AN: There! God… this chappie was particularly hard to write; never imagined that writing a fight sequence would take so much god damned time and attention. Anyways, yay! New chappie!
Note, please read: Heavily... heavily and unnecessarily described fight sequence to follow. Plz skip chapter if you no like detailed fight sequence. Thank you.
(Bruce Buffer voice): Ladies and gentlemen, this is The Main Event of the Evening! Presented by: Heat-Tap! You know you've killed for less! Concha y Toro Wines, the Best of Chile, and Review Power, the Second strongest energy drink for writers all around!
And now! The moment Scar Tissue fans all around the world have been waiting for! My dear friends ….. IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S… TIIIIIIIIIIIMEE! Five rounds for the undisputed… FanFiction Super Heavyweight Championship of the world! … Introducing first! FIGHTING out of Novokut… out of unknown parts of Siberia, Russia! This man is a professional wrestler, a mixed martial artist and a serial killer trained since he was five years old, with a record of 56 wins, five losses! He stands at 5'8 inches tall, weighing in at 165 pounds … the Challenger! Dmitri… the Mary Sue… Krupnov!
Aaaaaaaand NOW, introducing the champions! FIGHTING out of Berlin, Germany and Tokyo 02, Japan! This pair is a mixed martial artist duo, jiu-jitsu brown belts and kick-boxers, with a mixed professional record of 13 wins, three losses. Weighing in a mixed weight of 223 pounds and standing at 5'5 inches tall…. The REIGNING, DEFENDING, UNDISPUTED Super Heavyweight Champions of the World! Asuka… the Red Devil… Sohryu; and Shinji… the Wrath of God…. IKARI!
I own nothing. Not even Bruce Buffer, that guy is expensive!
Now let's get it on!
Scar Tissue
Chapter Twenty, Act Nineteen: Война (War)
The desolated surroundings of what had once been Tokyo stretched out before the two mechas. The ocean waves crashed calmly behind Unit X as the monstrous Angel-turned-Evangelion continued to tilt its head in curiosity. Unit 02 stood facing the behemoth, weapon in hand as the faint sounds of explosions and gunfire carried on, undeterred by the inevitable clash of two demigods.
"Asuka-chan!" Unit 02's personality exclaimed once they reached the surface. "There's a wound on your back!"
Asuka smiled; adrenaline was already pumping through her veins, and her eyes were alert for the slightest motion from the enemy. "Yeah, 2.0, I know. Be a dear and heal that up for me, but..." she winked at the boy sitting just below her, who blushed despite the seriousness of the situation. "Leave a scar. One that lasts me a lifetime."
The entity's surprise permeated the entry plug. "What, leave a scar?" 2.0 demanded, sounding every bit the Asuka of old. "Why would you want a scar from a bite mark of all thi- oh..." Apparently having seen Asuka's recent memories, Unit 02 asked no further questions and directed the S2 Core power to her nape. It felt like boiling water being poured on the soon-to-be scar as the LCL bubbled around it; in seconds, the dull ache of Shinji's teeth digging into her skin was gone.
"Asuka," Shinji muttered, glaring at the armed EVA before them. "The enemy hasn't moved an inch."
It had not; the dreaded Unit X stood rooted to the place it had landed, observing them with a clear predatory gleam with the gigantic scythe slung over its shoulder. The armor was minimal, leaving large gaps between the shoulders, upper and lower legs that took the form of a red X. The facial mask had an uncanny resemblance to Unit 01, with an elongated chin, two eyes, and a large, visible jaw kept closed by metal that was painted dark crimson. Its shoulder plates carried SEELE's symbol, and on its head two small horns protruded, like some form of devil. The oni mask on this particular model looked like it was laughing in glee.
The Angel's body appeared rather gaunt, its limbs having none of the discernible muscle Unit 02 displayed through the armor; if anything, it looked like a starved man barely able to stand. Surprisingly enough, after collecting her weapon and assessing her enemy's range, Asuka had not jumped into attack at once. After those fiascoes with the Seventh and Zeruel, you really think I'm just gonna throw myself at you like a rabid dog? she thought, smirking when the weapon's blade began to vibrate. Not happening.
"He's sizing me up," she responded; Shinji turned to her in a flash, eyebrow raised. "Hikari-chan said this guy killed nine trained soldiers… he's not an ordinary enemy. He's waiting to see who makes the first mistake."
Two large aircraft carrying what both teens figured to be bombs intended to be dropped on Tokyo 03 flew past the dark EVA's frame. Asuka was ready to stop their advance and reduce casualties by slicing up a wing, yet before the planes made it fifty meters past Unit X, the scythe moved with speed that should be impossible for such a massive weapon, and cut both planes into pieces before its AT-Field expanded and blew up the remains.
Shinji's frown turned darker. "Those were… SEELE's reinforcements," he said, having recognized the seven-eyed mask on one of the planes. "Those are supposed to be his allies, his back-up, and he just…"
"Kids," Misato's voice rang through the comm, interrupting Shinji's train of thought. "This is no average Angel or EVA, the MAGI keeps getting all sorts of weird readings. Be careful."
"Yeah, tell me about it." Asuka watched with distaste as the black behemoth turned its head, and upon discovering five more planes coming their way lazily extended its left arm. It expanded a reddish wave, scorching both friend and foe in one single, deadly move. "I'm getting all sorts of messed-up results from this thing's metabolic structure." Her brain quickly went over Ritsuko's initial scan. "It's like he's a giant electron cloud. His molecules are in a constant state of flux."
"That means it will regenerate with little to no effort. I guess we have an answer on why this monster was never successfully cloned," Ritsuko commented, then barked orders to Takenashi to redirect what remained of their anti-aerial weapons towards the shore. "Asuka, Shinji… you have to wear it down, and destroy the core."
At last, the sword Commander Akagi had manufactured and named 'Lady Forlorn' was unsheathed. "So, basic Angel fighting, then. We have no clue what it is, or what it can do, and we have a giant butter knife to poke it with." Asuka's smirk widened when she felt Shinji's animosity and rage begin to bathe the blade with a part of Unit 02's AT-Field. "Fuck it, I'm going i-"
"Shinji Ikari!"
The loud echo of whoever was piloting the enemy vessel rang through the soon-to-be battlefield, making Asuka flinch. Shinji's eyes widened; he knew the voice, muffled as it had been through the various noises in the background. "Asuka Langley Sohryu! Surrender now, peacefully, and deliver me Unit 02." The behemoth extended its left hand, as though wishing for Unit 02 to take it. "Do as I say, Asuka dear, and I won't kill anyone else. I'll be gentle with you, too… trust me. I'll even save your boyfriend the trouble of watching you die a second time. You can be the great hero. Sacrifice yourself for this bunch of ungrateful parasites you call cit-"
"Don't you ever shut up?" Shinji growled, interrupting the enemy's ranting, annoying voice. His hands were gripping the control jokes so hard his knuckles were white underneath the plugsuit. "I've been waiting for this day ever since you called me." The raw, unbending hatred his aura exuded made both Unit 02 and Asuka shudder. So this was him... this was the person who had tried to kill her.
At last, the enemy seemed to lose interest in the battle behind them and began a slow approach towards Unit 02, swaying its whole body with every step. "Would you look at that..." The voice dribbled through the speakers, hungry and heavy with bloodlust. "You actually came out to fight, Shinji."
Unit 02 assumed a defensive position with its left foot forwards and the blade covering its body, knees bent and limbs ready to respond. "Careful there," Asuka told Shinji, eyes carefully watching the enemy's every move. "He's not just being lazy with that swaying, that's probably how he fights. He's luring us in, and gaining momentum."
As if on cue, when the EVA's weapons were at meeting distance, Unit X swayed extensively to the right, pushing the scythe with its shoulder. In a quick motion the large metal staff changed hands and the black monster launched a brutal, quick upward slash meant to eviscerate her. Asuka crouched, stepped back and retreated just out of the blade's reach; she'd gauged the distance and seen that her opponent was wide open. Unit 02 responded with a straight thrust directed at where she assumed the core to be, only to have the enemy bend into an inhuman position, its head almost touching the ground behind it, and evade the blade's tip by a meter at best.
Even from its position, the black behemoth never stopped staring right at Unit 02. Its left arm brought the scythe down in another attempt to slice her open from neck to groin. Sadly for their opponent, however, Asuka was not alone inside the entry plug. Shinji manifested a thick, powerful shield to catch the blade's edge. The AT-Field cracked, but did not break and effectively grabbed hold of the enemy's weapon.
"Good job, Baka," Asuka muttered, feeling the muscles in her body tense for the attack. I didn't count on this being so easy.
Defenseless, the black EVA could do nothing short of hastily moving away when the sword moved upward to cut off its head; it evaded the worst of the damage by moving with animalistic instincts and sacrificing its right forearm, which flew away in a curtain of dark red blood while the edge of her brand new sword drew a slash across its right eye.
"Heh," Asuka scoffed. Her mind was already set on the next offense pattern. Whoever you are, Mr. Artist, you should've killed me when you had the chance.
Unit X tore the scythe away from its momentary entrapment and tried again with a horizontal slash. Asuka parried with surprising ease, then turned the massive blade to knock the enemy's weapon out of the way. Lady Forlorn, Ritsuko's pride and joy, violently embedded itself in Unit X's midsection, bent on slicing it in half, yet before it could the very muscle mass it had just opened fizzled and bubbled around the blade, trapping it.
"Asuka, massive AT-Field readings!" Shinji shouted below her. "We need to get clear!"
Already on it, Baka! thought Asuka as Unit 02 pulled the blade out of the enemy's flesh just in time to avoid a blast at point blank. The run-down ruins of a building nearby were turned to ash when a red cross consumed it. Having gained a considerable distance, the black-armored Angel calmly stuck the end scythe into the ground and retrieved its severed right arm, half its body balanced in a misshapen fashion as it bled profusely from the large wound on its side.
"As we thought, its regeneration is off the charts," Ritsuko commented through the sound of bombs in the background. Both pilots dared a sidelong glance at the battle nearby. It did not quite sound like they were winning. "Asuka, Shinji, did you notice what came into view when you cut it?"
The pilots did not mention the fact that the very armor of the thing was regenerating, or how it simply stuck its forearm back in place. It mattered not; both pilots had caught a glimpse of a certain red sphere hidden beneath its flesh.
"Yeah," Asuka replied. If her assessment was correct, Unit 02 had the power advantage, whereas the enemy's reflexes were ridiculous and bestial, her strength and control of space had already cost the so called Artist an arm and an eye.
"Oooh, now that really tickled," came the childish remark from the black mecha's speakers. "Nice moves there, Asuka-chan. A second more and you would've managed to inflict some actual damage, sweetheart." Unit X's eyes glistened bright red.
The energy fired her way was scalding, turning the rocks strewn around the red EVA's feet into molten lava as it passed, but to no avail. Unit 02's right hand extended; its powerful AT-Field manifested and reflected the concentrated blast like it was a flashlight's faint luminosity, redirecting the energy to the sky where it exploded in a loud bang.
"Now, Baka, this was the asshole who traumatized our friends," said Asuka, feeling the ire pulse out of them both. Shinji was the only person allowed to add the honorific to her name, not some no-name bastard from the frozen tundra. "Crush his skull."
The Beast inside the Third Child's chest rattled loudly in its chains; which made Shinji sneer in a frightening way. "Understood, Captain."
As Unit 02 curled its fingers together, the gargantuan AT-Field divided into four massive cubes which turned inward on themselves, gaining force. Asuka closed her fist with a hungry snarl and sent a shockwave directly at Samael's frame. The impact hit the enemy square in the chest, putting a fist-sized dent in its core while the compressed wind pressure pushed it backwards. It had not attempted to block, evade, nor activate its own AT-Field.
"That son of a bitch is still sizing me up," Asuka growled under her breath, alerting Shinji. Her synch rate sky-rocketed from 91% to 134% in seconds. "He's underestimating me, taking his sweet time to analyze my fight pattern." The entity in Unit 02's core agreed; it also alerted her that the energy the black-armored mecha emanated was rising. Unit 02's four eyes gleamed yellow, and a gigantic cross exploded right where Unit X had managed to halt.
"Heavy damage reported to the enemy," Maya shouted with what sounded like desperate glee. "Most of the armor on its right side has melted! The head is dented!" Even as the hopeful voice of Ritsuko's trusted assistant beamed through the comm; neither Asuka nor Shinji dropped their guard, instead, they unleashed three more blasts at the exact same place. "Impact successful! 60% of the enemy's armor has been compromised!"
Their target had taken the full brunt of Unit 02's AT-Blast, enhanced with Shinji's rage and Asuka's concentration and aim, which had been directed at both the mecha's head and torso. Nonetheless, the shadow of Samael was discernible through the fire and smoke. It advanced, dragging its entire right side behind, one arm firmly clasped around the scythe while the armor visibly melted off along with pieces of flesh. The Angel's right shoulder plate had been evaporated, leaving a gaping hole just over its collarbone, its left eyes shined through the barely recognizable facial mask, jaw closed and right side practically sunken in as though impacted with a hammer. Disfigured, dripping molten flesh and growling, the Angel lost its limp after four steps; the armor stopped its slow descent down its body and instead began to bubble, with what looked like veins within it, and slowly reassembled.
"His attacks are getting more accurate," Shinji bit out, looking up at Asuka with eyes of steel. The enemy's AT-Field continued to expand. "Remember what I told you about this guy, Asuka?"
Asuka craned her neck, hoisting the blade with her left hand. "Yeah, he's a talker. And a dangerous, demented killer. He's stalling so SEELE's troops can advance, and looking for our weaknesses." Unit 02 assumed a fighting stance and hurled itself at the armored Angel. "I'm gonna make him regret ever crossing me!"
Inside Unit X's entry plug, Dmitri rubbed his right eye, which bubbled violently under the LCL, and yawned. "Ahh, thanks for that, Asuka dear." Despite being barely able to move, the dark EVA easily dodged Asuka's downward slash, retaliating with an overhead left slice of his own. Unlike the first time their blades had met, there was no obvious, overwhelming advantage on Asuka's side; both weapons clanged heavily against the other, sending a painful vibration all the way to Asuka and Shinji's bones. "Hmm…" he flexed the right hand, no longer feeling the weight of a thousand chains on his shoulder. "Those power restraints are a real pain, you know."
In a flash, Samael hoisted the scythe up in the air and began raining down heavy attacks on Unit 02's sword, gaining momentum every time its body turned with the over-sized weapon. One, two, three slices from a similar direction crashed down onto Unit 02. Asuka waited, counting the milliseconds before the fourth attack reached the blade, and manifested the same field Shinji had used before. The scythe's tip was trapped once more. Shinji nodded wordlessly, felt Asuka's next move and channeled some of Unit 02's energy into the blade's edge. A successful thrust and they'd have a chance to stab the core directly.
They did not count, however, on Samael raising its right arm and catching the blade with bare fingers as its hand glowed with a strange reddish hue. The AT-Field cracked like an eggshell and broke, forcing Unit 02 to take a jump backwards to avoid being beheaded as it tore the sword away from the enemy's grasp. Asuka noticed that no matter how wild the trajectory, the Angel's blade always aimed for vital areas. Twice already he had tried to bisect her like a preschool science experiment, and once to cut her head clean off; moreover, his attacks had actual power behind them.
"Something's wrong." Shinji noticed it first, to both the redhead and Command's surprise. "We dodged, but I feel…" When his blue eyes landed on her, Asuka saw them widen in shock and fear. "A-Asuka! Your face! A-And your arm!"
"Eh?"
She felt it then, as it dribbled down her right eye. Blood. Her blood. "What? When did he-" There was a vertical slash running down her face; it started just above her forehead and ended on her jaw, not deep enough to compromise the muscle but certainly noticeable. Another deep gash was openly bleeding on her right forearm; she had unconsciously tried to block with it, and somehow a cut had opened up there. The LCL boiled, closing the wounds in seconds.
"How did he cut me?!" Asuka demanded, enraged. It was almost akin to the attacks she and Shinji had perfected with her elbows; it felt like she'd just been cut with the Angel's AT-Field. Even as the wound fizzled closed and dissapeared, the phantom pain of the blade's edge caused Asuka to hiss. A few millimeters closer, and she'd have lost the eye.
"Ahh… those power restraints you melted down were really starting to bother me, Asuka dear," the enemy's voice echoed through the devastated city. "You wanted to play, right?!" A viscous red liquid started dripping off Samael's left arm, covering the blade and elongating its tip to almost twice its original size. "Let's play!"
0
"It's a double-edged sword," Ritsuko commented grimly while watching the fight. She could only afford occasional glances away from the feed of Tokyo-01 and brief moments of not commanding her troops. To say they were not doing well would be a massive understatement; SEELE was advancing faster than she had initially anticipated.
"No! Double the artillery on Sector A-24, block the enemy tanks with our anti-air units! Tomura, launch the second sortie! Yes, now, damn it!" Misato's head whipped towards Ritsuko, who was standing beside Maya's station. "What do you mean, a double-edged sword?"
"The pilot's synch rate," Ritsuko simplified. Her eyes darted over the information on Asuka's current status, absorbing it all in a heartbeat. "The deeper the synchronization, the larger the damage to the pilot's body will be. You can draw out more power, become almost invincible, but any wound taken by the EVA will backlash onto your body." She gulped, dreading the worst. "If Asuka holds the synch rate at 150%, she can use most of Unit 02's energy and power, but… if the enemy manages to cut off a hand, or an arm… or worse… Asuka's body will…"
Misato bit the inside of her lip, her hand pressed hard on the comm's button. "Kids, I know this sounds stupid, but could you try… a little less power, there?"
"No can do, Misato," Asuka answered, the visual display showed her face completely healed, and her eyes hard. "This guy is more than he preten-"
That was when a large AT-Field-enhanced cut hacked through the air, slicing through the end of Lady Forlorn's pommel like butter.
Samael launched a double-handed strike in her direction, expanding a reddish, hexagonal cutting wave. She jumped just in time to avoid the worst of it; Shinji was quick to manifest their AT-Field before the cutting wave could slice off Unit 02's legs, yet the force was still enough to damage her weapon. Another monstrous strike practically divided the battlefield in two, meant to cut her in half once more, with the following wave grazing the tip of Unit 02's head as it crouched.
