DISCLAIMER: The characters, story, universe, etc. of Neon Genesis
Evangelion belong to GAINAX. They're not mine, and I make no claim to
them.
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" " = speech
^ ^ = thoughts
_ _ = italics
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Angels of Armageddon
Author: Ryan Xavier
Chapter 15: Finding Your Way Home
They say that war is hell. Kaoru wasn't sure if that would apply. Up
until now, he'd thought the best definition of hell was what most of
his brethren were still confined to: exiled from life, from physical
existence. They were condemned to watch others emerge victorious from
eternity, choosing to take reality over dreams; a choice they
themselves were never supposed to have had.
He was still trying to figure out which was the better definition of
torment: the eternal inactivity into which the Angels had been sealed,
or...this.
Everywhere he looked, there was destruction. Shelters, supplies,
trucks, people, even the ground itself...all crushed. Everything that
had made this place into a home, things that had stood strong against
the elements for over two years, all gone. Flattened under the raw
force of a berserk machine-monster, all in the space of a few minutes.
Some people were still in shock, incapable of moving to help, or even
to eat, as their minds tried in vain to process what they beheld in
front of them. Others were still trying to save what they could from
the ruins, pulling out small items, bits of food, and above all,
bodies.
Yes, bodies. The death toll for the latest battle was still going up,
several days after the fact. A nearby field had been cleared of rubble
by a few bulldozers, so that the dead could be laid out and identified.
The bodies kept accumulating, most thankfully hidden under tarps or
bits of cloth, so that those still alive wouldn't have to see what
they'd lost.
He felt less than heard someone come up behind him. "You're becoming
accustomed to your new form," he said, without looking.
"What makes you say that?" she asked, as she came up and stood next to
him. Kaoru remained sitting on the ground.
"I barely heard you approach."
"Ah."
They remained in silence for a bit longer. She was the first to speak
again:
"I thought of what I'm going to put on the marker for the latest of the
fallen."
"Really?" he asked, quietly. "What is it?"
"Something like, 'whose newfound strength could not allay his weakness
in spirit.'"
"Not simply a name, this time?"
"As it seems my brethren are intent on continuing this farce, it is
only right I give them some respect in death."
"They are my brethren as well, Ariel-san."
A discontented 'hmph' for a response. Then: "Matarael was a fool,"
said under her breath.
"Perhaps," Kaoru commented. A pause to think. "But then again, are we
not _all_ fools? I myself thought that Unit-00 could be controlled.
My mistake has cost so many lives."
"Do not attempt to martyr yourself, Tabris," she said, warningly. "I
detest those who try to shoulder responsibility for everyone."
"I didn't know you cared," he said, his voice not quite playful. "But
it is no less wrong for others to place all the blame on one person."
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He saw her clench a
fist.
"I will not let you anger me this time," she said, icily. "You may
blame yourself, if you wish. But in my mind, I _know_ who is truly at
fault."
He let out a slow sigh, shaking his head. Another brief silence
passed. "And to what do I owe the honor of your visit, now?"
"I knew you would wish to talk with me," she said. "You want to know
what I know."
"I suppose."
"You 'suppose' nothing, Tabris," she said angrily. She took a moment
to catch her breath and compose herself. "I can tell you little of
what is going on inside of the Room of Gauf, as there is a force at
work there...which I could not withstand." The girl's fidgeting did
not go unnoticed by Kaoru's narrowing eyes. "I can only assume that
the others will continue in this foolishness."
He thought it over. "And this...'force' which you fear," he began. He
saw her twitch a little at the word 'fear'. "Will I have the
opportunity to encounter it for myself, or shall I take your word for
it?"
"Perhaps so...I'm not sure. I'd like nothing more than to stop this,
believe me. I'd prefer to be stuck back in my cell than to watch my
brethren throwing their lives...no, their _souls_ away. But at the
moment, I don't know how."
"You could attempt to confront that which awaits you in the Room of
Gauf," he suggested. "If you were successful, you'd accomplish what
you desire."
"Likely at the cost of my own life." Another sigh. "I don't intend to
be a martyr, Tabris. I can do more by staying alive."
"I suppose." He grinned a little as he saw her bristle again. "What
else do you have to say?"
Now she finally sat down, a safe distance from him. "The other
one...the one you failed to destroy. It's still alive."
"I guessed as much. So when the time comes, it will also be destroyed.
Unless...unless you want to try talking to it?" He turned his head to
look at her full-on. "Do you wish to try negotiating?"
Ariel shook her head. Kaoru went back to looking out at the recovery
efforts. "This one..." Ariel began, quietly, "...he cannot be swayed.
He is too...simple, too stubborn, to quit."
"An unfortunate fault on his part, I suppose."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. This one doesn't wish for
revenge on the Lilum. He wishes for one thing, and one thing only."
Now she looked directly at him. "He seeks the strongest opponents. He
wishes to prove himself in battle, to display for all that he is the
strongest. In his mind, strength is what governs the world. Back in
the Room of Gauf, he was weak, as he does not believe the mind has any
strength on its own. But here, with a physical form..." she shook her
head sadly.
"I suppose if I were known as the Angel of Might, I too would think
strength was all-important."
"Yes," she said, simply. "And this Angel of Might has been forced to
retreat, been forced to admit it is not strong enough. But it will
return, and when that happens..."
"It will seek the strongest opponents?"
"Exactly. Only now...the opponent that defeated him, the one that he
will seek out above all others...is gone."
Kaoru knew what she was referring to. A few days ago, Asuka, Shinji,
Misato, and Lewis had all come to a unanimous agreement that the Dummy
Plugs had to go. Technicians were working on Evas 00 and 04, trying
their best to pry open the giants' armor so they could dig out the
computer brain inside. Kaoru knew it was only a matter of time before
they pulled the Dummies out. And then would come the hard part:
finding pilots for the Evas. Kaoru knew that he would be the one to
pilot Unit-00; it was only right. Penance, perhaps, for not having
been able to stop the activation of the Dummy last time.
What would become of Unit-04, however, remained to be seen.
"Then I suppose he will have to content himself with what defenses we
can muster," Kaoru said.
"He will not be pleased, you understand. You will be incurring his
rage."
Kaoru nodded. "Indeed. We'll have to be ready."
"What do you mean by 'we', Tabris?"
He grinned, again. "Myself and...whoever pilots the other Eva.
Supposing it can even be repaired."
"You suppose much, Tabris."
"I know."
Ariel stayed a few minutes longer, finally turning to go. She stopped,
however, as the sound of powerful engines could be heard. She looked
up, to see a prop-driven airplane descending towards the miraculously
undamaged air strip waiting on the American side of the camp.
"Who could that be?"
* * *
"Who could that be?"
"Eh?"
"That thing," Kensuke said, lowering his binoculars long enough to
point.
Lewis looked up from his work. "Lord knows," he said, then turned back
to what he'd been doing.
Kensuke, standing in the passenger seat of the Land Rover, looked down
through the window at the American commander. Lewis was squatting on
the ground, muttering under his breath as he struggled with the nuts on
the visibly flat front wheel.
"Are you _sure_ you can't have someone else do that for you?" Kensuke
asked, watching.
"I could," came the strained reply. Lewis grunted, and the nut finally
began to turn. "But sometimes you need to do something like this, just
for a break. Be careful in there by the way, kid."
"Don't worry. I know not to shake this thing."
"Well, yeah, but don't touch the shotgun, either."
Kensuke looked over his shoulder, at the 12-gauge resting against the
passenger seat. "Is it loaded?"
"Always," came the reply, accompanied by a little laugh. Lewis started
on another nut.
Kensuke went back to looking out his binoculars. He was tempted to
look up at the plane; such things were not very common, nowadays. That
one even looked like it was a military one, albeit a little old. But
he'd found something more interesting to look at.
Some distance off, sitting at the top of the large shelter Rei and
Kaoru used, there sat Kaoru himself, looking like he didn't have a care
in the world, with his legs dangling off the edge as he leaned back to
look at the sky. This was not what had Kensuke's attention, however.
That honor belonged to the white-haired girl sitting near Kaoru at the
moment. From the look of things, the two of them were talking. About
what, he could only guess.
^She looks so sad,^ he thought. ^I wonder what's wrong?^
"Say, Lewis-san," he began.
Another grunt as a particularly stubborn nut finally came loose.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I..." he began, then trailed off. "Well, that is...I, uh..."
his eyes roved around, as though hidden somewhere in the truck were the
words he was looking for.
"What is it?"
"Uh...nothing," he said, finally.
Lewis seemed to take this at face value. Either that, or he was
distracted by the appearance of Misato.
"Hey, Katsuragi," he said, as the woman approached. "What's up?"
"I came to return your keys," she said. "I just noticed I still had
them. Sorry about that." She tossed them too him. Lewis snatched the
keys out of the air with one hand, and then immediately chucked them in
the window with Kensuke.
"How'd you move this thing without keys?" Misato asked. "Don't tell me
you hotwired it."
"That's required knowledge, these days," Lewis said, as he struggled
with the wheel, now that all the nuts were off. "Just like changing a
tire, you know?"
Misato smiled nervously. "Uh...yeah. Sorry about that."
Lewis got the wheel off and threw it away, where it rolled briefly
before flopping to the ground. "Sorry, eh?" he asked, as he wiped some
of the sweat off his face. "I still wanna know how you managed to blow
a tire so quick."
Misato laughed a little, sounding strained. It was the truth, at
least; she'd been trying to escape from Unit-00 by using Lewis' Land
Rover. However, seconds after getting the thing in gear, she'd managed
to hit a rock and destroy one of the front tires.
"Next time at least do something that'll last," the American continued,
as he rolled the replacement wheel around. "You know, drive it off a
cliff or something. At least bang it up pretty good. Only way I can
ask for a new Humvee is if I destroy this thing." He sat back down and
started fitting the new wheel onto the truck.
"I'll do my best," Misato said jokingly. "But, anyway," she continued,
"You know someone just landed? They look like they're looking for
you."
"Well, they'll find me, then."
She paused, looking at him. "They don't look too angry," she ventured.
"Probably here to give you that promotion."
"Heh. Probably."
Pause. "Do you think this'll give you any new clearance?"
"Like what?" Lewis asked, innocently.
"You know...like explaining certain things. What you say you can't
tell other people."
"If you're askin' for the formula to that hangover cure, it's a closely
guarded secret."
Misato blinked, staring at him and trying to figure out if he was being
serious. "That's not it and you know that, Major."
"Uh huh. Step on the brake a minute, kid!"
Kensuke complied, locking the wheel in place as Lewis began putting the
nuts back on. Misato continued.
"You know it's not a good idea to keep secrets," she said, turning her
head and looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Lewis paused briefly in his work, then shrugged, keeping his gaze on
the wheel. "Like I said, Katsuragi, only _I_ know how to make my
hangover cure. I'd tell you, but, well..." he looked at her, lowering
his sunglasses a minute. "...then I'd have to kill you." He clicked
his tongue at her and resumed putting the nuts back on.
Misato shook her head at this. "Well, good luck to _you_, then," she
said angrily, turning on her heel.
"Katsuragi, believe me, there's some things you're better off not
knowing," he called after her. Misato stopped and looked over her
shoulder at him. Lewis was looking back.
The man shrugged and a cocky smile cracked his face. "I mean, if I
told you what's in that hangover cure, you'd never use it again.
Ever." He laughed a little at his joke and went back to putting the
wheel back on. Misato shook her head again and walked away.
It was relatively quiet for a moment, until Kensuke stuck his head out
the window again. "Finished, Lewis-san?"
"Just about."
"Hey, Lewis-san, what _is_ in your hangover cure, anyway?"
Lewis looked at him for a moment, hesitating before answering. "Like I
said, you don't want to know," he finally said. "And what's a kid like
you doin' getting worried about being hung over, anyway?" He got to
the front of the truck and decompressed the jack, lowering the Land
Rover back down onto its front wheels.
After Lewis had thrown everything into the back of the truck again, he
jumped into the driver's seat. Kensuke handed him the keys.
"What's that say, anyway?" the boy asked, pointing to the keychain as
Lewis started the truck. "It's in English..."
"It says, 'I'm the BOSS, I can do whatever I want.'" With a rumble
from the engine, they were off, going around on a short patrol to test
the new tire.
"That's so...you," was all Kensuke could say.
"Heh."
"Say, Lewis-san..."
"Yeah?"
"How...how is it you can do that? Handle Misato-san like that, I
mean."
"_Handle_ her? I dunno what the hell I'm doing, half the time."
"Really? Well, it's just...well, it looks like you know what you're
doing...you know, around women."
The initial response was a noncommittal shrug. "Maybe it looks that
way. Dunno."
