JUNE 11th, 2015

COMMAND CENTER, NERV HQ

6:57pm:

The sound of Ritsuko's lightning-speed typing was all that could be heard coming from the inside of the MAGI. As usual, she was hard at work on whatever hurdle NERV had come across. It was what made her such a valuable asset to the organization; not only was she the best at what she did, but she was relentless when it came to doing what needed to be done.

Even in the dark with their only light source being the average flashlight, nothing could stop her.

The intermittent quakes came back every now and then, each time getting a little louder and more violent. They knew their time was running out. It was all down to HQ and Tokyo-3's fate resting on Ritsuko's shoulders. But much to everyone's surprise, she didn't buckle even a little bit. She kept calm and did her job as usual.

A far cry from her emotional state earlier that day after the incident with Rei.

'How is it that this doesn't bother me as much as that girl does?' Ritsuko wondered. 'There's something seriously wrong with me...'

Finally, she ran a check-up program through to MAGI to assess the situation. Her computer almost immediately picked up that the power wasn't shut off through the means of hacking, but by literally cutting off their source of energy. The Angels had severed multiple power lines and grids leading to Tokyo-3 and the Geo Front, those two being the only areas affected by the sabotage.

"They destroyed our power grids." Ritsuko explained, terrifying Maya in the process.

"So how are we going to get power back into HQ, then?"

Ritsuko however, still kept perfectly calm.

"Calm down, Maya. There's a way to fix all this. Remember, it's our job to figure these kinds of situations out. So I'm gonna need you to keep your cool as best you can."

"I understand that Dr. Akagi. But, exactly how is this going to work?" Maya asked. "If we do manage to power HQ back up, can't the Angels just shut us down again?"

"Not exactly." Answered Ritsuko. "My mother specifically programmed the MAGI to have a fail-safe restart procedure... it's why this process requires seperate computers. Through them we can spot the issue and power the MAGI back up, and have it act as the source of HQ's power for about 3 days before it all runs out. There's no way the Angels can cut our power again, because they won't even know it's coming from the MAGI."

"I see..."

*BRRRRKKKKK*

Maya was once again terrified by the strong shake, but held her panic in as best she could. Being that Ritsuko needed her to stay as calm as possible, she was willing to stay strong for her. The woman needed to focus on her task and Maya wasn't about to let her down.

"Ritsuko, you made any progress in there yet? We're running out of time!" They both heard Misato yell from the entrance of the crawl space.

Ritsuko herself didn't even bother to answer her, and sighed in frustration. Maya noted this and decided to do something about it herself, as her higher-up was far too busy to care for the pressure Misato was putting on her. She crawled over to the Major to try to keep Ritsuko as undisturbed as possible.

"What's going on in there, Ibuki?" Misato questioned as soon as she caught sight of her. "Any progress? Anything at all?"

"Dr. Akagi is really busy and needs to keep her focus on her work. From what she's told me, she found out how the Angels were able to cut our power and has a plan to bring it back." Explained Maya.

"Okay... but time is of the essence here, Lieutenant. I didn't mean to make her lose focus, I'm just trying to keep every one of us alive. And I take it we don't have much time left before HQ is completely breached." Misato said to her.

It was then that Maya smiled, which caught Misato by surprise.

"I trust Dr. Akagi, Major. She can get us through this." She said before crawling back inside the MAGI.

But Misato quietly scoffed.

'That makes one of us...'

7:01pm:

*RR-ATATATATATA*

"Gunfire..." Asuka mumbled to herself before turning around to face the rest of Unit-01 again. "I'm sure you all heard that. Looks like the skinjobs made it inside HQ! Stand by for a direct attack!"

"God damn..." Toji said to himself, feeling his muscles tense up.

The sound was coming through the network of air vents that ran through HQ. Without any power, there was no air flow to block the sounds that easily entered them. Each room was able to hear what was going on from the next. But there was still no telling exactly which section of HQ it was coming from. All they knew was that the audible combat was heavy.

The gunfire was relentless, and the grenade blasts were enough to send light tremors through the walls. And as if that wasn't enough-

*CREEEEEAAAAK*

Another deafening and violent jolt shook the halls of HQ.

A few of Unit-01's troops were actually knocked off their feet, and couldn't stand back up until the quake had come to a full stop. Those who didn't fall were holding onto whatever was around them and managed to keep standing, afraid of not being able to properly defend themselves should a platoon of Angels ambush them when their guard was down.

Eventually, the shaking settled and the unit was able to fully stand their ground once more.

