Chapter 39: Fountain of Life and Death

My study of the Scrolls continues apace, and the connections that I have found within the scriptural texts of several religions. Angels, Adam and Eve, or Lilith… such terms could be amenable to those whom I seek to induce into this conspiracy.

America has proven a very useful place, if overly indolent and riding on the high of their supposed 'saving of the world' from the evils of the Second World War. But they are as riddled with disease and corruption as anywhere else in the world. Racism, classism, all the ills of a humanity that is not homogenous, not united where it truly counts. It matters not where I chose to go, it seems. I would be reminded of my duty to save the souls of this world regardless.

However, a way to more easily spread my influence abroad has also recently presented itself. In the aftermath of the war, the United Nations, born from the ashes of the League of Nations, has come into being. A better vector for bringing numbers to my nascent cabal, my SEELE, I almost could not ask for.

- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, May 1946

Western Coast of Australia, Another World, Early 2023

Captain Katsuragi of WILLE watched intently from the bridge of the Seikaku as the cargo container-laden converted aircraft carrier began to slide into the hastily prepared dock near the village it was delivering to, over what was once the city of Perth. It was a delicate process, and a tense silence hung over the bridge as they watched the tugboats guide it in gently as they could.

After a moment, it stopped, and a UN Fleet sailor, one of many whose uniform was getting more and more worn and frayed as time had worn on in its inevitable path, looked up from her console, a hand on a headset. "The Carl Vinson has docked successfully."

A quiet sigh gusted through the bridge, and Ritsuko nodded as she looked over to Misato. "Well done, Captain. It seems your idea is sound."

Misato nodded. "It needs to be. KREDIT is the first real step to rebuilding the world. Once we get rid of the Evangelions, ensure that there will never be another Impact, this will be where I go." she paused for a moment. "After all, I've got to keep busy somehow."

"Right away?" Ritsuko arched an eyebrow. "Not back to your son for a little while?"

It was a long moment before Misato looked back at her, offering a wan smile, a rare sight these days. "He's so much like his father, from what I hear."

The smile disappeared, and Misato looked away again as she sighed quietly, the thought seeming to physically weigh on her. "I don't know if I can ever face that again. I don't… I don't want to fail another poor boy, you know?"

Ritsuko sighed quietly. They had been back to Village-3 several dozen times now. Misato had found herself buried in work every time. A terrible coincidence, she had always said. After all, keeping the fleet in working order was big work, almost as big as managing NERV. And...

Ritsuko had only ever seen Ryoji Shinji Kaji in passing as the years went on, in the care of one Bunzaemon Horaki and his family and friends, but… Misato certainly wasn't wrong. He really was his father's son. Even if he didn't recognize her as more than someone who knew his mother.

"So," Misato finally said, Ritsuko knowing she wanted to change the subject, "how do you think the new recruits are doing?"

"They've got the willingness to try and help, if nothing else." Ritsuko sighed as they stepped off of the bridge and into the long, somewhat cramped hallway beyond it. "The former NERV and UN staff have done their best to help get them up to speed where they need to be, but…"

She shook her head as they continued to walk, the hallway empty save for them. "Tennison has reported an almost unprecedented number of work-related injuries due to inexperience, mishandling, outright stupidity, as she put it in her last report. Takao as well. Aanderson is seeing maintenance staff of all stripes currently, actually, Evangelion related or not."

Ritsuko smiled slightly. "But if nothing else, they both say it's nothing too serious thus far, and it's giving the young Ms. Suzuhara her fair share of training." her smile faded away. "But Tennison's concerned. I am too, frankly. This is risky."

"It's what we need to do, now." Misato said grimly. "We've lost too many men and materials trying to keep the skies clear so that KREDIT could go worldwide. Anyone willing to help us is going to have to do."

She paused for a moment in the hallway as she finally seemed to process the other name that Ritsuko had mentioned. "Wait a minute. Who's Takao?"

"Our new head of non-Evangelion engineering." Ritsuko looked at the signage near where they stood for a moment, then nodded forward. "In fact, if we go ahead towards the engineer's post, we'll likely run into him and his young protege."

Misato's brow furrowed for a moment, then she shrugged. "I don't see why not."

They continued down and into the ship, soon coming to a well-lit room that rumbled slightly from the proximity to the engines. It was a rather tight space, a console showing a wireframe outline of the ship and many of its essential components taking up the bulk of the far wall, several other monitors and consoles spread across the others, one wall also containing a door that likely led further into the ship's mechanical depths. Taking up much of the space were two men, one taller and broader than the other, and a plethora of books and manuals of all kinds placed on every surface that could hold them.

As Misato and Ritsuko stepped in, the taller man turned, showing a head with no hair and a full beard and snapping to attention seemingly on instinct before loosening up as his gaze fell on Misato, his eyes full of wondering as he stepped forward.

"Misato…" the man chuckled as he shook his head. "It sure has been a while, hasn't it?" he asked, an almost forlorn tone to his voice.

Misato's eyes narrowed slightly. "You sound… familiar. Where do I know you?"

The man scoffed quietly, a wry smile quirking his lips. "Well, we've both aged quite differently since college. For one, I used to have a little more hair. Not as much as Ryoji, mind you."

Misato blinked, then her eyes widened slightly as the voice finally clicked in her head, a voice whose owner, one who had a much fuller head of hair last she saw him, she remembered from days in college now long past. "Koji?"

Koji Takao nodded as he stepped forward and offered a hand. "The one and only, of course. It figures you wouldn't remember little old me, going off into the Maritime SSDF while you adventured all over the world with the SFGs, and Ryoji went off into intelligence."

Misato's smile faltered for a moment at the repeated mention of Ryoji's name before she took Koji's hand and shook it as she chuckled. "Well, we certainly appreciate your help here in WILLE."

