So here we are again, I've got episode 3 this time for you all. It's on the longer side, but I'm personally really pleased with how the whole thing turned out.

This might be the last chapter for a little bit as, with this posting, my backlog has finally caught up with me. I am currently still in the process of working on chapter 4 and haven't even begun writing anything after that, maybe I could have held off on this one for a while but that wouldn't be any fun at all.

Anyhow, hope you all enjoy this one.


Neon Genesis Evangelion: Ciricrux Anima edition

Chapter 3.1

Tacet Phone/ Translatio

Lanthanein awoke as usual at 04:00 on Thursday and made his way to the Geofront fitness center. It was, yet again, empty as usual. He wondered how a military organization could keep its personnel fit for duty if none of them ever seemed to use the provided facility. When he had fulfilled his two hour workout as required by Ordo regulations he gathered his things and showered then returned to his hab. Upon entering the hab unit he found Misato had let herself in again, she greeted him when she heard the door close and came around the corner from the recreation area. He noticed she looked as if she had only just arisen and remained dressed in her sleeping attire. He tried to divert his eyes from her. While he did appreciate she was quite attractive, she was also is direct superior and looking at her in such a manner would be both unprofessional and dangerous.

"Lanthanein! Where have you been? I tried to call you but you didn't answer. I had to get up at six in the morning and come over looking for you!" She shouted, annoyed, as she came into the hall.

"Salve Misato." Lanthanein greeted her, she yawned angrily in response. "I have been undertaking my daily fitness ritual. I apologize, but I do not normally carry my vox unit with me to the training room as I do not wish for it to get damaged. What can I assist with Commander?" he asked as he turned and headed for his bedchamber, still not looking at her, Misato trailed him a few steps behind. She seemed annoyed about something, but Lanthanein could not place what.

"Well, I only just found out yesterday, but the University is adding in a new required course for all students, Post-Impact History 1. Your first lecture will be today at 11:00 today, so you're going to have to leave earlier than usual. Also, Maya has finally got Borealis Aristaios' simulator program working properly so Ritsuko wants to run a test this morning, and if all goes well we'll move on with some training." She told him, yawning again. She stopped outside his door when he went in, he closed the door behind him.

He came out a few moments later in his usual black and silver dolmen and breeches, inhibitor back on his shoulders, carrying his tall jackboots as he made his way to the kitchen "My thanks Misato, I will ensure I arrive well before the scheduled lesson start. And I look forward to seeing the work Lieutenant Ibuki was able to accomplish on her program." He sat and pulled his boots on

"I'm taking a beer, Lanthanein, I think that's a small repayment for making me get up so early and come all the way over here." She told him as he stood and went over to his coffee machine, turning it on. She opened the can after she sat back down and drained the entire thing. She slammed the empty can back down on the table, heaving in a great lungful of air and cried "WAAAAAH! ~hng~ And with that I can finally start the morning!" She screwed her eyes shut and an expression crossed her face that Lanthanein could not decide was joy or pain.

Lanthanein stood leaning with his back against the counter and shook his head, "You have actually replaced recaff with beer haven't you?" he walked over to the fridge pulling the door open again and spoke "I am going to prepare a meal, will you be having any with me?, I am making uncharacteristically small grox eggs and 'ba-con'."

"Why not?" she said with a chuckle, it had been a while since anyone had offered to make her breakfast, usually she either skipped it or got something from the Geofront cafeteria. As he began preparing food for the two of them she asked, "What's a grox anyway?"

"It is a large belligerent reptilian creature that has become the staple food source for Mankind in the thirty-first millennium. Am I to assume by your question that the grox has not been discovered yet?" he told her matter of factly.

"No, those eggs are from chickens. They're birds." She told him

"Hmm, and I will assume the meat I have been purchasing and eating is not grox either then?" he asked, almost rhetorically

"Pretty much." She said. They spent the rest of the time until the food was done in companionable quiet, once he had plated the food and set hers in front of her he sat and spoke again.

"I have finished with the books you had delivered for me last week, I do not know where they come from, but they can be returned in the same way as the others yes?" He asked her as she took her first bite of his cooking. She closed her eyes and let out an extremely pleased sound. He took this to mean yes and sipped his recaff.

"Lanthanein, where did you learn to cook? This is excellent!" she cried as she began devouring the meal with gusto.

"I often cooked for my Brother-Intendants when they were stationed at the Fortress-Crypt." He told her. "It is good I still retain some skill at it, I have not done so in nearly a terran year." He said, a sad smile crossing his face.

Misato looked up from her nearly cleaned plate and asked him "What happened? You say that like they're gone."

"They are. To my knowledge I am the last surviving Preceptor-Intendant of Crypt Borealis." He said sadly. He did not touch his food further and collected both plates when she had finished. He started speaking again unprompted as he cleaned up, "Intendant Kyprios fell during an Execution on Ryza during the defense of that world from the traitor forces of the Warmaster. His lone Engine was ambushed by no less than twelve enemy Engines. He held them off for nearly two hours, tallying three Engine Kills before he was eventually overwhelmed. And so his Vigil was ended." The Preceptor-Intendant finished with his cleanup and turned around, he did not look directly at Misato but rather seemed to stare off into space, his face an impartial mask. "Intendant Zargun was lost during the Titandeath on Beta Garman. His mission parameters were still classified at the time I was ordered to Walk, I do not know the circumstances of his demise, though I suspect it was particularly bloody given the disposition of both he and his engine. And so his Vigil was ended. Intendant Hydragyrum was the best of us. All of us knew it. He was also the longest served, he had the honour of being the one chosen by the Emperor himself for a special assignment at the start of the Siege of Terra. Contact was lost approximately two weeks before I began my Walk, he was presumed dead or lost to the warp. And so his Vigil was ended." Lanthanein looked to the woman still seated at his table "I was tasked with the incapacitation of another Psionic God-Engine hailing from Fortress-Crypt Polaris whose Intendant's Vigil had ended while the Machine was still conscious and active. The Engine went insane at the loss of its Preceptor-Intendant and began advancing back towards friendly lines, attacking all in it's path. I succeeded, and stemmed a tide of traitors following in the maddened Engine's wake, but I was lost to the Empyrean when the Polaris Engine's Left Hand of Darkness overloaded and tore open a warp rift. Yet I live, and so my Vigil goes on." He lowered his head, eyes closed, and made the sign of the Aquila and whispered a short prayer. "As the Astartes are so fond of saying, 'Only in death does duty end.'"

Misato was shocked at the sadness in the man's voice as he told of his lost comrades, normally he seemed so unshakable. There was a long silence after he stopped speaking, she could have said something like 'I'm Sorry' but both were soldiers and they realized that death in war was as expected as breathing. Pithy words would change nothing nor heal the pain of loss. Lanthanein was the first to break the gloom that had settled over them "But on to other matters, I would like to request some method of researching or studying more niche subjects of recent history, I am certain the University you have enrolled me in does not cover every single aspect of human society in history." He said as he sat back down at the table.

