Blood Ties
Chapter 3: Blood Bath

by crimsonwraith
Version 1: 20/06/04

Explosions concussed all around the cockpit, flooding her entry plug with much confusion. Sonya tried to focus on the woman barking orders at her from her Heads-Up-Display, but how can she listen when there was so much going on around her? At this point, she thought, her only priority was survival.

"Ritsuko!" she screamed into her comm, "I'm pulling out!"

"What?" the woman sputtered on the other end, "don't even think about hi-tailing it, Sonya! Not after everything Shinji and Rei did for you!"

Sonya bit her lip at this. "If you haven't noticed, there's no way I can fight this thing!"

From her peripheral vision, Sonya noticed Ritsuko wince painfully. "Fine! Take the third street to your right. It will lead you down to the 24th shaft."

"Thanks!" Sonya replied with a nod. The woman on her HUD quickly disappeared as an explosion boomed beside her, sending the massive humanoid crashing into the concrete streets below, crushing dozens of cars that lined the pavement. Inside, Sonya shook her head, desperate to drive away the dizziness from her mind, but it was no good. As her eyes began to clear, she noticed that it was already too late. The enemy was already upon her.

Damn it! she hissed to herself as her HUD came under the bending shadows of the enormous angel. Again, the light began to grow: this time, it would be the last time that she sees it. Cursing herself a final time, her mind raced back in time, trying to figure out just what went wrong…

Previous 24 hours
Shinji was roused by the unusual aroma floundering through the early morning air. It couldn't have been Misato, he thought. For one, she would still be asleep until the early hours of midday, and next, she could only dream of cooking something that smelled this nice. Which begs the question, who is cooking?

Levering himself off the warmth of his bed, Shinji quickly strode out his room, wincing as the bright light suddenly filled his vision once he opened the bedroom door. Who could possibly be up this early in the morning? Suddenly, the aroma hit him. Pork, he thought, who would eat pork this early in the day? The sound of spattering oil grew louder as he paced down the corridor, his curiosity growing with each step. Then, as he stopped just in front of the kitchen, all doubt was cleared.

It was odd, finding the redhead wearing an apron, pacing around the kitchen sink, washing a basin full of dirty dishes. His drowsy eyes then turned to the table. The plates were all set up lined with silver cutlery, glasses were filled with orange juice, and in the middle, were three large plates filled with bacon, eggs and pancakes. He's heard of the American breakfast before, but having one set up for him was something completely different.

Well, I guess it's better than toast for breakfast…

Back inside the kitchen, the drumming of water suddenly stopped just as Sonya dried her hands off with her apron before untying it and folding it neatly onto her arms. Lifting her head up, she paused, finding Shinji staring back at her with an equally puzzled gaze.

"Uh, sorry!" Sonya laughed.

Shinji raised an eyebrow at this. "Sorry?" he echoed. "What for?"

Sonya blushed, her eyes falling to the floor as she wringed her folded apron in her hands. "I know that you had homework to do, but then I thought it would have been rude to wake you up."

"Sonya," gasped Shinji stepping closer to study the girl's changing expression. "Are you alright?"

"Of course!" she quickly replied, though a little bit nervously. "You're always the one cooking and cleaning around here, so I thought it would have been nice to… you know… pull my weight around the house."

"That's alright," Shinji replied with a growing smile. "You don't have to cook or clean if you don't want to. Misato never did,"

"And thank god for that," Sonya chimed in.

Shinji managed a quick chuckle before continuing. "And I never asked Asuka to help cooking or cleaning either."

Shinji expected that the girl would laugh at this as she did when he teased Misato, but her reaction was less than optimistic. Instead, she froze, staring blankly at him. Then her gaze gradually hardened, her open palms balling into fists. Her lips moved, but her words came too softly to be heard.

"Sonya…" he whispered, approaching her cautiously. "Are you alright."

