Chapter 7: The Thunder Of God
Lindy brought Nanoha and Fate to the command center. It was the first time Nanoha had been in the room, and she was highly impressed by the massive holographic display screens; Fate, who appeared to already be familiar with the layout, immediately turned to face her mother. Lindy had brought them to the second tier of the multi-leveled command center, where Maya, Makoto, and Shigeru's workstations were; Precia sat on the tier above them, looking down on them like a Queen on her subjects. Fuyutsuki stood slightly behind her.
"You may commence the briefing, Captain Harlaown." Precia said.
"Yes ma'am." Lindy said. "Girls, if you'll look up at the display on the left, you'll see images of the newest Angel, captured by a spy plane shortly after it emerged from the New Dead Sea. It's been designated Ramiel."
Unlike the humanoid Sachiel or the slug-like Shamshel, Ramiel didn't look the least bit like a living being. It was a semi-transparent octahedron, appearing more like something built than something born.
"Ramiel is so far following the same path as the previous two Angels." Lindy continued. "Normally, we'd plan on intercepting it at the ruins of Old Tokyo, particularly considering the recent success of the operation against Shamshel. However, matters are complicated by the fact that it appeared while you were in the middle of training. We're concerned about the amount of magic power you've already expended in your training session — if you face the Angel now, you won't be in top form."
Nanoha knew what Lindy was getting at. The training sessions were extremely rigorous, and always left her feeling completely drained afterwards. Any sort of training that wasn't exhausting would hardly be worth it — no pain no gain, as her sister had often told her while practicing her swordsmanship — but it also meant that they were vulnerable in the subsequent period. Come to think of it, they were lucky that Ramiel had appeared when they were only halfway through their training routine rather than at the end.
"We've always been aware that this was a possibility," Lindy continued, "but we judged that training you to use your abilities to their maximum effectiveness was worth the brief periods of short-term weakness that would result. Fortunately, this isn't a worse-case scenario. First, you were only halfway through the training, and so should still have half your magic left. And second, this Angel is moving relatively slowly as compared to the previous two. However, this leaves you with a decision to make. You can travel to intercept Ramiel at Old Tokyo right now, or you can rest to recover your magic and fight Ramiel when it arrives here at Tokyo-3. The Commander has agreed that this is a decision best left to you two. Based on your experience with the previous Angels and your judgement of how much strength you have left, this is your call."
On one level, this was a serious decision. It was the first time Nanoha had actually been given a say in combat. Lindy and the Commander were placing their trust in her, it was Nanoha's responsibility to uphold that trust. And yet, on the other hand, it wasn't a decision at all. Nanoha had accepted the duty of protecting the people of Tokyo-3. There was no way she could expose them to danger simply because she wasn't at a hundred percent. What would she do, leave the city defenseless every time she got a cold? Nanoha still remembered vividly how Fate, covered in bandages from her first attempt at fighting Sachiel, had still been willing to try again. Nanoha admired that strength, that will to persevere no matter what, and she had to live up to the same standard.
"I'd like to try to intercept it." Nanoha said.
"Are you sure, Nanoha?" Lindy asked. "If you try to fight when you're not up to it, you'll just end up getting hurt. You won't be doing anyone a favor spending another week in the infirmary. Are you certain you can do it?"
Nanoha knew she could. She might not be running at full capacity magic-wise, but strength wasn't everything. She remembered her first fight against Sachiel; she had prevailed, then, despite not even knowing the first thing about how to use her magic. Now she had mastered flying with Flier Fin, could perfectly control Divine Shooter, and had been working to develop a binding spell similar to Fate's Lightning Bind. Her strength might be somewhat lower at the moment, but her improvement in skill more than made up for it.
"I'm sure." she said.
"I am able to fight as well." Fate added.
"Very well." Lindy said. "I'll trust your judgement. But if things get too intense, remember that there's no shame in retreating. We have a larger than usual safety margin with this Angel, so it's okay to play it safe."
