Hi everyone,
Here's the newest part of _Ascent of the Fallen,_ rewritten just for
you! (And my other two fans). Check my website (URL below) for updates
on my other writing! Just click on the yellow N!
Sparky
*********
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."--Isaac Asimov
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: part06.txt
NEON GENESIS EVANGELION:
ASCENT OF THE FALLEN
By Sparky Clarkson
Part Six
"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my
people their transgression..." (Isaiah 58:1)
*******
Kaoru sighed softly in relief as he gently lowered Shinji onto the
bed. He knew from the younger boy's slow, regular breathing that he
had at last fallen asleep. Kaoru had quickly put the picture he had
drawn of Yui away when he saw Shinji's severe reaction. Badly shaken,
Shinji had been unable to explain his response for some time,
shivering silently in Kaoru's comforting embrace for at least ten
minutes. When Shinji had at last calmed down enough to speak, the
discussion had been cut short by his exhaustion. The emotionally
harrowing events of the day had drained Shinji completely, and he
slipped into fitful doze after a quick explanation. Several more
minutes had passed, however, before sleep had truly claimed him.
Shinji stirred slightly as his head touched the pillow, and he moaned
softly. Kaoru leaned down and whispered, "I will be back soon--this
will only take a minute." Shinji nodded, muttering something
incomprehensible, and snuggled down into the bedding.
Kaoru walked over to one corner of the room and sat down cross-legged.
He lowered his head for a moment, then lifted it to look at the
ceiling. "Father, I have not spoken to you in some time..." he said
quietly, then paused. It felt so strange to address the Father in this
way. Before, it had been a wordless communion, a joining of minds that
transcended mere conversation. Every concept or feeling was shared
exactly, not obscured by imprecise words. By comparison, speech seemed
hopelessly inadequate.
Kaoru sighed. "I suppose that I am not really used to being human," he
said. "I still miss my old life, when I knew your will instantly and
clearly. My brothers and I often marveled at mankind's ignorance,
wondering how humans could miss what to us was so plain. Yet now I
flounder helplessly, and I wonder how your will ever could have been
so obvious to me. That, I suppose, is what it is to be human--one step
removed from your grace. I have to pay this price for my decision."
He glanced at Shinji, sleeping quietly over on the bed, and smiled.
"Still," he continued, "I do not regret my choice. I wonder sometimes
whether what I feel for Shinji is what you feel for all humans. I so
desperately want to shield him and protect him... but I know that
unless he finds his own way, he will never be truly happy. I cannot
take that away from him.
"He does not need to feel this pain, though. The old wound of his
mother's death has never healed... and today's events have only served
to reopen it. Her face... I would not have expected it to have such an
effect. Then again, when I looked at it, I felt something familiar...
"Help me, Father. I know Raziel gave us these messages intentionally.
I know they have some meaning beyond themselves, but... I am so
confused. I sense an important glimmer of truth, but it is wrapped in
a shroud of mystery that my mind cannot penetrate. Please, Father,
give me the wisdom to find the answers, so that I can help heal the
wounds in Shinji's heart."
Kaoru took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After several moments,
he shook his head and chuckled grimly. _How silly of me,_ he thought,
_I must be more human than I think, if I am actually becoming
impatient. I should know better, yet here I sit, as if Father were
about send me the answers written across the night sky in giant
letters of fire._ He chuckled again, then unfolded his legs.
As he slowly stood, the phone rang, jarring the peaceful stillness of
the apartment. Kaoru leaped at and grabbed it before it could wake
Shinji. He took a breath to calm himself before he lifted the handset
to his mouth and greeted the caller.
"Is he there?" Misato asked.
"Er... who?" Kaoru asked in reply.
"Don't play dumb with me, boy. I want to know if Shinji's there," she
snapped at him.
Kaoru shrugged, trying to quell his rising annoyance. "Yes, he is
here. He is sleeping," he replied.
"Sleeping?"
Kaoru sublimated a growl as he responded, "Yes. That is what people do
at night, is it not?"
"Well, wake him up. I want him to come home and get to bed."
Kaoru blinked several times, and it seemed that as his eyes fluttered
his grip on his temper weakened. "Might I repeat that for
clarification, please?" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he
pressed forward. "You want me to wake Shinji up, interrupting his
sleep, so that he can take a half-hour ride on the trains through the
city... so he can go home and go to sleep?"
"Yes!" Misato yelled, then paused. Perhaps she realized how silly she
sounded, but Kaoru knew her distrust of him would win out. "I'm his
guardian, and I have the right to decide for him," she added, a little
more tentatively.
