DISCLAIMER: I still have yet to acquire the rights to Evangelion and all the characters therewithin. Evangelion and all associated intellectual property belongs to the lawful copyright holders, whoever and wherever they are. This story is merely for my own enjoyment.
This story is a Lemon. So expect adult content not suitable for children, parental guidance advised and so on.
Though if you're here for just the lemon then only read the first half, the second half is just a battle.
Standard:
"This" is speech.
'This' is thoughts.
"This" is memories
A Couple's Battle
Asuka Langley Sohryu, Second Child and pilot of a four-eyed biomechanical behemoth as bright as her hair, lay in bathtub in the apartment currently only inhabited by her and a somehow alcoholic penguin. The warm water relaxing muscles, that between gym classes at school and NERV's seemingly endless barrage of training, were sorely in need of a respite.
Though that wasn't the real reason Asuka had drawn a bath, filled it with suds, lit a lavender-scented candle, or three, and essentially shut herself off from the world.
It wasn't her muscles that needed a break, it was her mind.
She and Shinji had decided shortly after the last Angel attack they needed to talk to Misato Katsurgai, their sometimes guardian, about their mothers' presence and the 12th Angel's seeming fascination with their relationship, in the hope that if they pooled their information insights could be found. The decision may have been made but she…just… wasn't ready to tell Misato. Not that the NERV major, between being in the hospital, the cleanup related to the 13th Angel, and being back together with Kaji, had been around a lot for them to tell her even if they had wanted to.
In the meantime her mind had had plenty of time to go over the million possibilities of how the conversation could go and the potential outcomes filling her with anxiety, and her worry over the future paralyzing her in the present moment.
"Hah, so is this how the baka felt?" Asuka said to the empty bathroom with closed eyes and a pain-hiding grin on her face. Though part of that smile was genuine as her mind turned to the comforting image of her roommate, comrade, and lover all in one.
Misato being essentially gone the past week or so, the days kind of blurred together for Asuka, hadn't been all bad. The sex had been absolutely amazing for one. But more than that it was just being able to live together without any hiding or subterfuge.
The grin on the German redhead's face turned into a full smile as her mind thought back to this morning:
The rays of morning sun shone through the window in Asuka's room. The pilot opened her eyes, her right cheek felt warm as it rested on still-sleeping Shinji's chest, and judging from the lack of purple headed woman yelling at them about responsibility or some such Misato hadn't come home last night. Last night.
Passionate embraces, kisses, euphoria she hadn't thought possible. Asuka closed her eyes, taking in the moment, Shinji's arm around her as she rested her head above his beating heart, her arms wrapped around his chest.
Some time later, Shinji's eyes fluttered open, taking in the previously unfamiliar ceiling before looking down to see Asuka's eyes looking up at him, a childish but genuine smile on her face.
"Good morning sleepy head." Asuka said to Shinji as her hand went to his nose and gave it a gentle flick.
"Good morning Asuka." Shinji said as he gave her a gentle squeeze on the shoulder. "How'd you sleep?" He asked as his cobalt eyes peered deep into her cerulean orbs as the light reflected off her bright hair in the early hour.
"Like a baby." Asuka said as she lifted her head up from his chest to give him a peck on the lips.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Shinji asked his lover as he rubbed his hand up and down her arm from the shoulder to elbow and back again.
"Do we have any of that bacon left" Asuka said as she remembered the sweet and salty flavor the applewood smoke gives to bacon.
"About half a pack." Shinji said as his eyes looked up at the ceiling while his brain did a quick mental check of what was left in the fridge and pantry. Mostly beer.
"Yum. Oh and can you make that special a…thing… where the egg is in the toast?" Asuka said as she blanked on the Japanese word for that particular breakfast dish.
"You mean Cyclops toast?" Shinji responded with the correct word.
"Yeah that's the one." Asuka said as she snuggled her face into the space between Shinji's neck and shoulder and moved her leg on top of Shinji to embrace him. She stopped her movements though as her leg felt something. "How? Seriously how after last night does he still want more?!" Asuka asked perplexedly as she felt Shinji's stiff morning wood against her thigh.
"It's just psychological! You took Anatomy in college didn't you!" Shinji blurted out as he tried to defend himself.
"Physiological not psychological baka." Asuka corrected her baka-Shinji, "And yes I did." She said matter-of-factly before removing her hands from his body and continuing "In that class they said that if a man" Asuka put special emphasis on that last word as she looked at Shinji seductively as she climbed on top of him. "Has an erection and it doesn't get used, the blood returning to his body can be very painful later." She said now fully on top of Shinji, her hips pressing his erect member against his body and her breasts squeezed against his chest "And I don't want my sweet baka to be in pain." She whispered in her most teasing voice into Shinji's ear.
Her hand gripped the blanket that covered most of their bodies and tossed it away with dramatic flair, the fabric strewn about at the foot of the bed and the floor leaving just their nude bodies atop the bed.
Asuka brought her right hand's fingers up to her mouth and put them in, withdrawing them in a seductive manner that left a tiny string or two of saliva between her mouth and fingers. After that she brought her fingers down and moistened the lips of her labia, opening up and exciting the pink and brown fleshy folds while her left hand grabbed hold of Shinji's morning wood. It was thick and veiny with the hot, excited blood rushing through it. She wetted the bulging cockhead with her almost soaked lower lips as her own body got excited at the imminent prospect of sex.
The memory was so good that Asuka's hand slipped under the water and went between her legs almost on reflex. Her fingers massaging the folds and clit of her most private place.
