Broken heroes
Chapter 8: Skydiving with a giant robot
AN:Before we begin I wanted to address some of the things that have been pointed out in the reviews.
First I wanted to tell you that English is not my first language so I'm sorry if the grammar and writing aren't the best, second, yes the characters are OOC, but I made them this way to help with writing and also to fit the story better.
Finally I wanted to tell you that since school is restarting, you should expect fewer updates because it takes up a lot of my time.
I'm done with boring you to death now, have a good read!
Katsuragi apartment, the day after
"Hey, baka! Is breakfast ready or not? I'm starving!" "Almost Asuka, give me a couple minutes, oh hi Misato" and the almost sleeping woman replied "hi kids" she then went to the fridge to get a can of beer whose contents were quickly depleted.
A bit later their penguin Pen Pen joined them and after annoying Asuka for a bit, he went to the bathroom, leaving the group.
Soon after the two teens had finished getting ready for school and after taking their lunches they exited the apartment, which was left half an hour later by Misato who went to NERV.
At the Tokyo 3 middle school
"stand, bow, sit!" Hikari Horaki, the class representative shouted when the teacher of class 2-A entered and after he sat down, everyone was getting ready to listen for hours on end to his ramblings about life before second impact, but they were surprised when he said "Today a new student from england will be joining our class, you can enter"
"Hello everyone, nya! My name is Mari Illustrious Makinami, but you can call me just Mari, happy to meet you all"
And so the teacher said "good, we're happy to meet you too, you can go sit at that empty seat near Ayanami, the blue haired girl".
As Rei heard that she tried to hide her blush and surprise for the fact that her girlfriend will be joining her class, but it was made even harder for her when Mari approached her walking in a way that made every male student drool just at the sight.
Meanwhile the brunette was thinking "damn, am I really that good looking or is this the first nice girl these boys see? Well it has to be the first option since the princess is in here too… And she even sits next to the puppy! How cute, but what's even cuter is the face that blue is making right now! I can see you blush Rei, you can't hide it from me"
"Hi blue" "hello Mari" and then a third voice joined them, this time it was Toji Suzuhara who asked "you two know each other?" and Mari replied "yes, she is my-" "She is another pilot".
A scream of surprise was heard from various students of the class, which was in part caused by the fact of having a new pilot with them and in part caused by Rei stopping Mari mid sentence and speaking up.
In fact the event of her speaking was so rare that some of her classmates had completely forgotten how her voice sounded.
Then Mari said after recovering from the surprise "yeah, I'm another pilot, but let's not make too much of a fuss about it ok? You can look at me all you want though"
She then made a last seductive pose before sitting down and opening her assigned computer, that was already filled with love letters from almost every boy in class, but was surprised her was a message from Asuka that read "stop shaking your ass like a bitch Mari, it's a school, not a strip club" but then the 16 year old replied to the german "oh, you're afraid that I'll steal attention away from you?
Don't worry, you still have the puppy always looking at you" "fuck off, he's a pervert, what can I do about it?"
"maybe you can start by not standing right beside him with all the free desks that are available" " . (chat closed)".
And so Mari closed off her computer too as she thought "oh yeah, coming in this school was the best idea I had, I have my friends and blue with me, I can have fun making boys nosebleed over me and I can look at the princess getting angry.
The only thing that could top this off would be an action film playing right outside of our school since this lesson seems boring as fuck"
Then suddenly the sound of an elicopter started to get closer and after a bit, Kensuke Aida, the class nerd, said "am I the only one who is hearing a helicopter?" then Toji replied "normally I would assume that you are having another military fantasy of yours, but yeah I'm hearing it too…
Actually it sounds like there are more of them" and so Kensuke replied "strange, this area of the city is far from any military stuff what could be-".
Suddenly the sound of an explosion interrupted their conversation as loud screams filled the class, but soon they were overcome by the sound of the helicopters and by-
Play: [HELL ON EARTH] Doom Eternal ost
"am I hearing… Music?" Toji asked, not noticing the worried looks on the pilots' faces who were getting an idea of what was happening.
Meanwhile as the sounds became louder and louder, the machines finally became visible from the class windows.
There were five heavily armed assault helicopters that all showed some battle damage whose source was quickly revealed to the entire class.
As one of the vehicles exploded, out of the flames a flaming chain was shot towards the nearest one and after making contact with the steel, it started to pull the form of the Slayer out of the smoke.
Immediately Kensuke took out his camera and started recording the man that was wearing green body armor and was grappling towards an helicopter with a double barrel shotgun in his hand, while on the other he held a rocket launcher.
As soon as the man made contact with the helicopter, the chain was detached from its target who then received a rocket right on the cockpit, making it lose control and fall to the ground together with the Slayer.
Seeing the opportunity the other helicopters started to rain hell upon the crash site with missiles, heavy machine guns and grenade launchers, but as the smoke settled, all of their efforts had been proven futile.
The Slayer had in fact pulled out his minigun and activated the shield on the front of it, blocking all of the incoming projectiles.
What followed next was a swarm of bullets filling every helicopter present as every one of them was unable to hinder the Slayer's assault.
Finally the last helicopter fell down and to make sure that none of the soldiers inside were still alive, he moved in for closer inspection.
As he did that though, he raised his vision towards the building in front of him and as he saw the four pilots dressed in school uniforms with other kids near them, he understood precisely where his fight had brought him.
So, after making sure that every single one of the soldiers was dead, he turned again to look at the window and he waved at the group of teens who were watching him.
He then entered the building and soon he reached the pilots' class, causing all the other kids to give out a scream of terror.
To calm the class down Asuka shouted "Calm down everyone! He's not going to kill us, he's our ally".
And so the Slayer responded "thanks Asuka and sorry for having 'interrupted' your class, but at the moment the entire city is under siege by an unknown military force and I wanted to make sure that you were safe, but they were waiting for me when I got close"
"Wait… The city is under attack? What about all the angel defenses? Shouldn't those work against soldiers too?"
"Yes, but they were incapacitated right before the attack began. Now I have to go, there are still enemies roaming the streets, I'll escort you to the closest shelter if you want, from there you four can go to NERV safely"
"thanks, I guess" "good, let's go now, we don't have much time"
Near a shelter
As the Slayer peeked over the corner that was leading to the street where the entrance was, he made a hand sign to tell the group that it was safe to proceed.
