A/N: Ugh! Everyhting is so slow! that's it! I'm kickin it up a notch! PREPARE FOR MORE ACTION! MORE TWISTS! AND SOMETHING COMPLETELY OUT OF LEFT FIELD!
As you can see, I am very frustrated writing this, therefore, things are going to get crazy, enjoy.
Hmm... we haven't seen Gendo for a while, let us... adjust that, shall we?
Chapter Fifteen:
Slave to the System
"I don't suppose anyone can live if they've had a knife stabbed right through their heart?"
-Kyon
"Ryoko Asakura is a flawed program, it would be best if she were deleted"
"Go ahead, you despise her anyway, one less problem if you ask me"
"Kyon don't do it!"
"Nagato!"
I woke up in a cold sweat breathing deeply, I don't know what exactly I was dreaming about, but it was pretty intense. I got up and got myself a glass of water, trying to take in the waking world. I sat down in the kitchen, thinking deeply. The sun was just begining to rise over Tokyo three and Misato and Sohryu were still in bed. It had been a few days after I had given the girls that fat stack of cash, it was friday already. The pilots didn't bother going to school, since we couldn't go to Okinawa, and I hadn't heard anything from Shinji since then. It was quiet in the apartment, too quiet, allowing my mind to flood with images of that awful dream, whatever it was. I remember something about Ryoko and the Evas and a lot of blood. I couldn't take the silence, and I couldn't stop thinking about Ryoko, so I dialed her number.
She didn't pick up right away, so I had to listen to the other end ring a few times.
"She's probably still asleep, how could I be so stupid?" I thought, scolding myself.
I was about to hang up, until I heard a very groggy, "Kyon-kun? What's up?" On the other line.
"Uh... Nothing really, how are you?" I asked drowsily.
"Tired, why did you call?"
Why did I call? And why do I have my stomach twisted in a knot? I feel worried for some reason...
"No reason..."
there was a yawn on the other end, "You want to get a cup of coffee? I have trouble going back to sleep once I'm up, so I might as well do something with an early start!" She said cheerfully.
We met up at the same coffee shop I talked to Haruhi and Mikuru in the other day, and sat down at a booth.
"Are you awake yet, itoko-chan?"
I yawned a little and looked through the menu as she continued talking,
"You know, just because your eyes are open, doesn't necceserily mean you're awake, you have to accept the reality around you, and then you'll begin to understand"
I remember she said that to me once, but that felt like such a long time ago...
I still didn't say anything as I sat my menu down.
"You look worried, is something on your mind?" She asked, she sounded worried to me.
"I don't really know, you ever have a feeling in your gut, that something important is about to happen, but you don't have the slightest clue of what it might be?" I asked, staring off into space.
Ryoko was silent for a few moments, then she spoke, "You've got the feeling too, huh? They call that intuition..." She said, trailing off.
I still didn't say anything, so she spoke again,
"You know, we don't talk much anymore, I guess you must feel like I abandoned you guys for Miss Sohryu, huh?"
A cheery waitress came by and took our orders.
Too be honest, I didn't really mind that she was friends with Sohryu, I've always felt kind of on edge when she was around, but... I really shouldn't have, those stabbing incidents were in the past, world's away even!
"I don't feel that way cousin, thing's have just been getting kind of heavy lately..." If I had known what was to come, you can bet I would have said differently.
"You've grown attached to Haruhi, I've noticed that... so that's why I've been hanging out with Miss Sohryu, I didn't want to get in your way..." She sounded deppressed, I could have sworn she whispered something sounding like, "Makes me jealous..."
"Huh?"
"Oh, our drinks are here!" She thanked the waitress for her coffee.
I took a sip of mine, savouring the taste, "I guess I have grown attached to her"
She smiled in a sad kind of way, "There's no denying it, you two are soulmates!"
"Soulmates?"
She nodded, "Well yeah! I've noticed how you two are always together, you even finish each other's sentences from time to time, it's cute actually... it's like you've known each other in another life"
She didn't know it, but we did. And I can honestly say I don't know anyone nearly as well as I know Haruhi, but have we really been finishing each other's sentences? I hadn't noticed.