Kaoru fought to keep from shouting--after all, he didn't want to wake
Shinji up. "Major Katsuragi," he growled through gritted teeth,
"Shinji has had a very hard day, and he is completely exhausted. Maybe
that does not matter to you, but I certainly am not going to wake him
up so he can sleepwalk through the city to satisfy some whim of yours.
is totally exhausted. He has had a hard day, and he is completely
drained. If that is what *you* want, then *you* can come here and wake
him up your own damn self!" He slammed the phone back down before
Misato could reply, then quickly checked to make sure that the
conversation had not awakened his friend.
Satisfied that Shinji had not been disturbed, Kaoru stood up and
walked over to his dresser. He ripped off his socks and shirt, the
almost violent actions serving to dissipate some of his anger. He
paused, realizing how silly he must look, then continued undressing
and changing into his nightclothes at a more leisurely pace. Kaoru
flipped the light off, then lay down on the bed next to his friend.
Shinji apparently sensed Kaoru's arrival, because he groaned and half
rolled over. Kaoru reached out and helped his friend complete the
motion. The result was that they were very close, and very entangled.
One of Kaoru's arms supported Shinji's neck, and the other was pressed
against his back. Shinji had thrown one arm around his friend, and
bent the other beneath him. The two boys were facing each other nose-
to-nose on a single pillow.
As Kaoru gazed at Shinji's peaceful face, he felt the last of the
tension in his body slipping away. The heat of Shinji's body against
his was creating an equal warmth in Kaoru's chest--a pleasant
tightness that reminded him of that first night.
<--
Kaoru smiled gently at the boy lying on the floor. He sighed and said,
"I might have been born to meet you."
Shinji stared back at him inquisitively for a moment, then asked,
"Kaoru-kun, why do you say such things?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well... what you told me when we were in the bath today, and just
now. Nobody has ever told me things like that before. Why do you?"
Kaoru propped his head up on one elbow. He said, "In my life, Shinji,
I have seen many people, and I have cared about many people. Some of
them have cared for me. Yet I have never felt so strongly for any
person as I do for you. I do not know how I came to feel such a
powerful emotion so quickly, I only know that I saw your heart and
loved it. So I think it must have been destined." He smirked at the
irony in those words--a cruel twist only he could know.
Shinji seemed to digest this for a moment. Then he replied, "Does it
feel like... a part of you that was missing has come back into place?
Like you're complete enough to say and do things you never would with
anyone else?"
Kaoru nodded slowly. "Yes."
"Then... I... I think I love you, too," Shinji said, his voice
wavering. His eyes glistened with extra moisture, some of which
spilled and rolled down his cheek. Kaoru reached down and brushed the
tear off Shinji's cheek, and Shinji grabbed it, holding the palm
against his face.
Kaoru saw the need, the unasked question glistening in Shinji's tear-
filled eyes. He gently kicked away his sheets, then levered himself
down to the floor with his free arm. He pulled Shinji close, drawing
him into a firm, but gentle embrace. Shinji returned the hug fiercely
for a moment, then relaxed just as the single tear turned into a
torrent.
-->
_You carry so much pain and guilt that is not yours,_ Kaoru thought,
remembering the things Shinji tearfully told him that night. Slowly,
gently, he pressed his lips against Shinji's forehead. "I love you,
Shinji," he whispered, then pulled back slightly. As his eyes drifted
shut, he thought, _Father, please help me protect him._
He had hoped to at least have some pleasant visions in his slumber.
But all that night he kept having the same dream: the single, static
image of Ikari Yui.
*****
"You know, you probably made her really angry," Shinji said as the
four boys ate their lunch at school the next day. "I bet she'll have
some choice words for you when we go to headquarters later."
"Let her yell," Kaoru said. "You were tired and she was being
arbitrary. There was no reason for you to have to get up and hike
across the city just because she does not like my origins."
"Aw, that's sweet," Touji said mockingly.
Kaoru just smiled at the fourth qualifier. "I thought so, too," he
said. Touji almost responded, but was prevented from speaking by the
arrival of his lunch.
"These are for you, Touji-kun," Hikari said, handing the boy a small
box. "It's a little less than usual, 'cause Asuka stayed at my place
last night and I made her lunch, too."
Asuka, who had walked up with Hikari, smirked at Shinji and said, "Bet
you were glad to be off the hook."
"Hm? Oh, no, I wasn't home last night either."
"He was at Kaoru's," Kensuke volunteered helpfully.
Asuka shook her head, saying, "I should have known. You didn't come
home for dinner, which was perfectly understandable given that it was
Misato's night to cook. Where else would you go?" After a moment she
added, "So what did you boys do?"
"We just had to... talk," Shinji said. "We both saw some pretty
strange things inside that angel."