"I think I can come up with something for you. Ill get you one of NERV's standard issue laptops to use." She told him as she stood to go. "Its been nice having breakfast with you Lanthanein maybe we should have dinner once in a while, you're not a bad cook." She added with a wink. Lanthanein looked away.

"Shall I head down to the Simulacrum and prepare for the test Logoi Akagi wished to carry out?" he asked her, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah you can Lanthanein, I've still got to get ready, I'm sure a lot of you guys would love it if I went in like this. That's exactly why I'm not going to do it." She said jovially as she headed out the door and back to her own hab next door.

Lanthanein retrieved his gamma pistol from his bedchamber and secured it in his holster. He left his hab and walked into the simulacrum within fifteen minutes, Misato still was not there. Part of him was glad, she seemed to be getting extremely comfortable around him if her actions this morning were anything to go by. He was not sure how to react to that as it was brand new to him. All of the Ordo Sinister Preceptor-Intendant he had met were male, the relationship between them all had always been like that of brothers. The only women he remembered were the Sisters of Silence who had located him as a boy in the underhive of the Pacificus subset. He did not have much experience, but he hardly thought they represented an average disposition or personality.

These were the thoughts on his mind as he entered the simulacrum, and they were why he did not notice Maya rushing up excitedly to him to show him what she had achieved. He was stunned out of his contemplation quite jarringly when Maya and he ran directly into each other. He merely stumbled back, Maya however was knocked over, landing on her rear in front of him.

"Lieutenant Maya! My apologies, I was…lost in thought and my attention lapsed. He reached down and offered a hand to her to help her up. She took his hand and he easily pulled her to her feet.

"No, Lanthanein, I shouldn't have charged you down like that, I'm sorry" she countered her face flushed for some reason. Lanthanein brought her attention back to the reason he had come.

"Commander Katsuragi informed me that you had finished adding Borealis Aristaios to your simulacrum cogitators, I must say I am eager to see your work." He told her "Are we waiting on Logoi Akagi still? Shall I make my way to my God-Machine and prepare to engage?"

Maya turned and headed back the her computer trying to hide her obviously burning cheeks from him. He hadn't even fallen, he just took a step back Her brain shouted at her. "You should be able to go get Borealis Aristaios ready, there's a few tests I want to run with you before Misato and Ritsuko get here, just want to make sure I didn't break anything."

Lanthanein nodded and made his way to Hangar 01 letting himself in and heading for his God-Machine's control sanctum. He felt the sharp pain followed by the bliss of reconnection and he was able to re-establish a connection to their Magi system rather quickly. "We are here Lieutenant Ibuki, Are you prepared?" he asked over the vox connection

Maya replied almost instantly, "I read you Lanthanein, I'm bringing the simulator online now." This time he found he was standing in one of the immense access lifts that he had used to bring Borealis Aristaios down into the NERV facility. He took a moment to investigate what the interface had become on his end. It still resembled the odd design of their own cogitator systems with its seeming obsession with hexagons. He could access the Manifold now however, he did not fully comprehend what or how Maya had done it, but he was thankful for it nonetheless. He took a look out, and saw that Borealis Aristaios did in fact have an actual model in NERV's simulacrum now, it seemed fully accurate. Lanthanein pulsed a thanks to her through the manifold, he realized what he had done almost immediately and began to verbalize his thanks when he was surprised by an acknowledgement pulsed back to him through the manifold.

"You have a manifold connection?" he asked her, baffled.

"Well its not me who had the connection, its more my computer is just able to translate it to something I can read. How's the interface look on your end?" she asked in response.

"Aside from clearly exhibiting NERV's seeming obsession with hexagons?" He heard what sounded like a guffaw on the other end of the line at that. "More or less familiar. I have already discovered how to modify the interface from my end, I am in the process of bringing it to what I experience in the manifold." He told her, getting quiet again and clearly focusing on his efforts.

The door slid open behind Maya and she turned seeing Ritsuko and Misato enter side-by-side. She gave the two other women a wave and turned back to her own screen. It took her a few minutes, but she was eventually able to display Lanthanein's visual feed on the main screen in the control room. She took in what he had done and saw that the Imperial's interface was extremely utilitarian, having almost none of NERV's (albeit hexagon obsessed) artistic flair.

She triggered the doors of the lift she had started him in and began the rest of her system checks, the other two women merely stood back, letting her work. "Alright Lanthanein, I've opened the mag lift doors, lets make sure you can still walk." She told him, she received a simple acknowledgement pulse and his virtual God-Engine began to walk.

Lanthanein took his first few steps out of the mag lift, he glanced as the previous cityscape revealed itself before him once again, he spoke over the vox again, "Shall I begin directing power to my weapons Lieutenant Maya? It appears the basic motor functions still work without issue."

It was Misato who answered him this time, "Go ahead Lanthanein, we're ready on this end, if all works well we can move on to some actual training" nothing seemed to change between the time she said this and the point he reported all weapons powered and functioning nominally. Maya asked him if he had also powered the left arm

"I have not, it's function diverges significantly from mundane weaponry and I was unsure if it would overtax the system. If you believe the Simulacrum is prepared I will do so now." He said over the vox. Overall the experience was different from actually being joined with his engine fully in combat. Currently it felt more as if the God-Engine was still half asleep, he had full control of something in the same way he would had he actually been on a Walk, but the Anima just seemed more… distant. It was a new and different experience from anything he had ever felt in Engine war. He received a confirmation from Maya through the Manifold and directed power to the Sinistramanus. The simulacrum didn't even flicker. He took aim at a nearby tower in the city and tasked one of the partitions of the Magi, who seemed to act as his Servitor-Moderatii in the simulacrum, with maintaining the target lock. He fired. The ambient track being played in the background faded out and the day seemed to grow dim as the false-weapon laid spat forth it's wroth.

Lanthanein was pleased to discover that the standard firing mode of the Sinistramanus was reflected well in this simulacrum, he was less pleased to discover that the pain of injury also translated over when the building he had fired upon fell and crashed on top of Borealis Aristaios. Maya quickly reverted the simulation to its previous state and pulsed him a short document on the differences between the simulation and real combat. It boiled down to simply being unable to die, pain transfer could be dialed all the way up to one-hundred percent or all the way down to zero. They spent a few more minutes testing Maya's work on coding his weapons into the simulacrum, she had done well. None crashed the program and all worked mostly as intended, the left hand was limited to its basic fire mode as of now, but that he chalked up to simply forgetting to inform her of the ability to charge shots.

