Chapter 9

Grim faced, Kaji watched the huge tarpaulin that had been used to cover the Evangelion bulge in the middle and rise. Thick ropes and steel loops gave way to the strain as the cargo began to stand up, snapping with visible force and sending crewmen scurrying for cover. He held a radio handset, its speaker only relaying static, forgotten as the spy could only watch in impotent, frustrated silence as his young ward yet again did as she pleased.

"What a spoilt young lady," Admiral Addams observed from behind him.

Kaji just sighed, and ran a hand down his face, unable to tear his eyes away and watching through his fingers. Unit-02, resplendent in its crimson armour, stood proudly on the deck of the super-carrier, which pitched drunkenly with the sudden weight shift. The tarpaulin was now wrapped around its shoulders, emulating a great ragged cloak that billowed in the wind. The Eva raised its chin in a superior manner, placing its hand on its hips as it studied the Angel.

"So, can she defeat that thing?" the Admiral asked with a significant look.

"Possibly," Kaji shrugged. "She's a good pilot, has the best scores in training even."

"But?"

Another sigh. "But she's untested. She doesn't have any gear. We don't even know a thing about the Angel's abilities outside of walking on water."

"She is also a little arrogant, yes?" Addams added with a raised eyebrow. Kaji paused, then nodded gravely, to which the Admiral smiled. "Well then, we will have to make sure she doesn't get us all killed."

He moved away, taking position at the centre of the bridge.

Tell the fleet to prepare to support the Evangelion," he told the officers present. "We will not be shown up by a child!"

/o\

\o/

Asuka glared at the Angel imperiously, studying its massive form. It had stopped roughly half a kilometre in front of the fleet, standing motionlessly even atop the waves. It looked nothing more than perfectly symmetrical, a flat-topped bowl with four equidistant legs, eight stylised eyes around the top of its body each drawn within a triangle. One single eye, more real than the rest, could be seen staring downwards from the bottom of the bowl.

Beneath her, the Over the Rainbow was slowing to a stop, and she could see peripherally the rest of the fleet moving to surround the Angel. She sneered, as long as they knew to stay out of her way, they could do what as they pleased.

She bent down into a fighting stance, both reducing her profile and making ready to move at a moment's notice. The air shimmered around her briefly as she reached out with her AT-Field, forming an invisible barrier between her and the Angel.

Matarael remained still, not reacting to her presence. Asuka frowned, glancing down at the expanse of deep ocean between them, her right index finger

twitched. She was not used to deploying without some kind of ranged weapon, and close combat would be problematic at best.

"Feh! Didn't even pack me a rifle," Asuka grouched. "But I'm not the First Child for nothing!"

She flicked a switch, and the Eva's right shoulder fin hissed, the front springing open to reveal a rack of eight spikes. She pulled a trigger, firing one of the spikes at the distant Angel. It crossed the distance in seconds, smashing into Matarael's AT-Field like a hammer hitting a gong. It hung in the air for a second, surrounded by sparkling shards, before dropping into the ocean.

Matarael seemed to shiver. Its legs bent and its body dropped rapidly, stopping almost as suddenly once he reached eye level with the Evangelion. It shivered again, this time the motion being accompanied by a chittering sound, as if a swarm of locusts had taken flight. The closest eye began to bulge out, stretching forwards. The pupil split in two, revealing a vertically aligned maw, row after row of razor sharp teeth visible within. The whites of the eye expanded like balloons, the stretched flesh glowing a sickening yellow.

"Eww, that's just disgusting!" Asuka yelped.

The eye shuddered a final time as it reached the peak of its growth. The maw flexed, then snapped forwards, the sacks of yellow light either side rapidly shrinking as it projected thick yellow liquid directly at the Evangelion. Asuka recoiled, once more rocking the boat. She solidified her AT-Field in an instant, and the shield caught the liquid, flaring up with brilliant light. The substance hissed and boiled, huge globules of it splashing outwards from the point of contact and down into the ocean.

