JUNE 11th, 2015
COMMAND CENTER, NERV HQ
8:07pm:
The battle just outside the gates of the Command Center had finally ceased. However, no crew member inside felt any less tense. Everyone could still hear more distant battles going on inside HQ, and even the rumbles from blasts despite them being a lot farther than the firefight they had just heard occur in the room next to them.
But that wasn't what was still worrying any of them.
"The gunfire's stopped..." Said Misato.
"Has anyone from Unit-01 contacted you at all in the past few minutes?" Ritsuko asked.
"That's what's worrying me, they haven't."
Standard protocol for every unit in NERV was to announce whether they had succeeded in taking the enemy down. But a good three minutes had already passed since the battle had gone silent. Without any updates on Unit-01's status, nobody inside the Command Center knew whether either side had won. In their minds, a platoon of Angels barging in through the gates was very much a likely scenario at this point.
"Unit-01, do you read me?" Misato tried contacting them to no response. "I repeat, Unit-01, is anyone there?"
Suddenly, down at the lowest leveled bridge of the Command Center, the thick armored gates unlocked themselves and opened.
Asuka was the one who had unlocked them with her card key. Shinji, Rei, Toji, Kensuke and Hikari accompanied her as they all made their way inside. She had ordered the rest of Unit-01 to secure the gates after they closed behind them. The bridge they were at was full of unknown faces; crew members for the other valued units of NERV.
So when they faced opposition from the crew themselves, Asuka had no problem getting in their faces.
"Excuse me, but troops are not permitted here right now! You'll have to turn back arou-"
Asuka grabbed the female crew member by the collar.
"I don't have time for this, alright? I need to talk to someone right now. So do what's best for yourself and stay out of our way." She said as she pushed her back.
Intimidated, the crew member stepped back.
Shinji looked back at Toji and Kensuke, who had basically shrugged her ill-tempered behavior off. They had both witnessed the major consequences of Asuka's poor decisions during the Angel attack they had just dealt with. Both were not happy with the mess that battle had turned out to be. It was obvious that she was letting her emotions affect her role as leader in Unit-01.
She had even gone as far as to order everyone in her unit to not contact anyone in the Command Center, hence why nobody knew whether they had won or not.
Shinji too started to worry about Asuka's mental state. Her irritability was something that not only he, but his entire unit was familiar with. But even she was overstepping certain boundaries now. Almost getting physical with that NERV personnel was just going too far, even for someone like Asuka.
'If she's being this impatient, then what she needs to talk to Misato about is probably important. Whatever it is, I hope it's worth it.'
Asuka looked up at the highest-leveled bridge in the center, knowing that it was where Misato and Unit-01's bridge bunnies were. She walked in her usual overly-confident fashion and stopped once she got close enough for their crew to hear them from below.
Then she crossed her arms, took a deep breath, and-
"MAJOR KATSURAGI!"
Recognizing the fiery-tempered girl's voice, Misato walked over to the end of the bridge and looked down, seeing Asuka and three of her troops. She was visibly confused, as were the rest of the crew members up there with her. Amid said confusion, she didn't even notice Shinji had gone back to HQ, and focused solely on Asuka's presence in the Command Center, a place that only allowed its crew to enter.
"Lieutenant? What are you doing h-?" Misato tried talking to her through Asuka's earpiece before being cut off.
"Talk to me with your real voice!" Asuka shouted as she yanked her earpieces off and threw them on the ground. "What kind of lousy commanding was that? We were damn near close to death out there! The Angels almost broke in here and took you all out!"
But Misato refused to yell back down at Asuka. She grabbed a P.A mic and spoke over the speakers the place was equipped with.
"Soryu, this is not the time for your childish tantrums! Why didn't you report to me after you defeated the enemy?" She asked.
"You wanna talk about 'reporting'? Where the hell was that backup you said you were gonna get us? You think I'd care to update you on our status when you weren't even able to do the same for our much needed backup?" Asuka confronted, scoffing at Misato. "And you call yourself an Operations Director... what a joke!"
That last comment really got on Misato's nerves.
"It wasn't easy reaching out to anyone to come to your rescue! If you haven't noticed, everyone in HQ is fighting their own battles! Now, stand down, Lieutenant! This is not appropriate conduct!"
Shinji looked over at his friends again and moved a little closer as Asuka continued her nonsensical arguments.
