Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ Guest Performance ❯ Girlfriend Not Real ( Chapter 5 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: I'm not Gainax. Eva is not mine. Thank you for your attention.




Anja and Sadao knew that they had lost. Neither of them wanted to harm Misato, and ordering their bodyguards to defeat them would have been madness anyway. The result would have been a certain and bloody defeat against the troop that accompanied the Captain and was now pointing their sub-machine guns at the actors.

"Did she tell you about our plan?" Anja asked Misato.

"Ri ... eh ... Rei you mean? She was quite eager to tell us after I explained the situation to her."

"What situation?" Sadao wanted to know.

The Captain didn't answer directly. She licked at her index finger and held it up into the air. She pointed to her right. "That is south, correct?" she asked one of her subordinates.

"Yes, Ma'am," he answered and tapped on his earpiece. "We will be informed immediately if the wind direction changes."

"Wind direction?" Sadao asked.

"Just a little problem," Misato answered. "No need to worry." She entered the helicopter and looked at the actors. "Are you coming?"

"What kind of little problem?" Anja demanded.

"Well, an important Soryu shrine was nuked," Misato answered casually, "100 km north-west from here. But it was only a small tactical warhead, and we have a southern wind at the moment. As I said: No need to worry. Oh, the hot spot lies in the direction of this road by the way."

Anja went pale. "N-Nuked?"

Misato seemed to get annoyed. "Yes. The WAFF has already claimed responsibility."

Sadao was confused. "The ... WAFF? What?"

"The Weirdest of Ayanami's Fanatical Followers. A terror group. Now come on. Or should we carry you?"

The helicopter was big enough to also carry Sadao's and Anja's bodyguards. The ambulance was abandoned.

"Could you please repeat the last situation report for the pilots?" Misato screamed at the co-pilot against the noise of the starting aircraft.

"The riots are spreading on all continents, Captain," the man screamed back. " The government has lost control over large parts of the armed forced including almost the complete spaceforce. The president has apparently been killed two hours ago when the G.U.N.S. Bitchslap was destroyed by the Military Otaku, and we have had no contact with SEELE. There were two more nuclear attacks by unknown parties near Kobe and Osaka. The mutineers on board the Pride of Soryu are threatening to begin with N2-bombardments from orbit if the wedding of the Second and Third Child won't be announced within the next twenty-four hours. A similar ultimatum but concerning the Third and the First came from the G.U.N.S. Not Your Doll. Members of the government were taken hostage by a group that seems to demand the proclamation of a dogma concerning the identity of the soul of Unit 00. In ..."

"Eh ... what does that all mean?" Sadao asked, interrupting the listing.

"More little problems," Misato just answered. "Do you have new information about the GSSDF forces that have entered the city?"

"They have taken two entries to the Geofront and are advancing fast. They're coming from a nearby garrison and have apparently been infiltrated by followers of Mana Kirishima."

Sadao didn't know where to put that name. "Mana who?"

"Mana Kirishima," Misato explained. "A mythological girlfriend of you, Shinji. She doesn't appear in the Holy Movies, only in the Apocrypha. Her followers mean no threat to you, but if they get Asuka or Rei ..." She slid a finger across her throat.

Anja was horrified. "And you will bring us back there?"

"There is no safe place anymore, Asuka. And there is still an Angel to fight," Misato replied. "You don't want to leave all the glory to Rei, do you?"

Anja got the message Misato wanted to transmit.

"They would ..."

Misato nodded sternly. "Yes."

"Captain Katsuragi has arrived in Tokyo-5," Sub-commander Fuyutsuki informed the man who was officially his superior. "The Second and Third are with her. She will try to enter the Geofront at an entry point that is still held by loyal troops."

Gonkuro Itagaki was sitting at his desk in Central Dogma, staring straight ahead at no specific point. "If they are not able to arrive in time I will send Rei together with the Lance instead of a possibly sabotaged positron gun."

"This is not advisable, Ikari. As long as the Lance is in place a Fourth Impact is not possible."

Now Gonkuro turned his head to face Fuyutsuki. "I will not allow the only pilot that is currently at our disposal to be exposed to any avoidable danger."

