CHAPTER 36: DOUBLE BLITZKRIEG
If NERV had a condition designated 'Oh Shit' this would be the opportune time to hit that button. The 14th Angel showed up out of the blue, the only warning being an explosion that ripped into the defensive perimeter that ringed Tokyo-3. "Battle Stations! Condition One!" The PA system announced as emergency klaxons blared throughout headquarters.
"Status report!" Ikari barked as he entered the Command Center with Fuyutsuki and Tokarev at his side.
"The target breeched the Old Odawara defense line without so much as a warning!" Lt. Hyuga shouted as battle reports began pouring in. "All batteries currently engaged!" Topside, batteries of 5 inch guns, rocket launchers and flak cannons poured a hell storm of explosive destruction at the angel which seemingly took no notice of the hostile volleys.
Misato was about halfway down to the Geo-Front when it was rocked by a heavy shockwave coming from topside. "Holy shit," she groaned as she steadied herself in the elevator. "If the shockwaves are this powerful all the way down here," the elevator slowed to her stop, "then we're in trouble!" She then bolted in the direction of the command center.
"District 4 took a direct hit!" Lt. Aoba announced with terror in his voice. "It punched through twenty-four layers of armor in one shot!"
"The 14th is more powerful than we expected," Fuyutsuki nervously stated. After Ikari replied with 'Indeed' the Vice-Commander continued, "With Unit-00 still heavily damaged and so soon after the last attack-"
"Nothing we can do about that," Ikari stated as Doctor Akagi, her head still wrapped in bandages, entered the control room.
"The First and Second Child have arrived and are being prepped."
"Prepare to scramble both Units 01 and 02," Ikari ordered. "Have the Dummy System uploaded into Unit-01's plug as a backup."
"Commander!" A technician at the security station shouted. "We've got a breech at Gate Seven! The security post is not responding!" Tokarev marched down to the station jest behind, above and to the left of the main control station.
"Bring up the footage," Tokarev instructed, "and rewind three minutes." The technician did so. At first all seemed normal as the two security guards, wearing body armor, berets and holding their P90's slung on their backs, opened the gate so they could seek shelter inside. A figure popped around a corner on the edge of the screen, just behind the guards, producing his own P90 and firing a pair of controlled bursts into both guards before dashing inside. "Freeze it! Back up a few frames…" The technician followed his orders. The footage paused on the intruder sweeping the inside of the gate. "Zoom in," the Russian instructed even though he didn't need to. He knew who it was. "Dobriy vyechyer, Shinji Ikari," he said as Shinji's face filled the screen (Good evening). He was wearing olive drab BDU pants and navy blue hoodie under the black body armor. Since his brush with the Section Two agents the previous day he had dyed his hair reddish-orange and cut it down into a flat-topped Mohawk. He also had a small tactical sling backpack.
"Captain Tokarev?" Commander Ikari inquired.
"I'll handle it," the Russian said running out of the command center as Misato was running in.
"Colonel Katsurgai?" Ikari seemed surprised to see here. "You're still on probation!"
"You can fire me if we live through this!" Misato barked back, taking her position amongst the bridge bunnies. "We don't have time to be able to make a surface intercept. Have the EVAs sent to the Geo-Front as soon as they're ready with as much ordnance we can get them. What's their status?"
"Second Child is still in the locker rooms," Maya reported from her terminal as Unit-01's entry plug closed up. "The First Child has arrived at Unit-01."
Down in Unit-01's cage Rei finished her startup procedures. 'This feels…wrong,' Rei said to herself. 'This is Shinji's EVA. But he's not here.' Suddenly the EVA jostled and the plug turned red as Rei felt her stomach lurch. A screaming sound filled her ears reminding Rei of the time Unit-00 went berserk. She then felt the plug be ejected back into the cage. "It won't accept me," she realized that the EVA was rejecting her.
Shinji ran down the corridor heading for the control room. He thought that if he attacked while NERV was busy with a firefight against an angel he could get close enough to assassinate the Commander. He dashed down a flight of stairs and met the first resistance NERV would throw at him, a four man NERV security team. They were amateurs though, with only moderate training and minimal practice and it showed.
