Geofront, AEL Headquarters
November 6, 2041
1702 hours

As soon as the door to the conference-room-turned-impromptu-briefing-room opened, Shephard looked up, mouth already opening to say something, when he noticed Kaworu leaning on Rei's shoulder. – "What's the matter with him?"

Kaworu shook his head and tried to straighten up, mostly successfully. – "I'm fine. What's going on?"

Next to Yui, Sanada's eyes shifted from Kaworu to Rei before narrowing.

"Another of those things just showed up. Ambushed a carrier group and wiped them all out in less than two minutes; really put the fear of God into the navy. They're all scared as fuck."

"Language, colonel." – Yui cut in, looking up from her tablet.

He waved her off. – "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, good to know the brass finally wised up and stopped throwing men at those things when it clearly didn't work." – Shephard shook his head in distaste. – "Never liked serving pricks like that, but we grunts tend to not get to pick and choose where to go. Speaking of which, did Keel ask you to jump in this time?"

"Yes, he did." – Yui replied, this time without looking up.

"And do the military know about it?"

"Yes. They are leaving the situation in our hands."

"Well then... I think your toy is about to have its final exam. Hope it works as advertised, because it's double or nothing this time."

Yui gave Shephard a flat look. – "I am aware of that. I collated a complete list of our Evangelion-related assets currently available." – she remarked, practically pushing her tablet into his hands.

"Okay, um... can you brief the kids while I read this?"

"Of course."

With a few commands on the keyboard at the head of the conference table, Yui turned on the table's built-in hologram emitters, causing the 3D image of a blue octahedron to materialize above the table.

'Oh, this is not good.'

Kaworu's head perked up at Tabris' less-than-optimistic tone. 'What?'

'It looks like Sammael just, to use an expression you are familiar with, stopped screwing around.'

"This entity is different from the ones we faced so far." – Yui began. – "The two previous ones appeared to be primarily close quarters combatants, supplemented with limited ranged attack capabilities. This one, however, appears to be a purely ranged combatant, armed with a focused particle beam cannon of extremely high destructive power."

"How high?" – Kaworu asked.

"'Battering ram meets window' high." – Shephard murmured before scrolling down on the tablet's screen.

"Quite so. It seems to have a variable power output, capable of a sustained low-power beam or a focused high-power blast. With that said, even the sustained beam is capable of cutting spaceships in half, so the Evangelions won't be able to withstand it for long."

"Evasion is priority." – Rei noted.

"That's right. A frontal assault is suicide. Closing in on it might not be possible." – Shephard added, putting the tablet onto the conference table.

"Why would we have to get close?" – Kaworu asked.

"Because you took down the other two from up close. This one's got that energy shield too, so I figure you might have trouble killing it from afar. It's like a moving fortress."

"So we can't kill it from afar because it has a shield, but we can't kill it from up close either because it will vaporize us before we get close enough."

Shephard nodded. – "That about sums it up."

"How are we supposed to do it, then?"

"I have no idea. You two go get ready and I'll try to come up with something in the meantime."

"How much time do we have?"

"Three hours tops. That thing dropped out of orbit practically right on top of Japan, so we never had much advance warning to begin with, plus I'd like to hit it in the countryside if possible. Last battle really did a number on the city; no casualties, but a lot of collateral damage. I figured we should do something about that – preferably before the government decides to have the AEL pay the reconstruction bills."

"We don't have that kind of money, colonel." – Yui piped in.

"You think they'd care? Anyway, is this all you have?" – the man asked, gesturing at the tablet.

"There is something else." – Yui paused with evident hesitation. – "If push comes to shove and all else fails... my crew and I might be able to bring Unit-02 partially online."

"It's ready?"

"It's still incomplete, so I cannot vouch for its reliability under combat conditions. However, we do not have a pilot for it, so I recommend activating it only as a last resort, in case one or either of the other units are rendered inoperable."

"And one of our present pilots could switch over to it." – Shephard finished her thought. – "Let's hope that won't happen... but keep it warmed up, just in case."

As the two adults continued to talk, Kaworu shared a look with Rei before directing his attention inward. 'Tabris. You said this Angel is trouble, right?'

'To you, trouble is putting it mildly.'

'What do you know?'

'First, it is not actually an Angel. It is a non-sentient artificial construct made in the likeness of an Angel.'

'A drone?'

'Yes. Armed reconnaissance and autonomous hunter-killer. This one is probably here as a scout.'

'Then why did it attack that carrier group?' Kaworu joined in.

'They probably attacked it first. It might be dumb, but it does have a threat recognition protocol. That or it was manually controlled at the time. Either way, destroying it won't help you much.'

'Why?'

'Why do you think they sent a drone instead of an Angel? It's expendable. Even if you somehow manage to destroy it, there are literally thousands more to replace it. Or did you believe your race is the only one to figure out mass production?'

A chill ran down on Kaworu's back at that. 'Any weaknesses?'

'That I don't know. Drones are not my specialty.'

Kaworu was shaken out of his thoughts by everyone around him standing up, making him realize the briefing was over.

Immediately after Kaworu stepped out of the room behind Shephard however, Sanada suddenly laid a hand on Rei's shoulder to hold her back. – "A word."

"I am fine." – Rei replied immediately, her tone carrying a slight edge. She knew what this was about and inwardly felt dismayed that he noticed the way she carried herself.

