Chain Lightning Studios Presents
 Together We Stand Book Three
             Carpe Diem
           By T. L. Webb



so ya
thought ya
might like to
go to the show
to feel the warm thrill of confusion
that space cadet glow

      In the Flesh
       Pink Floyd, The Wall


[]========================[]
     Book Three; Part Two
[]========================[]


     "Remember, we don't have the advantage here," Misato
informed Hikari as she rose to the surface in Evangelion Unit
Three, "they have us beat in numbers, they have us flanked, and
I'm sure they have even more nasty surprises in route."

     The LCL was cushioning it tremendously, but despite that
Hikari still felt her teeth rattling from the accelerating lift platform
or maybe it was just her fear. Her face was still a little flushed and
her eyes puffy from earlier, and- for an odd moment- she
wondered if Misato could tell she'd been crying.

     "If they do, for some insane reason, send the Jet Alone I want
you to be careful. That thing is little more than a walking nuclear
reactor, and I don't think I have to explain how nasty it could get if
it went boom."

     "I thought it didn't work," Hikari inquired, "what's it doing
here?"

     "We don't know, but keep your eye out for it just the same-- I
don't trust the situation. They know those things don't stand a
chance against an Eva."

     "Okay... um, how's Asuka?" Hikari asked as she reached the
top of the lift and stepped into the armament chamber on the
outskirts of Tokyo three. She selected the pallet gun and one of
the new shields. A part of her privately thanked the Americans for
sending in the surplus equipment when they abandoned Eva
construction. She still hadn't managed to unfold her AT Field, and
this shield would be critical to her survival. She'd never gotten her
synch rate high enough to manifest, and now it looked like she
might never have the chance.

     "Asuka's at the bottom of the lake," Misato said, referring to
the water filled crater that Unit Zero had carved in the earth. "Her
synch rate is still too far below startup levels for combat, but at
least she'll be safe for now."

     "Okay, but what about Shinji?"

     "I'm in route to collect him as I speak," Misato said, "don't
worry, I wont let anything happen to him."

     "Good," Hikari said as she looked over to the enormous gate
that was now beginning to cycle open. A sliver of light shot into the
cavern, reflecting dully off her Eva's black armor. She picked up
her weapons from the rack at the corner and took a deep breath.

     "Wish me luck," she said as she charged out the door.


[]=====[]
[]=====[]


     "Unit Three has entered the grid," a gravely voice announced
over the communications network, "all Tridents prepare systems
for launch and await orders."

     Mana Kirishima sighed as she looked up at the surface of the 
waters above. As the eye cameras of Trident Zero-Two cycled
and focused she could see fish swimming through the shimmering
rays of light that filtered through the water.

     Slumping down into the control seat she removed the visor and
gloves that controlled the robot and buried her head in her hands.
 
     It was bad enough that she was being ordered to kill people,
but some of these people she felt like she almost knew. Kensuke
had told her a lot about the pilots that he knew, things that few
outside of their circle of friends were aware of.  She had listened
to their briefing in a state of shock once the words 'zero tolerance'
and 'extreme prejudice' had been spoken. She'd heard little after
that, and had ended up relying on the handouts to learn the attack
patterns.

     'This is so beyond nuts,' she thought, 'why are we attacking
these people? Didn't they just spend the better part of a year
fighting off the biggest threat the world has ever known?'

     She just didn't buy the official line like the boys apparently
had... then again she'd always been a pain in the trainers ass. If it
wasn't her flippant attitude toward all things under the sun, it was
the fact that she wouldn't just accept things without an
explanation. In short she may not have been the best soldier
material, but her scores in the simulators had made her too
valuable to dispose of.

     The boys had always been more into the whole soldier thing
than she had. Not to say that she hadn't enjoyed the project at
first--she'd been the most enthusiastic of the three of them up until
recently. It was in fact her love for all things military that had
helped her hook up with Kensuke. The problem was that while
they both loved the hardware, since their date she'd begun to
share his hate towards the baggage that came with it.

     'No way am I shooting people who can't fight back,' she
decided with sudden determination, 'I don't give a crap what they
threaten me with, I am not going to do that.'

     On her screen, Unit Three began to make it's first attack. She
retrieved her helmet and acknowledged the preparation orders.
Looking at her monitor, she watched the Evangelion tear into the
ground troops and wondered which of Kensuke's friends was
piloting it.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As the Eva ducked behind the shield, Hikari closed her eyes
and tried to think of some other way to disable all of the ordinance
aimed at her without killing the few hundred troops manning them.
All over the clear surface of the huge shield, sparks flashed, and
left little scorch marks as hundreds of antitank rounds ricochet off
of it. 

     Down below her, the line of tanks and other artillery were
unloading everything they had at Unit Three. They had to know
that even the heaviest of the guns they had down there didn't have
a chance of breaching her armor. It looked like as if Misato had
been right-- they were mostly trying to keep the Nerv personnel
pinned down so they could invade the Geofront at their leisure.

     Of course, before they did that, her Evangelion had to be dealt
with. Apparently that was where the big ugly wedge of a head that
was lumbering over the horizon came in. 

     "Misato, I see the Jet Alone," Hikari said as she swung her
shield at a few of the tanks that were attempting to edge closer to
her-- what they were thinking she had no idea. They were lucky
that she was taking great pains not to kill unless she had too. She
made a sweep with her foot, sending them tumbling end over
end-- the pilots were no doubt injured by this, but at least some
would get out alive. With any luck someone down there would
realize she wasn't trying to kill them and this might just end without
too much bloodshed. She knew how hopelessly optimistic that
sounded, but it was the only way she could keep fighting and not
start crying.

     Suddenly there was a series of sharp cracks against her head
and she cried out in surprise. It felt like she'd been struck with a
rock! Just off to her side several VTOLs were hovering as a
dozen smoke trails dissipated.

     "That _hurt_!" She growled as she swung her shield towards
them. The resulting backwash of air sent the aircraft spinning out of
control and she grinned as she saw the crews ejecting. She could
do this-- she could keep the casualties down if she was careful.

