Chapter 10 - Ramiel

"Target is in range," Aoba reported. "Now crossing the first defensive line."

"Unit-01 is equipped and ready to launch," Hyuga added.

"Launch!"

The second the word left Misato's mouth, Unit-01 was sent hurtling towards the surface. Asuka's blood began to surge at the thought of fighting again. Another Angel, another chance to prove her worth. This Angel didn't seem like much either; a simple, if gigantic, blue diamond hovering towards some pre-determined point.

But before she even reached the surface, the next words Asuka heard told her this fight wasn't going to be easy.

"I'm detecting increasing energy levels in the target!"

She heard Misato gasp. "Wait, it's charging up?!"

The catapult slammed into position on the surface.

"Asuka, watch out!"

Asuka looked towards the Angel, partially hidden behind several buildings in her line of sight, just in time to see something that made her head spin.

The top and bottom of the blue diamond separated and seemed to fold into nothingness, as other bits grew out of the Angel's core. Those pieces grew and disappeared as well, then after a few seconds the Angel seemed to have decided on an appropriate shape: several intersecting squares above and below the core. Asuka had no time to admire the new shape, as the core began to glow. The sky seemed to change colour as the Angel fired its weapon.

The buildings between Unit-01 and the Angel bent and melted, gaping holes being torn through the top floors of all of them before the beam struck Asuka's instinctively raised AT-Field. Even putting all she could into maintaining the shield, she could still feel a spot of heat on her chest and had to resist the urge to rub at it.

"Raise the blast shield! Give her some cover!"

A piece of ground opened up in front of Unit-01 and a thick wall shot out of the gap, blocking the path of the beam. Asuka sighed in relief as the heat disappeared, and she watched the beam splash harmlessly against the wall in front of her. Then the beam abruptly cut off.

The Angel began to shift again; first it transformed into a cross made of square blocks, then those squares stretched themselves out into angular cones. The core somehow seemed to multiply at the same time, so now there was a red orb at each point of the cross with more of the blue material hovering just beyond the points. Parts of the Angel began to spin faster and faster as Asuka heard something that sounded like a child's temper tantrum mixed with the yowling of a cat whose tail just got stepped on.

There was a brief glimmer of light emanating from the cores and converging at a point in front of the Angel, and then a new sun was born over Tokyo-3.

Entire city blocks were vaporised as the beam punched through everything in its path. The blast shield held for a few seconds before simply melting away, leaving Asuka to suffer the full force of the Angel's fury. Yet despite the city around her being bathed in fire, Asuka only felt a moderate pain over all her body, as if she had been sitting exposed in the sun too long, with a bright spot of steadily growing pain on her chest. But that pain was starting to increase. As was the temperature of the LCL surrounding her.

"Abort! Execute emergency recovery of Unit-01!" she heard Misato shout. Asuka almost tried to tell them to just let her out of the catapult, until she heard the problem that the beam had caused.

"The catapult has melted! It's not responding!"

Asuka experimentally tried to shift Unit-01's arms and legs. There was no resistance from the catapult restraints, which told her that those had been vaporised as well. She attempted to move, but the sheer force of the beam seemed to weigh Unit-01 down. Eventually Asuka managed to get the Evangelion to take a step to the left, but the beam was still focused precisely on her. There was no building or mountain to hide behind, and she suspected that they would get destroyed just as quickly as everything else that had stood in the way of this Angel.

She was trapped, and steadily being boiled alive inside the entry plug.

"What about the AT-Field?" That was Akagi.

"It's been raised to maximum and... it's holding strong! But the Angel is increasing the intensity of the beam!"

Well hopefully this'll get her that data she's obsessed with, Asuka mused as she put what effort she could spare into not getting knocked down by the force of the attack. An irritating beep began to sound throughout the entry plug, likely some system trying to warn her of a problem she already knew about. The liquid environment of the entry plug was beginning to bubble as the internal temperature climbed, so she couldn't properly read the screens around her anyway. Something about alerts and 'Condition Red' was all she could make out.

There was now a supernova on her chest, and her body started to feel like her skin was being gradually burnt off. As Asuka gritted her teeth against the pain, she wondered if she would still have her hair when this was over.

"Scrap the mission!" Misato ordered. "Initiate plug ejection!"

Asuka was now in too much pain to say why that was a bad idea, but Commander Ikari finally deigned to speak.

"No. Belay that."

"If we eject the pilot, the AT-Field will disappear," Akagi solemnly said, giving the reason that Asuka couldn't utter. "There would be nothing to prevent the destruction of Unit-01."

