Disclaimer: No ownership over any concepts or plots expressed in this work of fiction is stated or implied. The author intends no financial gain from the distribution of this material and makes no claim of copyright or trademark.
S
"Ritsuko?"
She awoke with a start, and in sitting up, realized that a sheet of paper had been plastered to her face by drool. She quickly snatched it and pressed it flat on the desk, trying desperately to smooth out the wrinkles. When Ritusko realized it was smudged, she touched her cheek and drew away a grayish smear of wet ink. Maya coughed, pulled a handkerchief from her pocket, and gave it to her. As Ritsuko dabbed the ink away, Maya sat down.
Before she could see it, Ritsuko hastily covered the report on Superman's genetic material and slipped it onto the other side of her keyboard, then pinched at the bridge of her nose, yawning.
"What is it?"
Folded against Maya's chest was a report. She handed it over, and Ritsuko flipped through it. Clipped to one page was what looked like an ultrasound of a fetus. She pulled the image free and turned it in her fingers, studying it. There was something off about it, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maya looked at her feet, fidgeting in her seat.
"Who's pregnant," said Ritsuko.
Maya blinked. "Uh, Ritsuko?"
"What?"
"Did you, um, did you report? That's side scanning sonar from Mount Asama."
"What?"
Ritsuko took a swing of cold coffee, realized she'd put a cigarette out in it, and spat the cold, acid liquid back into the mug, coughing. She brushed her lips with the back of her hand, not caring that her lipstick smeared, and flipped back to the front of the folder. Touching her fingernail to the page, she skimmed down the abstract, and then flipped over to the first page, and started rapidly flipping through it, looking for the numbers.
"Tell me this hasn't gotten out into the wild."
Maya shook her head. "Yoshida's men have the scientists in custody and all of their equipment on lockdown. The MAGI picked up that report and prevented the university from receiving it. That's the only paper copy."
"Good," Ritsuko said absently.
She pressed the folder closed and tossed it into a place of prominence atop the mountain of paperwork that spread around her in a vast semicircle, coating every open space in her lab with great slabs of printouts. She leaned on her hands and scrubbed her fingers through her hair, and let out a ragged sigh that was part yawn.
"When was the last time you slept?"
"Last week, I think. My back is killing me."
Maya stood up and moved behind her, and Ritsuko watched from the corner of her eye, confused for a moment, as Maya settled in behind her. She sucked in a breath and tensed up as her assistant's fingers touched lightly to her shoulders, and started to massage. She relaxed, and her eyes closed involuntarily.
"This is extremely exciting," said Ritsuko.
"Yes it is," said Maya.
"The angel, I mean."
"I know."
Ritsuko sighed and leaned against the back of her chair. A high back office chair with actual arms was one of the perks of being the head of the entire Evangelion project. "I didn't say stop."
"Oh," said Maya, squeezing the sore spaces around her neck. "Okay."
"Mmm, I'm going to have let Misato in on this. She'll have some harebrained scheme to deal with it, I'm sure."
"So we're going to kill it, right?"
Ritsuko bit her lip. "That would be the logical thing to do. "
"Uh oh," said Maya.
"It seems to be in an immature state," said Ritsuko, studying the photograph in her hands. "It's remarkable how human like it is. If I didn't know what I was looking for, I might not even recognize it. I wonder…"
"What?" said Maya.
"It's stupid," said Ritsuko. "That feels great, by the way."
Maya smiled broadly. "Thank you."
"My back is still killing me, though."
"You want to, um," Maya said nervously, "Turn around?"
Ritsuko looked up at her with open eye, stood up, and turned around so that she leaned forward onto the back of the chair, and kicked her feet to spin it around. Maya gently started working the muscles of her upper back while Ritsuko rested her chin on the top of the chair and closed her eyes.
"We could capture it," she said.
"Is that a good idea?"
"No, it's a terrible idea, but imagine what we could learn from it."
Maya giggled. "When they say that in movies, something bad always happens."
Ritsuko opened one eye. Was Maya flirting with her?
"Mmm, I suppose so. If I start cackling, you may have to restrain me."
Maya turned beet red, her shoulders climbing up to her ears. Ritsuko looked back at her and laughed quietly to herself. "My back still hurts," she said.
"Okay," said Maya.
"Here's what I want you to do," Ritsuko said as Maya started in on her back again. "I want you to get a team out there monitoring all of that seismic detection equipment. Keep the area on lockdown, that's good. If this thing starts moving or shows any signs of activity, I want to know ten minutes before it happens. Yes, keep doing that," she said as Maya moved lower, towards the painfully tender small of her back. "I want you to call Misato and tell her I need her in here to go over this stuff in two hours."
"What happens in two hours?"
"I wake up, hopefully. I'm going to find a cot in the barracks and get some sleep."
"Okay," said Maya. "I'll do that. Is there anything else?"
"Next time we're not on alert, and our schedules match up, I want you to go out to dinner and see a movie with me."
"Okay, I, uh what?"
"You heard me. I liked our little coffee date. Just us. No shop talk."
"Oh," said Maya, excitedly. "I know, there's this American movie opening next week. It's about this girl that has a magic hammer."
"That's fine," Ritsuko mused. "Now go get started."
"Yes, ma'am," said Maya, standing up.
"And stop calling me that."
Shinji stopped in his tracks and groaned when he saw them. Toji Kensuke were standing on either side of the front steps of the school. Each had on a blue cotton t-shirt with his emblem on it. Hikari stood next to Toji in a pink version, the symbol outlined in silver with tiny sparkly buttons sewn to it. A crowd of students were milling around, exchanging money for identical t-shirts and some sort of pamphlet. He didn't have to imagine Asuka, who stood next to him, grinding her teeth. He could hear it, plain as day.
"What," she growled, "are you doing?"
"Selling memberships to the Superman Fan Club," said Toji.
"The Superman Fan Club is a service organization dedicated to Superman's ideals of truth and justice," said Kensuke.
"It's in the pamphlet," said Hikari.
"You're in on this?" said Asuka.
Hikari shrugged. "I like the shirt."
"I designed it," said Kensuke, proudly.
"What are you doing with the money?" said Shinji.
"We're donating it to charity," said Kensuke.
"Uh-huh," said Shinji.
"Minus our expenses," said Hikari.
"And a small salary for ourselves," said Kensuke. "Only about twenty perce-"
Toji batted him up the side of his head. Kensuke frowned, but brightened when another boy pushed past Shinji with a sheaf of bills in hand. Asuka and Shinji both stared in shock as Kensuke added the money to a growing roll he kept in a bag around his waist and handed out a shrink-wrapped shirt.
"I don't know whether I'm annoyed," said Asuka, "or furious."
"You're always furious," said Toji.
Hikari gave him a withering look. "It's for a good cause. We're giving money to the hospital."
"I suppose it is a good cause," Asuka shrugged.
Toji grinned, and lifted a shirt from his box. He held it out to Asuka. "On the house."
"What?" said Asuka.
"If we give it to the hottest girl in school… uh, besides Hikari, and you wear it around, it'll be-"
"I am not wearing that," said Asuka, crossing her arms. "Not now, not ever."
Toji sighed, and shoved the shirt at Shinji instead.
"I don't think I'd look very good in it," said Shinji.
"Just take it, man," said Toji. "See if you can get her to wear it."
Shinji sighed, wearily, and took the shirt. He left it in the wrap and stuffed it into his bag, between his books and on top of the secret compartment he'd sewn into the pack, where he concealed a much better looking version that he'd made himself. He shrugged his bag back on, and then turned to see Rei riding up to the school on a motorcycle.