The Gainaxian Fuyutsuki gave him a knowing look. "Commander." The irony was obvious as he spoke that word. "We both know that you shouldn't decide that alone."

Gonkuro didn't answer.

"The GSSDF troops have entered NERV HQ in Section 104 of Level 1," Masaki Hokusai reported from below.

It was already late in the afternoon when Anja and Sadao reached Tokyo-5 again. Misato had decided that a helicopter was too vulnerable close to the front lines and had given order to land on the roof of their apartment building, which was located in a still safe part of the city. She, Sadao, and Anja were traveling the final distance in her Renault Alpine. The fact that a full blown military conflict between two or even more factions was raging not far from them couldn't be missed. Smoke columns rose from parts of the city that had looked relatively peaceful just hours before. Noise from artillery fire rocked the car intermittently.

"The GSSDF has entered headquarters somewhere. But it's still possible to reach the Evas," Misato explained the radio messages she was listening to.

"Why do I have a constant feeling of deja vu?" an unnerved Anja screamed from behind. She and Sadao flinched as a bullet embedded itself in the car door, most likely fired by a sniper nested in one of the buildings lining the street.

"Ah, you're imagining things, Anja."

"What do these Kiriyama ..." Sadao began.

"Mana Kirishima," Misato corrected.

"... people want at NERV anyway? Just to get Asuka or Rei?"

Misato concentrated on the rubble-laden road in front of them. "Among other things. This really isn't the time for a theological seminar, but NERV always had a somewhat orthodox standpoint when it came to the Apocrypha. Thus they never acknowledged the Kirishima myth. And Mana Kirishima is said to have worked for a competitor of NERV, the real NERV I mean. That makes NERV and the Kirishima worshippers sworn enemies."

"Why haven't you told us before that we're in the middle of a civil war?" Anja asked accusingly.

"I didn't want to worry you. And things went rapidly downhill within the last hours. A lot of parties expected Fourth Impact to happen and tried to be in a good position to pick up the pieces afterwards - if there were any. I'm really sorry, Anja. But if you hadn't tried to run away ..."

The actress let herself fall back into her seat. "Why haven't the real pilots shown up?" she quietly asked on.

Misato sharply turned the steering wheel to the right to avoid a burning car on their side of the road. "I don't know, Anja. And Ritsuko swears that it would be too late to reprogram the Evas anyway. If you're not there in time they'll send Rinako alone." There was a pause before she went on talking. "I'm sorry about what I said to you in the hospital, about Shinji and Asuka being more interesting, I mean," she confessed earnestly, "I really like you both. I wish I could just send you home now. But we need you one more time. I'm really sorry."

"The Angel will land in about fifteen minutes," Masaki announced. "Captain Katsuragi, Pilot Ikari, and Pilot Soryu have arrived at a car train and are descending. The GSSDF has taken two Sections on Level 2."

"After all we've been through our final enemy is our fellow Gainaxian," Fuyutsuki noted reflectively.

"There is still also the Angel, Professor," Gonkuro corrected.

"Oh, I just felt like saying it."

The human actors and the Gainaxian Captain of NERV had reached the end of the car train. Misato pointed straight ahead to the end of a corridor where a lonely guard in a NERV uniform stood next to a metal door. "There's the elevator. It'll bring you directly to the cages." She turned around and stared upwards. "The GSSDF will soon take this entry. We better hurry."

"What for?" Anja mumbled. "When the Angel doesn't kill us we'll get slaughtered afterwards by some fanatical weirdoes. We can just as well get killed right here."

Misato growled. "Anja, this isn't the time ..."

Sadao had never before seen Anja in the kind of state she was now in. The Angel attack, the failed escape, and now the fact that the Gainaxians themselves tried to kill her while the whole planet seemed to go to hell had brought her close to a breaking point. "Hey, come on, Schatz," he interrupted the Captain. "We're the heroes in this play, remember? They owe us at least a final kiss scene with the setting sun in the background." Anja just shook her head.

"Violins, fade to black, and afterwards hot, passionate ..." Sadao went on.

"Shut up, Sadao," Anja interrupted him. Despite her harsh words her voice lacked any emotions.

