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.

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Seeing that he couldn't bend or twist out of the way of the Lance,
Shinji opted for bending backwards from the waist.  Straight back, looking
like one of the characters from that old show.  Unfortunatly, this move put
Unit 1 off balance and all Unit 5 had to do to knock it over was ram it, so
it did.  With it's prey on the ground in front of it, it raised the Lance
above it's head and brought it down, trying to impale Unit 1's head on it.

This time, though, Shinji was able to roll away and back to his
feet.  But no sooner than he was turned back to the fight was he moving
again.  Unit 5 was thrusting, swinging, and lunging with the Lance, each
time missing only by two or three meters.
        
Far too close for Shinji's liking, but there was little he could do
about it.  Unit 5 was fighting on a different level, a different order of
magnitude, than it's Angel brothers.  Before, Shinji was fighting them with
ease, and was very close to winning; but this...  this was simply too hard,
even for him to make any offensive maneouvers.  It was taking all of his
attention just not be hit by the powerful weapon.  And hit by it, he did
not want with the images of what it did to Unit 7 still fresh in his mind.
He knew that if he was hit by it, he would never survive.  And then Asuka
would die soon after that; an outcome he would prevent at all costs.  Even
his own life.
         
The object of his thoughts stood in Central Dogma, studying the
screens intently.  Since his reappearance in the fight, she'd not taken her
gaze from the moniters.  'Almost as if she was afraid that she'd never see
him again' Misato mused for a moment before dismissing it outright.  Asuka
would never think that, especially about Shinji.  Especially since Shinji
was coming back after this, right?  Several times she was tempted to walk
over to the younger girl, and she even started walking to her once, but
Kaji stopped her.  She briefly contemplated asking him why, but never got
around to it.
        
Asuka was too absorbed in the fight to pay any attention to the
others.  After her last agument with Misato, she shut everything else away,
focusing soley on Shinji and the fight.  Slowly, dimly, she became aware of
several dozen eyes focusing on the back of her head, but she didn't care.
None of them knew what Shinji'd said to her, and, with luck, none would
find out.  She needed time to decide what to do about Shinji, what they
were going to do.  'Assuming we all surivive this,' she thought darkly.
Then she asked herself is she believed what Shinji had said, about him
loving her too much to lose her.  But she couldn't find anything that said
otherwise, but still couldn't bring herself to answer her own question.
She thought back to his recent behaviour: his going shopping with herself,
Rei, and Hikari with a miniumum of fuss, him kissing her to get her
attention, him kissing her later in the same day...  'But you kissed him,
that time' a part of her argued.  She told that part, in no uncertain
terms, to stuff it.
        
Shinji was looking around.  After that last lunge, Unit 5
dissappeared.  Cautiously, he moved from street to street, hoping to find
that thing before it found him.  He didn't want to admit it to anyone, much
less himself, be he was starting to feel fear's cold tendrils starting to
grip him in its grasp.  Before, he was simply playing with them, except
when Asuka was invovled.  Now, it was all he could do to survive, nevermind
attack.
        
The preverbial hairs on the back of his neck stood up.  Nervously
he looked around, hoping to catch a glimps of white that would give away
his enemy, but he saw none.  He craned his neck around the corner of a
building, and that saved his life.  A few seconds after he moved his head,
the Lance went flying by it, missing by centimeters.  Unit 5 slammed into
him shortly after that, sending him sprawling to the street.  It had
charged him from behind, intent of stabbing him with the Lance.
        
He rolled over onto his back, hoping to catch his breath.  He
didn't have the time as Unit 5 recovered and dived at him.  Shinji was slow
in reacting and didn't dodge in time, and the result was Unit 5 straddling
Unit 1.  Shinji tried punching, but he just didn't have the leverage to
make it anymore than an annoyance.
        
Unit 5 raised the Lance of Longinus high above its head, the twin
prongs facing down.  It hesitated for a moment, savoring the thought of
beating Unit 1, the best of the NERV defenders, before bringing the Lance
down to impale the prone Eva's head.
        
