PRESENT
ABOARD THE WUNDER, 0200 HOURS BEFORE OPERATION VERSAILLES
God, Mari wouldn't shut up.
The girl had been going on and on about the tedium of the mission, and how it would be undeniably boring. She just wouldn't shut up about how there wouldn't be any combat.
"God, it's going to be so boring, I won't even be able to test out the new boomsticks they threw on Pinky!"
Asuka was pointedly ignoring her, too busy in her own world to even really listen. Of course, Mari being Mari, noticed this, and let a sly grin creep onto her face.
"Heyyyy, princess, you know what?" The redhead only turned her head slightly, acknowledging the other with a grunt.
"Hm?"
"You're being a sourpuss right now. I think someone needs a good night in bed with someone to loosen up a bit!" She punctuated this with a finger jab towards the redheads direction.
The other scowled in a poor attempt to hide the red that flushed her face. She eventually gave up, and turned her head the other way, muttering an insult.
"Slut."
Mari's smile only grew wider, knowing she had gotten her sister's attention.
"Oh, I see."
She raised her eyebrows as a toothy grin found its way onto her face.
"You're saving yourself for puppy boy, I get it."
Although she couldn't see it, she knew the redhead right now was making a nasty face, if only to try and hide the now deep red blush on it.
Before Asuka could say anything in retort, Mari picked up the pace, running in the direction of the Eva cages, leaving the other behind.
After managing to recompose herself, the redhead found herself alone in the hallway, Mari no longer visible, likely already within the cages.
She shook her head, scoffing to herself before continuing her steps.
Her thoughts wouldn't stop bothering her, thinking about what Misato and Mari had told her, and the things Shinji had done, what he was getting involved with.
An image that she had seen in a dream a few days ago came to mind.
Shinji dead, his corpse rotted, abandoned in some unknown building, likely to never be discovered within the wastelands.
If one asked her about that possibility, she would deny caring about it until she ran out of breath.
She wouldn't say how she really felt.
She didn't like feeling scared.
ABOARD THE WUNDER ASSAULT FLEET, 0010 HOURS INTO OPERATION VERSAILLES
"Goddamn, how the hell do the pilots manage to use these things?"
Maya was annoyed, the yellow plugsuit she had been given was frankly almost painfully tight. She agreed with Hyugas sentiment.
"It's necessary for L Barrier protection, unless you prefer cellular degradation?"
"The pilots don't seem to be too affected though." Midori butted in, half busy admiring her figure in the reflection of the steel door.
Ritsuko sighed, taking another puff of her cigarette, poignantly ignoring the NO SMOKING sign a few feet away from her.
"They have a far greater resistance to it due to prolonged exposure to LCL." She paused to put a hand on one of the seats as the ship violently jolted.
"But they aren't immune."
"In what way does it harm somebody?" Hyugas voice cut in, a nervous ring to it.
"Long term exposure can cause heavy damage, the air itself is enough to cause serious damage to the lungs without proper protection."
Hyuga quietly nodded, a little less angry at the plugsuit now.
A voice came through on the radios, the signal thankfully kept relatively strong by the comms pack Aoba had volunteered to carry.
"Assault fleet Shinobi has descended to infil point Hotel." Koji's voice crackled through the radio.
"All units stay within defensive formation, keep your advance slow." Misato's voice broke through, giving them their orders.
"All systems go." Another technician's voice came through the radio.
Misato cut in once again, giving a final order.
"Understood, all ships move to alert status. Weapons hold."
RED WASTELANDS, PARIS
The containment rod was shadowed by the numerous ships around it.
Unit 08 held it's hand out, letting the transport land on it, before placing the small ship on the top of the large cylinder.
The cargo bay door opened and Ritsuko stepped out, air density analyzer already in hand.
After a beep of confirmation, she stepped out to the edge of the containment rod, gazing upon the barren land.
"Been seventeen years since I've last been here. Shame to see such a beautiful place in this state."
She spoke to nobody in particular, letting her thoughts be said aloud. She turned back around to her crew within the transport, computers already set up.
"Alright, get started. We have ten minutes."
The crew immediately began to work, knowing how precious each and every second was.
Mari sat wordlessly within her Unit, the crew almost like ants in comparison to the size of her unit. Drumming her fingers on the interface, she sighed.
"Guess it's up to the nerds now."
A minute passed by, before her HUD began to display multiple red dots, the dots only 80 klicks away at most.
She smiled, and straightened herself up, grabbing onto her control sticks.
"Hell. It's about time."
Misato's voice confirmed her thoughts.
"Pilot! Four Nemesis Units are headed your way!"