Ryoko's phone began ringing suddenly, she answered it instantly out of reflex.
"Hello? Yes... what?" She was smiling excitedly, "Uh-huh? Yes... Right away!" she hung up and beamed at me, "You're not going to believe this! My Eva's been repaired and they're going to do an activation test on the outskirts of town!" She cheered, uncaring of who heard.
I tried to act happy for her, "That's great!" I said.
She got up, completely forgetting her coffee and headed for the door, but she stopped and hugged me, "This just might be the happiest day of my life! Maybe daddy will finally pay attention to me!" she said, refering to the commander.
I hugged her back awkwardly, "Be safe, Ryoko"
She nodded and ran out of the shop, elated, leaving me with the bill.
I sat there for a while, barely drinking my coffee, why did I feel a sense of impending doom?
I was back home, sitting on the balcony, just looking at the clouds. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a black mist zip through the sky towards the outskirts of town, but I figured it was just my imagination. I suddenly didn't feel very comfortable outside, so I went back in to watch TV.
Sohryu was up and dominating the TV, but I didn't really care what was on, so I sat down next to her and zoned out for a while,
"Darn you Kakka carot cake! You am no real super sand!"
"What do you mean, Virginia?"
"Hey baka, where did you go earlier?" Sohryu asked grouchily.
Not a morning person, huh?
"I went out" I said simply, what's it to her what I do?
"I'm going... to fight you... and I'm going... to kill you... until your dead... today!"
"Noooooooo!"
"Fine, don't tell me, I don't give a damn"
Then why did you ask?
smack!
"Argh! I am defeated! Ugh... argh! You big smelly willy!"
"That's what you get for acting demented, virginia!"
What the hell is this show?
"Defeating a sandwich... only makes it tastier!"
Is that a troll doll?
"So, I guess you must be pretty lonesome without the brat and the crybaby, huh?"
"They have names, you know" I shot back.
"I'll be back... ka... kakka... ka... faggot!"
"Like I care, how can you stand-" she was cut off as both our cell phones rang.
I gripped the pallet rifle tightly in the Eva's hands, there had been an angel alert all of a sudden and Sohryu, Rei and myself were deployed, Ryoko and Misato however, were nowhere to be found.
I opened up a video link, "Where's Misato and Ryoko? Who's in charge?" I asked worriedly.
"That would be me," The commander said, opening a video link, "Do not concern yourself with them right now, just focus on the target"
This just doesn't feel right, why is my so called uncle taking command, and where is the angel?
"...Sir?"
"Angel dead ahead, be careful, pilots!" Mister Aoba shouted, strangely being the only one on the bridge. Where were the other's?
I saw a hulking figure out of the corner of my eye staggering towards us like a zombie and began firing out of reflex, Rei and Sohryu joined in with their rifles as well, "What the?" I gasped, that wasn't an angel, that was an Eva!
"Rei, Sohryu, cease fire!" I called, only to be overuled by the commander,
"Belay that, keep firing on the target" He said apathetically.
"But sir! Isn't that Ryoko's Eva?" Sohryu cried, refusing to fire any longer. Rei followed the commander and kept firing, "Rei, stop! It's Ryoko!"
Rei stopped as the Eva continued lurching towards us, opening a video link, Rei asked, "Kyon?"
"Ayanami, you will fire on the target" The commander ordered emotionlessly.
"Don't do it Rei!"
"That's an order pilot!"
"Rei!"
"Ayanami!"
Rei looked back and forth between us on her screen, and bowed her head, "I am sorry Kyon, I cannot betray the commander's orders..." She took off and charged the Eva
Sohryu opened a video link to me, "Maybe we can subdue it and pull her plug out?" She asked, worried for her friend. It seems the red devil had a heart after all.
"Yeah, good idea" I said, causing her to nod and close the link.
Rei had pulled her proggressive knife out and was attempting to take on Ryoko's Eva hand to hand, but got blasted away by it's AT field for her troubles. I hadn't seen a field this strong before, it was so strong that it was clearly visable in the sunlight!
