Got the code done in time, though we couldn't test it due to issues with the test server. Oh well. Anyway, chapter 39 follows, cut in half as stated above.
----
It was on that day that we realized just how badly outclassed we were. Well, more like found out the hard way. And as amusing as it might sound to the reader in light of certain subsequent events, it was on that very day when I felt the closest to fearing for my life - and for good reason. As bad as the thought of having to face two Angels at once sounded, it was nothing compared to what came afterwards. We had numerical superiority - but in the end, it didn't mean a thing against him.
Paradoxical as it sounds, having nightmares about that day would've been a blessing, not a curse. For the simple reason that if that would've been the most traumatic experience I went through, I wouldn't be the man I am today.
----
Western Siberia, Yenisei Estuary
1517 hours, local time
"This... could be a problem." – Kaworu murmured as he stared down the twin Angels. Now that he had a clear look, he noticed they weren't
completely identical in terms of coloration; one seemed to have a very slight golden sheen to it. Whether it was Israfel or Sarafiel, he had no way of knowing.
The lull only lasted for a moment before Asuka opened fire on the Angel closer to her. Immediately the Angel moved like lightning, hand lashing out to project an AT-field that stopped the attack dead in its tracks; at the same time, the other Angel stepped behind the first's AT-field and its hands flew to the side before releasing a flurry of energy beams that immediately changed direction in right-angle turns to go around the AT-field and head straight towards Unit-02.
"Whoa!" – Asuka yelped and dived to the side, the shotgun-like barrage zipping through where she stood a second before to pulverize the snow behind her. Yet as soon as Kaworu and Rei opened fire themselves, the Angel stepped in front of the other and projected an AT-field from
each hand, blocking the incoming fire from both attackers while the second Angel dropped its own field to do a sweeping motion with its arms that released a flat spread of energy beams, each beam immediately diving down and hugging the ground before heading outwards at knee-height.
"Jump!" – Rei barked and Kaworu decided better than to question it, clumsily jumping over the incoming barrage and immediately stumbling down to one knee upon landing. Try as he might, he simply didn't have the experience the girls seemed to have at controlling something that big, even with the added help of feeling its sense of balance.
Looking up, he saw both Angels making a simultaneous gesture akin to slamming the edge of their palms on a table and an identical pair of rings of light materializing behind them, Kaworu immediately recognizing it as the same phenomenon as what Shamshel did while flying. Yet instead of flying, the Angels shot forward, gliding over the ground at high speed, rhythmically weaving left and right crossing each other's path in a smooth sinusoidal pattern that was almost mesmerizing to watch.
"What now?!"
"Group up!" – Asuka ordered. – "Don't chase them, they've got superior mobility and will surround and pick us apart one by one if we split up!"
Beginning to walk backwards towards the others, Unit-01 took aim and fired at the Angel which happened to be closer at the moment (as far as Kaworu could tell, what with their constant movement). Not that it really mattered, since it wasn't like Kaworu's aim was good enough to hit a target not moving in a straight line - not to mention that the Angel just held up one hand and deflected the few bullets that actually met their mark without even slowing down. At the same time, the other Angel released another barrage but this time, it was aimed at him instead of at Unit-02.
Remembering Asuka's response earlier, Kaworu dived out of the way. Luckily, the beams didn't seem to be able to change direction this far away from the Angel, which was good for him. He looked up just in time to see the Angel extend some kind of energy blade from its palm that left a glowing trail behind itself as the Angel deftly dodged a close-range shot from Unit-00 and swiped at the Evangelion before it could reload...
...only for the Evangelion to let go of its cannon and bend so far backwards that its reactor thumped against the ground, the blade flashing past the chest armor so close as to cast a shadow on the ground below. Before the Angel could react, Unit-00 kicked off the ground into a brief handstand before flipping back onto its feet and immediately charging. The Angel immediately reversed the slash but Rei was faster, grabbing the Angel's elbow and yanking it behind her to make the Angel stumble forward before stepping behind it and twisting the arm so far backwards that if the Angel would've been human, it would've ended up with a dislocated and very likely broken shoulder joint.
Luckily for Sarafiel, she wasn't human.
Rei only realized her mistake of assuming human anatomy in her foe when said foe's hand turned a full 180° and let loose an energy blast in the blind that just barely missed Unit-00's head, shattering the right shoulder rack. Then the Angel spun around and hurled Unit-00 away so hard that the Evangelion literally flew nearly two hundred hundred meters before hitting ground in a massive eruption of snow.
"
What were you trying to achieve with that?" – Sarafiel quipped with amusement, evidently having realized what happened.
Unit-00 was back on its feet in an instant, though Kaworu noted a slight stumble, as in pain. He immediately seized the opportunity and fired to cover her - or at least tried to, only for nothing to happen.
"
Magazine depleted." – Adam informed him.
Quickly fumbling for the ejection option on his HUD and sending the empty box magazine on the bottom of his rifle plunging into the snow, Kaworu had Unit-01 reach up to its right shoulder rack, which opened and extended a spare magazine. It took him several tries to actually get it into the receptacle on the weapon itself, though, as the hole didn't have enough clearance for anything but an exact angle that wasn't easy with the level of manual dexterity he actually had with the Evangelion. A part of him noted that maybe he should tell Yui about it once back in Japan, but this wasn't the time to ponder on that.
He took aim but immediately held himself back. Rei was engaged in furiously agile melee combat with the Angel, dancing around its slashes while attempting to retaliate with her sole remaining progressive knife, but the Angel's reach was longer than hers. Though the Angel kept continually inching backwards, it wasn't due to being on the run: Sarafiel was deliberately maintaining just enough distance to stay out of knife range but still be able to strike back.
