Celestial Being Chronicles - Chapter 57
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Gundam series, nor any of the various series which are used or referenced in my fic, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else, also, don't read this if you are not of legal age to read such material. The story contains possibly disturbing content and should not be read by close-minded people (i.e., people who are easily offended.) Everything in the story is fictional. I am also not responsible for any actions taken by people who read this story and society's problems. I do, however, own my original character; Hope Yamato.
Lunamaria Hawke's urgent announcement from the tactical station on the Excalibur's bridge caused all heads to turn towards her. "Target is moving out of orbit!"
Suddenly Meyrin Hawke's urgent voice crackled over his communications line. "Kira...it's moving! Take evasive action NOW, do you read me? TAKE COV..."
The command was drowned out by the sound of two thunderous explosions that shook the ground beneath the Divinity's feet. The telltale signal of a large object shattering through the sound barrier.
Kira's gaze shot upward, and his amethyst eyes widened in horror at the sight of yet another Angel bursting through the clouds, its glittering wings tucked tightly into its body as it screamed down from the heavens like a harrier delivering the killing stroke to its prey.
"This can't be good." He whispered breathlessly to himself.
The force of the impact sent the Divinity into a cartwheeling tumble that instantly reduced fifteen straight blocks of Tokyo-3 to rubble. Explosions erupted at various points along the path of destruction, sending pillars of flame and billowing smoke shooting skyward. The Angel had climbed into the air once again after swooping down and knocking the angel-winged Gundam off of its feet before its pilot had scarcely a chance to react, and was now circling the downed machine, lining up for another pass. Below it, the Divinity was struggling weakly amidst a pile of twisted steel and shattered concrete, attempting to claw its way back to its feet like a downed boxer from the canvas.
On the bridge, Meyrin was screaming up at the main screen from her position. "Kira! It's coming around again! You've GOT to get out of its way!"
Kira's response was faint, and tremulous, the Angel's diving blow had clearly stunned the pilot nearly senseless.
"It's so damn fast...too fast." He slurred in a ragged, barely audible whisper.
The crew on the bridge of the Excalibur collectively gasped as the Angel's shimmering image glided silently across the main monitor as it bore down on the Divinity once more. From orbit, it had appeared only as a brightly glowing, vaguely bird-like form, but up close, it seemed to be composed of pure crystal, brightly reflecting every available light source that illuminated it. Its mask was hawk-like, with a long, recurved beak, the long tendrils of its outstretched wings were edged with razor-sharp serrations, and underneath its torso were two stubby legs that ended in taloned feet. Its core could be plainly seen through the glassy facets of its chest, but instead of the normal reddish color, this Angel's core glowed with an electric, glacial blue, giving its entire body a faint azure tint. It soared with an almost casual, sinister grace high above the struggling Gundam, and then, it wheeled in place, nosing downward, and pulled its wings in close to itself once more. Once again, twin sonic booms rumbled across the wreckage of Tokyo-3 as the Angel descended with the speed of a thunderbolt toward its target. Kira watched in horror and disbeleif as the shimmering, crystaline creature grabbed his twin buster rifle with its claws and, completely ignoring the MCPS armor which coated the rifle, effortlessly snapped the weapon into three pieces.
"That's impossible!" Kira roared, even as a blindingly bright yellow light illimunated the cockpit, the telltale sign of the ZERO System activating. "How the fuck can you slice through Mirror Coated Phase Shift armor?!"
As if in response to Kira's question, a projectile suddenly flashed through the air, and the Angel screeched in pain as a purple-handled blade embedded itself in its back, right between where its wings joined its body.
On the Excalibur's bridge, Meyrin's jaw dropped in disbelief.
"That's...that's a progressive knife." She managed, staring at the weapon that was jutting out of the Angel's dorsal area.
Luna's excited voice rang out across the bridge, confirming what Meyrin had already concluded from the style and shape of the blade that had struck the crystalline enemy.
"Unit 04...it's reactivated!"
The Angel whirled in place, to see a tall, silver and purple form slowly staggering toward it. Unit 04 was weaving like a drunkard, clearly unable to do much more than walk, but it was walking, and it was slowly advancing toward the Angel step by clumsy step. Its left shoulder compartment hung open, revealing the empty sheath that had held its progressive knife, as it lurched unsteadily toward the winged enemy.
