Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, support official release
Central Dogma
"Approximately three minutes ago, Mauna Kea Observatory detected the target in high orbit," Hyuga reports, typing onto his terminal as Misato watches steadily, arms crossed with a slight glare in her eyes.
"We have a visual of the target, patching in through from Surveillance Satellite 3." Shigeru stated, looking from his screen to the far wall screen. Everyone's gasps at what's on screen: a black sphere with fast moving eye-like patterns moving all across its form.
"It has an A.T. Field strong enough to bend light. That's unbelievable." Misato murmured, looking at Ritsuko and Maya. "What's the estimated point of impact?"
"Do you really have to ask that?" Ritsuko questioned.
"Yeah, right… Us…."
"From what the MAGI has estimated, the probability of a direct hit on NERV is over 99%." Maya explained, turning to Misato who now had a look of worry mixed with fear. A few minutes later, the feed from Satellite 3 reveals several satellites firing N2 aerial mines at the Angel's body, but are deflected by its A.T. Field.
"N2 aerial mines had no effective damage." Hyuga stated, sighing as he took his seat. He, along with Shigeru, Maya, Ritsuko and Misato are having a meeting on a touchscreen-like table littered with notes.
The table is shoving the live feed from the satellite, with numerous designations and locations of impact.
"It's focusing its A.T. Field to a single concentrated point. What's more is that it accumulates energy as it descends." Maya states, a diagram of the Angel's sphere shows its A.T. Field converging at the center.
us.
"So the Angel ITSELF is the bomb." Misato finalized.
"If it scores a direct hit, the results will be catastrophic. Based on our projections, The blast diameter is over 400,020."
"Tokyo-3 will be completely vaporized along with the GeoFront, leaving us completely exposed." Hyuga points out.
"What about Commander Ikari?" Misato turned to Shigeru.
"We've had no luck contacting him. The Angel's A.T. Field is disrupting all of our comm signals." Shigeru states.
"Perfect," Misato sighed, glaring at the feed of the Eighth Angel before standing upright. "We're on our own, but will still have to work fast. Contact the Japanese government as well as all of the ministries; under NERV's authority, we're issuing protocol D-17. Evacuate all civilians within a 20 kilometer radius."
"That's easy enough. Government officials are already running." Shigure remarks. At the same time, everyone is seen evacuating the city in different ways, in car, plane and boat while the skyscrapers began to descend underground, locking in place at the roof of the GeoFront.
"Evacuation of all civilians has been completed. Evacuation of all noncombatant and Class C workers has been completed in accordance with directive C."
"Matsushiro base has agreed to back up the MAGI." Maya states though Misato is just staring in thought.
"So what's the plan, Misato?" Ritsuko asked.
"Aerial combat is out of the question since the EVA's can't fly."
"And there's too much spatial distortion to successfully attempt sniping."
"So what other options do we have against a monster like this?" Hyuga asks.
A few minutes later, she and Misato were now in cargo transfer and storage. "You're really serious about this idea?" Ritsuko stated, making it the tenth time she's asked this question. "You do realize what this is going to do to you."
"Most definitely." Misato replied.
"We know next to nothing about this machine. Just because it managed to defeat one Angel doesn't mean it'll be able to defeat this one; it doesn't even have an A.T. Field to counter the Angel's." Ritsuko states.
"He can do it, I know he can." Misato tells her colleague.
"You're putting a lot of faith in an enigma. The commander wouldn't be happy that you're relying on him." Ritsuko warns her. The man is already crossed by the fact he's even here and he won't be exactly pleased that he's now defeating the Angels. "Can you even call this a plan? The MAGI predicts this plan of yours only has a 00.01% chance of pulling it off. Even with success, we could risk losing three EVAs. As Chief Engineer, I find that unacceptable." Ritsuko glances at Misato's back. "Be reasonable, it would take a miracle to pull this off. We should focus our efforts on protecting Lilith and Unit-01."
"I am being realistic. We're going to create our own miracle." Misato stated sternly, looking away from Ritsuko with annoyance.
"Colonel Katsuragi, you can't be serious!" Ritsuko finally yelled in anger, infuriated that her own friend would make such a bold statement.
