Chapter 26: Attack on Angel 2: NEVER jet alone and here's why.
Mari's kick was enough to throw the largest of the Angels off kilter and the remaining two Angels immediately turned to attack her EVA which quickly backpedalled away, completely ignoring the other three EVA's which quickly rushed in to capitalize on their carelessness.
Shinji and Rei took on the larger of the two still upright Angels, a white monster with a black cross symbol imprinted on its chest. Hah, as if that made it any more endearing to the humans who it terrorized.
After a long and hard fought struggle where both their EVA's suffered several scrapes but fortunately nothing serious, Shinji gripped its arms, pinning them behind its back while Rei punched it hard in the jaw.
Blood sprayed from its mouth as it managed to shake itself free of EVA unit 1 and tried to pounce but before it could land upon the dazed purple EVA which had been knocked reeling, Rei kicked it with astounding force in the back and sent it hurtling into a nearby building causing a large stack of rubble to collapse onto its head.
Usually such a feat would not have been possible for either of them alone, but together they knew just what to do. Their synchronization was perfect with each other on the battlefield, even if not so much in real life situations. As much as Shinji wanted his terrible job as a pilot to end, he did harbour a morbid desire that he and Rei would get to work together one more time before that happened.
Watching her control, the biomechanical war machine like it was nobody's business, was like seeing the most graceful dancer. The sight gave him a kind of satisfaction that very few things could. It was as if shy and reclusive Rei became a different person in her EVA.
A wonderful role reversal where she was the confident one for a change.
…
Asuka and Mari were having less luck. Though their Angel was a slightly smaller, red beast with a bulging stomach and only one eye still intact, it was putting up one heck of a fight as it dodged between all the punches and kicks that they were throwing at in unison.
"Behind you, Asuka." Mari called from the microphone which linked her to Asuka's EVA allowing Asuka to move out of the way just in time of a powerful lunge.
"This isn't working." Mari remarked as she sidestepped the red behemoths surprisingly fast and precise punches with no time to land a strike of her own, only for the Angel to jump away when Asuka attempted to hit it once more from behind. "And we can't keep this up much longer."
"Gar nichts klappt hier" Asuka cried in reply as she tried and failed to parry one of the Angel's powerful rakes to her EVA's hull, causing electricity to surge out of the cut area in a brilliant spark.
"Keep it distracted. I'll try and get behind it again. Make it look like you're wearing out and giving it openings. That'll fool it."
Asuka could not help but nod in grim admiration of this good advice, spoken in such a cool and level headed voice in the face of deadly danger. Perhaps she should have started giving this newbie pilot a bit more credit after all.
The next seconds were spent in a game of wits between human and abomination as Asuka grudgingly took Mari's advice by slowly taking steps back, occasionally trying to land a light jab or a sweep, staying a reasonable distance so that most if not all of the Angel's counterattacks hit only air while appearing as if she was still trying to take it down. She needed it to be completely focused on her.
"Anytime now, Mari." She impatiently said as she was too slow to evade another one of the Angel's scratches, causing her EVA to beep as fluid began to leak from a cut on it. This wasn't good.
She had never been more grateful than today to not have to fight alone. Kaworu was right. Those who fought alone, did die alone.
And even if she died this very day, she could take comfort in the fact that it would be in the company of her three best and only friends that she regarded as equals in this messed up world full of messed up stupidity. And that to her, was worth more than anything.
As one light after another begun to dim as her vision went dark, the Angel that was raising its feet up for a finishing stomp was quickly pulled away by Mari's EVA as she slammed it to the ground, and they began struggling.
"Finish it!" Mari shouted as she managed for a brief moment to get the Angel in a pressed down position where it could not move but was still thrashing violently like an out of control maniac.
It was all she needed to say.
With the last of its power, Evangelion unit 2 and its pilot, mother and daughter acting as one in complete harmony gave the EVA the final kick it needed to completely immobilize it long enough for Mari to control her EVA to bite down on its neck as it continued to thrash about.
It was her preferred way of finishing off her Angels since she had studied in her spare time that their weak points were on the neck where their protective layer of skin was much thinner.
Both girls began to sigh in relief only for their victory to quickly die down as the largest purple Angel that both of them had all but forgotten about stood towering over them. They had forgotten about it.
"NEIN, NEIN, NEIN. ICH WILL NICHT TOTEN." Asuka screeched at the top of her lungs as she mashed the keys and switches in the cabin of her rapidly dying EVA to no avail.
