Neon Genesis Evangelion:
The Genesis Crisis
The sixth day:
A Day Like Today
"Good morning Misato," Ritsuko said in a professional tone as the purple haired woman walked into Central Dogma. Misato ignored the ex-head of NERV's science division who was sitting at one of the workstations sipping a cup of coffee, and turned around to walk out of the cavernous room. "So our relationships still a frosty one then?" Ritsuko asked as she heard Misato's retreating footsteps. Misato stopped in the doorway, not turning back to look at her former friend.
"What are you doing here?" she asked, a threatening undertone in her voice.
"Just following orders, Major."
"I guess I'll leave you to your work then," Misato told her, before resuming her path.
"And I have some information for you," Ritsuko said, just loud enough for the Major to hear. She waited with a smug grin on her face for Misato to turn round and come back to ask her what the information was.
"I'm not interested in your information!" Misato cried, from the corridor outside, her voice echoing through the expanse of Terminal Dogma. Ritsuko suddenly panicked, losing her cool for a split-second.
"It's an Angel!" she shouted, turning round in her chair to face the exit from Central Dogma. The sound of footsteps paused, leaving only the hum of computers hanging in the air between them.
"That's impossible Ritsuko," Misato replied, some uncertainty showing in her voice.
"You know it as well as I do, Misato," Ritsuko said confidently. "You can't deny the facts." A few seconds later the sound of footsteps began again, but now they got gradually louder.
"So what are these facts?" Misato asked once she was standing in the doorway again, arms folded over her chest and a stern look on her face.
"Come now Misato, the odd colouring should have tipped you off that these weren't normal Evangelion. And SEELE attacking their own bases? Please, they may be mad, but they know what they're doing."
"But Kaworu was the last Angel, and he's dead," Misato countered, confidence restored to her voice. "There can't be anymore."
"You actually believed Ikari when he told you Kaworu was the last Angel? He was supposed to be, but circumstances appear to have changed," Ritsuko told her, a small smirk appearing on her face.
"How do you mean?" Misato asked, still sceptical of Ritsuko's words.
"Well you didn't think I would just unlock the doors within the facility when I was connected to their system did you? There was a lot of information in there, Misato, a lot of secrets Ikari would rather stay buried." Misato couldn't believe what she was hearing, NERV appeared to be a never-ending well of secrets. Just when she thought she knew all of its secrets another came along to take her completely off-guard.
"What kind of secrets?" Misato pushed, hiding her inner surprise.
"Now what would be the fun in just telling you?" Ritsuko began, about to launch into some cryptic speech.
"Just tell me Ritsuko," Misato interrupted her.
"Project-N, that's your starting point," Ritsuko told her. Misato marched over to Ritsuko as the blonde woman watched her with interest. She grabbed her by the breast of her lab coat and pulled her up out of the chair.
"I don't have time for this Ritsuko," Misato barked into her face. "Cut the crap and tell me what's going on!"
"And if I don't?" Ritsuko sneered at her, seemingly unfazed by her old friend's rough treatment of her.
"You'll die, idiot!" she growled at her.
"It's intriguing how you think that would bother me," Ritsuko replied calmly. Misato was about to shout at her captive again when another voice was heard.
"Major Katsuragi, please meet me in my office, I have something I need to discuss with you." Misato looked around to see Gendo Ikari standing on the top floor of the Control Tower, staring down at her once again. He looked across to the woman she had in her grasp. "Dr. Akagi, please continue with your work," he told her before turning and walking out of Central Dogma. Misato turned back to her old friend, who was now looking rather smug. She opened her mouth several times before thinking of something to say.
"We'll continue this discussion later," she finally said before releasing her grip on the woman's lab coat and letting her fall back into her chair. Misato turned round and made her way out of Central Dogma and towards the Commander's office. As she left the massive room she heard one last parting shot from Ritsuko.
"If there is a later, that is."
"You are aware the Geofront is the only remaining un-compromised NERV facility?" Gendo asked from his usual position behind his desk.
"Yes sir, I was informed yesterday," Misato answered.
"So you know that the enemy's next target will be the Geofront?"
"Yes sir."
"Have preparations been made to defend our position?"
Misato nodded. "Repairs to the armour plating have been completed. Armament towers within the Geofront have been repaired and are all fully functional. NERV guards and all those who volunteered to defend the base have been issued with weapons and organised into squads. Unit-02 still has some superficial damage from the battle yesterday, however that should not hinder its combat performance, sir."
"What of the materials retrieved yesterday?" Gendo inquired.
"Yes sir, what of them?" Misato asked, pushing her luck to try and get an answer.
"They are resources we can use, Major," Gendo replied, stressing her rank to make sure she knew who was in charge. "What they are is of no import to our current situation."
"What's Project-N, Commander?" Misato asked suddenly. Gendo stared back at her, his eyes narrowing behind his tinted glasses.
"You are an integral part of this operation, Major, if you were unable to fulfil your duties it would be unfortunate, both for me and for you. Project-N is of no concern to you, you would do well to remember that," Gendo responded coldly. Misato had to fight not to swallow nervously, she would be damned if she was going to show the Commander that his threat scared her. "You are to reactivate the materials, Dr. Akagi will aid you in this matter. They will be used to complement our defence force."
"Yes sir," Misato nodded.
"That will be all."
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.
'He didn't come,' Rei remembered, as she stood in one of the great warehouses within the Geofront. She had sat on the beach for another hour after this realisation had dawned on her. The logical part of her brain told her to get up and leave, to return to her apartment where she stood less chance of catching cold or some similar illness. But some part of her brain made her stay hoping in vain the brown haired boy would make his appearance. Eventually that part of her brain gave up as well and she left the lakeshore, its waters then so placid it seemed like a giant mirror. The logical part of her brain told her to stop thinking about that incident, to stop wondering why he had not come. She knew it would do her no good, and she had more important things to worry about. However, as always, a part of her brain still persisted to replay the night over in her mind, trying to deduce a reason.
'Red,' she thought, as she stared at the naked, floating body within the tube of LCL. She pressed her hand against the glass of the tube, noticing how similar the colour of her skin was to the skin of the being inside. Again she wondered as to the nature of these people, even though she knew the answer would not help her current situation in any way.
"Rei?" a voice called to her. She removed her hand from the tube and turned to see Major Katsuragi standing at the end of the aisle of tubes looking at her.
"Yes, Major," she replied in her normal quiet tone.
"What are you doing down here?" Misato asked, a puzzled look on her face. She had never seen Rei anywhere other than school, NERV, or her apartment, only the places she needed to go. Rei hesitated for a moment before answering. It was as if she was unsure herself why she was in the large warehouse that the 'materials' were being stored in.
"I was… interested, by these creatures. I wished to find out more about them," she replied.
'Hmm, I guess it's not surprising, everyone seems to be eager to find out what these are, and where they came from, and why the Commander was so eager to get them he risked Unit-02 and Rei to do it. But it looks like he is the only one who holds the answers,' Misato thought. She turned back to Rei, realising that in her wondering her eyes had drifted towards one of the 'materials' nearby. "You'd better go to your quarters Rei," Misato informed the girl, "Dr. Akagi will be coming down here soon and Commander Ikari wants to keep the two of you as far apart as he can." Rei nodded in compliance and began to head towards the nearest exit to the large room. As she passed Misato she halted for a brief moment.
"Major, why does Dr. Akagi hate me?"
Misato was slightly startled by the question but answered honestly nonetheless.
"I don't know Rei, I really don't know." Silence filled the air between the two for a few seconds before Misato heard Rei's footsteps re-commence as she exited the room.
Misato stared around the room for a few seconds, taking in the rows of orange tubes. Each contained a pale skinned, hairless person, none of them showing any signs of life at all. She shuddered and moved on, trying to locate a technician within the massive room.