A couple of seconds after the entire class was descending into the angel shelter, but before they went down, the four pilots turned and asked the Slayer "what are you going to do?" and he said "I'll keep doing what I do best, you should go to NERV now, it's the safest place you can be in"
And so the four of them started to run towards Central dogma.
As soon as the door of the shelter closed, a couple hundred soldiers began firing upon the Slayer with all their powerful…
… Yet useless weapons as the carnage began once more.
Play : [THE ULTIMATE SOLDIER] by Shiro Sagisu
Central dogma, command room
"-Hayden I've just sent the pilots into a shelter, they'll arrive soon at NERV, I'll deal with the rest by myself, Slayer out".
With that the communication window closed and so the robot in the command room said "you heard, him, what's the situation in the rest of the city?" and one guy at a console said "most of the city sectors are still occupied by enemy forces, but… It looks like they are following the Slayer…
Yes, they are following him wherever he goes" "hmm, interesting, what are we going to do with the pilots?" and so Gendo said "they will engage the enemy forces as soon as possible, prepare the units" "those kids cannot kill humans you idiot, even Asuka isn't a soldier despite what she says.
Damn it, did they really have to throw an emp at the angel defenses? If we were able to get those back online, it would be a breeze to get rid of them"
A couple of minutes later the pilots entered the command room and as soon as they stopped to catch their breath from the long run, the commander of NERV told them "pilots, go to your units, you will engage the enemy and eliminate any opposition"
Silence filled the room as the teens heard what the man had told them and Shinji was thinking "wait, did he just order me to kill… People? I can't, I must have misheard right?".
And so, just to be sure the boy asked his father "sorry, what did you say?" so the man replied "I am ordering you to go to your units and engage the enemy forces, destroying all opposition" "so you're telling me I have to go out there and kill people?"
"Not people, soldiers, now go" the man replied with a more stressful tone and at this moment Shinji, who wasn't believing what he was being ordered to do, remembered an exchange that he had with the Slayer while he was waiting for Asuka to wake up after the 6th angel.
FLASHBACK
"Hey Slayer, have you ever killed anyone before arriving here?"
"only once,it happened when I was four years old and it changed my life completely. It almost happened a second time, but the person survived.
I tell you, if you ever have to make a decision about human lives, you should always and I mean always try to save as many people as possible, even if they are enemies.
Even for me, even though I've been fighting in hell for longer than I can tell, it was hard to kill those soldiers during our dinner together because they were still humans, they just had been ordered to do something they probably didn't want to.
So remember these two things when dealing with human lives Shinji, always try to save as many people as possible, even if they are the enemy and never kill an innocent person just because you were ordered to.
"ok, thanks Slayer, how can you give such good advice?"
"I'm speaking from experience"
END FLASHBACK
And so, as his small flashback ended the boy looked up at his father and said
"they are still people, they have families and lives…and I am not going to kill them"
"third child are you disobeying a direct order?" "if that means saving lives then yes, also aren't the Evas built to protect humans? It's what you made me do lots of times already"
"I have have had enough of this, guards detain hi-"
BANG
As the sound echoed throughout the room, everyone turned their heads to the centre where Hayden was holding a pistol pointed straight up that had just fired and as he saw that everyone's attention was on him he said "you are not going to detain that child, he is a protector of humanity, not your personal soldier that you can order around" he then ironically gave a quick glance to Ayanami that was standing closely behind the boy with the other two pilots on her sides.
He then continued "thanks for your attention, now, I was trying to inform you that I have communicated to the Slayer that the troops are following him, so now he is leading them outside of the city.
Also the evacuation has been completed and every citizen is in the angel bunkers.
One last thing, Gendo Ikari, were you really ordering your fifteen years old son to go out there and murder soldiers?"
"Yes"
"I would advise against that as the Slayer has already stated that he does not need any help and that he has sent the pilots here for their own safety. I fear that if one of them was sent out there he might… 'disagree' with such action.
Plus I don't really think that any of your pilots are capable of ending human lives"
"they have already faced various angels and dealt with them"
"Yes, they are in fact very good at killing angels, but here we are talking about human lives and teens are supposed to ever experience that"
"I am the commander here doctor Hayden, my orders are absolute"
"I can tell you one thing that you aren't.
You aren't my, VEGA's, and especially the Slayer's commander. Remember Ikari that we are simply helping you with your crisis because of our own choice and that none of us takes any orders from anyone on this planet.
Now, if your son wants to respect your order, I have nothing against that, I am merely saying this to make him know that there are options"
At this point Gendo was very irritated, but before he could say anything about it, the phone on his desk rang and after a quick answer he said "I have to go, there is a meeting I must participate in".
And so he left the room taking his small personal elevator.
As the silence began to grow heavier inside the room, everyone was looking at Hayden and what he had just done, but before they could process any thoughts, the sound of an alarm distracted them.
Then one technician shouted "an energy spike has been detected!" and so Misato siad "give me a visual!"
What appeared then on the screen was the view from one of the cameras situated in one of the larger roads of the city and right in the middle of it, a giant Evangelion sized sniper had been placed on the road and it was being charged up.
So Misato asked "what are they trying to do?" as she said this Hayden asked "can we see a map of the entire city?" and so a 2d map of Tokyo 3 was displayed on the giant screen.
The robot then continued "ok, now, can we display the gun's and the enemy's position?".
A moment later a blue arrow that pointed down the large road appeared and to its left various red dots were seen moving towards it. Then Hayden took out an USB from his body and connected it to the system.
A second later the icon of the Slayer could be seen on the map, moving from red point to red point and making them disappear with a disturbing speed.
Finally now that everyone in the room could see the full picture of what was happening, Samuel said "they are trying to ambush the Slayer with the sniper rifle and judging by how he is moving, I don't think that he'll be able to notice it in time, we have to warn him immediately".
And so he pressed a button to make a call to the Slayer, but when he said his name, not only there was no response, but the communication window hadn't even opened, meaning that somehow they had sabotaged it.
"the direct communication is not working, do we have any other way to contact him?"
