Awakenings
Chapter 1 – Awakenings
A.C. 195It was cold…unusually cold for late August in Western Europe. The wind snapped cruelly across the plains, biting deep into the skin of anyone unfortunate enough to be outdoors and threatening frostbite, should they tarry unprotected for any more than a few minutes. Atop a rocky outcropping, a lone, long-abandoned military facility sat, brooding over the tumultuous waves of the Atlantic like a spoiled child, its sightless, concrete walls watching almost imperiously as the waters crashed into the jagged rocks below.
Deep inside this relic of years past, computer terminals sat in orderly rows, their cold tubes coated with a mixture of the dust of ages and the faintest coating of frost… a testament to disuse and failing insulation. Yet even in this desolate place, the spark of life was not to be stopped. Circuits left un-stimulated for centuries nearly popped as energy derived from unseen generators – buried deep under the mantle of the Earth itself – flooded them, coaxing them grudgingly out of their hibernation. One of the screens blipped on, its light shining on once-comfortable computer chairs, now long since gone to rot, and scrolling simple words in unexciting green text.
'Subject:'
The screen hesitated for several seconds, as if unsure of how best to proceed, before finally resuming, 'Katsuragi…Misato. Designate: Major/Operations Director, NERV, First Branch.'
The writing winked out, replacing itself with the cryptic message, 'Security breach in sector L32… Facility 01682 current status: compromised. Protocol 093478… engaged.'
From the floor just past the terminal, a cylindrical case slid into view with a soft hiss, its dense polyurethane cover distorting the features of the person within and making her completely unrecognizable. A small, digital readout on the side of the cylinder announced, 'Resuscitation in progress… five minutes remaining. Standby…'
Silence reigned as the timer on the case slowly made its way to zero.
There was a breathless pause as the case's cover rolled back, unveiling the woman for the world to see. "Huh!" she gasped sharply, breaking the silence as her back arched up off the formfitting bed. "Wha…?" sitting up, she clutched her head, drawing in deep lungfuls of bitterly cold air and shaking from head to toe as the display on her capsule changed to read, 'conditions unfavourable… activating warming unit.'
She groaned with relief as the sides of her capsule suddenly began radiating intense, almost unbearable heat, quickly raising the temperature in the immediate area to a comfortable, almost balmy seventy-three.
What happened? she thought, trying to remember what had happened to her. Where am I?
Misato did her best to force her mind around to the circumstances of her interment in ice, but even her mind felt numb, making cohesive thought next to impossible. After several minutes, however, a few details began to creep back into her consciousness.
I remember being shot, she thought, sitting up cautiously and reaching around to feel a small circle of scar tissue on her lower back. I remember the attack on NERV but…
Everything was hazy. Past the attack, and the gunshot wound, she remembered getting Shinji to an elevator… and the next thing she knew, she here. She groaned in frustration as she tried to remember more, glancing down and easily spotting the exit wound from her injury. Someone had taken the time to treat her, so she was clearly wanted alive, but in glancing around her freezing environment, it was also plain to see that whoever it was that had saved her… was long, long gone.
Looking around, Misato could see that, everything metallic was caked in rust, everything organic was rotted nearly to nothing, and everything plastic was dull and lacking in shine, hinting that she had been asleep for a very long time indeed.
Taking stock of her options, she operations director clambered carefully out of her capsule, biting back a yelp as her feet hit the freezing concrete. As quickly as she could, she hurried over to the tattered remains of a chair, tearing a hunk of what was once comfortable mesh fabric off and tying it clumsily to her feet.
Better than nothing, she thought grimly, but I need to find some clothes, fast… or whoever did this patch job on my guts is going to roll over in their graves – mostly to make room for me to join them.
Shivering, and trying to stay as close to the heat generated by the capsule as she could, Misato padded over to the only active terminal and began reading.
"Subject…Katsuragi, Misato…" she murmured, her eyes easily flying over the dull green letters "Term of Cryogenic suspension…indefinite…?"
Indefinite! she thought incredulously, If whatever is happening at this base hadn't happened I would have been on ice forever! Wait a minute… what about Shinji and Asuka? Did anyone else make it? What about the EVAs?
