Devil of Evangelion
Chapter 2
Discovery
At the Surface of Tokyo-3, everything appeared to be normal as any other day, with people going around shopping or working at their jobs, however, the same thing could not be said a few hundred meters below the City, in the Geofront housing NERV HQ's Command Center, where as everyone ran around the Command Center, talking amongst themselves about the current situation or staring at the Computer Monitors to see how everything in the zone of impact was unfolding at that moment, none of them heard nor saw a certain purple-haired captain walk into the Command Center.
"So, how much time does the Drone has to reach the destination?" A female voice suddenly interrupted Ritsuko's thoughts
"Misato, there you are, we've been waiting for you!" Ritsuko exclaimed as she saw Misato walking into the Command Center of NERV HQ, where everyone else was at their stations, prepared for another Angel Attack.
"Where's Shinji?"
"He said he would pilot the EVA again if necessary, although I told him that Rei should be able to handle this one if that Thing does turn out to be an Angel, but he nonetheless went to put on his Plugsuit just in case." Misato replied as she walked up towards the Main Screen, which was playing the Satellite Footage of the Object Impact.
"What is that thing?" Misato murmured as she saw the video, which displayed most of the Satellite's view from Space, showing part of the African Mainland, with the rest of the view shrouded by some large clouds passing by; however, it soon flashed a red circle surrounding the Islands of Madagascar as it zoomed down its Camera view closer by around eight times according to the Computer Details, showing all of the Islands more visibly to everyone before a red line pointed down at an Portion of the Southern Part of the Archipelago before zooming down once again into what appeared to be a medium sized island, and for the first few seconds, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
The Island only appeared to contain a few trees in the middle of it; however, a few seconds after, a small but bright dot of light appeared at the southern tip of the Island as everyone could see the dot of light beginning to pulsate into a dark hue for a few moments before it suddenly grow larger by tenfold within a few seconds as a huge flash appeared, temporarily blindly the Camera for a few seconds before the brightness went away and the island came back into view, however, the footage was completely blurry as only large pixels could be seen in the screen as static began to appear and disappear abruptly, causing Ritsuko to pause the video and turned towards Misato.
"When the Satellite caught the flash of light, the Brightness seems to have somehow damaged not just the Camera Lenses but also the entire Satellite itself, as the Operations Center of the Satellite have been reporting that the Cooling System, the Solar Panels, and Electronics powering it began to malfunction just as the Satellite picked up this image, and at first, we believed that it was some kind of radiation damage from the Sun, but there haven't been any reports of nearby Solar Flares at all today, and besides, it was just too coincidental for the damage to happen the exact minute the Flash of Light occurred, so we believed that it was Radiation not from the Sun, but rather from the Object itself. Whatever thing it is, it seems to be emitting some kind of Electromagnetic Pulse that's disabled most of the Satellites in the Southern Hemisphere, almost as if it were the effects of a Nuclear Blast."
"But how did the Electromagnetic Pulse reach that far out into the Satellite? Isn't it like up in space a hundred miles or so away from the Object's location?"
"That's the thing, Captain, if that Pulse spread that high up at that speed, then it should have also spread dozens of miles outward nearly just as quick, all the way into the remaining African Mainland, but we've got several automated Equipment that were built off the coast of the former Mozambican Coast back when Second Impact had just occurred and everyone was at War with each other, and all of them are acting normal, as if they never got it by the Pulse, meaning that there isn't anywhere around there. Whatever energy it was, it only shot upwards completely but it barely shot sideways at all." Huyga responded, making Misato arch an eyebrow in confusion.
"So that means only the whole zone of impact was hit with that Energy?" Misato asked the Technician.
"We still don't know that yet, nor do we know just what kind of energy reading it is, since only the Satellite picked up the Energy readings, and it's malfunctioning. The drone carries a Geiger Counter inside, so it should be able to identify whether it's radiation or not, since there tends to be Pulses like this kind whenever there's a radiation leak, and then we could send in a research team to see just what that thing is. We still haven't sent out a warning to nearby countries about potential radiation leaks until we've got enough concrete evidence that this energy influx is Radiation and have an exact measure on the radius of the energy output spread to prevent mass public panic." Hyuga explained to the Captain.
"When you look at the video, at first it seems like there's nothing else afterwards, but the Computers managed to catch this small detail." Ritsuko told Misato as she rewind the Footage back to the start. It played normally, with nothing out of normal, until Ritsuko pressed a button in the Computer. The Video then zoomed down on a small, barely visible, white dot near the center of the video.