     "Hikari," Misato said-- and she could hear the car over the cell
phone as it screeched through a turn, "first order of business is to
disable that JA, take it's legs out."

     "Roger," Hikari acknowledged as she raised the pallet gun.

      Just as she was preparing to open fire-- however-- Makoto
came in over the wire with new information.

     "We just picked up three large craft zeroing in on your
position!" he told her, "better do this fast."

     "What," she asked, "you mean like bombers?"

     "No, we haven't gotten an ID on the design yet.... But you only
have about half a minute before they arrive!"

    "Understood!" Hikari told him as she sprung into action. 
 
     Shouldering the pallet rifle she began to dash through the hills
straight towards the other robot. As she dodged several land-air
missiles she drew her progressive knife and using the shield as a
battering ram slammed straight into the Jet Alone Robot. 

     The robot was predictably sent sailing ass over teakettle--
skidding and tumbling into the mountainsides as if finally crashed to
earth. Unit Three wasted no time-- Hikari sent it into a leap that
took the Eva right over to where the Mech was floundering in the
rubble of it's crash, and with one clean swipe of the progressive
knife, the Jet Alone was missing it's lower half. 

       Just as she stood, she caught a glimpse of something on the 
horizon. Skimming the ocean was a large bulky craft that looked
like some bizarre mating between a spacecraft and a lizard.
Realizing that there had been three incoming on the radar she
turned to find two more approaching from seven and two o'clock
high.

     "This is bad," she whispered to herself as the three craft began
to gain altitude and zero in on her position once more. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As the elevator reached terminal dogma, Gendou Ikari stepped
off and walked purposefully into the Catacombs beneath Nerv.
Only a few of the original staff of Gehirn had called them that, and
they were long gone to other assignments or passed on.... But he'd
never forgotten that nickname, and had always thought it rather
appropriate. Especially considering the dumping ground.

     He still, privately, thought of Terminal Dogma as the
Catacombs-- even after all that time. 

     After all were catacombs not a place where things of value
were hidden along with the dead?

     Things like secrets were kept down here. 

     The creation of Rei had been a shock the first time he'd seen 
her. He'd always known that the creation of a nephelim was vital 
to his goals, but Fuyutski had almost crossed the line with her... 
he'd never been so close to killing the man as the moment he'd 
laid eyes on the child in the birthing tube. 

     Things like dreams were lost down here. 

     His own for a future with his wife and son had been dashed to 
the wind after Yui's accident. It had not just broken his heart to 
learn that it had been part of her plan all along, but it had broken 
his very soul. He'd finally rejected Yui's plan after realizing that
there was a way to accomplish her goals and bring her back 
with out sacrificing their chance to be together as they had been. 
Once he'd discovered that possibility all others had been driven 
from his mind and his course had been locked in stone.

     Things like love had died down here. 

     He'd had no room for it without Yui. While he'd taken 
momentary reprises with other women to fulfill the needs of the 
body, he'd felt little for them-- only a sliver of the warmth he'd 
felt with Yui. The closest he'd come had been with Ritsuko, and 
even that had carried the bitter aftertaste of his time with her 
mother. After the woman had taken her life as well as the first of 
Rei's selves he'd never been able to fully trust her daughter.

     Things like family might still be found down here. 

     After loosing Yui he'd found it impossible to be around Shinji. 
To have those eyes looking back up at him. When he'd been first 
born he'd been goad that Shinji had been blessed with Yui's eyes 
instead of his own. But the more he looked down at his son's face 
the harder it had been to bear. Even Rei had been easier to stand, 
her own red orbs had much less of a resemblance and were 
therefore easier to have looking back at him.

     As he walked down the endless corridors, he felt relief that
soon he could make it all right again. He could erase the mistakes
of the past and set things back the way they should be.

     With a few improvements, of course.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     The first shot caused every solider on the field to cover their
ears and dive to the earth. It was easily three times as loud as
anything that had been fired so far, and even the explosions the
VTOL's missiles did little to compare. 
 
     As the round streaked overhead at speeds several times that of
sound, the resulting series of sonic booms tore the windows off of
jeeps and trucks, and just plain scared the hell out of everyone
else. When it struck home on the leg of Evangelion Unit Three, a
gouge the size of a small car was punched into the armor as the
rubber cased pellet of metal ricochet off and went screaming off
into the hills.

     Hikari let out a scream of pain as blood began to pour from the 
huge slash in the Eva's leg. She looked up at the approaching
mecha and suddenly she was more furious than she'd ever been in
her life. Shouldering the pallet rifle she opened fire as another
round from the third Mech spanged off her shield-- leaving a
spiderweb-like crack across it.

     As she emptied her clip on the first of the Trident robot series,
she didn't notice that Trident Zero-Two had yet to fire and had
landed on a hill. 


[]====[]
[]====[]


     The two vehicles screeched to a halt mere inches from one
another and as Misato Katsuragi leapt out of her car the Section
Two agent helped his passenger from the back of the jeep. Shinji
seemed barely awake, and was obviously struggling to stay on his
feet. With every step she could see him winch as he favored the
side with the broken ribs. 

     "I'll take him from here," she told the agent, "you go man the
front lines. If those bastards get hold of the Magi then the game is
truly up for all of us."

     She took one of Shinji's arms and helped him to her
passenger seat as the agent gunned the Jeep down the corridor.
As she strapped him in and slid across the hood to her side she
pulled out her cell phone.

     "It's me, get Ritsuko on the horn," she told Makoto.

     "I wish I could, major," Makoto said as her eyes widened,
"she took off about a minute ago and no one's seen her since."

     "Damnit!" Misato spat as she revved the engine and put her
car in gear; "if we live through this I'm going to kill her. Ok, lock
onto my signal and I want you to flood this chamber with Bakelite
the second we're through. I don't want anyone following us."

     "I'm on it-- you take care, Misato."

     "You too," she said as she hung up and turned too look at her
charge. She was momentarily reminded of the first time she'd
seen Rei. His head was bandaged and he was cringing in pain...
apparently in all the excitement no one had re administered the
painkillers he'd been put on after his fall.

