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"Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength." - Arnold Schwarzenegger
Last Child of Krypton
Chapter 5- Push
Asuka took a deep breath of fresh, cool night air and gazed up at Rei, who stood silhouetted against the moon, not far from the improvised outdoor Evangelion cage where she would mount Unit-0 and hold up the massive orbital heat shield that would be her only protection from the Angel's blast. So far, they were out of range, and the thing had ignored them, busily working on digging its way into the Geofront to do God knows what. Moonlight bathed the hills north of Tokyo-3, and the appointed hour of midnight neared, when the Angel would piece the armor, attack Dogma itself, and either Asuka would kill it or the human race would perish.
The last eight hours had been frantic. Asuka was aware, of course, of Misato's commanding side- she'd often chafed under it in Germany, where Misato designed the training simulators that were all she had to prepare for the real thing. She didn't resent Misato not anticipating the Angel's forms; she realized that no one could. She did resent her attentions towards Kaji, the looks they'd shared in the month or two they occupied the same space, when Asuka was around twelve years old, before Misato left for Japan to begin preparing to fight the war, the only war that would matter. Asuka's war.
Somehow, the woman had wrangled the entire power output of the entire nation for this, to be directed through the huge bank of transformers at Asuka's rear into the prototype antimatter particle canon that had been crudely adapted into a gargantuan sniper rifle, so huge that the Evangelion couldn't actually walk with it, and Unit-0 was needed to manhandle it into place. The other pilot was a mystery to Asuka, and saying little, and Asuka was content to leave her to whatever it was she was thinking about. She was weird.
She glanced at her watch. The appointed hour was at hand. She sprinted for the plug, the cool air a relief on her irritated face.
SSSSS
Rei was to assume her position first. It was assumed that the Angel would not recognize Unit-0 as a threat at this distance, or if it did, that taking the time to build up sufficient energy for a strike would give Pilot Soryu the time needed to fire the weapon and destroy the core. She took a deep breath and rested her good hand on the control in front of her, relieved that she would not have to engage in melee. She was almost fully healed, now. She would not need to be replaced. She felt somewhat indifferent about that. She only knew that she must succeed, that if she did not, she would fail.
A thought rose in her mind, unbidden. If she failed, Ikari would die. Not Commander Ikari. Shinji Ikari. The source of this feeling puzzled her. She dismissed these thoughts and focused on opening her heart to Eva, and Eva answered her, although with less ease than Unit-01 worked for her comrade. She willed the machine to rise and it did, lifted the heat shield as a knight would, though the sword was not for her, but in the hands of another. She took her position, providing as much cover as she could for Pilot Soryu, who finally approached in Unit-01 and settled in behind the particle cannon.
In the distance, the Angel remained situated over Tokyo-3, in the very center, its lower extremity extended into a revolving drill that currently was mere meters away from breaching the Geofront. Zero hour had arrived, and behind her she felt as much as heard the thrum of an entire nation's power supply welling up in a vast array of mobile transformers. Soryu had one, perhaps two shots, and then the entire thing would explode, overloaded, unless it was shut down. She watched through the corner of Eva's eye as the massive cannon's fuse assembly was cycled into place and waited patiently for Soryu to fire.
The Angel anticipated them. It shrieked its unholy shriek and withdrew from its task, clattering and clanking as it broke apart and reformed into its wedge-shape, the shape where it directed the most power into its beam. There was a tense moment as the cannon and the Angel charged their weapons and then Soryu fired, the beam of brilliant, blinding white light lanced out, turning night into day and leaving a streak of purple eye strain across Rei's vision. She braced the Eva against the shield as the Angel fired. The two beams met in the air and twisted, knocking each other off course. The particle beam left a streak of fire through the rear of the Angel as it punched through, yet missed the core. She would have to fire again. The Angel's own beam returned to true, and carved away the hill that was their refuge like so much old cake. The beam hit Rei's shield full force, and she felt Eva's legs bucking beneath her. Her injuries lanced with pain, and she realized that she was about to fail, and thus about to die.
SSSSS
Asuka let loose a stream of German curses as the plug began to heat again, though less so than before, partially shielded by Rei and that shuttle shield, which carved a small hole in the heat beam. She had to cool the barrel, cycle out the cartridge of fuses, get it on target, wait for the telemetry, and fire again, all before the beam knockred Rei out of the way, killed her, and liquefied the entire cannon and transformer array, right before the Angel killed everyone on Earth.
No pressure.
She waited for the barrel to cool, that was the hard part. Rei was going down. Unit-00 couldn't hold up to the pressure, and the shield was beginning to slope. Once it reached a certain angle, it would be effectively useless, Rei would fry, and they would all die. The question was whether that would happen before she fired and killed the damn thing, or if it would get them first. Asuka was getting hotter. She felt a little woozy. That might be a problem.
She blinked in surprise, even as she started cycling the fuses loose. The shield moved, just a bit, angled back into place a tiny fraction. She couldn't help it. She zoomed her view in on it. Rei was still pushing, but the Eva was trembling, faltering, but she was no longer alone. It was him. The man in the blue costume, the Superman, the word dully rolled to the front of her brain, was pushing against the shield too, his whole back and arms braced against it, his face a grimacing mask of concentration. He pushed and pushed and the shield shifted, sliding back up. The bolt went home. The tracking system appeared in her HUD.