The Angel was clearly in control of the duel - and as Kaworu noted with rising alarm, Unit-00 actually seemed
tired from the way its movement was slowly becoming duller and slower. Yet he knew that if he fired now, his poor aim would risk hitting Rei as well.
Then he realized with a sinking feeling that he completely forgot about the other Angel. And the third member of his own side.
Just one second before a voice shook him out of it. – "Hey, idiot! Are you gonna stand there doing fuck-all, or are you gonna help?!"
Much to his surprise, Asuka didn't seem to need help at all, despite her lack of experience in an Evangelion. Unit-02 was engaged in a deadly dance with the other Angel, the two combatants exchanging fire at range instead of in melee. Yet despite the distance, there was no lack in speed in this particular duel either: Unit-02 made full use its A-type equipment to weave around the incoming attacks even as the Angel matched pace with its own hovering, trying to maneuver around the Evangelion to find an angle where its attacks would catch its foe by surprise. But Asuka was anything but helpless: not only she kept the Angel in her sights while evading its energy beams, Kaworu realized she was actually trying to synchronize her return fire with the Angel's attacks to get through in the gaps between it dropping its AT-field raising it again.
Come to think of it, Kaworu realized, he hadn't actually seen any of the Angels attack through their own AT-field.
"MOVE IT!" – Asuka roared again as she abruptly reversed her heading and streaked in the opposite direction, causing Israfel's latest attack to hit only snow. Not that it gave the Angel any pause, as he immediately readjusted his aim even while evading her return fire.
His attention was only derailed by the bullets hitting his back, as Kaworu noted that even though Sarafiel was too close to Rei to be a target, that did not apply to Israfel who was safely far away from Asuka and was currently too focused on her to notice Unit-01 flanking him. The distraction lasted for only a moment before the Angel tracked the source and immediately threw up his AT-field in that direction with one hand without even looking, the other hand's palm continuing to fire on Unit-02. Yet being forced to multitask in three directions (his two foes and his own movement) at once took its toll, as the Angel's movement seemed to slow down.
A fact promptly proven when Unit-02's next burst exploded across Israfel's chest, eliciting a grunt of pain from the Angel as he stumbled and missed his own shot by a wide margin.
In the same instant, Sarafiel's head snapped towards Israfel. The Angel's entire body lit up with an unnatural glow, the air around her distorting with a mirage-like haze before air split and Sarafiel shot out towards Unit-01 like a giant, glowing cannonball, crossing the intervening distance in a split second and slamming into the Evangelion at full speed before Rei could open her mouth for a warning.
A gasp of pain tore itself out of Kaworu's mouth as the Evangelion tumbled end over end before resting on its back.
"
Internal skeletal damage detected." – Adam reported.
And the pain indeed felt like it was coming from his ribs. – "Y-yeah... I detected that too..."
Then his world became one of pain once more as Sarafiel blasted Unit-01 in the chest. At the same time, Israfel turned his full attention back to Unit-02 and began closing the distance, evidently in an attempt to break the stalemate. Gritting his teeth, Kaworu clamped his finger down on the trigger of Unit-01's chest autocannons. pushing the Evangelion up from the ground on its elbows just enough for the barrels to point at Sarafiel. It was blind fire, but it was enough to make the Angel raise her AT-field.
Which was enough time for him to grab Unit-01's dropped assault rifle and add it into the equation as well.
Spreading her arms wide, Sarafiel crouched down, the ring of light flaring back to life behind her back a moment before she blasted off directly upwards with enough force to shower him in debris, far faster than he could track with his eye or aim. Eyes darting up, Kaworu barely managed to catch the Angel's silhouette and throw Unit-01 out of the way before the Angel's feet plowed into the ground right where Unit-01 was, once again sending snow and soil flying. Yet Kaworu wasn't about to let her regain the advantage. Seeing his chance, he flopped back towards Sarafiel and grabbed her closer feet, yanking it hard enough to make the Angel stumble and pulling himself closer to her.
And as he saw Sarafiel aim her palm at him again, Kaworu heard what can best be described as a snarl over the radio, there was an orange flash – and the Angel was suddenly no longer standing above him.
Tumbling end over end from the force of its foe tackling her, Sarafiel managed to dislodge Unit-00 with a kick. Yet the Evangelion swiftly got back onto its feet and charged, Rei glaring at the Angel all but through her eyebrows, eyes promising nothing but
murder. Sarafiel immediately moved to intercept Unit-00 with a horizontal slash, but the Evangelion ducked into a powerslide and plowed directly into the Angel's foot, hands immediately flying up to grab the front of her torso as she began to fell onto Unit-00 before the Eva practically kicked itself off the ground, lifted the Angel off her feet and violently slammed her into the ground.
Sarafiel immediately tried to take aim, only to hit nothing but air as Unit-00 grabbed her wrist and pushed it aside before yanking it upwards and burying its progressive knife hilt-deep into the arm. A howl of absolute
rage tore itself out of Rei's throat as Unit-00 lifted a foot and forcefully stomped down on the Angel.
Israfel immediately spun around and snapped out a shot towards Unit-00 which narrowly missed. Yet his body barely started shimmering in the same manner as Sarafiel's before a red-armored leg curled around his and pulled it out from underneath him at the same time as a palm pushed against his upper body from behind and slammed him face-first into the ground. – "You're not going
anywhere, fucker!" – Asuka growled, kneeling into the Angel's back and resting Unit-02's entire weight on it while pulling both of his arms back. – "Block
this!" – Unit-02's head autocannons roared to life, unleashing their payload into Israfel's unprotected back at practically point-blank range, drawing blood and making the Angel hiss in pain.
