Evangelion: Redemption (Ch. 13 of 19) - Part 2

[fanfic_mausoleum_n_grill]

(The afternoon sun bathes the landscape in yellow and gold. Long black shadows break the warmth - shadows of the city, of buildings that reach up into the darkening sky.

The shadows retreat, releasing their hold, letting the light fall on the ground again for a little while longer before night falls. The shadows of the city shrink as the buildings descend, lowering themselves into the armored skin of the Geo Front.

It rockets in from the horizon, its engines pushing design specifications. The personnel transport hurtles towards Tokyo-3, dropping altitude violently as it approaches safe haven. Even as the craft finally slows for its landing, another craft becomes visible on the horizon - another transport.)

Hyuga: Both will have landed within two minutes, Major.

Misato: What about the last delta wing?

(In the primary control room of Central Dogma, a situation bordering on emergency is being dealt with by NERV personnel. Major Katsuragi is very aware of how quickly the situation could spill over into a real emergency - another battle in Tokyo-3.)

Hyuga: Estimated time of arrival on the wing transporting Unit Six is another four minutes.

(That one delta wing carries the only Evangelion to have survived the journey.

The others had been destroyed while passing over the Sea of Okhotsk; the convoy had been hit nose-first. The attacker had somehow gotten ahead of them, and ripped through the convoy as they passed. A few had gotten through - the craft splitting up, dropping altitude, some had slipped past its deadly attention and made it to the city.

Three craft, two of them regular personnel transports. Only one carries an Evangelion.)

Misato: Any news on the attacker?

Hyuga: Nothing. All aerial detection systems are coming up blank.

Yuri: The observation system is linked with the geo-stationary, but the satellite images haven't revealed its location either. And another thing.. there's no blood spectrum pattern.

Misato: Nothing?

Yuri: Nothing apart from Unit Zero.

(Katsuragi glances up at the tactical display, where Unit 00 is displayed. The tallest of the city's buildings have sunk, but with the remaining structures, the weapon armory stations, the power cable points and the Eva-scale defensive walls built into the city, the Evangelion has plenty to take cover behind. Unit 00 makes a dark, twisted shape in the fading light. The shoulder-mounted positron cannon is clasped to its shoulder; the right shoulder hardpoint has been removed to make room. The left shoulder hardpoint is still attached, and mounted with the dark rectangle of an external battery.)

Misato: Could its waveform have been hidden somehow? Maya?

Maya: We've never tried to - we've never had to think about concealing the Evas.

Misato: But is it possible?

Maya: At this point, I would have to say yes. Unsupported, but possible.

(Major Katsuragi moves forwards, switching her attention to the Evangelion on the surface.)

Misato: What about Rei and Unit Zero?

Shigeru: Unit Zero is running on external umbilical power. Combining her internal batteries and the external supply on the left shoulder, the Unit should be capable of operation for twenty minutes.

Misato: (to radio) Rei?

Rei: (radio) Yes.

Misato: Revise the locations of the armory stations and resupply points while you still can. We can send you a spare external battery or weaponry whenever you need.

Rei: Yes.

Misato: Keep in contact with us. We'll do our best to get you all the information we can.

Hyuga: Major Katsuragi, the transports have landed. The passengers are joining the other UNSynaps personnel-

Misato: (interrupting) Make sure none of them break away from the rest. Put some security teams on it. UNSynaps must have had their share of moles. If they've brought them along, I don't want them seeing anything or interfering with the city's defenses.

Hyuga: Yes Ma’am.

Shigeru: The delta-wing transport is making its approach with Unit Six. A transport elevator will take the Unit directly to storage.

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(Gendo Ikari works expressionlessly, the lenses of his glasses reflecting a panorama of the screens before him. He turns slightly, shifting his attention from layout to layout.

Different systems, different data. The jury-rigged system that fed the information to his office was eventually.. insufficient. He had to be here. He had to see for himself if the status of Unit 01 changed. Another screen monitors the progress of Unit 02, the recovery operation. Power levels, neural patterns, video feeds from outside Unit 02 and from within. Another display shows the Central Dogma control room screen - a watchful eye on the people under his authority.

Ikari looks over the screens and abruptly jerks his eyes back to the video display.)

Gendo: ..

(Immediately he turns to the data feed running from Unit 01 - his first thought is to check the system for changes at this newest development. There are none. Unit 01 is stable.

Gendo Ikari smiles, his head sinking as relief floods through him. People often notice how Shinji Ikari resembles his father - something in the eyes, the hair, the shape of his face. Now, as he expels a breath and the tension eases out of him, it is the father that resembles the son - Gendo Ikari wearing Shinji Ikari's expressions.

It hasn't changed her. She's still waiting. He can still go.

He had been nearly sure, but nearly sure is a long way from certain. There had always been a fear, despite everything the facts told him, despite the reassurances that Fuyutsuki gave him. There had been the fear that bringing the Second Child back would break the pattern and disrupt Unit 01.

Asuka Langley Sohryu is visible in the entry plug of Unit 02, her slender form curled up and motionless. But she is there.)

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Misato: (radio) Rei? We're feeding you data from the city's sensory grid. Watch that incoming transport; the target may attempt to intercept it.

(So she has arrived.

It had begun with that distant touch, a contact from faraway. Tenkei had seemed to know about it even as Rei did - he had been more.. curious. Of course he would be drawn to her - it was the same thing that had drawn him to Rei. He would be drawn to her inevitably.

Then she had awoken. She had become aware, aware of "I". That "I" had been her - Rei Ayanami.

And now she is here.

Rei has felt what the other feels - this feeling she has come to know, this happiness, this sense of value in another's touch - this is something the other wants. This thing she has found within Tenkei.. this thing that Rei has come to claim as her own.

And now she is here. Tenkei has known, and he has rejoiced. He has not shared Rei's fear. Of course - he is not the one who would lose himself, lose his value. He is not the one who has always known about the other, and always feared it coming to light..

Now she is here, and Rei is going to kill her.)

Rei: Yes.

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Maya: Yuri, get down to the backup cage room and keep me updated.

Yuri: (getting up) Yes Ma’am.

Misato: What's happened?

(Yuri leaves the Central Dogma control room while Ibuki takes her place at the console - her old place, her old workstation. Maya looks over at Misato, a slightly stressed smile on her face - good news, tarnished with the bad situation above..)

Maya: It's Asuka. She's manifested in Unit Two.

(Misato inadvertently takes a step for the door that Furikawa has just left through. She stops herself, and turns to Maya, her eyes wide.)

Misato: You mean she's-

Maya: It's not finished - she isn't conscious. But she's physically present in the plug and the interface is registering her presence!

(Misato feels a grin spreading across her face - which she quickly straightens as Hyuga's voice reports the latest update from the city above..)

Hyuga: Standard VTOL procedure. Craft's altitude is eight hundred.

Misato: Later. We'll deal with Unit Two later.

(A thought rushes into her mind - they might not get a choice. They might have to use Unit 02. She turns to the screen, pushing the idea back.)

Misato: (thinking) Please, can we make it through this without needing Asuka..

(They watch the visual feed on the main screen; the craft descends, its landing engines roaring, winds tearing vainly at the concrete and steel of the city beneath. Lights around the elevator opening flash in the dim evening light. These lights would normally be used to warn personnel that the enormous bay doors were about to open. Now they are used as landing lights, guiding the craft to the surface of the giant elevator, where the craft's cargo is to be dropped. The Evangelion, bone-white in the flashing lights, is slowly lowered in its harnesses as the delta-wing hovers and sways.

A short, vicious gash burns itself open across the wing of the craft, glowing white hot from the laser pulse. Fuel and engine explode, spraying liquid flame over the drop-off point as the restraints holding the Evangelions break. The giant falls, hitting the elevator platform even as the craft above bursts into a fiery ball.)

Misato: It's here! All systems and personnel to battle stations!

(The elevator drops away, the silent Unit 06 sprawled on it. Both vanish into the Geo-Front as the bay doors close above them, sealing the shaft.)

