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