A/N: I'm so sorry for the mountain of words in the briefing room scene but it seemed to be the only way my brain would let me get past the writer's block :/
Also, the "positron rifle" (whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean) is some grade A nonsense, so I changed it to a long-range artillery piece I could (almost) actually believe the existence of
X-X-X
Chapter 14
X-X-X
A cascade of static and flashing colors filled Asuka's view. She was blind, except for the HUD elements, which appeared to be working normally. From the physical feedback, Unit 02 seemed to be lying on her back in the sand; Asuka couldn't identify anything that felt like serious damage, but there was an odd weight imbalance somewhere on her thorax.
Reboot and recalibrate upper optics, she mentally commanded, hammering the manual controls on the column as she broke into vocalization. "Now, verdammt. I can work with just two eyes if I have to -"
Half of the visual display went black, then blinked back into a normal view. Asuka was, indeed, lying on her back. Her display showed a lovely view of the starry night sky.
With another blink, the smear of noise in the lower half of the display vanished, and the upper half expanded to fill the display. Asuka cringed at the reduction in up-down field of vision.
"Reboot and recalibrate lower optics," she grunted, shifting to roll the mech onto its side. "Ishtar! Report!"
"I'm okay," came the other pilot's voice, although the strained tone belied his words. "It fired at you, not me. The angel - err, seraph - seems to have stopped; I don't think it can charge another shot so quickly, but I can't get through its AT field alone."
Asuka vaulted to her feet as Unit 02's second set of eyes came back online. Unit 01 and the seraph were currently locked in a standoff - the Evangelion was blocking its path towards Nagano, and the alien being was clearly not quick enough to out-maneuver Shinji.
Lieutenant Aoba's face popped up on Asuka's comms, looking grim. "Moloch, the Seraph's attack didn't damage the Eva herself, but she's lost a significant chunk of armor over her right side. Step carefully; you've got a nasty weak spot now."
"Got it," Asuka ground out. "Ishtar, it looks like it fires on the active attacker. I want you to follow up the AT neutralization this time; if it sets its sights on you, I'll hit it from behind. Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." Shinji drew Unit 01's left prog-knife, and for a second, Asuka felt extremely foolish. Of course a knife in the off hand would augment the follow up after brute force strike - I can't believe I missed that -
"Go!"
Drawing her own knife in her left hand, she dashed forward, channeling all the AT energy she could muster into Unit 02's right fist.
She couldn't hold back the grunt of pain this time, and there was a sharp cracking sound as most of her gauntlet shattered under the impact of a jumping strike against the seraph's full-strength AT field. It felt like every bone in her arm had been dislocated and forced back into place in the same motion.
But, as she struck, she saw the AT field flicker - and a millisecond later, the report of Shinji's strike broke it completely.
With an immense hovering cube between her and Unit 01, Asuka couldn't see exactly when Shinji struck. She presumed it was near enough to when she did, because the seraph only let out a single discernable scream; once again loud enough to leave her ears ringing. The crystalline material proved to be just plastic enough that it didn't crack as her knife went in, but the seraph seemed to feel just as injured by the action.
The seraph's howl of agony definitely seemed to last longer this time, however. As it finally started to lose steam, Asuka glanced briefly at her comm windows.
Wait, are they shouting? Can't hear a fucking thing over this goddamn screaming beast -
And then the seraph fired its energy weapon.
From the other side of it, Asuka's view was limited, but she managed to observe the seraph's entire body separating into two discrete halves with a scant two or three meters between them. Suspended dead in the center was the core, which was the source of the death ray.
The death ray that was striking Unit 01 dead center in the chest. Asuka distantly registered Shinji's scream of agony over the comm.
Hurensohn!
The seraph reassembled itself in another blink of an eye, but Asuka knew that its offensive resources were drawn from its AT field strength - it would be weak for a few seconds after firing.
Snarling furiously, she pulled her prog-knife back and stabbed again. This time she twisted, pushing the handle of the blade sideways until it snapped.
Well, who the fuck needs a knife, anyway?
She pivoted her shoulders in a straight punch, inclined downwards to strike the sloped body of the seraph dead-on. Lacking armor over Unit 02's right fist, she felt at least one finger break, but she was riding too high on adrenaline to care.
