Disclaimer: You know already, so why bother writing this, right?

Chap. 12

"That's an Eva!"

Asuka's cry came clear over the com as the others in the control room confirmed this. The large black creature was indeed an Eva. Eva 03. While everyone looked in shock, the dark creature lunged at 02. Asuka's attention snapped back to the battle, but the angel was already on her. Asuka groaned as it pushed her down and she struggled to get her Eva back on its feet. But the black creature was fast and lunged at her while on the ground. It reared its hand back like a claw and dove it straight into the shoulder of the Eva. Asuka cried in sheer agony.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

At this point, 00 moved in to help, but the black Eva saw her coming and turned in time to grapple with it. The two Evas struggled and as Rei tried to overpower it, her senses began to kick in.

'This presence... he's still ins...ahhhhhhhhhh!!!'

The angel suddenly began to infect 00. Distorted veins moved up the Eva's arm, doing the same to Rei inside. It began to crawl up the side of her face and she now struggled to pull away. But the angel wasn't ready to give up another host and held fast.

"Disconnect 00's arm immediately." Gendo ordered.

The command was set and the arm severed off of 00. Rei cried even more at the pain, but it was better than being taken over by the angel. However, this meant that 00 was also unable to fight. And with 02 down, the only one left was 01.

"Unit one, engage."

"But...."

"That's an order."

Shinji grabbed the controls, but didn't make a move. He could sense someone within the angel. Someone...very familiar. The Force was emanating too strongly not to notice. But who? The only people he felt this strongly were Asuka, Rei, Qui-Gon and...

'Touji. Touji's the pilot?'

"Engage the target immediately." Gendo repeated.

"But my friend is inside." Shinji shot back. "I can't fight Touji."

The black angel lunged at him finally. Shinji reacted by holding him back, but the Eva suddenly folded its body on the ground and slashed up. The ripping blow tore up 01's arm and Shinji cried in pain. The angel then flipped backward, still crouched on the ground.

"Fight. This is a direct order, Third Child."

"I can't. I won't hurt him."

The angel's arms suddenly dove into the ground. 01 looked on as the arms suddenly shot up from beneath and grabbed hold of his neck, choking him. Shinji held his own throat as he was being choked himself. Gendo watched passively and then turned to Maya.

"Cut the Third Child's synchronization circuits and activate the Dummy Plug."

Maya gasped, "The Dummy Plug? But sir, it hasn't been tested. It could…"

"Do it." was the cold reply.

Maya reluctantly did as ordered and activated the Dummy Plug. Meanwhile, Shinji was still being choked to death when suddenly the pain stopped and the control went out.

'Huh? What's going on?'

The teeth of the Eva unhinged and let loose a enraged roar. It then grabbed hold of the stretched arms of 03 and broke free. But it held on to them and suddenly ripped them off of their links. The angel/eva roared in pain and backed away, but the 01 charged and tackled it. With the angel now down, 01 began to mercilessly rip it apart. Blood and body parts filled the area as the Eva 01 tore it apart. The command crew was shocked by this, but none more than Shinji, who was inside the berserker machine and watching the massacre unfold in before him.

"Stop it! Stop it, father! Please stop it now!"

Gendo simply watched, totally ignoring to cries of the Third Child as the Eva tore into the 03's head and pulled out the entry plug. The plug that held Touji was now being held in the unforgiving grip of the Eva.

"NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!"

But as the fist began to close, it suddenly stopped. The plug slipped out and crashed on the ground, LCL oozing out from the cracks. Shinji looked down in horror as the liquid oozed onto the ground.

'Touji...no....NO!'

Shinji gave a loud cry and slumped within the seat, face downcast and tears streaming down. But they quickly dissolved into the LCL and Shinji looked up. He couldn't feel anything except a black void. The Force was no longer present, but the void took its place. His eyebrows furrowed as he gripped the controls.

'Father.'

The Eva growled softly and let out a loud roar. The command staff looked strangely at the creature, but that changed to fear when it faced their direction.

"01, shut down and await..."

Another roar cut him off and the Eva came toward them, mindlessly destroying the area as it came toward the headquarters.

"Third Child. Shut down immediately."

No response. The purple bio-machine continued to rampage toward them, following the commands of its pilot, who was now in a driven rage. A rage directed at one certain Commander Gendo Ikari.

"Disconnect all circuits now."

Maya shakily did as ordered, but the Eva didn't stop. It reached the base and began bashing on the walls.

"I don't understand. It's not working."

"Pressurize the entry plug."

"Sir?"

The glare from the commander was more than enough encouragement and she did as ordered. But Eva 01 continued hammering in, ripping the walls wide open and exposing the command room. The Eva's angry glare was focused on the commander and for a moment, a look of worry crossed his face.

'Shinji, no!'

The boy within suddenly blinked. 'Qui-Gon?' He blinked a few more times before passing out from the pressure.

After the Eva was recovered, a medical chopper came in with Misato and Ritsuko, both badly injured when the angel took control of the Eva 03 after the angel infected it. While they were taken to the medical ward along with Asuka and Rei, Shinji was brought in to Commander Ikari's office, with Kaji alongside him.

"You disobeyed orders, made an unregistered use of the Eva 01, and damaged much of the headquarters. What do you have to say?"

Shinji was too weak and drained to stand up to him. But the black void was still in him a bit. Images of the partially crushed plug with his friend inside plagued his mind and slowly brought back his rage. With a cry, Shinji lunged suddenly his father, fully intent on punching his face in. But he was stopped by Kaji.

"Shinji, don't! You'll only make things worse."

Shinji struggled a bit. He could still use his Force powers to push Kaji away and attack. But that disturbed him just as badly. 'I'm no good...to anyone now. The dark side...I can't do this anymore. I've only hurt more people.'

"I quit."

Kaji blinked, but Gendo hadn't even flinched, "I'm disappointed. Very well. You are no longer a pilot or an employee of Nerv. You will be stripped of status and to leave at once. We'll never meet again."

Shinji felt the anger again as he listened to his father's cold tone, but he simply turned around and left, never to pilot again.