It wasn't like she could do otherwise. Rei was no stranger to injury and while she healed quickly, she didn't heal instantly. Therefore, she had to learn her body's limits to know how far she can go and what to do if she went beyond that line.

But sometimes, she just couldn't help it. When she stormed into the locker room's shower and saw Kaworu convulsing on the floor, Rei almost lost her self-control right then and there. Restraining him so that he won't hurt himself trashing around was only difficult because of his wet skin not being particularly cooperative towards being grabbed and held without slipping out of her grasp. Even so, she managed to immobilize him for his own safety... but only his body.

She was not at all prepared for when his body suddenly spasmed and let loose a telekinetic blast directly above, bending the shower head 180° backwards and making it spray water everywhere. Rei had scarcely a moment to realize he was unconsciously lashing out at whatever was hurting him before he unleashed a second, much more massive blast that obliterated the shower cubicle's sides and punched a meter-wide crater into the tiled wall, sending shattered pieces of tiles and even a few chunks of concrete flying everywhere.

And when she tried to shield his mind, the instant she touched it, he blindly lashed out in her direction. Rei was significantly tougher than an ordinary person... which she suspected was the only reason why she could walk away from being hit with such force. Even so, the telekinetic blow hit her with the force of a rocket-assisted sledgehammer, stabbing pain flaring up in her chest a moment before she felt the coppery taste of blood in her mouth.

Afterwards, while Kaworu was trying to dress himself without falling over from weakness, Rei covertly reached under her shirt and suppressed a wince when her probing fingertips found and confirmed the cracked rib. It wasn't the first time she had one and at least it didn't puncture her lung, but it still hurt like hell – especially with Kaworu leaning on her shoulder for support.

Even so, Rei silently grit her teeth and endured without a sound. For him, she wasn't going to let mere pain stop her. For him, she wasn't going to let anything stop her.

Not even death.

"I'm not sure about that." – Sanada remarked. – "You can hide it from others, but not from me. I'm a doctor, I can tell when someone is in pain. What happened?"

"It is of no consequence."

He gave her a look she was very much familiar with. – "Rei. You know I can ground you if I believe your health isn't up to piloting."

"I am still able to perform my duties. Medical attention can wait."

"At least let me examine you. I need to know."

"Later."

"Why are you being so stubborn?"

"I cannot be grounded. Not now." – She looked away. – "After the battle, I will submit to an examination. But I have to go."

It was about twenty seconds after the door closed behind the girl that Sanada sat down at the conference table and rested his forehead on his knuckles with a sigh of resignation.

'She knows.'


Two hours later

"You guys doin' okay?"

"No problems on my end."

"You sure? No cockpit phobia from last time or anything?"

"No. I'm ready."

While he wasn't lying, Kaworu would be if he were to say that he already forgot about last time. That was an experience he knew he was going to remember for the rest of his life... even without knowing that the human mind tends to recall bad memories better than good ones.

The teen sighed and flexed his fingers on the control sticks. – "I hope this won't take long. I'm hungry."

"Tell you what. Make it back alive and chow's on me." – Shephard replied casually.

"I've been meaning to ask... why are you always the one cooking?"

"Can you cook?"

"Not really."

"There's your answer."

"Why not have Asuka cook?"

"...if you know what's good for you, don't let Asuka into the kitchen. I'm not kidding, just... don't."

Kaworu titled his head to the side, puzzled at Shephard's almost spooked tone. – "Why?"

"Few years back, she tried to surprise me with a home-cooked meal when I had to stay at work for a few days."

"And?"

"Let's just say I had to pretend I ate something wrong at the base cafeteria. And if either of you tell her this, I'll make extra sure to haunt you from beyond the grave." – From the corner of his eye, Kaworu saw Rei raise an eyebrow in her own comm window. – "Assuming we all survive this one, that is."

"You're not going to tell us that we will survive and stuff like that?"

"You ain't little kids and you know very well what you're going into. Fancy words won't change the fact that you could very well die in the next minutes; that's all up to you."

Honesty or no, that did not alleviate Kaworu's tension at all. – "No pressure, then."

"Yep. That's war for you." – Shephard image in the comm window briefly looked to the side. – "Alright, Doc says you're about to have company. Heads up."

Kaworu looked around, even though the scenery outside was still the same as when Unit-01 settled down: hills as far as the eye could see, most of them forested. While there were occasional trees that were still mostly green, the great majority of the foliage had either fallen to the ground already or were in the process of doing so. It wasn't an unfamiliar sight to him; he was still on the same northern hemisphere he grew up on, after all.

And it was somewhat of a welcome sight after having spent nearly an hour looking at the entry plug's wall while the transport vehicle carrying his Evangelion like a giant, wheeled stretcher scaled the wall of the Geofront. Even if he would've turned the external display on, he would've seen nothing but the tarp drawn over the Evangelion anyway.

Evidently, Yui was still trying to keep the Evangelions' existence a secret. For what reason, though, considering that the government and the military already knew about it, Kaworu had no idea.

"Why are we hiding out here, anyway?"

"Because that is the only spot the Evangelions could get to without trampling several square kilometers' worth of forest underfoot." – Yui replied from off-screen. – "The target will pass by beyond the ridge; you will have visual contact soon."

Unit-01 turned its head to glance at the top of the hill it was currently perched up against.

"What's our plan?" – Kaworu asked as he turned his Evangelion around and walked uphill a hundred meters until he could see just over the peak and down into the valley beyond.