She glanced over Koji's shoulder at the young man who now looked over at them, a thin face under a puff of black hair regarding them with no uncertain apprehension. "Along with…"

Koji looked back, smiling slightly as he beckoned the boy over, the boy slowly stepping forward before coming to attention and saluting. "Hideki Tama, ma'am." he said quietly, seeming almost unsure of what he was saying.

"He's one of the new volunteers, been learning from me how to keep things running here on the Seikaku. Mostly by using all the manuals he can stick his nose in." Koji chuckled softly as he put a hand on Hideki's shoulder. "He could also learn to loosen up just a little. There's only so much time in life to be overly serious, after all."

Hideki shrank down slightly. "Well, sir, as I've said before, reading is the fastest way for me to learn."

"Maybe." Koji admitted with a slight shrug. "But it'll never beat hands-on experience. And we'll be getting there, trust me."

Hideki nodded, and Misato looked back at Koji. "Well, you'll likely be getting your hands-on experience off of the Seikaku. We'll be transferring command staff over to the Kaga in the next few days. Maybe you can come with us."

Koji's eyebrow arched. "One of the Izumo-class carriers?" he hummed after a moment. "Well, it'd certainly be a lot roomier over there, if my service on the Hayashi is any indication."

He smiled slightly after a moment's thoughtful silence. "Maybe we can get together sometime before then. Commiserate over some drinks. Finish off what little mourning we have left to do."

Misato was silent for a moment. Thinking about the past, thinking about him, either of them, was… hard. She'd barely touched a bottle or a can since she had found out about Ryoji's death, even with the temptation being strong in the days after. But… it really was time to move on. She was with Makoto, now, and… well, she didn't want Ryoji to be an anchor on either of them.

She sighed quietly, then nodded. "That sounds good. Maybe we can do it on the Kaga when we've moved over there."

Koji smiled slightly. "I look forward to it." he said quietly.

Before he could speak any further, an alarm blared, and Misato's phone buzzed. She picked up the call quickly. "Yes?" she said, her voice and face a mask of command.

It was quiet for a moment as Misato listened to the voice on the other line, then her eyes widened. "A Pattern Blue?" she said with a shocked tone. "Where?"

Ritsuko's eyes widened in turn. "Is it an Angel? After all this time?"

. . .

Misato and Ritsuko were back on the bridge, looking intently at the sensor station surrounded by sticky notes, its operator, one Midori Kitakami, another civilian volunteer, moving a few out of the way to offer a better view. "It seems to be wandering around here," she pointed to near the tip of the Indian subcontinent, "around the ruins of... Bengaluru, if I recall correctly."

"In that radioactive wasteland?" Misato arched an eyebrow after a quick confirmation of the location. "That's… ridiculously out of the way for an Angel, even with our experience with the 9th Angel. Is there anything more you can get from the reading?"

Midori pouted slightly, somewhat thick lips pursing as she brushed a lock of bright pink hair aside. "Unfortunately, ma'am… no." she said with an almost defeated sigh. "With the current setup I have, that's about all I can give you."

Misato straightened up, sighing quietly before nodding. "Alright, then."

She turned to look at the helmsman, yet another volunteer. "What's our best time to India?"

The woman at the helm, a taller woman with black hair and coffee-colored skin with the name tag 'Nagara' looked back at her after a moment. "About 8 to 10 days, ma'am, depending on what speed the fleet will settle into."

"We'll be as quick as we can in order to cath the Angel before it moves." Misato said. "8 days is long, but it's better than nothing. Get us underway as soon as possible."

As Nagara nodded and complied, Ritsuko looked over at Misato with some small amount of concern. "Can we afford to leave the KREDIT shipments vulnerable for that long?" Ritsuko said quietly.

"We have to. It's an Angel, after all." Misato said grimly, and Ritsuko noticed an old fire kindling in her eyes. One that, somehow, she had missed for a long time. "And we're really the only ones with proper Evangelions at this point. If anyone is going to stop it, it's us."

. . .

The Titanskeep, 5 Days Out from India

Esmeralda Tennison, Ymris, took a seat in her cabin with a weary sigh. The last three days had been a tempest of preparation and double-checking. That 5 more people had to be attended to by Aanderson and Suzuhara hadn't helped matters, their work being taken up by a crew that was already madly in the process of finishing the latest upgrade to Unit-02's prosthetic arm.

She sighed quietly, then chuckled. Father may have been a blacksmith, but she doubted he could ever have imagined this for his daughter. A project of this size and continuity, the craftsmanship and tools involved… it would have been the stuff of his dreams. Or his nightmares.

Thoughts of another world, wasted by men, wandered to the people who had been the saviors of the sole survivor of her village. And the inspiring, surprisingly human man that she now followed.

They had made good progress in the years since Tavis had taken his group and left, proselytizing to what pockets of humanity remained that he could find as he went. The North American Heralds had been found, now. Halfway there, as Tavis nearly crowed when they'd found the last one. 'Soon, the Guides' will shall be worked on this world. I can feel it.'

That was what he had said. But she knew what he meant. One way or another, they would be hijacking Instrumentality. Sweeping all these people away, and remaking them with a new faith as they remade the world. But… after all this time spent among these people, desperate and brave and, frankly sometimes, utterly reckless…

She jumped slightly as she heard a knock at the door, and a now-familiar voice called out. "Hey, Esmeralda. You there?"

Her heart began to beat a little quicker for a moment before she calmed herself down and walked over to the door, opening it to find Toph looking intently back at her.

"Hey, Toph." Ymris said, a little tiredness edging into her voice despite her best efforts. "What do you need?"

Their relationship since their first meeting had become far more… friendly than she was expecting. Even after the near threat she had given her then, she had proved herself to be rather gregarious. And, as it turned out, a good drinking partner after a long day's work. It had made maintaining her cover… difficult, sometimes.

Which was why Ymris wasn't surprised when Toph raised two bottles of beer, Australian lagers if she remembered correctly, in a hand. "I was thinking of taking the edge off preparing to fight a giant monster out on the deck. You in?"

