Apotheosis Echo: Beyond the Gates of Heaven [NGE/Worldsea OC]

[Author0fntent]

The reason I thought Azazel was a demon has to do with Persona 5 and the bosses referring to the seven deadly sins.

Click to shrink...

I nearly thought of the X-Men villain.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Chapter 44: Twilight Over the Whole Earth

We have ruled out the Arctic and Greenland. Now, we have only the Antarctic. It will take time to put together the resources needed for another manned expedition, but for now, aerial searching will have to do.

Katsuragi has proven to be a rather zealous researcher. Zealous enough to prioritize his research over his family, it seems. We have guided him subtly, ensuring the path that he takes supports us. As expected as many of his results are, there have been some surprising twists that he has taken.

In that same vein, another researcher, tied far more closely to us, came into prominence recently. The recent new husband of our Japanese representative. One Gendo Ikari. His budding link with Katsuragi has led to yet more interesting possibilities. Both would be promising leaders of our future mission into the Antarctic. Who to choose…

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, May 1998

Tokyo-2, November 26th, 2016

First Lieutenant Satoshi Hitamo of the Tokyo-2 Prefectural Police Department walked the streets of his city, Second Lieutenant Michiko Hashigari by his side. For all the changes that had settled in, especially in Little Korea where they were stationed, that had never been altered so fundamentally as everything else seemed to have been.

Even still, as they walked their beat, the changes were the most interesting thing to talk about, when all was said and done. "So," Hitamo said, glancing over at his partner as Hashigari looked around with wide eyes, "how's the whole Interfacing thing going?"

"It's…" Hashigari shook her head. "You've got to experience it to know. It's amazing."

Hitamo nodded, looking around himself as he watched a group of aliens (something he still had trouble wrapping his head around) passing by, seemingly untroubled by the chill and the snow (something he was grateful to see again, even if it made walking the beat a little trickier sometimes). "I'll take your word for it. How's your sister?"

Hashigari shrugged. "Kimiko's settling into her technician position over at HERZ." she chuckled slightly. "All the way over in Tokyo-3. Just when I thought we were done having two Tokyos."

"My dad's in the construction business, if you remember." Hitamo replied. "He says that his company is seriously considering jumping at whatever bid gets put up to rebuild Old Tokyo. Forget two. We might just have three."

The two of them shared a chuckle. "That's nothing compared to the wild shit my sister tells me the higher-ups in HERZ are thinking of." Hashigari said after a moment. "I mean, the craziest one, get this. They're seriously considering building another base in a couple of years. On the moon."

"Now you're just talking out of your ass." Hitamo said somewhat dismissively as he shook his head.

"That's what I told her." she replied with a shrug. "Then she showed me some of the documents on how they were planning to do it.." Hashigari shook her head slowly. "I mean… they're…"

She trailed off as her eyes narrowed, and Hitamo looked around where Hashigari had focused on, a clump of people across the street near a business high-rise. "What do you see?" Hitamo asked.

"Someone in the middle of that crowd. They've got a rather heavy backpack, filled with something mostly solid. They're looking terribly skittish too. Hold on."

As Hashigari finished speaking, Hitamo felt an odd sensation sweep over him. It must have been Hashigari connecting herself to his soul, as he next saw a brilliant tangle of lines in the crowd, a line from Hashigari reaching out towards the man whose lines positively thrummed with what Hitamo assumed was anxiety.

Finally, Hashigari's line connected with the man, a Chinese gentleman named Lin, and they got a peek into his thoughts. 'Simple and easy… wait for the signal… the bomb takes care of everything…'

Hashigari disconnected from the man's lines as her and Hitamo's eyes grew wide. Hitamo took a deep breath. "We need to stop him. Now. "You go around the left side of that crowd. We'll pinch him off and take the bomb from him while he's surprised."

"Got it. I'll keep you apprised on whether or not he gets the signal."

Hitamo nodded, and the two separated and crossed the street, diving into the crowd as discreetly as they could.

Hitamo's heart pounded in his ears as he made his way through the crowd, the people parting as he kept them quiet as best he could. His service pistol, a New Nambu Model 64, a Japanese-made semi-auto pistol with 9 rounds of 9mm, felt heavier than its usual weight was. He'd only ever used the gun a few times, during the tail end of the chaos of the Impact Wars period. Would he be forced to use it again?

'Ready?' he heard the distinct voice of Hashigari in his head as he came close and slowed his approach.

He did his best to let her know that he was, somehow, as he saw his fellow officer approaching the man. "Excuse me, sir? Do you need help with that?" he heard her ask sweetly.

He watched the man jump, digging into his hoodie and pulling out something small. With that, he dashed forward, grabbing the man's wrist and twisting what was clearly a detonator out of the man's hand. "Look out! He has a bomb!" Hitamo shouted as he sent the man to his knees, the crowd screaming and pushing over themselves to get away as Hashigari reached for her radio to call for reinforcements.

"Damn you! The New Chinese Communist Party will triumph!" the man said as Hitamo cuffed him, kicking the backpack away.

"Yeah, I'm sure." Hitamo replied. "Right now, you're under arrest for attempted terrorism and unlawful possession of ex-"

He was cut off as he heard a series of thunderous booms, followed by screams and the crash of debris, from all around him. But, most worryingly of all, he felt the ground beneath his feet rumbling.

Hitamo looked up the street as he saw it buckling up, something rising from the subway tunnels a kilometer or two away. He couldn't believe his eyes as… a massive, utterly black arm, with a glowing, translucent pylon on its shoulder, reached up and grasped a building in front of it, pulling up a form that he had only seen in the news.

"It's… an Evangelion…" he said numbly. He looked over at Hashigari as she looked back at him, a dazed look in her eyes. Then she looked past him, her eyes' focus sharpening as she pulled out her pistol and pointed it at someone behind him. "Stop! Stop or I shoot!"

As she fired one shot, then another, Hitamo turned to see another man as he tumbled down a few meters away from him, bleeding profusely. Before he could move, he saw the man's hand reach out for the detonator, grabbing it.

And as he moved to kick it out of the man's hand, a thumb pressed a button.

And thus, a block of the Iizuna prefecture of Tokyo-2 disappeared in a flash and thunder of baleful fire as the Evangelion got to its feet and roared.

- - -

Hokuto Ground Force Base

First Lieutenant Musashi Lee Strasberg had a pit in his stomach as he waited for Eva A-1 to finish forming. He glanced frequently over at Keita, a far more openly anxious look on the man's face as he waited for A-2 to finish forming as well. Less frequently, he looked over at the screen that contained Second Lieutenant Kotone Suzunami, a younger pilot with pale pink hair from a dye-job long past, expressive brown eyes flitting back and forth with an openly pensive look.

"Alright." he finally said, drawing both pilots' attention to him as they came to t-1:30 before the Evas were fully formed. "We know what our targets look like. They're just Evas. No monsters, no aliens, just Evangelions with the same capabilities as ours. An AT Field we can defeat. Pilots we can put the pressure on. Compared to what's come before, this is a cakewalk."

"Suzunami," he said, looking purposefully at her, "you're fresh to all this, so keep your distance. Remember to neutralize the AT Field as you fire on them. Asari and I will get in as close as we can, keep them tied up."

"What about the civilians?" Suzunami asked. "The last thing I want to do is go and trample on someone because they haven't evacuated yet."

Before Musashi could reply, Major Fujimori's face appeared on the screen. "The evacuation is proceeding as best it can, Lieutenant Suzunami. Your focus is on the enemy Evangelions and taking them down as quickly as possible. If you can neutralize their AT Fields, Ground and Air SSDF forces will assist when and if they can.

"Pilots," she finished as the Evangelions finished forming, Suzunami's A-3 sporting a sash of deep red, "good luck."

With that, they dashed towards the plumes of smoke that marked where the warzone that had become Tokyo-2 was, a thunderous drumming going before them as they hoped against hope that the people of the massive city would be as safe as they could.

"Come on, mom and dad." Musashi heard Keita mutter under his breath. "Just get out of there. Please."

Their stride, massive as it was, still had them waiting a long, long 40 minutes as they charged towards the city, the plumes of smoke growing larger and larger as more and more aircraft passed overhead going in all directions.

As the city came within sight, a screen bearing the logo of HERZ came to life, the logo replaced in a flash by a serious face, grey eyes framed by red glasses under dark hair. "Pilots, this is First Lieutenant Mogami of HERZ. We're reading that you have three Evas in your area. Are you going to be needing any assistance?"

Musashi considered the request for a moment, then shook his head. "We'll try and handle it ourselves for now. We'll get your assistance should we need it."

"Acknowledged. We'll channel them to other hotspots then. You'll be able to call for reinforcements, they'll just be somewhat more delayed."

"Other hotspots?" Keita asked. "You mean there are other Evas attacking Japan?"

"Pilot…" Mogami trailed off. "There are attacks happening all over the world."

The pronouncement sent a shockwave through the pilots minds. "Oh my." Suzunami said, a hollow look in her eyes. "I wish them luck then."

"Good luck to you as well pilots. Let us know if you need assistance."

With that, Mogami's face disappeared, the city looming large as the sound of crashing buildings, wailing sirens, and screaming people mixed together into a cacophonous symphony of utter chaos.

It wasn't hard to spot the enemy Evangelions in the distance, their utterly black forms striding through the city as they knocked over buildings with an almost breathtaking callousness. They weren't exactly hard to spot either, the enemy Evas roaring as the JSSDF Evas entered their notice.

The savage challenge took the pilots aback for a moment. "The Evas can do that?" Suzunami said, a startled look on her face. "Can ours do that?"

"No time to find out." Musashi replied. "Nullify their AT Fields now. Keita, you take the one on the right, closest to us. Suzunami, keep the one on the left far away from us. I'll take the one between them."

"Alright." Keita replied as they entered the city, taking care as best they could to not trample anyone by accident. "Let's defend our home."

Thus, Keita and Musashi charged, brand new Progressive Glaives leveled at the enemy, Kotone leveling a heavy burst rifle at the dark Eva, the foe shifting to the side… and revealing a very particular blue and white flag.

"Wait a minute…" Kotone's eyes widened as she centered the target again, a 3-round burst of 340-millimeter shells screaming towards the target. As it dodged to the side, the shots slamming into a building behind it, her suspicions were confirmed. "Guys… one of these Evas has UN markings on it!"

"What?" Musashi said incredulously as he jabbed at the Eva in front of him, stabbing into its stomach and shoving it against a building, its shoulder showing the Russian Federation flag as it grabbed at the haft of the spear to try and pull it out. "Why would they be working with a Russian Eva?"

"Not just a Russian one," Keita interjected as Musashi glanced over to see him stab through the palm of the Eva he was engaging, "a Chinese one too!"

"Where did these things come from?" Kotone said, crystalizing the question on all of their minds. "Who's piloting them?"

- - -

Half a world away, Mavuto watched the advancing Evas, three of them, and wondered the same thing.

He'd managed to lure them out of Nairobi with a slug from his newly made, custom shotgun, the utterly dense round slamming into a raised AT Field as they turned.

And as they turned and began to walk towards him, he saw the flags that they bore on their shoulders. The crossed white and black feathered spears on red denoting the symbol of Old Africa, an anti-Union group, terrorists, really, the flag of the Arabic States, and the flag of the UN.

He hoped Lady Namiri and her blooming boyfriend would get here soon. Even more than Hikari and Toji, however, he wished Okomah-Mordi had his own Eva too. Numbers were hardly a bad thing in this sort of fight.

"Alright." he said slowly to himself as he took a hand off of the body of the shotgun, confident his Interfacing would allow him to aim true even with one hand, and reached for the short, stout Progressive blade, hooked slightly at the halfway point of the blade, attached to his left hip. "Fair or not, you play with me."

'And,' he thought with a grin that was shrinking as his focus sharpened, 'with my shotgun. Where are your weapons, I wonder?'

Even with no weapons, they still had their combined AT Fields that pressed down on him. Best to not overexpose himself before reinforcements arrived.

It was a still moment before the one with Old Africa markings charged at him, Mavuto stepping back as he tried to nullify its AT Field. It was no easy task with its fellows propping it up, but unlike them, Mavuto had Interfacing in his side.

His focus sharpened, and with his Interfacing boosting him, his AT Field opened an invisible hole in the charging Eva's defenses. Just large enough for him to raise his shotgun as it slammed into the barrel chest-first.

He considered, in the briefest of instants before its collision, simply letting the bastard have it with a slug through its core. It would plow through the Plug as well, ensuring that it wouldn't get back up again. But… no. High Command would want to talk to whoever survived.

As the instant passed, he switched the variable shot in the gun to something resembling buck-shot and pulled the trigger.

The thunderous report sent the Eva tumbling back, its armor cracked and blood, brilliant against the black armor, spraying into the air as it slammed into the ground.

He had little time to appraise the situation before the enemy Eva's companions dashed to him from either side, seeming to play at dividing his attention. He answered by dashing into the one charging his right side, shoulder checking it away as he drew his blade and activated it, a brilliant, whirring pink-white light flashing in the air as he swiped at the one advancing on his left, missing by mere inches as the foe jumped back.

Mavuto backed up, looking down at the first one he had shot as the battle paused for a moment. It was, against all odds, struggling to its feet. He tsked softly. 'A slug it is, then.'

His senses rose to the Third Peak, time seeming to slow as he clicked the control for the shotgun back into slugs. Milliseconds stretched on as he aimed the shotgun at the still prone form of the Eva, now resting on its arms.

A pull of the trigger and the echoing boom of the slug firing preceded the slug itself flying out the barrel at an almost leisurely pace. Then, as he backed down from the Third Peak, the slug flashed forward, slamming home into the enemy Eva's chest and shoving it back down, its arms splaying out. As he danced away from a reprisal from the still-standing Eva, he glanced back at the one he had just shot. It wasn't getting back up again. 'Good.'

Of course, that still left the other two, approaching him far more cautiously as they moved to surround him. That was going to make things… tricky.

As he began to lose sight of the one on his right, he heard a crackling, snapping sound pass beneath his feet, going towards the Eva on his left. After a moment, he saw vines bulge, then erupt from the ground, snaking around the legs of the black Eva and rooting it to the ground.

Even as he kept his focus, he couldn't keep his heart from soaring as he turned to watch the other enemy Eva's head wrapped in a band of brilliant white light, then looked down as he saw the two faces he had hoped to see most, around their necks, a simple necklace with a bright red bead and a feather as their centerpiece.

"Hey, Mavuto." Toji said as Unit-04 moved over to his left, Unit-03 coming to a stop over to his right. "Everything alright?"

"So far." he replied levelly as he watched the entangled Eva use an AT Field to rip apart the vines constricting its legs. "I still appreciate the help."

"Of course, Mavuto." Hikari replied. "Do you want these all destroyed?"

"Our government would appreciate having at least someone to talk to." Mavuto said, nodding as he watched another AT Field dissipate the light around the blinded Eva's head.

"We can make that work." Toji said with a slight smile as Unit-04 hefted its mighty hammer.

- - -

Across the ocean, Orien shoved the seemingly Russian Eva away from him and into the Washington Monument, wincing as he watched the massive obelisk fold over on top of the Eva and nearly bury it under a massive pile of rubble.

This was the last place he wanted to be fighting, Orien thought, as he scanned the rest of DC, looking for the others as he prepared to get back into the fight with the Eva that was, for the moment, at his mercy as it tried to extract itself from the monument he'd dropped on it.

Marie was over by George Washington University, piloting her deep red and copper-colored Evangelion under the callsign 'Rocketeer', slapping the Chinese marked Eva and delivering a literally explosive blow, thanks to her Interfacing, that literally took its head off, the bloody meteor tumbling through the air towards him and landing in the grass in front of the (thankfully evacuated) White House.

As the headless Eva stumbled back, Marie delivered a punch to the center of its chest, a gout of flame bursting out from its back as she caught it by the arm to keep it from falling.

"Target is down." Marie said, brow furrowed in concentration as she let the limp body down gently.

"Good. Go help Neptune." Orien replied, glancing over at their newest pilot, Second Lieutenant Howard Hansen. His blue and gold Evangelion was struggling with the UN marked Eva over on the East End as it harried him, a Progressive short sword slamming into AT Fields that his efforts to nullify seemed to be having little effect on. "I'll stay on top of this one."

"Good copy, Thunderhead." Marie nodded as her Rocketeer moved towards the battle. "Take care of yourself."

"Will do." Orien looked down as the enemy Eva finished digging itself out of the rubble, getting back to its feet as it shook its head.

'Ms. Ivanov… Galina,' he thought as he detached a rather specialized weapon, a handle with a circular spool as its pommel, from his Eva's hip, 'I really hope you aren't piloting this thing.'

As the Eva took a step forward, its arms wide to try and crush him, Orien activated the weapon, a length of supremely flexible cable flashing out as it began to glow from its rapidly heating Progressive element.

Though the ribbon skated off an albeit deeply gouged defensive AT Field, Orien manipulated the cord to swing over the buildings, more and more unspooling as he began to send it swirling around himself, giving the enemy pilot a reason to pause. 'Mom always said I was good at ribbons, didn't she?' Orien mused grimly as he lashed out again, then again, his own AT Field pushing out to nullify his enemy's further and further.

Finally, it pierced through, Orien concentrating his AT Field at the tip of the cord to enhance the nearly explosive hit on its left shoulder. The impact site tore from the force, the arm hanging uselessly as the Eva clutched at it, howling all the way.

'Now!' Orien charged forward, the cord spooling back as his AT Field became a blade around the dagger-like strip that he shoved into a core his AT Field had left bare of metaphysical resistance.

The blade struck true, and Orien heard a hollow crack as the Eva spasmed, then went limp, falling further onto his weapon as it slumped over onto him.

Orien only hoped that Marie and Howard's fight would be as easy as his had been. Easy enough to put a cap on the death that had already run rampant in the heart and brain of America.

"Thunderhead, Rocketeer. The UN Eva is down." Orien sighed quietly in relief as he heard Marie's voice, looking over to see the black Eva limbless, a few of its stumps smoking.

"Good to hear." he replied. "Extract the Plug. We'll want to have a long talk with the pilot."

- - -

Arantxa sighted in the sniper rifle that had been built to her exacting specifications and watched the Russian and Nordic Confederation (how did they even have one already?) Evas converge on the one with the UN markings from well over a kilometer and a half away from Paris. On her radar screen, she watched as Lieutenant Commander Ernst Falkenrath's green and crimson EuroEva-Beta advanced towards them for a far more close combat.

"I have a shot lined up on the UN Eva." she said neutrally, her heart hiding a wave of simmering anger at the bastards who would stoop so low as an unprovoked attack on innocents. "Keep it still and I'll punch a hole through it."

Falkenrath's face on the screen, a sharp face with dark black hair and deep green eyes that had a hungry look in them, nodded in reply. "I can't promise much stillness when I get into the thick of things, ma'am. But I'll see what I can do."

"Don't worry then. I'll start things off." Arantxa's eyes narrowed, and she began to hum softly, slowly, a dirge for the poor soul on the other end of her barrel as she channeled her AT Field into an invisible tube surrounding the barrel.

She felt the field pick up speed as it soon punched through the ill-prepared defenses of the UN Eva, watching it flinch as she pulled the trigger.

With that, a specially shaped, 380-millimeter high-explosive shell boomed, cutting through the air with an angry hum as it took one second, then another to reach its target.

It struck true, blowing the top half of the Eva in two in a spray of blood and gore that reminded Arantxa too much of the 'trampoline' mines she had watched the Free Basque Army employ.

"One down." she said coolly, resolving to deal with the memories later. "I'll cover you while you go in."

"Good to hear. When I hear the boom, I'll get out of the way best as I can. Promise."

With that, Falkenrath charged forward, a Progressive Glaive leveled at that Nordic Confederation Eva that sliced through its AT Field with ease, goring the Eva in the shoulder as it dodged to the side, the blade sliding free as Falkenrath slammed the butt of the glaive into the charging Russian Eva, clotheslining it and sanding it stumbling back, the Russian falling over a building it tripped over.

Arantxa winced, hoping that there weren't too many people still in the combat area. Hoping that there weren't any people still in the area was almost foolish right now.

But right now, all she could do about it was make sure that she supported Falkenrath as best she could. No small feat, with the tangle he'd gotten himself into. 'I wonder… can an AT Field help me curve my shots somehow?'

It would be tricky, for sure. And there would be little swinging around of the gun like she'd seen in some ridiculous American movie during a period of downtime in the war. But maybe…

She locked the targeting reticle on the Russian Eva that struggled to its feet, bringing her railway gun of a sniper rifle to the right just so as she bent the tube her AT Field had created. Her brow furrowed as she focused. If she got this wrong… well, chances weren't too slim there might not be time to think about what had happened.

She took a deep breath, then exhaled, pulling the trigger as her body went completely still.

A boom, and the brilliant shooting star of her shell exiting the barrel didn't immediately end in catastrophe as it flew, and began to arc impossibly. Even still, she carefully guided the shell along the path, only barely noticing Eva-Beta tense up and jump back as she kept her focus on the shell.

The Russian Eva turned to face where the shot had originated from, which left the shell to slam into its side, its left arm and a solid portion of its torso nearly vaporized by the blast as it howled.

"Good shot." Falkenrath said, clearly impressed. "AT Field trickery?"

"Got it in one." Arantxa couldn't quite keep the smile from her face. "That doesn't mean you should be slacking off though."

"Now, those are your words, ma'am. Not mine."

- - -

Senior Lieutenant Galina Ivanov brushed a stray dark lock of hair out of the way of her bright, cold blue eyes as they narrowed, focussing on the American marked Evangelion trampling over Moscow, raising merry hell with its EU and UN counterparts.

She'd learned, early on in training, to tune out Lieutenant Saveli Koslov's singing, watching as he charged at the EU Eva, belting out a rendition of Katyusha. Apparently, there was bad blood left in store for their part in the Second Patriotic War.

She focused on the US one, however, as she shot the Russian AMV-10 that her Eva, a rather striking ultramarine and white thing, wielded. It was little more than a localized Pallet Rifle, but it had its differences, and it still worked in pressing down on its target's defenses, the AT Field beginning to bow in under the barrage and the pressure from her own AT Field.

'You're no cellist, that's for sure.' she thought with a slight smirk as she finally broke through the defenses of the Eva, several rounds slamming into its stomach and doubling it over. 'He at least knew how to fight properly.' the smirk vanished as she considered further. 'Maybe he is fighting right now.'

A part of her remembered for a moment the piece by Kalinnikov that Orien had picked up as she charged forward. It was her father's favorite to play for her long ago. He'd done a decent enough job with it. A part of her hoped she'd hear it again.

Then, the moment was gone as she slammed into the still doubled-over Eva, bringing the butt of her rifle down on its back and pushing it to the ground. In a flash, the barrel swung down, and Galina let a burst of rounds fly into its center back.

The Eva seemingly stunned for the moment, she kicked it over, exposing its chest. "Lights out." Galina muttered with a slight scoff as she pulled the trigger again, hearing the crack that signaled that the core was breached.

Galina nodded once as she looked up to see Koslov as he shoved the EU Eva to the ground, grabbing the UN Eva by its arms and planting a foot on its stomach. He must have been using his AT Field to keep his Eva, the Golem-Tundra, stable as he pulled, the white and grey-clad arms shuddering with the effort as she heard, even from as far away as she was, the slurping snapping of its arms being ripped free, just under the howls of the Eva itself.

It was a sound nothing with a mouth should have made. So she was grateful when he shut it up a few moments after by taking the large Progressive Knife holstered at his side and shoving it into its core, the cry falling silent after a few seconds.

With that taken care of, she turned to face the EU Eva as it struggled to its feet. On a whim, she decided to activate her speakers as she aimed at it with her rifle, simultaneously nullifying its already weak AT Field. "Enemy Evangelion, this is Golem-Tantsor. Your allies are out of commission. Surrender now."

It was still for a moment, and Galina could almost hope that, whoever the pilot was, they were considering their options.

The hope came to nothing as it began to charge at her. She sighed quietly, and simply held the trigger down.

A stumble, then a fall forward into a thunderous crash as the Eva skidded lifelessly towards her, coming to a stop several dozen meters away. And that, Galina mused, was that.

"So." she heard Koslov say, looking intently at her with his dark brown eyes, set in a weathered, crag-like face that was seemingly always grim. "Do you think Wallace was in the American one?"

Galina scoffed. "Not a chance. There's a certain… elegance to his piloting, as there was to his playing. These things were brutes, more than anything. Unarmed and wildly swinging about."

Koslov chuckled, a small grin splitting the stonework that was his visage. "I can't help but wonder what else you knew he was graceful at."