"The colonel tells me an ambush of sort has been set up." – At that, a point was marked on the valley floor. Kaworu managed to figure out the display's zoom controls enough to take a closer look and noticed a conspicuous lack of grass. – "You are to distract the target."

It wasn't even a minute before Kaworu saw it, exactly as it looked like on the hologram. It was bigger than he thought – much bigger. Part of him noted to ask Yui to provide a size reference for future briefings.

"I see it."

"That's our guy alright. Unit-00, think you can give it a greeting with that cannon?"

"Understood."

Behind the hill, Unit-00 stepped back with one feet and raised its cannon, taking a moment to aim before firing into the air. Almost immediately, the heads-up display of Kaworu's entry plug marked the shell as it sailed above the ridge and towards its target...

...yet a split second before impact, a small, lightning-fast beam lanced out from the top of the octahedron and speared the shell clean through, causing it to detonate in mid-air.

"Tactical alert: target has active point defenses." – Adam announced at the same time as Unit-01 ducked behind the ridge.

"Okay, that didn't work." – Kaworu reported. – "Hope it didn't see u-"

He couldn't finish before the hill under him swelled. The next moment, the world exploded into light.

It was as if his entire front was hit with a sledgehammer. The Evangelion was flung away as if it was just a toy, limbs flailing all over as Kaworu unsuccessfully tried to grab onto something, anything. Other than his assault rifle, of course, which he also lost somewhere during his involuntary flight. But since air isn't cooperative with being grabbed, he ultimately ended up being treated to an extreme closeup of the soil under Unit-01's face while the entry plug's seatbelts rather uncomfortably insisted that his body stay in the seat.

And as he got his bearings and looked behind himself, a significant chunk of the hill was missing in a semi-circle shape, the walls of the furrow glowing yellow-hot as the occasional piece of dirt pinged off of Unit-01's armor.

"You still there, kids?!"

"No damage sustained." – Rei replied immediately, yet audibly on edge.

"...what the hell just happened?!" – Kaworu demanded, face practically snow-white as he hurried to get his Evangelion back on its feet.

"The target's beam attack bore through the hill." – Lilith replied with audible unease.

"It must've traced back the shell's trajectory." – Shephard added. Kaworu did not need to see his face to know that the man was likewise white as a wall. – "That was way too fucking close to not have been counter-battery fire!"

"Tactical analysis: enemy attack was delayed by terrain. Recommend maintaining terrain masking to maximize time window for evasion."

"Adam is right. We cannot withstand that kind of offensive power head-on."

Kaworu opened his mouth to ask the AIs what to do now, but didn't get the chance before Rei yelled. – "Move! Now!"

Already pumped full of adrenaline from the knowledge of having nearly gotten obliterated just seconds ago, the boy didn't bother to ask. He threw Unit-01 to the side, barely a moment before his former location was glassed by multiple energy beams striking from directly above. Scrambling his Evangelion back onto its feet, Kaworu's head snapped up just in time to see a second barrage of beams shoot over the hilltop and bend in mid-air, directly towards them.

While he wasn't hit directly, the impact next to him shoved Unit-01 aside with enough force to almost make him fall over once again.

"Tactical alert: aerial radar contacts approaching from multiple vectors."

He suddenly caught movement from the corner of his eye just in time to feel searing pain in his leg as a beam grazed Unit-01's calf.

"What the hell are these things?!"

He heard Adam say something, but he didn't have time to listen. Kaworu pushed Unit-01 into a sprint, but two of the small shard-like objects immediately flew in front of him and fired at his legs. Not seeing any other option, he jumped, hands lashing out at the shards.

The Evangelion's fingers never got within a meter of the shards before they danced out of reach, just as a third one flitted into position to Unit-01's right and fired. Kaworu saw it coming but, having still been in mid-air, he couldn't stop his momentum from carrying him right into the shot. The beam drilled through Unit-01's right shoulder rack, leaving a gaping, molten hole.

Kaworu tried to turn what otherwise would've been an unceremonious belly-flop against the ground into something more controlled, but found out the hard way that muscle memory does not translate to Evangelion piloting. Coupled with the added weight of its backpack reactor unbalancing its center of mass, Unit-01 tumbled down the hill end over end, sending dirt flying everywhere.

And even while his bearings inside the entry plug were thrown completely out of touch with the outside world, Kaworu could not miss the pain from the shards hitting his Evangelion mid-tumble. Over and over again.

Above, Rei saw Unit-01 falling and her blood ran cold, failing to evade an attack that grazed Unit-00 on the left thigh. Gritting her teeth, she evaded the next one by using her Evangelion's right leg as a pivot to whirl around 180° counterclockwise and step to the right in the same move. She then launched herself into a sideways leap, pushing Unit-00 hard enough to feel a small spike of pain in her legs – but it succeeded in evading the next barrage of beams the Angel aimed at her.

'I need to cover him.'

Quickly running her eyes over the ground where Unit-01 landed after the Angel's opening attack, Rei spotted the abandoned assault rifle and immediately dashed towards it. Spotting the light of another incoming barrage illuminating the grass around her, she abruptly kicked herself off-course, causing the beams to hit only that same grass instead of her.

Breaking her stride, Rei dug Unit-00's heels into the ground and scooped up the rifle mid-slide, already moving to take aim before she finished standing back up, muzzle whipping towards one of the shards flocking above Unit-01.

