This valley was no stranger to battle. After almost six months, a smoking hole existed where, weeks before, Tokyo 3 once stood. It had been the place where man's defenders were to save humanity from extinction. Who knew it was also, secretly, the facilitator of their demise?

"Orders sir?"

Major Tanaka hesitated on the telephone. He was on an overlook above the valley where he had been directing his forces on the assault.

Already flight troops were committed to the operation. The geofront itself was being held while his forces worked to penetrate deeper into the base. Stop NERV from ending the world with their strange technology.

He could do this methodically, block by block, sterilizing the base and being sure they won. If they had the time.

Or he could eliminate the magicians with magic of his own.

Tanaka raised the phone. "Contact tea party. They are go."

Alternates

Norsehound

A: Atomic Weapon

In other words, destruction attained from a nuclear reaction.

Something big had been flying in from low earth orbit. It had been circling on standby for a few weeks, lofted in secret by the United States government. With it was a small space defense force, waiting for the moment to act.

The local radio crackles, "Fork, this is spoon. The table is set, ready to serve. Chocolate parfait monster is on the menu."

In one of the small shield-clad fighters, the eyes of a young man danced across the cockpit of the fighter. He keyed his comm on a private channel. "Olsen, you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." The man's best friend and Wingate said. "Getting cold feet, Kei?"

Kei Katsuragi glanced at the photos he had put in his cockpit. On the right, ahis girlfriend Tina held a frozen smile for him.

On the left…

"My sister is down there." Kei said, "She would be the last person I know who could do something like this. Not after what she's been through in antarctica."

"Maybe it isn't her. Maybe she was put up to it."

Kei blinked as he stared at the picture, uncertain. Almost a decade of guilt over being unable to help her, or reach her, sat within him. "I don't believe that."

"We have our orders, Kei." Olsen replied from his own fighter. "We need to focus on that. No heroics this time, especially with something this important."

Kei didn't answer. He was grateful the bowshock of reentry cut off his chance for response. He stole a glance to look up at their payload; the massive prototype bomb based on science he could hardly understand.

Kei turned back to his instruments. In moments they would be landing in Tokyo-3, where his estranged sister lived.

Asuka was invincible. Mama was here, She always was. Asuka could never come to harm as long as mama was with her.

And the enemies were weak.

So the military wanted to kill her and everyone she knew? They would have to get through her to try it.

Asuka made her presence known by throwing a battleship, making these pathetic soldiers pay for the insolence of challenging her and mama. She strode from the water, daring any of these gnats to challenge her godlike power.

She advanced on another group of tanks next when a communication from the base came in. One of the operators, Aoba, said, "Unit 02, incoming from above!"

Asuka stopped and turned the quad eyes to the hole above the Geofront. As she watched, a column of fire and smoke descended through the hole, growing in intensity before crashing into the other side of the lake. A second roared in after the first, landing not too far away. The huge air shockwave blasted through the enclosure, Asuka throwing up her AT Field to protect her from the debris. She had to kneel as the torrent swirled back and forth, settling only after a few moments.

As the dust receedes, her sensors informed her radar tracking was zeroing in on her. She stood and prepared for battle as more golden shells flew in her direction.

From the hole above, a constellation of star fighters descended. In one of them was Kei Katsuragi, who worried for his sister.

The impact from above jarred and shook the subterranean roadways in the Geofront. The car swerved on the roadway and slammed into one of the sidewalls. Misato demanded into her radio, "Hyuga, what was that?"

"Something hard landed from space." The bridge responded, "We're still getting specifics. Two large contacts, twelve smaller ones. Seems manmade… there's a strange EM reading coming from one of the large objects. MAGI thinks it's some kind of bomb."

Misato winced, then said, "Have Asuka deal with it. What did that do to the JDSSF?"

"Their targeting was poor. There's no activity from C block now, you can pass through there now to get to the cages."

SEELE was not pleased. "This intrusion is not permitted! What are these interlopers?" SEELE 01 thundered.

There was an awkward pause, before SEELE 07 spoke, "This cannot be! Japan has deployed their own weapon without our permission!"

"How can such a thing be permitted to exist outside of our knowing?" Keel, behind his monolith, uttered incredulously, "Do we not control all the nations on the Earth? Do we not possess every secret?"

Another pause, before SEELE 07 said, "They must be stopped! The command is being sent, but it may not be in time!"

Keel uttered then, "So it is two birds our stone must kill. The ritual cannot be interrupted!"

"Okay," Kodama said, "one, two, Push!"

She and Hikari pushed hard against the side of the van to righten it again. They were on a desolate road just north of what used to be Tokyo-3.

