Evangelion: Continuum
By Daetor
Chapter 10: Resulting actions
Disclaimer: Don't tell me that you STILL don't get it...
A/N: Well, here it is people, chapter ten, also, for those of view that voted in the polls, the second story should be up today.
Asuka was pondering what to do next when her senses picked up something unexpected. A Dirac Sea had opened above the crater and it was hidden by the volcanic ash rising from it. As it was, the surrounding settlements around Berlin had been evacuated because of the fallout and the sun was pretty much blocked out where she was now. With a crater that big, it would be a lot more than just the surrounding area that would be blocked out by the ash. So, she was wondering if there was something that she could do about the problem.
For now though, she was more curios about who was coming and from where, Sarah had said that she shouldn't expect any support from Sanctuary any time soon. So, that left only SEELE, which would mean that they were far better prepared than John had expected. There was always the possibility of unknown survivors from The Old Earth, John certainly never said that no one else could have escaped, so who could say if there were any others out there who were now attracted by the unusual display of power.
She was surprised to see a task force of Sanctuary ships led by sixty of the war machines she was used to work with. Their size was small enough to be easily effective in case of fighting with regular soldiers or tanks while also large enough to engage Evas in groups of three four of them. It was a case of using their maneuverability and speed to confuse the enemy and strike the enemy from more points than one. Though actually killing an Evangelion or angel was difficult without more heavy support. Or at the very least 3 to 1 odds.
'What the Hell?' Asuka asked herself, then decided to contact the approaching forces to see what was going on. "Sanctuary task force, this is Asuka Langley Sohryu, Avatar pilot, state your purpose."
(Asuka! Thank God you're still here!) Misato's voice came over the comm..
"Misato, what are you doing out here?" The German girl asked, honestly surprised to find her guardian that close to the disaster area.
(She's doing the same thing we're doing red, we're here to help save your and Shinji's asses.) Toji's voice replied instead of Misato's, only that this time it was coming from one of the mechs. (By the way, where is he?)
"I'm afraid that we have a slight problem there, he's somewhere in space and he's to far away from me to find him." Asuka replied. "Now, what the hell are you doing here stooge? Sarah said that she wouldn't be sending anyone out here any time soon. Even if she was going to send someone, she wouldn't send a rookie like you!"
(The thing is Asuka that Sarah didn't send anyone, we kinda ran out of Sanctuary by ourselves.) Misato said. (Listen we'll land near you and form a small camp by connecting the ships. You can join us on the command ship and we can talk more there.)
"Ok then…" Asuka replied, confused by yet another unexpected turn of events.
--
"So, let me get this straight, The Bastard King, Lord Son of a Bitch, former Slave Master of NERV, Gendo Rokobungi made this all possible by getting all you people together with Fuyutsuki's help and he sent you all out here to help me and Shinji?" Asuka asked after she was told how all of them got there in the first place.
"As weird as it seems that's what happened." Misato said. "It's no surprise that he was able to get us all together, after all, he wasn't the Commander of NERV for nothing, he knows how to deal with people and how to get others to see his point of view."
"He was also wise to come and see me personally." The Black Knight replied, still hidden by his armor. "I was able to pull the strings to ensure that we had the access to all of these toys, since people wouldn't have been enough to get this operation started."
"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but until Shinji's pain subsides enough for him to be able to think properly, all we can really do is wait." Asuka replied. "So, we could just as well plan a few moves by ourselves until that happens. We can't let SEELE get the upper hand right?"
"I agree with the demon on that one, we have to do something we can't be sitting around on our asses all day long." Toji added. "Though, what I first want to know is what happened outside… It's full of Eva pieces out there."
Asuka ignored his use of the demon insult since she got used to it as more of a nick name and decided to explain a it about what she did after she found out that there wasn't anything to do for Shinji. It didn't take her long to tell her part of the tale and when she was done everyone was considering what she said. There would be serious repercussions all across the world to her rather bold move. There was also the more "local" crisis to consider, they couldn't just ignore the problem and hope that the Earth could just survive it without a hitch.
"Well, the whole situation sucks." Toji summed up what was going on in everyone's head.
"I would have to agree…" The Black Knight replied. "I think that the biggest problem right now is that crater out there. We have to cool it and get rid of as much of that ash as possible."
"Tell us something we don't know, though you still have to tell us what we can do about it." Asuka added.
"Well, there is one thing we can do." The lead technician said. He was a young man, at least in Sanctuary since in reality he was over 60, that went by the name of Piotr Rudolfski, a strange name by some standards, but considering where he came from it was no surprise. He was in charge of the completely civilian part of the operation, the technical division.
"Everyone knows that the S2 engine can help transform energy into matter, what they don't know is that the process can go backwards as well, turning matter into raw energy and then storing it. This reverse process can also be used to absorb heat in large areas. So, we can set up something like that to consume both the volcanic ash and absorb heat from the crater, cooling it off and sealing it."
"Anyone has any other ideas?" Misato asked, when she saw that everyone was shaking their heads, she turned back to Piotr. "See what we have to do to get such an operation going. We don't want to start anything without knowing that we can finish the job."
"Sure ma'am, I'll be right on it." He replied.
"The thing is that we might be sitting ducks while working on the problem…" Asuka added.
"That would be a problem." The Black Knight agreed. "Toji, Kensuke, I want you to take two men each and scout around the area, see what's left out there and is there's any particularly good area where we could stay close to the crater yet safe while working."