     "How you hangin' in there?" she asked as she saw a red wall
growing in her rearview mirror.

     "I'll be a lot better if I knew what was going on," Shinji said, "all
that guy would say was we were under attack."

     "The UN has decided that the threat from the angels is over,
and, apparently, when ordered to relinquish control of Nerv,
Commander Ikari told them to shove the order up their ass."

     "Sounds like him," Shinji said with no humor, "how long
before I can get up there and help out?"

     "_What_?" Misato almost screamed, "look at you, you can't
even walk on your own! You have a concussion, and the ribs you
didn't break are bruised and cracked! Are you out of your mind?"

     "Hikari's up there isn't she?" he asked-- his eyes suddenly
growing much clearer.
 
     ". . . yes."

      "Then get me the hell to Unit One," he said evenly.

     They had reached a T-junction and as they pulled in the door
behind them slammed shut-- blocking off the Bakelite which was-
even then- solidifying. She pulled the car to a stop and looked
Shinji directly in the eyes. 

     "Listen to me, because I'm only going to ask you once. Do
you think you're well enough to fight? Because I'm not going to
send you up there to die. And you know I can smell a lie on you
like you can smell my cooking-- from a mile away."
 
     The joke startled him, and threw him just enough off balance
that he knew that what little chance he might have had of fibbing to
Misato was now zero. Down at his side she saw his hand make a
fist as he looked her in the eye and answered.

     "If I don't go, then we might die anyway. At least if I go we
have a better chance. And I am _not_ leaving her up there alone.
Either take me to Unit One... or I'll get out and walk there on my
own."

     He suddenly took hold of the door handle and Misato knew
that he had not been bluffing in the least. She placed her hand on
his and pulled it from the handle as she dialed up the control room
again.

     "Makoto? Change of plans. Shinji's going up in Unit One, I
need you to clear me a path."

     Shinji leaned back in the chair and smiled as his guardian took
off down the corridors again like the proverbial bat out of hell.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As the other two Tridents swooped and circled Unit Three
from above, Mana watched on with more than a little
apprehension. She could hear the boys shouting and hollering like
wildmen in their cockpits as they attacked the Eva. They were
playing with it, blasting away from long range until its weapons
were demolished and it was left with nothing but an oversized
hunting knife to defend itself.

     As she listened on, she could hear the troops around her taking
bets on how long the Eva would last, and how many shots it would
take to put it down from the gauss cannons. Several divisions had
already broken through Nerv's front lines and reports were coming
in that--as ordered-- no prisoners were taken. She heard her
'friends' laughing; suddenly and she wanted to throw up. It was
_fun_ for them, they were acting like they were back in the
simulator and not killing someone bit by bit. 

     "Computer," she said to her craft's voice recognition system
"can I talk to the enemy pilot?"
 
     "An all band broadcast would reach the enemy," the
computer's synthesized voice replied. The programmers had
quickly realized that kids of younger generations were highly adapt
at any new technological advances and had adopted everything
they could to the system that wouldn't impair the processors.    

     "Set to all bands, and broadcast at my command," she said as
he thought of something, "disable all safety measures in the
targeting system as well."

     "Compliance."

     She toggled the targeting system and began drawing a bead on 
Trident Zero-Three. Aiming for the jet propulsion system, she
closed her eyes for a moment in silent prayer that what she was
about to do would be the right thing. 

     As the targeting computer reported a lock on, she pulled the
trigger.

     "Broadcast," she said as the round struck home and sent the
Trident tumbling to the lake below-- trailing smoke and fire behind
it.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "This is the pilot of Trident Zero-Two," the voice of a young
girl shouted over the radio as Hikari turned to face the Mech on
the hillside. HQ had patched the transmission through as soon as
they got over the surprise and practically the entire battlefield had
stopped in shock of the actions.  

     "This is nothing more than a slaughter and I'm not going to take
part in it," she said as several micro missiles launched from her
Mech's back and began sending troops running for cover.

     Hikari didn't know just what the hell was going on, but she
was happy to have one less vulture circling her and she turned to
face Trident Zero-One as it swooped from the sky.
 
     She took another hit to the side, but it glanced off her armor
and she managed to recover her balance just as the Trident came
within range. Leaping into the air, she grabbed hold of the robot's
foot and sent them both crashing back to the rubble below.

     Once she shook of the impact, she found that the Trident had
faired better than herself in it's landing, and was now charging her
on foot. She barely had time to brace for the impact as it drove
them through the ruins of a building and off a ledge into the water. 

     She climbed to her feet in the shallow water and saw the trident
as it righted itself. Before she could take advantage of it's
momentary imbalance, it's canon roared and Hikari's shoulder was
on fire. 

     She looked down to the side to find a large hole where a
portion of the Eva's biceps was supposed to be. Then the pain
kicked in. She screamed and grabbed hold of her own shoulder as
she gripped the  progressive knife even tighter and dove at the
Robot in a blind rage.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     All the doubts and fears were gone as Mana went about 
systematically destroying the UN's heavy weapons and tanks.
She didn't know why she felt so calm-- technically she was a
traitor to just about every country in the world. Perhaps it was the
knowledge that she was no longer on the side that had gone into
this battle slaughtering every moving thing in sight. 

     Now she stormed through the UN's camp trashing everything
that looked heavier than a bazooka. Below her the soldiers were
running around and screaming as if the hounds of hell were after
them. In their defense, they hadn't been trained to fight giant
robots.

     Suddenly she noticed that Trident Zero-Three's icon was still
active on her screen. 

     She frowned and looked out at the lake. Somewhere out there
her former friend's mech was still fully active and capable of battle.


[]====[]
[]====[]

 
     Oblivious to all that transpired above, Asuka shivered in the
entry plug of Unit Two. Hidden deep under the latest lake to be
crafted to hide the scar Unit Zero had carved in the earth, Misato
had felt it the best hiding place for her. Unbeknownst to Misato,
however, a war of a smaller-- but no less dangerous-- scale was
going on in her ward's mind. The constant blur of Kaoru's
recorded voice had blended with the din of her own mind till she
could picture the two in debate. In her minds eye she could see
them. The shadow cloaked form of her mother, and the glowing
aura that surrounded Kaoru. 

