Covenant Red
Chapter 12: Purification
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion.
/\/\/\/\
The debriefing room was fashioned after a small theater, three walls lined with tiered seats facing a stage with a massive holographic display. Nearly every chair was filled with WILLE personnel, each quietly abuzz with tense whispers. Kensuke sat by Toji, and glanced about the room.
"You know what this meeting is about?" he asked.
"Naw," Toji yawned. "Given the turnout, I'd guess a budgetary hearing."
"Everybody seems on edge."
"Then it's probably a staff performance review. Either way, I have no clue why we had to get out of bed to attend."
A door by the stage opened and several UN uniforms filed out. The last to appear was Kaji. The room turned sour.
"That guy," Toji remarked. He glanced at Asuka, a row away. Kensuke's eyes followed.
Yikes, he thought. If looks could kill.
A second door at the other end of the stage opened to reveal Misato, Ritsuko and Hyuga. The room's chatter died. The Commander strode to center stage and met with the UN delegation. They exchanged a round of terse salutes.
Misato nodded at the back of the room and the lights dimmed. Kaji stepped forward to address the crowd first. The holographic screen lit up, projecting a neon green topographical map of Japan. It zoomed in to a glowing dot.
"Thirty-four hours ago," he said, "a lab site run by a SEELE cell was attacked by an unknown force. Neither the UN nor the SDF were involved. Several Nephilim experiments underway at the site were all destroyed. While there were signs of battle, no human casualties were found."
The display changed to a new green dot, miles away from the first on the map.
"Twenty-seven hours ago, a second lab site was attacked, with identical results."
Another dot lit up the screen.
"And eleven hours ago a third site was sacked. Again, no human casualties but every Nephilim sample was obliterated."
"Someone trying to put us out of a job?" Toji murmured.
Misato stepped forward. "No domestic or international organization or country has assumed responsibility for these strikes. But based on the summary UN reports we can make an educated guess: the culprit is probably a Nephilim."
She let the room to express its confusion for a moment before signaling for quiet.
"Investigations are ongoing. Motives and numbers remain unknown. But we can predict one thing."
"Data and telemetry offered by the UN from the attacks," Hyuga began behind her, "as well as Ayanami's abilities, points to a clear pattern."
The holographic projection widened, mapping out most of the country. The dots of the attack sites were overlaid by a line running to the capital, and WILLE HQ.
"The target, or targets, is heading here."
"ETA is less than eight hours," Kaji said.
"We're directing the city to enforce evacuation protocols immediately," Misato announced. "We aren't taking any chances. As for WILLE personnel, we're on standby to repel attack."
The display cut out and the room lights came back on.
"Return to your posts. Dismissed."
/\/\/\/\
WILLE members rose and filed out. The UN delegation lingered on stage, exchanging farewells with the Command staff. Everyone looked on edge.
"Damn," Toji muttered as he stood. "A rogue Nephilim. Maybe it's coming here to join up?"
"Pardon me for not wanting to roll out the welcome mat," Kensuke said. "I don't think anyone up there would, either."
He watched the adults talk off-mic, hoping to catch Kaji's eye. He waved as he turned to leave. Kaji offered a brief nod. He never suspected he had this serious a side to him.
"Better hurry back to the trams," Asuka called out to the departing UN group, though her eyes locked on Kaji. "Go do what you do best during a fight: hide. You'll just get in our way."
One of the UN suits frowned. "We're coordinating forces including the SDF to strike at SEELE's exposed infrastructure right now. Our concerns extend beyond this lone site."
"Of course we'll provide protection for the city during curfew," another spoke up, trying to defuse the situation. "You'll have our support until the threat is cleared."
"You mean you'll be hovering nearby to bomb us into oblivion if we screw up," Asuka shot back.
Kaji met her gaze from the stage, betraying no emotion. "We all know what's at stake here, and the risks associated. But neither side could function without faith in the other."
She stalked forward.
Misato stepped between them. "Enough. We're wasting time. Soryu, get changed. Kaji, get back topside." She did not, and he dragged his feet. "You can't do any good bickering here. And I can only technically order one of you."
The Commander gave Kaji a look. He smiled, holding his hands up in acquiescence as he ushered the other UN members out. Asuka stayed to glare until he left, then spun and stormed out. Misato rubbed her temples.
