Reign of the Tabri
Disclaimer: Don't own Gainax. But I'd like too.
"If the Final Messenger is defeated by the neglected son it shall come to pass that the children rule all."- Dead Sea Scrolls, Chapter 17
Chapter 5: Capitol Capture
He missed them by scant minutes. The dust their cars had disturbed wasn't even settled yet.
This wouldn't have happened, Ireul mentally berated him, if you had gotten some transportation.
"You know how I feel about machines," he stopped and examined the hotel were they had stayed, "I don't like to use them unless I absolutely must."
You'll wish you had when Michel gets to them first.
Logani sighed. 'I suppose I will' he thought.
Throughout the long walk the night before he had paid attention for signs that Ireul was in his mind again. He had yet to detect any. All Ireul had done was simply reside in his body. He had no need for questions; he had seen Logani's whole life.
He looked down at the road to see which way the cars had gone. He easily picked out the van, Misato's car, and the NERV car's tire tracks. Strangely they split up. "Not a bad strategy." he spoke aloud.
No it isn't. They are 107 times less likely to be caught this way.
"Now the question is who went in what car?"
I'm afraid we are out of range of the nearest satellite system. I won't be able to track them electronically. One moment.
He waited for almost a full three seconds.
In the NERV car: Gendo Ikari, Rei Ayanami, Yanu Imazuki
In the Major's car: Misato Katsuragi, Shinji Ikari, Kato Goro
In the NERV van: Shigeru Aoba, Asuka Soryu, Ichuru Suzuki, and Yoko Sato.
All cars are headed to ports. Analysis shows they will head out of the country.
'Way to point out the obvious' he thought. Still no intrusion, he expected it at any time. 'Headed to ports, think they'll leave the country?'
"We should of course follow the younger Ikari."
Negative.
"Negative? He's the most important."
True. However I have detected abnormal brain activity in the second child.
"How the hell did you get their brain activity patterns? More importantly, how did you get the second child's most recent brain activity?" he demanded. If Ireul could read others minds she was probably reading his. Just in some way he couldn't feel.
When I had access to the Magi I got a copy of the children's individual brain activity patterns. As for your second question… I can tell from the AT-field wakes they left.
Logani thought this over for a moment.Ireul's sources sounded solid, he knew Ireul could do things he couldn't. Ireul was a messenger after all. "What do you mean by different?" he asked, referring to Asuka's brain pattern.
They are fluctuating rapidly. I can't quite pick out specific things, but I fear she is losing her desire to live.
Logani mulled this over in his head. Go after the third child for extra protection? Or hope Shinji would be fine and go after the second child, who while less useful was at more of a risk? His decision was made in a snap.
"Fine. Let's go then." He headed off to follow the NERV van's tracks.
Asuka gritted her teeth and ran.
Shigeru wasn't far behind her. The two Section Two agents with them dropped to their knees and opened fire.
Orange hexagon's stopped the bullets, and then Asuka was out of the warehouse they had been staying in. Ichuru's last words were still ringing in her head. He'd said, "Ow shit! Run!"
Then Asuka had run. She didn't know how they had been found. They'd been completely discreet as far as she could tell. No explosions or mistakes had happened. They'd made it into China fine. They had made it almost all the way to India fine. Then suddenly the skinny white haired man had kicked the door of the warehouse in and Ichuru had yelled for her to run.
Aoba ran behind her. He knew the Section Two agents were already dead.He also knew he and Asuka were almost surely goners. He hadn't seen anything to show that these...Tabri were merciful in the least.
They ran through forest. The trees were fairly thick. They couldn't go at full speed or else they'd run into one. Behind them they could hear the assailant following them. He crushed trees with his AT-field rather then let them get in his way.
Ferocian, Tabri of Arrogance, was disappointed. When they heard that this was called the third group they had thought it would have the third child. He thought for sure he would be the one to capture the third child.
Ow well, this one was sport. After he had killed the two expendables he had set out to herd the remaining two into his twin brother and his sister. After they were caught they could be made to tell where the third child was.
The second child was falling right into the trap. Just like Ferocian knew she would.
Asuka rounded the last tree and found herself in the open. Far away she could see another line of trees but between it and her lay a long field. She nearly collapsed. She knew she wasn't strong enough to reach the other side. She was tired enough as it was.
Aoba grabbed her and started pulling her. The thought that they wouldn't make it never crossed his mind. He was however surprised by Asuka's reaction. She had never been one to give up. Still, she had seemed different, specifically much much quieter, during this journey. Shigeru didn't know about the suicide attempts. He assumed the now fading scars were from the battle in Tokyo-3.
Shigeru had carried Asuka almost into the middle of the field when he realized that there were others in the field. There was a woman and a man. Both had white hair, the girl had red eyes and the man had hazel eyes. 'Oh shit.' Shigeru thought. Asuka didn't even notice them, she just stared downwards.