Shigeru: The Unit is heading for storage.

Misato: What about the enemy?

Maya: Nothing on any of the sensory systems - no radar, no thermal, no bloodspectrum. There's nothing there!

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(The Officer does not speak; not yet. For now, his hard glare says more than enough.

Data streams back, locked in the tightest, most secure encryption that could be provided, bounced from satellite to satellite, hidden among the maze of communication that spans the world. The information flows form their Unit, their Evangelion, as it flies stealthy circles above Tokyo-3. Computers divide the information and store it for later analysis as even more pours back - status of the flight unit, performance of the weapon, synchronization data, and a ocean of tactical information of the layout of Tokyo-3, adding to what they had already been told by their masters.

SEELE had prepared them well for this mission; their assistance had made the assaults on Nantes and Aurillac successful. But they had not prepared them for this order.

The Officer does not speak, but merely stares at the suited executive - the "Suit". To the officer MARI's operation is a military one, but it seems that men like these now decide on strategy. Men like this Suit, and men like those behind the faceless group called SEELE. They have decided MARI's next move, and have given their orders.)

Suit: That is their will.

Officer: (staring) ..

Suit: We both knew they would do this. The parts we recovered with Unit Four were a threat to them, ones they can't allow to leave in our possession.

Officer: And so we throw down the gauntlet? Send MARI against three prepared Evangelions, fighting on home soil? You know it's not configured for that.

Suit: I know. We have made preparations for this event; we can recover.

Officer: We're exposing everything MARI is to them - to NERV, and to the UN. You know what the repercussions of this will be?

Suit: After Evreux? Unavoidable. We must do this and keep SEELE believing in us.

(Men without faces, men who will never to called to answer for their actions. SEELE deciding the strategy for MARI, their unknown ambitions setting the course of what will, according to their orders, become a war.

The Officer does not speak - the words are too bitter. Accepting these orders, and taking one more step away from what they had been ordered by their government to do, is terrible enough. He leaves the room at a brisk pace, returning to the hustle of personnel in the control room.

At his entrance a few faces turn to him - a few who know him better than the rest recognize the signs.)

Officer: We need an assault plan immediately. We are continuing the attack.

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(The sun lowers; the hills and remaining buildings already block it from view, leaving the city in twilight and the western sky in shades of gold. From the glowing horizon upwards the sky fades, shifting into a dark blue that verges on blackness.

Evangelion Unit 00 raises its armored visage as its pilot stares up into the darkening sky. Somewhere up there, circling above, is the enemy.

Ayanami can hear their voices; NERV personnel in Central Dogma, their words transmitted to the entry plug. Their task is to assist the First Child in hers - to destroy the enemy. It is a simple thought, a single purpose that runs through the mind of Rei Ayanami. Kill it. It is something so much easier to face than what it wants, what it has come for.

Kill it, and Tenkei remains hers.)

Rei: (thinking) Mine..

(Mine. To have, to possess, to hold onto something of value. Something she had not felt so strongly before Tenkei.

A distant explosion signals the beginning of the attack.)

Shigeru: (radio) We've just lost sensory cluster six-four-four.

(Another detonation is heard, and another. Laser blasts pulse down, striking at the defensive structures of Tokyo-3. Unit 00 is oddly ignored, untouched as the assault from above continues..)

Shigeru: (radio) Six more have gone down - it's targeting our sensory systems!

Maya: (radio) Use the infra-red while we still can - we might be able to pick up the thermal spikes when it fires its laser!

(Rei closes her eyes.

The sounds fall back into the distance, pushed away, out of "earshot". Rei's hands slip from the butterfly handles of the entry plug and-

-division, separation. The line where she ends and all else begins. Push, gently push at the barriers..

Memories of exercises, when the Second and Third Child had still been here - the AT field experiments..

The boundary swells out, brushing against others as it expands..

Not a blast, not a shockwave, but a slight, almost gentle caress..

There.)

Rei: ..

(She can feel him, Tenkei, somewhere within the city. Safe from that thing, safe from being taken away from her. Deeper now, she can feel the touch of Unit 02, half-activated, half-aware. Another presence, so vague, almost.. the Second Child. The ever-present touch of Unit 01. She retreats, choosing not to delve any deeper, returning her attention to the surface - turning her attention to the enemy.

Wait - something else, a dull, empty feeling brushed past. Something inactive, something blank and unformed. No - there is something to it, but something so faint that..

Unit 06, sprawled on a descending elevator. Her touch passes over it, rising upwards. There are voices - over the radio, but they go largely unheard by the First Child.)

Voice: It's hitting the power grid! Rei!

Voice: If it can take out the umbilical support systems it can just wait for Unit Zero to shut down..

Voice: Dammit, we need its location now!

(Now she reaches up into the sky, above the city. Searching..

There.

It. The thing. It is not what she had expected - it feels nothing like her. This thing is.. blank. Like the dormant Unit 06, it is unformed, undeveloped. But there is something there, a presence, a thought. So simple, so straightforward, turning from task to task, almost mechanical.

Rei Ayanami's eyes open.)

Rei: Mine.

(Unit 00 steps out into the street, the massive bulk of the positron cannon swinging its barrel up to the sky. Rei doesn't even glance at the entry plug's sensory output - blind to the enemy's cloaked presence, it cannot help her. The weapon reticule display before her shows no target. But she can feel it, its presence pressing against her field like the breath of a stranger standing far too close.

The positron cannon roars. A pulse of high-energy particles tears upwards, white light streaking towards the darkness. And it hits.

There is a flash as the positron blast discharges. The clouds around the blast are illuminated by a sphere of retina-searing light. The sound of the explosion follows a few seconds later, a sharp crack, almost a lightning strike. As the impact point begins to fade, something flaming falls from it, trailing black smoke in a sharp curve that streaks towards the skyline.)

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Operator #1: Zero response from all systems on the flight unit!

Officer: (leaving over console) What the hell..

Technician: Docking clamps have auto-detached! MARI has bailed the flight unit!

Operator #2: Height is three thousand and dropping..

Suit: Is the Unit damaged?

Operator #1: The flight unit is toast!! MARI is reporting no operational errors.

Operator #2: Height is two thousand nine hundred..

Technician: It must have been their positron weapon! The resulting charge fried all systems outside the field!

Operator #2: Two thousand five hundred..

Officer: (points) Tactical, now! What's the status of the city's remaining sensory systems, and where is the Unit going to land?

Operator #2: Two thousand one hundred..

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Shigeru: Arrays five-five and five-four are transmitting feeds on the falling craft, Major..

(The operator reports from his post as the images appear on the vast screen before them - simultaneous images of the falling craft, flaming wreckage and trailing smoke, rolling slowly as it hurtles towards the ground.

But Katsuragi pays the images little attention, far more concerned with their one functioning pilot..)

Misato: (to radio, shouting) Rei, what the hell did you do?

Hyuga: We had supplied her with no feeds Ma’am, her targeting computer was not engaged, I don't know how she-

Misato: (to radio) Rei, are you reading this? Rei?

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(The arc of smoke made by the burning flight unit falls towards the hills outside the city limits.

The First Child's attention is locked on another object, however - something much closer.

Buildings shatters under the impact; in a fraction of a second hundreds of tons of concrete and steel become airborne, smashed off their foundations and sent soaring into neighboring buildings. A heavy cloud rolls out from the obliterated structure, briefly hiding the carnage from view.

But more is yet to come. A bolt of energy screams down the canyon of buildings - streetlights flicker for a fraction of a second as the passing positron charge jolts their filaments to glow and pop. The blast turns the swelling cloud of dust bright white as it impacts with whatever is left of where MARI crashed to the ground. With a roar, the bolt of energy tears through a city block, leaving a wake of scorched and molten concrete.

Two more blasts follow as Rei fires, saturating the area with burning death. With the shots, two more furrows drag themselves through of the city, two burning paths of destruction where the positron blasts struck. Ayanami pauses; Unit 00 freezes, cannon smoking from the shots, still trained on the destruction.

Concrete fragments patter to the ground.

