Apotheosis Echo: Re(verb - it)erations

by StriderInCosmos

The end has passed, and a storm looms over a broken world. At its edge, a Captain who cannot fully chart her course plunges in regardless. Within the lightning, a Priest sees his gods, and hopes to draw them to the dying Earth he wishes to gift to them. Against the rain, a Soldier and his family seek to dispel the tempest. The storm looms, and the End is nigh. But what End?

41. Chapter 41

Chapter 41: Intruding In The Parliament of Conquerors

Somehow, after so long of having a metal arm that feels fuzzy, having Unit-02 back to being whole has been… surreal. But I know it's not going to stay this way for very long.

Daniel loosened Bardiel's 'chains' a few days ago after telling me what was about to happen. Not enough for him to figure it out, but enough for him to be damn annoying. But knowing that we're going into battle, which has been on my mind constantly, has got him settled at least a little.

I'm ready to get rid of this monster that's ruined my life. Whatever else, it's going to feel good having him over a barrel for once.

- From the personal journal of Asuka Shikinami-Langley

AAA Wunder, May 14th, 2028, 1341 Hours

The Wunder was ablaze with activity, those men and women still left on the ship rushing to and from their stations preparing to cast off and descend from orbit. It was time now.

Captain Misato Katsuragi rushed back to the bridge with all due haste, having sent off Asuka and Mari as they boarded their Evangelions. It was a strange thing for her to do, after so long, but she felt, now more than ever, that there shouldn't have been a screen between them when she wished them luck.

As she rounded a corner, she paused, getting out of the way somewhat as what could only be the HERZ pilots began to stream past her, toward the Evangelion bays. For a moment, she simply watched in slight shock as they jogged past. She'd never seen so many Plugsuits in her life.

Then, she blinked as she watched Misato and Ritsuko jogging past in their own Plugsuits, the sight utterly surreal. Misato's Plugsuit was a crimson affair that matched the jacket that they used to wear back in NERV, with bronze accents that reminded Katsuragi of the Yebisu beer she used to drink so freely. Ritsuko's Plugsuit seemed to hint back towards the outfit that she wore at NERV as well, white on the limbs with a blue chestplate and black torso.

"Hey there!" Misato said to Katsuragi as she passed, waving with an almost brazen smile on her face. "See you in the thick of it!"

With that, she went on with the others, leaving Katsuragi to ponder the sight that she had just seen.

"Captain."

Katsuragi found herself surprised to look over and see Eleanor, coming to a stop in front of her. "Is everything ready on your end?" she asked.

Katsuragi nodded. "At least as far as I can tell, yes, now that everyone who can be spared is back at Village-3. Ritsuko says we can turn this thing into a Spear whenever we want, the inner sentry turrets have been fully brought online, and the bays are ready to deploy your Evangelions at a moment's notice."

Eleanor nodded, then looked back from whence she came. Katsuragi followed her gaze to see Shinji turn the corner. It was perhaps the most surreal sight she'd seen, the young man walking towards her in that Plugsuit she'd kept from so long ago.

The boy came to a stop by Eleanor's side. "Sorry I'm late," he said quietly. "But I'm ready now."

Eleanor nodded. "You have Kaworu with you?"

Shinji nodded in turn. "He'll be riding with me in Unit-01. I hope he won't be too rough on my synch score."

"It should be fine," Eleanor said assuringly. "Go on to the engineering bay. I'll meet you there before I go and get ready."

Shinji nodded. "Okay."

He was still for a moment, looking up at Katsuragi. "Misato… thank you for giving me this chance."

Katsuragi sighed quietly before she nodded. "Do your best, Shinji. We're counting on you."

Shinji nodded, then began to make his way towards the engineering bay. Katsuragi watched him leave for a moment, then raised a hand. "Shinji."

He paused in the hallway, looking back at her. "Yes, Misato?"

She smiled slightly. "Do you remember the words I said to you that day?"

Shinji glanced away for a moment. "Do this for yourself. Don't worry about anyone else."

Katsuragi's smile widened slightly. "Make the world you wish to live in. I'd like to see it once this is done."

Shinji's eyes widened slightly, and then he nodded. "I will, Misato."

With that, he turned and walked away, Katsuragi watching until he disappeared.

"Captain…"

Katsuragi looked back at Eleanor and saw her hand held out to shake. "I know we've had our ups and downs during our stay here… but it's been an honor to serve with you here in WILLE."

