Hey guys, back again.
I apologize for making you wait a freaking month. But Wrath was originally outlined as a single chapter, and it was a BEHEMOTH of a thing. The longest chapter I ever wrote and far too long and incoherent. Thus, I turned it into a mini-arc. This created problems of its own.
There are a lot of characters and perspectives to cover. This is an action-heavy one.
Here's chapter 47: Wrath - Part 2.
"The Third Wave.
It was the point of no return. SEELE's monsters. They were created under Keel's direct supervision. Their trump card to counter Nerv's betrayal. Letting them loose meant that all bets were off. The world could be abandoned in their eyes.
My sister… she fought them once in another life. She fought valiantly, she fought bravely, and she died.
Here in this world… my sister is not alone. I am here."
- The Broken Man.
During the Assault on Nerv.
The pale girl sat in her cell. She hadn't moved in hours, a lone occupant in the makeshift prison of white.
Above her, distant sounds played. The low rumble of explosions and the soft beats of bullets being fired. The food tray near her bed lay untouched.
Rei Ayanami III sat unphased by any of it. She hadn't blinked once in the entire day. She sat there, watching the dancing colors that no one else could see. No… that wasn't right.
One other could see them too. She was sure of that. The boy.
Red eyes. Eyes just like mine, she thought.
The name… what was his name? She couldn't remember. She could not remember a lot of things. Her reality was an ever-shifting foundation of loose grovel. She could grasp it into her hands only to watch confused as it all slipped away, leaving crumbs of what once was.
Entire chunks of events that she had lived, or had she? Did she live those things? Or was that someone else? Regardless, it was gone. Wiped away. Whatever she tried to glim was corrupted and incomplete.
Her mind had been tampered with. It had been left with the bare essentials. A harsh slab of predetermined knowledge. And yet, she knew. She was aware that this was not right. That something had happened to her.
"When the day comes, I'll find you. I promise."
The words came to her suddenly. Less than a forgotten dream.
She focused on the voice and the memory came to life before her eyes. The boy, the other Eva Pilot, stood before her like a ghost. A shattered remnant of her mind. She had watched him speak to her when the last of Adam's Children had died.
He seemed so sad. Like he might cry. Why? Why was he so sad?
"Why did you promise me?"
The words almost left her lips. Rei frowned and tilted her head.
The ghostly remnant of her memory only stared at her sadly. Her vision, her imagination, of the boy was nearly in tears.
She tilted her head and memories bled through the cracks in her mind. The world shifted around her, taken in by what little she could remember.
Rei sat watching as an outside observer, peaking glimpses into memories that were her's… or were they? Who had that been? Who had she been?
She saw as the boy and the other girl, the redhead, train together in plugsuits. She watched another Eva Pilot, an older one, tall and athletic, shout at her inside of a hospital room. Then the boy returned, he leaked through the fog of her memories again and again. He was important.
"Rei," her vision of the boy pleaded.
"Shinji," she said slowly. A forgotten dream that crept its way back to her again and again.
Child.
Child.
The visions stopped with the arrival of the voices. Once more, she was alone in her cell. She blinked as the whispers resurfaced.
Little one.
They hurt me.
They hurt you.
They hurt us.
She knows.
They hurt us. Don't forget. Can't forget.
She won't.
I won't let her. They took it away. They took it away from her. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone. It's gone!
You're scaring her.
He stole it. He took it from you and her.
You're scaring her.
Rei lowered her head at the sound of the whispers. The voices came from everywhere and nowhere. Both of them did. The voices didn't breathe. They didn't need to.
Her head was hurting. Rei felt her hand tremble.
You are scaring me.
Do not be afraid.
Never fear. Never.
We are here. We are here for you.
The phantom threads twisted and turned all around her world. The network stirred, moving. Always moving. Unbounded and untouched by the physical world. The threads pulsed and bent downward.
Rei stared at the ground beneath her feet.
Above.
The hangar.
Soldiers patrolled the massive open spaces of the platform. Fully armed men took up positions on the higher levels, finding them abandoned by their staff minutes ago.
The soldiers, veterans, and no strangers to war, watched as the Evangelion Units stood locked within their launchpads. Eva Unit 00, a titan in white, deactivated and left as a passive figure.
Further aside, the strange crystal prison that held Eva Unit 01. The unsettling colossus of the Third Child. Able to operate without a power cable, a machine that had stood tall against N2 weaponry and the mightiest of Adam's Children. Yet here it lay, imprisoned by the masters who could have unleashed its fury upon them all.
Unit 01 loomed over the soldiers, unsettling and chill inspiring despite its passive state. Veterans felt the creature's eyes on them even from within its prison.
Unit 03 stood the furthest out. A sleeping titan untouched since before the Five Angel Crisis. Its pilot hospitalized.
As the JSSDF continued their assault on Nerv, moving to stop another Impact Event from the traitorous Gendo Ikari, they left squads behind to hold the hangar.
"Under no circumstances can Nerv be allowed to deploy another Eva." – orders from Lieutenant Colonel Hashi, 'the Boss', himself.
A single squad, deployed with the JSSDF but separate, inspected the hangar before leaving the others to their position. One of the two black-ops squads sent to assist in the capture of Gendo Ikari and for a secondary mission that was classified.
The black-ops soldiers abandoned the JSSDF wordlessly, and their squad leader pulled a mobile device from his pocket. It was above military-grade technology and encryption.
The squad leader reported to SEELE.
…
Elsewhere.
A dark room.
Keel Lorenz listened patiently, visor obscuring the stirring of beady almost non-existent elderly eyes. Cold little things without mercy and of a calculating nature. The chairman of SEELE stood alongside his assistant and the floating holograms of the stone monoliths.
"The JSSDF has secured the hangar. Unit 00, 01, and 03 are disabled. We are sending photos to your station sir," the squad leader reported.
Moments later and holographic displays of the images appeared. Pictures that floated in the dark for the gathered SEELE.
"The pawns have played their part well," one of SEELE said, the voice emerging from a projected Stone Monolith.
"Things are going better than expected. That girl, the Second Child, put up no fight whatsoever," another of SEELE said.
Keel almost chuckled. "But of course. The Eva Pilots are little more than children in the end. Gendo sought to remake them as his shield."
The elderly man tsked disapprovingly.
"What does the machine tell us?" Keel asked the group at large.
"It is measuring Angel network activity. More than ever. Gendo is preparing his own Instrumentality and he's almost done," another of SEELE said bitterly.
Keel spoke to the squad leader deployed within the JSSDF, saying: "continue the search. You will not be harmed when the time comes. They are programmed to ignore you."
"Understood sir," the squad leader responded before the encrypted call ended.
Keel turned to the gathered SEELE. Holographic avatars for some of the richest and most powerful men in the entire world, with resources that surpassed entire nations in some cases.
"The JSSDF has played its part. The Evas are disabled and Nerv has all but fallen," Keel said.
"But for all their successes, the JSSDF was too slow. We must take matters into our own hands," another of SEELE said.
Keel nodded. That little traitor had caused them no end of trouble
"Gendo must be stopped, his twisted Instrumentality project is nearly complete. His time is at an end, ours is only beginning," Keel said.
"Our time has come," SEELE echoed around him. Voices emerging chant-like from the holographic Stone Monoliths that encircled their leader.
Keel smiled.
"Send in the Third Wave. Release the Mass Production Eva Units."
Nerv lower levels.
Prison Cell.
The lone guard shifted at his station. The rifle in his arms held at ease despite the status reports from up above. The entirety of the surface floors had already been taken by the invaders, and it was only a matter of time before they made it to his post.
