Judgement Day 2
Judgment Day
By Artemis
Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is a copyright of Gainax co.
Elements of this fanfic are inspired by the movie "Armageddon" by
Touchstones Pictures, and, especially for this part, the movie
"Air Force One" by Columbia Pictures. Most of the characters in
this fanfic are owned by Gainax co., so please don't sue me!
Part 2
Misato's Apartment; 10:25 A.M
"Ready, Shinji?" asks Misato. The boy nods. "Okay, here we go! Push!"
With that command, Shinji concentrates every muscle on his body, grunting and
groaning, and tries to push down as hard as he can.
"Almost . . . there . . ." she groans as she too pushes with all her
might. Then, with a reassuring 'click', Misato exclaims, "Got it!" They both
let out a relieved sigh as they both sit on top of one of her suitcases,
trying for half an hour now to cram all her clothes in.
"Misato, why did you pack so many clothes anyway?" Shinji asks as he
wipes off the sweat from his forehead, and tries to catch his breath.
"Well," she says, "I don't want to look unattractive in front of those
handsome American guys, now wouldn't I?" The next second, Misato is lost in
her fantasy of spending some time on a beach with beefed up hunks in Speedos
with blue eyes and blonde hairs.
"I . . . see . . ." reply Shinji hesitantly, but quickly adds, "Umm,
what about Kaji-san?"
Misato's fantasy was shattered at the mentioning of her boyfriend's
name. "Oh, please!" she frowns, "Can't I have some fun without bringing up
Kaji into it?" She then leans toward him, and whispers in his right ear, "I
won't tell him if you won't, Shinji."
Before Shinji could reply, the door to Misato's room slides open, and
Asuka steps in with a very, very revealing bikini. "What do you think,
Misato?" she says as she spins around, brandishing her new bikini.
"You look great, Asuka!" she replies, "You're ready to give those
American boys a run for their money!" As they both giggles in amusement,
Shinji grew red in embarrassment and try not to look at Asuka's new outfit,
although he couldn't help shooting out a quick glance towards both of them. He
couldn't believe that they are now giggling happily and talking about guys,
while a few hours ago . . .
-FLASHBACK, NERV Pilot Briefing Room-
The news of a gigantic Angel on a collision course towards Earth was
like a cold, steel knife stabbed on their heart, for nobody speaks a word in a
long pause. Ritsuko's voice brought warmth to deathly cold silence by saying,
"There is a hope, however"
"What is it, Dr. Akagi?" said the U.N General hurriedly. Immediately,
all ears are on Ritsuko, including the cold commander himself who coolly fixed
his glasses.
Ritsuko cleared out her throat, examined her reports on her notepad, an
d
finally looked up to the hologram display. "As you might know, it is
impossible to destroy this Angel with conventional weapons, and we can't rely
on the N2 bombs in this situation."
"Why is that, Doctor?" asked Keele.
"MAGI have concluded that the AT-Field of this Angel is four times more
powerful than any other Angels we have encountered so far." replied Ritsuko,
"Therefore, launching N2 missiles to destroy this Angel is definitely out of
the question, since they couldn't breach through the AT-Field. What's more,
the radiation of the N2 explosion would reach Earth even faster than the Angel
itself, and the result would be even more devastating than the impact with the
Angel." She paused for a second or so, letting her words to be planted deeply
in everyone's minds.
"Our other alternative," she pushed on, "Is to get inside the Angel and
destroy it from its core"
"And how do you propose we do that?" asked the General, again in an
impatient tone.
Instead of replying, Ritsuko took out a black, remote-control like
device from her lab-coat pocket, and clicked on a red button with her thumb.
In an instant, another hologram appeared in front of the display, showing a
round object that was presumably the Earth.
"The plan is simple enough, sir. We are going to transport our Evas wit
h
two shuttles bound for the moon. On the way, they would make a quick stop on
space station 'Atlantis' to refuel." As she spoke, two red lines trailed off
from the Earth, and stopped on a red dot near Earth's orbit. As the lines
began to move again, Ritsuko said, "After 10 minutes of refueling, the
shuttles will continue on towards the moon."
As the two red lines reached the moon, another round object,
approximately 1/10 the size of the moon, passed on the other side of the moon.
