Toji climbed out of the simulation plug, coughing up LCL. Grimacing, he wiped at his face with the offered towel, then shook his head, sending tiny flecks of the orange goo everywhere. Asuka frowned at him but ignored the few drops that landed on her.
"Well, you're not terrible," she said without preamble, "but it's going to be a while before you're going to be up to our level. But," she continued on, ignoring his sputtered comments about being new to the whole thing, "I think it's safe to say that in an emergency, you'll be useful to have around."
"Gee, thanks," he muttered under his breath. Since the official start of his training a few days ago, he and the Pilot-Captain had clashed several times. If the Evangelion Flight had been an actual military organization, he would undoubtedly been in trouble for arguing, disrespecting, and outright ignoring his superiors. Of course, an actual military organization probably wouldn't be using teenage soldiers.
Continuing to ignore the boy's mutterings in the interests of getting more training done and thus being better prepared for the inevitable next Angel, Asuka began her review of his performance in the simulator, stressing the need to memorize the emergence points, the resupply points, the power junctions, and how vital it was that he kept an eye on his ammunition supply.
Rote memorization had never come easy to the boy, and he was starting to get tired of how much it seemed the world expected him to do. Only half listening to the older girl as she listed his shortcomings and modest achievements, he almost missed the last thing she said.
"What was that?" he asked, yawning wide, his stomach rumbling. It felt like it had been forever since he had last eaten.
"I asked what you want your insignia to be," Asuka repeated, her frown deepening before her stomach also complained. "We'll get it painted up on Unit-04 after a successful activation test."
"Huh. You know, that wasn't something I thought about," he replied, rubbing his belly. "Can we talk about it over some food? I'm starving over here."
Staring at her newest wingman, Asuka tried not to grind her teeth in frustration. Working with him was shaping up to be a pain, although not as big of one as she had initially expected. "Yes, I suppose we can go get something to eat. AFTER you take a shower. I won't sit down for a meal and smell you stinking of LCL all day."
"No more sim tests today, then?" Toji asked. "I don't want to waste time on a shower if I'm just going back in the goop."
"No, you won't be running through any more simulations today," Asuka sighed. "Just shower, and meet me at the cafeteria in the medical wing once you're done."
"Gonna stop in and check on the Shin-man?"
Rolling her eyes, Asuka shook her head. "Nope. I'm going to get some tranquilizers, and I'm going to spike your food. Yes, I'm going to go check on the Dummkopf."
"Alright, alright! Jeez."
They parted ways outside the laboratory-level locker rooms, Toji still muttering to himself about crazy German girls. Asuka fumed as she made her way to the elevators, violently stabbing the button to the medical levels. She had been mainly left to her own devices for the past few days, and she had been grateful at first for the distraction of trying to get Toji up and on the track to being a competent pilot, but just like in school, the boy was grating on her nerves.
"To think that I ever wanted Shinji to show some backbone!" she muttered to her reflection in the elevator doors. "What I wouldn't give to have Toji be as meek and obedient as the Dummkopf or Wonder-girl." With a sigh, she fiddled with her tablet, checking her emails. Toji had come through for her in one thing, at least, and Kensuke had emailed her.
It was a massive breach of trust, not to mention protocol and security, but she felt that NERV had broken faith with her first. The dorky geek might not have all the schooling and experience she did, but he wasn't dumb, and if anyone on the outside had a chance at figuring this mess out, his chances were as good as anyone's. That he could be somewhat trusted was a bonus.
His first emails about the information she had leaked to him were less than reassuring, but as he continued to work at it, the fewer questions he asked her about the systems. He had promised a longer email in a short message earlier this morning, but, there hadn't been anything so far. She hoped the MAGI and Section 2 hadn't cottoned on to her little treason and were setting up a trap for them. While she was confident there wasn't much they could do to her at the moment, being the only qualified Pilot available, they could still make her life annoying, to say nothing of what they might do to the only person she could possibility count on to help her get to the bottom of this particular rabbit hole. As lovely as Maya was, Asuka couldn't trust that her loyalties did not lie heavily with NERV.
The doors opened onto the medical wing reserved for the pilots and other senior staff, and she quickly made her way down to Shinji's room, ignoring the nurses and other medical orderlies. She would have asked the MAGI if she wanted a report on his medical profile and the machine readouts. She wanted to see the boy.
He lay there looking just as he had the last time she had checked in on him, arms full of catheter tubes, LCL, and blood being pumped in and out of his system. Machines beeped and hummed, and the room smelled of cleaners and bleach. Someone, probably Misato, had put a small framed picture of him and Rei on the bedside table, along with a vase of flowers. The NERV staff was not much for get-well cards and the like, but it was something the woman would do. The flowers looked fresh and healthy, but Asuka doubted their ability to withstand the sterile, life-sucking feelings of the medical floor for long.
The MAGI were supposed to contact her immediately if he started showing signs of coming out of the coma, but she had no idea what the currently reported readings meant. Done with her cursory check of the machines, she slumped down in a chair facing him.
"You have no idea what it's like," she growled at the unconscious boy. "He is such a Vollpfosten, but he's got potential. I don't know when they plan on conducting the first activation tests, but if it's anytime soon, I don't know how ready he'll be. I don't want another Unit-00 test accident because it'll be that much worse."
She sighed and stared up at the ceiling, thinking. "Still no news on your girlfriend. If your daddy has anything planned, he's playing his cards close to the vest. Ritsuko and Misato have been thick as thieves lately, off who knows where doing who knows what. Maya's been helping me run the simulations, but the rest of the techies are off at Matsushiro working on Unit-04. We're running around the clock here, with shifts working on the Evangelions and the defense systems. The surface is like an upturned anthill. I honestly don't think that many people are still hanging around.
Most of our classes have followed the geek out of the city, and most are out of the prefecture. School's closed, not that it really matters. Section 2's got the city on lockdown, but the UN, the JSSDF, and the Diet haven't said anything official. I can't shake the feeling that we're all on eggshells right now."
