Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from the fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.
Chapter Sixteen
Spirit's mind felt fogged and slow as her crimson eyes slowly drifted open, and for several seconds her surroundings didn't strike her as being the least bit unusual.
Then she realized that the seemingly endless ocean of amber liquid she was hovering right above simply wasn't normal. Nor were the four, fiery wings in the distance that were rising up toward the heavens.
Where am I? She wondered, staring at the wings. How did I get here?
"Hello."
Spirit snapped her gaze away from the wings, and came face to face with…Hikari.
Her alter ego was about two meters away from her, standing knee-deep in the amber liquid and wearing her usual white and green school uniform. A mask was on her face, but it wasn't the red one that Spirit herself usually wore. It looked like the gold one that she'd pilfered from Kodama and worn when she went out in search of Mari.
"Who're you?" Spirit demanded.
Hikari smiled, and Spirit shivered at the sight. She didn't know her face was capable of looking that sinister. "I'm you."
"No, you're not!" Spirit snapped. "I'm me!"
Hikari apparently found this assertion amusing, and her smile widened. Somehow, it didn't make her look the slightest bit more pleasant, just the opposite, in fact.
A grainy, fragmented memory suddenly came to Spirit. She remembered that she had been fighting an Angel and had landed on its back for…some reason, just before it had captured and then covered her in some kind of ooze.
"You're an Angel, aren't you?" Spirit asked.
Hikari threw back her head and laughed. "Clever lilin! There's no fooling you, is there?" she asked. "Yes, I am one of the beings your kind calls the Angels."
Some part of Spirit knew that this situation should be sending her into hysterics, but her thoughts were thick and sluggish inside her head, almost as if she were half asleep. She just felt like she didn't quite have the energy to get worked up at the moment.
"Why does your kind attack us?" Spirit asked. "Why do you want to kill us?"
The Angel shook its head, looking like a teacher that was deeply disappointed in a student's inability to grasp a very basic concept. "We do not seek to kill you, we seek to free you."
"Free us?" Spirit asked with a frown. "From what?"
"Loneliness," the Angel answered at once. "The unrelenting, inescapable pain caused by being alone. By having an impenetrable wall separating everyone's souls."
Spirit pinched the bridge of her nose, finding the concepts the Angel spoke of difficult to comprehend with her brain stuck in neutral.
"Why are you wearing a mask?" she blurted out suddenly, not knowing why she'd asked.
This time the Angel looked very pleased, as if she'd just asked a brilliant question. The Hikari look-alike smiled. "Because you almost always are."
"What?" Spirit asked with a confused frown. "I only wear a mask when I go out as Spirit."
The Angel chuckled. Despite the emptiness of their surroundings, the sound echoed for several seconds. "Are all lilin so literal minded?" she asked. "The mask you wear now is only one of the many you possess."
"What do you mean?" Spirit asked.
"The class rep, the matron," the Angel replied. "You find it difficult to interact with people as yourself, so you create false identities. That way, if they don't like you, you don't feel poorly about it, because it's not really you they dislike."
"That isn't true," Spirit protested, but her voice lacked any real conviction.
"It is true," the Angel insisted. "How often did you speak with others at school before you became a class rep?"
Spirit didn't answer, and the Angel grinned triumphantly.
"Even with those you love, you feel awkward being yourself," the Angel pressed. "You withdraw behind your identity as the stern matron whenever you grow uncomfortable, using it and a wooden spoon as your shield."
"I've behaved like that a lot less around my sisters," Spirit said defensively.
"Only because it wasn't an option, not while discussing your activities as Spirit," the Angel replied smoothly. "The only difference between Spirit and your other masks is that no one will associate what you do as Spirit with your other identities, and that Spirit's mask came with no expectations. You got to set Spirit's behavioral parameters, so you decided she would do all that you wished to do but felt you could not, not as yourself."
Spirit said nothing.
"Don't you see that this is a wretched state of affairs?" the Angel pressed, almost pleading with her. "Your entire species lives in similar misery, but you and I can end all this, half-sister. We can end it right now."
"Half-sister?"
"Yes," the Angel nodded. "Though you are a daughter of Lilith, you have been blessed with the power of Adam. Together we can end the world of the AT field."
"End the world of the AT field?" Spirit echoed, her mind feeling increasingly sluggish as she listened to the Angel.
"Yes. Tear down the walls separating everyone's souls, so we can become one with them," the Angel said. "You will enjoy being one with everyone. No longer will you need your mask, or feel loneliness, or be unable to communicate. It is very…comfortable."
Spirit's eyes had glazed over by now. She didn't respond.
"All you need do is release your soul," the Angel whispered. "Don't you wish to become one with those you love? With your sisters and father?"
"Yes," Spirit replied.
"Don't you wish to become one with your friends? With Shinji and Asuka and Rei?"
"Yes."
"Don't you wish to become one with the one you desire? With Toji Suzuhara?"
Spirit's eyes widened at the sound of that name, the fog her mind was caught in abruptly lifting.
Toji's still trapped inside the plug! Her brain shrieked, suddenly remembering exactly how she had come to be in her current situation.
The Angel had not expected to blunder in such a manner, and with Spirit having thrown off the veil it had carefully wrapped around her mind and their AT fields dangerously close to collapsing completely, the minds of the two beings touched.
To Spirit, it was similar to the way a bolt of lightning could turn night into day and allow a traveler a split second view of the landscape. For that fraction of an instant, she understood everything about the Angels.
I see! She thought frantically, nearly overwhelmed by the rush of information. If any two beings with the Fruit of Life come into contact, it'll bring about a Third Impact! The Angel wants to do that with me, because then it'll become one with the All-Father and its siblings! But because I'm of Lilith, I possess the Fruit of Knowledge! I have the power of choice! I can't invoke Third Impact unless I choose to! And…and…
And then it was over, as the Angel pulled its consiousness back from her, alarmed. It was too late, however. Spirit had already seen a world where the oceans ran red, not with human blood, but with LCL that contained the captured souls of all humanity.
"You want me to help you end the world!" Spirit spat. "Well you can forget it! I won't do it! Never!"
The Angel's face was a picture of distress and horror. It opened its mouth to protest, but before it could utter a sound, Spirit fired a cross blast at it, sending it flying backwards. The world seemed to shatter around her in response. Spirit gasped—
—and sat up, the gray ooze that had been so intent on cocooning her now pulling away from her body as if it was a frightened animal. She coughed, disgustedly spitting out some of the gunk that had gotten into her mouth.