Kensuke paused, thinking that one over. "Well...can I ask you a
question?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Well, what would you...what would _you_ do if some girl...I don't
know, if some nice girl looked like...like she might be interested in
some...you know, some other guy."
Lewis didn't react for several seconds, long enough to make Kensuke
wonder if he'd spoken loud enough. He was just about to try choking
out those same words again when the American commander finally
answered.
"Well, I'd say...if this were a girl I was hot on..." Kensuke couldn't
see Lewis look at him from behind the sunglasses. Lewis saw the boy
redden a little, though. "Lessee...I'd shoot him in the head," he
said, very matter-of-factly.
Silence. "Though I guess I could just break his neck, if I wanted to
conserve ammo."
He looked away from where he was going and down to the now much paler
boy next to him. "What?" he asked, doing a good job of sounding
oblivious. "Standard military tactic, you know. Take out all the
competition, and move on the target at your leisure."
He then hit the brakes, grinding the truck to a halt. "But then again,
what do you really think I know?" he asked the boy. "I mean, I know
how to talk to women, but I usually just don't think about what you're
asking me."
After giving Kensuke a moment to think that one over, he hit the gas,
starting them moving again. "You hang around soldiers as long as
me...you get into enough fights, even just regular ones, without any
damn _robots_ stomping around...you know what you see?"
"Wh-what?"
For a response, Lewis pointed out the window, at one of the large
lineups of motionless, humanoid lumps hidden under a tarp. Kensuke
looked, and went quiet.
"And watching 'em get machine-gunned or napalmed or blown up ain't the
bad part," Lewis continued. "'Cause after you get back home" - he
paused to upshift - "you got to tell their wives that they're not
coming back."
He looked at Kensuke again, briefly. "Now, I can get used to just
about anything. I can shoot a man in the face and go get lunch. I can
order a whole town blown up and watch it over _coffee_. But, I tell
you...telling these guys' families never gets any easier." He paused.
"Last thing I'd want any of my guys to have to do is tell my family,
supposin' I had one to tell." He shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Been
under a lot of stress lately. Normally I don't say this much."
"I-i-it's all right, Lewis-san."
Lewis hit the brakes again. "I say stick to drunken one-night stands
for when you feel the need. Tire works," he announced. "Now, s'cuze
me, but I gotta go see who the brass sent over." He jumped out of the
truck and closed the door behind him. But before leaving, he turned
and stuck his head back in through the open window.
"But, to be serious a minute," he said, his voice quieter than it'd
been earlier, "I'd say talk to the girl. Or the guy, I guess." He
shrugged. "But that's all I can say. Not much to talk, myself. Hell,
I'm the guy they send in when talking don't work." He grinned toothily
at Kensuke. He patted his hand on the door, as the boy's shoulder was
out of reach. "See you later."
"Right."
* * *
"Are you quite certain, Rei?"
"Yes."
"It's not too late to change your mind."
"Yes."
"I would still be willing to go instead."
"That will be unnecessary, Nagisa-kun."
Karou hesitated a bit at the use of his last name; he'd grown used to
Rei referring to him in the familiar. He stored that observation away
to think about later.
Down on the hastily-constructed airstrip, the undamaged condition of
which Kaoru was still having trouble believing, a small passenger plane
waited, a small maintenance crew giving it a thorough check. In just a
few short hours, a few select passengers would be boarding it, for a
trip across Japan.
"NERV..." Kaoru said under his breath. He said nothing for several
minutes afterwards. He remained sitting, under the protection of his
shelter. Rei stood next to him, keeping her eyes anchored to the
plane.
"I do not like the thought of you travelling alone with Ariel-san,"
Kaoru finally said, breaking the silence.
"I will not be travelling alone with her."
Kaoru let out a brief sigh. "I understand that, Rei. But of the group
there, Ariel-san is the one I would worry about. Though I doubt she'd
try anything blatant, she's not stupid."
"Yes."
"You don't know if she is as reformed as she might want you to believe.
Her intentions could well be the same as the others', if less violent.
Subtlety was her specialty, if you remember."
"Hers and the Sixteenth's. I am well aware of this."
Kaoru sighed in resignation. "Very well," he said, finally. "One last
word of advice...at least try to get along with Soryu. I understand
there's no love lost between you and her, but...you can't afford to be
distracted by petty differences."
Kaoru thought he saw Rei's eyes harden at the word 'petty'. But it
might have just been his imagination. Rei responded in her usual
monotone:
"Yes."
There was another long silence. "Does it surprise you that Ariel-san
would be interested in being in the group on this trip?"
"No."
"...I suppose not. After all, she was trying rather hard to get into
NERV a few years ago." Kaoru let out a strained laugh. Rei's
expression didn't change. She said nothing in response to Kaoru's
little joke.
Kaoru leaned back, lying down in the dirt and looking up at the blue
sky. "How's your cheek?" he finally asked, without looking at her.
"It is well."
The boy let out a small sigh. Rei had yet to offer an explanation
about where that bruise on her cheek had come from, but then again he
hadn't had to ask. He knew where Shinji had gone after the battle.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "That I couldn't stop Shinji-kun." No
response. "You know he was not entirely in his right mind at that
time. I doubt anyone was, really. It's no real surprise that his
temper got the better of him."
Still no response, at first. "There is nothing to be done about it,
now," Rei finally said.
Kaoru turned his head to look at her. "I do not entirely like your
current attitude, Rei," he said, quietly. "You're speaking as though
your fate is decided already."
Rei looked back at him, their eyes meeting for a moment. "That is not
the case," she said, in her monotone. "I simply do not feel there is
anything that can be done."
"Or you just simply do not feel," Kaoru commented. "Did it not bother
you, when Ikari-kun struck you?" he asked. "Did it not hurt?"
"Physical pain is fleeting," Rei commented. "It has passed, now."
^What about spiritual pain, then?^ Kaoru wondered. ^Are you just
keeping it inside, Rei? Please don't tell me that you just don't care.^
His brow furrowed as he noticed something. He quickly got to his feet,
Rei's eyes tracing his movements as he did so.
"What..." Kaoru began, looking at her face again. "What has
happened?" he asked.
Rei blinked, looking at him with a deadpan expression.
"Your face...the bruise is gone already?" he asked.
Rei nodded.
"That is...rather quick," he said, guardedly. It had only been a few
days since she'd come back with a black-and-blue mark on one cheek.
There should have at least been _some_ trace of the injury left. But
instead, there was simply the plain expanse of ivory skin, unblemished
and uninjured.
"If that is all," Rei said, turning to go.
Kaoru reached out, lightly touching her shoulder. "Rei," he said, as
she turned her head to look at him. He paused, as the cold gaze from
those red eyes fell on him. But he shook it off. "Rei...are you quite
certain you are ready to go back to that place?"
For a response, Rei looked away, and kept walking, out of Kaoru's grip.
The boy's arm fell back down by his side. He watched her leaving, a
puzzled look on his face.
^Rei...if only I could tell what was going on in your head. What has
happened to you?^
* * *
"This can't be happening."
Oddly enough, Asuka had said those exact same words three days ago.
She'd suspected something when Misato had first approached her; there
had just been something suspicious about the woman's manner, though she
couldn't point out anything specific.
She'd ended up going back to the shelter she and Shinji shared, as
Misato had said they'd needed somewhere private. Had Misato been a
male, Asuka would have probably wrung the answer out of her then and
there. She knew enough about guys to know what it could mean when they
wanted to go somewhere private. But as it had been, she'd just
complied quietly.
She had to hand it to Misato; she hadn't minced words. She'd just
dropped the bomb shell immediately, stirring up Asuka's already
confused life even more with just three words:
"We found NERV."
Asuka whispered the words under her breath as she headed towards the
air strip. A small passenger plane had landed less than twelve
hours ago, which had left them with a chaotic night in which to try to
sleep. Now that the plane was refueled and checked over, it was ready
to take its passengers to their destination.
There were only a few choice people who were coming along. They'd been
individually informed as well, visited by either Misato or Asuka
herself, depending on the person in question. Though she'd never say
it out loud, Asuka was grateful that Misato had told her when they were
alone. She didn't know how she'd have reacted if it had suddenly
become public knowledge that the place from her past had reappeared.
When Misato had first told her, Asuka had refused to accept the meaning
of those words. But as Misato had persisted in telling her, the idea
had finally forced itself into her.
"We found NERV," she said again.
And then...Misato had gotten that look in her eyes, the look of concern
Asuka simultaneously wanted and hated. She'd just asked the woman to
leave. Misato had done so, which was just as well; Asuka didn't know
what she'd have done if the woman had tried to comfort her, to try and
talk to her. She may well have taken her up on the offer. And that
just wouldn't have done, would it?
^I have to be strong. People are depending on me.^
She'd managed to compose herself by the time Shinji had found his way
back to the shelter. She'd tried to be nonchalant about it, tried to
be casual. But it had been impossible. It had just come out of her,
like with Misato earlier:
"We found NERV."
"Uh huh," Shinji agreed absentmindedly. He was directly in front of
her as they went up the short ramp and into the cramped door of the
plane. Of course he'd heard her. Stupid. She'd have to watch what
she was saying while thinking things through.
Shinji...she'd have to watch _him_, too. Ever since that day, when the
Eva had destroyed their homes...he'd been different. He'd disappeared
for a while, to go talk to Ayanami, and then...
She glanced at him while he wasn't looking back. He still had that
look about him. Of not being entirely _here_. She often caught him
thinking hard about something, a worried expression on his face. This
was one of those times.
She tapped his arm, getting his attention. "Hey...you all right?" she
asked, making sure to keep her expression casually curious instead of
worried.
"Huh? Oh, everything's fine," he said too quickly, flashing a smile at
her which looked a little forced.
That was the response he'd always give when she asked about it. She'd
have to pry a _real_ answer out of him later. She'd have done that
before getting on the plane, but with the sudden preparations for this
trip, she hadn't had the time.
She had her suspicions, though. Her eyes glanced back to the rear of
the plane, where she could see Rei Ayanami, already seated and with her
eyes focused intently on the book she was reading.
^Wondergirl did something, I just _know_ it,^ Asuka thought, and not
for the first time.
As though able to hear these thoughts, Rei's eyes briefly looked up
from the book, meeting Asuka's. She held her gaze there for just a
moment, long enough for Asuka to be dead sure Rei had looked _at_ her
instead of _through_ her. And then she looked back down to her book,
as though nothing were wrong.
Asuka clenched a fist. "Piss me off..." she muttered under her breath.
"Hey, keep it moving!" came a voice from behind her. Asuka gave the
person a brief glare, then stepped out of the door and headed towards
the front of the plane, keeping her hand on Shinji's arm to guide him.
There weren't any cliffs around here to stumble off of, but with the
way he'd been acting recently, she wasn't taking any chances.
The person behind her, none other than Kensuke Aida, turned and headed
more towards the back of the plane, wisely heading away from Asuka.
Strapped to his person was a small digital video camera, along with
three bulging duffel bags. He'd even brought a pair of sunglasses
which now hung out of his shirt. Topping it all off was his giddy
attitude; he was almost bouncing down the plane, not even noticing as
his luggage got stuck on almost every seat.
^It's like the stooge is going on vacation,^ Asuka thought, shaking her
head.
"Explain to me again _why_ we have to take him along?" Misato asked,
coming on after Kensuke. "I don't see why he has any stake in this
whole trip."
"He asked," answered Lewis, ducking his head as he followed her through
the door. He carried a duffel bag over each shoulder, and muscled them
around as best he could in the cramped confines of the plane.
"We got room for one more anyway," he continued, shrugging. "And it
looks like he's excited enough."
Asuka knew the real reason. She'd seen it with her own eyes: Kensuke
had literally hung onto Lewis' leg, getting dragged along the ground
with every other step as the big man had tried to head for the plane.
It had been like something out of a cartoon, with Kensuke begging to
come along and Lewis answering with a firm negative. He'd made it
about a dozen steps before finally relenting and saying that Kensuke
could come along.
Well, at least the stooge made a good pack mule. Asuka had made him
carry both her and Shinji's bags, in addition to his own. If he wanted
to come along, he'd have to carry his weight. The unfortunate thing
was that he didn't seem to mind.
"Hey, Lewis-san, where's our escort? I mean, we got VIP's on board,
right?" The boy was insatiable.
"Heh heh," Lewis chuckled in return. He checked his watch. "Don't
worry 'bout that, kid. Just give us a few minutes to take off."
Asuka didn't really know who Kensuke was referring to as the 'VIP's'.
Probably Wondergirl, she _did_ have something to do with that damn Eva.
And probably even Lewis, whom she now had to refer to as _Colonel_.