The Eva jumped into action as Sohryu tried to tackle it to the ground, flinging her away with it's field and roaring like a wild beast. I don't know how, but Ryoko's Eva must have some kind of infection. The Eva got on all four's, changing it's form slightly by bulking up, it's arms began to grow longer too. This isn't happening!
Rei recovered from her fall and charged the angel with her knife, trying to impale it, but was met with failure once again as the monster launched itself in the air and landed on her back, sending her Eva crashing to the ground.
I could hear Rei screaming over the com channel as the angel roared and began ripping armor off of her Eva's back.
"Wondergirl!" Sohryu screamed, firing a wild burst from her rifle to get the angel's attention, it did by the way. Seemingly irratated, the Angel jumped off Rei's back and began charging on all fours to Sohryu's position, covering the distance in no time. Sohryu screamed as the angel bit her Eva's throat out, and punched her Eva's gut so hard she was launched a few feet in the air, dropping to her knees as the Angel tried to rip her head off.
"Kyon! Help me, please!" Sohryu begged, I could see her over the video link, clutching her head and screaming.
I don't want to hurt Ryoko, but I can't let the angel kill Sohryu, no matter how awful a person she is!
I took a quick glance at Rei's Eva, it still lay on the ground unmoving. Dammit I have to do something!
I started firing controlled bursts at the angel, managing to get it's attention, it worked, but I regreted it soon after. The angel reared it's ugly head at me, regarding me with the eyes of a hungry demon for a split second, then launching itself into the air, it stretched it's arms towards me and began strangling me as it landed. I tried to pull it's arms away, but it was way to strong, I was choking in the plug, gasping for breath. I managed to start pulling it's arms away, only for it to grow another pair and strangle me with those. Are you serious! Come on!
In a panic, I accidently turned on unit one's loudspeakers. A thought hit me suddenly,
"Ryoko!" I boomed over the countryside, "You've got to fight it! I know you're in there! Please, if you can hear me, fight it off!"
The angel's face seemed to twist into a sadistic grin, as if mocking me. It roared in my face, almost sounding like laughter.
The commander was in my vision again, "Ikari, why are you holding back? Destroy the angel!"
"But that's your daughter! You can't seriously want me to kill her, do you?" I gasped out, unbelieving of the situation.
"It doesn't matter, that is an angel! It is our top priority to eliminate them and protect mankind!"
How can someone be so cold? Doesn't he care about Ryoko?
"I can't do it! Ryoko is my friend!"
"Activate the dummy plug, the pilot is useless!" he ordered Mister Aoba.
The dummy what?
"But... sir, it hasn't been properly tested, we don't know what will happen!" Mister Aoba tried to counter,
"I am the supreme commander of NERV, and I order you to activate it!" The commander shouted.
"...Yes sir"
meanwhile, I was still struggling with the angel, my vision was begining to go black around the edges. Is this it, am I going to die? Of course it would involve Ryoko again... is that irony? I'm still unsure of what the correct definition of irony is...
suddenly, the pressure around my throat ceased, accompanied by a mechanical whirring noise,
"What? What's going on!"
something black took hold of the butterfly controls, locking in place. There was a noise similair to a computer starting up as a screen lowered in front of my face, it read "dummy plug active"
I could still see out of the Eva's eyes however, and I noticed unit one was fighting on it's own,
"What is this?"
Unit one began pushing back the angel's original set of arms, roaring in defiance as it snapped both wrists and began strangling the monster back. The angel released it's grip on unit one's neck and tried to pry the purple Eva's arms apart, but to no avail. This was a sickening crunch! As the angel went limp, it's neck thoroughly snapped.
I thought it was over until unit one began pulling on the angel's head, finnaly ripping it off and slamming it to the ground, beggining it's massacre on the corpse.
"Sir! The angel is dead, can't we stop this now?" I was met with silence
"Sir!"
The angel's intestines were now being tossed aside as unit one continued ripping it apart.
"Stop this! Somebody help!"
Sohryu's face popped up in my vision, "What are you doing? Ryoko's still in there!" She gasped out,
"It's not me! I can't do anything, help me!"
