Chapter Three: An Operative in Maidens Clothing
"Ok, now lets retry grid sensors, one-eight-eight through two-five-owe." Shinji muttered through his teeth as he held a stylice in his mouth, a hand held computer in one hand, and a multi tool in another. Nominally the Mark Strife was capable of limited self repair. If could even break down and re-extrude its internal armor, drastically cutting down on maintenance if the armor plates were damaged but salvageable. Of course this still left plenty of things that had to be calibrated. Again the Strife was capable of self calibration on just about everything.
With the exception of the diver pod Shinji sat in right now, hanging upside down with his legs hooked over the lip of the pods entry hatch.
-Acknowledgement-
"Hmmm? Ok their good, now please continue and run the last two batches through that same testing sequence." There was a strange glitch with one of the Strife's sensors that had bothered him recently, he was pretty sure it wasn't a hack attack though he wouldn't put it past Ritsuko to try. Fortunately however the Strife was immune to such subversion, the basic programming was hardwired into its optical processors, and its core. Nothing was going to subvert the Mark Strife without completely replacing the computer system.
No whatever the glitch was had something to do with the head hydraulics, it wasn't a big problem, probably just interference but it wasn't wise to let problems like this accumulate.
"What do you think of Ayanami?" He asked the Strife to pass the time.
-Unsure, Curious-
"Doesn't tell me much, like do think she's a good kid."
-Unsure-
"Is that all you can say about her."
-Confirmation, for the moment-
"So you don't know enough about her is what your saying."
-Confirmation-
"Hmmm", Shinji chuckled slightly, "I think she's kind of cute."
-Annoyance-
"Well you don't have to think about continuing your family lineage, I at least think my mom's side of the family deserves to continue on. Though I might never have kids just so my father doesn't have any heirs."
-Agreement, coldness- Neither of them liked Gendo, the Mark Strife had been bonded with Shinji for its entire existence, and Shinji's less than warm feelings for his father had rubbed off on the titanic war machine.
Shinji sensed as the Strife became occupied with something else. "Hmmm?"
"Lieutenant Ikari." A soft voice stated, from above him on the catwalk. Shinji glance up through the open diver pod hatch and fell straight into the seat beneath him in surprise, as Rei Ayanami looked down at him.
He cursed as he landed awkwardly in the seat, rubbing his back where he had run into arm rest before glancing back up. "Don't scare a person like that." He grunted as he climbed back out of the pod. Shinji was a bit surprised, other then being pretty badly banged up, Rei didn't look nearly as bad as she had just two days ago.'Maybe shewasn't as bad off as Yumi thought . . .' Or perhaps NERV's medical technology was just that good . . .
"So what did you want Rei?" Shinji asked. Crossing his legs as he sat on top of the pod. The Strife was still intensely distracted, as if was paying a lot of attention to Rei.
Rei looked the machine over, "Captain Katsuragi ordered me to come here and observe you." She replied honestly, there was no reason to lie.
Shinji sighed, Misato seemed to be pretty paranoid about things, she was a nice woman, and the they did seem to get along well he could tell she wanted to care. But she was also being extremely paranoid . . . Then again in her position he would be too.
Shinji watched as Rei's attention was fixed again on the armored face of the Strife. The diver pod sat in the upper chest and slid into a position directly beneath the head for combat. When the pod sat in its decanted position one could touch the Strife's lower face.
Rei did so now, placing one palm flat against the armor while standing on the catwalk next to the pod, it was smooth, with a curious thrumming life to it, much like an EVA. But it felt different too . . . She couldn't place it but this was most definitely not anything like an EVA.
"You have an affinity for machines."
Rei turned to face him, head cocked.
Shinji smiled, "That look on your face, you were concentrating on the vibrations inside."
"I do not understand." Rei replied.
Shinji shrugged, "Fine, oh can you stand away from that hydraulic release."
"There is no hydraulics beneath the armor here." Rei said frowning.
Shinji grinned, "This is what I meant, you felt out the vibrations from the hydraulics inside the head, only people I know who can do that are real gear head prodigies and some blind people, even I can't tell that much by feel."
Rei blinked, it didn't seem odd to her. She had been able to do such things as long as she could remember. "Say, would you like to see the inside of the pod?" Shinji asked.
Rei considered for a moment, the Commander had told her not to turn down any opportunity to gather information on the Mark Strife. She nodded quietly.
Shinji held out a hand helping Rei onto the top of the pod and keeping a firm grip on her arm as she stepped over to the hatch, the last thing he wanted was for her to lose her balance, especially with one eye still covered over and one arm in a sling. If she slipped she could very well have ended up taking the express trip to the floor far below.
He helped her lower herself down inside trying not to squeeze to tightly on her injured arm, she stood on the chair as Shinji dropped in behind her.
The pod itself was much different from an EVA plug. Where a Plug was cylindrical the Strife's pod was spherical with the pilots seat sitting at the center, suspended on some kind of shock absorber system.
Shinji hit a few keys on the keyboard set between the butterfly control sticks, the spheres inner surface lit up and the environment outside the machine from the perspective of the Strife's head came into being.
"Here, you can take the seat." Shinji offered standing beside Rei. He frowned as the Strife's distraction became more intense, he decided to play a hunch. "Rei, do you feel anything?"
Rei looked at him, "What do you mean Lieutenant . . ."
"Can you feel another presence in here?" He asked.
Rei lowered her head in concentration, "There is something here . . ." Rei said, "I can feel it . . ." Her eyes bugged and she started shacking.
"What's wrong!" Shinji asked concerned. Rei continued to squirm not saying anything but her breathing grew quick and ragged. "Shit." Shinji cursed as he restrained her, she started gagging slightly as she continued to convulse. He typed a command string into the system one handed and cursed when he saw what was wrong.
He turned to Rei, "Rei, REI" he shouted angrily. "Don't fight it, just let it touch you it won't hurt you!"
The albino girl wasn't listening as she continued to shake, Shinji gave up on riding it out and physically yanked her from the seat. He overestimated her weight and ended up pulling her out and down on top of him as he fell back against the side of the pad and slid to a laying position beside the seat.
Rei snapped out of the convulsions immediately, her breathing recovered slowly over the next two or three minutes.
She stared into his eyes, she actually seemed . . . Angry at Shinji. "What did you do?" She asked, voice soft but angry.
