Despite all the architectonic and interior design attempts to make the place appear open and welcoming, at its heart NERV Headquarters still was a giant maze. There were entire wings that Shinji wasn't sure whether they had been used in the last five years or so at all; if anybody except cleaning and maintenance crews had even only so much as entered them. It seemed for every little specialized task there was a particular room in the building, so it didn't surprise him greatly that there was a ready room for pilots that he had never seen before.
So much stuff. Simply for sending us out to suffer. It seemed to him NERV HQ should be small, cramped, stark. That would have seemed to be more in line with what they made them do: A matter of cruel necessities. Shinji felt the place should reflect that. Instead, they made it very comfortable for the people who send out others to do the dirty work and suffer for them. Even this ready room was flooded with light, which shone upon a small kitchen counter, couches, a table, four vending machines and even a foosball table.
It all seemed inappropriately comfortable to him.
Not that they would still send him out to suffer anymore. That would only happen when a pilot had fallen but their unit somehow remained intact and had been retrieved. Shinji knew himself that the chances for that were very small, and if it happened chances were a pilot had… had…
He breathed in and out.
In any case, it didn't feel like that to him, though. He had been rushed to the Geofront in a Section 2 car, had ran through the corridors to the locker room, had hastily changed into a plugsuit… so basically, exactly the same routine as before his two deployments against 'Shamshel' and 'Ramiel'. And he felt anxious just like before a sortie as well, like he had never left active service at all. I'll never be free of this world. Therefore, he had no problem with just sitting here and doing nothing. Rationally, he knew of course that eventually the sortie would happen, but it was easy to pretend that it was something far off.
Not everyone agreed with that.
"If they make us wait here I could as well have stayed where I was," Asuka grumbled.
Mari chuckled. "You know how it is, Princess. 'Hurry up and wait'. Routine for soldiers since forever."
"It's inefficient," Asuka muttered, but didn't complain further.
I'm not a soldier. I never wanted to be one. None of us should be. But Shinji didn't articulate his thoughts.
A grave silence followed, as the wait dragged on. Asuka paced around in the room. Shinji just couldn't understand her; she seemed anxious for the battle to start. Such an attitude was completely alien to him. Mari was even worse. Sunk into one of the couch chairs, she sat there with a smug smile on her face, a coke can with straw in her hand, and humming a pop melody – like nothing in the world could be the matter, like she wouldn't soon face death.
"I was swimmin' in the Caribbean; animals were hiding behind the rock…"
So as always, Rei's serene silence was the most palatable reaction to him. She sat half across him in a seating group. Not knowing what else to do, Shinji smiled at her. She had been looking right back, and now she blinked, as if in surprise. Then she looked down. It was hard to tell, but the corners of her mouth seemed to bend slightly upwards. Huh. Shinji was surprised and slightly embarrassed, but also felt comforted.
"Herr im Himmel," Asuka cursed, "How long do they want to let us..."
It was then that Misato practically burst into the room. "The Evangelions are currently being prepared for launch," she immediately said without any prelude, her voice firm and loud. "The angel is literally falling from orbit. It has an even stronger AT Field than Ramiel, which we have so far been unable to penetrate. It is targetting the Tokyo-3 region, most likely the Geofront, though spatial distortions from its AT Field make it impossible to tell for sure. If it lands, it will create a crater fifteen clicks deep, evaporating the city. Do all of you understand?"
Shinji had basically jumped up from his couch chair as reaction to Misato's quick entry; only now did he see Ritsuko entering the room behind her. He just nodded dumbly. He felt somewhat overwhelmed, but he had in fact understood the gist of Misato's sudden explanation.
Rei affirmed with a soft "Yes,", Mari with a cheery "Sure do", and Asuka… Asuka turned around from her pacing and grunted. "So what can I do?"
Misato grinned. "Catch it."
"What?" Asuka exclaimed. Mari laughed.
"We will spread the EVAs throughout Tokyo-3," Misato explained. "That way, we will cover the largest amount of territory. Once you see the angel, you are to race towards it, and catch it with your AT Fields at maximum. They should be able to delay the angel's fall until it can be killed."
"Should..." Shinji muttered. The pilots got no input in those crazy plans; they would simply take all the deadly risk.
"I can do that," Asuka announced. None of the other two girls said anything, though Mari lounged in her chair as if this all didn't matter.
"Good," Misato answered almost absent-mindedly. "We..."
"Alone," Asuka interrupted her.
