Words from the Author:

First off, I'd like to thank all the people who have followed, favorite, voted and reviewed my story. I really appreciate that there are people who found my story interesting enough to have read up to this point. I hope I've made it an enjoyable experience. My creativity will be put to the test for this episode. Wish me luck. I will now state again that I do not claim owning Neon Genesis Evangelion and I will never falsely state anything of the sort.

Episode 16: The Pain That Comes From Betrayal Is Merciless. Just As The World We've Come To Know

The scene begins with Unit 03 retaining its hold of Unit 04's face via its left hand, which is the only appendage it has since the giant robot lost its right arm during the fight against Dummy Eva 14. 

As that transpires, Rei, Hikari and everyone in Central Dogma watch with shock due to them seeing Nero's current action. Simultaneously, Units 01, 02 and 05 appear at a pretty far distance away, in the south part of the area, while the pilots of those Evas have no idea what's going on.

Desperation can be seen on Kensuke amidst making Unit 04 grab Unit 03's hand with both hands. Unit 04 then tries to loosen the black machine's grip while Kensuke yells in concern, "Nero...! What are you doing, man?!"

Nero callously stares at Unit 04. "What I must do." The lad looks away from Unit 04 via gazing eastward and mumbles, "Anyhow, there's something I have to confirm. So one way or the other, this was bound to occur." Nero returns his attention to Unit 04 with a sinister smirk.

At the same time, the Extra Eva abruptly runs up from behind Unit 03 while disconnecting its Umbilical Cable and reaching out to it with its left hand. In succession to that, Hikari exclaims via a pleading tone amidst leaning onward, "Nero, stop!" Her Eva's instantly stopped by Unit 03's A.T. Field, resulting in the Extra Eva's limb colliding into the defensive wall, as that momentarily surprises Hikari and pulls her body rearward substantially. She's then filled with determination, pushing the controls forward so the Extra Eva places both hands on the A.T. Field in the attempt to penetrate it. Unfortunately for Hikari, her Eva's fails to prevail and this causes her to shout while her focus is on the A.T. Field, "I can't get through! It's too strong!"

Nero pays no mind to the Extra Eva, maintaining his vision upon Unit 04, and thinks, "You're going to be first, Kensuke..." Suddenly, Unit 03's hand starts to slowly contaminate Unit 04's face like it did with Dummy Eva 14.

Meanwhile, Hikari accepts that she can't get through Unit 03's A.T. Field with her Eva's bare hands, leading to the Class Rep pulling out a Prog Knife from each pylon. After that, the Extra Eva feverishly strikes Unit 03's A.T. Field with both tools, although seems that none of it is doing anything as well. Witnessing her efforts go to waste, Hikari's engulfed by worry while yelling, "What's going on, Nero?! Why are you doing this?! You need to let go of Kensuke before you get yourself into serious trouble!"

With that plea from Hikari, the scene temporarily switches to Central Dogma's confines as many of the spectators remain astonished thanks to what's transpiring. 

Eventually, Maya exclaims while viewing her screen with a horrified expression, "There's contamination in Unit 04's head! The pilot will be in severe danger if this persists any longer!"

Misato observes the main monitor, considering it's displaying Nero's treachery, with concern radiating amidst thinking, "I can't believe what I'm seeing! What's he thinking?!" The beauty snaps her head to solemnly concentrate on Maya and utters in a commanding voice, "We have no choice! Sever Unit 03 and its pilot's synchronization! Afterwards, we'll retrieve Nero and get some answers!" She refocuses onto the huge screen while thinking with moderate anger dwelling inside of her, "And he better have a damn good explanation!"

Maya nods, glancing at Misato until turning to her screen and commences typing on the keys. Unexpectedly, the dame's overcome by surprise as her screen demonstrates the words "Access Denied". Following that, Maya shifts her sight to Misato again with bewilderment taking over. "I can't get through! We've been disconnected!"

Misato immediately looks at Maya, panic arising. "How's that possible?! Didn't we have control over Unit 03 the entire time?!"

Ritsuko analyzes Maya's screen, with her posture bent towards it, as she's standing to the Lieutenant's left and says in a loud volume, "It appears we didn't! We're able to keep an eye on the status of the Eva, but somehow, we launched Unit 03 without knowing that our control had been severed! We can't even influence the pressure of the LCL!"

Fuyutsuki leans forth with his right hand placed atop Gendo's counter-like desk that's in front of him, baffled. "Who could have done that?! The only people capable of such are the tech team and Dr. Akagi, and I know for a fact none of them did it!"

Gendo sternly responds to Fuyutsuki's concern while sitting to the Sub-Commander's left as he's in his standard pose. "There's one other, actually."

Everyone in Central Dogma deliver a stunned expression towards Gendo prior to the Commander promptly declaring, "Nero. It was him."

Misato takes a few steps towards Gendo, a shocked demeanor portrayed. "That's impossible!!"

Gendo veers his attention to Misato. "That's where you're wrong, Katsuragi. Nero has the intellect for it. He probably did it the moment he first piloted Unit 03."

Misato's befuddled by this revelation and yells in dismay, "How could that be?! Wouldn't someone have noticed it?!"

Ritsuko collects her composure, viewing Misato in the process. "It's possible that it was overlooked, considering we have so many Evas to worry about. Out of all the routine checks we conduct, we don't really verify if we have control or not. We merely assume that we do."

Misato snaps at Ritsuko with stress brimming. "But then that means...?!" She quickly navigates her gaze towards the main screen, drawing her left foot rearward to do so, with a distraught behavior summoned and thinks, "Nero's been planning on doing this from the beginning..."

Touji watches Misato with astonishment displayed until diverting his sight towards the immense monitor as he thinks, "What the hell, Nero...? Ya promised me... That ya were gonna protect them..."

The scene abruptly returns its focus to Unit 03, continuing its slow contamination of Unit 04. In the meantime, the Extra Eva persists its efforts in breaking through Unit 03's A.T. Field while the pilots of Units 01, 02 and 05 are still spectating from afar. 

Rei sustains her own observation, her Eva situated from the north and is a bit closer than the others, while thinking with a hint of confusion, "I do not understand. He was working with us not long ago and now he is attacking Kensuke."