"...And Asuka would likely still be in danger. Damnit!" There was something that sounded like flesh hitting metal. "No other choice... Detonate explosive bolts! Initiate forcible recovery of Unit-01!"

Asuka just barely had time to utter, "What?" before she felt the ground lurch beneath her feet as the city seemed to rise above her. Only when her immediate surroundings turned dark did she realise that 'forcible recovery' meant 'sink the entire block'. She was now hurtling down into the bowels of the Geofront.

"Target has ceased attack."

At least there was some good news. Asuka gasped as the temperature stopped rising in the entry plug, and the supernova on her chest finally disappeared. She jerkily reached up a hand to pat at the spot where it had sat for far too long, checking to see if there was a hole in her torso.

"Medical teams stand by!"

Her entire body was on fire, and her probing fingers couldn't tell her anything. The hand fell back to her side as blackness began slowly encroaching on her field of vision.

"Asuka! Are you alright?!"

Ah, Shinji was worried about her again. Asuka's breath caught in her throat. If they had not been playing around with a soul contract, Shinji would have been sent out there. Would he have managed to survive that attack? She could already imagine the screams of horrendous agony as he burned alive.

The thought of Shinji dying did something... strange to Asuka's gut.

"Say something!"

Asuka wearily waved a hand at where she thought the viewscreen was. "I'll be fine, stop yelling at me..." She thought she heard Shinji say something else, but her shaky grip on consciousness slipped and she knew no more.

XXX

Shinji stared at the girl on the bed, taking in her heavily bandaged form. He hadn't been allowed to see Asuka immediately after her retrieval from Unit-01; she had been placed into something that had looked like a coffin emblazoned with medical symbols and whisked away. All he had been able to do was wait and hope that she wouldn't be leaving NERV in one.

The medical personnel were apparently the best in the world. That, combined with injuries that hadn't been as bad as Shinji had feared, meant that Asuka was now simply sleeping off the anaesthetic. She would likely still be in some pain when she awoke, but at least she was going to be alive to feel it.

Time was short, though. The Angel was predicted to break into the Geofront a few minutes after midnight, less than ten hours away. While it slowly drilled into the Geofront, Misato had gone off with Doctor Akagi and the bridge crew to work out what to do. Soon after, Rei had been rushed through her activation test and sent off in Unit-00 to collect something.

Misato had apparently come up with a crazy plan; something about a 'Positron Rifle' was all Shinji had been able to discover. Deciding he'd only be in the way if he trailed after Misato, he had instead decided to keep an eye on Asuka, bringing a chair into her room so he could sit and wait for her to wake up. Even the strange smell coming from the bandages was not enough to put him off his vigil.

Shinji's patience was eventually rewarded; he was the first face the Second Child saw when she finally groaned into wakefulness. He got to his feet and leaned over her, joyfully calling her name.

"Ugh, did I forget the sunscreen or something?" Asuka mumbled in German. "My skin feels like it's on fire..."

"Um..." Shinji tried to work out how to tactfully explain her situation, but Asuka suddenly swore.

"Shit. Right, I got blasted." She then raised a bandaged arm up in front of her. "Well, I guess I'm alive, even if I've got the world's worst sunburn. Explains why I can smell so much aloe vera too. Hopefully I won't have to worry about peeling. Ick."

Shinji began to smile, but then Asuka suddenly turned a wide-eyed stare upon him. "Shinji... Am I... bald?"

"W-what? Can't you... you know... feel it?"

Asuka gave him a disbelieving look. "Are you fucking kidding? My skin almost got melted off. I can only feel one thing and it's not pleasant, so just answer me. Do I still have my hair or not?!"

"Y-yes!" Shinji stammered.

"Prove it!"

Hesitantly reaching out behind Asuka's head, Shinji gave her a questioning look. When all she did was stare at him he decided to bite the bullet and grasped some of her hair, bringing it around to where she could see it. To drive the point home, he gently tugged on it several times.

"Okay, I felt that at least," said Asuka as she let out a sigh of relief, letting her head drop back down to the pillow. "So... what did I miss?"

Relieved that her mood had improved, Shinji filled Asuka in on what little he had gleaned of Misato's plan.

"A Positron Rifle, huh? Misato thinks we can bust through the AT-Field with it?"

"Correct."

Shinji and Asuka turned to the door into the room, where the third member of the pilot corps was now standing.

"Oh, hello Rei," said Shinji. "Um... are you here to see Asuka?"