"When the Angel arrived near the moon, the two shuttles would both made a
slingshot maneuver, circling the moon's orbit by using its gravitational pull,
and arrived behind the Angel. Then comes the hard part comes in."
"The hard part?" exclaimed Keele.
Ritsuko clicked on another button, and the hologram displayed a round,
silver object surrounded by numerous, smaller round silver objects, as if they
were protecting the larger object. "As you might know," continued Ritsuko,
"Those round objects surrounding the Angel, 'Feathers' as I referred to them,
will make our job on landing the shuttles even harder. We need the best pilots
there is to pilot these shuttles."
"I will contact NASA immediately after our meeting," said the U.N
General.
"There's more" said Ritsuko. With that, she clicked another button on
her 'remote control' and all the Feathers disappeared, displaying only the
round object with a force field surrounding it. "We would still have some
problem with the AT-Field of the Angel," said Ritsuko, "In order to penetrate
the Angels' AT-Field, we need to neutralize it by using our Evas' AT-Field.
There is a slight problem, however."
"And what might that be, Doctor?" asked Keele.
"Although we could increase our Evas' AT-Field to their maximum, it is
still not enough to neutralize the Angel's AT-Field. In short, we are short
one Eva to accomplish this mission." said Ritsuko as she turned off the
display of the silver Angel.
"I believe that another Eva is not a very big problem," said the ever
quiet Gendo, "NERV Branch 1 in America have been developing the S2 Engine, and
had planted the experimental engine into their very own Eva Unit 03. The
Engine has been proven successful so far." There was a boisterous tone in his
speech, as if he was undermining both SEELE and the U.N
"Unit-03 have been operational since three weeks ago," said Gendo again
,
"With a 14-years-old American named Adam Traeger as its pilot"
"How come we never receive any report of this American pilot?" asked
Keele in amazement, realizing that once again Gendo has gone over his and
SEELE's authority.
Gendo smiled, and fixed his glasses. "I'm sure my report is somewhere o
n
your table," he said sarcastically, "Along with your other, more important
work."
Before Keele could respond, the General said, "Well then, that settles
it. Gendo, I order you, your staff and your pilots to leave for America at
once. I will arrange that a U.N airplane would be ready for you in Tokyo-3
International Airport, Gateway 14, at precisely 12:00."
"And the Evas?" asked Gendo, as if he was very concern for his precious
monsters.
"Launch your Evas to launch pad 14, and the U.N troops would pick them
up and carry them to our military airbase. Three B2 Fortress have been
assigned to carry your Evas by air into the United States, and they would
launch shortly after your plane took off," explained the General, and added
with a bit of sarcastic tone, "Don't worry, Gendo. Your 'babies' will be in
good hands."
Gendo nodded, and exclaimed, "Thank you, sir." With that, the display o
f
the U.N General disappeared, leaving only Keele on full screen.
"Gendo," he sighed, "You do realize that the failure of this mission
means complete destruction of humanity."
Gendo smiled his usual cold smile, and said, "NERV's sole purpose of
existence is to prevent that from happening. You may rest assure that we will
do our best." With that, Keele nodded in approval, and his hologram
disappeared from the display.
Gendo turned toward his staff, and exclaimed, "You may go home to your
places and collect the things you might need on our journey, except for the
launch staff. Rendezvous at the Airport in 11:50. Dismissed!" With that he
walked out of the door, followed by Fuyutsuki closely behind him.
-END FLASHBACK-
Tokyo-3 International Airport, Gateway 14; 11:51 A.M
Gendo, Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko, Rei and the three Command Center staff sits
on the chairs in the terminal's waiting room. They are obviously waiting for
the ever-so-late Misato and the other two pilots. When the clock strikes
11:48, the elevator door on the other side of the room slides open, and out
come Misato, followed by Shinji and Asuka. As they got near the waiting party,
Misato exclaims, "Are we late?"
Ritsuko smiles, and says, "I must say, captain, it's quite a record to
be late just one minute, especially for a very disorganized person like you"
"Oh ha, ha, very funny," she exclaims as she sank on a chair next to
Ritsuko. After a moment of pause, she looks at her friend, who looks unusually
gloomy. "Hey Ritsuko," she asks, "Is the situation really that bad? I mean, if
we could survive the Second Impact, couldn't we survive this one?"
