All characters copyrighted by Gainax, not me.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
In this fic, Yui Ikari is NOT part of Unit 1. If you have a problem
with
this, don't read.
Home
Things just didn't want to go Nerv's way. As soon as Unit 0
appeared with the Lance of Longinus, the eight remaining white Eva's
stopped what they were doing and stared at Unit 0. Then they looked at
each other and nodded after a few moments. They then advanced on Unit
0,
completely ignoring the other two Eva's.
Rei, her Eva's arm still cocked back, revised her plans and chose
the closed target, Unit 7. Shifting her Eva's weight from one foot to
the
other, she threw all of her Eva's mass into moving the giant spear,
and it
was launched at an incredible speed. The two prongs flew true to their
target, connecting with an ear-shattering explosion of sound, and
embedded
themselves up to the hilts in Unit 7's midsection.
In fact, there was so much force that Unit 7 was blown off it's
feet and flew back several dozen meters until it slammed into a
building.
The two prongs, which had come out the back of the white target,
sliced
into the building; in effect, pinning Unit 7 up to the sheer glass
side.
Two extremely long arms appeared from nowhere and started to pound
away at the incapacitated Unit. Toji, apparently, had recovered enough
to
attack. "Toji! Grab the Lance" Ritsuko yelled. If the enemy got their
hands on it... Ritsuko didn't want to finish the thought. On the
screen,
the two long black arms shifted from hitting to clutching at the red
weapon
sticking out of the white body.
"Hnn! It's stuck in there! Come on! Come on, you bastard!" he
said, and then started on tirade of insults and complaints about the
stupid
thing. Unfortunately, he didn't see the multiple attacks coming from
behind. Even more unfortunately, both Units 0 and 2 were drawn away
from
helping Unit 3 by their own targets, leaving Toji all alone. The Lance
was
finally starting to come out of the body. It budged a few meters, then
got
stuck again.
"Watch out!" Asuka yelled, but it was too late. Unit 3 was hit by
a dozen or more deep cuts to it's back, and it's pilot felt everyone
of
them. Inside the entry plug, he started to convulse, and his eyes
started
to roll up; he was starting to loose consciousness. The pain caused
interference to cloud the link between pilot and robot, the result
being
the complete lack of movement on the part of Unit 3.
"Eject the Entry Plug! Do it now!" Misato yelled. Toji was
helpless, and the other two would never get to him in time to help
him.
"But Major! If we eject the Entry Plug, Rei and Asuka will be on
their own!" Maya said.
"But if we don't, he'll die. Which do you want?" she asked coldly,
locking eyes with Maya for a brief moment. Then she nodded.
"Yes, ma'am. Ejecting Unit 3's Entry Plug." Misato inched up to
Ritsuko.
"Tell me we're doing the right thing," Misato said after lowering
her voice. On the screen, the backpack of Unit 3 opened with a cloud
of
smoke and the long white cylinder that was the Entry Plug came
shooting
out, leaving a trail of smoke itself. The three tiny thrusters altered
the tube's course, sending it far away from the fight.
"I wish I could," Ritsuko answered. She risked a glance up at
Commander Ikari. He cocked his head and looked back at her. A glance
told
her all she needed to know. The look on his face, such as it was, told
her
that they were doing the right thing. She knew very little of the two
plans for humanity, but she did know enough to understand that the
Commander's plan was preferable to the other one.
'But does that mean I have to deal with the devil?' she asked
herself. But she already knew the answer, as this was the millionth
time
she'd asked herself that. 'How often do I wonder that?' she thought.
'Only every day,' she answered herself. With a quick shake of her
head,
she banished all thoughts of the Commander and focused on the screen.
"Bring Unit 1 up," Commander Ikari ordered. The scene quickly
switched from the battle in Tokyo-3 to the mountain plateau where Unit
1
was last seen. But the only thing there were several pools of liquid,
quite possibly blood. But no Eva's. Not even any wreckage. Nothing.
"What happen-" Misato started, but never got the chance to finish.
