Chapter Twenty-Two
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"Are you ready, Shinji?"
He took a deep breath, twisted his wrists, feeling the suit flex against his arms like a second skin. A subtle difference, the added strength, but he still was grateful for it. Toby had put a lot of work into this suit, out of shame and regret. SEELE had put a lot of work into this suit, for their own gains - and because they had no doubt who he would have to face.
//Would you say Asuka was the better fighter?//
The head of SEELE had asked him the question, an hour or so ago, eyes sharp in that way that said she'd been studying the tapes and already had drawn her own conclusions. Shinji finally nodded, because it was stupid to deny the truth. If the Eva program had only been about combat ability, if the angels hadn't known how to exploit her internal flaws, he might very well have been given his walking papers while Asuka was off riding in some grand parade.
//She's not going to be happy to see you.// He knew it, as sure as he was Shinji Ikari and as sure as he couldn't have found optimism with both hands and a nautical strobe.
"Let's go."
Ready to fight the Dominion, and face what he'd had tried to avoid thinking about, that Asuka would be fighting just as hard for the other side. Misato was there too, they'd told him, standing with those who were now his enemies. Did they care? Did they know he was alive and coming to face them? The emphasis of the new Tiphereth suit seemed very much on combating Geburah, Toby had mentioned the other suit in nearly every sentence, as she explained the adjustments that had been made to his own. If he fought Asuka, could he keep her from hurting herself /and/ stop the Dominion? Or would he have too much to worry about, just keeping her from hurting him?
//You didn't exactly part on the best of terms, even before she... lost herself.//
Shinji clenched his hand slowly into a fist, feeling the added power of the suit even in the simple movement. So much time had passed since then, and here he was, stronger now, steadier - and Kawrou stood close by, watching him with that proud, patient unchanging smile.
The SEELE woman lifted her arm, he heard the groaning of several pieces of machinery and the wall in front of them split and lifted, revealing an impressive view of the setting sun. The ground was so steady Shinji had forgotten they were on the sea, planted on a cruiser carefully shadowing the harbor, closely following the Dominion that had yet to fully appear. He looked for it, anyway, though he could see nothing but horizon, sea and sky. The lights of the city seemed strangely dim, and scattered.
"We've evacuated what we could of the shore line, in the line of fire of the headquarters. Said there was a gas leak, or a spill or... whatever. Not a hint of activity from NERV, Cate's sealed it tight."
Stupid to ask if they could get in, with Kaworu standing right there - though would the angel let /them/ in, even if he had agreed to work with them?
Shinji wondered what would happen, when they reached the very center, when the core was breached and Adam and Lilith were revealed. Did this woman care about that, did she have any interest at all in the Third Impact?
//Does it matter, if Kaworu is there?//
Shinji already knew the answer to that, the only constant he /did/ know, and he had still been a little worried. Fearing all of this was still only some prelude to what he'd stopped by killing Kaworu all those years before, that the angel had changed his mind about the choice he'd made. Shinji didn't - want - to believe Kaworu would lie to him, but there had been so many lies at all the crucial, painful junctions, and he certainly couldn't be /sure/...
"I love you, Shinji. I love what you love. It will be all right."
Kaworu, with the secret smile just for him, no matter who else might see it. Always answering his faults with a perfect grace, and catching him when he stumbled.
Shinji wasn't going to lose this fight, it just wasn't possible.
"Where is the Dominion?"
"Ahead of us." Toby murmured, handing him Tiphereth's helmet. "You'll see it as soon as the sun goes behind the horizon. It's bioluminescent." Her eyes flicked to Kaworu, though he gave little reaction as she spoke. "It seems to be less sentient than the second Dominion was, more reactionary."
"Do you know how to destroy it?" Shinji squinted, thought he could pick a flicker of light out of the difference between the setting sun, the shadows, and a few of the buildings in the distance. Of course, the helmet would give him an unrestricted view, but he wanted to see it with his own eyes, first.
"The core is buried in its center, similar to the others. Remove it, and the Dominion is no more." As the sun finally disappeared, a final sliver of light seemed to cut across the sky, not just revealing the creature but setting it ablaze. The edges became easier to see with each moment, the glowing cloud massive and without much discernable form, hovering effortlessly above the bay. "It will be no small challenge to reach it, however."
Shinji accepted the pair of binoculars he was handed. It took a moment to find the dark spot in the center of the shifting glow, a sharper, harder outline that seemed to be moving as well. A series of blocks, each as large as a car, sliding and locking in a slow, seemingly endless cycle.