"Guys, what the hell's gotten into her?" He asked quietly. "She's usually pretty out of line and all, but this is just too much... even for her!"
"Pff." Toji let out. "Beats me. She's always goin' on about somethin'... it don't surprise me and it never will."
But Kensuke had a much more different take on her behavior.
"My guess is that she's just projecting. I mean she was doing a pretty lousy job as our unit's C.O today. She just kept making a wrong move after another and made us all pretty vulnerable. Hell, Toji and I were the ones that had to suggest ideas to her just in order to take those skinjobs out..." He explained. "Maybe she just can't accept that she fucked up."
Now it all began to make sense to Shinji. It wasn't really a 'talk' Asuka wanted to have, she just wanted to berate Misato in an attempt to shift the blame for her own poorly thought-out actions onto their superior. It was clear she wasn't thinking logically anymore.
Asuka was just refusing to take accountability for her actions.
As the senseless argument continued between the two, Fuyutsuki observed from the Commander's deck above the bridge Misato and company were on. He had nothing to say on the matter but hoped the Major would be senseless enough to just put Unit-01's Lieutenant into her place already. Just as he had decided that Misato was taking too long to do so and was about to intervene himself, the sound of an elevator door opening caught his attention.
When Fuyutsuki turned around to see who it was, he found Gendo having finally returned to the Command Center.
"Commander Ikari, where have you been this entire time?" The Sub-Commander asked. "I was beginning to think that the Angels had terminated you."
Gendo shook his head.
"I was sheltering in my office when the power outage occurred. Even if I wanted to leave, all the elevators were non-functional." He explained.
He then took notice of Misato's voice scolding someone on the P.A and another voice yelling from down below. Gendo stepped forward to observe what was going on and looked down at the lowest bridge. He wasn't surprised at all to see it was Asuka that started the argument.
"Soryu is erupting once more, I see." Said the Commander.
"It seems so. Judging by Katsuragi's latest reports on the Lieutenant's behavior, I'd say she is becoming quite unreliable as a unit leader." Fuyutsuki said. "Maybe after this is all over- or rather, if we even survive this ambush, we can have her re-evaluated by Dr. Akagi."
But Gendo didn't reply to his Sub-Commander. Fuyutsuki could instantly tell something was wrong, as there was a peculiar expression on the Commander's face. It looked like he had spotted something just around where Asuka was. He was now frowning.
Gendo grabbed his own P.A mic and spoke.
"Shinji Ikari, why have you come back?" His voice reverberated, stopping Asuka's rants towards her superior mid-sentence.
There was a bit of a stunned silence that entered the large room. Everyone at the bridge below Gendo and Fuyutsuki now looked down, having only now recognized that the boy with dirtied clothes and slightly overgrown hair was actually Shinji. Now even Misato had just now noticed it was him.
'What the hell is he doing here?' She thought. 'He's going to get detained again for sure!'
Shinji himself was a little intimidated by the all the attention that had suddenly fallen onto him. He could sense almost every eye in the room staring him down.
"You have been terminated from NERV's system already. You are no longer allowed here, let alone the city limits of Tokyo-3." Gendo added. "Not to mention your crimes against our policies here... you are a crook and nothing but."
Now all of his friends looked over at him. None of this actually sounded like a description of Shinji, and they were beginning to wonder what his disappearance was truly about.
'Just what the hell did the idiot do?' Thought Asuka.
But Shinji didn't back down. He stepped forward assuredly and looked at his dad straight in the face and tightened his fist. He could even make out a little bruise forming on his father's cheek, reminding Shinji that he could have a say for himself after all.
The Commander was not pleased by this at all. He decided he'd resort to trying to get at Shinji's biggest insecurity; the desire to be needed by someone.
"Don't you understand? We have no use for you anymore. You are not a soldier."
"You're absolutely right, I'm not." Shinji responded loud enough for his father to hear.
Rei stood forward now as well, stopping right next to Shinji.
"I'm not a soldier. Most importantly, I'm not your soldier. I don't care about your organization, this god damn war, and above all, I don't care about you. Just as you never cared about me. I came back for my own reasons. For me, for the ones in this city who showed me true care and compassion,-" Said Shinji before grabbing Rei's hand and holding it tightly.
"-and for who I love."