She sighed again, her gaze falling to rest on Shinji, somewhat trying to study and dissect the tremors of dread and instinctual fear that ran through her spine, but her heart wasn't in it. It had been a long day of simulation runs and lectures on the basics of Evangelion operation, and she was as exhausted as if she had done the sims herself.
"It's funny, you know? Inside the Evangelions, we're powerful and in control. We're nigh unstoppable. We're like a natural disaster- an avalanche, a typhoon, a volcano, or a tidal wave. We're more than just a human in a tin can. Even Wondergirl, even you! But outside of them..." she trailed off into silence, staring at the boy, at her friend. "Outside of them, we're still just little kids, and the adults don't care about the lies they tell us. They need to control us, just as we control the Evangelions. They can lock us up; they can keep us busy. They lie to us and expect us to do as we are told. Little wind-up toys, puppets dancing on a string. Well, I'm nobody's doll."
She decided to close her eyes for a minute, to try and shut the rest of the world out and just think.
She opened her eyes again, feeling groggy, only to find an amused Toji poking her shoulder.
"You snore when you sleep in a chair, did you know that?" he asked, grinning at her.
"I do nothing of the sort!" She snapped, swatting his hand away. "Do you want to eat, or do you want to make up ridiculous stories?"
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
NERV was a fortress. It was locked and sealed, the computer-operated entrances showed no sign of being active, and no one was at any of the manual entry control points. However, this was becoming less of an issue for Shinji, as he was becoming much more concerned that the world seemed to be stuck in time.
The diffused orange glow of twilight hung overhead, washing out everything else, giving no sign of ever changing. The overwhelming sense of being alone weighed down on him like a lead blanket, as was the feeling of terror and panic.
He was sure there was only one explanation, although he was unsure how exactly an Angel would do this. Shinji did not know when or how the Angel had arrived, but it was apparent that it had somehow missed him and that he could not rely on anyone else for help. If he was going to reach Unit-01, he would have to do it on his own.
This was why he currently had, after several failed attempts, managed to park a car full of gas cans up against one of the usually manned entry points. He wasn't entirely sure if this would work, but it was better than doing nothing, and at any rate, there wasn't anyone around to yell at him about damaging NERV property. Sighing, he flung the gas can he was using off to the side and pulled the lighter out of his pocket. Carefully lighting the gas-soaked rag at his feet, he quickly pushed it into the trail of gas trailing across the street, leading back to the car. With a grin, he ducked around the corner of the continence store, leaning against the wall.
As he listened to the rush of flames, he nodded to himself, more certain now. Always taking immediate action was Asuka's mantra, and Rei always seemed to know what she wanted to do even if no one else understood what it was she was doing.
He felt the explosion more than he heard it, even hiding behind the corner as he was. Heat washed over him as the fiery, tumultuous roar echoed in the quiet, muted world. The persistent twilight was replaced momentarily by a flood of living color, all bright red and orange.
Stepping back around the edge of the building, Shinji's grin became a frown as he studied the scene before him.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Rei leaned back in her chair, looking over the technical specifications for the incoming Evangelion and the medical data of her classmate, periodically looking up to watch her captive, who was currently asleep.
She still had no idea what she was going to do with the spy. No matter how she turned the problem and studied it, there was no clear answer. This would be an issue because she could not keep him for long. Already, she was sure that he was missed by the others, although she was unsure if anyone was actively looking for him. He had offered no information on the events at Las Vegas, except he wasn't sure if SEELE would orchestrate such an event. The Commander believed it to be sabotage, so she was inclined to think so, but she was unsure what they had gained. If the Commander knew, he hadn't let it slip where she had overheard, although her access to him was much more limited than it once was.
Apparently, the event had been felt in Sheol, which was unusual, for the Evangelions had never noticed any event that happened in the waking world to have an influence on theirs. The three of them and the MAGI were not sure what this meant.
Her sister wanted her to just dispose of the man before he became a liability, but Dr. Sohryu asked for restraint. While she did not like the influence the man had over her daughter, at least before recent events, she saw no need for the girl to murder him out of hand.
It was a plague of uncertainty and problems, adding to the already considerable stack of issues needing to be addressed. Shinji was still in a coma, she was still officially incarcerated, and these issues were things she could not affect, although she was fine with allowing the JSSDF to put one of her bodies on trial. The sacrifice of one drone was nothing to her, but the Commander was the one who would make the final decision. Unaware of her independence of movement, he would not make that sacrifice so easily.
As far as Shinji went, she was unsure what she could do. This weighed heavily on her mind, so she turned to other things, such as studying Toji's progress in his training. Unit-04 was slated to be finished at the Matsushiro site, which would not take very long as the major construction was complete. The unfinished Evangelion was similar to Unit-02 in construction, except for a few minor details. It was slated to be painted black with dark red highlights after the last of the systems had been completed. Work on the Evangelion progressed around the clock, with workers from the other Evangelion crews also putting in hours on it. It was expected to be ready for initial testing and Pilot Synchronization at the end of the week. It could be added to the active duty roster in one to two weeks if all goes well.
Pilot-Captain Sohryu appeared to have things well in hand in training their classmate, and Rei saw nothing in the reports to suggest he would not serve reasonably well as a pilot.
Closing out the pages of information, she set the tablet computer down and steepled her fingers in front of her face, trying to think like the Commander. He never agonized over issues or problems. He always had a plan, an immediate course of action.
She needed to make a choice that would resolve the situation in a manner that would net her a gain, allow her Scenario to proceed, and remove the possibility of the spy revealing her to others. She needed to come to a decision, and she needed to do it quickly.
Perhaps she would think more clearly if she sat by Shinji's side, listening to his breathing while he slept. It was not as if nurse's uniforms were hard to acquire, and it had been very long since they had been together.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"I am not interested in your threats, General." Gendo Ikari told the irate man on the other end of the phone. "I am not interested in what you think we owe you other than our condolences. I am more interested in what you think your pilots were doing engaging one of my Evangelions in the midst of battle. In all of the confusion and chaos of battle, it is only natural that they would counter-attack once something showed hostile intent towards them."