How long did he have? Minutes? Hours?
The guard couldn't say. The Director had paid him well for his loyalty and his discretion. He knew never to ask questions, and he had learned to have a selective memory. Yet even he was starting to have second thoughts about all this.
He held no illusions about his survivability if the JSSDF made it to him. He only hoped that whatever the Director was planning would arrive soon. The fighting needed to stop.
Click.
The guard frowned. He turned and hurried over to the cell door finding that the electronic lock had been deactivated.
"Stay back," he ordered sternly.
The prisoner put a hand to the door and began to push.
"Stay back!"
The guard put a hand on the door and held it closed. Red eyes framed by pale skin and white blue hair stared at him.
He looked at the lock and frowned as he realized that it was completely deactivated. There was no error or override messages. As if it had been shut down entirely with no safety mechanisms activating at all.
Need to call it in. Has the fighting damaged the power systems?
The guard reached for his comm unit.
"Please move."
The prisoner spoke the words calmly, with a detached eerie tone. It surprised him; the girl had gone hours without speaking before.
"Miss. Stay back. The Director has given his orders."
The prisoner once again began to push on the cell door. The guard held it shut with an annoyed grunt.
He opened his mouth to speak but stopped once the girl looked straight into his eyes with complete unadulterated attention. 100% of her focus lay directed at him, red eyes that never blinked boring into his.
"Please, sir… move," Rei whispered to him.
The guard began to enter commands into his comm unit. He needed to inform the director and figure out what was going on.
"If you will not move… we will have to move you. I am sorry."
"Excuse me?" the guard said, his hand tightening on the cell door with an iron grip.
The pale girl raised a hand through the cell bars, palm open, and facing the upper torso of the guard.
Several floors above the cell.
Ritsuko found the storage room she'd been looking for and used her Nerv ID to gain access. The door slid open with an electronic whirl, Misato at her side with a gun in hand.
"… you've been planning this for a while," Misato said.
Inside the storage room was a makeshift and mobile command center for the Evas. Monitors sat atop a table alongside a laptop, already configured, and set up to work with the Evangelion protocols remotely.
"It was easier than it looks. Gendo gave me unlimited access and funds. Everything I needed was already there," Ritsuko answered.
She hurried to the workstation and began entering commands into the laptop, the door closed swiftly behind them. The additional monitors flickered to life, giving her a tactical view that almost matched the real thing from the command center where they had guided the Eva Pilots during Angel attacks.
"The JSSDF have taken the hangar. They have our old command center, but they won't be able to see what I'm doing from over there. This setup overrides that one, and they can't stop me," Ritsuko explained.
Screens changed across the monitors, displaying available data from Nerv itself, the surface, and then finally the Evangelion Units themselves. All of them.
"Give me your comm unit. I need to sync it to my encrypted channel. We can't use any of the old ones, or the JSSDF will be able to listen in," Ritsuko said suddenly.
Misato blinked and handed her the device.
"How long?" Misato asked suddenly.
"How long what?" Ritsuko said, working quickly with her friend's comm unit.
"How long have the three of you been planning this?" Misato said.
Ritsuko paused.
"… Since Rei had her seizure."
"That long," Misato muttered, her eyes wide.
Ritsuko finished calibrating the comm unit and a silence hung awkwardly in the air. They didn't have time for this, the compound was being invaded, Shinji was out there looking for Rei, Asuka was up on the surface alone. And it was only a matter of time before the Third Wave hit.
"Shinji wanted to tell you. I did too, but we decided that it was safer the fewer people who knew what we were doing," Ritsuko said, taking a deep breath.
She held out the comm unit for Misato to take.
"I didn't like keeping things from you. Feeding you whatever bullshit Gendo needed you to hear, but I needed to fool him more than anyone else. That man is a monster… you don't know half the things he has done…"
Ritsuko shivered, images of the corpses being fed into the bio-recycler haunted her still.
"I'm sorry," she said at last.
Misato took the comm unit.
"I made things hard for you. I almost blew your cover by pushing for answers. I was angry but… you… you and Kaji kept Shinji safe. You kept Asuka safe. So, I'm glad. Thank you," Misato said offering a small smile to her longtime friend.
Their relationship had been very strained the last month or so. So many secrets kept and roles that had needed to be played to appease the Director of Nerv.
Ritsuko smiled back at her, a cautious uncertain thing. Her life had had little joy lately. It felt good to have her friend back. Both of them felt it, a moment of normality in the storm that was their current reality. A flash of time from before this madness.
It didn't last, it couldn't, too much was at stake. Ritsuko nodded and turned to the workstation, the remote command center for the Evangelion Units.
"They're gonna need our help," Ritsuko said.
"They?"
"Shinji and Asuka."
…
Shinji Ikari moved quickly and silently through the dimly lit halls of the lower levels. He knew Rei was somewhere further below, he could sense her presence in the network, the invisible threads that connected all beings of an Angel nature.
Twice now, he'd had to use Fuyutsuki's ID card to bypass locked doors. Tough steel things that the JSSDF would have to cut through or use C4 explosives to force their way through.
Overhead, he could begin to hear the rattle of gunfire. The soft echoes of random explosions. It scared him if he was honest with himself. The JSSDF were working their way down, getting closer with each floor that they cleared the hard way.
Violence at this level was foreign to him, so he needed to move quickly. He could protect himself, but he was no soldier and would not act as such.
The Broken Man stirred, and then Shinji felt it too. The boy stopped in his tracks, reaching out with his senses as numerous threads began to emerge. They were not natural, not like the other Angels or even himself or Rei, they were stiff. Cold lifeless things weighted with an unnatural tint, threads that stood apart from the others.
"They're here."
Shinji blinked and the mental projection of the Broken Man emerged beside him. The boy took a moment to back up and speak with his Other, making sure they were alone.
"I felt them too. There's more than you said there'd be," Shinji said, his voice heavy and uneasy.
"Keel is paranoid. They were a walking nightmare in my world," the Broken Man said.
The Shinji(s) stood together in that moment. It was all too quick; they had wanted more time, but life had seldom cared what they wanted. The boy who had lost his youth, and the walking scarecrow of a man. Two of the same, separated by over 40 years and entire worlds.
"I had hoped that we'd have more time," the Broken Man said, his voice low and regretful.
His Other took on a harsh strained expression, a man struggling with the reality he had been dealt.
"Misato… it's all wrong. She should have hidden with the rest of them."
"For better or worse… she's involved now," Shinji said, speaking with an assurance that surprised him.
The Broken Man paused at the words, then looked over the boy with tired aged eyes.
"It won't come to that. Not this time," Shinji said firmly. He believed it because he had to. There was no other way to continue after coming so far.
He felt the ache in his heart, a mirror of the one that his Other felt. It rattled the box he had poured his own sorrow into, it threatened to breach the scar that Mari had left upon his soul. The memories of the original timeline flashed before his eyes. Images of a grave built crudely by a traumatized boy left all alone in a world of ruin.
It threatened to overwhelm him, but there was no time for doubts or uncertainty. He took a deep breath.
Not this time. Misato's with Ritsuko and she chose me. Despite it all, she believed in 'me'. She trusted me. They're all counting on us.
That single thought elevated Shinji, it brought him back before he slipped into the memories that were not his. Back from the dread that he had been living with ever since leaving the memories of his Other.
"It'll be fine," Shinji said. The boy reached over and placed his hand onto his Other's shoulder and held it there. His fingers hovered over the illusion of the old man, touching nothing but air. He reassured the Broken Man in what way that he could.
The Broken Man studied him for a moment, expression unreadable.
"…. Yes… yes, you're right. We've come so far now," his Other rasped suddenly.