"You cut my Asuka in the face!" Shinji roared, enraged. Unit 02's jaws cracked, but did not yet open. "I'm gonna tear you apart!" The red EVA's eyes glowed once more, only this time an AT-Field the same size and density as theirs projected from Samael's hand, rendering the blast harmless.
"Oh, that's nothing compared to what I'm going to do to her when I'm done, Shinji. I was actually going to be nice, but now..." Samael had long since stopped dragging its feet or acting sluggish, its body language now resembling that of a hungry cougar waiting for the proper time to assault its prey. "I'm gonna rip her to pieces for you, all over again."
"Yeah, we'll see about that," Asuka answered in turn, and closed her eyes. She focused the EVA's pulsing energy through the whole body, extending it farther into the blade. "Baka, I need you to focus on protecting us, all right? Let me worry about cleaving this asshole." She heard a bit-out 'Roger' from him; Shinji's whole body was oozing barely-contained rage, and their synch was almost drowning under the magnitude of his wrath.
So it began.
Asuka's attacks were controlled, practiced and executed with perfection, she'd slice upwards and thrust, retreat, block, parry and retaliate like a sword-fighting expert. Her opponent, on the other hand, threw long, wide double-handed slashes at blinding speed, not really bothering with defense and barely escaping Asuka's blade at the last second every single time. When the energy-infused blades clashed, a cloud of ashes and rubble lifted and obscured the view but for the faint red glow of the enemy's weapon and Asuka's own Lady Forlorn, which glistened with a greenish-golden tinge.
Samael jumped like a wild beast, surprisingly agile all of a sudden and precise beyond imagination despite its seemingly unfocused offense. Every time it jumped and rained down heavy slashes -cutting almost thirty meters underground- it gained more momentum. Asuka parried in kind; she caught the enemy's blade and resorted to her legs to kick Samael away and aim for its midsection or head. The enemy's attack pattern was simple enough; he was trying to distract her with brutish moves and draw her back towards Tokyo 03, all the while attempting to cut off a limb at the slightest.
Asuka had already noticed it, though; the enemy overextended just a tiny bit more when slicing left to right with the resulting attack coming a fraction of a second slower. Strange as it was, she felt almost fused to Shinji. His unrelenting anger was like fuel for her muscles, and while the anger clearly clouded his mind, he seemed to drain that emotion from her and focused it on himself, allowing her to react with a cold mind.
The enemy wound up for a horizontal slash. There, she thought, bringing up Lady Forlorn to her right and effectively stopping Samael's blade from gaining momentum. She stepped in, noticing the space just under the Angel's arms, thrust her hips forward and threw a powerful straight knee that impacted directly in its stomach, forcing Samael to recoil. You're done.
She aimed straight for the enemy's head with the next slice, and brought the blade in a right handed, horizontal slash which was sure to take Samael's brain from its head. So close, after all, she had been easily able to corrode the enemy's AT-Field with her own.
-THUD-
"W…What…" Misato managed, eyes bulging from their sockets at the image in their video feed. "What the hell… is that thing?"
Samael had stopped Asuka's sword with its mouth, biting down on both the metal and the light coating it. The pressure of its jaws was so strong that little cracks began to show around the bite point.
"It… stopped my Lady Forlorn… with its teeth?!" Ritsuko grumbled. Her nails were digging painfully into Maya's shoulder. "This isn't good… at such close distances both At-Fields will corrode each other. There will be nothing protecting Asuka and Shinji but their skills and reflexes."
"No time for that!" Ishikawa shouted at them both, glaring daggers at his PDA. "The enemy's taken sectors twelve through seventeen! We've lost two more long-range units, and our airforce is in dire need of support!" The man's eyes worriedly glanced at the image of Samael biting down on Lady Forlorn like it was candy. "This time, you can't help the brats! We're not just dealing with one enemy! Asuka and Shinji will have to make do!"
Misato glared at the monster's red eyes. "Damn it… kids… please be okay…" She would not abandon them again, not to fight alone against a god-like monster who could stop Ritsuko's strongest weapon so easily. "I'll be here, watching, the entire time. I won't miss a second of your great victory."
"The enemy's fifty miles away from the Geofront's south eastern entrance!" Shigeru reported desperately. "We're being flanked! Five ships have been sighted twenty miles from the Hokkaido border! Commander! Twenty large carriers approaching! A…Ah! We're getting readings of another N2 mine!"
The pilots' trainer had been right. This time, there was no backup from Command whatsoever; Asuka and Shinji were on their own.
0
"Let go of… my sword you… god…damned… thing!"
With a last forceful kick directly into the thing's muzzle, Unit 02 was able to release most of its weapon and take two steps back. The blade was cracked and broken in half, the larger part of it sunk between the Angel's bleeding maw; a bit more momentum and Asuka would have clearly been able to slice its head in two pieces. It spat out the blade with a resounding clang and charged with its jaws hanging by a knotted mass of flesh.
Asuka easily evaded the first two strikes. The remains of the sword in her hand still had enough edge to pierce through the thing's armor and expose its core with a bit of AT-Field boosting, but the window to do so would come at a cost. The enemy was craftier than it seemed; with every overly loaded attack it was closing the distance with alarming speed, surely to attempt some form of close-in attack and either finish disarming her or succeed in tearing off a limb. Or her head.
She dodged three more wide hacks, parried one and attacked; the enemy recoiled somewhat and brought the scythe up. This is the chance, she thought when the blade struck the EVA's thigh, going through both AT-Field, armor, flesh and bone in a fluid motion. "Aarrrrg, Sheisse!"
"Asuka!" Shinji yelled from his station, blatantly ignoring the intense agony in his own left leg. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, damn it!" Asuka roared. There was plenty of blood coming out of the large wound, yet the energy Unit 02 kept pumping into her body numbed out the agony and kept the dizziness of blood loss to a minimum. "Now, Shinji!"
She'd noticed one more thing during her exchanges with Unit X; its control of space was impeccable. It moved just outside of her sword's reach, dove in with his weapon which had greater reach but less versatility, and only took damage when intending to further read into her movements. Just like her, the enemy had being doing much studying, thus it had been able to surprise her and pin her down.
Samael tried to pull Unit 02's body towards it by the blade embedded in its leg, to Asuka's savage delight. Hook, line and sinker, she thought, holding onto the weapon which protruded from her thigh and planting her feet firmly on the ground. "Let's see how you like this!"
The black EVA had been winding up for a right cross, possibly to reduce the EVA's resistance and be able to fully maim it. Shinji's counter punching instincts had screamed loudly in Asuka's head, just in time to dodge the punch, angle herself under the enemy's armpit, and ascend with a brutal cut to Samael's chest and throat, severing the arteries and exposing the core in a single move.
"Gonna rip me to pieces, are you?!" snarled the enraged Second Child; she shoved the broken shards of her sword deep into the mecha's neck again, and focused all her strength on breaking the scythe's handle. The metal bent and broke under her ferocious hold just as a curtain of blood rained from the Angel's open neck. When the hand splintered in its hands, Unit 02 took hold of the scythe's blade embedded in its leg, ripped it out in a shower of bluish blood, and violently shoved Samael's own weapon into its already open blade sunk so deep into the Angel's rib cage it actually made contact with the core, effectively bisecting its body.
"This is for shooting me in the liver, you bastard!" Asuka roared. The scythe's edge had managed to pierce the core's hard material, unlike her sword which had barely grazed it after opening up the armor. "Prog Knife!"
Unit 02's shoulder holster opened just as Samael's left hand reared back to deliver a hook. Asuka blocked, snaked her own arm around the enemy's limb and curled, breaking the arm at the elbow at the same time as her left hand retrieved the knife. With its right side gutted and left arm useless, the Angel was unable to resist Unit 02's tackle. Both mechas crashed to the half-sunken ground, blue and red blood mingling with ocean water as they thrashed about. Unit 02 used its legs and weight to dominate the position as Samael punched and kicked wildly, shooting blasts of its AT-Field in every conceivable direction, creating dozens of red crosses in Tokyo 03's vicinity.
"How… the fuck… is this bastard… still… struggling?!" Asuka ground out. She stabbed the thing right in the eye for good measure, twisting the blade and hoping it'd reach its brain. Shinji focused an AT-Field blast at point blank, effectively reducing the remainder of Samael's chest plate to ashes and cinder. "Good one, Baka!"
"Hai!" Shinji answered tersely; the backlash of him synching deeply enough to use that attack was dangerous. Both teens knew they were walking on thin ice; a slight loss of control in the synch rate and the possibility of unwittingly starting Fourth Impact would be quite real. "I'll hold it down, you stab this piece of shit!"
Asuka needed no further encouragement. She smirked with confidence and rage, driving the knife into the exposed core again and again while her right hand continued to push the broke shards of Lady Forlorn deeper into the Angel's jaw. In contrast to the diamond-hard exterior of every other core she'd encountered, Samael's Fruit of Life was soft like flesh under Asuka's knife; she plunged the blade in with little to no resistance, and did not stop stabbing until the red sphere was little more than a misshapen, tangled mass of muscle. The water all around them was dyed crimson, the innards and pieces of what was surely Samael's spleen, liver and stomach were thrown about, its rib cage exposed. There was no light shining inside the Angel's facial mask anymore.
"Heh, heh…" Asuka panted, shaking her head. A turn to her lower left side determined the gaping wound of the scythe's blade had all but disappeared without leaving a single trace. "That's what… you get. Now," Unit 02 rose from the motionless body of its opponent, storaged the Prog Knife, and picked up Samael's head. "If my last fight taught me anything," Asuka grumbled through the speakers. "It was that there's no such thing as overkill!"
-SNAP-
"Just so I'm sure you'll be sitting still," The shoulder plates opened and released a shower of long, powerful black spikes into the Angel's hanging head, piercing the facial mask with ease. "And for our grand finale..."
She was going to take out the entry plug; Unit 02's fingers were grazing the protector in Samael's neck when Misato's desperate voice interrupted her concentration.
"ASUKA!" screamed Misato with true, burning desperation in her tone. "SEELE's launched a massive bombing attack at the Geofront! We can't stop it on our own! If the bombs reach the pyramid… the civilians will be in danger!"
"Scheisse! I just can't get a freaking break, huh?!" Asuka exclaimed in return.
Before leaving the almost headless corpse behind, she stepped on its temple hard enough to hear the skull crack. "Walk away from that, you piece of shit," she spat, and sprinted to the city's direction as fast as possible. Even from afar they could see the massive amounts of missiles flying towards the crater where their surrogate mother defended the country; if the Geofront fell, SEELE would win regardless of whether Unit 02 leveled their armies or not. More importantly, the pyramid's lower levels were packed with refugees, medical patients and people who had been unable to evacuate in time.
"Those dirty old toads," Shinji growled, molars grinding together as Unit 02 reached an acceptable distance to manifest its field. "They're not letting anyone survive unless they get their wish."
"To hell with their wish, Baka," Asuka rebuked as the power surged through her body. "There's no way they're getting past us. Let's show the world what the Second and Third Children are made of!" The idiot offered his own version of a confident smirk; both youngsters extended their arms while Unit 02's eyes shone emerald with more intensity than before.
"AT-Field at maximum!" the EVA pilots screamed in unison.
It was a poetic sight.
The soldiers fighting from afar, the few news helicopters stupid enough to stick around to record the event, and the millions around the world tuning into the war witnessed Unit 02 raising its arms to the skies, with the resounding echo of its pilots' voices reverberating in their minds as a brilliant, golden shield materialized and covered the entirety of Tokyo 03. The bombs fell heavily against the massive shield; over and over SEELE's air units attempted to rain down each and every sort of missile in their arsenal to try and dent even one of the defenses of the already damaged city, but all to no avail.
Asuka and Shinji protected the city from what would have been its ultimate extinction, halting even the explosion of an N2 mine. Defending the lives of those they cherished, nonetheless, had come with a price; half of SEELE's forces had concentrated fire on Unit 02 as it stood preoccupied with maintaining the Geofront in one piece. More than twenty powerful missiles had exploded on the EVA's armor; parts of it were dented and smoking, but the damage was minimal.
"Damn" Asuka said, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow. She swatted away four heli-carriers, minding to maim the aircraft instead of making them explode in mid-air like she'd done during the attack of the EVA Series. "You really are amazing, 2.0. My mom was some genius, eh? What do you think, Baka?"
Yeaaaaah! The Evangelion's persona shouted in both their ears with enthusiasm. I am pretty amazing, aren't I, Baka-Shinji? Asuka-chan, did you see how I let Baka-Shinji control the AT-Field back there? Pretty sweet, huh?
Shinji couldn't help but chuckle at the bizarre exchange, and feel comforted by the familiarity of Asuka's personality imprinted on an Evangelion of all things. "Yeah," he smiled up at Asuka, glad he did not have to use the thing in his pocket after all. "You're both beyond amazing." His smile turned into that expression Asuka liked so much, forcing a strong tingle in her new scar and a blush on her face.
"W-Well of course we are!" Asuka declared with pride while attempting to conceal the embarrassment and sudden fondness towards her… boyfriend… who was looking especially appealing with his new plugsuit. The bite mark tingled again. "Now let's go, Ba-ka. There's something we have to fi-"
A cavernous growl stopped both pilots as they headed towards Samael. The rumble was deep and low, throaty, like a bear waking up from hibernation. Both teens stared at one another, wide-eyed, and slowly turned their heads.
Unit X… Samael, was on its feet. Barely. The large legs trembled under the weight of marred tissue, the visage of the emptied out, brutalized midsection of the Angel was itself sickening, but the fact that it was standing, moving, breathing, without a visible core or any light in its eyes was what scared the young pilots, who until that point had been too caught up in anger and stress to properly digest their circumstances. To Shinji, the particularly mangled remains of the enemy reminded him very much of the first direct encounters with the Beast. The thought was nauseating, to be in any way relatable to the monster before them.
Things were not going so well. On one hand, the ungodly monster that by all means should be dead was not, and on the other hand, SEELE continued to rain down artillery on Tokyo 03 and rendered them immobile. To their growing dread, the Angel's body was not just regenerating; its limbs were bubbling, the gray mass within the armor pushing the bone back into place as new organs grew from nowhere. A mangled hand took hold of the spikes embedded in its head and removed them with complete disregard to the massive bleeding that issued as each was ripped out.
Samael's left eye turned bright red.
"Ugh, quite the brutal offense, Asuka, dear…"
The pilot's voice came through… it came directly out of the Angel's gaping chest, as if the regenerating material intermingled with metal was acting as a speaker. From their position, it was clear exactly where the entry plug was located. Asuka had stabbed so hard and deep into the thing's chest it had revealed the old, Soviet-era metal alloys underneath. "A little telegraphed, but not bad at all… now just gimme a second…"
Samael dug its hand into the hole where its core had once been, sickening anyone daring to watch. It withered in pain as its hand clasped whatever it was seeking, and with apparent effort ripped out a metallic box which had been attached to the entry plug's.
The bombs kept falling, but Unit 02 was far from powerless or defenseless, especially with two pilots. "Baka," Asuka grunted, concentrating all her energy on keeping the AT-Field standing. "Fry that asshole who cut my face, now."
The chains holding the Beast back began to slowly warp. "Yes ma'am," Shinji murmured.
Asuka relinquished control of the left arm, which Shinji pointed in the corpse's direction and compressed whatever energy he could draw from the core. A smaller, reddish set of cubes manifested, and when Shinji closed his fist the energy was launched directly at the Angel's head.
An AT-Field large enough to divide three hundred square miles of rubble and ruins glowed to life. Unit 02's powerful attack managed to crack it, yet Samael's pilot had already succeeded. It lifted the device between bloodied fingers a metal box a bit larger than a coffin. "You did me a real solid there, digging that hole so well, Sohryu," grunted the pilot's voice in what sounded like pain. "And thanks for tearing off the restraints while you were at it. Really saves me a lot of trouble."
The box began to beep, so the half-dead carcass threw it to the skies, where it exploded with enough strength to even slightly shake Unit 02. "That was the thermonuclear device meant to keep me…compliant."
"Shit," Shinji panted, gulping loudly as sweat rolled off his brow. "I need another shot to break it." He started focusing energy into his left arm; it burned so bad it felt like there was actual, liquid lava and not blood running through his veins. The muscles of his arm bulged and the veins throbbed, the backlash of dividing Unit 02's power and AT-Field into two was taking its toll.
"What are you, stupid?" Asuka panted above him; the massive At-Field held off the explosion of yet another barrel of heavy missiles. "We need that power in case… SEELE feels like dropping an N2 mine on us… at point blank… Baka."
She knew her enemy was irrationally and illogically back on its feet; what was more, she felt the clear agony Shinji was going through as though it were her own arm that burned. Her using the massive power of Unit 02 was one thing; Shinji's synch rate was barely above fifty, he was overexerting himself trying to keep up.
"But that thing… is still…" Shinji began, stopping himself when he watched the Angel's core bubble right back into existence as though it had been a balloon that needed filling. "What…"
"You know the funny thing about the Fruit of Life?" said Samael's pilot through the speakers. The Angel had regenerated most of its body, the large gaping wound which had its torso torn in two pieces was closing with alarming speed, and even from afar the sound of bones snapping back in their place could be heard. "It's the most powerful form of concentrated energy we know of. Capable of even corroding a body and taking away its soul, capable of creating matter, bending reality, turning humans into yellow sludge, the very essence of existence, of molecular activity. The human soul. But it's also a fickle thing, this little fruit."
Samael's right arm extended, shining deep red until a sphere many times larger than its hand protruded from the palm. "One of the many quirks of my friend X here, is that I can change the core's location at will. I can even change its form to anything that suits the moment or pleases me, and of course I can recover from any damage done to us with little to no effort."
The last round of bombs impacted the shield. Asuka cursed; the increasingly operational EVA was coming their way. Shinji looked ready to fire a blast once more, and she felt him gathering up the energy in his left arm for a second time. "Don't be stupid, Shinji!" His enraged eyes snapped to her questioningly. "That didn't work the first time! He's trying to gas us out and break our focus!"
