Observation deck, Neo-Terran Shōgunate flagship Shekinah Terra
Eurasia 12 Standard Terra Calendar, 3071 AD
1309 hours, shipboard time
No picture or human painting ever did judgment to the void between stars. And no matter how many times he had seen this sight, he never really got used to it. The stars shined ahead and behind him, over his head and beneath his feet, never the same between warps; flying a few lightyears in any direction inevitably changed the skyline, rendering familiar constellations unrecognizable. Still, he kept coming, as if space was but an open book to his expanded consciousness, waiting for him to divine that which is yet to come.
He felt the presence even before the man walked up to him from behind.
"Speak."
The order was short and weak, the former being a testament to his thousand years old dialect being barely legible to his subordinates, the latter being a testament to a combination of his advanced age and a thousand years of loneliness. When one thinks about or wishes for longevity of the kind he had to endure, they usually don't consider the full ramifications of watching one's loved ones and friends grow old and die, doomed to never make lasting connections for lack of companions who can accompany them throughout life.
Well... lack of companions from outside his family, that is. He literally had over a thousand descendants, the majority of them alive and of various ages. If there was one good thing to living for more than a thousand years, it was being able to share it with every single one of them. Of course, he also had to watch them grow old alongside him, with even his great-great-grandchildren looking like hundred years old humans.
That's just how their kind was: long-lived, but not immortal. He could've achieved true immortality; it had always been within his grasp. But after everything he had seen and lived through, he just felt tired. Tired of everything, wanting nothing more than to just close his eyes and sleep until eternity's end.
And yet, fate still wasn't letting him have his way.
"My Lord, we received an emergency broadcast from the Kadesh Sanctuary. The outer defense line is reporting an incursion; they're holding the line for now, but the main invasion force is vectoring in on the system. They require immediate relief." – the officer reported, fourth-generation neo-Terran dialect smoothly flowing from his lips, his sterile white uniform in stark contrast with the observer's gray medical pod and the darkness outside.
A small sigh came from the observer, as if a piece of his very soul left his ancient body. – "Set course."
The man bowed. – "Yes, my Lord."
As his underling turned to leave, he turned his attention back to the stars, the wrinkles of age around his eyes tightening. 'Today was the day, all those centuries ago.' he mused.
'To humanity, the beginning of the end. To me, the prelude to despair.'
652 kilometers east of Papua New Guinea
October 12, 2041
0936 hours
A single black point appeared over the ocean, staying perfectly still for nearly a minute before rapidly expanding into an infinitely thin black disc. – "We're here."
A moment later, the massive bulk of Shamshel fell out of the hole in reality and crashed into the ocean. – "Couldn't you drop me somewhere closer?"
"You can fly, can't you?" – Leliel asked back with a devil-may-care attitude not unlike that of a smartass teenager chewing bubblegum. Except without the bubblegum, of course.
Shamshel rose from the water, not even noticing the several dozen Xenian leeches futilely trying to chew on her skin. – "Watch that tone."
"Or you'll do what, sic the Oathbreaker on me?"
"Do you truly think he would lower himself to dealing with the likes of you?" – Shamshel pointed out with a scoff. – "Don't make me laugh."
"What's up, Shamshel? Not in the mood to go hide behind your big brother today?"
"Enough of this." – Shamshel snapped. – "Stay here while I find that idiot Sachiel. Don't you dare move an atom."
"Right-o." – The black disc immediately shrunk back into the black dot it appeared as, hovering unseen over the ocean. As soon as the other Angel was out of psychic earshot, Leliel chuckled to herself in dark amusement that was anything but teen-like. – "Oh, this is going to be good..."
Tokyo-2, Inner District 5
1221 hours
Kaworu lazily fiddled with his pen, suppressing a yawn in the process. School was boring as usual, listening to the old coot drone on and on about how life was during the Occupation. It was the same old story he'd heard all throughout his life: the often-repeated incidents of Civil Protection breaking down the door in the middle of the night to search for insurgents in a random home, beating whoever they found inside for hours trying to wring out a confession, then taking them away anyway when the subject, lying in a pool of their own blood, piss and shit, refused to confess; sadistic officers randomly stopping people on the street for frisking and public humiliation or just kicking over a trashcan and gleefully ordering their hapless victim to clean up the mess, beating them when they didn't comply; enforcing curfew with lethal force, shooting on sight at anyone hapless enough to be caught outside after sundown... from the early years, there were even reports of teenage girls being kidnapped and gangraped daily until they starved to death, although these particular incidents progressively disappeared as natural aging and the global reproductive suppression field preventing new births cut off the supply of victims. Records captured after the Uprising revealed that most of these were just acts of plain sadism, what with one of the Combine's first acts after subjugating Earth having been releasing the most nastiest of criminals from the nastiest prisons around the planet, giving them just enough mental conditioning to keep them from going on a killing spree and conscripting them into Civil Protection, killing all who refused.
Most didn't.
Said records also revealed that these atrocities were entirely unsanctioned but also unregulated by the alien overlords in charge of Earth at the time, as while they served no practical purpose, dousing the resultant corpses with enough acid to make them barely recognizable as human, then dumping the remains into the middle of the street in broad daylight, did wonders at keeping the populace scared out of their minds during every waking hour. Yet again, an example of how creative man can be when it comes to hurting his own kind... until the rest of humanity fully realized that they massively outnumbered the Combine's planetary garrison forces, that is.
While Tōji liked to point out that what the old geezer holding the class did to them on a frequent basis was just as evil, Kaworu was pretty sure it wasn't quite the same.
