Alright. I'm posting this, but it's a bit raw, it's 1:37 AM over here and I'm tired and have no patience to go over it again today. If you guys see any problems, please let me know.
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Western Siberia, Yenisei Estuary
1609 hours, local time
"Guys, what's our play for this one?" – Asuka spoke into the radio tersely. – "I don't have much more ammo left."
"Nor do I." – Rei added.
Kaworu didn't bother mentioning that he was likewise running low, seeing how everyone followed suit. 'Tabris, anything you know about this one?'
'Just one.' The Angel's voice was barely more than a whisper. 'Run.'
'What?'
Kaworu wasn't sure when the Angel moved. There was no visible movement; from one instant to the next, it just appeared right in front of him, close enough to practically reach out and touch, the shockwave of displaced air booming over him a second later. He was so startled he unconsciously took a step back with Unit-01 – only for the Angel to do nothing but just stand there.
Looking directly at him.
"You." – Zeruel rumbled. – "You are the one Shamshel lost to."
Kaworu had no answer. In fact, he found himself unable to say anything. There was... something off about this Angel. Just looking at it, just being near it, felt like something scratching and gnawing at the back of his mind. An ever-present feeling of dread he couldn't explain or rationalize. It was just... there, making him break out into cold sweat despite the LCL's temperature regulation.
A moment later, Unit-02's assault rifle opened fire, Asuka evidently having decided not to wait for tactical suggestions any longer. Or, Kaworu wondered, maybe she too felt... whatever that aura the Angel radiated and lost her nerve. Whatever the case, the bullets hit nothing but air as the Angel launched itself into an impossibly graceful backflip so fast that Kaworu barely kept Unit-01 from falling on its face from the sudden pull of air rushing forward to take the Angel's place.
All the agility Israfel and Sarafiel showed gliding above ground was snail's pace compared to Zeruel. He still glided above the ground – but to call him fast was a major understatement. It would be more accurate to call him faster than greased lightning.
Unit-02 turned to lead its aim but the Angel instantly reversed direction and zigzagged so fast through the air that none of the bullets met their mark. It wasn't just hovering; it was as if gravity just did not apply to it if it did not want it to. A fact promptly demonstrated when the Angel launched itself high up into the air, spinning in an almost lazy manner as one of its ribbon-tentacles shot outwards, extending to several times its length before swiping down at Unit-02 like a gigantic whip. The Evangelion barely managed to throw itself out of the way, but it was small consolation: the ribbon hit the ground with such force that the thousand-ton cyborg was flung aside like a ragdoll from the shockwave alone.
A fact Kaworu found more than a little unnerving.
But not as unnerving as when the Angel suddenly displaced itself so fast he literally could not follow it with his eyes, ramming violently into Unit-02 and once again sending it flying. The Evangelion bounced off the ground exactly once... then the Angel's ribbon caught up with it, ensnared an ankle and flung the cyborg up onto a ballistic trajectory that would've carried it over the Angel to come back down behind it. Key word "would've", as the Angel shot vertically upwards and swiftly intercepted it at the top of its trajectory with a flip kick to the midsection that nearly bent the Evangelion in half before grabbing it with a tentacle, spinning like a top and plowing the Evangelion into the ground hard enough that the earthquake of the impact almost knocked him off his feet.
For a moment, nothing moved. Then Unit-02 jerked and shakily propped itself up by the elbow, Asuka's gasping coughs coming over the radio as Kaworu saw the Evangelion's lower torso armor visibly bent so far inwards it was actually concave. – "Fu- ugh... fuck... ow..."
Zeruel lightly, almost serenely, landed next to the downed Evangelion, yet he did not even try to strike her while she was trying to get back up. Then several things happened at once: Kaworu heard Unit-00's assault cannon fire, the Angel spun around and lashed out with a ribbon invisibly fast, there was a burst of sparks in mid-air...
...and a few seconds later, two perfectly symmetrical halves of a bisected cannon shell thumped down on the ground behind the Angel.
"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me..." – Asuka murmured weakly.
"That is not possible." – Kaworu didn't think he ever heard Rei being audibly shocked before.
"For you." – was all Zeruel deigned to reply.
Before he started slowly walking towards Unit-01, stepping over Unit-02 with barely a break in his stride.
After the speed it just demonstrated, Kaworu couldn't decide what was more unnerving: said speed or the fact that the Angel deliberately withheld it. Was it trying to psych him out?