One large drop landed on a nearby destroyer, covering the forward deck in the thick, yellow pus. Almost instantly, the ship began to list, the prow visibly shrinking and curling in on itself, vapour pouring off of it. Sailors ran for the rear, or just simply jumped overboard to escape the rapidly spreading corrosion. Several small explosions further damaged the ship as the acid worked its way through to the destroyer's weapons.

Asuka could only stare with grim fascination, keeping the AT-Field barrier in place as the corrosive liquid slowly dripped down into the ocean.

"That thing just shot acid at me!" she screeched snapping out of the momentary reverie. Turning, she pressed a button, and her voice boomed out of the Eva's external speakers. "Hey, get this ship moving. I'm gonna tear that thing apart with my bare hands!"

A man on the deck near the bridge appeared and shouted back, Asuka recognised him as the supercarrier's captain. She couldn't hear the words, but the answer was easy to see... 'Not a bloody chance, missy.'

"Verdammt feiglinge," she growled at them, slipping into her native German.

Rather than react angrily to her insults, the gathered sailors on the deck began shouting and pointing behind her. The captain disappeared, running back into the bridge. The huge ship rumbled as its engines powered up.

Asuka turned in time to see Matarael had closed the distance, a path of ice left in its wake as it towered above her and the ship. A pressure fell upon her, oppressive and angry, and she yelped as it brought a leg down on her like a spear, meeting no resistance from her AT-Field. Instinct took over, and she leaned to the side, barely avoiding being impaled, sweeping Unit-02's arm out to try and deflect it.

The offending limb slid across her forearm and scored a deep line into the Eva's armoured hip, digging deep enough to hit flesh. Gasping with sympathetic pain, Asuka twisted the cyborg about, tightened her grip and caught the leg in the crook of her arm. Matarael pushed against her hard, the massive Angel's strength causing the Over the Rainbow's stern to almost lift up out of the water.

Snarling, Asuka released her prog-knife, grabbing it with her free hand. The snarl erupted into a vicious teutonic battle cry as she drove the blade into the Angel's black flesh. Matarael screamed, the sound not unlike that of fingernails on a chalkboard. It jerked back its leg quickly, almost ripping the knife from the Eva's hand. The ship's stern splashed back down violently, its prow jumping up. Sailors were tossed around like ragdolls, flying across the decks, several being thrown overboard.

The pressure withdrew as the Angel reeled back, and it took Asuka a moment to realise that Matarael was pulling its AT-Field back from her own, reinstating the almost invulnerable protection it provided.

"No chance," Asuka shouted. "You're mine!"

She reached out with her own AT-Field, pushing against the Angel's own and keeping the phase-space equalised. Without missing a beat, she fired another spike, piercing the vulnerable flesh of one of the acid sacks.

The metal spear began to corrode almost instantly, but it had done its job, the Angel's face shrinking back as Matarael screamed. Acidic blood sprayed out in an arc, splashing across the supercarrier's deck and Unit-02's chest.

Alarms blared as Asuka's screams joined the Angel's.

/o\

\o/

Kaji felt useless as he stood at the back of the bridge, watching the battle unfold. He was used to being a man of action, right in the thick of things one way or another. Having Asuka cut him off left him without anything to do except for watch her go at it alone. Aside from that, he was the only NERV operative around, the only others being a pair of technicians escorting the Evangelion. Both were currently trapped aboard the beleaguered super-carrier, leaving him alone in a sea of UN Naval officers.

He was also angry. Angry at Asuka for her damnable pride and need to prove herself. Angry at Gendo Ikari for putting him in this position. Angry at himself for not being able to do anything about it.

The spy vented his frustration on a pen, steadily chewing the end into a crumpled mess in lieu of a cigarette.