"I didn't do anything, Rei. The Strife was trying to touch you, but you resisted." He explained. "If you hadn't you would have been fine."
Rei seemed somehow to be angry, it didn't show on her face, but in her eyes it was all too apparent.
She thought she understood after just that brief experience. This thing was too horrific for Rei to comprehend. Rei feared most of all being changed, she did not fear death, she feared discovering that she was a shell wrapped over the true soul of Rei Ayanami, she feared that she didn't truly exist. So Rei did her best to resist change, always fearing that these changes would reveal that she was false and snuff her from existence in some way more horrific then even her cursed life could prepare her for, she was afraid that she would be empty.
And this thing had almost changed her, it had tried to touch the most delicate recesses of her mind with its sickly hands, to destroy her. That was how Rei had seen the Strife's simple attempt to caress her.
"I would like to leave now." Rei stated softly.
Shinji nodded uncomfortably and helped her up the ladder to the pods upper surface, keeping a gentle grip on her as she worked her way up. He checked the small HUD suspended before the diver seat one more time to confirm what he had seen. It still read in small blue letters. Viable Candidate.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Wow, so you think she can pilot a Mark Unit?" Yumi asked as she continued to lick at her ice cream later that day, she had met Shinji in a park near one of the GeoFront entrances, Shinji hadn't had much time to spend with her over the last two days, and they had decided to look around town together, the first chance they had had in some time.
"Yeah maybe." Shinji replied. "But . . . She'd need to learn to relax and let the Unit touch her mind or she might as well just be tossing herself into an electric chair, the cross interference was pretty bad from her resisting. Over sixty percent." Shinji explained.
"Sixty percent!" Yumi repeated in shock, "How could she generate so much cross interference, it sounds like she was terrified of having the Strife anywhere near her."
Shinji starred off into the distance nursing his iced coffee, "I think . . . She was . . . what could have happened to make her so afraid? The Strife was being gentle it wasn't trying to repel her at all, its like she knew what it was and was terrified that it was going to do something to her."
"Do you think she knows something?" Yumi asked.
"I think, she thinks she knows something."
"I see . . . Ahhh" Yumi shouted as she saw her ice cream cone melting down her hand and sped her licking to keep pace.
Shinji smiled as they kept walking along the small footpath, the park was like any other, overly tended, a bit too regular in design, centered around an obviously artificial pond. A few young children sat playing in a sandbox along the path. Yumi smiled at them and their mothers. 'Such a sweet scene' She thought before turning to Shinji curious.
He was smiling at her. "What?"
"You really like kids, don't you." He observed.
She thought for a moment then nodded, "They're always so full of life, it makes me happy to watch them."
"Yeah . . ." Shinji agreed, he took another sip of his drink. "Do you think . . . When this is all over I mean, would you want to adopt a child?" He asked.
Yumi looked at him, she knew that he meant it as a simple question, not something to be read into. "Maybe . . ." Yumi thought, "Maybe one day I would like to adopt a child, I don't know yet if I would be able to do it though."
"I think you would Yumi . . . I think you'll make a great mother some day." She blushed a little at the comment.
"Thank you Shinji kun." She walked up ahead of him with a slight skip in her step, it took him a moment to realize what she had just said. He raced off to catch up, tomorrow was going to be an interesting day.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Rei sat quietly with the Commander in the back of the black Section Two car observing the passing scenery distantly.
"How was your encounter with Lieutenant Ikari?" He asked.
"It was . . . Troubling."
Gendo turned to look at Rei, and paused. She was shuddering softly. "What happened?" Gendo asked,
"The Mark Strife attempted to enter my mind, it tried to force me to bond with it." She whispered, she didn't add what truly frightened her. Rei could suppress the insane soul within Unit-00 but fighting the mind of the Strife had been impossible, the soul within an EVA's core were subject to certain limitations. The Strife was not, and it frightened her. That she could lose her individuality and be changed by it.
"I see . . . I want doctor Akagi to look you over as soon as we return to NERV, understood?"
"Yes sir", Rei replied submissively.
"Good."
The rest of the trip was left mostly in silence, Gendo wondered just how badly troubled Rei had been by whatever she had experienced. Still the experience may at least have provided useful information about the Mark Strife.
"I have another meeting with Lieutenant Ikari this tomorrow afternoon to discuss strategic deployment methods for his machine." Gendo Commented, gritting his teeth at the thought. The final decision of the UN was that NERV and MESSIAH would operate together against the Angels, to act as a further guarantee of success both sides would train and equip to support one another. It agitated Gendo to no end that his little prick of a son was not under his direct authority. But for the moment there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
"We will discuss this occurrence at that time." Gendo continued, placing on hand on Rei's shoulder, the girls eyes grew a little less distant in her reflection.
"Yes sir."
The car stopped before a foreign restaurant, Italian from the sign over the door.
Gendo got out first and helped Rei out. Rei frowned internally as she noted something odd, the Commander seemed to always make a show of anything he did for her to be certain she noticed it. Lieutenant Ikari on the other hand, had, in her encounter with him, done such things as if they only natural and not something to put any great emphasis on. What was his motive for acting thus?
Then again that wasn't the only thing that seemed strange about NERV's two latest arrivals. Shinji was constantly occupied doing calibration checks on the Strife while Yumi had been insistently bothering her. It wasn't that Yumi did anything hurtful, she simple wouldn't leave Rei alone. When she had been released from the hospital this morning she had been given a box of sugarless chocolates, one of the orderlies told her a girl with strange eyes had asked she be given them.
Then there were the constant good lucks and get well soons that the girl chimed off whenever she saw her which had been at least once every day since her arrival. She'd asked even today if Rei had wanted to go with her and Shinji to look around the city. Rei had turned the request down with the minimal amount of politeness she had been taught to show.
The bubble gum haired girl had seemed a bit let down by her refusal but had not bothered her about it. This left Rei in an odd position on how to classify her. Students at her school had tended to bully her when she refused such things, though they had thankfully stopped asking after the first few months. Yumi just seemed to politely accept that she didn't want to go and had left it at that.
Rei didn't like something that she couldn't classify, it was an unknown variable, it frightened her and made her move imperceptibly closer to the Commander. The Commander always knew what to do, no matter what he would always know the best course. That was the center of Rei's faith in him, the total essence of how much she believed in the man she all but worshipped as her creator and protector.