When it came time to test the Arioch, Maya spawned a simulated [SACHIEL] as an enemy. He noticed that while this simulated one was far less durable, disappearing after just one hit from his power fist, his movements were becoming sluggish. Lanthanein knew he could not handle the strain from the full force of the Anima for an entire multi hour training session, but he pulsed an explanation of his idea to remedy this to Maya's yet unexplained manifold connection, he received acknowledgement of it, and his explanation of void shields upon noticing he lacked one, but nothing further.

After a few hours in the simulacrum practicing his marksmanship and melee combat skills as well as explaining and demonstrating some capabilities of Borealis Aristaios' more arcane abilities they all called it a day. Lanthanein reluctantly disconnected from the MIU, even the limited connection the Simulacrum offered was still intoxicating yet tiring to be part of and painful to leave. He returned to the control center and spoke with the three women he had slowly been building a friendly relationship with about some of the other functions of the simulacrum. He reflected on his time in the Imperium as he chatted.

He had never had anyone he would describe as 'close friends' aside from his Brother-Intendants of Crypt Borealis, and all four of them had often been deployed to warzones. When they would get back, they did not talk about their experiences partly because it was forbidden but also because they often saw horrors that none of them wished to relive. He thought back to the time Aristaios spent in Rangda and shivered. He had not been Preceptor-Intendant of the Engine at the time, in fact he had not even been born, but he had experienced the memory once during his initial linking with Borealis Aristaios. It still shook him even to this day, he had thankfully never seen the memory again however. With thoughts of old and new friends on his mind he returned to the hab tower to prepare for his lecture this morning.

Lanthanein spent a short time in his hab ensuring things were in good order and securing his weapon. Misato had advised him not to carry it in the city, saying people of this time did not think of carrying weaponry the way the Imperium did, he had decided to take her advice for the time being. He left his Hab with approximately an hour to spare to ensure he would have plenty of time to arrive before the appointed start of the lecture. It was a bright, warm summer day that Lanthanein encountered on his walk that day. He set off from the building in his usual attire, greatcoat flapping behind him in the rather stiff breeze. He did not fear getting lost. He had long since stored a copy of a map of the city in his implant's memory banks.

As he walked Lanthanein looked around at ancient Terra for the first time in daylight, his prior lectures having all taken place later in the evening, he was perhaps the only Imperial aside from the Emperor himself to ever have seen Terra as anything other than the heaving ecumenopolis that it had become. He was perhaps the only Imperial to ever see a living tree on Terra. He was perhaps the only Imperial to see the surface of the Homeworld graced with water, or to see a blue sky. He spent a long time simply stopping and gaping at the natural beauty of the world, even in the middle of the city. He felt a pang of sadness when he thought about what the cradle of humanity would eventually become.

Lanthanein turned from the shop window he had been looking in and shifted his gaze across the street. Crossing the street towards him was the other pilot, the one who's pict he had seen weeks ago when he trawling the archive. She wore a blue jumper skirt over a white blouse with a red ribbon tied at the collar. She had clearly been injured at some point during the battle the night he arrived. Her left arm had been bound up against her chest in a sling and her head was bandaged to the point that one of her eyes was covered, but her blue hair and red eye were unmistakable, this was definitely Rei Ayanami.

Lanthanein stood there dumbfounded. It had only been three weeks, and from what he had seen the creature had totally torn apart her war machine. He did not know for certain if these Evangelions worked in a similar manner to a titan, but he could not conceive of a combat machine that would allow any baseline human princeps to not only survive the machine's utter destruction but also be hale enough merely three weeks after the event to go back to normal life. Rei was passing him by now, and he finally shook himself out of his surprise induced stupor and wavered over the decision to approach the young woman.

Eventually he decided not to bother her and continued on his own walk, he could still see her ahead of him. He marveled at her strength of will to be up and active so short a time after sustaining what must have been grievous injuries. He watched her as the two continued their walk about 10 meters apart, he knew he had to find some way of acquainting himself with the woman, even if just to get some understanding of her disposition and how she would fight.


"I'm telling you man, he's not the kind of guy you want to mess with" Aida said as his tracksuit clad compatriot paced back and forth at the back of the lecture hall.

"That bastard almost killed my sister with his stupid robot. I don't care how dangerous he looks, if he shows up here I'll kick his ass!" Touji Suzuhara shouted, drawing some looks from the other students, most of whom had taken their seats already.

Kensuke sat with his hood pulled up over his head watching clips on his video that he had pulled and collated from various sources; the news, various people's security camera footage, and even one segment from some madman who had stayed in his apartment through the whole event and recorded it. "Touji, I'm pretty sure he didn't intend for your sister to get hurt, it looks to me like he was pretty restrained through this whole fight." He said, trying reason with his friend.

Touji spun round and leaned down over the table Aida was sitting at "Yeah? Well then why didn't he fire that beam thing at it right off? That would've ended the fight pretty quickly!" the athlete shouted, his temper getting the better of him. More students turned and looked at them, some glared, others simply looked concerned.

"Well, you saw what it did to that monster right? It… like… deleted it. Maybe he didn't want to miss? I can't imagine it hitting a building would be a good thing." Aida offered, trying to calm his classmate down. They heard the door clunk shut again and a number of people turned to look at who had arrived.

Lanthanein looked around the large amphitheater shaped hall, taking note of the sheer number of seats, and the noticeable disparity in the number of students in the room. He wondered if this was the entire group, or if others were later than he was. He looked to one side and saw a familiar face sitting at a table near the back of the hall, another man in what appeared to be some form of striped fitness attire stood leaning on the table in front of him. They seemed to be deep in a rather intense conversation. Lanthanein nodded at Adept Aida, he was unaware the man had an interest in the historical but was glad to see a familiar face nonetheless.

The oddly dressed man made his way down into the hall and found a seat about halfway up the tiers and began unpacking his things. Aida's attention had snapped to him when he entered the room and Touji had turned in time to see the man in the giant metal collar and trenchcoat nod towards Kensuke. "Is that the bastard?" he asked over his shoulder, when he didn't get a response he turned around and found that Kensuke had booked it to the other end of the lecture hall. Touji shook his head, frustrated, and snatched up his own bag.

The lecture went by with but one incident, Lanthanein noticed many of the students kept glancing in his direction. He checked that his inhibitor was turned up to full output, its whine and the pressure it generated in his skull always resulted in a migraine, but he would deal with it to not disturb the other attendees. Even with the inhibitor at full blast they still continued to look at him. Eventually he looked down and noticed that there was a cogitator integrated into the desk, it seemed to be trying to notify him of something. After a few moments he had figured out that someone had sent a direct message to his terminal with the entire room copied at recipients.

The message was a simple question 'Are you the pilot of that machine? Y/N'. He debated for a few minutes whether to answer or not, eventually deciding it was already reasonably obvious by his clearly different attire and implants. He typed a simple Yes. and sent the reply. The room went dead silent. There was an audible gasp, as if the entire room had inhaled all at once, and the room erupted into chatter. The Proctor eventually got them all to calm down and be quiet so he could continue his lecture. There was still a small amount of chatter and Lanthanein received a number of other messages on his terminal. He decided to ignore them, given the reaction to his last interaction with them, and focus on the current topic of elucidation; the so called 'second impact'.

