Even before Asuka finished talking, she started charging towards the coastline. The Evangelion's long legs carried it forward with incredible speed, and in little over ten minutes, it had reached the shore, just when the Angel's skeletal body had fully emerged from the water. Immediately, the Angel's head swivelled around with an uncomfortable cracking sound, and its cold empty eye sockets began to glow with a menacing red light. Large beams of energy rose up behind Eva-02, but she was running too fast to be hit, leaving the explosions behind her like a trail of fire. When the beams stopped rising, they erupted sideways, forming a cross. The Angels' signature attack. Its frustrated screech almost deafened Asuka. "You stupid monster!" she shouted, taking a giant leap in the air, readying her weapon to attack. Nearing the creature's spine, she swung it down over her head.
She never hit anything. Before she even could have, the Angel suddenly perched up its left wing, spreading it as between its skeletal fingers it formed an A.T. field so strong even light could not penetrate it. Nerv's highly specialized sonic weaponry wasn't built for this: the Glaive shattered, and Eva-02 smashed into the field like a fly on a windshield. She had not—nor had anyone else—seen this coming.
"Vital signs decreasing!" "Deploy unit recovery squad 5!" "Hauptmann Langley's life has priority!" Panicked voices filled the Command Centre as technicians and other staff members did their best to ensure Asuka's survival. Major Braunschweig, along with the three pilots, stared with shocked expression at the view screen as the Angel nonchalantly folded its wing and continued its trek to the Nerv-03 base, leaving Eva-02 aside like a squashed bug. Johannes couldn't look away, even if he wanted to, he could not believe an Angel had defeated an Evangelion so easily. What if it was their turn to go out now?
An emergency meeting was held in one of the many rooms below the surface. Braunschweig, who informed the people attending the meeting of the situation, headed it. "Both Magi 05 and Magi 03 have concluded that while the Angel has a purely animalistic intelligence, it has a reaction speed at least three to five times that of the average human. It is currently headed here and is expected to reach this location by 0300 tomorrow morning."
A young man interrupted her briefing as fear got the best of him. "And how do you expect us to defeat that monster? Conventional weapons are useless and we have no pilots!"
"We do, lieutenant," Doctor Okuhito said, calming the young officer down. "They might be inexperienced, but Captain Langley began teaching three new recruits recently. I think they are the only chance we have left; I say our course of action is clear. Ma'am Braunschweig?"
Gerlinde nodded: "The doctor is correct, lieutenant Bär. And if you want to keep your rank, I suggest you keep your interruptions to a minimum." The lieutenant nodded ashamedly, and Gerlinde directed her words to the entire meeting again. "Based on our current knowledge, we will need at least three units to outwit the Angel's reflexes, so we can be glad the two newest recruits arrived today." Eventually they brought a highly confidential plan into being. The twin units would fire at the Angel at the same time at the same height, so that it would position its wings to protect itself. At the same time, the third unit would fire a vertical shot that would hit the Angel while it had focused its defences elsewhere. The safety of Nerv's base in Hamburg was crucial: the chance that the United Nations would provide funds for yet another rebuild was almost non-existent.
Johannes tried to concentrate as he found himself in the simulation body's entry plug again. Why did it seem like he was the only one who couldn't get used to it? Even his sister seemed to have already familiarized herself with it last time. So why couldn't he? "So, all of us know we do not have a lot of time to finish the training necessary for this mission," Doctor Okuhito said, leading the training in Asuka's absence, "but at the very least, completing it as much as possible is for the best. We will skip the movement exercise because coordinating shots perfectly is all you will need. Kristof, I believe you have received some training with the Positron Rifle already, am I correct?"
"...Yes, sir." Kristof did his best to sound confident, but it was obvious that he did not sound as carefree as usual. The pressure seemed to put a burden on even him. Talking carefully, as if he was over-thinking every single word, he explained the process to the other two pilots. "Johan, Hanne… The most important part is lining up the two reticules and the target in the centre of your screen. Then if you pull the switch… I guess the computers take care of the rest. You got that?" Johannes gulped before meekly answering yes in the wake of his sister. Kristof continued his instructions. "For starters, let's try to fire simultaneously on my signal. Okay?"
Even for the remainder of the explanation, Kristof repeatedly paused mid-sentence to wait for the doctor's affirmation. Altogether, the task seemed simple enough: just line up the reticules and fire at the count of three. Nevertheless, Johannes's reflexes had always been slow, and it seemed today was the day they had decided to get even worse. "Come on, are you even trying? That last shot was off by three seconds!" his sister tried to joke, but it had the opposite effect. Her voice was also trembling under the pressure, forcefully sounding cheery, but Kristof asked her not to distract her brother.