Again her mouth moved. "I'm not like her…" All of a sudden, her eyes shot up, burning with a menacingly ominous beryl light, striking fear into the very heart of the boy. "I'M NOT ASUKA! I'M NOTHING LIKE ASUKA! NOTHING!!!"

Before he could think, the boy managed to duck just in time to avoid to see the girl's fist swing at the empty air just above his head. Then his instincts took over, quickly grabbing the girl's fist before she could lash out at him again, then tripped her onto the floor and pinned her to the floorboards.

Sonya was surprisingly strong: it took all his strength just to hold her down, and even then it wasn't easy. For a moment, Sonya was no longer the sweet girl that he knew, but a girl possessed by a demon. Not even Asuka frightened him so.

Suddenly, rushed footsteps dashed across the corridor, stopping just behind him. Misato's eyes widened as she saw the boy struggling with the girl thrashing all over the kitchen floor. "Shinji!" she called out, dashing back into the hallway, "hold her down just a little longer."

"Hurry up Misato!" Shinji screamed back. Before he could finish, he was suddenly flung into the air, crashing into a set of cupboards some five meters away. As he painfully cracked his eyes open, he noticed the figure rise before him, her jaded eyes glowering at him, her mouth salivating with madness. Starting to sweat bullets, Shinji stole another quick glimpse at the hallway only to find it empty. "MISATO! HURRY!"

His screams prompted the possessed girl to lunge at him, her claws wrapping around his neck, threatening not to choke him, but to completely snap it off like a twig. Shinji could hear his spine straining just as his vision began to fade, and then he noticed another outline in his view.

It was Misato. She was holding something silver in her hand, a syringe. Quickly, the woman stabbed the needle into Sonya's back and squeezed, the opaque liquid disappearing into her veins. All of a sudden, her grip loosened around Shinji's neck, allowing him to swallow several mouthfuls of air. Just as her hands fell limply to her sides, Sonya managed a grieved look at Shinji on final time before her head fell lifelessly onto the ground.

"Wh- wha," he stammered, gasping to catch his breath. "What the hell was that?"

Misato shot him a quick, expressionless look as she moved two fingers over the girl's neck, finding a steady, if not slowed pulse. "Stupid, stupid!"

"I- I'm sorry, Misato, I didn't know that-"

The woman shook her head in frustration, immediately cutting the boy off. "Not you, Shinji. Me! I couldn't believe that I trusted Ritsuko… after all that she did. How stupid!!!"

"Ritsuko?" he gasped breathlessly, "what do you mean? What does she have to do with Sonya? What's going on Misato?"

She ignored his pleas, instead pushing herself off the floor and reached for the cordless unit, dialling an auto-call number. "This is Misato. We need contamination here right now! Not in five minutes, I want it here NOW!!!" she screamed, before ending the conversation by slamming the unit into the base. Stopping to breathe, she turned a weary look towards the boy. "Sonya suffered mental contamination yesterday as a result of lowering her neural connect limiter."

Shinji's eyes fell at this to gaze into her flowing auburn locks, running his fingers through her hair. "She's going to be alright, isn't she?" Misato kept still, neither nodding nor shaking her head, sending a cold chill down Shinji's spine. Again she turned back to Sonya. With her eyes closed, she almost reminded him of Asuka. But then her words began to ring in her head.

I'M NOTHING LIKE ASUKA! NOTHING!!!

"She's strong," Misato whispered reassuringly. Standing up, her eyes glazed over the food that the girl had prepared for breakfast. Misato smiled at this. "At least we know where she gets her strength." All of a sudden, her phone began to ring once more. Frustrated, Misato picked up the phone, growling at the person on the other end. "I told you to that we need you here now-"

"Misato," Fuyutski's voice cut in. Misato suddenly froze, realizing her mistake, but Fuyutski had more important things to do than reprimand the stubborn woman. "Major Katsuragi, we required your presence at headquarters immediately."