Shinji dropped the first pair with a long fifteen-round burst from the SMG. The other two ducked back into the corridor they had come out from. Shinji took up position behind a wall beam and dropped the third with a quick burst as he stopped, full body out into the corridor. Shinji dashed forward, leaned around the corner and killed the fourth as he tried getting the body of the third guard off of him.
Shinji reloaded and began to run through the corridors, knowing full well that he didn't have a lot of time before swarms of NERV security and Tokarev's men filled them. He came to a closed hatch with another corridor branching off to the right and around the corner. He realized that they were going to try and force him to move around this part of the corridor and into an ambush. But, in their haste, they had only closed the standard hatch and not the blast door. 'Their loss,' Shinji said to himself as he pulled the last of the C4 from his pack. 'My advantage.'
On the other side of the hatch, two four man teams had set up a barricade looking down the corridor they expected the Third Child to come down. Two men lay on their stomachs, Steyr AUG-A3 rifles trained forward while their P90 and shotgun wielding comrades either stood behind the corners or crouched behind the barricades, their weapons similarly trained in only one direction.
The explosion ripped through the closed hatch to their right, killing two of their number and knocking out a wounded third. Before they could regain their senses a frag grenade was tossed though the blast hole and when it cooked off it killed two more guards. The two with the Steyr rifles stood up and were cut down by a burst of SMG rounds each. The surviving three back pedaled in the direction of a lab when Shinji emerged through the blown open hatch, firing several bursts that killed a guard and wounded another who was dragged inside the lab by his surviving comrade.
Not wanting to get suckered into fighting anymore battles than he needed to, Shinji reloaded his P90 and kept moving. More tremors rocked the NERV facility as he went along. "That angel sure is packing a punch," Shinji said to himself as he came to a plaque that gave directions to various sectors. Looking at it, Shinji debated heading for the EVA hanger instead of the command center. 'I'll just have to hope Rei and Asuka can take care of it…' But he still had a bad feeling inside his gut.
Back in the command center the crew had gone for using the Dummy Plug itself on Unit-01. "Dummy Plug inserted," Maya reported as Ritsuko looked over her shoulder.
"Initiate," the scientist ordered. As soon as the brunette technician hit the key the screens blared 'ERROR' and an alarm sounded.
"It's no good!" Maya shouted. "The core unit is rejecting the Dummy Plug! Unit-01 won't connect!"
"That's impossible!" Ritsuko screamed. 'The Dummy is designed to flawlessly replicate the brain patterns of a human. This can't be happening!'
"Unit-01 is rejecting the Dummy System?" Fuyutsuki was just as incredulous. "Could it be…?"
"I'm going down to Unit-01's cage," Gendo Ikari announced as he stood up. "Take command, here."
In the meantime, Asuka and Unit-02 had arrived in the Geo-Front. There was already a large cache of weapons, reminiscent of the weapons Shinji had on top of Mount Asama. "Looks like it's up to me, then," Asuka said confidently either not noticing or not caring about the powerful tremors caused by the approaching angel's blasts. "Even though Shinji isn't here this will be a piece of cake." At that moment several of the skyscrapers along the ceiling of the Geo-Front broke away as smoke and flames poured through a blast hole.
"Geo-Front has been breached," Shigeru's voice announced the obvious over the radio. "Target is approaching." Asuka picked up a pair of EVA rifles and trained them on the blast hole.
"Come and get it, you ugly son of a bitch," she growled as her trigger fingers became itchy. Its face appeared through the smoke followed by an extremely small body that seemed little more than just its core along with a pair of long, black, ribbon-like arms. Asuka let loose with a torrent of shells that poured out from the rifles.
But the angel didn't seem to notice them as they were stopped about half-way to the target by an insanely strong AT field that hardly moved from the amount of firepower being thrown at it. "What the hell!?" She shrieked in total surprise. "There's no way it's AT field is that strong! Hrrr!" She growled as she tossed the rifles aside and picked up the Gatling cannon. "Try this!" She then sent a deluge of 50mm shells towards the target from the Gatling. But, again, this had little better effect on the target as it came to a landing on the ground.
"That AT field is stronger than any we've ever recorded," Ritsuko spoke with a quivering voice. "It's got perfect offensive and defensive power."
"Then let's see if it's any good up close!" Asuka's theory sounded good. If it preferred to engage at long range it might be vulnerable up close. If it weren't for those ribbons, though. And that's just what Misato feared.