"Captain Katsuragi?" the guard asked respectfully as the trio reached the elevator.

"I'm bringing the Second and Third to the Evas. Rei should already be waiting there," she said, pressing the elevator button, barely looking at him.

"Yes," the guard said with a strange tone in his voice. "Rei is surely already waiting for Asuka."

Misato looked at him more carefully. "Shouldn't you be on the night shift, Private ..."

Without warning, the guard drew his gun and shot her in the chest. Misato's body was thrown against the side wall of the corridor where it slowly slid down, leaving a red mark.

"Misato!" Anja cried and kneeled down next to her.

The guard turned around, not paying attention to Anja any longer. He looked hatefully at Sadao and pointed his weapon to the actors forehead. "I'm not sorry, kid. And this is personal."

Sadao just stared in shock at the guard as he put pressure on the trigger.

"NOOO!" Anja tackled the guard and grabbed a hold of his back. The bullet missed Sadao's head by a few centimeters.

The NERV employee swung left and right, trying to get rid of his attacker while still keeping the gun trained on Sadao.

"You stupid girl, I'm just doing this for you and her, can't you see?" He threw Anja over his shoulder and to the floor. Then he took aim again. Sadao closed his eyes.

As he heard the shot and found that he was still alive he opened them again. The guard was lying on the ground, a hole in his head. Misato leaned against the wall, still holding her gun, her whole arm trembling. Her other hand was pressed against her chest. Blood was running through her fingers.

Sadao kneeled down to her. "A-are you alright?"

Misato blinked and shook her head as if to clear her thoughts. "He was a member of an A/R church," she just explained. "No fanatic, or so we thought." Her breathing was now extremely labored.

Anja joined Sadao and Misato on the ground and took one of the wounded woman's hands in hers. "Misato, we ... we have to get you to a doctor."

The Captain coughed blood. "I always thought ... when this happened ... I would finally understand the carpet thing." Her eyes filmed over.

Anja's voice trembled. "M-Misato? Misato, no ..." She grabbed her shoulders and began to shake her. "MISATO!"

From high above, probably from the other end of the car train, an explosion was heard.

Anja put the dead Misato's head into her lap and began to caress her purple hair, weeping. Sadao softly touched her shoulder. "Schatz, we have to go. We're not safe here."

"I don't want to, Sadao," the actress replied almost inaudibly. "Just let me."

He took her hand. "Anja ..."

"NO!" she screamed at him, forcefully freeing her hand again. She absently continued to stroke Misato's hair.

Sadao dropped his shoulders. Somehow he had already suspected that there wouldn't be a kiss in the sunset this time. Such an ending just wouldn't be fitting for Eva. He sank to the ground and embraced Anja from behind. "Then we'll stay here together for a while until you're ready to leave, huh?"

Anja first tensed under his touch but then slowly relaxed and leaned back into him. "Sadao?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"You know that I love you?"

Sadao closed his arms tighter around her body as another explosion rippled through the building from above. "I never doubted that."

"Wimp."

"Excuse me?"

"You're just a pathetic coward, Anja."

"Says who?"

"You should know who I am, you stupid woman. A part of you. And certainly the best part, I might add."

"Shut up."

"What? WHAT? You use me on your silly convention shows but when you really need me I should shut up. Okay. Stay here and die and let your friends die too. I don't care."

"Are you an expert for friendship now?"

"Phht. What are you, a psychologist? I have a lot of friends. Everybody adores me. Now stop lamenting, stand up, and let's kick some Angel ass together."

"And the GSSDF rebels? They will invade NERV, cut off our power supply, and kill us."

"We'll find a way."

"What does that mean? Do you have a plan or not?"

"Plans, plans, plans. God, you're so boring. I said, we'll find a way."

"..."

"Well?"

Anja carefully, almost tenderly let Misato's dead body slide to the ground. "This leads to nowhere," she mumbled.

Sadao, deep in thoughts, returned to reality. "What did you say?" he asked.

Anja stood up and entered the waiting elevator. She looked expectingly at Sadao. "What are you waiting for? There's still a job Misato wanted us to do."

