Chapter 11: March of Angels (Command and Control)

And, at last, Iruel. Most everyone expected the Angels to continue to be large, perhaps even larger than Sahaquiel. But what essentially boiled down to a Spirit? No one could have guessed, especially one that attacked through the digital realm.

This world was almost unprepared for its attack. And they certainly weren't prepared for the consequences of the aftermath.

The following Saturday

Asuka looked down the street of the shopping district with a discerning eye. Only the best of the best would do for her. Or at least, she thought as she turned to Rei, only the best would do for her.

"So, Wondergirl," Asuka said, a glimmer in her eyes, "which one do you want to go to next?"

Rei studied the storefronts in a similarly thoughtful fashion. "I am unsure. The last 2 stores have been vastly different experiences. I do not have a frame of reference as you seem to do."

Asuka nodded as she shrugged. "That's okay. This is your first time, after all."

"Besides," she said, looking back to a Shinji laden with their current goods and a patient look upon his face, "it's not like he can't carry any more."

Shinji sighed as he rolled his eyes. Asuka had laid out a sweeping reform of Rei's wardrobe and accessories, or lack thereof, and was bound and determined to make sure that Rei got a proper education in how, exactly, to be a regular high school girl. Or, at least, as much of one as she could be, what with being a pilot and all.

Eventually, Rei chose a jewelry store, a rather quiet place for a Saturday, as an employee looking up and acknowledging their arrival before turning back to writing something out seemed to be the only other soul around.

As they browsed out of sight of anyone but them, Rei put down a particular necklace, strung with artificial red and white pearls, to look at Asuka intently. "Asuka?"

She turned, putting down another necklace she was admiring. "Yeah?"

Rei was silent for a moment. "What is the purpose of a hug?"

Asuka blinked for a moment as she mentally reeled at the question. What was the purpose? How did she even answer that? "Well," she said after a moment, "what kind of context are you thinking of?"

Rei thought for a second. "I have seen you hug Mr. … Daniel, on occasion. What purpose does that have?"

Asuka nodded absentmindedly. "Well, I hug him because he's like a brother to me. And I want to show him that I appreciate him and love him."

Rei nodded once. "I see. So, it is only for family?"

Asuka shook her head vigorously. "Oh, no, Wondergirl! If you care about someone closely enough, then the two of you can hug. As long as it's fine with both of you."

"I see." Rei was silent for a moment as she considered this. "I have never hugged anyone before." she admitted quietly.

She looked up at Asuka. "May I hug you?" she asked, a tinge of nervousness in her voice.

A small gasp escaped from Asuka, and Shinji's gaze bolted up from the phone he was looking at.

Asuka stammered slightly. "I mean, if you haven't… I don't know if I'm the best person to be turning to for hugs, is all."

A slight smile came to Rei. "Asuka, I have no point of reference. Establishing one of any kind is preferable to going without."

Asuka blushed slightly but nodded. "Okay then." she opened her arms, Rei mimicking her movements, and they embraced, somewhat awkwardly.

Shinji watched as wonder broke through whatever other medicines Rei was taking as her eyes widened and seemed nearly to light up, a sight that brought a smile to his own face.

After a moment, Asuka and Rei separated, the wonder still evident in her eyes. "It's… warm."

A small smile came to Asuka's face. "Yeah. They are, Wondergirl. How do you feel?"

"I feel… good. Warm, as I have said." Rei said after a moment's thought.

She looked over at Shinji. "May I have a hug from you as well, Shinji?"

A slight scoff and a smile presaged Shinji standing up from the bench that he had found for himself and all their plunder. "Of course, Rei."

So, Shinji and Rei similarly embraced, pulling away from each other after a moment.

Rei nodded as her smile grew slightly. "Such an experience feels similar between the two of you. It is good. Thank you."

Shinji smiled wider. "You're welcome, Rei."

Asuka nodded. "Of course, Wondergirl. We're a team. We help each other out, in combat or out."

"So," Asuka exclaimed, "as your teammate, I'm going to continue helping you with your shopping."

She grabbed another necklace. "Now, I think this goes with your complexion, pale as it is…"

Shinji sighed as the moment passed on. He prepared himself for another round of loading up like a pack mule.

Daniel and Eleanor Theisman spent a rare Saturday at home reading. It was a usual pastime for them, and the living room was quiet as they read. The fact that many of the books they read hadn't been published here yet was of little concern to them.

As the doorbell rang, and the door slid open with a proclamation of "We're home!" from Asuka, the books disappeared, as they stood to witness Asuka and Rei entering the living room, and Shinji following behind them with a frankly massive number of bags. It seemed the reform had turned into more of a total restart. Daniel moved to grab some of the bags, a grateful Shinji giving what he could to Daniel.

As the group made its way to Rei's room, Asuka turned to Daniel and Shinji as they set bags down on the bed and dresser. "Alright," Asuka said in a bold tone, "you can guess that there are things in here that none of you are meant to see. So, scram, or my hits are going to be very precise."

Shinji gulped slightly and nodded somewhat quickly. Daniel simply rolled his eyes with a small smile. "Sure thing, Asuka. You two have fun organizing."

A smirk came to Asuka's face. "Organizing. That's one way to describe it."

The boys left the girls to their task, sitting on the couch in the living room as they waited.

Shinji sighed and shook his head. "Man," he said after a moment, "I don't think I could have imagined Asuka acting like this when I first met her. It's like she's a whole different person when she's around just Rei and I."

Daniel nodded. "A shared understanding of an experience tends to bring people together. It makes people empathetic. Or at least, it has the capacity to."

Shinji nodded. "Understanding. Yeah." he said quietly.

Daniel looked at Shinji discerningly. "There's a lot more meaning in that word than there usually is, isn't there?"

Shinji sighed, then nodded. "Yeah. I mean, when she's in public, she's usually so brave, almost arrogant. It's like some sort of persona she adopts. And yet, she's also able to be sensitive and caring, which she seems to not want people to see. So, why…"

"Can she not combine the two?" Daniel said, a patient look in his eyes. "Is that what you're asking?"

Shinji nodded. "Yeah. Why does she have to switch between them like one's a secret identity or something?"

Daniel nodded as he shifted on the couch, leaning with his arms on his knees as he looked at Shinji. "Because that's what she's used to having her personality be. She's come to the conclusion, right or not, that showing sensitivity and caring outside of a few people is no different than showing weakness."

Daniel paused for a moment. "Now, you have helped her begin changing that, just as she's shown you that you can still be brave and do frankly terrifying things without completely getting rid of fear. But she's hesitant right now."

Shinji nodded as he sighed. "Yeah. She's not the only one, then. I have… absolutely no idea what to do. She's so confident, so capable. How do I even approach that? How do I even approach her?"

Daniel nodded sagely. "Well, I can begin by telling you that Asuka is wondering much the same thing, about how to approach you without either of you being scared off. She is interested in you, really. It's just that… neither of you has the sort of experience needed to go about it in a normal fashion, and you both have the intelligence to know that you don't."

Shinji scoffed. "And don't I know it. So… what do I do, then?"

Daniel paused for a second as he considered. "Well, she's the sort to want to make the first move, as it were. So, give her some time and space to do so. But when the time comes, be bold. Do what feels right to do, even if you don't really know what to do. Chances are, you'll both be okay with it."

Shinji nodded uncertainly. "Okay… so what's an example of what's 'right to do', so that I don't get kneed in the groin for my troubles?"

Daniel chuckled slightly, then turned to Eleanor, who had been sitting on a chair with a calm, somewhat bemused look on her face. "Darling? Any suggestions?"

Eleanor chuckled as she shifted to be more comfortable. "Well, Shinji, putting your arms around her, for one, probably won't earn you any knees going anywhere. That's as good a start as any. But also, she's as unsure of things as you are. Be bold. Say that you like her, and what you like about her. It does wonders for a girl's confidence when a guy says those sorts of things outright."

