A Janok Production; General disclaimer;The usual... Some characters and original storyline copyright Gainaxand affiliated companies. WARNINGThis is a Post-Episode 26 story, if you haven't seen up to Episode 26of NGE I advise you not to read this story. You have been warned, sono complaints. ********** NEON GENESIS CHAPTER 2A Fall From Grace: Out of Eden VERSE 7 'They shouted in a loud voice,"Almighty Lord, holy and true!How long will it be until youjudge the people on earth andpunish them for killing us?"'Revelations 6:10 The fog rolled in across the Ashino lakes. The local fauna stopped towatch the strange phenomenon of an early afternoon fog on an otherwiseclear sunny day. ********** He followed the nine other candidates as they walked along thebrightly lit corridors of NERV HQ. Their steps echoed in the largeempty corridors. Michael placed the fingers of his left hand on his temple. Thethrobbing was becoming unbearable. It had started the moment he hadentered the NERV building. At the same time as the throbbing hadstarted he had begun to get a strong sense of deja vu, as if he hadbeen here before, but the throbbing had only gotten worse when he hadtried to concentrate on his memories. "Hurry up back there!" shouted the NERV Sergeant who was leading themto their destination. Michael looked up and saw that he had fallen behind the others. Hequickened his pace to catch up. As he reached the others they came to the top of some escalators. "Woaw!" exclaimed one of the other candidates as he looked over theside of the escalator.The view was amazing, the only thing holding up the escalator waswhere it joined the corridor at the top, and where it passed throughthe opposite wall a goodly distance below. That allowed one to see upand down several floors in the great cavernous room. Looking to eitherside provided a great view as well, as other sets of escalators weresuspended between floors. All of the candidates had various expressions of awe and amazement ontheir faces, except Megan (who looked around her with disdain), George(who always strived never to betray an emotion), and Michael (who nowpinched the bridge of his nose between thumb and index finger in avain attempt to relieve some of the pressure building in his head). Michael followed the others onto the escalator. ********** The fog drifted across the lakeshore. As it reached a fissure in theground it began to descend. ********** The two officers stood in the large office, both were in full dressuniform. "These are the official transfer papers," Commander Fuji said as hehanded over a file to Major Veitch, "You now have direct authorityover the candidates, the two pilots and the prototype." Major Veitch took the file and nodded, "Yes Sir." "Your written orders are also included. You are ordered to transferthe candidates to the new location, your protection on this journeywill be the prototype and the two pilots." Major Veitch flipped through the file. "As you will see, you will also be conveying the majority of thecommand staff, the remaining science and technical staff, and oneother." Veitch nodded, "Yes, I noticed she would be coming along too." "You know how to handle the rest of it. You may depart whenever youare ready." Major Veitch nodded again, "I see sir," he said, "But may I ask whatyou will be doing?" Commander Fuji's body stood still at attention and his gaze took on achallenging look, "I will see to the final evacuation, and then,before I depart, I will see to the destruction of this installation." Major Veitch locked gazes with his superior for a minute, "Iunderstand sir," he offered his hand to the other man, "It has been anhonour serving with you." The two men clasped hands tightly. Major Veitch lifted his hand in salute, "Major Hans Veitch requestingpermission to depart Commander." Commander Fuji acknowledged the salute in kind, "Permission grantedMajor, God speed to you." Major Veitch turned and marched out of the Commander's office for thefinal time. ********** The first tendrils of fog reached out of the fissure opening and intothe top of the geofront's cave.It continued to descend. ********** The screaming was definitely growing louder. The candidates lookeddown each of the side corridors as they passed, each trying to locatewhere the noise was emanating from. The source soon became apparent as a couple of nurses and a doctorrolled a hospital trolley up a side corridor towards them. The candidates stopped so as to allow the physicians to pass by withtheir patient. As they approached, Michael caught sight of a redheaded girl in the trolley bed, the girl seemed somehow familiar. Thethrobbing in his head grew stronger. As they passed, Michael's gaze locked with that of the screaming girl,and in that instant two things happened. First the throbbing inMichael's head stopped and an image of the red haired girl wearing aschool uniform and flicking a finger at his nose appeared in his mind.Second the girl's screaming suddenly silenced. The nurses brought the trolley to an abrupt halt, "Is she ok?" askedone of the nurses while the other placed a pair of fingers at thegirl's neck. "Her pulse is normal," said the second nurse.The doctor pulled out a pen light and shone it at the girl's eyes, hemoved it around but the girl didn't move her eyes, or even blink."What is she staring at?" he muttered, he lifted his eyes and followedher gaze straight back to Michael. He lifted a beckoning finger, "You, boy, come over here," Michael madeno move to respond, but continued to stare at the