Part two of my Birthday bash thingy (don't ask!) Anyway refer to chapter before this for important stuff and blah blah blah OH! Right. I'm gonna be working on another amv soon (wow its been almost a year since my last one) and its gonna be SnS (Shakugan no Shana) and if you think about asking whether its YujiXShana or YujiXYoshida I will personally hunt you down and do...well unpleasant things no doubt. Anyway this was finished literally ten minutes ago so its still rough. Later I'll update a version with corrections.
Shinji found himself leaning against a lamppost clutching a stitch at his side. He had not realized how far he had actually wandered since he had left Nerv and only now, saw that he was hopelessly lost. Whats more, Rebecca had been quite right in saying that this was one part of Tokyo-3 that you would not want to wander in. Shinji had already had several encounters with what he expected were gangs. One group of guys got the idea that he was some rich bureaucrats son, and attempted to kidnap him. Shinji only managed to get away by convincing them he wasn't, and that if they didn't hurry, all the shelters would be full. Shinji got the impression that they were all high school dropouts, seeing as how they weren't very bright.
He had no idea how much time had passed since he had left Rebecca at the cafe, only that since then, the angel had descended on a different part of Tokyo-3 and was started to wreak havoc.
Breathing heavily while leaning against the lamp post, with one hand clutched against the stitch in his side, the other one he ran along the back of his head. He had forgotten that just before he had his latest vision, he seemed to have accidentally bashed his head on the brick exterior of the cafe. Now blood was caked into his hair and he could feel a sizable lump where he had hit his head.
'Well,' he thought suddenly, 'if this is the only injury I get today, I suppose I'll be considered lucky.'
Removing his hand from the back of his head, he pushed himself off the lamppost, and prepared to run as fast as his body was willing to move the rest of the way to gate three of Nerv.
Misato wasn't sure what she should do.
It had been hours since Shinji had left the facilities and it was almost like the angel had been specifically waiting for him to leave so it could attack. With one pilot gone, and the other out of commission, there weren't many options that she could choose from. Least likely of them, to ask the JSDF for help. That would bring shame to Nerv, and herself. Rei was able, but Unit 00 arm had not been repaired since the angel Bardiel attacked. Attacking with it right now would be nothing short of suicide. She had sent out a search team when she received confirmation of pattern blue, but that had not been long ago. Shinji could be miles away by now.
Suddenly her phone rang.
Looking at it rather hesitantly, rather afraid that it might be the commander, she finally picked it up and was surprised to find Asuka's voice on the other end of the line.
"Misato, what the hell is going on? Is it an angel attack?"
"...Yes it is, and could you not keep this line busy-"
"Misato?" said Asuka quietly as she cut her off.
"What?"
"Send me out there, I can help."
"No, absolutely not!" replied Misato with such force that Asuka moved here ear away from the end of the receiver.
"Asuka, you are in no condition to pilot, not after what happened at Matsushiro. We don't even know what your mental state will be like if you enter Unit 0-"
"I'm Fine! More importantly you need me to stall until Shinji returns."
"Asuka I-"
"He will return!"
"It isn't a matter of wether he will or not, I still can't let you leave the ward."
"Then I'll deal with it myself!" shouted Asuka as she hung up the phone.
Misato was stunned as she heard the click as Asuka hung up the phone. She could not believe how reckless Asuka was being.
Quickly switching to a different line, she dialed the number that would take her to the nurse on Asuka's ward. As the nurse answered it she was about to give the standard greeting when Misato cut her off.
"Quickly, go to the room where the pilot of Unit 02 is located, she may be trying to leave. Restrain and sedate her if you have to."
After several minutes of worrying the nurse got back on the phone and said that they had gotten to her just as she was leaving the room. She had tried to escape them, but they had managed to sedate her properly. Currently she was resting peacefully in the hospital room.
"What was all this about?" asked the nurse after several seconds of silence from Misato. "First that friend of hers leaves and takes her security card. Now she's all the sudden trying to leave the ward and go back to piloting when she's in no condition. Major Misato...I'm sorry if I'm overstepping my bounds but I have to say-"
"I know nurse...just...keep an eye on her, and let me know when she wakes up. Keep an eye on her at all times. She can...be rather stubborn at times."
"So I've seen," the nurse mumbled before a click signaled her hanging the phone up.
As Misato hung her own phone up, she paused as she thought of a possible idea that Asuka had given her. Quickly punching in the numbers on her phone, she was directed to the science department, and Ritsuko's office.
"Hello, this is Ritsu-"
"Ritsuko, is it possible to outfit Unit 02 with the dummy plug?"
"Theoretically it is, but with what happened with Unit 01 I can't be one hundred percent sure that it will-"
"Just do it, we don't have many options."
"Have you asked the commander?"
Misato hesitated and admitted, "No, I haven't."
"Don't you think-"
"No I don't! We don't have any options left, and if I get canned for this at least I know I tried to alleviate the problem."
A pause over the phone line until finally, "Okay Misato, I'll do this, but as I said I can't guarantee that it will work."
"Just try, I'm out of options..."
"Right," replied Ritsuko as she hung up the phone.
Misato leaned back in her chair and was seriously considering throwing the phone across the room. What should she do if the dummy plug doesn't work? Should she really consider sending Rei out? What about Asuka?
"God Damn it!" she yelled into the open air.