I'll kill you! I'll fucking kill you, arschloch!
The punch had left several new cracks, including a large one between the two stab wounds she'd inflicted. The seraph's AT field shimmered back into position, but her hands were already through it: She jammed her fingers into the fissure and pulled.
There was an earsplitting boom as the seraph's body sustained another massive break. A fresh torrent of blue blood poured from the wound, and the AT field around it flickered.
"Oh, yeah. I've fucking got you now. You're dying and you fucking know it," Asuka growled. Jamming her hand deeper into the wound - although from the consistency of the 'flesh', the word crevasse felt more appropriate - she wedged her elbow against the opposing side and put the force of her shoulder into widening the crack.
The seraph effectively fell apart. Its body was riven into two uneven chunks of blue-stained crystal, and unlike when it fired its energy weapon, it was clearly not capable of reassembling itself on a whim this time. Although its AT field still suspended both pieces of its body, it could no longer properly hold itself together.
Most notable, however, was the red orb embedded in the jagged surface of one segment.
Time to end this, Lieutenant Langley-Soryu.
Pushing through the AT field felt extremely odd; it seemed to simultaneously have the consistency of thick cobwebs and jelly. However, in the seraph's weakened state - and with Unit 02's arms already through - it wasn't much of a challenge for Asuka to step right into the thing's guts.
Such as they are. Hell, freakish alien monstrosities with eldritch magical powers - why not be made of rock, too? Makes as much fucking sense as anything else!
Her second step put her just close enough. It was an awkward angle, and she had to use her left hand, but she was within striking range.
She swung another punch, connecting Unit 02's gargantuan fist with the seraph's core -
And once again her Evangelion's sensors blanked out into static and white noise, this time with a lot more pain involved. The force of the blast lifted the Evangelion like a toy and bodily threw her; Unit 02 landed hard on her back and skidded some distance in the sand.
For a moment all Asuka could do was lie there. Even with the hydrostatic cushioning of the LCL, she'd been thrown around in the cockpit hard enough that there had to be a risk of whiplash. On top of that, the feedback from being hit by a massive explosion had left throbbing spots of pain all over Asuka's body.
Gingerly, she pressed some of the buttons on the control column. The glitching HUD vanished, then reappeared, apparently largely fixed; the external optics were still showing offline static.
Fuel at 72%. Reactor output level 4 [automatically set]: 5.2 years remaining. Current power output level is sufficient for life support and entry plug subsystems ONLY.
Entry plug interface active. Electronic subsystems and central nervous system powered off. Synchronicity capped at 10% while in low power mode.
EVA-UNIT02 has sustained DEBILITATING DAMAGE. Level 1 or 2 activation not recommended.
Noncombatant mobility functions: OUT OF CALIBRATION RANGES. Mobility may not be fully functional. Level 3 activation is recommended only in the capacity of retreating for extraction.
"Reboot… and recalibrate all optics," she groaned. "Power up to level three activation. Reactivate comms."
The moment the comm interface appeared, Misato's worried face popped up on her HUD. "Moloch! Asuka, thank God you're still kicking. The seraph is dead, but we haven't been able to raise Shinji on the comms. Ishtar is cold; even if that death ray didn't hit her reactor, she's as good as wrecked until we can drag her back to the repair bay." The captain looked at something to the side of the video feed. "A helicopter will pick you both up from Matsushiro. The angel proper has been located, and the Commander wants all officers briefed on the battle plan… and in Shinji's case, Headquarters has better medical facilities than Matsushiro."
Well, a soldier's work is never done. And fuck if I'm leaving a teammate down… one who kind-of took a bullet for me, no less.
The optics flickered, faded to black, then resolved into a proper image. Asuka idly noted the cracks over two of the eye lenses as she pushed herself painfully to her feet, and began limping over to where the purple Evangelion lay.
X-X-X
"Doctor Akagi." The Commander's voice somehow managed to keep a hint of its trademarked menacing echo, even in the significantly more confined space of the briefing room. "You said you had ideas pertaining to this new threat. You have the floor."