"
YES!" – Sekhmet roared. – "
SPILL THE BLOOD!"
Sarafiel's eyes instantly glanced towards Israfel, her face narrowly missing another stomp from Unit-00. The ring of light flashed up behind her as she tried to propel herself free, yet Unit-00 immediately grabbed a hold of her feet and pulled itself up, causing Sarafiel to tumble from the weight as Unit-00 scaled her body, not letting go despite both of them being dragged along the ground, and viciously slammed a fist into her face, again and again, not even bothering to use the progressive knife said fist was still gripping.
At the same time, a ring of light flared up above Israfel and the Angel attempted to rise with Unit-02 still on his back, only for Unit-01's armored boot to slam his upper body right back down. Yet as he took aim to supplement Unit-02's firepower with his own, Kaworu felt a wave of irritation that made him pause for a second. That was all the time Israfel needed: concentric octagons of energy appeared around his forearms and Asuka let out a surprised yelp as her Evangelion's shoulders were suddenly seized by two Israfel mirages that summarily threw her off of the actual Angel before vanishing into the thin air they materialized out of. Kaworu finally snapped out of his surprise and opened fire, but it was too late: Israfel shot out like a rocket and plowed straight into Unit-01's sole leg that was standing on the ground. This, coupled with the other leg resting the Evangelion's weight on the currently moving Angel's back, resulted in Unit-01 being quite literally flipped over as if it got the rug pulled out from under it, falling face-first into the snow.
Inside the entry plug, Kaworu let out a long sigh before beginning to get up. At least this time he knew for a fact that the frustration he felt was his own, seeing how he was beginning to get
really tired of being tossed around like a ragdoll.
Veering sharply towards Sarafiel, Israfel's eyes flashed and an explosion erupted over Unit-00's back, weakening its grip just enough for Sarafiel to finally kick her off and get back into the air herself. The two Angels streaked towards each other and in perfect sync extended one arm each and gripped each other's hand, their momentum making them spin around in perfect symmetry as they fell back down, an ethereal glow building up in their free hands.
Then the Angels simultaneously slammed their glowing palms into the ground and a spherical shockwave erupted that kicked up not just snow, but even some of the dust underneath, obscuring the Evangelions' sight.
"Group up!" – Asuka barked out. – "They might be trying to use a smokescreen to flank us!"
The three Evangelions immediately scrambled to their feet and stood back to back, each looking in a different direction. Kaworu glanced to his left at Unit-00, the radio still transmitting a ragged breathing.
Evidently Asuka heard it too. – "Cool it, Blue! They could be coming from any direction!"
"
I know!" – Rei growled in a tone Kaworu had never,
ever, heard the girl use before. She was
furious to the point where she sounded ready to kill – and knowing how well she controlled herself under normal circumstances, he found that observation definitely worrisome.
His pondering was interrupted when he noticed a silhouette from the corner of his eye. Taking aim immediately, he nevertheless held back when he realized it wasn't the right shape. If anything, it looked more like...
The snow and dust settled to reveal an exact mirror image of Unit-01 pointing its assault rifle straight at him, Unit-00 and Unit-02 flanking it from the left and right, respectively.
Or rather, a
lot of mirror images in an endless kaleidoscope.
"Now what?" – he muttered. Then he saw all of the Unit-02s simultaneously raise a hand and make the exact same gesture.
"It's a mirror." – Asuka reported.
"More like a lot of mirrors." – Kaworu replied before he had a thought. – "Rei!" – He opened Unit-01's right shoulder rack and tossed its progressive knife to Unit-00, who deftly caught it and acknowledged with a silent nod before giving it a brief twirl and returning to its vigil.
"
I am not detecting any terrain obstruction in radar." – Lilith reported. – "
This phenomenon appears to be limited to visual and infrared wavelengths only."
"Or it could be some kind of radar-dampening countermeasure." – Asuka said quietly. – "Eyes open. These guys are coordinating so well that they might as well be reading each other's mind."
'
They are.' Tabris answered, not that the girl showed any signs of having heard it.
Come to think of it, Kaworu realized he barely even heard the twin Angels talking during the battle. Not that the drone he fought last time was any more talkative, but at least he knew that one was a drone. These Angels, however, were not - and their silence aside from the grunts when they were injured was a mite unnerving.
"There is a pattern to their actions." – Rei pointed out, sounding slightly calmer. – "When one is attacked, the other immediately retaliates."
"I noticed that too." – Asuka replied. – "Every time we hurt one of them, the other dropped what it was doing and went after the offender. They're mutually covering each other."
"So?" – Kaworu asked.
"Forget about focusing on one at a time. We have to split them up and pin them both down at the same time, keep them from helping each other. And we've gotta do it fast; our ammo's not gonna last forever and they've got superior mobility, so they're gonna run rings around us once we're out."
Further discussion was cut off by Rei's bark of – "Incoming!" – as a ripple ran across the mirror wall as it was water and Sarafiel shot out of the center, directly at Kaworu.
He barely leaned out of the way of her blade in time, just before a lightning-fast grab by Unit-00 intercepted the Angel and yanked it right out of the air. Yet instead of being smashed into the ground again, Sarafiel's body twisted with impossible fluidity and dropkicked Unit-00's chest hard enough to make it let go, then immediately used the momentum to spin around and roundhouse-kick Unit-02 in the face before evading Unit-01's counterattack and zipping away flying backwards at lightning speed until it vanished into the mirrored surface, which once again rippled from her passing through.