Then, Kensuke screams while clutching his face via both hands out of feeling intense pain as he throws his head back. "Oh my God! Somebody help me! It hurts so much!" He partially moves his hands down from his face to peer at the ceiling. After that, it's revealed that Kensuke has some dilated veins with the same sapphire-like coloring his Eva's receiving and keeps on vocalizing his suffering.

Rei swiftly frees herself from her stunned state as she bends onward while exclaiming with worry radiating, "You must stop, Nero! You are hurting, Kensuke!"

Unit 00 disconnects its Umbilical Cable just like the Extra Eva had done and sprints towards Unit 03 from behind while running up next to the Extra Eva's left. It soon halts right there while colliding into Unit 03's A.T. Field via both hands.

Nero glimpses at the two interfering Evas with a cold look while muttering to himself, "Even with both of you together, there's no breaking through."

Kensuke's cries refrain from dissipating as he gradually loses consciousness amidst thinking, "Why... Nero...?" Unit 04 suddenly shuts off and becomes motionless as its pilot is no longer feeling any agony, but can't maintain his consciousness. This concludes with Kensuke passing out while the inside of the entry plug goes dark, a red tinted coloring moderately presented as well.

Misato breathes heavily, contorted forth a little with her eyes locked onto the floor. "Did we make it in time?"

Ritsuko narrows her eyes with fierceness showing, retaining her vision upon Maya's screen and nods in response to Misato's question. "We did, although the pilot took some extensive mental damage from the contamination. We'll have to check him as soon as possible."

Misato glances at Ritsuko without changing the positioning of her posture before straightening herself while concentrating on the main screen. At that exact moment, the dame utters in a commanding tone into a private line so that Nero doesn't hear the order, "Rei, Hikari! Kensuke's connection with Unit 04 has been severed, so he's not at risk anymore! Try to get Unit 03 away from him!"

Fuyutsuki solemnly glares at Misato. "Colonel! You haven't given them the order to treat Unit 03 and its pilot as the enemy! What are you waiting for?!"

Gendo views Fuyutsuki out of the corner of his eyes with no emotion emitted. 

Misato quickly turns around to confront Fuyutsuki, surprised by his words. After that, the purple-haired woman navigates her head westward to look away from the Sub-Commander with sadness exhibited. "I just..."

Fuyutsuki punches the counter-like desk via his right hand as he's overcome with anger. "He almost killed the Fifth Child! His actions are inexcusable! It's apparent that he's aligned with SEELE! He was here to infiltrate NERV, take over one of our Evas, and now, is using it against us!"

Hyuga steers his chair sideways eastward to be attentive of Fuyutsuki and says with slight nervousness, "We don't know that for sure, sir. If he is with SEELE, why did he kill SEELE's pilot?"

Fuyutsuki instills his sight onto Hyuga. "Do you think SEELE cares about its pilots?! Akaya was most likely ordered to have it done to deceive us! Or even for the sole purpose of getting rid of a pilot SEELE may have thought to be useless!" He peers at the primary monitor with seriousness established. "One way or the other, he proved how heartless he is, and that he's currently a threat to us."

Misato temporarily stares at Fuyutsuki, bewilderment taking over, until hastily commandeering herself back towards the main screen as she thinks while fairly worried, "If Nero really is working for SEELE, then Kaji might be right about him being a clone of Shinji. It's possible for them to do that with the thought of playing some mind games with the children. After all, I could imagine fighting somebody resembling Shinji being really tough." The Colonel squints her eyes, minor ferocity arising, amidst gritting her teeth while persisting her thought process, "Not only that, Nero developed a relationship with them. That'll come into play too."

During that, Gendo continues watching Fuyutsuki amidst thinking, "I haven't ever seen Kozo act this way. He must be upset because the pilot I told him to have faith in is actually with SEELE." The Commander briefly pauses as he drives his vision towards the massive monitor while thinking, "I had hoped that you rid yourself of SEELE, however, Keel managed to still have some sort of a hold on you, my son."

The focus eventually goes to Nero, who's calmly depicting Unit 04 with Unit 03 maintaining its grip on it.

Concurrently, Unit 00 and the Extra Eva refuse to quit their attempts at getting through Unit 03's A.T. Field. 

Nero blandly comments while somewhat leaning towards the left screen that shows Unit 04, "Seems Unit 04 is no longer operating. They must've cut off the synchronization." He steadily brings his eyes towards the Extra Eva and maliciously smiles. "You're next." Unit 03 hurriedly advances forward while veering its constitution to face Unit 00. As it does that, the black Eva lifts and tosses Unit 04 at Unit 00 with a back-handed, sideways swing of its arm while releasing a faint grunting sound. 

Rei's caught off guard by that as she doesn't have sufficient time to react, leading to Unit 04's posterior crashing into Unit 00, and forces the blue Eva to fall down while Kensuke's machine lies on top of it. 

Hikari instantly gazes westward with bewilderment invoked, seeing what recently transgressed and shouts in concern, "Rei! Are you alright?!"

Nero chuckles while Unit 03 appears right ahead of the Extra Eva as it's bent onward a tad with its eyes locked upon the Extra Eva. Right after, the lad exclaims in a commanding manner with hostility included, "Don't take your eyes off the opponent!"

Hikari promptly looks at Unit 03 as she's baffled by its sudden closeness and gasps afterwards. 

Unit 03 ultimately pulls its only usable arm backwards and immediately thrusts it skyward as it's aimed at the Extra Eva's chest. With that, the appendage pierces the chest plate as the Extra Eva is elevated off the ground due to the strength of the strike and is held in the air.

Meanwhile, Hikari screams in pain following the throwing of her head rearward while grasping her chest via her right hand, refraining from letting go of the left control with her opposite limb.

Witnessing that causes Touji to panic as he yells towards the primary monitor, "Hikari!"

Listening to Touji's outburst, Misato's significantly stunned and simply keeps her sights glued to the main screen. 

Nero soon draws his concentration towards the Extra Eva with a fierce expression while callously remarking to Hikari, which is possible since they can still communicate through the open channel, "You should've quit being a pilot a long time ago. You're clearly of no real use. At least that way, I would've been able to avoid breaking my promise to Touji."

