Reign of the Tabri

Chapter 17: ReSurrection

"What do you mean?" asked Asuka, "Do you know a way to get two Evas?"

"No," he said calmly, "I know how to get Unit 01 back plus another one."

"How?" Shinji asked.

Logani looked down at his hands. 'Bardiel and Armisael did it,' he thought, 'could I?' He turned to look at the others. 'Do I have a choice?' he thought. The apocalypse impending didn't give him a lot of choices. He stood. "We need to go back up," he said.

That elicited him groans from everyone. They were rested now, but still sore from the previous day's activities. "I am not walking all the way up there again," Asuka said.

"We won't have to," Logani said. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "You found plug suites, now put them on. Asuka, take Unit 02. Rei, you get Unit 04."

Touji scowled and Shinji let out a sigh of relief. Touji thought he needed the experience and Shinji wanted to put off piloting for as long as possible. Everyone went to their separate locker rooms to put on their plug suites.

In the boys locker room both Shinji and Touji shuddered when they thought of the last time Touji had had to wear his plug suit. It had been a bad time for both of them. 'I should make sure the dummy plug's removed from Unit 02 before we leave,' Shinji thought.

The girl's room was silent. It seemed to Asuka as if Rei had died with Commander Ikari. 'A puppet with out anyone to command it,' thought Asuka, 'A doll without a child to play with it.' Rei was thinking along the same lines as Asuka.

Shinji was first out. He began a dutiful stride to the Eva command center. He was halfway there when he heard the movement of heavy machinery. He turned around to see the dummy plug being removed from Unit 02. Shinji looked up into the command center to see Logani jumping down. He landed in a crouch and then stood up. He walked past Shinji and whispered quietly, "No Rei to pilot it anyway. Remember?"

Shinji shuddered as he remembered everything that had occurred in the Dummy Plug Production Center with Dr. Akagi so long ago. It was not a good memory to have surface, especially as deserted as NERV was. The whole place just looked scary, with Bakelite reflecting things left and right.

Shinji returned to the Eva bays. Asuka and Rei were already inserted into their plugs and activating their Evas. Fortunately for Asuka her umbilical cord was still in place. Rei soon realized that Unit 04 had an operational S2 engine. It powered up with everything else, as far as she could tell it worked seamlessly.

((glad to hear it)) appeared on her screen in block print. Rei widened her eyes in astonishment. She'd never had this kind of interaction with Unit 00. Why should she have it with this one?

"Don't scare her Robertus," Logani shouted from the outside. He was leaning on the rail in a comfortable position.

"Robertus?" Asuka asked from inside Unit 02. External speakers coupled with radio transmission made it so everyone heard her question.

((yep)) the print appeared in Rei's and Asuka's screens now. Outside it appeared on nearly every screen that Shinji, Touji, and Logani could see. ((it is I, Robertus! Tabri of Glory!))

Logani smiled gloomily, "And bad grammar."

((SHUT UP!))

Logani laughed. "Tabri of Glory?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah," Logani said, "A name given to him by Father. He gave us all names like that. About one thing or another." Towards the end of his speaking Logani drooped his head.

((traitorous bastard thats what daddy turned out to be))

"Yeah," Logani slammed his fist into his other hand, "We stop him right after Unit 01's resurrected."

Unit 04 tried to nod but Rei stopped it. ((what?)) Robertus asked, ((I can't move my body without your permission anymore?))

Frightened, Rei shook her head quickly, "No!"

((awww…))

"Lets get going," Logani said. He, Touji, and Shinji climbed into Unit 02s hand. "No Robertus I don't trust you to carry us up. Even with Rei in charge of you," he said.

((awww…))

They began ascending slowly. Logani had locked down the elevators so as not to move at a pace Shinji and Touji could not withstand. Still, they eventually had to sit down, the strain of the movement too much for their legs.

"So, Logani," Shinji asked, "If Robertus was the Tabri of Glory… What were you?"

Still standing Logani didn't even bat an eyelash. "I was Tabri of Honor," he said fiercely, "Because I always keep my promises."

"Ow" Shinji said. He looked down at his thumbs and began to twiddle them uselessly.

They were silent the rest of the ride.

They reached Central Dogma in less then ten minutes. Not bad considering the elevators were set to their lowest setting. The Evas deployed against the Southeast corner of the cavern.

Central Dogma was covered; head to toe, in blood. Unit 01s blood.

Inside her entry plug Asuka gagged. Rei didn't bother to notice.

Shinji's eyes teared up slightly. He had always thought he hated Unit 01 but now… With its blood everywhere and it having been destroyed he couldn't help but think of all the good times they'd had.