As the van bounced back on its tires, Kodama hurried into the driver's seat, saying, "Get everyone in!"

Hikari, out of breath, ran around the van to where her father, Pen Pen, and Nozomi had been waiting. She cast her gaze out at the columns of smoke that marked the arrival of something else. Something new. The Horakis had been trying to leave since the emergency announcement this morning. But the N2 blast had flipped the car, and the airblast of this newcomer toppled it again.

Hikari got back to her family. "All right, let's go!" She wheezed. She reached down to her father. With Nozomi, the two sisters helped their father up on his good leg and started for the car. Hikari cast her glance backward. "Pen Pen! Come on!"

The penguin was looking skyward. Hikari raised her face to see what he was looking at.

Nine black wings were in the sky.

Asuka grunted, "Sit STILL DAMNIT!"

There twelve jet fighters were different from the VTOLs she was crushing from the JDSSF. These craft, resembling American jets with fold-down legs, were using different tactics from the jet copters; skating along the ground, or flying at speed, and attacking at range.

As the Red monster was responding, Kei was hanging back as he worked on his own radio. He was trying to parse the NERV radio frequencies. He knew Misato was NERV's tactical director here.

Olsen noticed. "Kei, we need to get in there and engage!"

Kei grunted, switching to one more channel then hitting the engines and engaging. The Bronco II fighter beneath him rumbled to life as he gained altitude, folded the legs beneath him, and charged. Olsen was right behind him.

On his first pass he weaved around the Eva's swinging, his autocannon rounds bouncing off AT Field. Coming up, he grunted, then noticed the cable coming out of the back of the robot. He aimed for this, dumping two missiles on the cable and severing it.

Kei heard a girl's voice. "Damn gnats! They got my cable!"

A woman responded, "Hang in there Asuka, help is on the way. Pull back and recable if you have to!"

"I'm not running from these idiots, Misato!" The girl answered.

Kei blinked, then shouted on the line, "M-Misato! she's here!"

B: Biologic Weapon

In other words, destruction attained through the applied use of controlled organism.

At the base of the bomb, a technical crew had been working on the bomb to set it up.

"Ready." One technician said.

The key entered in, the countdown started. The technicians looked at the warhead. Then they fled the scene, jumping into their combat buggy and racing for the second rocket which waited nearby.

Just as the car roared into the transport, its rocket engines began to fire. The rocket transmitted, "Spoon to fork. The table is set, serve immediately."

The rocket then lifted off, taking with it the technical team and several damaged aircraft. The rest abandoned the Geofront, leaving behind the few JDSSF survivors, a confused unit 02, and nine descending white Evas on wings.

Kei and Olson were still in the crater. "Kei!" Olsen demanded, "The weapon is armed, we need to leave!"

The impulsive pilot replied, "I'm not leaving without my sister!"

"Kei! We have to follow orders! Kei!" Olson shouted, but his wing lead didn't listen.

Evangelion unit 02 had just plugged herself in as the nine white Evas, all armed with their heavy two-bladed weapons, landed and collapsed their wings. Then as one, they all turned to the distant bomb.

The bridge by now was under heavy assault. As bullets flew and ricocheted in the command center, the technicians were working.

It was Makoto who shouted, "The MP series is targeting the device!"

Beneath them in the cages, Misato was holding her phone with one hand and Shinji's wrist with the other. "We need to buy time." She said, then into the phone said, "Asuka, defend the bomb. As long as they are trying to stop that, they aren't focused on us."

"Uh, won't it be a problem if it explodes?"

"Then they won't win and humanity is saved. We'll be around to see it only if you defeat them first."

"It would be great if it wasn't just me out here!"

"Working on it. Shinji will be up there soon." Misato grunted, then closed the phone and hauled Shinji after her. They both stepped over the fallen roof debris and half-buried JDSSF trooper corpses towards Evangelion 01's damaged restraint gantry.

Asuka's relentless assault began on the closest of the white Evas, dispatching it quickly with a run and leap. Leading with her hands, she hooked fingers into the moth and skull then drove her unit's weight into it, splitting the mouth open as she landed. Grabbing her progressive knife, she took off across the desolate geofront crater towards the next target. The eight remaining Evas were walking slowly towards the humming device parked at the far edge of the lake.

Kei orbited high above the crater as he watched the battle play out. The red unit was outnumbered- the white Evangelions would get to the bomb before her sister's command would be able to stop them. He was in a position to level the playing field. "Olsen," he said, "Cover me."

