Chapter 47: Come Now the Crimson Rapture
The Angels, as they have been described in the Scrolls, have come to be… something of a worry. Beings of immense power and stature, if they try to seek out Adam, let alone Lilith, then our plans will be laid to waste at their feet.
Thus, a solution was needed. And within the walls of NERV, and its new headquarters within the Geofront, one such of these solutions is born from the flesh of Lilith. It is a herald of the good news of Instrumentality. An evangelist. An… Evangelion.
But even that pales in comparison to the reports that are coming from our expeditions to the Himalayas. I must go and see for myself if these reports on the city of 'Arqa' are true. But if they are… then this changes everything.
- From the personal journals of Lorenz Kihl, September 2011
Geofront Medical Center, December 22nd, 2016
Marie Vincennes slowly came to in a stark, white room with a white ceiling, the brightness of the room forcing her eyes shut again. She was laying down on a bed, feeling several somethings on her arms. 'How… How did I get here?'
She shook her head slowly, feeling tubes rustling as she raised an arm to feel for any bandages on her head. After what felt like ages, she found none, nor were there wrappings anywhere else on her body.
'Well that can only be a good sign.' she thought as she rubbed her eyes and tried to sit up. She was… utterly exhausted, and she gave up the effort to sit up for a moment. What had she done to be this tired? What was the last thing she did?
She remembered piloting Rocketeer, being airlifted to Europe, descending on Unity Base, and encountering Major Theisman's Eva, then… nothing.
Her heart began to beat faster. There was a gap in her memories. What had happened? Had she passed out? Had she…
No. She remembered the words 'Dummy System' quite clearly. She wracked her brain as she tried to remember what the Dummy System was supposed to do. Of all the things that she'd squeezed out of Asuka while she was training, that one had likely fallen to the wayside as she tried to hone her skills to prove her worthiness.
'Dummy, Dummy, Dummy…'
Then, she remembered. And her eyes opened and went wide. 'Oh… shit…'
"Hell of a start to your day, miss." a gruff voice coming from her left said.
Startled for a moment, Marie finally found the strength to sit up, taking in the room around her. It was as bare as her brief look at the ceiling had been, a small room with a window on the far right wall that was occupied by her bed, two others, and a single man standing by the door near her, dressed in a dark HERZ uniform that was covered by a plate carrier vest, a single yellow and black patch on his shoulder the only unique part of his uniform beside the pistol that was on his right hip.
"Who…" Marie began, pausing to cough softly as she wet her dry throat. "Who are you?"
"Major Marlowe of the Security Division." the man said simply, scratching at mutton chops that were connected by a bushy mustache. "And I'm the one who's decided to keep an eye on you kids for the moment."
Marie blinked somewhat burning eyes, rubbing them again as she looked over at the two other beds, one beside her to the right and one across from it, that held her copilots. Orien was asleep or simply knocked out by drugs. She couldn't tell what the white sheathe with color-shifting tubes, similar to her own she realized, was for.
Howard, on the other hand, was awake. "Howard?" she said softly, her voice still a little rough.
The look he gave, utterly hollow, utterly lost, terrified her to her core more than anything he might have said. Their gazes held for a moment before he broke the contact, looking back down at his lap.
"He's the lucky man out," Marlowe said softly, drawing her attention back to him. "The one whose strings didn't get jerked around to throw themselves at our boys and girls."
Marie's eyes widened, and her stomach began to bubble as she realized the full extent of what had happened. "We…"
Marlowe nodded. "Yeah. Took a hell of a beating trying to do it too."
Marie looked down at herself and finally noticed the scars on her arms. The most normal-looking one was a band of slightly puckered off-white skin around the upper part of her forearm, right below her elbow. The rest, however…
"Where did I get these…" she paused for a moment as she tried to find the name for the red, fern-like scars that she first noticed ended at her biceps, and came to find grew out from a singular point in the center of her chest, a ring of red like a growing wreath that made the scars extended down to near her belly button and likely up past where she could see.
She snapped her fingers as she found the name. "Lichtenberg figures. Where…" she trailed off, a pill of dread forming amongst the nausea that threatened to spill out.
"From what I've heard tell," Marlowe began, "you got singled out by Captain Soryu-Langley."
"Asuka?" Marie whispered.
Marlowe nodded. "The one and only. You two got into a hell of a row. Apparently, your synch scores were being messed with, jacked-up for better combat effectiveness. Ms. Soryu-Langley gave as good as she got, and you were both apparently high enough for any damage the Evangelions took to be damage you took as well."
Marie looked back down at her arms, her eyes focusing on the banded scar. "She must have cut off my Eva's arm, then," she mumbled before focusing on the Lichtenberg figures. "Then how…"
"You both gave one last punch before you knocked each other out of the fight," Marlowe said, a hint of being impressed entering his voice. "You both used your Interfacing. You with your explosives, and the Captain with her-"
"Lightning," Marie interjected.
"Indeed, Ms. Vincennes." Marlowe paused for a moment. "Frankly…" he said softly. "It's something of a miracle that you were found alive in any capacity."
Marie blinked, then looked up. "What about Asuka?" she asked.
Marlowe was silent, finally seeming… shaken by something.
"Marlowe," Marie repeated. "What. About. Asuka?"
Marlowe looked back at her, and she could almost swear there was a hint of… fear in his eyes. "Your strike…" he cleared his throat. "Your strike nearly liquified most of her organs. It's only due to her Interfacing and Medical's efforts that she wasn't immediately pronounced dead. I was told she considered herself to have died anyway."
Marie was silent, her gaze drifting down to her hands. These were the hands that did this. 'This is what you wanted, isn't it?' a part of her said, a condemning tone to the voice. 'You wanted to face Asuka when you saw her. Prove you were the best. Well, you got what you wanted.'
'No… no… I didn't want it like this.' she thought, rebelling against the idea that she would have wanted to kill Asuka. She'd just wanted to beat her.
'Didn't you do just that?'
Marie looked back up. "Can… Can I see her?" she said huskily.
Marlowe shrugged. "I don't see why not. I'll have to talk to Deputy-Commander Akagi, but I would be surprised if they didn't grant your request."
Marie nodded. "I'd… I'd like that."
"I'll grab some food for the three of you while I'm at it. Sit tight."
With that, Marlowe exited the room. Marie wasn't sure of where he might have gone, or how long he might be away. Their food arrived while he was still away, however, a rather simple affair that still managed to taste like ash in Marie's mouth.