     "Die with me Asuka," her mother said almost cheerfully from
one side of her. She hung there as she had the last time Asuka had
seen her, and merely looking at her sent a cold shiver down
Asuka's back.

     "It would be wise not to listen to this person, Asuka," Kaoru
said. The blue glow that surrounded him was not unlike the one
that had also enveloped him the last time she'd seen him.

     "And why wouldn't she listen to her own mother?" the shadow
demanded, "she's a good girl, aren't you, darling?"

     "Then why are you asking her to give up?" Kaoru demanded in
return, "you are asking her to admit she has failed and shame
herself."

     "But she's so tired of it all," the shadow said, "look at the poor
thing-- my poor Asuka needs her mother."

     "Asuka needs to understand that because one fails once- or
even ten times- it is not sufficient reason enough to give up trying,"
Kaoru said as he put his hands in his pockets and smiled over to
Asuka, "she has always fought to be the best, and while that is
indeed a noble ideal, she has stumbled. In stumbling she has
convinced herself that she can never rise again-- that she is
worthless. This disregards all her past accomplishments. For you
to... hang there and incite her to continue living this falsehood that
has become the image she holds of herself is disgusting."

     "And I suppose you are a master of the truth?" the shadow said
mockingly, "you lied to her from the start, and you dare accuse me
of falsehood?"

     "What I did wrong, I regret," Kaoru said, "and that is more
than I can say for you. I recognize my wrongs, you chose to ignore
your own."

     Suddenly an impact rocked Unit Two and Asuka curled up
tighter in the pilot's chair-- not knowing that the Eva itself was
suddenly mimicking her actions.

     "Just... just go away," she cried as the Eva shook around her,
"I just want to die, I'm tired of it all! I want it to be over."

     "That doesn't sound like my Asuka at all," a familiar voice said
suddenly as Asuka froze in place.

     "Mama?" she whispered as she saw a figure beginning to take
form beside Kaoru. As the ghostly shape came into focus she saw
that it was indeed the face of her mother-- the kind and gentle face
she remembered from before her accident. The face she had so
disparately missed for so long.

     "But," Asuka asked, "then who?" she trailed off as she turned
back to the shadowy figure to find The Stupid Doll hanging before
her. Her eyes widened, had this been the one she'd listened to for
so many months now? The one she'd wanted to emulate?

     "Die with me," it said in a childlike version of her mother's
voice, before changing to Asuka's own-- confirming her unspoken
fear, "die like me. Be like me. Be ME"

     As the Stupid Doll spoke, something erupted in Asuka that she
hadn't felt in months. A strength that she'd lacked, a confidence
born of knowing just who she was and what she wanted to do.
She grabbed the Stupid Doll by it's neck and tore its head and
limbs from it's body she screamed in rage.
 
     She took the head of the Stupid Doll and with all her strength
she smashed it into the floor. As the stuffing flew into the air she
shook from the anger, loss and pain she'd tried to hide from for so
many years. She'd lied to herself all this time, despite what she'd
told the others, she'd been trying to be the doll for her mother all
this time after all. Never again. She'd fight for herself from now on. 

     This time for real.

     A hand came to rest on her shoulder, and she turned to find her 
mother kneeling beside her. She flew into her arms, and as they
embraced she heard her mother say, "welcome back, my love."

     There was a sudden jarring impact, and Asuka opened her
eyes to find herself in the entry plug of Unit two. As she blinked in
surprise there was a sudden whirring sound of something
activating, and as she gasped in shock, Unit Two came alive in a
roar of surging power. 

     'So that's where you've been,' she thought as she looked out
the monitors. 

     Just inside her range of vision she could see a circling form of
some bizarre mech as it turned to ram her apparently not for the
first time. It looked like the eighth Angel. She _hated_ the eighth
Angel.

     "Oh like _Hell_," she growled as she took hold of the controls
of _Her_ Evangelion Unit Two.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Oh my _God_!" Yuri practically screamed, "Asuka just
went active!"

     "What?" Fuyutski demanded as he ran over to her monitor,
"what do you mean 'went active'?"

     He saw it almost as she explained and he was amazed at what
he was witnessing. Asuka's synch ratio had just leapt straight
through the roof. She was over ten points higher than her recorded
peak rate!

      As he was about to ask for a report on the advancing UN
troops however, he noticed something.

     "Why is Jet Alone still moving?" he asked as he watched the
dot on the monitor crawl forward towards the center of the lake.

      
[]====[]
[]====[]


     Unit two caught Trident Zero-Three totally off guard. Moving
like lightning, its hand snaked out and suddenly the Trident was
driven into the mud below. 

     "Ha! Take that, you scheisskopf!" Asuka screamed gleefully as
she tore the left arm off of the robot. She was about to use it to
pry one of the legs off, when suddenly there was an explosion and
something rocketed up past Unit Two's face.

     Looking up through the haze of mud, she realized that the Pilot
had ejected. She threw the arm away, and decided that she still
wanted to smash something. Kicking off, she rocketed to the
surface with a grim smile on her face.      


[]====[]
[]====[]


     They'd made great time until the commando unit had rounded a
corner right in front of them. Misato-- to her credit-- had resisted
the built in urge to hit the brakes and instead had slammed down
even harder on the accelerator. This resulted in them plowing into
three of the four men; maiming them-- and the front of the car--
horribly. It also resulted in Misato loosing control of the car and as
they skidded around the corner she just barely managed to angle
the car so the impact with the wall winded them instead of killed
them.

     Smoke pouring from the engine, she screamed for Shinji to
duck as the rear window exploded in thousands of tiny pieces of
glass. 

     She didn't scream, she didn't snap out any witty rejoinders or 
comments, Misato merely leaned back up with her pistol out and
placed several holes in the body of the remaining commando. 
 
     "You ok?" she asked as Shinji climbed out the uncrushed door
and threw up. So intent were they on leaving, neither noticed the
crimson in the puddle.

     "How far?" he coughed as he followed her out and she took his
arm over her own. 