"Oh? Like what? You didn't tell me," Asuka said.
"I... I can't really... it's too weird."
"Well, how about you, Kaoru?" Asuka asked. "Or can you guys only talk
things like this over with soulmates?" Shinji blushed a bit.
Kaoru eyed her nonchalantly. "I saw the image of his dead mother," he
said coolly. The group fell silent. Dead mothers were not the best
topic to discuss among these children. Several moments passed without
a word.
"I'm sorry," Asuka said at last. "I shouldn't have pried."
Shinji quickly defused the tension. "I thought apologizing was my
reflex action," he replied.
Asuka laughed, then said, "Shut up, you jerk."
"Ah, now that is more familiar," Kaoru said, "Though not necessarily
more welcome."
"Sorry," Shinji replied. Touji glared and took a mock swing at him.
"Don't you dare!" Hikari said. Touji stopped halfway through the
pantomime, confused. "Use that good arm for eating those noodles I
made you! Honestly! How ungrateful can you be?" From her smile, it was
obvious that she was teasing, but Touji scrambled up and started to
apologize anyway. In doing so he accidentally knocked over Kensuke's
cup with his artificial arm. The tea in it spilled all over the
military maniac.
Kensuke swore and started to make an almost hopeless effort to wring
out his shirt. The other children began to laugh, and the awkwardness
of a moment before was forgotten.
But Shinji and Kaoru shared a glance which indicated that its cause
had not.
***
"Misato, don't be mad with Kaoru, please?"
Misato looked at the boy in his plugsuit and responded, "Why would I
be mad at him?"
"He said you were pretty angry when he wouldn't wake me up last
night," Shinji replied, somewhat confused.
"What? Oh! I remember," Misato said, turning back to her console in
the command station. The other members of the command crew were
watching a surface exercise by Asuka and Rei, a coordinated attack on
a slow-moving target. "I was just a little irritated because of some
stuff at work that had gotten piled up, and because you hadn't called
me," she explained. "Much as I hate to admit it, he was right. There
was no need for you to get up. I hope you slept well?"
Shinji nodded, with a slight blush creeping into his face.
"Yeah, well in a way it was kind of welcome," Misato said. "With Asuka
out of the apartment too, I got a chance to relax and blow off some
steam."
Makoto suddenly had a coughing fit. Misato turned to look for a
second, winked at Shinji, then returned her attention to the console.
Asuka and Rei fired in tandem on the small target, both hitting it
easily.
"Why are they the only ones doing this exercise?" Shinji asked.
"Commander Ikari decided that we should have a repertoire of tactics
available for fighting the angels," Misato said. "So, to maximize
combat options, you'll be trained in pairs for various tandem attack
patterns. These first few days, only Asuka and Rei are going to be
doing surface exercises. Since they've had the most problems
cooperating in the past, we want to focus a lot of attention on them.
In a few days, we'll put you and Rei on the surface for one set of
exercises while Asuka and Kaoru are training at another surface
location. Then you boys will switch partners. The last few days it
will just be you and Kaoru on the surface, because we want to
concentrate on some special patterns based on the abilities of your S2
engines."
"Oh," Shinji said unhappily, "that sounds like a lot of training."
"Yeah. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to miss school for the next
two weeks," Misato said. "I can't imagine how you kids manage to learn
anything, missing as much school as you do."
"As boring as that teacher is, I can't believe we learn anything when
we're *in* school," Asuka said over the radio. "That pattern was
easy," she added, changing the subject. "You got something harder?"
Misato snorted. "You bet," she said, dismissing Shinji with a wave of
her hand.
*****
Even computers as advanced as the Magi were not omniscient. They
required a huge network of remote information-gathering stations that
apprised them of the world's condition. The weakness of this system
was that those stations had to communicate with the Magi. Some
transmitted their data via microwave relay, but most used hard lines.
And those hard lines could be tapped.
The triple redundancy of NERV's supercomputer had a further expression
in that each of the Magi was linked to the outside world by three main
bundles of cables, which fanned out into the massive networks from
subsidiary mainframes located in various stations just outside Tokyo-
3. Each of these nine bundles was encased in a heavily-shielded
titanium sheath meant to make it all but impossible to physically
contact the cables. The Magi themselves predicted only a 0.001% chance
that anyone could access them.
Of course, Ritsuko had beaten worse odds than that before. She sighed
as she maneuvered herself around to the right cable. She wanted a
particular one in the bundle that came in from an unusually noisy
monitoring station in old Tokyo. Each cable had a serial number
printed at various intervals on its plastic sheath, but they did not
coincide exactly. She had to shift several meters up and down the
bundle until she found the right one. "Here we go," she whispered,
smiling as she coaxed the single line out of the bundle. She slipped a
removable splicer onto it, then linked it to a small laptop.