They entered the restaurant and took a seat near a window, both of them ordered quietly and then sat in a state of comfortable silence.
"You are ready for the Activation Tests?"
"Yes sir."
"We are confident Unit-01 will accept you."
"Yes sir."
"And your encounter with Miss Toyama today, what are your impressions of her."
Rei thought about it, she couldn't really tell what her impressions were. "I do not know, she defies classification."
Gendo glanced away from the window. "How so?"
"She attempts to involve me in her activities."
"Such as?"
"She has been present in my hospital room at least twice each day for the last two days, she acted strangely."
"How did she act?"
Rei thought about it for a few moments. "She read to me."
"What did she read to you?" Gendo asked, had the girl contaminated Rei's world view, no she didn't seem particularly bright.
"She read To Kill a Mockingbird, she completed the first four chapters."
"I see, disregard the girl she is of no concern."
"Yes sir . . . And Lieutenant Ikari?"
Gendo considered for a moment, "You will pay close attention to him he is still important to the scenario."
"Yes sir." For some reason Rei felt a strange sensation in her stomach, being near Shinji would most likely mean being near the Strife. 'I believe this is anxiety . . .' Rei thought as she shifted slightly in her seat. She wasn't looking forward to the near future, then Again Rei wasn't a person who could look forward to the distant future either.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Something that many people forgot about Tokyo-3 was that it wasn't just a massive fortress but in fact a fully functioning city with all of them essentials to be a such, including malls, public transit, and of course homes for the families of NERV employees and inevitably their children. Which meant of course that schools were also an important part of the infrastructure. Such as the Toyko-3 Junior High School which Shinji had the unfortunate privilege of now attending.
He and Yumi had gone through the normal rounds of introducing themselves to the class, Yumi being somewhat more energetic than Shinji the affair who now sat considering his situation with a certain strange girl. Rei was . . . to put It frankly the anti Yumi. 'But she's a viable candidate . . .' Shinji considered, if her could just get her to trust the Mark Strife then he could find out what she was capable of.
'But why did she resist it.' Shinji wondered, he'd never had any trouble with the Strife, it was actually kind of comforting, Yumi described it as being something like a mother's embrace when she was piloting the Mark Ziel.
Shinji really couldn't say from experience but it did feel like it was along those lines, the Mark Strife's sole concern was protecting its pilot, in a way it could be said it was his comrade.
In his preoccupation Shinji didn't notice the boy sitting nearby shooting a venomous look at him.
He glanced down curiously as a message appeared on his computer. He listened in on the teachers speech on Second Impact, decided he wasn't going to anything that wasn't already drilled into his head and opened the message box.
You're the one, right? Y/N.
Shinji frowned, he could only think of one thing they would be asking about but how could he be sure they didn't mean something else.
That depends on what you mean.
You're the pilot of that robot, right? Y/N
The message explained more clearly this time, Shinji took a few more moments to consider. Lie . . . Or answer honestly. He'd been given pretty clear instructions not to advertise that he was pilot but the Colonel had told him it wasn't classified under a situation like this. And he from what he could see, even the fact that Rei was an EVA pilot seemed to be an open secret around here.
He finally answered.
Yes.
And immediately regretted the class was in an uproar surrounding his desk in seconds.
Hey, how did you get chosen?
"Did you have to take a test?"
"Weren't you really scared?"
"What's the cockpit look like?"
The Question hammered him in the face, Shinji brushed them aside with the standard its classified until one question he could answer came up.
"Hey, what's the name of that robot?"
"Its called the Mark Strife."
The girl who had asked cocked her head, "Sounds foreign, does it mean something?"
Shinji nodded, "Yeah, Mark would be a way of saying its designation, Mark one, Mark two, etc, but the designers gave it a secondary designation, Strife means a struggle or bitter fight." Shinji explained.
Some of the girls oozed and awed.
Shinji shrugged and did his best to ignore the activity around him until the bell rang. 'Wonder where Rei's run off to, she shouldn't be moving with those bandages still on.' He thought distantly as he headed for the cafeteria.
The boy that had been glaring got up after him.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Rei sat alone beneath one of the trees in the school yard, eating the few pieces of bread she had taken to eat. It was better then nothing and at least quelled her stomach a little.
"Hello Rei!" That same bright voice came from in front of her. She glanced up to see Yumi looking down at her a bright look on her face, starburst retina's set in pale blue eyes sparkled.
"What do want?"
"Would you like me to keep reading this to you?" She asked pulling a book from her satchel. It was the same one she had been reading to her in the hospital. Rei read the printers note at the top.
'The timeless classic about growing up, and the human dignity that unites us all.'
"I can read it myself, there is no need for you to do it for me." Rei said, trying her best to tell the girl to leave, politely.
"But I want to read it to you." She said holding the book up to her face.
Rei cocked her head, "Why?"
"Because I want to be your friend, and friends do nice things for one another, and I want to do something nice for you now." Yumi explained.
Rei paused for a moment, "You wish to be my friend? Why?"
Yumi was a little put off, how could this girl not understand something as simple as companionship? "Because I want to."
"Why do you want to?"
"Because you seem like a nice person."
Rei blinked, she had never done anything to make anyone think of her as a nice person. She really didn't care what others thought of her so she put no effort into being kind to them. 'Then why does it hurt when they all leave me alone?'
"I will be you friend if I am ordered to be." She replied and tried to look away.
Yumi didn't let her, instead the girl sat down next to her and looker her in the eyes. 'We both have strange eyes.' Yumi thought, Rei's though of a normal shape were a blood red. While Yumi's of a normal color had those impossible four pointed starburst retinas sitting in the center of her normal, round, irises.
"Being a friend isn't something you can be ordered to do, Miss Ayanami. I was asking do you want a friend."
Rei didn't say anything for a long time. "Your presence is not a undesirable." She finally said softly.
Yumi brightened at the closest thing Rei had come to an affirmative answer. Rei continued to eat as Yumi opened the book and continued from where she had left off. "My Nagging got the better of Jem eventually . . ."
She kept Reading for some time before Rei received a call on her cell phone. "Yes . . . Yes Ma'am." Rei closed the phone and looked over to Yumi. "We must find Shinji, the Fourth Angel has been detected on its approach."