"Asuka!" She shouted at the headstrong pilot. "Don't! Those ribbons will-!"
"Charge!" But Asuka would hear none of it.
She placed a prog-halberd on her back and hefted a pair of automatic rocket launchers before running straight in. She loosed six rockets at the target, blinding its vision, but also hers. She launched into the air, pulled the halberd from her back and slammed it, point first at the target from above as she came through the smoke. But the blade didn't penetrate the AT field. Instead the weapon began to collapse as her momentum continued to move her forward and over the target. "Let's see how you like point-blank range, scheisskopf!" She then fired the twelve 50mm single shot cannons in her EVA's pylons straight at her enemy. But, again, the AT field barely fluctuated. "Huh?"
The angel shifted beneath her and the AT filed began to glow. Next thing Asuka knew she was getting shot away from the angel and into the Geo-Front's wall. She was barely able to come to her senses in time to dodge a powerful energy blast that left a smoking crater right where her EVA used to be. "Are you kidding m-!" She whirled around only to feel both of her EVA's arms get severed by the angel's ribbons. "GYYAAAAAHHH!"
"Asuka!" Misato's voice cried out to her. "Retreat! Get out of there!"
"DIIIIIIEEEEE!" Asuka cried out as her vision began to blur with rage, and her EVA charged forward. A ribbon coiled back and shot out again straight at the EVA.
"Cut Unit-02's circuits, now!" Misato ordered. Makoto was able to hit the 'return' key just in time, for the plug went dark only half a second before Unit-02's head was severed, causing the red Evangelion to crash on top of a hill.
Back inside, Shinji was nearing the control room when he was nearly cut down by a squad of black and blue garbed troopers. He barely rolled out of the hail of bullets and into a side corridor as Tokarev's men cut him off. One bullet managed to hit him square in the back. Thankfully the ceramic plate in the body armor broke up and stopped the 5.56mm round. "Shit," Shinji swore as he carefully emptied his SMG back at the professional soldiers. He managed to drop one trooper dead with his aim but he knew he couldn't afford to get into a standup firefight here. It'd be too easy for another squad to flank him.
Instead he retreated up a flight of stairs and into the Pyramid's office area. He tossed a grenade down to the landing as a trooper filed inside. The grenade shredded into him, fragments getting underneath the armor and cutting up his vital organs. Shinji continued up the stairs until he found an unlocked door that led onto a floor that was undergoing renovation.
As he stepped onto the floor he felt a strange sense of déjà vu. And, recalling the last time he exited the top of a flight of stairs like that, spun around and dropped to one knee, bringing his weapon to bear. He dropped not a moment too soon as a trooper, upper torso barely clearing the steps, fired on him. Shinji could swear he saw a bullet whiz right over his head as he fired a burst of his own that caused the trooper's face to disappear into a cloud of red mist.
Shinji tossed a grenade back into the stairwell then barricaded the door with a tarp covered sofa. Shinji turned to try and find a way off the floor he was trapped on. He also felt the inside of his body armor along his back. Not feeling any penetration or blood he was confident the ballistic ceramic plate did its job.
He pushed open a plastic tarp and looked out through the windows into the Geo-Front. "Is that…?" he saw a red giant, minus its arms and head, collapsed on a hill. "Unit-02?" That's when he noticed the angel…and another giant behind it.
"What's Rei doing out there unarmed!?" Misato asked as she noticed the absence of a rifle in Unit-00's arm. Instead, Unit-00 bent down and hefted a large missile under its armpit before running forward.
"That's an N2 missile!" Ritsuko shrieked.
"No!"
"Rei!" Shinji shouted as Rei jabbed the missile into the target's AT field, fired the rockets and set her AT field to maximum, focusing it on a point just ahead of the missile. "No!"
"Shinji," Rei said to herself as she struggled against the angel's AT field. Around her neck dangled Shinji's shark-tooth necklace. "You would…do everything you could…to save humanity…" She pushed her EVA to its absolute limits. "I can't do what you do…but I can…do…this!" Her plan worked and her AT Field was able to bore a hole just wide enough for the missile to push through and detonate against the target.
