Chapter 18: Panzer vor.
Misato POV
Kaji holds the phone patiently as he awaits a confirmation that they will indeed send an ambulance that will be at this address in just a few short minutes.
He takes one look at how the red of my blood intertwines with the darkness of my dress and matches the colour of my undersized jacket which I'm way too broke to replace despite my rank as a Major.
He narrows his vision upon the silver cross around my neck as he scowls disapprovingly.
The taking of one's own life according to the bible is second only to murder in wrongness.
Does he know that verse too somehow?
It's the only explanation I have of how in the next fraction of a second, he seems to lose all reason as he throws down the phone nearly breaking it on the ground as he closes onto my personal space like a cougar. He lifts me by my shoulder forcing my eyes to meet with his.
"What the heck did you do this for, Misato?" He loudly demands with a ferocity that makes me recoil in shock. He knows I have a severe laceration in my chest but this won't make him go easy.
"HUH?"
"I don't know." I lie. To let Maya, have my high position and to let your affair with Ritsuko proceed without interruption. But most importantly to free Shinji's mind from the final reason he could ever have of wanting to come back to his home city.
"You're lying" he immediately retorts, his words slicing me apart as he barely keeps his temper in check for my sake. "You know you're lying and I know it too. I know you all too well Misato when you want to cover something up. Do you not realize how important you are to me? To our friends Ritsuko and Maya? To the children and the world that they're in charge of protecting doing this dirty work that no sane person in their right mind would take up otherwise?"
"I'm..." I don't even get a chance to finish this sentence before he raises his voice to a shout that seems to rock the entire room.
"YOU ARE A MAJOR! You aren't just some anonymous crack that no one will notice missing. You're the children's lead representative."
He pauses though it's not to catch his breath. A sudden speck of weakness washes over the usually unflappable spy but with great force of will he bares his teeth and shakes it away.
"You are my soulmate. The one woman who can blow my mind. Does that mean nothing to you?"
"And does it mean nothing to you that that I let Asuka crush Shinji's skull several times over while I was supposed to be taking good care of both of them, Kaji?
Does it not matter to you in the least that while I was all too glad to make time to answer Asuka's calls and give her sincere encouragement every time she had doubts while I did nothing to Shinji but berate him over and over for things that even I knew were not his fault from the moment I started blaming him?"
My eye slides by the knife Kaji has carefully placed out of my reach back on the kitchen counter.
It doesn't go unnoticed by him as he fixates on me ever more attentively with narrowing eyes.
"Why Kaji?" I pleadingly ask knowing I won't get an answer in the fury I've provoked him into. "Why is it that whenever Asuka comes to me with a problem or worries I can completely reassure her like she's my own daughter but when Shinji wants even the smallest bit of attention, I just shove him away?
It's not that I don't know how great a pilot Shinji is, Kaji? You remember how I bragged about Shinji's incredible skills endlessly the first time I introduced you to him?"
I half expect this to anger him once more but instead his gaze softens a little as he lets me go and puts my back carefully back on the sofa, he's laid me down on.
"For what it is worth, Katsuragi. It's my fault too. I could have done a lot more when I set eyes on our magnificent young hero. I could have realized that something was wrong and called you out but I didn't because I was too busy being a creepy pervert giving the other ladies peeks that would get me shut up in the deepest cell in paedophile prison. I could have actually given our son (if you're going to call him that then so will I as your soulmate) something material instead of empty and meaningless words. I could have bought him an ice cream or something. Anything to show I cared."
"Kaji, don't say that." I snap back, regaining a little of my usual fire as I begin to feel gratitude in place of grief that Kaji aced his medical degree with flying colours.
Without his intervention, I would still be in torturous agony. The stab I had given myself in my drunken and self-loathing deluded state was not nearly precise or forceful enough for a clean kill.
"You're not a pervert. And you certainly shouldn't feel so guilty for taking such simple pleasures"
"Let's call it what it is Katsuragi. You're a failed mother and I'm a disloyal and infidel husband who couldn't be trusted to keep his pants on.