"Unit-01, on your feet!" Asuka ordered. "Brace for im-!"

*KR-POOOOF*

The unit was hurled back by a blast that had just gone off in the halls opposite the entrance to the Command Center. Asuka smashed against the gate, as did Hikari. Toji, Kensuke and Rei found themselves on the ground again, trying to stand back up to assess what exactly was going on. Everyone's ears were ringing due to the proximity of the blast.

On top of that, the room was now full of smoke, impairing their vision greatly.

"*Cough* The fuck- *Cough* -jus' happened?" Toji asked in pure confusion.

"What?!" Kensuke replied, his ears still ringing as they continued to heal.

'What the hell was that?' Thought Asuka. 'No... the Angels! They must've-'

She quickly reached for her flashlight, which she had dropped when the unit was thrown back by the blast. As soon as she shined the light down the hall, she realized that they were looking at one of the Angels' new entry points. As the smoke cleared a little, Asuka could see what looked like a giant tunneling drill. Soon enough, she was able to see a hatch at the end of the vehicle.

"Open fire!" She yelled frantically. "Open fucking fire, Unit-01!"

The unit immediately started firing at the enemy's vehicle even before the hatch had opened up. Once it finally did, Unit-01 was able to hold the Angels back for a bit. Their battle coordination was a huge mess at first, since the alignment of each troops' position had been completely ruined by the violent blast.

Even worse, a handful of troops were on the brink of passing out due to all the smoke inhalation, temporarily weakening their fire power. This gave the Angels a chance to push back.

"Shit, we're getting cornered here!" Shouted Kensuke.

"We ain't lettin' no skinjobs corner us... we're gonna make 'em eat our lead!" Toji replied.

Behind them, Rei held a defensive position but still didn't engage in combat. She could see the unit was struggling to fend off the enemy, only adding to the hopelessness she had been scarred with since that very morning. Toji and Kensuke were understandably a little irritated by her inaction now, though they focused more on trying to pick the Angels off.

But as soon as Unit-01's own Lieutenant saw Rei standing around doing nothing, she was in for trouble.

"Hey, Miss Perfect!" Asuka shouted, trying to get through to her amidst the loud gunfire. "You just gonna stand there while the rest of us fight them off?! You've got a god damn grenade launcher... fucking do something!"

Rei didn't even turn around even though she could clearly hear Asuka's familiar angry voice. This only angered her even more.

"I'm fucking talking to you!" She yelled once more as she walked up to Rei now. "You got a deathwish or something? Because in my Unit-01 you either fight back, or drop dead! So just fucking pick one!"

Still no words or even a reaction from the azure-haired girl. Asuka was grabbing her by the collar now just to try to get through to her.

"So that's it? You're just gonna quit?!"

Rei finally made eye contact with Asuka as she really had no choice anymore. She still said nothing, but the tears running down her face was enough to tell Asuka everything she needed to know about her mental state. And this being Asuka, there was no pity to give. She pushed Rei to the ground and yanked her grenade launcher from her hands.

"SO QUIT, THEN! SEE IF I CARE WHEN YOU'RE DEAD!"

Asuka proceeded to run up further to get a better shot at the Angels, since she wasn't all that used to a weapon of that caliber.

Rei was now curling up into a ball as she sat behind cover. The only thing she had left to defend herself with was her PKD Pistol, which under Unit-01's current circumstances, was nowhere near enough to save her own life. It was every person for themselves now. Not even the closest of friends could watch one another's backs.

Her mind suddenly drifted back to the night Shinji saved her. In the middle of the heist they pulled before she was pinned down by that tree, she remembered how cowardly Shinji was when faced with direct combat. At the time, his behavior completely puzzled her. But now she felt she understood it more than ever.

'I see...' She thought. 'When you have nothing left, it's as if there's no point in fighting for your life.'

Rei buried her face in her arms.

'I see that now...'

7:09pm:

Shinji continued his tiring crawl through the AC vents. His clothes were completely filth-ridden now, as the tiny spaces probably hadn't been cleaned properly in a while, as evidenced by the layers of dust. It was enough to make him cough, though he tried suppressing the urge as much as possible to keep quiet in case the enemy could hear.

'Where the hell inside HQ am I right now?' Shinji Mused. 'I swear this is taking me up, not down... Shit, I hope I'm not lost.'