Katsuragi took the proffered hand, shaking it firmly. "Thank you, Mrs. Theisman. Without you and the others, this wouldn't be possible."

Then, she frowned as she felt something… pulling at her. Like it was trying to lift the skin of her hand. "What the…"

The feeling stopped, and Eleanor retracted her hand and held it up, a disk of what looked like polished sea glass gleaming with an inner light stuck to her Plugsuit's glove. "Soul catcher. Just in case something happens."

Eleanor tucked the soul catcher away. "I want to make sure you see the world Shinji creates."

With that, she turned and began to follow after Shinji. "Good luck."

Katsuragi watched as Eleanor walked away, then turned to make her way to the bridge, her haste returning as she steeled herself for what was to come.

. . .

Daniel Theisman sat at the controls of Unit=00, perched atop his ship on the saucer section as it began to descend towards the deep red storm clouds that waited for them. This time, Shinji, Rei, and Mariah wouldn't be experiencing such a rough descent as when he and the kids had descended on the Hokkaido base. This time, their descent would be relatively controlled, the Aegis Drones deployed around the ship giving it a heat shield as it began to breach the atmosphere.

Daniel glanced back at the ships following them, four other ships unfurling their protections to keep from burning up as they approached. Eleanor would join them in Unit=10 once they'd gotten past the worst of it. But, for now, he simply looked ahead, watching the fires they made and hearing the wind split into thunder as they dove. Then, at last, the fires began to fade, the massive clouds of red obscuring them for long moments.

He felt a thump on the hull beside him, looking over to see the outline of Unit=10, likely having found its way over to him by Eleanor's Sight through this obscurity. In a moment, he strengthened the connection between their souls. "Welcome to the party crashing bus," he said with a slight grin.

"Hell of a party already." Eleanor mused. "You can't even see what's going on yet."

Daniel let his amusement shine through the link for a moment before contacting the bridge of the Val. "Ken, how's our approach?"

"We should be breaking through this cloud layer in the next 30 seconds," Kensuke replied. "Whatever you're going to do to break through, get it ready."
"Wait." Amaya's voice cut into the call as the clouds began to disperse. "Sensors are picking up 5 ships above the barrier."

They emerged from the swirling clouds, the stark white barrier below them. True to Amaya's word, five ships, clearly Scion Revival vessels, circled in a loose formation. And, as they saw them, it was very likely that the Scion vessels spotted them as well.

"I'm getting target locks on us!" Kensuke said, Daniel watching as the main guns of the Val began to hover in their channels. "I'm ready to fire, and I've got the others spreading out in case of area attacks."

"Good show, Ken," Mariah interjected, a note of giddiness to her voice. "But I think we're ready, right Puppy?"

"I'm ready, Mari," Shinji said with what sounded like some excitement of his own, Unit=01 and Unit=08 next to each other near the main body of the ship.

"Alright," Daniel said, smiling slightly. "Initiate Snowpiercer."

Daniel watched the glow of the AT-Field pylons on 01 and 08's shoulders rise in intensity, and after a moment, Mariah spoke again, her voice now echoing slightly as he heard it reverberating from the ships that they approached.

"Gooooood morning, Antarctica! This is Mariah Marlowe, voice of the resistance and your resident tune jockey, here to give those of you who now know your ships have been turned into the best speaker systems in the universe a good time! To let you know who we are, here's a little playlist to get the blood pumping! Hit it!"

Then, silence for a moment as they began their approach, followed by the sound of a song in the distance, growing louder as they got closer and saw the ships clearly beginning to list. "All ships," he said, "you are clear to engage. Take us in, Ken!"

"Coming to flank speed!" Kensuke said with satisfaction as the ship hummed for a moment, their speed visibly picking up as the other ships in their task force came into view, catching the floundering ships in a pincer.

"Fire!" Kensuke said, the main guns glowing purple before releasing lances of Metos, striking precisely at the few Aegis Drones that the ships had managed to deploy, the drones only soaking up a few direct hits before exploding dramatically.

Soon, the sky below the ominous crosses became awash with fire, sound, and fury as the first song finished and another song began to play. The ship that the Val had targeted, maybe a little bigger than the Abjurant, soon went up in a ball of prismatic flame as their Metos Core exploded. But it seemed that the other ships were getting ready to fight back, adjusting their courses as more Aegis Drones deployed to intercept the fire being directed at them.