A row of city blocks have been obliterated, a wide swath through Tokyo-3 marking the point where MARI had crashed to the ground. The damage done by the rogue Evangelion's impact was nothing compared to the devastation let loose by Unit 00's positron cannon.)

Rei: ..

(The hydraulic locks that hold the enormous rifle to the Eva's shoulder disengage. Free of the weapon, Unit 00 lowers it to the ground. The positron cannon is not expended, nor is the target destroyed. Nor is Rei concerned with destroying even more of the city.

Rei's hands flex on the butterfly handles as Unit 00's clench into fists. There are voices over the radio - again, Major Katsuragi and the others, wanting to know what has happened. The umbilical cable detaches from the Eva's back, dropping with a flare of impact-deploy rockets.)

Voice: Rei, what are you doing? Rei!

(Unit 00 launches into the air, hurtling over the skyline and into the dust-choked rubble. Grey clouds sweeping past on either side, blackened and smoking ground rushing beneath, the Evangelion ends its incredible jump by smashing into the blue-black form of MARI.

Both giants burst out through the concrete wreckage, driving aside the still molten-remains of buildings as the struggle. MARI moves with the grace of a trained fighter, kicking Unit 00 away for long enough to roll to its feet. A progressive knife, drawn from a concealed socket in its sleek armor, begins to hum as it slides into MARI's hand. With its other hand it clasps the more fragile laser rifle to a port on its back.

The black armored form crouches, hands low, ready to grapple and stab. Unit 00 hauls itself to its feet just as MARI strikes. A quick dart in, blade slashing, ultrasonic field singing with the need to cut.

It never gets close. The blue-and-white Evangelion's fist closes around MARI's wrist in an utterly unbreakable hold.)

Rei: You will not take him away from me.

(MARI responds with the practical and brutal tactics of a street brawler. Its free hand slams into Unit 00's stomach, hits rising into the ribcage. It strikes twice before Rei screams.)

Rei: (shouting) You'll never have him!!

(A sudden, violent twist and MARI is flying. Thrown by the enraged EVA-00, the giant is tossed out of the smoking ruins to smash into another building. Its progressive knife lost in the impact, MARI comes again to its feet in a crouch - only to catch Unit 00's shoulder as it barrels into it.)

Rei: (shouting) He's MINE!!!

(Shattering concrete, tumbling blocks of what had been a building only a second before. Clouds of dust, chokingly thick. MARI rolls sideways, hauling itself out of Unit 00's reach and hauling its rifle up. A pulse of light scorches into the blue giant's chest - Rei leaps to one side as fiery needles seem to rip into the skin of her chest.

Chest plate smoking but intact, the Eva dodges into the streets, ducking low and using the buildings for cover as pulses of laser light burn the concrete.)

Rei: (to radio) I need a weapon.

(Her voice is suddenly calm, despite the rage a bare moment before, despite any pain she might feel from the laser strike.)

Misato: (radio) We're sending you a rifle, four hundred west of your position. Stick to cover and we'll tell you where it's going-

(Unit 00 is already moving. It dives out into the open, darting across the street as MARI raises its rifle, its aim barely missing the lightning-fast Eva. Back into cover behind low-set buildings, Unit 00 breaks into full run and heads for the weapon station.

The rifle is already in place, waiting. Grabbing it, the Eva steps sideways into cover, settling the weapon against its shoulder. Back against the shield of a building, Unit 00 pauses as the pilot closes her eyes.)

Rei: ..

(The Evangelion leans out of cover and fires, a short burst roaring from the weapon, shells streaking down the street. As the blue giant leans back, a pulse of laser light answers her attack, scorching the building she takes cover behind.

The two Evas dart from street to street, cover to cover. A flicker of Unit 00 is visible between buildings - a beam of light flashes after as MARI aims and fires. The black-armored Eva takes cover behind a building and a volley of projectiles smash into the concrete, blasting out chunks and clouds of dust.

Voices over the radio from NERV central constantly feed data on MARI's location as the two Evangelions stalk through the city streets. From building to building, shot for shot, the battle pushes back and forth.

Rei lets loose with a stream of rounds, tracing MARI's path as it dodges and weaves between buildings, chased by a trail of shattered concrete and crater-like impacts.)

Misato: (radio) Rei, your rifle is almost depleted. We'll send another to the station north of you!

(Against the transparent wall of the plug an overhead map of the city appears, overlaid on the dark outlines of the buildings seen through the eyes of the EVA-00. Rei spares the display a glance; flashing icons identify Unit 00, MARI, and the armory stations.

And then Unit 00 is moving again, darting between the buildings, rifle ready, weaving its way towards MARI.)

Misato: (radio) What are you doing - Rei!

(The blue armored Eva collides with MARI as it rounds a corner. A laser burst pulses up into the air as the two struggle in close quarters to keep the other's weapon turned away from their body. Unit 00 digs its feet in as MARI heaves and struggles; the Evangelion's assault rifle fires, ripping up the faces of buildings and the concrete of the road in a wide circle as the two giants turn, wrestling with each other.

Abruptly MARI releases its rifle and smashes a fist into Unit 00's face. It steps back and retaliates, smashing the butt of its now-empty rifle low across the blue-black Evangelion's ribs. MARI catches the next swing, its hands locking around the buttstock of the Evangelion's rifle. Its own weapon half-drags on the ground, suspended by the umbilical cable that links into MARI through a port just under the arm. With a hiss of seals the cable detaches, the rifle falling to the ground - relatively safe from the struggling giants. MARI turns, hauling Unit 00 off its feet and swinging it into a building.

The face of the building breaks into fragments and rains down on the two. Rei gives up on the rifle as a club, the giant fist of her Eva lashing out to connect with MARI's faceplate. As her opponent staggers back from the blow she lunges forward, following with a kick that MARI dodges back from.

In a blur of fast, short blows MARI advances again, landing sharp hits on Unit 00's armor. Rei's answering roundhouse punch is caught by the blue-black Eva; MARI heaves and pulls, trying to draw the Evangelion into an armlock even as Unit 00 locks its free hand around its opponent's neck. Feet grinding into the road for traction, Unit 00 pushes MARI against the crumbling facade of a building already half-smashed by the battle.

Grips shift as the two giants fight to get the best hold on the other. Short blows are struck, brawler's punches at grappling range, MARI's stomach plates warping under multiple hits, Unit 00's faceplate cracking under its cyclopean eye. They haul at each other, a giant, destructive dance as they pivot one another into building after building, crushing a rough path of shattered concrete as they wrestle through the city.

Shocks rippling up her arms, hands numbing from impacts. Memories flash into Rei's mind.)

-(flashback)- A voice raised in a scream, body lunging away from the wall. Restraints, their locks burrowing into her armored forearms, are ripped free of the wall and hurled across the room, twisted and torn. Alarms spinning, tiny figures below running.

-(flashback)- A desperate need, a need for that face she had seen. Yellow eyes, pale hair. The same need she herself had felt, one that had drawn her towards him, drawn him into her life.

-(flashback)- A need to be her, to be Rei Ayanami. Rei Ayanami and Tenkei. To be her, to be near him. A face, a name, a way out. A way to him. To take what should be hers.

Rei: (screaming) ...

(Blurs of the city skyline, flashes of its face suddenly looming in her vision. Showers of concrete fragments, glass fracturing and falling. The dull, distant pain of bruises and blows. The ground underfoot, sometimes uneven, sometimes flat and smooth, sometimes solid, sometimes giving way under the force of their struggle.

And the scream. The constant howl of Unit 00, drowning out every other sound.

Then the path ends abruptly, MARI's backplate hitting a wall of reinforced alloys - the wall of an armory station. Rei jerks back - the howl ceases - and calm returns to her, if just for a moment. Katsuragi's voice fades back into her consciousness, urgent over the radio. The armory station, the rifle they sent for her.

MARI kicks out low, driving Unit 00 back a few steps. Taking advantage of the brief surprise it leaps forward, following up the attack.)

Rei: (shouting) You won't!!

