Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion or DC Comics. Please don't sue me, I'm poor.
Summary: The loss of her ability to walk devastated Chiyo Suzuhara, the younger sister of Toji. That is, until she came across a discovery of her mother's. One that lifted her up into the clouds.
Chapter Seven: The Nth Factor
Inside the NERV Command Center, things were tense.
Colonel Katsuragi was MIA, presumed dead in the explosion at Unit Five's activation site. Doctor Akagi ditto. Commander Ikari was taking charge of the operation personally, and to compound matters, their second most skilled Eva pilot had been hijacked along with her advanced prototype Eva by this new Angel. It was a catastrophe of truly epic proportions.
Fearful of the fate of her mentor (not fully convinced she was dead just yet), Lieutenant Maya Ibuki was welcome for the distraction that came when her screen lit up. "Sir? We've got incoming on the battlefield... something small coming in fast..."
"A missile?" asked Hyuga, sitting next to her.
"Can't be, for that its not fast enough, and no tailfire..."
"Could it be...?" asked Aoba aloud, glancing up at the readings.
Commander Ikari interrupted their conversation like an icy wind. "Put it on the secondary screen," he ordered. A blip appeared. "Magnify."
The blip enlarged, and in seconds the image was more clearly defined. The image of a small, pre-adolescent girl with dark hair and a slim build wearing a canary yellow and black outfit, complete with feathered mask. Oh, and lest we not be forgetful of the expansive wingspan and giant honking mace.
However, such a sight barely phased Gendo Ikari, who had seen far stranger.
"It's one of the Superwomen," reported Hyuga, unnecessarily. As if it could be anything else.
At his left, Aoba confirmed it. "Hawkgirl," he identified. He was an avid reader of the Tokyo Tattler, which tended to specialize in Superwomen stories these days.
"Sir, what do we do?" asked Maya.
Ikari considered his options for half a moment, but ultimately decided this wasn't a consideration. Hawkgirl would be no concern.
"Keep the girl under observation," he said after a moment. "Primary focus is to be on the Angel Nine. Lay down suppressing fire and give the following orders to Unit One:"
"Attack the Angel. Give no quarter."
Having no illusions about beating the monstrous Angel solo, Hawkgirl decided that her best option was to provide aid and give the Evangelion a better chance at fighting back.
Which meant getting the beast's attention.
She remembered one time she'd tagged along with her brother and Kensuke Aida on a camping trip, and had to deal with mosquitoes. They had also been tiny, and yet she had been miserable for days because she couldn't swat a single one out of the air. Fast and maneuverable, they were dangerous against a bigger foe.
I could be too, she rationalized. She just needed to keep the Angel distracted, give Unit One a chance, and victory would be theirs.
Chiyo tugged on the handle of her mace, letting lightning crackle over the head. "Here goes nothing," she murmured. Then, gave her customary war cry and let gravity claim her, swooping down low to smash her mace against the top of the dark Angel's head.
Hawkgirl dove like a stone, pushing herself to fall faster, not content to let gravity do the job alone. Building up speed, she swooped in for the black behemoth, which was currently in the process of choking the life out of its purple counterpart.
Her weapon reared back, tiny lightning bolts dancing along its frame...
"Sir, she's diving!"
Commander Ikari ignored the report, even as he kept his eyes on the main screen. Hawkgirl was beneath notice. One puny little club wouldn't even scratch the Angel's AT Field...
Hawkgirl struck, and electricity crackled along the back of the black Evangelion's head, causing it to roar in pain. Far more pain than it should have been in.
Behind his ever-present glasses, the eyes of Ikari widened in outright shock.
Chiyo felt a surge of satisfaction as she swooped back up into the sky, wings spreading as she regained altitude. She'd never thought of herself as a particularly vindictive girl, but hearing the Angel roar in agony had been truly satisfying.
Her attack had thrown the Angel off balance, allowing the Eva below to grab its midsection and kick hard, throwing it off.
"Take that, you oversized tin can!" she shouted, shaking her mace in what she hoped was a threatening manner.
The Angel landed badly, flat on its back, and it rolled onto its side, seemingly dazed. It might be another opportunity for her to attack it again. Her mace seemed to hurt it. A lot.
