Shinji's head shot up from his knees. "Asuka!?" He asked aloud, though he knew she couldn't hear him. He stood and looked up at Unit 01, still stuck in Bakelite. There was no way he could save her. He gripped the railing tightly and kept squeezing it harder and harder. With everything that had happened, he still couldn't do anything. After all this...
Unit 01 suddenly shattered the Bakelite at its legs and arms, and started to wrench free of the restraints, its mouth breaking apart to let out an unearthly howl. The Eva rammed to the left, towards Shinji, with a ferocious yank of its upper body. Wind burst through his clothes and hair as the behemoth crashed into the cage floor in front of him. It bowed its head and went dormant as Shinji saw the awaiting entry plug that Misato had been trying to get him to.
He wouldn't waste this. The boy leapt over the railing and ran up the back of Unit 01's head, then slammed himself backwards into the plug and got into the pilot's seat. The plug door slammed shut with a crack and hiss of hydraulics. The plug spun down into the back of the Eva, and he eyes blazed. Unit 01 came to life again. It got up, turned, and ran through the restraints once more, getting to the elevators. Bound up to the one nearest Asuka above ground, the Eva activated the lift. It instantly rocketed up at neck slamming speed.
Asuka, still holding her face from the synch-pain of the lance through Unit 02's head, looked on as the Evas flew up into the air and started circling hers. "Agh, you'll pay for this!" though she knew the words were a losing warrior's final plea.
"Asuka?!" Shinji's voice comes over the communication window in her Eva, apparently it still had some energy left.
"Shinji? You idiot, what took you so long?!" Asuka roared at him, one eyes kept shut from the pain.
Shinji shook his head slowly with a bit of a smile at her comment as his Eva rocketed out of the ground. Instead of staying attached, he had disconnected from the lift on the way up, so the sudden stop violently threw Unit 01 into the air.
It latched onto the first white Eva, and sent its fist through the creature's head, causing the snake-like cranium to explode. The pair fell down to the ground, Unit 01 crashing to its haunches, still holding the mass-production Eva. It then reached down through the neck, pulled the S2 organ out, and crushed it in its hand.
Noticing the new threat, the eight other Evas instantly turned on Unit 01, rushing down through the air. They attacked like a swarm of locusts, slashing ferociously at Unit 01. Unit 01, however, was not up for their game. It dodged one slash deftly and grabbed the Eva by the back of the head, squeezing with such force that its fingers went through the armored flesh. It then proceeded to use the Eva as its own weapon, slamming it bodily into the other Evas to stun them, and then ripping into each one, their special organs included. Unit 01 brought down a powerful axe kick on the final Eva, cleaving it in half down the torso before shattering the ground between the white Eva's legs. Unit 01 then reached into the two halves before they could fall, and yanked out the split S2 organ, smashing it together so forcibly that it liquified. Then Unit 01 picked up its 'weapon' and ripped it in half, reaching into the upper body and yanking out the S2 organ before holding it in both hands. Unit 01 just stood there calmly with the S2 organ in its hands as the last Eva dropped in two separate places. It let out a roar as its eyes flashed and squeezed. The landscape was quickly covered in a vertical line with red.
Breathing like a dazed beast in the sudden quiet, Unit 01 returned to its normal appearance abruptly, its jaw sealing shut. Shinji quickly took action. The purple Eva ran over to its launch pad, picked up a spare power cord, and sprinted back over to Asuka. It lay the cord on the ground, and pulled out the Lance of Longinus from Unit 02's head. Then Unit 01 picked Unit 02 up slightly and plugged the power cord in for it. Unit 02 quickly stood up, and despite the holes in its head, looked ready for battle.
Deep inside NERV headquarters, in the very bowels of the Geo-front, Gendo Ikari led Rei towards Lilith, still nailed to the massive red cross in the small sea of LCL. Ikari stopped when he saw Dr. Ritsuko Akagi sitting at the edge of the LCL sea. She stood up and turned around with a flat expression on her face.
"I've been waiting for you," she said calmly.
As she walked towards them both, Ikari's eyes narrowed slightly. "Ritsuko, I truly..." the rest of his words were lost, but his lips formed them.
"Liar," she responded coldly, her face matching her tone.
Ikari pulled a gun out of his jacket and pointed it at her, almost at point blank range.
"Go ahead," she said calmly.
Before Ritsuko could even react, Ikari reached up with the gun and slammed it into the back of her head in a swift jerk of his arm. Ritsuko was not able to show the surprise on her face before she fell to the ground unconscious.
"Come Rei," Ikari said, pulling Rei with him by the arm.
"Ikari!" Fuyutsuki's voice shouted over the speakers in Terminal Dogma.
"What is it?" Ikari asked quickly, coming to a stop with more than a slight amount of consternation on his face.
"The enemy Evas have failed and Units 01 and 02 are forcing the SEELE forces to retreat out of NERV headquarters," the older man's voice came through more calmly.
Ikari's face slackened slightly and his brow creased. "What?!" he asked in disbelief. How could they have failed?
"That's why I called you, otherwise I wouldn't have interrupted," Fuyutsuki explained.
"Understood," Ikari replied, now calm. He let go and turned to Rei with a nod. She nodded back and quickly ran off the way they had come.
A collection of digital obelisks filled the air in a dark space, light seeming to rush up from the floor and reveal the unreal objects with red text and numbers on each one's face. Each was a graphical representation of a sound-only communication.
"How could they fail?" Kreel, also known as SEELE 01, asked heatedly.
"We underestimated Ikari's son," SEELE 09 answered, a sharp sardonic smile twisting the right corner of his lips where he sat in private.