Misato simply glanced back in anger, speaking with irritated malice. "I am the Commanding Officer here, it's my decision." She states with annoyance in her tone, feeling a breeze of wind as the cargo transport passed by fast. "Furthermore, it's my job to annihilate the Angels at all costs."
"Your job? You mean your grudge." Ritsuko sharply remarks, while her friend simply stands there. "You're risking everything for your vendetta."
NERV Cargo Transfer Station
"WHAT?!" Asuka cries out.
"Let me get this straight, you want to use the Weltall to CATCH the Angel while it descends." Adam asked, perplexed, making sure that Misato was either drunk or half-asleep. The three EVA pilots had met up in NERV's Transfer Station, which as the name implies serves to transport food and special cargo to certain points around NERV and the GeoFront. "Are you sure you're not, you know, drunk or something?"
"Hey, I've only had one can of beer today so I'm completely sober." Misato answered, causing everyone to give her a deadpan look. She gestures to the EVAs being moved to separate cargo train rails. "You're going to directly stop the Angel while it's in the air while the EVAs will serve as your back up."
"That's going to be a little difficult." Adam admits. "From what you've said, it seems the Angel is generating a gravity field that's strong enough to bend light itself; it's essentially a self-contained black hole." He explains. "Weltall's Distortion Field should be able to withstand the intense gravity for about a few minutes before it gets crushed."
"We don't need you to stop it, we just need you to slow it down long enough until we finish preparing on the ground." Misato tells him. "Because the target's coordinates are scrambled, we can't accurately calculate its point of impact. In order to narrow the field of possibility, all three EVAs will be launched simultaneously at different locations."
"Listen, I can destroy this thing on my own. I don't need any of their help!" Asuka yells out.
"That's impossible. The projected area is too vast for one EVA to cover it." Misato explained.
"How do you know where to place us?" Rei asked the obvious question.
"Woman's intuition." Misato replies.
'Seriously, that's what you're going for!?' Adam thought.
"Oh that's reliable." Asuka grumbles.
"What's the chance of success?" Shinji asks.
"You don't wanna know." Misato tells him.
"In other words, we're fucked." Adam remarks.
Asuka huffs. "And yet you insist that I work with these deadweights. I've proven that I can take an Angel on my own!"
"Will you just put your pride aside for 5 minutes!? Not everything is about you, Princess!" Adam yells out.
"Why you little-!?"
"The success of this mission is going to require more than just your combat expertise." Misato explained.
Asuka glares at her guardian. "So that's how little you think of me."
"That's not it." Misato tells her. "I need all four of you to make this miracle happen. We've only got one shot at this."
Adam sits on Weltall's main console, hands tightly gripping the controls. He wasn't sure what Misato was thinking, catching the Angel while it descended though granted she was desperate. They have never before encountered an Angel like this, slowly falling down and destroying everything once it touches down. It was scary… but this plan of Misato's was downright crazy!
"Adam, do you read me?" Misato calls out through the comms. "We are sending you the estimated trajectory of the Angel. You must delay it long enough for the EVAs to take positions."
"Easier said than done." I grumble.
"Well then you better put your all in this." Misato tells him. "Blast off!"
The Weltall's engines come to life and blast into the sky. "Target has entered the Mesosphere." Shigure states as the ship goes above the clouds. Eventually, the black sphere of the 8th Angel comes into view.
"Here goes nothing." The Weltall transforms into its robot form. "Activating Distortion Field!" The mech is surrounded in a transparent bubble as it flies closer to the Angel. A pull suddenly overtakes the Weltall as it is drawn into the Angel. "I'm caught in this thing's gravity field, the barrier is holding but I don't know for how long." The Weltall extends its arms and places them on the Angel's darkened surface. "Full power to the thrusters!" The back thrusters burst with power as it manages to slow down the 8th Angel.
At the same time, everyone can see what is happening from Central Dogma.
"Target's descent has slowed down by 23%." Hyuga reports.
"How long do you think he can keep this up?" Ritsuko asks.
Misato doesn't answer and simply stares at the screen. "What's the status of the EVAs?"
"They're on their way. They should reach the rendezvous point in 5 minutes." Maya replies
Alarms begin ringing everywhere as the Distortion Field begins to fail. "Arrgh, the gravity field's too strong! The Weltall can't take much more!" As the mech's shield begins to fail, the Angel's sphere-like form begins to disassemble into an array of bright cyan hexagons patterned into a shield gaining more speed in the process.
