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"...then turn the monsters loose." -Stephen King
Last Child of Krypton
Chapter 13- Dies Irae
Toji awakened with a groan. His last memory had been hiding his embarrassment as he strutted across the bridge to the entry plug in his jet black plugsuit, which hugged him a little too tightly to be called comfortable. He adjusted himself, threw his shoulders back, and climbed into the plug. Doctor Akagi's voice rang in his ear, which was a little weird.
"Are you okay?"
"No, this thing is riding up my butt, and this tin can smells like ass."
Akagi, by way of reply, let out a groan.
"You'll be fine," said Misato cheerfully. "You did volunteer for this, after all!"
He knew it was coming, but the cold LCL flooding into the plug was still a shock and he still felt as if he was going to drown as the foul, metallic smelling liquid welled around his head. He held his breath in spite of being repeatedly told not to, and felt a funny shock as the fluid started to warm. Only then did he open his mouth and haltingly take a breath of the stuff, trying not to vomit. He had a new respect for the girls, this stuff tasted awful. He leaned back on the seat, grateful for the newfound warmth around him.
"It's a little warm in here," he said, slurring his words thickly as he tried to get used to speaking through a liquid.
"We're testing some things. We'll synch in a minute."
He drummed his fingers against the controls in front of him, inadvertently hitting a switch.
"Stop that," Akagi snapped. "Lean back and clear your head."
He sighed and leaned back. There was an electric thrum and colors flashed around him, causing him to jump a little. He felt a strange pressure on the back of his head and accepted, letting it grow into the odd feeling of being much, much larger than he actually was. He actually liked it a little.
"Wow," Misato noted. "You have a gift for this, Toji. You beat Asuka's initial synch ratio. Twenty-eight percent."
He moved his head, and jerked a bit when the Evangelion's head moved with him, scanning his surroundings. He stood in what looked like a ballistic missile tube, and really felt like he was standing in the cavernous round testing facility himself, the cool air playing over way, way too much body. He shook his head and swayed a bit in the seat when the Eva did the same thing. He was starting to like this.
"Hold on," Akagi said absently. "Don't try walking yet, we're still running through the system checks."
He sighed and shrugged, and sat back. He blinked in surprise when he saw himself sitting on the control yoke in front of him, or rather, his younger self, maybe six years old. He leaned forward and poked his younger self on the forehead.
"Ow," the kid said.
"Uh," Toji said. "What?"
The child licked its lips, eyes boring into his. "What is it you fear, lilim?"
A sudden realization chilled him. The Eva was moving, and he wasn't doing it.
SSSSS
Shinji was sailing through the air, but this time, it not under his own power. The sky flashed past his face, then the Earth, and then a building, and then the road, and finally there was a tremendous crash as he slammed through the side of a small store, the brickwork making the tinkling sound of bells as his body shattered it. He came to rest among the ruins of the front counter, tiny points of light dancing his vision. He found himself unable to recall the last time he'd been hit so hard. He'd taken blasts from things that could level buildings and burn away mountains and walked away with a mild ringing in his ears and a hint of a sunburn that faded after a few minutes, but as he lay sprawled across splintered wood and flowers, it occurred to him that he had never truly experienced, until now, the raw power an Evangelion possessed. Worse, that power was now wielded by an Angel that had taken over Unit-03, destroyed the test base, and had his best friend trapped within a cocoon of blue slime he couldn't see through, embedded in Unit-03's chest.
He rolled onto his hands and knees and looked up at the black giant, silhouetted against the sun, striding forward in a casual lope, arms swinging limp at its side. He took a breath, took two bounding steps, and pushed away from the Earth, taking to the sky with his arms straight out, fists together to break the wind resistance. The air pressed around him and then buffeted his sides, pressing against him as the sound barrier fell away behind him. He hit Unit-03 hard in the chin and the massive black Evangelion staggered backwards, red eyes full of hate, roaring its frustration. A massive black fist closed around him.
The crushing weight of it slammed his arms to the side and he struggled against it, chest heaving, but to no avail. The cold red eyes of the machine stared at him almost in contempt and it roared out in rage, rearing up like a berserk ape, and with a sudden swiftness the fist punched hard into the ground and released, leaving him there dazed. He was almost to his feet when the foot came down.
SSSSS
Asuka sat up in the plug, staring wide-eyed in horror as Unit-03's foot came down on Supe… on Shinji. Rei and Mari's faces appeared to her right in left in her heads-up-display, and she focused on them, ignoring the giant approaching from the setting sun for a moment.
"Listen," she said, "Toji's in there, and we are getting him out. Mari, go left, Rei, go right. Understood?"