'No wonder more people haven't been down here to poke around,' she thought as she tried to shake off the feeling of being watched.
He placed his money in the slot on the machine and then typed a four-digit code into the keypad. One of the circular platforms inside the machine revolved with a low whirring sound, bringing an item to the front before the small clear plastic door covering it swung open. Shinji took the packaged tuna sandwich out of the vending machine and closed the small door on its front.
He turned away from the vending machine to view the room he was in. It was one of several NERV cafeterias scattered throughout the Geofront. This one wasn't exactly the nearest to his current residence, but it was the nearest to his position when he had suddenly felt pangs of hunger accompanied by a low growling in his stomach. The room was quite large, large enough to accommodate most workers in the vacinity for lunch, should they all decide they felt hungry simultaneously. But it appeared that at the minute the facility was not in particular demand. This surprised Shinji, especially since the population of the Geofront had been significantly increased with hospital staff and Tokyo-3 residents. However it was a pleasant surprise. He had not wished to be too near people for too long.
Seeing that the room was unusually empty he decided to stay in the cafeteria to eat his purchase. He sat down at one of the long empty tables and took the sandwich out of its small plastic triangular shaped container. It was odd, he thought, as he took a bite out of his food, that everything seemed duller to him. The bread tasted stale, the tuna tasted acidic, the lettuce and other greenery's tasted limp. In short it tasted foul to him. He didn't bother checking the expiry date on the sandwich box, he knew there was nothing wrong with the food itself. He was the problem. The great weight of confusion and sadness pressing down on his mind seemed to be spilling over into all parts of his body. He kept his eyes down on the table as he continued eating, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone else in the room.
He didn't remember what time it was when he had woken up, and it didn't really matter to him. He didn't know what time it was now, or indeed how long he had been awake for. His mind kept on returning to all that had occurred over the past few days, and seemed to dwell on his failures. He couldn't kill himself, he couldn't run away, what could he actually do? Even now he could have just wandered around the Geofront forever, ignoring the pleas of his body to find sustenance and hope that he starved to death. But yet here he was, sitting in a cafeteria slowly chewing a sandwich that tasted like poison.
Quite what he had been looking for within the Geofront, he didn't know. He just wanted somewhere quiet to sit and think about all that had happened, to try and make some sense of it. His room made him feel uncomfortable. He couldn't quite place why, but the combination of the cold steel walls, the grey, drab colouring within, and the lack of any real furnishings made the room feel oppressive. Like a prison cell. He had to get out and find somewhere else, but the cafeteria seemed to be the only place he had found so far.
"Shinji?" he heard a gentle voice say. He ceased his chewing, keeping his eyes on the white tabletop in front of him. "Shinji is that you?" He recognised her voice, it was Maya Ibuki. He couldn't see her, and he had no intention of changing the direction of his gaze, but he knew she was standing close to him. Silence followed while Maya awaited the teenage boy's reply. "So, um, how are things? I hope you don't mind the room we put you in," Maya asked cheerfully, trying to strike up a conversation.
"It's good enough for me I suppose," Shinji replied quietly, resuming his chewing. A brief look of shock flitted across the Lieutenant's face, unbeknownst to Shinji, before a half-smile replaced it.
"Well, I know they're not great, but I'm afraid they're the best we can offer at such short notice. Sorry I couldn't get anything better for you," the shorthaired woman said apologetically. The boy made no motion to show he had even heard what she had said, and stayed totally silent. The small smile on her face faded, a worried expression appeared to replace it. "Shinji, is it okay to talk to you?" she asked in a more sombre tone of voice. As expected there was no response from the boy. She decided to take the initiative and sit by him anyway. The muscles in Shinji's back tensed as he felt the woman sit down next to him. Almost too close for comfort, he thought, but he made no attempt to move.
"Shinji," Maya began, "the Major has told me about… what you've been going through. I just wanted to say that, well, if you have problems you should really talk to someone about them. I'm not saying you need to confide in me, but I'm sure there's someone who you can turn to when you need help."
"Just one," Shinji replied, making Maya feel slightly happier that she had got a response from him. "But she's…" he trailed off, his gaze dropping slightly.
"Shinji, I know the Major seems busy a lot these days, but she does care about you. She… she's worried about you, and if you need to talk to her, I'm sure she would find some time-"
"I wasn't talking about Misato," Shinji interrupted her, his voice still quiet. "She doesn't care about me anyway, the only reason she let me stay with her is because I'm part of her job. I'm just a tool to her."
"Shinji, no, that… that just isn't true. Other people might just think you're an Eva pilot, but the Major really worries about you," she protested, leaning forward slightly to try and look the boy in his face.
"Even if that were true what could she do to help me? She doesn't know what I've been through, nobody does. Nobody knows the pain of being an Eva pilot…" his voice trailed off. He put his half-eaten sandwich down and stood up. He turned and started walking towards the door. Maya watched him leave the room, trying to think of something to say to the boy, but nothing came. All she could do was watch the white shirt on his back hanging on his slumped shoulders as he walked away. After his departure she got up and returned to the table she was previously sitting at.
"I guess it didn't go well," Hyuga commented as he noticed the downcast look on her face.
"No," Maya conceded sadly, as she sat down at the table. "It's like… he's…" she attempted to vocalise her thoughts. "I don't know what's wrong with him," she admitted, folding her arms on the table and resting her chin on them.
"You should've just left him alone, like I told you," Aoba told her as he shovelled another forkful of curry and rice into his mouth. "Sometimes a guy's just got to work out his problems for himself."
"You might be right," Maya said, turning her head to look at the doorway the brown haired boy so recently exited from. "But then again..."
"Listen, it's no use worrying over him," Hyuga consoled the defeated woman. "You tried your best, I'm sure deep down Shinji's grateful for that, but there's nothing more you can do about it. You should just carry on like normal, I'm sure Shinji will get over whatever is troubling him sooner or later." Hyuga offered a small smile to try and make the NERV technician feel better, while Aoba nodded in agreement to what his friend had said. Maya looked back up at the two sitting opposite her and responded with a small forced smile before resting her head on her arms once more.
"Anyway we'd better get back to Terminal Dogma, our lunch breaks nearly over," Hyuga informed the other two at the table, before standing up and making his way towards the exit. Maya followed him out, while Aoba quickly wolfed down the remainder of his lunch before heading after them.
Fuyutsuki's eyes roamed across the expanse of the Geofront, taking in the hills around its edge, the lake near its centre and the forests and grassy plains that surrounded it. He had always enjoyed the view of the artificial landscape from the Commander's office, indeed it was really the only thing that had made him jealous of the Commander. Regarding his position within NERV at least.
He turned round to survey the long high-ceilinged room that served as Gendo Ikari's office, his eyes tracing the pattern of the Tree of Life etched into the room's floor. It was one thing Fuyutsuki never understood about the man. He had known him for nearly twenty years and in all that time he had never taken him to be a vain man or a man obsessed with material gain. Why then did he have such a grandiose room to manage the affairs of NERV from?
He ceased his wondering and returned his attention to the small board on Ikari's table, with several pieces spaced out across its checked surface. He scanned the board to see if any pieces had moved since he last looked at it. The game seemed to have not moved. He looked up at the figure of Gendo Ikari sat on the other side of the gargantuan desk. His fingers were interlaced in front of his mouth, as they always were, as if providing a safety net should his glasses suddenly fall off. Behind his glasses his eyes slowly moved from piece to piece, examining each in turn. Occasionally his gaze would dart quickly from one piece to another and then back again just as fast. Fuyutsuki watched the silent man contemplate his next move.
