Author's notes: I don't own Evangelion blah, blah, blah.
Sunday
"We—want—McDon—alds! We—want—McDon—alds! We—want—McDon—alds! We—want—McDon—alds! We—want-"
"Alright, already!" Hikari shouted. She was seriously thinking of killing Kodama when she got home from walking Max. Why not take them to McDonalds; she mentally quoted sardonically from her single pig-tailed sibling. "Brush your teeth and get dressed, you two. You have twenty minutes." Both little girls ran off to Nozomi's room. She sighed and fell onto the livingroom couch thinking that having freckles was a cursed mark.
Now that the thought about it; Hikari found it strange that she was the only one in the family who had freckles. Other than her mother, that is. She missed the days when the entire family went on picnics at a nearby park. Her mother would always pack everyone's favorite meals. She, Kodoma, and her mother would run around the park playing tag while their father stayed behind to keep watch over Nozomi. Smiling at the memory, it was hard to believe so much had changed since their mother had left them.
Glancing at the clock on her livingroom wall, Hikari was surprised to see 30 minutes had already gone by! "I'm leaving without you two!" she called out while grabbing her shoes.
"Wait! Wait! Wait!" Mari and Nozomi pleaded separately as they dashed into the livingroom. Mari was wearing a white shirt with blue overalls while Nozomi wore pink shorts and a white and pink horizontally striped shirt.
Hikari was wearing the same type of shirt but it was black and white, and a yellow dress that stopped just above the knee with overall-like shoulder straps. She considered this to be her most comfortable casual ware. "Hurry up and put your shoes on! We don't have much time before breakfast is over!"
-------
Roaming his eyes around the refrigerator's contents, Shinji shut the door—he couldn't eat. The nervousness had his stomach in knots and would most likely disagree with anything it would try to digest. He thought sleep might help but he was restless. Not to mention the fact that the loud noise from the demolition crew had the opposite affect of lulling him to sleep. This is worse than having a life-threatening operation appointment pinballing around the calendar, he thought as he eyed the fridge, then the bed, then back to the fridge again.
In a way, he wished the attack would already happen so he could get it over and done with. But then again, he also wished it would be delayed for a few more days until Unit 01's repairs were complete. Chances of survival would dramatically increase with that.
Today marked exactly two weeks after the Third's attacked. It would most likely happen tomorrow seeing as he recalled that he was attending school at that time. The bruise he got that day reminded him of that.
"I really should get a TV..." he murmured as he unconsciously rubbed his jaw, wanting more than anything to grab his attention until sleep overtook him.
Not having anything else to do, he decided to step out again. Maybe I'll hit the arcade, he thought before his stomach twisted more at the thought of the flashing lights, loud noises and nauseous 3D turns. "...Maybe not."
-------
Inside the monorail headed to the closest stop to Fujino, Japan, Toji lay sprawled on the seats; sleeping, while Kensuke was on his knees, busy doodling over Toji's face with a black washable marker. A few of the elderly were shaking their heads with disapproval while others chuckled as they reminisced their golden years when they were young, mischievous, and full of life.
Kensuke paused; frozen at Toji's sudden movements. Toji scratched just above the cheek where the felt last made contact with flesh, grunted and went back to sleep, letting Kensuke breath out a sigh of relief and continue his work of art. The tip of his tongue pressed tightly against the corner of his mouth as he carefully moved to the eyelids, Kensuke drew a pupil on one and a smiley face on the other.
Capping his marker, he folded his arms in front of him and stepped back to admire his masterpiece with a nod.
-------
"Good morning, Shinji."
Shinji turned around dumbly to see the Class Rep and two little girls walking alongside with her. "Oh, hi, Hikari."
"Are you going to get breakfast, too?"
His stomach churned disapprovingly, "Uh, n-"
"Who's he?" Mari interrupted.
"Don't be rude; Mari or I won't pay for your hotcakes." Hikari lectured. "Sorry 'bout that. She gets it from her brother." she told him smiling.
