Chapter Five: A Gunman's War in Tokyo-3

Well, Still don't own any of the rights to EVA, which makes me cry. If I ever take over the world with my space nazi army, EVA will be mine THEN, but not now. So just enjoy as I am making no profit out of this. In fact, technically I'm SPENDING money to do it, electricity and such. Whatever R&R then poke me with a stick.

Author Note: Naming names, well lets put it this way, Ziel is the spelling of Zeal in German if I remember correctly, just as shrek translates as terror some of the machines have names that are still recognizable but not necessarily in English. As for the Eldridge, nobody said it was one of the Mark Unit's now did they -

And thank you for the complement on MESSIAH, what I wanted to do was create another organization that is much more organized into a logical force then NERV, such as the supporting AMS which are pretty useless against Angels but will make good support troops. I also wanted to create a balance between super robot and military robot anime in this as I've been balanced between watching Gunbuster 2 and some random Gundam.

Oh and one more question please read this chapter and tell me whether this could get way with a T rating I'm trying to improve my viewer base. If not I have a similar story planned to be released with a T rating under a totally different but interesting set of circumstances.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So, this is the enemy." Shinji commented as he looked up at the ruined bulk of the 3rd Angel.

"Know thy enemy and know thy self and in a thousand battles . . ." Tanaka began.

"You will never be in peril." Misato finished nodding up at the huge creatures broadside. "Hard to think this thing could have given us so much trouble."

"It's the unexpected things in life that make themselves a bitch to take care of." Rico added as trailed beside them. Yumi ran back and forth observing the work around them, obviously impressed by it all.

Doctor Akagi was looking over several samples of the Angels remains when they came in. "This is perfect, other then the core most of the main body is more or less intact. Thanks Shinji this'll be a great help" She said looking at the slabs of the creatures green carcass. Ok so Shinji had torn it limb from limb it was still in pretty good condition despite its messy death. Admittedly the parts not covered in bakelite were starting to reek as some kind of bacteria finally got in that could eat the Angel's body.

The group huddled around a computer set up watching as the analyses was completed. 801 appeared on the screen.

"What does that mean?" Misato asked.

"Its our systems code for 'cannot be analyzed'", Ritsuko explained.

"So you don't have a clue?" Tanaka asked.

"Well, yeah." Ritsuko admitted. "But we have found that the Angel is composed of a type of matter characteristic of both particulate and waveform properties." Ritsuko commented.

"You mean this thing can fucking transmute matter and energy?" Tanaka whispered.

Ritsuko nodded, "That would fit with its demonstrated abilities, and explain where all the power it was generating was going to."

"So you have at least found its power source, right." Misato said.

"Yes." Ritsuko nodded, though we really can't tell much about its underlying capabilities considering its state." She glanced at Shinji.

"Hay don't look at me, I just started taking it apart until it stopped twitching." Ritsuko nodded, "I suppose that's actually fortunate for you. You and Yumi inadvertently destroyed the core, which seems to be the only thing common to both of the angel's we've engaged. Destroy the core and you kill the Angel so that should always be your target."

Shinji nodded.

"The really strange thing about the angels though is this." A new string of data popped up.

Tanaka whistled, "Fuck, we're that similar?"

Ritsuko nodded, "Despite their unusual nature there is a 99.98 percent match between angel and human waveforms."

"Ok, that means absolutely nothing to me." Rico cut in.

"It means that we're very similar to them, like same genus similar." Tanaka explained.

Yumi looked at the readouts curious. "So, we're killing humans?" She asked sounding a little worried.

"No, there not human." Misato said reassuring the girl. 'Nothing like those monsters could be human.'

Shinji had caught site of the Commander not far from him. The older man seemed transfixed by a ruined piece of the third Angels core. 'What the?' Shinji saw Gendo remove a glove revealing the burns on his hands as he examined the core.

"Hey what are you looking at Shinji?" Misato asked.

"Nothing." He said quickly.

Misato sighed, "Don't you know saying nothing in that tone of voice is practically drawing attention to yourself?"

"Ladies got a point man." Tanaka chimed in. Rico nodded in agreement with his superior.

"Ugh, fine, what's with the bastard's hands?"

"Bastard?" Tanaka and Rico asked.

"He means Commander Ikari." Misato explained, "And I don't know, Ritsuko do you know anything about it?"

The bottle blond frowned, "It happened a while before you joined us." Ritsuko began. "There was an accident involving Unit-00, Commander Ikari opened the superheated hatch on the entry plug and extracted the pilot. If they had waited for retrieval teams to arrive Rei may have died from internal bleeding."

Shinji starred back at the man, "Well I'll be damned, I guess you can be a good Commander without being a decent human being."

"Hmmm, there's a lot you don't know about your father Shinji." Ritsuko said as she stood up. "I have other business to attend to, your free to look around as long as your don't tamper with anything."

"You were right, she's very business oriented." Tanaka commented to Misato.

"No kidding." Shinji and Yumi agreed almost simultaneously.

Rico shook his head at the two kids. "That's what we call a lady with a bit of class, Shinji." The big man said, his heavy New York born accent coming through even to his Japanese. "Makes certain to get her job done first, dresses conservatively, those are the real catches."

The big olive skinned man glanced quickly to Misato.

Misato caught the glance and growled at him, getting into an argument over her tastes.

"Its no wonder your unwed . . ."

". . . Unwed . . . Gah and who cares about being married in this day and age . . ."

" . . . thought it was a big cultural thing in this country . . ."

"Yeah well what about Ritsuko . . ."

"She has the excuse of being a busy doctor . . ."

