Chapter 5: The wrath of good men
Danny
Finally, the door opens and Gendo Ikari enters his office. I have a clever quip ready, but then I see Misato walk in after him.
She sees me too. Her face gives away some obvious shock and suprise.
I stand up and raise a worried eyebrow. "Is the fight over yet? Did Shinji win?"
I can all but see the wires in her head connect and her jaw literally goes slack at the realization. "I thought..." She stammers. "I... I was being debriefed on you by the Commander. He told..."
Suddenly her face pulls into a scowl and she snarls at Commander Ikari, who had turned to face her. "The Commander implied you were at Central Dogma looking after Shinji!"
I'm guessing Central Dogma is their name for the command center. Fits with the religion theme I suppose. Though I have studied cellular biology. Cute name all the way down.
I step toward Captain Misato, trying oh so very hard to ignore Shinji's so-called father standing next to her. Maybe we can just sidestep this whole thing and be there for the kid now, 'eh?
"Sit down, mister Fenton. We need to discuss things." Sorry, doctor Fuyutsuki, no can do. Though your Japanese accent is elegant. Is that how Japanese fancy people sound? I ignore the doctor's not-request and take another stride toward Misato and the exit.
The tension in the air is palpable. Gendo Ikari throws me a glare. It's 90% 'stop or die' but I can see the other 10% is an incredulous 'who thehell do you think you are?' I step into the doorframe, then stop. My mind is steeped in that nice, intoxicating feeling we call righteous anger. C'mon then, god-king Ikari, give me your best shot.
At the worst possible moment, I decide to give that little kid inside me just enough rope to hang me with and throw Ikari the most smug, shit-eating smirk I can and step out into the hallway.
"Guards, detain this man!" Gendo doesn't sound angry. That's the weird thing. Normal people calling the guards would have an edge of panic or, the way I'm baiting him, rage in his voice.
Not Ikari. He called his goons the same way a parent let his kid know dinner's ready.
...Which, of course, brings us to Shinji and I'm immedeately seeing red again. He's put his son into this impossible position and he's not only abandoning him to his fate, but has purposefully knocked both his crutches out from under him. Is this guy for real? Either he's petty on orders of magnitude beyond even my revered mentor Vlad or this guy thinks he has something togain from destabilizing his son. Which, consi-
I'm jolted out of my red haze by two very boxy men clamping their hands around my shoulders and wrists.
Okay then, these gnats are-
No Danny, let's at least try to be subtle here.
Unseen by anyone, my eyes glow green for a brief moment. This would be an excellent time for me to explain a few things. One, the same ability that makes things intangible can just as easily make them invisible. Two, if you've ever watched Naruto or even Pokémon, you'd be familiar with the concept of shadowclones: Short-term duplicates, or in my case, direct divisions, of the original.
It's a weird process. We sort of have the same thoughts, but with different brains. Incomplete recombinations are bad for you. The coughing-up-blood, no-immune-system-for-a week kind of bad.
And doing it as a base mortal is a big strain. ...But our dear Commander doesn't need to know that part...
I let the two invisible presences step out of me. They're intangible, invisible. Misato and Gendo feel something cold wisp past them, but that's the extent of it.
The guards briefly flinch. Then they immedeately let go of me, take a step back and salute me like I was a four-star general. For an encore, both men turn toward Ikari and grin at him with the exact same punchface grin that was on my face when I stepped over Ikari's threshold.
That's right, folks. I can possess people. Er, overshadow is the politically correct term and it's very unethical and very illegal. I should know, I helped design the laws... Yes, I know, moral grey areas. When this day is out, I really need to go phone my wife and hash things out.
For now, I'm going with my standard solution: Poke the enemy with a stick until it loses its temper and overplays its hand. Hey, it worked for Spider-man and Harry Dresden.
The men return to their posts outside. I don't walk off yet. The entire point of that stunt was to set a precedent for Ikari to stand up and take notice.
Dead silence falls over the office.
In the distance, high above us, the sound of a very loud crash. Probably Shinji and his giant zombie robot getting their first taste of the superhero lifestyle. Ouch... I should hurry.