"You are the one Shamshel told me about, silver one." – the Angel continued.
'She survived.' Tabris noted. 'That is not good.'
"I am not here for revenge." – Zeruel clarified. – "Not underestimating her foe is a lesson she had to learn."
"What do you want?"
Without a word, one of Zeruel's ribbon lashed out and grabbed Unit-02 by the neck so quickly that Asuka had no time to react whatsoever. Then with barely a flick of the metaphorical wrist, it bodily tossed the red Evangelion in Unit-01's direction. Kaworu dived out of the way, but saw almost immediately that he wasn't the target: Unit-02 hit the ground and skidded to a halt just next to where he used to stand. He promptly reached for his assault rifle, but once again Zeruel's interest laid elsewhere.
Shaking off the earlier surprise, Unit-00 let off another shot at the rapidly approaching Angel, but yet again to no avail: this time, Zeruel simply swatted the shell out of the way. By the time it harmlessly detonated behind him, he was already upon the Evangelion, ribbon swinging in a horizontal opening strike. But for the first time since entering the battlefield, the Angel's attack actually missed, Unit-00 having bent so far backwards that its reactor housing loudly thumped against the ground. Even so, the speed of the attack was such that Unit-00 was now missing a visible chunk of its chest armor, pieces scattered wide over the ground off to its side.
Kicking itself off the ground, Unit-00 immediately went on the offensive with the knife palmed in its off-hand. But before the tip could've reached the Angel's body, the other ribbon intercepted it a mere meter away, the sheer power of the parry making the blade erupt into a fountain of sparks. Yet despite its vibration-enhanced sharpness, the obstacle in its way refused to yield.
And the ribbon's toughness did not at all prevent it from flexing and quite literally slapping Unit-00 away like a fly, before the other ribbon intercepted the Evangelion mid-air and tossed it by the ankle towards the other two, once again landing just short of the others.
Unit-00 barely got back onto its feet before Zeruel displaced again, appearing between Unit-00 and Unit-02. Both Evangelions had just enough time to flinch back before the Angel's ribbons coiled around their necks and lifted them off the ground before lazily flinging them high up into the air. Then right before Kaworu's eyes, a second pair of ribbons detached from the Angel's sides and shot upwards like a pair of stabbing blades, hitting both airborne Evangelions in a shower of sparks and blood before the first pair grabbed them once more, smashed them into each other and flung them aside in opposite directions as if they were nothing but ragdolls. – "And now..."
The Angel then turned its attention fully towards Unit-01. – "...let us begin."
Kaworu opened fire with everything he had. Yet the Angel wasn't even flinching from being hit from both assault rifle and chest autocannons. In fact, a few seconds into the barrage, it actually started slowly advancing towards him, pausing not even when Unit-02 added the remainder of its own firepower into the equation from where it was lying on the ground. Which made Kaworu keenly aware of just why Zeruel wasn't even bothering to evade or parry anymore.
He never needed to in the first place. The bullets just ricocheted off its hide without even a scratch.
It did not ease the teen's anxiety whatsoever that as soon as his rifle clicked empty, the Angel's ribbon snaked out, almost painfully slow compared to its previous swiftness, yanked the weapon out of Unit-01's hands and casually snapped it like a twig with a simple squeeze. – "This is not the weapon you used against Shamshel. Where is it?"
"What's it to you?"
The Angel launching itself at him was his only reply. He barely even felt its full weight hit Unit-01 before his world violently turned upside down.
Getting up from the ground and gritting her teeth against the phantom pain in her lower body, Asuka looked up to see Unit-01 sailing backwards through the air before the Angel's ribbon caught up with it, snatched an ankle and swung it over the Angel's head in a 180° arc before smashing it down into the ground. Yet the Angel's attack did not stop there: it next flung the Evangelion high up into the air and let go before another ribbon shot out like a deadly spear and rammed into its target hard enough to tear off a chest armor plate. But before Unit-01 could even reach the ground, the first ribbon struck next, cutting deeply enough through the lower torso's waist to graze the Evangelion's spine. It didn't even retract, it just suddenly extended a full right-angle away from its previous heading and still cut right through armor head-on. It was like it wasn't even stretching, just extending. And extending and extending and extending, seemingly without limit.
Needless to say, Asuka was most dismayed by that observation. – "What the hell is that thing made of?!"
"Does it matter? No weapon is infallible... but nothing is invincible!" – Sekhmet growled.