girl. Megan slapped Michael on the back of the head, "The doctor wants you,idiot!" That last word reverberated around Michael's skull, and as it did soit raised another memory, this time a name, "Asuka..." he said aloud. The doctor's brow wrinkled in puzzlement, "You know this girl?" Michael broke gazes with Asuka for the first time and looked to thedoctor, "I'm not sure, I think I do," he responded in a small voice. The doctor's face took on a slightly annoyed cast, "What do you meanyou think you know her? Either you do or you don't." Michael looked down at his shoes in embarrassment, "I have amnesia,"he muttered. The doctor's face instantly changed to a blank expression, "Ah, Isee," he said clinically. Michael glanced at the other candidates, most of whom had variousexpressions of pity on their faces. Michael squared his shoulders andlocked gazes with each until they turned away in embarrassment. The doctor watched this and simply nodded in understanding, "Why don'tyou come along with us kid? Your presence seems to have calmed herdown." Michael looked to the NERV sergeant, "Is that allowed?" The sergeant nodded his assent, "We're going to the same placeanyway." Michael took up position next to the trolley as it was wheeled downthe corridor, the remaining candidates and the sergeant followedbehind. The doctor glanced over at the boy on the other side of the trolley,"By the way, what's your name kid?" "It's Michael," he said.At the same time, however, Asuka murmured something. Michael couldn'tmake out what she said, but it didn't sound like the name Michael. ********** The fog descended into the forest on the geofront, and began to creeptowards NERV HQ. ********** The corridor opened up into a large room, looking up from the bed byhis side Michael saw that it was in fact a train station. Queues ofNERV personnel stood on the platform boarding the train there. "What is this place?" asked Megan who stood a little way behindMichael. "This is a private rail link which leads beneath the geofront andcomes out at a secret NERV testing facility to the south," came afamiliar voice to their left. The candidates turned to see the Major who had spoken to them thatmorning leaning against the wall."This is our train," he said, he lifted an arm in invitation, "Shallwe go?" ********** The fog encountered a ventilation outlet and entered the duct. ********** Fuji entered the command centre. There were only a few officers leftat their posts, the others had already departed for their evacuationpoints. "Any problems?" he asked. One of the officers turned around in his chair to face the Commander,"No sir, everything is quiet." But how long is it going to remain like this? thought Fuji. ********** The fog encountered a wall at the end of the disused air duct. As itcame to a halt the air shimmered and a shockwave ripped out the wall.The fog continued to descend down the air duct. ********** "AT field detected sir!" said one of the operators, "Wave pattern:Blue, it's an angel." "My God!" shouted another officer, "Its inside this installation!" Fuji ran forward to the first officer's computer terminal, "Damn," hesaid, "Its too soon," he looked over at a third officer, "Are theyaway yet?" "Yes sir, the train has just departed," responded the third. Fuji sighed, "That is one thing to be glad about at least," he stoodstraight, "Go to first stage alert," he said in a clear calm voice,"Seal all shutters and bulkheads surrounding Central Dogma, we have tobuy them some more time." "Yes sir!" ********** Lights began to flash in the tunnel outside the train and heavyslamming sounds could be heard.Its happened, thought Veitch, the angel is here. ********** The fog encountered a heavily armoured wall in its path, it focussedits AT Field and obliterated it. The fog continued its descent. ********** "Where is it going?" demanded Commander Fuji. "It appears to be heading for Terminal Dogma sir," responded thesecond officer. "Terminal Dogma?" wondered Fuji.Why is it going there? he thought, There isn't anything left downthere except... "Activate Unit 06 using the Dummy Plug," ordered Commander Fuji,"And send it down after the Angel, it must not be allowed to enterTerminal Dogma." ********** The fog came to a junction in the air duct, it hesitated for a moment,then separated and descended in both directions. ********** "EVA Unit 06 is in position and standing by," declared the secondofficer. "Dummy plug systems are stable, synch ratio is holding at 46%." "Direct Magi link up is in operation. The Unit awaits your commandsir." Fuji looked up at the monitor, "Where is the Angel now?" "It is approaching the Unit rapidly, ETA: T minus 50 seconds andcounting." "Standby," ********** The fog spilled out of the ventilation duct and into the massivecorridor. Before it stood the form of a giant humanoid. Fuji stared at the monitor, "How do we destroy a fog?"He placed a hand to his head and tried to think of all of theavailable systems in that area of the command centre.An idea occurred to him. "What is the status of the emergency cryo-freeze systems down there?"he demanded. The first officer punched something into his console, "The Magi reportall systems are operational and ready for use." "Prepare to activate them on my command," he looked over at the thirdofficer, "Neutralise its AT Field." The air around Evangelion Unit 06 shimmered. "AT Field activated sir!" The shimmering air quickly expanded until it came into contact with asimilarly shimmering bubble of air surrounding the Angel. "The