"Sir! Yes, sir!" Kensuke saluted seriously.
"We're on it…" Toji replied while heading of.
"Well, what should I do in the mean time?" Asuka asked, not really liking the idea of simply waiting.
"You should rest." The Black Knight replied. "Your body might not need it, but your mind will and we'll surely need you in top shape should anything happen."
If someone were to tell her that before she might have protested, but at the time being, she was well aware of the fact that it was becoming harder to control her powers and call upon them after all that happened. Oh, there was no doubt that physically she could handle a small war by herself right now, but her mind was tired, focusing all day to control her avatar and her powers in battle had taken its toll. So she decided to impose some sleep on her body in some spare quarters in one of the ships that came.
--
"So, what do you make of all this Ken?" Toji asked as he was flying on his patrol route around the base.
I don't know really, on one hand I can't wait to see some action, on the other hand I'm scared shitless. Came the surprisingly calm reply back. I mean, think about what powers are involved in this shit. Shinji blew up all of Berlin! What could a full scale fight between him at full scale and those four bastards do? That's not considering their forces and the Demon Girl…
"Yea, kinda scary, but we gotta do what we gotta do." Toji said back as he maneuvered his mech in the air, changing directions and scanning the area. "This place looks like hell, I think we'd choke if we didn't have air filters.. Those Eva remains aren't really helping the picture and the visibility is dropping by the minute…"
Heh, what did you expect? A picnic party? Kensuke joked. Man, and to think I once thought this kind of stuff was all about heroics and self sacrifice…
"At least some good came from it." Toji said. "It put some sense into you."
Yea… Kensuke's reply was dominated by a thoughtful tone, one which Toji heard a lot more frequently these days. Toji continued to survey the area, looking over the carnage, thankful that he couldn't smell anything, that he didn't hear more than the hum of his equipment and the sounds of molten rock churning in the crater that was now to his right.
He couldn't help but wonder what kind of forces could SEELE have if they afforded to waste 100 Evas just like that. He suspected that if they didn't take her by surprise, she would have actually won against those monsters. Even when she was supposed to die she got out, Shinji the ever reliable warrior that he had become came for her, even
in his maddened state and clouded by what Asuka described as indescribable pain. That kind of act really put things in perspective. Those two must have really loved each other, more than he thought it was possible.
Toji wasn't stupid, he noticed how Shinji used to look at the foreign girl long before Third Impact, he noticed that she seemed somewhat different around him, even though he could never understand exactly what was different. He didn't expect it to go this far, but it did, it went farther then he thought it was possible.
He honestly didn't believe that he could find the strength that Shinji did when Asuka was in danger for Hikari, he knew that he didn't have that kind of determination. Those two had something between them beyond what he could understand, so he was happy for his friend, even if he chose a girl like her. Asuka was still unnerving for a lot of other people, but she was calming down, she was learning to leave her defenses down, not to mention that towards Shinji she was a completely different person. So that was all that mattered to Toji, knowing that his friend could be happy.
While thinking this, Toji realized that he probably wouldn't have thought the same way before, but like many that were around Tokyo-3 and involved with the Evas, he knew that he was no longer a child, he didn't know what he was, but he wasn't a kid anymore. This war had stripped him of his childhood, nowhere near as bad as those two, but enough to let him have a far different view of the world from many other kids his age. Learning to fight in a war mech wasn't something normal kids did, neither was going on patrol missions trying to ensure that a temporary base was safe from the attacks from an enemy that was beyond normal human understanding.
You're awfully quiet. Knesuke observed.
"Yea well I just have a lot on my mind." Toji replied. "Anything interesting on your end?"
Nope, just gore, ash, heat and the likes. Kensuke replied, by the sounds he heard Toji could tell that he was checking the sensors as well, probably doing another sweep. Still nothing…
"Let's just head back, we've been out here for long enough." Toji said and signaled to the two others that were with him that it was time to turn back.
Sure, I think we've seen all there is to see, let someone else have some fun out here…
--
What was left of SEELE was in a bit of a turmoil, no surprise there given the circumstances. They sent out 100 Evas out there to take care of the Second Child, it looked like they would succeed too, that was until something happened. Some sort of presence manifested itself on the battlefield, its radiating power alone was enough to cut them of from their servants, leaving them to fend for themselves. The last thing they received from the Evas were signals signifying their defeat, even those were fewer than they should have been.
"It seems that we underestimated our enemies…" Keel said. "This will be far more difficult than I expected."
"The real question is if the Third came back and used Adam's powers or the Second awakened as well…" 03 said. "Long term, the second option would be worse, short term, the first one would be worse, no matter how you put it, we're in a very bad situation here…"
"Indeed, the fact that they know where to find us with the help of Ikari's knowledge is just as bad." SEELE 4 said. "I don't know exactly what we can do to win this war now."
"There is only one option." Keel said. "We gather all of our forces at this location and make preparations to leave this planet. We find somewhere else to raise our armies where we ourselves are safe, then we return and complete our plans. In the worst case scenario, we'd have to sacrifice our current forces to hold out Sanctuary's forces led by those accursed children and that blasted man."
"A wise plan… but can we be ready in time?" 02 asked. "We have no idea when they'll attack or with how many forces. We have absolutely no clues as to how powerful our opponents are, while they at least have a fair knowledge of what we can throw at them."
"It is of little consequence." 03 said. "We will escape, that's not the problem, the question is where we are going."