Hikari's eyes widen as she abruptly ceases her screaming, swiftly focuses onto Nero with shock and thinks, "Does that mean he doesn't want to fight me?! Or maybe he didn't want to fight any of us from the very start!" The teen then experiences an even more excruciating pain, compelling her to drop her head and discerns that, from her chest, she's being contaminated by the sapphire-like color with veins dilating. This scares Hikari so much that she becomes frantic while desperately grabbing the right controls and cries out amidst repeatedly pulling on the contraption. Doing that makes the Extra Eva swing its arms around carelessly, striking Unit 03's A.T. Field as the Class Rep shouts with her head lowered, "I got to get away! I'm being infected by Unit 03! I have to run!" Hikari cocks her head back with her eyes shut and screams out, "SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!"

Touji's consumed by horror prior to shifting his attention to Misato and yells in a pleading method, "Ya have to do somethin', Misato!"

Misato glances at Touji with uncertainty, not knowing what to do to detain Nero, until reverting her gaze to the giant screen while overflowing determination and firmly orders, "Disconnect synchronization of the Extra Eva, now!"

Nero overhears Misato's command due to her saying that through an open channel without realizing it. Unit 03 then pulls the Extra Eva westward as it remained poised above while the 7th Child views the terrain. "That's not going to be enough this time!" The black Eva ferociously thrusts the Extra Eva onto the ground while generating a loud roar as it's gripping the orange Eva from the inside of its chest. 

Thanks to the impact of Hikari's Eva crashing, the landscape breaks apart a bit underneath it as Hikari screams in agony from the collision and because of her synchronization with the Extra Eva, her eyes staying closed throughout. 

Following that, Unit 03 tightly clutches the Extra Eva's core unit within its chest and cracks it substantially.

Aoba promptly yells in dismay while examining his screen, "The Extra Eva's core unit has been severely damaged! It's about to collapse and explode!"

Misato temporarily snaps her head towards Aoba, horrified, as she gasps a little prior to applying her vision onto Hyuga while demonstrating stress and panic. "Quick! Eject the entry plug!"

Hyuga shouts amidst frantically typing, his eyes fixed upon his own monitor, "I'm on it!" 

The Extra Eva's entry plug eventually ejects, rapidly traveling away from Unit 03 and Extra Eva. After that, the capsule-like object crashes into a building that had not been retracted under the surface and stops right there, located at a safe range.

Touji runs up next to Hyuga while continuing his spectating of the main monitor and worryingly exclaims, "Hikari!" He directs his head eastward to look at Hyuga and asks in a distraught manner, "Is she alright?!"

Hyuga calmly nods as he rebuttals in a composed tone. "She's fine. The entry plug is very durable against impacts like those."

Suddenly, the Extra Eva blows up with the explosion seemingly hitting Unit 03, who was still holding the Extra Eva's core unit at the time. 

Unit 00's struck by the shock-wave of the explosion too, sending it and Unit 04 backwards quite a bit while the silver Eva remains in contact with the terrain. 

Simultaneously, Unit 03 can't be depicted thanks to the blast as the abruptness of the eruption dumbfounds everybody. They then regain some of their composition while patiently witnessing the explosion die down after several moments pass by and smoke is ultimately formed.

Unit 00 gradually gets back to its feet while confronting the thick fog. During that, Rei portrays concern, inspecting the smoke closely as she thinks, "The A.T. Field more than likely protected him from the explosion. Precisely as it did when the enemy Eva self-destructed." She tightens her grip upon the controls and mutters, "I cannot let my guard down."

In the meantime, Unit 05 stands to the left of Unit 01 as Mari watches on with confusion shown. "I don't really get what's going on." She switches her concentration towards Unit 01 and Unit 02 while pouting a tad. "Why are they fighting? And what should we do?"

Asuka worryingly stares at the smoke and mumbles to herself, "I'm not sure why they're fighting, but considering that Nero just took out Kensuke and Hikari, plus both Rei and Hikari were fighting back..." Dread consumes the 2nd Child. "Then that makes him our enemy now." Asuka grows upset while hanging her head as her hair covers most of her face and blurts out, "But why?! Why do we have to fight him, damn it?!"

Hearing Asuka's cry, Shinji observes Unit 02 from his right, visibly concerned, while softly uttering, "Asuka... Is Nero really that important to you...?" He hurriedly deviates his attention to the fog that's still slowly dissipating before anger surfaces, mildly restraining his volume amidst fervently stating, "But you aren't the only one! It doesn't make sense! What could've made him do this?!"

Misato's image appears on Shinji's upper, left side screen with her arms crossed as she gives him a sad look. "I'll answer that, Shinji."

Shinji's baffled and focuses onto Misato as he thinks, "Misato...?"

Misato sighs with her head lowered momentarily until viewing Shinji again. "We have much evidence except for his actions, but we're assuming that Nero's a Child of SEELE."

Shinji's eyes widen while quite stunned as he pulls his head back a little. "What the...?"

Asuka's image instantly cuts in and is on the western section of Central Dogma's grand display with Shinji's image to the right as the red-head emotionally exclaims, "There's no way! I don't believe that!"

Misato gawks at Asuka, surprised by her outburst at first prior to sadness returning as she drops her head a tad. "Even if you don't want to, it's the only explanation, Asuka." The dame hoists her head to sternly make eye contact with Asuka. "You and the others have to accept it! He's no longer an ally, understand?!"

Asuka gets really mad amidst frantically shaking her head in disagreement before exhibiting an intense personality. "I can't do that! Not after all he's done for me!" The teenager places her right hand upon the center of her chest. "He saved me from drowning! He took care of me when I was sick without expecting anything from me!" Asuka then swings her eastern arm towards her side with her hand uncurled. "He helped me through the pain I felt after I found out about Shinji's feelings for Mari!" She balls her right hand into a fist while mounting it back on her chest. "I just can't ignore all of that and fight him!"

Touji injects himself into the conversation while infuriated, still standing next to Hyuga. "Ya gotta do it, Asuka! He tried to kill Hikari! Ya saw that!" He tightly clenches his right fist with his left hand on it, closing his eyes with his head down, and passionately shouts, "Do it for Hikari!"

Asuka's temporarily bewildered and then suddenly registers a scream, which startles her. She quickly concentrates onto the region in front of her and ultimately becomes astonished because of what she sees as Unit 00 persists its position where it was when the Extra Eva blew up.

Right when the smoke had almost finished clearing, Unit 03's arm swiftly extends out vastly from within the cloud as it grabs Unit 00's neck. 