She pulled herself up from underneath the bundle and lay down on top
of it. The metal sheath surrounding the coiled cords left little room
for movement, but she somehow managed to maneuver herself so that she
faced her laptop. She reached out and began to type, but paused to
push a few strands of blond hair out of her face. Halfway through the
motion, she stopped, staring at the yellowed hair in her fingers.
After a moment, she turned back to the computer. She hit a few keys,
and started a program that subtly inserted a new signal into the
continuous flow of data from old Tokyo. "Well, mom," she whispered,
"Let's see if we can reach some agreement..."
*****
Evening was always the most pleasant time in the apartment building.
In the morning, the hurried footfalls of businessmen and laborers on
their way to work brought a busy tension to the halls, and during most
of the day the building was vacant as people went about their daily
duties. In the evening, though, the residency was once again full of
life, moving at a relaxed pace. Giggling children played in the atrium
as their parents looked on over books or newspapers. The sounds of TV
stations or low music filtered out into the hallways, wafting along on
the same air currents that carried the tantalizing aromas of sizzling
dinners.
In any relaxing situation, however, Misato could induce at least some
kind of tension. She rushed along, burdened with an over-full bag of
groceries, trying to avoid bowling over any of the other tenants in
her journey towards her apartment. _Just my luck,_ she thought,
spinning to avoid a squealing boy who came hurtling down the hall
towards her, chased by a girl of about the same age, _The one night I
insist on doing dinner out of turn, we're out of instant food._
A week in the intensive training program that Gendo designed had
severely worn the children down. Even the usually ebullient Asuka had
spent the last few days wandering around like a zombie. Then this
morning, Shinji had almost fallen onto the hot stove while making
breakfast. Misato decided that the pilots needed as many breaks as
they could get. She spent the morning wheedling half a day's rest out
of the commander, then brought all the children over to her apartment
to relax. The children had napped, watched movies, or played quiet
games while she waited on them as best she could. Misato meant to take
over all the chores for the day, but just as she started to prepare
dinner she discovered that the apartment's store of ready-made meals
had finally run out.
Misato had hoped to grab new supplies and get back to the apartment
with time to spare before supper. That plan, however, had quickly been
ruined by a series of traffic jams. Half the people of Tokyo 3 at this
point were recent immigrants, flowing into town to support the new
headquarters of the UN. Naturally, none of these newcomers knew how to
deal with the carefully planned traffic patterns.
"They've probably given up and let Shinji start dinner," she mumbled
to herself in aggravation as she came to the apartment door. She
fumbled for her keycard, swiped it through, and entered without even
calling out the customary greeting. As she started to kick off her
shoes, she heard Shinji shouting from the living room.
"Dammit, Kaoru! Stop! Stop! Help!" he cried, the last word trailing
off pitifully.
Misato's worried mind kicked into overdrive, leaping to a quick
conclusion that the fallen angel had at last betrayed them all. She
calculated just how long it would take her to reach the gun secreted
in a compartment underneath the coffee table, disengage the safety,
and fire a few desperate shots at Kaoru. Even as her mind did that,
her arms dropped the groceries and she sprang forward into the main
room.
Kaoru was sitting on top of Shinji, who was giggling hysterically,
red-faced and teary-eyed from laughing so hard. The grey-haired boy's
long fingers were moving up and down Shinji's ribs, despite the young
Ikari's attempts to stop this by clamping down on the hands with his
arms. Kaoru desisted as Misato entered. Misato thought she heard
Shinji sigh, "Whew! Saved!"
"Major Katsuragi!" Kaoru said, his eyes wide with surprise. "Did you
know that Shinji is ticklish?"
Misato shook her head at her own paranoia. _This job really *is*
getting to me,_ she thought, looking at the innocent grey-haired boy,
_Maybe Asuka was right, for once. I should give him more of a chance._
She smirked and asked, "Is he really?"
"Oh no!" Shinji cried as Misato advanced on the prone boy and his
friend. Shinji tried to curl up in a ball, but without much success,
since Kaoru was still getting in his way. The defenseless blue-eyed
boy began to contort convulsively when Misato started to help Kaoru by
running her fingers along his ribs also.
Asuka stuck her head out of her room to see the cause of the noise,
and immediately shook it in disbelief. "Ticklish?" she asked
incredulously. "I can't imagine what led to that discovery."
"Isn't that... cute, though?" Rei asked from within. Her face glowed
with a small, gentle smile.
