Neon Genesis Evangelion: Altered Destinies
Launch Twenty Seven
It came on the wind, a strange, formless cloud of semi-organic material. It moved through the upper atmosphere, crossing the world on the jet-stream, almost as if it was searching for something. Finally it abandoned it's search and let the wind carry it onward, eventually arriving in the fortress city of Tokyo-3.
It didn't show up on the many sensors in NERV. Why would it? It was a dispersed mist, not the solid form of a invading Angel. No alerts wailed, no sirens went off, in fact everyone in the city carried on as if there was nothing wrong. And to most of them nothing was wrong, until the first attack happened the day after the mist arrived.
Yoko Shinden was having problems with her car this morning. The old beetle was a bit run down looking, but it had served her well over the years. But this morning it wouldn't start up, instead just making a anguished grinding noise. With a groan of disgust she got out of her car, glaring down at it in pure exasperation.
"Why won't you start?" Yoko demanded, the redhead kicking at the car's nearest fender.
The volkswagon bug lurched suddenly, then... it began to move. Yoko jerked back in shock as it rattled and shook, then what almost looked like a arm burst out from the rusty metal! The bug reached for her even as Yoko screamed and backed away, watching in disbelief.
Yoko was bone pale as she stammered, "It's not possible."
The car almost seemed to be trying to transform, but whatever was inhabiting it was clearly not human. Soon insect like legs were shaped from metal and rubber, a great staring eye forming out of a headlight. It lurched awkwardly, clearly not having any idea how to walk, and collapsed to the side with a groan.
Yoko's disbelieving screams caught the attention of a police officer, who arrived only to freeze in shock, looking at the thing disbelievingly. With more courage than sense he pushed Yoko back, then advanced on the thing as he asked, "Okay, what's going on? This better not be another stunt by the engineering club..."
The inhuman thing cocked it's misshapen head, studying the cop for a moment. It didn't understand the language, but it clearly didn't like the tone. With a casual gesture one of the insect like legs reared up, then struck downward with incredible force and impaled the man!
"Aiee!" Yoko screamed in horror as blood splattered her, the man's head and upper body disintegrating under the blow. Without thinking she turned and ran, even as the thing watched her curiously as she fled.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"What the hell is going on?" Shinji Ikari asked as she was hustled down to the Evangelion bays, the young woman swiftly pulling on the plugsuit top as she ran.
The radio in her ear chirped as Misato said, "We think it's a Angel attack, but what the Angel is exactly we don't know. Something is taking over machines and technology in and around Tokyo-3, mutating it somehow."
"Are the Evangelions vulnerable to it?" Asuka demanded, already sitting in the entry plug for Unit-02. She had been running some synch exercises when the first alert went off, so was ready before anyone else.
"We don't know," Ritsuko admitted on another line. She sighed softly as she continued, "The angel, whom we're calling Bardiel, seems to only be controling inorganic things, not people, but we don't know if that will continue."
"So what do we do?" Rei asked calmly, following Shinji at a good run.
"We're holding you on standby," Misato admitted as she explained, "the military has demanded we let them take a shot first."
"That's a really, really bad idea," Asuka opinioned, "what if it takes over a tank?"
"Then we end up fighting Megatron," Ken noted on another line as the young man raced to NERV. He was taking a bike along the now nearly deserted roads, having decided public transit and cars might be too dangerous.
"Geek," Shinji noted with a sigh.
"And proud of it," Ken shot back.
Ritsuko and Misato exchanged pained glances in the control room as they tried to manage the crisis. A map of Tokyo-3 was displayed on the screen, with orange splotches showing where people had been attacked by suddenly animate machines. The ones with red signaled a spot where someone died, which were increasing in frequency.
Maya Ibuki sat at her usual terminal, having bumped her new replacement temporarily. There was no way she was sitting out the emergency, even though her current job was more computer security based. "I'm trying to determine a pattern to it's actions," she noted with some frustration, "but the attacks all seem random."
Makoto nodded as he worked at his own terminal, "They're not even getting near NERV itself. They're scattered all over the place."
Misato paced irritably, not caring if anyone watched her or not. "Can we monitor the military communications?" she asked.
Aoba nodded as he said, "I'll give it a shot."
There was a hiss, then Aoba was as good as his word. In fact, he was better, taping into helmet camera feeds to bring the military's progress up on the screens for all of them to see. Sadly, it wasn't going all that well.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Leona Ozaki was a tank jock, which in Tokyo-3 was another word for 'target.' The military wasn't given much freedom to set up their own operations, and the interference from Generals who couldn't find their asses with both hands didn't help. But this time she was optimistic they could actually make a difference!