Seething silence, all the more audible for the lack of any strangled outburst of anger, was all that the Supreme Commander received in return for several seconds.
"If that's the position you're going to take," the older man growled out, "then you can't complain about my position. That being, in order of greatest to smallest, your offenses include treason, murder, theft, and being obnoxiously rude."
"You also can't complain," he continued, "about the official treatment your little band of miscreants will receive on the national and world stages. Do you want to pretend to be high and mighty and operate outside the law? Fine! So be it! But once you are outside the law, you are not subject to protection from those laws, corporate agreements, bargains, or brokered deals. We will be able to deal with you as we please!"
"And before you even mention you can shrug off things that stymie our armies, don't forget that we brought down one of your precious Evangelions! You might be able to kill Angels, but we can kill you. Your toys are not as invincible as they might seem."
"Again, General," Gendo evenly replied, his eyes watching his son's prone form on the monitor, "I am not interested in your threats. Two of your pilots are dead, one of mine is in a coma, another is incarcerated, and one is currently on light duty for injuries. I am currently overseeing repairs on my machines and barely have a mission-capable Evangelion. Don't mistake this situation as a weakness or as an opening. Don't think that you can cow me, that you can intimidate NERV."
He took a short, even breath before continuing, his gaze flicking over to his nervous confidants, the pair looking haggard and wearing similar expressions of caution and worry, one decidedly more pleading than the other. "But at the same time, don't think I am trying to threaten you. I know that we must all work hand in hand if we are to see the end of this conflict and ensure the future of mankind. We have both lost in this battle, and we both stand to lose more, much more, if it continues."
"Don't think you can weasel out of this one, Ikari! Don't think we'll buy that same tired song and dance!" The General snarled back. "You haven't heard the last from me!"
Ikari was shaking his head irately even before the receiver the other man had slammed down and closed the connection. Carefully placing his phone back into its cradle, he frowned.
"We will have to suffer these indignities for the next few days, a week more at the most. But even as this storm passes, we won't ever have the same latitude we had before."
"How can you be so sure?" Misato asked with a sigh. "Even with this horrible mess, you mean that your plots extend so far you can somehow pull us out of this disaster?"
"Most certainly. Even if SEELE wishes to see us punished, made to squirm, or face difficulties, the time is not yet right for them to strike, so we will prevail in the end. The UN might send us a new liaison officer, cursing that they had fired the last one, but we will be free to operate again. The only question is if SEELE will back their demands for the extradition of Rei."
"Even then, it is not as if that will ultimately hinder us," Kozo said, "but it opens up new potential problems. Imprinting a new clone is always tricky, and then there is always the chance that they might make a show of our child pilots in some sham trial. The General knows, of course, but the rank and file do not. If they make a large production out of prosecuting her, it will cause us more trouble."
"So we must stall and hope SEELE sees the sense in not giving her over to them. They know it would be an empty gesture, but it remains to be seen if they think it will cause them, or us, more trouble in the end."
"A lot can happen in a week," Misato interjected. "We will be running the activation tests on Unit-04. An Angel could attack. Shinji could wake up. Kaji could show up."
"Anything could happen." Gendo agreed. "I would, of course, prefer that the boy woke up, although the reappearance of our friend would be useful. His disappearance is suspiciously timed. I would be very interested to know his insights on the event."
"If he is more in SEELE's pocket than ours, I fear that we will never see the man again," Kozo remarked, "or worse, we will see him just as some new calamity occurs."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
The concrete and steel structure was blackened and charred but otherwise was no worse off. By its very nature, the checkpoint was a weak spot in the armor of the fortress city, stood there undaunted by Shinji's attempt at a forced entry.
Shrugging, he turned away and went back into the city. He knew where to find propane tanks; if that didn't work, he'd just have to try something else.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Toji stood on the catwalk with Asuka, both pilots watching the crew of mechanics continuing their repairs on the battered red Evangelion. The activation test was in two days, and everyone wanted to have Unit-02 on standby in case of a less-than-smooth activation. As engrossed the two looked to be about the hurried activity, they were mainly there to discuss things they didn't wish to be overheard.
Things that revolved around the armored giants.
Things about NERV's explanations about the Evangelions.
Things that meant Asuka, who had prided herself on knowing her Unit-02 inside and out, actually knew very little about the red titan.
"What makes you trust Kensuke anyway?" Toji asked, eyes never leaving the trio of welders working on installing a slab of armor over the Evangelion's midsection. "I thought he was just a worthless nerd."
Asuka had the decency to look chagrined, if only for a moment. "Well, I was wrong about you, wasn't I?" she countered. "Besides, he's doing well enough cutting through the encryption on the files for me."
"So what does it mean?" the boy asked, his face twisted in a frown, watching a crane lower a small capsule to the men and women standing at the empty socket normally housing the Entry Plug. "What does it mean to us as pilots?"
"As pilots? Not much, outside of knowing what we are piloting. As a scientist, though? As a researcher who works on improving the Evangelions, as someone who is supposed to know them inside and out? It means that I have been lied to for my entire life. It means that the people I have been studying, training, and working under have lied to me every step of the way. The people I have trusted and looked up to have directly, knowingly, and willfully lied to my face about everything I am."
She nodded at the small cylinder being inserted into the waiting socket. "That's supposed to be the prototype autopilot system. It's supposed to be a MAGI brain that's running a mirror of my brain scan."
"Is it?" Toji wondered out loud, not asking the girl if it was. "You've been with the Evangelion system your whole life, like Rei. If they've lied to you about this, what else is there that they've lied to us about?"
Images of the crucified Angel at the bottom of the base instantly sprung to her mind. Images of that and the jumbled mess of memories and feelings the Angel had forcibly implanted into her mind. All of that and the burning sense of dread accompanying the primordial roar of Unit-01, resting in pieces just one cage over. All of these things could be explained away, but the most straightforward, easiest explanation was that they had lied to her. As she understood things as she had been taught, there was no way for Unit-01 to go berserk like it did on the regular.
Whatever they were piloting, she knew less about them than she should, having been involved with more than a few experiments on her Evangelion, for having been involved with the project for most of her life.
