"A sword screams for blood. Once drawn, it must taste it. He who indulges his weapon's thirst shall of it make a true friend." Proverb found in Sognefjord ruins
XXXIII
"Where is it?" Misato barked as she stormed into the CIC.
"Ten clicks south of Yokohama reef and moving fast." Hyuga reported.
"Adjustment of ETA to landfall: ten minutes. This one's fast." CASPAR added.
Misato cursed under her breath. The last one hadn't been anywhere near that quick.
"Has the alarm been sounded?" She said.
"Yes." Gendo's quiet voice sliced through her ear. She turned to see him sitting high above as ever, his gaze cold and implacable.
Glad you're on our side, boss.
"It was sent automatically the moment the enemy was detected." Gendo explained. "Civilians are moving to their bunkers as we speak."
Misato breathed a sigh of relief at that, but still shot a concerned look at the holographic display. On Nerv's sensors a radar black spot, the tell tale sign of a powerful H-field, had appeared.
And it was moving faster with every moment.
I hope they're hurrying up there…
"Mr Ikari, sir." Ibuki piped up. "We've tapped into Imperial Army chatter. They're moving an armoured division and an FCV squadron to intercept."
Misato's mouth flapped like a goldfish for a moment. Motochika could not have been stupid enough to throw more men in the way of a Seraph. A full army had done nothing, so what chance did a mere division have?
"Have they accessed our sensors?" Gendo inquired.
"No, sir. I think they just had a rapid response force on standby." Ibuki said.
"So, they don't know how fast or big this thing is?" Misato looked at the display again, feeling a faint tingle of worry. Not only was the Fifth Seraph fast, it was big.
Couldn't be less than two hundred metres long…
"I'd assume so, Director." Ibuki nodded.
"Then we ought to warn them." Misato decided. "Open a channel-"
"Belay that order." Gendo's cold voice caused silence to descend like a blanket of lead. Misato stiffly tried to find the right words.
"But…sir…if we don't-"
"Then perhaps this time the military will learn not to meddle in our affairs." Gendo's tone brokered no disagreement. "What is Unit 01's readiness?"
"Ready as it will ever be." Ritsuko briskly walked into the CIC. Around her green eyes, Misato noted smudged mascara, as if her old friend had been caught mid-manicure.
"And the Third Child?" Gendo asked.
"En-route to the cages as we speak. I've given him a crash course in prog knife and rifle use." Ritsuko said.
Misato hid a wince. She'd hoped they'd have more time to train Shinji, so he'd at least have some proficiency in basic weaponry. Unfortunately, the Fifth Seraph hadn't been content to wait seventeen years between blood-soaked intervals.
"Then everything is in order." Gendo grunted in satisfaction. "Have Unit 01 on standby. Observe the Imperial Army in the meantime."
"Yes, sir." Those beneath him chorused.
The room bustled. Fingers danced across keyboards and hushed conversations tickled Misato's ear. She did her best to block them out and focus on the display, tracking the enemy's movement blip by blip.
Too fast.
She shifted uncomfortably as it cut across the display like a bird in flight. Her worst fears were realised.
Much too fast. Not everyone will make it to their shelters in time.
She looked at the timer; the enemy would make landfall in five minutes.
"Why've they stopped?' Hyuga's voice took her out of her reflection.
"Hm?" Misato shook away her reflection, and looked over her subordinate's shoulder at his monitor. Hyuga, observing military movement, had a deep frown on his face.
"Why've they stopped?" He scratched the back of his neck. "Imperial battle doctrine is all about engaging the enemy the moment they land. It's a bit strange for them."
It was Misato's turn to frown. That was indeed the Japanese tactic, and Japanese soldiers had indeed stopped some ten clicks inland. The FCVs did the same, hovering high above, whilst a fighter squadron had moved out to screen the enemy.
"Maybe they're forming a line of defence on better ground?" She ventured.
Hyuga's frown didn't move.
Neither did hers.
"CASPAR." Gendo called out. "Access the cameras onboard those fighters. I want to have some idea of what we're dealing with today."
"Sure thing, Gendo-chan!" The AI happily trilled, and a heartbeat later a screen opened up above the main holographic display. "Squadron leader's camera accessed. We're watching them in real time."
Puffy white clouds whipped by as the Kaze jet fighter cut gracefully through the air. Misato tuned out the pilot's voice reporting back to command and instead focused on the horizon. The Pacific Ocean, that endless carpet of blue, stretched out below. Timeless waves gently lolled against each other.
So focused on the water, waiting for the enemy to burst forth, she almost jumped when the Seraph came into sight.