"Mutti" She sobbed, not realizing that her intercom was still connected with Mari. "Es tut mir lied. Ich versuche eine gute madchen zu sein."
"Mummy, I'm sorry. I tried to be a good girl." Mari translated, not at all worried in this moment having spotted a blur of grey from out of the corner of her eyes a moment ago and hearing the sound of metal clanging against stone getting louder and louder.
"I knew it. You're not heartless after all Asuka and there is still a chance for you."
Kind of ironic how different Shinj and Asuka seemed on the outside and how similar to each other they really were on the inside. Both missed their mum's and were in turn missed by them.
Had they but shared these feelings with each other long ago, a lot of emotional turmoil could have been avoided. But it was not too late now.
Mari was glad that the duo could put aside their differences despite all the friction they had undergone over the years. Just another reason why Shinji's kindness was the most powerful weapon in the world.
It would have been all too easy for him to return Asuka's cruelty with his own and refuse to have anything to do with her, but he didn't.
Once again, these were not the actions of a coward or a brat.
And this was another reason Mari wanted everyone to survive. She wanted to see where Shinji and Asuka and Rei's relationship went from here and if they allowed it, to be the mediator who kept it friendly.
Just because Shinji was now romantically involved with her, there was no reason for him to have to ditch his old friends that he spent years of hard work earning through blood, sweat and tears.
All three had parents whose souls were still trapped in an EVA, unwilling to die out of motherly love.
And though even Mari acknowledged that this was being a bit optimistic, she did believe that Gendo's method of bringing back his dead wife was not the only way.
Wanting to bring a loved one back to life was a good thing in and of itself. The methods Gendo sought to employ in order to do so were not. It was clear that he didn't even love his late wife and Shinji's mother. No sane person whoever selfless just put their soul into an EVA where they might spend eternity in endless anguish and torment at the snap of a finger.
Not to mention the sheer sorrow Yui would no doubt feel if Gendo's plan succeeded and she opened her eyes to a completely destroyed world that he destroyed for the sole purpose of brining her back.
Mari didn't want to know what that expression would look like. But it would most like surpass every Angel ever to exist in terms of the sheer horror it would impose in its non-existent beholders, who would all be dead by then.
But there had to be a way other than destroying the world in which to bring back Yui and Kyoko.
If it were possible for a soul to survive indefinitely in a bio-engineered cyborg outside of its native human body, then clearly death was not the end at least for them.
That was some food for thought, Mari thought as she continued to finish off the smaller Angel knowing that another pilot in another EVA would take care of saving Asuka. She had a feeling she already knew who it was, and the thought made her crack a smile.
"What took you so long to recover, silly. I've been worried sick." She whispered in blissful jubilation as memories of the last time a brown-haired English girl and a grey-haired Russian boy held hands as they said their sorrowful farewells.
She had accomplished her second goal in joining NERV. She had met Shinji and now Kaworu, and seen for herself that both of them were still alright, both physically and mentally.
Now it was time for her third and last order of business. It was time to save Yui too. How she would do it while not destroying the world, she didn't yet know but she would do it. A life for a life. She had made that promise on the day she was rescued by the mother and son.
Asuka had nearly fainted with fright when the sharp end of a large pair of white pincers thrust itself through the Angel's golden chest causing it to cry out a hellish bellow of pain as coppery blood flooded out from the gaping hole in its ruptured golden skin.
The attack was quickly followed up by a forceful shove which knocked the creature off its feet.
Time seemed to turn to a blur as in the seconds as the Angel fell, a white EVA jumped in front of it and stuck out its kneecap for the falling beast to perfectly ram its head with full force into the hardened titanium.
The Angel had a painful grimace of primal terror at somehow being bested by a mere mortal machine as its skull collided with the EVA's kneecap.
Less than a second later and it had no emotion at all as it quite literally lost its head as parts of its fragmented skull splattered all over the place with a satisfying crack.
And as Asuka's EVA finally ran out of power and its nerve connectors disconnected from her body, the white EVA which had saved her life stood proudly atop its now headless kill.
The pilot, the same grey-haired boy that had helped her yesterday, returned a smart salute to the almost unconscious redhead who could not help but be fairly impressed at how he had pulled off such a complex and deadly move with seeming ease.
"You Russians. You Russians fight good." Asuka eventually admitted, a little teasingly as after prodding the headless corpse of the Angel to ensure it was really dead, the white EVA came alongside and connected its pilot's cabin with hers before opening its covering.