Seeing Shinji do this infuriated Gendo.
"I don't care what you or your guards do to me if we make it out of this. Being here is my choice, because I'm my own person."
Those last words especially resonated with Rei. This was the closest she ever felt to him, and more than just on a physical level. Shinji struggled to do things for himself, always having acted on somebody's else's wishes or demands. Rei had gone through that in a much more extreme level, having basically been raised a slave her entire life.
Just as Shinji was his own person, so was Rei.
Asuka, as well as Hikari, Toji and Kensuke were quite surprised by Shinji's newfound confidence. This was nothing like the terrified recruit they met back at the ship off the coast of Okinawa. It was like he had finally broken free from the manipulative tactics of the Commander, his own father. And he was taking Rei along for the ride. Gendo felt absolutely powerless now, and even looked it.
But he refused to believe this fact.
"Very well then, I will have you put away once more seeing as how you are not able to learn your lesson." Gendo said. "Lieutenant Soryu, have your troops detain Ikari immediately."
This caught everyone by surprise, most of all Misato. She turned to him with a questioned look of shock, not seeing the Commander's reasoning for this.
"But... Commander Ikari! HQ is still under attack by the Angels! Can't this at least wait?"
"Negative. He is not to be trusted and should be taken into custody as soon as possible. Soryu, do as you have been told." Gendo replied coldly.
Asuka looked over at Shinji, completely clueless on what to do next. She was given her orders, but like Misato, she wasn't onboard with this idea. There was still a battle to be fought, and Shinji had proven to be a worthy soldier just a month prior. But of course there was something else.
She would never show it, but Asuka did care about him in her own way.
Hikari wasn't really opposed to the idea, as she had always found Shinji to be questionable after his 'semi-assault' on Asuka back in Matsuyama. His two friends, on the other hand, wouldn't partake in detaining him. They were loyal to him as they were to each other. True brother in arms, as they thought soldiers should always be.
"Lieutenant! What is the meaning of this delay? Detain him now!" Barked the Commander.
Asuka slightly flinched at the yell of Gendo's stern voice. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, not knowing whether to follow her commands or to stand up for what she thought was right, much like Shinji had just done.
"I- I..." She let out.
It was a much unusual sight for Asuka to hesitate like this when just minutes ago she was confronting Misato for a rather childish reason.
"Are you refusing to take my order, Lieutenant?" Asked Gendo impatiently.
"No... I just- well-"
"You are at risk of losing your position as Unit-01's Commanding Officer, Soryu." He added. "
She stared at him in shock. It wasn't just the prospect of losing her valued position in the unit, but how this man seemed to know something about her. It wasn't just an out-of-the-blue statement, it felt very purposeful. It was like he knew exactly what her emotional weak points were, and she began to realize exactly what Shinji had dealt with as a child.
Asuka began to mutter.
"I don't know what to do... I don't know what to do... I don't-"
"It's okay, Asuka. Do what you have to do." Shinji chimed in. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't know what the consequences would be if I came back. I'm just glad I got to fight alongside all of you one last time."
Once again, he managed to surprise everyone around him. Rei was especially worried, though, having felt like she had just won him back.
"You are all pathetic." Gendo said, tired of waiting for something to happen. "Have it your way, then. If you do not wish to detain him, then you will all be detained. Rei, report to Dr. Akagi now before things get much worse for you."
Rei shuddered at the mention of Ritsuko's surname, which Shinji noticed and found rather strange.
As Gendo continued his prolonged scolding of the few troops down on the lower decks, Misato could hear a faint beeping coming from directly above the Commanding deck. Her eyes surveyed the area, looking for what could possibly be causing the noise.
"What the-"
She moved around the bridge, testing different spots to try and see if the beeps became more audible depending on where she stood. The rest of the crew wondered what she was doing and why, and found her sudden moving around rather odd. Ritsuko also took notice of this, and was quick to check on Misato's weird behavior.
"Misato, what are you doing?" She asked.
"Don't you hear that?" Misato said to her. "There's some beeping noise coming from somewhere up there..."
Ritsuko now tried listening closely as well, finally noticing the sound.
"Strange, I hear it too."
The two snooped around some more, noticing that the sound was coming from somewhere in the center of the bridge, but it still sounded as if it was above them. Ritsuko also realized there was a slight boxed reverberation to the beeping, so she could only think of one place that could make a muffled sound in such a vast room like the Command Center.