Shinji smiled back. "That's alright." He knelt down until he was face-to-face with the little girl. Huh, this is the first time I'm meeting her, he realized. He was glad that she appeared uninjured. A kind smile crossed his face as he patted the little girl's jet-black, shoulder length hair, "So you're Toji's little sister, huh? It's really nice to meet you."
A small blush crept across the girl's face as she ran and hid behind Hikari. Mari wondered how this strange boy knew about her as she poked her head out from around Hikari's dress. "…Yeah...h—hi."
There was a moment of silence before Nozomi started laughing at her friend's unexpected behavior. Normally, Mari would greet everyone like she would her brother; loud and casual. So it was funny to see her friend remain quiet after someone greets themselves. A sharp glare from Mari made Nozomi try and stifle her laughter but that only made it come out in spontaneous bursts of snorts through her nose.
"And you must be Nozomi. Hikari's told me a bit about you."
"Yup!" she nodded. "Did she say anything good things about me?"
"Uh, most of it was." Shinji grinned.
Hikari glanced at her watch and nearly freaked, "C'mon! We're about to miss breakfast!"
At the mention of the morning meal, Shinji's stomach gave out a horrible grumble of objection, forcing Shinji to keel over and let out a low moan. "Huh?" he asked the slim shadow looming before him. Looking up, he saw that Hikari's hand extended towards him. He graciously took it and was helped back to his feet. "Than-" he nearly bit his tongue as Hikari pulled hard and ran to catch up to the girls.
"Hurry up, Shinji!" she grunted, pulling his arm to get him to run on his own. "Lunch is going to start soon!"
"But I-" he started. "-Oh, what the hell." he muttered and broke into a run.
-------
Rei watched as Misato poured a side-serving of last nights leftover curry next to her burnt toast with slight abhorrence. She had felt this sensation of loss before and inwardly frowned at her so called "breakfast." Taking a butter knife, she scrapped some of the layers of burnt wheat off her toast.
"Well, I'll be home late, Rei. So don't wait up." Misato announced while putting on her favorite red jacket. "Oh, I left out a can on the counter for PenPen. Be sure to feed him when it thaws." She grabbed her keys from the table and made her way to her shoes. "Why don't you go see a movie or something? It's not healthy stay inside all day. Well, later!" she waved before heading out the door.
Rei had no intent on going anywhere. She went to her room to lie on the bed for a while. About an hour later, she came out and grabbed the can from the counter. Turning it to read the label, she pulled out the can opener from a drawer and poured the now-thawed jalapeños onto PenPen's dish. As to why Misato froze a can of jalapeños and placed it on the counter to thaw to feed the warm-water penguin was beyond Rei's understanding.
Ten minutes passed by and PenPen walked into Rei's room—only to kick her in the shin for his crappy meal.
-------
Nozomi and Mari had thrown a hissy fit until Shinji had agreed to pay for ice cream after their "breakfast." Their little introduction with the boy just made them late for the breakfast menu and they were forced to order lunch instead.
Hikari had already ordered her meal and two Happy Meals and was standing behind Shinji in case he needed a little money to pay for his and the ice cream.
He scanned the menu above the cashier and decided to get something small that might settle in his stomach. He saw that he could have an order of six, nine or twelve Chicken McNuggets. "I'll have half a dozen nuggets and two small-"
"Large!" came two shouts from the tables.
Shinji sighed and pulled out his wallet to see if he had enough. "Two large ice creams."
"We don't have half a dozen nuggets." said the pimply teenager behind the counter.
Shinji blinked in confusion. "You don't?"
"We only have six, nine, or twelve," was the reply.
"Wait—" he began "So I can't order half a dozen nuggets, but I can order six?"
"That's right."
Behind him, Shinji noticed Hikari was having difficulty keeping her face straight. It almost looked like she had been sucking on a lemon. He shook his head and decided to order the six McNuggets.
Once they reached their table, Hikari snickered at what had just happened at the counter. "They'll hire anybody these days!" she tried to whisper as her face was turning red. Shinji couldn't help but chuckle alongside. It was a crude joke, but it still kinda made him laugh. Nozomi and Mari wondered what was so funny that they missed out on.
"Shinji Ikari?"
