There, in the hangar bay of the Supercarrier, Unit 3.14 lay in stasis, waiting to be piloted one last time. Asuka and Danya stood on the balcony opposite, wearing their plugsuits, or what was left of them. As for Shinji, all he had was a spare interface headset, which he figured he could make do.
"This was the only one we could salvage. The cataclysm from the Third Impact left its central nervous system damaged. We've improvised and installed two more individual entry plugs into the spine and installed a Neuropathic Equilibrator on its back; a prototype from our allies in Nevada." He explained.
The Neuropathic Equilibrator was originally designed with the purpose of having more than one person pilot an Evangelion unit. One pilot would maintain control of the unit, and the remaining would act as copilots. In the event of an emergency, the primary controls can be manually switched to and from the pilot and copilots, while the device could draw energy from all pilots to stabilize neural synchronization and match their movements.
Much like Danya's suit, Unit 3.14 was military green and gold.
Just as she was about to speak, Battlehorne came in and announced that it was time. Eventually, they were on a boat- to another ship, which probably housed their Evangelion unit. Asuka stared at the red sea below them, looking at her reflection through the water. Eventually, they had reached their destination, and Asuka stood to the left of Unit 3.14, staring down the massive biomechanical weapon, a serious expression on her face as she put on her Interface Headset- though, this time, she put her hair into a long ponytail that stretched down to her mid-back. She gave a glance to Shinji and Danya before nodding at Battlehorne's explanation.
This was it. Just one more fight, and her piloting days were over... but what was after this? Asuka didn't know- she barely had an idea of it. She looked at the Evangelion again, enjoying its color palette for a brief while before looking back to the Captain.
"Do we... go ahead and enter the Entry Plugs?"
She asked, preparing for the battle that would likely ensue. She clenched her fists tightly, her facial features tightening up as she gazed back at Shinji and Danya. The air in the room... it felt tense, reasonably so. Maybe she should try and lighten the mood a little... and so, she attempted.
"Hey, you two... maybe after this, we can grab a bite to eat? I'm pretty sure I have enough money to."
She added. Her tone of voice still sounded serious- hell, they were about to fight for their lives, but... she wanted to at least ease some tension.
Shinji eyed Asuka before turning his head. He didn't smile, as he was nervous about the fate that lay ahead of them, but he nodded. "Sure." He said. It was the first time he had accepted an offer from Asuka, and...quite possibly the last. He didn't want to end this way, but if it did...at least he made her smile.
"Gladly." Danya said, as the sight of Unit 3.14 gave him a slight sense of confidence. His old war machine, to him, was like an old friend, rather than a burden. Sure, he felt his worth was being a soldier; a pilot, but he felt his savior complex also justified his existence...probably the only reason why he chose to accept this mission in the first place
Just before they boarded the entry plugs, Captain Battlehorne stood and saluted them. "Pilots. Goodluck, and Godspeed." He said. Danya saluted back before he sat in his seat in the main entry port of the unit, while the rest of the two other entry plugs were inserted into manually implanted entry ports, albeit crudely implanted, along with other patches and hastened handiwork which made Unit 3.14 seem like a hardened war veteran with wounds. In a manner of speaking, it was.
Darkness covered the face of Danya before the inside of his entry plug lit up once more, with a familiar interface and a control panel built into the central mount between the legs. To save energy, they waited for the final countdown to begin. All the while, Danya prayed. "Mother...can you hear me?" He whispered as he continued.
Asuka nodded, and before she knew it, she was inside the Entry Plug. Her eyes closed lightly as she readjusted to being in LCL... it smelled like blood. She hated the smell. As her Entry Plug powered up, flashes of light and colors could be seen as the LCL around her ionized, and eventually, she was connected to Unit 3.14. Her hands slowly wrap around the two triggers/handles, giving them a tight squeeze. She tried not to focus on her past with the Evangelion, hands gripping the controls tighter as she muttered something to herself.
"Focus on today..."
The sound of the Entry Plug- that low, deep hum that most would probably find menacing... Asuka found it to be almost relaxing. It certainly helped with clearing her head. The redhead's face was slightly pensive. Being in the Entry Plug again. . . it felt strange, comforting, and weird all at once. She would've taken a deep breath, but... she would've swallowed the LCL which was already giving her oxygen.
