Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Bonds of Survival-OVA ❯ Home, and Hearth ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimers:
Neon Genesis Evangelion and all related characters, concepts, etc., are property of ADVision and Gainax.
I only *wish* they were mine. Let me tell you that up to chapter 24, I loved this Anime,
then as so many others it turned dark and painful.
I couldn't agree with the ending, so I am re-writing an A/U of my other story
to show what I thought would be a different ending to the series where Rei and Asuka lived.
Hopefully the creator of the series will make more movies and hopefully they will give us a more hopeful ending.
Thanks to Tex James and John Brown for pre-reading this revision!
If you read the original, on to chapter five are very similar, but there are definite differences,
and after chapter five it will be completely different as the end will be of a different tangent.
Thanks for understanding and I hope you enjoy this story.
Sorry for the delay as other stories and a move to another city made for little time to write.

Bonds of Survival-OVA

Chapter 6: Home and Hearth

Awakenings

It was the glare of the sun peeking through a frost-covered window that finally woke me up the morning
after we arrived in the Awara Onsen, located between Nagoya and Kyoto-2.

As I remember I slept spooned in behind Asuka as she held on to Rei.
But as I awoke, I found Rei in my embrace instead.
After clearing the sleep from my eyes, I looked around the room we slept in to find my wayward companion.
I then spotted her silhouette just outside the balcony of the room, overlooking the Onsen pools.
I carefully disentangled myself from a still sleeping Rei, who seemed to sleep so soundly.
I felt good with that knowing that this past evening, was the first restful sleep we have had.

So, I quietly opened the balcony door and left the room.
I embraced Asuka from behind chancing the rough habit of hers of slapping before looking.
But she seemed to have heard me and simply put her arms over mine and leaned back into my embrace.
This was a rare show of her affections, and so I was careful to not anger her.

So I asked her, "What a beautiful morning, hey Asuka."

"Reminds me of the winter days back in Germany."
She then turned around and while still in my embrace hugged me.
This was something she hadn't done too many times and I felt privileged to have her hug me.
I was in heaven.

Heaven was however, quickly replaced with earth when, I was shook and the words "Baka-Shinji" were uttered.
"Oh sorry, Asuka just thinking about …us and all." I know I was red-faced, and then I looked at her.

She was smiling and giggling,
"Oh, that look you had on your face was hilarious!"
She leaned onto my chest still giggling and hugging me.

After she calmed down, I finally asked, "So, why did you come out here all by yourself?"

After a few moments, she responded, "Because I heard your little conversation with Rei last night.
And I wanted to feel what you two felt when you held each other."

"So, you were listening and spying on Rei and me that whole time? So much for my relaxing massage technique." I said

"You did well, it's just that I didn't want to fall asleep before you guys were done, and . . . well I was curious."
I laughed a little at her comments but I then gave her a warm and loving hug.
One I'm sure she had not experienced in a long time.
She hesitated at first, but slowly sunk into it and for the second time in twenty-four hours I was in heaven,
hugging the holder of the other half of my heart.

We stood there on the balcony for a few minutes enjoying each other's warmth,
while seeing the steam rise off the Hot Spring's pools when we heard the door open to reveal Rei,
pushing a cart with some hot tea and bread like pastries . . . in a kimono. A blue on white kimono.

Asuka, forgetting she may have been mad at Rei for interrupting our hug,
was so entranced with the kimono, she asked, "Hey, Rei, where'd you find the Kimono?"

"In the hotel employees' quarters. There seem to be several types of kimonos in various colors and styles."
Rei then served us some of the pastries, and she filled us in on what else she saw there.
There were various types on common clothes uniforms and traditional Japanese clothing as well.

I finally surmised that, "Since this Onsen was known worldwide, the management had prepared for national
and international guests to its Onsen and hotel."

"Yeah, good thinking my Baka!" was Asuka's response as she decided to have Rei and herself
go through the one place we had not cased before.