Further pondering on the subject was interrupted as Misato's teeth began to chatter violently. The computer indicated the year was AC195 – whatever that meant. It troubled Misato to think that she had been out so long that the calendar system had changed, but the need for warmth overruled her curiosity, forcing her to start back towards the capsule.
She came up short, however, as she noticed a body lying between the rows of terminals, out of her line of sight, until now. He looked like a soldier of some sort, though Misato did not recognize the uniform. It looked, she thought on closer inspection, like something from the seven years war, except it was black with white trousers, and heavily polished black boots. The solider bore many decorations, and a small badge set just below his shoulder, which read 'Specials.'
Still warm, Misato thought, casting a nervous glance around as she pressed two fingers against the man's carotid artery. Hope you don't mind if I borrow your clothes, soldier.
Misato shook her head sadly. Even in the future, it seemed, Man had not managed to free himself from the baser instincts. Certainly, the soldier did not need his clothes anymore… but his blank, glassy stare seemed to accuse her as she began to unbutton his jacket, whispering 'Graverobber! Thief! How dare you?'
"Sorry," Misato muttered, noticing and carefully prying an unfamiliar handgun from the soldier's already stiffening fingers, "don't take it personally, kid…"
- - - - -
Quatre Rabare Winner was a little pressed for time.
"Whoa!"
Throwing himself back against a wall, he barely dodged a rather accurate shot as, unfortunately for him in this case, 'pressed for time' translated into 'being chased by soldiers.' Thrusting his right hand forward, he opened fire with his own firearm, wincing as two distinct cries of pain followed his desperate shooting.
Though they were enemies, Quatre still hated to see anyone hurt.
Taking advantage of the momentary break his lucky shooting had earned him, Quatre turned and sprinted down the corridor, choosing a door at random and ducking inside without even bothering to see what kind of room it was.
He and one of his fellow Gundam pilots had stolen into this antiquated base in hopes of finding supplies, but they had not banked on having a platoon of OZ soldiers hot on their heels. In the resulting fracas, they had lost sight of each other.
Quatre hoped his friend was alright.
Footsteps pounded down the corridor outside the door, and Quatre tensed, but they tromped past without so much as slowing. Better find another way out, he thought, finally turning to survey his surroundings, they could come back at any ti… hello – what's this?
The doorway opened to a five-foot corridor, which in turn led to a room filled with computer terminals and odd, ancient looking machinery. In the middle of the room he spied a tall woman with long, flowing dark hair. Her bare back was facing Quatre, and with an intense blush, he realized that the rest of her was bare as well – for the moment, anyway, as she seemed to be in the process of pulling on a pair of trousers liberated from a body on the floor in front of her.
He took a step closer, trying to get a better look at the woman's face (though deep in the recesses of his mind, he thought that seeing the rest of her would not be such a bad thing) but the faint scrape of his boot on the floor attracted the woman's attention. Immediately, her back went rigid, and slowly, she turned to stare at him over her porcelain shoulder.
Quatre wet his lips. "Er…"
Before he quite knew what was happening, Quatre found himself on the floor, staring up the barrel of his own gun, which had someway found its way into the woman's hand.
"Still got it," the woman muttered to herself under her breath. "You – what's your name? Where is this place?"
Quatre tried to lower his gaze from the woman's intense eyes, but found that this resulted in a quick flash of skin – some of it marred, he noticed absently, but a jagged scar – and intensifying the colour in his cheeks.
Noticing his discomfort, the woman chuckled, reaching down with her free hand and picking up the shirt she had been about to put on. "Calendar's different, but at least it's nice to know that guys still think the same." Awkwardly shrugging the shirt on by thrusting one hand into the sleeve and trading the gun into it, Misato said, "You're not a mute, are you? I need information."
With the woman's luscious body covered, Quatre found it much easier to speak.
"I…I…I'm sorry…I…I didn't…"
Still not easy, but easier.
The woman considered him for a minute, smiling faintly as he fumbled for words. "Cute," she murmured, lowering the gun a bit and offering him her free hand. "Guess I still have my figure."
Though still blushing, Quatre managed to regain a LITTLE composure. "I-I-I'm…really…sorry."