Asuka thought a moment, shrugged, and said, "Yeah. I guess it is. But
still--ticklish? He's such a child."
*****
Ritsuko stowed the tiny vacuum back in its spot in her closet, on top
of the hanger rack. She slid the door closed, then walked back into
the kitchenette, looking carefully for any spots she might have
missed. Satisfied that there were none, she put a pot of water on the
stove to boil and got a packet of instant soup out of the cupboard.
The cramped kitchenette matched the size of the rest of the apartment.
After she had placed the splicer on the cable, Ritsuko had set up
remote hardware so that she could access the Magi without going to the
underground cables. The JIA had decided therefore that she should be
put in this tiny apartment, buried somewhere in a suburb not too far
from Tokyo-3. Though it was adequate, Ritsuko couldn't remember living
in a place this small since she had been in college.
She smiled as she stirred the contents of the instant soup packet into
the warming water. Her eating habits had also come to mimic those she
had back in college. Much as she liked a fresh meal, the JIA wouldn't
allow her to leave the apartment--the risk of discovery was too great.
So she had to live off whatever they brought her.
Satisfied that the soup was ready to simmer, she covered it and headed
to the bathroom to survey her handiwork. The hand-mirror she had been
using gave her some idea, but she wanted a clearer picture. She
flipped on the fluorescent light and looked into the mirror over the
sink.
She winced, thinking, _I must admit, I've had better than this before.
It's not as bad as it could be, though._ She'd already been behind on
dyeing her hair, and the addition of several weeks had meant her brown
roots had grown out considerably. So her scalp still had a very short
covering of hair. Ritsuko ran her hands through her new cut, relishing
the feel of hair untouched by harsh coloring chemicals. Sure, it might
not be the best-looking haircut she ever had, but she took a grim
satisfaction in knowing that every single blond strand was gone
forever.
*****
"Okay boys, that's enough. You're done," Misato announced.
Shinji relaxed slightly in his entry plug. "Done for today?" he asked.
"No, that's the last pattern, period. You've learned all we want you
to for now," Misato replied cheerfully.
Shinji relaxed even more, and allowed his eyes to close. Two long
weeks of surface exercises had completely exhausted him, despite
Misato's efforts to make life easier. "I thought we'd never be done,"
he mumbled.
"It did seem to drag on, did it not?" Kaoru sighed. EVA-05 stood about
200 meters from Unit 01, lowering the positron rifle it had just used
to shoot the tiny, plus-sign-shaped target they had just executed an
attack pattern against.
The cross had levitated, moving erratically along a canyon at high
speed. Kaoru and Shinji's task had been to hit the target
simultaneously from different positions. The exercise had gone on for
hours, as Gendo had continually adjusted the parameters. The cross
rested a few meters away, its silvery surface pitted and scorched from
the multiple hits it had taken.
"Well, you kids have earned a bit of a treat," Misato said. "Tomorrow
night, Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki will be taking you all out to dinner."
"That should be interesting," Kaoru said. "I have had less time to
converse with Fuyutsuki-san than I would like."
"Yeah, and I'll be glad to eat something other than instant food,"
Shinji mumbled, his eyes still closed. He willed EVA-01 to begin
walking back towards the city. "I appreciate your giving us a break,
Misato," he added, "but instant noodles are beginning to give me
indigestion."
***
Misato chuckled softly, smiling despite the mild insult. She had
honestly tried to make her cooking more tolerable, but she knew she
would never pass as a chef. She also knew that Shinji had been
suffering, despite her best efforts. He'd said nothing up until now,
but she had noticed a sharp decrease in her supply of antacids. The
end of the exercises would be a relief for everyone.
Asuka and Rei had already managed to mostly get back to normal, since
they'd been done with the exercises for four days. The boys, on the
other hand, had continued to train. Perversely, their exercises during
the final few days had been the most strenuous of all the pilots had
undergone. The results had gotten her very concerned. Shinji was on
the verge of coming apart at the seams. Kaoru, though generally more
upbeat than his friend, had also become quite ragged. Misato had
practically had to carry the two of them into work today: Gendo had
kept them working late into the night the previous evening, and
demanded that they return before dawn. Misato wondered briefly whether
he'd done so just to be cruel.
Her reverie was interrupted when Shigeru called to her from his
station. "Major Katsuragi, you need to look at this," he said, staring
intently at his display. Misato quickly checked her own console. The
two Evas were almost back to the exit routes, and proceeding normally,
so that couldn't be the source of the problem. She stood up and walked
over to Shigeru's station, immediately noticing the disturbing
waveform his monitor was displaying.
"The radiation is too diffuse to localize right now," Shigeru said,
"but there's no mistaking it."
