A BATTLE FOR THE HEART AND SOUL

Mari leaned back in her entry plug seeing the flying wing leave as it headed back to Nerv she looked around her. "Hey where's my drinking bottle it has water in it?" She turned looking around her entry plug. "Did you guys move it?" Misato's voice came over the com. "It's behind your seat." Mari looked around. "Oh yeah here it…" She stopped catching sight of something odd looking cylinder with a red button which was clipped onto the chair. "Hey Asuka is there an odd looking little flat cylinder thing with a red button behind your seat?"

Asuka's voice hit the air. "Yeah there is." Mari moved her fingers closer to the thick flat cylinder. "How fucking strange." Her next words were cut off as the cylinders coloured light turned green as a slot opened and a thick yellow liquid sprayed out flooding into her LCL. Asuka eyed the small flat cylinder which reminded her off a land mine. "Why would some one put this in here?" She blinked in surprise as its light suddenly turned green followed by thick yellow liquid spraying into her entry plug as a weird sensation took over. She felt a wide smile form as she started to laugh before she could stop herself it was like floating on air as she sat down. "Wunderbar."

Misato looked up sharply as the red lights suddenly started flashing as the brain activity suddenly went crazy on both Mari and Asuka's panels. "What the hell?" Kaji looked up sharply. "I'm reading LCL contamination!" Maya turned sharply watching as Mari suddenly started to scream in rage. "What is this? I can't read it right whatever it is it's not on our drugs list."

Shigeru turned sharply. "I know what this is I've seen these readings before!" Misato eyed him. "What is it?!" He looked up. "It's Citrine crystal in pure concentrated liquid form." Misato moved over to his desk. "What is that?" Shigeru looked up the fear showing in his face. "It's a street drug you mix it with water and it's worse than LSD, it sends people fucking crazy and they banned it six years ago worldwide."

He watched as 04 started to roar in agony while 02 just stood quietly not really doing much. Misato looked up. "Can you flush it out?!" Maya turned typing faster. "I'm trying!" Misato turned sharply eyeing Kaji. "Shut them both down now whatever it takes just do it!" Mari looked up feeling her teeth grind together as she spoke directly to Asuka who had started to hum. "Hey you little German shit stop mocking me you always think your better than me!" She grabbed her controls raising her rifle. "Your not better than me no one is better than me!"

Asuka eyed the gun how fascinating she leapt up as it fired at her landing on one of the buildings as she started singing in German. "I think of you, when I see the sun's shimmer, gleaming from the sea!" Misato blinked in utter shock. "Is she singing?" Asuka watched as Mari's unit came after her smashing up against the building she leapt to another as she carried on singing. "I think of you, when the moon's glimmer is reflected in the springs. I see you, when on the distant road." She started laughing unable to stop the childish playful voice as it came out. "Play with me Marian cause I like you, you're my big sister."

Misato turned eyeing Kaji. "Can some one give me translations I don't know what Asuka's saying?!" Kaji turned as the screen opposite started to translate Asuka voice in real time so they could understand it. "I can't shut either of them down they're both locking me out!" Makoto typed faster. "I can't get into either of them we are completely frozen out!"

Mari threw her gun down screaming her next words though not in Japanese. "You left me I was all alone with my fucking parents and those assholes never loved me!" Kaji looked up sharply as the translator started to translate Mari's voice. "What the fuck? She's talking in German since when can she speak in German, its listed in her records that she can only speak in English and Japanese."

Asuka leapt again in 02 as Mari smashed 04's fist through the sky scraper she was leaning on it causing half of it fall down. "Why you got to be so mean to me Marian?" She leapt again as 04 literally smashed its way through another the skyscraper roaring in anger. "I mean I know I'm adopted but I still like you, you're my big sister and I think you're really nice." She paused talking in a very soft voice. "They may not love us but always know that I love you."

Misato turned as Shinji and Rei appeared she knew why they were here and they were allowed down here under Gendo's orders but the others weren't. Rei moved forward. "What is happening why are they fighting?" Shinji looked up at the screen. "Yes please tell us what's going on, this makes no sense they were getting on fine this morning." Misato turned sharply looking at them both. "Some one has put drugs in their LCL Mari's has just lost her temper big time and Asuka is reliving some childhood memory were she's behaving like a six year old child!"

Mari turned eyeing 02. "It wasn't fair, why did you get to escape?" She watched as 02 leapt to another building looking down at her. "I wanted to escape with you!"

Maya breathed in watching as her holographic screen went crazy. "I'm getting weird code read outs from 04's core along with a massive energy build up and Mari's heart rate and brain waves are all over the place!" She watched in shock as all of 04's eight green cylinder cores rose on its back expelling heat as it started to tremble and shake violently.