He rubbed his eyes, trying to rid his eyes of the dust that kept flying everywhere the more he moved forward. At this point, Shinji was just looking for another hatch to let himself out through. It didn't help that all the lights were still out, making any visibility inside nearly impossible. With how dark and dusty it was inside the AC vents, he had to rely solely on his hands as a sort of 'eyesight'.

'Fuck, I gotta get out of here soon.'

He crawled further and further, feeling the walls around him for any hatch. The minutes continued to pass, and Shinji was beginning to lose hope.

'Come on, god damn it... where is it that I can get out of here?'

His nose was beginning to gather tons of dust now, pretty soon he wouldn't be able to breathe properly anymore. But despite his deepening worry, he wasn't willing to stop. Shinji was still terrified of facing the enemy, but something in his head had changed. He no longer thought about this war as having to ward off the Angels.

Shinji thought about it as saving the ones he loved.

"Just... a little... further..." He said in a hoarse voice, the dust now affecting his throat as well. "I need... to help them... just... a little-"

And suddenly he felt it.

'Found it!'

Shinji quickly pulled himself closer to the hatch, trying to find another way to open it. Unlike the one he used to enter the vents, this one was located on the side of the vent, and not underneath. At first he thought of firing rounds at each of the screws just like he did last time, but remembered that he had to conserve his rounds for the battle.

'Maybe I can try kicking it instead.' He thought.

Moving into a more comfortable position to try to force the hatch open, he began kicking the hatch repeatedly. At first he wasn't making much progress. But the more he kicked, the more the hatch bent forward.

*TUNK* *TUNK* *TUNK*

"Come on... open up, already!"

Shinji kicked more and more, each kick becoming stronger than the next. His legs were really beginning to feel the strain now. But that still wasn't enough to stop him. One of the screws actually came loose, as he heard it drop on the floor like a pin. By now, he could've given his legs a break and focused on the corner of the hatch that was missing its screw. But he didn't.

He just continued, choosing to ignore the pain and to focus on getting to where he needed to be; with the people he loved.

Then finally-

"Hyaah!"

*KHUNK*

-the hatch came right off. Much to Shinji's surprise, the vent he was currently in wasn't suspended from the ceiling like the one he had to climb up to. This one had its opening on the bottom corner of the wall, meaning he could just pull himself out of there without having to endure a hard landing from the ceiling. Shinji quickly crawled out of there, coughing the dust from his lungs and rubbing as much of the dust from him as possible.

But just as he cleaned himself up, he heard voices from down the hall.

"Did you guys hear that?" A boy's voice said.

"Yeah, what the hell was all that noise? Sounded like it came from down the hall!" Another voice said. "Unit-74, let's investigate!"

'Oh fuck...' Thought Shinji, making sure to put his pistol away in case they mistook him for a threat.

He could hear a load of footsteps get louder as they ran his direction. So he made sure to stand up and put his hands up in case they thought he was reaching for his only weapon. And as the unit got closer to his position, he could see lights glow brighter and brighter at the turn on the end of the hall he was facing.

Finally, the unit found him by the broken vent hatch. They all shined their flashlights at him, blinding Shinji in the process.

"Freeze!" The boy who Shinji presumed to be the unit's C.O.

"Don't shoot! Friendly! I'm a friendly!" Shinji quickly tried clarifying.

'Friendly... military lingo.' The boy thought.

As soon as he had said that, the unit knew he was no threat whatsoever. But they were still skeptical, as he didn't have NERV's familiar combat gear on. Just some dusty clothes and no apparent uniform that was fit for battle.

"Who the hell are you? And what in the world are you doing out here by yourself?" The boy asked.

Then he looked at the broken hatch by the air vent.

"Did you do that? Just what the fuck were you doing in there?"

"I was trying to get back inside HQ! But before that I-" Shinji said, stopping himself before he gave away that he wasn't a registered soldier for NERV anymore. "I... was locked out before the power went out! I couldn't get myself inside in time, so I didn't even have time to get my gear."

"Okay then... but which outfit are you with?" Asked the boy.

"I'm Private Ikari from Unit-01, and I'm trying to regroup with them. But I didn't have any way to contact them before the Angel attack, do you guy happen to know where they might be?"

"Woah woah woah- you're a Unit-01 kid?" Unit-74's C.O asked in shock. "And did you say your name was Ikari? Like Commander Ikari? Just who the hell did we stumble upon?"

"Look, we don't have time! Can you just help me locate Unit-01? Or Lieutenant Soryu?" Shinji asked in a rush.