". . . Hay I'm busy too . . ."

" . . . Not too busy to be home for three meals a day from what Shinji says . . ."

Shinji had the wisdom of not getting involved in this little battle of the wills, instead his mind was focused on his fathers hands, his father's burned hands . . .

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji yawned slightly as he proceeded down the corridors of the GeoFront. He looked at the picture on the card he carried again. 'She's a pretty girl if only she'd smile a little more . . .'

He thought back to the time a few days ago he had been present to observe Rei's synch tests. Ritsuko had been kind enough to explain the training to him. It seemed pretty straightforward though he didn't look forward to either breathing LCL or wearing a skintight synthetic fiber suit which looked vaguely like something from an Science Fiction themed porn movie. But the thing that had troubled him the most was the big exaggerated grin she'd given Gendo when he came to speak with her.

It was irritating to see anyone showing that man affection, and heartbreaking that Rei could call that false mask a smile. But . . . He'd seen it in her eyes, the desperate need to make the Commander happy. 'Why?' 'Commander Ikari opened the superheated hatch on the entry plug . . . May have died from internal bleeding.' The thought resonated in his mind. 'Does she feel . . . Indebted to him? No its something more then that the devotion in her eyes, that goes beyond fanaticism.'

He snapped off that track of thought as he reached the dormitories. Ritsuko had said Rei had moved in here shortly after his arrival, apparently to facilitate better security. Her apartment had also been destroyed when the haymacker he'd laid on the 3rd Angel had sent it flying into entire block. But Ritsuko had decided not to make Shinji feel any more guilty for what he couldn't help.

The appropriate room was at the end of the hallway, a plain gray door with Ayanami R. above it, Room 304. 'This is the place.'

He knocked slightly but received no reply, shrugging, he checked the door. It slid open easily, revealing a room messy enough to make his eye twitch in horror. Bloody bandages lay strewn about, uncollected Styrofoam plates from the cafeteria, rotting food, dirty underwear. It was the underwear that nearly gave him a heart attack. His instinctive fear of all things female coming to the forefront. The one thing his friendship with Yumi hadn't helped him with was women's undergarments considering Yumi more often then not would just as easily wear a pair of boxers.

In his shock he stepped further into the room passing the restroom without noticing the sound of running water.

The underground apartment room wasn't particularly big, a single room with a washroom by the door. A bed in one corner, a dresser beside it a few chairs and a desk. It was in fact reminiscent of a cheap hotel room, though Shinji suspected that it had been much cleaner before its current resident had moved in. The sad thing was that for Rei this was in fact an improvement.

Shinji placed the ID card down on Rei's bed next to a clean set of school close where she was sure not to miss it. He looked about noting the loose comfortable shirt and pants Yumi had provided Rei for the training exercises with the Mark Strife, they seemed to be the only thing laying out with the exception of the school close that were clean.

Them and . . . Shinji starred at the dressed. 'Rei doesn't wear glasses.' Shinji noted walking up to the dresser. He took the glasses off and looked at the Frames. "Gendo . . ." He muttered as he saw the name printed on their side, he could tell they were heat warped, one of the lenses was cracked. "Was he wearing these . . . When he saved her?" Out of curiosity Shinji put the glasses on.

A door slid open. Shinji turned, and paled, he wasn't un accustomed to a naked girl, but he was also a fairly respectful person. Those times he had seen Yumi unclothed had been out of necessity, not to say he would have minded, perhaps, one day, doing it out of something else, but here it was because of his gross disrespect of another's personnel space.

He stood frozen for several seconds. Rei regarded him coldly and then advanced across the room with a few short determined steps, pulling the glasses from his face. This caused a rather interesting chain of events as he tried to avoid touching her, her skin still hot and damp from the shower pressed against his shirt, along with something else . . . He pressed himself farther against the dresser causing Rei to reach further and then he whiplashed back forward on top of her.

They were silent for several long seconds, Rei starred up at Shinji who looked frozen as if his brain was trying to process what he saw. She felt . . . Uncomfortable laying like this, she didn't know why . . . But she didn't like it.

"Would you . . . Get off." Rei asked quietly.

Shinji really what he was doing and snapped up rod straight face flushed red. "I a-apologize I didn't meant t-to . . ."

"Why are you here?" Rei asked quickly.

"Uh, mmm, yo-your ID card, Ri-Ritsuko said." He tried to spasm out. Ritsuko had asked her to deliver the card to Rei any time before she left the GeoFront after the activation tests would have been fine but he'd simply decided to do it now. A big mistake.

"So uhm, he-here . . ." He blinked in surprise as the door closed.

Shinji hurried back to trail behind Rei who was already dressed and well down the hallway heading for the elevators.

This section of the GeoFront was directly above the pilot lockers but the express elevator had been equipped with a security card reader recently due to the Arrival of MESSIAH's maintenance detachment, which was still, maddeningly sneaking supplies into the city without Section Two being able to track them.

Rei ran her ID card through the reader and frowned as it flashed red, she ran into again, and then a third time growing frustrated.

"Here." Shinji offered, sliding the new ID card. He handed it to her. "Ritsuko told me to give this to you."

Rei starred for a moment and then took the card from his hand sharply, proceeding into the elevator. Shinji dashed in before the doors shut on him. Something he'd learned about NERV there elevators did not have safeties on the doors.

He felt the elevator begin its decent and ventured a glance at Rei. She was starring emotionlessly at the elevator doors.

Shinji spoke. "Are you afraid of piloting EVA, Rei?"

No response.

"I, heard about the tests with Unit-00, I'm sorry you had to go through something like that."

