Same Day
Same Time
Same Place
The viewscreen showed the rapidly descending ordinance, seconds away from detonating onto the angel. As the angel stood unaware in the city's center, the bomb was meters away from its neckless and birdlike head. The moment it stuck, the raw matter disintegrated from existence. The air around it was now nonexistent and a huge wave of energy was dispersed, along with a powerful shockwave.
Monitoring Equipment quickly went offline and the shockwave shook the facility despite being kilometers away. Employees braced themselves as they shook and rattled, with some almost falling out of their seats.
Commander Ikari sat on the top of the highest pillar in the room, watching everyone stationed below. The Generals watched and waited, staring at the viewscreen.
"There is no way that thing would have survived that."
"Reestablishing connection."
A quick crackle of the speakers and the Viewscreen soon synced up with the outside view of the battlefield. Standing in the inferno was the angel, melted and damaged, but still standing, and still alive…
"God damn it! That was our only ace in the hole…"
Annoyed and frustrated, a General gave a side eye to Gendo, who was already approaching the group. Now standing before them, Gendo shifted his glasses into place and stared right at them, already knowing what they would say.
"Ikari, are you sure this weapon of yours will be able to handle this… thing?"
There was a brief moment of silence before Gendo gave a slight smug smile.
"Of course. This is our purpose."
With a grunt, the Generals lowered their platform and began to walk off with annoyed looks.
Turning around, he faced the rest of the Bridge and shouted their first official order in this new war.
"Begin preparing Units 00 and 01!"
Alarms blared within both cages, signaling to stand clear of the heavy machinery and to avoid the now draining cages.
Coolant poured in the hundreds of gallons out from drainage ducts into a collection tank below.
Ground crew nearby scrambled to their stations to monitor and carry out their skills to prepare the behemoth of a titan.
"Coolant drain complete, now releasing Cage restraints!"
A new set of alarms went off, and the loud thrum of heavy motors and machinery slid across a track designed to hold the weight of thousands of tons of heavy restraints.
A loud Ka-Chunk echoed over the chamber as it was fully retracted and away from the Evangelion.
CLANK!
"Lockdown bolts number one and two are unlocked, beginning umbilical cable attachments"
The Evangelion's shoulders slumped downward, settling into the launch platform and further securing it and readying for launch. An automated arm attached the high-voltage umbilical cable to the Evangelion's back. It carried over 100 amps of 360 volts AC behind it.
A slight tingle rushed throughout Shinji's body as he felt a phantom touch on his back. Soon enough he also felt a jolt of energy, now feeling invigorated.
"Beginning Entry Plug flooding and onboard Independent Computer Systems."
The loud rush of liquids being poured in echoed through the entry plug, followed by a quick high-pressure jet of sweet-smelling liquid being injected.
A simple system to make the flavor of LCL bearable for the young pilots, with Shinji taking cherry, and Rei having a butterscotch flavor for theirs.
"LCL Flooding complete. Beginning A10 Neural Synchronization."
A slight ringing in his ears began and a tingle went down his spine. A cascade of test patterns and colors filled the viewscreen, indicating his connection to the Evangelion's body and biological computers. Shinji felt as if he was now 80 meters tall. He felt strong and powerful, that he could now take on the rest of the battle ahead of him. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, and his mind was focused on synching up.
By this point, the Angel had already quickly made its way to Tokyo-III by levitating just enough into the air and past the mountains.
"A10 Synchronization complete, clearing paths for both Units 00 and 01 to their respective launch pads. All personnel, stand clear of the launch restraints."
Hobbling onto the bridge, with a cane clicking on the metal floor in tandem with heels clacking along, An aged woman with pink glasses walked up beside Naoko and laid a hand on her shoulder. Naoko placed her hand on hers and patted it, instantly knowing who it was and smiling softly.
"Naoko, are you ready? For the ensuing battles to come?"
The woman said, taking her hand back and adjusting her glasses back up. A concerned face was plastered on her, as she worried about how her colleague and old friend felt about all this. She had stuck with the Akagis and the Ikaris since the beginning of Project E, and even before Second Impact.
She made a personal promise to Yui to take care of Shinji as well…
"We'll be fine, Mari. We'll get through this, all of us, together. Shinji and Rei are strong kids."
There was hesitation and the smallest hint of doubt in her voice, a slight quiver too. Mari decided not to push her further and turned her attention and gaze back to the viewscreen where she saw the two Evangelions finally reach the launch tubes.
A series of beeps came from a technician's terminal, giving her the vital information needed for the safe and secure launch of the Titans.