So, as they left me to wash and bathe, I started to contemplate how we were going to survive
what was obvious to us now would be a severe winter.
So, I decided to take a trip around the area surrounding the Onsen to see what I could find that we could use.
Hopefully we had enough supplies, because I already knew that if the winter were severe,
it would effectively cut us off from the rest of Japan.
So one of the things I wanted to do was set up the satellite uplink to keep an eye on the rest of the world.
Hopefully it will come in handy when we need it.
But, for now I enjoyed the feel of the warm water on a cold winter's day.

___________________________________________________________________ _______________________

Walkabout

It was just about two weeks since we came when I awoke that morning with much less warmth on one side of me.
I looked to my left, which would be where Asuka would be lying, ... and she wasn't there.
I looked to my right and was greeted with the dark blue hair of a still sleeping Rei.
I sighed and slowly worked my way out of her hold on me and when she tried to grab me in her sleep,
I slipped one of my pillows in which seemed to calm her and she continued to sleep there.

I quickly made my way out of our shared bedroom on the hunt for the other love of my life.
I paused on what I just thought. They both are my loves, and life wouldn't be worth living without either of them.
I shook my head and continued to search the Onsen lodge, and then the Onsen itself.

Through my search I picked up and activated my comm link headset and called Asuka's name, No answer.
Then as I turned to return to the Lodge, I heard a reply;

"Hey Baka, I'm over here."
I looked around like a whirling dervish, until she clarified;
"My Shinji, Baka, look up the mountain.
Yeah that's right, then look to you're left.
No, no not my left, yours Baka Shinji."

I finally saw her waving her hand at me. She was sitting on the edge of an escarpment about halfway up the mountainside.
She then changed her waving to indicate for me to come up.
On the comm link she confirmed that. "Shinji, can you come up here, we need to ... talk."

Now Asuka is usually boisterous and rather forthcoming when she asked for anything.
So when she asked me in a rather timid way, it got my nerves on edge. (Oh man, she sounds serious.) I said to myself.

I nodded affirmative, and went inside to quickly change clothes
and was walking up the path leading to the escarpment within ten minutes.
I found Asuka looking out at the valley surrounding the Onsen and lodge were in.

It was a lovely sight, one of the few valleys that seemed to have escaped the devastation
that hit most of eastern and central Japan after Third Impact.

I walked up to her side, and quietly sat down trying not to disturb the serenity of the quiet around us,
and carefully took her hand into mine and gently squeezed.
During these past few weeks Asuka was slowly letting more physical contact happen
outside of the contact we have sleeping together.

She squeezed back and gave me that beautiful smile I had seen so little of before Third Impact.
Then after a minute or two, she sighed and looked longingly at me.
I knew then that this was going to be one of those serious conversations loved ones have occasionally.

My mind started to think the worst, she's leaving me, or worse than that, they're both leaving me.
But my doubts were put aside when she finally asked, or more correctly stated;
"We've been running away again, Shinji." She sighed again.
"We followed you because we care for you, but you've been trying to get away from those
who will probably try to break us up, and you're afraid to face that."

She then looked down on her lap. She then added; "I love you, I also know that Rei loves you too.
But, we cannot really live here Shinji. We have the skills to survive, but we don't have the skills to live a life here."

She took both my hands in hers, "I need some help as do you and obviously Rei when it comes to living a real life.
Hiding at this Onsen doesn't help that, and you know it. Plus we are too young to really live yet.
We need some adult guidance and protection. Yeah, doesn't sound kinda weird coming from me?
But I've been seeing what we've been doing since we got here and to prove my point I want to ask you a few questions, OK?"

I replied hesitantly in agreement. She thought for a minute, and then started.
"Ok, where have we gotten our food from, and be honest?"
She looked at me with her bright blue eyes as I contemplated the question.

It didn't take long to come to the answer, but the pause lengthened as I came to several rather profound, for me, revelations, that I would rather have run from. My silence did not, however, go unnoticed, for Asuka waved her hand in front of my face attempting to get my attention. "Shinji? Where?"