"What?!" The pilot's exclamation was strong and loud, sounding deeply offended all of the sudden. "Are you accusing me of foul play, Sohryu? No… there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn't have finished me off before. Oh, but you wanted to be the hero, right? Nothing's forcing you to defend that city." Samael took hold of its own hanging head and violently twisted it, cracking its formerly broken neck back into place. "But really, I hate it when we get interrupted, my dearest Second Child. Are those thugs bothering you? Allow me…"
There was a flash of red from Samael one useful eye, and the skies were covered with a mass of detonations. It had effectively exterminated most of SEELE's air force with one strike, an action both Asuka and Shinji had been adamantly against doing themselves. She had told him, after all, that they did not need to kill anyone in this battle, not even the beast's pilot. They only needed to help their family win and protect them until reinforcements arrived. Up until that point, they had not taken a single life, choosing to withstand the constant assault of SEELE's weapons instead of taking the option of easily erasing them from existence.
Samael's pilot clearly felt differently; it served to draw forth a savage growl from Asuka's throat. She did not much care for their enemies -or most of their allies for that matter- but Shinji did. He could probably name them all, even the bastard fighting them at the moment, if he tried hard enough. The horrified gaze on Shinji's face, directed at the scraps of burnt metal and charred bone which had once been over two hundred soldiers in ten different planes, told her enough; warm-up was over.
"There, now we can play without being interrupted." Samael reached for the clouds of smoke where SEELE's planes had once flown. "Time for a snack, too."
Shinji's skin was pale, his eyes wide, still unwilling to believe what had just happened. "Okay," Asuka turned Unit 02 around, stomping directly towards the Angel. "I'm gonna break every bone in your body and tear you apart piece by piece until I find that freaking core and crush it between my fingers."
"Oooh, that sounds fun!"
When she was at a relatively close distance, Asuka threw a left high kick, noticing the enemy was preoccupied with… clenching its right fist very slowly. The tip of her foot crashed hardly against the EVA lookalike's chin with a resounding thud, even through the enemy had done its best to block. That's his distance, she mused. She launched a lower left kick at the knee which connected flush, forcing the enemy to dip towards her. Well, since you're not using your right, a thunderous left hook had the Angel's head reeling, while a push-kick straight to its still recovering midsection sent it crawling back.
Samael got to its feet, and from inside the entry plug, Dmitri smiled while he spit out a tooth into the LCL. "Nice, real nice, indeed," he said, turning to his controls. "Hmm, I haven't been synched this deep in months. Look at that, 134%!" The blinding hunger assaulted him, making the boy double over in more pain than Asuka's kick had produced.
Asuka wasted no time with her assault; whatever the thing was doing with its right hand, a small, reddish sphere not unlike a miniature core was building and growing as distant, muffled screams of terror traveled impossibly through her ears. She delivered a powerful kick to the head which was blocked at the last second, yet her second kick found its way to where her opponent's liver would be located. Another right kick to the forehead met its target soundly, followed by two hooks and another kick to measure up the damage she could inflict. Samael reared back drunkenly, head bleeding anew from a deep gash near its left eye.
"Can you please just give me a minu-"
Before he was able to fully finish his sentence, Asuka took the liberty of kicking it right out of his mouth. "You upset my Shinji, and cut my beautiful face that he likes so much," she growled menacingly while she threw a slow, telegraphed version of her normal orthodox offense, which landed flush with a one-two, a feint and a left high kick. "I'm gonna start by punching your fucking teeth into your mouth, see how much shit you can talk then."
"My, my, so aggressive!" the pilot absently answered while the mecha rubbed its aching head. "Those are quite the kicks you got right there. Tell me, did you kick Shinji that hard too, when you were fucking him? Or was that after you fucked him?!"
Her temper flared in synch with Shinji's, almost making the LCL around them boil, yet Asuka took a deep, calming breath and assumed a fighting position. So far, the adversary had only evaded, blocked and absorbed damage; his study of her 'fight pattern' was sure to be complete at any time. "Relax, Baka," she bit out while trying to keep her own emotions in check. "That's what he wants, remember?"
Shinji nodded stiffly, eyes glued to the enemy. The level of animosity Asuka felt flooding out of him was ridiculous; sure, the man before them had shot and almost killed her, but all she felt coming from Shinji was the raw, intense desire to claw out their opponent's eyes and bite down into his throat. Shinji was hell-bent on actually killing this person, not just defeating him.
"What the hell is he doing with that hand?" Asuka wondered out loud while Unit 02 attacked with a low leg kick and a right cross, both of which Samael dodged with apparent ease. "He keeps moving it out of the way, like he's still stalling!"
She threw a wheel kick that impacted soundly on Samael's face and soundly broke its jaw. It was one of her favorite techniques, one which could easily send a grown man to sleep if applied correctly; and yet having hit flush against her opponent's face, he was still standing. Now he's measuring up my power, she noticed with satisfaction. Stupid.
Another high kick connected against Samael's head, and as the enemy fell to the left with the impact, Asuka threw a vicious flying knee straight at its left temple. Finally, the giant black-armored behemoth stumbled and fell over. Unit 02 would have not only dented, but most likely cracked the Angel's skull like an egg with the flying elbow it threw yet Samael reacted, evading last attack with relative ease, jumping back three steps while its feet stumbled wildly and its head lolled from side to side.
She was hitting with about half her full strength at best, minding to control her cardio and observe the opponent's reaction time. So far, even with their close distance, Samael had not used its strange AT-Field or shown any signs of a proper offense or fighting stance. It simply kept backing away while the crimson marble floating above its right hand continued to grow and the screams grew louder.
"Baka," she muttered, observing how the Angel shook its head and turned over to said marble. "What do the Blonde Bitch's readings say about that little ball in his right hand?" Whatever Samael had been doing, it had reduced the few trees in their vicinity to crooked, dry sticks and the ocean water to black ink.
"That's…" Shinji said, gulping. "That's a… core. An S2 engine… that's…"
Ah, breakfast at last, Dmitri thought with satisfaction; X truly was a piece of work. It would not obey him fully until its meal had been delivered. A meal consisting of the life-energy of everything that was, or had been alive in a hundred mile radius, with the sad exception of Unit 02, floated just above his right hand.
"This, is the Fruit of Life," said Dmitri to answer the question, raising the marble towards Unit 02 and taking it between his thumb and forefinger. "Potential, kinetic and sub-atomic energy, all compressed down tight in my hand. The lives of about..." He applied pressure on the marble, a choir of horrible sounds escaping from it. "Two to three hundred soldiers, give or take a few."
The screams were so loud that even inside the entry plug they could hear them.
"It hurts! Please! Stop! Nooooo! It hurts, it hurts! Forgive me! No! Pain, make it stop! Make it stop! It hurts! Please! No! it hurts! Make it stop! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please!"
With its left hand, Samael took hold of its unhinged jaw and deposited the marble in its mouth, then closed it. The screams reached a crescendo that had Shinji clutching his ears closed; it sounded very much alike the screams of Third Impact, albeit fewer in quantity. Nonetheless, Asuka felt clear disgust upon hearing the horrid bawls of pain and watching as blood dripped down Samael's chin with increasing speed as the Angel swallowed the Fruit of Life.
Asuka threw an overhand right with every intention of shutting down the pilot; Samael evaded by once more bending its back to an unnatural angle, only this time, it retaliated from the bizarre position as it sent a powerful right hook straight to Asuka's face. She smiled when the punch reached her cheek and bounced off without even moving her head a centimeter, despite her gray matter rattling a bit inside her skull, but aside from the small shock of the punch there was no damage done, and now the enemy was crouched down and unbalanced. Her own right hook was brutal; it sent the Angel spiraling to the ground once more.
She was about to pound him into the floor until nothing but marred flesh and hunks of armor remained. A second before her left fist collided with its face, however, Samael moved out the way, wrapped both its arms around her midsection and used its legs to trip her, using the momentum to slam them both on the rubble. It took the top position with relative ease and rained down four large overhead hooks to her defense. Asuka saw an opening just as the dark Angel wound up for a fifth one, kicked high directly into its chin, and then sunk the ball of her right foot just under the enemy's sternum. Shinji's rage gave enough strength to the kick to send Samael flying hundreds of meters away from them, where it crouched, and began glowing bright red.
"Well, that was fun." Samael craned its neck, muscles bulging impossibly wide as its eyes glistened like two horrible rubies. "It's great playing with you, Souryu. I have to say, you can really pack a punch there."
At last, the Angel's feet planted heavily on the ground, its knees bent and hands clenched. Asuka's smirk and blood lust mingled with Shinji's, making the LCL darken with their compressed emotions. She dropped to her own fighting stance, feet flat on the ground, arms high and legs ready to deliver a devastating kick at any given moment.
Dmitri smirked just as widely. "Let's dance, you German Bitch. Round 2!"
Evacuation Route E-13. Geofront lower Levels
The sound of gunfire behind the soldiers meant Ishikawa's forces had been unable to withstand SEELE's advance. It was to be expected after all; even with the secret army of black ops forces Commander Akagi had procured, the enemy outnumbered them three to one. Moreover, their long-range weapons had been vaporized with ease by whatever was currently fighting Unit 02 in the ruins of old Tokyo.
Aishida loaded his rifle as the footsteps got closer. He and his two hundred men were the last line of defense between SEELE's forces and the many refugees behind the steel gate. Somehow, the information about the children's evacuation had gotten out, so the old bastards had sent two thousand soldiers with tanks, vehicles and helicopters to intercept the escape route. With a quick choice, Aishida had locked the refugees in and ordered his men to stand guard… to whatever end.
A hundred men of his squad had already fallen afoul of SEELE's pincer maneuver. They were flanking NERV by dividing its forces, perfectly aware that Japan's barely functional armed forces and their few allies could not fight on two fronts. Aishida had left his hundred men guarding the main gate; those who had stayed behind had volunteered. Former mercenaries, killers, criminals turned allies by the healing hand of Ikari Shinji; the mighty force of Organization S was but the underbelly of the world's slums, moved in some way or the other by the fact that almost a hundred percent of those who had returned, had done so whole and healthy.
Chronic illnesses, paralyses, the results of horrible accidents, visible scarring; many had returned without a trace of those ailments which had for so long defined their existence. The men who had stayed behind had opted to die, true, but in doing so they had given Aishida the time necessary to jam the gates and ensure the survival of Shinji's friends.
I gave my word, he calmly mused while the sounds of men dying and guns reducing soldiers to butchered remains came through the dark alleyway. I will keep the kid's friends safe, or die trying. Asuka, Shinji, wherever you are, whoever you're fighting… You're not alone this time.
"Get ready!" he shouted to the tiny battalion. There was no possible way to open the gate without Ritsuko's knowledge; he had jammed the locks. The gate would hold off anything short of an N2 mine. "They're coming!"
Instead of the hurried mass of a battalion many times greater than their own entourage, nonetheless, the soldiers saw about fifteen men they assumed to be SEELE's run away in terror, screeching like terrified children as the sound of heavy gunfire behind cut them down. Ten or twelve more came running, dragging injured companions along, and were also taken out before they managed to turn the corner. Aishida heard the distinctive sound of military boots slamming against the steel floor, hundreds… thousands of them.
"Don't get confident, this could still be the enemy!"
Scope focused dead ahead, Aishida was shocked beyond words upon seeing the massive, black-clothed battalion with the letter 'S' on the right side of their vests. He did not lower his weapon, not even when the hundreds of men stood before them. The newcomers had no apparent immediate desire to kill them, for they were not wielding their weapons like Aishida's soldiers were.
A large, tall, broad beast of a man moved forward, taking off his helmet to reveal a scarred face. "Da," the man grumbled at his ear piece, then extended a giant hand towards Aishida. "Da. Mulatna. So, you are Aishida, yes? Da, we are reinforcement, yes? You ask for help. Tiny Japanese need help, we said in Mother Russia, HAH! Tiny Japanese unworthy of Russian help! We are enemies! Enemies since the war! Ah, but then we see that boy."
Seemingly unafraid of being shot in the head, the man slapped Aishida's arm like they had been friends for decades. The large bear-like creature gestured to the group of heavily armed men standing behind him. "The boy, and the fire girl. Fire girl is strong, ah?! HAH!" Another strong slap fell on Aishida shoulder, shoving his whole body to the left. "Fire girl and boy are taking on Baba Yaga out there, so we say… we help!"
"I really don't understand a thing you're saying," Aishida muttered tersely. "Who are you, again?"
"I tell you already, tiny Japanese!" the man barked, laughing. "We are back-up. Spetznaz Captain Michail Zabagov, at your orders!" Offering a short salute, the man extended his hand in a friendly greeting once more. "We cannot possibly sit there and watch as Fire Girl and the Boy fight Baba Yaga, while we do nothing." He turned to salute the two hundred men behind Aishida, who slowly began to lower their weapons.
"We are proud to fight and die alongside Asuka Sohryu and Shinji Ikari!"
Both the EVA and Angel focused their AT-Fields around their bodies, fists and legs as they circled one another; Asuka was light on her feet, changing stances when she felt the enemy looking for an opening.
I'm gonna keep you guessing, you little shit, Asuka thought, noticing how Samael's hands were low, its body slightly bent backwards, with the shoulder occasionally protecting the chin. A wide stance, feet flat on the ground but also light on its feet; she recognized the style. He finally decided to play a little serious. Well then, let's not disappoint, Baka.
She opened with a one-two followed by a high kick; her opponent dipped to its right to avoid damage, blocking the kick with its arm. It threw a perfectly-timed overhand right counter just as it recovered from the kick, aiming at her temple. She'd already predicted his movement by the twitch in his right leg, so Asuka ducked, came up with her own overhand right which landed on his forearm, and twisted her whole body, delivering a fast and vicious spinning elbow to the forehead followed by a front kick to the stomach.
"Pff." She closed in, already knowing she'd won the bout. Her opponent was strong and crafty, with deadly accuracy it seemed, but lacked the power to do any damage, or the speed to land his counters. "Are you even trying?!"
She flurried yet another stream of jabs, all of which the enemy ducked with quick head movements. Good, he was memorizing her speed. His hands lowered to protect the midsection when she feinted a low right kick, so Asuka used her left instead and aimed high for the head. He ducked with barely a graze on his forehead; she spun around and was about to deliver another wheel kick when a black fist covered her line of vision and slammed right into her face.
A superman punch, as a counter to boot, had impacted flush on her face and sent her rearing back. Samael grabbed a hold of her outstretched leg, tripped her and drove them both to the ground. Asuka tried to spin away from his grasp and stand back up, but he was already on her again, both arms clasped heavily around her midsection. Even as Asuka managed to her feet under her, the enemy hurled her in the air like she was a pillow and slammed her violently against the rubble once more. He anchored his heels on her legs to keep them apart and started raining hammer punches down on her face, most of which she easily ducked.
Timing the next punch, she spun into motion and went for an arm-bar just before Samael's attack connected, managing to clasp both her hands on the enemy's forearm and lock her legs on its neck. She half-expected him to let her break his arm; the enemy was not altogether helpless on the ground either, it seemed, for he quickly clasped both hands together and slammed her back on the broken down concrete by lifting her whole body weight, arm-bar still in place, and hurling them both back to the rubble.
Samael's right arm came free. He pinned her again, face-down, and landed a flurry of hard hammer punches on the back of her head, then tried to snake an arm around her neck to strangle her. Had they been on the mat, or had it been a normal fight, Samael would have had the upper hand. But they were in gigantic god-like behemoths, so Asuka smirked, pushed both their bodies off the ground with her left hand while her right easily knocked the Angel's arm off of her, then spun them both and landed the enemy on its back. She spun again, delivering another spinning back fist and once she had the mount, rained down a flurry of punches and elbows.
Unit 02 had the black monster pinned down. While its arms attempted to defend from the relentless attack and its legs sought to pry Asuka off him, her overall strength was superior. Three times her curved jabs and long hooks shook Samael's head from side to side; she cracked his defense with a bit of struggle and rained down a systematic barrage of elbows, hooks and jabs until the Angel's eyes glowed.
Jumping away in the nick of time, Unit 02 evaded a blast that tainted the skies crimson for a fraction of a second. Asuka was winning, without even giving a hundred percent, but something bugged her; something, of course, other than Shinji's radiant killer intent and continued snarling. His mind had done little else than scream 'KILL, MAIM, RIP, KILL' ever since Samael had managed to cut her face.
"Shinji, relax," she said, turning to face him for a second while the enemy clumsily got back to its feet. There was no telling where the core was, so she'd have to break everything in the Angel's body to discover it. It would take time, and caution, both of which Shinji did not seem to keen to give. "I'm done with my examination," she proclaimed, and stared at the mass of brown hair below her. "Assessment, Third Child."
"The enemy's fast, and precise," Shinji's guttural response had both her and 2.0 shivering. "He's an in-and-out fighter, and he knows he's fighting from a power disadvantage. He's been really careful to block or dodge any of your kicks since you totaled his jaw. But..." If possible, the LCL around Asuka felt even hotter. "He's playing with us, studying us, taking his sweet time to measure up every little detail of your striking and stance. His tackles and speed on the ground are... inhuman. That's why we're not going all out."
Feeling pride for someone else was an alien sensation on its own, yet felt natural and elating since it was Shinji who aroused such feelings. He was controlling his anger, doing his part in keeping the interference signal from overloading any of them, and effectively loading her punches and kicks with energy and precision. Besides, his analysis had been on point.
"Well done, Baka."
Across the battlefield, Samael's mask bubbled and regenerated for the sixth time since arriving to Tokyo. Dmitri pushed his jaw back into place, spit out two molars and waited for the piece of bone to be removed from his cheekbone by the LCL. "Damn, the bitch can really hit, and those kicks… I can only take so many of those." Samael growled beside him, all around him, satisfied with the bloodshed. "I guess I can't afford to play around anymore, huh…"
Asuka's eyes narrowed. "So you were playing all this time, trying to bisect us with your giant knife, killing your own men, moving away at just the precise moment." Unit 02's muscle mass began to grow thicker, and harder. Shinji's control was unreal, to be sure, but there was only so much he could take. He felt it; the enemy had Asuka completely figured out, and would now move in for the kill.