Ritsuko shook her head, and says, "I'm not even sure there's going to b
e
a place for us to survive on." She tries to keep her voice as low as possible,
so nobody there could hear them.
Misato moves closer to hear what she's going to say. "You see," she say
s
quietly, "When the commander and the others were busy moving up the Evas, I
told MAGI to do another quick calculation on the damage, and the result was .
. . appalling." She let out a sigh before she continues, "MAGI predicted that
24-hours after the impact, the Earth's core would stir up violently, creating
various gigantic volcanic explosions and tremendous earthquakes. These
activities would go on for about an hour, until . . ."
She shakes her head again, and finishes her explanation to Misato.
"Until the Earth is just nothing but a field of asteroids between Mars and
Venus," she says.
Shinji fixes his gaze towards Rei, who was reading a book entitled "The
Scarlet Pimpernel", and paid no attention towards her surroundings. 'Rei', he
thought, 'What have gotten into me to notice you so much these days?' He let
out a soft sigh, and continues on eyeing the silent commander's doll.
His daydream was broken by a touch of something very, very cold on his
left cheek. He shrieks in surprise, and sees Asuka holding two cans of soda on
each hand. No doubt it was her who pressed one of the cold cans on to his
cheek. "Geez, Shinji, it's only me. You don't have to get that paranoid," she
says as she smiles, and hands him one of the cans.
Shinji rubs his cheek, and receives the can of cold soda. Faintly, he
could hear an oppressed laughter. From the corner of his eyes, he notices
something very bizarre: Rei, covering her mouth with the book, was giggling at
his comical reaction when Asuka pressed the cold can on to his cheek. He
blushes red, turns his gaze away from her and opens his can.
As he gulp down his soda, Asuka suddenly asks, "Hey Shinji, do you
really like Rei?" The remark almost made him choke on his soda.
"W-What?" he replies, after coughing and trying to calm himself down.
"Oh, come on," she says as she took a sip of her soda, "Don't you think
I didn't notice the way you look at Wonder Girl there? You practically drooled
at the sight of her."
The boy blushes even brighter red at her remarks. Asuka sets down her
can of soda, and says again, "Shinji, if you really like her, you'd better do
something about it quick. You know how the saying goes, 'Drink and be merry
today, for tomorrow you die', and you know that is very true in our line of
work"
Shinji glances again at Rei, who's already busy with her book again.
'Asuka does have a point there', he thought, 'Who knows when death would claim
one of our lives, especially in this kind of situation'
Before he could reply, two men dressed in a formal military attire
approaches them. One of them speaks with a very stern, yet respectful tone.
"Commander Ikari and the staff of NERV?" he asks.
Gendo glances at him from behind his glasses, and replies casually,
"Yes?"
"Sir, the plane is ready and waiting for you. If you could just come
with us . . ." he says.
Ritsuko look at her wristwatch. It's exactly 12:00 noon.
Gendo stands up and casually says, "Let's go, then."
U.N Boeing 747-400, Code Name: Unity-1; 6:00 P.M, U.S Eastern Time
The massive airplane, which was somewhat reminiscent to the U.S Air
Force One, flew silently at 30,000 feet across the Pacific. Inside the dining
room of the airplane, Shinji sat on his seat, watching at the golden yellow
color of the setting sun.
At a distance, he could see the three B2s, carrying the three Evas on
their belly just like sharks carrying their gigantic babies. He could hear
faintly the sound of Ritsuko, Misato, Fuyutsuki and his father in the
conference room next door. He could hear faintly that they were discussing
something about having 185 hours, 57 minutes and 10 seconds left. He could
also hear something about detonating the Angel two hours before entering
Earth's atmosphere.
He just tuned them off, doesn't really wants to know what's going on.
Not that he doesn't care, but because he feared more terrible news would
popped up if he tries to find out, adding more pressure to the burden he
carried on his shoulder as an Eva pilot.
He tried to call Toji and Kensuke earlier in order to lighten his
burden, but nobody seemed to be at home. He couldn't blame them, since the
attack of the Feathers gave even him and Asuka, the 'bravest' and well trained
Eva combat pilot, a pretty good scare.