All green. Fire.
She did.
She pulled the trigger and the gun didn't kick so much as bowl her backwards ass over teakettle, but she knew, damn it she knew she'd done it this time, the beam was already there and they'd corrected for it. The beam lanced, leaving a purple streak like the kind that forms in your eye when you stare too long at the sun, a twin to the one that was just fading from the first shot, and she watched over the Eva's chest as the burst struck home, tore through the Angel, and roared out the back of it with a great gout of flame and what looked quite like blood. The whole thing teetered ponderously and then fell, just fell, exploding into a vast spray of LCL when it hit the ground.
She wanted to relax, but something was nagging her. Oh, right, Ayanami. She should help.
Asuka willed the Eva to rise and it did, clumsily, the still damaged joints tugging at her like a three week old twisted ankle, and she bade it crawl on hands and knees over to Unit-00, where the Entry plug had already been ejected. The big blue guy was already there, and had the plug open. He was talking to Ayanami, nodding, so she must be okay. Asuka decided it would be a good idea to fall over, but she didn't have much choice in the matter. She didn't even really feel it when the Eva hit the ground. Her synch must have been failing. Oh well.
She had a funny dream. She dreamed that Shinji was there, and he was in the plug with her and carrying her and he was really strong but also really gentle, carrying her like a newlywed. She heard his voice begging for someone, anyone to help her, and then she went into a really deep sleep, and was glad of it.
SSSSS
"Relax, big guy," Misato said with a grin, slapping Shinji on the shoulder. Asuka was still out, lying in the hospital bed, sleeping peacefully with a soft smile on her flushed face. Misato gazed at her too, in quiet admiration, and then studied Shinji with a look that was a cypher to him, though he knew part of it was a smirk. He uncrossed his arms and slipped his hands in his pockets and sighed. He actually felt a little tired, which was new. He'd have to sew his damn cape up, too.
"She'll be fine," Misato said to him again. "She's just exhausted, on top of surprisingly mild heat exhaustion from the first time. I'll let you know when she wakes up."
He nodded. "Rei's awake, if you want to see her. Oh, and go get me a beer."
He shot her a wry look.
"Okay, coffee. Seriously. You're my assistant. I need something with some kind of mind altering substance and I need it now."
Shinji nodded and then went on his way, stopping briefly in Rei's room. The girl seemed quite confused when he walked in, and stared at him for a bit. He scratched his head nervously. "Umm, are you okay?" he said finally, realizing that he was going to have to start the conversation.
"I am well."
"Oh," he said, "great! Uh, exciting night, huh?"
"There was a great deal of danger."
"Oh," he said. "Well, uh, I guess I'll be going."
As he turned, she said, very softly, "Why did you bring flowers to me?"
He stopped. "You looked a little sad. I wanted to cheer you up."
She said nothing for a moment that stretched into a minute. He shrugged, offered a goodbye, and went on. The break room was crowded with techs, all of whom were joyfully celebrating, passing around cakes and snacks from the vending machines. Shinji bought a canned coffee and stopped as Makoto Hyuga put a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Shinji," he said. "You should hang out for a while. You're kind of like an honorary bridge tech now."
He shrugged. "I have to get this back to Misato. I'm on the clock, I guess."
"You don't get paid," Maya said, a little confused.
Aoba sighed and rolled his eyes. "Rub it in, Ibuki."
"Go on then," Hyuga said brightly, "We'll see you later."
He found Misato in the hall outside the Commander's office, and handed her the can of coffee. She took it with a smile that faded as she followed Doctor Akagi, who gave Shinji an approving nod, and Kaji, who totally ignored him, as they walked into the Commander's office. As he walked away, he changed a glance back, and focused something in his eyes, like a muscle he half knew was there, and the world around him faded, became eerie and translucent. Except for the Commander's office, which was coated on every inside wall with something too dense for his vision to pierce.
Something about that chilled him to the bone as he pushed the button in the elevator.
SSSSS
Gendo Ikari sat back, clearly pleased, although it took a man with Kozo Fuyutsuki's knowledge of his moods to actually tell. That he wasn't shielding his face was proof enough. After the three visitors- the head of Project E, the Operations Director, and the idiot spy left, Ikari pushed the button for the door to close and seal, no doubt to give them a shock as much as to keep the man Kaji from listening in on them. He leaned forward and twined his fingers after pressing a button under the desk. A small screen rose from a cleverly hidden panel in the top of the desk and flicked on, showing a view of Unit-01 in its cage. The machine was badly damaged, the armor in profound need of repair. It was good that the schedule did not suggest another attack for weeks, most likely as Unit-02 arrived.
Both men watched intently as Shinji Ikari walked out in front of the Eva and stared up at it for some time, then whispered something. Kozo didn't need to be a lip reader to tell he was saying "thank you." Ikari tensed.
"You don't think he-"
"No," Ikari said, staring intently at the screen.