Its arms started to lengthen as did the hands fingers and palms while the neck started to grow downwards as it thickened as the three horned crest was forced higher two of its horns bending outwards and upwards while the centre one remained the same as real black horn smashed through them all growing upwards. Both shoulder sails slowly bent downwards repositioning themselves as the massive body leaned over become warped and thin causing plating to fall off as it became loose as it no longer fitted.

Black claws came through on both of the thinner hands though they weren't as prominent or as large as 02's and were thin and long with razor sharp edges. The legs buckled going forward as the knees bent and the feet grew downwards turning lycanthrope as long claws came through on them as well and all of muscle all over the body became leaner and tighter. The head and long neck moved skywards as a massive spit cracked down half the head causing plating to go flying as the huge jaws opened as the teeth became long, thin and curved and more grew through filling in the longer jaw set they looked like that of an angler fish.

A long thin tongue came out which started to snake around as saliva began to drip down from the wide open jaws. A huge tail grew down wards from the back it was far longer than the whole body and was thin and whip lash like as it lashed backwards slicing through the top section of a building smashing it apart causing glass and rubble to smash into the ground below. The eight cylinders cores suddenly snapped back locking in place this wasn't the unit's beast mode it looked nothing like it no this was just like 02 in that the unit had gone through a total metamorphose under the plating.

Mari hands gripped the controls as she felt her canine teeth on the upper and lower jaw getting longer and sharper and she could feel the heat in both of her eyes as she spoke her voice filled with rage. "Come fight me little sister, all my life I wanted so much to be like you!" Asuka looked over at the heaving 04 whose body showing that it was filled with rage and anger as she spoke calmly. "Don't be angry Marian you scare me when you're angry and my Mama is always angry when I visit her in the hospital, I don't want you to feel anger towards each other we are sisters."

Misato looked at her screen watching the tense stand off as both primal units faced off against each other. "I don't get it why isn't Asuka loosing it and going berserk?" Rei looked up at Asuka seeing that her left eye was glowing and though her teeth had grown she was completely calm. "Because she can now finally control her anger, Mari can't."

Mari screamed feeling 04 run full force on all fours towards 02 as she leapt towards it only to smash into it's AT field and leap off only to run around and try again with the same result. Mari's face started to show frustration as both her glowing green eyes narrowed. "Why did you leave me Asuka, we were sisters we were going to be together forever!?" Misato looked up in shock as she heard the translation seeing the same surprise and confusion in everyone else's faces. Asuka spoke again in a gentle voice. "I never wanted to leave you Marian, you saved me from drowning."

Mari eased 04 up onto its hind legs pulling her units head back as it let out an ear piecing screech which caused the undamaged windows of the buildings all around them to shatter sending glass flying everywhere. "Why did you never recognise me? On the first day I came to the program I thought you'd know it was me!" Her unit's jaws suddenly opened again as a sharp concentrated light beam came out smashing against Asuka's AT field puncturing through a number of the layers. "Yet you didn't, you ignored me, just like you ignore everyone!"

Asuka brought 02 down to the ground on all fours her voice suddenly became less child like as her unit's throat started to pulse. "I can be very selfish, when I think people don't like me or hate me I step away because I think they will hurt me." She watched as Mari's unit smashed up against her AT field tearing at it violently trying to rip through more of the layers with its jaws and long claws. "I do it to everyone, even people I love and care about." She paused before speaking solemnly. "Even though I loved Rei I did nothing but push her away in the beginning for fear of rejection."

Kaji looked up his voice filled with surprise as he spoke. "Asuka's unit is somehow expelling the drug, the levels are lowering." Asuka looked up at Mari face on her screen. "When Toji pointed out that we could be sisters I just didn't want to believe it because I'm so used to the things in my life leaving me and never returning and I never thought you'd return to me Marian and I didn't recognise your surname or your first name even though you seemed so familiar to me."

Mari started to rip away the last remaining layers only for her unit to stop as it started to choke violently seemingly loosing a lot of energy as her rage became less as everything started to clear. "Why not speak?" She clawed at Asuka's AT field half heatedly. "Why not say something, ask me if I was your big sister!?" Misato watched as thin trail of yellow liquid started to flow out of 02's jaws near the front dripping down on to the floor.

Asuka looked down sadly. "As strong as I pretend to be on the outside on the inside I'm so afraid, it's just I don't want people to know so I hide it." She looked at her hand. "I never kissed Rei first she kissed me because I never had the courage." She looked up slightly. "I think you're afraid too Marian, afraid of being alone like me, afraid of never being loved, afraid that you'll never be accepted for who you are or for your sexuality."