Misato had managed to move Unit 04 into a position where the Angel would not immediately notice it, and once she had seen an opening, she had flung the progressive knife with deadly accuracy, catching the Angel square in the back. Now, she was slowly advancing upon the birdlike being, her breath hissing through her clenched teeth as her fiery rage burned away the lingering effects of the Angel's mental assault.
"You...you son of a bitch." She muttered, "You're not...going to win...not going...to get away...I'll...I'll kill you..."
The Angel regarded her silently for a long moment as it watched the purple Eva approach, and then, with a gesture that almost resembled a shrug, it spread its crystalline wings, exposing its azure core. The sphere within the Angel's chest glowed with a sudden neon blue, and then another beam of rainbow-colored light erupted from the Angel's chest, enveloping the production model Eva in its aurora-like rays.
Misato cried out in pain as the sensation of thousands of sharp, searing needles jolted into her brain once more, and the awful memories from her past began to bubble back to the surface again...but she knew what they were now. She knew now that they weren't real, they were only images plucked from her mind that the Angel was using to demoralize her, to weaken her...to defeat her.
And she would not allow it to use her memories against her again.
Unit 04 staggered as the full force of the Angel's energy beam washed over it, sparkling multicolored lights dancing all around its colossal form, and then, incredibly, it began to move forward again, wading directly into the rays as it slowly closed the distance between itself and its attacker. The hallucinations that the Angel's attack was conjuring in her mind were just as vivid as before, but this time, the violet-haired woman ignored them, concentrating solely on operating her Eva as it staggered unimpeded toward the crystalline figure.
"Not...not going to work...this time." She stammered, a small smile curling at the corner of her mouth despite the intense agony she was experiencing, "You've already...already done your worst..."
With a thought, the tall bladed shoulder pack on Unit 04's left side began to rotate forward from its upright position, until it was pointed directly at the Angel in front of her.
"Your turn to feel some pain." She spat, her brilliant brown eyes glaring at the image of the Angel on her entry plug's main screen. "You stupid son of a bitch..."
A spring-loaded hatch at the tip of the shoulder pack's fin flew open, and an instant later, dozens of long black needles exploded from the compartment, shooting out at blinding speed unerringly toward their target.
The Angel reeled backward as the ebony spikes thudded into its body, some burying themselves deep into its torso, others passing clean through its long translucent wings, shattering off bits of crystal everywhere they impacted. The crystalline bird-like being responded by staggering back several steps, pulling its wings around it for protection, but as soon as it had it regained its footing, the creature spread its wings out once more, and lashed out again with its energy beam, increasing the intensity of its mental attack.
Misato winced as the rays hit Unit 04 once more, making her skull feel like it was on fire as terrible memories danced around her, but she bit back her fear, and concentrated again with all of her will.
Unit 04's right shoulder pack began to rotate forward now, its tall fin pointing straight at the shimmering form of the Angel as the hatch at the tip of the fin suddenly sprang open.
"I told you...that's not going to work...you stupid Angel." The purple-haired woman taunted through the pain jolting through her head. "I'll kill you...I'll kill you..."
She felt Unit 04 shudder as the needle pack contained within the purple machine's right shoulder fin erupted from their compartment, peppering the screeching Angel with another volley of razor sharp black barbs. Crystal splinters flew everywhere as the spikes shattered into the body of the Angel, sending it staggering backwards once more. It suddenly seemed disoriented, as if it had no idea what to do, and once again it folded its wings around it, hoping to protect itself from another such attack. Unknown to it, though, Unit 04 had now exhausted its needle packs, but Misato was undaunted by this as she continued to advance upon the Angel. There was still several hundred meters separating them, but Unit 04 was gaining ground, its pace increasing and becoming steadier as Misato drove the Eva closer and closer to her target by sheer force of will.
"Let's see how you feel...when I punch a hole in your chest...and crush your core with my bare hands!" She growled, her brown eyes narrowing into slits as she scowled at the Angel's image on her monitor.
As she drew closer, she was surprised to see the Angel spreading its wings again, once more exposing its core to her, exactly like the previous two times it had tried to attack her with its energy beam.