They heard sounds from above, and he stepped back hiding further into the hall and scanning their surroundings. They were alone, but the fighting raged on elsewhere.
"SEELE's monsters… They're coming for Lilith, aren't they?" Shinji asked, his eyes hard and distant.
It was time for them to part ways.
The Broken Man nodded. "I won't let them reach her. I can stop them, but I can't stop Gendo."
Such was their problem. Multiple enemies at different locations. Many players on the board and converging at long last. Pieces that moved for the center after years of plays. Two rituals, each of which could end the world and bring about the apocalypse. Two players that must be stopped, that had been forced into fighting each other, but neither could be allowed to win.
Two fronts. Two lines of defense for all mankind.
But Shinji Ikari could be in two places at the same time. The weight of that burden was crushing, and yet neither of them faltered.
"Your mission is with Keel. Mine is with Gendo," Shinji said firmly, a mantra that he had drilled into his head. Preparation for what was needed of him. He hadn't been a kid for a long time, recent events had only cemented that fact repeatedly, and he felt the weight in his chest at those words. The end was near.
"Do what you gotta do. I'll be okay."
Shinji was surprised at how calm he sounded. How reassuring he was with the man who had played such a vital role in his life, the man who sent him to the ward, who had been with him for most of his life. The one who had shown him a bleak and haunting future. Their relationship had been troubled, filled with highs and lows, compromises and fights, and yet here they both were.
Both had their part to play.
The Broken Man put a 'hand' on his shoulder. A ghostly image rendered by his consciousness.
"You need to be careful. I won't be able to focus on you. Most of my attention will be up there."
Duty was calling them away. Threats were emerging above and below.
Young Shinji nodded at his Other. His pain was still redirected, numb, and his injuries had been healed to a supernatural degree. The bullet in his chest was still there, hidden beneath re-patched skin and layers of bandages under his shirt.
"Save Rei," the Broken Man said.
"Save Asuka," Shinji said.
Then the Broken Man vanished. Gone in the blink of an eye. The voice went with his image leaving behind only silence. In its place stood a thin presence. A shadow of what had once been the Broken Man inside of his head.
Shinji frowned, feeling so very alone at that moment. More so than he had ever felt in truth. He steeled himself up, gripped the gun in one hand, and Fuyutsuki's ID card in the other.
He moved on, searching the lower levels.
The Geofront.
JSSDF Mobile Command Center.
Lieutenant Colonel Hashi watched over the real-time data feeds, reviewing reports and live tactical data of the battle within the heart of Nerv itself. Officers and other higher-ranking members of the military stood with him.
From here, he had the full power of a command center within a fortified and mobile base. Giving him the ability to control and command his entire battalion at the battle site without sacrificing the safety of the high command.
The assault had gone better than expected. Only two casualties from their Air Force division. And Eva Unit 02 had been disabled allowing for the ground forces to take the field.
Hashi, known by his men as 'the boss', watched the tactical data as his men began clearing the underground sections of Nerv one floor at a time.
"I don't trust this. It's going too well," Hashi said suddenly.
His assistant glanced at him. "Sir, Nerv's defenses are putting up a fight."
"A fight they can't hope to win. If Director Ikari was truly planning another Impact Event, then all he's doing is trying to buy time. But… I don't like this. I can feel it in my bones. There's more," Hashi said frowning. The hard lines along his face deepened.
Years of experience in military campaigns and battles, including tours to help in the reconstruction of Japan following the Second Impact, left him with a sixth sense of sorts. It ate away at him. The way a soldier's rifle felt heavier on some missions more than others.
"Sir! We've lost connection to the satellite network!"
Hashi whirled, rushing over to the display. The feed was dead and, in its place, stood a warning message proclaiming the connection was lost.
"How? This is military-grade encryption," Hashi said. He kept calm, slowly taking in the new information.
The satellite couldn't have been destroyed. A cyber-attack? Nerv would have done it sooner if they had the capability. Who could have the resources to do that?
Hashi watched his men argue over the loss of their orbital imaging and mapping data. In theory, they wouldn't need it now that the ground invasion was underway.
The Battalion Commander knew that this was no coincidence.
"Order the Air Force back into play. I want a squad patrolling the skies within 5 minutes," Hashi ordered suddenly.
No sooner had he given the order then the Air Force division began to send in reports.
ALERT: RADAR IS DETECTING ACTIVITY
…
The surface of the Geofront.
Even as the JSSDF fought their way through the compound of Nerv and its underground levels, a small force had remained on the surface. Soldiers stationed to ensure that reinforcements would have a staging area if the need arose.
The JSSDF had set up fortified positions spread out on the blackened and burnt surface of the Geofront. The disabled Eva Unit 02 loomed over them with its pilot trapped inside. The red titan knelt lifeless and unresponsive.
The men on the ground began preparing themselves. Intel from the Boss himself, the Air Force had detected possible enemy aircraft en route. The soldiers didn't have time to think of what to expect, only that a fight was coming. They reassured themselves with the knowledge that they wielded the combined might of the fighter jet squad above, the anti-aircraft guns, and the rocket artillery stationed nearby for support.
"Incoming!" a voice called into the military comms.
Overhead, the fighter jets whirled as their radars went off. Down below soldiers readied themselves, anti-aircraft guns loaded and fully automated for whatever came.
Who is attacking? – the single thought that spread through the JSSDF like the plague.
"Be ready for anything. Radar's having trouble with whatever's coming. They must have stealth tech!"
Then it came, the sound. A rumble from the heavens themselves. Dark shadows formed on the ground and spread as a new enemy emerged from the skies.
"What in the-"
"Maintain comm discipline."
"That's… that's an Eva-"
Scattered panicked calls through the military channels.
The Air Force squad reported back first, radioing in the growing nightmare.
"Evangelion Units! Repeat, there are Evangelion Units converging on the Geofront!"
Three of them appeared into view, tearing through the clouds as they flew in a v-shaped formation. One leading the other two. They appeared more Angel than Evangelion, humanoid and taller than any previously known model, clade in ghost-white skin that doubled for armor. Eyeless and eerie, the monstrous automatons propelled themselves forward with alien wings that extended from their shoulders.
Each carried a long metallic spear… carefully molded after the real thing.
The Mass Production Evangelion Units had arrived.
Terror spread through the JSSDF surface force. Soldiers struggled to maintain their discipline as three monsters out of a nightmare emerged onto the scene coming for them.
Overhead, the fighter jets shot forward and fired their missiles.
The first barrage struck an MP Eva in the face. Explosions rocked along the white skin, covering the colossus in smoke all in mid-air. The attack had virtually no effect, the foreign Evangelion flew onward shrugging off minor wounds at best, to the surprise and horror of the fighter jet pilots.
"Fire!"
Anti-aircraft missiles were deployed, launching from the surface force.
The MP Evas broke their v-shaped formation. The two in the back dived down for the surface ignoring the anti-aircraft shots and shrugging them off. The leader charged forward to meet the Air Force squad head-on.
BOOM.
A fight jet exploded as an MP Eva dived into it, colliding with the titanium frame. The jet was utterly annihilated, an insect slamming face-first into a moving train at high speed.
Missiles fired as the remaining fighter jets spread out trying to in-circle their foe, putting distance between them and the living nightmare. It was no use, the air-born MP Eva whirled moving at unnatural Angelic speeds. One by one, the fighter jets began to fall. Exploding into clouds of red mist and metal rain as they were struck from the skies.
Down below, the anti-aircraft guns fired again and again. The targeting computer locked onto the moving targets to no avail. The MP Evas landed on the Geofront littered with blackened scorch marks from repeated hits.