(Rei catches the creature as it tries to advance, slamming it back into the weapon station's side, warping the metal. The darkly-armored Evangelion is now off balance, feet scrabbling underneath it. One hand tries to press against Unit 00's unyielding chest plate, trying to push the Eva away. The other reaches up, fingers trying to touch the blue-armored Eva's external battery. The sight drags Rei's eyes to the time display on the wall of the plug - Unit 00 still has fifteen minutes of operational time, included her internal batteries.)

Rei: (shouting) You can't have what's mine!

(Rei tightens her grip and slams the Eva back against the building. The reaching hand of MARI flops about like the arm of a doll, its head caving in the wall of the weapon station. The stricken Evangelion now reaches down, hands gripping a portion of buckled metal on its thigh. The already weakened alloy gives way; the grip of a pistol protrudes from the weapon port on MARI's leg.

Unit 00 steps back, hauling MARI with it. Tortured metal screeches as the Eva is wrenched out of the deformed wall. With a tremendous heave Rei pivots her Evangelion about, swinging MARI like a sling - and lets go.

The blue-black Evangelion cleaves into the buildings, tearing a kilometer-long path of ruins and debris behind it. As the dust slowly settles, gradually revealing the still-moving form of MARI, Unit 00 turns back towards the armory station. The damaged systems whine, jerkingly opening their armored shutters, revealing a waiting assault rifle.

Unit 00 turns, rifle ready at the shoulder - but MARI is gone.)

Misato: (radio) Rei, the target is heading westwards.

(There is a pause.)

Misato: (radio) It's going to retrieve its rifle! Get after it!

(Rei directs her Eva through the streets, moving at a run. Between dark buildings and over rubble, Unit 00 catches sight of the enemy and raises its rifle. And freezes.

Standing on the road, barely fifty meters from the enemy Eva, is Tenkei.)

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(The man leans back from his console suddenly.)

Operator: Whoa.. what the hell?

Officer: What is it?

Operator: Feedback errors - I'm getting interference in the plug signal?

Officer: What? Is it external?

(A series of exclamations circulate around the room as whatever it is shows its effect on every system of the Evangelion..)

Operator: The interface isn't taking it sir, the systems are refusing to function!

Officer: Switch to the backups!

Technician: AT field fluctuation - another field!

(The Officer grunts, not really surprised - the arrival of another Evangelion to the fray was only a matter of time.)

Officer: Where is it? Tactical has nothing.

Technician: I'm trying to locate the source of the interference..

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(There is nothing dramatic about his appearance. His clothes are slightly rumpled as he clambers over some of the rougher debris. Among the broken rubble of buildings and roadways, Tenkei is almost impossible to see. He looks up - now both Evangelions are in view. Unit 00 stands nearly half a kilometer away, rifle ready, but does not fire.)

Don't stop me. Please.

(He feels Rei's response - the surge and rush of the fight covering her fear and anger like a thick cloud, obscuring and confusing, but not hiding it. She doesn't want him to do this - but she cannot stop him. She cannot bring herself to do it.

She won't fire.)

Thank you.

(Another response - a helpless twitch, more anger, more fear. But behind it her feeling, something that rose up almost involuntarily at his thanks. Love. But the fear is still there, a desperate helplessness. He hates doing this to her, putting her through this. But the other deserves a chance.)

Tenkei: ..

(Now he turns his attention back to the black-armored Evangelion - like Unit 00, it is immobile. The boy's field flickers briefly around him as he reaches, slipping past the crude barrier that the Eva has around it, into..

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(Silence.

She cannot be seen. She cannot be heard, or touched, or reached with any of the senses. Light, sound, human contact - all the mediums are denied here. They cannot exist.

But he can feel the presence in this place. She is here - he knows it.)

Voice: When I spoke to her, she made an error. She, like these humans, holds her world static, and defines all within according to her perceptions. Even if that definition is limited by her.. lack of contact.

(The darkness swirls, a dark ball contracting in space, forming into a shape..)

Voice: And so she saw me as the "intruder", one who enters her world and disrupts it. One who questions who she is.

(Not just a shape. A sound, a smell. The voice is suddenly recognizable - Tenkei retreats in surprise, but holds himself steady - he does not leave this place.)

Aoi: I asked her "who are you?" And she answered with the image that others use to define her - Rei Ayanami, designated pilot of Unit Zero. As I questioned her world, she saw me as the "intruder", an image in her mind of the Seventeenth, the one called Kaworu Nagisa. Her own perceptions blinded her to what I am.

Tenkei: ..you are..

Aoi: Here, to tell you this. You thought you would find her here? You will not. You, too, have made her mistake.

Tenkei: Mistake?

Aoi: You reached out for this Rei, and as you touched upon her you saw her form. You watched her form. As always, you create your world and the people within it..

Tenkei: ..

Aoi: And now you reach again, hoping to find that same touch, that same form. But this is a form that will not change for you.

Tenkei: Where is she?

Aoi: Safe. Safer than you.

(The darkness is filled with light.

City light, dust and rubble. Spotlights washing over buildings and the wreckage of buildings. Unit 00 is still motionless at the end of the road. And opposite is the other Evangelion, dark armor dusty from the fight. The other Evangelion, where he had thought he would find her.

Aoi steps across the rubble, kneeling beside the boy. Tenkei watches with wide eyes as MARI suddenly jerks upright, the pistol that had been held loosely in one hand suddenly leveled at him. He feels the mechanical intent of the creature center on him, its AT field unfolding and directing itself towards him..)

Tenkei: (stepping back) ..

(She catches him as he stumbles on the rubble; her arms gently wrap around him.)

Aoi: (comfortingly) It will be alright..

(The giant pistol fires, artillery-sized muzzle flash flaring among the dust and darkness. There is no sound - the supersonic projectile will reach him before the sound does.)

Aoi: She needs you too much to let you die.

(His hands pass through Aoi's form as everything vanishes in the impact.)

---------------------------------------------------------

(The trigger switch locks down as Rei screams with the horror and pain of her loss.

Explosions of concrete erupt across buildings and streets as MARI runs weaving from side to side, desperately trying to dodge Ayanami's fury. Unit 00 surges forward in pursuit, rifle raised, flashing its fury with each burst. Shells streak across the city, some shattering the backplates in MARI's armor, other burying themselves into buildings.

The weapon empties; Rei simply throws the smoking rifle aside and breaks into a dead run, eyes locked on the elusive form of the enemy, lips peeling away from her teeth as pilot and Evangelion surge forward, howling with rage, hands twisted into claws..)

Misato: (radio) Another rifle coming up at your zero mark - dead ahead!

(It rises barely a hundred meters in front of the fleeing American MARI. The armory station seems to erupt from the ground, rubble and debris from earlier in the fight lifting into the air. The blue-black Eva skids to a halt, using the station to steady itself with one hand and turning to face the chasing Unit 00. MARI drops into a gunman's stance, both hands supporting its pistol. It fires off one shot - which strikes home - before the blue and white Evangelion strikes.

Blood splashes thickly onto buildings and is instantly lost in the madness of steel collision.

The impact knocks MARI clean off its feet, both Evangelions crashing into the armory station and through. Reinforced alloy shutters and struts are torn free, the structure bursting as the two Evas fall heavily into the buildings beyond. The newly supplied rifle sails through the air, landing amongst the rubble.

Blue and black armor rolls over and over - suddenly MARI is thrown clear, regaining its feet with swift grace just in time to catch Unit 00's fist in the side of its head. It stumbles, backing into a building. Another blow drives into its chest and the Eva slams back into the building again. Windows disintegrate as the force of the blow ripples through the structure, enticing a tortured screetch from the superstructure.

MARI's pistol hand rises - Rei grabs it quickly, teeth gritted, struggling to keep its weapon pointed away from her. MARI's free hand comes around in a fist, jackhammering into Unit 00's ribs. Another blow, and Rei answers with a backfist across its face. The Evangelions heave against each other; the darker Eva steps and turns, smashing Unit 00 into the already-shattered building. With a cry of rage Rei swings her opponent around and into the concrete, roles reversed a second time. MARI lashes out with an elbow, catching the blue-armored Eva on the faceplate. Unit 00 jolts back-

-hand releasing, just slightly on the wrist of its enemy-

-turning, weapon twisting down for a free shot.