Chiyo swooped wide, building up momentum for her next attack, and raised up her mace...!
"Don't attack!"
Chiyo blinked, head snapping up as the call came from out of nowhere. Then, she turned her head, realizing it came from the Evangelion's onboard speaker system. The pilot was communicating with her.
"Why not?" she shouted, not sure if he could hear her from this range. She flew over towards the mecha.
Apparently, he could, however, because his reply came moments later. "The pilot is still onboard!" The purple behemoth pointed a hand at the black beast, still lying on its side, struggling to regain its mobility. As it did, she spotted what he was talking about, some sort of blue growth on the back that seemed out of place, and a white capsule in it, more than big enough for a person.
Is that how Eva's operated? she wondered. Ick.
Then, her mind drew on a different tangent, and she had a sudden realization. "They've turned against us?!" she asked.
The purple behemoth shook its head. "NO! She's trapped, and we need to get her out!"
"How do we do that? What do we do?" she asked, falling back for the moment, hovering closer to the purple Eva's shoulder. Hearing the voice of its pilot made it somehow seem less frightening than it had been a moment ago.
"We need to get her out! Can you keep it distracted?"
She shivered at the idea of being the main target, but she nodded anyway. "Y-yeah, okay. Got it!"
The Angel charged, roaring like a wild beast. Two outstretched arms came at her, but she saw them coming and had ample time to dodge and spin. Long hours of time in the skies had given her greater maneuverability when it came to flying, and now she executed a flawless roll that few others could, diving down low towards the black monster's back.
This time she didn't so much hit the Angel as she dragged her mace along the black monstrosities side, letting lightning crackle over its frame. It gave another roar of pain, swiping wildly at her. Hawkgirl was already well out of the way of its wild swing. She couldn't tell if she was damaging it, the black armor of the Eva looked almost unmarked, but she certainly was hurting it somethin fierce.
Shinji and Unit One charged, a renewed sense of determination giving him a fresh wave of strength as he slammed into the beast's back. He grasped at the armor plating of the Eva, trying to gain a firm handhold of the entry plug so he could wrench it out. But the Angel was equally determined to hold onto its hostage, and lashed out with its freakishly long arms again. This time, it impacted hard against the much bigger body of Unit One, and Shinji was sent crashing down amongst some abandoned tanks, flattening them like tinfoil.
"Hey! Leave him alone!" shouted Chiyo, zipping down towards the Angel again.
The black beast roared, rearing back a hand to bring it crashing down towards the purple Eva's head. Hawkgirl swooped in low, swinging hard at the Angel's wrist, knocking its blow off course just enough that its fist glanced against Unit One's shoulder instead of crushing its head. Shinji didn't waste the opportunity, shifting his Eva's legs underneath the Angel and kicking as hard as he could, sending it crashing into a nearby hillside and giving him some much needed breathing room.
"Thanks!" he shouted.
"Anytime!" she replied, giving a jaunty salute, swinging back into the air in a wide arc, and waiting for another opportunity to strike.
However, the Angel was ready this time, and had learned something of her flight patterns. When she ducked under its first outstretched arm and was ready for the next one, it surged forward to strike at her with its armored, horned head. Were it not for her wings instinctively closing around her like a shield of metal, she would've been severely injured. As it was, she went flying from the impact, and not under her own control.
Pin wheeling her arms and throwing out both wings and limbs wide in order to halt her wild flight, Chiyo finally brought herself back under control. Just as the dark Eva made another swiping motion at the purple one. With its longer limbs, it was easily overpowering the good Eva. However, Shinji was making progress of his own, and swept both Angel's arms in one of his, gripping them tightly as he clawed with his other hand at the Angel's back, eventually managing to snag and rip off the covering of the entry plug, fully exposing it.
Grey tendrils of ooze, the true form of the Angel, started to slither out, attacking the fingers of Unit One. Hawkgirl dove in close, slapping at them with the electrified mace, driving them back. Her weapon seemed to give them fits, they all but shriveled up and died wherever she touched with it. Right now, Shinji was grateful for the assistance, and grabbed the plug firmly in hand, pulling.
Almost... almost...! Shinji tugged hard, calling on reserves of strength he didn't even know he had until right then and there.