Shinji tried his best to breathe as well as panic soon overtook him. He was afraid. What if he made a wrong choice again? What if he screwed up like he did when his horrid insanity reached its peak before the Third Impact? Even after all the comfort that his two fellow pilots had given him, he partially blamed himself, even though he didn't at the same time too.
The feeling of being inside an entry plug was unnerving to say the least, he didn't like it. But still...he felt it was an obligation, or else...but...this time, no one forced him to pilot, not even the captain. He told him he had a right to refuse...so why did he come back to pilot in spite of the fact he'd most likely be plenty hurt again? There was no one else to try and prove himself to, much less his father, no one to try and win affection from. Was...it because...he valued his life? It was...
Minutes passed before the countdown began. "Synchronization test complete, diagnostics indicate the Eva unit is running at 88.8% capacity." An officer said over the com.
"Motor functions are at optimal performance. All systems are go for ignition." Another said before the countdown began. As soon as the timer hit zero, Unit 3.14 awoke once more.
"Hello again, old friend." Danya said to the Unit, treating it like an old war buddy. It was one of his coping mechanisms he used during his time in NERV-U to give him a sense of companionship.
As soon as the Unit was deployed into the ocean, standing just a few hundred feet from shore, the light on the ocean began to dim. The pilots and the crew turned their attention upwards and witnessed the horror in the skies above.
The Abaddon Protocol had begun.
The moon eclipsed the sun entirely and coated the earth in a stygian blanket of starless night, and there it stood, unmoving. From the region known as Mare Infernae, the whole circumference of the surface detonated in a devastating explosion greater than any man made bomb on earth. And from the crater in its place...something had started to descend unto the earth, something evil, something unholy. It fell through the sky like a meteorite followed along with other pieces of lunar debris.
Asuka watched from inside the Evangelion as the Moon eclipsed the Sun, coating the entire planet in darkness. Asuka's facial features tighten. Asuka brings her head up, finally opening her eyes to see what had happened. This was it... Asuka's grip on the handles increased. She leaned over slightly, and suddenly, the Evangelion's arm quickly reached up to its shoulder blade, unsheathing the Prog Knife. It began glowing a bright orange as Unit 3.14 held it in its right hand.
Then, suddenly, an explosion, visible from all the way down on the satellite below. Asuka watched, preparing herself as she watched... something begins to descend down. Was that the thing they were going to fight? Asuka huffed, suddenly getting on the intercom and speaking to Danya and Shinji.
"This is it, you two. Prepare yourselves."
She stated firmly, before looking back. It was getting closer. Asuka hoped that everything would go smoothly, but she already knew that something like that happening wasn't going to be the case if... whatever was up there was able to make an explosion of that magnitude.
As soon as the unknown enemy impacted on the surface of the earth, there was silence in heaven, and the wrath of God in all its fury had descended. The shockwaves arrived to shore in a tempest, nearly toppling the Evangelion, and peeling away at the very surface of the coast.
"We have contact! Impact detected at 66.6 kilometers from shore!"
"Sitrep!"
"We have a match. Target identified as Angel 00!"
"Standby for analysis."
"Sir, this can't be right! The sensory arrays must be malfunctioning. The blood type matches none of the known colors! The readings from the AT Field are off the chart!"
"What kind of Angel is this?" Another com officer asked.
Mare Infernae...Angel 00...66.6...suddenly it clicked. Pure horror of which no man could word hit Danya with the force of a legion. "My god...it's happening...it's really happening."
"Pilot 3.14 please repeat."
"Think about it! Who was the first Angel to fall from heaven?"
"It...it can't be! Impossible!"
"God help us all." Captain Battlehorne said. For the first time since Vietnam, fear was in his eyes.
It was none other than the Devil himself. Helel.
—
EVANGELION: WESTSIDE STORY
Episode 8:
"In The Mouth of Madness"
—
Asuka clenched the controls tighter, the Evangelion Unit quickly hunching forwards and slinging its arms in front of itself to block the immense winds. Asuka leaned forward to get a better look at the enemy, pupils shrinking as she prepared to fight the enemy. This Angel- it wasn't like any of the other ones, was it? She could hear the comms going off... it didn't match any blood type. What was going on? Her eyebrows raise. This was looking dire...