The shell bursts from the weapon's barrel and cleaves into Unit 00's helmet. Through alloy armor, skull and tissue beneath.. and then further. The bullet emerges from the Eva's neck in an explosion of blood.

Rei screams anew.

Unit 00 stumbles back, hands rising up clutch at its mangled face as MARI takes up a shooting stance. Maybe half a dozen shots, some impacting on the heavy armor of the Eva's breast plate, some punching through the weaker, more flexible plating around its neck. Blood. Pain. Rei spasms in the entry plug as the bullets strike home in sudden explosions of agony.

There is the briefest of pauses in firing as MARI corrects its aim, then carefully places one last shot into Unit 00's face.

The blue giant falls backwards, blood gushing from its wounds, and comes crashing down onto the broken streets of Tokyo-3.)

---------------------------------------------------------

Misato: (shouting) My God! What's Rei's condition?

Shigeru: (shaking head) I've got no data from Eva at all..

Hyuga: Same over here - the damage must have taken out the feeds, or the transmitter. I'm getting no signal!

Maya: (very quietly) We need to get a rescue team out there, as soon as possible.

Misato: Not with the enemy still active. Unless it continues the attack on Zero, we don't move Rei-

Maya: I mean for Tenkei.

(Misato stares up at the screen, at the rubble and wreckage of the city above. Very slowly she turns to Maya.)

Misato: I don't know if that will do any good.

(Katsuragi's gaze hardens as she returns her attention to the problem at hand.)

Misato: The target - what's its position?

---------------------------------------------------------

Operator: Unit Zero has been neutralized..

Officer: (shouting) I don't care! What the hell happened earlier?!

Technician: The system must have struck a logic failure in the defensive protocols and attacked the percieved source! It must have been a target identification error..

Operator: The unit's primary systems are back on-line, sir. Operation seems to be normal-

Officer: (interrupting) Are there any enemy units in the vicinity?

Operator: (hesitating) ...

Officer: Are our enemies neutralized?

Operator: Unit Zero is inactive. Apart from the field spike pattern, there's no sign of Units One or Two..

Officer: Then stop everything.

Technician: Sir?

Officer: Cease function. Halt the unit's orders and stand ground until we can sort out what the hell happened to it!

(Activity returns to the room - the systems of MARI, only so shortly before running haywire from whatever influence that had touched it, seem to be working smoothly now. This does nothing to calm the Officer's fears; he had seen the visual feed from MARI when it had located the source of the interference. He, like the others in the room, had seen the "target".

It was just a kid. He just stood there, so calm as this.. thing towered over him, destroying what must have been his home.

And for an instant, that face half-hidden in the muzzle flash of MARI's pistol, he had thought he saw him crying.)

---------------------------------------------------------

Asuka: ..

(The entry plug. This place is solid now, not just a memory, but reality. She is here.

The smell is there, faint, so faint she could almost think she is imagining it. Blood. Breathe in, breathe out. Ignore the smell. Feel the pressure of the fluid, heavier than air, harder to pump into lungs that have not breathed for so long.

The receptor headband, which had before floated in the fluid, now rests on her head. She can feel the plug seat against her back, her hair flowing around the headrest. Her eyes are closed.

Eva. She can hear the sounds of the entry plug. An almost mechanical sound, a hum, a roar, a growl. Rising and falling. Breathe in, breathe out. That smell..)

---------------------------------------------------------

Suit: They need time.

(The man's dark suit contrasts with the starkly bland concrete of the corridor.)

Suit: They don't need you looking over their shoulders right now.

Officer: I need to know what happened.

Suit: And when you walk back into that room, they'll try to give you an answer. They won't be able to.

Officer: ..

Suit: But I think I can.

Officer: What do you mean?

Suit: The plug they sent us - it must have had some programming that we can't access, that we can't even see.

Officer: Are you saying that what just happened is something that SEELE programmed into it?

Suit: We know they're hiding things from us - like what they want with these. And what they're capable of.

(This is something that the officer finds very plausible; of course they have been hiding things. But whatever they would have needed such a reaction for..)

Officer: You're right.. and we have a situation we have to deal with.

(The man turns back towards the room, where personnel must still be working on unraveling whatever has just happened.)

Officer: MARI is on the surface, and we can't recover it without the flight unit. We should consider it effectively lost, but.. SEELE couldn't have thought that we would make it this far. I know I didn't.

Suit: Neither did I. We were expecting three Evas.

Officer: But we have an opportunity now. We have to take it.

(The suit nods once, and looks towards the control room. The officer turns, ready to take up command again; but the orders are ones that he had not expected that he would give..)

---------------------------------------------------------

Hyuga: The enemy is active again!

Misato: What's it doing?

Hyuga: Bearing eastwards, towards grid number.. I can't get exact co-ordinates.

Misato: What? Why?

Hyuga: There's been too much damage to the sensory systems in the district, Ma’am.

Shigeru: With the laser strikes and the damage done during the battle, our sensor systems only have twenty percent coverage in that sector.

Misato: Huh. So we have next to no idea of what it's doing out there.

Hyuga: Wait, there it is - camera three-seven-seven! Feeding it through the main screen..

(MARI's armor is dented in places, torn in others, and coated in the gray-white of powdered concrete from the fight. Blood is visible, clotted in its wounds, but its movement does not seem impaired by the injuries. The camera view pans to follow.

The creature kneels at what is apparently a random spot in the rubble, its vast hands sifting through the debris. From the wreckage it draws its rifle; earlier the weapon had been discarded, useless in the melee, but now..)

Misato: Keep tracking it. Where's that strike I ordered?

Shigeru: The UN are presently scrambling launch craft. They can have three N2 mines deployed in Tokyo-3 in eight minutes.

Misato: If they hadn't been so busy washing their hands of this mess they'd be ready now.

Maya: This Eva has intercepted aircraft and N2 mines before. An attack might not even work. And.. Rei is still out there.

(Misato hears the brief hesitation, and knows that the woman held back slightly.

Tenkei might still be alive. An N2 mine strike could end that. But..)

Misato: We're running out of options. If this thing continues the attack, we're helpless.

(The Major straightens, her mouth setting in a hard line.)

Misato: Yuri - what's the status of the Second Child?

(She didn't call her Asuka. Misato looks away from Ibuki, not willing to see the look that she knows the woman is directing at her.)

Misato: (thinking) We're almost out of choices..

(Yuri's voice is transmitted from the backup cage control room, where she is posted to watch over Unit 02.)

Yuri: Asuka's manifested, but she's still unconscious. Life signs are stable, brainwaves normal. We've shut down twenty percent of the external stimuli. By the procedure, it'll take another half an hour before-

Misato: Hurry it up. Maya, she'll need you down there soon.

(As Ibuki leaves the Central Dogma control room, the Major turns to the screen, looking up as the view of MARI switches from camera to camera, the damaged sensory systems of the city trying to follow the movements of the blue-black Evangelion.)

Fuyutsuki: I didn't think you would consider launching Unit Two, Major.

(Misato looks back at where the old man stands - on the primary platform in the Central Dogma control room, just like the rest of them. Commander Ikari's platform, where Fuyutsuki would normally be seen in such a situation, is empty.)

Misato: I didn't think it would be necessary, Sir.

Misato: (thinking) Commander Ikari isn't here..

(The thought is interrupted.)

Shigeru: The surface shutter of launch bay four has been breached! The sensors are picking up a buildup of heat!

Misato: What - it's cutting its way in!?

Shigeru: Yes Ma’am. The first shutter is down and the second is being hit now!

Hyuga: Given the number of shutters between bay four and the cage, the enemy will breach NERV in just under eight minutes!

Misato: Damn it! Update the UN launch flight - those N2 mines aren't going to do us any good now.

Shigeru: Yes Ma’am.

