Evangelion Ressurection: Hell on Earth

Shinji had been watching the battle play out as Toji and Ritsuko slaved on in the control center, finishing up the final touches to Eva 01, preparing it for Shinji once again. Eyes closed Shinji began to focus his mind, he knew that the call would come from Misato soon. The Evas had been ineffective against the Angel and it was only Asuka's quick thinking that had saved the life of both Kensuke and Rei. The Angel seemed to be extremely fast, but Shinji had been watching it more than the other Evas in the battle. As he spent more time watching the movements, he understood the Angel's greatest strength and weakness, or so he hoped.

"Shinji, do you think you can launch in Unit 01? We're in the middle of some serious problems with this Angel and we need all available Evas if we want any hope of defeating this thing. It's more powerful than we thought."

Shinji didn't reply at all, instead he used received a green light from Ritsuko and he opened his eyes his mind tightly focused, "I understand Ritsuko, I'm going out. I have a plan already, and I think we can beat it. Misato tell Unit 02 to follow my orders, if this plan is to work she's going to have to follow my orders without question."

Misato seemed shocked, the way Shinji had such an unshakeable confidence about his plan. How he seemed so sure that he might be able to do something against an opponent such as this the first New Breed Angel to have appeared. -How can he seem so sure of himself, he hasn't fought this thing yet, he hasn't... Stop it right there Misato, trust Shinji. He and Asuka against this thing should be more than enough, since they're the two with the most battle experience.- Misato nodded and keyed up her microphone to Asuka's Unit, "Asuka, it just so happens I do have a miracle up my sleeve. But I need you to listen closely, we're sending you some back up, and I need you to listen to the letter, do you understand?"

"Wunderbar Misato, I agree if it gets Rei and Kensuke out of here. If those two are safe it's worth whatever I might have to do. Don't you think, ja?"

"Alright Asuka, remember your promise no matter what!"

Asuka had to pause for a moment, since when did they have backup? The three useable Evangelions were already out here, and two of them were for the most part out of this fight. It was taking all she could to keep the Angel at bay at the moment. -Sheisse, this thing is faster than I thought. I'm surprised I'm keeping up as long as I have, hopefully this backup miracle will be worth it. Otherwise I might not be able to walk away from the battle in one piece!-

Misato picked up the microphone and looked at the picture of the calm collected Shinji on the screen and nodded, "Eva Unit 01, LAUNCH!" The locks for the catapult disengaged and the shuttle sent the Eva rocketing upwards through the twising catapult until he saw the night sky above.

-Well Shinji this is what you agreed to, time to make sure everyone walks away from this. Switching to electronic voice scrambler, I don't want Asuka's emotions getting in the way at a time like this. If she gets mad, it won't be good, she won't listen. And if she's happy she'll be unable to concentrate on the battle.-

"Deploying AT field, Rei now that you have Kensuke's capsule I want you to retreat back to headquarters. Unit 02, we need to find a way to immobilize the target even if it's just for a few moments."

Shinji's radio communication came from the tunnel before he had even surfaced. It was a blur of purple, black, and neon green that launched from the tunnel straight up before landing in a crouch over the hole that had spawned the Eva. No power cable attached the Eva to the ground, and he cut in once again, "Unit 02, pick up the pallet gun from Unit 05 and try to get it's attention on you. If you can engage it in close range combat, and get it locked up then we've got a chance! I'll cover your back and keep it from getting to you there... Understood?"

Asuka looked with wide eyes at the thing that had surfaced. Unit 01 had joined the fight. What exactly was the meaning of this? -Who the hell is piloting that thing? Shinji's too much of a coward to do it any longer, and the voice is scrambled. Denying video link feed too.- She looked at the rifle sitting on the ground, it was lying in two pieces however it was the barrel near the end that had taken damage on not the receiver of the weapon. She couldn't afford to get tangled up in the umbilical cable in this, so she ejected the giant electrical plug which fell towards the ground before a set of rockets on the plug kicked in to keep it from severaly damaging anything.

"I would pick up that rifle but it's damaged, how the hell do you expect me to use a damaged rifle?"

"The rifle may be damaged Unit 02, but the barrel has only been cut short. It'll still fire, and sure as hell won't be that accurate, but I'm pretty damn certain that'll help keep this thing off it's balance. We have less than five minutes before you power gives out, so we need to move fast! It seems that three seconds after the form blurs it appears behind an agressor, it's happened three times already so let's hope the pattern stays the same."

