A/N: It's been a while. But, here's the next exciting chapter in Call of EVA: The NERV Incident. And once again, danke schön to Joke4Joker for the help with the German. Now, let's roll…
CHAPTER 28: INTO PURGATORY
The next day at school Rei took her seat as normal. But, throughout the day she kept looking at Shinji's back. She didn't know how to approach him about how he made her feel. She didn't even know if he would understand or know how to help. Asuka noticed this as did Hikari.
"Hey, Asuka," Hikari said to her best friend. "What's with Ayanami? She looks…I don't know…she looks sullen."
"She always looks that way," she replied. "How should I know what's going on in Wondergirl's head?" Asuka shrugged. "It's not like she tells anyone what she's thinking."
"What about Shinji?"
"What about that cowboy?"
"Doesn't she talk to him?"
"Probably," Asuka rolled her eyes. "But he's too dense. And it's not like he's open about her either. Of course, what should I care if the two of them can't figure each other out?"
"You know, Asuka," Hikari said. "Deep down, I bet you like Shinji, too."
"What makes you think that?" Asuka asked grumpily.
"By the way you get so defensive when I even suggest it," Hikari giggled.
"Oh, please!" Asuka snapped. "Like I'd want anything to do with him."
"I rest my case," Hikari said with a sly smirk.
"Gaaahhh!" Asuka screamed at her causing Shinji and about half the class to look over for a moment. "Why should I even be remotely interested in him? He's dense, stupid, perverted…"
"What the fuck!?" They heard Shinji blurt out in the middle of class.
"Mr. Ikari!" Hikari shouted. "There's no swearing-!" That's when she and everyone else saw the massive black and white striped sphere hovering above the city.
"Everyone get to the shelters!" Shinji shouted as he bolted for the door. "Asuka! Rei! Let's go! NOW!" The two girls chased after him as the rest of the school emptied out.
"Where did that angel come from?" Rei asked as they ran down the school yard steps as the sirens began to wail.
"Damned if I know," Shinji said. "I was looking out the window one second, the next Asuka's banshee shriek distracted me…"
"'Banshee shriek'!?" Asuka yelled as they hopped down the stairs. They then took off down the street.
"…and when I looked back, boom!" Shinji pointed at it. "Like it appeared out of thin air!"
As they were mounting up in their EVAs Misato arrived at the control center. "You're late, colonel!" Ritsuko barked.
"Sorry!" Misato snapped. "What the hell's going on? Why didn't the Fuji Observation-?"
"Never detected it!" Shigeru shouted back. "The target just appeared right over the city!"
"Initial scan completed," Makoto announced. "Wave pattern orange. No AT Field detected."
"What is this?" Ritsuko asked. "A new kind of angel?"
"Unknown," Maya replied. "The Magi are withholding judgment."
"Damn, damn, damn," Misato barked. "Another situation like this and Commander Ikari is not here again!"
Minutes later, Shinji and the other pilots ducked through the city following the 'angel' or whatever it was. Rei grabbed a sniper rifle and took a position on the outskirts. Asuka hefted a battle axe for close in work while Shinji grabbed a pistol. "Can you all hear me?" Misato came on the line.
"Talk to me, Goose," Shinji replied.
"Don't call me 'Goose'. We're sending you the data now," she said as said data appeared on the screen. "That's literally all we know about the target."
"This might as well be nothing," Shinji said. "What the hell is this thing?"
"We don't know. So for now we just want you to follow it, observe it and record its reactions. If possible try to lure it outside the city and ambush it there. And I want you to back each other up, got it?"
"Yes, ma'am!" Asuka cheered. "But don't you think lover boy Shinji should be taking the point position?"
"Lover boy!?" Shinji snapped. "I thought I was 'cowboy'."
"Well, it's only the right place for the greatest, bravest, number one synch-ratio holder of them all! Unless, you're too worn out to do it, Shinji."
"Blow it out your ass, Asuka."