Comparatively, Admiral Addams had sprung into action the moment Matarael had started moving. He had quickly organised rescue teams for the crew of the melted destroyer, and was now ordering his fleet to disperse and surround the fight between the two titans. From where he stood, Kaji could see the ships forming a horseshoe shape around the supercarrier, keeping their distance from the Angel's deadly spit.

When Unit-02 was sprayed with the acid, the corrosive liquid covering a large portion of its torso, his stomach dropped out. He could almost hear the young girl's screams as her synchronisation with the giant cyborg forced her to feel its pain. Without the support of Berlin's command staff to reduce the feedback, the pain had to be worse than anything she'd felt before.

"Goddamn it, Asuka…" he muttered again.

The two combatants reeled back from each other in their agony, Unit-02's smooth, almost disbelieving movements in contrast to the jerky spasms of the Angel. Kaji's jaw dropped as the Evangelion rolled to the side and slipped off of the acid-eaten deck, hitting the water with a gigantic splash.

"Do something!" he snapped, turning to glare at the Admiral.

Addams turned slowly and glared back at him with annoyance. "All ships… open fire!"

Cannon and machine guns mounted aboard every ship opened up, the sound like a hundred thunderbolts striking at once. Matarael was engulfed in a cloak of explosions, tracers and smoke trails. With its AT-Field being equalised, the ordnance connected directly with its body, drawing blood as it tore craters into its black flesh. The Angel's horrific screams could be heard for an instant through the cacophony before a volley of missiles hit home, once more turning the air around it to fire.

With the massive Angel still standing however, the UN Navy continued its assault. Round after round smashed into the creature as they tried to destroy it, the sheer amount of ordnance it had survived was testament to the size and power of Matarael.

True to form, the Angel was not about to go down without a fight. Amongst the fires ravaging its body, the remaining seven eyes decorating it could be seen bulging out and growing, mimicking the first. As the UN Navy circled, pouring on everything they could to destroy it, Matarael returned fire, spitting huge globs of acid back the fleet.

Kaji, alongside the rest of the Othello's crew, could only watch in horror as the Angel began to sink ship after ship. Every shot that connected could eat through the thick steel hull of any ship in seconds, even a glancing hit could cause a ship to begin taking on water. They were fighting a losing battle, the spy realised. Without the Eva, they just could not do enough damage to the Angel to kill it.

He grit his teeth, still chewing the pen. Did Asuka realise what she caused here? Men were dying, either by acid, fire or water, they were dying to the Angel's wrath. The wrath she'd invoked. If she survived this fight, could she live with herself, knowing what her actions had cost? He didn't even know if she was still alive. Chances were, she was unconscious, lying comatose within her Eva as it sank to the seafloor. If she was lucky, the oxygen would last until NERV could come fish her up. If not…

The pen split, and Kaji spluttered as ink flowed into his mouth.

/o\

\o/

She felt like she was on fire, her chest burning so ferociously that she could hardly breathe through the pain. It felt like her skin was tearing itself apart, seeping down through to muscle and bone. Her back arched as her screams came out in a torrent of bubbles. Eyes wide and staring unblinking at the ceiling of the plug. Asuka had never felt pain like this before, not in all her time piloting the Eva. It consumed her completely, leaving her unable to think of anything else.

Slowly, the automated processes built into her plugsuit and the Eva began to activate. Synapse connections split relieving the incoming flurry of pain, and a surge of painkillers and endorphins was injected into her bloodstream worked to numb the rest. The teenager felt like she was falling, caught in the middle of conflicting sensations.

And suddenly everything was cold.

Her body felt lighter, as if the weight of the Evangelion had been lifted from her. The burning sensations floated away and she could breathe again. Blinking, Asuka came back to herself.

She stared upwards. The walls of the plug were lined with a series of warning symbols and flashing lights. Not least amongst them was the dwindling time left in the Eva's battery, with just over a minute of power remaining. Beyond that the world had become distorted, as if viewed through an imperfect lens. It took a moment to realise that she was underwater, the sky visible through the water above. To the side, she could see the bottom of the Over the Rainbow's hull, deeper than it should be as ragged, acid eaten holes allowed water to flow in.