I sighed and answered the only way I could, truthfully.
"From the supplies from Nerv's Nagoya warehouse, ... and the Lodges leftover supplies."

She simply nodded and continued her next question, "No food from the land, vegetable or animal?"
I shook my head yes rather dejectedly, already guessing where this was headed.

Her final question was also the coffins final nail, "Then how are we going to really ... live ... here Shinji?
We can't exactly take care of ourselves with out some kind of help." She looked into my eyes to emphasize her point.

Loath though I was to do so, I knew I had to admit it. If we stayed here, we were screwed.
So, gathering my courage, I acquiesced, "Ok, ok. I can see your point. I don't have to like it,
but you're probably right, we can't stay here. I'll talk to Rei.
I guess we should head back to Nagoya first, so we can re-supply, and we can figure out where to go from there.
It's a real shame though, I liked it here…" She put an arm around my shoulder and hugged me,
consoling my bruised ego, since I had thought that we could really live here.
Then we stood, and properly hugged each other. We then kissed more to renew our bond after a serious conversation loved ones have.

We had just finished when blaring through the comm. link Rei's voice urgently ordered;

"Duck!"

We fell to the ground as several shots whizzed by where our heads had been seconds before.
We heard the shots being fired from the Onsen, to several places on either side of us.

"Rei, What's going on?"

I heard Asuka yell as we crawled to some cover at the back of the escarpment shortly before
several more shots hit the rocks and ground around us.
We un-holstered our side arms and looked around to see where the shots had come from.

In doing so, we saw movement to the side of us and heard a thump as a body fell from a nearby tree.
"Well Rei's still a dead shot" I heard Asuka say, to which I merely grunted in agreement.

This was followed by another assailant's mad screaming, complete with him shooting at us in a wholly deranged fashion.
It reminded me of how Misato had come down that corridor back when I was wishing for death
when the JSSDF had invaded Nerv HQ.
The main difference here being that he was shooting wildly and Asuka and I were lining him up in our sites.
We fired simultaneously and he went down clutching his now blown out knees.
Another thump behind us, seconds later told us Rei had gotten another wood-be assassin.

Then I felt cold steel on my neck.
"Ok, punk. Have your girlfriend drop her weapon or you'll have mush for brains." said the fourth intruder.

"I don't have ... just one." I said to him.

"One what, punk?" he asked.

"One girlfriend ... with a gun."

"Huh?"

I then heard a splat and saw a spray of red over my head, and then a heavy weight was sliding down my back,
signaling yet another kill for Rei.

"Shoulda listened to him, butthead." said a smirking Asuka looking at the now brainless assassin,
as the still live one then seemed to be trying to crawl away.

"Where do you think you're going?" I said as we walked over to him.
"Ok, why are you trying to kill us?"
He looked up and we immediately recognized him as the sniper from Nagoya.

"Well, well,well, it seems your friends are paying the price for your lousy shooting, right."
Asuka then put her pistols' barrel to his temple.
"Now answer his question, NOW!"

He fidgeted and then we saw a growing wet spot in his groin area.
He had peed himself. If the situation hadn't have been so serious, I might have laughed.

"ANSWER HIM, NOW!" After Asuka said that he started to blubber
then finally coherent words came out of his frightened mouth.
"Major Nagashima, of the JSSDF has ordered you three killed,
due to your part in the destruction of the earth."

He then fainted.

"What is that load of crap all about? They started this with SEELE!
So why is this Hitler wannabe after our heads?"

"I don't know Asuka, but I'm not going to stick around where they can get to us.
We're leaving today, as soon as possible."

"What should we take with us?" We were startled as we forgot Rei had her comm. link on.
After calming down, we informed her to start packing the food, gear, and supplies that we can take in the wagons.