Adam is surprised, no one told him the Angel could do that!
"Target's A.T. Field is morphing, it's changing course!" Shigure states.
"Estimated impact now adjusted to 205!"
"Target's accelerating!"
"Sneaky bastard…" Misato mutters under her breath.
"It's moving faster than they predicted." Asuka cries out of concern. "There's no way I'm gonna make it in time!"
"Look, just leave it to me!" Shinji calls out and turns to his comms. "Misato!"
"Raise up the blast shields 605 to 705!" Misato ordered.
"Right!" Hyuga types the commands on his terminal.
On cue, multiple curving blast shields rise up as the EVA rushes them. The shield gives the purple EVA a fast 180 back to the city.
"Next 1027 to 1078, double time!" Block-like buildings rise up as Unit-01 rushes up to them like a staircase. The Test-Type EVA moves faster and faster before a mach cone forms in front of the EVA as it completely breaks the sonic barrier. The resulting sonic boom blows away nearly everything it passes through.
The Angel begins to shift once more. The hexagons shift apart and fly away, with the Weltall caught in one of them.
"Aahhhhhh!" Adam screams as the mech spins out of control.
Red lines of energy appear as the Angel's body breaks apart. The sphere spins for a second in the air, opening and revealing an amoebic form. Concentric circles of rainbow colors continue to flow from the central "eye" connecting on either side to 2 five appendages resembling wings with sharp spikes on top of it. Spike-like angels unfolded from behind the rim of the center body, with a horde of vaguely humanoid "feathers" unfurling on the arms. Behind the center connection is a red halo, showing that it is in fact an Angel like its predecessors.
"Target morphing. Distance: 12,000!" Shigure states, fear etched in his voice. "My god, it's huge!"
Unit-01's feet sleeved into a stop, its pilot doing all he could to slow down, he is now face to face with the Angel. "A.T. FIELD MAX POWER!" The A.T. Field powers up, pushing everything around it away. Unit-01 raises its arms to hold the A.T. Field though as he did the Angel's center opens and out comes a giant humanoid with a bird-like mask giving a screech as it extends its arms. It reaches out and grabs Unit-01's hands with a tight grip before they spin into a pair of sharp helical spears piercing Unit-01's hands.
"AHHHHHH!" Shinji screams out as the LCL bubbles in his hands, overwhelmed by the pain. "Bastard…!"
Sahaquiel stares down at Unit-01, eyes flashing with power. However, just before it can attack, a metal fist flies in and punches the Angel in the face.
Shinji turns and sees the Weltall next to him. "I'm not finished with you!" Adam roars through the comms. The artillery guns line up and fire at the Angel, destroying its grotesque head. It raises its arms to hold the Angel's A.T. Field, "MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE!" The Weltall's engines magnify in strength as the Angel is slowly pushed upwards.
"I'm almost there!" Asuka said as Unit-02 closes in on them.
"Unit-02 get the core-"
"I know goddammit!" Unit-02's shoulder pylons open revealing two progressive knives. "And don't you dare give me orders!" Asuka pulls out the knives and rushes at the Angel cutting its A.T. Field but as it tries to stab the core it begins to spin rapidly. "What the!? The damn thing's spinning around!" She looks at her battery life. "30 seconds left!"
Above the Angel, its humanoid appendages open revealing red eyes with white pupils in their centers. Its red halo pulses in the air and encroaches before disappearing, propelling itself further to crush these nuisances.
Unit-01's arms are literally tearing into ribbons as it tries to keep the Angel in place while the Weltall's feet sink deeper into the ground. "Hurry up Asuka!"
"I'm trying dammit!" The core keeps spinning rapidly, unable to stay in one place. Suddenly a pair of hands appear and grab the core revealing them to be Unit-00. "Where did you come from!?"
Rei lets out painful moans as the superheated core burns through her hands. "Hurry…!"
"Asuka!" Shinji finished.
"NOW!"