Once she thought his cockhead was wet enough and her own insides were ready she lowered herself onto Shinji's thick member. The cock spreading the petals of her sex as it penetrated deeper into her, sending electrifying energy through her as Shinji's member struck all the right nubs and folds before he became hilted into her and she felt that feeling of fullness as she settled on his cock and gave her pussy some time to adjust before she started moving.
She started slowly at first, only gently moving her hips so that the walls of her pussy softly stroked his shaft. But that didn't last long, her blood was up, the inferno of desire building in her belly as her hormones told her mind that she had to satisfy her lusts. So she put her hands on his surprisingly firm chest to brace herself, while at the same time Shinji moved one hand to her hips, ostensibly to help guide her movements, but really just to grab her ass while his other hand went up to her breasts. Massaging and kneading them, lightly pinching and exciting her nipples as she rode him.
In the meantime she had built up a steady rhythm as she guided Shinji's rock-hard member to all the places she needed in her warm, wet, pussy to scratch that itch. Between all of the stimulation her body was receiving from Shinji's cock and hands she first had her breath start hitching then she felt a moan building up, so she bit her lip to keep it in check. But it was a losing battle and soon a deep moan filled her bedroom as she guided Shinji's shaft to a particular sensitive fold inside her and she gritted her teeth to try and wrestle back conscious control of her body.
Coming out of this she looked at Shinji's face and saw his eyes glazed over at the sight before him so she leaned down, pressing her body against his and kissed him. Their kiss was strong and passionate as their tongues battled for supremacy and Shinji brought the hand that had been on her breasts to her face his thumb lightly stroking her cheek in contrast to the firm grip of his other on her ass. Asuka kept up the pace of her hips and as she felt her own walls tightening around it she reached her lithe hand behind her and felt Shinji's balls. The feeling of her touch on his sack sent lightning through Shinji's body and he seemed to shiver in response and momentarily paused his kissing, overwhelmed by the sensation.
'Oh you liked that did you?' Her mind thought as her fingers danced again on the wrinkles of his balls. They had already retreated and tightened against his body so she knew that he was close like she was. She gave one last effort, bouncing her hips up and down as fast as she could, not quite tickling but not quite massaging his rocks, and pushing her tongue as far as possible into his mouth. And it worked. She soon felt herself crest as her walls tightened fully around his cock and her body was overcome by uncontrollable shakes as the orgasm washed over her. The moan she let out at that moment was too much for Shinji and he also reached his climax as his balls released their pent up load into her waiting pussy. Three or four spurts of the warm, sticky, white substance impacted her walls filling her with a sense of fullness and completeness in the afterglow.
She looked down at his face and as he stroked her cheek with his hand he said the words she loved:
"Asuka…"
"…Asuka?" The German redhead was pulled out of her pleasant memory of Shinji Ikari by the real Shinji Ikari standing in the bathroom looking at her with that quizzical look his face was known for.
Asuka reflexively crossed her arms and covered her exposed breasts, the tepid bathwater sloshing and splashing with her movements as she began to berate his intrusion into her solitude:
"Baka why didn't you knock!" She said indignantly, the smile on her face turning into a scowl as she regarded Shinji in the way she would have before their conversation at Mt. Asama.
"I did Asuka. Three times." Shinji said, his measured response wiping away the glare on her face as he continued "You didn't answer, I was worried and I decided to check on you." He looked down his hand going to the back of his head "So-"
"No it's alright, I WAS pretty out of it." Asuka said, pre-empting Shinji's habitual apology. Her voice softened and relaxed as her arms left her chest and rested on the side of the bathtub. Her brownish nipples, still hardened and pointed from her earlier excitement, midway into the water. "Did you find everything at the store?" She asked trying to change the subject.
"Yeah but the price" Shinji cringed as he remembered how his wallet wailed "Those sausages you like are double what they were last time." He said by way of example.
"Yikes." Asuka winced herself. "Did you at least find my Strawberry shower gel at Kaguya's?"
"No, they didn't have it all. Sorry." Shinji said contritely.
Asuka vaguely understood why. And how it was her and Shinji's fault in a roundabout way. Even before Second Impact Japan had been an expensive place to live and most food, and, well everything, was imported. The Japanese Government had spent most of the time since that disaster securing its vital import lines with what ships that had survived, and had even managed to stabilize the situation. Until the Angels came. Then the limited shipping capacity had to account for a surge of Eva spare parts, shells and missiles for Tokyo-3s defenses, supplies for the UN Secondary Forces and a whole host of other vital materials. And even with absolute global priority and starving most of the rest of the Pacific Basin of cargo space there simply wasn't enough room on the ships for everything. So the price of unnecessary things like Asuka's sausages and shower gel skyrocketed, or simply never arrived.
"That sucks, I'm down to my last bottle." Asuka lamented and looked at where the half-empty bottle stood on its shelf with the other lotions and balms.
"Are you sure you're okay Asuka?" Shinji said sitting down on the edge of the bathtub and taking Asuka's hand in his.
She knew what Shinji meant, she had barely eaten the breakfast she'd asked Shinji for and now she'd somehow not heard him come home, put away all the groceries, knock on the bathroom door three times and come in. She also knew why. After that high this morning she had been overcome by the dreadful, nauseating thought it could be the last time, hence her seclusion in the bath to calm herself, and thinking back on the pleasant memory instead.
"Yeah." The German redhead said halfheartedly. Not looking at Shinji but instead some very interesting soap suds floating in the bath.