Slamming her fists down on her desk the only thing she succeeded in was splitting the palm of her hand open and leaving a red welt on her other hand. Why now of all times did an angel have to appear, and one as powerful as this. They had received reports that its AT-field was able to destroy an entire city block and leave a gaping crater too boot. What if something like that attempted to invade the Geofront. Could the layers of reinforced steel hold up against something like that? Misato really didn't think so.
As Misato thought of these things the phone rang once again on her desk. She was tempted to smash the thing against the wall next to her, but instead picked up the phone and said in as strong a voice she could muster, "Yes what is it?"
"The angel had just passed the third defensive line that we've implemented. Conventional weapons aren't doing a thing."
'No shit,' thought Misato. 'Its only to slow it down, but that doesn't even seem to be working.'
"Abandon the fourth and five lines then, I don't want anybody else dying if we can't even slow the damn thing down."
Once again her phone line went dead with a click, but this time it took her several seconds to replace the receiver as she continued to hold it against her ear.
"Whats this..."
Water droplets were started to fall on the skirt she was wearing as though she had just stepped out of the shower.
'Ah I see,' she thought as she realized it was her own tears. The incompetence of her actions and the hurt that she had put Shinji, Asuka, and everyone else suddenly welled up in her until they came spilling forth. Whats more...she finally realized something. She didn't care whether Shinji was angel, human, or something in between. She just wanted him to be here and thought of this is what its like to be a mother coursed through her. Without realizing it, she had been attempting to play the part of a mother to both Shinji and Asuka, both of which had barely known there mothers; in Shinji's case almost non-existent. And yet she had hardly been there for them when they truly needed it. It had been one thing after another which she had taken care of, but it was themselves that were forced to support each other. Maybe that was why Asuka and Shinji were both able to trust each other so deeply. But she hadn't trusted Shinji, no matter how much she wanted to deny that fact.
"We need Shinji," she finally said. "We need him because he can make a difference, we need him because he is truly strong, we need him because-" here she paused and after a slight hitch in her breath said, "I need because he's like family to me..."
After reconciling her own feelings for him, she put her head on her desk and cried until her eyes turned red, unaware of just how close Shinji was.
Whether because of his heightened perception as being partially angel, or because his unconscious mind simply catalogued a good portion of everything he has seen, he was able to recognize specific landmarks and slowly make his way back to gate three of Nerv, but it had taken a long time; an hour most likely.
The stitch that he had had in his side before felt now as though somebody had drilled a wooden stake through his kidney.
Leaning against a building, just across the street from where gate three was, he got the iron taste of blood in his mouth, the kind you get if you suddenly exert your body too much. Swallowing loudly, while trying to rid himself of that iron taste, he looked across the street at gate 3 and suddenly wondered how he was supposed to get in.
Tokyo-3 had been locked down sometime ago, meaning that many things electronic had been shut down, including the automatic steel doors of Nerv that normally only required a card. There was a manual override that he could attempt to access, but unfortunately it required more than one person to use, and he could open the steel door by himself...so then-
He suddenly looked down at his right hand and realized how dumb he was. Clenching it suddenly into a fist he smiled and thought, "I can open it with my AT-field."
Suddenly, as though he had been injected with some sort of drug all feelings of tiredness left him. Straightening up, he quickly walked over to the gate, completely ignoring both security cameras in the process, and planted both feet firmly in front of the door.
'I want it to open,' he thought, 'but I don't want to completely destroy it.'
Eventually settling on how he wanted to go about 'opening' the door he generated a simple, flat, AT-field that was just large enough to admit him through. Finding a point in the steel door which he thought suitable, he pressed the AT-field against it, and applied pressure to it. Eventually the steel door started to give, as Shinji could feel it being forced outwards, into the small tunnel that would bring him to the elevator of gate three. Adding a little more strength to it, he felt the small section where his AT-field was position implode on itself as the metal crumpled like a piece of paper and was forcefully sent flying into the small tunnel. The edges of the steel door that had come in contact with the edge of the AT-field looked as though the had been cleaning cut with a pair of scissors.
With no time to admire the cleanliness of his work he quickly rushed to the elevator and started hammering the down button in frustration. That short minute of waiting almost felt like an eternity.
"What do you mean it didn't work?" asked an angry Misato. She had finally gotten control of her emotions only to find out that Unit 02 rejected the dummy plug.
"I told you that I was afraid of this happening," replied Ritsuko with a slight edge in her voice. "We got all the way to phase three when Unit 02 realized it wasn't Asuka piloting it. At first we thought it was going to allow it, but something happened with the dummy plug. An anomaly suddenly appeared inside the entry plug and the dummy plug attempted to terminate it. Whatever it was, it crushed the dummy plug. We are just now managing to extract it from the Unit."
"Damn it! I want a better explanation than that!"
"I don't know what happened. The readings went off the scale, the temperature of the LCL fluid went well over the boiling point, and the synchronization was forcefully cut by the Eva. I suppose its a good thing we did this before we tried having Asuka pilot it again, but it almost seemed as though something was controlling it."
Misato let these words sink before she said, "Could this have anything to do with Asuka's-"
"No, it wasn't her. It was very brief, but we managed to get a reading of pattern blue inhabiting the Eva before we lost it."
Misato sucked in a large gust of air at Ritsuko's words. "Are you saying that Unit 02 is infected by an angel?"
"I can't be sure, but until we run more tests we can't let Asuka, or anybody for that matter step inside the entry plug."
"Ritsuko...could this have something to do with the angel we fought the other day?"