"Any ideas, then?! In case you hadn't noticed, I'm about to run out of ammo and I get the impression riflebutting it is going to do fuck-all!"
Her ears picked up the thunderous sound of Unit-00 charging before the orange titan appeared in her field of vision. She didn't even have time to bark out a warning for Rei not to rush in recklessly as the Angel spun around at lightning speed, its eyes flashed and a beam of light scythed across the ground so blindingly bright that it left a cone-shaped blind spot in Asuka's field of vision before the energy contained within exploded with so much force that Unit-00 was sent flying from the shockwave alone. The Angel almost casually backhanding the Evangelion away with a ribbon in mid-air was just insult to injury.
She saw Unit-01 trying to get up but the Angel was faster, flinging itself up into the air with the clear intention of plowing down feet-first straight into its victim. Unit-01 tried to roll out of the way, but the sheer power of the Angel's landing where it used to be just a second ago sent it tumbling away anyway. Or rather, it would have tumbled away if the Angel didn't spun around at an impossibly fast speed and kicked the Evangelion before it could've flown out of reach, following up with a swift ribbon strike that drew blood.
"What are you waiting for?" – the Angel asked again, this time a hint of annoyance creeping into his tone. – "Fight."
"What do we do, Blueberry? I've got nothing that can even scratch that thing!"
"Cover me." – Rei growled before hefting her assault cannon and storming at the Angel again.
"Wait a second! What are you up to?!" – There was no reply. – "Ah, fuck this!" – she snapped and started running, almost stumbling from the pain that spiked in her midsection.
She caught up with Unit-00 just as the Evangelion fired at the Angel, a moment after one of the Angel's ribbons slammed into Unit-01 once again. Once again the Angel slapped the projectile out of the way before lashing out at Unit-00, only for the Evangelion to leap sideways and out of the way. – "Hold it down!" – Rei barked.
Asuka knew better than to argue and did as told, throwing away her useless rifle to wrap her arm around the ribbon and pulled. It was like trying to pull a stone wall; not only the Angel didn't even budge, she doubted it even noticed. It did, however, notice when Unit-00 powerslid next to it, jabbed its cannon's muzzle right into the Angel's eyesocket and pulled the trigger.
For the first time since its appearance, Zeruel actually flinched.
Whether it was from injury or surprise, Asuka couldn't tell. But it was evident that the Angel was not omniscient and did not see the attack coming. That was as far as her analysis got before she felt Unit-02's feet leave the ground as the ribbon swung her straight into Unit-00, sending both Evangelions into a tangled mess of limbs. Unit-00 untangled itself and jumped back up just in time to sidestep an incoming ribbon, pushing its flat side away in a shower of sparks. Then the other ribbon lanced out, the Evangelion prepared to parry...
...and the ribbon suddenly furled up into a needle that nimbly stabbed itself straight through Unit-00's palm and up its entire forearm, exiting at the elbow.
Asuka's ears barely picked up Rei's hiss of pain before the needle unfurled into a cloud, for a lack of a better world, refracting light in every color of the rainbow and Unit-00's forearm simply splattered. An ear-piercing shriek of pain came across the radio as the now one-handed Evangelion stumbled back while pieces of flesh, bone and armor rained down on the snow, the cloud materializing back into a ribbon before the Angel blasted off, violently dropkicked Unit-00 off its feet and rode it down as the cyborg skidded across the ground, drawing a trail of blood from its mutilated arm.
"Weak." – Zeruel declared, his sheer weight denting Unit-00's torso armor, before raising one foot. The last thing Rei saw in the entry plug display was the rapidly descending foot before it stomped down on the Evangelion's exposed neck and twin splatters of blood shot out left and right. Even from this distance, Asuka could clearly hear the sound of vertebrae being crushed. It was only when the Angel stepped off did Asuka see the result and she almost gagged at the sight. She couldn't even tell if Unit-00's head was still attached or not, but it was clear that the Evangelion was down for the count.
It was at that point that Asuka began to realize the truth. The outcome of this battle was already decided the moment the Angel arrived. For nearly the entire fight, all the Angel was doing was tossing them around... and the moment it actually went on the offensive, it took down the most experienced pilot on their team in seconds.
The Angel was holding back the entire time. Like a shark toying with its food by nibbling at the edges before delivering the killing blow.