Shinji instinctively turned his head to see who had called him. "Yes?" he asked a short-haired brunette.
"I told you it was him." Maya said to the other two bridge bunnies behind her. "How're you feeling, Shinji?" she asked turning back to the young boy.
"Um..." He never expected to see them anywhere but at NERV. That's a stupid thought; they don't live there, Shinji criticized.
"Oh! We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves before you were-" she glanced at the table's other occupants before continuing, "-sent off."
"Uh...huh…?" Shinji nodded dumbly.
"I'm Maya Ibuki." she formally bowed to him, then gestured to the man standing to her left, "This is Makoto Hyuga and Shigeru Aoba." she gestured to the other man to her right.
The man with the glasses bowed as well while other just held up his hand as if saying 'Yo'.
"Oh. Um...hi." he timidly replied. I'm pretty sure the damages to Unit 01 weren't completely repaired, so why are they in casual clothes? "Are you guys going to a casual meeting or something?" he asked.
"No, actually, we're headed home. We just decided to get something on the way."
"The food court's closed today." Makoto said adjusting his glasses to the bridge of his nose. "The three of us normally eat out on Sundays after work."
"So you guys just got out of work?" Shinji asked, surprised that they had been working so late last night to be getting out this early.
"Yeah, but it's not so bad. The hours are better than the Science department."
"What's going on with Ritsuko?"
All three techs stared at the boy. They found it strange that he had addressed someone he just met by their first name. Shigeru was the first to reply. "They've been practically working triple-shift to complete the repairs."
Shinji's pulse quickened. "And...how are the repairs going?" he uneasily asked.
"They've managed to get a little over 91 repaired but I think they're looking, at most, three more days of triple-shifts to finish."
"Are you guys talking about the giant robot?" Hikari asked. The silence slowly filled the restaurant like water filling a cup.
Everyone who was interested in the topic of the giant robot was closely watching them with perked ears. Those who didn't know why everything had gone quiet turned to the direction that everyone else was looking at to find out what was going on.
Mari was the first to break the silence, "Giant robot?"
"Order #254!" called out the cashier. The three bridge bunnies let out a sigh of relief at the broken silence.
"Um, excuse me, is our order ready?" Hikari asked after reading the order number on her receipt. Behind her, the sound of people chatting had already begun to slowly increase back to its normal volume.
"What number?" he sighed dully.
Not very customer friendly, Hikari thought. "It's #252." she replied.
He typed in a few keys on the register. "It's not ready yet."
"But we've been waiting almost ten minutes already. Why did they get their order first?" Hikari asked the cashier whose only reply was a shrug and an I-don't-know grunt.
"Well, good seeing you again, Shinji." Shigeru gave a slight wave at the boy before digging into his pockets for the keys and tossing them to Makoto after grabbing their meals. "You're driving." he ordered.
"You drove here, why don't you drive?" he retorted, carrying the drinks.
"Because I don't feel like driving, right now." he shrugged.
"Oh, right, and strumming your invisible guitar has nothing to do with it?"
"I'm practicing! At least I'm doing something more practical than giggling at little cartoons."
"Hey, you have your little thing and I have my own."
"Then leave my little thing alone!"
"You brought it up in the first place!" The argument between the two followed them out the double-doors.
Maya sighed at the two. She bowed apologetically to the children, "E—excuse us." and followed her fellow First Lieutenants, leaving several people giggling in their wake.
Nearly five minutes later, they finally got their orders. Some of the customers in the restaurant were apparently talking about the rumors of the giant robot. Shinji tried his best to avoid eye-contact with anyone.
The last thing he wanted was for someone to walk up to him and ask questions regarding the attack. He was pretty sure Hikari had put two and two together by now, however, whether she did or didn't, he was grateful that she didn't ask questions related to it. Instead she reminisced about a similar experience with lack of customer service she had with the local Wal-Mart employee.