"This is unacceptable. With the prophecy undone we will be undone!" another exclaimed.
"Perhaps there has been a misunderstanding?" Gendo Ikari suggested, appearing in the midst of the group. He was apparently sitting at a desk, but little of it was visible.
"Do you mean you did not do this, Ikari?" 01 asked.
"No, I did not. Perhaps the Scrolls have been misunderstood? They were already flawed with regard to some events in the scenario," Commander Ikari suggested.
There was a long pause. "...Perhaps this should be looked into," one of the group members said finally.
"NERV would be willing to overlook the recent incident if you would restore our former rights," Ikari stated, his hands clasped in front of his face at his desk.
"For what reason? There are no more Angels, your purpose has been served either way," another group member replied, sounding dark.
"If the Scrolls were wrong before, it is possible there will be more Angels, you must realize that," Ikari warned them.
"This matter can not be decided so quickly. For the time being you will not be assaulted, as we deliberate. Until then, be careful what you do, Ikari," SEELE 01 said finally and they faded away, leaving Ikari and Fuyutsuki alone in Ikari's office.
"This is unprecedented. Are you sure this will work?" Fuyutsuki asked calmly in spite of the situation.
"The prophecy of Third Impact can't fail, we have simply misunderstood the time, or at least SEELE has," Ikari answered, leaning back in his chair with his hands still clasped in front of him. "For now we have to assume that more Angels are coming."
Shinji hopped down from the entry plug and landed on the platform beside Unit 01. Before he could go check on Asuka, she was running at him and then grabbed him in a hug, slamming them both to the iron grating. She then promptly got up and hit him on the head as he stood.
"What took you so long?!" she shouted at him.
Shinji almost kowtowed. "I-I'm sorry, I couldn't get to the Eva until that late-"
"Idiot! I don't want to hear excuses, just be there sooner next time," she gradually calmed down as she spoke, seeing Shinji's crestfallen expression. "What's wrong? I thought you'd be more happy to see me," she asked with her typical unconscious arrogance.
"Miss Misato..." Shinji answered, his voice trailing off.
"Misato?! Where is she?" Asuka asked quickly, looking at him urgently.
"Down at the bottom of the elevator, at least that's where I last saw her," Shinji explained slowly, looking down with his eyes.
Asuka grabbed him by the arm and started running. "Come on! We might be able to save her!"
Shinji soon started running, but not before he stumbled behind Asuka twice.
"Katsuragi?" the voice drifted into her mind slowly.
Misato stirred and tried to open her eyes.
"Katsuragi, wake up," the voice repeated.
Misato opened her eyes and saw an all too familiar face. "Then I'm dead, Kaji?" she asked weakly, a faint wisp of a smile tracing over her lips.
Kaji laughed as he sat beside her, looking down at her face. "No, you're not dead Misato. Neither am I for that matter," he said plainly as he helped her stand up.
Misato's eyes widened at him and she almost fainted again. She then narrowed her eyes and stood up straight in front of Kaji before she promptly slapped him across the face. "How could you do that to me?! I thought you were dead."
Kaji rubbed his cheek with a light smile. "Yes, sorry about that."
"Sorry? I'll make you more than sorry-"
"Miss Misato?" Shinji's voice cut her off.
"Kaji!" Asuka's familiar voice rang loudly behind it as the two of them rounded a bend in the hall.
"Shinji!" Misato said happily as Shinji ran up to her. Shinji grabbed her around the waist and hugged her tightly.
"I thought you were..." his voice trailed off again, muffled by her shoulder.
"Well, I'm not, but I am shot, so would you please not squeeze me quite so hard, Shinji?" she asked tightly.
Shinji quickly let go, his cheeks turning crimson. "Y-yes, of course, sorry," he blurted out. He looked down at his arm and saw the blood on it. "You should get to the medical center," he said.
"Yes, that's where I'm going next, wouldn't do me any good to die from bleeding to death, would it?" she said lightly.
Kaji came forward slightly, his hand coming out. "I'll give you a hand-"
"I'll do just fine, thank you," Misato cut Kaji off with a glare as she walked off with Shinji.
"Don't mind her, Kaji, I'll go with you!" Asuka said cheerfully, grappling Kaji's arm in a vice-like grip.
"Aaahh, yes, of course, Asuka," Kaji got out nervously as the two of them started following Shinji and Misato.
"If the prophecy was incorrectly interpreted, Ikari may be correct, despite our inability to trust him," SEELE 09 stated calmly.
"Don't be absurd, we can�t trust Ikari, he may have doomed us all!" SEELE 03 replied heatedly, leaning forward in his chair.
There was a pause before anyone spoke again.
"He is right... for the time being at least. Get someone to work on the Scrolls immediately. Until then, NERV has its former authority back. We can deal with him if he steps too far out of line again," SEELE 01 stated finally.
"You can't be serious. Ikari will destroy the universe before he will sacrifice himself. We need to take control of NERV and keep it," SEELE 03 replied.
"Perhaps there is an alternative?" SEELE 09 suggested.
"And that would be?" SEELE 01 asked.
"Send a spy. If Ikari steps out of line, we can destroy NERV from the inside out."
"We already have one of those," SEELE 01 reminded the other member.
"Sabotage is too limited. I mean truly destroy it from the inside out," SEELE 09 persisted.
There was another long pause, and then: "Who did you have in mind?"
SEELE 09 sneered to himself privately. "I believe you know."
SEELE 01 chuckled. "You really meant 'destroy' didn't you? Should we risk the Eva though?"
SEELE 09 took a moment to ponder that. "Yes I think so. It will secure Ikari's faith in the boy."
SEELE 01 replied finally, "Then send him in."