Soon, Daniel stepped forward, unfurling an AT Field that felt far more powerful than usual as it blocked a shot, like a glowing golden comet, aimed squarely at their midships that had slipped past their Aegis net. The other ships in the task force became far more cautious, Daniel seeing the space around the Abjurant crackle with brilliant Flux chaff as it swirled in a knife fight with one of the ships.

"Are we able to read anything under the surface of the L-barrier?" Captain Katsuragi's voice cut through in Daniel's comms as he watched the Wunder sweep up and over a ship, twisting in the air to present its guns to a newly vulnerable top hull, its nearly automatic cannon fire raking across the ship in question.

"I'm guessing this is about all they can spare if things are going like I think they are," Daniel replied as the Val swept past two vessels, its Metos Lances fully living up to their name as shafts of baleful purple light swept across the hulls of the ships between them. "Even still, stay on your toes! We don't know if they have comms capabilities or not."

Daniel turned Unit=00 to face the ship that had been on their left as they passed, the Stellar Accelerator forming in its hands as its myriad floating sections began to spin rapidly. Daniel lined up a shot on the floundering ship's Metos Reactor, steadying the gun somewhat before, with a crack, a tiny crimson star flashed out, burrowing into the engine section. As Daniel turned away, the vessel exploded in dramatic fashion, the vessel the Wunder dueled with joining it seconds later.

"Alright," Daniel said as he observed the two ships that remained trying to break off, "get ready to follow us in once these two are taken care of."

As he spoke, he saw the flash of Dip Drive portals opening up, the smoking, somewhat burning Scion ships driving toward them without regard for the ships around them. "Are they insane?" Eleanor exclaimed as she saw the jittery and fluctuating portals, clearly unstable. "They're going to get torn apart trying to dip out of here!"

"We can't risk them sending for reinforcements!" Daniel said as he aimed his Stellar Accelerator at the ship closest to them. "Take them out!"

With that, all the weight of fire that 5 warships could bring to bear rained down on the two ships. Sweeping through their Aegis nets in seconds, the two ships went up nearly simultaneously, the Dip portals flickering out of existence.

After a tense moment Daniel spent waiting for anyone else to join the party, he breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Damage reports?" he asked a general comm link he opened to the other ships.

"We're down a few Aegis Drones," Captain Williamson replied. "Otherwise, minimal damage that the repair teams are dealing with now."

"We're largely undamaged as well." Commander Kaji said aboard theWunder. "Thank god for our AT Field."

"Minimal damage here, sir," Percival replied. "It seems your sonic attack was terribly effective."

Daniel smiled slightly at the completely satisfied Mariah. "Hussar Defiant, what's your status?"

Silence. "They look alright from here," Kensuke replied. "Maybe their comms got knocked out during the fight. Any personal comms you can detect on there, Amaya?"

"One moment," Amaya said.

After a minute or so, another call, voice-only, appeared in Daniel's view. "This is Captain Hrrikitari of the Hussar Defiant." a slightly buzzing voice came through. "We have sustained damage to our communications systems that should be repaired shortly. Otherwise, this attack was effective."

"Alright," Daniel said as Unit=00 strode towards the front of the Val, Rei in tow. "Now comes the hard part. Kensuke, get ready to take us in, just like we planned. Everyone else, form up behind us."

"Got it. Bringing us into position." Kensuke said as the Val began to tilt up, swooping into the air until it reached about a kilometer above their target, the ship tilting forward.

"Ready, Rei?" Daniel said as he focused, a circle of stars appearing right where their prow would hit.

Rei simply nodded, Unit=05 reaching out in front of the ship. In a moment, a massive, wide blade that gleamed in the sunlight was floating a few meters in front of the vessel. "Ready," Rei said calmly.

"Alright," Kensuke said. "We're going in!"

With that, the Val surged forward, the other Evas standing atop it gathering towards the center of the craft. After a moment that seemed agonizingly stretched out, the ram slammed into the surface of the barrier, the hexagons flying away from the impact with a sound like shattering porcelain, the ship splashing into what looked like a sea of LCL and continuing its mad dive. "Shinji, Mariah," Daniel said, "make some space for the wings!"

Unit=01 and Unit=08 reacted almost instantly, twin jets of blaring sound sweeping out to the sides, as the circle of stars followed the prow of the Val, carving a channel of clear space through the liquid and forcing it out, expanding as the Wunder came in behind them.