We then checked the dead assassins for anything useful.
We procured their comm links, guns and ammo since they wouldn't be needing them.
We bandaged up the last one and roped him to the nearest tree.
We then told him to tell his Major Nagashima that if he pursued us
"He'd end up like the three who now lay next to him." Asuka of course took care of that.

As we were making our way down to the Onsen lodge, the reality of what we did hit me.
I stopped and fell to my knees, Asuka was beside me almost a second later.
"Hey Baka, what's wrong, are you ok?" She looked at me, I'm sure I looked white as a sheet.

"Asuka, we, ... we killed three men up there. I promised myself never to kill a person, and now I ... I..."

"We defended ourselves against a group of renegades who were sent to kill us."
she said, looking at me intently, "You know what those type of soldiers do to women, don't you?
We had every right to defend ourselves. I'd rather be fighting and dying,
than having them do some perverted things to me, and Rei wouldn't be left out.
They wouldn't care. They'd have killed you, and taken us, and…"

I then saw the terrified look in her eyes, as she realized what she was saying.
I grabbed her in a fierce hug and we sat there for a minute gathering our energy and courage until helped each other up.

By then Rei had walked up to us, a sniper rifle strapped to her shoulder.
She watched us in a manner others might have found impassive, but I saw the small tails that screamed 'terrified' and realized she hadn't turned her comm. link off yet.
So I gathered her up in a hug just like I had done with Asuka, as well.

After that we made our way back to the lodge together and
within an hour were on the road back to Nerv's warehouse in Nagoya.

Now most people would say we must have been crazy to go back towards where the JSSDF's stronghold would be,
but Nagoya isn't a small city. So we planned to sneak in at night and make our way to the Nerv warehouse
we had camped in before. Having the assassin's comm link helped in working ourselves around the patrols that were up.
Though it did mean separating from each other, going different ways
and finally meeting up about a block away from the warehouse.

There we spotted what seemed to be army soldiers at the in front of the warehouse.
"They knew we might come here," Rei said quietly as we scampered back to where we left our equipment.

"Then we'll cause a little diversion to get them out of the warehouse." Suggested Asuka with an evil smile on her face.

"But, they might be waiting for us in the warehouse, so it could all be a trap." I added, which caused Asuka's smile to disappear.

"So what do you suggest genius." Asuka gave me her 'Well duh' look.

It was now my turn to smile evilly, which sent shivers down Asuka and Rei's spine, as I began to outline my plan.
"I suggest that we use our satellite link to cause some remote controlled distractions and use the warehouse's security system, to..."

"Flush any JSSDF soldiers out of the warehouse. An excellent plan Shinji." Rei then gave me a peck on the cheek, which not only surprised me, but also surprised Asuka.

"Damn, your full of surprised Rei." After Asuka said that,
Rei looked down and even in the darkening light you could see her blushing.

"All right, so what do we do My Baka Shinji?" Asuka said with renewed enthusiasm.

"First, we ..." And the ex-Eva pilots set about making a special surprise for the rebel soldiers in Nagoya.

________________________________________________________________ __________________________

Trial and Error

Within thirty minutes, explosions and concussions were being heard all over the cities.
Most were near former JDSSF compounds and facilities.
With Rei's assistance we had revived the computer servers, which handled the JDSSF communication and control.
We simply sent an order for those facilities to self-destruct due to immanent invasion.
So, many of the facilities that were manned by the rebel group headed by this Major Nagashima
who sent the assassins against us earlier went up in smoke.

"Rei, can we pinpoint where the this Nagashima is?"
I asked as I thought of a way to get in to the warehouse and guarantee our safety.

"Why do you need that information Shinji?" Rei curiously asked.

"Let's just say that I may have to visit someone later tonight."
I took a few seconds for the girls to figure out what I wanted to do.

"Are you sure you can do this, Shinji?" Asuka said hesitantly as it was obvious to me she knew what I wanted to do.

"No, but I'm not running away from pain or reality anymore, so let's see what we can do. Ok?"
The girls seemed very hesitant to agree. I saw the fear growing in their eyes.