"I don't see how. If that angel did in fact briefly possess Asuka, I don't see how it could have moved from Unit 03 with her in it, to Unit 02 without us knowing; plus she hasn't even had any contact with Unit 02 since the accident with Unit 03. No...this was probably a different angel."
There was a rather pregnant pause before Misato said, "Two? Are we dealing with two angels?"
"I don't know. I've had restraints placed on Unit 02 and am monitoring the nerve impulses, looking for anything that should show a sign of activation."
Misato sighed; just one more thing to add onto her troubles today.
"Keep me updated on this Ritsuko...and while I'm at it I'm classing Unit 02 as the tenth angel until I know more about this. If at any time you feel that it is being truly possessed by an angel, I give you the authority to destroy it."
Ritsuko was rather surprised at the sureness in Misato's voice at her own decision but agreed with her anyway.
With that taken care of Misato hurriedly dialed another number and was put through to a Nerv outpost close to where the angel was.
"Whats the status of the angel?"
"It just passed the fifth defensive line and is now proceeding...over the mountains it looks like. Its heading towards the Geofront."
"Whats the status of our defensive forces."
"Poor, if we don't bring in the JSDF we wont be able to formulate a proper defense line."
'Shit,' thought Misato as she bit down on a nail.
"Time left until the angel reaches the Geofront?"
"Time estimated at...ten minutes or so."
"Tch...I suppose I don't have any other-"
Misato suddenly saw a blinking red light flashing on and off on her phone as somebody else was trying to get through the line. Turning back to the task at hand she said into the phone, "If no other options are available I'm going to get the JSDF to drop a bomb on the angel. Evacuate to a safe distance and await further orders there."
"Yes major!"
With that, the soldier hung up and Misato was able to switch lines.
"What is it?"
"Err Major...we just got an unauthorized entry over here, which makes no sense as the steel doors shouldn't be operating, and the manual override is impossible for-"
"What is this? I don't have time for-"
"The security cameras were able to pick up a feed, but its unclear with lots of static."
"Where is this?"
"Gate three, we actually think that-"
Misato suddenly dropped the phone in surprise. Was it?
Hurriedly picking it back up, she scrambled to place the receiver next to her ear and finally managed to say, "What is it! Is it Shinji!"
"We think so Major. We have a picture of the pilot of Unit 01 here, and the camera seems to show an accurate image of him, though it is kinda hard to tell at first glance. Also the camera picked up that same flash of orange that we had seen earlier and-"
The guard suddenly got nothing but a dial tone, as Misato had thrown the phone down and ran out of her office.
Shinji almost felt that sending the elevator into a free fall would have saved him a lot of time when the elevator suddenly stopped and opened for him.
He stepped out hesitantly, positive that the cameras above had picked up his profile and what he had done. He had almost expected armed guards to be waiting for him with their guns drawn and laser sights trained on him. He was rather shocked that not a soul had been waiting for his return, but then again, he figured that they were all probably too busy.
Stepping out of the elevator, he looked around and saw that the camera he had destroyed earlier hadn't been replaced and had not even been moved out of the way. It was still laying there on the ground, crumpled and broken in a dejected way. Shinji still couldn't believe how powerful his AT-field was, and that he was able to project it over a distance.
Passing the broken camera, he entered the four-way intersection of hallways and was just looking to his left in the direction that Asuka was when he heard running feet coming towards him. Tensing up quickly, he flexed his right hand, ready to project and AT-field in front of him to act as a shield if he had to when he was able to ascertain that the person running towards him was wearing shoes where the heel was raised off the ground, making it almost certain that it was a woman. Relaxing slightly, he continued looking down the middle hallway until he finally saw Misato come out of the darkness.
It seemed that she had ran most of the way there, considering she had beads of sweat dripping down he face.
Shinji was rather surprised to see her, and unsure of what he should say in regards to her presence.
"Hey," he finally said which sounded stupid even in his own mind.
"Hey," replied Misato, thinking the exact same thing as Shinji.
Shinji felt as though he was unable to look at Misato and instead settled on looking down at his feet. Suddenly a loud shock wave vibrated the entirety of the Geofront, though it didn't seem to phase either Shinji or Misato.
Finally Shinji got up the courage to say what he had been meaning to say when he saw Misato again.
"I'm sorry...for leaving."
Misato looked at him hesitantly before she said, "I'm sorry too Shinji, because I didn't believe in you...and yet Asuka did."
"Eh?"
"Asuka held onto the fact that you would return...truthfully I thought that you had really gone. I...feel so ashamed of that thought...I-"
"Misato..."
Wiping her face which was slowly started generate salty tears, she asked, "So, did you come to an understand?"
Shinji nodded and said, "Yeah...I'm Shinji Ikari, and nothing else. As for why I pilot Eva...I honestly don't know still. But I feel that as long as everybody is alive and safe, it doesn't really matter."
"Shin-"
"Is Asuka okay!" he asked suddenly.
"Wha-"
"Is she safe? Is she still in her hospital room? She hasn't been moved somewhere else has she?"
"Shinji she's perfectly fine. A little restless I suppose but fine."
Immense relief seemed to wash over Shinji face as another shockwave rocked the Geofront and this time some of the lights in the hallways flickered and went out.
Realizing that they both had been staying idle for too long, and that they would have more time to talk later, they started heading in different directions, when Shinji turned and said, "Hey, Misato?"