"You're worried about what will happen with Misato." Shinji said. It wasn't a question it was a statement.
"I've forgotten how good you've gotten at reading me." Asuka said actually looking up at him and seeing a calm reassuring smile on his face.
"Worst case scenario is they forbid us from being together until we're eighteen, then they can't tell us anything anymore. Or maybe even sixteen if we both get emancipated, I doubt either of our fathers would really care and sign it just to be rid of us." Shinji blurted out, clearly having thought of it himself and rehearsed this plan, though his voice still became bitter when talking about their fathers.
"That's not helping baka." Asuka said more melancholic than angry. "It's still so far away and who knows what tomorrow will bring."
"Whatever it does bring, I'll still love you." Shinji reassured Asuka as he squeezed her left hand in both of his.
"Baka." Asuka said still unconvinced if the tone of her voice was anything to go by. "Hand me a towel." She said resignedly.
"Sure." Shinji said as he reached to the side of the bath where they were. Only for his hand to be engulfed in searing, burning pain causing his arm to recoil as Asuka's warning came too late.
"Sto-!" Asuka had tried to warn as Shinji's hand went directly over one of the lavender candles she had lit earlier. "Are you okay?" She asked Shinji as she stood up in the tub, the water sloshing around violently, as she went to the corner of the bath covered in plastic bottles and picked up some ointment as her mind raced:
'Was that my fault? Sure the baka didn't look but I'm the one that lit the candle.' Asuka thought sounding much more like Shinji than she probably realized as she poured the ointment on her hands and then onto the burned hand of her lover. A spot of skin was a bit more pink than usual, nothing serious but still.
"Thank you Asuka, I should really be more attentive." Shinji said as he felt the cold gel move over his skin. But Asuka didn't respond right away she was still deep in her own mind:
'Life, love, people, they are all like that candle, that flame.' Asuka thought as she pondered the duality of joy and pain that is the human condition. 'The light and warmth may make you happy, but the flames can also burn you. Even if they don't want to. How can something that can give joy also give pain?'
"Let's call Misato Shinji." Asuka said as she stopped rubbing the soothing balm on Shinji's hand without looking up into his eyes as her thoughts brought her to a decision. Asuka felt the tremor in his hand her request caused before his mouth could open and answer.
"Really? Are you sure?" Shinji said taking hold of her hands, more for his sake than hers as Asuka brought her head up and they stared into each other's eyes searching for certitude. He saw the fire of the German redhead's certainty gleaming in her eyes but still wanting to hear the words leave her lips. Asuka sighed and looked back down at her knees, poking above the water's surface, before answering:
"We've got to do this if we want to see tomorrow, something isn't right, and we can't just ignore it. But we can't deal with it on our own." Asuka said deciding that they should take the path that leads to hope, even if it may be lined with pain.
"Okay." Shinji said as he brought his freshly burned hand to her cheek and caressed it gently before gently guiding her face towards his and they shared a tender kiss that did more to calm both their souls than any words could. The kiss ended and both lovers rested their foreheads against each other's. The comfortable silence filled the bathroom until it was broken by the German redhead:
"But…I want you one last time, in case it is the last time." Asuka said telling herself this was not due to the fact that Shinji had interrupted her before she had…uhhh…finished with her earlier fantasy and her hormones were craving release.
Despite everything, Shinji managed to blush at her request. This initially perplexed the redhead until she looked down and saw the bulge that Shinji was unsuccessfully trying to hide. He was still a teenage boy seeing a naked girl in a bathtub after all, biology is biology.
'Ah so he's horny too. Wunderbar.' The tone of Asuka's mind as it said that last word might have been seen as aggressive, predatory even, to one who didn't know her or how her brain worked.
"Oh, did watching my youthful, glistening, jiggling, body do that to you, you perverted baka." Asuka said in her teasing seductive tones as she gave her chest a shake for good measure as her hand went for the zipper on his pants. Shinji stood up from the side of the tub to make the task easier and soon his black school pants and boxers lay in a circle around his ankles as his manhood stood before her. Bulging and veiny, the slight shine of precum on the bulbous cockhead.
She took his member softly in her hand, stroking it ever so slightly and teasing it, tickling balls that were already taut with her other hand. Asuka then took him in her mouth, slowly at first, taking only the head and first third of his shaft, before working her way down almost his entire cock. The bathroom filled with the sound of Asuka's mouth slurping and sucking. Shinji was nearing what some would call Nirvana as he felt her tongue swirling around his shaft while the tips of her fingers struck gently across the surface of his sack.
Eventually Asuka was taking most of his cock into her mouth each time her head bobbed up and down. Her pride deciding that she wanted to feel the entirety of his length of his member in her she moved her hands to his hips and pulled back her mouth so it was just covering his cockhead, giving it a loud suck for good measure, before she plunged down the length of his shaft.
Her lips touched the skin of his crotch and felt the first whisperings of pubic hair there, the millimeter long fibers stiff and pointy.
'Becoming a man are we? Maybe it's all the testosterone constantly flowing through your blood?' Her mind thought as her mouth and throat were too busy contracting and almost gagging on his cock.
Asuka arched her back so that her ass poked up out of the surface of the water, rocking back and forth as soap suds rolled down the curves of her body as her cerulean eyes looked up at Shinji's glazed over cobalt orbs. The sight and feeling was too much for his tensed balls that demanded release and would not be denied.
"Asuka I…" Shinji said in warning to the redhead who just managed to relax and ready herself as she felt the hot, white, ropey substance shoot into her throat before sliding down. Shinji extricated his cock from her as she gave a swallow for good measure before laconically saying:
"Get in."