From Asuka's point of view, it seemed that time had slowed down.
It took an eternity for Unit 5 to start moving its arms, and she briefly
considered closing her eyes, unsure if she could see Shinji die and hold
back the tears it would cause.  'Why would I cry?' she asked herself; she
wasn't able to answer, but was sure that she would indeed cry if he did
die.
        
As the great weapon flew true to it's target, her mind was made up
for her as her eyes involuntarially closed.  As they did she berated
herself for being so weak.  'I can't even stand to watch him go,' she
lamented to herself.  'Why do I diserve his love?  Why did I ever think I
could?'  She expected Unit 5 to howl after it finished killing Shinji, howl
with delight, howl with pure satisfaction, howl with....
        
When it did finally howl, Asuka couldn't help but open her eyes.
As her lids lifted, she realized that it wasn't a howl of satisfaction or
pleasure, but of shock and hatred.  Finally able to see what happened, she
blew out a sigh of relief.
        
Unit 1 had grabbed hold of the two prongs of the Lance of Longinus
just before it could hit him in the head, and was now engaged in a battle
of strength with Unit 5.
        
"Oh...No...You...Don't!!!" Shinji growled through clenched teeth as
he tried to pull the Lance away from his enemy.  But they were too evenly
matched in strength, and so were stalemated.  But, from somewhere... else
Unit 5 got a second wind and pressed the advantage.  The prongs came closer
to Unit 1's head, dangerously close in fact, and there was little Shinji
could do to stop it.
        
"Shinji!" Misato yelled.  "Get out of the way!"
        
"I'm trying," Shinji said in between laboured breaths.  Both Eva's
arms were shaking with the effort, but Unit 5 was winning, slowly but
surely.  Shinji  could feel the strain beginning to take it's toll on his
arms, and he knew he had little time left.
        
"Major!" Maya yelled out.  "Stresses on Unit 1's arms are nearing
the red zone!  They can't take much more of this sort of abuse!"
        
"How long untill they fail completely?"
        
"I estimate we have two minutes before they shatter!"
        
'Get out of there,' Asuka thought to herself desperatly.  She knew
that if he didn't come out of this alive....  She didn't know what about,
but she knew had to talk to him.  She breifly considered talking with
Misato or Kaji about what he said, what she wanted to say to him later,
what she felt; but then decided against it, figuring that, if they survived
this, Misato and Kaji would have things to talk about themselves.  She
focused her attention on Unit 1's struggle to survive, trying to will all
her help over to Shinji.
        
Unit 5 stood from straddling over Unit 1 to standing being bent
over Unit 1's head to add leverage and more weight to the attack; and that
was its mistake.  Unit 1 stopped trying to keep the Lance from impaling
himself in the head, instead he used the last of his strength in moving it
off to just beside his head; with the final result being the Lance
embedding itself in the concrete road and Unit 5 being pulled off balance.
At the same time, Shinji kicked up with his legs, striking Unit 5 in the
midsection several times before moving onto it's knees.  He managed to
shatter them several times, but each time they grew back.
        
"Now, that's just not playing fair," Shinji lamented as he watched
Unit 5 continue to grow back everything he destroyed.  Letting go of the
Lance, he put his hands on Unit 5's torso and pushed.  Unit 5 flew back and
up, but it maintained it's grip on the Lance, which tore free of the
street.  At the top of it's arc, Unit 5 deployed it's wings, took control
over it's flight, and hovered above Unit 1, it's gaze seething with anger.
        
Asuka saw it before anyone else, but Misato beat her to the punch.
"Shinji!  Look out!  Behind you!"  Unit 1, not wasting any time, even to
respond, jumped and twisted to face the threat from behind.  The rest of
the UN Evas, Units 6 to 12, minus Unit 7, were charging him.
        
"Alright!"  Shinji yelled.  "Something I can beat!"  He turned to
face them, ready for anything they might try.  Well, almost anything.  Just
as they closed to three hundred meters, they extended their wings and flew
at him.  Just as he'd dodge one, two more would ram him.
        
