Chapter 18: Quatre

Chapter 18:
Quatre

 

FORTUNATELY, Rei Cinq didn’t awaken until she was back on the surface.

In orbit, the diminutive Rei Six brought her Series-0.0 Eva alongside Cinq’s, removed the slumbering Rei’s entry plug, and brought her back to Earth, leaving Cinq’s Eva in low orbit.

The order had been given to temporarily withdraw all Ayanamis from space.

When Cinq awakened, it quickly became clear that she had a personality distinct from Six’s.

 

The three Ayanamis, now together on the Earth’s surface, accompanied Maya to a UN question-and-answer session—more of an inquisition, really—regarding the Ayanamis’ sluggish response to Armaros and the subsequent shooting of the lance. Commander Katsuragi Misato had just returned from a similar session. But the attack on the Lance of Longinus had been carried out at the UN’s request, and historically, Misato bore all responsibility for the Ayanamis’ actions. The UN wasn’t supposed to circumvent the commander, and yet that’s exactly what they were doing. Shinji found this breach of protocol unsettling.

 

Misato told him that the UN just needed a place to direct its anger. Nearly two million people had turned to salt, and the death toll from the subsequent disasters was at five figures and climbing.

“Europe was hit the hardest,” Misato said, “and they probably want to find a scapegoat, but does anybody think about how we feel? We’re the ones unable to show off all the strength we’ve built up.”

She tried to pass the remark off as a joke, but she really did feel this way.

 

On the innermost rail of Nerv HQ’s circular Grand Deck were three equidistant armored trains. Each held one end of a support cable suspending an observation module in the open space above the central shaft, beneath which the remnants of the old HQ had been sealed away inside the sarcophagus.

The observation module was supposed to be off limits, as were its support cables. But one day Shinji saw someone he recognized crossing the footbridge above one of the cables, and before he knew it, he was approaching her.

He cut across the rails and climbed onto the slowly moving armored train, wondering why he hadn’t triggered any alarms. Standing at the inner edge, he hesitated, realizing how far the fall would be to the ground below.

Cautiously, he stepped out onto the cable and called to the person on the footbridge.

“Ayanami?”

The figure looked like Rei, but her hair color wasn’t quite right, more silver than blue.

And why was she wearing a black knee-length dress in a place like this?

“You know we’re not supposed to be here, right?” Shinji asked. “You are Ayanami…aren’t you?”

“The Second Child—Asuka—said I was weird for not owning any formal clothes aside from my uniform. She helped me choose this dress.” The figure turned and walked toward Shinji. “No, that’s not right. The Second Child did all the choosing.”

“Trois?”

Judging by her height, she had to be Trois. Cinq was a little bit taller.

But he thought that both of them had left HQ.

“The dress is Trois’. Everything in my room is hers.”

 

Shinji stood on a small maintenance platform atop the slender support cable high in the air. The cable swayed slightly, making Shinji uneasy. He kept his hand firmly on the guardrail. The girl came close enough that he could feel the warmth of her body.

Her low-cut dress caught him off guard. She tilted her chin. Her clear eyes seemed to penetrate him.

“I intended to wear this for you,” she said, “back when we were still one.”

His bewilderment turned to shock. “You’re…Ayanami Quatre.”

The Ayanami who’d killed him. The Ayanami who’d escaped with her Series-0.0 Eva. Her mercury-colored hair swayed in the wind, and she gazed down at the sarcophagus as she spoke.

“Three years ago, why did you stop the Human Instrumentality Project? Don’t you feel lonely? Don’t you feel…unfulfilled?”

“It would be…strange to lose your self, don’t you think?”

“That’s why the me back then”—this Ayanami looked down at herself—“rejected Chief Ikari in the hope that you would be the one to fulfill me.”

He found himself drawn to her drooping eyelashes. When she looked up at him, her hand was already behind his neck, drawing him closer.

“But you didn’t!” she said.

Her heat poured into him.

Her lips, pressed against his, were warm.

When he’d kissed Asuka, it had been a stubborn, competitive, terrible kiss. Why had no one told him that kisses could be sweet?

The weight of her breath startled him. The world around faded.

“Wh-what are you doing?” Shinji stammered as he stepped back in surprise.

He felt as if he’d been swallowed by darkness. Panicking, he tried to stand firm, but his feet were no longer on the support cable.

He heard waves, faintly lapping against a shore.

I’m…at Lake Ashi? How?!

 

Shinji was standing on the eastern shore of Lake Ashi.

On the lake’s surface bobbed a floating deck that had occasionally been used during weapons tests.

The view of Tokyo-3 and Nerv HQ on the northern shore was blocked by a cape, on Shinji’s right, that extended into the lake and formed the base of Mount Komagatake to the east. The wind carried the faint sound of alarms ringing across the mountains.

What happened?

Shinji was still off-balance when Quatre let go of his hand.