"Alright, alright. Look, unfortunately we don't have any way of contacting anyone right now. Not with this outage on our hands. But... I do know that Unit-01 is set to be stationed at the gates of the Command Center in case of a direct invasion of HQ. So maybe-"

The C.O looked back at his unit and raised his hand, gesturing at three of his troops to come to him.

"Privates Hinode, Daguchi and Oba! Lead Private Ikari to the gates of the Command Center. And make sure you watch his back all the way through! He doesn't appear sufficiently armed." The boy ordered.

The three troops he called upon all complied to his orders.

"Thank you very much." Shinji said to him with a nod.

"Don't mention it. Hurry now, I've a feeling the skinjobs already made it inside." The C.O responded. "Go kick some ass down there... You guys are the best unit we got in all of NERV."

Shinji nodded, and proceeded to follow the three troops assigned to escort him to Unit-01.

COMMAND CENTER

7:15pm:

'Almost there...' Thought Ritsuko.

By now, everyone in the Command Center could hear the combat just outside the gates. And as if NERV's head scientist wasn't already going through enough, now she could hear the very fate that awaited them if she wasn't able to boot HQ's power back up in time.

'Come on, almost there...'

Beside her, Maya eagerly waited her work to be completed. And though she tried keeping a strong facade for her superior, she was shaking vigorously as the pops and booms of the battle outside the Command Center increased in their intensity.

"H-How far are you from being done, Dr. Akagi?" She asked with an obvious shakiness to her voice.

At first, Ritsuko was closer to losing her patience with Maya. She always thought that the most important thing to do in times of extreme pressure was keeping your cool. It helped to best manage a dire situation, whatever it may be. To buckle under the pressure, in her eyes, was akin to failing their mission. She turned to Maya once more, about to scold her for freaking out, until she saw the horrid expression in her eyes.

Maya was hugging her knees. Her eyes watered as she looked over at Ritsuko, not only for answers this time, but for a sense of security. Ritsuko sighed as she went back to work, having been reminded of the human in her NERV peers for just a second.

"Just hang in there, Maya."

Outside the MAGI's tiny passageway, Misato still leaned against the exposed pipes of the gigantic supercomputer. Her arms were crossed, and she tapped her fingers rapidly against her elbows. She was seriously considering the horrifying thought of these moments potentially being her last on this earth, and she couldn't feel more awful about everything that had transpired that day alone.

'Shinji couldn't be happy, and neither could Rei. Then the city itself gets invaded. All those casualties up on the surface... none of us might actually get out of this alive. Is this really how we all go?'

Misato heard a collective gasp coming from the bridge bunnies on the lower decks of the Command Center, caused by another blast just outside the gates.

'I really hope your skills are able to pull us out of this one, Ritsuko...'

Back inside the MAGI, Ritsuko herself could now hear the combat occurring just outside their door, despite being inside the tight spaces of the supercomputer's passageway. It was coupled with Maya's uneasy breathing, only adding to the stress of the moment. But nonetheless, she refused to buckle. Not only were all of their lives at stake, but so was the fate of humanity.

'Okay, now I carry over the files onto here,-'

The most important thing to Ritsuko right then and there was her work.

'-gain access to the MAGI's inoperative mainframe,-'

One might even say that her work might've been all that mattered to her.

'-enter code 55-29.4-6.3, status RED...-'

Or maybe even not herself, but someone else. Someone she felt mattered more.

'-there, this should do it!'

All around her, she felt the pipes of the MAGI's inside vibrate lightly as a boot-up sound grew louder all around her and Maya. Just at the end of the tight tunnel both were inside of, a light that wasn't from someone's flashlight was finally visible. Every single light in the Command Center came back on, as did the massive holograms displaying the landscapes of their current battles going on elsewhere in Japan.

As soon as the power was back up, the bridge bunnies sprang into action. It was as if the room echoed endlessly with voices barking orders and status updates on each unit. The Command Center was alive again, and NERV HQ had just been bought more time.

Misato ran over to her station where Makoto and Shigeru were already at work. So eager to check on Unit-01, she didn't even ask Makoto to turn on her mic and did it herself.

"This is Major Katsuragi to Unit-01! Can anyone read me?"

And inside the MAGI, Maya was more then elated that Ritsuko's hard work had payed off. Although still terrified, she was at least a little more grounded again knowing there was a chance NERV could regain the upper hand from the Angels.

"Doctor, you did it!" She excitedly yelled as she shook the head scientist's shoulder.

Ritsuko didn't appear to be anywhere near as happy about this as she was, but Maya just chalked it up to her usual levelheaded and professional nature. Ritsuko nodded in response, but carefully removed Maya's hand.