Okay then, the gloves are off. If my parents have taught me anything, It's that there is a place for righteous anger, and when kids are getting hurt... no, may as well admit where we're going here... when your kids are getting hurt, it's okay to cut loose.
My common sense is sitting in a little corner of my head, frowning. It's got one hand hovering over the emergency stop button but giving me some more leeway for now. Yes, it's my other side, how'd ya guess?
"Commander Ikari!" I shout, before dropping down a few decibels to drill sargeant levels. "Your son is in a battle for his life! He needs emotional support! I was under the assumption that you and Captain Katsuragi were out at, whacchacallit, Central Dogma-" I say in English, gesticulating out at the corridor.
I turn a questioning glance to a perplexed Captain Misato, who manages a halting nod of confirmation. Okay, yes. Central Dogma. Calm down Danny, use your words. Can't intimidate someone if you can't speak their language. Okay, back into the fray, Back to Gendo.
"I assumed you would be over there to offer moral support, like any sensible father would!"
One step toward the Commander.
"Clearly, I was wrong. You are not acting like Shinji's father, you're using him."
Another step forward, into Ikari's face.
"And the kicker is that you're even doingthat wrong. working at cross purposes by making things more difficult for him! Out of what? Spite?!"
I step away from Gendo, relieved and a lot less angry. "Your boy needs someone else to watch over him, at least for the moment." I manage to put some humanity back into my voice.
A dry chuckle. I don't immedeately realize it came from my throat. "Guess what?" Ikari's still just scowling at me, Stanley Kubrick style. "I volunteer."
With the implication of overwhelming retaliation if you don't like it. Not just because I'm SEELE staff but because I'm out of your reach, you bastard, and I have ways to turn 'untouchable' into 'invincible' as you've seen.
Silence. Gendo doesn't even flinch. I am literally right in his face, telling him I'm taking his father stripes for myself, undermining his authority as the Man with the Plan and he doesn't give off anything. Or... or is he just hiding it?
Gendo quickly glances to Fuyutsuki... And then he sighs, like he's bored. Like he's bored. "So now what?" He asks with only the faintest trace of irritiation.
Fun fact I learned from Vlad, which... kind of makes sense, when you think about it. Only bad puppetmasters use a pokerface. Good puppetmasters either pretend to be one of the good guys or put up a façade of incompetence. A great big steel pokerface works just like a flashy burglar alarm: It's an obvious tell that HERE BE VALUABLES.
But let's be fair, the man asked a question. "Now? Now I'm stomping back to Central Dogma. If you're smart, you're letting Katsuragi come with me. It will help your son and so it will help your plans, unless it really is a part of your plan to hamstring your son in this fight..." I scoff.
...Wait, did he just twitch when I said that? Yeah. It wasn't much, just a little intake of breath, but when you're staring at Gendo Ikari's unflappable concrete façade, a single breath out of place suddenly becomes very obvious.
"You son of a bitch, I was close to the truth there, wasn't I?" No, I'm not very subtle, thanks. But again I see it. Instead of glaring at me like he's supposed to be doing, he looks away, turning to at his Subcommander, what's his name, Fuyutsuki? More then enough for me to infer that my offhand remark accidentally struck true and yes, Gendo Ikari really is trying to traumatize his son for some deeper purpose.
With that realization, everything becomes crystal clear to me. All I want to do for the rest of my life is to close my fingers around Ikari's throat and squeeze. But a small part of me is still awake and keeping score. The emergency stop is pressed and all my anger evaporates, replaced by the sudden urge to vomit.
What the fuck has Vlad gotten me into? This is way beyond my capacity to even understand, let alonefix.
I quickly glance over to Misato, try and find some sane place in this black office. She looks absolutely mortified. I suppose she has to be pretty shocked about my little outburst, mind control included, but...
Yeah, she's looking at the Commander too... she obviously didn't sign up for this. Must be an eye-opener to see that your boss is willing to put his own son-
...Aaand I feel the anger boiling up again.
