A crowd of bystanders gossipped.
The windows of a television shop in Moscow-4 were showing news from around the world, among which was a breaking news broadcast regarding Angel attacks against the Japanese.
The crowd were looking at the broadcast which showed amateur film of the battle that took place in what looked like japanese suburb, with military aircraft and and tanks getting wiped out en masse by a skyscraper-sized monstrosity with glowing whip-like arms and a huge red orb just below it's heart-shaped upside-down tip.
A massive VTOL-aircraft seemed to appear out of some sort of portal, and almost collided with the monster… Only to be sliced apart and fall to the ground.
However, the view then zoomed on a skeletal, violet-clad creature who was holding an upside-down woman from her ankle, and then it showed the battle between the Angel and the skeleton… Until finally the view showed a massive explosion, and the Skeleton appeared right in front of the cameraman while facing away, and the camera-feed cut off.
The announcer of the news then spoke about Japan's refugee situation, as well about the large-scale deployment of 'N2' weapons on the country's soil roughly a week before…
The bystanders kept gossipping.
Among them was a tall man in an immaculate black suit. His hair was graying white with the elegance of an older gentleman, and his features creased yet powerful. A sharply cut white mustache joined with an equally sharply cut beard, the latter of which was casually touched by his gloved hand as if the gentleman was in deep contemplation.
The man had been looking at the news display without blinking, his eyes absorbing every little detail they could gather up and securely storing them into his memory as if he was a biological camera.
The man's stone-like expression broke just the tiniest bit as a single tear rolled down his cheek, and he reached to wipe it away with a handkerchief.
The man then made a hundred and eighty degree turn, and walked back where he had come from, all the while the bystanders gossiped about Angels, the Japanese, and rising price of groceries and ever-increasing scarcity of gasoline.
.
.
Kensuke Aida woke up as someone knocked on the door of his apartment.
He walked groggily to the door and looked out of the door-eye… Only for something to let a sharp crash in his living room.
He turned around, and something blew in his door-lock at the same second.
Kensuke turned back to face the door… And something hit the back of his head.
Kensuke briefly saw a man in an incredibly cool special forces outfit who had likely come from the living room, covered in glass shards from a dynamic entry, and also saw a man in black suit with a pistol in hand who had opened the front door from outside.
Then Kensuke passed out.
.
.
Momonga sighed. 'I'm pretty sure NERV is going after my summons deliberately.'
Roughly half of his Death Knights had died during the last two days, which didn't particularly affect him as Death Knights were slow and poor searchers, not to mention that their camouflage, if one could call it that, left a lot to be desired. 'Well, that doesn't really matter. Death Knights were more of a distraction anyway to allow the faster and more covert summons to search without being hindered. That being said, I can see why Gendo would be at ill ease to allow the undead to march unopposed…'
Nonetheless, Momonga had no plans to stop scouting for Nazarick. 'The [Lead of Yatagarasu] I made didn't find Nazarick, but that was as expected since it should only show the direction to 'raid boss' of a 'level', but if one hasn't entered the 'level' in the first place then it likely wouldn't work. That being said, the summon looks like a three-legged crow so it should be capable of staying under the radar… The Wraiths have been ambushed by a few patrols, but due to their ethereal nature they cannot be damaged by physical attacks, which in turns means each and every engagement by them has led to their absolute victory…'
He nodded to himself and stood up as he had been sitting on a chair in one of the apartments given to him, and had been studying throughout the night. 'My head feels like it'll explode from nine hours of math… Hm… '
Momonga commended Gendo's cunning, as he was well aware that the laptop he had been given would be spied to hell and back, so it was very unlikely that NERV wouldn't be aware of every single keypress that he made, as opposed to physical books which would have very clear redaction marks if Gendo wanted to hide knowledge from him.