Finally, not knowing how long she'd sat there stewing for, Marlowe entered the room again. "You're cleared to come with me. The…" he paused, then shook his head after a moment. "The Flux thing you're attached to is wheeled. Take it along with you."
Marie nodded, getting out of the bed and gripping the pole of the so-called 'Flux thing', its top capped by a hexagonal device with vents that glowed with the same shifting, darkly colored light the tube connected to her arm did.
Walking slowly, Marlowe escorted her out of the room and up the hallway, past several other rooms. She saw other pilots through the small windows to their rooms, all in hospital beds, all with different bruises or scars to be found if she was able to look long enough. 'It's a miracle no one else died…' she pondered.
Finally, they came to a stop in front of what she assumed was Asuka's room, Marlowe opening the door. "I'll give you your privacy," he whispered. "But I'll be right outside."
Marie nodded silently and entered, the door shutting behind her with a click that seemed to echo through the room.
Before her, Asuka lay almost peacefully in her hospital bed, her eyes shut and her hands resting on top of each other. Flanking her bed were Major Theisman and Captain Ikari, the Major seemingly also asleep, Ikari looking up from a book he was reading. Major Theisman had a thick scar that traveled from the tip of one cheekbone to the other, crossing over the tip of his nose, while Captain Ikari had a thin, wicked scar that traveled from the top of his clavicle near the left side of his neck, up it, and likely traced the back of the right side of his jaw.
"Vincennes," he said levelly, a look in his eyes that she could not fully decipher, but which scared her nonetheless. The fact that she knew Ikari and Asuka were an item did nothing to ease that fear.
Major Theisman blinked wearily, shaking himself awake as his eyes came to focus on her. "Ah. Marie," he said, far more warmly than Ikari did. "Good to see you up and about."
It certainly didn't feel good. "Is…" her gaze traveled back to Asuka. "Is she… still…"
Major Theisman blinked. "Oh, no. She's just sleeping right now. She'll be up and about in a few days."
Marie nodded slowly. "Oh, good," she said hollowly.
It was silent again for a moment. Then, she looked down at her arms, then back at Major Theisman's face. "Does that… hurt still?" she asked slowly.
Major Theisman blinked, taking out a clear-pad and looking down at it as the backside frosted, a hand reaching up as a finger traced along the scar. "Huh." he finally said. "I guess I haven't gotten to that part yet."
"What part?" Marie asked as she arched an eyebrow.
"Well, usually, when we heal our wounds, we manage to get it all in one go," Theisman replied. "With how much Flux we took on, though… we're just taking it one step at a time."
Marie nodded. "So… it'll go away, at least."
Theisman nodded. "Oh, yes. It's no soulscar, by any means."
"Soulscar?" Captain Ikari said incredulously as he looked over at Theisman. "You've never mentioned those before."
Daniel shrugged. "It doesn't come up that often. Now, though…" he paused for a moment as he studied Marie's visible scars. "Most times, physical scars are only tied to the body. The soul is able to 'remember' a body without the scar, and revert the body to that state. In extenuating circumstances, however, the scar literally imprints itself on the soul. At that point, it's a lot harder to get the scars to go away. A lot harder. They're able to travel with you to new bodies, they heal back to the state they find themselves in… but even the most innocuous of scars never fully goes away."
It was silent again for a moment as the two pilots digested the information that they were given. "What kind…" Marie began, swallowing as she looked back down at her arms. "What kind of 'extenuating circumstances' could there be?"
"Most pertinent to you, I would believe," Theisman said gravely, "being in control of an Evangelion with a ridiculously high sync score and using Interfacing to attack, and being attacked like that by someone using Interfacing. Most all soulscars come from instances of particularly damaging Interfacing. Others come from being wounded while operating in the Mental Realm, or somewhere that's close to it. But, at the end of it all…"
He trailed off as he looked intently at Marie. "You'll likely have those figures for the rest of your life."
Marie looked back down at the scars with new eyes, eyes that began to water and drip as tears fell past her arms and hit the floor. "I… I…"
'The mark of my pride.' she thought, her mind crumbling into itself in despair. 'I am… smitten with a curse. Isn't that right, Reverend?'
Then, she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, looking up as Major Theisman pulled her into a warm hug.
She was shocked for a moment, almost unwilling to comprehend that someone, anyone, would be willing to do that after what she had done. "What?" she asked numbly. "Why?"
"Because I know how some scars aren't visible." Major Theisman said quietly. "Because I know what it's like to have your free will and your talents taken and used for evil."
"I understand," he said firmly, softly, as he stepped back from the embrace. "And I am here."
Marie looked up at him. Was that just the lights, or was he somehow actually glowing? She took a deep breath, then another as she wiped her eyes dry. "Can I…" she trailed off as Theisman took his hands from her shoulders and sat back down. "Can I talk to you for a moment? Privately?"
Theisman looked over at Ikari for a moment, and Marie was unsure of whether or not they said anything. Pneumaic communication hadn't exactly been high on her list of priorities. Then, Ikari nodded, all sound fading as he walked out of the room, the door closing behind him utterly silent.
Theisman took a deep breath as he stood, walking around Asuka's bed and lifting the chair Ikari had sat in and placing it just in front of her. "Take a seat," he said as he returned to his previous chair next to Asuka. "We'll be undisturbed."
Slowly, Marie made her way over to the chair and sat down. It was silent for a moment before she sighed. "Forgive me, father, for I have sinned," she said with a slightly wet, choked chuckle. "It's been… years since my last confession."
Major Theisman arched an eyebrow. "I'm… not exactly your priest, Marie."
"Maybe, Major," Marie replied. "But really, you're probably the closest thing HERZ has to a chaplain or priest of any kind, so I'll take what I can get."
Major Theisman nodded slowly. "I see. Please then, just call me Daniel. This may not actually be a confession, but ranks will just get in the way of things."
Marie nodded slowly. "Okay… Daniel," she said, equally slowly.
"Now," Daniel began, "what do you feel the need to confess to?"
Marie slowly took a breath, then sighed. "Pride. And jealousy. A lot of both." she nearly whispered.
"Okay. That's a good start." Daniel said patiently. "Can you elaborate?"
Marie looked over at Asuka for a long moment. "I've always wanted to be the best." she began quietly. "At anything that I do. Whether that's my education, whether that was piloting Unit-04, whether that was proving I'm the better pilot."
