pieces of equipment."
"But the targets were retrieved successfully. For the moment that is all that matters," he then looked away to retrieve some paperwork from a draw in his desk. Their conversation was seemingly over.
"Sir, if I may ask-" Misato began, attempting to question him on the nature of the 'materials.' She had seen them herself, and like all the other people that had seen them, had been deeply disturbed. The haunting similarity to the sight she had seen in the Chamber of Gauf was one she couldn't shake.
"That will be all Major," Gendo said before she had even finished her sentence. She nodded and left the massive office.
"Major," Maya called to her as she saw her leaving her office. She had been waiting outside the Commander's office during their meeting. Misato turned to look at the woman, seeing her standing with a clipboard held to her chest at the office's entrance.
"Yes, Lieutenant Ibuki?"
"The evacuation of the remaining residents of Tokyo-2 and Tokyo-3 has been complete," Maya reported. The evacuation had been the first thing she had ordered when she had returned four hours earlier. Apparently the Geofront was now the only remaining NERV installation uncompromised by enemy forces. She knew that Tokyo-2 and 3 would be nearly impossible to defend so had ordered the evacuation in order to remove the burden of protecting the local populace. She had delegated the task of monitoring the evacuation to Maya.
"Hmm, quicker than expected," she commented. She had expected it to take at least a day.
"Well a lot of people had left the city after the incident four days ago," Maya explained. "Also many people were unable to afford transportation away from the city, or refused to leave. They have been relocated to spare quarters in the Geofront," she then proffered the clipboard she held. "These are the names of those who are now staying in the Geofront." Misato nodded her thanks as she accepted the board complete with its sheaf of papers. "The most time consuming part was moving all the patients and equipment from the hospital to our infirmary," Maya added.
"Was there enough room for all the patients?" Misato asked.
"No, we've had to put some of the less critical patients in spare quarters near to the infirmary."
"Okay, good work Lieutenant," Misato said, still skimming through the list of names. "We're probably going to have a big day tomorrow, it would be probably be for the best if you got some-" Misato suddenly stopped talking, her eyes seemed riveted to a name on the list.
"Major?" Maya asked, concern showing in her voice.
"Shinji?"
***
"Shinji?" The boy ignored her. He sat on the small bed at the side of the grey spartan room. It reminded her of the cell Ritsuko had been imprisoned in. He sat with his head resting against the wall, staring at the ceiling. His S-DAT was lying in the palm of his left hand by his side, the headphones in his ears.
"Shinji?" she took a step into the room.
"Go away," he said quietly, his eyes not shifting from their position.
"Shinji why are you still here?" she asked tentatively. He looked even worse than before. His face was haggard and gaunt.
"I don't know," he replied in a half-whisper. "I don't understand Misato. I don't understand anymore."
"Understand what Shinji?"
"Anything," he said, a hint of sadness showing through in his voice.
"Can't I do anything?" Misato asked, sincerity in her voice.
"No," he answered. "Nobody can help me. I can't even help myself. I'm disgusting." Misato was taken aback by the calm way he said those words, as if they were an undeniable truth.
"Shinji," she said, trying to comfort him.
"Go away," he repeated. Misato looked at the boy as he continued to ignore her presence. Her vision blurred slightly as tears welled up in her eyes. She wiped her eyes with the back of her wrist before turning away to leave. Once again nothing she could say could change anything about how he felt, and she knew it.
'Damn it Shinji, why do you keep hurting yourself?' she wondered, choking back emotions that threatened to overwhelm her. 'Why do you keep hurting me?'
Once Misato had left Shinji looked down at the S-DAT player in his hand. The symbol in the corner continued blinking, showing the batteries had run out. It hadn't worked for the past week, but he still put the headphones in his ears every now and then. It reminded him of times when he could just put on the music player and cut himself off from the world for a while. He looked across to the letter that also lay on the bed. A letter from Rei.
"I wish to talk to you, Ikari. Please meet me at the lakeshore tonight."
It was short, but to the point. He had found it here when he had been allocated his quarters. Rei must have went to the trouble of finding out where he would lodge and left the letter here for him to find. It seemed heartfelt, but in that cold way Rei always used. She still scared him.
'Why would she want to speak to me? What could I do for her?' Nothing, he realised.
He wouldn't go.
***
Rei sat and watched the sky turned blood red as the sun slowly sunk beneath the mountains.
'What were they? Am I them? Are they me?' Rei thought.
The one nearest to her lay bonelessly on the floor, staring up at Unit-02 with empty eyes. Their eyes…
She shivered slightly, despite the light from the dying sun warming her.
'My letter should convince Ikari, should it not? He should come.' She had spent a lot of her life waiting. Waiting to pilot, waiting for synch tests. But this was the first time she waited for someone purely by choice.
She believed that writing a letter would be the best way to contact him. She still didn't understand his rejection of her that day in the elevator. She had thought perhaps her forwardness in speaking to him directly had scared him off, so she had decided to send him a letter instead. He did seem to care for her after all.
"Rei! I'm so glad, I can't believe you're alive. Why isn't my father here? Anyway, thank you for saving my life."
"For doing what?" Rei said, repeating her words from that time.
"You saved me… by sacrificing Unit-00."
"Oh, did I save you?"
"Don't you remember?"
"I just don't know that. I think… I think I must be the third one." She hadn't remembered at the time, but she did now. She remembered everything he had done for her, all the care he had shown for her. That was a precious memory to her, that day in the hospital. It was the last time he had shown affection for her.
'Why have you never spoken to me, Ikari?' she thought. 'Do you no longer care for me?' This could be the last chance she had to speak to him, Major Katsuragi had informed her that she expected an attack on the Geofront within the next twenty-four hours. She was scared, scared of dying. She was no longer a clone, she was an individual. This meant she held a new perspective on life, and a new fear of death. Would she survive her next encounter? That was a question she did not know the answer to.
The waters of the lake seemed to turn pitch black as the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Rei pulled her knees closer to her chest.
"He isn't coming," she told herself.
End of the fifth day
Author's notes:
Well this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would, but hey, more word count for me!
Anyway I particularly enjoyed writing this chapter as my real joy in writing fanfiction is… writing epic battle scenes! If you enjoyed that battle please let me know, I would really appreciate it!
Also those ACC's were fun to write. If you liked them let me know too, as I am considering resurrecting Obari, Kikuchi and Ishida for their own side story, maybe End of Evangelion: The Guards Story? Who knows…
Anyway just some random information for you, Nanasawa and his two lackeys Hayasaka and Tsubasa are all named after Megatokyo characters. Obari, Kikuchi and Ishida were all names of staff members who worked on Detonator Orgun (It was the closest DVD to me when I was looking for Japanese names! ^_^ )
Anyway, this AN's are turning out to be longer than I expected too, so before I go there's just time to say that GC is being put on hold for a little while while I write my entry to the Paint It Black competition over on EFO, but don't worry it'll be back in about two months, I guarantee it! Also just wanna thank The Seldon Planner for agreeing to host GC on his new site www.geocities.com/etherworldsstudio it contains a lot of work by other authors too so take a look.