'She's clearly not done with me yet.' Shinji thought unsure whether to feel trepidation or excitement.
She stood up in the tub her body glistening and covered with bubbly suds, that seemed to find the most seductive creases and crest to sit on or flow down, and grabbed a towel as a makeshift pillow for Shinji's head as he removed the last of his clothing and got into the lukewarm water.
"Asuka it's-" Shinji said about to comment on the bath's temperature before he was silenced by a passionate kiss from the redhead , their tongues meeting and tackling with one another.
"I know baka." Asuka said with a tender smile on her face as she reached behind her back and undid the plug, the water level dropping precipitously before she placed it back and turned on the hot water. "Until then we're going to have to keep each other…warm." She whispered the last word in his ear as she rubbed her still unsatisfied sex on his now flaccid member and began covering his lips with hers. The kissing was intense, lips and tongues moving over each other, seemingly of their own accord to cover as much of the other's mouth as possibly while teeth nibbled noses and cheeks and necks and ear lobes.
Despite the well-known fact of men's inability to multitask Shinji managed to bring two of his left hand's fingers to Asuka's opening as they shared their passionate make out session. The musicians digits softly playing with the folds of her petals before first one then both fingers found their way into her pussy as his thumb slowly brushed at her clit. The fingers played with the warm, wet, fleshy creases and wrinkles of her insides, exciting the redhead and rekindling the fire that had been building.
The level and temperature of the water in the bathtub having reached appropriate amounts Asuka reached a hand back and shut off the faucet. His fingers kept stroking and massaging, coaxing the fire of desire into a raging inferno. Lighting shooting through her body as her nervous system sent shocks of pleasure up and down her back and thighs. Until finally, his thumb went furiously at her clit as he felt her pussy tighten around his fingers and knowing that she was close.
Their kissing paused as her entire body shook, sending ripples through the warm water, as Asuka crested her into her own orgasm and rested her head on Shinji's shoulder while her forehead touched the tub's side.
As she came down she became aware of something hard poking at her ass cheeks under the water, her mind quickly putting two and two together.
"Oh ready for round two are you, baka-Shinji? You pervert." She said teasingly as she rubbed her opening up and down his shaft.
'More like four or five.' Shinji thought as he remembered this morning and the previous night. God hormones are great.
Asuka lifted up her hips and guided them into place, lowering herself onto Shinji's waiting member. The cock spreading the petals of her opening as it entered her, filling her with that familiar, comforting feeling. Their hips met and they shared a tender kiss before Asuka began moving. Her pace slow at first as her hips searched for the right rhythm and angle for the shaft inside her. Shinji moved his left hand under the water's surface to her ass to guide her movements and grab handfuls of her seductive posterior while his right hand went to her breasts and began playing with erect nipples there, eliciting moans from the redhead's lips before her teeth managed to find her lip.
The water sloshing and splashing onto the floor as Asuka began to speed up her movements as she found the right spot. His cock stroking her increasingly tightening walls as the moans became harder and harder to hold back. She felt his balls again pulling back towards his shaft as she cradled his head in her arms pushing her wet chest into his face and her nipples into his waiting mouth. She felt his hands and tongue move over her breasts adding even more fuel to the building orgasm inside her. The German redhead's breath hitching as she bounced up and down on his cock.
Shinji stopped his ministrations of her nipples and wrapped both of his arms around her back as Asuka increased her pace as fast and as hard as she could, paying no mind to the fact that it looked like half the bath had ended up on the floor. She brought her mouth to his and soon after felt his crotch tense followed soon after by the spreading warmth as his load shot into her and filled her pussy. A muffled moan escaped into his mouth as the feeling of his cum brought her own orgasm and she trembled in his grip.
Eventually the kiss broke and the two lover's cobalt and cerulean blue eyes bored deep into the soul of the other, knowing that no matter what they'd have each other.
And truthful words filled the air:
"I love you."
Some Hours Later
The afternoon sun was sparkling off the Geofront lake thanks to Tokyo-3's collection of solar redirection panels, while several birds which somehow found their way down here chirped and sang as they flew between the oak and maple trees that shaded the benches along the lakeshore.
Under a well-pruned maple tree sat a bench and a couple dressed in school uniforms. The boy resting on the bench while the red-headed girl leaned against the tree. Enjoying the solitude of the moment.
But soon that tranquility was broken by a purple-headed woman's loud cries:
"Shinji! Asuka! FOOD!" The supposed adult and authority figure said as she ran to where they were and gave Shinji a great big bear hug as he stood up from the bench.
"Here you go Misato." Shinji said as he stood somewhat unsteady and held out the box. Normally Asuka would have smiled and laughed at the display but not today, she might have come to a decision but that didn't mean she was overjoyed with the prospect.
They had brought food, not just because they knew Misato would be hungry and having a full belly would hopefully make the conversation to come…easier, and to avoid suspicion. As for the spot they had picked it not for the view or the beauty but for its relative solitude and lack of prying eyes. Unless Section 2 was bugging every tree and every park bench in the Geofront. Which seemed unlikely as collecting information and analyzing it are two separate things. Besides which such a policy as that would create such a clutter of data, finding anything useful would be like finding a needle in a stack of needles.
"Ah you know I love you're homemade gyoza!" Misato said as she took the box of meat-filled dumplings and began to eat with a ravenousness that rivalled Asuka's.