"Let me play the video at half the speed." Ritsuko murmured as she pressed some other buttons on a Computer. The Video unpaused as it began again, but this time slower. As everyone saw the small white dot moving across, it began to grow smaller and smaller until no one could distinguish it from the other pixels.
"Have you tried running computer scans to give the footage higher definition?" Misato asked the Technician.
"Yes, but even the computers didn't do anything. In fact they reported that it's not the satellite that wasn't unable to take any higher quality footage, it was this anomaly that caused the footage to blur. Whatever thing it is, it's not normal. However, the Computer was able to calculate the speed of the Object." Hyuga answered.
"Wait, the drone has just reached the Five Mile radius of the zone of impact. The drone is right now deploying the Geiger Counter to try to see just how far out the energy is at." Ritsuko interrupted the Lieutenant as a small ring alerted the group of the Drone's arrival at the Location. Hyuga nodded at Ritsuko as he pressed a few buttons on his Computer, causing the Screen to switch to another footage, this one only showing the view of what appeared to be the ocean, with no land visible at all.
"What is this Camera View?" Misato inquired.
"This is the Drone we sent a few minutes ago. It's right now going mid-way across the Indian Ocean, and we should be able to reach the Madagascar Archipelago in approximately five to ten minutes." Ritsuko explained to her coworker. Misato nodded slowly in understanding until she turned around to the Platform, where the Commander regularly was standing at.
"Hey, do you guys know where the Commander went?"
Gendo's Office was completely nearly void of any life and warmth, with the only light coming from the windows surrounding the edges of the room. The only decoration visible in the room were just ancient symbols etched into the Floor and the Ceiling that were scrawled throughout the massive room, and the only furniture were only two Chairs and a Desk in the middle of the mainly empty room, where the two Commanders of NERV were currently at, with nothing else in sight of the dark room. As Gendo sat in his desk placed in the middle of his large, empty office, he pulled out a few folders that he had been holding in his arm. Sitting in front of his desk was none other than the Sub-Commander of NERV, Kozo Fuyutsuki.
The two old men sat silently, staring at the few Folders laying in front of them in the desk
"This isn't the Fifth Angel." Fuyutsuki calmly spoke as he sipped on a cup of tea and opened up one of the folders. He opened it up and lifted up a Picture, showing a capture of the Video Footage of the Satellite, at the moment the bright light appeared suddenly, causing him to let out a silent sigh as he placed the Photo back into the Folder after staring at it for a few quiet seconds.
"It isn't. At least not according to the Scrolls. The Scrolls may have been vague about when the arrival of the Angel would be, but this is too early, too early for it to be the Angel." Gendo replied as he looked at another Folder's contents, which contained more photos of the Video Footage. Fuyutsuki stared at the Photo for a few more seconds before putting it back on the desktop and grabbing another picture and held it up close.
"A mysterious Anomaly appears in an island in the Madagascar Archipelago, right in the middle of the sky, emits a foreign energy signal, and drops an object estimated to weigh around three quarters of a Ton despite it's small size of just Five Meters, and then vanishes, leaving behind no trace other than the energy signals and the object; it makes the perfect description of an Angel Embryo." Fuyutsuki spoke after another few seconds of silence as he closely examined the other picture.
"Yes, however, we still haven't fully confirmed what it truly is. But one thing for certain is that it isn't an Angel. The Scrolls never lie." Gendo responded with certainty in his tone as he grabbed his own cup of tea from the desk and took a sip of it.
"Indeed. However, we should be expecting an Impromptu meeting with SEELE soon enough." Fuyutsuki responded before letting out a dry chuckle.
"The Old Men are going to want to know what's going on here with this apparent "Anomaly" that appeared literally out of nowhere in the middle of the Sky." The Sub-Commander continued speaking as he placed his hands into a fist underneath his chin, slightly paralleling Gendo's own hand pose, which the other Commander was currently doing at that moment.
"You're quite right, Fuyutsuki." Gendo simply murmured in agreement as he stared at another Photo, this time, the Picture showed the very moment the Object appeared from the Light anomaly, showing a black smudge in the middle of the light anomaly. He then turned to look at another photo, which was taken half a second after the previous one. This time, the smudge had vanished from the light anomaly, but there was also a small, barely visible dot of light brown right underneath the larger light.
As Eren finally took a seat in the beach, he let out a long sigh in an attempt to calm his nerves down as the Sun kept glaring down on him. He didn't know just how much time had passed by since he first woke up at the beach, although he guessed that it had only been around an hour or less.