That visit from the American military some few days ago had been none
other than some member of the brass come to reward Lewis for his
'commendable' actions in the last battle. Asuka snorted even now,
thinking about it.
At least Lewis wasn't being smug about it. If he'd been acting
haughty, she'd have given him a good knee to the balls. Damn all
foreign protocol, he'd have deserved it. But instead of that, he'd
just gone on for a few minutes about how even with a promotion, he
couldn't get a new Humvee. After that he'd just shrugged it off and
gotten back to business.
"All right, everyone on?" Lewis quickly looked down the length of the
passenger compartment. "Better lock those bags down, kids," he said,
as he headed for the cockpit. After exchanging a few words with the
pilot, he headed back into the plane and took a seat.
There was a brief scramble as everyone piled bags onto empty seats,
taking seats of their own and buckling in place. As they did this, the
large engines on the wings began to turn. A few minutes later, the
plane began taxiing out to the runway.
Asuka looked out the window. There, on the tarmac, was a large
collection of people there to see them off. They'd be all right, she
was sure. Ritsuko had opted to stay behind on this one, though Asuka
couldn't quite understand why. Sure, there weren't many good memories
where they were going, but...they just _had_ to go. There really
shouldn't have been much question about it.
Asuka couldn't see the good doctor there, something she was sure Maya,
sitting in the seat behind her, was put out about. It was just
sickening, sometimes, how much the younger woman hung around Ritsuko.
But even with that, she'd decided to accompany them, leaving her
'sempai' behind to look after things. Asuka wasn't quite so sure how
Ritsuko would be able to handle the camp in their absence. Hopefully
nothing too extreme would happen. If anything did, Kaoru had also
surprised everyone by volunteering to stay behind. That was actually a
bigger comfort than Asuka was willing to admit: at least the camp would
still have the defense of Unit-00, for a worst-case scenario. The
thing was an unreliable piece of equipment, probably just as dangerous
to them as it was to their enemies, but it was better than nothing,
should they get attacked.
She finally saw a familiar face: Hikari, standing motionless in the
crowd. Behind her stood Toji, holding her by the shoulders. Asuka had
to hand it to those two, they were taking their situation pretty well.
The loss of their child, after so long a period of expectation...she
was surprised to even see Hikari on her feet, this short a time after
it had happened. Maybe the girl was just actively not thinking about
it. That was as good a way to get by as any, Asuka figured.
Asuka had insisted they stay behind for this trip. Actually, they
hadn't resisted that much. Maybe they'd realized this trip would be
too much, too fast for them. Or maybe it was the fact that a priest
was finally available and in the camp. He was here to give counseling
to the bereaved and, of course, give last rights to the dead, but he
might also be willing to...
Asuka let out a quiet sigh, thinking about it. Would Hikari's last
name be 'Suzuhara' when she got back from this trip? It was vaguely
disturbing to consider.
"Something wrong?" Shinji asked from his seat next to her.
Asuka turned away from the window and looked at the boy. Rather, at
the young man. She looked at him for a long moment, studying his face.
"Baka Shinji," she finally said, looking back to the window.
She felt Shinji's eyes on her back, now. In the window, she could see
his reflection. He reached out slowly to touch her shoulder, making
Asuka shiver despite herself. But then, before contact, he stopped,
pulling his hand back and straightening up in his seat.
Asuka grumbled a little, seeing this. She shifted her focus back to
what was outside the window.
Also out on the tarmac was a large group of people who were here to see
off one person in particular: Rei. Asuka just couldn't understand it,
how suddenly so many people were willing to support 'Ayanami-sama'.
Didn't they know what she'd _done_? She'd have to talk to them later.
Asuka had a sour expression on as she leaned back in her seat and
checked her seatbelt. With a roar from the engines, the plane
accelerated down the runway. The passengers were all pushed back into
their seats as they gained speed, finally lifting off into the air.
They were on their way.
* * *
It was a fairly short trip to where they were going; just over an hour
by air, so they'd been told. But even that brief period of time had a
way of drawing out, especially with the atmosphere in the plane. No
one spoke, except briefly and in hushed tones. The only sound was the
dominating background roar generated by the engines.
Kensuke was getting bored despite himself. He knew he shouldn't be
feeling like this; here he was, on a plane from the American military,
sitting among people who operated the majestic Evangelions. As if that
weren't enough, he was sitting across the plane from a Colonel in the
American military, a man who'd probably seen more action than everyone
else on the plane combined. And yet...he was getting bored.
Well, maybe 'bored' wasn't the right term for it. He wasn't just
sitting around with nothing to do. There was something he _could_ be
doing, but...he wasn't doing it.
His eyes drifted back up for the umpteenth time since they'd set off.
A few rows of seats in front of him was a familiar form, the white
color of her hair made all the more intense when seen against her tan
skin. Her hair alone was amazing to look at; falling down past her
shoulders, now to halfway down her back, it almost glowed in the
sterile light from the overhead lamps.
The girl was standing just behind Asuka's seat, leaning over the back
and talking with the redheaded girl. The two were the only voices to
be heard in the plane, right now. Even with the engines drowning out
their words, he could tell from their intonations that they were
speaking fluent German. It was enough to make him wish he'd learned
the language. The two girls looked almost completely obvlivious of
Shinji's presence in the seat next to Asuka.
^And if they don't notice the guy sitting right next to them, fat
chance either of them would notice me.^
"Something bothering you, kid?"
Kensuke turned his head to see that he now had a visitor looking over
his seat. The gruff, unshaven face of Lewis was regarding him closely.
Everything about his face looked casual and relaxed, except for his
eyes. Those sharp blue orbs watched him steadily, never wavering for
an instant. Even now, with the possibility of battle forgotten by
most, those eyes looked like a predator's, never letting their guard
down, always expecting and looking for the next threat. Kensuke
wondered briefly if that was why he always wore his sunglasses.
"What's up?" Lewis asked him, seeing the boy pause.
"Nothing," he replied by reflex.
Lewis raised his eyebrows at him, a smile tugging at his mouth. Those
eyes never twitched.
"I'll take care of it," Kensuke said, a moment later. "Don't worry
about it."
Lewis pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "Well, I can't order you to
tell me." He paused, thinking. "Hey, kid, you wanna see something?"
"Like what?"
"Well, you asked what kind of escort we got." Lewis leaned over and
slid up the cover over the window next to Kensuke. "Check it out."
Kensuke turned in his seat. It was a tiny window, just like all the
others, but even through that, he had an excellent view. There,
sitting just off their wing...
"Is that...that's an F-15 E!" he announced.
"Good eye. Yep, that's it all right," Lewis said, nodding.
"That thing's been the staple of the U.S. Air force for like..."
"Years," Lewis answered. "Was never a pilot myself, but I hear those
things are good."
"Good? _Good?_" Kensuke was now on a full-fledged rant. "Those things
have been in the air longer than I've been _alive_. And they're
_still_ out-flying almost everything out there!"
"Well, not _everything._ But you know, when you're rebuilding the Air
Force, you gotta start somewhere. Wouldn't go giving rookie pilots the
F-22's. You know, the planes that cost you about a million dollars if
you so much as _think_ about them." Lewis laughed a little, watching
Kensuke press his face to the window, trying to get a better view.
"They've just been put under my command," the big American explained.
"One of the perks of the rank, you know. They're calling themselves
Lucifer squadron, dunno why."
"Lucifer...I know that one. Lucifer's the angel who fought against the
other angels, and was cast out of heaven because of it. He's also
known as Satan, the devil, Me - "
"OK, OK," Lewis said, cutting him off.
"Are they good?" Kensuke asked, changing tack. "They have to be,
right?"
"Well..." Lewis shrugged. "You gotta remember not many other people
got air forces for us to worry about. So we ain't had many people to
break 'em in on. But yeah, they got a few veterans in there. Guess
they figured they were happier in the air than sitting around in a
puddle of Tang, eh?" he added on, clapping the boy on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Now, this is a secret," Lewis said, lowering his voice and leaning in
closer. "But you see what's sitting on their wings?"
Kensuke looked. "Looks like an AMRAAM. Air-to-air missile, right?"
"Close. The guts are mostly the same. But the warhead's something
new. Uses N2 mine technology. The scientist types call it a HEAD
setup. That's High Explosive Aerial Destruction. _I_ call it a big-
ass bomb."
"Really?"
"Really. I've seen some of the footage from the tests on those things.
Completely destroyed something the size of a 747. With one shot."
"What?" Kensuke asked, disbelieving.
"I'm serious. One second, target's just flying along, the next, bam,"
Lewis accentuated this by making a fake explosion with his hands.
"Nothin' but scrap left."
"Wow..." was all Kensuke could say, looking out the window again, with
a still-higher respect of what was travelling with them. "Can that
take out...you know...an Eva?"
Lewis shrugged. "Dunno. But I'd put my money on it," he said,
grinning. "Biggest damn gun I got, right now." He looked up, towards
the front of the plane. A few of the other passengers had turned to
look at them, but only briefly. Now, they were again in relative
privacy.
"But on that thought..." he said, as though he was just thinking of it.
"Kid, you heard what they're doin' with those things? The big robots?"
"Eh...yeah, I heard a little."
"Yeah, and I heard a lot. I'm makin' 'em yank those computers right
out. Only way to be safe, after last time."
"...yeah," Kensuke said, going quiet as the unpleasant, all-too-recent
memory of the most recent incident with Unit-00 resurfaced. He didn't
quite know what 'those computers' was supposed to mean, but if it
helped keep something like a repeat of last time from happening, then
he was all for it.
"Thing is, now we gotta get people to actually get inside and drive
'em." Lewis paused, making sure Kensuke had heard him. "So, kid, I
gotta wonder...who's crazy enough to drive one of those things?"
Kensuke shrugged. "You're asking _me_?" For a response, Lewis just
shrugged again. "Well..." Kensuke said, thinking. "I know Shinji and
Asuka both have experience with it. Toji too, but I don't think he'll
want to. Then of course you got Nagisa..." he trailed off, thinking.
"Yeah, he'll _definitely_ get set up. He can do it, no trouble."
Lewis tilted his head slightly, listening. "Jealous?"
"..." He paused, trying to keep eye contact with those sharp blue
eyes. "Of course I am!" he finally said. "They get such a _cool_ job,
getting to pilot Eva! I can't even imagine what it'd be like! It's no
wonder Nagisa's so popular with - " he caught himself before he said
any more.
Lewis grinned. "Well, thanks for the advice. Those two, right?" Lewis
said, pointing towards Shinji and Asuka.
"Yeah. _Not_ her, Ni-san," Kensuke corrected, seeing that Ariel was
still talking with Asuka. He paused, freezing as the white-haired girl
somehow sensed they were talking about her and looked back at them.
Her eyes practically nailed him to the seat.
^Funny...her eyes are a lot like Lewis'...^
"And...oh, I forgot," he added on, once Ariel had looked back to Asuka.
"Ayanami would be great for the job. She's been at it longer than any
of them, you know."
Lewis gave him a look full of mock skepticism. "Maybe, 'cept I think
the room gets colder when she walks in. Just has a funny attitude
about things, you know?"
"Do I ever. But she's good. I think so, anyway."
"Well, all right then, kid. Thanks."
"No, thank _you_, Lewis-san. I'd have never thought to look out the
window."
"Well, it was the least I could do," the big man said, sitting back
down in his seat and closing his eyes.
Kensuke looked back out the window, at the jet faithfully flying
alongside them. ^You know...I wonder what Lewis's first name is...^
* * *
They'd seen it from the plane as they were on the descent. But now
that they were on the ground, none of them could believe it.
It was a crater, a giant hole bored straight into the earth.
Underneath, the space expanded on until it was lost in the darkness.
No bottom could be seen.
More interesting still was the surroundings. They would have believed
a few tents, perhaps, but, _this_...
A landing strip had already been plowed and flattened. It was unpaved,
but it had been more than enough for their little plane to land. The
F-15's had continued on, going to land somewhere else.
The bulldozers that had done the work on the landing strip were now at
work moving rubble out of the way, levelling the rest of the land
around the crater. They'd already made a huge amount of progress,
enough that there was ample room for the buildings.
Few of them could believe what they were seeing: semi-permanent
structures, with wooden frames and concrete walls. Most of them even
had windows. None of them were really any more than a hastily
assembled, single-story structure made to last only as long as the
excavation. But to people ekeing out a living among rocks and rubble
for the past two years, the sight of man-made structures was blissfully
refreshing.
Lewis had run off the moment he'd stepped off the plane, before any of
them could ask him anything. Now he was off talking with the
commanding officer here. Supposedly, he outranked the man now. So at
least he'd be able get his questons answered. The only problem was how
much he'd tell the others.