"Well we haven't seen you at all and baka Shinji here was worried about you." Asuka said as she put her hands on her hips and took in a deep breath of the picturesque scene before them. "You really ought to get out of those stuffy corridors more often." Asuka said as a smile at the scene before them succeeded in putting a smile on her face.
"I know Asuka, and I want to but between all the stuff that's been happening these last few weeks there's just been no time." Misato said as she paused to breathe and answer Asuka's remark.
"Speaking of work, did you get a chance to talk to Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki about Rei's apartment?" Shinji asked causing Misato to pause. She swallowed the food in her mouth and then guiltily looked at the ground before speaking:
"Oh no, it completely slipped my mind." Before regaining her usual poise, "But I promise I'll do it soon, tomorrow or the day after at the absolute latest."
"It's okay Misato, we understand the last two weeks must have been hell." Asuka said reassuringly to her guardian as she finished off the last of the food they had brought.
"Well thanks for bringing the food guys, but I've got to get back to work." Major Katsuragi said as she picked up the Styrofoam tray and other refuse.
"Actually Misato…" Shinji started in his awkward manner before continuing "…there was something else we wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh what?" Misato said as she paused tray in hand and looked at her two wards who had moved and were now standing next to each other.
"So you remember when we were both stuck inside the Twelfth Angel." Asuka began trying her best to look at the NERV Major in the eye.
"Yeah" Misato said. From her tone it was clear that she didn't like where this was going.
"Well, when we were in there we did feel something, something that didn't get put in the reports." Asuka continued, failing at maintaining eye contact as her eyes looked at the lake's sparkling water.
"What?" The Major asked slightly impatient.
"Our mothers." Both her wards said in a unison that was slightly frightening.
"Are you sure?" Misato said regaining her composure and putting the empty box on the bench next to where the trio were standing.
"She didn't say anything, and I couldn't see anything definitive but I felt her presence and I knew it was her." Shinji said with a certainty and conviction Misato had never heard him use before, that told her all she needed about the veracity of his claim.
"It was the same for me as well Misato." Asuka added afterwards.
"Why didn't you tell me or the investigative committee?" Misato said in her Major Katsuragi voice, deadly serious as Shinji and Asuka looked at each other for a moment.
"Well like I said I wasn't sure whether what I saw was due to the angel or just a hallucination." Asuka began. "But after talking with Shinji about it and him also feeling his mother in the Eva I knew it couldn't just be a coincidence and that it had to mean something." She said looking at Shinji with what Misato could swear was a small, genuine, smile on her face.
"You've read our files Misato, you know what our mothers mean to us." Shinji said by way of explanation.
"Yeah I-" Misato began but then paused as her brain fully processed the implications of what Shinji had just said. "Wait a minute Shinji you know about Asuka's mother and…what happened to her." Misato said that last part quietly and solemnly.
"Yes, yes I do." Shinji said as he looked towards the laces on his shoes rather uneasily.
"Wow, guess you two are closer than I thought." Misato said as she scratched her head and let out a big bellowing laugh, but missed the nervous look between Asuka and Shinji, they knew what part was coming next as Misato recovered and continued "This really helps, now we know that Evas and the pilots' mothers are connected somehow. Can you remember anything else that might help us?"
Asuka and Shinji looked at each for a moment before Asuka spoke up:
"The Angel seemed…um… rather interested in the… uh…human condition." Asuka said more self-consciously and uncomfortably than Misato had ever heard the redhead speak before and this piqued her interest.
"In what way?" She asked with her eyebrow raised as she looked between her two wards as the awkward silence dragged on.
It was mercifully disturbed however by Misato's phone ringing. Sighing she pulled the device out of her jacket's pocket and answered:
"Aoba wha-" Misato began before the frantic lieutenant interrupted her with information that caused her face to twist and turn into her serious commander's scowl.
"We're on our way!" Misato said as she closed her phone and looked to her two pilots. "An Angel just breached the Gotemba Defense Line, get to the Eva cages now!" Misato ordered as she turned around and began running back to the NERV Pyramid.
"Yes!" Shinji and Asuka said in unison as they too began sprinting after the NERV Major.
'Saved by the Angel eh?' Asuka thought as they reached the elevator to the Eva cages and soon were zooming on the express route through NERV's labyrinthine layout.
Meanwhile Major Katsuragi had returned to Central Dogma just in time to see the central display show the first glimpses of the new threat that Tokyo-3's sensors had. She saw the Angel's bulbous black and white body, with its stubby limbs and white facemask, levitating over the mountains that ringed their fortress city.
"The Fourteenth Angel, Zeruel, the Hand of God." Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki said from his usual position standing next to Gendo Ikari as he sat above the commotion of the command center.
"An apt name if the AT field readings the Magi have given are accurate." Gendo said to his old sensei behind steepled hands.
"Target all of our defensive batteries on the Angel, we need to buy enough time to deploy the Evas!" Operations Director Katsuragi yelled out to the bridge crew as they furiously manipulated the pixels on their screen to make that order a reality.
"We're lucky they were in the Geofront, the crew reports they're already in their plugsuits and entering the entry plugs now." Lieutenant Hyuga said.
"Let's not waste the good fortune then." The NERV Major said in a much more Misato voice to the young lieutenant. "FIRE" She switched back to her officer persona as she gave the order.
Hundreds of meters above them every operational weapon that Tokyo-3 had fired at the approaching enemy. Rockets and shells of every caliber, cruise missiles, gatling guns, everything they had whizzed through the air toward the Angel causing a fearsome lightshow even in the late afternoon sunlight as the sky was filled with tracers. The firepower would have been enough to destroy an army, and in fact the weapons unleashed did destroy something, the surface of the mountain beneath the Angel as its AT field absorbed or deflected all the incoming shots.