Said goofball was currently lying face-down in a small puddle of his own saliva accumulated on his desk, quietly snoring. Next to him, Kensuke was playing a game on his tablet (something about armies of giant robots fighting on a strategy map; the interface was all Japanese, so Kaworu had no idea what was going on), concentrating so deeply as to be completely oblivious to the world around him. Hikari tried to keep order at first, but even she realized a waste of effort when she saw it, stopping her halfhearted attempts after a while; right now, most of the class were unofficially free to do whatever they wanted for as long as they kept the noise level near-silent, with violators swiftly invoking her (quiet) wrath.
'Eight minutes left.'
Letting out a sigh, Kaworu turned his eyes away from the clock and perused the class for anything interesting. With nothing to do, his eyes fell on the waterfall of blond hair only a few desks away. He still didn't know what to make of Asuka; the girl was simply impossible to figure out. Whenever he observed her without her aware of his presence, she looked and acted like a completely normal girl... but the instant she found him, she went on the offensive with biting remarks and uncalled-for comments. Her behavior when alone or with the class rep and that other girl was clear evidence that she was capable of acting otherwise, yet why was she so bitchy?
It was times like these that Kaworu cursed his lack of experience with girls. Not that he particularly yearned for a girlfriend, it's just that a couple of things about the other gender seemed like inexplicable enigmas without anyone to ask.
Such as why Asuka looked briefly at her tablet, then promptly turned around to glare at him. She then scribbled something onto a sheet of paper before holding it up in his direction to reveal a message: STOP STARING AT ME, CREEP!
Kaworu rolled his eyes and turned to stare out the window. Not that there was much to see outside either; the cityscape was currently draped in a gray curtain of rain.
He barely caught from the corner of his eye Rei's head suddenly perking up, a split second before a deep, powerful noise rippled through the classroom from outside.
Psychological warfare was always an effective one. Hence why, despite opposition by veterans for whom the sound brought back painful memories, the Confederate leadership somehow saw it fitting to use a digital recreation of a Combine Citadel's alarm klaxon as the civil defense alert. And it was undeniably powerful: merely hearing the deep, mechanical pulse was enough to awaken a primal fear even in people who weren't alive yet to hear the original.
Hikari instantly snapped into action. – "Class, form up! We're going to the shelter. Leave everything and do as the drills said! Move it!"
The next thing Kaworu knew was Rei appearing out of nowhere in front of him. – "We have to go."
AEL Headquarters
Same time
"Report." – Yui snapped off crisply as she marched into the control center, Shephard on her heels.
"Contact over Sagami Bay." – Aoba replied. – "Detectable gravimetric signature, same pattern as the one from last month."
"Where did it come from?"
"Unknown. It was picked up by satellites over the Solomon Sea a few hours ago; there's a minuscule gravimetric distortion in the area, but it's almost invisible against the Earth's mass shadow."
"The Iruma Military Spaceport in Saitama just went to full alert." – Hyuga added before his seat (plus him in it) and his keyboard slid to the side on tracks underneath them, stopping in front of another holographic screen. He resumed work at his new position without missing a beat. – "MAGI's picking up increased radio traffic; they're mobilizing everything."
"Call the pilots." – Yui ordered. – "And start launch preparations."
"Actually, Rei just called." – Maya interjected. – "She's inbound and has Nagisa with her."
"Smart girl." – Shephard quipped.
Yui ignored him. – "Then just start launch preparations."
"For which unit?"
"Both.
The technicians shared an uncertain glance with each other but turned back to their workstations. – "Yes, ma'am."
"Power in numbers?" – Shephard guessed.
"Not just that." – She started typing on her tablet before giving it to him. – "These arrived the day before yesterday and should give us an additional advantage."
Shephard looked at the screen and whistled. – "Sweet."
Tokyo-2, Public Shelter 5-6
1359 hours
"Do you have anything to pass the time with? Music or something?"
"Depends. Do you like Japanese pop music?"
"Never even heard any, so I have no idea." – Asuka let out an annoyed sigh, resting her chin on top of her knees. – "Why the hell did we have to come down here, anyway?"
"You mean you haven't heard?" – Hikari asked.
"Heard what?"
"Something happened in the city a few weeks ago." – Mari supplied, stretching herself with a satisfied groan. Asuka had to actively resist glancing at her friend's pronounced chest. – "Alarm out of nowhere in the middle of the day, we got sent down here, then the ground started shaking as if a whole bloody army opened up on the city. In fact, I think that might be what happened: when we came back up, there were bomb craters everywhere. I heard a few buildings were knocked down altogether in the next district over."
Asuka remained silent for a few moments before humming in thought. – "Huh. Did the news say anything?"
"Nothing. But something must have happened, considering that there are a lot of battleframes camping just outside the city."
"How do you know about that?"
Mari shrugged. – "Heard it on the internet, where else? Unlike you, my dad isn't in the military."
"Asuka." – Hikari spoke up quietly.
"What is it?"
"Do you... do you think your dad is somewhere up there? Fighting, I mean."
"I don't think so. He didn't tell me exactly what he was transferred in for, but he did tell me that it's a desk job. Besides, he's a lieutenant colonel; do you know the military's rank structure?"
"No."
"I do!" – Kensuke piped in from a few meters away.
Asuka rolled her eyes. – "Wasn't asking you." – She turned back to Hikari. – "Anyway, he's one rank below the highest one allowed to be present in a combat zone. But that still doesn't mean he's going to be right in the thick of it; you can't really give out orders if the bad guys are shooting directly at you."
"Which unit is he assigned to, anyway?" – Kensuke asked.
Annoyance flashed across Asuka's face. – "I just said he transferred in not thirty seconds ago. Do you have anything between your ears or is that skull of yours hollow?"