"Listen, if it becomes too much, we can bug out and use the supplies we have to get back to Tokyo-2."
I looked at them both with a renewed sense of what I wanted to protect.
I knew if I didn't at least try this moron will dog us all the way back to Tokyo-2,
plus one of his soldiers could actually shoot us, so I was going to stop him, and there by cutting the head off of the snake.
I still don't remember where I had heard that metaphor, Maybe Kaji, or Misato. Well, It didn't matter,
I was going to stop this kook for the safety of Rei, and Asuka.
Finally, and rather reluctantly they nodded in the affirmative.
It took another twenty minutes to locate where he was, and as luck would have it,
it was only about four blocks away.

I made ready as they girls readied themselves to take the Nerv warehouse.
All three of our Quad-tracs had transponders so when they made their dash into the warehouse,
the security system would not shoot at them. They would not be in danger because by the time they went,
the soldiers would be running around like scared chickens.
That's because I had Rei program in false calls for Nerv armored divisions to be moving into Nagoya,
using comm frequencies that Rei found out the rebels were monitoring.

So at midnight, I simply said on my comm link, "Now!"
And all hell broke loose all around Nagoya.
I knew I didn't have the training for capturing him, but I had to make sure he wouldn't be around
to continue this little war of his. Now that chaos reigned in the city, and more importantly in his headquarters.
I wasn't the best shot, but I didn't have to be for this to work.
I looked from a building about fifty meters away.
As I used the weapons telescopic sight, I finally found the elusive Major Nagashima.
He had the ego to continue to have his standard dress uniform on. I then looked down at his picture, then up again.
I had only one shot, so I took my time and waited for him to return to his office.
As soon as he ran back in from an explosion, I shot my rocket propelled gas grenade with a certain nerve gas into the now broken window of the office.

The gas was to cause diarrhea, and mental confusion, plus give the good Major the runs for at least a week.
After what had happened with the assassins earlier I made myself a promise not to kill
unless the safety of the girls was involved.
Thus he was out of the way and now I could go and join up with the girls to storm the warehouse.

It took about fifteen minutes, but I returned to two very relieved faces.
I got hit on the arm, "You're five minutes late. Don't worry me like that again, baka."
said a now smiling Asuka. Rei simply nodded and smiled at me, her acknowledgement of her feelings on my return.
"Ok, Let's get our warehouse back." I said with renewed vigor.

We waited till an explosion close by made the soldiers start to run.
At first it was a few of the twelve or so there, then a closer explosion and a blaring of an emergency horn
caused the lot of them to run.
After they turned the corner, we remotely triggered the main warehouse door to open and we rode in at top speed.
We were lucky; only two soldiers seemed to be at the door as it opened.

Asuka was on the lead bike, and used a pellet bag shotgun to shoot the two soldiers
hitting each of them in the abdomen as she rode by. They fell like a bag of potatoes.
Rei and I followed Asuka in and we dismounted, went and rolled the now semi-conscious soldiers
out of the door of the warehouse, which was coming down now that Rei had triggered it to close.
As the door closed though shots were being fired into the warehouse.

Then as Rei triggered the warehouse security system, a shot made it through the closing space of the door.
A shriek alerted me to one of the girls being hit.
I turned to see Rei holding her leg, which had a nice clean hole on her right thigh.

Asuka then got up grabbed a rocket launcher and pointed it to where the shooting was coming from.
She laid down on the ground and aimed. I knew I couldn't say anything to stop her,
so I ran and covered Rei from the coming backwash, as she shot the rocket at the group of soldiers firing at us.
Just as the rocket cleared the door, it closed and we then heard a loud explosion.

Asuka simply got up, discarded the launcher and ran to her bike to get the first aid kit.
I had already applied a pressure bandage to the wound in order to staunch the flow of blood coming from the wound.
As I did so, Rei managed to grit out a very un-reassuring warning. "Shinji, I believe the bullet is still, in my leg…"

"Asuka Rei thinks the bullet is still in her leg. What does that mean?"
I awaited her answer as she worked on Rei's leg with none too little concern.