     "Just a bit farther," she said nodding at a set of double doors
at the end of the hall they were in, "that's the lift right there."

     "Hurry," he whispered, and she realized that he was getting
heavier.

     "Shinji this is insane, you're barely staying conscious!"

     "What's deadlier, waiting for you to run out of ammo or going
up there?" he asked, suddenly wide-awake.

     "Damnit," she muttered, "_I'm_ supposed to be the crazy one!"

     As her car continued to billow smoke, they were just reaching
the lift. As she hit the switch, Shinji leaned against the wall and
gripped his side. He was obviously in pain, and Misato had to
wonder what was keeping him going.

      Suddenly there was yelling from the corner and she gasped as
she saw five more of the UN's commandos round the corner.
The door behind her opened, and she practically threw Shinji
through it as she  slammed her fist on the door close switch inside. 

     Turning to face the advancing troops, she listened to Shinji 
screaming in protest as the elevator rose behind her.  

     'Five troops, four bullets,' she thought as they leveled their 
weapons, 'figures.'


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As Hikari struggled with Trident Zero-One, she was far too
caught up in her fight to notice that Unit Two was rising from the
water a few hundred meters away like some horrible biblical
nightmare. The Trident Pilot, however, did notice- and Hikari was
shocked to see the Main cannon swivel to the side and fire.

     She looked and was just in time to see a multicolored
hexagonal shape appear out of nowhere and send the round
zinging off to the sky.

     The four eyes of Unit Two blazed with an unholy energy as it
continued it's slow, purposeful climb out of the lake. 

     Hikari didn't even notice that both she and the other pilot had 
stopped their battle. Both were watching the blood-red Evangelion
stalk forward in a state not unlike a deer caught in headlights.
Asuka wasted no time in grabbing hold of the Trident's head, and
as Hikari watched in shock, Unit Two tore it straight off. 

     As the Pilot Ejected, Unit Two watched the long trail of smoke
as the escape pod flew off toward the coast.

     "A-As-Asuka?" Hikari croaked nervously as Unit Two
turned back to face her. Suddenly the communication window
opened beside her and she almost jumped.

     "Of course its me," Asuka shot back in the playfully arrogant
tone that Hikari remembered from when they'd first met, "now lets
stop chattering like a couple of little girls and save Nerv's ass
before Shinji can show up and take all the credit, sound good to
you?"

     "Um... ok?" Hikari managed to say as she watched Unit Two
gather it's Umbilical cable and leap out of the water.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "Sir!" Shigru shouted from his position, "our reserve satellite
just visually confirmed nine stealth bomber launches from the UN's
primary staging airfield in Okinawa!"

     "Nine?" Fuyutski wondered aloud, as if the numbers were
beginning to ring a bell in his mind. Shigru didn't quite get the
relevance of the numbers, he had other worries on his mind, like
how the display had popped up on its own accord. He
remembered how Maya would do things like that. she tended to
follow the battles faster than he or Makoto could, and she'd
always pitch in to help them keep up when she was running ahead.
If he didn't know better, he'd have thought she was there.

     "They can't nuke us!" Yuri cried in an understandably
frightened voice, "half the UN army is out there!"

     "Oh my God," Fuyutski said--apparently suddenly recognizing
what was happening, "they just sent in the Mass produced Evas!"
 
     Only Makoto looked like he had any level of understanding, of
what Fuyutski had just said.

     "Contact the pilots," Fuyutski continued, as his tone made
Shigru's blood turned to ice, "tell them to get as ready as they can,
they only have a few minutes before Hell itself is unleashed upon
us!"


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As the elevator slowly rose up to the cage, Shinji finally
dropped to the floor of the small room. He'd been drifting back
and forth between consciousness ever since the section two agent
had picked him up, and it had been growing harder and harder to
focus until the crash below. 

     Now he was filled with a desperate fear that he might not
make it to Unit One. The burning ache in his side was-- at the
moment-- the main thing that was keeping him from passing out.
He hadn't told Misato, but he was pretty sure the crash had jarred
loose whatever patching the doctors had put to his ribs. He was
afraid to touch it for fear of finding out for sure. 

     He wanted to cry. He wanted to curl up into a corner and
scream in loss for Misato. He'd heard shots go off moments after
she'd pushed him in, and after that he'd felt a jarring shake that he
feared had been some type of explosion. But as much as he
wanted to grieve the loss, he knew that if he started now, he'd be
unable to stop. 

      There was a long stretch of darkness, and suddenly he heard a
loud tone and opened his eyes to find the doors sliding apart.

      His side screaming in agonizing protest, he lurched to his feet
and stumbled into the cage. As he reached the edge of the
platform and leaned against the rail, however, he was horrified at
what he saw.

     He had a dim understanding of the restraint system, and he
knew that they used solidifying Bakelite to trap the Eva's in the
event that they went out of control in the base. This was the same
stuff that had coated Unit Zero after Rei's first activation test, and
it was also the same substance that had flooded the corridor at
Misato's command earlier. As he followed a residue trail he could
see a tube extending through a hole in the wall and realized that the
UN had taken steps to keep the most dangerous Evangelion out of
the game.

     "No..." he whispered as he looked across the cage where Unit
One was trapped, "this isn't right," he screamed, "this isn't fair!"

     His hopes dashed, he fell to his knees against the rail. There
was nothing he could do... he was still helpless to save those he
loved.

     Again.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     Unit's Two and Three didn't wait for the armament cavern to
open; they tore through the door once there was room for them to
get a handhold. The Pilot of the rogue Trident followed from a
respective distance and kept quiet. Asuka had made sure the girl
understood that while they were grateful for the help, she wasn't to
be trusted. 

     "Ok, grab everything you can carry, but make sure you get
enough melee weapons," Asuka informed Hikari as they raided the
supplies of gear that were stacked along the wall, "if they're
serious about there being Evas being on the way then long range
isn't gonna do shit for us-- as I found out the hard way against that
fourteenth son of a bitch."

     "Right, but what about her?" Hikari asked as she gestured
out to where the other robot was keeping watch on the skies,
"she's in worse shape than I am. If she runs out of ammo she's
toast."