'When you play chess against another person, there true self is revealed to you,' Fuyutsuki recalled reading once before. And he had to admit that, as far as he could see, it was correct. Gendo Ikari was always cold and calculating whenever he challenged Fuyutsuki, sometimes taking hours to make his next move. Just like in real life all of Gendo's moves were meticulously planned. In all the games they had played together over the past ten years Fuyutsuki could only remember a handful of occasions when he had bested his superior. Gendo's victories were too many to count, although he was sure that should he ask the Commander he would be able to provide him with the exact number.
Fuyutsuki picked up the small paperback book he had brought with him. He found he had the time to read through several chapters during one of their games, and it was far more interesting than simply watching the Commander study the board for several hours. He opened the book at his bookmark and began silently reading through the next paragraph.
"Why didn't you tell her the truth?" he suddenly asked, keeping his eyes on the page in front of him. Gendo's eyes did not cease their scrutiny of the board as he replied.
"Why should I have told her?"
"She asked, Ikari, and you have no reason to keep the information from her. Whatever the outcome of the current situation her knowledge of the truth will make no difference."
"Her knowledge of the truth could make all the difference," the bespectacled man replied calmly. "Giving her the information is a risk we can ill afford. We cannot predict how she would react, or what she would do with the information."
"She will know the truth, and I believe that is all she is after, to unravel the enigma that is NERV and the Angels."
"She searches for the truth, because she has a sense of duty to her dead lover. If she discovers the whole truth she will try to use it to bring down NERV, just as Mr. Kaji would have done. And it would be highly inconvenient for NERV to have a high ranking officer working against us at this juncture."
"But surely keeping the information from her will only distract her from the task at hand?" Fuyutsuki asked as he looked out of the corner of his eye at the Commander. Gendo's eyes rose from the wooden board to stare directly into his subordinates.
"The harm she would cause if she knew the truth is far greater than if she is kept ignorant. The threat of the Angel would not be enough to ensure the loyalty of the whole staff should she decide to share this information."
Fuyutsuki opened his mouth to reply but thought better of it. He knew that, once again, the man would not back down on this subject. He resumed his reading.
"Has there been any activity on the radar?" Misato asked as she leant against the back of Hyuga's high-backed chair. She stared out at the topographical display of the surrounding area projected into the empty space in front of the Control Tower.
"None so far, ma'am," Hyuga replied promptly.
"Any messages intercepted mentioning the Eva's?"
"No ma'am," Maya responded.
"Do we have any idea where the enemy is, or what it's doing?" Misato asked bluntly, looking around at the three technicians, who all stared blankly back at her.
"I'm afraid not ma'am," Aoba answered. "Are you sure that they will attack the Geofront? They were defeated last time they tried it, maybe they don't want to risk a second attempt."
"I don't think we're going to be that lucky," Misato dismissed his hopeful suggestion. "We have something it wants, and I don't think it's going to stop until it gets it."
"It?" Hyuga asked, puzzled at her constant use of the word. Misato sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose.
'God I'm tired…' she thought, before looking back at the black haired man. "I guess there's no reason to keep it from you. It's an Angel."
"An Angel!" Maya exclaimed. "B-But, they were all destroyed, right? The Commander even said so."
"Well it looks like we didn't get all of them," she said, her voice sounding tired.
"So, it's going to attack the Geofront then," Maya said quietly, looking down towards the floor in thoughtful realisation.
"So all those Eva's… they're all Angels?" Aoba asked.
"No, from what I can tell, it's just one Angel. Maybe it's able to spread itself and infect many things, like the eleventh. Or maybe it's the thirteenth, that seemed to attempt to infect Unit-00. Who knows what would have happened if it had succeeded. It was probably the thing that infected the MAGI," Misato theorised, stretching forward slightly to look over the edge on their level at the now useless MAGI below. The four were silent for a long while, thinking over what had been said.
"Anyway it doesn't matter now. It doesn't matter whether we know exactly what it is or not, all that matters is that it's an Angel, and we've had plenty of experience fighting them," Misato said. She tried to sound as optimistic as she could in an effort to rouse the three technicians who seemed somewhat downcast now. 'Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to tell them,' Misato thought, feeling slightly guilty. "The Geofront is still fully prepared for an attack isn't it?"
"Yes ma'am, we're as ready as we'll ever be," Hyuga answered, mirroring the Major's fake enthusiasm. "Unit-02 is fully prepared for battle. All the Guards who took part in the raid yesterday, and many more that volunteered, have been set up in a perimeter around the Geofront. The… er… materials are being deployed to support them as they're reawakened ma'am."
'Those damn things, what the hell are they?' Misato quickly suppressed her angry thoughts and focussed on the task at hand. "So how many men do we have to defend the base with?"
"We have three hundred and fifty seven guards, and one hundred and fifty of those… other things stationed outside the base so far, ma'am. There are fifty more of them still in 'storage' ma'am."
"So five hundred and fifty seven men to defend against Evangelions," Misato realised. She knew it didn't matter how many men they had they would still be massacred. As much as she hated to say it, the fate of the whole human race now rested on the shoulders of one blue haired girl.
"But, ma'am," Hyuga ventured, drawing the Major's attention from her thoughts, "none of the materials have been armed."
"What?!" she exclaimed. "Then what the hell are they going to do out there, act as cannon fodder?"
"I-I'm not sure, ma'am, but Dr. Akagi gave explicit orders for them not be given any weapons, she said they could take care of themselves. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki vouched for her, ma'am."
'Jesus, are the Commanders trying to get us killed?' she wondered. She quickly composed herself and responded calmly. "Well we're just going to have to put our trust in the Commanders, I'm sure they have every reason-"
"Major Katsuragi," Aoba interrupted her, his voice seeming to tremble slightly. She looked to the longhaired man who seemed to be staring out at something. Her eyes widened as she followed his gaze to what had drawn his attention. Five red triangles had appeared at the northern most edge of the three-dimensional map of the local area, moving slowly but inexorably towards the centre of the map. The Geofront.
It had begun.
Nanasawa surveyed his troops. He was in command of roughly fifty men, all of whom were tired and scared, and mostly inexperienced in battle. Most of them had been hard at work this morning digging short, shallow trenches and foxholes to use as defensive positions, and as such their uniforms were stained with sweat and mud.
Nanasawa was currently standing behind a small wall of sandbags at the back of his troops. He was unhappy with his position at the rear of the ranks of soldiers. He would have preferred to lead the defence of the Geofront, to spur on the nervous soldiers with his actions. However he knew that should he be killed his small band of men would be left leaderless and disorganised. And in a battle such as the one to come that would spell doom for them. His radio crackled into life.
"Captain Nanasawa, do you read me?" the familiar voice of Major Katsuragi asked.
"Loud and clear Major, go ahead," he replied.
"Five targets have been detected moving towards the Geofront," Misato relayed the grim news in an emotionless voice, "chances are they're the Eva's. ETA is three minutes."
"Roger that, Major," Nanasawa replied in an equally dispassionate voice.
"Unit-02 will be deployed to engage the hostiles on the surface. If they break through into the Geofront we will recall Unit-02 to the Geofront to aid your defence there. Unit-02 will deploy its AT field in order to nullify the AT fields of the attackers. Good luck, Captain."
"Okay people," Nanasawa wasted no time addressing his troops. "Five enemy units have been confirmed, they should be arriving here in three minutes. Make sure you're ready by then." The soldiers immediately began busying themselves, checking magazines to see if they were fully loaded and adjusting their body armour. To most people they would seem like a well-oiled fighting unit, ready to take on any enemy, but Nanasawa knew different. He could feel it in the air around him, the panic spreading through the troops, the fear slowly building, even within him.