It wasn't a motorcycle, to be exact, more of a scooter, and she was a little shaky coming to a stop in front of the building. She fumbled with the controls for a moment before she succeeded in killing the engine, and had to look to find the kickstand. She dismounted a smooth motion that drew the attention of a distant knot of boys who were watching her, and pulled a pair of sunglasses off of her face and hung them between the buttons on her shirt, by the earpiece.
"What the hell are you doing?" said Asuka.
"I bought a motorcycle."
"You're not old enough to drive," said Hikari.
Rei glanced back at the motorcycle. "The salesman also argued that point until I displayed my Nerv badge."
"Why do you have a motorcycle?" said Asuka.
"Captain Kats— Misato suggested it," said Rei.
"And the glasses?" said Shinji.
"The salesman informed me that they are 'cool'. I have also purchased an extended warranty and service plan, for additional 'coolness'."
Asuka groaned, and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Can we go inside now, before any more of the signs of the apocalypse happen?"
"The Revelation of Saint John does not mention motorcycles," said Rei.
"Let's go already," said Asuka, turning.
Shinji sighed, and followed her.
"You want me to what?" said Misato.
The rudiments of what Ritsuko said were clear in her mind. The specifics, though, made absolutely no sense. She was looking at a fuzzy, distorted image of something that looked like a curled up lizard with an oversized eye and tiny little arms, and Ritsuko was telling her that it was an angel inhabiting a flow of molten rock under a volcano.
"You want to capture it," said Misato. "Are you serious?"
"Completely," said Ritsuko.
Misato leaned back in her chair. "You look like shit, by the way. I think you need to get laid."
Ritsuko puffed on her cigarette, glancing contemptuously at the break room sign that thanked her for not smoking. She blew out a tall column of smoke and offered to Misato, who waved her off. Ritsuko took another drag and stubbed it out in her ashtray, which dislodged several more butts onto the table.
"I know," she sighed, "and I'm working on it."
"Oh?" said Misato. "Someone I know?"
Ritsuko actually blushed. "Maybe."
"It might be me," Kaji said amiably, sauntering in the room with a cup of coffee in one hand and the other thrust into his pocket. An unlit cigarette, damp and crumpled, hung from the corner of his mouth.
"I highly doubt that," said Ritsuko.
Misato casually, or so she thought, flipped the folder closed as she picked up her own coffee. Kaji had already had an eyeful, though. He turned a chair around and sat down, sighing as he leaned forward on the chair back.
"Nobody offer me any coffee or anything."
"We can handle that," said Ritsuko.
Kaji pouted, mockingly. "Oh, why the cold shoulder, Rits? Maybe we could pick up where we left off."
"If you're looking for a gutter," Ritsuko said, "There's plenty outside."
Kaji smiled. "I see the cat still has claws."
"As long and sharp as yours," said Ristuko. "Did you want something?"
Kaji shrugged. "I was taking a break from work, you know. I thought I'd get out of the office.
To spy. "What work? You don't do anything."
Kaji grinned. "Yes, I do. I'm a liaison. I liaise. You should be glad, Katusragi. If it weren't for me, the Secretary General of the United Nations would be camping outside your office."
"I'll bet," said Misato. "What did she want?"
"Oh, you know, to know what the hell is going on. She seems quite insistent that you know Superman's true identity."
Misato shook her head. "I have no idea. He doesn't wear a mask, and far as I'm concerned, that's the end of it."
Kaji glanced at Ritsuko. Misato could see it, some mental calculus unfurling behind his eyes. Ritsuko noticed his attention and clasped her hands around her coffee cup to stop them from shaking. She licked her lip, but said nothing. Misato leaned forward and swept the folder towards her chest.
"So, did you want something, or are you just here to ogle us?"
Kaji smirked. "Oh, but there is so much to ogle. I have to say, Rits, I like the new look. I almost didn't recognize you, but your world famous a-"
"Kaji," Misato said, very primly, "Get out, or I will shoot you."
He nodded and grinned a wolfish grin and jumped up, turning the chair easily in one hand, and slid it back in place. He bowed mockingly and retreated, glancing over his shoulder at Misato. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"You okay?" said Misato.
"Fine," said Ritsuko. "He is such a pig, I swear."
"Tell me about it," said Misato.
"I'd really rather not. I still feel bad about fobbing him off on you."
"Huh?"
"Back when we were in school," said Ritsuko. "I sort of set you up with him to get him off my back. He was writing me love letters like a teenage boy."
"Huh," said Misato. "He never wrote me any stupid letters."
Ritsuko shrugged. "I have no idea."
At that moment, Makoto Hyuga decided to come running into the room, a stack of printouts clutched in his hands. He skidded to a stop, his polished uniform shoes sliding across the tile floor. He very nearly doubled over the table in this excitement. He stood up, panting, and adjusted his glasses.
"Captain, Doctor Akagi, there's an emergency. We've detected an angel. The MAGI have confirmed…"
"We know," said Ritsuko. "We've already seen the reports on the volcano, I sent-"
"What?" said Hyuga. "What volcano? This thing is in outer space. NORAD picked it up on their-"
Misato jumped to her feet, scooping the folder under her arm. "Let's go. Start filling me in."
They passed Kaji on the way out, fumbling at one of the vending machines. He turned an ear, but Misato ignored him. He'd find out sooner or later.
"As I said, NORAD picked it up on their deep space monitoring system-"
"Why does NORAD have a deep space monitoring system?"
Ritsuko made a tiny crazy-head motion with her finger.
"Anyway," said Hyuga, walking beside her down the hall. "They picked it up an hour ago, and forwarded it to us. I had to do some hacking to get the senors to pick up something that far out, but it's a definite blue pattern. We don't have a visual yet, but I have some radar images."
He handed Misato a blurry blue splotch on a black background, marked at regular intervals with a grid of white lines. He pointed to the outer perimeter of the splotch.
"It's about five hundred meters across."
Ritsuko stopped dead in her tracks. "What did you say?"
"Five hundred meters across, we have no way of guessing the mass, but the MAGI are-"
"Five hundred meters," said Ritsuko, taking the image from Misato's hands. "What are these?"
She was pointing to a series of smaller blotches, trailing behind the big one.
"We don't know yet," said Hyuga. "The MAGI suggested that the main mass may be trailing smaller ones in behind it, intending to-"
"Drop them," said Misato. "Like bombs. It'll send pieces of itself down from orbit and…"
They both started running.
Shinji watched Asuka and Rei get in the staff car, and started working his way towards the shelter. What he meant to do, of course, was peel off and find a convenient, secluded spot behind the school to stash his civilian clothes and take off. He needed to get a handle on the situation. He couldn't hear or see anything, even taking a few bounding steps that didn't quite connect with the ground. Usually, he had some kind of warning of his own before the alarm went off. He was so intent on looking around that he almost didn't notice Kaji's car, parked down the road from the school. The man himself met his gaze from behind the wheel.
Shinji shouldered his bag and jogged down the street, looking around for someone that might see him, or security cameras. When he got to the car, he leaned down by the driver's side. Kaji rolled the window down. He looked around, pointedly focusing on a few spots, and quick glances showed video cameras cleverly hidden behind wall alcoves and trees. Shinji swallowed. It had only been pure luck that he hadn't run by them before, hopping out of his shoes with his uniform half on.
"Hop in," said Kaji, loudly enough to be heard. "Katsurai sent me to pick you up."