     "Look, Hikari," Asuka said as she shouldered Nerv's positron
cannon, "unless you can find enough duct tape to strap a prog
knife to one of those stubby arms there isn't anything we can do
for her. She's on her own for now."

     "What happened back there, Asuka?" Hikari asked as she 
unsheathed one of the maglock swords, "how did you get your
synch rate back?"

     "I'm not sure..." Asuka responded as she hefted the Smash
Hook and grinned, "maybe I had the wrong idea about something
and Unit Two didn't appreciate the sentiment."

     "Well, I don't care how it happened, but it's good to see you
like your old self again."

     "Thanks," Asuka said, her face softening, "and Hikari? For
what its worth... I'm sorry."

     "Hey, you guys!" the panicked voice of the Trident Pilot
announced, "something's coming!"

     As ready as they'd ever be, the two Evangelions climbed
from the cavern, and saw nine specks on the horizon. At that
distance it looked like nine birds flying in formation, but closer
magnification proved that this was far more deadly.

     Hikari gulped as she studied the nightmarish shapes of the
mass-produced Evangelions. The first noticeable difference was
the wings. She was unsure if they were feathered, but they
certainly looked it. The faces were even more disturbing than the
wings. They had no eyes, and their entire head seemed to be one
great mouth. In each of their hands  they carried a long blade that
looked like a broadsword with the handle built into the blade itself
and sharpened at either end.

     They were graceful.

     They were obviously powerful. 

     They were also revolting to look upon.

     "Cover me!" the Trident Pilot suddenly, shouted as her Mechs
jets ignited and she shot into the sky to meet the enemy head on.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     Gendou finally found Rei standing on the overlook platform to 
the Eva graveyard. As he approached her, he was surprised to
hear her voice. She was whispering something he could not make
out, and as he grew closer he was not certain that he wanted to.

     She seemed to sense him standing there, and as she turned to
face him, his breath caught in his throat. The look on her face-- in
her eyes was that which had haunted his dreams for more than a
decade. At that moment-- save for her pigmentation-- Rei looked
frighteningly like Yui. His amazement and shock must have been
apparent on his face, because Rei let a small secret smile cross her
lips before her face went  back to the more neutral expression he
was more familiar-- and comfortable-- with. 

     He swiftly collected himself and adjusted his glasses before
speaking.
 
      "I'm surprised to find you here," he said, "you generally seem
to prefer the room of Gauf to anywhere else in the Geofront."

     "There is no longer anything for me there," she replied calmly,
and he decided that he'd been imagining what he'd seen.

     "I see," said Gendou, "well, it is appropriate that you feel
so... the day for which you were created has arrived. It is time for
us to go."

      Rei hesitated a moment-- something that troubled Gendou
more than his impression earlier, but she began walking towards
the door. A moment later, he followed silently.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     Mana knew that she didn't have a chance of beating the nine
Eva's in a ground battle. The Trident was heavily armored, and
was a juggernaut against a conventional enemy, but this looked to
be out of her league. The Trident's had only been called in after it
had been determined that the only working Eva was without an
AT Field in the first place. If those Eva's had that protection then
her only chance was to make use of the Trident's powerful
propulsion and speed to out-maneuver them in the air. 

     As she rocketed towards them, however, it occurred to her
that what she knew of aerodynamics was in total disagreement
with what she was seeing. The Eva's were easily sixty meters tall,
and those wings on them were way bigger than even that.
Whatever was keeping them in the air was something that she'd
never heard of... unless...

     "Oh shit!" she yelled as she opened fire on the approaching
V. The shot ricochet off a hexagonal energy barrier as she put her
Trident into a barrel roll.

     The Eva's responded immediately. Peeling off like dive-
bombers, they began to turn to follow her in a spiraling circle. As
she set the computer to fire at will--hoping to get lucky-- she
pulled up and began to climb as fast as the thrusters would take
her.

     It wasn't enough.

     The Eva's began to dive at her-- having climbed three times
faster than her Mech. Each swoop of the Eva's resulted in a fresh
set of damage reports as the swords they carried carved her up
piece by piece. 

     "No!" she screamed as she pulled the ejection lever. There
was a sudden slamming pressure as the acceleration shoved her
back to her seat. Just as she began to relax however she was
thrown forward.

     Her head spinning, she barely managed to focus long enough to 
glance at the monitor, as a field of white became a field of red. 

     Then everything went black.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     "No!" Hikari shrieked as the MP Eva threw the escape pod
into it's mouth. They'd tried their best to lay down a suppressing
fire, but the Trident Pilot had been moving too fast and they hadn't
been able to track her well enough to keep from striking her as
well as the MP's. 

     "Don't!" Asuka shouted as Unit Two took hold of Three's
undamaged arm, "stick together and pick your moment! If they
separate us they'll swarm and we're toast!"

     "But she's gonna--"

     "Not if I can help it!" Asuka promised as she locked the
offending Eva into her computer to track, "just concentrate on the
fight!"

     As the MP's landed on the peaks of the surrounding hills
Hikari began to get nervous. When they wrapped their wings
around themselves, she broke out in a cold sweat.

      "What's going on?" she asked HQ, "what are they waiting
for?"

     The answer came about ten seconds later.

     After being disabled, the Jet Alone had for the most part been
ignored. Its mobility gone, it had minimal to no combat abilities.
This factored in; no one had paid much attention to it as it had
continued to crawl by its arms toward the center of the battle.  

     Seele had been fully aware of its lack of battle capabilities, and
had decided to use it for another purpose.

     It had finally reached its destination as Trident Zero-Two was
cut to pieces. While the wreckage of that machine fell to earth, it's
nuclear power plant shut down, and a timer began to tick down. 

     Just as Hikari began to ask what the MP's were doing, the
counter reached ten.

     When it reached Zero, the N2 Mine that had been placed
within the JA went off.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As the earth shook above them, Rei stopped walking.

     Gendou didn't register this for two full steps, but when he did
realize that the soft padding of her footsteps had halted, he
stopped as well and turned to face her.