And even though he had unrestricted access to local internet, he knew that he'd likely see the laptop remotely turned off if he tried to access something that NERV didn't want him to learn- Ie, something outside the 'high school curriculum' that he had been given. 'Hm. This amount of knowledge should at least get me started on more advanced things… And it looks like the Angels are attracted to NERV, so I should keep a few summons around even if I move on, so I could swoop in and snatch more S-class organs or whatever else the Angels might drop… Ainz Ooal Gown was a guild of PK'ers and raiders, after all, so I might as well keep up the tradition even if everything is real now…'
A ringing of a clock let Momonga know that morning had come, and he put his laptop into his school bag and adjusted his clothes, and walked off to take an elevator one floor up.
He had taken a habit of going to school with Shinji and Rei, the latter of whom had seemingly decided to squat in an apartment opposite of Shinji's and Misato's apartment. Momonga had no problems with that when Rei had asked him about it, but he was somewhat puzzled as to why she wasn't just sleeping with Shinji.
Momonga had asked her that, with Shinji present, and Shinji's face had gained the color of a ripe tomato while Rei had tilted her head slightly.
Rei had noted that she hadn't thought of that, and then asked Shinji if she could sleep in his bed. Shinji, in turn, had staunchly refused and had waved his hands in panic to the point he almost brained himself with a frying pan attached to one of the appendages.
'Teenagers… Well, I won't do 'how do you do, fellow kids' by pretending to know what they think about in times like that…' Momonga sighed to himself as he rang Rei's and Misato's aparment's doorbells after waiting for a while for them to come out by themselves.
Neither answered, and Momonga tilted his head.
He checked his phone and noted that he had received a message from Misato that Misato would be taking Rei and Shinji for a 'NERV-related' trip somewhere, so 'Suzuki-kun' should go to school by himself.
'Ah well.' Momonga sighed. 'Misato's gotten a lot more confident to be around me without paling, shaking, or trying to reach for something in her coat…'
'Then again, I've been around her, Shinji and Rei quite often for the last two days, since I've been more or less moving alongside Shinji and by extension Rei, and Misato has been following me around like a bloodhound... Not to mention me going to bum a dinner from them on both days, and haven't done anything out of the ordinary ever since starting high-school, really… I don't really have much to research right now, anyway, and making more summons isn't a priority...' Momonga thought as he teleported to a street he knew to be empty right next to the school, and walked through the school gate to join the flow of students, most of whom barely reached his chest-height. 'I don't think Misato's forgiven me for what happened in Central, but at least she's not trying to hinder me…'
.
.
"Hm… " Shinji looked out of the window at the blue sea as he, Rei and Misato were traveling in a quad-rotor helicopter over the sea towards an aircraft carrier.
"We'll be reaching the pacific fleet, and the aircraft carrier 'Over the Rainbow' in a few minutes. Cheer up, Shinji-kun! I thought boys loved to see cool military things…" Misato noted cheerfully. "Plus, you'll get to meet the pilot of Unit-02!"
"I see… I get why Suzuki-kun wouldn't be allowed to come with us, but… eh. I don't know." Shinji noted.
"Don't tell me that you're starting to see him as a family just because he's come to eat with us for two days?"
"He likes my curry, I think…"
"Shinji-kun. Remember that once Gendo's deal with Suzuki-san is over, he remains an Angel and we remain the defenders of humanity." Misato reminded Shinji.
""I get it… But… It'd be nice if we all just got along with each other…" Shinji was resting his head against the window.
"I'd love that to be the case." Misato sighed and glanced at her phone. "The aircraft carrier is prepared for our arrival. Let's get ready for a touch-down."
Rei hadn't spoken a word for the entire duration of the flight, and had been merely staring at Shinji.
.
.
"I don't think you understand your position here, Captain Katsuragi. This battlefleet is under UN jurisdiction. You have no power here, at least until we reach the port and hand your toy over to you."
Misato had a carefully neutral expression as she handed over a stack of papers from her file while Shinji and Rei were looking outside the windows of the aircraft carrier's command deck. "You'll find specifications for the emergency plug, as well as expected stress loads on power systems if you have to power an EVA unit…"
"Useless. Your doll won't need to roll around when the pacific fleet is guarding it." The fleet commander harrumphed without taking the papers, the words causing his bushy mustache to flutter a bit. "I don't get why the UN is pouring money into those toys when they could be funding the pacific fleet…"
"That is for people higher than either of us to decide." Misato decided that she didn't want to get into a shouting match with the fleet commander. "At any rate, it would be best to prepare for the worst. After all, the Angels could attack at any moment."