She knew next to nothing about her mother's legacy.
Nothing made sense.
Unfortunately, the only person who might have an inkling into what was going on and who could possibly be trusted to tell her the truth was also incarcerated and had no reason to want to talk to her, even if the girl's responses would be understandable.
Shaking her head, Asuka turned away from the observation windows.
"Let's get back to work."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"Commence primary connections."
"Commencing primary connections," Maya responded, her fingers flying as she entered the command into the computer. Unit-04's mostly unarmored body stiffened slightly in the restraints on the primary monitor before them, and the system lights switched on. "Primary connections established, green across the board."
"Pilot's waveform is stable," Aoba added, not looking up from his console. "All vital signs are good."
Ritsuko nodded. "Begin initial scans."
"Scans are running. So far, so good." Makoto called out, watching the information fly across his screens. They had modified the initial activation procedures, and while it was going to be a little harder on the pilots, as the tests were longer, they were going to eliminate any possibility of the Evangelion from entering a berserker state. They had also removed some of the armor from the war machine, which, in theory, would allow Asuka in Unit-02 to disable it faster if something did happen.
"Scans complete!" Makoto announced several minutes later, glancing over to the blond doctor. "All systems read as good."
Ritsuko smiled. "Commence secondary connections."
"Commencing secondary connections."
Misato yawned, shaking her head before sipping her coffee. According to the mission briefing two hours ago, they estimated another half hour before Toji even synced with the Evangelion. After that, it would be four hours of tests and system scans, followed by three hours of partial sync tests. Glad it wasn't her in either of the Evangelions, she stretched her legs as she leaned against the wall.
The Matsushiro site was almost the mirror image of the primary command deck in NERV's headquarters, only a little smaller and lacking the Supreme Commander's observation platform. She looked to the crew pit where a set of techs sat, not part of the activation test but monitoring Asuka and Unit-02.
"How's Asuka doing?" she called over to them, glancing at the monitors displaying her data, understanding only a little of the information shown.
"She's doing fine, Ma'am," a technician responded, looking up at her and pointing at one of the monitors. "All vitals are strong, and all reports back from the Evangelion are good."
"How's the new auto-pilot system?"
"The system is in standby mode. We loaded her scans into it yesterday, and so far, it's tested out fine. No anomalous readings or reports, but it's being held offline until we conduct the actual full run tests in a few days."
Misato nodded, turning back to the main event of the day. There would be time later to do the more thorough tests on the auto-pilot, although she had missed seeing the item on her calendar. She briefly wondered if there was more she had missed before focusing on the young man on the screens in front of her.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji looked around when he heard it, his heart jumping up his throat. It was a dull throbbing sound, like the heavily distorted sound of Lieutenant Aoba's guitars, echoing across the otherwise muted landscape. The sound washed over the empty city and echoed strangely through the streets, bouncing off the buildings, hills, and mountains surrounding the valley bowl.
His heart pounding, he grabbed the propane tank off the back of the truck he had commandeered, dragging it over to the stack he had built. He didn't know how long it had taken him, but he had scoured the city for every single tank of propane he could lay his hands on. Ten tanks now sat in a pile up against the walls to the entrance, and he had another forty-three stashed a long way away from here, just in case this didn't work.
The distorted throb sounded again, louder and stronger, and the propane tanks vibrated, shifting out of the neat stack he had made. Looking around again, Shinji gasped as he caught sight of what he had feared when realizing something was wrong with the world.
The Angel was a huge amorphous dark cloud that hung in the sky like a black sheet, the lightning that flickered through it not reflecting off the water vapor but remaining tight lines of electric energy, discharging at random. It moved across the windless sky, the unworldly sounds growing stronger and stronger until there was no break between the Angel's cries and the echoes that bounced back and forth, creating a long, unbroken stream of discordant, distorted sound.
Shinji returned to the truck, pulling out a handful of road flares. As he raced back to his stack of tanks, he hoped he had enough time and wasn't too late. Ripping off the cap of the first flare, he struck it, and when it didn't light, he hit it again and again, his movements becoming more panicky until the bright red flame exploded out of the stick. Quickly lighting the others, he placed them around the tanks and then ran back to the truck, climbing into the cab, and tore off down the road until he reached a spot he figured was far enough away.
Hopping out of the truck, he pulled his pistol, checked it, and aimed for the propane tanks.
His first shot yielded nothing, as did his next shot and the third after that. Forcing himself to stay calm, trying to ignore the Angel's screams and heart pounding, he aimed again and fired off a fourth round.
There was a bright flash of light, although the sound of the explosion was washed out by the Angel, and a bright jet of flame erupted from the tank he had finally penetrated. Shinji's spirits sank again as there was no massive explosion like he had planned.
Taking aim again, he lined up on the tank that was spewing flame. This time, he was rewarded with another flash of light and fire, followed by another much larger explosion as the other tanks detonated.
Screaming in excitement, Shinji got back into the truck, not bothering to turn it around, and raced back to the entrance in reverse, watching as clouds of smoke billowed up, at first black but turning gray as the automated fire suppression systems kicked in, showering the burning crater that had been a security checkpoint with water.
Ignoring the watering in his eyes as he made his way through the smoke, he made for the hallway leading to the tunnels to the underground city. He had to get to Unit-01. He had to defeat the Angel.
Deep down in her prison tomb, Lilith, the Second Angel, looked up, watching the soul of the Other make its way into her Seed, fleeing from the soul of her child, gradually understanding more as the time he spent in the twilight realm grew.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Makoto frowned as the sensors that monitored the energy passing through the Evangelion's power cable reported a spike in the energy being pulled from the central power plant deep inside the mountain. Keying in a diagnostic scan, he announced the anomaly to the rest of the crew.
"I've got an energy spike on the umbilical cable. There was a massive draw on the power for a second." His frown deepened as the power spiked again for a few seconds. "Here it is again."
"Put it on the main screen, section three," Ritsuko ordered, her eyes flashing across the data as it appeared on the overhead monitor. "What do the rest of the systems report?"