She paused. "I started with… nothing. I had my intelligence, and my father's love and support. Mother was already gone by then. But through my hard work, I made it through high school, then college. I worked hard to be a viable candidate for the Marduk Institute. And… I was good at it. I knew, more than anything, that I could do what I set out to do."
"So seeing my father, and his work, the work I wanted to be a part of, disappear while I was away in New York at a science competition… it tore at me. And that tear only grew bigger and bigger as I watched what happened here in Japan during the Angel War. I should have been the one in Unit-04. I should have been the one proving that I could be the best. And…"
She looked back over at Asuka. "Seeing Asuka live how I wanted to… made me angry. It made me jealous in a way nothing else ever could."
Marie shook her head, chuckling softly. "Of course, I was still rather more faithful then. It was a miracle that Reverend Simmons was on vacation when the Nevada Incident happened. He… he took me in, at least for a little while, helped me try and get a hold of my baser emotions, even if a part of me resented it. Then, I went into the care of the newly created Army Evangelion Corps. There was no Reverend Simmons that really knew me. They didn't really allow me to see any chaplains, anyway. They would be a 'security risk', potentially leaking any confidential information I might accidentally feed them. My faith began to falter. Then, I contacted Asuka, much to my handler's dismay, and asked to be an Evangelion pilot. My chance was here. I could prove to everyone that I could be the best."
Marie took a deep breath. "And now… here we are. Standing in the ruins of my pride's work."
It was silent again for a moment. Daniel nodded slowly. "I see," he said softly, pulling his clear-pad back out. "I'll admit, it's been a while since I've read from the Bible. But… a few verses spring to mind. One in particular."
He looked down at the pad and began to read. "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation-"
"But the sorrow of the world worketh death," Marie interjected quietly. "Corinthians, I believe."
Daniel nodded. "You skipped a bit, but I think you hit the most pertinent parts."
He deactivated the pad as he continued. "You, I think, feel the rather more godly sort of sorrow to be doing this, which can only be a good thing if you're acting on it. Even if you don't necessarily need to try and repent. Your will was taken from you, after all."
"Maybe," Marie replied. "But from what I recall, this NuDummy System uses the brain and memories of a pilot to act as a processor, correct?"
Daniel nodded slowly, and Marie continued. "Thus, there is, in some small part, fault to be found in myself. I wanted to fight Asuka. I wanted to beat her and prove that I was the best. The Dummy System just… removed my inhibitions, in a sense."
Daniel was silent. "I see," he said quietly. "Seeing as you feel so strongly about this…" he took a deep breath. "Then I would imagine there must be some sort of penance you're looking for."
Marie nodded. "It's part of the process, after all," she said with a rueful smile.
Daniel nodded. "Well, then…" he looked over at Asuka. "I know it isn't much right now, seeing as you are an Evangelion pilot, but… be here for them while they recover. No one gets to be the best without some competition, or practice. But that sort of competition doesn't need to put the other person down. It's something I had to teach Asuka to rein in somewhat. So…" he trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know entirely what to tell you. This sort of penitence is deeply personal. What do you feel you should do?"
Marie blinked, taken aback for a moment. "I… I want to make it up to her, somehow. I want to be able to say that I can work with her, whatever comes. All my pride has gained me is this. Pain, and guilt. I want… I want to do something better."
Daniel nodded. "Then you might just get your chance soon. With what happened, SEELE is likely poised to strike at any moment now. We have your Frame Plugs, and we're trying to extract the Dummy System from them if we can, bricking the system if we can't. When SEELE makes its move… are you with us?"
Marie nodded. "Yes," she said simply, surely.
Daniel smiled slightly. "Good to hear. I look forward to fighting by your side."
It was at that moment when Asuka stirred, frowning slightly as she stretched and yawned before rubbing her eyes open. "Oh," she said as she looked to the side, "hey, Daniel."
She looked over at Marie, and her tired eyes widened as the haze began to clear from them. "Marie… are you…" she said, somewhat in awe.
Marie glanced down at her arms. "It doesn't hurt," she replied, putting as much assurance in her voice as she could. "But… they'll be sticking around for a while."
"I'll leave you two ladies be for the moment," Daniel said as he stood, drawing the attention of both Marie and Asuka as he made his way to the door. "I have some other places that I have to be. Other people I have to see to. I'll be back at some point."
With that, he walked out of the room, leaving Marie and Asuka alone to regard each other silently for a long moment.
"I gotta say," Asuka began, "you make those scars look pretty badass."
"Thanks." Marie chuckled softly. "I guess I'd better get used to them."
"Why's that?" Asuka asked, tilting her head slightly.
Marie blinked. "Oh, yeah. You… missed that part."
After a brief explanation of what she had learned about soulscars, Asuka took a deep breath as she lay back on the bed. "Well then," she said quietly. "I guess my scar isn't going away, either."
Marie blinked. "Oh, yeah. I must have given you one too, didn't I?" she said with no small amount of embarrassment.
"Yeah. Pretty good one." Asuka said with a chuckle as she sat back up. "Come over and have a look."
Marie stood slowly, glancing back at the doorway as Asuka slipped the shoulders of her hospital gown off, pulling the gown down to expose her chest.
In the center of it was a prominent, circular scar, much like Marie's, that reached just above her clavicle and just below her breasts, the sides climbing up her breasts a little way.
"I gotta say," Asuka said as she slipped the gown back on, "you did a lot more with your Interfacing, even under the Dummy Plug, than I expected. It looks like I trained you better than even I expected."
Marie swallowed. "And… you aren't… mad that I beat you? Left you with a scar like this while pulping your organs in the process?"
Asuka took a deep breath. "The way I see it, we took each other out. If it weren't for Interfacing allowing us to live and tell the tale, there wouldn't have been the winner. But for you to keep up with me like that in combat when it comes down to the brass tacks… that takes some doing."
She paused. "I know Toji might have taken the chance, however coincidentally, to pilot Unit-04 from you. But… if it was you going into battle with me then, I would have trusted you just as much as I trust the jock. If not a little more." she leaned forward with a slight smile. "Don't let him know I said that though. He already bellyaches to Hikari enough about how piloting is a girl's club."
Marie's eyes welled with tears as she nodded. "Will do," she whispered.
. . .