"Yes," they said in unison, and both Evangelions moved, the orange and the red, covering her flanks as she approached directly.
"This is Asuka," she said, "we have engaged the target."
"This is Commander Ikari. You are ordered to destroy it with extreme prejudice. Do you understand?"
"After we recover the pilot," Asuka said.
"No. The destruction of the Angel is your only priority."
"I said after we recover the pilot," Asuka snapped. "Rei, Mari, get in position. When I say go, get its arms. I'll go for the plug."
She gave the Evangelion a command at the shoulder pylon fell open, the progressive knife unfolding into position. She reached up and took it and held it out before her in the left hand in an open, loose guard position, waving it to get the rogue Evangelion's attention. Mari and Rei edged closer, but Unit-03 took no notice, advancing with the same plodding steps. Asuka tensed and Unit-01 tensed with her, servos grinding, artificial muscles pumping.
"Now."
It all happened at once. Rei and Mari rushed and Unit-03 jumped, leaping skyward with an ease and grace that denied its size. Unit-00 and -02 skidded to a stop, barely avoiding crashing into each other as Unit-03 landed just ahead of them and turned. It grabbed Unit-02 with both hands along her left forearm and Mari screamed in pain as the black Evangelion lurched and wrenched the arm hard. Sparks flew, coolant shot out, and high-pressure blood sprayed out, making a gory rainbow. Rei wordlessly jumped into the fray, shouldering Unit-03 aside. The rogue Eva released Mari and turned to Rei, shoving Unit-00 into the hillside behind it. Unit-03's arm bubbled and thick, ropy blue mucous began to pour out, falling on Unit-00's right arm. Rei croaked something, choking on the pain.
Asuka charged. Rei screamed. Unit-00's arm blew off with the thump of explosive bolts and fell dead to the ground. Asuka snarled a wordless cry of rage and tackled Unit-03, tearing it away from Rei. The black Eva grappled with her, punching her full in the face. Blood trickled from her mouth into the LCL and her head swam. Hands clamped around her throat and she was shoved back into the seat, spasming from the sympathetic pain.
"God damn it," she croaked through the closing of her throat, "Where are you?"
There he was.
Shinji landed on Unit-01's breast plate and put his hands between Unit-03's and pushed, straining against them. The pressure on her throat relieved just a bit and she snapped out of it, shaking the stars out of her eyes, and took Unit-03 by the wrists, peeling the hands away from her throat. Shinji took off and headed for Unit-03.
"I'll hold it," she said, activating the external speakers, "Get Toji out!"
He stopped halfway when a pair of muscular arms erupted from Unit-03's shoulders, shattering the pylons and sending plates of armor bouncing across the landscape. One arm grabbed Shinji and pounded him into the mountainside while the other clamped on Asuka's throat, even harder than before. She struggling for breath, bubbling the LCL in front of her face. Her nose began to bleed, a thin trickle of blood sliding out into the LCL in front of her face, clouding her vision. Unit-03 pushed her Eva back down into the hillside with three hands, two on each of hers, one on her throat, and one still holding Shinji.
She heard a voice.
"You must fight back."
"T-Toj-"
"Will die anyway if you fail. Destroy the target."
"Nghhhchh… No.. . Suppp…"
"Very well," the Commander intoned, a hint of something in his voice, like sunlight glinting off ice.
Like the slamming of a door, synchronization went dead. The pressure released and she lurched forward in the seat, relieved, and slammed the butterfly controls forward in the darkness.
"What the hell?"
There was a whirring sound, and something unfolded from behind her, reaching up and around. Two thin metal arms clamped down on top of her fists and locked into place atop the control yokes as the machine connected to the controls in front of her. The world around her flashed into being as she struggled against the bonds holding her hands in place.
DUMMY PLUG SYSTEM ACTIVATING
"What is that?" she screamed, "Answer me! Answer me god damn it!"
She felt feeling in her hands, dulled, but it was there. She watched as Unit-01's hands straightened and then pulled out hard to the side, the phantom feeling jarring as he arms remained in place but another set opened wide. Unit-03 screamed in rage and pain as its arms tore free, spraying blue blood across the landscape. Asuka began to draw deeper and deeper breaths, faster and faster, and Unit-01 shuddered around her as it roared.
"Stop it!"
Now free, Unit-01's hands grabbed the one holding her throat and twisted it, snapping the bones within in half a dozen places. Blue blood spattered her vision, the droplets clinging like insects. Unit-01 kicked out and launched Unit-03 back, then sprinted forward, throwing her back in the seat. She pulled at the controls in vain as Unit-01 jumped atop the rogue Evangelion and pinned it to the nearest hill.