And judging from the way it was fixating on Unit-01, she wasn't that far away from being the last one standing. As the silver Evangelion shakily stood back up, Asuka saw that not a single armor plate was unblemished. Some were missing, in part or entirely, others were dented, with blood running down its body where the anchoring implants of some of the missing plates were torn wide open. Judging from the way it was holding its right arm, it was likely broken and the Evangelion's entire posture was one of pain, to say nothing of the malformed wreck of its reactor housing hanging ajar, evidently not in working condition anymore.
Not that the Angel cared, a ribbon shooting out to coil around Unit-01's battered helmet and bodily drag the entire Evangelion closer to itself. – "How much longer will you keep up this charade? Summon your Sealing Weapon and fight."
When the Evangelion tried raising its hands to grab at the blinding stranglehold around its head, the move slow and jerky from the combination of damage and running on battery power, Zeruel swung his prey upwards before slamming it down hard enough to stain the ground with blood.
"Fight."
Another slam, the sound of crunching bones and tearing metal couldn't be drowned out by the impact anymore as the Angel's patience was ending.
"Fight!"
Blindly the Evangelion tried kicking out, only to hit nothing but air before being slammed down again. But instead of being raised back up, the Angel stomped down on both knees hard enough to pulverize both before wrenching the crippled Evangelion upwards by the head. Asuka almost threw up from the wet tearing sound of both of Unit-01's legs being torn off mid-thigh, not at all helped when Zeruel raised his defeated foe high into the air above himself, his other ribbon coiled around Unit-01's left arm and pulled. First the armor gave way, then the shoulder joint, then the soft tissue finally lost grip as well and the entire arm was torn clean off at the shoulder, blood showering onto the Angel.
The Angel almost seemed to pause to examine the limb before crushing it into a pulp and throwing Unit-01 aside like a piece of garbage. – "Disappointing."
This time Unit-01 didn't get back up, its IFF signature disappearing from the HUD of Unit-02's entry plug as the Evangelion's telemetry signal fell silent from lack of power.
"I should kill you for wasting my time with your ineptitude." – the Angel loomed over Unit-01. – "But even that much effort would be wasted on you."
Asuka's mind was racing for options. She knew she had zero chance at taking the Angel on one-on-one, but after the speed the Angel demonstrated earlier, she also knew there was no way to disengage. Compounding the situation were the error messages glaring at her from Unit-02's A-type equipment backpack, evidently not having been designed for high-G shocks the likes of which she took when the Angel threw her at the ground. But then again, it wasn't like it was designed for full-on dogfighting to begin with.
As the Angel turned to look at her, Asuka grit her teeth and reached for a progressive knife, trying to force the fear she felt back down. Because there was no denying it at this point: she was afraid. Not the fear of being told off for failing to meet expectations, not even the fear of the unknown.
It was the fear of prey cornered by a predator.
And yet, most scholars throughout history agreed that if there is such a superstitious thing as fate and destiny, it was fickle indeed. For hers decided this was not the place and time of her demise.
She felt the sonic boom before her ears picked it up through the walls of the entry plug, but there was nowhere near enough time for her brain to react to it before the ground exploded with a massive impact to the right. The sheer force of the impact's earthquake was enough to make the Evangelion stumble back, but even as she struggled to not lose her balance, Asuka didn't fail to notice Zeruel's attention swiftly being directed at the dust cloud.
She had no idea what just happened. Did the fight drift so close to the ships that carried them here that they decided to join the battle, despite their orders? That would be foolish; Asuka knew full well that there wasn't the slightest chance three frigates would have the firepower to scrap a target three Evangelions couldn't touch. And yet, she couldn't dismiss the idea out of hand, as she heard from her father enough times about the rivalry between the army and the navy. – "Sekhmet, are the ships here?!"
"Radar has been back online since the other two Angels left. I'm detecting the ships right where we left them." – the AI replied.
"What the hell was that, then?!"
The dust was settling slowly. Zeruel still didn't pay any attention to her, which Asuka swiftly took advantage of to assess the situation. Both Unit-00 and Unit-01 were out of what she guessed the Angel's line of sight probably was and it showed no further interest in them either. Whatever distracted the Angel, she could make use of it to reach the others – that is, if any move she made wouldn't antagonize the Angel in the process. She couldn't fight and carry another Evangelion at the same time.
Then a small chirp came from her HUD... and a friendly IFF marker appeared in the cloud, just as a dark shape rose up and the cloud begun rapidly stirring and dissipating away from her, as if a leaf blower was suddenly turned on in the middle within.