Her eyes fell on Kensuke and Toji, who had made no effort to pretend they weren't spectators to the scene. In that instant they were graced with a startling clairvoyance and knew exactly what their Commander wanted them to do without being told. They hurried out of the room and down the hall.
"I know things with the UN aren't terrific," Kensuke began once the threat of physical reprimand subsided, "but Soryu seemed particularly displeased with those guys."
"Remember when I told you some people don't consider us human now, because of our blood?" Toji said. "Ponytail McNo-Shaves back there tried to secure the Children when WILLE was formed, for 'study.' He didn't trust us to fight."
"Sounds like he was trying to get you guys out of combat duty," he said, not wanting to believe the worst.
"You weren't here when it happened, man. It got ugly. The Commander was the only person to stick up for us, saying our mere existence wasn't a threat to mankind. I thought we proved it to them by now."
Given what Mana told him about NERV, Kensuke could see the UN's point. On the other hand, like Toji said, he wasn't around when it occurred.
"So Soryu holds a grudge against Mr. Kaji?"
Toji looked uncomfortable. "At least. Uh, I think she sort of used to like him or something."
"What?!"
"Yeah, I know," he said, missing Kensuke's actual meaning. "There's something gross about crushing on an old dude like that."
The irony was lost on both of them; Toji's admiration of the Commander remained blissfully intact and Kensuke was too shocked to think rationally. This new information was almost as revelatory as Ikari. It painted Asuka in ways he didn't like considering. Her having any kind of romantic history hurt what he admired and liked about her. She couldn't be just a pretty girl with a complicated past. She had to be above such a base reality.
"Don't let it bug you," Toji told him, again misinterpreting his friend's concerns. "Soryu might act like she hates it here but she's committed to WILLE. There's no conflict of interest of anything." He turned somber. "Besides, she got over it."
He pulled out his phone before Kensuke could follow up.
"Hey, man, I need to call Sakura about the curfew, so she won't worry, okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
Toji turned away and was walking.
"… Yeah," he overheard him tell his sister, "just stick with the Horaki family, okay? I'm sorry I can't be there. Yeah, I'm not even in the city right now. We got an emergency assignment. Might take a couple days…" He forced the lie out.
Kensuke edged away, feeling bad at eavesdropping. He felt the weight of his own phone and realized he had no one to call. As far as he knew his father never tried to make contact. Everyone else important to him was in WILLE.
I really should diversify my relationships. At least Kirishima would be aware of the situation without any word from him.
There was still time before the Nephilim's ETA. He avoided the lockers, not trusting himself to talk to Soryu at the moment and wanting to skip any more shockers from Toji. En route to the cafeteria he passed the hallway leading to the arboretum.
He recalled the day he met her Ayanami said all she had was in WILLE. What a depressing thought, Kensuke mused. She had to be overstating the matter. Maybe if she opened up a little, others would treat her nicer. The wispy dream of team unity tickled his conscience again. Although he had yet to achieve any objective success regarding the subject he couldn't give up. Even if he had to go it alone, that was okay. He'd help bring everyone together.
Kensuke entered the arboretum. Rei was on the bench by the pond, like last time, focused on a WILLE scheduling book. There was a definite sense of stability in finding her there. She wouldn't spring any bombshells on him.
"Hi," Kensuke greeted. He realized he hadn't seen her at the meeting. Avoiding conflict with the visiting UN delegation must have superseded a united front for the Commander. "I guess you got briefed before the rest of us, huh?"
Ayanami's continual segregation from the rest of WILLE still irked him. How would any of the other Children or command staff like to be singled out for discrimination, yet still expected to risk their life without thanks?
Not that I've ever been thanked, Kensuke thought. He shrugged. That was beside the point.
Rei deserved a friend. She fought to protect the city just like he or Toji or Asuka did. Sure, everyone told him Ayanami was not technically human, but she looked human enough to him. Maybe her apathy and antisocial tendencies were nothing but a reflection of her environment.
Give her a more welcoming, friendly atmosphere and she might open up, even if it was via base gossip. He knew he couldn't expect a total one-eighty in personality overnight. Trust didn't come that cheaply in their world.
"You didn't miss much at the briefing. Except Soryu sparring with that Mr. Kaji guy." That only reminded him of what he wanted to forget. "Never mind. Unless you want to talk about that?"