"Kei!" The man protested as Kei's fighter banked and dove back into the cauldron. He took a bead on the leading white unit and fired with his autocannon, noting with surprise that this one lacked an energy field to protect it. He followed up with a missile, which blew off the White evas leg and made the thing topple.

Swooping by Kai let out a tip. Olsen, behind him, said, "Kei! I said no heroics!"

"We're doing our job to defend the bomb." Kei replied, pulling up and banking around to begin a pass on the next unit.

The entry plug was in place at the back of Evangelion unit 01. Before the open hatch, Misato stood. "It's all ready," she saId and turned to look behind her.

Shinji was seated on the ground, knees up, and arms folded over his knees.

Misato turned around fully to face Shinji. "Shinji, we're counting on you! Asuka is counting on you! Get in the Eva!"

"N-no…" the boy uttered and crunched himself inward a little more. "I can't! I can't pilot Eva if it means hurting other people! I've done terrible things to Asuka… I've killed Kaworu! I'm not worthy of piloting the Eva! There isn't a shred of kindness or goodness in me, just lies and deceit! if I can only hurt other people then i'd rather do nothing at all!"

Misato walked back to stand before Shinji. "I'm not going to feel sorry for you. If you don't ever want to be hurt, then throw yourself off that gantry and be done with it!"

When Shinj started crying, Misato sighed as she stared down at him. Stepping up to him, she came down to sit in front of him. "Shinji, I know you hate yourself. It's why you hurt others, because you're choosing to hurt other people than hurt yourself. But that's a choice Shinji, one that you made."

"You don't know anything about me!" Shinji wailed behind his knees.

Misato angrily replied, "That doesn't make what I said any less relevant! You have a choice now, Shinji. You can board the Eva and save everyone, or you can sit here in self pity and let everyone die!" She leaned forward, "And I'll NEVER forgive you!"

Shinji clenched his knees into him again.

Misato, sighing, leaned back. She took a breath and said, "Shinji. If you live through this and win today in order to see tomorrow… you can choose what to do with life afterward. You can do anything; rise to become a hero, fade away into obscurity, or dedicate your life to finding what you need to do to make amends. It's all up to you. Pilot the Eva, and find out who you are and what you are meant to be."

Misato stood up and walked away from Shinji, leaving him alone on the gantry.

Shinji sniffed once, then, turned his head to look at the entry plug.

The massive white hand swatted at Kei's fighter. It missed, but the gust buffeted the craft enough for him to topple to the ground. The broco's feet deployed and Kei skated across the lake.

"Kei" Olsen shouted, "on left!"

Kei's fighter skid sideways as one if the White Eva's had diverted to attack, crash in through the waves and swinging the massive glace. Olsen fired off the last of his missiles, impacting and blowing off the monster's right arm.

Kei scanned the horizon and pulled his fighter back into a climb. "Where's the next one?" He asked aloud.

His eyes looked over to see the red Evangelion unit battling two of the White Eva's with one of the heavy swords. She was close to the bomb, her cable connection ejected. Two of the White evas were coming around to flank her. "She's done for if we can't keep them off of her. Olsen! How many missiles do you have left?"

"I used my last one." Olsen replied.

Kei looked at his inventory. Only two left. "We have to help her kill these things. Well dive in on the flank!"

C: Chemical Weapon

In other words, destruction caused by chemical reactions.

The Red God was angry.

Surrounded by white, grinning vultures, she battled on. Behind her was the pillar she had to defend. Never mind the reason, she just needed to do it to win. The details would come later.

She swung the heavy sword, batting away her opponent's saver and ducking from an opponent's swing. Her blade swung back but missed as the second vulture hopped away.

Her HUD notified her of a third and she had to dodge this, then abandon the saber as a fourth tried jumping her from behind. Rolling away and coming up, she panted from the effort as she stared at the four vultures upon her.

With theee of the enemy Eva's disabled, that left two advancing on the bomb. Those two jet fighters were doing thier best to distract them, but it was going to be inevitable. They would reach the bomb.

Asuka recognized the pang of wishing she could have more help- specifically Shinji's. But she knew what he did, she violently rammed her fist against a control handle as the four white Evas started to close with her. "I don't need anyone- mama is with me…!"

Her tone wasn't as sure as she wanted it to be. And somewhere in her mind, among that feeling that her mother was near, she heard a sense of playful questioning. Asuka found herself blushing in spite of her disgust for Shinji.

"No," she uttered, the White Evas about to pounce, "I don't need him!"

The two leading beasts pounced, arms reaching to grab her units' arms. Asuka tried to resist, but the beasts had her tight. As she squirmed against them the other two held up their blades. Before her eyes they turned into twisted bident spears. With wide grins on their ageless heads they approached, raising the spears.