Well actually, it gave him a scare because he was concern of Rei's
safety. 'Rei . . .', he thought, as he kept his gaze towards the setting sun.
Suddenly, he sees a flaming object fell from the sky, missing the
plane's left wing by inches. Instantly, his eyes grew wider in terror. 'Oh
no', he thought, 'Not again!' Chills ran down his spine as he tries to call
for the others, but no sound comes out of his mouth.
Another Feather falls down, getting closer to the left wing. "M-Mi . .
.
Misato!" he calls out, surprised that his intended cry only came out in a
whisper.
Suddenly, a tremor shakes the massive plane as an unspotted Feather
grazed one of the engines on the right wing, setting it on flames. Unbalanced,
Shinji falls from his seat to the floor.
Misato rushes out of the conference room. "What the hell was that?!" sh
e
cries out.
"F-Feathers . . ." the boy calls out in fright, "I-I think it hits us .
. ."
"I could see that!!" she says, as she climbs up to the cockpit. As she
reaches the cockpit, the pilots are pressing the panels frantically.
"What's our status?!" she says.
"Our 1st engine on the right wing is down! Those Feathers must've graze
d
it!" he says, as he punches commands on the keyboard.
"I'm ejecting the damaged engine!" says the co-pilot, as he presses a
button. Instantly, the screen went red and the 'Alert!' sign appears. "Damn!"
he exclaims as he slammed the keyboard, "The engine won't eject! The mechanism
is jammed!"
At that moment, Gendo walks up to the cockpit. "What's going on?" he
asks coldly.
"Sir, engine no.1 has been damaged by a Feather," says the pilot, "It i
s
on fire and won't eject!"
"Have you tried the fire extinguisher?" he asks again.
"Yes we have, but the wind is making the fire harder to control!" says
another co-pilot.
"Try channeling all the fire extinguisher to the right wing!" says
Misato, "Do it, now!"
Frantically, the pilot enters the command for all the fire extinguisher
s
to be channeled to the damaged engine. Immediately, foams of the extinguisher
sprays to the burning engine, and the fire are quickly put out.
"The fire is out, ma'am, but we lost the first engine," the co-pilot
says as he turns his chair towards Misato, "What's more, we lost too many fuel
during the fire. I'm afraid we don't have enough fuel to reach the airport"
Misato sighs in desperation, while Gendo coolly fixes his glasses, pats
the pilot on the shoulder and says, "Keep on going. We'll think of something."
Unity-1 Conference Room; 6:21 P.M, U.S Eastern Time
Ritsuko, helped by Maya, is typing a few commands on the computer. When
she presses the Return key, the machine beeps and a sound of a dial-tone could
be heard around the silent conference room. 2 seconds afterwards, the tone is
replaced by the sound of numbers being dialed. After a few louder beeping and
screeching, the connected sound could be heard, and Ritsuko looks up from her
work station towards Gendo. "We're in the MAGI's Mainframe, sir" she exclaims.
Gendo nods, and turns his attention towards the three Eva pilots across
the table in front of him, all dressed up in their plug-suits. "Captain," he
said, giving her the signal.
She nods at the sign, and starts to speak to the three Eva pilots. "All
three of you know that at estimably 6:00, we have been attacked by the
Feathers," she says to them, "During the attack, the Feathers have damaged one
of our engine, setting it on flame. While we managed to put down the fire, a
great number of fuel have been consumed by the fire"
"Therefore," she pushes on, "Commander Ikari has issued an evacuation
plan. Right now, three 32X-Osprays, complete with robotic arms, are waiting
for us at exactly 15,000 feet. When we reached 15,000 feet, Dr. Akagi would
enter the command to hatch the entry-plug from each of your Evas one by one.
When that happens, each Ospray would take one entry-plug, and slides it into
the cargo bay. One of you then would enter the entry-plug, according to which
Eva's entry-plug it was, and would be inserted back into your proper Evas.
Then, the process would repeat all over again until all three of you are
safely onboard the Evas. Is that understood?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" says all three pilots. "Any questions?" she asks
afterwards.
Shinji raises his hand. "Yes?" says Misato.
"Um, what about the other staff?" asks Shinji, "How are you going to
save yourselves?"