Misato turned towards him with a rather exasperated expression on her face, she asked, "What?"
"Give this to Asuka, I'd like to give it back myself...but." Shinji looked rather forlorn here, almost as though he didn't know whether he would see her again.
Putting the card down on the cold marmoleum floor, he placed a finger on it and flicked it outwards, sending it spiraling in Misato's direction.
As it came towards Misato, she quickly bent down and placed her cut palm down on it so it wouldn't soar past her. However as she stood back up to ask Shinji what he planned on doing, she saw that he was already gone.
He didn't know what was going to await him during this battle, so at best, he didn't want to have any regrets, but it looked like he might already be having one.
He was torn between his decision of not visiting Asuka first before he left to pilot Unit 01, but something in the back of his mind told him it was best to not see her. If he did...well, he might of had second thoughts about his decision.
He had noticed it before, but never gave any thought towards it and only now noticed what he had felt when he got emotional over the angel Sahaquiel dead body. It was something of a sixth sense he supposed, because somehow or another, he was related to all the angels; he just didn't know how. What he must have felt before was something like an emotional outburst, where the angel part of him was showing remorse at its brothers death and how it had instrumented that death. Now though, his sixth sense was going completely haywire at this angel Zeruel. If he had to describe it, monster would be the most accurate description. Its AT-field seemed to be immensely powerful with almost no weakness in sight.
It was because of this that he didn't want to see Asuka. He didn't want to feel regret of seeing her and getting her hopes up, just to find out that he had died by the angel. But at the same time he was feeling regret in his heart for not seeing her. These conflicting emotions had coursed through him as he had waited in the elevator, but now he felt that his decision of having Misato return it to he seemed like the right one.
As he turned a corner in the white hallways he suddenly came to a halting stop as a large portion of the ceiling had caved in. Apparently the angel had already penetrated the steel layers separating the Geofront from Tokyo-3 and was already starting to rip apart the landscape.
As Shinji prepared to push the debris out of his way with his AT-field, he noticed that somebody that looked like a soldier had been crushed by the ceiling and was leaking blood out from many part of his body. Recognizing the signs of death all to well, Shinji shook his head and crushed the fallen tiles and sheetrock out of his way so that he could move on.
Obeying what could very well have been Shinji's last wish, Misato entered Asuka's hospital room to return her security card. Asuka was still heavily sedated though and even though her eyes were open, they didn't show that she even recognized Misato.
"Hey Asuka," said Misato as she set the card down on the table next to the bed. Sitting down in the chair which was last sat in by Shinji, she crossed he legs and said, "Shinji's back by the way, just returned a short time ago. He seems to be doing well."
It felt extremely awkward talking by herself in this room which seemed to house only one living person.
"He's going to go fight the angel with Unit 01 now...just thought you should know..."
Misato continued looking at the motionless Asuka who's eyes were devoid of there usual blue color and instead were a murky grey. Finally standing up, Misato walked to the door and said, "I'm sure Shinji will come back so...you don't have to worry about him."
As Misato turned toward the door though, she heard a quiet voice behind her whisper-
"Shin...ji?"
Misato spun around and was surprised to see Asuka looking at her with a blank expression on her face.
"Asuka are you okay-"
"Shinji?"
"Asuka he's-"
"Where's Shinji?" she suddenly blurted out. Her eyes were still slightly glazed over, but they had a certain sheen nonetheless.
"Asuka he's back and fine, but he's going to be battling the angel, so-"
"Then I'm going too," said Asuka as she suddenly swung her legs over the side of her bed and tried to stand up. Instead she tilted to her left and was in danger of falling over as Misato caught her.
"See Asuka, you're in shape to pilot. You're heavily drugged and can barely stand up. How do you expect to pilot if you can't even do this simple thing."
"I don't care I'll mange somehow!"
"Asuka listen to me-"
"I don't want to be useless!" she suddenly shouted. "I want to help him! Let me help him! I don't want to be extra baggage. I want to pilot! I WANT TO HAVE A PURPOSE!"
It was all Misato could do to refrain from slapping her. Instead she settled on grabbing her shoulders and pushing her roughly back down on the bed.
"Asuka Listen To Me!" she annunciated with each word.
Asuka continued shaking her head and struggling against Misato's grasp and it was only until Misato grabbed both of Asuka's cheek with one of her hands and pressed them together that she got her to stop.
"Asuka...Shinji is fine! You should know that better than anybody. You were the only person that believed in him when nobody else would; I myself didn't until just recently."
"I know that but-"
"But what? Is the need to prove you exist stronger than your trust in Shinji?"
"I-"
"Asuka...what do you think of Shinji?"
"I-"
"Do you love him?"
"I don't know damn it! I don't know how I feel about that idiot. I-"
"Asuka...Shinji is fighting, he may be fighting for everybody, but I think deep down he's fighting for you, because he hates to see you pilot the Evangelions. It hurts him to see your entire existence wrapped up in that thing."
"It was my decision-"
"But did you have a choice?"
"Of course I did, I could have done anything I wanted."
"Do you honestly believe that?"
"I-"
"Do you?"
"...no, I don't."
"Why is that?"
"Stop this, I'm feel like I'm being cross examined!"
"I think you need it Asuka, you need to come to terms with your superiority complex, because its not only hurting you, its hurting Shinji also. He can never understand what you're honestly thinking, and yet he still trusts you."
"Thats his problem, not mine."