"We haven't been able to discern a pattern to the motion." The SEELE leader smirked. "I think it's rather up to you now, Ikari."
"Ma'am! We've got action from NERV! It appears Geburah has been launched!"
Shinji could see it, even before he put the helmet on. The streak of light that was Asuka, blazing like a fallen star, an arrow shot without fear to its destination. He envied her that, even if he knew it couldn't be real, Shinji still envied her the illusion.
A final glance at Kaworu, the angel lifting one hand in goodbye, and he ran forward, lunging off the end of the deck and lifting up, following the other suit in battle.
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"The SEELE I remember would not have been interested in any one person's capture or elimination, even the head of NERV."
Kaworu's soft voice was still startling, and the woman grimaced as she flinched - though really, if anything did have the right to make her jump, it might as well be him.
"You mean, am I obsessed with Lilith and Adam, as they were?" She snorted, shaking her head. "I would like to think that I am smarter than my father. I have no intention to spend the rest of my life pushing at immovable objects."
//Of course, there's no reason I can't take them, if the chance is there.//
The SEELE commander watched the streaking star that was Tipereth as it screamed into the sky. The Dominion flared in the sky, a sudden burst of heat lightning across sparkling clouds. She wondered, just for a moment, how in the world the pilot planned to stop it.
"Aren't you afraid for him?"
The seventeenth angel made a small, thoughtful noise that really could have been anything at all, and the current head of SEELE reminded herself that, between the two of them, she probably wasn't the one who should ask questions about intent.
Not that her plan was such a foolhardy one, certainly not what her father's would have been, had he been standing here now. To think, they had thought Kaworu was their creation, that they had not been able to look at him and see - impossibilities certainly abounded, in this world where her father could drop even /further/ in her esteem.
"Ma'am." The soldier saluted, body armor rendering him nearly invisible in the darkness. "Awaiting your orders, we're ready to go ashore."
She nodded. "Set up a perimeter. Move slowly, who knows how many traps he has set up, or guards. Restrain from heavy fire if you can, I want as many of the personnel alive as possible."
"If we encounter Cate, ma'am?"
Unlikely. Arrogant bastard that he was, he wouldn't think to try and run. He'd go down with the ship. Still, she smirked, it was fun giving the order.
"Shoot to kill, of course."
It had been a long time coming, since she had been able to see a future free of the lesser elements of SEELE, ticking off on her fingers, one by one, those who had tried to stand in her way or simply self-destructed all on their own. It was a new age, and with the destruction of the last two Dominions, SEELE's bizarre, archaic obsession with the Ikari boy, with this 'Third Impact' would be nothing but a chapter in some dusty file no one would bother to read.
It did beg the question of what to do with him afterward, though, both Tabris and Shinji Ikari. Disdainful as she was of most of her past, she had learned not to leave loose ends, pieces in play that she might lose track of or forget about. Not that it seemed Ikari had any ambitions of his own, not if he'd been so quiet all these years - but still, it wasn't something she could simply ignore.
//... and what is the angel's plan, since he's not up there fighting?//
The cloud surrounding the Dominion flashed and flared like a thunderstorm, she could see neither pilot but assumed both were there fighting. Hopefully not each other, though she was not optimist enough to believe it. Would either of them be able to hit the Dominion at its weak spot? Did it have a weak spot?
//Everyone has a weakness. The angel's weakness is Ikari, and his weakness is his trust in his lover.//
She wouldn't be surprised, if Ikari hadn't even asked Tabris if there were some ulterior motive to his decision to help SEELE. As if her request for the angel to help them neutralize Cate was more than an offhand comment, as if Kaworu likely cared one way or another about their politics.
//We can't stop him yet, so he might as well remove a few obstacles, since he's willing.//
She did respect the angel enough to realize how high his goals were, how far his potential power extended beyond her own. Did he want the Dominion's cores for himself - or had he simply been biding his time, amusing himself with the human before taking Adam as his own? The angels had been the enemy of NERV, still were if he shared their final intent. SEELE may have spun Third Impact into their own personal mythology, but the fact remained that the event would signal the end of humanity.
"So I guess it's a race between us, then?"
She turned on her heel, felt the edge of her coat pick up in the rising wind. Kaworu was already gone.
"Damn it."
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Shinji had lost contact with SEELE almost immediately after launch. One of the possibilities they'd mentioned, that whatever the cloud was around the Dominion, it would disrupt radio frequencies. It meant no one would help him, even if they thought of something, though the extent of the strategy seemed to be the same every time, even when he had been fighting angels with the Eva.