Misato shook her head. "That won't be possible. We must minimize our risks. We can't afford to leave any area of the potential landing region uncovered or undercovered."
"It won't exactly minimize risks if I have to work with those two," Asuka answered dismissively, nodding towards both Mari and Rei. "I will save the world!"
"Asuka, that's an order!" Misato told her strictly.
Even though it wasn't directed at him, Shinji flinched. Orders… It seemed to him he had constantly been ordered around ever since his father had called him to this city. And Asuka had been in NERV far longer than him.
Meanwhile, the redhead's face had darkened. It seemed like she would burst soon, but she didn't say anything. Instead, Mari now jumped up from her chair. There was an insolent grin on her face as she looked Misato in the face. "So that's the plan? Hope an Evangelion will be near enough that thing to catch it, hope the Evangelion won't just be crushed, and hope yet another unit will be close enough nearby for it to rush over and kill the angel? No wonder the Princess is pissed, what with such a weak showing from Command." Now her grin was almost insubordinate.
"Mari..." Misato's tone was dark and threatening.
"What? It's not like you can fire me!" Mari reminded her, that smirk still in its place. "And this is just too much fun."
"Do it better then!" Misato snapped. "As is, that is exactly the plan!"
"And they call me crazy!" Mari laughed. "But don't worry, Colonel Buxom, I love crazy! Consider me in!"
Misato rubbed the bridge of her nose, but then smirked. "I even have a surprise for all of you. Now let's get going."
Everyone got in motion to leave – everyone except Shinji, who would spend the battle here, in the ready room. He saw that by chance, Rei was at the tail end of the group. Gently, Shinji grabbed her shoulder. The bluehaired girl stopped and looked at him questioningly.
"Ah… ah… s-sorry," Shinji stuttered. "It's just… I wanted to tell you..." Rei tilted her head, clearly confused by his behaviour. "Please come back safely, okay?"
"Oh," Rei voiced.
Shinji gulped and continued looking in her face. "If you do, I'll… we can do something together, maybe? You'd deserve to... I dunno... have some fun? And if you… if you don't, then I… I wouldn't know what… if you were hurt… or, or…"
Shinji couldn't finish the sentence. For one second, the two just stood there, looking at each other. Then Rei raised a hand and softly touched Shinji's cheek. His eyes got wide. It only lasted two seconds, then Rei turned and followed the others. But it left behind a very bewildered Shinji.
A predatory grin appeared on Misato's face.
She was standing on the bridge in NERV's headquarters, at the edge of her level of it. The next lower level of the multi-layered bridge was a dozen metres down, but the Lieutnant Colonel could't see it – she was surrounded to all sides by holographic screens filling up the gap in front of her.
Unit 00, piloted by Mari. Unit 01, piloted by Rei. Unit 02, piloted by Asuka. They all were in their waiting positions. Wherever that angel would land, an Evangelion would be reasonably close nearby.
We'll get you, you bastard. One more angel that had appeared. One more angel they would take down. Until finally they would have cleansed world of their taint. Ritsuko had called this Misato's 'vendetta', but even she had to see the angels had to be defeated – and the Lieutnant Colonel would make sure they would be. Even if it was with crazy methods like catching a living comet. Adrenaline was running through Misato's body. Let Ritsu talk. The only thing that matters is that I'll get that angel. And all her Evangelions were ready for just that.
"I love it when a plan comes together," Misato muttered.
"Even one as crazy as this one," Ritsuko muttered back. NERV's head scientist was standing just a few metres behind her, and she sounded dismayed. She had been dead-set against the mission, but the Lieutnant Colonel had overruled her.
In fact, she was standing, as she so often did, right behind Maya's terminal, her hand probably on the back of Maya's chair, and her assistant was chuckling now. Misato just ignored it. Technically, this was somewhat undermining her authority, but then, it was just about certain that Ritsuko would have told Maya everything about how she had been overruled anyway. The two were thick as thieves.
In fact, there had always been rumours about the two in Headquarters. However, Misato knew there had also always been rumours about Ritsuko and her in college – even after she had begun trading very public displays of affection with Kaji. Some people would always see something that wasn't there.
And if Misato were honest, she had to admit that this plan Ritsuko would have complained about to Maya was indeed somewhat crazy. Unfortunately, it was also the only plan that was really doable. So she had decided to even the odds a bit. Citing vital mission necessity, she had requisitioned as of yet untested NERV prototypes. If she was starting a crazy mission, she could as well go for broke.