Fortunately, the shard was anything but bulletproof: the rifle's high-powered bullet instantly shattered it as if it was made of glass. As if on cue, the other shards instantly turned around and darted towards her... but Rei was already on target. Single shot after single shot rang out and shard after shard shattered; the last one barely managed to get off a single beam Rei simply raised her arm to evade.

"Lilith, query Adam for a damage report." – the girl snapped off crisply. With all immediate threats gone, she had enough breathing room to confirm with a quick glance that Unit-01's entry plug hatch was undamaged.

"Already done." – Yui interjected, the data appearing on Rei's heads-up display. – "Moderate damage, but he can still move."

"Target has remote weaponry and indirect fire capabilities; currently in danger of suppression. Requesting mission update."

"That thing is still moving on its original course." – Shephard spoke up tersely. – "Now listen up. In about forty seconds, it's going to get blown to hell by a little surprise I had the army set up. Thing is, I have no idea if it will work or not, so I need you to do something."

"What is it?"

"I know this'll sound crazy, but I need you to get that thing's attention. Yes, doc, I know! I don't need you to kill it, just keep it focused on you so that it won't see the trap coming – and for fuck's sake, keep your head down!"

"Understood."

"Rei, are you sure?" – Yui interjected again.

The girl glanced at the damaged Unit-01 and her expression steeled. – "I can do it."

Without further words, Unit-00 quickly scaled the hill and took aim at its quarry.

20 seconds.

Rei felt anger bubbling up in her. Both at the drone and at herself. It hurt the only person in the world she cared about – and even worse, it did so in retaliation to her own attack.

15 seconds.

10 seconds.

She tightened her Evangelion's grip on the rifle. The mission wasn't over yet.

5 seconds.

The rifle came to life with a thunderous roar.

Almost immediately, a rapid burst of pencil-thin beams shot away from the drone's tips to meet Unit-00's bullets, intercepting each and every single one. Yet Rei kept firing regardless, eyes glaring past the muzzle flash at her target.

As soon as she saw a flash, she threw herself to the side... a moment before the outside world was bathed in the brilliance of a miniature sun. Yet instead of the entry plug's wall darkening to dampen the flash, the display warped and pixellated at the same moment Rei felt a stab of pain in her head powerful enough to make her cry out. She distantly felt control of the Evangelion abruptly slip away from her before the shockwave hit, finally felling Unit-00.

Then the entry plug darkened around her, giving her eyes merciful respite.

The only sound she heard was her own panting, the vibrating spots in her vision slowly clearing away until she could see the metallic walls around her. – "...Lilith?"

No response came. About ten seconds later, she heard the distant sounds of circuit breakers before the familiar hum enveloped her once more, the center of the panoramic display rapidly flashing boot code before the heads-up display came back online.

"I am sorry. I did not expect that to happen."

"What happened?"

"Electromagnetic pulse. I had to execute a hard shutdown and wait until the charge was grounded through my armor."

Rei sighed and massaged her still aching head. – "I felt it too."

"I know. My organic tissue is unaffected, but the cybernetic parts are not. Even the surge protectors could not completely prevent feedback in the synchronization circuits. I am sorry." – the AI repeated.

"I do not blame you. Do we have the communication link back online?"


Geofront, AEL Headquarters
1957 hours

Privately, Shephard decided he did not like the improvised briefing room all that much. It just... didn't feel like one. Clashing architecture was one thing, but he was the only one who was even in uniform. Well, military dress uniform. The facility had its own set of uniforms for personnel, but they were all civilians, so he didn't think it counted.

Not that he liked wearing his dress uniform, but the AEL's dress code also meant that he would've stuck out like a sore thumb in civilian clothes and would've no doubt sent a message of considering himself above the lowly peasants. Besides, if there's one thing boot camp hammers into someone, it's to not whine about unfavorable conditions but to grit one's teeth and suck it up.

Plus he was very much aware that wearing clothes he didn't like was the least of his worries right now.

"Well, that was a massive clusterfuck."

"Language, colonel."

He sipped from his coffee before setting the cup aside, well away from any paper- or electronics-based objects. Getting yelled at for damaging company property was something he really didn't need at the moment. – "Alright, let's recount what we know. That thing is impossible to hit with physical ammunition. Even trying will get the offender zapped by a crazy laser show. Cover is all but useless because it'll shoot over or through it."

He brought up a hologram of the entity, a large, black scorch mark marring its cracked surface.

"Trapping it didn't work either. I don't know how it survived a 25 kiloton nuke going off under it, but it did. Roughed it up badly, but it's still moving. Can't outrange it either; the navy tried to hit it with orbital bombardment just before it reached the city, turns out that thing can fire all the way up into orbit, so sniping's out."

"I'm still having a hard time believing the army lent you a tactical nuclear weapon." – Yui remarked, the hologram changing into an image of a massive, circular crater surrounded by blackened soil with a glassy shine only barely visible under the waning light of a setting sun.

"Calhoun authorized it."

"Still, are you sure it was the right call? Especially so close to the city."

"That valley was empty, so no collateral damage. Army's decontaminating the site now and most of the fallout was blown out to sea by wind. Do you really think I would've done this if civilians would've gotten killed in the process? Aside from dumbasses who will no doubt eat local seafood despite being explicitly told not to, I mean." – He turned to Hyuga. – "Anyway, the Angel is above us right now, correct?"

"Yes."

"Angel?"

If Shephard's mind wasn't busy thinking about his next move, he might have noticed that what he thought was surprise in Yui's voice was actually... startled.

