Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Second Coming ❯ Catastrophe ( Chapter 21 )

Chapter Twenty-One: Catastrophe

 

"Okay, here's the game plan," Misato was saying hurriedly when my Eva got linked to the comm net. "Unit Zero will deploy topside at route 32, with the positron gun. Unit 03 will back her up. Unit 02, you will be on standby in the launch system. And Unit 01 is still on quarantine."

"Roger," Shinji mumbled dejectedly, overlapping with Rei's quiet acknowledgment.

"Got it," I said with determination, urging the biomech to proceed to the launch rails so I could be sent to the surface.

"Don't make me come up there," Asuka cracked, faking a yawn. "I don't wanna have to clean up your mess."

"Sorry to disturb you," I quipped back. "Go back to sleep. We'll take care of this."

I had every intent of handling the situation, using any means necessary, but I had no idea how things were going to go, and felt quite uneasy. No; uneasy wasn't the word for it. I don't know what to call it, but something definitely felt wrong.

Maybe it would help to have a game plan, I thought as the launch system shot me up towards the surface. Do I find a way to defeat the Angel, or is there another way to go about this so that everyone comes home tonight?

Rei was getting set up by the time I got topside and was released from the launch rails. My first plan was to not activate my AT Field unless it was absolutely necessary. From what I remembered, this Angel could sense them, and came running over (so to speak) the moment it detected one. I had no desire to be the one to draw the Angel in and start things, so I hunkered down and waited.

I took stock of my armaments while I was sitting there. I had a pallet gun at my disposal, but I doubted that it'd have any effect on the Angel. My prog knife was stowed in the shoulder pylon, so that would be probably the best course of action.

The being continued to rotate in place, some miles away, not yet having changed to its 'energy rope' form. Just as well, I told myself. Controls seem sluggish today. Don't fight me, San; of all the times I need you to do what I tell you to, today is the day.

"Eva 03 in position," I declared, moments after Rei announced the same status for herself.

"Hold position and observe for now," Misato said, with an uncertain tone in her voice. "We need to figure out exactly what this one is capable of."

"It's too late," Rei responded, saying the words that would fill me with fear. "It's coming."

The helical form brightened, or appeared to; in actual fact, the two intertwined lines were merging to form the 'energy rope'. The circular halo snapped in one place with an eerie, audible 'pop', and shot towards us with incredible speed, writhing serpent-like as it approached.

It took all my will to keep my AT Field undeployed; that was the only thing keeping me from getting contaminated, just like 00 was on my monitors, with the energy rope lancing through her. I felt awful being safe, relatively speaking, and watching Rei come to harm. I didn't know what else to do, though.

Fuck that noise. You said you were going to make a difference. Do it.

"Do what??" I muttered to myself, hunkering down over the controls, frowning at the scene before me. Rei emptied her cannon's entire charge into the Angel, having no effect whatsoever.

I had an idea. Rei saved Asuka from the previous Angel by knocking her clear from the attacker's field of fire, so to speak. That was my solution. I didn't know how to defeat the Angel - it would be consumed in the core collapse and explosion, as far as I knew. Yeah. Getting Rei free of this thing is priority one. Figuring out what to do with it can come later.

Ignoring my AT Field for the moment, intent on not getting attacked by the Angel, I rushed forward and commanded the Eva to reach out and grab the loose end of the energy tendril.

Actually, that's what I tried to do. I got no further than pushing the controls. Imagine stomping on the pedals of a car that's shut off. That's how successful I was in getting the Eva to move.

What the..? I wondered. Had it shut down without me knowing? No, impossible; it had an S2 organ! I couldn't lose power even if I wanted to. So what was going on?

"Unit 03! Spread your AT Field and go to Zero's defense!" Misato belted out.

Move!! I urged the Eva. To my utter shock, sending an icicle of nitrogen into my gut, I realized the Eva was still giving me feedback - and it was patently refusing to function. I had no control! The Eva - no, Sangouki - had turned me away, in my time of need.

"Come on!!" I shrieked, jerking at the controls, wrenching them back and forth, with no results.

"It's no use!" I heard Maya distantly, over the comm link. "Her sync ratio is under 10 percent! The Eva's rejecting her!"

No fucking way! I railed to myself, shaking my head back and forth, hair whipping from side to side. This can't be happening! San! Please!

I would have had more success willing a building to take a step.

"Quickly! Recover her via path 28!" Misato ordered. I had time to try one last shove at the controls before I felt the launch rails reconnect and pull me beneath the surface.