"Shut it." Galina replied. "At the end of the day, the Kremlin's going to be erupting over the damage done to the city. The people that were killed. They'll want answers. Especially from those pilots we didn't kill outright."

"Do you really think they'll crack?" Koslov asked, far more seriously this time. "It could be a little while, even with our newer methods. Especially if they're witches like I think they might be."

"We'll find out soon enough." Galina shrugged. "In the meantime, I'm going to cut out the middleman, at least where it comes to the US."

Koslov was silent for a moment, then he chuckled. "You even got his phone number? My, you really did make the most of training, didn't you?"

"Yes." Galina said with surety. "I most certainly did."

- - -

Commander's Office, The Geofront, 6 Days Later

Commander Misato Katsuragi of HERZ sat in front of her desk, back straight, arms resting on its surface as she tented her hands and regarded Secretary-General Beaulieu with a level expression.

Beaulieu, or at least the holographic image that sat before her in a far more realistic fashion than any video screen could offer, looked far less imposing than she had been at the founding of HERZ. She had bags under her slightly narrowed eyes, and her left eye, the one the scar sat under, twitched intermittently.

She was tired. Misato couldn't blame her for that, considering all that had been happening for the past week.

"So," she said quietly, breaking the fragile silence that had settled on them when the call started, "is there any explanation as to why millions are dead due to Evas with your flag on it?"

"No." Beaulieu replied with a quiet stubbornness. "We've been working non-stop to try and find the bastards who wore our colors to do this. So far... nothing. It's maddening."

"I have my guess." Misato said, a quiet, hard edge to her voice. "I'm sure you already know it."

"SEELE." Beaulieu nearly spat the name back at Misato. After a moment, she shook her head. "I'll admit, it makes sense. With the reach they had into the UN, agents within our Armed Response Forces would be the most likely candidates to get something as widespread as this operation off the ground." she shook her head. "And here I thought we'd been thorough enough in our purges."

"Will saying as much make a difference to the rest of the UN?" Misato asked, not daring to hope.

"Honestly… no." Beaulieu deflated at the admission. "The General Assembly is in utter chaos now. They're calling for my head, for each other's heads, for some sort of justice for those that died. And right now, beyond all the political divides that… SEELE, whoever it might have been, exploited, our flag was the throughline."

Beaulieu paused. "I don't know if I can hold it all together, frankly. Losing the superpowers of the world as we did was bad enough, but… this…"

She sighed quietly. "I don't know how much longer the United Nations will exist."

It was silent for a moment before Beaulieu chuckled. "You know," she said wistfully, "I had a dream, coming into being Secretary-General. That I would, perhaps, be the one to finally get people to realize that we were better off as a united world, that the death and suffering of the Impact Wars was caused by our divisions, our jealousies, and wants. My predecessors knew this, to some extent. But they only used it to gain military dominance, and assert themselves as kings with invisible crowns. I… I just want peace. What's best for people, the world. Now…"

She trailed off, looking down and to the side. Then, she shook her head slightly. "I thought that my dream was closer than ever to being realized after the Worldsea entered the picture. But… these aren't the days for some dreams, it seems." she said softly.

Misato didn't quite know how to respond to the poetic outburst. "Maybe. Maybe not." she decided to say. "But right now, we have to worry about what we'll do first."

Beaulieu took a deep breath as she nodded and looked back at Misato. "Yes. Yes. I'm trying my best to get everything under control here. How is everything else going for your organization?"

Misato shook her head. "Evangelions, along with suicide bombers, appeared all over the planet. We've had a few places that needed our assistance with stopping them, specifically the Nordic Confederation and the Arabic States come to mind, but otherwise, the various pilots of the nations have done a good job in keeping the death toll from spiraling out of control."

Beaulieu nodded. "We have that little."

Misato's brow furrowed. "Is there any sort of official estimate on the death toll?" she remembered her blood chilling as she read about the estimated millions that had died in Tokyo-2. Now, she braced herself for the worst.

Beaulieu shook her head, that hollow look returning. "Everywhere I've seen, even the less densely populated capitals… all of them capital cities… there weren't more than half a dozen or so estimates lower than a million."

Misato leaned back in her chair as she blanched. "Wow." was all she was capable of saying numbly.

"Yeah." Beaulieu replied with a sigh. "That's what I said. We-"

She was interrupted as something out of view on her desk chimed. She looked down, picking up the clear-pad and tapping it. Misato wondered for a moment what was hiding behind the frosted section on her screen.

She didn't have to wonder for long. Beaulieu's eyes widened, and a flame of indignation flickered to life as she continued to scan the screen silently.

After a long minute, Misato blinked as she heard Beaulieu growl and toss the pad back onto the tabletop. "Lies." she muttered. "All of it!"

"What did you just get?" Misato asked.

"Reports of interrogations made by several of the nations that captured their enemy pilots. I wouldn't be surprised if this is about to go public, too."

Beaulieu's jaw clenched for a moment. "They're saying that the UN pilots all stated that they were in command of the other national Evas, and that they were part of an operation to weaken the other nations in order to allow the UN to fully take over the world." she bit out.

Misato's eyes widened. "And what about the national pilots that were captured?"

"Those that have broken said that they were going to be working for the benefit of their nations, in so many words." Beaulieu paused, then sighed heavily. "I'm not looking forward to the next session with the General Assembly."

Misato's brow furrowed ever so slightly. "That seems… easy. Too easy."

"That's what I was thinking." Beaulieu nodded. "Any sort of investigations we might pursue into the matter have been kneecapped by the fact that no one wants us within a mile of anywhere. Were you planning on any sort of investigation yourself?"

Misato pondered for a moment on the info she had received from Shinji. Who had received it from, of all people, Musashi. "We have our theories as to how and why the captured pilots are acting as they are. We're sending people out to the JSSDF base where two of the prisoners they captured are being held. We'll figure it out. I promise."

- - -

Shiojiri Ground Forces Base

Major Eleanor Theisman waited patiently in the lobby of the base's entry building. As she had for the last 4 hours. She wore her proper uniform, the HERZ patch drawing the eyes, and whispers, of more than a few passers-by.

She had to remind herself that, even for all their autonomy, they were still, at the end of the day, a Special Agency of the United Nations. And, even for their part in fending off the anomalous Evas, trust in anything connected, however tenuously, to the organization that had seemed to be the mastermind behind what was becoming millions of deaths, was rather hard to find.

There were a few armed guards keeping watch on her. But she could take care of herself if the need arose. And she was perfectly sure that Soap and Roach, standing behind her and keeping an eye on the room, were quite capable of that, too.

Finally, one of the half-dozen soldiers she had spoken to returned. "You and your men have been cleared to enter the base." he said in a guarded tone. "You'll be riding with an escort to see the prisoners. Your men will have to stay here, however."

Eleanor arched an eyebrow. "They're my security detail." she said matter-of-factly.

"There's no need for their presence here. They, and you, will be kept safe." the man replied, only the barest hint of stubbornness in his voice.

'Why does that not comfort me?' Eleanor wondered as she followed the man outside, where an SUV waited, one of the doors that faced her flanked by two men in fatigues. One of them opened the door, allowing her to step inside and see the driver. As the door closed, the men went around the vehicle, getting into the only other seats available as they started off.

It was a silent trip. The atmosphere in the car pressed down on Eleanor, and she didn't need to use the Sight to tell that these men didn't trust her. She looked out the window, glancing at the people passing by. How many had lost family, friends, loved ones in the attack? Who of the men in the car had? She was sure it was more than she cared to count.

And, she began to ponder as the ride stretched on, that was what hurt her most of all, wasn't it? She had become numb to the immediate effects of death. The bodies that she had seen broken in almost every possible way, that she had shoved back together, in some instances, and made whole. That, she could fix. That she was a master at.

It was far harder, however, to fix what came after if she failed. The broken hearts. The hollow eyes. The emotions. Those still cut to her very core. And those were all she was able to see over the last week wherever she had gone.

It had torn her up inside. The entire point of what she was doing, HERZ, Mender and all, was to avoid those sorts of wounds. She'd seen far too many of those wounds before she had left, consigned herself to living with seeing them every time she saw the people she loved. Here… she could stop it. Make sure no one else could see what she had seen.

Her train of thought was interrupted as the car came to a stop in front of one of the buildings on the base, the driver stopping the car and opening her door as the other two men exited as well.

As she stepped out, and the car drove away, one of her escorts nodded forward. "The prisoners are being held here. If you'll follow us, ma'am."

Eleanor nodded, and the men led her into the building, harsh fluorescent bulbs shining down on ungiving cinder block walls as she walked through what was likely the detention center.

They came to a stop in front of one of the doors, and Eleanor looked over at one of her escorts. "Which pilot is this?"

"This would be the UN pilot, ma'am." the guard on her left replied. "What records we were able to find say that his name is Lieutenant Commander Vance Cooper. Former United States Army before leaving for the UN Armed Response Forces." he continued.

Eleanor nodded. "Very well. I'll speak to them alone. I won't need too long."

"That's not possible, ma'am. We're going to need to be in there with you."

Eleanor regarded the man, just a shade taller than her, silently for a moment, her eyes glancing down at the pistol at his side ever so briefly. Then, she nodded. "Very well. Stay silent, and stay out of the way. I'll need my space for what I want to try."

The man nodded in turn. "We can manage that."

With that, the other soldier unlocked the door, and Eleanor stepped into a solid, cold cell, a single chair in its center and a one-way mirror on the left wall.

The man who sat in that chair was haggard, unsurprisingly, a Plugsuit traded for a stark white jumpsuit. As he looked up at the new arrival, she saw brown eyes, narrowed and red, under black hair that had been made a mess. She didn't want to know what had been done to the man to make him crack in the first place. His tanned skin, what she could see anyway, was covered in nicks and bruises, a solid black eye only beginning to recede.

She stepped forward, staying silent as the men entered behind her and shut the door. "So, Lieutenant Cooper." she finally said.

The man nodded. "Yes. That's my name, as I've told every last bastard who comes in here asking."

Eleanor nodded once. "Okay. My name is Major Eleanor Theisman of HERZ. I'm here to ask a few more questions after that."

"HERZ?" Cooper narrowed his eyes. "The other UN pilots?"

Eleanor blinked, looking back at the soldiers, one of whom shrugged silently. "It's a little more complicated than that, but essentially yes. Why do you make the distinction?"

"We were guaranteed that you'd support us. Where were you?" Cooper pressed, a clearly accusatory edge to his voice.

Eleanor shook her head, distinctly aware of the two men's eyes boring into her back. "Then it's news to us. Who told you this?"

"The Chiefs of Staff for the ARF." Cooper said after a moment's defiant pause.

"And where did you get your Eva, the training to use it? Those hardly come from nowhere."

Cooper blinked. "I got it… I don't know where. And…"

He trailed off, his eyes widening as best they could as his breathing began to quicken. "How did I get here?" he whispered.

Eleanor decided, after a moment's consideration, to brush the soul of the soldier who had informed her of Cooper, and skimmed the knowledge that Private Yosuke Kazama had on the man.

It was… somewhat concerning. "Vance…" she said softly, the man jerking his head back up to look at her. "Do you remember Cathy? Your wife? Your children, Steven and Holly?"

"What?" Cooper's eyes widened. He began to shake. "No… no, no, no, no, no!"

His chest was heaving as she slowly advanced. She didn't need to look hard to see the utter confusion, how completely lost this man was as tears began to roll down his face. Now, though, she activated her Sight, and began to look more deeply. Her focus came immediately to his head.

It was hard to spot at first, but once she did, the signs were unmistakable. Small holes everywhere in his Frames, dots for Flux caps. SEELE had taken this pruning that they had discovered and honed it into something she even rarely saw in the wider Worldsea. It… disgusted her.

She shushed quietly as she began to patch up the man's wounds, the bruises and cuts beginning to fade away, the black eye disappearing, as Cooper took one deep breath, then another, the relief sweeping over him seeming to almost engulf him.

After long moments, Eleanor's Sight vanished, and she stepped back from a man that was now physically whole. The emptiness in his eyes remained, however, as Cooper looked back up at her. "Can…" he swallowed, a flickering gleam of desperation coming to life. "Will I ever remember?"

Eleanor opened her mouth, then closed it, preparing to tell the hardest truth she could tell anyone. "Honestly… I can't guarantee that." she said quietly.

The light went from his eyes, and without another word, he bowed his head and wept silently.

- - -

Commander's Office, That Night

"The Chinese pilot they captured was the same. And the body of the Russian pilot as well." Eleanor said to the gathered heads of staff of HERZ. "It's more than likely they've all been pruned to ensure that they'd follow their orders."

Misato nodded as she glanced over at Ritsuko. "Do you think that we'll be able to change the course of things with this info?"

Ritsuko sighed quietly. "Honestly… I'm not sure. The nations are baying for blood. The process of pulling out of the UN has already been finished for most of the nations. The others are only staying in because pulling out would push them to the brink of ruin. The United Nations won't make it to the end of the year."

Misato sighed quietly. "I wondered as much." they had very publicly stated their neutrality in any conflict that did not involve an Evangelion. And had declared, in no uncertain terms, just how they would respond to an attack on their people and bases, scattered though they now were.

She looked over at Aoba. "Any movement that we've seen against UN assets? Or one nation gearing up to fight another?"

"Most of the smaller nations are just going to war with each other or striking against UN ARF assets." Aoba replied, looking down at a clear-pad he had pulled out. "That's not unexpected. The bigger nations though, the EU, the AU, everyone who has one or more Evangelions… silent."

"They may not be as silent as you think, Aoba." Ryoji piped up. "I may have lost a good chunk of my intelligence network, but I've still got a few who trust me personally. The US, South America, the EU, Japan, at least… everybody says they're all planning a simultaneous attack on the ARF's main command center in the Alps just east of old Lichtenstein. I wouldn't rule out Russia and China pitching in, too."

"How much time do you think they'll need?" Misato said, a spike of fear stabbing into her heart at the thought of all those Evas descending on the, frankly, innocent people whose flag had become a symbol of fear outside of their control.

Ryoji shrugged. "I'd say… two weeks? Three at the most to move them into Europe. They've got their own bushfires to put out on a human scale. Whether that's skirmishing with neighboring countries to settle old scores or rattle sabers, or dealing with internal problems to make sure everyone is on board with the operation."

Misato nodded. "The League is pulling people out until we've got things under control. And… well, the Cataphract and the Sonne will be sticking around. We'll have that much to call on, should the need arise."

A silent chill swept through the room as they remembered just what the Cataphract could do.

Misato, finally, looked over at Daniel, who waited patiently to speak. "How are the pilots holding up?" she asked with a quiet note of concern.

Daniel sighed quietly. "Well, they're ready to do their duty, if nothing else." he didn't need to say anything concerning the, well, concern that the kids all had for their trainees. Their friends. "We've been trying to bridge the gap through the personal contact network the kids established with their trainees. Every attempt to contact any of the national pilots has been blocked though, either from the outset or during the first call. They don't want their pilots talking to, or listening to, anyone. Not us, not another nation's pilot, no one."

"And what does that mean for the possible attack on the Alps base?" Misato asked.

"Most likely, the higher-ups are going to be the only ones coordinating. It'll be a blow to the effectiveness of the Evas, but only slightly." his voice lowered slightly as a grim grin twitched on his lips. "You know as well as I that we trained them to be independent."

Misato nodded. "Alright. Well, we may have taught them everything that they know. But we didn't teach them everything we know. We've got a few aces up our sleeves. Interfacing, for one. And for another…"

As Misato looked over at Maya, a chime interrupted her, and she tapped on the portion of the desk in front of her, a screen lifting out of the desktop, its rear frosting over as a keyboard floated to the surface as well.

She scanned the document she had just been sent, the UN stamp prominent for her, at least, to see. Then, she sighed quietly as she gripped the thin screen, pulling it free from its position and passing it to Ritsuko. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's official. Due to recent events, the Massive Weapons Use Commitee's been gutted. They functionally no longer exist. We've also lost our Special Agency status in the UN."

"Not that it's going to matter much anymore." Ryoji scoffed as the screen was passed around. "We've got the ability to keep ourselves ready, regardless of the UN's help or not."

"Yes. Ready." Misato said quietly as her gaze returned to Maya. "Which brings me back to what I was about to say. Maya, how is the Lancium research coming along?"

It was quiet again as Maya nodded. "We've figured out the atomic makeup and how to reproduce it. It's simply a matter of putting the formula into the Frame Extruders. However, if we are going to retain the anti-AT Field capabilities of the material, it's going to be a slow process that won't yield much material until we can refine the process."

Misato took a deep breath, then nodded. "So be it. If it comes down to it, we can use the Lance copies in case we have to move on any Evangelions at a moment's notice."

Daniel hummed. "Do you think Asuka might be able to replicate it?" he asked Maya. "It would give Mari some practice with her Interfacing as well if they can do it."

"That's… not impossible. But with what we've seen…" Maya shook her head. "It's worth a try, anyway."

Misato nodded. "Sounds like a plan." she said with a quiet sigh. Then she paused for a moment. "Ryoji, this just occurred to me."

She looked seriously at him. "Do you think that SEELE might have more Evas in store? Maybe some of the MP-Evas that they seem to be able to build now?"

"Normally I'd say no." Ryoji replied with a shrug. "But… we all know they used Frame Titans instead of actual Evas. If they can make those… who's to say they can't make any more MP-Evas?"

Misato nodded. "We'll be on alert then. Keep us informed of when they plan to move out."

Ryoji nodded. "Will do." he said simply.

Misato sighed quietly, then stood. "Well, there's not much more to talk about. Daniel, get Asuka and Mari on the experiment to replicate Lancium. Have the others keep trying to contact the national pilots. If we can slip past their nets using the Worldstriders or the League, then take advantage of it. Other than that… all we can really do now is get ready."

With that, they all rose and left the office, settling in and knowing all they could really do was wait as the world began to burn again.

 

[Vajrei]

They way those pilots were brainwashed reminds me of Ghost in the shell where a person can be hacked. My guess is Seele caused this disaster so that they can impliment their plan without interference.

 

[marcoasalazarm]

Ok, I really dig the appearance of the kids of "Pacific Rim: The Black" and Haley's reaction to the "'round here you're a cartoon" reveal.

Is it okay to borrow from it for my own stories?

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Go right on ahead.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Chapter 45: To Steal Away with Wonder

It is done. With the ringing in of a new millennium, we have begun the process that will culminate in Instrumentality.

Adam was in Antarctica, frozen. Waiting. The Lance that held it in place, like the Lance of Longinus, confirming its bodily death. Katsuragi led us to it, and we awakened him, resurrecting him before shackling him in an infantile body. The process shattered the icy continent, but our retrieval teams will return Adam to us.

With the Second Impact, the world has been thrown into chaos. We of SEELE, who will be the Human Instrumentality Committee, are secure enough to weather the storm. Humanity, too, will survive. If life has taught me anything, it is that humanity will do anything to ensure that it lives.

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, February 2000

The Kaga, Atlantic Ocean, Another World, July 2027

Captain Misato Katsuragi studied the footage of the satellite that they had managed to maneuver into position over the position the city of Frankfurt, Germany once held.

It was, unsurprisingly, covered for the most part in core material. The view that they centered on, however, was of the massive construction gantry of the ship that the mysterious pilot had sent them. The space around what the schematics had called the Buße was clear of core material, or at least sat atop it, surrounded by gantries and automated construction systems. The top of the vessel showed most prominently how much further the vessel still had to go, sections of its inner frame still laid bare before the open air.

Ritsuko, who pondered the view alongside Misato, hummed quietly. "You know," she said quietly, "I still think we need to wait just a few more months, to ensure that some of the systems we need are in place. Weapons, this 'Magi Achiral' system, that sort of thing."

She studiously avoided mentioning a particular one courtesy of a particular man as Misato shook her head. "Any longer, and we risk Marks, or even worse, Evangelions being in the vicinity when we try. If we wait, we're doomed to failure, and losing the one shot we have at pulling this planet back together with any sort of surety. We just have to trust that the Magi and the Ark are at least already installed."

"Misato." Ritsuko replied, putting a little force behind her words. "It's clear to see that it doesn't even have its main guns yet. Let alone the… whatever the 'AT Resonators' are supposed to be. Where are we going to get the things to replace those with?"

"The Resonators will likely be useless to us. We can put up some radar dishes in their places, increasing our sensor range." Misato said. "As for the guns…" she trailed off before glancing over at Ritsuko. "How has that Anti-AT Field round been coming along?"

Ritsuko took a deep breath. "Well, we've tested the viability of the Spear material as a projectile round digitally, based on the data we were able to collect off of the pilots handling the weapons themselves, and the prototypes are structurally sound, what few we've been able to make. We're about to try our hand at something approaching mass production in the next month or so." she smiled slightly. "The settlements in the West Coast Safe Zone are even building us a prototype battleship cannon in order to use them."

"We'll use those. Have them fast-track the production of the guns, and we'll pick them up once we make off with the Buße. We'll probably need…" Misato's eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at the top of the ship. "Four of them, from the looks of the hardpoints on top. Maybe one or two more if there's anywhere to mount them."

Ritsuko's lips thinned. "That's dangerous, Misato. We likely won't have time to run any sort of safety checks on the guns before we start using them. And unless we take one of our pilots out of action, I don't think the backup S2​ Organs that the ship comes with will be sufficient to get us into the air for any great amount of time."

Misato's lips thinned in turn. There was the other problem with taking this vessel. According to the blueprints, a 'Master' Evangelion was required to have the vessel produce an AT Field of any great amount of strength.

"We'll figure it out once we get it up and running." Misato settled on, deciding to change the subject. "What are we going to need to get on board? I doubt we can just stroll in with the number of defenses that we'll likely have to deal with."

Ritsuko was silent for a moment as she decided not to object to the digression. She raised a valid point, after all. All their usual approaches would likely be covered, whether by Marks or by simple automated guns or missile batteries.

Thus, Ritsuko surmised after a moment, that meant that they needed an unusual approach. 'Time to think like Misato…'

It took, as always, some getting used to, as she considered what methods they could use to infiltrate the ship. Then, an odd fact came to mind, and Ritsuko had the beginnings of an Idea.

"Misato," she said, drawing her attention to her, "in America, there was a gentleman who was perfecting reusable rockets, able to reenter the atmosphere, for NERV's use in reaching Tabgha Base, among other things. Musk, I believe his name was. We cracked into his database when we were helping establish the West Coast Safe Zone. He'd done a few physical tests, so his ideas are at least somewhat sound."

Misato nodded, and Ritsuko could almost see the gears turning in her head. "Did any of the rockets he used survive this long?" she asked.

Ritsuko shook her head. "Not from what we can tell. But based on the data that he had, we have some old Soviet rockets we have the location of that we can retrofit and turn into landers."

"And how long will that take?" Misato asked archly.

"From collection to refit to launch…" Ritsuko did the calculations in her head silently. "About 3 months, give or take."

She watched Misato's jaw tighten, then loosen as she sighed. "Unless you have something a little more sensible," Misato chuckled, "I guess that'll have to do."

"Besides," Ritsuko said with a shrug, "It'll give them time to ensure that they have the systems in place on the Buße that we'll need."

"Buße." Misato muttered. "We need a better name than that."

"I'm certain you'll think of one." Ritsuko said. "Now, where is Tennison…"

"I believe she's still out on the Titanskeep finishing up on repairing Unit-02's arm." Misato replied. Then, she paused for a moment. "I guess we should get her over here and explain the situation to her."

"And I assume we'll get underway?"

Misato nodded. "Yes. Contact the Siberian Oblast Safe Zone, as well. Tell them to look for rockets that we could use to land teams of people in. We won't need much fuel, but we'll need enough to at least get into low Earth orbit."

Ritsuko nodded in turn. "Will do, Captain."

- - -

The Titanskeep, Siberian Oblast Safe Zone, 2 Months Later

Ymris ran a hand through her now much shorter hair as she looked at the center of the massive ship. Once again, the Evas were huddled to the ends to make way for the current work, this time one of several old Soviet Rokot launch vehicles and the specialized modules that would be fitted to their boosters that were in the process of deconstruction and reinforcement, another beside it in the process of having special carrier pods, reinforced landing legs, and armored ACS systems outfitted onto, or in, it. Both were the latest of several others that were sitting on the dockside and being craned in or out, separated into two distinct piles.

She sighed quietly as she made her way over to the second of what was being called a 'Nekozame-class suborbital assault boat', so named for a species of shark, apparently, as a group of technicians and volunteer security team members continued to slide a specially constructed seating ring past a reinforced door and ladder system. "Need any help?" she asked, causing the techs to pause for a moment.

"Honestly…" one of the technicians replied, shrugging her shoulders. "Not really. This beats duty on the Arm Bar."