The pilot merely needed to welcomingly hold out his arm for Asuka to nod gratefully as she opened the covering from her now offline EVA and got on board his EVA as without a word, he began to steer it back to HQ in soft and gentle steps which were easy on both of them in their knackered state after such a battle.
"I'm proud of you Asuka." Shinji proudly remarked as he and Rei watched the duo from a distance in their EVA. "You've made your first friend that isn't me."
"Let's just hope she doesn't hit him the same way she's been hitting you." Rei sarcastically snarked.
"Rei. Give her a chance. She said she was sorry, and she's lost a lot as well."
"I'm still watching her." Rei contended herself with replying, still with a somewhat snarky suspect tone.
A few moments later and the pilots had reassembled back in a meeting room after removing their plug suits.
"Ice cream for everyone!" an ecstatic costumed Ritsuko cried in an unusually high pitched voice as she handed out tubs of cherry flavoured scoops of deliciousness to each pilot who accepted without question, amazed at this sudden act of benevolence from a usually cold and stiff antisocial scientist.
She had rushed to the store to buy it the second she was told the battle had been won.
"You didn't die." She had cheered, unable to believe her good fortune. "Thank the heaven's you all didn't die. You're all okay, you're all alive. This calls for a celebration."
And then she had bolted away to find the nearest ice cream stand, her instinct taking over from her brain.
"You're all alright." Ritsuko said once more to the pilots now seated before her, happily licking their ice creams completely blind to the fact they had all been through a life and death situation.
"Yes. Doctor Akagi. We are." Shinji comfortingly replied as if to brush away the fear he could hear in her otherwise cheerful voice. He had always seen her as the nice lady who cared for him in ways Misato never could, as well as the better choice of guardian that he should in all logic have been assigned but wasn't because of cruel fate.
"Call me Ritsuko." She insisted, clearly not comfortable with such levels of formality. Doctor Akagi was her title and only her co-workers referred to her by title. She wanted to make it clear that they were all connected in a way more than just colleagues.
"I'm so happy you all made it. I thought for sure some of you were doomed. Oh please, don't scare me like that ever again."
"It was nothing, Doctor…err Ritsuko" Mari cheerily chimed in. "Just another day on the job."
"Another day another Angel gone, and another problem less for the world." Kaworu added, trying to sound as relaxed as possible.
"Just please. Be extra careful next time. I don't want to lose any of you." Ritsuko pleaded in a better controlled but still very frightened voice.
"Misato never said that." Shinji noted to himself sarcastically as he plopped the last of his ice cream into his mouth. "She also never bought us ice cream either."
"Well doctor, if there's nothing else for us, is it alright if we go now. We plan on heading to counsellors' corner before calling it a day." Mari spoke up as she finished her ice cream as well.
"But of course. That sounds like a terrific idea. You all go early so you can get some good rest before tomorrow. There's a lot of work to do with chief Ikari gone."
Ritsuko encouragingly ordered as she slowly got up.
"I have some of my own work to do before I head home myself as well."
"Well then, goodnight Ritsuko. We'll see you around." Asuka said as the young pilots got up and began to head towards the door.
"Yes, we will. Now get lost. Um I mean bye. No seriously, get lost."
"Let me stay behind for a little while" Rei gently requested when her friends were nearly out the door. "There's something I need to talk to the doctor about."
Asuka raised an eyebrow but politely grunted an mmhm as she left the room.
Rei did not need to wait for the sound of her friends' footsteps to die away before she delivered the message, she had promised the soul of Naoko Akagi she would deliver at the first possible opportunity. They were her friends and they would surely understand.
"Your mother, Naoko loved you, Dr Aka… I mean Ritsuko" Rei sincerely said causing the until then serene expression of contentment on the blonde scientist's face to morph into a twisted amalgamation of loathing, pride, sadness and gladness all in one.
"No, she didn't." Ritsuko retorted close to a sob. "She didn't."
Her fury turned to confusion and bewilderment after she had briefly clutched her head for a few seconds to calm herself.
"Why bring her up, Rei? Why?" There was no anger in her voice ironically enough, only curiosity despite her earlier almost outburst.
"She told me to tell you this herself." Rei explained, maintaining complete sincerity in her every word. "She told me to make sure you were alright and to keep you safe in her place."