When he first saw the Ocean, he remained immobile from the shock for a few seconds, although it felt more like minutes for himself. After recovering from his initial shock, he wearily took a step forward towards the Crystal clear water, with various small pebbles or strange-looking plants that Eren remembered seeing in Armin's book decorating the sandy floor where the water kept splashing at. He let out an involuntary shiver as he cautiously stepped his left heel into the wet sand where the water had receded, feeling it's coolness touch his skin.
A few seconds afterwards, the water came back and gently splashed against Eren's feet. He suppressed a flinch as he felt the colder water splash around his ankles. The water appeared turbulent, yet soothing at the same time. He had never seen so much water in his whole life. There had been a canal that was along the Eastern Section of Shiganshina, but that was nothing compared to the sight before him, where the surface was covered in water as far as his eye could see out in the distance.
After a few seconds of observing the crystal-clear water, Eren kneeled down into the Sandy ground as he saw something glinting in the ground a meter farther out into the Ocean. He reached over to it and grabbed it, feeling the cool water surrounding his hand. As he examined the object, he saw that it had a bluish hue on the outside, but inside a vertical opening on its side, it appeared to be white. The object itself was a spiral-like cone made of a smooth material, with smooth ridges and grooves covering it.
'This is what they call a Seashell, some animals called Mollusks create these things to protect themselves from other, bigger animals.' Eren remembered hearing Armin explaining that to him and Mikasa a few years back, with the blonde boy showing them a picture in his book for reference of the Object that bore a strong similarity to the Seashell that Eren was currently holding in his hands and examining it.
"Where am I?" Eren murmured to himself as he turned to look forward, towards the distance. He suddenly realized that his mouth felt dry as he realized he hadn't drank anything ever since he woke up from fighting Annie in Stohess nearly a day ago. He licked his lips, feeling their dryness as he looked at the Seashell once more. This was the first time Eren had ever seen a thing from the Ocean.
As much as he saw its uselessness, he didn't want to let go of it, almost as if he were afraid that he would forget about the Ocean forever if he placed the Seashell back in the Water and left it. Eren had always thought that such things like Souvenirs were just a waste of time and space, but for some reason, he felt inclined into keep the Seashell in his possession and care for its natural beauty, just like his key necklace. He was just afraid of losing it just that much. He glanced at it one more time before placing it in his pant pocket.
He then turned to the Water splashing on his feet, and cupping his hands together, he scooped up some of the water and bent down a bit to take a sip of it. Only to spit it out abruptly after a second.
"What the Hell?! Why does it taste like Salt?!" Eren shouted as started spitting out the remaining seawater in an attempt to get rid of the lingering seawater taste.
'Why is it so damn salty? Wait, it's just like Armin had said.' Eren wondered in his mind as he soon remembered another past time when Armin spoke to him about the Ocean. Eren simply scowled in annoyance as he looked up at the sky and his heartbeat got slightly faster as he saw the Sun beginning to set. Night was beginning to approach. As much as Eren wanted to stay and explore what he believed to be the Ocean, he knew that he had to do other more important things first.
He still remembered his training that was drilled onto his mind during his Cadet years on what to do if were to be stranded in the middle of Titan Territory or somewhere remote within the Walls, not that barely anyone had managed to come back from outside Titan territory after a Scout Expedition. The first thing he had been instructed to do was to find a source of water and food or seek shelter, with the latter depending on whether he was in Titan territory or not.
Shaking his head unconsciously, Eren ran out of the Water as he soon realized that he felt a lot lighter than usual. Looking down at his chest, he realized he was no longer wearing his ODM Gear on. Scowling angrily, he cursed himself internally for not realizing this sooner as he began to run around the beach, searching for his Gear.
After a few moments of erratic running and searching, he managed to see a glint of metal shining out in the farthest reaches of the beach. When he arrived where the object was, he let out a sigh of relief as he found his Gear lying down on the ground, unscathed.
Without wasting a second, he quickly strapped it on despite the rashing feeling of the straps on his bare chest, and began running to the Trees he remembered seeing in the distance when he first woke up a few minutes prior. Figuring that the few trees he had seen were big enough for the Titans to not notice him and be actively trying to grab his body while he was sleeping, he set off running towards the silhouettes of the Trees.
After running for a few minutes, he was finally running on grass instead of sand as he began to see the silhouetted outlines of the trees more clearly defined as he realized they were much farther than he had originally thought them to be at first, making him scowl slightly. Darkness began to loom into the sky as the Sun was setting, giving Eren an strange uneasy feeling of despair and a lonely fear as he kept running forward.