Rei still didn't reply. "Does, the Commander make you pilot?" He asked disgust in his voice as he said 'commander'.

Rei finally spoke, "Commander Ikari, you distrust him."

"Of course, the mans a cold hearted bastard who'll only do something if its in his own interests."

Rei stiffened very slightly and then turned slowly around facing Shinji.

There was anger in her eyes as she slapped, furious that somebody would insult HER Commander. She blinked in surprise as Shinji gripped her hand at the wrist, stopping it inches from his face. His eyes were filled with surprise and a little shame. "I apologize if insulting him affects you Rei, but I would not strike you for liking him, I ask that you don't strike me for expressing my legitimately concluded views."

Rei starred at him, looking angry and then a very slight redness crossed her face in embarrassment, she had nearly struck a superior officer, even if his rank was only relevant in the absence of other NERV personnel.

Shinji released her hand. "I'm . . . sorry I didn't mean to offend you." He said sincerely. The elevator opened onto the level of the pilot lockers. Rei got off.

"Good luck today, Ayanami."

Rei did not reply instead choosing to ignore him utterly.

'What a strange girl . . . Yumi really hasn't been able to do much with her either.' Shinji thought as he road the elevator up two levels to the catwalks of MESSIAH's enclave. The Mark Strife had been requested to be put on standby incase of a berserker episode with Unit-01 such as the one with Unit-00.

The elevator doors opened once more. "Hate me if you have to, I wouldn't blame you. Just . . . Don't die kid."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Tanaka stood next to Misato as the two Captains observed the activation of Unit-01 from a viewing deck.

"So this is one of NERV's vaunted Evangelions", Tanaka whispered. He had to admit it was no slouch for looks.

"Yeah, until you guy s came along we liked to think of it as the last hope for mankind against the angel."

"Its still one of our last hopes, just not the only one." Tanaka said.

"That's true." Misato agreed. They both went silent as the activation test began.

"Activation voltage has past critical point." Maya announced as she sat next to the other bridge members in the activation stations.

"Connect pilot to Unit-01." Aoba reported.

"Opening circuits."

"Pulse and harmonics are normal." Ritsuko reported.

"No problems detected, we are in sync."

"All nerve links complete, central nerve elements are nominal."

"Checklist is satisfactory, up to 2590. Approaching critical mark, 2.5 more, 1.7, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2, 0.1, and rising! Borderline cleared." Maya reported, she looked up. "Unit-01 has been activated."

Rei nodded to herself in the entry plug, "Roger, beginning interlock tests."

A phone rang in the test control room. Fuyutsuki picked it up and listened. He looked to Gendo, "Ikari, an unidentified object is rapidly approaching NERV central. It may be the 5th Angel."

"Abort the test. Place all operations on first stage alert." Gendo ordered. On cue the alarms began to sound warning both NERV and MESSIAH personnel of the impending attack.

"Your not going to use Unit-01 yet, are you?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"No, she's not ready for combat yet." 'Neither of them are . . .' Gendo thought to himself. "What is the Mark Strife's status."

"Lieutenant Ikari is currently on standby, the Strife can be ready to launch in one hundred and fifty seconds." Operative Captain Tanaka informed as he came rushing in, Misato right behind him.

Gendo nodded, "Make it so." He turned back to view Unit-01 standing in the activation cage. "Rei, the activation tests have been completed. Return now."

"Yes Sir." Rei whispered, the plug went through its standard deactivation procedure leaving her in a cool darkness for a few moments. Unseen to anyone Rei laid her head back, and exhaled a soft stream CO2 bubbles as she sighed in relief.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So its stopped dead above us?" Shinji asked.

"Bad choice of words, but yeah." Rico replied as he spoke with Shinji over the com line. "Unit-01 isn't ready to fight yet, and we don't know what were facing so we're going to scramble you to see what you can see."

"Roger."

Shinji blinked in surprise as he saw Rei standing on a nearby platform, she seemed to be waiting to watch the strife launch. Shinji grinned and manipulated the Strife's left hand to give her a Victory sign. She cocked her head curiously. Shinji sighed, he would definitely have to spend more time with Yumi and Rei. Even after spending a month with the girl he hadn't really made any progress with her as a person, and he was certain that if she didn't learn to open up she would never get past her current ratio of 30 percent linkage with 10 percent cross interference.

That was the last thought he had time for as he was locked into position on the launch ramp.

"Releasing primary lock bolts". Hyugga reported.

Misato and Tanaka stood on the second bridge tier watching as the bridge crew went through the launch preparations.

"Removing secondary restraints." Hyugga continued.

"Roger." Shinji replied bringing up a holographic wire frame of the strife showing that all of the locking rings attaching it to the lift were still green.

"The target is now intruding into lake Ashino airspace." Aoba announced.

"Mark Strife is ready to launch." Hyugga announced.

"Lau -"

"Launch Strife!" Misato was cut off by Captain Tanaka.

Their was a flash of sparks and the Strife was hurled up to meet the 5th Angel.

Aoba's eyes widened, "We're detecting a high energy build up inside the target.'

"What did you say?" Misato shouted.

"What the hell?" Tanaka said almost simultaneously.

"The energy torus is accelerating and massing upon itself!" Aoba said.

"It can't be!" Ritsuko's eyes widened.

"Its going to fire!" Tanaka finished. 'It knew he was coming!'

The Strife reached ground level, just in time for Shinji to receive a warning from Misato.

"Shinji, look out, duck!"