She turned with an impish shrug and began walking along the shore. There was no one else in sight.

“It would be strange to lose your self?” she asked. “Is that the only reason? I think maybe you don’t want other people to truly know you.”

They came upon a dock that had fallen into neglect.

They passed between boats that had been hauled onto the beach and left there, their paint faded and chipped.

“Complete me, Ikari-kun.”

The warmth from her lips lingered, and he was still shaken, but Shinji kept his wits about him.

“Do you know how the Human Instrumentality Project will end?” Think, Shinji. Figure out what’s going on!

“I heard it will be wonderful.”

“Did the voice tell you that?” Shinji meant the voice that had spoken through the Ayanamis’ trance when Armaros appeared.

“You forced everyone else to come with you on this path. I’m not a complete person. The world is breaking. Can you at least take responsibility?”

If Shinji knew one thing, it was the answer to that question. “I can’t. I value the time I spend with others. My self chose that over melting together.”

Kaji, too, had once told him that this world was the product of his choice.

And Ayanami—Trois—said something similar to me recently.

Maybe I chose this world, but I can’t carry that burden. Dealing with myself is the most I can do.

I’m always…

Shinji made a decision and started moving toward Quatre. This time, he would close the distance between them. Even if her mutant Eva was hidden nearby, as long as he captured her before she got inside it, he could fix this without a fight.

 

Quatre didn’t move from where she stood on the dock, but behind her, three waterlogged boats, bobbing low on the lake’s surface, suddenly shot into the sky.

“An A.T. Field!” Shinji gasped.

He threw himself to the side.

The boats crashed onto the weatherworn dock and rebounded away.

Quatre was still facing Shinji. Behind her, the lake rose in a white swell.

A giant figure broke through the foam.

The mutant Eva-0.0 stood, water cascading off its body.

“Damn it!”

 

The alarm had been triggered at Nerv HQ when a giant arm, seemingly belonging to a mutant Eva-0.0, reached up from the central shaft and grabbed two people from the observation module’s support cables.

Inside Cage Two, Super Eva’s visor opened as the Eva woke.

The cage crew immediately reported this to command.

Striding into the command center, Misato demanded, “Where’s Shinji-kun?”

“According to his communicator, he’s…on a support cable of the observation module?” Hyuga said. “Why would he be—”

“He’s not,” Aoba said, pulling up the feed from a nearby surveillance camera. He zoomed in on the support cable. “Not anymore, at least. He dropped his communicator.”

“Is Super Eva going to go wild again?” Hyuga asked.

“The boy has been training hard every single day,” Misato said. “Let’s show a little faith in him. Open Cage Two’s ceiling and raise the lift!”

 

As the mutant Eva-0.0 shook off a great mist of water, Ayanami Quatre looked toward HQ as if sensing something despite the mountain blocking their view.

“If I stop your heart,” Quatre said, “maybe the Human Instrumentality Project can still be carried out. Our world won’t have to end!”

Knowing this might be his last chance to capture Quatre, Shinji sprinted toward her, but the rising waves sent more boats flying toward him.

Shinji turned, running for his life. But as he dashed back onto the rocky shore, the waves swept him up. The water crashed, spraying mist, and then washed back, trying to pull him along with it. He clung tightly to the guardrail.

“Is that,” he shouted, gasping for air, “what the voice told you?”

The mutant Eva scooped up Rei Quatre as she said, “No. I asked, but the voice didn’t answer me.”

Waves stirred, bubbles rising in the shape of a rectangle. Moments later, the gamma-ray laser cannon burst above the surface. The weapon had fused with the Eva’s right arm.

Shinji cried out in surprise and scrambled under an overturned boat.

With a flash of purple light, the mutant Eva fired its laser over the mountains at Super Eva, who had just come leaping over the ridge.

The laser surpassed its standard 1,900-gigawatt output and produced an EMP. The searing water heated Shinji’s aluminum boat until it was bright red.

Shinji cried out in pain. He crawled out from under the boat, holding his left arm to his chest. Super Eva landed, and the ground shook. The Eva’s left arm had been shot through, and it was badly injured. Nevertheless, the Eva shielded Shinji with its A.T. Field, gathered him up quickly in its good hand, and leaped away.

 

“The threat has been identified as Quatre’s mutated Eva-0.0,” Hyuga reported.

The command center had witnessed the Eva’s emergence through a camera at the Mount Komagatake sniping post.

“She’s appeared on our doorstep again!” Misato said.

A comms window opened, accompanied by a chime.

Shinji coughed. <<Hakone command, this is Ikari Shinji. I’ve entered Super Eva.>>

“Shinji-kun!” Super Eva had somehow managed to reunite with Shinji. Misato felt a wave of relief, but this was no time to relax. “What’s your situation?”

<<I’ve encountered Quatre’s Eva, and our left arm is badly injured.>>

 

Misato glanced at the status board for the other Evas.