Waiting inside Ireul to die. Watching it rip Unit 03 to shreds helplessly. Those came too but not as much as the good times.

The time he saved Asuka from melting in the volcano came too mind. Saving Kensuke and Touji from Shamshel was there too. The synchronization dance he and Asuka had done, he thought he could still remember most of the moves. It all surfaced. He decided he'd miss Unit 01.

"Well," said Logani, "I guess I'd better get to work bringing it back."

Shinji blinked and reeled to look at Logani. 'Bring that monster back!' he thought, 'Is he crazy!' Out loud Shinji didn't say anything.

Logani hopped down from Unit 02s hand and began walking through the carnage. Everyone else waited for him to do whatever he would do.

Logani took up position over a large chunk of Unit 01s arm. This was the biggest piece he'd found and would probable be the easiest point to work from. 'Come on Logani,' he thought, 'If they can do it you can do it. Bardiel recreated Unit 03 from near scratch and you've got a lot of Unit 01 left to work with.'

He set his arms and legs and began spreading his AT-field. He gathered much needed pieces of Unit 01 and began pulling them together into one giant chunk.

From around the great cavern blood began flowing back towards Logani. Soon he had a chunk of material the size of Unit 01's chest. He was already straining but knew he could not stop now. He forced the pieces to mold into shape. Soon he had arms and legs formed. 'Now for the core,' he thought, 'the hardest part.'

Pieces of the core had literally been ground into sand by the angels. Logani grabbed them and began piecing them together like a giant jigsaw puzzle. He fell to his knees and barely kept his arms up. Finally the pieces set together perfectly. Logani moved the core into the center of his mold. He covered it over with excess material.

Already beyond straining he began cellular regeneration of the head. There wasn't enough material to simply reform it like the other body parts. This had to be created from new.

Logani collapsed as Unit 01 breathed in once more. It looked around for its enemies. It spied Unit 02 and Unit 04. Asuka and Rei both took a step back fearing that it might charge them.

But Unit 01 only had eyes for Shinji. It nodded calmly before shutting down.

Unit 01, naked without any "restraints", was reborn.

((and now we go after father))

Collapsed on the ground in front of Unit 01 Logani smiled ever so slightly. He'd done it.

Shinji and Touji propped Logani up against a rock so he was sitting. "What now?" asked Asuka. She was brushing her hair with a comb to get rid of all the LCL in it.

"Now we get another Eva," Logani said weakly.

"How?" Rei asked. She let her hair stay thick with the LCL.

"We go after my father," he continued more weakly, "He's going to get something very much like an Eva."

"What?" Shinji asked.

"His old body," Logani closed his eyes and barely continued.

"What do you mean by that?" Asuka asked.

At the same time Shinji spoke up, "I destroyed his body when I killed him. It got melted down just like all the others."

"That wasn't his original body," Logani said quietly, "Did you really think that NERV didn't DNA test him? That body was all human."

Shinji's eyes widened, "Kowaru was human?" he said.

Logani nodded, "Yes. A human boy father possessed in order to get into NERV."

"Possession?" Asuka said doubtfully, "That's impossible. How do you expect us to believe in ghost stories?"

"You do realize," Logani said softly, "that only a few hours ago you were possessed?'

"Uh…" Asuka trailed off. She scowled; she didn't like being proven wrong so easily. "Fine then Mr. Wise Guy. What next then?"

"Well," Logani said, "We can't take the Evas, that'll take way too long. We need to go as fast as we can. Any ideas?"

Eager to reprove herself Asuka spoke up, "There's supersonic VTOL in one of the hangers."

Logani nodded, "That's perfect." Already his strength was replenishing. "We'll take that," he said, standing up.

"What about the Evas?" asked Touji.

Logani looked at Unit 01 and 02 before turning to Unit 04. "Go get the custom positron gun from the JSSDF base and come back here. Protect these two," he jerked his head at Unit 01 and 02, "until we get back."

Unit 04 raised its hand and saluted before moving back to its elevator. It took off upwards with a smile. Rei nearly feinted. "Do I have to pilot that one?" she asked in her quiet voice.

"Unless someone else wants to trade you," Logani said looking around for volunteers. There were none. "Ow well," he said apologetically, "sorry Rei. Now let's go find that jet."

They set off for the jet hanger. From there it was off to North America and Tabris' original body.

Short chapter, I know. I've planned everything out and my origonal estimate was a little high. Aiming for 22 chapters plus a true Neon Genesis Evangelion split ending. Sorry, no movie though.

Not that any of you would go see it. r&R.