He knew that the Titans were largely inactive during the night, but still refused to take any chances with any Abnormals that could still be lurking around. Eren soon reached the strange-looking Trees that he remembered seeing in Armin's book that they were called "Palm Trees", and much to his dismay, they appeared to be just less than five meters, barely anything high enough to stave off even the smallest of the Titans. As his mind rushed through different plans on what to do now, a loud buzzing sound was suddenly heard out in the distance, causing the Green-eyed boy to flinch abruptly as he snapped his head around to see what it was.
"Captain, the Drone has arrived at the Island. Activating Camera." Hyuga reported from his desk.
"Understood, Lieutenant." Misato responded.
"We still haven't received any energy readings from the Drone's Instruments. It's almost as if the Energy signs we received from the Satellite vanished as soon as we detected them." Aoba reported.
"But isn't the Satellite still reporting the Energy Pulse?" Misato asked confusedly.
"Yeah, but the Drone says the opposite. My guess is that the Pulse must've somehow damaged the Satellite's equipment or something like that." Aoba responded.
"Alright, the Drone will reach the Southern tip of the Island within a few moments to scan the Zone of Impact." Aoba added as he opened up another Camera View in the Main Screen, which showed a flat plain, with a few palm trees spread out, with the beach barely visible out in the dark and the ocean water reflecting the sunset's glow far out in the distance.
"Hey, what was that?" Hyuga suddenly pointed at the lower left corner of the Large Screen.
"What was what?" Aoba inquired.
"I think I just saw some shadow move right over in the bottom left corner, go back a bit."
"You sure it isn't your imagination?"
"No, come on, go back."
As the Drone turned tail and headed back towards the darkened plains, with only a few tree silhouettes could be seen swaying slowly with the microphone picking up the gentle sounds of the wind.
"Hyuga, you sure it wasn't your imagination or anything like that? There's literally nothing here. In fact, there really isn't anything different in here- shit!" Aoba suddenly shouted as a flash of light blinded the entire camera screen within a split second, causing everyone in the Command Center to flinch violently at the abrupt change in the Screen's scenery.
"What the hell just happened?!" Misato exclaimed after a few seconds of shock and confusion. Even though both Aoba and Hyuga turned around and began to answer her, she was unable to hear their voice as a sudden, loud, human-like scream erupted throughout the large room of the Command Center, deafening all other sounds, causing everyone to cover their ears.
"What- what is that?!" Ibuki shouted as she turned to lower down the Screen's volume to a more acceptable tone as the screaming noise kept echoing loudly throughout the Command Center.
"What was that thing?!" Aoba asked aloud as he stared at the Screen, which was still blinded by a yellow light completely, although the question seemed to be aimed at no one else in specific.
"Was-was that an Angel?" Hyuga finally spoke out wearily as he readjusted his glasses.
The Screen soon began to dim down as the bright light began to disappear. After a few seconds, only the dark surroundings of the island plains remained as they were previously seen just moments before the bright light and the roar occurred.
"What was that noise?! It sounded like a scream of some sorts. A human one!"
"Whatever made that noise isn't human at all!"
"I know, dammit! That thing is an Angel, we gotta raise the Alarm now!" As the three Technicians kept bickering with each other over what to do next, Misato ignored them as she looked at the Screen closely, which appeared to look completely normal, with all of its surroundings looking exactly just as they were, almost as if nothing out of the ordinary had just happened seconds prior.
Suddenly, the Camera's view, which showed the Moon's brightness, along with the Island's silhouettes, was darkened by a large shadow, making Misato and the others jump back a bit in surprise.
"Turn on night vision, now!" Misato ordered the Technicians, who responded quickly as the Drone's Night Vision Camera was switched on within seconds. As the Camera began to adjust to its new surroundings, many gasps escaped from the Technicians and the Scientists watching the Screen.
"Wh- what the hell is that thing?!"
"It's mouth…"
"How big is it?"
Standing right in front of the Camera, there was a humanoid-like figure, with its outline appearance eerily similar to that of a humans, however, as the camera kept adjusting more to the darkness, the humanoid's features became more visible.
The creature had large pointed ears sticking out from its messy long black hair, it did not appear to possess any reproductive organs, but the most shocking feature of it was its face. It lacked any cheek muscles, exposing its entire mouth, with dozens of human-like teeth covering its mouth as it's large, human-like eyes, whose Irises appeared to be glowing Green, glared at the Camera for a few seconds, before letting out a small growl, with smoke escaping its massive nostrils as it reached out with its huge hand to grab the Drone.