Hit it, hard, and keep hitting it until it didn't get up again.
Radio silence also meant he wouldn't be able to talk to Asuka. He already knew... too much, too much about the Dominion to turn into words or even thoughts. It still hovered behind his eyes, pushing out most everything else - and whatever was left struggled to simply remind him he was still human.
Shinji felt very transparent, a glass jar full of water set against the sky. Shape and boundary, with all the Dominion passing through him, a flickering, blue-white plasma haze.
It wasn't angry, he noticed - with some detached part, some gifted part of Kaworu still inside of him - not angry at all. Funny, he'd always thought the Angels must have been constantly so, raw fury against man simply given solid form. It certainly made them easier to fight, rather than thinking their attacks were only programmed, without emotion, or counter response.
//Counter response?//
Shinji studied the thought, floating closer to the constantly-moving cubes, flinching just a little at the massive crash, whenever two of them impacted. Beyond the lethal barrier, he could see the glow of Muriel's core, a flicker here and there amidst layer upon layer of the massive, shifting blocks.
//... damn it.// He pulled away, putting a little more distance between himself and the slow-but-lethal movements. There had to be a pattern, and it certainly would have been nice if he was any good at knowing how to find one.
It wasn't that Shinji had forgotten about Asuka, the study of the Dominion hadn't taken more than a few moments. He still didn't see her coming, didn't hear her until she hit him. Not a good sign.
The blow - energy weapon, or just her fists? - sent him spinning, sensors shrieking in panic, and Shinji managed to stop only a few feet from where a block the size of a small building crashed into its neighbor. He took two short, sharp breaths, simply watching the tiny tendrils of electricity - the same color as the core - dance across the surface. Patterned like bismuth, natural tessellations.
//An illusion of God.//
Maybe her next scream had words, Shinji thought it must have, breaking through the static as though the sheer force of it could demand the connection. Asuka never held off from a chance to tell him what he'd done wrong, why all of this was inevitably his fault. Maybe it had been German, and that was why he couldn't make out any of the sounds, nothing but a screeching roar as she shot forward and knocked him out of the sky.
"Asuka! Asuka, stop!" He wanted to add 'It's me, Shinji!' but his breath hitched in a maniacal half-giggle - she already knew that or she wouldn't be trying so hard to kill him. It was difficult to see her move, silhouetted by the Dominion, but gave him a perfect view of the moving interior - still sliding at a relentless pace, but the crackles of energy were growing in size and frequency, the glow that surrounded them shifting to a lighter and lighter blue by the second.
The piercing whistle of an alarm brought him back to reality. He saw the two targets, bright red in his display. At first, Shinji thought they were missiles, twisting out of the way of the first, grimacing as he raised an arm, too slow to completely dodge the second. It thudded with bone-crushing force against his armor, but there was no explosion. Shinji opened his eyes just in time to feel the cable snap taught around his middle and start to squeeze.
//... the hell?// Not missiles then, but whips, and Asuka snapped her arm up fast, dragging him through the sky. Shinji pulled back, propulsion on the suit whining and shuddering as it strained to counter the sudden speed. It was hopeless, he'd caught it too late, and could only try to soften the blow as she drove her boot into his midsection.
It wasn't incapacitating, not entirely, but the sharp pain caught just below his breastbone, and he saw only white, coughing as he tumbled across the sky. A searing wave of green passed by - white turned to static, and then a dark blur of ocean that suddenly sizzled back to white. He'd nearly been hit - because the Dominion was attacking now, too.
"Asuka... don't!"
No stopping her now, the cycle of attack and defense so swift it had become a constant. No space between missile explosions and the electrical attacks like heat lightning scorching across the sky. The red-gold of her suit shone against the explosions, reflecting their fury - beautiful, with all he knew he still could not begrudge her beauty.
Asuka was actually holding her own, dodging and twisting the bolts of energy. Directing blast after blast of energy toward the center of the Dominion, and though she was lost in rage it seemed to be no detriment to her skill.
//Never was, not for her, not for either of you.// It was only when they stopped being angry, that people got hurt.
If she had taken that lesson to heart now, though, they were likely both doomed.
"Asuka!!!"