"So, Asuka, what do you think?" she asked with a certain satisfaction in her voice. "Wanna give it a try?"
There was movement on the large holographic screen showing Unit 02 at its current location. At first, it was only a shaking that went through the unit. But then, in a second try, there was fire and smoke from the area of its feet, and suddenly the unit darted up around 20m straight into the air.
When it had come down again, a small, semi-transparent window showing Asuka's face in the entry plug appeared layed over the image of Unit 02. "Jumpjets..." She sounded incredulous.
"You have training in aerial manoeuvres after all," Misato answered. "The Ninlil-III jumpjets allow you to jump up to 350m into the air."
"Or should," Ritsuko muttered behind her. "If everything goes well. Which isn't tested."
Misato's face got hard. She didn't need to be reminded of that fact. The whole mission was ramshackle and risky enough as was. Things like the jumpjets would get them the needed extra edge, given the mission profile, tested or not.
Asuka looked oddly serious – or maybe just determined. After all, with that little improvement of her unit, she would now indeed have the chance to save the world again, as was their job. Even so, she looked so grim, Misato tried to cheer her up. "I bet you'll do it, Asuka. You'll save the world."
Now Asuka grinned, a predator's grin just like Misato's. "Yes. I will. Only I have the training necessary for those things, and with them it will be me – I will do it!" And in a mutter: "I'll prove it to them all…"
It made Misato feel a bit uncomfortable. The mission could be seriously hampered if Asuka decided to just ignore the others and go it alone. However, the Lieutnant Colonel knew that this was Asuka's motivation. The pilot of Unit 02 had to have that, so Misato didn't comment.
So instead, she defaulted to cheery again. "You hear that, Mari? Asuka is going for the kill."
Unit 00 was shown on another screen. Misato had barely gotten used to the new blue paint, but now there was another chance: both arms now ended in large, powerful drills.
Mari's image appeared on the screen. The girl half-sat, half-laid on her back in her entry plug, with buds in her ears and a can of soda, specially sealed against the LCL, in her hand. Misato had to actively prevent herself from having a dumb look on her face. Who has authorized that? We have a combat mission on our hands!
"What the princess wants, the princess usually gets," she merely commented. There was a shiver going through her body, which continued seamlessly in a rocking back and forth that was at best semi-rhythmical to a song she was beginning to hum.
"No ambitions yourself?" Misato asked her. "You have your drills back now, after all."
Beneath the layer showing the pilot, Unit 00 held its arms up began to rev up the drills.
"Oh god, my drills!" Mari laughed. "Vroom, vroom, vroom!" And then, out of a sudden, in a rather dark voice: "Vrooom."
"Eh… right," Misato answered. "The Crimson Face, Mark 3 – believe it or not, this model is specifically designed to penetrate AT Fields. Something about the 'Allegorical Principle'. Ritsuko told me the discovery of that principle has been all the rage in Metaphysical Biology circles the past few years. And with that whammer of an AT Field we have at our hands, you might need them."
"Interesting," Mari answered, her voice still dark – but the she began to cackle. "Wahahaha. Oh, this will be fuuun."
Well. At least she is motivated.
"And we have something for you as well, Rei," Misato continued.
Unit 01, Shinji's former unit, stood entirely still, and the window showing Rei's face betrayed no motion, either. The blue-haired girl hadn't reacted to Misato at all.
The Lieutnant-Colonel sighed. "We have equipped you with a prototype advanced version of the prog-knife. You still have a prog-knife in your left shoulder pylon, in case the prototype doesn't work, but in your right shoulder plyon there is the… ah… the…" She turned around to Ritsuko for help.
The scientist stood tall, looking right towards Rei's window. Light reflected from her glasses.
"The Experimental Double Shadow Quantum State Blade 'Delilah'," she announced almost ceremoniously.
"...we need to get you off coffee," Misato muttered. "And get you a new hobby."
Ritsuko simply ignored what Misato had said. She had much training in that. "It looks like a normal prog-knife and will cut like one, but it is actually three blades in one: The material one and two that will appear when the knife is swung, which will trigger a change in quantum states. Following the material blade there will be a blade of solid light and one of solid sound. Understood?"
"Yes," Rei merely replied.
Misato waited for more to come. A confirmation of readiness, a comment on the mission, a promise or boast to be successful. After all, it was only fair Rei would get her time as well.
...There was nothing.