"But…" Misato stammered, now careful to watch her words. "But, sir, why?"

"Because," Fuyutski began with a sinister tone, "the angels are back."

Strange, Rei thought, pacing down the empty corridors with her footsteps the only thing to be heard. Or at least, she was until the sirens broke through the stillness and the crimson flood lights cut in. Something was going on.

Something was happening. Listening to the voice echoing behind her head, Rei began to pace towards the Command Centre when another sound began to permeate the hallways. It sounded like a distant thunder, yet strangely enough, it seemed familiar to her. Suddenly, her curiosity was sated as a roller bed rushed by, occupied by a familiar red head.

"Sonya…" Rei whispered.

A hand fell upon her shoulder. As she turned, Rei found a large man dressed in black behind her. "Pilot Ayanami," he started in a deep yet indistinct voice, "I am here to escort you to Unit 00 at cage three."

"No," Rei started, turning away, but stopped as the man's grip tightened around her shoulder.

"I am ordered to escort you to Cage Three. Whether you come voluntarily or not is up to you."

For a second, the agent smirked as the only thing Rei could do was stare at him. And then the girl's eyes flashed crimson. Suddenly a huge amount of pain was built up around his arm. His eyes froze as it fell upon his arm, crushed across the elbow as if it was caught in a vice. But it didn't stop there.

Now the pressure had come to his head. He opened his mouth to scream, but it was too late. The only sound to escape his throat was the sickening squelch of blood and sinew spattered across the steel walls.

Rei lingered at this for a moment longer before turning back to where the bed had been only moments before.

"Sonya…" she whispered, "sister…"

Ritsuko peered over the edge of the massive travelator, imagining what it would be like to hurl a certain clone over the edge. A smile came across her face as she visualized Rei falling helplessly into the void. If only I could, she mused to herself, then looked back over her shoulder with Misato glowering at her.

"What's with the face?" she slurred. Misato didn't reply. If anything, her spiteful gaze hardened. Ritsuko couldn't help but feel guilty. "Look, Misato, I had to do what I had to do."

"Shut up!" barked Misato. "Just shut up! I should have never listened to you in the first place, at least she would still be alright."

"Alright?" Ritsuko shot back with an edge in her voice. "If you didn't let her do it, her morale would have suffered seriously."

"Better she lose her morale than her whole fucking sanity!" countered Misato. This earned the major a spiteful gaze from the doctor, leaving an awkward silence to linger between the two as they waited for the shifting stairs slowly lead them to their destination.

Apologising was the last thing on Misato's mind, after watching just what Ritsuko had done to Sonya, but she couldn't help but feel guilty. Then she remembered just why as a familiar face came to her mind, not of Sonya, but Asuka. She remembered how she pleaded to pilot one last time. Looking back, Misato wondered just how differently things would have turned out if she said no, if she had not allowed Ritsuko to rule just what she should do.

Maybe Asuka would still be alive.

Shinji had sworn never to sit here again; it still reeked of blood.

Kaworu's blood.

But now was not the time to back out.

Rei depended on him.

Sonya depended on him.

They all did.

Unit 00 had barely been restored, which meant that her chance of survival was unlikely. As for Sonya… she was in no condition to fight, not when she was struggling with ghosts of her own. It was all up to him, just as it had always been.

As the colours flashed across the heavy liquid, a frame came across his HUD. It was Misato. This brought a smile across his face. "Hey Misato, is Sonya alright?"

Misato managed an awkward grin. "Y-yeah," she stammered, her voice less than convincing. "They told me that they've stabilised her condition, but they're not sure how long it will take to for her to recover, so I don't think she'll be able to help you for now."

"That's alright," Shinji sighed. "So, what are we up against?"

"We're not sure," she replied. As her screen faded, Shinji's HUD was suddenly filled with a large image of vast rolling mountains, dotted by houses and trees. There was nothing on the screen that warranted the Level 1 Alert Status; there were no Angels. This was the source of both relief and anxiety for the boy.

