You Can (Never) Trust [Spoilers]

[Gob Hobblin]

Did I mention he showed Kaworu the photo of his family? And that he has his unsigned life insurance papers with him? Also, he knows who shot Kennedy, but he's waiting for the right moment to tell everyone?



Next chapter should be up in a few days: still have Internet problems, and must work from computers that are not my own.

[Gob Hobblin]

Test Run:

SPOILER: Show

“Beginning neural contact,” Maya said. “Synchronization initiating in three…two…and….”

There was a thoughtful silence on the bridge, broken only by the sound of computer fans and the background thrum of machinery. Shinji dominated the screen, his head back and eyes closed as he entered began the mental link with Unit-03. Misato bounced from one heel to the next, bobbing her hips left and right in boredom. Ritsuko stood next to her, and took a drag of her cigarette. Misato glanced at it, and snatched the cigarette from the doctor’s mouth, took a pair of quick, deep puffs, and placed it cock-eyed back in Ritsuko’s lips. The blond woman blinked and made an irritated expression.

“Really?” Misato shrugged, studying the wave length patterns as they slowly orbited each other, their oscillations closing in and becoming one. They found each other, and the screen lit up.

“Synchronization achieved…thirty percent and rising,” Maya said, cocking an eyebrow. “Impressive.”

“Indeed,” Ritsuko murmured, crossing her arms. Misato crossed over to Hyuga’s console, and leaned over the microphone.

“Shinji, how are you feeling?” she asked. For a moment, the boy didn’t reply. Gradually, he opened his eyes and gazed downward.

“…It smells like copper,” he mumbled.

“What’s that?”

“Nothing,” he said, blinking. “Am I synchronized?”

“At…fifty percent. I think that’s the limit for now. Good job, Shinji,” Misato said. He blinked, seeming to wander away again before coming back to the present.

“Thanks,” he mumbled. “Okay…what do you need me to do?”

“Once we deploy you, just try walking,” Misato said. “We want to get an assessment of performance parameters from bottom to top. We’ll start simple, and see where we go from there?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Shinji said, and grunted as the Evangelion was deployed to the fields surrounding the Headquarters. After the short trip, he scanned the field around him. “Okay. Walking now.” A second screen blinked on, showing the hulking Unit-03 begin it’s march across the field. Despite the relatively high synchronization, the Eva moved in clunky and awkward steps. Shinji was still getting used to this particular Eva, Misato decided.

And he still seemed to be woolgathering.

“Shinji, is everything okay? You look like you’re somewhere else,” Misato said. The blank-eyed boy blinked again.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to.”

“Everything okay?”

“Just…yeah, everything’s fine.” The walking gait straightened and smooth, becoming more natural. Misato tugged at her lower lip.

“He’s distracted by something,” Ritsuko mumbled, gently pushing Maya aside to get a look at her console.

“It’s affecting his performance.”

“But not the sync rate?”

“No, that’s still strong.” Misato glanced at Ritsuko. The tone of the other woman’s voice had an odd note in it.

“You don’t like that?”

“No, I just….” She shrugged, and looked back at Misato. “It’s odd, that’s all.”

“Why would it be odd?”

“Just…never mind,” Ritsuko said, waving Misato off. Misato scrunched her nose in irritation, and looked back at Shinji. She felt like she was being left out of the loop on a lot of things, and she didn’t much care for that.

“…Well, fine! Don’t share anything!” she snapped. Shinji glanced at the pick-up in mild alarm, and Ritsuko gave Misato a bemused look. Cooper, sitting in his chair and, up to this point silently observing the test, raised both of his hands over his head in a grasping motion.

“I will share everything,” he said in a very serious tone.

“Put your hands down, Cooper,” Misato snapped. His serious expression unchanged, he put his hands back in his lap.

“I accept your sharing,” Maya loudly whispered, turning to wink at him. Cooper extended a hand to her, closing his eyes and nodding in solemn agreement.

“Kids, focus,” Misato grumped. “Shinji, try going through a bit more range of motion.”

“What do you mean?”

“Jump, crouch, that sort of stuff. Calisthenics.”

“Like…just see how the arms and legs all work, that sort of thing?”

“Yeah. Be original.” The Eva stopped walked, and touched its toes with its fingers. It stood up, pinwheeling its arms, twisting its hips. They were all fairly conventional movements, and Misato found herself mildly disappointed, hoping Shinji would try and do something sillier. Still, he was covering as much as he could in a way that was clear and organized, and she was certainly grateful for that. Still….

“Can you give me a direct line?” she asked Hyuga, picking up his unused headset.

“You want a private chat?” he asked for clarification, keying up the comms menu.

“Yes.”

“What are you doing?” Ritsuko asked, but Misato gave her an indifferent wave as she settled the earphones on her head. Hyuga keyed up the line, and stood, offering Misato his chair. He moved a small distance back, and Misato leaned forward, studying Shinji on the screen. It wasn’t completely private, but half-a-conversation would be better than the entire thing being overheard.

“Hey, Shinji,” she said. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” he said, his face fixed in an expression of concentration.

“Come on, there’s something on your mind. It’s affecting your performance,” she said. “Don’t keep secrets from me; is everything okay?”

“…Asuka’s mad at me,” he mumbled.

“I haven’t heard that phrase in a while,” Misato mumbled. “Why?”

“She was angry that I volunteered for Unit-03. She said she wanted the choice.”

“I didn’t think she’d want to Pilot Unit-03.”

“I didn’t, either. And she didn’t. She said she didn’t, she just wanted to be asked.”

“That’s ridiculous. Don’t worry about it, you’re getting down on yourself that’s absolutely absurd. I mean, there’s no reason for her to be actingthat’s something I would do.” Her thoughts rolled one into the next, as she realized in an instant why Asuka was angry. She groaned, and massaged her eyes. It was exactly the kind of thing she would get angry at Kaji over. She wasn’t entirely sure the particulars or the reasons in Asuka’s case, but the behavior and end result were similar enough. She should have expected that sort of reaction.

“What?” Shinji asked.

“It’s something I would do. I should have seen that coming. Sorry, Shinji: I think I encouraged you to throw yourself under the bus.”

“It’s fine. I just don’t want her to be mad. I was trying to be nice.”

“Sometimes being nice doesn’t always work out the way we intend it to,” Misato said. She felt a ‘presence,’ and turned slightly to see that Cooper was less than eight inches from her, trying to eavesdrop. She glared at him until he noticed, and slowly he drifted back to his console. She sighed, and hunched back over her console: she was too young to be a mom, much less to a fourteen year old and a pack of twenty-two year olds. Still…one must soldier on.

The Evangelion had stopped its impromptu calisthenics, and stood still, so Misato decided it might be a good time to try something that would get Shinji’s head back in the game.

“Hey, Shinji…how fast do you think that thing can go?”

“…What do you mean?” he asked slyly, a small smirk opening on his face. Misato grinned.

“I’m going to open up the charging port over on the north end. Pop your cable, and see how many orbits of the field you can make before you have to get to port.”

“Hmm…okay. I can do that,” Shinji said, smiling. Misato dropped the headset, and glanced at Aoba.

“Raise the northernmost GeoFront charging port. He’s going to drop his cable, and we’ll conduct a simultaneous acceleration and battery test.”

“Can do,” Aoba said. Misato noticed a flutter of movement to her left, and glanced over at the Bridge entrance. Asuka sulked in the passageway, her arms crossed and her eyebrows set.

“Asuka! Come on in,” Misato said, jerking a thumb at the screen. “You might want to watch this. Shinji’s about to open up all the stops on Unit-03.”

“Hmphrl,” Asuka grunted, and turned to leave.

“No, you don’t,” Misato said, stepping briskly across the bridge. Asuka froze for a moment, and then tried to quicken her pace.

“Mm-mm,” she grunted curtly, as Misato caught up to her. Wrapping her arms around the girl’s waist, Misato stood up and lifted Asuka in the air. “Mm-mmm!” Asuka grunted more emphatically, kicking in irritation for a moment as Misato spun her back towards the Bridge.

“You’re not going anywhere, you have a front row seat, and don’t you dare kick me,” Misato said, marching across the deck.

“Don’t wanna,” Asuka grunted, minimizing her words in order to maintain as much of a frosty silence as possible.

“You’re gonna.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Yup!” Misato countered cheerfully, plopping the girl next to Hyuga’s console. She plopped her palms on Asuka’s shoulders, and rested her chin on the top of Asuka’s head. The girl continued to grumble like tectonic plates grinding against one another. Hyuga glanced up at her.