After a few minutes, the American finished up and walked leisurely back
to the others.
"All right, boys and girls," he said, clapping his hands together.
"Looks like everything's goin' all right here - "
"All right?" Misato asked. She glanced in the direction of the growing
encampment. "How long have you people been here, anyway?"
Lewis shrugged. "Don't ask me, Katsuragi. I only know what they tell
me." He looked back to the others. "Now anyway, you can put your
stuff over here."
"When can we go inside, Lewis-san?" Kensuke blurted out. He clammed up
a little in embarassment a moment later, but Misato was secretly
thankful. Someone had had to ask it.
Lewis paused, and Misato instantly knew something was wrong. "You
see..." the man began, rubbing his hands together. "They're not being
very open about that."
"What?" Asuka demanded, stepping towards Lewis. "They won't tell you?
The ranking one? The high-and-mighty _Colonel_?" The sarcastic edge
to the girl's voice made Misato wince.
Lewis looked at Asuka. With his sunglasses on, they couldn't see his
eyes. But Misato could guess they weren't friendly, at the moment.
"They say only certain people can go in," Lewis explained. "And no,"
he said, answering the question on all of their faces. "You're not
'certain people'."
"But..." Asuka stammered. "But _why_? What do you people have up your - "
"I don't _know_, kid," Lewis answered, cutting her off. "I'll work on
it, OK? But for now, let's get inside. It's gettin' hot."
* * *
Somewhere in the south of Japan, a giant rested. Its wings were
retracted back into its body, stored until the giant decided to take to
the sky again. Its gargantuan form, flesh a pure white, lay sprawled
on the ground, shuddering occasionally as its chest rose and fell,
drawing in great rushes of wind with each breath.
Its body was damaged, and had to heal. Though there were some minor
injuries, they were of little consequence to a warrior, who should not
even pay them any heed. However, the raw stump of its right arm wasn't
something that could easily be overlooked. It was a crippling injury,
it knew that. When it took to the field of battle again, it would not
be able to fight at its full potential.
There was no question in its mind of whether it would fight again.
Such was its task as a warrior. It had found not one, but _two_
formidable opponents, against whom its might would have been rightfully
tested. It should have been a glorious battle. With the weapon it had
pulled from this body's chest upon awakening, its might should have
been a match for its opponents. Supposedly, another incarnation of
this weapon had been the one to strike down the lord of space and the
sky itself. Arael, the one whose might was not in the body but the
mind, had been defeated with but a single strike of this weapon.
Surely those pitiful copies of the true Father could not have stood for
long, when it was armed as such.
But...it had been afraid.
Fear was a useless feeling to a warrior. It dulled the mind and
senses, replaced reason with panic. It knew this well; it remembered
the Lilum, struck through with fear at its monstrous visage, unable to
defend themselves before its onslaught. This had been the first time
it had felt this fear, but it knew that such was the name of the
emotion.
Its opponent...the one whose armor was a color not unlike its own
flesh, had attacked it. In single combat, the fight should have been
quick and decisive. Its opponent had not even had a weapon appropriate
to its size. A simple knife was all it had been able to bring to bear
against the might of the lance standing before it. That it had been
able to injure the giant at all was a miracle. That it had been the
one to sever its arm...well, that was something that just should not
have happened.
But the giant had hesitated, seeing this opponent. In its blood-red
eyes, it could see echoes of something...familiar. Something so
ferocious that it did not even feel pain, something so bloodthirsty
that it would not stop until it had utterly destroyed that which stood
ahead of it...the giant knew only one being such as that.
And so, the opponent had disabled the giant, torn its arm from its
body. Such had been a very painful reminder of how it had met its end
before. Had things continued, it may even have progressed to its
conclusion: the ultimate shame of not only being defeated, but
_devoured_, consumed piece by bleeding piece, going into something that
would not even allow its opponent the rest given by death.
It clenched its free hand into a fist, muscle and sinew tensing. That
worthless emotion of 'fear' had made it run when it could have instead
emerged victorious. It had seen the opening. It could have run its
opponent through, skewered it with the powerful weapon it had still
been able to use, even one-armed. But instead, it had run. It had
shoved its opponent away, and run. It had abandoned the battle,
choosing instead the way of a coward.
And because of that, the other one, its partner in the battle, had met
its end. Such a tremendous irony: that the one who in the past had
been the weakest of them all had then met the end of a true warrior,
while the mightiest had fled, hoping to continue its now-worthless
existence for just a little longer.
Its dignity thus destroyed, the giant now lay here. It _would_ go back
to battle. It _had_ to. It simply had to be prepared. To block out
that 'fear' and become a true warrior once more.
It would emerge victorious. Though its opponents were strong, its
might was still greater. It would be prepared.
But that still left the very real problem of its being short a limb.
It turned its elongated head, looking at the truncated arm. In doing
so, its gaze fell on the massive spear, lying next to it on the earth.
It focused on the weapon, as its mind began to churn through the
problem.
Perhaps there was a solution, one that would in fact increase its
strength. Such would make it all the more prepard to engage its foes,
and defeat them, conclusively proving its superior might.
* * *
Shinji lay wide awake in bed.
He knew he should be sleeping. He hadn't been getting enough rest,
lately. A little sleep would definitely help him feel a little better.
But even now, every time he tried to let sleep come, every time it the
darkness of rest began to close on him, he saw them: twin orbs, burning
crimson in color. A stare that shot him through the heart, and made
him truly fear for his life. The memory of that stare kept stealing
sleep away from him. The only thing to do was to lie there, hoping
sleep would sneak up on him before you realized it. And then he'd have
to be careful not to dream.
Out here, it was worse. True, he didn't have to look out on the
destruction of the encampment, didn't have to see the dead laid out and
awaiting their last rites. Instead, he had his thoughts, his hazy
memories of what lay under them, its hollow caverns echoing with the
recollection of the events that had come to pass not so long ago. The
place where the destruction of humanity had started. The place that
had been his home. The place where his father had been. The place
he'd come to, desiring acceptance, and instead finding a life of pain.
Why had he come? He hadn't even thought about it, back when everyone
was going. It had simply seemed like what he'd had to do. But now
that he was here, he couldn't decide what to do.
He couldn't stop thinking about what might be down there. For a place
where so much had happened to him, he could barely remember anything
about his time here. Some things were almost clear, like when he'd
first seen Eva-01's gruesome face staring at him. But other things
were blurred, distorted down to nothing more than feelings. And
unfortunately, most of those feelings were fear, apprehension, and
guilt.
Perhaps it was best that he not remember. Maybe it was for the best
that the Americans were only letting certain people down into the
ruins. It wasn't so bad that engineers could dig through the ruins
freely while he and the others were stuck up here, forced to watch. It
wasn't so bad that he wouldn't be able to see the inside.
But...what was down there?
He closed his eyes, trying to block out those thoughts. The more he
tried to block out thoughts of NERV, the more he wondered what he'd
find down there if he were to go look for himself.
He rolled onto his side, his eyes opening again. His view was out of
the tent flap, out to the buildings excavation site, a few of their
windows - windows! - glowing with lights inside.
He rolled over, turning his back on the sight. Just behind the
buildings had, of course, been the excavation itself. A yawning chasm
which, without the aid of the sun, would be impenetrably dark.
Some amount of time passed. He didn't know how long; enough such that
his eyes were finally starting to close when the hand touched his
shoulder.
Shinji's eyes popped back open he felt someone shaking him. He turned
over, to see the shadowy form of Asuka squatting there, next to him.
"Hey, wake up, baka Shinji," she whispered.
"Asuka?" he asked. "What - " he was cut off as Asuka put one finger to
his lips, silencing him. The girl glanced over her shoulder, then
leaned in close.
"We're going in," she said, so quietly Shinji wondered if he'd imagined
the words. The boy just blinked, in response.
"They can't keep us out of there," Asuka said, brusquely. "It's
_ours_, no matter what the jerks say. You know I didn't come out here
just for this red tape."
Shinji sat up, trying to meet her eyes in the darkness. "Asuka, you
don't mean - "
"We've got a way in," the girl explained. "The other stooge says he
saw some of the engineers going through some doors that led inside. He
can get us inside."
"But...why do you want to go in so badly?"
Asuka drew back a fist, causing Shinji to flinch reflexively. But she
lowered her arm this time, without hitting him. "Baka," she whispered.
"We _have_ to go in. We just...we _have_ to. Even if we have to sneak
in. We've got lights," she said, patting the large flashlight hanging
by her hip. "Might be dark, but I have to see what's in there. Just
sitting out here's going to drive me _crazy_. Are you telling me you
don't want to go see?"
Shinji lay there for a moment, then decided it would be worthless to
try getting back to sleep now. He swallowed a little, then slowly got
to his feet. Asuka followed suit.
"How long are you...are _we_ going to be down there?" he asked.
"A while," Asuka said. "Long enough to look around. Don't worry," she
said, batting him on the arm. "We'll be back before anyone knows we're
gone. Now come on, we'd better get going."
After pulling on a pair of shoes, Shinji followed Asuka outside. They
immediately started walking, Asuka leading the way as they made their
way towards the excavation. Several times they stopped, as they
imagined a voice or a footstep coming towards them. But every time,
they'd start up again, advancing on their target.
After about fifteen minutes, they were entering the excavation. This
was the closest Shinji had ever come, and at this distance it was
impressive. The hole blasted into the ground was enormous. An Eva
could have fit through it with no trouble at all. Fortunately, that
was not where Asuka was taking them. Instead, she led them around the
perimeter of the hole, finally reaching a set of double metal doors,
their toothed edges meeting in an impenetrable seal in the middle.
They were not alone. Waiting at the door was Kensuke, whispering away
in his normal babble as he worked on the entry lock keypad next to the
door. He held a flashlight in one hand, its pool of light painfully
intense when seen alongside the darkness of the night. His other hand
played with the wiring.
Ariel, standing in front of the door, was just nodding periodically,
listening to the boy with half an ear as she kept a lookout. She
stiffened a little at the appearance of Asuka, but relaxed as soon as
she realized who it was. She beckoned for the other two to come
closer.
Once they were at the door, Ariel explained.
"Aida-kun says he can get the door open. After that, it's up to our
guide."
"Guide?" Shinji asked. He glanced at Asuka, who shook her head, her
face going deadpan. The girl pointed off to the side.
Shinji looked, and jumped a little, seeing Rei waiting in the shadows
next to the door. He hadn't even seen her there. He opened his mouth
to say something, but the girl's red eyes narrowed again, giving him a
look much the same as the one they'd given him not too long ago.
Swallowing, the boy looked away.
"I guess among us Ayanami knows the layout the best," he said, to which
Ariel and Asuka both nodded. Shinji remembered quite well what a maze
NERV could be, especially when the lights were off, as would certainly
be the case here.
"How much longer, stooge?" Asuka asked, looking over her shoulder at
Kensuke.
"Just a second, okay?" he asked. "I just - !"
Shinji heard the other boy's voice catch suddenly. "Kensuke? What is
it?"
"Shinji...listen...for everything I've ever said, everything I've ever
done wrong to you, I'm sorry. Okay?"
"Kensuke?"
Shinji looked over Asuka's shoulder, to the boy sitting by the panel.
His hands were no longer busy with rewiring the keypad. Instead, they
were frozen, stopped in the middle of their task. As Shinji looked, he
saw what could have made that happen: a tiny, glowing red dot,
quivering on the back of Kensuke's right hand.
He felt rather than heard Asuka's breathing suddenly catch. He looked
before he could stop himself. Two more red dots were on her, one on
her chest and another right between her eyes. As a light breeze threw
a small dust cloud over them, Shinji could see the needle-thin laser
beams glowing brightly, extending from the spots they were painting.
With no small measure of apprehension, he slowly turned around. And
all of a sudden, he knew what it was like to stand before a firing
squad.
Sitting in the darkness was a small arsenal. A _wall_ of gun barrels
was pointed at them. Under each barrel was the winking light of
another laser sight, unerringly tracing out its target. Behind each of
the muzzles was a dark shape, blending almost perfectly into the
shadows, motionless.
One of the dark forms finally moved forward, its red line remaining
eerily still as it walked. Finally, the figure's face was visible in
the dim light of the stars.
"Catch you at a bad time?" Lewis asked.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
End note: Well, I'm still juggling school and this fic, but as you can
see I'm doing my best to keep it up. I hope you can bear with the
longer delays in each chapter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Started: August 19, 2002
Version 1 Ended: September 26, 2002
Version 2 Ended: September 28, 2002
Version 3 Ended: October 10, 2002
Version 4 Ended: December 24, 2002
Evangelion belong to GAINAX. They're not mine, and I make no claim to
them.
