Clearly those two are meant for each other. They can do sweet couple-y things like hide bodies together, help each other stalk victims, and find that perfect spot to dump the bodies.
Clearly those two are meant for each other. They can do sweet couple-y things like hide bodies together, help each other stalk victims, and find that perfect spot to dump the bodies.
Oh good grief it's spreading...
Chapter Thirty-One: "Igne natura renovatur integra"
The stifling heat of Mount Sakruajima was felt even kilometers from it, the once pacific mount now an active volcano since the times of Second Impact. Within it, the Blue Pattern typical of angels had been discovered by the magi in advance, but the images had shown an egg of sorts, an embryo. This...This meant a lot. The Angel had been named Sandalphon, The Brother, by the Magi. Why they had picked that as a name was anyone's guess, but Shinji was sure someone had enjoyed putting a list of potential names into the computers and then left it there as a prank.
"Where there is an egg, there has to be a chicken," Shinji said flatly, gazing at the images. Doctor Ritsuko was nearby, a cigarette lit in her mouth. They were down at the base of the mountain, a mobile camp set as far as possible, and yet as close as needed. The Evas battery packs had been brought along in great quantity, just in case they would need a quick swap. Within a large truck, outfitted with air conditioning and the strongest thing on par with a Magi that could be put inside, both Doctors glanced at the photos with various degrees of interest.
"There has been no previous detection of blue pattern," Ritsuko replied. "It is possible the embryo traveled through the Earth's crust only to emerge here where it was detected."
"The presence of an egg means reproduction," Shinji pointed out. "It means sexual behavior. It means courting rituals. The abandoning of the egg indicates a lack of attachment for their spawn, or perhaps have we only encountered children of alien creatures? Until now we thought the Angels to be alien warlords, but what if they were alien children?" Shinji clasped his fingers together, propping his chin near them as he glanced at the pictures with intensity, as if he had missed a detail of it. "It looks like a human embryo," he continued. "Considering the speed of Israfel's evolution and mutations, is it possible that we are dealing with a singular, highly adaptive species trying to find the perfect war form?"
Ritsuko took a small puff, and then sighed. "All theories are viable when it comes to dealing with the Angels. They possess bodies that sometimes go beyond the three-dimensional, so it becomes hard to understand things we are not wired to understand."
"Like explaining colors to a dog," Shinji said, cracking his knuckles only slightly as he unclasped his fingers. "Even so, some things can be related to a higher intelligence, rather than simple animal-like instinct. Malice, for example, is a key trait that belongs to intelligent beings alone...and dolphins."
"Considering dolphins are the most intelligent species after man," Ritsuko replied, "Then perhaps intelligence and evil are inherently linked."
"Although the saying does go that an act born of stupidity is indifferent from one of malice," Shinji said as he stretched a bit, before standing up. "Morality does not concern itself with biology however," he stared at the picture one last time. "I wonder, will we one day look back at this, and condemn it as the murder of an innocent life?"
"I doubt that would be the case, Doctor Ikari," Ritsuko said. "We are speaking of an Angel."
"Who knows, Doctor Ikari," Shinji replied, his lips twitching in a slightly amused smile. "Science fiction is filled with misunderstandings between different species leading to genocides that are cried upon later on," he began to walk towards the door. "Guess I'll go see how the Evangelion's holding up-" and in that moment, the alarm took the cue to blare loudly.
Two minutes later, Shinji's body hit the insides of the Evangelion Zero-One cockpit as the LCL liquid filled its insides from a nearby tank, the battery pack installed on its back soon working its due as the countdown sequence began to play on the upper right side of Shinji's vision.
Ten minutes. Ten minutes of operation per battery pack.
Rei's face appeared on his left, the young woman concentrating on the task ahead of her. "Remember the training, Shinji," Rei said.
"Wait for the experts to fish him out," Misato's voice came through as the Major spoke from the mobile command base, which was revving away at quite the fast speed together with the rest of the crew. Up in the air, a helicopter unloaded its cargo before hightailing it away in turn, leaving only the two Evas to withstand with their AT-Fields the blast of the N2 mine detonated within the volcano.
The reason for it was simple.
While the Angel had a developed AT-Field, and while it was true that it was difficult to pinpoint its exact location, one thing was sure.
If there's no longer a volcano in the way, then fishing something out becomes a trifling easy thing to do.
The Evangelions had been outfitted with trident-shaped weapons, built to withstand incredible heat and to have their heads thrust forth with jet-powered engines both forward and backward. The bubbling pit of magma was a scene of hell, the mountain literally vaporized from the explosion as well as its surroundings, leaving behind only flat land and the wailing cries of what seemed like a newborn child.