Misato glances back at Gendo, who gave her no hint in answering this
question. She knew she has to do this on her own. She looks back at the pilots
and says, "As far as NERV are concerned, the success of our mission relies
heavily on our Evas." She sighs, and continues, "Therefore, the safety of the
pilots became top-priority on this situation. Besides, not all of us would fit
in the entry-plug. Even if we do, there's the possibility that the robotic
arms would overweight, and gave way. Although our entry-plugs are equipped
with parachutes, even then we're not sure if the parachute could hold the
extra weight."
"Y-You mean . . . you'll . . ." stammers the Third Child, but he was cu
t
short as the pilot's face appears at the monitor. "Commander Ikari," says the
pilot, "We have reached 15,000 feet of altitude, and the B2s and the Osprays
are ready for the operation."
The elusive commander got on the intercom, presses the button and
replies, "Very well, proceed as planned."
"Yes sir!" exclaims the pilot. With that, the picture of the pilot
disappears from the screen. Gendo then turns to Misato, who's now wearing a
communicator head-set. Gendo then puts on his own head-set, as well as Ritsuko
who sat behind her emergency work station. "Are the head-sets clear?" he asks.
Both Misato and Ritsuko nods in approval. "Its all under your command now,
Captain Katsuragi" he says afterwards.
Unity-1 Cargo Bay; 6:30 P.M, U.S Eastern Time
The three Eva carriers flies closely behind Unity 1, waiting for the
cargo bay to be opened as their signal to start the evacuation plan. A swift
little Ospray flies near one of the carriers while the other Osprays waited
some distance behind them as the pilot engaged in a conversation.
"Good evening, my Japanese friend," says the pilot, in a typical
cheerful tone, "They told us that you've got some problem up here."
"We sure did," said the pilot through an electronic translator, "Some
damned fireballs grazed Unity-1, and we have to evacuate a few people."
"So, where do we came in?" asked the American pilot.
"Hold on! You'll get your instructions from our NERV commander!" says
the carrier pilot, and pointed to Unity 1's closed cargo bay.
The lights around the cargo bay suddenly flashed red, and all the pilot
s
of the planes focused their attention as the loading ramp of the cargo bay
slowly lowers itself, revealing five people in the cargo bay. The first person
the Ospray pilot notices is a young woman of about 25 with long black hair
which flutters violently at the strong burst of wind, a black dress, a red
jacket and a communicator on her head. She was holding on to the cargo net as
a safety precaution.
Behind her were three kids, two girls and one boy, all of them didn't
seem to be any older than 14, and were wearing plug-suits of various colors.
The boy with brown hair and deep blue eyes was wearing a white and blue plug-
suit, and looked a bit nervous about the whole thing. Next to him was a girl
with long Auburn hair wearing a red plug-suit who seemed to be very excited of
the whole procession, and next to her was another girl which was somewhat
different than the rest. She was pale white with blue hair and burning red
eyes, wearing a white plug-suit. She was so mysterious in her looks and in her
calm, emotionless demeanor which made the Ospray pilot wonders if she was
human at all.
Next to them was a man dressed in a brown formal attire with dark round
glasses, creating a mysterious and foreboding atmosphere around him. Aside
from his beard and dark glasses, the man looks like an older version of the
boy in the white and blue plug-suit. The Ospray pilot made a conclusion that
the man and the boy were related somehow, and the pilot stated, "That's some
cargo Unity 1 brought with her."
The B2 pilot nodded, and exclaimed, "Too bad we only have to rescue
three of them."
As the loading ramp lowers down, Misato could see the three carriers
lining up in a row right some distance behind their plane. She could also make
out the three Osprays, equipped with their robotic arms, ready to follow the
evacuation plan's orders. She knows then that it's time to carry out the plan,
although she doesn't really like what's going to happen to her and the others
after the Eva Pilots have been secured.
'Commander Ikari does have a point, though,' she thinks as the violent
breeze waves her hair around, 'These children holds top priority for this
mission, and whatever happens, they must arrive on U.S soil safely.'
Her thought is disturbed by a voice from the other end of the
communicator. "The Osprays are trying to make contact with us," says Ritsuko
from the other end.
"Put them through, Ritsuko," she says, "And please turn on the auto-
translator so we don't have any language problem here."
She could hear Ritsuko typing something on her keyboard before she
finally replies, "Auto-translate channel open."