A sleek, futuristic rifle was the first to be revealed, pointed straight at the Angel. Then came the arm holding it, strapped with a device she couldn't tell the purpose of.
When the dust fully cleared away, Asuka blinked to clear her eyes, but there was no mistake. The silhouette was unmistakably that of an Evangelion, complete with shoulder racks, but the difference was like night and day. The armor plates were flatter, slimmer, almost ergonomic. The chest armor wasn't flat but protruded forwards in a quarter-sphere shape, with the rim being a semi-circular hatch from armpit to armpit. The head was almost like Unit-02's with four green eyes, yet there was a clearly visible visor between them. The top of the helmet was flat, jutting forward beyond the face in a triangular protrusion, crowned by a large, knife-like horn pointing diagonally upwards and forwards while the rear ended in a similar V-shape to Unit-02's but more pronounced and accompanied by what looked almost like mechanical dreadlocks beneath.
There was also no mistaking the pair of enormous mechanical wings, of all things, rising higher than the shoulder racks before extending down to knee level, the air around them vibrating with heat haze. Two horizontal hatches spread from neck to shoulder at the height of each clavicle, looking almost like air intakes. And although something looked off to Asuka, it took her a while to realize what: there was no reactor connected to the upper torso, at least none that she could see. Nor would've been room for it due to the wings. The device on the right arm was also present on the left one, along with what looked like missile pods strapped to the thighs and the sides of the shoulder racks.
All of it painted in the purest snow-white, without the slightest hint of camouflage or subtlety.
"Uh... Sekhmet?" – Asuka began slowly. – "Why haven't I been told we have a fourth Eva combat-ready?"
"We don't. IFF challenge/response protocols and encryption keys are a match for mine, but the ID doesn't match anything I know of and I have no data on a unit with this configuration. It cannot be ours, but its IFF is valid as a friendly."
"Are you telling me it's spoofing your IFF?"
"No. The ID isn't mine, but the IFF is just as valid as Lilith's."
"Are you sure it's not ours?"
"I just told you it isn't! Are you deaf, girl?"
She saw the white Evangelion glance over at Unit-00 and Unit-01, almost lingering on the latter, before directing its attention back at Zeruel. A component in the middle of the rifle begun rotating and a male voice of seething fury came over the external speakers. – "Pick on someone your own size, motherfucker."
"You challenge me." – Zeruel mused. – "Are you aware of who I am?"
Instead of replying, the white Evangelion leaned forward and explosively accelerated so fast that any remnant of the dust cloud its arrival kicked up earlier simply ceased to exist, both wings trailing an ethereal blue light behind them. Zeruel reacted just as fast, a ribbon lancing out fast enough to cross the intervening distance in a split second. Yet the Evangelion, for lack of a better word, blasted itself sideways so quickly Asuka couldn't even tell when it even stopped moving forwards. One moment it was moving forward at breakneck speed, the next it was moving 90° off to the side with zero transition.
The ribbon only hit air as the Evangelion's rifle let loose a pencil-thin beam of light with a thunderous electric crackle, which crossed the distance faster than the eye could follow and refracted off the Angel's AT-field into a dozen smaller beams that dug into the ground, but the puffs of dust could barely be noticed from what the Angel itself was knocking up from the sheer force of the shot actually pushing it back several meters.
Asuka blinked but there was no mistaking it. The Angel actually used its AT-field for the first time since its appearance instead of simply taking the hit head-on.
"Interesting." – Zeruel rumbled. – "My time here may not have been a waste after all."
The Angel's ribbons lashed out and split the air apart with minor sonic booms as the Evangelion hopped off the ground to evade the first, twisted itself into a mid-air barrel roll to evade the second, spun around and kicked away the third coming in from the side, then boosted upwards and kicked off the fourth as a stepping stone before zipping towards the Angel without its feet touching the ground, its engine-wings howling a loud electric drone mixed with a high-pitched shriek. She saw a bayonet snapping out from beneath the rifle's muzzle before the Evangelion brought it straight down at its foe. Zeruel swiftly stepped out of the way, but the engine power behind the Evangelion was enough to produce a massive shockwave on impact.
