"Roger that..." Addison aimed at the Angel with the massive gun. She breathed in and pulled the trigger like she had been told. No hesitation, no time for thought. Only act.
The bolt rocketed towards the Angel and hit the angel's A.T.field creating a bright flash of heat and energy. She didn't feel bad for Rev but the blast was enough to cause some searing damage but he had risked his life, he knew the cost to get to victory. She could see the shock wave from the blast and felt it too.
BWWOOOOSSSHHHH
She saw the launcher chamber another round and felt it too. The smoke that had picked up from the massive explosion made it hard to see past it. It seemed choking, black and thick. So Unit-09 stayed back scanning her angle. In case the thing would lunge at her, it had to contend with another miniature rocket. Even if it would escape the blast would encrust all the blood on the Angel allowing for a temporary figure.
Still Addison took a few steps forward.
"Rev... are you still there? Can you see anything?"
Addison takes the shot with Pollux gone and Rev pinned. The shot connects but kicks up a lot of smoke and dust not allowing her to see past it all so she asks Rev on any visual confirmation.
Unit-31 was embedded in the wall, desperately trying to claw its way out. Its pilot could only watch as the timer counted down and the smoke swarmed the other side of the battlefield. Rev's plan had been insane. His eva he'd seen the angel even when Pollux was left in the wall desperately searching for it. He'd seen nothing. Rev had charged the bastard, cut off his own arm, marked the angel with his blood, and let himself nearly get blown to bits. Impressive, Rev. More respect for you everyday. But now nothing could be seen and Addison was waiting for confirmation of a hit. Luckily, Pollux had worn down its A.T field enough for a hit to actually do some damage. He was just hoping Addison was a good shot.
"Rev... are you still there? Can you see anything?"
Pollux was also desperately searching the cloud of smoke and dust. C'mon Rev, where are you. And then he saw him. On the other side of debris cloud was Unit-27 stumbling backwards, before falling forward, on its knees and lying its face in the ground.
"Y-You got him Addison." Rev spat out in shallow breaths. Addison's eva slightly lowered its shoulders as if in exhaustion and relief. Pollux then noticed a bloody claw swinging through the smoke.
"Addison, look out!" Addison had seen this coming and had another shot ready. She fired into the cloud, only to have the projectile whiz a few feet to the side of the angel. She readied another shot and fired, but two bloody claws and two bloody legs pushed the launcher into the ground. The rocket embedded itself into the ground and blew up a good chunk of the launcher.
"Fine then." Addison said.
Addison dropped the launcher and engaged the floating splotches of blood in combat. She was a great fighter, she was a skirmisher after all, and had the angel by the ropes. The angel suddenly squeezed her eva by the waist and lifted it into the air. Addison, however, managed to grab the two red spheres and began smashing them together while stabbing one with a knife. They began to crack. She might finish this thing off.
Suddenly, Pollux noticed a spike in A.T energy and the angel began to shine its beautiful colors. Addison ignored the display and continued an attempt to destroy the cores. Pollux suddenly realized what was happening.
"Addison break way! It's about to-"
Addison suddenly realized what was happening as well and broke away, trying to get clear of the angel, but she didn't escape the beam. It hit her with full force and sent her flying back, similar to what had happened to Pollux. She skipped across the ground a bit, and finally came to a stop. Pollux couldn't see her Umbilical Cord and she tried to stagger to her feet.
"Addison!"
He frantically looked over at his timer while Lisa barked something into her comm about commands.
1:52:45
"I have to get back into this fight."
Pollux watches the aftermath of Rev's plan and Addison's shot. Addison engages the angel, damaging the cores, but gets hit with the same blast Pollux did.
Explosions rocked the armored buildings of NERV, sending dust and plaster from the ceiling falling into the midst of the busy technicians and soldiers, only adding to the sense of barely restrained panic. The massive steel and concrete columns struggled to hold the ceiling in place against the onslaught of the titans above. The building was failing, along with Owen's confidence. Still, Owen kept his face as stoic as he could muster - Nothing good would come from showing weakness before his charges.
As always, the fight was solely in the hands of the pilots. Away from the front line, NERV was an impressive machine, one capable of getting an Eva up to combat spec in hours, but once the battle was engaged there was little they could do but watch and hope their work would prove effective and the pilots could withstand the offensive.
[i/]"There has to be SOMETHING we can do!" [/i] Owen screamed in his head as he raised his right hand and placed two fingers on his temple and his thumb on his chin, hiding his face from the right side of the room such that no one there would see the glare he was giving the projection of the fight above. Owen, seeking a solution to the divine game of chess on the surface, desperately thought through what resources were at his disposal. [i/]"All our weapons are useless! If we only had another Evangelion I could send reinforcements. Even Seele cannot repel an Angel. Perhaps I should open the Gates of Aba..." [/i]
His thoughts were dispelled by Alastor. [b/][i/]"The Gates cannot be opened until the end of times - The Doomsayers would never permit it" [/i][/b] Alastor warned him through their link. Now Owen was pissed. [i/]"If we don't do something it WILL be the end of times and Seele's plans be damned! I don't have anything that can help them! I have a half dozen devices that COULD help them if they worked - HELL, the A.T.R.G. is the closest to functional we have and it doesn't even have and ammunit..."