"They're doing it!" cheered Aoba, hands up like some sort of groupie at a rock concert. "Woohoo! Go Hawkgirl!"
Commander Ikari, however, continued to glare at the screen, even as his subordinates cheered at every strike the Eva and the superwoman were able to strike against their enemy. Though his head had not moved, his focus had shifted. Now he glared at the image of the yellow-clad bird who was single-handedly disrupting everything. True, the Angel needed to be defeated for the survival of humanity. But Shinji and Asuka were also pawns in his game, and he needed to ensure they were in the right places at the right times. Hawkgirl was changing the game entirely. Whatever her weapon was, it was cleaving through AT Fields like they weren't there at all.
"Before you were an annoyance," muttered the Commander darkly. "Then a hindrance. Now you're a problem. I will not tolerate this."
He weighed his options quickly, considering as always what was best for the Scenario first. And realized he only had one way to regain control of the situation before it spiraled any further out of control.
Commander Ikari leaned forward, interlacing his hands in front of his face, apparently deep in thought. However, this was also to disguise the movement of his lips from any watching security cameras. With his voice lowered and the confusion (and now cheering, he noted in disgust) still going on because of the battle, he wasn't likely to be overheard except by the one person he wanted to hear him.
His second, Vice-Commander Fuyutski, realized this as he leaned forward.
"Summon Copperhead. I have need of him."
"Now sir?"
Gendo just glared at him, and Fuyutski flinched under the intensity of that glare. Many people would not know this, but Commander Ikari was not as perpetually angry and cold as he seemed to be. He had many shadowed degrees, many subtle flavors. But right now, he was very, very angry indeed. So cold was his glare that it could give frostbite.
"I'll have him on the line in a moment," replied the old professor, only a little shaken. Working alongside Gendo for so long had helped him build up some resistance to his former student's moods.
"Ensure it's encoded," the Commander of NERV replied, as Fuyutski slipped off the platform via the elevator and exited the command center. With his second in command gone, he turned back to the command center and raised his voice.
"Activate the Dummy System."
Maya offered a half-hearted protest. "But sir, they're doing it!"
"They won't stand a chance of rescuing the pilot until the Angel is defeated. It takes priority. If the pilot and Hawkgirl refuse to do it, then we shall," he replied, and his tone of voice brooked no argument. "Do it. That was not a request."
Almost... YES!
The entry plug slid free of the gray ooze with a sickening pop, slipping into Unit One's hand. Shinji threw up his arms in a joyous whoop!
And then, suddenly, everything went dark. All the power shut off on his console, save the blood red glare of the backup lights.
"What... NO!"
There was a brief moment where control was switched from one Ikari's hands to another's. In that instant, Unit One went completely still, slumping forward, its grip loose like it was asleep. The entry plug Unit One had just rescued hadn't been held securely enough in its grip when the transition had begun. Unable to do anything to stop it, Shinji could only watch in horror as the entry plug slipped free of his Eva's fingers and began to plummet towards the cold, unforgiving ground below.
"NOOO!"
Chiyo heard the scream and looked just in time to see the plug hit the ground, cracking hard as it impacted against the Earth. It bounced and rolled down the hill until it finally came to a stop at the base, propped up awkwardly against a rocky outcropping. Orange liquid seeped out of innumerable cracks as Chiyo zipped down towards it as quickly as possible.
Inside of the Eva, Shinji could only watch in horror as great mechanical hands closed over his, and his view was obscured by the Dummy Plug system display. He could see and feel everything being done as normal, but had no control over his actions or that of the Eva. It was like sleepwalking through a nightmare. A very real, very terrible nightmare.
Unit One engaged the enemy, swatting aside its freakishly long arms and stepping in close, grabbing holds of its own throat, snarling viciously. Hawkgirl, meanwhile, had reached the broken entry plug. The winged woman shoved aside broken fragments of the plug without effort, finding them lighter than feathers.
The pilot...
"Oh god!" she gasped, covering her mouth.
She was covered in blood. And she didn't seem to be breathing either. It wasn't easy to tell because of the red and orange suit she was in, but she seemed to be very badly injured. Possibly even...
Chiyo was about to reach down and carry the pilot to safety, but she abruptly realized she had no idea if that sort of thing could injure the pilot further.