And so Ritsuko said "no, the emp from earlier has knocked out the surface warming systems. At the moment we can't contact him in any way possible"
"shit, this way he'll get caught in the trap for sure, I know that he can survive something like that, but he'll be incapacitated for sure, hmm"
So the robot began to think on how he could resolve the problem, but after a while a response came from Misato who said "display the evangelion lift openings"
After she said that, on the 2d map a large number of yellow squares were added and thankfully there was one right in the direction the gun was pointed at.
As Misato got a surprised look from Hayden she said "I think that our only option here is to send the Evas up there and block the bullet with an AT field, but we have to move quickly, the Slayer is getting closer to the road".
"I'll do it" said Shinji from the back of the room and then he added "I think that I owe him from the time that he saved me from those soldiers on the roof" and so Misato said "Are you sure Shinji?" "Yes Misato" he said, sounding confident for the first time in his life.
But then Asuka interrupted him by saying "where do you think you are going baka?...
You think you can just go out there alone to get all the glory?
Well too bad cause I'll be there before you!" and so she started running towards the Eva cages, followed then by the third child.
After both of them were gone, Mari let herself escape a small laughter and after exchanging looks with an equally amused Misato, she started to make her way to the cages too, followed by Rei.
"I think that we may have a chance now, good thinking Misato" "thanks Hayden, now let's get ready everyone! I want those four units up into the streets as soon as possible!"
SEELE meeting room
"May I ask the reason for the attack?" Gendo asked to the black monoliths surrounding him in the dark room and one of them, that had 04 written on it said
"You said that your main issue was getting the third child ready for instrumentality, so the council has decided to help you by giving your son the opportunity of experiencing murder"
So Gendo replied "That is an honor, but I believe that your plan won't be able to reach its completion and this is the reason why".
Suddenly the screen in front of him was filled with the view from a camera of the city that depicted the Slayer fighting off almost effortlessly against the platoon of soldiers that were being sent to attack him.
But after a bit of footage SEELE 03 said "that is where you are wrong Gendo, the Slayer this time is at the centre of our plans.
We have been monitoring just like you his interactions with the pilots and it has become apparent that he has become attached to all of them so losing him would destabilize all the pilots, thus giving you an opportunity to continue with the scenario"
Then the view changed from the street where the man was fighting to the one with the giant gun on it as SEELE 01 said "we have managed to develop a new weapon that is loaded with special bullets.
These are made from the same material as the Lance of Longinus and so they will be able to go through even the most powerful AT field, there is nothing that man can do to survive such a hit and with his other two companions in our possession, it will be easy to get rid of them once they are no longer useful"
After hearing this NERV's commander said "I sincerely hope you are right, but it seems that the robot has already discovered your trap, thankfully I have already disabled the communications with the Slayer so that they can't do nothing.
Plus, none of the pilots have shown interest in going outside and facing the enemy forces so he will be left alone and unprepared" he said after opening a tab that showed the feed from a camera in the command room.
"I'll do it"
That sentence from Shinji caught everyone by surprise as Gendo said "it seems that the third child has been affected by the man more than we thought he should have.
It also looks like all four pilots will be going outside to protect him"
SEELE 02 then said "what are you waiting for?
Interrupt the operation" but then Gendo answered "it would make a bad impression of me as just before I was ordering them to go outside, so this time I can't do anything, in the meantime, we should think of a way to get rid of Hayden.
During the time I have spent here, I learned that he has great knowledge and understanding of secret organizations as he was part of various ones himself.
Also I fear that he and the Slayer might have already breached Terminal dogma, although it is just speculation.
This makes him our primary target as against him we are on equal ground in terms of secrecy".
And so SEELE 05 asked "So, what do you propose?"
And then Gendo grinned
Tokyo 3 streets
Bzoom… was the sound that the ballista made when with the arbalest mod the Slayer fired an explosive dart at one of the helicopters that were shooting missiles at him.
He then dashed to the side to avoid a homing rocket and then he responded to the group of soldiers behind him with one of his own, making them blow up and splattering their guts everywhere.
This was soon followed by the flaming meathook being launched at another guy, who was used as a catapult for the Slayer to arrive on top of a tank.
He then aimed down and blasted the two shells into the weakly armored roof of the tank's turret which got launched in the sky when some of the pellets of the shell hit the ammo inside, causing a detonation.
After being launched in the air once again, Doomguy took this chance to take down another helicopter with the lock on burst mod for the rocket launcher.
While all of this was happening, he wasn't noticing that he was getting closer to the trap that had been laid for him.
Meanwhile down in the Eva cages, Shinji and Asuka were getting ready to enter their units and Mari and Rei had just arrived.
As the two teens entered their entry plugs, they sat down once again and after witnessing a rainbow of colours in front of them, they were in control of the armored behemoths.
As she saw the activation process finish Misato called Shinji and Asuka and said "ok so here's the plan, Shinji, you'll be dropped off right in front of the gun while Asuka will be to your left.
Since they will fire as soon as the Slayer arrives, the first thing you'll want to do is destroy the gun completely, but if you can't make it then extend your AT field to stop the bullet.
It might be too strong for you, but you will slow it down enough for the Slayer to move out of the way.
While this is happening Asuka you'll go take care of the gun, meanwhile Mari and Rei will join you to provide protection with their own AT fields"
"Roger Misato" both teens said almost at the same time, then Hayden said "the Slayer is getting near the main road, we have to go" and so Misato shouted "EVA launch!"
As the two platforms let go of their bolts and started to elevate the mechs up to the surface, Shinji felt a bit dizzy because of the G forces, while Asuka didn't feel anything at all because she had been doing this since she was a kid.
Moments later both the evangelions had reached Tokyo 3 and as unit 01 raised its head, Shinji saw the big white gun mounted at the end of the street.
So he started to run towards it and while he was going he noticed unit 02 doing the same from the corner of his eye.
He also noticed the map on his right, which showed the position of the Slayer and the gun's and unfortunately for him the man had already reached the street.
He then saw the tip of the gun get filled with light as it's positron powered shell was fired out of the chamber.
He didn't think twice about it and he extended his AT field making it as strong as he could, but suddenly he saw the projectile start to move and before he knew it, it was already trespassing his barrier.
Thankfully though, behind him unit 02 was waiting for this as she had predicted as such so she extended he at field too and said "That's why you always need me on the battlefield baka! Now get them before they fire again!"