"Can confirm, enemy is airborne." Ibuki said, professionally but redundantly.
Ten thousand feet below, hovering just above the water to the point where it kicked up spray as it passed, was the Fifth Seraph. Unlike the Fourth, there was nothing humanoid about it. Long, like some kind of insect with an arrow shaped head, the Seraph was covered in glossy chitinous red armour. Two massive black eyes poked out of the side of its head.
"What the hell…" Misato muttered under her breath. It could not have been more different to what came before.
"It's an eldritch horror, ma'am. Don't think we're meant to make sense of it." Hyuga offered.
"Huh?"
What's an eldritch?
"Eldritch? Lovecraft? Come on." Hyuga awkwardly ventured then fell silent and went back to work.
"Gods, you're such a nerd." Aoba chuckled under his breath.
On the display, the pilot confirmed the enemy's position and speed, then pulled for home as fast as he could.
Sensible.
The enemy had been sighted and now she had an idea as to its nature. Misato had to actively fight off the urge to pace as she thought deeply. The staff nearest to her did their best to quieten their work, knowing the Director needed silence to craft a grand strategy.
Okay then, it flies. It's fast. How high and how fast are still variables we don't know yet. She sighed a little.
Fighting it in the open is out of the question. Even Rei would struggle there, and Shinji…Misato methodically searched through her mind and found a hazy 3-D image of Nakisawame. Its roads and its skyscrapers provided some cover and could perhaps force the enemy down a choke point. If they got its Field down, Shinji could unload his ammunition into the Seraph's face and the job would be done.
It was a simple strategy.
I'll take it.
"Director, we've picked something up in the Yellow Sea." Hyuga abruptly interrupted her thoughts.
"What is it?" Misato said, already filing the plan in her mind for delivery to Shinji.
"Unknown, trying to…" Hyuga's eyes went wide. "Energy levels rising! Can confirm, nuclear radiation detected!"
Cold fingers tugged at Misato's stomach.
She couldn't…she wouldn't…
Japan's ballistic missile submarines prowled across the entire Pacific, but it was known that at least one was in the Yellow Sea; the Chinese knew that as well, which encouraged good behaviour.
But there was a submarine with a nuclear payload in the Yellow Sea. And their instruments had just detected a flair of radiation.
"Get me Imperial General Headquarters." Gendo's icy voice, louder than usual, carried across the room in a hiss. "Now."
"Yes, sir! Patching-" CASPAR said quickly, all humour vanishing from her tone.
Too late.
"Launch detected!" Hyuga called out.
A dreadful moment of silence hung on the CIC.
"Use our satellites. I want eyes in the sky." Gendo commanded, a growl hidden by gruffness.
"Yes, sir."
The monitor changed into first an image of Japan from orbit, soon followed by a clicking further and further into focus. Eventually, Nerv's expensive satellite had what it was looking for: a ballistic missile finished with its ascent and beginning a descent.
Motochika had finally done it. She'd gone for the nuclear option.
And it would strike Japanese soil.
Bile bit at the back of Misato's throat in a way that it hadn't done in a long time. Looking around, she could see that everyone else in the room had a similar taste in their mouths. Some of the younger staff turned white as ghosts.
There were no Japanese alive who hadn't grown up in the shadow of the bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The mushroom cloud, the consumed cities, the shadows burned into concrete, loomed vividly in their people's minds, made all the worse when China followed in the dead United State's footsteps.
And that time it had been ancient Kyoto swallowed by hellfire.
Now not even the youngest child failed to feel a tingle of fear down the spine at the thought of a mushroom cloud. It had taken all of Motochika's force and brutality to ram through scrapping the old Article Nine of their constitution to create a nuclear arsenal, and the arguments rumbled on to this day.
Misato looked again at the display, eyeing the troops present with faint concern.
I hope that mad Bitch had the good sense to hand around Iodine tablets.
"I don't want to look." Ibuki mumbled.
But none could tear their eyes away as the missile plummeted downwards. The target area was the very coastline the enemy would make landfall, and timed perfectly to the moment of its arrival. Misato suppressed a faint flicker of admiration for the submarine commander who'd made the shot.
As the enemy swept out from sea and onto land, it cast a quizzical gaze skyward, just in time to see the strange dart fall on it. Its H-Field flared before it was enveloped in light.
Misato could picture it before it happened. The earth shaking thunder, the initial pulse of gale force wind followed by a wall of fire and a lingering death.
The mushroom cloud billowed up into the heavens, demonic orange light at its heart. That tingle of existential dread finally became a full shudder. Even Ritsuko, pessimistic, cynical Ritsuko, puffed her cigarettes with trembling hand.