She heard Danya speak... the first Angel to fall from Heaven, according to the Bible- wasn't that... the Devil? Asuka leans back slightly, bewildered and immensely concerned. She was beginning to think that she wasn't going to come out of the fight alive, or recognizable- if she was right, this was the DEVIL. She was also concerned for Shinji... she didn't want him hurt. Despite his actions, she began to enjoy being around him. Seeing him hurt would pain her all the more.
At that moment, putting two and two together, Shinji's anxiety skyrocketed. He hadnt felt this shellshocked since his unholy transfiguration into the Tree of Life. He felt this was a suicide mission. His thoughts ran throughout his head faster than a speeding bullet as his body trembled at the sight of the Devil incarnate, which was slowly starting to approach them. It was hard to believe anything worse than the Third Impact, until now.
As Helel continued his ominous advance towards land, Danya swore he could faintly hear the ocean itself shrieking in unbridled agony. With each step it took, The Spirit of Sacrilege stained and polluted more expanse of the sea of LCL from blood orange to blood red like the Nile, altering and mutating its genetic blueprint. The souls of humanity were now subjected to endless horror and inconceivable torment. As if SEELE hadn't gone far enough, their plans to create a perfect pseudo-paradise for mankind, was slowly transcending into a virtual hell on earth.
Asuka watched in horror as the LCL turned from a deep, bloody orange to an almost... viscous crimson? She swore that she could hear people... screaming, and some of them were even people she faintly realized from school- terrifying her further. Just... what even was that thing? Its mere presence was already chilling her to the core. Her heartbeat began to increase further... this was beginning to look more and more like a suicide mission to Asuka, and even then, her death probably wasn't going to be painless and quick considering their opponent. Asuka's grasp on the handlebars tightened even further, her grip made of the same steel that the Entry Plug around her was made of. She quickly spoke, looking forward... the way Helel walked... it reminded her of how Unit 3 ominously approached her, and then proceeded to pulverize her. She quickly began speaking, her tone of voice serious and laced with fear- something unusual for Asuka.
"Are there any long range combat options?"
She asked; getting up close and personal with the Devil itself didn't seem like a good idea at all. Asuka looked around the shore for any sort of weaponry or object she could use that wouldn't require her to directly hit Helel... though, she already knew that this was probably going to be a fruitless effort. If Helel was an Angel, then he probably had an A.T Field. Asuka scowled, continuing to look around for anything, anything at all that would be useful.
Danya, being the believer he was, often studied the collective knowledge of the First Ancestral Race while at NERV-U, and often questioned the events that drove them to extinction. Now, everything started to make sense.
Humanity's creation, their conflict with the Angels, was not an accident. It was a ploy by Helel, who conspired against his own race to destruction. As punishment for sending the Black Moon to earth, he was imprisoned within Earth's own moon. And it was only a matter of time before the day of destruction.
"Send it up!" The Captain spoke through the comms as from the deck of the Supercarrier Yamantau came a weapon of sorts, unlike any Evangelion unit used beforehand; at first, it seemed to be another Prog Dagger. But as soon as Unit 3.14 grabbed ahold of it, it began to convert into a larger more convenient weapon; A Naginata, a weapon originally forged in feudal Japan. This version had a more cybernetic design to it, and had a significantly exceptional balance.
"Guess this'll do." Danya said as he did his best to remain calm. One unique feature about the Neuropathic Equilibrator, built into the spine of the Eva Unit like a jetpack, was that it linked all three of the pilot's neural inhibitors together, Danya being the control pilot. In a manner of speaking, all three were synchronized to the Eva unit, and thus to each other.
What made Helel all the more uncanny was his appearance; it was humanoid, resembling that of none other than Adam. Almost a photo negative; instead of light, his body consisted of pure untainted darkness shrouding his body, with ominous white eyes.
"Presvyataya Bogoroditsa. Spasi nas svoim vmeshatel'stvom." Danya prayed. Then, they attacked.