And so unit 01 started to run towards the gun once more, but as soon as he turned he heard concrete cracking behind him and when he looked back he saw that the ground behind unit 02 was starting to break and that the bullet was moving in the same way it did when he tried to stop it.
In fact before he could do anything the round broke the other orange barrier that was separating it from the target.
As he saw unit 02's field collapse though, Shinji turned on the Eva speakers and he shouted "Slayer!" to the top of his lungs.
The man turned in the direction of the sound and as he saw the two units standing outside, he got angry that they had sent them out regardless of what he had said, but this thought was quickly replaced by the urge to pull out the only thing that could defend him against the incoming round.
Had it not been for the two units' efforts in fact, the bullet would have been too fast to catch even for the Slayer, but this wasn't the case and as he took the weapon in his hands he activated it and prepared to block the bullet.
All of this happened in the fraction of a second that it took for unit 02 to turn around and look at the area where the Slayer was, which was right now filled with yellowish rays of energy and red lighting as two unknown forces were clashing against each other.
After a couple of seconds though, the red lightning won over the bullet, which was deflected up in the sky.
Celebration ensued and so the man took the opportunity to hide one of his super weapons once again.
As the dust settled the Slayer looked around and he saw that the soldiers around him had been destroyed by the clash so, in this brief moment of peace, he started to run run towards the two giants on the street, which quickly became four as he saw Makinami and Ayanami's units destroy the gun that had just fired at him.
When the man reached the right foot of unit 02, who was slowly getting up again, Shinji said "hey Slayer! Are you alright?" "Yes, thanks for the help, without you it would have turned out badly, why didn't you warn me earlier anyway?"
And then Asuka replied "they tried, but the communications weren't working for some reason. Anyway how did you block that thing? I saw it hit you and had been able to pass right through our AT fields"
"Well, let's just say that I used a 'secret technique' to deviate the shell and, judging from the angle I hit it at, it has probably reached space by now"
As he said that unit 03 got close and Mari said "sorry to interrupt your tea party, but it looks like enemy reinforcements are coming… And I don't think that any one of us wants to use an Eva to kill people right?"
To this the Slayer replied "I'll take care of them, you just protect me and yourselves with the AT fields.
Can any one of you contact Hayden?"
A moment later the connection was reestablished between the Slayer and the geofront and so the man asked "Hayden, there are reinforcements coming, how's the situation on the city defenses?"
"they are back online, but the entirety of their firing programs have been corrupted.
We are right now trying to rewrite all of the code, but it's taking us a while since there is a lot of work. You'll have to do by yourself for a while, not that you have any problems with it"
"no I don't, still it's going to take a while to take them all down"
"I can help with that"
"who said that?" the Slayer asked and then the voice replied again, but now that it was clearer, everyone recognized it and it said:
"I'm VEGA, I have finished recovering and I believe that you could use my help. If you want I can momentarily take manual control of the armaments so that the rewriting of the code can be left for later"
To this Doomguy replied "I'm glad that you are back and also good idea, it will definitely help"
"I am happy to hear that, but unfortunately right now I am blocked out from the armaments by the MAGI, Doctor Akagi, could you give me permission to override the block?"
While he was hearing this Hayden was thinking "finally he's back, the fortress was starting to feel really empty without him, but what block is he talking about? He can easily take control of the entire facility without problems, is he putting on an act?
Maybe he wants to dig deeper into the secrets that the base holds, father you really are a smart bastard… Wait, wait, wait… did I just call him father?
Huh, I guess that my mind doesn't find it so weird after all, still I think that I'll stick to VEGA for a while more"
A while passed before the scientist answered VEGA's question as she wasn't sure what to do.
On one hand she could comply and let the Ai take control of the weapons, but then there was the possibility that it would take control of everything like it said it could do.
"What do I do… He said that he can easily take control of the entire facility, but can he really do that?
I mean, with the limitations that I put on him with the MAGI, he surely can't hack the entire geofront and if I remove them he might try that.
Maybe it was all just intimidation, or at least I hope so, because there is no way we can rewrite all of the code in such a short period and who knows what these guys have still in store for us… God why is my job so hard"
Finally after she resolved her internal battle, she answered "ok, I'll give you access, but just for 30 minutes, I want to make sure you don't do anything strange while you are in control"
"Don't worry, I won't"
As he received the signal from the MAGI, VEGA started working and everyone in the command room was amazed by just how fast he had been in basically rewriting the control programs for every turret and missile silo.
He then took manual control of every weapon and asked again "I'm ready, Slayer, do you want me to kill them or send them away?"
"I'd prefer the second option, far too many people have died today"
But then Akagi interrupted them and said "but how? If you don't kill them then they won't start retreating"
"I'll show you, firing in 3...2...1…"
What followed could only have been described as a beautiful dance of rockets and shells as all the weapons fired in unison towards the incoming enemy forces.
Yet, as they approached their targets, the missiles started to deviate a little and the shells' trajectories were seen off center.
This was intentional though as VEGA was not trying to kill anyone, he was just going to incapacitate them.
After a couple of seconds after being fired, the rockets and rounds reached their destination.
In that same instant, all the enemy helicopters were damaged to the point of being incapable of fighting and all the tanks and armored vehicles were made useless because of the damage to their main components.
Meanwhile, lots of artillery shells were landing near the ground troops, severely injuring most of them, but killing none.
Then suddenly the barrage stopped and as the invading troops were starting to question if it was worth it to continue the attack, they heard the city speakers come to life as VEGA simply said to them "Leave."
And with that, the only thing that every enemy soldier was now thinking was "screw this, I'm out of here, there's no way we can win"
And so they did.
"Shall we go and try to capture some of them?" Misato asked, but the Slayer replied from the shoulder of unit 02 which was reentering "no, they're elites, you would just get insults and death threats out of them.
Anyway, nice aim VEGA"
"thank you, although I could have caused less damage"
"the important thing is that the city now is safe as I doubt that they'll be coming back after what you did.
Also I bet 20 bucks that they are the same guys that have tried to kill me twice already"
"thrice, with today" Hayden replied and then he continued "anyway how did you deflect the bullet?"
"I used a glowing stick"
"wha-... Oh. Now I understand, heh"
But, then VEGA asked the Slayer "I believe that you didn't see where the shot went right?"
"Yes, all the lights blinded me for a bit. Why is that important?" he asked with a bit of worry in his voice.