Shinji dipped his head in thought for a moment, a glum look coming over him. "Hmm. Well, you guys would know, wouldn't you? Growing up at least somewhat normally?"

Daniel sighed, and placed a hand on Shinji's shoulder. "Normal is a very mutable thing, Shinji. No two people have the same kind of it. And people can change their normal into something better. So, don't worry about normal right now. All you need to care about is how to make that normal better than it was, okay? Make sense?"

Shinji nodded after a moment. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it does."

Daniel smiled. "Then don't sweat it."

Shinji put an arm around Daniel in a side hug. "Thanks, Daniel. I don't know what I would do without you."

Daniel squeezed for a moment. "Anytime, Shinji."

The door to Rei's room opened, and Asuka and Rei both entered the living room. Asuka was clearly satisfied with the work she and Rei had done today, while Rei had a small, contented smile on her face. "So," Asuka said after a moment, "Rei has a question for you, Daniel."

Daniel's eyebrow arched. "Oh? What can I help you with, Rei?"

Rei stepped forward. "I have not received any hugs before this point. Asuka and Shinji have provided me with a baseline, but I would like to expand my body of reference. May I hug you?"

Daniel stood, nodding. "Of course, Rei."

So they hugged for a moment, Rei pulling away with no small amount of wonder in her eyes. Daniel chuckled slightly. "So, Rei, how do you feel?"

Rei's eyes dimpled as her slight smile grew again. "I feel good, but the hug feels… different, somehow, coming from a guardian as opposed to a friend."

Daniel nodded his head. "That's normal, Rei. And it's good that you're feeling good."

Rei nodded slightly. "Thank you."

Asuka nodded. "Alright. Well, we have homework to worry about, and Shinji said he would be cooking dinner, too. So, we'll be going now. See you!"

Daniel and Eleanor waved. "Have fun, do good, do well." Daniel said, an old mantra.

Asuka rolled her eyes as she smiled. "We will." and with that, the apartment was empty of Children, as Daniel sighed and flopped back down on the couch. Eleanor chuckled after a moment. "You know, I'm getting flashbacks to the last time we acted as councilors to children who had to save the world."

Daniel snorted. "About the only difference is we aren't at camp, and we're in Tokyo-3 instead of New York State this time." After a moment, he chuckled. "We could make a living off of this, you know. 'Theisman and Theisman Child Counselors for World Protectors."

Eleanor sighed and rolled her eyes. "Speaking of children saving the world," she said after a moment, "how did it feel watching the kids bear the weight of the world on their shoulders with Sahaquiel?"

Daniel scoffed. "Just watching that made me check for grey hairs afterward. And it isn't exactly a fair comparison. Shinji had his friends and the power of the Evas helping him hold up a single Angel. Atlas didn't really give such favors for a burden far larger than that."

"I remember that much." she said, as her book appeared in her hands again as she, and eventually Daniel, returned to their reading.

Early November 2015

The command bridge of Central Dogma was a jungle of papers, scattered tablets, and coffee cups as Ritsuko and Maya performed their part of the annual maintenance sweep. Several panels in the bridge walls lay open, as diagnostic devices were plugged into them that streamed data to the waiting tablets of the two technicians. Maya sat at a console, trawling through the vast amounts of coding that made the entirety of the Geofront work.

As Maya went through the structures dedicated to Central Dogma specifically, Ritsuko looked over from her own tablet. "You've made quick progress. I'm impressed." she said with no small amount of admiration.

Maya shrugged as she looked back at her. "Well, when I have a teacher as good as you, I can't help but be good."

A slight smile came to Ritsuko's face as she continued to watch Maya's progress. "Hold on," she said, as she noticed something in the coding Maya studied, "an A-8 protocol would speed things up there. Here, let me show you how."

She leaned over to her console, tapping out the lines of code that an A-8 protocol signified. As the lines of code started to resolve more efficiently on Maya's console, she nodded appreciatively. "And that goes to show how much I still have to learn from my Senpai."

Ritsuko nodded as she settled back into the notes she held, as the elevator onto the command bridge whirred, revealing Misato.

"Hello, Doctor." Misato said, a cheery voice still cool from the revelations of last week. "How go the diagnostics tests?"

Ritsuko didn't even turn to face Misato. "They're going just fine, Major. As I promised, the Magi will be ready for today's tests."

Misato nodded. "It seems like quite a task, Ritsuko, keeping track of three separate systems."

She reached for a coffee cup beside one of the monitors Ritsuko was working on, raising it to her lips.

In the moment before she could drink, Ritsuko glanced up at Misato. "That coffee's most likely cold, by the way."

Misato found that out the hard way as she grimaced at the bitter, cold beverage.

A tone sounded as a large screen showing the three nodes of the Magi, named Melchior, Balthazar, and Casper, had Balthazar's node turn green, signaling that all the nodes were now in self-diagnostic mode.

As reports filed in on the Magi's status, Ritsuko stood, keying the intercom. "Alright, everyone. Good work. Go ahead and take a quick break before the testing starts."

As people began to file out, Ritsuko turned to see Misato disappear as she went down on the elevator.

She sighed. As much as it rankled her to have Misato figure out Rei's medications, she had a nagging shard of guilt over what had happened.

Much as she was mystified as to why, she had not told Commander Ikari about what had transpired. She had even had another "personal meeting" with him without saying a word. Was it because she still valued Misato's friendship? Was it something else? She didn't quite know yet.

Ritsuko blinked as Maya coughed politely, causing her to turn. Maya had a slightly worried look in her eyes. "Senpai? Is everything okay between you and the Major?"

"I mean," she said quickly as Ritsuko's eyes narrowed slightly, "not that you two aren't professional on the job or anything, but you two are usually more friendly. Did something happen? That you're okay with me knowing, I mean."

Ritsuko shook her head as she sighed again. "It's nothing you need to worry about, Kouhai. We just had a disagreement, is all. We'll be fine."

Maya nodded uncertainly. "Okay, then." she said after a moment.

Ritsuko nodded. "I'll see you at the tests later today."

Maya nodded in turn, and Ritsuko made her way to the restrooms.

As she washed her face, her thoughts turned to the Magi. And who it held within. 'No abnormalities in the system, so far. Mother's doing alright. Meanwhile, here I am, passing the time and getting older. What a way to live.'

The Children came for their test, one that they didn't do very often, it seemed. Asuka was grateful for that fact as she learned what they needed to do to start the test. "So you're telling me we have to strip in order to even get into the room?" she shouted into the microphone connected to the elevator that they descended in.

Ritsuko's voice entered the elevator. "You three are going to be entering an ultra-sterile environment. One of the cleanest in the world, and for very good reasons. A shower and a different pair of underwear simply doesn't cut it for this room. If there were any other way to do a test of the autopilot system, we would."

Asuka sighed loudly as she dramatically rolled her eyes. "All this, just to test out a system that won't even need us if it works. I don't know how people think around here sometimes."

Ritsuko promptly responded. "Time waits for no one. The technology behind the Evangelion is constantly improving. Sometimes you get things that necessitate some discomfort in order to make sure the theory and the data behind it are viable. Besides, I can make a good guess that you'll find the Progressive Lash test much more enjoyable when we get to it in the next few days."

Asuka rolled her eyes but didn't respond. She was right, of course. The Eva-scale weapon had made pleasing progress, and woe to the ones she told who cracked a joke about her perceived personality in favoring such a weapon. They just couldn't accept that such a thing required grace, skill, and pure talent to use, instead of whatever the other two-thirds of the Fools Court, as Hikari had so artfully branded Shinji and his friends, lecherously thought.