"No," I cried, hunched over, face in my gloved hands, as the Eva began its descent into the Geofront. Peripherally, I was aware of the order to launch 02 and the subsequent shudder as Asuka was shot toward the battle.

And all the time, while I was hysterical about my own situation to the point of being incoherent, Rei was undergoing the trauma of direct contact with the Angel. I wouldn't realize that until later, and felt even worse once it occurred to me. At the time, though, I was screaming and bawling, pounding the center console of Sangouki's entry plug, pleading to know why it'd betrayed me.

Asuka reached the surface, eager to do battle. I was somewhat cognizant of what was going on by this point, and tried to tell them how to go after the Angel. The problem was, while my mind was clearing, my emotions and the ability to communicate were still taking a holiday - all that came out was frenzied blubbering.

"I've got this handled," Asuka said, with a confident tone. She spread her AT field, of course, and immediately was rushed by the attacker. Now there were two Evas pierced by the beam, and two voices whimpering and moaning on the comm channel. Three, if you count me.

"Asuka!" Misato yelled.

"I've.. got.. it," she grunted, in between whines. An inhuman shriek was heard, and I realized it was the Angel reacting to being damaged. Asuka must have slashed at it with her knife.

"Pilot life signs dropping!" someone called out. It was Rei they were talking about - I could hear it in her keening cry, which was getting weaker by the minute.

"Asuka! Cut it all the way through," ordered Misato.

"I'm trying," Asuka shot back. "Ach - what the f..?"

Asuka was obviously being affected by the energy rope at that point. She howled in protest and began cursing, in German, of course, about 'these things' and pleading for Misato's help. I had visions of little heads forming on her hands, as I remembered happening to Shinji.

But Shinji hadn't come out to play yet. What I remembered was irrelevant; the pieces were laid out differently on the board. Things were going to play out in another way.

Says you, you useless fuck, I chastised myself. Rei got infected, an Eva stopped functioning, and the third got infected trying to help Rei out. Strike three.

I wasn't keeping track of the fact that we were getting four pitches this time around.

"As of this moment, I declare the quarantine lifted on Unit 01," Gendo Ikari intoned over the comm channel plainly, like he was declaring that it was Bring Your Penguin To Work Day. "Sortie it immediately."

By this time, I was on the floor of the launch system; and by that I mean 03 was once again standing at the base of the maze of launch shafts. I, personally, was curled up in a ball inside the entry plug, sobbing occasionally. I couldn't bear to watch the screens, and I didn't know if there was anything to see on them even if I had looked up.

Why did you do this, Sangouki? I tried to 'think' to the Eva. I could have done something. I could have made a difference! Now Rei is going to die.. and I couldn't even lift a finger to help her.

There was no response at all. The entry plug was, for all intents and purposes, inert.

"Asuka!" I heard Shinji call out, and presumed he'd made it to the surface. "Try to pull it free of her!"

"Dummkopf!" Asuka snapped back. "Don't you think I've tried that?!"

"Try the pallet gun," Misato urged, and I saw a building-sized storage locker in my mind's eye, folding its accordion-style wall to reveal the rifle to Eva 01. I heard several shots, and then a horrendous sound. "N-no effect!" Shinji stammered. "And it destroyed it! Aaugh!"

"Shinji!" Misato yelled. Someone else reported Eva 00 at 8% contamination, and began to say something about 02, but was cut off.

"Switch Unit 03 to the dummy system," Gendo intoned.

"Sir?!"

"Do it! Now!"

Oh, shit, I said to myself, trembling. San, if you're there - if you're listening, please, God, I beg of you please, give me back control before they do this. I nudged the controls even as I heard the disk drive in the entry plug pedestal begin to spool up. "Dammit, c'mon, San!"

There was no response, but then again, there was no reaction to the dummy program, either, at least, as far as I could tell.

My suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later. "No good!" Ritsuko hollered. "It's rejected the dummy signal as well!"

"What?!" Fuyutsuki thundered. Gendo remained silent, surely considering his options. Finally, he spoke.

"Return 03 to the Cage," he declared. "Prepare to rewrite the control program for the Fifth Child."

"Yes, sir," Misato said reluctantly.

No!! I cried out. Dammit! I punctuated my internal railing with a punch to the console; not meant as a punitive blow to the Eva, but more to expend the bottled-up energy within me. Hysteria and inconsolation was departing, and leaving rage in their place. I was almost lost at that point.