Then Ritsuko's image flashed across his screen. "How are you doing, Shinji?" she said, trying to mask her uncaring voice. "Here is what we're gathered on the new Angel."

Nothing as usual, he moaned to himself, awaiting for Ritsuko's minimal explanation.

The cockpit then darkened as Ritsuko began briefing him. "This is the angel as viewed under visible light."

"Where?" Shinji replied, scanning his HUD , but finding nothing.

"In the middle of your HUD, right on the targeting reticule." Ritsuko knew that there was no point dwelling on it this way, switching the view mode. Shinji's mouth dropped almost at once. The figure was enormous, even humanoid. "This is the angel in ultra violet light. We believe that the angel is able to cover itself by bending various types of light around it. We scanned it using visible light and infra-red, but it was completely invisible in both respects. This poses a problem for you to both locate and destroy the angel, let alone to identify its abilities of attack and defence."

"Then how are we supposed to fight it!" screamed Shinji, banging his fist into his controls. Despite this, Ritsuko could only sigh before her screen faded, with Shinji's HUD returning to the hangar. "Damn it, Ritsuko! Don't do this to us! Don't leave us in the dark!"

Rei wasn't sure, but siting, hidden from view in a sniper's perch, it almost felt familiar, almost like déjà vu. But she ignored this, focusing on the task at hand, narrowing her eyes as she focused her crosshairs to open fields, not knowing whether the enemy was there or not. After a long while, she lifted her finger away from the trigger and pulled herself up from her seat.

Why do we fight?

A screen then flashed across her HUD, a boy's face coming up on the screen. "Hey, Rei…" Shinji stammered, clearly not comfortable with speaking to her. "I was just wanted to talk to you…"

"…"

"I know you don't talk much, but…"

"…"

"I want to ask you something."

"Now is not the time, pilot Ikari," Rei murmured, "we will discuss this after we are debriefed."

Shinji's eyes quickly intensified. "That's what I want to talk to you about…"

At this, Rei paused, clearly intrigued at the boy's desperation. "Speak quickly, Third Child."

"Thank you." He paused, clearing his mind before proceeding. "I know the truth about you, Rei. I know what happened to you the last time you fought an angel, I saw it with my own eyes. And I also saw Asuka suffer. I saw her die, not in the entry plug, but because she fought. I… I watched as my Unit 01 tear Touji apart… and I watched as I crushed Kaworu in my hands."

Rei's eyes slowly fell to her hands, feeling the slight cramp of guilt in her chest. "We have given our lives for others. That is why we exist."

"To die?" challenged Shinji.

Rei nodded in confirmation. "What greater honour is there than to give your life for the ones you love?" Her words found home in Shinji's heart, cutting him deeply and Rei saw this. The feeling of guilt in her chest grew heavier to the point of almost unbearable. Suddenly, Rei sensed something else. She's here. "Ikari, we will finish this discussion later."

"But-"

"I have one thing to say to you, pilot Ikari…"

"…"

"I will protect you with my life." She watched as Shinji's mouth open to reply, but before he could, Rei switched her screen off. She had let her voice echo in her mind for another heartbeat before narrowing her eyes squinting spitefully at the open fields. "Come," she whispered, wrapping her hand around controls, her index finger hovering just above the trigger, "come and meet your doom."

"Shinji," Ritsuko's voice reverberated in his entry plug. "We have uploaded the com sat data that you need to locate the angel. Just look at the bottom left screen for updates. And good luck, Shinji."

Her screen faded, leaving a less than reassured boy eyeing the large image looming at the bottom left corner of his HUD. Unit 00 was a fair distance behind him, leaving him to face the Angel on his own. NERV was never any good at strategies, and many young lives have paid for it. Ritsuko was on of them who treated pilots like cannon fodder, and as much as Shinji hated to admit it, Misato was another. They rarely ever had a plan of attack, and when they did, things often went wrong.