The decontamination process disrupted her train of thought by being exactly as uncomfortable as expected. With a ding like an oven timer, the doors finally opened, revealing a long, white hallway that all three pilots had to travel down, together. Asuka was understandably indignant about all this.

"Alright. We're here, 17 separate scrubbings, and you expect all three of us to just walk down this hallway in the nude? Some of us aren't exactly used to that, you know!" she said, looking to her right to leer at Shinji through the clear wall that was tinted below the shoulders for privacy.

Shinji, for his part, blushed uncontrollably as he instinctively covered his privates. He had as little of an idea about what this test had entailed, and while Asuka had been far more vocal about it, Shinji was just as indignant beneath the surface. This was ridiculous.

Ritsuko sighed on the other end of the intercom. "Don't worry. Any and all visual feeds here are off to respect your privacy. And again, I must stress the importance of this test. This is a baseline test to see how the harmonics will look from your mind's connections without the aid of Plugsuits or A-10 connectors."

Misato cut in. "And unfortunately, I'm going to have to pull rank, Asuka. This one test is the one I'm ordering you to take."

Asuka growled as she pinched the bridge of her nose, then looked straight ahead of her. "Fine. But if anyone, ANYONE, looks anywhere but straight forward, there's only going to be two pilots doing this test."

Shinji, understanding exactly who the comment was meant for, gulped and nodded, ensuring that his gaze was set only on the door.

Thankfully for Shinji, the walk passed without incident, and they climbed into their separate Entry Plugs, awaiting the beginning of the test.

Ritsuko stared into the test chamber, known as the Pribnow Box for one reason or another, and gazed upon the Simulation Bodies. Comprised of the torso and arms of an Evangelion, they lacked a head and anything below the waist, the space instead taken up by masses of cables and tubes.

She was right as to the importance of the test, she thought as she continued to look. The data gathered here would be invaluable to the Dummy System project that was even now nearing completion. It was just a matter of picking out which pilot's readings would be ideal. Not that anyone here would be privy to that process. Not even Misato.

As the test commenced, Maya looked up from her console to Ritsuko. "The simulation plugs have been inserted, and the hand-off to the Magi is complete."

Misato nodded as she looked back at the view of the Pribnow Box, filled with extremely sterilized water to prop the Simulation Bodies up, as she wondered at the speed with which the Magi worked. "Wow. I can't help but be impressed by the Magi sometimes, I gotta admit. I've never seen a computer do the things I've seen the Magi do. It certainly helps that we've compressed these sorts of tests down from the week that they used to take down to an afternoon."

Ritsuko nodded. "That is true. This test will be over and done within only a little over three hours, now."

She keyed the intercom to the Entry Plugs on her tablet. "Alright, pilots. How are you all feeling right now?"

Rei spoke first. "It feels… odd."

Shinji nodded. "Rei's right. Everything feels… tingly. Like my whole body is on pins and needles."

Asuka shook her head. "It bugs me. My right arm feels just fine, but everything else is kind of hazy. Though tingly works too, I guess."

Ritsuko nodded. This sort of reaction from linking with the Simulation Bodies was expected. She spoke into the channel again. "Alright. Rei, try raising your right arm by mentally picturing it."

Rei nodded and pushed the control stick almost by instinct. The hand on the right arm began to twitch as Rei focused.

Ritsuko nodded, looking over at the main diagnostic screen of the Simulation Bodies. "Alright, data collection is going smoothly."

She turned to a technician behind her. "Revert the Magi to standard operations mode."

He nodded, and a tone sounded as another monitor became a readout of the three Magi nodes. Misato turned to look at them as they started flashing, a puzzled look in her eyes.

Ritsuko turned to look as well, and her lips pursed. "There's a conflict between the nodes." she said more for Misato's benefit than anything. She scoffed slightly. "There's the personality of its creator shining through…" she muttered.

Misato turned to look at Ritsuko, confusion joining the puzzlement in her eyes. "What do you mean? Didn't you build the Magi?"

Ritsuko shook her head. "I may have completed it, but it was started long before I worked here at NERV. You really don't know that much about what runs this place, do you?"

Misato rolled her eyes as she looked back into the Box. "Well, you hardly talk about yourself, your past, your dreams and aspirations after all this is over…"

Ritsuko's gaze followed Misato's. "Well, you've known me since college, you put a lot of emphasis on not caring about the past, and when the world could end at any moment, thinking about the future is somewhat of a waste of time, so I don't see what there is to talk about."

Misato hid a slight wince at the jabs at her. Even though Ritsuko was right on all fronts, it still stung coming from someone she considered a friend.

Ritsuko surprised her by continuing. "Like I said, I may have completed the Magi and swept it for bugs, but it was my mother who made the basis and the mainframe for it. So really, I just stood on my mother's shoulders when it came to this."

Misato never caught what Ritsuko said under her breath. "Just like always…"

On the command bridge of Central Dogma, those present looked intently at the main screen, as it showed an image of an odd sort of discoloring on a metal panel.

"And you've verified this, correct?" Fuyutsuki finally said to First Lieutenant Aoba.

Aoba nodded. "Yes, sir. We received these parts three days ago as part of the maintenance sweep. This is the only one that has shown any signs of deterioration thus far."

Fuyutsuki nodded as he looked at a diagnostic screen. "Protein wall number 87? Where did that part go?"

Aoba looked down at his monitor, querying in commands. After a moment, he looked back to Fuyutsuki. "It says that the part is down near the Pribnow Box, sir."

He pulled up a magnified picture of the panel on his monitor. "I can't tell quite what these stains are, but right now they're small enough that it requires magnification to even see them."

First Lieutenant Hyuga looked over. "It's probably just some minor corrosion. Temperature, humidity, and conductivity are all factors here, especially if it's down by the Pribnow Box. You know how they are about adjusting things down there all the time for one test or another."

Aoba shook his head. "And I wouldn't be surprised if the work schedule being compressed by 60 days helped anything. I wouldn't be surprised if air bubbles got mixed in with how hastily it must have been installed with everything else to worry about. I mean, Wing B was such a mess to go through this time."

Fuyutsuki shrugged. "That wing was built after the Angels started to appear. We didn't have the luxury of spending time and resources needed in other locations on its construction."

Hyuga nodded as he sighed. "And everyone is getting fatigued, too. Even with Angels only showing up once a month or so, it's taking its toll on the city, and the people in it."

Fuyutsuki nodded in turn as he straightened up. "Well, get this issue resolved by tomorrow. Otherwise, the Commander will be on the case. And you know he's much less lenient than I."

Both Hyuga and Aoba nodded. "Yes, sir."

Daniel sat at his console, listening idly to the three talk when his phone rang. He saw that it was one of the technicians and answered. "This is Captain Theisman. Okay. And this problem occurred after the test started? Alright. Does anyone else know about this? Hayashibara, Tennyson, Mjawe? No? I'm the only one you've been able to reach. Okay. I'll swing around, see what I can do for you."

He stood, turning to the others as they looked at him. "Apparently there's a malfunction in one of the Plug crane's arms down at the Pribnow Box." he said to Fuyutsuki. "I've got nothing better to do up here, so I'm going walkabout, see if First Lieutenant Theisman and I can lend a hand to the techs down there."

Fuyutsuki nodded. "Very well, Captain. Go and help sort that out."

"In the meantime," he said, turning back to Aoba, "relay the news of the corrosion down to the Pribnow Box. It's better that they know rather than not."

. . .

Down in the Pribnow Box, Ritsuko looked at Maya as she relayed the news of the problem from Central Dogma.

Ritsuko sighed. "Another water leak?"

Maya nodded. "Yes, ma'am, in the 87th protein wall."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "Terrific. Is it going to affect the test in any way?"

Maya shook her head. "Not so far, ma'am. But I'm still keeping an eye on it in case it does."