"Let's not get too carried away, we still have work to do." She said. "I need you to run back to your station. Unit-01 is a sitting duck out there, we have to hurry."

"Yes ma'am!" Maya proudly complied, quickly crawling back outside the MAGI.

Ritsuko did the same, but took her time doing so. She knew she should've been more proud of herself for working under such hopeless circumstances. But she wasn't. Ritsuko almost never took pride in much of her work, but even this was something she felt she should have felt good about.

And yet she didn't.

The now-exhausted blonde, with sweat running down her forehead and cheeks, exited the MAGI and stood back up.

'Just what is it that I'm doing all this for?' She pondered. 'For NERV? For all the souls inside HQ? For myself? Why is it that I feel nothing all the time? A lot of people tell me I do great things, but I just don't see it that way...'

She rubbed her face to rid of the sweat, noticing that some of her makeup had stained the sleeve of her lab coat. Deep down, Ritsuko did know why she didn't feel anything for her work. She sighed depressingly, but quickly put her professional front back up. Like she had just told Maya, they all still had work to do.

'Who am I kidding... you know who exactly who you're doing all of this for.'

7:19pm:

There was something very disorienting about the lights coming back on so unexpectedly in the midst of an intense firefight. Everyone's eyes had a bit of a hard time readjusting to it, but at least now they could get a better look at the enemy. But even more disorienting, the smoke that engulfed the halls had set off the now-working fire sprinklers, catching everyone off-guard again.

*BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP*

The high-pitched fire alarm went off, irritating Toji's eardrums as he was unfortunately right next to one of the speakers.

"OOOWW!" He screamed. "THAT'S THE LAST FUCKIN' THING I NEEDED RIGHT NOW!"

"Could be worse, man! At least the power's back on so we can actually see these fucks!" Kensuke shouted back to him as he continued his shooting.

Over at Asuka's position, she fired her last remaining grenade launcher round, having to resort back to her automatic rifle. With her visibility now much greater, she fired away at the Angels, picking a few of them off almost effortlessly.

Then, her earpiece received a communication.

"This is Major Katsuragi to Unit-01! Can anyone read me?" She heard Misato call out.

"Major? What the hell happened up there?! Why did HQ go dark?!"

"The Angels were somehow able cut off our power supply to gain the advantage over us, but Dr. Akagi was able to boot us back up." Her superior explained.

"Well it's about god damn time!" Whined Asuka. "We're getting cornered out here! I don't know how long we'll be able to hold them off, you all might need to evacuate soon!"

"Just hang in there, Soryu. I'm requesting backup, alright? Over!"

Asuka resumed shooting her rifle after Misato ended the communication. She knew that if backup didn't arrive soon, the Command Center would be breached. Even with the lights aiding their visibility in the battle, they couldn't tell exactly how many Angels had stepped out of the drilling vehicle. Unit-01's current priority was to survive and hold them back as long as possible.

But already they were not doing well. The halls were too cluttered for Unit-01 to make any effective change in their circumstances, so Asuka had to do what she had hoped to avoid as much as possible. Right before the gates guarding the Command Center was a more vast room full of catwalks and moving walkways. By displacing Unit-01 over there, she hoped they could clutter the platoon of Angels at the end of the hall's doorway to the bigger room.

By doing this, they all of Unit-01 could pick them off easier as they'd have an extremely limited space, and wouldn't have enough time to spread out.

"Unit-01, displace to the Autowalk terminal!" She ordered through her earpiece.

But Kensuke was puzzled by that order.

"But Lieutenant, that's just one room away from the Command Center! Wouldn't we just basically be handing it to them?!" He asked.

"We have no choice, Aida! These halls are limiting us, and there's more of them than there are us! Just trust me, I have a plan to keep them back!" Asuka said back. "Now move it move it MOVE IT! All of you!"

He reluctantly complied, but realized he had no better idea to offer. Kensuke then tapped Toji's arm and pointed at Rei, which in turn let Toji know to pull the inactive girl by the arm.

Unit-01 all displaced in the strategic manner they were taught to in training; backing up while still facing the enemy, firing at them so they wouldn't leave their backs vulnerable. They opened the door, leading many to move into the Autowalk terminal. Two troops stood on opposite ends of the door to hold the enemy off as long as possible until everyone made the transfer.

They all rushed into defensive positions, waiting for the Angels to run through the doorway like Asuka had expected.