'Even if the Eva's don't have their AT fields we still don't stand a chance, those things are covered in several feet thick armour, and the best weapons we have are rifles,' he thought, looking back over his troops. 'Not a single high explosive weapon amongst the whole group.' He looked up towards the roof of the hemispherical Geofront, as if seeing the approaching enemy through it. 'We've just got to pray that Unit-02 does the job for us.'
"…is that clear?" Misato asked as she finished relaying her orders.
"Understood," Rei acknowledged in her usual quiet voice.
"The enemy will be arriving soon. Good luck, Rei." The small holographic window in the Entry Plug closed and Rei returned her attention towards the large grassy plain in front of her. Beneath this grassy plain lay the Geofront, if the enemy were to assault the NERV building the same way as they tried last time, they would have to come here. Rei was positioned in a similar location to the one where Shinji had awaited the arrival of these Eva's the first time they had attacked. Unit-02 was lying on its stomach in the shade of a nearby hill, an arsenal of weapons arrayed to its side nearby the concealed umbilical cable port in the side of the hill. Held straight out in front of the red Evangelion was one of the Rocket Launchers created for use by the Eva's.
So Rei waited, the only sound she could hear was the dull hum of the Evangelion as power coursed through its body from the umbilical cable. Her mind, unlike those of the defenders waiting nervously for the attack, was completely clear. No fear or apprehension clouded her mind, she knew what she had to do, and she knew what she had to do to achieve it. Her knowledge of the enemy told her that, should they penetrate the Geofront, the soldiers defending it would be wiped out. She knew she couldn't fail.
A shadow passed above her.
"Hostiles have arrived above the Geofront," Hyuga announced. The five red triangles were circling around the centre of the large three-dimensional map in Central Dogma.
"It doesn't look like they've spotted Unit-02, that's good," Misato said, sounding slightly relieved. "When they land Rei should attack. If all goes to plan she should incapacitate or damage all of them in her first attack. That should make it easier for her to deal with them."
"Hostiles are descending," Hyuga reported.
Rei watched the circle of black creatures all simultaneously tilt themselves to the side and begin a winding descent towards the grassy plain below. She looked down to watch their shadows grow larger as they approached the ground. She altered her aim to line up with the centre of the circle of shadows, allowing her to quickly find a target when the enemies touched down.
The ground buckled as the huge winged Evangelions completed their descent, landing on the grassy earth below and kicking up clouds of dirt. They tucked their wings in, but did not fold them away. Rei thought this was odd, but it made no difference to her orders. Rei shifted her aim slightly so that the targeting reticule lined up with the back of the closest Mass Produced Eva to her. If she hit it in the back now she could destroy its wings and severely cripple the Eva's mobility. She narrowed her eyes and tensed her finger on the butterfly controls in the Entry Plug.
Suddenly the Eva's spread their wings and with mighty flaps of the appendages soared back up into the air.
"Have they spotted Unit-02!?" Misato asked, worry creeping into her voice.
"I-I'm not sure, ma'am," Hyuga answered, sounding confused. "One of the Eva's is still on the ground, ma'am."
"What?"
Only four of the Eva's had taken flight, one calmly sat down in the middle of the plain.
'What is it attempting to achieve?' Rei wondered as she shifted her aim to target the remaining grounded Eva. She watched as its wings disappeared into its back. 'Has it been left as a lure? Are they attempting to draw out any defenders with it? If I fire at it my position will be revealed, and they will have the advantage,' she realised. She looked back up towards the other four Evangelions, still circling above the plain. They seemed to have not spotted her yet. Rei's mind quickly raced to deduce what her next course of action should be. 'If I fire upon the grounded Eva I will be spotted and attacked. If I fire upon the airborne Eva's I will most likely miss, and then I will be spotted and attacked. However if I wait I may still be spotted.'
Alarms began blaring within the Entry Plug. Rei quickly looked towards the small holographic windows that were springing into existence all round her. The closest read:
'Danger! High Energy Levels Detected.'
And then the Eva exploded.
Nanasawa shielded his eyes against the heat from the blast. All of a sudden a large orange bulge had appeared in the roof of the Geofront, before bursting open to spill flames and intense heat into the hemispherical space.
"This is Nanasawa," he called down the radio, "Major Katsuragi, what the hell just happened!?"
"One of the Eva Series just self-destructed, Captain," the Major's voice called over the radio, sounding slightly shocked herself at this turn of events.
"That means… the Geofront is completely open!"
Rei watched the circling Eva's peel off one by one and swoop down towards the newly formed gaping hole in the ground. She desperately tried to get a good shot at one of the diving Eva's but they were travelling at too high a speed for her to guarantee a hit.
"Major," Rei began, opening a communication line to the command tower. "The targets have breached the Geofront, request permission to pursue."
"Permission granted," Misato replied frantically. "The nearby catapult is ready to retrieve Unit-02."
'The chances of failure have increased,' Rei realised, knowing that now only a thin line of soldiers stood between those black giants and their target. "I will pursue the enemies directly," the quiet girl informed Misato, before standing her Eva upright once again and picking up a palette rifle from the small arsenal laid out beside her.
"Pursue them directly?" Misato questioned, but Rei made no reply. She pushed forward on the butterfly controls in the cockpit, starting the red Evangelion running towards the gaping hole, disconnecting her umbilical cable as she did so. The fighting giant covered the distance to the hole quickly before leaping down into the Geofront below. Rei's mind worked fast to analyse the sight below her, and rising up towards her fast.
Only one of the mass produced Eva's had landed, a fair distance from the defenders in their hastily prepared defences but it wouldn't take long for the sword-wielding creature to reach them. It seemed completely unfazed by the gunfire pattering against its armour as it stood up straight and calmly retracted its wings. Two more were slowly circling closer to the ground, preparing to land on the green landscape below. The last Unit was only roughly halfway towards the ground below, and crucially, directly beneath Unit-02.
Two giant feet slammed into the flying Eva's back, causing it to arch its back in a feeble attempt to get away from this unseen attack. Its wings, unable to control it's descent with the added weight of Unit-02 pressing down on it, snapped back to trail directly behind it, shrouding the figure of Unit-02, which seemed to be riding the Eva down towards the lush landscape below.
The black Eva struck the ground hard, skidding along with Unit-02 struggling to retain its balance on the creature's back. Under different circumstances the defenders of the Geofront might have laughed at the site of Unit-02 riding a mass produced Eva like some kind of giant toboggan. The Eva finally came to a rest at the head of a trail of churned up earth, with the red Eva that had disrupted its descent still standing upon its back.
Rei felt the Eva below it shift as it attempted to get up. She quickly brought the palette rifle in her left hand to bear on the figure pinned beneath her. Blood splattered out across the surrounding grass and trees and bullets tore into the black Eva's head, back and wings. Rei ceased firing as a shadow passed overhead, the Eva below her slumped back down again once the barrage of bullets had stopped. The four eyes of Unit-02 turned to see another mass produced Eva wheeling round in mid-air for an attack run. The winged Eva glided towards her at high speeds, bringing its sword round in an arc aimed at Unit-02's neck.
Rei was able to respond just in time, dropping the Eva down onto its knees, before leaning backwards to follow the black Eva as it passed overhead. Unit-02's right arm came up in one fluid movement, the Eva's position allowing it a perfect shot at the underside of its would-be attacker. The Rocket Launcher in its right arm flared brightly as a rocket streaked out of its barrel to impact the winged Eva at near point-blank range.
The rocket hit the Unit squarely between its left shoulder and neck, sending blood and gore flying out across the surrounding area. The impact of the rocket sent the black Eva into a spin, causing it to nosedive into the small forest nearby, ploughing up trees as it crashed into the ground.
"She jumped down the gap?" Misato asked in disbelief as she watched the green arrow that symbolised Unit-02 falling through the holographic map of the Geofront, before colliding with the red arrow of an MP Eva in mid-air.