Lanthanein had heard it mentioned by many in the NERV facility, but could find very little non-redacted information regarding it during his brief time in the archives. About all he knew was it was some form of asteroid impact that had occurred approximately 15 years prior to his arrival. He had some inkling NERV was related somehow, given they were founded not long afterwards and just so happened to focus their efforts on defeating unknown beings of dubious origin in a very particular manner, but he did not have enough information to put all the pieces together yet.

The current lecture did not present any new information to him about the event itself, but he retained it in his inload buffers nonetheless. As the Priesthood of Mars was so fond of saying: knowledge is power. The lecture did however detail some interesting effects in the aftermath of the event. The southern ice cap of Terra was vaporized by the detonation of the meteorite and a significant portion of the planet's available landmass had been swallowed by the sea. Lanthanein wondered if this might have been perhaps the beginning of what brought about the disappearance of Terra's water supply.

Near the appointed end time of the lecture Lanthanein glanced around the room. He noticed Adept Aida, sitting far in one corner, well away from the man he had been talking to. He wondered if they'd had some sort of falling out. He also noticed Ayanami, seated a few rows above and behind him. He had not noticed her earlier. He had lost sight of her a few minutes before he reached the lecture hall and had assumed she had gone off to her own learning.

When the proctor dismissed the group Lanthanein stood and made his way out to the yard that connected the various buildings of the university. He was in the middle of checking his schedule for the day (Also saved in his implant's memory banks) when he was rudely interrupted by angry shouting from across the lawn. The athlete, the one Aida had been speaking to when he had entered the hall was advancing on him across the lawn. Aida on his tail, seemingly trying to dissuade him with little success.

"Hey Bastard!" shouted the irate man "You put my sister in the hospital with your stupid robot!"

Lanthanein bristled at that, how dare this fool call his God-Machine a 'robot'. He came about, dropping his inhibitor to half power, people noticeably gave him a wide berth and purposefully ignored him. The furious young man was nearly upon him now, Lanthanein prepared to defend himself, just in case. His forte resided in his titancraft, but he was more than capable of holding his own in a non-titanic fight.

"I did not intentionally do any such thing, you have my apologies for any injuries she may have suffered, but I guarantee they'd be far worse had I allowed the creature free reign of the city." Lanthanein answered the latest variation of the same sentence the man kept spouting the whole way across the green. like his very own warhorn. he thought in the back of his mind.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Who even are you anyway? I saw the videos! You come out of some big purple cloud and wreck our city? Hurt my sister? Who do you think you are? Are you even human, how do we know you're not another one of them?" the incensed man pelted him with question after question, not waiting for answers to any one and just belting out his anger at the man he deemed to be the cause of all his recent hardship.

Lanthanein held his fury under control with an extreme force of will. This pathetic man lets his emotion get the better of him in such a public setting and then has the gall to suggest HE is not human. He grit his teeth hard and ground out between them "You dare question my humanity? Sir, I do not know you. I have done nothing to you. Is it unfortunate your family was injured? Assuredly. Was I the cause? No. If you seek something to hate, hate the abomination that attacked your city. Harness that hatred to defend yourself and your fellow man. I will overlook your insult this once, consider your next actions carefully."

Aida finally caught up to his friend and tried to get him to calm down, unfortunately Suzuhara was at the point where being told to calm down only made him more agitated. He brushed Kensuke off and got right up in the Imperial's face "Of course you were the cause! You're the maniac that threw that monster into the building where my sister was! If you hadn't been there-"

"-All of you would be dead." Lanthanein finished for him, voice cold and calm, had the other man been in his right mind he might have noticed the look in the Imperial's eyes and backed down, he did not.

That was the last straw for Touji, he cocked his fist back and threw a savage punch directly at the Imperial's face. The Imperial, for his part easily sidestepped the man's punch and delivered a jab just below his ribs. Suzuhara stumbled past him but caught himself, clutching his burning side and got into a blatantly unprofessional fighting stance. Lanthanein took up his own stance, at the man's next punch Lanthanein grabbed his arm and twisted it, pinning the man's forearm between his elbow and body. Lanthanein delivered a hard chop to the mans neck with his free hand and flipped his foe over his shoulder while he was gasping for breath.


Misato stood in the central tower of the bridge in the Central Dogma, currently the room was dark, lit only by the large screen on the front wall. On it was footage from one of NERV's threat monitoring stations installed out near the edge of Old Tokyo. The bridge was nearly empty as of the current moment, Makoto and Shigeru being the only regular officers at their stations

"The 4th angel comes now, while Ikari is away? It's sooner than I expected" Misato spoke aloud, not directing her words at any of the skeleton crew manning the bridge.

"the last one waited 15 years, but this one came after only three weeks" Makoto Hyuga responded "Should I sound the alarm Ma'am?"

Misato gave him a nod "All hands to battle stations, notify Deputy Commander Fuyutsuki" she turned from the two men at their stations and mumbled to herself "They have no concern for our circumstances, do they?" she chuckled "Just the kind of guy I hate." She pulled her phone from her jacket and dialed his number.


Touji lay on the ground, holding his aching throat and side, trying to suck in air. Lanthanein stood over him, annoyed. "I am not your enemy." Lanthanein told the incapacitated man. "My only desire is to ensure humanity endures. I will not stand by while we fight amongst ourselves. I have seen that, and I never want to see it again." Lanthanein paused and crouched down to speak to the other man more closely. "If you must hate something, hate the xeno that came here to destroy your city, your life, and your family. The beast that injured your sister was filth, it was inhuman, its mind was incomprehensible to us. It deserved nothing but scorn and death. It came here seeking to kill you all, doesn't it infuriate you that it had the gall to think it could achieve that goal? It should."

The other man nodded, still getting his wind back but sat up. Lanthanein grabbed his forearm and helped haul him to his feet "Then use that anger. Use it, and do everything in your power to destroy xeno filth like it that have the audacity to try to harm you or those you care about. I will do my part and protect this city. That is the vow I made. I merely ask for your support." He told him. He was about to ask the mans name but his NERV issue vox handset began going off. He pulled it out and flipped it open and putting it to his ear with a "Lanthanein. Speak."

He spotted the blue haired one break into a sprint as soon as Misato mentioned they were calling her in too. He took Misato's advice and broke into a run after her to an emergency lift, but not before clapping Aida's companion on his shoulder with what he hoped was a reassuring smile, "The Emperor Protects" he told him before turning and dashing off. The alarm klaxons began to blare before they had even reached a lift.


