SUP DID YA MISS ME

kinda been looking forward to this one for a while now, hope it lives up to my expectations

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Chapter 23

The Siege of Hakone: The Swarm (part 2)

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The shelter had been locked down for twenty-four hours before they'd let the civilians leave. And when they did, the city of Tokyo-3 was not quite as any of them remembered.

There were armed military patrols at almost every city block, in units of four men each. Trains sported at least a man every two cars, and transit stations could have as many as several dozen. The whirr of helicopter rotors and VTOL engines filled the air, so omnipresent that it was impossible to pick one aircraft's sound out of the swarm.

Perhaps most menacing, to Asuka's eye, were the gargantuan missile racks that capped every large building. They'd always been there, but they were only visible when a citywide red alert was in effect: most civilians had never seen them at all, and Asuka herself had only ever seen them from above, when she was perched in an Evangelion cockpit and the buildings were retracted down into the Geofront.

By contrast to the broad-spectrum military power on display, the ponderous white-armored giant on the horizon was a comforting sight. Still, it itched at the back of Asuka's mind, that Unit Zero was walking in a deliberate pathing pattern and holding her Pallet Mk2 down.

Defense. We're never deployed on defense. The Eva corps are supposed to counterattack, not entrench.

The people on the streets clearly saw the living giant in a different light. Those who pointed and gaped about it spoke in hushed whispers; some even fell to their knees in overt prayer. Though Asuka could understand how easy it might be to see the Evas as godlike, the idea still rubbed her the wrong way; no matter how mighty the beast, its pilot was just another human, at least as scared and scarred as the rest of them.

When Asuka got home, Misato's house was empty, and the burglar alarm keypad informed her that no one had been by for more than a day.

Misato's microwave food was, out of the box, quite bland; but at least it was less disgusting than whatever bizarre condiments she usually put on it.

No one had returned by the time she'd finished her food. She discarded the dishes into the sink, then left the apartment again, heading further up the tiered building.

Many of the doors she passed by showed signs of rust on their slide rails or locks. The windows of the apartments were similarly grimy on the outside, dusty on the inside, or both.

Don't think I've yet seen double digits of inhabited apartments in this building…

Stuffing her hands into her pockets, Asuka stepped up the last flight of stairs and onto the roof.

The sun was low over the city that had once been known as Hakone, and the gargantuan flesh-golem demigod that guarded it was a dark silhouette against the sunset.

Asuka sat down with her back to one of the humming AC units on the roof, listlessly watching the patrolling Evangelion.

She hadn't meant to close her eyes, but the gentle sound of the whirring fans quickly reminded her that it'd been nearly forty-eight hours since she had last slept, and she was dozing off before she knew it.

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A little while later, Asuka jolted awake. The sun had finished setting, and only a dusty glow remained on the horizon; she was lucky to have woken before the air grew much colder.

It wasn't hard to tell what had woken her. There was no mistaking an air raid siren.

Asuke got to her feet and paced over to the edge of the roof. The streets below were the usual sea of chaos, with soldiers barking commands and wailing civilians swarming towards the nearest shelter.

I should follow them, and get to shelter…

But Asuka couldn't force herself to move. The same gnawing fear she'd felt in the shelter came creeping back, coiling around her spine and fixing her feet to the ground.

I can't do that again. I can't take that helplessness. I have to know.

There was a flash of light from behind one of the mountains, and for a moment, the tip of a purple horn could be seen against the dark sky. A moment later, there was a deep, snapping rumble, not unlike thunder.

I'd have been sure that was lightning, if I didn't know what a mark three pallet rifle sounded like.

The warring Evangelion appeared to be Unit 01, according to the purple horn. Asuka could only conclude that either a patrol rotation had occurred, or a reserve unit had been rapidly deployed to assist in the fight.

Likely both. It's what I'd have done.

There was another flash; and it was a heartbeat longer before the report broke over the rooftops of Tokyo-3. The warring monsters were moving away, which meant that the defense force was at least doing their job right.

Asuka wrapped her arms tighter around herself, and sat down to wait.

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This body is 10.63 years old and its heart has beat 448,121,074 times.

Rei's finger curled around the control yoke's primary button, and the gauss rifle in her giant hands let out another echoing thunderbolt of sound. The crawling monster, already crippled from her first salvo, shrieked and died as the heavy round tore through its thorax and pulverized its core.

"Threats neutralized."

This body's mean age is 12.51 years and its heart has cycled 178 HEU fuel rods and 50 HE-MOX fuel rods since its first full-temperature test.

The strange spider-like seraphs seemed endless. Between the three Eva corps pilots on deployment, more than forty had already been slain - and yet they kept coming. Their ranks had thinned, but none of the pilots dared hope they were exhausted.

"Baal to control. Please tell me you've got something on where they're coming from." It was Mari's voice, several degrees more exhausted than usual.

"Narrowed it down to a few regions," came Ritsuko's clipped reply. "Nothing we could launch a counterassault on yet."

"Ain't that just awesome - aww, fuck." Even dimmed by the comm pickup, the popping crack of a gauss gun was unmistakable. "Contact, one. Neutralized."

"Are you clear, Baal?'