"Of course I was!" Samael shrugged its shoulders, calmly walking over to them as its body gained even more mass seemingly out of nowhere. The once slim-looking EVA doppelganger was now as heavily muscled as its pilot. "I said it, didn't I?" Dmitri laughed out loud through the speakers. A macabre sound, if ever there was one. "Let's play! I said that! But… playtime's over children, because…" The right eye that had been severely damaged by Asuka's Prog Knife glowed. "You two are actually pretty strong…"
Metal rattled, wailed as it stretched and dented. No restraints, no weapon to subdue him, no communicator in his right ear left, since his skull had been crushed. No boundaries, no employers, no politics, no comrades, no missions; it all disappeared when the Angel of Death crouched and unhinged its jaw, roaring like a beast. Dmitri smirked; freedom. The opportunity to go all out against his enemy for once.
"He's going for the take-down!" Asuka braced herself, confident she could stop him at a distance. "Shinji, on my mark!"
"Hai!" said Shinji.
Asuka's eyes narrowed towards her enemy; she saw the burst of motion. "Now!"
The muscles on Samael's legs bulged disproportionately as it sprung with unreadable speed. Unit 02's massive AT-Field manifested, strong enough to hold off the explosion of an N2 mine at point blank. Samael roared again as it neared and tackled the shield as though it were a wall, cracking it and getting through.
Asuka's strategy had worked. Hard to admit it, but your tackle and ground game are too much to handle, she thought, bracing for impact. So come to mama. Samael crashed to the ground like a rabid beast, threw a wild uppercut to make her rear back and slammed against her outstretched hands. Checkmate.
While Samael managed to draw them both back to the ground where its skill set was most efficient, it had surrendered its neck and back, both of which were currently experiencing about 80% of Asuka's full strength. It only took about three seconds before she heard vertebrae begin to crack under her grip. Her opponent thrashed like a mad animal, clasped its hands behind her and with apparently no disregard to its own skull repeatedly slammed them both against the ground until it was about to lock an ankle around her leg and escape her hold.
Too little too late; she had already transitioned to an arm triangle, so with the momentum her enemy had built she dragged him back to the ground and used her legs to cut off his air supply while her arms overextended his arm until the satisfying snap came. She twisted the forearm to break it around the elbow once more, and tried to cave in her opponent's windpipe with her lock.
To Asuka's shock, the mass around Samael's arm disappeared and fueled other parts of its body. The now slim, broken limb was forcefully taken from her grasp in a fluid motion as the black behemoth attempted to climb over her again and go for a strange lock meant to break her arm. It was distasteful, this style of fighting; it was freaking her out how despite her superior strength and good technique, the opponent was just absolutely dominant in wrestling. He was negating her locks with brute strength and was seemingly planning to gas her out while raining down punches on her and trying to crack her limbs. It honestly felt like whoever this pilot was, he was trying to smash her completely, both physically and mentally.
She wasn't about to give the bastard the satisfaction, not when he had interrupted a very important moment between her and Shinji. "Get..." she ground out. Unit 02 took a firm hold of its neck. Her trapped arm bulged with power, breaking the hold. "Off!"
A thunderous right fist smashed Samael's head and sank it into the rubble. Four more punches sent pieces of armor and blood spattering over the half-sunken stone. "Now, let's see if that core's in your brain by any chance." Her next elbow strike was charged with energy and ready slice the skull in two.
Her enemy's limp legs snaked under her frame, its broken neck turned to look at her and a vicious right cross sent her stumbling back while both the Angel's feet planted heavily on Unit 02's chest and forcefully pushed the red mecha away. The knotted mass of dislocated and broken bone around Samael's arm, neck and chest snapped noisily back in place.
"Okay, that's about it, Bitch." Unlike before, the pilot's voice was flat, and deadly. "That one actually hurt. You want a slug-fest so badly? Fine! Let's bang!" The chump actually clenched his fist and assumed a somewhat tighter fighting stance; he was getting a bit frustrated, it seemed.
He finally figured out his oh-so-impressive ground game is not gonna work, Asuka summarized with a smirk. I have the power advantage. "Shinji," she said resolutely, earning a look from him that felt like a mix between blinding rage and deep concern. "I'm going all out. I'm gonna knock that bastard out even if it takes me all day, and either rip out that entry plug, or find that stupid core. Watch out for me."
I'm putting my life in your hands. I'm counting on you to stop me if something goes horribly wrong along the way. I'm trusting you to win.
It went unsaid, but Shinji both felt it, and understood, so all he offered was a stiff nod.
The worst of the fight began.
Asuka's form was proficient, elegant, her feet flat on the uneven surface, not once losing track of the enemy's timing, coming in with flurries of her curved jabs while she ducked to the left and searched for an opening. Any high kick she threw, be it to his temple, ear, jaw or chin was sure to put him out of commission. The enemy did not act overly concerned with a high defense, preferred to keep its fists down until the final moment and throw varied, dangerous combinations of hard hooks, high kicks and hard body shots.
Samael pivoted wildly trying to gain the upper hand, but Asuka was always a step ahead, pivoting right with him. It was hard for her to admit, but if she did not have the enhanced reflexes and strength of Unit 02 behind her, the battle would not be going so well. Whatever liquid form the enemy's core could take, it changed places so rapidly Asuka could almost see the crimson liquid go to its right or left fist. When they impacted against her defenses, bones broke inside her body. True, the regeneration was so fast the arms actually steamed while receiving the strikes, but the pain and aftershock remained.
She had never seen such proficiency at evading shots before, yet apparently even with greater skills than it appeared to have, the enemy was now actively blocking her punches, elbows and kicks instead of just absorbing the damage. Ever so slowly, after two nearly successful attempts to crack his skull with a kick, the arms were coming up. He was guarding high.
Samael came in with a left uppercut and right cross, which Asuka evaded with a pivot then delivered a leg kick. Two more jabs and a spinning elbow sent the enemy rearing back, hands protecting its face and lower body exposed. She bent and delivered one of her most devastating attacks; the turning side kick. The full power of her momentum concentrated on the girl's heel, which she drove through Samael's right midsection.
Ever so slowly, she was both pressuring and gaining speed in her offensive. Asuka switched stance after a high kick and punched southpaw, then ducked under a hook meant to tear her head off and responded in kind with a stomp to the kneecap and a jab to the face. As it reared back, the Angel guarded high once more, so another powerful Taekwondo side kick embedded itself where her opponent's spleen was likely located.
Your precious ground game won't work if your midsection is torn to pieces, Asuka savagely thought as she delivered another straight knee to the Angel's sternum, blocked two powerful hooks, ducked, then landed another body kick flush against the enemy's rib cage. A straight cross shook his head, a left hook had his knees buckling, and had it not been for what Asuka assumed to be years of practice and taking punishment, the next high kick would have taken his head and consciousness.
"Bah, you stupid German bitch," Dmitri spat out through the speakers, clearly annoyed. "Who do you think I am? How many times do you think my innards have been pulled out while I'm awake and in synch?!" As if to prove its point, Samael punched a broken rib back into place and roared. "Bring it! After I'm done beating the shit out of you, I'm gonna disembowel you in front of your boyfriend!"
"How about-" she said while closing in and using Shinji's increasing ire to boost Unit 02's speed even more. "Shut-" She was crouched next to him in an instant, with her left fist in his gut. "-the fuck-" He blocked a knee to the head with his hands, so she dug her fist in his midsection again, watching in sick pleasure as he doubled over in agony. "-UP!" This time, the knee did connect, catching Samael's protruding chin with enough force to send the head rearing back.
The body was exposed, open and ripe for gutting, and she still had a Prog Knife and an unused round of spikes. This was her chance to do some real damage; unfortunately, she had also opened up while pulling her right arm back for a body shot and the defense on her chin had lowered a fraction of an inch.
Here goes nothing, Boss, Dmitri thought in both agony and ecstasy. He smiled with bloodied teeth, his right foot planted firmly on the ground as his head overextended from the vicious knee. The flurry of attacks had given him an opportunity to time Asuka's tempo and form; he'd noticed the slight drop of the guard. Dmitri met the red mecha halfway, connecting a devastating uppercut that snuck just under her left fist, impacted on Asuka's chin and sent her rearing back in turn.
Asuka drunkenly evaded a front kick to the body and pivoted quickly to avoid being taken down again. Her head was groggy, her body felt stiff and uncooperative. That counter was the definition of perfect, she realized, ducking another bestial hook while her knees shook. He ate the knee to rear back and make me open my defense, shit… A straight one-two, the first the enemy had thrown in the entire fight, sneaked through Asuka's defense and hit her just above the nose. I can't concentrate!
Her body wasn't responding. Asuka was synching at 202%, which meant her jaw had shattered right alongside Unit 02's. She was unable to resist being taken down when Samael took a firm hold of her left leg and pulled them both back to its dominion. A number of hammer punches clouded her mind even more. It reminded her momentarily of her loss against the EVA Series, which lowered the synch rate considerably and left them both open, but she couldn't help it. Their enemy was actively clawing its way through her defense.
That was when she felt Shinji rip control from her by pushing his own synch rate to 90%. Unit 02's jaws cracked open, releasing a deadly growl as the punches continued to rain down on them. Shinji's wrath was such that he fully ate the attack, forced his way out of the powerful clinch by launching a wild back elbow which connected loudly against the Angel's damaged rib cage. Unit 02's hand clasped shut around the Angel's front armor; its eyes glowed yellow as it growled with ire and roared just as the blast sent Samael flying back.
"Asuka, are you okay?!" Shinji yelled, turning back to her. His own jaw was sure to be hurting beyond the ability of use, yet she felt no pain radiating off him; it was as though there was nothing more than the intent to kill and the will to protect her. "He got us! We have to regroup and get our heads straight!"
"I know that, Baka!" Asuka managed once the bones in her face stopped scraping against each other. The pain she could take, but the cumulative damage was building up in her brain and starting to affect her motor functions. "We need to tighten up the defense and look out for his counters. You're the counter puncher; I'm counting on you to uh…"
Her vision swam right alongside Shinji's. Every time they reached into the pit of power that was the core, there was a powerful aftermath; nausea, deep pain coming from every inch of her body, as if her very cells refused to carry the pace of the EVA's metabolism. The only consolation to the extreme backlash was the fact that their opponent was very, very slowly getting back to its feet, its armor smoking as it stumbled twice, collapsed on one knee and vomited a large mouthful of blood. Whatever that thing is, it feels pain, Asuka managed a few deep breaths which aided wonders in stabilizing her vision and depth perception. If it feels pain, it can be put down.
After five or six more deep breaths, the calmness descended back to her mindset. Unit 02 swiftly advanced, swinging from side to side as she delivered accurate jabs to the enemy's temple. Samael responded with a blind spinning back fist which almost took her head, yet Asuka ducked, delivered an uppercut of her own and another strong frontal kick to the body. A right hook, left elbow and side knee all failed to hit her target as it dodged out the way. Even after such a brutal punishment, her enemy's depth perception was still impeccable.
The bastard's resilience was pissing Asuka off, so once more concentrating her offense on its body, she let Samael lower his hands again, and pulled the trigger. Her high kick was a pride and joy, a kick much like her Taekwondo techniques, practiced for endless hours to achieve perfection. It showed just how well practiced it was when her foot impacted flush on the enemy's jaw.
NOW!
Asuka was about to end it with a left high kick to finish cracking Dmitri's skull open, but she was so engrossed in her own move that she didn't hear Shinji scream loudly at her to move away; it was already too late. She was propelled from the kick's momentum when Samael's overhand right counter exploded against her temple, utilizing the girl's own strength against her. That's… not possible! She thought as the world slowly went black and another flurry of powerful hooks shook her jaw, chin and forehead with frightening accuracy.
Her arms were not responding in time to block the enemy's punches. His hooks were weaker than hers, and yet the attacks were so unnaturally precise and delivered at an angle such that the damage was maximized even with less power behind them. Still, the Second Child would not be beaten. Both mechas were soon caught in a brutal slugfest, Asuka's straight form and continuous change of stance against the wild jabs, uppercuts and high kicks of Samael.
He memorized my maximum speed, Asuka realized grimly when a low kick was blocked and a left hook almost cracked her jaw again. He thinks he can beat me with timing and precision. Well, fuck you! Unit 02 increasingly gained speed in its flurries; the consistent attacks to its midsection had made Samael reluctant of keeping a high guard, and considering he had just absorbed Asuka's most powerful kick without passing out it meant he had a solid chin and would not go down from one strike alone.
Samael jumped away from a kick meant to fracture at least three ribs, pivoted to her right and threw a well-aimed cartwheel kick that impacted solidly on the back of her head. The behemoth turned with blinding speed and attempted another tackle, taking a firm hold of her right leg while it pushed forward and tripped her with its heel. Before they even touched the ground, nonetheless, Asuka was already squirming out the hold, managing to release her foot after much struggle.
She'd felt it, and a slight tremor of panic had run down her spine. On that last clinch, Samael had bitten down on her leg. "Asuka," Shinji muttered, breathing heavily. "Don't… let him get your head. This is not… the EVA Series…"
"Yeah… tell that to my subconscious, Baka," Asuka replied. Of course Shinji would feel the sting of fear, and of course he would worry. "That son of a bitch just bit me! He was clawing at me!"
Dmitri choked for a second, spitting a glob of pinkish froth into the LCL; biting down on that sword had been bad enough, but trying to fight Asuka was turning extremely frustrating. One of his perfect counters should have been enough to put her out of commission, yet the girl had not only survived two of them already, she had rattled, cracked and fractured about every bone in his head, twice, with her kicks. His own vision had swum after the kick, and in his last attempt at a takedown the entirety of his abdominal area had complained. Those body kicks were packing more steam than he'd anticipated. Twice already had he felt ribs cracking and piercing his liver, spleen and stomach. His guts were on fire from the front kicks and his mouth tasted like bile and blood.
"I'm getting real tired of you, Sohryu," he panted. His heart was hammering and his left knee felt broken even though it had healed minutes before, courtesy of Asuka's brutal stomp-kick. The Second Child was a commendable adversary, surely, with a far superior war machine to his own, with greater power. In a clean fight, he'd lose… but he was not there to fight clean. He was there to break her; so Dmitri allowed his soul to be corroded by the dark presence swimming about in the Entry plug. "Time to finish you off."
He threw a feint left jab, changed stance and came up with a back-hand right that Asuka evaded. Following with a quick left cross, Dmitri stung her lightly on the chin and forced her back; his punches were finally landing. His joy was short-lived, as Asuka chose to grasp the back of his neck, bang and hide her head just under his chin and rain down an ungodly storm of fulminating knees to the body. Dmitri felt the bones in his arms crack and break as they defended, yet the kicks changed trajectory and he was unable to either push the red mecha back or trip it to the ground.
Two, three, four knees found their target, twice impacting the area just below his liver and once sinking into his sternum. This bitch's defense is too good to be true, he mused, enraged, while he pushed the core's energy to his legs and finally succeeded in pushing Unit 02 off of him. The EVA retaliated with another stream of straight jabs and cutting elbows, two of which opened a gaping cut just above his left eyebrow and above his right cheekbone.
He waited, absorbing as much damage as he could possibly take. There were two more counters he was depending on, a chopping overhand right and his own deadly combination of right cross and left high kick; the timing had to be perfect. A fraction of a second too soon or too late and the damage would not even be enough to daze her opponent. Dmitri's wild instincts and thousands of practice hours were the only reason he was dodging most of Asuka's refined, unorthodox and varied range of punches, knees, elbows and kicks.
Samael back-stepped, hand covering its head, and ducked to the left to avoid another right high kick, blocked the following spinning elbow with both his forearms, feeling the muscles dent and the bones crack, then tried a clinch and received a flying knee for his trouble. Had Dmitri not bitten down hard enough on his own cheek to tear off flesh, he would have lost both the fight and his senses. The deal with X had been clear, after all. One good fight, however it went, against a monster comparable to himself.
Dmitri reared back and aimed for the overhand chopping right from the corner of his fading vision; he had precious milliseconds to retaliate before Unit 02's hands came back up. Now or never. Position the target in the center. his hazed brain recognized a far away point which he supposed was Unit 02's temple. Pull the switch, soldier.
From that point on it was all muscle memory; Asuka's right cross came cutting through the air, most certainly aiming for his chin again to put him out. His body reacted on its own, putting all of Samael's stolen power in his legs, the knotted muscles of his abdomen, his back and right arm. He slipped just under Asuka's cross an instant before it landed, and unleashed a cruel overhand right straight to her temple. The impact was such that it shattered two bones in his hand.
Unit 02's powerful body suddenly went stiff. Its knees buckled and the deadly right cross/left high kick combination aiming to end the fight hit nothing but air. A left hook to the jaw severed Asuka's consciousness for a second, while a kick to the liver and yet another vile uppercut finished fracturing her mouth. A second later a left high kick impacted against her instinctual guard, and Samael's foot cracked just below her ear while its leg slammed against her already smashed jaw.
I need to put her out now. Now! There won't be another chance. Locks and grappling had all been useless until now due to Unit 02's superior strength, but now that its pilot was stunned and most likely knocked out, there was a chance. He took hold of the EVA's back in a fluid slip and body-slammed the already concussed Second Child against an old, half-broken down building by arching his back and lifting the full mecha's weight. His ribs, guts and organs wailed in agony, but Dmitri was already in a a haze. He was seeing red, his body was moving on instinct; he was in the zone. Taking advantage of the momentary lapse in the fight, Child Zero finally took a firm hold of Unit 02's neck with a powerful, rear naked choke, and began to squeeze.
Somehow, Asuka's long training in jiu-jitsu came in handy, as she unconsciously slipped her hand over her ear before the vice closed around her neck. She was more asleep than awake, but luckily Shinji was in there with her. In his blind rage, he pushed away Samael's arm and disentangled Unit 02 from its grasp with a mighty push. The damage had been already done, however; she was stunned, her body was unresponsive and she couldn't just hand over the wheel to Shinji. Unit 02 avoided being taken down again by manifesting it's AT-Field to maximum capacity before Samael managed to close the distance with another of its ungodly tackles.