Stop. Kid needs you first. OUT.
I can't completely stifle an inarticulate roar of frustration, but force myself out of Gendo's office and start stomping my way over to Central Dogma, as I said I would.
I walk, I pace, I stride and... ehm, where's Central Dogma?
I see a red jacket flit past me. Misato... She throws me a glance. Completely inscrutable, but the gesture obviously means 'follow me'. I need to simmer down, so I don't open my mouth. I can manage to nod at her though.
Captain Katsuragi dashes off into the mazelike corridors and I sprint after her.
In his office, Kozo Fuyutsuki exhales loudly. "That was startling." He admits with a freightened gasp.
Gendo nods at his old college professor. Fate has definitely been strange today. Admittedly, any plan that works off of too many variables is bound to shatter like a glass pryami- oh wait..
-Is bound to crumble like a sandcastle. But Commander Gendo Ikari knows this. He considers himself the best planner in the world. Not because he tries to account for everything, but because he tries to account for anything.
In his gloomy office, he tents his hands and rests his head, resuming the continual contemplation and adaptation of his Scenario.
His office, his attire, even the way he carries himself... All carefully crafted after a lot of thinking. Ikari knew he wasn't good with people, and he knew he didn't have the mental stamina and flexibility to bother pretending. In fact, he didn't think of himself as very good with people at all. The expert personality tests had only corroborated his suspicions.
So he crafted for himself this cartoon character. A mafia boss, a shadow king, a bogeyman. Silent because he wanted to be, not because he had to be. ...It was fun, in a childish sort of way, to see people be terrified of him, but that wasn't the point.
The point was to craft an appearance that was very intimidating up close and easily dismissed at a distance. The sheer overkill of the intimidation factor would quickly ferment and become a joke around the water cooler, coffee urn. Until their next encounter with the scary mafia boss.
It had worked perfectly.
The same with Gendo's grand Scenario. It was a series of fixed points, each building on the last. ...The sort of complexity he would normally never attempt, for fear of things crashing down around him. But Gendo Ikari was a man playing for high stakes.
And he wasn't a fool. The upside to his Scenario was that the paths between each fixed point could be steered in whichever way he liked. Was Shi- The Third Child to arrive by heli-jet or by car? Would the Child be both freightened and motivated to fight through a conversation, perhaps even involving the First Child? Or was he to be simply thrown into the Entry Plug without a briefing, allowing awe and suprise to play their part instead? Both were equally viable.
And even the fixed points in the Scenario could be moved a little. Gendo Ikari had seen Daniel Fenton, all of him, through his angry outburst. An unnatural but strong mutual bond of trust with the Third Child, probably because Fenton identifies with the Third Child in his present... predicament...
Gendo strains to keep his emotions under lock and key. His sole, strongest emotion is love, and it would see him through.
...Identifying with the troubled Child would put mister Fenton into a very narrow category of people, the main identifying factor being that they had been through hell and lived to tell about it.
From what Gendo has seen, mister Fenton also has supernatural powers of some indeterminate description, though obviously not enough to defeat an Angel, and thus, eventually, able to be sidelined through use of the Evangelions.
This thought allows Gendo to move past his... saying 'panic' would be pedestrian... His alarm at the extremely unexpected situation, the... heh... curveball, as the American himself would put it...
The most important part of the day's events had been to ensure Shinji Ikari and Unit 01 were brought together in the face of mortal danger. That part had been accomplished.
All he can do now is to have faith in his preparations and cross his fingers (couldn't hurt) that Shinji Ikari would find safety from the Angels and the menacing adults all around him in his Evangelion. Once that bond had formed, for all the Children but the First, it would simply be a matter of using them as cudgels against the coming flood of Angels until... until the endgame.
Third Impact.
Subcommander Kozo Fuyutsuki's voice pierces the Commander's thoughts.
"Are we going to punish Katsuragi for this?" The old professor asks his former student.
Commander Ikari stifles a chuckle. "No, of course not. The scenario will need some revision anyway and Captain Katsuragi was playing her part. The Third Child needs an anchor, a fixed point."