"Hmh. They'll find a storm of fire and steel if they try." The fleet commander dismissed Misato and turned to face his screens. "You're free to wander the ship or whatever, but don't touch anything. Tell your kids, sorry, pilots to not eat anything inappropriate or lick the windows. I think there are lollipops in the crew cafeteria if you ask the chef."
Misato had a vein pulsing on her forehead. 'Haa… Figures that navy pride would get in the way of operations… Well, it's not like this is the first thing this has happened…'
She turned to walk off and signaled for Shinji and Rei to follow her.
"Oh, you're here, Ryoji." The fleet commander spoke behind Misato and she resisted the urge to clean her ear as she heard something odd.
"Hey cap'n… Oh, hey, Katsuragi. Long time no see." A carefree male voice came from somewhere behind Misato, and she froze on the spot.
'Oh no. You have to be joking.' Misato turned around as if in slow motion, and saw a man in his thirties with a bit of stubble on his chin, and his long black hair tied to a ponytail.
The man was in clearly good shape, and was leaning against the door while dressed in a fairly business-casual muted gray outfit. 'Ryoji Kaji…'
Misato noticed that he had a briefcase handcuffed to his wrist, but before she could analyze the odd item further, Kaji had walked closer to Misato.
Misato took a step back as Kaji took a step forward. "Hoo… You're as cold as usual, Misato-chan…"
"Stop it. We're not involved. Not anymore. What are you doing here, Kaji?"
"Ooh? You're still calling me 'Kaji'? My, you're still the same tsundere as before, Misato-chan." Kaji smiled in his usual assertive and confident way while taking one more step towards Misato, who realized that she was already almost against the wall.
"Who are you?" Shinji wandered between Kaji and Misato, and Misato mentally thumbed Shinji up for the save. "Do you know Misato-san?"
"Ah, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Ryoji Kaji. Special operative, UN, in the role of NERV's inspector. You're Shinji, right? Heard stuff about you. All good, I assure. Going solo against two Angels, managed to kill one and drive the other away while your EVA was just about to be destroyed, all that during the very first time you piloted the EVA? Or something like that?" Kaji answered while giving Shinji a thumbs up. "Pretty good for a rookie Pilot. Asuka was pissed to hell and back when the news reached Germany. She fears you'll steal her thunder once your ride is fixed."
"I… It… didn't… Yeah… I guess…" Shinji looked a bit awkward but had a small smile on his face.
'Oh great.' Misato wanted to groan. 'I forgot how easily Kaji slither-slathers himself into people's good graces… Fuuuuck… I don't want to deal with him right now…'
"..." Rei looked at Kaji for a moment, before turning to continue walking out of the command bridge.
Misato spotted that a helicopter had landed on the aircraft carrier's deck, and a red-headed girl had exited the helicopter. "Ah, that would be the Second Child. Let's go greet her, Shinji-kun, Rei-chan!"
"Ah, that would be my ward, Asuka-chan. Let's go together." Kaji nodded while stroking his chin almost as if the two being linked was a coincidence.
"Yeah, sure..." Shinji nodded, and Misato wanted to groan and hammer a nail to the wall with her forehead.
.
.
Roughly five minutes after that, Shinji had a palm-shaped bruise on both of his cheeks.
.
.
"Hmph!" Asuka bristled at Shinji, as when Misato, Shinji, Rei and Kaji had reached the aircraft carrier's landing deck, the wind had picked up and had caused Asuka's peach-coloured dress to billow up and give Shinji a show.
Kaji had looked away almost coincidentally, and Asuka had been quite disappointed that Kaji hadn't stared at the sight, all flustered and awkward before Asuka's feminine beauty.
In the end, it resulted in Shinji getting slapped twice by Asuka, once as retribution, and the second time out of frustration that she failed to rile up Kaji's interest.
'Hmph, so that's the Third Child… Looks like a wimp.' Asuka glared at the weak-looking boy. 'And that's the First… She looks like a doll. I bet she does everything she's ordered with that same expression. Enter the Eva. Good girl. Roll on the floor. Good girl. Suck daddy's dick. Good girl.'
Asuka had trained hard. She was a child genius at age of fifteen, who had just barely managed to complete college, even if her grades had suffered a bit from having to rush the graduation. She was a natural-born pilot. Her EVA, Unit-02 was top-of-the-line, the first true production series-EVA, as opposed to the prototype 00 and testbed 01.
The fact the two pilots in front of her had trashed their EVA's thoroughly and NERV had to beg for Asuka to come and bail them, at least until their own pilot's EVA's could be fixed, had enraged Asuka to no end. Not to mention that the two looked so incredibly wimpy that it explained the reason why they had lost so easily.
"Now, now, Asuka-chan. Try to get along with the other pilots, neh?" Kaji told Asuka. "Let's go shopping for clothes if things pan okay, yeah?"
"Ah- ehm… Y-yes, of course." Asuka nodded seriously while her mood did a one-eighty and she offered her hand to Shinji. "Sure! Ahem, Shinji-kun. I forgive you for catching an eyeful. So, let's get along, yes?"
"Sorry… Umu, yes…" Shinji shook hands with Asuka, and true to the boy's physical makeup, the handshake was more like limp noodle being thrashed around.
Misato heard the boy's pause in speech and covered her face for some reason while muttering something about 'suzuki'.
'That bike company?' Asuka felt a bit confused but moved on. "Right. Do you want to gaze upon the True Eva, my Unit-02?"
"Sure, I guess…" Shinji agreed a bit hesitantly and Rei seemed to inch just a bit closer to the two of them, which Asuka took as the doll agreeing to come.
"Right. If you three want to go see Unit-02 then Misato-chan and I can catch up a bit. It's been a while since the two of us met." Kaji waved at Asuka while he had put his hand around Misato's shoulder, much to Misato's dismay.
Asuka felt a bit jealous, but since Kaji said that he would just catch up, she figured she could let him off the leash. "Yeah, sounds good!"
Misato was a bit green for some reason.
.
.
"Ha! I bet you've never seen anything like Unit-02!" Asuka declared boldly as she stood on top of Unit-02 which was lying on its back on board a massive cargo freighter, covered by an equally huge tarp that protected it from elements while the EVA floated in a blood-red LCL solution that kept it's biological parts from degrading.
The EVA was bright red and had two pairs of bright green eye-optics, and looked more streamlined that the bulbous Unit-00, or the angular Unit-01.
"It's… something." Shinji was a bit scared of the EVA, if he was honest with himself. "I've only piloted an EVA once… So I can't really tell… Unit-01's been broken ever since…"
"Dummkopf! Have you really only sat on the Entry Plug once?" Asuka seemed quite pissed for some reason. "You just dumb-lucked a one versus two against two Angels?! Like that? Are you an idiot or what?"
"Pilot Ikari isn't an idiot. His test scores are thoroughly mediocre." Rei voiced with her bland tone, and Shinji wasn't sure if the girl was trying to help him or not.
"As I expected. So you were all dumb luck and no spunk!" Asuka declared while pointing down from on top of her EVA. "Ha! Well, I'm sorry to tell you that NERV Japan will have a new star soon. So you better pack your bags, Shinji-kun!"
Shinji was a bit upset, but on the other hand, he couldn't really dispute Asuka's words either. 'Still… Does she enjoy being cruel to others or what…'.
Shinji was about to answer… But before he could, the entire cargo ship shook.
.
.
"Kaji- stop!"
"Misato-chan. Don't tell me you haven't felt lonely?"
"I said stop it!"
A slap rang in the staircase where Kaji had led Misato to 'talk'.
Which had almost instantly turned into a groping session, with Misato resisting and managing to slap Kaji away.
However her cheeks were red and her legs were shaky, as her body instinctively remembered the nights she had spent in the past, years ago, in Kaji's embrace… When the two had attempted to find warmth in the uncertainty, famine, and years of war after the Second Impact and during their college years.
It hadn't worked out, after a while anyway, and the two had broken apart in spectacularly fighty fashion. 'Dammit, Kaji, I seriously don't need this…'
"I'm seeing someone else!" Misato finally groaned out a lie as Kaji had leaned to kiss the side of her neck and she pushed him away, although her arms had less strength at that moment than she would have liked. Not to mention that her neck felt like it'd burst into flames as Kaji had managed to touch it with his lips. 'Dammit, dammit… What I wouldn't give for a distraction, or a-"
The ship shook, and Misato cursed her shitty luck for the hundredth time since seeing Kaji's face aboard the aircraft carrier. "What was that?!"
"Dunno. Sounded like an explosion." Kaji noted. He then leaned over to look out of the doorway that was close to the staircase. "Yep, That's USS Bremington going up in flames. Definitely an explosion."
"Shit- shit- shit…" Misato collected herself instantly, thanked and cursed her instinctive wish for a distraction, and sprinted up the staircase.
"What is going on?!" Misato asked as she barged into the aircraft carrier's command deck to see that the fleet captain and his personnel were already assuming combat positions and were calling all hands to prepare for battle.
"Outsiders are not allowed on the command deck during battle!" The fleet captain shouted at Misato, and Misato ignored him, so the captain turned to bark orders at his crew. "All battleships! Angle to target at twenty-five! All batteries, fire when ready! Independent firing solutions! Missile destroyers, launch as soon as you have target lock! Flight deck, prepare to launch bombers, bring that bastard down- Now!"
"NERV authority overtakes the UN's in case of an Angel attack! Is it an Angel attack?" Misato was already mid-call to NERV as her phone received a call from NERV HQ. "What is it?"
"Pattern Blue detected on intercept course with pacific fleet." Fuytsuki's voice came through the phone. "I've gotten a message through to the UN. The pacific fleet is relinquished to NERV's command. As is, we only have one operational EVA unit in the entire world, and that is the one aboard the pacific fleet. We cannot lose it."
"Aye, sir." Misato closed the call while she felt emboldened, and the fleet commander's face paled in equal measure as he received his orders in turn from the UN. "Fleet commander. Give me a visual on the attacker. NERV HQ confirms it is an Angel."
She turned to tell Kaji to call Asuka and get her EVA on its feet… But Kaji had disappeared somewhere. 'Don't tell me that he ditched us?! That idiot!'
"Recon plane out! It- Recon plane shot down! Destroyer flotilla reports a loss of six ships!" One of the bridge crew announced. "Battleship Illinois reports fires across all decks! Main guns destroyed! Linked satellite has got an image!"
"Show it!" Misato demanded and the fleet commander begrudgingly waved his hand towards Misato, and then the man leaned back and put his legs on his command console while starting to clip his fingernails with scissors.
Misato sent the man a stare and the fleet commander shrugged. "It's your show now, captain. Make us proud."
'Bastard…' Misato groaned internally as she looked at the image that was being projected to the screen.
.
.
The Sixth Angel, Ramiel, reconfigured it's blue, ever-changing crystalline structure into a long arrow-like needle to dodge a volley of battleship main gun fire, and then reconfigured itself into a spiky ball to detonate the incoming swarm of cruise missiles against tiny projected AT-field shards.
The spiky ball then reconfigured itself to two long rectangles with the Angel's S2 organ on the 'chamber' end, and the rectangles connected themselves with a lurch to fire a AT field shard at mach-5 at a target roughly sixty kilometers away.
.
.
"Battleship Illinois has sunk! A high-energy attack pierced the entire battleship! There's nothing but slag!" One of the bridge crew announced in panic. "Battleship Kentucky reports shrapnel and flaming wreckage landing on it's deck!"
'Shit. Unit-02 only has a prog knife, no underwater fighting equipment, and if artillery and missiles are intercepted or dodged, there's no way an aircraft would get close enough to drop an EVA on top of the Angel… And if the Angel dodged in turn, Unit-02 would just sink to the bottom and that'd be it…' Misato resisted the urge to tear at her hair in frustration. "Get me a secure line to the cargo ship and to Unit-02!"
"Ma'am!"
.
.
"Hey! Watch the elbow!"
"..."
"...Did you just grope me? Rapist! Rape-Shinji! Kyaaah!"
"Ow, ow, ow, stop hitting me, Asuka-san! It was an accident!"
"..."
"What are you staring at, doll?! Help me!"
"Rei-san! Please… Ow my shoulder…"
"..."
Asuka was currently sitting on Unit-02's Entry Plug's pilot-seat, with Shinji lying flat on her stomach, and Rei was floating in the LCL that filled the Entry Plug.
Rei floated over to 'sit' behind Asuka while holding onto the pilot seat from behind. The blue-haired girl's red eyes were glazed over in clear resignation, even if the majority of her expression was still bland as ever.
"Haaaa… Why do I have to saddle with idiots like you two…" Asuka groaned. "Plug, change cognitive linguistics to Japanese Basic, these two idiots can't even think in German…"
The plug cycled through multiple colors and shapes as it connected the Pilot and the Evangelion, and Asuka activated Unit-02 on auxiliary power.
The nearly hundred meter tall Evangelion stood up, using the tarp that had been on top of it as a cloak of sorts…
And the activation was just in time, as Asuka barely managed to lift a defensive AT field before a huge energy shell impacted it, and threw Unit-02 back on it's butt on the cargo ship's deck, causing the EVA to sink a bit into the framework like a child almost falling into a toilet while doing their thing.
"Ghuaaaa! Shinji! Stop distracting meeeee!" Asuka groan-screamed while hoping that Kaji hadn't seen the embarrassing blunder.
.
.
Kaji looked through the blinders of his quarters at the 'battle' that was taking place. 'Huh, go, Asuka… I believe in you… Somewhat.'
The man tossed his cigarette aside and stepped on it, before picking up his cellphone and putting on his jacket while the phone was connecting.
The cell phone beeped for a while… Before it connected with it's target. "...Agent. Report."
"I expect extra for delivery under Angel attack." Kaji noted in carefree manner as Gendo's voice came through the phone. "It looks like the Sixth… Or I guess the Fourth, if we go by the 'public' number of Angels, is attacking. And I have a sinking feeling the Pacific Fleet is going to do the same."
"...Haa… Bringing Adam is a priority. Abandon ship, as well as Unit-02 and Captain Katsuragi if necessary. I sent you two more pilots if Second still has problems with her synch and can't get her EVA to move."
"No, she's moving it just fine… I think she found her motivation when I praised her a bunch. She's a simple girl, even if she likes to play it all cool and mature." Kaji noted. "Anyway, that's cold, Gendo-san. But I don't think just running for it is going to work, the Angel has fairly ridiculous range with it's attacks and it just shot down a recon plane a few hundred feet off the aircraft carrier's catapult."
"...I see." Gendo seemed to think for a long while. "...In that case, I may have to invoke that thing again… Haaa… I can already feel a headache…"
Kaji lifted his eyebrow at the phone as it was quite unusual for Gendo to groan in such an exasperated manner and the agent practically heard Gendo rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers while having the ever-ominous glasses aside on the other hand. "What's up?"
"Do not concern yourself with that. Go hide in as remote a place as possible aboard the aircraft carrier. It is the toughest ship in the fleet, so it should last the longest. Do not allow anyone to detect you, or approach Adam. We cannot afford to give it the 'real' Adam, but we need it to make a copy convincing enough to fool it..."
"Huh. Got it." Kaji finished his call, a bit puzzled by Gendo's words… And someone knocked on his door.
'Well, time to go I suppose…' Kaji slipped out through the window after kicking the glass.
He jumped down to the deck, and… Was stopped by a pair of navy crew holding rifles.
Kaji put his hands up. "What's up, guys?"
"Captain Katsuragi has requested your presence in the command deck. And she said that you might try to escape through the window." One of the crewmen told Kaji. "Moreover she said to shoot you in the leg if you tried to run for it."
'That woman is going to be the death of me…' Kaji thought idly as he shrugged his shoulders and followed the two marines who seemed to relax a bit as Kaji acted casual. After all, he had been aboard the ship for a few days and gotten to know quite a few of the crew.
The two white-clothed men entered the aircraft carrier's corridor… And Kaji shot both of them in the neck with a silenced 9mm pistol.
.
.
"Asuka! Get Unit-02 aboard 'Over the Rainbow', protect it with your AT field!" Misato ordered as cruiser CGN-021 'Kirov' exploded next to the aircraft carrier and almost snapped in two, and the explosion rained burning metal and debris on the aircraft carrier's deck.
The debris crushed one of the mid-launch attack jets, while setting a few others aflame before their takeoff preparations had finished. "Shit, shit, shit, shit…"
"Wanna hand the command back over to the Navy, missy?" The fleet commander asked as he had finished clipping his nails and moved on to filing them using a patch of coarse sanding paper, clearly both stubborn and bitter that he had been ousted from his role and that his fleet was getting decimated while he was relegated to the role of a 'advisor'.
"Do you think you'll do better?!" Misato growled while the massive red Evangelion jumped from ship to ship, crushing landing pads and nearly sinking some of the destroyers as it used them as footstools.
The EVA landed on the carrier's deck, denting it and ensuring that the catapult would not launch any more jet bombers- Not that it needed to, as the Angel had effectively sniped most of the bombers right off the runway with some sort of long-range mid-yeld laser, before it had reconfigure itself into a large crystalline upright ring that spun faster and faster while shrinking and extending it's crystals into long triangles aimed at the fleet, until finally shooting a huge laser from the middle that outright eradicated a missile carrier before it could launch a salvo of N2 mines.
The resulting explosion almost toppled battleship Kentucky and caused the aircraft carrier to nearly tip over, which wasn't helped by the fact that EVA had just landed on it and it was still reeling from the impact.
'Shit, shit shit… Unit-02 can't block that kind of firepower without specialized equipment…' Misato ducked under the command deck's holographic command table as another attack came right after the Angel had fired the huge laser, in the form of a some kind of wide-area beam that resulted from the Angel reconfiguring itself into series of honeycomb-like patterns and firing a dispersed blast from each honeycomb. "Get down!"
The windows of the carrier exploded inwards while the metal supports began to droop and melt, and Misato peeked her head up from behind the command table as soon as she saw the attack end.
The fleet commander's upper half had melted into bone and meat slurry, with just the man's lower half left as it had been protected by the command deck's metal plating. A similar fate had met the other crew who hadn't managed to dodge under the metal bulkheads in time.
'Shit, shit, shit, shit…' Misato kept growling inside her head. "Full speed ahead! Engines to full, direct ahead!"
"Ma'am?!"
"We're going to ram that Angel with the aircraft carrier!" Misato ordered. "Unit-02! Protect us the best you can while we approach!"
Unit-02 had used the time to attach an umbilical cord to it's back, which would feed it power from the ship's nuclear engine and ensure that the EVA would not need to rely on it's five-to-one minutes of auxiliary power.
"Got it, Misato-san! Watch me, Kaji-kun, I'll- Kyaah!" Asuka's speech ended in a yelp of pain.
Unit-02 toppled to it's back with a white-hot, roughly a feet deep crater in the center of it's chest that looked like it had been caused by some sort of short-timed yet high-yield invisible laser.
The Angel reconfigured itself back to a reflective cube tilted upright on one of it's sharp ends.
"...Fuck."
.
.
Momonga got a call as his geographics lesson reached a halfway point. "Moshi moshi, Suzuki-kun here. Ah, Gendo-kun. Glad to hear from you. What's happening?"
"...I see. Hm. In that case. I suppose I could help… For a price. I'll specify what I want in exact detail later, alright?" Momonga closed his flip-phone and walked out of the classroom, and then backtracked to apologize to the teacher and tell him that his presence had been requested by NERV.