Shinji watched her strike out again, but the return blast from the Dominion shot down at an angle impossible to dodge. Her body twisted, a vibrant, sleek sunset, still graceful even as she fell. He was beneath her in moments, catching at the shoulder plating, dragging her up from where the Dominion threw its next attack. Shinji could feel the shudder of energy just beneath his feet, didn't dare to look. He let go, the moment the drag of her body was buffeted, lessened, Asuka catching herself under her own power.
It was too much to think she would forgive him. It was, apparently, too much to think that she didn't still want revenge.
"... my way, Ikari! ... my fight!"
He could barely hear her through the static, though she was no more than an arm's length away. Less than that, actually, because her arms were on his and pivoting in the sky, shifting her thrusters and tossing him right into the center of the Dominion.
Alarms screamed in his ears, Shinji twisting his body hard and putting all the power he could into the thrusters at his boots, twisting to let them skitter along the side of one of the core blocks, sending up a shower of blue sparks in his wake. A new alarm in the corner of the screen, he snapped his head up just in time to see Asuka swooping up, whipcords in front of her and aimed straight at his head. A tingle beneath his feet that quickly became a burning, biting thing. The counterattack.
//NO!//
Shinji dropped propulsion, just let himself fall, bending his legs back and re-igniting once he was vertical, pushing himself down as fast as he could go. The Dominion's blast was still a blur at the edges of his vision, so powerful he could feel it shaking all the way up his spine.
//Asuka?//
No way she could have gotten out of its path, too focused on him to see the greater danger. Insane, she had gone mad, being forced back into what had nearly broken her the first time would only finish the job.
Shinji grimaced, furiously ignoring the sensation creeping through his chest, the melting crack of ice, the threatening sting of tears. How to stop the Dominion, that was all that mattered. He hadn't even seen Asuka in years, years on years and she hadn't ever really been his friend.
... and he was so caught in trying not to grieve, trying to make his plan that he didn't even think to look up. Didn't understand what the sound was that drowned out the alarms until he realized it could only be a scream - familiar now, that rage - and Geburah plowed into his back, cords tightening fast around his body as they plunged into a long, steep spiral toward the sea below.
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The nice thing about obsession, Toby thought, was that it usually came packaged with victory, if one was serious enough about it. With a little time and a workable game face, the world narrowed to the important details, and results could be harvested from those. As a bonus, that sort of determination took up enough time and energy that nothing was left to be afraid with. The tense, electric feeling brushing her skin was fear, but Toby ignored it. At the very worst, her attempt to infiltrate her old workplace would fail and she would probably be shot. All odds were, she wouldn't even see or hear it coming.
//Better than what you did for Shinji. Far better.//
Concentration left her feeling oddly fractured - she had slipped out of the tower with only a mumbled excuse, no one had noticed, too busy yelling orders to the pilot who likely couldn't hear them anyway. The soldiers were packed off in boats of their own beneath, roaring toward the shore and NERV headquarters. Toby had flashed clearance and an icy glare and had gotten on board one of the last vessels as it broke away from the carrier. The woman in charge of all of this was far ahead, the battle had already likely started but Toby knew she would have time, cracking NERV open once it had closed up would be a time-consuming task, she was sure.
The soldiers onboard took little notice of her, eyes fixed skyward in awe and fear. Toby didn't bother looking up, though the flash of explosions still reflected in a hazy glow against the metal around her, and the water beneath. She'd already seen enough of this, enough battle, and each flare of light left her wincing. The misery was stupid, as if she hadn't seen it coming, hadn't been assigned to do this to Shinji from the beginning. Years of work, and it was only stupidity that hadn't put it together, hadn't realized this was the /only/ end result she could have expected.
At least the odds of Cate getting out of this were slim, she could look forward to that, even if she wasn't alive to see it.
Toby was nearly thrown to the ground as the boat hit the shore hard, soldiers immediately charging forward, up onto the rocky slope within moments, and she was left awkwardly alone, wondering just how she'd managed to do this, if maybe she'd stopped existing, or this was a dream.
The sound of gunfire didn't seem much more real than anything else, but it jolted her into action, creeping quietly away from the sound of fighting. Toby scrambled over the ridge, sliding awkwardly down into a valley, grimacing as the rocks scratched against the palms of her hands.
The small gully was completely black, but as another explosion from the Dominion slashed through the sky, she could see the edge of the small steel door, illuminated in the light.
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The only thing worse than falling, trapped, was when Asuka tore out of the dive and abruptly let him go. Getting him away from the Dominion, so she could finish him off more easily - it really wasn't helpful, those sorts of thoughts. Shinji's stomach lurched painfully as he warily shifted into the defensive.