After all six had passed over him, he stood up, looked at the new
sets of dents in his body, and said, "On the other hand-"  but the rest of
his sentance was cut short by a piece of building hitting him in the head.
He shook away the stars that danced around his eyes and looked up.  All of
the live Eva's picked up pieces of building on their way by him, and were
now bombing him with them.
        
Enraged, Shinji tried to hit them with a chunk of building, but
they just dodged out of the way, and growled something that might have
passed for laughter.
        
"Now, that's just not playing fair," Shinji said again in between
dodging building chunks.  So distracted by the storm of concrete, he didn't
notice one the other Eva's flying at him, low, almost to the street.  He
caught it out of the corner of his eye at the last second, but it was too
late to do anything about it.  He took the full brunt of the hit and went
flying back to the ground.  This time it was he who was slow to get up.
        
"We've got to get rid of that advantage," Misato said.  Shinji was
finally standing again and took cover behind one of the few still-standing
buildings.  The chunks of building that was still being thrown at him was
bouncing off his cover.
        
"No kidding!" Shinji responded, while frantically looking around.
Slowly, an idea blossomed in his mind.  "Misato!  Open one the emergency
hatches!!"  Something about the tone of his voice made Misato wary of this
statement.
        
"Why?"
       
 "I'm going to take the fight into the Geofront!"
        
Misato was already ordering him to stop it, when it suddenly made
sense.  It would indeed limit their flying and would make for
close-quarters combat, something that would also limit the use of the
Lance.  She didn't have the authority to make that call, however, so she
looked up at Commander Ikari, asking a silent question with her eyes.  For
what seemed to be an eterenty, the supreme commander remained silent.
        
All eyes turned from Asuka to him, with the exception of Asuka
herself, who was too buisy studying the instruments.  Fuyutsuki bent down
and whispered into his ear, and although his expression didn't change, the
Commander slowly nodded.
        
'One more problem for the council to harp on,' Commander Ikari
thought to himself.  He really didn't care for the Geofront; it, like all
things in his universe, had a purpose to do, and it would do that purpose,
no matter the cost or how much time was needed.  "Do it!" Misato shouted.
        
Taking a deep breath, Shinji waited until the pelting of the
building had slowed to almost nothing before dashing out, sprinting for all
he was worth to the access hatch.  Two of the white Eva's broke formation
and flew at him.  It was a race to see who would get to their target first:
Shinji to the access port, or Unit's 6 and 8 to Unit 1.
        
Shinji lost.
        
The two Eva's knifed through the air faster than he could run
through it.  Unit 6 rammed into the backs of his knees, while Unit 8
slammed into his back, driving him to the ground.  The two armour-clad
vultures circled around him, landed, picked him off the ground, and held
his arms fast.
        
Shinji was still seeing stars, but managed to shake them off when
Misato called his name.  He looked up just in time to see Unit 9 flying
right at his head.  It was down the block and closing rapidly.  An idea
formed in his head, but he didn't have enough time to think it through
fully, so he decided to go for it.  He lowered his head again, giving
everyone the impression he was still dazed, but was slowly counting in his
head.  When he figured Unit 9 was right in front of him, he snapped his
head back, his horn catching the flying Unit right in the massive neck,
dead center.  The sudded impact jarred the white Eva off it's course, and
bent the hell out of the tip of Shinji's horn, but he didn't have the time
to think about it.  While the two holding his arms were distracted, Shinji
used what was left of the momentum generated by his head whipping up to
flip backwards, and roll out of his entrapment.  With his arms twisting
like that, the other two couldn't hold them, and he was free.
        
The moment his feet hit the ground they were running, back to the
access port, and this time he made it.  By three millimeters, people would
later say, but he did make it.
        
"Close the hatch as soon as one or two of them follow me!" Shinji
shouted.  Misato demanded why.  "We can't make it too obvoius that we want
them in the Geofront!" he answered.
        