"Misato! What the hell's going on here?" Asuka interrupted,
destroying any chance of rational thought .
"Bring Unit 2 up!" Misato hastily ordered. All seven of the
remaining UN Eva's had stopped what they were doing and started to
stare at
the sky. A good thing, too, for Unit 0 had suffered massive damage,
both
from throwing the Lance and the damaged incurred after by Unit's 8 and
9.
After they'd finished with Unit 3, the two enemy Eva's had turned
their
attention to the Blue Unit and attacked with such violence that the
attack
on Unit 3 paled by comparison. It was as if they knew what the Lance
could
do and how to use it to for the maximum effect. But, in order to use
the
Lance, they would have to remove the current wielder from this world.
Units 0 and 2 also looked to the sky, following the UN Eva's line
of sight, and what they saw horrified them to the very core. It was a
badly damaged Evangelion Unit 6 flying towards them. Alone. Unit 1 was
nowhere to be seen. It, apparently, had not survived the fight, and
Unit 6
did.
"No," Asuka whispered, unable to resign herself to the fact that
Shinji appeared to be gone for good. But common sense soon started to
show
her that he was gone, and nothing would change that. But, she could do
something to even the score. Reaching deep inside, she opened up the
bottle of emotions that she'd had held since Unit 1 was taken away.
She
just let them all loose at once! Her world started to turn as red as
her
Eva. Soon the maelstrom of emotions all boiled down to one. Anger.
Pay... they would pay very dearly. Oh, yes! Very dearly, indeed! They
would all suffer for taking Shinji from her!
In Central Dogma, tears started to well up in Misato's eyes. She
turned an angry face to Ritsuko to demand how this could've happened,
but
stopped when she saw the tears in her friends eyes. She cast a glance
around the room to see tears on almost everyone's face. Even though he
didn't try, Shinji had managed to touch nearly everyone's life in some
way
or another, and everyone would remember him as the best Eva pilot of
all.
But Asuka didn't move from her place. She stood still, letting her
feeling of anger feed and amass upon itself and grow. Rei also did
nothing, but it could have been from shock or something else. They
both
stood there with the other Eva's, and watched. Watched as the murderer
of
their friend approached their position within the heart of Tokyo-3
very
slowly.
Even the UN Missile battery stopped firing, and for the first time
since the fight started, not a sound was made. There was an eerie calm
that descended over the collected warriors, marred only by a wind that
whistled up a few scraps of paper. In that instant, Asuka swore
revenge on
them all. She would never give up until she was the last one standing,
gazing over the broken and bloodied bodies of her enemies.
All eyes, both human and Eva, both UN and Nerv, both pilot and
administrator, locked on the approaching form of white.
The closer it got, the more they could make out about it, the
better they could asses the damage it's incurred. It looked completely
trashed. It had cuts all over it's body, large dents in it's armour,
one
arm was hanging at an odd angle. There were several smaller dents
around
it's neck that looked like finger impressions; like a giant hand was
squeezing it.
Not too far away from where the robots stood, the command vehicle
that held the Commanding Officer of the UN forces was receiving data
from
all of their ground sensors and scouts.
"Sir!" A young ensign said from his station. "Eva Unit 6, it's
taken quite a pounding, sir."
"That's not too outrageous, considering it's target," the CO
replied. "After all, Unit 1 has had the most combat experience of them
all. In fact, I'm surprised that it came back in one piece at all," he
finished, brooding. "That one Unit can't have done enough damage to
beat
Unit 1. Give me telemetry!"
"Sir, we aren't receiving anything! Units 6 and 7 aren't
transmitting data," the ensign reported.
"Nothing? That shouldn't be. We should be reading something."
A similar conversation was going on in Nerv Central Dogma. "What
do you mean 'Nothing'?" Fuyutsuki asked, not believing what he'd just
heard. "Where is Unit 1?"
"No idea, sir. It's not showing up on any of our instruments.
There's no way to tell where it is," Maya answered, dreading what was
going
to happen. The two commanders of Nerv usually disliked not knowing was
going on around them.