Shinji darted around to the other side and slid in, holding his bag on his lap. Kaji thre the car in gear and gunned the engine loudly.
"Katsuragi didn't send me."
"I figured," said Shinji. "What's going on?"
Kaji pulled a computer printout from beside his seat and handed it to Shinji. He took it, but could make neither head nor tail of it, it looked like a black blotch with some kind of grid over it.
"That's an angel," said Kaji, "that just showed up in low Earth orbit. It's five hundred meters wide, probably heavy enough that when it lands it's going to turn this entire province into a smoking crater, and it's pulling pieces of itself behind it that are probably going to detach and start hitting the Earth's surface in about half an hour. The MAGI have the first one coming in somewhere in the mid Atlantic."
"What's their plan? They can't possibly get the Evas-"
"No," said Kaji, "they can't. One of these things is going to hit the Atlantic Ocean not far from the European coast. They're ready for a tsunami but not something like this. It'll go right over the sea walls."
Shinji nodded. "So you're telling me Nerv has no plan to help these people."
"That's right," said Kaji, "Nerv's first and only priority is to prevent an angelic incursion into the Geofront."
"Then pull over," said Shinji. "This looks like a job for Superman."
Kaji pulled the car into a no doubt carefully chosen parking lot. Shinji didn't wait for an invitation. He jumped out, leaving the door hanging wide. Kaji's movements slowed to a crawl, the sound waves travelling from his lips visible as ripples in the air as Shinji stripped off his shirt, unbelted his pants and threw them in the car, and started pulling on his uniform. A split second later, a very confused Kaji was staring at him rifling through his bag in full uniform, tucking his glasses away in a side compartment as he folded his clothes and put them in the main pouch.
"Watch out for this," said Shinji. "It's got my homework in it."
"I'll drop it off at your place," said Kaji, but he was already gone.
Misato stood over the MAGI results with Ritsuko. "Okay," she said, "here it is. Based on these projections, the angel is going to enter low Earth orbit in one hour. Assuming it starts dropping those things, they will come down here, here, and here," she pointed to spots on the map.
Asuka craned over the map. "What are we going to do about that?"
"Nothing," she sighed. "Pray, I don't know. There's nothing we can do, we couldn't hope to relocate you that fast, and even if we could, we can't let it breach the Geofront."
"Then what?" said Asuka.
"If these projections are right," said Ritsuko, "It's coming in very fast, at a very steep angle. There will be a lot of heat and a massive pressure wave."
"I've already sent out the evacuation orders," said Misato. "We need to clear the entire province."
"That may not be enough," Ritsuko said, quietly. "At this speed, I don't know we're going to stop it, and it gets worse."
"Great," said Misato.
"If these projections are wrong, and it course corrects, it could use the Earth's gravity in a slingshot effect, the way the Americans did to send their space vehicles to the Moon. It'll build up even more speed. If it made three or four revolutions… well, I had the MAGI run the numbers."
Misato stood up, and ran her hands through her hair. "And?"
"The impact energy would be about 2.35 gigatons."
Asuka blinked. Even Rei looked worried.
"Did you say-"
"Gigatons," said Ritsuko. "The explosion itself will be half the size of China. The mushroom cloud will reach the Moon, and the flash will be visible from Mars. This is an extinction level event. All life on Earth will be exterminated."
A complete silence fell across the room.
"I'm against that," said Asuka.
"So how the hell do we stop it?" said Misato.
Ritsuko shook her head. "I have no idea."
"The AT field," said Rei.
"What?" said Misato.
"A sufficiently powerful AT Field is effectively impenetrable."
"You can't just catch something going that fast," said Ritsuko. "It'll smash right through even the strongest field, the same way the positron cannon punched through the sixth angel's field."
"Wait," said Misato, "You're a genius! We could shut down the power grid again, channel everything through the Evas-"
"It still wouldn't be enough," said Ritsuko. "It would go right through the field."
"If it struck it head on," said Rei. "May I make a suggestion?"
Ritsuko looked at her, an odd look of approval in her eyes. Even Asuka seemed to noticed it, her gaze flickering between the two. Misato coughed.
Rei moved to the table and picked up a pencil. "You are taking a flawed approach." She underlined the angel's projected speed. "Even at the minimum speed you have calculated, the angel will be exceeding escape velocity by a considerable degree."
"Go on," said Ritsuko.
"It faces the same danger as any object attempting to reentry. If it is deflected-"
Ritsuko's jaw dropped. "Brilliant, Rei. It'll go skipping off into space, and no amount of energy will allow it to turn back around again."
"Won't it just come back?"
Ritsuko shook her head. "The stresses will probably tear it apart, and if not, it would take a huge amount of energy to perform that type of maneuver."
"I have an idea, too," said Asuka, leaning forward. She snatched up a pencil of her own and jotted out a quick equation on the table. "We're thinking about energy weapons, because that's how our sniper rifle works."
"And?" said Misato.
"If it's going that fast, we can use its own energy against it. If we fire any solid projectile into the core, the angel's own momentum will make it incredibly deadly."
"So," said Misato, "We let it come down, deflect it with your AT-Fields,"
"AT Field," Rei corrected. "Channeling the energy through one Evangelion will be much more efficient, and will generate a stronger field than two could together-"
"Due to the conversion loss, yes," said Ritsuko. "Brilliant, both of you."
Asuka grinned. "So one of us projects a field, while the other fires a solid shell straight into the core."
Misato nodded. "Here's what we'll do. We jury-rig the scope and aiming system from the positron rifle onto a palette gun. Rei, get down to the cages. I'll send Maya and Hyuga down there to get started on modifying the gun. We'll need to calibrate the aiming system. Asuka, you're going to be our catcher. Unit One is going to pump out the strongest possible AT-Field it can, and redirect this god damn thing into space."
"I'll start working on a guidance program," said Ritsuko. "We're going to have a very narrow angle for the field, here."
"Let's go," said Misato. "I need to find Kaji, so he can actually do his job. We need to get some kind of warning out about the secondary impacts."
Hyuga knocked on the door frame and leaned over. "I think we have that covered, Captain. A man-sized object just crossed the Sea of Japan at Mach 12."
Paolo heard the commotion on the deck of the Ave Maria and turned from the wheel house. His crew, three hardened men with years at sea, aboard the Maria and other fishing boats, were standing on his deck ignoring their tasks and staring up at the sky. He opened his mouth to hurl an invective at them and order them back to work when he happened to glance upwards, and he, too craned his neck to the sky. A second moon had appeared in the heavens, a bright flaming sphere that trailed behind it rich black smoke, as from a coal fire. It was moving across the sky at astonishing speed, coming from a sharp angle to the horizon.
He felt something, a pressure in his chest, and saw a long, wide whitecap sweep away from the shore, past the Maria's prow and out to sea. The boat rocked, and a larger, stronger waved pushed away from land and swept under his little boat, lifting it. Instinctively, he put his hand on the rail and clamped down, hard. He shouted at the men but the sound was lost in the sudden rush of air. It didn't matter, as they clung to the gunwales themselves, and turned just in time to see something red, blue, and silent flash over their heads without a sound. For a moment, he thought it was some kind of UFO, a flying saucer from television.
The sonic boom cracked the windows, and nearly made him fall. He could see the path of the small object clearly, from the trail of steam that followed it and the wave that formed on the sea surface as it passed.
"¿Qué fue eso? ¿Fue un avión?" Paolo called.
"Es Superman!"