"It's okay." Misato grinned, keeping the gun ready, but no longer pointing it directly at the pilot. "It's actually kind of flattering. Now, um… what's your name?"
"I'm…Q-Quatre…Winner."
"Misato Katsuragi."
Silence fell as the two unconsciously began walking in a tight circle, sizing each other up like weary mongrels trying to decide between friend and foe. "Your accent," Quatre said finally, "where are you from, if you don't mind my asking?"
Misato's eyes flicked to the open pod, then back to the pilot. "Well," she said carefully, "based on the rust and cobwebs around here… I'd say it's less a question of WHERE than WHEN."
Quatre looked at the woman, then at the cryogenic pod. It looked VERY old, he decided, and there probably would not be any accurate way to find out exactly how long she was in there. The best he could hope for was extrapolation.
"When were you put in?"
Misato frowned and replied, "2016. What year is this anyway? I don't know how current the computer over there is."
Quatre walked over to the terminal she indicated, nodding to himself as he scanned the display. "No, it's current," he said softly, "AC stands for After Colony… so this base wasn't abandoned until at least AC 01, though this area looks even more disused than the rest of the place. How did you get in there, anyway?"
"Well," Misato said slowly, "I was at NERV headquarters, and we were under attack. I took a hit protecting my… umm… God, Shinji." She shook her head, forcing aside a sudden, powerful certainty that the boy she tended was probably hundreds of years in his grave. "Anyway, I got shot protecting someone, then I think I fell unconscious – and then I woke up here!" her eyes widened a little, "Wait a minute… do you know anything about the calendar before this AC one?"
"Umm, a little," Quatre said slowly, "if I remember our history courses right, they switched to the AC calendar around… hmm… was it 2220, or 2210? I'm pretty sure it was somewhere around-"
"400 years?" Misato exploded. "I've been in that damn thing for 400 hundred years?"
Quatre nodded, but his mind was going over something else the woman had said – something that reminded him of another history lesson. He waited patiently as the woman ran a hand through her long hair, muttering a string of curses the likes of which he had never heard, before asking his question.
"Did you say NERV?"
Misato looked at him sharply. "Yes," she nodded, "is it still standing? I can't imagine it would be after all this time."
"Well, no," Quatre admitted, "but I've heard of it. They taught us that in the last part of the old century, a group of lifeforms called 'angels' began attacking… and NERV, with their Evangelion robots, fought them off and saved us all from obliteration. No one know what happened to the Evangelions, though, and as far as I knew, all of the members of NERV died in the fight against the last angel."
"That's one way to look at it," Misato muttered bitterly, "of course, if you take that stance, the last angel is still alive and kicking."
"Huh?"
"Never mind." Misato rubbed her eyes. She was starting to get a headache. "Yes, a lot of us died," she said, glancing around at the rows of terminals, "but if I survived in one of these… I wonder if any of my friends did too.
"Possibly," Quatre nodded thoughtfully, "If you're here then there's a possibility that other survivors of NERV may be here too. It's logical to-"
Misato straightened suddenly, staring down at Quatre for a moment and causing him to stumble and cut himself off.
"W-what?" the pilot stammered, entirely intimidated by the woman's stature and intense, chocolate eyes.
"Can I trust you, Quatre Winner?" the woman whispered. "Right now… I'm alone in this place. I'll never survive without help." Slowly, she turned the gun around and offered it to Quatre, handle first. "I've been asleep a long time, but I'm not a stupid woman. That," she nodded to the body at her feet, "is a soldier – and he didn't die of natural causes. If I've woken up in the middle of a war, I'll need someone to show me which side is the right one, or how to stay alive, if there isn't a right side. If you can't, or won't help me, Mister Winner… then do me a favour and pull the trigger right now, because otherwise, you'll just be prolonging the inevitable."
Keeping his eyes on hers in spite of the urge to look away, Quatre reached out and wrapped his hand around the handle of the gun. "I promise that I will keep you alive," he said softly, pretending that he could not feel her fingertips brushing the back of his hand as she held the gun a moment longer.
He felt hot all over again as she flashed him a small, hopeful smile. "Thank you, Quatre," she said warmly, "but don't make promises you can't ke-"
Abruptly, the door Quatre had come through was flung open.