Turning, she could see the hulls of the rest of the fleet, several now sinking or sunk. Debris and struggling sailors could be seen in the water around them, smaller dinghies skipping across the waves to rescue them. Fire blossomed overhead, and she saw it. The Angel. It was still fighting, somehow taking all the punishment the UN Navy could dish out and paying it back in full.

A shape moved down past the Eva. It was her prog-knife, dropped in the throes of agony. She stared at it dumbly for a moment. Slowly, she reached out a grasped its hilt. Touching it seemed to send a jolt down her arm, and rage flooded through her, backed by a burst of adrenaline. Did they think she was down? That the Angel had defeated her, the great Asuka Langley Soryu? Growling, she wrenched on the controls, fighting the weight of the ocean and her own failing synch ratio. Unit-02 responded with sluggish, jerky movements, feebly trying to counteract its own mass and the restrictions of its water. It groaned as it reached out for its foe.

"I will not lose!" Asuka growled, her voice strained as she tried to brute force her way upwards.

Something gave way. Synapses realigned inexplicably, Asuka's sync ratio spiking. Unit-02's eyes flashed, matched by a red glow from amongst the melted ruin of its chest. It swept its arms down, powerfully displacing water and shooting itself upwards. Its body glistened, an AT-Field reasserting itself with renewed vigour.

As Matarael stumbled back from another volley, the red Evangelion burst upwards from the ocean, roaring from within its helmet. Asuka fired several spikes at point blank range into its hide, then grabbed hold of them, wrenching the Eva up and onto the Angel's body, out of sight of its acid-spitting mouths.

Matarael bucked and squealed, trying to throw her off, but Asuka held on with grim determination. Leaning back, she emptied the last of the javelins within her launcher, stitching a trail across its back. She climbed up higher, clambering up towards the centre of the Angel. The Navy's bombardment had stalled, retargeting to avoid hitting the Evangelion. Asuka grinned manically, imagining the eyes of every man and woman in the fleet watching her as she triumphantly raised the knife for the killing blow.

"Watch me, Kaji. Everybody," she whispered.

Kneeling on the Angel's back, Unit-02, its chest a ruined mess and its eyes glowing, held the blade in both hands above its head. It brought it down with all the strength a building-sized cyborg could muster, plunging it deep into black flesh. Matarael screamed horribly, louder than any it had previously uttered. Not content, Asuka brought down the knife again and again, ripping into the flesh with one hand as she stabbed viciously with the other, digging deeper and deeper into the Angel's body.

Blood flowed freely, drenching the Eva as it dug in. Matarael convulsed, wracked with pain, its legs flailing around like that of a wounded spider, barely able to hold the gigantic Angel up and out of the waves. In the last few seconds, Asuka found what she was looking for, a smooth, glasslike red orb, deep in the centre of the Angel's body. Her face a rictus of animalistic rage and triumphant glee, she brought down the knife one final time, cracking the core's surface and sawing deep into it.

With one final spasm, Matarael collapsed, splashing down heavily into the ocean. It floated there, its body surprisingly light, mouths leaking acid into the water. Rising up slowly, Unit-02 looked over towards the aircraft carrier nearby, somehow appearing to convey immense pride. Then finally, its battery gave out and the red Eva tipped over backwards, lying depleted and still on its angelic raft.

/o\

\o/

A blanket of tense silence fell over the fleet as Matarael died, the only sounds that of outboard motors and the hissing of acid still eating into metal. Aboard the command bridge of the Othello, the air was one of quiet shock as they stared at the Angel's corpse, Unit-02 lying triumphantly atop of it.

"Is it dead?" someone murmured.