Ritsuko shrugged as she turned back to the window of the Box. "Then continue the test. There's no reason right now to abort it midway through. Though do keep an eye on it, like you said. Let's make sure the Commander doesn't need to get on the case."

Maya nodded and looked back down at her monitor. "Yes, ma'am. Synchronization position of the Plugs is nominal. We're connecting the Simulation Bodies to the Eva Units now, starting with Unit-00."

Ritsuko nodded as a screen near her showed the connection process as it happened. A tech called out the predicted strength of the AT Field as the connection finalized.

As this process happened, the stain on the 87th protein wall began to glimmer with a sinister multihued light, a baleful starfield as the being within the corrosion awoke.

An alarm began to go off in the Pribnow Box, tearing away Ritsuko and Misato's gaze from the Box proper. Ritsuko's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Maya. "What's going on?"

Maya's own eyes were wide as she looked down at her monitor. "There's a contamination alarm going off for protein wall 87! It's begun to degrade, and it's putting off heat. The corrosion is spreading beyond the wall at a rapid rate!"

Ritsuko's eyes hardened. "Abort the test, seal off the protein wall, and sever the connection between the Simulation Bodies and the Evangelions! We can't risk them getting contaminated."

Maya nodded as she and the other tech set to isolating the protein wall to try and contain the shockingly rapid spread of the corrosion. The corrosion, though slowed by the many doors and retracted pipes put up against it, still continued its implacable spread.

"Nothing's working!" Maya said in frustration. "The corrosion is still spreading!"

Ritsuko turned back to Maya. "Alright. Prepare the polysomes!"

Doors opened within the Box, and the polysomes, guided drones with powerful laser turrets, slowly floated into position, pointing at the spot where the corrosion was supposed to start breaking through.

"Alright," Ritsuko said as the polysomes finalized their positions, "set the lasers to the highest power setting possible. We need to eradicate this thing before it gets any further."

The polysomes floated silently within the Box, watching intently, the whir of their laser's power sources dulled by the weight of the water surrounding them.

On the monitor showing the spread of the corrosion, Maya watched as it passed the final barriers between it and the Pribnow Box. "Here it comes!"

Silence fell on the monitor room like a stifling blanket, as all within watched intently for some sign, any sign, that the corrosion had breached the Box proper.

Suddenly the silence was broken as a scream jolted everyone from their vigil. Ritsuko turned to the Box as her eyes widened. "Rei!"

The hand of Rei's Simulation body slammed against the wall behind it, as the corrosion spread across its back and shoulders. Maya brought the point home with her next announcement. "The Simulation Body is moving independently of Rei's actions!"

Ritsuko turned bodily to face the technicians, walking over to Maya's console as the Body continued to struggle. "That's impossible! It needs a pilot in order to do anything!"

As she came to Maya's side, she watched on her feed of the polysomes as the corrosion began to darken the walls of the Box. Maya continued on her analysis of the situation. "The corrosion has spread to 35% of the Simulation Body's system. The corrosion is about to break through!"

Misato turned to look back at the struggling Simulation Body as it began to reach out towards her, its hand seeming to try at crushing the person behind the window in its grip.

Ritsuko saw this, and the shattering of glass presaged her pulling the emergency bolt ignition, a blast blowing the Simulation Body's arm off and sending it crashing into the window, the glass cracking as it impacted.

Misato jumped back, then turned to Ritsuko and Maya. "What's the pilot's status?"

Maya looked up at her. "Unharmed, ma'am!"

Ritsuko looked down at Maya. "Eject the Plugs now and get a recovery team inbound at the surface of the lake! Have the polysome lasers activated as soon as they're out of range!"

Maya nodded, and a moment later, three Entry Plugs shot towards the surface, a massive door closing off the Pribnow Box as they passed.

In a moment, the polysomes fired, the most powerful lasers mounted on any current craft lancing towards the creeping corrosion on the wall and on the Simulation Body Rei once inhabited. It worked for a moment, steam bubbles billowing out of the impact points. Then, all the lasers began to reflect off of a dreadfully familiar wall of force.

Misato leaned forward; eyes wide with shock. "An AT Field!"

Ritsuko's expression was similarly aghast. "An Angel? How did one get so deep? Unless…"

As Ritsuko pondered on their now apparent enemy, the severed limb began to glow in a shimmering rainbow pattern, the rest of the Simulation Bodies and the walls of the Pribnow Box shimmering in a similar fashion. The Angel was here, already within the Geofront.

Alarms were going off in Central Dogma as Fuyutsuki clutched the phone near his face with a harried look. "An Angel? How did one get so far down into the Geofront? No matter. Contain it, now!"

He ended the call and looked towards the other technicians on the bridge. "Evacuate Sigma Unit! Seal off Central Dogma! Quarantine the Pribnow Box, now!"

As he gave his commands, Commander Gendo Ikari rose on the dais that contained his desk, a red phone of his own in his hand, and a much calmer tone to his voice. "Yes, I am aware of that," he said to the person on the other line, "and I leave you to it."

He hung up the phone and turned to Fuyutsuki. "Shut the alarm off. Report to the city and the Council that we had a fault in the detection system."

The bridge crew around him looked confused but carried out their order regardless. As they did, and silence swept into Central Dogma, the Angel, and it was confirmed to be an Angel, spread ever deeper into NERV HQ. "Sir, the contamination is spreading throughout the Sigma Unit!" Hyuga said in a worried tone.

Fuyutsuki made his way over to Gendo as the latter's eyes narrowed. "It's dangerously close to Adam." he said in a quiet voice. "We'll need to move him soon."

Gendo raised his voice to the rest of the bridge. "Ensure that the Sigma Unit is isolated. Sacrifice whatever is necessary to stop it. We need to limit the spread of this corruption as much as we can!"

"How are the Evas?" Gendo continued.

Hyuga turned to him. "They're standing by in Cage 7, ready to launch once we've retrieved the pilots."

What Gendo said next shocked everyone. "Do not bother waiting for the pilots. Launch them outside of HQ, but do not have them leave the Geofront proper. We must keep a cool face towards the public for as long as we can."

As Hyuga, Aoba, and even Fuyutsuki turned to him with utter shock in their eyes, he continued. "Unit-01 has top priority. The other Units can be sacrificed if absolutely necessary, but Unit-01 must survive."

Hyuga and Aoba's eyes widened, while Fuyutsuki's shock was joined by sadness. 'Oh, Gendo. Making sure that Yui is safe, while your own son is floating out in the lake. I really shouldn't have expected anything else.'

Hyuga and Aoba made their concerns more publicly known. "Unit-01 receives priority over even the other two Evas?" Hyuga said.

"But, sir," Aoba said after a moment, "without any Evas or their pilots on hand, it's going to be physically impossible to destroy the Angel, isn't it?"

Gendo remained stoic. "If all the Evas become contaminated, then it won't matter what we need to do to destroy the Angel. We will have already lost."

As these events began to transpire, Daniel and Eleanor walked down a hall on the outer edge of the Sigma Unit as the alarm sounded. A call for evacuation echoed on the speaker system, and red lights flashed as the two ran for the nearest elevator. They were still close, luckily, and found themselves alone as the elevator car quietly made its way to Central Dogma.

After a moment to collect themselves, Eleanor looked at Daniel. "Iruel, right?"

Daniel nodded slightly. "Yeah. Iruel."

Eleanor nodded in turn. "Well, the Entry Plugs should have been ejected to the surface by now, and the lockdown going into effect should find Misato and Ritsuko escaping, correct?"

Daniel nodded slightly. "From what I recall, yes. Speaking of…"

He pulled out his phone, confident that, even in the midst of an Angel attack, the Geofront's uncommonly good cell service would hold out. As the number he dialed rang for a moment, he hid a sigh of relief as Misato picked up the phone.