The Arm Bar. The name that had come to stick with Unit-02's prosthetic arm, especially during the reconstruction that had come in the aftermath of the battle with the 12th Angel. It had, as most nicknames do, spread quite quickly throughout the engineering crews. She smirked slightly as she recalled Asuka's distinctly unamused expression when she learned about the rather unflattering nom de plume.

"Well, if you need anything, I'll be available." Ymris nodded as she began to turn. "Make extra sure that the welding teams don't have to break their backs, okay?"

One of the security team members chuckled. "We'll do our best, ma'am."

With that, Ymris retreated towards one of the catwalks erected for Eva maintenance, currently folded flush with the wall of the ship to allow for the massive battle machines to huddle and open up space.

Up the stairs she walked, turning onto a long path with a chained off drop. No one else was on the catwalk with her. Exactly as she intended, as she walked towards the end and stopped just before the three chains that went across to prevent anyone from falling off.

She leaned on the railing to her right, taking a deep breath as she processed Tavis's latest talk with her.

They were still off in the Americas, trying to find the rest of the Herald Units. So far… nothing, once they had secured the 6th of the Evas. Tavis had sounded close to tearing his hair out from the frustration of it all. And she hadn't the slightest clue where the rest might be. And there was also something else. Something he was hiding from her. To surprise her with, no doubt.

What he was far less concerned with, however, was the other people from the Worldsea that she had found insinuated into WILLE, much less the plans of WILLE itself. Those, he'd brushed off with barely a second thought. "As long as they aren't Interfaced or getting in the way," she recalled him saying, "let them play at saving the world. It'll let us do the real work in the meantime."

Was that what they were doing? Was that what she was doing? Pretending like the world could be saved by their efforts while Tavis and his company searched for a way to bend it to their will?

'If only you could truly see what they've done, Tavis.' she thought wistfully. 'How much it means to them.'

She wished he could see the Safe Zones from the inside. Not as the recruiting centers, hiding places, or danger spots that Tavis looked down his nose at, but as… sanctuaries. Pockets of life scratched back out from the core material, so close to danger, and yet… so vibrant. It achingly reminded her of home.

And that was nothing compared to the troupe that she had been put in charge of, all because Tavis had needed a peek into Captain Katsuragi's plans and movements. She'd come to… well, care for the people under her command. For all the knowledge she'd borrowed with her Interfacing, before and after Third Impact, she still marveled at the quiet joy that some of her mechanics and technicians displayed at their work, the care they took for their private lives that they, even with their best efforts, couldn't draw her fully into. Another part that reminded her of home.

'I wonder,' she finally pondered with a quiet sigh, 'if this is what that Daniel fellow felt like at NERV.'

Traitorous thoughts, she was sure Tavis would have decried. But even still…

As her gaze wandered alongside her mind, she found a rather important person going from one Rokot to the other, inspecting them and helping out where she could. Toph's work, however, went far beyond the visible, as Ymris had come to know. She could, likely through some small connection of her soul, manipulate metal. She covered it up as welding experience, for the most part, but she would ensure that, barring anything else, the rockets would get them to their destination without blowing up.

After a moment, she looked up at the catwalk, her eyes widening, and a smile along with it, as she waved. Ymris chuckled softly as she waved back, watching as Toph finished an inspection, then helped the team she'd spoken to heft in one last ring of seats before making her way to the catwalk.

"Hey there, Emmie." she said as she made her way toward Ymris. "How are things looking from up here on your lookout tower?"

"Looking like they're coming along, Toph." Ymris replied as she nodded. "Thanks for your help."

"And thanks for keeping how much I help on the down-low." Toph puffed her cheeks for a moment. "We've already got enough going on without adding on revealing the reality of bending to the mix."

She looked around for a moment before leaning on the railing opposite Ymris. "How many more of these things are there, did you say?"

"Only three more to add to the nine we've already outfitted. We're almost home." Ymris said.

"Oh, good." Toph said only somewhat sardonically. "We're almost ready to drop on a target from the edge of space. You can tell Misato thought that one up."

Ymris chuckled." Where's the desire for 'something exciting to do' gone now?"

"There's something exciting, and there's something suicidal." Toph retorted with a small smile. "A sudden revolt in one of the Safe Zones, for example, would be exciting. Dangerous, yes, but still. Falling from any great height, especially in one of these tin cans… not exactly my thing."

Ymris shrugged dramatically. "Alright then. I don't suppose the fact that you'll likely be leading one of the teams that are going to be capturing our target helps matters."

"Not in the slightest." Toph said, deadpan.

The two shared a moment of laughter. Then, Ymris sighed. "You know… if this works… I'm going to miss this ship."

As Toph arched her brow, she continued. "From what I've seen of the Buße, we'll be transferring the Evas into its two main gantries when we take control of it. When we do… well, we won't need this ship anymore."

"Yeah." Toph said quietly as she looked around at the walls that had become so familiar to the both of them. "That's a good point."

It was quiet between them for a moment, the only sounds to be heard echoing between the ship's walls being the crackle of welding gear and the clamor of men and tools.

"I'm sure they'll find something to do with it." Toph said. "I mean, KREDIT would likely be jumping for joy to get a ship that can carry more than one ACC Pillar at a time."

"True, true. If they can make more than one at a time, at least." Ymris admitted. Again, it was quiet for a moment. "How are the rest of your friends?"

"Oh, Katara's doing fine over in Medical. The Suzuhara kid, Sakura, she's a real sweetheart. The others are just… doing their jobs, scattered around as we are…"

As Toph continued to talk, Ymris wondered idly how many others were 'benders' of one kind or another. It had taken this long to even pry the knowledge of Toph's powers from her. But, her mind reminded her, there were far more pressing matters to attend to than gaining secrets from her friend, as one of the team members down below called for her.

- - -

The Kaga, 2 Weeks Later

Asuka Shikinami-Langley and Mari Makinami studied the layout of the battlefield they would be deploying on, taking particular note of the strange ship that was their objective even as much as it was almost a piece of terrain.

"So, we're keeping anything big busy while you guys figure out how to fly this ship out of here. Is that right?" Asuka asked as she looked at Captain Katsuragi.

"That's the plan so far." Captain Katsuragi replied. "We'll be sweeping in from the north. Remember the Mark's usual response time. We'll need to make the most of every second."

"And where are you launching from?" Mari asked with a slight pout that said that she found the prospect of strapping herself to a rocket rather exciting.

"We'll be launching from the Albion Safe Zone in the British Isles." Ritsuko replied. "We won't need much range to get in, so you'll be deploying ahead of us to clear the way while we're coming in to secure the Buße."

She paused for a moment, and Mari leaned forward. "Anything else we should know about this operation?" she said slowly.

Ritsuko glanced over at Misato for a moment before nodding. "There's a better than good chance we will need one of you to assist us in getting the Buße off of the ground." she said, a serious look on her face.

Asuka tilted her head in confusion, her single eye narrowing. "How so? With an AT Field?"

"In a sense." Ritsuko replied, typing on the holo-table as Captain Katsuragi suppressed a quiet sigh. As Ritsuko typed, the display of the satellite view disappeared, replaced by what looked like floating blueprints of a section of the ship.

"Here in the blueprints you received from the pilot of the Mark.06," Ritsuko said as she pointed to a hollow in the center, "there is a spot for what the blueprints call 'the Master of the Vessel'. I believe that, if not in the place of the S2​ Organs, then at least with their support, a massive AT Field can be generated by the ship by whatever Eva takes its place in there."

"But one of us has to be out of the fight." Asuka summed up in an unamused tone.

"Yes." Ritsuko said with a quiet sigh.

"I still think that the S2​ Organs will be enough to get us to the sea." Captain Katsuragi interjected, a hint of challenge in her voice. "We're going to need both of our Evas to ensure that we can reach that point."

"And if we can get one of the Evas to activate the Buße's AT Field, it won't matter how many Evas we do or don't have. We can make it to safety regardless." Ritsuko retorted. "I know you still like to go with your gut on these things, but I'd like you to more fully consider the option."

It was quiet for a moment as three sets of eyes rested their gaze on a silent Misato, an air of anticipation settling over the table and those that surrounded it as they waited for their answer.

Finally, it seemed, Misato sighed quietly. "We can't afford to put one of them in permanently." she said softly. "We can't just use one of our best, our only pilots like that."

"We'll figure out a solution." Ritsuko replied, hiding a quiet sense of relief as she looked over at the two pilots in question. "For now, the question seems to be a matter of who to put in. And, thankfully, there's an easy answer to that."

Asuka's expression soured. "It isn't me, is it?"

"Actually, no." Ritsuko said, shaking her head slightly. "Due to the fact that you have Angelic corruption, we don't know how the system, or the corruption, will act. Your best place is on the battlefield."

Asuka shrugged while she nodded as Mari's eyes grew wide with wonder. "You mean… I get to help drive a spaceship?"

"If the circumstances permit." Captain Katsuragi interjected pointedly. "If it takes too long to hook you in and get it running, we can't afford the delay."

"That's a risk we'll have to take." Ritsuko said, shaking her head slightly in amazement at her words.

"And I thought I was supposed to be the risk-taker." Captain Katsuragi grumbled, the briefest flash of a smile on her face. "Alright, then. You'd better know how to hook Unit-08 into this ship by the time we get to Albion, though."

"Maya and I have been studying the process since I first floated the idea." Ritsuko replied. "With the manual that came packaged with the blueprints, we at least have a general idea of what we need to teach a team that gets assigned down there."

Ritsuko paused for a moment. "Speaking of teams, who were you thinking of having on the team to commandeer the ship's command bridge?"

"I have a team put together already." Captain Katsuragi replied, a slight smile on her face.

. . .

Misato looked intently at each of the five people who would be working with her to get the Buße flying. They would, of course, be escorted by a security team to help them get through the heavy amount of automated defenses onboard should they activate, but when it came down to it, these five, along with her, were the only ones who needed to get to the bridge.

"So," she began, her gaze sweeping across Koji Takao, Hideki Tama, Midori Kitakami, Sumire Nagara, and Shigeru Aoba, "I hope that you've studied the parts of the manual that Ritsuko has deemed important?"

Aoba nodded. "Yeah. There's… a lot to take in."

Misato nodded in understanding. Several terabytes of information on how to operate the Buße was a breathtaking amount to go through, even broken down into what Ritsuko and Maya had called 'operationally pertinent sections'.

"We still have a week until we get to Albion, and a few days after that until we launch. If you need to go over something, take some sort of notes, now's the time."

Midori nodded, patting a pocket that Misato was sure held a brick of already marked sticky notes. "I'll be good on that front." she said, a sure smile on her face spreading slightly to the people around her, missing the usually stoic face of Nagara.

"Good. I hope that you all will be as ready to carry out our approach as young Ms. Kitakami is." Ritsuko said as she began to pull up a holographic image of the ship they would be breaking into.

"Now, let's go over our entrance plan one more time." Ritsuko began as the others began to crowd slightly around the table. "Our group, along with the security team going along with us, will enter through this hatch here, at the central bridge of the ship's hull."

As she spoke, the image zoomed in, and the hatch in question began to blink. "Now," she continued, a line tracing through the hallways down and around towards the bridge, "our Fuyutsuki detectors show that it's already beginning to power up, so it's likely that the automated defense turrets within will be operational as well. Progress will most likely be slow, but the most likely possible option to deactivate all of the turrets will be on the bridge. The other teams will be counting on us."

"And this is the fastest way?" Sumire Nagara said quietly, drawing the attention of the others to her. "Are there any alternate routes we could take? Service corridors or sufficiently large ventilation shafts?"

"We've considered that." Ritsuko replied. "There's enough of them scattered throughout the ship that untangling a path will likely take the rest of our voyage to Albion. But if it can save us from traversing dangerous terrain… then it will certainly be worth it."

"I look forward to seeing what you come up with." Misato interjected as she nodded. "Now, as for what we do when we get there, in descending order, we shut down the automated defenses, activate Unit-08 as the Master of the ship, and pilot her out into the English Channel. From there, we'll stay low, get Unit-08 out of the Master position when we can, and use the S2 Engines to keep going for the moment. Any other questions?"

Koji shook his head. "We'll get it done. Whatever it takes." he said with a surety only age and experience could afford truthfully.

Misato nodded. "Very well. Dismissed."

- - -

Fleet Commander's Quarters, Later that Night

Misato lay in bed, wrapped up in Makoto's warm embrace, silently listening to the sounds of the ship that accompanied her partner's steady breathing as she took the time she had to simply think for a moment.

It had been too long since they'd done this, she felt. Duty had always gotten in the way of escape, with so much to prepare for recently. But she'd always needed some sort of escape, in the end. And how convenient it was that Makoto needed her as she needed him. Especially with something as big as this coming.

Alcohol, at least the drinkable, enjoyable kind, was something of a rarity nowadays. With almost all of the distilleries gone, that left her with her other vice, her other release valve. Besides, the people that had put their lives in her hands didn't need a drunkard now. That drunkard hadn't been able to prevent the end of the world. Hell, more than anything…

An icy spike of fear stabbed into her chest as she came close to a void she'd been running from for over a decade. 'No. Not that. Anything but that.'

There had already been one Katsuragi at the center of an Impact. There didn't need to be another. What she'd done was only a part of it, anyway, she quickly thought. Shinji didn't need to listen to her. It was very likely that he didn't. If anything, she surmised, it was Shinji's zeal, combined with his ignorance, that had made this world what it was.

'Most of us were ignorant then, though.' a part of her chided. Only a few people saw behind the curtain then. She hadn't been one of them. Even still, a part of her yearned for the days of relative simplicity, of simply defending Tokyo-3 against the Angels in order to keep everything she knew safe. But even doing that little brought other dark thoughts to the fore.

After all, with the Angels, Shinji had left her before he ended the world as they knew it. A part of her couldn't blame him, after what had happened. So much had weighed on him with his duties. But another was… angry at the fact. 'So what? We all had the end of the world hanging over us. He's the only one who cracked.'

Beyond that, he'd been, to that point, one of the best things to happen to her life, damn it. Even if it took some time to realize it. And he'd left everything, he'd left her, without even allowing her to apologize for not being there, for not being able to be there for him when he needed her most. Without even letting her fully say goodbye. 'Damn him for that.' she thought as her jaw clenched.

Now, she couldn't even do that much, as she felt guilt wash over her at the thought. Unit-01 tumbled through space, the boy she'd come to care for dissolved into so much LCL, according to Ritsuko's hypothesis. Shinji was gone now. One of her anchors… gone. Just like Ryoji was.

A part of her heart still hurt, thinking about him even for a moment. The man that, in the end, she'd found she'd still loved. Enough to have a son. So much potential, another anchor in her life… gone.

All because of Gendo Ikari. She gripped the sheets a little tighter as the thought of the man at the center of all this made her heart burn in anger. Because of him, so many people were dead. Because of him, her life had become so much more hollow. And he would pay for everyone that he'd taken from her.

Because of him, what he knew and didn't tell, she wasn't there when the Children needed her most. Because of him, what he decided to do to Shinji, Asuka was as she was now, drifting further and further away from her. From anyone, from the looks of it.

After a moment, an almost overwhelming dread draped itself over here. More and more, Misato Katsuragi found herself… alone, in the dark. Even among the thousands, hundreds of thousands, that she commanded. It was… terrifying.

Even now, as she looked over at Makoto, his face peaceful in sleep, she wondered somewhat how she truly felt about him. They'd been together, in the physical sense, for years, now. Sharing one bed or another. He'd nearly jumped at the chance to comfort her after she'd found out about Ryoji. He was terribly earnest, loyal if nothing else.

And yet… she only felt somewhat guilty for feeling so little for the man next to her after all this time. Even for all their intimacy, he felt a long way away from her heart, even for how useful she found him.

And yet, he was all she seemed to have left, now. The only one she could even think of opening her heart, her body, to. The comfort he offered was the last anchor she had before she would begin to drift. The only thing that helped her rest for what was ahead.

Her mind wandered to the mission. To Makoto's part in it. He was supposed to help Maya secure the Magi Achiral before taking the tactical position on the bridge. Down in the depths of the ship, past all the defenses that stood between their way.

And she became afraid. Not for the first time, but certainly the most powerfully she remembered in recent memory. What if she failed? What if he died anyway? What would happen if she truly became alone? She didn't want to think about it. Desperately tried to think of something else. But even still, the dark future that lay ahead loomed large over her.

She sighed quietly and resigned herself once again to the silent chaos her mind and her heart had become as she reached slowly for the small bottle of whiskey that was on their nightstand.

- - -

Arnheim, Netherlands, 3 Weeks Later

Asuka, ensconced comfortably in Unit-02, strode across the barren red hills of Netherlands, Unit-08 following close behind her as they headed towards the barren, likely dangerous shipyard that waited for them.

Of course, with what Mari was supposed to do when they got there, Asuka noted with some grim amusement, she was the one to have the sniper rifle on her back, ready to use alongside the Pallet Rifle that had replaced her Positron Rifle. 'I hope I still make a good marksman. My skills might be a little rusty.'

But she knew they'd be there regardless. Her training to prepare her for piloting had made that perfectly clear.

She had mixed feelings about going back to the country that had made her, whatever the reason may be. As they continued on, a part of her idly wondered if they would pass her facility in Cologne.

'Yes.' she realized after looking at the map on their GPS one more time. 'It's on the way to Frankfurt, after all.'

A part of her wanted to smash it if she could find it. A final piece of payback to the people who'd put her through the hell that she'd survived. 'And I'm the only one that survived, after all. Who else could be piloting my Unit-02?'

Another part of her said otherwise. A part of her that felt… incomplete. Bardiel had moved into that gap, making her more and more alien by the day. Looking in the mirror for the longest time now felt… strange. Like she was looking at something that was pretending to be her. Wearing her face. Was she even human anymore?

Her train of thought was interrupted as a comms screen popped up. "Rockets are in the air." Captain Katsuragi said through an increasing interference. "Better get a move on."

Asuka nodded as she and Mari picked up the pace. Cologne would have to wait another day. "Acknowledged, Captain." was Asuka's only reply before the screen blinked off.

"Ah." Mari sighed as both Evas sped up. "Rockets heading into Germany from Britain while we blitz for Frankfurt. Take that, Hitler!"

Asuka chuckled, recognizing the reference from somewhere but not caring to try and figure it out. The process of puzzling it out had gotten overly tedious anyway.

The kilometers began to melt away, and Asuka and Mari both kept an eye on the sky more and more as they got closer. Soon…

Soon enough, there it was, emerging from the horizon and growing as their pace began to slow somewhat. It was simply being constructed in the middle of the city, ruined towers converted to cranes, massive tanks of what was likely LCL, and docks for massive automated construction drones that bore an eerie resemblance to the Mark.04As that they had taken down countless times. In the center of a jungle of scaffolding, the ship itself loomed large, wings wide enough to walk on spreading out nearly half the length of the ship. as it seemed to stare at them.

"What's your time to arrival?" Asuka asked Captain Katsuragi at the end of the link as she unlimbered the sniper rifle, sighting it on a flight of passing construction drones.

"15 minutes." Katsuragi replied. "You have that long to clear a path towards where Unit-08 needs to go."

"Copy that." Asuka replied, and the comm panel muted as she glanced over at Mari. "Alright, Specs. Where do we need to go?"

"You mean you, the mighty Asuka Shikinami-Langley, didn't pay attention to where I, and thus you, would have to go?" Mari said in an overly shocked tone. "I thought you were the best pilot in the world."

"I am." Asuka grumbled. "When I'm actually punching something's face in. Now, get moving. I'll cover our six, make sure we don't get swamped by any surprises."

Mari nodded. "Always good to hear that, Asuka." she said, a surprisingly warm smile on her face taking Asuka somewhat by surprise before Unit-08 moved off, around the perimeter and towards the back end of the ship.

"I hope the others have a safe flight in." she chirped. "Those rockets did not look all that comfortable."

. . .

Low Earth Orbit

Misato prayed, which was itself a rare thing these days, that she would never have to ride in one of these things ever again. As she did, she felt the bang of the initial rocket booster falling away, tumbling towards the ground or the depths of the Channel. Now, there was only the specially engineered stage that they sat in, only a few meters, maybe a dozen, longer than the usual stage that went with these things if she was to believe what Tennison said.

Besides the slamming to the side as she nearly hung strapped into the wall of the rocket, her knees seeming to nearly touch Ritsuko's in the dark only lit by a few small rectangular lights, as they reached the zenith of their ascent, that feeling of weightlessness slid her stomach into her throat in a way that she didn't miss since her SFG days dropping into enemy territory.

She twitched slightly as she heard the crackling pop of the booster units falling away, the hiss of ACS thrusters getting them into position to fall again. "Beifong is right." she finally muttered, her voice lost in the noise.

"What was that?" Ritsuko asked, shouted really.

"Beifong is right!" Misato repeated. "This is the closest I've felt to death in ages!"

"Thank you!" she heard Beifong exclaim, though she was hidden by the specially reinforced plates that would keep them from falling from where they were. "Someone else gets it!"

"I have faith in Tennison's engineering." Ritsuko replied, looking at the smartphone that was strapped to her wrist in a bracelet. "We'll be deploying protective cowlings in 15 seconds. Get ready."

Misato simply nodded, clenching her teeth as they seemed to threaten rattling right out of her skull. Right on time, Ritsuko's cowlings came off with a series of gunshot-like sounds. Now, the legs and the main thruster would be exposed.

Misato took a deep breath as she watched Ritsuko looking intently at her screen. "Touchdown in 2 minutes. 1 minute. 30 seconds. 15. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"

As Ritsuko finished her countdown, a thump rippled through the ship, and near the top as they were, she tensed as she felt her position sway slightly for a few moments.

After a few moments, the sigh of relief that rippled through the inside of the rocket as it steadied itself seemed to almost threaten to tip it over. In the moment after that, however, Toph began to shout. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen! You know how this works! Closest to the door secures our position and locates the hatch! Let's move it!"

As the door opened, the massive thunderclap of what had to be Eva-scale weaponry made the walls of the rocket vibrate, a concerned shout echoing through the space as their group began to file out, the security detail first, the technicians slowly following after.

Finally, Misato and Ritsuko began to unstrap themselves, falling onto the platform and crawling over to the ladders that were, in their eyes, above and below them. As they descended, they heard another boom, then another.

As they emerged from the module, they stepped out to a view of the starboard side of the ship. From here, standing on the vessel felt like standing on an island, the gaps in the construction of what would be the habitable portion of the ship, having come along since they started putting their plan into motion, still feeling massive.

Suddenly, one of the construction drones whizzed past, drawing Misato, and everyone else's attention, past the small grove of Nekozame modules to the right. In the distance, off the starboard quarter, a now-familiar part of Misato's mind said, Unit-08 handled the Pallet Rifle that Unit-02 had been equipped with, standing back to back with the crimson Eva as they took on a swarm of the construction drones, the Mark-like attackers swooping in with crane arms and cutting tools to try and breach their defenses.

"They're a little feistier than I thought." Toph mused as she glanced over at the other teams starting to make their way in.

"No AT Fields though." Ritsuko replied. "Or at least not strong enough to matter. Let's let them do their jobs. We have our own to get to."

Misato nodded as they began to make their way towards the now open hatch, a hand reflexively going to the body armor she, and everyone else, was wearing. "Alright. No sense in standing around. The quicker we can do our job, the quicker they can do theirs."

With that, she paused at the lip of the hatch, hearing the chatter of gunfire as the breaching team battled with automated turrets in the hallways immediately under them.

There were long moments, the sounds of the battle inside mingling with the far larger battle outside, before one of the security team members, a bandage around his arm, came into view and looked up at them. "This hallway up until the bend is clear, ma'am." he said to Misato as he saluted as best he could. "You're clear to enter."

Misato went first down the ladder, the others following close behind as Beifong coordinated the other security teams, asking for status updates as they advanced slowly into the dark, slightly smoky hallway, deep red emergency lights casting an ominous light on the scene.

"Alright." Misato said as she turned to Ritsuko, who adjusted a bag that held her tablet and other necessary devices for digital work. "Where's that maintenance hatch we'll be following?"

Ritsuko was silent for a moment as she tapped at her smartphone. Then, she looked back up. "10 meters ahead, just before the bend."

Misato nodded. "Alright. Let's get moving."

. . .

Asuka grit her teeth as a drone with a crane hook flew past, the hook snagging the barrel of the sniper rifle she wielded and pulling her aim wildly off course, her shot missing the incoming drone she meant to hit by what felt like miles.

"Damn you." she growled as she pulled on the gun, the drone snapping to a stop as it and Unit-02 engaged in a tug of war, Asuka continuing to shoot at whatever targets were unlucky enough to fly in front of her.