Shinji appeared between them, going for the plug again. He landed beside Unit-03 and tried to roll it over, and failing that began digging at the earth beneath its neck with his bare hands. She saw the tears glistening on his face as Unit-01 reached down and picked him up, the absurd feeling of his body grinding in her left hand.
"Stop it!" she pleaded "Stop it!"
Unit-01 ignored her as its fist opened and the other came down, crushing Shinji between them. He went limp and the hand closed again and then tossed him hard to the side, even as Unit-01 punched, shattering Unit-03's head in a splatter of armor and blue blood and brain matter, cratering the hillside.
"Turn it off! Please turn it off!"
Unit-01 continued on, roaring again. Its hands shoved into Unit-03's chest and she felt blood and gore between her fingers as it tore out the Evangelion's core and crushed it, then tossed the pieces aside, reaching into take long, loopy muscles like intestines that slid between its fingers, and hers, like sausages. She started to scream and couldn't stop, thrashing against the controls, trying to pull her hands away. Ropes of flesh slid down the mountainside like water after a summer rain until at last Unit-01 found what it sought, the plug, the precious plug covered in luminous blue lichen. The Dummy System held it up, as if for her to see.
"Please," she pleaded hoarsely, "Please don't, please."
The hand closed.
"Shut it down," the Commander said, "transmit the auto-eject signal."
SSSSS
Shinji walked in a daze through the hospital halls, locating his destination by the sound of the sobbing. His head throbbed and his right eye was swollen shut, blackened, and his costume was torn and dirtied, the cape lost. He stumbled a bit as he found the room he was looking for. Misato sat stunned, her head bandaged and her arm in a sling, Ritsuko by her side in a wheelchair, her eye covered in a medical patch and her left leg out straight, wrapped in a cast.
In the bed lay Toji.
He was a ruin. His face was a map of bruises, both eyes swollen shut, most of his head covered in banadages. His chest rose and fell raggedly, and his left leg was gone, just gone from the knee down, tapering off beneath the sheets, and his right arm ended in a stump at the elbow. Unable to resist, Shinji focused and saw the ruin, the cracked ribs, the bruised spine, the collapsed and then reinflated lung. He was intubated and had IV's and a dozen sensors all over his body, hooked to the beeping machines that surrounded him.
He sank to his knees.
"Why?" a tiny voice said.
He looked up. Hikari spoke without looking away from Toji, seated by the bed. Toji's sister was curled in her lap. "Why didn't you save him?"
"I-"
"You're his hero," she sobbed. "He looks up to you. You're Superman! Why didn't you save him?"
Asuka appeared, still in her plugsuit, the bottom half of her face still rusty with dried blood. Her lips trembled and she clutched herself, wavering as if uncertain if she could come in. Hikari gave her half a glance and said nothing for a long time.
"Get out," she said, the words warped by her sobs, "all of you, get out."
Asuka sank down beside him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Come on," she tugged at his shoulders, "let's go." Misato rose and took a position behind Ritsuko's wheelchair, stumbling a bit as she did, forced to push with one hand.
Shinji didn't move. He just stared with his one open eye, stared at the ground. She leaned her head against his. "Come on, Shinji."
Three sets of eyes locked on her. Hikari's head snapped up. Tears stung his eyes. Asuka pulled back, her eyes open wide in shock. "Oh God, I- I- I'm sorry, I forgot, I-"
"S-Shinji?" Hikari breathed.
He nodded.
"Get away from us," she hissed.
SSSSS
They ended up in Ritsuko's office, of all places. Misato paced as the scientist sat in her wheelchair in front of her computer and brooded, staring at her cast. Shinji sat in an office chair that compressed under his weight, cradling his head in his hands. In the torn, dirty remnants of his costume he looked like a scared little boy in his pajamas, every once in a while shuddering with a stifled sob. Asuka sat next to him, her arm over his shoulders. She was still in her plugsuit, but Misato had insisted on wiping the blood of her face herself with a warm cloth that lay discarded in the wastebasket. She'd torn her A-10 clips off and thrown them in with it. Rei and Mari had found them, the former standing in silence, gazing at the whole thing with red eyes over her tiny mouth twisted into a tight frown. Mari paced outside, on her telephone.
"That was Kensuke," she said, hanging up, fumbling for a pocket in her plugsuit before she realized there was one and her arm sort of went limp. "I didn't tell him about… about you, but I had to tell him something. I… I..." her voice trailed off, shrinking as it did.
She left the room without her usual bounce, her arms limp, and Misato sighed deeply. Silence reigned in the room. Asuka hugged Shinji tighter and shuddered, a sob dying in her throat. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him and Misato sighed.