With that, Ritsuko's voice was replaced by a man's voice. "Unity 1, thi
s
is Rescue-3. Do you read me?" says the voice.
"This is Unity-1, we read you loud and clear," replies Misato, "To whom
am I speaking to?"
"Lt. Daniel Johnson of the U.S Air Force, at your service," he
introduces himself. He says again, "Would you mind filling me in on the
details, miss . . ."
"Captain Misato Katsuragi, of NERV Branch 2 Japan," she corrected, "One
of our engine has been grazed by a meteorite, the same things that attacked
Earth yesterday, and we have to evacuate the Eva Pilots immediately."
"And how are we supposed to do that, ma'am?" he says again with a more
respectful tone, probably realizing Misato's higher degree.
"Listen closely," replies Misato, "In a few seconds, we are going to
hatch the entry-plug from the Evas, and all three of you would each grab an
entry-plug and pull it out gently from the Evas."
"When that's done," she pushes on, "You would come close to the cargo
bay one by one, and shoved the entry plugs into the cargo bay in order to
allowed a pilot into their entry-plug. Then, you would place back the entry-
plug to their proper Evas and continue the drill until all pilots are secured
in their Evas. Is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," replies the pilot.
"Good. We will start the operation on my signal. Over and out," she say
s
again as she presses another button on the head-set. "Ritsuko? The Osprays
have received their orders," she says again.
"Right," she replies, "I'm entering the hatch command. It would only
take a second."
Misato turned towards Gendo, and says, "Can we really do this,
commander?"
Gendo coolly fixes his glasses, and says, "We have no other choice but
to succeed, captain."
As Misato nodded in approval, Ritsuko's voice could be heard on the
head-set. "There," she says, "The entry-plugs have been hatched. They're all
yours, Misato."
Misato nodded, presses a button on the head-set, and says, "Lt. Johnson
,
begin evacuation!"
"Alright boys, you heard the lady," says the lieutenant to the other
Ospray pilots, "Move out!" With that, the Osprays quickly spreads out, and
each got behind the carriers. When they saw the entry-plug sticking out from
the back of the Evas, they quickly turned on the Auto-pilot, and switched on
controlling the robotic hands.
The three small planes worked as hard as bees for their hive, for it
doesn't take long before all the entry-plugs were soon in the clutches of
their robotic arms. "This is Rescue-3, all entry-plugs have been safely
ejected," says the lieutenant, "Rescue-1 is coming your way with the entry
plug for the blue Eva, Captain."
"Roger that, Lieutenant!" she replies. She then turns towards Rei and
says, "Rei, you know what to do." The girl nodded in approval.
Not long afterwards, one of the swift Osprays arrived while carrying th
e
entry-plug in the clutches of its hands. Swaying to and fro, it manages to
align itself with the gaping cargo bay. Then, it gently shoves the plug into
the cargo bay, enough for the pilot to reach the cockpit of the plug without
taking the risk of falling off the plane.
As they all make way for the plug, Misato contacts Ritsuko again.
"Ritsuko," she says, "The plug for Eva-00 is here!" As a reply, the hatch
instantly slides open.
"Okay Rei, go!" she commands to her, and Rei quickly got into the
cockpit and secure herself on the seat. Then, the hatch slides shut and Misato
gives a signal to the pilot to take back the entry-plug. The little plane
quickly complies by gently taking out the entry-plug out of the cargo bay, and
flew off towards the carrier of Eva-00. As it reaches the carrier, it gently
aligns itself with the back of the Eva and carefully slides the plug into the
Eva. As it releases its robotic hands, the plug automatically screws itself
into the Eva, and closes the hatch shut.
"Captain Katsuragi, this is Rescue-1. The hatch has been safely
replaced," says the pilot.
"Good job!" she replies. She then switches to Ritsuko and exclaims, "Re
i
is in! I repeat, Rei is in!" From the communicator, she could hear Ritsuko,
Maya, Hyuga and Aoba confirms the contact.
"Hatch status: green," says Maya.
"LCL is injected," says Aoba.
"Sync Ratio: 60%," says Hyuga.
"Neural connection is normal. So far so good, Misato," says Ritsuko.