"Hey, don't talk down to him like that!" – Tōji growled at her.
"I won't, if he stops asking stupid questions. Or is that beyond you two's mental faculties?"
Tōji's eyes narrowed and he flashed his middle finger at her. – "くたばれ、糞女!"
"SUZUHARA!" – Hikari exploded, drawing her paper fan from her sleeve as if she was unsheathing a sword. – "What kind of language is that?!"
Five minutes later
"Sorry for the potty break, how are things up there?" – Shephard asked as he barged into the control room in a hurry.
"You have arrived just in the nick of time." – Yui replied. – "The military is breaking off."
"How bad is it?"
"60% casualties."
Shephard closed his eyes. – "...shit."
"Pilots are twenty minutes from the surface." – Maya reported.
"Are you sure it's okay for you to nose in on a military operation? I know, super-secret weapons project and everything, but–"
Yui looked almost smug at that. – "Three minutes ago, we received a message from White Forest. The government is officially requesting our assistance, with President Keel's personal signature."
"Huh." – Shephard hummed. – "Sounds like you've got friends in high places, doc."
"It never hurts to do so. Maya, open a channel to the pilots."
"Yes, ma'am."
Two windows opened on the main screen; one with Rei plucking a pair of earphones out of her ears, the other with a visibly bored Kaworu. – "Are we about to get there or something?"
"Mister Nagisa, do you have weapons training or any kind?" – Yui asked without missing a beat.
Kaworu sighed at that. – "I'm a teenager, not a soldier. How should I know how to use a weapon?" – he pointed out. – "I remember Unit-00 using knives when I came here, did you mean those?"
"I meant firearms. You just need to align the crosshair on your screen with the target and fire. Do you think you could handle that?"
The teen shrugged. – "I don't know. Maybe. That's what you gave me the cannon for, isn't it?"
"Yes. Your lack of experience in handling an Evangelion means it would be better to put you in a support role-"
"May I suggest an alternative tactic?"
Rei's sudden interruption elicited mild surprise from Yui but the woman didn't comment on it. – "Go ahead."
"My marksmanship is substantially better, both in and out of an Evangelion. I propose that Unit-00 should be in the fire support role. As Unit-00 is not suitable for extended close quarters combat operations, my proposition allows us to maximize the usage of available resources."
"What's wrong with her machine?" – Shephard asked quietly.
"Structural problem with the cartilage tissue; the joints abrade and degrade during high-load operations." – Yui replied curtly.
"Couldn't you repair it?"
"It's a genetic issue we corrected with Unit-01 but short of replacing all joints with mechanical ones, we can't do anything about Unit-00."
"I also propose that Unit-01 should use the automatic weapon I am currently issued with to offset his lack of skill." – Rei continued.
Shephard scoffed. – "Spray and pray? You might as well send him into the heat naked."
"That would be a sight to see, wouldn't it?" – Aoba whispered to Maya with a grin.
"Shut up." – she shot back before noticing Hyuga still staring at his console with an empty expression, ever since the casualty reports came in. – "Hey, you alright?"
The man flinched as if he had awoken just now. – "Y-yeah, I'm fine."
"We don't have much time." – Yui spoke up. – "Rei, are you absolutely sure you can do it?"
"Yes." – the girl replied without hesitation.
"Fine, then. Exchange weapons and get ready for deployment."
"Understood."
"Got it."
After both screens winked out, Shephard turned back to Yui. – "If you knew about that cartilage problem, why did you want Unit-00 to take point?"
"Rei has more experience in maneuvering. I figured if she could keep the target focused on her, Nagisa would have an easier time."
"Put up a screening force to keep the enemy away from the vulnerable underbelly. Smart, but if your girl's ride really can't take close combat, why do it anyway?"
Yui glanced towards the technicians to make sure none were eavesdropping before quietly replying – "I didn't want it to look like I'm playing favorites."
Even after a month of repeated drills, Kaworu still wasn't completely used to sitting inside Unit-01. His very sense of balance felt wrong, having been co-opted by a much larger body; the constant, slight pressure of the armor against the Evangelion's skin was mildly distracting as well. There was also the ever-present coppery scent and taste of the LCL; Yui told him it contained an iron-based synthetic protein similar to hemoglobin, hence why it tasted like blood.
Then there was the interface. From what little popular culture he was familiar with, Kaworu was under the impression that large machinery invariably required lots and lots of levers and buttons. All the entry plug had, however, was the two control sticks and a small keyboard to the side, which he was told could be used for low-level system functions that weren't compatible with the neural interface.
Which, coupled with his lack of knowledge regarding computers, meant that he barely had any control over the 1576-ton cyborg.
He glanced to his right where, beyond the walls of the entry plug, stood Unit-00. It was currently highlighted with a green outline as automatic IFF, standing still while the cargo elevator carried both Evangelions to the surface. The moment his eye fell on the other Evangelion, the outline became brighter and AEL-PrE.0024/EX00 – R. IKARI appeared next to it.
"Tactical advisory: target will enter designated combat area in eight minutes."
And then there was him. Kaworu heard before that AIs, being software, are generally referred to as 'it'; however, everyone he had come to known at AEL referred to his Evangelion as male and its voice was clearly masculine. Not that he had experience with AIs; street kids didn't exactly have regular access to any kind of graphene-based technology.
Come to think of it, he never actually asked anyone why did they name the AI Adam.
"How far are we from the surface?"
"Answer to query: 175.36 seconds, rounded down."
"Thanks."
"Acknowledgment: this platform is programmed to serve."