However, it was not a one-way exchange and soon the tell-tale flash could be seen in Zeruel's red eyes, immediately followed by four of the distinct cross shaped energy blasts impacting the city and silencing several of its defenses.
"Eighteen of the twenty-two armor layers have been penetrated!" Maya frantically called out across the bridge.
"What!? Eighteen layers penetrated with a single shot?" Misato said shocked as she looked at the display to confirm what she had heard.
"The Evas are ready to deploy!" Aoba relayed some good news to the bridge.
"Deploy them immediately or else the Angel will breach the Geofront!" Major Katsuragi ordered.
Less than a second later the catapults launched the Evas in tandem to the surface at the heavy armory closest to the Angel. They were going to need heavy firepower to deal with its AT field. Asuka opted for dual-wielding rocket launchers while Shinji grabbed the classic pallet rifle.
"Enemy spotted." Shinji reported over his comms. His voice serious and his face dead set, a far cry from his first sorties as he found determination in his desire to protect the people he cared about. Despite herself Asuka glance to the audio and visual comm displayed on her entry plug wall and glanced at her lover. In spite of the horrific danger she felt safe, knowing he was there by her side.
"Engage when it comes into range. Rei's Unit-00 is still combat ineffective so you two are on your own." Misato ordered.
"Understood." Asuka said as the targeting computer in her entry plug counted down the last seconds until the Angel got into range.
They opened up on the Angel as it approached one of the breaches it had made in the city's armor plating. Rockets from Asuka's launchers and artillery sized shells from Shinji's pallet rifle streamed toward the levitating body and exploded in a flurry of impact but left no effect.
"We're not neutralizing its AT field at this range! We have to get closer!" Asuka yelled over comms as she abandoned her empty rocket launchers and grabbed a pallet rifle.
"Right!" Shinji said as he also retrieved a fresh pallet rifle from a nearby armory building and began to weave through the concrete maze of Tokyo-3 toward their target demonstrating the combat capabilities and versatility that came with having an onboard S2 organ.
Zeruel seemed not to have noticed them, or at least paid as much attention to them as he had to the remaining defenses of Tokyo-3 that had never let up their assault, treating the Evas as just another battery to be ignored in pursuit of its true purpose. Its primal instinct telling it that its source lay below it, somewhere.
The Angel approached one the cavities its earlier blast had made, smoke rising from the still red hot metal of the breached armor layers that ringed the perfectly circular hole while the Evas sprinted toward the edge, getting in position just as Zeruel was beginning his descent.
"Set AT fields to maximum and fire!" Misato's order sounded in their ear as they wordlessly complied. Too late did Zeruel realize the threat as he felt his AT field, his barrier between himself and the outside world through which nothing could pass unless he willed it, fade away. The familiar sense of security replaced with the pain of impact as pallet rifle rounds tore into his body. Chunks of black and white flesh were ripped from his body by the Teflon-tungsten projectiles, falling into the pit or staining the sides and nearby buildings with his red lifeblood. He let out a primal scream from his leering facemask as his survival instinct took over and caused a flash in the socket of his red eyes.
"Watch out!" Shinji said just in time as he saw the warning just in time to redirect his AT field to shield himself and Asuka from the worst of the blast, though it still sent both Evas tumbling through the streets and buildings of Tokyo-3 as they lost their footing in the blinding light and violent explosion of an Angel's energy blast.
The threat dealt with, Zeruel resumed his descent toward the Geofront and began charging another blast to deal with the last layers of armor.
"Are you okay baka?" Asuka said recovering first as she had been protected by both hers and Shinji's AT field. She manipulated the red Eva up from where it had torn a several hundred meter long stretch of road and, in a display that would have given half of NERV's collateral damage division a heart attack, went straight through an untouched building to where the purple Unit-01 had lodged its upper half into a building.
"Yeah I just need a minute." Shinji said as he operated the controls in his entry plug so his Eva grabbed Unit-02's hand to help itself up.
"We don't have a minute!" The usually calm and collected Sub-commander Fuyutsuki barked over the comms as they heard another explosion.
"The Angel has breached the last of the armor layers and is moving into the Geofront! Get here now!" Major Katsuragi said over the audio link to the Evas before giving more orders to the bridge crew, "Deploy the Geofront rocket batteries and ready the fixed firing positions!" At Misato's command the MLRS vehicles with a hastily painted "UN" on the side moved into position as the melted slag of armor plate, shattered concrete, dirt, and dust rained down into the, now breached, subterranean fortress.
The projectiles had predictable results as the full salvo of the Geofront garrison seemed to not even inconvenience the Angel as he peered and leered seemingly searching for something., paying no heed to man's simple constructs. However, man's more complex constructs had made their way to the hole Zeruel had made and retrieving their onboard progressive knives.
"Ready?" Asuka said as she looked to the left in her entry plug and saw Shinji's nodding face transmitted there. Without needing any more words they tensed their Evas' legs and jumped off the edge of the breach, arms poised to stab their blades into the enemy as their AT fields powered to maximum to get through the Angel's defenses. Their rapid descent at terminal velocity was halted as they simultaneously grabbed hold onto the bony protrusions, that roughly were where shoulders would be on a biped, with their free hands and plunged their progressive knives into the Angel on either side of its faceplate sending arterial blood spraying across the roof of the Geofront and coating several of the nearby retracted buildings as Zeruel screamed in pain.