"I think we may have to get it out, but I'm not sure. Listen, Shinji,
set up the futons near the Satellite link and then come and help me move Rei, OK?"

"Right." Was all I could say before I started setting up for the siege to come.

We didn't know if they would attack right away or at all for that matter.
But, I'm sure those two soldiers we had hit with those beanbags would eventually report what happened.
I had simply wanted to resupply and cause some more explosions to make our escape,
but that seemed to go out the window as Rei was now hurt.
We got into the warehouse, but now we were stuck.

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________

Isolated

After Asuka had patched Rei up as best she could, we tried to figure out a way to escape.
As with Most Nerv facilities, this one had an escape tunnel. But, when I finally got to the end of it,
it was right in front of a rebel compound.

I returned and then we waited to see what they rebels would do.
It was a time I took to reassess our situation. Instead of having the girls in a safe place
away from the wars and crimes of civilization, it came looking for us.

So, instead of my brilliant plan working and having us motoring away from Nagoya, we were stuck,
trapped in a warehouse that could be stormed any minute by a group of soldier
who could not be more pissed off at us had we tried to make them so.

One good thing was that we had more than enough supplies to live through a siege, and this wasn't a normal warehouse.
Not only did it have a state of the art defense system, but also the building itself was built to survive am N2 mine attack.
So as for them getting in, the main door now was behind a four-foot thick steel door that was automatically triggered when the building was attacked.

Rei, who had called me to her at the satellite uplink, interrupted my mental exercise. She had sent a distress signal on secure Nerv frequencies only for now.
She had chosen wisely not to broadcast a general distress call since the rebels had been listening in to various comm bands.
After a while, I noticed she was having trouble sitting, so I told her to lie down for now.
"But Shinji, I have to keep monitoring the comm link and satellite uplink. It's our only way to contact others in Tokyo-2."

"Yes Rei, but what good is it for us if your wound gets aggravated because of your sitting.
Listen, let me readjust the laptop and then you can lie down and so you won't put any pressure on your leg, ok?"
She smiled her unique smile and nodded yes.

After setting her up, I went to check in with Asuka who was monitoring our security system
and then used the supplies we had to plus the portable field kitchen, which resembled a ramen stand.
Within an hour I had food ready for all of us.
Since we were now besieged, we slept in shifts.
So for the next few days, there was little movement seen by the security cameras and sensors around the warehouse.
It didn't look good for us, and I was becoming more and more guilt ridden to have done this to Asuka and Rei.
Luckily whoever allowed us to come back, seemed to be just watching us for now, as things were to become much better.

________________________________________________________________ __________________________

Contact with Hope

A beeping alarm got all of our attention. Asuka and I had been sleeping with Rei awake,
nearby monitoring the Comm and security systems when the alarm went off.
"The Comm link is active, someone from Tokyo-3 is calling us." Rei then looked puzzled.

"There's nothing left in Tokyo-3 except the warehouse." But I asked her to answer to see who it might be.
She then answered the call.
"This is Rei Ayanami, who is this?" Then some screaming and hollering greeted us.
After a few moments of that a once familiar voice and face came on line.

"Rei, Oh, thank god your alive. Where are you, is anyone else with you?"

Then I took the mike and asked, "M-Misato, is that you?"

"S-Shinji, oh my little Shinji, you're with Rei. Oh thank you God, whoever you are."
Misato then started kissing the screen as Rei activated the video-feed, and we saw that with Misato,
was Maya, Makoto, Shegrieu, and … Ritsuko? That surprised me.

After what Rei had told us about what happened at Terminal Dogma, we had thought that Dr. Akagi wouldn't have come back.
But I was shaken from my thoughts as Misato started to shout Asuka's name as she arrived from her security vigil
and greeted those in Tokyo-3.