"What now, Lieu? You sure this ain't a bad idea?" Asked an extremely frustrated Toji over the earpiece.

"Once they rush that doorway they're bound to clutter up, that's when we fire." Asuka replied. "I'd suggest you stay in your lane, Suzuhara... I'm the C.O here! Now stay focused. Everyone fire on my mark!"

He aimed his scope at the halls the Angels still loomed in, seeing that they were inching closer but doing so very carefully. He could already see them communicating to each other with hand gestures, showing that they weren't as eager as Asuka herself. Something told him that she might've been losing her touch as a unit leader, which would reflect if more people were to get killed that night. Toji scoffed.

"Those fucks are smarter than ya'd think, Lieu. Hope ya know what yer doin'..." He said under his breath.

Shortly after, the Angels began firing at Unit-01 again, trying to keep themselves at an angle where they weren't so out in the open, but one that they could still attack with precision and efficiency.

Asuka immediately resorted to spraying bullets over at their direction, not using her aiming techniques as much. At this point she was getting desperate, as the enemy was very close to breaching the gates of the Command Center. Her mind would briefly flash back to the attack they witnessed on the Sai-Kuru base, and how overwhelming the battle was for her unit.

At this point, it was almost like she cared more about winning than she did about protecting everybody.

'I'm not gonna let these skinjobs give us a hard time again!' She thought. 'Not after the embarrassment that was Sai-Kuru... I'm not having Unit-01 get pushed around a second time!'

But then, one of the Angels had smartly fired a grenade launcher round up into one of the higher autowalk platforms, causing it to lose its moorings and plummet towards the unit as they continued their firepower.

*KRRRAAAAAAK*

"GET BACK!" Asuka yelled at the ones most vulnerable to the falling debris, as did many of her troops.

Once the heavy metallic platform impacted Unit-01's location, it collapsed one side of their lower-leveled platform, landing on the lower decks of the room. With their platform partially destroyed, it created a sort of slide that brought down with it a few troops. Toji and Kensuke were part of those troops, while Rei had stayed further back enough that she didn't fall in.

But this was enough to finally garner some kind of reaction from her as she ran back, though mostly from survival instinct. Still having no weapon other than a measly pistol, she was out in the open and completely by herself, which Hikari noticed after Toji and Kensuke fell from their half of the platform.

"Ayanami!" She yelled. "Over here!"

But Rei was still mostly inactive. She felt utterly powerless in her emotional state, which began to surprise Hikari now as well. Without delay, she rushed over to Rei and grabbed her by the arm, running over to Asuka in search of cover so they wouldn't be in the Angels' sights.

Down at the now-leaning platform, the two aforementioned boys continued their fall. Toji screamed on his way down, not sure exactly what had happened as he continued his roll downwards with Kensuke following right behind. They hit the ground quite hard, as did the other troops that were unfortunate enough to have fallen in.

"Gah!" Kensuke let out.

"Fuck!" Yelped Toji.

Kensuke's helmet had rolled off from the impact, prompting him to quickly get back up and grab it back. But just as he got ahold of it and placed his headgear back on, a bullet struck the floor just inches away from his feet.

"Shit, they're overpowering us!" Kensuke exclaimed, signalling Toji to seek cover.

This turn of events had caused Unit-01 to basically split into two teams, which would significantly weaken the unit as a whole if they didn't attempt to regroup as quickly as possible. When the Angels were made aware of this fact, they immediately saw their chance and had stormed forward a few feet closer to Unit-01.

Over at the unaffected side of the platform, Asuka now realized that her unit had been split up. Most of Unit-01 was still up on the platform, but almost half of them had plunged into the lower levels. They were at an extremely vulnerable position. The troops that had fallen into the lower depths were now scrambling in what was an absolute mess of coordination. While the ones that were still on the higher platform had to retreat even further.

"No... no no no..." Asuka uttered quietly, having to turn back to Misato. "Major, when's that backup getting here?! We're in a really bad position right now!"

"What's going on there, Lieutenant? What was that tremor we just felt?"

"It was exactly the reason we need that backup right now! They're close to breaching the center!" She explained, not having time to go into full detail.

"No word yet from any nearby unit, you're gonna have to-"

"ALRIGHT!" Asuka reacted, losing her patience at her own superior.

She abruptly ended the communication and went back to trying to fend off the Angels. So far, this battle was going much worse than the one at Sai-Kuru. And even though she had bigger things to worry about, like trying to survive, it was absolutely killing Asuka.

"God damn it, not again! DAMN IT!"