"Hanne, don't be so harsh on him. He's… He probably just can't deal with the pressure…"
Johannes instinctively wiped the sweat off his forehead, even though it all simply mixed with the LCL. He felt, in one word, incompetent. A radio signal came in. "Doctor Okuhito! The Magi's' calculations were off; the Angel has already reached the airport!"
A silence punctuated by ruffling papers followed as Okuhito tried to think as quickly as possible. "Look, I know we have not completed your training." Even his voice seemed distressed right now. "However, we do not have other opportunities. Let us believe and just hope luck to be on our side. All three of you, off to the cages. Immediately!"
Doctor Okuhito hurried for the Command Centre, as Kristof, Johannes and Hannelore were led to the cages and helped into the entry plugs by Nerv personnel. The three inexperienced pilots were all sitting in the cockpit of an Evangelion for the first time in their lives. Without actual experience, without decent training, the whole world depended on them.
"Einheiten 14α und 14β, Einsatz!" With a loud rattle and a sudden shock, the Evangelions were released down the chutes to the river Elbe, from where a convoy would transport them to their respective stations. Eva-16 would be flown up in an Eva carrier. Johannes was trembling with anxiety inside the entry plug. Furiously he hoped he would be able to calm down, because not just his life, not just their life depended on this. The entire world did. Why did they have to be the ones carrying all the responsibility? A radio channel opened up. He did not recognize the voice, but the man, while calm, spoke with a very serious tone. "Seventh. Tenth. Eleventh. The world is counting on all of you." Johannes clenched his fists. If it was an attempt to boost his confidence, it had the reverse effect.
It took only a few minutes before Eva-14α, stumbling its way up the hillside, reached its station. As the huge Positron Rifle was readied for use, the sun was setting in the distance. The Angel's frightening silhouette was slowly creeping forward. Another radio channel opened. "Johannes, Hannelore." It was Doctor Okuhito. "Kristof is to give his signal soon. Please do have an as steady as possible aim, however, when he gives the signal, you fire. It does not matter if the reticules are lined up or not. If we could all be in constant contact, I would prefer it, but I am afraid that from the countdown on, we must maintain complete radio silence. I wish you good luck."
As said, all communication channels closed. The only sounds that remained—the slush of the LCL and the humming of the machinery—seemed only to reinforce the lack of any other sound. Complete silence. If it weren't for the clear night sky, those two sounds would have been Johannes's only sensory input. All the streetlights, everything except their Evangelions had been powered down to provide full power for their Positron Rifles. Johannes tried to distinguish his sister from the opposite hill's silhouette, but was unable to do so. Was she going to be all right? One channel opened up again. The countdown.
"Starte Umleitung der Bezirke 1 bis 374, Aufladung liegt bei 5 Prozent. Alle Kühlsysteme volle Leistung. Beginning countdown: T-minus 180 seconds." Johannes tried to concentrate on keeping his aim steady, but his mind kept slipping away. He had not managed to get his timing right before the emergency training session was over. What if he was too late again? No, he couldn't afford to. He tried to clear his mind, desperately trying to find some way of focusing. He started humming a tune to keep his subconscious busy. He couldn't remember where he had heard it, but it was the first one he thought of. It reminded him of when he was still a little boy in Eupen, sitting on the forested hillside, gazing up at the stars with Kristof as the cold evening surrounded them. He stopped humming.
"T-minus 120 seconds." A deviant star seemed to have broken free from its constraints, moving across the sky, but he knew it was the Eva carrier carrying Eva-16 – and Kristof inside it, waiting to send out the signal. Flying so far away from him, the Evangelion seemed fragile and weak to Johannes. He shuddered and removed his hands from the trigger, rubbing them together to calm his nerves. After a while, he put them back again, afraid he wouldn't be ready when the signal came.
"T-minus 60 seconds." A second communication channel opened, and Johannes nearly pulled the trigger, before he realized Kristof would never give the signal this early.
"Calm down. It's just me." Kristof forced a chuckle to try to lighten up the situation, but it had no effect. "I got permission to open up a signal ahead of time. Are you two alright?"
Johannes smiled meekly as he heard Kristof's voice. "Yeah…" Nobody said anything, but just each other's presence calmed them down. The light kept its course.
"T-minus 10 seconds." Johannes hesitated. Was he ready?
"Okay," sounded Kristof's voice. "8. 7. 6. 4. 3. 2. 1."
Time seemed to slow down infinitely as a million thoughts ran through Johannes's head. Was he going to be on time? Wouldn't he be too late? An entire planet depended on him. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't. He couldn't be too late. He couldn't be. He pulled the trigger – too early.
"Johan, no! Damn it! Hanne, fire now!" Kristof hastily made some final adjustments to his aim before firing at the Angel. The two other beams hit the Angel only split seconds later – but those split seconds were fatal. Before being obliterated, the Angel had turned its head towards the one who had fired first, and had created a cross-shaped inferno.
"Johan? Can you hear me? Answer me, damn it! Johan? Johannes?"