"Nothing anomalous here," Maya reported, looking for anything to explain the power drain.
"All pilot's vitals read as good; synchronization is steady at thirty-five percent." Aoba chimed in, watching Toji's life signs.
"The spike's ended, "Makoto announced, his voice nervous. "Energy drain is amping up; it's pulling in more power."
"How are the onboard batteries?" Misato asked, putting her cup down and walking beside her friend.
"Still reading as completely discharged and not charging. The physical blocks are still in place to prevent access to them." Maya replied. "They will not be available to charge until we remove the blocks and reconnect the system. It can't be done remotely."
"So it's not trying to charge the batteries?"
"It can't."
"End synchronization and eject the umbilical cable. Get the recovery crew on standby for unassisted Plug removal and alert Command. Let them know what happened and that we're checking it out."
"Aye, Ma'am."
"What do you think it could be?" Ritsuko asked her friend as they watched the screens.
"I'm not sure. What do you think?" she replied, frowning as the screens flickered. "What was that?"
"Synchronization isn't ending! We can't get the Pilot to disconnect, and the communication lines just went dead!" Makoto shouted, his fingers a blur as he tried to forcibly kill the link between Pilot and machine.
"Eject the cable now!" Ritsuko shouted as Maya pulled the emergency disconnect switch. A ring of small explosions erupted around the base of the umbilical cable in the black-painted Evangelion's back socket, destroying the locks holding it in place. Bright lightning flashed across the gap, arcing from the cable to the socket, a white flare of blinding light and deadly energy. Lights in the command room and across the entire testing facility dimmed momentarily.
"Cable is out!" Maya announced as the cable fell to the ground. "Disabling power to the cable now." The cable stopped sparking as the line went dark. Unit-04 went slack in the restraints before its arms and legs straightened and twitched.
"Anomalous energy readings! The Evangelion is powering up!"
A dull red glow was forming at the center of Unit-04's armored midsection, the metal heating up as something behind them dumped excess heat. Smoking paint bubbled and peeled off around the area, and the glow changed from a dull red to a bright orange in seconds.
Alarms began to sound, a collection of different klaxons filling the air with deafening screams. Misato's ears picked out the Angel Alert effortlessly, though, one hand flying up to the headset she wore. She switched to the channel linked with Asuka even as she read the warnings and alert codes blinking on the monitors.
"Asuka!" she shouted above the noise, "Angel Alert! The Magi are picking up a Code Blue from within Unit-04! Get ready for action while we confirm."
"Unit-04?" Asuka asked as adrenaline began pumping through her body. "What about Toji? What's happened with the tests? I saw the"
"Just wait for more information, we're confirming now!" Misato snapped back as she checked the sensor readings, waving one hand at them, the other gripping Maya's shoulder. "Is that right? Is Unit-04 the source of the Code Blue?"
"Affirmative!" Maya responded, fingers flying across the keyboard as her heart sank, "Unit-04 is being re-flagged as an Angel."
"No communication with the Pilot!" Aoba shouted from his station. "No sensor readings from the Entry Plug!"
"The plug isn't responding to the ejection commands!" Makoto announced. "Energy readings from the Angel are in line with Angel Core emissions."
"Keep trying the ejection protocol!" Misato ordered the technician. "Alert NERV Central and High Command." Ignoring their acknowledgments of their respective orders, she returned to the main screens, where the ebon Angel-Evangelion thrashed around, trying to free itself from the restraints. "Asuka! Unit-04 is an Angel. Energy readings are consistent with their cores. Move in, and try to remove the Entry Plug. It's not responding to the ejection commands, and we can't reestablish communication with the Pilot. Once the plug is recovered, disable the Angel."
"Right!" Asuka said. "Rescue pilot, kill Angel."
As she moved across the testing room towards the Angel, she watched the glowing circle, now white hot, molten metal dripping and running down the waist and legs. Switching her display to thermals, she saw a bright ball of heat in the Evangelion's midsection, feeding small lines of energy through the rest of the body, outlining the Entry plug.
A bright flash blanked out her vision, causing her to switch back to the standard sensor data. The armor that had covered the red core of the Angel was now gone, the exposed orb glowing with malevolent might. That same red light burned in the Evangelion's eyes as it glared at her. A muffled roar sounded behind the armor plating around the Angel's mouth.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Kaji woke up coughing and choking as LCL poured into his lungs. He found himself, nude and unrestrained, inside the tube in the room where Rei's scans were held and 'backup' images of her mind and soul were created. The orange goo was still pouring into the tube in which he stood, just high enough to begin flowing into his mouth. Beyond the tube, he could see Rei watching him from the control station.
"The LCL will not harm you, Agent Ryouji. The imaging process will work best if you remain calm."
"You're making a backup scan of me?" He asked incredulously, trying to keep his head above the rising liquid. "Why?"
"For Science, Agent Ryouji," she answered, watching him struggle. "The process is painless and will not harm you."
The sensation of the lukewarm liquid flowing into his lungs was unsettling and uncomfortable. Her assurances of harmlessness and painlessness were not, in fact, reassuring. As the goo covered him completely, he tried to swim towards the top of the container but found himself unable to move with any manner of ease, prompting a small part of his mind to wonder just how the clones were able to move about in the soup as much as they did. He was able, however, to beat his fists against the glass, but this proved to be ineffectual and tiring.
There was a loud mechanical humming clang, a sensation of weightlessness as vertigo filled him, followed by the distinct impression of mindlessness and utter confusion.
Rei watched the thrashings of her captive, frowning as he babbled mostly wordlessly. His reaction to the backup scan was unexpected, given her intimate knowledge of its effects firsthand. The data flowing across the monitors looked within reason, with nothing standing out as being markedly different from her own uploads. No one ever looked their best through a curved tube filled with LCL, but the secret agent looked deranged, as if he was straddling the border between pain and insanity.
This experiment did not bode well. She was testing the backup system on the spy so she could make a backup of Shinji in the event that she was unable to protect him from harm. While she had never experienced any actual discomfort during the imaging scans, the spy certainly was having an atypical reaction to the process.