Rei gasps for air while bending onward, her left hand holding her neck, and contains her other hand perched on her seat as her right eye is closed.

Misato hastily uncrosses her arms with a horrified demeanor. "What the hell?! How is Unit 03 stretching its arm out like that?!"

Witnessing Unit 00's predicament, Shinji presents an awestruck conduct. "He was able to make it do the same thing!"

Misato immediately appears on Shinji's side screen again with concern radiating. "What are you talking about, Shinji?"

Hyuga interrupts by turning to Misato and explains in a somewhat hesitant tone, "You see, Colonel... The 13th Angel was able to stretch out its arm that way."

Misato's head snaps towards Hyuga, disbelief established, as she yells, "But there's no way Unit 03 can do that now! It no longer has the 13th Angel inside it, right?!"

Fuyutsuki looks at Gendo with a hint of concern while whispering, "She's supposed to be correct, Ikari. So tell me... Is she?"

Gendo solemnly observes Misato, remaining in his usual pose, and responds to Fuyutsuki's question. "It was believed that the 13th Angel died during that fight with Unit 01 and thought there was no harm in rebuilding Unit 03 using most of the parts we were able to salvage. This includes Unit 03's core unit since it was mostly intact." He gazes at the main screen, depicting Unit 03. "However, we could be wrong."

Unit 03 is soon revealed after the smoke completely vanishes as the Eva didn't receive any damage due to it deploying its A.T. Field right before the Extra Eva blew up. Additionally, the mechanical behemoth maintains the same distance from Unit 00 for a bit while continually holding its neck as Unit 03 applies more pressure to it.

Rei keeps gasping for air with her head tilted upward and strains herself to say, "Nero...! Please, stop...!"

Neglecting Rei's plea, Unit 03 retracts its limb while sustaining a firm grip on Unit 00's neck, resulting in it being pulled off the ground as it's brought towards Unit 03. The moment Unit 00 is close enough, the black machine lets go of it and quickly jumps into the air a little as it hits a powerful drop-kick to Unit 00's face. This sends Rei's Eva flying as Unit 03 does an elegant, five-star back-flip and lands on its feet as it confronts the direction Unit 00's soaring.

Rei grits her teeth, pain noted, as she's holding her controls until Unit 00 crashes its posterior against the ground, although the 1st Child's able to make it roll through and gets into a crouching stance amidst facing towards Unit 03.

Nero chuckles with his focus persisting on Unit 00 and thinks, "Rei's quite resilient, although that's all she has going for her. With my synchronization barely over 300%, the only person who can actually fight me toe to toe is..." He ceases his train of thought while glancing at the area behind Unit 00 for a moment and registers Unit 01. Following that, Nero smirks as he mentions to himself in a low volume, "Just out of curiosity, I want to see what you and mother are truly made of. It'll help me determine much better our differences." The boy veers his vision back to Unit 00 and forcefully pushes the controls forward. This concludes with Unit 03 abruptly dashing towards Unit 00, having its arm drawn behind itself to be ready for another assault.

Rei hurriedly braces herself, watching Unit 03 head toward her Eva with seriousness gleaming in her eyes while the black Eva is seconds away from coming into contact. 

Then, out of nowhere, Unit 05 stands in front of the blue Eva as it blocks Unit 03's path and deploys its A.T. Field. 

Despite the unexpectedness of Unit 05's intervention, Nero doesn't halts his Eva and lets it continue as the machine thrust its hand towards Unit 05's A.T. Field while colliding into it.

Mari smiles at Unit 03 while pulling her body onward, gripping her Eva's controls throughout, as she confidently yells, "Don't forget that I'm here, Nero! If you're now the enemy, then I have no choice but to take you down!"

Nero smirks, peering at Unit 05, as he calmly says, "I'd like to witness that." He promptly pushes his left control forth, making Unit 03 put additional force into Unit 05's A.T. Field via its hand.

Suddenly, Unit 05's A.T. Field commences to crack, invoking a gasp from Mari amidst drawing her body rearward a little. "Oh, crap! That was fast! My A.T. Field won't hold on much more!" 

That is immediately followed up by Unit 03 forcefully pushing to completely break through the A.T. Field, reaching for Unit 05 in the process.

In response, Unit 05 dodges to the right and tries to gain some distance. 

Nero swiftly looks towards his left out of the corner of his eyes with a profound attitude and then quickly makes Unit 03 chase after Unit 05. 

Mari feverishly maneuvers her Eva around without rest while having Unit 03 face away from the other pilots and thinks, "Hopefully someone will take advantage 'cause I don't know for how long I can stay away from him!"

As Rei sees that Nero is currently preoccupied with trying to get Unit 05, she nods to herself with tenacity displayed. "This could be my only opportunity to attack him. Although, all I want to do is render his Eva non-operational. That way we can capture him instead of having to take his life." Unit 00 dashes towards Unit 03 and pulls out a Prog Knife in each hand while coming up from behind Unit 03.

Mari continuously backs away from Unit 03 with stress noted as she yells, "I can't keep this up much longer!" Some surprise then replaces the girl's behavior as she registers Unit 00 closing in on the black Eva from the rear.

That causes Mari to contentedly grin while thinking, "Perfect! Rei's going to get him!" She abruptly ceases Unit 05's evasion of Unit 03 as it thrusts both of its javelins towards Nero's Eva while the 6th Child thinks, "I'll be sure to make him only focus on me! There's no way he'll be able to stop or dodge Rei in time with me distracting him!"

Unit 03 effortlessly blocks Unit 05's strike via its A.T. Field with Nero showing some confusion, his head tilted eastward a bit in conclusion, and mutters to himself, "Why did she stop and attack me all of a sudden? She should've known that wasn't going to work after already seeing how strong Unit 03's A.T. Field is." The lad's eyes abruptly widen as a bad feeling arises from within him until peering behind himself and keys onto Unit 00 running towards Unit 03 while thrusting both Prog Knives at the black Eva's back. Nero's briefly shocked by Rei's sneak-attack, but then smirks while quite impressed. "Such an opportunist, Rei. I never expected that from you." He reverts his attention to Unit 05 with a slightly sinister look. "Unfortunately for you..."

Then, as Unit 00's knives were about to strike Unit 03's back, the black Eva's A.T. Field appears and blocks the attack. This compels Rei to gasp a tad while planting her back against the seat as she's engulfed by horror. 