The man who had been following them came up behind them. The three Tabri now formed a triangle around them. Shigeru gritted his teeth; he knew he probably wouldn't make it out of this. He remembered the news broadcast Michel had made. The Tabri wanted Asuka alive for some reason; there had been no mention of the people who they were with. He looked down at Asuka. Her hair nearly completely covered her face and her head was slumped downwards.
"Don't tell them anything Asuka." Shigeru said. Asuka lifted her head a little bit so that they were starring each other in the eyes. Shigeru smiled.
Fastosun, Tabri of Pride, ripped Shigeru to shreds with his AT-field. Asuka fell to the ground and hit her head. She started to black out. Above her she thought she saw an angel. No, it couldn't be an angel. The angels were beasts and if one were above her it would surely be an enemy. Yet, somehow she didn't feel threatened by it. She smiled dumbly, perplexed by the giant white wings above her.
Ira, Tabri of Anger, stood over the second child. She was smiling at something, what Ira couldn't guess. Her eyes seemed to look past Ira into the above. 'What's she so happy about?' thought Ira. Ira glanced up and gasped. She dove out of the way as the colossal winged form smashed into where she had just been. Ira went into a roll, bounced, and landed on her feet. She turned to once again look at the winged form.
Ferocian and Fastosun's facial expressions were nearly identical. A sort of surprise mixed with excitement. They recognized the shape and were looking forward to battling him.
Asuka's head began to clear. She found herself looking from a hole in the ground. Above the…foxhole she was in stood a boy with long blonde hair, blue eyes, and wings. He looked down at her and smiled a reassuring smile. Then he turned away to do battle with her attackers.
'Maybe I do have a guardian angel,' thought Asuka, 'but why did he wait to show up till now?'
Logani's facial expression changed from reassuring to focused. He flapped his wings slightly and floated about a foot in the air. Around him Ferocian, Fastosun, and Ira crouched ready to spring. Ira was the strongest of the three, but the twins could be deadly together. Eliminate one twin, then Ira, then the other twin. It would work.
He dive-bombed at Ferocian from one foot up. It wasn't a high-class dive-bomb, but it was fast and it was powerful. Before Ferocian knew what was happening Logani had barreled into him. They were back in the forest in seconds, fighting tooth and nail for the upper hand. Logani's shoulder plow at the opening had given him the upper hand by a great deal, but now Ferocian had better use of his arms and a direct shot on Logani's wings.
When Logani had attacked Ira and Fastosun had not hesitated in the least. They took off after the tangled mass at a sprint. Logani continuously flew into trees giving Ferocian the brunt of each impact. He flew on and soon Ferocian's struggles lessened, and then stopped. He dropped the battered body of the Tabri of Arrogance onto the ground. "I never wanted to have to hurt any of you, I swear," he whispered weakly before turning to face the onrushing Ira and Fastosun.
When Fastosun saw his twin brother's body he stopped in disbelief. His brother was the second most powerful, behind only Fastosun himself. He couldn't have been killed by this, this deserter!
Fastosun stopping gave Logani the upper hand once again. He only had one to worry about now. He spread his wings once again and flew straight into Ira. She swung at him but he flipped around her and grabbed her around the neck. Her partial human instincts kicked in and her arms went to try to pull his hands off. Meanwhile, he gained altitude.
When she finally managed to get Logani's hands off her neck she smiled. Then, when she realized she was now in freefall hundreds of feet above the ground, she got angry. She hit the ground with a smash.
She stood up and checked herself over. She was only slightly damaged. Her legs ached a little but besides that she was fine, her AT-field hadn't even been necessary. She turned back to look at her opponent, still far above as far as she knew.
Logani slammed into her at an angle that broke her heavily reinforced spine immediately. Ira fell to the ground and was only able to watch as Logani landed beside her.
Fastosun, enraged at his immortal brother's death, kneed Logani in the back. The surprise attack threw Logani forward, right onto Ira. He managed to get on one knee and then he noticed Ira was smiling. She transformed into a near liquid state and then wrapped herself around Logani. Logani shut his eyes only a second before she exploded.
The crater was about twenty feet wide and five feet deep. In her foxhole Asuka ducked down to protect herself. Fortunately the shock wave passed right over her. After it had dissipated slightly she got out and looked where she had last seen her defender.
Logani's body was covered in burns. He gritted his teeth and managed to flip himself onto his back. He started to apply his AT-field to heal himself but it was cut out from around him. Fastosun walked forward into his limited sight. "You killed my brother you bastard!"
He kicked Logani in the ribs and Logani flipped over. Once again he managed to flip himself over. He spoke weakly but with a small smile, "I'm the High Speaker, I can do what I want. That's the excuse Michel is using isn't it?"