“Hey, Second Child,” he said cheerfully. She shot him an ugly, wide-eyed look with just a hint of teeth. Hyuga felt his heart lurch for a moment, and glanced away nervously.

“This will be neat,” Misato said, deliberately ignoring the tense seething. “Tell you what, if you want, you can take Unit-03 out on the next spin. Sound like fun?”

“Nnnnggggg,” was all Misato got, as Asuka ground her teeth and hunched herself down lower.

“Don’t be that way,” Misato sighed, straightening up so she could scratch the girl’s back. Asuka hunched for a moment, before slowly straightening. Misato knew Asuka to be, in many ways, like a cat. She was temperamental, individualistic, but demanding of attention and a certain amount of pampering. Her hunch had been confirmed when she had spied Shinji scratching Asuka’s scalp once in one of the briefing rooms. She had resisted the urge to rush in and film the incident at that time, but only just, especially as the entire action was as platonic as a handshake. Still, it confirmed Asuka had ways of being placated. Like a surly feline, Asuka continued to seethe, but did not allow that to stop her from enjoying having her back scratched.

“Hey, Asuka, those pictures were adorable, by the way,” Cooper said. The muscles under Misato’s fingertips went rock-hard, and Asuka’s head whipped in Cooper’s direction with such speed that Misato thought the girl had snapped her neck. Cooper scooted out of his chair and up onto his console, and Misato filed another thought away in the ‘Things That Irritate Asuka Langley Soryu’ index.

Should probably keep adorable photos on the down-low in the future.

“Happy thoughts, happy thoughts,” Misato said, quickly and vigorously scratching at Asuka’s scalp. The girl took half-a-step, made some irritated angrish noises, and the then resumed her cross-armed sulk as she stared at the screen. Misato shot a look at Cooper.

“Why?” she mouthed.

“I said I would share everything!” Cooper said in a whining tone.

“He did,” Maya added, worming around Ritsuko, who remained locked on the screen and largely disinterested in the shenanigans behind her. “I can vouch for that.”

“Just…not now,” Misato said. Cooper slithered back into his chair, and Asuka continued to grumble-growl.

“Hey, I’m ready to pop the cable,” Shinji said, as Unit-03 began to crouch down. “Any which way to run?” Hyuga glanced back at Misato.

“Just as many laps of the field as he can get,” she said. Hyuga nodded and relayed the info.

“Got it,” Shinji said. “Okay, locking down…and ready to move in five…four…three…two…now!” The cable popped and the great Eva lurched forward, skinning turf from the earth before it found it’s purchase and bolted forward. The Bridge shook slightly for a moment as it passed overheard. The screen switched to a 3D representation of the field outside, and the model of Unit-03 sprinted across the earth straight at the wall. “I…think I have an idea that you’ll like,” Shinji said. Gradually, the Eva peeled left, maintaining it’s momentum as it rushed parallel to the wall. The image switched to a camera feed, trailing the massive humanoid as it bolted along the wall’s edge. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was bolting along the wall, the lowest arm extended slightly to brace and balance should it fall.

It didn’t fall, though: it’s momentum was already too fast for that. Misato laughed in delight, and Asuka stopped grumbling. They glanced at the countdown timer, dutifully ticking off the seconds left in the batteries.

“This…this is amazing!” Shinji laughed, as Unit-03 began to move faster, and faster. A cloud began to form around it as it pressed against the air, pushing up to the speed of sound…and then breaking it with a crack. Then another.

“Holy crap, Mach 2. That’s impressive,” Hyuga said. “And…hey, his sync ratio is rising!”

“Is it?” Misato said, glancing at the board.

“Yeah…sixty percent now. Sixty-three…sixty-eight. It’s going up fast.”

“This is awesome!” Shinji laughed. “This is so cool!”

“You can do that next, if you want,” Misato said, watching the needle waver at seventy-four percent. “You can even do it in Unit-02, if you prefer.”

“…Mebbe,” Asuka grunted through her teeth.

“Eighty-two…geeze, this is something,” Hyuga said.

“This is…is a…ssss…some….”

“…Huh?” Misato glanced up at the screen. Shinji’s voice had become muddled and broken, and it didn’t sound like radio failure. “Can you get a feed from inside the Plug?”

The screen switched, and Shinji appeared. He looked like he was trying to stay awake. His eyes opened and closed rapidly, he gripped the joysticks, and he seemed…very unfocused.

“Third Child, are you okay?” Maya asked into the microphone. “Your vitals are fine, but you look disoriented.”

“Gibba…gimme…a…I need a…min…min…can’t….”

“Eighty-nine,” Hyuga said, though his voice contained a note of concern.

“Shinji, that’s enough. Head to the charging port,” Misato said, leaning past Hyuga.

“Can’t…can’t…cold. C…cold,” Shinji grumbled, his eyelids fluttering and his jaw going slack.

“What’s going on? Somebody tell me what’s going on!” Misato snapped. Ritsuko straightened, and shook her head, at a loss.

“I have no idea! Everything is still checking out fine!”

“Is it the g-force?” Misato asked.

“If it was, it would be registering in increased strain on the body. There’s no reason for this to be happening!” Ritsuko said, nervously.

“Ninety-two,” Hyuga said. And then the lights clacked red. The automatic alarms clicked on as an alert blared over the Bridge: Angel inbound.

“Blood-type blue detected!” Maya said. “I repeat, blood-type blue!”

“Where is it?” Misato demanded. Maya opened her mouth, closed it, and turned in her chair, opening her hands apologetically. “Where?” Misato demanded.

“…It’s…at Unit-03’s location,” Maya mumbled. It took a moment for the words to register in Misato’s mind. She turned, and looked at the screen. The feed from the Plug had gone dark.

“Raise the Pilot,” she said to Hyuga. He began to try and contact Shinji, as Aoba activated a camera feed from topside. It locked onto Unit-o3, lying on its side after it had drifted from the wall and skidded a kilometer on the earth. It wasn’t lying still, though: it jerked and vibrated, as though there was something beneath its skin trying to pull itself out. Then, with a certain deliberateness, one hand pressed against the earth, followed by the other. Slowly, Unit-03 raised itself to its knees.

“I can’t raise the Pilot,” Hyuga said.

“Eject the Plug!” Misato ordered. Aoba responded first, activating the emergency protocols. There was a bright flash on the Evangelion’s back, but the Plug did not leave. Hyuga zoomed the camera in to ascertain the problem. As the image resolution cleared, Misato took a half-step back in shock: a whitish, feathery substance had encased the Plug, leaking from between the gaps in Unit-03’s armor.

“The Angel,” Ritsuko mumbled. “That has to be it.”

“Scramble…,” Misato whispered, and then found her voice. “Scramble all Evas now! We have to get the Pilot out.” She turned to Asuka, and saw that the girl had shoved her thumb knuckle into her mouth. She had bit clear through the skin. “Asuka,” she said. The girl didn’t respond. “Asuka!” Asuka jerked her head towards Misato, her eyes hollow and a smudge of red on her lips and teeth. “Get to you Eva,” Misato said quietly.

Asuka blinked slowly, as if waking up, and then glanced at the screen. She cautiously backed up, turned, and began to walk off the Bridge. By the time she was at the exit, she was sprinting.

[Fyrstorm]

Test Run:

-le Bardiel snip-

The part where it goes from Shinji running about in Unit-03 to Unit-03 lying on the ground going 13th on us reads a bit awkwardly for me, but that's my only gripe. I quite liked that (slightly) childish exchange between Asuka and Misato.

[Gob Hobblin]

Yeah, I was kind of rushing through that. Most likely, I'll go back and re-edit, but my policy with fanfics tends to be post regardless and edit after the fact: I don't like to second-guess myself once I've written something, even if I know it's probably not the best.

The part between Asuka and Misato was definitely my favorite part to write, though.

[Iuvenal]

Asuka doing her best impression of a three year old was hilarious. Also, Maya's moments with Cooper (which seemed vaguely reminiscent of something from "A Very Bad Idea" though I can't put my finger on what) were fun. I was expecting a bit more of a sucker-punch when Bardiel took over; maybe next chapter.

[Bagheera]

Asuka is always fun to write. Comparing her to a cat is very apt, IMO; cats are pretty and prickly, and you interact with them at their sufferance. But when they let you scratch them behind the ears it just seems like such a victory -- you feel like you accomplished something somehow, because this beautiful little ball of death has let you make it feel good. Anyone who wonders why people like Asuka as a character need look no further than their local cat to see why.

