Disclaimer: Same as Chapter 1.
Chapter 45: Thessalonians I
Gendo stood beside Kaworu, staring pensively up at Lilith still bound to her scarlet crucifix. The mother of all the living only lay helplessly, its face still concealed by the plate inscribed with SEELE's seven-eyed pyramid.
"It's time," the Commander said quietly, his voice echoing effortlessly throughout the Chamber of Gauf. Kaworu solemnly nodded and placed his palms on the senior Ikari's head. A whirl of images and faces flashed through his own mind before he let the Commander go.
"I see..." the silver-haired boy whispered.
So this is Gendo Ikari's chosen future...
With the necessary imagery in his mind, Kaworu turned to Lilith. He closed his eyes and was preparing to spread his AT Field to merge with the traitorous Angel when a calm, feminine voice shattered the silence.
The nine Mass-Produced Evas finally touched down, folding their wings into their backs with ease. Asuka had to admit they were a little disturbing in their appearance. They seemed much more organic than the previous Evangelions, and to make things worse they had faces; eyeless faces with wide mouths that grinned ferally at her, like a pack of jackals ready to pounce on their prey.
"So..." Asuka said with a smile, "...I've got to kill you ugly bastards, huh?"
As she expected, they did not respond, they only shifted slightly as they circled around her.
All right then. Ladies first.
The nine had no time to react to Asuka's pre-emptive strike. She ran at one of the monsters and, putting Unit-02's hands on the beast's shoulders, vaulted over it. Before she touched the ground, she grabbed the MP Eva's head and twisted it while in midair, ripping it off once Unit-02's feet landed. The MP's body flailed slightly as it came crashing to the ground, a fountain of blood spattering Unit-02 as it fell. Asuka gave the other beasts a bloodthirsty grin as vicious as their own.
"That's one!"
"...Hello, Gendo."
Ikari instinctively pulled the pistol out of his left pocket and aimed at the voices source. There stood Ritsuko, smiling viciously with a mad gleam in her eye. She didn't flinch at the sight of the weapon being aimed at her, in fact she almost seemed to think it amusing.
"Sorry, my dear," Ritsuko said as she pulled a remote out of the pocket of her lab coat, "...but I'm afraid that I can't let you do this." Gendo said nothing, he only kept the weapon trained onto his former lover. The pistol shook slightly in his weaker left hand, but not from nerves. "I had to change the MAGI's programming. I hope you don't mind." She flicked a switch on the remote and it began to beep steadily.
"Asuka!" Maya's voice came in over the communicator. "We're sending up the armament elevators-- arriving at access points 327 and 265!"
Only two? Damnit... Well, I guess I'll just have to make the most of it.
A pair of MPs approached Unit-02 while the rest scattered, seemingly to avoid being bunched too closely together. Asuka pulled out her Prog knife just as they brandished their own weapons: a massive, two-ended sword/axe. The first one swung too slowly due to the blades' weight and ended up missing Unit-02, who jumped out of the way in time to catch the other Eva in backswing. She grabbed the second Eva's arm, keeping it steady as she sliced it clean off, making the beast howl in pain. Unit-02 kicked it to the ground forcefully, focusing its attention on the MP that now had its blade jammed into the ground.
Asuka let out a scream as she jammed the Prog knife into the Eva's skull, shooting blood from the injury and actually snapping the vibrating blade in half before it fell to the earth. Without bothering to pause, she ran towards one of the elevators, which stuck out of the ground only a short ways away. The redhead grinned when she saw the Eva-sized automatic shotgun attached to the inside of the elevator. She pulled it out just as the MP missing an arm rushed her, awkwardly swinging the massive blade with its free arm. It didn't take much for Unit-02 to avoid the blow with a quick feint, giving it an opening to unload a massive shell into the monster's back. It moaned and attempted a retaliatory swing, only to have its other arm shot off by the close-range weapon.
"JUST DIE ALREADY!" Asuka bellowed as she rammed the MP into the elevator, the gun positioned directly where its core would be. She fired the weapon repeatedly until the shotgun clicked in protest, its rounds depleted. The monster slumped onto the elevator, its mouth hanging open in defeat.
Damnit... Asuka thought as she tossed the now useless weapon to the side, grabbing instead the blade left behind by the MP.
"...Do you really intend to destroy this base?" Gendo said calmly, speaking up at last.
"I've made enough sins in this life to condemn myself for eternity," Ritsuko shot back, "If killing everyone here to keep you from killing everyone else is what I have to do then so be it." Ritsuko closed her eyes blissfully and raised her face heavenward. "A daughter's final request. Mother...let's end it together." With that she clicked the button.
But nothing happened.
Unit-02's pilot groaned from the weight of the MP's weapon, but succeeded in lifting it with both hands. She ran, a manic scream on her lips, at another MP, her slow swing caught by the other Eva's blade. With a fair amount of effort, she pulled the weapon back just in time to stop her opponent's counterattack.
"DAMN YOU!" she growled as she strained agained the force of the blow, barely succeeding in forcing it back.
Ritsuko blinked in shock as Gendo raised his gun higher.
It...It didn't work?
She put the remote to her face only to see, where the small screen displayed the three MAGI, one of them flashed red.
CASPER...betrayed me?
"Mother..." she uttered in shock and anger, "...how could you choose your LOVER...over ME?" At that moment a bang sounded within the Chamber of Gauf and Ritsuko felt the bullet pierce her chest, throwing her backwards. She slid a bit across the cool steel floor once she made contact. In spite of the fact that the ground was a bright scarlet, she could see the blood slowly leaving her body to pool around herself. She slowly touched the spot where the bullet had gone through, a dark sort of comprehension running through her mind. The clicking of Gendo's boots came steadily closer. He was preparing to finish the job. On instict Ritsuko slowly slid her hand into the other coat pocket.
Asuka continued to duel with the Eva, exchanging blows but not attaining any openings in her foe's defense. A thought suddenly occured to the pilot and instead of blocking the MP's attack, she sidestepped and ducked, the heavy blade swinging harmlessly overhead. The MP lost its balance, giving Asuka the time to bring her own blade to the monster's neck, sending its head flying with a single clean blow. Recovering her equilibrium, Unit-02 ran with the massive weapon to the last elevator.
Gendo kept walking until he stood over the dying scientist, careful not to step inside the growing puddle of her spilt blood. He lifted the gun from its place at his side and aimed it directly at the woman's skull. She didn't move, but her eyes slowly drifted over to the bespectacled man.
"Dr. Akagi..." he began softly, almost gently. "...The truth is..."
He never had the chance to finish as the doctor pulled out the handgun concealed in her coat and fired. The bullet ran straight through the Commander's head, leaving him with only a look of utter shock on his face as his body drifted backward and splashed into the lake of LCL. Ritsuko breathed heavily as she felt her hand becoming numb, the pistol falling with a clatter to the floor beside her. She smiled weakly as she forced herself to look at Gendo's floating body.
"...Liar..."
With that she closed her eyes contently and drifted into death.