Part of what made flying at ultrasonic speeds difficult was, other than the flapping of his own eardrums, the complete absence of sound. He could still see perfectly well, though, and what he saw was a perfectly smooth white sphere the size of a city bus, heading down through the atmosphere at a sharp angle, quick enough to superheat the air around it into plasma. He had no real choice, other than the slow it down enough to prevent it from hitting the water. Once it struck the ocean, it would dump all of its energy into the water, creating a massive pressure wave that he simply would not be able to stop, as it would spread too far, too wide, too quickly. Not even he could hold back the ocean.
He could feel the heat pouring off the projectile as he approached. It was coming in at a steep angle, rolling over itself in flight, a curled mass of hardened fibers. A wave of turbulence hit him as he drew closer, buffeting him back until he fell into its trail. He reached out, putting his head down to keep the smoke out of his nostrils, until he felt his fingers dig into the fibrous surface, crushing under his fingers like wound up hairs. When he had a grip on it, Shinji pulled himself onto the surface and planted his feet, and started to crawl along the surface.
He tried pulling it first, but the top layer of the object broke off with a loud crunch and tumbled off into the air behind him. Remembering the airplane, he thought better of that and moved around the other side, crawling on all fours, until he was in front of it. When he pushed against it, he could feel it starting to crack under the pressure. The ocean was perilously close, now, and he only had a few seconds. If he let it break up, the impact would still send a massive wave rippling out.
He could feel the ocean spray as he turned it, redirecting its momentum back up, towards the sky. He let himself roll around until he was behind it again, put his hands on it, and gave it a gentle push. The water tilted lazily as it fell away beneath him, and the sky darkened as the atmosphere thinned and the stars winked into being. A trail of cloud surged up behind him, and at last, he had an answer to that question that had so plagued him.
He released the great tumorous chunk of angel-stuff and watched it from the edge of vacuum as it drift off into space, and turned. He could see the great mass of the angel itself high overhead, almost imperceptibly moving towards the edge of the atmosphere even as it rapidly orbited, moving so fast through the vacuum that he doubted he could catch it. In any case, it didn't matter. Another piece of angel-flesh had detached and was not so much drifting as powering downwards at a steep angle, and as he watched, he saw the bright glow of superheated air forming around it.
"That's great," said Misato, putting the handset in the lab down. She picked up her folder and headed out of Ritsuko's empty lab, where she'd just looked over the cobbled together specifications for the new sniper variant of the standard palette rifle. In the hallway, she nearly ran into Kaji.
She tried to duck to the side to get around him, but he grabbed her arm.
"What?" she snapped, harder than she meant to.
"Look," he said. "I-"
"What?"
"You know there's a pretty good chance-"
"We're all going to die? Yes, Kaji, I'm aware of that."
"I don't think we are."
She stopped. "What? I don't have time for this."
He let go of her arm. "I just wanted to say…"
"What? What did you just want to say?"
He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "I'm sorry. If we die I want to die knowing I said I-"
"I get it," she snapped, pushing him away. She didn't need this now, and she didn't need to be blinking tears out of her eyes. "You're usually smoother than this."
"I'm having a rough day. Who was on the phone?"
"The bridge," said Misato. "The object headed for the Atlantic was diverted back into space. We're tracking Superman, he's somewhere in France right now."
"We might actually make it," said Kaji.
"It doesn't matter if we don't stop the main mass. Please, I have work to do."
"Yeah," said Kaji, "Me too."
As he passed, she hurried down the hall, darted into the open elevator, and slapped the button. She leaned against the back and took in a deep breath, shuddering. What the hell was she doing this to herself for? She hit the button for the cages and waited, arms folded across her chest. She did her best to straighten herself when the doors opened and she stepped out, the cold air of the cage unfolding over her. She was surprised to find Asuka lurking in an alcove, dressed in her plugsuit, her hair folded over one shoulder. She had her phone out and was staring at it in, looking by turns infuriated and worried.
"What's wrong?"
"Shinji doesn't answer his phone," Asuka said quietly. "He's not on base."
Misato ducked in beside her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Oh," she said, "I'm sure he'll be fine. He's probably in the shelter with all of your classmates."
Asuka nodded, a stuttering ,unsure gesture, as if she was afraid moving her head too hard might shake tears out. "You're right, it's just…"
"You're scared," said Misato. "I know. I am too."
"You don't show it."
Misato blinked. "It's going to be okay. We'll make it."
"What if we don't," said Asuka, staring at the phone. "I've never really told him… you know… how I feel."
Misato swallowed. "You will. When you're out there, just remember how important it is that is you come back. I know this is hard, Asuka, but everyone in the whole world is counting on you, right now. Everyone."
Asuka straightened. "I can do this." She looked around the corner at Unit One. "We can do this."
"Come on," said Misato, "I have to run you through the control program that Ritsuko made up for your AT-Field."
Shinji was in trouble.
There were too many, and they were coming down too fast. He wasn't sure where he was, somewhere over Germany or Austria maybe, and he was trailing behind the next incoming projectile as he chased after it. There was no sound but the rushing of his own blood in his ears and the air had sucked all the tears out of his eyes. The immense pressure of hypersonic flight was crushing his arms to his sides like a straightjacket. He was afraid for a moment that he wasn't going to make it.
The bright, smoky trail of the incoming object was ahead of him now, and he was beginning to feel actual fatigue, a welling tiredness behind his eyes that was so alien it took him a moment to remember what it was to be tired. He wasn't going to be grabbing all of these things and shoving them back out into space this time. He'd need to come up with something else. He saw glittering lights on the horizon and realized what the angel was aiming for. He thought he saw signs in Russian, but he was going so fast he had to close his eyes for a moment.
When he opened them, he saw the coiled mass of the angel's weapon screaming in on the target, lighting the trees afire from its passage. He swept off to the side, hoping that if he couldn't redirect it into space, he could at least divert it. He put his head down and pushed, willed himself to go faster and faster, and he wasn't sure if he was screaming or not anymore. He wheeled, he turned, and he rammed it.
He felt the impact. He thought he put his arms out, but it didn't seem to matter. The pressure wave cascaded over him, crushing him, rolling down every part of his body at once until it felt like his eyeballs were trying to force themselves out through his ears. He had a vague sense of falling through space, of the world turning and upending on itself, and the return of sound as he slowed and the cold slap of wet grass under his face until he skidded to a stop.
He opened his eyes, to find a thin man in coveralls staring down at him.
"Супермен?"
"Uh," he groaned, clutching his head as he sat up. "Uh, what?"
"Супермен? Тобі боляче?"
He tried to think. Russian? No, Ukranian maybe. He looked up at the sky, and his vision fuzzed a little. The night sky had gone bright, lit by a thousand spreading embers, a wave of flaming debris that spread out from the bursting point. He'd succeeded in finding a way to take them down quickly, it seemed.
"I'm sorry, I have to go."
The thin man in the overalls shrugged. "Удачи!"
"Two more of them are down," said Maya, as she walked into the lab.
"Great," Ritsuko said absently.
She was busy going over the two new programs she'd written with a fine toothed comb, making sure there were no mistakes. Even a tiny error would doom them all, and the angling of the shield Asuka projected had to be flawless. She stopped and took in a deep breath. There was nothing else to do, it was now or never. She typed in the command to load the program and stood up, ready to head up to the control room above the cages to monitor everything personally.
Maya was standing in her way. "Ritsuko?"
Ritsuko sighed. "What is it?"