"Fuck, that guy was fast!" – Asuka complained as soon as she recovered, the three Evangelions quickly getting back to her lookout position.
Another few tense seconds passed and Kaworu noticed a slight flicker in their mirror images just before Israfel burst through. The target this time was Asuka, who saw the Angel coming and unleashed everything she had against his AT-field before ducking to the side. And at the same moment, Rei stepped into his way and swiftly jammed both progressive knives into Israfel's front, his own momentum carrying him forward and cutting a pair of deep, bleeding gashes across the entire front of his body.
He didn't even stop for a counterattack but fled immediately, drawing a trail of blood across the snow before vanishing into the mirror.
"
Excellent!" – Sekhmet approved.
"Are they going for hit and run attacks now?" – Kaworu asked.
"I don't know, but that's our cue to get moving!" – came Asuka's response. – "They'll keep hitting us again and again if we keep sitting here! Let's go!"
"Where?!"
"Out of here, idiot! I bet that mirror thing isn't solid or else they wouldn't be able to pass through it themselves!"
"And what if it's only solid when they're coming through?! You say those mirage things, they can do that!"
"Then we'll grab the fucker that next comes at us and ram it halfway through the fucking wall if we have to! Use your brain for once!"
With that, Unit-02 broke into a sprint, the other two following close behind. Sarafiel was on them before they could reach the wall, launching a powerful blast into the ground ahead of Unit-02 in an attempt to force the Evangelion into stopping. Not that Unit-02 fell for it, returning fire while running to keep the Angel forced to shield itself but otherwise refusing to stop.
And indeed, the three Evangelions passed through the mirror wall without resistance – and as soon as they did, the entire phenomenon just blinked out of existence. One moment it was there, the next there was nothing but open terrain, without any transition. Off to the side, Israfel was faintly visible in the snowfall. As soon as the wall was gone, Sarafiel immediately veered away on her attack run and steaked back towards her ally, dropping to the ground and skidding to a halt right next to him.
Then both Angels materialized the octagonal rings around their forearms and in perfectly synchronized motion, snapped off a quick series of gestures before slamming their hands together. Kaworu thought he saw something black flash between them but in the next moment, everything but his HUD went completely dark.
"Shit!" – Asuka swore. – "I lost visual feed!"
"Mine's out too!" – he replied.
"As is mine." – Rei added.
"
I'm not detecting anything wrong with my eyes." – Lilith reported. – "
My external cameras have gone dark as well. Something's wrong outside."
Quite literally like a flare in the darkness, Kaworu saw four cones of light spear through the darkness as a quartet of powerful searchlights shone from Unit-00, two on the upper chest, two on the head. The snow they illuminated was of almost blinding contrast with the blackness above, but failed to piece the veil of dark. Both Unit-01 and Unit-02 turned on their own searchlights, the former doing so entirely on Adam's judgment while Kaworu mentally filed away the knowledge that his Evangelion even
had searchlights, a fact he was formerly unaware of.
"Now what? Did these guys drop us underground or something?"
"
I cannot tell." – Lilith replied. – "
My terrain mapping radar indicates we are still in the same location. However, I am unable to detect anything beyond a six hundred meter radius. The threshold of the volume of space we are in appears to reflect all electromagnetic waves."
"So it's like a two-way mirror now?"
"
It also reflects radio waves. Our radars are completely blinded by their own reflected signals. Lidar is likely to be affected as well."
"
The cowards will be coming under the cover of darkness." – Sekhmet seethed.
"
That... is a fair assessment, yes. It would appear these particular Angels are highly adept at manipulating electromagnetic radiation of all wavelengths, be it focusing, redirection, reflection or dispersal. Aside from their wide-area ranged attacks, it may also explain why our telemetry links went offline half an hour ago, shortly before our deployment."
"Which does not help us at all." – Asuka snapped. – "And we are
not playing this game again. Same deal, everyone: huddle up and let's go."
"I don't think they're going to just let us walk out of here again." – Kaworu pointed out.
"Do you have a better idea?!"
"...no."
----
Geofront, AEL Headquarters
Same time
"Contact is now passing over the Baikal region." – Hyuga reported.
"ETA?" – Shephard asked, wiping his forehead. He wasn't the type to usually sweat when agitated, but it would seem even his nerves had their limits. All contact with the Evangelions was lost when they arrived to the target area and their unknown contact was still closing on them without slowing down.
Closing in on his daughter.
"About ten minutes."
"And we still don't have eyes on it?"
"We're using the protocols the military gave us last month to borrow their satellites, but it's no good." – Maya reported. – "It's moving so quickly that all the satellites in visual range can't provide anything clearer than this." – A blurry image appeared on the control center's main screen, little more than an orange blob with a bright blue trail.
'
Like one of those foo fighter things.' Shephard mused, recalling an old documentary he once saw in his teens. Well, as much as a TV documentary talking about 20th century UFO sightings could be called a documentary, seeing how there was no evidence of extraterrestrial life at the time those documentaries were made. Or at least, no evidence anyone other than the fringe elements commonly referred to as 'conspiracy theory nutjobs' took seriously.
He sometimes wondered if any of them felt vindicated by Second Impact.
His thoughts were interrupted by Aoba's uncertain voice. – "Uh, sir...?"
"What is it?"