At the same time, Mari's baffled and exclaims with her person contorted forward, "No! He was able to block both of our attacks!"

Nero lowers his head. "It's time to divide and conquer." Unit 03 promptly expands its A.T. Field as it rams into both Evas in an instant with the force hurling Unit 00 away while pushing Unit 05 back to about a length of a half mile.

Shinji yells out with worry emitting while driving his body forth quite a bit, "Mari! Rei!"

Meanwhile, Misato's dumbfounded as she shouts, "Damn it! He just used his A.T. Field as a weapon!" 

Unit 00 crashes down to the ground, Rei substantially shook up with her eyes closed. After that, Rei reopens her eyes, bends onward to view the floor while having her Eva stand back up and then peers ahead. Surprise suddenly resurfaces as Rei witnesses Unit 03 right in front of her.

Unit 03 immediately swings its arm in an upward diagonal angle with no hesitation showing and completely pierces through Unit 00's stomach without any effort. As a result, its arm comes out from Unit 00's left side where the pancreas would be located and leaves a big hole in that region. 

Misato hurriedly screams out while overcome by concern, "REI!"

With both hands, Rei grabs onto her stomach, as well as the western sector that's been afflicted, and shuts her eyes again. She then lowers her head once more while gritting her teeth. 

Simultaneously, Mari makes her Eva rush towards Unit 00 and Unit 03 while yelling with urgency, "I'm coming, Rei! Just hold on!"

Unit 03 swiftly leaps backwards towards Unit 05 while turning in mid-air to its right and gives a full sideways kick to the left part of Unit 05's head with its eastern leg. 

That causes Mari to release a short cry as the shear strength of the kick forces Unit 05 in losing its balance and falls to the ground on its right side. Shortly after, the glasses-wearing chick feels a small amount of pain from her right side, compliments of Unit 05's unceremonious descent, as she's lightly gritting her teeth.

Rei frantically looks up with a worried expression since she heard Mari yell, registers that Unit 05 is sprawled on the landscape and exclaims, "Mari!" The blue-haired female hastily removes her hands from her stomach to grip the controls while intensely glaring at Unit 03. "Nero, how could you do this?! Are we not your friends?!"

Unit 03 had landed its feet on the terrain ahead of Unit 05 while still facing towards it. As it does that, Nero navigates his head eastward to view Unit 00 from behind his Eva and coldly inquires, "What ever made you think that we were?"

Rei's jaw drops a little as she's bewildered by his conduct prior to growing upset while closing her mouth and tightens her grasp on her controls. After that, the teen shouts while holding back tears that want to desperately escape from her eyes, "I cannot believe you said that! You treated all of us with respect and you even promised Touji you would protect us! You would not have done that if you did not truly care about us!"

Misato hears Rei's statement with sadness overwhelming her being, thinking, "Even after what Nero did, I can't be surprised that Rei and the others don't really want to fight him. And even though I ordered them to regard him as an enemy, it doesn't mean they'll be able to with no hesitation."

Nero turns Unit 03 to confront Unit 00 with indifference portrayed. "I did that so you'd drop your guard. How could I care about such fools that can be so easily tricked?"

Having overheard that, Asuka's in shock amidst leaning her posterior against her seat and then mumbles, "That can't be true... I... Trusted him..." A flash of memories involving Nero rapidly go through the German's mind, causing her to be plagued by anguish. Afterwards, Asuka bends forward, places her hands on her head and lowers it while crying out in a distraught voice, "It just can't be true!"

Shinji listens to Asuka's suffering while observing Unit 02 with worry resonating as he whispers, "Asuka..."

Rei also hears Asuka's cry, turns her head to Unit 02 with concern brimming until becoming enraged as she veers her attention to Unit 03 via another glare and fervently says, "Are you listening, Nero?! You are hurting Asuka! She cares about you! We all do!"

Unit 05 slowly gets back to its feet, facing Unit 03, and stares at it with curiosity engulfing Mari while thinking, "Hopefully Rei's getting through to him. I'd prefer not to fight him anymore since in a way... I do consider him as a friend." The dame smiles lightly.

Nero closes his eyes with his head hanging while sorrowfully uttering, "Rei... I wish I could tell you to give Asuka a heartfelt apology on my behalf."

Rei raises her left eyebrow, confused by Nero's words. "What?"

Nero ignores Rei's question as he snaps his head to look at Unit 00 with intensity. Following that, Unit 03 dashes towards Unit 00 with incredible speed while Rei pulls her head back, her eyes widening in alarm. Afterwards, Rei forcefully pulls on the controls so Unit 00 would jump rearward to get away from Unit 03.

Unit 03 instantly ceases its pursuit and swiftly leaps skyward while doing two front flips. After doing that, the black Eva lands right behind Unit 00, possessing its back towards Unit 00's posterior. 

Rei glances behind herself while panicking and then desperately tries to make Unit 00 stop from backing up into Unit 03. Unfortunately, she's unable to stop her Eva and is now dangerously near Unit 03.

Concurrently, Unit 03 turns around towards its left, pivoting with its right foot, as its arm is extended out. The black robot now faces Unit 00's backside while swinging its appendage in a horizontal angle. Its hand then goes completely through the region that Unit 00 has the big hole it obtained from Unit 03 earlier and exits the other end of the body. This concludes with Unit 00 being split in two as Central Dogma's personnel and the remaining pilots are all stunned.

Rei soon screams in pain, peering upward with her head tilted back. Not long after, Unit 00 shuts off as the teenager passes out from her sync ratio with her Eva as a red and yellow warning sign appears on each screen displayed inside the entry plug. During that, both halves of Unit 00 plummet to the ground and make a fairly loud impact with it. 

Eventually, Unit 03 confronts the defeated Unit 00 yet again with its arm down amidst Nero emanating no remorse whatsoever and stares at the blue Eva.

Mari remains stunned for a decent period while her eyes are locked onto Unit 03. Then, the foreigner grinds her teeth, tightening her grip on the controls with anger arising. "Nero!" Unit 05 promptly charges towards the anterior of Unit 03.

The Black Eva responds by producing its A.T. Field, successfully blocking Unit 05 as its head is in contact with the A.T. Field. Afterwards, Nero nonchalantly gazes at Unit 05 and stoically comments, "Seems like you're next, Mari."