Apart from that, I would expect more of a reaction from her when Unit 03 goes down (and I'd expect more of a reaction from Unit 03 as well, for that matter; in both ep 18 and Ha the Angel manifested early and with a fair bit of fanfare, so that part could use some kick).

Also, Cooper came across as kinda weird to me. His humor normally works for me, but it fell flat at every turn during this scene. Dunno if others felt the same.

[Gob Hobblin]

Activate

SPOILER: Show

The world had lost its speed. It felt detached and drifting, vague and lacking definition. The depth of it had changed, somehow…things felt less solid, and more shadowy. More like fluttering paper.

She should have learned her lesson with Samson.

Asuka’s fingers slithered into the sleeves of the Plug suit, her stomach a hollow pit of guilt and loathing. What was it she had said to him? That she hoped his brain would get fried during the sync? She gnawed at her cheek in anxiety as she let her fingers work on their own, flowing through the practiced motions of flipping her hair out of the way, sealing the suit, pressurizing it. If she was wiser, she thought, she would have started demanding more sensible things, like free ice cream for a year, or a million dollars in a dumpster. Instead, she seemed compelled to keep wishing the worst on people, and like clockwork, those wishes came true.

“I’m so rotten, I’m so rotten,” she mumbled, and heard the hiss-snack of a second Plug Suit pressurizing. She circled the lockers to see Rei, her face blank and her eyes fixed. The girl glanced at Asuka, all business. “You seem calm,” Asuka mumbled.

“I’m not,” Rei murmured, and Asuka had to admit that she did not: she sounded furious. She had never heard Rei angry before, but this sounded like it.

“…I see,” Asuka said, feeling that guilty sense again. Still, the anger seemed directed elsewhere. She swallowed, and mumbled, “So…Shinji—”

“We get him out,” Rei said blankly. Asuka swallowed on a dry throat, and nodded. Rei nodded back, and turned to leave.

“Are you…going to be all right?” Asuka asked. “Out there, I mean.” Rei paused at the door, considering the question. Then, she left, leaving it unanswered. Asuka shifted uneasily, feeling the whole thing was her fault somehow.

“I’m so rotten,” she muttered again, bouncing her head against a locker. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her forehead hard into the metal, and immediately regretted it. She wanted to hurt herself over this, but having actually done so, she really wished she hadn’t. Rubbing her forehead indignantly, she marched out of the locker room. This wasn’t doing her any good. It wasn’t doing Shinji any good…assuming he was still alive….

Asuka shuddered in the corridor, trying to shake the thought as she moved briskly along. The klaxons were still blaring, and service personnel were far and few between. The only ones roaming the halls now were message runners and security personnel: everyone else was standing by at their stations. Still, she was surprised to run into the Americans, though she really shouldn’t be. It always took a team of them to escort their Pilot from one spot to another. She slid to a halt, watching as the bulky figure walked forward, flanked by his attendants. The American Major was talking to that…thing…emphasizing his points with small and deliberate hand motions. Asuka pushed against a bulkhead, hoping to remain invisible until the column passed.

“What is this!?”

Asuka’s head whipped around as Samson stomped up from behind her. He passed her without noticing, making a beeline for the Pilot and the Major. The Major…his name was Ennis, Asuka remembered…gave Samson a cool and largely bemused look.

“Scramble. We’re taking the Pilot to Grendel,” Ennis said.

“If you’re taking the Pilot, why am I not prepped!?” Samson snarled, his fists clenched. The muscles in his arms bulged like cables, and Asuka half-expected him to suddenly fall over from a heart palpitation, or watch as his skin burst from the strain he was placing on it.

“Who said you were the Pilot?” Ennis said. The Pilot (it had to that girl…Rita, that was her name) stood still, her head moving slowly from left to right as she took in the argument.

“She is not prepared or qualified to handle—”

“And you have proven that you are eminently underqualified for the task,” Ennis snapped. “And until you can give me confidence that you can be trusted to follow orders and play nice, you are backup. Is that clear?”

“I am sole reason this mission is here, you are here to support me,” Samson spat.

“Is…that…clear?” Ennis enunciated, his voice dangerously low. Asuka couldn’t see his face, but she could imagine Samson’s expression. All bile and venom, and no tact. She gently placed a palm against the wall, absorbed in the moment as the two Americans squared off: Samson, all angles and hatred, and Ennis, unyielding and immobile. It was two objects of equal force braced against each other, and it was only a waiting game now to see which moved.

Samson, however, seemed to realize they weren’t alone. His head picked up and snipped left and right, like a bloodhound catching a scent on the breeze. With mechanical suddenness, he turned away, staring at Asuka with a look of surprise and wonder. The face skewed, and his lips snarled open.

“You have something to do with this, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question, but a flat statement. Asuka said nothing, but her eyes narrow. She leaned forward, slightly. “You will regret ever—”

“Samson!” The name was like a slap, and cut down the corridor. The Major hadn’t exactly shouted, and he hadn’t raised his voice, but the tone of it made Asuka flinch, the technicians scrunch, and Samson jerk his head as thought responding to a whistle. He made a combined pointing and grasping motion at Asuka, trying to rev up for more. “Enough!” Ennis said in the same tone.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Samson stormed by Asuka, stopping to tear a lighted sign from the wall with a crack of plastic and spurt of wiring ripping from its moorings. Asuka watched after the raging boy as he whirled around a corner. She turned back to the group. Ennis was white, and shaking, the rage radiating out from him. Strangely, Asuka found it comforting.

“Are you okay?” the man asked. She nodded. He pointed at her. “Don’t let him near you. If he ever bothers you, or tries to corner you, you let someone know. Doesn’t matter who. Got it?” She nodded again. “Good. All right, we’re late,” he snapped, and ushered the group down the hall. She watched them scurry by, and took a deep, bracing breath. She managed to take just one step.

“That was exciting,” a soft voice said next to her. Asuka, keyed up and still tense, screamed at the top of her lungs. She jumped in the air, throwing herself into the corridor and scurrying back from the voice. Kaworu stood there, looking surprised and caught off guard by the reaction. Asuka gulped in great gasps of air, and glanced down the corridor at the Americans. They had stopped at her outburst, and were looking back in concern.

Snarling in irritation, her heart still pounding violently, Asuka waved them away. She stood up on shaky legs, and stared at Kaworu. He began to open his mouth.

“No,” she said, pointing at him. His mouth clicked shut. She waited for the shaking to stop. “What…what it wrong with you?” she hissed.

“I thought you knew I was here,” he said, remaining very still.

“Clearly I didn’t! Where did you…where did you even come from!?” She shook her head. “I swear, it’s like…you walk through walls, or something!”

“Just very quiet,” he said, waving his hands in front of him. “Just quiet.”

“Too quiet,” she muttered, and began stomping towards the bay. She walked for about a minute before she realized that Kaworu was walking next to her, making no more sound than a church mouse. “What?” she said, stopping in her tracks and whirling on him. “What!? What do you want?”

“I thought you might like some company on the way to your Eva.”

“Do I look like I want company?”

“Yes.”

“Y…wha…what the hell?” she snapped. “What makes you think that!? Do I look like I want to talk to you?”

“No,” he said, “Just someone.”

“Some…one?”

“As an outside observer, I tend to notice when someone is hiding something,” he said, smiling slightly. “People always have different ways and different reasons to hide things. Not always secrets, not always intentional. It’s just something I noticed.” He shrugged. “Usually, it’s easier to notice when they don’t want to hide it.”

“You are full of crap, and wasting my time,” she grunted, glaring up at him. She turned to leave again.

“Is because of what you said to the Third Child? About his brain?” Kaworu asked brightly. Asuka shuddered violently, and stumbled in mid-step. She squeezed her eyes shut: the frankness of the question, the sheer bright tone of it, wracked her to the core. Waves of guilt bubbled over her.

“I didn’t, I didn’t, I didn’t mean it when I, when I, when I said it,” she stammered. “I didn’t, I swear I didn’t….”

“I wasn’t assuming you did,” Kaworu said. “It’s sort of like a metaphor, yes? You say things you don’t mean when you are angry. Why is this done, I wonder? Not a question for now, of course.” Asuka realized she was holding Kaworu’s arm. He had extended it when she stumbled. She released it like it was a live animal, and brushed at the hair around her face.

