Sea of Tranquility: Vicious Cycle
Nerv HQ, Tokyo-3…
The staff sat and watched as Godzilla effortlessly blasted Matarael, the spider-like Angel, into oblivion!
"Misato! What are our orders?! He's already killed three of them!"
"Hold back, Asuka! According to Prime, Godzilla prefers powerful opponents! The last thing we need is for him to attack us and ignore the Angels!"
"So we're just going to sit here with our thumbs in our asses?!"
Toji's crass statement visibly angered Misato.
"Major, I'm afraid I must concur with pilots Soryu and Suzuhara. Nerv cannot be seen as shirking in its duties, especially with the U.N. at our throats!"
"But, Commander…"
"If Prime knows the creature well, he should fight it himself! Prepare an attack on the Angels effective immediately!"
Misato chafed at the thought of rushing directly into a crossfire.
She knew that Prime had much more combat experience, especially concerning titanic kaiju like Godzilla.
But she also knew that Nerv had a reputation to uphold, which had eroded considerably after the arrival of their allies.
In any case, Gendo had already issued his direct orders, and as an inferior rank, she had no choice.
"Yes, sir. All Evangelions prepare for-"
"Corrosion alert in the Pribnow Box!"
"Pattern Blue Detected! It's an Angel!"
Aoba and Maya's declarations instantly derailed whatever strategy Misato had planned in her mind!
"How the hell did it get through?"
"It must have disguised itself as rust stains on the walls!"
More alarms blared!
"It's trying to hack the Magi! Melchior is compromised!"
"The lasers aren't working! The A.T. Field's deflecting them!"
A horrific realization struck Ritsuko!
"It's trying to self-destruct HQ! Get the firewall run-"
"Secondary hacking attempt detected!"
"Who could possibly be-"
Ritsuko's mind went numb as a sudden jolt of pain sent her to the floor!
Tokyo-3 City Limits…
"Misato, can you read me? Misato!"
Shinji yelled into the comms, which had been corrupted with static.
"Communications are- AAAAAAAAAGH!"
Rei and Kaworu suddenly screamed loudly in pain!
"Ayanami! Nagisa! What's-"
Shinji, too, doubled over in pain!
Autobot Base, Aokigahara...
"What's he doing?!"
"He's… he's trying to hack the Angel!"
Kaji never heard the answer to his question.
In less than a second, he joined Megatron in writhing and screaming on the ground!
"Kaji!"
Luna rushed to assist the fallen Kaji from injuring himself.
"What's happening to them?"
The princess asked Prime.
"Omega! Vaccine Program! Now!"
Ratchet desperately bellowed!
"Activating Autobot Vaccine Program at Nerv HQ! Stand by…"
Within seconds, Megatron and Kaji stopped screaming and lost consciousness from the pain!
"What in the Pit was that?!"
Ironhide yelled in consternation.
"Whatever it was, it affected every human on the planet."
Wheeljack grimly stated.
That one sentence had a chilling effect on all the beings present!
"Estimated casualties thus far: 1,789,251. Mostly vehicular accidents."
Soundwave's emotionless calculations only worsened the mood.
Seething with anger, Luna walked over to Discord and punched him across the face!
"Ugh!"
"What did you do? What in the nine levels of Tartarus did you do?!"
The princess fumed, her eyes visibly glowing.
Bullets would not harm Discord, but a petrifying spell...
"Ireul! Megatron wanted to hack Ireul! The Eleventh Angel!"
"How could Megatron possibly hack an Angel?!"
"It took the form of a techno-organic virus capable of infecting humans and machines!"
Prime connected the dots.
"So that's what the Reverse Evolution virus was for. Operation Masakado was just that, a ghost story."
"Took you long enough."
Starscream jeered under his breath.
Optimus angrily grabbed Starscream by the shoulders and slammed him against the ground before drawing his Energon Ax!
"You're still responsible for those 1 million human casualties! I gave you Decepticons multiple chances to redeem yourselves and prove me wrong, yet all you do is continue causing death and misery!"
Discord muttered something as he wiped his bloodied nose.
"...the last Angel."
Yet his whisper was enough to alert Prime and the Princess!
"WHAT?!"
"Oops. Spoilers."
The cosmic trickster grinned.
But it quickly disappeared when he felt his shoes freeze to the ground!
Luna glared at him, with her eyes now glowing white!
"Wait!"
Thundercracker stepped forward.
"Allow me to explain. The Eighteenth and Final Angel are the Lilin, or as we know it, Humanity."