Down and down they dove, through the L-barrier's liquid stage, a place that lasted for long moments as bubbles floated past them, an empty sea still carrying with it a sense of foreboding, an unnatural calm before the storm. "Should I dismiss the ram head?" Rei asked.

"Not yet." Daniel replied, staring ahead at the shifting, twisting, and writhing sea 'floor' that waited for them. "We might need it to clear the path."

Rei nodded before they reached the bottom of the liquid, the Val bursting from the sea that was now above their heads to crash into a wave of massive bodies, the ram flinging the Failures of Infinity that floated in front of them out of the way, the massive tunnel that Daniel maintained with an ease that only a High Metos Level environment could provide keeping their descent quick.

Even still, it was, to some extent at least, unnervingly quiet as they passed between 'layers' of Failures. "Man," Mariah said as she watched Evangelions emerging from the ports on the Wunder's back, "is everybody really down there slugging it out?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Shinji replied. "If there are 30 ships down there, they've probably got NERV's attention and then some."

"How close to the Black Moon, Amaya?" Daniel asked.

"We'll be reaching our destination in about 2 minutes at present speed," Amaya said. "Get ready."

Everyone braced themselves on the Val's surface accordingly, Daniel relaying it back to the pilots behind them, who were just about ready now. They could see flashes through the bodies, hear in the distance explosions and weapons fire muffled by the bodies that surrounded them.

Daniel took a deep breath, bracing himself, as he was sure the others were, as they hit what was likely the final layer of Failures of Infinity that separated their ship from the hell that awaited them.

Finally, they broke through, emerging into a scene that, indeed, looked like a level out of the Inferno. Several ships were falling to the barren earth below in flames, far more active bodies of this world's mass-produced Evangelions, tan-gray things that had barren skulls, swirling around and through the embattled formation of Revival ships. The Revival's Herald Units, shot through with veins of glowing gold and obviously empowered by Tavis, cut through them in droves, hundreds, thousands even, of cross-shaped explosions dotting the sky and in various states of fading.

And in the center of it all, two beings of immense power clashed, a purple giant with twin Spears, and a being of white and gold, seemingly far removed from the Herald Units Daniel knew it had come from, wielding a massive golden sword.

"My god…" Misato said, Daniel glancing back at the Wunder. "Talk about Armageddon…"

"Alright everyone," Daniel said to a general channel as the rest of the ships began to form up, the Wunder in the center of a formation of the others at compass points, "It's time to get really friendly with speed because that's going to be how we win this. Escort squad, watch for me and Eleanor to draw the Hollow Saint away from Unit-13. Striker squads, use your AT Fields or Interfacing to take flight and harass enemy elements. Remember the priorities; ships, Herald Units, other Evas. Shield squads spread out across the task group, and make sure nothing touches the Wunder until phase 2. All clear?"

A shout of understanding and compliance echoed through his comms, and Daniel smiled. "Alright. Let's go make a miracle! Move out!"

As a cloud of Evas lifted into the air like charging valkyries, Daniel saw Eleanor come to his side as the glass ram disappeared. "Ready?" she asked on a private comm line.

Daniel nodded, aiming the Stellar Accelerator squarely at Hamar'ramah's back. "Hey there," he whispered. "Here I am."

With that, he fired, the shot arcing across the remaining length between them for long seconds before a tendril of gold batted the shot into a passing flight of mass-produced Evas. Daniel fired again, then again, the Herald Eva finally turning to face them after the fourth shot it deflected. In the place of the usual worm-like head, it looked at them with a humanoid helmet with a sunburst of rays above his brow. And Daniel knew that, somehow, it was looking directly at him.

Daniel and Eleanor linked their souls, becoming almost one as they lifted off on wings of starlight and white-capped water, swooping towards the Hollow Saint waiting patiently for them as the guns of the task force behind them began to open up on the rest of the fleet.

Deflecting a swipe of the Spears from Unit-13, it flew towards them on strands of golden light that lashed out at them as Daniel and Elanor came close. Daniel's Stellar Accelerator shortened into a rifle that he used to pepper the Herald Unit, Eleanor diving in close to swing a massive battle-ax at it, the pair clashing ax to sword as Daniel's shots arced around Unit=10.