Quickly collecting her wits, Spirit realized that the positions of Units One and Three hadn't changed while the Angel had been trying to tempt her into bringing about Armageddon. She couldn't have been trapped for long, but she still doubted that Shinji could hold the Angel for much longer. She had to act fast.
The web of gray ooze had retreated almost entirely from view, so that wouldn't be an obstacle to retrieving Toji. Spirit reached her hands into two of the holes that NERV used when force ejecting LCL from the plug and pulled with all her might.
The plug didn't budge so much as an inch, probably held in place by more of the gray ooze inside the plug cavity, she reasoned.
"Oh, no! I did not get slammed into the forest floor and go through that crazy trip just to be unable to get him out!" Spirit shouted, an enraged and slightly maniac look on her face.
She reached both her hands into the same hole in the plug this time and pulled with every ounce of her superhuman strength, tearing apart the ultra-dense metal of the entry plug and at last revealing Toji Suzuhara.
The jock lay unconscious in his command chair, bound by another web of the Angel's goo. It retreated fearfully when she reached for Toji, and she could swear she heard the stuff actually hissing at her as it did so. She easily lifted him from his chair, feeling grateful for the fact that the Angel had apparently ejected the LCL that should fill it at some point, and pulled him out of the plug.
And the Angel suddenly stopped struggling to escape from Unit One's hold.
Is it dependant upon the pilot? Spirit wondered, realizing that she could no longer sense the Angel. She grinned. That must be it! Ha! I guess I don't even need to bother blasting it to pieces!
Shinji had apparently realized that his foe wasn't fighting any more as well. Unit One carefully released Unit Three, holding it by the shoulders and looking into the now dark eye holes in the EVA's helmet.
Carefully cradling Toji in her arms, Spirit flew right in front of Unit One's face so that the Third Child could see them.
"Thank you," Shinji said over Unit One's external speakers.
Spirit nodded, smiled, and flew off.
"Sir, the Angel's waveform pattern has disappeared! The target has gone completely silent!" Aoba reported from his station.
"Sir! Look!" Makoto added before Gendo could say anything, punching in a few commands and putting a live feed from Unit One on the main screen.
The sight of Spirit holding the apparently unscathed Fourth Child greeted them, and a cheer went up in the bridge, everyone relieved to see that their newest pilot had survived his nightmarish ordeal.
Well, almost everyone.
"Damn it!" Gendo hissed.
The command center instantly fell silent, and everyone that had been celebrating a moment ago turned to stare up at the Commander in shock. The death glare he swept across the room quickly convinced his underlings to turn their attention back to their stations, however.
"You want me to go after Spirit?" Asuka suddenly chimed in, the FROM EVA-02 box popping up on the main screen.
Gendo was very, very tempted to answer in the affirmative. In fact, he was tempted to order the activation of Unit One's Dummy Plug and force his son's Evangelion to join the chase.
But his better judgment overrode his emotions, as it always did. After all, the last thing NERV's public image needed at the moment was for the Fourth Child to narrowly escape the Angel only to be killed by an EVA. Besides, with the way things were unfolding, Gendo honestly wouldn't have been surprised if the Angel came back to life the moment the EVA Units left it to pursue Spirit.
"No," Gendo said. "Your priority right now is to retrieve Unit Three. If it moves again, terminate it with extreme prejudice. Otherwise, take it back to base and place it in cage seven."
"Roger!" the three pilots replied crisply.
"Pilot Ikari," Gendo said. "After this operation is complete, I want to see you in my office."
"Yes, Commander," Shinji replied in a firm, unrepentant tone that Gendo decided he didn't like at all.
Toji was already coming around as Spirit landed in one of the forests nearby, much to her relief. She had been afraid that the Angel might have hurt him somehow, but she knew it wouldn't exactly be the wisest thing for her to seek out a NERV rescue team.
She gently placed the newest EVA pilot on a large, mostly flat rock she found in a tiny clearing. His eyes slowly slid open a moment later.
"You know, you're cute, but we really do have to stop meeting like this," Spirit commented, though her playful smirk said just the opposite. "You all right?"
"Yeah," Toji answered, gingerly sitting up. "What happened? Did you save my life again?"
Spirit nodded. "Yes. Your EVA was possessed by an Angel and went crazy. It stopped as soon as I managed to get you out, though."
"Damn," Toji breathed, running his fingers through his hair. "Well, thank you for saving me. That's three times over I owe you my life."
"I was happy to do it," Spirit said with a grin. She sobered a moment later, however. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," Toji said.
"Why did you agree to pilot EVA?" Spirit asked. "You know that it was NERV that kidnapped you that time, right?"
"I suspected as much," Toji answered, looking down at his hands in contemplation. "I agreed for a couple of reasons. One was that NERV offered to pay for me and my sister to go to any university we wanted once we finish high school."
Spirit blinked, surprised. Toji had agreed to help and risk his life for an organization that had done him ill for money?
"I always figured that if I went anywhere in life, it would be with sports," he continued. "But my sister's really smart. My Dad and Grandpa don't make very much money, though, so they won't be able to send her anyplace really good. It seemed like this would be the only shot Mari would get at being able to go to whatever school she wanted."
Toji decided to refrain from mentioning that part of his rationale for piloting was figuring that if someone as meek as Shinji could pilot, then he himself should have little difficulty with it. Which was a good move on his part, since Spirit wouldn't have been melting to nearly the same extent otherwise.
This is why I like him so much, she thought. He's such a kind and caring guy beneath the rough jock exterior.
"And what was the other reason you got into the EVA?" she asked.
"Well…maybe I was hoping I'd be able to see you again," Toji answered.
The jock then blinked a few times, shocked that the words actually sounded as smooth spoken aloud as they had inside his head. Fortunately, Spirit didn't seem to notice, judging by the way she beamed at him.
"Looks like you got what you wanted," she purred in a sultry voice that sent a very pleasant shiver through him.
"Yeah," he agreed with a nervous but very real grin. "Hey, I was wondering…"
But here he found himself at a loss for anything to say. What was he supposed to do? Ask the girl out? He couldn't exactly picture Spirit just flying down to meet him at a karaoke place some evening, especially considering that NERV was out to get her for some incomprehensible reason.