"Rei-Are you hearing this?" Shinji asked, his ears straining to find the source of the noise.
"Ignore it," Rei replied. "Concentrate on-"
The ground quaked and shook as fissures of hot air began to burst from below the Evangelions' feet. Shinji jumped back, as did Rei. The wailing stopped abruptly, tendrils similar to those of large centipedes erupting from the fissures as a massive, scaled figure emerged with a bellowing shriek. Crimson eyes shone upon a short pyramidal head at the far end of a large stocky body. A circular mouth surrounded by feelers screamed loud enough to make Shinji's skin tremble, the LCL bubbling as heat rose in the immediate surroundings of the creature.
The fish-like tail suddenly snapped cleanly in half, forming legs upon which the Angel stood up. Rei hadn't stood by to watch however, and her Trident had already unleashed its rocket head to slam against the tough scales of the monster, sparks sailing in the air on the point of contact.
Shinji screamed as he rushed forth in turn, putting all of his strength behind his blow. The impact against the hardened scale had no effect, even as he pushed the button to unleash the jet-head at point-blank range. With a slow, crude movement Sandalphon backhanded him away, taking his first uneasy steps upon the land beneath it.
"Da...Da..." Sandalphon said, his limbs moving up and down towards Eva-Zero One's fallen form. Shinji's eyes widened as the Angel's mouth opened up, rows upon rows of teeth shining through. "Da...da-"
Rei was in front of the creature within mere instants, the Trident once more formed and thrust, this time straight through the creature's mouth. The flesh ruptured as Rei's evangelion jumped forward, forcing the creature to topple on its back.
"Rei-Rei wait! It's communicating-" Shinji's words fell on deaf ears as Rei screamed from the effort of slamming down against the Angel's mouth the tips of her trident.
"Mama..." the Angel whined as blood sprayed out from its mouth, the weakest point of his body. The powerful limbs tried to grip onto Rei's Evangelion form, but the AT-Field of the Eva held him at bay.
Rei's Evangelion opened its mouth to howl, and with a thunderous crack, the trident tips shattered at the edges, allowing for the now spear-shaped weapon to pierce straight through the Alien's body and hit the back of its head.
There was a brief moment of silence as the Angel seemed to suddenly fill itself up with air, before exploding in a shower of blood and scales.
"The Angel had its core in the back of its mouth," Rei spoke through the audio feeds, but Shinji wasn't listening to her any longer.
The Angel was trying to communicate.
Considering the speed at which he had gone from wails to the first baby words, it could have been capable of speech in a matter of minutes. They were speaking Japanese-Japanese wasn't easy to understand, or learn, but the Angel's speed in adapting and learning-it could have learned. It could have been made to understand-or they could have understood why it was acting that way.
They could have understood why Earth was under attack.
"Shinji, are you all right?" Rei asked, "Respond."
"I'm fine," Shinji said in the end. "The Angel-it was capable of speech...we could have spoken with it-"
"It was a threat," Rei answered. "All Angels are."
And with that answer, there was now one thing that Shinji knew without a doubt.
After mosquitoes, the number one animal that killed the most in the whole world...
Was the Human.
'By fire nature is restored in purity', correct?
1. Figures it'd be the volcano angel.The stifling heat of Mount Sakruajima was felt even kilometers from it, the once pacific mount now an active volcano since the times of Second Impact. Within it, the Blue Pattern typical of angels had been discovered by the magi in advance, but the images had shown an egg of sorts, an embryo. This...This meant a lot
See? Shinji's overthinking things."The presence of an egg means reproduction," Shinji pointed out. "It means sexual behavior. It means courting rituals. The abandoning of the egg indicates a lack of attachment for their spawn, or perhaps have we only encountered children of alien creatures? Until now we thought the Angels to be alien warlords, but what if they were alien children?" Shinji clasped his fingers together, propping his chin near them as he glanced at the pictures with intensity, as if he had missed a detail of it. "It looks like a human embryo," he continued. "Considering the speed of Israfel's evolution and mutations, is it possible that we are dealing with a singular, highly adaptive species trying to find the perfect war form?"
Dolphins. The Frat Boys of the ocean.Ritsuko took a small puff, and then sighed. "All theories are viable when it comes to dealing with the Angels. They possess bodies that sometimes go beyond the three-dimensional, so it becomes hard to understand things we are not wired to understand."
"Like explaining colors to a dog," Shinji said, cracking his knuckles only slightly as he unclasped his fingers. "Even so, some things can be related to a higher intelligence, rather than simple animal-like instinct. Malice, for example, is a key trait that belongs to intelligent beings alone...and dolphins."