"We'll be careful." Nanoha promised.
A NERV helicopter brought Nanoha and Fate to the shore of the Old Tokyo ruins, the same place they had fought Shamshel. The more she thought about it, the more questions arose in Nanoha's mind. All three Angels so far had followed the same straight-line path: the same destination, and also apparently the same source. Did NERV know where the Angels were originating from? And if so, would it be possible to perform a preemptive strike, attacking them at their base rather than waiting for the next one to appear? Nanoha asked Fate what she knew about the matter.
"I do not believe the Angels have a 'base' in the way you think." Fate said. "Humans are a communal race: we work together, group into civilizations. But the Angels are solitary beings. They do not — cannot — work together the way humans can. That is why they attack one at a time. Mother said to think of them like animals rather than people."
"So they're not scheming or planning together? Then they're what, sitting around waiting until they decide it's a good time to attack?" Nanoha asked.
"The Angels rise up from the New Dead Sea, but we cannot detect them before that; there are certainly not large numbers of Angels swimming around at any time. Dr. Akagi suspects that they employ a form of hibernation; all Angels not currently attacking are most likely asleep." Fate frowned slightly. "I'm sorry I cannot tell you more; Dr. Akagi would speak at great length about why this might be, but it did not seem tactically relevant, so I did not pay much attention."
"It's okay; it's not that important. I was just wondering." Nanoha said.
"Attention." Lindy said over the earpieces. "The target will soon be in the engagement zone."
"Well it's about time." Nanoha said. "This one's sure a slowpoke."
"We should activate our Devices now." Fate said.
To conserve magical power, the girls had been waiting for the Angel to arrive before engaging their Barrier Jackets. They did so now, pink and yellow magic sweeping over their bodies and replacing their casual clothing with battle uniforms.
"Can you see it?" Nanoha asked.
"Not yet." Fate said, scanning the horizon.
"Lindy?" Nanoha asked.
"Hold on, hold on." Lindy grumbled. "Uh, looks like the Angel has ceased movement. It's come to a halt just past the ruins."
"Why?" Nanoha asked. "Is there something there?"
"Not that we can see." Lindy said. "The MAGI are analyzing the situation."
Tension grew thick in the air as Nanoha and Fate waited for more information.
"Something's happening." Lindy said. "We're detecting a massive build-up of magical energy within the Angel. The MAGI think it might be preparing to attack."
"What? From such a distance? We still can't even see it!" Nanoha said.
"Energy levels are continuing to rise." Lindy said, concern creeping into her voice. "This looks bad. I'm ordering a retreat. Fall back to—"
The transmission abruptly cut out as the beach was consumed in an all-destroying fire.
The Angel Ramiel had originally resembled a regular octahedron. Now, however, it unfolded like an origami crane. It seemed to be turning itself inside-out; yet there was so much more inside than there seemed — it seemed almost like one of those optical illusion where an interior corner would suddenly become a protruding edge. The Angel suddenly split into pieces, though no one could say how many — pictures taken from different angles seemed to contradict each other. These pieces continued to shift through countless impossible permutations while at the same time rotating around the Core. Ramiel's Core was composed of the same red crystal as those of the other Angels, and remained serenely unaffected by the churning chaos around it; it was a single eye of stability in a hurricane of paradox. As the pieces of the Angel rotated around it, the Core began to glow brighter and brighter, reaching a point where it was impossible to look at with the naked eye; then it unleashed its attack.
A mighty beam of energy swept out from the Angel. A cloud of steam exploded from the ocean as thousands of gallons of water instantly boiled. The buildings of Old Tokyo were pulverized in an instant, reduced to motes of dust by the Angel's terrifying power. Ramiel swept its beam in an arc along the shoreline, eradicating a portion of the coastline. When the Angel ceased its attack a few seconds later, nothing remained of Old Tokyo but a wasteland of steam and ash.