Its tendrils, dripping with mist, swirled and struck at Eleanor as she dodged and weaved as if swimming through the air, tendrils of her own forming from her wings to clash with the Hollow Saint's. Several dozen tendrils extended as they swooped out towards Daniel, his rifle becoming a gunblade as he switched his targeting to the tendrils, slicing and shooting the whip-like attacks. More than a few managed to get through his defenses, Daniel only taking grazing hits through dexterity enhanced to the Third Peak and an absurd amount of luck. Luck that was running out as the wounds steadily grew deeper and deeper.

'We didn't expect to keep this up forever, but this…' Daniel thought, wincing as a golden tendril sank into his chest. "Nynrya!"

Before he could continue, he felt a bloom of heat on his back, one that he suspected should have been far hotter than it was.

"I'll watch your back, Daniel!" Nynrya said. "We have warships starting to focus on us!"

Daniel didn't need to look behind him to know that Nynrya was probably right. "I think I have a better idea!" he replied as he desperately tried to balance everything around him with the added bonus of weaving an Expression that he had built before coming to this Echo.

"Hurry!" Nynrya cried as Daniel watched Eleanor's ax flying away from a strike by the Hollow Saint, Eleanor barely catching the blade as it dove towards Unit=10's core. The blade shuddered from the strength that the Hollow Saint pressed it, the tip slowly growing closer and closer.

'Just a little more…' Daniel thought, tamping down the panic as several golden lashes wrapped around Unit=10, keeping her from escaping. Then, the pieces within him clicked. 'Done! Let's hope I do good by you, Mothra!'

His Unit's wings glowed, and from within, a massive tide of stars shot out like glitter, spreading out and floating throughout the space. As it reached the Herald Unit before them, touching the tendrils, the stars began to burn through them, finally releasing Unit=10 after several tendrils had been scorched away.

As Daniel floated towards the dueling Evas, the second effect he'd threaded through the Expression revealed itself as he watched what was likely a shot from another enemy Seabreaker twisting away from them, darting between stars as Eleanor deflected the blade, reforming her ax and hacking at the Hollow Saint.

"Alright," Daniel said to Nynrya, "now you and I can focus on taking the fight to Hamar'ramah."

"With pleasure,"

Nynrya replied, her blades swooping back around into his sight to clash with the Hollow Saint.

It wasn't much, but it would give them a little more time. "Escort team," Daniel said, "If you aren't moving already, get going now!"

. . .

Asuka Shikinami-Langley stood on the wing of the Wunder and couldn't help but stare at the absolute chaos that now surrounded her. The sheer variety of lights, sounds, and effects that swirled in front of the eerily silent Black Moon. Squads of friendly Evangelions, pairs, trios, and four-man squads, hopped from ship to ship, slipping past shields and laying waste to weapons, hulls, and engines. The dark reflections of their ship took advantage of the new chaos, rising through the cloud of enemy ships on waves of scores and scores of Evangelions that Hyuga had identified as the 'Mark.07' and laying waste to those vessels around them.

She was surrounded by 5 other Evangelions, with Mari escorting her alongside Strasburg, Vincennes, Cavey, and Falkenrath. They were all wildly different from each other, and yet it lent them all a strange sense of unity; a ragtag group brought together to accomplish one thing to the best of their ability.

So when Daniel gave them his signal, they lifted off from the wing of the Wunder as one.

As they glided toward their prominent target, in the midst of a duel with several Herald Units, one already tumbling towards the earth, Asuka heard Vincennes call out on the comm channel that they shared. "Any strike teams near our position, help us punch a hole to our target!"

As the Evangelions around her manifested weapons of many different kinds, Asuka simply stretched out her hand, thinking of the chaingun in the Wunder's storage bay, her thought answered as it appeared in her waiting hand thanks to specialized transponders attached to the weapons. She brought it around, seeing an oncoming wave of Mark.07s that was crashing towards their charge. 'Perfect.'

She steadied the gun, and simply held the trigger down. The spray of Anti-AT Field rounds causing the Marks ahead to explode into brilliant crosses was its own reward. But it was hardly alone, as a barrage of elements, energy, and physical rounds crashed into the oncoming wave of bodies with a force all its own, those few strike teams that could lend a hand sending heavy munitions their way as well.

They dove through the cross-shaped explosions like crossing through a fireworks display of their own making, the chaingun running hot, then running dry. She used it like a club for a few moments, batting away Mark after Mark, then threw it into an oncoming half dozen of them, reaching out in front of her for her next weapon.