Misato sighs in satisfaction, switches the channel to the Osprays again
,
and commands, "Bring another entry-plug! We have to evacuate the Children as
soon as possible!"
Shinji nervously steps into the entry-plug. "A-Are you sure this is
okay, Misato?" he exclaims nervously. He gets in and secures himself on the
seat.
"It's alright, Shinji," says Misato, trying to comfort the nervous
child, "Rei and Asuka got through okay. You should be the same too. Trust me."
With that final word, the hatch slides shut and Misato orders her commands to
the pilot. "All clear, Rescue-3! Proceed as planned, and thank you for your
help!" she exclaims through her communicator. Lt. Johnson gives her a thumb
up, and gently carries back the entry-plug and slides it into Eva-01.
"How's the reading?" she asks to Ritsuko.
"All systems are normal, except that the Third Child's sync ratio is
down to 57%," replies Ritsuko, "Other than that, it's all normal."
Misato smiles, and replies, "It's okay, Ritsuko. He's just a little
nervous, that's all."
"Aren't we all?" replies Ritsuko bitterly.
Misato sighs, and replies, "I'll talk to the Commander on what are we
going to do next. Over and out!" She turns off her communicator, and turns
towards the silent commander who was looking out at the three Eva carriers as
the three small Osprays flies away. "What're we going to do now, commander?"
she asks in a bitter tone.
Without looking at her, he replies, "Now, we wait . . ."
At that, Gendo's head-set beeps and he presses a button. "Yes?" he says
.
"Sir," says Ritsuko on the other end, "I have a plan that you might
interests you . . ."
Gendo and Aoba struggles to open the front emergency exit, and as they
twist the final lock to the exit, the door flings open and flies off with the
strong current of wind. Out of the now gaping exit, they could see another
airplane, a military cargo plane, flying next to Unity-1 with its cargo bay
open and several military personnel standing by.
The cargo plane was supposedly flying from Pensacola to California to
pick up a cargo, but on the way they managed to receive the distress signal
that Ritsuko had ordered the pilot to broadcast to any nearby airplanes.
Realizing the severity of the situation, the cargo plane quickly aborted its
current mission, and turned around towards Unity-1. The plan was to evacuate
all Unity-1's passengers and pilots by attaching a steel cable on the plane
where they could reach it. Then, the passengers and pilots would be
transported one by one to the cargo plane by attaching them to a small device
that would slide them towards safety. When the last person has been
transported, the cable would be cut loose and the cargo plane would fly them
to safety while the Unity-1 has no choice but to sink in the ocean.
Right now, they could see a soldier, attached to a steel cable, being
lowered to their plane. Slowly but sure, the soldier glides closer to the
gaping exit as his life depends entirely to the strength of the cable. When
the soldier finally reaches the plane, Gendo and Aoba quickly grab him and
pull him in. The soldier then quickly ties the steel cable on a hinge, and
hands them a vest which looks like a bullet vest with many large clamps on
them.
"Wear these tightly by clamping the steel locks on the side!" says the
soldier loudly, trying to overcome the loud whirring sound of the wind, "When
you are done, I will attach you to the cable and slides you over! The people
on the other side will then unattached you! When they do, move in and make way
for the next person! Any questions?!" As the party finishes putting on the
vests, the soldier exclaims, "Okay, who's going first?!"
With that, Gendo points to Unity-1's pilots, who have set the plane to
fly on auto-pilot. As the pilots are being attached to the cable, Gendo turns
to his staff and says, "Who's going next?"
Ritsuko replies, "Whoever you wish to go first, commander."
The commander smiles at his brave crew, and watches as the pilots were
being received on the cargo plane. "Alright, we have to move quick! Next!"
says the soldier, and with that, Gendo points to the three command personnel.
When the three of them have been received on the cargo plane, Gendo the
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points to Ritsuko and Misato. Ritsuko, the eager of the two, steps near exit
as the soldier straps her to the cable. As she slides towards the other plane
and was received safely, Misato quickly got to the gaping entrance, and the
soldier quickly attaches her to the cable. Although she didn't really like the
idea, she realizes there is no other option, and with that she slides herself
to the cargo plane.
When Misato reaches the plane, the soldier then turns to Gendo and
exclaims, "It's your turn, sir! Once you get to the other side, tell them to
cut the wire! We're dropping too fast, we don't have enough time to transport
another person!"