"You aren't going to win!" she shouted as she pulled, the drone giving way at last as she slammed it into the ground, chunks of core material and rubble flying into the air as she aimed the sniper rifle and fired again and again at the drone.

"Temper, temper, mon capitan!" Mari chuckled as she let loose a burst of rounds, almost clearing the way towards the underside of the ship, where a clearly marked path was laid out. "We're almost there!"

"We've been almost there for 10 minutes, Specs!" Asuka retorted as she swung the rifle around to fire over Mari's head, a drone that was bearing down on her as she left herself open exploding above her. "Now's your chance. Get in there and make this thing fly somehow!"

"Will do, love!" Mari replied as she turned and tossed the Pallet Rifle to Asuka. "Keep them busy and hop on when you get the chance!"

With that, she turned and ran towards the ship, Asuka deftly catching the rifle as she stowed away the sniper rifle. "I guess I have no choice, do I?" she muttered as she looked up at the massive, broad wing that she was next to.

Looking around and finding herself free of enemies for the moment, she stowed the Pallet Rifle away as well, preparing to make an AT Field assisted jump onto the wing. As she did, she contacted Captain Katsuragi. "Captain, how long until this thing is in the air?"

"We're about 5 minutes away from the bridge of the ship." Katsuragi replied. "After that…" a pause, words just out of hearing as she covered the microphone. "Ritsuko estimates about 15 or 20 minutes to launch."

"Alright." Asuka said, leaping into the air and making a tight, graceful arc that landed her on the wing. "I guess I'll have to hold off whatever comes our way until then."

"Good luck, Asuka."

She blinked as Katsuragi's panel on her screen disappeared. "Been a while since you've said that." Asuka said quietly as she took the sniper rifle out again. She didn't have much left, and separated from the fleet as they were, she wouldn't be getting any refills any time soon. Based on what little she saw of how heavily Mari had laid into the trigger, the Pallet Rifle wouldn't be much better.

After a moment's consideration, she stowed the sniper rifle back away, and the shoulder pylons deployed the Progessive Knives stored within.

'They all need to get close to me to hit me anyway.' Asuka thought with grim amusement as she scanned for any drones, or even any incoming Marks, that might need to be stopped. 'I'm only making it fair for them, really.'

She scanned the horizon, picking up a cluster of dark dots coming towards them from the south. 'Ah. The Mark.04As have finally arrived.'

A hungry grin began to grow on her face. 'Now the fun really begins.'

. . .

Misato held her breath as one of the security team members, decked out in a full suit of combat armor, opened the door that led into the entryway to the bridge. The man peaked out looking to one side, then another. He was silent for a moment.

Then, he leaned back in and looked at them. "All clear." he said, a quiet gust of sighs following his words. "No indications of any pop-up turrets in the corridor ahead, and only one door."

"It'll likely need to be hacked." Ritsuko said, adjusting her bag as she prepared to pull out her tablet again. "I'm ready whenever you all are."

"Alright. Moving out." The man stepped out into the corridor, sweeping the approach behind them regardless as they all stepped into the corridor, Ritsuko pulling open a port on the side and plugging in a connector that she hooked up to her tablet, her brow furrowing as she got to work.

As Ritsuko plied the digital domain to get the door open, Misato reached for the radio on her chest. "Alright, status report, all teams." she said, the radio clicking.

"This is Tennison with Engine Team. We've reached the engine room. We're looking at Unit-08 in position, and proceeding to hook it up now. Over."

"Ibuki, Data Team. We've started entry into the Achiral system, and are getting ready to move and secure the Ark system. Progress is slow, but we should be coming up on the levels that control the automated defenses."

"Good." Misato said, nodding slightly. "How are casualties among the groups?"

"Engine Team shows… 3 security KIA, 6 engineering KIA, 15 total wounded. Over."

"Data Team has 7 security KIA, 11 technicians KIA. 20 total wounded. The Achiral system was more heavily defended than we expected. Over."

The words Maya said made Misato's heart begin to pound. "Any status on First Lieutenant Hyuga?" she asked, trying to keep the worry from her voice as much as possible.

It was silent on the other end of the line for moments that stretched into a minute, the tension in Misato's chest building as the others in her group, even Ritsuko, paused and looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"Maya, answer me." Misato said, a hard edge creeping into her voice.

"He's been wounded. Badly." Maya finally said slowly. "He took a burst of rounds into his lower back and close to his neck. It's a miracle that he isn't dead yet."

Misato's eyes widened as a quiet gasp went up among their group, the smallest of all of them, and she looked over at Ritsuko and Aoba, the only other two people that truly knew Makoto, while she desperately tried to hold back tears.

"He's being treated by Aanderson and Suzuhara now." Maya continued. "They'll make sure he doesn't die."

A quiet sigh, this one of relief, rippled through the group, even if Misato's anxiety was only slightly lessened. Aanderson had gained a reputation as a miracle worker, able to bring people back to health from seemingly the most grievous of injuries. And with the young Suzuhara under her wing, they would make sure that what Maya said was true.

"We're almost through the door." Ritsuko said quietly. "If there's any way to easily shut down the defenses, it'll be through here."

Misato repeated what Ritsuko said to Maya. "Make sure he gets to the medical bay when we give the okay. Have everyone wounded report there."

"Will do. Ibuki out." With that, the radio clicked off, and the door before them all slid open with a quiet hiss as Ritsuko disconnected her tablet from the system.

They wasted no time making their way onto the bridge, a wide spherical space with windows to the outside. A series of stairs and walkways led to the main bridge and consoles, seven platforms for the consoles perched at the end of seven arms branching away from the central bridge.

Up the stairs Misato, Ritsuko, Shigeru, and Hideki went, Koji, Midori, and Sumire taking or clambering into a seat at the primary engineering, sensors, and helm consoles respectively as the security personnel made their way out of the bridge to link up with the other teams.

On the now rather crowded central bridge, Ritsuko accessed the console to one side, and the arms that were out of reach began to draw themselves towards the bridge. As Hideki and Shigeru clambered into their seats, one more console, the tactical control center, remained empty. Makoto was supposed to take that seat once they had gotten this thing outfitted and…

'No.' Misato nearly shook the thought out of her head physically. 'He'll live. He has to.'

It was getting harder and harder not to slip into that void she'd been running from, growing larger and larger. She was near the edge now. Very near. But it needed to wait. They needed to live before she could worry about him.

"Time to take off?" she said, settling into an atmosphere of familiar command.

"Engineering is estimating…" Koji said. "3 minutes until the S2​ Engines are online."

"Achiral system is fully functional." Ritsuko said by her side. "Systems coming online."

"Captain!" Midori said, looking back from a console already seemingly covered in sticky notes. "We have a squad of a dozen Mark.04As on the radar! Time to contact, 45 seconds!"

"Asuka will be on top of them." Misato said, a surety in her voice that was bolstered by rising confidence. This was working. For a moment, it almost felt like 13 years ago again. "Contact Asuka."

Ritsuko typed on the console behind her as they all felt a subtle but powerful whir in the deck plating all around them. After a moment, a screen popped up, showing Asuka's face in the heat of combat as she ducked and dodged the Marks that swooped around and at her, the pink of Progressive Knives flashing in and out of frame.

"Asuka!" Misato said. "We'll be lifting off soon. Keep your balance and keep these things busy while we do so."

"Got it." was Asuka's only reply as they felt a distant explosion, then another.

. . .

On the hull itself, Asuka engaged in a deadly dance with the swarm of Marks that seemed poised to overwhelm her defenses. These were hardly a threat with her AT Field, though, as she swept through them, one after another going up in a brilliant explosion.

As she fought, she thought about what Captain Katsuragi said. "Soon?" she muttered. "What is 'soon'?"

What soon was didn't really matter right now, as she jammed a knife into a passing Mark, sliding a little ways before stopping it and jamming the knife into one of its cores. Right now, she could simply revel in the fight, bask in the unity of herself and her Eva, the unity of her darker part as instinct mingled with strategy, then slowly began to supersede it.

It felt… right and wrong, all at once, and… frankly, Asuka was beginning to care less and less. So what, if she wasn't a Lilin anymore? She would still be an Eva pilot. She would still be the best Eva pilot. There wasn't anyone else but her that could do this. A fact that they reveled in.

Time passed without measure before Asuka felt a wave of energy, utterly cold and blisteringly hot all at once, pass through her in an instant, jolting her back to her senses in time to watch a massive, brilliant halo spread out from the bottom of the ship.

She blinked and looked around her, realizing that all of the Marks were in pieces now, scattered the length of the wing. One of her Progressive Knives was a ways away, buried in the wing. She must have used it to stop herself from being dragged off the wing by one or more of the Marks.

As she went to go pick it up, noting the hexagons that came into view and disappeared alongside the strings of light that seemed to lift the ship up into the air, she saw that the cut she had made in the wing… bled. Pulling the knife out, she recalled a vague memory of the ship… moaning. In pain? Was this thing alive?

Asuka shook her head. It was working. Somehow. She wondered after a moment how Mari was doing as she keyed up Captain Katsuragi (what a fitting rank now) to find a way inside.

. . .

Mari Makinami was riding a thunderstorm within Unit-08 as she controlled the Buße as best she could.

It was like trying to lift a bloody star, even with the massive AT Field at her disposal. The S2​ Engines were there, tantalizingly out of reach. She just needed to… get to them…

She could feel herself beginning to slip, the AT Field growing just slightly weaker. Those that were outside might not notice it, but she could. And if she let it get much further, they would tumble to the Earth again. Helpless.

She couldn't afford that. Focusing with all the willpower she could muster, finally, she connected to the S2​ Engines.

The strain lessened, but now it only felt like lifting a cruise ship with her bare hands. 'Bloody hell…' she thought with no small amount of wonder. 'Whoever they were gonna get for this must be better than the both of us, if they can keep this up for long!'

She focused again, reaching out to the S2​ Engines. 'Maybe focusing like I did will make it easier. For me and the rest of the ship.'

She continued to reach, coming to a barrier, felt more than seen. 'Come on…'

A moment's struggle. Then a budge. Then another.

Finally, she broke through the barrier, feeling the S2​ begin to give way one after the other. And in the heart of the star that her Evangelion had become, Mari Makinami Illustrious remembered.

- - -

The Atlantic Ocean, 2 Days Later

Misato stood in the medical bay, her vacant eyes scanning around the large room. The injured had been mostly taken care of now, filing off to join the rest of the nascent crew aboard the ship. Now, the room was only filled with the covered bodies of the dead, draped in sheets of white as they waited to link back up with the fleet.

That would be soon. Less than a few days, she thought, as her gaze settled back on the only person who wasn't covered. The only one who could still be considered alive in any great capacity.

Makoto's heart monitor beeped steadily, his eyes closed and his glasses, cleaned up even as a lens was cracked, by his side on the end table. He looked… utterly at peace, she thought, as she began to finally slip into that void which she had begun to dread.

She heard the door open, didn't look to see who had entered, then slowed to a stop beside her.

It was silent again for a moment. Then, a quiet sigh. "Misato, he'll live." Ritsuko said quietly.

"Is this living?" Misato asked, a toneless voice barely above a whisper. "Really?"

It was silent again. "He's stable, at least." Ritsuko began again. "Aanderson and Suzuhara managed to extract all the bullets from his body. Now, it's just a matter of getting him back on his feet again."

"Getting him on his feet." Misato nearly felt the strength to scoff. "As if it was easy to get him out of a medically induced coma."

"Perhaps it might be."

Misato finally tore her gaze away from Makoto, looking over at Ritsuko as a glimmer of confusion broke through the void in her eyes. "How?"

"There's a hypothetical treatment that uses specifically stimulated LCL to help speed up the healing process that I was working on while we were both at NERV." Ritsuko began. "It hadn't gotten much further than the testing phase before everything went to hell. We were even planning to see if we could treat Asuka after the 9th Angel."

'It… it could work.' Misato dared to hope as she continued to spiral into the void. "How long do you think it will take?" she asked.

Ritsuko shook her head as she thought for a moment. "A few months, at least, to be sure the treatment is working."

Misato nodded. 'That long.'

Too long to stop her fall. She nodded regardless. "Alright. Get ready to start the treatment."

She walked past Ritsuko. "I'll be in my quarters."

. . .

She finally reached the room that she had designated hers, down in the depths of the ship. The one that the plans listed as 'Captain's Quarters'. As the doors shut behind her, she slowly walked over to her bed, taking a seat on it and burying her head in her hands as she desperately tried not to cry.

What was the point of it? Everyone she had cared for, everyone she had ever loved, was dead, dying, or so distant they couldn't possibly help her. Or even want her, anymore. 'Am I cursed? Or am I just a fool?' she wondered.

She didn't know, didn't care, how long she pondered the questions, how many people came to mind that were just… gone now. Seemingly never to return as they once were. She was alone, now, she realized. Truly alone. Things wouldn't be the same after Makoto emerged from his treatment. If he did so at all.

It was a terrifying void she found herself spinning into the depths of. She could not escape it now. For a moment, she felt she never could.

'I need to let go.' she finally realized. 'I just need to focus on stopping NERV. Destroying the Evangelions. Then… maybe I can finally love again.'

The die was cast. And slowly, she felt herself… emptying. Almost without willing it, as she took one deep breath, then another. She looked up and scanned the room.

Then, she blinked as her eyes fell, at least for the first time she noticed, on the dedication plaque of the ship she had commandeered. She stood from her bed, walked over to it slowly, and paused in front of it as she read it, her German slowly returning to her.

NHS Buße
Keel Laid 21st January 2026
In the Service of Special Agency NERV
Lead Ship of the Heaven's Key-Class​

Misato regarded the name for a moment. She had said they would need a new name for the ship, hadn't she?

'What do I call the miracle you gave us, Ryoji?' she asked herself, pondering for a moment.

Then, it dawned on her. A miracle. That's exactly what this ship was. She looked around the room, walking over to a table and grabbing a set of markers that she used for drawing on paper maps. Taking the bright blue one, she walked back over to the plaque and struck through the name of the ship, writing over it AAA Wunder. Below it, she struck out NERV's name, replacing it with WILLE's.

And that, she mused, was that.

- - -

3 Months Later

Ritsuko sat across from her captain in the new meeting room that they had made, and wondered what had happened to Misato Katsuragi.

She had changed since Makoto's brush with death and had not changed again once he'd returned to duty only weeks ago. She had gained a focus and a distance from everyone that reminded her eerily, almost frighteningly, of Commander Ikari. She wasn't sure how she felt about it, or about the token explanation of 'focusing on my duties' she had been given in the days after.

She shook her head slightly, preparing to move on to the next, perhaps most important, part of their meeting.

"So, Captain." she said, drawing the attention of the rest of the table, that being Tennison, Beifong, Aanderson, and Misato to her. "Now that we've extracted Unit-08 from being the ship's Master Eva, what are we going to do now? We need to have one if we're to fully access the power this ship has for us."

"And, for now," Misato replied, "we need all the Evangelions we can get if we're to complete our mission and restore the world. We can't afford to put either of them back in."

"I don't believe either of our Evas have the sufficient power or synch score needed to keep us in the air for long, either." Tennison interjected. "This vessel simply… wasn't built for either of them. And that doesn't even begin to touch the S2​ Engines we'll need to replace after Unit-08 burned them out."

"Then what do we do? Kidnap an Eva?" Beifong asked almost incredulously. "It's a miracle we've made it this far without all of NERV's forces falling on us. We couldn't get away with that, even if we knew where one was."

"Maybe we do."

All eyes turned to Misato, who stared up into the ceiling, her gaze seeming to cut through it and look out into the night sky. And the object that hung in it. "I have an Idea." she said quietly.

 

[Vajrei]

What happent to Misato here, I would not be surprised if that happened in canon as well. As for Ymris, I wonder what her choice will be?

 

[StriderInCosmos]

We shall have to see. For now, we bid this world across the Divide adieu. We have far more immediate fish to fry on the prime Echo.

As Stephen Strange once said: We're in the endgame now...

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Chapter 46: Dance Among the Mountains

The flames of what had been called Second Impact have begun to die down, now. The world is ravaged, half the population gone in little less than a decade. But SEELE has survived, and even flourished, as the new Human Instrumentality Committee of the United Nations. Our former research branch, GEHIRN, has been reorganized into the Special Agency NERV, with Gendo Ikari at its head. He has proven himself… dedicated to the cause since his wife's disappearance. It makes him a more pliant tool.

However, translation of the Scrolls has not ceased during the time of the so-called 'Impact Wars'. Besides the hazily mentioned 'Angels', of which it is said there are 13, mentions of another place, beyond the location of the Dead Sea, have been found. Based on further translation since it was first found a year and a half ago, I have narrowed down its location to somewhere within the Himalayan mountain range. Expeditions are being prepared to leave as of only a few days ago.

Yet again, that feeling of something… momentous awaiting me strikes. I wonder what will be found…

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, May 2009

Commander's Office, HERZ-HQ, Geofront, December 17th, 2016

Commander Misato Katsuragi regarded the holotable intently, studiously ignoring the display on her desk, and the war reports that scrolled across its surface. The international conflicts had flickered out, for the most part. Now, the whole world seemed intent on wiping anything that had to do with the UN out of existence, HERZ notwithstanding. Millions more were dead in the two weeks that had come after the breathtakingly devastating attacks, and it was estimated that what was a population of nearly 4 billion would be reduced to 2 should the state of warfare last much longer. Even Mothra and Battra, now massive, brilliant moths, seemed to be busy fighting off the doggedly persistent Gyaos that had come to roost in the out-of-the-way places of the world, taking advantage of the conflicts all around the world.

On the holotable's surface, it showed what was once the small resort town of Malbun, Lichtenstein, wrapped in the mountains of the Rätikon range of the Alps save for an opening to the northwest that acted as a gateway to the rest of the world.

Now, it was known to the world as Unity Base, the central hub of all of the United Nation's military efforts across the world in the aftermath of the Impact Wars. The small town had been expanded into a proper city, holding not only a garrisoning base but a manufacturing plant, housing, schools, underground transportation and shelter, and all the amenities that made it rival only the Geofront and Tokyo-3 in its size and defenses. It was, in no small terms, a fortress set in the stone pocket that towered above it.

After a moment more of silence, Misato looked up at Ryoji intently. "And they're all moving out now?" she asked quietly.

Ryoji nodded, looking around at Ritsuko, Daniel, Maya, Makoto, and Eleanor. "Yep. Based on what I and my dwindling list of contacts know about the various nation's airlift capabilities, it'll take about 3 or 4 days for them all to get into position, and another day to move out and start their operation."

"And who all will be taking part?" Daniel asked quietly.

Ryoji took a deep breath as he gathered his thoughts. "The US, the EU, the AU, Japan, Russia, China, the Middle American States, and Nova Brasilia. Everyone with an Eva thus far."

A chill dread swept through the room, unseen but fully noticed. 16 Evangelions in all, each of them poised to descend on one patch of land.

"Can we convince the Japanese pilots to not take part?" Maya asked after a moment, a note of hope daring to enter her voice and try to dispel the dread.

Ryoji sighed quietly. "I've tried that avenue. The government, brave as it's been, is afraid of being branded as 'UN sympathizers' if they do. Just as afraid of being the next potential target if they bow out."

Eleanor shook her head. "And what about Unity Base itself? What kind of resistance are we looking at seeing put up against these Evas?"

"We had the Sonne moved into orbit several days ago to be ready to assist in information gathering on Ryoji's part and to get a lay of the land for tactical planning." Misato replied. She looked over for a moment at Ryoji. "What are the world's intelligence agencies saying?"

"They're saying that a force of about 10,000 soldiers, vehicles, and aircraft, along with batteries of automated defenses, are waiting for whoever comes. All of the civilians were supposed to have been evacuated one or two weeks ago." Ryoji replied. "Let me guess…" he said sardonically after a moment, the rest of the group wondering for a moment about the non sequitur's purpose.

"We asked the UN to allow a Pneumaic scan to be made of Unity Base." Ritsuko began, typing into her clear-pad as she spoke. As she finished typing, the 3D map of the area was swept over by a bar of prismatic light, tiny dots flashing into existence as it passed over the city base.

"The Valhalla System counts 18,472 individual souls based on that one scan." Ritsuko continued. "The UN representative we talked to said that the usual population, military and civilian combined, comes up to about 35,000."

"What else did he say?" Eleanor asked quietly, the look in her eyes that of one slowly coming to a terrifying conclusion.

"That most of the military forces, except for the two or three divisions garrisoned there, were siphoned off by other ARF commanders for use in several fronts of the wars in Europe and Africa." Ritsuko said quietly.

"Then that means…" Maya said as her eyes widened.

"Those nation's Evas are going to be trampling on almost 15,000 civilians." Misato said, a hard edge to her voice.

"We can't allow that!" Maya said in righteous indignation, a hand to her heart as the thought of what could happen tinged her cheeks green.

"And we won't." Misato replied reassuringly. "We're coordinating with the UN and the vessels above us to get everyone out. It'll be empty by the time they get there, I'm sure."

"Even still," Daniel began, "those pilots will be barrelling down here. Someone is going to need to stop them, or who knows how they'll scatter to the wind. Or even," he continued darkly, "if they would decide picking a fight with each other would be a good idea."

"With AT Fields in the mix, who knows where that fight might spill over into." Misato said, looking intently at Daniel. "They'll need to be contained. And this mountain range is likely the best place to do that."

As Daniel nodded, Eleanor shook her head slightly. "16 Evas versus… however many we decide to put out there, though…"

"And we'll need to hold some back, I feel." Daniel interjected. "This has SEELE's fingerprints all over it. Whatever they may be building up to, I feel like we might see it soon. So…"

He was silent for a moment as he pondered. "I'll take Shinji, Asuka, Rei, Kaworu, Toji and Hikari out with me. If we can't reach the national pilots by way of telecommunications, then they'll certainly be able to talk to us face to face, as it were."

"Do you think they'll be swayed by your arguments?" Ryoji asked seriously.

Daniel shrugged slightly. "I can bet that at least most of the first-wave pilots will be willing to listen to us. The second wave and the national trained ones… that's the big question mark."

"And if they don't listen?" Ritsuko asked archly. "If something happens due to SEELE's interference?"

"Then we have the Lancium weapons." Daniel said levelly as he glanced over at Maya. "From what I've heard, Asuka and Mari have been rather successful at making Lancium." he continued as she smirked slightly. "Even if it does leave them wrung out after a day. And, in their case, with Interfacing being what it is, they'll be able to produce their own weapons, with some effort."

Maya nodded. "He's right. With the Pneumaic formula of Lancium down, we can not only create the material itself, but we've also prototyped modules that can intelligently coat a weapon's striking parts with Lancium." she paused for a moment. "If we're looking to field test this, as sad as it is to say, this might be the place to do it."

Misato nodded slowly, a quiet sigh escaping her lips. "Alright, then. Daniel, go and prep the pilots to deploy in the next day or two once the Sonne and the Cataphract have the teleporter bandwidth and the time to spare. I'll coordinate with Izalith and Rastaff to start getting the people in Unity Base evacuated. Ryoji, keep an ear on things, especially with the JGSDF. Once they lift off, we'll launch the pilots and get them out ahead of the national Evas."

She took one last look at the gathered heads of the divisions before sighing quietly again and standing. "Let's go do what we do best. Let's go save the world."

'From itself, now.' she left unsaid.

- - -

Pilot Briefing Room, 1 Day Later

Daniel leaned on the edge of the holotable, the Children, numbered and Numberless, crowding around it to look down on the landscape that they would be deploying into. And, if it came to it, would be fighting in.

"Alright." Daniel began. "First things first. We have to iron out who's going and who is staying."

As he noted the raised eyebrows among the pilots, his gaze settled on Mari, Mana, and Mayumi. "You three are going to be staying behind for this one, I'm sad to say."

As Mana and Mayumi's brows rose, and Mari began to pout slightly, Daniel raised a hand slightly before he continued. "With SEELE still in the shadows, something like what we're trying to stop has their mark painted on it in awfully bold strokes. If they try something, especially if we're still away, you three are going to make sure we have a home to come back to. After all," Daniel said as he began to smile slightly, "if they try that Evangelion stunt again, you are specially trained to take enemy Evas down. They won't know what hit them."

Slowly, the girls began to nod, Mari tilting her head side to side as she began to smile slightly, and Daniel swept his gaze over the rest of the group. "With that taken care of, I still believe you should all be aware of what we're planning on doing over in Europe."

He typed on a floating keyboard, and seven dots appeared scattered throughout the city. One, most prominently, was situated between the two peaks that acted as the gateway to the city. Three were arrayed in a roughly triangular formation within the city limits, while the last three were lined up on the peaks of the mountains that made up the 'back' of the city.