"Thank you, sir." Ritsuko quickly tapped out the instruction to connect her tablet to the briefing room's wall display; a large heatmap overlay of the west coast of Japan appeared, with a glaring blue dot offshore that clearly represented an angel's AT signature. "At fifty-one minutes after midnight, the pacific grid picked up an AT signal significantly stronger than that of the first seraph. Although we cannot yet with absolute certainty assert that this is the angelic master unit, at a more than one hundred percent increase in AT strength and a trajectory bound for Tokyo-3, we have no choice but to treat this new threat as our primary focus."
There were murmurs of assent from the assembled officers. Even the Commander nodded slightly.
"Current predictions have the angel in a position for a clear shot at the geofront dome's thinnest point by 0548 hours." A slide showing a projected route of the angel across the Tokyo-3 metro zone appeared. "The amount of time it will take to puncture the armored defense layer is currently unclear - I've ascertained that its energy weapon behaves similarly to that of its subunit, but the data isn't complete yet. Oblique shots will take a great deal of time, but acute fire may damage the angel itself with splash damage." Ritsuko paused, taking a deep breath. "In the worst case scenario, it will take the angel about six hours to breach the geofront. In the best case, it will take about thirty. Time, therefore, is of the essence."
Lieutenant-Commander Fuyutsuki inclined his head slightly. "Should we presume, then," he said, "that you are already working on a plan to defeat this thing?"
"Better," Ritsuko said, trying not to smirk. "I've already finished my plan - rather, mine and the good captain's, since she suggested some aspects of it - and issued relevant orders. It's being set up as we speak; Captain Katsuragi has titled it Operation Yashima."
"On whose authority, doctor?" Fuyutsuki replied, his voice chilling sharply.
"On my own, as second officer of NERV. You're welcome to overrule me, of course, but trust me - if I could come up with a better plan than this, I already would have." The doctor stared right into Fuyutsuki's gaze, daring him to challenge her.
They were not given a chance to finish their staredown, however. "Proceed, Doctor," Gendo said, his voice as neutral as ever.
"Thank you, sir." Ritsuko returned her attention to her tablet, bringing up a bewildering mess of charts and still photos from battle footage with the seraph - as well as shots of the angel itself - an eight-sided monstrosity that was much, much larger than the seraph had been. "A single direct hit from this angel's seraph was enough to completely incapacitate an Evangelion unit; the unit with the strongest available AT field, no less. With the AT power increase of this angel, a direct hit would likely destroy an Evangelion - and preliminary fire tests have established an engagement range significantly broader than its child unit. Now -"
"Wait, wait." This time it was Misato who interrupted. "Preliminary fire tests? You mean like we performed with the seraph? You didn't tell me that."
"Yes, Captain," Ritsuko replied, her voice ironclad with schooled professionalism. "Exactly so. And before you ask, the pilot was a volunteer, and knew that his mission was certain death."
Misato uttered a curse under her breath, shooting her lover a betrayed look, but fell silent.
"Now. As the type of close engagement our Evangelions usually excel at is clearly not viable, I have requisitioned the use of an experimental artillery piece designed by the JSSDF." An incredibly complex technical schematic appeared in the slideshow. "Named… ugh… the 'positron rifle,' for some reason, it is in fact a rail gun, and the highest-energy kinetic projectile weapon currently in existence. It is being moved to the JSSDF base near Mount Futago as we speak; it will arrive no later than 0630 hours."
"That's after the angel will be within attack range of Tokyo-3," Fuyutsuki said, his expression souring. "I'd like that to be a lot faster."
"Can't be done, without risking damage to the weapon. It's massive, and - as with all Lorentz-based projectile systems - somewhat delicate. As our only currently viable weapon, I'm not going to take that risk." Ritsuko flicked to the next slide, showing what appeared to be a gridded map of Japan. "The rest of this plan is a much larger-scale endeavor. Since we cannot neutralize this angel's AT field, our only remaining option is to puncture it by brute force. The 'positron' rifle is gauged to fire with absolute maximum specs of a hundred and fifty thousand kilogram projectile at about twelve hundred meters per second. I intend to exceed that calibration by as much as I possibly can - the ideal velocity to be certain of punching through that AT field is ten kilometers per second."