"So, I was checking out a few items, and the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those dividers that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get all mixed up. After she scanned all of my things, she picked up the divider and looked it all over for the bar code so she could scan it." she paused to let everyone laugh. Once the laughter died down, she continued, "Well, she couldn't find the bar code so she said to me, 'Do you know how much this is?' and I said to her, 'I've changed my mind, I don't think I'll buy that today.' She said 'Okay,' and I paid her for the things and left! She had no clue what had just happened!"
It must've slipped her mind or something... Shinji thought to himself while wiping away a tear after laughing at Hikari's ordeal. The amusing story had helped a lot in easing his tension. Shinji's stomach wasn't in knots anymore, it was in pain of trying to breath but still, he felt a little more comfortable and he was able to keep his McNuggets down. After everyone had settled down, he calmly listened to the girls talk — well, only Nozomi and Hikari were talking, Mari was busy having a staring contest with her wrapper while she ate. Her face seemed strangely flushed for some reason. "Are you okay, Mari?" The girl reddened a bit more but replied with a nod as she sank into her seat, hiding half her face under the table.
They talked about other things, like, their grades in school, the new movies that were coming out soon, even rumors that the most boring and dull teacher in their grade would be filling in for other teachers that had either evacuated or transferred to other schools. By the time they said their goodbyes, it was almost two in the afternoon.
-------
"What took you three so long?" Kodama asked while sitting on the front porch scratching behind the ear of their black Bullmastiff. "Did you have fun?"
"It was nice. I met a classmate of mine on the way there." Hikari replied.
"Oh, really? So, was it Toji?" she asked coquetry.
"Stop it. Toji and I are just childhood friends." Hikari stated with a slight blush at calling him by his first name in a long time.
"Sure you are." she said skeptically.
"I'm serious."
Kodoma leaned back and lay on the wooden floorboards, "Uh-huh."
"It wasn't Toji, it was the new kid!"
"Ah-h-h-h-h. New kid, eh?" she instantly sat back up, "So this new kid; is he cute?" she added mischievously.
Hikari's blushing face turned a shade darker but she turned away to hide it from her sister. "Kodama! You shouldn't ask questions like that! Besides, he's three years younger than you."
"Well? Is he?" she pushed.
"I'm not going to answer that." she huffed, nose pointed upward as she made her way inside. She loved doing that in front of her sister; it always seemed to set her off a bit.
"Hey, I only wanted to know!" Once out of earshot, Kodama turned to her two little snitchers and skillfully flicked them each ¥200. "So," she knelt down to whisper to them in case Hikari was still within earshot, "is he cute?"
"Mari's face turned red and she ran behind Hikari." Nozomi answered pointing at her best friend.
Kodoma turned to the said girl, "Really?" she asked with a grin that would rival the Cheshire Cat.
"I—I did not!" Mari shouted to Nozomi with a slight flush of embarrassment.
"Yeah, you did!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yuh-huh!"
"Nuh-uh!"
"Yuh-huh!"
"Shut-up!"
"Make me!"
"I mean it!"
"Well, I don't care!"
Kodoma marveled at how alike they were to Toji and Kensuke when they were young. She eventually got bored after three minutes of watching the two of them chase each other around the yard in their supposed game of cat and mouse and went inside to watch some TV.
-------
"Whew!" Toji wiped the sweat off his brow. "You really put up more than usual this time, Kensuke."
Kensuke was lying on the soft grass, his body spread-eagle. His arms were covered in bruises from trying to block Toji's punches and the sweat falling from the bridge of his nose was stinging his eyes. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, Kensuke thought as he began to regret having taped their spar to show their fellow Stooge. His arms and shoulders ached badly and he couldn't even lift himself off the ground.
Toji walked to the large duffel bag sitting near a tree. He pulled out two bottles of water and tossed one at Kensuke's chest. With heavy, throbbing arms, the mousy boy grabbed the bottle and began guzzling its contents down like a dehydrated man in the middle of the desert. "Slow down, man, or you're gonna-"
Kensuke's eyes bulged and he quickly sat up, coughing some of the water out of his lungs. Toji rushed over and began patting his back. "I'm okay." he wheezed.
Toji walked back to the bag, reached in and pulled out a white towel to wiping the sweat off his face. When he pulled the towel back, he noticed the black marks that now stained against the white fabric. "Hey, is there something on my face?" he asked his labored-breathing friend.