All of a sudden, the image on the bottom right screen faded from sight, causing anarchy inside the plug.

"Where is it?" Shinji yelped nervously. "Misato, Ritsuko, I can't see it! I can't see it!"

"Shinji, Rei!" Misato's voice screamed, "Abort! I repeat, abort the operation at once!"

Shinji jammed his stick back, hoping to pull out before anything could happen to him. He was hoping for too much as he found out a bright light glowing from behind him, and then it was too late.

"Ikari, Ikari!" Rei screamed out into her comm. All she saw was the purple unit crumple to its feet, falling flat into the dirt, unmoving. First, shock overcame her, numbing all her senses. Then anger settled in, thrusting her control stick forward, her juggernaut leaping forward to rescue her fallen comrade.

"Ayanami!" Misato's voice pleaded over her speakers, "get out of there! That is an order!"

"No!"

"What was that?" Misato stammered at the suddenness of her defiance. "You can't help Shinji now! You have to pull back!"

"NO!" she screamed, before locking the woman out, leaving her to herself. Her eyes quickly narrowed, noticing a bright light intensifying a short distance to her left. She quickly jammed her control stick to her front. Outside, Unit 00 leapt forward, out of the way of a massive white beam which streaked through the air, slamming into the distant hills, burning the earth near the point of impact. Rei quickly rolled her unit to its knees, bringing the brunt of her sniper rifle aimed at the source and squeezed the trigger thrice. The muzzle boomed loudly, sending three concussive shells darting out at its invisible target, finding nothing but empty air.

Frustrated, Rei dropped her rifle, pulling out her pistol from her holster and squeezed the trigger in all directions. All twenty bullets found empty air. Suddenly, Rei noticed a bright light began to glow from behind, but now it was too late to move, let alone scream.

"Unit 00 has gone silent!" Maya screamed across the room. It was unnecessary as all watched the screen flicker with static, leaving a haunting sense of futility in the minds of all who witnessed it. None more so than with Misato. Her eyes remained fixed upon the screen long after the static faded, leaving nothing but a blank upon the massive screen.

"Shinji… Rei…" she gasped, her eyes trembling, "what's their status?"

Maya shook her head. "Their status cannot be confirmed."

"Expect the worse," Ritsuko began, causing Misato to turn a spiteful gaze in her direction. "Expect the worse and hope for the best. That is all we can do until the threat passes."

"No!" she protested. "Send out rescue squads and retrieve the entry plugs."
"They weren't launched."

"We'll force eject them."

Ritsuko motioned a hand across her lips, prompting Misato to silence. "Listen to yourself, Misato. You're not being rational. If the pilots are still alive, we can't just go out there and attempt a rescue! If you haven't forgotten, we've got a Angel to deal with. The best place for those two right now is inside the Evas."

"We can't just leave them there!" Misato retorted.

"Leave who?"

The small voice belonged to neither woman. Slowly, they turned around, finding a young girl draped in hospital garbs standing before the opening to the command platform. On her breast pocket was a label.

Sonya Langley Soryu

The Second Child

Stepping closer, she stopped to study Misato's blank expression. "What's going on Misato? Where's Shinji and Rei?"

"They're in-" Misato paused, thinking just what she really meant. If she said that they were outside, Sonya would have to go and fight the angel, but if she said no, then she will learn about it from someone else, thus she loses her trust. But it was better that she lost her trust than her life. At least then, she stands a change for survival. "Shinji and Rei are-"

"They're trapped, Sonya," Ritsuko interrupted. The elder woman's lips curled slightly as she found the girl shirking backwards in disbelief. "They're still out there, trapped in their own entry pods with their internal batteries running critically low. In another ten minutes, life support would die out, suffocating both pilots."