Ymris shrugged as she took one of the bottles with a slight smile. "Well, I don't see why not."

Minutes later, they found themselves on a secluded outlook on the edge of the ship, past the walls and in the open air, not a soul in sight as they sipped and chatted about the events of the day and the week. It had become a sort of ritual… a year ago, now? Ymris shook her head silently as she wondered where all the time had gone.

Now, though, as the conversation began to lull, the mood changed slightly as Toph sighed. "Look, Emmie… I know we've gotten to a good point since the first time we met, and I'm glad we've done that, but… in all this time, we've never quite answered the question of where you came from."

Ymris blinked, her heart beginning to pound for a moment before she stilled it, still looking around for a moment. "Yeah." she sighed quietly. "You're right."

"You know how I'm going to ask this." Toph said as she looked over at Ymris, her green eyes' gaze almost pinning Ymris to her place. "Are you still with NERV?"

Ymris blinked once, then again before sighing quietly and shaking her head. "No." she said, no small amount of relief in her voice. "No, certainly not. After what they've done… after what they're planning to do to end the world, essentially…"

'Is that all?' she wondered as Toph nodded slightly, smiling equally slightly. "Good. I figured." was all she said as she looked back at the rolling red sea. 'That certainly could have been worse. However…'

Ymris looked around again. "Well… it's a little more complicated than that, I'll admit." she said quietly after a moment.

Toph looked back, the bottle pausing halfway from her mouth. "How's that?"

Ymris was quiet for a moment as she seemed to gather her thoughts. "Well, I'm not exactly Esmeralda Tennison of Wisconsin. I'm…" she paused for a moment. "As crazy as it sounds, I'm not even from this world. Or even this universe."

Toph looked at Ymris silently for a long moment, the silence sparking a mote of anxiety in Ymris's chest. "So… like an alien?" she finally said.

Ymris chuckled. "Not really. My name is actually Ymris Joranna. I come from a place called the Worldsea. I got… well, stranded here once Near Third Impact began, cutting me off from getting back to the rest of my group."

Toph nodded slowly. "The Worldsea, huh?" she said, equally slowly.

After a moment, she nodded once, a little more quickly. "Didn't think I'd meet another person from there so soon out here."

Ymris found herself taken aback for a moment. "You mean… there are others here?"

"Yeah. Cause, well… I'm not exactly from China, myself."

Ymris nodded slowly. "I see. So… why are you here, then?"

"Well…" Toph sighed quietly as she looked out into the sea again. "I and a couple of friends are looking for someone. Someone who means a lot to us."

Ymris waited for a moment, then nodded as Toph refused to elaborate further. "I see." she said, looking back out to the view as well as relief flooded through her. She'd wondered if a little truth would have helped throw off the scent. Now, it seemed, she'd also made some slight headway into Toph and why she was here as well.

'Which other friends of yours traveled here with you, I wonder?'

. . .

2 Hours Out from India

Asuka and Mari looked down at the display of what must have been a satellite picture of the Angel. At least, the Angel was supposed to be in there somewhere, according to Doctor Akagi. All that seemed to indicate the presence of anything was a hazy outline where the core material seemed to blur within its boundaries.

"Where is this thing again? Right here?" Mari asked, leaning over until her face was only a few inches away. "This thing seems awfully shy."

"Whether it's some sort of active camouflage or a use of an AT Field, we don't quite know." Captain Katsuragi admitted, a grimace on her face as she crossed her arms. "As much as I hate to admit it, we're going to be going into this hunt blind."

"Hunt. What a fitting term." a darker part of Asuka whispered, its voice, her voice, dripping with barely disguised derision. "Murderer."

She blinked at the epithet and tried to shake the thoughts as she looked up at Captain Katsuragi. "Any special equipment we can scrounge up?"

"Well," Katsuragi replied, "since we stopped in Beijing's foundries while we were clearing the way for the first KREDIT shipment, we were able to procure four Progressive Glaives, along with enough replacement Progressive filaments to keep us from running out any time soon for any of our weaponry."

Asuka nodded slowly. "I don't think we'll need that much for this thing."

"I would doubt it too." Katsuragi paused for a moment before going on. "You'll be wading in from what was formerly the coast of India. We can't risk the radiation coming off of India harming the other crews. Your AT Fields should be able to easily protect you."

"And yet again, your usefulness is in your capacity to kill. Did she even care in the first place?"

"Shut up." "When do we make landfall?"

"You'll be deploying in about 1 hour. Good luck."

. . .

An hour passed, and Asuka found herself back in that comfortably familiar place, slowly and carefully marching Unit-02, Pallet Rifle held overhead, through what her memory told her would have been… what was it that geography class had taught her… that's right. Chennai.

Asuka blinked. 'Wait a minute. I never studied geography. I never even went to college. How do I know that?'

She focused for a moment on that darker part of herself that seemed to have this air of… smugness at the thoughts. "Got something to say, Angel? You've been remarkably chatty the last little while."

"No. Besides, your focus should be on murdering my sibling, shouldn't it?"

It took all the training that she had to not make Unit-02 stumble. She still managed to catch a toe in what was probably a ruined high-rise regardless.

Maria's face appeared on a comm screen as Unit-08 turned back to look at her. "You good, princess?"

"Yeah." Asuka replied with a grumble as she steadied herself again. "Damn core material blending in with the ocean…"

"What the hell was that about? You freaks are related?" she tried to ask as she continued on her way.

But there was nothing but silence again.

Asuka sighed quietly. 'Alright. Fine. Keep your stupid secrets. Won't keep me from killing this thing.'

But a small part of her wondered. And she wondered what that small part was. Was that fully her? Or was Bardiel beginning to bleed into her more fully, blending the two of them? How would that even work?

Those questions were for later. Right now, it was Angel killing time.

. . .

Soon enough, they strode across dry land, weaving around the gravitational anomalies and strange, sometimes headless facsimiles of Evangelions that now wandered the earth.