-------
Sleep didn't come easy for Shinji. He tossed and turned, trying to get in a comfortable position that would relieve him of the temporary insomnia. He didn't feel very good—in fact, he felt like he was going to throw up. His mind was unable to produce a single coherent thought. Every time he tried to clear his mind, Unit 01 seemed to flash into his mind and give him a demonic smirk.
Monday
By the time Shinji's eyes began to droop; allowing him to enter the blissful siesta, a beam of light had crawled down the heavily cracked wall behind him and seemed to have stopped directly over his eyelids—as if God were toying around with the young boy's life. Shinji muttered and rolled over—and landed hard on the cold floor.
He was thankful to have managed to tidy up the apartment last week. The only spot that wasn't clean was a tiny space around the old fridge—he didn't want to aggravate whatever was inside. He wearily got up and shuffled his feet to the bathroom to, at least, try and get ready for the day.
-------
Lunch was nearly over and Kensuke had been glaring at Toji the entire day. He had been rubbing the bumps on the back of his head all through class and lunch. Most of the bruises that had covered his body had already faded to the point where they were nearly indistinguishable. "You didn't have to clobber me, you know."
Toji crossed his arms in spite, "Yeah, well you didn't have to write all over my face."
"It was a washable marker! Nothing to throw a tantrum about!"
"Yeah it is." He said stubbornly.
"It was only a joke. You really need to lighten up, man." the mousy boy suggested as he sat on one of the desks. "One day we'll look back at this and laugh."
"Here's something funny for you; why not take that marker and shove it up your-" Toji's sentence was cut off by the wailing alarms.
"Yes!" Kensuke shouted and hopped off the desk. He ran to his desk, grabbed his camera and ran out the door. "This is gonna be so cool!"
Toji shook his head. "Hopeless." he muttered. He was about to leave the classroom until he heard a soft snore from behind. Turning around, he saw a slumped figure with his arms around his head, lightly snoring. He walked up to the sleeping figure and shook him awake, "Hey, man. Wake up." Getting no response, he shook him a bit harder.
"Ugh, five more minutes." Shinji groggily lifted his head and scanned his surroundings, forgetting that he was in still in class.
Toji couldn't help but feel sorry for his friend. "Hey, it's time." Shinji lowered his head back into his arms wishing what he had heard was just a bad dream.
Toji waited patiently as Shinji hesitantly decided to get up from his seat and head out to NERV. He decided to grab Shinji's stuff and take it to him later. Before he unplugged the laptop, he read the blinking message on the screen, Is it true that you're the pilot of that robot? Y/N "Robot." he scoffed. Those things are anything but robots. He wondered who started the rumor, though...
By the time he reached the school entrance doors, he saw Shinji being guided by Section Two agents to a black van. "Good luck, man!" he called out to Shinji's retreating back.
Without turning around, Shinji lifted a tired arm to let Toji know he heard him.
-------
Standby… He hate being on standby. Even though being on standby was rare, he couldn't help but loath the feeling of uselessness.
Unit 01's repairs were almost completed, save for half a missing limb. All he could do now was sit tight and wait. If things got too hectic he'd be launched to help out. This is the second time Rei wasn't positioned as backup. He hoped she'd be alright on her own.
Shinji nervously clenched and unclenched his right hand. It was the strangest sensation of phantom limb he had ever experienced. He couldn't feel his lower arm even though it was still attached to his body. If he wasn't running on adrenalin trying to save everyone against the 14th he surely would've noticed a similar sensation.
"Shinji, pay attention!" Misato shouted.
"Huh?"
"We can't have you zoning out on us!"
"S—sorry."
"Sorry's not gonna cut it. Now listen up and listen well. Unit 01's repairs still aren't complete so you'll be backup. In the case that Rei's in trouble, I want you to take some heat off of her. While the Angel has your attention, the MAGI will analyze the data to find a way to beat it. That's where Rei comes in."
Shinji nodded. "Uh-huh..."