"No…" Sonya gasped, taking another tentative step backwards, "no…"

Ritsuko clearly relished the sight of the girl trembling before her. "They are there suffering, Sonya, because of you."

"No!" shrieked the girl, shaking her head in weak protest. Tears began to flow freely down her pale cheeks, her lips trembling. "NO!" With this, the girl turned spun around, running out the door, leaving only her cries to echo in the command platform.

The smile on Ritsuko's lips disappeared as Misato wiped it clean off her face with her fist. The doctor fell back, sliding across the cold steel floor, stoping only as her back hit the wall. Blood seeped through the corner of her lips. Clutching the side of her cheek, the doctor turned a fierce look over to Misato. "Just what the hell was that for?"

Misato turned her back to Ritsuko, grunting indignantly to answer her. "Ritsuko… you're despicable."

"I didn't see you stop me, Misato!"

"I never want to see you again," Misato hissed, stepping out the door, "old friend." With this, Misato stepped out the door, leaving Ritsuko with a throbbing cheek and a culpable sensation to reside in her gut long after her words disappeared into the cold air.

"It's all my fault… it's all my fault!"

Sonya repeated her endless mantra of self loathing in the confines of her entry plug. A picture of the boy's smile came to her mind. It was gentle, warm, haunting. Then an image of a blue haired girl came to join him, her crimson eyes alluring. They were both looking at her, as if depending on her.

It's my fault that Shinji and Rei are hurt, she cursed to herself, wiping her teary eyes as she gripped her controls with renewed vigour. "I'm not going to let you down! I'm not going to let anybody down anymore!" With this, she turned a resolute gaze to her screen and tugged her controls. "Evangelion Unit 02! LAUNCH!!!"

All of a sudden, she felt her entire body pressed down into her seat as the Evangelion was rushed up to the surface. Despite this, Sonya kept her eyes focused on her screen, gritting her teeth painfully under so much pressure. Hold on, Rei, Shinji. Just hold on a little longer.

"Alright," Ritsuko voice echoed inside Sonya's entry plug. "You will engage the target inside the city. The building will limit its ability to attack you from all sides, it will be forced to attack you from straight ahead or from behind."

Sonya could only grimace at the explanation. "It also means that I've got no escape if that thing decides to shoot at me."

The image of the blonde woman sighed on her screen, nodding a sigh of surrender. "That's also true, Sonya. Which means that you have to defeat it with your first attack." Suddenly, two buildings rolled up on either side her screens, exposing two massive palette rifles. "Take the rifles and destroy the target as soon as you neutralize its AT-Field."

"But…" Sonya moaned, "where is the enemy?"

She heard no reply come from the doctor. Instead, the screen disappeared, leaving Sonya to herself with a dilemma residing in her mind. "How can I fight something I cannot see?" Suddenly, a thought hit her. "Display all noise from all sectors." Just because I can't see you, doesn't mean that I can't hear you. Suddenly, a map scrolled across her screen. In the middle was a dot, labelled Unit 02; her Evangelion had to be making some kind of noise to be detected even when standing still. The whole map was littered with red, there was too much noise going on, even in the dead of silence.

But then she noticed something; a trail of red moving from the northern sector to her position. This invoked a smirk across Sonya's lips. "I see you…"

Outside, the Evangelion grabbed the two rifles, tucking each weapon beneath its arms and began to run through the maze like streets, careful as if not to make a sound. Sonya knew that this was useless, having a 100 meter tall weapon creeping around, but at least it would be better than declaring to her enemy just where she was. It had already made this mistake, and now she would take full advantage of this fatal error.

The red unit quickly approached a final street, planting its massive hide behind the cover of a massive sky scraper. "Come on, you bastard…" Sonya whispered, eyeing the moving trail of red on her screen. "Just a little more… NOW!" Jamming her control to the left, she led her Evangelion out into the street finding nothing but buildings before her. However, she knew that looks were deceiving, curling her lips wryly.

"Gotcha!"