Whirling around, the Evangelion parried a ribbon with the bayonet before its other hand whipped outwards and a segmented metal ribbon extended from the forearm, limply flailing for a moment before suddenly snapping rigid, the edges interconnecting and smoothing out into a massive sword-like blade that instantly lit up with the telltale shriek of a progressive blade. Driving one foot down to stop itself from sliding backwards from the sheer pressure the ribbon was exerting on it, the Evangelion drove the pointed edge of its arm blade straight against its foe's armored carapace in a massive shower of sparks. It did not even seem to stagger Zeruel, however, who simply reared back and headbutted the cyborg hard enough to send it flying back nearly a hundred meters. Yet the Evangelion landed on its feet and merely slid to a halt instead of falling backwards, with only a minor stumble.
"Excellent." – Zeruel approved before blasting off after his foe and going on the offensive.
When the white Evangelion looked up and saw the rapidly approaching Angel, it immediately blasted off and counter-charged rather than evading. The two combatants met in the middle in a massive shockwave that nearly knocked Unit-02 over, ribbon and blade sparking against each other. Twisting the blade to force the ribbon to the side, the Evangelion brought its rifle to bear but the other ribbon swiftly knocked the aim off before it could fire. Not to be deterred, the Evangelion's wings flared and the cyborg swiftly headbutted the Angel before kicking off with one leg, only to come right back with the other foot planting itself straight into Zeruel's face as the wings let loose, slamming the Angel into the ground with a combination of thrust and weight.
That was far as it got before two concentric rings of light explosively manifested beneath the Angel and both combatants were flung high into the air. Or rather, Zeruel shot straight upwards and threw the Evangelion off before both combatants stopped mid-air and righted themselves. And as Asuka noticed, there was barely any exhaust visible around the white Evangelion's wings despite putting out enough thrust to suspend the thousand-ton cyborg in the air and doing so at a fraction of a size of Unit-02's A-type equipment. Just what the hell kind of engine was that thing?
The two combatants stared each other down for a few moments. It was the Evangelion who made the first move, rifle snapping up and letting off another high-powered shot, followed by smaller pulses in quick succession. None made it past Zeruel's AT-field or even slowed down his approach before the Angel's ribbon lanced out and forced the Evangelion to dodge. Twisting away from the second ribbon and flipping upside down to leave the first passing between its legs, the Evangelion boosted downwards while continuing to fire. Asuka thought she could hear a growl coming from the Angel a moment before it whipped around, a dozen tentacles sprouted from its sides and the tip of each tentacle let loose a beam of light. Immediately the white Evangelion boosted out of the way, yet the beams swiftly bent in mid-air and lanced off after their target again and again no matter how many times it evaded, twisting and twirling in a deadly laser show.
She almost didn't see Zeruel charging in from the opposite direction before the Angel swung its ribbon in a deadly swipe far too fast to avoid... yet the Evangelion reacted impossibly fast and leaned out of the way before spinning around and kicking the Angel away, all in the same impossibly fluid motion. Boosting backwards to avoid another strike and extending its right arm blade just in time to parry a third one, the Evangelion boosted away to the right and twirled end over end in a cartwheel to leave the homing beams zip by between its limbs and let loose a flurry of missiles from the pods attached to its thighs and shoulder racks, only for Zeruel's ribbons to split into several smaller ones each and scythe through every missile in rapid succession before heading off after the Evangelion.
"This is unreal..." – Asuka breathed, watching the spectacle. The way the white Evangelion moved was... it was like nothing she had ever seen. It was almost beautiful, blindingly fast yet impossibly fluid at the same time, almost... inhumanly so. And watching it made her aware just how outclassed she was in this fight. It felt laughable for her to have ever thought that she was ready. That the three of them were ready. The first two Angels were difficult but doable, but this one... the gap in both power and ability was just too great. She was nothing but roadkill-to-be here. And yet this Evangelion that came out of nowhere was taking it head-on, one-on-one no less, and holding its ground so far. Even as she watched, it evaded a point-blank horizontal swipe from a ribbon with a spinning backflip and in the same move retaliated with a blade that extended from its leg, of all things, kicking diagonally upwards and scratching the Angel's carapace in a shower of sparks before turning fully upside-down and blasting the Angel with engine exhaust that actually singed the Angel.
And before the Angel could retaliate, the Evangelion flipped back around and shot it in the face at minimum range. The Angel actually stumbling back was one thing, but Asuka almost lost it right then and there when Zeruel slowly looked back at his foe, revealing a visible injury on his skull mask.
If anything, the Angel almost looked excited. – "Finally."