If you still love me, it's in spite of my mistakes rather than because of them. I loathe myself for making them and I take steps every day to make up for them but I still made them and I can't change that."
I try to comfort him in earnest once more but he hushes me with a finger over his mouth.
"Save your energy. The ambulance will get here soon and since you're one of the more important officers, you should be safe from whatever Gendo has planned at least for the time being. I'll keep a close eye on you and if worse comes to worst, we'll get the heck outta doge. But you need to recover quickly."
I look at him and he looks at me. We stare at each other pretty fixatedly for a few seconds before I lower my eyes in humility and nod in silence before allowing myself the convenience of passing out.
Kaworu POV
My finger closed once more around the trigger of my stolen bolt action rifle, liberated from the grasp of a minor enemy leader who I was able thanks to his relative cooperation to spare rather than kill.
The rest of his regiment on the other hand would not be so easy.
"For the squid kingdom!" I called as my lady and I sprang forward from our hiding spot behind a bush at the five soldiers on the corner of a street.
They were clustered around what appeared to be a metal behemoth twice the size of any I had ever seen in my long years of battle. It would be a wonderful addition in our armoury. Just as it would be an awful waste in NERV and SEELE's hands since they had for some inexplicable reason decided that the far less practical EVA's were their future.
I shoot one down even before we reach them and the loudness of the shot keeps the others shocked enough so that they cannot retaliate much as I nail a second in the forehead with a buttstroke which proved through its efficiency the usefulness of firearms even in point blank range in the hands of a skilful and wise wielder.
I sweep a third's legs from out beneath him as my lady grabs up the fourth and fifth in her tentacles before slamming their heads together in an almost comical manner.
She drops her two first takedowns triumphantly to the ground as I gesture for her to follow me into the gigantic panzer tank which looked straight out of a world war 2 documentary.
They certainly didn't make these as they once did.
"As befitting of my superior rank over you General, I shall drive while you operate the weapons."
Squid girl orders me as she takes her seat of choice in the cabin and straps on her seatbelt while I do likewise.
"You know how to drive this?" I cautiously inquire as I run my fingers through the controls in front of me trying to ascertain what each one does. I've driven a tank before in my ex-military bygone days before I was captured and deemed too useful to be executed by NERV and SEELE who even back then were already in cahoots.
The controls aren't too different from an Evangelion anyway.
"It can't be much harder than driving a car. And I did manage to get my driver's license thanks to Chirizu before..." She cannot bring herself to go on as the loss of such an evangelist momentarily paralyses her.
"Just do your thing. General."
"I will do my thing. Milady." I knowingly acquiesce as she starts the engine after a few stalled attempts and with some difficulty gets the titanic slightly outdated war machine onto the street.
I have no panic as I continue to familiarize myself with an instruction manual conveniently placed in a compartment right beside me.
My leader hates reading anyway and she learns much better through a trial-and-error action based system. She will be fine.
She was spot on about the fact that humans loved to stick to a rigid and easily traced pattern in their designs. It made their great inventions in the short time they existed throughout the Earth's vast history that they had not even scratched the surface from despite their great intellect, extremely easy to learn.
It made their weaknesses even more predictable.
Such was the strength and weakness of human intellect mixed with hubris.
I shed a brief tear at the many lives I will be forced to take before the sky turns bright once more.
I have a flash of all the families who will be ruined by me and my lady's tough decision.
I pull myself together by reminding myself this is what Shinji and his other pilots go through every day only without the presence of a thoughtful and attentive leader to praise their perseverance as I have.
"Let's ride" I triumphantly declare as Squid girl steps on the accelerator and takes us ever closer to the heart of the city.
A few more NERV soldiers rush before us in vainglorious and blindly obedient fashion.
I am deeply sorry to them all that a few frail machine gun bullets will not stop the mighty panzer tank constructed in the world's engineering emperor. Kaiser as they'd prefer to be known.