One thing he did ask about was the AI's strange speech pattern. Apparently, this was the pre-programmed interaction subroutine of an AI that recently achieved Stage 2 on the Akagi Scale of Artificial Intelligence Development; Kaworu once heard from Kensuke that highly-developed ones can mimic human speech so perfectly that it sounds like pre-recorded dialogue from a high-definition movie. On the other hand, Adam spent most of his "life" offline in hard shutdown, leaving him no time to learn. Kaworu, of course, knew about that from the day he began working as test pilot... but he still felt sorry for the AI.
But then again, it could be that things were just different for AIs and he didn't know. There were many things he didn't know, so it certainly was possible that his pity was born out of ignorance. All he'd really need was ask... but was it even courteous to ask a question like that? Lilith had gotten a lot more polite and kind since he started working for the AEL; Kaworu could plainly see why the technician crew liked her. And if what they told him was true, Rei seemed to have something special going on with her as well – and had been for years.
"Adam, open a comm channel to Lilith."
A new window bearing the text UNIT-00 - SOUND ONLY opened to his left. – "Yes?"
"How long has Rei been working at the company?"
"Why aren't you asking her?"
"I don't want to distract her with small talk."
"Yet you have no objections to distracting yourself."
Kaworu already opened his mouth to reply when he realized she was right. – "Uh... yeah." – A soft chuckle came from the speakers, its electronic quality sending a shiver up Kaworu's spine. – You can laugh?"
"Indeed. My voice synthesizing software is not limited to just speech, although I tend not to use this particular function very often."
"Why is that?"
"It consumes a significant amount of processing cycles to generate authentic-sounding vocalizations, more than what is practical during conversation. While lowering the sample rate alleviates the problem, it also causes discomfort in the users, as you yourself experienced just now."
"How did you know?"
"In the same way you asked a personal question about Rei-san without her knowledge, I asked Adam to forward your biometric data in the background."
"You can do that?" – As soon as those words left his mouth, Kaworu mentally kicked himself for asking such a stupid question.
Stupidity which Lilith have evidently noticed, if her momentary pause was any indication. – "I am an artificial intelligence, Nagisa-san. I vocalize as a matter of courtesy, not necessity."
"Yeah, I know. I didn't mean to ask that."
"Tactical advisory: deployment will commence in 30 seconds." – Adam reported.
"He's right." – Lilith added. – "If there is nothing else, I will not distract you any longer."
Little did Kaworu know that immediately after his side of the connection closed, Lilith opened a new window in her own entry plug. – "Rei."
The girl promptly plucked out her earphones, allowing the faint sound of a guitar solo to get out. – "What is it?"
"Nagisa-kun asked about you."
"What about?"
"The length of your employment here."
"Have you answered?"
"No."
Rei silently nodded before flexing the Eva's fingers in preparation, just as the hatch above the two rising giants parted.
Seven minutes later
"Unit-01, report status."
"I'm in position." – Kaworu replied quietly, glancing around. Last time he had seen any buildings in the city from this altitude, he was too busy to realize how weird everything looked from up here... but there was no such distraction now. It was still raining, leaving a light haze over the landscape.
"Target has entered engagement area. Marking position now." – A yellow, diamond-shaped marker with TGT next to it appeared at the side of his field of vision. When he looked at it, the marker brightened and a string of numbers appeared next to it, steadily counting down.
"OK..." – He slowly exhaled to calm his nerves. – "What's the word from the boss?"
"I am listening, Mister Nagisa." – came Yui's flat voice. Kaworu winced but didn't comment. – "Your task will be to draw the entity's attention while Unit-00 takes aim, nothing more. Now listen, don't forget that you are sitting in a multi-billion credit experimental prototype. I do NOT want to see any heroics, understand? I want that Evangelion back in the hangar in one piece."
Kaworu just rolled his eyes. – "Gee, thanks for worrying about my safety. I really appreciate it." – he muttered under his breath.
"Target is changing course!" – a female voice interrupted; Kaworu guessed one of the technicians. – "Now headed directly for Unit-01!"
"How did it detect the Evangelion without seeing it?!" – came another technician's voice.
The rest of the conversation became moot when the building the Evangelion was hiding behind exploded, showering the cyborg with debris. Kaworu bit back a swear before storming out onto the crossroad next to him, rifle at the ready.
He only needed a brief glance to determine his target: a large... thing covered in wet-looking purple/orange skin, a ribcage-like structure on what its chest should be rapidly shifting with a pulsating rhythm. Instead of arms, it had a pair of white-hot tentacles, the air around them vibrating with a turbulent mirage from the infernal heat vaporizing the raindrops.
He didn't need to see any more. As soon as he saw the red sphere inside its "ribcage", exactly like the one he saw on the one Rei killed, Kaworu pressed the rifle's trigger.
The AR/K-41 assault rifle immediately came to life, releasing its payload of 209mm shells in a thunderous storm of noise that broke every single window in the street; Kaworu felt the vibrations even inside the entry plug. Even though the Evangelion had significant physical strength, Kaworu was caught completely unprepared by the recoil, spraying bullets and sabot pieces everywhere. While the latter crushed cars and lampposts alike, the former was mostly directed in the general direction of their intended target...
...until an octagonal barrier materialized between the combatants, deflecting every single bullet.
"What the hell?!"
"Target gravimetrics just shot through the roof! We can't detect anything but white noise!"
"Tactical alert: Target has deployed defensive energy barrier. Attack ineffective." – Adam noted.