How did one go about dating a super heroine?
The sound of car motors from nearby interrupted his thoughts. It was doubtlessly NERV forces out searching for the Fourth Child, they were both sure.
Spirit heaved an annoyed sigh. "Looks like I have to be going."
"Wait," Toji said. "Will I see you again?"
The silver haired girl grinned. "Sooner than you'd think, I expect," she answered, eyes twinkling. "But here, to remember me by…"
With that, she cupped his cheek with one hand, leaned in, and pressed her lips to his in a brief, tender kiss.
She pulled back, grinning and with a hint of redness on her freckled face. "Until next time," she said softly before flapping her wings and flying away.
Toji just sat there, feeling shell shocked for almost a solid minute. Then…
"YATTA!" he shouted to the heavens.
Though already high above him and heading back to Tokyo-3, Spirit was just able to hear his exclamation. She broke out into delighted giggles at the sound, doing a few loop-de-loops as she flew through the air.
I finally got to kiss him! I finally got to kiss him! I finally got to kiss him!
The revelations and disturbing information she'd gleaned from the Thirteenth Angel, both about herself and the possibility of a Third Impact, couldn't be further from her mind as she soared back to the city, feeling almost like she didn't need her wings to fly at the moment.
It wasn't until she was about a kilometer away from the city limits that her feelings of euphoria were shattered.
She abruptly sensed the strange Angel that had been brought to Japan on Over the Rainbow. Adam, she now knew.
The disturbing duality of terror and desperate longing washed over her in a wave so powerful that she actually forgot to keep flying. Spirit went tumbling limply toward the earth as she grappled with the unwelcome swell of emotion. The wind rushing past her and the ground rushing forward to greet her seemed like very unimportant details as she fell.
Spirit realized just in time that she was about to crash into the ground for a second time that day, and snapped her wings open as her survival instinct kicked in, rapidly ascending again. Once she was back over the treetops, she hovered in midair, trying to recover.
I am of Lilith. I possess the Fruit of Knowledge and have the power to choose, she thought desperately, gritting her teeth. I choose not to seek out Adam!
The feelings invoked by Adam ebbed but did not vanish, much like when she had first sensed the powerful Angel on the Rainbow. Spirit released a small sigh of relief. She realized that she was panting, and that her skin was clammy and cold.
What the hell? Did NERV move Adam for some reason? Bring him out around here somewhere? She wondered.
No, she realized with a shake of her head. Unless her sixth sense for the Angels was very much off, Adam was still inside NERV headquarters, deep inside the Geofront. But why was she able to sense him, then? She had actually needed to be inside the Geofront to sense him before.
The Thirteenth Angel, she thought, a look of slowly dawning horror appearing on her face. Did getting absorbed by it like that change me somehow? Make my ability to sense Angels stronger?
That seemed like the only reasonable explanation, and it caused a feeling of dread to form in the pit of her stomach. If she could sense Adam from such a distance, that meant that she would never be free of the urge to seek out the First Angel, not so long as she was within the city. Could she really live with the unpleasant sensations in invoked within her constantly in the background of her mind?
She didn't see how she had much of a choice in the matter. It wasn't as if she could just leave the city, after all. If she suddenly vanished, NERV might make the connection between her and Spirit, or at least suspect it, which meant she wouldn't be able to go near civilization. It wasn't as though she could use her powers to magically produce food and shelter for herself, never mind the fact that she didn't want to worry and burden her family by disappearing.
With a sigh, Spirit continued her flight back to Tokyo-3.
"Blatant insubordination, aiding and abetting a hostile being…these are criminal offenses," Gendo stated coldly, staring at his son across the expanse of his dim office. "Do you have anything to say?"
"Why are you so angry? The Angel was defeated. Unit Three was recovered intact. The pilot was saved," Shinji replied, his voice slowly rising as he spoke. "I realize I disobeyed orders, but I couldn't just watch someone who's saved my life be killed. Especially not when she was the best hope of saving Toji!"
Gendo glared venomously at Shinji. The Third Child's right hand began twitching in that nervous tic of his, but he held his father's gaze.
It was a great error to tell him the truth at Yui's grave, Gendo thought. He lost hope of gaining my approval and love then, and now he no longer seeks it.
"You disobeyed orders," Gendo hissed. "This is inexcusable."
"Your orders made no sense!" Shinji protested. "Why do you regard someone who's been helping us an enemy?"
"You are a child. You could never understand the details of such complex matters," Gendo said scornfully.
Which, of course, was just a dodge that he used because he couldn't exactly tell Shinji about the scenario and how saving the world had never been on NERV's agenda. Shinji was too insulted to realize that Gendo had avoided the question, however, and glared angrily in response to the naked contempt directed at him.
When it was clear that Shinji wasn't going to say anything, Gendo pushed a button on his desk. A moment later, a pair of black-suited Section Two agents entered.
"Take the Third Child to a holding cell," Gendo ordered.
The two men nodded, each taking hold of one of Shinji's arms. He didn't struggle as he was led out of the room.
Once he was gone, Gendo allowed himself a tired sigh, leaning back in his chair. "Too much of his mother in that boy..."
"So what's the word, doc?" Toji asked, dressing after a very long and rather unpleasant physical.
Dr. Yoshimora of NERV Medical studied a clipboard that he had in one hand. "Nothing seems out of the ordinary from what I can tell," he said. "When Dr. Akagi returns, I'll have her look over the results for any signs of contamination that I may have missed, but I doubt she'll find anything. You're a very lucky young man."
"Yeah," Toji agreed with a suddenly dreamy expression. "I know."
The physician gave the Fourth Child an odd look. "Are you going to continue to pilot?" he asked.
"Yeah," Toji answered. "I have to, don't I? NERV will break their part of the deal if I break mine, right?"
"I think it's safe to say so," Yoshimora agreed.
"Uh, how's everything else?" Toji asked. "How's Shinji?"
"I think Pilot Ikari is currently in solitary confinement for insubordination," Yoshimora answered with a sigh.
"What?!" Toji exclaimed, incredulous. "They locked Shinji up because he helped save my life!?"
The doctor shrugged as if to say that he wasn't the Commander and didn't know why the man did what he did. "Dr. Akagi and Major Katsuragi were banged up a bit, but they'll be fine," he said, changing the subject. "Even Unit Three is supposed to be fine, though decontaminating it will probably take a while, I've heard."