Unit 3.14 clenched the handle of the blade tightly, Asuka staring at it as it began to heat up and glow a bright orange. Asuka looked back out at Helel before the Evangelion quickly hunched over and began sprinting at maximum speed, each step making an enormous splash, causing water and sediment to soar into the air and the Umbilical Cable behind it to swirl furiously in the wind- occasionally making a thunderous snap sound as it came into contact with itself as the Evangelion unit nearly immediately accelerated to about 200 miles per hour. Asuka's eyes narrowed as they closed in, now only a few hundreds of yards away.
The Evangelion slowed down to a mere 56 miles per hour, and then, crouched down and leapt a good 150 feet into the air, holding the Naginata with both hands- blade facing the Angel. Asuka let out a loud yell, her pupils dilating a bit further. Asuka was going for a deep slice to the top of the beast's head, which would obviously cause enormous damage if it connected. She also tensed up- preparing for an A.T field - this was an Angel, after all and it probably had an extremely strong A.T field... she hoped Unit 3.14 had an A.T field of its own, because it would definitely be of use here. It was clear Asuka had an amazing grasp on piloting, and even with her inexperience with this Unit, she was able to sync with it decently enough... but would decently enough be enough to stop Helel?
As soon as the blade began to penetrate the head of Helel, it was counteracted with an AT Field. But this AT field, unlike most, wasn't colored as orange or red, or any warm hues, but rather a dark, and ominous color. As soon as the Eva Unit started to descend back into the water for another strike, Helel seized the Naginata and in the literal blink of an eye delivered a punch to the gut before using the one demonic crescent horn of his head to headbutt the Unit before using its otherworldy strength to lift and try to crush it, just like Asuka did with the MPE battle.
Danya had to think fast. Instinctively, he reached back and grabbed Helel's wrist in order to try and break it. In that instant, Helel became infuriated and spun before tossing Unit 3.14 back towards the shore. Unfortunately, it landed on one of the ships, forcing the crew to evacuate. Danya couldn't focus on them, they had to defeat Helel or else the world would truly come to a horrifying end. He stood up and grabbed ahold of the Naginata before approaching Helel, instead of charging him. The two titans circled around each other, examining each other, trying to catch one another off guard.
Shinji was stressed, more stressed than he could recollect. He was starting to wonder if he'd make it as his breath grew shallow. He couldn't run away this time, even if he wanted to. He had to summon all the courage he could, whatever little he had left. Just then, Helel advanced, letting out an earth shattering shriek. Now they were on the defensive, how would they counteract?
Asuka looked at the AT field, expecting this- but before she could yell out for Unit 3.14's AT field to expand to counteract Helel's, the Devil had knocked the wind out of her. As the demonic entity lifted the Eva Unit into its hands and tried to rip it apart, Asuka could feel it. She growled, but before she could try and do anything, Helel had thrown the Unit onto a heavyweight ship. Asuka groans, feeling pins and needles in her back as she watches the ship evacuate. Slowly, a small smile spreads across her face and she quickly initiates comms between Danya, Shinji and Captain Battlehorne as Unit 3.14 and Helel circled each other.
"What if we use that ship as a weapon? If we could bring the Angel's AT field down, I'd bet we could just jam the whole thing into that damned thing's face, or throw the ship at it."
She stated firmly. Even if slamming the large boat into Helel didn't do any damage, it could be used as a distraction to allow Unit 3.14 to attack. Asuka eyed the boat, making absolutely sure that everybody was off of it. Asuka was still tense, but she was trying to remain confident in her abilities. She would be trying to regain her breath right now, but the LCL was doing that for her- and efficiently.
"All personnel, all personnel, abandon ship immediately!" Captain Battlehorne phoned in before they all began to jump ship into the sea. Although it would be unconventional, it was a tactic to say the least, and as of now, any idea was a good idea.
Danya quickly picked up the ship using both hands, acting as if it were a baseball bat. "Batter up sucker!" Danya shouted as he charged and swung the ship at Helel. The size of the ship wielded by Unit 3.14 was sufficient to blind him temporarily as the Devil used his hand to block it, shattering the ship. Danya rounded him and attacked from the back to pierce through his AT field and land a blow on his spine. A successful hit.
Step by step, inch by inch, blow by blow, they fought against each other relentlessly in hand to hand combat under an eclipsed sky.