Mari defiantly grins and retains her hold on the controls with her body bent towards the screen that exhibits Unit 03. "Don't think you'll be able to beat me so easily!" She then passionately yells while her Eva retreats backwards a little to gain distance as Unit 05 thrusts both javelins into the A.T. Field. Thanks to that, Unit 05's arms are now fully extended towards Unit 03 as the tip of the javelins interact with the black Eva's A.T. Field.

Nero vaguely slants his head westward while wielding a bland expression. "You know that won't do anything." Unit 03 sprints right under Unit 05's javelins and gets extremely close to the Eva's chest while gradually hoisting its arm rearward.

Mari smiles with glee presented as she saw what Unit 03 recently did while thinking, "His A.T. Field should be at its weakest when he's attacking! This is my only chance! The moment he attacks with that arm, I'll dodge it and get him!" Determination encompasses her demeanor while losing her smile and thinks, "But I can't hesitate even for a second or he'll block like last time and then I'm seriously going to be in trouble!"

Unit 03 lets out a loud grunt and swings its limb in an skyward angle that's aimed at Unit 05's chest. 

Mari responds via Unit 05 lowering its stance so much that it's now the same height as Unit 03's stomach region while the green machine moved a bit towards its left and barely eludes the adversary's strike.

Confidence instantly overflows from Mari while snapping her head up to concentrate on Unit 03. "It's all or nothing!" She then disconnects Unit 05's Umbilical Cable as her Eva's rocket thrusters fire up, making the same sound a shuttle would, while Unit 05's sent flying head first into Unit 03's torso.

Nero grimaces out of discomfort due to the collision, bending his body forward, and grabs onto his stomach with his right hand. The power of Unit 05's rockets then sends them both flying to the sky with amazing velocity. As his Eva shakes from the vibrations that Unit 05's rockets make, Nero gazes behind himself with a terrified expression and depicts the sky. "What the-?!" He reverts his sight to Unit 05 with his eyes wide open. "What are you trying to do, Mari?!"

Mari tenaciously maintains her focus upon Unit 03, her Eva shaking from the vibrations as well. At the same time, Unit 05 restrains Unit 03's body by wrapping both arms around its waist while still holding the javelins as it's below Unit 03. During their constant ascension, Mari yells with unwavering confidence, "I'm doing what I have to, Nero! You may have taken the friendships you made with us for granted, but I'd never do that!" She drops her head with her eyes shut. "Everyone here matters a whole lot to me... Even you!" Mari peers at Unit 03 as both Evas reach an incredible distance from the landscape. "But if you're set on betraying us and hurting us, then I have no choice but to put my life on the line to protect my friends!"

Nero pulls his head back a bit, dumbfounded, before smiling while leaning forth and says in a curious manner, "Does that include Asuka? Because you two fought for a long time and you even stole Shinji's heart from her."

Mari momentarily hesitates, enveloped by surprise until cheerfully smirking and nods. "Hell yeah! We've put aside our differences and we're actually trying to be friends. For me to keep it that way, I'm willing to do anything! Except the obvious, of course!" She pulls on her controls while letting out a light moaning sound thanks to how much strength she had to apply for that action. Then, Unit 05 steadily alters its direction towards the left as the rocket thrusters continue to have both Evas fly in the air.

Simultaneously, Asuka's partially surprised by Mari's words as she gawks at both airborne Evas, however, eventually grins while softly remarking to herself, "My sentiments exactly." Asuka demonstrates sadness. "But I wish it wasn't Nero she had to say that to."

After that, Misato's image establishes itself on Mari's eastern side screen with concern radiating from her. "Mari! You can't possibly be thinking what I think you're thinking?!"

Mari giggles while closing her eyes prior to shifting her head to view Misato with an amused smile. "That's quite a tongue twister, don't you think?"

Misato exclaims in a commanding tone while a bit irritated, "Answer the question!"

Mari's eyes are instantly filled with dread, turning her head to concentrate on Unit 03, and nods. "It's the only thing I can come up with. He's insanely strong. It's nearly impossible to even touch him with the way Unit 03's A.T. Field can protect itself from even explosions."

Misato's momentarily in shock while her head is pulled back a bit and then leans forward amidst desperately shouting, "Don't do it, Mari! With that altitude and force from the rockets, the impact will surely kill you both!"

Mari gives out a short laugh after closing her eyes as she lowers her head a little. A few seconds later, the brown-haired girl resets her sights onto Unit 03 while Unit 05 suddenly descends towards the ground and takes Unit 03 down with it as determination resurfaces. "Like I said before! Nothing ventured, nothing gained! I'm not afraid of dying! That's just another part of life that everyone goes through! Anyway, I wouldn't mind doing this if it means protecting the people who I've grown fond of!"

Nero rests his back against his seat, gazes towards the sky in disbelief and thinks, "She's THAT willing to give up her life for them?" He deviates his head westward to look behind him, seeing that they're closing in on the landscape. Afterwards, Nero grins out of amusement while slowly viewing Unit 05 out of the corner of his eyes with sincerity and says softly, "I was right. You really are an interesting girl."

Mari continues to make both Evas plummet while almost reaching the ground. Upon registering how near they are, the chick drops her hea, tightly shuts her eyes and whispers, "Take care of Shinji, Asuka..."

Nero barely hears Mari, summoning a surprised conduct from him, until closing his eyes as he expels a big, sorrowful sigh. After doing that, Nero smiles while declaring with certainty, "Don't worry, Mari." He steadily depicts Unit 05 once again. "It's not your time to meet God yet."

Then, right when Unit 03's rear was just seconds away from crashing into the terrain, a giant A.T. Field appears behind it and forcefully detains both Evas while generating a loud, chiming sound. This causes Mari to gasp in bewilderment while pulling her body backwards as she obverses the A.T. Field and then contorts her body forward. "You have to be shitting me!"

While that transpired, Misato takes a couple of steps forth, completely caught off guard, and frantically yells, "That's impossible!" She diverts her attention to Maya with concern brimming. "Is that Unit 03's A.T. Field?!"

All Maya can do to give Misato a response is nod, shocked, as her eyes are glued to her screen. 

In conclusion, Misato's even more astonished and quickly refocuses on the main monitor to watch Unit 03 as she comments under her breath, "I can't believe... How ridiculous he is..."