Think, think, she commanded herself. Must be some way to tell, must be some way to get help. Must be some way to help!
"Hawkgirl! Help me!"
Chiyo glanced up as her thoughts were interrupted by the cry.
Unit One and the Ninth Angel were locked into combat, the Evangelion trying to crush the Angel's neck, even as Shinji continued to scream, shouting obscenities and demanding he be let free so he could help Asuka. Chiyo couldn't see what was happening, but it seemed like he'd lost control of his Eva too. Must've been the Angel, she realized.
Grateful for a problem she could deal with, Hawkgirl swiftly flew up along the side of the purple Eva, slapping her mace against the side of its leg and torso, letting electricity crackle along the limbs. The mighty war machine gave a roar.
"No, it's not me! It's not me!"
"Shinji, what's wrong?!" she screamed, not understanding the issue. She couldn't be sure if she was helping or harming.
"It's the-!"
"Disable his speakers," ordered Commander Ikari quietly.
Reluctant to obey yet terrified of repercussions, Aoba flicked the switch, and continued to watch the screen in growing horror.
"It's the-!"
Whatever he meant to say next got cut off, and the purple behemoth lashed out again, but not at the Angel this time. Unit One unleashed a backhand of monumental proportions that would have hit Chiyo full force, if her wings hadn't slid out in front of her like a protective cocoon at the last minute. Still, it was enough power to send her tumbling end over end at incredible speeds. She screamed as she flew completely out of control, coming to a crashing halt... somewhere.
Darkness enveloped her, and she knew no more.
Buzz.
Chiyo felt a ringing in her ears. It made her head ache. And her head was already hurting something fierce.
Buzzzzzz.
Her head continued to ache as she rolled onto her side, face pressed into something hard and metallic. Slowly, it dawned on her that it was not her soft pillow back at home. And the buzzing... ringing...
A hand groped at her side, reaching for her cell phone, hidden in the pocket of her uniform. She'd brought it with her. Gingerly, she lifted it up to her face, moving her aching head as little as possible, to gaze through bleary eyes at the screen. A few missed calls, and a text message, all from Toji.
WHR R U?
She jolted upright, wincing as the motion brought fresh pain to her head and neck. The wings folded around her retracted from the movement, folding back at her sides. Carefully, she tilted her head, feeling a dull ache all over, but no sharp pains reappeared. Convinced she wasn't seriously injured, she then made an attempt to stand. Her new legs supported her, proving mercifully undamaged.
Then it all came rushing back... the Eva... the Angel... the Pilot...
"Oh god!"
Her mace had fallen right beside her, and she grabbed it up, spreading wings and leaping up into the skies, trying to get her bearings. Her head pounded but thankfully the pain was already fading as she took in the sight below her. Apparently, the Eva had knocked Hawkgirl into a nearby mountainside far from the battle. By now she could see various vehicles and soldiers combing the hillside. No sign of the purple Eva, but the black one had been torn to pieces and scattered across the landscape with a savage ferocity that made her feel ill. Sure, she hated the Angels too, but this... this felt wrong.
Dropping down from her altitude, she tried to get a better view of the Pilot that had been salvaged from the Angel-Eva monster. There was a lot of activity, but she finally spotted the distinct orange and red plugsuit on a gurney, being wheeled over to an ambulance. Undoubtedly, the medical staff would know better how to treat her than Chiyo ever could. At least she definitely wasn't dead. If she was, they probably would've zipped her up in a black bag by now.
Unbeknownst to her, Hawkgirl was under observation. While the medical vehicle and the civilians were dispersing, the military was still very much active in the area. As were NERV's clean-up crews, working to recover the many shredded pieces of the Ninth Angel. One of the former, situated up in a command vehicle flanked by a pair of tanks, was keeping watch on the superwoman.
A Major sat in the command vehicle watching the monitors, which zoomed in on Hawkgirl's position, highlighting the yellow bird with their crosshairs.
"What do we do, sir?" asked one of his subordinates.
The
Major was about to reply he didn't give two damns when another of his grunts interrupted him.
"Sir, we've just gotten word from NERV Command... they say Hawkgirl is an enemy combatant. She attacked our Eva during the last battle. And we've just gotten word our medical teams have all withdrawn with the injured. Orders?"