"Heh...you just don't learn, do you?" She snickered, as she flexed Unit 04's hands into hard fists and continued to advance.
And then, her eyes opened wide as the Angel drew its wings far back behind its body, and, as its keening wail shivered the air, it suddenly snapped them forward like a pair of bullwhips.
Instantly, the air was filled with thousands upon thousands of brightly glittering projectiles. Razor-sharp pinions shot from the Angel's wings as they whipped toward Unit 04, sending a hellstorm of crystalline daggers streaking toward the purple Eva. Completely surprised by this new tactic, Misato desperately raised her A.T. field to block the attack...a fraction of a second too late.
Misato screamed in blinding agony as crystal shards embedded themselves into the body of the purple Eva, the psychosomatic pain stabbing into her chest, her abdomen, her legs and arms, her face, her eyes...everywhere. The shards tore through armor plate and flesh alike, slashed through the Eva's outstretched hands as it tried vainly to ward off the cascade, and very nearly penetrated straight through to the core, and to the entry plug itself.
Her whole body felt like a raw, exposed wound being drenched in vinegar and salt, and angry red welts peppered every inch of her exposed flesh as the feedback from Unit 04's horrific damage manifested itself as sympathetic lesions on her skin. It was, literally, death by a thousand cuts, and it was pure torture to her. With one last, terrifying scream, Misato's eyes finally rolled back as the pain overwhelmed her, and she retreated deep into the depths of her unconscious mind to escape her suffering.
Reeling from the collective impacts of the shards, spouting blue blood from seemingly every part of its body, and now essentially pilotless, Evangelion Unit 04 lurched backward and collapsed onto the ground, looking for all the world as if it had suddenly suffered a massive heart attack. It flopped onto its back and lay motionless, a dark, indigo-colored pool slowly spreading beneath its horribly scourged body.
The Angel seemed to stare at the flayed form of the Eva for a few long seconds, almost as if it were admiring its handiwork, before it casually turned back in the direction of the Divinity. It had already destroyed one of its enemies with ease, and the remaining six would be the easiest of all.
A feral, rumbling bellow from behind it caused the crystalline being to whirl around suddenly. If the eyes of its hawk-like mask could widen in surprise, they would certainly have done so at the chilling sight before it.
The Angel found itself nearly nose-to-nose with a snarling, growling Divinity Gundam, its purple eyes pulsing blood red, glittering with barely contained rage, the angel-winged machine's face plate had split, now revealing a mouth filled with bright white teeth. Before the Angel could react, the Gundam suddenly lurched forward, thrusting the standard anti-ship sword, which it now held in its right hand, toward the glowing, crystaline, bird-like being.
Immediately, the air was filled with the piercing sound of the Angel's high-pitched shriek, and its wings suddenly shot outward and began beating frantically, as if it were desperately trying to escape. Kira grinned sadistically, driving the sword deeper and deeper, closer and closer to the glacial blue core. Even as Kira pressed the sword further into the body of the enemy, his plasma cannons and rail guns clicked into the firing position and the DRAGOON units dropped from his wings, the remote weapons quickly spreading out and surrounding the two combatants with a transparent blue beam shield.
Kira began to feel anxiety creeping at the edges of his consciousness as he continued to wrestle with the Angel. The winged enemy had a vise-like grip on the haft of his anti-ship sword, and no matter how much Kira pulled and twisted and jerked, it would not let go of his weapon. Desperately, he drove one of the Divinity's armored feet into the Angel's midsection, just beneath its glowing blue core, and the crystal being shrieked in outrage, but stubbornly maintained its hold on the Divinity's blade. Kira redoubled his efforts, sending a flurry of kicks into the Angel's torso as he tried to hammer the bird-like being into submission.
The Angel's beating wings suddenly seemed to catch hold of the air, and with a surprising burst of energy, it sprang upward and took flight, bursting straight through the glowing beam shield, injuring itself even more. The sword remained lodged in its torso as it suddenly shot skyward, and beneath it, the Divinity Gundam was now hanging onto the sword for dear life as it was carried aloft with the Angel. The crystalline enemy was clearly struggling with the extra weight of the Gundam dangling beneath it, but even so burdened, it was still climbing upward at frightening speed. Within seconds, it had passed through the low clouds covering Tokyo-3.