She looked up at the main air circulation system, which hung right above the Commanding Deck, where both Gendo and Fuyutsuki currently stood.
Then the beeps took a higher pitched and sped up suddenly.
"COMMANDER IKARI GET-!"
*P-TRRRAAAAAFFF*
A blast shook the entire Command Center as alarms blared from every side of the room. Everyone inside instinctively dropped to the ground, not knowing exactly what had just happened. Shinji quickly looked up to where his father was, seeing nothing but residue smoke slowly settling. He wondered if his father and Fuyutsuki had been killed in the explosion, but most importantly, he knew there was some kind of threat to be fought at the moment.
Then just as he had suspected, three Angels stood where a vent hatch previously had been. This vent was way bigger, enough to allow a fully-grown adult to walk through with ease. This made it easy for them to start firing at each crew member once they had a clear vision.
*RR-ATATATATATATA*
"TAKE COVER!" Yelled Asuka to just about everyone around her.
The keyboards and computer screens that were mounted on the barriers on the many bridges popped and snapped from bullet strikes, and a few unfortunate crew members were also caught in the crossfire. Up where Misato and the rest of Unit-01's crew were at, she and everyone else managed to back up against the walls at an angle the enemy wasn't able to fire at them from. Maya screamed hysterically as she witnessed a few other miscellaneous crew members get shot and drop dead.
Back down at the lower level, Shinji did a combat roll and tried firing at the Angels, not yet having much of a clear view of them. It was easy for the enemy to simply stand back and take cover from their firepower. Whatever they tried doing from down there was almost completely ineffective.
"That's not gonna work, idiot!" Asuka shouted at him. "We're way too far from them. There's no clear shot we can take from here, they have the advantage!"
"Well then what the hell do we do?!" Asked Shinji.
Rei scanned the room, looking for any way to get a better aim at the Angels from their level. Unfortunately, from the bridge they were on, there wasn't any place they could get a good aim at the enemy without exposing themselves to them. But with one look at the side of the MAGI, where all the higher decks of bridges stood, she found emergency ladders that lead from one level to the next.
"Lieutenant, look." She told Asuka, pointing to the ladders. "If we are provided proper covering fire, we can scale up the decks and take them out."
Once Asuka saw the ladders too, she realized that Rei was right. But she wasn't about to let her know that.
"About damn time you got into this, Miss Perfect!"
Rei mostly ignored this, but couldn't help but feel just a little irritated at the Lieutenant's sour attitude. Still, she focused on the battle at hand.
"Suzuhara, you, Aida and Hikari stay back here and provide us covering fire when I order you to, is that clear?" Asuka shouted at him.
"Yes ma'am!" He replied.
"Ikari, Miss Perfect, let's move out!"
The three hurried over to the ladders right when the Angels had backed up for cover, giving them a clear field to move out completely unharmed. Just as they reached the ladders, the Angels resumed their offensive fire. Asuka began the climb first, followed by Rei, and lastly Shinji. Just as she reached the edge of the next level, she looked over at Toji and cued him to fire.
He acknowledged the cue and signaled Kensuke and Hikari to fire with him.
The Angels backed up again, providing the Lieutenant and her fellow troops to safely reach the next deck. Although they had to carefully perform this technique as not to rush it and get themselves killed, there was a lot of pressure to speed the process up. Now the fate of all the Command Center's crew were at stake, furthermore risking other units' fates all over HQ. Without the assistance of their bridge bunnies, they'd be sitting ducks.
Once Shinji, Rei and Asuka reached Misato's level, they quickly rushed to take cover with them in order to check in on them.
"Misato!" Shinji shouted. "Are you alright? Is anyone here hurt?"
"We're all fine down here. The real issue is whether Commander Ikari and Fuyutsuki are still alive!" She told him.
But Shinji didn't seem too worried about that fact.
"I'm not here to protect him! I'm here to take those damn Angels out and protect my friends! He can go to hell for all I c-"
Misato grabbed him and pulled him close.
"This isn't about your grudges, Shinji! I get that he was a piece of shit to you all your life, but he's our Commander! Head of NERV! He is a vital part of everyone's survival whether you like it or not! So get up there make sure he's alive! Protect him! You understand that?"