Kaji stepped forwards, walking right up to the front of the bridge. He pressed his hands against the glass, frowning intently at the Evangelion. His worry was obvious. The Eva's final movements had been practically feral, animalistic in comparison to its earlier showing of military precision. Kaji couldn't help but wonder if the cyborg had gone berserk. It had never happened with Unit-02, but he knew it was possible.

"Contact NERV," he said stonily. "They will confirm…"

A comms officer rushed to follow the request. The spy felt Addams step up beside him, but didn't look around. After a moment, the officer spoke up.

"NERV HQ confirms that the Angel is dead. Pattern Blue is dissipating."

The tension on the bridge fell away slightly at that, people audibly relaxing in response to the news.

"A rather different sight to see it first hand," Addams finally commented in a neutral voice.

That was the reaction of most people. For most, the idea that the Eva was a cyborg rarely carried over, so it was often referred to as a purely mechanical construction. Seeing it move often broke that delusion, and the sight of acid-eaten flesh beneath the chest armour in this case made it more than obvious. There had been fearful mutterings amongst the bridge crew when Unit-02 had emerged from the ocean. To hear its muffled roars as it tore into the Angel like an injured beast…

Kaji swallowed and finally looked back over his shoulder at the Admiral. The old man was glaring out of the window, his face set like stone. Kaji paused, then turned around to fully face the man and bowed formally.

"Sir, I…"

Addams held up a hand, interrupting him. "Spare me your apologies, Mr Rouji." His voice was now brimming with repressed rage. "It won't fix the damage done."

Kaji straightened slowly. The Admiral's steely glare was being directed straight past him still, out towards the red Eva. It didn't take a genius to work out where Addams' anger was being directed. Kaji suddenly experienced a feeling of dread.

His eyes widened. "Sir, she's just a girl."

"Exactly," Addams roared, causing everyone present to stop and stare at them. The Admiral was not finished though, and he continued, practically growling out his words. "How NERV ever got away with training children to be soldiers, I will never know. I fought in some of the worst of the post-Impact wars to put an end to such practices. Gendo Ikari should be shot for doing this, and to his own son of all things!"

The Admiral exhaled heavily, taking a moment to compose himself. When he spoke again, his voice had become dangerously low.

"I have got a lot of letters to write today, but I will make sure that people know that the blood is on NERV's hands."

Kaji could feel himself deflating, ashamed for even being associated with NERV, chastised by the older man. He looked back at the Admiral with sorrow in his eyes. "I'll take a list of names," he said quietly.

Addams continued to glare at him for several seconds, the snorted dismissively. He turned his back on the spy and addressed his crew. "Get the girl out of that damned robot. She's to be confined to her quarters for the rest of the trip. Set up a cordon and begin salvage and rescue operations. I want damage reports and a list of casualties on my desk ASAP. Call Command for support."

"The Evangelion?" some brave ensign questioned.

Addams glared at him. "It can stay where it is. The Rainbow is sinking anyway. We'll tow it back to Japan in the morning."

Various crewmen scurried off to enact the Admiral's orders, moving perhaps a little more quickly than normal, wanting to avoid his anger. The old man stopped to give Kaji one more inscrutable glare, then left the bridge. Sighing, Kaji followed, intending to be there when Asuka got out of the Eva. With any luck, she wouldn't be lynched.

/o\

\o/

Matarael's huge body and its oddly flat back made Asuka's retrieval rather easy. Even with the fallen Evangelion and the huge bleeding hole it had torn open in the Angel's body, there was more than enough room to land a pair of transport helicopters upon the Angel's corpse. Despite all the extra weight, the corpse remained buoyant, leaking blood and acid into the red ocean. Before it had even properly touched down, Kaji jumped down from the chopper, first to disembark in his haste to get to his young ward. One of German Eva technicians, safely rescued from the supercarrier, followed him. The engineer's colleague had suffered a rather nasty head wound during the battle, thrown against a bulkhead when Unit-02 had grappled with the Angel. A naval medic trailed after them, and the three men started running towards the Eva.