On either side of the screeching Angel ribbon like appendages unfurled, their delicate appearance hiding their true and threatening nature. Moving faster than either Shinji or Asuka could react the arms whacked them away sending hundreds of tons of alloyed armor and cloned flesh careening down into the Geofront.
Thankfully it had been the broad side of each of the ribbony arms that had swatted away the red and purple mechs from their handholds on Zeruel's body. Unfortunately many of the retracted buildings had not been so lucky.
"Watch those arms! They'll cut right through you!" Shinji said in warning as he watched the shorn pieces of skyscraper crash around them in the Geofront. While back in Central Dogma Misato relayed a new order to the bridge crew:
"Move the buildings out of battle position and back up to the surface!" She said moving over to Maya's terminal.
"But Major we're still in combat!" Lieutenant Ibuki protested.
"We want the city on the otherside of the armor layers from where the fight is! Wherever that happens to be!" Major Katsuragi replied, causing Maya to comply as she saw the logic. "Aoba! Are the batteries reloaded yet!?"
"Yes Major!" The long-haired officer replied.
"Great." The Operations Director said, the gears of her, unique, mind turning as she came up with a plan. "Shinji! Asuka! Extend your AT fields to maximum!"
"Roger!" They both answered in unison as they braced their now standing Eva's in an open field several hundred meters from the NERV Pyramid. The nearly invisible field of energy that surrounded their Evas expanded toward the black and white, almost Rorschach, body of Zeruel, neutralizing its AT field.
"Fire!" Major Katsuragi ordered.
Rockets and shells again cascaded toward the Angel, this time however they managed to do some damage and the weapon and vehicle crews of the UN Secondary Forces felt a sense of elation as they knew that the cries they heard from the enemy were caused by them.
The pride was short lived however, as Zeruel, not willing to just levitate there and be shot at, sent its ribbon arms toward Units-01 and 02 who managed to redirect their AT fields in time to prevent the lethal attack from making contact.
The octagonal orange shields keeping the razor-sharp arms at bay for the moment as both Shinji and Asuka grit their teeth in effort in their entry plugs as the force drove them back. Their Evas feet digging up deep groves in the pristinely nurtured Geofront landscape.
The Angel then unleashed its own AT field, sending a shockwave that knocked both Evas off their feet and tumbling through the wooded Geofront. That threat dealt with Zeruel turned his attention to the artillery batteries that had caused him pain, the red flash all the warning there was before another energy blast ripped through the air and ushered in the obliteration of dozens of lives.
Zeruel, floating on his cushion of air, approached the downed form of Unit-01. The blast had left Shinji dazed and confused, the pain in his head blocking out the frantic voices of Misato and the bridge crew trying to get him to move.
Across the torn up battlefield the Geofront had become Asuka managed to recover and felt a sinking feeling in her gut as she saw the unmoving form of her lover's purple mech and the looming form of Angel nearing his defenseless position.
'NO!' Her mind screamed at the sight as her lungs let out a battle cry in the entry plug as her synch rate surged and she moved her Eva faster than it ever had before and jumped through the air toward the Angel. The Eva flipping in the air to build up momentum before a deafening shockwave as Unit-02's right foot connected with Zeruel's facemask at near supersonic speeds, sending a crack down the middle between its black and red eye sockets.
Shinji recovered his senses just in time to see the aerial form of Asuka's red Unit-02 gracefully soaring above the wounded Angel.
"Nice Asu-" Shinji began as he opened the comm link, only for his words to die in his throat as he helplessly watched as one of the razor-sharp ribbon arms swipe Asuka's left side, opening a bloody gash in the red Eva as it went flying directly into the NERV Pyramid. Instead of Asuka's voice across the comms he heard her blood-chilling screams of sympathetic pain for the damage Zeruel did to her precious Unit-02. The force of the impact from Asuka's wounded Eva shook Central Dogma and nearly knocked Misato off of her feet.
A primal, animalistic, growl escaped Shinji's lips as he brought his Eva up. Zeruel sent his razored arms toward the purple unit only for them to be stopped cold by Unit-01's AT field as Shinji lunged forward and gripped the "hands" of Zeruel's peculiar arms.
The bolts holding Unit-01's jaw snapped and the Eva released its own sympathetic roar as Shinji's mind filled with rage:
'YOU! Hurt! Her!'
His brain screamed as he registered the highest synch rate they'd ever recorded for a pilot as the muscles in the purple mech's arms bulged at the strain of trying to wrestle with Zeruel. Even with the power of the S2 organ and his own fury surging through the Eva it wasn't enough to force the Angel to the ground.
Shinji turned his attention away from the stalemate for a moment and glanced at NERV Headquarters. The point of the Pyramid was gone and most of the surface was dented or a crumpled crater, Shinji didn't know it but somehow Gendo's esoteric office had survived this. His brain took a moment to register the implications before his mouth voiced them:
"But where's As-?" He said just as he saw two red hands grab both the progressive knives still stuck in the Angel's body before violently removing them and in one swift motion cutting the ribbony arms he was grappling with at their source. The force holding back Unit-01's hands vanished as the Angel's arms fluttered to the ground as Zeruel fell onto his back, writhing and screaming in pain at the unexpected assault of Asuka's Unit-02.
Tossing one of the progressive knives to Shinji as she came around to the front they synchronously raised their blades and stabbed toward the red orb on the wounded Angel's torso, only for a protective-lid membrane to close at the last second, shattering both of their knives on impact.