Misato: What about launching a platform to bay four, give this thing a high-speed surprise.

Hyuga: Negative, the EM rails have been damaged at the entrance - probably by the target's laser. The circuit is broken, a launch is impossible.

Misato: Yuri! How's Unit Two?

Yuri: (speakers) We're running through the checklist. Asuka is still unresponsive.

Maya: (speakers) Major Katsuragi, I'm in the cage. I'll do what I can to speed things up.

Misato: Do whatever you can. Hyuga, where's the enemy now?

--------------------------------------------------------

(The body is a wreck.

He can feel his senses drawn back to his injuries as they scream for his attention. Pain. Warm, sticky blood. Bone and muscle torn. The feel of the jagged concrete fragments he lies on is an afterthought in the blinding pain of those injuries.

His body is a wreck, and his minds flees it.

Away from the eyes that stare sightlessly upwards, the hands now limp, half-outstretched as they reach for her. Away from the pulse of spilling blood, and the light-headedness of its loss, freeing him from the pain. Soon he would lose consciousness. His body would not sustain him.

A part of him wonders briefly at what will happen then.

His mind flees, seeking other things. They reach, beyond the boundaries of his AT field, towards the feel of the beings around him. Unit 00 - the pain of its injuries, the pulse of the Eva's heartbeat. The giant continues to function, the battery power in its internal reserves supplemented by the heavy external battery on its left shoulder. So many precious minutes of operating time, now just useless seconds, trickling away, like the blood spilling from its wounds.

The feel of the Evangelions in the cage below. Details are lost as he grows lightheaded, merging the two Evangelions below into a single blur of sensation. Flickers of lives. Shinji. Asuka. Their imprints, branded into the Evas. And under them, deeper, older imprints, but all are too difficult to sense clearly now.

And the thing. They called it enemy. He had thought that she would-

Darkness swamps his mind as he nearly passes out. His attention returns to his body, a deep breath forced into tormented organs. Pain returns with his senses.

The thing is descending. What would it do? He couldn't reach her. It would destroy. A thing to destroy other things. Unit 01 and 02. NERV headquarters. The people within, the faces he had begun to know.

Fading again, drifting away from the pain, away from the shattered body. His mind wanders. Maya Ibuki straightens the buttons on his school uniform. Rei hoists him onto her back to ease his aching feet. Shinji watches her intently as the two warm by the fire. His teacher comments at the blue hair of the picture he drew in class. Security personnel watch from a distance as he rises and falls on the swing. Rei's hands on his back, catching him gently, pushing him gently. Rises and falls. Metal links in his hands. Wind against his face.

And he feels it, as his consciousness fades..

.. the Evangelion waking.)

---------------------------------------------------------

(Deep beneath the shattered surface where Tenkei clings to life, the NERV crew struggle to maintain discipline while the situation grows steadily worse..)

Shigeru: I'm reading triple-failures in all shutters up to the last three!

Hyuga: We've got less than a minute before the complex is breached, Major!

Misato: Maya, are you and Furikawa clear?

Maya: (speakers) Wait, we're getting the Evas moving..

Misato: Get out of the cage room! The target is about to reach your position!

Shigeru: Another shutter has failed. Two left.

Hyuga: Units One and Two are being moved to launchpads five and six.

Misato: If we can get them clear of the chamber before it arrives..

(She looks up at the screen, at the view from the cameras in the storage cage. The two Evangelions, held in restraints and harnesses, are slowly being shifted on the rail-bound platforms that would normally carry them from cage to launch. Beside the image from the cage is a display of the destroyed launch tube shutters, showing layer after layer of red - total failure. At the bottom of the display are the two remaining shutters.

Looking from the damage readout and the slowly shifting Evangelions, Misato realizes that they will not be fast enough.)

Fuyutsuki: So it comes down to this..

(Misato throws the man a hard glare; more angry at the absence of Commander Ikari. Where ever the man is right now..

And never an answer. Never an explanation. Never an.. apology. She had thought that what had happened to the children - the grisly results of the AT field experiments - would have deserved an apology. Some remorse, something. For that, and for all the pain they had gone through, the fear and the pressure and the loss.

What she had seen in room 714 had shaken her. Major Katsuragi followed orders. Major Katsuragi did what was necessary for the greater good, the goals of NERV. Pilots were, after all, just people. Just one or two people, to save so many others. But seeing the children - seeing what was left of the children - in room 714 had almost pushed her over the limit.

She had almost tried to kill him. Only the threat of being killed by NERV's security branch had stopped her.

Just an answer. That's all. An explanation. Misato steps over to where Fuyutsuki watches the scene.)

Misato: (quietly) Where is he?

Fuyutsuki: What?

Misato: Commander Ikari - where is he?

Shigeru: Up to the last shutter - temperature increasing!

Fuyutsuki: Commander Ikari is busy.

(His voice is low. He steps back, away from the others to avoid being overheard.)

Misato: What is he doing?

Fuyutsuki: He's with the only thing that's important to him at this point.

Misato: ..

Fuyutsuki: He's in the cage. With Unit One.

(The last shutter fails.)

---------------------------------------------------------

(Heat pours in shimmering waves from the launch tube, blurring the air like the mouth of an open furnace. MARI drops down into the chamber, an shape torn in the distorting waves of heat, and lands in a crouch on the inactive launch pad.

The Evangelion stalks forward, its shape solidifying into sleek lines and hard angles as it steps out of the shimmering, folding air. Its laser rifle glows from near-continuous firing, and molten, smoking metal clings to its armor. Its rifle pans across the room quickly, moving from target to target - Unit 01, Unit 02. The barrel briefly settles on the gaping hole that had once been the cage control room, before Unit 02's invading fist had shattered the chamber. The weapon finds the backup cage room, targeting the plexiglass screen and the tiny figures beyond.

None register as immediate threats. The room is filled with sounds - the low mechanical whine of the transport rails as they slowly move the two inactive Evas to their launch pads, the popping sounds as the half-molten metal plates of the launch tube cool.

The laser rifle threatens to overheat - MARI deactivates it, settling the weapon in the locking port on its back. It draws its pistol; the smaller weapon will have to be sufficient. The blue-black Eva moves forward again, its pistol raised as it sights at its targets.

Aligned with the sights of the weapon is the hulking red form of Evangelion Unit 02 - sliding slowly up to the linear rail for emergency launch. There is no possible way it can move into position in time. Smoothly compensating for the slow crawl of the elevator, MARI takes up the slack on the pistol's trigger..

Suddenly, Unit 00 makes its presence known.

The blue mecha smashes onto the platform behind MARI like a meteor, having thrown itself recklessly down the shaft that MARI had carefully descended. The sound of its impact rings throughout the chamber, tolling like an enormous bell. The Evangelion lurches forwards, out of the residual heat, its fractured and dust-filmed blue armor is crossed with wounds welling dark, clotted blood. MARI spins, bringing its pistol to bear on the Eva as Unit 00 pulls the trigger of its rifle, retrieved from the rubble just moments earlier.

A high-velocity shell cleaves into the black behemoth, ripping out chunks of armor and flesh. The Eva stumbles back, aim knocked askew, pistol firing uselessly into the ceiling of the chamber. EVA-00 advances, keeping its weapon trained on the target as it continues to pull the trigger methodically, firing its rifle in semi-automatic mode. Blood sprays from the repeated impacts, gory explosions across its torso and shoulder as Unit 00 pumps round after round into its enemy, mercilessly advancing. Bone shatters and sinew snaps; a black-armored arm tears free to splatter on the cage floor. MARI collapses backwards, catching itself with its remaining arm, the plates of its torso blown away to reveal red destruction beneath.

The rifle clicks empty - silent and smoking. MARI raises its head, its armored jaw gaping slightly, a bullet having struck it in the face - thick, dark blood runs down its chin like an obscene parody of a beard. The crippled Eva shifts its feet, spreading its balance out as it slowly straightens.