The emergency lift to the Geofront was no different from any others in the city. It was a normal elevator, as such it took nearly five minutes to descend the full distance. Lanthanein was pacing by the end of the first minute. He had turned his inhibitor back up in consideration of her but the woman still looked as if she were about to be ill. He finished another series of three steps across the metal box and turned around to do it again. "What is taking so long? What is the point of an emergency lift if it does not run with any more haste than a standard lift?" he grumbled, Rei stood in one corner and continued to look nauseous. He completed another circuit and turned to repeat the process. "What is Ikari thinking? Any commander worth their title would know that something called an 'emergency lift' should at least be faster than a normal lift at the very least!"

Rei made a small noise somewhere between a whimper and a groan. She wasn't sure what it was about the new pilot, but being near him made her feel sick and uncomfortable. Lanthanein looked over at her, she was looking even worse than before. He checked his inhibitor, but it was already at full as he could tell from the incessant migraine. That could only mean one thing. "I apologize Princeps Ayanami, I was unaware you were gifted psychically." He moved to one corner of the lift, as far from her as he could get and leaned against one wall. "It would, in that case, be prudent to warn you that you may want to give my engine a wide berth given your condition."

Rei was confused by his statement but she was having trouble keeping the contents of her stomach down at the moment and so wasn't in the mood to get clarification. Soon the two of them were released from their collective discomfort as the doors opened. Rei nearly sprinted from the lift to try to get away from him, the sudden movement was the final straw for her stomach however and she dived into a nearby lavatory instead. Lanthanein looked with concern to the door of the room the other Princeps had rushed into but he knew his duty, the city needed it's defenders. He rushed past the door and headed for the briefing room he had been shown near the end of the previous week. The door slid open for him as he approached obviously having been left unlocked.

"Commander Katsuragi, Preceptor-Intendant Lanthanein reporting, I am prepared to Walk." He blurted as he powered through the door and up to the tacticarium screen at the front of the room.

"Where's Rei?" she asked, concerned.

"Princeps Ayanami was affected rather strongly by my aura. I was unaware she was a psyker." Lanthanein explained as Rei walked into the room behind him looking very unsteady on her feet. "It might be best if our respective God engines kept their distance from one another, particularly if we will be maintaining a Manifold connection together."

"Good, you're here Rei, Lanthanein mentioned you weren't feeling well, are you ok now?" Misato asked her as she took a place on the other side of the briefing room from Lanthanein. Rei nodded once but gave no other response as seemed customary for her. "Alright then, We have another angel incoming, This is the 4th Angel, Codename: [SHAMSHEL]." Misato said as she clicked a button in her hand, switching the tacticarium display to show a pict-capture of a large red creature that appeared to be floating in the air above the flooded city of Old Tokyo.

They seemed to be viewing the thing head on, it had what appeared to be large yellow spots on it's forward dorsal segment and underneath a set of ten 'legs'. Eight of them looked rather spindly and seemed to be set farther back than its larger front legs. Between the two large front legs was what he recognized as the creature's core. Lanthanein assumed from what he could see that its body plan would be similar to some sort of crustacean. "How long ago was this pict-capture taken Commander?" he asked, folding his arms over his chest.

"This one is from about twenty minutes ago," she clicked the button again "this was taken by a VTOL when the JSSDF arrived on scene five minutes ago."

On the screen the two pilots could now see the angel from the air, it was much longer than Lanthanein had expected. The thought proclaiming what it actually looked like popped forth into his head unbidden, he forced it down and ignored it because giving voice to it would be obscene. Misato clicked her remote again and the image changed to a video feed from the same camera as before. "The JSSDF have already made an attempt to slow the angel down while we were coming to full battle readiness. Given the two of you are here, I'm sure you can figure out how that went, but here's the feed from our monitoring station nonetheless." She told them as she stepped aside and hit play.

As the two war machine pilots watched the tanks and ships of the JSSDF and UN navy and armed forces opened up their guns on the giant creature approaching them. Lanthanein caught the very moment the shells 'hit' the creature and isolated it in his inload buffer. The shells were not actually striking the creature but rather a field projected just beyond it. "It has a void shield like the last beast" he announced.

Misato nodded, "Yes, this Angel's AT field is at least as strong as the last one, however it hasn't shown any intention of attacking the JSSDF forces sent against it. We aren't sure why, but we don't have much time given that. Lanthanein, you'll be deploying first in Borealis Aristaios. Rei is still injured and Unit 00 is not cleared for combat yet. She will stay behind and act as an emergency reserve if by some chance you are unable to defeat the Angel." Misato clicked her remote again and the tacticarium switched to a map of Tokyo-3 there was a red dot flashing near the edge of the city closest to the water along with a red line denoting a path through the streets to the hills on the outskirts of the city.

"We'll be launching you here, near the waterfront, we need you to catch the Angel's attention and try to lure it as far outside the city as you can. We are trying to limit collateral damage this time around." Misato explained, using a pointer to gesture to the launch point and route NERV intended for the God-Engine to take.

"Understood Commander. If that is all I will go and prepare for my Vigil."

"Yes, That's all for now Lanthanein, we'll give you any further intel prior to launch. Any questions Rei?" Misato turned to the blue haired psyker on the other side of the room. Rei shook her head. "Alright, go get suited up just in case. Lanthanein, you can head straight for the hangar. Dismissed." Both Preceptor-Intendant and EVA pilot saluted in their own way and turned to leave the room.


Lanthanein entered the control sanctum and stowed his gear in the combat locker to the right of the door. He ensured the door was cranked shut and locked and then noticed something sitting in the back corner of the locker. The memory came rushing back, he had stowed his power sword in this locker prior to his last Walk. Clearly with the stress and uncertainty of his unplanned warp voyage he had forgotten to retrieve it, he made mental note not to do so again. He moved on and sat in the Throne Mechanicum. Settling back in the large chair and taking three deep breaths, not because he needed them but because it was ordained that the startup ritual begin as such. He reached behind in and took up the plugs, connecting himself into the MIU.

He began to bring the machine out of its slumber. He went about reactor startup first, when he gave the mental command the turbines began to spin up to operational speed. Out on the gantry the few NERV crew who had been studying the titan to the extent Lanthanein would allow grabbed their tools and pulled back to a safe distance as the immense machine gave off a low growl, like that of a large engine, and thermal exhaust began to pour from the ports atop the titan's shoulders. With a final rumble the Reactor settled into its normal operational thrum. The rings of the Crucible rotated down to sit motionless in from of him in a single row.

"Lanthanein," Misato said as he connected a vox channel to NERV's systems "the angel is closing faster, we're going to have to launch. FAST."

"We hear and awaken" Lanthanein replied through the vox. The Hour of Vigil was upon him. He turned his attention to the Crucible around him.

"Argentis, Saturnis, Martias" Lanthanein intoned, pushing the first three runes of the sequence into a horizontal rotation.

The God-Machine's machine spirit began to stir in the back of his mind, he could feel its hunger for war and held it back with the promise that it would soon have what it sought.

