Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book One)

E4 Part 1: All the Strange Strange Creatures

Old Tokyo

The blinding light cleared. Shinji could see the comforting glow of the Eva's AT field around him. Thank you, Misato, he thought. Thank God you reminded me.

Jet Alone raised up one of its arms - well, tentacles, now. Shinji leapt back. The metal appendage slammed into the ground where his Eva had been standing.

"Shinji!" Misato yelled out over the radio. He glanced down and saw her clinging to the Eva's fingers. "Is your AT field at full power?"

"I think so!" Shinji dodged as the Angel lunged at him again.

"Get ready to play dead!" He heard Misato press a button. "Makoto! Did you bring along that tactical N2 mine I asked you about?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Lieutenant Hyuga said.

"Lock to my location and fire!"

"What? But, ma'am -"

The Angel fired off another blast. Though the AT field took the brunt of it, Shinji could still feel the leftover heat on the Eva's skin. Like sticking his hand into a boiling pot.

"THAT'S AN ORDER, LIEUTENANT!" Misato bellowed. "FIRE!"

Shinji's brain finally caught up with the conversation. "Oh, no." He crouched the Eva down and held Misato close to its chest, covering her with its free hand. Everything went white.

***

So that was what being bombed felt like. Shinji didn't like it.

He opened his eyes when the entry plug stopped shuddering like a leaf around him. The Eva was lying on the edge of a fairly significant crater, surrounded by smoke. He could just barely see the shape of Jet Alone through the smog, standing on the other side of the hole. It turned and marched away from him. Heading west again.

"Misato?" Shinji asked.

He looked over at the Eva's hand. And saw her hanging, limp and unmoving, from its fist.

"MISATO!"

That was when the Eva ran out of power. The screens around Shinji shut down. A single warning message flashed in front of him: EXTERIOR RADIATION ABOVE SAFE LEVELS. ENTRY PLUG EJECT DISABLED.

Shinji sat in the darkness. He covered his face in his hands. "Of course," he said.

***

NERVCOM Medical Center. Underneath Tokyo-3. The next day.

Shinji woke up with a start. He was in the same place he'd been all night - curled up on one of the chairs in the waiting room outside of the observation ward, still dressed in his plug suit. He'd asked the nurses to wake him up when there was any news about Misato. He supposed they'd forgotten.

He guessed it was morning now; at least, the artificial sunlight inside the Geofront had come on. He could hear voices coming from further down the hall. He got up and padded around the corner.

He was surprised to see a large crowd of people gathered around the ward doors, all NERV staff. He saw Lieutenants Hyuga and Ibuki towards the center of the pack, their backs turned towards him. With the exception of a few hushed whispers, no one spoke.

The doors opened. Ritsuko and Misato walked out. Misato looked a little pale, but otherwise seemed fine. She stood up as straight as a ramrod, her teeth clenched, her eyes cold. The clump of people immediately separated for them, then followed as they strode down the hall. Shinji tried to say something as they passed, but it didn't really come out. He instead fell in among the crowd.