"Wha-?!" Asuka began just as the red flash of the Angel's energy blast filled her vision and sent both Eva's flying into the ceiling of the Geofront's far side.
"Shinji! Asuka! Respond! Are you alright!?" Misato frantically tried to contact her two wards and pilots.
"It's no good Major, that blast appears to have knocked out their comms!" Hyuga said as his terminal showed large red error messages related to the Eva's external communications equipment.
Misato's eyes fell to the floor. There was nothing more she could do. The Geofront garrison was exhausted and no reinforcements could arrive in time. Her hands went to the cross around her neck, one the only things she had of the father who saved her, as she quietly uttered a single word:
"Please."
"Baka are you alright?" Asuka said through gritted teeth as she held her right arm in the entry plug.
"Yeah but I can't raise Misato, or anyone else at NERV." Shinji said across the comm, also clearly in pain. The reason was soon clear as Asuka saw two arms, one purple and the other red, fall from the top of the Geofront. Unit-02's right arm made a splash as it fell into the Geofront lake, soaking the NERV cruiser floating there, while Unit-01's left arm flattened several trees as it plummeted into a forested area.
"So we're on our own." Asuka said, silently thankful that they still at least had their Eva-to-Eva comms. "He's got the range advantage, so let's get closer." Asuka said as she began moving and Shinji understood what she had in mind without her having to voice it.
The two Evas moved, as fast as their legs would carry them, in opposite directions toward the Angel presenting it with two threats and only having the means to deal with one. Zeruel charged another blast and aimed it at Unit-01, but, whether due to damage or luck, the shot went wide and struck the Geofront's curved side. Asuka in Unit-02 took the opportunity and with her remaining arm struck Zeruel's facemask, sending the Fourteenth Angel reeling. His bulging and torn mass then flew back on his levitating AT field, to get out of range as the Eva's renewed the chase.
They repeated this attack eight more times, driving Zeruel across the entire length of the Geofront, weaving a helix as they went, until the Angel had been driven up the wooded hills near the Geofront's side.
With nowhere left to go Shinji and Asuka moved in for the kill. Unit-01 used its right arm to pin Zeruel to the wall of the Geofront while Asuka used Unit-02's remaining arm to grab at the Angel's cracked faceplate.
Zeruel desperately charged one last blast but the combined AT fields of Units 01 and 02 deflected the blast, scattering almost a dozen strands of energy around the Geofront, that scorched trees, turned metal to slag, and concrete to powder.
The red mech began pulling at the leering, cracked mask, pulling the sinewy neck out of Zeruel's body as its vestigial limbs thrashed at Unit-01's grip, frantically trying to escape. But Shinji held firm as a battle cry erupted from his mouth soon echoed by Asuka as she felt the Angel's wiry neck begin to tear.
With one last effort the head came free with a satisfying rip and muffled scream. While Asuka smashed the already fractured facemask against the hard side of the Geofront, shattering it and quickly grabbing the sharpest piece she could find as an improvised knife. While Shinji had let go of his grip and instead focused his efforts on opening the protective membrane that covered the Angel's core. With one foot on the body of the Angel he managed to pry it open and reveal the churning reds and crimsons of a core whose roiling shapes vaguely resembled those movements of a cornered animal. Unit-02 moved into position and furiously shanked the boney blade into the core, over and over again, the roiling colors somehow becoming more frantic as the core began to crack. Before finally the orb yielded under the merciless assault and the knife penetrated, eliciting a loud shriek from the punctured core as the stirring colors darkened and vanished as Zeruel, the Fourteenth Angel, finally succumbed.
Letting out pent up sighs Shinji and Asuka manipulated their Eva's so they were kneeling and wordlessly exited their entry plugs. As she was holding onto the cable lowering her down to the ground Asuka looked down the wooded hill toward NERV headquarters. The battle had started at the cusp of dusk and now night had truly fallen as the remaining streetlights and other illumination automatically turned on in the Geofront.
Reaching the grassy ground she leapt off and began running toward Shinji, and throwing caution to the wind buried herself in his chest as she reached him.
"Are you okay?" He asked as he embraced her, holding her in a tight grip that would rival one of Misato's infamous bear-hugs. By way of response she brought up her left hand and caressed his cheek before she puckered her lips, closed her eyes, and shared with him a kiss, of reassurance, of safety, of comfort, as she tightened her own grip around him.
They stayed like that for a moment, shutting out the world, all the pain and stress and horror of the battle they had just been in. None of it mattered, they had each other.
But eventually the tiny voices of logic and reason told them they should stop, that the recovery teams would be coming soon, that Misato would be coming soon, that someone would be coming soon.
"I love you Shinji." Asuka said as she looked into his eyes, and saw there fortitude, kindness, and love.
"I love you Asuka." Shinji said as he looked into her eyes and saw there passion, boldness, and love.
With great reluctance they both broke the embrace, let go of each other, and began wordlessly making their way back towards NERV, though despite everything they both wore a smile on their faces as they went.
However, unknown to Shinji and Asuka, someone had already come and therewas a pair of eyes looking at them at that moment that had seen everything.
"Interesting."
A/N: And who could it have been that saw them? Speculation is welcome. The cat will be out of the bag soon, probably next chapter. The goal with this chapter was to show what the battle with Zeruel could have been if both Shinji and Asuka had been there and worked together. That's where the title comes from, since in the series the title card is A Man's Battle. As always let me know what you think of it. Apologies if the quality/editing isn't up to expected standards, this past month has been…lively.