"Though not the most reliable anchor, of course..." Fuyutsuki adds, half-sarcastically.
"Precisely." Commander Ikari confirms. "Unfortunately, Katsuragi's psychological profile is an all but exact match for this Fenton gentleman..." Ikari says with as much distaste as he is willing to lay bare. "It was simply poor luck, or someone in SEELE has been taking lessons."
Fuyutsuki chuckles.
"I wasn't joking. If you can, probe SEELE." Gendo says icily.
The Subcommander balks at the (illegal) order, but nods stiffly. "Of course, Commander."
Danny
Misato and I arrive at Central Dogma, NERV's self-proclaimed... er...nervecenter right at the heart of their giant metal pyramid.
There's computer monitors everywhere. A ginormous viewscreen at the front of the room is currently displaying the purple Unit 01 catching itself on a giant parking lot. Workstations are set up to face the giant monitor, making the control center look somewhat like the bridge of a starship or a rocket scientist center. The metaphysical gobbeldygook on the screens does a lot to discredit that notion, though.
Lots of fancy graphs flow across the screens, mostly in popup windows. NERV seems like combining style and substance. Why am I musing on immaterial nonsense like this? Because my burning rage for Gendo Ikari needs to be somewhere far away from my concious mind for it to slowly go away rather then suddenly and with a bang.
Shinji catches the Angel's clawed punch with both hands. "...First time for everything." We all hear him mumble, and I grin. Good start...
Heh, I'm feeling calmer already. It's good to see our Third Child's finding his footing. I throw a smirk toward Misato, who returns the gesture.
Poor kid... He needs help, and I'm gonna help, even if it's probably gonna hurt like hell, and I'm not just talking about my body.
...and if he ever hears me phrase it like that the poor gerbil is going to freak out. This is probably going to get annoying fast, but when he gets tetchy, Icould just hug him.
Misato seems to have wrestled the microphone away from Ritsuko just as the big purple Evangelion is bludgeoned on the top of the head by Sachiel and goes limp. I stifle a gasp of muted horror, and from what I can tell, so does the rest of the 'bridge crew'.
"Unnngh, that hurt..." Shinji's voice is coming from the speakers. The Angel takes another swing at the prostrate Unit 01. "Shinji, look out!" Misato shouts into the audio.
Inside the Entry Plug, Shinji's eyes snap open. Unfocused as his mind is, he manages to react.
Daniel can't help but grin with wide-eyed admiration as the Evangelion rolls out of the way of the punch and the Angel only manages to spray itself with asphalt and conrete as it punches the ground.
"What do I do to kill this thing?!" Shinji shouts through the speaker.
Misato frowns. "Strike it in the core. It's the red thing in the middle of its chest." Her voice tapers off. She's still not really sure if Daniel did the right thing or not, browbeating the Commander like that. It certainly wasn't very tactful. ...He wasright, but what would the consequences be for her? For Shinji?
That would be of future concern. At least now, Misato muses, the Commander of Operations will actually be able to command some operations and try and help the Third Child out a little. Misato looks away from the viewscreen for a moment, just as Unit 01 crosses its arms and deflects another one of Sachiel's punches.
"Sorry about nabbing the microphone, Ritz. You're a wonderful scientist, but under stress you're not a people person and this kid really does need-..." Ritsuko rolls her eyes and nods. "I amaware of that, Misato. Dealing with the Child's insecurities is your job, which is why I- Whoa!"
Everyone watching responds roughly the same way. Unit 01 is seen to slap and block away two attempts by Sachiel to grab and impale it in quick succession. Then it jumps up and kicks the Angel in the head hard enough to rupture its skin and crack its bony mask, finishing it off with a backflip and a three point landing which ruptures the asphalt all around it, sending it flying like confetti.
"How did you..." Ritsuko manages to whisper, the rest of the room going completely silent. The answer comes in the form of one of those nifty popup windows and the piercing shrill of an alarm. "Pilot is suffering from head trauma... Concussion!" A man's voice shouts. "Plug depth is increasing along with synch ratio..."