HHHHHHHHHHHHH
Shinji moved fast with a wiry grace that had made him more dangerous then most would expect in a fight as he dodged the first blow. "What was that for?" Shinji shouted as the large brute of a boy came at him with another strike, and again was avoided.
"Stop that, stand still so I can clock you!" He snarled swinging again and missing. He glanced to the bespectacled boy behind him.
"What's his problem?" Shinji asked as he dodged a fourth blow with little difficulty.
"Yeah, mean isn't he, don't feel bad about it, his little sister was injured in the battle a few days ago."
"What!" Shinji shouted, he was shocked the civilians were all supposed to have evacuated!
The realization froze him long enough for the boy to get in a solid punch, knocking Shinji back. "BECAUSE OF YOU MY LITTLE SISTER IS IN THE HOSPITAL!" The boy snarled.
Shinji ran a hand across his lips and wiped away a bit of blood where the blow had caused him to bite his lip. He lowered his hand, bowed his head, hiding the grief in his eyes behind loose strands of hair.
The boy struck again, and again, Shinji didn't even try to defend himself, didn't even roll with the punches instead allowing each one to land head on. He didn't cry or even grunt in pain accept when the strikes forced the air from his lungs. He just kept his head bowed taking each strike because he deserved them. Shinji felt sick . . . He'd hurt a little kid.
The boy looked at him in discussed as he drew back for another blow. "MR. SUZUHARA WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Shinji slid to the ground one eye swelling shut, blood tricking from his lip where another bruise was forming on his cheek.
Touji looked up in surprise as the Class representative Hikari Horaki, Rei, and that Yumi girl who had entered the school with Shinji came up behind them. "It's nothing." Touji muttered kicking Shinji in the side in disgust.
Hikari knew exactly why he was doing it. "Do you think Shinji could have known about your little sister and how do you know he hurt her. The UN was throwing around all those bombs and missiles, they even dropped an N2 mine!" She pointed out angry.
Yumi cocked her heads at what the Class rep had said. "What do you mean Shinji hurt his little sister?" Yumi asked tugging childishly at Hikari's shoulder. The girl frowned as she turned to Rei and Yumi, she'd helped them find Shinji who'd disappeared during the lunch period. It was fortunate she had, otherwise this infringement may have gone unpunished.
"Touji's little sister was injured during the battle." Kensuke explained again.
"She was hurt really bad." Touji put in angrily, "it's a miracle they found her, they say if they had been an hour later they wouldn't have been able to save her."
Yumi shook her head, backing away slowly. "Shinji sama would never hurt someone!" She cried out.
"Yeah, well he did, and now people are paying for his joy ride, who fights with giant robots in the middle of a city!" Touji snarled contempt in his voice as he looked down at Shinji.
Yumi looked desperately to Shinji hoping that he would get up and tell her it wasn't true. "Shinji?"
He wouldn't even look at her as he rose quietly back to his feet, brushing her jacket off quietly.
Yumi shook her head slowly, backing away with tears in her eyes. Shinji had hurt someone, NO, that couldn't be right! Shinji was a protector of justice, he wouldn't hurt someone . . .
"Shinji, please . . ." She hiccupped softly.
"Yu . . . I . . ."
Yumi turned on her heals and ran before he could say anything else, afraid of what he would say.
Shinji watched her run until she had turned at the edge of the school and disappeared from site.
"Lieutenant Ikari."
"Yeah Ayanami?" Shinji didn't turn to look at Rei still fixed in the direction Yumi had run.
"An Angel has been detected, we are required at NERV." With that Rei turned and began to hobble off, still stiff from her injuries. He nodded after a second and walked after her, leaving three of his fellow class mates to try and understand what they had just seen.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Do you think Yumi will be alright?" Shinji asked Misato as the Mark strife headed towards the lifts. They hadn't been able to modify the strife to marry with the lifts, so they had refitted one of the cages to marry with the Strife, a fairly straightforward arrangement. It was fortunate the machine was approximately the same size as an EVA.
"She seems like a strong girl." Misato pointed out as the Strife reached its docking position.
"If she doesn't head back home after the fighting we'll send Section Two out, ok?"
"That sounds good, thanks Misato." Shinji nodded as the visual link moved off to the side leaving his vision unimpaired.
The diver seat shifted from reclined to a near standing position as Shinji leaned forward to get a good view. The cage locked into position on the launch rails and was rocketed to the surface at a speed that impressed Shinji considering the amount of weight riding on the lift was close to three and a half times over spec.
The lift reached the surface and released the Strife into the city. Shinji took one of NERV's pallet rifles from the weapons building nearby and advanced using basic infantry tactics, the weapon shouldered and at the ready.
"Misato where is that bastard."
"The Angel is in Grid A-14, advancing along the B-7 root . . . Its stopped can you intercept it?"
"Yeah that shouldn't be any . . ." Shinji cursed as a whip like arm shot out from the side of the streets cutting the pallet rifle in two. He jumped back angrily before the whip could recover for another strike.
He stared at the wreckage of the weapon and switched to infrared . . . "FUCK", he cursed, the ruined pallet rifle was glowing white where it had been sliced. "So much for killing it with the pallet rifle." Shinji thought as the creature cut the building he had been hiding behind to pieces revealing itself, long and gruesome it looked something on the order of a flying caterpillar from hell.
"God that things ugly . . ." Shinji thought as he back peddled, not fast enough. The whip like appendage came back about slamming him into a building and burning through the first layer of armor along the Strife's side.
Shinji screamed in pain as the system feed back pumped into him. He forces himself out of the Angel's reach before it could get a hold of him.
"Ok then . . . Armor's just going to slow us down . . ."
-Pain, Agreement-
"Ok." Shinji repeated thumbing in a series of commands with one hand. The white upper body armor blew away in shower of sparks and individual armor pieces revealing the coal black body of the Strife's muscle skeleton.
Misato and Ritsuko watched. "What is he doing?" Ritsuko asked as the Strife raised its fists taking a fighting stance and advanced on the Angel. With its upper body exposed along all but its still white armored head and forearms it reminded Misato of a soldier boxing shirtless.
"He's dropping the extra weight look." They both watched as the Strife charged in, and then danced out of the Angel's reach each blow it landed degraded the AT field a bit further while its own magnetic fields disrupted and stopped the angel from recovering its field.