Rei nodded as she moved closer to the bed. "I have been sent to brief Pi- Asuka... on the details of the upcoming operation." She blinked and looked slightly away from them. "And... I wished to see if she was well."

"Well apart from looking like a mummy after barely escaping being boiled alive, I'm pretty damn okay," Asuka remarked. "What's the plan, anyway? Hopefully it's better than Misato's last idea."

Shinji caught the bitterness in his friend's voice. "Hey now, there was no way anybody could have predicted what that thing would do."

Asuka dismissively waved a hand in his face. "Yeah yeah, but I was the one who got sent up right into enemy fire. I'm allowed to feel a little cranky after almost dying, aren't I?"

"Do you wish to seek retribution against the Angel?" Rei interjected.

Something about the tone of the quiet girl's voice seemed to catch Asuka's attention. "You're goddamn right I wanna get some payback. So tell me what's going to happen."

"Unit-01 is being fitted with G-type sniper equipment." Rei stated.

"To use with this Positron Rifle thing I suppose," Asuka realised. "But how are we going to punch through that Angel's AT-Field from long range?"

"A sniper position is being prepared just outside the predicted range where the Angel automatically targets anything hostile, and preparations are being made to direct all of the nation's energy into the Positron Rifle at that position. At midnight, the operation will commence."

"But will Asuka be ready by then?" Shinji nervously asked, before turning to the redhead in question. "As you keep saying, you did almost die."

Asuka groaned. "I'm fine, you worrywart. It's just a flesh wound... that covers my entire body," she gestured at the bandages, "but otherwise I'm perfectly capable of going out there and smashing it right in its stupid... er..."

Shinji smiled weakly as she trailed off. Despite her injuries, Asuka was already raring to go. He turned to Rei. "Will you be going out as well?"

"Yes. Both Evas are required for this operation." said Rei. "Since it will be too dangerous to engage it in close quarters, I believe my task is to do everything I can to shield Unit-01."

Asuka blinked. "Uh... you did see what that thing is capable of, right? I just barely survived, and Unit-01 was ready for combat at the time. How is your Eva going to stand up to it?"

Shinji worriedly glanced between the two female pilots.

"If I die, I can be replaced," Rei quietly declared, echoing what she had already stated when the three of them had met. "The destruction of the Angels is my mission."

"What?!" Shinji turned in his chair to give Rei a shocked look. He just barely caught sight of Asuka sitting bolt upright in bed.

The First Child turned to leave. As she reached the doorway, she said, "My life is nothing when weighed against all of humanity. If I must die to protect them, I shall do so without hesitation."

"Rei!"

"Ayanami, get back here!"

"Goodbye."

The door closed behind Rei.

Shinji's first instinct was to get up and run after her, but a hand around his arm stopped him in his tracks.

"Let me talk to her when I go out there," said Asuka. "I'll try to get her to stop this 'needs of the many' crap."

Settling down slightly in his chair, Shinji closed his eyes and slowly exhaled. "Why does she think her life is worthless?"

"I don't know. Maybe your old man's done something to her," Asuka said with a shrug. Shinji turned a sharp look on her, but she didn't flinch. "Well you don't know anything about her, do you?"

"...No," Shinji sadly admitted. "It's not like she's told us about her life."

"Considering that when we get even slightly curious about her, she shuts us down with 'classified' this and 'classified' that..." Asuka sighed and relaxed against her pillow, turning her head to glance at the closed door. "Don't worry, Shinji. I'll make sure she gets out of this alive as well. No Eva pilot's gonna die on my watch."

XXX

Two hours later and the bandages were off, to Asuka's great relief. A fresh plugsuit covered up most of her skin, but her neck and face still showed some redness. Misato soon came to collect her and they headed up to the sniper position outside of Tokyo-3, where Doctor Akagi and a suited Rei were waiting.

"Both of you have critical tasks to perform in this operation," said Misato as she began the briefing. "Asuka, you'll be the sniper in Unit-01."

"Yes, ma'am," Asuka replied, holding back a grin.

"And Rei, you'll be on defense. Your mission is to protect Unit-01 at all costs."

"Understood."

Nearby, Unit-00 was raised to the surface, a massive shield hooked onto its arm. Asuka surmised that this was their idea for giving Rei extra protection. She hoped it would stand up better than the blast shield had managed.

"This operation needs an extremely high level of precision," Doctor Akagi added. "We have no margin for error. Unit-00 hasn't been calibrated yet so even in its damaged state, Unit-01 is our best hope. Now Asuka, I assume you know enough about positrons in this situation."