She sounded out of breath, likely having had to run to the nearest elevator from the Pribnow Box. "Daniel? Are you okay?"

Daniel nodded, for all it was worth. "Yeah, I'm fine. Eleanor and I didn't make it very far into Sigma before the alarm sounded."

Misato's shock was still evident, even at this late stage and over the phone. "We have an Angel in the Pribnow Box! We aborted the test and ejected the pilots. They should be at the surface of the lake now."

The line went quiet for a moment as Misato muttered under her breath, "I still have no idea how this happened…"

Daniel sighed quietly. "How it happened probably doesn't matter at this point. Are the pilots getting retrieved?"

Quiet on the line for a moment. "Ritsuko says a recovery team should have been sent about 15 minutes ago. They should be back inside in about… 75 minutes, tops. I don't know how they're going to fight this Angel, but I'm sure they'll be willing to try."

Daniel shrugged as the elevator opened, and they stepped out, surprisingly enough, next to Ritsuko and Misato. Daniel hung up the phone as he turned to look at them. "So, what kind of Angel is it, then?"

As Ritsuko prepared to explain to those in Central Dogma just what they were fighting, far above them, close to Sigma Unit, Kaji stood on top of an elevator as he watched massive doors close off against the glittering rainbow of the Angel.

He snorted slightly. "Well. That's an Angel?" he sighed. "I guess any further work is going to have to wait for a moment."

He looked over at the sign that was next to him, denoting the outermost layer of the floor that comprised Central Dogma. "Well, at least the elevator took me to an actual floor before it stopped. I would have hated to miss a jump someplace this deep."

. . .

Commander Ikari, Fuyutsuki, Daniel and Eleanor, and Misato, Hyuga, and Aoba gathered around the holographic table on the central command bridge as Ritsuko and Maya began their presentation on what they had gathered on the Angel. The heads of Command, Operations, and Engineering Divisions listened intently to what the head of the Science Division had to say at the current moment.

Their first attempt to contain the Angel, using the ozone that it seemed to be averse to, had failed as it seemed to adapt to the attack with startling speed. Ritsuko marveled at the rapid evolutionary capacity of the Angel, as it had spread beyond the barrier the ozone-rich water had once proved to be. Then the alarms started.

"What's going on?" Misato said as she turned to Hyuga, whose eyes were wide with shock as he stared down at his monitor.

"We've been digitally breached, ma'am! No identity on the intruder! I'm deploying preliminary ICE. No effect!" Hyuga said, panic edging into his voice.

Ritsuko looked up as Aoba joined in on the defense of their software. "I'm deploying decoy interfaces. No effect on those either!" he said as his eyes matched Hyuga's in their width.

Ritsuko's eyes widened as she realized who, exactly, was hacking them, as binary wall after binary wall crumbled before its advance. "This is inhuman…"

Ritsuko's revelation was soon made by others as well, as a trace on the location of the hack was finally established. "Sir," Hyuga said as he turned to face Commander Ikari, "the hack is coming from inside this facility! From the Pribnow Box!"

A gasp went up around the bridge as Ritsuko's eyes narrowed in grim certainty. "It is the Angel. It's become a living computer!"

Her words presaged the visual feed of the Pribnow Box showing the Angel's change, as its presence on the Simulation Bodies coalesced from a rainbow starfield into patterns eerily similar to computer circuitry.

Aoba and Hyuga continued to valiantly attempt to defend their computer system from the Angel's implacable advance. After several moments more of the Angel brushing aside anything placed before it, Misato came to a decision. "Sever the main cable!" A negatory response came as the cable refused to respond to any commands.

The Angel had accessed the Security database, sweeping through an attempt to physically turn the computer off by Aoba and Hyuga, harvesting passwords and access keys as its true goal revealed itself. Aoba turned back from his console. "It's trying to access the Magi, sir!"

As he said this, Maya looked up from her monitor. "Sir, Melchior has just been completely taken over!"

Her exclamation was punctuated by the monotone voice of the Magi. "Melchior suggests complete shutdown of all quarantine systems," it said, as everyone's eyes widened in shock. The voice continued, no inflection in its emotionless, artificial tone. "Suggestion rejected." it said, over and over, as the other parts of the Magi rebelled against such a clearly insane idea.

Aoba tore his eyes from the screen that showed this struggle, and his eyes widened again. "Melchior is now hacking into Balthazar!" he said, as the red hue of the compromised Melchior bled into Balthazar's node.

It picked up speed, overtaking much of the node's represented strength in moments. Then, something surprising happened. It slowed. Then it stopped. Only about half of Balthazar was compromised.

That was an hour ago. Since then, the Angel had begun its efforts again, at a far slower pace than before. Why it had done this, or even decided to stop in the first place, was a mystery to all present, but it had afforded time for NERV to shore up the Magi's defenses, as Ritsuko began her presentation.

"From what readings we have been able to get from our current situation, the Angel seems to be a colony of nano-scale entities. Their stand-out feature is their rapid evolutionary capabilities, and their ability to act as a presence in the digital space." she said with a serious expression.

Fuyutsuki looked up from the images on the table at Ritsuko. "And it's still evolving?"

Ritsuko nodded. "Yes, sir. I would find it safe to say that it's in a constant state of evolution. We don't currently know what state it will end up evolving to, but it's safe to say that it likely involves all of our deaths."

She paused to let that sink in for a moment. After she decided everyone was sufficiently aware of their situation, she continued. "It seems that anything we do, whether digital or physical, allows it to produce the perfect countermeasure."

Misato stared at the Angel with hard eyes. "Then the only way to combat something that overcomes any weakness is to ensure that it doesn't have any time to overcome what it encounters."

She looked up at Commander Ikari. "Sir, I recommend that we destroy Sigma Unit, and the Magi system, with enough explosives to eradicate the presence of this Angel all at once."

More than one pair of eyes looked at Misato with no small amount of shock. "Misato," Daniel said after a moment, "we would be crippled in any further efforts to combat the Angels."

Ritsuko nodded. "Indeed. Scuttling the Magi would be tantamount to sacrificing HQ, and the one line of defense against future Angelic attacks. We can't afford to pursue such an action unless we're absolutely forced to."

Misato turned to look at Ritsuko, annoyance in her eyes. "Then as the head of Operations Division, I formally request we take this action as the simplest, easiest way to destroy this Angel!"

Ritsuko stared back, the look in her eyes as hard as Misato's. "And as head of the Science Division, I say that such a task as combating this Angel, especially its presence in the Magi system, is our duty."

Misato growled slightly until Gendo cut her off. "Major Katsuragi, Doctor Akagi is correct. If your task is to fight the Angels in the physical world, then the Doctor's duty is to fight this one in the digital space."

He turned to Ritsuko. "Doctor, you are to come up with a plan and execute it as quickly as possible. Should you require any assistance in the physical space, Captain Theisman and the Engineering Division will provide you with the necessary resources."

He turned, and walked back to his desk, sitting down on it as it slowly began to descend. "I have other matters to attend to. I will know whether or not you have succeeded. And we will all know if you have failed."

He disappeared out of sight. Ritsuko turned to look at the Theisman's. "We will most likely not need any assistance from you or your department. This can be handled by the Science Division alone. Likely, I can take care of this myself."

Misato looked back at Ritsuko with indignation. "Damn it, Ritsuko, why are you so damn stubborn? You don't need to place the world on your shoulders. I have my orders, and as much as I disagree with them, I'm still going to follow them. So please, let us help you."

Ritsuko shook her head. "None of you know the Magi like I do. Any assistance you can provide is going to be minimal, at best." she sighed as she looked down from their position on the command bridge. "And besides, if the Angel is indeed constantly evolving, then there is one way that we can destroy it."

Daniel shook his head slightly. "You mean, that we might be able to turn its evolution against it?"