Other crewmen dismounted from the helicopters behind them, teams of engineers spreading out to fix hooks and pegs to the corpse so it could be towed later on. Amongst them, a small unit of marines took up position, alert to any threat.

The Angel's body made for an odd and difficult surface to be running on. Primarily covered with smooth scales, footing was treacherous due to a lack of traction, worsened even further with many being uneven or wet with blood and seawater. On top of this, the scales gave a little when stood upon, the flesh beneath evidently a little spongy. What would've been fine hair to a creature as big as Matarael grew up from between the scales, several foot long needles that were like the trunks of young trees.

Despite the obstacles, the small group made it to Unit-02 without problems. The technician took the lead as they approached, walking right up to the Eva's shoulder. The German man began to scour the armour for a concealed access hatch. After a few moments he found it, opening a small panel so he could enter a numerical password. An armour panel next to it opened to reveal a large lever and several switches. It was labelled 'Manual Release' in several languages.

With the Eva powered down except for life-support, it took the combined effort of both Kaji and the technician to flip the lever. There was an audible clang and locking clamps within the Eva's armour disengaged. The technician flipped a couple of switches, activating the hydraulics, and the small group retreated hastily to avoid being crushed by the moving armour plates. Steam billowed out from seams in the Eva's armour as it depressurised. The huge fortified metal plate that protected the cyborg's hunched back slid outwards, then folded down, revealing the spinal port and entry plug secreted beneath. After a moment, the plug wound its way out of Unit-02 and began to leak LCL as it drained.

Automatically, a small hatch fell open in the bottom of the plug allowing a rope ladder to uncoil and fall to the ground. Kaji stepped forward and took a hold of it, but before he could begin to climb, the plug's access hatch rattled and fell open. Asuka's face appeared within the dark interior. The girl looked a mess, peering down groggily. She was dripping with LCL, the thick orange liquid clinging to her, leaving her hair matted and stringy. She shifted and moved closer to the hatch, but paused as her expression became pained.

Kaji grabbed at the ladder, intending to climb up and carry the pilot down, but Asuka shook her head vehemently. The girl's pride was enough that she would not allow herself to show any weakness, even to him. She lowered herself over the edge and began to descend shakily. Resigned to watching fretfully from the below, he held the ladder steady for her. Every small wobble or misjudged step made Kaji's stomach leaped up into his throat, expecting at any moment for her to slip or pass out and fall.

Luckily, she made it most of the way down, slipping only as she neared the bottom as she missed a rung. With a yelp, the pilot fell the last few feet into Kaji's waiting arms. She landed with whimper, but eagerly wrapped her slender arms around the spy's shoulders.

For a moment, Kaji thought that perhaps her fall had been a little less than accidental, but did not care. He hugged her in a fatherly manner, uncaring of the LCL ruining his clothes and simply happy to see her alive. Slowly, he knelt down so he could he could place the pilot on the ground and pulled back. The naval medic bustled over and began to examine her, and Kaji noticed that the much of the front of the girl's plug suit had been melted away, the remainder barely covering her. The skin underneath was inflamed red with several small blisters.

His eyes widened even as he averted his gaze. How high had her sync ratio been to have caused that such feedback that it even damaged the plugsuit?

"Did you see me, Kaji?" Asuka asked proudly, her voice slightly strained. She had apparently not realised how she looked.

Kaji turned back to her, looking down directly at her eyes, unsure what to say. "I saw. You foughtwell, Asuka," he replied carefully. He yanked off his tie and began to unbutton his shirt.

"She's got some pretty nasty burns," the medic told him, standing up. "We can fix them, but not here. Even with what I've got on hand she's going to be in some pain until we get to Japan."