Commander's Office, HERZ-HQ
Commander Misato Katsuragi, her Deputy-Commander at her side, regarded the display which held several of the world's military leaders. The US, the EU, the AU, and so on, all looking at her with utter indignation.
"The question remains, Commander." US General Thomas Evans asked pointedly. "Why, exactly, are you still holding our Evas? And where are our soldiers? You've said precious little about them."
"We're in the process of rendering the Dummy System within them inert," Misato replied in a clipped tone. "The pilots are all currently in the Medical Center of the Geofront, resting from injuries taken during the combat with our pilots that we mentioned earlier."
"And why, pray tell," EuroFor General Antonio Santannas said, "were you protecting so valuable an enemy position as Unity Base? You haven't fallen in with the butchers, have you?"
Misato sighed quietly. "No. As I've said before, we're quite certain that SEELE is the main suspect behind these events. It makes complete tactical sense to have us at each other's throats like this. Why would the UN want this when the world is getting made whole again?"
"An easy excuse." AU General Kwasana M'Tumba sniffed, lifting her head slightly as if to look down at Misato. "We've seen nothing from SEELE since their attack on Tokyo-3 earlier this year. Whatever they do seems to be focused on whatever you're right on top of."
"Need we remind you," Ritsuko said cooly, "That SEELE had the political and military pull to convince the Russian and Chinese armies to attempt an invasion of Tokyo-3 during the First Battle of Tokyo-3?"
All on the other side of the screen fell silent. The Russian and Chinese generals seemed especially anxious at the fact. "Those were rogue elements of our armies." Russian General Nikodim Fedorov scoffed. "Our government was quick to deal with those that did not deal with themselves."
"Then how did the Dummy System find its way into your nation's Frame Plugs?" Misato asked archly. "Are you so sure that you managed to get everyone?"
It was silent again, the anxiety beginning to grow. Then, General Evans' eyes widened. "Oh, hell…" he nearly whispered.
"Something to add, General Evans?" Misato asked quietly.
"Major-General Lesley just recently went AWOL. Along with…" he paused, clearly unsure of whether or not to go on.
Misato's brow arched. "Go on," she said slowly.
Evans sighed quietly. "We've gotten reports that three of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are missing as well."
Misato nodded slowly. "I see." she let her eyes scan over the rest of the assembled generals. "Is there anyone else who has happened to go mysteriously 'missing'?"
The generals all looked around, seemingly at each other, in seeming embarrassment, and Misato managed to only have her lips turn up slightly at the utterly amusing sight.
"Well," General M'Tumba finally admitted, "we did just have one of our heads of our intelligence service disappear. Along with a few Lieutenant-Generals…"
"Entangling military and intelligence too closely is a mistake that we do not make." Chinese General Qiang Xu said almost acidly. "We know the sort of trouble that one section taking advantage of such disappearances can cause."
"And yet, you do not deny it." General Fedorov scoffed. "The rot of SEELE seems to have gone deeper than any might have ever guessed, even with the rather dramatic exit of Defense Minister Kovalchuk and his cronies."
"May I perhaps," Misato interjected, "offer some assistance?"
The weight of the generals' gazes settled on her once again, and Misato waited patiently for a response. 'What do you have in mind?" General Evans said slowly.
"SEELE is one of the biggest reasons why we established Intelligence as a branch of HERZ." Misato began. "When you have an international conspiracy that runs as deep as SEELE seems to in every nation, with hands in damn near everything, knowing where they are, and when to root them out, is a necessity. Its head, Major Kaji, is especially skilled at ferreting things out."
"So," she continued, "I would suggest that, small though his team may be in the aftermath of recent events, that he works with each of your governments to more fully go through any strategically pertinent departments where SEELE might have decided to station their agents in."
"And how do we know you won't order him to snoop around, finding other secrets that you could use to have an advantage on us?" General Santana said, his eyes narrowed and lips in a thin line.
"You have my assurance that Kaji will remain focused on the mission at hand," Misato replied. "And he won't need so much time as you fear he might. He is Interfaced, after all. All he might ask is for a brief conversation with some people."
She waited as the generals silently deliberated the option placed before them.
"Who would be first?" General Xu asked slowly.
Misato smiled slightly. "That, I leave up to Mr. Kaji's discretion. No need to tip off anyone who might be listening, is there?"
"I would guess so." General Evans replied with a quiet sigh. "I'll put together the people I can trust to get ready for whenever he arrives."
"I'll make sure that Kaji and his team are ready," Misato said with a slight nod. "Is there anything else you would like to discuss?"
General Evans sighed. "I have nothing further to discuss. Keep our pilots safe, Commander. We would like them back."
"I understand, General," Misato replied. "And when SEELE is no longer able to control them, we will do so for everyone's pilots."
With that, the screens vanished, and Misato leaned back in her chair and sighed quietly. "I don't know about you, Ritsky," she said somewhat wearily, "but I need a drink."
. . .
In the cafe on the upper level, Misato looked out the window of the pyramid, taking the Geofront's interior in as she sipped the beer slowly. She was, technically, still on duty. This would be the only beer that she would be drinking. Even still, she appreciated how it managed to take the edge off of dealing with so many exhausting people.
"How is everyone in the Medical Center?" Misato asked quietly as she looked over at Ritsuko.
Ritsuko sipped her gin and tonic before she replied. "Well, Asuka's coming along. Now that her internal organs are back to being what they were, she's conscious. I wouldn't be surprised if she's up and about by the end of the week. As for everyone else… Well, it's a matter of clearing out Flux and making scars go away, at this point."
Ritsuko shook her head. "It still amazes me that Makoto let the pilots override their synch limiters. We put those in place so we wouldn't have to deal with synch scores climbing to a dangerous level."
"We both saw SEELE didn't care," Misato replied, a hard edge to her voice. "They were willing to throw those pilots, our kids' friends, away if it meant getting an edge on us. That, and Makoto trusts them to know what they're doing. With Daniel and Shinji and Asuka at the helm… I can't blame him."
Ritsuko nodded slowly. "Indeed," she said quietly.
A companionable silence settled between them as they continued to drink. After a few moments, Ritsuko scoffed softly. "You've really cut Ryoji's work out for him, haven't you?" she said with a wry smile.
Misato gave an exaggerated shrug. "Ah, he's been dying for something to really sink his teeth into. He'll love it." she said with a sure smile.
The smile faded after a moment's silence, replaced by a distant, melancholy look. "But… I am going to miss him."