Shinji was not too fond of the idea at first, but quickly realized that saving Gendo's life didn't necessarily mean he was doing it for his father's sake. By saving him, he'd be ensuring that everyone he loved was safe too. As much as he hated his father, and wished him nothing but pain and misfortune, he had to make sure he was okay.
"Yes... Misato." He said with a sigh.
*K-PRRRRFFF*
Suddenly the deck below them had its metallic side doors blasted as well. More Angels had successfully breached the Command Center, and now everyone's lives were in grave danger. A mere six troops was nowhere near enough to take all of them out, so Misato had to bring more troops in to fend them off.
"Shit! Alright, get up there already! I'll order everyone else from Unit-01 to help with the Angels up there!"
He nodded at her and tapped Asuka and Rei's shoulders, letting them know that they needed to check on Gendo and Fuyutsuki. From their position, they were finally able to get a good aim at the Angels in the vent, and all fired at them simultaneously when the enemies least expected it.
*RR-ATATATATATATA*
Down below, the rest of Unit-01 entered the Command Center entered the battle and fired at the intruding Angels. Shinji then realized that being up at a higher deck made all three of them more vulnerable. While the three took cover at the barriers of the bridge, Shinji decided to tell them of his idea.
"Rei, Asuka, listen to me..." He began.
The two looked at him.
"The three of us can't go up there at the same time. We'd all be killed for sure. I'm going to need you two to provide me covering fire while I get myself up there."
But both looked very unsure of the idea as soon as he'd suggested it.
"Don't be stupid! The skinjobs we took out might be dead, but more might come down the same vent! It's suicide!" Said Asuka.
"That's why one of you should handle the lower decks, and the other handles the vent." He explained. "Trust me, Asuka. I can do this. If the Commander and Sub-Commander are still alive, there's a chance they'll be killed up there."
Asuka took a few seconds to think about his strategy and sighed.
"Don't die, idiot." She said to him. "I'll handle the lower decks, then."
Shinji nodded.
"I'll handle the vent, Shinji. Please be careful." Said Rei.
"I will. Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Then Shinji ran off and positioned himself at the last ladder, waiting for Asuka's signal so he could climb while she handled the nearest Angels. Once she gave him the go, he hurriedly climbed up the ladder and made his way to check on the two heads on the organization. It wasn't what he wanted to do, but it was what he needed to do. And if doing this meant he could see his loved ones live another day, he'd risk his life for it.
Rei kept a close eye on the vent, looking for any movement at all to make sure Shinji wouldn't be ambushed from above.
He finally reached the Commanding Deck, finding both Gendo and Fuyutsuki on the floor unconscious. Shinji quickly ran to the Sub-Commander and checked his pulse, finding that it was still beating.
'Okay good, he's still alive.'
Then he went over to his father and checked his as well. It was beating as well.
'Still alive.'
Shinji shook his father to see if he could wake him up, but there was no response. He was still alive, but clearly knocked out cold. Then Shinji went to shake Fuyutsuki awake, who had surprisingly woken back up much easier than the younger Gendo did.
"Ik-Ikari?" He said weakly as his eyes fought to stay open.
Fuyutsuki groaned as he tried standing up by himself, the blast probably having thrown him back quite a bit.
"Take it easy, Sub-Commander. Come on, I'll help you up."
Shinji assisted the older man further back onto the deck so he wouldn't be too close to the combat down below. He sat Fuyutsuki down gently and looked to do the same to his father, until-
*TAT-TAT* *RR-ATATATATATA*
"Shinji!" Rei yelled from down below, warning him of more Angels coming from the vent above him and the heads of NERV.
"Stay here, Sub-Commander!" He said as he rushed over to assess the situation.
Rei was able to take two more Angels out, but one had managed to fire at her enough where she had to seek cover herself.
"Damn it!" Said Asuka, trying to assist as well.
But this Angel was quick, and dodged all the gunfire coming towards them and made their way down to the Commander's Deck unharmed. Neither Rei or Asuka were able to climb up and help Shinji as more Angels came in and fired at them from the vent, holding them back.
"Fuck!" Shinji let out, firing at the Angel.