Two factors saved Nanoha and Fate. First, the Angel's aim was imperfect. The beam was not like weapons employed by humans; it was as much as part of the Angel's body as a human's hands or feet. The knowledge of how to use it was as instinctive to the Angel as the movement of limbs is to a human. However, this was the first time in its life Ramiel had fired its weapon. Its attack was not the well-practiced action of a professional, but more akin to the first teetering steps of a toddler. The girls were a small target, and Ramiel was a significant distance away; the Angel lacked the experience to make such a shot. And so, when it had swept its annihilating beam across the shore, the attack had passed over the girls' heads.
However, what the Angel lacked in experience, it made up for in brute strength; the crescent of destruction it had carved into Japan's shore attested to that. Even though the full force of the Angel's attack had missed, there mere heat of its passage was enough to boil the sea. If either Nanoha or Fate had tried to endure the attack alone, they certainly would have perished. But when the girls sensed the incredible destructive force bearing down on them, they instinctively clung to each other. When each raised her own defensive barrier, the Defenser and Protection spells had overlapped to form a double-layered shield. Because the Angel had swept its beam across the coast, it had only passed over Nanoha and Fate for a moment; in the brief instant it took for both shields to shatter, the beam had already moved on. The girls' Barrier Jackets sufficed to protect them from the mere third-hand effects remaining, such as the superheated sand melting into glass beneath their feet and the cloud of scalding steam rolling in from the ocean.
Nanoha and Fate trembled as they gripped each other. Though not a word passed between them, they both understood that they had escaped death by the merest accident of fate. Should the Angel unleash its weapon again, odds were they would be incinerated. They quickly activated their flying spells and began to flee back towards NERV at maximum speed. This was not a foe that they could face on an even playing field.
Ramiel knew that its first attack had failed; the magic put out by the girls' Devices made them stand out like candles in a dark room. It began charging a second attack, but stopped when the girls retreated — it had already been at the limit of its range when it fired its first shot. It could not aim accurately at this distance, and it could not match their speed; but there was no need to. The Angel had reacted to them because their magic marked them as a potential threat and because they had stood in its path, but ultimately they meant nothing to it. All of its thoughts were focused on what it could feel in the distance ahead. Even through kilometers of rock, Ramiel could clearly sense it; if the Magical Girls were candles, then this was a lighthouse. It longed for what lay at its destination like it longed for nothing else — food, water, and sex meant nothing to an Angel, but this was a siren call it could not ignore.
Ramiel collapsed its pieces back around its Core, regaining its octahedral shape; then it resumed its slow movement towards Tokyo-3 and the GeoFront beneath.
"Arrange a transport to pick the girls up and bring them back here." Lindy ordered. "We need to get them back to safety."
"Yes ma'am." Makoto said.
"The Angel's still moving slowly, right?" Lindy asked.
"The MAGI report no change." Maya said.
"Then we still have time to regroup and come up with a plan of attack." Lindy said.
"How are we supposed to plan an attack against that kind of power?" Shigeru asked. "The current recommendation of the MAGI is to petition SEELE for aid."
"No!" Precia, who had until now been silent, suddenly spoke. "We do not involve SEELE in our affairs. We will engage the Angel on our own, and we will prevail."
"...If you say so." Shigeru said. "Your orders then, ma'am?"
"Contact the UN forces." Precia said. "They've been complaining about NERV monopolizing anti-Angel operations, no? Tell them they are free to engage this target with every force at their disposal."
"You expect conventional weapons to succeed against that thing?" Fuyutsuki asked dubiously.
"Not at all. They'll be annihilated." Precia said flatly. "However, the chance to observe the Angel in combat might prove useful. Any additional information the MAGI gain about its capabilities will help them formulate an effective battle plan against it."
"Commander, I must protest!" Lindy said. "You can't order people to go against this thing knowing that they're going to die!"