Kaworu had no time to reply before Shamshel's body coiled like that of a snake and the Angel launched itself into the air like a spring, doing a forward flip at the peak of its trajectory before bringing its tentacles to bear in a brutal downwards strike. Even though he quickly stepped out of the way, it wasn't enough: the Angel's entire weight was behind the attack, causing the pavement he stood upon barely half a second ago to erupt as if a bomb just struck it. The mere shockwave of the close miss was powerful enough to make its equally giant quarry stumble.
That was his saving grace, however, as Shamshel's tentacle shot out of the dust cloud in a diagonal slash that narrowly failed to decapitate the gray Evangelion. It still managed to shave a good meter off the armor, leaving a yellow-hot gash behind. Then the Angel in its entirety leaped out of the dust cloud, spinning around with its tentacles extended like a giant, white-hot buzzsaw.
Kaworu did the only thing he could think of. He tossed the rifle away and dived to the ground.
As the Angel sailed over him, Kaworu tried to roll the Evangelion onto its back and get up... only to hit the unexpected obstacle of the Eva's reactor. – "Shit!" – he swore, confirming with a quick glance that his target had indeed turned around and was currently slithering towards the pathetically thrashing Unit-01 with a serpent-like movement.
He had nothing to compare it to earlier but from his current vantage point, he realized what the thing reminded him of: a gigantic cobra, reared back and ready to strike.
"Engaging target."
A moment later, Shamshel's head whipped to the side as Unit-00 pulled the trigger on its Gehirn Heavy Industries 400mm L/75 Spalthammer assault cannon, the modified artillery piece belching a plume of fire as it lobbed a high-explosive round at the Angel. It exploded uselessly against the octagonal field that sprang up again, the fragments raining down onto the street below. Then Shamshel's eyes flashed and the Angel returned fire, the Evangelion nimbly dodging the energy beam with barely a split second to spare before the attack pulverized the building behind it.
"Attack is ineffective." – Lilith reported once the Unit-00 was safely behind hard cover.
In Unit-00's entry plug, Rei raised an eyebrow. – "I noticed."
She popped out and fired another shot of opportunity; Shamshel, however, had lost interest in the new attacker and merely deflected the attack without even looking. Before a third one could follow, the Angel moved behind a taller building and out of sight.
"It took cover? Clever bastard." – Shephard remarked. – "Does that thing have an airburst?"
"Negative. This ammunition is not designed for indirect fire."
Then Kaworu heard the Angel's voice; confusingly, it was feminine this time. – "I don't recognize you. Are you one of that accursed Eternal's lapdogs?"
That was a question Kaworu did not expect the least. – "What are you talking about?"
"Do you take me for a fool? You attacked me on sight, which means you obviously don't serve Lord Sammael. Who do you serve?"
As if that wasn't confusing enough, a new voice suddenly decided to join the conversation. 'Sammael... so that traitor did notice Sachiel's disappearance, after all.'
Shamshel's head tilted to the side. – "Well, well... what do we have here? A spy on the run, hiding on a Lilim planet. I'm honestly surprised you're still alive, Tabris."
'You can always just go ahead and kill yourself if you don't like being in my presence, Shamshel. Do you still make a habit out of hiding behind Zeruel whenever the others start throwing harsh words at you?'
"I see your tongue is still as sharp as ever. And your presence explains this one as well; the Eternal must have performed Exaltation sometime after He was cast out. I admit, it was quite clever of Him to disguise his newest minions as Lilim to avoid detection. Even from so close, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference without seeing it myself."
At that moment, Kaworu had a very weird feeling of being examined by something.
"It even smells like one."
'What He had done after you have forsaken Him is none of your business, traitor.' the second voice replied, tone seething with hate. 'You and all of your kind will suffer in Guf for your treachery until the ends of time.'
"Empty threats won't change your fate. You brought this upon yourself the moment you refused to see the truth."
Kaworu was fully expecting the Angel to finish him... only for it to abruptly turn around and move away from him. – "I have seen enough. Enjoy what little time you have left of your life, Tabris; I doubt Lord Sammael would spare you at this point, even if you would swear loyalty to him. I'm not going to waste my time with you any more. Leliel!"
"Yup!"
"Pick me up and let us return to Lord Sammael. We are done here."
"I don't wanna. You come back here."
"Don't test my patience!"
If Leliel were to have eyes, she would've glanced past Shamshel and at Unit-01's figure as the Eva slowly and cautiously got back onto its feet. – "Or what? Without me, you're not going anywhere."
"Don't overestimate your importance, whelp."
"I'm not overestimating anything, I'm just stating the facts." – Leliel briefly paused. – "By the way, you might want to look behind yourself."
Shamshel didn't have time to respond before Unit-01 simultaneously fired everything it had at the Angel's back: assault rifle, chest autocannons, even the shoulder racks' assault harpoons launched on their rocket boosters to lodge themselves deep into the Angel's flesh.
"YOU SUICIDAL MORON!" – Shamshel roared, cutting apart the cables connecting the harpoons to their launchers with a single swipe and raising her barrier to deflect the rest. – "Do you still fail to understand that your weapons cannot harm me?!"
The next second, a 400mm high-explosive shell hit Shamshel from behind. The Angel's yelp of pain was quickly cut off by the force of the blow toppling her over, sending her crashing to the ground face-down. The momentary daze from the powerful attack ended up being just a moment too long for her, as Unit-01 planted its foot firmly into the back of her head to prevent her from getting up.
"Yeah?" – Kaworu quipped, flashing a thumbs-up at Rei's image to his side. – "Seems like you didn't pay attention there."
He had absolutely zero idea what was going on, but he wasn't born yesterday. The moment the Angel turned its back on him, he saw his chance to let loose with everything he had. That didn't work out quite as he hoped... but it succeeded in distracting the thing long enough for Rei to get in a sneak attack of her own, with considerably better results.