"Numina, Kadeth, Ki" Was the next sequence, Lanthanein pushed the next three into motion, they began to spin diagonally around the throne while the first set moved their orientation to a vertical rotation. Darkness shuddered from his cradle, his mouth opened and his chest inflated as he heaved in a lungful of air. His head jerked back and forth. The tubes burrowing into his eye sockets twitched. The external cameras and vision systems of the titan came online, as did the displays within the control sanctum. Hololiths spread out before him as he took in what his Engine was seeing, flowing runes and projected images cast new shadows on Lanthanein's face in the gloom of the sanctum.

"Launch commencing in one minute Lanthanein, I hope you're ready." came Misato's voice from the vox

Lanthanein did not reply.

"Tau, Mementes, Aurumina." He spoke the third, pushing its runes into their path. The God-Engine's mundane weapons began to spark and sputter as they took power and awoke. He curled the fingers of his Arioch, the crashing of massive steel fingers was near deafening to anyone who had remained in the hangar. One engineer stood by with a camera watching the whole scene Aida is gonna love this he thought. Silence sat bolt upright from in his throne, awake again at last. The manifold patched into NERV's system as Lanthanein had programmed it to. The auspex fired up layering his vision with many more senses. The vox came online and Lanthanein sent a ping to the bridge, indicating he had reached full wakefulness of the mundane systems. The warhorns blared as Silence began to scream. He felt the machine spirit awaken fully, but it did not strike out yet, still content to wait and see where its master would take it.

He triggered the vox link to Katsuragi. "We Wake Commander" he said, and his voice was layered with something deeper when he spoke. And the titan began to shift in the hangar, swaying from side to side, it's head pivoting around as Lanthanein took in the surroundings. To any normal human it would be an odd feeling, to command a Warlord Sinister, the Preceptor-Intendant must retain a strong sense of self, to the point that they can differentiate between their own body and that of the titan. The platform the titan stood upon began to move sliding along a track and to one of the many mag-lift shafts.

As he continued with his startup Misato came back on the vox "Borealis Aristaios launching tube 3-C."

"Animus" He spoke and tapped a single pyramidal rune. It's ring began to turn as the triplexes of runes spread to spin into a cloud around him. The obsidian black sphere left its cradle near the ceiling and floated its way into the cloud of other runes flying about him on their tracks, the Nul remained just out of his reach until the Sinistramanus Tenebrae powered up. The sleepers in the dark depths of the engine awoke to a cocktail of drugs being pumped into them. They screamed in their coffins as sparks jumped from the hull of the Engine to the various girders and beams around the titan as it sat at the base of the launch tube. The Engineer recording the process from the catwalk in the hangar was suddenly overcome with a sourceless terror, he dropped his camera and dashed from the hangar.

The titan rocketed up through the mag-tube, the electromagnets seemingly having little difficulty with their significantly heavier cargo.

"Aetherica." The last command was spoken with a dread finality as the Psionic governors came online and the arcing ceased. The two sleepers currently in the crucibles were locked down as The Sinistramanus' capacitors began to charge. The Void shield generators began to build their whine, but Lanthanein held their activation back for the time being. Pain shuddered in her throne as she awoke, the Machine-Spirit clawed at the back of her mind but she remained conscious. Lanthanein looked over his status in the Manifold. Pain seemed to be doing reasonably well given her near death during his last execution.

"The Hour of Vigil is upon us. My Walk commences." He spoke into the vox as he took his first steps out of the lift and onto the portside street. He saw the red leviathan still approaching over the bay. He marked it as target and tasked Pain with keeping a lock. The will of the Engine strained against his mind, it wanted blood. Lanthanein forced it back and opened fire on the Angel from the shore. The las blasters spun as bolts crashed repeatedly in the beast's shield, an AT Field, he thought NERV called it. The enormous crimson thing gave a screech and diverted it's course towards the God-Machine. The warhorns roared as Borealis Aristaios walked to war.


Touji Suzuhara paced his way along the back wall of the shelter, much as he had been prior to the lecture. Kensuke Aida sat on the floor nearby, watching his camera's screen, clearly frustrated. With a huff he snapped the camcorder shut and shouted to no one in particular "This sucks! Why have we got to be stuck down here? We're missing the guaranteed awesomeness of that battle up there!" Hikari glared at him from across the room.

Touji continued his pacing, he couldn't get what Lanthanein had said to him before he ran off and the alarms started to wail out of his head. "Kensuke, was he right?"

Aida looked up at his friend, confused by the unexpected question "Hm?"

"The pilot, what did you say his name was? Was he right, about who to hate?" the man stopped pacing and stood stock still, he was quickly realizing that he acted like a total jerk to the pilot. While he was still a little cross over how easily he had been taken down by the man, he realized that it was probably for the best that he had had the brakes put on his racing mind by force.

"I need to apologize to him." Touji said aloud. Kensuke was no longer paying much attention to him and was instead looking around the shelter they all huddled in intently. There was only one door.

"Aida, I need to get up there." Touji said directly to his friend this time. Aida turned around at Touji's words, unsure if he heard them correctly "Did you say you wanted to go back up there?"

"Yeah, don't you? You were just talking about wanting to see the fight. I need to see what he's doing, need to see if he's actually trying to limit damage to the city." Touji said, almost distracted.

Kensuke looked around, seeing Hikari was in fact the only person paying attention to the group in general in the room. He elbowed his friend as he stood and whispered " follow my lead." He stood up and started heading for the only door into the shelter, Touji followed behind him, confused as to how his friend expected to get out of the room with VP Hikari watching them.

"Aida, Suzuhara, where do you two think you're going?" came Hikari's challenge from across the room.

"Sorry Vice Pres, we were just heading to the bathroom." Aida replied, looking thoroughly chastened as he turned to face her.

"Didn't you go before we came down here? Sigh. Fine, but get back here quick." Hikari spat, frustrated, as she turned to see if anyone else needed anything.

Aida gestured to his friend to follow and slipped out the door quietly. "Alright we're in the clear, do you remember how we got down here?" he asked Touji, heading down the hall he thought they had come down.

Suzuhara followed, still stunned "I can't believe that worked! How did that work?"

"What was she gonna do say no? She might not have any direct authority over us, but she'd still make a pretty big stink over it if we told her the truth. This way she thinks we'll be back soon, by the time she suspects otherwise we'll be long gone." Aida answered as he finally found a stairwell and followed it up.


The Angel closed on Borealis Aristaios fast, faster than he had expected. The God-Engine came about and brought up it's void shields as it began to withdraw towards the outskirts of the city and the hills surrounding it. The Angel's AT field was proving to be particularly resilient, even after nearly three minutes of sustained fire, it had yet to even flicker. The good news was that it appeared this beast had no ranged attacks. A ping in the Manifold, Pain alerting him to the las blasters overheating. Lanthanein ceased firing as the angel finally came over land. The Angel ceased all forward motion. It began to bend and shift, lowering the rear portion of its body to the ground and reared up its head like that of a leviathan serpent. Its immense lower body crushed a warehouse as it came down. The forelimbs that had remained clasped underneath it separated and long glowing pink tendrils grew from them.