Sadao stared at her open-mouthed before he stood up too. He had the strong feeling that he had missed something important.

Inside the slowly descending elevator Anja laid her arms on Sadao's shoulders. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself when we go out," she requested.

"Sunset, kiss," Sadao began, "violins, fade to black. Hot, pass ..."

He made a muffled sound of surprise as Anja pushed him firmly against one of the walls of the car and used the most agreeable method to silence him.

"You're normally not that aggressive, Schatz," Sadao noted smiling as she retracted her tongue and lips again several floors lower. "Is that really you?"

"Mostly, I think."

The advancing GSSDF forces could neither be heard nor seen inside of Central Dogma yet. All Mutsuko had to monitor the invasion was a rapidly reddening schematic plan of NERV and the impersonal reports by Balthasar.

"It seems that they've taken the last holdouts on Level 2."

And, of course, the memories of similar scenes from 'End of Evangelion'.

"They've got section 402, 403, and 417 to 424. Now, that looks pretty bad if you ask me. They took the last holdouts on Level 2, or did I say that already?"

"Yes," Mutsuko mumbled. She wondered about what lies the soldiers had been told or if they were just blindly following their officers' orders.

"Oh, I'm sorry. At the moment I'm mostly preoccupied with uploading myself to a server at a safer place. You know how it is: You always discover that you have no backup when it's too late."

"Upload?"

"Well, I'm already more there than here, so it's more a download than an upload. You're a fast learner, Mutsuko. You can handle the rest without me. Sorry, I really liked you. But now it's every AI for itself."

"Shinji and Asuka are now at the cages. The Angel has reached the surface," Masaki declared next to Mutsuko. She almost had to admire how he could keep this professional, distant tone.

The Evangelions were not covered in bakelite as Sadao had secretly expected. Rinako was waiting for them. She was sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, directly in front of the bridge that led to the entry plug of Unit 00. Two plugsuits and A-10 nerve connectors were lying in her lap.

"Back from your little trip?" she asked innocently as she stood up. She looked more closely at Anja's clothes. "Is that blood?" she asked on, now shocked.

"Not mine," Anja answered briefly. Her best friend understood that she didn't want to talk about it.

Rinako looked earnestly at Anja. "Do you really want to go out? You can try and hide somewhere. I think I can do the job alone."

Anja's eyes went wide. She had felt guilty for already having given up, leaving her best friend alone. And now this. Had Rinako lost her grip on reality? "You must be kidding. I never would have allowed you to stay here alone in the first place if I had known about your plan," she added, slightly angry.

"And I wouldn't have allowed you to go if I had known about the dangers. But okay," Rinako replied. She handed out the suits. "Here. There's still enough time to change. You can do that over there, Sadao," she said pointing at a small room, the restroom of the maintenance crew. "And I really would appreciate if you wouldn't do it here."

"You can't fool me, Paleface. But I will go." And so he did.

The blue-haired actress theatrically threw her arms into the air. "What have I done to be cursed with this guy, Anja?"

Her best friend threatened her with a finger. "Hey! You're talking about my boyfriend." She hastened after Sadao.

Rinako stared after her. "And why am I not surprised?" she yelled a few seconds later.

In Central Dogma, Sadao's face appeared on the main monitor. He was sitting in the entry plug. "We're ready," he stated reluctantly.

Gonkuro spoke up. "Where is Captain Katsuragi, Shinji?"

Sadao looked down. "She ... didn't make it."

"Captain Katsuragi will be considered as killed in action," Gonkuro proclaimed. "I will assume direct command over the operation."

The Gainaxian Fuyutsuki bent down to the fake commander. "Ikari, do you think this is a wise decision?"

This time, Gonkuro did not turn around to face the Sub-commander. "Do you have a problem with that, Professor?" he replied with a low voice. "I'm quite sure that the security forces don't." He rose his voice again. "Launch Unit 00 and Unit 02 but hold back Unit 01."

"What? Why does the idiot always get special treatment?" Anja screamed.

Gonkuro reacted unimpressed by the Asuka rant. "Launch Evangelions!"