"It is of no concern," Commander Ikari said calmly. This time,
everybody in the room looked at him. 'No concern? What about the
pilot?'
were the thoughts on their minds.
'Does he really care that much about Shinji?' Ritsuko thought.
'And, if that's true, what does that say about me?'
Leaning down to whisper conspiratorially, Fuyutsuki felt he had to
voice the thoughts for everyone. But there was no need for the others
to
hear this new conversation. "What do you mean by 'no concern'?"
"Professor, I thought you would have figured it out for yourself by
now. That comment was not meant for those in this room," the Commander
replied, a slight smirk showing for a moment, then disappearing.
"'Not for those in the room'?" Fuyutsuki repeated slowly. "You
don't mean...?"
"Yes, I do." At that very moment, in the UN command Unit,everybody
was just as silent as Central Dogma.
"Does the Commander really care that little for his son?" one of
the many support staff asked a co-worker.
"So it seems," was the answer. Inside Central Dogma, Commander
Ikari got up from his desk for the first time since assault had
started.
"What are you doing?" Fuyutsuki asked, now completely perplexed.
The Commander ignored the question and walked over to where the UN
scout
had broken into the room. Fuyutsuki repeated his question with the
same
response. Commander Ikari started to sweep the area with his eyes,
taking
a few moments before spotting what he was looking for.
He raised his foot high into the air, and brought it down on
something that made a rather loud crunching noise. He turned around
and
strode back to his desk. "You were saying something, Fuyutsuki?"
"N... n... never... mind," Fuyutsuki stuttered. 'So he was right?
What am I saying? Of course he was right,' he thought. The other
people
in the room, after watching the Commander's odd behaviour and what had
become of it, shifted their attentions back to their various screens.
"Sir, Unit 6 is four kilometres away from the epicentre of the
fight and will make contact in," Shigeru paused to consult his screen,
"five minutes, fourteen seconds," he said, and the Commander picked up
the
phone in the drawer.
"Reset the charges for another ten minutes," he said, then hung up.
Ten minutes was just enough time for Unit 6 to land and to assess the
chances of winning. Both Commanders knew this and were ready to accept
responsibility for their actions. When the charges blew, not only
would
would Terminal Dogma and the project be destroyed, a large portion of
the
Geo-front would likely be consumed in the blast, not to mention the
vast
number human lives wasted.
'But that would be a small price to pay in order to stop Seele from
continuing with their plan,' both Commanders thought, even though both
of
them knew that it was only a way of sugar coating the easy destruction
of
so much.
"What happened?" the CO of the UN forces demanded. One of the
communications engineers had suddenly and violently ripped his headset
off.
A brief squeal of electronic noise came from the earpeice before
stopping.
"They found the bug, sir, and... I think they crushed it," the
engineer said after he sat back in his seat.
"How's that possible?"
"No idea, sir."
Asuka paused for only a moment, then turned to the nearest Eva and
reached for it. Pay! They would soon know the true meaning of pain!
She
poured all of her pain and anger and hate into the attack. Once she'd
touched the Eva, she unleashed a flurry of slashed and cuts that
startled
even the battle-hardened officers of the UN forces. It took all of
twelve
seconds for Unit 2 to completely demolish the Eva, and then she turned
her
attention to the next one, letting the defeated robot fall to the
ground,
apparently dead. Unit 13 was defeated.
But her attack had shaken the other enemies out of their trance and
they took action. Three of them turned to finish off Unit 0 and the
other
three turned to Unit 2. All Asuka saw was three enemies near her that
needed to be taught what it was like to have all they held dear ripped
away
from them. She took a deep breath and then attacked.
The three Units were not ready for such a display of violence and
were taken off guard. Unit 2 got three good, deep cuts into the Eva
nearest to itself, Unit 10, before they reacted and took actions to
stop
it. Soon it was a three on one fight, with even odds; Unit 2 was doing
enough damage that it was like it was a three on three fight.