"Get to the point, Doctor," Fuyutsuki snapped.
"But of course, sir. The short version is that we are commandeering Japan's entire power grid for the sake of Operation Yashima. I have already drawn up the immediately surrounding network layout, and captain Katsuragi has already made the relevant calls. A positively staggering grid of temporary transformers and lines is being set up across the nation; I have no exact estimate as to when this will be complete, but it will be no earlier than 1200 hours today - likely later." Ritsuko took a deep breath, ignoring the concerned murmuring that swept the room. "The positron rifle could be fired early, if the circumstances become dire, but the AT field of the angel will require a staggering amount of energy to pierce. Our best odds come about if we can focus the absolute maximum level of power into a single round, which requires this electrical network be fully online. In any other scenario the gunner will have to time their shot so as to hit the angel exactly as it drops its AT field to fire its own weapon."
"This… gunner," the Commander said. "They would be an Evangelion pilot, correct?"
"Yes, sir." Ritsuko looked over at Misato. "Captain?"
Misato smoothly stepped up to the screen. "There is no time to set up a proper mount for a cannon of this size; it would take weeks, months of construction work. Instead we intend to deploy a team of two Evangelion units. One to aim the gun, one to defend the position in the event that the angel returns fire despite the gunner being outside its normal engagement range." Misato reached over and tapped Ritsuko's tablet, bringing up an image of a large triangular object. "The defender will be using a heat shield from a decommissioned space shuttle, plated with all the tungsten carbide we can rivet onto it in the time we have. We… think we can guarantee a solid block of one shot, but probably no more."
"So you'll only have two chances," Gendo said quietly. It was a statement, not a question.
"Only four heavy penetrator rounds for this weapon currently exist, sir, so… that's only down by fifty percent anyway." Misato fidgeted with the end of her sleeve. "Besides, a handful of shots from that angel might conceivably be able to punch a hole through Mount Hakone itself. Even with more time on our hands we'd have little chance of building a stronger shield."
There was a tense silence in the room, stretching for more than thirty seconds. The only sound was the shuffling of feet as agitated command staff sought some relief for the nervous energy.
"Very well," the Commander said at last. "Captain Katsuragi, your performance has not failed NERV yet. You have command of Operation Yashima and full discretion of its execution."
"Sir, yes sir."
"See to it that my confidence in you is not misplaced."
Misato blinked, her eyes widening. Gendo Ikari had never inflected his voice in her presence before. Granted, it was subtle - only a faint stressing of a small word - but it was a lot more than she was used to.
"Sir, yes sir!"
X-X-X
2d Lt. Langley-Soryu [0211]: oof, this is some serious scheiße.
2d Lt. Langley-Soryu [0212]: hate to say it, but I'm actually glad I'm not on this deployment. The baby was hard enough.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0212]: sounds like you should have stayed at Matsushiro! Then you wouldn't even be NEAR the line of fire.
2d Lt. Langley-Soryu [0213]: a. we've been over this already and b. I've been on the helicopter for like an hour already, so stuff it.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0213]: that doesn't mean I can't keep giving you shit over it. I'm part of your medical staff, so you'd better believe I'm going to needle you for needlessly delaying your recovery.
2d Lt. Langley-Soryu [0215]: oh screw you. Save it for when you can yell at me in person… better yet, save it for when there isn't a giant lego brick hanging over our heads.
- 2d Lt. Langley-Soryu has signed off [0215] -
#XXX69_THEREALGENDOIKARI_420 [0666]: guess it's just the two of us, then.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0217]: who the hell is this?!
#Mysterious Stranger [9999]: who indeed? We may never know, Miss Ibuki!
1st Lt. Ibuki [0218]: I suppose I needn't tell you you're trespassing in a secure channel.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0218]: you must realize NERV has the resources to track you down, though.
#Ghost In The Machine [6969]: Scary! I'm hurt. Is that how you treat all your fans, lieutenant?
1st Lt. Ibuki [0219]: I'm sure I don't know what you mean by fans. I don't have any fans.