"I, um, before we go, I know that we, uh, well, if things go wrong, we-"
Ritsuko stared at her, and her breath formed into a lump in her throat. She felt it all, the weight of about four hours of sleep in two days, the pressure of designing a program for a function no one had ever imagined for the most complicated weapons system on earth, the stress of figuring out how to mash together two completely different artillery pieces into something functional that wouldn't blow up in Rei's face and kill them all. On top of that, there was the folder full of data on her desk and the consequences if Gendo ever learned she'd been reducing the dosages on Rei's medications.
A tiny voice whispered. You're better than you think you are.
"Fuck it," said Ritsuko.
"Excuse mmmph!" Maya's chirping confusion was cut off as Ritsuko stepped in, batted the folder she held out of the way, and kissed her. Maya went stone still for a moment and then melted against her, dipping slightly under her taller mentor to slid her arms around Ritsuko's waist.
Ritsuko pulled back. "When this is over we'll take it nice and slow. I just wanted to make my intentions clear."
"Consider them clarified," Maya said, breathily. "We should, um, downstairs, the Evas and things are-"
"Right," said Ritsuko, scooping up a cold cup of coffee to gulp the rest of it down. "Let's go."
Rei walked Unit Zero into position, carefully threading her umbilical behind her so that, if she was forced to move, she could quickly cover ground without getting tangled up and losing her power supply. Mounted in the armaments building was her new weapon, a hastily assembled combination of palette rifle and positron sniper cannon, the body of the later with the targeting system for the other. The entire program had to be rewritten to compensate for the ballistic characteristics of the projectile, and she would only have one shot- her target would be moving so fast that she'd be dead by the time she realized she missed.
Captain Katsuragi appeared in her vision. By the icon at the bottom of her image, she knew that Asuka, kneeling in Unit One at the other end of the city at the limit of her cable, could see the Captain as well. She looked haggard, distracted, her eyes darkened by black circles and reddened. Rei remained silent.
"We have good news. The angel dropped five projectiles, over the Atlantic, the Ukraine, the Ural Mountains, Mongolia and the Sea of Japan. They're all down. The angel has entered its final approach. It's looped around the Earth, caught the gravity well, and will arrive here in twenty minutes. I need you both in position and committed."
Asuka appeared in front of Rei. "I'm ready."
"I am in position," said Rei. "I am testing my reticle now."
She brought the gun up, aimed it into space, and waited for the heads up display to appear. She didn't actually have to look through the scope, only bring it up for the MAGI to begin calculating the trajectory that the shot would take.
Doctor Akagi appeared on her screen. "Rei, I'm running the test now. This may feel a little weird. It's a little different from the normal program, but you'll adjust. Just stay quiet and focused."
Rei blinked. Why would Akagi instruct her to remain quiet. She did not normally-
She jerked forward in her seat, and the gun dipped. She felt something, reaching for her through the Eva. She felt her synchronization fuzz as a moment of panic seized her in a cold grip, terrified she was going to lose control of the Eva again. Instead, she realized what she was feeling was a third presence- huge and powerful, a mind utterly unlike the Eva, like three disparate voices crying out to each other. As she felt herself synchronizing with it, the voices quieted, and somehow, united, and then there was only Rei again.
She felt much larger.
"Rei? How is it?"
"Processing," said Rei, without quite understanding why she chose that word. "I am compensating. Yes, I am ready."
She lifted the gun, and she knew where the reticle would be- actually seeing it projected on her vision almost seemed superfluous. The feeling was profound, heady, she began to lose herself in it.
"How do you feel?"
"Whole," Rei whispered.
Kensuke huddled against the cold wall of the shelter, breathing into his chest. He had his stupid Superman shirt on, just like Toji told him to, but he didn't feel brave. As a matter of fact, he was scared shitless and felt embarrassed to be sitting next to the other boy, who leaned against the wall and stared off, sort of vacantly. Hikari was sitting next to him, pressing up against him.
"I heard it's bad this time," she said, softly. "Tomoe says there's some kind of meteor or something coming down on us."
"Superman will save us," said Toji, his quiet conviction so absolute that Kensuke actually believe him for a second.
Hikari swallowed. "What if he doesn't?"
"He will," said Toji, almost angrily. "I know he will. Superman can do anything."
Hikari nodded, but Kensuke could see tears welling up around her eyes. "If we… if he doesn't… if we don't make it," she started, gasping for breath.
Toji put his arm around her shoulder, and their fingers intertwined. "Will you go out with me?"
She nodded heavily, and pushed her head into his chest. "I hope my sisters are okay."
"They'll be fine," said Toji.
Kensuke sniffed a little and slid away from them, against the wall. He leaned his head against the cold stone and closed his eyes to force the tears back. He tried to call his dad, but he was probably at work at Nerv and didn't answer. He pulled out his phone and glanced at it, anyway. Reception was always touch and go down here, and he'd be lucky to get a text out. He ran his thumb down the smooth side of his phone. When it buzzed, he almost dropped it.
He had a text message. There was something wrong with the number- he didn't recognize it, he realized that some of the numbers weren't supposed to be read as numbers, but as letters.
Br41n14c.
"Are you there?" it said.
He typed "Yes" and hit reply.
"I am your friend?"
Confused, he typed "Yes".
"Everything will be alright."
"What" he typed, but there was no reply.
Asuka stood up. Unit One took up a position on the other side of a low rise, feet buried in the ground as if she were about to sprint. Akagi's program projected the oncoming path of the angel, though she couldn't see it yet. She could see a view of the bridge, where Misato was pacing back and forth. Mentally, she moved the view to the corner of her eye to better focus on her target, and leaned back into her seat.
"We're shutting down the power grid in five minutes," said Misato. "We're going to lose all but basic communications."
"Roger," said Rei.
"Yeah," said Asuka. "The program-"
"We're keeping those systems up and connected. It's all on you two."
Asuka felt a pressure behind her eyes. "Misato."
"Yes, Asuka?"
"It's been an honor."
Misato blinked. "Th-thank you."
"Do you… Superman. Do you know where he is?"
"We lost him on radar a while back," Misato said absently, looking around. "He stopped the one from coming down on the Chinese mainland and he just sort of disappeared."
"I just," she said, "I need to know…"
Misato looked down and confused. "What the hell?"
"What is it?"
"Your synch ratio just topped eighty percent, Asuka."
"Yeah," said Asuka, thickly, "I'm thrilled. How much time to do we have?"
"Blackout in three minutes."
"I wish I could make a phone call from an Eva," said Asuka.
"I can arrange that," Rei said, softly. Asuka blinked. She realized it was on a private channel- Misato couldn't hear.
"Can you cut me off from the bridge for a minute? I need some privacy before the blackout."
"Okay," said Misato. "You've got about two and a half minutes," and she vanished.
"Rei," said Asuka. "Do it."
She was shocked to hear a phone ringing- it seemed to come from everywhere. It rang twice, and went over to the voicemail. "Hello, this is Shinji Ikari. You can leave a message for me at the tone."
Asuka sucked in a breath. How much time did she have?
"Listen, Shinji, I can't believe I'm doing this, but… this is stupid, I can't do this he won't even hear me if-"
Rei's voice was very calm, and very quiet. "It is not stupid."
Asuka took a deep breath of LCL, ignoring the taste. "You make me happy, Shinji Ikari. I… I think I… " she took another breath to force it out. "I love you."
"The blackout is beginning," said Rei.