Mari tightens her grip on the controls with a stern behavior portrayed while her head is shamefully lowered as she mutters, "Now what?! That was my last resort!" She abruptly gasps for air amidst lifting her head with her eyes wide open prior to her expression freezing as a sapphire-like color appears upon her right cheek. Immediately following, veins begin to dilate across the 6th Child's face before Mari asks with an overwhelmed composition and is notably straining her voice, "What's... going on...?" She loosens her grip on the controls, resulting in Unit 05 relinquishing its grip of Unit 03.

Revealing what occurred, Nero had made Unit 03 place its left hand onto the right side of Unit 05's face with a good grip implemented as it started to contaminate Mari's Eva. As the contamination spreads, the 7th Child smirks while calmly stating, "Even though it isn't your time to be fully blessed by God's embrace, that doesn't signify this fight between the two of us lasting any longer." Unit 03 then curls-up its legs underneath Unit 05 to administer its feet up against Unit 05's chest. Afterwards, the black Eva forcefully pushes Unit 05 off it, sending it high into the air.

Shinji bends onward a bit and screams out with worry showing, "MARI!"

Simultaneously, Unit 03 rolls backwards while putting its lone hand on the A.T. Field, being next to the Eva's left cheek throughout. This is for Unit 03 to arch its body to do a hand-stand and eventually plants its feet on the A.T. Field without removing its upper appendage. With that, the A.T. Field vanishes as the black behemoth elegantly lands its feet onto the ground. Then, Nero cocks his head back to peer at Unit 05, a nonchalant demeanor emanated, while keeping a firm grasp upon the controls.

Unfortunately, Mari's totally stunned as multiple, dilated veins persist their effect with some sapphire-like coloring. Following that, Unit 05 gradually ceases ascending while facing towards Unit 03 and commences to descend towards the opponent with excessive speed building up. 

At the moment that Unit 05 is on the verge of coming into contact with Unit 03, Nero's Eva thrusts its arm skyward and strongly pierces right through the green mech's chest. This causes Unit 05's fall to suddenly stop while held above Unit 03.

Mari gags while feeling intense pain originating from her midsection as she's contorted forward. She then closes her eyes, places both of her hands on the middle of her chest and gasps for air. After that, Mari reopens her eyes as they lose their light while pulling herself rearward. Ultimately, the dame passes out with her eyes shut again, her person slamming against the seat, while the entry plug's power goes off as the room is now a red-tinted color amidst the darkness.

Maya immediately receives a notification from her post, seeing it horrifying her substantially. Following that, the woman turns her head to gaze at Misato and exclaims with fear emitting, "The pilot has lost consciousness!"

Misato maintains her attention on the enormous screen as seriousness is established and then folds her arms while thinking, "That means we're down to Shinji and Asuka." Irritation rapidly overtakes the adult, grits her teeth and continues her thought process. "I still can't believe that this entire time we had a pilot who could come out and beat four of our pilots with a single arm! Not only that, he also has complete control over an Eva that has a sync ratio exceeding 300%!" Misato shuts her eyes while hanging her head and thinks with her aggravation increasing, "And he just had to be the enemy with the goal to betray us after we considered him as a friend!" She looks back at the primary monitor again as she mumbles, "Now we have to pray that together, Shinji and Asuka can defeat Nero. Because if not, then we're all screwed!"

Meanwhile, Shinji's baffled amidst gawking at Unit 05 and notices that it's not moving at all. He then bites his tongue out of pure rage before screaming with intensity overflowing while having Unit 01 charge towards Unit 03, "NERO!"

Asuka observes Unit 01 run towards Unit 03 with concern demonstrated. "Shinji!"

Misato's awestruck while unfolding her arms until hastily regaining her composure and shouts in a commanding tone, "Stop, Shinji! You can't take him on by yourself!"

Ritsuko urgently yells to Misato after seeing something on Maya's screen with an upright posture, "Katsuragi! Shinji's synchronization has just jumped over 300%!"

Misato glances at Ritsuko out of the corner of her eyes, befuddled, before steering her concentration back to the main display as she's visibly distraught. "This isn't going to be good! We've never seen two Evas over 300% fight each other! There's no telling what'll happen!"

Nero leisurely turns his Eva to confront Unit 01, lowers its arm and drops Unit 05 to the earth that's beside Unit 03's left. After that, the male smiles while watching Unit 01 advance towards him. "It's about time you did something. I was beginning to worry you were going to stand there all day."

Unit 01 closes in on Unit 03 while giving out a loud roar and throws both of its hands towards Unit 03. As Unit 01 does that, Shinji furiously vocalizes when Unit 01 is about to collide with Unit 03, "You'll pay, Nero!"

Gendo unexpectedly slams the palm of his hands onto the surface of his station as he's on his feet while bent ahead, a solemn attitude projected. "Shinji, halt!"

Shinji's eyes widen from surprise with Unit 01 detains itself short of Unit 03's face, the robot retaining its arms extended out. Soon after, Shinji timidly looks upwards as he refrains from detaching his grip of his Eva's controls. "Father?"

Fuyutsuki snaps his head towards Gendo with confusion arising. "Why did you tell him to stop?!"

Gendo hangs his head to stare at his desk, now containing his hands clenched, and hesitantly responds to Fuyutsuki. "Because... Nero's my... He's Shinji's..."

Before Gendo's able to speak further, Nero's image appears on Central Dogma's main monitor while casually grinning with his back planted on the entry plug's seat. "It's alright, Commander Ikari. There's no need in keeping it a secret anymore. Inform them."

Gendo shows a hint of bewilderment as he hurriedly drives his focus to Nero.

Nero tightens his grip on Unit 03's controls and is currently leaning forth, his personality unchanged. Not much later, the lad slants his head westward slightly with his eyes glancing upward as he announces in a carefree manner, "On second thought, I'll tell them. I did say I would, right?" He becomes attentive of Gendo while uttering that last part.

Misato stands sideways while repeatedly double-taking to Nero and Gendo with immense confusion. She then brings her sight towards the large screen and asks in a stern voice, "What are you talking about?! What secret?!"

Nero chuckles with his eyes closed as his head's lowered. "It's about who I am." His image haphazardly presents itself on Shinji's front screen prior to elevating his head to gaze directly at Shinji with no real emotion exhibited. "Shinji... We look-alike for a reason. It isn't merely a coincidence."

