Reign of the Tabri
Chapter 11: Seek and Destroy
The elevator dropped deeper and deeper into NERV 12. Its sole occupants, Commander Ikari and Logani, stood with their arms behind them, both starring straight into the doorway that would soon open.
Commander Ikari scowled, "Stop mocking me," he said.
Logani didn't bat an eyelash, "Mocking you? What do you mean?"
Commander Ikari turned to Logani and smoothly pushed his glasses up with his middle finger. Logani snorted and continued to stare into the doorway. At long last he said, "What precautions will you be taking with them?"
"We've increased the Section Two force around them. They're also not going to leave this base. They can stay here until they rot as far as I'm concerned. Who will have each one?" asked Commander Ikari.
Logani took a minute to think about this question. "It's hard to tell. Some, like Sachiel for example, will be obvious. Others, like Ramiel or Israfel, could go to multiple people. But make no mistake, they won't be split. I could make you a list but I'd say for sure that Shinji will have the most," the last sentence was whispered.
Commander Ikari barely hesitated, "Get me that list."
Logani nodded, "Of course," he considered something for a moment, and then said "I suppose we won't be telling any of them this'?
Commander Ikari barely held in a laugh, "What do you think?"
There was silence the rest of the trip.
It was nearly a week since the destruction of Ireul and the leaders of NERV, or what was left of it, had decided to meet to plan their strategy.
And so Misato, Shinji, Asuka, Rei and a large number of generals they didn't know sat in a conference room waiting for Commander Ikari. Misato was about to strike up a conversation with the pilots when Commander Ikari finally entered with someone else.
Asuka's jaw dropped, Rei's eyes narrowed, and Shinji did a little of both. Misato didn't seem to recognize him.
Commander Ikari took his seat at the front of the table and Logani sat directly at his right. He gave a small nod to the three children sitting in the corner.
For some reason this pissed Asuka off. She stood to yell at Logani but was restrained by Shinji grabbing her shoulder. She gasped and turned to look at him. Shinji shook his head, "Not here, not now. Later."
Asuka looked into his eyes for a moment then sat down. She shrugged off Shinji's arms and eyes. She entered her pouting stage.
Commander Ikari, having noticed the near interruption and the way it was stopped, finally spoke, "Fine. Begin."
The meeting began with reports from generals. The told of Tabri troop movements, UN troop losses, and NERV's remaining weapons. The generals had also brought an interesting hologram of the world complete with UN, Tabri, and NERV forces marked. At his seat Logani began scratching down a list.
When the generals had all finished their reports Commander Ikari turned to Logani. Logani handed him the list and nodded. Then Logani stood. "Let's review," he began, "The Tabri now control most of Asia and parts of North and South America. Soon they'll be attacking Australia and the other continents. The UN is being routed and so far has inflicted very minimal casualties on the Tabri. NERV has lost all of its facilities except this base. We have one Evangelion," Logani began walking around the table as he spoke, "At this point we are out maneuvered, out manned and overpowered. We have very limited options."
One of the generals spoke, "Why don't we try to gather more of the mass-production Evangelions? We could use them to beat these Tabri."
"Because they'll be too heavily guarded. Michel will have forty or fifty Tabri on each shipment. And just in case you're wondering that's enough to take down Evangelion 12, Rei, and myself all at once. They're roughly invulnerable," answered Logani.
"Then what do you suggest? Do you just want us to give up all hope and let the world die outside of here?" surprisingly it was Misato who spoke up.
"Of course not," Logani began before Misato cut him off again.
"Good, because I for one won't let that happen. There are millions of people out there that need our help," said Misato.
"The Tabri won't mistreat them too badly," spoke Logani.
Misato stood, "You really think that don't you. You think they'll just be nice to everyone and allow elections in a couple of years. That's optimistic thinking but it doesn't work here. It's cowardly to just assume your rulers will be nice to you. You can't just lay down for them and hope they'll be nice."
"No."
"No?"
"No I don't think they'll do that and I'm not suggesting that we just leave the world in their clutches," Logani said. He turned to consider the wall.
"What then?" said Misato.
Before he could answer Logani straightened and his chin came up so he was facing the surface. He turned around and it was clear to everyone that his pupils were undialated. Asuka swore, she'd seen this happen to him before. "How'd he find us?" Asuka demanded.
"Without Ireul I can't keep up the essence changing. He just had to sniff us out. Here he is. Directly above our heads stands Death," said Logani as his eyes re-dilated and his head lowered to look at Commander Ikari.
"You speak of Death. What is it?" asked Commander Ikari.
"It's one of my siblings. It's very powerful, stronger then I am. I'll need help," replied Logani.