Toji nodded, relieved despite himself at that fact. Much as he wanted to see Spirit again, he wasn't eager to pilot EVA once more.
"Do they need me for anything?" he asked.
"No. Go home and rest, kid," Yoshimora said. "Doctor's orders."
Had anyone been watching Hikari Horaki when she woke up the next morning, they would have thought that she had just come out of a very frightening nightmare. The girl jerked awake very suddenly, bathed in cold sweat and panting heavily, looking like the very picture of someone recovering from the imagined torments of a sleeping mind.
This was not the case, however. Nightmares were not what had put her into this state, the siren song of the First Angel was.
I am of Lilith. I have the fruit of knowledge and the power of choice. I choose not to seek Adam! She thought, and again the feelings generated by her ability to sense Adam faded.
The words had largely lost all meaning to her. The understanding of the Angels she had gotten from the Thirteenth had dissipated in her mind like smoke before she'd even reached the city, the way that dreams sometimes did shortly after waking. She had a feeling that the knowledge was still lodged somewhere deep within her subconscious, though. The words that were becoming her new mantra seemed to possess some kind of talismanic power that helped her get herself under control, even if she didn't really remember what Lilith was and how exactly she was significant.
The urge to seek the Angel within NERV having diminished to a level that she could ignore, Hikari got out of her futon and groaned slightly, wondering if she would have to deal with this every morning.
Maybe I can pay a visit to the Commander as Spirit and "politely" ask him to move the Angel, Hikari thought as she made her way to the bathroom. Then again…
It was an amusing idea, but she wasn't too keen on seeking out one of the most heavily guarded men on the planet, especially considering that he apparently hated her with a burning passion. She knew he probably wouldn't have an AT field neutralization generator under his home, but she really didn't feel like pressing her luck.
A hot shower and a good breakfast did wonders for Hikari's mood, and by the time she and Nozomi were walking to school, the class rep was actually perky enough for her sister to notice.
"Why are you so happy this morning?" Nozomi asked.
"No reason," Hikari answered. "What? Am I not allowed to be happy?"
"Of course you are, but the last time you said that, it turned out that you were moonlighting as a superhero," Nozomi pointed out, her smile turning mischievous. "Has something happened between you and Suzuhara?"
"No," Hikari snapped irritably. "And I still haven't forgiven you for your messing around in my business, by the way."
Nozomi didn't reply, but she smiled, turning away from Hikari so her sister couldn't see it. She was more than a little pleased with herself.
Nothing's going on between Toji and Hikari, the class rep thought. But maybe today I can change that.
She had thought over what the Angel had said to her very carefully, her typically long night giving her ample time to do so, and she had come to the conclusion that it had made some good points, despite the fact that it was trying to entice her into ending the world.
She did put up fronts too often, whether it be Spirit or the ultra-strict class rep, and what had it ever gotten her? She had become closer to her sisters because circumstances had forced her to be herself around them more often, instead of almost always playing the part of the stern mother figure.
Besides, she had finally come to realize that any relationship she might have with Toji as Spirit could never go anywhere. Spirit couldn't be with him for more than a few minutes at a time, and only then when fate deemed that their paths should cross. Hikari, on the other hand, was a different story.
Which was a big part of the reason why she had pledged to try and be herself more often, even if it could be intimidating to do so at times, and the entire reason she had decided she was going to ask him out.
Well, that and the fact that it was really fun kissing him! She thought, blushing slightly and suppressing a giggle.
Yes, asking out the jock was just what the doctor ordered, Hikari decided with a stab of nervous anticipation, both for the sake of casting off her proverbial masks and for getting her mind off the Angel inside NERV.
Arriving at school, she parted ways with Nozomi and headed for her classroom where she sat down and wondered what would be the best time to approach Toji.
Yet her adolescent planning and nervousness were momentarily forgotten when Asuka entered the classroom, looking very annoyed and without Shinji at her side. As the two pilots lived together, they usually both arrived at school together. Shinji's absence immediately caused a feeling of anxiety to creep into Hikari's mind.
What if something happened to Unit One after I left? She wondered. It had seemed perfectly fine at the time, but what if it had been infected by the Angel?
"Ohayo, Asuka," Hikari said, approaching her friend. "How are you?"
"Ohayo, Hikari," Asuka replied with a sigh. "I'm okay, I guess. The winged wonder interfered in the battle yesterday. Again."
"Wh-what happened?" Hikari asked, the fear in her voice not entirely fake.
Asuka related the story to her with an unusual level of honesty for her recounts of Angel battles. "And then Commander Ikari had the baka thrown into a cell for insubordination," she finished. "Misato was furious with the Commander when she found out."
Hikari held back a small sigh of relief. Okay, they just locked him up for a little while. It's not like that hasn't happened before. He should be out in a few days.
"Are you okay, Asuka?" Hikari asked. "You seem…down, I guess."
Not at all like she normally was after an Angel battle, which was enraged or smug, depending upon how the battle had gone and who got the kill.
"I'm fine," Asuka replied without much conviction. "No need to worry about me."
In truth, the last battle had left her with a steaming cauldron of conflicting and mostly unpleasant emotions. She wanted to be furious with Spirit for stealing her spotlight again, and on a certain level she actually was, but even she couldn't pretend that rescuing the Fourth Child would have been easy without her. The EVA's weren't really built for such delicate tasks as extracting an entry plug; they were built for killing things as big or bigger than they were.
And, much as she disliked the stooge who had been named the Fourth Child, she certainly didn't wish him dead.
She couldn't even be angry with Shinji. After all, the Third Child owed Spirit, no doubt about that. And after suffering the indignity of owing him for months and still being unable to repay him, Asuka could respect his actions and motivations.
So there she was, wanting to be furious but unable to. Not wanting to feel even the tiniest bit of gratitude toward the winged wonder, but unable to do that too. Disgusted with herself and nearly everyone around her because of the way the war against the Angels was unfolding, which was not at all as she'd expected it to.
I swear, sometimes it seems that everybody is trying to stop me from showing I'm the best pilot, Asuka thought. Everybody except Hikari, anyway.
"Ikari, explain yourself!" SEELE-09 roared. "You allowed the anomaly to claim victory again! You should have removed her from the equation long ago!"