"Here's how the positioning is going to work out to start." Daniel began as he pointed to the lone dot. "The general consensus is that the national Evas will be trying for an encirclement of the city, climbing the mountains to rain down fire on it. However, there's likely a small force that they'll send directly through the front entrance here. Thus, I'll be deploying there to meet them. My Interfacing should level the playing field if things get dirty."

"Shinji, Asuka, Rei, you'll be deployed in the city proper." Daniel continued, pointing to the long, broad triangle situated in the center of the city. "Most of it is built low to the ground, so trying to take cover behind the abandoned buildings will be useless. Make sure you're either smart with your AT Fields or make your own cover. I'll move back if things get too hairy for me, so be ready for a whole lot of Evas headed your way."

"Toji, Hikari, Kaworu, you three are going to be spread across the Spitz, Chalbergrad, and Sareiserjoch peaks keeping watch for anyone who tries to come up from the backside of the city." Daniel swept a finger across the mountaintops that he mentioned. "They should be pretty obvious against the mountainside, so you shouldn't have a hard time keeping them tied down. Uphill is still uphill, after all, Eva-sized or not."

There was a pause, a tension around the table slowly tightening, seeming to twist at the stomachs of all within its grip. "So…" Hikari finally said quietly. "Are… are we really going to have to fight against them, do you think? I mean…" she didn't have to elaborate on how everyone felt about the possibility of coming to blows with their trainees. Their friends.

"There's certainly a distinct possibility that we'll come to blows, I won't lie." Daniel said with a quiet, weary sigh. "But first we're going to try the diplomatic route. Every Frame Titan has the same communications package. We can get Kensuke, Ritsuko, and Maya to hack through any encryptions that the nations might have put up. Then, we can finally just talk to them, as close to face to face as we can get. I'll take the lead, but if any of you want to speak up, you'll be able to. Even you three." he continued as he nodded to Mari, Mana, and Mayumi.

The kids slowly nodded, and Daniel nodded in turn. "The hope is that they'll listen to reason and we can avoid this mess altogether. But if someone is still itching for a fight, or if the worst really comes to worst, we still have an ace up our sleeves." he continued.

"Lancium weapons, I assume." Asuka interjected, a somewhat weary tone still present in her voice as she said the words and shared a similarly weary glance with Mari.

"Right you are, Asuka." Daniel said. "We'll be field testing the Lancium-plating Disks that Kensuke came up with here. And we'll also have the updated Nu-Pallet line of weapons on hand and ready to teleport to us, seeing as they'll be loaded with Lancium rounds and keep Flux levels down for Interfacing."

The others nodded slowly, and Daniel took a deep breath, smiling slightly. "We've got this, guys. I'm confident that, if nothing else, we can at least make it a fair fight. And if there's anything we know we can win, it's a fair fight." he said with as much surety as he could project.

Asuka smiled slightly. "We have that much, at least." she said wryly.

"We do." Daniel replied. "Now, we'll be moving out…" he glanced up and to the side. "Tomorrow evening. Rest up. Get ready. It's going to be a long day on the other side of the world."

- - -

5 Kilometers Outside of Unity Base, Former Lichtenstein, December 19th

First Lieutenant Marie Vincennes, callsign 'Rocketeer', looked around at the 'advance force' of Evangelions that would be taking the fight to the UN ARF sequestered here in the mountains.

They were a varied crew, composed of the Evas of 3 national blocs. The US Evas were perhaps the most ostentatious among them, their varied color schemes in stark contrast to the mostly camouflage green and grays of the EU and Japanese Evas. Even still, they represented one of the most powerful military presences in the world. Not even a nuclear strike could dent any one of them, even if the Non-Nuclear arsenal hadn't basically replaced it already.

A comm panel flashed into existence, and the severe face of Major-General Iris Lesley, her commanding officer, flickered into sight, regarding her with intense black eyes under similarly black hair and a fair complexion.

"Pilots, I'm Major-General Lesley." she said with little preamble. "I'll be in command of this joint operation. I'm sure you all have been informed of how you will approach Unity Base."

Marie, at least, nodded. "Yes, ma'am." she could not hear the others. She hadn't been able to talk to anyone about the upcoming operation, in person or not. Operational security was the stated reason. But she still had her suspicions.

"Very well. The operation begins now. Move in, draw off and destroy the defending force, and level the base to ensure that the UN remnants don't have a base to fall back to."

Marie nodded, and the 8 Evangelions that would make up the spearhead of the attack moved off from the town of Frastanz, into the valley within which Unity Base lay in wait.

As they walked, Marie pondered on what, exactly, she was about to do. She was about to lay waste to soldiers that, for the most part, had stayed out of the firestorms that had raged within the nations as they fell upon the UN holdouts that were within their borders. There were a few civilians there as well, from what little she could glean, but they were innocent in this.

Mercy argued that the soldiers, to this point, were innocent of the sins of their comrades. But God was a God of justice as well, one who urged that the faithful be ready to defend themselves even as they turned the other cheek. That these soldiers were innocent now did not mean that they would remain so.

'Lord, I pray thee to forgive these soldiers of their sins.' she asked silently. 'I would ask you to do so quickly, as they'll likely be meeting you soon.'

After that, and a silent prayer to Saint Barbara to ensure that her explosive Interfacing would work for its intended purpose, the miles melted away, and they arrived at the small town of Steg. To their left, the gateway into Unity Base, two mountains stretching into the sky, loomed. Ahead of them, another valley stretched out, where Marie knew other national Evas were going to get into position to surround the town.

A small part of her whispered again. 'Surely there were better options than this.'

Were there really, her rational mind answered. With a show of force like this, the UN would surely roll over. Needless deaths could be spared with this sacrifice.

That was the rationale that she settled on as she marched into the valley, taking point on the column of Evas.

But, as they turned the slight bend in the valley, the base was not the only thing to come into view. About half a kilometer away stood an Evangelion, a rifle on its back and its arms crossed as it regarded them. But this… was unlike any Eva she had seen before. It looked as though it was armored in a dark kind of star opal, flecks of what looked like starlight suspended in the black, some places shaded by brilliant colors that reminded her of nebulae.

Most striking was its head, crested by broad, flat horns that flared out like dragonfly wings, their points hooking up and away slightly making them almost like antlers.

The Evangelions on her side began to spread out as best they could, but the valley made a natural corridor within which to herd them into. Whoever piloted that Eva seemed to know that quite well.

She seemed to be the first to act, switching on her Evangelion's loudspeakers. "Unidentified Evangelion. State your business." she said as authoritatively as she could, even though she could guess at who its allegiances lay with.

There was a moment of silence, then a multitude of comm screens flared into existence, several split screens showing her fellow national pilots with looks of surprise as they could finally see each other face to face. Above them, as Marie had feared, were HERZ's pilots, dressed in their Plugsuits and likely in their Evas as well. At least, most of them were, with three of the girls in casual clothes seemingly somewhere else.

And, in the center of her view, underneath the starry Evangelion, another face appeared. This was Major Theisman, dressed in a Plugsuit that reflected what was clearly his Eva's armor and seated within what could only be the Plug for the Eva before them.

"Pilots." he said levelly. "As I'm sure you're realizing, you're now able to talk to each other. That's what I and the others here at HERZ are here to do. Talk to you."

"And do what?" she heard one of the Japanese pilots, Keita Asari if she remembered correctly, ask incredulously and with no small amount of venom. "Try to convince us to not strike back at the people who murdered so many innocents? Who killed my father?"

"Hardly, Keita." Captain Ikari said, a firmness to his voice that surprised most that knew him only as Captain Ikari. "We're here to stop you from becoming butchers yourselves."

"What?" she heard another pilot say incredulously, a glance at her screen telling her that it was Captain Blanca Palmeiro, operating in what was designated as Bailarina-1. "You assume that several thousands of soldiers firing back at us would be butchery?"

"No." Major Theisman said levelly. "The wholesale slaughter of nearly 20,000 non-combatants, on the other hand, would be."

A shocked gasp rippled through the national pilots, several of them blanching openly. "That's…" one of the Russian pilots said numbly.

"Impossible?" First Lieutenant Ayanami said levelly. "No. It is not. You were told, quite likely, that somewhere within the realm of 10,000 soldiers would be waiting for you here, correct?"

"Yes…" she heard Orien say slowly. "And that they'd only be here for a limited time before most of them were deployed elsewhere in Europe and other nearby parts of the world." a pause. "What did you find out?"

"That a Pneumaic scan from a spaceship doesn't lie, my friend." First Lieutenant Makinami chimed in from… wherever she was. "Come on." she said almost scornfully. "At least when me and mine were on our way to basically kill everyone, we had the excuse of being brainwashed by having parts of our souls hacked off. I don't think you all can get away with that. And I know you all should be smarter than this."

"This is the last thing we want you to do." Asuka finally said, seeming to look directly at her. "We don't want to fight you. You don't want to commit war crimes, I'm sure. Please. Stand down."

There was a tense moment as eyes, including her own, darted between the screens, looks of hesitation evident on more than one face.

Who would break first, she wondered. Who would follow them away from the mission at hand? She would be ordered to eliminate them. Her and the rest of the American pilots, she had been told. But… what if they were right?

The person who broke first surprised her somewhat. "Alright, then." she heard Orien say with a sigh. "I can trust that you wouldn't lie to us just to get us to stand down."

"We may have evacuated the city as a precaution, but we would never lie to you." Major Theisman said, firmly yet still tenderly. "The last thing I want to do is fight any of you."

Orien nodded. "Alright. I'm standing down, then."

"And I am as well." Captain Etxebarria said. "I don't want that blood, or yours, on my conscience."

"I'm standing down as well." First Lieutenant Strasberg said firmly. "I'm not going to be manipulated."

"I would think not." Major Theisman said, no small amount of relief in his voice. "After all, these people would not have been your enemy. SEELE would be. SEELE still is, and this is exactly the sort of situation that they'd want the world in. At each other's throats, in utter chaos and disarray."

Again there was silence. People were weighing their options now. The silence was broken briefly by a simple "Lion's Fang, standing down." but then returned.

All the while, Marie waited for the order she knew was coming. And, true to her expectations, Major-General Lesley's face appeared.

"Pilots, while eliminating those who have abandoned the operation will come, the HERZ Evangelions have been designated as enemy combatants. Engage and destroy them." she said calmly.

"And who, exactly, are those orders for, madam?"

Marie's eyes, along with Lesley and everyone else's, widened at Major Theisman's interjection. "Because those orders could apply to anyone, couldn't they?" his eyes narrowed. "Do your loyalties lie only to your nation, I wonder?"

Lesley was silent, glaring daggers at who she was sure was Major Theisman. Then, her image disappeared.

Major Theisman shook his head. "You can't even trust your commanding officer." he said quietly.

"Look," he continued, his Eva standing aside for a moment to open up a view of Unity Base, "we can go in here, and we can all shut down our Evas and talk this out face to face. What about the rest of you? Are you all willing to stand down with your friends?"

"One last thing, though." Marie heard Howard say quietly, Neptune slowly looking over at one of the EU Evas. "Who got those orders? Because I wasn't told that this option was supposed to be that kind of secure."

Marie felt a thunderbolt of shock arc up her spine as the EU Eva he was looking at looked back, its pilot, Falkenrath if she recalled, meeting Howard's blue eyes with his hard green ones. "Neither was I." Falkenrath said, a hard edge to his voice. "Unless you're insinuating something."

"You know what? Yeah, maybe I am." Howard replied over the murmur of other voices as his Eva turned to face the EU Evas, the grip on his Pallet Rifle changing ever so slightly. "How do we know you weren't supposed to keep that sort of thing a secret yourself?"

"We can find that out if you all stand down." Major Theisman said forcefully, the murmuring pausing for a moment. "There's no sense in beating each other to death over suspicions."

"Maybe." Howard replied, his Pallet Rifle slowly rising. "But I don't want to risk being shot in the back. We take care of this now, or I don't think we'll be able to at all."

As he finished speaking, his Pallet Rifle was level with Falkenrath's chest, and silence fell over the comm panels again. "After all, that call could have been for any of us that they felt confident could take a deserter down. Could have been for the Japanese pilots. Could have been the Russian or Chinese pilots. Or…" he paused dramatically as the barrel of his Pallet Rifle drifted towards Etxebarria's Eva. "It could have been one of you before you lost the nerve."

Marie turned her Eva to face Howard's, watching as Asari raised his own rifle towards Howard, the EU Evas stepping back as they raised their rifles in turn. "You'd better put that down." he said as his Eva took an almost ominous step forward.

"Or what?" Howard replied, his breathing beginning to grow quick. "The only way I'm going to consider standing down is if you guys turn back into Plugs."

"And risk you being the one who's going to obliterate a Plug when they do?" Asari asked almost incredulously. "I don't think so."

Howard turned his rifle to Asari, the other two Japanese pilots raising their rifles. "Maybe it was you she gave the orders to." he said, his voice quivering for the slightest of moments. "Maybe this was how it was supposed to be. No actual base, but everyone's ready to kill each other."

"Hansen, stand down." Orien said with a heavy sigh as Thunderhead stepped toward Neptune, putting a hand on the top of its rifle. "This isn't helping anyone."

Neptune jerked the weapon away. "No, sir." Howard nearly growled. "I'm not going to be another casualty."

Before Marie could speak up, she saw the dark, starry Eva glide past her without a sound, looking over with wide eyes as its feet touched the ground, and Major Theisman put a hand on Neptune's shoulder, turning Howard to face him.

"Son," he said softly, an undeniably firm tone to his voice, "listen to your commanding officer. You're not going to win this fight if you start it."

"Maybe not." Howard said quietly after a moment, his rifle lowering slowly. Then, Marie saw the flash in his eyes, and out of the corner of her vision, the retractable bayonet that was now the standard on American Eva rifles flashed out, its Progressive element whining to life as he jabbed up.

In an instant, the valley widened, and Marie, and the other Evas, flew away from Howard and Major Theisman without moving. As they did, Major Theisman's Eva moved back as well, avoiding the stab of the bayonet as something that glinted in the sunlight sprang into being in his Eva's hand.

He slashed at the rifle, cutting cleanly through the top third of it as the thing resolved into a massive crystalline spear with a sword-like blade, Major Theisman stepping back as he fell into a guard position, blade aimed squarely at Neptune's neck.

Orien shouted at Howard to stand down, but the call went unheeded as Neptune threw aside the rest of the rifle and charged, arms out and AT Field unfurling to try and defend himself from further attacks.

In response, Major Theisman backpedaled, a hand reaching for something that was attached to his Eva's hip. Whatever it was, it was small enough that she didn't see more than a flash of a small, disk-like object that he secured to the base of his blade. Continuing to backpedal, Major Theisman deflected the wild swings aimed at him easily with the haft of his weapon, the blade's edge becoming coated with a dark, off-blue metal of some sort.

As the blade became fully coated, Major Theisman shoved Howard away, Neptune stumbling back as he leveled his weapon once again. Then, he stepped forward, swinging the butt of his weapon at Neptune's left side.

Like clockwork, the strike slammed into a prismatic AT Field that stood like a wall between the two Evas. As the strike bounced off, Howard reached for a Progressive Knife sheathed at his hip.

The blade had barely been barred before Major Theisman swung with the blade, aiming low to hit Neptune's torso. And Marie's eyes went wide as the blade passed through the AT Field like it wasn't even there.

Howard's shout of surprise became a scream of pain as Major Theisman bisected Neptune, slicing through its body and the wrist of the hand holding the Progressive Knife in a massive spray of scarlet LCL. The top half of his Eva's body fell backward, the legs buckling as they fell forward.

Major Theisman sighed quietly as the sword blade at the end of his weapon lost its metal edge, then disappeared. As the Eva he piloted stepped forward, Marie's eyes widened as she watched two stars flare to life flanking the top of the shaft, coronal ejections binding them together into a hammerhead.

Howard, for his part, grabbed for the nearby Prog Knife with his left hand, getting a grip on it just as a cuff of crystal clamped down on Neptune's left wrist, dragging it to the side and pinning it to the ground.

"Now, I'm not going to destroy your Plug, Mr. Hansen." Major Theisman said, a cold, hard edge to his voice that made her shiver slightly. "I'm not here to kill you. But right now, you need to stay down. Which means you'll have to say goodbye to your core for the moment."

He came to a stop in front of the prone upper half of Neptune, swinging the hammer behind his back and over his head. After only a second's pause, the head of the hammer came up and over, tracing a line of fire like a comet's as it struck Neptune square in the center of its chest.

The crack that echoed through the valley silenced everyone as Neptune fell limp, Howard's pained breaths slowing as his synchronization to the Eva was cut off.

The hammer disappeared, and the valley began to shrink again as Major Theisman looked around himself. "Alright. I'm done asking nicely. You all are going to stand down, deactivate your Evas, and prepare to be transported to the Geofront now."

Marie blinked as a moment of silence passed, and she realized that her synchronization to her Eva was washing in and out, the sensation of feeling connected to the Eva, then not, almost nauseating.

Then, as her synchronization returned, the comm panels all blinked out of existence at once, and the last message that accompanied her view of the outside world, along with the sight of her gun raising without her willing it to, was the words 'Nu-Dummy System v2 Boot Phase 1 Complete. Phase 2 Beginning'.

'Oh.' was her last legible thought she would remember as her head became locked to her headrest. 'So that's the mission-specific hardware they were installing before the operation.'

. . .

Daniel's eyes narrowed as the Evas seemingly began to shut down, their screens going dark as their Eva's eyes did much the same. 'That's odd. They don't need to cut comms to start shutting down. Unless…'

Daniel steeled himself as the eyes flashed a familiar, baleful orange, 7 rifles swinging up to aim at him. His AT Field, though a solid enough defense from the rounds that slammed into it at first, quickly began to falter as 7 Evangelion's AT Fields sought to smother his own, Unit-00 taking one step back, then another.

"They seem to have been taken over by Dummy Systems!" Daniel said to the other HERZ pilots. "Try and restrain them, break their cores!"

As the others acknowledged him and began to go to work, Daniel considered simply bending the space around him to deflect the rounds coming at him in order to spare his AT Field for other work. But the display against what he believed was callsign Neptune had shoved a lot of Flux into the Eva, and thus, into him. If he tried something like that again, he didn't know how long he'd stay in this fight.

So, as a round finally pierced through his defenses, striking him in the shoulder, he threw up a wall of hazy, quartz-like crystal, the top reaching head and shoulders above his height as he turned and ran towards Unity Base.

"Asuka! I'm leading 7 rather angry Evas towards you guys." Daniel said to her comm panel, seeing Unit-02 behind two walls of dull metal, Unit-01 and Unit-05 hunkered behind it as well as they took fire from the mountaintops from both the left and right, firing back with their Nu-Pallet Rifles. "If Shinji and Rei can manage it, I'd appreciate some help."

Asuka scoffed as Unit-02 prepared to dash out from behind its cover. "They may have them two to one, but they can take them on. Right, Shinji?"

"We'll do our best. Go help Daniel." Shinji replied as resolutely as he could, and Asuka nodded as Daniel heard the wall he'd erected shatter from a rather spectacular explosion.

"Good luck, liebling. Now, cover me!" she said with a slight smile as she dashed out from her cover, Unit-01 and Unit-05 popping out to pepper the mountains with Lancium-tipped rounds as she dashed through the wide, empty streets of Unity Base.

Daniel spun Unit-00 around to face the incoming national Evas, its right arm coming up as a rectangular constellation of dozens of stars sprang to life around it and his body, thin, but brilliant lines flashing out from one star towards the others as they caught the rounds thrown at him, Asuka sliding to a stop behind him.

"Alright." Asuka said. "What's the game plan?"

"Who is the most dangerous pilot out of everyone in that group?" Daniel asked, a part of the shield becoming clear to allow Asuka to peer through.

"Probably Marie." Asuka said nearly instantly. "She has Interfacing, and…" she sighed quietly as she shook her head, a rueful smile appearing. "She's just like me. She wants to be the best. If these Dummy Systems work the way I remember Mari telling me they do…" she trailed off.

"Then draw her off as best you can." Daniel said. "If you can get her away from the others, I can handle the other six fairly easily."

Asuka nodded. "Alright. I'll get her away from you. What were you thinking of doing against all those guns?"

Daniel raised Unit-00's left arm as its hand became a fist, crystal that glowed with an inner light growing over it. "Taking away the range advantage." he said simply.

Asuka chuckled as her smile became a hungry grin. "Oh, I've always liked the way you think, Bruder. Ready?"

"Whenever you are." Daniel replied with a sure smile of his own.

It was a tense moment of silence between them. "Go!" Asuka finally shouted, dashing to the left and making a beeline towards Marie's Rocketeer, Daniel charging forward with the shield to keep their attention.

Like a charm, Asuka's drive towards Marie's Eva drew its attention to her, Unit-02 batting Rocketeer's rifle aside as it delivered a solid blow on the Evas chest. As Rocketeer tried to step back and aim again, Asuka grabbed the rifle and delivered a punishing series of precise blows to its wrist, throwing the rifle aside as the Eva finally let go of the gun.

But Daniel had other things to focus on, as the shield dropped and he got into the middle of the group, three Japanese Evas, two EU Evas, and one American Eva surrounding Unit-00.

Daniel wasted no time, his senses and reflexes shooting towards the Third Peak as he pushed Unit-00 in kind, slapping the Lancium-plating disk on his Unit's left arm as another gauntlet formed around his right. As the plating process began, Daniel grabbed at what he recognized as Arantxa's rifle, pulling it towards, then past him as he brought an elbow down on one of the arms that held it in place.

It snapped, the thunderous crack preceding the weapon slipping out of one hand, then the other, only by seconds.

Finally, after what felt like minutes, he heard the crack of a rifle firing from behind him. An AT Field stopped the round, but barely.

He turned to try and bat Thunderhead's rifle away, blinking as a pair of familiar hooked blades, composed of glinting topaz, flashed out to trip Thunderhead and send it tumbling onto its back for a moment.

"Getting yourself into the thick of things again, I see." the resonant voice of Nynrya echoed in Daniel's mind. "How often do you forget I'm here to help?"

"More than I care to admit." Daniel replied as he kicked away Thunderhead's rifle, blocking a series of strikes from EuroEva-Alpha as he lunged for the rifle of Evangelion A-1. "Thanks for having my back."

"I am obliged to repay you for doing the same for all of us. Regardless of the outcome." Nynrya replied as Daniel simply bent the barrel of the rifle A-1 held to uselessness, smacking away A-2's rifle to strike at A-3. "You would know that if you tried to get to know me after all this time."

"After we get you a body and I fulfill the rest of my promise, I swear we'll talk. Right now," Daniel said as he twisted the rifle out of A-3's hands with an almost unreal strength, "let's focus on getting these kids to safety. Strike at the center of their chests if you can. Not too deep, but deep enough to hear a hollow crack. They will be subdued then."

Sure enough, such a sound he heard from behind him. "The prone one is down. But after this battle, we will talk. We have put this off for long enough." Nynrya said in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Fair enough." Daniel replied as he delivered blow after blow to the center of A-3's chest, caving it in and shattering its core.

It was quiet again as Daniel focused on bearing down on the remaining four Evas, most of them switching to knives that were sheathed at their hips. Keita's A-2 pulled a Progressive Sword from its back as EuroEva-Beta tried to step back and clear some space to fire its rifle.

"Their presence… grows, somehow." Nynrya said, concern lacing her words. "More succinct, more defined."

Daniel blinked as he too began to feel the AT Fields of his opponents beginning to strengthen in the process of turning to smack down the rifle of EuroEva-Beta. They were starting to get faster, too. Were they cranking up their synch scores to try and get an edge? Did the Dummy System allow them to do that?

They were, Daniel confirmed with no small amount of dread, as his right hook collided with a stronger AT Field than before. "It looks like they're cranking their synch scores to try and get an edge." he said aloud.

"They can do that?" Toji said incredulously.

"Seems like it." Daniel said grimly. "If they keep going much longer, we'll reach a point where sympathetic damage reflection is more than just nicks and bruises. Take them down quickly!"

. . .

Shinji's eyes widened in fear for a moment as he heard Daniel's warning, then became set in resolve. They did need to be terribly quick, or their attacks would do more than just wound the Evas soon. They needed to make sure their friends were safe.

As he peeked out from behind cover, looking up at the mountains that held the Middle American and Nova Brasilia Evas. As he did, he saw the glint of the rifles and the flash of gunfire before he ducked back behind the cover Asuka had made for them. It was made of the same stuff that protected the Geofront, but even that wouldn't last forever.