"That incredible idiot, he's almost got it!" Misato cheered . . . Too early. The Angel, growing fed up with its enemies fast attacks grabbed the Strife's heel with its energy whip and slung the huge machine, with considerable effort down the street towards the hills surrounding Tokyo-3.
Shinji shook his head muzzily as he landed, "What happened?" He wondered, his eyes widened as he saw the two kids laying almost eye level with the Strife's head at the side of an old Shrine. He knew them . . .
"What now!" Ritsuko shouted as she saw Shinji's heart beat spike, biometrics was the only part of the Mark Strife they were being allowed to remotely access so far. That and sensor data.
Misato saw exactly what was wrong, two Students had some how managed to make it out of the shelters.
"Shinji . . . SHINJI, Get those civilians out of there, we'll come up with a new plan when . . ."
Everyone stared as Shinji's attention was drawn to something else, a figure far down on the stone steps leading up to the Shrine. Misato's breath caught as Shinji zoomed the image, Yumi breathing heavily ran up the steps where she had been sitting since she'd run from Shinji at school.
But now she was advancing right toward Shinji, and was dead between Shinji and the Angel.
"Damn it!" Shinji screamed as he snapped out of his shock, he shifted the Strife's head and opened up with all four rotary 255mm cannons, a storm of casings streamed from the machines sleek head as it sent its entire compliment of over five hundred HEAP shells down range right into the Angel's weakened but still functioning AT field.
It didn't do much at this range, not with AT field still up. Yumi had frozen eyes wide halfway up the steps just as the Angel slung its whip around. The last thing she saw was the whip crushing and cutting down trees in a wide swath heading right for her, then the world exploded in light.
-EXT PWR ACT-
"YUMI" Shinji screamed as he withdrew the Strife's revolver cannon from its holster, more a sawed off battleship gun and fired off all six enormous rounds, nearly deafening Kensuke and Touji as they flattened themselves out against the ground, hands clenched tight over their ears.
He watched a small smoldering speck trace a shallow arc up the mountanside and into the side of the shrine forty meters away. Kensuke and Touji ducked down as debris sprayed everywhere.
"No . . ." Shinji whispered softly as the Angel advanced on him, the last round finally dropped the AT field but the Angel didn't seem to care, the revolver dropped uselessly as the tears came.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
-SYSTEM DEFENSE MODE BOOT STRAP-
SYSTEM CHECK-
Rmt Lnk 100 Operational
Prm Sns 56 Sensors degraded due to overload.
CNS 72 CNS Degraded due to overload.
Rt. Arm 78 Damage due to impact
Lf. Arm 58 Damage due to impact Rt. Leg 89 Damage due to impact
Lf. Leg 82 Damage due to impact SNS 88 Damage due to overload
EM Affector 71 Damage due to overload
Autonomous Decision Tree Matrix Boot Strap . . .
Identity Core Stored in Non Volatile Memory . . . 89 . . . 92 . . . 97 . . . 100
Identity Core Backup Complete . . .
Secondary Nervous System Going to Autonomous Mode . . . Remote Link with Mark Ziel established . . .
Mark Ziel Activated, releasing Grid Tap safeties . . .
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"MASSIVE ELECTRO MAGNETIC SPIKE DETECTED!" Maya shouted.
"Unknown phenomena occurring in proximity to the Mark Strife."
Misato and Ritsuko had enough time to wonder what the hell was going on before everything went to hell . . . For the Angel that was.
Kensuke Aida turned his face and camera slowly to the wreckage of the temple where Yumi's arm lay out from beneath a sizeable piece of rubble. He started back as the hand twitched in his camera's eyepiece, he looked up from his camera at the scene. The broken remains of the temple wall began to shift slowly as Yumi stood back up, fit to terrify even Gendo, her face was covered in coal black from the vaporized carbon, and her retinas had slitted down into a pair of crosses, almost like a pair of crossed cat's retinas.
Most startling was the way her hair now glowed and shifted through a pattern of light like molten rock, dull reds, oranges, and yellows, Kensuke swore that the hairs themselves were probably as hot as the magma their color resembled.
It was unclear when the growling started but it slowly rose to a yell as Yumi charged straight towards the Angel, the whip came back around, and with impossible speed attempted to bat Yumi aside. The angel had not accounted for the grace and balance that Yumi, currently running on the single minded instinct to KILL it, possessed. The whips temperature had been lowered when the Angel used it to sling the Mark Strife halfway across the city, it was still hot enough to have made steel glow red, but at least it was manageable as Yumi ran straight along the whip.
Shamshiel, sick of its opponent's antics flicked its whip sending Yumi high into the air.
Everyone watched what came next. "EM spike is increasing Maya announced deep within Central Dogma as Yumi attacked.
Affectors were amazing devices, allowing a general manipulation of magnetic fields within a small area around the user. Though energy and computer intensive to use they were veritable Swiss Army knives when it came to tricky situations, anything from creating a barrier out of ionized and suspended air molecules, to flight via repelling off the earths magnetic field, to generating a powerful plasma beam.
The air seemed to shimmer around Yumi as she was suspended high above her target, the Angel starred up at her trying to understand how its target had suddenly defied gravity. That pause as it assessed the situation was fatal, the air around Yumi was pulled in and compressed tightly by her own internal affector arra,y powered by a remote tap. Air was ionized then excited into a plasma state.
Shamshiel seemed to realized what was coming and lifted off once more to destroy its opponent before she attacked. It didn't get the chance, the super-compressed and ionized air collected along each hand spread wide as Yumi brought her hands together accelerating the stream of ions down range at her target. The beam lanced against the Angels core, splintering the outer shell but failing to penetrate deeply. Still the surprise and pain the attack caused combined with its inability to brace in midair sent the ungainly creature into a back roll right into the mountain side.
The Angel was left sprawled out on the ground as the true form of its tormenter emerged from the earth in much the same way as the Mark Strife had appeared in the EVA cages leaving no evidence of its passing.
The Second Generation machine was slightly shorter and slimmer with a forest camo pattern instead of the solid colors of either the EVA's or the Mark Strife. It carried an enormous rifle slung over its shoulder, and a pair of boneless appendages draped over its arms to fall past its waist like a ridiculous scarf or perhaps draped wings, attaching at a thick collar directly over the main limbs.
"What is that!" Ritsuko shouted glancing to Misato, neither woman had an answer. But they could guess, a moment later their guess was confirmed as Shinji whispered two words over the radio.
