Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E8 Part 4: March of the Evangelions (A Special Sort of Bus)

The Eva Cages. Central Dogma. NERV Headquarters.

Up above on the catwalk, Father and a work crew heaved the entry plug, suspended by chains and steel cable, into position above Unit One. Shinji noticed the Doctor glaring at them, his expression about two-thirds irritation and one-third an odd kind of dismay.

"Okay. Here's what we've got." Misato slammed down the phone and stabbed her finger down on the map spread out over the folding table the pilots were grouped around. "They've entered the city. Looks like they're working their way west through downtown. Probably looking for a weak point in the armor.

"Shinji, Asuka, you're to come out at this access point --" She circled a location a number of blocks away from the enemy. "-- and attack from the north. Try and get their attention. That'll hopefully draw one of them away towards you. When that happens, Rei, you'll engage the remaining one from the south here --" She marked an exit close to the highway. "-- along with a few armor units we've managed to jump-start. The plan's going to have to evolve from there, so keep in touch."

"Divide and conquer. I like it." Asuka grinned and cracked her knuckles. She'd lost the flak jacket and the rifle, Shinji noticed, but kept the warpaint. "Where do we start?"

"Get into the Evas," Misato said. "Synchronize. Push yourselves free from the locks. Then wait while we jury-rig the Doctor's fuel cells to your backs. After that, we'll give you ascent instructions from command."

"One more thing." The Doctor leaned over the table. "I want you three to remember -- your absolute first priority in all this is to survive. I don't care what anyone tells you from here on out. Even me. You get hurt or in trouble, you run. No questions asked, no hesitation. Got it?"

Asuka snorted. "Oh, come on. As if you're in a position to give us orders, schoolteacher. Why the hell should we even listen to you?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know," the Doctor shot back. "How 'bout nine hundred years of experience?!"

"Oh, please." Asuka smirked. "We done here, Misato?"

The captain rubbed her eyes. "For the moment, I guess..."

"Good." Asuka glared at the Doctor. "Get this through your skull, you delusional egomaniac. I'm not some little girl who needs protecting. I'm going up there, and I'm going to win so hard the Angels won't ever come back for the fear of me. Live with it." She turned and swaggered off.

The Doctor sighed and watched her go, a glum look on his face. "Well... she's got moxie. Gotta give her that..."

Shinji nodded, even though he wasn't quite certain what moxie was. Next to him, Rei turned and walked off without so much as a word.

"Anyway..." The Doctor put his hand on Shinji's shoulder. "You. You watch yourself out there, you hear me?"

"Hey, don't worry about it." Shinji tried for a cocky grin. He couldn't quite pull it off. "Worse comes to worse, it's only the end of the world, right?"

***

He made it all the way up to the entry plug before the usual terror kicked in. He rushed to the side of the catwalk and vomited over the edge into the Bakelite three stories below.

"Um, ewww?" Across from him on the opposite gantry, Asuka wrinkled her nose in disgust.

Shinji smiled weakly and shrugged. He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his plug suit and turned back to the capsule. Too late to run now, he thought, his stomach sinking.

***

Command Center

"Synchronization codes green," Lieutenant Hyuga said. "Hydraulic links severed. All units are go for launch."

On the monitors, the three Evangelions pushed themselves free of their restraints.

"Command, I leave the surface mission to you." Commander Ikari's voice echoed out through one of the console speakers, the drone of a diesel motor in the background. "I intend to lead the repair and security crews to reinforce the last-ditch measures at Terminal Dogma. The automated defenses there seem to be reporting a number of abnormalities."

"Roger." Misato shot a glance towards the Doctor. He didn't seem to notice. He stood a few paces behind her, his arms crossed, chewing his lip and staring up at the video feeds.

***

Access Tunnel CAROTID-12. 100 meters below the surface.

"Okay, Units One and Two," Lieutenant Hyuga said through the comm. "This is your stop."

Shinji's Eva stepped off the massive cargo elevator and into the absurdly large underground passage. He glanced back to watch as the steel platform -- still bearing Unit Zero -- continued upwards.

"From here, you'll want to follow the tunnel north until it dead-ends," the lieutenant continued. "Turn right. From there, we'll be in touch to give you further instructions."

"Roger that," Asuka said.

Behind them, a pair of concrete doors moved in from the walls to seal off the rest of the tunnel. They got halfway into place before the power cut out and they stuttered to a halt.

Shinji glanced over at Unit Two. Asuka glared back. "What?"

"So... um..." Shinji shifted in his seat. "... is the whole LCL thing freaking you out a little too?" Or a lot, he thought. He'd barely been able to keep himself from gagging when the liquid had flooded into the entry plug this time. For that matter, he could barely keep himself from gagging now. "Now that we know where it's from, I mean?"

She paused. "Well, it wasn't before you said that."

"Oh. Um. Sorry."

"Look, just -- let's just move, all right? No more talking." She stomped off down the tunnel. Shinji followed at a careful distance.

***

Later, as they trudged through the labyrinth of Eva-sized corridors underneath the city, Shinji remembered something he needed to do.

I'm sorry about this, he thought at Unit One, but I think we're going to need to fight again. He glanced at the battery display, currently in the process of cycling back and forth between 04:59 and 05:00 over and over again. I'll explain later, I promise, but it turns out that everyone's really counting on us. And I really mean everyone.

So you'll help me again, right? I'm not just on my own with all of this, am I?...

He felt the Eva's right hand twitch.

Shinji felt a little smile spread across his face. A real one this time. Okay, he thought. Just one other thing to worry about. Because as much as he wanted to believe in the Doctor -- as much as he did believe -- well... his plans didn't always work out, did they? Shinji flashed back to the incident with the giant eyeball.

And besides, he thought, it just isn't fair to put it all on his shoulders. I have to try my best, too, don't I?... But what exactly does that mean? What should I do?

I mean, if he were here in my place... what would the Doctor do?

He triggered his comm link. "Um. Lieutenant Hyuga?"

"Makoto's fine, Shinji," the lieutenant replied, a hint of a smile in his voice. "Seriously. You really don't have to be formal at this point, you know?"

"Oh. Okay." Shinji filed that away for later. "So... Maya said the data links with the Evas were up, right? Could you show me a map of the city? Like, the part where we'll be fighting?"

"Oh! Sure. That information should already be in your Eva's onboard computer. Let me see if I can bring it up for you..." After a moment, a holographic map of the city sprang up in the corner of Shinji's vision. "There you go," Makoto said. "You can use the usual controls to page through the layers. You don't have much time, though. You're nearly at the exit point."

"Got it. Thanks!" Shinji zoomed in on the map. Where was it, he thought. What was he looking for? What did he need?...