"While you have the Angel's full attention, we'll feed Rei the information needed to take it down before it causes any serious damage. Got that?"
"Yes, ma'am."
-------
"I think now's a good time."
Toji gave a side glance at his friend before untying the sneakers from behind his neck and put them on. "Let's do this." They got up and headed straight to the Class Rep. "Hey, Class Rep!"
Hikari turned away from her friend, Maki Tanaka—a girl with shoulder-length hair and a hairclip on the left side of her bangs—to give the duo an annoyed look. Maki copied her friend's response. "Now what?"
"We both gotta go to the bathroom."
Both girls gave them a disgusted look before Hikari let out a sigh equal to their facial expression, "You were supposed to do that before you came here."
"Yeah, well, it slipped my mind. So, can we go or should we run off to a corner and let loose?"
"Fine, but make it quick."
"Run to a corner?" he joked.
"No, you sicko!" Maki shot. "She means the restrooms!"
"I was joking." Toji irritably called back before he and Kensuke left Underground Shelter 334. About halfway down the corridors, Toji made a sharp left turn.
"Where're you going?" Kensuke asked
"Dude, I really gotta go."
Kensuke sweatdropped, shrugged and followed him. "May as well." he said recollecting the fact that if his bladder wasn't empty the last time he would surely have wet himself.
-------
Inside Unit 01, Shinji had been trying to get a hold of Rei but it seemed like all communications between them had been cut off. So he chose to get a carrier for his message. "Um, Misato? I can't seem to contact Rei."
"We'll look into that."
"On it!" Shinji heard Aoba in the background.
"Misato, could you tell her..." he paused to think of the right words to say that won't give anything away.
"Yeah?"
"Tell her...to be careful."
Misato found this rather odd. Throughout her stay in Japan, she had never seen or heard of anyone being worried about the enigmatic First Child, save for the Commander from the stories she's heard, and now her. Not to mention the reports she received from Section Two about Rei's distance to him. The girl never seemed to show any interest in anyone. Misato decided to pass it off as a coworker thing. "Alright, I'll tell her."
-------
"You think he'll win?"
Toji had to hold back from whacking his friend upside the head. "Of course he will! He beat that thing once, he can do it again." he said shaking off and making his way to wash his hands.
Kensuke followed, "Yeah, but they're stronger than before. You saw that last one pull that trick out of its sleeve. What if he loses?"
"Don't think that way! Besides, out of all the Pilots in NERV, Shinji's killed the most single handedly. He can handle it."
Kensuke began drying his hands. "I sure hope you're right."
"Don't forget, he's got Ayanami to back him up. There's no way they can lose."
"Ayanami's been isolating herself since we got back. What's up with that?" Kensuke wondered while heading out the bathroom door.
"Dunno, but I hope they get along soon."
"And if they don't?"
Toji raised a threatening fist in front of him, "Then I'll make 'em!"
Kensuke highly doubted he could take on, let alone beat, Ayanami. Shinji, yeah, but Ayanami was just as powerful as Kaworu, if not more. After opening the thick steel door, both boys made their way up the steps to the same shrine they once stood long ago.
-------
"Rei?"
"Yes?"
"Communications between Unit 00 and Unit 01 are down; we'll have them repaired soon, okay?"
"Yes."
"Oh! And Shinji says to be careful." Misato winked at her through the screen. Misato thought along the lines of 'no fun' when Rei didn't respond. "Are you ready?" she asked seriously.
"Yes."
"First neutralize the enemy's AT Field, and then fire a volley. Do it just like we practiced. Can you handle that?" Ritsuko asked.
"Yes."
Be careful, Rei. Misato thought. "Launch Eva!"
-------
"Which building was it, again?" Toji asked while watching the 4th Angel stand upright. At that moment, EVA-LIFT D-22 let out a loud bang that rang over Tokyo-3. "Never mind. What the hell?!" Behind its massive doors revealed the orange Unit 00. Toji roughly grabbed Kensuke's collar, "Why'd they send Ayanami?!"
"Don't take it out on me! Unit 01's probably not completely repaired." Kensuke replied trying to align his camera to the battle.