"God fucking damn it! Aaaaaarrrg! Блять!" He fired blast after blast at the imposing AT-Field, feeling the rage begin to overpower his rational thinking. The scenario, the plan, they were all slowly disappearing in the assassin's mind as his enemy, a girl of fifteen, resisted his best counters and managed to slip out of a rear naked choke after being severely concussed and knocked down. Dmitri's very limited patience had run out, while Samael's animal instincts raged for more bloodshed. "Why won't you fucking stay down, you annoying Nazi slut?! Arrgh!"
It was useless; the rush had already started pumping through Dmitri's veins.
Berserker.
Their once powerful armed forces had dwindled to a few brave thousands fighting for their lives in the outskirts of both Tokyo 02 and 03. The enemy had offered no quarter, advancing in all directions and trying to swarm them.
The distant shots from SEELE's artillery decimating the remainder of their forces on the ground shook the Geofront's command center. Inside the pyramid, Ritsuko was forced to pry her attention away from the feed to her right when Samael's deafening roar shook her off the coordinated attack between NERV and the allies.
Ishikawa had long since abandoned his station, knowing his squad was either completely doomed, or that the reinforcements would arrive at some point. The invasion kept advancing steadily, however, and the promise of so many countries felt like ashes thrown to the wind. They had been forsaken, it would seem, so Ishikawa intently glared at the clash between the two monstrous giants instead. "If it weren't for that girl's experience in combat… that choke would've snuffed them out."
"Heavy trauma reported on the Second Child's head and neck!" Maya reported from her station, sounding concerned. "She's had way too many concussions already! There's not much left she can take!"
It pained Misato to admit it, but it was clear Asuka was gassing out; the damage from the first counter punch was still running its aftereffects with every passing second. Their opponent was merciless and crafty, having led Asuka into a false sense of security at a high personal cost while absorbing damage, only to time a perfect punch that would break both Asuka's confidence and concentration. A ruthless strategy, one that had almost paid off.
"He's losing it, that guy," she mumbled low enough for only Ritsuko to hear. "Those counters… he was expecting to end the fight with them… he's getting desperate."
"A desperate enemy is a very dangerous one," Ikari Gendou said in turn, hard gaze locked on the battle. "Need I remind any of you of Zeruel's attack?"
Ishikawa grumbled, nodding. "You can see from that thing's body language that it's ready to charge. Brats…" The possibility of Asuka winning the fight was dwindling in the veteran soldier's mind, same as the possibility of them winning the war. "It's not looking good."
Their last destroyer was blown to bits by SEELE's aircraft, heavy missiles turning metal into charred, blackened soot. Gendou turned to his own device, opening the channel with Unit 00's entry plug. "Rei, what is your status?" he demanded gruffly.
While Asuka had managed to halt the majority of the bombs, a large contingent of SEELE's forces had already advanced into the crater and deployed mobile artillery to fire at the pyramid; had it not been for the AT-Field Rei had been keeping active for the last ten minutes, the Geofront's perimeter would most likely have been breached.
The image of a very exhausted, hollow-eyed Ikari Rei appeared on a tiny screen. "S-Standing… firm… Father…" The toll of forcing the old hunk of junk that was the original Unit 00 into activation was a dangerous, draining task on its own, but sending the EVA's energy to the AT-generators on the surface had long since eroded Rei's stamina. She could not possibly last much longer. "I will….protect everyone… like N-Nii-san. I will not… fail."
Gendou had been about to bypass Unit 00's systems to remotely eject the entry plug, knowing a deadly barrage of short-range missiles was about to level the few tanks that remained in the Geofront's gardens. The strain of holding off that explosion could very well kill Rei, which he would not allow.
Ikari's button had been right above ENTER, dreading the fact that the Geofront had been breached and everyone both inside and out the pyramid were doomed. That was until the seventy vehicles carrying missile artillery were set ablaze from above. "What…" he muttered before the command center turned chaotic again.
"T-Twenty ships reported forty miles away from our shores, Commander!" Makoto shouted. "They're… they're engaging SEELE's armada! We have reports of sixty jets flying towards Tokyo 03!"
The second half of SEELE's short-range units burst into tiny pieces; a jet flew by at the speed of sound, barreling down on the soldiers on the ground before it ascended and joined the aerial battle. "What the hell is going on!?" Misato demanded; she had honestly expected no reinforcements at all, so the sudden extermination of her enemies left her dumbfounded. "Who are these people?!"
"We have a transmission coming in from the jets!" Shigeru yelled in response.
"Foxtrot 9-0 reporting for duty, over," an authoritative voice growled through the channel in English, followed by the sound of static and different feeds coming alive at once.
"Roger that, Foxtrot, proceed to engage the two battalions on the south-eastern entrance, over."
"Roger that, over and out."
"Red Star has arrived. Purge of Tokyo 02 successful, civilians are secured, over."
"Shit, I thought you tundra bastards weren't gonna show up at all! Leaving everything to us, like always, huh, Ruski?"
"BAH!" The thunderous clamor had even Misato flinching where she stood. "The people of Russia," it began in a broken, horribly accented Japanese, "believe there would be no people in Russia, were it not for the First, Second and Third Children."
Misato's eyes widened in shock. "What… are you saying you're-"
"We are back-up! Reinforcements, yes?! Ikari Shinji call, so we answer!"
"Hell yeah we do!" yet another bad accent called form the newest communication line. "Can't have the freaking Russians coming along and stealing all the glory! Captain Ronalds, from the US Air Force, reporting!"
"Vladimir Krupnov, Commander-in-Chief of Spetznaz Special Forces reporting," another gravelly voice added with none of the former's merry tone. "We will smash SEELE for you, Japan. We do not like you, but we respect your soldiers."
"You can say that again." Suddenly, their communications network was overflowing with various accents and languages, all of them confirming they were reinforcements sent to aid them. "Shinji and his sister Rei saved humanity, and Asuka's just pure, unadulterated badass! Damn right we're gonna help!"
"Well." Ritsuko took a calming breath. It had taken almost half of their army, but NERV and the JSSDF had somehow managed to hold off SEELE's massive assault until the promised backup arrived. "I guess these people in Organization S really take things seriously."
You delivered, huh. Ritsuko wondered idly who, exactly, had been able to twist the arms of both Russia and the United States to work together, all to protect a tiny island of all things. Whoever you are, you must have a big, old list of every shitty thing every politician has ever done, S.
"I don't care about that right now," Misato said tersely once the initial shock had dissipated. She pointed her finger at the video feed showing Unit 02 trying to recover from behind an increasingly cracked AT-Field. "What is that thing doing?!"
Samael roared like a hungry beast that had just been robbed of its hard-earned meal as it leveled blast after blast into the thick hexagonal shield. Clearly exasperated, the dark mecha suddenly went on all fours, jumped on the AT-Field as though it were a frog, and began to physically claw and bite down while the tips of its fingers shone bright red.
Asuka's head was bowed. Her eyes were open but unfocused; there was a dribble of something coming out her mouth, her ears were ringing like there was some kind of white noise behind her head. Where was she, again? The showers, Shinji's bed? What was she doing? Why was there something coming out of her mouth, and what on God's green Earth was wrong with her face? I can't… feel anything under my tongue, she realised with some form of quiet dread. My head feels heavy, like there's some pressure inside my skull. Internal bleeding from the brain, most likely; if I can't feel anything under my tongue it means he shattered my jaw. But why can't I move? Where… where's Shinji?
"-uka! Asuka, come on, please, please, please for God's sake answer me, please… say something… you don't have to say anything, just please look at me, anything…"
She was breathing, shallowly for all he could see, but she was breathing. The moment Asuka's head had reared back, a curtain of blood coming from her mouth, Shinji had disengaged his safety belt and jumped the distance between their seats to keep her head from further damage. Everything after that, how in her hazed state the female pilot had controlled her own body enough to resist that choke, or how from his position holding the girl's head he had managed to get them out of harm's way and manifest an AT-Field, were still a mystery to him.
All Shinji knew was that 2.0 was not responding to his pleas, nor was Asuka herself. Her mouth and head continued to dribble blood as inert blue eyes stared at nothing while the LCL kept healing and reconstructing the heavy trauma she had just received. He was actively avoiding the sound of Maya's voice through the comm, if he allowed the information she was screaming about to filter into his brain, it would all be lost; he would lose control. If Asuka was dead, or dying, then… then what was the point of living, anyway?
"Ugh, so annoying…" Shinji heard Asuka whisper through the dribble, which finally stopped flowing after what felt like hours. Shinji barely felt the strain of holding the AT-Field on his own at all; Asuka was badly injured, so nothing else in the entire multiverse of Lilith's creation mattered. "Do you have to be so loud, Baka…? Let me go back to sleep…"
Sleep. Yes, sleep sounded great right about now; just letting her eyes fall and allow Shinji to lure her into a deep slumber with his breathing, yes, it sounded perfect. Only… why was she sleepy, again?
-suka-chan! Listen to me! This isn't safe for you, all right? You're taking way too much damage, he's hurting you bad! I can heal you but… but it'll be no good it this keeps up! Gott, I cannot believe I'm saying this, but you have to listen to the Baka!
Why was 2.0 so upset all of a sudden? And why was 2.0 speaking to her in the first place? Wait, wait, I'm in… At last, the light returned to her gaze, and the first thing Asuka saw was Shinji's eyes filled with endless despair and helplessness, something so broken it resembled his expression from Third Impact. Then her eyes tiredly went over the top of his head and saw… a monster. A black demon with red eyes and crooked, human-looking teeth was clawing at Unit 02's massive AT-Field, chewing on it, and had already broken through half of it.
"What…" she managed to say, before the shield cracked like glass and exploded on them and Samael fell onto the red behemoth.
There was hardly any human behavior left in the dark angel turned Evangelion; it crawled and jumped on all fours, actively clawed away and ripped off pieces of Unit 02's armor, and bit at whatever it could find when the mecha was not kicking its teeth in. It was growling, drooling, ripping away at her flesh with cold, dead fingers. When she felt Samael reach out and try to open up her belly, Asuka screamed in terror, sending an AT-Field blast at point blank that the black mecha forcibly negated with his own.
Her synch rate had dropped to 82%, the fracture on the lower right side of her skull was still fizzling close, and Shinji was behind her, holding her head still of all things instead of being strapped down safely in his seat. And the enemy had just tried to eat her. "Okay…" she wheezed, spitting out a glob of pink froth. "Baka, get back in your seat."
"Asuka, I think we should change our strateg-"
"Shinji, get back in your seat or so help me God I'll bite those fingers off!" she shrieked, feeling the panic overload her senses. 2.0 was screaming at the top of her lungs for her to calm down, but the mass of burnt flesh and red eyes that was their enemy had already gotten back to its… paws. "This bastard… just tried to disembowel me!"
Samael roared, drowning out Asuka's voice as it sprang into action once more and fell heavily on her. "Damn it, god fucking damn monster, get off me!" She punched, punched hard and effective and precise, right on its temple and jaw, and yet her legs were not cooperating. The strength in her arms was gone, and that thing was biting her again. "Shinji, get him off me, get him off of me now!"
She would have been surprised at the speed and control of space Shinji displayed as he jumped back to his seat like a cat, in the middle of a struggle that was shaking the entry plug at that. All she could think about was getting rid of the monster that was chewing on the half-exposed flesh of her oblique. Fight, fight to the death, don't give up. Never, never again. NEVER! "I'll kill you!"
Asuka's synch rate skyrocketed to 178% before Shinji could finish pushing in the code his father had given him, jumping again in seconds to 248%. By the time he turned his head back in her direction, Asuka's eyes were already shining a deep jade hue, filled with both fear and rage. He could feel her ire with as much potency as he felt his own; the savage way in which the enemy was attacking was making her relive her defeat.
"I'll kill you!" Unit 02 slammed its right elbow continuously on the thing's head, which only bit down harder, cracking two of her ribs, and threw a disarrayed flurry of punches and scratches that left her half-blind. "Fuck! I am not dying like this again, you little shit! I'll kill you!"
A halo appeared on Unit 02's head. Samael stopped trying to gnaw at her gut for a second, and effectively ducked when Unit 02's right fist extended and pulverized everything in its vicinity with the aftermath of its power. Not good, Dmitri's hazed mind barked through the rage. Put her to sleep. Sleep. Now. The Angel momentarily released its hold in order to avoid another wild blast that obliterated about a quarter of the ruins, and wrapped its hands around Unit 02's neck in another rear naked choke, only this time there was no foreseeable escape.
Asuka's neck began to constrict in the entry plug, to Shinji's increasing horror. Her synch rate continued to increase, and he really, really hoped that the suddenly red-and-blackness all around them was a convenient visual effect. The pressure felt just as real on his neck though; he was losing consciousness, rapidly, and Asuka was not listening to him at all. She's gonna die fighting again, the Beast whispered in his ear with the closest thing it had ever come to fear. Unit 02's trying to stop her, and she's not listening, she's going into panic. You need to do this, now, or Asuka will die.
Shinji took out the syringe, feeling like more of a lowlife than he had while masturbating to Asuka's body. He was just selfish like that; he was not about to watch her die in front of him, barely a meter away, if there was anything he could do to prevent it. His shaky fingers finally dialed in the code, just as he stabbed the small dart into Asuka's. I'm sorry, he whispered through the link, already feeling her drowsiness, her rage, her fear, her confusion, and the sting of betrayal. I'm so sorry I'm this selfish, I'm sorry Asuka. I will make it up to you, even if it means my li-
While Shinji had succeeded in rebooting Unit 02's operating system to single-pilot mode, he'd done it a second too late.
-SNAP-
Misato's knees crumbled from underneath her; brown eyes that refused to stop shedding tears widely stared, horrified, at the sight of Unit 02's windpipe and neck breaking. It was not possible, not in a million years, not with the reinforcements finally arriving and them managing to draw away SEELE's armed forces. No. No… no, please no. No… just wake me up. Somebody, please. Wake me up… because… because this can't… be real…
It didn't matter to her at all that Asuka had almost started Fourth Impact. It didn't matter because if she had, then Shin-chan would have stopped her from going haywire, and he would have because her Shin-chan loved his Asuka-chan. But… they couldn't love each other if they were dead. They couldn't kiss and make up if their necks were broken and their lives were snuffed out by a deranged sociopath.
"What's the status of the pilots?!"
To everybody's added shock, it had been Ikari Gendou to demand a status report, and not the actual commander or even their surrogate mother. Command had been badly taken aback by the drastic change in the tide during Unit 02's fight with Samael.
Maya's eyes almost bled when they widened even more. "How… t-this can't be right…"
"Asuka's fine, aside from a heavy concussion on the lower right side of her head. She's unconscious. Unit 02's not activated anymore," Ritsuko stated flatly, staring at the tech's computer. "Shinji… drugged her with something potent enough to break through the synch. He… overrode the computer's system and took main control of the EVA." She looked at the vitals of the Third Child and felt her stomach churn like spoiled milk. "Shinji… his windpipe is crushed… he's not… Misato…"
Misato's haunted gaze turned to Ritsuko, a trail of tears running down her cheeks. The look on her friend's face ripped Ritsuko's heart from her body. If ever there had been a day when she did not want to be the bearer of terrible news, it was then.
"Shinji's not breathing."
0
He kept squeezing the crushed neck with all his might, hoping against hope to detach Unit 02's head from its body without actually beheading it. The eyes had gone dead some seconds before, just as he had applied enough pressure to break the neck of a man many times his size. He barely been able to bend the vertebrae at the right angle. It felt like trying to strangle a steel bar; his arms were trembling with the strain and his legs, especially his left, was still somewhat uncooperative.
Samael released the deadly grip, rolling the inert EVA onto its back and taking a firm hold of the armor plate which protected the entry plug.
Holy shit, that was a lot harder than I expected, Dmitri thought with grim satisfaction. He was winded, true, but with more than half his tank still available; plenty to complete the mission satisfactorily and come back home with a pocketful of cash. Had it not been for his masterful control of both the Berserker state and his own synch rate, he would be dead. One of those head kicks or knees to the chin would have been sufficient to kill him, had he not lowered the synch rate at that precise moment. Years and years of horrible, painful training had left him with a body full of scars, and the ability to fully control the S2 core.
Still, the consequences of using the Fruit of Life on his own body repeatedly were already piling up. Every cell in Dmitri's body was screaming bloody murder, every inch of him ached and throbbed with every twitch of his muscles.
He panted twice and took a deep breath; there was yet one little detail to take care of. Now I just need to remove the entry plug, take it back to Command and start killing everybody in a two hundred mile radi-
Unit 02's head moved; it moved even with its cervical vertebrae turned to dust, and looked at him. All the young assassin could think of as Samael's body was violently pushed away by an explosion, was that it should very well be impossible for any human, even Shinji or Asuka, to synch with a broken fucking neck. Not even he had managed such a feat in his training. Samael crashed unceremoniously to the ground, its left shoulder plate now effectively evaporated as well.
"What was that you said, again?" The sickening sound of Unit 02's broken bones scraping against each other resounded both in the battlefield and the Geofront. Millions watching at home felt a very familiar, strange sensation of fear when the red behemoth's four eyes shone crimson instead or green.
Already on an adrenaline high, Dmitri injected a syringe filled with even more into his leg and sprinted towards the rapidly regenerating form of his opponent. Even from afar, he could see the EVA's neck pop back into place and begin steaming as the cells reproduced at an impossible rate. What was that? he found himself wondering when one of his deadliest attacks, the chopping right, hit nothing but air. Unit 02's stance was different; the right leg was forward. That didn't sound like Shinji at all. Is there a third person in that fucking entry plug with them? How many people am I fucking fighting?!