Then I wondered and then asked, "How come you're in Tokyo-3, and not Tokyo-2?"

"We're in the only Nerv facility that wasn't trashed when Lillith and the black moon rose out of the ground.
Of course you know the black moon is back and we've been scavenging what we can and moving it to Tokyo-2.
For all intents and purposes, Tokyo-3 will be abandoned."

We all let out a sigh, not just for the loss of life and the life we had there,
but that we didn't save the city we were supposed to keep safe.
But then I remembered that the city's purpose was to be sacrificed in accordance with the plans of SEELE and my father.

We all then smiled at each other, on either side of the vid-link, followed by the rebels launching an attack on our warehouse.
We ducked out of instinct.
"Hey, what's happening out there, who's attacking you?" Misato asked frantically as we filled her in on what had happened at the onsen, then here in Nagoya.

"So your telling me this nut has a contingent of troops and you're basically trapped in the warehouse? Asuka, Rei, you two should know better then that!" Misato was now in 'major' mode, and at least slightly displease with two children who had been raised to be soldiers by Project-E. As the warehouses defense system kicked in and drove off the attacking soldiers Asuka decided to answer Misato's rhetorician question.

"Yeah, we got in here, then the bastards shot Rei, so I sent a rocket up their perverted butts." Asuka smirked as she added how we had set up the defense system here. But I knew we couldn't hold out much longer.

I could hear her teeth grind in frustration as Misato asked, "Don't you have an escape tunnel under the warehouse, Shinji?"

I answered, "Yes, we do. But, it ends up right in front of a rebel compound. We'd be killed as we emerged, so essentially, we're trapped." I looked down again feeling the guilt of putting us in this situation.

A hand encircled mine; Asuka looked at me and squeezed my hand.
"It's ok, we'll get through this." She whispered.

We looked up and saw Misato smirk, then it turned to shock as Rei put her arm around my shoulder and hugged me.
"Ok, What is going on over there that I should know about!"
She looked a bit pissed, so I answered her.
"Misato, we'll explain after we get out of here. Now do you have any ideas how we can?"

Misato looked deep in thought then smiled,
"What if we take out the rebel compound at the escape tunnel's exit, as we make several other attacks around the city.
Then we sneak you guys out to a waiting VTOL aircraft and fly you back to Tokyo-2."

"Sounds like a plan to me. When do you want us ready?" Asuka was eager to get away from this accursed city.

"We should have everything ready by 8 p.m. tonight. Can you hold out till then?"
Misato voice had that twinge of concern that got our attention.

"We'll be ready to go, just have some medics to take care of Rei's leg.
We've stopped the bleeding, but we think the bullet's still in there." I looked at Rei wondering why she had to go through more pain because of me.
She then gave me that look she has, the kind that told me to let it go.
"I'm fine Shinji. Do not be concerned." She then patted my hand as I smiled back.

"Oh, And by the way, when the medics have cleared you, you'll be staying at my new place.
Rei too when she gets out of the hospital." Misato was smiling again. I'm sure happy at having you guy's back.

"We'll look forward to it Misato, and you better have some decent food when we get there."
Asuka said with that wry smile on her face. It was obvious to me that she was also looking forward to seeing Misato.

"Ok let's get ready, I think Rei should take one wagon herself, so we'll leave herand my bike here."
I got up to start setting up Rei's wagon when Asuka added.
"Should we booby trap this place?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Listen My Baka, imagine what a mess those bozos out there would make if they got their hands on all this equipment." I knew she wanted to get back at them in a big way, but blowing up all this equipment? Well I wasn't sure.

I asked Misato before she signed off, she agreed with Asuka, so as I got the wagons ready,
she went about wiring the warehouse to go off like an N2 mine.

__________________________________________________________________ ________________________

A promise to keep

I was nervous. Not because of the fact that Rei was injured and in pain, as we ran out of pain medication an hour before,
or because we had to go wait only 25 meters across from the rebel compound.
I was nervous due to the fact that Rei was getting worse.