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" " = speech
^ ^ = thoughts
_ _ = italics
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Angels of Armageddon
Author: Ryan Xavier
Chapter 15: Finding Your Way Home
They say that war is hell. Kaoru wasn't sure if that would apply. Up
until now, he'd thought the best definition of hell was what most of
his brethren were still confined to: exiled from life, from physical
existence. They were condemned to watch others emerge victorious from
eternity, choosing to take reality over dreams; a choice they
themselves were never supposed to have had.
He was still trying to figure out which was the better definition of
torment: the eternal inactivity into which the Angels had been sealed,
or...this.
Everywhere he looked, there was destruction. Shelters, supplies,
trucks, people, even the ground itself...all crushed. Everything that
had made this place into a home, things that had stood strong against
the elements for over two years, all gone. Flattened under the raw
force of a berserk machine-monster, all in the space of a few minutes.
Some people were still in shock, incapable of moving to help, or even
to eat, as their minds tried in vain to process what they beheld in
front of them. Others were still trying to save what they could from
the ruins, pulling out small items, bits of food, and above all,
bodies.
Yes, bodies. The death toll for the latest battle was still going up,
several days after the fact. A nearby field had been cleared of rubble
by a few bulldozers, so that the dead could be laid out and identified.
The bodies kept accumulating, most thankfully hidden under tarps or
bits of cloth, so that those still alive wouldn't have to see what
they'd lost.
He felt less than heard someone come up behind him. "You're becoming
accustomed to your new form," he said, without looking.
"What makes you say that?" she asked, as she came up and stood next to
him. Kaoru remained sitting on the ground.
"I barely heard you approach."
"Ah."
They remained in silence for a bit longer. She was the first to speak
again:
"I thought of what I'm going to put on the marker for the latest of the
fallen."
"Really?" he asked, quietly. "What is it?"
"Something like, 'whose newfound strength could not allay his weakness
in spirit.'"
"Not simply a name, this time?"
"As it seems my brethren are intent on continuing this farce, it is
only right I give them some respect in death."
"They are my brethren as well, Ariel-san."
A discontented 'hmph' for a response. Then: "Matarael was a fool,"
said under her breath.
"Perhaps," Kaoru commented. A pause to think. "But then again, are we
not _all_ fools? I myself thought that Unit-00 could be controlled.
My mistake has cost so many lives."
"Do not attempt to martyr yourself, Tabris," she said, warningly. "I
detest those who try to shoulder responsibility for everyone."
"I didn't know you cared," he said, his voice not quite playful. "But
it is no less wrong for others to place all the blame on one person."
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He saw her clench a
fist.
"I will not let you anger me this time," she said, icily. "You may
blame yourself, if you wish. But in my mind, I _know_ who is truly at
fault."
He let out a slow sigh, shaking his head. Another brief silence
passed. "And to what do I owe the honor of your visit, now?"
"I knew you would wish to talk with me," she said. "You want to know
what I know."
"I suppose."
"You 'suppose' nothing, Tabris," she said angrily. She took a moment
to catch her breath and compose herself. "I can tell you little of
what is going on inside of the Room of Gauf, as there is a force at
work there...which I could not withstand." The girl's fidgeting did
not go unnoticed by Kaoru's narrowing eyes. "I can only assume that
the others will continue in this foolishness."
He thought it over. "And this...'force' which you fear," he began. He
saw her twitch a little at the word 'fear'. "Will I have the
opportunity to encounter it for myself, or shall I take your word for
it?"
"Perhaps so...I'm not sure. I'd like nothing more than to stop this,
believe me. I'd prefer to be stuck back in my cell than to watch my
brethren throwing their lives...no, their _souls_ away. But at the
moment, I don't know how."
"You could attempt to confront that which awaits you in the Room of
Gauf," he suggested. "If you were successful, you'd accomplish what
you desire."
"Likely at the cost of my own life." Another sigh. "I don't intend to
be a martyr, Tabris. I can do more by staying alive."
"I suppose." He grinned a little as he saw her bristle again. "What
else do you have to say?"
Now she finally sat down, a safe distance from him. "The other
one...the one you failed to destroy. It's still alive."
"I guessed as much. So when the time comes, it will also be destroyed.
Unless...unless you want to try talking to it?" He turned his head to
look at her full-on. "Do you wish to try negotiating?"
Ariel shook her head. Kaoru went back to looking out at the recovery
efforts. "This one..." Ariel began, quietly, "...he cannot be swayed.
He is too...simple, too stubborn, to quit."
"An unfortunate fault on his part, I suppose."
She shook her head. "You don't understand. This one doesn't wish for
revenge on the Lilum. He wishes for one thing, and one thing only."
Now she looked directly at him. "He seeks the strongest opponents. He
wishes to prove himself in battle, to display for all that he is the
strongest. In his mind, strength is what governs the world. Back in
the Room of Gauf, he was weak, as he does not believe the mind has any
strength on its own. But here, with a physical form..." she shook her
head sadly.
"I suppose if I were known as the Angel of Might, I too would think
strength was all-important."
"Yes," she said, simply. "And this Angel of Might has been forced to
retreat, been forced to admit it is not strong enough. But it will
return, and when that happens..."
"It will seek the strongest opponents?"
"Exactly. Only now...the opponent that defeated him, the one that he
will seek out above all others...is gone."
Kaoru knew what she was referring to. A few days ago, Asuka, Shinji,
Misato, and Lewis had all come to a unanimous agreement that the Dummy
Plugs had to go. Technicians were working on Evas 00 and 04, trying
their best to pry open the giants' armor so they could dig out the
computer brain inside. Kaoru knew it was only a matter of time before
they pulled the Dummies out. And then would come the hard part:
finding pilots for the Evas. Kaoru knew that he would be the one to
pilot Unit-00; it was only right. Penance, perhaps, for not having
been able to stop the activation of the Dummy last time.
What would become of Unit-04, however, remained to be seen.
"Then I suppose he will have to content himself with what defenses we
can muster," Kaoru said.
"He will not be pleased, you understand. You will be incurring his
rage."
Kaoru nodded. "Indeed. We'll have to be ready."
"What do you mean by 'we', Tabris?"
He grinned, again. "Myself and...whoever pilots the other Eva.
Supposing it can even be repaired."
"You suppose much, Tabris."
"I know."
Ariel stayed a few minutes longer, finally turning to go. She stopped,
however, as the sound of powerful engines could be heard. She looked
up, to see a prop-driven airplane descending towards the miraculously
undamaged air strip waiting on the American side of the camp.
"Who could that be?"
* * *
"Who could that be?"
"Eh?"
"That thing," Kensuke said, lowering his binoculars long enough to
point.
Lewis looked up from his work. "Lord knows," he said, then turned back
to what he'd been doing.
Kensuke, standing in the passenger seat of the Land Rover, looked down
through the window at the American commander. Lewis was squatting on
the ground, muttering under his breath as he struggled with the nuts on
the visibly flat front wheel.
"Are you _sure_ you can't have someone else do that for you?" Kensuke
asked, watching.
"I could," came the strained reply. Lewis grunted, and the nut finally
began to turn. "But sometimes you need to do something like this, just
for a break. Be careful in there by the way, kid."
"Don't worry. I know not to shake this thing."
"Well, yeah, but don't touch the shotgun, either."
Kensuke looked over his shoulder, at the 12-gauge resting against the
passenger seat. "Is it loaded?"
"Always," came the reply, accompanied by a little laugh. Lewis started
on another nut.
Kensuke went back to looking out his binoculars. He was tempted to
look up at the plane; such things were not very common, nowadays. That
one even looked like it was a military one, albeit a little old. But
he'd found something more interesting to look at.
Some distance off, sitting at the top of the large shelter Rei and
Kaoru used, there sat Kaoru himself, looking like he didn't have a care
in the world, with his legs dangling off the edge as he leaned back to
look at the sky. This was not what had Kensuke's attention, however.
That honor belonged to the white-haired girl sitting near Kaoru at the
moment. From the look of things, the two of them were talking. About
what, he could only guess.
^She looks so sad,^ he thought. ^I wonder what's wrong?^
"Say, Lewis-san," he began.
Another grunt as a particularly stubborn nut finally came loose.
"Yeah?"
"Well, I..." he began, then trailed off. "Well, that is...I, uh..."
his eyes roved around, as though hidden somewhere in the truck were the
words he was looking for.
"What is it?"
"Uh...nothing," he said, finally.
Lewis seemed to take this at face value. Either that, or he was
distracted by the appearance of Misato.
"Hey, Katsuragi," he said, as the woman approached. "What's up?"
"I came to return your keys," she said. "I just noticed I still had
them. Sorry about that." She tossed them too him. Lewis snatched the
keys out of the air with one hand, and then immediately chucked them in
the window with Kensuke.
"How'd you move this thing without keys?" Misato asked. "Don't tell me
you hotwired it."
"That's required knowledge, these days," Lewis said, as he struggled
with the wheel, now that all the nuts were off. "Just like changing a
tire, you know?"
Misato smiled nervously. "Uh...yeah. Sorry about that."
Lewis got the wheel off and threw it away, where it rolled briefly
before flopping to the ground. "Sorry, eh?" he asked, as he wiped some
of the sweat off his face. "I still wanna know how you managed to blow
a tire so quick."
Misato laughed a little, sounding strained. It was the truth, at
least; she'd been trying to escape from Unit-00 by using Lewis' Land
Rover. However, seconds after getting the thing in gear, she'd managed
to hit a rock and destroy one of the front tires.
"Next time at least do something that'll last," the American continued,
as he rolled the replacement wheel around. "You know, drive it off a
cliff or something. At least bang it up pretty good. Only way I can
ask for a new Humvee is if I destroy this thing." He sat back down and
started fitting the new wheel onto the truck.
"I'll do my best," Misato said jokingly. "But, anyway," she continued,
"You know someone just landed? They look like they're looking for
you."
"Well, they'll find me, then."
She paused, looking at him. "They don't look too angry," she ventured.
"Probably here to give you that promotion."
"Heh. Probably."
Pause. "Do you think this'll give you any new clearance?"
"Like what?" Lewis asked, innocently.
"You know...like explaining certain things. What you say you can't
tell other people."
"If you're askin' for the formula to that hangover cure, it's a closely
guarded secret."
Misato blinked, staring at him and trying to figure out if he was being
serious. "That's not it and you know that, Major."
"Uh huh. Step on the brake a minute, kid!"
Kensuke complied, locking the wheel in place as Lewis began putting the
nuts back on. Misato continued.
"You know it's not a good idea to keep secrets," she said, turning her
head and looking at him out of the corner of her eye.
Lewis paused briefly in his work, then shrugged, keeping his gaze on
the wheel. "Like I said, Katsuragi, only _I_ know how to make my
hangover cure. I'd tell you, but, well..." he looked at her, lowering
his sunglasses a minute. "...then I'd have to kill you." He clicked
his tongue at her and resumed putting the nuts back on.
Misato shook her head at this. "Well, good luck to _you_, then," she
said angrily, turning on her heel.
"Katsuragi, believe me, there's some things you're better off not
knowing," he called after her. Misato stopped and looked over her
shoulder at him. Lewis was looking back.
The man shrugged and a cocky smile cracked his face. "I mean, if I
told you what's in that hangover cure, you'd never use it again.
Ever." He laughed a little at his joke and went back to putting the
wheel back on. Misato shook her head again and walked away.
It was relatively quiet for a moment, until Kensuke stuck his head out
the window again. "Finished, Lewis-san?"
"Just about."
"Hey, Lewis-san, what _is_ in your hangover cure, anyway?"
Lewis looked at him for a moment, hesitating before answering. "Like I
said, you don't want to know," he finally said. "And what's a kid like
you doin' getting worried about being hung over, anyway?" He got to
the front of the truck and decompressed the jack, lowering the Land
Rover back down onto its front wheels.
After Lewis had thrown everything into the back of the truck again, he
jumped into the driver's seat. Kensuke handed him the keys.
"What's that say, anyway?" the boy asked, pointing to the keychain as
Lewis started the truck. "It's in English..."
"It says, 'I'm the BOSS, I can do whatever I want.'" With a rumble
from the engine, they were off, going around on a short patrol to test
the new tire.
"That's so...you," was all Kensuke could say.
"Heh."
"Say, Lewis-san..."
"Yeah?"
"How...how is it you can do that? Handle Misato-san like that, I
mean."
"_Handle_ her? I dunno what the hell I'm doing, half the time."
"Really? Well, it's just...well, it looks like you know what you're
doing...you know, around women."
The initial response was a noncommittal shrug. "Maybe it looks that
way. Dunno."