Falling back into the black pit of endless rage, Dmitri launched a left hook, a right high kick and a spinning left, all of which were easily dodged by a mecha that no longer seemed to be moving with perfected form. Frustrated, the assassin threw a right hook aimed at Unit 02's temple; if he could stun the EVA one more time he'd be able to take the fight to the ground. The behemoth rolled out of the way, however, with a textbook beautiful roll that forced Dmitri to realize he was not protecting the right side of his head, and was now fighting a southpaw who had read his telegraphed offense with little to no trouble.
Shit.
The large red fist closed in on his peripheral vision. A perfectly timed left hook counter, prepared to counteract his traditional uppercut, cross, kick, hook combination.
The world went black when Unit 02's left hook cracked the entire right side of Samael's face. A right uppercut forced the Angel's gaping maw shut, and had it not been for the subconscious reaction of pulling his arms against his chest, Dmitri's rib cage would have been caved into his lungs. A simple kick was enough to hurl the Angel to the other side of the field.
Samael climbed back to its feet instantly, bent on retaliating with a blast of its own, but before he could take a second step forward, Dmitri's vision blackened and the EVA lookalike collapsed to one knee, holding the right side of its face.
He… Dmitri had read a lot about Shinji, had followed the boy's pilot career from the shadow; the moment the Third Child had set foot in Tokyo 03, he had known and followed every fight like a fanboy. He had studied Shinji fights so much he could recite them by memory, and the thought of fighting him one on one had been an ambition that burned in his loins for over two years. Dmitri's disbelieving gaze fell upon the EVA's extended leg. He ruptured my eye socket… with one punch!?
"Tell me again… how Asuka is a German Bitch."
Unit 02's right foot created a large crater as it fell heavily down on the ground. The EVA's entire body was radiating scarlet, its jaws opened and growling in low, guttural tones, its breath discernible through the clouds of dust and rubble. "Tell me again… how you were going to kill all my friends."
The excitement began consuming the shock and surprise with frightening speed; it could not be, that his ambition and dream had finally come true. It could not be that the foe standing before him actually was… the famous Third Child. The Destroyer of Angels, the original Berserker, the boy who had killed the world, and brought it back to life; the ultimate prey for the ultimate predator, or so Dmitri thought.
"Tell me again… how you were going to rip my Asuka to pieces."
Despite having his chin cracked, and with three of his frontal teeth still recovering, Dmitri was unable to hold in the sadistic smirk filled with exhilaration that drew over his broken face. Behind his hand, a regenerated right eye glistened red. "Ikari Shinji…"
The Void welcomed him like his mother's warm embrace, and the billions screaming in unison felt as though he'd finally made it back home after a hard day of scavenging. He found the Beast sitting calmly next to Asuka' s doppelganger, both watching the endless sea of blood as it was lulled by a gentle breeze. Behind him lay the dark pit of rage, hatred and memories that comprised the Void; before him lay Unit 02's endless power, with the shadow of the nine Evangelions it had consumed, looming crucified in the distance.
He walked over to the pair, a solemn, serious look on his face; his eyes were tired and vengeful. "I'm sorry, 2.0. I hope you can understand."
The EVA's entity shyly looked up at him, arms hugging her knees while the Beast slowly got to his feet. "Asuka-chan will get mad at you, Baka-Shinji," she began, crimson eyes shining with childish petulance and true remorse. "If you do this… there's no guarantee I'll be able to stop you. There's not even a guarantee that you'll survive."
"That doesn't matter." He stood now on Unit 02's left, while the beast stood to its right, not saying a word while its horrible, hate-filled gaze was focused on the horizon where a red moon shone over the three of them. "It'll be worth it so long as she's alive."
"And how do you think she'll feel if you die, Baka?!" The entity snapped, and buried its face deeper into its knees."The pain alone will make you lose consciousness; I was sparing Asuka-chan from the worst of it… and it really hurts… it will kill you, Baka-Shinji…"
Shinji smiled, a quiet, bittersweet expression, and looked down at her with fondness. "My life belongs to her, 2.0. I promised. I can't die unless she tells me to." He glanced at the Beast. "Right?"
"Eh?" The beast shrugged, scratching a new wound on its nape, a nasty, clear claw mark on the back of its neck. "What do I have to do with all this shit? I'm just enjoying the scenery."
Lips twitching upwards, Shinji allowed his feet to slowly sink into the blood as he walked forward. "You're a part of me," he answered. What Asuka had mentioned was true; both his Beast and the entity within Unit 02 had the very same eye color. "That means… that you love her as much as I do. So come on." He nodded towards the firmament. "Let's go."
Chuckling, the monstrous representation of himself offered a hand to 2.0. "Come along now, dear. Hand over the power to us, mix your soul with ours to your leisure."
The girl's eyes watered while her mouth pouted and lips shook. "Are you both stupid or something? You'll die from the pain alone!"
"Pain is fuel," his self-hatred calmly clarified, and offered what was probably the first honest smile it had ever produced to Asuka's clone. "Suffering and wrath is what we are. You don't need to feel any sort of pain anymore. Just give me your hand, Asuka, and let us do what we're supposed to do."
"And what's that, huh?!" the girl replied angrily, getting to her feet. "You're gonna go and die like some stupid martyrs?!"
And the Beast laughed for the first time. How odd, that it should choose to use his actual voice for the first time, on the eve of such a macabre situation. "No, dearest," it answered, bloody hand still outstretched."We're not gonna die. Not today, anyway. You see, Asuka-chan, that bully out there hit and cut your face, tried to kill you, bit you, and made you relieve a horrible event in your life. We're about to do horrible things to him."
The girl's expression turned into pure shock. "What?! B-But that was Asuka-chan that went through all t-"
"You're a part of her; you were with her when it happened. You felt every bit of pain she did," said Shinji. The process had already begun; he could feel it, feel the core inside his chest like it was his own beating heart, could already see the diagrams of knowledge required to use the Core to its fullest potential. "That means you're as much my Asuka as the beautiful young woman safely tucked away in the entry plug. And that bastard out there hurt you… both of you."
"We're gonna go out there and tear him apart, dear. No need to worry, we won't die." Hesitant, angry red eyes turned to the Beast, and finally, Unit 02's fingers grazed its own. "Although, we can't quite say the same about our enemy, huh, Shinji?"
The entity took the Beast's hand and the ocean roiled, boiling and crashing into him like a gargantuan tidal wave. "No, we can't," Shinji answered simply. The crimson liquid crashed against his left hand, which in turn began to bleed freely as deep gashes manifested in the skin; it did not take long until all that remained was the red moon, the dark skies, and the three of them standing at the foot of the Void.
A small, cherry-sized sphere rested comfortably between his fingers; Shinji brought the marble to his mouth and swallowed it. "He hurt my Asuka. I'm sorry, but I have to go kill him now."
The Void opened at last, letting the gore, grime and blood become a new, dark ocean.
He felt… nothing below his head, really. Aside from being able to open and close his eyes, he was basically paralyzed and unable to so much as breathe. The heartbeat came, however, strong and penetrating and deadly, and while Asuka was being automatically secured so her limp body would not fly off, Shinji had the pleasure of feeling his own spinal cord be pushed back into place.
"Annoying…" he growled, pupils shining bright crimson. "You're annoying. Get off."
The next time he opened his eyes, vision finally cleared, it felt almost like Samael was moving in slow motion; he saw the fist come from a mile away, ducked, and without thinking unleashed the left hook Ishikawa had drilled into him, his first ever good punch. Once the satisfying thud came, he pushed the black mecha back with his foot. There was no longer a need for control, there was no longer any thought in his head beside the desire to annihilate his enemy and ensure Asuka's safety. Everything else disappeared under the warm embrace of rage. Above him, the slight noises of Asuka's unconscious body being secured from head to toe told him there was no longer a need to hold the Beast's instincts at bay.
Some bones in his wrists had cracked, he noticed, while forcing the EVA to close its fist along with his. No time for broken hands, Shinji thought, barely conscious of the LCL literally melting his fingers and mending them. Asuka's face had been cut with cruelty; her right eye had barely survived. Her gorgeous hair was marred with blood from the wound on the back of her head. Her pretty face had been a snarl of terror and rage before he so selfishly stole her chance at redemption. It didn't matter; he would atone for that particular sin any day.
His fists clenched. "What was that you said, again?"
There was no longer a Shinji to talk to anymore. "Tell me again… how Asuka's a German Bitch." The boy who Misato loved so dearly had been stacked away in a drawer for the time being, to be replaced with whatever it was that lived inside his rib cage and clawed at his mind. "Tell me again… how you were going to kill my friends."
Grit your teeth. Ball your fists. Move forward. Destroy your enemy. "Tell me again… how you were going to rip my Asuka to pieces."
The small whisper came through somehow, an infuriating buzz against his right ear. "Ikari Shinji…" Without a computerized muffler, Shinji found the voice to be especially irksome.
"No," he said. "No Shinji here… just… Ikari."
Both mechas slowly walked towards each other, as though drawn by an unseen magnetism. Dmitri's whole body felt giddy, light on his feet, overly excited and content. Unit X's muscles continued to solidify and acquire an even more muscular appearance, whereas Unit 02 simply radiated an aura of pure danger and the promise of bloodshed.
Soon both behemoths stood directly face to face, red eyes gleaming. "This is it," said the Russian after a few seconds. "Are you ready for this, Shinji?" I'm a man of my word. He put both fists forward, the typical salute before a clash or spar. One on one, you and me… at last. A pair of red fists came to meet his own violently; from the vicinity to Unit 02's face he clearly heard it growl menacingly.
"What's your name?"
"Huh?" The assassin blinked, taken aback. "What does that matter?"
"I'm going to kill you." It was a statement, not a promise or a threat. Shinji was stating a fact, and it drove another shudder of excitement down Dmitri's back. "So I want to know your name."
"Well, that seems fair," replied Dmitri. Both took a few steps back and dropped to their stances; the pilot of the Angel Samael clearly saw the differences in style in an instant. Asuka was right-handed, but could work and fight with either position, whereas the boy standing before him had assumed a hard, tight southpaw boxing posture. He jumped a few times, loosening formerly stiff limbs and dropped to his own fighting stance; legs spread wide away from each other, arms down and ready, and light on his feet. "I'm Dmitri. Dmitri Yurievich Kalashnikov-Krupnov."
"Good, Dmitri." A strange name, if ever Shinji had heard one, yet the memories of one particular Dmitri Krupnov dribbled into his brain in droplets; a horrible, tormented existence filled with blood, murder, the loss of innocence and anything of value, and ultimately the loss of one's own humanity. A monster, like him. "Don't worry. I'll send you to meet your brother Vasili right away."
The sensation of a very unpleasant vein popped on the side of Dmitri's temple. It throbbed with pain and anger, a clear reminder of the deal he'd made with Samael. Power and the freedom of his brother in exchange for a great bloodshed, a fine meal and a great battle; their bet was his own twisted, blackened soul. Nobody speaks about my brother. Yet suddenly, the mention of that little boy who would not hurt a fly, that little boy who was pushed into the entry plug against his will once his body had been broken, somehow broke Dmitri's frail sanity.
NOBODY SPEAKS ABOUT MY BROTHER!
"What did you just say!? Don't you evermention his name!" Dmitri jumped at the red mecha with a wide superman punch that hit nothing but air when Unit 02 reared back; he followed with a left hook and high kick, all of which landed against the mecha's firm defense. He threw a second large left hook, which was easily intercepted by Shinji's own forearm, even when he clearly felt both the mecha's bones and his own crack at the impact. I'm attacking out of anger, he realized as Samael rained a stream of straight punches, spinning back elbows, frontal and twisting side kicks which eventually got through and drove Unit 02 back. I want to fight this little shit to the dirt! Another powerful twisting side kick slipped just under Shinji's elbows, which made the red mecha drop its high guard just in time for Dmitri's superman punch to actually land on its forehead.
Unit 02 unwound its arms, fists tightening with ire as the superman punch impacted, followed by a closed left hook which hit the right side of its face and a high left kick that caught him just as he was about to throw his own offensive. Samael's fists felt like a pillow to Shinji, so he used the chance to dig his right hand into the enemy's gut. The impact was such that the black mecha actually doubled over and stepped back to gain some distance, drool evidently dripping from its maw.
"Urgh." Dry-heaving one last time, Dmitri watched with distaste how the half-digested remains of his lunch floated before him. He had used his own version of the kicks that had reduced his midsection to ground meat to a satisfactory effect; the pleasant crunch of bone under his heel had been clear. His accurate shots were landing, and all for what? To be slammed by a fist that felt just as hard as Asuka's feet. Holy fucking shit… Dmitri's insides, already rattled from the powerful body kicks, began to complain loudly against his every breath. That felt like being hit with a boulder… he cracked three ribs… gotta steer clear of those fucking hands of his.
"Oh?" said Shinji. "I thought your brother was worth more than just a couple of broken ribs." His hand reassembled from the mass of gore and exposed bone it had been seconds ago. It mattered little how many times his hands broke, if it meant delivering damage to the bastard who had hurt Asuka. "All that evil and blood… and behind it there's just a little boy crying for his baby brother and his mommy."
The Russian's molars ground in rage; he spat out the remains of bile in his mouth and set out to attack. You're gonna regret that, Shin-chan. He was fighting someone who stubbornly held to a defensive position, like a turtle hiding in its shell, so Dmitri was free to unleash the full extent of his arsenal. He threw an opening stepping side kick which drew Unit 02 conveniently closer to Tokyo 03, followed by a stray of jabs and high kicks. He attempted a takedown, but Shinji's instincts were apparently as good as his own. The brat was reading his body language, reacting to his every move, glaring up at him from that damned, stupid shell-like defense.
Can't be jumping out of the way if you have no legs, Dmitri rationalized, and kicked Unit 02's knee as hard as he could. There was a resounding snap; to the pilot's dismay, nonetheless, it had not come from the enemy's limb. His own fibula had exploded like a firecracker inside his flesh upon impacting a knee that had felt like a piece of solid steel. Samael clumsily evaded a surprisingly accurate one-two, stumbling on one foot as its leg regenerated, but Shinji closed in on him, diving to Dmitri's right and delivering a vicious left cross to his jaw followed by a surprising left high kick that almost took his head off and broke his hand as he blocked.
If I lower my synch rate and lose the Berserker, I won't last too long against those fucking bombs. Dmitri's ears were ringing, his depth perception was damaged, and all Shinji had done was connect with two punches. Something doesn't add up, hethought as he evaded a right hook and ducked to the left to avoid another beheading by uppercut. I just shot this guy with a full, accurate combination, I definitely broke at least four ribs! How the hell is he doing this?!
Unit 02 closed in; Dmitri felt enraged, so he went for another takedown and anchored his arms around the mecha's right leg; when he tried to lift the leg, however, it did not give in at all. Instead he felt himself being forcefully lifted through the air and thrown about like a rag doll.
"Come on!" Shinji said, punching himself twice in the face. Once Samael got back to its feet, the Third Child closed the distance and pointed at the ground, opening both his hands in open defiance a second afterwards. The message was clear.
Another slugfest, Third Child?! Dmitri had scarcely felt so utterly insulted since returning from Instrumentality. Fine! I'm gonna tear your head off! It did not matter if Shinji, in a bestial state at that, was forcing him into a slugfest; his instincts were too keen, too refined. He'd counter the damned Third Child like he'd done with the Second, if not more brutally. I'm gonna put you down.
They met in the center of one of the craters they'd created with their many AT-Field attacks, both with their defense down and fists curled. It began solidly enough, with both missing and connecting; yet all it took for Dmitri was a few seconds of quiet analysis and he was meeting every one of Shinji's deadly punches with one of his own, gaining momentum.
He avoided a right hook and connected one of his own just below Shinji's ear, ducked a left overhand and responded with a cutting uppercut and a chopping right, pivoted to the left and kicked low, driving two ribs at the very least into Shinji's organs, dodged a wild right hand and countered with an elbow, reducing the distance between both behemoths.
Even as its head reared back with a clear cut above the top right eye, Unit 02 threw a body shot that sunk deep into Samael's midsection followed by two hooks, one of which connected and pushed the Angel back a few steps.
While Shinji barely took notice of the rib protruding from his plugsuit and moved forward, Dmitri tried to keep his innards from collapsing and his head from exploding. "What in the… ugh… I just barreled this bastard… and he…"
Unit 02 was in no way undamaged; most of its own chest plate was dripping blue blood, the cut on the right side was blocking a quarter of its face, there was visible bone sticking out of its lower right side, and yet the EVA moved, undeterred. The sight was such that even the reinforcements coming to aid SEELE in the losing battle thought twice before nearing the Japanese shores.
Inside Unit 02's entry plug the light had been consumed by a dark, powerful aura. Shinji focused on the indescribable agony of having his body mangled by devastating counters in order to keep himself in check. He constantly glanced at his own synch rate to ensure it did not go over the 200% mark; with his soul effectively mingled with Unit 02's core, it mattered very little if his body broke time and time again. So long as there was energy in the S2 core, he'd be put back together. He only needed to move forward. There is no other way but forward. That piece of shit cut our Asuka's face. Devour him!
"Fuck it," Dmitri spat out, panting. "No more Mr. Goodie-good rules."
The next exchange began with Unit 02 moving forward and Samael dodging its stiff punches. Samael moved with renowned agility just under the EVA's right side to deliver a flurry of hard hooks to the back in hopes of making one of Shinji's kidneys explode. When a flying elbow came his way, Dmitri dodged and put some distance between them; already he had gauged the speed, response and attack pattern of the Third Child.
Orthodox southpaw. You have good reflexes and a solid defense, but you're leaving your legs and back uncovered. Dmitri came in next with a stepping side kick to push the opponent back, easily dodged the right jab coming his way, then ducked and went for Unit 02's leg again, already too close to the limb to avoid the sudden flying knee that rattled his brain. He shook off the impact, adrenaline rushing through him as a second syringe was stabbed into his thigh, changed his own stance to southpaw once he got his legs to work once again, then barely dodged a jab-uppercut combo aimed for his chin and slammed another perfect counter just as Shinji wound up for a left cross.
Perfect, he thought with satisfaction, watching the EVA's head get pushed away with the force of the impact. Perfect counter, he's about to do down, time for a taked- His body had already moved in for the clinch, only to be stopped by Unit 02's upper body as it crashed against his. What the fuck?!