"Are you truly that selfish Asuka, because I don't think you are? I think that deep down, you're still that little girl who I met on my brief visit to Germany, who didn't want anything but the affection of her parents. They are gone now, and so you latched onto the only person who you felt gave you that same feeling."
"Misato...stop it." Asuka was starting to shake and shiver.
Misato paused for a second before she said, "I suppose I should, I've said enough anyway."
As Misato turned to truly leave, she said, "Realize Asuka that this isn't entirely your problem, its also Shinji's. He constantly questions himself and his own existence as to why he exists. Furthermore I'm to blame also, because I neglected my duties as a guardian and left you two to fend for yourselves when there was obviously a problem."
"Misa-"
"Get some rest Asuka...you look like you need it."
"...Hmmm, I suppose you're right."
As Misato left, she turned the lights off to Asuka's room, and quietly closed the door.
Asuka meanwhile was laying flat on her bed with her eyes open and her hands clasped over her chest. Closing her eyes briefly, she turned to her left so that her back was now facing the door. Opening her eyes again, she bit down on her lips in a pained expression as she thought of what Misato had said.
Rolling back to her previous position, she passed into a fitful sleep filled with memories of Shinji and herself.
Shinji had to admire the personal of Nerv, even if they had been completely afraid of him until just recently. When he reached the chamber where the Eva's were kept, he found that Unit 01 had already had its entry plug prepared, and was waiting for him to enter it.
Thanking the personal in his heart, he climbed the ladder and dropped down into the entry plug, where it was inserted just below the head of Unit 01.
Settling himself in the entry plug, he inhaled deeply and felt the warmth of the LCL fluid flow through his lungs. He hadn't felt this good in a while honestly.
Just then Ritsuko's voice came over the intercom.
"Shinji...can you here me?"
"Perfectly fine," he replied.
"How do you-"
"Can we save the discrepancy's? I'd be more than happy to let you pick apart my thoughts later but don't I have something more important I have to do?"
Ritsuko pause for a second before she said, "You're right...but before anything else I wanted to say I'm sorry."
"Its fine," said Shinji without much emotion in his voice. "And? Where is the angel? I assume its already penetrated into the Geofront."
"Yes it has. It isn't doing much though besides ripping apart the landscape. We had initially thought that it would descend into Central Dogma, but that doesn't seem to be its intentions."
"Then what is its intentions?"
"The destruction of you and Unit 01 I have believe."
"...Great."
"Take elevator shaft two. I'll divert the direction so you'll end somewhere close to the angel."
"Where is it?"
"Sector three."
"Isn't that where the power plant that supplies power to the entirety of Nerv?"
"Well yes...but we have back up reserves if anything should happen."
"...Okay...I'm going."
"Shinji!"
"...Hmmm?"
"Don't die..."
'Now she tells me,' he thought as he had Unit 01 stand up and forcefully remove the binders holding it in place, though he was still touched by her remark.
As he stepped onto elevator shaft three, he had a moments thought of how his life would have turned out if he had never encountered Asuka or the Eva's, when an all to familiar jerk rocketed his body upwards, as he was sent flying into the Geofront.
Almost as though the angel had been waiting for him, the second that the very ground the angel had been destroying opened up and Unit 01 flew into the open air, it spun around and with an orange flash of light, shot what seemed to be something similar to AT-field, out of its eyes.
Knowing that the combined efforts of his and Unit 01's AT-field wouldn't be nearly strong enough to repel the beam of raw energy, Shinji quickly had Unit 01 pivot in mid air, twisting its entire body around, as the beam went soaring past its right shoulder. Even if he was barely clipped by something like that, Shinji was afraid it might take an entire arm off.
Landing on the ground with a loud crash, Unit 01 crouched towards the ground with the toes of its armor plate feet pointed up in the air, poised to dodge if quickly needed.
Shinji weighed his chances on the best option to choose from. He was obviously inferior to the angel before and even with the might of Unit 01, he didn't feel as though he could break through its AT-field.
The angel named Zeruel made a sudden movement and caught Shinji of guard as what could only be described as arms that looked more like long strips of cloth suddenly shot outwards toward Unit 01. The first one soared over Unit 01's head, missing it completely, but the other passed Unit 01's defenses and stabbed into the armor plating between the collarbone and shoulder.
Shinji felt a momentary pain hit the right side of his body in reaction to the damage to Unit 01, but at least he was able to recognize the opening. Making Unit 01 grab the cloth like substance with its left hand, he forced its right hand up, and easily brought it down as he projected an AT-field, trying to severe the body part from the angel. Instead, what greeted him was an AT-field so strong that the resounding clash between the two sources of raw energy released a shockwave so strong, that the right hand of Unit 01 was suddenly flayed, as though it had been sent through a meat grinder. Of course this affected Shinji also.
As the shockwave ceased, the back lash of the two AT-field clashing sent Unit 01 flying backwards, with Shinji screaming in pain.
Inside the entry plug, Shinji right hand looked as though it had suffered a similar fate, though not as severe. At the last second, Shinji managed to send his own AT-field out, negating some of the damage as he wrapped it around Unit 01's destroyed hand. Even so though, Shinji's right hand was a bloody mess. His thumb and index finger were both backwards in odd directions and it looked like each separate piece of bone in those fingers had been bent in a different directions. Half an inch of his pinky finger had been completely shaved off, and now it looked like he had dipped it in a bucket of red paint.