"In a world where you can connect to his soul, and he can teleport back here basically whenever he wants?" Ritsuko asked, a bemused expression painting her face and her voice.
"It's the principle of the thing, Ritsky!" Misato replied in mock indignation.
The two shared a quiet chuckle for a moment, settling back into silence soon after. The smiles that they shared faded more slowly.
As they finally vanished, Misato sighed quietly." You think SEELE's getting ready for something as much as I do?" she asked, equally quietly.
"It would be stupid not to think so," Ritsuko replied. "That we still haven't been able to track them in the Himalayas makes me… worried. It likely means that they have something like what the Lone World movement used to hide their operation from us."
"Which means that they're far more likely to be tied to SEELE as well," Misato said sourly.
Ritsuko nodded. "Unless we dedicate ourselves to sweeping the mountains on-site… I doubt we'll find them until they want to come out."
Misato sighed in quiet disgust. "Did you ever get tired of waiting like this during the Angel War like I did? Didn't you ever just… want to find where they were coming from and cut it off at the source?"
Ritsuko nodded. "Yes. Even if I didn't quite share in your zeal."
Misato blinked, then sighed. "Yeah. I did get a little out of control sometimes, didn't I?"
"A little? You call dunking Asuka in magma a little?" Ritsuko asked somewhat incredulously.
"Okay, okay, a lot," Misato said in exasperation, waving her hands slightly in Ritsuko's direction. "But…" she trailed off for a moment as her hands dropped back into her lap. "I can't say that it wasn't simpler then. Defeat the Angels, save the world."
Misato took a long drink of her beer after a moment's silence. "A part of me wishes that we could go back to those days," she said quietly. "Us against the Angels. No SEELE that we knew about, no Scions, no Lone World…"
"But here we are," Ritsuko interjected softly. "And wouldn't you know it, we're still the last, best hope for the defense of Earth."
Misato shrugged. "That we are. Ranks change, uniforms change, names change, but it all stays the same, in some form or fashion, huh? Someone has to keep the world safe."
It was silent again as Misato polished off her beer. "Well, I think I'm ready to get back to work. How about you?"
"Ready when you are," Ritsuko replied. "I'm going to go check on the Medical Center. Are you free to come along, or are there more talking heads to stand against?"
"No, actually," Misato replied as she stood. "And even if there were, I'd rather go and check on the kids, see how they're holding up."
. . .
Arqa Site, Himalayas, 2 Days Later
It was a quiet start to Christmas Eve, Lorenz Kihl mused as he wheeled himself out of his office and down the hall to go over to Azazel. It had become a long journey for him. The wheelchair he'd been shackled to could only go so fast.
Then again, such trifles as this, as holidays, nations and armies would soon fall by the wayside. They were ready. The Final Scripture was about to be made ready to read out to the world.
Kihl found much to think about as he descended an elevator towards the massive room that held Azazel. It had been a wonder to study the remains of the remarkably well preserved Angel that had been found. Years alone went into the study of its now shriveled, thoroughly useless S2 Organ's physical characteristics, and all the other advances that they had found related to the soul within the ruins of Arqa, both those of humanity… and the dormant soul which was trapped within Azazel's body. Such advances as found within Arqa had made the AT-Edit System a resounding success as a tool for their needs.
With the revelation in the last few years of how, exactly, to constitute matter of any kind from LCL, the idea of somehow reviving the Angel for SEELE's uses had gained far more traction. Now, beyond just being a desperate backup plan, it had become their finest weapon, the key to beginning Instrumentality without the need for Evangelions or Lances or any other such obstacles.
It had taken much effort to keep things secret as they'd worked. So much of their resources had been poured into Azazel's rebirth. The flesh of Adam and of Lilith, a nearly heretical admixture that had taken half a decade to perfect. Technologies that interfaced seamlessly with the biological body of the Angel, able to be controlled as easily as breathing. It represented all of SEELE, all the power it wielded on the world stage to make the world in its image, and prepare it for the next great step into the unknown.
And, lest he forgot, as he came to a catwalk leading to a platform that led to and surrounded a dome of core material, a very specially prepared core.
He rolled across the catwalk, scanning the faces of the other members of SEELE's inner circle. Were they as ready as he was, he mused? Eager to shed their bodies and bare their souls for the sake of the peace of the world? If they were, they could never match his willingness to do what must be done.
He came to a stop between SEELE-2 and SEELE-12, looking down and scanning the deep, massive, multifaceted crystal. "A pale imitation of Instrumentality awaits us within Azazel," Kihl said without preamble. "But it will allow us to do what must be done. These souls of humanity we have collected, the fallen Angels of Lilith, must be uplifted for a little while before they get their rest. They, and we, are burdened with a glorious purpose. The purpose of true Instrumentality. Of the unity of souls in the next step of our journey as a species."
He looked up at SEELE-2, a man he used to nearly match in height before his degeneration confined him to this cursed wheelchair. "Begin the insertion process," he said with no small amount of aplomb.
SEELE-2 nodded solemnly, turning to a console behind him and activating the device they stood within.
Above and below them, a powerful thrum made its way into the platform as eight arms, four beneath the catwalk, four descending from the ceiling, came to touch the deep crimson hemisphere, glowing with the shifting prismatic light of an AT Field as their glow transferred over into the core, the crystal gleaming as it became filled with the souls of millions, nay, nearly billions.
The sound excited Kihl like no other had for decades. They were close now. So close. Ikari's betrayal, the intrusion of those from beyond this universe, the fools who fearfully stood in the way of progress? All would be little more than afterthoughts in the face of their Angel. And, Kihl added with a particular glee, its familiar legions.
There were long moments that stretched by as the process continued, the almost musical keen of the souls making their way into the core soothing to Kihl as he waited patiently.
Soon enough, SEELE-2 turned to regard him as the keen began to quiet steadily. "We'll be taking our place soon, sir." he said levelly.
Kihl nodded. "Get me up, out of this chair. I want to stand as we stride into the new age."
'I will not let my degeneracy hold me back any longer.' Kihl thought stubbornly, cursing that he had to ask even for this little of the people around him.
SEELE-2 and SEELE-12 obliged him, grabbing him under his arms and gently lifting him to his feet as the low-level Anti-AT Field, one that would draw in them and all others that had left their stations to join them here, began to charge, a thrum from the S2 Organs that would produce it building in intensity.