They were close, and Asuka and Mari kept their heads on a swivel, Mari uncharacteristically quiet as they scanned the mostly flat terrain. Even with the growth of the core material, most of India had been leveled out in the nuclear exchanges between it and Pakistan. Such was the entire reason their AT Fields were quietly wrapped around themselves, acting as a shield. Such also was how they were able to see for miles in every direction, their 80-meter height a boon to them.

But right now, it seemed to yield to them no great insight as they crossed into what was once Chennai.

Mari sighed dramatically. "It feels like we should practically be on top of it and getting to business already, what with how long we've been walking. How close are we?"

"You should see your target in about 1 minute." the disembodied voice of First Lieutenant Hyuga replied.

A minute came and went, and Asuka shook her head slightly as she scanned the area the Angel was supposed to be in. "Nothing." she muttered. "I swear, this thing is just-"

Something shifted in the corner of Asuka's eye, and she glanced over and down at the ground. It was still. Wait…

Asuka squinted slightly at where she had seen movement, Pallet Rifle slightly sweeping as Unit-02 stood stock still. "Are we still near this thing?" Asuka said slowly as Unit-02 took a step forward, Unit-08 coming up behind her.

"You're right on top of it almost." Hyuga replied. "In fact-"

Asuka heard a splash, looking down and finding Unit-02's foot ankle-deep in water. 'This far inland? Wait a minute…'

She felt pressure on her foot, watched the water begin to flow up her leg, and a pillar of water jerked her into the air before she could think of anything beyond the shout of surprise she gave as the world spun madly.

Unit-08 stepped back, Mari aiming its Pallet Rifle at the flowing, somewhat transparent pillar of water that now swung Unit-02 into the air, letting go and sending Asuka flying. 'Is it mostly water? Are we dealing with a psychic fish? Let's find out!'

She pulled the trigger, the Pallet Rifle barking as a stream of rounds flowed from it. Many slammed into the water and stopped within meters before the view became hazier in the section Mari aimed at, the few shells left slamming into it and exploding.

Mari stopped firing as a tentacle of water lashed out at her, forcing her to jump back as she felt Unit-02 slam into the earth somewhere behind her. "This one clearly doesn't care much if we shoot at it. Were they all this bad?"

"Not the first few, from what I've heard." Asuka grumbled as she rubbed her head and got Unit-02 to its feet, scanning the ground for her Pallet Rifle before her gaze fell on Unit-08. And the ten-legged lake that began to slowly rise, soon looming head and shoulders over the Evangelion that now backed away. 'And still no sign of my rifle. Where did I toss the damn thing?'

As she searched, spotting it embedded into the ground barrel down between two buildings, she glanced back at Mari facing down… what was this? The 11th Angel now?

"Azariel. Remember her name like you should Hadraniel's. Murderer."

"Whatever. Shut up."

With that, Asuka extracted the Pallet Rifle from the ground, noting the end of the barrel bent down at a noticeable angle. Useless.

Asuka tsked as she deployed a Progressive Knife, a piddly-seeming weapon compared to the threat that stood (flowed? Floated?) in front of her. But such a thing had been used to kill an Angel before, she knew. And that wasn't even in the hands of the best pilot in the world that time.

As Asuka began to step forward, she heard in the distance a keening wail that had become all too familiar to her. She looked back, and the starfield glow of AT Field trails in the sky confirmed her rising anxiety just before another voice back in the fleet did.

"I'm reading… 8 flights of Mark.04As closing in on your position!"

'24 Marks? How desperate is NERV?' Asuka thought incredulously as Captain Katsuragi interjected. "Pull back, now! Disengage from the Angel and prepare to defend yourselves!"

Mari groaned dramatically as she disengaged with the Angel, deftly dodging back as it began to charge forward. "Just what we needed. Dance partners for each of us, and spare!" she said with a roll of her eyes.

Asuka ignored Mari as she looked up watching as the bladed 'legs' of the Marks began to glow a familiar pink glow. 'No needle launchers this time?' she wondered. 'I wonder if we're to blame for that.'

She thought back for a moment to an operation a little under a year ago now that had them taking out an automated NERV weapons factory, one of several that had popped up, as four of them slammed into the Angel in quick succession, their Anti-AT Fields allowing them to sink up to their disks as the water beneath them began to boil, their AT Fields driving them deeper and deeper into the creature.

Asuka and Mari's focus darted back and forth between the remaining Mark.04As that circled above them and the Angel that let out a melodic, wale-like hum before the view all throughout its body, including the view of a core that had to be nestled in between 20 or 30 meters of water, became opaque, then nearly vanished.

Almost as one, the Marks slid out, and the Angel reared up on two legs that swiftly became a pillar that enveloped a Mark that had clattered to the ground as three of the Mark's core blocks were caught in between two tentacles of water, all held soon enveloped with water as the Angel began to squeeze.

After only seconds, the Marks crumpled under the pressure, exploding soon after as another set of Marks, more this time, slammed into the Angel's back and front, their impacts allowing their blades to line up precisely.

And still, it did not seem to be enough. The Angel keened again, beginning to move forward at a frankly startling rate, Asuka and Mari jumping to the sides as it barreled past them.

"It's heading for the open ocean!" Asuka shouted as Unit-02 turned and began to run after as the Marks that had impacted the Angel became consumed as it expanded, taking their core blocks in and crushing them. "Come on, Mari!"

"I do love a good race!" Mari replied, an entirely too excited tone to her voice as she followed quickly after.

With the pace that the Angel kept, the miles began to blur as Asuka focused on simply catching up with it, uncaring of the Mark.04As that seemed to waste themselves on the creature, ignoring the Evas entirely. The focus helped push Bardiel's whispers, its feelings of wanton luxuriating at being close to the rest of itself, or what remained, far, far to the back of her mind.