They managed to dodge Shinji's bullets as well, their automatic rifle having been hit instead and destroyed in the process. It was then that Shinji's own ADV rifle had run out of ammo, and he tried reaching for Kaji's blaster instead. The gunfire was close and loud enough that it snapped Gendo back into reality, and he saw Shinji about to face off with an Angel directly. He backed up as fast as he could, despite his minor injuries proving to slow him down a bit.
The Angel quickly rushed Shinji, and he knew that this would be a losing battle if it came to hand-to-hand combat.
He had been taught that an Angel's strength was far greater than a human's. Trying to take one head-on without any self-defense weapons was akin to letting oneself be tortured to death. So he ran back and used evasive maneuvers, having to try and take this Angel out with his PKD blaster.
"Agh!" Shinji let out in a pant, struggling to be quick enough to dodge the enemy's quick attacks and tackles.
No matter how much he was able to avoid the Angel, he had to keep on the move, making it quite difficult to reach for the blaster in time to kill them. Shinji was quickly getting exhausted the more he moved away from this fierce Angel.
At one point, the Angel was close enough that they swiped their feet under Shinji's and tripped him.
"Gyaah!" He winced in pain.
The Angel was about to brutally murder Shinji right then and there, but stopped once they spotted Gendo himself trying to get away from them.
"Eliminate Ikari..." Shinji could hear the Angel say. "Eliminate Ikari... Eliminate Ikari..." They repeated.
The Angel then rushed over at Gendo, moving as if it was an animal. Shinji saw this as the perfect opportunity to reach for his PKD blaster. But the Angels was quick, and was just about to lunge at Gendo to take him out.
"Out of the way, sir!" Fuyutsuki shouted.
Gendo mustered the strength to roll over and dodge the Angel.
*TS-PAP*
That was when Shinji fired at them, but only struck the side of the Angel's leg. They yelped in pain, but still tried to get at Gendo.
*TS-PAP*
hinji fired another shot, finally silencing the Angel. It appeared as if they were finally gone, and the two heads of NERV were safe and sound.
"Goodness..." Said Fuyutsuki. "These things... they truly are like animals. What are we really dealing with here?"
Shinji stood up slowly, but had a strange look to his eye. Gendo was still on his back on the floor at the deck, and looked up at Shinji as his son approached him in a slow, rather peculiar manner.
"Ikari? What are you doing?" Fuyutsuki asked.
Shinji didn't respond. He was looking at his father's direction rather menacingly, and the older man got the feeling he was about to see something ugly.
"NO IKARI! DON'T DO IT!"
Then Shinji lifted his blaster at his father, or at least it seemed that way. Gendo closed his eyes and prepared for the worst, hearing the powerful gunshot pop right in front of him.
*TS-PAP*
But he felt nothing intrude his skull. The world around him didn't go black, and he could still feel his body exist in its full physical form. Instead, he felt a splat of some sort of thick liquid hit the left side of his face. Gendo opened his eyes again only to see the barrel of Shinji's blaster smoking. It wasn't pointed directly at him, but rather slightly to the side.
He rubbed some of the liquid off his face and took a look at it. It was blood, but not his own. Gendo looked to his left, finding the Angel's body next to him with its head blown open. It turned out they hadn't actually after the second shot and attempted to kill the Commander once more. Shinji was quick to spot that.
Gendo looked back at his son, who in turn stared him down with deeply vacant eyes. His life had just been saved.
"Find shelter, Commander. They're everywhere." Shinji said to him flatly.
His father nodded rather stiffly, unsure as how to feel about what had just gone down. Fuyutsuki found the strength to stand up by himself and went over to aide Gendo as the two men called the elevator to get out of there. Shinji went back to his ADV rifle and loaded a full clip into it, planning to go back down to assist his unit. His job up there was done.
"How reckless." Fuyutsuki said quietly. "He could've easily missed the target and killed you instead... it was a dangerous and misguided move."
But Gendo continued to stare at Shinji just as he cocked his rifle and made his way back down.
"No. Shinji knew exactly what he was doing." He told the Sub-Commander.
Fuyutsuki could recognize that tone in Gendo's voice. He knew that the man was already devising something in his mind.
Gendo rubbed some more of the blood off his face, accidentally running his fingers through the still-aching bruise Shinji had left him earlier that day. The same cheek his son had injured him in now had concrete evidence on it that his son had also saved him. He grinned just a little.
"This might be able to work out after all, Fuyutsuki. It just might..." Said Gendo. "Take me to my office, I might have a means to an end to this ambush."