Kensuke paused, thinking that one over. "Well...can I ask you a
question?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Well, what would you...what would _you_ do if some girl...I don't
know, if some nice girl looked like...like she might be interested in
some...you know, some other guy."
Lewis didn't react for several seconds, long enough to make Kensuke
wonder if he'd spoken loud enough. He was just about to try choking
out those same words again when the American commander finally
answered.
"Well, I'd say...if this were a girl I was hot on..." Kensuke couldn't
see Lewis look at him from behind the sunglasses. Lewis saw the boy
redden a little, though. "Lessee...I'd shoot him in the head," he
said, very matter-of-factly.
Silence. "Though I guess I could just break his neck, if I wanted to
conserve ammo."
He looked away from where he was going and down to the now much paler
boy next to him. "What?" he asked, doing a good job of sounding
oblivious. "Standard military tactic, you know. Take out all the
competition, and move on the target at your leisure."
He then hit the brakes, grinding the truck to a halt. "But then again,
what do you really think I know?" he asked the boy. "I mean, I know
how to talk to women, but I usually just don't think about what you're
asking me."
After giving Kensuke a moment to think that one over, he hit the gas,
starting them moving again. "You hang around soldiers as long as
me...you get into enough fights, even just regular ones, without any
damn _robots_ stomping around...you know what you see?"
"Wh-what?"
For a response, Lewis pointed out the window, at one of the large
lineups of motionless, humanoid lumps hidden under a tarp. Kensuke
looked, and went quiet.
"And watching 'em get machine-gunned or napalmed or blown up ain't the
bad part," Lewis continued. "'Cause after you get back home" - he
paused to upshift - "you got to tell their wives that they're not
coming back."
He looked at Kensuke again, briefly. "Now, I can get used to just
about anything. I can shoot a man in the face and go get lunch. I can
order a whole town blown up and watch it over _coffee_. But, I tell
you...telling these guys' families never gets any easier." He paused.
"Last thing I'd want any of my guys to have to do is tell my family,
supposin' I had one to tell." He shook his head. "Sorry, kid. Been
under a lot of stress lately. Normally I don't say this much."
"I-i-it's all right, Lewis-san."
Lewis hit the brakes again. "I say stick to drunken one-night stands
for when you feel the need. Tire works," he announced. "Now, s'cuze
me, but I gotta go see who the brass sent over." He jumped out of the
truck and closed the door behind him. But before leaving, he turned
and stuck his head back in through the open window.
"But, to be serious a minute," he said, his voice quieter than it'd
been earlier, "I'd say talk to the girl. Or the guy, I guess." He
shrugged. "But that's all I can say. Not much to talk, myself. Hell,
I'm the guy they send in when talking don't work." He grinned toothily
at Kensuke. He patted his hand on the door, as the boy's shoulder was
out of reach. "See you later."
"Right."
* * *
"Are you quite certain, Rei?"
"Yes."
"It's not too late to change your mind."
"Yes."
"I would still be willing to go instead."
"That will be unnecessary, Nagisa-kun."
Karou hesitated a bit at the use of his last name; he'd grown used to
Rei referring to him in the familiar. He stored that observation away
to think about later.
Down on the hastily-constructed airstrip, the undamaged condition of
which Kaoru was still having trouble believing, a small passenger plane
waited, a small maintenance crew giving it a thorough check. In just a
few short hours, a few select passengers would be boarding it, for a
trip across Japan.
"NERV..." Kaoru said under his breath. He said nothing for several
minutes afterwards. He remained sitting, under the protection of his
shelter. Rei stood next to him, keeping her eyes anchored to the
plane.
"I do not like the thought of you travelling alone with Ariel-san,"
Kaoru finally said, breaking the silence.
"I will not be travelling alone with her."
Kaoru let out a brief sigh. "I understand that, Rei. But of the group
there, Ariel-san is the one I would worry about. Though I doubt she'd
try anything blatant, she's not stupid."
"Yes."
"You don't know if she is as reformed as she might want you to believe.
Her intentions could well be the same as the others', if less violent.
Subtlety was her specialty, if you remember."
"Hers and the Sixteenth's. I am well aware of this."
Kaoru sighed in resignation. "Very well," he said, finally. "One last
word of advice...at least try to get along with Soryu. I understand
there's no love lost between you and her, but...you can't afford to be
distracted by petty differences."
Kaoru thought he saw Rei's eyes harden at the word 'petty'. But it
might have just been his imagination. Rei responded in her usual
monotone:
"Yes."
There was another long silence. "Does it surprise you that Ariel-san
would be interested in being in the group on this trip?"
"No."
"...I suppose not. After all, she was trying rather hard to get into
NERV a few years ago." Kaoru let out a strained laugh. Rei's
expression didn't change. She said nothing in response to Kaoru's
little joke.
Kaoru leaned back, lying down in the dirt and looking up at the blue
sky. "How's your cheek?" he finally asked, without looking at her.
"It is well."
The boy let out a small sigh. Rei had yet to offer an explanation
about where that bruise on her cheek had come from, but then again he
hadn't had to ask. He knew where Shinji had gone after the battle.
"I'm sorry," he finally said. "That I couldn't stop Shinji-kun." No
response. "You know he was not entirely in his right mind at that
time. I doubt anyone was, really. It's no real surprise that his
temper got the better of him."
Still no response, at first. "There is nothing to be done about it,
now," Rei finally said.
Kaoru turned his head to look at her. "I do not entirely like your
current attitude, Rei," he said, quietly. "You're speaking as though
your fate is decided already."
Rei looked back at him, their eyes meeting for a moment. "That is not
the case," she said, in her monotone. "I simply do not feel there is
anything that can be done."
"Or you just simply do not feel," Kaoru commented. "Did it not bother
you, when Ikari-kun struck you?" he asked. "Did it not hurt?"
"Physical pain is fleeting," Rei commented. "It has passed, now."
^What about spiritual pain, then?^ Kaoru wondered. ^Are you just
keeping it inside, Rei? Please don't tell me that you just don't care.^
His brow furrowed as he noticed something. He quickly got to his feet,
Rei's eyes tracing his movements as he did so.
"What..." Kaoru began, looking at her face again. "What has
happened?" he asked.
Rei blinked, looking at him with a deadpan expression.
"Your face...the bruise is gone already?" he asked.
Rei nodded.
"That is...rather quick," he said, guardedly. It had only been a few
days since she'd come back with a black-and-blue mark on one cheek.
There should have at least been _some_ trace of the injury left. But
instead, there was simply the plain expanse of ivory skin, unblemished
and uninjured.
"If that is all," Rei said, turning to go.
Kaoru reached out, lightly touching her shoulder. "Rei," he said, as
she turned her head to look at him. He paused, as the cold gaze from
those red eyes fell on him. But he shook it off. "Rei...are you quite
certain you are ready to go back to that place?"
For a response, Rei looked away, and kept walking, out of Kaoru's grip.
The boy's arm fell back down by his side. He watched her leaving, a
puzzled look on his face.
^Rei...if only I could tell what was going on in your head. What has
happened to you?^
* * *
"This can't be happening."
Oddly enough, Asuka had said those exact same words three days ago.
She'd suspected something when Misato had first approached her; there
had just been something suspicious about the woman's manner, though she
couldn't point out anything specific.
She'd ended up going back to the shelter she and Shinji shared, as
Misato had said they'd needed somewhere private. Had Misato been a
male, Asuka would have probably wrung the answer out of her then and
there. She knew enough about guys to know what it could mean when they
wanted to go somewhere private. But as it had been, she'd just
complied quietly.
She had to hand it to Misato; she hadn't minced words. She'd just
dropped the bomb shell immediately, stirring up Asuka's already
confused life even more with just three words:
"We found NERV."
Asuka whispered the words under her breath as she headed towards the
air strip. A small passenger plane had landed less than twelve
hours ago, which had left them with a chaotic night in which to try to
sleep. Now that the plane was refueled and checked over, it was ready
to take its passengers to their destination.
There were only a few choice people who were coming along. They'd been
individually informed as well, visited by either Misato or Asuka
herself, depending on the person in question. Though she'd never say
it out loud, Asuka was grateful that Misato had told her when they were
alone. She didn't know how she'd have reacted if it had suddenly
become public knowledge that the place from her past had reappeared.
When Misato had first told her, Asuka had refused to accept the meaning
of those words. But as Misato had persisted in telling her, the idea
had finally forced itself into her.
"We found NERV," she said again.
And then...Misato had gotten that look in her eyes, the look of concern
Asuka simultaneously wanted and hated. She'd just asked the woman to
leave. Misato had done so, which was just as well; Asuka didn't know
what she'd have done if the woman had tried to comfort her, to try and
talk to her. She may well have taken her up on the offer. And that
just wouldn't have done, would it?
^I have to be strong. People are depending on me.^
She'd managed to compose herself by the time Shinji had found his way
back to the shelter. She'd tried to be nonchalant about it, tried to
be casual. But it had been impossible. It had just come out of her,
like with Misato earlier:
"We found NERV."
"Uh huh," Shinji agreed absentmindedly. He was directly in front of
her as they went up the short ramp and into the cramped door of the
plane. Of course he'd heard her. Stupid. She'd have to watch what
she was saying while thinking things through.
Shinji...she'd have to watch _him_, too. Ever since that day, when the
Eva had destroyed their homes...he'd been different. He'd disappeared
for a while, to go talk to Ayanami, and then...
She glanced at him while he wasn't looking back. He still had that
look about him. Of not being entirely _here_. She often caught him
thinking hard about something, a worried expression on his face. This
was one of those times.
She tapped his arm, getting his attention. "Hey...you all right?" she
asked, making sure to keep her expression casually curious instead of
worried.
"Huh? Oh, everything's fine," he said too quickly, flashing a smile at
her which looked a little forced.
That was the response he'd always give when she asked about it. She'd
have to pry a _real_ answer out of him later. She'd have done that
before getting on the plane, but with the sudden preparations for this
trip, she hadn't had the time.
She had her suspicions, though. Her eyes glanced back to the rear of
the plane, where she could see Rei Ayanami, already seated and with her
eyes focused intently on the book she was reading.
^Wondergirl did something, I just _know_ it,^ Asuka thought, and not
for the first time.
As though able to hear these thoughts, Rei's eyes briefly looked up
from the book, meeting Asuka's. She held her gaze there for just a
moment, long enough for Asuka to be dead sure Rei had looked _at_ her
instead of _through_ her. And then she looked back down to her book,
as though nothing were wrong.
Asuka clenched a fist. "Piss me off..." she muttered under her breath.
"Hey, keep it moving!" came a voice from behind her. Asuka gave the
person a brief glare, then stepped out of the door and headed towards
the front of the plane, keeping her hand on Shinji's arm to guide him.
There weren't any cliffs around here to stumble off of, but with the
way he'd been acting recently, she wasn't taking any chances.
The person behind her, none other than Kensuke Aida, turned and headed
more towards the back of the plane, wisely heading away from Asuka.
Strapped to his person was a small digital video camera, along with
three bulging duffel bags. He'd even brought a pair of sunglasses
which now hung out of his shirt. Topping it all off was his giddy
attitude; he was almost bouncing down the plane, not even noticing as
his luggage got stuck on almost every seat.
^It's like the stooge is going on vacation,^ Asuka thought, shaking her
head.
"Explain to me again _why_ we have to take him along?" Misato asked,
coming on after Kensuke. "I don't see why he has any stake in this
whole trip."
"He asked," answered Lewis, ducking his head as he followed her through
the door. He carried a duffel bag over each shoulder, and muscled them
around as best he could in the cramped confines of the plane.
"We got room for one more anyway," he continued, shrugging. "And it
looks like he's excited enough."
Asuka knew the real reason. She'd seen it with her own eyes: Kensuke
had literally hung onto Lewis' leg, getting dragged along the ground
with every other step as the big man had tried to head for the plane.
It had been like something out of a cartoon, with Kensuke begging to
come along and Lewis answering with a firm negative. He'd made it
about a dozen steps before finally relenting and saying that Kensuke
could come along.
Well, at least the stooge made a good pack mule. Asuka had made him
carry both her and Shinji's bags, in addition to his own. If he wanted
to come along, he'd have to carry his weight. The unfortunate thing
was that he didn't seem to mind.
"Hey, Lewis-san, where's our escort? I mean, we got VIP's on board,
right?" The boy was insatiable.
"Heh heh," Lewis chuckled in return. He checked his watch. "Don't
worry 'bout that, kid. Just give us a few minutes to take off."
Asuka didn't really know who Kensuke was referring to as the 'VIP's'.
Probably Wondergirl, she _did_ have something to do with that damn Eva.
And probably even Lewis, whom she now had to refer to as _Colonel_.