Unit 0 was not having as much luck. It was three on one with the
odds not in it's favour, and it soon succumbed to the attack.
"Eject Unit 0's Entry Plug," Commander Ikari said without any hint
of emotion, but Fuyutsuki knew better. The Supreme Commander cared
very
deeply for Rei, and not just because of what she could do in time. He
genuinely cared for her as a person, not just as a tool. 'Unlike his
apparent feelings for his son?' Fuyutsuki thought.
Just like Unit 3 a few minutes ago, Unit 0's backpack opened and
the Entry Plug shot out. Just like a few minutes ago, the manuvering
thrusters steered it far away from the fight. Once the Entry Plug had
passed out of sight, the three Eva's turned their attention to the
other
fight and watched for a moment, then ran over to join in. Halfway
there,
Unit 5 stopped circling Unit 2 and walked away to Unit 7. Unit 12 took
it's place around Unit 2, preventing Asuka from taking advantage of
the
gap.
Unit 5 walked over to the fallen Unit and looked at the Lance
sticking out of the body. It shifted it's gaze to the body, but only
for a
few moments before it clutched at the weapon. Like Toji, the Lance was
being stubborn and uncooperative with the Eva and wouldn't move at
all.
Unit 5 let go as if it was surprised at the resistance, but soon
resumed
pulling at the Lance. It got unhooked and started to come out, but got
snagged again.
"Asuka! Stop that Eva! Get the Lance!" Ritsuko yelled. If they
got it... Nerv would loose. And then all of humanity would loose as
there
would be nothing to stop Seele from implementing their plans.
"I'm just a little busy at the moment!" Asuka managed to growl out
of the red haze that was her world. Why she said it, she didn't know,
but
didn't ponder it, rather, she turned her attention to matter at hand.
Revenge. Nothing would stop her from avenging Shinji's death. Nothing.
Not even the five Eva's attacking her.
She reached for the one nearest to her, but was stopped by one of
the others. With one of her arms out of commission, she couldn't stop
all
of the attacks that came her way, and enough got through to make her
stop
and catch her breath before continuing. But, in that moment she needed
to
catch her breath, her enemies lashed out and overwhelmed her.
Two Eva's grabbed her arms, one holding each. They pulled tight,
immobilising her arms and holding her fast. Asuka struggled mightily,
but
her captors held her too well, and nothing happened.
"Sir! Unit 2 is stuck! What should we do?" a nameless tech asked
the Commander of the UN forces in the control vehicle.
"Cease the attack. Have all the remaining Eva's turn to breaching
Nerv HQ after removing the Entry Plug of Unit 2," he said, content
that
they could finally bring those criminals to justice. Still, he found
it
hard to believe that the whole organisation was consorting with the
enemy.
Several nameless techs hurried to follow their orders. After several
moments, all the codes were transmitted to the Dummy Plugs controlling
their Eva's.
Nothing happened.
The six remaining Eva's continued to do what they were doing. The
five holding Eva Unit 2, while Unit 5 continued to pull at the Lance,
finally making some progress with removing it from the body.
"What! What's happening? Why aren't they stopping?" the CO barked.
"I don't know! This just can't be!" the tech yelled out. The CO's
mind quickly jumped to a conclusion. Somehow, Commander Ikari and Nerv
were preventing the commands from getting to the Eva's. 'But,' he
argued
with himself, 'that would mean sacrificing the pilot of Unit 2. Would
he
do that?' he asked himself before answering. 'This is, of course, the
man
that doesn't care if his son lives or dies. His comment right before
the
bug was destroyed proves that!'
With a mighty pull and a horrible screech of tearing metal, the
Lance of Longinus came free from it's prison. The three Eva's
surrounding
Unit 2 all parted to stand at it's side while the two holding her arms
pulled even tighter, sending small waves of pain down Asuka's arms and
in
her shoulders. Holding the Lance high above it's head, Unit 5 advanced
on
Unit 2, intent on using the large weapon on the red Eva.