Well that was a no brainer. "Shoot her out of the sky," muttered the Major darkly.
So intent Chiyo was on her own musings she did not notice the swivel of turrets and the aiming of barrels. The firing of tanks, however, she could not have missed in a hundred years. Thankfully, the shots flew well clear of her by virtue of poor aim and a tiny target. The next volley she was ready for.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I'm on your side!"
Her pleas fell on deaf ears. Chiyo ducked and dodged, diving low and out of the path of the missiles. Then she quickly climbed higher as they adjusted their trajectory to keep track of her, flying up into the clouds and getting lost amongst them. She emerged above the cloud line soaked but safe, unable to be seen by the ground forces.
"Geeze, rude much? The hell is their problem?" she grumbled.
Bzzzzzzzzz
Angrily she slapped her phone, not wanting to risk opening it to turn the noise off in case it let her family know where she was. At least she'd left it on vibrate.
She'd done all she could here. As far as she knew, the Pilot of the black Eva was safe, and that was a small comfort, but she had no idea where had happened to Unit One or its own pilot, or what had transpired against the Angel. Right now she had more mundane concerns. Like getting home and out of costume before her secret got out.
She flew like the fires of Hell were after her, as fast as possible, the metallic wings close to her body for maximum speed. She had to squint against the wind whipping at her face, making her eyes tear up. So much so, in fact, she nearly overshot her target. She almost slammed into the side of the very apartment building rising up out of the ground before she unfurled her wingspan and came to a halt, hovering a moment before lowering down to her bedroom level.
But then Chiyo saw her father through the window, and swiftly ducked out of sight, cursing her ill luck. Now she had to make a choice. Even if she waited for him to leave and flew into the room, took off her costume, and announced herself... they'd find out in short order she was Hawkgirl. If she just appeared inside of the home after they'd searched it, they'd figure out in short order the only way in would be through a window. Or, she could fly in through the dayroom window, hide her gear there instead... no, that wouldn't work, she realized. She had no clothes to change into.
This was really not good, she thought, desperately wishing for some way out of this mess. For a wild moment, she considered just dropping the pretense entirely, and coming clean. She'd put her father and brother through a lot, maybe it was time to reveal who Hawkgirl really was?
Finally, an idea struck her. A very dangerous one, but the only way she saw to possibly escape from this mess with her secret intact.
First, she flew over to the dayroom window and made sure it was open. It was wide enough for a person to fit through, and the window was mercifully unlocked. The screen in place could be moved aside and back into place with little effort. That done, she flew back outside and waited until her father left her room, ignoring the buzz of her cell phone as he again tried to call her, and slipped in. As swiftly as she could, she stripped off her costume, shoving everything under her bed and grabbing some of her regular clothes, quickly pulling them on. So far, this had been the easy bit.
Now, she stepped up to the frame of her room's open window. This was going to be the hard part.
Without her wings, Chiyo was made acutely aware of just how high up her home was. Twenty-five stories positively loomed below her menacingly, and for the first time since she'd flown, she knew a terrifying fear of heights. Breathing out slowly, she inched onto a ledge. It was just barely wide enough for her feet, and extended all the way around the side of the apartments. Fortunately, the dayroom was on the same floor as her home. Just... a short walk away normally.
A short walk, she told herself. Its just a short walk. Don't look down, and keep going.
Inching her way along the side of the building, however, it felt like a hundred miles and took an eternity. And she suffered through every nerve-wracking second of it.
At one point, she slipped.
Her foot fell out from underneath her, and Chiyo grasped either side of the window she was nearest, holding on. Her foot was almost instantly back in place and her balance quickly recovered, but her heart was racing so fast she thought it would give the Flash a good run for her money. She almost blacked out, but stubbornly clung on to the side of the building and her consciousness, and after another small eternity, began to inch along again. Moments later, she was outside the window to the day room.
Stumbling out of the day room and down the hall, she all but flung herself at the door to her home. Her father was at her side at an instant, Toji not far behind her.
"What happened?"
"I-I was on my way to Nozomi's," she said, some real fear and panic lacing her words. "I got caught outside the shelters when the Angel attack started, I got lost, I got... I got...!"