Without warning, the two rifles came to life with brilliant flashes of white and deafening staccatos of concussive barrages. She watched as the tracer rounds sailed across the air, it's opponent trapped by the narrow streets, exploding as it found home.

After another second of automatic fire, Sonya relaxed her trigger finger as she let out a sigh of relief. "That was easier than I thought…"

Suddenly, Ritsuko's face flashed across her screen. "You idiot!" she screamed. "You haven't neutralized it's AT Field!"

"I haven't what?" Sonya shot back. Her eyes quickly darted back to the pile of smoke in the distance, only to find yellow hexagons hovering in the air.

All of a sudden, the air in front of Sonya began to glow. Even if she couldn't see just what was happening, she was certain of one thing. This can't be good. There was no escape behind her, certainly none in front of her. Then a thought sprang to mind. All of a sudden, she brought the barrels of her twin rifles to bear at the buildings to her side and squeezed the trigger. Explosions concussed all around the cockpit. Sonya ignored the woman barking orders at her from her screen as she threw herself into the weakened block of buildings dodging just in time to watch a massive beam streak through the air where she was just a heartbeat ago. Crashing into an adjacent street, she turned to her screen with a blank look. Damn it! What do I do now? Her mind cried out for her to fight on, but she also knew that this was futile. At this point, she thought, her only priority was survival.

"Ritsuko!" she screamed into her comm, "I'm pulling out!"

"What?" the woman sputtered on the other end, "don't even think about hi-tailing it, Sonya! Not after everything Shinji and Rei did for you!"

Sonya bit her lip at this. "If you haven't noticed, there's no way I can fight this thing!"

From her peripheral vision, Sonya noticed Ritsuko wince painfully. "Fine! Take the third street to your right. It will lead you down to the 24th shaft."

"Thanks!" Sonya replied with a nod. The woman on her HUD quickly disappeared as an explosion boomed beside her, sending the massive humanoid crashing into the concrete streets below, crushing dozens of cars that lined the pavement. Inside, Sonya shook her head, desperate to drive away the dizziness from his mind, but it was no good. As her eyes began to clear, she noticed that it was already too late. The enemy was already upon her.

Damn it! she hissed to herself as her HUD came under the bending shadows of the enormous angel. Again, the light began to grow: this time, it would be the last time that she sees it. Cursing herself a final time.

That's when she heard the pulsing in her head.

I won't give up!

"What?"

Never give up!

"Who is this?"

I won't let you give up…

"Who is this?"

… sister…

Ritsuko winced painfully, closing her eyes, unable to watch the girl die because of her. But there was no use hiding. A deafening explosion sounded from all around her, signalling the girl's final demise. Or so she thought.

"She dodged the beam!" Maya joyously rang out.

Ritsuko's eyes shot open in disbelief. "But- but that's impossible!" And yet she could see that Maya was right as the building behind the red demon was shredded to its foundation, but not the demon itself. Demon was the right word as all four eyes glowed an ominous crimson.

"Doctor!" Maya screamed desperately. "Please! Get over here quickly!"

"What's wrong!" said Ritsuko as she ran over the technician's side. Her mouth fell as her eyes studied the graphs on her console. "It- it can't be!"

Maya mirrored the woman's reaction, gasping to herself. "Her synch ratio… it's over 100%!"

"That's impossible! There's no way Sonya could have done that!"

Above them, Gendo watched on, his head resting on interlocked fingers, hiding a growing smirk. "Finally… you have come back to us…"

The red behemoth sprung high into the air just in time to see the gravel where it stood turn to slag by the massive beam, before turning its guns down to its target. Its four eyes flashed ominously as it pulled the triggers, raining upon its target a hail of concussive shells. The first few rounds found home in a white octagonal shield but was then torn to shreds as the behemoth came crashing thorough, landing on the invisible beast and planting one of the rifle's barrels of its gun into its invisible hide. The gun exploded with a huge fireball, enveloping the half the city block, charring everything, revealing what was hidden before.