A worried glance passes between Misato, Ritsuko and Maya, Ritsuko's assistant. With a nod of consent from Misato, Ritsuko nods. "Lock the plug depth. Hyuga, I want your best guess mix of stimulants and sedatives, now."
Sedatives... Presumably not for herself, I muse. And indeed, the drugs are injected and Shinji's vitals start spiking a lot less.
The Angel takes a step back and does the characteristic arm motion of someone charging an energy weapon in their hand...
And a bolt of pink light lances out. Not a traditional energy beam per sé, but what looks like a plume of the stuff, shot out by the extendable piledriver spike thing in the Angel's arm.
Shinji dodges out of the way. To me, it looks exactly like one of Vlad's ectobeams, all pink and... well, okay, this one's a thousand times bigger then what you can expect from Vlad, and sheathed around a limb, but still.
...I wonder how much Vlad hates having a pink glow to his supernatural powers...?
And now Unit 01 roars. The Angel's fist plows into and through Sachiel's very solid looking shoulder bone. Admittedly, a little screen pops up to point out that this stunt has also fractured Unit 01's hand and Shinji's hand, but he looks like he's about to wi-
Come again? Shinji's hand? "Psychostigmatic injuries..." I read off the monitor. Another one of the workers at Central Dogma, the long-haired Shigeru Aoba, nods at him with a hint of worry. "Exactly what it sounds like, and I don't like it one bit either."
Oh, that's just great. Just one more reason to love this insane place. I'll try and not think of what Ritsuko here represents when it comes to these... Evangelions, but I'm pretty sure Ikari isn't losing any sleep over this little bug. ...Knowing the luck of heroes like us, it's probably more of a feature anyway.
But Akagi seems to be managing a small smile despite the situation, happy that Unit 01 is a success I guess. Maybe happy she's not going to die horribly in Sachiel's rampage. I really should find out her role in all of this. Hope I find a sob story, 'cuz if I don't...
Shinji
(BGM! 30 Seconds to Mars – The Kill watch?v=zMmQSEaS-w0)
The last beams of sunlight disappear under a cloud and I try to tackle Sachiel...
But I quite literally bounce off Sachiel's AT-field.
The AT-field is an energy shield wall that seems to have a pattern of tesselating octagons making up its structure. It can be a flat wall, but at the monent it's a sphere.
Sachiel probably wanted to make its triumphant 'NOPE!' to me as absolute and demoralizing as possible. It dissipates its AT-field and starts walking forward again.
It swipes at me, extending its piledriver claw as it does. I barely manage to (again) duck out of the way of the attack by literally crouching down under it.
I am done dodging, and I am done flailing in the dark.
"Misato, HELP ME!" The slightly distorted and very urgent sounding shout doesn't do much to bolster Central Dogma's morale.
"Shinji! Raise your own AT-field!" Misato's voice shouts over the comm line. "You can do exactly the same thing the Angel can, and they cancel eachother out!"
Ritsuko suddenly comes onto the line. "Pilot: Think happy thoughts." I crease my brow in confusion. She takes a deep, half-embarassed breath and clarifies. "AT-fields are activated by feelings of safety, of happiness. Use them to shield yourself and neutralize the enemy's AT-field."
I don't waste any attention on a reply. I just close my eyes and murmur something they can't hear and I can't even understand... The Angel readies itself for another energy lance attack, my Evangelion eyes can see just fine, but I am not. Moving.
Daniel is about to stand up and transform. Self-confidence boosts are only good if you survive with your limbs intact, he figures.
But then the screen flashes frames of static and I feel Evangelion Unit 01'sroar all around me. It's not so much as sound as apresence, the prelude to an AT-field rolling down the streets.
A suprised Sachiel breaks off its attack and takes several steps is new. Best wait and see.
"Electromagnetic distortion detected!" Ritsuko herself shouts out. "BIG electromagnetic distortion!"
The next shriek is technician Maya's. "What!? Power being drained from the city.. it's..."