Kaji nodded, frowning heavily. Asuka appeared not to have noticed, smiling wearily at his praise even as she struggled to her feet. He finished taking off his shirt and draped it around the girl's shoulders, hoping to preserve her dignity a little. Seeing how shaky she was, he offered her his arm. Hesitating, the girl accepted the support, perhaps finally realising how much she pain she was in.

Slowly he led the pilot, still ignorant to the consequences of her actions, back to the waiting helicopter. He was somewhat glad that Asuka was a little of out, walking with her eyes on the ground in front of her. If she looked up she would see the sinking ships all around the Angel, and glares the men and women were sending at her. Each one expressed disappointment or anger, perhaps even a little fear.

They reached the helicopter and he helped the pilot climb up, directing her towards the seats at the back. He sat down next to her and the medic joined them. After a moment, the helicopter began to take off again and Asuka cuddled up to him. Sighing, Kaji stared out at the dead Angel, watching the crewmen work.

Movement within the bloody hole caught his eye, and he leaned forward, frowning.

"Kaji? What is it?" Asuka questioned weakly, sensing his consternation.

He didn't answer, staring intently. Surely it was just a matter of the Angel's body settling, or a trick of the light, but he couldn't be so sure after speaking to Misato about the Sixth. He grabbed a headset, waving at the pilots of the helicopter.

"Hey! Tell the men down there to get everyone away from that hole," he shouted into the microphone.

"What?" The pilot replied, confused.

"It's not dead!" Kaji cried.

The pilot hesitated, looking at his co-pilot. The other man shrugged, but flipped a few switches on
the radio.

"Be advised. Potential threat within the creatures wound, exercise extreme caution," Kaji heard him relay, repeating the message.

Down below, the marines began to react and started to corral the personnel away from the hole and towards the landing zone. Several walked closer to it carefully, rifles trained and ready. Nothing happened for some time, and Kaji thought that perhaps he had been wrong.

Light shone abruptly from deep within the wound, from the cracked and broken orb of the Angel's core. Like glass, a portion of it exploded outwards in a shower of LCL and red shards. Hissing and spitting, a creature the size of a small car leaped out and began to charge out of the wound, scuttling forward on four spindly legs.

It appeared as an amalgam between the Eighth Angel and a scarab beetle. Its body was oval, covered in a segmented black carapace, but it differed from its progenitor in having a recognisable head. Insect-like with clicking mandibles, it was crowned by the archetypical bone mask, though this one was engraved with a triangular pattern and possessed only a single, unnervingly human eye. It ran right at the marines who opened fire almost immediately, their bullets ineffectual as they ricocheted off of the creature's carapace. The Mataraelim barrelled right through them, forcing the men to dive aside. It ran on, weaving slightly hissing and snapping at anyone in its path as it made a beeline for the edge of the Angel's corpse. More marines were firing at it now, unable to cause much more than superficial wounds.

Kaji could only watch as it reached the edge and jumped off, Asuka shouting beside him to be allowed back into the Eva.

"It's going to escape, you idiots," she roared in German, barely audible over the helicopter's rotors.

The Mataraelim hit the water and began to run along the waves as the Eighth had done, flash-freezing a set of icy stepping stones under its feet. Skittering around the gathered ships, it picked up speed, no longer running towards Japan and heading west.

A destroyer, patrolling the fleet's perimeter turned to follow, its cannon tracking it. Machine guns stitched a trail across the ocean in its wake. The cannon fired as the Mataraelim fled out a hundred metres from the fleet, throwing up a geyser of seawater as the shot exploded just off target. A second shot exploded just in front of the Angelspawn, and it skittered to a halt. Turning to hiss at the destroyer, a halo of light appeared above it. The Mataraelim turned back away and dived into the ocean.

By the time the helicopter carrying them had landed on the deck of the Othello, the Angel had disappeared both from sight and all sensors.

/o\

\o/

Behind his orange-tinted lenses, Gendo read Kaji's report, an internal anger growing at the bad tidings it relayed. Every sentence deepened his consternation. The politicians and journalists of the world would have a field day with this, and there was no way cover it up, not with an entire UN fleet as witness. He could hear the old men grumbling already.