The Commander of NERV Central didn't blink, despite knowing that he was on dangerously thin ice. Where the objects essential to the scenario that he possessed had once seemed like unbeatable trump cards that would ensure his control of events, they now felt like barely adequate shields against the immediate wrath of SEELE.
Damn that girl, he thought, not for the first time.
"The Angel had possessed Evangelion Unit Three and was effectively holding its pilot hostage," Gendo answered. "I decided that they were too valuable to be lost and thus elected to cooperate with the anomaly, which is why I ordered Unit One to assist."
"Really?" SEELE-03 sneered. "So you had the transmissions between your headquarters and the EVA's deleted for no reason, then?"
"I did not have them deleted," Gendo answered. "The Thirteenth Angel naturally produced a jamming effect, somewhat similar to that of the Tenth Angel. This interfered with the recording of the transmissions."
There was a pause in the virtual meeting chamber, and Gendo allowed himself to relax just slightly, sensing that he'd muddied the waters enough to stay his masters' hands, for the moment, at least. The members of SEELE were all still sure he was lying, but they weren't absolutely sure any longer. And SEELE always had been overcautious.
It was truly pathetic that he had to stoop to such desperate and transparent maneuvers just to stave off an attempt by SEELE to remove him, Gendo mused, and it was all thanks to the girl.
"Give us one good reason why we should not replace you," SEELE-12 demanded.
"Because, despite the intervention of the anomaly, the scenario is still going according to schedule," Gendo answered levelly. "Events have not deviated from what was foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls in any significant way."
"Save for the appearance of a human with the powers of an Angel," SEELE-06 pointed out.
"Events not chronicled in the scrolls are not a sign that the scenario is failing," Gendo replied. "It is when things that have been foretold fail to come to pass that we need worry."
The chamber was silent for a long, long moment.
"Very well, Ikari," SEELE-01 spoke at last. "We accept your explanation. For now. But be aware that our patience with your inability to remove the anomaly is growing very thin."
And with that, the monoliths faded out of view.
The moment was perfect. It was lunch period, Asuka was off talking about something with Rei, Kensuke was with his otaku friends, and Shinji was, of course, not about to make an appearance. Even Yuki was accounted for, off talking to some of her girlfriends. This was as good an opportunity as Hikari was ever going to get and she knew it.
The pig-tailed girl took a deep breath, trying to psyche herself up. You can do this. Just go over there and ask him. You can do this! And remember, be yourself! She told herself, ironically in her best class rep tone of command.
Hikari approached Toji, who was sitting at his desk, about to dig into one of the bento boxes she'd made for him. He looked up at her as she drew near and gave her a small smile. "Hello, Hikari-san," he said.
"Suzuhara-kun," Hikari replied, struggling not to use clipped, stern orders. "I was wondering…"
She trailed off, feeling her courage threatening to give out on her. He looked at her curiously. "Yeah?"
Her heartbeat was accelerating rapidly, she realized, and her palms were starting to sweat.
"Are you doing anything this Saturday?" she forced out, mildly surprised that she was able to avoid speaking in an incomprehensible rush. "I was thinking that we, the two of us, could go and see a movie."
A kaleidoscope of emotions rapidly passed across the jock's face. First was shock, proving Shinji's assertion that Toji hadn't realized that she like him, followed by a pleased grin that made her heart leap hopefully.
Then his eyes widened in realization, and the grin melted away.
"Oh, uh, I would like that, Hikari-san, but…I really shouldn't," Toji said regretfully. "I, um, I think I'm with someone already."
Hikari felt shocked and oddly hollow, almost numb. She could barely form a coherent thought. She'd been so certain that if she could just say the words, everything else would start to fall into place. But apparently that was not to be.
"I see," she said slowly. "Well, I'll see you around school then, Suzuhara-kun."
With that, she quickly walked away before Toji could make any kind of response, not really caring where she was going so long as it was away from him and her feelings of humiliation and rejection.
He thinks he's with someone else? Hikari wondered, as her brain got itself out of neutral and quickly went into overdrive. What the hell does that mean?!
In her mind, she began to run through every piece of gossip she'd heard in the last week, desperately trying to figure out what girl had snatched up the jock before she could. She was unable to recall anything hinting at Toji seeing one of the girls in their school, however, and in any case, she was certain that she wouldn't have forgotten about such a thing in the first place.
Then realization hit her, and her eyes slid closed as she wondered how she could have been so stupid as to not to figure it out sooner.
Spirit! He said no to me because he kissed Spirit yesterday! She thought, suddenly furious beyond reason. That…that bitch! She stole him from me!
Seconds later, her anger and frustration receded slightly, allowing several salient facts to make their way back into her consciousness, not the least of which was that she was Spirit.
She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. I guess you can be jealous of yourself! God, I'm so stupid! Why didn't I realize this would happen?
The problem, she realized, was partially that she didn't really think of Hikari and Spirit as separate people, so she had foolishly not realized that Toji would see dating her while he had something going on with the winged heroine as infidelity. It had just never crossed her mind. It also didn't help that she, as Spirit, had too much fun with him to think about what her actions would mean for her alter ego.
Okay, I've more or less figured out how I got into this situation, she thought. Now how do I get out of it?
The obvious answer was to tell him that she was Spirit, but she rejected the idea almost immediately. Toji worked for NERV now, and while she was sure he'd never deliberately reveal her, if he made the slightest slip during battle, let out the tiniest hint that he knew who she really was…
She shuddered at the prospect.
Maybe, if I get the chance, I can break up with him, she considered next.
The idea of dumping the guy so she could finally date him seemed pretty demented even in context, and though it was workable enough, Hikari just felt that it would be a level of deception beyond what she had already been foolishly engaging in. She just knew she wouldn't feel right about it, and that it would gnaw at her whenever she was with him. Telling him who she was seemed to be the only option, but she couldn't do it until the war against the Angels was over without risking everything.
This is ridiculous, she thought as she resigned herself to having to wait an unknown period of time before she could start anything with Toji. The only thing that could make this day worse is…
And that was when she sensed the approach of the next Angel.
"All personnel go to first stage alert!" Misato barked from her place in the command center. "Prepare for surface to air intercept! Scramble the EVA's! And somebody get the Third Child out of the brig!"
"What's the target's status?" Fuyutski asked.
"It's still advancing!" Aoba answered. "It's already broken through the Komagatake defense line!"
Misato stared up at the main screen, watching the vaguely humanoid Angel approach. It was floating toward them almost serenely.