Shinji was temporarily blinded by the blast and when his vision cleared, the target not only was still standing, but it was unscathed. Unit-00 however had lost its other arm and was scorched black and gray.
What happened next, terrified Shinji right down to his bones. The angel's mouth opened wider than it should have, extended outward, its jaw dislocating like a snake's and took all of Unit-00 from the knees up into it with one bite. "Rei…" Shinji's voice quivered. "N-no…" The angel seemed to chew on its quarry and spat out Unit-00's head. Its form then began to extend and morph into a naked and humanoid feminine body with the angel's head and body becoming the upper torso.
That's when Shinji heard the door being forced in. 'Change of plans,' Shinji said to himself as he bolted down the office area. He heard the Russians shouting as they fired at him, bullets missing as Shinji stayed ahead of their aim. Coming to the end of the floor, he fired into the glass as the troopers took up new firing positions.
He crashed through the shattered glass and landed on the glass below him. Due to the slope of the pyramid, Shinji slid down several levels before firing into the glass ahead of him. One pane suffered enough bullet impacts to dump him, rather unceremoniously, onto the floor. Groaning, Shinji reloaded once more and quickly ascertained his location before heading off in the direction of the hanger.
Above him, the Russian soldiers called to Tokarev over the radio. "Comrade Captain," the squad leader announced. "I have three men dead and one wounded. Target has evaded us by jumping out the windows. I believe he is on office level Twelve-B."
"Very well," Tokarev said. "Hold your position and make sure he does not double back to the command center. I'm sending another squad to try and cut him off and flush him in my direction."
Down in the control room everyone was also terrified, for more reasons than what they and Shinji just saw. Because they also saw the data of what was happening. "Did it just…" Misato was speechless. "Did it just devour Unit-00?"
"No…" Ritsuko whimpered as she and Maya looked at the data. "It's absorbing the EVA!"
"The target's wave pattern is changing!" Maya announced. "It's becoming identical to that of Unit-00's!"
"That means it'll be able walk past all of our security and right into Terminal Dogma!" Misato paled in terror. "What's Unit-01's status!?"
"Still unable to connect to the Dummy Plug!"
Shinji went unnoticed by the NERV security team on this level. But as he neared the entrance to Unit-01's hanger he nearly ran full on into another squad of Tokarev's men. Thankfully, he fired the last of the ammo in his P90, killing one of their number and forcing them to take cover. He then quickly tossed the last of his grenades in their direction. The blast sent fragments into them and caused a fire door to close, sealing them off from him. Shinji dropped his P90 and drew out the liberated USP40 pistol from his hip holster and the Gerber LMF II knife from the body armor as the facility was rocked by yet another tremor.
"Main shaft is exposed!" Lt. Hyuga's voice filled the hanger through the P.A. "Central Dogma is compromised!"
"We can't anchor the plug!" A technician on the catwalks above Ikari shouted. "Manual override doesn't work either!"
"Reboot and try again from three-zero-eight," Commander Ikari ordered as he examined the console in front of him. "Why?" He asked quietly as he looked over at Unit-01, which had again ejected the black, white and green Dummy Plug. "Why are you rejecting me, Yui?" That's when he heard a commotion on the other side of the hanger.
As Shinji approached the door to the hanger a pair of troopers appeared out of the side corridor a few steps ahead of him. He then dashed forward and crashed into them slamming the Gerber knife into the lead trooper's forward leg. As they fell backwards, Shinji fired three rounds into the trooper, the second round clearing the top of the target's body armor and the third blasting out the side of his face.
The other trooper, his Steyr AUG-A3 rifle fallen to the ground, launched at Shinji who turned his attacker's momentum against him and threw him against the opposite wall. The Russian was quick to get back on his feet though and pulled a knife, slashing at Shinji, barely missing his exposed left arm. Shinji responded by kicking at the back of the Russian's leg, sending him to one knee. The Wolverine followed this up with another kick that knocked the knife out of the trooper's hand.
The trooper again tried to tackle Shinji, this time going for the legs. Again, Shinji used the momentum to his advantage, throwing the Russian head-long into the wall behind him. He finished his opponent off by firing a bullet into the back of his head. It was at that moment that Shinji heard the hanger door open. He turned around as it opened. On the other side was another Russian. This one, wearing an eye patch.