Doctor Who: The Evangelion Error (Book Two)

E13 Part 2: Take You Home

Express Train. Tokyo-3 Loop Line 7.

The next thing Shinji knew, he was being spun around, Mari's arm around his neck. She stood about a head taller than him, he realized, and he could feel the muscles shifting beneath her skin. "Now stay still, cutie." She pressed the gun against his jaw. "M to all points -- go for Plan Echo." She sniffed his neck and made a contented noise. "Mmmmmh. LCL. Love that smell."

Shinji looked up at the Doctor, who stood a short distance away, his screwdriver trained on the girl's revolver. "Um. Sorry."

"Eh. Points for the attempt." The Doctor shrugged. "Execution could use some work."

"Can we not talk about executions right now?" Shinji eyed the gun.

"Right. Sorry. But anyway --" The Doctor motioned towards the revolver. "You know that's not going to help you now, don't you?"

Mari giggled. "You suuuuuure?" Shinji heard a click next to him as she rotated the gun's cylinder with her thumb. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. It's okay, he told himself. The Doctor's here. Everything's under control. Mostly. Probably.

"Oh, I'm positive." The Doctor grinned. "Smith and Wesson Victory Model, am I right? Steel bullets, no safety to lock down. Credit where it's due, you've clearly done your homework. Just one problem -- it's been parkerized. Left just enough trace copper on the surface to let the cordolaine signal gum up the works. Go on, take a look. Hammer's out of alignment. It'll never fire again."

Shinji felt the girl hesitate. Then she sighed and tossed the gun away. "Knew I should've gone with the chrome one," she grumbled. "But noooooo. That's too flashy for a covert job, they said..."

He tried to pull away from her. There was a flash of motion. Mari switched her arms. She held onto him with her left, while in her right hand she brandished a large combat knife, its tip much closer to Shinji's eye than he really felt comfortable with. "Any copper on this one, teacher?" she asked brightly.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "Where were you even keeping tha -- never mind, don't answer that. I don't want to know.

"Still -- who do you think you're kidding?" The Doctor lowered the screwdriver and meandered casually to the side. Mari backed away from him, dragging Shinji along with her. "You're not gonna hurt him of all people. We both know that."

She giggled again. "They said you were funny."

"And what would your bosses back at SEELE say to that, eh?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "One of only three Eva pilots in the world. What're they gonna do when the next Angel shows up? Toss your gun at it?"

"Mmmmmmm... well, it's not like he needs everything to still pilot, though, right?" Mari said thoughtfully. She flicked the knife expertly back and forth. "I could give him a few cool scars... maybe take off an ear to remember him by... I've got options, you know?" She abruptly bit the top of Shinji's ear.

"Ow!" The boy winced. "That hurts! What, do you sharpen your teeth or something?!"

"Maaaaaybe. But don't worry, babe," Mari breathed into his ear. "I don't always bite."

Dammit, focus! Shinji thought as his face went bright red again. There is a crazy girl with a knife in my face! That was such a cheesy line! And you! he mentally shouted in the direction of his lower regions. That's! Not! Helping!

"Speaking of pilots -- let's talk about you for a second, shall we?" The Doctor tilted his head. "Child soldier, clearly given military training, knows the smell of LCL -- you're an Evangelion pilot too, aren't you? But if that's the case, why aren't you with NERV? You'd think even your bosses'd want all hands on deck for the Angels. Unless...

"Oh. Oh. I see." The Doctor breathed out. "You're one of the rejects, aren't you? One of the ones who didn't make the cut. Let me guess -- they took your childhood away and said you'd be saving the world, didn't they? Only things didn't work out. And now you're just stuck with whatever odd jobs they toss to you. It's all you have left, isn't it, now that they've ruined your life."

"Ooooooooh." Mari sounded genuinely impressed. "You are smart." But Shinji could feel her tense up. Wait for it, he thought. The Doctor's getting to her. Wait for her to slip up.

"But it doesn't have to be this way. Not anymore." The Doctor reached out his hand towards her. "Let me help. Whatever they've done to you, however they've hurt you, I can make it better. You have my word. Besides, by now, you know you can't trust them. After everything they've put you through? After they've sent children to do their dirty work?" He practically spat his last question, his voice full of rage and disgust.

His tone softened again. "Just give me the knife, Mari. That's all you have to do. Stand down and the nightmare stops. I promise."

"Awwwwwwwww. But what fun would that be?" Mari said in a kind of singsong tone. "Working for the committee isn't so bad. I get to kill things, and blow stuff up... besides, where else would I get such fun toys to play with?"

"What do you mean by --" The Doctor glanced behind him. "... oh."

The two other passengers stood side by side just a few meters away. The kimono man's forearms broke apart into a nightmarish whirl of razors and sparking electrodes. Twin pairs of rotary blades rose from out of the hoodie woman's palms, her fingers folding back out of the way onto her wrists. In unison, the two cyborgs marched stiffly towards the Doctor.

Then, just behind Shinji and his captor, a giant robot burst into the train car.

Okay, maybe not giant, exactly. It was a puny thing by Evangelion standards, at least, barely three meters tall at most. The mech consisted primarily of a bulbous midsection, pockmarked with thrusters, with two missile clusters and a fuel tank slung across its back. Hydraulics whined within its arms as it tore its way through the train's skin and put a tank-treaded foot down inside the car. Its disproportionately small head, featureless save for a single centrally-mounted camera eye, swiveled towards Shinji.

Mari suddenly released him. Before Shinji could react, the mech's clawed fingers grabbed his shoulder like a steel vise. He felt something press up against his back. Bands of some kind of thick plastic material wrapped themselves around his upper arms and legs and over his coat. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a cable leading from the webbing up to a slot towards the top of the mech's torso.

He helplessly turned back towards the rest of the train car. The Doctor dodged and weaved between the two cyborgs, the screwdriver flashing, keeping himself just out of reach of the blades. He looked up towards the boy. Yelled Shinji's name somewhere beneath the howling wind rushing through the breach. The Doctor ducked beneath the kimono man's wild swing and pointed the screwdriver towards the mech --

Something silver flashed by the corner of Shinji's eye. Then Mari's knife was sticking out of the Doctor's shoulder.

The Doctor stumbled and fell back against the bench. The two cyborgs rushed him. Shinji opened his mouth, but nothing seemed to come out.

The mech let go of the boy's shoulder. Mari wrapped her arms around him from behind. "Better hold on tight, sweetie," she whispered in his ear. "This next part's gonna be amazing."

With a hiss, the mech jumped out of the car. A thruster roared. Shinji felt something kick him hard in the chest, and then suddenly he was soaring high above the ground, dangling like a puppet on a string, the train rapidly receding below him. He heard a loud click somewhere above his head. A dozen missiles fell out of the mech's launchers. Their engines lit up a short distance away. They flung themselves down onto the train, reducing it to an inferno of smoke and twisted metal.