"Aww, did that hurt?!" – the pilot barked and Asuka's jaw dropped. Did he just TAUNT that monster?! – "Do I have your attention now, fuckface?!"
"I like your gumption. You just might me able to amuse me for a while longer."
Then Zeruel charged straight back, barely even deterred by his foe evading the charge by boosting over him and flipping upside down to face him before the hatch on its chest armor opened to reveal a series of lenses across the length of the hatch and the entire battlefield was momentarily turned white by the light of a conical energy blast erupting from the Evangelion's chest, only for it to swiftly parry a retaliatory ribbon strike from the unharmed Angel.
Shaking herself out of her reverie, Asuka assessed the situation. There was nothing more she could do here, nor were her allies in any shape to fight. However, the white Evangelion was squarely the center of the Angel's attention now and Asuka had no intention of changing that. Therefore, she quickly looked around for Unit-00 and finally spotted the orange Evangelion on all fours, evidently trying to get up despite its head limply hanging from where its neck used to be, attached only by a few scraps of flesh. Quickly striding towards Unit-00 while keeping an eye on the fight above, Unit-02 leaned down, laid one hand on the other Evangelion's shoulder and softly (as softly as Asuka could manage with her level of fine control, that is) tapped the entry plug hatch three times with its other hand.
Surely enough, her HUD soon indicated an inbound sound only connection from the orange Evangelion's backup comm antenna. As soon as the window opened, Asuka wasted no time. – "Are you still mobile?"
"I have no visual input." – came Rei's reply, voice audibly strained. From what Asuka could see up close of Unit-00's neck, she had no doubts about the level of pain the other girl was likely experiencing. – "Neural interface response level is down."
"I had to throttle sensory data throughput to keep her from going into shock due to feedback pain." – Lilith added. – "It's interfering with her control, but we never subjected a test pilot to this kind of feedback during testing. I have no way of knowing if she would even remain conscious otherwise."
"It's fine. Can you stand?"
"Yes."
"Good. Sekhmet, clone my display output and send it over. Lilith, render it on your own entry plug."
As the AIs complied and Unit-00 began carefully standing up using Unit-02 as a crutch, Asuka noted the framerate of the entry plug's panoramic display becoming noticeably choppier. Whether it was because of the strain being Unit-00's eyes as well as its own being too taxing on the processing power or for some other reason, it was not fluid enough for keeping track of quickly moving targets anymore. She was set on this course of action now.
"We cannot fight with your visual data alone." – Lilith warned as soon as Unit-00 was fully upright, albeit leaning on Unit-02's shoulder for guidance, head lolling over the reactor housing.
"Doesn't matter." – Asuka declared. – "We're getting out of here."
"What about Unit-01?" – Rei asked.
"Out of juice and in even worse shape than you are. We're gonna have to carry it."
If only it could be that easy, Asuka thought once they were standing next to Unit-01. Only the right arm was in any condition to hang onto, the other limbs were nothing more than bloody stumps. – "Shit... alright, I'll take the top, you take the bottom." – Unit-00 let go and carefully bent down, arms reaching under its fallen ally's lower body at the same time as Unit-02 began pulling it up by the arm.
Glancing upward to make sure they were still under the radar, Asuka grit her teeth and heaved again. Even when maimed, Unit-01 was heavier than she expected.
"The entry plug hatch does not seem to be too damaged." – Sekhmet noted. – "Just eject the entry plug and leave the rest."
"We are not leaving Adam behind." – Lilith declared firmly.
"He's nothing but dead weight at this point."
"Don't you feel the slightest bit of worry for him?"
Sekhmet just scoffed. – "I'm programmed to protect my pilot, not him. That's your job, not mine."
"And if he's down for the count, that's one less meat shield for you." – Asuka fired back. – "If for nothing else, that fact alone should be reason enough for you to throw him a bone, so shut it. That and in case you forgot the briefing, the idiot will freeze to death if we pull him out of there in this cold."
The AI growled in irritation but didn't reply, which was just fine for Asuka. This really wasn't the time to argue with a bloodthirsty sociopath of an AI, especially with how much she had to concentrate on holding Unit-01, struggling to find anywhere she could grab that didn't inflict even more damage. She eventually managed to get the remaining arm slung over Unit-02's shoulder, her own Evangelion's left arm supporting the upper body from behind while Unit-00 held the lower body, just enough in front of her to be able to see itself via Unit-02's eyes.