A massive shield, its front covered in missile tubes, appeared in her hand, and she held it in front of her as she waited for the target acquisition to complete, then triggered the massive storm of missiles that arced away from them, sweeping towards the Marks and making even more glowing crosses bloom in front of her. It made her grin giddily, that old thrill of piloting her Evangelion flaring to life within her as she used the now somewhat useless hunk of metal as a plow to cut a swathe through those Marks that her escort didn't manage to get out of her way.

"Heads up!" Falkenrath shouted. "MP… Herald Units inbound!"

As Falkenrath finished speaking, Asuka yelped as glowing claws, like AT Fields, speared through the metal unit she held like so much paper, stopping only inches away from Unit-02's face before slicing the rest of the shield in half. The mug that leered eyelessly at her was a familiar one, but the Eva that she'd seen in Terminal Dogma was now shot through with golden lines forming geometric shapes all around the body.

Asuka scowled as she used the halves of her former shield like a club, one after the other slamming into the Eva before being tossed away as she summoned a rather more appropriate weapon.

The strange circular-saw-headed polearm was there in an instant, the covers snapping open and the blades beginning to howl as she shouted, bringing the weapon down on the pallid thing in front of her after nullifying its rather considerable AT Field. The blade bit and tore, gouts of LCL, blood, whatever the hell these things had inside them spraying everywhere as the Herald Unit struggled to escape.

Eventually, it succeeded, its skin bubbling and twisting as it did its best to piece itself together. But Asuka charged ever onward, slashing with both ends of the polearm in a series of strikes that was almost like a dance, each move sending more and more blood flying away.

Finally, the Herald Unit disengaged, Asuka shouting in triumph. Her celebratory attitude was cut short as she watched one of the Heaven's Key vessels rising up, far too many of its eye-like turrets focussing on them for her liking.

But the flash that lit up the vessel's surface was instead its AT Field as what was either fire from the task force or the fleet that now surrounded them began to lay into it, the flashing whirs that always seemed to set her on edge instead directed over their heads. For now, that was enough. Unit-13 was close now.

That it turned from the scattering Herald Evas to regard her, in particular, sent a shiver down her spine, Bardiel within her jibbering in fear. A part of her hated how the Angel inside her had to be 'loosened', but with what was coming next, Asuka needed to trust Daniel's judgment and skills. 'Besides,' she mused grimly, 'I'd hate to leave Bradley all alone in there.'

"Alright," Vincennes said, "we've got as straight a shot as we'll get to the target! Mari, watch our backs. Everyone else, pin this thing down, and don't let the Spears touch you!"

With that, her escort flew forward towards Unit-13, which met their charge with patient waiting. As Falkenrath and Strasberg made contact first, they deftly dodged the first jabs of the Spears it held, Vincennes and Cavey batting them out of the way with spears of their own of flames and thunder as the first strikers made their way behind the massive Eva.

As Unit-13 did its best to keep up with the withering barrage of attacks, a pair of AT Fields like manacles flashed into existence on the wrists of its second pair of arms, slowly dragging them off of the hafts of the Spears and back almost painfully.

Unit-13's eyes flashed, Vincennes and Cavey veiled in an explosion that sent them flying away, Mari pausing from laying into a wave of Marks that had made their way towards them to catch them with an AT Field of her own, springing them back into the fight. As that happened, however, Unit-13 flew back, sweeping the Spears out to try to try and catch Falkenrath and Strasberg unawares.

As the two pilots swooped out of the way, two more AT Field cuffs appeared on the other arms as the cuffs expanded to lock the arms in place. "Cavey!" Strasberg called out. "Try locking this thing's body in place. We're going to be here all day otherwise."

"Good call! I'll keep its eyes shut!" Vincennes said as Cavey raised a hand, an AT Field wrapping around Unit-13's lower body while a thick AT Field from Vincennes wrapped around the Eva's head, a glow from behind it appearing for a moment before disappearing as Unit-13 struggled against its bonds.

"Alright, Asuka!" Vincennes said. "I don't know how long this is going to work! It's now or never!"

Asuka took a deep breath, retrieving the Shutdown Override Plug from the mounting on her back, then charged with a shout as the Plug in her hands primed, becoming a cross-shaped stake that she aimed squarely at the core of Unit-13.

Then, she felt a tug in the back of her head as she slammed to a stop, an AT Field blooming into existence and stopping the Override Plug dead in its tracks, inches from the core. "No!" Bardiel at last shouted. "I am free! Don't make me go back! I will not be chained again!"