Trails of violet fluid oozed across the beasts' arm as it ambled down away from the demon, still clutching one rifle in one hand. Unit 02's eye began to glow as it charged another beam, but the scarlet gargantuan didn't let it, charging down the streets, thrusting the remaining gun forward…

… straight into the Angel's crimson core. The glowing from its eyes died immediately, but the scarlet demon's hunger for blood was yet to be sated. Unit 02's eyes glowed a final time as it squeezed the trigger, sending volleys upon volleys of explosive shells tearing through the insides of the angel.

Then silence.

The angel slipped from the barrel's tip, collapsing onto the concrete with a large thud. Where its chest should have been was a gaping hole, steaming with the rancid smell of cauterised flesh. Unit 02 stood over its fallen foe, for once, victorious.

His head felt dizzy, but it didn't take much thought to figure out just where he is. The ceiling was all too hauntingly familiar. He was in the hospital. Pushing himself up to sit on the hospital bed, Shinji scanned the room. There were other beds other than his, both of which were occupied. Shinji struggled to stand up to his feet, but he really wanted to see his friends. He was just glad that they were alive.

He stopped over Rei first, scanning her gentle appearance. Just watching her sleeping seemed pleasantly soothing to him, and he wondered why this was so. It was, as if he was looking after her, as a brother watches over her sister. Shinji quickly dismissed the thought as he left her side and moved over to the next bed.

There, in the far corner of the hospital room, rested the redhead. She wasn't as fragile as he first thought, having defeated the enemy both he and Rei could not. She's a good girl, he decided, and was about to return to his bed when he noticed her twitch. Slightly at first, but then she began to roll around her bed as if rousing from her sleep. Then, after a few more heartbeats, her emerald eyes open. Sitting up, the girl scans the room as if confused of her surroundings, but then froze as they fell upon Shinji's smile.

"I-," he stammered, "I'm so glad that you're alright." The girl remains silent at this, instead turning her gaze to the various wires leading into her arm. Shinji continued, trying to be more confident. "I'm not sure how you did it, but you must've been strong to have beaten that angel, Sonya."

At this, the girl stops, turning a vacant expression towards the boy. "Just what in the hell are you talking about, dumbkopf?"

Dumbkopf, Shinji echoed in his mind. "Sonya, are you alright?"

"Stop calling me that, Third Child!" the girl lashed out as she tore the wires from her veins. Blood dripped from her open wound, but the girl seemed comforted at the thought of having the tubes removed from her. She then returned a fierce look towards the boy. "I've had it up to here with you, arshloch." She rolled her eyes to the back of her head as she turned to the heavens. "Leiber gott in himmel…"

Shinji stretched an arm out to the girl, clearly concerned for his comrade. "Sonya-"

The girl quickly shot her eyes open, slapping the boy's hand away before turning to him with a menacing scowl. "Sonya? Have you gone completely insane, Shinji? Stop calling me that or I swear to god, I'll put my foot so far up your ass, the sweat of my toes will quench your thirst."

Shinji staggered backwards, completely taken aback by the change in the girl's personality. "Then- then what do you want me to call you Sonya?"

Pulling herself together to stop herself from ripping the boy apart, the girl merely stood up, composing herself. "Just… just call me by my name, Shinji."

"… "

She let out a low growl of growing irritation. "Are you dense! It's Asuka! Asuka Langley Soryu! Now did you get that, or do you want me to spell it out for you?" Only silence answered her as the boy looked at her with a blank gaze, almost like that of disbelief. The girl froze at this, a sense of anxiety growing in her chest. "Shinji, are you alright?"

Suddenly the boy collapsed to his feet, his head slamming hard against the cold tile floor. The girl quickly dropped to her feet, desperate to aid him.

"Shinji! SHINJI!"

To be continued