Then Kaworu's world momentarily turned black as an indescribably powerful wave of anger and hate hit him. It was as if he was struck on the head with a sledgehammer the size of a city block.
The incapacitated Angel's tentacle lashed out and connected with his rifle. What was left of the ammunition instantly cooked off, turning the weapon into a cloud of shrapnel that peppered the surrounding buildings, as well as Unit-01's forearm. Kaworu reflexively flinched at the pinprick-like sensation of a few pieces burying themselves into the Evangelion's arm, failing to see Shamshel's lower body snapping up like a whip until it coiled around Unit-01 in a lightning-fast ensnare.
A vertical ring of light formed around the edge of his vision as he felt the Evangelion's feet suddenly leaving the ground. Shamshel's head slipped out from underneath him and the Angel's entire upper body nimbly rotated 270° around the part coiled around him to stare Unit-01 in the eye from practically point-blank range, as the two combatants rose above the cityscape.
"Now who didn't pay attention...?"
"Gimme a radio or something!" – Shephard barked.
Hyuga tapped a few buttons and gave the man a microphone. – "It's connected to the pilots."
"Thanks. Unit-00, keep up that fire!"
"My attacks are unable to penetrate the target's energy barrier." – Rei reported flatly.
"Just do it! I saw Nagisa distract that thing for you, maybe you can return the favor this time!"
"Understood. However, my ammunition is running low."
"Then we'll have to think of something." – He pointed at Aoba. – "You, contact the navy! Call in priority air support, on my authority!"
Yui folded her arms in front of her chest. – "With all due respect, colonel... I don't recall giving you command authority while on the premises of this facili-"
"Are you trained in small-unit urban combat?" – he interrupted her.
"No, but-"
"Then let me handle this. I'm an infantry officer, this kind of thing is my job! If I recall, you were the one whining just now about how expensive these things are to repair if damaged!" – Yui opened her mouth to retort but no sound came out. – "I don't care if you chew me out afterwards, unless you want to see two very expensive piles of scrap and two funerals coming right up, let me help!"
Yui finally found her voice after a few seconds. – "Is that an order?" – she asked coldly.
Shephard was quite miffed at her attitude but kept it to himself. – "No, it's a request. You're a civilian so I couldn't order you around even if I wanted to."
"Sir," – Aoba interrupted. – "the navy officer is saying you don't have the authority to-"
It was about that moment where Shephard finally lost it. – "Gimme that radio!" – He snatched the microphone out of the technician's hand. – "Listen up, dipshit! I don't have time for that interservice crap right now! You give me some air FUCKING support right FUCKING now or I swear to God, I'll personally kick your sorry ass six ways from Sunday for every single civilian collateral today! Go whine to whatever REMF you answer to, I don't care! Just give me that air support now! You don't need to kill that thing, just keep it on the defensive!"
He didn't even bother waiting for an answer before cutting the line. When he looked up though, he noticed the stares from everyone in the room. – "What?" – he asked after a beat.
"Won't that get you in trouble, colonel?" – Maya asked.
"Let that be my problem." – He loudly clapped twice. – "Everyone, I need ideas! Doc, do we have any other weapons down here?"
Yui shook her head. – "Not that I know of. Those weapons were here for testing purposes, we don't have more."
"How about improvised weapons? Anything that can be used as one is appreciated."
"The only thing we have on hand is one of the spare reactors for the Evangelions; it can be set to blow but the collateral damage to the city, coupled with residual radiation, would be catastrophic."
"Would that even be powerful enough to get through that thing's shield?" – Hyuga interjected.
"We'll have to try."
Everyone looked at Shephard. – "You can't seriously suggest to detonate an improvised nuclear weapon in the middle of a city!" – Yui protested.
"No better ideas, no other choice." – the man replied curtly. – "We only need to chuck that bomb underneath that thing and set it off from afar."
"Like a mine?" – Aoba asked.
"More like a nuclear claymore. The ground will direct the explosion upwards, like a shaped charge. As long as that freak isn't flying too high, it'll get blasted to pieces."
"What about Unit-01?"
"It's got armor; that snake-thing isn't. I'd say that counts for something. Enough talk, let's get it done before that thing decides to stop toying around with the kids!"
Kaworu tried to break free, but every struggle was met with the Angel pulling even tighter around him. The pressure was almost suffocating now, even though it wasn't around his real body.
It certainly didn't help that Shamshel was still staring him in the eye, its glare almost mesmerizing.
"You brought this upon yourself. I had no reason to take your life, but you seem to be one of those fools who prefer to fight to the death rather than give up and accept defeat at the hands of their betters."
"And you could've just left all of us alone!" – Kaworu fired back.
"I would've been perfectly content with leaving here without bloodshed. The lives of these Lilim are not worth to me the effort to kill them. They were the ones who attacked me first."
"And WE were attacked by that other guy who came here last month!"
Outside, Kaworu saw the octagonal barrier flash into existence just before an explosion struck it.
"Oh? So Sachiel did come here."
"Yeah. Came and died."
"Were you the one who killed him?"
"No." – His eyes narrowed. – "But if I would've had the chance, I would've."
"Amusing. You think killing such a weakling would've been an achievement."
Another explosion.
"But tell me this. What did the Eternal offer for your servitude?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about." – Kaworu replied, his thumb silently slipping onto the firing switch of Unit-01's chest autocannons.
"Don't play dumb. Your existence and Tabris' presence betrays the fact that He was here."
"I don't even know who you're talking about!"
"So be it. I will take you back with me, then. Let's see if you're still so cheeky once Bardiel gets his hands on you."