To the military's horror, what little damage they had managed to do began to fade. The MP Evas repaired themselves, the burns rapidly disappearing as fresh skin stitched itself over the surface wounds. SEELE's automatons had stolen the Angels' regenerative powers and accelerated them.
With a single swing of their enormous armored arms, the MP Evas destroyed the anti-aircraft guns. Tossing them aside like a child's plaything.
Soldiers on the ground broke formation not even trying to defend their fortifications. Military trucks and tanks fled back, firing with everything they had. Bullets and tank shells slammed into the two MP Evas on the ground, the ammunition was little more than mosquitos gnawing at a dragon.
SPLAT.
A truck was crushed as an MP Eva brought its foot atop the vehicle and the soldiers inside of it.
BOOM.
The MP Eva stumbled back as a roar from the heavens slammed into its side landing a solid blow. Rocket artillery began firing.
The surviving soldiers stranded on the surface watched in awe as the MP Evas flinched from the repeated blows. Dirt was thrown into the air, explosions sounded off so loud that it rang their ears even with protective equipment.
"Hzzzz," - sounds that escaped the monstrous giant looming above. The MP Eva opened its mouth to reveal razor-sharp teeth. It had no eyes, yet it appeared angry.
The creature stumbled as another artillery strike slammed into its torso. It wasn't enough, all the bombing could do was slow it down, never kill it.
The soldier's awe was short-lived as moments later there came a crashing thud from the sky, as another group of three Mass Production Evangelions landed.
BOOM.
Nearby, an artillery station exploded as one of the white titans tore it to pieces with its bare hands.
Elsewhere, another group dropped, and then another and another. Squads of the MP Evas fell to the earth in ear-shattering thuds that echoed. Their arrival formed craters and sent mounds of crushed dirt, stone, and concrete into the air like miniature explosions themselves. Groups of three.
One by one, the artillery stations fell. Destroyed and tossed aside as if they were little more than toys.
…
Hashi stared down the tactical display, his expression hardened and pale as the blood drained from his face. He had been counting the new Evangelion Units and mentally assigning priorities to them, ordering his men to concentrate artillery strikes on the closest enemies, and been ordering reinforcement for the Air Force… when the other squads had dropped.
"15 Evangelion Units…" Hashi said, his voice barely a whisper.
The realization hit the entire command center at once. Their surface forces were being slaughtered, their satellite network was down, and they had no weapons that could stand up to one of these monsters, let alone 15 of them.
There are no power cables… they can't be disabled…
Hashi took in the fact first. His eyes looked over the limited footage they had been able to maintain.
The sounds of the dead and dying filled the comm channels as the JSSDF struggled to survive the massacre unfolding.
"Concert fire on those two there. Send in reinforcements for the Air Force," he said.
Sweat was beginning to pour down his brow. There was nothing he could do. Even with all their firepower, they hadn't been able to kill Unit 02 but only disable it.
N2… we need nukes… it's the only way.
Hashi gave the order with a heavy heart. It would mean a fight with the general but there was no other way. And the Director was still a threat.
"Retreat! All surface level forces fall back! Air Force retreat-" Hashi began shouting into his comm. The words died on his lips as the very last fighter jet disappeared from the tactical map… dead and gone.
The mobile JSSDF command station whirled as the engine came to life. He and the command staff lurched as the vehicle kicked into high gear evacuating with everything that it had.
Hashi watched the displays as what remained of his surface forces abandoned all hope and fled in any direction they could.
The battalion commander gave one final order whilst he still could. He didn't know what the future held and so it was his duty to ensure the mission continued with or without him.
"All underground forces continue the assault! The Director must not be allowed to instigate an Impact Event. This may be my final order. Stop Gendo Ikari and eliminate all high priority targets!"
Hashi slumped into his bolted seat, retreating just as the others who could, did. The JSSDF's invasion would have to continue only with the forces already inside the compound.
This was a bloody day indeed.
Inside the Entry Plug of Eva Unit 02.
The internal computer systems had come back to life of their own accord. There had been no warning or alerts, the lights turned back on and the display screens flickered back.
Asuka had risen from her seat in a mixture of awe and terror. She had failed to stop the JSSDF, she had… she had killed people when the Air Force had disabled her Eva. And she had been forced to wait locked in the cockpit with only the emergency light and a wall of text for company.
She couldn't say how much time had passed since the invasion had begun. Only that for her, it had felt like an eternity. A lifetime of sitting alone never knowing what had happened to Misato, Ritsuko… to Shinji. Was the boy… was her friend truly the Final Angel? He couldn't be… she felt it. Shinji Ikari was no Angel.
And Rei? What had happened to Rei? So many questions and so little answers. Why had the military invaded Nerv at all?
Those thoughts she carried with her as the Eva slowly came back to life. It took minutes as the computer systems began to restore themselves and engage the emergency power, the lifeline that Ritsuko had disabled upon losing her power cable.
Asuka had watched through her displays, the only fully functioning equipment, as new strange Evangelion Units had descended from the skies like demons out of a twisted hell.
The teenage girl watched as the JSSDF was massacred here on the surface. Her eyes had grown wide at the sight of the slaughter, 15 new Eva Units. She didn't know how to feel… the soldiers on the grounds of the Geofront were people… human… and now most of them were dead. And they were still invading Nerv, they were fighting and killing.
Why? What had caused this senseless violence? The Angel War was over and, in its place, came something far worse.
Asuka had panicked. She had watched the white Evas approach her, they moved in pairs of three. Footsteps that shook the ground, heavier than even Unit 02. She had reached for her controls, cursing as the computers continued their boot-up process.
She had gasped when the MP Evas had ignored her and Unit 02 entirely. The newcomers had lumbered past her without a second glance, metal spears in their grips as they headed for the launchpads of the hangar.
They're trying to get inside Nerv… they want to breach it…
The realization hit Asuka like a stone. She felt lost and confused. She was a pawn in a much bigger game, and she knew it. Other players that she hadn't known existed had made their moves.
Asuka watched as a single White Evangelion Unit reached down for the launchpad and began tearing open the bay doors with a thunderous roar of screeching metal.
Her comm unit came to life at long last. The communication device re-configurated itself on a preset channel and a familiar voice filled her ear.
Nerv Hangar.
The troops stationed to hold the hangar listened to the Boss's final orders. They stood in fearful trepidation, harden veterans uneasy at the sounds of the massacre just above them.
"We have movement!" a voice cried out.
All eyes turned, and rifles were trained as along the launchpads sounds began to emerge. The soldiers flinched back as the bay doors of the launchpad began to tear, peeling away from the roof of the hangar with an ear-shattering roar of metal. Sparks flew.
And then another sound filled the hangar as directly below, Unit 01 stirred.
Harsh cracking noises thundered throughout. Turret guns and rocket launcher teams turned their weapons to the strange crystal prison. The military forces torn between the threat inside the hangar, and the one up above.
Their decision was made for them as the crystal prison began to shatter within the launchpad.
The Imprisoned Eva Unit 01 was moving. Sealed inside multiple layers of the dura-bakelite, Unit 01 had stood solemn and silent alongside the launchpads of Units 00 and 03, but no longer.
Its eyes blinked and the massive titan began to move. Breaking through the same material that had been used to contain the First Angel. The crystal prison broke with an explosion that sent shards and debris flying in all directions.
The Broken Man stretched the Eva's long limbs.
Years ago, he had traveled back in time and had taken his mother's place. He had allowed himself to be absorbed by Unit 01. And in so doing, he had given up his original body for a new one. His mind had been with the boy for so long now, that using his new body felt strange and foreign to him.