“I…I was going to…I was going to take it back today,” she mumbled. “I don’t know why I didn’t. I wasn’t…even mad anymore.”

“You were hurt, though. Being hurt makes one do strange things,” Kaworu mused.

“Yes,” she said numbly.

“Do you think this is your fault, then?” She stared at him, trying to gauge his thoughts behind his calm face.

“…Yes,” she murmured. Kaworu looked genuinely surprised at the admission.

“Are you saying you called down the Angel in Unit-03? Are YOU an Angel?” He gave her a very serious, very thorough stare. Something about the stare seemed to pass in and over Asuka, and she felt naked before it. Reacting on instinct, she clamped a palm over Kaworu’s face and pushed away. He blinked, and sniffed. “It seems you aren’t,” he said quietly, as though musing over a puzzle. “Just a human girl, after all. Why, then, would this be your fault?”

“What…it…you heard what I said!” she snapped. “I just…I don’t know why I said it! I did, and he’s…I mean, it’s….” She closed her mouth, unsure of what to say.

“Something that happened, whether you would have said it or not,” Kaworu suggested. Asuka shrugged.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“I don’t either. Maybe it is your fault. Maybe it isn’t.” He shrugged, and smiled. “What does it matter right now?”

“What do you mean?” Asuka said, feeling belittled.

“Well…what’s happening is happening. What happens next?”

“…Like, what am I going to do about it?”

“…I guess. I think that’s what I’m asking…yes,” Kaworu said, nodding in satisfaction at Asuka’s words. The girl shrugged, and rubbed her face.

“I don’t know. Everything I do, I think I’m…I don’t know. I don’t know.” Kaworu cocked his head, and then placed two fingers on Asuka’s forehead. She scrunched in surprise, but slowly relaxed. The tension in her heart fled, and her fingers unclenched. Slowly, a great calm…a peace…came over her.

“I’m sure,” Kaworu said, “That when you need to, you’ll know what to do.” Asuka felt the anxiety and guilt slowly ebbing away. In it’s place, suspicion arose.

“What…what did you do?” she asked, taking a slow step back.

“Nothing,” Kaworu said with a shrug. “You need to get to your Eva.” Asuka continued to eye him, uncertain of what she was looking at. Then, she turned, and marched down the corridor.

[Iuvenal]

The transition to the new forum software appears to have mangled all the apostrophes and quotation marks in your story text, Gob. I've got an a-with-caret in place of all of them.

[Gob Hobblin]

Ugh...that took forever....

Fixed.

[Gob Hobblin]

Bravo Oscar

SPOILER: Show

“Static discharge, in five…four…three…two…one.”

Slowly, the arcs of electricity raised up the black bulk of Unit-03, intensifying in frequency and strength, curling away like blue spiderwebs. There was pop, pop, and then dull rumble as the electrical build-up exploded outward in an ultraviolet burst of energy. Asuka scraped at her right joystick with the tip of her index finger, gnawing thoughtfully on her lip. This was the third build-up and discharge of energy in the last fifteen minutes. Aside from that, however, the possessed Eva was remarkably passive. After the initial takeover by the Angel around the Plug, it hadn’t done anything. Something about that seemed much more unnerving than if it was actively marching towards them.

She glanced left, at Unit-00 standing on one of the rolling hills. It cradled one of the Pallet Rifles, butt stock in the shoulder and barrel pointed at some invisible spot at the ground in the low-ready. Rei hadn’t said very much, and that concerned Asuka about as much as Unit-03’s inactivity. It wasn’t necessarily that Rei was silent; she rarely talked when they were on a mission, but Asuka had found she had gotten used to Rei’s newfound verbosity. Further, she knew what was driving the silence, and that couldn’t be good.

Glancing right, Asuka tried to factor the other thing that bothered her: Grendel, perched on it’s own hill with one of the American Pallet Rifles clutched in its hands. Rita, Rita, Rita…the girl was a blank slate. Was she reliable? Competent? Was she just another kind of Samson waiting to wake up? What was she? Asuka grumbled to herself, anxious and unhappy.

Shinji was still in Unit-03, and that was an unknown quantity, too. Was he hurt? Was he dead? There was no telling. Shinji was an unknown factor. Unit-03 was an unknown factor. Rei was an unknown factor. Rita was an unknown factor. So many things that just couldn’t be accounted for.

This was unfair.

“All Eva units: incoming support craft.” She sat up, and craned her neck to look. The JSSDF had pushed to have some sort of involvement, and Commander Ikari had relented simply due to the circumstances. The Angel was right at the door, knocking on the tomb that Adam lay in deep down below. This wasn’t the time to turn away help, no matter how ineffectual. Descending like a flock of mayflies, military gunships flew down the ventilation shafts, opened just to allow them in. She gritted her teeth, zooming in to observe the rocket pods and externally mounted missiles. She didn’t believe for a moment that they would have an influence or impact on Unit-03, but all the same, she dreaded the thought of Shinji being on the receiving end of all of that ordnance.

She looked at Unit-00. She opened a line to Rei, and waited patiently for the girl to respond. After a few seconds, the line was received, and Rei appeared. She said nothing, simply looking at Asuka with a blank expression.

“Are you ready?” Asuka asked.

“Why do you care?” Rei mumbled.

“Why shouldn’t I?” Asuka replied. Rei blinked, considering the answer. She shook her head, and looked down at her lap.

“Sure,” she said.

“Are you ready?” Asuka asked, a bit more firmly. Rei gave her an ugly look.

“Yes,” she said.

“Good,” Asuka said, glancing again at the distant Unit-03, amplified on her monitors. “Do you think Shinji is okay?”

“…Yes,” Rei said, though her tone implied she thought otherwise. Asuka glanced down, feeling the odd, niggling remnant of guilt.

“I…think so, too.” Asuka swallowed. She looked over at Rei. “This…is happening a lot to us, right?”

“What?”

“I mean…me in the Sea of Dirac. You with the last Angel…Sam…Samson with…you know.” She shrugged. “We get…this happens to us a lot, doesn’t it.”

“…It’s happened to each of us,” Rei said.

“Yes.” Asuka said. “We’re all one big happy club, now. Woo-hoo.” Rei shrugged, and said nothing else. Asuka regretted the flippant tone, but didn’t apologize. Sighing, she killed the line, and stared at the distant, possessed Eva. Shinji was trapped inside, and the gunships of the JSSDF were arranging themselves intricately around the behemoth.

Asuka snorted, and keyed up the line to the Bridge. “Misato!” she snapped, waiting for the woman to appear on screen.

“Asuka, what?” the Major hissed peevishly.

“Are we really going to let them shot up 03?”

“Only if it starts moving,” Misato said.

“But Shinji—”

“I know, but…well, frankly, do you think anything would happen at all?”

“…No.”

“Those gunships are a distraction and nothing more. It’ll be up to you guys to stop it.”

“…But what about Shinji?”

“We’re…still working on the particulars.” Misato sighed, her expression one of contemplation. “If you can, try to extract the Plug. I know it’ll be hard, especially in a fight, but try to pull it or cut it out. Do you think you can do that?”

“Yes,” Asuka said firmly. She flounced back on the couch, staring at the Eva across the field. “What’s it doing, anyway? It’s just sitting there.”

“We aren’t sure. We think that…because Shinji is inside the Eva, the Angel is having trouble asserting direct control.”

“So Shinji is…fighting it off, or something? With his mind?”

“I couldn’t tell you, but it’s possible,” Misato said.

“Huh. Fancy that,” Asuka mumbled. She didn’t know why it would be surprising, but it seemed odd to think of Shinji in some sort of battle of wits with an Angel. It shouldn’t seem odd, because she had seen Shinji fight against horrendous odds before. They all had, and they all had the measure of each other. Still, the image of him fighting that kind of battle…it should have left her feeling concerned, but it was just so absurd. She couldn’t figure out why, it just was.

“Hey, Misato—” Asuka chuckled, and then flinched as the distant Eva hunched over and roared, a flower of red fluid bursting from the seams in its armor. Before Asuka could even ask what had just happened, the Eva lurched forward and began stomping across the field.

The gunships fired as one. As expected, nothing substantial happened. Unit-03’s AT-Field stopped the guided missiles before their warheads could arm, sending them spinning off into the fields of the GeoFront without detonation. The rockets were no more successful, bursting in the air around Unit-03 without slowing it down. The beast continued to stomp forward. It’s gait was slow and jilting, awkward and unnatural, but it was still moving forward.