"Launch path cleared. Unit 00 will take Exit 32B and Unit 01 will take Exit 32A."
Called out the tech, whose chair was labeled with their name 'Maya Ibuki'.
A woman in a red jacket and black skirt listened in closely to the Bridge, making sure there were no obstacles in their way of launch. Getting the general go-ahead from across the Bridge. One Misato Katsuragi moved her gaze up to the Commander's Pillar, staring and preparing to ask the big question everyone was anxiously awaiting.
"Commander Ikari, do we have your permission for launch?"
There was a brief silence for a moment. Everybody held their breath. They knew this man would not back down now. A hidden grin formed behind his hands.
"We are the final defense for humanity, and so, you have my permission for launch."
Without hesitation or delay, Misato spun around to the crew and barked her order. While she didn't show it, she was anxious and afraid of the uncertainty of the situation. Rei and Shinji have both trained hard and tirelessly for this very day, and she knew they would do their very best to beat the Angels that have finally arrived.
"LAUNCH EVAS!"
MATERNAL PROGRAMMING REVISION 2
EPISODE 2
"Military Precision"
Same Time
Same Day
A quick and swift move from the bridge crew initiated the launch, following Misato's orders without hesitation. A series of confirmation chirps blared out from the manned stations, letting everyone know the command was received and being carried out.
MET: +00:00:01
An almost earsplitting crackle emanated from the electromagnetically powered Catapults as they charged up and forced themselves off the ground and into the launch tubes at breakneck speeds. Forces reaching several Gs pushed Shinji and Rei down into the crash couches of the entry plug. Shinji steeled himself, and Rei gritted their teeth, resisting the urge to crumple and slump down.
MET: +00:00:09
It was a few seconds later and the two had already neared the zenith of the GeoFront. The Catapult was powerful, and more than capable of getting them to their destinations in less than it took to simply walk across the Primary Command Center.
MET: +00:00:11
With a slamming thud, the two Evangelion Units reached exit points, 32A and 32B respectively. Their heads jolted and locked into the operational position, allowing both pilots to see even more clearly, and to see their target staring at Unit 01 with a confused and curious look.
"Shinji, Rei, Are you ready?"
Asked Misato over TacNet, uncertainty finally exposing her true feelings in her voice.
"We're ready to begin!"
"I'm ready to kick some ass!"
Without saying a word to them, she gave her final order to the Bridge Crew to finally let Rei and Shinji perform their duties as Evangelion Pilots. They have been in years of training, just for this moment to inevitably happen.
They were ready.
"EVANGELION UNITS 00 and 01, LIFT OFF!"
KACHUNK!
MET: +00:00:25
The Catapult's Launch Tower restraints finally unlocked themselves and freed the two units from its grip. Neither Shinji nor Rei allowed themselves to rest from the uncomfortable ride, instead, they simply and cautiously walked up to the almost fully healed Angel. The duo studied it for a moment, trying to find any possible ways of catching it off guard and making a first-strike move.
The Angel also watched them closely, trying to see if they were a threat to it. However, something was off about these two "things". They smelled… Familiar… The Blue one especially… But, before the Angel could investigate, the two Evangelions made their first move, pulling out a weapon from buildings beside them.
Shinji and Rei now wielded an Evangelion-sized pistol that bore much resemblance to a Magnum Research Desert Eagle, which wasn't far from the truth, as Magnum Research did indeed design this for NERV.
"Rei, take point first, I'll go next!"
"Rodger!"
Rei took their aim at the Angel and fired. Massive shell casings were ejected out in synchronization with the actual bullets themselves. The loud bangs shattered windows and rattled anything that wasn't fully secured to the ground.
KATHUNG!
KATHUNG!
KATHUNG!
KATHUNG!
The first two out of four bullets that Rei had fired, struck the Angel in the shoulder, while the last two were intercepted by the Angel's AT Field. It simply bounced off, with its kinetic energy ignored as it fell to the ground. Unsurprised at the Angel's abilities, Rei kept firing, keeping its attention on them while Shinji could sneak up and strike.
But suddenly, the Angel charged towards Rei and deployed its white-hot plasma rods from its arms, taking a swing at Rei's pistol and cutting it in two, effectively making it useless. Seeing this, they stumbled backward and dropped the broken firearm on the ground where it cracked the road.
The angel strode towards Rei, its eyes now glowing a purplish glow. Fear grew inside Rei, as they didn't know what else to do. They didn't even know if such an attack could be evaded quickly enough in time.