"Mark . . . Ziel."
The Angel got itself back off the ground rearing up high to attack this new target with its energy whips. The Mark Ziel moved under remote mode shifting two a kneeling position, the two limbs hanging useless over its shoulders became active as their hydraulics drove them rigid and they began to move, the machine unlimbered the massive 50 Inch rifle, a gun on the order of three times larger then the largest battleship cannon every cast.
The two big limbs accepted the brunt of the weight as the machines smaller more to proportion arms loaded the first shell and took careful aim mimicking the grip of the larger arms on the weapon, the whips came around intent on catching the machine before it could fire. Shinji realized what was going to happen and brought the Strife's hands down protectively over the two frightened boys.
His fingers flew across the keyboard, entering a command to ionize the air around the strife and suspend it to along the machines frontal arc, generating a barrier against the what was to come next.
The Mark Ziel fired . . .
For a second everything seemed out of place, there was flash, silence . . . and then a thunderous crack and roar as the round went down range less then half a mile, and right through the core of the Angel, severing its upper and lower body halves in one fell swoop.
The shockwave leveled most of the trees for a quarter smile, splintered stones immediately around the Mark Ziel, stripped trees all the way down the mountain and leveled the shrine before blasting across the Tokyo-3 cityscape, shattering windows and finally burrowing itself into the side of Mt. Funteko in miniature mushroom clouds. The only living things left on that mountainside were Shinji, Touji, Kensuke . . .
-EXT PWR DCT-
"SHINJI SAMA!"
And Yumi. Shinji looked up as the proximity alarm toned. Yumi was falling in a semi controlled decent right towards the huge machine, a quartet of wings stretched from her back glowed softly as her affector vented excess heat into the air.
Shinji swung one of the Strife's hands back up catching Yumi and cupping her gently between the machines armored digits, the wings faded from existence as her affector released its control over the ionized and suspended air molecules.
She was covered in a carbon, and half naked from where her uniform had been shredded, incinerated, and ripped apart after being used as a haci sac by the Angel, but she was alive.
"I DID IT SHINJI SAMA!" She shouted, "I BEAT AN ANGEL TOO!"
Shinji blinked his shoulders sagging in disbelief at Yumi, who now sat waving and bouncing in the Strife's cupped hand, less then an hour ago she had been in a state of morose depression, now she was back to her cheerful self . . . More so.
"She's a complete nut bar, a total gooney bird." He said to himself before starting to laugh and cry all at once, not even thinking that his link to Central Dogma was still wide open. Misato and Ritsuko starred at the girl waving and laughing on the main screen.
"Did you know she could do that?" Ritsuko asked stupidly.
Misato shook her head slowly. "Didn't know I had a roommate that could stop an Angel long enough for a giant robot to come and blow it to hell."
"Just wanted to be sure, well Captain, this is another thing to put on my report . . ."
'Behind the report on the 3rd Angel, the Mark Strife, and now the 4th Angel.'
Misato started out of her shock long enough to shout down to the bridge bunnies. "Get a Section Two Unit out there to retrieve those kids . . . All of them."
It was good the Commander wasn't present Misato thought as she descended from the command level. She didn't think she would have wanted to explain this fiasco . . . God she was going to have a Yebisu when she got home.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"Who would have thought that girl was an android." Misato thought aloud as she watched Maya Ibuki on the screen assaulting the carbon scoring that had covered most of Yumi's body with a high pressure hose and several soaps that were more akin to industrial solvents.
"Bioroid" Shinji corrected.
"Meaning?"
"With the exception of her affectors and a few other systems she was designed to have implanted within her body she's essentially a living organism, or so similar to a living organism as to make no difference . . ." Shinji recited.
"He's right, we're through with our preliminary studies, and its hard for us to tell what's organic and what's artificial in her." Ritsuko chimed in.
"So why was she, built or born or whatever?" Misato asked.
"Lets just say that that's classified." Shinji replied. "By classified I mean I have no clue . . ."
"But you knew she was a bioroid?" Misato asked.
"I did."
"And you didn't think it was important to tell us?"
"MESSIAH has its secrets, you have yours." Shinji pointed out.
"That's not the same," Misato countered as she slammed a hand down on the table before her. "You brought an unsecured weapon with you that could threaten the security of this facility, Shinji!"
Misato swore Shinji's eyes had changed to a storm gray when he turned to face her, "Yumi is not a weapon." He said quietly.
"It's a bit late to stop him from bringing unsecured weapons into NERV, Captain" Ritsuko pointed out. "And your seriously over estimating her power. It might seem impressive that she could damage the angel, but after studying the video footage I can say for sure that other then stunning it she did only superficial damage to the core. It was that rifle that finished the Angel off . . ."
Misato looked angrily at Ritsuko and then turned back to the screen. "So . . . Does this change anything Misato?" Shinji asked.
She sighed, "I guess it doesn't. You and Yumi are still my roommates assuming the Commander doesn't order me to kick you out."
"I'll find out about that this evening, I have a meeting with the grand old bastard of NERV before I head home and I somehow doubt he's going to be happy about today's events."
Ritsuko and Misato nodded, "Oh, I do have one request Shinji, do you have that Uniform you wore to the staff meeting here?"
"Hmmm, Yeah I left it in the locker room, I don't have much use for a plug suit so I decided to keep it here, since it's the only place I'll be using it why?"
"Would you mind coming with me to debrief those your classmates."
Shinji looked down for a moment and shook his head, "I would rather not . . . I don't think I can face one of them right now . . . Sorry Misato."
"That's okay Shinji, I can handle it without our illustrious Lieutenant." She said rubbing his hair lightly, ever since Misato had seen him dress down a UN Colonel she had taken any chance to tease him about his official rank.
"Misato, please!" He whined slightly as his face turned beet read. He was already learning that his new co-worker, roommate, and Guardian was a bit of an odd one.
He turned back to the screen as Maya began on another heavy round of scrubbing. Misato and Ritsuko realized something.
"SHINJI WHAT ARE YOU DOING WATCHING THIS!"
Shinji blinked, "Well its not like I haven't seen Yu naked before . . ." He glanced back and forth between the queer looks Misato and Ritsuko gave him.
