This is the sequel to my earlier fic, "The Power of Pain".  I know I said
that I wasn't going to finish it but....
All characters are copyrighted by Ganiax et all.

SPOILERS.  I think.


The Power of Love

        "Increase power to the Life-Support systems!" Ristuko yelled and
Maya rushed to comply.  Shinji's life was at stake.
        "Life-signs stabilized!" Makoto said.
        "Get him out of there!!!!" Misato yelled.  It was a worst-case
scenario, one of the pilots getting seriously injured during a fight
against one of the Angels.  Too add salt to the wound, it was Shinji who
was injured.  Misato had started to think of him as a good friend, if not
family.  Sure she was close to Asuka, but with Shinji it was different
somehow.  Special.  And she reacted in the appropriate manner.
        "Recovery teams are moving in," Maya said, trying to keep her voice
somewhat professional.  Casting a glance up to the Major, Maya saw that she
was near tears.  She understood perfectly, for she knew that her own face
looked much like Misato's.
         "What's the status of the Second Child?" Sub-Commander Fuyustuki
asked from his position beside the Commander.
        "Alive.  More than that...." Makoto said, then trailed off.
        "Asuka?" Ristuko asked.  Unit 02 was still cradling Unit 01's head.
"Asuka, can you hear me?" she asked, and was taken aback a little when she
got no reply.  She started to ask again, but a beep from one of the panels
grabbed her attention.
        "The recovery teams are reporting in," Maya said, then started to
relay their report.  "They've reached Unit 01 and are in the middle of
force-ejecting the entry plug."  On the screen, Unit 02 let go of Unit 01's
head and turned it over, giving the recovery crew easy access to the Entry
Plug.
        "Place them on the PA system," Misato ordered.  She wanted... no,
needed, to hear what they had to say.  It was the next best thing to
actually being there.  The voices of the recovery team flooded the giant
room.
        "Watch out for that edge, it's sharp," a woman said.
        "I know that, you just look out for yourself," a man retorted.
        "I can take care of myself, I don't need you to tell me.  In fact,
I don't need you for anything, so you can forget about coming over
tonight," the woman said.
        "And how does this conversation apply to work?" Misato demanded
impatiently.  With Shinji's life at stake, they shouldn't be joking.  There
were two little gulps as they realized that their conversation was being
listened too.
        "Entry Plug ejected," the man said a little hastily, hoping to
cover their asses before Misato put both of them in a sling.  Everyone in
NERV knew how Misato thought about Shinji.  Getting between her and Shinji
right now, would be like getting between a bear and her cubs.  Not a
healthy idea.
        "Try the emergency hatch," the woman suggested.
        "No good.  Look's like we'll have to cut our way into it," the man
replied.  There was some clanging in the background as the equipment was
readied.    A few moments later there was the distinctive sound as the
hatch was forcebly removed from the Plug.
        "Hatch removed.  Probing interior," the woman said.  A few moments
of tense silence followed before a crunching noise was heard, followed by
some screaming.  "Get him restrained!!" the woman yelled.
        "What?!" Misato yelled.  "What's going on?"
        "The Third Child," the woman said between laboured breaths, "is
attacking us.  We're holding him down and attempting to sedat-" she was cut
off by Shinji's fist slamming into her face.  In the background Shinji was
screaming, not in pain, not in vain, but in pure anger.
        With a strenght they didn't know he possesed, Shinji tossed off the
two NERV personelle trying to hold him down.  He still wasn't saying
anything understandable, just screaming and yelling.  He lept to his feet
and charged the nearest person, the woman he'd punched in the face before
they'd managed to restrain him.
        With a flash of insight, she held the hypodermic needle in front of
her, so Shinji hit that before he had a chance to get to her.  The needle
plunged deep into his body and the chemical was pumped in.
        He kept coming.
        His movements started to slow somewhat, but he still managed to
pull her to the ground and raise his fist to hit her again.  He paused for
a moment, look at her for a moment, and seemed to ask her something with
his eyes.  Then his eyes rolled up and he passed out as the chemical took
effect.
        "Report!!" Misato demanded.  If they did anything to hurt
Shinji.....  No one moved or answered for a moment, but then the man who
was talking with the woman earlier found his voice.
        "The Third Child has been subdued," he said and then cast a glance
around to his teammates.  "Only minor injuries to the team."
        "What?!  What are you talking about?"
        "When we cut our way into the Entry Plug, he was just lying there,
not moving.  Then he opened his eyes and attacked us."
        "He did _what_?"
        "He leapt at us and started punching everything in sight.  We had
him on the ground, underneath us, but the escaped.  Lieutenant Jinki got
him with the sedative and he stopped," the man reported.
        "Get him back here, now!" Misato yelled, fearing for the worst.
Then Maya picked up on something the others had forgotten.
        "Major, what about Unit 02?"
        "Asuka?" Misato asked.  "Asuka, do you hear me?  Open a direct line
to Unit 02," she ordered when Asuka didn't answer.  The image that appeared
on the screen forced everyone to remember that Asuka had been the one in
trouble when Shinji went out to help her.
        "Is Shinji alright?" Asuka asked in a very small voice, so small
that Misato almost didn't hear it.
        After she'd let go of Unit 01, Asuka knew they'd try to talk to her
again, so she curled up into a ball again and tried to hide.  Hide from
NERV, hide from Misato, but, most of all, she tried to hide from her shame.
Now that Shinji was being taken care of, the feelings of what the Angel
did to her came back.
        She didn't want to remember, but she did.  She remembered how the
Angel had forced it's way into her, forced it's way past all the barriers
she'd made for herself over the years, forced it's way into her mind and
got to the real Asuka, the girl hidden beneath all of that aggression and
arrogance.  The girl who was far from home and very, very lonely.
        She didn't want to remember what it felt like, being violated that
way.  There was nothing she could've done to stop it, no kicking, no
biting, no weapon to make it stop and go away.  She could only scream, and
that didn't do any help; not until Shinji took his own actions and came to
her defense.
        "We don't know.  He's alive, if that's what you're asking," Misato
said, bringing Asuka back to reality.  Misato realized that Asuka would be
next to useless right now, so she ordered Rei to get her back to the Eva
cages.  Unit 00, after a little fumbling around with someone that didn't
want to help, managed to help Unit 02 back to where they belonged.