As it was in the CIC, the military comms had fallen deathly silent.
"Yield?" Misato said.
"Ten kilotons." CASPAR relayed quietly. "Tac nuke."
Thank the Gods.
Slowly the army's communication coughed back into life. Scrambling radio belted out orders and the troops responded.
"The military is engaging." Hyuga looked up from his console to see the first few shells fly.
A hundred tanks barked and gave their deathly bite, rail guns whining and belching fire. Lined up as a massed battery of artillery, their attack was a well oiled rhythm as they fired by platoon. Their shells disappeared into the smoke, with only the faint flashes revealing hits.
"There's still something there to hit…" Ritsuko whispered her thoughts aloud, tinged in fear. Misato pretended not to hear.
Crackling blue pulses of energy soon arced out from FCV bow cannons. Their impacts were far easier to see, as what seemed cobalt blue stars popped into existence for just a moment before dissipating. Such was their force that the mushroom cloud started to to be ripped away, as if smoke in a strong breeze. Indeed, the target area was smashed so hard that it could be said the cloud disappeared under its weight.
A nuclear warhead, naval positron bombardment, and tank shells; Misato almost admired the Marshal's fondness for overkill.
The plan was clear. Motochika had pinned everything on a nuclear strike either killing the Seraph or at least taking out its H-Field. Just to be sure, she'd rolled in a tank division and an FCV squadron to pelt the target even more.
As much as it agonised Misato, the idea was sound.
If I were in her position I'd be awfully tempted. Use up all my options and all that. She bit back a curse at herself. No, fuck that! I'd never use a nuke. Not after what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, let alone Kyoto. Shit, I wouldn't use one on the Chinese!
Yet still something else nagged at her: hope.
If there was anything that could truly hurt, if not kill, a Seraph, it had to be mankind's most terrible weapon.
Even if the initial blast or the radiation didn't get it, surely it's weakened? Maybe the military can kill it!
Relief prepared to rush into her. Shinji would have a bit more time to train after all.
But as she looked over her shoulder at Ritsuko, who met her gaze and wearily shook her head, Misato knew it to be folly.
The cloud cover finally melted away to reveal the Seraph. Burnt, battered, but very much alive. Its black eyes seethed with rage which told Misato well enough that the military had only hurt, not killed, it.
"Blue signature status?" Misato asked forlornly.
"Stable." Hyuga murmured.
"It did nothing." Ritsuko whispered. "Gods help us, it did nothing."
The military had not stopped firing, but now their shots were sloshing off the Seraph's field. Angered by their defiance, it reared up and unfurled two tendrils of pure energy. It whipped them out to a length of some one kilometre and buried them into the ground. Then, as a sort of catapult, it used the tension to fling itself forward like a dart.
Misato looked away.
"Pilot status?"
"He's in the Eva." Ibuki said.
"Open a radio connection." Misato turned her thoughts to her troubled charge, and tried to blot out the slaughter. The Seraph had already fallen upon the Japanese armour, swishing with whips that cut through steel like a knife through butter.
The radio link to Unit 01 crackled into life and Misato leaned in close to a microphone.
"Shinji-kun, do you read?"
"Er…yes…I mean, roger!" Came Shinji's unsure, quiet, voice.
"Good. We're feeding you tactical data right now. Can confirm that a nuclear weapon has been used on the enemy to little effect."
"L-little effect?"
Misato sighed. "I'm afraid so."
She allowed a silence to hold as Shinji ran through what they'd all just seen on his helmet's hud. She could picture the helpless panic in his eyes.
"It…it has whips…and it can fly…the-the nuke did nothing!"
"You should have access to a readout of Nakisawame's grid. Use the buildings as cover and wait until the enemy closes to range. At that point, expand your field and neutralise the Seraph with your positron carbine. Is that understood?"
"…it's a monster…"
"Is that understood?" Misato repeated with a little harshness. Hindsight, unfair and unforgiving, now made Shinji's apathy towards his "job" appear incredibly foolish.
"Understood."
"Good."
She leaned back and turned to Ibuki. "Readiness?"
"One hundred percent. We're ready to go on your word, Director."
Misato nodded grimly. As ever, the thought that she was sending a lamb to slaughter crossed her mind.
No, I can't afford that. Have to stay focused. For all our sakes.
"Eva launch!"
Author's note.
Just to clarify "Motochika" is the correct spelling of "Motichka." Thus I have been getting that name wrong for the better part of seven years. Yes, it was quite an embarrassing moment when I realised that.