"Uh?" Unfortunately the release locks had not yet finished detaching, the Strife was a sitting duck. Shinji saw it though, or felt it through the Strife to be precise, the electro magnetic build up. -Realization!- Was the Strife's sole thought as the 5th Angel fired, punching clean through an armored building between its floating form and the lift to hit the Strife.

Taking matters into its own hands the Strife activated its Affector throwing up a magnetic field to at least spread the shots energy. Shinji screamed as the particle beam punched through the Strife's hasty defense and burned into the out armor.

"RETRIEVE THE PILOT NOW!" Tanaka roared.

The lift descended back into the GeoFront at slightly less than terminal velocity.

"Pilot Status?" Tanaka asked.

"Pilots heartbeat is irregular."

"Hyugga, take over here, I'm heading to the hangar." Misato ordered. Tanaka was close behind her taking another one of the one man elevators off of the bridge to get to Shinji.

Ritsuko cursed as she watched the Strife continue its decent along the transport system. Maya's eyes widened. "The pilots heart beat has stopped."

Ritsuko's snapped around, is there anything we can do from here? She asked.

"Negative ma'am." Aoba replied, "The auto doctor in the pod is already doing everything it can, he wouldn't be any better off in an entry plug."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Yumi ran as hard as she could, her pace would have put a cheetah to shame as she narrowly avoided a technical crew, slamming into, and cracking one of the hardened plastic walls of the GeoFront to send herself ricocheting on a new heading, as she forced her way to the hangar. This wasn't the MESSIAH section of the GeoFront, it was an intermediate arming and equipping station normally used for outfitting the EVA's with special equipment.

Misato and Tanaka appeared a level above her already trying to get to the catwalk to reach the diver pod.

"We can't get the pod to eject, the armor plating has fused to the muscle skeleton." One of the techs reported.

Yumi's eyes widened as she saw how bad the damage was. "Shinji Sama!" She cried.

If they didn't get Shinji out soon, he'd be as good as dead. The Strife seemed to realize this as well, and in an act of initiative it would only take in extreme circumstances it took control of its body, blue eyes flashing to life as one massive arm came up to tear the ruined upper chest armor from its locks.

The armor tore away in a shrieking shower of sparks, revealing the Strife's terribly blistered muscle skeleton, burned so badly in some places that the sickly pale gray/green of muscle fibers could be seen showing through the coal black internal armor. Nano-paste flowed like thick black blood into the damaged sections as the Strife repaired its muscle skeleton and internal armor layers.

Then in a slightly nauseating motion the upper pectoral muscle clusters rippled and split aside like a jacket unzipping, revealing the safely nestled divers pod.

The pod unfolded on its aperture directly adjacent to the catwalk, emergency bolts blew unhinging the entire forward section of the pod. Yumi was the first one to approach, pulling Shinji from the diver seat she laid him out on the catwalk, unbuttoning his shirt to check him over. Shinji wore whatever he had on when piloting just like Yumi did. They'd gone through a phase of trying suits designed to enhance the receptor system in the Mark Units but that had been only a marginal success as the discomfort of wearing the suit generated cross interference during activation, and in fact often created unnecessary interference in the relay process.

'He's not breathing she realized in horror.' Thinking quickly, she started resuscitation, solid steady breathes into his mouth fallowed by hard swift compressions of his chest.

Misato and Tanaka finally reached them, "Shinji!" Misato shouted trying to reach the prone boy. Tanaka stopped her with one solid arm and tapped his watch. Misato glanced at it, the numbers were flashing and shifting as if the watch was on the fritz. "Yumi must be using her Affector to emulate his heart beat, she's trying to restart his heart, we shouldn't interfere." He said sternly. God how he wanted to interfered by Yumi had a better chance of resuscitating him then he or Misato, hell a better chance than any medical team in NERV.

'Please, please Shinji Sama.' Yumi's eyes started to tear up, she forced down one more time. A hacking, pained gasp for air made her eyes widen, she leaned over Shinji.

The first thing Shinji saw as he came back to the world, was a familiar face silhouetted in the harsh light, "Yu?" He asked weakly.

Yumi nodded, her eyes stinging. "Did you . . . Get the license of that truck?" He asked. She collapsed on top of Shinji, laughing, and crying as she hugged him around the neck. He blinked a few more times before wrapping his own arms around her, stroking the back of her head. "I'm fine, Yu, I'm fine."

Misato was next to him in an instant, Tanaka close behind her, both looked concerned but relieved as Yumi helped him sit up slowly.

"Can you move?" Tanaka asked concerned as he took his young friends arm.

"I'd really rather not." Shinji admitted before nodding, "But yeah, I think so."

Both Captains sighed in relief, "You had us worried Shinji." Misato said.

"I bet, but I couldn't die . . . They'd make me fill out the paperwork."

Misato laughed, as she and Yumi helped him stand, "Looks like we're going to need a plan B." Tanaka commented.

"Looks that way." Misato agreed. 'No if we can only figure out what that plan is.'

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Just off the shore of lake Ashino a small boat moved as high speed, pulling a life size inflatable replica of EVA Unit-01 behind it. When the order was given a line was cut causing a pistol in the decoy balloon's hand. Almost instant the decoy was vaporized as the 5th Angel, looking like a pair of glass pyramid glued together at the bases, registered it as a target firing a powerful particle beam from its equator.

"It's accelerated particle beam cannon has hit the balloon. The decoy's been vaporized." Aoba reported, shaking his head.

"Ok, lets try the next one." Misato ordered.

Not far from decoys destruction site a type 12 high velocity low angle mortar was drawn out of a hidden weapons site. The stubby weapon fired sending its projectile down range to be reflected harmlessly off the Angel's AT field. An instant later the Angel responded in kind with its particle cannon.