Towards it’s objective.

Asuka bit her lip as she listened to the chatter of the gunship pilots, fluttering away from the approaching Eva like gnats before a boar. She swallowed, mentally preparing herself for the ‘go’ order. They were at a halfway point between Unit-03’s approach, and the GeoFront’s pyramid. They would most likely advance, to try and meet the Eva as far away from the end-point as possible. Most likely….

…Where was that order?…

“Asuka!” Misato snapped. “I want you to go out and try to detain Unit-03. Don’t try and destroy it, but don’t put yourself at risk, either. Just keep it in one spot. Got it?”

“Yeah!” she snapped, pushing forward and bolting. As she pounded over the turf, she heard Misato snapping out further instructions.

“Rei, flank Unit-03, and prepare to extract the Plug. Rita, I want you to offer close support to Asuka: if you see an opportunity to lame Unit-03, or you see it’s Core, take the opportunity.”

“Yes,” Rei said distantly.

“Affirmative,” Rita chirped cheerfully.

Unit-03 was closer now. Asuka gritted her teeth, lowering the Eva’s shoulders to piledrive into Unit-03’s legs in a classic, American football tackle. As soon as she was within reaching distance, however, Unit-03’s hands snapped up and grabbed Unit-02’s head. Asuka cried out in pain as her face throbbed, and her neck felt the violet torsion of the body piling up behind it. Unit-02 staggered, falling to it’s knees as Unit-03 began to clamber onto it’s back, putting all of it’s weight onto Unit-02’s neck.

Asuka reacted, snaking an arm through Unit-03’s legs and another up over it’s shoulder, checking it’s advance and grappling it to a halt. She gasped as Unit-03 brought a fist down onto Unit-02’s armored back, the sympathetic feedback all the way into her guy. Still, she held on.

She felt the snap-flicker of Unit-03’s AT Shield activating as Rita fired rounds from Grendel’s Pallet Rifle into Unit-03 at point-blank range. Glancing at her radar, Asuka saw the blip of Unit-00 skirting widely and swiftly around the battle, positioning itself into a maximum flanking position. Grunting, Asuka felt Unit-03’s arms squirming, attempting to escape. She shifted, checking the movement but feeling a sudden weakening in her hold. Without a doubt, Unit-03 was much stronger than Unit-02.

“Rei, hurry,” she grunted. The Rifle rounds continued to sputter against the AT Shield, the kinetic force becoming stronger as Grendel advanced closer, tiny compared to the two grappling combatants.

“I’m here,” Rei stated, as Asuka desperately shifted her position, slithering an arm up and behind Unit-03’s head, forcing it down and exposing the Plug. Straining, Unit-03 wrapped an arm around Unit-02’s torso, trying to pull back. Grendel dropped it’s Pallet Rifle, rushing forward to grasp one of Unit-03’s arms. The combined weight of the two Eva’s drove the rampant cyborg to its knees. Unit-00 clambered onto it’s back, straddling it and adding it’s own weight to the pile. Between them, seated in the back of Unit-03, was the partially exposed Plug. It was surrounded by a strange, white, mossy substance, which seemed to have glued it into place before it could have blow clear of the casing.

“Do you think you can just pull it out?” Asuka asked, grunting as her stomach thumped from Unit-03’s shoulder.

“I’ll try cutting it out,” Rei suggested. There was a strange note to her voice, and Asuka squinted as she tried to decipher it. It made her uneasy that she couldn’t interpret the tone. Above her, Unit-00 deployed it’s Progressive Knife, twisting it into an icepick grip. Cautiously, it began to dig into the mossy substance, trying to slice it away without damaging the Plug.

“Rei, a little faster,” Asuka grunted again, her stomach again spasming as Unit-03 bellowed and pushed against Unit-02.

“I’m trying,” the other girl hissed, her tone sounding a bit more uneasy. “I’m making prog—” The moss suddenly slithered up the blade, stretching a web across half of it’s surface. Rei shrieked, releasing the knife and scurrying off of Unit-03.

Asuka was so shocked by the reaction that she stopped fighting to stare. It was all the opening Unit-03 needed: it grabbed Unit-02’s outside arm and found the fingers of its hand. It squeezed, crushing three of them and ripping off the fourth. Asuka shrieked in agony as left hand flew up, the fingers twisting and trembling as their mated pairs were pulverized or vanished. She grabbed her wrist, the shriek twisting into a sob as the vice grip tightened further.

The sob became a shriek again, as Unit-03 twisted the arm down and out, completely shattering Unit-02’s elbow and sending new channels of indescribable pain burning over Asuka’s nerves. Tears blinded her eyes, and she held back nothing as she wailed from the pain twisting deeper into her body, and a strange tightness gripped her hips. Gasping, she heard Misato’s voice in her ear. She couldn’t make out most of the words, but ‘eject’ was clear. Misato was saying it over and over.

Trembling, Asuka disengaged the locks and fired the emergency jets in the Plug. As suddenly as it had started, the pain vanished, leaving only a ringing echo over her nerves. The Plug went dark, and Asuka felt the drifting sensation of free-fall. Trying to calm herself, Asuka took deep, shuddering breaths. Dizzy, she perceived the warm glow as the backup battery of the Plug kicked on. There was hard jerk as the parachutes deployed, but the LCL of the Plug shielded Asuka somewhat. There was a crackle as the comm unit activated the audio components only.

“I’m sorry!” she heard Rei chanting, over and over. “I’m sorry!”

“Grendel, if you can move, try to get to RP-03—” someone else was screaming. Under it all, Misato’s voice was calling out for Asuka. In irritation, Asuka deactivated the comm unit. She sat in the silence, gathering her thoughts and trying to chase the memory of the pain away. She breathed, slowly, her heart pounding in her chest. Slowly, it relaxed, and her breathing became less ragged and shuddering. She swallowed, opening her eyes and feeling the LCL cling to her safely like a blanket.

She cried out as the Plug thudded, colliding hard with the ground. Weakly, she pushed to the escape hatch, pulling the release tab and twisting. She grunted with effort as her left arm strained with every movement. She pushed at the release, until it gave way and the hatch fell free. The LCL of the Plug drained out past her, dragging her halfway out of the hatch. She gagged and coughed, vomiting the LCL in her lungs into the flow. She clung to the hatch until the torrent stopped, took a deep breath, and looked up.

The Plug had landed a fairly safe distance from Unit-03. Still very close, but not so close as to be of concern. The Eva, for some reason, was not moving. It was crouched, the shimmer of an AT Shield surrounding it like a cocoon. At it’s feet lay what was left of Unit-02.

Asuka stared at the ruins, the Eva still awkwardly squirming in its own gore. It’s left arm had been completely detached, and she could see now why she had felt a pressure in her back, why she Misato told her to eject: the lower torso had been completely pulverized, squeezed and crushed. Weakly, it tried to fight on its own, before finally subsiding and laying still. Asuka sighed, rubbing her face. Unit-02 would fight again someday: she knew that somehow, they would patch the Eva back together. They always did. It tore at her heart to see it laid so low, but she acknowledged it wasn’t dead, just wounded. Still….

It wouldn’t fight today. And Unit-03 was still standing. She allowed herself to fall out of the Plug, and sat upright on the soppy turf. She looked left, and saw Grendel limping away from the scene, dragging a twisted leg behind it. Beyond Unit-03, Unit-00 stood upright and slightly hunched, indicative of a lack of synchronization. Asuka brushed at her wet hair, playing the scene through her mind again.

The moss. The Knife. The sudden movement, and Rei’s retreat. She nodded to herself, rubbing her face and knowing now what the tone was under Rei’s voice. She should have pushed harder on that. It was easy to blame Rei for screwing up, but Asuka had felt doubts and not pushed on them. And it wasn’t really Rei’s fault, was it? Asua knew how she herself had felt after That Day. She was angry, but it was hard to stay angry at Rei.

It was their special little club, after all: those that had survived violations by Angels. She let her hands drop to her lap, staring up at Unit-03, strangely immobile now. She could just barely see the top of the Plug, still cocooned in the gooey moss of the infecting Angel. Shinji would be in that club now, if he survived. If. But there was no more Evas to fight. Unit-02 was destroyed, Grendel was hobbled, and Unit-00 would certainly not have the strength to deal with Unit-03 one-on-one, even if Rei wasn’t grappling with her own issues.