target's AT Field is weakening sir!" The shimmering bubble surrounding the Angel wavered for a second andthen collapsed. "AT Field has been neutralised." Fuji turned to the first officer, "Activate the cryo-freeze!" "Yes sir!" Several small shutters opened in the walls next to the fog. Streamsof liquid sprayed out of the walls into the fog, instantly drops ofliquid formed in the air then almost instantaneously changed intosolid crystals. The crystals fell to the ground and shattered. ********** Three of the NERV officers in the command centre gasped in relief atthe Angel's destruction. The fourth, however, stared at his computer screen, "Sir! I think wehave a problem." As he said those words the doors barring the way to Terminal Dogmaexploded as a second mass of fog exited from another air duct next tothe door. The fog bank weaved through the wreckage and entered Terminal Dogma. ********** As he walked through the hangar with the large mass of people headingtowards their plane Michael felt something pull at his mind. Something at the other end of the hangar seemed to be calling to him,the call was much stronger than the ones he had felt earlier in theday. He started to move towards the call, but stopped when he felt apressure on his hand, he looked down and saw Asuka's left handclinging to his wrist. Almost silent, whimpering sounds emanated fromher throat. He looked to the far side of the hangar, down to Asuka, and then backto the hangar again. He took a step toward the call but halted once again when he heard aneven louder whimper from the girl. He glanced down at the girl who wasnow in a very agitated state. He took one last look at the darknessthat was calling to him, sighed deeply and turned his back on it."I'm here Asuka," he said as they continued to move towards the plane. ********** The fog moved quickly through the corridors of Terminal Dogma. Behindit came large crashing sounds as the EVA attempted to catch it in afutile pursuit. ********** "Escort jets are ready for take off. They are requesting clearancefor launch sir!" said the female NERV officer sitting in the crampedmobile command centre. Major Veitch nodded, "Permission granted," he said as he walkedforward to the cockpit. He nodded to the two EVA pilots sittingbuckled in their seats as he passed them. He entered the cockpit and sat in the co-pilot seat, "Good afternoonCaptain Hyuga," he said to the pilot as he put on his headphones andradio set. The bespectacled Captain looked over at his superior, "Good afternoonMajor, are we ready to leave yet?" "Just a couple of minutes longer, we'll let the escorts and thetransport take off first." Captain Makoto Hyuga nodded, "Very well sir." ********** The fog ripped apart a massive door, behind it was a cavernous room.On the floor of the room lay close to a hundred giant skeletons.The fog descended to the floor and reached out to each of theskeletons in turn. As it touched each one, part of the fog wasabsorbed into it.The skeletons, which had been touched, began to rise into the air. ********** "Multiple AT Fields detected inside Terminal Dogma!" shouted the firstofficer. "We have 5 distinct AT Fields, no wait its now 8 AT Fie... its now12..." "My God!" exclaimed the third officer, "They're multiplying at anexponential rate." Commander Fuji walked calmly over to an unused computer console andbegan typing information into it. ********** EVA Unit 06 charged through the blasted door but came to a sudden haltas a hundred giant skeletons slammed into it and pushed it to theground. The skeletons grabbed hold of the EVA's limbs and began to rip it intoshreds. "EVA 06 has gone completely silent sir!" shouted the second officer. After a few seconds the skeletons rose again and began to move outtowards Central Dogma. ********** High above the ruins of Tokyo 3 four planes circled ever higher, andthen, suddenly, broke at great speed towards the west. ********** Fuji stood up from the computer and straightened his uniform. The first skeletons began to rise rapidly up the main shaft throughCentral Dogma. Fuji took a small slip of paper out of an inside pocket. Security barriers exploded ahead of the skeleton's advance. Fuji looked up with pleading eyes at the NERV motto on the wall abovehim; 'God's in his heaven, all's right with the world' The skeletons slowed their rapid ascent as they approached the commandcentre. Fuji noticed the three officers screaming things out at him. Heblocked out their voices. The skeletons encountered a thick wall, they began to pound on it withtheir AT Fields. Fuji looked down at the piece of paper in his hand. His eyes focussedon the image of a young woman with a small child in her arms. The wall before Commander Fuji buckled and the first skeleton steppedthrough. A tear rolled down Fuji's cheek. The computer-generated voice finally broke into Fuji's thoughts; "ZERO." ********** A light flashed outside the window next to Michael, he looked out intime to see a giant column of white light ascending into the air. Several seconds later the shockwave hit the plane. The plane shookviolently for a few moments. It rode out the wave, stabilised, andcontinued its journey into the west. ********** To be continued... "So God has pronounced a curse on the earth.Its people are paying for what they have done.Fewer and fewer remain alive."Isaiah 24:6 --------------------------------------------------------------- Author's Note: If you have any comments about this fanfic then gladly send them tome. Janok_Re <jreproduct@hotmail.com>