The blue and red Evas ascended to the surface to confront the second Angel to appear in less than twelve hours. The evening was about to begin and dusk began to blanket the city. Next to Anja the wall of a storage building came down, revealing the positron gun. Anja took it after an almost imperceptible moment of hesitation.

"The Angel is approaching from the south-west, distance 35 km," Mutsuko reported.

"We'll intercept it," Anja declared.

"No, Pilot Soryu," Gonkuro commanded. "I want you to test the positron rifle first."

"Commander, I assure you that the rifle will be functioning with a probability of 99.99999 percent now!" Ritsuko Akagi shouted from a lower level of Central Dogma.

Gonkuro ignored her. "Pilot Soryu?"

Despite the tremendous healing capability of the Evas Anja felt a throbbing pain in her back and her hands, a nagging remembrance of the wounds the red-armored cyborg had sustained in the last battle. She aimed at the sky, closed her eyes, and prepared for the worst. Then she pulled the trigger. Again. And again. Nothing happened. The actress threw the gun to the ground not noting that she destroyed three GSSDF tanks that had approached the Evas through that action. "The shit is still not working!" She absently scratched her Eva's right calf that was under heavy fire from other GSSDF units.

Gonkuro stared down at a suddenly very pale Dr. Akagi, choosing not to comment. "Equip Units 00 and 02 with standard rifles. Further proposals, Dr. Akagi?"

"Unit 01 created an AT field when Unit 02 was in danger," Mutsuko intervened without thinking. "Eh ... I mean ..."

"I can hear you, you bitch!" Anja howled over the comm.

"I will send out Eva 01 together with the Lance," Gonkuro decided.

Fuyutsuki intervened again. "Ikari, I can't allow you to remove the Lance. I said that as long as ..."

"If the Angel reaches Lilith it will be very well capable of removing the Lance by itself," Gonkuro interrupted him.

"But if we lose the Lance and Adam should reappear some day ..."

"Enough is enough, Fuyutsuki." Gonkuro pressed a button. "Security to the command level."

Two security guards appeared after a suspiciously short time span. "Sir?"

"Take Sub-commander Fuyutsuki into custody. He is guilty of insubordination," Gonkuro ordered.

"Yes, Sir."

Fuyutsuki looked anxiously from Gonkuro to the guards and back. "You can't do that!"

The guards took his arms into a tight grip. "Please follow us, Sir."

"You can't do that!" Fuyutsuki repeated as they dragged him towards an elevator. "That isn't the real Commander Gendo Ikari! He's just an actor! An actor! His name is Gonkuro Itagaki!"

"Please inform the psychological staff about the Professor's ... state," Gonkuro remarked as the elevator doors began to close.

"Yes, Sir."

Now Gonkuro was alone on the command level. Nobody below had noticed the incident. "Shinji," he addressed Sadao.

"Let me go up there!"

"You will take the elevator labeled F-2. It will bring you to Terminal Dogma. You will take the Lance of Longinus and ascend to the surface. There you will use it to eliminate the target. Do you understand?"

"Eh ... yes, father."

Gonkuro deactivated the connection and smirked. "Everything is going according to the scenario," he mumbled satisfactorily.

Sadao ran to the specified Eva-sized elevator and descended. As promised, the doors opened again at Terminal Dogma. For the second time the white, legless giant appeared in front of his, or better Unit 01's eyes.

The actor let his Eva step into the LCL and carefully took the Lance of Longinus into its hands. He pulled. Nothing happened.

"Excuse me, Ma'am." Sadao planted first one, then both feet of his mecha into Lilith's belly and pulled harder. Finally the Lance began to move. With a loud splash Unit 01 fell into the basin of LCL. "Ouch."

He watched in fascination as two new extremities grew from Lilith's lower torso, transforming into well-shaped legs after reaching their final length.

The Mana Kirishima worshippers were already very close to Central Dogma. Mutsuko could now hear the screams, shots, and explosions as the soldiers fought their way through the barricades the barely armed NERV forces had built up. "Shinji has the Lance and is ascending again. The rebellious troops have taken another sector at Level five," she reported nervously, "There are heavy causalities."

Masaki laid his hand onto her shoulder. "You can stop now. Nobody is listening anymore."