The Soryu girl had evidently inherited her damnable pride from her mother, and it was all the more destructive with her having access to the Evangelion's power. With it, she had potentially damaged relations with the UN beyond repair. They were already perhaps the least trusting of their allies, despite SEELE's ministrations.

She had also almost lost them an Evangelion, and had certainly caused it to become heavily damaged. Both the warmachine, and to a lesser extent its pilot, were still important to the first stage of the scenario. The Angels needed to be defeated before Instrumentality could begin. That there was now a second Angel on the loose, even in reduced form, jeopardised his position in more ways than just questions of his organisations effectiveness.

The girl would have to be dealt with. She would either conform or suffer the consequences.

Gendo turned his head and glared out of the window. He sat silently for a few moments, watching the clouds floating past the wing of the small business jet he was aboard. Slowly and deliberately he closed the laptop and returned his attention to the man across from him.

"I trust everything is well, Commander Ikari?"

The other man, Chen, Commander of NERV Beijing was relaxed. Leaning back in his seat, a glass of brandy held loosely in one hand, he was an opposite to Gendo's straight back and stern face, even if he too was nursing a small dash of brandy.

Gendo inclined his head a little. "Nothing that cannot be dealt with," he replied simply.

Chen smiled and bowed his head back. "So, back to business then," he sipped his drink. "The budget for a new unit had been approved, yes?"

"Indeed. The Security Council finally cleared the budget for Unit-08."

"Despite the opposition…" The Chinese man muttered, earning him a glare from Gendo.

"Unfortunately, the so-called successes of the Jet Defender series and the JSSDF's positron cannon have brought up the old arguments again. You know how the council loathes spending money, even in defence of the world." Gendo sneered and looked back at the window. "It is folly. The Evangelion is the only true way to defeat the Angels."

"Relax, I am but a messenger," Chen smirked. "They only want to avoid another Second Impact. Despite the resentment and lobbying, numerous countries are still constructing either Evangelions or components for them."

"And what about your country?"

"We'll gladly produce Unit-08 for you. Other countries have claimed the rest, and China wants its own Eva. We already have the necessary installations, all that is missing is a pilot." He paused, setting down his empty glass. "But then, that is not what you're really asking me, is it?"

Gendo grunted. "The project I froze in 2010. I want it restarted and completed."

"Why the sudden change of mind?"

"It has become necessary."

Chen smiled benevolently. "Then it is good that the project is already in its final stages, yes?"

Gendo blinked.

"We have known of SEELE and their goals for some time now, Commander, and will have no part of it. We completed the project as insurance against it."

"You tread dangerously, Chen," Gendo growled, staring daggers at the other man. "I froze that project for a reason."

Chen leaned forward, suddenly angry. "I do not care. We could not sit idly by whilst the true threat to humanity continues to dictate how things are done," he spat. "Ikari, you are in the best position to oppose them. This has been done to support you. Third Impact and Instrumentality cannot be allowed to happen!"

The two men had locked eyes, glaring at each other. Both had power and cunning, evident in their positions as leaders. The tension between, once veiled was now palpable. Slowly, it began to fade and they relaxed back into their seats. Gendo raised his arms, bridging his hands under his nose. It was interesting to see how people could be nudged into following his plans with the most minimal of effort. Sometimes their reactions surprised even him.

"Very well. You shall have the final components needed to complete the series," he said.

Chen nodded gratefully, and topped-up his glass "Thank you, I will make the transfer arrangements when we land."

Gendo nodded, grinning behind his hands.

/o\

AN: Don't have much time to think up a proper AN this chapter. Suffice to say, this ain't your Dad's Matarael!

Also, Unit-02's computer voice on startup is specifically a Nanoha reference, just for kicks.

Remember to leave a review, and I'll see you all next chapter!