"It's gained us some time Major," Hyuga pointed out. "If we were to recall Unit-02 via the catapult it would have taken us a few more minutes to re-deploy it in the Geofront."
'Huh, so there is method to her madness,' Misato thought to herself. The battle was joined and things were just going to get more complicated from now on. She stood thinking about what her next move should be, trying to ignore the panicked operators and sounds of computers and machinery all around her. The Commander's level of the control tower lay empty, and Misato expected it to stay that way, she had to stay in control of the situation herself. "Okay, are the Armament Towers and power points within the Geofront prepared?" she asked at last.
"As ready as they'll ever be," Aoba commented.
"Right, make sure communication channels to Unit-02 and all infantry commanders are ready at all times, this battle could hinge on information," Misato ordered, returning to her business-like manner.
"Yes, ma'am," the three NERV technicians replied in unison. Misato saw a red dot break away from Unit-02's position to crash into the forest nearby.
'This is going to be a tough battle,' Misato told herself. 'But the enemy has engaged all its assets, if we can destroy them now, then the threat will be gone.'
"Ma'am," Maya called to the purple haired woman. "Multiple signals detected on the surface. Reading one hundred and fifty- no, two hundred- wait, four hundred-"
"Where did they come from?" Misato asked, interrupting Maya's futile attempt to keep track of these new radar signals cropping up all over the map.
"They were too small to detect at long range," Maya explained.
"What are they doing?" Misato asked. She watched as the red dots began to cross the boundary of the hole in the centre of the plain, and descend towards the lake directly below it.
"It- It looks like they're throwing themselves off the edge of that hole, ma'am," the shorthaired woman replied, looking very puzzled.
"…I know the Major seems busy a lot these days, but she does care about you. She… she's worried about you, and if you need to talk to her, I'm sure she would find some time-"
Maya's words came back to Shinji as he continued on his slow walk through the corridors of the Geofront.
'But she never cared for me, I was just someone she needed to pilot the Eva for her,' Shinji told himself, watching the bland grey floor pass his feet by.
"It doesn't matter now anyway. Shinji get into your plugsuit then get into Unit-01, now!"
'As long as there are enemies to fight, and Eva's to pilot, she'll care about me.'
"…I'm sorry. If there was another way I would have taken it…"
"…if you need to talk to her…"
'Would she really listen to me? Would she really understand?' Shinji suddenly stopped walking in the middle of the corridor, those last thoughts seeming to echo through his mind. 'Would she-'
"Hey kid, what're you doing here?" a voice called out to him. Shinji turned round to see a NERV scientist walking up the corridor towards him. Shinji looked at the man, seemingly confused by the man's question.
"You're Shinji Ikari, right? Shouldn't you be piloting Unit-01 now?" the scientist asked, as he reached Shinji.
"No, I'm never going to pilot Unit-01…" Shinji said quietly, so quietly the scientist didn't catch all of it.
"We're being attacked you know. You should be out protecting the Geofront, not moping around here," the man pointed out angrily.
"W-We're being attacked?" Shinji asked.
"Of course! Dear God, did you not hear all those emergency broadcasts for people to take shelter?" Shinji realised he must have been too caught up in his own thoughts to have heard the alarms. "Anyway I've got to help activate those 'things,'" the man said, with some disgust in his voice, "so I don't have time to talk with you." And with that the man headed off down the corridor. Shinji stayed where he was, thinking about what the man had said.
'He doesn't have time to talk with me… will Misato?'
"Fuck," Nanasawa swore, as he saw a line of black figures come marching out of the lake. 'It's those 'things' again,' Nanasawa thought. Nobody could survive that fall from the surface so it could only be them. He remembered the screams of Tsubasa as the jet-black people surrounded him. "Major Katsuragi," he began as he contacted the Geofront's control tower. "I have visual confirmation of the targets advancing from the surface, they appear to be the same units that appeared at Choshi."
"The irregular infantry units?" Misato questioned him.
"It seems that way," he responded.
"Very well, continue your defence," the Major responded before ending the communication. Nanasawa realised more and more figures were marching out of the lake, like some drowned army come back from the dead. All around him machine gun's blared out at the four titanic black figures in the Geofront. He could see clearly they weren't doing anything to them, but he knew the men were more likely to run if they just stood around observing the battle with Unit-02. At least this way they could labour under the hope that a stray bullet could strike a previously unknown weak point on the mass produced Eva's, helping to turn the tide of the battle. But while the enemy Evangelions were engaged with Unit-02 the group of strange people was heading directly for the Geofront, and its rag-tag defence.
Rei narrowed her eyes as she shifted her Eva back into a kneeling position, bringing the still smoking rocket launcher round to aim at another enemy Eva. She squeezed the trigger and watched the rocket streak out over the landscape, but her target was ready and sidestepped the attack. Rei adjusted her aim to launch another rocket at the Eva, but then she realised something, one Eva was missing. Her sharp mind and senses realised what was happening and she quickly jerked her Eva backwards, the sudden movement causing the Eva to collapse backwards. As it fell back the missing Eva, which had taken off while she was fighting the previous two, came in for its attack, its blade cleaving the rocket launchers barrel in two, and barely missing Unit-02. Her Eva landed on its back, the remains of the rocket launcher sent flying out of its grip.
'I need to re-arm,' Rei realised. Now that she only had a palette rifle, with low ammo, she didn't stand much chance against the combined force of four mass produced Eva's. Also the counter to her right in the entry plug told her she only had two minutes power remaining. She had to find a power point and an Armament tower. Her knowledge of the Geofront told her that there was one nearby. She sat her Eva upright, just as the black Eva that had recently attacked her came into land nearby. She tried to push Unit-02 back upright, but found her movement restricted. Looking down she realised the Eva she had landed on had rallied itself and grabbed onto Unit-02's legs, grinning up at her with its face and back bloody from her close range attack. She brought the palette rifle back round to aim at the Eva again and fired. This time she aimed for the Eva's arms, bullets tore through its right forearm, sending chunks of flesh flying and severing its right hand. She managed to get a few shots off at the Eva's left arm before her ammo ran out. The attack didn't do a great deal of damage to the limb, but she succeeded in weakening its grip enough for her to free herself from its clutches. The other nearby Eva was approaching her now as well, she had to take this opportunity to get to the Armament Tower, she had wasted valuable time escaping from the damaged Eva and couldn't waste more time fighting this Eva.
"I require weapons from Armament Tower 06," she said over the communication system, as she stood her Eva upright finally and ran off towards the location of the requested tower. Just as she reached the location the ground split open and a large metallic tower, the size of Unit-02, sprung out of the ground. The red Eva grabbed the umbilical cable from the side of the tower and inserted it into the socket in its back. The metal shutter on the face of the tower folded down into the ground, revealing a small arsenal within. She grabbed two palette rifles and about faced to locate any nearby attackers. A black Eva was airborne, and heading towards her. She assumed it was the one that had previously destroyed her rocket launcher. She positioned the crosshairs on the display in her entry plug over the winged figure, and pulled the triggers on the butterfly controls. The barrels of both rifles flared into life as they spewed bullets out at the oncoming attacker. The salvo of bullets tore into the winged Eva, tearing chunks out of its skin, but its still came on. It brought its arm back to swing the great blade it wielded at the red Eva, but just as it prepared to launch its attacks, a bullet tore through its wing sending it off course. It desperately tried to right itself, but under the hail of bullets this was nearly impossible. It twisted slightly to its right, but this caused its sword to catch against the ground, flipping the Eva over onto its back, and twisting its arm into an awkward angle as it tried to maintain its grip on its sword, which had now become embedded in the ground.