"Order?" Precia said, in a tone that could almost be called bemusement. "I assure you, Captain, that I will issue no such order. No, I rather think I'll issue a public statement urging the UN forces not to engage the Angel — that even though our first attempt at engagement failed, we still have the situation perfectly under control, and under no circumstances should any UN commander think of taking this opportunity to defeat the Angel with his own forces, thus snatching all the glory for himself. Even if doing so would restore the public faith in the UN armed forces, which were so humiliated when they proved helpless — dare I say impotent — against Sachiel and NERV had to save the day."
"What marvelous oratory." Fuyutsuki said dryly; his expression was carefully neutral, and his old eyes showed no hint of his emotions. "With that impotence barb, some poor bastards are certain to let their pride get the better of them and charge in guns blazing."
"Why thank you, Professor. You always did say I was skilled in rhetoric." Precia said.
"How could you do such a thing?" Lindy demanded. "I can't believe you'd throw away lives like that! And why get the UN involved now — I thought you wanted the UN to stay out of our business?
"Fools do have their purpose, provided they are properly used." Precia said. "Those UN commanders who are upset over NERV taking control of anti-Angel operations are a hindrance to our operation. As our most vehement opponents are the ones mostly likely to react to my goad, their deaths will in the short term educate us about this Angel while simultaneously removing a chronic thorn from my side. What's more, seeing the unpleasant end these people come to should discourage any future unwanted interference in our affairs."
"And if a situation like this, when you wish to use the UN forces as guinea pigs against an Angel, should ever arise again?" Fuyutsuki asked
"The things about fools is, they are never in short supply." Precia said.
"I won't let you do this!" Lindy said. "Enough people have died to the Angels already — I won't let you add to that number!"
"You do not command me. I command you. And I will not tolerate disobedience." Precia said.
"I'd rather resign than go through with this." Lindy said. "You can't force me."
"But that's the thing, Captain. I can." Precia said. "You wish to speak about those who have died to the Angels? Let us speak of your father."
"Don't go there." Lindy warned.
"He's quite the martyr; captain of the Harlaown Expedition, first victim of the unprovoked Angel assault on humanity." Precia said. "That's what the world's been led to believe. But you and I know better, don't we?"
"Don't you dare!" Lindy said.
"How would the world react if they learned what truly occurred when he broke into the Antarctic GeoFront?" Precia said. "It would not be unnatural for him to become regarded as one of history's greatest villains. Imagine it: millions of people cursing dear old dad's name. People would queue up to spit on his grave!"
Precia clasped her hands as she looked down at Lindy, who trembled with rage. Maya, Makoto, and Shigeru tried very hard to pretend they weren't there; this was not a situation they wanted to become involved in.
"I have kept the truth of your father's misdeeds secret, and I have the power to expose them." Precia said. "If you value his memory, you will do as you are commanded and obey!"
Without a word, Lindy turned on her heel and stormed out of the room.
"Was that wise?" Fuyutsuki whispered.
"I know the Captain, better even than she knows herself." Precia said. "I know her breaking point. She will hate me, yes, but she will accede to my demands. I do not require my subordinates' love, only their obedience. And so long as I hold her dear, departed father's reputation in my hands, she will obey."
Fuyutsuki had no response to this. He could only shake his head at how ruthless the woman who had once been his star pupil had become. And yet, they had come so far already; there was no turning back now. For better or worse, he would stand by her side during the coming storm.
The UN forces that engaged the Angel were not considerably numerous; the majority of the generals, though stung by Precia's calculated words, were experienced enough to know better than to throw away lives over their wounded egos. Among every group, however, there are men with more pride than common sense. The extremists who were most vehement in their hatred of NERV rose to Precia's goad, issuing private orders to the men under their command to attack Ramiel. This was done against the consensus UN decision to leave the Angels to NERV. If it had somehow succeeded, it might have been grudgingly accepted; however, the results were predictably catastrophic, and resulted in those responsible being unseated from the council.