Shinji brims uncertainty, eyeing Nero throughout. "What do you mean?"

Nero smirks amidst contorting towards the front screen that displays Shinji's image and lightly tilts his head westward again. "I'm your brother, Shinji."

Due to that declaration, everyone in Central Dogma are shocked while some of them even gasp as they sustain their spectating of Nero. 

In the meantime, Unit 02 is at a significantly far distance behind Unit 01 as it can be noted on Asuka that she's equally shook and gingerly inquires, "Nero... Is Shinji's... brother?"

Shinji's promptly engulfed by astonishment and pulls his head back a tad. "I have... A brother...?"

Nero nods at Shinji before angling himself backwards with a laid-back behavior. "If you don't believe me, ask father." Nero's image disappears from both Shinji's screen and Central Dogma's main screen.

Misato finally snaps out of her own amazement, compliments of the screen's picture switching, while shifting her attention to Gendo with concern as she loudly questions, "Is that true?! Is he Shinji's brother?!"

Gendo concentrates on Misato as he stoically nods. "Indeed. He is Shinji's elder, twin to be precise."

Fuyutsuki suddenly grabs Gendo by the collar via his left hand and makes Gendo face him while clearly upset. "That can't be! Yui never once mentioned that she had twins! She always spoke of Shinji as being her only child!"

Gendo briefly observes Fuyutsuki prior to looking away by veering his head to the left while coldly remarking, "He was sent to an institution to be analyzed by some of the greatest minds in the world." The Commander locks eyes with Fuyutsuki. "He's an extraordinary individual. Because of this, he wasn't with us when you and I met again after the 2nd Impact. I instructed Yui not to divulge Nero's existence to anyone until he returned to us, which he did..." An emotionless demeanor overtakes Gendo. "A few days after Yui's death."

Fuyutsuki's eyes widen as he slowly lets go of Gendo's collar before putting his hand down with a distrusting expression added.

In Misato's case, she's consumed by disbelief, gradually shaking her head, and soon mounts a step towards Gendo. "Then you lied to us! You told us that they weren't related!"

Gendo faces Misato. "I had no choice. I promised Nero. He said he would tell all of you when he felt the time was right." The man peers at the main screen showing both Unit 03 and Unit 01. "Although, I didn't know he was still working for SEELE. Let alone it would take him this long to reveal who he is."

Nero stares intently at Unit 01 with an arrogant smile while rebutting to Gendo's speech. "I'm actually sorry about that. I was planning on telling everyone before needing to initiate SEELE's plan, but due to father's outburst, I decided to simply admit it." Curiosity invokes itself while Nero mildly cocks his head eastward. "So, Shinji... What are you going to do now that you're aware?"

As Unit 01 stands up straight with its arms lowered, Shinji hesitantly replies amidst emanating a pitiful look. "I... Don't know..."

Nero narrows his eyes with hostility. "Well, you'll have to figure something out soon... Since I DO know what I'm gunning for."

The focus instantly turns to the members of NERV, who are incapable of restraining their disbelief. Not long after, Touji directs his sights onto Misato while poised to her left again with worry portrayed. "What are we gonna do, Misato?! There's no way Shinji's gonna fight Nero knowin' he's his brother!"

Misato depicts Touji, sadness surging. "I'm not sure, Touji." She pays mind to the primary screen. "Shinji will have to decide on what he must do. I can't possibly ask him to fight his brother with any expectation of Shinji killing him."

Despair plagues Touji and hoists his left hand to point at the giant monitor. "Then tell Shinji to take him down without killing!" He puts his hand down. "It'd be much easier on him if ya told him that instead!"

Misato maintains her vision onward. "I wish I could, but Nero's too strong to fight like that." She looks at Touji out of the edge of her eyes. "Remember, he defeated Kensuke, Hikari, Rei and Mari all by himself. Shinji can't hold back here."

Touji's greatly distressed while slouching his posture until steadily navigating his attention towards the main screen amidst thinking, "Though I'm still pissed that Nero back stabbed us and even broke his promise... If I was in Shinji's position and had to fight my brother, I coulda never done it." Seriousness and concern replaces the jock's personality as he thinks, "I don't envy Shinji right now."

With the completion of Touji's thought, the scene returns to Nero, intently watching Unit 01 as he rapidly taps his right index finger on the top sector of the right controls, and blandly talks. "I'm waiting, little brother. What's it going to be?"

Shinji's eyes widen, reflecting anguish, and thinks, "He just called me 'little brother'!" He drops his head and mumbles with tears starting to form, "I don't know if I can do this..."

Nero persists his waiting with faint annoyance glistening, his impatience soaring. He then abruptly ceases the tapping of his finger and firmly grabs the eastern control via that same limb. Afterwards, Nero pushes his body forward a bit with skepticism demonstrated. "Shinji... Did it really make a big difference that we're brothers?"

Shinji's eyes widen again as he swiftly looks up at Unit 03 with a stunned expression. Right after that, sadness takes shape amidst deviating his concentration from Unit 03 by commandeering his eyes eastward and nervously says, "Y-Yeah... I never knew I had an older brother, and now that I finally know I have one, I got to fight him."

Nero harshly glares. "You actually knew. We met once when I returned to Japan twelve years ago. You plainly forgot, which ticks me off a tad considering you broke the promise you made to me that day."

Shinji gawks at Unit 03 in a dumbfounded manner. "Promise? What promise?"

Nero solemnly retorts. "I'm not going to reveal that detail. You'll just have to remember it all by yourself because it's a promise no one else knows about. Not even father."

Shinji lowers his constitution with remorse showing. "I'm sorry. I forgot."

Irritation encompasses Nero while shouting, "Don't apologize! It won't make up for you forgetting!" Unit 03 rapidly pulls its arm back and thrusts it towards Unit 01 as its pilot passionately says, "And if you can't choose what you'll do, then I'll decide for you!"

*Scene Cuts To Black*

To Be Continued...

Ending Statement:

For the next episode I will be adding in something from the Rebuild of Evangelion that I believe was the greatest thing I had ever seen and add my own spin on it. Look forward to it with great anticipation and thank you again for reading all my episodes so far. I really do appreciate it.

That's it. Talk to you all later.