"The Type-12 mortar has been vaporized." Aoba said.

"Yeah I can see that." Misato sighed.

"Hmmm, one more thing left to try then." Tanaka said. He opened a com line, "Yumi, are you in position?"

High above on the surface, moving around the shoulder of one of the hills for cover, Yumi brought the Mark Ziel and its now infamous 5000 Caliber high velocity rifle to bear. She shouldered the weapon in the Ziel's heavy weapons arms, the lesser normal arms taking their positions to handle precision aiming. "Target ranged . . ." Yumi squinted slightly, took a breath, held it, and fired.

The round was just as devastating as her last, a shell traveling so fast that if she didn't shoot with the mountains as a back stop it was likely the shell would arc off into an inhabited city literally hundreds of miles away. The shell roared across the lake, raising a wall of water behind it, and stopped instantly by the Angel's AT field. The now blunted oval of glowing, superheated alloy and composites quivered as its shockwave caught up with it, and then skipped off on a high arcing trajectory that the MAGI later computed sent it off into mid Pacific.

Yumi had a good idea what was coming next and moved fast, not letting the surprise that her shot had failed to penetrate slow her. An instant later the place where the Mark Ziel had been crouching was vaporized in a flash of light and heat.

"Well . . . I'm spent for idea's unless you want me to go up there and use harsh language on it." Tanaka commented dryly.

Misato shook her head, "We'll just need to think of a plan."

Hyuga decided now would be the best time to cut in, he'd been trying for a long time to get Misato's attention, and now here was a chance for him to impress her with his own analysis. "We've concluded from the data collected that the Angel attacks any moving object that enters a pre determined proximity to it. So there is a 100 percent probability that it will engage anything that attempts to approach, its too risky for close range combat in an EVA isn't it?"

"Probably . . . What's the status of the targets AT field?" Misato asked.

A recording of the first shot from the Type-12 mortar, and the 5000 caliber rifle played on the screen. "Its still active, the Field is strong enough that the spatial change in phase are visible . . . And needless to say conventional means of attack such as guided missiles, artillery and bombs would do more damage to us then the angel."

"Yeah offensively and defensively its almost perfect, a real flying fortress." Misato agreed. "And what's the angels current position." Misato asked?

"At this moment the target is directly above us, penetrating the Tokyo-3 null zone. A giant shield with a diameter of 17.5 meters is boring towards Nerv HQ." Hyuga said.

"There are so many dirty jokes I could make about that." Tanaka coughed.

Misato gave him a quick angry glance but had to agree. "Sassy bastard, and what's its estimated time of arrival?"

"Assuming no change in drill speed the Angel will penetrate breach the GeoFront, 6 minutes and 54 seconds after midnight. By that time it will have breached all twenty two layers of defensive armor." Hyuga said. "But . . . what good will drilling one hole do?" Hyuga asked.

"It's not going to drill just one . . ." Tanaka muttered. "Here, here, here, and here." He continued pointing out a series of points directly between various lifts shafts. "I'll bet you those are its next drills sites, give it five or six days and . . ."

"It'll bring the whole city down on top of us." Misato finished.

"Maybe we should just raise a white flag." Hyuga said.

"Perhaps not . . ." Tanaka muttered looking at the layout of launch sites around Toyko-3.

"Look here Captain, these buildings would completely hide the launch of Unit-01 and the Mark Strife."

"What are you thinking?" Misato asked. Tanaka explained, she disagreed with some of the small points, but in the end with Hyuga, Tanaka, and herself arguing it out they came up with something, stupid, dangerous, and highly unusual. Which of course meant, she liked it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So we're going to use a sniper to take it out?" Shinji asked.

"That's the basic plan." Tanaka agreed as he sat, one leg crossed on his affector ball, floating a few meters above Shinji's head.

"What about the target's AT field?" Rei asked softly as she stood beside Yumi and Shinji on the second level of the bridge.

"That's where Unit-01 comes in", Tanaka said.

"To put it simply, we are going to deploy Unit-01 and the Mark Strife in close proximity to the 5th Angel. You will then advance using the Strife as a shield to get Unit-01 within range to neutralize the AT field." Misato explained.

An image appeared on the main monitor of Central Dogma, a Chibi Unit one and Chibi Mark Strife advanced down a street with the 5th Angel floating at the end. The Angel fired, but the Strife pulled out a shield and continued to advance Unit-01 right behind it. Just before the Strife reached the Angel the shield flashed out of existence like a power up bonus in an old video game leaving the Chibi Strife to take the damage directly for half a second. In that time Unit-01 got in directly next to the Angel. The AT field flickered out of existence.

The image zoomed out to show a chibi Mark Ziel wielding its impossibly heavy sniper rifle. The cannon fired, punching a neat whole through the Angel.

All three mecha turned to face the screen and gave small V's. Unit-01 and the Mark Ziel were fine, though the Mark Strife was toasted a golden brown.

"We'll be using Unit-01 to neutralize the AT field due to an EVA's ability to negate the Angel's field instantly while a Mark Unit would need to lower the field using sustained conventional fire after disabling its ability to regenerate." Tanaka said.

"And you . . . Consider using me as an Angel chew toy to be a good idea?" Shinji asked neutrally.

"Look at it this way, you'll be protecting a damsel who would otherwise be in distress." Tanaka said as he lowered his affector ball to poke Shinji in the ribs.

"Besides were handing out a thermal Shield provided by NERV and the Mark Strife's armored overcoat so you'll have plenty of armor to take the blast, both have an EM base layer, that, combined with your affector should let you stand up to the blast for a whole thirty seconds."