He looked over at Unit-05, a rather small part of him having to remind himself that it wasn't Unit-00 anymore, and opened a comm panel to Rei. "We need to get them off of the mountains." he began. "Any ideas?"

Rei was silent for a moment before she nodded slightly. "Sharpen your senses and reflexes. The next time you aim out of cover, aim for their rifles."

Shinji nodded, even as his brow quirked in slight confusion. "Can the Evas handle that?"

"As extensions of our soul, it would not surprise me in the slightest." Rei replied with surety. "We'll win whatever close combat we engage in after we take out their guns."

Shinji took a deep breath, nodding slightly as his senses sharpened, the impacts of the rounds seeming to slow. "Ready?" he said after a moment.

Rei simply nodded, and Unit-01, quicker than it ever should have been, turned and aimed its Nu-Pallet Rifle. Its target was ready though, and Shinji saw the flash of escaping gasses as it fired its first round.

As the bullet began to fly at a still not too leisurely clip towards him, Shinji adjusted his aim slightly, and fired his first round, waiting for a few moments before he adjusted again and sent three more rounds after it.

Shinji ducked back into cover waiting for whatever came next. After what felt like minutes, the barrage stopped, and he chanced another peek out from cover.

As he'd hoped, he found Bailarina-1 clutching the shredded shoulder his first round had struck, the rifle that was now tumbling down the mountain towards them so much smoking scrap metal.

Another barrage slammed into the ground just in front of him, and he ducked back into cover to avoid the Brasilian Eva's fire.

Shinji waited for a moment as Floro's Cavaleiro-Verde continued to rain down suppressing fire on his position. He'd established a solid pattern, popping out from the left side to suppress their Evas. Now, it was time to switch things up.

As Unit-01 moved towards the right of the barricade, Shinji saw Rei's face pop up again. "I've destroyed the other AU Eva's rifle." she said levelly. "Mavuto and the other pilot are coming down the mountainside to engage us now."

"And Mavuto still has his shotgun, I assume." Shinji said, tamping down the anxiety that reality gave him. "I'll make this quick, then."

With that, he ducked out of cover, catching his opponent by surprise as he sent two rounds in quick succession into the rifle it held. He watched as it began to turn its head, but it noticed too late to stop the rifle from exploding in its hands.

Shinji watched as it threw the rifle aside, taking a Progressive Glaive from its back as Bailarina-1, against all odds, jumped over the mountain peak it crouched behind and started to slide down the mountain, Cavaleiro-Verde following only a few moments after.

Shinji trained his gun on the stumbling form of Bailarina-1, the brown and yellow Eva making an excellent target as he led his shot, then fired, hoping his sharpshooting was up to snuff.

The shot, much to Shinji's relief, struck true, and he could almost hear the hollow crack of the Eva's core shattering as he watched it crumple into itself and go from sliding down the mountainside to rolling down it.

As Shinji's gaze flicked back to Cavaleiro-Verde, however, his eyes widened as he saw it take an AT Field-powered leap into the air, falling in a graceful arc that would land right on top of them. "Rei! Above us!" he shouted, and Unit-05 looked back to see Cavaleiro-Verde slam into the ground, charging toward them.

Unit-01 and Unit-05 swiftly backed out of the opening between the twin walls, a flaming bident flaring to life in Shinji's open hand as he stowed away the Nu-Pallet Rifle. "I'll keep Floro off you! Get Mavuto and his friend!" he shouted as he deflected a jab from Floro's Eva.

Rei simply nodded as a massive stained glass polearm sprang into existence in Unit-05's hands, swinging in a wide arc to keep the AU Evangelions at a distance. "Go!" she said, her brow furrowed in focus as she deflected a massive slug with a floating shield of glass.

Shinji didn't even nod as he bore down on Floro, batting aside the strikes that came after him as he tried to jab at the core. Floro proved a wily foe, though, as he, or at least the Dummy System that puppeteered him, guided Shinji's blades just enough out of the way, Shinji's efforts earning him nicks and cuts on the deep green Eva.

Shinji winced slightly as a deep gashed was cut into his side, his focus on nullifying Floro's rather strong AT Field wavering for a moment. Was it getting stronger?

It was. And he had to keep up with it. So he overrode the relatively simple system locks put in place, and cranked his score up. 115% later, he smiled slightly as he felt Floro's AT Field begin to give way again, and he pressed the attack, slashing and stabbing as best he could. As he did so, globes of solid sound intermittently battered Floro's Prog Glaive aside, giving Shinji the briefest of shots to try and stab the core.

But always, the core was just out of reach, Shinji's blade finding its mark in a leg, a torso or an arm.

Shinji furrowed his brow a little deeper. 125%, the pain of taking wounds becoming more acute even as his AT Field, and physical capabilities, became greater. And out of the corner of his vision, he saw several Evas tumbling down the mountainside behind Floro as he pressed the attack harder, feeling a deflected blow slice across his cheek in a way that he was sure would start to bruise later.

. . .

Kaworu did not appreciate tumbling down the mountain at a rather concerning 130% synch ratio, his Interfacing mending his bruises as he grappled with Golem-Tundra, trying to wrestle a sable dagger towards the Eva's chest.

It had all started decently enough, with Toji ensnaring Yún Ji, Hua Tsung's Eva, with roots around its wrists and legs, sending it falling forward towards a waiting spike that managed to breach its core.

The other Evas, on the other hand, did not wait to suffer the same fate, forgoing their rifles on their backs and charging up the mountainside to close the distance and grapple with them.

Keeping their balance on the mountain peak was a considerable challenge, and Hikari and Toji rooted themselves to the mountain before he did the same, the Dummy System controlled Evas doing much the same with their AT Fields, which increased in intensity at an alarming rate.

Thus, he'd begun to slowly raise his synch score to compensate, matching Golem-Tundra strength for strength. Then, a surprise blow across the face after reaching 130% felt like a hammer strike to the face, sending his mind reeling, and his Eva tumbling out of his inky restraints and down the mountain, the others following behind as they began to lose focus for a dangerous moment as well.

As they slowed to a stop within Unity Base, Kaworu finally shoved Golem-Tundra off of him, rolling away as its Prog Knife slammed into the ground where he once lay.

Getting somewhat unsteadily to his feet Kaworu shook his head slightly as he felt his opponent's AT Field strengthening again.

'I need to keep him at a distance.' he thought as he progressed to a 140% synch score, the sensations he felt within Unit-06 heightening still further.

The dagger in his hand began to expand, the dark facsimile of the Spear of Cassius soon leveled at his pale opponent. 'Come on…' he thought, waiting for the Evangelion before him to make its move.

It was still for a moment, and Kaworu caught a glance behind Tundra as Hikari sent a wave of light at Chiju Liliang, Hua Tsung's Eva, binding its arms to its sides as Hikari charged at it with a sword of brilliant white light, half-swording it to strike at the core that seemed exposed.

But Unit-03 simply slammed into a defensive AT Field, Chiju Liliang bursting its bands with yet another AT Field as it charged Hikari, drawing a Prog Knife as it slammed into Unit-03 and into the ground. 'Are they really getting that powerful?' Kaworu wondered with no small amount of shock.

Kaworu hesitated but for a moment, and Golem-Tundra charged in that moment. His focus snapping back to his immediate opponent, he stabbed at the Eva, the blade slamming into an AT Field as Kaworu put up one of his own to stop the charge.

As the Tundra crashed into the prismatic barrier, Kaworu reached for the Lancium-plating Disk at his hip slamming it onto the base of his blade as he cranked his score to 150% to try and smother his opponent's AT Field for good measure. Now, he would definitely feel what would come next, as memories of the Final Battle of Tokyo-3 mingled with the present fight.

He charged forward, and the Tundra counter-charged, the pale Eva batting aside the Spear's blade as it slashed gashes into his arms and torso, then stabbed deep into his shoulder with its Prog Knife, a shout of pain tearing from Kaworu's lips as he grappled once more with the Golem.

As his Spear became a far more maneuverable sword, the Golem took his sword arm in a savage grip, jostling it away as Kaworu's own hand flashed up to stop it from pulling out the knife and inflicting further damage.

They stepped back and forth, back and forth, Kaworu's sword swinging in the open air as he honed his reflexes and physical capabilities more and more, his synch score rising automatically to 160 as he slowly, jitteringly, began to bring his sword back towards his new target.

A little more strength, a little higher of a synch score, and Kaworu finally swung the sword through Golem-Tundra's arm, severing it near the elbow as its grip on the knife slipped, the pale Eva letting go and stumbling back as Kaworu stepped back in turn, his sword becoming the Spear again.

He needed to end this, and he needed to end it now. A sufficient display of Interfacing would hopefully give him the moment he needed to strike and shatter the core of the Eva.

Stepping back, he focused, finding Interfacing easy as he prepared to shackle Golem-Tundra in place, dodging and ducking as he spun the necessary Frames together, the nicks and cuts he'd accumulated, along with the deep wound in his shoulder, burning with an intensity that was at once somewhat familiar and unexpected.

The Tundra charged, and Kaworu let his Expression loose, surprised at the rather greater amount of Flux than he expected as Tundra froze in place, its arms wide, its core exposed. 'Now, then.'

Unit-06 dashed forward, the tip of the Spear piercing the armor going just deep enough to hear a hollow crack as Golem-Tundra spasmed slightly, then slumped forward, Kaworu catching the now disabled Eva and setting it down gently. 'I hope I didn't cause too much damage.' he thought, taking note of the small gashes, and the not so small one, hidden underneath the Plugsuit, that matched where his Eva had taken the more serious cuts, and the deep stab, that had slipped through.

Taking deep breaths, he took stock of the situation around him. Toji was handling Golem-Tantsor as best he could, his typical greathammer exchanged for a seemingly simple, yet surprisingly flexible, spear. Hikari, back on her feet as she continued to press on Hua Tsung's Eva, finally breached the core as well, the steel-grey Eva slumping into Hikari's arms.

And, in the distance, Asuka dueled with what he remembered to be Ms. Vincennes' Eva. Even from what little he saw of Vincennes' performance during the final Gauntlet she had run, he knew it would be a terribly close fight, indeed.

. . .

Asuka ducked under a blindingly quick, superheated slash as she backpedaled, taking note of the Prog Knife as it continued to snake towards her, batting it away as best she could if it got too close. Even still the nicks and cuts she received were small, but steady in coming.

She'd accrued more than enough cuts already. Not simply on Unit-02, but on her own body as well. There was definitely still a decent amount of Marie left in there seemingly ramping up its synch score nonstop to try and get an edge on her. Now, she sat at 175%, bumping it up to 180 as she felt the prickling of Marie's...

No. Right now, it was the Rocketeer she was fighting, the Rocketeer's AT Field that she was now almost physically feeling as she dashed forward, a small dagger of pure Lancium manifested in her hand that she jabbed towards the core, brushing away a right hook that was heading towards her face.

The Expression of the Interfacing that Marie had, something to do with air, Asuka believed, still went off on her forearm, and she gritted her teeth as she felt the bones in her arm fracture from the blast. On top of that, Rocketeer still proved wily enough that her attack was deflected away, a swift kick in the ribs sending her stumbling back with the air knocked out of her lungs and what she was sure were a few broken ribs.

Asuka mended them as best she could, saving as much Metos expenditure as she could for this fight. She would need every scrap of Metos she could muster without worrying about Flux Crush if she was going to win this one.

The Rocketeer was on her in a flash, its own Progressive Knife flashing out towards her. On instinct, she slammed her hand into the blade, the tip stabbing through her Eva's palm and sliding out the back of her hand as she grabbed onto the knife.

Asuka gasped in pain, feeling the wound open up on her own left hand underneath the Plugsuit. 'Damn it!' she cursed as the Emergency Nano-Triage package within the suit finally got to work, the pain and burning in her hand disappearing under a blanket of numbness. 'I can't afford that sort of recklessness! But I need to win this…'

She wrestled the knife away from her, Asuka's stab intercepted by the Rocketeer's grip of steel as they pushed against each other, intermittently kicking at each other's shins to try and force one or the other to give way. Asuka stood strong, slowly gaining ground as she took one step forward, then another. Rocketeer's right leg was starting to shake. She hit it with one savage kick, then another, forcing Rocketeer to step back again.

A feral part of Asuka's mind grew excited as the Rocketeer slipped, regaining its footing in an instant, but only barely so. 'Come on… slip up… let me at your core…'

As she pushed more and more, something flew across her field of view, something glowing brilliantly as it broke Asuka's concentration and drew her attention to the right.

Her eyes widened as she took in the fight that was happening a little ways away from her. Daniel was facing off against 4 of the national Evas now, Evangelion A-2's sword buried in his Eva's gut as peeks of the handles of two Progressive Knives buried in his back flashed into view every once in a while.

As they struggled, a pair of hooked blades drove into EuroEva-Alpha's core, sending it tumbling lifelessly to the ground as Daniel took the arm of A-2, holding the blade in place as a hammer blow broke most of the blade off from its handle, leaving the Eva to take a step back with little more than a glorified knife.

Evangelion A-3 came up from behind him, its knife flashing high for a moment before burying itself into Daniel's left shoulder, likely just missing the S2​ Organ. A-2 stepped forward and delivered a cruel slash across Unit-00's face, sheets of crimson LCL beginning to pour down it as it jerked to the side.

Asuka blinked, and in that moment, Rocketeer decided to make its move, body slamming Asuka and sending her tumbling back, the knife blade sliding out of Unit-02's hand and reopening the wound on Asuka's as the Eva hit the ground, Rocketeer dashing towards the other Evas.

Asuka's heart nearly seemed to skip a beat as she saw Rocketeer heading for Daniel. "No you don't!" she growled, spinning up the Frames needed for the Expression she had in mind as quick as she could.

A vambrace of dark, gleaming metal flashed into existence on her left arm as she flung it across her, a length of wire flowing from it like a current as it cut through the air the tip trailing to the left as it swung towards Rocketeer's legs.

It connected, lashing itself around one leg and securing itself with magnetic strength as Asuka pulled, giving a tired, triumphant shout as Rocketeer went face-first into the ground, dirt, dust, and debris billowing up as she caught Unit-00 forcing the rest of A-2's broken blade through the wound it had made, the Eva's flesh sealing up as the blade clattered to the ground behind Daniel.

Asuka got to her feet somewhat slowly, continuing to pull at Rocketeer's leg as she attached the Lancium dagger to her left arm to take the wire she had made with both hands.

She pulled, then pulled again, each step she took making sure that Daniel would be able to do his job without worrying about her. Then, she stifled a sigh of exasperation as she heard an explosive crack and felt the line go slack, Rocketeer getting to its feet again.

"Oh, come on." she growled, lashing the whip back into the air and towards Rocketeer's chest as it took a step forward. She could feel the buzz in the wire as it flew out to the left, then wrapped around Rocketeer's chest and torso, again latching on magnetically.

Asuka set her jaw as she pulled again, but an AT Field around the crimson Eva's legs kept it from falling back. Again, at least for the moment, they were at an impasse.

Asuka sighed quietly as she maintained the wire's integrity against Rocketeer's attempts to cut it with its Prog Knife. 'This isn't bad… but I need to get close.'

So, Asuka took a step forward, the slack in the line drawn magnetically to Rocketeer's body as it continued to struggle. Then she took another step forward. Then another.

As the line went taught again after another step, Asuka's eyes widened as she saw an AT Field spring to life across the half of the wire closest to Rocketeer, the Eva turning and gripping the line with its free hand as it pulled hard.

Before Asuka could stop herself, she felt herself pushed back into her seat as she went flying to the left, Unit-02's feet leaving the ground for just a moment before it slammed into the mountainside, the impact making a crater as rock and dust went into the air.

A flash of light and pain swept Asuka's vision away for a moment as she shook her head, trying to focus again. As she regained her focus, her eyes widened as Rocketeer came to a stop above her, a fist raised and flying towards her left arm.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl without her willing it, and the oncoming fist, hazy with what Asuka assumed was explosive potential, came into sharp focus. Her mind went a million miles an hour, but her next move was made on instinct, as her soul latched to the Lancium dagger and threw it towards the arm that threatened to send her own flying.

The dagger flew unerringly true, slicing through Rocketeer's left forearm just below the elbow and sending the arm, along with a decent amount of crimson LCL, flying towards her face.

A warm, primal relief began to flow through Asuka's body before she saw the blood-chilling sight of the explosive shockwave launch off the arm, heading straight for her arm anyway.

It tore through her forearm, the elbow giving way and sending the ripped-off forearm flying away, Asuka howling in pain as her own arm tried to do the same from within her Plugsuit. She grabbed at her bicep as the pain drowned in the numbness of the Emergency Nano-Triage, and her soul reached out to the metal that made up Rocketeer's armor and pushed.

Rocketeer went flying away through the air, the dull boom of its impact mingling with the thundering of Asuka's heartbeat in her ears. She took a deep breath, then another, then several more for good measure before she lifted Unit-02 to its feet.

It wasn't hard to spot the cloud of debris that marked where Rocketeer had landed, nor was it hard to see said Eva stumbling out of the cloud, its Prog Knife likely having flown away from it.

Asuka looked Rocketeer in its orange eyes, the eyes of a Dummy System, and a spark of anger pulsed to life inside her chest, the hand that wasn't dangling at her side clenching into a fist on the control stick.

"Damn you, SEELE." she whispered, nearly delirious, her voice rising as she continued. "Damn your Dummy System and your schemes that use my friends!"

The anger, alongside a very real, very electric current focused in her right arm, built in intensity. "I'm not going to let you take Marie and throw her away like this!" Asuka shouted as she began to walk, then run forward.

Rocketeer began to run too, its own right arm clenched into a fist. Their AT Fields canceled each other out. Its core was open. 'All I need to do is shatter it.' Asuka thought as her vision tunneled. 'One good lightning strike…'

The two Evas slid to a stop in front of each other, and swung.

"Give her back!" Asuka screamed, Unit-02 howling with her as time slowed, and her fist, arcs of electricity pulsing all across its length, went straight for Rocketeer's core.

They connected, and the world exploded.

The last thing Asuka physically felt was the shockwave from Rocketeer's attack racing past her skin, through her body, and seemingly out the other side as Unit-02 began to fall. Then… there was nothing.

After the pain had passed, Asuka tried to move, trying to even only open her eyes to blink. But nothing happened.

Then, the realization that she was still cognizant and in place took her aback. 'Oh. I guess I'm… dead.'

She would have chuckled grimly if she'd had the lungs for it. But those, along with most of the rest of her internal organs, were likely so much paste from the force of the explosion. 'But I'm not going anywhere just yet.' she thought with no small amount of determination. 'Daniel will know what to do.'

She didn't know how long she focused on holding herself in place. Her sense of the passage of time had gone out the window well before this point anyway. Finally, though, she felt Daniel connect to her.

"Asuka!" he said, his words carrying the shock and fear in him true. "Holy shit! What synch score were you at?"

Asuka thought for a moment. "Um… 184?"

Disbelief thrummed through her link to him. "Good god… we need to get you to Eleanor and the others. Now!"

"Wait!" Asuka said. "Are… are the others okay?"

It was a silent moment as she felt Daniel consider what he knew. "All the national Evas were neutralized. We're all at high enough synch scores that there are plenty of wounds for Medical to treat, but no one's dead. Well…"

"I'm the only one dead. Right?" Asuka's words gained a thread of desperation. "Is Marie okay?"

"We'll get her fixed up. Just like we will you." Daniel promised, projecting as much surety as he could. "As long as neither of your souls flies away, we won't even have to worry about making a new body."

"Oh, good." Asuka said. "I'm going to focus on holding together now, so I'm going to check out. Go make sure the others are okay! We both know how Shinji worries."

"I will. See you on the other side, Jünger."

With that, the link disappeared, and Asuka gave a facsimile of a deep breath as she focused on staying, Pneumaically speaking, right where she was.

 

[Vajrei]

Was this a false flag operation by Seele?

 

[StriderInCosmos]

SEELE definitely had a hand in this, but they weren't fully betting on HERZ intervening as they would and having to activate the Dummy Systems to overcome the Pilots beginning to stand down. Howard Hansen's paranoia at being stabbed in the back was simply paranoia.

 

[Vajrei]

I suspected it would be something like that. Here is a question I ask out of curiosity. If in this story Kihl were to have what in Persona 5 would be called a Palace, how do you think it would look like?

 

[Author0fntent]

I have to wonder where Marie (and by extension, you) got the idea for her call sign.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

If in this story Kihl were to have what in Persona 5 would be called a Palace, how do you think it would look like?

Click to shrink...

From what little I've read on the Megami Tensei wiki (as I have basically no experience with the Persona series), I think Kihl's Palace would be a place of utter calm, wide open with verdant greenery (no trees, however) and clear skies, with walls only seeming to appear in the distance. Any Shadows that were there would most likely be faceless, nameless forms that can form their bodies for a variety of uses, much like how Kihl sees them as tools for use and little more. [Edit: come to think of it, the only Shadows which wouldn't be the aforementioned 'Enabler' would likely be in the image of his family who, in this fic, was taken from him in the First World War.]

I have to wonder where Marie (and by extension, you) got the idea for her call sign.

Click to shrink...

In-universe, it comes from a mix of an experience with a g-force simulator, some questionable 'modifications', and a penchant in the Frame Plug for rockets and other explosives, as evidenced by her Interfacing. As for myself, as you have surely guessed, it comes from Shadō Wa Shitte Imasu, your lovely fic where Marie takes on the mantle of the Rocketeer.

 

[Author0fntent]

In-universe, it comes from a mix of an experience with a g-force simulator, some questionable 'modifications', and a penchant in the Frame Plug for rockets and other explosives, as evidenced by her Interfacing. As for myself, as you have surely guessed, it comes from Shadō Wa Shitte Imasu, your lovely fic where Marie takes on the mantle of the Rocketeer..

Click to shrink...

Except it's Mana who's the Rocketeer. Marie's the great-grandniece of Doc Savage.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Ah... Oh well. Proves I'll need to reread it sometime. I'm looking forward to where it goes next.

 

[Author0fntent]

Ah... Oh well. Proves I'll need to reread it sometime. I'm looking forward to where it goes next.

Click to shrink...

I'm getting there. The next chapter's the 'murder mystery' party.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

With how much traffic these fics have received (across this platform and others), it was only a matter of time before this happened. Now, there is a TVTropes page for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Apotheosis Echo, one that is still in desperate need of some Wiki Magic. Should you have the inclination and the time, feel free to expand on the rather paltry list of tropes found within the fic.

 

[Vajrei]

Congratulations on that. I say your stories have earned one.

 

[Author0fntent]

With how much traffic these fics have received (across this platform and others), it was only a matter of time before this happened. Now, there is a TVTropes page for Neon Genesis Evangelion: Apotheosis Echo, one that is still in desperate need of some Wiki Magic. Should you have the inclination and the time, feel free to expand on the rather paltry list of tropes found within the fic.

Click to shrink...

Congrats! Did you start the page yourself, or did someone do it on your behalf?

 

[StriderInCosmos]

I started the page myself today, after finally finding out that that was OK to do instead of waiting and hoping some inspired soul would do it for me. I have no real experience in the formating language that it uses, so it's definitely a lot rougher than most pages that I've seen.

 

[Author0fntent]

I started the page myself today, after finally finding out that that was OK to do instead of waiting and hoping some inspired soul would do it for me. I have no real experience in the formating language that it uses, so it's definitely a lot rougher than most pages that I've seen.

Click to shrink...

Thanks. I've been on the fence of doing it myself for some of my stories, as I've never even edited a Wikipedia before now. How does the process work in terms of determining the tropes within the story?

 

[grommile]

How does the process work in terms of determining the tropes within the story?

Click to shrink...

You add the tropes you think the story has, based on how those tropes are defined on the wiki.

If someone else disagrees with you, they edit it further.

Hopefully, nobody sets off an edit/revert war.

 

[StriderInCosmos]

Chapter 47: Come Now the Crimson Rapture

The Angels, as they have been described in the Scrolls, have come to be… something of a worry. Beings of immense power and stature, if they try to seek out Adam, let alone Lilith, then our plans will be laid to waste at their feet.

Thus, a solution was needed. And within the walls of NERV, and its new headquarters within the Geofront, one such of these solutions is born from the flesh of Lilith. It is a herald of the good news of Instrumentality. An evangelist. An… Evangelion.

But even that pales in comparison to the reports that are coming from our expeditions to the Himalayas. I must go and see for myself if these reports on the city of 'Arqa' are true. But if they are… then this changes everything.

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, September 2011

Geofront Medical Center, December 22nd, 2016

Marie Vincennes slowly came to in a stark, white room with a white ceiling, the brightness of the room forcing her eyes shut again. She was laying down on a bed, feeling several somethings on her arms. 'How… How did I get here?'