Asuka had known fear before, but this was a new kind of fear. She wasn't just going to die… what she knew was something worse was about to happen. They had her restrained for a purpose, and we're about to do something.

Across the blasted geofront, a 14 year old boy saw the evas crowding around a prepared Asuka, and came to his own primal conclusion. It was something he couldn't allow.

Before he could even think about it Evangelion 01 took off in a sprint. Shinji then launched into a flying kick, aimed at one of the spear holders. His speed and velocity were faster than physics permitted, and the monster Evangelion's foot crashed through the spine of the White Eva, breaking it in two.

As the group overcame that shock, Shinji reeled back and threw a punch at one of the restraining Evangelions, turning the head into pulp from the force of the blast.

Asuka didn't waste the chance getting free, swinging a fist into the exposed neck of the restraining Eva. Freed, she round-house kicked it in the head to send it tumbling backwards.

Misato's voice called up from HQ, "Asuka, two are closing on the bomb."

Her two minute timer dinged and Asuka pumped her feet, taking off running. She jumped on one of the two remaining attackers with a drawn knife.

Between the monoliths, the lights representing the active Eva series winked out one by one. Mutterings crossed the space as SEELE watched their dream retreat from their grasp.

"Impossible!" One shouted, "how can this be! We control the board, we move the pieces! Ikari is sure to win now!"

"No." Keel said, a new icon appearing in the field, "we may not steal our victory from him, but we can deny him his."

The last of the White Eva series was killed as Asuka used one of the commandeered bidents against it as it tried to fly away. The thrown lance was a direct hit, going through the core and chest. Blood splashed like a geyser out of both ends as it fell.

Then Asuka's Eva shut down without main power and collapsed. In the plug, Asuka panted from effort. "I did it… " she uttered, until an exception occurred to her. She grasped the handles. "We did it." She corrected herself, frowning.

The Eva powered up around her and the screens returned. She looked around and then at Evangelion unit 01 as it was stepping back from plugging in an external cable into her back. As Asuka herself stood she could tell it was Shinji in unit 01 because of the slumped shoulders and lowered head.

Standing up, she took in a breath and wondered how to address this boy and his action just before all of this. Her mother was uncertain, she knew, but hopeful. There was a time he was in this cockpit with her, fighting side by side. She opened a comm window and he accepted, bowed head and lowered face. "Shinji," she said, tone level. "I'm only going to say this to your face once, so I want to see your eyes."

Slowly Ikari raised his face. She could see the guilt and disgust there… he knew what he had done, and clearly felt shitty for it. Good.

She took a breath and forced herself to be gentle. "Thank you, for saving me."

Shinji paused, surprised. His face lowered again. "I… I don't deserve any thanks."

"You have them. I'm not stupid, I know what i was in for if you didn't come to my rescue, so, thanks." She said. She turned her head saying, "anyway that's what you get." She looked back at Shinji, "As for that other thing-"

That drew his head up. His eyes stared into hers.

"You will make that up to me another time. Promise?"

"I-i… I promise." Shinji replied with little hesitation.

"Good." Asuka said and terminated the communication.

Just then the general comm line opened with Misato's voice. "Shinji, Asuka, we have a problem."

Makoto spun in his chair. "All access lines have been cut! Communications are being jammed by the outside MAGI computers!"

Misato stood at the center of the bridge, arms crossed. Behind her, engineers Fuyutsuki was bound in handcuffs, seated, with a couple of NERV security guards beside him. There was no sign of the commander or doctor Akagi, but what remained of the security forces were looking for them.

Misato looked back at her captive. "SEELE intends to kill us all with this bomb, don't they?"

Fuyutsuki offered a sad smile. "I have no idea. This bomb is new, the committee's movement at this time was the Eva series. In their scenario, they should have won already."

Misato winced. "And how do you suppose the commander would respond to learning the Eva series was defeated?"

Fuyutsuki's smile was level. "I'm sorry Major, I cannot help you."

"You have a stake in this, don't you?" Misato spat at him. Then she turned and walked to Makoto. "What does MAGI have on the bomb? Can we just destroy it?"

Makoto shook his head. "The device defies analysis, MAGI has identified exotic components in its construction but can't identify its method of operation."

Misato glared at the representation of the bomb on the main screen. "If we can't call it off and we can't disable it, we need to get it as far from the base as possible. Shinji, Asuka, get into position and prepare to throw that thing out of the geofront together."

Aoba turned, "Ma'am! The two fighters are parking beside the weapon! I think they are accessing a maintenance hatch!"