"Yeah, I need to take the Earth's rotation, magnetic field and gravity into account," Asuka confirmed, turning her gaze back to the woman. "And compensate for the drop over the distance when I'm aiming."

Doctor Akagi nodded, something close to approval in her eyes. "When you fire, penetrate only the core. And before you ask where it is, don't worry. You'll see it when it's in combat mode. Once you're in position, we'll feed targeting data to you, so all you have to do is aim where your heads up display tells you. Do your part, and the machines will do the rest."

As the scientist spoke, Unit-01 rolled past them, strapped down to a massive train car. Asuka glanced at it, noting that it looked pristine. It seemed like a waste of time and money to make it look better than it would perform in combat, but she wasn't in charge.

"I must warn you," Doctor Akagi continued. "There is only one convergence point for the power. As a result, Unit-01 will be unable to move once it's in firing position."

"So I won't be able to dodge out of the way if the Angel decides it doesn't like us existing," said Asuka, looking past all the machinery to the blue diamond in the distance. Spotlights all over Tokyo-3 were focused on it, making the city look like it was hosting a hideously expensive public event.

Well, it was certainly going to be costly, not to mention difficult to cover up when the civilians emerged to find bits gouged out of the landscape.

"Correct."

"What happens if I miss? How long will it take to charge another shot?" Asuka didn't like the idea of being stuck in place during the inevitable counterattack, but it had to be done.

"Don't concern yourself with what-ifs," Doctor Akagi chided. "But if you must know, it will take thirty-four seconds before you can fire again, for charging time, changing the fuse, and barrel cooling."

"Or you can avoid all of that by not missing," Misato suggested. "Show us how good you are, Asuka."

The Second Child clenched a fist in front of her face. "You got it!"

XXX

All around the region, lights began to shut off, plunging everything into darkness. Even the Angel shelters were switched to emergency lighting as power was diverted towards humanity's greatest hope. Only the spotlights focusing on the Fifth Angel remained, as well as the lighting at the sniper position.

At the hastily set up gantries near the Evangelions, Asuka and Rei sat and watched. The sight of the blue diamond above the city, lit by the spotlights, looked eerily beautiful under the starry sky, complete with a full moon.

Asuka glanced at Rei. The First Child's arms were wrapped around her legs, and her expression seemed as neutral as always. But having spent some time with her, Asuka believed she could see some nervousness.

"So Rei, why do you pilot?" she casually asked, looking for something to break the awkward silence.

Rei blinked, apparently slightly startled by the sudden question. "Why?" she echoed. "It is a bond."

Asuka frowned at the unexpected answer. "A bond, huh? With Shinji's father?"

"No. With everyone."

"Why don't you give a damn about surviving then?"

At first it seemed like Rei was going to give an answer. Her mouth opened, then snapped shut as she got to her feet. There was something in her right hand, but Asuka couldn't make out what it was. "It is time. We should go."

Asuka stood up and stared at Rei. Her fist clenched as she tried to find something to say or ask, to try and understand why a fellow Evangelion pilot would care so little for their own life.

"Goodbye."

Rei left before Asuka could get a word out.

XXX

"Commence Operation Yashima! Prepare to fire the Positron Rifle! Initiate stage one connections!"

Asuka closed her eyes as Misato shouted orders over the comm system. Replies came fast, giving status updates on the systems. Soon, the hills around Tokyo-3 lit up as distraction fire began. Missiles soared high into the sky then turned to bear on the Fifth Angel.

Which responded immediately. It shifted, taking a form similar to a bicycle wheel's spokes. At the end of each spoke, blue material created a vertical spike as the entire assembly began to rapidly spin. A red beam lanced out into the sky in completely the wrong direction to the incoming missiles, but then the beam made a full sweep around in less than a second.

The missiles detonated in midair moments later. Asuka couldn't tell if the beam had actually hit every single one, or if the missiles had committed fratricide. There was no time to ponder though, as the Angel lit up.

The hill that the missiles had launched from flashed blueish-white before a gigantic explosion consumed it.

"Next volley!"

Cannons from even further away than the sniper position opened fire, rounds streaking through the sky towards the target. They never made it either. The Angel reformed into a hexagonal prism and its AT-Field flashed to life. The cannon rounds bounced impotently away and the return shot, accompanied by a familiar shriek, destroyed that weapon battery as well. The pattern went on for a long minute. Emplacements would open fire, then be immediately wiped out. But there were more cannons. More missiles. More distraction from the main event.