"What was that!?"
"Will you two cut it out?"Misato snapped.
"She started it," Shinji said. "I'll take the point position. I eat this shit up. Just try and keep up, Asuka. If you can." He then signed off.
"Chauvinistic pig!" Asuka screeched. "Unit-02 will back him up."
"Unit-00 will back up as well," Rei announced.
"I don't believe those two," Misato grumbled.
"I wonder if Shinji's hormones are kicking in." Ritsuko theorized. "What do you think?"
"I'm going to have to sit down with them," Misato leered at the screen. "This bickering between the two of them is really getting on my nerves."
"Of course," Ritsuko smiled. "You're a model guardian."
Topside, Shinji and Asuka stayed behind the buildings while Rei kept to the outskirts to provide sniper cover. Shinji kept his movements smooth and fluid, not quick and jerky. That would've drawn attention. For the past ten minutes the trio had been constantly maneuvering around the target. And in that time, the sphere did nothing but drift around the city at a snail's pace of two and a half kilometer per hour. Shinji could walk faster than that. "Asuka, Rei," he called out to them. "Are you in position yet?"
"Not yet," Rei replied. "Thirty seconds."
"An EVA can't move that fast, you twit," Asuka snapped as she changed out umbilical cables.
"What the hell is with this thing?" Shinji wondered out loud. "It's just moving in circles. Does it even know if we're here?"
"Doesn't appear so," Rei replied. "It appears to be searching the city."
"Searching for what?" Shinji asked. "This is really starting to irritate me." He watched from around the corner of a building as it drifted lazily over an overpass. "Fuck this," Shinji growled. "I'll get this damn thing's attention!"
"Shinji!" Misato snapped. Too late. Shinji had already let loose with a trio of gunshots. All three would've grouped together in one ragged circle on the target, had it not disappeared.
"What the-!?" Shinji's eyes went wide.
"AT Field detected!" Makoto shouted in alarm. "Pattern blue! Angel confirmed! It's right beneath Unit-01!" Shinji then became aware of an ever increasing black shadow beneath him.
"Holy SHIT!" Shinji swore as he emptied his pistol into the shadow. But it just swallowed up the rounds without so much as a scratch. "What the hell is going on!?"
"Shinji!" Rei cried out to him as he became aware of the sphere directly overhead.
"Shinji get out of there!" Misato shouted to him. He tossed his gun to the side and grabbed at the roof of a low rise to try and pull himself out. But Uni-01 continued to sink into the black mass.
"You idiot!" Asuka shouted. "Get your ass in gear!"
"What the fuck do you think I'm doing!?" He shouted as he drew out a prog knife and drove it into the opposite building for support. It just cut straight down through the floors in jagged movements. "Fuck!" He slammed his fist onto the ejection button but it failed to work. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuuuck!" He was slowly being pulled down like he was in quicksand. "GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!"
"Force eject the entry plug!" Misato cried out in terror. "Get him out of there!"
"Negative!" Maya shouted. "The command's not being received!"
"Help!" Shinji cried out. "Someone help me!"
Shinji was panicking as he kept struggling to get himself free but nothing seemed to work, he kept getting swallowed up. "REI! ASUKA! GET ME OUT OF THIS SHIT!" He was now up to his unit's neck. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"
"I CAN'T…! HELP! REI! ASUKA! MISA-!" Shinji's transmission was cut off as the unit slipped beneath the shadow.
"SHINJI!" Misato cried out. No response.
Rei shivered in terror and hesitated for a second before she angrily took aim at the sphere. She fired two rounds as Misato ordered her and Soryu to rescue Shinji. The sphere disappeared again and the rounds blew off the upper floors of an office building.
"ASUKA!" Dr. Akagi shouted out. "WATCH THE STREET!"
Asuka jumped out of the way just in time. But the building she grabbed onto began to sink into the shadow. Thinking fast she drove her axe and a prog knife into the building to climb to the roof. When she got up there she saw what was happening. "The whole city is sinking!"