"Major!" Hyuga said, as I felt the launch pad lurch its way into motion, back towards the Cages. "We've got a problem. Unable to locate the Fifth Child!"

"What??" Misato gasped. "Wasn't he on standby in the Cages?"

"Was," Hyuga agreed. "Current location unknown!"

What??! I echoed Misato's disbelieving query. I looked up at the screens, as if I would see him on one of them, but all I saw was the surroundings of the path from the Cages to the launch rail system. I scanned around, turning around in the seat to look at all the monitors, but he wasn't in sight.

"Begin a search!" Misato ordered.

"Shinji. Listen to me," I heard Gendo say, flatly and calmly.

"F-father," Shinji stuttered in return.

"Shinji, Evangelion Unit 01 cannot be contaminated by an Angel. We cannot allow this to happen."

"I'm - I'm trying, Fath--"

"I need you to retreat, Shinji."

There was a protracted silence on the comm channel; the proverbial pin-drop moment. "B-but my friends are--"

"Pilot Ikari," Gendo stressed. "I am ordering you to retreat. Break off combat and move to a recovery point at once."

"Commander!" Misato protested, subsequently ignored by the elder Ikari.

"No, Father! I can't leave them--"

"You can and you will!" Ikari said, raising his voice to a sharp snarl by the end of the sentence.

"Shinji, we can beat this thing!" Asuka said. Had I been in better spirits, I would have marveled at her use of the word 'we', instead of 'I'. "Ignore him and help me slice--"

"Audio off from Unit 02," Gendo ordered curtly. "Unit 01! Return! Now!"

"Sir!" Aoba called out. "The Angel! It's--"

"It's what?" Gendo snapped as the tech trailed off. "Report!"

"It's.. receding.. dwindling.." Aoba said, then blinked. "It's gone."

"Gone?!" Fuyutsuki said with incredulity. "Where did it go?"

Check Rei's AT Field, I wanted to demand of Ritsuko, but I was locked out of transmitting by then - even if I could have made myself coherent enough to be understood.

"Unsure, sir," Hyuga chimed in. "Its signal strength was dropping steadily for a moment or two, and then it just.. disappeared!"

"Status of the Evas and pilots," Misato urged.

Maya drummed away on her keyboard for a split second. "All are accounted for and in nominal condition, except for Unit 03 which appears to be dormant. Life signs on all pilots returning to normal."

"Bio-contamination?" Ritsuko wanted to know.

"Reversed," came the reply. "The Evas are reclaiming the infected tissue and repairing it. In time, we won't even be able to tell they were ever harmed."

"Roll call," Misato demanded. "Unit 00, report in."

"I am.. recovering," Rei managed weakly.

"Unit 01."

"I'm here," Shinji said uneasily, surely still upset with his father's demands.

"Unit 02."

There was a pause. "Sorry, Major. Comms restored. Try again," Hyuga said.

"Unit 02?"

"Present and accounted for!" Asuka chirped. "Thanks for taking the muzzle back off, Misato--"

"Enough, Asuka. Unit 03."

"I - I'm here," I replied, trying not to sound like I was still crying. I wasn't; but I didn't know how to feel. I was confused and angry and blindsided and bewildered and shocked all at once, plus a host of other emotions I couldn't catalog at the moment.

"Fifth Child, report in."

"Still no signs of him, Major," another tech answered.

"Can any of you see Kaworu?" Misato said with a sigh.

A cluster of negative responses that in no way resembled a chorus came across the link. Just to be thorough, I looked around again, also answering with a no once my scan proved fruitless.

"Begin a complete security sweep now," Misato ordered. "Effective now and until he is found, he is to be categorized as missing in action. All of you, return to the Cages. Doctor, I'm sure you'll want Zero, One, and Two to undergo quarantine and evaluation?"

"Yes," agreed Ritsuko. "And Unit 03 as well. Until we figure out why the Eva rejected the pilot, I want it offline."

"I concur," Gendo said from on high. "Do your best to be quick about it, though."

They were talking about me as if I couldn't hear them. I relaxed my body and stretched out, exercising the muscles that were aching from my fetal-ball position of the past hour or so. Actually, it was less than fifteen minutes, but there was no telling my mind or body that.

I just wanted to go home and get.. no. I just wanted to go home, period. Everything was in shambles. There was nothing I felt I could do or anyone could say that would sort me out.

It didn't dawn on me that I was behaving exactly as Asuka would have, had she been in my place.