-Whoever that is knows about the power limitations of the Evas.. And knows what he's talking about when it comes to Eva weaponry. I guess I have no choice, besides I gave my word to Misato I would agree no matter what happened.-

Without a second thought Asuka sent her Eva hurtling forward into a low stooped sprint. As the Eva ran by the rifle she threw it into a forward roll with the right hand of the Eva gripping the rifle. The weapon flicked over the Eva's head for a moment before snapping down into the second hand, and letting go with a quick burst of three shots. Most of the shots missed the Angel, but one had actually hit it in the torso with little damage done. Angered the golden skinned behemoth turned in the direction of Unit 02, and the form blurred as it launched itself forward.

Shinji watched the Angel moving, it was agile, but it's strength lie in the great speed and ability to keep its opponent guessing until it ran out of ammo or power. The instant the form blurred and it left a long streak behind it Shinji began his backwards count from three, and popped out putting a trio of shots directly over the shoulder of Asuka's red armored Evangelion. The only thing Asuka saw was Unit 01 firing directly at it, and instinctively Asuka ducked and the blur stopped directly in the path of the trio of shots. The thing jerked three seperate times, but seemed unhurt from the attack.

"Unit 01 what the fuck do you think you're doing trying to attack me?!"

"Unit 02 turn around NOW! The angel took those three hits, grab it in a bear hug, read it a story, whatever you do get it to stop moving for just a few moments!"

Asuka looked wide-eyed at the Angel that had stopped momentarily behind it, and spun the Eva in a rising kick. Still seemingly dazed from the shots Shinji had put into it, the heel of the Eva connected with it launching it upwards in a slow spinning circle. -Alright now Asuka, you can't afford to freeze up, before it hits the ground I'm going to have to grab it.-

As the Angel flew in an arch from the kick Shinji smiled, it would indeed seem that Asuka had managed to resynchronize with the Eva in a far stronger fashion than before. Watching Unit 02 position itself to catch the falling angel, Shinji prepared to make a final strike. The angel's form blurred, and he let out an expression of surprise as he charged, the progressive katana drawn from the left hip's sheath.

Asuka let out a scream as the Angel altered its direction in midair, streaking down to the ground before moving behind the Eva. Enlongated talons closed in under the armpits of the Eva, with four talons of each hand penetrating through the torso. Asuka bit her lip to keep from crying out again, pain burned through her entire body as the talons wriggled inside of the Eva. She felt every moment of pain, every burning sensation until a new feeling entered the back of her head. It felt like her brain was on fire, but instantly that sensation was gone as the relays were cut by headquarters.

Shinji saw the Angel attack Asuka from behind, which put it in front of him. Giving orders to Misato he yelled out, "Cut her links to the Eva, NOW!" Without waiting for confirmation his Eva lunged forward in a purple flash as the katana pierced upwards through the core of the Angel and into the head of Unit 02. The Angel thrashed once, then again before it went utterly still the core split down the middle then splintered before the Angel fell to the ground smothering Unit 02.

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Shinji had just been removed from the entry plug of the Eva, his body trembling slightly as it was placed in the cage. Before the plug insert had even been settled he lept from it and landed on the walkway, his feet pounding on the metal as he took off at a run towards Unit 02. His thoughts swirled inside his head, certainly he had worries about Kensuke, but he was sure he was okay but it was Asuka he was more worried about at the moment.

The plug insert was removed from Unit 02 as he arrived, and Asuka picked herself off the seat looking at her Evangelion. It was then she heard the footfalls of the support staff surrounding her to see if she was injured, "I'm fine everyone, but where the hell is the pilot of Unit 01?! I want to rip him a new one for the damage they did to my precious Unit 02!"

Shinji stopped having heard her yell out the words, and his fist closed into a trembling ball before he stared straight at Asuka. She looked in the direction of Unit 01, and her eyes looked like they were about to pop out of her head when she saw Shinji standing on the platform. Immediately Shinji spun away, and stormed off away from the Evangelions. -I save her life, and this is how she shows her thanks for me? She's worried more about her oh so precious Unit 02 than me, to hell with that.-

Asuka watched the retreating Shinji push his way through a crowd of support personnel, shoving several people forcefully out of his way and against the railings as he went. She tried to get her way through the support staff, managing to make little headway against the throng of cheering people. Her thoughts were confused at the moment, -Was that Shinji in a plug suit?! He was piloting Unit 01? Sheisse, I'm such an idiot. My first chance to talk to him, and I had to say something like Where is Unit 01's pilot cause I want to yell at him...-

Asuka managed to get through the group of people, her head lowered as she walked off dragging her feet towards the locker room to change her clothes. She looked quite bothered at the moment, and Shinji watching from the back end of the crowd actually shook his head before he spoke loud enough for her to hear, "Go ahead Asuka.. you want to yell at me for what I did to your baby? Then go ahead!"