"Damn you! Just let me do this!" Asuka shouted in return, trying to break the Field with all the strength she could muster. But even still, with only a sliver of herself in Unit-02 proper, Bardiel's presence overridden her, and the Field held strong.

"Fine!" she spat. "We'll do this the hard way, then!"

With that, she tore off her eyepatch, revealing the socket underneath. Within, the top of it rising out of the socket, was the small ACC Pillar that Doctor Akagi had inserted as a last line of defense against the Angel. Here, in the Evangelion, it was also the last thing preventing her from becoming what Shinji had been that fateful day in Tokyo-3 all those years ago.

Right now, becoming like Shinji suited her just fine.

She grabbed hold of the Pillar, shouting in pain as she pulled the damnable thing free. Slowly at first, slowly, then all the rest at once, the Pillar came free, her eye becoming whole again as both of them began to glow a brilliant blue.

"We're gonna do this together," Asuka said as the Pillar floated to the bottom of the Plug, "or I'm going to rip your AT Field apart to do this."

She took a moment to take in the power that she felt, seemingly boundless. Like she could do anything she needed to save the world. 'This was how important Ayanami was to him.' she realized. 'This was how important I was.'

She reached within herself, within the Evangelion, and reunited her soul, then took the straining, panicking Bardiel and lashed it to herself. It was… so simple. But even now, she could feel the change beginning, more fundamental than any she'd experienced yet.

"Get clear! Sh-" was the last thing Asuka heard Mari say before the Plug's power cut out. But it didn't matter, as she felt the Evangelion she was in in a way that she never had before. She could almost see the transformation that it was undertaking, energy blooming within Unit-02 and exploding from it, the new body she commanded growing and growing in stature as the Override Plug became a massive cross in its hands. After a moment, Unit-02, orange ribbons where its pylons once were flapping in the wind, towered over Unit-13, which now, even freed from its bonds like it was, stayed oddly still.

Even still, Bardiel's AT Field stubbornly remained, the Angel still acting as best he could in defiance of his fate. "Fine, then!" Asuka said, willing the ribbons on her shoulders to become another pair of arms that flashed down to Bardiel's AT Field. "I'll tear this open!"

She pulled the AT Field apart with all her might, Bardiel still putting up the best fight that he could. But even an Angel couldn't compete with someone as strong-willed as Asuka having ascended to near godhood. At last, the AT Field tore, and the cross began to descend on its target.

At last, though, Unit-13 acted, its eyes flashing with power. And in an instant, her hands were gone, the Override Plug consumed in the blast. Asuka screamed in pain, her hands glowing a brilliant red.

As her concentration slipped, she could feel her form shrinking, the energy that she had gathered scattering as Unit-13 drew closer and closer. Finally, Unit-13 reached up, grabbing Unit-02 firmly by the neck. Asuka forced herself to breathe through the immense sympathetic pain.

Finally, she felt Unit-13 drive its remaining free hand through her sternum, reaching for a moment before grabbing hold of what she knew was her Entry Plug. 'Come on…' she thought now, feeling Bardiel being drawn away to parts unknown within the Plug. 'Daniel better be right about this…'

Then, as the plug turned a deep, shifting blue, she saw a curtain of white part at the far end of the Plug, a silhouetted figure stepping through and floating over to stand on top of her controls.

Asuka Langley breathed a sigh of relief as Asuka Bradley crouched down in front of her. "Thank god, you actually made it. Did Commander Ikari notice you?"

Bradley shook her head. "I don't think so. I've barely been able to feel him while we've been active. It's like he's focusing on something else while I stay in the driver's seat. I get feelings, directives maybe, but not much more than that."

Langley sighed. "Well, then let's hope us being here doesn't spoil the plan to him."

Bradley nodded, then looked past Langley. "What the hell…"

Langley looked back then saw a piece of core material growing on the side of her Plug, metastisizing like some malignant tumor. "I guess Bardiel's staking his hopes on not being noticed in here."

Bradley shook her head. "Well, ready for the next part?" she said as she held out a hand.

Langley took it. "As I'll ever be. They'd better not screw this up out there."

Bradley simply smiled as they returned, Langley letting go of her form as her soul drifted into Unit-13, to a place where she would be kept safe by Bradley. All part of the plan. But somehow, Langley thought as she left Unit-02 behind, this was supposed to be the easy part.