But he didn't, so he just shrugged. – "That's what Nagisa's calling these things, for some reason. What's it doing?"

Hyuga brought up the Angel's hologram again before the image zoomed out into a to-scale diagram of Tokyo-2 and the Geofront. Next to the diagram was a street camera image of a needle-like spike extended from the bottom pit of the Angel's body, penetrating the pavement. – "It lowered some kind of probe into the ground that's periodically giving off low-frequency impulses coinciding with a spike in electromagnetic emissions." – As if on cue, the room slightly trembled from a barely audible, deep sound. – "It appears to be something between sonar and ground-penetrating radar."

"So it's scanning us." – Shephard made a thoughtful hum to himself. – "It didn't behave like the other ones either. Almost as if it's a UAV or something."

"What is it looking for?"

"Don't know. We need to take it out either way; maybe it hasn't found what it was looking for and we can beat it to the punch." – Shephard stretched himself with a sigh. – "Alright, I need options."

"Could we use some kind of energy weapon?" – Hyuga asked. – "I mean, if bullets and missiles are a no-go, why not use something the... Angel can't shoot down mid-flight? I know some defense contractors are working on Tau cannons; could we borrow a prototype from Gehirn or something like that?"

"Not sure that'll work. Even if they happen to have one on Earth right now, the Angel still has that shield. We don't know if it'll be strong enough to penetrate, let alone kill it before it returns the favor." – Shephard paused in his thoughts again. – "Based on what we've seen in the first engagement, I think we should assume that we don't have the teeth to take it out from afar."

"You mean we have to get close?"

"Yeah, but it's not going to be easy. Doc, how durable is the C-type equipment?"

Yui shook her head. – "Not enough. Its point defense turrets might protect against the smaller drones, but reactive armor won't work against particle beams. And at close range, its bulk will make evasion harder."

"Alright, endurance option is out. We need speed."

"Storm rollers?"

"Not enough."

Shephard looked over the city map on the tablet in front of him and compared the Angel's position with those of the AEL's cargo lifts and surface access tunnels before making a hum of dissatisfaction.

"And we can't come up under it either... how about above? Do we have A-type equipment ready?"

"No."

"Damn."

Yui just watched as Shephard stood up and started pacing back and forth, obviously deep in thought, before she directed her attention at Hyuga. – "What's the damage assessment with the Evangelions?"

"Unit-00 has a minor burn mark on the left leg, but nothing that affects mobility. We replace the leg armor and it's back to 100%. It's Unit-01 that's a problem."

"How bad is it?"

"Minor to moderate wounds all over the body... some of the hits penetrated all the way to the other side. Nothing we can fix on short notice. Mobility's affected, but it can still move. But if Nagisa synchronizes with the Evangelion as it is, he'll be in constant pain. If it becomes necessary, are we going to give him painkillers?"

"That won't work." – Yui replied. – "The neural interface transmits the pain signal directly to his brain; there aren't any neurotransmitters we can block. We'll have to dampen the somatosensory output on the interface's side–"

"Doc..." – Shephard spoke up suddenly, halting in his tracks.

"What is it?"

"Do we have D-type equipment?"

Yui raised both eyebrows at the unusual question. – "Hazardous environment type? It can't withstand a direct hit any more than C-type can and is even bulkier."

"How good is its heat resistance?"

"Very. Why?"

"And if you were to suit up an Evangelion with it, how heavy is it?"

"...I still don't follow."

Shephard snapped his fingers three time in rapid succession. – "I have an idea. Call Calhoun and tell him we need a frigate. And call your girl too, I need to brief her."


Geofront
Thirty minutes later

He didn't look up when he heard the footsteps. There was no need; he knew who it was, considering that there was only one person who seemingly always knew where to look for him. At this time of day, the Geofront was dark around him; even he was only illuminated by the 'street light' above him, huddling on the outdoor bench in his pale plugsuit like a specter.

He didn't look up when said person sat next to him on the bench. There was no need; he knew that he would be heard either way.

"Back in September, I got caught up in all this by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. In the last battle, I almost got my brain fried. And now?" – Kaworu sighed. – "Now I got Unit-01 totaled."

"It is under repairs." – Rei replied.

"Which it shouldn't be if I would've done my job properly." – He looked up at her. – "...I'm really not cut out for this, am I?"

"What makes you believe that?"

"Three times now, I got involved in all this. And three times now, I fucked up. Once or twice, it could be bad luck, but thrice? I shouldn't even be here."

Kaworu had no illusions about his abilities or competence. While nothing made someone reevaluate their priorities quite like a close brush with death, that wasn't why he felt doubt. Hindsight is 20/20, as the saying goes, and right now, the teen felt like an overenthusiastic child who jumped straight into something despite being explicitly warned against it, made a mess of things and accordingly got humiliatingly chastised.

Except in this case, he was both the one who chastised and the one who got chastised.

"Look at me. I'm not some kind of prodigy or anything; I was a complete idiot to think I could do this."

"Are you thinking of resignation?"

"Not sure that's even an option... considering how I got recruited in the first place." – Kaworu grumbled morosely, looking back down at the ground.

He still remembered Yui's unspoken warning that she would consider him a loose end if he were to try and cut ties with the company. And she seemed like the type of woman who wouldn't let anyone or anything get in the way of whatever she was trying to achieve – a trait Kaworu could see in Rei as well, surprisingly enough.

For some reason, it would seem that circumstances were hellbent on intertwining his fate with danger.