Only once before had he directly intervened. He had been the one to kill Zeruel that day so long ago. Now, as then, his body was wide awake, and it was time to act.
This was not like piloting. There was no phantom sensation or sync rates. No… for he was the Evangelion. Its eyes were now his, its flesh and its muscle.
The Broken Man rose stretching Unit 01 to its full height within the hangar.
Soldiers panicked. Turrets fired round after round into his/Unit 01's torso. Elsewhere, rocket launchers fired. He felt the bullets and explosions slam into the Eva and thought them little more than bug bites.
The Broken Man reached up and ripped at the faceplate from the Eva's face, tearing the mouth guard free and revealing bits of the alien face of 01. That was better. He could see, he could hear so much more with the Eva. It was to have senses orders of magnitude more than that of a normal human.
"Nerv has deployed another Eva!"
Soldiers were shouting into their comm units, calling for reinforcements. Usefully, the invaders tried to fight him from their little fortified positions. They had expected more pilots to run for the Evas, not for one of them to activate on its own.
A lone soldier pointed a hastily reloaded rocket launcher at him, only to pause in sheer cold fear as deep red intelligent eyes locked onto him.
The Broken Man slammed a hand down mere feet from where the soldier had knelt. The floor crumped and left craters in the Eva's wake, and the soldier ran off. Turret rounds slammed into his face and with a single careful wave of his hand, he ripped the machine gun from its mount and sent it flying over the edge of the firing platform.
Eva Unit 01 opened its mouth and spoke. The voice that left his lips was not the voice he had ever remembered having. When the Broken Man spoke, the voice that left Eva Unit 01 was deep and harsh, guttural as his new body struggled with its vocal cords.
"LEAVE NOW."
Two words. The soldiers abandoned their position and began retreating.
The Broken Man raised his head and look up through the launchpad and onto the surface above. A massive white figure was coming into view, monstrous claws braced themselves upon the forcibly opened bay doors to the hangar.
The Broken Man bent his new body's legs and gathered his strength. Flashes of white light flickered along his veins, the might of Adam was at his beck and call.
He raised a single hand and called it. The Angel network stirred around him and a signal shot forth.
The Spear of Longinus heard him.
...
Down below in the underground levels of the compound, the alien relic woke. Almost alive and with a mind of its own, the Spear of Longinus rose from its containment.
Gendo had placed the Spear in storage, knowing that when the time came for Instrumentality that the Spear would react and come to who had called it. What the Director of Nerv had not known, was that the Broken Man had already marked the Spear.
The Abomination that was the Other Shinji had left commands to the Spear the very night that Gendo and Fuyutsuki had brought it back to Tokyo-03.
The Spear flew, breaking free of its storage, and moved through the compound of its own will. The alien metal, forged by the creators of the Angels, glided through the levels of the compound going out of its way to harm no one in its path.
Responding to the one who had called months ago.
At the same time.
The Surface.
"Asuka. Can you hear me?" Ritsuko's voice called.
The woman's voice emerged into a new and unfamiliar encrypted channel, and the German girl was relieved beyond words to hear someone, anyone, speak to her.
"You have a lot of explaining to do," Asuka said. She found that she couldn't bring herself to be angry at the woman who had locked her in the Entry Plug. Not now, not with all that she had seen and done.
"We don't have much time," another voice said.
Asuka froze, a small smile working its way onto her lips. A weight she hadn't noticed before lifted from her chest. A moment to breathe within the current torrent of insanity. It didn't last; it couldn't.
"Misato," she breathed.
You're alive… you… I was so horrible to you. I was a spoiled brat and you put up with me.
"We're okay, kiddo," Misato said. The woman's voice was noticeably relieved at hearing that she had been protected in the Entry Plug.
"And Shinji is too. Whatever Gendo said, he is not the Final Angel. He's on our side and we're trying to save everyone," Ritsuko added suddenly.
Shinji, Asuka thought breathless. So, the boy was still alive. Good…. Good. Deep down, she had known that he couldn't have been what Gendo claimed. And the boy had known that all this would happen. He had even warned her that Nerv couldn't be trusted anymore.
"Listen, those things out there. They're the real enemy. Ritsuko is sending you another power cable," Misato said, bringing her out of her thoughts.
"There's 15 of those things out there… how the hell can I stop them? Are they Angels?" Asuka said.
It was so much to take in. The invasion of Nerv, the massacre of the JSSDF, the new Evangelion Units, Ritsuko's ploy, Misato's return, and the news that Shinji was alive.
Even now, Asuka watched the strange unnatural white titans begin ripping through their way into the hangar of Nerv.
"They're called the MP Evas and you won't be alone. You'll have backup," Ritsuko's voice cut in.
Just as the scientist spoke, a new sound erupted onto the scene. Asuka flinched, whirling to see the MP Eva that had breached the bay doors of a launchpad, trying to get inside the hangar, fly back… with its' head and a portion of its torso missing.
SPLAT.
Something shot out of the launchpad. The object racing out like a space shuttle launching off and collided with the monster that had dared block its path from the hangar. Blood and white flesh tore and were sent up into the air before falling back down.
The MP Eva suffered massive damage and slumped to the grounds above the hangar, shaking as the creature's nerve endings flared even without its head.
And above… was Evangelion Unit 01. The Eva hovered in mid-air with Wings of Light protruding from its back. The marvel of human engineering had flown like an Angel and torn through the MP Eva trying to break its way into the hangar.
What in the world… Shinji… how? Asuka thought. She stood mesmerized at the sheer absurdity of it all.
The headless MP Eva did not die. The disfigured abomination stirred, flesh curling and expanding, muscle and bone began to reform slowly. 'It' twitched, reaching for what remained of its severed limbs trying to reconnect them even now.
A second object followed Unit 01, a long red Spear that zipped through the air and came for the floating Evangelion. Unit 01 took the Spear. The Wings of Light disappeared, and Unit 01 fell from the sky with the Spear in hand, landing with a heavy thud and impaling the still twitching MP Eva.
The Spear negated the headless MP Eva's healing abilities and killed it once and for all. Unit 01 stood tall and menacingly, silent as the grave, over the corpse of SEELE's creation.
An undisclosed location.
The dark dimly lit room stood silent. The holographic displays of the stone monoliths surrounded the chairman of SEELE and his assistant.
Floating among the gathered figures, were pairs of holographic displays. Footage streamed from the optics of the MP Evas themselves. They saw the operation through the 'eyes' of their creation.
"The Freak!" one SEELE member cursed. His voice leaving the hologram of the stone monolith.
"The Abomination yet lives…" another SEELE member whispered.
Keel himself watched the footage of Evangelion Unit 01 with a stony expression. His aged and wrinkled face grew hard and cold. Beady withered almost non-existent eyes underneath his visor, narrowed.
My suspicions were correct. Gendo was mistaken. The boy lives, Keel mused.
The leader of SEELE spoke, his voice a measured and collected dangerous tone.
"Once more, Shinji Ikari is a nuisance."
He gripped his walking cane tightly. His elderly heart rate spiked. These days took a toll on his health. A man into his nineties, only technology kept him alive and able.
Good thing that this world was at its end. The next chapter in his life as an immortal was within his grasp. He would tolerate no further impediments. SEELE had planned for several contingencies. He was not altogether surprised.
Keel spoke next to the MP Evas themselves. SEELE's greatest creation to date. They were programmed to obey, granted limited intelligence to achieve their goals, to strategize, and to improvise. His word was law to them, he was God in their eyes.
"Destroy Nerv's Evangelions. Prioritize Unit 01. Then kill Unit 02 and its pilot for good measure."