Keel raised his hand and an image of the galaxy formed between the four of them. He magnified one of the spiraling arms, then closed in on a nebula, afterwards on a star hidden within it. In the orbit of the star was a single planet, details about it were presented directly from Keel's mind, showing it to have very basic conditions to support very little life, but more than enough for their engineered monsters. The main perk of the planet though were what could be considered vaults of highly dense materials all over it. The denser the substance, the more energy it would provide when converted and that meant more matter when it was transformed back to a material form.
All in all, that planet was practically made for creating large armies on it. The problem was the distance it was at, but that didn't mean much, with the help of the AT field, the four of them could easily bend time and space to reach it with ease. The problem was that they had to get some distance from New Earth, otherwise, the residual energy from the failed Impacts could throw them of course and that wouldn't be good since of course meant both in direction and in distance. Landing in some random part of the galaxy was not something they wanted.
"Well, it seems that you thought of everything Keel." 04 said as he looked over the projected image. Keel smirked a bit before replying.
"I've learned how to handle these things ever since I wrote those scrolls, amazing how humanity is easily fooled with simple tricks. Though, these weak creatures can hardly be called humans."
"Indeed, yet we shall ascend them, weather they like it or not." 03 said.
The four evil men continued to plot their escape and some of the outlines of their inevitable return, never even thinking that failure was possible. They fell in the same arrogance that ensured their defeat eons ago, against a man that was dead now, even if they thought that he was still alive.
--
Piotr was a hard working man, he had worked with S2 technology, if you could call it that, for a very long time, so preparing something that would take care of the Berlin problem wasn't all that hard for him. He, unlike many others wasn't shocked when he saw the destruction that was caused, he knew from experience that the S2 engine was a powerful tool and it literally provided unlimited energy. The question was of course of how much you could handle at once without risking to explode. In this case, practice made perfect, the more you used that kind of energy, the more you could handle in time.
Still, this was not the problem at hand. Speaking of which, he already had a solution, the only reason for which he didn't rush back to Misato and the Black Knight with it was the fact that he was running it through the command ship's computers and looking for alternatives as well. He had to make sure that this was the best case scenario and
that nothing else could be done. He wanted to be sure that they weren't caught of guard during the operation, since they had no idea what SEELE could know or if they would attempt to strike at their location.
The plan was simpler than it could have been, for the simple reason that they had an Evangelion there, Asuka's avatar, Unit-02. It could handle a very large output and input of power, larger than the S2 units of any of the ships there. The flow it could support would be further influenced by Asuka's concentration and her willpower, which no one doubted that they were quite high.
The plan involved Unit-02 and four of the support ships. With minor modifications they could begin to suck in the ash and heat, turning it to energy, they would absorb as much as possible, but he knew that they couldn't get enough to cool of the crater quickly enough. That was where Asuka would come in, she would take on the surplus of energy, which would be quite a lot and she would absorb it or at the very least redirect what she couldn't absorb as pure light towards the sky. The thing was, that no matter how fast they would go at it, the whole thing would last at least two hours, most likely more than that.
Piotr sipped from his drink as he waited for the computer to finish its work and give him the data he needed. He was happy that normal alcoholic drinks had no effect on him, so drinking some brand or another of different stuff wasn't forbidden to him, since everyone knew that he could take it and keep working without any problems.
It didn't take much longer, so after emptying his glass, he got to work and readied a report. Several minutes later it was compiled and ready to be delivered to the two so called commanders of this patchwork operation of theirs. He got to his feet and proceeded to see the two, wondering if they would go along with it.
--
"I say that we should go through with it." Asuka said after Piotr finished explaining the operation to them. "We don't really have enough time to stand around and plan anything better and if SEELE does try something during the operation we can just stop and fight or move away."
"Well, the position is actually pretty easy to defend with what forces we have, we can easily form a perimeter of fire around you with the gunships and the war mechs can provide additional cover." Misato said after a brief look at the map. "Plus, we'd be hidden in all that volcanic ash up until the near end of the operation and there aren't any satellites in the region to show them where we are and what forces we have."
"We can shoot any aircraft out of the sky long before they could get close enough to show SEELE what we're doing." The Black Knight said, also looking at the map. "Plus, I think that they'll be waiting at least a day or two before they try anything against you."
"Yea, Shinji did a real number on the remaining Evas, if they got even half of what he did, I imagine that they're scared of him." Asuka replied with a smirk. "So it's settled, we go through with this."
"Yes, we're going through with this." Misato said with a sigh. "How long will it take to get those ships ready Piotr?"
"About 20 minutes ma'am." He replied, laughing slightly when Misato growled at the ma'am part.
"So we'll start the operation in an hour then." She said, considering to smack the man in the head. "That will give us more than enough time to brief everyone and get the ships in position."
"I'll see to it that everyone on the front line is ready." The Black Knight added. "Hopefully we won't see any fighting during this operation. I don't want to be forced to repeat this more than once."
"Agreed." Asuka replied. "I'm going to get ready and thanks for bringing me a spare armor."
"No problem, we couldn't have you walking around in one covered in dried blood all the time could we?" Misato said. "God I wish this could get over with already."
--
He was in his mind so to speak, maybe the pain forced him to blackout in the end, or maybe it was the only way to protect himself from it. Either way, he was glad that he had this unexpected break, no matter what the reasons. He couldn't feel anything else than his connection with her, Asuka, as he sat in the familiar train cart. He hadn't been here since Third Impact and he didn't really want to come back here either, but apparently this happened weather he liked it or not. What surprised him was the person that was sitting across from him, it was John, Shinji had wondered what happened with the man after that flash of light.