Unit 5 wasn't about to let its quarry escape that easily, and
personally took off to catch and kill Unit 1.  Without a regard for its
comrades or itself, it took off, flying out of the formation, and flew
after Unit 1.  It made a steep bank, and just barely managed to fit through
the shaft with it's wings retracted as far as possible and still maintain
flight.  Only one other managed to fly after it, Unit 10.  The hatch closed
before the others could make it in, but they simply landed on it and
started hacking away at it with their massive blades.  It wouldn't last
long, and Maya estimated ten, twelve minutes tops before it failed and
allowed the others entry.
        
"You hear that Shinji?!  You've got ten minutes before the party is
crashed!"
        
"I know, I know.  God, doesn't anyone have any patience these
days?" Shinji asked to himself, while sliding down the shaft and wondering
at the same time just what he was going to do.  He had a chance against
Unit 10, but no chance against Unit 5.  'While it has the Lance,' he
thought to himself.  "I'm open to suggestions," he said to the others.
Then he ran out of shaft, and, for a few moments, he was in free-fall.
Then he hit the ground with enough force to uproot several trees near each
of his feet and send them flying several dozen meters.
        
He immediatly dived to the side, as Unit 5 flew out of the shaft a
few seconds after he exited.  It had to pull up sharply to avoid hitting
the ground, and as soon as it was level, it had to back to the side to
avoid hitting the wall of the Geofront.  Seeing that it was limited in it's
options, Unit 5 landed and retracted its wings.  Unit 10 flew out and did
the same, but after it landed and retracted it's wings, it started
advancing on Shinji.  But Unit 5 halted it with a growl and an outstretched
arm.  Unit 5 started on Unit 1, holding the Lance ready.
        
Seeing what Unit 5 had in store for him, Shinji had to reach deep
inside of himself to find the will to carry on.  In his mind's eye, he
dived deep into that well of power and energy that every human being is
born with, and saw that his was almost empty; sapped by the knowledge of
what fighting Unit 5 will probably result in.  But, he continued to dive
deeper and deeper, until he found the will to carry on.  When he swam to
the surface of the well, he could feel the sheer power coursing through his
body.  He had no doubts about what Unit 5 could do to him, but he would pay
it back in kind; blow for blow.
        
After reaching this decision, Shinji knew what else he must do.
"Father," he said after a heartbeats hesitation.
        
Commander Ikari lifted an eyebrow lazely.
        
"In case I don't survive this fight-"
        
"Don't talk like that!" Misato interuppted, but Shinji continued on
as she hadn't.
        
"In case I don't survive, there's something you must know: There is
a traitor inside of the organization."
        
"Oh?" the Commander said, his interest piqued.  "Who is it?"
        
"I don't know.  Yet."
        
"Working for whom?  The Japanese government?  The Americans?"
        
"None of them.  They aren't working for Seele either.  I know that
for sure."  With this, both Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki looked sharply at
Commander Ikari. 'He knows...' Ritsuko thought, alarmed at what else he
might know.
        
"If not Seele, then whom?"  The commander asked, seemingly
unperturbed.  But, inside, he was working furiously.  Now that Shinji knew
about Seele, there had to be plans made, promises made and broken,
information to be suffled around, and on, and on, and on.
        
"The Angels.  Someone high up in the organization has been helping
the enemy from the start, keeping them apraised of all our movements and
preparations."
        
"What?!" Fuyutsuki said, the loudest voice amid the gasps and
indrawn breaths that permeated Central Dogma after Shinji's last statement.
"Who are they?!"
        
"I told you before, I don't know yet.  But I will.  Assuming I
survive thi-" Shinji broke off, dodging a lunge from Unit 5.  The move was
barly completed before the next was made, and Shinji just twisted away in
time.  Each time it attacked, Unit 5 got closer and closer.  But, each time
it attacked, Shinji retaliated, landing every blow.  Naturally, Unit 5
regenerated every time, royally annoying Shinji.
        
After several minutes of this, Unit 5 paused in its attack.  It
cocked it's head to one side, as if it were listning to something.
        
"Major!" Maya shouted.  "I'm picking up some radio transmissions
from the Eva's still outside!"
        
"Where to?"
       
 "Unit 5!"
       