Unit 01 upended dirt and trees as it went flying backwards, before finally skidding to a halt at the edge of the small lake that rested in the Geofront.
As Shinji shook his head to rid himself of the pain, he felt something in the back of his mind telling him to move. Using Unit 01's back as a brace, he kicked its legs up, pushing the entire body up as he went. He did this just in time as those white arm liked things came soaring toward him. Ducking under the first one, he side stepped to the right, as he managed to dodge both of them.
Running along the shore of the lake Shinji continued dodging the arms of the angel while he desperately tried to think of a plan, but no such wisdom would come to him. Would the Eva rifles work, or did they need heavier weapons than that? Furthermore, could any conventional type weapons even damage the angel?
Forgetting about the situation he was in, he misplaced his footing, and Unit 01 sunk slightly into the soft sand along the shore of the river. If any indication of the angels not being intelligent beings existed before, well, they were all just proven wrong. The angel, taking advantage of Shinji's sudden predicament turned towards him, and with another flash of orange, fired off its beam like AT-field.
Realizing that dodging the full brunt of the damage would be near impossible, Shinji shifted Unit 01's body so that its damaged arm would take the majority of the damage. He didn't even think what would happen to himself.
As the raw beam of energy neared him, he concentrated both his and Unit 01 AT-field around the upper shoulder of its right arm. He was prepared to sacrifice one arm if he absolutely had to, but some part of his mind realized what would happened to his own body, and decide that everything below the elbow was expendable.
The AT-field of the angel completely ripped through the armor and flesh of Unit 01, all but disintegrated it on impact. Thankfully, the combined efforts of Shinji and Unit 01 were able to protect the upper part of the shoulder. White bone now stuck out where the right arm of Unit 01 used to be and gray pinkish flesh could be seen hanging down around the bone.
Amazingly enough, Shinji hadn't felt a thing during it all. His right arm was simply gone. Quite possibly though, the moment that his arm was completely destroyed, his body went into cardiac arrest. His minutes of consciousness were already starting to tick away. Willing himself to not look over at the stub that was sure to be what remained of his arm, he through caution to the winds and charged towards the angel.
More of the cloth like arms soared towards him, but Shinji dodged them quite easily. As he reached towards the angel, he drew Unit 01 left arm back, and threw it forward, generating both his and Unit 01's AT-field in the process in the hope that the combined effort would be enough to force his way through the angels defensive. He had not expected this to happen though.
Suddenly the angels AT-field expanded into several layered AT-fields, all reinforcing each other. Unit 01's fist crashed down on top of the AT-fields, creating a gong like noise as it collided with it. The first two layers were immediately shattered, but Unit 01's fist was stopped against the third layer. As Unit 01's fist was halted against the combined AT-fields, the angels whitish arms suddenly lashed outwards, stabbing into what would have been consider the right lung of Unit 01, and this time Shinji was affected.
Blood immediately spilled from his mouth as his right lung all but caved in upon himself, spilling forth bloody watery fluid into his chest cavity. At this point his vision was starting to get blurry, when Unit 01 suddenly ceased functioning.
Completely confused at what had happened, Shinji thought that that last attack had done something to affect his control over the Eva when he realized that his five minutes were up.
"Damn it! No, that can't be!" he swore.
Grabbing the controls of Unit 01, he willfully shook them back and forth as he repeated over and over. "Move damn it, move damn it, move damn it." Of course nothing happened.
As Shinji continued to wrestle with Unit 01, the angel floated motionless, a few inches out the ground for a few seconds. It almost seemed to be contemplating its next move.
Drawing its arms back suddenly, the angel folded them into what looked like two large cylinders, before it shot them forward, smashing it against the chest cavity of Unit 01. The impact sent the motionless Unit 01 reeling backwards and made more blood spill forth out of Shinji's mouth.
The angel then floated over to the humanoid, now lying on the ground and proceeded to repeatedly pound against the chest cavity of Unit 01, as though it was looking for something. Eventually it seemed to realize that it had to take apart the armor plating on front and changed it arms to the thin pieces of cloth again. Stabbing them forward, the left arm pierced what would be consider the stomach of Unit 01 and forced its arms underneath the armor plating, while the right arm did likewise on the armor plating that would have been protecting the heart. All at once the arms lifted up, and with an almighty wrench, pulled off the armor plating around the chest cavity.
Laying underneath all that armor was what could very well be considered its heart. A large spherical red orb was dead center in its chest and it looked liked the flesh around it had adapted to its presence. Large veins and smalls flabs of skin were intertwining and crisscrossing as they went over the core of Unit 01.
It was at this time that Misato entered the command center.
"Whats the situation Ritsuko?" she asked the moment she entered the command center. "Whats Shinji doing? Is he all right?"
"Pilot life signs dropping," came the voice of one of the computer personal, "pulse dropping, loss of blood reaching critical levels, respiratory systems malfunctioning."
"Send an electric discharge through his body if you have to by using the Eva's nervous system."
"...I'm sorry Doctor Akagi, we can't do that since the Eva has shut down."
"Well do something!" shouted Misato as she let her presence be known.
"Misato...when did you-" asked Ritsuko, but she was quickly cut off by Misato.
"What is going on! What happened with Shinji!"
"Misato...Shinji is in critical condition...he has several broken ribs, a destroyed lung, and his...right arm...is gone."