"The satellites just picked up a second contact. It's just within lunar orbit, but it's approaching Earth at a speed that... I mean, I'm not sure if it's instrument malfunction on those satellites. Whatever it is, its gravimetric signature is a match for an Angel, but the magnitude is
way beyond the previous ones. It already fried the gravimetric sensors on several satellites and the speed..."
"I'm going to take a guess and say that it's going
really damn fast." – Shephard deadpanned. – "Close enough?"
"Depends on how close nine million kilometers per hour is for you, sir."
A long silence settled on the command center before Yui quietly asked – "Mister Aoba, correct me if I'm wrong, but... is that not relativistic speed?"
"Yes, ma'am. Just above 0.8% of light speed."
"And in realspace too." – Hyuga murmured. – "The sheer energy required for that..."
"...is far more than what we've got." – Shephard finished, agitation making way to cold dread.
----
Kaworu involuntarily let out a yelp as an Angel's hand suddenly emerged from the darkness and backhanded Unit-01 in the face hard enough to make the Evangelion fall into a sitting position. The other two immediately turned around, but the Angel was already gone from searchlight range, without anyone ever having seen which Angel was it.
This wasn't the first strike the Angels have gotten in. There was simply no way for the three of them to see the attacks coming in the pitch black and the Angels abused that fact to no end, not only ambushing them over and over from different directions but doing so without using energy blasts, palm blades or anything that could gave away their position with light.
"How much more to go?!" – Asuka demanded.
"
We're not going anywhere!" – Sekhmet growled.
"What do you mean?! The compass is still working, I know they hadn't turned us around!"
"
Sekhmet is right." – Lilith interjected. - "
The terrain beneath us is moving, but the edge of the area we can detect with terrain mapping radar is not approaching."
"How can-" – the girl paused at that same time as Kaworu made the same realization. – "Is this thing moving with us?!"
"
It would seem so."
"For fuck's sake!" – Asuka raged, Kaworu hearing a thump he guessed was the sound of her slamming a fist into her entry plug seat. – "I'm starting to get really sick of this!"
"Has the size of the area our sensors are limited to changed?" – Rei asked.
"
No. It is constant."
"Then there could be an upper limit to how large a volume they are able to enclose like this. I propose we head in different directions."
"No way!" – Asuka protested. – "We break up, they'll gang up on us one by one. I don't need to watch horror movies to know that you
never split up the gang if the other guy has the upper hand."
"You and I are capable of fighting against them individually."
"And what about him?" – Unit-02 thumbed at Unit-01. – "Someone's gotta cover his ass."
"No, she's right." – Kaworu interjected. – "They can't just cut me up with their blades because if they do, the light will give them away and the rest of us can shoot them in the back."
"Which is small consolation if they already finished cutting you up by the time we notice and take aim, let alone actually hit them! Blue doesn't have her assault cannon, remember?"
"What do we do, then? If we stay together, we'll never get out of here."
Unit-02 swept its searchlights across the darkness to verify that no Angel was trying to creep up on them while they were talking before Asuka continued. – "There's one thing I want to try first."
"What?"
"Only one of them is coming at us at a time now. Same way as before. And they don't stay and fight, they just hit and run."
Which was a fact Kaworu was already aware of. – "Yeah, so?"
"Why aren't they attacking at the same time? You saw it too, we came out of the mirror thing, the other was just standing there, waiting."
"For its turn?"
"Maybe. But maybe they aren't attacking at the same time because they
can't. They made this thing and the mirror one too, it didn't just spring up on its own."
"One is required to maintain it." – Rei surmised.
"Exactly." – Asuka nodded. – "And then there's that other thing. That pattern we saw."
"That they're covering each other?" – Kaworu asked.
"Yeah. I wonder if we catch the one that comes at us next and tear it a new one, will it bait the other into dropping this field? As long as only one is coming at us at a time, it's three-on-one, which works in our favor."
"But how are we going to see it coming in this dark?"
He heard Asuka make a frustrated groan. – "With sonar, idiot! Have you even read the manual of these things?!"
"There is no manual." – Rei replied instead of him. – "One is supposed to be eventually compiled based on testing data from Unit-02 as the final production prototype."
"Whatever! Lights off, sonar on, and
stand still. Sekhmet, network with the others." – This time it was Asuka's turn to be on the receiving end of a frustrated groan. The AI clearly didn't have much patience for hunting such an elusive prey, but it wasn't as if she had much choice.
As the darkness engulfed the outside once more, Kaworu couldn't help but ask – "Why turn off the lights?"
"Because the light is giving away our position, that's why." – Asuka responded curtly. – "And before you ask, we were using them anyway because we can't see shit otherwise."
"You know they can probably see us anyway, right?"
"Could you possibly be any better at stating the obvious?!"
Kaworu just rolled his eyes and decided not to answer. He had a feeling that whatever he might say would just anger her even more. Which didn't sound like a good idea, though he honestly had doubts whether it was because of the imminent battle or just on general principle. Knowing her (as much as he could get to know her in just a few months, anyway), it could very well be the latter.
Whatever the case, he took a secure footing and tapped the holographic button that turned his Evangelion's external lights off, his HUD automatically dimming along with the drop in external lighting. Not that it really helped much, as the darkness outside was absolute. Not even the darkest of nights he had seen measured up to it - and seeing that he lived his entire life (that he could remember) near major cities, light pollution made those nights nowhere near as dark as this.
On the other hand, the Angels were still nowhere to be seen and that fact was mildly unnerving. '
Why aren't they attacking?'
'
They could be listening in on your plan.' Tabris supplied.
'
How? Can they hear radio?'