A deep feeling of empty misery pushed through Asuka like a black wave, gripping her chest as she stared down at her lap. She pressed on her scalp with her fingers, swallowing and sniffing. Shinji would be dead, and that’d be the least of their concerns. The Angel would drive the Eva to the GeoFront. It would pulverize it and claw down, down into the earth until it found Adam. Until it completed it’s mission.

And then…there would be no ‘then.’ That would be it, the end of all things. Everything. Feeling her breath quicken, Asuka stared fitfully at Unit-02 and felt tears of frustration and regret sting her eyes, as she tried to play the scenario over and over in her mind. Surely this was a bad dream, and if she could think of enough good scenarios, good outcomes, reality would reassert itself, and the Angel would be defeated. Shinji would be okay, and she would be mocking him for his failure to counter the Angel. Nothing serious, just light teasing.

Nothing changed. Unit-02 still lay in the lake of it’s own blood, and Unit-03 still crouched in strange contemplation. Shrieking through gritted teeth, Asuka hunched forward, grabbing her hair with both hands and pulling. If only Unit-02 was not down. If only she had another Eva—

She sat up, releasing her hair and gasping. If only…if only…

There was another Eva.

Standing up suddenly, she slipped in the patch of LCL and fell on her elbow. Scrambling, she stood again and crawled back into the Plug, activating the comms equipment.

[KingXanaduu]

You can't be suggesting.....what I think your suggesting Asuka is going to do?.......Is Asuka going to Eva-01?!?

Asuka, the most badass Eva character IN the most badass Evangelion of the series?!......I think I'm going to faint for sheer awesomeness!!!

[Gob Hobblin]

It's occurred to me that my absence from writing means I have to relearn everything I used to know about writing, so these chapters are not going to be very good. I'm just putting that out there. I have to get back on the horse somehow, though....

Charlie Mike

SPOILER: Show

“…this isn’t going to work.”

“You don’t know that, and I don’t know that. That means we have, like…fifty-fifty odds, right?” Asuka insisted, scrubbing her hair clean of the caked LCL. In the time it had taken for her to be retrieved and brought back, the LCL from her Plug had solidified into a gelatinous and crumbling mess, coating her Plug Suit, clinging to her skin, and twisting through her hair. If she was going to try and go back out, try and synchronize, she needed to be completely cleansed of the soppy material. The old Plug Suit had been removed, and a spare was waiting for her next to the stall.

“That’s not how odds work!” Misato insisted, standing about three stalls away and pacing in frustration.

“That’s how these odds work!” Asuka snapped, using all the fingers on both hands to work a particular knotted clump free. The LCL, once a clearish orange, was now sopping to the floor of the shower in red, gory clumps. “I mean, what else can we do? You saw what it did to Unit-02. Do you want Rei to face that by herself?”

“What happened out there?” Misato asked. “I still don’t have a clear idea.”

“Nothing that was Rei’s fault,” Asuka said. There was a loud swish behind her, and she squeaked in surprise, skittering away from the door and staring over her shoulder. Misato had swept the curtain aside, and was giving Asuka a very scrutinizing stare.

“You know, I just can’t figure you out, sometimes,” Misato said. “Why this sudden empathy for Rei?”

“Because I…I know why she acted the way she did,” Asuka murmured.

Misato processed the reply for a moment, and then shrugged. She closed the curtain, and Asuka could hear Misato’s boots resume their agitated pacing. Asuka resumed scrubbing the congealed LCL away.

“Grendel hit the core, by the way. That’s why Unit-03 is in torpor.”

“Hit it? But didn’t destroy it?”

“Actually split it in two.”

“What? Then how is it…why is it still standing?”

“Dr. Akagi has a theory that the Angel is using Shinji as a medium to control the Eva. So it has a double-layer of protection: the Eva’s core, then Shinji….”

“Oh. So…,” Asuka turned off the water. “If we get the Plug out, we kill the Angel?”

“No, but…we open it up to being killed. Unless it infects another Eva….”

“That’s IF we can get another Eva in the fight. I still doubt this plan, but…in lack of alternatives….”

“Exactly,” Asuka said, slipping out of the shower and hurriedly toweling herself off. She grabbed the waiting Plug Suit, and scurried into it. “…How is Rei doing?”

“She’s calmed down a bit, but that really surprised me. I never thought I’d see Rei behave like that.”

“It surprised me, too,” Asuka admitted. “I had a…feeling it would happen. I guess I ignored it because…it’s Rei. I mean, I give her a lot of…I’m not always nice to her, but I know she’s better at coping with this stuff than me or Shinji. At least I thought she was….” Asuka slowed, feeling a sudden wave of regret. “I should have said something.”

“Yeah, you should have, but I should have noticed it before you had the chance to say it,” Misato said. “It’s my job to keep tabs on you kids, and I let go of the ball. So there’s blame to share.”

“She’s not going to be, like…punished, or anything?”

“No, I don’t think so. I admit that I wanted to, but hearing you put it the way you did, I think it would be inappropriate at this point. I mean, you said it: the blame is on us at this point. We can’t expect Rei to accurately judge her own state.”

“…Like we can’t accurately expect me to judge mine,” Asuka added, and gave Misato a pained smile. Misato shrugged.

“It is what it is,” the woman admitted. “Now get suited up, we have to go wake up the Goddess.”

-----

It had never occurred to Asuka, before, how terrifying Unit-01 truly was. Her first opinion of it was one of disdain, then respect. Then, perhaps awe? Certainly envy. Now, though, as she was about to commit the ultimate betrayal to her beloved, terrible Unit-02, she could appreciate that Unit-01 was a monster.

“Why ‘Goddess?’” she asked as they approached the waiting Plug, hovering behind the sleeping beast.

“Excuse me?” Misato asked.

“You called it the Goddess. Why?” Asuka mumbled, staring at the still-visible teeth.

“You know, I have no idea? It just seemed to fit. I mean, why not?”

“Hmph,” Asuka grunted, passing between the waiting technicians as she approached the Plug. She paused at the hatch as one of them danced her hands over Asuka’s Plug Suit and Synchronization Headset, doing a visual and physical once-over. Asuka waited for the ritual to end, and the woman gave a satisfied nod. She and a second technician assisted Asuka into the Plug, giving special consideration to her still-weakened left arm. She slid into the Plug, and settled on the crash couch. Misato leaned in.

“So, what makes you think this time will be different?” Misato asked.

“This time?”

“We’ve tried cross-synch experiments before, and they never work. Why this time?”

“I have an idea. Just…look, I’ll need privacy. So, no comms, no cameras, nothing. Can you do that?”

“…You’re making this weird,” Misato muttered.

“Please, Misato!” Asuka hissed, her brow furrowing in irritation.

“Fine, fine. We’ll be waiting,” Misato said, slipping out of the hatch. A tech stepped forward to close and seal it. Asuka waited through the dizzying lurch as the Plug was moved and inserted into the waiting port. In the darkness, she heard the rush of LCL as it began to fill the cockpit, and she accepted the copper smell and taste as the liquid overwhelmed her.

What was it like the first time she breathed LCL? She couldn’t remember. That was kind of strange, she thought, but then cleared her mind. She was nervous, and trying to distract her nervous thoughts with gibberish. The Plug lit up, and Hyuga appeared in the air to her left.

“The Major is on her way back, but she relayed your request to us,” he said. “You’ve connected to Unit-01, but no sync activity is showing. Are you ready to try?”

“Yes, I am,” she said firmly.

“Okay. If you need us, just ring us up,” he said with a smile and wink, and his image vanished. She sighed, and lolled her head back, letting her mind drift for a moment. She thought about the little games she would play to try and make herself sync with Unit-02, and how those would always fail. Synchronization wasn’t something you forced to happen, it just happened.

It wasn’t going to happen here. Unless she could persuade the other party to let it happen. But how do you persuade an Eva?

“Hi, there!” she said in a very cheerful tone. She immediately blushed in embaressment, and her heart began pounding at the absurdity of it all. “Um…,” she grumbled, “…hello. Unit…01. Hi…I already said that….” She shifted awkwardly. “Look, I’m…I’m a friend of Shinji’s! I bet you could tell that…when I…I don’t know if you can read my thoughts, or anything like that, but if you can, then you will see that I…mostly like the guy. He’s okay. You know what I mean, right?”

Dead silence.

“…Right. Okay. Um…Shinji is in trouble, right now. He is…I need help, okay? My Eva is down, and we need an Eva to help him, and you’re an Eva, so I think, since you and him are…you know, he’s your Pilot, you might want to…help me…help him.”