The Autobots angrily drew their weapons at him.
"You'd better be lying."
Bumblebee spoke with absolute venom in his voice.
"Look at the files Kaji gave you, and the stuff Discord gave Megatron!"
Ratchet and Prime scanned the items.
Their optics widened as Thundercracker's proclamation was found to be true!
"Humanity itself is the final Angel. It was the case in those alternate universes, and it's the case here."
"But how?! They have more in common with the Titans than any human!"
Ironhide exclaimed in frustration.
"They're supposed to be creations of a species called the First Ancestral Race. Come to think of it, they might just be humans from another universe. Basically, an endless feedback loop."
Luna picked up one of the manga volumes from the box.
"Wait, I recognize this title now."
"Neon Genesis Evangelion?"
"No, in our universe, it was called New Century Alcion, remember?"
"You mean that depressing series we watched at Monster Island every Friday night?"
Jazz remembered.
"Yeah, Gendo used to take a shot every time something bad happened to Shinichi. Of course, Yui told him to knock it off after he nearly self-destructed the island for the third time."
Cliffjumper fondly reminisced as well.
"Oh, now, I remember! The End of Alcion! Good thing Yui ended the drinking game! I mean, the movie literally starts off with…"
Wheeljack came to a sudden realization.
"...the military invading. The Final Angel."
His voice suddenly turned panicky.
"Dear Primus, it's just like here! The shadowy cabal, the great disaster, alien monsters, the pilots being traumatized children, it's all here, and we forgot!"
"Where did you get these?!"
Luna interrogated Discord, now frozen in place.
"Axiom Nexus. Where else?"
Only Optimus appeared to recognize the name.
"Why would Megatron need material from another universe?"
Prime asked Discord.
"He said he'd been having visions of another life. He was the reformer fighting for justice, and you were the revolutionary-turned-tyrant. Imagine that."
Prime didn't have to.
"The visions we saw before transwarping here! Megatron's been having them too?"
"Why else would he throw the match in Autobot City?! He had you dead to rights with that hidden pistol, but he chose to turn and shoot at Hot Rod instead!"
"You mean Megatron wanted to get himself killed?"
Starscream interrupted, in consternation at the grand revelation!
"He played you like a damn fiddle, Starscream! But don't worry, he did the same with Unicron and Shockwave."
Discord laughed.
"What does Unicron have to do with this?!"
"That obese planet-eater gave him and Tweedledee and Tweedledum over here-"
Discord gestured towards Skywarp and Thundercracker.
"Hey!"
"-new bodies in exchange for following his plans. But Shockwave was already planning to kill Starscream at the coronation, so it wasn't long before Unicron chose him instead."
"So, Unicron's involved. The Quintessons aren't invading Cybertron, they're warning us!"
Prime grimaced at the thought of fighting the dreaded planet-eater.
"But how does Grand King Ghidorah fit into all this?!"
Luna chimed in.
Discord suddenly turned pale.
"I might have thrown the Thirteenth Angel into Mecha-King Ghidorah's holding cage."
Luna slapped her forehead in consternation, as did the Cybertronians!
"I thought the Ghidorah was gonna eat it! Besides, Kensuke and I already killed it on Blue Earth!"
"And now the Garoga know about us, and they've sent their ultimate weapon! Thanks, Discord!"
Bumblebee groaned.
With all the pieces together, Prime deduced the reason behind their misadventure!
"Now I know why we saw the visions, why we're here. Megatron's been researching alternate universes, and hacking the Angel caused both of them to see everything on the other's consciousness! Add in Ghidorah's and Discord's reality-warping abilities…"
"A feedback loop to end all feedback loops."
The Autobots turned and watched as Megatron sat up!
"An energy spike transcending time and space! A beacon for a world in need of rescue!"
Prime turned to Megatron unarmed, but with clenched fists!
"Megatron, for once, tell me the truth! How long have you been planning this?!"
Megatron looked to Prime, with visible trauma on his face!
"Nova Point. Nominus Prime."
To be continued…
A/N: Oh, boy. Due to the current pandemic, I tried to hold off on Ireul, considering that it's an Angel virus. (Okay, it was mostly a computer virus in the show, but still too soon!) But, it turned out to the best interconnecting thread to this plot I cobbled together as I went. Anyways, I hope you are all safe during these troubled times and feel free to read my side project, Cries of Summer, a Friday the 13th/Higurashi crossover! (Hence the hamfisted nods in the previous chapter. Sorry.) Be warned though, it is rated M for mature, as such a crossover should be!