     "What is it?" he demanded-- becoming very aware of how
little time was left.

     "I can not do this," she said-- a tremor in her voice.

     "It is your destiny," he said as he reached for her arm in what
he'd hoped was a comforting gesture. Apparently she did not see
it as such because she shrinked away from him as if his hand were
a serpent.

     "No, I _will_ not do this," she said and in her eyes he was
horrified to find fear. This was too dangerous; she was growing
out of control-- out of _his_ control.

     "If you do not, Seele will achieve their goal and the world will 
suffer for it. Do you prefer that fate?"

     "You know that what you say is a lie!" she said-- causing him
to gasp at the venom in her voice.

     "How did you reach this conclusion?" asked Gendou as the
first slivers of real fear he'd felt in years began to creep into his
mind.

     "I remember," she said simply.

     "Explain."

     "I remember Yui Ikari," Rei said, "I remember _being_ Yui
Ikari."

     "Impossible!" Gendou shouted, his fear melting in to a sudden
rage.

     "Really?" asked Rei, a bitter smile crossing her lips, "I know
that I was not created for this purpose originally-- because I
remember what I was meant to be."

     "Stop," Gendou growled as he clenched his hands into fists.

     "She never told you, merely made the preparations with
Fuyutski. Why did you alter the plan?"

     Gendou's face was red in anger. He let it wash over him
because he suspected that if he didn't focus on that emotion,
others would overwhelm him. Would weaken him. This was
impossible, it could _not_ happen! They'd tried it years before and
it hadn't worked-- the memories had never been successfully
carried over. Naturally Rei would not know that, but the fact she
knew of the intent alone was a shocking revelation in itself.

     "Stop this charade Rei," he growled, "we do not have time
for this."

     "You don't believe me," Rei nodded as she accepted it. She
closed her eyes for a moment and then began to speak, "you
chose my name the same day you chose Shinji's-- a month before
he was born. You said if it was a boy it would have his name, if a
girl-- my own."

     She opened her eyes and Gendou found that he could not
speak. He didn't know how it had happened, but it was true. Had
he the time, he would have realized when it might have happened,
but his mind was in too much chaos to place it all together. 

     "The first date the two of you went on was a dubbed
American film with poor voice acting. Afterwards you went to the
park and laughed at the translations of some of the phrases."

     "How?" he whispered, the disbelief melting in the face of the 
memories her words were bringing to his own mind.
      
     "I do not know. I know only that her memories are within me,
and I know that what you wish me to do, I can not... not while
knowing that there is another way."

     "I cant accept that path!" he said hotly, "I won't abandon her if
there is a way to bring her back!"

     "Even if it means risking the entire human race?"

     "Yes!" he spat back.

     "Do you really believe that she would accept that? If even if
you succeeded, do you, in your purist heart, believe she would
forgive you?"

     "If I change things it won't matter!" he shouted, "I can make it
the way it was! don't you see?"

     "I see," Rei said sadly, "that you would rather live with a world
of dolls than one of real people... that's all we are to you... that is
all your son is to you... that is all I am to you."

     For a split second he intended to strike her. To strike back at
the accusations that she was making. But as he raised his hand, he
remembered something that Fuyutski had said shortly after
discovering he and Yui had wed. The words had always sounded
somewhat bitter, and while Gendou had always detected a little
jealousy in them, he'd known them for what they were-- honest and
useful advice from someone who knew him almost as well as he
knew himself.

"Always listen to her Gendou," Kozo had said, "Yui is more of a
conscience than you'll ever have."

     Suddenly, through the memory, the red haze began to clear,
and he realized that Rei had just said things to him he'd never
shared with another soul, things that even Fuyutski had not known.
Kozo had been totally confused at the selection of Rei's name...
Yui had never shared that with him... Rei was speaking the truth
about knowing... but was she also speaking the truth  about the
other?

     If he changed Yui so that she'd forgive him for what he'd
done... for what me would do... would she still be Yui?
 
     Precious seconds ticked past as he pondered that question.

     Finally, the answer came to him in horrible clarity.

     No. 

     "Go," he said through gritted teeth.
   
     "What?" Rei said, her eye's widening.

     "I said go!" he shouted, "before I come to my senses! There
may still be time to stop all of this!"

     Rei didn't hesitate, and as her rapid footfalls faded down
through the endless hallways of Terminal Dogma, Gendou Ikari
dropped to his knees and shook in grief.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     The shaking of the earth had subsided for a moment, and Shinji
painfully climbed to his feet. As he rested against the wall, he was
suddenly aware that the room had not stopped shaking, and-- in
fact-- the sound and fury was becoming fiercer.

     Suddenly the solidified Bakelite began to crack and split all
over the cage. As he tried to stay upright amongst the shifting of
the room, he watched Unit One's hand tear free of the restraints
and begin to pull the rest of it's massive shape free.

     "Mother..." he said aloud as excitement washed through him.

     He wasn't out of the fight yet.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     The MPs' had wasted no time in taking advantage of the
confusion and disorientation that the N2 Mine had caused.  As
Asuka climbed to her feet she barely had time to recognize that
there was an enormous hole in the earth as the first of the winged
vultures swooped down at her.
 
     Sparks flew as she swung the Smash Hook up in a parry. The
two blades glanced off one another and as the MP shot back up
to the sky, Hikari's voice warned her that another was attacking.

     She leapt out of the way of the attack as the sword gouged a
long slash in the earth behind it. 

     A glance over at Hikari showed that she was only having
slightly better luck-- her Maglock sword making a much better
parrying tool than her axe. 

     "scheisse!" she shouted as she leapt out of the way of yet
another swooping Eva. If they didn't make a move quick then they
might not make it through this. Fortunately Asuka had been
thinking about fighting Eva's ever since the thirteenth angel. 

     As the fourth of the MPs' flew down towards her, she stood
her ground and waited for just the right moment before leaping up
into the air. 

    The sword sliced through her umbilical cable, but she was
prepared for that. As the MP flew below her, she grabbed hold of
the fin-like protrusion just over its neck and swung herself onto its
back.