Orange ripples burst into life across the Geofront as the defenders opened fire on the advancing figures. The jet-black people marched onwards in their strange robotic fashion, seemingly ignorant to the bullets tearing through the air around them. Not that they had anything to worry about. The AT fields each projected made them invulnerable, reducing the quite impressive display of force by the defenders to a futile gesture.
"Keep firing!" Nanasawa shouted over the roar of gunfire, as he saw a soldier hesitate when he went to reload. "Those shields can't stand up to much more punishment!" he lied. 'What the hell does NERV want us to do, try and scare them off? We haven't even killed one of them yet!' he silently cursed his employer.
Some of the enemies had come very close to the front line of defenders, they raised their hands palm outwards and the ground in front of them erupted into a cross-shaped explosion. Screams rang out as soldiers were caught in the explosion and sent flying through the air to land motionless a few feet away. Several men near to the oncoming attackers lost their nerve and turned to run, abandoning their guns and making a break for the perceived safety of the Geofront.
"Hold your positions!" the captain shouted at the fleeing troops, but they were blinded by fear and deafened by gunfire. Turning to watch the men run past him Nanasawa's eyes caught sight of the line of pale figures standing behind the defenders. They had simply been standing motionless several metres behind the line of defenders, now dressed in grey overalls, since they arrived on the battlefield, Nanasawa had actually forgot they were there, but now they were moving. They lurched forward in a strange parody of the attacker's odd gait, slowly making their way towards the front line.
A succession of explosions brought the soldier's attention back to the task at hand. He turned back to his troops to see the front line decimated by a series of cross-shaped explosions, bodies and limbs flying in all directions. Nanasawa ducked down and tried to cover his head as clods of earth rained down on him. More screaming assaulted his ears and he peered through narrowed eyelids to see injured men trying to pull themselves out of the trenches as more men deserted their posts.
'Jesus, this is turning into a massacre, I've got to do something,' Nanasawa grabbed the radio attached to his combat vest once again and brought it close to his mouth. "Major Katsuragi, this is Captain Nanasawa, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear Captain," the Major replied, sounding both stressed and distracted. "What's your situation?"
"Bad, major, I request permission-" the captain halted his withdrawal request mid-sentence as the pale-skinned figures lumbered past him, seemingly oblivious to the carnage going on around them.
"Captain? …Captain?" Misato queried down the line, trying to find out the reason for the soldiers sudden pause.
'What the hell are they doing?' he asked himself, watching the strange figures seemingly walk towards their deaths. All of the odd people seemed to reach the ruined frontline at the same time, and halted, just a few paces away from the black figures advancing upon them. As one the figures raised their arms, palm outwards towards the invincible attackers. Just as Nanasawa suspected another wave of explosion ripped through the Geofront, but what he didn't expect was that these explosions were targeting the jet-black figures invading the subterranean cave. The creatures were flung into the air and torn apart by the explosions that erupted within their ranks. Gunfire seemed to cease as soldiers paused to try and discover what had just happened. Even soldiers fleeing from the battle who had briefly looked over their shoulders halted their retreat. Another wave of explosions decimated the lines of the attackers, and all at once the soldiers realised that it was the strange red-eyed people who were causing this destruction. The defenders seemed instantly uplifted as they realised their tormentors were getting a dose of their own medicine.
"Major, the 'materials' are fighting against the enemy troops," Nanasawa relayed what he was seeing.
"Fighting? How?" Misato asked.
"They seem to be able to use the same powers as the enemy troops, those big explosions they can make," Nanasawa replied, his voice becoming more excited as more explosions tore through the ranks of the hostile figures. "We might be in with a chance Major!" All around him Nanasawa saw soldiers rushing back to their posts and starting to fire once again upon the black figures. Their attacks were still as fruitless as before, but Nanasawa didn't have the heart to tell them to cease fire, and stop them taking part in this heroic defence of the base.
The ground below the Captain shook violently all of a sudden, sending him sprawling on his back. As he sat back up, pushing his helmet away from where it had tipped forward over his eyes he saw the cause of this sudden tremor. A huge winged being was just in front of the ranks of pale figures driving back the oncoming enemy. It was an enemy Eva. It straightened itself up and raised its gargantuan sword above its head. The pale figures turned to look at this new threat as one, again all turning to point their palms at it simultaneously. Before the strange defenders could do anything however the Eva brought down the sword in a sweeping arc, digging into the earth and slicing through it across the ranks of the mysterious pale figures, strangely eliciting no screams of terror. The ground was churned up in a miniature tide of dirt and grass, scattering the grey-clad 'materials' leaving them lying injured or dead in the surrounding area. The Eva's lips seemed to curl back in a satisfied grin as it broke the line of defenders. It then turned its eyeless gaze upon the other pale-skinned figures still working to protect the Geofront.
"M-Major!" Nanasawa stammered into his radio, "an enemy Eva has reached out front line, it's tearing through the 'materials,' we need back up from Unit-02 immediately!"
"We'll see what we can do Captain," Misato replied, ending their brief conversation. Nanasawa continued staring in growing horror as the black Eva's mighty sword once again swept through the ranks of the pale figures, killing and injuring many, just as the black-skinned attackers rallied themselves to attack again.
"Reports coming from all over the Geofront, ma'am, the 'materials' are beginning to fight back against the attacking ground units," Hyuga informed his superior, desperately working to try and keep on top of the tidal wave of information bombarding his computer.
"That Eva is destroying the perimeter defence, if we don't stop it soon it'll punch a hole right through out defences," Aoba informed her.
"Contact Unit-02, tell Rei to get to the defenders as soon as possible and take out that Eva!" Misato barked.
"Reports coming in from Captain Fukumachi, he's running out of ammo, requests permission to withdraw back into the headquarters ma'am," Maya relayed the message.
'Dear God, this is descending into a blood bath,' Misato thought, gritting her teeth absent-mindedly. The holographic map in the centre of the room showed the ring of green dots that represented the defenders contracting slowly but gradually towards the pyramidal building in the centre, harassed on all sides by the enemy. A green arrow near the outskirts of the hemispherical cave indicated Unit-02 busily fighting off an MP Eva. Two other MP Eva's were lying prone somewhere between the two conflicts, they were down for now but Misato knew they'd be back up and fighting soon. 'In a situation like this it looks like only a miracle is going to save us,' she thought bitterly.
"M-Misato?" a quiet voice asked. Misato was surprised she even heard the weak voice over the din of computers and shouting technicians. She turned to slowly to locate its source. Eventually her eyes rested on a boy dressed in a typical school uniform standing on the Control Tower, his head looking down towards the floor.
"Shinji, what are you doing?" Misato asked, slightly shocked to see the boy again.
"M-Misato, I… I just wanted to…" he struggled to voice his thoughts. "Lately I've been feeling sad… r-really sad, and I don't know why. Earlier today, Maya, she said that-"
"Shinji, I don't have time for this now!" Misato shouted at him. 'What the hell does he want? He wanders in here while the Geofront is under attack, and he doesn't seem to care what's happening.'
"Wh-what?" Shinji responded, his eyes widening in shock at the woman's tone.
"I said now is not a good time Shinji," Misato repeated. "Unless you didn't notice the whole human race is this close to being destroyed. We're trying to save us. Rei's trying to save us! If you're not going to help then just go away!" The whole of Terminal Dogma seemed to go silent as the technicians and analysts present turned to watch the conversation between the Eva pilot and his guardian.
"I-"Shinji began, trying to think of something to say. "I see…" his voice trailed off, the boy's shoulders seemed to sag and he turned slowly and walked out of Terminal Dogma. The room remained silent for a few seconds after the boy's departure. Slowly realisation seemed to dawn on Misato, as if she had only just heard the conversation she had had with Shinji.
"Oh God..."