Sohryu's Eva limped over to the bloodbath as fast as it could, she tried to pull the Eva and the corpse away from each other but to no avail, unit one resisted unit two's attempts and continued tearing Ryoko's Eva apart, "It's too strong Kyon!" Sohryu cried, still struggling to pull unit one away.
I began screaming in horror, Ryoko was about to die and there was nothing I could do about it!
"Commander, please stop this! I'm begging you! Commander! Somebody, anybody! NAGATO!"
Everything went black, I found myself standing in total emptyness.
"Nagato? What is this?" I cried, adrenaline still pumping through my veins.
"What's wrong, isn't this what you've always wanted?" a voice asked,
I looked around and saw my doppleganger,
"Wanted what?" I asked.
He smiled, "To have Asakura out of the picture, of course, what else?"
"I don't want her dead!"
"But don't you loathe her? Doesn't the mere sight of her make you want to run away?" he asked
"She's not who she was before! She's a different person!"
"She fooled you before, in Nagato's other world. Do you really want to make that mistake again?"
"Third times the charm, wouldn't you say?" I shot back.
"Old sayings don't hold true anymore," he said, crossing his arms and sighing, "Don't believe me? Ask her" he nodded towards something behind me.
I turned around to see Nagato, "Ryoko Asakura is a flawed program, keeping her intact runs a high risk of creating errors, it would be best if she were deleted"
"She's not a program anymore, she's a human being!" I yelled, trying to talk some sense into her.
My doppleganger joined in, "You despise her anyway, getting rid of her makes one less problem if you ask me"
I saw Shinji flash in and out of existance, like a picture on a TV with too much static, "Kyon, don't do it! Have mercy on Ryoko!" That's what I'm trying to do! Apparently he wasn't completely aware of the conversation being held between Nagato and myself.
"Please Nagato, I'm begging you, there must be something you can do! Don't let this thing kill her!"
Nagato stood there, staring at me for a moment, "...Very well"
My senses flooded back, the smell and taste of LCL flooded my senses and I could hear Sohryu saying, "Kyon, what's going on! Don't bite the insertion plug!" She screamed hysterically as she gripped unit one's neck, trying to pull something out of it's mouth.
There was a loud beeping as my plug went red, flashing words all around me, I yelled in shock as the TV in front of me cracked loudly, distorting the message it bore. Suddenly everything stopped as the plug went dark and silent.
"The dummy plug has been fried!" Mister Aoba yelled.
"Impossble!" The commander roared, "Reboot it!"
"It's not working sir!"
Sohryu ripped the plug out of unit one's mouth, still perfectly intact and placed it on the ground, "Kyon! Kyon can you hear me?" She yelled, popping up again in my vision.
"Yeah" I said quietly, exhausted.
"I just called for a med team, they're on their way to take wondergirl to the hospital and put Ryoko in a quarantine!"
"I guess that's a good thing..." I said, breathing deeply, I was on the verge of hyperventillating.
Sohryu and I had just stepped on the catwalk in the cages when the commander appeared, surrounded by a squad of section two agents.
"Effective immediately, arrest pilots Sohryu and Ikari!" he ordered.
"What? What did we do?" I cried as the men in black dragged Sohryu and I away.
As we passed the commander he said, "You disobeyed my orders, letting an angel live, if I wasn't in need of pilots, I'd have you both courtmarshalled!"
"You son of a bitch! You wanted us to kill your own daughter, your a monster!" Sohryu screamed as we were pulled out of the cages and down a hallway, for once, I agree with the red devil one hundred percent!
A/N: That was just vicious! See? I told you guys things were going to get dark. Sorry I skipped so many angels, I just wanted to advance the story, things were just feeling a little stagnant to me. Next chapter is a little surprise that I've been anticipating for some time, I hope you enjoy it. As always, please read and review.
And I know, My omakes suck, I'm probably not going to write anymore of those, maybe a few churuya/eva skits though, I like those. In case you were wondering just what the hell was on the TV when Kyon and Asuka were talking, that was a youtube video called dragonzball p. I've watched that about fifty time and still piss myself laughing everytime I see it. I also don't own that.