"Because I looked where it ended up and well…let me show you"
He then transmitted the feed from a camera on a satellite in space, which was pointing directly towards a black circular mass floating in space that had various white eyes circle in the centre and with distorted light at its edges.
As the image was displayed to the Evas, the Slayer and the command room, VEGA said "it has been identified as the eighth angel, Sahaquiel, at its current pace it will reach Tokyo 3 tomorrow at 16:00 and impact with the city, causing an enormous crater"
Then Misato asked "why didn't we detect it earlier? It is well inside our range"
And VEGA responded "it seems that it was using some kind of barrier to hide from our radars, but when the bullet from earlier left the earth, it struck the angel, revealing it to us.
Do you have any ideas on how to attack it? "
"I think that for now we have to use the time this guy is giving us to get ourselves back together as we just stopped a city wide invasion, don't you think?"
As she said that, commander Ikari came back into the room and after looking at the screen without saying anything he understood what was happening and said "Katsuragi, I want you to have a battle plan ready for tonight, attack with orbital weapons as soon as the angel is in range"
"R...roger"
He then left the room, annoyed at the fact that both of SEELE's plans had failed, but now it was time for his move and he was ready to get revenge on Hayden for how he had treated him earlier.
Katsuragi apartment, around 7 pm
Two hours had passed since the two kids had come back home and they were now relaxing in the living room.
The events of the day had tired them a lot, so for now, they just wanted to sit around and do nothing.
Or at least that was what Asuka was doing, as Shinji had already begun to prepare dinner with Pen Pen waiting near one of his legs.
Then suddenly the doorbell rang and figuring it must have been their guardian, Asuka got up and went to open the door.
But on the other side there wasn't the purple haired woman, instead Mari and Rei were waiting with bags full of various things.
Surprised by the sight Asuka asked "And what are you two doing here?"
And Makinami replied "Well princess it seems that both me and Rei's apartments got destroyed today, so Misato invited us for a sleepover while they find us a new place to stay"
As the red head saw Rei blush a bit though she added "don't you mean new places to stay"
And so Mari blushed a bit too.
After a bit Asuka said "Well, come in then, make yourself at home or something, do a shower if you want, but be quick the baka is already cooking"
"Nya!"
And so Mari entered the apartment, but Rei remained outside so, seeing that she wasn't coming in the second child asked "have you changed your mind Wondergirl?"
"no, I'm just not used to being to someone else's house, this is my first time, I hope that I'm not a nuisance"
"Since Glasses is in here it will be hard to be worse than her, but we still have to see how she does against a drunk Misato.
Anyway, you won't be a nuisance if you act normally so, um… Do that and come in"
"Thanks"
What awaited them inside was Mari who was smothering Pen pen with her boobs in an attempt to hug him as she said "When were you going tell me you had such a cute thing in here!"
"Don't get too comfortable with him, the first time I met him he surprised me in the shower"
"ok, I guess that I'll just have to hug the next best thing"
"Mari what are you-hmphhmmmphmh"
"Glasses let the baka away from your tits!
You know that he's a pervert!"
"ugh fine, you aren't letting me have any fun"
"if it's okay I will go take a shower"
Ayanami said and so Shinji replied "Sure thing Ayanami, the bathroom is the second door on the left"
"thank you"
After this Asuka said to Mari "come with me, I'll show you the place and don't try to touch the baka like that again"
"Oh, do you want it all for you? Don't worry, I'll close my ears tonight"
Mari then ran away, followed by an angry Asuka that was as red as the tomatoes Shinji was using.
Fortress of Doom
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH OH my god I love it when Mari makes Asuka angry" shouted a drunk Misato.
She had originally come here to discuss the plan with Hayden, but she had also brought something to drink, and now she was watching the irl sitcom that her apartment had become.
But after a while she turned the screen off and said "so, Hayden, do you like the plan? Hic" and the robot replied "you mean catching the angel before it hits the ground with the Evas?"
"yeeaeah"
"I think that it's the stupidest and smartest thing we could have thought of"
"seee te be't ideas o'ly come when ur' drun'k"
"unfortunately, I can't get drunk, so I don't know what you are experiencing right now, anyway what about the Slayer and the Atlan?"
Her response this time was more understandable "I was thinking about, you know the rockets that the Atlan has on the back? Can those bring it into orbit?"
"if we overclock the mechanism then sure, but it might cause damage to the systems and break them.
If you really want to send the Atlan into space, we could put one of those N2 rockets on its back, so that we don't have to stress the boosters too much"
"So that then the Slayer is going to go up there then go PEW PEW BOOM PWAM because fuck that angel and its protective layer we found out about literally 20 minutes ago"
"I think that you should get some rest, you are about to collapse due to alcohol poisoning"
"that's not true I am still totally ca pab…le o-" and then she fell asleep on the ground.
After checking if she was ok, Hayden tried to wake her up, but he realized that she was already gone and way too tired to do anything now.
In that moment the Slayer entered the room to check up on how they were doing and after seeing Misato's state, he helped Hayden bring her back to her apartment.
As they entered, they were met by Shinji who was cooking, but he quickly stopped to look know what happened to Misato and so the Slayer said "don't worry, she just drank too much and fell asleep. Let her rest she's really tired at the moment"
As the man said that both Mari and Asuka reached the living room and they looked like they had just fought off four lions at the same time and when asked Asuka simply answered "we had an argument.
Anyway, did our drunk captain come up with something for that thing up there or?"
"Well yes, I'll use this opportunity to tell you. Now it might sound dumb, but it's the best thing we came up with.
We want to catch the angel before it hits the ground using the four Evas,but before that, we'll send the Atlan in orbit to destroy the protective layer"
And so Mari quickly replied "you are right, it does sound really stupid… And also really fucking fun! I'm in, nya!"
Then Asuka followed "yeah, it's pretty much a shot in the dark, but I'm Asuka Langley Soryu and there is no challenge I can't overcome by myself! I'm in too"
"I guess that I'll do it" said Shinji, who was starting to put the food on the table.
Then the bathroom door was slid open and Rei said "I would like to participate in the operation as well" and so Hayden said "that's great Re-... Holy Father why are you naked!?" he then turned around to not look at her, he had some dignity after all.
Then Ayanami asked "are people not used to not wearing clothes inside their houses?"