Yes. Let's throw a nuclear device down a volcano. That will absolutely not cause massive tectonic disturbances at all, assuming the device doesn't melt before reaching its target depth."Wait for the experts to fish him out," Misato's voice came through as the Major spoke from the mobile command base, which was revving away at quite the fast speed together with the rest of the crew. Up in the air, a helicopter unloaded its cargo before hightailing it away in turn, leaving only the two Evas to withstand with their AT-Fields the blast of the N2 mine detonated within the volcano.
The reason for it was simple.
While the Angel had a developed AT-Field, and while it was true that it was difficult to pinpoint its exact location, one thing was sure.
If there's no longer a volcano in the way, then fishing something out becomes a trifling easy thing to do.
This is why dropping in Asuka happened: because getting an Angel before it activated to study is worth the risk.The ground quaked and shook as fissures of hot air began to burst from below the Evangelions' feet. Shinji jumped back, as did Rei. The wailing stopped abruptly, tendrils similar to those of large centipedes erupting from the fissures as a massive, scaled figure emerged with a bellowing shriek. Crimson eyes shone upon a short pyramidal head at the far end of a large stocky body. A circular mouth surrounded by feelers screamed loud enough to make Shinji's skin tremble, the LCL bubbling as heat rose in the immediate surroundings of the creature.
... whelp."Da...Da..." Sandalphon said, his limbs moving up and down towards Eva-Zero One's fallen form. Shinji's eyes widened as the Angel's mouth opened up, rows upon rows of teeth shining through. "Da...da-"
There are three possibilities I can think of from this:"Rei-Rei wait! It's communicating-" Shinji's words fell on deaf ears as Rei screamed from the effort of slamming down against the Angel's mouth the tips of her trident.
"Mama..." the Angel whined as blood sprayed out from its mouth, the weakest point of his body. The powerful limbs tried to grip onto Rei's Evangelion form, but the AT-Field of the Eva held him at bay.
*sigh* This isn't going to help Shinji's anti-soldier mentality at all.Rei's Evangelion opened its mouth to howl, and with a thunderous crack, the trident tips shattered at the edges, allowing for the now spear-shaped weapon to pierce straight through the Alien's body and hit the back of its head.
There was a brief moment of silence as the Angel seemed to suddenly fill itself up with air, before exploding in a shower of blood and scales.
"The Angel had its core in the back of its mouth," Rei spoke through the audio feeds, but Shinji wasn't listening to her any longer.
The Angel was trying to communicate.
Way to get overemotional about this Shinji. Use your liberal-arts brain for five seconds and think. So what if the Angel had been communicating? It's a child with the capabilities of an Evangelion. There was no way to secure the thing once it had activated, assuming it would even understand what you or anyone else said to it. That was an infant alien, if we're going by your own best guess, who could wipe out humanity with a single temper tantrum. And since it's an infant, what is it going to know/communicate? It's a baby! Babies don't know things!"Shinji, are you all right?" Rei asked, "Respond."
"I'm fine," Shinji said in the end. "The Angel-it was capable of speech...we could have spoken with it-"
"It was a threat," Rei answered. "All Angels are."
And with that answer, there was now one thing that Shinji knew without a doubt.
After mosquitoes, the number one animal that killed the most in the whole world...
Was the Human.
I am sorry but I cant get over Killology being an actual word.'By fire nature is restored in purity', correct?
1. Figures it'd be the volcano angel.
2. Great, Shinji's gonna be overthinking this.
See? Shinji's overthinking things.
It's too soon to be making any sort of conclusive guess or theory Shinji. Chillax.
Dolphins. The Frat Boys of the ocean.
Yes. Let's throw a nuclear device down a volcano. That will absolutely not cause massive tectonic disturbances at all, assuming the device doesn't melt before reaching its target depth.
This is why dropping in Asuka happened: because getting an Angel before it activated to study is worth the risk.
... whelp.
There are three possibilities I can think of from this:
1. The Angel was communicating as a form of psychological warfare.
2. The Angel was trying to communicate with Shinji and Rei.
3. That was all in Shinji's head. The angel never communicated, it was an auditory hallucination.
If it's the first, Shinji's freezing means he'll have to be run through some killology.
If it's the second, we'll come back to that.
If it's the third, then Shinji's in for some disciplinary measures and the killology.
*sigh* This isn't going to help Shinji's anti-soldier mentality at all.
Way to get overemotional about this Shinji. Use your liberal-arts brain for five seconds and think. So what if the Angel had been communicating? It's a child with the capabilities of an Evangelion. There was no way to secure the thing once it had activated, assuming it would even understand what you or anyone else said to it. That was an infant alien, if we're going by your own best guess, who could wipe out humanity with a single temper tantrum. And since it's an infant, what is it going to know/communicate? It's a baby! Babies don't know things!