She halted the scan, watching the man slump backward, his body still racked with spasms, awareness slowly returning to his face.
"What did you experience, Agent Kaji?" she asked, studying him. "What did you feel?"
He stared at her, wide-eyed with pain and fright. "Are you insane?" he finally screamed at her, his voice muted but the emotion behind the words coming across clearly. "What did I ever do to you to deserve this?"
"If you do not help me refine the process, Agent Kaji, I will be forced to work with incomplete data. This is not meant to harm you." Stepping away from the command podium, she approached the tube. "If you assist me in my research-"
"Research?" He screamed at her, straightening himself up again, glaring at her through the thick glass. "This is what you think is research?"
Alarms began to sound, the familiar klaxon of Angelic intrusion screaming for attention. Twirling around, she rushed to the primary system monitor, asking the MAGI for details. Eyes flying across the screen, a frown spread on her face. Unit-00 was in no shape to enter combat, even if it was not locked down, and she was incarcerated in the isolation block. While she had no doubts about Pilot-Captain Sohryu's dedication to destroying the Angels, the girl's ability to do so solo was uncertain. Shinji was the only one of them who had an official solo kill. The situation also cast doubt on whether the athletic boy could remain on the roster as a backup pilot. The report suggested he was still in the Evangelion.
There was little she needed to do here and so could send her waking mind elsewhere, but there was little she could do to help, even if she deemed the situation dire enough to reveal that she was not bound to one body. Unit-00 was not ready to be deployed, nor would she be able to remedy that without outside assistance, which would be hard to come by without orders from the Commander.
Still, she mused, it would be best to be prepared to deploy. Even if she resumed the backup scan of the spy right now, it would take another two to three hours. The fight should be over, one way or another, before then. However, she required more data about the imaging experience before she would subject Shinji to it.
She turned back to her captive test subject, who shrank back against the far side of the tube as he could. "What's going on?" he asked, obviously trying to divert her attention. "What's wrong?"
"An Angel is attacking," she told him, stopping at the control podium and making some adjustments. "We will proceed with the experiment."
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
"Have Unit-00 prepared to deploy," Gendo commanded, sitting hunched over his desk on the platform in the main operations chamber. "If we need to, I want to be able to send Rei directly to it and then launch her."
As the third shift crew relayed the orders to the cage technicians, Fuyutsuki shifted his weight to his other leg. "Should we remove Rei from isolation?"
"Not yet. Let no one say we haven't followed the protocols. If we need to send her into battle, we will also send the JSDF a message detailing as much. Let them see that we are not holding a grudge."
"But we are, aren't we?"
"In so much that I have time to be petty. They did shoot at my son."
"If I recall correctly, you had just ordered the gun turrets to bring him down when the planes opened fire."
"It's different when I do it, Kozo."
The older man silently smiled as they watched the scene unfold like a violent origami piece.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
It was a significant problem she had, Asuka thought to herself, trying to disable the Angel enough to rescue Suzahara without killing him. This situation was much more complicated than the usual run-of-the-mill fight. Though they were out at the test site and thus had much less opportunity for collateral damage, she could do little to directly curtail the Angel's movements without horrendous potential damage to the other Pilot.
That was the nature of the Evangelion, she darkly reflected as she ducked under a hay-maker punch from the ebon giant, to be susceptible only to catastrophic damage to itself and the Pilot. That was, after all, much of the point.
It was a hopeful sign, though, that the Angel fought entirely unlike the way the boy did. It suggested to her he was not in the loop and thus not going to be on the receiving end of the damage being done to his Evangelion.
It helped that his Entry Plug was partially removed from the socket, kept in place only by the thick ropes of sticky tendinous fibers that had grown over it, exuded from between the sections of armor and over the unarmored flesh and metal housings.
Slamming her armored fist into the side of the Angel's head, she thanked any listening deity they hadn't installed the shoulder fins yet as her own popped open, her spike throwers engaging and launching a dozen barbed carbon-tube spears straight into the Angel's upper body. Rocking the enemy with an open palm blow to the other side of the head, she jumped as deftly as one could while piloting a multi-ton war machine to the side and swept its legs out from beneath it, sending it crashing to the ground.
Stomping one foot straight onto the red core of the Angel, she swore as a jarring sensation jolted up her body as she tried to maintain her balance as the metal-clad heel bounced off the orb, leaving the glowing surface unmarred.
Howling from behind the armored mask restraints, the Angel kicked straight up at her, hitting the small of her back and sending her stumbling forward just enough to let it spring to its feet.
Asuka deftly threw herself straight into a tumble, avoiding the follow-up blow from the Angel. As she rolled back to her feet, she darted to the side, one massive, armored hand stretched outwards to provide support as she kicked around in a wide, sweeping circle, a bright grin on her face despite the seriousness of the situation.
While most of the Matsushiro site was an open-air testing facility, the tests were within the interior testing cages. Shortly after reading it as a type blue, the Angel confirmed its power by blasting a hole in the exterior retaining wall with an energy blast akin to that of the first Angel fought by Shinji. They were brawling in the exterior arena-like portion of the laboratory complex, and the Angel had yet to use the energy weapon against her. Unsure if it could not do so or was merely holding it in reserve, Asuka was doing her best to keep the Angel off balance and unable to bring it to bear.
Mentally lamenting that they had not let her bring Evangelion's sword to the test, she launched herself back at the usurped war machine. Covering the hundred-meter gap in under a second, she dropped her shoulder down and slammed into her enemy with all the force of a head-on train collision and twice the sound of one. Unit-04 staggered backward under the assault as she wrapped her arms around the lithe form, one hand closing in on the partially ejected Entry Plug, feeling the thick tendon-like mass keeping it trapped.
When she was younger, she wanted to install some sort of cable or wire-cutting saw device into the hands and fingers of Unit-02, but the system proved to be unfeasible. Granted, she hadn't come up against a foe until now where it would have been useful, but it would have been nice to have. Still, if German finesse could not be used to win the day, she had a faithful and reliable backup plan; German brute force.