A lightning bolt skitters its way up Unit 01's battery cable. Daniel hadn't noticed it... but there's an extension cord sticking out of the giant cyborg. In a less sour mood, he would have picked up the near-literal frankensteinian implications.
Inside the entry plug, I try and meditate on achieving the impossible. I need to stop being afraid. I need to tune out everything. The dragon and the snake inside Unit 01, the people outside... There's only three things that matter to me right now.
Myself, and by that I mean the giant purple me, not just the little Shinji inside...
The Angel, who has come too far.
And the city. Outlines, ghosts of buildings. Some retracted, some destroyed. All of them built by my father, knowing that this would happen.
The AT-field is safety, happiness, Doctor Akagi said...
I grin.
She didn't say whose safety and happiness.
I can feel the Eva all around me, brimming with power and barely-restrained rage. And something else, whispering to me, advising against what I'm about to do, but I still can't quite place it.
The Angel proceeds to shoot what can best be described as a Kamehameha wave or a Yamato cannon blast at me: A cylinder of (ecto)plasma, pink and long and hot and oh the metaphors. Puberty.
In retaliation, the Eva roars and holds up its arm as if it's holding a riot shield. I shout as loud as I can, not a word but a scream, both out of my speakers and into the NERV network.
People need protection.
I will stand and hold.
People need shielding.
I will pushback the tide.
People need help.
I will break the Angel.
And if it doesn't surrender, I will eat it.
And then they'll be safe for another day.
An Absolute Territory is projected in a semicircular dome around Unit 01. It shines like stained glass caught in sunlight, a beehive barrier of octagons shifting and layering over itself.
Sachiel's energy blast collides with the Evangelion's AT-field, diffusing the pink light and refracting it to hit the entire business district where Angel and Eva are fighting. Windows explode outward from shockwave, concrete cracks and asphalt melts... But Unit 01 stands unscathed. Mostly.
"Congratulations, Angel." I hear Daniel drawl. "You just made Shinji even angrier."
Misato flashes a shark-toothed grin at the remark. "Synchronization rate... hovering around 90%. Perfect conditions." Ritsuko says with the same anticipatory glee everyone is feeling.
The Angel's still standing, but it looks a little winded after blowing its entire load on... Stop.
What's that feeling? Yeah, right there, in my gut?
An alarm sounds out in the Geofront.
"Umbilical has been cut! The Evangelion will lose battery power in thirty seconds." Maya shouts out in a worried tone.
"Shinji, your battery cord has been severed!" Misato clarifies. Probably a deflected plasma stream from the Angel's big attack just now. "You have only seconds left. Finish it!"
Should've gone with a solid wall instead of a sphere...
"I am not done. Weare notdone." I shout as loud as I can, feeling Unit 01 buzz with anticipation... Hold up, is... is the Evangelion itself actually cool with this?!
A deep rumble reverberates through my entry plug. Unit 01 is growling at me. Heh, this could get interesting...
I amble forward, kick off into a sprint and make a high jump toward deep green Angel. "Deploying Progressive knife." I hear a synth voice say. On instict, I grab the blade that pops out of my shoulder slot, extend the self-sharpening molecule-thick blade from its boxcutter-like handle and bring it up high above my head.
Sachiel doesn't seem that fazed. It extends its arms, spreads its Absolute Territory and braces itself.
Evangelion Unit 01 extends its own AT-field by my absolute devotion. The sphere of light slams down on its opposite, projected by the Angel. Divine auras nullify eachother, sending a wave of air pressure out into the world. This thunderclap, which looks and sounds really cool but is just an anecdotal side-effect of Angel-Evangelion combat causes millions of dollars of property damage all on its own.
Sachiel, however, has blocked Shinji's slash with its arm. Though the arm gets rent open like a pillow under a boxcutter, sending gobs of meat and LCL flying literally everywhere, the attack doesn't reach Sachiel's core. The Angel rears back once again. Its body twists, almost like it's doubting. Then it lunges at Unit 01.