'
No. But they can hear you. And Lilim or not, the resonance of the light of the soul of a sentient lifeform transcends any language barrier. How do you think Shamshel could understand you, even through the Evangelion's flesh and armor?'
'
But... how does that even work? I mean, I don't understand this 'Lilim' thing you talk about, but we have dozens of languages, if not more. Even we don't understand each other, how can an Angel that isn't even from Earth understand us?'
'
That is a secret of the universe even Angels do not know. However, it does have its limitations. In our case, I do not believe Israfel or Sarafiel know what a sonar is, but do not count on them not being able to figure it out on their own. Harachel chose them as his pupils for a reason.'
Before Kaworu could ask for further clarification, the sonar display on his HUD pinged. –
"Intermittent contact detected on approach." – Adam reported.
"That's our cue!" – Asuka called out. – "Stay sharp!"
The three Evangelions all turned towards the source of the movement. Yet barely a second after the signal noise from their own movement ceased, so did the Angel's movement. A few more seconds later, the blip reappeared but started moving to the side, rather than towards them.
"It is probing the perimeter." – Rei observed quietly.
"How?" – Asuka asked with a hint of surprise. – "We're using passive sonar, there's no outgoing ping for it to hear."
Then the signal stopped moving again... and Kaworu suddenly saw the Angel's glowing silhouette in the distance before the Angel suddenly closed the distance in a split second and slammed straight into Unit-02, knocking the Evangelion off its feet.
"Fuck! I forgot they can do that!" – Asuka cried.
Before the Angel could retreat, however, Unit-00 swiftly tackled it to the ground and the Evangelion's searchlights came back on to render the Angel visible to the others. Sarafiel once again attempted to drag herself and her unwanted passenger along the ground to free herself, but Unit-00's weight slowed her down just enough for a running Unit-01 to catch up and leap onto Unit-00's back.
Kaworu could plainly hear a strangled sound from the Angel beneath the two Evangelion's full weight. Having dropped his rifle so that it won't get in the way, he retrieved Unit-01's remaining progressive knife and sank it hilt-deep into Sarafiel's side while he heard Unit-00 doing the same on the other side and the Angel started trashing to try and dislodge them. Kaworu unconsciously flinched and almost dropped the knife when the Angel suddenly backhanded Unit-01's head hard enough to daze him for a moment from the feedback against his sense of balance.
And as he swung the knife for another stab, Unit-01's wrist was suddenly caught by an Angel mirage that materialized next to him, immediately yanking the entire arm upwards hard enough for him to feel like his shoulder was on fire before it swept down with its other hand and clawed straight through the armor, deep enough for the boy to distinctly feel the claws scraping against bone.
Kaworu didn't know whether he
ever felt as much pain in his life as he did right now. Even gritting his teeth couldn't muffle the cry of pain that escaped his lips, which a part of his mind distantly noted seemed to set Rei off: Unit-00, for lack of a better word, went into a
frenzy and started repeatedly driving its knife into the Angel like a crazed butcher as an enraged, wordless snarl came over the radio.
The next moment, Unit-02's foot met Sarafiel's face and the mirage flickered, Unit-01's hand phasing through its grasp and slipping free. Roughly jabbing the muzzle of its assault rifle into the immobilized Angel, Unit-02 pulled the trigger and for the first time throughout the battle, Sarafiel howled in pain as the high-caliber automatic fire tore into her flesh.
Then the entire world turned a blinding white as the darkness blanketing them disappeared and before Kaworu's entry plug display could compensate for the sudden change in brightness, Israfel's hand closed around Unit-01's throat and the sheer momentum of the Angel's approach tore the Evangelion clean off the top of the pile with such force that Kaworu thought he could feel something crack inside the Evangelion's neck. – "
GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER, WRETCHES!" – Israfel roared in fury, his other hand swiping out and grabbing Unit-02 by the throat as well before slamming both Evangelions into the ground with his own weight, the sonic boom blowing over the group a split second later.
"
You will die for that!" – the Angel raged, claws gripping Unit-02's neck tight enough to draw blood. Yet the Evangelion immediately returned the favor in the form of its head autocannons spitting lead directly into the Angel's face, disorienting him just enough for Unit-01 to free itself. Jumping to its feet, Unit-01 planted a foot into Israfel's shoulder and pulled its arm by the wrist with all of its strength. At the same time, Unit-02 tried to bring its rifle to bear but the weapon clicked empty, thus Asuka flipped it around and slammed its stock against the Angel's arm, to no effect. Then Israfel's grip slowly slackened as the Angel growled in pain, its twisted other arm beginning to give under Unit-01's strength.
Behind them, Sarafiel's limbs were flailing in ways anatomically impossible for a human, battering Unit-00 from every direction. Yet the Evangelion refused to go and instead, it sank its hands into the gaping wound on the Angel's side and
ripped the exposed flesh wide open with its bare hands, spilling blood that caused the remaining snow underneath the combatants to steam and eliciting another howl of pain from Sarafiel.
As if on cue, Israfel's hand fully let go of Unit-02 and whipped upwards, energy flaring in the palm before the Angel slammed its hand into the ground, releasing a concussive blast that flung Unit-02 away like a ragdoll. Before Kaworu could react, Israfel's hand turned 180° and blasted Unit-01 in the chest hard enough to make it let go of the Angel's other arm, an opportunity Israfel immediately seized by launching itself at Unit-00 with acceleration that made the very ground behind it explode into a shower of frozen dirt.