Ritsuko's voice cut in a second later.
"Makinami! We need you to hold them back. Buy us time!"
"Way ahead of you!"
She took a moment to adjust for the feeling of her new controls, the steel arms sluggish in comparison to the old ones.
She watched as the Units appeared, moving in a line formation.
Raising her arm, she pulled the trigger, watching as oversized tracer rounds ripped through the sky.
Two units were immediately ripped apart by the rounds, their death signals of energy crosses visible a moment later.
"Oooooh, me likey!"
The other two moved out of the way, dodging and weaving through the hail of gunfire. After a minute, of continuous fire, she felt the click of a now very empty gun.
"Aww, seems I'll have to do this the old fashioned way."
Without hesitation, she sprinted forward, clubbing the first unit with her arm. She raised the other and used the slightly pointed barrel as a makeshift spear, ramming it through it's chest.
Feeling it begin to shake, she threw it at the other now advancing unit, watching as the ensuing explosion wiped out the other unit.
The fight was over within a minute.
She reached to wipe the nonexistent sweat off of her brow, and sighed. Seemed like there wasn't going to be much action today.
Before she could say anything, four more dots appeared.
Me and my big mouth.
She looked up to see… something?
It was hideous, an amalgamation of what seemed to be nearly four nemesis units merged into one.
Her radio once again crackled to life as the voice of Ritsuko broke through.
"Makinami, take those out immediately! It has a positron cannon! The ship won't be able to handle more than two hits from that!"
The chest of the unit began to glow blue a dark blue, the unit(s?) shaking from the energy buildup.
Misato's voice broke in, frantic and loud.
"EVERYONE, GET DOWN, IT'S FIRING!"
Before the sentence could even be finished, a blinding blue flash emitted, accompanied by a deafening boom.
Mari watched in awe as three of the ships acting as cover for the Wunder immediately turned into Molten metal, the cannon punching through them with ease.
"It's beginning to charge! Next shot in 40 seconds!"
She needed to do something now. If the Wunder was hit by that, humanity was as good as done for.
She scanned her surroundings, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon.
She found what she was looking for, and cringed slightly realizing it's historical value. She ripped it out of the ground, aiming it forward like a jousting lance.
"I need a distraction now!"
Pieces of ship rose up, the Wunder's AT field supporting their weight as the unit shifted it's aim towards them. Seems Misato was on the same page as her.
She sprinted forward, taking advantage of the small window of opportunity. Closing the distance, she lunged forward, the tip of her improvised weapon aimed at where she hoped the core was.
"Sorry about this Eiffel!" The metal met its mark, her full force behind it, and a moment later, the core gave way.
Mari raised her AT field instinctively, feeling her plug shake as the aftermath of the core detonation washed over the orange barrier. She pushed the talk button in her unit as it subsided.
"Threat neutralized. I'm good."
"Acknowledged. Good work out there pilot. A retrieval team will be sent out shortly."
She slumped back in her seat, letting herself relax. Maya's voice echoed through her comm unit only a moment later.
"Operation Versailles has succeeded!"
She shut off her comms a few seconds later, the cheers had been almost deafening.
Her eyes widened as she watched the containment pillar come back to life, the red earth surrounding it seemingly dissolving within moments.
The entire city became vibrant once again, the clean streets, colorful buildings, all like new. The NERV facility within the ground was visible a few minutes later, the hangar that housed the Jet Alone in clear sight.
Seems they had won, at least this time around.
Now that everything was back on track, the second biggest issue in her mind came back in full force.
Gazing at the now clean city, she let herself think aloud.
"Oh, puppy. I wonder, just where are you?"
ELSEWHERE
SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE RED WASTELANDS
"We need to talk."
The spy had decided to go out of his way to find Shinji, hoping he could at least talk some sense into him. He had managed to find him, albeit with a good amount of difficulty.
He had come here in the hopes a heart to heart would change the others mind.
The rifle currently pointed in his general direction was not reassuring.
Alright, this was going to be a hard one for the spy.
"Look, I'm not here to arrest you or anything, and if you want, I won't say anything to anybody. Think of this more as a friendly checkup. But I won't do any of that if you keep pointing that shooter at me."
The other narrowed their gaze, studying him for a moment. After a moment, the other acquiesced, dropping the rifle in his lap.
Shinji reached into his pocket, and pulled out… a notebook and pen?
Writing in it, he ripped out a page, handing it to Kaji.
Hm. Seemed the boy didn't even want to talk to him.
Who did you bring with you?
The spy looked up at the other, eyebrows furrowed.
"I didn't bring anybody. It's just me."
Silence, before the sound of pen on paper once again was heard. This was getting annoying already.