"Release final safeties!"

"Engaging Rifle!"

Asuka cycled the bolt of the Positron Rifle, loading a fuse into the chamber. A mechanism swung a scope down over Unit-01's eye, and a similar device inside the entry plug lowered over her face. In front of her eyes, a crosshair swung back and forth as the targeting computer calculated a firing solution.

Asuka began to slowly inhale and exhale. It was more psychological than physiological, due to the LCL environment oxygenating her body, but she needed to stay calm and relaxed. Just in front of Unit-01, the barrel of the Positron Rifle shifted ever so slightly as she adjusted her aim.

Shinji would probably be scared right now, Asuka thought to herself as she watched the Angel change forms again and again to defend against humanity. Scared of screwing something up. Well, I'll dedicate this kill to him. And afterwards, I'm gonna make sure he doesn't feel useless again.

She heard somebody counting down, and returned her full attention to the duty at hand. At the three-second mark, she held her breath.

At the one-second mark, she gritted her teeth.

"Now! Fire!"

She squeezed the trigger.

A light show erupted behind Unit-01 as the capacitors poured their energy into the Positron Rifle. A cyan beam of energy erupted from the barrel and streaked across the landscape, the shockwave parting the water of the lake. It pierced the Angel's AT-Field like it wasn't there and went through the centre of the Angel itself, currently in the same form that had almost destroyed Unit-01 mere hours ago.

The Angel shrieked in pain as it turned into a pile of blue spikes. Dark red liquid vomited out of it, coating the area beneath it in a nasty hue.

"...Did we do it?"

Perhaps in answer to Misato's question, the Angel transformed. The spikes folded in on themselves as it returned to its original diamond shape.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Asuka exploded. "That was a perfect shot!"

"It's charging!"

"Everyone, brace for impact!"

The Angel transformed again. A five-pointed star grew out of the diamond, folded back in on itself and became larger and larger. It soon came to a rest; an upside down star shape with the core, now fully visible, bathing its centre bright red. It began to glow. And shriek.

Asuka blinked. "Oh fuck m-"

The Angel fired.

Half the mountain that the sniper platform was on simply evaporated. Asuka held on tight as the sniper platform was buffeted by the blast, knocking Unit-01 away from the Positron Rifle. While the blast was incredibly powerful, it was also a short one. What was left of the mountain was covered in smoke and debris.

Asuka struggled to stretch an arm out to her controls, desperate to get Unit-01 back on its feet. She had no doubt that another attack was about to come once the Angel realised she was still alive and kicking. NERV was falling all over themselves checking systems. Unit-01's G-Type equipment was gone, but the power system was apparently still functional and already recharging. That was enough for her. She'd just have to aim manually.

"How long?" she asked as Unit-01 hauled the Positron Rifle back to the firing position and set it down.

"Thirty seconds," Misato answered.

"Damn." Asuka pulled the targeting visor back down over her face. Her aim was more wobbly now, but through the scope she could see-

The Angel glowing again.

"Oh, go fuck yourself you screaming blue ba-"

The Angel fired again.

More of the mountain vanished under smoke and fire. Asuka flinched away from the light, then wondered why she wasn't feeling anything. She looked ahead to see...

Unit-00 was standing in front of her, shield held out to block the blast.

Asuka grinned. "Nice save, First!"

The beam flared, and pieces of the shield disintegrated.

"That shield won't last much longer!"

"Can we fire yet?!"

"Fifteen more seconds!"

Asuka steeled herself and adjusted her aim. The Angel's own beam had thrown off her aim, so she now had to compensate for that too. But she was Asuka Langley-Soryu, genius ace pilot. Nothing was beyond her.

"Ten seconds!"

She inhaled and exhaled, steadying her hand as the crosshair shifted less and less. It was almost there.

Unit-00 was now holding a piece of metal little bigger than its own head. Asuka tried to will the power system to go faster. A friend was in trouble right in front of her and it was taking too long. The last remnants of the shield quickly disappeared, and Unit-00 began to take the full force of the beam on its AT-Field.

Asuka wanted to help, but that would mean abandoning her own attack. All she could do was hope that there would be something left of Rei after this.

"Five seconds!"

The crosshair lined up just as the timer hit zero. Asuka growled and squeezed the trigger.