Unit-00 barely had time to whip its head towards the incoming threat before Israfel grabbed the Evangelion's shoulders and, carried by his own momentum, flipped up into a handstand and over his foe upside down before planting his feet into the ground between Sarafiel's legs and uncoiling his body forward like a giant catapult, hurling Unit-00 away as if it didn't weigh anything. Then Israfel spun around and grabbed Sarafiel before both Angels shimmered and blasted away into the blizzard, beyond visual range in the snowfall; Kaworu could see them coming to a stop about a kilometer away.
Rising from the ground, Unit-02 swiftly reloaded its rifle. – "Last mag!" – Asuka called out. – "You guys have any left?"
"I've got two." – Kaworu replied, pulling his own weapon out of the snow as he saw from the corner of his eye Rei breaking off from the group, probably to find hers. It was a good thing their weapons had radio transponders in them because as he looked across the torn-up terrain their battle left behind, he wasn't sure he'd be able to find anything he dropped without guidance. – "Want one?"
"Would appreciate it. Don't throw it, though; I don't think I'd be able to catch it with the dexterity I have in this thing yet."
"We are gaining the upper hand." – Rei remarked, still hidden beyond the snowfall.
"Don't jinx it, Blue." – Asuka warned. – "We've bloodied them, but they haven't bugged out yet."
"Probably catching their breath." – Kaworu guessed.
"Which is our cue to keep pressing. We've got the numbers and it's starting to show."
Handing over one of his spare magazines to Unit-02, Kaworu saw that Adam ran his rifle's self-test in the background, likely to check for snow damage. There was none, though and as Rei emerged from the blizzard with her assault cannon, the three battered Evangelions began marching towards their foe, weapons held at the ready.
Unlike when they arrived, the Angels were making no attempt to hide their position. Indeed, as they closed into visual range, both Angels were standing in the open, Sarafiel heavily leaning into Israfel in obvious pain. Octagons whirled around Israfel's free arm as if the Angel was preparing for something but the ones around Sarafiel's arm wavered and flickered before sputtering out completely. Yet Israfel pulled Sarafiel into what could only be described as a one-armed hug and both Angels visibly shuddered before Sarafiel's power surged and in perfectly identical motion and timing, the Angels drew a complex three-dimensional shape into the air around themselves before slamming their hands into the ground.
The next moment, Kaworu felt the world turning upside down. Every single orientation indicator on the entry plug's HUD went haywire as he felt Unit-01's feet lose the ground and start falling
upwards, all snow in sight following suit and completely obscuring his sight just before he felt a powerful lurch followed by a twist so impossibly chaotic he momentarily felt sick to his stomach.
He finally felt Unit-01 slamming into the ground. Whether it was where he used to be, he couldn't tell.
And based on the groan coming over the radio, nor could Asuka. – "What... what the fuck was that?!"
As the snow began to settle, Kaworu looked up and saw that he was on some kind of landbridge. As he peeked over the edge, however...
...he saw a
lot of landbridges crisscrossing in literally every angle. Including upside down. And sideways.
And he saw ground –
sideways on the far left.
"What the hell...?"
"
Mapping surroundings. Standby." – Adam spoke up. – "
Mapping... Mapping... Mapping... Mapping... Mapping... Mapping..."
He tried standing up but the Evangelion barely even responded. – "Adam, what's going on?"
"
Mapping... Mapping... Mapping..." – the AI continued in a monotonous drawl.
"Adam!"
"
Mapping... Mapping... Mapping..."
Kaworu checked if he still had the radio channel open to the other Evangelions. Whatever was wrong, it thankfully didn't seem to affect communications. – "Guys, I think something is wrong with Adam. He's stuck or something."
"
It appears the Angels somehow created a volume of non-Euclidean space." – Lilith replied with a tone of alarm. – "
Adam attempted to map it onto a three-dimensional Euclidean projection but the mapping subroutine locked into an infinite recursive loop."
"I don't understand."
"
The area we are now inside of is not three-dimensional. Adam's mapping subroutine is trying to interpret it as such and is endlessly going in circles due to self-contradicting results."
Kaworu opened his mouth but Asuka beat him to the punch. – "How is this shit even possible?!"
"
I do not know. This level of spatial manipulation is far beyond even Combine technology."
"But aren't-"
"
Is this really the time for this bellyaching?!" – Sekhmet snapped. – "
We're in a battle! There's BLOOD to be spilled!"
"
Quite right." – Lilith admitted. – "
Nagisa-kun, do you still have access to the manual system controls?"
Kaworu wracked his mind for a second before poking a specific sequence of buttons on his right hand control, which caused a holographic window to appear in front of him. – "Yeah, I got it."
"
Initiate a hard shutdown and reboot. As soon as you are back online, order Adam to disable his mapping subroutine and track us only with IFF transponders. Radar and gravimetric sensors are both inoperative, but visual and infrared still appear to work."
"We'll cover you." – Asuka added. – "Blue, eyes open!"
Forcing himself to remember where the relevant option was, Kaworu tapped the confirmation button and immediately flinched from a sharp spike of pain and disorientation in his head as the neural interface abruptly disengaged, the entry plug plunging into complete darkness with a dropping hum. Yet after a few seconds of silence, he heard a series of clicks and the hum returned, the panoramic display coming back to life with booting telemetry readout followed by the infinity-shaped DNA strand insignia of the AEL.
As soon as the external display activated, Kaworu barked out – "Adam, disable mapping subroutine,
now!"
"
Subroutine disabled." – the AI acknowledged.