"Here!" a voice called out. "He's in here!"
With surprising speed, Misato dropped into a crouch and snatched up the fallen soldier's handgun, whipping it up and clicking off a shot before the newcomer could repeat his warning cry.
"Looks like we've got company," she said breathlessly, grabbing Quatre's shoulder and pushing him towards another door on the opposite side of the room. "You DO know how to use that, right?" she asked seriously, eyeing the gun in his hands, "Because I-"
The other door burst in, and before Misato could even think, Quatre stepped around her and pumped six rounds into the two soldiers coming through, sending them unceremoniously to the hard concrete before either could call for help. "Yeah," he murmured, averting his eyes, "I know how to use it."
Misato frowned at the sad look on the young man's face, but said nothing.
"Come on, let's go," Quatre mumbled, regaining his senses and hurrying towards the small door, "my friend should be around here somewhere… if we find him, we'll definitely get out." He lowered his voice to a whisper as Misato ducked through the door. "That guy won't LET himself die."
- - - - -
Heero Yuy checked the clip on his gun, pursing his lips as he counted six bullets. He briefly considered going back to where he had left the bodies of the OZ soldiers he had come across ten minutes prior to gather their weapons, but he discarded the idea as reckless. Were one has fallen, others will gather, he thought, glancing around the room he had ducked into to gather his thoughts. Like wild animals, perching near the corpses of their comrades in the hopes of ensnaring another predator.
That he was a predator, Heero did not deny. He knew that he was a killer… but unlike the soft-hearted Quatre, Heero had no real compunctions about killing. He would never harm an innocent, but anyone donning the uniform of a solider and taking up arms to oppress the weak was fair game, in his mind.
Besides, in war it was kill or be killed… and none of Heero's plans involved being killed.
Need to find Quatre, he mused, running a finger along a row of computer terminals and glancing at the thick dust, Knowing him, he's in a corner right now trying to talk to his killer and make him see reason.
Heero blinked as one of the terminals abruptly flickered to life.
He whirled, raising his gun as something hummed behind him, a small section of the floor irising open as a smooth, cylindrical capsule rose into view. "What the…?"
Normally not a curious man, Heero had nonetheless been taught to be prepared for any contingency – and the dusty capsule represented an unknown factor that could easily throw any plans for escape off. Who knew what was inside? A bomb? An automated defence robot? Anything could be behind the plexiglass cover, and until Heero found out what it was, he was not willing to turn his back on it.
Cautiously, he approached the capsule, weary of a trap as he reminded himself that it had not come into view until he walked through the door. Frowning slightly, he used his arm to wipe a swatch of dust away from the capsule's cover. Peering inside, he was surprised to find himself gazing at a young girl. She appeared to be his own age, with light blue hair framing an almost ethereal, clear-skinned face. Her chest, Heero noticed, did not move so much as a centimetre as he watched, indicating that whoever she was, she had moved on from this world.
It's not my business. Heero thought, giving the girl a final, appraising glance. Rest easy.
Walking past the barely functioning terminal, however, he noticed that the screen had changed. 'Security breach has progressed to level Gamma,' it read, 'Resuscitation in progress… three minutes remaining. Standby…'
"Subject, Ayanami Rei," Heero murmured, reading the lower part of the screen, "Term of Cryogenic suspension: indefinite." He glanced back at the capsule.
Not my business, he told himself, looking back to where the timer was slowly counting down. Walk away.
In spite of this cold, methodical thought, Heero found himself moving in the opposite direction, walking up to the cryogenic capsule and standing at its side as the computer terminal silently reached zero.
With a hiss that made Heero step back and half-raise his gun, the capsule slid open, washing the inside with chill air. For a moment, nothing happened. Then, without warning, the girl's back arched up off the bed, her lungs drawing deep, then releasing as eyes the colour of blood fluttered open.
The girl focused on Heero almost immediately, making no move to cover herself or escape from the strange man gazing at her utterly defenceless, completely naked form.
"Who are you?" she asked finally, her voice as cool and emotionless as Heero's own.