Shinji walked away from the Eva, going on his way, and apparently didn't notice that the machine's head slightly, ever so slightly, turned to look after him.
SSSSS
Misato leaned back against the counter in the executive mess and stretched. The place was cramped, and wouldn't have been out of place in any office building. The main recreational facilities were much slicker and much more scif-fi, purposely so, to impress the teeming masses of technicians and other personnel of NERV's power and influence. It was all part of the façade of Tokyo-3, the Last Fortress of Mankind. People had to believe in the whole thing. It was important, to the survival of the species.
She desperately wanted sleep but Ritsuko insisted they meet here before everyone knocked off for the night, her and Kaji and, for some reason, Maya. The other three sat around the small table, Ritsuko prim and proper, Kaji as sloppy and casual as usual, and Maya… like Maya. Kaji eyed her and she wilted under his gaze, darting furtive glances at Ritsuko. Misato wasn't one to judge. She'd had her little experiments.
"We have a problem," Ritsuko said, sipping her tepid coffee. "They're evolving."
"Well duh," Misato said, very, very tired of the Oh Captain My Captain part of her personality, and ready to let it rest for a while. Maya looked at her askance.
"Think about it. The first one had a range of capabilities- ranged and up close, and was fairly tough." She sipped her coffee again. "The second one focused entirely on melee and defense, which make sense, since the one before it did the most damage up close."
"Go on," Kaji said, sticking an unlit cigarette in his mouth.
"That one failed, so the next one comes along, and it focuses itself on pure offense. It's a glass cannon, basically. Slow and fragile, but so powerful we can't get close to it."
"Right," Misato said, "but we can adapt faster than they can. Each one is pretty much stuck the way it is."
"So far," Ritsuko said. "We're not sure. There's an X-Factor at work here, too."
"Which is?"
"Superman?" Maya piped up helpfully. Ritsuko gave her an amused look.
"Right. That beam almost killed the Eva, but from the gun camera footage from Unit-01, it barely singed him."
"Okay," Misato said. "So?"
"So if he can shrug off what will kill an Eva in forty-three seconds, what happens when the Angels start adapting to him?"
For that, no one had an answer.
SSSSS
Asuka crept into the apartment, glad that the Commander had assigned her security detail to take her home rather than wake Misato, who had taken off and was snoring loudly in her bedroom. For once, Asuka thought, she deserved it. It was almost sundown- she'd slept all night and all day, and was still tired. The Section 2 man dared not cross the threshold into the Katsuragi apartment, it seemed, no doubt afraid some curry-spawned Balrog would appear to scourge them with a whip of ramen noodles. She chuckled to herself at her cleverness as she headed for the shower. She saw a box, wrapped up like a present, sitting on the kitchen table, but decided to shower first. She had her priorities.
She decided, this day of all days, to take a cold shower, and skip the usual lengthy process of caring for her hair and skin, especially since she felt like she'd spent a week out in the sun. Instead she just stood under the cool water, let it flatten her hair against her back, and then just sat on the towel for a while, letting herself air dry. It felt good to have goose pimples again. She decided that she hated heat, and when she left the bathroom she snuck past Misato and turned the thermostat as far down as it would go, and breathed a long sigh of relief when she heard the air conditioning clatter to life. Truly these were blessed times of glorious future technology.
Shinji was gone out somewhere, she saw, probably to hang out with his doofus friends. He left her dinner, though, and had the good sense to make it cold cuts. She wondered, vaguely, where he was getting all of this European style food, or for that matter how he could afford all of it. He must have been spending a lot of Misato's money on imported foodstuffs to keep her happy. She looked at the pile of homework, no doubt freshly delivered by Hikari, and decided to ignore it. She wasn't in the mood to grapple with the Kanji. Why couldn't these people write with regular letters, like normal people? Everything was written in goofy little pictures of houses.
She noticed the package on the table again and picked it up. It was a dark brown, coffee-colored box wrapped up in a purple ribbon. The colors stirred something in her, and then she remembered. There was a vase of flowers; too, she wasn't sure how she missed that. It was small, and made of fine cut crystal. The flowers were knapweed, sometimes called cornflowers- the national flower of Germany, it turns out. That brought a smirk to her face. She wondered who sent them. She'd check the tag after she opened the box.
When the lid came off, she remembered why the colors seemed so familiar. It was the packaging of a local shop, one she'd visited once a while. She'd always begged Kaji to buy her something there, but he never did, she had to shop there alone. It was a small assortment, which made sense; they were expensive. She picked up a truffle and popped it into her mouth and stifled a moan of joy. She hadn't eaten anything this good in months, especially not since she came to this place. These people had no idea how candy worked. Funny, though, how it could have gotten here. Someone must have shipped them. Misato, maybe? Had she ever mentioned that candy shop to her? She glanced at the tag on the flowers. It was in German, too. She recognized the street name; it was half a block away from the chocolatier. There was another note, written in careful, artful block letters, in German.
A little taste of home. I asked Kaji where to shop.
-Shinji.
She hoped he didn't spend too much on shipping. Shipping flowers must have been a pain, especially to get them so fresh. They looked like they'd been cut that morning.