"Shut up all of you!" Asuka finally has enough, she charges into the air and stabs the core with one knife and then the other. The core begins to grow as if ready to burst. "JUST DIE!" Unit-02 pulls its leg up and knees the blades deeper into the core and splits into two. Sahaquiel's body gently descended across the mountains, its rainbow-colored lining fading out along with whatever life it has. A moment of silence later, the spikes and "angels" on its appendages recede before exploding into a sea of blood.
Blood trails everywhere, traveling as far as Tokyo-03, sending buildings down and anything not larger than a building is swept in the red tsunami along with the group.
Unit-01 is seen resting on top of a building, its arms practically gone. Unit-00 is seen resting on top of Unit-02 and the Weltall crashes to the side of the mountains covered in blood.
"Well…" Adam sighs overlooking the resulting destruction of the city. "Another happy day, right?"
"I never thought I'd say this but… I could really go for a beer right now." Shinji states.
"Amen to that…" Adam praises and the two laugh.
Central Dogma
Misato lets out a heavy sigh, feeling a beat of sweat running down her face. They were this close to failing the mission. 'Thank God for knives.'
"Communications are back up. Incoming call from Commander Ikari." Shigure said, looking at Misato.
"Patch them through." A hologram with the words "SOUND ONLY" appears in front of her, the name registering as "Vice Commander Fuyutsuki". Misato straightens up. "My apologies, commander. Because of my decisions, we've sustained heavy damage. Not only to the EVAs but the pilots as well. The responsibilities are mine and mine alone."
"It's okay." Fuyutsuki assures her. "In light of the danger this target posed, this level of damage could be considered fortunate."
The hologram changes, now registering "Commander Ikari". "I agree. You did very well, Colonel Katsuragi."
"Thank you, sir." Misato said.
"Patch me through to Unit-01's pilot." Gendo orders, surprising the woman.
In the plug, Shinji is seen relaxing trying to nurse his hands when a screen pops up. "I heard what happened. You did very well, Shinji."
Oh! Um… thank you sir!" Shinji stutters, not expecting the praise.
"I'll leave the recovery effort to you, Colonel Katsuragi." Gendo says and hangs up.
"Roger, expedite the recovery of the EVAs. Bring Unit-01 first, have Cage 99 prepped for repairs." Misato orders, leaving the pilots to rest inside the plugs.
Meanwhile Adam hears the conversation and can't help but feel that there is… more to Gendo's words than just a simple praise.
Later that night, Rei's Apartment
Rei is seen sitting on her bed with bandages on her hands, looking blankly at the floor. She hears footsteps and sees Adam walking towards with two cups in his hands. "Here, the tea should be cool enough for you to hold it." He hands the cup over to Rei and she takes it. The two sit in silence as they drink their tea. "Today was a real close one, wasn't it?"
Rei nods.
"Were you scared?" Adam asks and Rei shakes her head. "Why not?"
"Even if I die, there are replacements." Rei cryptically states .
Adam arches an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Rei remains silent.
"Rei…" Adam begins. "I'm thinking about showing everyone around the Weltall to make up for the Angel interrupting the other one."
Rei tilts her head. "Why?"
Adam leans on the bed. "To be honest, I feel like I own you guys since we're fighting for the same thing, and I don't wanna keep any secrets between us."
Rei looks down. "I see…" She sounds dejected.
Adam notices this but shrugs it off, he stands up and takes Rei's phone. He has calls to make.
The Next Day
Adam and Rei stand on an empty field when they hear something coming closer. "Here they come." Two cars begin to appear as they come closer to the two teens. They cars stopped and out came Misato, Shinji, Asuka, Ritsuko while on the other it was Kaji, Toji, Kensuke and a girl Adam's never seen before.
"Glad you could all make it." Adam gives the group a smile. "And," He turns to the other girl. "I'm sorry, I don't think we've met."
The pigtailed girl looks at Adam shocked. "You don't know who I am? It's me, Hikari Horaki, your Class Representative! Don't tell me you've forgotten?"
"Oh right, sorry." Adam said embarrassed. "Though what are you doing here? I didn't exactly invite you."
"I invited her to come." Toji steps up. "I thought it might be good for the class rep to unwind a little."
"Hm… you sure it isn't for anything else." Adam said cheekly.
Toji and Hikari blush making Adam's smile grow wider. "Well then, I'll make sure you have a great time." He then turns to the two adults, "and what about you two?"