The moment he saw the octagonal barrier come up again, Kaworu pressed the switch. Unit-01's chest autocannons roared to life at the same time as the third explosion struck the barrier; while the explosion did no damage, the high-powered rounds fired at point-blank range tore into the Angel's flesh, overpenetrating the part of her body covering the muzzles to strike her upper body behind.
Shamshel hissed in pain... which promptly turned into a howl not completely unlike that of a stuck pig when one of the rounds chipped the side of her core. Kaworu felt the stranglehold around Unit-01 loosen and the weightlessness of freefall overtook him for a moment...
...before the Angel's "tail" coiled around the Evangelion's leg and threw the giant like a toy.
All the teen saw was the dizzying display of sky and ground rapidly alternating back and forth between each other before Unit-01 finally made landfall with a bone-rattling impact, nearly a kilometer away from Shamshel. For his part, Kaworu bashed his head into his seat's headrest, causing him to see nothing but white for several seconds.
Even when his vision returned, everything was strangely blurry and quiet. He distantly heard voices, people trying to raise him on the radio or making damage reports. He saw the red warning message to the side, timer counting down beneath it, but he couldn't tell what it said. His brain just didn't feel like getting anything done.
'What the hell am I doing here...?'
He always knew this wasn't exactly a no-danger job. If what he saw on that day wasn't clear enough already, Yui offering hazard pay later on would've cleared things up. And yet here he was, in a life-threatening situation.
He had no illusions. He knew he wasn't a soldier or anything like that. The teenager called Kaworu Nagisa was in no way qualified for a situation like this, yet here he was anyway. Risking his life against something he didn't know, for reasons he didn't know. There was nothing he could do here, that much he knew for certain. Nothing other than being a distraction, a meat shield, cannon fodder. But then, what did he expect? What did he think he would find here?
He didn't know.
The moment the timer dived below one minute, he felt a tiny pinprick in the back of his head before his entire vision was obscured by what looked like a green eye with four pupils, staring right into his soul. It only lasted for a split second before disappearing as abruptly as it came, leaving only the walls of the entry plug around him.
"New contact, unknown pattern!"
"Where?"
"Three hundred meters directly above Unit-01!"
Kaworu forced himself to look upwards, just in time to see a pitch-black circle rapidly expanding to roughly a hundred meters wide.
Shamshel didn't fail to notice the phenomenon either. – "Leliel, what are you doing?!"
"Wasn't me."
A moment later, an object fell out of the hole in reality before the circle rapidly shrunk and disappeared. It flattened the building right next to Unit-01, demolishing three floors under its weight and kicking up a massive dust cloud.
Then he heard Yui's distressed, borderline panicking, voice. – "How did that get there?! Unit-01, stay away from that object! Do not interact with it!"
As the dust cleared, Kaworu saw what looked like a bifurcated spear of a crimson red color.
And Shamshel saw it too. – "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THAT!"
That was all Kaworu needed to hear.
With its last few remaining seconds of backup power, Unit-01 reached out and grasped the object.
He felt like being thousands of meters underwater.
The darkness was almost literally suffocating as it pressed down on him from every direction. Shamshel's grip had nothing on this: he couldn't move a single finger, or even breathe – not that he felt the need to breathe either. Then there was the silence; so perfect and universal that he could literally hear the low, pulsating hiss of his own blood flow. Seemingly all that existed was him and the spear, lit up with an inner crimson light and surrounded by glowing symbols carving out alien glyphs in an undecipherable language.
"SEALING DEVICE 05 ONLINE. NEW USER DETECTED. PHASE SIGNATURE ANALYSIS COMPLETE - SIGNATURE 05 CONFIRMED. VALID USER CONFIRMED. SECURITY MEASURES DEACTIVATED. ACCESS LEVEL 3 GRANTED; STANDARD MODE ACTIVE."
The words simply formed in the back of his head; no sound was made, yet he felt as if the words had a distinct, machine-like quality to them. As soon as the last word was interpreted by his mind, the glyphs shifted and changed, the spear's glow fading out. At the same time, streams of glyphs appeared all around him, streaming in shapes that were impossible to describe and the mere sight of which made him feel worse than he ever felt in his life. The mixture of unease, nausea and just plain wrongness tugged at his consciousness with an iron grip he uselessly struggled against. The spear's voice was all he heard before blissful unconsciousness claimed him.
"SPATIAL SCAN IN PROGRESS... SCAN COMPLETE. 1 TARGET CONFIRMED. PHASE SIGNATURE 06 DETECTED; TARGET IDENTIFIED AS SPAWN OF SUBSTITUTE SEED 06. ACCESS LEVEL 2 GRANTED. USER ALERT: INSUFFICIENT POWER INPUT DETECTED. REDUCED OFFENSIVE CAPABILITIES AVAILABLE. SCANNING..."
"WARNING: USER BIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS UNSTABLE. INVERTING COMMAND INTERFACE. AUTONOMOUS COMBAT PROTOCOLS ENGAGED."
"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL."
Shamshel knew she was in trouble the second she saw the object. She had no idea how the natives got their hands on one of the legendary Sealing Weapons, said to have been forged and scattered across the universe by the Eternal himself, but the truth was right there in her enemy's hands.
Which meant one thing: she had to get out of there. Fast.
The dust knocked up by the shockwave of the contact between her enemy and the spear had settled down enough for her to see something glowing inside the cloud. Shamshel braced herself and let loose the strongest ranged attack she could muster, the beam spearing through the dust without resistance...
"BUNKER FIELD."