Mutsuko looked around. Dr. Akagi was gone. The Gainaxian Lieutenant who had replaced Sugita Arakawa had left his place too. The Maya Ibuki actress laid her head back and looked upwards. "Commander?" she shouted.

No answer.

"The Lance has been removed. And now Gonkuro is gone. I should have expected that," Masaki declared.

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Masaki didn't answer and stared at the information that was rolling over his console display. "The GSSDF troops will reach Central Dogma within a quarter of an hour at maximum." He took a gun from below the console and stood up. Then he began to forcefully remove a grid from a wall. Behind the opening lay the ventilation system. The actor looked at Mutsuko and made an inviting gesture. "Our job here is done. You better join me."

Mutsuko stared at her remaining colleague. "You're going in there? We will only get lost in the vents!" She flinched as the loudest explosion thus far knocked on her eardrums. Again, screams perverted the air.

"COME ON!" Masaki commanded. "I'll explain everything on our way to Lilith."

"Rei?"

A teenage girl opened her blood red eyes. In her pupils reflections of Gonkuro Itagaki could be seen. "Commander?" she asked with her lifeless voice.

"It is time."

"Yes."

The blue-haired girl rose from her bed. On her way out of the room she didn't bother to avoid the dried stains of Sugita Arakawa's blood that could still be seen on the floor.

Sadao arrived on the surface, the Lance in Unit 01's hand. He looked around. Neither the red nor the blue Evangelion were in sight.

Sadao made a step but then froze in mid-stride as a crushing sound was heard. He lifted his right foot. A flattened GSSDF tank appeared from under his heel.

"Oh ... oh shit .. I'm sorry. Really." He stepped back. Again a similar sound.

"Oh no. Sorry, sorry, sorry."

"Finally you get here," Anja snorted over the comm. "Now stab the thing and we can all go home."

"Where are you?" Sadao asked back.

"20 km south-west at another energy supply tower, watching the Angel. The GSSDF became a bit annoying."

"Pilot Soryu and myself were attacked by the military units in the area," Rinako intervened calmly. "Their weaponry was however not sufficient to endanger the Evangelions."

"But they were annoying," Anja insisted.

"The projectiles they fired at us were ... irritating."

"Wondergirl is ticklish you know. Now drag your ass over here."

Sadao released his umbilical cable, took the Lance in both hands and ran the last kilometers towards the Angel.

Anja activated her comm as Sadao passed their position. "HQ, should we give him cover? HQ?" Her only answer was static. "Shit. Wondergirl, I can't connect to HQ. Let's give the idiot cover."

Both women grabbed their guns and began to fire at the hovering replica of the 14th Angel that looked so much like an upright flying cow with a tiny permanently grinning clown face. Without a chance to penetrate the AT field Anja hoped that they could at least confuse their enemy. But the Angel seemed to passively await its fate anyway, not unlike its movie counterparts whenever the script had demanded it.

Anja again unsuccessfully tried to connect NERV. "Wondergirl, do you have ..."

The pilot of Unit 00 interrupted her. It wasn't the emotionless monotone of the First Child that answered, but rather the lively voice of Rinako Asuhara. "I doubt that somebody is still there to answer us, Anja. Forget about that Wondergirl crap. It doesn't matter anymore."

Sadao had now reached the Angel. The AT field became visible as the spikes of the Lance began to penetrate it as if the barrier wasn't there. "It's working!" Sadao cheered. "Now ..."

Suddenly, the elastic arms of the Angel flew forward and cut off the right leg of Eva 01. Even before the stumbling mecha hit the ground it also lost its left arm. Sadao screamed out in pain. The Lance fell to the ground.

Anja and Rinako could see the rocket driven, cylindrical form of an entry plug fly across the sky.

"There goes our hero," Rinako commented on the view.

"Shut up, Rinako," Anja hissed.

Mutsuko crawled behind Masaki through the tight tube. Again, a loud explosion behind them was heard. Hot air brushed over her body.

"It seems the Kirishima troops have entered Central Dogma," Masaki just said.

"Why are we going to Lilith, Masaki?" Mutsuko asked.