The Positron Rifle fired, its beam cutting through that of the Angel as if it were nothing. It once again shot through the AT-Field and through the middle of the Angel. This time, it immediately morphed into the familiar diamond shape as flames belched out of its far corner, then back into the pile of spikes. Several of the spikes showed a reflection of a large red orb. Its shriek was mournful as the orb exploded, painting the surface of the Angel with red.

"She did it!" came the exuberant cheer from Misato as the Angel toppled over, its last act being to turn back into a diamond as it came crashing to earth.

Asuka had no time to celebrate. The moment she'd seen the Angel's attack stop, Unit-01 had jumped to its feet and run towards Unit-00, now laying on the smoking ground, where it lifted the inert Evangelion up before rushing towards the lake. Steam coated the area as the water rapidly cooled Unit-00.

"Rei! Can you hear me?!"

There was no response, but Asuka didn't give up hope yet. After a few more seconds, she pulled Unit-00 out of the water and onto the shore, placing it face down. Unit-01's hand ripped off a section of the other Evangelion's back armour, triggering its entry plug ejection sequence. As gently as if she were holding a newborn kitten, Asuka lowered the entry plug to the dirt before bending Unit-01 down so that she could eject.

Even the entry plug had been warped by the heat. Asuka struggled to turn the handle holding the hatch closed for several long seconds before it finally gave way. She wiped a gloved hand across her brow before sweat could drip into her eyes and blind her, then stuck her head into the dark entry plug.

Rei was slumped in her chair, eyes closed and that same something still in her right hand. As Asuka took a step closer, she realised it was the same pair of cracked glasses that had been in her apartment earlier in the day. She tried to make sense of it, but gave up as she pulled Rei to her feet, slinging the girl's left arm over her own shoulder. The glasses slipped unheeded out of Rei's hand.

Asuka heard a groan, and looked at Rei's face just as the girl opened her red eyes. She huffed as she carried Rei out of the entry plug.

"Don't ever let me hear you say that your life is worthless again," she angrily stated. At Rei's puzzled look, she continued. "Maybe you can be replaced. Maybe somebody else could pilot your Eva. But there is no goddamn way that somebody could replace a friend."

Lowering Rei gently to the ground just outside the plug, Asuka looked up the hill at some lights that were gradually making their way down. She turned back to the girl on the ground. "And what the hell was that 'goodbye' thing about?! You made it sound like you had no intention of seeing me or Shinji ever again!"

Rei struggled to sit up. "I... am sorry," she weakly replied.

"Make sure you apologise to Shinji too. You left him in a bit of a state when you left like that." Rei looked away, a hint of shame on her face. Asuka lightened her tone. "Well anyway, it's over. Angel's dead, we're all alive... what now, huh?"

"I do not know."

Asuka tsked at the lame answer. "We've won, but you look like you're waiting for a doctor's appointment. Aren't you happy at all?"

Rei blinked. "I... believe so. But I am not sure what to do in this situation."

"Ugh, you're hopeless." Asuka almost buried her face in her hands, but abruptly changed her mind when she saw the state of her plugsuit's gloves. They had been half-melted by the heat of the entry plug, and underneath her hands were also stinging. She settled instead for placing them on her hips.

"Well, when me or Shinji are happy or satisfied or whatever, we smile. Why not try that?"

Rei gave a small gasp of surprise and looked up at Asuka, who smiled the smile of a job well done and held a hand out. After some hesitation, the corners of the First Child's mouth turned upwards into what was probably the first smile she had ever given. She reached out and grasped Asuka's hand, and the redhead pulled Rei to her feet, pretending that she didn't feel the sting in that hand.

"Now that that's out of the way, let's get the hell out of here."

They met the approaching NERV personnel halfway up the hill. Misato was in the lead, Shinji by her side, and Ritsuko was close behing. As soon as Misato spotted the two female pilots, she took off towards them, barrelling down the hill like an out of control train. Asuka barely had time to react as she was swept up into a crushing hug. Misato immediately began babbling happy things into her ear as she spun the Second Child around.

Just as she was starting to get dizzy, Asuka found herself back on solid ground again. Nearby, Shinji and Rei had met up, and Shinji seemed somewhat surprised by the smile on Rei's face. Stepping up towards them, Asuka put an arm around both of them.

"I think it's past time we head home." She glanced at Misato. "I'm taking Wondergirl here back to our apartment block. If the Commander has anything to say about it, tell him I said 'Kiss my ass, we just saved the world'."

Misato seemed about to say something, nervously raising a hand, but Asuka turned herself and the other two teenagers away and walked them off.

"...Wondergirl?" Rei quietly said.

If anybody heard her, they took no notice of it.