How did you find me?
"That's not important."
Another paper shoved his way.
He ignored him finally, letting annoyance slip into his words.
"Look, I get not trusting me completely, Hell, I even get hiding your face, but why are you doing that?"
Shinji tilted his head, confusion evident even beneath the mask.
He sighed, elaborating on what he meant.
"Your voice, I mean. Why won't you speak? You can obviously talk to me, no?"
A grating, scratchy noise became audible. It was wheezy and gritty, sound not unlike a cough. After a moment, he realized it was supposed to be a laugh, if the shaking of Shinji's shoulders was any evidence.
He could have sworn it even sounded a little sad.
After a minute, the "chuckling" died down, and the other gazed back at Kaji.
He had to force back a flinch at how empty those eyes were.
A hand reached up, and with a swift motion, pulled down the mask.
He involuntarily let out a sharp gasp, the reason behind the others silence now clear for him to see.
He was glad he had lost the impulse to gag at nasty sights long ago.
The sheer shock of the revelation made him drop the spy persona for a moment.
"Shinji? H-how did this happen?"
The other wordlessly picked back up the notebook, handing a note to the still slightly dazed spy.
Incident with an experiment of the old man a while back. Apparently, clones get really pissed off when you shoot them. Who woulda thunk?
He turned his gaze back up from the paper to the other, watching as Shinji lit a cigarette held between his "teeth", evidently not caring about hiding his face anymore.
He tried to put back on his smooth-talking spy persona, the attempt at sarcasm more for his own sake.
"Smoking, huh? That's a bad habit, you know. Although coming from me, I guess that doesn't mean much."
He was met with a one finger salute in response.
Well, he suspected now was a better time than ever to get to the point.
"You know, this isn't the right way to clear your name."
A harsh gaze was given in response. Shinji decided to write a moment later.
This isn't redemption. This is fixing my mistakes.
"You know I want to help you."
He was met with silence.
The spy struggled to keep a frown from forming on his face. This was going to be difficult
"Look, even Katsuragi knows it's you at this point. They want to help you."
Still no discernable reaction.
"You do realize if you keep down this path, you're gonna end up dead, right?"
The lazy gaze Shinji sent his way was gave him his answer.
Hoooh boy. That wasn't good. What the Hell did WILLE do to this poor bastard?
"Look, I know even Asuka worries about y-"
SLAM
Shinji was now standing, having kicked his chair to his side, rage evident in his re- wait red eyes?
Kaji blinked again, and the eyes were their normal, if not now dull, cobalt. Must have been a trick of the light.
The heavy breathing of the other was loud, forearm muscles bulging with how tightly clenched his hands were.
Kaji put his hands up in a placating gesture, watching as the other eventually calmed down enough to pick up their chair and sit back down.
As Shinji's breathing slowed back to a normal rate, he began to cough, with light ones turning into wet, wheezing hacks within seconds as he leaned against the table.
Kaji would not have paid heed to it normally, it wasn't uncommon to see people cough after outbursts. It still managed to grab his attention when specks of blood were hacked onto the table.
He recognized that symptom immediately.
He said nothing, knowing what it was, and knowing he could do nothing to help it. The boy had obviously been exposed to red earth for far too long.
It was obvious the boy didn't want any sort of help, so it was pointless trying to offer any.
He turned around and gathered his things as the others coughing subsided, picking up his respirator before turning back, seeing the other now recovered, a piece of paper in his extended hand.
One final question. How is my sister?
He let a small smile come onto his face. Of course Shinji would be worrying about others first, even in his current state.
"She's fine, she is aboard the Wunder, they treat her well. Last I heard she's Rits personal assistant now."
Seeing Shinji nod, he decided to leave a final part of advice for the younger male before leaving.
"Look, I won't say anything about your… problem. That's for you to tell, not me. But if you end up meeting any of the old timers, as a favor, give them a chance. Alright?"
He did not wait to see a response, instead opting to strap on his respirator and exit back into the wasteland, leaving Shinji alone once again.
Shinji was not happy.
Of course that asshole had to bring her up again. After he had spent so long convincing himself that he didn't care, forcing his brain to forget, this jackass had to bring her back up. He had spent so long simply making himself not think about her.
And yet hearing it all again seemed to bring up every single emotion he had tried so hard to not show anymore.
He stumbled back to the small table, plopping back down in the small wooden chair.
He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, trying to calm himself.
After a few puffs, he reached over and flicked the ash on the cigarette into an empty cup on the table, and promptly sunk his head into his propped up free hand, face enveloped by his palm.
He tried to ignore the feeling of tears sliding down his wrist.