Asuka, seeing that her life was about to end, took it upon herself
to say the things in death that she couldn't bring herself to say in
life.
"Shinji! I... I... I l-" she started, but was interrupted by all
six UN Eva's swivelling their heads rapidly to the side, to look at
the
approaching Unit 6. While they had been dealing with Unit 2, Unit 6
had
approached, slowly but steadily. Now that it was closer, they could
see
that it was having great difficulty staying aloft. It was wobbling
back
and forth, wings dipping, threatening to fail and allow the Eva to
fall to
the surface. It was having trouble staying in a straight line to the
fight
and had to constantly readjust it's trajectory.
Unit 5, who had lowered the Lance to watch Unit 6's arrival, seemed
to _smile_. More like a rabid grin, actually, and Asuka turned her
head,
breakfast threatening to come up. Together, like before, the assembled
Eva's all watched the approach of Evangelion Unit 6, although not all
of
them by choice.
Asuka tried to turn her head away, ashamed that she couldn't do
anything to avenge Shinji's death, but one of the Eva's not holding
her
arms grabbed her head and forced her to watch the arrival. Even as she
saw
it, she couldn't believe it. 'This day has had it's ups and downs,'
she
thought, not realising the oddity of it.
Unit 6 got closer... and closer... and closer. But it did nothing
else; didn't swing it's legs down, didn't angle up for a landing.
Nothing. Everybody who could watch the landing, did. Everyone in
Central
Dogma found enough time to ignore what their screens were showing them
and
looked up. All of the UN personnel, from the CO to the lowest guard,
to
Private Hohta who was just waking up. All Eva eyes fixed on the
battered
form. Even Toji and Rei, who'd clambered out of their Plugs, stared.
It
was a captivating sight.
Unit 6 got closer to the ground... and closer... and closer. Soon
it was only a few meters above the pavement. And nothing happened.
Ritsuko was the first to realise where it was heading. Then everybody
else
figured it out.
The crews of the Missile Battery had figured it out just in time
and manage to dive out of the way before the white figure slammed into
it,
destroying it in a shower of yellow, red, and black.
In all the confusion, nobody saw Evangelion Unit 1 dive off of Unit
6's back, where it had been hidden. They all saw it as it hit the
ground
on it's feet. Unfortunately, it was going too fast, so it rolled into
a
somersault and twisted around, so it end up on all fours.
Satisfied that he had their attention, Shinji glared at the world.
But, most of all, he was cold. So cold. He didn't think he could ever
be
this cold. Wait! Something warm! Something warm was near him. He
turned
to look at it, hate pouring out. It was white, big, and it was holding
something red. He shifted his focus from the white thing to the red.
Somehow, he didn't know how, but he knew that red thing was dangerous,
and
that he needed to take it away from whatever was holding it.
From Misato's point of view, Unit 1 glared up and Unit 5, and then
looked at the Lance. She saw it's eyes narrow in what seemed to be
recognition, but... that wasn't possible. Then she, and nearly
everyone
else in Central Dogma, shuddered when Unit 1's jaw opened and it
screamed.
It turned it's head to the sky and roared in anger. It was an eerie,
primal sound that shook everyone to the bone.
But, above all; above the cold, above the need to get that red
thing, was a feeling of hate, a feeling of anger. Focusing on that
feeling, everything made sense. He remembered who and what he was. He
remembered the UN Eva's. He couldn't see either Unit 3 or 0, but that
only
added to his anger. But most of all, he remembered Unit 2 and it's
pilot.
'Asuka,' he thought, then he attacked. Not standing up, but launching
himself from all fours, he leapt for the nearest white Eva.
'Hang on, Asuka. I'm coming!'
end
Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca
Thanks to: Curtiss R. Nelson, Derek Sherman, Steven Leong, Jusenkyo
Guide,
Thomas Kinnen, Jack Armstrong, Zero-XIII, and Vicente Rufino.
(
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine/3281) (
geocities.com/tokyo/shrine) (
geocities.com/tokyo)