That visit from the American military some few days ago had been none
other than some member of the brass come to reward Lewis for his
'commendable' actions in the last battle. Asuka snorted even now,
thinking about it.
At least Lewis wasn't being smug about it. If he'd been acting
haughty, she'd have given him a good knee to the balls. Damn all
foreign protocol, he'd have deserved it. But instead of that, he'd
just gone on for a few minutes about how even with a promotion, he
couldn't get a new Humvee. After that he'd just shrugged it off and
gotten back to business.
"All right, everyone on?" Lewis quickly looked down the length of the
passenger compartment. "Better lock those bags down, kids," he said,
as he headed for the cockpit. After exchanging a few words with the
pilot, he headed back into the plane and took a seat.
There was a brief scramble as everyone piled bags onto empty seats,
taking seats of their own and buckling in place. As they did this, the
large engines on the wings began to turn. A few minutes later, the
plane began taxiing out to the runway.
Asuka looked out the window. There, on the tarmac, was a large
collection of people there to see them off. They'd be all right, she
was sure. Ritsuko had opted to stay behind on this one, though Asuka
couldn't quite understand why. Sure, there weren't many good memories
where they were going, but...they just _had_ to go. There really
shouldn't have been much question about it.
Asuka couldn't see the good doctor there, something she was sure Maya,
sitting in the seat behind her, was put out about. It was just
sickening, sometimes, how much the younger woman hung around Ritsuko.
But even with that, she'd decided to accompany them, leaving her
'sempai' behind to look after things. Asuka wasn't quite so sure how
Ritsuko would be able to handle the camp in their absence. Hopefully
nothing too extreme would happen. If anything did, Kaoru had also
surprised everyone by volunteering to stay behind. That was actually a
bigger comfort than Asuka was willing to admit: at least the camp would
still have the defense of Unit-00, for a worst-case scenario. The
thing was an unreliable piece of equipment, probably just as dangerous
to them as it was to their enemies, but it was better than nothing,
should they get attacked.
She finally saw a familiar face: Hikari, standing motionless in the
crowd. Behind her stood Toji, holding her by the shoulders. Asuka had
to hand it to those two, they were taking their situation pretty well.
The loss of their child, after so long a period of expectation...she
was surprised to even see Hikari on her feet, this short a time after
it had happened. Maybe the girl was just actively not thinking about
it. That was as good a way to get by as any, Asuka figured.
Asuka had insisted they stay behind for this trip. Actually, they
hadn't resisted that much. Maybe they'd realized this trip would be
too much, too fast for them. Or maybe it was the fact that a priest
was finally available and in the camp. He was here to give counseling
to the bereaved and, of course, give last rights to the dead, but he
might also be willing to...
Asuka let out a quiet sigh, thinking about it. Would Hikari's last
name be 'Suzuhara' when she got back from this trip? It was vaguely
disturbing to consider.
"Something wrong?" Shinji asked from his seat next to her.
Asuka turned away from the window and looked at the boy. Rather, at
the young man. She looked at him for a long moment, studying his face.
"Baka Shinji," she finally said, looking back to the window.
She felt Shinji's eyes on her back, now. In the window, she could see
his reflection. He reached out slowly to touch her shoulder, making
Asuka shiver despite herself. But then, before contact, he stopped,
pulling his hand back and straightening up in his seat.
Asuka grumbled a little, seeing this. She shifted her focus back to
what was outside the window.
Also out on the tarmac was a large group of people who were here to see
off one person in particular: Rei. Asuka just couldn't understand it,
how suddenly so many people were willing to support 'Ayanami-sama'.
Didn't they know what she'd _done_? She'd have to talk to them later.
Asuka had a sour expression on as she leaned back in her seat and
checked her seatbelt. With a roar from the engines, the plane
accelerated down the runway. The passengers were all pushed back into
their seats as they gained speed, finally lifting off into the air.
They were on their way.
* * *
It was a fairly short trip to where they were going; just over an hour
by air, so they'd been told. But even that brief period of time had a
way of drawing out, especially with the atmosphere in the plane. No
one spoke, except briefly and in hushed tones. The only sound was the
dominating background roar generated by the engines.
Kensuke was getting bored despite himself. He knew he shouldn't be
feeling like this; here he was, on a plane from the American military,
sitting among people who operated the majestic Evangelions. As if that
weren't enough, he was sitting across the plane from a Colonel in the
American military, a man who'd probably seen more action than everyone
else on the plane combined. And yet...he was getting bored.
Well, maybe 'bored' wasn't the right term for it. He wasn't just
sitting around with nothing to do. There was something he _could_ be
doing, but...he wasn't doing it.
His eyes drifted back up for the umpteenth time since they'd set off.
A few rows of seats in front of him was a familiar form, the white
color of her hair made all the more intense when seen against her tan
skin. Her hair alone was amazing to look at; falling down past her
shoulders, now to halfway down her back, it almost glowed in the
sterile light from the overhead lamps.
The girl was standing just behind Asuka's seat, leaning over the back
and talking with the redheaded girl. The two were the only voices to
be heard in the plane, right now. Even with the engines drowning out
their words, he could tell from their intonations that they were
speaking fluent German. It was enough to make him wish he'd learned
the language. The two girls looked almost completely obvlivious of
Shinji's presence in the seat next to Asuka.
^And if they don't notice the guy sitting right next to them, fat
chance either of them would notice me.^
"Something bothering you, kid?"
Kensuke turned his head to see that he now had a visitor looking over
his seat. The gruff, unshaven face of Lewis was regarding him closely.
Everything about his face looked casual and relaxed, except for his
eyes. Those sharp blue orbs watched him steadily, never wavering for
an instant. Even now, with the possibility of battle forgotten by
most, those eyes looked like a predator's, never letting their guard
down, always expecting and looking for the next threat. Kensuke
wondered briefly if that was why he always wore his sunglasses.
"What's up?" Lewis asked him, seeing the boy pause.
"Nothing," he replied by reflex.
Lewis raised his eyebrows at him, a smile tugging at his mouth. Those
eyes never twitched.
"I'll take care of it," Kensuke said, a moment later. "Don't worry
about it."
Lewis pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "Well, I can't order you to
tell me." He paused, thinking. "Hey, kid, you wanna see something?"
"Like what?"
"Well, you asked what kind of escort we got." Lewis leaned over and
slid up the cover over the window next to Kensuke. "Check it out."
Kensuke turned in his seat. It was a tiny window, just like all the
others, but even through that, he had an excellent view. There,
sitting just off their wing...
"Is that...that's an F-15 E!" he announced.
"Good eye. Yep, that's it all right," Lewis said, nodding.
"That thing's been the staple of the U.S. Air force for like..."
"Years," Lewis answered. "Was never a pilot myself, but I hear those
things are good."
"Good? _Good?_" Kensuke was now on a full-fledged rant. "Those things
have been in the air longer than I've been _alive_. And they're
_still_ out-flying almost everything out there!"
"Well, not _everything._ But you know, when you're rebuilding the Air
Force, you gotta start somewhere. Wouldn't go giving rookie pilots the
F-22's. You know, the planes that cost you about a million dollars if
you so much as _think_ about them." Lewis laughed a little, watching
Kensuke press his face to the window, trying to get a better view.
"They've just been put under my command," the big American explained.
"One of the perks of the rank, you know. They're calling themselves
Lucifer squadron, dunno why."
"Lucifer...I know that one. Lucifer's the angel who fought against the
other angels, and was cast out of heaven because of it. He's also
known as Satan, the devil, Me - "
"OK, OK," Lewis said, cutting him off.
"Are they good?" Kensuke asked, changing tack. "They have to be,
right?"
"Well..." Lewis shrugged. "You gotta remember not many other people
got air forces for us to worry about. So we ain't had many people to
break 'em in on. But yeah, they got a few veterans in there. Guess
they figured they were happier in the air than sitting around in a
puddle of Tang, eh?" he added on, clapping the boy on the shoulder.
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Now, this is a secret," Lewis said, lowering his voice and leaning in
closer. "But you see what's sitting on their wings?"
Kensuke looked. "Looks like an AMRAAM. Air-to-air missile, right?"
"Close. The guts are mostly the same. But the warhead's something
new. Uses N2 mine technology. The scientist types call it a HEAD
setup. That's High Explosive Aerial Destruction. _I_ call it a big-
ass bomb."
"Really?"
"Really. I've seen some of the footage from the tests on those things.
Completely destroyed something the size of a 747. With one shot."
"What?" Kensuke asked, disbelieving.
"I'm serious. One second, target's just flying along, the next, bam,"
Lewis accentuated this by making a fake explosion with his hands.
"Nothin' but scrap left."
"Wow..." was all Kensuke could say, looking out the window again, with
a still-higher respect of what was travelling with them. "Can that
take out...you know...an Eva?"
Lewis shrugged. "Dunno. But I'd put my money on it," he said,
grinning. "Biggest damn gun I got, right now." He looked up, towards
the front of the plane. A few of the other passengers had turned to
look at them, but only briefly. Now, they were again in relative
privacy.
"But on that thought..." he said, as though he was just thinking of it.
"Kid, you heard what they're doin' with those things? The big robots?"
"Eh...yeah, I heard a little."
"Yeah, and I heard a lot. I'm makin' 'em yank those computers right
out. Only way to be safe, after last time."
"...yeah," Kensuke said, going quiet as the unpleasant, all-too-recent
memory of the most recent incident with Unit-00 resurfaced. He didn't
quite know what 'those computers' was supposed to mean, but if it
helped keep something like a repeat of last time from happening, then
he was all for it.
"Thing is, now we gotta get people to actually get inside and drive
'em." Lewis paused, making sure Kensuke had heard him. "So, kid, I
gotta wonder...who's crazy enough to drive one of those things?"
Kensuke shrugged. "You're asking _me_?" For a response, Lewis just
shrugged again. "Well..." Kensuke said, thinking. "I know Shinji and
Asuka both have experience with it. Toji too, but I don't think he'll
want to. Then of course you got Nagisa..." he trailed off, thinking.
"Yeah, he'll _definitely_ get set up. He can do it, no trouble."
Lewis tilted his head slightly, listening. "Jealous?"
"..." He paused, trying to keep eye contact with those sharp blue
eyes. "Of course I am!" he finally said. "They get such a _cool_ job,
getting to pilot Eva! I can't even imagine what it'd be like! It's no
wonder Nagisa's so popular with - " he caught himself before he said
any more.
Lewis grinned. "Well, thanks for the advice. Those two, right?" Lewis
said, pointing towards Shinji and Asuka.
"Yeah. _Not_ her, Ni-san," Kensuke corrected, seeing that Ariel was
still talking with Asuka. He paused, freezing as the white-haired girl
somehow sensed they were talking about her and looked back at them.
Her eyes practically nailed him to the seat.
^Funny...her eyes are a lot like Lewis'...^
"And...oh, I forgot," he added on, once Ariel had looked back to Asuka.
"Ayanami would be great for the job. She's been at it longer than any
of them, you know."
Lewis gave him a look full of mock skepticism. "Maybe, 'cept I think
the room gets colder when she walks in. Just has a funny attitude
about things, you know?"
"Do I ever. But she's good. I think so, anyway."
"Well, all right then, kid. Thanks."
"No, thank _you_, Lewis-san. I'd have never thought to look out the
window."
"Well, it was the least I could do," the big man said, sitting back
down in his seat and closing his eyes.
Kensuke looked back out the window, at the jet faithfully flying
alongside them. ^You know...I wonder what Lewis's first name is...^
* * *
They'd seen it from the plane as they were on the descent. But now
that they were on the ground, none of them could believe it.
It was a crater, a giant hole bored straight into the earth.
Underneath, the space expanded on until it was lost in the darkness.
No bottom could be seen.
More interesting still was the surroundings. They would have believed
a few tents, perhaps, but, _this_...
A landing strip had already been plowed and flattened. It was unpaved,
but it had been more than enough for their little plane to land. The
F-15's had continued on, going to land somewhere else.
The bulldozers that had done the work on the landing strip were now at
work moving rubble out of the way, levelling the rest of the land
around the crater. They'd already made a huge amount of progress,
enough that there was ample room for the buildings.
Few of them could believe what they were seeing: semi-permanent
structures, with wooden frames and concrete walls. Most of them even
had windows. None of them were really any more than a hastily
assembled, single-story structure made to last only as long as the
excavation. But to people ekeing out a living among rocks and rubble
for the past two years, the sight of man-made structures was blissfully
refreshing.
Lewis had run off the moment he'd stepped off the plane, before any of
them could ask him anything. Now he was off talking with the
commanding officer here. Supposedly, he outranked the man now. So at
least he'd be able get his questons answered. The only problem was how
much he'd tell the others.