Asuka barely heard her. The Evangelion jerked, and she felt something curious in her chest- like her heartbeat had suddenly doubled, her own heart followed by some kind of echo, bigger and more powerful. It came again, the whole Eva shuddering with it, a thunderous sound, and she felt more in tune with than ever. She was beginning to forget where her own body began and the Eva's ended. When she looked up at the sky, she just saw it- she had to concentrate to remember that the controls and the walls of the plug were there at all.
A second sun appeared in her sight. The reticle unfolded.
"Unfolding AT-Field," she said, to no one in particular.
Shinji flew. It was easier to move at speed through the thinner air of the upper atmosphere, so he chased the angel there. Chased it wasn't precisely the right word, as he was moving so quickly that he had no choice but to intercept it, move perpendicular to it and try to guess its path. Through the superheated plasma envelope that swirled around it, he could see its form- a great writhing mass, the central core buried deep within. As it moved, it unfolded, the back extending off into space, writhing and shaping itself into some new form.
He turned his head and saw Unit One far below. Rei was in Unit Zero far behind her, positioned with her rifle propped up. She had a new gun, he saw, but it looked like a palette rifle with a scope on it, whatever that meant. He turned, feeling the air warp and twist around him. He had to get in front of it, it was going too fast. His suit was ripped in a dozen places and his cape was hanging off by one shoulder, and his head was pounding.
Rei fired.
He watched the slug, actually a trail of three slugs, zip over Asuka's head, red hot from their own speed. They moved with agonizing slowness compared to the angel itself. He bit his lip and would have crossed his fingers as he watched the projectiles move towards the incredible bulk of the angel, moving in a slight arc. They hit, and he refocused his gaze to see through the creature's body, watching as they tumbled end over end through it. Two of them missed, but the third struck true, split the core, and shattered it.
By then, it was too late. Just as the third projectile was about to strike, the core lit like a tin star and pumped a massive plume of energy from the rear of the angel's body. It lurched in the air as accelerated further, the superheated air around its forward face so hot that it was blazing white, almost ready for the trace hydrogen in the air to begin fusing.
He didn't have a choice.
He was going to have to catch it.
He dove for it. He put himself in the angel's path, hooked his feet in the air, and got ready. The heat washed over him in a wave that ripped the air out of his lungs and brought out an instant coating of sweat from his skin, which in turn evaporated so fast it may as well never have been there at all, chilling him. His cape ignited, turned to dust, and blew away on the wind as the layer of modified plugsuit over his chest divided and opened up.
All he felt was it hitting him.
The angel's bulk smashed him out of his position, turned him around backwards, and plastered him to the surface. It was dead, the core was shattered, but physics had taken over, and there was no stopping it now. He saw Unit One standing fast, and the biggest AT-field he'd ever seen unfolded before her, so strong it was visible, a series of interlocking hexagons of solid orange light, layered one over another in a column that extended up miles into the sky. He could see the Eva straining, fists clenched, to produce the field, and there was smoke rising from the umbilical.
He saw the angle of the shield she was making, and realized what they were trying to do, but it was too fast. He was going to have to bleed off some speed.
He tried to turn but couldn't, the air pressure was too much. So he pitched his head forward until he could kick his legs out, balancing the gigantic mass on his shoulders. He put his arms up and buried his hands in the fleshy shell of the angel, and pushed as he had never pushed before.
The air under him warped, bent somehow as he pushed against it, and he clenched his teeth only long enough to start screaming with fury. Imperceptibly, impossibly, the angel's dead form started to slow. He could feel it, just barely at first, and then more and more. With no life in it, it had no way of pushing back against him.
Tiny white points floated in his vision. He was starting to slide across the surface, and he began to realize he wasn't slowing it anymore. For a bare second, the world went black, and when he opened his eyes again, he was tumbling through the air over Japan. He thought he saw the impact, but he might have imagined it. The angel's body hit the first pane of Asuka's AT-Field, seemed to roll a little, and simply crashed through it. She adjusted, somehow, and extended her field, making it not long but wide, forming it into a sort of track. The angel didn't stop but deflected, and as he closed his eyes, its roiling mass was surging back up into the atmosphere, back out towards space.
He closed his eyes as the concrete roof of a building rushed up to meet him.
Misato stood on the bridge, dumbstruck. She had an awareness of what she'd just seen, but the realization of it, the full weight of what she'd just watched through the Evas' gun cameras, the only source of a feed during the blackout, took a moment to sink in. She wasn't alone. The entire room was hushed. It was the return of the lights, the heavy thunk as the power came back up to the secondary systems and climate control and lights that did it.
She'd never heard so much cheering in her life. Hyuga and Aoba jumped up and hugged each other, and then quietly sat down, looking terrible embarrassed. When she looked over her shoulder, she saw Fuyutski leaning over the commander's desk, looking as if he was about to throw up. Even the Commander had leaned back in his seat, visible relief on his face.
"Hey!" Hyuga cried over the din.
Misato raised her arms and motioned for quiet. She had an unease building in gut, a creeping coldness that had moved to her spine and was working its way up.
"What now?"
Hyuga swallowed, hard. "We have a problem. The seismographs picked up movement around Mount Asama and… the MAGI have confirmed another blue pattern. It's tunneling towards us right now."
Misato took a deep breath. "Get me a map, and do it now. Put the pilots on."
Asuka and Rei appeared on screen. Rei was calm, almost dreamy. Asuka had the most precious, grinning look of triumph on her face. It sank into a frown when she saw Misato's look and registered it.
"What is it? What happened?"
"There's another angel."
"Yes," said Rei. "From Mount Asama."
Misato blinked. How did she… "That's right. It appears to be burrowing underground."
"Projections are coming up now," said Hyuga. "It's about seventy or eighty meters underground, skimming along the bedrock. When it gets here, it's going to emerge from the inner wall of the Geofront."
"Okay," said Misato. "We don't have time to come up with a way to force it to surface. I want you both to get to the elevators and get back down here so we can set up a defensive position."
"Captain," said Aoba, "there's more. If this project path is correct, it's going to go through two of the shelters."
Misato paled. "Oh my God, how many-"
"Two thousand, including the kids from the high school."
"Oh my God," said Misato, "Get them on the line now, tell them we need to evacuate."
Rei was apparently still listening. "That will not be fast enough. We will need help."
"What?" said Misato.
Shinji opened his eyes, but lazily. His whole body hurt, especially his hands. When he held them in front of his eyes, they were raw and bleeding, and he realized what he was feeling was pain. The sensation was so unfamiliar it took him a moment to realize that pain really hurt. A lot.
He groaned. Something huge pushed against his side, and he sat up.
Unit Zero was standing in the street, crouched over the building where he'd landed, that is, made a crater of the roof, nudging him with one gigantic finger. Rei's voice boomed through the external speakers.
"There is another angel approaching."
"What?" he said, blearily. "You gotta be kidding me."
"I must return to the Geofront. It is tunneling towards the city now, and will breach some of the shelters."
He stood up, stumbling a bit. "Where?"
"Near the high school."
"Thank you," he said.
He ran to the edge of the roof, took off, and very nearly clipped the roof of the next building before he strained back up into the air. He felt like there were iron weights dragging him down, pulling him back to earth by his feet. He could see the high school, and willed himself towards it, fighting to remain steady. His vision was beginning to spin as he landed, and he took a moment to stand up and just soak in the sun through his exposed skin, breathing deep as he did.