"What the fuck Wondergirl? Did no one ever tell you?"
"Well there was a one time that Ikari came to my old apartment to deliver me my new card, I was confused about his reaction when I approached him without clothes, but I understand now"
"Oh, so the baka has already seen you like this?"
"actually he has also touched my left breast when he slipped on accident and fell on me"
In the meantime Shinji was thinking "Did she really have to point out that detail?
Oh well, I'm already dead, so I'll just put this plate down and-"
Then a kick from Asuka reached his face, making him fall on the ground, thankfully he wasn't holding anything so it didn't hurt that much.
"Baka hentai!"
"it was an accident Asuka"
"this doesn't change what you did to her"
To make this conversation end Shinji said "um, shall we eat? The food is getting cold by now"
"Fine"
And so, after giving Rei some clothes, the four pilots sat down to eat while the Slayer and Hayden left Misato sleeping in her room.
They then started going back to the teleporter, but Hayden halted before entering the blue circle that would have brought him back to the fortress of Doom.
He then said "you go first, I need to go to the geofront"
The Slayer nodded and left, then, after changing the coordinates, Hayden entered the portal too and he found himself in the command room.
He then went up to the commander's office, but he was greeted by Kozo who said "if you are searching for the commander he isn't here at the moment"
"Me and Katsuragi have developed a plan to stop the new angel, is it ok if I give it to you?"
"Sure, follow me to my office"
Once there, Kozo looked at the document for a bit before he asked "This is madness, who did you come up with it?"
"She was drunk"
"Oh. Well it is the one with the highest chance of success so far so we'll have to do what we can. I believe you have already told the pilots?"
"Yes I did, they all agreed, also one more thing, what's the deal with Ayanami going around the house naked?
She was at Misato's apartment taking a shower and when she came out she didn't even have a towel on herself"
"You see, Rei has had a 'troubled upbringing', she's very different from a normal person If you ask me"
"Yes, I can see that, but hey, she'll grow, even with a bit of delay"
"I hope so" and in that moment the elder thought "or at least I hope that she is permitted to by Ikari, although that would hinder the scenario too much. If they ever found out what our true goals are we'd be dead for sure"
Then Samuel said "Anyway, one last thing before I go"
"hm?"
"I would like to say my apologies for my behavior during the attack today, I understand that it was a bit unprofessional of me, but still, I didn't want to see a kid fight just because he was ordered to"
"No one of us wants it Hayden" "except his father"
"but I doubt that Ikari will even consider your apology since he is so distant from everyone"
"I can't say that I didn't think about it, but please tell him anyway, at least I'll have tried"
"okay" and then Kozo thought "I hope that you survive his next plan"
"Goodnight Fuyustuki, see you tomorrow"
"Goodnight Hayden"
Misato's dining room
"damn puppy, you are a really good cook! Nya! Now I see why the princess wants to live with you"
"You say it's good just because you are used to eating cat food Glasses" replied Asuka, but then Mari said "it was a good brand, but you just have a restaurant at home princess"
Then Shinji said "thanks Mari, I'm glad you like it, what about you Rei?"
"this vegetarian dish you made me is very good, thanks"
Then Asuka said "yeah yeah, do you have any more meat? I'm still hungry"
"here you go"
As the redhead started eating again she didn't notice that Makinami was looking at her with a smirk on her face, having seen through another of her weak lies.
The night went on without anything
strange happening, just Mari and Asuka shouting at each other the entire time with Shinji and Rei looking from behind.
As the time to go to bed arrived though, the four teens weren't sure on where they would have slept as Misato's room was occupied and Shinji's was too small to fit all of them.
So, after some bickering, they decided to go to Asuka's room.
The redhead immediately reached for her bed, but soon she had to decide who to share it with as only two other futons could fit in her room.
"ok ehm, who will sleep with me?"
Then Mari said "I'll have to pass princess as me and Rei are sleeping together, no questions asked"
"But...that means that I'll have to sleep with the baka.
What if he tries to attack me during the night?"
"Asuka come on, would he really do that?" Mari replied and so the second child shut up and got into her bed, leaving the left side for Shinji.
As the boy got under the covers, his face was full of embarrassment for having the chance to sleep with Asuka in her own bed, but soon he was overwhelmed by the
fatigue that had built up throughout the day and so he fell asleep nicely, after saying goodnight to the other three.
"Goodnight puppy and princess, don't be too loud tonight with him, we wouldn't want to wake Misato up"
And Asuka replied "same goes for you and Wondergirl"
She then turned off the lights and fell asleep, together with the other two girls.
But, after around an hour of sleeping uncomfortably, she woke up, feeling like the room was very cold, even though all the windows were closed.
She tried to surround herself more with the blanket, but it still didn't work and so she thought "damn it, why is it so cold tonight? It is still a warm enough time of the year and the sky is clear, so why can't I get some warmth for God's sake"
She then turned around and her eyes fell on Shinji's back and so her thoughts continued "Maybe I could… NoNo, he would only think of something perverted if I slept close to him, but what if I don't wake him up?
Jeez if I'm an ipocrite, I always shout about how much I don't like him and still I think about these things when I'm next to him.
But could I really have some feelings for the baka? I mean, yeah he is nice to me and all, he has saved my life, held me in a bad moment, I think that he still remembers the time I met pen pen in the apartment, he must have seen heaven before I kicked him.
I'm fact even after all of what I've done to him he still holds on and is nice to me… Why Shinji? Why are you doing this to me baka? I don't need anyone,
I can do perfectly fine by myself.
Although I had fun tonight and now that I think about it, I've had more fun since I came here than in my entire life, all because of this warm baka in front of me…
She couldn't restrain herself anymore and, much to her hurt pride, she got close to Shinji and hugged him from behind, feeling his body's warmth.
She quickly fell asleep, but after five minutes, it was Mari's turn to get out of bed
as she had remained awake the entire time, waiting for the second child to fall asleep.
"psst, hey blue" see wisphered in Ayanami's ear waking her up too.
She then said "you've got to see this"
But Rei replied "thank you, but I would rather sleep at the moment"
"you can only see the princess and the puppy right now, come on blue, they are so cute"
"What do you mean?" and when she got up Mari answered "look" pointing at the main bed.
In there there was Asuka with her arms wrapped around Shinji in a sort of hug while she had her head near his neck.