 Unit 5 stood straight up, its lips curving back into a massive
grin, showing all of its pearly white teeth.  It turned away from Unit 1,
drew its arm, and prepared to throw the Lance.  Shinji realized what it was
doing, and took off, but somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he would
never make it.
        
Unit 5 threw the Lance right at the pyramid that was Central Dogma.
        
"Shinji!  Hurry!" Misato yelled, knowing it was hopeless.  Everyone
in Central Dogma knew what was happening, and knew what was coming.
        
Misato turned around and hugged Kaji.
        
Shigeru and Makoto shook hands.
        
Ritsuko put a hand on Maya's shoulder.
        
Toji turned to Rei and smiled at her.  She returned the gesture
with a small one of her own.
        
Fuutsuki looked down at Commander Ikari, who reached down into his
desk drawer and flipped a switch.
        
Various techs around Central Dogma made their final goodbyes and
sat down to wait for the end.
        
Unit 1 was still charging for the Lance, one thought resounding
through its head:
'asukaasukaasukaasukaasukaasukaAsukaAsukaAsukaAsukaAsukaAsuka'.
It wasn't going to make it, but he never stopped running, refusing to give
up.  The object of his thoughts didn't when it'd looked hopeless for her.
Not until she was tricked into it.  If he gave up, was he worthy of her
love?  If he gave up, would he ever be able to find out if she loved him
back?  If he gave up, would he ever be able to live with himself?  He knew
the answer to that last one very well.
       
The Lance came closer....
        
Unit 1 sprinted faster...
        
Unit 5 grinned at his efforts, looking forward to crushing Unit 1...
        
Everyone in Central Dogma closed their eyes, waiting...
        
'ASUKA!!'
        
A loud explosion sounded... nothing happened inside Central Dogma.
        
Everyone looked around, wondering what happened until someone
pointed at a moniter and shouted.
        
Unit 1 had put on a burst of speed, leapt into the air, and threw
himself in front of the Lance.  The weapon sunk into Shinji's chest up to
the part where the two prongs came together, and Unit 1 fell
unceremoniously to the ground.
        
Asuka gasped, her eyes going wide, unwilling to believe what he'd
done.  Feelings of all sorts crashed over her awarness.  In that singular
moment, that one act of self-sacrafice, everything that she'd been feeling
for Shinji, both before and after he left and after he returned,
crystalized into one, immensely powerful feeling: love.  God help her, she
loved him.  More than she did Kaji, more than fighting the Angels, more
than her pride, more than her own life, she loved him.  With every fiber of
her being, she loved him.
        
The light of Unit 1's eyes dimmed for a moment before going out
entirely.
        
"Major!" a tech yelled.  "Unit 1's synch ratio!"
        
"What about it?" Misato asked, dreading what she thought.
        
"It's at...." the tech paused, hoping that if she didn't say it, it
wouldn't be true.
        
"Well?!" Misato demanded.
        
"It's at 0.9%.  He's gone," came the sad reply.
       
"No," Asuka whispered to herself, so softly no one else could hear
it.  After all the time she'd wasted trying to decide about how she felt
about Shinji, she wasn't about to let him go now that she did figure out
how she felt about him.
        
People were crowding around Maya's station, studing the screens,
much like they did several weeks ago.  This time they were hoping for
something, anything that showed Shinji was still alive, when suddenly a red
plug-suited hand appeared, pressing a switch on the comm's system.  Misato
looked up and saw that it was indeed Asuka.
        
Misato had written off Asuka, figuring she was too mad at Misato or
too worried about dying to pay any attention.  But then she was suddenly
there, beside all the others, but not paying any attention to the screens,
and with a determened look on her face.
        
"Shinji," she started, and then stopped before her voice faltered.
        
"Asuka?  What are you try-" Misato started, but Asuka interuppted her.
        
"Shinji, if you meant any of what you said to me before, you'll get up."
        