These latest words drove Fastosun even more into a rage. He smashed his fist into Logani's face, breaking his nose. "You are no High Speaker! What High Speaker would abandon his father when he needs him the most!" Logani moaned and Fastosun kicked him again. This kick sent him ten feet and there he collapsed in a heap. Now one of his wings was clearly broken, going off in a completely awkward direction.
Logani coughed up a small puddle of blood, "I regret leaving the conclave then more then anything else. Giving Michel power was the stupidest thing I've ever done."
Asuka couldn't stand to see her defender hurt like this anymore. Her guardian angel was willing to die for her, weak that she was. The least she could do was hurt the last attacked before she went down. 'Drag hell with you, as grandma used to say.' she thought.
Filled with a little of her old fire, Asuka got out of her foxhole and sneaked to the only remaining attacked.
In Fastosun's defense he was tormenting Logani. That was the only reason he didn't hear Asuka get behind him. When she was ready Asuka tapped Fastosun on the shoulder. She stopped him in some tirade about how somebody should've been the Tabri of Abandonment instead of Honor. Fastosun turned around quickly and then he noticed it was Asuka. He laughed, dropped practically all of his defenses, and was about to say something over his shoulder when Asuka struck. Fortunately male Tabri are male Tabri.
Fastosun collapsed to the ground holding his very pained groin. This gave Logani time to crawl over to Asuka. She drew away slightly from his heavily burned body. She stopped however when she saw his eyes. They were still the same, reassuring in a strange way. She stared into them for a brief moment before Logani turned back to Fastosun. "You have to kill him," he whispered, low enough that Fastosun wasn't alerted at all.
Asuka had none of Shinji's caring for other beings. She now recognized what needed to be done. "How?" she returned just as quietly.
Logani smiled through cracked lips. "Think of your mother," he whispered weakly.
'My mother?' thought Asuka. She didn't want to. She really didn't want to, but he had barely stopped speaking when she was practically assaulted by memories.
Her mother holding her as a child. Her mother reading to her.
Her mother teaching her.
Her mother right before she went into Unit-02 for the first time.
Her mother mistaking her for a doll.
Her mother hanging from a rope.
Logani closed his eyes and could feel a part of Ireul pull away from him. Ireul had sent a few drones into Asuka. Not a lot but enough. As Asuka thought of her mother Ireul saw the images. Being open withanother would allowher to spread outher AT-field as lesswould beneeded to protecther soul. For the first time Asuka was being open with another. The funny thing was she didn't even know it.
Ireul saw: Asuka's mother holding her as a child.
Asuka's mother reading to her.
Asuka's mother teaching her.
Asuka's mother right before she went into Unit-02 for the first time.
Asuka's mother mistaking her for a doll.
Asuka's mother hanging from a rope.
Ireul saw it all, but didn't really understand.
Asuka's eyes shot open. Standing in front of her was the last assailant and he was angry. He reached out his arms to touch her and was stopped by shining hexagons.
Fastosun screamed. His AT-field was still blocking Logani's and therefore couldn't protect his body or soul. He began to melt into LCL.
Asuka watched in horror as he melted. What was going on? Had her guardian angel done something while she was unconscious? Wait… the liquid he was turning into looked familiar. 'It looks exactly like LCL,' she thought. 'No way! I didn't breathe that stuff. That's impossible!' She drew back more from the now collapsing Fastosun.
Logani wasted no time. As soon as Fastosun had begun to collapse he freed his AT-field. He began to heal his badly burned body, cannibalizing his wings for needed material. He could grow them back later. 'I actually won.' he thought. He had thought for sure he wouldn't win against three of them, especially losing the element of surprise like he had. Still, he had wanted to protect the second child. Ireul had unsurprisingly agreed with him.
When Fastosun was completely melted Asuka's AT-field returned to her. She fell forward, losing consciousness once again. Fortunately Logani was healed enough to catch her.
She came to only a few minutes later. She found herself looking up at her mysterious defender, now mostly healed. "What happened?" she managed to get out. Confusion was her strongest emotion at the moment.
He smiled slightly and then said mysteriously, "You conquered Pride." Suddenly the strange boy's eyes undialated. He seemed to be staring far away. He gasped, and then hurriedly got to his feet. He looked down at Asuka. "We have to get out of here right now."
"What? Why? You killed them all didn't you?" asked Asuka. She managed to stand on weak legs. She fell and the boy caught her. He put one of her arms over his shoulder to carry her easier. His wings were mysteriously gone now.
"Death is coming," he whispered to her. Then he started hobbling along with her. They were going to the once far away forest, now very close swamp.
AN: First off many, many thanks to Animefan64 for proofreading. I've gotta say it looks a lot better now. Once again, many many thanks.
Chapter 5 will be out sometime next weekend some time. Look for it. r&R.