He hugged her fiercely to her, and she felt Toji do the same from her other side. The Suzuhara family clung tightly to one another. "Thank God you're safe," was all their father said.
Safe, yes. But not unharmed.
"Once again you're running away."
Shinji did not reply as he turned on his heel and walked out of the cavernous office, hands still heavily shackled in front of him. They would be unlocked once he reached the surface, and Shinji Ikari released with no public record of what had transpired between him and NERV.
Gendo paused for a brief moment, wondering for just an instant if he should try to impart some final wisdom to his renegade son. But in the end, it was a waste of time. The boy had made his decision. The doors hissed shut as he slipped out of the room.
The Commander of NERV reached over to his desk and picked up the phone.
"It's Ikari... remove the Third Child from the list of active personnel. We'll manage much easier with the Dummy System as our primary operator."
It would be safer for Rei in the long run as well, he realized. Then, realizing how reassured that made him feel, ruthlessly crushed the emotion he was feeling. Rei was a pawn no different from the others. Never mind what she was or who she reminded him of, she was just a piece on the chessboard. A tool to be used towards the Scenario, then discarded. Absolutely nothing else.
His hands were shaking.
To distract himself, Gendo picked up the next report on his desk to peruse, then stamped his approval on the request when he had all the relevant facts. This pattern continued until he got to a rather troubling report from the fifth tank division commander.
In the aftermath of the Ninth Angel's attack, things had been mitigated and patched up. Reports had come in that both Doctor Akagi and Colonel Katsuragi had survived the activation at ground zero, Pilot Soryu had been quarantined, and the damage dealt by his sons tantrum had been minimal and dealt with. All in all, it did not seem nearly so bad as it previously had. However, one element still eluded Gendo's efforts to attend to, and this irked him fiercely.
Hawkgirl had been classified as an enemy by NERV, to be shot down on sight. Unfortunately the JSDDF were utterly useless in this regard, and had completely failed to capture or kill her. She'd given them the slip, and vanished. She'd be back though. Hawkgirl had a knack for appearing just where she could be the most damaging to Gendo's plans. Hopefully Copperhead would prove more capable of tracking her down, but at the moment, there was little to go on.
Gendo Ikari threw down the latest military report, glaring at it through his ever-present sunglasses. If hate could ignite paper, it would have quickly burst into flame.
This was not going according to the Scenario.
The intercom buzzed. Ritsuko's private frequency. He idly tapped his desk console. "Yes?"
"Sir, I have some information... I think you'll want to see this. The Vice Commander is already here."
Gendo Ikari was not given to rushing. In his mind, great men did not rush, they made others rush for their benefit. They were the ones who set the pace. None the less, he walked a little more briskly than usual to Central Dogma, where he found his two colleagues deep in discussion by one of the computer terminals. Not another soul was in sight, so they could speak freely.
"What is it?" he asked.
Accustomed to skipping pleasantries, Ritsuko brought up the terminal in front of her and put an image on the display.
On the screen, a typical human profile, with a red aura. Beside it, the form assumed by the Third Angel in blue. Next to the Angel was an outline that could only be Rei Ayanami, in alternating colors. Another image of a question mark was surrounded by an orange glow.
"Blood Patterns. The best way we have to locate and identify Angels. You're familiar with these types... this one was new recently, the MAGI identified but could not be made to extrapolate that information," she tapped a key, and the silhouette of Hawkgirl was added to the others, surrounded by a purple aura.
"We know this already. Get to the point."
Ritsuko stiffened at his cold tone. "The point is that I was running some simulations, and I discovered this..." she tapped another key on the keyboard, and the shifting colors of Rei's slowed. Red became dull, then mixed in blue until it became purple. Identical to Hawkgirl's.
"The pattern's the same. Its also the same with Adam," the faux blonde said meaningfully, glancing at her lover's wrist. He stubbornly ignored her look.
"Why didn't you tell me about this prior?"
"I'd only just made the discovery when the Ninth Angel attacked, sir," she said grimly, her head aching as if to emphasize her point.
Commander Ikari glared at her impassively, perhaps unconvinced, but did not pursue the tangent.
"So... another like Rei. And maybe myself as well," he added, flexing his gloved right hand.
"Similar but different," Ritsuko explained what she'd learned about the purple pattern around Hawkgirl. "And then there's this..."