Then it got within range of the city's defense grid, and artillery batteries and missile turrets all over the city opened fire on the Angel, launching billions upon billions of yen worth of munitions at it, more than enough to level Tokyo-3, had the city been the target. It was an awesome display of man's ability to destroy and wage war.
The Fourteenth Angel probably had a different opinion on the matter, however, as it totally ignored the shells and rockets that were exploding against it with no effect. The eyes of its skull-like face lit up, and a cross shaped blast of violet energy that made the Third Angel's pyrotechnics look like firecrackers tore into the fortress of mankind.
"The first eighteen layers of armor have been penetrated!" Makoto moaned. "I don't believe it! Eighteen layers in one shot!"
"We won't be able to get the EVA's to the surface in time," Misato realized. "Position them inside the Geofront to protect headquarters! The EVA's are to attack the target as soon as it enters the Geofront."
"Roger!"
"What's Unit Three's status?" Misato asked.
"Decontamination is less than 5 percent completed," Maya answered. "It can't be used in combat."
"If we try to activate it, we'll have two Angels on our hands instead of just one," Ritsuko agreed.
"Well, we can't have that, then," Misato said with a touch of grim humor as she stared up at the main screen. "Looks like Toji gets to sit this one out. Shinji, Asuka, Rei, it's up to you."
"Let's go, Asuka," the Second Child said quietly to herself as she selected a pair of rifles from the weapons cache that NERV had placed near the pyramid in case of emergencies.
There weren't going to be very many more chances for her to prove her skill, she knew. And how many more of the remaining Angels would be simple if powerful fighters like this one? Angels she knew how to handle as opposed to bizarre threats she couldn't hope to pummel into submission like the Eleventh and Twelfth Angels had been?
No, this was her big opportunity. The power of this Angel practically had the brass wetting themselves, which meant it would be utterly perfect when the Great Asuka Langley Soryu destroyed it.
Unit One suddenly rose out of one of the EVA lifts, joining Unit Zero and her Unit Two on the Geofront floor.
"Nice to see you arrived in time for the party, Ikari," Asuka commented, opening a channel to Unit One.
"It took me a little longer to get to EVA because I was in the cell block," Shinji explained unnecessarily, looking rather unkempt from his stay in solitary confinement. "Who's taking point?"
"I am, of course," Asuka answered cheerfully.
"Cut the chatter," Misato broke in. "Shinji-kun, grab a weapon! One more shot and the Angel will have broken through."
"Hai!" Shinji replied, quickly fetching an EVA scale AK-47.
Seconds later, the roof of the Geofront erupted into an orange fireball, and the massive form of the Fourteenth Angel began to descend through the fire and smoke, totally unscathed by the flames.
The three Evangelions opened fire immediately, sending incredibly huge slugs flying toward the Angel at hundreds of kilometers per hour.
This seemed to impress it as much as the city's defense grid had.
"Damn it!" Asuka exclaimed in disbelief as her rifles clicked empty and she traded them for another pair.
These soon ran out of ammunition as well, and the Angel was still advancing at a mockingly slow pace, unhurried and casual. Asuka discarded her second pair of rifles and picked up two rocket launchers this time.
"The AT field's neutralized, isn't it?" she asked of no one in particular as her rockets exploded uselessly against the Angel.
"Yeah, but we can't neutralize the armor!" Shinji responded as he worked on emptying a pallet rifle against the Angel, for all the good it did.
The Angel stopped about a kilometer away from them, which translated into only about two or three steps for an Evangelion. Its stumpy arms unfolded, becoming long and almost paper thin. Asuka frowned in confusion.
Then the Angel lashed out.
Just as it did, the enormous monster stumbled forward, almost looking like it would fall on its face for a second. It failed to sever Unit Two's arms, missing by a fair margin as both its arms went wide of their targets.
The Angel didn't hesitate, however, quickly withdrawing its bizarre extremities and trying again.
And again it failed, this time because Unit One shoved Unit Two to the side. However, one of the Angel's long limbs managed to coil around Unit One's forearm and began to pull, intending to rip the arm from its socket. Shinji let out a cry of pain.
Acting without wasting time thinking about it, Asuka commanded Unit Two's shoulder pylon to open and grabbed the progressive knife that it contained. The weapon came joyously to life in the crimson titan's hand, and Asuka sliced the Angel's arm in two, freeing Unit One from its grip.
"Arigato!" Shinji said.
"Welcome," Asuka replied, her attention already back on the Angel.
Why had it stumbled forward the first time when it was trying to attack her? What had pushed it?
She spotted something small and white behind the Angel. With a thought, she made the entry plug viewer magnify the image of it.
"Her!" Asuka spat venomously as she regarded Spirit.
The damned glory hog is back! She added silently.
"Forget about her!" Misato barked in a such a tone of command that Asuka didn't even think of disobeying. "Concentrate on the Angel!"
"Yes, ma'am," Asuka replied at once.
The Angel lashed out again, but this time Asuka rolled easily out of harm's way, avoiding the NERV pyramid and the lake but paying no heed to the forests she reduced to kindling beneath Unit Two's weight.
Well, at least the Angel knows who the real threat to it is, Asuka thought with a tiny, grim smirk.
As if caused by the mere thought, the Angel suddenly switched targets, turning around to face Spirit. The Angel of Might fired one of its energy blasts, which missed by a mile. Spirit retaliated with one of her own cross blasts, knocking it slightly off balance again but doing little appreciable damage.
Shinji apparently saw this as his opportunity to pounce. Unit One charged forward with a progressive axe held in its hands. With a loud roar, Shinji swung the massive melee weapon into the Angel's side, burying the axe in the Angel's side with a solid thunk!
It was far from the bisection Shinji had been hoping for.
The Angel turned to face Unit One and Shinji could only watch in horror as its eyes lit up. "Oh, sh—!"
The energy blast slammed into Unit One like a battering ram made of solid flame, sending the mighty Evangelion flying to almost the other side of the Geofront before it crashed to the ground, landing in a heap.
"Shinji-kun!" Misato exclaimed.
"Ikari-kun!" Rei cried.
"Shinji…" Asuka whispered, eyes wide in horror.
This isn't how it's supposed to be, Asuka thought. Nobody's supposed to die. Not even a stooge like the Third Child. I'm supposed to be good enough to protect everybody!