"Enemy has set down on land." Lanthanein reported turning his Engine to face his foe. The temperature readings on the las blasters had fallen to acceptable levels and he resumed his earlier bombardment. The Angel raised one of it's whip-like tendrils and cast it at the titan in answer, the tendril glanced off Borealis Aristaios' void shields as they flashed bright yellow. The Filth hits hard the Preceptor-Intendant thought as he began walking Borealis Aristaios around it to the left. Another whip-like appendage struck the void shield, from the other side this time, and the shield flashed red. Lanthanein lowered the shields in order to prevent an overload of his generators. He set Silence to cycle through the various auspex settings to track the tendrils in their movement, the effort paid off almost immediately as Silence marked the first tendril streaking in from the right side again. Lanthanein raised the Arioch as the tendril swung in at high speed, the two weapons crashed together and he screamed as pain, hot and sharp, shot up his right arm.

The excess momentum caused the tendril's tip to wrap its way further around the titan's arm. Borealis Aristaios closed its fist tightly around the Xeno-thing's appendage, the machine spirit raged at the pain it was suffering, Lanthanein twisted the torso of the God-Engine and swung it back in the opposite direction. The tendril being crushed in its grasp was tugged hard, pulling the Angel off balance and towards the titan, before it snapped off half way between titan and Angel. The severed portion of the tendril immediately lost its glow and became little more than so much dead flesh. The Angel screeched and shot back into the air. Borealis Aristaios' Warhorns sang in triumph as it began to pound at the AT field again, it seemed to be weakening as the occasional shot did seem to get through to strike the creature projecting it. Lanthanein brought the void shield back online as the Angel rushed on once more.

"Aristaios, watch out, we're seeing some power buildup coming from the Angel." The warning came from Katsuragi, Lanthanein swung the auspex around to see a massive cargo vessel lifting from the bay nearby and turning to face his Engine. He fed power to the Sinistramanus as he began charging a shot

"The beast is a psyker as well?" Lanthanein said in disbelief. The ship it had lifted was tossed through the air at Borealis Aristaios, the void shields could not stop such a mass hitting them. Lanthanein switched Pain's target to the airborne cargo vessel as he lined up his Left Hand for his shot. Just as the vessel was about to strike the pressure in his arm built to it's peak. Lanthanein locked out the joints and fired the techno-arcane weapon. Lanthanein, the Machine Spirit, and Borealis Aristaios all roared as the shot left the barrel. The 12 meter sphere of non-existence passed over the gargantuan projectile. The sound cut out on the video feed on the main screen in the Central Dogma just as it did above ground. The thrown ship never reached the titan, having been removed from reality by the Sinistramanus Tenebrae's shot.

Lanthanein shunted the two burned out sleepers into the heart, preparing the next two and slotting them into the cradles. He turned his attention back to the Angel and saw it had moved its forelimbs to rest either side of its core, which was glowing with a fading red light. He took command of the las blasters and began blasting at the exposed core, the creature's AT field collapsed almost immediately and a number of shots struck the core. The Angel screamed and writhed like a snake. It swiped its tail through the air as if it were a gargantuan fin and rapidly closed on the God-Engine.

The beast crashed into the titan, the void shields collapsed almost immediately, alarms blared in the control sanctum as the generators overloaded. Lanthanein howled and Pain seized in her throne as the beast crashed into the Engine itself, lifting it off the ground on it's "nose". Lanthanein channeled power into the Arioch and slammed it down on the thing's dorsal surface as it gained altitude. He could hear the Bridge awash with activity and panic and muted the channel, he did not need their hysteria right now.

Borealis Aristaios opened its Arioch and dug its claw into the Angel's 'head'. It screeched again, the titan roared as Lanthanein activated the Aura. He knew the increased drain of both the Arioch and the Aura would burn out his Sleepers all the sooner but, at the moment, he did not care. The skin of the leviathan smoked and burned as the claws dug even further into the beast's hide.

The Angel was senseless with the pain of the claw in its head, and the inexplicable fear gnawing at it's mind, this thing on it's head was insignificant compared to it, how dare it defy the will of Change in such a manner. The Angel redirected it's flight towards the hills at the edge of the city. The two gargantuan combatants came down just outside the city, the Angel ramming Borealis Aristaios into the soil of a hillside. Inside the control sanctum it was chaos, the Ciricrux Anima had been jarred so thoroughly out of alignment that the God Machine was going into the mechanical equivalent of convulsions.

As Kensuke and Touji exited the armored concrete entryway to the shelter they both were rocked to their knees by a massive force. Touji was the first to stand again, he turned around to Aida who remained on the ground, his camera trained at the hill, mouth agape. A massive claw crashed down next to the two of them, just barely missing them.

Lanthanein's head lolled around as white hot pain assaulted his every nerve ending. As the Angel dislodged itself from the near-wreck in the crater, he fought his way back to consciousness to find that somehow the vox had become unmuted. Misato was screaming for him to answer, he sent a simple acknowledgement through the Manifold, confirming he was alive. He turned his focus to the state of the Engine. The Machine was bad, as near to death as either of the two of them had ever come. The two active Sleepers had been pulped in their caskets, he purged them and felt the reactor roar to peak output. That was good.


The two young men stood (or knelt in the case of Aida) stock still as the giant war engine of NERV turned its black plate covered head in their direction. It lifted its fist and slammed it back down into the hillside further down the slope, using the force to rise into a near sitting position.


Lanthanein's focus fell on the two civilians standing a few meters from where the Arioch had landed, they could not remain there. He made a split second decision, the Ordo (had it existed in this time) would surely have frowned upon it, he forced the Engine into an upright position and opened the rear entry hatch. It was a simple matter to patch the vox system through to the warhorns which, while not meant to transmit speech, could relay messages in a pinch. "Embark if you wish to live!" he commanded, his voice earsplitting coming through the heavily amplified horns.

"What was that Lanthanein?" Misato inquired over the vox, she had come down from her previous hysteria now that she knew the man lived, but things still didn't look good if the status link to the titan was anything to go by. It didn't look like there was a single thing in the chest area of the machine that was undamaged.

"I am taking on passengers commander. They will die if they remain in the open, standby." Lanthanein replied, thankfully he had killed the warhorn connection prior to this. Lanthanein moved the next two sleepers to the cradles but did not wake them yet. All of his Servitor-Moderatii were, surprisingly, reasonably calm. All were awake and functional, he locked Pain's focus on the Angel's core and let her have command of the lasguns.