Kaji watched as 04's mouth suddenly sprayed out yellow liquid all over the floor opposite. "Both units have gotten rid of the drug..." Mari eyed Asuka unable to keep the anger out of her voice. "I am not afraid!" Asuka moved her unit closer very slowly. "There is no cowardice in being afraid Marian." She turned to her holographic panel typing in to it. "I'm going to drop my AT field now and you can do as you will, because I will not bring harm to someone who is part of my family. I don't care that we are not even genetically related it changes nothing to me, you're still my big sister."

Mari watched as Asuka's AT field dropped suddenly she didn't know what to do everything was confusing and nothing made sense and she could feel the tears coming as she started to cry. A soft loving voice echoed behind her. "You have to stop now Marian, you're a good girl and mommy loves you." There was a long pause. "I know your feelings Marian I know you never got to tell me the truth but know this I love you all the same." Mari looked up as everything became so crystal clear, as Asuka's image on her screen vanished. "Mommy…"

Asuka watched as Mari's image faded away as 04's head leaned back as its body blasted into light which rose skywards as it formed a massive white cross above the city lighting up the night sky along with the whole war torn and burning city. The cross slowly faded away into thin air as 04 creaked falling sideways shutting down completely as it lay on its side unmoving.

She breathed in deeply before speaking calmly. "Bardiel?" Bardiel image suddenly came up on the opposite side on her screen his red eyes wide as he looked at her intensely. "You expelled the drug from this unit didn't you?" Bardiel's mouth formed a wide smile. "I didn't do it and I have no control or power over 04 and it did the same." His voice became very soft as he spoke again. "Asuka I know you're tired, last night made you very wary, it's okay for you to go back to sleep now." Asuka looked at him taking in a deep breath as she closed her eyes hearing the sound as her unit shut down and she faded in to her dreams.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Misato blinked watching as both entry plug screens reappeared Mari's screen had cut out after Asuka's last words where as Asuka's had cut out just after the cross had faded away. The drone camera was above both units which were on the floor on there sides and the media feed was starting to come up as the press planes and helicopters began to fly over the scene.

Maya blinked staring at the read outs. "Mari is unconscious but alive all of her brain activity has returned to normal now and her heart rate is normal." She paused eyeing Asuka's read outs in utter confusion. "Asuka's sleeping really deeply." Misato breathed in deeply. "So wait am I hearing this right Asuka and Mari are related!?" Rei moved forward. "She told me about this, she said she grew up with this other girl but they got separated because her grandmother took her away but I didn't know it was Mari."

She looked up slightly. "Asuka said that she never liked her step parents but she stated very clearly that she thought the world of this girl because she saved her from drowning even though they had no genetic relation." She eased up her hand. "Toji mentioned this recently he made light of the fact they are really similar in some ways and he was absolutely right but I just didn't put two and two together." Shinji turned looking at her in shock. "I always thought they were kind of similar but I never thought that, that was the reason why, like Toji I thought it was just pure coincidence." Maya turned sharply. "Mari said she wanted to talk to Asuka in private she was going to see her today as she had not been honest with her, this was clearly what she was going to talk about."

Misato looked up sharply as something hit her. "That's how Mari knew Asuka's mother had strangled her, because I searched and searched and never found a connection and Mari had not hacked into the German division so it was because Asuka told her as a child directly." She looked up at the screen. "Okay send out two emergency medical flying wings and have these two shipped back home and make sure the press see them being lifted up and out. Then send the full footage and readings to both Germany and Britain make it absolutely clear that Asuka and Mari were victims here and some one put drugs in the LCL hence it caused Mari to attack Asuka also send a clean up crew to pick up the plating from 04 that came off when it transformed."

She folded her arms. "Then send a cut down version of these events to the US and general media." Kaji looked up sharply. "The flying wing with Vitor has just landed and the two medical flying wings have just left." Maya looked up. "Won't this bring up though that we have a leak in Nerv?" Misato eyed Makoto who had his back turned. "Yes but tell all parties involved that we are dealing with these leaks." She breathed in deeply. "And someone call Ritsuko she'll want to talk to Vitor!"

8

Ritsuko entered the room where Vitor was sitting they'd given him food and water and it was clear he had not eaten in a long time because he was eating like it would be his last meal. He had bathed and shaved his beard and was now in clean fresh clothes. She watched as Misato came in standing behind him along with Kaji from what she'd heard the special white and red medical wings were bringing Asuka and Mari back to Nerv and would be back very soon.