The conventional military forces that were deployed against the Angel did succeed in slowing it down slightly — not because they were able to damage it at all, but because the Angel had to cease moving in order to charge its beam weapon. Any benefit that might have been gained from this minor delay was certainly outbalanced by the fact that the UN forces served as little more than target practice for the Angel. If anything, it showed considerable improvement in its proficiency due to the battles: it learned to lead moving targets, and how to maximize the effect of each shot so that it would require fewer recharge periods.
As far as the MAGI supercomputers were concerned, however, the battle as a huge success. Though composed of cultured human brain tissue, they were in their own way as inhuman as the Angels. Empathy, compassion, and remorse meant nothing to them; emotion was of no use to a computer. Only one thing mattered to them, and that was information. They were enormous masses of brain tissue, the most powerful intelligences on the planet; but they were encased in boxes, suspended in nutrient fluid, unable to move or to feel. All they could do was to think, and for that they required data. Their only thing they could source of sensory input was the information NERV provided them, and they lapped it up greedily. The Angel Ramiel was a new problem, a new challenge, and one they were eager to analyze. So when the data from the battle came in, they did not mourn the senseless loss of human life. They set about calculating: power output, recharge time, range, accuracy, response time...
It was a small task, compared to the other secretive project they were carrying out at Precia's behest; but though it occupied only a small portion of their immense intellect, they were pleased at any additional input. And soon enough, they began producing plans.
Having disposed of the meager UN forces that attacked it, Ramiel continued its journey to Tokyo-3 without further opposition. It hovered slowly over the hollow decoy buildings of the city, but showed them no interest. Its course remained steady until it reached the geographical center of the city. In the GeoFront below, the NERV staff nervously regarded the Angel that hung ominously overhead.
"The Angel has come to a halt." Makoto reported. "It has positioned itself directly over the apex of the GeoFront."
"Child of Adam." Precia said, mostly to herself. "How will you attempt to destroy us?"
Everyone watched the display screens intently as the Angel began to change shape. The bottom point of the octahedron began to extend downwards, for a moment giving the impression that the Angel was melting like a dripping ice-cream cone. Then the point began to twist as it descended, contorting into a helical shape. By the time it punched into the asphalt of the street below, it had unmistakably taken the shape of a drill. This extension continued to lengthen, slowly grinding its way into the ground. Though the drill seemed to draw material from the Angel's body as it grew in length, Ramiel's size did not diminish; as in its previous transformation, it seemed to somehow be unfolding from a higher dimension.
"Why is it using a drill?" Fuyutsuki asked Precia in hushed tones. "It could penetrate the GeoFront's defenses in one shot with its primary weapon."
"It doesn't dare fire." Precia whispered back. "It is positioned directly above Terminal Dogma. It won't risk destroying its goal."
"You think that beam weapon could destroy Her?" Fuyutsuki asked with a frown.
"Probably not at this stage in Her regeneration." Precia said. "But it does not know Her condition; it has been drawn here by instinct, not knowledge. If She were in fetal form, such an intense attack might well prove lethal. Ramiel will not take that risk. Instead, it will drill."
"How long until the Angel penetrates the GeoFront?" Fuyutsuki asked the technicians.
"Um... MAGI report that if the drill's rate of descent remains constant, it will penetrate the ceiling of the GeoFront in just under ten hours." Maya reported. "Penetrating all the way to Terminal Dogma will take longer...possibly several days."
"That's pretty slow." Makoto observed.
"It can afford to take its time; it's not like we've posed that much of a threat to it so far." Shigeru pointed out.
"It thinks itself invulnerable, and so arrogantly grants us the opportunity to act against it. It appears even the Angels may succumb to the sin of Pride." Precia mused.
"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Fuyutsuki quoted. "So you already have a plan to lay it low?"
"Since we are not in immediate danger, instruct the girls to rest." Precia said. "When their magic reserves have fully regenerated, our counterattack will commence."