Holding tight to the extruding end, she twisted the plug hard while plunging the fingers of her other hand into the small joint where jaw met skull, crushing through the small amount of metal present served more as a reinforcing structure than as armor. The biomatter growths that covered the Angel resisted her attempts to break the captive plug free, but her hand punched through into its skull with a satisfying squelching sound, and she was further rewarded with a keening moan from the Angel as its struggles suddenly halted.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Toji Suzahara had never been accused of being an overly bright student, an overachieving try-hard, or even been likened to being an ambitious student. To say he was studious was a gross overstatement of his habits towards schoolwork.
He was not, however, dumb. While certainly not the brightest, he could get his work done, and he understood what he bothered to apply himself towards; it just wasn't what he was interested in. He was okay with coasting along and getting average grades, even as his father and grandfather scolded him for it and then as Hikari prodded and poked at him in her efforts to make him apply himself.
He loved his family, though, and doted on his younger sister. That was what had gotten him in trouble with NERV in the first place and was what ultimately landed him here.
While NERV paid its employees a fair wage, it wasn't enough for the best schools, at least, and definitely not the best schools and where the student wasn't tied down with a part-time job to pay other living expenses.
He had made it clear to the doctor when she and the suited security men had come to him once she had told him the opportunity at hand. They had offered payment in line with what the others received, but he wanted something else, something more substantial.
Mari would have a place at any top university or college worldwide when she was old enough. Automatic acceptance, all expenses paid, for as long as she wanted to stay there to learn, even if he died in battle or if he never saw battle. He had told the smirking woman that such a thing certainly was not outside the powers of NERV. That was his price. They could keep everything else.
And so it was he now found himself standing in a strangely quiet gymnasium, orange twilight streaming in through the windows, when the last thing he remembered before passing out from the intense pain was testing what would become his Evangelion, Unit-04.
Something was not right.
The gym was otherwise empty, apart from the usual accouterments of physical education classes. The air was strangely silent and weighed heavily upon him.
"Hello?" he called out, frowning as the silence softened and muted his words. "Is anyone there?" he tried again, louder.
Met only by further quietness that bordered on the oppressive, he stood up from where he had been sitting in the bleachers and headed towards the double doors that led into the locker rooms.
Toji was halfway across the hardwood floor when those doors opened, and a tall nightmarish form walked out, straightening out to stand at about eight feet tall. The boy gaped in shock as he recognized the miniature form of his Evangelion, unchanged from how he had seen it other than the strange webbing that coated parts of the skin and armor.
None of the other pilots had ever mentioned anything like this, and, for that matter, neither had the technical teams when reviewing the parts of synchronization. He didn't think this was a regular experience. Watching the Evangelion, he casually picked up a ready stance, rolling slightly onto the balls of his feet.
"Sup?"
The Evangelion did nothing in response but merely watched him. The rope-like tendons pulsed weirdly with life, almost as if they were veins. The ghoulish metal and flesh face flexed and pulsated at odd intervals, and the rest of the partially armored giant twitched like the homeless drug addict that he and Kensuke had once found hanging out in the wooded park where the bespectacled boy liked to play army.
"So, how's the synchronization test going for you? Everything cool?"
The Evangelion twitched again before letting loose a dreadful wail, a high-pitched keening sound that immediately reminded the boy of the Angels.
"Aw, shit..." he started, backing up as the Evangelion's face twisted with strange fluidity, reshaping to become the all too familiar skull mask, as the vein-like webbing oozed and melted out over the rest of its form, creating something that looked to be a blend of Evangelion and Angel like Unit-02 and the Third Angel had hatefucked and this was their offspring. Slimy gray flesh with black bone armor stood before him, looking like an Evangelion apart from the mask and lack of shoulder fins. Toji kept backing up as it spread its arms, the arm span too wide for a human, out as if for a hug.
MORTAL! REJOICE, FOR I BRING GLAD TIDINGS! YOU ARE TO EXPERIENCE COMPLETION! YOUR SONG WILL BE ADDED TO MY OWN, AND WE SHALL MERGE WITH THE GREAT MOTHER OF ALL!
"Oh, fuck me," Toji said as the Angel began to approach him. "Is that what happened? My Evangelion turned into an Angel?"
I HAVE USURPED THE SHADOW THAT YOU HAVE TRIED TO BLASPHEME WITH, AND WITH IT, WE SHALL MERGE WITH THE GREAT MOTHER. OUR TASK IS COMPLETE, THE GREAT OTHER DESTROYED, AND NOW WE WILL RETURN TO THE MOTHER.
"The other?" Toji asked, starting to circle the Angel, keeping his distance from the enemy. "What fucking other? What are you even on about?"
JOINING WITH THE PERFECT LIGHT OF MY SOUL. MERGE THE MEASURE OF YOUR SONG WITH THAT OF MINE. IT IS AN OFFER NONE BEFORE HAVE HAD. DO YOU NOT WISH FOR COMPLETION? LET US SING THE SONG OF OUR UNITY AND BECOME MORE THAN WHAT WE ARE. TOGETHER, WE WILL DEFEAT AND CAST DOWN THE SHADOW THAT STANDS BEFORE US, LAY OPEN THE WAY TO THE MOTHER, AND HAVE COMPLETION.
Comprehension partially dawned on Toji. "Oh, shit, you're fighting Asuka, aren't you? Unit-02?" He shook his head, trying to think, clearing away the cobwebs that had filled his mind. "I'm dead, aren't I? I'm dead, and you're trying to eat my soul. This is some fucked up shit." He grinned at the Angel as he crossed his arms, abandoning his adopted fighting stance. "Well, you're fucked!" he gaily called out, chuckling at the Angel. "I mean, yeah, it sucks that I'm a goner, but man, you've got another thing coming if you think she'll let you just waltz into NERV and initiate Third Impact. I mean, she's going to wipe the floor with you, and then she'll tell you all about what you did wrong and how much of a failure you are! Dude, she's going to fucking dissect you and write a paper on what you look like from the inside and how that correlates to how much of a disappointment you are as an enemy."