"Ah… very well then," Misato spoke up again, now sounding entirely official. "Here's the plan then: Enemy ETA is in a little less than two hours. We have distributed you through Tokyo-3 based on the estimated landing zone. Everyone of you is covering a certain area; Asuka's is larger than the others due to her jumpjets. You will be repositioned whenever new data about the enemy's trajectory comes in. Once the enemy has reached a certain proximity, you will all run towards the projected impact point. However, we cannot fully rely on sensory data due to the atmospheric distortions the enemy creates. You will have to use your own visual data – trust your eyes and correct your course as necessary. Understood?"
A triple yes in varying volumes came back.
Misato smiled impishly. "Well then. For now, you wait. Seems like Mari had the right idea about bringing some music along."
Asuka felt a strange mix of hopefulness, anxiety and sheer boredom. This, finally, was her chance to prove herself on Japanese soil. This was what she had been trained for all those years. She had gone through countless hardships because it had always been expected of her as an EVA pilot. She had been selected as such because she was better than anyone else. And now she would fulfill her purpose.
If she won here, nothing else would matter anymore.
Of course, that also was the source of her anxiety. That little gaming session with Kensuke had ended up unexpectedly uncomfortable. Only belatedly did she realize she had lost her cool, something that was not supposed to happen to an EVA pilot. And all that because of silly games! That's what happens when you don't keep to yourself. Sure, her memories were not all sunshine and butterflies, but that was just part of being an elite soldier.
But compared to this mission, those frivolous games didn't matter. What she would show here was what would matter.
...or at least once the mission proper would start.
Evangelion Unit 02 was currently standing straight and still, towering over a multilayered highway cross next to it, a labyrinthine knot of routes at the entrance to Tokyo-3's urban area that barely reached to the Unit's waist. The streets had all been cleared now, Tokyo-3 entirely evacuated. Instead of rush hour traffic, a single NERV truck on one road now: A mobile energy provider to which Unit 02 was connected through an umbilical cord.
For the last hour or so, that truck and the Unit had shifted positions half a dozen times, always repositioning themselves according to new data. Asuka was sick of doing nothing more than walking her mecha around. She closed her eyes and breathed out. Bubbles formed in the LCL surrounding her. For a brief moment, she became aware of the liquid's blood-like smell.
Hurry up, angel boy.
When she opened her eyes again, Asuka could see the landscape all around her – blocky buildings, broad streets, fields and forests in the other direction. Being in an EVA was really like being on top of the world: An 80m giant controlled by a girl of 1.64m.
A dispassionate male voice came through the entry-plug's comm system. "Angel has entered atmosphere. Final estimated landing location is being calculated… we have a result, Lieutnant Colonel."
Here it goes.
"Alright." That was Misato's voice, serious but upbeat. "Target location is being transmitted to your units' nav systems. Prepare for launch!"
Asuka began grinning viciously as she had her mecha go down into a runner's start position. Confidence began to flow through her mind. Now that the action was about to begin she was completely calm.
"Ready… and go!" Misato ordered.
Asuka felt sympathetic feedback from her EVA as warmth began to spread in her back. The plug of the umbilical cord had just been blown off. The countdown of Unit 02's internal battery was now shown in red, just next to Asuka's head. At the same moment, the pilot began to sprint.
The asphalt of the street broke open as giant red boots tore into it. Fragments of it and of brown earth flew up into the air all around the Unit. It took several steps until Asuka's machine had found a secure grip on the ground, but her superior balance made that a non-issue. Just like a human sprinter, the Unit got faster with every step, and eventually Asuka could see buildings fly past her on both sides.
Her grin got wider as she leaned forward aggressively in her seat. This was her domain. This was where she had achieved mastery. This was what made her better than anybody else. She got her multi-thousand ton war machine to run through the streets of a deserted city without any great effort at all. Toko-3, this great ultramodern city, was her playground now.
It was… validation. She began running faster and faster, carried away by this enthusiasm.
She didn't even look where Unit 02 was going. It wasn't like anything could have stopped the mecha at all. She entered a canal in the suburbs, water splashing a dozen metres high, and tore through a bridge, destroying it without ever really having noticed it. She only spared a quick look to her navigation system. I'll manage it. I'll manage it. I'll defeat it.
Her zone was the largest after all. Chances were that it would be her catching the angel and saving the world.
"Pizdets!" Mari cursed over the comms, before falling into a mad giggle.
Asuka just scoffed at such a lack of discipline.