Chaining her attack into Danya's, Unit 3.14 quickly kicked Helel in the side, sending it stumbling back a bit. Asuka smirked, but in nearly an instant, Helel rushed forward, sucker punching Unit 3.14 in the right eye. For Danya and Shinji, the pain was bad, but bearable. But for Asuka, however...
Asuka suddenly reels back in pain, letting go of the handlebars and putting her hands over her scarred eye, hunching over- but before Unit 3.14 could move, its left arm was yanked forward by the Devil. The fallen Angel quickly brought up its free arm, slamming it down across the middle of the Evangelion's arm. Asuka screeches in pain, her entire left arm and face burning from pain- as if a blowtorch was lighting her ablaze. Asuka hunches over further, occasionally randomly shifting or harshly jerking. Quickly, the comms turned back on.
One of the people working on the ships; specifically the Third Mate, who was monitoring Evangelion Unit 3.14's condition, as well as the pilots inside. The woman quickly brought Battlehorne onto the comms.
"Pilot 3's sync rates are falling rapidly and she seems to be seizing! Her Entry Plug's control neurons are beginning to disconnect!"
Just then, Helel attempted to attack again, quickly attempting a kick at Unit 3.14's chest to send it tumbling back at one of the ships. Just then, Asuka attempted to stop hunching and sit upright, but jerked again- this time, it was far more sudden and harsh. She then falls back against the seat, face pointing down at the floor.
"Pilot 3 is unresponsive! Sync rates are nearing inoperable levels!"
"Disconnect her from the Equilibrator! Confirm the emergency power supply!" Captain Battlehorne said as the sudden pain from Asuka's hit caused a backlash along the central nerve system for Unit 3.14. Asuka was suffering a sudden cerebral vascular inefficiency caused by her sudden attempts to recuperate from the attack.
Danya regained control of the Unit, but as he did. Helel seemed to have disappeared altogether. He scanned his surroundings to try and detect where he went. "Pilot 3.14 to control, lost visual, I repeat, I've lost visual." He said. Just then, Helel suddenly surfaced from the water, ambushing Unit 3.14, with the Naginata in hand as it attempted to stab it in the eye where it hit. "Head's up!" He shouted and blocked it with his own AT Field, but it wasn't long before the weapon began to glow a dark and otherworldly hue, penetrating the field. Danya knew where this was going. He couldn't let it happen to his fellow pilots! Using his control panel, he switched to emergency desync before the blade penetrated his eye.
Danya's heart literally skipped a beat before he suddenly lurched back and unleashed a blood curdling scream of anguish, clutching his eye with his hand. The master alarm sounded as the visual screen glitched.
Helel's shadowed face unfurled in an utterly repulsive manner, much like the petals of a grotesque flower plucked from an unholy garden of flesh. Emitting from its throat was what could only be described as a flash of unfathomable darkness, rather than light, much like that of Arael and the other angels. It coated Unit 3.14 in a hadal aura of silence and plunged all three pilots into the mouth of madness.
The next thing Danya knew was that he was shoved into the spotlight, literally, sitting in a simple metal chair, the ocean of darkness surrounding him. While unseen above him, Shinji and Asuka stood on the bottom of the surface of a sea of LCL, witnessing him from upside down.
Asuka slowly reached out for the handlebars, grabbing them with as much force as she could. As for the disconnection attempt, it had failed. Asuka looked up at the Angel, unable to move the unit as she watched as Unit 3.14 was slammed in the eye with the blade, feeling no pain. She desperately attempted to move the Evangelion, now seeing double and experiencing immense fatigue. She also was beginning to feel numb.
"MOVE! MOVE! WHY WON'T YOU MOVE?!"
She screamed out before herself, Shinji and the crew back at the ships watched in horror as Helel's face unfurled itself and unleashed a dark blast onto the 3 pilots. Asuka once again tried to move the Evangelion, but all it did was hunch over. No, no no no-
Then, before she knew it, she was reliving everything. She saw everything - felt everything herself. She saw her mother hanging, her lifeless body inside the Evangelion, all her losses to the Angels- she could even hear her mother telling her to give up and die with her- she saw her bastard father cheating on her mother, along with random flashes of lights as she desperately shifted the handlebars. She didn't want to relive it- she didn't want to! The LCL around her seemed to begin to darken.