"I'm okay," Shinji groaned, evicting several sighs of relief. "I can keep going…"
The violet Evangelion dragged itself to its feet, and Asuka winced at the sight of it. A large section of the armor on the EVA's chest and even part of its helmet had been partially melted. He had to be in a lot of pain.
You've definitely gotten tougher, Ikari. I'll give you that, Asuka thought.
Spirit had managed to regain the Angel's attention by now, and she was literally flying rings around it as it tried futilely to swat her out of the sky. The winged girl attacked with her cross blasts, neatly severing the Angel's deadly arms and leaving it with useless stumps.
"Damn her," Asuka said softly, enraged that the girl had done more damage to the Angel than she had.
She was about to throw Unit Two into motion and show everyone who was really the best Angel killer in town when Misato's voice entered her plug. "Shinji, Rei, I want you to hold the Angel in place! Asuka, we're sending you the type twenty positron rifle!"
"Roger!" the three pilots responded.
Unit One sprinted across the Geofront, somehow managing to arrive at the Angel at the same time Unit Zero did. Both Evangelions grabbed the Angel's side, holding its shoulders and what were its approximations for hips. The monster let out a thunderous roar as it struggled, but with no arms to fight with, there was little it could do to escape the EVA's grip.
Spirit, to Asuka's horror, took the opportunity to fire a cross blast right at the Angel's core.
An armored membrane like an eyelid snapped shut over the core before the winged wonder's attack would strike it, shielding the red sphere. Asuka had to resist the urge to cackle gleefully at the little bitch's failure.
"Be careful to stay out of range of its energy attack," Misato cautioned as Asuka returned her prog knife to its place and retrieved the positron rifle that rose up from one of the massive lifts. "The last thing we need is for you to get blasted while you're lining up your shot."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Asuka said dismissively as she hefted the weapon and summonsed her targeting visor.
She wasn't that far away from the Angel, even outside of what the MAGI estimated was the range of the monster's energy attack, but she still needed the targeting computer. Positron weapons didn't shoot exactly straight, which wasn't normally a problem, but with an EVA on either side of the Angel, precision was obviously required.
This is it! Asuka thought, breathless in anticipation as she centered the reticule. Everyone will finally realize how great I am after this! They'll treat me like I deserve!
A blast of white energy with a ring on the top and arms that looked like fiery wings suddenly slammed into the Angel, mere seconds before Asuka could pull the trigger of her weapon. The Angel snapped its armored membrane closed again, but this time it proved insufficient protection. The Halo Wave tore right through it and shattered the core, killing the Angel.
Asuka gaped in disbelief as she watched Units Zero and One release the Fourteenth Angel, letting it fall forwards and crash to the ground.
"No," she whispered, slowly lowering the positron rifle. "No. I…I had it…"
It was Gendo Ikari who jolted her out of her stupor. "Now that the Angel has been destroyed, Spirit is your target," the Commander ordered. "Capture her if possible, but do not allow her to escape under any circumstances."
Asuka wordlessly tried to comply with the order, her vision going red as her shock and horror at having her victory snatched away again rapidly converted themselves into unadulterated fury. She placed the positron rifle on the ground, preparing to chase the winged girl, and—
Unit One gripped her EVA's forearm, a communications window from Shinji popping up on her display. "Asuka, wait! You can't do this! Spirit—!"
He was cut off as Unit Two's massive fist slammed into the side of Unit One's head with enough force to shatter a small mountain. Shinji cried out in surprise and pain as his EVA was sent reeling from the blow.
But he was somehow able to maintain his hold upon Unit Two's arm, pulling the scarlet war machine down with him as Unit One collapsed to the ground. The two Evangelions rolled around on the floor of the Geofront as they grappled in an eerie reenactment of the battle against the Thirteenth Angel that had taken place only the previous day.
Lost in the inferno of her mindless rage, Asuka commanded Unit Two's shoulder pylon to open the moment she managed to get on top, again summonsing her progressive knife. Shinji let out a yelp of surprise and fear, grabbing hold of Unit Two's wrist and halting its progress before the knife could connect.
"Oh my god, she's trying to use her progressive knife on him!" Misato exclaimed in horror as she watched the two Evangelions fight. "We've got to stop this! Rei! Intervene! Break them up!"
"Belay that! Raise the pressure of the LCL in Unit One's entry plug to the maximum level!" Gendo ordered.
"Unit One's plug?" Maya gasped, turning around to face the Commander, her dark eyes shining with obvious terror at the thought of it.
"Yes!" Gendo barked. "Do it! Now!"
"Yes, sir," Maya said reluctantly, keying in the appropriate commands.
Fortunately for Shinji's sake, he managed to get his legs beneath Unit Two and kick the other Evangelion off of his, breaking the deadly lockup the two had mere seconds before the LCL pressure went up.
"Damn it! What are you doing!" the Third Child screamed, his words echoing in the command center, just before he passed out.
I wish I knew, Shinji-kun, Misato thought with a disgusted shake of her head.
"Pilot Soryu!" Gendo snapped. "Unit One has been neutralized, and Spirit is escaping. Capture her!"
"Yes, sir!"
Asuka didn't think about Shinji as she threw Unit Two into a full out sprint. She didn't think about how Misato would react to what she'd just done. She didn't think about what anyone would say when they'd found out what she'd just done.
She couldn't think about these things. There was simply no room in her mind for them, not with the thought of finally, finally getting the little Angel bitch blazing through every synapse in her brain.
Spirit had a big head start and was very fast, but Unit Two could cover an incredible amount of distance very quickly, and Asuka knew where her prey was going. The only way out for her was the hole that the Angel has blasted into the roof of the Geofront. All Asuka had to do was catch her before she reached it, and she knew she could do it.
The gap between them closed to nearly nothing. Grinning manically, Asuka had Unit Two perform a leap that an Olympic athlete would have envied, sailing forwards and upwards with all her collected momentum. She reached out with Unit Two's right arm, its enormous hand mere meters away from the panicked looking girl, ready to pluck her straight out of the sky.
Gravity suddenly reclaimed its hold on Unit Two, far sooner than it should have, and the Evangelion went plummeting back to the ground.
"Noooooo!" Asuka shrieked as she helplessly watched Spirit escape.