She slowly pulled up a chair sitting opposite the older man who looked up slightly while easing his hand up to his ear turning on his translator so to them he would sound Japanese and he could understand what they were saying. "Vitor Castro I presume?" Vitor put his fork aside along with his empty plate as he spoke. "Yes." Ritsuko breathed in eyeing him. "So you're a scientist and your field is cloning, you know cloning is illegal right?"

Vitor eyed her in disgust holding back none of his rage. "I didn't clone people I cloned fucking cats, dogs and budgerigars!" He folded his arms. "That is not illegal under UN law I owned a little lab in Salvador and I brought back people's dead animals." Misato looked up. "Then why did Ouroboros want you?" Vitor looked up. "Because my research involved fixing the genetic issue with cloning, cloned animals don't live that long you get about five good years out of them because they're born old and they need monthly medication to stop the cell break down."

He breathed in deeply. "My research fixed this issue I found a way to bring them back young and in part fix the medication problem in that dose could be yearly not monthly." He tensed slightly. "Three years ago I was going home ordinary day, ordinary life and then a four by four smashes into me and punt's me off the road and in to a ditch."

He put his hands together. "Next thing I know I'm in a dark room in a god forsaken place and I'm a prisoner and there are fifteen other prisoners all scientists all from different fields taken from every corner of the world and all of them are terrified. Then we find out that its Ouroboros who captured us, they tell us work for them or die, of course some people refused, they got their heads blown off in front of us and the message is made real clear do as they say and if we don't impress them we are going to die."

He tapped his finger on the table. "So the smart men and women who don't want to die start working and at first we have no idea what we are even working on or why. They just give us this fucking weird DNA to work on which sort of reads human but is nothing like it."

He put his hands together. "They have many samples all different all weird and we grew strange shit limbs and arms to test it." He looked up slightly. "What they wanted was to make the DNA so it didn't degenerate and they wanted to be able to tweak it change the beings appearance so it was different to the source." He looked down sadly. "Then it kinds of dawns on a few of us what we might be fucking working on though at first we thought it was Evangelion DNA."

Ritsuko looked up slightly. "Evangelion's are not cloned new DNA strands are created from a very pure source the skeleton is built first, then the veins grow naturally over it and the guts are put in and then layers of muscle and tendons are added then the thick skin grows naturally along with the teeth and eyes and the whole body becomes fully unified. This method gives rise to different eye colours, skin colours and how many eyes they have hence no two Evangelion's ever look the same they all look unique and different under the armour plating."

Vitor raised a finger. "You are absolutely correct hence why Evangelion's suffer no cell degeneration and they have massive healing abilities and each is built with incredible care and detail over a very long period of time."

He breathed in painfully. "That wasn't what these people wanted they wanted a short cut, they wanted a bigger ugly demon whose sections could be grown and sliced together like some horror monster the only parts they wanted to build was the skeleton and shove the rest on top in fully formed in sections." He breathed in sharply. "By the end of the two years there were only six of us left those who failed or didn't please were dead and their deaths were awful by the way they'd died slowly and were tortured in front of us."

He eyed her. "In the end it was just myself, two other men and three women and we finally fixed the problem, we finally got three little miniature version of these demons in tanks that worked though all of them were brain dead." He looked at his hands. "Thus we then had to watch them build Bukavac followed by the other two Ouroboros then gave them there name which is the Archangels. We watched them stick in these weird purple cores which kind of remind me of Evangelion cores and the double piloting systems in each because one person cannot take the mental strain of piloting them, it's just too much."

He breathed in sadly. "Then all of the plating went on each and the pilots tested them and there was no hitch whatsoever." He looked down sadly. "They even have that fucking weird S² Engine inside them, you know the part that looks like an ugly human liver and keeps them going."

He looked up slightly. "But their massive size is their problem they take some much longer to heal than the Evangelion's and pilots suffer greatly because of the mental strain but Ouroboros are nothing if not generous to them. They are spoilt beyond compare, anything they want they can have it sex, money, items nothing is off limits not even drugs." He tapped his fingers on the table. "Them being couples doesn't change anything because their moral compasses are warped. Hikari is the one that sticks in my head the most though that woman is a fucking evil little Diablo she punches and beats people up if they even look at her the wrong way and she totally gets off on violence both physically and sexually."

He breathed in sharply. "She's like a warped messed up version of your Asuka but with no moral compass." Ritsuko looked up. "If these pilots all have mental disorders how do these Archangels not just shut down?" Vitor breathed in painfully. "That's the thing you see we engineered them differently, Evangelion's need a very healthy mental syncs to work but our demons are the reverse the more the anger the more the sadness the higher the sync ratio hence why they went after the Evangelion program's rejects because some of them have massive chips on their shoulders and really hate Nerv."