Aida was the first one to his feet this time, he dragged Touji behind him as the terrified duo dashed towards the giant machine that had just been bodyslammed into a hill right in front of them. It was saying something that the interior of the machine seemed safer than outside at the time. The upper guns began to open fire as they ran, the other thing screamed and retreated. As they ran Kensuke got a passing glimpse of the Machine's chest armor, it was all caved in and spraying various fluids and sparks of many colors. Aida and his companion reached the hatch and leapt inside, the door slamming down behind them and sealing once more. Lanthanein spoke over the internal vox (he had muted the connection to NERV again after Gendo had taken issue with the decision to save the two foolish mortals) "Make your way to the control sanctum quickly, there you will be safe. War calls and we must soon answer. Follow the lumens." With that, the red emergency lumens clicked on in only the passageways the two needed to take.

Lanthanein forced the Machine to stand, the Machine Spirit gnashed at his mind as he caused it further pain. He screamed back at it in his own mind, subjugating it again through sheer mental volume. His chest ached, he was bleeding in multiple places, and it felt like his entire ribcage had been crushed. He knew that last was likely a phantom pain, sympathetic to the wound the titan had suffered. The control sanctum bulkhead banged open behind him. He turned in the throne and ordered the two to find a handhold and hold tight.

The smell of the room hit Touji before anything else did, it was sickly-sweet, sweat and waste and various other chemical substances of unknown provenance. It made him gag, but he forced himself into the room. The half meter thick door slammed shut behind them with a resounding clang. The man Touji had so recently tried to punch sat in a large steel chair, like a big throne, his eyes unseeing as he turned his head to look at the two. "Find a handhold and do not let go. We've yet a beast to kill." Touji removed his jacket and lashed himself by the wrist to the nearest sturdy looking wall bar using it's sleeves, he felt the massive machine take its first stuttering step. The sphere of metal around the NERV pilot spun at varying speeds, a few of the rings juddered with footfall.

Kensuke was jubilant, he had run from the machine last time and had been kicking himself ever since. He loved stuff like this, and now he was getting a front-row seat to it. Albeit the titan had no windows, he had to watch the monitors on the front wall half of which had shattered during the fight. He filmed everything he could see. The machine began walking and he nearly fell over with the unexpected motion. The Preceptor-Intendant glared at him, eyes rolled back in his head "Aida! Handhold! Now!" Kensuke sheepishly retreated to the nearest bar and did as Touji had done, using his belt to bind himself to the bar. The Preceptor-Intendant had remembered him.

Borealis Aristaios, damaged as it was, was by no means out for the count. The Angel still was without an AT field, it's single remaining tendril re-energized and whipped at the God-Machine. Lanthanein brought his Arioch up and caught this one too. The excess wrapped around his machine's torso and began to constrict. Lanthanein grit his teeth against the pain and used the claw to drag the angel close enough to grapple. The Sleepers still would not reawaken.

The Angel screamed it's triumph to the heavens as it finally had it's enemy pinned in it's tendril. The annoying pinpricks from thing's shoulders had finally stopped, clearly it was near death. [SHAMSHEL] went silent, something was wrong. Oh. The enemy-thing had dragged it close enough that it could reach it's core. The Angel screamed again. This scream was one of fear and pain.

Borealis Aristaios drove it's claw up and around the core of the Angel. Lanthanein heard the thing go quiet. The passengers heard the thing go quiet as well, even without the auspex connections it's screams rattled the whole titan. The titan roared as Lanthanein closed his fist. He smiled, predatory, as he increased the pressure to the fist until first one, then two cracks appeared in the red orb. The Angel screamed again now, the Machine Spirit roared in his head, he drowned both out with his own warhorns. Windows nearby shattered as the claw finally crushed the Angel's core.

The thing went limp and slumped off Borealis Aristaios' upraised fist, crashing to the ground and just barely avoided crushing the shelter entranceway. Borealis Aristaios roared to the heavens again. Lanthanein reactivated the vox. "Engine Kill." He intoned. The horns sang again in exultation.


The titan settled back into it's gantry as Lanthanein reduced the Machine to dormancy. When it finally went still he sat forward reaching behind his head for the MIU plugs. This would be agony, he knew. The first two surprised him, he felt nothing. The pain crashed down when he pulled the third and final plug. He doubled over even more than he already was. He screamed his throat raw as the agony only a princeps could experience struck him, starting at the base of his neck and spreading through every nerve in his body, white hot and throbbing.

Suzuhara and Aida had disentangled themselves from the handholds by now and started at the wail of agony that came from the man who they had only ever seen in a composed, stoic state.

Lanthanein slowly returned to his senses, he tried to rise and found he did not have the strength. "One of you, help me." There was no embarrassment in his words, merely tired resignation, Touji stepped forward and took one of the man's arms, draping it over his shoulder and helping him rise. Something nagged at the back of his mind, something felt wrong, Suzuhara chalked it up to stress.

Lanthanein looked into the face of his crutch. "It is you, the one I quarreled with earlier. What is your name?" the Preceptor-Intendant asked him as Aida took his other arm and helped him to the door of the sanctum.

Aida felt uneasy being this close to the man, but was unsure if that was due to recent events or something about the man himself. "Touji, Touji Suzuhara." The athlete responded

"Well Touji Suzuhara, are we still at odds? Do you still think me to blame for the misfortune that befell your sister?" he asked, Touji looked remorseful and opened his mouth to speak.

"No… no I was wrong to blame you. I don't really know how to say this, But I need to apologize. Seeing you fight that… that thing out there, It's a wonder that you didn't do more damage to the city. What you did was prevent further injury and death, Thank you Preceptor-Intendant" Touji answered him

"Do not thank me, I did nothing more than my duty, I do not deserve thanks. I merely ask your help as I did before. I have few friends or allies here, I will need both before this war is ended I am sure." Lanthanein replied as he stopped by the door and turned his head to Aida "Assist me? I need to don my uniform." Kensuke opened the door and waited

"The coat first, then the collar and hat, then the sword." He said weakly, already having trouble staying up right.

"Are you sure? We can go get you help if you need-" Kensuke trailed off as the other man turned on him with a stern look. He said no words, the look was all that was needed. He was able to stand upright without support as he pulled on the coat and collar, he turned the dials on it when he had finally set it down on his shoulders and the pressure in the room eased for both of them.

Lanthanein put his hat on his head and took the power sword from Touji, buckling it around his waist. "Now, let us go." He told them as he took a step, unaided, out into the hall.

Lanthanein was able to walk unsupported all the way out of the titan and onto the gantry where he met Misato, and a small detachment of NERV security forces. They took the two civilians a few meters away to question them. Misato greeted him cautiously "you look terrible."

"I feel worse." He responded simply

"Ritsuko has ordered you to the medical wing to rest, I wouldn't ignore her if I were you"

"No, I don't think I will." He said, and promptly collapsed to the grating below him.

End 3.1