The world has changed but war never changes.
I blink twice to remove the mist of saltwater diverting me from my moral duty.
Then I grip the joystick with all my might and let loose with a cannon shot.
The explosion blows the platoon with amazing velocity such that they are sent flying several feet in to the air as the force of the blast sends them scattering in various directions.
They are dead before they hit the ground.
The slightly obsolete shelling rounds are still deadly to this day begging the question of why Evangelions were so needed in the first place once again.
"We must hurry before our enemy have a chance to call for reinforcements" I humbly but panickedly advise to which my lady agrees by increasing speed even greater so that the tracks propelling us groan with the strain.
Gendo POV
It is truly genius that I set my phone to redirect all calls to voicemail at the hours of the night where I will be deep in rest in my grand abode atop a breathtakingly sightly little hill.
The retreat I can always turn to when the company of my disposable peons who exist only to serve me till their hands fall off becomes too hectic to bear.
I do not give the slightest damn if Godzilla himself is feasting on your insides. A gentleman's beauty sleep is a sacred ritual that must not be interrupted if he'd maintain his deadly handsome glamour.
Come find me during the day with a booked appointment. Which I may of course decline at any time without warning.
Shinji. My not son. Do not even bother to try anymore.
Any booking bearing your signature will automatically be scrapped and sent to the trash can which is where you would belong if you didn't play so vital a role in my grand designs.
Great is my charity when I allow you to serve me with your worthless life. Speak once more when I don't ask you to and I'll consider cutting your tongue off so that you'll speak no more.
A rest. You want a rest? A raise as well?
You are not worthy to lick the bottom of my boots.
Be glad that I've not had you killed as I did so with Yui's parents. A true shame they had to die but the great inheritance they left behind for me will be greatly treasured.
I could have waited a few years but what would be the fun in that. Luxury must not wait.
If you were not integral in Yui's resurrection and the continued obedience from Shinji then I would not give you one crumb Rei.
You are no better than the meat in a trap. That is your purpose. Swallow your pride and resign yourself to that.
Fred Fisch POV
"They've hijacked one of our big tanks. They're mowing through us like crazy. Hello. HELLO!"
I start to call into my walkie talkie only to realize too late that I was running straight into a tree and crash hard. At least I had left my mark on this world, I sullenly remark to myself as a round from the pursuing tank's side gun rips into me.
The razor bullets pierce flesh, muscle and bone.
The driver seems to sympathize with my agony as before I can feel pain for very long, big lumbering trucks rumble straight at me.
They squash me like fruit in a blender starting with my legs.
"My LEG!" I at least get the chance to yell before the rest of me is flattened into raspberry juice.
Kyosuke Uchiha POV
"Aim for the tracks. If we can just get the tracks off then it'll judder to a halt and we can proceed to pick them off from there" I radio to the driver of a rocket artillery truck that's not seen use in years since the creation of the Evangelions.
Fuel is expensive and a crew is even more expensive says the big man.
From the safety of my vantage point atop a high watchtower, I grin in eager anticipation as the truck unloads its entire payload at the unaware stolen tank currently engaging an armoured car that knows it's only there to provide diversion.
I forgot how much fun warfare the conventional way without those big stupid looking robots could be and it was good to get back into the game.
"No pain. No gain." I maniacally cackle as the torrent of rockets howls through the air.
No way anyone can survive this.
Bullseye. Each and every last of the firework display hits its intended mark. The trucks are bound to bo absolutely busted. I only wish I could see the look of complete shock and awe in the face of the now stranded driver who thought they could single handedly take down the second most professional army the world had to offer. SEELE would soon bow down to our might once we had strengthened ourselves even beyond them. Then they too would suffer for their pride.
The smoke clears. The tracks are indeed stripped. But something is wrong.
No. NO. NO!
Fuuuu
Without the trucks the tank is still going. It's coasting with far greater efficiency than it was once able to. It's dodging the next storm of rockets that I'm now barking at the remaining five trucks in my squad to fire at will. It's zipping, it's zooming.