"Oh, that's quite easy Shinji, I died, Berlin was turned into a smoldering crater and your full powers have been unlocked." John replied casually as if he was talking about some mundane subject. Shinji remained calm, there was no reason to become agitated until he learned the full extent of what happened. So far, he didn't even know if this was real or not and he had learned that getting depressed or angry over an event that already happened and you couldn't change while being unable to do anything at all didn't really help.
"Wise choice." John spoke once more. "As bad as it is, the facts are that this is real and there's nothing anyone can do about it."
"So, if you're dead, then how are you talking to me?" Shinji asked, deciding to trust this John, even if later he proved to be a projection of his own subconscious or something else like that.
"Well, apparently the soul doesn't immediately pass on after death, it's staying in this world for now, time in which I can contact people, due to my nature while I was alive." John replied. "I have no idea where I'm going after this, but the facts are that I can't turn back. Before I'm forced to leave, I have to talk to you, since my plans didn't really go as I wanted them too."
"Well, seeing as you died, I'd have to agree with that statement…" Shinji said.
"Indeed, I bet, that you're wondering what went wrong." It was a statement not a question but Shinji nodded regardless. "Well, the attack meant to overload my adversary caught you in the core. Since you weren't prepared to absorb any kind of energy and you have enormous powers, you practically lashed out as Adam did during Second Impact. Thankfully only Berlin was obliterated along with some satellites. Anyway, don't feel guilty about anything, the fact is that there was nothing you could have done, nothing at all. It might have been a twist of fate that allowed these events to take place, I don't know, but the fact is that they were unavoidable at that time, nothing you would have done could have changed the outcome."
"You're saying that so I won't feel guilty when I return to my senses…" Shinji replied in a detached manner. "Though, I can see he logic in your words, I think I'll be able to deal with it. Still, I don't know when I'll recover from what happened to me."
"Ah, the agony you're feeling." John said while readjusting his position in his seat. "Well, that's all because your body wasn't ready for its own power, if you weren't so changed from your old human form, this would have killed you for sure. If you weren't in your avatar, you would have had a chance to die even then."
"Lucky me then." Shinji chuckled. "It seems that despite the extreme odds I keep pulling through."
"Both you and Asuka." John said with a smile. "That doesn't matter right now though. What you should know is the fact that it will only take time for the energy to run its course through your body and you to return to normal. Even without it fully fading and I'm sure that you can handle yourself, as you already did when Asuka needed you help against SEELE's Evangelions."
"So that's what I was fighting." Shinji said. "I didn't really know, I just struck at what tried to harm her. I wasn't really thinking about much else, just that I was going to make sure that whatever they were, they would die."
"The so called berserker rage, something that very few can control." John replied. "Berserkers… the thing is, people like you can never be trained, no matter what type of conditioning or discipline you instill in a soldier, you can never get a genuine Berserker, like you. You have to be born with the quality, and very few truly have it. A true Berserker can never lose in battle if it can still move, the only way you'll ever be defeated is outside the battlefield or if you're unwilling to fight, otherwise, with your powers, you'll just get stronger no matter what the enemy throws at you."
"Are you saying I'm invincible?" Shinji asked, then laughed. "I find it hard to believe John."
"Invincible means that you cannot be defeated no matter what the circumstances are, while you can, so I'm not saying that you're invincible." John replied calmly. "Though, as long as an enemy doesn't realize that you are what you are, you'll defeat them eventually, no matter how powerful they are, you'll just become even stronger."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Shinji asked.
"Because you'll eventually be forced to fight the four bastards that are still alive." John replied. "I'm telling you that you shouldn't hold back, no matter what, that as long as you want to win you WILL win, no matter what they might try against you. Shinji Ikari, you are a genuine Berserker and therefore, IF you fight, you WILL come out victorious. That's what I'm trying to tell you."
"I think I understand." Shinji stated in a somber tone. "Though, you must understand that I don't want to kill other people."
"Where those four are concerned, there is no other choice." John said. "With what they did and what they are, I doubt that you could call them human beings anymore. They are far too twisted and despicable to deserve the title of human at this moment in time. They are passed redemption."
"I don't know that for sure and neither do you." Shinji replied. "If they can be kept alive and leave me the choice of allowing them to live, then I will let them live. I can't willingly kill another human being. Kaworu was too much, I don't want to do that again."
"Even if they threaten Asuka?" John asked with an evil smirk. "She'll be on the front lines and knowing how they think, killing them will be the only way to ensure that they can't try anything against her. If they remain alive, even powerless, they'll find some way to at least extract revenge. They're not stupid, so they'll strike at those around you, not at you, turning your life into a living hell. They'll wait, then they'll strike at her, or maybe at your friends, maybe they'll attempt to kill your mother just after she receives her body and has a chance to live again. They'll know that Asuka might be too powerful, but about your future kids, I'm sure you'll inevitably have some, they could even use her pregnancy as a moment to strike. She'll be nearly powerless while pregnant, I know that as a fact."
Shinji listened intently and his expression darkened with every implied threat from the Old Men. As always, John was not only telling these things, but he was sharing them with Shinji in such a manner that insured that he knew that it was true. Fact which made Shinji wonder, how far gone were those four… men… or whatever they were. Was it truly no way to ensure that the world was safe except killing them? As much as Shinji wanted an alternative, it didn't seem like there was one. Meanwhile John waited for him to pass these things through his mind and reach a conclusion.