"It's not even that. On one hand, I seriously thought of leaving... but..."

"But?" – Rei prompted.

"What about you? You're way better at this than I am, but if I just bail out, you'll have to fight alone."

"Do not worry about me."

"I do."

And there was that. As much as he didn't like being in the current situation, Kaworu knew very well that he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he were to get out of it at someone else's expense. Growing up on the streets bestows upon one a survival-of-the-fittest mentality... but not on Kaworu.

He never found himself being unable to care.

"Do you... want me to leave with you?" – Rei asked hesitantly after a while. Kaworu didn't consider himself very good at reading people, but that hesitation told him enough.

She also cared. In her own way.

"I don't know. The two of us are the only ones who know how to pilot an Evangelion. If we bail out on the company, who's going to do it? I may be in over my head here, but I don't want others to pay the price for it."

And he wanted to be able to look at a mirror and look himself in the eye, even though he didn't say that out loud.

"So if I leave, it's going to make things harder for you. If we both leave, it's going to make things harder for everyone. If neither of us leaves, sooner or later I'll get at least myself but possibly both of us killed. No matter what I do, someone else will pay the price."

When he heard the rustling from her direction, Kaworu thought the girl was about to get up and leave... only for her to draw her arms around him and pull him into a hug, resting his head on her chest. Even though their plugsuits didn't let much of her body heat through, it was still much warmer than the chilly November air surrounding them.

"If your concern is due to feeling you are not strong enough... then become strong. I told you before: being aware of one's limitations is good. It still stands. And if at any time you feel your own strength is not enough... you will always have mine at your side. Remember that when doubt descends." – she whispered, resting her chin on the top of his head.

"Why are you like this?" – Kaworu murmured.

"Because you are all I have in this world. As long as my body still draws breath, you will not die."

They stayed like that for minutes, Kaworu silently savoring the source of warmth and finding himself calming down from listening to her slow breathing.

"Did the colonel come up with an idea on how to beat that drone?"

"Yes, although it is quite... audacious. I will be departing shortly." – Kaworu was about to ask where to when Rei laid a finger on his lips. – "Rest now. The operation will begin in six hours and you will need all your concentration to perform your duty."


0238 hours

"You awake?"

Until the sudden radio call, Kaworu wasn't. But it did a fine job at jolting him awake - not that he was sleeping all that deeply, considering the situation.

The teen shook his head to clear it, blinking away his sleepiness to focus on his surroundings. According to the entry plug's display and his own sense of balance, Unit-01 was still face-up in the surface access tunnel spiraling from the Geofront to the surface, clamped to the massive transport vehicle. A blinking display to his left told him that the Evangelion's synchronization circuits were still in a stage 3 lockdown to ensure he won't damage or overturn the transport by trying to move while attached to it. – "Y-yeah. Are we starting?"

"Soon." – "Your girlfriend is about to start her approach."

"How many times do I have to tell you that Rei is not my girlfriend?"

"Alright, alright."

"And what did you mean by 'approach'?"

"You'll see. If this works out, it's going to be one hell of a show."

"And if it doesn't?"

"She'll be smeared over the better part of a kilometer."

...that did not sound reassuring.

At all.

"...what the hell did you ask her to do?"

"Don't worry about that now. Just concentrate on what you have to do."

"Well, what is it that I have to do? You haven't even told me yet."

"Oh, right. Sorry." – Shephard rubbed his eyes. – "What I need you to do is the same as last time."

"You mean get its attention and almost get blown to pieces?" – Kaworu asked skeptically.

"Minus the 'getting blown to pieces' part. You'll play decoy and draw its attention. The way I see it, this Angel acts almost like a robot, only attacking what poses a threat to it. I don't know if it'll interpret her approach as a threat, so you'll give it something else to focus on, just in case."

'He figured out Ramiels are just drones?' Tabris noted with mild surprise. 'He's not stupid at all.'

"We're sending you up as far away from the Angel as we can." – Shephard continued. – "Shoot it, then haul ass. Don't even try to hurt it; just keep your distance and keep moving. Unit-00 will take care of the rest; all you need to do is buy time for her to get into position. You got that?"

"Yeah. Anything else?"

"What, this isn't enough?" – After a moment, the man sighed. – "Sorry. I feel like I'm about to collapse right where I stand; I swear, whoever the AEL's buying their coffee from is ripping them off. Let's waste this sucker, go home and catch some sleep, alright?"


Same time
Tokyo-2, Outer District 6

Right then and there, Asuka decided she definitely didn't like being on Earth during the winter months. It was just too damn cold.

Or maybe it was her who was just too used to being in a climate-controlled environment, she didn't know. But then again, she wasn't used to being outdoors without breathing equipment either. Her father took her outside on a semi-frequent basis when she was younger to make sure she didn't develop agoraphobia, so she wasn't scared even when she was standing under the open sky. But standing on a city street among multi-story buildings like she did on a daily basis and standing on a roof like she was doing right now were completely different things.

Another alarm in the middle of the afternoon. Last time this happened, Asuka clearly felt the shelter's floor rumbling under her.

When she both heard about and saw herself the damage to the city the next day, it didn't take her for even a second to realize a battle took place.

Who was fighting? Why? And why here?

She couldn't stop thinking about it. And she didn't miss the fact that, just after the civil defense sirens sounded last time, Nagisa and Ikari disappeared without a trace and never returned to the shelter.