"I thought… when Unit-01 grabbed you, I felt it… I thought it killed you."
"I won't leave you," he said, resting his chin on her head.
"This is my fault," Ritsuko whispered.
"What?" Misato said, looking up.
Ritsuko didn't move, her face didn't change. She just stared at her cast. "I did this. It should have killed me. It should have been me."
"What do you mean?" Shinji said. "It's not your fault. The Evangelion…"
"The Dummy System," she cut him off, "I designed it. I built it."
Ritsuko's face was a naked mask of shock as Shinji knelt down beside her and gingerly embraced her."You built it. You didn't activate it. That was him."
He stood up, and headed for the door.
"Shinji," Kaji said, appearing in the doorway. "Don't do this."
"I am," he said, striding for the door. "Keep them safe."
"Shinji," Asuka said, grabbing his arm.
"I… I'll be right back," he said grimly. Kaji stepped into the room, out of his way, as he left.
SSSSS
Shinji found the doors to the command center locked and tore them open with his bare hands in a squeal of metal, tossing them behind him as he entered. He pushed off from the first level and came to rest in front of Gendo, hovering a few feet off the ground. There he remained, the man staring at him over his white gloves. Fuyutsuki backed away.
"I expected you."
"Shut up," Shinji said, "shut up. You enjoyed it, didn't you? You wanted Asuka to feel it when that thing crushed Toji. You want everyone to be a sour old monster, like you."
"I did what was required. One life does not balance against-"
In a rage, he grabbed the desk, tore it from the floor in a squeal of metal as the bolts that held it to the floor gave and hurled it into the wall where it shattered with a crash and an explosion of splinters and papers. He grabbed Gendo by the collar and hauled him to his feet, lifting him several inches off the floor.
"No," he snarled, "Every life is precious. Everyone matters. You think because you lost mom you have some kind of a-"
"Is what what you think this is about?" Gendo cut him off, slipping a hand into his jacket.
"What are you going to do, shoot me?" Shinji smirked. "I could-"
"We'll see," Gendo said, pulling a small gray box from his jacket. He slipped it open and a faint green glow bathed the room.
Shinji recoiled, toppling from the air as Gendo fell with a grunt. He landed hard and rolled onto his side, panting. He felt as if he was being choked and his vision swam. Gendo held the box over him, and the tiny crystal inside, with a smirk, waving it like a holy symbol in benediction.
"Do you know what this is?"
Shinji reached for him, his hand shaking.
"Ikari, for God's sake," Fuyutsuki said, edging closer.
Gendo ignored him. "This is the primary power source for the rocket. You know the one I mean. Did you think we threw it away? That no one else knew about her contact with it? We tore it to pieces, studied every part of it, tried hard, very hard to replicate its technology, and failed. All we have is this. It emits a clean radiation, harmless to humans… but it's not harmless to you, is it, Kryptonian?"
Shinji pushed himself to his hands and knees, but his legs failed him. His muscles burned, the pain of being pummpled by Units-01 and -03 forgotten, replaced with a dull ache that filled ever cell of his body. He felt like was moving through glue, finding it difficult even to breathe. It took a firm effort not to vomit on the floor at Gendo's feet, and he fell back onto his side. A sudden coldness formed in his gut, and he wasn't sure if it was the radiation from the green rock or the realization that his father knew everything, that he'd planned all of this out.
"What do you think you're doing? Do you understand? Do you think you can save the world by flying around in your silly costume and punching things? Did you think you would just fly in your cape and save the day? Win the girl? Fix everyone's problems? You do what you do because I allow it. You're mine."
"S-sir," Maya interrupted, "I…"
"Pattern blue!" Aoba cried, "It's an Angel! Approaching from the southeast! It's huge!"
Gendo snapped the box shut.
"Handle that," he said. "Unless you're going to leave it to Rei and Mari. I doubt Asuka is in the mood to pilot."
Shinji stood up, shakily, leaning on his knees. "I will. Then I'm coming back for you."
"Oh," Gendo whispered, "I'm counting on it."
SSSSS
Kaji grunted as Fuyutsuki muscled him out of the way with surprising strength, forcing his way into Ritsuko's office. The older man pointed at him.
"No games. You have safehouses?"
"I don't-"
"I said no games," the old man repeated, "get her," he pointed to Asuka, "and get there and stay there, do you understand?"
"Yes," Kaji said sharply, a ball of ice forming in his stomach. "Come on, Katsuragi."
"I'll stay here and keep Section 2 off of you while you get off the base."
"They'll kill you for this," Kaji said as he bundled the girl out the door, his arm around her shoulders.
Fuyutsuki nodded.