Ritsuko nodded with certainty in her eyes. "Yes."

Eleanor nodded herself, as realization dawned on her. "You want to drive it to the point where cellular degradation, where apoptosis on a massive scale, is the only solution."

A slight smile tugged at a corner of Ritsuko's mouth as she turned back towards the group around the table. "A terribly poetic way to put it, but yes. On the other hand, its self-preservation instincts may kick in, forcing it to choose coexistence with the Magi over its death. That would allow us time to figure out another solution. But either way, it involves a major risk. If its goal is to link all the computers, then we offer up Casper."

The room was silent for a moment until Hyuga spoke up with obvious apprehension. "What do you mean 'offer up Casper'?"

"Simple really," Ritsuko said, returning to the table and pulling up a display of the three nodes of the Magi as they currently stood, "we link Casper to the Angel, and then take advantage of the fact that the Angel is connected digitally to have Casper download a self-destruct program into the Angel."

Maya spoke up as Ritsuko finished. "The obvious risk of it all would be that we have to lower every defense that we've put in place thus far."

Daniel nodded. "So that leaves us with a race between Casper and the Angel, with our continued survival as the betting odds." he sighed. "That's one hell of a rally you've entered us in, Ritsuko."

Misato nodded as she glanced with some confusion at Daniel for the odd saying, then looked back at Ritsuko. "So, with that in mind, can we assume that you'll have such a program ready in time? Because if the program is too slow, then Casper gets knocked out. And we all know what that means."

Ritsuko nodded. "It'll be ready, I promise. And I am a woman of my word."

'Spoken or unspoken.' she thought, as she pulled out her tablet and started tapping in the lines of code that would become the Angel's destruction.

As the humans below transpired against it, the Angel silently held an eternal committee within the Pribnow Box. It dissected its call, the nature and size and scope of it, in endless permutations, childlike in its curiosity and repetition.

Eventually, it came to the conclusion that it had to interface more… directly with things, with the world around it in order to at last unite with its creator and fulfill its calling. This would require an unprecedented level of independence, of freedom of movement. To move required a body, to consume, a mouth, to truly see, new eyes.

As it came to this conclusion, the severed arm that held part of the Angel's being slowly dissolved, the Angel taking its component parts and slipping between the cracks in the door high above without moving it an inch. After all, one needn't worry about space to get through a barrier when one was as small as the parts of the Angel were.

Up above the Angel, the pilots finally got dressed in their clothes on the shore of the Geofront's lake, popup shower and changing stalls their only privacy amongst the trucks and helicopters that had extracted them from the lake. The Evangelions all stood in the distance, locked into their restraints, but safe from the digital privations of the Angel. They knew why they had suddenly rocketed to the surface now, and they were all of them on edge.

Shinji emerged, scrubbing his hair with a towel with the NERV logo on it. "Do either of you think that the Angel will be coming out of the Pribnow Box?"

Asuka, a similar towel around her neck, rolled her eyes as she scoffed. "If the Geofront is what I think it is, Shinji, then it's locked up tighter than anything else in the world. It would take an act of God to spring it from there, especially if it's in the Simulation Bodies."

Rei stepped out of her stall and looked at Asuka. "I find that whenever one of us says these things, something goes awry. Perhaps it would be better if we leave such things unsaid."

Asuka rolled her eyes at Rei. "You know, it's not like we're cursed like that, anyway. We don't live in some terribly contrived movie or television series where things happen just because of something we say."

However, as alarms soon began to sound, and the personnel around them began to hurry back to their vehicles, Asuka sighed. "But some days, it certainly feels like we do."

She waved down a passing technician. "Hey! What's going on?"

The technician turned around for a moment, her eyes wide with shock as she backed up towards the open door of one of the choppers. "The Angel's breached the Pribnow Box, somehow. It's making its way out here!"

She turned back and climbed in the chopper as it began to lift off, other choppers, carrying their Entry Plugs, spinning up.

Shinji blinked, gasping slightly as he reached for his phone. Soon, it was ringing, and Daniel answered it. "Hey, Shinji. What is it?"

"Daniel," Shinji said, fighting to stay calm, "what's going on? Has the Angel breached the Box?"

Daniel paused as he looked up at the main monitor of Central Dogma, part of it showing the Simulation Bodies seeming to slowly dissolve, organic and mechanical part alike, as the Pattern Blue sensors showed the Angel, with what was assumed to be the component pieces of the Bodies in tow, invisibly make its way up into the open Geofront, landing at a point on the opposite shore of the pilots, as a camera feed showed a slowly growing mass of flesh and grafted metal. "Yes. It has, and it's landing on the shore opposite of you. Your Plugsuits and A-10 connectors should be on the way with the trucks that will fill up your Entry Plugs with LCL. The Angel doesn't have a core for you to destroy, so your duty will be to hold it off while we come up with a way to kill it."

Shinji nodded. "Will do." The line went dead as Shinji pocketed his phone.

He turned to Asuka. "Daniel says it's going to land on the far shore. We're suiting up and keeping it busy with our Evas."

Asuka put a fist into her hand, an excited gleam in her eyes. "Action for us, at last! Does Daniel really not expect us to be able to kill it?"

Shinji shook his head. "He said that it doesn't have any core that we can destroy. We're going to have to keep it from breaching the Geofront while Misato and the others find a way to kill it."

Asuka sighed but nodded. "Well, I guess a stalling action is better than nothing at all."

After a few moments, the trucks in question arrived, and the pilots quickly dressed as the Entry Plugs opened, ready to receive them.

As the Children roused their Units to life and began to walk towards the other side of the artificial lake, Misato looked down at Hyuga, her second in command. "Hyuga, I'm putting you in charge of the operation."

He looked up at Misato, his eyes widened with slight shock. "Ma'am, are you sure? You're usually very particular about how you oversee these operations."

Misato nodded. "Yes, I am. After all, this is most likely going to simply be a stalling action as we pull off the plan with the Magi here. And…" she paused for a moment, looking down to where Ritsuko and Maya had gone off to. "I have some other matters to attend to."

She turned back to Hyuga. "So, like I said, a simple stalling action. Just guide the pilots through, keep them updated on things that you see that the pilots won't be able to, and you should be fine. I have confidence in your abilities."

Hyuga nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I have command of the operation now."

Misato nodded, a small smile on her face. "Good. I'll let you get to it." She turned and began to make her way towards Ritsuko and Maya. Hyuga turned back towards his monitor, trying, and somewhat failing, to hide the blush that was coming to his cheeks as he keyed up the Pilots. "Pilots, this is First Lieutenant Hyuga. I'll be in command and relaying your orders for the duration of the mission. Weapons will be en route to your location shortly. This Angel does not appear to have a core, so destruction is not a viable option. Your task is to engage and delay it long enough for us to destroy it through its digital presence in the Magi. Any questions?"

"Yeah, actually." Asuka said over the link. "Did Misato lose a bet or something?"

Hyuga sighed slightly as he glanced over at Aoba, who tried desperately not to laugh. "No, pilot Soryu. She has other matters to attend to and has left me to take charge of the operation."

Shinji piped up over the link. "Well, Lieutenant Hyuga, if Misato is confident in your abilities, then I'm sure you can do this."

Hyuga nodded. "Thank you, pilot Ikari. It looks like you'll be in position soon. As I said, I have weapons that will be at your location. I leave the specifics of how to contain it up to you. Do not allow it to breach HQ. Other than that, as long as you keep it away from us, anything you do is fair game. Command out."

On the other end of the line, Shinji nodded as he looked across the distance at the Angel, now seemingly finally done with assembling its body, began to try and stand upright.