Gore and blood exploded as a rocket obliterated the upper arm of the MP Eva assaulting the fragile line of defenders. The creature turned to face its attacker, its eyeless head turning to look at Unit-02 racing across the green landscape of the Geofront towards it, rocket launcher in one hand, palette rifle in the other.
"Frontline defence requires urgent back-up from Unit-02," Maya had told Rei, causing the girl to spring immediately into action.
'This all depends on me,' Rei thought to herself, 'if I fail now then my life, and the life of all humans will be over.' Normal people would have been daunted by such a thought, but Rei knew the consequences of her failure, and the consequences of her success. "I shall prove that I exist," she whispered aloud.
The palette rifle flared into life as the red fighting machine squeezed its trigger. The Evangelion's opponent was ready though, and raised its sword with its remaining hand to block the incoming barrage, causing the bullets to ricochet off the blade harmlessly. Rei hadn't counted on the black Eva blocking her second attack and her mind raced to calculate her next move just as she saw her opponent shifting its grip on its sword and bringing it round in a counter-attack. Rei realised that at her current speed she couldn't stop in time to avoid the attack, so there was only one thing she could do. Unit-02 leapt forward, slamming its full weight into the black Eva. The defenders scattered as the two Eva's stumbled backwards, locked together. The black Eva's horizontal slash had instead turned into a bizarre hug of Unit-02 as the red Eva had sped up and got inside its opponents attack arc. The black Eva collapsed back against the surface of the pyramidal building, Unit-02 landing on top of it, pinning it down.
Rei realised that she had the advantage in this position, as Unit-02 was too close to the black Eva for its enemy to attack with its sword. She quickly discarded her weapons, realising they were useless at this range as well, and grabbed a prog knife from Unit-02's shoulder unit with its right arm. As Rei brought the knife round to stab into her opponent when once again something unexpected happened. It leant its head towards her, tilting it to the side, and bit her. The red lips of the Eva wrapped around Unit-02's face in some grotesque parody of a kiss as its teeth bit down on the sides of its head. The Eva's movements caused Unit-02 to miss with its strike and actually stab the knife into the Geofront, breaking through its reinforced surface. Danger warnings began to spring up all around the entry plug warning Unit-02's pilot of extreme stress to the head armour. All Rei could see through the external view screen was the horrible dark depths of the black Eva's mouth. And then that became obscured as cracks began to appear along the view as the Eva bit down harder on Unit-02's head causing the lenses on its four eyes to begin to shatter under the strain.
"Unit-02 is under close range attack from an enemy Eva!"
"The Geofront has been damaged!"
"Enemy ground units are breaking through our defences all over, the 'materials' can't hold them any longer."
"Downed enemy Eva's are beginning to re-activate," Hyuga reported, struggling to be heard over the cacophony of voices. "Ma'am," Hyuga began turning in his chair to face Major Katsuragi, "what do we do?"
Misato stood, seemingly dumbstruck as she watched the carnage unfold on the screen in front of her. She couldn't think, couldn't concentrate, all she could think of was how she had insulted and shouted at Shinji in a moment of frustration that was not his fault. "There's nothing we can do…" she said quietly.
"Ma'am!" Maya suddenly exclaimed, drawing all attention to her. "Unit-01 has activated!"
"What?" Misato asked incredulously, nearly sprinting over to the brown haired woman to look at the information that was displayed on her monitor.
"Pilot confirmed as Shinji Ikari… but it's heading further down into the Geofront, towards Central Dogma," Maya reported.
"Put me through to him immediately," Misato ordered urgently. Nearly instantly a holographic screen showing the determined looking tear-streaked face of Shinji Ikari within the entry plug of Unit-01. "Shinji, what are you doing?"
"I'm putting an end to this all," he answered.
"What are you talking about?" Misato asked. "Go to the catapults immediately, you need to help the defence of the Geofront!"
"No!" Shinji roared back, a disturbing look of anger on his face silenced his guardian. "If we beat this enemy, then what about the next, and the next? I'm going to be forced to pilot Eva until the day I die!"
"Shinji-"
"No, I won't do it anymore! The enemy must be here for Lilith that's all they could have come for… I'm going to finish this once and for all… I'm going to kill Lilith." The whole of Terminal Dogma went silent at the boy's announcement of his plans, and the determination in his voice.
"Unit-01 has reached Heaven's Gate," Maya reported, her voice slightly shaky.
"Put me through to Pilot Ikari," a voice boomed through the room. All eyes turned to look at the figure of Gendo Ikari atop the control tower. "Now!" he ordered. Again another holographic image of the brown haired pilot of Unit-01 appeared in front of the commander of NERV. "Pilot Ikari," he began, with a strange tone in his usual emotionless voice, "I order you to cease your actions immediately."
"No!" Shinji shouted again. "I won't listen to you ever again. I'll never pilot Eva ever again, this is my last action as an Eva pilot. I'll make sure no one has to worry about Third Impact, from the Angels, or from you!"
"Cut power to Unit-01," Gendo ordered immediately.
"Yes sir," Maya replied, quickly entering in commands into her console. "Sir, Unit-01 isn't responding," she turned round to report.
"What?" he questioned her. "Increase Entry Plug LCL pressure to maximum."
"Sir, Unit-01 isn't accepting any commands," the technician informed him.
Gendo's expression seemed to change, his emotionless mask breaking down. "Shinji, do not do this," he forced the words out, worry clearly evident in his voice. "Shinji, I am your father, I am telling you not to do this!"
Shinji's visage on the screen stared back at him, a mask of rage and contempt. "I have no father."
Rei struggled to free herself from the Eva's grip, but its remaining arm was wrapped tight around Unit-02, and its jaws continued to close around Unit-02's face. Another lens shattered, blinding Unit-02 in another eye, as Rei desperately tried to wrench the prog knife out of the Geofront. Rei cried out in pain as her enemy's teeth broke through armour and dug into the flesh beneath. The prog knife was finally removed from the Geofront and Rei quickly jammed it into her attacker's head, desperate to relieve herself from the pain. The glowing blade quickly cut through the Eva's head, slicing its bottom jaw clean off.
Blood sprayed out of the creature's wound onto Unit-02's face as the red Eva finally managed to free itself from its grip. The black Eva struggled to get up, its tongue hanging uselessly below its mouth through the gap where its bottom jaw used to be, blood pouring out of the wound down the creatures neck and chest. Rei took the opportunity to shift her grip on her prog knife and slam it up through the exposed roof of the Eva's mouth and into its brain, causing it to squirm briefly against the Geofront before slumping down to the buildings base.
The black Eva was down, but not out, Rei knew, but she had to make sure the other Eva's were incapacitated before she tried to finish any off. She turned to survey the Geofront just in time to see a grey Lance of Longinus streaking towards her, but far, far too late to do anything about it. The pain seemed to slow everything down as the twin prongs pierced through Unit-02's shoulder, the force of the strike carrying the red Eva through the air with the lance until it slammed into the side of NERV headquarters. The Lance sunk deep into the pyramidal building, and through Unit-02, pinning it against the building just as Rei had done to her previous opponent. Before Rei even had a chance to scream out in pain another Lance slammed into Unit-02's left shoulder, pinning that against the reinforced surface of NERV headquarters as well.
Rei cried out in pain, instinctively hugging her shoulders in some futile effort to relieve the torment. She opened up one pain-blurred eye to stare out across the Geofront. The hideous grinning forms of the three MP Eva's took to the air and began soaring leisurely towards her. Beside her the jaw-less Eva she had just defeated stirred, pushing itself back upright, the sword in its hand twisting into another Lance. It turned to look towards her and if the thing had eyes Rei would have sworn she saw her death in them.
'I've failed.' Rei closed her eyes as tears began to sting them.