"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! IF YOU DON'T MOVE, ALL OF THIS IS GONNA BE FOR NOTHING! MOVE! WHY WON'T YOU MOVE?!"
Asuka screamed out, ruthlessly shifting and jerking the controls as the Evangelion did absolutely nothing at all. Memories flashed throughout her mind, the suddenness of it all giving her immense sensory overload.
"Sir! We've lost readings on all three pilots! Helel has seemed to cover the Evangelion in a blanket of darkness- like an inverse A.T Field!"
Suddenly, Helel jerked forward, resting its hand on the chest plating of Unit 3, suddenly ripping off the plating ruthlessly, revealing where the Entry Plugs were located and causing purple blood to spew from the ripped off sections of plating.
"It's- it's going for the Entry Plugs?!"
The Third Mate yelled out, staring out at the one-sided fight in horror. Helel's face began to glow before blasting Unit 3.14 in the lower core- the one Asuka was in. The explosion was a massive, cross shaped one that extended out far into the ocean which sent Unit 3.14 stumbling back and onto the shore before slowly beginning to walk towards it.
"Entry Plug 3 has been damaged! Any more and the LCL will begin leaking out! Get Unit 3.14 standing upright and then I'll send out the emergency ejection command!"
Suddenly, the visuals and stats for the three plugs came back. Asuka's head was pointed at the ground, tears falling from her face. The Third Mate watched the stats in horror.
"I've been able to get back the Pilots and Entry Plugs' visual feed and status reporting back online! Life support is showing abnormalities! Helel sent out a psychological attack- it's corrupting Unit 3.14!"
She stated, before looking at Asuka's, Danya's and Shinji's mental graphs in horror.
"All three pilots are on the verge of a psychological breakdown! Get Unit 3.14 upright, now!"
All hell was breaking loose, literally, as Shinji was starting to relive his own memories...his bastard father abandoning him at the train station...nearly killing Toji against his will...forcing to kill Kaworu...watching Misato die, watching Asuka die, watching everyone die...
"Wh-why...why is this happening again? Why...why? Shinji didn't even have the energy to scream. He was just exhausted...from it all...
Just then, by divine intervention, or however it happened, Shinji saw a sense of deja vu...Misato's cross...floating through the sea of LCL which he was suspended from upside down. As soon as he grabbed it, the memories stopped. He could see clearly now through the surface where Danya was sitting on the ceiling...or floor...
Next to him, he saw Asuka panicking in absolute terror. He hated seeing this...seeing her hurting again...Misato's cross...it acted as a reminder...a reminder of what he must do. He reached out to Asuka, her AT field was intense, but miraculously, he broke through and grabbed her hand to pull her out of the spell. "ASUKA!" He said.
As soon as he did, time outside the mindscape was brought to a standstill, enough time for Danya to confront his own thoughts.
The girl, surrounded by a massive wave of horrible thoughts and feelings, clenched her head tightly. When Shinji broke through her AT field and grabbed her, for a brief moment, he was thrown into her point of view, seeing everything that Asuka had seen. Eventually, Asuka was pulled out of the spell, now back inside her Entry Plug. She leaned back against the seat, taking a second to try and focus on the fight, muttering something to herself- "The entire world's at stake. Focus."- as she leaned forward and grabbed the handlebars. Though, as she looked outside, she realized that time had simply stopped. She looked in confusion before trying to contact Danya. No dice. She quickly contacted Shinji and attempted to communicate with him. Suddenly, the Entry Plug around her darkened and she was slung right into Danya's mindscape, now standing next to Shinji. She gave him a concerned gaze, not knowing what to do- she was still trying to get over her own mental hell- using coping phrases like 'that was all in the past' and 'I know mommy's still watching over me'. Asuka's fists tightened as her concerned gaze turned into a determined frown. They were running on limited time- who knows when time will suddenly come back?
"... I think that we need to try and pierce through his AT field- like you did to me."
But it was of no use, for the moment. The AT field which separated the two of them from Danya was stronger than any of the angels from before. They had to wait for the right time...Shinji clutched his cross as the two of them, unsees, watched as the Devil confronted Danya.