Unit-01 rose back onto its feet just in time for the Angels to appear literally out of nowhere, floating in mid-air between the landbridges. Circling around them, the two unleashed the same barrage of energy beams as from the beginning of the battle, forcing the Evangelions to dive out of the way before returning fire. Yet even with Sarafiel visibly having difficulty staying in the air, she was still nimble enough to evade Unit-00's assault cannon and return fire with a blast that almost pushed her attacker off the edge.
Unit-02 briefly ceased fire to observe the flying debris... which, as soon as it fell below the bottom of the landbridge they were currently standing on, abruptly shot off to the side and under the bridge before once again changing direction and beginning to fall upwards, only to change direction again after a few hundred meters and fly parallel to the landbridge. – "Oh, that is
not good!" – Asuka snapped.
"What?!" – Kaworu asked back, stumbling back from a near-miss hitting the spot where he stood a second ago.
"Whatever they did has seriously fucked up the gravity in here! We can't get in close like this and if we jump off, they're going to be juggling us like clay pigeons!" – She paused to get out of the way of another barrage. – "We gotta figure something out and do it
fast because our ammo's not gonna last forever!"
"You've got A-type equipment, how about going after them?!"
"
Have you been listening to a single word I was saying?! I can't fucking fly if I don't know which way is
down!"
Kaworu opened his mouth to reply when he felt it. A rising pressure in his head, like the one he felt when the Ramiel appeared. Except it felt... different this time. And he had a hunch it wasn't due to Rei having done whatever she did to his brain to make sure he won't get incapacitated by it again. It felt... almost familiar and yet, it wasn't like the Ramiel.
Evidently the Angels felt it as well, stopping for a second. Then the pressure in his head spiked to painful levels a moment before the world around him
shattered and all parts of his field of vision that contained the entry plug's outside view flared into a vibrating mess he could barely see through. This time the twisting of reality was so violent he actually hiccuped a mouthful of his stomach's contents before forcing it back down.
"I... I'm getting
really fucking sick of this shit..." – Asuka groaned with a tone of irritation, unknowingly sharing his thoughts.
Kaworu shook his head, trying to blink away the vibration in his sight when Tabris spoke again. '
Wait... this presence...'
'
What is it...?'
'
NO.'
Whatever Kaworu would've said died in his throat at Tabris's tone.
A tone of pure, unrestrained
fear.
'
Damnation, this cannot...! What is he doing here?!'
'
What? What is it?'
As his vision finally begun to clear, he spotted the two Angels... on their hands and knees, barely even able to keep themselves from falling to the ground, evidently disoriented themselves from whatever happened.
And before them, standing in a crater Kaworu realized was surrounding all of them, a form straight out of a nightmare.
A thick, powerfully built body clad in dark carapace that looked more like something chiseled out of stone rather than grown, standing on a pair of almost reptilian feet, all three toes ending in massive talons. From around the main body, what looked almost like a mummy's wrappings unfurled into a pair of ribbon-like tentacles, revealing a face that looked almost like a distorted, toothless human skull, rather than the birdlike mask-skulls of the Angels he had seen so far.
Standing unsteadily on his feet, Israfel all but stumbled before the newly arrived Angel. – "
Why did you come here?! We don't need your help!"
"
Out of my way, whelp." – the Angel rumbled in a voice that chilled Kaworu. – "
You had your fill."
"
This is our battle! Do not-" – Israfel started to say but could not finish before one of the other Angel's ribbon-tentacles lashed out and coiled around his body tightly enough that even from this distance, Kaworu could distinctly hear bones snapping.
"
I said..." – The ribbon-tentacle picked Israfel up with such ease as if he didn't weigh anything, swung him around in an almost casual manner...
...then snapped back so quickly that Kaworu saw it draw a blurred trail through the air and Israfel
disappeared, his scream audible for only a tiny fraction of a split-second before the ribbon-tentacle released him with enough force to knock all three Evangelions off their feet from the air displacement alone. Literally enveloped in a trail of fire, Israfel crossed the distance between ground level and the bottom of the clouds above in barely a second – and the entire cloud layer blew apart into a several dozen kilometers wide circular hole, leaving clear blue sky marred only by Israfel's fiery trail that disappeared after a couple of seconds as the Angel violently left the lower atmosphere.
"
...out of my way." – his assailant finished a moment before the sonic boom of Israfel's sudden suborbital departure blew over him and the stunned Evangelions.
With a snarl of pain, Sarafiel dragged herself off the ground and blasted off in Israfel's direction, soon enveloped by another trail of fire as the very air split before her. The other Angel only spared her a single glance before turning his attention back to the Evangelions.
Kaworu could do nothing but gulp as he both saw and felt him and the girls being sized up by the Angel in the same way a predator sizes up prey it wants to have fun with before the killing.
"
My turn." – Zeruel rumbled.
----
This is the point in the story where the course and circumstances of the Angel battles begin to seriously deviate from canon. I have been dreading writing this chapter for a very long time and for several reasons, not the least of which because this was among the last chapters I wrote for the original version of this story. Starting from about two chapters from now, I am working in completely original territory.
In the original version of this chapter, the twin Angels lacked all of their abilities in this version. Instead, they were accompanied by hundreds of roughly human-sized, three-legged creatures that swarmed the Evangelions with sheer numbers and proceeded to use their armored and beaked foreheads to literally headbutt the Evas' armor open (I'm not kidding, I used the creatures in Pitch Black as inspiration). For the rematch, Rei would've brought F-type equipment to deal with the small fry and the real Angels would've been killed by way of Unit-01 and Unit-02 tentacle-cannibalizing their S2 organs for no reason.
I don't think it needs to be stated which version of the battle I personally prefer.