Waves of LCL exploded over the artificial shores of Central Dogma as the massive door known as Heaven's Gate landed in the orange sea. The purple form of Unit-01 stood in the entrance raising the palette rifle in its arms to aim at the white being crucified in the centre of the room.
The constant humming of power coursing through the Eva and Shinji's nervous heavy breathing were the only sounds to be heard inside the entry plug. The cursor on the screen slowly made its way up the form of the white figure until it stopped over the creature's chest. Shinji's shaking finger hovered over the trigger.
"Is this really what you want to do?" a voice asked, from somewhere deep within the Eva.
"Yes… this is what I want to do."
"Then do it."
He pulled the trigger.
Rei expected death, she expected a searing pain in her chest as the mutilated Eva stabbed its Lance through Unit-02, snuffing out her life in one agonising instant. What happened next chilled her even more than that thought. She heard howling.
She dared to open one crimson eye and stare out at the Geofront once more. Just to her left the black Eva emitted a guttural howl from its ruined mouth. The other three were circling just below the exit, shouting out similar unearthly howls. All across the Geofront the jet-black people were throwing their arms in the air and wailing and weeping. Rei did not know what was happening, but it disturbed her. She watched in pain-wracked fascination as the airborne Eva Units began to circle higher and higher, before peeling off one by one to fly up and out of the gaping hole in the ceiling of the Geofront.
The injured black Eva reached over and, grasping both Lances still impaling Unit-02, wrenched them both out simultaneously. Rei cried out in agony again, arching her back and clawing at her shoulders so hard that her fingers dug into her skin. Unit-02 slid down to collapse against the sloped surface of NERV headquarters. Rei looked up again to see the last black Eva staring down at her, a grey Lance in either hand, before it turned and departed after its brethren.
"You idiot!" Gendo Ikari roared as his gloved fist connected with his son's cheek. Shinji Ikari cried out in pain before falling to the metal floor of Central Dogma. "Do you have any idea what you have just done!?" the bearded man shouted at his son, gesturing to the now bullet ridden corpse of Lilith hanging upon the cross in the centre of the room.
"I saved us!" Shinji replied, getting to his feet as a thin trickle of blood began to make its way out of the corner of his mouth.
"Saved us?" Gendo asked incredulously. He turned to stare at the dead creature in the centre of the room. 'Yui…' the word rang through his mind, accompanied with a great feeling of sadness. He turned and pulled back his fist to strike out at his son again.
"Stop this!" Misato cried out, jumping between the two just as the Commander of NERV lashed out again. This time his punch caught the purple haired Major in the face, sending her sprawling down onto the ground. Gendo looked down at the woman with contempt in his eyes, disgusted that she would protect such a worthless person as his son.
"The Angel doesn't need Lilith to obtain victory," Gendo explained with barely restrained anger, "once it realises that it can use Unit-01 it will be back, and that won't take it long."
"Staying here won't solve any problems Ikari," Fuyutsuki informed his Commander from behind the fuming man. The tall man's hands dropped to his sides and clenched and unclenched for a brief few seconds before he spoke.
"You are correct Fuyutsuki, we should adjourn to see what we can salvage from this situation," he spoke calmly, his face returning to its usual emotionless mask. He turned towards the exit and strode out of the colossal room. Shinji stood silently for a few more seconds, just staring into the distance.
"Shinji, I think you did the right thing," Misato told him quietly, sitting on the ground her hand pressed to her bruised cheek. "If you hadn't destroyed Lilith… Rei and everyone else would have been dead by now." Shinji glared at her out of the corner of his eye.
"I said now is not a good time Shinji,"
"Don't speak to me," he told her, "ever again." He turned and left, he never looked back so he didn't see his guardian curl up on the floor and begin to weep.
"Rei? Come in Rei," Maya Ibuki's voice echoed around the entry plug.
Rei Ayanami sat huddled on the control seat, a small whimpering coming from her as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"Rei?" Maya's worried voice asked. "Rei, you can come back now… it's over."
"Reports indicate we suffered sixty percent casualties of defenders, seventy percent of the 'materials' were also lost. Unit-02 has suffered severe damage to both shoulders, leaving both arms inoperable, and also damage to the head," Fuyutsuki told his commander. "Engineers report that the damage will take at least four days to repair."
"I doubt we will have four days," Gendo intoned grimly, "we will be fortunate to have more than twenty-four hours. Order the engineer's to focus on just one arm."
"Even if we do get Unit-02 partially operational again Dr. Akagi estimates our chances of success are point zero zero zero zero zero zero zero seven percent."
"So we will probably all die, along with the entire human race," Gendo summarised.
"It appears the prophecy's course may be changed, but its results cannot," Fuyutsuki agreed.
"Victory is not quite out of our grasp yet, however," his Commander said calmly.
"Oh?"
"There is still one last chance. The prophecy, it claims Tabris must imbue all of himself into Lilith in order to cause Third Impact, correct?"
"Yes… I think I remember it saying that," Fuyutsuki replied, wondering what his superior was thinking of.
"Reports from the Choshi conflict say that it took a few seconds for a 'possessed' person to begin to move again. Therefore is it not reasonable to assume that Tabris must familiarise itself with the workings of a body before it takes complete control?"
"That seems plausible."
"So if an Eva was possessed its pilot would have a few seconds in order to make one final action?"
"Ye-" Fuyutsuki suddenly stopped as he realised what the Commander was suggesting. "But, you know Shinji would never pilot it again willingly… and he most certainly wouldn't do that."
"Then we shall have to find a way to make him."
Shinji Ikari lay in the small uncomfortable bed facing the cold grey wall in the cell-like room that was now his home.
"If you need to talk to her, I'm sure she'll find some time-"
"You've just doomed us!"
"I don't have time for this now!"
"Is this really what you want to do?"
"Take him to Unit-01's Eva cage, immediately."
"Everybody has the right to choose."
"Who cares? It's not like they like you, do they Shinji?"
"I'll never be happy,"
Shinji's eyes shot open wide as he felt something brush up against him in bed. It felt cool and rubbery, like the fabric of a plug suit.
"…Ayanami?" he questioned, about to turn to face this intruder when he heard a quiet voice.
"Please Shinji," Rei spoke quietly as she felt him stir next to him. "I nearly died today… I was… scared."
Shinji opened his mouth to speak, but he could think of no words to say. Shinji and Rei lay back to back in the small bed, they each pulled the thin sheets further around themselves and tried to get some sleep.
End of the Sixth Day
Authors Notes:
I'm sorry, I'm so, so sorry. I mean I never meant for this chapter to take… what, nine months to finish? I have to say University has been a much bigger strain on my life than I thought it to be. But I got this chapter finished in the end. I had the BIGGEST case of writer's block ever when I tried to start writing this, which slowed down work on it again. But now that only one chapter remains I will definitely get Genesis Crisis finished. It may take a while, but I'll do it.
Thanks once again go to Laval, and also to Char who chipped in with the pre-reading on this one and flattered me with lots of badly spelled words saying how great this chapter was. :-P Thanks to everyone on Evamade.com, who have been great fun this past year or so, and also to Puddle of LCL who was kind of the person who sparked me off to finish this, by calling it "Non-Shit"… charmed I'm sure.
The biggest thanks of all go to you… yes you! For reading this, and if you just so happen to have reviewed this in the past, or been waiting all these nine months with baited breath for chapter 6, then even bigger thanks to you as well. I know this chapter won't be worth waiting nine months for, but I hope you like it nonetheless.
Again, I'll definitely get Chapter 7 done eventually, and you'll be able to see the climactic end I've been building up to all the way through this story.
Oh and if you just so happen to have "Qui Tollis Pecata Mundi" by J.S. Bach on your PC then if you could listen to it and read the bit where Rei gets lanced again that'd make me really happy, since it's what I was listening to when I wrote it.