Rei appeared unimpressed. She must know already, he thought. Then again, who would bother to dish on WILLE scuttlebutt with her? Maybe he was attacking this the wrong way. Ayanami was a serious girl. She probably wouldn't care about the rumor mill. Kensuke settled on a more direct approach.
"Look, my point is, you should have been able to see it yourself. You're part of the team and should have been with us. It sucks being on your own." He sobered. "It sucks when you're forced on your own. I know it isn't easy to rebound from that. But, even if it sucks we shouldn't just accept it."
He tried smiling.
"Because, I mean, I know how you feel."
She looked at him.
Kensuke knew what it was like to lose all your friends. He knew how it felt to be treated like a monster. He knew it was all too easy to think of yourself as one because of it. He saw that same treatment with Rei, and a part of him began empathizing with her, drawing similarities in circumstance. But where his old friends had abandoned him, Rei probably never had any. Where he was free to meet and make new friends, she was trapped underground with an explosive tether around her neck.
They were not similar, he realized, and he did not know how she felt. For the first time he wondered if any kind of friendship was possible with this girl.
"I mean…" He trailed off as she returned to her book, having made a complete hash of things. This was turning out to be a bad day. "Uh, sorry."
He looked for a distraction and found his phone's clock. He still had over six hours before the Nephilim's ETA. So it only felt like he just spent an eternity making a fool of himself.
He shrugged. No use dwelling on failure. "Hey," he asked her, "do you want to grab a late breakfast with me?" Did Ayanami even eat?
"No."
In a way, he appreciated her directness. No surprises there.
"Okay," Kensuke sighed, turning away. "I'll see you before the sortie—"
He stopped himself as Rei's eyes went wide and she stared upwards. She looked like the sky was falling. He glanced up to see nothing but the faceted blue ceiling.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"It is here."
/\/\/\/\
"You're sure you sense the Nephilim?"
Misato's voice was edging between dread and disbelief. Kensuke had immediately called the bridge, and held his phone on speaker towards Rei.
"It is here," she restated.
"What now?" he tried to ask as the Commander ordered all hands to battle stations. Over the phone, he heard organized panic from the lieutenants. The Nephilim was far ahead of schedule; evacuations weren't complete in the city, and the UN had yet to fully mobilize around them being stretched between WILLE and its strikes on SEELE. Headquarters was alone.
"Visual contact," Hyuga announced after refining his scans. "Via… satellite. One target. It's in the lower atmosphere above HQ."
"There's no time to deploy into the city," the Commander said. "It's right on top of us."
The arboretum had the most space on base and she ordered the Children to repel the invader there.
Asuka and Toji arrived soon after, lugging armor for Kensuke and Rei. She began stripping immediately by the bench. He caught a brief glimpse of pale flesh and ducked behind a tree to change. Toji looked skyward. Asuka looked disgusted.
A subtle tremor shook the floor. Dull quakes sounded overhead.
"Perimeter breach," Hyuga reported over the comm. as Kensuke placed the receiver in his ear. "There was no time for surface interception. It's already digging."
"Civilian evac almost complete," Aoba said. "The UN is scrambling fighters now."
"Target is heading to your location. Get ready."
A wide garden plot nearby shifted and divided in two, pulling apart to reveal a weapon cache. The Children armed themselves and took positions among the hilly terrain.
"Stop the target," the Commander ordered.
The ceiling cracked, tons of earth and steel shifting above it before spilling through the rift. Dirt cascaded into the arboretum along with entire sections of base. Trees were flattened. A hallway plummeted into the lake.
Emergency lighting switched on. Everything was saturated in deep alarm orange. The klaxons shut off and the arboretum sank in an eerie silence.
Kensuke peered up through the dusty haze. The AT field he saw was expansive, nearly covering the entire domed roof, but it wasn't projected in waves or layers. It was certainly strong to tunnel through dozens of yards of earth and metal but it appeared straightforward.
The Nephilim floated through the hole in the ceiling. One red eye stretched over its face like an open wound. The rest of it was a pale, immaculate recreation of a human in size and shape, like a masterfully formed sculpture given life. It was too perfect. The sight of it triggered an instinctual rejection of its shape. Its flawlessness made it alien.