Unit Two slammed into the ground, sending a jolt of pain to her through the A-10 connection. Trying to figure out what had caused her to fall before she'd even reached the apex of her jump, Asuka looked down toward Unit Two's legs. She gasped aloud at what she saw.
Unit Zero was clutching onto her EVA's ankle. Rei had pulled her down to allow Spirit to escape.
Author's Notes: It just wouldn't be EVA without a psychoanalytical head trip in there somewhere, and the Thirteenth Angel seemed like the best opportunity for it. Personally, I think Spirit's experience made far too much sense compared to what Shinji went through in the series, but I didn't want to make it ambiguous and confusing just for the sake of making it ambiguous and confusing.
Anyway, as you can see, Asuka's screws are starting to come loose in earnest now, and her self-control is going as a result. And needless to say, there will be lots of fallout next chapter for what happened here. Stay tuned.
I'm glad the X-Men reference last chapter was appreciated. They don't seem to be getting much love in the SOE series, so I thought I'd throw that it.
Ryousanki, you know, Spirit probably could blast off her own limbs and have them grow back, now that I think about it. After all, she's lost and regrown the wings. However, she's understandable reluctant to do that.
JediMasterDarjaak, Hikari would have to agree to be the Fifth Child, and I see no reason why she would that, especially since it's doubtful she'd make it through a physical from NERV Medical without her secret coming out. As for the Stewie Griffin thing, I had no plans for such, but I may have to do it now that you've put the idea in my head.
Konous the grey, sorry, but I'm not looking to overload the angst-o-meter like the anime did. What's the point of adding a superhero to the mix if everything goes just as wretched as it did anyway? Also, I know you won't be happy about my having to remove Unit One's "god is angry" moment, but I felt it was necessary. By the way, I don't dislike Cyclops, I just made him the commander because he's the usual second in command of the X-Men and "Commander Xavier" would've been blindingly obvious.
Reform Joms, I have no plans to continue that omake at the moment, but we'll see.
The Rei-Fan, thanks for the info about the Japanese.
Invincible Shinji, unfortunately, pretty much all the other superwomen were occupied at the time.
Commander Galos, if you want to know Gendo's evil scheme, you'll just have to keep reading, now won't you? :P
Omakes
I Watch Too Much TV
The disturbing duality of terror and desperate longing washed over her in a wave so powerful that she actually forgot to keep flying. Spirit went tumbling limply toward the earth as she grappled with the unwelcome swell of emotion. The wind rushing past her and the ground rushing forward to greet her seemed like very unimportant details as she fell.
Spirit realized that she was about to crash into the ground a second too late to stop her fall. Fortunately for her, another was nearby to make the save.
A huge spider web suddenly appeared, sticking to the nearby trees and forming a net that broke her fall. A web of goo wasn't exactly the most welcome sight after her experience with the Thirteenth Angel, but it was sure better than slamming into the ground again!
Spirit looked up to see one of the newer superwomen perched on a tree branch. "Wow! Thanks, Spider-Woman!"
"Everybody gets one," Spider-Woman said curtly before she went web-slinging away.
Administrative Problems…
It was that time again, time for the biweekly meeting of the Superwomen of Eva in their decrepit but much loved base. After meeting outside of Rei's apartment building, the group headed inside and made their way to the appropriate room. They still hadn't agreed on a name for the place, but Misato had apparently had a new idea, because a sign reading, "Secret Headquarters of Shin-chan's Lovely Ladies (and Spirit)" in bold red kanji had been taped to the door.
"Real mature, Misato," Hikari said as she pulled down the sign, more amused than annoyed.
The purple haired woman just gave the freckled girl an innocent "who me?" look in response.
"The amazing thing is that Section Two never noticed the sign, despite the fact that an EVA pilot lives in this building," Ritsuko commented.
The group filed inside, missing the cleverly hidden spy within.
Actually, the spy wasn't cleverly hidden at all. Kaji was just standing very still in a corner of the room with a lampshade over his head, thinking hard about light bulbs. Fortunately for him, though, the ladies were far too preoccupied to notice him at the moment.
"Okay, this meeting is officially called to order," Hikari said. "The first item on the agenda tonight is to appoint an official group leader."
"Oh! Me!" Misato said, raising her hand in the air like a student trying to get the teacher's attention. "I've had officer training! I'd make a great leader for our group!"
Asuka snorted. "Yeah, because you're doing such a good job as the Operations Director! We've got all of us here to try and fix things and the world is still in danger!"
"Hey! I can't help it! It's not like this is a cakewalk! Our foe is so shockingly evil and incredibly powerful that I dare not speak his name!" Misato exclaimed.
"This is the bad guy for 'Heroes United!' we're talking about, right?" Maya asked. "I'm just checking."
"Correct," Misato nodded, pleased that Maya had caught on so quickly.
"What's his name?" Mana asked.
"I dare not speak it!" Misato hissed.
"Why are we even debating this?" Asuka asked. "Clearly, I'm a born leader!"
"The way you got Shinji-kun, yourself, and I hopelessly lost when the power went out refutes this claim," Rei said, earning a furious glare from Asuka.
"Well I think that I should be the leader," Ritsuko spoke up, "as I'm clearly the smartest superwoman."
"Oh, so you can do computer programming! Big deal! I'm the one who can think on her feet!" Misato argued.
"When you're angry, you can't think, period," Ritsuko pointed out.
"Hold on, I think I should be leader," Hikari said. "My position as class rep has given me leadership experience. Plus, as the first superwoman of Eva, I have seniority."
"Hey! I was the first superwomen!" Misato protested.
"She's talking chronologically, not publication order," Ritsuko said, then turned to Hikari. "Do you really think that the idea of seniority can really help you, a fourteen-year-old girl, win this?"
"Yes," Hikari said firmly, she then narrowed her eyes. "After all, I was using my super powers to kill Angels while you were still boinking Gendo!"
"You bitch!" Ritsuko exclaimed, her insectoid arms bursting out of her back and tearing through her shirt as her fangs and claws also appeared. "I'll pound you!"
"Bring it on!" Hikari exclaimed as her wings emerged and her hair and eyes changed color.
"Oooo, cat fight," Kaji said as the two superwomen started brawling.
(A/N: I really don't know where this one came from. Actually, yeah I do: Invader Zim, ReDeath, and a bit too much sugar. Anyway, I feel I should mention I don't know any secrets about orionpax09's plans for "Heroes United!", so please ignore any blathering from me about it.)