If Dmitri had to choose, he'd always take the fight to the ground. He was masterful at countering; his defense was impeccable due to the inhuman instincts he possessed, and he could take out his own knife and disembowel Unit 02 in moments if he so desired... or at least he had believed as much when the fight had begun. Now, stuck in a clinch he clearly was not winning while Unit 02 forced Samael back with pure, raw strength, the assassin realized a knife would do little to no good. I'm pretty sure that even if I stab this fucking guy in the head, he just won't stop.
Samael recoiled from the clinch and rolled to the EVA's back with the intention of body slamming it against the concrete, but found himself unable to lift the mecha a single inch. Unit 02 secured his left ankle, and with little else than brute force and the shadow of practiced judo, threw him to the ground, rolled out of his hold and started raining down a fierce barrage of fists that slowly started crushing his face.
Every time one of Shinji's punches landed, regardless of whether it landed on his defense or his body, Dmitri felt as though a construction hammer was digging into his body. The punches were solid, the fists themselves broke again and again along with Dmitri's own body, yet the Evangelion did not seem at all deterred by it.
Hurt him… need to hurt him to get him off of me… ribs, go for the ribs… go for the scars! The Russian slipped past one of Shinji's violent punches, trapped his arm in a lock and kicked the area he knew Asuka had torn apart with her own heel. The first one had little to no effect, so he kept at it while keeping the Third Child's arm trapped; after the fifth consecutive kick the right hammer punches Shinji had been throwing faltered, and the sixth one finally forced Unit 02 to recoil some, giving Dmitri the chance to roll on his back, get back to his feet and shake off some of the damage.
Broken forearm, cracked ribs again, right cheekbone sunken in, mild trauma to the skull, jaw is fractured and healing, ugh… why can't I see anything out of my right eye? The assault on his face during the brief ground pound had been sufficient to swell his eye shut; whatever Shinji was packing with those fists, it was not flesh. For once in about four years, since his last defeat at the hands of about twenty former Spetznaz, Dmitri's unbreakable will began to falter. He just overwhelmed my ground game with strength alone… that's not possible. I connected a perfect counter… it was perfect! The timing, the distance…! What the fuck?!
Increasingly frustrated with the fact that neither opponent had behaved the way he had anticipated, Dmitri abandoned all and any limitations; he needed to win. The mission was priority, and for the mission to be successful Unit 02 had to be destroyed. Fuck this, time for Systema.
Samael barely managed to get to its feet before a head kick finished fracturing its skull. Dmitri slapped away the left cross coming its way and slammed its palm over the EVA's throat; he followed with a body shot and right hook to the temple, and took the arm into a lock with every intention of breaking it. Dmitri overstretched the trapped left arm of Unit 02 and with both his elbow and knee and fractured the limb with great difficulty, feeling his own arm and leg complain.
What is this guy made of?! he questioned loudly to Samael. The Angel had no answer, only power to offer, power that was diminishing quickly. With the arm safely broken, Dmitri delivered a powerful kick to the EVA's exposed midsection, exactly where he knew Shinji's injuries to be. He clawed, literally clawed away at the EVA's eyes to blind it momentarily, launched a strong left hook which landed flush on the jaw, and retreated when Shinji's right hook dug into his gut without warning.
Dmitri vomited again, only this time there was just bile and blood floating before him.
"Every time… I hit this fucking guy… my own hand breaks…" There was no delivering damage without receiving it; the rule applied to both mechas, yet it remained a mystery to the experienced soldier and pilot how Shinji could take more punishment than him. It was impossible; he had been systematically tortured since the age of five, robbed of every little shred of hope and innocence. His arms were riddled with lacerations and deep gashes, his whole body was covered in scars. I won't accept it… that this guy can take more than I can… Fuck that! Fuck that! I won't accept it!
Samael roared and bombarded Unit 02 with the strongest blast it was able to produce in hopes of driving it further back towards Tokyo 03. To Dmitri's shock, Unit 02 opened its own jaws, roaring with equal, if not greater strength as its crimson eyes momentarily gleamed yellow; both blasts met halfway, with the ensuing explosion taking the shape of a gigantic, red-gold cross. Dmitri's jaw was starting to hurt from biting down on his own molars with rage. This bastard… forcibly negated my attack. That was the same power as an N2 mine; I'm running out of options.
Shinji stared at the misshapen form of his left arm with distaste. His expression had hardly changed at all; he glared dead ahead with shining crimson pupils, not even bothering to consider the amount of blood he was losing. He closed his left fist, LCL scorching through his tissue, and kept going forward. The sensation of being one with Unit 02's core and regenerating from massive wounds and constant contusions was unpleasant, at best. He was aware of every crack in his bones, every bit of muscle fiber ripping from the strain; the LCL felt like hot, tiny needles which pierced his skin and held his skeleton together.
He almost felt fused to Unit 02, unnaturally aware of every square inch of the EVA's body. The core beat loudly in his chest along with his own heart. Counter, Shinji's numb mind whispered. He hit me with counters, looking for the takedown. Break him. His animal instincts had the enemy's attack pattern somewhat memorized; depending on the distance Samael would open either with a kick to the body or a jab-uppercut combination, look for the perfect chance to place a counter and seek to take him out with a lock.
That little brat played me! Dmitri's mind turned increasingly messier with every shot he took; the force behind Shinji's punches was uncanny, true, but what was truly breaking his stamina and resistance was the brat's precision and resilience to keep moving forward. I've had my own ribs broken several times… even with my healing factor there are sensitive spots… and this bastard… "Ikari Shinji…" What was he made of, anyways? "Doesn't matter… hasn't been a man I haven't broken in ten years… I'll break you too, Third Child…"
Shinji would have shrugged if asked about the claw marks on his face, or the shattered ribs, or if the piece of bone stuck in his intestines hurt; every part of his body was throbbing with pain and had been for months. He had felt the punctured side of his own lung for days on end, had grown accustomed to being out of breath after just walking a few meters. He had gotten diligently used to the sting of muscles he had neglected, and the sensation of broken shards of glass rubbing his insides. He had felt the torture of thousands, millions, billions, systematically and in a sadistic form, for months. He had felt Asuka's death as though it were his own. Even blinded he could feel the opponent's presence by the bursts of motion in his vicinity. There was nothing besides the rage and Asuka. Nothing.
Soon enough both giants were circling one another again, only this time Samael maintained a considerable distance from Unit 02; even from afar it was clear that both demi-gods were beginning to dwindle in speed. Dmitri opted for leg kicks combined with straight punches to enter the red mecha's defense and force it to attack, after an effective stomp-kick on Unit 02's knee forced the EVA to lose balance, he connected his prized left high kick, right cross and left hook combo.
Unit 02's knees finally shook under his attacks, so Dmitri shook off the sensation of bone protruding from his own wrists and legs, dodged a blind, drunkenly thrown body shot and threw himself at the EVA's leg. He was about to lift the mecha, dominate from a ground and pound position and end the fight with another neck lock, had the muscles in his entire midsection not been horribly reminded that Shinji could kick. You gotta be shitting me… I can't…? His legs were burning with the strain, but it was pointless; the slight second had given Unit 02 enough time to start slamming both fists violently in his back.
"Gaaaah… Fuck!" Dmitri's back cracked; his legs were about to give out. Focus, soldier. Focus on the power, the core, send it to your stomach, come on… Do it! He finally knocked Unit 02 down again, throwing himself on its midsection to trap it as he began to rain down deadly punches on its face. "Now, let's hear you talk shit about my brother, come on!"
He kept Unit 02's left arm locked in place with his legs while his other hand held the mecha's right, slamming his right fist again and again in blind fury. "Come on, you little bitch!" Punch. Punch. Punch. Punch. "Let's hear you talk shit again!" Punch. Punch. Punch. "Come on, Ikari!" punch. Punch. "Fuck you!" At last, the rush gave out and he paused, driving a final hook just above the EVA's jaw. "Heh… heh… fucking Ikari… managed to make me lose my c-"
"Are you done already?"
Dmitri's eyes went from the bloody, barely recognizable mass of flesh that had been his right fist to Unit 02's barely damaged face. There was a bit of bleeding near the eye, some slight cracks and dents above the EVA's temple, a bit of bluish blood near its jaws… and nothing else. His excitement about the battle soured. "What… the fuck…" Unacceptable. He pushed the core's power straight to his hand, which glowed deep red both in the entry plug and out of it. Unacceptable. Destroy. Destroy this enemy, before it destroys you. "Shut up, Ikari!"
Unit 02's right arm, which had felt immobile and secured during Dmitri's assault, easily escaped his grasp and stopped the glowing fist from connecting on its face with no apparent effort. Inside the entry plug, Dmitri saw his fingers twist and constrict under the hold, saw his hand break once more, even with the concentrated power of two hundred stolen souls in his fist, and began to feel something he hadn't felt since being a little child holding his half-dead brother's hand at the gates of Facility X.
Helplessness.
Samael's hand exploded in a gory spectacle of armor, flesh and bone just a heartbeat after Dmitri lowered his synch rate to 92%. He screamed long and loud from the pain, and found his voice dying when the red mecha's hand clasped behind his head and head-butted him with savagery. "I said," the voice of Ikari Shinji told him in a gray, formless haze once his eyes stopped working. "Are you done?" His powerful legs, which had carried inhuman burdens through the frozen tundra of Siberia countless times, felt like soft jelly after Shinji head-butted him a second time, slamming Unit 02's forehead directly in his temple. "Are you done, Dmitri?"
He never realized when or how Unit 02 ended up above him, continuously slamming its head against his own. "Are you done talking?" Slam; he felt blood start oozing from his forehead. "Are you done killing?" Slam; a cut above his eyebrow exploded, blinding his entire left side. "Are you done playing the Grim Reaper?" Slam; Dmitri's hands were barely able to keep a hold of the control yokes anymore. "Are you done living?"
Taking Samael's head in both its hands; Unit 02 descended on it and head-butted the Angel four more times with enough viciousness to send armor and dark blood as well as one of its horns flying. "Because..." Shinji's forehead was bleeding freely, yet the blood seemed to evaporate off his skin before it reached his eyes; there were marks all over his face, and small scratches that continued to fade away. He hoisted the limp behemoth to eye-level.
"I'm not done with you yet. I'm gonna make you regret ever crossing Asuka's path."
Dmitri grit his teeth, forcing himself awake by focusing on the agony of his recovering right hand. At 92% the healing took twice as long, but if he boosted his synch rate to more than 120% in Samael's current condition, he'd lose consciousness. The mission, the mission, soldier. Complete the mission, keep your word. Keep your word. The man who had taken him and his brother had said that; he'd said 'I'm a man of my word' when promising his mother that if she screamed even once, they would kill both her children first, and her last. True to his word, the man had not taken their lives, only allowed their mother to be raped, stabbed, and burned alive before them. Keep your word. Fulfill the mission.
"Aaaaaahhhh!"
Samael's limp hands abruptly came alive; they trapped Unit 02's right arm and in a quick burst of motion slipped the EVA into an arm triangle. Before Shinji had a chance to either clasp his hands, lift him or otherwise escape, Dmitri transitioned to a chokehold and drew the red mecha's body on the ground. "I'm gonna break your fucking neck!"
"Are you, really?"
Dmitri watched, flabbergasted and at a loss for how to respond, as Unit 02 calmly looked at him, and began to pull its right arm from his hold. In his mind, he swore he saw Shinji smiling deviously down at him. The EVA's jaws unhinged; it roared vociferously and bit down on his leg. Growling like a maddened wolf, the EVA lifted both itself and Samael off the ground, and dropped the Angel violently against a half-destroyed building.
Shit, cover up cover up cover u-
The stream of deadly punches rained down on Dmitri for a few seconds, four ferocious left hooks and a right hammer fist connecting flush on his jaw and temple. The young assassin's own survival instincts sprang up before a fifth and final left hook took him out; he slipped his right leg out from underneath Unit 02 then drove his heel up and into the EVA's chin, countering with all the EVA's momentum against it.
Samael got back to its feet in a wild jump, threw another open hand to the throat, a high left kick and a right fist, all of which connected perfectly and in the proper angle to put anybody to sleep. Dmitri's frustration was somehow justified; all the EVA did in response was shake its bloodied, dripping head and revert back to a defensive stand. "Over… and over… and over again…" he muttered, the knuckles in his hand cracked with fury. "And over… and over again…"
Shinji was already moving forward, advancing after taking some of his deadliest shots, bleeding from three different wounds on his head and still coming at him with those monstrous hands of his.
"Don't you ever just fucking stay down!? Where was all this strength, all this power, when the people behind you needed you the most?!" Dmitri demanded while falling back to his own stance. "Now you can fight, now you can stand up! What fucking difference does it make, Third Child?! You already let the world go to shit! Answer me! What difference does it make?!"
Shinji's eyes saw little beside the form of his enemy. His mind focused either on the pain, taking quick backwards glances at Asuka to ensure she was still safe, and blatantly ignoring the way the entry plug continued to tinge itself crimson with his blood. He had consciously severed any and all communications between Unit 02 and the Geofront for the time being; simply unable to focus with Maya's voice constantly panicking over his exposed bones, pierced organs or the fact that his right knee had surely exploded at some point. The only line he kept open was with his opponent.
"It doesn't make any difference at all," he answered calmly, closing in. There was no escaping the past, because it was his past; which meant that if he fought, he'd ensure a future. "That was then. This is now, and now I have something I need to protect, something I can protect, something you won't ever touch."
"Spare me the bravado and the bullshit, Ikari," Dmitri threw a stepping side kick to halt the Third Child's advance. "Deep down, under all that goody-boy act-" Another twisting side kick connected on Shinji's firm defense and threw his arms upwards. Dmitri closed in with a bestial snarl and his treasured overhand right. "-you're just a fucking monster like me!"
A left uppercut followed, connecting hard on Shinji's jaw; it did anything but deter him. Unit 02 started throwing short hooks as well, all of which either hit nothing but air or Dmitri's own quick defense. It did not matter, they were both already knee-deep in the mud, facing each other and throwing haymakers that could snuff out someone's life. Samael hit flush almost every time, aiming with deadly accuracy and picking both the body and head apart with long hooks, while evading most of the damage of Shinji's punches.
You might be stronger, Ikari, Dmitri mused as a left cross grazed his eye. But I'm faster, and smarter. A quick one-two connected directly with Unit 02's face, driving it a step back. Dmitri threw a left at the body, a right cross to the face, and a kick to the temple, then switched to a southpaw stance and was about to throw a long overhand left when something akin to a boulder slammed into his stomach. What the fu-
Unit 02 reacted at the last second, throwing a body shot and its own overhand left which slipped through Dmitri's defensive jab, this time forcing Samael three steps back. The crimson behemoth roared, enraged, and pointed to the ground again. "You're right, we're both monsters. Now bring it!"
"You little shit!" Dmitri accepted the challenge, meeting the mighty Evangelion head on with heavy fists. "Come on!"
They met and exchanged blows for more than two solid minutes, neither willing to retreat or succumb to damage; the battle had already taken them forty miles away from Tokyo 03's border zone. For every blow Shinji managed to land, Dmitri scored between ten and fifteen, Samael's knuckles were more blue than black or red from hitting the EVA so much, and so frequently. Yet any time that Shinji's fists sneaked through Dmitri's defense, or countered him, he was forced to step back or gain some distance.
He landed five consecutive hooks followed by a straight knee and a leg kick which most certainly broke Unit 02's tibia, and was rocked all the way down to his toes when a body blow landed above his liver. Don't give in to the pain, use it. Dmitri could feel Samael licking its fangs; it was satisfied, very much satisfied with the bloodshed and the battle. Use the pain, time his body shots, his head will open up. Attack from a distance and close in with an uppercut to open his posture. Give me more carnage.
"Yeah, yeah," Dmitri answered, wheezing. A fine trail of blood made its way continuously down his mouth. The two foes continued to heal at an alarming pace, Unit 02 steaming all over while Samael's flesh bubbled, fizzled and reconstituted. "Easier said than done… I don't know how many of those shots I can still absorb…"
Shinji's fists were like bombs. Weakness be damned, walking into those knuckles is like being fed to a hungry fucking wolf. Boulders did not make a man's innards explode, not so effectively at least; it truly felt like the boy was gouging out flesh from his body and shifting his internal organs with every blow. Dmitri realized Shinji was concentrating all of Unit 02's power on making its body more durable than metal, stone or flesh, mixing his own soul with the Evangelion's at a risk of not only initiating an Impact, but also of never returning as himself, if at all. It was a terrible risk, a mad gamble, one that concentrated Unit 02's massive At-Field and power on itself.
Despite the inner bleeding, Dmitri found his admiration for Ikari Shinji reach a new height. "Яйца… этого парня," he wheezed. Unit 02 was once more advancing on him, albeit a tad slower than before. So you are human too after all, Ikari…
The battlefield behind Shinji offered quite the fine meal and generous energy refill, true, but in his current state Dmitri was truly unsure of whether he'd be able to channel the power correctly and not feed his own damn soul to Samael in the process. The Angel was not above devouring him if he did not deliver, after all.
Unit 02's bloodied visage came before him, standing firm. Fuck, he's not even giving me time to think… time for a bla- He had been about to blast another red cross at point blank, at great personal cost, if only to gain some distance, but Unit 02 was suddenly standing right next to him, crouching low, eyes gleaming deep crimson. He had not registered the change in position at all, only the crack of the sound barrier breaking. Dmitri did not see the perfect crouch of a beautifully executed form ready to strike, he only saw one word come alive in his brain. It forced him to drive all the power available to his every limb to simply move away.
Смерть.
Samael moved away just in time to avoid the brutal liver shot, which only grazed its lower right oblique, and assumed a wide defensive stance. Dmitri noticed the difference instantly then; Unit 02's stance was wider, its arms were raised high but ready to strike, it was moving faster. He wheezed another laugh. I know that sight. Berserker Mode.
"This isn't good," Shigeru said shakily, staring dead into Unit 02's bloodied visage. "Shinji's synch rate is at 200%... how does he even function with those kinds of injuries…? How much more… can he take?"
