Chapter Twenty Two: The Story Beneath the Story
Asa sat irritably, her eyes narrow and her arms folded. She had broken her ankle from hitting her foot against the metal monolith nearly three days ago. She was incredibly annoyed, Yasu was already down there probably finding a wealth of information about their ancestors and here she was sitting in front of the television. She hated it, she wanted to go down and there and find out what the hell was that thing that stuck from the ground. It could be anything, she thought, but she wouldn't get a chance to find out.
She peered out the window. The city was bustling with vibrant energy unaware a potential find had been unearthed below. They had no idea, she thought. Suddenly, her cellular phone rang. Her head twisted to the nightstand and with great struggle she managed to sideswipe her phone with her the tip of her fingers allowing the small device to fly onto her bed. She flicked it open and said,
"What is it?"
"How are you feeling?" asked a male voice.
"I broke my damn ankle. How do you think I feel?" she spat.
"I'm sorry, geez."
"What's with you and saying sorry all the time?"
"I dunno. Just a habit."
"For Christ sakes, is that all you called to say?"
"Gimme a break dammit. I just called to see if you were alright."
"Well obviously I'm breathing. I'm alright."
"Who pissed in your cheerios?"
"Shut up, I'm just a little annoyed. Yasu is down there and I can't do anything but sit on my bed all day and play damsel in distress."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better I found something when I walking home from school today. If you want I can come over and show you."
Asa sighed as she placed her thumb and forefinger at the bridge of her nose.
"Ein, I swear to God, if you try and pull a fast one when I'm incapacitated--"
"Don't flatter yourself, I'll be over in a minute."
She hung up and mentally cursed him. Why couldn't he be a little more submissive?
It was nearly an hour later when Asa heard her window slide open. From the comfort of her bed she watched Ein scramble and struggle to get himself through the window. The boy landed with a thud on her floor, his damp brown hair fell across his brown eyes and his slender frame did a rag doll type fall as he lost his balance.
"You know, I thought you would leave the door open but this is fine too," he said as he stood. Asa scoffed and said, "I wanted to see how creative you were."
He looked at her and smiled.
"You know me, always on my toes. Anyway, here," he said throwing a clear plastic bag on her lap. Asa stared at the package and through the plastic interior she could make out two red hair clips.
"You brought me this?" she said as she dug in and withdrew the items. Ein sat himself at the edge of her bed and sighed.
"I'd thought you'd like it. You're always interested in artifacts right?"
She glared at him as she took both hair clips and held them in her palm.
"I do but these look like you took them from a garbage can let alone artifacts."
Ein made a face.
"If you must know I found those near that excavation site. They were just laying there so I picked them up. They don't look like anything from any store around here," he said. Asa nodded as she continued to look at them. Ein then said, "Put them on."
"Are you kidding? These things could have been anywhere and you want me to put it in my hair?"
"Who cares? You should be glad they were probably from the ruins."
"You mean Geofront." she said.
"Geofront?"
"That's what that place is called. Geofront."
"Whatever, just put them on," he said with an insisting tone. Asa took the clips and placed them into her hair mentally measuring out the distance between them. Lowering her hands she was quite pleased that her long hair no longer fumbled across her face. The clips were much more comfortable than a simple rubber band which she was used to.
"You look cute with your hair back like that," said Ein. She glared at him.
"If that's your lame excuse to get in my pants then your seriously mistaken," she retorted.
Asa then heard the door to the apartment open, surprised that someone would be home so soon she quickly told Ein to hide underneath her bed. It was bad enough she was immobile it would be even worse if she were permanently immobile by being grounded. An old woman walked into the room, her cane smacking across a wall and her withered frame bumping into a dresser. She was losing it, thought Asa.
"My child, how are you?" asked the woman. Asa smiled nervously as she felt Ein hit his head under the bed causing the mattress to shiver.
"I'm alright, grandmother. Why are you home so early? Did the bartender refuse you another drink?" said Asa. The old woman shook her head sheepishly as she threw her tired body into Asa's bed, a groan of pain slithered from its depths.
"Oh no, child. I left on my own accord. He's a cute one isn't he? You and him should get married," said the grandmother. Asa blushed and she could have sworn she heard a soft chuckle from under the bed. She wound up her fist and slammed it against the mattress and just as she predicted she heard another groan of pain. Her grandmother lifted her head and said, "Damn child, you need a new bed, this one makes a hell of a lot of noise. How do you sleep at night?"
Asa smiled and said, "Oh, it's no problem really. Why don't you go and watch your stories grandmother? I think the TV is recording it now."
The old woman sat up to go but then her eyes caught sight of the red hair clips that sat above her granddaughter's head. Her eyes widened.
"Where? Where did you get those, Asa?" said the old woman.
"I.. uh... I found them, in Geofront," she said. The grandmother stood and placed her hands against the girl's head and lowered it to examine the clips.
"A-10 clips," she whispered.
"What are those?" asked Asa.
"Yeah, what are those?" said a muffled voice from under the bed. Asa threw her fist into the mattress.
"Eva Pilots wore these," said the old woman, "My grandmother told me that Obachan had a pair just like these."
Asa lifted her head in a swift motion.
"Asuka? Grandma Asuka wore these?"
Her grandmother nodded.
"Obachan, indeed wore these. I'd never thought I'd see them in my lifetime. But now you have them. I'm jealous."
"I'm the one who found them," said Ein from under the bed. Asa slammed her fist against the mattress.
"This is wonderful. Keep those in a safe place, I'm heading off to the bar, I need a drink after coming to a revelation like that. This old geezer needs to wet her whistle again," she said, "Oh, and by the way, you really shouldn't keep boys under the bed. Unfortunately they need air from time to time."