"Waves coming in more strongly," Maya announced. "Pattern is..." she
trailed off. Quietly she continued, "Pattern is blue."
Misato whirled back towards her station, silently cursing her bad
luck. "Shinji, Kaoru, wait a minute. I'm afraid you guys can't come
back in just yet," Misato said into the radio, then turned to Makoto.
"Get the girls back here immediately."
"What's going on?" Shinji asked. His voice sounded tired and resigned.
"We've detected something that might be an angel. We're trying to
localize it now," Misato replied. Shinji said nothing in response.
"Major, we're getting better resolution on the sonic detectors,"
Shigeru called. Misato turned to look.
***
Back in the canyon, the cross once again levitated. But this time, it
did not begin the type of erratic flight pattern that had been
programmed into it. Instead, it hung motionless over the floor of the
gorge, and began to hum loudly. The black scorching fell away,
revealing the smooth, silver surface the cross originally possessed.
For a moment, nothing further happened, and then the device began to
shift form, changing shape even as it grew larger. Wings, limbs, and a
head sculpted themselves out of the original components of the cross,
quickly developing into a titanic figure horrifyingly familiar to the
people of NERV. The silver-skinned giant spread its argent wings as
the hum began to crescendo. Some rock outcroppings shuddered and
crumbled in the face of the strong vibrations, tumbling down into the
bottom of the gorge.
The silver angel smiled, and opened its mouth. A thunderous cry
erupted from within the winged titan, a tsunami of sound that
flattened all the trees in the canyon, and caused even more of the
walls to fall away. As the echoes of the call dissipated, the
archangel spread its wings and launched itself into the air.
***
"Boys, the angel has appeared in the canyon where you were doing
exercises earlier," Misato said.
Shinji slumped. His exhaustion and frustration threatened to bring him
to tears. "I can't..." he mumbled softly.
"Shinji, we must," Kaoru said to him. The words said little, but the
soothing sound of Kaoru's voice lent Shinji some extra strength. He
had a duty, after all.
"Boys, I want you to wait as long as possible. We'll send Rei and
Asuka up to you as soon as we can," Misato ordered. "Try and take some
cover, though. The angel is moving as though it knows where you are.
Arm your positron rifles."
"Do you really think the rifles are going to work this time?" Kaoru
asked.
"Hey, somebody once said, 'Strong hope is a much greater motivator of
life than a single realized joy could ever be,'" Misato replied, proud
she'd remembered the obscure quotation.
"That was Nietzsche. He also said, 'God is dead,'" Kaoru replied.
***
"Any word on the girls?" Misato asked, shaking her head.
Makoto looked up from his console and reported, "We reached Rei on her
portable phone, but we've had no luck with Asuka. Some little girl
keeps answering it, and we can't get her to understand what we want."
He gnawed nervously on his lower lip as he turned back to the console.
"What?" Misato asked. Something about that tugged at one of her mental
channels. She remembered calling for Asuka once at some place, and
getting a little girl... "Horaki-san's!" Misato shouted in
realization. "Send a team over to the Horaki household immediately,
and try to get them on any telephones in the house."
"Do we have visuals yet on the angel?" Fuyutsuki asked calmly.
"Yes sir," Shigeru said. He rapidly typed in a series of commands and
a few of the large screens began to display various perspectives of
the winged silver giant. One temporarily showed the angel looking
straight at it with an open mouth for a second before it went static.
The other shots showed the destruction of the helicopter that had been
hovering with that particular camera. Auxiliary data began to pop up
on the remaining screens.
"That weapon was sonic in nature, but, it's so broad band..." Maya
began.
"Break it down, then report," Fuyutsuki ordered. After a pause, he
continued, "I wonder what that is."
"It is Gabriel the Messenger, second highest among the angels," Gendo
commented as he entered the command center, his eyes placid behind the
ever-present orange lenses.
"Well, it seems he's doing a good job delivering whatever it is he was
sent to bring," Misato noted.
"I have a preliminary analysis of the sound pattern. It contains a
strange series of constructive harmonics. It starts off at the level
of suprasonic vibrations, then descends through a series of pitches to
a subsonic level. But all the wavelengths produce constructive
interference," Maya said.
Misato nodded. "So the vibrations become intense enough to shatter
anything. Great," she muttered. "Do we have any kind of protection
available that might counter the weapon?"
"We have some absorbent armor that was developed to deal with certain
heat situations after the deal with Sandalphon," Maya said. "It has a
layer that due to its design can trap sound as well as infrared rays.
But it's too unwieldy to be used in surface combat."
"Damn. Then our only recourse is a distance attack."
"Our only hope, Major?" Gendo asked.