She was even paler then before and that even got Asuka's attention.
She was now fidgeting as she handled her sub-machine gun she had gotten from the warehouse armory.
I also had the same gun, plus all of us still had the automatic pistols strapped to our sides.
I had Rei leave hers on her lap, just in case she needed to use it.

As we waited for Misato's call on our comm links, our thoughts came to what might happen in the next hour.
I asked Asuka to sit next to Rei in the wagon, as I sat on the opposite side.
They looked at me, waiting to hear why I wanted to talk to them.
So I cleared my throat and started.

"Girls, I just wanted to tell you that I love you both, and I'm asking you two to go on if I don't make it."

"Wait, wait. What are you talking about Baka?" Asuka looked at me with concern.

"I want you to be the one to take Rei into the VTOL, I'll cover you." I said flatly.

"No, I want you with Rei, or I'm not going." Then it dawned on me, she was making sure I was in that VTOL, and she wasn't.

"Asuka, You WILL Go with Rei. I am not going to let myself get shot,
So YOU will GO with Rei! " I had never been this angry at Asuka before ever. What was she thinking?
Wanting me to be on that VTOL first, with Rei!

No, I had gotten them in this, I'm going to get them out, and that was that!
I got up and went back to the warehouse to set the trigger mechanism Asuka was still sitting next to Rei openmouthed.
Not believing I yelled at her.

But then, I think she understood why I had insisted, because she ran to me and gave me a big hug
and a very passionate kiss that lasted I think a good thirty seconds.
She then walked back to the wagon where Rei laid and she was actually smiling, and I think giggling.
I wasn't sure as she had her hand covering her mouth.
I then waved at them and almost danced down the tunnel.

We only had to wait another twenty minutes till my watch showed 8 p.m.
Then another wave of hell broke loose, though it seemed that this was louder and more forceful.
We saw the rebel compound systematically destroyed and within five minutes
we heard the distinct sound of VTOL's headed down.
We saw the first one land, no more that ten meters from where we were.

Then I saw our guardian angel, or as close to it as we would ever get, Misato, get out with a machine gun spraying the compound as the guns of the other VTOLs had finished off any opposing fire that came from there.
Followed by Misato yelling. "OK kids get out here so we can go home!"

How we heard it over the din of battle and the VTOL's, I don't know.
But Asuka got the bike started then I dove into where Rei was laying on the wagon and we high tailed it to Misato and the VTOL.

It took only about ten seconds to cover the distance
but half way there I saw a flash and then something hit Asuka in the back I jumped up
and got to her before she lost control of the bike.
I sat right behind her and held her up as I used the other hand to help us steer towards Misato
who was firing behind us now trying to get those who had shot Asuka.
"Asuka, Asuka please answer me? Oh, please don't die on me girl, please."

"No damn bullet can stop the great As….." She fell over.
She then lost consciousness just as we had gotten to the VTOL.

"Misato, grab Asuka, She's been shot, I'll get Rei." I then jumped back and hoisted Rei out of the wagon
and got her to the edge of the VTOL's door when I felt something hit me from behind.

At first I simply felt heat and pressure, then I felt extreme pain.
I turned around. I then saw that jerk Major Nagashima directing the fire towards us.
I looked back into the VTOL, seeing both girls hurt, and I now knew I was shot.

"You bastard!" I screamed, grabbing my sidearm and directing my fire towards the primary source
of woe in our lives for the last week.

I saw him go down in a heap, as someone had grabbed me from behind as we lifted off and headed into the air.
I looked around to see the beautiful face of Misato Katsuragi.
I was losing consciousness, but I wanted to let Misato know something before I did.
"Thanks Mom, Can I have some cookies now?" was what came out however, as the darkness claimed me.

____________________________________________________________________ ______________________

Well Hope you liked that, Now come the time of reconciliation and confrontation, What will happen to the kids now?
See the next chapter 7: A Family and a Future
Hope to update by the end of the month, dennisud