The surface of the Geofront.
Monstrous shrieks filled the area as the remaining 14 MP Evas cried out. They stood tall, taller than Nerv's Evangelions, and began stalking their prey.
Asuka winced, watching the white Evas come for Unit 01.
"It's not Shinji… not the one you know. He's on your side," Ritsuko said suddenly.
Not Shinji… then who is piloting Unit 01? How is it moving like that? No, it's not being piloted. The Eva… the Eva is awake.
The realization shook Asuka, another weight to add to the scales of insanity recent events had become.
Eva Unit 02 came to life at last. The computers fully rebooted, and the controls unlocked. She was holding steady at 64%.
"Misato… what the hell is going on?" Asuka asked.
"I honestly don't know. But I can promise you that this is bigger than Nerv now. Gendo is a monster. This war isn't ours, it's his. Forget him. We're fighting to save you, and everyone else. Can you do that? Can you fight to save Ritsuko and me? To save Rei and everyone else here," Misato said firmly.
Gendo Ikari. The Director of Nerv.
The mental image of her own father came to mind. Peter Langley Sohryu. Her father wasn't perfect, but he cared. He loved her and he always would. Gendo Ikari had never loved his son. Any man who would plan the murder of his own child was no man at all. Everything came back to the Director of Nerv. The strange final orders, the invasion of Nerv, and finally this 'new' war in front of her.
She didn't know everything, but she knew that Misato had always done her best. So that's who she trusted.
"What do I need to do?" Asuka said, grasping the controls. She felt the phantom sensations take hold and breathed deeply. It felt good to have her Eva back, to hold a measure of her fate within her own hands.
"Help 01. Don't let those monsters get inside Nerv," Ritsuko answered her.
A popup emerged on her display and a supply drop was launched to the surface. A new power cable and a new load out of weapons for the Eva.
Unit 01 raised the red Spear high as the MP Evas closed in. The white abominations were hesitant, they feared 01 and the Spear. They pressed forward cautiously with their own spears, even with the advantage of numbers on their side.
The MP Evas… their spears are copies of that red one, Asuka realized slowly. All of this had been planned. There really had been another war going on and she had never known.
She brought her Eva to its feet slowly. The enemy was focused on 01, and her Eva was running on emergency power.
Two of the MP Evas charged for 01. Another hurled a spear.
Unit 01 dodged the spear throw, the grey metal whizzing past with a whistle of air, as the other two charged.
STAB.
01 impaled one MP Eva through its torso killing the monster with a single blow. The other leaped with its own spear raised. A brilliant light erupted into existence as the AT Blade formed and sliced through the creature's torso mid-air. Severed limbs fell to the ground, and with a single motion, 01 brought the red spear down to finish them off. The Evangelion gave its opponents no time to repair themselves
The MP Evas started moving together as one. Closing in and using their numbers to their advantage, spears drawn. Pale white undead marching forward in loose formation.
He can't take them all. He can't.
Unit 01 walked forward, red spear and AT Blade in hand, fearless and unabated in the face of the oncoming storm. A lone knight before a dozen dragons upon the field.
The MP Evas charged. All of them. Two flew into the air with leaps that left craters in their wake. Others ran forward with an animal ferocity, splitting into two groups and closing in on their foe with a pincer movement.
Unit 01 sped forward in a flash of white light. Moving with a speed that no Eva had shown before. Reflexes that surpassed a human's. It met the storm of white flesh head-on in a surprising charge that took them off balance.
An MP Eva was driven back, another was cut in two, and one was decapitated with a single swing of the red spear's blade. The two above fell upon Unit 01 and they all disappeared in a tangled mess of titans clashing. The AT Blade flashed, again and again, the red Spear danced back and forth, there was a rumble as the ground shook from their battle. Shrieks filled the air.
He needs help!
Asuka dived going for the resupply, no longer caring about stealth. She grabbed the new power cable and attached it; the weight of the world lessened on her shoulders as her Eva was restored to full power. The rifle she grabbed next followed by the pistol.
She turned and witness the Wings of Light flash before she lost sight of Unit 01. It disappeared with a launch that broke the sound barrier as 01 soared into the skies… dragging three of the MP Evas with it as they clung on trying to claw their way through the plate armor.
BOOM.
The sonic boom left ripples in their wake and Asuka flinched, her Eva stumbling back. Soft smaller booms followed after the first, MP Evas were taking off to the skies chasing after Unit 01.
She cursed, the shockwaves threw up dirt and lowered her visibility. But she wasn't alone. She had her old team watching over her.
"There's two heading your way. They're taking off. Be careful!" Misato warned.
Asuka whirled rifle raised and saw them. Two MP Evas had noticed her and were coming through the air, launching off from the ground with heavy thuds.
"They heal. Need a way to put them down for good," Asuka called into the comm.
"S2 Engines. They're like Angel Cores. Rip them out and the MP Evas will lose all power including their healing abilities," Ritsuko answered quickly.
Easier said than done, Asuka thought.
She fired two bursts as her training kicked in. She aimed for the wings and hit both targets. The MP Evas faltered in mid-air as their wings tore and wept bright blue blood. They began to fall. One of them raised a spear as it fell and threw it.
Her training kicked in again. Asuka raised a hurried shield and the brilliant purple lights formed protectively around her.
"Don't try to block it! Those things cut through AT Fields. Dodge!" Ritsuko shouted.
Asuka's eyes widen at the warning. The incoming spear flew at her like a missile. She sidestepped, turning as the spear collided with her AT Field.
What the fuc-
The spear cut through her AT Field like it was made of paper and grazed her Eva's stomach before whizzing past. The air whistled audibly.
"Agh!" Asuka grunted. One graze and the spear had cut through her armor as well. Her display showed a clear gap along her armor. Weapons designed to kill Eva Units.
"Keep moving. 01 needs your help," Misato said into the comm.
Unit 01… it took some of them into the sky? It's trying to divide these freaks… it doesn't want me to get overwhelmed. But what about him? She thought.
Asuka steadied herself and saw the MP Evas coming for her again. She charged forward rifle raised and emptied half a clip into the one that had thrown its spear.
The creature shrieked as the bullets slammed into it, the skin tearing and the muscle shredding. The other one charged for her and she turned the rifle on it. She emptied the rest of the clip into the white Eva, watching as the creature stumbled back gushing bright blue blood.
Asuka slammed into her target, butting the end of her rifle into the MP Eva's faceplate.
The creature hissed, already its wounds were healing, new flesh closing over gaps and stitching itself back together like the undead. Asuka brought her pistol up and fired into its head at point-blank range. Three shots.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
Blood and white flesh tore and the creature fell with a thud. Confused, but healing.
"Look out!" Misato's voice called.
Something slammed into her back and she screamed. The rifle fell from her hands and she felt weak. Blood wept from her Eva. A spear was protruding through Unit 02's shoulder, impaled from the back.
Another MP Eva flew above her and came crashing down from above. It was the one she'd shot with the rifle earlier. It landed on her shoulders, adding its weight to her wound, and the phantom sensations made her scream again.
She was brought low, kneeling under the creature's weight. The MP Eva opened its mouth revealing razor-sharp teeth and it bit into her Eva. Teeth sank deep into Unit 02, piercing deep into the muscle.
Asuka screamed.
A second MP Eva landed on her and slammed her into the ground nearly pinning her completely. Its head was already healing, it lumbered along, confused and dazed, but bringing her to her knees regardless. These things... they were the stuff of nightmares.
Misato and Ritsuko were shouting in her ear.
Asuka gritted her teeth, kneeling and refusing to be pinned beneath the two monsters looming over her and her Eva. "No!" She screamed.