Just as Rei was about to jump out of the way, a purple hand carrying a Prog Knife stabbed the Angel in the shoulder, prompting it to scream out in agony and anger. Its eyes were still in the process of charging up when it turned to face Shinji, who was already preparing to stab again. Seeing the immediate threat, he quickly struck the Angel upwards just enough to knock its face up toward the sky.
VEEZOM!
A brilliant purple beam shot into the sky, barely missing Unit 01, but just enough to melt its demon-like horn right off.
"Primary Telemetry Transceiver destroyed, switching over to Secondary Telemetry Transceiver."
A crackle and beep told both the Bridge crew and Shinji that the switch-over was successful, but that was the least of Shinji's concerns. Instead, he felt the searing heat of the blast on the front part of his head. Losing the horn burned a bit, but he tried to ignore the pain.
A struggle soon ensued, with the angel attempting to grab onto his Unit and Shinji fighting to make sure it didn't grab a hold of him. Just as Shinji was about to try for another strike, Rei called out to him.
"Shinji, spin him towards me!"
He didn't hesitate despite his mind doing so. Spinning it around to face Rei, it was soon met with a stab right into its core. Rei tried their best to keep pushing deeper and deeper with the Prog Knife they wielded.
The Angel let out a terrible and earsplitting screech, as it struggled to regain its freedom and escape the gut-wrenching pain it is now under.
Sparks flew from the incision, both from the hardened crystal material of the core and the vibrating nature of the Prog Knife.
Its struggle soon weakened the more time the knife was in the core.
The Screech turned into a whimper, which soon faded away into a dying sigh as its life was soon extinguished
.
.
.
Silence.
There were no words.
Nothing other than the thrum of the entry plug, the heavy breathing of both pilots and their hearts beating loudly inside them. Nothing broke the silence until a lone technician spoke up, to give out new information.
"Pattern Blue has disappeared and readings are silent… The Angel has been defeated."
…
"Mission Complete."
Total MET: 00:04:43
An eruption of cheers broke out all across the PCC. People who weren't native to Japan or originally didn't speak English cheered in their first language. A sense of hopefulness and joy could be felt across the facility as they now knew the Evangelion was indeed worthy and capable of defeating these new enemies of mankind.
A weak and tired chuckle came from both Rei and Shinji. Their mind and bodies are both exhausted from the now-completed and successful sortie against the Angel.
"We did it Rei… We fucking did it…"
"Yeah… We really did fucking did it…"
Tokyo-III
Recovery Base Camp
4:22 PM JST
Shinji and Rei sat next to each other with a mylar blanket wrapped around them. People in hazmat suits examined and took their vitals, making sure they were safe to be around unprotected. A group of four people in suits came up to them, with one walking with a cane.
Both of the children instantly knew who they were. A HazMat Specialist came up to the group and took off their helmet, giving them the go-ahead to do so as well, as Shinji and Rei were deemed healthy and uncontaminated.
A series of hisses came from the positive pressure suits as the group of woman took off their helmets. Standing before them were Mari, Ritsuko, Misato, and most importantly; Naoko. A proud and joyous look was plastered on her face as she rushed over to hug the two, giving them kisses on their foreheads.
None of them resisted, and instead happily accepted the displays of affection from the proud mother. Ritsuko walked over and gave the two a quick hug, not wanting to smother them.
"You have no idea how proud I am of you two! You both did absolutely wonderful out there!"
She was practically beaming with joy. She was now the proud momma of a savior of the human race.
Technicians also gave their cheers and thank yous from across the recovery site. Shinji and Rei have never been both so exhausted and proud in their entire lives. They knew the road ahead would be rough and exhausting, but such were the duties they had to perform. They really had no other choice.
"Shinji, Rei, you both did an amazing job out there today and I couldn't be more proud of how you both worked so well together."
Congratulated Misato, as she also had a proud look on her face. In fact, it would be a lie to say that the other two women didn't have a proud look on their faces. Mari stepped up next and patted both Shinji and Rei, her perpetually tired look also bearing a smile that she couldn't hide even if she wanted to.
Naoko soon let go and clasped her hands together, an idea in her head, and once she had such an idea, it was hard to convince her otherwise.
"How about we all go and get a special dinner? We can use the NERV Recreational funds for this. I'll treat you, and the rest of the bridge to it!"
Not wanting to turn down a free dinner, or disappoint Naoko, both of the children immediately nodded their heads and agreed.
"Yeah!"
"Of course!"
To be continued in the next Episode.
I am very very sorry for the lack of updates recently on any of my fics! I've been dealing with a lot of things and college classes. I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope to see you all again in the next!
-DerpymanMT