Kihl starred in what would have been open awe, if any could still have seen his eyes or read the expression on his now weathered, craggy face, at the core as it rippled and pulsed with color and light. 'Mama… Papa… Anya… I'm coming…'
"Let us begin, Azazel. Let us end," he whispered as the charge of the S2 Organs reached its peak.
With that, the Organs were ruptured, and an Anti-AT Field pulsed through the base, all humanity within it melted into LCL as their souls were drawn into the core.
After a moment of the thrums and clamor of the machinery dying down, it was silent again. Utterly still, save for the dripping of LCL from clothes and the cybernetic implants of Kihl that had clattered to the catwalk.
Then, everything was flung away from the body of the Angel reborn in a pulse of an utterly terrible AT Field, the creature shuddering as it lashed out at the cage, modern, ancient, and natural, that surrounded its monstrous Form in every way that was available to it.
A growl, like the mountains themselves were already grinding together, rumbled from a mouth that opened for the first time in an age, power thrumming through its AT Field as it made its way up, its body slamming without injury into the stone around it as it bored its way out from its resting place.
Up and up and up it went, until finally, it burst to the surface of the mountainside, bright light and biting cold touching the pallid, white skin, the core of the Angel glowing as, beneath its massive body, crystals of crimson began to spread across the mountainside.
At the tip of a broad, fleshy horn, skin bubbled, and a face, sharp, stern, young again, formed and shouted wordlessly, soundlessly, the yell provided by a far larger mouth as it opened and roared, an ululating thing that sounded out the arrival of one last Angel, bursting from what seemed the depths of Hell itself.
. . .
Central Dogma, HERZ-HQ, Geofront, Tokyo-3
The alarms finally stopped wailing as Commander Katsuragi stepped onto the bustling command bridge of Central Dogma, Deputy Commander Akagi by her side as Major Hyuga turned to regard them.
"Anomalous target emerged just 25 minutes ago, ma'am," Hyuga reported as Misato took a seat at the desk that was, once again, hers. "We're running scans on it now, and we should have visual contact in under 5 minutes."
"Valhalla System is confirming a Pattern Blue!" First Lieutenant Agano said. "AT Field readings are…" she shook her head in dreadful awe. "These readings are unreal…"
"An Angel," Misato said in a voice of ringing steel as she regarded the monster before her. "So this is SEELE's Final Scripture, their trump card."
Time passed as they waited for whatever recon platform had been sent out to get within range of the Angel. "Establishing visual contact now!" Captain Faez said as the image of the barren Himalayas flashed into being on the screen, framing the creature that had emerged from them.
The Angel in question was, much like its AT Field readings, utterly massive, its entire body seeming to be composed of a massive jaw filled with teeth, leading nowhere except to an orange jewel at the back of its throat. An ovoid body that had to be many times the size of Zeruel led into a long tail that seemed to stretch almost one and a half times its length, tapering to a whip-like point at the end of which a slender blade waved in the air. What seemed to be its core rested on the crown of its head, and a massive, rounded horn extended out past its body.
Most concerning, however, were the appendages attached to its body. Beneath a pair of fleshy wings, their surface sculpted to appear feathery and reminding Misato far too much of the wings of the MP-Evas, a pair of bone-white cannons gleamed in the cold, clear sun of the Himalayas, a pair of long, blade-like limbs underneath them giving some semblance of ground-based locomotion as they touched the ground. And the Corite that spread from beneath it.
"It's producing Corite at an unbelievable rate." Agano continued, looking up as the stuff spread out from beneath the Angel, blooming like an unholy, glittering flower. "Valhalla predicts that its growth, if it continues, will cover 8 square kilometers in 6 hours."
Misato set her jaw as she watched the Angel flap its wings slowly, once, twice, lifting into the air with the third and heading north-east, tracing a line of Corite as it flew. "What's its course?" she asked, looking down at Lieutenant Ooi.
"Valhalla predicts it seems to be making its way through Tibet, towards the city of Beijing," Ooi replied.
"There's millions of people in the way of that thing, then," Ritsuko said quietly in a cold tone.
"Aoba," Misato said clearly, "begin coordinating with the Chinese government to get civilians out of the path of that thing."
As Aoba and Mogami began to go to work, Hyuga looked back up at Misato. "Ma'am, what Evangelions will we be deploying?"
Misato considered the question for a moment, glancing up at Ritsuko. "Have we been able to subdue the Dummy Systems in the national Evas?" she asked quietly.
Ritsuko nodded slightly. "We've been making progress in locking the systems down in each Frame Plug. Most pertinent to this case, the Chinese Plugs are ready to go, and the Tsung twins are sufficiently able to pilot again."
Misato nodded. "Get them ready to go, then."
She turned her attention back to Hyuga. "Get Mari, Mana, and Mayumi ready to deploy, along with the Chinese Evangelions, as quickly as possible. We need to stop this thing in its tracks and find out what its capabilities are."
As Hyuga turned back to his work with a "Yes, ma'am!" Ritsuko regarded Misato with no small amount of unease. "Are you sure that they'll be enough to stop it?" she asked quietly.
"Right now, they aren't being expected to. All we need to do is stall it until everyone else is ready to go." Misato paused for a moment to consider something. "Come to think of it… how are the third wave trainees holding up?"
"Nearly done with their training," Ritsuko admitted of their four newest pilots, 2 from the Nordic Confederation, 2 from the Arabic States. "We were setting up the Gauntlet for them before Unity Base…"
"We can have them hang back and provide support for the more experienced Evas," Misato said. "Their Frame Plugs are done, right?"
Ritsuko nodded wordlessly, and Misato nodded in turn. "Good. Have them sent over here as quickly as possible so Eleanor can check them for Dummy Systems. If we can get four more Evas, four more AT Fields, it could make all the difference in what's to come."
Ritsuko's jaw tightened slightly before she sighed. "Alright. I'll go ahead and coordinate with the nations to get their Plugs sent over. Shigeru has enough on his plate already."
Misato nodded. "Good. Because whatever else happens, we're going to destroy this thing."
. . .
Qinghai Province, T-45 Minutes to Contact, 3 Hours Later
Mari fuzzed into existence on top of a barren, brown, dry mountaintop, looking out across a range of similar mountaintops that were spaced almost like God had decided to put his fingerprint on the place. 'Hell of a way to be spending Christmas Eve.' she mused rather grumpily. 'I was rather looking forward to hearing the 'getting out of the hospital' concert Shinji, Asuka, and the others were planning on playing.'