Trees began spreading in front of her, but she didn't care. It was only a very light pine forest, interspersed with fields and meadows. Unit 02 just aggressively swept aside all the vegetation now growing on all sides. And when power line running its course through the fields was in her way, Asuka simply had her machine jump over it – and right down a cliff behind it. For a moment, it was almost like flying, almost like the fight against the clockwork angel. She could see farms and roads and rice paddies below her.
A sharp pain went through Asuka's legs as the unit landed. Her face became hard. She knew how to ignore such pain. Unit 02 didn't even stop – it just continued running.
"Pilots!" Misato's voice sounded urgent, almost panicked. "Enemy trajectory has changed. Target is accelerating! Submitting new data!"
"No way," Asuka breathed, looking at the nav system. The estimated landing point was now squarely in Mari's zone. "No wayyy!" she screamed. She would not let have that pink-suited four-eyes get that victory!
"You can still reach it, Mari!" Misato shouted through the comms. She sounded anxious about the prospect, though. "Just hold out there with your AT strength at max until…"
"It's miiiine!" Asuka screamed once again. Already, Unit 02 had made a near-180° turn, its upper body hovering just so above the ground. Several fields and rice paddies were left behind entirely torn up by the manoeuvre.
Trees made way to fields, which made way to single villas, which again made way to suburbs. Unit 02 raced through them all, with Asuka not caring a dint where the machine's boots landed. She had a city – a world to save, after all. And it would be her doing that.
With a loud annoyed groan, Asuka took all her momentum from the run and jumped upon parking house, a broad box of a building. Car alarms went off as several vehicles were crushed and the entire upper deck finally crumbled, but by that point Unit 02 had already leaped further, atop an office building. Parts of that broke off as well, hitting the street in a storm of dust and debris, but the red machine had once again jumped…
…and now Asuka was starting her jumpjets.
"Asuka!" Misato sounded shocked and appalled.
"Miiine!" Asuka repeated, now high up into the air.
She felt an uncomfortable heat in her lower legs, right there where the jumpjets' fire touched Unit 02. And she felt unsteady in the air, much less stable than with her usual flying equipment. But none of this mattered. She was now, literally, above everyone else, and so much closer to her target.
G-forces pressed Asuka into her seat. She barely managed to turn her head and look outside. Below her she spotted the blue of Unit 00, running with its drills raised in the air. Too late, Four-Eyes. Too late.
She screamed inarticulately as she landed in the middle of some farm buildings, an even harder impact as before. A strong pain remained like after a sprain. It was nothing that Asuka hadn't already felt before, or even trained for. With a mighty roar from her, Unit 02 stood up straight again and unfolded its AT Field at maximum.
As she looked up, she saw a psychedelic vision descending upon her in all the shades of the rainbow. A sphere in black and multicolour, with two gargantuan wings at its sides. It had nearly reached the ground… but now Asuka would stop it. The air around Unit 02 began to shimmer in hues of red. Parts of the nearby building roofs broke off and began floating in the air, as did pieces of the ground, fences, small power line masts, a tractor. The power of the AT Field – MY POWER!
The gigantic ball was now directly above her, filling out the entire horizon. Unit 02 raised its hands, and octagons of orange light began to spread out between them and the orb. Asuka tensed herself, willed herself to uphold the AT Field by sheer determination…
...and then she began to scream in sheer agony.
Her entire back was burning. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe. It seemed like the skin on her back was just melted off, the flesh seared, and that from her neck to her legs. She screamed, a wild, inarticulate, animalistic sound that echoed through the entry plug and the comm systems. It was all she could do to just continue holding her arms upwards, to maintain the AT Field. Unit 02 stood there, head hanging low, hunchbacked, arms raised above it… shaking, but holding the pose.
Asuka screamed and screamed and screamed. Acid poured from the angel onto the Evangelion, an entire stream worth of it.
It scorched Asuka. Her whole world was nothing but pain and suffering and agony. Her throat became raw and bubbles of air formed in the transparent LCL. Instinctively, without even realizing it, she tried to bring her breathing under control as she had been trained to. It didn't work. Her training seemed paltry compared to this agony.
But she couldn't give way. She had to stand here, under the rain of acid, and feel as her skin peeled off and her flesh was dissolved. A screaming slab of scorched meat, barely aware of what was going on outside of her pain. But she stood strong. She did not give way. Could not give way. She could only stand there and take the pain. She would not surrender. She would simply scream on and on and on.
"Maaaariii! Pet! Four-Eyes! Reiiii!" She panted. "Shinji! Misatoooo!"