But Unit 01 and its occupant manage to react in time. The Evangelion twists into a kick, hitting the oncoming Angel right in the core and sending its folding, warping body flying away from Unit 01 rather then toward it. As a bonus, the kick manages to fracture the core.
"Angel core integrity estimated at 83% and... and climbing..." Ritsuko tells me. Seems I found its life bar, but it has regeneration. That's good, though. I don't want the Angel dead just yet.
Playing a dangerous game. Just kill it.
No.
Unit 01 stands up straight and tilts its head to one side.
For a moment, it almost looks like an owl measuring up distance.
Then it places its progressive knife between its fingers, winds up a throw like a baseball pitcher and flings the knife at the Angel.
Sachiel seethes. Its flesh smokes. Nobody at Central Dogma realizes, but the Angel is prepared to selfdestruct and take the Evangelion and Shinji with it in death. Now, with the process already started and so much distance between predator and prey, Sachiel has to move quickly if it is going to catch Unit 01 in the blast radius at all.
But Sachiel's desperate struggle is put to a sudden end when the progressive knife buries itself into the cracked part of Sachiel's core.
A high-pitched, nails-on-chalkboard-wail pierces even the walls of Central Dogma.
Sachiel glows for a brief instant, still hopeful it can at least cause some damage. But it just doesn't have the power. With a final twitch, it slumps down onto the ground.
"Core integrity at... 9%." Maya says to me, hesitantly optimistic. I nod respectfully, and my Eva does the same. Misato sweatdrops. Seeing a giant death machine being polite like that can look a little jarring. Thankfully, I don't notice as I stride toward the incapacitated Angel.
Sachiel hears the footfalls of its nemesis approach. Anger has left it, fear has left it... All it has left is abject confusion. The moon's light gets blocked by... something.
Weakly, it looks up. The purple thing is standing over Sachiel, just looking, staring. The Angel tries to lash out with whatever strength it has left. A weak jab at the beast's leg...
But the prototype Evangelion pushes out its hand with a red flash of its eyes. A shockwave, a hammer of telekinetic force slams the Angel back down. A noise comes from its head. It's not a roar... Communication?
"Give up. Give up. Can you even hear me?!" The voice is small, but tinted with a passion on Sachiel's own level. The Angel didn't understand Japanese, but it got the gist of it. If it knew the significance of rolling your eyes, it would be doing just that right now. Submission? Servitude? Alliance? Not its style. It would either have unity, complementation with a Progenitor and divinity... Or death in trying, preferably an interesting one.
Weakly, it raises its arm... then slams it down onto the ground. Again. And again. It looks into its fellow predator's eyes. Please. At least give me this?
Unit 01 takes a step back, allowing the Angel to get up. It inclines its head. Definitely not a gesture of submission, Sachiel thinks. But a mercy nonetheless.
With a last burst of energy, it bulks itself up and tries to grab its foe's head. The response is quick and brutal. A punch to the torso arrests the Angel's momentum. Almost simultaneously, the the purple thing's other hand grabs the knife sticking out of the Angel's core and twists it another quarter stroke.
The final firing of Sachiel's crystal neurons comes to an interesting realization. Inside that giant behemoth, there has got to be a tiny, but very angry little Lilim. ...It seems the children of Lilith have found a way to compete with the scions of Adam. Very impressive. With a final keening wail of shattered glass, it's lights out for the Third Angel.
An eternity passes in the three seconds it takes for Sachiel's body to liquefy completely and run down Toyko-3's city streets like an angry red tsunami.
Silently, Unit 01 turns around and strides lazily to the nearest catapult lift, unconcerned with the liquid life and mist flowing around it. It almost looks... At peace? An incongruous sight if there ever was one...
Then what sounds like a trillion computer alarms go off at once and Unit 01 freezes mid-stride before going ragdoll and falling down sideways onto a supermarket. Daniel reads off a few things from the monitors. "Pilot cardiac arrest, injecting stimulants." "Evangelion main power offline." "Evangelion critical system shutdown." It paints a bleak picture.
But there is some good news. "Angel destroyed." "Dispatching emergency services." "Estimated Evangelion repair time: One week."