Misato bit her tongue.
***
"You want us to fire at what?" Shinji asked.
"We believe it most likely that the angel's core is located in his
voicebox," Misato replied. "When the girls get here, I want you to run
dual attack patterns alpha-3 and fire at his larynx."
"And what if he gets here before they do?"
"Then I want you guys to run the very last pattern you tried out
today: omega-7," Misato answered.
"Very well, Major Katsuragi," Kaoru said. His Eva was "hidden" behind
a low clump of trees. Shinji's crouched 50 meters away behind a large
boulder.
"Please, Kaoru, call me Misato."
"As you wish, Ma... Misato."
***
"Um, Major, we have a problem," Shigeru said.
"What?!" Misato snapped. This was not going well. She definitely
didn't want the two exhausted boys to try and face the angel by
themselves.
"The angel's airborne velocity has exceeded the Magi's predictions--I
guess the monster was holding back earlier. It will reach the location
of Eva units 01 and 05 in approximately three minutes," Shigeru
explained.
"What about the girls?"
"Team A has picked Rei up and will be here in a few moments. Team B
has just now reached Horaki-san's... good news! Asuka's there. They're
coming back as soon as they can get going."
"Tell them to speed! This is an emergency!"
"Major, you realize that there is not enough time for the first and
second children to get into their Evas before Gabriel arrives," Gendo
said.
"I know," Misato growled. "Boys, the angel is coming faster than we
expected. You'll be on your own for a while. I want you to get ready
for pattern omega-7."
***
Shinji caught his first glimpse of the angel over the boulder as it
touched down. The massive winged man did not stop, but slowed down to
a more cautious pace as he approached the Evas' positions. Shinji
tensed for a moment, gathering what strength he had left after weeks
of exhausting training, and sprang out from behind the boulder. A
short distance to his right, Kaoru also emerged from his hiding spot.
Gabriel did not immediately respond to their appearance. Of course, it
was possible that it had known of them all along.
The boys began to execute their planned attack pattern. Shinji swung
out to the right, while Kaoru patiently wove across the archangel's
line of attack to distract it. Not that the archangel seemed to be
distracted by anything they did. It simply marched forward.
Shinji suddenly veered sharply to the left, crossing the angel's line
of attack, then diving into a roll parallel to the line. Kaoru had
swung out to the right, and leaped up in the air, firing at Gabriel's
larynx just as Shinji sprang out of the roll and fired at the same
spot.
The two rays collided with a powerful AT field, fizzled and died.
"Hubris," Kaoru muttered in disgust as he willed his Eva to toss aside
its positron rifle. He equipped his progressive knife, and Shinji
followed suit.
"What?" Misato said.
"Hubris. It is a Greek word meaning excessive pride. Mankind has it in
plenty--particularly when it believes its weapons can penetrate the
light of an archangel's mind."
"Do you have another idea, Misato?" Shinji asked.
"Execute the first pattern you did today. Omega-6 is designed for
knife work."
"Okay," Shinji replied. He remembered the drill--he and Kaoru had
spent four hours perfecting the hand-to-hand attack against the cross-
shaped target in the canyon that morning. EVA-01 ran forward, heading
a bit left of the line of the angel's approach to try and swing around
behind.
Shinji tried to keep his full attention on the archangel. Gabriel
still hadn't reacted to the Evas' activities, but Shinji could feel
those featureless eyes watching him. He found it hard to keep his
concentration, however, because of a strange hum he kept hearing.
Kaoru, meanwhile, began juking left and right across Gabriel's line of
approach. He started off with his Eva fully upright, but as the angel
got closer, he lowered his center of gravity. Finally he started
pulling off more to the right. Then, when Gabriel was 50 meters away,
he sprang forward, using the immensely powerful legs of his Eva. At
the same moment, Shinji launched himself from the exact opposite
direction.
This time, however, Gabriel reacted. It turned its head towards Kaoru,
opening its mouth and leaping backwards as it did so. The huge
harmonic sound that emerged from Gabriel's throat had so much force
that it arrested EVA-05's forward progress and dropped it to the
earth. Kaoru grunted as his unit fell.
Attack pattern omega-6 had been designed to deal with the simple
tactic of jumping backwards, but as Shinji corrected for the angel's
move, Gabriel turned its powerful voice on EVA-01. Unfortunately, his
unit was much closer than Kaoru's was when the voice hit it. The bone
structure in EVA-01's right shoulder shattered immediately. That
problem was only aggravated by the fact that the same shoulder bore
the brunt of the impact when EVA-01 crashed to the ground.
***
"Shinji! Are you okay?" Misato asked.