"Gone what do you mean-"
"You know how strong Shinji and Unit 01's sync ratio is...the angel destroyed Unit 01's right arm, and in doing so, also destroyed Shinji's right arm. Shinji's heart has already gone into cardiac arrest...he only has minutes to live."
"Then get him out of there! Get him-"
"Misato...the commander just ordered a N-2 bomb dropped onto the angels location. Its not expected to destroy the angel...only slow it down."
"What about Shinji?"
"...The bomb will most likely kill him if he isn't dead already. Without the life support systems he wont be able to survive the impact."
"And what about Unit 01?" asked Misato, cold fury flickering through her eyes.
"Its expected to survive, though it'll be heavily damaged."
"AND I'M SUPPOSED TO JUST SIT BACK AND LET THIS HAPPEN?" yelled Misato, her anger finally getting the better of her.
"What else can we do!" Ritsuko yelled back at her. It was then that Misato realized how hard this was for Ritsuko also.
"...I...don't know," said Misato as the full weight of everything crashed into her. And honestly...what could they do?
It was dark, but not complete darkness. It was like the kind that you get when you close your eyes, and yet you're still able to see a faint outline of the room as it was before you closed your eyes.
Shinji tentatively opened his eyes, but his vision was little better with his eyes opened. His eyes had almost completely fogged over and turned a light gray color. Small droplets of blood were dripping down the side of his face, as they leaked out of his mouth.
'Oh right,' he suddenly thought, 'I was fighting that angel and...I think I'm dying.'
Oddly enough, that thought didn't scare him in the slightest. Maybe it had something to do with the fact he never cared whether he lived or not, since his life was all but worthless. A part of him even welcomed death; anything to do away with this empty feeling.
As he closed his eyes again he thought, 'Oh right...my promise to Asuka. Heh, guess I won't be able keep it...'
The majority of Shinji's mind started to drift then, but a part of him felt as though he was forgetting something.
'But no...this doesn't feel right for some reason.'
'Why bother worrying? Give up like you always do.'
'Thats not who I am anymore.'
'Sure you are, you're giving up right now aren't you?'
'No I'll live.'
'How do you propose you do that when your body's completely failing you?'
'I'll find a way.'
'How though?'
'I don't know.'
'See, you don't know, so why don't you give up already?'
'But I need to help the others, they need me.'
'Why? They shunned you and kicked you to the curb. Why should we bother saving them?'
'Because they're important to me.'
'How important? Important enough to wager your life?'
'...Yes, they're my friends and family. I don't want to lose what I've finally found.'
'And what have you found?'
'...Love...'
An electrical surge suddenly hit Shinji as his heart was just about to reach its final beat. His eyes flew open and they were as red as the setting sun. The controls in front of him disappeared along with the seat in the entry plug, and he suddenly found himself in a never ending sea of LCL fluid. The blood stopped flowing from his mouth as the hole where his right lung once was, now had a layer of skin stretched over it. Breathing was still rather difficult, and his breaths came in long drawn out gasps, but they were still his breaths.
Eva reactivated.
Meanwhile Misato and Ritsuko could not believe there eyes as they saw Unit 01 slowly climb to its feet.
"I don't believe this," said one of the female operatives in the command center. The pilots sync rate is over four hundred percent, while the plug depth is well past the danger zone and climbing past the two hundred mark.
"Has Unit 01 reactivated itself?"
"Yes it has...and it seems that Unit 01 jump started the pilots heart with its own nerves. Furthermore a large influx of dopamine is being constantly produced by the pilots brain."
As Ritsuko turned back to the monitor she exclaimed, "Has Yui finally awakened...or is it because of Shinji?"
Misato was none the wiser.
As Shinji floated there in the LCL fluid, he was able to feel the slight changes in movement of the angel. He even though he recognized something similar to a thought process, but now wasn't the time for that. He didn't know how long he would be able to maintain this...he had lost a lot of blood.
Making Unit 01 walk forward, the bracers holding the mouth closed suddenly snapped off, and Unit 01 let out a ferocious roar as it charged towards the angel, as though it had a will of itself. The angel quickly deployed it arms, shooting them out towards Unit 01, though Unit 01 was easily able to dodge around them as it made its way to the angel.
Suddenly pulling its left fist back, it shot forward towards the angel and the two AT-fields clashed against each other. The ground beneath the two was pulled up into the air and flung across the Geofront as the two AT-fields came into contact. Large waves started to form in the lake, as the shear wind power generated between the two was equal to a category five hurricane.
Finally, the angel broke off its AT-field, and fired its arms towards Unit 01. This time, instead of dodging them, Unit 01 calming placed its left palm out wards, and generated an AT-field that completely sliced the arms into, spilling blood across the ground. If the angel had a voice, it would have surely been screaming.
Bending down, Unit 01 grabbed a piece of the flesh that it had ripped off and held it up to what remained of its right arm. What happened next could only be considered as high speed regeneration. The bit of flesh that remained on the right arm of Unit 01 suddenly stretched downwards and latched itself onto the large piece of flesh. A large bulge suddenly appeared in the piece of flesh where an elbow would be, and then the piece of flesh expanded as the cells sped up the growth. Fingers popped outwards until what could only be described as a human hand remained.
It seemed that this worked both ways.
Shinji stared in amazement at his regrown right arm, which until moments ago had been nothing but a bloody stub. Turning it around, he inspected all aspects of it. Everything seemed the same, he wasn't even able to tell whether he had lost his arm or not.