--
Sarah was not having a good day, again, she had gone to sleep in an attempt to calm her mind and when she woke up she had been announced that a large group head left Sanctuary with enough weapons to blow the world to pieces, presuming that SEELE wasn't in their way first. When she heard that they had been helped by the notorious Black Knight, she had felt even more confused. Like everyone else, she had no idea who the man was or why John had trusted him so much. There had to be a reason for which he had done that, never once had he betrayed John's trust, but apparently the same couldn't be said for her.
So, she tried to track down the source of this event. It wasn't hard, with her powers it took a few seconds to find the two sources together having tea. Gendo and Fuyutsuki, who didn't seem at all surprised when she materialized in the second's home just as they were drinking said tea.
"Would you like a cup?" The old professor asked, apparently they had been expecting her to show up, fact which wasn't exactly what she was expecting.
"Why not, it's not like I have anything better to do right now…" Sarah replied, a bit of anger leaking out with her voice. "You two knew that I would come, didn't you?"
"Yes, it was an expected action." Gendo said. "After all, you couldn't just sit around after we arranged something like that right under your nose."
"You both realize that I could kill you is I wanted to and simply ensure that no one remembers you ever existed, or something equally terrible just because I feel like I'm going insane, right?" Sarah asked, her tone wasn't threatening, but the way the windows rattled as she spoke delivered the point across. "Who knows what could happen to those that left! What if they don't find either Asuka or Shinji and are forced to fight SEELE's forces by themselves? They could be killed!" The house shook with the last scream.
"People DIE in a war!" Gendo ruthlessly replied. "Get over your loss and do something then! Focus or whatever you have to do. This is my last chance to properly set things right with my son. I will not lose it because he died due to your inactions! I may not know much about Sanctuary, but I do know enough about people to get that group together and send them to help!"
"What if they went to their deaths?" Sarah asked, trying to calm down and taking a sip from the provided tea.
"It was their choice." Gendo said simply. "They all wanted to act, all I did was ensure that they got together and actually did something. If you want to be sure that they won't die, why don't you get Sanctuary's forces moving and send full support. From what Shinji told me, you have quite an army, enough to challenge SEELE's might and have a fair chance to beat them."
"I am not a military commander, all I could do would be to order them to get ready, get out there and that would be it." Sarah replied. "They'd be on their own and I don't think that the current commanders we have are experienced enough to actually be able to do something against SEELE's organized forces. We didn't exactly have any wars up until now. We know how to fight, since John ensured that we had live simulations and actual fights amongst the men, occasionally leading to real injuries. Yet we never actually thought like this before."
"Than try and have faith in those that are already there." Fuyutsuki suddenly added. "The former Major, miss Katsuragi knows how to get a job done and that Black Knight as everyone calls him seems to be able to handle anything she can't cover. Plus, the powers of the two Children should balance things quite nicely."
"Indeed, not to mention that doing something, even with the risk of being the wrong move can be better than doing nothing." Gendo said with a smirk. "Even my son learned that lesson well. Right now, you're giving SEELE the chance to act without you knowing anything. So when you will eventually make a move you could either be too late or they could be far too ready for you to achieve anything with it. In simpler words, you're letting them win instead of pressing the advantage. Yes, John died, yes, everything went to hell during that moment and yes, Berlin was destroyed and thus a terrible tragedy occurred, but this is not the time for moping around since SEELE would have been equally shocked at first."
"What if…" Sarah started, but Gendo cut her of.
"What ifs? There are endless what ifs, there will always be SOMETHING that could go wrong, but if you don't act you will achieve NOTHING!" He continued in a calmer voice after the initial outburst. "Do you have any ideas how many "what ifs" there were when I made my plan for Instrumentality? More than I could ever count, many remained despite my best attempts to cover everything and as you can clearly see I was unable to cover everything. Yet I at least tried to do something. I may have made the wrong choice back then and I will regret what I did for the rest of my life, but at the very least I did something that in the end screwed up SEELE's plans as well. What if I would have just allowed them to have their way? Maybe they would have succeeded despite everything that could have went wrong and then I really would have regretted even being born."
"He has a point." The old professor sighed. "You must at least try to do something about the situation at hand, or the situation will change around you and it could eventually overcome you and any attempts to change it. Plus, it would be a shame to sacrifice those two just because there are too many unknowns? Isn't it time after all the sacrifices they made for all of us that some of us sacrifice something for them as well?"
Sarah remained silent at that remark, they both made very good points and she could feel that they were both honest with her. With her powers, even before it would have been quite stupid to try and lie to her, right now, she could read their whole lives if she wanted too and they wouldn't even know it. She didn't want to act so soon, but they had a point, what if by not acting she was ensuring the defeat she feared so much. She was no tactical commander and the ones that were still here didn't have any real experience, but maybe those that were already on the front lines could handle it.
There was also the matter of Shinji and Asuka, those two had sacrificed a lot for humanity as a whole and had been used like tools from the beginning of their lives. Maybe it was time that all that pain was repaid, maybe it was time that they received something different, instead of more problems like the power they now had. The question was, could they really do this, could they stop SEELE. She didn't even know if they were still alive right now… So if she sent any forces out there, it would be a complete gamble, but at least they'd be in direct contact with Sanctuary and she could pull them back if anything went wrong.