Both of them were very close to each other and for once, the other two pilots could see what their faces looked like when they were free of all the daily stress and they were (in Mari's terms) so much 'smotherable'.
Even Rei had to admit that they sort of looked cute together, even with her limited experience and when she saw Mari take out her phone and take a photo of them, who were still asleep even after the flash, she asked "why are you taking a photo right now?"
"Blackmailing. Anyway let's go back to bed, we don't want to the last ones to wake up tomorrow morning"
"Sure"
"...ehm blue, would you like to sleep with me?"
"uh, sure" she answered blushing and so the two got in the same futon and spent the rest of the night sleeping in the comfort of each other.
Predetermined impact zone 20km away from Tokyo 3, 15:00, one hour until the angel comes
Everyone was running around frantically to make sure that everything was ready for the operation since even if the smallest little detail wasn't correct, it would have been a failure and the worst would have happened.
As the four pilots arrived at the small command outpost that had been set up, they found Misato, Ritsuko and Hayden waiting for them.
"I'm glad that you have arrived, we'll go over the plan one last time before we send you to your units" Hayden said and then Misato continued "thanks to the use of orbital weapons we four that it has a protective layer that covers its body.
The operation will begin once the angel arrives in range, at that moment the Atlan will be launched into orbit and will destroy the layer.
This though won't be enough to stop the angel, but that's when you come in"
She then passed the word to Ritsuko who said "the MAGI and VEGA have designed a possible area of impact, it is too big for a single unit to cover so we have placed you at the edges of it.
When the angel reaches a certain height, the MAGI won't be able to track its movements anymore so it will be up to your personal decisions. That is everything, you can now go".
Inside the Atlan, 5 minutes before launch
"5 min minutes until launch Slayer, the modifications for the Atlan have been completed" VEGA said, while talking about the two enormous N2 rockets that had been added to the sides of the green giant.
They had been borrowed from the Japanese government after VEGA 'asked' for them while threatening nuclear annihilation.
So now the Slayer's mech had the extra thrust it needed to get into a stable orbit and two emergency weapons.
As the man nodded after hearing the Ai, he placed his hands on the two neural connectors that rose up from the ground beneath him.
As soon as he touched the tip of the two poles, he felt the electricity pass through his body and moments later, the giant green mech was active.
He looked at the clock, 2 minutes left, and then he would be flying at over Mach 11 to go kick a giant black alien ball in the ass.
During this time he concentrated on the mission and on what was going to happen up there.
Meanwhile, to the right of the Atlan, there was unit 01 with Shinji in it, who was trying to send the tension away, but he simply couldn't as far too many doubts were crossing his mind at the moment.
At one point though, his eyes fell on the active, but still form of the Atlan, which seemed to be… 'Thinking' to put it in the best way he could.
He then thought "ok, I need to calm down, the mission is about to begin and I can't be a nervous wreck or the others will hate me for it.
Man, now that I think about it, it can't be that I'm the only one nervous,
for what I know every one of us is a bit stressed to a certain degree, the least of course being Asuka (he was completely wrong about that), but what about the Slayer? I've never seen him lose his cool.
Maybe it is because he has been through so much that he has become accustomed to these sorts of risks, but still he has to be worried sometimes, maybe he can give me some advice?"
And so he opened the communication window with the Slayer and asked "hey Slayer, do you mind if I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"are you nervous about the mission?"
"to be honest, yes a bit, but if you want my advice on how to stay calm in situations like these, the best thing to do is to think about what you are fighting for and to believe in your own abilities"
"thanks, because I'm a nervous wreck right now"
"Hey, if those don't work, then try to remember the happy moments in your life, that helps too, but I can't really do it"
"why?"
"I don't have many of them… It looks like I have to go, see you later Shinji"
And then VEGA's loud voice was heard coming from the launch pad "angel is in range, launch of the Atlan in 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1"
And then the area was filled with smoke as the two N2 rockets helped the Atlan's boosters and accelerated the robot to insane speeds.
Inside the piloting cabin, the Slayer was feeling the full amount of the G forces that were affecting the Atlan, but he was a hard nut to crack, so they didn't do much.
Two minutes after the launch, the green robot was now in orbit, in a collision course with the 10th angel.
Space
Play:[Asteroids and rockets] Doom eternal ost
"weapons online" Hayden told the Slayer and so after the locks were disengaged, he started to fire the cannons in the Atlan's hands towards the angel.
The beast of course put up his AT field and blocked the shots, but not without taking some damage.
The Slayer would have continued like this, but he noticed that because of the insane recoil from the hand cannons, he was being sent off course.
A doubt that was confirmed when Hayden said "Slayer, you are sending yourself off course, you need to change tactic".
And so he did.
He turned the Atlan on his back and he started to use the cannons to correct his course, while he was using the shoulder mounted railgun to shoot at the angel.
This one was much more powerful, but it also had a much larger recoil, which was compensated by the other two weapons on his hands.
Thanks to his, the angel was now taking much more damage and the protective layer was visibly breaking.
In the meantime the Atlan kept getting closer to the angel, to possibly strike him with the giant crucible, which would have had no problems with going through the shield.
But the angel wasn't going to just sit there and take it, so when the Slayer started getting close enough, some small holes opened in the black protective layer and out of those the angel started firing at the robot.
The Atlan then started making some evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit, but this took time and if the Slayer didn't do something quickly, they would have reentered the atmosphere with the layer still intact.
But then an idea struck him and so he said "VEGA arm the missiles, I'm going to try something" "Missiles ready Slayer" as he said that everyone involved in the operation thought "what is he going to do now?"
And so the robot reactivated his boosters and began rushing towards the angel while dodging the return fire.
He then detached one of the rockets from his right arm and launched it behind himself and then he said quickly afterwards "make it explode VEGA!"
And so a giant yellow fireball filled the sky and with it came a very strong shockwave that made the Atlan too fast for the angel to hit.
The Slayer wasn't done though as he then took the other N2 missile from his left arm and threw it towards the angel.
Because of how fast everything was going the angel wasn't able to shoot down the incoming rocket, which exploded right on the layer, destroying it completely.
Finally it was the Slayer's turn as he collided with the angel right after the explosion, Impaling it with the crucible and remaining attached to it.