She shook her head slowly, feeling tubes rustling as she raised an arm to feel for any bandages on her head. After what felt like ages, she found none, nor were there wrappings anywhere else on her body.

'Well that can only be a good sign.' she thought as she rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up. She was… utterly exhausted, and she gave up the effort to sit up for a moment. What had she done to be this tired? What was the last thing she did?

She remembered piloting Rocketeer, being airlifted to Europe, descending on Unity Base, and encountering Major Theisman's Eva, then… nothing.

Her heart began to beat faster. There was a gap in her memories. What had happened? Had she passed out? Had she…

No. She remembered the words 'Dummy System' quite clearly. She wracked her brain as she tried to remember what the Dummy System was supposed to do. Of all the things that she'd squeezed out of Asuka while she was training, that one had likely fallen to the wayside as she tried to hone her skills to prove her worthiness.

'Dummy, Dummy, Dummy…'

Then, she remembered. And her eyes opened and went wide. 'Oh… shit…'

"Hell of a start to your day, miss." a gruff voice coming from her left said.

Startled for a moment, Marie finally found the strength to sit up, taking in the room around her. It was as bare as her brief look at the ceiling had been, a small room with a window on the far right wall that was occupied by her bed, two others, and a single man standing by the door near her, dressed in a dark HERZ uniform that was covered by a plate carrier vest, a single yellow and black patch on his shoulder the only unique part of his uniform beside the pistol that was on his right hip.

"Who…" Marie began, pausing to cough softly as she wet her dry throat. "Who are you?"

"Major Marlowe of the Security Division." the man said simply, scratching at mutton chops that were connected by a bushy mustache. "And I'm the one who's decided to keep an eye on you kids for the moment."

Marie blinked somewhat burning eyes, rubbing them again as she looked over at the two other beds, one beside her to the right and one across from it, that held her copilots. Orien was asleep or simply knocked out by drugs. She couldn't tell what the white sheathe with color-shifting tubes, similar to her own she realized, was for.

Howard, on the other hand, was awake. "Howard?" she said softly, her voice still a little rough.

The look he gave, utterly hollow, utterly lost, terrified her to her core more than anything he might have said. Their gazes held for a moment before he broke the contact, looking back down at his lap.

"He's the lucky man out," Marlowe said softly, drawing her attention back to him. "The one whose strings didn't get jerked around to throw themselves at our boys and girls."

Marie's eyes widened, and her stomach began to bubble as she realized the full extent of what had happened. "We…"

Marlowe nodded. "Yeah. Took a hell of a beating trying to do it too."

Marie looked down at herself and finally noticed the scars on her arms. The most normal-looking one was a band of slightly puckered off-white skin around the upper part of her forearm, right below her elbow. The rest, however…

"Where did I get these…" she paused for a moment as she tried to find the name for the red, fern-like scars that she first noticed ended at her biceps, and came to find grew out from a singular point in the center of her chest, a ring of red like a growing wreath that made the scars extended down to near her belly button and likely up past where she could see.

She snapped her fingers as she found the name. "Lichtenberg figures. Where…" she trailed off, a pill of dread forming amongst the nausea that threatened to spill out.

"From what I've heard tell," Marlowe began, "you got singled out by Captain Soryu-Langley."

"Asuka?" Marie whispered.

Marlowe nodded. "The one and only. You two got into a hell of a row. Apparently, your synch scores were being messed with, jacked-up for better combat effectiveness. Ms. Soryu-Langley gave as good as she got, and you were both apparently high enough for any damage the Evangelions took to be damage you took as well."

Marie looked back down at her arms, her eyes focusing on the banded scar. "She must have cut off my Eva's arm, then," she mumbled before focusing on the Lichtenberg figures. "Then how…"

"You both gave one last punch before you knocked each other out of the fight," Marlowe said, a hint of being impressed entering his voice. "You both used your Interfacing. You with your explosives, and the Captain with her-"

"Lightning," Marie interjected.

"Indeed, Ms. Vincennes." Marlowe paused for a moment. "Frankly…" he said softly. "It's something of a miracle that you were found alive in any capacity."

Marie blinked, then looked up. "What about Asuka?" she asked.

Marlowe was silent, finally seeming… shaken by something.

"Marlowe," Marie repeated. "What. About. Asuka?"

Marlowe looked back at her, and she could almost swear there was a hint of… fear in his eyes. "Your strike…" he cleared his throat. "Your strike nearly liquified most of her organs. It's only due to her Interfacing and Medical's efforts that she wasn't immediately pronounced dead. I was told she considered herself to have died anyway."

Marie was silent, her gaze drifting down to her hands. These were the hands that did this. 'This is what you wanted, isn't it?' a part of her said, a condemning tone to the voice. 'You wanted to face Asuka when you saw her. Prove you were the best. Well, you got what you wanted.'

'No… no… I didn't want it like this.' she thought, rebelling against the idea that she would have wanted to kill Asuka. She'd just wanted to beat her.

'Didn't you do just that?'

Marie looked back up. "Can… Can I see her?" she said huskily.

Marlowe shrugged. "I don't see why not. I'll have to talk to Deputy-Commander Akagi, but I would be surprised if they didn't grant your request."

Marie nodded. "I'd… I'd like that."

"I'll grab some food for the three of you while I'm at it. Sit tight."

With that, Marlowe exited the room. Marie wasn't sure of where he might have gone, or how long he might be away. Their food arrived while he was still away, however, a rather simple affair that still managed to taste like ash in Marie's mouth.

Finally, not knowing how long she'd sat there stewing for, Marlowe entered the room again. "You're cleared to come with me. The…" he paused, then shook his head after a moment. "The Flux thing you're attached to is wheeled. Take it along with you."

Marie nodded, getting out of the bed and gripping the pole of the so-called 'Flux thing', its top capped by a hexagonal device with vents that glowed with the same shifting, darkly colored light the tube connected to her arm did.

Walking slowly, Marlowe escorted her out of the room and up the hallway, past several other rooms. She saw other pilots through the small windows to their rooms, all in hospital beds, all with different bruises or scars to be found if she was able to look long enough. 'It's a miracle no one else died…' she pondered.

Finally, they came to a stop in front of what she assumed was Asuka's room, Marlowe opening the door. "I'll give you your privacy," he whispered. "But I'll be right outside."

Marie nodded silently and entered, the door shutting behind her with a click that seemed to echo through the room.

Before her, Asuka lay almost peacefully in her hospital bed, her eyes shut and her hands resting on top of each other. Flanking her bed were Major Theisman and Captain Ikari, the Major seemingly also asleep, Ikari looking up from a book he was reading. Major Theisman had a thick scar that traveled from the tip of one cheekbone to the other, crossing over the tip of his nose, while Captain Ikari had a thin, wicked scar that traveled from the top of his clavicle near the left side of his neck, up it, and likely traced the back of the right side of his jaw.

"Vincennes," he said levelly, a look in his eyes that she could not fully decipher, but which scared her nonetheless. The fact that she knew Ikari and Asuka were an item did nothing to ease that fear.

Major Theisman blinked wearily, shaking himself awake as his eyes came to focus on her. "Ah. Marie," he said, far more warmly than Ikari did. "Good to see you up and about."

It certainly didn't feel good. "Is…" her gaze traveled back to Asuka. "Is she… still…"

Major Theisman blinked. "Oh, no. She's just sleeping right now. She'll be up and about in a few days."

Marie nodded slowly. "Oh, good," she said hollowly.

It was silent again for a moment. Then, she looked down at her arms, then back at Major Theisman's face. "Does that… hurt still?" she asked slowly.

Major Theisman blinked, taking out a clear-pad and looking down at it as the backside frosted, a hand reaching up as a finger traced along the scar. "Huh." he finally said. "I guess I haven't gotten to that part yet."

"What part?" Marie asked as she arched an eyebrow.

"Well, usually, when we heal our wounds, we manage to get it all in one go," Theisman replied. "With how much Flux we took on, though… we're just taking it one step at a time."

Marie nodded. "So… it'll go away, at least."

Theisman nodded. "Oh, yes. It's no soulscar, by any means."

"Soulscar?" Captain Ikari said incredulously as he looked over at Theisman. "You've never mentioned those before."

Daniel shrugged. "It doesn't come up that often. Now, though…" he paused for a moment as he studied Marie's visible scars. "Most times, physical scars are only tied to the body. The soul is able to 'remember' a body without the scar, and revert the body to that state. In extenuating circumstances, however, the scar literally imprints itself on the soul. At that point, it's a lot harder to get the scars to go away. A lot harder. They're able to travel with you to new bodies, they heal back to the state they find themselves in… but even the most innocuous of scars never fully goes away."

It was silent again for a moment as the two pilots digested the information that they were given. "What kind…" Marie began, swallowing as she looked back down at her arms. "What kind of 'extenuating circumstances' could there be?"

"Most pertinent to you, I would believe," Theisman said gravely, "being in control of an Evangelion with a ridiculously high sync score and using Interfacing to attack, and being attacked like that by someone using Interfacing. Most all soulscars come from instances of particularly damaging Interfacing. Others come from being wounded while operating in the Mental Realm, or somewhere that's close to it. But, at the end of it all…"

He trailed off as he looked intently at Marie. "You'll likely have those figures for the rest of your life."

Marie looked back down at the scars with new eyes, eyes that began to water and drip as tears fell past her arms and hit the floor. "I… I…"

'The mark of my pride.' she thought, her mind crumbling into itself in despair. 'I am… smitten with a curse. Isn't that right, Reverend?'

Then, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, looking up as Major Theisman pulled her into a warm hug.

She was shocked for a moment, almost unwilling to comprehend that someone, anyone, would be willing to do that after what she had done. "What?" she asked numbly. "Why?"

"Because I know how some scars aren't visible." Major Theisman said quietly. "Because I know what it's like to have your free will and your talents taken and used for evil."

"I understand," he said firmly, softly, as he stepped back from the embrace. "And I am here."

Marie looked up at him. Was that just the lights, or was he somehow actually glowing? She took a deep breath, then another as she wiped her eyes dry. "Can I…" she trailed off as Theisman took his hands from her shoulders and sat back down. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Privately?"

Theisman looked over at Ikari for a moment, and Marie was unsure of whether or not they said anything. Pneumaic communication hadn't exactly been high on her list of priorities. Then, Ikari nodded, all sound fading as he walked out of the room, the door closing behind him utterly silent.

Theisman took a deep breath as he stood, walking around Asuka's bed and lifting the chair Ikari had sat in and placing it just in front of her. "Take a seat," he said as he returned to his previous chair next to Asuka. "We'll be undisturbed."

Slowly, Marie made her way over to the chair and sat down. It was silent for a moment before she sighed. "Forgive me, father, for I have sinned," she said with a slightly wet, choked chuckle. "It's been… years since my last confession."

Major Theisman arched an eyebrow. "I'm… not exactly your priest, Marie."

"Maybe, Major," Marie replied. "But really, you're probably the closest thing HERZ has to a chaplain or priest of any kind, so I'll take what I can get."

Major Theisman nodded slowly. "I see. Please then, just call me Daniel. This may not actually be a confession, but ranks will just get in the way of things."

Marie nodded slowly. "Okay… Daniel," she said, equally slowly.

"Now," Daniel began, "what do you feel the need to confess to?"

Marie slowly took a breath, then sighed. "Pride. And jealousy. A lot of both." she nearly whispered.

"Okay. That's a good start." Daniel said patiently. "Can you elaborate?"

Marie looked over at Asuka for a long moment. "I've always wanted to be the best." she began quietly. "At anything that I do. Whether that's my education, whether that was piloting Unit-04, whether that was proving I'm the better pilot."

She paused. "I started with… nothing. I had my intelligence, and my father's love and support. Mother was already gone by then. But through my hard work, I made it through high school, then college. I worked hard to be a viable candidate for the Marduk Institute. And… I was good at it. I knew, more than anything, that I could do what I set out to do."

"So seeing my father, and his work, the work I wanted to be a part of, disappear while I was away in New York at a science competition… it tore at me. And that tear only grew bigger and bigger as I watched what happened here in Japan during the Angel War. I should have been the one in Unit-04. I should have been the one proving that I could be the best. And…"

She looked back over at Asuka. "Seeing Asuka live how I wanted to… made me angry. It made me jealous in a way nothing else ever could."

Marie shook her head, chuckling softly. "Of course, I was still rather more faithful then. It was a miracle that Reverend Simmons was on vacation when the Nevada Incident happened. He… he took me in, at least for a little while, helped me try and get a hold of my baser emotions, even if a part of me resented it. Then, I went into the care of the newly created Army Evangelion Corps. There was no Reverend Simmons that really knew me. They didn't really allow me to see any chaplains, anyway. They would be a 'security risk', potentially leaking any confidential information I might accidentally feed them. My faith began to falter. Then, I contacted Asuka, much to my handler's dismay, and asked to be an Evangelion pilot. My chance was here. I could prove to everyone that I could be the best."

Marie took a deep breath. "And now… here we are. Standing in the ruins of my pride's work."

It was silent again for a moment. Daniel nodded slowly. "I see," he said softly, pulling his clear-pad back out. "I'll admit, it's been a while since I've read from the Bible. But… a few verses spring to mind. One in particular."

He looked down at the pad and began to read. "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation-"

"But the sorrow of the world worketh death," Marie interjected quietly. "Corinthians, I believe."

Daniel nodded. "You skipped a bit, but I think you hit the most pertinent parts."

He deactivated the pad as he continued. "You, I think, feel the rather more godly sort of sorrow to be doing this, which can only be a good thing if you're acting on it. Even if you don't necessarily need to try and repent. Your will was taken from you, after all."

"Maybe," Marie replied. "But from what I recall, this NuDummy System uses the brain and memories of a pilot to act as a processor, correct?"

Daniel nodded slowly, and Marie continued. "Thus, there is, in some small part, fault to be found in myself. I wanted to fight Asuka. I wanted to beat her and prove that I was the best. The Dummy System just… removed my inhibitions, in a sense."

Daniel was silent. "I see," he said quietly. "Seeing as you feel so strongly about this…" he took a deep breath. "Then I would imagine there must be some sort of penance you're looking for."

Marie nodded. "It's part of the process, after all," she said with a rueful smile.

Daniel nodded. "Well, then…" he looked over at Asuka. "I know it isn't much right now, seeing as you are an Evangelion pilot, but… be here for them while they recover. No one gets to be the best without some competition, or practice. But that sort of competition doesn't need to put the other person down. It's something I had to teach Asuka to rein in somewhat. So…" he trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know entirely what to tell you. This sort of penitence is deeply personal. What do you feel you should do?"

Marie blinked, taken aback for a moment. "I… I want to make it up to her, somehow. I want to be able to say that I can work with her, whatever comes. All my pride has gained me is this. Pain, and guilt. I want… I want to do something better."

Daniel nodded. "Then you might just get your chance soon. With what happened, SEELE is likely poised to strike at any moment now. We have your Frame Plugs, and we're trying to extract the Dummy System from them if we can, bricking the system if we can't. When SEELE makes its move… are you with us?"

Marie nodded. "Yes," she said simply, surely.

Daniel smiled slightly. "Good to hear. I look forward to fighting by your side."

It was at that moment when Asuka stirred, frowning slightly as she stretched and yawned before rubbing her eyes open. "Oh," she said as she looked to the side, "hey, Daniel."

She looked over at Marie, and her tired eyes widened as the haze began to clear from them. "Marie… are you…" she said, somewhat in awe.

Marie glanced down at her arms. "It doesn't hurt," she replied, putting as much assurance in her voice as she could. "But… they'll be sticking around for a while."

"I'll leave you two ladies be for the moment," Daniel said as he stood, drawing the attention of both Marie and Asuka as he made his way to the door. "I have some other places that I have to be. Other people I have to see to. I'll be back at some point."

With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Marie and Asuka alone to regard each other silently for a long moment.

"I gotta say," Asuka began, "you make those scars look pretty badass."

"Thanks." Marie chuckled softly. "I guess I'd better get used to them."

"Why's that?" Asuka asked, tilting her head slightly.

Marie blinked. "Oh, yeah. You… missed that part."

After a brief explanation of what she had learned about soulscars, Asuka took a deep breath as she lay back on the bed. "Well then," she said quietly. "I guess my scar isn't going away, either."

Marie blinked. "Oh, yeah. I must have given you one too, didn't I?" she said with no small amount of embarrassment.

"Yeah. Pretty good one." Asuka said with a chuckle as she sat back up. "Come over and have a look."

Marie stood slowly, glancing back at the doorway as Asuka slipped the shoulders of her hospital gown off, pulling the gown down to expose her chest.

In the center of it was a prominent, circular scar, much like Marie's, that reached just above her clavicle and just below her breasts, the sides climbing up her breasts a little way.

"I gotta say," Asuka said as she slipped the gown back on, "you did a lot more with your Interfacing, even under the Dummy Plug, than I expected. It looks like I trained you better than even I expected."

Marie swallowed. "And… you aren't… mad that I beat you? Left you with a scar like this while pulping your organs in the process?"

Asuka took a deep breath. "The way I see it, we took each other out. If it weren't for Interfacing allowing us to live and tell the tale, there wouldn't have been the winner. But for you to keep up with me like that in combat when it comes down to the brass tacks… that takes some doing."

She paused. "I know Toji might have taken the chance, however coincidentally, to pilot Unit-04 from you. But… if it was you going into battle with me then, I would have trusted you just as much as I trust the jock. If not a little more." she leaned forward with a slight smile. "Don't let him know I said that though. He already bellyaches to Hikari enough about how piloting is a girl's club."

Marie's eyes welled with tears as she nodded. "Will do," she whispered.

- - -

Commander's Office, HERZ-HQ

Commander Misato Katsuragi, her Deputy-Commander at her side, regarded the display which held several of the world's military leaders. The US, the EU, the AU, and so on, all looking at her with utter indignation.

"The question remains, Commander." US General Thomas Evans asked pointedly. "Why, exactly, are you still holding our Evas? And where are our soldiers? You've said precious little about them."

"We're in the process of rendering the Dummy System within them inert," Misato replied in a clipped tone. "The pilots are all currently in the Medical Center of the Geofront, resting from injuries taken during the combat with our pilots that we mentioned earlier."

"And why, pray tell," EuroFor General Antonio Santannas said, "were you protecting so valuable an enemy position as Unity Base? You haven't fallen in with the butchers, have you?"

Misato sighed quietly. "No. As I've said before, we're quite certain that SEELE is the main suspect behind these events. It makes complete tactical sense to have us at each other's throats like this. Why would the UN want this when the world is getting made whole again?"

"An easy excuse." AU General Kwasana M'Tumba sniffed, lifting her head slightly as if to look down at Misato. "We've seen nothing from SEELE since their attack on Tokyo-3 earlier this year. Whatever they do seems to be focused on whatever you're right on top of."

"Need we remind you," Ritsuko said cooly, "That SEELE had the political and military pull to convince the Russian and Chinese armies to attempt an invasion of Tokyo-3 during the First Battle of Tokyo-3?"

All on the other side of the screen fell silent. The Russian and Chinese generals seemed especially anxious at the fact. "Those were rogue elements of our armies." Russian General Nikodim Fedorov scoffed. "Our government was quick to deal with those that did not deal with themselves."

"Then how did the Dummy System find its way into your nation's Frame Plugs?" Misato asked archly. "Are you so sure that you managed to get everyone?"

It was silent again, the anxiety beginning to grow. Then, General Evans' eyes widened. "Oh, hell…" he nearly whispered.

"Something to add, General Evans?" Misato asked quietly.

"Major-General Lesley just recently went AWOL. Along with…" he paused, clearly unsure of whether or not to go on.

Misato's brow arched. "Go on," she said slowly.

Evans sighed quietly. "We've gotten reports that three of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are missing as well."

Misato nodded slowly. "I see." she let her eyes scan over the rest of the assembled generals. "Is there anyone else who has happened to go mysteriously 'missing'?"

The generals all looked around, seemingly at each other, in seeming embarrassment, and Misato managed to only have her lips turn up slightly at the utterly amusing sight.

"Well," General M'Tumba finally admitted, "we did just have one of our heads of our intelligence service disappear. Along with a few Lieutenant-Generals…"

"Entangling military and intelligence too closely is a mistake that we do not make." Chinese General Qiang Xu said almost acidly. "We know the sort of trouble that one section taking advantage of such disappearances can cause."

"And yet, you do not deny it." General Fedorov scoffed. "The rot of SEELE seems to have gone deeper than any might have ever guessed, even with the rather dramatic exit of Defense Minister Kovalchuk and his cronies."

"May I perhaps," Misato interjected, "offer some assistance?"

The weight of the generals' gazes settled on her once again, and Misato waited patiently for a response. 'What do you have in mind?" General Evans said slowly.

"SEELE is one of the biggest reasons why we established Intelligence as a branch of HERZ." Misato began. "When you have an international conspiracy that runs as deep as SEELE seems to in every nation, with hands in damn near everything, knowing where they are, and when to root them out, is a necessity. Its head, Major Kaji, is especially skilled at ferreting things out."

"So," she continued, "I would suggest that, small though his team may be in the aftermath of recent events, that he works with each of your governments to more fully go through any strategically pertinent departments where SEELE might have decided to station their agents in."

"And how do we know you won't order him to snoop around, finding other secrets that you could use to have an advantage on us?" General Santana said, his eyes narrowed and lips in a thin line.

"You have my assurance that Kaji will remain focused on the mission at hand," Misato replied. "And he won't need so much time as you fear he might. He is Interfaced, after all. All he might ask is for a brief conversation with some people."

She waited as the generals silently deliberated the option placed before them.

"Who would be first?" General Xu asked slowly.

Misato smiled slightly. "That, I leave up to Mr. Kaji's discretion. No need to tip off anyone who might be listening, is there?"

"I would guess so." General Evans replied with a quiet sigh. "I'll put together the people I can trust to get ready for whenever he arrives."

"I'll make sure that Kaji and his team are ready," Misato said with a slight nod. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"

General Evans sighed. "I have nothing further to discuss. Keep our pilots safe, Commander. We would like them back."

"I understand, General," Misato replied. "And when SEELE is no longer able to control them, we will do so for everyone's pilots."

With that, the screens vanished, and Misato leaned back in her chair and sighed quietly. "I don't know about you, Ritsky," she said somewhat wearily, "but I need a drink."

. . .

In the cafe on the upper level, Misato looked out the window of the pyramid, taking the Geofront's interior in as she sipped the beer slowly. She was, technically, still on duty. This would be the only beer that she would be drinking. Even still, she appreciated how it managed to take the edge off of dealing with so many exhausting people.

"How is everyone in the Medical Center?" Misato asked quietly as she looked over at Ritsuko.

Ritsuko sipped her gin and tonic before she replied. "Well, Asuka's coming along. Now that her internal organs are back to being what they were, she's conscious. I wouldn't be surprised if she's up and about by the end of the week. As for everyone else… Well, it's a matter of clearing out Flux and making scars go away, at this point."

Ritsuko shook her head. "It still amazes me that Makoto let the pilots override their synch limiters. We put those in place so we wouldn't have to deal with synch scores climbing to a dangerous level."

"We both saw SEELE didn't care," Misato replied, a hard edge to her voice. "They were willing to throw those pilots, our kids' friends, away if it meant getting an edge on us. That, and Makoto trusts them to know what they're doing. With Daniel and Shinji and Asuka at the helm… I can't blame him."

Ritsuko nodded slowly. "Indeed," she said quietly.

A companionable silence settled between them as they continued to drink. After a few moments, Ritsuko scoffed softly. "You've really cut Ryoji's work out for him, haven't you?" she said with a wry smile.

Misato gave an exaggerated shrug. "Ah, he's been dying for something to really sink his teeth into. He'll love it." she said with a sure smile.

The smile faded after a moment's silence, replaced by a distant, melancholy look. "But… I am going to miss him."

"In a world where you can connect to his soul, and he can teleport back here basically whenever he wants?" Ritsuko asked, a bemused expression painting her face and her voice.

"It's the principle of the thing, Ritsky!" Misato replied in mock indignation.

The two shared a quiet chuckle for a moment, settling back into silence soon after. The smiles that they shared faded more slowly.

As they finally vanished, Misato sighed quietly." You think SEELE's getting ready for something as much as I do?" she asked, equally quietly.

"It would be stupid not to think so," Ritsuko replied. "That we still haven't been able to track them in the Himalayas makes me… worried. It likely means that they have something like what the Lone World movement used to hide their operation from us."

"Which means that they're far more likely to be tied to SEELE as well," Misato said sourly.