"Argh! I hate my life…" Sarah said and then she disappeared from the house just like she appeared.
"Do you think that she'll do something?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"I have no idea old friend, but I surely hope so, otherwise this whole conversation with her was a waste of time." Gendo replied. "There's nothing we can do anymore, just hope that everything turns out alright. All I can do right now is help Ritsuko get in her feet once more, then see where that will lead me."
"I never thought that something good could ever come out of that relationship." The old professor chuckled. "Then again, you were always able to surprise everyone when you really wanted to."
Gendo didn't reply to that, he just took a sip from his tea and smirked a bit, while wondering if he made the right choice in trying to motivate Sarah.
--
Back on Earth, the operation was ready to proceed, Asuka was in her avatar at the very center of the crater and the support ships were ready to suck up heat and volcanic ash. She could feel the countdown in her mind as it was transmitted, then, the process began and soon energy was flowing to her. It was an almost physical effort to focus and ensure that the energy was controlled and nothing happened to make things worse than they already were.
Meanwhile, Misato was watching from the command ship, Kaji was next to her, watching the "action" as well. He had tagged along in case they needed his old contacts in the intelligence business, since they didn't expect to find Asuka this easily. Frankly, they expected her to hide her avatar somewhere and then to try and hide along with Shinji, with their powers it wouldn't have been that difficult to manipulate the right people and disappear from the radar. Then again, Asuka had the habit of doing exactly what you least expected in these situations, that and the whole situation with Shinji wasn't expected at all.
"Well, it looks like she's able to handle it." Misato idly commented. "Now let's hope that nothing goes wrong and we can get his over with. I really don't like the way we're exposed here."
"I'm sure no one does, but it doesn't look like anything will be happening any time soon." Kaji replied with a thoughtful expression. "From what I heard while I was snooping around, SEELE seems to have disappeared from the planet. The question is where did they go, I doubt that they simply left."
"I'm not so sure about that." Misato said. "They don't know our status and as far as they're concerned, John is still alive along with Shinji and Asuka, at least I don't think they have any idea that he's dead. So, they know that with everything exposed, there would be nothing to prevent John from marching on them with all of his forces."
"Well, maybe we should do just that, even if we don't have all of Sanctuary's armies under our command." Kaji wondered. "It's not like they'll gather all of their forces in one location right?"
"I don't know, I really have no idea what they could do." Misato replied, looking over the possibilities in her mind. "Who knows what they could do or what they think that it's their best option. At least we know what we're fighting here, so at the very least we know that we CAN fight them."
"This whole situation is wrong I suppose…" Kaji stated. "As if we haven't been through enough. Even after all this time, this whole situation doesn't feel right. I wonder if this is how we were meant to live our lives…"
"That's quite deep for you, are you sure you're feeling alright?" Misato asked with a sly grin. Kaji sighed then smiled back at her, he embraced her from behind and kissed her neck, causing her to gasp in surprise.
"Who knows if anyone's alright after all that happened." Kaji replied. "I guess I've just been thinking too much."
"Well, as soon as we have a break from these stressful situations, I'll get your mind of your problems." She didn't mentioned that she wanted to forget about hers as well, then again, she didn't need to, he knew all too well that she was just as worried as she was.
--
"Tell me Shinji, what will you do when this war will be over?" John asked, breaking the silence that formed between them. "What do you want?"
Shinji seemed to consider that question, while also trying to keep his thoughts centered on the problem he was dealing with earlier. "I don't know for sure, all I know is that I'll find my way with Asuka."
"Not surprising I suppose, but, what would you do if she were to die?" John asked that serious.
Shinji didn't even need to say answer, as the mindscape changed to express his thoughts. While before his answer might have been anger directed at himself and a severe depression, now, when he had power, a lot of power that could change many things, the answer was slightly different.
The train car disappeared and they were soon found in a powerful storm, one like never before, Unit-01 appeared behind Shinji it's jaws open in a maddening roar, it being covered and surrounded by blue raging flames, the twelve wings radiating energy as well. It held the Lance of Longinus in it's right hand in its sword form. Shinji's form remained unchanged, but the images that were spinning around them, with Unit-01 as the eye of the storm, told the story far to well.
A lesser man might have been afraid seeing the same scene, terrified by the awesome might displayed around him, but John was no stranger to displays of power, so he didn't even flinch. He grinned though, it was a strange grin, one that Shinji never saw before, but that didn't do anything to lessen the anger caused by the suggestion alone. After all he had been through along with her, after all that happened, the idea was too much to joke about.
"The very idea just makes you angry, doesn't it?!" John's voice was somewhat taunting, as if he liked seeing that anger. "I can see it, I don't need to look at this…" he waved his hand around at the madness "to know that, I only have to look in your eyes."
He paused for a bit, keeping the same smirk. "You have the power to ensure that such a thing won't happen any time soon, but of the old men live, it might be for naught. How do you think she would feel if you were to die and live her alone then?"
"If they will live, it's only a matter of time until they gain the strength to kill one of you, purposely leaving the other alive!" John said. "Do you want that to happen? Do you want to make my mistakes? I allowed them to live and look what they did?! I see now that it was a subconscious choice, not an accident as I once thought, and because of that look at ho much everyone suffered. How much YOU and HER suffered! All because I didn't want to kill them, foolishly thinking that without their powers they could be no threat. DO NOT MAKE MY MISTAKE!"