But, if anything was going to interrupt those sorts of plans, a potentially world-ending new Angel would be the one to do it.
The Thrill was an almost anxious thing today, and there was no beat to her focus as she keyed up the other pilots on comms. "Alright. Everyone check in. Mana, Mayumi, how are my battle buddies?"
"Ready to go," Mana replied, stifling anxiety in a way that made Mari happy to see her feeling as much even if it wasn't the greatest emotion in the world.
"Likewise. I'm taking point." Mayumi said, nodding slightly as Unit-09 began to move up, making AT Field assisted hops over the mountaintops towards their target.
Mari nodded. "Good to hear. Tsung twins, are you ready to go?"
Both pilots nodded as their Evas began to hop along the low mountaintops as well. "Yún Ji, moving ahead." Hua Tsung said simply.
"Chiju Liliang, likewise," Zhou added.
'Not ones for words, are you guys?' Mari thought as she began her mountaintop skip, Mana following behind her as she keyed up Central Dogma. "Command, what's the status of our target? Any changes?"
First Lieutenant Ooi shook her head. "Nothing thus far since it left the Himalayas. It's still only staying in place and spreading Corite. Sensors are showing that the Corite is active. Recommend you keep your AT Fields at a ready state."
Mari nodded. "Sounds good. We're on our way."
With that, Mari settled into a rhythm of jumping from peak to peak. Up and down, up and down. On the bounce, a part of her mind recalled some book or another saying. It was fitting if nothing else.
The rhythm made time seem to pass in a flash before Central Dogma appeared on her screen again. "Pilots, we're picking up something… disturbing. Patching it through to you now." Ooi said before her face disappeared.
The pilots all paused for a moment in their jumps as they watched a drone feed of what was, true to Ooi's word, rather off-putting.
"Is it… puking?" Mari asked somewhat incredulously, watching the Angel with its mouth wide open, an orange liquid reminiscent of LCL pouring out from it and flowing away towards the perimeter of the Corite that it had produced and into…
"What are those?" Mana asked as she looked intently at the strangely smooth, quickly growing nodules of Corite that had come to dot the crystalline portion of the landscape.
"Currently unknown." Ooi's voice replied. "Even still, the Valhalla system is marking them as a potentially dangerous object due to the large amount of Metos we're seeing flowing into them. We're advising caution as you approach."
"Understood," Mari said slowly as she began another hop. "We'll keep an eye on them."
Again, the Thrill made the miles melt away as they descended from the mountains onto a vast desert plain. In the distance, the glinting of sunlight striking the crystals was the only indication of their enemy's presence for the moment.
"Alright, here's the marching order," Mari said as the field of Corite, and the now much larger nodules, came closer and closer. "Mana, you'll be with me up front. Mayumi, you stay a little ways behind us with the Tsungs, and provide long-range support. Our first target is going to be the beast itself. If these nodules do anything weird, we start blasting them too. Sounds like a plan?"
"As good as any we could ask for," Mayumi replied. "How far back do you want us from you?"
"Likely enough that any Expressions we create won't hit you," Mana replied. "So… maybe about 300, 400 meters back?"
"That sounds about right," Mari replied. "Besides, anything we shoot at this thing should hit once we nullify its AT Field."
The Tsung twins nodded silently, their Eva's grips on the Nu-Pallet Rifles, loaded with Lancium rounds, shifting slightly.
Finally, they reached the edge of the Corite field. The nodules at its edge were massive now, nearly three-quarters their height. And, as they slowly, carefully advanced further into the field, AT Fields at the ready, the nodules, pods really, only grew larger.
Mari's anxiety seemed to grow alongside it, even as the focus the Thrill gave her tamped it down. "Are these things starting to remind anyone else of a bunch of chrysalises?" she said slowly, seeing the glow of… something, deep within the nodules.
"Yes," Zhou said, and for the first time in her memory, Mari heard the usually utterly stoic man show a hint of emotion. That said, seeing that that emotion was fear did nothing to help Mari's anxiety. "Though I don't think grandmother's butterflies would be coming out of these."
Hua nodded, her eyes glittering with anxiety. "I almost feel like they're… headstones. Like we're intruding on a graveyard."
"Headstones…" Mana said quietly, her brow furrowing slightly as she fell silent. Then, she connected to Central Dogma.
"Command," she asked, "are you able to read if there are any souls present in these things?"
Mari suppressed a shiver at the thought as Agano replied. "We're beginning a scan now. One moment."
That moment felt like an eternity to Mari as they continued, stepping over the wide, but shallow streams of LCL that emerged from the Angel that they drew nearer and nearer to. "Valhalla System is confirming the presence of several souls per… pod." Agano seemed to finally say.
"What for, I wonder?" Mayumi said softly as they came to a stop a little over half a kilometer away from the Angel.
"Well, I'd rather find out from a distance when we're done shooting this thing," Mari replied as a rifle of gleaming metal flowed into existence in Unit-08's hands, a Nu-Pallet Rifle in Unit-07's rising up with it as Mayumi prepared a glacial sniper rifle in between the two rifles the Tsung twins readied.
"Alright," Mari said as she took a deep breath, "let's punch through this thing's AT Field. 3… 2… 1… now."
With that, they pushed. Or, at least, they thought they did.
Mari's eyes widened as it felt like she was pushing against the Earth itself. "Guys, I hope we're not giving it our all just yet," she muttered as she tried to focus further on breaching the seemingly implacable Field before them. "Because if we are… then I'm afraid this is what we're going to have to break through."
She heard Mayumi audibly swallow as they all redoubled their efforts. It was silent again afterward, and the Angel didn't even move from its position of hacking up a flow of LCL. 'Damn you.' Mari thought in exasperation. 'The least you could do is notice us…'
"Alright," she said aloud, "weapons hot in 5 seconds. Ready… now!"
A burst of fire from 5 rifles swept towards the Angel. It didn't manage to get very far, as layer after layer of rippling prismatic barrier pulsed to life, almost seeming to make a semi-transparent block of Absolute Territory that slowed, then stopped the Lancium-tipped rounds in their tracks, Mayumi's Interfacing not much later dissipating as the shells crashed to the ground.