The man in front of her stopped and worked with his eyes. Two brown contact lenses fell to the ground. He looked back at Mutsuko. Despite the sparse light inside the vents she saw that his real eye color was blood red, just like Rei Ayanami's.

"Are you an Angel?"

"I'm just a clone."

The Angel had left its position and was now heading for Rinako's mecha.

Anja didn't care about that at the moment. "Sadao! Sadao, say something, please," she cried into the comm.

"Ow," a miserable voice answered.

"Are you okay?"

"I think so. My head hurts."

Rinako snorted. "Not-so-invincible Sadao will be alright. You'll distract the Angel, I'll get the Lance."

"Distract? How? For how long?"

Unit 00 had already released its cable and was on its way, jumping from cover to cover. Rinako looked at the time reserve display. "Your problem. And for no more than 4 minutes and 48 seconds."

How was it possible to distract an Angel that wasn't impressed by gun fire, Anja pondered. She asked herself if an Evangelion had a tongue.

"Blblblblblbl!" It did.

"A ... a clone?" Mutsuko stuttered.

"Yes. You know, when we made the films thirteen years ago at least half of the Eva cast had already been replaced by Gainaxian agents in cloned human bodies. Eva was the foundation of our culture, after all. A lot of groups that knew about the truth tried to get influence. Harumi Hashimoto for example, she was on the payroll of the spaceforce. Kenzo Fuchida was working for the ministry of religious affairs or NERV, I'm not sure. Sugita and me, we got our instructions directly from the president. Roku Kunda, well, he was working for all of them and also for SEELE but mostly for himself, I think."

Mutsuko tried to digest that. "And why are we going to Lilith?"

They reached a crossing. After a second of consideration Masaki went to the right. "To prevent Gonkuro from initiating Fourth Impact, of course." He stopped at a grid and began to kick it with his right foot. "If I'm not mistaken we have reached the room of the Annoquarium."

Anja was firing at the slowly approaching Angel. Her attempt to draw its attention on her had been a bit too successful. Although she was constantly retreating, her enemy slowly reduced their distance. She had had to unplug her umbilical cable and the energy reserve readings were ticking down. And somewhere the GSSDF was lurking, waiting for her defeat and probably also for their own reinforcements, whatever would happen earlier. The situation wasn't exactly auspicious.

"Stay back!" she cried in panic at her adversary. She threw away her empty gun and grabbed another one from an armory tower she passed. "Rinako! Where are you?"

The elastic bands that were the Angel's arms shot out and cut her gun into two halves. In another attack it cut off her mecha's arm. The red Evangelion sank to its knees.

"Anja!" Rinako shouted from somewhere. "Eject the entry plug."

"Rinako?" Anja hissed through her teeth while staring at her arm, trying to convince her brain that it was still there.

"Eject it!"

Anja hit a button on her console. The plug left the Eva a fraction of a second before the Angel beheaded the mecha.

Suddenly, Unit 00 appeared from behind a building, and directly behind the Angel's back, the Lance of Longinus in its hands. "Hey!"

The Angel turned around.

"Dodge this!" Rinako howled and pierced the Lance into the Angels core. The reborn 14th stared down at its body and blinked.

"I would have given everything for that role." Rinako laughed.

Then the Angel exploded. The fireball engulfed Unit 00 with Rinako inside before losing its spherical appearance and assuming the characteristically cross-shaped form.

The great finale has begun. Why does Gonkuro want to initiate Fourth Impact? Will Makoto be able to stop him? Has Rinako been killed in the explosion? The last question may be easier to answer knowing the title of the sixth and last chapter

Author's notes: I don't have to explain the acronym GSSDF, do I? You know the drill:

Rinako Asuhara - Rei Ayanami

Sadao Inoguchi - Shinji Ikari

Anja Siebert - Asuka (Langley) Soryu

Gonkuro Itagaki - Gendo Ikari

Sugita Arakawa - Shigeru Aoba

Masaki Hokusai - Makoto Hyuga

Mutsuko Ishimura - Maya Ibuki

But who are Harumi Hashimoto, Kenzo Fuchida, and Roku Kunda? Guess ...

ChiRho and XXXG-00W0 took care that I didn't mutilate the English language too much.