After a few minutes, the American finished up and walked leisurely back
to the others.
"All right, boys and girls," he said, clapping his hands together.
"Looks like everything's goin' all right here - "
"All right?" Misato asked. She glanced in the direction of the growing
encampment. "How long have you people been here, anyway?"
Lewis shrugged. "Don't ask me, Katsuragi. I only know what they tell
me." He looked back to the others. "Now anyway, you can put your
stuff over here."
"When can we go inside, Lewis-san?" Kensuke blurted out. He clammed up
a little in embarassment a moment later, but Misato was secretly
thankful. Someone had had to ask it.
Lewis paused, and Misato instantly knew something was wrong. "You
see..." the man began, rubbing his hands together. "They're not being
very open about that."
"What?" Asuka demanded, stepping towards Lewis. "They won't tell you?
The ranking one? The high-and-mighty _Colonel_?" The sarcastic edge
to the girl's voice made Misato wince.
Lewis looked at Asuka. With his sunglasses on, they couldn't see his
eyes. But Misato could guess they weren't friendly, at the moment.
"They say only certain people can go in," Lewis explained. "And no,"
he said, answering the question on all of their faces. "You're not
'certain people'."
"But..." Asuka stammered. "But _why_? What do you people have up your - "
"I don't _know_, kid," Lewis answered, cutting her off. "I'll work on
it, OK? But for now, let's get inside. It's gettin' hot."
* * *
Somewhere in the south of Japan, a giant rested. Its wings were
retracted back into its body, stored until the giant decided to take to
the sky again. Its gargantuan form, flesh a pure white, lay sprawled
on the ground, shuddering occasionally as its chest rose and fell,
drawing in great rushes of wind with each breath.
Its body was damaged, and had to heal. Though there were some minor
injuries, they were of little consequence to a warrior, who should not
even pay them any heed. However, the raw stump of its right arm wasn't
something that could easily be overlooked. It was a crippling injury,
it knew that. When it took to the field of battle again, it would not
be able to fight at its full potential.
There was no question in its mind of whether it would fight again.
Such was its task as a warrior. It had found not one, but _two_
formidable opponents, against whom its might would have been rightfully
tested. It should have been a glorious battle. With the weapon it had
pulled from this body's chest upon awakening, its might should have
been a match for its opponents. Supposedly, another incarnation of
this weapon had been the one to strike down the lord of space and the
sky itself. Arael, the one whose might was not in the body but the
mind, had been defeated with but a single strike of this weapon.
Surely those pitiful copies of the true Father could not have stood for
long, when it was armed as such.
But...it had been afraid.
Fear was a useless feeling to a warrior. It dulled the mind and
senses, replaced reason with panic. It knew this well; it remembered
the Lilum, struck through with fear at its monstrous visage, unable to
defend themselves before its onslaught. This had been the first time
it had felt this fear, but it knew that such was the name of the
emotion.
Its opponent...the one whose armor was a color not unlike its own
flesh, had attacked it. In single combat, the fight should have been
quick and decisive. Its opponent had not even had a weapon appropriate
to its size. A simple knife was all it had been able to bring to bear
against the might of the lance standing before it. That it had been
able to injure the giant at all was a miracle. That it had been the
one to sever its arm...well, that was something that just should not
have happened.
But the giant had hesitated, seeing this opponent. In its blood-red
eyes, it could see echoes of something...familiar. Something so
ferocious that it did not even feel pain, something so bloodthirsty
that it would not stop until it had utterly destroyed that which stood
ahead of it...the giant knew only one being such as that.
And so, the opponent had disabled the giant, torn its arm from its
body. Such had been a very painful reminder of how it had met its end
before. Had things continued, it may even have progressed to its
conclusion: the ultimate shame of not only being defeated, but
_devoured_, consumed piece by bleeding piece, going into something that
would not even allow its opponent the rest given by death.
It clenched its free hand into a fist, muscle and sinew tensing. That
worthless emotion of 'fear' had made it run when it could have instead
emerged victorious. It had seen the opening. It could have run its
opponent through, skewered it with the powerful weapon it had still
been able to use, even one-armed. But instead, it had run. It had
shoved its opponent away, and run. It had abandoned the battle,
choosing instead the way of a coward.
And because of that, the other one, its partner in the battle, had met
its end. Such a tremendous irony: that the one who in the past had
been the weakest of them all had then met the end of a true warrior,
while the mightiest had fled, hoping to continue its now-worthless
existence for just a little longer.
Its dignity thus destroyed, the giant now lay here. It _would_ go back
to battle. It _had_ to. It simply had to be prepared. To block out
that 'fear' and become a true warrior once more.
It would emerge victorious. Though its opponents were strong, its
might was still greater. It would be prepared.
But that still left the very real problem of its being short a limb.
It turned its elongated head, looking at the truncated arm. In doing
so, its gaze fell on the massive spear, lying next to it on the earth.
It focused on the weapon, as its mind began to churn through the
problem.
Perhaps there was a solution, one that would in fact increase its
strength. Such would make it all the more prepard to engage its foes,
and defeat them, conclusively proving its superior might.
* * *
Shinji lay wide awake in bed.
He knew he should be sleeping. He hadn't been getting enough rest,
lately. A little sleep would definitely help him feel a little better.
But even now, every time he tried to let sleep come, every time it the
darkness of rest began to close on him, he saw them: twin orbs, burning
crimson in color. A stare that shot him through the heart, and made
him truly fear for his life. The memory of that stare kept stealing
sleep away from him. The only thing to do was to lie there, hoping
sleep would sneak up on him before you realized it. And then he'd have
to be careful not to dream.
Out here, it was worse. True, he didn't have to look out on the
destruction of the encampment, didn't have to see the dead laid out and
awaiting their last rites. Instead, he had his thoughts, his hazy
memories of what lay under them, its hollow caverns echoing with the
recollection of the events that had come to pass not so long ago. The
place where the destruction of humanity had started. The place that
had been his home. The place where his father had been. The place
he'd come to, desiring acceptance, and instead finding a life of pain.
Why had he come? He hadn't even thought about it, back when everyone
was going. It had simply seemed like what he'd had to do. But now
that he was here, he couldn't decide what to do.
He couldn't stop thinking about what might be down there. For a place
where so much had happened to him, he could barely remember anything
about his time here. Some things were almost clear, like when he'd
first seen Eva-01's gruesome face staring at him. But other things
were blurred, distorted down to nothing more than feelings. And
unfortunately, most of those feelings were fear, apprehension, and
guilt.
Perhaps it was best that he not remember. Maybe it was for the best
that the Americans were only letting certain people down into the
ruins. It wasn't so bad that engineers could dig through the ruins
freely while he and the others were stuck up here, forced to watch. It
wasn't so bad that he wouldn't be able to see the inside.
But...what was down there?
He closed his eyes, trying to block out those thoughts. The more he
tried to block out thoughts of NERV, the more he wondered what he'd
find down there if he were to go look for himself.
He rolled onto his side, his eyes opening again. His view was out of
the tent flap, out to the buildings excavation site, a few of their
windows - windows! - glowing with lights inside.
He rolled over, turning his back on the sight. Just behind the
buildings had, of course, been the excavation itself. A yawning chasm
which, without the aid of the sun, would be impenetrably dark.
Some amount of time passed. He didn't know how long; enough such that
his eyes were finally starting to close when the hand touched his
shoulder.
Shinji's eyes popped back open he felt someone shaking him. He turned
over, to see the shadowy form of Asuka squatting there, next to him.
"Hey, wake up, baka Shinji," she whispered.
"Asuka?" he asked. "What - " he was cut off as Asuka put one finger to
his lips, silencing him. The girl glanced over her shoulder, then
leaned in close.
"We're going in," she said, so quietly Shinji wondered if he'd imagined
the words. The boy just blinked, in response.
"They can't keep us out of there," Asuka said, brusquely. "It's
_ours_, no matter what the jerks say. You know I didn't come out here
just for this red tape."
Shinji sat up, trying to meet her eyes in the darkness. "Asuka, you
don't mean - "
"We've got a way in," the girl explained. "The other stooge says he
saw some of the engineers going through some doors that led inside. He
can get us inside."
"But...why do you want to go in so badly?"
Asuka drew back a fist, causing Shinji to flinch reflexively. But she
lowered her arm this time, without hitting him. "Baka," she whispered.
"We _have_ to go in. We just...we _have_ to. Even if we have to sneak
in. We've got lights," she said, patting the large flashlight hanging
by her hip. "Might be dark, but I have to see what's in there. Just
sitting out here's going to drive me _crazy_. Are you telling me you
don't want to go see?"
Shinji lay there for a moment, then decided it would be worthless to
try getting back to sleep now. He swallowed a little, then slowly got
to his feet. Asuka followed suit.
"How long are you...are _we_ going to be down there?" he asked.
"A while," Asuka said. "Long enough to look around. Don't worry," she
said, batting him on the arm. "We'll be back before anyone knows we're
gone. Now come on, we'd better get going."
After pulling on a pair of shoes, Shinji followed Asuka outside. They
immediately started walking, Asuka leading the way as they made their
way towards the excavation. Several times they stopped, as they
imagined a voice or a footstep coming towards them. But every time,
they'd start up again, advancing on their target.
After about fifteen minutes, they were entering the excavation. This
was the closest Shinji had ever come, and at this distance it was
impressive. The hole blasted into the ground was enormous. An Eva
could have fit through it with no trouble at all. Fortunately, that
was not where Asuka was taking them. Instead, she led them around the
perimeter of the hole, finally reaching a set of double metal doors,
their toothed edges meeting in an impenetrable seal in the middle.
They were not alone. Waiting at the door was Kensuke, whispering away
in his normal babble as he worked on the entry lock keypad next to the
door. He held a flashlight in one hand, its pool of light painfully
intense when seen alongside the darkness of the night. His other hand
played with the wiring.
Ariel, standing in front of the door, was just nodding periodically,
listening to the boy with half an ear as she kept a lookout. She
stiffened a little at the appearance of Asuka, but relaxed as soon as
she realized who it was. She beckoned for the other two to come
closer.
Once they were at the door, Ariel explained.
"Aida-kun says he can get the door open. After that, it's up to our
guide."
"Guide?" Shinji asked. He glanced at Asuka, who shook her head, her
face going deadpan. The girl pointed off to the side.
Shinji looked, and jumped a little, seeing Rei waiting in the shadows
next to the door. He hadn't even seen her there. He opened his mouth
to say something, but the girl's red eyes narrowed again, giving him a
look much the same as the one they'd given him not too long ago.
Swallowing, the boy looked away.
"I guess among us Ayanami knows the layout the best," he said, to which
Ariel and Asuka both nodded. Shinji remembered quite well what a maze
NERV could be, especially when the lights were off, as would certainly
be the case here.
"How much longer, stooge?" Asuka asked, looking over her shoulder at
Kensuke.
"Just a second, okay?" he asked. "I just - !"
Shinji heard the other boy's voice catch suddenly. "Kensuke? What is
it?"
"Shinji...listen...for everything I've ever said, everything I've ever
done wrong to you, I'm sorry. Okay?"
"Kensuke?"
Shinji looked over Asuka's shoulder, to the boy sitting by the panel.
His hands were no longer busy with rewiring the keypad. Instead, they
were frozen, stopped in the middle of their task. As Shinji looked, he
saw what could have made that happen: a tiny, glowing red dot,
quivering on the back of Kensuke's right hand.
He felt rather than heard Asuka's breathing suddenly catch. He looked
before he could stop himself. Two more red dots were on her, one on
her chest and another right between her eyes. As a light breeze threw
a small dust cloud over them, Shinji could see the needle-thin laser
beams glowing brightly, extending from the spots they were painting.
With no small measure of apprehension, he slowly turned around. And
all of a sudden, he knew what it was like to stand before a firing
squad.
Sitting in the darkness was a small arsenal. A _wall_ of gun barrels
was pointed at them. Under each barrel was the winking light of
another laser sight, unerringly tracing out its target. Behind each of
the muzzles was a dark shape, blending almost perfectly into the
shadows, motionless.
One of the dark forms finally moved forward, its red line remaining
eerily still as it walked. Finally, the figure's face was visible in
the dim light of the stars.
"Catch you at a bad time?" Lewis asked.
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End note: Well, I'm still juggling school and this fic, but as you can
see I'm doing my best to keep it up. I hope you can bear with the
longer delays in each chapter.
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Started: August 19, 2002
Version 1 Ended: September 26, 2002
Version 2 Ended: September 28, 2002
Version 3 Ended: October 10, 2002
Version 4 Ended: December 24, 2002