The bottle blonde held up a hand. Clutched between two fingers was a single metallic feather. "Recovered from Hawkgirl's first fight with the Copperhead. I had the material analyzed."
She tapped a key on the computer (really, did she pre-set these things just to appear dramatic?) and another image came up. They looked like blueprints for Hawkgirl's wings and mace. They were surprisingly detailed.
"No similar material exists on the planet, and believe me I've double-checked. The compound is wholly unique. For lack of a better term I've been calling it nth metal. Atomic number 676, with conductive and gravity canceling properties. Preliminary studies suggest it may be psycho-reactive. Truly fascinating."
"Psycho-what?" asked Fuyutski, trying to keep pace with his younger colleagues.
"It means it responds to your thoughts," Ritsuko replied.
The older man resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He understood the word, he just wasn't sure of the how. He said as much.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But obviously this is just the icing on the cake. The real power in the metal is the anti-AT field ability."
"It cancels it out as if it isn't even there...does that mean it generates its own field?" asked Fuyutski.
"No, it seems to be designed specifically to radiate an... Absolute Terror Nullification Field of some type. It's almost like a negative space. Instead of positive field meeting positive field, like normal, and canceling one another out... it just bypasses it entirely. Without their AT Fields, most Angels are at least somewhat vulnerable to physical attacks."
"Could a stronger AT field hold her off?"
"From what I can tell," Ritsuko replied, double-checking her research. "No, it might slow her down a bit more, but it wouldn't stop her."
"Can it be duplicated?"
Ritsuko shook her head. "I wouldn't even know where to begin without more to study, but right now I'd have to say no. I've done simulations with the MAGI, and they predict that even if the metal could be replicated artificially, we have no way to properly refine it. It's a science well above our own."
"So where did it come from?" asked the old professor, puzzled by this mystery.
Gendo, however, was uninterested in origins. Only practical application. "This is all the more reason Copperhead retrieve it from her body when he deals with her." He turned to leave, Fuyutski followed behind.
"Sir," called Ritsuko, bringing both men to a halt. "Is Copperhead going to... assassinate... Hawkgirl?"
"If he must," he said, turning to leave again. And again Ritsuko raised a token protest.
"Sir she's... she's just a little girl. She can't be older than twelve, at most."
"And?" he asked icily, his yellow sunglasses flashing.
As always, she shivered under his cold gaze. "N-nothing," she stammered out.
With surprising gentleness, but no warmth behind it, Gendo reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder. "The time of the Scenario is rapidly approaching," he said. "We cannot allow things to be jeopardized at this point."
"But she's just a little girl... without this nth metal she should be harmless to us. Surely we don't need to kill her to get it?"
Gendo released her shoulder, stepping into the elevator. Fuyutski followed obediently. As the lift chimed and the doors started to close, the Commander of NERV gave his final thoughts on the matter.
"We will do what is necessary."
She'd failed.
Again.
Sighing, Chiyo gazed down at the mask in her hands, imagining it was gazing up at her in turn. Judging silently. Weakling, it was saying. Think yourself worthy of the Hawk mantle?
So many generations of Hawks she'd unearthed records of. So many other superwomen who protected Tokyo-3 and the world. The Eva Pilots, the military, NERV, even her father. How could she, a mere twelve year old girl, possibly have thought she could help? Even with all of this magical tech like the wings and the mace, she was useless. She'd failed to save either Pilot. She it on good report from Toji (who had it on good report from Kensuke) that Shinji had been ultimately alright, but it hadn't changed the fact that she'd been little more than a nuisance.
"I'm a fraud," she said aloud.
She threw the mask as far as she could, hitting the wall and letting it bounce off to roll over to the side of the bed with the rest of her Hawkgirl equipment. Equipment she'd never touch again. She'd had her fun, and she'd been lucky not to have been killed, but Chiyo Suzuhara was no superwoman. No hero. She was lucky she hadn't been killed.
The sun had just begun to set on another tranquil day on Tokyo-3. Only a week after the attack of the last Angel, and things had settled down to a routine approaching normal. It was a testimony to the human race they could so easily adapt to such a terrible war with little change to their daily lives.