IT'S DEFYING ALL NEWTON'S LAWS AS IT TREATS EVADING THE FULLISADE OF DEADLY ACCURATE AMMUNITION LIKE CHILD'S PLAY.
The way it swivels its cannons so casually seems almost like its daring us to do it again.
"Retreat." I shout into the radio as the trucks realize the futiliy and slowly begin to rev away.
"RETREAT!" I call out louder as without the use of any of its ranged weapons, the tank speeds towards the first truck closest to it and before it can react flattens it to smithereens by dropping onto it with the help of a nearby oversized skating ramp.
The remaining trucks understand the urgency and begin to accelerate but still not using any of its guns or cannon, the metallic hulk chases each and every one of them down and rushes them with such might that they do not even topple from the collisions.
Rather, they burst into fiery explosions as they were rammed head on by what was once the oldest piece in our arsenal as a remnant from the resounding victory of the second world war. Our pure land with the aid of our Germanic allies put the planet in our grasp with little trouble.
"Aaaaah" I began to scream as my team who for all their faults I regarded rather fondly were slaughtered so brutally by the tank which was now driving straight for my tower.
Before I could reach the door, a loud crumbling rocked from below as the floor began to shake and cracks sprouted at a breakneck speed I could scarcely register.
Still the now clearly encouraged pilot from within the monstrous metal crusher did not fire a shot.
They seemed to be repaying our kind gift of fireworks with a present of their own.
In this case a grand demonstration of their greatly enhanced mobility to which they owed their gratitude wholly to us.
Me. A firm believer of Germany's heavy armoured warfare protocol and the sheer amazingness in which they were able to construct their legion of tanks that devastated Europe to pave the invasion to the rest of the planet.
Crushed by a German panzer. I let out a laugh and closed my eyes as I fell through onto the gravel below.
I was not even close to the ground before with a mighty rip, I was speared on one of the panzer's great antenna.
"Such imperial might." I murmur with a blood-filled choke. "Overshadowed by the useless Evangelions whose miserable existence insulted everything true military might once stood for."
Kaworu POV
My entire face was soaked from hair to neck with the thick and salty water that was the only condolence I could offer the unfortunate souls who had stooped to this low existence to earn their bread.
They did not hate me and I did not hate them.
I shot them dead because they were my foes and they shot at me because I was theirs.
I huffed and puffed as I let out sob after sob, taking a second where there were no targets in sight to afflict upon my chin the hardest uppercut I could muster up before letting out a curdling shriek of pure woe and anguish.
The suffering of these victims who'd been forced by poverty or propaganda to serve Shinji's father gave me no joy whatsoever.
I was truly sorry for each and every one of them.
I'd have traded anything to negotiate but madmen who used bygone prophecies rather than hard fact to make judgements weren't negotiable.
I had tried before and it cost me everything.
Yes, quaint and curious war is.
You shoot a fellow down.
You'd treat if met where any bar is
Or help to half a crown.
It wasn't just Shinji who screamed his lungs out when he was forced by necessity to kill. Another factor we shared in common despite being grizzled veterans who knew combat like the back of our hand.
The entire cabin resounded with my apologetic shouts as the massacre continued. I took in a lung full of air each time I ran out. I wanted to stop but I could not help myself.
My lady didn't even try to hush me.
She knew this was one of my limitations when she accepted me as her general and she respected it.
Someone had to take the blame for being the serial killer to stop NERV's unstoppable expansions.
The one solace I could take was that it wasn't Shinji.
It wasn't your choice Shinji. It was mine.
I and I alone will bear these guilts.
Special thanks to fictionelement777, neoWarkid4, bandiras, An enemy of the state, Fantasian, Kycosoccerref and every other unnamed guest for your kind and generous reviews.
You are all great people. Thank you for reading and see you all next time and bye.
Yes this story has multiple POV's. It is still Rei's story because it started with Rei's decision to be nicer to Shinji making her the heroine.