"I'm clear now, anyway."

"Sound off, pilots." Misato's voice didn't shake, but the strain was visible on her face.

"Baal. Clear."

"Ishtar. Eyes on two, hanging back."

Rei touched the radiocoms button on her control column. "Asherah, clear."

Misato looked up, speaking to someone off-camera, then looked back down at the console. "Ishtar, we have radar locks on both blues near you. They seem to be retreating; confirm?"

"Confirmed."

"Acknowledged." Misato looked over her control panel. "Ishtar, fall back to the median perimeter and take over patrol. Asherah, Baal, return to the nearest elevators for extraction."

"Acknowledged."

"Acknowledged."

Not long ago, Rei would have simply wordlessly moved to obey. She had been nothing but a tool, after all, and when would a tool ever protest the orders it's given?

She leaned forward, touching the radiocoms button again. "Acknowledged."

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The smell of stress, bleach, and cigarette smoke alerted Misato a moment before she looked up. "Yeah?" She said, her frown deepening.

Ritsuko's expression was impassive, and the lit cigarette in her mouth barely moved as she spoke. "Fuyutsuki wasn't too hard to convince after seeing the patrol schedule. It is strategically unsound to be ferrying the kid back and forth so far, after all. Even when we're not under siege like this." She retrieved a sheet of paper from her lab coat's lower pocket. "Here's the order, including both signatures. You may now stash her wherever you want, Captain."

Misato's eyes widened slightly as she looked over the neatly typed missive. "... thanks."

"I wouldn't advise drawing the Commander's attention to this." The doctor had already turned to leave. "And don't thank me."

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"All right, kids, here we are. Hop out."

Rei frowned, taking a visual scan of the area around the car. "This is not my place of dwelling, Captain," she managed, her voice halting. "Nor is it Pilot Illustrious'."

"It is now. I'd have asked you to pack a bag, if I thought you owned more than your plugsuit and two school uniforms." Misato chuckled, then seemed to wince at her own humor. "Anyway, Ryoji will be coming by later with your medications and spare clothes - do you have anything else you need?"

"No, Captain."

"Good. Hop out, then."

Rei stepped out of the car, taking in the building before her. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar; she'd been here before once or twice. But never as a resident of the apartments within.

This is where Ikari and Langley-Soryu… Asuka live.

This body is 10.63 years old and its heart has beat 448,130,146 times.

The stairwells were much like any other apartment complex in the city, but lacked the buildup of litter, grafitti and grime that colored her home's building. The doors also seemed electronic instead of manual.

"Willkommen daheim," came a tried voice from the living room. Rei stopped short in the hallway, abruptly unsure of herself. Mari and Misato, however, simply moved past her

"Oh, hey, Four Eyes. Stopping by for a visit?"

"Not just a visit." There was the sound of Mari dropping her duffel bag on the floor. "Since we can deploy quicker if we're all near headquarters, Command has us bunking here for the time being."

This body is 10.63 years old and its heart has beat 448,130,251 times.

"'Us'?"

Deciding that there was no more to be gained from hiding, Rei moved down the hall, stepping into the doorway of the living room.

For a moment, Rei saw a rare sight: Asuka, with a relaxed demeanor. Freedom from the strain of a soldier at war - voluntary or not - made her seem younger, bringing out the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl she should have been, and hiding away the scarred and bitter veteran that had been made to grow up far too quickly.

She is beautiful, when she smiles…

But as soon as Asuka caught sight of Rei, the stone mask came down again.

"Hey, Blue."

Rei bowed, reflexively, and Asuka rolled her eyes at the Japanese formality.

"Guess you're bunking here now, huh." The German's voice sounded incredibly tired, even though Rei knew she hadn't been on deployment or in school recently. "Well… stay out of my bedroom and we won't have any problems."

Rei nodded silently.

"Well!" Misato cut in, stepping into the living room. "I'll get out the spare futons later. Right now, let's eat. Shinji's still on duty, so I'm afraid you'll have to suffer through my cooking."

Asuka and Mari let out a loud groan in perfect unison.

Curious…

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There were quiet footfalls in the hallway, and the murmur of hushed voices - followed by a soft hiss from the automatic door. To Asuka's tightly wound hypervigilance, it might as well have been a siren, and she was wide awake in a matter of seconds.

One of the voices was definitely Misato. The other… has to be Mari, because Rei doesn't shift her tone like that.

Nothing more happened for about half an hour. Asuka had almost managed to go back to sleep, when the door hissed again. This time, there was no speaking, but Asuka could never mistake the slow, timid, worn-out gait of one Shinji Ikari. Cementing the conclusion was the fact that the footsteps walked into the room beside hers.

Shift change. Eight hours per active pilot will cover the whole day, but… eight hours in the uplink circuit, every day… that's got to suck.

Part of Asuka simply wanted to put it out of her mind, and return to the oblivion of sleep, and hope not to dream. The larger part of her, though, burned with banked coals of anger.

It should be me. I should be there beside them. There'd only be six hour patrols if I was on the force, and I know they'd feel better with their squad leader's talents at their back.

Asuka rolled over and pulled a pillow over her head, trying to will herself back to sleep. It was a long time before she was successful.

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