"Come on… come on…" Asuka muttered. The coastline was in sight now, still in the distance as it was, and the automated Marks had dropped like flies, those few that remained beginning to disengage as they flew back out over the water. She flung a hand forward, trying to spin an AT Field barrier into existence in front of it, anything to just slow it down so they could catch up.

But as a barrier sprang to life in front of it, flickering and weak from lack of focus though it admittedly was, the Angel simply threw the 'crest' of its wave through it, the rest of its body flowing after it as its limbs disappeared back into its body, and the blob it had become slid into the sea.

"Damn it!" Asuka exclaimed, hitting the side of her chair. "It's in the wind now." she growled as she sat back heavily.

"No, princess, it's in the water." Mari replied with a deadpan voice, and Asuka could hear the slight smirk in her voice. "Same principle though. Can we still track it, Doctor Ms. Nightingale?"

Ritsuko sighed quietly, once again, at the nickname that Mari had decided for her as she watched the sensor screen, the Angel's shadow passing underneath them and out into the open ocean. "Yes. It's still putting out a Pattern Blue, so we can still track it."

"Where's it going?" Asuka asked, a part of her sure she already knew the answer.

"Right where you'd expect it to go." Captain Katsuragi replied. "Come back in, pilots. We're heading after it while we come up with a plan."

"Roger that." Asuka and Mari both replied, one more begrudgingly than the other, as Unit-02 and Unit-08 waded back into the sea from whence they came.

. . .

Misato stared at the screen that showed Asuka and Mari's camera feeds of the 11th Angel and pondered on how, exactly, she was going to kill something like this thing.

It was unlike any that had come before, in form at least. All the other Angels, strange as they could be, at least had solid bodies that could be held back, cut away and wounded. This, on the other hand, could flow around them, crush them if they remained in contact with it for any great length of time.

'I wish we could have dealt with this before Near Third Impact happened.' she mused. Then again, there were a lot of thoughts that included that statement, she thought with grim amusement.

They had transferred over to the Kaga on their journey, and now had the (relatively) modern vessel's holographic table to show the Angel's Pattern Blue, a bright hazy smear, traveling under the ocean surface at about 10 knots. They had, thankfully, far outpaced it, confident that they would reach the endpoint of its current calculated trajectory, the island of Kyushu, well before it did.

But they needed a plan, she thought as she turned to regard the smear that traveled beneath and behind them. Just as they always had. And there was a certain idea gaining some traction within her…

"So, what are we thinking?" Ritsuko asked quietly, snapping Misato out of her thoughts.

"Well… whatever we do, we'll need to be quick. Trying to dig through all that water just gives it time to retaliate. But under all that water…" she shook her head slightly. "It's almost like we have to go diving."

Misato's brow furrowed again as she cupped her chin, deep in thought. 'What do we have… wait a minute… maybe we won't dive…'

"Ritsuko," she asked after a moment more of silent pondering, "if I recall correctly, we have a few chain nets for the Titanskeep, right?"

Ritsuko nodded slowly. "Yes. They're mostly used for getting Evangelion-sized loads on and off-board. Why?"

Misato only nodded slowly. "And how much of the Progressive filament we've got would we need to lace through one of them completely?"

Ritsuko opened her mouth, then closed it again, her eyes widening as she guessed what Misato intended to do. "Most of it, really."

Then, after a moment's silence, Ritsuko closed her eyes and chuckled softly, shaking her head slightly. Seeing this, Misato glanced over and arched an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"I've… almost missed this. You, coming up with an insane plan to save the world. Me, reacting in shock to how ridiculous it sounds. It… as weird as it is to say, it takes me back somewhat."

Misato looked down, a slight smile on her face. "Yeah. It does, doesn't it?" she said quietly after a moment.

After a moment, the smile faded. "So, how long do you think it will take to do it?" she asked.

"I'm sure we can complete it in the time it takes to get to Kyushu. However…"

Misato looked over again as Ritsuko paused. "What is it?"

"We can't have it activated for long. The net most likely isn't rated for Progressive filament activation like our Progressive Knives are. The most likely thing that'll happen, if we leave it running for too long, is that it will melt the net before doing us any good."

"Then we'll just have to wait until the last second to activate it. That way, we can get as much use out of it as possible."

"And when, exactly, is the last second?" Ritsuko arched an eyebrow.

"Likely the few seconds to a minute before it makes contact with the water surrounding the Angel's core."

"Ah. There's the kicker."

It was silent for a moment before Ritsuko nodded. "Well, I suppose I'll let Tennison know that she'll need as many hands as she can get. She and Beifong have been getting along decently, from what little I can see. Maybe she can pull some security staff into the project to speed things along."

"Good. We'll have to get started as soon as possible."

It was silent again for a moment as they stared at the footage of the creature, then Misato glanced back over at Ritsuko. "There's something missing, still."

"And what's that?"

"Something one of us was supposed to ask the other. I think you were supposed to ask me one last thing about my plan."

Ritsuko's brow furrowed slightly for a moment. "It's been long enough…"

Then her eyes lit up slightly in remembrance, and she nodded. "Do you think the pilots can do it?" she said quietly, reaching for the terminus of their well-worn dance of words, long laid aside.

"They have to." Misato replied, marking the end of their dance. "When it comes to the Angels," she added after a moment, "they always must."

. . .

On the Titanskeep, Ymris oversaw a flurry of activity, the Evangelions huddled up on either end of the ship as one of the massive chain nets, several dozen meters wide, lay spread out in the center of what had been the deck of the ship. Dozens of men crawled over it, firmly but gently weaving the Progressive filament between the links. On the left and right of the net, the links and filaments flowed into the handles of two Progressive Knives that were in the process of being hastily modified.

It was, in short, a mad scramble to be ready with whatever insane plan Captain Katsuragi had come up with. Ymris found herself somewhat annoyed, as she often did, with just how messy humans were. There was an order, an innate understanding, that she missed from her people, an order that carried with it a far greater speed than whatever this rabble could conjure.