Simply put, keeping the Angel alive was putting the human race at risk of being wiped out for nonexistent gains. So rather than act like an emo college student who's had a freshman philosophy course, act like the college professor you are and critically analyze your own theories.
He's a biologist. Meaning he studies life. And here was new life, almost literally begging to be studied. And his partner killed it with neither thought nor remorse.Way to get overemotional about this Shinji. Use your liberal-arts brain for five seconds and think. So what if the Angel had been communicating? It's a child with the capabilities of an Evangelion. There was no way to secure the thing once it had activated, assuming it would even understand what you or anyone else said to it. That was an infant alien, if we're going by your own best guess, who could wipe out humanity with a single temper tantrum. And since it's an infant, what is it going to know/communicate? It's a baby! Babies don't know things!
Simply put, keeping the Angel alive was putting the human race at risk of being wiped out for nonexistent gains. So rather than act like an emo college student who's had a freshman philosophy course, act like the college professor you are and critically analyze your own theories.
You and me both, Shinji!What if someone goes by and steals them away from you because you remained indecisive? You can't let that happen! Or well, you can, but only if your backup plan involves a quaint quiet spot in the woods to dump a corpse."
Shinji's smile was now nervously twitching, his body leaning slightly away from the man in question.
Kensuke leaned forward, and whispered with a conspiracy-like tone of voice, "I can show you some nice places where the ground's really soft, Shinji." He then winked, and returned sitting upright.
Toji merely laughed at the joke, but Shinji had the inkling it wasn't a joke.
"You have fun with that. I'm going to go with the considered opinion that 'putting a guy with a terrible hangover in an Entry Plug and filling his lungs and throat with liquid is a bad idea', and not do that."
You should take her as a girlfriend and then wife.
....boy, it's a really good thing Shinji was too hungover to hear that part... or contemplate why a naked-apron Rei was already waiting in his apartment, making him breakfast. It should be a warning sign when he is more coherent, though. This is making Asuka's approach look classy, restrained, and subtle."Also, I took the liberty of breaking down the wall separating our terraces," Rei continued. "This way, I can ensure a faster reaction time in case of need."
'A lit cigarette in her mouth' is what I think you're aiming for. 'A cigarette lit in her mouth' implies Ritsuko somehow ignited it while it was inside her mouth. Which I admit would be a neat trick.
Every carnivorous species on the planet would like to question your conclusions, mister not-a-scientist-or-mathematician.After mosquitoes, the number one animal that killed the most in the whole world...
Was the Human.
Take it up with (ex) Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman.I am sorry but I cant get over Killology being an actual word.
Holy fuck, that feels like a silly made up buzz word
He can study the corpse, like Dr. Rits does as part of her job.He's a biologist. Meaning he studies life. And here was new life, almost literally begging to be studied. And his partner killed it with neither thought nor remorse.
Passenger pigeon. Atlantic cod.Every carnivorous species on the planet would like to question your conclusions, mister not-a-scientist-or-mathematician.
Still kill less often and in smaller numbers than every obligate carnivore on the planet.
I mean, were they there in the first place? He's been clinical towards her at best and drunk people often miss the point of very important things, like, say, your neighbor cooking you breakfast in nothing but an apron. If he had been sober... It would have gone like Misato's attempt, in all probability.
A decade or more of constant rejection, heartbreak and hurt feelings?HOW is Asuka the most emotionally sensitive (at least towards his feeling) out of the lot?
When the competition is a Yandere Soldier, the bar for acceptable behavior is a bit low.HOW is Asuka the most emotionally sensitive (at least towards his feeling) out of the lot?
Shadenight's done a bang-up job of putting you into the main character's mind, is what you're saying. Shinji isn't necessarily right, but you're in his head.Man, I'm really feeling the horror involved with the baby angel trying to speak to its "parents" and being brutally murdered. This was a great chapter, I've been reading along a lot but this one truly drew me in and made me feel... even if that feeling is horror, something more than most fics do.
That's how you get non-cooperative soldiers. Take the background story of Doom 1: Sargent orders Doomguy to fire on civilians. Doomguy turns most of the Sargent's bones into paste. Doomguy gets re-assigned to Mars. Demons promptly invade Earth and Mars. Guess which planet fairs better?I'm getting the feeling that when Shinji brings up that the Angel was trying to communicate, the whole senior staff plus Rei will collectively rebuke him with something along the lines of "ignore it, nothing it could possibly say is of interest to us - that is to say, we don't care it was trying to talk, you're being paid to kill it, not to make friends with it".
Like Asuka wouldn't follow him. And she has the cash to do it, too!