"Asuka! Rei! Pull back!" Misato came on the line.
"Wha-!?"
"WAIT!" Rei shrieked in a volume that Asuka had never heard from her. "U-Unit-01 and Shinji are still in there," Rei's image on the screen shivered in fear. Asuka couldn't help but blink and notice the look of sheer distraught on Rei's face.
"This is an order," Misato cringed as she repeated herself. "Withdraw now."
XXXXX
Sixteen hours. That's what Maya heard from Dr. Akagi in regards to how long Shinji had on the internal batteries. What annoyed Maya was not that it seemed like such a short time but that Dr. Akagi seemed so calm and numb about it. Shinji was trapped in some kind of extra-physical dimension, all alone, and Dr. Akagi didn't even seem worried. 'Maybe she's keeping her cool to be professional,' Maya told herself. But she still didn't like it. She herself was having a hard time wrestling with the situation. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like for Shinji in there.
"Well," Asuka said smugly from off to the side as Misato and the command staff worked on what to do about the angel. "He's done it this time. The cowboy took matters into his own hands and defied procedure; I guess he got what he was asking for." Close by, Rei was trembling with anger at the Second Child's behavior. "Just because he's now got a doll of his own and because he got a little better score than mine he thought he was invincible and would show me how it ought to be done. Thought he had become a man! "Ein großer Dummkopf, oder?"?" Rei stepped into Asuka's face and glared at her.
"You have no right to say that," Rei muttered under her breath.
"Oh, are my comments about your boyfriend pissing you off, Wondergirl!?"
"Yes," Rei replied. "What makes you think you're better than Shinji? I wonder if you're capable of doing anything without wanting to be praised by others for it."
"You don't know what you're talking about!" Asuka shouted into her face. "I don't need anyone's approval but my own!"
"Then why do you feel the need to denigrate others or degrade their accomplishments and take glee in their failure?"
"Don't act like you know me, you frigid bitch!"
"Cut it out you two!" Misato snapped. "This isn't helping. Asuka's right. He did act foolishly. But, this time, it's really gotten him into trouble."
"That's right, Wondergirl," Asuka said proudly. "Maybe, when he gets back you should ask him how he feels about being such a cowboy now. That is…if he comes back." Slap! Rei racked her hand across Asuka's face with vigorous strength.
"If Shinji doesn't come back," Rei said looking her in the eyes. "What would you say? How would you feel?" To that, Asuka was speechless. "I see." And with that, Rei walked off to find somewhere quiet.
'What's gotten into Rei?' Misato asked herself. 'She's never acted like this before.'
Rei found a patch of grass adjacent to the remaining two EVAs. She sat down and brought her knees to her chest. She was feeling claustrophobic, like the world was closing in around her. She was finding it difficult to focus her thoughts. She couldn't even see straight.
"You're worried," Colonel Katsuragi appeared behind her. "You're worried about Shinji. Aren't you?" Rei nodded. "I understand," she said sitting down next to her. "I'm worried about him, too. He's like a son to me. And he's your best friend." She placed a hand on her shoulder.
"He's…he's my only friend," Rei said collecting her voice. "The only person I can call a friend."
"We've just got to hope we can think of a way to help him and that he can hang on."
"If anyone," Rei said confidently, "If anyone can persevere within there, it's Shinji. He's…he's strong."
"He is," Misato said gently squeezing her shoulder. "Rei, this is personal but…has something happened between you and Shinji?" Rei glanced over at the colonel. "I promise it'll remain between you and me." Rei looked away and shook her head. "I see. You love him. Don't you?"
"Love?" Rei pondered the word. She knew what it meant. But, did it apply to her and Shinji? "I…I don't know how I feel about, Shinji," Rei said softly. "I…I miss him."
"He's not dead, Rei," Misato said reassuringly. "And if any of us have a say in it, he'll be back before you know it. And when he does come back, you two can sort out your feelings."