But it would have to do, she mused as she stepped over to one of the knife handles, its front blade-ward casing fitted with a hastily made handguard that had filaments pouring from it like a series of rivers just before their deltas.

"What's the situation looking like here?" she said to one of the half-dozen engineers that made a line up and down the knife handle's length.

One of them, a man a little taller than her, turned to face her, wiping sweat from a brow that was over grey eyes and under dark hair. "The connections are going to be stable. At least, that's what it looks like here right now. The chance it's going to short out after any given amount of time just keeps going up and up, though."

"If the Captain's plan works, it won't need to stay active for that long. How many more connections do you need to make?"

The man shook his head. "Several dozen at least on this handle alone. I can't say anything for the other one."

"And how long will that take?"

"Several more hours."

Ymris took this in, nodding slowly. They were still at least 3 more days out from their seeming destination, the southern island of Japan. Kyushu was the name of it.

"Even still, with what time we have, we'll need to pick up the pace. Do you think you'll need any extra hands that can be spared?"

"It would certainly be appreciated, ma'am." the man nodded.

Ymris looked back out across the net, a keen eye looking for clumps of people who could be skimmed away from unnecessary busywork. Her gaze landed on Toph, who had led the charge in getting the security personnel to work.

She seemed to have a way with metal, an almost innate touch that had her weaving the Progressive element through the chain with almost magical skill. Thus, she worked mostly alone, people coming and going from her length of chain, one of several she had finished.

'I wonder…' Ymris shook her head after a moment, passing on from the sight of Toph as her gaze fell on a clump of security men working with a few engineers. She could skim a few men from there.

"Go talk to that group over there." she said as she pointed them out. "Take a few men, and set them out where they're needed."

The man nodded and made his way over to the group, and Ymris made her way back out to help another group that she saw had begun to lag behind somewhat. Back into the great dance, as her mother had so artfully, sometimes derisively called it.

. . .

1 Day Out From Kyushu

Asuka stood once again on the command bridge, this time of the Kaga, looking at a beach that would be where their stand would be. And where they'd put Captain Katsuragi's absolutely insane plan into action.

It had been a long, long time since Asuka had taken part in one of Katsuragi's plans. It was Mari's first. That much was quite obvious from the gleam in her eyes as she listened to Katsuragi explain what they were supposed to do.

"That… is…" Mari nearly squealed. "Awesome! Are all your plans this amazingly crazy, Captain?"

Katsuragi blinked for a moment, looked over to Doctor Akagi, then they both chuckled slightly. "Well," Katsuragi said as she shook her head equally slightly, "not all of them. At least, not that I can recall."

"Even still," she continued, that serious demeanor that had become the norm settling back in, "you'll need to get the core out by whatever means possible. Whether that's scooping it out from 'behind' it, or dashing past its sides, whatever, the only thing that matters is that it gets taken out."

"And how many attempts will we get once we turn this thing on?" Asuka asked with an arched eyebrow.

"One, maybe two tries at most, most likely." Doctor Akagi replied. "My recommendation is to only activate the net when you're sure you can make contact."

"Good to hear." Asuka paused. "How long do we have to prepare?"

"We're about 2 or 3 days ahead of the Angel." Katsuragi replied. "We'll have some time to finalize preparations. During that time, get ready, do a little training. You'll need to be in near-perfect synchronization for this battle."

The two pilots nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Katsuragi nodded in turn. "Dismissed."

With that, Asuka and Mari walked off the bridge, back towards their secure bunk. As they walked, Asuka found herself humming. That in and of itself was already strange, given that she hardly listened to much music nowadays, but the tune she hummed was even more strange than that.

It was a jaunty, airy thing, fit for a piano. One that felt… familiar. Connected to someone, somehow…

"Whatcha humming?" Mari asked, looking over curiously and causing Asuka to pause both in her humming and in the middle of the hallway.

"I… I don't know. It feels like... I should know this song. Know what to do with someone to its tune…" Asuka blinked for a moment before scoffing and shaking her head. "It doesn't matter, anyway. We've got bigger things to worry about."

"Really? Because it seemed like you knew that tune very well, princess. Connected to someone you pined for?"

A blush that hadn't gone to her cheeks for years colored her face slightly as she thought of the only person she'd known who could have ever liked something like that. And what he'd done years ago to her. To the world.

"Mari?"

"Yeah?"

'Shut up."

. . .

Former Nagasaki Prefecture, 1 Day Later

Asuka once again found herself in Unit-02, one hand gripping the handle for the chain net, across from her Unit-08 as they practiced the footwork they would need to make this strategy Katsuragi had come up with an effective one. They both looked out towards the beach that the Angel was supposed to land on with… well, she couldn't quite tell what Mari would be feeling beyond some measure of excitement, but the emotions she felt were… well, not exactly what she would have expected to feel waiting before a battle.

It was… well, the feeling was hard to pin down fully. But the closest she could get to it was… nostalgia.

How could she feel nostalgia for something that had never happened before? How could she know these random facts from a college she'd never set foot in? What was she remembering?

Again, those were questions for later. Right now, her imaginary trips down memory lane were making her lag behind Mari. As skillful as she was, even Mari was beginning to notice her getting distracted more and more. 'Focus. Focus.'

. . .

Misato looked at the radar screen, stretching well into Japan and out into the sea, with no small amount of tension, the feeling slowly tautening her back and shoulders, much as she tried to resist.

She had expected… something out of NERV. Some new attempt to sally out and meet this Angel one more time. But so far… nothing.

And the Angel simply crept closer and closer, seemingly unaware of what was to meet it.

"They can't possibly have run out of Mark.04As already…" she mused quietly.

"With how many we had to clear out to get KREDIT up and running?" Ritsuko piped up from beside her. "It could honestly go either way."

"Then the question is," Misato said, "if they don't send 4As… what do they send?"

It was a sobering thought for the both of them, visions of a deep blue and orange giant flashing through their minds.