Toji let go of the mousy boy and crossed his arms, "She better not blow us up! I plan on keeping my body in one piece this time."
-------
They had positioned her in front of the target, hiding within the lift building. Unit 00 expanded its AT Field to its maximum. Rei tightened the Eva's hold on the rifle as she prepared for battle. Misato came on the comm. "Do it just like we planned, you can do this, Rei."
Unit 00 jumped out of the corner and began shooting a volley at the 4th Angel.
Before anyone could blink, the 4th Angel went horizontal, ducking under the bullets that would have hit its AT Field, slithered around the buildings towards Unit 00 like a snake after its prey. Rei jumped back, expecting the Angel to go for a frontal assault.
"Rei, no!" Misato screamed out a warning but Rei slammed against something hard behind her. Unit 00 was about to lean forward, leveraging itself to jump away but the Angel was already in its upright position. With its insect-like legs, it reached around and dug deep into the armor plating of Unit 00's torso, ensnaring it like a Venus flytrap.
Feeling the sharp legs trying to pull apart the orange armor like the lid from a can of sardines, Rei cried out in pain. Her sync rate was well over 60 and the armor plating that protected Unit 00 was attached to the restraints bolted deep into its flesh and bone of the Prototype Evangelion.
-------
Waiting on the 8th catapult, Shinji had been watching the entire encounter within the safety of his Unit 01 and he couldn't take anymore. "Misato! Send me out! Let me fight!"
"Not yet." she calmly said. "Unit 01 isn't 100 repaired. Rei can still get out of this."
"Damn." Shinji seethed under his breath, fruitlessly willing the catapult to launch or to, at least, release the safety locks.
-------
With its arms pinned and the Angel making an effort at tearing open Unit 00's chest plate armor, Rei resolved to kicking her way out and began beating the Angel's abdomen with Unit 00's heels to free herself.
In her panicked state, she didn't pay attention to the horrible ripping sound matching that of a wet rag, nor did she pay attention to the sickly wet legs that had formed on the Angels lower section. What got her attention was the fact that she could no longer kick her way free. Unit 00's legs were bound tightly just like the rest of its body
-------
"Shit! Rei, hold on! We're sending in Unit 01! Launch Eva!" Mere milliseconds before the launch, a loud metallic clank sounded and the Locks Monitor began blinking a dangerous red around the diagram of Unit 01's shoulders. "What the hell just happened?!"
"Unit 01's Final Safety Locks! They've just been released! We can't get them linked again!" shouted Makoto.
"How did they unlock in the first place?!" Ritsuko shouted back.
"I don't know! Nothing here explains how it happened!"
-------
Seeing the situation that all of mankind was currently in, Toji turned to head back to the shelter. "Screw you, Kensuke, I'm outta here!"
"Wait! Look!"
-------
Shinji shot out of the streets like a circus performer out of a canon. He hadn't expected them to release the safety locks but experience taught him to turn his body in the air and use his AT Field to maneuver Unit 01's foot towards the Angel.
The 4th quickly lashed out with its tentacles, wrapped it around Unit 01's ankle and proceed in violently swinging him around in circles, bashing its body against steel buildings and concrete streets.
Shinji tried to get Unit 01 to reach down and release itself from the Angel's hold, but the g-force was keeping him from doing so.
"Shinji, use the progressive knife!"
He did as Misato had instructed, Unit 01 reached up and grabbed its prog knife from the left shoulder wing. The 4th remembered this type of weapon and reacted hostilely sending a strong electrical current through its tentacles while slamming it harder against solid objects. Upon being slammed to the ground again, Shinji barely had a chance to carefully aim and throw the knife through mid-flight, severing the tentacle that had held him from saving Rei and Unit 00.
He fell onto Weapon Building 0-08 and slumped to the ground. "The core...where...?" he breathed before grunting at the stinging sensation running through his ankle. He looked down to see that the severed tentacle was still alive and moving on its own like the end of a lizard's tail.
"Shinji, are you okay? Say something!" Misato shouted. He reached down and undid the tentacle from his ankle and examined it in deep thought. "Shinji? Shinji!"