"But I don't know what my feelings are."
"You do," Misato countered. "You just need to listen to them more closely." She patted Rei on the shoulder and stood up to leave. "Just let your guard down and let him know. Otherwise it may eat you up from the inside."
As the colonel was walking away Rei thought back on her relationship with Shinji since the day he first met her in Unit-01's cage. Since that day, Rei had felt a connection to Shinji. Something that, until recently, she had no word to describe. The Colonel called it 'love', but Rei didn't know if that really was the case or not.
She still felt it, when he was nearly killed again in the first engagement with the Seventh Angel and again when he was in battle with the Ninth Angel. She felt it earlier today when he sank into the angel's shadow. She had great concern for his well-being and for his very existence. He was the first person to ever show her true friendship and not demand anything in return. Unlike the commander, he asked for no loyalty, no obedience to whatever he asked of her, nothing; except her continued friendship.
In Operation: Yashima he said he wouldn't leave her to die. Even after the particle cannon's targeting system failed, after then-Major Katsuragi ordered him to retreat. He had defied a direct order in order to save her life. Today, she was hoping that he wouldn't leave her to mourn his absence. "Shinji," Rei said softly. "Don't leave me."
XXXXX
Shinji woke up after only four hours, hardly much of a sleep anyway. "This sucks," he said to himself as he rubbed his forehead. The headache was back with a vengeance. "My head hurts like hell and I could never have thought that sleeping could be so draining." He activated the external sensors for only a few seconds to conserve power. "Yup. Still in purgatory." He switched them off after getting nothing but white noise. He looked down at the timer on his plug suit. 'Only five hours have passed since I switched to life support.' For the first few minutes he tried to find a way out. After realizing he was in an endless void he switched to LS.
He then spent at least a full thirty minutes trying to force his body to sleep. Sleep would help extend the LS system's duration. He recalled that, relying on internal batteries the EVA could maintain LS for up to sixteen hours. He was now past the one-quarter mark. Hopefully, the others would find a way to pull him out. "Guess I'd best try to nap some more," he said to himself. "Wish I had something to eat to shut up my stomach."
Topside, the NERV crews worked around the clock to scan and analyze the new angel. Asuka was off doing whatever, Misato was helping to coordinate NERV and UN forces, Ritsuko was pouring over the data and Rei…Rei just sat on the hillside looking out at the sphere floating above the city. She thought back to the previous night, hoping that it wouldn't be the last time she would have dinner with Shinji.
Still in his plug, Shinji woke up again, this time because his stomach was screaming at him. "I know," he said to his gut. "You're hungry. But damnit there's nothing but LCL in here. And I doubt my plugsuit would be very nutritious. Probably just clog the plumbing." But it did not shut up. He turned his thoughts to what the others would be doing. Misato would certainly be focusing on how to pull him out and destroy the angel. Ritsuko would no doubt be going ape over the data points on the angel. He wasn't really sure what Asuka would be doing. But Rei…
"Rei," he said her name softly. "I hope you're okay." He closed his eyes and tried to think back to the previous night in the park. She just sat next to him, listening to him rant about human beings living in cities. He liked being around her. He liked hearing her voice. He liked her smile. He liked her.
He looked down at the timer, 09:17:32. "Probably around oh one hundred," he said. "Only about thirty hours ago." It was only the previous night, but the loneliness of this purgatory made it feel like last year. "Damn." He slammed his fist down on the control panel in front of him. "Why'd I have to be such a fucking idiot!?" He screamed at himself. "I just had to be a cowboy. Got all ahead of myself and took a shot at the angel and now look." He motioned at his predicament. "What the fuck was I trying to prove out there? Was I trying to show Asuka up? God damnit!" He shook his head. "I'm such a fucking screw up." He flopped back into his chair and stared at the top of the plug for several minutes. "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! FUCK!"
He then went back to sleep again.