Again, dead silence.

“Oh, boy,” Asuka mumbled, rubbing her face.

-----

“—stupid, Crayola piece of crap!” Asuka finished, her face flushed with frustration. She could hear herself breathing in the confined cockpit, and that was all she heard. The Eva stubbornly refused to respond. She had tried begging, pleading, cajoling, insulting, and bargaining with the Eva, and still it sat dead and unmoving. She tried to control her breathing, thinking of what else she could do. What else she could say.

“You hear me, I know that you do. You just don’t want to move. Why? Why not? You can do it by yourself, I know that you can. I’ve seen it. Everybody has. Why do you have to be so stubborn!?” Asuka swallowed, clamped her teeth together, and grated a sound of fury. “I know you care about him!” she snapped. “I don’t know why, or what it is about him, but I know you care about him as much as Unit-02 cares about me. He is going to die, don’t you get it? He’s going to die, and I can’t help him unless you help me, and I have to help him! I have to…he’s…he’s….” Her heart thudded in her chest. “He’s very…important to me.”

Asuka lowered her head, the tears finally coming. Her frustration had reached it’s apex, and now it was spent. All that was left was the crash, and she accepted it. The tears drifted through the LCL, and she wiped at her face futilely. She felt like a little girl. She had cried a lot today, and she hated that. She hated crying.

“He’s going to die, don’t you get it? He’ll die…I can’t let him die. He’s never let me die, he always…he always…I have to. I can’t….”

She sat up, gasping. She had felt a finger that was hers, but not hers. It had twitched, just slightly, somewhere far away. She didn’t move, afraid she would break the spell. The twitch became a motion. The motion became a tapping. Other fingers joined it. A hand that was hers, but not hers.

“Thank you,” she mumbled. “Thank you, thank you, thank you so much….” The screens suddenly popped on as Unit-01’s eyes synchronized to the Plug. Misato’s face suddenly appeared next to Asuka.

“What did you do!?” Misato asked, her face somewhere between frantic and elated.

“I…sync’d!” Asuka said, the only thing she could think to say. She grinned maniacally, pleased beyond words.

“You did! You actually did! I mean, it’s weak, and you’re probably going to be murdered the minute you get out there, but…hey, it’s progress!” Asuka’s smile became wooden, but she shook her head.

“No, no, I won’t. You’ll see,” she nodded, as the lumbering Eva shook itself awake. “You’re going to see some things, Misato. Just wait.”

[Iuvenal]

Liked both of those chapters. Noticed about four typos in the first. Will post more substantial thoughts tonight if I get the chance.

[jcmoorehead]

I've been leaving a few reviews over on FFN but I finally caught up with this over there and wanted to say something here too but I've really enjoyed reading through this. It's a behemoth of a fic, I don't think I've actually read a fic that matches the length of it before but it's been really enjoyable to read. Really looking forward to seeing what comes next, such a great cliffhanger to leave it on too.

[Gob Hobblin]

Thank you very much for your kind words, jcmoorehead. Coming from you (author of one of my favorite fics), that's a big plus in my day! Sorry for the long reply, but as you can see from my posting history (and the content of my posting), I've been...busy and misanthropic.

That being said.....

Little Talks:

SPOILER: Show

The hatch opened, and Unit-01 burst out into the reflected sunlight of the GeoFront dome. Asuka squinted for a moment at the glare, before focusing on the crouching figure of Unit-03. The AT Field cocoon shimmered around it, and she could see the drying, cracked rivulets of LCL on it’s armor from where it had received injuries. She swallowed, and willed Unit-01 forward.

The behemoth did not move.

“Come on, come on. Just a step,” she coaxed. Slowly, awkwardly, the Eva extended one foot and brought it down. That was progress, Asuka decided. “Good, now the other one. Come on.” Slowly, the second foot dragged up and past it’s colleague, shuffling forward.

“Asuka, I don’t know if this is going to work,” Misato said over the comm net.

“It will. This will work,” Asuka asserted.

…She was fairly certain it would work, at least.

She scanned the battlefield. Grendel was no longer on the field, too damaged to continue to fight. Unit-00 was present at an overwatch position, most of it’s systems deactivated and in hibernation. Asuka keyed a link to Unit-00, but there was no answer.

“Come on, Wonder Girl,” she grumped, but the link remained stubbornly dead. Asuka bit her lip, and glared at the Eva in the distance. It slumped, as though waiting for transport back to it’s stable. She felt a confusing twinge of annoyed resentment, chased by a stab of anxiety. Rei was many things, and many of those things were irritating to Asuka.

Being cowardly was not one of those things. This was an inconvenient and disconcerting change of pace for the other girl, and Asuka was uncertain as to whether she should be concerned, or angry. She stopped attempting to contact her, and glared at Unit-03.

It remained motionless, seemingly oblivious to her presence.

“Okay, see that?” Asuka said, pointing at the hunched shape. “That’s where Shinji is. He’s in the Plug in that. So, we can’t hurt the Plug, okay? Everything else is fair game, just…not the Plug.” She swallowed, and willed the Eva forward. There was another halting step.

“Come on, please,” she grated. “I need more from you. We can’t fight like this.” Still, the Eva lurched and lumbered, as though it was drunk. The gait was a little quicker, at least. That was an improvement.

“Asuka, I don’t advise you to take that thing on alone,” Misato said.

“You’re always the one coming up with stupid plans, why can’t my stupid plan work?” Asuka insisted.

“Because most of my stupid plans involve Evas and Pilots that actually function together. Asuka, I’m becoming less thrilled by the second,” Misato said.

“It’s fine!” Asuka insisted, not believing her own statement. “This will work, and when it does, I want an apology, and I want you to admit I was right.”

“Asuka, just hang on a second while we try to contact—”

With a suddenness that surprised even her, Asuka deactivated the link. She didn’t know why she did that, but she wanted the silence. She was beginning to doubt this idea, and she didn’t want the doubt. She wanted the certainty of her earlier recklessness.

“Come on, closer. Closer, now,” she insisted, willing the Eva step-by-step forward. The AT Field was close now, in touching distance. “Reach…reach for it,” she said, and the hands came up, trembling. The fingers contacted the Field, and Asuka felt the distant shadow of sensation in her own fingertips. Slowly, they began to dig in. Slowly, weakly….

Her own AT Field was too weak. She gritted her teeth, watching as the fingers gradually pierced the field, and began to pry….
Unit-03 stood up.

“Twizzlers,” Asuka said quietly.

Unit-03’s field vanished, and Unit-01’s hands flew wide apart, as though it was preparing to take flight. Unit-03 ducked down and charged into Unit-01, and Asuka screamed in surprise and dismay as the Eva’s feet were lifted off the ground. They traveled a good distance before they all fell to the ground, Unit-03 on top.

“Stop it! Stop it now!” Asuka demanded. “Fight back!” Unit-01’s arms flailed aimlessly. “The face! Grab it’s face!” Asuka ordered. A nerveless hand clamped ineffectually at Unit-03’s gargoyle visage. The enemy Eva grabbed the arm, and very deliberately began breaking it. It folded the arm down to the chest, adding five joints to it.

Asuka’s arm tingled, and felt vaguely sore. Her annoyance turned to panic. She should be feeling the pain. If she wasn’t the connection wasn’t strong enough.

“We’re going to die! Shinji’s going to die! Do something!” she demanded, thinking of a variety of ways to fight back or escape. The AT Field then snapped on, hurling Unit-03 into the air and away. Unit-01 lay still. Asuka willed it to stand, and it didn’t.

“Come on! Move!” she shrieked, slamming the joysticks forward. And again. And again. “Move!” Unit-o3 stood up, unperturbed, and stalked back to the prone Eva. It reached down, grabbed one of Unit-01’s ankles, and twisted, effortlessly lifting the Eva off the ground and hurling it through the air. Asuka felt a sickening free floating sensation before the Eva slammed into the ground, rattling her. She tried to orient herself, and felt that same free-floating feeling again as Unit-03 soccer-kicked the motionless Unit-01.

Unit-01 rolled over onto it’s face. Asuka’s panic was becoming full-blown terror.

“What are you doing!?” she demanded. “Stand up! Stop fighting me! I need you to help me! Help me!” The Eva remained unresponsive. There was a massive jerk, and the Plug shook. Asuka pulled up an external image from a security camera to try and get a better view, and began to hyperventilate. Unit-03 was trying to pull her Plug loose.

