Eva Ambivilence
Evangelion Fan Fiction by .Richard Flynn.

Chapter 5.

Asuka and Shinji ran along the metal corridors with lightening speed. The varied shades of white and silver that lined the hallways now shone an irritating red from the emergency lights that littered the complex. They had just arrived at NERV to find out the whereabouts of Matsushito, who had been so rudely snatched from them earlier, only to find that NERV was in a state of panic. Endless streams of people passed them as they made their way to the command center. Shinji had infact felt inclined to ask one of them what was happening, only to be shrugged off. They were both deafened by the radio announcer, blaring her voice over the intercom.
"Thirty seconds until lockdown of primary research area is completed. All personnel must evacuate to their designated area's immediately."
"Shit! Shinji look!" and Asuka pointed to the large steel doors that were beginning to close ahead of them. Both of them ran as fast as they could, and narrowly dodged the closing door as it shut behind them. Breathing a sigh of relief, they picked themselves up and continued down the hallway. Meanwhile, Misato was accompanying Ritsuko in the control room, where Gendo and commander Fuyuzuki were already waiting.
"Where have you two been?!" asked Fuyuzuki. "We've got the whole facility on full alert."
"What's happening?" asked Misato cooly.
"There have been explosions recorded in the lower sections of NERV. Although they are of no threat to this control room, I stress that we have no idea what has been causing them."
"Or maybe we do." Gendo said quietly to himself. Fuyuzuki looked at him puzzled.
"Anyway," he continued. "We were about to do an analysis of NERV's lower thirteen levels. We must make sure we know exactly what we're dealing with here. Hyuga, you are clear to begin the analysis."
Hyuga gave a brief nod and he fiddled around with the buttons on his instrument panel for a quick moment, before watching the Magi's holographic data screens ahead of him. The rest of the bridge crew, including the two commanders, watched the monitors curiously, as the Magi did its scans of the lower levels. Sixty, Seventy, Eighty, Ninety, One Hundred Percent.
"Strange?" he said aloud. "The Magi haven't detected anything out of the ordinary sir, should I perform a cross-scan to verify the results?"
"Hmm..." Fuyuzuki pondered. "I'd say that'd be wise. I'm not sure if my instincts serve me correctly, but I still believe that something is down there. Make it so."
"Yes sir." Misato looked over Hyuga's right shoulder as he transferred his scan results into an easily readable graph. Everything seemed normal, just as the Magi predicted. He looked closely for discolorations on the multi-polygon graph. Just then he noticed something. One polygon was shaded an unusual red, compared to the surrounding maroon areas.
"Magi. Cross-scan area 236 on level eight."
Following the command, the magi re-performed the scan. Sixty, Seventy, Eighty, Ninety, One Hundred Percent. Everyone looked at the data monitor for a brief second, while the Magi reexamined the collected data. There was a long eerie silence. Just then, loud sirens began to blare and the room went bright red from warning lights.
"A.T. field detected on level eight! Blood pattern blue, Angel confirmed!" he shouted as he confirmed his results. Gasps of disbelief were heard throughout the control center as he feebly gained access to the security cameras in that area to obtain visual confirmation. He watched intently at the large screen as level eight's cameras came online. And there he was. Matsushito. He was before the camera, standing over a helpless victim as his heart glowed inside his body. The victim of which was an engineer, who was accidentally separated from the main group when the sirens first sounded. He had raised his arms and was pleading with Matt for mercy. But with iron will and showing zero emotion, Matt raised his hand to the mans face, and instantly vaporized him with his deadly particle beam. The crowd watched him, deeply horrified, from the safety of the control room. And at that moment he noticed the camera spying on him. He walked towards it slowly and peered at it carefully. Realizing what it was, he smiled crookedly. He widened his eyes ever so slightly, and they began to glow bright red. Suddenly the camera jolted, twisted and contorted until finally blacking out and losing picture all together.
"This confirms our theory Fuyuzuki." Gendo said quietly.
"Indeed." He replied. "He is more powerful than we could have possibly imagined. A true Angel. He's... perfect!"