"I'm fine, let me think!"
"There's no time for that! It looks like Rei's being held hostage, come ba-"
"I cant just-" Shinji shouted.
"I am your Head of Operations supervisor, follow my orders!"
"But Rei-"
"Do as I say, Shi-"
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Shigeru couldn't believe what he was seeing "Unit 01's communication link's just been cut off from the inside!"
"What?!" Misato shrieked. Is it possible that he unlocked the Final Safety Locks, too? "Do what you can to get it back on!" Misato ordered.
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Don't panic, don't panic… Think, Shinji, think! Almost instantly, an idea came to him. It was absurd and extremely risky but…
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"Unit 01's synchronization is climbing!" Maya reported. "89...92…96…100!"
Impossible! Ritsuko thought. "Unbeleive-"
"104?! 107…108…109! Stabilizing at 109.46?! How's he doing that?"
"The right arm! It's regenerating!" Makoto nearly shrieked in disbelief.
"Has it gone berserk?" Misato asked the Doctor.
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With a small portion of the right arm regenerated from the enemy's severed limb, Unit 01 charged at the Angel. Shamshel lashed out its energy whips at Unit 01 but the Eva narrowly dodged them, instead, the whips cleanly slicing several buildings to pieces. The buildings fell to the ground, enveloping all three giants in a cloud of dust and debris.
Before the thick dust had cleared, Shamshel sensed a threat coming and blindly lashed out in hopes to hit the target. Unit 01 exploded out of the thick dark clouds, right arm reared back, ready to strike at both hostage and enemy if need be.
Like a psychic connection between them, Rei tilted Unit 00's head just in time to dodge the stump. The Angel made no sound of pain, but judging from its twitching body, Rei was sure it must've been unbearable. She watched as Unit 01 had begun contaminating the Angel. No. Not just contaminating it—it was absorbing the Angel's flesh into its own!
Shamshel had played around enough, the bottom half of its abnormally large head open and then been vertically split in half as if an invisible knife had deeply slit a "T" into it, and aimed directly at Unit 01. Rei felt a grumble behind her and knew what came next. She restored communications with Unit 01 to warn him but he had his closed from not only HQ, but herself as well. "Shinji!"
She closed her eyes but the hot atmosphere from the energy blast above her had already informed her of what had happened. When she opened her eyes seconds later, Unit 01 was buried under the large rubble of several buildings that had collapsed.
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For a fraction of a moment, the sensors displayed a sharp spike in the readings, and then everything calmed down. "Unit 01's Pilot is unconscious." Maya breathed.
While everyone had been stunned to silence, Misato torn her eyes off of Unit 01 and saw something different about the Angel body. Something she wasn't able to see before. "Rei, behind you!"
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Rei craned Unit 00's neck to what was behind her head and her eyes widened in surprise. The core had been exposed due to Unit 01's absorption! She leaned forward as much as she could and slammed the back of her head against the giant red orb. The Angel twitched from the contact at its freshly exposed organ and slightly released its hold.
Unit 00 leaned forward again, managing to get more distance, and slammed hard against the core again. The Angel completely released its hold and staggered back. In one swift movement, Unit 00 bent down, grabbed Unit 01's prog knife, and thrust it at the core.
Shamshel's legs reached out to grab Unit 00's arm but Rei pulled back before it had the chance to capture her again—leaving the prog knife sticking out like a large thorn sticking out of an apple. She grabbed her rifle off the ground, spun around in place and butted the knife as hard as she could. The knife penetrated through the core and the blunt side of the rifle hit, managing to severely crack the core to the point where it glowed for a brief second before exploding and vaporizing the Angel and a small chunk of the city with it.
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Aoba was the first to break the silence, "The target has gone completely silent." That single sentence had almost everyone releasing their held breath—well, almost everyone…
"Send out the Recovery team. Inform me when the Third Child begins to regain consciousness." With that, Misato left the bridge with a scowl on her face, leaving some of the techs worried for the boy.
I'd like to give a big thanks to Rahhel for beta-reading this chapter.
More beta-readers wanted.