With that, the two men finally left the Command Center.
8:31pm:
"How many more of these fuckers are there?" Asuka said aloud to no one in particular.
There were still plenty of Angels inside the Command Center that had yet to be taken care of, but there weren't any more intruding it. Shinji, Asuka and Rei maintained their positions at the bridge below the Commanding Deck, protecting Misato, Ritsuko, and the crew that assisted Unit-01 in all their battles. The rest of the unit had spread out accordingly, looking to finally clear the room of Angels.
Toji, Kensuke and Hikari still remained at the lower decks, having joined forces with the rest of Unit-01 as they took out enemy after enemy.
The battle had been going on for a little while already, so Unit-01 had to resort to using rifles from dead Angels due to running out of their own ammunition. This had been the most exhausting battle the unit had ever faced, and they wondered if it'd even be over any time soon.
The bridge bunnies remained crouched under proper cover so they wouldn't be in harms way.
Maya shook violently as she heard just how loud gunfire was in a combat situation. Every once in a while, she'd look back at the bodies of her fallen comrades still oozing blood from their bullet wounds. She knew she would never be the same after that night.
Shigeru sat with his arms wrapped around his legs, just waiting for it all to be over. He was surprisingly calm about what was going on, and didn't seem to react all that much to having seen the crew next to him die in a split second.
Makoto was certainly nervous about what was going on, but kept his calm. He had always known that this was the risk of taking on a job like this. So he was mentally prepared for such an event. He then looked over at Misato, who seemed to be holding onto something. Makoto couldn't get a proper look at what it was that she was holding and didn't think much of it. He just hoped she'd be able to survive this ambush.
What Misato had been holding was her cross necklace, the one that her father had given to her moments before his sacrifice. She wondered if she would join him soon, and if all her work for NERV had even been worth it. She sighed.
Ritsuko had one hand placed on the MAGI and the other on the floor, sitting rather casually for being in such a terrifying situation.
'This might be it, mother.' She thought.
Unit-01 continued its relentless firing at the Angels, which now felt endless. Every troop in the room had felt as if this was just a never-ending cycle of combat. Even if they were able to clear this room, there was no way to know if another wave of Angels would force they way in again. They were beginning to feel hopeless. But then Shinji noticed something strange.
He was hard at work taking out the Angels when he observed all of them take cover at the same time.
"What are they up to now?"
Shinji saw one Angel taking cover in a somewhat exposed spot and readied to fire, but hesitated when he was them looking at some sort of digital watch they had. He had a look around at the other Angels and noticed they were all doing the exact same thing. It was after that that something even stranger occurred.
The Angels just stopped fighting back.
At first, Unit-01 waited for them to pop out once more to fire at them. But when they were kept waiting for too long, they headed out themselves to find the enemy. The Angels just sat there and let themselves be killed by the unit.
"What the hell?"
Some of them put their hands up and let the troops shoot them, while others just ended their own lives.
Unsure of whether this was completely true or not, Shinji fired at the one he had spotted previously and taken him out effortlessly. Nothing about this made sense. Then he stood up, taking no cover at all, and let himself be seen by basically every Angel inside the Command Center. No shots were being fired at him, or the other Unit-01 troops.
Shinji looked down at an Angel at the lower decks who looked back at him. They were making full eye-contact, and the Angel even had a rifle on their hands. Still, he faced no opposition. He fired at the enemy and killed them. It was just too easy.
He looked over at Asuka and Rei with a perplexed face.
"Are you seeing this?"
In a matter of minutes, all the Angels inside the center were executed. In fact, the audible gunfire from all around HQ had seemed to die down as well. Something about this felt very wrong. Shinji, Rei and Asuka gathered up at the center of the bridge, wondering what exactly was going on.
"Major Katsuragi, Dr. Akagi, the coast is clear... I think?" Said Asuka.
"What happened?" Misato asked, having noticed that there was something strange despite not witnessing the Angels having seemingly given up and letting themselves get killed. "You guys look... puzzled. What's going on?"
"It seems... the enemy has stopped fighting us." Explained Rei.
"What?"
Misato looked over at Ritsuko, who also looked very weirded out by Rei's summary of what just happened. She stepped forward and looked around the lower decks of the Command Center, finding numerous Angel bodies everywhere. It was like what was a tough battle had turned into a one-sided massacre.