"Alright, let's move back to the ships before that thing comes back to finish us off!"
"How are we going to transport him?" – Rei asked. – "He cannot hold on with only one arm."
"I don't know, okay?! Sekhmet, ring up our rides as soon as they're in range of SRC!"
The minutes that followed next felt like the longest minutes in her life but ultimately, the comm window opened up. – "Red Queen, Shalkar Actual. We read you."
"Shalkar Actual, stand by for immediate extraction." – Asuka declared, trying to keep her voice level despite the adrenaline. – "Proceeding to DZ now, but have one asset knocked out and one asset mission-killed."
"Understood, Red Queen. Engines are warm, standing by for takeoff."
"Shalkar Actual, be advised. Knocked out asset is unable to tether itself during transportation. Use extreme caution during takeoff." – Under her breath she muttered – "Drop him and your ass is grass."
----
Geofront, AEL Headquarters
2321 hours
"Ma'am! We're getting telemetry data from Unit-00 and Unit-02!" – Hyuga reported suddenly.
Shephard sighed, feeling like a massive boulder just vanished from his shoulders. – "About damn time."
"What's the situation?" – Yui demanded.
"Unit-02 reads moderate damage to lower torso." – Maya replied. – "Ammunition depleted, no reading from external weapon."
"Must've discarded it." – Shephard observed. – "Did that rifle have a recovery transponder in it?"
"No. It was only supposed to be a test model." – Yui replied.
"We should get a salvage team prepped, then." – he proposed. – "We're in the middle of winter and the local weather is nasty; if it gets buried under snow, we won't find it until summer. If we find it at all."
"I'll make the arrangements. What about Unit-00?"
"I'm still trying to make sense of these readings." – Aoba muttered in response. – "Nothing in the head is responding and the lower neck reports major damage. Even the data we've got is being routed through Unit-02."
"That doesn't sound good. And Unit-01?"
Hyuga shook his head. – "Nothing at all."
"Can you put us in touch with the kids?" – Shephard asked.
"Yes, sir. Unit-02 is available."
"Call 'er up, then." – A few seconds later, a communication window captioned UNIT-02 - SOUND ONLY appeared on the main screen. – "About time we hear from you three."
"Yeah, well, we've been a bit busy fighting for our lives." – came Asuka's tired reply. Shephard just shook his head with a smirk; leave it to Asuka to remain snarky even in situations like that. At least she didn't sound like she was spooked by her first live battle. Well, any less spooked than he was.
"Mission accomplished, then?"
"I'd wish." – Shephard raised an eyebrow at that. – "Is the boss there?"
"I'm here."
"If there's still time until we arrive to Novosibirsk, send whatever equivalent to a damage control team you have for the Evas. We got the tar kicked out of us."
Yui and Shephard shared a glance before she turned back to the screen. – "Please clarify."
"Unit-02 is scuffed up a bit, but still in the green. Unit-00 is almost completely decapitated, but we've still got the head. Unit-01 is touch-and-go: both legs gone, one arm gone, reactor trashed, substantial external damage. I've got no idea if it's even salvageable at this point, but your people should be able to tell it better."
A heavy silence fell across the control room before Yui spoke quietly. – "I'll tell them."
----
This was a part I've long dreaded to write. Ironically enough, I found myself in the same situation I've seen many Youtube comments criticize the post-2000 Terminator movies for: the difficulty in giving justice to the portrayal of a superpowered combatant without having him kill everyone in seconds and end the story right then and there. I'm unsure of whether I've succeeded with Zeruel in this chapter, but saw no point in sitting on this chapter for another three months.
As stated in the previous chapter's post-it notes, in the original, pre-rewrite version of SCE, the Israfel fight was the second-to-last chapter I ever posted before the story went on hiatus and I ultimately stopped writing it altogether. In that version, Zeruel never showed up and Israfel and Sarafiel weren't separate characters. Instead, Israfel split the same way he did in canon and instead of using battlefield manipulation tricks, he summoned a massive number of smaller spawn that mobbed the Evas in numbers too great to handle before the white Evangelion showed up and killed them all with a powerful radiation blast. The Evas then retreated for a quick sync training between Kaworu and Asuka involving video games, courtesy of the pilot of the white Evangelion giving Shephard the idea on a scrip of paper, before reengaging Israfel and finally killing him by tearing out his S2 organ (although that latter part wasn't deliberate or even conscious on the pilots' part).