If Rei gave an answer, it did not come through to Asuka's senses, through the mist of missed breaths and nerves on fire. Mari, though, shouted: "I'm here, Princess! I'm here!" It sounded aggressive, combative and, most of all, loud.
And then, suddenly, a second jolt of pain. For a moment Asuka's screaming just stopped, replacing by a gurgling. Her vision greyed out for a moment… and then she resumed screaming. It felt like her arms were being split, from hand to elbow. Nails were driven into them. Blood poured out of them… out of her own hands, inside the entry plug. It flew as red streams into the surrounding liquid.
"Maaaari! Come on! Maa…. Maaamaaa!"
Asuka thought she heard a faint roaring far away, but through all the pain she couldn't be sure. Through eyes clenched in misery, she finally saw something big and blue hurrying through the apocalyptically red sphere of her AT Field.
And she could hear Mari. "Omae nyaaah mo shindeiru!"
Asuka was still screaming. Exhaustion was coming over her, from the pain, from the shouts, from withstanding all this, but getting her throat sore was all she could do. However, even through closed eyes, she could sense lights flickering over her eyelids. When she managed to open them just a little, she saw what she hadn't thought possible: Mari's drills worked. She literally bore herself a way into the angel's AT Field.
Something inside Asuka was angry. All this pain, all this suffering… and now it would be others reaping the benefits of it. Others would kill the angel. She would just get the pain. And yet, all she could wish for was that this pain would end now – no matter how.
"Rei!" Mari shouted.
The blue-haired girl made no sound, didn't reply over the comms, but she was there. Of all the Evangelion units, Unit 01 looked the most fearsome, despite having the most human-like face – or maybe exactly because of that. And now that purple monster was here, jumping into the air, right into the opening Unit 00 had torn into the angel's AT field, prog-knife first.
For a moment, Asuka thought her arms would burst. The pressure on them only seemed to intensify. For two horrible seconds, Asuka felt her arms split along their entire length… and then a flash of white blinded her eyes even while they were closed, only for it to be followed by an immensely loud bang. And when the noise stopped, it was over. No more pressure, no more arms being split, no more rains of acid.
But the pain remained.
Under grunts and heavy breathing, she could see the gigantic angel dissolving as it fell onto the soil… and then it burst. Blood flooded everywhere like a deluge of biblical proportions. Victory… But it wasn't hers. Not truly. All she had done was suffering.
...and then suddenly the pain stopped. The synch had been cut. Asuka let herself fall back into her seat. More air bubbles rose in the LCL as she breathed out in relief. However, this only lasted for a few seconds. The relief from the most agonizing pain had made it seem it had all gone, but it took only some moments until a dull throbbing in her arms made itself known.
Asuka saw that her hands were still covered in thick blood. She raised them and looked at her palms, only two discover ghastly wounds on both of them. Dark blood came pouring out of veritable holes. She sat there like that, looking at her devastated hands, feeling the pain, grunting now and then, until the evacuation crews arrived.
She was moved down from the entry-plug by a crane, as were Mari and Rei at the same time. As soon as she was down on the ground, medics came rushing towards her to bandage her still bleeding hands. She could just stand there and wait for them to be finished. The pain was still there, but now it was manageable. She was used to dealing with a certain level of pain.
For some reason, medics were waiting for Mari as well. However, the girl was not cooperative at all. She aggressively shouted at them, at one point even nearly attacked one of them. Asuka looked at that scene dismissively. It made her think that for all of Mari's clownery in school, this was probably the girl's true personality. Two-faced, like all of them.
And then there was the reception for Rei. As soon as she had hit the ground, someone came racing towards her like a comet, someone in a plugsuit… Shinji, their purported 'reserve pilot'. He came to a sudden, awkward halt right before having reached her. The two just stood there uncomfortably, looking at each other. Then Shinji broke out in a big smile and laid a hand on Rei's shoulder. The blue-haired girl's lips curled slightly upwards.
Asuka scoffed. Such nonsense. And worst of all, it was Rei who had gotten the kill. Rei, who simply had appeared the latest while everyone else had already done the work for her.
Damn, the hands do hurt… But there was no way Asuka would show that outwardly, of course.
Finally, Asuka could see Misato arriving on the scene. Must have come by helicopter. The Lieutenant Colonel walked up to the pilots. "The operation was a success!" she announced cheerfully. "The angel is dead, without any damage to the city. Everything has ended well."
Asuka just glared at her.