Shinji and Asuka stormed into the control room unannounced. Their heavy breathing catching the attention of numerous staff. Misato came up to them with sweat pouring down her neck.
"About time you two got here. We've got a situation on our hands at the moment. You must board your Eva's immediately." She said to the bewildered couple.
"What's happening?!" Asuka said abruptly. "We've noticed people from the outer regions of NERV evacuating."
"Not to mention the fact that we nearly got trapped by closing security doors." Continued Shinji.
"Children, I'll be honest with the two of you. And when I mean honest, I mean... devastating. Your friend Matsushito is an Angel. And he is currently wandering around NERV killing innocent people. Do you both understand?"
Shinji accepted the fact readily, as it seemed to confirm his earlier suspicions. But Asuka was indeed devastated. She bowed her head in disbelief and anguish as Misato looked at her pitifully.
"You must go, now. Already, half the installation is evacuated, but if this Angel reaches its target, none of this is going to matter." She then gave them both the access key cards for the Evangelion cages. They looked at her for a brief moment while they contemplated the situation. Looking at their key cards, they agreed and turned towards the cage. As they walked out of the control room, Misato stood there solemnly. She turned and looked over the Magi's holographic data screens. There was an unearthly silence that sent a chill down Misato's spine. All the crew in the control room had evacuated. Even the two commanders had taken leave of the place and left Misato with standing orders to coordinate the attack upon the 18th Angel. She knelt over and cried. Something inside her, told her that she may not see either Shinji or Asuka again. Warm tears landed on the control room's metal floor, making a thudding noise as it landed. She looked next to her at an ashtray that Ritsuko had left behind before the evacuation. Pretty regular, but there was something different about it. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she took a closer look at it. It was beginning to move! Up and down it started to vibrate, and she took a quick step back from it. It moved its way across the metal railing before falling to the floor beside her and breaking apart. But it continued to move across the floor. She made the realization that the ashtray was just that, an ashtray. And she looked around herself. The floors were beginning to vibrate as well. As were the bridge crew's computer terminals. The soft vibrating slowly turned to shuddering, and before long, it seemed to her that she was experiencing an earthquake. She looked at the large screen ahead of her and noticed small cracks beginning to appear. Her heartbeat rising suddenly as she stood there spellbound. Crack after crack appeared, and she inched her way back to the door. Pieces of the screen were now beginning to fall and in its center, she saw the glowing figure of a boy. Her worst fears were starting to come true as it made its way towards her. She snapped out of her trance and removed her gun from its holster. Quickly she emptied her magazine into it. Bullet after bullet, hit with pinpoint accuracy, but flew straight through it, having zero effect. She backed up further still as it stared down at her. How it had changed. Matt was no longer recognizable now. Instead, he had mutated from his face down. He no longer had human form. His glowing red eyes exposing numerous scales around his face. He raised his hands in preparation to attack. But Misato saw what had happened to the last person who faced it and quickly ran in the opposite direction. Suddenly she hit something hard and fell back. Dazed and confused, she opened her eyes. To her surprise, she had run right into Rei.
"God dammit Rei! What are you doing here?! C'mon, this way." And she pulled the confused girl along behind her.
Meanwhile Shinji and Asuka were making their way through the cage when Misato came running behind them. They both turned their heads curiously as she began to gasp for air. Shinji was astonished to see Rei being tagged on behind her. It had been quite a while since he had seen her. Misato stood in front of them as she caught her breath. Suddenly she looked up.
"SHINJI LOOK OUT!" she shouted. And she watched as large pieces of metal fell from the ceiling. Shinji stood there a moment before realizing the danger that he was in. However, he was too late to avoid it. A large sheet of titanium hit the back of his head. And he was instantly knocked out. Landing on the floor with a thud, he dropped the cage access keys into the Eva coolant fluid. As they sank to the bottom, Asuka and Misato looked over helplessly as their last hope for defeating the Angel was lost forever.

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