Or how her father and Nagisa left home together – and a few hours later, how her father called her, tersely asked her where she was and ordered her to go to the nearest shelter just seconds before the civil defense sirens started howling. She tried to ask him about it, only for him to brush her off, repeat his order and hang up.

That was pretty much a straight-up invitation for her to not comply.

To be honest, Asuka did go to the shelter. But nothing happened for hours. Even boredom couldn't rein her tense anticipation in enough to fall asleep like everyone else in the shelter.

And once no one was awake, no one cared when she slipped out.

She wasn't looking for trouble, but she had to know. Not for telling others; as the daughter of a military officer and someone aspiring for a military career herself, Asuka knew very well that there were secrets worth imprisonment or worse. Especially if the one telling them wasn't supposed to know about it either.

Morbidly enough, it actually reminded her of something Hikari showed her a couple of days ago. The pigtailed girl had calligraphy as her hobby and while Asuka couldn't for the life of her interpret the confusing painted pictographs she saw on Hikari's shelf, there was one that grabbed her attention. Asuka had seen before images and even figurines depicting three monkey heads: one covering its eyes, another covering its ears, the third covering its mouth. It was Hikari who explained to her that it was an ancient proverb.

See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

It wasn't womanly curiosity that drove her to find the tallest building nearby whose stairwell wasn't locked. As a soldier, she had to be aware of the situation at all times. But when she saw the giant, diamond-shaped crystal hovering over the city, she wasn't anywhere closer to knowing what was going on.

At first she thought it was just a gigantic hologram until she noticed how its lower half was reflecting the city's lights like a mirror. Whether it was refracting light, she couldn't tell; not a single star was visible due to light pollution. Not that it would've meant anything to her, as Asuka only knew as much physics as understanding a battleframe's workings strictly required, from knowing how much power to apply to a limb for the desired result, to how high she could push a Durandal's second-gen deuterium/helium-3 fusion reactor before the neutron emission from deuterium/deuterium fusion becomes too much for the radiation shielding to contain and she starts losing years from her life expectancy. Not that the reactor wouldn't scram itself before that happened, but she still had to learn it.

In any case, Asuka couldn't figure out what the object was. It just floated there, rotating in place like an angular disco ball in slow motion. In fact, she was about to fall asleep when she heard a sound. A distant rumbling somewhere from the city. And at the same moment, the object stopped rotating.

That's when she saw it. Barely visible in the darkness, but something was moving, just inside the city limits, almost directly opposite of her.

The next moment, the distant object flared what Asuka instantly recognized as a muzzle flash and she rolled back onto her feet, ready to run the instant crossfire started hitting her position.

But no crossfire happened. Thin beams of light shot from the object's tips into the dark before the night turned to day. Asuka winced and rubbed her aching eyes to try and regain sight, to limited success: she could see for the most part, but the flaring afterimage of the energy beam the object launched at its attacker was refusing to leave her sight.

The thundering boom accompanying the blast didn't help either, although at least her hearing wasn't deadened. In fact, it was barely more straining on Asuka's ears than firing a handgun indoors without ear protection – and that was something she didn't like doing one bit, even without knowing that it wasn't healthy for her hearing to keep doing that.

As soon as she could see somewhat, Asuka noted to herself that the object's firing angle was constantly changing, as well as the direction it was being fired at from. Which meant that the unseen assailant was on the move... and it was fast. Much faster than any ground-based vehicle she had ever seen; Asuka guessed it was probably a G-46 VTOL gunship. Yet the incoming fire did not look like either a Buster's folding-fin anti-tank missiles, nor its unguided rockets, nor did the muzzle flash match either the caliber or the rate of fire of its gimbal autocannon.

And against something that big, who would send out just a single Buster?

Asuka knew of every craft currently in service in the military, but the mystery attacker was leaving her at a complete loss. Yet she couldn't even see it, much less identify what it was. Whenever the object near her fired, it cast off so much light as to make it impossible to see what it was shooting at.

Then it happened.

The blue object fired off another shot at just the right angle to catch its foe silhouetted against the beam.

An absolutely massive humanoid with... hair?

Darkness fell again, leaving a wide-eyed girl staring into the darkness with disbelief.

Asuka's brain was working at overtime to process what she just saw. In the split second she was able to see the combatant, there was no mistaking its metallic glint, nor the distinct shape of a rifle. It was artificial alright, just like a battleframe. But that was no battleframe she ever saw. Asuka only ever sat in the cockpit of a Durandal but she knew what the older battleframe models looked like: the Mk-I, a top-heavy, haphazard design with balance problems and a bad case of having wanted to be a do-everything vehicle so much that it ended up not doing anything well, and the Mk-II Gugnir, little more than an assault gun on legs specialized for long-range combat and designed specifically for use by pre-Impact tank crews.

Asuka heard rumors that Gehirn was about to finish development of the Mk-IV, but she also knew that the Mk-IV was supposed to be a six-legged, low-profile fire support model to replace the Gugnir. Not only the unknown she just saw was very much two-legged, its sheer scale dwarfed every battleframe she knew about. Even a Gugnir, the tallest battleframe currently in service, wouldn't have reached knee-height to that monster.

What was it?

Who built it?

Who was operating it?

Why was it having a gun-vs-laser shootout with a giant diamond in the middle of a major city?

She had absolutely no idea what was going on. She came up here expecting to find answers, only to end up with even more questions.

Asuka was ultimately shaken out of her thoughts by a rumbling sound even more distant than whatever the thing the blue object was shooting at. And it was coming behind her.