The words caused Asuka to nearly jump out of her skin, that voice was indeed Shinji's. Her breathing slowed and her pulse raced as she looked over her shoulder at the man standing there. She couldn't help but be amazed, in the plug suit his form was immediately visible. He wasn't the same willowly little boy that she knew, his form looked like it actually had a bit of muscle and tone to it now. Silently she looked at Shinji, she hadn't been able to look him in the face yet, here eyes after looking at him were lowered to the ground as she stumbled over words that came out as an incohesive garble.

Shinji crossed his arms waiting for Asuka start screaming at the top of her lungs at him like she had done for most of the time since she had arrived in Japan five years ago. However the words that she choked on, couldn't speak through at all, erupted from her mouth and Shinji shifted his stance a little bit. -Damn, I didn't mean to have her babbling like this.-

Finally Asuka bit her lip and took a breath to steady herself long enough to look up and meet Shinji's eyes which were boring into hers. She squirmed visibly, he seemed like a hawk watching her and couldn't help but finally managed to squeak out a pair of words, "I'm sorry."

Shinji blinked three times in rapid succession and almost did a double take at the words, she had just spoken words he never thought he would hear from her mouth as long as he shoulder live. Shinji did manage a small smile and a nod, "Well, Asuka if you're not busy sometime tomorrow, stop by Misato's I'm staying there. Maybe we can talk about everything there, alright?"

Asuka's tongue licked her suddenly dry lips, even though her mouth was just as dry. She looked at him and pointed an accusatory finger at him, "Who are you and just what have you done with the real Shinji Ikari? The real Shinji is too much of a coward to even think of talking to me like this."

Shinji went to brush past Asuka, turning his head to look at her as he went beyond her, "Times change, and so do people.." Without breaking stride he was off towards Ritsuko who stood there holding his clothes. Without thinking he took the clothes, and headed off to the locker rooms. He could still smell the blood that had covered him in the cockpit, and he could only think of how dirty he felt with the LCL mingled with his hair.

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Once he was in the locker room he'd flipped the plug suit over a bench and climbed into one of the showers, letting the hot water run down his body. Instead of scrubbing his body clean, he simply planted both hands against the wall and let the water cascade off his body in waves. The door to the locker room opened then closed, and his first instincts were that Asuka was trying to sneak in for whatever reason, but when Hyuga's voice called out he relaxed, "Shinji, Misato says she'll be tied up here the rest of the night, and probably until tomorrow sometime. She didn't even have time to tell you herself, she's busy hashing it out with the government about the Evas, how they're trying to reclaim them after the Jet Alone was ripped apart by the Angel."

Shinji didn't say anything for a long time, instead continued to let the water run. Finally he yelled back, "I got it." Shinji finally killed the water as he managed to mutter while getting out of the shower, "Baths are the laundry for the soul.. Misato what a crock." He toweled himself down and was dressed when he passed through the doors only to have a red headed woman walking alongside him as he came out. From the corner of his eye Shinji watched Asuka before he managed to speak, "What the hell are you following for?"

"Well, you said if I had time I could come over and talk to you. I don't feel like waiting until tomorrow, and I've already got free time. So I figure we could just talk tonight instead."

Shinji stepped into the elevator that would lead to the area behind the security checkpoint. He leaned back against the wall of the elevator his eyes closed as he listened to the hum of the elevator as it began it's long ascent.

"Hey Shinji..."

Shinji raised a hand and cut Asuka off, his eyes opening a little behind half lids, "Before you say anything, I've got something I want to say.. I'm sorry. For being forceful when I came home two years ago, for shoving you into the wall like that, for what I said, I'm sorry for everything."

Asuka's temper flared then and she got right up into his face looking him right in the eye as she debated slapping him, "Why are you sorry for that dummkopf?! You finally broke out of your shell that night, and spoke what was REALLY on your mind for so long. Don't be sorry about that, besides.." She turned her head away her voice lowering as she managed to keep her voice, "I'm the one that should be sorry.. All the times I had berated you, embarrassed you, made you want to hate me.."

Shinji looked at Asuka as she spoke the words, his hand moved out when she turned her head and a finger coiled under her chin turning her vision back to him as he leaned forward, "You don't have to be sorry for that Asuka, it's in the past.. And I don't hate you for it, that's who you are and I accepted that a long time ago.. about the time we got off the ship in Yokosuka with Unit 02.."

Asuka looked at Shinji the way he was suddenly acting towards her made her feel odd, and her hand groped the wall behind her hitting the door open button. Her feelings were jumbled, and she didn't know what to think of these sudden feelings that were rising. Shinji was leaning forward, and all she could think about was getting back and away, who was this stranger? The door of the elevator snapped open and she slipped out, running down the hall with a pair of words called over her shoulder, "I'm sorry.."

Shinji was left to stand there in the elevator, his eyes watching her fleeing form. As the door closed he turned and his fist hit the wall, "SHIT! I didn't want things to go like that..."