Shinji nodded, "Great so I have thirty seconds before I become a microwave treat for squat, equiangular, and ugly out there."

"Yeah, pretty much." Misato agreed.

Yumi looked at the screen, "Is there any risk of the Mark Ziel being attacked instead?"

Misato shook her head. "The Mark Ziel will be stationed outside of the Angel's engagement zone, it should have its attention fixed on the Mark Strife, but you'll have to take it out in the first shot. Aim for the center, if the Angel follows its basic design principal all the way through its core will be right in the middle."

Misato nodded to Hyugga, who coughed and removed a small booklet from his pocket. "This is a briefing of the operation Yashima time tables." Hyuga began.

"At 2000 hours Operative Cadet Toyama will be deployed with the Mark Ziel to the temporary base as Mt. Funteko to prepare for the operation. At 2200 hours Lieutenant Ikari and Pilot Ayanami will commence preparations and final equipment load out of the Mark Strife and Unit-01 respectively. At 2300 hours final operations checks will commence, at 0000 hours the operation will commence, operation completion time is to be no later than 0007 hours."
Hyuga closed the booklet.

"This operation was decided upon after considerable deliberation between both the NERV and MESSIAH tactical staff with input from the MAGI as well. It has the highest probability for success we've been able to come up with. You all have your instructions, dismissed." Misato said.

All three pilots nodded, "Yes Ma'am."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Six hours later Shinji say on the catwalk before the Mark Strife as it lay directly beneath its launch point clad in its knee length black armored overcoat, what the techs liked to call Shinji's coat from hell due to all of the weapons and armor that had been stashed inside of it. Unit-01, to his left side, its wickedly horned head rising nearly to rival the Strife him, its pilot Rei Ayanami sat in her plugsuit, knees tucked up to her chin.

They'd sat like this for the last half hour awaiting the launch order. "Ayanami . . . Why do you do this?"

"Do what?" Rei asked not looking away from Unit-01.

"Pilot these things, from what I've heard they've caused you nothing but pain."

Rei bowed her head down, it wasn't an entirely bad question, Unit-00 had been a cold weight on her shoulders for so long, and despite being transferred to Unit-01 her life was still no less Spartan or difficult. "I am bonded to it." She said softly.

"Bonded." Shinji asked, he kicked himself for never asking Rei about the EVA's before.

"Yes. A bond."

"Do you mean to the Commander, or to EVA?"

"Not just to them. To all people." Rei said softly.

Shinji smiled weakly, "You make it sound like you were made to pilot EVA."

There was no reply.

Shinji had one more question. "Ayanami, are you afraid that we'll fail."

"No. I am confident that you and Cadet Toyama will succeed in your duty. I will do the same."

Shinji nodded, "I'll succeed Ayanami, I'll protect you, we'll both succeed so that Yumi will be safe too." Rei nodded, "If I fail to neutralize the AT field then neither of you will survive to make it to a lift. I will protect you as well."

Shinji shuddered a little at how she said those words so neutrally, she sounded like the thought of her own death bored her.

"You're a far stronger person than me Rei." Shinji finally said respectfully.

"I have nothing else." Rei whispered softly. 'EVA is all that I am . . .'

Rei cut her own thoughts short, standing quickly. "It is time to go . . . Goodbye Shinji."

With that Rei walked along the catwalk to Unit-01's entry plug leaving Shinji gapping. 'Goodbye? Does this girl intend to die out there?'

He shook his head, Rei wouldn't die because he would cover her even if she was a proving a pain in the ass to get through to he felt there must be some sort of potential beneath it all. Something else kept tugging at the back of his mind, a false smile he wanted to see her smile at least out of happiness.

He brushed that thought away and focused on the Strife as he entered the divers pod. "Has she attempted to speak with you?"

-Negative-

"Is she aware of your presence?"

-Aversion, affirmative, troubled-

"You mean your troubled or she is?"

-Troubled- The Strife insisted, in a way that emphasized both of them in his mind.

"So Rei is troubled too."

-Agreement-

"Do you still think it is a good idea for her to pilot.

-Affirmative, confidence, acknowledgment- The strife replied as the lift was readied.

"You've always been stubborn."

-Indifferent Agreement-

"Very well. We'll make sure Rei gets through this alive so we can get her up to snuff."

-Tugging, Elaboration, Agreement-

Shinji blinked at the sensations as he worked out what the strife was trying to say, it wasn't just using its thought language this time. It looked through his memories and showed him memories of spending time with Yumi and then flashed images of Rei.

"You want ME to be her friend?"

-Agreement-

"I'm supposed to train her to pilot not get close to her, you remember the . . ."

-Irritation- Images of Tanaka and Rico flashed before him showing how his own trainers had become closely involved with him. Images of the Colonel who had told him to forget that bull about not getting involved if you genuinely understood love then being involved would not affect you on the battle field.

"Is this the time to be talking about this?"

-Irritation-

He sighed, "Will it make you feel better about all of this?"

-Agreement-

Shinji closed his eyes, then nodded. "Yeah your write, Yumi's trying to be her friend but she may need to take the initiative . . . And . . . She seems so sad."

-Sincere Agreement- Even the Strife had sensed her sadness, more so, it had sensed that Rei didn't even understand she was in pain. What was causing this the Strife could not tell, the girl had not opened herself to it enough for it to share thoughts and memories with her. Though it suspected that she may have begun to hear its surface emotions, great progress from her first time.

And then there was no time to think as the Strife and Unit-01 rocketed to the surface.