Hyuga noticed and said, “Unit Two is no good. Its internal cables are still being rerouted for the power source conversion.”

“Why did this have to happen when the Reis are all here on Earth?”

Asuka’s voice came over the line. <<I can attempt pre-entry in one of the Zero units. What do we have to lose?>>

“Don’t even think about it!” Misato barked. “The mental contamination could destroy you. The risk is too high.”

The Evas had become more and more personalized. Currently, the only pilot substitutions that still worked—barely—were among the Ayanamis and the Zero-Series Evas. Now that the parallel clones’ egos had awakened, even that had likely come to an end.

“Does Super Eva have any weapons?” Misato asked.

“A single prog knife,” Hyuga answered.

“Activate the guided missiles in the city’s defense sectors and the sniping post at Mount Komagatake.”

“Yes, commander. But I’m not sure if they’ll do the trick.”

Misato knew they wouldn’t, of course.

“Get ahold of the SSDF. Tell them that if the mutant Eva escapes the caldera, they’re to use all means at their disposal. Whether that’s maser howitzers or the Akashima, I don’t care, so long as they kill it.”

 

Standing in Lake Ashi, Super Eva wielded its single prog knife in close-quarters combat with the mutant.

Quatre’s Eva raised its laser cannon, but at the last moment, Super Eva kicked the weapon up, and the beam scorched through the empty sky.

What if the city had been burned by that laser? Shinji thought. I need to end this here.

“Listen,” he said. “Maya told me something. She said that you’re confused because your sense of self is still maturing.”

<<Don’t try to make that sound like a good thing. I can’t hear my other selves. I’m alone now. I only hear one voice.>>

Before Super Eva could bring its foot back down, the mutant spun, delivering a kick to its pivot leg, and Shinji went down.

But as his giant fell, Shinji glimpsed the mutant’s exposed chest, and he saw something that wasn’t supposed to be there—a black-red, glowing object piercing a joint in the armor plating.

“Hakone command! One of those black-red scales is in the mutant’s chest. A Q.R. Signum!”

How had Quatre’s Eva been altered so drastically? How had it suddenly appeared in one place, only to vanish without a trace as the Angel Carriers had?

“Quatre… Your identity…”

Did Armaros force her ego to manifest?

<<The first thing I knew was terror. Terror from the pain being driven into my chest. Terror at the thought of being ripped away from myself, being made to be alone!>>

How terrible…

Shinji finally understood what had happened to the Ayanamis.

Quatre was the vector for Armaros’ impulses.

 

Shinji kept the prog knife hidden until the last possible moment. He slashed the blade up from beneath the lake’s surface and straight into the Q.R. Signum in the mutant Eva’s chest.

Clang!

A strong field—possibly generated by the scale itself—protected the Signum.

“Quatre!” Shinji shouted. “Get rid of that scale. It’s making you act crazy.”

The prog knife’s tip was frozen in place, a hair’s breadth away from the Q.R. Signum. The blade glowed red with heat.

<<This scale gives me incredible power. Resistance is meaningless, and it removes all meaning, anyway.>>

“You mean because of the voice? If you let that thing manipulate you…”

Failing to penetrate the field, the prog knife flew out of Super Eva’s grasp.

The mutant Eva swung its laser cannon. This time Shinji grabbed the Eva’s legs, and the two giants staggered onto the eastern shore.

<<Shinji!>> It was Misato. <<We can’t allow that mutated Eva to escape again. Subdue it by any means necessary. We’ll accept all outcomes. Understood?>>

Shinji understood. She meant dead or alive.

Shinji recalled when an Angel had taken control of Eva-03 with Toji inside, and Shinji had received a similar order to subdue.

Super Eva’s heart fluttered.

“Understood,” he replied, but he refused to accept the order. His mind raced to think of an alternative.

Quatre spoke. <<If you weren’t alive, the Human Instrumentality Project would have succeeded, and this world would have avoided calamity!>>

Is that true?

<<If you weren’t alive, I wouldn’t have had to know fear and loneliness!>>

Really?

“If you want to kill me again—”

At the corner of his vision, Shinji saw three next-gen SSDF maser howitzers driving along the highway outside the caldera. But something wasn’t right.

Why weren’t their ID icons layered onto my display?

The command center was hiding information from him.

Misato must have realized that when the moment came, he wouldn’t be able to kill Quatre.

The mutant Eva had broken free, but he grabbed the giant by the shoulders. Then, making sure the SSDF’s howitzers could see, he kicked Quatre’s Eva, knocking it down.

“If you want to kill me again,” Shinji repeated, “why did you wear that dress for me? Somewhere in there, you’re still the Ayanami I knew, aren’t you?”

He brought his foot down with all his strength.

But the strike glanced off Quatre’s Eva and hit the ground.

When the cloud of sediment cleared, the mutant Eva was gone. Shinji had let Quatre—his killer—escape.