"Believe me, when your trying to cram in everything MESSIAH had on your schedule you learned to do away with the niceties of a changing room." Shinji zoned out remember hoping back into his street clothes as he ran down the halls of MESSIAH's Kyoto base after going through a dress inspection in order to get home in time for his cello lessons.
Both women blinked, Misato did perhaps the first mature thing she had ever done for Shinji, she gently guided him out of the room. Shacking her head as she closed the door.
"Well, he's full of surprises" Ritsuko chuckled softly.
"That may explain why he hasn't been freaked out by my advances. I don't know how I feel about that."
Ritsuko just kept smiling as she watched Maya finally satisfied with her work help Yumi dry off.
"Oh it's not that bad Misato . . . After all he probably has some experience."
Misato in the middle of sipping from a cup of coffee promptly spit the black liquid out again, all over the video monitor they had been observing Yumi on. "WHAT!"
Ritsuko smiled behind her clipboard as she turned back to observe the proceedings, it was amazing how much fun it was to catch Misato off balance.
"Still . . . I'm a bit worried about Shinji's bio metrics, it seems that the presence of his class mates on the battlefield had a strong adverse affect on him." Ritsuko commented, becoming more professional.
"A weight . . ." Misato thought to herself. "I think Yumi said it best, he'd rather suffer then let anybody else have to take the pain."
"That could be his problem . . . He's got a hero complex. Or maybe hedgehogs dilemma."
"What, you mean those little animals with the prickly hair?"
"Yes, the hedgehogs have the problem that in order to get close to another hedgehog they hurt each over in the process with their spines, I think Shinji may be manifesting the dilemma in an unusual way, he'd would rather suffer and take the pain to keep others safe so they won't be the ones hurting him. He'd rather the pain come from a third party and not be something brought upon him by other people who wants to be close to."
"So, he deludes himself so that he can accept that pain of being close to people? That seems kind of harsh."
"Not quite, he'd just rather take the more painful road so it won't be the people he cares for hurting him."
Misato looked back at the door, "Then . . . I hope . . . He can get through this . . ."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"You failed to inform us of your Subordinates . . . Abilities." Gendo remarked.
Shinji stood before him in his school uniform, "I did not think it important at the time . . ."
"It is now . . ."
"How about we just get down to what this little meeting is supposed to be about." Shinji stated quietly, removing a palm computer from his jacket and sliding it across to Gendo. "These are the basic plans of operation being laid out for the deployment of the Mark Strife, Mark Ziel, and Unit-01 in combat operations. I hope you will find them satisfactory."
Shinji said politely.
Gendo activated the small computer and ran through the list on it. "I have been informed . . . That a sizeable convoy has been detected leaving the Kyoto area." Gendo said as he placed the palm top back on his desk.
"That would be our maintenance section, they should be here by tomorrow morning." Shinji noted.
Gendo nodded, he'd received the intelligence on this sudden movement mere hours ago. The GSDF seemed to have known about it judging by their like of reaction, which suggested that MESSIAH had connections with them. To make things worse, the convoy had moved out under a wide area satellite jamming event which meant ties in the US airforce were quite likely. It also meant that NERV still had no idea of MESSIAH's precise location other then in the Kyoto region.
Gendo filed this information away, each time MESSIAH made a move he collected a little more data about them. Eventually they would have enough to build a complete picture of what they faced. The trick was to do it before they ran out of time.
"That is satisfactory." Gendo finally said. "Arrangements have been made to house the equipment and Mark Units in the underground warehouse section, it is in close proximity to the lift system and EVA cages which should prove sufficient."
Shinji nodded, "I thank you again . . . And there is one other things I wished to bring up."
"Speak of it."
"It has to do with your Pilot, Rei Ayanami . . ."
Gendo did not react externally but allowed Shinji to continue. "I believe she may be a viable Pilot Candidate for the Mark Strife . . . I would like to suggest she undergo training in the Unit to guarantee a back up pilot in the Case that I am incapacitated as Yumi now has the Mark Ziel to pilot."
Gendo nodded, "Pilot Ayanami has already informed me of events involving the Mark Strife, she seems greatly disturbed by it."
"That doesn't surprise me . . . She resisted the Mark Strife's attempts to bond with her so bad that her cross interference spiked through the roof."
"Explain."
Shinji shifted as he considered how much he should say, "When a Pilot is in a Mark Unit the system accepts commands through receptors and gives basic information like surface pressure, touch, through transmitters in the diver pod to improve a pilots awareness. Ayanami resisted and caused the system to interfere with her own nervous system . . ."
"I see."
Gendo weighed the option, if Rei trained with the Mark Strife it could damage her mind, in which case the Third would have to be activated. On the other hand if she succeeded she would doubtless glean information on the operation of the machine, information that could prove useful . . . And . . . It allowed Gendo to at least start to bring the scenario back on track.
"I will allow her to go through training to operate the Mark Strife under the condition that you begin Synchronization training with Unit-01 after Rei's activation tests."
Shinji seemed to consider it for a moment. "If that is your decision Commander Ikari, then I accept it."
"Very well, you may begin training Pilot Ayanami at the end of the week. You will be given an hour each day."
"Yes sir."
"That is all Lieutenant."
Shinji saluted, and turned smartly on his heals heading for the door.
As it closed Gendo locked it remotely and considered the situation, Chairman Keele was awaiting him on a private line. There was much to speak of concerning today's events, but Doctor Akagi seemed confident that if need be Rei would be able to neutralize girl she wasn't that much of a threat on her own.
Much would need to be done in the coming weeks. It was worrying that the Angel had come so quickly but the scrolls had some leeway on the arrival of the fourth, ranging from as little as three days, to as long as three weeks, apparently it had been the former. (A/N had to make an excuse for the messed up timing I was nearly done with this chapter when I realized, so sorry for being lazy)
It was worrying, the timescales had been designed to be adjusted around the leeway given for the Angel's attacks but it hadn't been designed to adjust for another external variable as well.
Thought the situation was not without its advantages. The UN had been much quieter about NERV's funding as well as giving Gendo a little more elbow room. He smirked. It was ironic that the pride of UN officials that would have worked against him under other circumstances was now lining the UN up on his side.