     The thing shrieked in protest, and as it buckled under her
weight, she brought her axe down into it's wing, cutting it neatly
off at the base.

     She had not, however taken into account how fast they were 
moving, and as the two Eva's fell from the sky, she realized she
was above the hole she'd seen moments ago. 

     The hole she now saw to be a crack in the top of the
Geofront-- and they were falling right into it.

     The calmness that came over her was more due to her years of
training than anything else. She got her bearings by locating the
Nerv pyramid and let go of the MP as she began firing  her
shoulder jets to control her angle. 

     Crashing to the earth below with only slight damage to the
armor of her Evangelion, she quickly climbed to her feet and
dashed over to a power station where she replaced her umbilical
and took her progressive knife out.

     "Come and get it, you bastard!" she shouted as the MP
burst from a lake not too far away.


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As Asuka had disappeared into the gaping hole in the earth,
Hikari had been engaging in the most frightening moment of her
life. After apparently realizing that their tactics were not working,
one of the MPs' had landed and had begun attacking her directly
as the others began to circle the hole where Asuka had fallen.

     As she franticly parried blow after blow, she screamed in
fear. The thing was much better than she was, and was attacking
relentlessly. It was as if someone had melded a master swordsman
with a barbaric berserker and had used the best aspects of both.
Had her Eva not been programmed to fight this way, she'd have
long since been cut to ribbons. 

     It was moving faster and faster and she could barely keep up,
much less counter attack. Suddenly it picked up a tank and
_threw_ it at her. As she screamed something in her mind seemed
to push outward and- without warning- the tank crashed into
something in mid air a split second before a shimmering hexagonal
field of light appeared in that space.

     She was so amazed that she'd finally activated the AT field that
she didn't notice the MP leaping back into the air for a moment. 

     As it hovered backward on its wings, it took its sword and
reared back like it was going to smash something. Hikari thought
for a moment it would try to smash it's way through the field but
instead it threw the sword at her-- it's blade cutting though the air
cleanly. 

     Hikari was so stunned by the move that she forgot momentarily
about her at Field and instead tried to dodge the blade by ducking
out of the way.

     This may have saved her life.

     As it struck the AT Field, the sword began to morph and shift
into a long slender spear. It pierced Unit Three's AT Field like a
pin popping a balloon and as it flew towards her it struck her
damaged arm and punched a hole straight through her Eva's elbow
and pinned her to the ground.

     Hikari screamed in pain, and as she looked down at the spear 
sticking through her Eva's arm in shock she realized that it
looked like the lance of Longinus.

     The other MPs' turned to watch as the one whom the weapon
belonged landed and crouched-- preparing to pounce. 

     Hikari gritted her teeth, and reached down to the spear. She
gripped it in her free hand and with everything she had, she pulled
the lance from the ground and out of Unit Three's arm.

     The MP hesitated as it watched on. While it did that two of the 
others jumped from their spots at the edge of the hole and
disappeared 
within. 

     Hikari suddenly noticed that her Power was running out, and a
quick glance at her screens showed the sparking edge of the
umbilical leaping  around to her side. 

     In front of her, the MP seemed to grin-- as if to say, "Your
move".


[]====[]
[]====[]


     As Asuka removed the Progressive knife from the throat of
the MP, she suddenly heard a shriek of rage that she didn't
recognize. 

     Realizing that it was coming over the communications net, she 
turned to the Pyramid and gasped as she saw the side of it erupt
outward. A huge burst of energy that she couldn't help but notice
looked like a cross flared up out of the resulting hole, and as two
of the MP Eva's dropped form their perch above, something
began to emerge. Slowly at first, a massive purple and black hand
gripped the edge of the jagged hole in the pyramid. This was
followed by a dark shape with two fierce eyes that blazed form
behind the swirling smoke. As it rose, the smoke began to spin
faster until it twisted into a tornado of crackling energy and debris
from all over the Geofront. A growl rose from within the
hurricane, and for a moment, she saw the MPs flinch as the shape
became clear to all.

     Her eyes went wide as Evangelion Unit One climbed from
the rubble. It's restraints were shattered and hung loosely from the
remaining cables and tethers. From its shoulders, six glowing 
wings of pure energy lit up the Geofront. What ever she'd thought
of the Purple war machine now, she felt a sliver of terror of the
shear power it radiated.

     Unit One let loose with a world-shaking roar and on her side, a
window popped up showing Shinji looking more angry and
determined than she'd ever seen him. Sweat dripped from his
brow-- dissipating in the LCL, but his eyes were piercingly clear.
She almost felt sorry for the white Evas surrounding them for a
moment, then came to her senses and hefted her progressive
knife-- ready to return to the fight.

     The battle had just been joined. 


[]==========================[]
   To Be Concluded...
[]==========================[]


     I can't believe that the story is so close to the end! 

     There's not too much to say this time around, other than a little
exposition concerning Asuka's phoenix like return to the fray. But
that'll hold for a sec as I grin and thank all the nice readers who
are saying nice things about me in the Eva forums out there. While
I don't think its fair to be comparing me to the greats like Fiss and
Rakna, I appreciate that y'all like my stuff ^_^ And while I'm on the
subject, y'all should be ashamed for talking about the top spots of
Evafiction and neglecting RPM and John Biles-- now THERE are
a couple of masters where Evafics are concerned.  

     Anyway on to the exposition ^_^

     I figure what made her mother the loving person she'd been
was in Unit Two, and it didn't like that Asuka was thinking she
meant stuff like that-- hence the synch rate started to slip. As
Asuka's problems got worse they made her rate drop further and
when she was in Unit Two up there, the aspect of her mother that
was in Two tried to reach out to her and show her the truth--
through the only person Asuka had opened up to; Kaoru-- That
her desire to kill herself was a desire to be the doll that her mother
had replace her with. When she realized the truth, Unit Two
synched with her, and having kicked the snot out of the part of her
that wanted to be the doll at long last, she started acting like
herself again.

      Well that'll about do it for this round, see y'all in three weeks
or so for the exciting conclusion ^_^

     Zap Kaboom


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