"Heero Yuy," Heero replied truthfully, noticing that the capsule had begun to warm up – most likely to keep its occupant comfortable as she recovered. "And you are… Rei Ayanami."
The girl did not look surprised, though she did murmur, "How did you know my name?"
Heero tilted his head towards the terminal.
Rei nodded her understanding, and without another word, she climbed out of the capsule, glancing around the room as she shivered slightly in the cold air. "Who are you, Heero Yuy?" she asked softly, turning her crimson gaze on the young man. "From my understanding, this is a secure facility… though it appears to have been abandoned for some time."
Meeting her gaze head-on, Heero replied, "Who I am is unimportant. Come with me… if you don't get some cloths on, you will freeze to death."
"I understand," Rei said smoothly.
Regarding the terminal for a moment – in particular the word cryogenic – Heero murmured, "Miss Ayanami… what year were you placed into that capsule?"
"2016," Rei said calmly. "What is the present year?"
Heero considered lying to the girl. In his experience, people tended to be excited by the delivery of sudden, shocking information. Ultimately, however, he decided that it was best to go with the truth.
He had never been very good at dishonesty anyway.
"It is After Colony 195… approximately 400 years after your entrance into that capsule."
Rei's response was anything but shocked – in fact, she seemed downright uncaring.
"I see."
Unable to resist the pull of curiosity this time, Heero murmured, "That doesn't… bother you at all?"
Shivering slightly, Rei absently rubbed her arms. "The passage of time is not something I have any control over," she explained calmly, "what would it benefit me to-"
"Shh!" Heero cut her off as he heard a soft scraping sound outside the door. Mouthing, 'don't move,' he pressed himself back up against the wall just inside the door, making his body absolutely still as Rei stood exactly where she had been told.
Slowly, the door was pushed inward, and an OZ soldier stepped into the room, first blinking, then rubbing his eyes as he found himself staring at a very nude young woman. Before the soldier could decide if he was dreaming or not, Heero made his move, cracking the soldier sharply across the back of the head with the butt of his pistol.
Rei and Heero stared thoughtfully at the solider for a moment. "He's not much taller than you," Heero observed, giving Rei a polite bow as she nodded in reply, "please hurry… we should be leaving this place as soon as possible."
Though he knew it was impolite, Heero kept his eyes on Rei as she removed the soldier's uniform and began pulling it on. She had been asleep for 400 hundred years… but that did not automatically make her harmless, and Heero had long ago learned that one should never, NEVER judge a book by its cover. Making their exit from the small room, Heero kept Rei well within sight.
Just in case.
- - - - -
Quatre and Misato had checked five rooms so far, but it was not until the sixth that they came upon the familiar configuration of a cryogenic room. "This place is huge," Quatre mumbled under his breath, wiping something suspiciously brown and coppery off of a terminal that was already glowing with life. "let's see… this one is…"
Misato glanced over his shoulder, mouthing, 'Subject: Aoba, Shigeru… Term of Cryogenic suspension…indefinite. Resuscitation commencing in 10 seconds.'
"Just in time," she said brightly, unconsciously squaring her shoulders in anticipation. She had never been very close to Shigeru – but a familiar face was a familiar face… if she had to spend a lifetime in a new era, it would be nice to spend it with at least ONE person she knew.
As the countdown reached zero, however, the computer gave a sullen blip.
'System failure,' the terminal read, 'redundant circuits Alpha to Theta… compromised.'
"What does that mean?" Misato whispered urgently, licking her lips as a new string of text – meaningless mumbo-jumbo to her – flashed across the screen.
"Not sure," Quatre admitted. "It's… oh, there it goes – it's opening."
The capsule hissed, but as the top slid open, a horrible smell assailed Misato's nose. It reminded her of old linen and dusty spaces – of things left to rot in the dark… like Aoba, it seemed.
"Oh God…"
Quatre looked away from the mummified corpse in the cryogenic capsule, shaking his head as he spotted a long, jagged crack in the plexiglass cover. At least he didn't suffer, he thought, awkwardly putting a hand on Misato's arm. Well… I HOPE he didn't suffer. God, imagine waking up in the dark and… no, don't think about it!