But a siren's wail disrupted that fragile peace, and within seconds the tranquil city was mobile, buildings transforming, people evacuating. The war for the continued survival of humanity had come to another battlefield.
The Tenth Angel rose on the horizon, an eerie light shining in its skull-like face as it floated almost leisurely towards the city of its enemies and its ultimate goal.
And meanwhile, high up in the orbit of Earth, standing on the tranquil surface of the moon, Kaworu Nagisa lifted up his hand and pressed the button built into his plugsuit, feeling it tighten around his thin frame. As with all such suits, it was perfectly tailored to his body type, and fit like a second skin. Ruby eyes gazed up at the sky, taking in the sight of Earth. Beautiful, placid, it hung in the heavens like a delicate jewel.
"The time is at hand."
Next Time!
Another explosion came from above, and metal started to rain down into the mostly empty shelter, along with bits of burning debris.
Toji scrambled to the exit only after he saw he and Hikari were the last ones left, gently pushing her ahead of him as the platform above came crashing down, nearly missing them as they evacuated into the tunnels.
To be fair to Toji, he was normally quite on point about the matters that were most important to him. He was also a normal high school student confronted with battles and destructions on a war that most of humanity couldn't even comprehend.
So he'd made it almost halfway down the tunnel, still pushing Hikari along, when he came to a sudden halt. She did as well, turning back to him in surprise as she also realized what was wrong. They were short one family member.
"Where's Chiyo?!"
Omake – Racing
It was another peaceful day in Tokyo-3. Rare as they were, Chiyo decided to spend her time not patrolling the city for troublemakers but relaxing high up in the clouds, laying back on one as if it was a pillow, arms interlaced behind her head.
A shadow passed over her, and she opened a single eye to see whom had blocked the sunlight.
A pair of beautiful white wings was spread out above her, and Chiyo quirked an eyebrow up at the odd sight. Another winged girl. Huh.
"Nice wings," remarked Spirit casually.
"Likewise," said Hawkgirl. "Didn't know you had a pair too, Hikari-san."
The freckled girl shrugged. "Bit of an accident, long story. You?"
"Uh... found 'em," Chiyo replied evasively.
"So... wanna race?"
Never having had a challenge to her command of the skies before, Chiyo rose instantly to the idea of some harmless fun. "Sure," she said. "But how about we make it interesting? The loser owes the winner a favor?"
The other girl needed only a moment to think about it. "All right. You're on."
"Cool," Hawkgirl said, then looked about, quickly picking a target. "First one to Tokyo-3 Tower wins! Go!"
The younger girl was off like a shot, barreling through the air at speeds she had barely ever dared in the past. She had to squint against the wind, but her eyes still watered a little. It wasn't long before her lungs started to burn, but she didn't slow down, her desire to win the race propelling her onwards.
"Hey, you're not bad!"
Startled, Hawkgirl finally took her eyes off the Tokyo-3 Tower and turned to see Spirit. The other superwoman was easily keeping pace with her, and it looked like she wasn't having any trouble doing it, either. Her wings barely even seemed to be flapping, and as Hawkgirl watched her, gaping, Spirit casually circled the younger superwoman a few times, literally flying rings around her.
Hawkgirl knew she should've said something, but she was too stunned to speak a single word.
Then, Spirit grinned impishly at her and abruptly picked up speed, leaving Hawkgirl far behind her.
When Hawkgirl arrived at the tower, long after her opponent, she was panting heavily. Spirit didn't even appear winded.
"Wow, you really beat me bad," Hawkgirl gasped out.
"Don't feel bad, Chiyo. I've been doing this a lot longer than you have."
Still out of breath, Hawkgirl could only nod in agreement. Clearly, she still had a long way to go to catch up to Spirit.
"Okay, you won. So what do you want?"
"Well... there is one thing I'd like to ask for... from a fellow superwoman..."
Hikari paused briefly, then clasped her hands together and looked hopeful.
"... can I get your brother's cell number?"
Chiyo blinked at the odd request, a bead of sweat forming against the back of her head.
Authors Notes:
This particular omake inspired by a chat with Mike313, who as always is a most helpful beta reader and idea bouncer.
This marks a temporary hiatus for the story, as the initial joy has faded and its become more of a chore than anything else. I may come back to it in the future, I may not.