Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book Two)

E10 Part 7: Cherry Bomb

Command Center

Misato felt the cell phone ring in her pocket. She glanced around. No sign of the commander, no one watching her closely. She went to the back of the room and pulled out the phone. "Yeah?"

"The mind inside Unit Zero used to be human." The Doctor's voice had the particular tone of someone who was very clearly upset, but was also very clearly trying to hide it. "She looked exactly like Rei, but she wasn't like her -- not entirely. She must've been fully human, flesh and blood, not made out of Lilith matter -- never could've gotten that infection otherwise..."

Misato flashed back to the old picture they'd found in Rei's room. "The schoolgirls in the photo."

"Exactly." The Doctor didn't bother trying to hide the pure disgust and revulsion in his voice. "She was raised like a lab rat. Brainwashed with a mix of operant conditioning and neural implants. Exploited and manipulated her entire life... driven about like some kind of human drone... then marched to her death once they were done with her. All without allowing her so much as a single unmonitored thought -- a single choice -- to call her own."

Misato felt a shiver travel down her spine. She stared up at the ceiling. "... damn."

"Yeah..."

"So what do we do?"

The Doctor sighed. "I don't know. Situation like this, I don't even know if anything should be done."

"About that..." Misato heard another distorted roar echo through the room. She glanced up at the video feed from Terminal Dogma, and saw another rough, bestial shape -- its bones soaked in Unit Zero's blood, flesh growing and reknitting itself as she watched -- crawl up from out of its grave. "There's been a few complications."

***

Inside the TARDIS

"It's resurrecting the prototypes?!" The Doctor bolted up straight from where he'd collapsed on the control room floor. "How many?"

"Eight so far," Misato said. "But the count keeps going up. Ritsuko says there could be enough material down there for anywhere between forty to sixty Evas."

"Have they made any moves towards Lilith?"

"Not yet. Two of the revenants have gone off from the main group, though. They're standing by the tunnel exit where Unit Zero broke in. So unless that's just a feint..."

"They're guarding the exit for them to use later."

"Exactly."

"Invading the surface with an army of berzerk, mostly-dead Evangelions..." The Doctor rubbed his temples. "As revenge schemes go, I think that'd just about do it..."

"So where do we go from here?" the captain asked.

The Doctor tilted his head back and ran a hand through his hair. "... I can trust you to make sure they don't actually use that scrambler thing, can't I?"

Misato snorted. "Of course. Only way Ritsuko's pushing that button is over my dead body."

"Atta girl." That normally would have been a good place for a grin. As drained as he felt at the moment, though, the best the Doctor could manage was a lopsided smile. He took a deep breath. "Okay... so, don't exactly have a plan right now. But I think I know what the key to the whole thing is. It'll be risky, but I reckon it's our best shot..."

***

Command Center

"Okay, listen up!" The room fell silent as Misato strode back into the main area. "New plan. Get in touch with the light tank units. I want them grouped up and positioned for a run back to the first defensive line." She looked to Makoto. "Can we get any more armor support down there? Battle tanks, artillery, anything?"