Without giving Shinji any more time to examine his regrown arm, Unit 01 charged forward again, its right arm extended this time, and brought it spiraling down through the air. Almost as though it sliced through the air, a sickle AT-field suddenly shot towards the angel. The angel attempted to put up its AT-fields, but it was late as the AT-field sliced its chest cavity open, revealing its own core.
Attempting to quickly remedy the problem, the angel fired off its beam like AT-field. Unit 01 placed both palms outwards and generated a dome liked AT-field around itself, send the beam curving off into a nearby hillside, which next second turned into a cloud of dust.
Before the angel was able to follow up on its attack, Unit 01 took the initiative and charged towards it. Kicking outwards, its right foot connected with the core of the angel, and Unit 01 forced it spiraling backwards. Pinning the angel to the ground, it repeatedly hammered away at the core before it realized that what it was doing was pointless. With eyes narrowed to slits, it brought its right fist back, smashed it against what was considered to be the skull of the angel. Brain matter exploded out the back of the head as the ground was sprayed with blood.
Unit 01 then proceeded to rip apart the rest of the angel as it searched for a certain device, but Shinji couldn't remember the rest of this...as his blood loss finally caught up with him.
"Do you really think this is smart?" asked Ritsuko
"I'm there guardian...and I trust them."
"Yes but...they're still teenagers. What if it ends up like you and Kaji?"
"I'm hope to God they have more common sense they we did," replied Misato. "I've already said I trust the both of them."
"Emotions run high in these types of situations..."
"While true those two aren't like that."
"Doesn't mean they wont in the future."
Misato was silent for a second before she said, "No it doesn't...but this is now. Asuka and Shinji wont make that mistake. Or are you worried about the possibility of Shinji being able to pass on the gene?"
"Yes theres that also, I suppose. But-"
"You weren't thinking about that," said Misato, finishing Ritsuko's sentence for her.
"No...I wasn't."
"Then what were you thinking?" asked Misato with a raised eyebrow.
"Never mind, its unimportant. I suppose we the most we can do is give them some peace and quiet."
"What do you think about Shinji's...arm?"
"I can't say whether it was because of his connection with Unit 01, or if he has an ability such as that. Maybe he does, and his connection with Unit 01 simply sped up the process, I don't know. I'll be looking for cell tissue though in case his right lung starts to regrow. Until then, he'll be on a respirator unit for a while I suppose."
"Ritsuko, I have to say I-"
"Don't worry about it Misato, its fine, and I know you're sorry."
Misato stood motionless in the hallway for a second as Ritsuko continued walking on. Turning around, she looked behind herself and could just barely see the room where Shinji was being kept in and where Asuka were currently staying.
There really wasn't much to say she supposed, and in hind sight, it was rather pointless even being here, since Shinji was completely out of it. Even so, Asuka felt like it was partially her duty to be here by his side. He had promised that he would come back and here he was, battered and bruised but still alive. She supposed she couldn't be any more grateful.
Resting her elbows on her knees, she sat in one of those chairs that has the plastic back that constantly bothers your back. If she had known things were going to be like this, she would have asked for a more comfortable chair. For some reason that thought made her smile slightly, and she had to suppress a giggle. Seriously what was wrong with her? Well now that was a rather stupid question.
Shinji was here after all, and currently she felt as though she was floating on a cloud.
Letting out a low sigh she glanced at his sleeping face and thought, 'I guess he's all right when he sleeps. If he just doesn't talk I suppose I could live with him.' Again she seemed to lapse into a fit of giggles
'His face is even somewhat...'
Asuka made a sudden frown as though something nasty had just slithered down her throat.
'God...why am I acting like a stupid lovestruck girl? Idiot...why does he always make me feel this way?'
Tilting her head slightly to the left, so she could get a better look at his face she thought, 'I'm going to give him hell when he wakes up.'
Smiling again, she reposition herself in the uncomfortable chair and attempted to go to sleep.
'Easier said the done...I guess,' she thought.
Straightening back up she looked down at Shinji laying in the bed and thought, 'I wonder what...no...definitely not. Impossible. How could I even...'
A light tinge of pink suddenly appeared on Asuka's cheeks as she thought what the difference between sleeping in a chair and a bed felt like.
Eyebrow twitching slightly from irritation, she decided to blame the whole thing on Shinji. (who wasn't even conscious)
'God this is so infuriating. Why can't I just...'
Looking back down at the bed, her eyes shifted from the bed to Shinji before finally settling on the corner of the bed farthest from Shinji.
'Am I really going to?'
'Why not?' said a small voice in her mind.
'Its disgusting...thats why.'
'Yeah you're right,' replied the voice as though that settled the matter.
'Right thats that then,' thought Asuka before she curled up in a ball and attempted to go to sleep.
"Fuyutsuki?"
"Yes Gendo?"
"It is time to reveal the Lance of Longinus. Have Rei take care of it. I want no word of this to anybody besides us. Now that Unit 01 has awakened and devoured the S-2 engine it is time we proceed to the next step."
"What about Seele."
"I'll keep the old geezers occupied for now. And while your at it, I want you to have Doctor Akagi get a sample of the pilot of Unit 01's DNA."
"Very well...Gendo..."
As Fuyusuki left Gendo's office, Gendo turned to the window behind his desk and said, "Wait for me, Yui."
Its a good thing that no security cameras were installed in the room that Shinji was occupying, because then they would have noticed as somebody crawled into his bed in the dead of night.