Simultaneously Shinji asked, "Brother?" and Commander Ikari ordered, "Rei, go with him."
Logani ignored Shinji's question, choosing to instead address Commander Ikari, "Rei's not good enough. I'll need Unit 12 for him."
Rei stood and looked at Commander Ikari who shook his head. Instead he said, "Fine. Take Asuka or Rei to pilot it."
"No," said Logani, "Rei isn't strong enough and Asuka hasn't even been allowed to try to synch for a long time. I need Shinji. Without him the whole battle is pointless."
Asuka agreed with Logani, "Yeah! You haven't even let me near Unit 12 yet. And who knows when we'll need my awesome piloting skills again!"
Commander Ikari sighed and Logani spoke again, "I know the risks. I need him."
Misato was about to protest when Commander Ikari nodded and gave in. "Take him," he ordered.
Once again Misato was about to protest but Logani had already grabbed Shinji and was pulling him towards the Evangelion bay. Shinji had to hurry to keep up.
For Shinji the last week had been one big disappointment. Although he tried left and right to talk to Asuka she would not allow him to get her alone. Although on a positive note she had returned to her normal self. Although on a negative note she had returned to her normal self. Already his ears rung with "Baka" and his arms were sporting small bruises. It had gotten rather frustrating but Shinji had refused to give up.
But now his thoughts turned to Eva. He hadn't piloted since he'd killed…
They reached the hanger bay quickly enough but if Logani had turned around he'd have seen Shinji crying as he was pulled along. Logani pulled him into the elevator to reach the top of the Eva and they began their ascent. Now Logani gave Shinji a good look. "What are you crying for?" he asked calmly.
"I- I can't pilot again," sniffled Shinji.
"And why not? This isn't Unit 1 you know." asked Logani.
"No, it's not that. You wouldn't know this but," Shinji managed, "but last time I piloted I killed a very good friend."
"Really," whispered Logani, "You were good friends with him."
"Y-Yes. I had to kill him, he was the last Angel," Shinji tearfully replied, "He made me kill him! And now I won't pilot again."
"You know," whispered Logani, "If he could hear you say that he'd be very unhappy." Logani was now starting to wonder if he'd chosen the right pilot for this job.
"What do you know!" shouted Shinji. He stood and looked at Logani with a half-crazed look in his eye, "You never knew Kowaru! You weren't there!"
Now that just pissed off Logani. He grabbed Shinji and shoved him up against the mesh walls of the elevator. He made Shinji look into his eyes as he spoke, "I think its time you learned a few truths. I knew "Kowaru" a lot longer then you did. Believe me when I say this. He was my father."
Shinji squirmed around in Logani's hold until the meaning of his words sunk in. Then he stopped and looked Logani right in the eye. His mouth hung open, almost comically in fact.
Logani released his hold slightly, allowing Shinji's feet to hit the ground. Logani's eyes stayed locked on Shinji's as he spoke, "He's all of the Tabris' father. That's why they all want you. You killed daddy."
Shinji began to sniffle once more. Logani sensed another impending rainstorm and moved to avert it. "Hey. Chin up," he said. If he knew anything of Leslen it would help.
Shinji looked up once more. The sniffling had stopped for now. Logani allowed him to stand once more and both turned to look as the elevator door opened. Standing in front of them now was Evangelion 12.
It wasblatantly orange. Shinji thought it looked similar to Unit 00 before its explosion. The biggest difference was that instead of a cyclops it was a triclops. It had blue along the shoulder blades and yellow around the feet. It was an interesting looking Evangelion. 'Of course,' thought Shinji and unknown to him Logani, 'aren't they all?'
It didn't take long for Shinji to switch into his plug suit and board the monstrosity. As the LCL began to fill his lungs he let out a big sigh. He had gotten used to not having to do this anymore. He was going to miss that.
On the surface Death waited patiently. It could tell that Logani, and better the Third Child, were on their way up. Soon it would have one interesting fight.
Still, Death couldn't help but wonder why the Third Child was coming up as well. And what was this other thing? Its essence seemed somehow smaller then anything else he'd ever felt before. Almost as if it was repressed…
Death did a back flip. The peak was roughly forty feet above the desert ground. Were he had been seconds before opened up and Evangelion 12 rose into the vacuum.
Death reeled backwards. Of all the things it had expected to fight here an Evangelion was at least tenth. Death was not affixed to deal with this sort of a thing; its specialties were more targeted on assassinations and smaller targets.
Still, Death comes to all things and Evangelion 12 was alive.