After all NERV was still a UN organization, and if the UN didn't like it, they at least looked out for their own. The Honor and Pride of the UN armed peacekeeping forces was on the line with the presence of MESSIAH, they had to save face, and the only way to save face was through NERV, whether they liked it or not.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Misato drove at a more subdued pace then usual as Shinji sat starring out the passenger side window. Yumi was in the back, curled up asleep in a NERV uniform three sizes too big for her borrowed from Lieutenant Ibuki, with Shinji's jacket laid out over her. Shinji had explained that even with her tap into the Mark Ziel's power supply she had likely redlined her physical capabilities in that strike, it wasn't like she was phenomenally tougher then a normal human being.
She'd be out for a good ten or twelve hours. Now however Misato was more concerned about Shinji, he'd grown more distant after the battle. After hearing the story from Yumi she could guess why, and that was why they were going to make a little detour on their way home.
Shinji seemed to notice and commented on the change in their rout. "They're's something really special I want to show you, its really cool." Misato replied giggling slightly as they came to a stop near a low hill, it was getting on to later afternoon by now.
She dragged Shinji from the car so he could see the city from a good angle. "It seems so empty . . ." He noticed, sounding sad.
"Just watch, its almost time."
Almost time for what Shinji soon found out.
"The buildings . . . They're moving!" He whispered watching as the city rose to reveal its true form. Sky scrapers, apartments, office buildings, all were revealed now as the danger of the day passed and Shinji got his first truly GOOD look of the City.
"Woooow, That really is something."
"Isn't it just . . . This is Tokyo-3 Shinji . . . This is our home. And now you and Yumi have saved it twice."
Shinji grew distant again. "I saved it but . . ."
"You saved that little girl too Shinji." Misato added. He stiffened noticeably. They were both quiet for a long time, "I should have . . ."
"Should have what, Shinji?" Misato asked.
Shinji shook his head. "Its nothing."
'I should have done better . . .'
HHHHHHHHHHHH
Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara sat watching the rain begin to fall later that evening. "We got chewed out good." Touji commented as he sat next to his friend playing a fighting game in Kensuke's room.
"Yeah . . . And they confiscated my film too." Kensuke chimed in, sounding surprisingly depressed. "And Yumi was incredible!"
"Nobody would believe you even with footage." Touji pointed out.
"I don't know if I believe it myself, who would have thought we had an android AND a giant robot pilot going to our school!"
Touji shook his head in disbelief. "Remember how Shinji looked when he got out of his robot?" Kensuke asked.
"Yeah, what about it?" He really didn't want to think anything about that idiot.
"He looked like he was going to cry when he hugged Miss Toyama."
Touji snorted, "He was probably trying to fondle her." He dismissed it.
"I don't know . . ." Kensuke commented. "They seem pretty close, has it occurred to you how Shinji may have felt if he lost someone important to him?"
"But she wasn't in danger, she's a freaking machine!" Touji shouted.
Kensuke shook his head, "I don't think even Shinji expected her to survive that, so I'd still rate it as a minor miracle. And think how he looked after he found out your sister got hurt, if he can fight on foot like he does with his giant robot then you wouldn't have even scratched him. Maybe you should think about that instead of pounding his face in next time."
Touji snorted.
"He might of hurt your little sister . . . But couldn't even more people have been hurt if he didn't fight?"
Touji was quiet for a long time instead focusing on working up a combo attack with his big brute of a fighter, against Kensuke's character, a tiny skimpily dressed girl with what looked like a super sized hoolahoop of doom.
He almost had Kensuke when the bespectacled boys chick character threw her hoolahoop cutting his character in half in an over animated mass of blood and gore.
Touji tossed the controller to the floor in disgust.
Kensuke looked at him, then got up and grabbed something from a drawer next to his computer. He handed Touji a piece of paper.
"What this?"
"Its Shinji's address, maybe you should go talk to him."
Touji looked up at his friend irritably, "Look, I have to go home okay Ken?"
"That's fine."
Touji headed out the door. Kensuke smiled, he'd seen Touji pocket the address.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
"And have our friends in the US done as requested?" The man asked.
"Yes, selective availability even was placed on all GPS satellites, as well as a forty minute blanket jamming of all orbiting satellites over Kyoto at the time." The woman replied shifting. "Don't you think we're calling in a lot of favors."
"We're investing them towards our final confrontation."
"Do you think it was wise to allow the Mark Ziel to go as well."
"Could we have stopped it?"
"No."
"Then why try, anyways its not like it would be much use without its pilot."
"True, but we can at least be sure of the pilots safety after tomorrow."
"Yes. Tanaka and Rico can handle this I'm sure." The man paused, turning to his companion. "you look troubled."
"I just don't know how I feel about those two."
"They're very attached to the children, and vice versa."
"That's why they were reassigned in the first place!"
"I believe we have already had this discussion, and like I have said before I think it best for everyone's sake that they be there. You know those two are the closest things either Yumi or Shinji have to father figures."
"What about you!" The man paused, "Unfortunately I cannot allow myself to become so attached, I wish I could but I can't."
"Sir . . ."
"Regardless I trust the judgment of both Tanaka and Rico, the children will be safe . . . All of them."
"Yes . . . But even so."
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Sorry, that should be it for new powers and abilities since the Mark Fear won't be appearing until Much, MUCH later in the story and Tanaka and Rico are it for new characters so only five original characters in a massively altered world, not too shabby!
And I promise After thisthe EVA's will have a much more prominent role again though with the change that Rei will be piloting Unit-01 I figure Yui will accept her as her daughter in Spirit at least.
I'm also going to point out now, that though Yumi did just stun an Angel this in no way makes her all that powerful. She hit an Angel with its ATfield down, dead center on its core with about the same energy as a pallet rifle round. Impressive but not amazing. She also can only do little things like that in proximity to the Mark Ziel since she has to tap into its power grid to use her affector's full power. Otherwise her affector is of minimal usefulness, think a Swiss army knife.
Now for specs.
MESSIAH MECHA
Designation: Mark Ziel, 2nd Generation Production Unit.
Height: 40.5 Meters.
Weight: 1700 tons.
Power: Internal Cold Fusion Reactor, Grid Tap Copied from Mark Fear.
Internal Weapons: 255mm Auto cannons.
External weapons: MESSIAH heavy Assault Rifle, MESSIAH2000 Caliber "20 inch"Revolver Cannon, MESSIAH2500 Caliber "25 inch"Hybrid Sniper Rifle, Messiah High Energy Particle Cannon, Vibration Knife.
Equipment: AI core, EM affector, Sniper SupportArms.