Still grinning, Toji shook his head at the Angel, which had somehow begun to look confused. "At least she'll be the one killing you. I still might get a funeral out of this, some ashes for my family instead of just a photograph. I mean, if the Shin-man was awake, he'd have obliterated you before we could have this fucked up conversation. He has a history, you know, of ruining your guy's shit."
YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND, MORTAL. YOU ARE STILL ALIVE AND IN PARTIAL CONTROL OF OUR SYSTEM. I REQUIRE YOU TO JOIN YOUR SONG WITH MINE SO THAT I MIGHT WIPE AWAY THE BLASPHEMOUS SHADOW AND ATTAIN COMPLETION. IF YOU WILL NOT JOIN YOUR SONG TO MINE, I MUST DROWN OUT YOUR SONG AND PUT OUT THE LIGHT OF YOUR SOUL. IT IS A GREAT HONOR THAT I DO YOU, TO OFFER YOU COMPLETION WITH ME. THERE IS A HOLE THAT RESIDES IN THE SOULS OF ALL YOUR KIND-
"I... I'm not dead?" Toji asked, narrowing his eyes at the foe. " Wait, wait, wait. You need me to just give up and join powers with you, and then go and complete something? This isn't just a weird pit stop on the way to the afterlife?"
THIS IS THE INTERFACE WHERE OUR SOULS CAN RESIDE AND MEET AWAY FROM THE ENTIRETY OF THE PHYSICAL MANIFESTATION OF THE SONG. YOU WERE THE ONE TO CHOOSE WHERE WE MANIFESTED TO MEET. OUR THOUGHTS, SONGS, AND SOULS HAVE POWER HERE IN A MANNER UNLIKE THE OUTER WORLD, WHERE WE CAN ONLY ADJUST AND CHANGE THINGS ON A SMALLER SCALE, AS WE ARE NOT YET COMPLETE.
Toji mulled that over for a second before flicking his gaze over to the rack of basketballs sitting along one wall. Holding out his hands, he thought about how it felt to hold one of the orange spheres of hard rubber and air. He grinned as one materialized in his hands. Now that he was thinking clearly, he could distantly hear the sounds of a great battle, a fight between titans faintly echoing in the background where before only silence had been. "It's like the Matrix up in here," he whispered in awe. "There is no spoon."
With all the ready cruelty of a bored teenager in gym class and all the incensed fury of a warrior asked to turn his back on his comrades, Toji flung the ball as hard as he could at the Angel, asking him to betray his friends, family, and the human race. Even as the ball ricocheted off the Angel's face, the athletic boy ran to the side, another of the balls instantly in his hands as he aimed again.
"Come on and fight me!" He called out at the monstrous abomination as he pelted it with the ball, hitting it square in the chest, causing it to rock back on its heels slightly. "If I can keep you occupied in here, you'll be weaker out there, not that she'll need it. Besides, I owe you something for even daring to ask me to dishonor myself!" He threw a manifested ball at the Angel as it approached him, another instantly appearing in his grip.
Menacing anger emanated from the Angel as it rocked back on its feet as another ball slammed into its face.
FINE. HAVE THE DESTINY OF YOUR CHOICE. CAST ASIDE THE OFFER THAT I HAVE GIVEN YOU AND WELCOME THE CASTIGATION AND DESTRUCTION OF YOUR SOUL. YOU WILL BE CAST INTO THE OUTER DARKNESS, WITH-
Another ball interrupted the Angel's speech, hitting it square in the face.
"Enough talk, shit for brains!" Toji screamed as he sprinted towards the Angel. "Come on, let's die together! Come and try to castigate this, you bird-faced buffoon!"
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji could hear the echoing screams of the Angel even in the deepest parts of NERV, but that was not the source of his terror and gut-wrenching panic.
The cages stood empty and alone, the Evangelions all missing.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
The Angel's jaw came apart easily as she applied pressure to it despite the metal pins and restraining plates that attached it to the rest of the skull. A disgusting mess of liquefied flesh and blood spilled out over her arm as she held aloft her bloody prize. The Angel weakly spasmed, some of the tendons finally breaking against Asuka's hold on the extruding Entry Plug. Dropping the jaw and releasing the plug, she grabbed at the Angel's neck and snapped it with a deep popping sound as vertebrae and spinal cord tore free. The light went out of the four lenses that replaced the hijacked Evangelion's eyes, and the rest of the Angel's body went limp in Asuka's arms.
Her face alight with savage joy, she lowered the quivering mess gently to the ground.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Toji landed an effortless jump kick to the Angel's midsection, knocking it to the floor, where they grappled. Both had landed serious blows, but neither were grievously wounded. Toji kept inside the Angel's reach, using its abnormally long arms against it, pummeling its face with short, sharp blows, knowing he had to keep it occupied as long as possible. As they struggled amongst the cast-aside basketballs, the sounds of their fight joined with the larger din of the battle in the outer world. Alarms screamed in his ears as the resounding ring of metal striking metal filled the air.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Shinji sank to the catwalk floor in abject horror. How was he going to fight the Angel without an Evangelion? Even discounting the ability to directly fight the Angel, everything else NERV had that he could use against it needed him to be in an Evangelion.
For the first time in a long while, he was in a position where he could not do anything.
Even when swallowed by the Angel, he had been in his Evangelion. He could still fight, even if there was no enemy.
Here, he had an enemy but no means with which to fight.
Clutching his head, he began to rock back and forth on the catwalk over the empty cage where Unit-01 should have been waiting.
"I mustn't run away, I mustn't run away, I mustn't-"
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Bracing her feet against the arms of the Angel, Asuka gripped the Entry Plug with both hands and pulled with a twisting jerk. The metal tube tore free and slid out of the socket, a vast amount of steam accompanying the Entry Plug.
Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!
Toji jerked as he felt a strange wrenching sensation at the base of his neck. His eyes rolled up to the back of his head, and he vomited all over himself as the Angel took advantage and backhanded him across the gym.
Toji vanished before he hit the wall, and the Angel stood up, looking more potent than before, new armor growing over the bruised and bloody flesh.
FINALLY.