The butt of the rifle smashes across MARI's face, driving the mecha down once more. The weapon swings back, glinting in the halogen light, and cracks once more across the Eva's faceplate and jerking its head to the other side. Unit 00 swings a third time, smashing MARI to the floor of the chamber.

The blue giant flips its rifle, gripping the barrel and swinging the weapon like a club. The rifle comes down again and again, sledge-hammering the Evangelion into the chamber floor. The weapon finally shatters, inner components spraying all over the room. MARI falls with the last blow, moving weakly as Unit 00 contemptuously tosses aside the remnants of the rifle, its red eye gleaming horribly from between the shattered armor plating that was once its face.

There is a sound - scraping, fumbling.. the tortured invader trying to rise, struggling to fight back.

And then.. a new sound - the rising hum of Unit 00's progressive knife.

In the entry plug of Unit 00, Rei grins wildly, falling upon MARI with her dagger. Bloodlust and tears shine brightly in her eyes and stream down her face as she hacks with mindless and unforgiving hatred at the corpse of the thing that had tried to take Tenkei from her.)

---------------------------------------------------------

Yui: The place you live in hurts you, doesn't it?

(Slowly the cello drops, leaning to one side as Shinji carefully lowers it. The glossy wooden shape is almost hidden beneath the long grass as the Third Child straightens.)

Shinji: .. sometimes.

Yui: You don't like being hurt.

Shinji: Of course I don't.. and I don't like watching people get hurt around me..

Yui: So why are you going back?

(She watches him from where she sits; like the cello, she is only partly visible in the grass. Her dark hair is short, rumpled with a familiar carelessness. The shape of her face, the line of her eyes.. Shinji knows them well.

The differences are just as great as the similarities. The distance that Rei keeps around her, the wall that seems to push everything back.. is something that Yui does not have. Rei's paleness, sometimes ghostly and untouchable, other times utterly solid and unchangeable, is nothing like this woman. She looks.. normal. And in her own way, she is a stranger to him.)

Shinji: Before all this, before Eva, I lived.. alone, I guess. People cared for me, but I never tried to.. reach anyone. I didn't want to deal with people. I didn't want to do anything.. I didn't want to change how I was living.

Shinji: I didn't want to be hurt, so I guess I kept people away from me. That's what we do, so we don't get hurt. We put up walls, blocking things out.

Shinji: Here, those walls are.. gone. There's nothing separating people. I can just be with someone.

Yui: What do you mean?

Shinji: When Asuka and I came here, there was a moment when it happened. There was a moment when.. I just didn't need or want anything. I felt.. complete. There was no reason to do anything. I didn't need anything else but to be with her. I didn't want anything else. There was nothing that hurt, nothing that I needed.. no reason to do anything, no reason to be.

Yui: ..

Shinji: I wasn't afraid. I wasn't alone. After everything, it was.. comforting. I was content.

Yui: Were you happy?

(The Third Child looks at the recumbent form of the cello in the grass.)

Shinji: No. Content isn't the same as happy. Happy isn't the right word.

Yui: Why weren't you happy?

Shinji: Because it wasn't.. a choice. It was just like it has always been - we've been forced together. Through Eva, through the contact.. and now..

Yui: So you don't want it because it was forced on you?

Shinji: (shutting eyes) That's not it.

Shinji: If I reach Asuka - in the real world, if you can call it that. If I reach Asuka and we.. understand each other, or at least we try to, then it's because we wanted it. It's because I wanted her.. and she wanted me. But here, it just.. happens.

Yui: You feel that it is more valuable because it's a struggle?

Shinji: No. It's more valuable because it's her.

(And he smiles - no, he grins, his eyes distant with memory.

He remembers what he has done - what he has been. The boy who came to Tokyo-3. Headphones playing their music, his head low, chin against his chest, making a little world for himself where he doesn't need to see or hear anyone else, a world where he doesn't have to deal with other people.

Some things have, after so much time, become clear.)

Shinji: I don't like pain. I hate pain, I'm afraid of it, just like she is. We don't want to hurt ourselves, so we try to keep people at a distance. We try to keep things the same.. I was afraid of people. I just wanted things to stay the way they were, because at least I knew the pain wouldn't get any worse. I wanted things to stay the same.

Shinji: We're afraid of any change, in case it hurts us.

Shinji: It's so easy for us to be hurt, to feel pain.. but life isn't pain. Life is that change - I guess you can see it as a danger, but that's not all it is.

Shinji: No matter how many times you get hurt, how many times people don't understand you, there's always a chance that you can.. reach people. That you can try to reach someone, just as they're reaching back..

Yui: ..

Shinji: And then, in that moment, you can be happy.

Yui: As long as you are alive.

(They are silent for a moment.)

Yui: You.. remembered?

Shinji: We worked it out between us.

(And then she is behind him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders in a warm embrace, her cheek against the top of his head. Shinji's arms reach up around her, an involuntary smile coming to his face. His eyes close, wrapped in the comfort of this moment.)

Yui: You've done so well, Shinji..

Shinji: I don't think so..

(Her arms seem to stiffen, the warmth and love of her embrace dissolving. Shinji slowly pulls back, looking at the image of his mother, who slowly vanishes from his sight.)

Shinji: I.. guess I needed to believe that you were with me. Like how Asuka needed her mother, and reached for her.. imagined her in this place.

(Alone now, Shinji Ikari settles back in the grass. It had only been a few seconds from loving embrace to loneliness.)

Shinji: I couldn't tell myself the truth. How could I.. what about Asuka? I don't want her to get hurt again, and this.. makes it easier on her, gives her something to believe in. I can't tell her.

(It seems so unfair - so horrible. Not just that he had let the lie happen to Asuka, but that one day he might have to tell her. She wouldn't believe him. It had been so perfect. She would only hate him if he destroyed it.)

Shinji: I'm sorry, Asuka.

Hours later

Fuyutsuki: (thinking) Not even a goodbye..

(He had not really been expecting one. In fact, he had not thought about it. It was like so many of life's goals; when fulfilled, one finally realizes that it was not really one's own goal - not what he himself had wanted.

Ikari had smiled over his shoulder and left. His plugsuit - larger, darker than the children's - made him seem so much more like his son. Or maybe it was the smile that did it.

The data disc slots into the drive; the procedure has already been programmed, ready for the systems to follow. His fingers move carefully over the console, executing the necessary file. The program begins scrolling down the screen, running through checklists..

The sound of a safety flicking off. A handgun, somewhere behind him. Fuyutsuki draws a sharp breath, then exhales.)

Fuyutsuki: I thought you weren't going to wave that thing around any more.

Misato: It's a special occasion.

(Fuyutsuki closes his eyes and allows himself a short laugh - indeed, this is a special time. And they had made it perfect for her.

Hours have passed since the attack; on orders of the Commander, all operations to repair the damage done to the cage have been halted due to "personnel shortages". A lie, really. An excuse that weary and shaken NERV personnel had taken eagerly, a chance to go home, a brief break before the real consequences of the attack were realized.

And so the backup cage control room is empty of all the usual faces, as is most of the rooms and corridors in this section of the base. Privacy, to insure that the Commander is not disturbed during the procedure. The MAGI-linked cameras have been deactivated, the security personnel sent to other areas.

Which is precisely why Misato Katsuragi can now stand behind the vice-commander with a loaded Sig Sauer P229.

Fuyutsuki slowly turns and is slightly surprised - the weapon isn't even pointed at him, but still rests in its holster at Misato's side. The Major touches the safety back on and speaks.)

Misato: I suppose I should start by saying what I've figured out so far.

Fuyutsuki: ..

Misato: When you showed me what had.. happened to Shinji and Asuka, down in room 714, you didn't tell me everything. You didn't actually lie to me, but you left a few blanks.. something you held back.

Misato: Whatever that is, it's the reason why the Commander was so "busy" during the battle, keeping a personal eye on Unit One from the cage. It's why he had Lyn do that test run in it - he had to see what would happen. That's why he didn't want anyone to interfere with Unit One.

Misato: Something has changed, hasn't it? Something in Unit One, something that Commander Ikari had wanted to happen. The experiments, that "Unit Seven", the failure, they were all just meant to make the Eva ready for something.