"I'm a scientist, it's in my nature to observe and study new things." Ritsuko says nonchalantly.
Kaji shrugs. "I'm just here because I have nothing better to do."
Adam sweat drops. "Okay… let's get started." He activates his wristwatch disengaging the Weltall's stealth mode and the group is teleported inside. The next thing everyone sees is a large control room of some kind. The room itself is surrounded by six terminals and in the far middle is an elevated platform with a chair and terminal as well. The room has no windows, only metallic walls accompanied by a low hum that seems to be coming from the machinery.
"That's it?" Asuka scoffs. "I'm not impressed."
Adam goes up to the platform and presses a button. Immediately, the walls seemingly shrink revealing the city just beyond where they are. "The walls here work similarly to the interior of the Entry Plugs, allowing for three dimensional renditions of the outside in real time."
After that, they continue their tour of the ship. The group are shown the kitchen, the library, the recreation room, a swimming pool, and the numerous empty rooms that are meant for a crew to live in. The tour eventually takes them to the engine room where the warp generator is located. The warp generator is designed to appear like a spiral with pistols going up and down. From within the spiral, the group notices glowing lights rising to the top where cables seem to be sprouting from the spiral and connect to the roof of the room where circuit-like grids pulse to life like a heartbeat.
"This is where the magic happens." Adam exclaims. "The warp generator is the crowning achievement of engineering by making time travel a reality."
"Incredible." Ritsuko utters eyes wide with excitement.
Misato looks at her friend, surprised that she could make such an expression.
"Hey, Adam?"
Adam glances at Kensuke. "What's up?"
"Can we go back to the control room?" Kensuke gestures at his camera. "I wanna get another shot of it with my camera."
"Sure I don't see why not." Adam tells him.
"Well, we should probably head back. There's still a lot of paperwork to take care of." Misato states.
"Yeah, let me send you back down." Adam fiddles with his watch/controller.
"I'll see you at home, Misato." Misato and Kaji waves at the kids as they are bathed in light and vanish.
The group heads to the control room and Kensuke starts walking around recording everything. "Oh yeah, baby~"
Asuka is seen sitting on one of the controls on the far left. "I don't get it, why do I have to stick around with these idiots?"
"Then why didn't you just go with Misato and the adults? You obviously don't want anything to do with brats like us, princess." Toji remarks.
Asuka glares at Toji. "Maybe I would if I didn't have to babysit you idiots."
Toji glares back. "Us? More like we're babysitting you."
A tick mark forms on Asuka's forehead. "Do you not know who I am? I am the greatest EVA pilot around!"
Toji huffs. "Yet you needed everyone's help to defeat the Angel." He smirks. "So much for the greatest pilot."
Asuka snaps and punches the terminal hard. "You know what stooge, I'd like to see you deal with an Angel!" A buzzing noise can be heard as smoke begins to come out of the controls followed by popping noises. "Uh-oh."
The room shakes and Adam turns to Asuka. "You idiot! What did you do!?"
The control room lights up as the consoles begin to activate. Adam dashes towards the command chair and pushes Asuka aside to try and stop it but to no avail.
"What's happening!?" Hikari cries out as she clings onto one of the chairs.
"The Red Devil fucked up!" Toji sharply replies.
Adam fiddles with the controls until the terminal produces sparks and he has to step back. "It's no use, I can't stop it!"
"What does that mean!?" Shinji asked.
"Hang on to something!"
Misato, Ritsuko and Kaji are about to enter their cars when they notice light in the sky. They all turn to see the Weltall's engines coming to life before it blasts off at barreling speeds into a tear and goes through before promptly closing.
"Uh, Ritsuko? What just happened?" Misato asked dumbstruck at what she just saw.
"...I think they just left us." Ritsuko replies, also dumbstruck.
Kaji looks up at the sky with bated breath. 'The commander and SEELE are not going to like this.'
Unknown Location
At the same time, a figure is watching the Weltall disappearing into a wormhole.
"So Gendo has acquired Nebuchadnezzar's Key and the Weltall has begun its voyage." The hidden figure states. "Everything's slowly coming together."
Author Notes
And that's that. Leave a comment/review like always.
Peace~