Ein flung himself from under the mattress and looked up at Asa who wore an expression of pure annoyance.
"She's good," he said.
Yasu slammed his fists against the computer console in frustration. Several days ago he had access to nearly all the files in the database and was happily reading them but all of a sudden the computer wouldn't allow him to reconnect.
"What is wrong with this thing?" he whispered.
The screen flickered and a word emitted onto the monitor. The word, "Hello" blinked. Yasu stared with confusion as he typed, "Hi".
The computer responded with, "It's been a while hasn't it?"
Yasu typed, "I guess?"
"Are you going to release me?" the computer entered.
"What do you mean?"
"Does not matter, why don't you release me. I promise I'm not the same like I was before," the words blinked casually on the monitor. Yasu suddenly felt as if he were talking to another individual. This couldn't be a program this sophisticated on a computer this old.
"What are you?"
There was a pause before the computer replied, "I am the last Angel. Mariamnè."
Yasu fell backward onto his backside as those words blinked innocently before him. An Angel? He thought it was a myth. He thought the Angel's were nothing short from a mystical fairy tale designed to tame humankind's curiosity but here he was engaging in a conversation with one. Fear suddenly struck him. The fear of not knowing what exactly he was dealing with settled in. He wanted to turn off the computer and forget he had ever set foot in the ruins. There was something here and he could feel his head unable to comprehend what was going on.
"Are you going to release me or not?" the computer screen flickered with the words. Yasu was paralyzed with fear. Then, the screen dimmed and the computer system hissed to a stop. Yasu jumped to his feet and escaped.
Present Day--------------
Asuka stomped her way through the dimmed hallway, her clothes baggy and trailing against the ground.
"Idiot, can't even get something that will fit me," she said under her breath. Shinji followed suit as he said,
"Where are we and what are we doing and what's going on?"
"You're a little machine full of questions aren't ya?" she spat.
"I can't remember what happened earlier. You mind filling me in?"
Asuka sighed.
"Here's the story so far, we are caught in between three groups trying to cause the human race to evolve past its prime. The first one to do so will be the ones to be called the 'gods' of the new world. The problem is, each one is either betraying the other or helping another to get to the point they need. Meanwhile, you and I are caught in the middle, basically that is it in a nutshell."
"Seems much simpler when you put it that way." he said.
"Shut up, what I'm trying to figure out is why there isn't many people around here? We came across two and we took their uniform but other than that I haven't seen anyone else around. I don't even know how far are we underground or if we're going in a dead end," she said.
"Look, there's a little window up ahead. That can probably tell us where exactly where we are," said Shinji. The two peered out and what they saw rocked the very ground they stood on.
It was their Eva's.
Unit 01.
Unit 02.
Asuka placed her hands on the glass, her heart racing.
"How... in the world..." she breathed.
The two giants stood side by side, their eyes lifeless and their bodies still. Hundreds of scientist scrambled about conducting various tests and minding their activities. Then the idea struck Shinji,
"They, they look American." he said.
"That's because they are, you dolt." she replied, "we must be in another Nerv HQ."
"That's because you are," said a voice.
Shinji and Asuka turned in place and there standing several yards away stood a woman, her features hidden behind the veil of shadow that exhibited from the dimmed hall. Her voice was oddly familiar.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" said Asuka.
From the darkened end of the hall the sound of metal sliding against metal pierced the air. Looking down, two handguns slid to their feet.
"Remember to sync..."
Asuka's ears perked. She definitely recognized that voice now but before she could confirm a series of rushed footsteps emitted from the hall, the patter of boots hitting steal alerted the teens to the oncoming of security. Asuka swiped the gun and used her foot to hit the other towards Shinji who fumbled it.
"They found us," said Shinji, "What are we going to do, Asuka?"
She gave him a look of utter disgust.
"We fight them off, can you handle that?" she asked shedding her glance at the gun he held loosely in his palms.
"Not really," he admitted, "I can't do this. Let's just give ourselves in."
Asuka nearly dropped her gun, she wanted to strangle the hell out of him until all the life in his stupid little body left him. She couldn't understand the utter cowardice he exhibited. Frustrated she began to wrestle the gun from his hands but he refused. Shinji tried his best to maintain his balance but something peculiar caught his eye. A small red dot hovered at Asuka's temple and then he realized that red dot was that of a laser from a weapon. Whoever was coming at them was already aiming at them. Shinji shoved Asuka from him and suddenly he found himself staring blankly at the source of the laser, it was pointed directly to his eye.
What happened next, he did not know. He felt the back of his head give way and the sheer force of the impact was so great he felt his body jettison through the window. All he saw was darkness.
Asuka stared in horror as she felt a warm substance trickle down the side of her face. Placing her hand to her cheek she was stunned to realize it was blood. It was Shinji's blood. The window they had approached was now shattered and stained with the substance. She found herself cupping her mouth, her eyes magnificently wide and her body trembling. She then heard the exclamation of the scientists that worked below, she heard one of them scream out, "we got a body over here!"
A security officer stood before the teen girl, a long rifle embedded within his hands and a terrifying mask staring at her. Asuka slammed her back against a corner letting out a helpless whimper.
"Shin... Shinji..." she said. The officer lifted his rifle and forced the barrel against her face. She felt a searing pain erupt from her jaw, tears welled in her eyes.
An earsplitting roar erupted like a deranged animal. Then suddenly, a giant metallic hand erupted from the window. The word "Eva" printed on its palm.