He could hear the angel coming, a deep rumbling under the ground, and he felt it pouring up his legs through the soles of his feet. He ran alongside the school to the shelter doors, tore them up, and dashed down the stairs. The main blast door was down. He wedged his fingers under it, grunted, and forced it back up. He heard a sudden surge of panic behind the door as he stumbled inside.
"Superman?"
It was Toji. Shinji blinked, he had to keep his head, remember not to give anything away. He was so tired.
"Get out," he said, "Everybody out, there's an angel-"
But the shelter," said Hikari, "we-"
"Underground," he panted, "Break the walls, have to get out."
Toji worked himself under Shinji's arm and helped him stand.
"No," said Shinji. "I have to warn, warn the others-"
"You're not going by yourself," said Toji. "We've got your back."
Hikari turned around. "Come on, everybody out! Out now! Let's go!"
"Not north or south," said Shinji. "East or west, hurry."
Toji and Kensuke held him under the arms until he was back out in daylight again. He leaned on his knees and breathed in, and every breath hurt. He touched his side, and a sudden lance of pain ran up his body, forcing a gasp from his throat.
"You need to rest or something, man," said Toji.
"I can't," was all he managed. He sank to his knees again.
More boys crowded around him, and he felt arms around his legs, working under his sides. They were picking him up. Toji was barking orders at people in blue t-shirts, while Hikari had gathered a group of girls in pink ones, pointing and gesturing them as they nodded vigorously. Shinji's eyes drooped closed.
He forced them open again, and gestured for them to put him down.
"Come on, man," said Toji. "You're falling apart."
"I have to," he said as they lowered him onto his feet.
He did feel his strength returning, surging back, it seemed through his skin. He forced himself to stand up. He turned, and though it was blurry, he could see the angel moving through the earth, dragging itself forward with great sweeping motions of mandible-like arms, great and furry like a tick's leg. Each one of them was burning its way through the ground itself, melting it into a trail of molten rock that ran behind it.
That was important, somehow, he just didn't know why, not yet. He had to think, but everthing was fuzzy, spinning. His head hurt. He realized he was walking, and he wasn't alone. He stumbled, and Toji moved to hold him up, but he shook loose and did it on his own. He could see the entrance to the other shelter he had to clear, and started towards it.
Toji stopped him with a hand on his chest.
"Go, we've got this."
Shinji shook his head and started jogging. He knew he could run if he pushed it but he didn't try. He made it down the steps to the shelter, yanked the blast door up with a grunt that was more from pain than exertion, and stumbled inside. He was greeted by frightened faces.
"We have to go," he said, his voice booming through the shelter. "We have to go, now."
"The shelters," Asuka demanded, staring into Misato's two-dimensional face projected before her. "Shinji's there, he-"
"Superman is there," said Misato, standing up from her console. "He's evacuating them."
Asuka relaxed in her seat, and for a moment feared she would slip out of it, before she shook her head to clear the cobwebs. She had to focus. "How much time do we have?"
"I don't know," said Misato.
Asuka stomped across the floor of the Geofront, feeling oddly dwarfed by the great shape of the pyramid and the blast shield that rose up around it. Rei was leaning rocket launchers against the armored wall, and had set up four palette rifles and a pile of the huge magazines in neat stacks. Asuka picked up a pair of the rifles and slung them under her arms, working Unit One's armored hands around the grips until she was sure they were secure.
"Set up a defensive position behind the shield wall," said Misato.
"What's the plan?" said Asuka.
"Shoot it," said Misato.
"Shoot it," said Asuka, closing her eyes. "That's your whole plan. Shoot it."
"Look, I'm tapped out. You want to hop out of there and calculus up a plan, knock yourself out."
"What is the ETA?" said Rei.
"We've got maybe ten minutes," said Misato. "It's going to hit the shelters any minute."
Rei dutifully continued stacking weapons while Asuka held up her rifles and scanned the walls of the Geofront, expecting a breach through the vast curvatures of smoothly cut rock at any moment. The city over their heads was in full alert mode, dangling down beneath the mirror system. Asuka closed her eyes, and though she wanted to feel tired, she couldn't.
"What's my synch ratio?"
"Really," said Misato. "You're asking me this now."
"Tell me."
Misato sighed. "Don't let this go to your head. Currently reading eight-nine."
"Currently?"
"Can we talk about this later?"
Asuka sighed, and pressed her eyes closed again. She was about to ask how much longer she would have to wait when she felt it, or rather, the Eva felt it, and passed it on to her. A deep rumbling shook the ground beneath her feet, and she felt it running up the Eva's shins. She readied herself, and Rei picked up the now scope-less positron rifle, working a fuse into the bolt.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"I believe the term is 'eyeball it'," said Rei.
"Get ready," said Misato.
It began as a great ripping sound. The glittering tram lines that ringed the interior of the cavern fell away, twisting and bending in the air like ribbons as they tore free of their moorings and tumbled down. A mound of earth pushed in, cracking the inner surface of the rock, and a torrent of loose mud flowed in, spreading quickly across the forested floor of the cavern. Behind it, moving like thick clay, came a rolling fountain of dull red rock.
The angel moved within the great mass, reaching out with long feelers studded with thin hairs that held clumps of still-hot rock to it, like an armored shell. It dragged its main body out into the open and Asuka felt her stomach turned. It gathered the most disgusting features of a spider, a roach, and some sort of deep sea arthropod. It slid out of the wall, pulling itself forward with its great feelers while thousands of tiny legs worked along its back, scratching feebly at the ground.
"Shoot it," Asuka shouted, "Shoot it!"
Rei opened up, firing a blast from her sniper rifle that rolled her upper body back. Her shot skimmed along the angel's back, digging a deep furrow in its armored body, and she leaned into the gun as she worked the bolt. Asuka readied both of her rifles and opened up on it, firing controlled bursts that gouged out enormous craters on its back. It began dragging itself forward, ignoring their fire, and folded its head under its body as it did, obscuring its beady black eyes.
Asuka's guns were tapped out. She dropped one, dropped the mag from the other, and mechanically knelt to pick up the next magazine. When it ran dry, she picked up another. When Rei's sniper rifle ran out of fuses, she knelt down and took Asuka's other rifle, keeping up the fire. When Asuka dropped her mag, she put the gun down and picked up one of the rocket launchers. It interfaced with the Eva's systems and a reticle appeared in her view.
Fires were spreading around the angel's body, the trees going up as flames licked at their needles and leaves, turning them into blackened sticks as it moved itself along, gradually building speed as it drug itself. Its body was beginning to sink into the ground, and the huge feelers were as much digging as they were dragging.
"You have to destroy it before it starts to burrow again," said Misato. "Once it gets underground, we have no way to dig it out."
She pulled the switch and the rocket pushed of the launch tube, rolling her back as step. It screamed across the Geofront at the tip of a thin streamer of smoke, and when it hit, the detonation was deafening in the confined space. The angel screamed and fell, pressing into the ground, and a great molten wound opened on its back.
"It's not bleeding," Asuka said absently.
"What?" said Misato.
"We're not hurting it. It's making itself a body out of rock, somehow. We're not going to do enough damage this way."
"So what do we-"
A blue streak passed her head. Unit One focused on it. Asuka's heart leapt into her throat. She'd never seen him look that banged up anymore. He looked at the angel as he hung in the air in front of her face, glancing between her and Rei. Asuka thumbed the switch for her external speakers.
"It's rebuilding with rock. We're not going to damage it enough to keep it from burrowing into Dogma."
He looked at her, looked at the angel, and then spun in a lazy circle. He bobbed in the air, as if he was having a hard time keeping aloft. Without a word, he turned and headed for the underground lake.