Ishikawa's brow was knitted with concern and anger; the inexperienced, long-haired tech was right, Shinji could not possibly survive much more. "Whatever he's planning to do, he better hurry up," he said, and turned to his PDA. The reinforcements were flooding into Tokyo 03 with surprising speed, many of them chanting the name of the EVA pilots loudly. "Muraviov, what's the status of Evacuation Route E-13?"
"Da. Is it all cleaned up, Bull. The Ikari boy will win, yes?"
"You sound strangely hopeful about a kid you had no problem insulting until a few days ago," Ishikawa flatly stated. "What changed your cold heart?"
"The girl and boy are fighting for all of us. As the Commander said, there will be no Russia unless they win. My men are rooting for them. Everyone is."
The statement rang true; all around the shelters, the mayor cities and crowded town centers, spectators were chanting for Unit 02's victory. From the slums of what had once been the Nagano prefecture, all the way up to the filled streets and guarded center of Tokyo 02, people came together to listen or watch the battle in whichever way they could. In a matter of instants, just by watching the red behemoth stand again and again to defend them, the pilots had won over most of the world's population.
"Yeah," Ishikawa's eyes traveled to the mass of purple hair that stood a meter to his right. "We're all counting on them. Now all we can do is watch, and hope."
Misato's eyes narrowed, heart hammering in her chest. Shin-chan… you're willing to go that far, willing to do what your mother did for you. Please, I don't care if you win or lose, just please… come back to us.
Will you please just listen to me for a second, Baka?! Stop! Doing! This! Do you realize your body's not even supposed to function right now?! Give me back the power, Baka-Shinji! Asuka-chan will be sad if Baka-Shinji dies! Hurry! Give it back!
Shinji just smiled, panting out another stream of pink froth from his mouth. He paid no mind to the way his broken leg crackled as Unit 02 walked forward, paid no mind to the regenerating neurons in his brain. "S-Sorry… 2.0."
He turned a blind eye to the various lacerations in his newest state-of-the-art plugsuit made to keep him alive even in the most dire of situations; the holes were most likely exit points where his bones had protruded at one point or the other. "I'll kill this bastard… and protect Asuka… everyone… I'll rip him apart." Shinji's crimson eyes glowed. "I'm gonna tear out his fucking soul!"
Roaring with defiance, Unit 02 moved in and threw two long hooks, one of which hit Samael square in the face. The Angel responded in kind, moving forward and launching a barrage of varied spinning back fists, elbows, straight knees, flying knees and turning side kicks. Dmitri seemed reluctant to get into another slugfest with him, content with attacking from a safe distance as it moved away from Shinji's mad assault and delivered two resounding counters that shook Unit 02's knees.
Not gonna fall for that shit, again, Dmitrithought while blocking another high kick; he took the chance and connected with a right cross. Samael jumped away, closed in with a stepping side kick and a spinning elbow, moved away as a deadly left hook flew past its face, and delivered a full body kick. This is it! One last elbow to the temple and he's done f-
Dmitri's triumphant train of thought was derailed when Unit 02's arms took a firm grip on his leg. Ah, shit. The Evangelion tripped him after avoiding the powerful elbow meant to end the fight, forced Samael back to the rubble, and sneaked in a powerful right jab that connected hard on the Russian's chin. Gotta cover up, cover up before he- It was futile, after three punches the sheer agony of his broken forearms forced him to lower his guard, which resulted in the full brunt of Shinji's ungodly fists slamming into his head and body without restraint.
He was done for; Shinji was basically in full mount, having cracked and broken his forearms with repeated vicious assaults, and was now able to direct his fists into Dmitri's temple, jaw and chin. One punch rattled his face, the second ruptured his eye socket again, and the third broke the left side of his jaw. Dmitri consciously evaded the boy's left fist, but the right he could take; it was both brutal and accurate, but it packed about two thirds of the power Shinji's left had. It was taking all of Dmitri's limited concentration to move his head in the proper way and limit the damage by rolling with the punches at the last second.
It was not until Unit 02's hands began to glow a bright green that Dmitri realized he had bitten off more than he could chew without another generous power boost from dead evil soldiers with corrupted souls. Need… to… feed, his overtired brain rationalized to no avail; there was no escaping the Beast's unrelenting assault.
The punches began to come in quicker, almost too quick for the naked eye to see. Energy blasts and wind pressure released from Unit 02's fists shook the whole battle ground, making the very ocean shake with its might. Every time it missed, a new dent or crater would sink next to Samael's face, digging them both deeper and deeper into the muddied water. Soon, the form of orange-clad fists and the continuous explosions of the EVA's punches vanished under a cloud of smoke.
Already clinging to his awareness by a thread, Dmitri made a final, desperate move and concentrated his power on Unit 02's shoulder plate, making the armor melt and explode so he could retrieve the Prog Knife hidden within with whatever power he was able to direct to Samael's claws. Barely aware of where his enemy was, with a darkening vision that only filtered through the dreadful sight of four scarlet eyes glaring down at him, Dmitri absorbed a final right hook and took hold of the forearm. The Prog Knife cut through the flesh with surprising difficulty, yet Dmitri pushed and twisted all the same, tearing out the blade and stabbing wherever he could reach on a maddened frenzy.
"DIE!" he screamed, digging the blade into what he assumed was Unit 02's body. "Die, die, die, die, die, die, you fucking monster! Die, already!" Regardless of how many times he stabbed, with noticeable blue blood sprinkling Samael's body and face, the sheer pressure of Unit 02's presence did not relent anymore than its hold on his body did. "Why won't you just fucking die?!"
-THUD-
A final slash managed to pierce the metal and flesh Dmitri was certain was the Evangelion's neck. He felt it; quietly crawling up his spine as the dust cleared and the glow of Unit 02's eyes became evident, felt the shiver of gentle, slow-burning dread obscure his battle senses. He hadn't succeeded in cutting the EVA's neck open, but had stabbed it right in the face.
Unit 02 was biting down on the blade, even as it tore through both sides of its maw. "No… this isn't… possible…" He had less than 45% of Samael's regenerative power left, barely enough to finish the mission without a continued clash against Shinji. "This… just what the fuck… are you…?"
Unit 02 unleashed a resounding left hook into Samael's face, burying the Angel's skull under rock, blood and water. Its smoking right arm recovered in seconds, pinning the Angel to the ground as the left hand retrieved the knife. It tore out the blade, spitting cobalt blood into the water and, not once breaking eye contact with Samael's own dimming eyes, stabbed the Angel in the leg, sinking the blade into Dmitri's thigh and twisting like he'd done with Shinji's arm.
Dmitri screamed in pain, rage, and helplessness. There was no escaping those eyes, those hate-filled eyes which held an uncanny resemblance to his own, and yet held more wrath than he could fathom. He was still screaming, feeling the knife dig and touch his bone, but was silenced by another of Shinji's hooks.
"You said it yourself, didn't you?" glowered Shinji. His face sported two new cuts on each cheek, there was blood oozing from his mouth and both his fists were shattered beyond recognition. Odd, how even if he concentrated, the pain felt so far away. "I'm a monster. And I'm going to kill you. Now..."
Samael roared in agony when Unit 02's hand grabbed the knife's handle and twisted ferociously. "Shut-" a punch was enough to cease its incoherent gibberish. "-the fuck-" Two more straight punches followed by an inhuman left hook sent both of Samael's horns flying into the distance. "-UP!
"Shut up!" Shinji screamed with rage and despair. The screams were deafening, three billion souls crying out in agony right into his ears. He was sick of it, sick of hearing them yell and cry and complain. "All of you!" He punched the Angel's jaw and shattered it. "All of you crying and screaming! Shut up! Shut the fuck up! Shut up!"
Unit 02 succumbed to Shinji's rage completely, throwing a brutal barrage of punches with its left arm that managed to not only push Samael's face into the rubble, but also shattered the Angel's regenerated mask like glass. In seconds, the gleam in Samael's eyes died out for the second time in the fight. Ravenous, Unit 02 roared to the skies and released a powerful wave of energy all around.
"Shut up! Everyone in my fucking head, shut up! Shut up, shut up shut up shut up shut up! Arrg!" Shinji roared loud enough for every single person following the battle to hear. The thousands huddled together deep in the Geofront's lower levels had to ask themselves if whoever was piloting Unit 02 at the moment was the same gentle, respectful boy who bowed and offered the infirm a shy smile and a plate of food.
Unit 02 returned its attention to the helpless, unconscious prey before it. Shinji's hands finished their rapid healing and grabbed the Angel's chest plate, removing it with one fluid motion. "Heh… I said I'd kill you, didn't I? Didn't I?! You're finally quiet, huh?!" Shinji demanded with deranged glee shining in his crimson-tinged pupils. "Let's make you relive one of those nice little experiments of your childhood, shall we, Child Zero?!"
Armor, metal and bone were tossed about as Unit 02 cleaved away Samael's flesh with its own claws and teeth, snapping a fist every time the Angel's eyes shone red again. Red, red, red, it was all around him, engulfing him in a mantle of warm, welcoming wrath and insanity. He would devour this bastard if it meant having him removed from Asuka's presence. The Evangelion's entity tried to pull him from the Void with every passing second, but it was pointless. He wanted to be consumed, wanted to become one with the Beast, wanted to kill this enemy who had cut his Asuka's face and threatened to rape her.
He had already dismantled about half of the Angel's body in blind anger when the emergency line crossed his direct line of vision.
"Shinji!" Who was that, again? Her voice sounded familiar, forcing Unit 02 to stop its devouring of Samael and lift its head like an alert animal. He should remember that voice, it had dragged him the cage where he had sat and listened Asuka die. "Shinji, listen to me! Come back! We need you right now! Shinji, there's a bombardment coming!"
Bombardment? What concern was that of him? His only concern was exterminating his foe and protect every… everyone. Shinji's eyes widened, the crimson hue of his pupils reducing some. He had to protect everyone; Hikari, Touji and Kensuke were hidden away in the Geofront, along with thousands of citizens. Citizens of his city, his home that he has promised to guard.
The maddened eyes of Unit 02 turned to the half-dead remains of Samael, who despite its many wounds and its head bleeding profusely, still breathed shallowly. "How much time until the bombs hit?" he said through gnawing molars. There was a pressure building in his body; he was close to the limit, closer than he'd like to admit. His vision had faded about four times during his assault, his arms felt like two heavy weights, his legs were burning, and his body was a mess of broken bones and internal bleeding.
"Two minutes, tops! A group of Chinese ships pretending to be an ally just turned on us! They fled just before the Russians could take them down! Shinji, they're about to launch five N2 mines at Tokyo 03!"
Misato… that was the woman's name. Misato, his surrogate mother, the most dangerous, strongest woman beside Asuka he'd ever seen, and she sounded more desperate than ever before.
"Please, Shinji, Rei won't be able to hold off the blast on her own!"
Rei. Rei was his young sister, the blue-haired beauty with ruby-colored eyes and alabaster skin, and she was in danger. Everybody was; the shockwave of five N2 mines detonating at once would reduce Tokyo 02 to rubble along with what remained of Tokyo 03. His city, his friends, Asuka's newfound home would be destroyed.
Not on his watch, not ever. "I'm on my way!" he shouted, turning to rip out Samael's windpipe with his teeth before he marched away in the direction of Tokyo 02. Unit 02 accelerated, moving at supersonic speed as it sprinted across the battlefield, running so fast it almost looked it moved above water, weightless. Without Asuka to help him concentrate and Unit 02's core power diminishing rapidly, he had one chance to manifest the AT-Field.
It meant the power which until that point had been holding his body together would be extracted; the million of tiny, metallic needles keeping his broken bones in place would dissipate. No time to think about consequences now! Just do it, you fucking wimp! You can actually made a difference today! Just do it!
Unit 02 reached the shadow of Tokyo 03's battlefield just as the planes dropped the bombs. The explosion would wipe out not only SEELE's own forces and two cities, but also each and every member of the foreign armies who had come to their aid; they would all be burned to cinder and ash in the blink of an eye. Not today, not ever! This time… this time I'll fight!
The massive AT-Field manifested once more, cloaking the crater and the remains of the city under its mighty protection. The bombs began exploding one after the other, the brunt of their power clashing against the shield and cracking it ever so slowly. Shinji's body began to bleed from every pore; the LCL itself had been holding his body together, but now that power and attention was needed elsewhere. The pain crashed into his numb brain, yet to him it was all fuel. Shinji spat out blood constantly as the power in his chest was focused on mending the dents and keeping the city safe.
Instead of launching them all at once, the planes had opted for detonating two N2 mines first, then staggering the rest in hopes of debilitating the city's protection, while SEELE's remaining long-range artillery fired away at the imposing crimson-cobalt behemoth covered in its own blood. The bombs impacted with accuracy, scorching pieces of armor and flesh away on Unit 02's midsection, legs and head.
Shinji screamed with every last bit of strength running down his body, screamed to the heavens, to the soldiers, to the world. He would stand, unbent and unbroken, and keep his word even if the cost was his soul. A missile crashed into his ribs; the fire burnt away every layer of skin, the blast tore away a chunk of his midsection, leaving nothing but bloodied bone and exposed organs beneath the plugsuit.
"I will not surrender!" Shinji bellowed. The final N2 mine was dropped, enveloping the scenery before him with a white splendor.
"My Asuka, my family, my home…" wheezed the Third Child. His blue plugsuit was tinted dark by the constant bleeding.
"I WILL PROTECT THEM!"
Even after the N2 mines were negated, whatever remained of SEELE's aircraft kept up their continuous attack on both the EVA and the shield, neither noticing how Samael's right hand had shakily risen to the sky a moment before. The Angel clumsily got back to its feet, concentrating the energy of the souls of SEELE's dead soldiers in its palm, dripping blood from every crevice of its armor. The head was unrecognizable, bubbling slowly and attempting to heal much, much slower than before, and its left arm was nothing but bone held together with sinews and chunks of ligament.
Samael extended its hand with the tiny eye glistening around its palm, throat gushing through the still recognizable bite mark. A cowardly move, to be sure; attacking a distracted enemy whose back was to him. Even as it shamed him right down to whatever remained of his soul, there were no options left. This is about… two N2 mines compressed into a single blast, Dmitri guessed, blood trickling down his face. He only had one eye available to him, one which constantly lost focus and went dark; his time was up.
"Ikari Shinji…" Child Zero gasped, crimson liquid dripping from his head, throat, arms and leg. "Your woman and you..." He spat out a large mouthful of blood. "You both have… my utmost respect. До свидания."
Samael's eye flickered. The scarlet Evangelion turned and raised its left arm. A miniature AT-Field sprang into existence, one that definitely could not possibly tolerate the full power thrown its way. A red cross darkened the remains of Tokyo 01, and under it, the shadow of Unit 02 disappeared.
To Be Continued…
Inspirational Music: Take it to the Edge, Keep Away, I Stand Alone, 1000hp – Godsmack; Master of Puppets, Here comes Revenge, Hardwired, The Four Horsemen, Orion – Metallica, Caustic are the Ties that Bind, Built to Fall, In Waves, Of All These Yesterdays – Trivium, Boom, Satellite, The Boom – P.O.D, Click Click Boom – Saliva, Madness- Ruelle, Forsaken, Constant Motion, Prophets of War, As I Am, This Dying Soul – Dream Theater.
AN: Cliff!
The word 'Ikari' can be written with the kanji for 'anchor' or 'wrath'. Shinji Ikari's name uses the 'anchor' kanji. When he said there was 'just Ikari', he was saying that there was no Shinji, only wrath.
До свидания: Farewell.
As always, a gigantic hug and a big round of applause to MisterHalt, my brother, who has dedicated his time and effort into improving Scar Tissue from start to finish. Love you, my brother!
Damn, what just happened? Did we get a stoppage from the judges? Are our dearest children DEAD?! Don't know…. Maybe a couple reviews will make me work hard and publish our nice little… ahem… ending. Did you like it? Did you not like it? Was it boring, too overcrowded with details? It was freaking exhausting to write.
WARNING: RAMBLE
Couple of details: Why did Asuka start losing the fight after that first counter landed? A perfect counter punch is one of mixed martial arts' deadliest weapons. If you time it correctly, sometimes all you have to do is extend your arm at the right time and boom, your opponent's own momentum knocks them out, it's almost magical. It is precision over speed, and timing over power, a masterful demonstration of controlling the space, knowing your opponent's tempo, reading into it and reacting, it is a beautiful thing that requires not only talent, but also lots of practice and impeccable instincts and fight IQ. All of those fights in Hajime no Ippo where he receives not one, but many counters and stays up…. Yeah, Manga.
Conor Mcgregor is a good example of this, but nowadays there are so many brilliant counter-punchers out there. In boxing, Manuel Garcia Marques had to go through three and a half fights to finally land one freaking counter against Paquiao and knock him out. Counters are deadly, from personal experience I can tell you it feels like someone just cuts your consciousness with a knife. Your confidence falters, because you never saw the punch coming, you never expected it, and suddenly you can't move.
My point is; one counter, one, is enough to put anyone away, regardless of how strong. Savvy? Savvy. The fact that Asuka not only survived three of those, but continued on, lets you know just how tough she is. Brutal, ridiculous, inhuman mental fortitude.
Why does Shinji survive? Well, because Third Impact, and because of Asuka's abuse, pretty much. The guy's been a broken shell of himself for months, has felt the entirety of human grief and sorrow and pain. So yeah, he's got an iron jaw after that. There's also the knowledge; I'm pretty sure Shinji can build or disassemble an entire Evangelion without instructions, so he can access its full power. Using this knowledge, however, has very strong physical drawbacks. Ouch!
Sorry for the ramble, I'm really cerebral when it comes to fighting, and extremely passionate about it. Also, I wanted to study how it would be, a fight between two massive god-like machines, with actual drawbacks from the human world, ya know? Like the strain of using the core's power with Shinji and Asuka; that's kinda like when you overextend, or use more than 100% consistently during the whole fight.
That'd be all, folks! Time for a drink! Thanks for reading!
PEACE.