Death opened with an AT-field swipe across the Evangelions shoulder and arching into its hip. Unfortunately Unit 12 countered with its own AT-field, a modest thing that stopped the attack outright. Death attacked again. And again.
Inside the entry plug Shinji was sweating. This Death thing continued to attack no matter what he did. Try as he might he couldn't find a weakness in the assault. To make matters worse Eva 12 seemed to have a weaker AT-field then Unit 1.
While Shinji sweated it out in the entry-plug Logani prepared for his attack. Death had to concentrate completely on Unit 12 or else lose its precious offence. Hopefully it would never see Logani coming.
Of course Death sees all. It whipped around and led with a foot sweep but Logani had already jumped and was coming down with a two-handed smash. Death slid out of the way and knocked Logani away with an AT-field smack that was barely blocked from becoming a killing blow.
By now Shinji had recovered from Death's original offensive and shot out his hand to stop Death in its tracks. Unfortunately for him Death didn't make tracks and cleanly jumped over the oversized hand.
Logani watched Death come over the hand and something immediately came to mind. He thinned his AT-field until it was hair thin and began quickly stabbing Death with it. In mid-air Death could not dodge the attack and was forced to block. Logani's focused AT-field slammed into one cubic centimeter of Death's AT-field. For a moment it looked like it might break through but then Death launched itself into a dive and managed to dodge the attack.
Death rolled, came up and was about to take off at a run for Logani. Instead Shinji brought Unit 12s hand down right on top of him. He let out a long sigh. In the plug he turned to look at Logani who was frantically trying to signal to him. Shinji flipped on his outside speakers. "What?" he asked.
Logani used his AT-field to amplify his voice so Shinji could hear him. "Close your fist! He's alive dammit! Close your fist!"
Shinji turned back to were his fist was stuck into the ground. Suddenly the whole Eva lurched. Shinji gasped before he was thrown back and tripped. With a crash Unit 12 came down onto the ground.
Logani yelled, "Shinji!" and then barely turned to block Death's first blow. It had come on him so fast it was amazing. He parried and fell back, parried and fell back. Death was quickly beating him towards the downed Unit 12.
"They are going to lose!" shouted Asuka at the screen in front of her. She, along with all other members of the meeting, were gathered in the patched command center.
Commander Ikari turned and nodded to Rei. She took off for the nearest exit. She might not make it in time but she was their only other real option.
Shinji reached for the controls groggily. His brain was just beginning to function and realize that he had been knocked over by such a small enemy.
Shinji looked out and managed to see a large dust storm approaching. Straining his eyes he could just see two somewhat familiar forms in the cloud. They were closing fast.
Shinji jerked on the controls to right his Eva. It began to move just as Logani and Death reached him.
Left with no were else to go backwards Logani jumped up Unit 12. Death followed and attacked Logani once again when he had just landed on the knee-cap. Logani blocked again and jumped backwards once more. This time they impacted at the Evangelions elbow. The next time was at the shoulder blade. By this time Shinji had fully erected the Eva.
"Aarghh!" Shinji shouted as he felt Death bypass Logani to hit him in the face. Shinji began to fall once more.
As he fell Death and Logani lost their footholds and began their descent as well. Shinji instinctively reached out for something and somehow grabbed Death around the waist. Death immediately began to squirm in his grasp.
The impact on the ground broke all three combatants hold on reality for a moment. Death was the first to recover but unfortunately for it Shinji had held his grasp. It began slamming its fists into the hand of the Evangelion. Shinji felt jolts of pain in his arm but strengthened his hold none the less.
Logani recovered last, not surprising since Unit 12 had very nearly landed on him. He got up and stumbled to where Death was hammering away at Shinji's hand. Logani turned to look at Unit 12's head and shouted into his AT-field, "Put him in orbit."
Shinji shifted and drew back his arm to throw. Death tried to bring out his AT-field once more but Logani blocked it quickly enough. Shinji threw like his life depended on it because he knew it probably did.
Death broke orbit.
Rei arrived on the surface moments later. Logani had already popped the hatch to the entry plug and was pulling Shinji out. Shinji spat out the LCL and let out a hoarse thank you. Retrieval crews were fast, but seemed to take a long time. Don't they always?
Logani handed Shinji off to Rei before he headed down to the command center. Once he was on the bridge he was greeted with a few cheers. He didn't care. He headed straight to Commander Ikari.
He spat out a bit of his blood and then spoke, "The kids need lessons Ikari, lots of practice too."
Gendo just nodded calmly. If they were too beat this new threat they needed to be a lot stronger then this.
What'd I say after 10? Thanks once more to AnimeFan64 and the same people as before. Now review me. r&R