Misato winced, "why would they want to do that? Unless…." Misato shifted her weight, "Asuka, Shinji, cover those fighters. They're going to try to disarm it."

Maya turned in her chair, "why would they do that?"

Misato smirked. "They're not going to go up with the bomb, and if they wanted to detonate it, all they would need to do is wait. The only reason to access the bomb now, after the Eva series is dead, is to put a stop to it."

Misato looked at a map of the geofront and base. "There's still fighting going on through the complex. My guess is he might be rogue." She winced, "The JDSSF is otherwise here to clean up." To Makoto she said, "Find me the frequency of those pilots!"

"Kei!" Olsen's jet radioed to him, "They're coming!"

Kei didn't respond. Out of the belly of his aircraft a long four-fingered remote arm was moving to the side panel and opening it. Complex characters flashed by on the analogue screen, along with the countdown.

Kei started manipulating the menus as both Evangelions, towering over the jet, grabbed the casing of the bomb with both hands. At a moment's notice, they would lift the thing and try throwing it out of the crater. It was their last hope.

Kei was sweating as the manipulator fingers reached for the final key sequence.

D: Dimensional Weapon

In other words, destruction of an area caused by quantum dimensional shifting.

Makoto, hand to earpiece, said, "I think I have it! You're on, Major!"

Misato, arms crossed, said, "Aircraft pilot, this is Misato Katsuragi. State your intent, are you trying to disarm the bomb?"

"Misato!" A voice shouted back, "Its me! Kei!"

Misato blinked and leaned forward a little at the mention of her estranged little brother. "Kei? What are you doing here?"

She couldn't hear Kei's response, because at that very moment a huge, ghostly apparition of Rei was passing through the command center on its way to the surface.

Kei's mechanical fingers tapped the keys. "AZ1…9…2…Q!"

The bomb timer stopped. Kei leaned back and cheered in triumph, "I did it! I stopped the bomb and saved everyone!"

The bomb clicked. Two cylindrical prongs rammed into the structure and turned suddenly.

Out of the top of the bomb, bolts of yellow lightning started arcing into the sky. Shinji and Asuka's grip was repelled with zaps to the skin like static shock. Asuka barked, "Shinji! We have to get this thing out of here!"

"I… can't…!" Shinji cried as the Eva's hands were pushed away from the brassey skin of the bomb.

The bolts increased in intensity and length, reaching skyward and out of the crater. The Horaki clan noticed and turned back to watch.

Olsen cried as the ground became unsteady, "Kei! What have you done!?"

Kei stared at the weapon dumbfounded. There was no way to stop this. There was no way he could have saved his older sister. Just like antarctica, and after. "Misato…" he uttered.

Lilith, swooping her ghostly hands in, cupped fingers around the bomb, the Evas, and the two Bronco II fighters. Her eyes closed as the sphere of white errupted from the bomb's detonation, which expanded spherically outward.

It enveloped the astonished bridge crew and Misato as she clutched her cross, cursing her efforts being in vain.

It enveloped a defeated Gendo, bleeding on the ground and thinking of Yui. The dying body of Ritsuko Akagi was taken also.

The wall of white swept up out of the crater towards Hikari's face. She thought of Shinji, oddly, and regretted not knowing him better. "Shin…ji…" she uttered, holding Pen Pen, and then knew nothing more.

The sphere of white containing the geofront, and all who existed there, leapt into the sky.

A/N1: special thanks to my favorite obscure anime, Super Dimensional Century Orguss, for supplying the dimensional weapon, Kei, and Olsen for this adventure. I love this little strange Anime more than Eva, but it is far less known. Check out the original, ignore Orguss 02. Kei as Misato's estranged little brother is a trope among my works.

A/N2: a little over a year ago I came across Asuka and LAS posts on Twitter. This led to Reddit, and then to discord, where I've been a part of the community since.

It is in my habit to not stay invested in a particular fandom for long; that's usually how's my head works. Knowing this, I intended to write this dimension fracture story to showcase all the unfinished and partial drafts I made up over time but couldn't publish because I didn't want to clutter with half- started stories. It would be my farewell and apology for just dropping out of the community suddenly.

Now a year later and out of gratitude for the asushin community, I turn this idea into a Christmas gift. This work will contain unfinished drafts and compelling starts, with an occasional short story following Alternates thrown in. This doesn't mean the drafts are dead, only that they hang unfinished at the time of this writing.

For the purposes of plot, only the stories headed with "Alternates" are connected and have relevance to this interdimensional adventure. All others are unfinished standalones.

Thank you for your time, and happy holidays!