"What?" Mana said numbly. "How…"
It was at that moment that the flow of LCL from the Angel's mouth ceased, the jaw slowly shutting as it looked up at them. There were no eyes on its body, but at the tip of its broad, fleshy horn…
Mari seemed nearly paralyzed by the fact that it had a bloody face on it, then, its mouth moved as it glared at them, a voice, many-layered and seemingly from nowhere and everywhere, thundering through her very being.
"We are Azazel. We are the coming Instrumentality. We are Legion."
Mari closed her mouth just in time to hear a cracking sound from behind them, turning Unit-08 around with everyone else to watch one of the cocoons that they had passed grow another crack, its neighbors soon joining it in splitting.
"We're picking up massive energy spikes from the Corite outcrops!" Mari caught Agano saying from the corner of her focus as a black, three-fingered hand punched out from within a cocoon and grasped at air.
Before Agano could go any further, the cocoon fell apart, revealing a form that the pilots that were there had only seen in simulations or after-action reports.
Within Central Dogma, a strangled gasp swept through the room as the being that they beheld was joined by another like it. Then another, then two more.
"It's…" Misato whispered, jaw hanging open in terrible awe. "It's Sachiel… they're Sachiel…"
It was mere moments before instinct kicked in, the Thrill taking over Mari's stuttering mind as she threw an AT Field in front of everyone else as five sets of hollow, empty eyeholes flashed, the barrage of energy beating against her shield like a hurricane for the briefest of seconds as the others turned to face this new threat. "Turn and engage!" she said clearly, leveling her rifle at the closest one and letting off a burst of rounds.
In the instant that she fired, time seemed to slow, and the Sachiels began to charge at them. Mayumi found herself on the front line now as her sniper rifle turned into her familiar gun-lance, the bladed tip slamming into an AT Field that seemed layered somewhat like the Angel's behind them, but as Mayumi concentrated, what appeared to be three layers of AT Fields were finally pierced through as she tore into the Sachiel's side.
The Tsung twins, hardly ones to fall behind, managed as best they could with their Nu-Pallet Rifles, using as much of the reinforced weapon as they could to shove away, batter, and break through their foe's defenses, dodging the spikes that stabbed at them.
Finally, in Mari's perception, her rounds slammed through one AT Field, then another, then another, plowing into her Sachiel's flesh before Mari detonated a Pneumaic explosion, cracking and shattering the core on its chest as it went flying backward, Mari giving a shout of triumph. "Take that, you spindly little whatsit!"
As she moved forward and helped Zhou focus down another target, distracting it as he shoved it back, its arm spike sliding out of his side, and sent a burst of rounds into its core, she felt something grab her ankle. Looking down, her eyes widened as she saw the Sachiel she swore she just killed, its arm spike sliding partway out of its elbow as it glowed a hellish purple-white.
She shouted as an Expression of a blade flashed into existence and slammed down on its arm like a guillotine, a spray of crimson painting Unit-08's leg as it spasmed away from her, holding the stump of its arm as Mari focused on it again, filling it with round after round of shells.
"Come on!" she shouted as she laid on shell after shell. "Cheating's for the sims, not real life, you daft tosser!"
She heard another crack, then several more before Sachiel finally stopped moving and she stopped firing. "Multiple cores? Or just a really big one?" she muttered to herself.
'No time to find out.' she thought as she heard several more cocoons break, two more copies of Sachiel and a copy of Israfel moving in on them.
"We can't stay here!" Mari said aloud as she threw up an AT Field to protect from the flashing ranged attacks the Sachiel-types flung at them, the blasts clearing to show that the Israfel had split into its component parts.
"If we leave, Beijing will be leveled!" Hua said with a surprising ferocity as she finally laid her copy of Sachiel to rest, pulling a broken-off arm spike out from her Eva's shoulder. "Our home will be laid to waste when we could protect it!"
"And if we don't, then we won't be able to protect the rest of the world," Mana replied levelly. "Everything in this thing's path is being evacuated. We can fight this thing later with everyone else's help. Otherwise… we won't be able to get Beijing back."
It was a tense silence that descended over comms, and Mari desperately hoped that the Tsungs wouldn't do something stupid for their love of country.
Finally, Zhou sighed. "Alright," he said somewhat sullenly. "We'll pull back for now. But these bastards will pay."
"As if we weren't going to make sure of that," Mari said as she shoved one of the Sachiel-types that had engaged her aside. "Command, did you hear that?"
"Good copy, Mari," Ooi replied. "Disengage and we'll bring you home."
"Easier said than done, but we'll make it happen," Mari said as she manifested two bands around the arms of a Sachiel that had come to grapple with Mana, dragging it away as its arm spikes shot out. "Alright, ladies and gent, let's clear a path and get out of here!"
She threw her AT Field up as several eye-like pits flashed again, a wall of metal pushing away a pewter-colored Israfel component as she strode forward, heedless of the cocoons that were hatching all around them now. "Run!"
With that, the others disengaged and ran with her, strengthening their AT Fields as best they could against the barrage that they were weathering.
Mari's focus was entirely on the edge of the Corite field, growing closer and closer with each thundering stride as the edges of her vision seemed to fuzz into obscurity. She blinked, and they were across, running on open ground. "Command, tell us when!" she heard Mayumi say as she heard the others skid to a stop behind them.
"Teleport in 10 seconds." was Ooi's somewhat harried reply as she turned to face where they had come from.
The Angels had all stopped at the edge of the field, dozens of Sachiels, a couple of Israfels, and…
Maria's eyes went wide. "Am I nuts, or is that three Zeruels?" she said numbly.
The sight of the three bound up Angels, floating imperiously over the collected group below them and seeming to stare through them was the last thing she saw on the desert plains of China before the Eva strike force fuzzed out of existence.
. . .
The sight of the gathered Angels, however, remained on the main screen of Central Dogma. And Misato couldn't help but hear the hushed, worried whispers that rose like steam throughout the room as she kept her gaze firmly on the screen.
"Think we could ask the Cataphract to send a bombardment down on them?" she asked Ritsuko offhandedly.
"With how strong its AT Fields were, to slow down and stop Lancium rounds? I'd be surprised if we could make a dent in them with a dozen Cataphracts." Ritsuko replied, her voice tinged with awe at the sight that they'd seen."
"Damn," Misato said mildly.
"Which means we're going to need a hell of an Idea in order to stop these things," Ritsuko said.
"I'm working on it. But I'll need some feedback during the process." Misato replied, hoping against hope that here, now, her luck hadn't finally run out.