#Usernames Are For Suckers [6006]: you have me, for sure. But don't worry, I'm not really here to cause trouble. I just wanted to watch the briefing, and it's officers only, so I had to get creative to access the feed.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0220]: Interesting. Still unauthorized, however. The MAGI are pretty close to pinpointing your access point, by the way. I hope you don't mind being reported to Dr. Akagi.
#THE JIG IS UP! [X_X]: Aww, you'd snitch on your favorite pilot?
1st Lt. Ibuki [0222]: ahh. So you ARE pilot Illustrious. I wasn't sure at first.
#username error [?]: dammit.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0224]: you know, I might have considered adding you to the feed if you'd just, you know, asked like a normal human being.
#username error [?]: I may be better than Asuka at thinking ahead, but I'm definitely worse at judgement calls. What can I say? My weakness is pretty women.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0225]: hmm… you know, I was going to report you for this, but perhaps we can reach a better resolution.
#username error [?]: oh, no. I don't like the sound of this.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0227]: first of all: no more complaining at medical checkups. Period.
#username error [?]: thou art a cruel mistress, but I will manage.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0228]: second… I'll think on it and get back to you.
1st Lt. Ibuki [0229]: now, away with you.
- USERNAME_NOT_FOUND was kicked from channel by 1st Lt. Ibuki [0229] -
X-X-X
Dawn, Misato had long since decided, was the absolute worst time of day. It was too bright, too loud, and even in Japan's balmy post-second-impact climate it was cold. Not to mention the fact that she never, ever saw the dawn unless she'd stayed up through the previous night.
The menacing octahedral monstrosity had crested the ridge of the caldera, and its huge body cast an ominous shadow over the eastern fringes of the Tokyo-3 metro zone. Even as the firebase itself was abuzz with activity all over the lower slopes, the observation tower at the top of Mount Futago was shrouded in a tense hush.
"It has a clear shot at downtown," Misato murmured, staring intently through a set of binoculars. "Why isn't it firing?"
Ritsuko took a long drag on her cigarette, blowing the smoke out slowly and tapping the ash before answering. "Guess it wants to hit the weak spot more directly," she said simply.
Misato looked up briefly, shooting a sour look over her shoulder. "You're awfully relaxed about all this."
"I can only work myself into a terror over the impending apocalypse so many times before the jading sets in," Ritsuko replied in the same bored tone. "I could die in a few hours, or in twenty years from lung cancer; one way or another I'll end up in hell eventually."
Misato ignored the comment, returning her attention to the binoculars.
It's still moving. Slowly, but our window of opportunity to hit it on this side of Mount Hakone is narrow. If it decides to park behind the mountain we may have no firing angle. She gritted her teeth. Then again, the weak spot is right by the shore of Lake Ashi, a few meters from being underwater. If it doesn't want to shoot through quite a few buildings and defense towers, it'll have to go pretty far into the clear zone west of the mountain… and if we pulled this off right it shouldn't know we have a firebase here yet.
"I'm getting another relay delay. The superconductors are failing at one of the northern junctions." Ritsuko sighed softly. "ETA is bumping up another hour at least. 1700 hours is the new estimate."
Misato clenched a fist. "Too slow," she said, venom dripping from her tone. "Too damn slow."
"We're practically making the impossible happen, Misato," Ritsuko said softly. "The projected attack pattern is being worked in real time too. The estimated time for the angel to breach the geofront has been bumped up to 0115 tomorrow - we should have time to kill it with hours to spare."
"That's an estimate. Not a worst case."
"Worst case, we fire early. We have contingency plans, Misato."
"I…" the captain looked back, anxiously scanning for watchful eyes or alert ears, then let herself grimace. "I know, Rits, I know. I just… I suck at waiting. Doubly so when it comes to angels."
Ritsuko also looked around, then let her expression soften. "I know. It'll be okay… captain," she said, stressing the rank. "With sexism in the armed forces being what it is, you've got to know how good you are to have made Ops Director of NERV before you're even thirty. And you've got the two most dependable, level-tempered pilots we have, which is perfect for a battle where they aren't going to beat the angel in a barbaric melee. I believe in you."
Misato looked away, her expression still hard. "That makes one of us," she said, looking back through the binoculars. "It feels like every time a new angel appears, it throws a new curveball. I'm tired of improvising again and again."