Soon enough though, the day came, and they all watched and waited with bated breath as the Pattern Blue signature of the Angel crept slowly, slowly closer to the shore. Eyes were, however, not only on the sea, but on the sky as well, keeping a careful watch for any Mark.04As that might show up to throw a wrench into things.

Asuka waited patiently, a hunger carefully hidden behind her eyes as she drummed her fingers softly on her controls. Whether the hunger was hers or not was immaterial. It was ready for combat all the same. For payback.

"5 minutes to contact, pilots. Get ready." the voice of First Lieutenant Hyuga said.

She heard the slight rattling of the chain net as she and Mari both gently squeezed the handles. They were linked together now, at least for the moment. Asuka quashed the tune from days before as best she could. After a moment, she found that she was tapping it out regardless.

She decided to distract herself by keying up a full link to the command center, as it were, on the Kaga. "Any indication of movement from behind us?"

"None so far." she heard a woman reply. "We'll continue to keep our eyes peeled."

"Roger." she said offhandedly as she keyed up a link to Mari. "You ready?"

"As ever, princess!" Mari replied with that easy smile that always seemed to come so damned easily to her. "I'll be sure to keep up!"

"You'd better. I won't be pulling any punches because you might hesitate."

"Oh, please, Asuka. When have you ever known me to hesitate?"

It was silent for a moment before Asuka rolled her eye. "Fair point." she nearly grumbled.

With that, they settled into waiting just a moment longer, the fleet having moved out of the way to spare them from the potential of the Angel damaging them, and watched the red ocean as it lapped across the similarly sanguine shore.

There was no indication of… well, anything really for the first few minutes. Then Asuka narrowed her eye as she keyed up a magnification, zooming in carefully.

She had spotted a bulge in the water moving towards them. It was utterly uniform, with no waves, not even a ripple to indicate the water reacting to such movement. Just… movement. Getting closer. Getting bigger.

Soon, the magnification blinked away as it came ashore, the blob of water forming its original decapod shape as it grew taller and taller, and taller still…

"Wow…" Mari said as she looked up at the Angel that was now nearly twice their height. "That's a little bigger than I anticipated."

"Back!" Asuka shouted as she watched a pair of tentacles flow out towards them.

Unit-02 and Unit-08 jumped back as the tentacles lashed out, backpedaling as they swiped and swung at them. Soon enough, though, they pulled back, and the Angel came lumbering towards them.

As they continued to backpedal into the old city, Asuka's mind whirled. They couldn't afford to be on the back foot. At least, not for very long. If there was a way to siphon off the water that was a part of it… Wait a minute…

"Okay…" Asuka nearly growled even as she grinned slightly. "Get ready, Mari."

"Ready!" Mari chirped, and the Units held their ground for a moment as the Angel lumbered closer, its footfalls eerily silent as it simply enveloped everything it stood on.

As it approached, it raised one of its tentacles again, seeming to look at slamming into Unit-02. As it paused at the top of its swing, Asuka nodded. "Now!"

With that, the two Units juked to the side, the Progressive filaments in the net activating with an almost ear piercing whir as they brought it up to intercept the strike.

As the blows met, there was a flash of steam that billowed out from the point of contact and the Angel took a step back as it let out a keening wail, the Evas also stepping back as the net blinked off, the links still nearly glowing from the heat.

"How long of an operation window will the net have if we keep using it like this?" Asuka asked after hastily keying up a comm line to the command team.

"You'll have at least a few more uses than we originally estimated." Doctor Akagi replied. "But I still advise you to use it sparingly, and try to aim for the core as best you can."

"Roger." Asuka replied as she and Mari dodged back. "We'll need a better way to get rid of the mass this thing has, though. We have a far better chance if there's less water in the way."

"We'll try and come up with a way to support you." Captain Katsuragi replied. "Continue to hold its attention for the moment."

In the Kaga's command center, Misato watched as Asuka nodded. "Roger. We'll make it work."

The screen returned to its normal view, a drone circling the field and watching as Unit-02 and Unit-08 dashed to the side behind what was a row of buildings, the Angel's next attack barely missing Unit-02's back.

She turned to Ritsuko. "What kind of incendiary weapons do we have in hand?"

"We have a few guided missile destroyers with some liberated incendiary missiles in their magazines. The John Paul Jones, the Diamond, and the Nastoychivyy in particular come to mind. However, regular missiles should do the trick, as long as it doesn't use its AT Field or harden its skin."

"We'll have to stagger out fire then, most likely." Misato looked over at First Lieutenant Aoba. "Contact the missile destroyers in the fleet and get them ready for a rolling barrage, with hits set for every one and a half minutes to start before randomizing firing times."

As Aoba complied, she keyed the pilots again, their faces blinking back into existence just before the view of the Evas intercepted another strike, the thrust hissing as water turned to steam. "Pilots," she began, "the fleet is about to start bombarding the Angel, see if some explosive power will help shrink it. Keep back and keep it busy. Use your AT Fields to nullify its own."

"Will do!" Mari chirped. Asuka simply nodded before the screens blinked out again, showing the Evas jump back and begin to lead the lumbering Angel deeper into the city.

Mari was only dimly aware of what was likely coming soon as she ducked and weaved through the city, stopping at times to egg the Angel on with an errant slash from either her or Asuka's Progressive Knives. 'If they're going to hit this way too deadly aquarium, we'd appreciate it any time now…'

The deadly dance continued for what seemed like an almost impossible amount of time before something, several somethings, slammed into the Angel's back and sinking deep, lightning-like flashes creating bubbles of steam and air that collapsed on themselves, the Angel becoming lumpy and misshapen for a moment before it settled back into its normal smooth surface only moments before another strike raked into it again, and the body of the Angel flowed back like a wave, seeming to turn and face the ocean again.

"Oh no you don't!" Mari shouted as she stepped forward, slashing at a tentacle over and over, the impacts sending billows of steam hissing into the air.