The boy whimpered a bit, but managed to grunt out, "I'm... I'll make
it."
"Kaoru?"
"I am up, Misato. Should I withdraw, or attack?"
"Try to cover Shinji's retreat," Misato ordered. She watched on the
screen as Kaoru crossed over to stand in front of his friend while
EVA-01 struggled to its feet. Gabriel, standing in place since their
aborted attack, did not react. "Where are the girls?" she asked
desperately.
"Rei is being inserted now. Asuka has just arrived," Makoto reported,
then swore explosively. "Damn! What the hell...?"
Misato refocused her eyes on the screens, then shouted, "Kaoru!"
***
As EVA-01 finally stood, Gabriel decided to act. It unleashed another
sonic blast directly at the chest of EVA-05, a blast so powerful its
vibrations could actually be seen in the air. The armor and bone
structures in the torso of EVA-05 all snapped explosively. Kaoru
screamed, but his exclamation was cut short as he coughed up a thin
trickle of blood.
Shinji saw EVA-05's torso buckle, and he took immediate action. He
snatched up his progressive knife in his left hand, and muttered
"Sorry, Kaoru-kun," as he leaped up, then catapulted off EVA-05's
shoulders and into the air. Gabriel, still unleashing its force on the
white Eva unit, didn't manage to react before EVA-01 crashed down on
top of it.
Gabriel fell to the ground with an earth-shaking boom when the purple
giant collided with it. EVA-05 also slumped to the ground, somewhat
more gently. EVA-01 was thrown clear by the fall, but somersaulted and
came up on its feet. It immediately reversed its direction, leaping
back on top of the archangel before it could get to its feet.
Gabriel had stopped its sonic attack when it fell, but it did not need
that special power in this situation. The archangel grabbed hold of
EVA-01's shattered right shoulder, almost causing Shinji to faint.
Gabriel then whipped its arm forward, sending the Eva flying in a
graceless arc through the air--an arc that ended with a sickening
thud.
Dazed and in a haze of pain, Shinji acted on reflex. His Eva rolled
out of its crash and sprung back at the archangel before it had time
to react. Gabriel had managed to stand, but the unexpected impact of
EVA-01 again knocked the archangel to the ground. With a roar, the Eva
pushed its knife against the larynx of the mighty angel.
Gabriel opened its mouth as the knife began to puncture the surface of
its skin, unleashing the most massive auditory blast yet. The
maxillary structure of EVA-01 shattered instantly, followed by the
rest of the skull. Still, the Eva grinned evilly as it pressed harder.
The sonic wave intensified, and swept down the whole body of EVA-01.
But Gabriel had miscalculated. In its berserker rage, EVA-01 would not
allow the attack to fail. Shinji's last semi-conscious act was to curl
the rubbery body of his Eva around the progressive knife, bringing all
the weight of the massive creature to bear on the weapon. With a
ripping sound, the knife plunged into the angel's throat.
With a final clarion call, Gabriel evaporated.
***
"Sever the neural link *now*!" Misato shouted. "Emergency medical
crews to the scene immediately!"
Maya frantically worked the controls at her station, keeping up a
running commentary as she attempted to bring all the life-sustaining
capabilities of the Evas and the plugsuits to bear on the two boys.
"Shinji's blood pressure is falling rapidly, and his temperature is
increasing. Massive vascular injury--increase pressure jacket inside
of the plugsuit... where are the rescue crews? We need them in the
hospital immediately!" she shouted, desperation creeping into her
voice.
Kaoru's face appeared on one of the screens in the command center. His
lips, rather than their usual pallor, were red with blood that he had
coughed up. His Eva had already healed its wounds, but his body still
bore the signs of the battle. "How's Shinji?" he asked weakly. His
eyes looked dull and somewhat glazed, their mahogany color made flat
by his weakness.
"Don't worry about him for now. Your stats show you've got several
internal wounds in your lungs and abdomen. I want you to eject and
wait for the medical crews. They'll be there in a moment," Misato
ordered.
Kaoru nodded, his expression glum. The screen went blank as his entry
plug emerged from the body of his Eva.
"Girls, stand down," Misato said as Evas 00 and 02 were about to reach
the catapults. "Sortie canceled."
"What happened?" Asuka asked.
"The boys won," Misato said, "But they're both wounded."
"How... how is Shinji?" Rei asked quietly.
"And Kaoru... how's he?" Asuka added.
"It's too early to tell with either of them," Misato lied. She watched
the monitors as the girls' Evas were returned to their cages. Then,
unable to bear the sight any longer, she switched off the screen
showing the interior of Shinji's entry plug.
A screen which showed the battered child bleeding into the LCL.
*******