Misato: And this is it, right? This is the "end" you told me and Maya about. (sarcastic) All our problems with Commander Ikari will disappear, authority will pass over to you, and everyone will be happy. Right?

Fuyutsuki: That's about right.

Misato: So are you going to feel in the gaps, or should I start guessing?

Fuyutsuki: Well, I suppose I should start by giving the situation a name..

(The old man turns back to the console, looking over the program as it executes.)

Fuyutsuki: Yui Ikari. A former student of mine, a bio-engineer. And smarter than I am.

Misato: Shinji's mother.

Fuyutsuki: Yes. She was lost in the first test activation of Unit One.

-(flashback)-Shinji: A.. graveyard for Evas...

-(flashback)-Ritsuko: Nothing that elaborate - just a dumping ground. It's also the place where your mother was taken from you. You may not remember it, but you were watching at the very moment when you mother disappeared.. do you remember that Shinji?

Misato: Ritsuko mentioned it - she never really spelt it out, but..

(Katsuragi's reflection appears on the surface of the console, beside Fuyutsuki's.)

Misato: Are you stalling me?

Fuyutsuki: I probably am. There's always a possibility of you feeling some moral indignation and trying to stop the process, ruining everything that's been planned.

Misato: That depends. Do I have something to be indignant at?

Fuyutsuki: Apart from what you already know - what happened to the children. (looks over) How is Asuka doing?

Misato: She passed the physical - she's healthy. Maya thinks she'll be alright to go home - though staying in the infirmary would be safer, in case there's some.. change.

(Misato over, towards the viewscreen - larger readouts are projected, showing familiar data. Harmonics, power levels, synchronization..

Synchronization?)

Misato: He's not..

Fuyutsuki: There's not really that much else to it.

Misato: Commander Ikari thinks that.. she's still in there?

Fuyutsuki: Essentially, yes.

Misato: Is that possible?

Fuyutsuki: I suppose that would depend on how you define a person.

Misato: And now..

Fuyutsuki: Gendo Ikari is going to join her.

---------------------------------------------------------

(He knows immediately that he has arrived.)

Shinji: (eyes closed) ..

(A new touch to this place, a new view.. he can feel the streambed changing slightly, shifting to match his father. He carries his world with him, like everyone else.

And yet.. he can feel him still connected, held back by something. Another barrier, holding his father away..

Shinji recognizes it. Eva. His father is in Unit 01.)

Shinji: ..

(Gendo Ikari is not used to this place. His mind fights against the rules of this place - Shinji can feel his thoughts, trying to analyze, categorize, and understand. Trying to make it suit his world, his view of how things are. The Third Child is struck by a realization; it is like his father's office. The place of his power, the place where everything goes according to his plans, his schedules..

He carries his world with him, like everyone else.

Shinji's awareness drifts after, watching his father as he makes his way through the trees. He can feel thoughts flickering. Trying to remember this place - had Yui been in this place? Is this her memory? Wondering at the grass, at the leaves, at the sound of running water. The streambed; Shinji feels him approaching, searching, looking for her.

The sensation is suddenly like a fist clamping around his heart - the sensation his father feels, the need he feels. He is searching for her, expecting to see her. Gendo's thoughts of her are blinding in their intensity, every shape of her face is memorized as if etched into stone, every intonation of her voice remembered. Her presence, her form, so absolutely clear in his mind.

Shinji's thoughts pull away, out of his father's mind; he had promised to himself not to do such things unless he had permission. He and Asuka had agreed. But by accident, he had nearly been drawn into the thing closest to Gendo Ikari's heart.

He had never thought it to be so strong. His own feelings for his mother are.. nothing like that. For so long it had just been that she died - a wistfulness, a question of what it would have been like if she were still alive.. but not anything like what Gendo Ikari feels. Everything that was Yui is still in his mind, still part of those things he brings with him through life.

To his father she is still alive, still with him, beckoning him towards her.

He thinks she is still alive.

Shinji sighs; it will make it harder.)

Gendo: (confused) .. Shinji..

(The Third Child looks up, seeing something in his father's expression he has not seen before - uncertainty. Hadn't he expected him here?)

Gendo: Where is she?

Shinji: (thinking) No.. he had expected Mother, not me.

Gendo: Where is.. your mother? You must have seen her here.

Shinji: .. Father ..

(The man waits, his battered face turned towards his son, waiting for an answer.)

Shinji: I think I can show you where she is.

---------------------------------------------------------

(They stretch out in all directions, their orderly lines curving to follow the shape of the land. Overhead is blue sky, only lightly touched by clouds; not enough protection to prevent the sun from baking the already dry earth.

Each marker is.. alone. A single edifice, tall and narrow, elegant in simplicity, but revealing nothing of the people buried beneath. The tombstones reveal nothing of faces or memories, simply names and dates.

They are not crosses, but simple upright posts, perhaps chest-high. They have no arms with which to reach out to the other lonely residents of this vast cemetery.

The wind is warm, heated by its passage over this sun-baked field. Shinji turns, looking at the stone they had come to see.)

Yui Ikari

1977 - 2004

Shinji: Mother.. is no longer alive. Unit One isn't my mother. You know that. It doesn't.. hold her, either. She's dead.

(His words vanish into the sea of grave markers.)

Shinji: My mother is dead. She died in Unit One. All that remains of her is.. a recording, an imprint. The mark she left on Unit One when she disappeared. The mark that I've been.. adding to, building on, I guess, when I synchronize.

Gendo: No..

(The single word is quiet, a parched rasp, like the wind over the baked earth of the cemetery.)

Gendo: She's..

Shinji: I kept on finding her because I needed my mother. I needed the comfort, the safety. I needed parents.. I needed to feel that someone would love me, no matter how many times I ran away..

(The young man's eyes settle on his father, understanding forming in his young eyes..)

Shinji: .. no matter what horrible things I did. It's comforting to have things stay the same, forever.. people you love never going away..

Gendo: (interrupting, strained) No.. I can't do that.. she has to be real..

Shinji: ..

Gendo: She can't be just a.. Shinji, she has to be real..

(The Third Child looks sadly at his father, knowing that for so many years the man has been living on a memory.. and that is all he will ever have.)

Shinji: Mother told me something once..

Gendo: ..

Shinji: No, she told you something. She said "As long as he is alive, he has a chance to attain happiness."

Gendo: ..

Shinji: You'll never find her - or that - here.

---------------------------------------------------------

Misato: Join her? Is that possible?!

Fuyutsuki: As I said, it depends how you define a -

(He cuts himself off, his eyes suddenly locked on the console screens.)

Misato: What is it?

(The Major looks over to see that the scrolling readouts have halted abruptly - words and symbols and program commands frozen. Beneath them, flashing in red, is the reason.)

PROGRAM ABORTED

Fuyutsuki: What..?

Misato: Aborted? How?

Fuyutsuki: A command from inside the plug..

(Simultaneously Fuyutsuki and Katsuragi turn to look through the plexiglass panel - they both see Unit 01's armored backplate slide away, and the mechanical retrieval arm automatically lower itself to the cap of the exposed entry plug.

It takes a long minute for the plug to be transported to the gantry.)

Fuyutsuki: Something must have happened..

(Gendo Ikari clambers free of the plug. He had not worn his glasses into the LCL, but hardly seems concerned by the fact. His eyes stare blankly at nothing, his mouth opened slightly, his hair and fabric of his suit dripping with the fluid.

The man takes a few steps along the gantryway, his sightless steps guided more by a numb hand on the rail than by any conscious intent. His feet wander, his walk slows and eventually stops.

The Commander's unseeing stare wanders over the chamber, finally settling on the viewscreen and the faces of the two people behind it. The man shows no surprise at seeing Katsuragi present - but then, he doesn't seem to show anything but simple and horrified denial.

Abruptly, Gendo Ikari's legs give way beneath him and he collapses to the cold metal of the gantry.)

TO BE CONTINUED ..

[Chapter 14]