"Now what?" Kensuke asked.
"We kill it," Asuka stated. "Forget the fact it breached base. It's here. We put it down like the rest."
"We put it down fast," Toji amended. "I don't want to give an excuse to any trigger-happy UN pilots."
The dust settled. The Nephilim alit on the arboretum floor beside the lake, the strength of its AT field rippling the water. It cut out abruptly and its stretched eye glowed red.
"Field is down," Kensuke reported.
Asuka fired. The bullets connected but fell harmlessly to the ground. There was no ricochet or deflection, just a total loss of momentum.
"You said the field was down," she snapped.
"It is," Kensuke replied. "It's gone."
The next volley was ineffective. The Nephilim began walking towards the Children.
"Guns don't seem to be working."
Toji abandoned cover and cracked his knuckles. "Let's see it shrug me off."
Asuka followed him, drawing her knife. The two ran ahead and split up, flanking the Nephilim on either side as it continued onward with indifference. They attacked; Toji's punch landed on its jaw, Asuka slashed low under its knees.
The Nephilim paused. Its body did not bleed or break.
Its arms raised and pale fingers touched Toji and Asuka on the forehead before they could recover and retreat. They both fell backwards, startled out of composure. Asuka tumbled down a low hill. Toji scrambled back to his feet and reset. He stopped short.
"I can't…" He stared down at his hands. "My blood skill won't activate."
"Get out of there," Kensuke bit out, lining up his shot. Toji ducked away and he fired. The round struck its chest without effect, limply plummeting to its feet.
The Nephilim turned in his direction. It began walking.
"Crap."
"All units, fall back," Misato ordered. She sounded tense. "Send 02 up."
The floor split apart to reveal a service elevator. The lift roared upwards hauling Shinji Ikari's sealing capsule. It opened by remote and he tumbled out. The mask slid apart. Snaking light crackled to life around him. He was engulfed as he woke and stood, waves of roaring power reducing swaths of forest to ash in seconds, casting the entire chamber in chaotic neon purple.
Shinji launched himself at the Nephilim, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. He tore through the air, bringing his might to bear in a single strike. He connected, and the column of energy churning around him vanished. A clap of thunderous air rushed to fill the void. For a staggering moment nothing moved.
The Nephilim eye dimmed.
Its AT field flashed across the arboretum horizontally.
Shinji Ikari's torso was bisected. His body fell apart into a heap on the ground under a plume of blood. The Nephilim eye lit again. It trod forward without care.
Asuka was behind it, wielding her combat knife in wild-eyed fury.
"I'll kill you!"
She swung the blade in jagged, hacking arcs, her usual expert grace gone. The knife refused to cut or mark the Nephilim. She kept attacking without effect, each slash punctuated with a panted scream.
The Nephilim walked on unperturbed over the decimated landscape, turning back in Kensuke's direction.
"Aida," Ritsuko buzzed in his ear, "get Ayanami out of there."
Another elevator rose behind him, appearing out of a hill. He spun to find Rei. She was frozen, staring past him to Shinji's body.
Kensuke was dizzy. Nothing felt real. His feet were carrying him before he realized. He reached Rei. She looked small and lost. Far, far away Soryu continued to scream.
"Come on," he heard himself say to Rei. She did not move. He dared to lay a hand on her shoulder. She did not react. Asuka screamed again.
"Move, Aida!"
The world snapped into focus. The Nephilim was cresting the hill they were on. He grabbed Rei's arm and pulled her to the waiting lift. He tripped over his own feet and they fell into it.
"Okay!" he said.
Kensuke righted himself and peered beyond the elevator doors sliding shut before him. Past the approaching Nephilim he saw Toji restrain Asuka. Her howl of complete anguish reached him before the doors could close.
/\/\/\/\
The elevator descended. There were no windows but Kensuke could see the air changing. It was different here, shimmering, heavy. His rubbed blurry eyes. He felt like he needed glasses again. His hand came away sweaty and shaking. He heard himself gulping breath and he forced his mouth shut, trying to calm down.
Already his memories were clouding in an attempt to block out the trauma. Just a nightmare, he told himself vaguely. There was no way they could have been so completely defeated so quickly. There was no way Soryu would scream like that, no way Ayanami would lose her cool.