"What the hell is he-"
Hovering maybe fifty feet over the lake, he reared up, and breathed. For a moment she thought it was her imagination, but she saw the trees, even the burnt ones, leaning in towards the center of the cavern as air rolled over the grass and agricultural fields in waves. With a heavy whump, the fires went out, their oxygen extinguished. Finally, he closed his mouth, chest proud, and all in motion, bent down and blew it back out.
The lake rushed away from him, a great wave rising from where he hovered over it, but the water couldn't escape the cold from the super-compressed air. It went solid, great crystal spears of ice rising over the edges of the lake. Asuka's eyes widened.
"Rei, come on," she shouted, dropping the launch tube.
"I see your plan," said Rei, following her.
The angel ignored them, continuing to burrow into the ground. It had sunk half way in, and red-hot glow surrounded it where the earth melted and formed into a single solid, soft mass. Asuka looked down at the ice, and back at the angel.
"Unfold your field under it. We need to pick it up."
"This is insane," said Misato.
"It beats 'shoot it'," said Asuka.
Asuka relaxed, and let the field unfold in front of her. She slid Unit One's arms under the ice, which was already cracking and starting to melt. She looked across the lake at Rei. The fields they unfolded wouldn't cover the entire surface area, but a long chunk of ice started to lift up. Asuka urged the Eva forward and Rei did the same, until they were under it. The middle of the ice sheet began to buckle, until Superman pushed himself under it, pressing his back into it to keep it from falling.
"Okay," said Asuka, "On three, run over and dump this thing on it."
Rei nodded, and Asuka counted down. On "Three!" she charged, Rei falling just a split second behind. She could feel the ice cracking, hear it singing in a voice made of rumbling, tearing sounds. She pushed, grunted, and lifted the ice up as high as she could before bringing the whole mass down on top of the angel.
There was a scream, but it wasn't the creature, it was the sudden onrush of steam rolling over her. The temperature in the plug surged, and she felt pin-pricks of sweat forming on her forehead, then dissolving into the LCL. She shook her head and reached up to draw her prog knife.
The angel became a screaming, shuddering mass of solidified, shrunken rock. As it moved, she could see that most of its body was mere façade, cold and now unmoving. Only the feelers moved, blackened shards of stone crumbling from the hairy fibers as it feebly crawled at her. She stomped forward, yelped as her foot sunk into hot rock, and grabbed the feelers. Rei moved beside her, took a grip, and together they pulled.
The angel tore free, much smaller than it had originally appeared. A fleshy body, radiating such heat that it made the air shimmer, tore loose from the rock body, streaming thick orange streamers of melted rock like mucous behind it. Asuka pulled it free and twisted, lifting it and slamming it into the ground. She saw the core exposed on its underbelly, flecked with cooling bits of rock.
It gave a keening wail, and she reached and drew her prog knife. She took it in an overhand grip, lifted it in both hands, and brought it down with a satisfying crunch into the angel's core. It wailed, flailing is feelers feebly, and almost instantly cooled, streamers of smoke and steam rising from its limbs.
"I need a shower," Asuka groaned.
Misato regretted the decision to drive home. She made it official when she left- she wasn't coming back until the next day. The damned reports could wait. She was so tired she thought she could just lie back and fall asleep right behind the wheel, and the docile handling of the rental car didn't help. She really needed to buy a new car, but she was going to need a raise for that. She half expect Asuka to fall asleep, but the girl was awake, leaning on the door, and furious staring at her phone. She'd called Shinji three times, and there was still no answer.
"You really did silence me before the blackout, right?"
"Yes," said Misato. "No one heard you swear your undying love, I promise."
"Good, I- hey, wait!"
Misato grinned a cheshire cat grin. "I'm not stupid. I just want to know how the hell Rei figured out how to use the Evas to make a phone call. Don't worry, no one eavesdropped on you."
One of good things going was the lack of traffic. Misato ignored half of the red lights, slowing to make sure no one was coming before powering on through the intersections. She needed a shower, and she needed some sleep. It took a minute to dawn on her that she would have added beer to that list not long ago, but it didn't come naturally anymore. She almost had to remind herself.
Asuka lifted her phone and dialed again, holding it to her ear. Misato could see the tension in her face, but said nothing. Asuka bit her lip, and then started tugging at her lip with her finger while she waited. Misato heard it click over to the voice mail, and Asuka nearly threw her pone down onto the floor.
"Why doesn't he answer?"
"Maybe something happened to his phone during the evacuation," said Misato. "I checked, no one was hurt in the shelters."
Misato made the turn towards the apartment complex. There was a light on in the apartment.
"See," said Misato, "He dropped his phone or lost it in the commotion or something. He's fine."
Asuka still looked tense, and Misato couldn't blame her. For all she might say otherwise, Misato was worried, too. It was unlike him not to just show up at headquarters after the fight, or call, or something. He was probably up there apologetically cooking dinner for them. Misato yawned as she rolled into the parking lot.
"The balcony door is open," said Asuka. There's… there's something on the door."
Misato threw the car into park, wrenched the key out of the ignition, and half fell out the door, Asuka moving in the same rush. Misato chased after her. The security detail hadn't caught up yet, it was dangerous to just go running into the building. Misato caught another glimpse of the balcony as she ran up the stairs. The mark on the door looked a lot like a smear of blood.
Asuka stopped at the door, pounding on it with her fists. Misato ran her card through the reader and Asuka almost fell through it. Misato tried to steady her, but the girl wrenched out of her grip, ignored the elevator, and ran for the stairs. Misato kicked off her heels and followed, huffing and puffing as she chased her up the three flights.
The outer door to the apartment was undisturbed, and in the hallway, nothing was amiss. Asuka typed in the code and the door slid open, and she ran inside, or tried to. Misato finally got her arms around her and pulled her back.
"Let me go!" Asuka shouted, flailing.
She went quiet when Misato drew her pistol.
Asuka followed quietly behind her. Misato ducked to check the hall closet, kept her gun on the corners as she moved into the living room, watching the kitchen. She stopped at the edge of the living room carpet. The door was hanging open, and there was a smear of red along the floor. The couch had been spun around, as if something heavy had hit it, leaving deep scuffs in the carpeting. Misato swallowed as she saw Shinji's backpack resting against the wall, the contents spilled, and lowered her gun.
She walked around the couch, and Asuka followed. When she saw, a cold ball formed in her stomach. It took a moment to process what she was seeing. He'd opened the door, fallen to his knees, and dumped his stuff. Shinji crawled to the couch and hit it so hard it spun it around as he flopped on it. He lay there still, breathing shallowly, eyes closed, his head resting on the arm. A dull understanding fell over Misato, and she dropped her gun to the floor.
Shinji was lying on the couch, stripped to the waist. It looked like he'd torn the scraps of the upper part of his uniform off, but it was unmistakable. The emblem, even torn to shreds, was unmistakable, as it lay on the floor. Part of her did not want to understand, but when she saw his glasses hanging feebly from one hand, she gave in to it. She didn't remember falling to her knees.
Asuka crawled up to him and put her hand on his cheek, then on his neck, feeling for a pulse. "Oh God," she said, over and over again, until her voice faded to a whisper. "Oh Gott, nicht zu sterben. Bitte nicht sterben. Ich brauche dich. Bitte."
His breathing got a little deeper, his chest heaving from effort. "I'm sorry," he whispered.
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Last Child of Krypton: Redux
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Chapter Eleven: And His Name was Wormwood