Turning to look, Asuka's eyes grew even larger when she spotted the source: a giant, airborne fireball, headed right in her direction.

'A meteor?! WHAT THE FUCK?!'

Yet it wasn't a meteor.

Asuka barely caught the glimpse of a massive, bulky humanoid in the center of firestorm before it spontaneously exploded. At least, that's what the girl thought before a humanoid of the same proportions as the other one emerged from the burning debris, still on course towards her.

Asuka's brain clicked. Ablative heat shield for atmospheric reentry.

A trio of enormous parachutes erupted from the rear of the humanoid... only to snap off after a few seconds and disappear in the darkness.

Asuka threw herself to the ground and prayed to whatever was listening that the thing doesn't land on top of her.

It didn't.

The humanoid flipped over in the air with impossible grace before sailing over Asuka and plowing into the blue object feet-first.

This time, Asuka almost didn't dare look up for fear of seeing something that breaks her sanity for good.

As still and mechanical as the blue object looked like, it did notice the humanoid landing on it rather roughly. Currently it was chaotically turning and tilting, evidently attempting to shake its sudden passenger off. Yet said passenger evidently had none of it: from her experience with Durandals, Asuka instantly recognized the assault harpoons when they fired and lodged themselves into the blue object's surface, cracking it as if it was made of glass.

Then Asuka scarcely believed her eyes when the seemingly-crystalline blue object suddenly split open and impossibly warped into a shape she could best describe as a five-pointed star with a smaller five-pointed-star-shaped indent in the center. She barely saw the red orb floating in the center of the hollow before concentric rings of light materialized around the orb, accompanied by a rising hum.

And straight in front of the orb was the humanoid that dropped down from the sky, its assault harpoons still buried inside the object - except the humanoid was hanging in mid-air with its limbs forcibly spread, helplessly suspended like a marionette by the very cords it affixed itself to its foe with.

Asuka knew what was going to happen. She had seen the blue object fire its energy beam enough times to gauge how powerful it was... and right now, the trapped humanoid was about to get hit from almost point-blank range.

Yet it didn't happen.

Asuka could barely follow with her eye as the humanoid suddenly ejected a cord trapping its right arm and reached up to the vertical pod on its left shoulder, which split open. One lighting-fast backhand sweep, and the sound of a glass-like crack echoed across the cityscape. The blue object fell silent and still, the rings of light around the red orb dissipating as Asuka's eye caught the sight of a knife hilt sticking out of the orb.

One by one the assault harpoons ejected and the humanoid fell down, landing on the street below in a loud crash, whose dust cloud obscured it from Asuka's sight. She only spotted it again when it walked out of the cloud, its movement bizarrely reminding the girl more of a human than a battleframe.

About two city blocks later, the orange humanoid stopped in its tracks and glanced back at the still motionless blue object, revealing its cyclops-like eye before it resumed walking away.

Asuka was still watching it when the humanoid, without slowing down or looking behind, raised an arm and did the absolutely last thing she expected.

It snapped its fingers.

A moment later, the knife buried in the blue object detonated and the object, as if it was suddenly unfrozen, slowly rolled to the side and flattened several buildings under its hulk before going still once more, this time for good.


Chapter rewrite finished on 16/02/08.

To be entirely honest, this chapter felt rather underwhelming. I couldn't make Ramiel go all-out because realistically, the Evas wouldn't stand a chance without an AT-field. Concessions had to be made and I feel they were made at the expense of enjoyment. The reason why Ramiel fired at the Evas at full power only once is because, after the Evas failed to meaningfully damage it, it downgraded their threat level – that is, Ramiel decided they're not worth the effort.

It's not arrogance to not use excessive force against a negligible threat, it's logic. Do you use a flamethrower to kill a single ant? No, you wouldn't. When the threat warrants that kind of force, though, it's an entirely reasonable response; case in point, the Red Army resorting to artillery while trying to flush out Simo Häyhä alias White Death during the Winter War after he singlehandedly killed literally hundreds of them with just a rifle and took down every single counter-sniper sent after him.

The aircraft mentioned during Asuka's observation is essentially a space-capable version of the tiltjet VTOL crafts seen in canon, serving as a helicopter gunship analogue. It's technically a ground attack aircraft but it can engage larger airborne targets as well, like the air-to-air equivalent of a bomber. Armament-wise, it is equipped with a triple-barreled gatling autocannon in a rotating gimbal mount below the cockpit, as well as a pair of attack helicopter-like ordinance racks on each side, retractable into the main hull. Each rack carries 8 laser-guided folding-fin anti-tank missiles on the top of the rack and a trio of 12-tube launchers with unguided rockets on the bottom of the rack. The full payload is thus 16 missiles with HESH or HEAT warheads and 72 unguided rockets with high-explosive, white phosphorus or napalm-B warheads. There are also options to replace the rocket tubes with the space equivalent of anti-ship missiles or replace the anti-tank missiles with a larger missile carrying a thermobaric warhead.

The Confederate military also adapted the airframe into a transport variant, the V-46T, which forgoes the missile/rocket armament for an enlarged rear section, larger fuel tanks and reentry-grade armor, allowing it to serve as a troop carrier. Another variant, the V-46B, strips out the cargo space as well, being little more than a cockpit, engines, plus electromagnetic clamps for airlifting a single battleframe or cargo container.

And in case anyone wonders: yes, Rei Inazuma Kicked Ramiel from orbit.