Inside Shinji's mind, he was in that well of energy again, but this
time, it was nearly empty, all his will to live and fight taken away from
him by the Lance.  He was resigning himself to the darkness that was
starting to surround him, resigning himself to death, when a voice, dim and
quiet, said something that he couldn't make out or understand.  He was
floating on the surface of what little energy remained, waiting to drown
and die, when that voice called out again, louder this time.  This time, he
could make out that it was a female voice, but he still couldn't understand
it.
        
His eyes were getting heavy, the darkness surrounding him getting
darker, more of his body sinking down; he realized his life was almost
over, but he couldn't fight it.  His arms were too heavy, his legs made of
lead, his will all but gone.  When it was just his head above the surface,
the voice called out again, and this time he could make out some of what
it, no _she_ was saying, but just barely: "Get up."  When his mouth sunk
below the surface, the voice told him to get up again, and he thought he
recognized it.  When his nose was just about to sink below the surface, and
he would drown, he heard and understood everything the voice was saying:
"If you meant any of what you said to me before, you'll get up."
        
Just hearing the voice made the weights on his arms lessen a
little, his legs started to lighten a bit.  A shaft of light penetrated the
darkness, illuminating him in the pool.  He raised his head and looked
down.
        
He saw Asuka's face reflected.
        
In his mind he saw different pictures of Asuka.  He saw her
smiling, he saw her laughing, he saw her angry, he saw her talking to
Hikari and her other friends, he saw her holding Kaji, he saw her holding
PenPen, he saw her slapping Toji and Kensuke and himself.  Finally, he saw
her getting ready to kiss him.  He held onto that last image with all of
his might, and strength coursed through his arms, shaking off the weights;
coursing through his legs, turning them from lead to air.
        
Taking a deep breath, he dived down into the energy below him,
allowing it flood his body.  He stayed down there as long as his breath
could hold out, and then he rocketed to the surface, ready to face the
world once again.
        
In the real world, Asuka was still talking to Unit 1.  "Do you hear
me?  Get up!"  Unit 5 and Unit 10 were approaching Central Dogma, ready to
tear it apart with their bare hands.  They raised their arms, and slammed
their fists into the pyramid.  It shook all the way down to it's
foundations, causing lights to flicker on and off and some dust to fall
from the celing in all of the rooms.
        
The UN Evas pounded the buildings many times, each time getting
closer and closer to Central Dogma.  When all that stood between them and
the humans were twelve meters of steel and concrete, they stood back to
admire their handywork.  Asuka was still yelling at Shinji when they again
turned their attention to the building before them.  "SHINJI!!" Asuka
yelled.
        
Unit 1's eyes lit up, blazing with more light than a thousand
galaxies, burning hotter than million suns.
        
Unit's 5 and 10 stopped and turn, disbelief written all over their
metallic faces.
        
Everyone in Central Dogma couldn't believe what their eyes were
showing them.
        
Shinji reached up, grasped the Lance with both hands, and pulled.
It slid out a few meters.  He pulled again.  And again.  And again.  And
again.  Until it was free of his body.  Putting the blunt end on the
ground, he pulled himself up to standing position.  Just doing that alone
took most of his energy.  He was beat, exhausted more than any human had a
right to be.  But, as he held the Lance and thought of Asuka's face, more
energy than he could ever use became avaliable to him.  He knew he could
take Unit 5.
        
He was using the Lance as a support, leaning on it heavily; yes.
His legs were wobbily; yes.  He could barely stand; yes.  He was out of
breath; yes.  His body was riddled with dents and punctures; yes.  But he
was alive.
        
And out for blood.

end

I know this took a while, but...  couldn't be helped.  The next part should
be out in a timely fashion (yeah right.  That's what I said about this
one....)  *sigh*

Cory Holmes
gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca

Thanks to: Jason Lehman, KaraOhki, David Eddy, Al-I-Bus, Evafan100, The
Rams, ZZhang, ElmerFudd, Kayu-chan, Pat Scheider, Seph, GeNiCyDe5, Manuel
Hernandez, Chenalos, Deadpol999, LvndrnCrem, Blazzetta, NyReppin,
Sudhoda.ya, Phoenix Knight, Zach M, Greg Thomas, eric, and Zero-XIII