He had made it just in time as the two of them started to enter the atmosphere moments later and because of the friction with the air, the rest of the layer started to deteriorate, revealing the angel's true form.
It was gigantic.
It looked like someone had taken three giant eyes and put them together with some sort of jelly and it had a rainbow pattern in constant movement along its body.
Then along the corners of the body, black figures started appearing and out of them a strange energy started to come out.
Seeing this the Slayer said "come on guys, it's your turn now!"
And so all the four Evas started running towards the impact point, but as the image of the angel got clearer the pilots noticed something strange and so Mari said "this thing has three cores!"
And so the Slayer replied "really where? I can't see them from here"
"there is one at the centre of each eye! I'm taking the left, nya!"
And then Rei said "I'm going right"
And finally Asuka said "then baka, you and me are taking the central one!
"okay Asuka, wait what is the angel doing?"
And so the Slayer, who was still standing on the back of the beast looked around and he saw that one of the energy columns had become much bigger.
He then looked down again and as he saw the ground moving he noticed what the angel was doing and said "The angel is targeting unit 01!
I can't attack it from here, you'll have to block him for a bit on your own Shinji"
And so Shinji started to run as fast as he could towards the new destination only to stop and say after getting ready "At field max power!"
Play: [Fate by Shiro Sagisu]
As the two gigantic AT fields clashed against each other, the energy displayed was so powerful that it started to change the color of the nearby sky and it also caused a shockwave that almost threw off balance the other three units.
In that moment Shinji was pushing with all the strength that he could muster, but he felt the pressure that the angel was putting on him and he wasn't sure if he was able to resist much longer.
His attention though was shifted when from the middle 'eye' a sort of creature started to come out, crossing both the AT fields and putting its hands against unit 01's.
Then the boy felt a sudden jolt of pain as the creature's arms transformed into spears that perforated the robot's forearms, making it stumble and lose a bit of height.
And so Shinji said "I can't hold on much longer, help me Asuka!"
"I'm almost there!" the redhead replied and then came Mari who commented "the side eyes are unprotected! Come on blue!"
"I'm reaching my destination soon"
Finally Shinji asked "where's the Slayer?"
And then VEGA replied "the angel is causing too much interference, we don't know"
Moments later Unit 03 and 00 both reached the side cores and when they struck them with their knives, those broke in half, making the angel scream in pain.
Suddenly a new push came from the beast who was now trying its hardest to crush unit 01.
After another jolt of pain to the arms Shinji shouted "ASUKA!"
"I'm here idiot! Now die you fucker!"
She jumped towards the giant red sphere in front of her, but then the angel did again something unexpected.
It went up again, purposely gaining altitude so that Asuka's Eva couldn't reach the core.
The girl was about to scream when a giant green arm popped out next to the core and grabbed her hand, throwing her across the air and into the target.
The redhead didn't lose any time and with a quick movement she stabbed the sphere, but since this wasn't enough, she then kicked the knife deeper with her knee.
This time the core cracked and fell apart and the angel with it, as it exploded into a tsunami of blood and gore that hit the city in its entirety, but it was sturdy enough to resist with only some minor damage.
As the blood settled, the crew in the command room saw the Atlan standing while moving the still forms of unit 01 and 02 on their backs, meanwhile unit 00 and 03 could be seen walking towards them in the distance.
Cheers of happiness filled the geofront to celebrate the destruction of a new angel and after a bit VEGA said to both the pilots and the crew "Good work everyone, angel destroyed"
Meanwhile at the battlefield
As Asuka went out of the entry plug she noticed two things, one, the angel was gone and two, the surrounding area had become tinted of her favorite color.
As she then saw Shinji come out of his entry plug too, she questioned why the two units were so close together, but then a giant shadow covered her and after turning around she waved at the Atlan.
The Slayer then deactivated it and after lowering the head he jumped out and landed next to the two of them.
He then said "I'm glad to see that you are both ok, how are those arms Shinji?"
And the boy said "they are fine, they still hurt a bit, but not much more"
"you're a hard nut to crack boy, now, I can see that your units are out of batteries, so how about I give you two a ride back home?"
"Sure" they both said, but then Asuka added "Wait what are you doi-"
She didn't finish the sentence as the Slayer picked her up and put her under his arm,just like he did with Shinji.
He then started to jump back into his mech and after a couple of leaps, the trio were now inside the robot.
"this place is a lot bigger than an entry plug" said the girl and then Shinji added "Yes I was expecting something a little bigger, but not this much"
Then the man added "that's because the control system is different.
See those two pillars over there? They are basically the control joysticks"
Then Shinji asked "can you show us?"
Asuka then facepalmed for the boy's stupidity.
"how would I bring you back if I didn't?"
This made Shinji shut up and cringe at himself.
The the Slayer said "ok now, stay back a little bit"
They did so and as they saw the man place his hands on the glowing tips of the two poles, they saw a current of electricity pass through him and then to the floor and in no time the Atlan was active.
The room they were in got quickly filled with some sort of blue energy, which then flowed toward the arts of the giant.
One thing that surprised both of them was when the Slayer moved his hand away to move the arm of the Atlan.
And so out of curiosity Asuka asked "Wait, you have to move yourself to make it work?"
And the Slayer replied "yes, while your Evas mainly use brain impulses to work, here I connect with the control system and I send signals through body movement.
This makes it more accurate and reliable as sometimes the brain doesn't send the signals you want it to, but if I use my body as a medium then the errors are corrected"
"huh, interesting, would it work on us?
"Yes, but you would tire out quickly, you need to think that these things were made only for a limited circle of the top military elites that a I was a part of when I was in Argent d'Nur"
And so Shinji said "Oh, ok… how was this Argent d'Nur you talk about?"
"it was beautiful, imagine like if the Romans had technology hundreds of years more advanced than now, you can see it in most of the stuff that I use.
It was a flourishing and strong society, but a couple of weeks after I arrived, the demons followed me and from that started the war that would bring an end to such a beautiful place"
"Oh, that's sad" the boy said and the Slayer responded "yes, yes it is, anyway, which Eva do we bring back first? We can leave the other one to the other two"
"do unit 02 first! It's more important"
"while I don't doubt the necessity of recovering your units, right now I need you to see something important"
"What is it, VEGA?" the Slayer asked and as the video feed opened the three of them could not believe their own eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED-