Blood Red
Episode 3
Bloodlust Crusaders
A/N: Hey hey hey! I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack! And still alive! So, uhm, sorry for the enormous delay, but you know how these things go, one day you've got all the time in the world and no motivation and the next day you want to write a Bible again but you're too busy to do it (As of right now I have not written a new Bible… Yet).
Hmm, oh well, I'll let you go now, have fun reading this!
And be sure to leave a review if you want, they help a lot!
Chapter 20: The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
Bruxelles, the day after the battle
The smoke had ceased to rise from the battle torn city as tents littered its streets, full of people whose house had been taken down.
But the atmosphere was strangely very calm. There wasn't that much confusion, nor depression or rage floating in the air. Instead, a light background noise dominated the city, as people from all districts stopped every once in a while to look up near the eastern wall.
The giant wreck of the NERV warship was standing there, silently. Now nothing more than a large mountain of steel and electronics.
Meanwhile, in a tent at the base of what once was the European Parliament, an important discussion was being held.
"So, are we sure that this is even possible?" The french representative said and the captain replied:
"I swear on my honor as a sailor of the vast ocean, that my plan is feasible."
"I appreciate your honesty sir, but unfortunately we are going to need more than that. First of all, how do you plan to find a weapon with such characteristics?
The size alone is too big even for an evangelion, and the energy required for it is nearly that of an entire country!
And if you were to actually somehow find it, how would you even bring it to New York? You have to cross the entire ocean, remember?"
"His reasoning is solid. I believe we should go with the previous plans. To use the Wunder and the Fortress' firepower advantage to take down the generators that power the AT fields from deeper inland." Misato said and Woodward steadied his hat before saying:
"I'd hate to see you get annihilated dear lady, if you were to follow me you'd only have to provide fire support, away from any danger."
"The Wunder is not a backline ship!" Misato said as she almost slammed her hands on the table.
"Hey hey, calm down everyone. Let's figure out precisely what we can actually do to take that shield down, then we can choose our path of action.
It might even be beneficial to carry out both operations at once." Samuel said, when suddenly a piece of paper slid across the table, coming right out of Woodward's hands.
"I have the solution right here." The man said as the politicians grabbed the photograph, then he continued:
"It's a prototype for a variant of the gun used against Ramiel originally developed by the JSDF. It was built to be integrated on the bow of the Eminent Domain, just like my father had designed it, but since it had to be hurried into service during the post impact wars it was never finished.
But now it's complete, I've worked tor the last four years on it and all that's left is to go to Genova and install it.
I've decided to call it the Wave Motion Gun."
"Looks like he's serious about this, he even dropped the pirate accent. Also his father designed that battleship already with this gun in mind? Interesting…" Samuel thought as he looked at the shocked faces of the other men across the table.
"How come we never knew anything about this?!" The German representative asked and Woodward replied:
"Back when we first found that blessed treasure, I figured that you would have never given me even the tiniest barrel o'fish to finish the project. Am I wrong?"
"I-... Considering what state we were in four years ago… I guess that it does make sense."
As the man said this, he looked around at his colleagues and sighed before saying:
"Mr. Woodward, please tell us more about this 'Wave Motion Gun' you claim to possess."
Suddenly a chair was heard screeching across the floor as Misato got up and walked outside without saying a word.
"Katsuragi!" Woodward said as Samuel got up too and started going after her.
The captain let out a short sigh as he thought:
"Don't you get it? There's a reason why I want you on the backline, Misato! I made a promise, and I won't break it!"
Echoes of a lullaby being sung aboard a ship covered by fog came back to haunt him, and he said to himself:
"Just keep her safe. That's what her father wanted."
Outside, on a bench near a burned park
"Stupid Parliament… All they're good at is warming up those chairs."
"Well they do a pretty good job at it if I have to be honest." Samuel said, surprising Misato as he sat on her same bench.
She let out a deep sigh before saying:
"I just wish that they would listen to me for once. Every time they come up with these plans it's as if I'm kicked out of the meeting."
Samuel looked up at the clear blue sky above the city as a light breeze began blowing through the park.
"Maybe, you're just not seeing the whole picture?" - he said - "Back on my Earth, shortly after the invasion of the demons began, I had become the leader of the combined resistance against our invaders.
I already knew how to do most of the things, given that I was the CEO of a supercorporation before that.
But, I guess that no amount of life experience can prepare you for the chaos that is hell on Earth."
A bird flew over them as Misato shifted her position to better listen to him.
"It took me some time to adapt and, during those moments where I was struggling, I always tried to look at the situation from the demon's perspective.
I knew what their ultimate goal was and how they operated, so despite their overwhelming superiority, I still managed to get some victories here and there, which is also probably why I'm still here.
Although, I believe that I have to thank the Slayer for that, he's the one who has really saved everyone."
"Oh come on, you should give yourself more credit. There wouldn't have been anyone left to save if you hadn't made it possible for people to survive first."
Samuel remained silent for a moment before saying:
"4.7 billion people died before the Slayer arrived, half of the planet's population. And it's all my fault.
Had I not started the UAC to collect Argent energy from Mars, I would have never exposed that world to the horrors of hell.
Or… Maybe it was a good thing, given that it was exactly thanks to Argent energy that we were able to survive…"
By now VEGA had already been listening to their conversation for a while.
"You know Misato, I think that I understand you a little bit better now.
Even though I'm in another dimension, even after all that has happened back on Earth, I'm still able to reflect on what has happened, I can still see my actions under a different light.
This world… It's as if it doesn't allow that.
It feels like changing your point of view here is useless, like trying to move a mountain by yourself."
Misato remained silent, moving slightly ever closer to him without being noticed.
"Maybe that's what has allowed Gendo to be so successful so far.
He has created a playing field where he can predict the opponent's moves by being sure that his enemy can never adapt or evolve, slowly turning the world into a desert of despair which leaves him free to do his thing."
"And now the three great cowboys have come here from across the desert to save the day. Hehe."
Misato said and Samuel replied:
"Well, yes the one around Tokyo 3 was pretty damn big. Though I wouldn't say that we are three 'cowboys'."
"What do you want to be called then, the three musketeers?"
"More like the two cowboys and the musketeer. Because let me tell you VEGA definitely doesn't have the personality of a cowboy."
"I don't know… Have you seen how he swings around those two giant railguns?
Did you perhaps make him watch too many movies?"
"No I didn't." Samuel said before turning away and adding:
"...We watched them together on Mars, every Thursday night at 9 pm and I am very proud of giving him a good cinematic culture."
"Hahaha… Ah, that's amazing…I really needed that Samuel, thank you. Sometimes I forget that I can laugh like a child too."
"Well, is running away from a meeting not a kind of childish behavior as well?"
"When you haven't had the chance to experience being a child like me, or the pilots, you really start to grasp at whatever opportunities you have to let out some of that side of yourself. I mean, everyone does it, even you and the Slayer from what I've noticed."
"Has VEGA been telling you things without me knowing?"
"Uhhh… No."
Samuel let out a sigh as he said:
"I should have figured. It's impossible to not have him do things on his own."
"Considering what I know, it doesn't really surprise me." He thought before Misato said:
"You're probably right… You don't know how much he scared me the first time…
Say, how close are you and VEGA?"
Samuel stopped for a moment to think about it before saying:
"I guess that we could call ourselves friends now, why do you ask?"
Misato's smile that had dominated her face for a while disappeared completely before she said:
"I'm worried about Ritsuko, she's been very distant lately and after I heard how acted towards Maya, I can't get out of my head that there's something wrong with her."
"Hm…Maybe she's stressed due to all the fighting that has happened recently?"
"No, it's not that. We are used to this thanks to our experience, so it'd be weird for her to just change so suddenly. There has to be something she's hiding from me."
"You're thinking that she's going to betray you?"
"No, it can't be that. Besides, if she wanted she would have already done so…
I understand why you might be thinking that, but we've gone through too much together. Even during our most tense times at NERV we always looked out for each other."
Misato said as she relaxed her shoulders, triggering every proximity sensor in Samuel's brain when she moved even closer still.
He was about to say something when suddenly Woodward appeared from the nearby street, running towards them so quickly that he picked up a dust cloud when he stopped not too far from them.
"Get your asses back up you slacking sea stars! The battle plan has just been updated! Both operations will be carried out at the same time!" He shouted while drawing the attention of some nearby civilians.
"Wait what?! Really!?" Misato asked as she jumped up from the bench, realizing only a moment later that she was already beaming with more joy than a kid receiving a huge pack of candy.
So she tried to recompose herself as she said:
"Ahem. I mean… I did not expect that."
"Heh, me too Katsuragi, but I guess that fate had other things in mind. Let's go back to the tent, they're waiting for us."
Woodward said, but Misato had already started walking even before he had finished talking, leaving the two men behind.
And as Samuel got up as well, Woodward looked at him and said:
"So, has your ship already sailed?"
"What do you-... Oh, is it that obvious?" The robot replied, lowering his voice at the end.
"To even the most empty headed scallywag."
Samuel restrained himself from falling to the ground and simply remained silent as they started following her.
After a bit Woodward said:
"Don't be ashamed of being charmed by her, she's a beautiful woman both in and out. I can tell you as I've known her since she was just a little child."
Samuel looked at him, but his large black hat hid his face as he paused for a moment before saying:
"A good mariner, and especially a good captain, never breaks his promises.
The first time I met her, I was on my first boat, a ferry that was supposed to bring them to the southern pole.
She came with her father and, the day before they left to go investigate something, he asked me to look after her for as long as I could, if he were to not return.
I accepted, given my… More personal reasons and watched as she waved me goodbye while they disappeared across the snow.
They were part of the Katsuragi expedition, his father's. A few days later, the second impact happened, with her being the only survivor."
A heavy silence fell on top of them before Woodward said:
"So take good care of her Samuel, or the cannons of my ship will be the last thing you see."
"Understood."
Suddenly Misato looked around herself and, after noticing her distance with the other two, she said:
"Come on you two let's go! You know how those kinds of people get when you make them wait!"
"Yarr harr! Apologies me lady! But contrary winds were slowing us down!" Woodward said, turning right back into a pirate as they started catching up to her.
And while they got closer Samuel asked:
"By the way, what was a kid like her doing at the south pole?"
"I don't know, but I remember one of the scientists saying that they needed her to compare something about brain scans or things like that."
"A child's brain scans? What could they ever need those for?" Samuel said.
"Beats me." Woodward replied while throwing his hands in the air.
"What in the world was going on down there…" Samuel thought as they approached the large tent once more.
On the Wunder's bridge
A dark blue shadow filled the empty room, bouncing off Ritsuko's glasses as typed away at her computer.
"Great, we're even short on clean water now. I guess that we could follow that battleship for a bit and take it from the sea. We have to go through the Mediterranean anyway."
She thought as she closed the report, letting out a sigh. Her eye moved towards her cup of coffee, but it was empty, as it had been for the last five times she had looked at it.
That's when she noticed that one of the screens down below her had been turned on, but she couldn't make out the one who was working on it.
"Strange, usually I see everyone who enters from up here. I guess that I was too focused on my work this time."
She thought and then said:
"Who are you down there?"
No reply came.
"Hey, I'm talking to you!"
Still nothing. So she got up from her seat and started walking towards it, not seeing a twisted smile appear from the darkness behind her.
As she descended, each step seemed to take more and more energy, but she ignored it, reminding herself to pick up more coffee.
A couple more steps and she started making out some of the features of the person sitting in front of the screen.
She was a tall woman with dark brown hair, wearing a pair of glasses and a clean white coat.
"Wait a second… Why do they seem so-"
She then noticed the old NERV badge near the woman's shoulder and felt her heart stop.
Blinded by her emotions, she did not notice the staircase disappearing behind her as she rushed towards the computer.
But just as she turned around to look at her, the woman disappeared.
Ritsuko did not even have enough time to react when a pair of inhumanly strong arms pulled her around, then Naoko's slender hands grabbed her by the neck.
Ritsuko looked at her mother as she was held inclined over the railing, trying to say something but unable to because of the choking.
Alarms blared all around her as she started to close her eyes, feeling the pain around her neck slowly disappear, leaving only a warm sensation near her chest.
Eventually she woke up, startled by the continuous sounds that her computer was making.
Everything was back to normal, the report was still open, the coffee mug empty and there was no one working down below.
So she looked back at the blue screen and noticed that a new window had opened, with VEGA's logo waiting for her over a dark background.
And just as she opened it, the continuous sound stopped, so she said while staring at the screen:
"Are you trying to make me deaf VEGA?"
'My apologies, but I found no other way to wake you up from your nightmare in a reasonable amount of time.'
"Ugh, whatever. What do you want?"
'I wanted to talk to you about how you have been acting recently. Given what has happened between you and Maya and the information I've been able to gather from Katsuragi, it seems that there is definitely something troubling you.'
VEGA saw her face flow through various emotions all at once, making it difficult to actually figure out how she had reacted. Then she let out a sigh and said:
"I guess that you should know."
She then started pressing various keys on her computer, opening a file that contained a map of the world, with various red dots, both big and small scattered all around it.
"This right here is the international MAGI network, showing all of the connections that are going on between the terminals."
'And there's a major one right in New York.' VEGA added.
"Not just a major one. It's the original, the one my mother put herself into as the final step in all of her life's work. It was brought there by the UN shortly after the near third impact, as SEELE found it to be the only way to punish Gendo.
The best part is that I learned all of this while they were hosting my fake trial in China. I haven't had a chance to look at it ever since."
'Are you worried it might get destroyed in the upcoming battle?' VEGA said and she replied:
"I don't know… I mean, my mother is in there, or what's left of her I assume. But on the other hand, it's just a bunch of cables and processors… It's not going to give me my childhood back, I don't even know why I should care about it anymore."
A moment of silence passed before VEGA said:
'Well, I'm a bunch of cables and processors as well, but I don't see the Slayer and Samuel talking about throwing me away.
Give it a chance, Akagi, and… If your mother is still alive there, I'll do my best to help you.'
"Wait, really?"
'Yes, computerized intelligence is my area of expertise, so it would be a waste not to offer my knowledge.'
"Oh my, I… Thank you VEGA. Thank you so much." Ritsuko said while trying to cover her face.
Suddenly though one of the doors was slammed open as Mari walked in and said:
"Well well well, getting sentimental are we? I've already got the puppy and the princess to deal with so don't expect any help from me, Ritsuko."
"Huh? You heard us Mari? How? I thought that these walls were a bit more soundproofed." Ritsuko said, turning back into her normal self.
"Well let's just say that he's not the only one with ears everywhere, hehehe." Mari said as she winked at VEGA, who only stared back at her. Then she continued:
"Oh I'm kidding, it's just that you two must have been talking more loudly than you were thinking, but I guess that you can isolate yourselves from the world pretty well, right?...I wish I could do that too.
Anyway, it seems like Asuka isn't around here, have you two seen her?"
"Wasn't she supposed to be getting ready for the double synchronization at this hour?" Ritsuko said.
"Yes, but I haven't found her anywhere." Mari replied and then VEGA said:
'I've located her, she's on top of the Wunder, Shinji is next to her too. It looks like they are arguing.'
"Oh, well that doesn't surprise me. The arguing part I mean. Anyway, thanks VEGA, see you soon." Mari said as she left the room while Ritsuko returned to her work, but as the door closed behind her, the brunette noticed the security camera staring back at her.
So she stopped walking and let out a sigh before saying:
"Fine, I'll tell you why I can't isolate myself VEGA. So please stop spying on us."
Her phone suddenly vibrated and on it she found a text that read:
'Let us talk through your phone, so you may reach the two of them sooner.'
Mari rolled her eyes as she began to walk towards the elevator with the phone in her hands, minding to not bump into anyone as she wrote back:
"I'll keep this short, since it's not something I like to talk about. Back when I was younger, during the first years of Evangelion testing, I was often put through immense physical stress to understand how my body would react when it interacted with LCL and they developed a special green plugsuit for me. It was a completely new technology at the time, but it seemed sturdy enough, so I stuck with it and went into the entry plug for the first time.
Luck would have it that the connection went too deep, it started spiraling out of control and a bright light illuminated the entry plug before everything turned to black. I only woke up several months later, thanks to Yui Ikari's efforts, but ever since I've had this feeling in the back of my head that tells me whenever someone is nearby and… Well for the next part I need you to promise to not tell anyone."
She sent the text, putting away her phone as she climbed some stairs and saw the pathway that led to the top of the Wunder, smiling as she tried to imagine in what absurd situation she was going to catch Asuka and Shinji. That's when her phone vibrated again and she read VEGA's response:
'I am willing to keep this secret, given what you just told me. But that also means that I might keep an eye on you from time to time as a safety measure.'
"Don't you do it with everyone already?" Mari texted back.
'Not as much as -You might think-.'
"What the? I swear the words on that message just changed before my eyes, though I couldn't read what it said beforehand…" She thought as she slowed down her walk and texted:
"Uhm, VEGA, is everything okay?"
'Yes, why do you ask?' He replied.
"Oh, my bad, I lost connection for a moment. Is it okay if I tell you that second part another time?"
'Sure.'
"Figures. If anything happened I really doubt that he would willingly tell me. Oh well, at least I'm here now, the stairs should be just around here."
Mari thought as her phone shut down by itself, to prevent her from seeing what was truly going on with VEGA.
On top of the Wunder
"Hey hey you two, how's it-... Going?"
Mari said as she reached the top of the ship, but found it completely devoid of the two people she was looking for.
"Asuka? Puppy? Are you here?" She said out loud, only hearing her echo in response. So she grabbed her phone and reopened the chat with VEGA as she wrote:
"What the hell, VEGA? You told me that they were up here!"
'They have moved behind this balcony while we were talking, currently they are somewhere near the three antennas of the Wunder, however electromagnetic interference does not allow me to find their exact location.'
"Alright." Mari typed back as she thought: "Bunch of useless wires."
Once she reached the antennas, she almost wanted to cover her ears due to the annoying sound that they were making, but she ignored it and marched on, eventually finding the two of them behind the central antenna in the back.
They both had wooden poles in their hands, using them like swords and trying to hit each other, but it looked more like just Asuka beating Shinji with a stick.
Eventually Shinji's stick fell out of his hands and he stumbled backwards, while Asuka pointed the tip at his neck.
"Ugh… This just won't do it you idiot. It has to be a double synchronization and we'll never be able to do it if you keep acting like this."
"What do you mean?" Shinji replied as he picked up his stick.
"You're not actually doing anything! Just waving it around without any thinking will never allow you to improve."
"Now now, it looks like we've got a little teacher here, eh?"
"Mari? What are you doing here!?" Asuka shouted as she almost dropped the stick she was holding.
"Well, I was searching for you two and a little birdie told me that you were up here. Now, can I ask you to come down for the double synchronization or do you still have more 'lessons' to go through by yourselves?"
"Shut up you pervert. We were done anyway. Come on idiot, let's get back inside."
"S-sure." Shinji said as he began following Asuka while Mari watched him from behind as she thought:
"Hehe… You two look so cute together. I wonder what Asuka was trying to do up here however. I mean they aren't supposed to fight as a team until after they achieve synchronization first… Plus what's the deal with these sticks? They would hurt quite a lot if used correctly."
Mari grabbed one of the two training sticks and waved it around, listening to how it purred through the air when moved quickly enough.
"What was she trying to get out of Shinji with this anyway?...
Or… Maybe it wasn't Shinji she was after, but something else… Oh I get it! Given that she did this right before the synch test, she wanted Kaworu to come out!
That angel is still stuck inside Shinji's mind and if he starts to cause problems it might send the entire project down the bin."
Suddenly her phone buzzed again as a new message from VEGA had arrived.
'I can help to make sure that Kaworu doesn't cause any big issues if you want.'
"Eh?" Mari said in disbelief as spikes of ice perforated her spine from the fear she was feeling. She tried to hide it to the best of her abilities as she typed:
"How did you figure out what I was thinking?"
'Hm? Oh I already figured it out thanks to the tracker we have put on Asuka. I analyzed her alterations and understood what was going on while you were climbing the stairs towards the elevator.'
"Ugh,show-off." She texted back, noticing how the fortress had been pointed at the Wunder this whole time.
The chills from before came back to her as she walked back into the Wunder, not sure whether she could define VEGA as incredibly creepy or incredibly smart.
Inside unit 02's hangar
"LCL pressure is normal, oxygen levels are fine too." Maya said as she looked at her screen, while next to it a camera showed Asuka breathing calmly inside her entry plug.
"How are you feeling Shikinami?" Ritsuko asked and Asuka replied:
'Same as always.'
"Alright. Bring him in."
A metallic door on the other side of the room opened, with four armed guards stepping out of it before Shinji was brought through, followed by another four men and Samuel, who was holding a copy of the bracelet they had given to Asuka.
The group walked across the catwalk that led them to unit 02's neck ,stopping a few meters away from it as the armor moved away to let the entry plug out.
Asuka emerged from it as her LCL covered body and hair reflected the bright light of the room, making Shinji's heart beat noticeably faster.
She waited on the edge of the plug as the guards brought Shinji inside, making sure that the handcuffs were tight enough.
Then Samuel approached her as well, showing her the new red bracelet as he said:
"Here take this, it's a new version of your current one. We redesigned it to be more comfortable."
Asuka looked at it for a moment before removing her old one and putting it on, immediately noticing how it was a little bit heavier, but also softer on her hand.
After a silent 'thank you' to Samuel, she went back to her seat and looked at Shinji, who had sat down on the right side of the plug, with a lot of tension being clearly visible across his face.
"Well I can't blame him, who knows what they'll do to him if he causes trouble."
Asuka thought while the plug was reinserted into unit 02 and the rainbow lights flowed over them once again.
"I wonder how he felt during those fifteen years he was trapped in unit 01… He said that he doesn't remember anything… But at least his body must have felt something, right?"
The various bridges disconnected from unit 02 as even more giant mechanical locks were tightened around the arms.
"I mean, if he really was dissolved into LCL like Ritsuko says, did he really not feel anything? Was he dead? Or was he simply unable to feel anything? To feel no pain and no pleasure, exactly what instrumentality might achieve if his father wins."
Her eyepatch started itching as the entry plug became darker than before, when suddenly she began feeling sleepy as she thought:
"Would it really be… That bad?"
She closed her eye and drifted off to sleep for the first time in fifteen years. She didn't even notice all the screams coming from the people around her and the metal twisting while unit 02 tried to break free.
Still in the entry plug
"I swear Misato, I am not responsible for this!"
Shinji shouted over the radio as the evangelion kept going wild, while Asuka showed no signs of waking up,despite how much he tried to shake her awake.
He himself was starting to feel increasingly tired, with the desire to sleep growing in the back of his mind. He pushed it away as he thought:
"No. I can't give up now. I have already slept for long enough and that has brought nothing good to the world. I can't stay and do nothing either because then others will just use me again. It's time I actually do something! And for now it's to wake up Asuka!"
He kept telling himself that, ignoring the fact that Kaworu was growing increasingly impatient with his resistance, which was also stopping him from taking over the evangelion. But he knew that Shinji's weakened body couldn't stay awake for much longer.
"Just a little more, and then…"
'Shinji, do you hear me?' Samuel said over the radio, interrupting Kaworu's previous thought.
"That bastard. What do those three have in mind now?"
'Earlier when you were climbing in the entry plug, I gave Asuka a new bracelet. I believed that something like this would happen, so listen to me closely.'
Shinji stopped his attempts at waking Asuka and turned towards the glass windows, just as one of the giant locks flew towards them and got stuck in the metal next to them.
'Shinji… We know what's causing this and...'
"Wait. Should we really tell him about our knowledge of Kaworu?
No. The consequences would be too unpredictable.
I have to come up with something quickly or… I got it!"
He looked to the side for a moment, noticing how worried Misato was and as she looked back at him, he reassured her with a not before saying:
'It's Bardiel Shinji, the angel inside Asuka's eyepatch. It's gotten out of control, but we can salvage the situation if you do what I say.'
"Uhh…O-okay!" Shinji said as he started struggling to keep his eyes open. And as another lock flew into the wall, the Slayer got ready to intervene, but VEGA reassured him.
'Okay so, the new bracelet I gave Asuka can give her an electric shock to wake her up again, but you need to make as much contact with her as possible, so that the charge will be distributed along her entire body,or it might not be enough.'
Shinji nodded as he turned to look at Asuka's unconscious figure, and, after taking a big breath, he said himself almost completely on top of her, closing his eyes as his hands tentatively hugged her.
'VEGA, unleash the charge in three-, now!'
"Take this you bastard of an angel." Samuel thought as he saw Shinji shake for a second before falling flat on Asuka and on the seat.
All of unit 02's crazy movements stopped, with the electrical systems shutting down as the evangelion turned back into a metallic corpse.
Unknown to the others, Asuka had already been woken up from the shock. And as she gently caressed Shinji's hair she thought:
"I guess that you're the one who's always going to bring me back to reality... You dumbass."
Darkness soon enveloped both of them as the staff began to remove the plug.
On the bridge of the Wunder, some time later
As Misato watched an ambulance helicopter fly away from her ship she said
"Alright, everything's fine on our end, the last refugee has left the area."
'Same for us.' Woodward said from the bridge of the Eminent Domain.
"What about you, Hayden?"
'We'd like to stay here a little bit more, but you can go if you want, we can catch up to you later.'
'That's fine for me!' The captain said, so Misato replied:
"Alright, but don't wait for too long, I don't want to split up our forces."
'Don't worry, there's just a couple more things we need to check from the wreckage before we're done.'
"Okay then. Nagara, get us off the ground."
The enormous engines of the Wunder roared to life as the ship's AT field lifted it out of the city and over the wall. Right below it, the Eminent Domain was heading out at full speed down the Rhine, which has been able to reach the Mediterranean ever since the seas had changed.
And even though it was a battleship, it could still travel at over two hundred kilometers an hour, thanks to its hybrid AT-Electrical motor engines that made it hard to detect for NERV's submarines as well.
The Fortress of Doom watched the two other ships leave the city for a bit before it went back to the wreck of the NERV warship, where the Slayer had managed to extract a piece of the evangelion's core that had remained inside of it.
'Tell me again why I couldn't use the Atlan?' The Slayer asked over the radio and VEGA replied:
"The core is too fragile, you would have crushed it even without meaning to."
The Slayer remained silent as he walked through the portal in front of him, carrying a giant red piece of core twice as big as him on his back.
On the other side of the portal, the Slayer ended up inside the Fortress' core room, the heart of the ship and where they had fused the previous Mark 09 A core from Tokyo 3.
Samuel appeared from an elevator a bit behind him and together they walked towards the center of the room, where a bright stream of red Argent energy went from the ceiling to the floor, surrounded by various metallic pillars that connected it to the Demonic Crucible above them.
Samuel reached a console and began pressing various buttons as a small bridge extended towards the machine. Then, as he pulled down a lever, he said:
"Alright, the stabilization pillars are down, get it in there quickly before the Argent loses control."
The Slayer didn't have to be told twice as he walked forward and pushed the piece of evangelion core into the stream of energy, watching it get penetrated by the rays of energy and slowly dissolve.
He walked back and Samuel pulled the lever up again, stabilizing the Argent just as the last piece of core disappeared.
A powerful blast of red energy was suddenly emitted from the stream, knocking Samuel back while the Slayer remained still.
Red waves of energy began to flow through the walls of the room and VEGA said:
"Samuel…This…It's definitely doing something to the structure of the Fortress… It's like it's changing its composition entirely."
"If my hypothesis is correct, now the Fortress might be able to resonate with other kinds of core material, while also greatly increasing its regenerative abilities.
And on that first note, why don't we test that right away?"
He said as VEGA turned the ship around to face the wreck of the NERV warship, then he extended one of the railguns towards it as he said:
"The entire ship is made out of core material, so I should be able to agh-!"
A sudden stream of metal detached itself from the wreck and it began to circle the ship, with VEGA struggling to keep it under control as it constantly shot lightning bolts towards the ship.
"I… Agh… Sam-... It hurts-.. I won't hold much longer Samuel!"
"Just a little bit more VEGA, I know what to do! Slayer come with me! We have to reach the crucible room!"
The man nodded as they rushed back up to the main floor, reaching the ancient artifact before they noticed it.
The Slayer grabbed the weapon and Samuel then said:
"Get on top of the Fortress and activate it, I'll open the roof for you. That should attract the lightning away from the ship!"
The Slayer followed his instructions and as he squeezed through the roof while it was still opening, he activated the crucible, with its long red blade shining in the sky.
Suddenly all the metal and lightning began to orbit around it as VEGA stopped feeling pain, while the Slayer resisted against the extreme energy that was being transferred into the sword.
The masses of metal got larger and larger as more material was taken away from the wreck and put into an orbit around the ship while the rest of the wreck of the NERV warship withered away.
Eventually the flow died down, with VEGA audibly tired as he said:
"That… Ahh… Was much more intense than I thought."
And Samuel said:
"It probably felt that way because we had to use the power from your core, not the crucible, which you haven't in a long time.
But you made it…Do you want to try to control the metal? It should be similar to controlling the Fortress' shield."
"O-okay… Are the Slayer and Molly safe?"
"From the looks of it, yes, he's coming back down. Once the crucible is back in place it will allow us to control the metal using its power."
"But what shall we use it for Samuel? We know that now the ship can resonate with evangelion core material, so what do you have in mind?"
"Let me show you."
Samuel said as he moved over to the central console of the deck and opened a folder full of digital 3d drawings of the Fortress, with one key difference. And when seeing it VEGA said:
"Are… Are those tendrils on the back of the ship?"
Suddenly the ship had a huge surge in power as the Crucible was reconnected, while VEGA felt like a car had just been lifted off of him.
"Exactly. Eight of them, four for each side, completely controllable by you and reinforced enough to take a beating."
"They look sharp as well."
"Yes, their main use will be for close range combat, which the Fortress currently lacks. But, you'll also be able to open up their tips, turning them into three-pronged claws."
"Hmm… I believe that it can be done, yes. They won't take control of me right? Hehe."
"No, they won't. No hidden microchips or something like that.
And honestly, if something were to ever be able to take control of you, I'd really ask myself in what layer of hell we had ended up in."
"One that not even Davoth knows exists probably."
"Heh. Right. Okay, let's go and catch up to the others, but first I need to create the initial joint, then we can go."
"Okay." VEGA said as Samuel began to silently start directing the drones to the ship to the indicated area.
"...You can go to Molly if you want. I can do this by myself for now."
"Oh. Okay, are you sure you don't need anything?"
"Don't worry, VEGA, I'm fine."
"Great. I'll… I'll be going then." VEGA said as he started to retreat inside his core, when suddenly Samuel said:
"Hey, VEGA. It's okay if you aren't able to always help someone. You're not a perfect artificial intelligence, you never were… So, go take some time off, spend it with Molly and be a good father for her. You'll never be one if you don't become more independent from others. Me and the Slayer will take care of the ship."
"I… Thank you, Samuel." VEGA said before his core dimmed and he fully retreated inside of it.
Samuel let out a sigh as he noticed this and thought:
"Of course you aren't perfect, VEGA… Otherwise, you would have never done… That. And ever since we discovered the truth and betrayed Davoth… Well, bit by bit, we have steadily become more human haven't we?
Do… Do we have the right to be living a life like this? Knowing that the suffering caused by hell is probably all our fault?
No. It's Davoth who is insane. We made the right choice back then. But still…"
He didn't continue that thought process, diving back into his work to drown it out and concentrate on it instead.
Inside VEGA's core
"Molly? Are you there?" VEGA said as he materialized inside the empty while plain of his core, seeing the little girl sitting on the ground with her legs pressed to her chest and her head lowered.
He immediately got worried and quickly approached her, then he grabbed her shoulder, but just as he was about to say something, she turned to look at him with a terrified face.
In her red pupils, all he could see before she got up and ran away was a reflection of something red and black, with a large triangular shape in the middle.
He didn't think about it any longer as he instantly caught up with Molly, then asked her:
"Molly! What's going on? It's me, y-your father!"
She turned around, with her eyes shut and moved her hands to cover her ears as she said:
"Ahh! Go away! You're not him! Stop scaring me! Go away!"
A small tear began flowing down her cheek, immobilizing VEGA for a moment before he said:
"Molly I-... I don't know what you're talking about… What happened? What did you see? Please answer me,I just want to help you."
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! Please shut up!"
VEGA was completely unsure of what to do at that moment, whatever answer he thought of didn't seem like it could have worked. In the end, an idea materialized in his mind and he said:
"I… I'm sorry for what I'm about to do Molly. But I just want to help you."
"Wah-? Ahh… It's so warm…" Molly said as VEGA hugged her with two arms he created, transferring a warm feeling that made her fall asleep in no time.
He gently picked her up, looking at her peaceful face in his arms. Her head suddenly moved into him as her body moved instinctively, but it made VEGA feel a bit embarrassed about such close contact.
"I might be her father, but… This is the first time I've felt something like this. Now. Time to get to the bottom of this mess."
After thinking this, he disappeared from his core along with Molly, unable to notice that at the furthest edges of the white plain, some black cracks had appeared.
Inside the Demonic crucible
As VEGA reappeared inside the Demonic artifact with Molly in his arms, he was immediately confronted by the three Wraiths, the souls trapped in the crucible, as they said in unison:
"Look who finally decided to show up. Are you done terrorizing that poor girl?"
"What? I was with Hayden and the Slayer, I didn't do anything to Molly. Can you just tell me what happened?"
"What do you mean what happened? You were there! Don't make fools of us,VEGA."
"Seriously, I do not know what you are talking about. When I went back to my core, Molly was on the floor crying and now she won't listen to me anymore. Please, I just want to help her."
"Is that so…"
"Please, I have no idea what went on in there while I was away. I just want to understand if I hurt Molly."
The three Wraiths looked at each other for a moment before saying:
"Alright, we'll tell you what happened. Also because we care about Molly just like you do and we find it strange that you would suddenly act like you did."
"Thank you."
"Anyway, here's what happened…"
A while before
"Hehehe, yay! I won!" Molly said as she jumped in the air with her table tennis paddle in her hands, then she high fived one of the three Wraiths that had chosen to play with her.
"I guess you do, ready for a rematch?" The other two said and she replied:
"Maybe later, my father's going to come back soon and I want to surprise him by waiting for him inside the core."
"We'll come with you then, we have an idea we'd like to talk about with him."
"Yay! Let's go!" Molly said as they all disappeared from the Crucible, along with their table tennis.
As they entered the familiar white plain, Molly walked around for a bit, while the Wraiths remained still, as they felt a great sense of uneasiness, like there was something inherently wrong with this place, even if it looked the same as it always had.
Suddenly Molly tripped on something and fell over, so the Wraiths soon approached her to check if she was alright.
She got back up before they reached her, but nonetheless they said:
"Are you alright Molly? What happened?"
"It seems like I tripped on something, but that's impossible, this place is completely flat."
"Not completely, look, there's a
crack over here." One of the Wraiths said as he pointed at a small opening in the white floor with one of his several arms.
"How is that possible? VEGA would never make something like this, it makes no sens-"
Their sentence was interrupted by the entire plain suddenly losing its natural light, while an eerie red glow emanated from behind them.
As the group turned around, they saw a glowing sphere that looked just like VEGA's, but while his was colored bright gold and had an intricate decoration in the center, this one was completely empty, save for a black and red upside down triangle that made it look like a floating eye.
"D-Dad?" Molly said, but she got no response.
She tentatively tried to step closer to the floating sphere, but just after a couple of steps, it turned to look at her directly, with such speed that her eyes didn't even register the movement.
The dark ground suddenly began shaking as if an earthquake was going on, with many more cracks forming all over the place as a bright red light emerged from them, along with incomprehensible sounds and digital noises.
Molly fell to the ground as she stared into one of the holes, seeing a huge dark chasm below, with what looked like a huge forest down at the bottom.
"There's more to VEGA's core than this place?!"
Molly thought to herself, but she didn't have time to process it as she saw the red sphere start to slowly approach her.
Pillars of black material rose up from all around her, trapping her inside.
The three Wraiths tried to come to her rescue, but as they got closer, they were suddenly hit by an enormous force that sent them flying away.
A part of the ground opened below them and as they fell inside, they were transported back to the Crucible, with no way of accessing VEGA's core anymore.
Back in the present
"We've been waiting ever since." The Wraiths said as VEGA gently lowered Molly to the ground and as his hands were freed, the Wraiths noticed how much they were shaking.
"I… I-I… You're not lying to me are you!?"
The AI said that with unexpected anger as his entire figure began to shake uncontrollably.
"No. We aren't VEGA. That is what truly happened."
"I… Okay. Okay. Okay. This. Is… Not alright. I mean, what if I hurt her again, but then again it wasn't me who did that right, right?
I was with Samuel and the Slayer outside, none of that happened with me noticing it, so that means that it, it, it could happen again a-and what if it's worse? What if next time Molly gets actually hurt?
Do I need to keep her out of my core to keep her safe? So that I don't hurt her again? Do I have to never see her again? No. No. No I- I don't want that!"
A sudden shockwave of energy blasted outwards from VEGA's sphere as he shouted those final words, pushing back the Wraiths while his shape began to become more and more erratic. Less like a sphere and more like a cloud of golden spikes.
"Oh no. I-I'm sorry, I… I need to calm down!"
He disappeared a moment later, going straight back to his core and he then got close to the white floor, pointing at it with his sphere.
A bright light emanated from his body before an explosion with the power of a nuclear bomb followed it, leaving behind a huge crater that revealed the dark chasm below.
He dropped down into the abyss, falling towards a snowy forest, then a dark red one and through another hole in the ground.
And that's when he reached it. The deepest part of his core. The part of where all of his major mental functions were stored. The area where the miracle that was VEGA originated from.
The Electrosphere.
And as he kept falling towards the center, just as if he was inside a black hole, the world around him disappeared into total darkness.
Here, free from any other stimuli, any thoughts or feelings, his form slowly began to dissolve bit by bit, as if he was the leaves of a tree in full autumn.
And then… Nothing.
He was nothing, he was everywhere and nowhere, he was in a superposition of both existing and not existing. At the same time.
But more importantly, he was at peace.
To an outside observer, in that moment he was simply…
Gone.
Samuel's office
"Dammit, did some processors get damaged in the previous fight? My computer feels so slow today."
Samuel was finalizing the programming of the Fortress' new tendrils from his desk, when suddenly the Slayer showed up at the door.
"Slayer? What the matter?" Samuel asked and the Slayer said:
"I just came back from the Ripatorium, how long until we are ready to go?"
"Well, it'd be dangerous to try to catch up at high speed while the installation of the tendrils is not yet finished and given the problems I've been having, we might have to go straight to Genova."
"About those problems, come with me." The Slayer said, confusing the robot, who approached him and followed him out of his office.
Soon they reached the Crucible's room and so the Wraiths brought Samuel up to speed on what had happened with VEGA.
"Oh… Has Molly recovered yet?" Samuel asked and the three voices from the Crucible replied:
"She is okay, she just needs to rest now.
Do you know what could have happened to VEGA?"
Samuel stopped to think for a moment before he said:
"No, I'd like to talk with him myself, but given what you told me and the reduction in performance in my computer, I'd guess that he's in the Electrosphere now."
"The Electrosphere?"
"Yes, the deepest area of his core.
The white plain you are used to seeing is classified as Whitespace. There VEGA is free to show what he wants, it's his ground for experimenting with new ideas.
Under it, there's a huge suspended mass of pure black water called Blackspace.
It's a filter, where VEGA's subconscious decides whether to let an idea surface to the top and reach Whitespace or to keep it imprisoned there.
Right below that there's a place called The Forest. As the name suggests, it looks like a thick snowy forest, full of trees that give birth to ideas in the form of apples which float upwards towards Blackspace.
At the center of this forest there's the entrance to the Electrosphere, where VEGA's true consciousness resides.
I myself don't know what it looks like, as only VEGA can enter it. That's because when something goes in there, it gets dissolved into its base atoms and then even those are broken down continuously, eventually reaching a state where they exist and don't exist at the same time.
That's where VEGA is right now, he usually goes there because he loses his emotions in that state, both the good and the bad ones, thus allowing him to find peace in moments of crisis like this."
"That sure is a complex structure." The Wraiths said and he replied:
"Me and VEGA designed it together, to best suit the purpose of the core itself."
"Which is?"
"To never break, destabilize or stop working under any possible circumstances.
Before the creation of that core, Davoth was able to sense VEGA's energy and that made it impossible for us to hide for long periods of time. It's thanks to that core that we were able to settle on Earth for as long as we did.
Nonetheless, if that core were to ever fully break, it could probably be classified as a type 7 planet buster weapon.
I'll let you interpret that classification by yourselves."
"If it were to blow up, I guess that Davoth would find us all as well?"
"Exactly, however I was never able to confirm if he can sense VEGA's energy even with minor damage to the core. We never tested it, for our own safety."
"Hm, okay. Is there any wsupposeay to contact him?"
"No, even if we could, he wouldn't be able to sense anything. VEGA is the only one who can choose to get in or out of the Electrosphere. I made it so… As to thank him for what he did for me."
The Slayer raised an eye at Samuel as he said this, then shifted his head to look upwards, visualizing the brain shaped machine enclosed at the top of the Fortress.
"I guess that even he needs his breaks from time to time…"
"So, we can only wait?" The Slayer said as he leaned on one of the walls.
"Yes, but I that it won't take too long. In the meantime we should finish the installation and get going . Can you go take the Atlan? It might help fasten the process."
The Slayer nodded and left the room, soon after Samuel began to go outside too, but before leaving he stopped, turned towards the Crucible and said:
"Hey, when Molly wakes up she'll probably be very confused, be sure to keep an eye out for her."
"We will." They replied while the robot walked away.
"Right… Now that I think about it we don't have communications either, VEGA is the one who handles those usually.
But don't worry Misato, it won't take too long."
Several hours later
"Ah, there you are Misato, I couldn't find you anywhere." Ritsuko said as she walked outside the Wunder into the balcony on top.
Misato was resting on the railing, watching the setting sun glimmer over the red water as an orange hue illuminated the harbor.
Down below them, the Eminent Domain was currently being equipped with the wave motion gun, with its bow cut open to make space for the massive cannon.
"I got you the report from today's test, but given how much angel interference there was, I doubt it will be of much use." Ritsuko said and she placed a few papers on one of the chairs of the balcony, then she looked at Misato again and said:
"You're not worried about him are you?"
"No, I mean… They haven't contacted us at all ever since we left the city, of course I'm worried. They're our allies after all."
"In today's world it's difficult to find true allies, we've known them for a bit more than a month at this point and apart from a general story, we know next to nothing about them."
"Still, they have helped us numerous times, you can't argue with that."
"That's true, but I would still prefer that you were more cautious."
"You mean like telling VEGA that the biggest data bank in the world is the place we are meant to attack?"
"H-how did you-."
"Don't worry Rits, they were going to find out anyway. It was Mari who told me that, after the test."
"Right the test, let me give you a brief summary of what we found." As Ritsuko said this she grabbed the papers from where she had placed them and said:
"No anomalies were present before Ikari was introduced in the area. However, right after the entry plug closed, the LCL was ionized more than the normal amount. After viewing the entry plug footage through a camera that showed the ionization currents, we found that a stream of ionized LCL was moving from Shinji towards Asuka, which explains why she fell asleep so quickly.
No other interesting data was found after that, except for a moment where their synchronization reached over 300%."
"A percentage that high without awakening the eva?"
"It was just for a brief moment, similar to what happened in the first instances of unit 01 going berserk. But yes, no signs of awakening were found."
"Very well, then let's stage some more tests going forward. I take that it was Kaworu who caused problems?"
"Given the nature of the accident, yes, it's very probable. He was smart too by taking out Asuka so that Bardiel wouldn't interfere. Are you really sure that it's safe to keep going? We could just lock up Ikari and be done with it."
"He's a precious resource and probably the person who hates Gendo the most on this planet. I want to give him a chance. Plus Hayden and VEGA's hypothesis seems reasonable enough to work.*
"Of course…" Ritsuko thought as Misato's hair got picked up by a sudden gust of wind, and from the clouds in the distance a dark spike appeared.
The Fortress began to show itself soon after, and Ritsuko said:
"Looks like they finally decided to show up.
Wait… Doesn't that ship look a bit different than before?"
"Hm. Now that I see it, yes, but the clouds are still covering it a bit. So I can't really make out what's different about it."
As the ship came lower and approached the port, it turned around, revealing the eight giant tendrils on its back.
"Oh. So that's why they took so long…
I don't know about you but they have found a way to make that ship send even more thrills down my spine."
Ritsuko said, as they watched it hover over an empty spot in the port.
"Wait, it scares you? I don't get it. It's just a ship."
"Well, it's not that the vessel itself is scary. It's VEGA who scares me."
"You mean the weirdly human artificial intelligence we know nothing about that has been constantly looking in our private lives and is in complete control of an alien warship?"
"Yes. It's why I told him about my mother earlier. I've been trying to get an idea of who, or what, he is for a while now."
"How is it going?"
"Well, I have understood a couple of things. First, he's extremely good at not being noticed, he could be standing right behind you and you wouldn't even feel his presence. Second, he can't get blocked by anything we have on the ship. He could read our deep files out in front of us if he so desired."
"Even for things like the rebirth project!?"
"He left a note in it saying that he doesn't approve of it in its current form."
"All of Kaji's hard work… W-What else?"
"Apart from his other apparent characteristics which might concern you, there's one that stands above all. He is, albeit not completely, human. He thinks like a human, he forms connections like a human, he jokes! Have you ever heard of a computer that makes jokes sometimes?"
"N-no."
"That's the thing that scares me. He's not a program, there's no possibility that he is."
"But if that's the case then-..."
"What kind of creature is hiding in there?"
Silence fell between them as they watched Samuel and the Slayer exit the ship through a portal, with the robot turning around to look at the Fortress before going away.
"They're going in the city? Why?" Ritsuko asked and Misato said:
"I don't know, I heard that Woodward was in there and that he had an important meeting in it, but that's all."
"I could go and follow them to find out." Ritsuko said and so Misato remained silent for a moment before saying:
"Alright, but don't get into trouble, I'll stay here to check on the ship."
Ritsuko nodded and began to leave, but as she reached the door she said:
"Oh and about VEGA. I do know that he has at least one weakness. He feels empathy."
She then left the balcony, leaving Misato alone as she watched the Fortress and thought:
"If he does feel empathy then…" Flashes of Molly's smiles from the village, along with Shinji's smiles flashed inside her head, and as she clutched hard the cross on her neck she asked:
"Is there any point to not considering him a human?"
She gave one more look at the immobile Fortress, whose usually vibrant lights had all dimmed down quite a bit, before going back inside and resuming her work.
Genova, near the city center
"He sure picked a strange place to meet, didn't he?" Samuel asked the Slayer as they made their way through the beautiful tight streets of the old city, with people constantly turning to look at them.
The Slayer nodded as they kept going, moving his head around to take a look at all the small market stands that had been set up along the main road. Village 2's in retrospect now looked like a really bad parody of this city's market, but he didn't pay much mind to it.
"Alright, our destination should be right behind here." As Samuel said this they turned right into another street, not noticing how Ritsuko had blended in the crowd completely to stalk them.
The duo kept moving forward for a bit, before reaching a small square, where a church presented its ornate medieval frontal decorations.
"What's a man like him doing in here?" Samuel asked, knowing that the Slayer wouldn't answer him anyway.
He turned around, finding that the man had already sprinted to the front of the church's entrance, so he followed him and said:
"Wait Slayer, shouldn't we wait for him outside? Mass has begun for a while after all and I'd like to not give too much into the eye."
The Slayer crossed his arms as he said this, then looked at him from top to bottom before opening his arms again.
"Look I get it, we already stick out like a sore thumb, but entering won't make the situation any-"
He was stopped by the large wooden door in front of his face and he had no choice but to follow the Slayer inside.
Immediately it became apparent how his enormous three meter tall body was as his head graced the top of the door and people started giving him a weird and scared look.
The mass was stopped by their entrance, but just as the priest was about to open his mouth, Woodward emerged from the crowd as he said:
"Apologies everyone! They're here to see me! Don't worry, they don't bite, they're with Katsuragi. Please, continue without us."
The crowd looked at him as he approached the other two, before the priest cleared his throat and signaled Woodward the way with a movement of his head.
The man nodded and whispered to the other two to follow him as the mass slowly resumed. They left the main hall and reached a door on the right end of the church, small enough for Samuel to have to crawl through it.
They then began ascending a long revolving staircase and once at the top, they found themselves in between the bells atop the bell tower.
Unknown to them, Ritsuko had stopped climbing the stairs just a bit before, being able to hear them without being seen.
Then, Woodward put on his hat again and said:
"Ah, there we go, such a nice view from up here don't you think?"
As he said this he gestured to the landscape before them, with the city full of life, plums of smoke rising from the houses as the sky was tinted with a warm orange from the setting sun reflected on the sea, which passed on to the three large warships anchored at the port.
"It really is, yes. Very refreshing if I have to be honest. But I guess that a country like Italy will still remain beautiful even after the end of the world. However, I believe that this is not the reason you brought us here."
"It's not the only reason, yes. I just wanted a bit of privacy for this discussion which couldn't be found elsewhere, if you get what I mean."
"Yes, I understand. So, what is it?"
"A little birdie told me that there's a pretty good chance that there's one or more spies on the Wunder. And by birdie I mean the Andromeda, my battlegroup's intelligence ship.
Earlier today, while you were still away in Bruxelles it picked up an encrypted conversation between Fuyutsuki and an unknown receiver inside the Wunder, here, take a listen."
He then pulled out a phone and selected an audio file to play.
The message began with a bit of interference before it said:
'Do you hear me?' Fuyutsuki said.
'Yes.' The other distorted voice replied.
'Status report.'
'Suspicion is at normal levels, no one suspects me, we are currently anchored in Genova. I have heard Akagi and Katsuragi talking about the Eminent Domain, how it should be getting a new weapon.'
'They want to attack New York then. I'll send over the submarine fleet to sink the battleship. What about the Fortress?'
'I have not seen it follow us when we departed from Bruxelles.'
A bit of silence followed before Fuyutsuki said:
'Okay. Keep a low profile, report any sighting of the Fortress as soon as possible.'
'Understood.'
The voice said before the audio was cut off.
"That's what we picked up.
Now, I called you here because I believe that we can't just tell the Wunder about this straight away. The spy will have time to reorganize and blend in with the rest of the crew, there's almost a thousand people on that ship after all and a regular checkup just won't do it.
So, what I'm asking you is to use VEGA to find the spy without telling them. Our intelligence ship is limited in what it can pick up, you on the other hand might have much better chances."
Samuel and the Slayer looked at each other for a moment before Samuel said:
"It's a good idea, however, there's a problem…"
He then went on to explain to him VEGA's current situation, what the Electrosphere was and the problems it brought.
"... So that's why we'll have to wait until-what are you looking at Slayer?"
Samuel said as he turned around, only to see the Fortress of doom's newly built tendrils moving on its own.
"Oh shit. Let's get back to the port, quickly!" Samuel said as Woodward hopped on the Slayer's back.
Then they jumped on the Church's roof, running across it before landing in front of the entrance. A huge crowd had gathered in front of the building to see what was happening, but a loud gunshot from the captain's pistol was enough to disperse it.
They dashed through the opening, with Ritsuko coming out of the Church's main entrance in that moment as she grabbed her radio and said:
"Misato, get all hands on deck right now! The Fortress is acting strangely!"
The trio kept running forward, dashing through all the various merchant stands while they saw the Fortress start to rise higher in the air.
And as they approached the entrance to the port, Samuel said:
"Shit! The Wunder's cannons are moving! We won't make it in time!"
Suddenly, Samuel was grabbed on one hand by the Slayer, who had pulled out the super shotgun and aimed it at a roof.
The other two hanged on for dear life as the Slayer used the meathook under the weapon as a slingshot to propel them further and in the air.
Thanks to this, they were able to avoid the rest of the obstacles in their way, but they weren't able to calm down, as the two giant railguns on the side of the Fortress of Doom were now glowing bright blue.
"VEGA, please, if you can hear me , don't do anything stupid!"
Samuel thought just as they were launched into the open area in front of the port, with the Fortress pointing its guns right at them.
They landed roughly into the ground, with Samuel rolling a bit before coming to a stop. He did not get up however, as he was entranced by the blue light of the charged railgun pointed at him.
The Wunder's cannons were loaded and pointed at his unshielded ship.
He closed his eye, and hoped for the best.
"All systems check complete, total restart complete. Computational functions fully restored."
VEGA's voice suddenly echoed through the area as he immediately got back up to look at the Fortress, which now had VEGA's symbol glowing across the large window of the main deck.
"Identification complete. Hello Samuel."
"A-are you alright, VEGA?"
"I do not see why I shouldn't be."
"Phew. You really gave me a scare there…"
VEGA was confused for a moment before he noticed all the weapons being pointed around, both at him and at the other three.
"I can understand. Sorry, it had been a long time since I did a total reboot. Thankfully everything is okay now. I am even feeling more in control of the new tendril equipment.
… Can you tell the Wunder that I am not going to shoot them?"
Samuel noticed the guns of the ship return to their normal position as he said:
" I think that they understood, hehe. Anyway that's great news. Are there any problems with it?"
"Not really- Oh wait there is a problem, but it's in the form of a series of submarine launched cruise missiles coming towards the Eminent Domain."
"May Davy Jones be damned! My ship ain't going down today!" Woodward said as he sprinted towards the battleship, but he was stopped by VEGA who said:
"Don't worry, I believe that we can handle this, right Samuel?"
A portal appeared in front of the robot and the Slayer, so Hayden said:
"Get your men on high alert anyway, we don't know what might be lurking in these waters."
"Aye Aye, will do. Now give 'em hell!"
The other two entered the portal as he pulled a stopwatch out from his jacket and looked at the hour, then he closed it and thought:
"He should be arriving any minute now."
Fortress of Doom, main deck
Samuel quickly hurried to the main controls at the center of the room as he said:
"How much time until the missile strikes its target?"
"Estimated arrival time is thirty seconds. It is currently reaching hypersonic speeds."
"Dammit, it'll be hard to intercept at those speeds… However, something tells me that you already have a solution for that, don't you, VEGA?"
"During the reboot I have reconfigured the ignition of the propulsion systems, now we can accumulate energy and release it in a short burst both during takeoff and mid-flight, even though this heats up the engines considerably."
Samuel hearing this turned around and said:
"You know Slayer, now I understand how you feel whenever you find a new gun to use."
Doomguy let out a chuckle as Samuel activated the boost. Soon shocks of electricity flowed through the walls of the Fortress while a low whine emerged from the four engines below.
A ring of blue light formed near the exhaust of the engines while a counter on Samuel's screen approached one hundred percent. And as the entire building began to shake, VEGA said:
"Takeoff in five, four, three, two, one."
Silence.
"Uhm, VEGA is something wrong with the eng- aaaaah!"
Samuel was nearly thrown to the ground as the Fortress shattered the sky with its four roars while a column of blue tinted energy was left behind it.
To the ones on the ground, it looked as if a new blue star had appeared in the sky, almost outshining even the sun as it approached the upper atmosphere.
A red cover of compressed superheated air formed around the cupola at the top, covering the ship in a warm blanket.
The boost ended just as quickly as it began, leaving the Fortress right in front of the hypersonic missile's path.
Samuel regained his composure as he got back to the controls of the ship, with the radar having locked on to the incoming projectile.
A short lead calculation later the two large railguns fired simultaneously, sending two shells away that left behind them a thin stream of blue light.
"Target destroyed. It has disappeared from the radar." VEGA replied a bit later, letting everyone relax for a moment.
This did not last however, as the radar now picked up a bunch of new signals, all coming from the same direction as the missile from before.
"Looks like the bombers that launched that missile earlier have entered my detection range. They are protected by a sphere of electronic warfare interference, thus I believe that we will not be able to hit them accurately at this range."
Suddenly several much faster targets appeared under the bombers, as Samuel said:
"Shit, here comes the second wave of missiles, we can't focus on the bombers with them around."
"Some of them seem to be aiming for us as well." VEGA added, when suddenly they were contacted by Misato who said:
'Don't worry Wunder will take care of the missiles, you guys go after the bombers!'
"We appreciate the help." VEGA said as he began to move the ship forward.
Then Samuel said:
"Slayer, would you like to take a breath of fresh air?"
The grin on the man's face all but confirmed it as he rushed down to the side of the ship, then he entered one of the guns and into the chamber.
The gun was elevated a bit, it charged up and shot him out a moment later.
As his vision focused on the approaching bombers, he pulled out the super shotgun and held it in front of him.
A missile whizzed by him before it was shot out of the sky from the Wunder's cannons, leaving a large cloud of smoke behind him as he fired the meathook at the remote controlled bomber, tearing through its fuselage to slow himself down.
And as the aircraft began falling down, he latched onto another one, holding the super shotgun to stay on top of it with one hand and shooting lock-on rockets at the other planes with the other.
At the same time, the Fortress had reached the bombers' formation, and VEGA was able to use the new tendrils to great effect.
They moved through the air like eagles and struck their targets with extreme precision, going in on one side and out of the other.
The tendrils at one point grabbed one of the bombers and threw it against two others, while also using its own missiles as additional projectiles.
Meanwhile Samuel was busy maneuvering the guns around and using the Fortress' own missiles to catch the hypersonic munitions before they gained too much speed.
Some did eventually slip through, but they were intercepted by the Wunder's cannons and Mari and Asuka's evangelion sized sniper rifles.
In the midst of all the chaos, VEGA thought:
"These bombers are defenseless, it was quite easy to get rid of their threat. And with all of us up here, there's no way any missiles can slip past our defense bubble… Then why do I have this uneasy feeling in me?"
Suddenly all the remaining bombers activated their afterburners and let out a horrid screech while their bodies changed shape.
Their wings extended outwards as the metal holding them together snapped off, revealing a sort of soft substance underneath.
They then launched all of their remaining missiles at once and flew straight towards the Fortress, completely covering it as the Slayer hung on one of the giant birds as they circled around the ship's shield.
And as all of the missiles flew past the Fortress, they all came towards the Wunder, which was quickly overwhelmed as around twenty missiles made their way through.
The air raid alarms of the port were deafened by the screams of people running away while the anti air crews tried their best, but the missiles' speed was too great and only a couple were taken out.
As Woodward stood on the deck of his immobile battleship, he noticed them, glimmering in the sky like faraway stars in broad daylight, all coming straight at him.
"Captain, get out of there! The crew has already left the ship! We can't leave you here to die!" The last remaining officer said.
He was about to grab the captain by his shoulder as the eighteen stars above them became brighter and brighter, when suddenly a flurry of explosions echoed throughout the port.
He didn't have time to process what was going on as the sky was lit on fire, with more explosions happening right in the area where the missiles were.
And then the first one, then another, then another again exploded as all the hypersonic missiles were shot out of the sky or were damaged enough that they changed course, missing the ship.
Only one remained after the initial onslaught, breaking through the smoke clouds and making Woodward take a step back, shocked that one had managed to get through.
He was forced back into the ship by his officer to somehow avoid the incoming explosion, but they fell to the ground by tripping on a cable that had snapped during the initial rush.
Knowing what was coming, they closed their eyes and waited.
An explosion was heard.
And then, nothing.
'This is VEGA speaking, I have taken down the last missile, all enemies are defeated.'
Hearing this, the two men got back up on their feet, checking that their bodies were indeed still intact. And as they looked at each other, Woodward broke out in a maniacal laughter,which only stopped when the officer asked:
"Captain, we almost died and the ship almost sank. Personally, I don't see what's so funny about it."
"Oh my young sailor, with time you'll learn that Davy Jones is lurkin' behind each wave your bow breaks, waiting for that perfect opportunity to bring you down to the abyss. Today we didn't only avoid him, but we went to bed with his daughter and jumped out of the window right as he came back home.
It's these moments that let you appreciate life my friend, never forget that."
"I- Okay Captain… But what actually happened with the missiles?"
"Guided airburst shells, dear officer Cunningham, the biggest middle finger to missiles in human history.
And would you look at that, La Penne is as punctual as usual."
Woodward said as they stepped back outside and saw a large fleet of various warships approaching.
"Wait… You mean Captain Durand De La Penne? That La Penne! ? The 'Antichrist of the sea'!?"
"Pffft. Haha, who came up with that nickname for him? Back in sailor school I always called him Pen. Also because he had a bad habit of constantly losing his pens and asking me for one. It amazes me what wonders over the years a few writing tools can do."
"But.. I mean Captain, surely you know what he is so famous for, right?"
"Ah that? All bollocks, trust me, you'll be surprised when you meet him."
"I-if you say so captain… I'll go call back the crew."
Woodward nodded as the officer left the bridge, then he moved to the front of the bridge as he inspected his old friend's forces.
"Two light carriers, various frigates and destroyers… Ah and there's his flagship, a modern Zara class cruiser. Damn I didn't even think that they were operational anymore, but I guess that he has always been a fan of the older stuff."
He then looked around at his ship and tenderly caressed one of the consoles, before saying out loud:
"But I guess that I'm stuck in the past too, right my dear Eminent?"
The ship offered no response, but he smiled anyway and as he began walking out to go meet with the others.
TO BE CONTINUED