It was a frankly terrifying sight, the three Simulation Bodies fused into one entity, four of the six arms used as legs as a massive body held up the torso and arms of the third Simulation Body like a deranged, headless centaur, its body glowing with the rainbow stripes of circuit-like patterns. It wobbled like a toddler walking for the first time, its inexperience with a physical body evident.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Hyuga." the line shut off as Shinji keyed up the other pilots. "Alright. So how do we keep this thing from moving?"

"Obvious, Shinji." Asuka said with no small amount of exaggerated patience in her voice. "We shoot at it until such time as the techs do their sorcery and hack into the Angel to kill it. Simple as that."

As massive crates dropped beside them, the pilots opened them to reveal three Pallet Rifles, a Progressive Spear, and a Progressive Axe. Asuka took the Axe with a gleeful look in her eyes, while Shinji hefted the Spear and Rei shouldered one of the Pallet Rifles. They then slowly began to surround the Angel as it took its first tentative step.

. . .

Misato stopped at Maya's side as Ritsuko pressed a few buttons from a concealed panel in the floor of one of the bridges, and the massive bank that took up most of the floor slowly slid up, revealing the main access point for the Magi, the thing that contained all the vital hardware and firmware for the operating system.

It looked like a jumbled mess of slightly rusted tubes, looking almost like a human organ as it finally stopped its ascent. Ritsuko made her way to a panel, opening it to reveal a crawlspace. She glanced at Misato as she set the panel aside. "Shouldn't you be up commanding the pilots against the Angel's body?"

Misato shrugged. "I placed Hyuga in command. It'll give him good experience, and I'm confident in his abilities."

She paused for a moment. "That, and… I just wanted to try and help you."

Ritsuko sighed slightly as she crouched into the crawlspace, Maya and Misato leaning behind her and looking down its dim length, littered with sticky notes and taped up pieces of paper scrawled with notes from days long past.

Maya ahhed in wonder. "Wow… what's on all these papers?"

Ritsuko began to crawl forward, looking for a particular branch in the crawlspace. "Notes left by the developer of the system."

Maya crawled a little way into the space behind Ritsuko, looking around in wide-eyed wonder. "Wow…" she said, studying a group of related notes. "This is a backdoor into the Magi! I knew something like this was possible, but I never imagined it would be this simple!"

Misato shook her head as she studied the enigmatic lines of text around her. "So, this is a bunch of hacks and secrets for the Magi?"

Maya continued to drink in all the sights around her, looking to all the world like a child in a toy store. "Do I even have the clearance to see some of this?" she picked up another sticky note, her mouth making an o as she studied it. "This system is in a c-as-integer, doctor! We could knock out the coding for this in no time!"

Ritsuko turned back and nodded. "Yes. We'll be able to have this plan ready with time to spare." As she turned back around and found the node for Casper, she sighed slightly.

"Thank you, Mother." she said, under her breath. "We'll be ready because of you."

. . .

As the preparations for the digital side of the plan began in earnest, the Evas circled around the physical portion of the Angel as it slowly made its way around the lakeside towards the pyramid of HQ. After a moment more of the Angel stumbling, falling, and getting to its feet a little quicker than the last time, Asuka finally had enough. "Alright, I'm getting tired of this."

As she said this, she charged in, Progressive Axe high above her head, and with a shout, cleaved off the Angel's right arm, the ground shuddering as the severed limb hit it.

The Angel stumbled back, seemingly shocked that such a thing had even occurred. Then, the unexpected happened. The Angel stepped forward, one of its lower hands clutching at the limb that Asuka had just cut off, as its left arm impossibly slid over its chest to swing at Asuka as she jumped back in surprise with a shout.

In a moment, the arm on the ground disappeared into the hand clutching it and reappeared on the other side of the Angel's chest, as both its hands twisted and contorted to fit their new positions, the Angel charging forward to try and grasp at Asuka, who backpedaled furiously away from the Angel.

"Okay, that's just not fair!" she said with a shout.

Shinji readied the Progressive Spear, stepping forward. "Rei, give us some cover! Go for the legs!"

Rei nodded, going to one knee as she aimed where Shinji noted. "Affirmative, pilot Ikari. Pilot Soryu, please move."

Short, controlled bursts from Rei's Pallet Rifle strafed the Angel's lower torso as Asuka jumped aside, and Shinji charged in at an angle to try and get it to break off its pursuit of Asuka.

The bullets riddled the Angel's body for a moment, before an AT Field, tight on the Angel's body, began to reflect them harmlessly. As Rei stopped firing, the Angel finally managed to grab at the axe Asuka was holding, first with one hand then both, Asuka's fighting retreat turning into a fierce tug-of-war.

Shinji slid to a stop, uprooting trees as he did, and jabbed the spear into the Angel's side. It twitched and convulsed, its rippling skin making it difficult for Shinji to extract the spear. Then, as the body around the Angel's "hips" shrunk in size dramatically, its arms stretched out, grabbing the spear as Shinji finally pulled it free, his struggle coming to mirror Asuka's.

After a moment, the hands on both pairs of arms began to meld together, the flesh slowly spreading across its grip.

Hyuga looked at his monitor, a feed of The Unit's cameras, and keyed up the link to the pilots. "It's trying to absorb the weapons! Let go and fall back!"

With a groan of annoyance from Asuka, both she and Shinji relinquished their weapons, backpedaling as the weapons began to disappear into the Angel's body, the flesh rippling across its upper torso until the heads of the weapons began to slide out of the ends of the wrists of the Angel, its hands dangling limply as it walked forward, swinging the newfound weapons wildly as the Evas dodged out of the way, trying to get behind it as it flailed.

As the battle raged over their heads, Maya looked down at her tablet with a furrowed brow. As the Angel attacked the Evas, its attack on the Magi had picked up in earnest as well. Now, more than two-thirds of Balthazar was compromised, and the corruption came ever closer to the boundary between Balthazar and Casper. She turned to continue her work on the program that would undo all of this.

Inside the Magi's housing, Misato sat curled up beside Ritsuko's legs as she set down a tool and reached out a hand. "Misato, socket wrench, please."

Misato found the wrench, handing it to her as she sighed and shook her head, smiling. "You know, I can't help but think of college right now."

Ritsuko offered no reply, simply reaching out her hand again. "Keyboard. Number 25."

Misato handed her the keyboard, and there was silence, disrupted only by the clack of the keyboard. Misato decided to speak again after a moment. "So, tell me more about the Magi."

The typing paused for a moment before resuming. "Like what?" said the disembodied voice of Ritsuko.

Misato shrugged. "Anything, really."

Ritsuko was quiet for a moment. "Well," she finally said, "it has a very long, complicated, and boring story behind it, so I'll skip that. Have you ever heard of a Personality Transplant OS?"

Misato nodded after a moment. "Yeah, I think. It's a theoretical system where the brain patterns of a given person are digitized and copied over to a brain analog. Or at least, that's what I remember you telling me about it. It's what we use for the Evas, right?"

Ritsuko stayed silent for a moment. How little she truly knew, Ritsuko thought, as she pulled off the last layer of mechanics to reveal a semicircular dome, with the words 'Casper-03' written on it. "Well, the Magi is the first real-world application of the technology. It was developed by my mother. And…"

Misato nodded. "Your mother was transplanted into it then?"

Ritsuko nodded out of sight. "Yes. A terrible accident made it so that the transfer had to be done quickly, but you could say that my mother's brain is right here, and that... my mother's soul's in here as well."

She paused as she started up an impact wrench, the bolts on the cover coming off in short order, as Ritsuko took the cover off to reveal a small, brain-like core, with plugins scattered all across its surface.

She began to plug in various cords into the brain, as Misato pondered what Ritsuko had said. "Is that why you wanted to preserve the Magi? Because it's the only thing left of your mother?" she said after a moment.

Ritsuko sighed. "No, not really. My mother and I didn't really have the greatest relationship. I think... I'm doing this more as a scientist, trying to save one of the wonders of science."