"Hah. Well." Ritsuko stubbed out her cigarette against the concrete revetment. "Not that my work is under the same life-and-death pressure, but I definitely get that sentiment."
Although, perhaps it is life and death to some. Thoughts of Rei's delicate, artificially weakened AT field - and the similarly dark purpose her clone Kyū served - surfaced in the doctor's mind. And who knows, one day the commander may tire of my passive resistance, or my inability to violate the fundamental laws of nature as hard or fast as he'd like.
"Hey, Ritsuko? You kinda spaced out there. You okay?"
"Yeah." Shaking her head, Ritsuko pulled another cigarette from the pack in her pocket. "Just been a few too many hours since I last slept, is all."
X-X-X
The sun was setting over the caldera ridge, painting the cloudy sky a vibrant red. In another context, the view from Mount Futago might have been beautiful - but the skyline was somewhat marred by the enormous silhouette of the monster hovering over the city.
Maybe I died on the beach there, and this is actually hell.
Asuka's body was screaming with discomfort as she slowly dragged herself up the steps to the watchpoint battlements. Ghost pain from dozens of minor burns painted most of her skin - and while the bruises on her head and ribs from being knocked around her entry plug and the ache of a minor hyperflexion in her neck were somewhat less intense than the burns, they came with the knowledge that they wouldn't fade away in a matter of hours. All to say nothing of the crushing fatigue working its way through her body.
Then again, there'll be flashback pain later, of course. Can't forget that. Ghost pain goes, but then comes back, fuuuck…
Finally, she pulled her feet over the last step and stood at the top of the revetment. Her casual clothes and unmoving, exhausted silence painted a sharp contrast to the dozens of uniformed figures dashing back and forth and muttering urgently to each other.
"Asuka?! What are you doing here?"
Asuka looked up at the sound of Misato's voice. Her uniform and hair were unkempt, and her eyes had the sharp twitchiness of someone who'd had too little sleep and too much caffeine.
"Ca-" Asuka rasped, then coughed and cleared her throat. "Came to watch the fun," she said. "Helicopter only landed a little while ago."
"You should be in medical," Misato said firmly. "Hell, how did you even get clearance to travel? Matsushiro has a perfectly good medical facility!"
"They were airlifting Shinji to HQ for severe feedback shock treatment," Asuka replied, her voice dull with fatigue. "I insisted on coming along, and, well, the new rank pulls more weight than I thought. 'Sides, who's gonna stop a soldier keeping vigil for her squad-mate?"
Misato rolled her eyes, then fixed Asuka with a disapproving glare. "You're in no shape to be on a battlefield."
"I said I came to watch. Trust me, even if Moloch was in shape for it I wouldn't be asking for redeployment." Asuka stepped over to a nearby crate, then pulled herself up to sit on its edge. "See that arschloch has stopped moving… can't be a good sign," she muttered.
Misato followed her line of sight to where the massive angel was hovering just above the ground at the water's edge - the thinnest point in the geofront's shell.
"It's not, not at all. See that thin line at its base? It's extending its body into some kind of drill," Misato said, crossing her arms. "It's a bit slower than directly firing its energy weapon at the weak spot, but this way it won't run any risk of injuring itself by splash damage."
Asuka cursed softly in German, running through an impressive string of expletives - most of which she hoped were beyond Misato's rough understanding of the language.
I wish I could be out there fighting it right now. Not that I want to die instantly, but I fucking hate waiting…
"How soon?" She asked softly.
"As of the latest estimate? The angel will break through about thirty minutes after midnight," Misato said, drumming her fingers against the concrete revetment. "The final electrical setup keeps hitting delays, but we have the majority of the national grid all set to divert power. Operation Yashima is currently set to execute on the stroke of midnight, whether or not setup has been finished by then."
"Not a lot of error margin, huh."
"Against a monster this powerful, I'm just glad we have a plan at all," Misato said, shaking her head. She began drumming her fingers again, then stopped, catching her fingers in her other hand. "Well… get comfortable, I guess. I'm going to go find Ritsuko."
Asuka cocked her head, frowning. "Why?"
"Because at this point, I need a fucking cigarette."
X-X-X