He was yelling at Shinji by the end, yelling on top of his lungs, if a ghost had any that is. Shinji remained silent, still thinking in quiet anger, he didn't know what to do, he didn't want to kill, but it seemed like there was no alternative left. What could he do?
"I will still give you two last gifts Shinji, one for your conscience and one for your future battle." John said, calming once more. "It will probably only delay the inevitable, but it will allow you to handle this in a better way, at the very least I hope so."
John spread his arms. "This is my end Shinji Ikari, we will meet no more! I give to you something that should be very useful, something that will allow you to keep your heart as pure as it is now to some extent. I'm sure that both Adam and Lilith would have wanted this."
"It's time for us elders of the Old Earth to disappear, it's time for your generation to rise. You must return to them all, and end the war that plagued our old world. You have been marked with this destiny since the moment your mother stepped into Unit-01! I did all I could and no I am doing my last duty!"
With those words, John faded and Shinji's mind was filled with voices, thoughts, sensations, memories that were not his. His world became an endless white void as his mind accepted one of John's two gifts…
--
The operation took a bit much for Asuka's tastes, but at least it was over, she could go and lie down and try to sleep through the head ache that she had developed handling her part in it. The Sanctuary runaways now had their base in the new rocky valley which was where Berlin once stood. They were somewhat bellow sea level as far as Asuka could tell, but at least the disaster had been stopped to some extent. It would be a while to determine the extent of the damage done by the event.
She made her way back to the command ship, looking forward to a bed, any kind of bed would do, just as long as she could sleep in it. Presuming that she would be able to convince her body to fall asleep that is, the fact that her avatar absorbed so much energy affected her as well, meaning that she felt overcharged, even if her mind felt exhausted. That's how her head ache started, because of the very powerful contradicting sensations she was feeling.
"Hey, good job Asuka!" Misato cheered as she entered, but Asuka visibly winced from the words and raised a hand to her head.
'Could you please keep it down?!' Asuka asked, speaking directly in Misato's mind, not needing any more sounds to make things worse. Misato was startled, since that was the first time anyone talked to her like that.
"Sorry." Misato whispered. "I'll let you get some rest then."
Asuka didn't bother to reply, she just went to the first bed she could find, locked the door, took of her armor and collapsed in her bad, not giving a damn that she was naked. If anyone did dare to enter the room, she could blast them out with a cross flare or something before they could see anything and if they did, she could always erase their memory with her powers.
Still, sleep wouldn't come that easily for her, it seemed that her earlier assumption about her body had been correct. This was one of those situations she didn't really like about having her powers and having virtually unlimited energy. She just groaned and closed her eyes, trying to force the sleep to come to her…
--
Voices can be heard, discussing something, a woman can be heard speaking, her tone is firm, seemingly giving orders to someone. The room is dark, not revealing the figures within, only two people can be seen within the dark
room, hidden in the shadows. A window can be seen, but it's leading to more darkness, it could almost look like what you'd see in a black hole, if one were to know how one looks from within that is. There are shapes moving in the darkness, many unknown shapes, but like the two figures in the room, it's impossible to determine what could lurk in the seemingly unending darkness. The two figures don't seem to be bothered by it though.
"So, how will we deploy all this?" a male voice asks.
His companion, the woman sighs before replying. "Let me worry about that. Is everything ready as I wanted?"
"Everything is as you asked ma'am." The same man replies. "Are you certain that this is necessary? It seems like a bit much…"
"Yes, all of this is necessary… I'm actually wondering if it is enough, seeing what we're going to go up against." The woman replied. "Our only real chance even with such forces is if someone kills the lead in the opposing team, then we would have won for sure. Otherwise, we'll probably have almost complete casualties before winning."
"You have too little faith in them ma'am…" The man muttered, but it was obvious that she heard him anyway.
"They're not ready, that's why he was so reluctant to fight in the first place, but we have no choice in this." She said. "Those two were right and I really couldn't live with myself if I were to allow that disaster to happen. I'm sick of all of these tragedies and this is the only chance to end it."
"You know, there's a rumor that he had a special plan for this… Though no one knows what it was…" the man said. "Now that… you know… maybe you could tell what it was, after all you're one of the few who could know."
"That plan doesn't matter anymore, the basic thing of it is that he wanted to kill her to set everything of. It would have worked too I think, but the price would have been to high, maybe it's better this way." The woman spoke, her voice straining a bit. "Just go and give the order, I'll make sure that they get there…"
"Yes ma'am." The man said. Steps can be heard, signaling his departure from the room. The woman sighs after he leaves.
"I wonder… is this what I should do? What you would want me to do?"The woman asks, speaking softly to herself. "I guess I'll never know… It could be very well be that this was your true plan after all."
An eerie sound can now be heard, as well as a sound that seems like sparkling electricity that's dancing in the unknown room. It soon reverts to silence…
--
Misato had returned to the ship's command deck, looking over the different displays, being grateful that the operation went so well. There were no signs of an attack, and she wasn't about to complain about that. After all, even though they had better equipment than SEELE, they only had Asuka's avatar as a truly efficient weapon against other Evas. Sure, they could kill Evas with the help of the mechs and the gunships weapons had severe effects on them, but the only true way to easily destroy an Eva was another Eva.
Still, SEELE was either unaware of what was going on, or they were carefully considering their options in these circumstances. After all, she would be cautious as well after the spectacular failure Asuka had described. She would think twice before attacking again after the destruction caused by Unit-01, presuming that they knew he did it.