"So, you want to make this an air-to-air fight, huh?" Kira grinned as he gave one final yank on the anti-ship sword, finally pulling the weapon free of the Angel's body. The Divinity Gundam's eyes flashed with a bright purple light, and an instant later the machine stowed its anti-ship sword and transformed into its flight mode. Kira smiled slightly as the DRAGOON units finally caught up with him and once more docked on the wings. Suddenly, a pair of missiles dropped from the underside of the angelic machine's wings, the weapons quickly igniting their engines with a flash of exhaust and streaking towards the still retreating enemy.
Kira was sure that both antimatter missiles would hit, and had he not been merged with his machine, his jaw would have dropped when the bird-like creature suddenly whirled to face the pair of missiles, its eyes flashing with a blindingly bright white light, the telltale sign that this Angel, like most of the others, posessed a biological beam weapon. An instant later, both of the antimatter missiles detonated in midair, the explosions from the Angel's beam weapons instantly forming a brightly glowing cross of energy.
"H-how the fuck?" Kira asked in shock. "First you cut my Mirror Coated Phase Shift armored buster rifle into three pieces with your claws, and now you destroy a pair of antimatter missiles with your shitty beam cannons?" The Angel seemed content to simply follow the Divinity Gundam with its eyes as the angelic machine zoomed through the sky, and after a moment, Kira let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine then, Trans-Am!"
Instantly, the Divinity Gundam began to glow with a blood red light, the angel-winged machine now leaving an army of brightly glowing afterimages in its wake as it sped through the sky, now moving three times faster than it had been less then a second earlier.
The Angel could only stare in shock at the glowing machine, even as a plane of pink energy suddenly extended from the trailing edges of its wings, and with a flash of light, the Divinty Gundam began spewing out even more afterimages, now moving ten times faster then before it had activated Trans-Am.
"If you're so confident that you can beat me." Kira snarled as the Divinity Gundam transformed back into its mobile suit mode, freeing the Quantum Crystal anti-ship sword from behind its right wing even as it transformed. "Do it, faggot!"
The Angel quickly obliged, lashing out with its crystaline wings, aiming to impale the charging Divinity Gundam, but the outcome was much different that what the Angel had intended. Instead of impaling the charging machine on its crystaline wings, the Angel let out a shriek of pain as its wings were sliced in half length-wise by the blade of the Divinity Gudam's QC anti-ship sword. Kira smiled in satasfaction as he kicked the now incapacitated enemy towards the ground.
The now plummeting Angel quickly turned to look up at the hovering form of the Divinity Gundam, drawing its wings far back behind its body, and, as the creature let out another keening wail, it suddenly snapped its wings forward like a pair of bullwhips.
Instantly, the air was again filled with thousands upon thousands of brightly glittering projectiles. Razor-sharp pinions once again shot from the Angel's wings as they whipped through the air toward the Divinity, sending a hellstorm of crystalline daggers streaking toward the white Gundam. Kira desperately raised the physical shield on his right forearm, while simultaniously igniting his GN field and beam shields to block the attack...but just as Misato had been, his reaction was a fraction of a second too late.
Kira screamed in blinding agony as dozens of crystal shards embedded themselves into the body of the Divinity Gundam, into his own body, the pain unexpectedly and relentlessly stabbing into his chest, his abdomen, his legs and arms, his face, his eyes...everywhere. The shards tore effortlessly through the MCPS armored plate, the glowing projectiles easily slashing through the machine's GN field, beam shields, physical shield and guarding arms as they tried vainly to ward off the hellish cascade of glittering crystaline projectiles.
The Divinity Gundam's glowing purple eyes flickered a few times, the pilot trying desperately to stay conscious, despite the searing pain. However, after only five short seconds, the Divinity's eyes dimmed, the MCPS armor reverted to the dull grey of its powered down state, the thrusters died and finally, the angelic machine began to plummet towards the ground far below.
"Kira!" The voices of his five lovers yelled in unison, even as the Destiny Impulse and Strike Freedom streaked towards the rapidly falling machine, quickly catching it in midair and carrying it back to the Excalibur.