She fought her way through the pain and forced her Eva to its feet, dragging both of the MP Evas with her. They were taller than her Eva, and stronger, but Asuka didn't care. She wrenched her pistol out and aimed under the belly of the MP Eva to her left and fired. Shooting where the skin/armor was weak.
BANG.
BANG.
BANG.
The MP Eva shrieked, a sickening unnatural sound, and was forced to let go. She fired two more rounds into its head, going out of her way to hit the exposed brain matter, and left it flinching back in a stupor. Headshots couldn't kill these freaks, but she knew that they hurt like hell. And she had to be thorough, not just headshots but brain shots. The tactic gave her time. Time, an invaluable resource in a fight.
The one on her right still had its teeth in her Eva, it was digging deep trying to reach the Entry Plug and take her out. Asuka nearly fell again, it was overwhelming. The spear was still lodged inside her Eva's shoulder.
Screw you!
She whirled forcing herself backward and letting the MP Eva pull her back before taking charge and planting her feet firmly. She brought her Eva's pistol to the back of the MP Eva's neck and fired her last round.
BANG.
The MP Eva jerked as the nerve endings in its spine were hit. Yet it refused to let go, sinking its teeth in deeper and trying to drag her with its mouth. It seemed to laugh at her, faceless and eyeless, an Abomination from hell. It reached a claw-like hand for her power cable.
Not this time.
Asuka dropped the gun, it was out of bullets anyway. She brought her Eva's hand to the throat of the monster clinging to her and focused with all her might bringing her sync rate up. An AT Field erupted into existence, the brilliant solid lights forming out of nothing and slicing through the creature's neck in the process.
She beheaded the MP Eva and watched as the body fell backward landing with a heavy thud as it twitched and jerked on the ground. The head didn't stop, it loosened its grip but it was enough.
Asuka yanked the head free, wrenching it and its teeth out of her Eva's flesh. Blood flew from Unit 02, as she threw the head to the ground and stomped it into bits with a single thrust of her boot.
SPLAT.
Asuka panted. A fresh layer of sweat on her brow. She leaned her Eva to one side and reached for the spear still impaled in her shoulder. She gritted her teeth and hissed harshly as she pulled it free letting it fall. The grey spear landed with a heavy thud, covered in 02's blood. She wobbled on unsteady feet and nearly fell herself.
These things heal. Can't let them!
She moved, finding that the MP Eva she had headshot earlier was back on its feet already. The creature stood unsteadily, a whirling mass of flesh thrived atop its head moving to close the holes that she had put there. It was lumbering along trying to grab one of the spears.
"No, you don't," Asuka hissed.
She brought up her AT Field and slammed it into the MP Eva like a batting ram. The creature was sent flying back and fell to its knees, old wounds reopened from the blow and bled out.
"Those S2 engines. Where are they?" she asked into the comm.
"The torso. Where the heart would be," Ritsuko answered her.
"Be careful. There's still at least half-a-dozen of these freaks out there," Misato warned.
Asuka brandished the AT Field and brought it down upon the kneeling MP Eva, again and again, slicing through the flesh. She saw it, a blue orb amid the internal organs, and she yanked it out with her free hand. It was disgusting.
She scowled, crushing the S2 engine and tossing it.
Now the other one…
She turned to find the headless MP Eva from before flailing on the ground and repairing itself. Bone was beginning to protrude from its open neck, fresh nerve endings and muscle lay exposed to the world as new skin began to stitch itself back. The walking corpse was reaching for the crushed remains of its fallen head… and the head was twitching… trying to reach for its body.
Asuka shuddered and then cursed herself for doing so. She was an Eva Pilot; she had faced things worse than whatever these monsters were.
An idea spring to mind and she reached down grabbing the grey spear that had once impaled her Eva Unit. She brought the spear down on the headless MP Eva impaling it through the heart. The creature stilled, its twitching stopped, and it finally died.
About time. This should make things easier.
She pulled the grey spear from the corpse with a grunt. She eyed the dead thing sprawled before her, eyeless and pilotless, more Angel than machine.
Who the hell made these? Why did we even have the Eva Units if these were running around?
"Incoming! To the east," Misato said into her comm.
Asuka shook her head. She didn't have time to wonder or question. This was her current reality and war waited for no one.
Two more MP Evas crash-landed, falling with earth-shattering clangs nearby. Their wings were damaged, but they rose and turned their attention to her.
They came for her, battered and wounded MP Evas charged for her moving in with another piercing movement and trying to overwhelm her.
Asuka raised her newfound weapon, the spear felt unfamiliar in her hands.
"Backup is on the way," Ritsuko said suddenly, her voice noticeably relieved.
A harsh whistling sounded off in a low roar. And one of the MP Evas coming for her was struck with the force of a missile strike. The red Spear impaled itself through the white flesh, cutting through the back and protruding out through the chest. A perfect hit.
The impaled MP Eva collapsed with a whimper. Dead.
Asuka blinked. The remaining MP Eva that had charged her tried to turn but a flash of light nearly blinded her. She brought her hand up to shield her eyes, and then a moment later the creature was slammed into the ground. The wounded monster sunk into the earth as Unit 01 stood over it.
It all happened with the force of a small meteor strike. The MP Eva had been pinned, forced into a newly formed crater.
Wings of Light flickered on Unit 01 protruding from its back before fading. Unit 01 brought forth the AT Blade stabbing the MP Eva through the torso where the heart would be, destroying the S2 Engine with a single strike.
He knew exactly where to hit it, Asuka thought.
Unit 01 stepped off the corpse that it had pinned and walked towards her. 01 raised a hand and the red Spear moved of its own accord, freeing itself and flying back to the one who had called it.
Standing before her, Asuka realized that the Awakened Evangelion Unit 01 could be… terrifying. It panted, breathing like a human would, its mouth revealed to the world. Deep red intelligent eyes shined back at her and recognized her. It was no mindless beast, nor a computer program, there was a soul there. A consciousness.
Wounds littered the marvel of human engineering. Cuts and stab wounds from multiple spear blows. Cracks and gaps along the plate armor that revealed muscle and bone damage. Blood marks. She watched it inhale and exhale, exhausted.
Whilst Asuka had fought on the ground, Unit 01 had taken to the skies and had fought all of the other MP Evas.
"Stay calm. He's on your side," Ritsuko said into the silence.
Asuka hesitated and slowly nodded. Unit 01 nodded back, mirroring her movements. She felt a chill run through her but shook it off. He had been helping her all this time.
"This isn't over. They're coming back," Misato said into the comm, reading what mapping data she could from her end.
Asuka held the grey spear tightly within her Eva's grip. Once again, she noticed that these weapons seemed to be copies of the red one that Unit 01 held. Another question left unanswered.
She stood side by side with Unit 01, both of them covering each other, and saw it. Corpses of fallen MP Evas littered the grounds. Together, they had killed maybe half of them.
The others still lived, and they were coming, splitting into two groups. One squad landed on the ground whilst another stayed airborne. A horde of white dragons stalking a pair of knights.
Asuka glanced back at the strange ally at her side.
Shinji… what happened to you? She wondered.
During the events of the Third Wave.
Deep underground.
Shinji Ikari hurried through the underground levels of Nerv. He moved carefully and silently; handgun held at the ready. His Angel senses stretched out again and again and suddenly he froze
"Rei?" He gasped.
The girl was moving. He could tell, her presence was flickering back and forth. Yet there was a haze in the network, in the very threads that connected all things of an Angelic nature. As if someone was trying to hide her.
Shinji had to reach out harder and harder to sense her. It was faint, but it was moving. Going deeper.