"We can't fight like this, Asuka. there isn't time to-"
He dodged the first punch, but the second landed hard against his side, and Shinji grunted, lashing back with his own strike, sending Asuka spinning away. The space between them was lit with a brilliant arc of energy, like a crack in the sky - they couldn't do this. Even at this distance, if the Dominion hit either of them Shinji didn't think they'd survive. Above his head, the blocks were shifting faster now, agitated by the battle and the errant shots that had left only a passing mark against its surface. He still needed to get inside, reach the core and disable the Dominion before it reached NERV - somehow.
A cord wrapped around his calf, and he was dragged downward with a sharp snap, the blow so hard it shook him to his toes, and he couldn't even tell where she'd hit him. Maybe it had been wrong to think Asuka needed help - the fury in her was even more than he had imagined. Of course she'd been hurt, and he hadn't done - but what could he have done?
The radio kept cutting in and out, but broke in just as she let loose with a final cry of rage and dropped down upon him in another steep arc, leaving him with no route of escape. Shinji heard the whine of alarms, the sound of some instrument in decline but he had no idea how close they had fallen to the ground - or to the shore - until the breath was crushed out of him in a series of sharp, sudden jolts. Not the brutal impact and slow cushion of the ocean he had expected. Shinji looked up, blinking in confusion. Above, his vision tunneled - no - he was looking through walls, or ceilings, what was left of them. Asuka had dropped him through an abandoned building, knocking through every floor to the bottom.
He saw the shadow, the flicker of cables against the night sky, and the ear-piercing shriek of warning in his ear. So fast, too fast, and Shinji had no chance to do more than clench his fist against the concrete dust before Asuka struck. The whips were like nails piercing down, one slamming into his leg while the other went straight for his heart. Shinji screamed, half-surprised he still could, amazed to see that the cable had not pierced his heart, even if it felt like it.
He had no time to celebrate the victory, before Asuka had followed the cables, slamming into him, still screaming.
"I won't let you! Not this time!" He didn't understand, only that each statement came with a vicious blow that left his ears ringing. Shinji tried to push up, fight it, but she was holding him down - and the hands that were striking him suddenly dropped around his neck, starting to squeeze.
"You can't do it. I won't let it happen again." Her voice was a low growl, utterly inhuman. Shinji gasped for air, clutching at the hands but finding no purchase.
"Asu-"
Her hands tightened, he could hear the crack of armor and whining alarms, the pain growing as her fingertips dug in.
"Why?! Why did you have to come here?! Why do you always ruin everything?! You're supposed to be dead! You're supposed to die!"
No use, he couldn't pry her hands away, all humanity and most forces of nature stood no chance against Asuka in a rage. Shinji choked on his last breath, hands falling limply to his sides.
"Why?! Why did it have to happen!? I didn't do anything wrong! I did a good job! I did what they told me to do! Why?! Why!? WHY!?"
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"WHY!?!?!"
The last word was a high, keening scream. Asuka dropped him without knowing, hands wrapping around her chest. Sniffling like a weakling, breath coming in wet, harsh gasps.
//... not again. Not again.//
He couldn't... it wasn't fair and he couldn't,
"Asuka? ASUKA?!"
Misato's voice, and even though she flinched away from it, even though it was loud, it seemed terribly far away. Where was she? Why hadn't Misato talked to her before? What was going on - had they won? No. No, she still needed to get up and fight, but she didn't even seem injured - so what was she doing here?
Asuka blinked, shifted, finally noticed the press of a leg against her own.
"... Shinji?"
Misato's voice was still calling for her, and other voices were speaking too, filling her head with sound like some dissonant angelic choir. Warnings inside the suit, flashing lights, danger from above.
The Dominion, she should destroy it.
Shinji wasn't moving.
Her fingertips trembled inside the suit, reaching out as slowly as she could toward him. It sounded like a gale buffeting her body, not her breath, not her voice.
//Mama... I didn't mean... I'm scared... I'm scared.//
"Shinji. You idiot... get up."
Rough words, someone was muttering in German now, the sorts of words she would have gotten in trouble for knowing, if anyone cared. She could see the place her fingertips had pressed in, the spider web cracks. Asuka pressed again there, just lightly, and Shinji's head tipped limply to the side. A dead weight. So small a thing, but she jerked her hand back first from him, then away from herself, staring at it like a stranger.
The muttering had stopped. The voice was howling. The voice was screaming.
She was screaming.