"Um, are you absolutely sure that's what happened?" The doctor asked.
But Rei couldn't look at Ritsuko and stayed facing away from her, nervously grabbing one arm with her other. She still vividly remembered what Ritsuko had done to her earlier that day, and felt the anxiety well up inside her. Shinji noticed this once more and felt as if he needed to check up on her.
"Is everything okay?" He asked.
Ritsuko suddenly realized she had made a mistake in talking to Rei. Her mere presence terrified the girl, and risked getting Ritsuko's actions found out by everyone else. And even worse, the Commander. She wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, as it felt like she would be found out soon anyway.
"I-I need to, um... check on some things in my office. M-Make sure that the Angels aren't, um, still active in HQ..." Ritsuko said before leaving, also in a nervous manner.
As she left, Misato watched in confusion but didn't think much of it. But Shinji could tell something was up. He didn't know exactly what had happened, but he knew that there was something very strange going on between Rei and Ritsuko. He was about to ask Rei what exactly had gone on before he was unexpectedly cut off by Gendo, who was back over at the Commanding Deck.
"It seems as if the battle has finally ended." He said over the P.A. "Well done, all of you."
Shinji looked up at his father, not sure what his fate was at this point. The battle had finally ended, and as such Gendo was free to detain him like he had previously wanted to. It was a victory for Unit-01, a victory for NERV, but most important to Shinji, it was another day that everyone he cared for got to live. It was bittersweet, as he knew he probably wouldn't see Rei again after this.
"Rei..." He began.
She looked into his eyes, also knowing that this might've been the last time the two saw each other.
"I-"
He stopped. If this was truly the last time he'd ever see the girl he realized he was in love with, who also happened to return those feelings, he wanted to give her the proper goodbye. Shinji grabbed both her hands for what he assumed would be their last touch.
"-I never got to say it back." He finished.
"What, Shinji?" Asked Rei.
"That... I love you."
A single tear rolled down Rei's face after hearing those words. It seemed it just wasn't meant to be, but they could at least acknowledge that their feelings for each other were true. And in the end they got to be together one more time. Neither were sure just how much time they had left together, and as if they had read each other's minds, sought to initiate the symbol of affection towards one another they had failed to do so earlier.
Shinji and Rei neared each other once more, trying for a hug they thought would be their last.
"Privates Ayanami and Ikari, Lieutenant Soryu, I have a very special announcement to make." Said Gendo.
Shinji looked at his father with pure annoyance and hatred. If this truly was his way to have all three punished for not following his orders earlier on when he demanded that Asuka have her troops detain Shinji, then he was about ready to throw another fit at his old man.
"I have been informed by Dr. Akagi about your work together as a trio. I must say, I am more than impressed. She reported to me of your strategic prowess in climbing up the decks and your efficiency in taking the enemy down." Then Gendo looked at his son. "I had even witnessed first hand your improved combat skills today, Shinji. Good work."
But this was the last thing Shinji expected to hear from his father. Acknowledgement. Praise. Something Shinji had always wanted from him.
And now that he had finally gotten it, he realized just how little it all meant to him. But there was something else that boggled his mind; Gendo had referred to him by 'Private Ikari' again, despite making clear to him not too long ago that he was no longer a part of NERV.
'Could it be?' Shinji wondered. 'Is he... really-?'
"And so from here on out, you three have earned the title of the most prized soldiers in all of NERV. You will work as a Special Operations trio, and will be trained in the harshest of conditions to take on our toughest, and decisive battles yet."
Asuka was elated upon hearing this, looking around at everyone, especially Rei and Misato, to make sure they knew who was number one.
'Damn right! I'm above everyone else in this stinking organization, no surprise there! I'll be the best, most remembered soldier in all of history! And no one will forget the name... Asuka Langley Soryu!'
But Shinji and Rei were quite unsure of what to think of this. They had both come to recognize that Gendo had his way with mind games and control, and began to worry again for their future. Not only that, but their future together. Whether this would prove to be a good or bad thing, they'd have to wait and see. But an unpleasant emotion loomed in their minds at the same time, as if they were linked.
Gendo smirked, unveiling his latest plan to victory.
"Rei, Asuka and Shinji; you are hereby the First, Second and Third Children."