“Please, please, please do something,” Asuka whimpered. “I’m going to die, I don’t want to die. Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” Her voice rose to a shrill crescendo, and she regretted her idea. She regretted her plan, she regretted everything. It was a terrible idea. She wasn’t going to save Shinji. She was going to fail, she was going to die, and she was going to end on this day, like she was supposed to so many months ago in the vast and empty Sea.

She didn’t want to die, and she couldn’t stop it.

And then the noise stopped.

-----

Asuka sat in the dark, the only sound her panicked and heavy breathing. Her heart gradually, intermittently slowed. The thundering rush of blood in her ears lowered, and she cautiously looked up.

She was in a void. She still sat on the crash couch, but the Plug was gone. She was alone, in empty space. Was she dead? For a brief moment of fear, she considered that…but something inside, that animal instinct, told her that she was not dead. She couldn’t explain it, beyond the sense that there was being alive, there was being dead, and she was firmly alive.

You are an intruder, a woman’s voice said in her mind.

“Huh?” Asuka swallowed, and glanced about. There was a strange sense of familiarity about this place, one that she couldn’t put more than a nostalgic feeling to. “How?”

There are only two people to have come to this, to this place. You are the third. I dislike the intrusions. Sometimes, but especially now. Asuka swallowed.

“You’re…you’re the Evangelion, aren’t you? You’re Unit-01.”

You are that annoying German child.

Asuka opened her mouth to snap back, and then closed it. What point was there in arguing with an Evangelion? Especially one that was a quantifiable god? Besides…she could admit, now, that she could be annoying.

“…Yes. I am,” she said, her tone quiet and grumbling.

I have to admit, you caught me off guard. I didn’t expect you to respond like that.

“Like what?”

Without whining or bravado. You really are your mother’s daughter, at times.

“My mother? What do you mean, my mother?” Asuka asked, alarmed.

Why are you here?

“Wait, you said about…I mean….” Asuka was confused, wanting to pursue so many important lines of conversation. What did this thing have to say about her mother? What was this place? Why…how was this thing communicating with her? In this manner? First things first, though. “We’re not dead, right?”

I should say not.

“But we might be, I’m…I’m about to die.”

You might be.

“Is…is this one of those things where time is stopped, or something?”

I don’t know what you mean by ‘one of those things,’ but time is a funny thing. I doubt I’d be able to explain it to you in a way that would make sense, given that you probably wouldn’t understand the mathematics. Actually, that’s unfair of me: I am certain you would probably understand it at your mathematical level.

“I don’t think we have the time,” Asuka mumbled.

As I said, we have no time and all of the time of eternity. That being said, you’re here now. Tell me why.

“…I need you to help me.”

Clearly, but that’s not up to me.

“What? Why…why not?” Asuka asked in dismay. “You’re the Evangelion, right? Just…synch with me and be done with it!”

That is not remotely how this process works, and you should know that, of all people. There are many dependent factors.

“Like what?”

Trust.

“Trust?”

Of course. There is an inherent bond between the Pilot and the Evangelion, the most basic of that being a level of trust. And frankly, neither of us trusts the other.

“You trust Shinji, though, right?” Asuka said, irritated.

That’s complicated.

“Oh, come on!” Asuka whined, lolling her head like the teenager she was. “You keep giving me these half-answers! Look, you know what’s happening outside, right?”

…Yes.

“And that that if we don’t synchronize, Shinji will die, right?”

I, well…well, yes….

“Do you ‘trust’ that if we don’t do anything, that will be what happens?”

Yes, I do. Trust is simply the most basic way of describing the intrinsic nature of this process, however. It’s not the most accurate, but the only way to sum it up.

“Hey, you said we have all the time and no time,” Asuka muttered, crossing her arms. “Go ahead and explain it.”

I can…try. I admit that you’re taking this very well.

“What?”

Talking to an Evangelion. I was under the impression that you would be more incredulous.

“It’s…life is weird for me right now,” Asuka mumbled. “This is the least weird thing I’ve had to deal with.”

Fair enough. Why do you think you synchronize so well with your Eva?

“Unit-02?”

Yes.

“I…don’t know. It just always seemed natural. Right, sort of.”

You can lower your Absolute Terror Field for your Eva, and it lowers it’s Field for you. You are the two entities that are allowed within the envelope.

“Yeah. I understand all of that, and the mechanics. Skip to the part where it doesn’t work for us. Why does it work for Shinji and you?”

A great many reasons that I will not tell you about.

“Why not?”

Because they aren’t your reasons to know. It’s as simple as that. There is a bond between Shinji and myself that you can never hope to have, just as there is one between you and Unit-02 that Shinji could never replicate should he try to Pilot your Eva.

“You have a unique relationship.’

Yes. He doesn’t realize it, of course. Neither did you, until now. The souls of Evangelion are deep and with many currents. You can only see the surface.

“I feel like I should apologize.”

For what?

“It sounded like you resented us for not understanding.”

I don’t. I doubt your Evangelion does, as well. It’s…a state of things that we accepted for ourselves.

“So Evanglion can make their own decisions? Think for themselves?”

Of course.

“Huh.” Asuka hugged her knees, thoughtfully. “It’s funny, but I knew that. Or figured it out. We all did. It scared us so much, but hearing one explain it seems…I’m not scared at all, now.”

The confirmation of a fact has a remarkable way of removing the terror of the mystery.

“Yeah.” She looked up into the void. “This seems very natural. You said earlier it was odd that I wasn’t freaking out about this, but…hmm.”

What?

“Nothing. It’s just odd. I have a sense about you that just says this is how it should be.”

…Why do you care about Shinji?

“What?”

Clearly you care about him. Why?

“I…don’t know,” Asuka stammered, caught wrongfooted. “That’s none of your business!”

So, you DO care about him.

“No! I mean…maybe. No. No, not at all. Yes. I dunno.”

Do you care about him as a friend, or more than a friend?

“I don’t want to tell you that!”

Humor me. Who am I going to tell?

“This is ridiculous, an Evangelion is quizzing me on my feelings about boys,” Asuka grumbled quietly. “Uh…I don’t know yet. I don’t know if I like him or not, or if I care about him or not. I don’t know if he’s a friend, or a rival, or someone I should be interested in, or not be, or…I don’t know!” She whined at the end, feeling pressured and flustered. The woman’s voice chuckled in her brain. “What!?” Asuka demanded.

Nothing. It’s just that I actually understand what you mean. We might have more in common than I thought. Let me ask you this: how far would you go for Shinji?

“I would…uh…well….” Asuka swallowed on a tight throat, and fought down the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach. “You won’t tell anyone?”

My lips are sealed.

“I would do anything for him. He, uh…I owe him for a lot. I won’t tell him that, though. It’s embarrassing, and I didn’t like him for that. I hated him, actually. But…I do owe him a lot. I want to thank him, and I don’t know how. I am…that’s why.” She shrugged, and sniffed. “I think…I’d do the same for Wonder Girl. I mean, you know…Rei. The First Child. Uh…it’s…maybe not. I don’t feel the same way about Rei that I do for Shinji, but I know that I would do the same things for Rei that I would for Shinji. She’s…being a brat right now, but I would still…I don’t know.”

You don’t have to explain anymore. I understand. And now, I understand you a bit more.

“I guess,” Asuka mumbled, feeling ashamed.

Don’t be so glum. We have a bond now, you and me.

“What?” Asuka suddenly shivered, feeling a creeping, cold sensation climbing up her arms and legs. It was not unpleasant, but it was frightening.
I feel that we have more in common than not. I feel I understand you enough, to…let’s say I can trust you a bit more.

“I feel cold,” Asuka whimpered.

For a moment, you will. I have to ask, you, though: do you think you can trust me enough?

“Trust…trust you to—?” Asuka gasped, her arms and legs splayed as the cold became a searing, burning sensation of what could only be described as power. The woman’s voice didn’t say anymore, and the world became blinding light as Asuka was hurled into the pits of eternity.

[Gemini011]

Good to see you back! Just wondering:

SPOILER: Show

Anti-Terror Field: intentional change from "Absolute Terror"?

[Gob Hobblin]

....nope, just a long time out of the game.

It's....it's fixed.

[KingXanaduu]

YAY!!!

Welcome back dude!

We've missed you! Where've you been?

[Bagheera]

You stop there?!? Gah.

But seriously, nice work.

[jcmoorehead]

Already reviewed on FFN but really glad to see another chapter of this pop up