To take his mind off of the horrifying idea of smothering to death in a plexiglass tomb, Quatre turned to Misato. "I'm so sorry," he whispered sincerely, trying to smile as she wiped at her eyes, "don't be sad, ok? You survived, so there have to be others who-"
"I'm not sad," Misato cut in, her voice just a shade too uneven, "I'm angry! Aoba didn't deserve this – none of us deserved this! Shoved underground and left to rot for hundreds of years – for eternity, according to these stupid computers! Why… God, why were we put here? Why not just put us out of our misery! This way, we couldn't even get to Heav-"
She cut herself off, paling as a horrible, gruesome thought occurred to her.
Maybe that was the plan. Maybe this was their punishment for 'defying God' – an unending, dreamless sleep, waiting endlessly for a wakeup call that would never come, until the Earth, the Moon, and the stars themselves were dead and gone, leaving only a dried out husk of a planet where a handful of sinners who had dared to dream of saving their race unknowingly whiled away eternity.
She shuddered, pushing the thought violently away. There has to be another answer, she thought desperately, no one's that cruel – not even the Commander.
"Come on," Quatre said gently, "let's check the next room. If the others are waking up, it would be nice if there was someone they knew waiting for them, huh?"
"Yeah…" Misato wiped her eyes, reluctantly returning Quatre's hesitant smile. "Yeah, you're right."
Leaving Aoba's remains, they made their way to the next room… but as they pushed the door open, they found themselves staring down the barrel of a gun. Misato tensed, but as she looked past the person aiming his weapon at her, a broad smile of relief broke out on her face.
"Rei!"
She was barely aware of Quatre murmuring, "Heero, it's ok, she's not with OZ!" as she pushed past the young man and gathered Rei into a tight embrace.
"Are you all right?" she asked, running her hands all over Rei's face and shoulders. "I thought I was the only one who made it… are you ok? Come on, say something, Rei!"
Frowning faintly at the foreign – though not entirely unpleasant – contact, Rei whispered, "I am fine, Major."
"Major?" the young man who was with Rei murmured. "Earth Sphere?"
"Heero," Quatre stepped in, "This is Misato Katsuragi… she's with NERV."
Heero glanced at Misato, then Rei. "NERV," he repeated, "mm… THAT NERV, then?"
Quatre nodded.
"And… do you know why you are here?" Heero asked, addressing both Rei and Misato at the same time.
Receiving only head shaking as a response, Heero fell silent. Too many variables, he thought grimly, we need time to figure this all out – but I doubt they will leave without their comrades, if there are any more of them. He glanced thoughtfully at Misato, finding her studying him openly. This one seems to be capable of handling herself, but Rei… she moves strangely.
Heero could not explain this thought any better, but there was definitely something deceptively normal about the way the blue-haired girl carried herself. If he had not known better, Heero would have pegged her as a mobile suit pilot. He knew of the Evangelion robots, of course, but so little of their history had been recorded that he had no idea what the pilots might be like.
Perhaps she is a pilot after all.
"Quatre," he said absently, giving Misato an acknowledging nod, "This is Rei Ayanami… I found her in that capsule over there." As Quatre introduced himself, Heero added, "This place is not safe… we should leave as soon as we can."
He knew it was a proposition that was bound to meet with objection, and sure enough, no sooner had the words left his mouth than Quatre was shaking his head.
"There might be others," Quatre said apologetically, "if there are any here, I'm going to help Misato look for them."
Heero sighed as Quatre and Misato walked out of the room. "Of course," he murmured, noticing that Rei had made no move to leave him – out of obligation for helping her, or out of a similar desire to leave without checking for survivors, he was not sure, but having her stay filled him with an unexpected flash of gratitude. Arching an eyebrow at the girl, he glanced to where Misato and Quatre were waiting just outside the door.
Rei stepped next to Heero. "It would be… tactically advantageous for us to stay together, would it not?" she asked smoothly.
Nodding reluctantly, Heero whispered, "You're right. Please stay close to me."
"I understand."
Together, the foursome struck off down the hall, moving as quickly as possible as all present agreed that any rescuing should be done as quickly as possible.