There was the possibility that they didn't know, in which case, they could presume that Asuka was the one that destroyed their forces, in which case, they would know that there was the risk of even greater trouble.
Her mind continued to shift through possibilities, trying to determine what SEELE might do and what they could do against them. Misato wasn't foolish enough to think that they could take one SEELE's forces with what they had at their disposal. The only thing they could really do would be to somehow infiltrate their bases, still, seeing the results of the last attempt for such a maneuver, she was reluctant to even consider such an idea. How could they defeat them with so little forces?
As much as she tried to find a solution to that question, she knew all to well that this was one problem that didn't have an answer. It was simply impossible to face those odds with these forces. So, they needed more forces, they needed a real army. Still, there was no way to contact Sanctuary and even if there was one, she knew that there was now way that they would convince Sarah to give them enough troops to engage the SEELE forces.
It was then that an alarm started blaring and the light that was shown in some displays faded, covered by a dark shadow. Those that were overseeing the sensors sprung into action, investigating what was going on. The Black Knight rushed in, but Misato voiced the question he had in his mind before he could.
"What the hell is going on?"
"It's a Dirac Sea ma'am!" One of the technicians said. "It's forming right above us, and it's the largest opening we've ever seen! It's still unstable, but it's only a matter of time until it becomes stable enough to allow mater to pass through it!"
"Any idea if this is caused by Sanctuary?" The Black Knight asked.
"I doubt it sir! This isn't caused by our normal devices, I can't determine the source." The technician spoke once more. "Plus, it's too big. We usually open more smaller ones if we need to move something really big. I can't imagine what would require something this big though."
"Good point…" The Black Knight muttered.
"What could even cause something like this?" Misato asked. "It's a lot bigger than what the 12th opened."
"Shinji, Asuka, John if he had his full powers… or possibly those four assholes if they focused together…" The Black Knight replied. "Pick the one you think is best."
"Asuka's asleep and I doubt it's Sarah…" Misato said, though not knowing if the later one was true. "So, it's either Shinji or SEELE, but what could they do with one of those?"
"A massive attack maybe." The armored man beside her said. "Signal all the ships to prepare for combat! Get all their pilots to their mechs as soon as possible!"
"Shouldn't we call Asuka and send her to her avatar as well?" Misato asked
"Do you really think she could handle it after that three hour long operation?" He asked. "Trust me, it's one thing to use your powers in bursts and so on during combat… and it's totally another thing to be forced to constantly use them for a long period of time like that."
"Ok… good point, she'd probably get herself killed in those conditions." Misato said. "Shit, why do these things have to happen at the worst of times?"
"The Sea has apparently reached maximum dilatation!" The technician replied. "It's starting to stabilize!"
"Well, looks like we'll get to see what's going on soon enough." The Black Knight said. "Let's just hope that it's not just a rain of attacks from within… That would force us to start moving and if we'd even consider to counter-attack, we'd have to go in."
"That would be rather suicidal." Misato said, the other didn't think there was a need to reply.
'What's with all the racket?!' Everyone heard the scream in their heads, as it was obvious that Asuka didn't bother to come and seek answers.
Misato didn't know if the silence was caused by someone replying to her, or the girl was still waiting for one. She found her answers soon enough though.
'So you're all going nuts because of the Dirac Sea above us? Trust me, there's nothing to worry about it.' Asuka's reply came back, surprising everyone. 'So STOP THE DAMN NOISE!'
"What could she mean by that?" Misato asked, obviously confused.
"Sir? Ma'am? You won't believe this…" The technician said, his tone making it clear that he was shocked by whatever his sensors were reporting.
Misato looked at the screens in time to see the Dirac Sea seemingly exploding and dissipating, but that was not what was shocking everyone so much. Where the Dirac Sea once stood, you could now see an entire fleet of ships, swarms of war mechs flying around them. The sight was quite unsettling, but it was more unexpected than anything.
"My God… That's the whole fleet…" Someone said in awe, Misato's mind was still to busy trying to figure out a proper reaction to what she was seeing.
It was truly an awesome sight, especially if you didn't know exactly how large Sanctuary was. Overall, the population of Sanctuary was quite large, since it was one of the reasons for which Earth wasn't overpopulated before Second Impact, even though no one on Earth knew that. The fact that they didn't have any wars or diseases plus better medical treatments in case injuries did happen, more likely because of accidents than anything else did wonders for the population there. The increased life span also allowed them to gain an increased population very quickly.
That was why the extra spheres were needed. It wouldn't be surprising if even more would be necessary in time. Still, the point was that, with a large population, a rather large army was possible as well. It wasn't as large as it could be, but it was still larger than Misato had expected.
Misato was watching the whole thing, there were ships ranging from support and command ships to large destroyers, the kind of ships that were used to raise cities of the face of planets. Still, above all, there was the pride of the fleet, a ship three miles long, one mile tall and a little over half a mile wide in average, since it wasn't a perfect geometric shape. Misato never even imagined a ship that large before, much less seen one flying right above her head.
There was no doubt about it, Sanctuary's fleet had fully arrived, ready for battle, the question was, what was their purpose?
To be continued…
A/N: I hope you guys liked this, I did my best with it, as much as it was possible. It won't be much longer till the end of the story. Liked it? Hated it? Leave a review and let me know what you think, I'll get back at you if there's need for it. If you don't want to leave a review but still have something to say, send me a PM.