"What about you?!" says Gendo.
"I have a parachute and an emergency raft! I'm fine sir!" he replies.
"You better go first then!" he says. When the soldier nods and is about
to jump out, Gendo calls out, "Soldier!" When the soldier turns, Gendo
exclaims, "Thank you!" and salutes to him. The soldier salutes back, turns
around and then jumps out. Gendo could see some distance away as the soldier
inflates his parachute and drifts along the wind.
Gendo then quickly attaches himself, and is about to slide over when
suddenly the plane drops its altitude. The cable that was attached to the
hinge yanks the hinge, and Gendo along with it. "Father!!" Shinji exclaims in
sheer terror as he sees Gendo flies off the plane, surprised that he had even
the slightest care for his cold and inattentive father.
As Unity-1 drops down, Gendo glides in the air with the steel cable
still firmly attached to his vest. Instinctively, Gendo held on to the steel
cable with both of his hands as hard as he could, for he knew that his life
depends on it. For the first time in his life, Gendo experiences something
that was very odd to him: panic and fear. Fortunately, he was too well trained
not to show his weakness that his iron mask of the resolute and determined
commander never left him for even a moment in the face of danger.
Many thoughts rage in Misato's mind. Here she sees the cold and ruthles
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commander who has hurt so many people, although he himself doesn't realize it,
with his life hanging on a thread. A part of her wishes that the cable would
snap off, plunging the unknowing tyrant into oblivion forever, and ending all
the pain and suffering he has caused with his prescious Eva Project.
But, another part, perhaps her sanity, reminds her that they would not
have survived this long if it wasn't for Gendo. Gendo and his leadership,
which was harsh but somewhat effective, have so far bought humanity some time
to cheat total elimination. His Evas, his and not NERV's, have prevented the
Third Impact from happening up to now. At least, until the giant Angel
appeared . . .
Misato quickly reaches the control for the steel cable, and entered the
command to retract the cable in. She then turns around, points to the
soldiers, and exclaims, "All of you, try to help pull in the cable! Go,
quickly!"
With that, the soldiers quickly comply by forming a single file, and
each takes hold of the steel cable. As Misato enters the final command on the
panel, she turns around and exclaims, "Ready?!"
"Yes ma'am!!" cries out the soldier in unison. Misato hits the enter
button, turns to the soldier and exclaims, "Pull!!" With that, the engine and
the soldiers begin their tug-of-war against the wind to save the life of the
resolute commander.
Slowly but sure, Gendo is being pulled in towards the cargo plane.
Misato watches as Gendo draws nearer towards the cargo bay. The commander's
grip on the cable grows tighter as the crew of the plane tries to save him by
pulling him in. He mutters a silent curse, for he really hated being trapped
in a situation where he has no control over it. He also curses himself, for
letting himself being overcome by fear and panic a few moments ago.
As the elusive commander is being pulled in to the plane, as cheers of
happiness could be heard on the cargo plane, the B2-Fortresses and from inside
the Evas, Misato sees that Gendo's iron mask of determination is starting to
wear off, and was replaced by another thing: human emotion. She could see
clearly that the commander was shivering inside like a frightened cat,
although he tried to cover it by congratulating Misato and the soldiers in his
casual manner.
Misato eyed the elusive commander who is sitting down on the floor,
huddled by a warm cloak and taking a sip of warm coffee. She thought to
herself, 'For a moment, the cold Commander Ikari died, and was replaced by
Ikari Gendo, the human who have finally figured out fear and safety, something
he has never known for years until today.' As she continues on watching the
commander who was still drinking his warm coffee and trying to calm himself,
she smiles and thought, 'Welcome home, Ikari Gendo. Welcome home to the human
world.'
To Be Continued
Author's Note: Many of you Evangelion die-hard fans would
certainly noticed the changes of personalities I've made for
a few characters in this fanfic. Don't fling those N2 Bombs
at me just yet, because I really need to make those changes
in order to make the story works. Although I basically have
the story all figured out, if you have some suggestions in
order to make this fanfic even better, mail me at
artemis156@hotmail.com. Flames will be ignored (Don't you have
anything better to do than writing those junk?).
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