. . .

Back on the command bridge, Hyuga watched as the Evas continued to try and circle around the Angel, the three of them slowly backing up as the Angel advanced towards the pyramid that was the outermost part of HQ. They needed a solution, something to keep the Angel occupied that wouldn't get absorbed easily. But what could that be? Then he remembered something Misato had mentioned to him.

He turned to Aoba. "Hey, do you know where the Progressive Lash is being kept?"

Aoba glanced at him, slight confusion in his eyes as he made the query. "It's being stored in one of the Geofront units. It's packaged for the test that's coming up."

Hyuga nodded. "Is it easily accessible?"

Aoba was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, it is. It could be deployed…" Aoba's eyes lit up as he got what Hyuga wanted him to do. "I'll get it sent out on the cargo line that runs here. The Evas should be able to get it and equip the weapon."

Hyuga nodded as Aoba set himself to the task. "Pilot Soryu."

Asuka piped up, concentration obvious in her tone of voice. "Yeah? Kind of busy here."

Hyuga continued. "We're putting the Progressive Lash on the cargo rail that runs to HQ. You'll be able to intercept the car and use the Lash in order to keep your distance while you're attacking it."

Asuka's excitement was as evident as her concentration as she spoke next. "Music to my very ears, Hyuga! Thank you. I've been dying to try that out."

Hyuga couldn't help but smile as he looked back to Aoba. "It's going to be here in about… 10 minutes. Hang in there until then!"

Asuka closed the link with a smile. As expected, a cargo car slowed to a stop on the rail line to HQ, a large container holding her prize. "Keep it busy for me!" she said as she turned and ran towards the box.

She tore off the top of the container, giggling as she saw the oblong, disk-shaped weapon. She picked it up, gripping the handle on the underside as restraints similar to the Progressive Spike's secured it to her forearm. She turned to face the Angel. "Hyuga," she said sweetly, "how much length do I have with this?"

Hyuga turned to Aoba, who gave him the length. "You have 120 meters maximum of Progressive chain there, pilot Soryu. Be careful."

"Yeah, yeah," Asuka said. "I'll be sure to use my AT Field."

She shut off the connection and activated the weapon. Links of metal fell past the end of the weapon, stopping after about 20 meters. The chain began to hum, as the Progressive element gave the chain an off-white glow. 'Alright then,' Asuka thought as she wrapped her AT Field around the chain, both inside and out of the weapon, 'let's see what you can do.'

"Shinji, Rei!" she said into an open link to the other pilots. "Give me some fighting room. I'm about to start swinging."

As the other two backed off, Asuka began to swing the weapon over her head, the length of chain unspooling as it soon became a tornado of superheated metal. After a moment, Asuka flicked it towards the Angel, using her AT Field to guide the chain to strike true.

With a tremendous crack as it broke the sound barrier, the tip of the whip shattered the Angel's AT Field, and its ax arm blew apart at the shoulder, sending the arm flying off as the Angel writhed in obvious pain, charging towards her. Asuka backed off as she retracted the chain, the superheated metal catching the trees it dragged through on fire before Asuka had the presence of mind to shut the Progressive element off as she spooled the weapon back up.

Asuka grinned. It was everything she expected and more. Besides, there was little better of a field test than actual combat, so she figured Ritsuko should be more than happy with the data collected.

. . .

As the battle raged above them, an alarm sounded in Central Dogma as Balthazar was finally overwhelmed. Hyuga turned to shout down at Ritsuko and Misato. "Baltazar has been compromised!"

The voice for the Magi gave a chilling warning. "The AI has voted in favor of lifting quarantine in Headquarters. The AI has voted in favor of autonomous self-destruct. Self-destruct will commence in 5 minutes. Please evacuate the surrounding area up to depth -280, -140, and Floor Zero."

Ritsuko and Maya's fingers flew across keyboards, as they lowered many, but not all of Casper's defenses to allow the Angel through. Not without a fight, of course.

As the Angel's influence began to spread through Casper, Misato looked up from within the Magi's enclosure with a worried look as the self-destruct impossibly appended itself to 2 minutes. "Ritsuko… better hurry up!"

Ritsuko was focused entirely on the tablet in front of her. "Don't worry," she said offhandedly as the countdown appended itself again, to a terrifying 30 seconds, "We have at least a second to spare, now."

"A second?" Misato said incredulously as the Magi began counting down the seconds to what appeared to be their imminent doom.

"It's better than nothing, Misato." Ritsuko said as she and Maya put the final touches on the program. "Maya!"

Maya turned towards the sound of Ritsuko's voice as the countdown reached 5. "I'm ready!"

"Now!" Ritsuko said as she and Maya pressed enter. The command center held its breath as the countdown reached 1 at the exact moment the program was sent.

Seconds passed. Then, a cheer of relief swept through Central Dogma as the Angel's digital influence was swept clean from the Magi, all the nodes turning a brilliant blue.

Up above in the outside of the Geofront, the body of the Angel spasmed, then fell crashing to the ground, limp and lifeless. The pilots all were silent, save for deep breaths of recent exertion. "Well," Asuka said after a moment, "it looks like it worked."

"Yeah," Shinji said, "it does look like that."

As the Frame of the Angel's soul crumbled with its death, something else stirred. The degradation slowed, then stopped, as the hard, angular lines of the Angel became softer, more streamlined and flowing. Three separate minds gained a single, intertwined line of thought, and the ghost in the machine finally became cognizant again. "Where… am I?"

Day became night as the Geofront was swept clean once again, and Ritsuko sat in a folding chair, slumped with exhaustion. She looked up as Misato approached, two cups of coffee in her hands. With a tired smile, Ritsuko accepted one of the cups. Seeing as Misato had brewed it, it didn't taste terribly good, but it worked to prop her up.

She sighed. "Misato, I think I'm getting a little too old. These all-nighters have started to wear more and more on me."

Misato softly snorted. "Well, you kept your word, like you said you would." A slight smile came to her lips. "Good work, Ritsuko."

A smile slowly came to Ritsuko as she started to drink from the coffee. "Thank you, Misato." Her smile held a tinge of a grimace as she lowered the coffee cup from her lips. "You know, as much as your coffee tastes terrible, I can't help but be grateful for it."

Misato smiled uneasily, then looked intently as Ritsuko continued. "The night before she died, my mother told me how she made the Magi work."

After a pause, she continued. "She said that the Magi are made up of the three facets of her personality. Who she was as a scientist, who she was as a mother, and who she was as a woman."

She scoffed softly. "Those three sides would vie for control of her every day, she said. So, she incorporated that conflict, and the need to balance and agree on things, into the nature of the Magi. All three nodes, while similar, all have slightly different ways of thinking, as made by my mother."

She paused for a moment. "I have no desire to become a mother, so I'll never really understand that side of her. As a scientist, I have nothing but respect for her. As a woman… well, a part of me hates her for who she was." she took a deep drink of her coffee and spoke no further on the matter.

After a moment of silence, Misato spoke up. "You know, it's good to see that you're talkative today." she said with a slight smile.

Ritsuko snorted softly. "It's been known to happen on occasion."

The Magi bank slowly began to lower beside them, and Ritsuko turned to face it with an introspective look in her eyes. "Come to think of it," she said after a moment, "it's funny that Casper was the last one. That one is the one that has my mother's personality as a woman. And typical of who she was, she stuck it out to the bitter end. How like her."

The Magi bank settled into place, its role in the sweep done, as Ritsuko stood and walked away with Misato from a job well done.

Next Time on Apotheosis Echo...

As the people of Tokyo-3 gather their breath, some meet to discuss what happens beneath the surface of the world, while an empty grave brings the living together for a moment, and a moment changes some people, and the course of history, forever. Next Episode: Ruminations in a Moment of Quiet.