"Al!" Leona called down to her driver from her position at the gunnery controls, "Step on it! The rest of the team is gonna be there soon!"
Al was a expert in driving the scaled down tanks that Japan used, but his skills were often clouded by his feelings for his gunner. But sadly Leona seemed to have feelings for only her tank, leaving him to merely suffer in silence.
"The others have made it to the defense line, according to the tank GPS sensors," Al reported as he drove, "but radio chatter is down."
"Yamakaki, Kudo," Leona radioed ahead to the rest of the squad, "what's going on? Give me a sitrep, immediately!"
Only static answered as the tank rushed through the nearly deserted city. People had been evacuated to shelters, but the wrecks of cars sat on the sides of the road. More horrifying were the bodies, innocents torn apart by machines they had always trusted. They both tried to only look ahead, but the splashes of red were impossible to ignore.
"Still getting GPS signals," Al reported as they neared the site.
Leona scowled as she said, "Where's the canon fire? There's no way it ended this soon," Her expression became faintly worried, "What is going on?"
"I don't like the feel of this," Al said needlessly.
The location to attempt to stop the rampaging machines had been chosen near city center, in fact not far from where the Evangelions had fought the strange sphere angel. The plan had been for the tanks to lay down overwhelming firepower against the coming machines, blowing them to bits. Simple, but simple worked often enough.
The mini tank rolled forward into the open area, then the two soldiers within gaped in horror. The tank platoon was so much rubble, the massive armored vehicles broken and torn. There were bodies scattered about, torn and bleeding, and some crushed in the wreckage of their tanks.
The angel-thing crouched off to the far end of the square, a inhuman horror that bulged and shifted cancerously even as they watched. The body was bulky and strange, with multiple 'limbs' extending outward in various designs. Part of it looked mechanical, part insect like, and all of it like it was assembled by a madman.
"You...," Leona growled out, tears in her eyes as she saw the massacred remains of her comrades littering the road.
Al saw the thing rear it's head, almost like it was sniffing the air for them, and it raised one misshappen arm. Seeing what it had attached there he made a snap judgement. "Leaving now," he said, putting the tank in reverse.
"No, Al! We have to kill this thing!" Leona growled as she struggled to bring the turret around as they fled the square.
Al swung the tank around even as he asked, "Did you see that thing's arm?"
"Arm?" Leona echoed, bringing up the view magnifier on the targeting system. Her eyes widened as she took in the inhuman looking arm... that ended in several cannons ripped off their comrades' tanks. "Oh crap," she managed to get out just as it fired.
The arm jerked back wildly as it fired, but it still managed to shoot roughly in their direction. What the cannons shot weren't shells, thankfully, but instead what looked like globs of metal, mixed with the creature's substance. The material splashed against nearby walls as Al evaded wildly, thankfully avoiding a hit.
"Get on the radio," Al ordered as the guns boomed again, "we need reinforcements! Or a N2 mine, whichever!"
"Right," Leona agreed even as they watched the areas hit by the shells begin to change. It appeared the thing was infecting whatever it touched, and that was probably how it had killed their fellow tankers. She brought around the machine gun and laid down suppression fire as they fled, then activated the radio. She hoped command had some good ideas, because she was right out.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Gendo Ikari monitored the situation even as he tried to conceal his concern. The arrival of Bardiel was as predicted in the scrolls, but this manner of attack... it was completely unexpected. He felt more and more that things were going off track, but there didn't seem to be anything he could do.
Leaning forward at his desk Gendo listened to the discussion going on in the command center. He was shaken by the horrific experiences of the army, though he refused to let it show. Even here in his sanctum, he had to remain in control.
"Did Ozaki and her partner get away from it?" Misato asked as they followed the military's internal broadcasts.
"Yes," Ritsuko confirmed, "and we've received a formal request for aide."
"Too bad we don't have a plan," Misato frowned. She looked over at Ritsuko and Maya, "Do you think the idea of using a N2 mine would work?"
"It might, but this thing appears to be infectious somehow," Ritsuko said with a frown. "Unless the N2 mine completely vaporizes the entity..."
"Ir could spread it out even faster," Aoba noted.
Maya looked thoughtful a moment as she suggested, "What about the positron rifle? With some modifications it could be effective."
Gendo raised his eyebrows as the staff quickly decided Maya's suggestion was worth a try. 'Possibly I've underestimated the girl,' he mused as they set to work, 'she may bear closer observation.'
To be continued...
Notes: Wanted to rethink Bardiel a bit. Bit more of a 'horror' concept to the Angel.