He remembered he wasn't alone. Rei was curled into a corner of the elevator. Her gaze was vacant.
"Ayanami?" someone asked with his voice. He asked again but couldn't hear it.
The tac net sounded off a litany of crises in his ear. Panicked uncertainty filtered through from the lieutenants. The Nephilim was following the elevator's descent, leaving Asuka and Toji behind. Aida. UN fighters were nearing position over HQ. WILLE was cut open, totally exposed. Aida. Just like Ikari was cut open. Aida. All that blood…
Aida, Aida, Aida…
"Aida…?!"
"Yeah," he finally answered.
"I said we'll try to buy you time with distance from the target but it's already en route. Prepare for reengagement."
"I had to leave my rifle," Kensuke explained, feeling numb.
"We'll send another."
What good will it do? What chance did he have against an enemy that effortlessly cut down a monster like Ikari?
The elevator jolted to a stop. The doors parted to reveal a thin walkway suspended over the maw of an abyssal drop. Similar bridges crisscrossed overhead, spiraling upwards as far as he could see. Industrial lamps on the walkways struggled to illuminate themselves.
Kensuke cautiously stepped out of the lift. "End of the line?"
"Almost," Misato answered.
The elevator doors shut behind him, Rei still inside. It descended again.
He looked down, trying to gauge how far it went. He saw nothing but fuzzy dark. He squinted. Strange, pulsating rings of light floated along the walls below him, shifting and moving almost too subtly to detect. He tried to force the glowing symbols into some manner of coherence but they did not match any language he knew.
He shook his head. He had seen them before. Inside the strange white mask that kept Ikari asleep.
"We're sending you a new rifle," Hyuga told him. "Stand by."
A lift on the other end of the bridge opened, revealing a sniper rifle. Kensuke ran to it.
Rumbles echoed down the shaft. Above him a section of wall burst apart, raining scattered debris. Kensuke shielded his head and looked up. The Nephilim appeared from the hole and stepped into air. Its AT field unfolded and it began gently floating down to his position.
The field is up, he thought dumbly, trying to reconnect the gears in his head. The field is up. The field is up. The field is—
"Can you collapse this walkway?" he asked.
There was a pause. "Yes."
The Nephilim alit before him across the bridge. Its AT field shuttered and vanished. Its red eye glowed in the darkness. Kensuke finished loading.
"When it's in the air, it uses its AT field to fly. It can't use a blood skill at the same time. If you collapse the walkway it'll be forced to use its AT field to fly and I'll be able to snipe it."
There was another pause. "Aida, you won't have any room to—"
"I can make the shot!"
"That isn't the point."
The Nephilim was halfway across the bridge.
"There's no safety net here," Misato said. "I cannot ask you to do this."
"Then don't." He felt his blood thumping in his ears. Adrenaline furiously crowded out terror. He wanted revenge on the thing that made Asuka scream like that. He wanted the source of her pain dead. He wanted her to be herself again. "Do it."
The Nephilim's grasping hand fell over the barrel of his rifle.
Explosive bolts attached to the walkway's far end detonated. The sound was louder than he anticipated. The thin bridge swung downwards in pieces and Kensuke was falling. The rifle pitched upwards and the Nephilim was weightless above him, its eye dimming as the AT field unfurled. His blurred vision could see it wasn't as powerful as it was before.
His sights aligned in a split-second. The shot cracked the air.
The field was pierced and the Nephilim's head burst apart above the jaw, blood and brain and bone exploding out towards the wall in thick red chaos. The rest of its body went limp, flailing without coordination as it plummeted. Blood streamed from the open neck. The AT field was gone, there was no eye left to glow.
His victory was cut short as he remembered how gravity worked.
Kensuke fell. He had no clue how far or how long. The strange pulsing lights below him distorted distance. As he watched, they winked out of sight. He tumbled blindly.
Far beneath him in the unnatural dark a single star flickered into existence, a tentative light finding life after a long sleep. And then an AT field opened under him, more vibrant and powerful than any he witnessed. Its pulsing edges raced upwards along the walls at him, creating a sloped funnel. With a detached logic, Kensuke realized it would be better than hitting a flat surface. Emotion kicked in. He was going to hit it.
This is going to hurt, was his last thought.
/\/\/\/\
To be concluded.