That seemed to get its attention back on them as it flowed back towards them, two tentacles lashing out towards them, and meeting nothing but the bite of the knife blade as it crashed forward, buildings becoming only momentary obstacles as it crashed through them, the simple weight of water causing the building to crumble as it took another wave of missiles in stride.

But even with their efforts, it was still bigger than it had been when they'd last met it. Asuka suppressed a growl as the Angel followed them doggedly. They'd need to get it down to that point, if not smaller, before they could try at fishing out its core.

"Guys," she said into the link to the command staff, "I really hope you have something else up your sleeve, or this is going to take all day. At best."

Before anyone could reply, she heard a short, percussive blast from the side of them, as a bolt of nearly blinding blue-white light slammed into the Angel, a sheet of white steam blowing away from it and revealing a neat crater that flowed back into its original shape, now far smaller than it once was, as all turned their gaze to the source of the attack.

As they did, Misato and Ritsuko's eyes widened at the familiar, almost feared sight of the deep blue and orange Evangelion, shouldering a strange rifle and having what could only be described as an Eva scale sniper rifle slung across its back. "It's…" Misato whispered as it advanced and fired again. "It's the Eva from Near Third Impact…"

"Where did he come from?" Asuka said incredulously, glancing back to follow Mari's lead for a moment as she dodged to the side. "Is that Unit with NERV?"

"I don't know, princess." Mari replied as the net activated again, taking a good amount out of a now noticeably thinner tentacle. "But we're all seeming to deal with the Angel right now. Maybe we can ask if he sticks around."

Asuka nodded silently as she regarded the Angel for a moment. It's top was now almost eye-level with them. They could clearly see the dark silhouette of the core against the bright backdrop of the sky. "If we're going to try something, we should try it soon. Through the middle, I think."

"Sounds exciting!" she could hear Mari's near-feral grin as Unit-08 crouched slightly in anticipation. "I'm ready on your mark."

Asuka glared at the Angel as they stepped back from another swipe, the Eva on their far right firing again, the round slamming into the Az-the Angel's side.

'Wait for it… wait for it…'

"Now!"

With that, the net flared to life again, and Unit-02 and Unit-08 wreathed their arms in a rippling AT Field as they charged, rushing past the Angel. The net made contact with the rough center of its chest with a piercing hiss of steam as it slid through the water with breathtaking speed.

Breathtaking was almost the right word, as all involved watched and waited without a sound as the net continued its breakneck slide through the Angel's body. Asuka especially, her brow furrowed, waited for…

There! The catch of something solid. The jolt of contact sent an almost electric shiver up Asuka's arm as she pulled even harder. With another step the Evas were 'behind' the Angel, their arms up to the bicep as they strained to pull the core out. 'Come on… give, you stupid alien!'

Slowly, slowly, it felt like… then a budge. Then a slide, and then the crash of water splashing down to the ground and the hiss and whistle of steam pouring out as the core finally came free into the open air.

"Booyah!" Mari shouted as the net shut off, and the Evas looked down at their prize, a gleaming red sphere.

Asuka wasted little time, her Unit's skeletal prosthesis, now several iterations from its first design, flipping the grip of her Progressive Knife and slamming it down into the core. It burst, deep red fluid spraying into the air and into the faces of the Evangelions, briefly obscuring the rainbow that bloomed into being between them.

Far from the action, a cheer went up in the command bridge of the Kaga as Ritsuko and Misato released a breath they almost didn't realize they were holding before looking at each other with small, almost wry smiles.

"Would you look at that?" Ritsuko said quietly. "They did it again."

She was quiet for a moment. "Do you ever wonder how they do it, sometimes?"

Misato took a deep breath. "You know… I don't need to. I know they can do whatever they set out to do in an Evangelion."

Their gaze turned back to the monitor, and their mood cooled somewhat as they watched the anomalous Evangelion begin to come towards Unit-02 and Unit-08.

On the field of battle, Asuka turned to look at the approaching Eva, dropping the now malformed net as she and Mari turned to face this newcomer. "Whoever you are, stop right there!" she said through the speaker system of the Eva as she brandished her Prog Knife. "You may have some big guns, but we both have AT Fields. I hope you aren't stupid enough to think that doesn't matter."

She'd seen the footage of this Evangelion in action, however brief, from nearly a decade ago. For all her bluster, there was a part of her that was somewhat anxious at the prospect of crossing blades with them, regardless of the absence of the Spear that it had carried so long ago.

She blinked as the Eva took the energy rifle and held it by its barrel, holding it out to her as it unslung the sniper rifle. After a moment, a line of text scrolled out into her view. 'Gifts from Tabris.'

"Tabris?" she said after reading the text aloud? "Why does that sound familiar?"

On the command bridge, Misato and Ritsuko looked at each other again. "Commander Tabris of WILLE?" Misato asked almost incredulously.

"So it would seem. But the Eva came from the direction of Tokyo-3."

"That it did. Could it be…?"

Misato trailed off as she shook her head, looking back at the screen as Unit-08 accepted the sniper rifle from the anomalous Eva.

The exchange seemingly done, the Eva turned back from whence it came. "Now wait a minute!" Asuka nearly shouted. "Where are you going? Who are you?"

Silence was the only reply as it rose into the air, flying away without a sound.

Asuka sat back in her seat for a moment with a heavy sigh. "Alright then." she grumbled. "Keep your stupid secrets, too, I guess."

Under her annoyance, however, there was something… different. Wildly different. She could almost call it… fear. Some of it might have been hers, but the overwhelming majority of it seemed to come from the Angel within her. It had seen… something, something that she couldn't see with her regular sight.

And if Bardiel, always flippant of Asuka and her prowess in an Eva, had become scared shitless of what was in front of them… what did that mean?

She wasn't sure. But right now, she thought as she and Mari turned back towards the coastline, gifts in hand, that would be figured out later. 'Next time we meet, whoever is piloting you, we're going to have a long talk. Or, rather, Misato will.'