It was dark when Shinji hit ground level, the timer began alerting him that Unit-01 had only five minutes of power. They couldn't use the umbilical cable with this plan if they wanted Unit-01 to retain the speed to get inside the 5th Angels firing shadow. 'An umbilical cable, some ultimate weapon for mankind.' Shinji though rolling his eyes as he extracted the thermal shield from the weapons locker in front of him.

"Ayanami stay tight."

"Affirmative Lieutenant Ikari." Rei replied.

They advanced down the street, the final building before their turn was coming up, as soon as they hit the main street the countdown began for how long Shinji could last against the hellish blast of that monsters particle cannon. Shinji was painfully aware that other then the Strife's overcoat the machine was completely missing its external upper body armor. The kilometer long sprint from that corner to the 5th Angel was looking painfully long.

Shinji paused before the corner and opened a com line to Rei. "Ayanami, on three I'm going to move I want your right behind me."

"Yes Sir." Rei replied.

"One . . . Two . . . THREE!"

The Strife swung around the corner leading with its shield. 1000 meters. 1 second.

The 5th Angel, Ramiel, detected this transgression upon its defensive cordon immediately and began charging its particle cannon. 960 meters. 2 seconds.

The Strife had taken a total of nine steps before the Angels beam hit. The shot was warped by the magnetic field created by the Strife's affector but at that range the energy blast really couldn't be diluted to much. The Shield began to melt.

Yumi squinted as she watched the energy blasts end point begin to move towards the angel, she took careful aim. 'Hurry Shinji Sama.' 870 meters. 5 seconds.

The Strife began its all out sprint hitting full speed, the shield was still holding barely as Unit-01 charged behind its. 700 meters. 10 seconds.

Rei could see only the dark silhouette of the Strife's hulking form before her, lit by the impossible radiance of the Angels particle beam. She kept close behind Shinji as he had ordered, she felt a strange duplicity within the plug as if Unit-01 felt the same need to complete the mission. 560 meters. 15 seconds.

The shield began to give way disintegrating and revealing the armored overcoat of the Mark Strife. Shinji pulled the cloak up to take the energy blast, hoping it would last a few seconds longer then the shield. 400 meters. 18 seconds.

Everyone in terminal dogma was watching and listening as the Strife reached its break off point. "AYANAMI NOW!" Shinji shouted as he and the strife rolled off behind the cover of a series of armored buildings. 150 meters. 26 seconds.

The Angel's particle lance followed him before attempting to switch back to Rei. Before it had the chance Rei shifted the entire massive bulk of Unit-01 so that the EVA full backwards skidding in a shower of sparks before coming to stop almost beneath the Angel. There was a flash of heat and sparks, everybodies eyes widened. The entire plan had been built on the assumption that the Angel couldn't protect itself at point blank range. 20 meters. 34 seconds.

Though it did not seem to be utilizing its particle beam apparently the angel did have a final defenseive weapon.

"A fucking heat ray, you have got to be kidding!" Tanaka snarled as an entire facet of the Angel's diamond like body glowed blue/white, casting a focused white light upon Unit-01.

'NO' Shinji and the Strife had almost the same thought as he rolled out from behind a building, one massive arm reaching into the darkened folds of the Strife's over coat and withdrawing a sawed down shot gun of impossible proportions.

"The targets AT field has been neutralized." Aoba shouted.

"YUMI NOW!" Misato ordered.

Yumi's cannon fired the shell following its companions in the tradition of reaking havoc to its intended target and the surrounding environment.

The round went in one side of the Angel and out the other along with an entire facet of the Angel's smooth, chitinous, outer shell.

Cracks from the massive hydrostatic shock of the rounds passage coverd the body, their was no doubt that the thing was dead. Then it began its fall, right towards Unit-01 which lay, armor slagged before it. The drill bit beneath snapped off cleanly as it fell began its fall and then paused as an explosion shook its already mangled form. Shinji fired again, and again, the shells from the Strifes 32'' Shotgun knocking the angel onto a slightly different course that brought it down at a right angle to Unit-01.

Central dogma was silent. The Angels drill had been stopped fifteen seconds from penetrating the GeoFronts final armor layer.

"The target has gone silent." Aoba reported.

Nobody was listending instead intent upon the main monitor, a video feed from atop one of the armory buildings showed the Strife lift Unit-01's blisterd form to a sitting position and rip away the neck armor. The plug auto ejected and with infinite care the Strife placed it on the ground, well clear of the still red hot sidewalks and armor of Unit-01.

Shinji dropped from the divers pod sliding down the organically smooth lines of melted and reformed armor on the Strifes legs. He could feel the heat through his tennisues. 'Damnit Ayanami you better not be dead.' He thought to himself. -Stern Agreement- Was the Strife's reply. It was unusual for the massive machine to be able to communicate with Shinji outside of the pod, but it was not something that hadn't happened before.

'Stay out of this please.' Shinji asked as he came to the plug emergency hatch. He grabbed the handles on the hatch, cursing as his hands were seared by the heat. 'Screw it.' He thought to himself. He yanked the plug hatch open and pulled his hands away, a fine skeen of his own flesh coming off on the hatch. His palms were a bloody mess and he thought he could smell cooking pork, but that was irrelevant. He poked his head inside the plug, using one arm to shield himself from the plume of steaming LCL, Rei lay unconscious in the plug seat.

At least he though she was unconscious, "Ayanami." He shouted. "AYANAMI!" He shouted again when she didn't reply. 'God damnit don't be dead.' His throat tightened, why was he getting all choked up over this girl. 'Because I know . . . She's been sad for so long . . . I know . . . And the Strife knows.' He told himself.