- - - - -
Sneaking through the abandoned base proved to be quite tricky, as the OZ soldiers were very persistent. Several times, Misato's group was forced to go to ground as a handful of soldiers stomped past, clearly looking for them. In one room, the found the remains of Makoto Hyuga, his capsule damaged in much the same way as Aoba's though far more recently, producing a stench of death and decay so powerful that even Rei wrinkled her nose in distaste.
The next room, however, yielded a pleasant surprise.
'Open capsule,' Heero mouthed, jerking his head in the direction of the far side of the room and motioning for Misato to go in alone. 'We'll wait.'
Misato nodded gratefully. Better to meet one, familiar face than a group, she figured.
"Hello?" she called out hesitantly, keeping her voice as low as possible. "Hello, is someone in here?"
Maybe they already left? she thought, frowning as she remembered the groups of soldiers moving around the base.
Seeing nothing eye-catching, she was on the verge of leaving… until a harsh, broken voice croaked, "M…sato?"
From behind a pile of junked terminals, a small figure rose up.
"Shinji?" Misato gasped, recognizing the boy immediately, "SHINJI?"
The Third Child groaned weakly as Misato rushed over to him, wrapping her arms around his shivering frame and pulling him into her arms. "Th-thought everyone was dead," he hitched, "I thought I was the only person left alive! Th-then… then there were people shouting, and I was scared, and I…"
"Shh," Misato shushed him as he broke into tears, not noticing the others as they quietly slipped into the room. "Shinji, please… I need you to listen."
Though she knew that the boy was in a fragile state of mind, Misato had no choice but to explain their situation to him, hastily letting him go as she remembered that their last conversation had ended in a rather bold kiss. That was 400 years ago, she told herself wryly, he's forgotten it by now, right?
"We've… acquired more uniforms," Quatre said distastefully as soon as the introductions were through, "couple soldiers tried to jump us as soon as you walked into the room."
"Man, you guys are quiet," Misato marvelled, "I didn't even hear a thing!"
Heero's grim smile sent a chill down her spine. "When we have to be," he said levelly, "but we can make a lot of noise if we need to."
Knowing nothing yet of the Gundams, Misato only nodded.
Several more rooms revealed empty capsules, but from the dust inside, it was clear to see that these had never been used. As they approached a door near the back of the base, however, loud curses and crashes could be heard streaming through the narrow opening.
"Now I know that voice," Misato nearly laughed. "Come on…"
Pushing the door open, they found themselves faced with an odd scene. A redheaded teenager was systematically smashing everything in sight, throwing terminal monitors, bashing things with the remains of chairs, and kicking anything that was not bolted down as a litany of German and Japanese curse words poured from her mouth.
"Gott," she grunted, heaving another monitor onto the floor, "dumkopf NERV! Baka Evangelions. SHIESSE! Put me in a… goddamn freezer… stick me under ground…" she paused, wiping sweat from her lip, "…hope their all dead!"
"Sorry to disappoint you."
Asuka Langley Sohryu nearly jumped out of her skin, her anger vanishing in an instant as the first familiar voice she had heard since waking up reached her ears. "…Misato?"
"The one and only," Misato replied, grinning as Asuka whirled to face her. "Four hundred years old, and still looking good, kid."
"Four hundred…" Asuka trailed off, hiding her elation quickly as she spotted, "Wondergirl… you're here. How… nice."
"Hello Pilot Sohryu," Rei replied flatly.
A sudden silence fell as the pilots all regarded themselves, and slowly, a bright red flush came over Asuka's face. "Do you people MIND!" she shouted. "It's freezing in here! Stop gawking and get me some goddamn CLOTHES!"
"Same old Asuka…" Misato sighed as Quatre uttered a surprised squawk and instinctively shielded his face. "Here – you'll have to roll up the sleeves, but it's all we have."
As she dressed, Asuka listened, offering no comment until Misato had finished explaining just exactly how screwed they seemed to be. "So," she said hesitantly, "did umm… what about Shinji?"
Shinji, who had been lurking in the small corridor leading to the room, leaned in. "I'm he-"
Before he could finish, Asuka had stomped over to him and raised her hand, her eyes glittering as she stared him down. Instead of slapping him, however, she slowly put her hand on the wall, leaning closer to him and casting her voice for his ears only. "I'm glad you're not dead," she whispered. Before Shinji could reply, Asuka was pushing back from the wall. "Don't look down my shirt, you perv!" she muttered, pretending she had said nothing else.