Had Gendo come for her? What was going on? Shinji thought he knew. Rei had been able to hear the Angels speak when the Last of Adam's Children came. She could see and hear the network now.
He knew where Rei was heading, and he had to hurry.
...
Elsewhere.
Gendo Ikari stared at the display screen in his private office in the lower levels. Lilith was recovering well. She was at the strongest that she had been in years. Allowed to regenerate under his supervision until the time came.
The ritual had been prepared. He had all the remaining pieces. The Adam Sample, implanted into his own flesh, allowed to regrow just enough for him to shape it for his own ends. Lilith had recovered enough to power the process, molded to his will. The First and Second Angels, nearly Gods in their own right, manipulated into following his orders. And finally, a trigger to set in motion his Human Instrumentality Project.
Rei Ayanami. You were created to fulfill a purpose. Now, the time has come.
SEELE had already played their part. They had given him the funding and resources necessary to craft his dream into reality. All in the name of their war against Adam's Children. He was grateful to Keel for all of it, for giving him the tools that he needed and allowing him to remove the threat of the Angels.
None of it mattered anymore. This world was coming to end. So, what if Kozo Fuyutsuki had gone soft and tried to order a retreat? A plan to save the employees? What had that foolish man hoped to achieve? Gendo no longer cared. Let the man soothe his conscience before the end.
It was with a dreamlike demeanor that Gendo Ikari found himself going to gather Rei III.
He smirked as he turned the halls, only for the gesture to fall from his face as he spotted the cell.
The guard he had stationed outside was on the floor, breathing weakly and struggling to get up. The cell door lay wide open.
Gendo broke into a jog and knelt to the guard.
"Report. What happened here?" He commanded.
The guard wheezed and looked up at him. "Sir… the girl… she… she used an AT Field against me."
What? Gendo thought, pure shock running through his veins.
"I… she could have killed me… but she only… threw me back. I hit the wall… think I broke a bone," the guard wheezed.
Gendo rose to his feet. What could this mean? The girl was a piece of Lilith molded and shaped into a design that he had chosen. A mirror image of his Yui Ikari, yet not a single cell of her DNA was in the pale girl.
The ritual… she must feel a connection. It's stronger now than ever before, Gendo mused.
"Sir. I need a medic," the guard pleaded. The man turned on his side and managed to prop himself up on the wall for support. He was breathing hard, holding his chest where he had been struck.
Gendo noticed that the guard had dropped his gun. Yes, the JSSDF was still invading, trying to stop the inevitable. The Director of Nerv scooped the gun up.
"Thank you for your service," Gendo said numbly.
"Sir, I need a medic!" the guard called weakly.
Gendo ignored him and walked off. He knew where Rei was going. It was her mission in life after all. He had created her to bind Lilith, and so she had.
He followed the usual paths and headed directly for the bottom-most layer of Nerv.
…
Shinji realized where Rei was heading. Perhaps she didn't want to be found, but he had promised her. He had to move faster. Gendo had a head start on him and he needed to make up the difference.
He broke into a run not even bothering with the Angel powers anymore. He had the mental layout of the entire compound in his head, a gift from the Broken Man, and so headed directly for the pit at the lowest level. The Prison.
Sounds began to emerge in the darkened tunnels. Gunshots. The firefighting was finally starting to bleed down here.
He opened a door and nearly leaped back as a group of Section 2 Security Forces fled a scene. The path ahead was a series of hallways and men in Section 2 gear ran across the hall in front of him, bullets flying back and forth from where they had come.
JSSDF Soldiers had reached this level. Section 2 was falling back.
"Hey!" one of the Section 2 men said. The soldier for hire turned at the sight of a teenage boy in the restricted levels of Nerv during a firefight.
Shinji stepped back, AT Field at the ready.
BANG.
The man shuddered back as a bullet struck his throat. Shinji watched for a split second as the man gagged and fell over a hand pressed to his bloody throat.
Shinji ran back, shutting the door behind him and trying to find another way across. He could hear the firefight as the two factions clashed. Nerv's Section 2 vs the JSSDF. And Nerv was losing badly, retreating at every turn.
He came across a locked door and brought up Fuyutsuki's ID card. The door unlocked and he found another lab of some kind. One of the many classified testing sites inside the compound. Not wasting time, he hurried along ignoring the million-dollar equipment and headed for the exit, doing his best to go around the fighting.
BOOM.
An explosion sounded off and bits of the wall came flying. Shinji flinched, crouching low as sounds of the fighting began to bleed into the room. An RPG had been fired nearby.
The cracks in the wall exposed glimpses of the war outside. JSSDF soldiers moving forward with military efficiency, firing short controlled bursts.
Shinji hid behind a desk and waited. His heart was pounding. Violence on this level still unnerved him, but he was sad to say that he was getting used to it. He needed to get away from the fighting and travel deeper into Nerv. Hearing nothing coming his way, he slowly got to his feet and moved silently to the exit.
Stepping outside, he crept along the hallways heading for a secret elevator that he knew was in the corner of this level. He kept to the dark, avoiding the loud noises and the sound of footsteps.
Be small and quiet. Stick to the dark. Avoid the obvious routes. Find the secret elevator, Shinji thought to himself.
The Broken Man had wanted to be with him for this part. And Shinji wished that the old man was. But his Other was needed on the surface, and so Shinji traveled alone. He carried with him the memories of his Other, the experiences of defending Haven, and he clung to those memories, letting them bleed into him and guide him forward. He moved with the wisdom of a man.
Smoke was beginning to fill the entire floor. The chorus of bullets firing left him uneasy. And once he had to stop, hiding behind a wall as another JSSDF squad stalked by in tight formation. Professional Soldiers fully armed with military gear and lethal intent.
When the soldiers had moved on, Shinji pressed onward going around them.
He found what he was looking for and ran his fingers along a wall at the end of a dimly lit hallway. His fingers sank upon pressing one portion of the wall, and he pressed it in as far as he could.
Found it, he thought.
The wall moved, sliding back and revealing an elevator. Another gift from Ritsuko and the Broken Man, he knew the compound as well as the Director himself.
Shinji stepped in and breathed a sigh of relief as the wall moved back into place, hiding him from view. The elevator stood at the ready, and he once again raised Fuyutsuki's ID card.
The elevator flashed a green light confirming his access rights.
"Thank you, Mr. Fuyutsuki," Shinji whispered. He entered the command for the lowest level.
The boy panted, taking the moment to breathe hard and catch his breath. He was so close now. His body felt jittery and his nerves acted up now that he took in all that he had glimpsed and sneaked past.
Shinji Ikari calmed himself, opening and closing his hand. The last respite that he could afford. He was ready.
He knew where Rei was heading. Things were moving so fast. But he knew what he needed to do. The weight of the world was on his shoulders, and he would bear it for there was no one else. A job that only he could do.
It was time to pay Lilith a visit.
Cue the dramatic music.
Yes, there is going to be a Wrath Part 3. It had to be done. I'm sorry. The big players are racing for Lilith and when they find her... that's a story that deserves its own chapter.
This was an action-heavy chapter. We're seeing SEELE throw away any pretense of living on past this world now. There's no going back. The MP Evas are out in the open.
We also get to see a lot of 'quick' character interactions. Ritsuko and Misato, etc. I loved writing Asuka this chapter. She gets to kick ass and reflect on her relationship with Misato. Plus, she gets to finally meet the Broken Man.
What did you think of Young Shinji and the Broken Man parting ways? The MP Evas? Asuka? Rei?
Coming soon, Wrath Part 3.
Thanks for Reading and please Review!