He was near tears when he finally saw her shift a little. Her eyes cracked open. "Lieutenant Ikari?" She whispered weakly, "Was the Angel defeated?"

Shinji smiled and nodded, "We got it Rei, Yumi blew it straight to hell." He assured her.

She blinked and frowned as she sat up in her seat weakly. "Then . . . Why are you crying?" She asked.

He shook his head, "I'm crying for you ." He said smiling, "I'm crying because I'm happy your safe, that's what tears are for, showing that you care." Shinji said softly.

Rei thought about this, she'd never been told the meaning of tears, she had assumed that they meant one was sad. 'Perhaps they have a deeper meaning . . .' She considered this as Shinji helped her from the entry plug, shouldering her gently he saw in the moonlight that her entire face looked scalded red. 'Second or first degree burns then.' He thought, well if that was the worst she had then she was very fortunate.

He saw her down near the strifes feet noticing her shiver, he pulled off his own jacket and draped it over her. She blinked a few times, letting her vision clear.

"SHINIJ SAMA!" A voice boomed as a vibration built in the ground. The Mark Ziel stopped Two hundred meters from the remains of the Angel its huge rifle slung across its back, its heavy weapons arms trailing like a scarf. Yumi dropped to the ground straight from the diver pod, absorbing the thirty meter plummet on all fours.

She ran as hard as she could towards Shinji and Rei, her progress slowed greatly by the rubble in the immediate vacinity. Shinji waved to her before turning back to Rei, "Ayanami, don't ever say you have nothing else, don't ever say that again." He said smiling eyes still watery. "It would be a lie, maybe it was the truth before, but now it's a lie." He said. "You have me and Yu, you have us, and you have the Strife as well. And I'm certain if you asked you would have Misato and probably the some of our classmates."

Rei blinked again, she didn't fully understand, but the thought of something other then EVA, perhaps not the Strife, but human contact, did stir something in her. 'It hurst less . . . When Cadet Toyama talks to me.' Rei shook her head. "I'm very sorry Lieutenant Ikari, but I don't know what I should feel or say at a time like this."

Shinji cupper one hand beneath her chin and delicately led her gaze to look her in the eyes. "Then just smile."

She blinked a few times, her lips twitched curving upwards slightly. It was exagerate still, as if Rei was still trying to get used to how to shape her face into such a visage. Yet it was far from a mask this time.

When Yumi finally got to the two people she considered friends she stopped and then nodded as she saw a truly inoccent smile.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Doctor Toyama starred at the main monitor screen in her study. Captain Tanaka starred back from his own office within NERV. This transmission was encrypted and bounced off of so many satellites and relays that not even a MAGI level computer could have tracked it. This also caused a near ten second lag in communications as Tanaka continued.

"Damage to the Strife was minor, but the upper body armor has proven a liability like I said it would to begin with. We'll be leaving the unit without the external upper armor and rely on the overcoat for now so please don't send any more upper body plates in the supply convoys."

Doctor Toyama nodded. "And have you extracted the data from Yumi."

Tanaka shifted, "Yes Ma'am we've downloaded the data from the Mark Ziel's diver pod. Activation levels have exceed sixty two percent . . . So who do you think it will bond to."

"Your assuming a bond hasn't already been formed." Doctor Toyama said, adjusting her horn rimmed glasses.

Tanaka's eyes widened "Wait, you don't mean!" He caught himself, a good thing considering Doctor Toyama would be unable to catch him with the lag.

"As for that, yes, it makes him rather Unique among or pilot roster."

"Having two bonded to him." Tanaka said. "Look I care about Shinji as much as the next guy but can you really trust a person with that kind of power."

Doctor Toyama turned from the screen. "With the Exception of the two Arcadian artifacts discovered at the Beta site all of our Mark Unit's are simply copies. Even the Eldridge is essentially a copy of the Arcadian technology. And a pale copy at that, if the Mark Sol can be activated then it will be the first piece of Arcadian technology to be fully reactivated, not even the Mark Fear has exceeded seventy two percent capability we just don't know enough. But the Colonel told me this once, being bonded to a Mark Unit means that you do affect each other, your still individuals but there's a very deep bond to the machines own values. To put it simply he wouldn't be inclined to use that power selfishly because neither of the Mark Units would be inclined as such."

Tanaka scratched at his head. "Doc, that makes no sense to me and you know it."

She smiled, "And that's why you aren't a scientist." She said smiling. "Little Brother."

The man huffed, "You haven't admitted you were part of the family since Kiroshi died."

"I'm just like that Shiiro, you should know that, I still love him, and I love Yumi too, you know, he was so proud when he showed me the fetus. That was a year before her accelerated growth cycle completed and then finished installing the components. Even then I promised him that I would be her mother. Then, he died and . . ." She lowered her eyes.

"I know you miss him a lot Sayuri, I do to, he was a good man."

"I know . . . That's why I kept his name." She said softly.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Oh yes to the good Takashi Roiji I personally consider myself a Lieutenant Junior Grade, if you'll not that is Shinji's full rank in this fic -. I'll consider myself to have finally reached the vaunted rank of Colonel when I get an original work published (Not likely I'm at least aware that I am far from Banks, Laumer, or the great Weber when it comes to SF writing). For now I do this as a mental excercise.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Next Chapter: With MESSIAH and NERV in the business another organization tries to butt in on the anti monster market with Jet Alone. Will a still damaged Unit-01 be able to stop this menace or will MESSIAH have to step in? Will Yumi pull off a miracle or will all hope be lost in a nuclear meltdown? Next time around, It's . . . A Human Kind of Thing.