"You mean you talked with her?" Ritsuko was suddenly filled with a burning passion to know more immediately. A passion which rivalled the look of fire in Gendo's eyes the day he lost his wife and went off the deep end, only more rational and less unhinged. "Where did you find her? How is this possible?"
"In unit 0. My EVA. Before the battle began, her soul linked to me and told me to tell you what I'm telling you now." Rei considered withholding this information briefly but knew that to do so would be to copy the mistakes of her evil master, who had been using her to deceive everyone she knew and loved since the day of her creation.
There was no place for lies and deceit in the new world she was working alongside Shinji and the others to help create. Every piece of the truth, however ridiculous it seemed, could provide the key to victory.
They didn't call this the information era for nothing.
"It's the truth, doctor. Please believe me." Rei now pleaded as she put an arm around a nearly broken Ritsuko.
"No. I understand Rei. I understand." The doctor's eyes were surprisingly dry when she looked up.
"Thank you for telling me."
"I'm glad." Rei simply stated as she turned to slowly leave now that the doctor seemed under control.
"So I guess, I'll be going now. Shinji and the others are waiting for me."
"And Rei." The doctor briefly interrupted her as she was nearly at the door.
"Yes?"
"Please understand, it's not your fault. You were just following the rules like me. And my mother, she had her problems. She used to be a nice person, but she still had her problems which she couldn't get over. I won't ask you to forgive her, but please, try to understand that I still care for you no matter what she thought of you. I promise, I'm not like her."
"I already forgave her." Rei rationally responded with no bearing of falseness in her voice, looking back at the doctor with a peaceful expression of serenity and acceptance. "We may have had our differences, but those are in the past now. I'm very grateful to her for creating me, and I'm very grateful to you for caring for me. Thank you both, for everything"
She left the room after she said this, leaving Ritsuko to smile with a level of pride and validation she had not felt since the day her mother went off the rails of sanity, dragging her along with her.
Now she understood the real reason she always felt an invisible attachment to NERV she couldn't explain herself, which enticed her to stay despite how dirty she felt after each appointment with the big man and the terrible paycheques.
"No Rei." She whispered gratefully with her hands on her heart. "Thank you for everything. There really is a lot of work to do."
...
"NO! STOP PLAYING THAT MOVIE! STOP IT PLEASE. I'M BEGGING YOU!" Misato cried in great anguish as she knocked her box of popcorn to the floor as she thrashed around in her seat.
The ingratitude shown to poor Homura in the ending of the movie "Homura's rebellion" had left her torn enough, but now a seemingly innocent and charming children's movie meant to be much less serious and dark than that one was giving her feelings punch after punch.
"I thought Sailor Moon was meant to be a kid's show." she wailed as the other Sailor guardians (a group of teenage girls clad in the traditional sailor fuku outfits, each with amazing superpower to destroy several Angels with a flick of their wrist) chased the young and sickly pre-teen girl "Sailor Saturn" around, pelting beams of elemental chaos in her direction with full intent to kill her.
The prettiness in her modest but no less beautiful clothes of mostly black and dark opal. The short black hair complimenting her sullen and resigned smile of self hatred which seemed to be silently saying the words "death row, next in line speaking" emphasised her complete innocence. As had the many helpful deeds of pure selflessness that girl had spent the first half of the movie committing despite the startling disregard the supposed "main characters" had shown her even back then.
"It is a kid's show" Maya nonchalantly returned with a hint of resentment in her voice. "It's about a kid who just happens to be the victim of horrific abuse from the bullies supposed to be her friends."
"That's messed up! What they're trying to do to her is messed up!" Misato cried.
"And so is what you've let Asuka and Gendo do to Shinji all these years." Maya contemptuously replied as she snatched the remote away from Misato when she tried to grab hold of it to hit the off button.
"Keep watching Misato. There's a happy ending at the end if you just stay tuned." Maya imperiously ordered.
Misato groaned as she reluctantly turned her tear filled eyes back to the screen.
"In the name of the moon, I'll punish you Asuka." she vowed, pure venom in her voice.
"And Kyubey, my wish as a magical girl is to see Asuka be given to proper discipline she richly deserves for mistreating my innocent little boy."
Props once more to my reviewers for reviewing my work. So another fragment of the truth is revealed. Will our heroes put this information to good use?
So many problems in Evangelion could have been avoided if the characters just communicated more.
What we've got here…is failure to communicate.
Special thanks to fictionelement777, howahotgluegun, StraightedgeEpyon and Darkscythe Drake for your contributions to me.