"Well? Are we leaving this dump or what?"
- - - - -
On the threshold of the last room on the level, Shinji was brought up short by a hand clapped roughly over his mouth. He started to squirm, but Misato's voice hissed, "Shh!" in his ear.
Belatedly, he noticed that the door was standing half open, and through the narrow crack, a soldier's profile could be seen. The man was facing into the room, but there was a rifle slung over his shoulder within easy reach. Had he stepped into the room, Shinji knew suddenly, he would have been either dead or captured before he could say a word.
"Listen," Quatre hissed, gesturing the others to press up against the wall. Angling for a better look through the gap in the door, he spotted three soldiers inside – as far as he could see. One was inspecting a terminal like the one he had seen with the other cryogenic capsules, and the other two stood flanking the door.
"Okay Lieutenant," the solider by the terminal said, "I think I can force the reanimation process."
"This one's dead probably just like the others…" the soldier Quatre could see muttered. "Those weird mobile suits we found seem to be intact, though."
"Actually," the Lieutenant corrected, "they're called Evangelions."
"Evangelions? You mean-"
"That's right."
"Wow…"
"Imagine," the Lieutentent gloated, "Technology lost for almost four centuries – and we got our hands on five of them. Those Gundams won't stand a chance."
As they trailed off, Quatre gave Heero a significant glance. Heero nodded, tightening his hold on his gun and pointing to the guard that was visible through the crack in the door. Quatre pursed his lips, frowning as he made a clubbing motion with his fist. Heero rolled his eyes, but reversed his hold on the pistol.
"Ok, here we go," the soldier by the terminal announced, "Name's Maya Ibuki… if she's alive, she should be waking up in… twenty seconds."
Everyone waited tensely, letting out a collective sigh of relief at the final report.
"Yeah, she's alive… should I call it in, Lieutenant?"
The soldier frowned.
"Lieutenant…?"
Glancing around, he was just in time to take in the image of his commanding officer slumped against the wall before the grip of a handgun came rushing into his line of sight.
"Oh man," Misato winced as the soldier collapsed in a heap, "that looked like it hurt…"
"I hope so," Heero muttered, wasting no time in stripping the man of his uniform.
The NERV personnel gathered around the capsule, waiting breathlessly as the brown haired woman inside gasped and sat bolt upright. "M-Major…?"
Misato helped the woman out of the capsule. "Shh," she whispered, "I'll explain everything… though it's a lot to take in."
"Here, Miss Ibuki," Shinji murmured, handing her the uniform Heero had 'liberated,' "it's umm… good to see you…"
Blushing at her nudity, the Third Child quickly scurried away, allowing the tech a moment of privacy in which to dress.
When Maya had finished changing, she noticed Heero and Quatre. "Are they… Children?" she asked with some confusion.
Misato blinked, noticing for the first time exactly how young her rescuer and his associate were. "Er, not exactly," she said, scratching her head, "actually… I'm not exactly sure… what DO you guys do?"
"Fishermen," Heero muttered flatly, "simple fishermen."
"Riiight," Misato murmured, deciding that this was not the best time to press the issue. "Ok, so here's the situation… there are five EVAs here, and we only have three pilots."
Heero nodded to himself, satisfied with his intuition that Rei was a pilot, and listened intently to the rest of Misato's speech.
"Most likely, they are Units 01, 02, and possibly some of the 05 series – they must have survived Asuka's attack." At this, Asuka shot Misato a nasty glare, but Misato simply concluded, "so, since we can't take them with us, that leaves us only two truly viable options."
"It would be dangerous to let OZ have them," Heero said flatly. "Very dangerous."
"Ok," Misato shrugged, "one viable option."
Clenching her right hand into a fist, she looked around at the others.
"We'll have to destroy them."
TBC
Random's Notes: I kind of felt guilty writing about Aoba and Hyouga dying… but at the same time, it kind of felt pretty good. Poor bridge bunnies can win for losing, eh? The delay on this chapter was entirely my fault. I'll try to get 3 done a little faster.