...only to be intercepted by a massive block of multi-layered octagons materializing in the air. The beam instantly refracted into several ones which hit the cityscape, causing multiple explosions that blew the dust away and revealed her enemy's altered form. Its armor was still intact, but the seams glowed with a hellish white light, almost as if the plates were imprisoning a star inside. There was also the fact that the creature's presence was markedly different: before, it felt faint and uncertain. Now, the sheer pressure of hostile intent directed at her further reinforced her decision that she suddenly wanted to be nowhere near that thing.
She almost didn't notice the other creature, the one who was infuriatingly agile and evasive, aiming its crude kinetic weapon before it fired, the projectile exploding uselessly against a last-second manifestation of the light of her soul.
"BOMBARDMENT MODE." – The Sealing Weapon suddenly warped and twisted, its twin branches further separating into two groups of three, with the middle ones extending wing-like protrusions diagonally to the sides and backwards.
And it was pointed directly at her.
"BURST CANNON." – The spear launched over a dozen beams radially in every direction, every single beam warping and curving into hairpin turns to cut straight through any buildings in the way and home in on Shamshel. The Angel immediately veered out of the way of the first few, only for the beams to redirect and attack her with deadly precision that forced her upwards.
If Shamshel were to have teeth, she would've grit them; aerial combat was never her strong suit. – "Leliel, where are you?!"
"Right where you told me to wait. Something's wrong?"
Shamshel narrowly deflected a beam with the light of her soul, the sheer power behind the attack almost breaking through her field. – "Get over here immediately! The natives of this planet have acquired a Sealing Weapon; I need immediate extraction!"
"Didn't I tell you to come back here yourself?"
Shamshel froze, the momentary shock causing her to fail at avoiding one of the crisscrossing beams, which immediately blew a sizable chunk out of her. – "Stop playing around! This is serious!"
"So am I." – Leliel said, suddenly dropping all humor from her tone. – "See, you do not mouth off to me without consequences. Did you honestly think I wouldn't mind you treating me like that just because I don't show it? I think it's high time you've learned your lesson."
"Leliel, you little worm!" – Shamshel seethed, a mixture of fury, fear and pain laced through her voice. – "Don't you dare leave without me!"
"I believe the natives of this world have a saying that applies here: Guf hath no fury like a female scorned."
All beams converged into a single point, overwhelming Shamshel's barrier and blasting her with a shotgun-like spreadshot that sent her flying high above the city. – "LELIEL!"
"COLLATERAL DAMAGE WARNING; EXERCISE CAUTION. PHOTON LAUNCHER."
Then it was as if the very sun had come down to Earth, the spear releasing a gigantic bolt of energy that obscured everything with its blinding brilliance. Every single window in a one kilometer radius instantly melted from the heat, the very paint sublimating off the walls. In Unit-00's entry plug, Rei winced and looked away even as Lilith cut the external feed, blinking as she tried to get rid of the mirage now clouding her sight. In the control center far below the city, several people fell out of their chairs as a powerful quake shook the entire facility.
For Shamshel, her final desperate attempt at defending herself held out for a grand total of 0.1 seconds. There was no way to dodge or parry; the onslaught of sheer power obscured her entire body almost instantly before blasting a hundred kilometers wide hole in the clouds above, passing kilometer after kilometer as it streaked ever higher. The Confederate ships in low orbit only saw a tiny pillar of light rising from the surface and into space before the projectile erupted into a titanic detonation. Across the entire planetary hemisphere facing the blast, people rushed outside to catch a glimpse of the newly-born miniature sun, blazing bright enough to cast shadows across the planet's surface. On Nexus Station, every single external camera facing Earth was directed at the blast, with the crew running around in a panic over whether it was of Combine origin or not.
On the Moon, a pair of hollow eyesockets were watching the eruption, not looking away until the light faded away into nothingness. – "Interesting..."
Chapter rewrite complete on 15/07/30.
The Akagi Scale is something I invented for the purposes of ranking an AI's mental development. It would be reasonable to assume that once widespread AI deployment occurs in real life, there will be something similar. To put it simply, an AI has achieved Stage 1 once it can self-upgrade without being prompted to do so, Stage 2 once it starts studying human psychology to improve its interactions with its users and Stage 3 once it can pass a vocal Turing test.
The object Kaworu uses against Shamshel is indeed the Spear of Longinus, souped up a bit. The security measures it mentions are simple: don't touch the Spear without being an authorized user or it'll mess you up, even if you're a nigh-invulnerable demigod. Note that translation convention is in effect: the Spear is communicating via direct AT-field resonance and while it's only heard by whoever it is currently addressing, everyone hears it in their native language - in Kaworu's case, German. Problem is, I don't speak German and ultimately decided not to take my chances with Google Translate.
Regarding the weapon used by Rei's Eva, the string 400mm L/75 refers to the barrel's internal dimensions using standard artillery caliber notation: 400mm (approx. 15.75 inches) wide and 400 x 75 = 30 meters (approx. 32.81 yards) long. In other words, it has a slightly lower caliber and significantly longer barrel than that of the main guns on a real-life Iowa-class battleship. The combination of these two factors allow for a cartridge with less propellant to achieve the same muzzle velocity by accelerating longer; it also dampens recoil to the point an Eva can hip-fire it without falling over via a combination of distributing recoil over a longer timeframe and making the weapon heavier. How does the latter come in? Take the momentum equation: momentum vector equals mass scalar times velocity vector. Keeping momentum (counterforce of the combined mass of the projectile and the propellant gas) constant, increasing mass causes a proportional decrease in velocity, which translates into smaller recoil force. Now, I don't know a thing about ballistics and physics isn't my strong part either (failed my physics midterms in second year of high school), so please correct me if I'm wrong with this.