Ritsuko nodded. "Unless we dedicate ourselves to sweeping the mountains on-site… I doubt we'll find them until they want to come out."

Misato sighed in quiet disgust. "Did you ever get tired of waiting like this during the Angel War like I did? Didn't you ever just… want to find where they were coming from and cut it off at the source?"

Ritsuko nodded. "Yes. Even if I didn't quite share in your zeal."

Misato blinked, then sighed. "Yeah. I did get a little out of control sometimes, didn't I?"

"A little? You call dunking Asuka in magma a little?" Ritsuko asked somewhat incredulously.

"Okay, okay, a lot," Misato said in exasperation, waving her hands slightly in Ritsuko's direction. "But…" she trailed off for a moment as her hands dropped back into her lap. "I can't say that it wasn't simpler then. Defeat the Angels, save the world."

Misato took a long drink of her beer after a moment's silence. "A part of me wishes that we could go back to those days," she said quietly. "Us against the Angels. No SEELE that we knew about, no Scions, no Lone World…"

"But here we are," Ritsuko interjected softly. "And wouldn't you know it, we're still the last, best hope for the defense of Earth."

Misato shrugged. "That we are. Ranks change, uniforms change, names change, but it all stays the same, in some form or fashion, huh? Someone has to keep the world safe."

It was silent again as Misato polished off her beer. "Well, I think I'm ready to get back to work. How about you?"

"Ready when you are," Ritsuko replied. "I'm going to go check on the Medical Center. Are you free to come along, or are there more talking heads to stand against?"

"No, actually," Misato replied as she stood. "And even if there were, I'd rather go and check on the kids, see how they're holding up."

- - -

Arqa Site, Himalayas, 2 Days Later

It was a quiet start to Christmas Eve, Lorenz Kihl mused as he wheeled himself out of his office and down the hall to go over to Azazel. It had become a long journey for him. The wheelchair he'd been shackled to could only go so fast.

Then again, such trifles as this, as holidays, nations and armies would soon fall by the wayside. They were ready. The Final Scripture was about to be made ready to read out to the world.

Kihl found much to think about as he descended an elevator towards the massive room that held Azazel. It had been a wonder to study the remains of the remarkably well preserved Angel that had been found. Years alone went into the study of its now shriveled, thoroughly useless S2​ Organ's physical characteristics, and all the other advances that they had found related to the soul within the ruins of Arqa, both those of humanity… and the dormant soul which was trapped within Azazel's body. Such advances as found within Arqa had made the AT-Edit System a resounding success as a tool for their needs.

With the revelation in the last few years of how, exactly, to constitute matter of any kind from LCL, the idea of somehow reviving the Angel for SEELE's uses had gained far more traction. Now, beyond just being a desperate backup plan, it had become their finest weapon, the key to beginning Instrumentality without the need for Evangelions or Lances or any other such obstacles.

It had taken much effort to keep things secret as they'd worked. So much of their resources had been poured into Azazel's rebirth. The flesh of Adam and of Lilith, a nearly heretical admixture that had taken half a decade to perfect. Technologies that interfaced seamlessly with the biological body of the Angel, able to be controlled as easily as breathing. It represented all of SEELE, all the power it wielded on the world stage to make the world in its image, and prepare it for the next great step into the unknown.

And, lest he forgot, as he came to a catwalk leading to a platform that led to and surrounded a dome of core material, a very specially prepared core.

He rolled across the catwalk, scanning the faces of the other members of SEELE's inner circle. Were they as ready as he was, he mused? Eager to shed their bodies and bare their souls for the sake of the peace of the world? If they were, they could never match his willingness to do what must be done.

He came to a stop between SEELE-2 and SEELE-12, looking down and scanning the deep, massive, multifaceted crystal. "A pale imitation of Instrumentality awaits us within Azazel," Kihl said without preamble. "But it will allow us to do what must be done. These souls of humanity we have collected, the fallen Angels of Lilith, must be uplifted for a little while before they get their rest. They, and we, are burdened with a glorious purpose. The purpose of true Instrumentality. Of the unity of souls in the next step of our journey as a species."

He looked up at SEELE-2, a man he used to nearly match in height before his degeneration confined him to this cursed wheelchair. "Begin the insertion process," he said with no small amount of aplomb.

SEELE-2 nodded solemnly, turning to a console behind him and activating the device they stood within.

Above and below them, a powerful thrum made its way into the platform as eight arms, four beneath the catwalk, four descending from the ceiling, came to touch the deep crimson hemisphere, glowing with the shifting prismatic light of an AT Field as their glow transferred over into the core, the crystal gleaming as it became filled with the souls of millions, nay, nearly billions.

The sound excited Kihl like no other had for decades. They were close now. So close. Ikari's betrayal, the intrusion of those from beyond this universe, the fools who fearfully stood in the way of progress? All would be little more than afterthoughts in the face of their Angel. And, Kihl added with a particular glee, its familiar legions.

There were long moments that stretched by as the process continued, the almost musical keen of the souls making their way into the core soothing to Kihl as he waited patiently.

Soon enough, SEELE-2 turned to regard him as the keen began to quiet steadily. "We'll be taking our place soon, sir." he said levelly.

Kihl nodded. "Get me up, out of this chair. I want to stand as we stride into the new age."

'I will not let my degeneracy hold me back any longer.' Kihl thought stubbornly, cursing that he had to ask even for this little of the people around him.

SEELE-2 and SEELE-12 obliged him, grabbing him under his arms and gently lifting him to his feet as the low-level Anti-AT Field, one that would draw in them and all others that had left their stations to join them here, began to charge, a thrum from the S2​ Organs that would produce it building in intensity.

Kihl starred in what would have been open awe, if any could still have seen his eyes or read the expression on his now weathered, craggy face, at the core as it rippled and pulsed with color and light. 'Mama… Papa… Anya… I'm coming…'

"Let us begin, Azazel. Let us end," he whispered as the charge of the S2​ Organs reached its peak.

With that, the Organs were ruptured, and an Anti-AT Field pulsed through the base, all humanity within it melted into LCL as their souls were drawn into the core.

After a moment of the thrums and clamor of the machinery dying down, it was silent again. Utterly still, save for the dripping of LCL from clothes and the cybernetic implants of Kihl that had clattered to the catwalk.

Then, everything was flung away from the body of the Angel reborn in a pulse of an utterly terrible AT Field, the creature shuddering as it lashed out at the cage, modern, ancient, and natural, that surrounded its monstrous Form in every way that was available to it.

A growl, like the mountains themselves were already grinding together, rumbled from a mouth that opened for the first time in an age, power thrumming through its AT Field as it made its way up, its body slamming without injury into the stone around it as it bored its way out from its resting place.

Up and up and up it went, until finally, it burst to the surface of the mountainside, bright light and biting cold touching the pallid, white skin, the core of the Angel glowing as, beneath its massive body, crystals of crimson began to spread across the mountainside.

At the tip of a broad, fleshy horn, skin bubbled, and a face, sharp, stern, young again, formed and shouted wordlessly, soundlessly, the yell provided by a far larger mouth as it opened and roared, an ululating thing that sounded out the arrival of one last Angel, bursting from what seemed the depths of Hell itself.

- - -

Central Dogma, HERZ-HQ, Geofront, Tokyo-3

The alarms finally stopped wailing as Commander Katsuragi stepped onto the bustling command bridge of Central Dogma, Deputy Commander Akagi by her side as Major Hyuga turned to regard them.

"Anomalous target emerged just 25 minutes ago, ma'am," Hyuga reported as Misato took a seat at the desk that was, once again, hers. "We're running scans on it now, and we should have visual contact in under 5 minutes."

"Valhalla System is confirming a Pattern Blue!" First Lieutenant Agano said. "AT Field readings are…" she shook her head in dreadful awe. "These readings are unreal…"

"An Angel," Misato said in a voice of ringing steel as she regarded the monster before her. "So this is SEELE's Final Scripture, their trump card."

Time passed as they waited for whatever recon platform had been sent out to get within range of the Angel. "Establishing visual contact now!" Captain Faez said as the image of the barren Himalayas flashed into being on the screen, framing the creature that had emerged from them.

The Angel in question was, much like its AT Field readings, utterly massive, its entire body seeming to be composed of a massive jaw filled with teeth, leading nowhere except to an orange jewel at the back of its throat. An ovoid body that had to be many times the size of Zeruel led into a long tail that seemed to stretch almost one and a half times its length, tapering to a whip-like point at the end of which a slender blade waved in the air. What seemed to be its core rested on the crown of its head, and a massive, rounded horn extended out past its body.

Most concerning, however, were the appendages attached to its body. Beneath a pair of fleshy wings, their surface sculpted to appear feathery and reminding Misato far too much of the wings of the MP-Evas, a pair of bone-white cannons gleamed in the cold, clear sun of the Himalayas, a pair of long, blade-like limbs underneath them giving some semblance of ground-based locomotion as they touched the ground. And the Corite that spread from beneath it.

"It's producing Corite at an unbelievable rate." Agano continued, looking up as the stuff spread out from beneath the Angel, blooming like an unholy, glittering flower. "Valhalla predicts that its growth, if it continues, will cover 8 square kilometers in 6 hours."

Misato set her jaw as she watched the Angel flap its wings slowly, once, twice, lifting into the air with the third and heading north-east, tracing a line of Corite as it flew. "What's its course?" she asked, looking down at Lieutenant Ooi.

"Valhalla predicts it seems to be making its way through Tibet, towards the city of Beijing," Ooi replied.

"There's millions of people in the way of that thing, then," Ritsuko said quietly in a cold tone.

"Aoba," Misato said clearly, "begin coordinating with the Chinese government to get civilians out of the path of that thing."

As Aoba and Mogami began to go to work, Hyuga looked back up at Misato. "Ma'am, what Evangelions will we be deploying?"

Misato considered the question for a moment, glancing up at Ritsuko. "Have we been able to subdue the Dummy Systems in the national Evas?" she asked quietly.

Ritsuko nodded slightly. "We've been making progress in locking the systems down in each Frame Plug. Most pertinent to this case, the Chinese Plugs are ready to go, and the Tsung twins are sufficiently able to pilot again."

Misato nodded. "Get them ready to go, then."

She turned her attention back to Hyuga. "Get Mari, Mana, and Mayumi ready to deploy, along with the Chinese Evangelions, as quickly as possible. We need to stop this thing in its tracks and find out what its capabilities are."

As Hyuga turned back to his work with a "Yes, ma'am!" Ritsuko regarded Misato with no small amount of unease. "Are you sure that they'll be enough to stop it?" she asked quietly.

"Right now, they aren't being expected to. All we need to do is stall it until everyone else is ready to go." Misato paused for a moment to consider something. "Come to think of it… how are the third wave trainees holding up?"

"Nearly done with their training," Ritsuko admitted of their four newest pilots, 2 from the Nordic Confederation, 2 from the Arabic States. "We were setting up the Gauntlet for them before Unity Base…"

"We can have them hang back and provide support for the more experienced Evas," Misato said. "Their Frame Plugs are done, right?"

Ritsuko nodded wordlessly, and Misato nodded in turn. "Good. Have them sent over here as quickly as possible so Eleanor can check them for Dummy Systems. If we can get four more Evas, four more AT Fields, it could make all the difference in what's to come."

Ritsuko's jaw tightened slightly before she sighed. "Alright. I'll go ahead and coordinate with the nations to get their Plugs sent over. Shigeru has enough on his plate already."

Misato nodded. "Good. Because whatever else happens, we're going to destroy this thing."

- - -

Qinghai Province, T-45 Minutes to Contact, 3 Hours Later

Mari fuzzed into existence on top of a barren, brown, dry mountaintop, looking out across a range of similar mountaintops that were spaced almost like God had decided to put his fingerprint on the place. 'Hell of a way to be spending Christmas Eve.' she mused rather grumpily. 'I was rather looking forward to hearing the 'getting out of the hospital' concert Shinji, Asuka, and the others were planning on playing.'

But, if anything was going to interrupt those sorts of plans, a potentially world-ending new Angel would be the one to do it.

The Thrill was an almost anxious thing today, and there was no beat to her focus as she keyed up the other pilots on comms. "Alright. Everyone check in. Mana, Mayumi, how are my battle buddies?"

"Ready to go," Mana replied, stifling anxiety in a way that made Mari happy to see her feeling as much even if it wasn't the greatest emotion in the world.

"Likewise. I'm taking point." Mayumi said, nodding slightly as Unit-09 began to move up, making AT Field assisted hops over the mountaintops towards their target.

Mari nodded. "Good to hear. Tsung twins, are you ready to go?"

Both pilots nodded as their Evas began to hop along the low mountaintops as well. "Yún Ji, moving ahead." Hua Tsung said simply.

"Chiju Liliang, likewise," Zhou added.

'Not ones for words, are you guys?' Mari thought as she began her mountaintop skip, Mana following behind her as she keyed up Central Dogma. "Command, what's the status of our target? Any changes?"

First Lieutenant Ooi shook her head. "Nothing thus far since it left the Himalayas. It's still only staying in place and spreading Corite. Sensors are showing that the Corite is active. Recommend you keep your AT Fields at a ready state."

Mari nodded. "Sounds good. We're on our way."

With that, Mari settled into a rhythm of jumping from peak to peak. Up and down, up and down. On the bounce, a part of her mind recalled some book or another saying. It was fitting if nothing else.

The rhythm made time seem to pass in a flash before Central Dogma appeared on her screen again. "Pilots, we're picking up something… disturbing. Patching it through to you now." Ooi said before her face disappeared.

The pilots all paused for a moment in their jumps as they watched a drone feed of what was, true to Ooi's word, rather off-putting.

"Is it… puking?" Mari asked somewhat incredulously, watching the Angel with its mouth wide open, an orange liquid reminiscent of LCL pouring out from it and flowing away towards the perimeter of the Corite that it had produced and into…

"What are those?" Mana asked as she looked intently at the strangely smooth, quickly growing nodules of Corite that had come to dot the crystalline portion of the landscape.

"Currently unknown." Ooi's voice replied. "Even still, the Valhalla system is marking them as a potentially dangerous object due to the large amount of Metos we're seeing flowing into them. We're advising caution as you approach."

"Understood," Mari said slowly as she began another hop. "We'll keep an eye on them."

Again, the Thrill made the miles melt away as they descended from the mountains onto a vast desert plain. In the distance, the glinting of sunlight striking the crystals was the only indication of their enemy's presence for the moment.

"Alright, here's the marching order," Mari said as the field of Corite, and the now much larger nodules, came closer and closer. "Mana, you'll be with me up front. Mayumi, you stay a little ways behind us with the Tsungs, and provide long-range support. Our first target is going to be the beast itself. If these nodules do anything weird, we start blasting them too. Sounds like a plan?"

"As good as any we could ask for," Mayumi replied. "How far back do you want us from you?"

"Likely enough that any Expressions we create won't hit you," Mana replied. "So… maybe about 300, 400 meters back?"

"That sounds about right," Mari replied. "Besides, anything we shoot at this thing should hit once we nullify its AT Field."

The Tsung twins nodded silently, their Eva's grips on the Nu-Pallet Rifles, loaded with Lancium rounds, shifting slightly.

Finally, they reached the edge of the Corite field. The nodules at its edge were massive now, nearly three-quarters their height. And, as they slowly, carefully advanced further into the field, AT Fields at the ready, the nodules, pods really, only grew larger.

Mari's anxiety seemed to grow alongside it, even as the focus the Thrill gave her tamped it down. "Are these things starting to remind anyone else of a bunch of chrysalises?" she said slowly, seeing the glow of… something, deep within the nodules.

"Yes," Zhou said, and for the first time in her memory, Mari heard the usually utterly stoic man show a hint of emotion. That said, seeing that that emotion was fear did nothing to help Mari's anxiety. "Though I don't think grandmother's butterflies would be coming out of these."

Hua nodded, her eyes glittering with anxiety. "I almost feel like they're… headstones. Like we're intruding on a graveyard."

"Headstones…" Mana said quietly, her brow furrowing slightly as she fell silent. Then, she connected to Central Dogma.

"Command," she asked, "are you able to read if there are any souls present in these things?"

Mari suppressed a shiver at the thought as Agano replied. "We're beginning a scan now. One moment."

That moment felt like an eternity to Mari as they continued, stepping over the wide, but shallow streams of LCL that emerged from the Angel that they drew nearer and nearer to. "Valhalla System is confirming the presence of several souls per… pod." Agano seemed to finally say.

"What for, I wonder?" Mayumi said softly as they came to a stop a little over half a kilometer away from the Angel.

"Well, I'd rather find out from a distance when we're done shooting this thing," Mari replied as a rifle of gleaming metal flowed into existence in Unit-08's hands, a Nu-Pallet Rifle in Unit-07's rising up with it as Mayumi prepared a glacial sniper rifle in between the two rifles the Tsung twins readied.

"Alright," Mari said as she took a deep breath, "let's punch through this thing's AT Field. 3… 2… 1… now."

With that, they pushed. Or, at least, they thought they did.

Mari's eyes widened as it felt like she was pushing against the Earth itself. "Guys, I hope we're not giving it our all just yet," she muttered as she tried to focus further on breaching the seemingly implacable Field before them. "Because if we are… then I'm afraid this is what we're going to have to break through."

She heard Mayumi audibly swallow as they all redoubled their efforts. It was silent again afterward, and the Angel didn't even move from its position of hacking up a flow of LCL. 'Damn you.' Mari thought in exasperation. 'The least you could do is notice us…'

"Alright," she said aloud, "weapons hot in 5 seconds. Ready… now!"

A burst of fire from 5 rifles swept towards the Angel. It didn't manage to get very far, as layer after layer of rippling prismatic barrier pulsed to life, almost seeming to make a semi-transparent block of Absolute Territory that slowed, then stopped the Lancium-tipped rounds in their tracks, Mayumi's Interfacing not much later dissipating as the shells crashed to the ground.

"What?" Mana said numbly. "How…"

It was at that moment that the flow of LCL from the Angel's mouth ceased, the jaw slowly shutting as it looked up at them. There were no eyes on its body, but at the tip of its broad, fleshy horn…

Mari seemed nearly paralyzed by the fact that it had a bloody face on it, then, its mouth moved as it glared at them, a voice, many-layered and seemingly from nowhere and everywhere, thundering through her very being.

"We are Azazel. We are the coming Instrumentality. We are Legion."

Mari closed her mouth just in time to hear a cracking sound from behind them, turning Unit-08 around with everyone else to watch one of the cocoons that they had passed grow another crack, its neighbors soon joining it in splitting.

"We're picking up massive energy spikes from the Corite outcrops!" Mari caught Agano saying from the corner of her focus as a black, three-fingered hand punched out from within a cocoon and grasped at air.

Before Agano could go any further, the cocoon fell apart, revealing a form that the pilots that were there had only seen in simulations or after-action reports.

Within Central Dogma, a strangled gasp swept through the room as the being that they beheld was joined by another like it. Then another, then two more.

"It's…" Misato whispered, jaw hanging open in terrible awe. "It's Sachiel… they're Sachiel…"

It was mere moments before instinct kicked in, the Thrill taking over Mari's stuttering mind as she threw an AT Field in front of everyone else as five sets of hollow, empty eyeholes flashed, the barrage of energy beating against her shield like a hurricane for the briefest of seconds as the others turned to face this new threat. "Turn and engage!" she said clearly, leveling her rifle at the closest one and letting off a burst of rounds.

In the instant that she fired, time seemed to slow, and the Sachiels began to charge at them. Mayumi found herself on the front line now as her sniper rifle turned into her familiar gun-lance, the bladed tip slamming into an AT Field that seemed layered somewhat like the Angel's behind them, but as Mayumi concentrated, what appeared to be three layers of AT Fields were finally pierced through as she tore into the Sachiel's side.

The Tsung twins, hardly ones to fall behind, managed as best they could with their Nu-Pallet Rifles, using as much of the reinforced weapon as they could to shove away, batter, and break through their foe's defenses, dodging the spikes that stabbed at them.

Finally, in Mari's perception, her rounds slammed through one AT Field, then another, then another, plowing into her Sachiel's flesh before Mari detonated a Pneumaic explosion, cracking and shattering the core on its chest as it went flying backward, Mari giving a shout of triumph. "Take that, you spindly little whatsit!"

As she moved forward and helped Zhou focus down another target, distracting it as he shoved it back, its arm spike sliding out of his side, and sent a burst of rounds into its core, she felt something grab her ankle. Looking down, her eyes widened as she saw the Sachiel she swore she just killed, its arm spike sliding partway out of its elbow as it glowed a hellish purple-white.

She shouted as an Expression of a blade flashed into existence and slammed down on its arm like a guillotine, a spray of crimson painting Unit-08's leg as it spasmed away from her, holding the stump of its arm as Mari focused on it again, filling it with round after round of shells.

"Come on!" she shouted as she laid on shell after shell. "Cheating's for the sims, not real life, you daft tosser!"

She heard another crack, then several more before Sachiel finally stopped moving and she stopped firing. "Multiple cores? Or just a really big one?" she muttered to herself.

'No time to find out.' she thought as she heard several more cocoons break, two more copies of Sachiel and a copy of Israfel moving in on them.

"We can't stay here!" Mari said aloud as she threw up an AT Field to protect from the flashing ranged attacks the Sachiel-types flung at them, the blasts clearing to show that the Israfel had split into its component parts.

"If we leave, Beijing will be leveled!" Hua said with a surprising ferocity as she finally laid her copy of Sachiel to rest, pulling a broken-off arm spike out from her Eva's shoulder. "Our home will be laid to waste when we could protect it!"

"And if we don't, then we won't be able to protect the rest of the world," Mana replied levelly. "Everything in this thing's path is being evacuated. We can fight this thing later with everyone else's help. Otherwise… we won't be able to get Beijing back."

It was a tense silence that descended over comms, and Mari desperately hoped that the Tsungs wouldn't do something stupid for their love of country.

Finally, Zhou sighed. "Alright," he said somewhat sullenly. "We'll pull back for now. But these bastards will pay."

"As if we weren't going to make sure of that," Mari said as she shoved one of the Sachiel-types that had engaged her aside. "Command, did you hear that?"

"Good copy, Mari," Ooi replied. "Disengage and we'll bring you home."

"Easier said than done, but we'll make it happen," Mari said as she manifested two bands around the arms of a Sachiel that had come to grapple with Mana, dragging it away as its arm spikes shot out. "Alright, ladies and gent, let's clear a path and get out of here!"

She threw her AT Field up as several eye-like pits flashed again, a wall of metal pushing away a pewter-colored Israfel component as she strode forward, heedless of the cocoons that were hatching all around them now. "Run!"

With that, the others disengaged and ran with her, strengthening their AT Fields as best they could against the barrage that they were weathering.

Mari's focus was entirely on the edge of the Corite field, growing closer and closer with each thundering stride as the edges of her vision seemed to fuzz into obscurity. She blinked, and they were across, running on open ground. "Command, tell us when!" she heard Mayumi say as she heard the others skid to a stop behind them.

"Teleport in 10 seconds." was Ooi's somewhat harried reply as she turned to face where they had come from.

The Angels had all stopped at the edge of the field, dozens of Sachiels, a couple of Israfels, and…

Mari's eyes went wide. "Am I nuts, or is that three Zeruels?" she said numbly.

The sight of the three bound up Angels, floating imperiously over the collected group below them and seeming to stare through them was the last thing she saw on the desert plains of China before the Eva strike force fuzzed out of existence.

- - -

The sight of the gathered Angels, however, remained on the main screen of Central Dogma. And Misato couldn't help but hear the hushed, worried whispers that rose like steam throughout the room as she kept her gaze firmly on the screen.

"Think we could ask the Cataphract to send a bombardment down on them?" she asked Ritsuko offhandedly.

"With how strong its AT Fields were, to slow down and stop Lancium rounds? I'd be surprised if we could make a dent in them with a dozen Cataphracts." Ritsuko replied, her voice tinged with awe at the sight that they'd seen."

"Damn," Misato said mildly.

"Which means we're going to need a hell of an Idea in order to stop these things," Ritsuko said.

"I'm working on it. But I'll need some feedback during the process." Misato replied, hoping against hope that here, now, her luck hadn't finally run out.

 

[Vajrei]

In regards to my earlier question about Kihl having a palace, these are the keywords I thought up.

Name: Kihl Lorenz
Location: Arqa
Distortion: World of Silence.

From what I have read in this chapter his shadow would be named Kihl Azazel Lorenz

For what has now happened, I am not sure if all the Seele moles will be found on time. Seele's endgame is the very definition of "If you want something done right, do it yourself". Spawning copies of the previous angels is just plain cheating.