He put a hand on his face feeling the pain tear at his heart. "I've sinned against my gods, myself and the others we created monsters that shouldn't exist and I know thousands died in the city I was hiding in today and I know thousands more will die soon enough and everyday I feel that I shouldn't be alive and that I deserve to die." Misato looked at him sadly he was clearly in a deep depression. "How did you and the other six get out?"

Vitor put his hands together. "They blind folded us and we were put on some kind of train but the train was attacked by Cerberus and we all escaped, apparently they hate Ouroboros more than they hate you right now." Kaji eyed him. "Did you ever see the place they held you in?"

Vitor eyed his hand which had been bandaged up as he'd cut it badly. "No not in all the three years I was there we were kept in confined rooms all the time we were there, they only brought us together when they killed someone to make an example of them. Though I can tell you this the train that we escaped from was travelling the Himalayas and once we got of those freezing fucking mountains we all sold off our clothes and brought regular ones we all chose to go off grid, no phone, no computer no credit card and we scattered all over the world. I got into the US yesterday and I was going to seek asylum because I assumed I was home free, clearly I wasn't."

Ritsuko looked at him. "Can you give us the names of the other five scientists?" Vitor looked up. "Yes but I'm afraid I can't write in Japanese and my English isn't very good so it will have to be written in Portuguese." Ritsuko slowly passed him some paper and a pen. "It's not a problem we can translate it, though from here on in you'll be under Nerv's full protection." Vitor looked up sadly. "If they come here it won't make any difference, your Evangelion's don't stand a chance Bukavac blowing 02 and 00 out of sky was merely a test and nothing more. Granted it didn't work in Bukavac's favour that day but Ouroboros knows Asuka has the angel Bardiel seated inside her brain cavity."

He pushed his short dark hair back. "They are now just waiting for her to get rid off him because then they believe she'll loose her ability to disrupt AT fields and they can try again. It was after that battle in Australia that we were shipped out on a train though maybe that was for the better since Hikari smashed up one of the labs after loosing that fight after getting out of the hospital wing as she spent all night there recovering. She did so love to pick on us and putting up with her shit for three years was an added torture and her lover Kensuke wouldn't shut up about how Asuka had hurt his precious girlfriend and how he's going to disembowel her next time they meet."

He pulled down his sleeve showing off a long healed scar wound made by a meat knife. "Granted all six of those pilots are awful but Hikari has a mean ass fucking temper and she did this to me the first year I was there, so I hope when her judgement day rolls in you have Asuka snuff out her light personally." He breathed in deeply as he spoke his voice filled with venom. "Frankly I'm surprised she didn't finish her off in Australia, Ouroboros said Asuka's attack was a mental one they said it was like she was pushed all of her mental bad feelings into Hikari's mind and Hikari just couldn't handle it."

He leaned forward. "That wasn't the worst part though Hikari saw Bardiel inside her entry plug looking right at her in a sitting position his open mouth close to her face, it's why she started screaming and panicking but I'm sure Asuka was very unaware of this at the time." He smirked. "Bardiel is apparently a scary fucking bastard to look at I'm impressed that Asuka can tolerate him since its like having a horror monster walking around you twenty four seven."

He laughed slightly. "There was something else though he was laughing and Hikari could hear him. To him it was all a big funny game where he got to look around the rivals entry plug since he's in Asuka's mind he probably knew about their whole history and how Hikari lied and screwed her over and tried to paint her as an abuser."

He pulled up his sleeve. "Hikari laughed about that moment a lot and how pathetic and weak Asuka was for not fulfilling her violent sexual domination wish." He leaned back in his chair. "I probably sound a little sadistic to you enjoying her misery but let's just say that I watched her permanently scar up a lot of us scientists for fun regardless of their gender and every day we all used to live in fear of her and her violent temper tantrums."

He folded his arms as he eyed them. "Also in the three years I was there I lost a lot of friends and other scientist even lost people they loved because some got in to relationships, only for the people they loved to be killed because they didn't make the grade. We all want to see retribution for all of those who died at Ouroboros's hand."

Misato looked up sharply feeling her teeth grind together. "You will have it." Ritsuko looked down slightly speaking evenly. "They will be dealt with come what may." Visor looked at them for a long moment before speaking sadly. "Then I'll tell you everything I know and everything we did to create them maybe it will help you defeat what we created because I can't seek forgiveness from my gods in death until I see the Archangels die."

End of part 52

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