Owens thoughts stopped. He looked at the screen, still obscured by the dust cloud Thirteen had kicked up. Even through the smoke he could see a few of the "pieces" laying there, far from the blood smeared angel. [i/] "Would that work? Could it work? Physics never really applied to A.T. Fields so in theory...[/i].
Director Laurence broke into a mad grin. If it did work, it would not only be powerful, but karmic to boot.
Without a second thought Owen called down to the science department. "Get the A.T.R.G. loaded into Lift 1284." Not stopping for a moment, Owen turned to the Eva-commlink."Pollux! I'm sending you a new weapon."
Owen doubts the Angle can be beaten and considers drastic measures. Before he can enact the measures however, a mad idea runs through his head. Naut131, read your messages before your next post please
Pollux had to act now. He tensed his eva at full power and sent it flying out of the wall back across the crater to the fight. Pollux stood a few feet in front of the angel, which was making its way over to Addison. Rev was pretty much out of commission with no hands and a dislocated jaw, Addison was still trying to get back up, and the others wouldn't really stand a chance against it. Piggy and Lisa had been fighting it a bit and Aiber was keeping it's A.T field down. Aiber could probably keep it at bay for awhile, but what would happen if he got taken out? That A.T field would be nearly impenetrable and Piggy and Lisa would be put in a bad position What to do, what to do...
Owen chimed in over his comm.
"Pollux! I'm sending you a new weapon. Meet the A.T.R.G."
A new weapon? For him? It rose out of a lifting platform a few feet away from Pollux. It looked a bit like a rail gun, except it appeared to be mostly made of angel and dead eva parts. What the hell is this thing?
"Um, Mr. Laurence, what am I supposed to do with this? It doesn't look like it fires any kind of energy and there's no ammo."
"The A.T.R.G. or Absolute Territory Resonance Gun, is supposed to channel your A.T. Field into a ranged attack. Uses lots of energy though. As you've already figured out, it has no ammo. I suggest getting one of the spears that was fired early and firing that like a harpoon."
"Where the hell and I gonna-" Pollux the noticed that he had a 4 of the angel's spears protruding form his back. They hadn't detonated mainly because this was when the angel had engulfed him. "Oh, alrighty then."
Miss Leonidas was slightly tired of being in background of all of this.
"Piggy, you and I will supply suppressing fire while pulling back. Aiber you keep that thing from regaining any form of defense."
They all quickly agreed.
The angel noticed they were planning something and charged at Pollux. Aiber managed to stop the angel in it's tracks by suddenly raising a wall of A.T energy in front of it. Piggy swung his hammer at the surprised angel, slamming a claw into the ground. Miss Leonidas opened fire on one of the cores, damaging it even more. Pollux loaded the gun with two spears. He checked his timer.
0:36:06
"Alright you bastard, take this!"
There were a few large clicks and whirs as the gun powered up. Pollux could feel Unit-31's A.T field being channeled and focused through the chamber and resonating with power. Multiple parts of the gun began to glow or even move a bit. There was a pulse of energy from the gun, a large kick back, and the gun fired a glorious beam towards the angel. Pollux could barely keep himself from being blown away due to the power of the weapon. The energy hit the body of the angel head on, tearing parts of it apart and each spear was sent piercing through the angel. One embedded itself in a raised claw trying to shield itself, another ruptured a core and blood was sent flying through the air. The angel let out a horrible roar in pain. It was damaged but it wasn't dead. Pollux loaded the second pair and ran over to the angel. He was gonna kill this fucker point blank. Pollux stood in front of it and began to channel his A.T field through the gun. He tried to reach full power and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. Pollux had channeled all of his A.T field into the first shot and it was trying to reform. He had some left but not enough for a second blast. He'd have to give himself time to gain enough A.T field to fire the gun again. Good thing he was an A.T Tactician, anyone else trying this would immediately be out of juice. Pollux could fire again, in good time. Only problem was his timer was beeping frantically, glowing red, and his eva began to shut down.
0:00:00
"Oh crap."
The angel realized what had happened and slashed upward, piercing Unit-31's chest and slightly cracking his entry plug.
Pollux fires the gun, taking out one of the angel's cores, but runs out of energy before he can destroy the second.
"Pollux!" Aiber yelled. He charged the Angel wit his knife drawn. He raised it as if he was going to attack and the angel, still having trouble with it's A.T. Field, raised it's arms to shield it's head, just like Aiber wanted. At the last moment, he and charlie fell backwards, landing on the palms of their hands, bending their knees in towards their chest, then, using the force of the fall like a spring, and a little assistance from A.T. altered physics, propelled forward with a two-footed kick, sending the angel flying.
Charlie scrambled back to it's feet and went to aid Pollux. He was about to try to get him out of his Eva before he saw the weapon. Being an A.T. Tactician, he knew how it worked the moment it was fired. He made a split second decision and scooped up the gun.
"Unit 09, help Pollux! I'm gonna finish this piece of shit!"
Aiber began releasing all the A.T. energy he could muster into the weapon, and as he did, his sync ration went further up.
-----------------------------
"Director! Unit 7.5's sync is at 119%! It's taking over the pilot!"
"Damn it! What do you think you're doing son!" Blurted Colonel Blake
Then there was no reply.
----------------------------------
the Energy in the gun kept building as the power of two separate A.T. Fields were loaded into it, merging to form one super-human weapon. The gun became so charged that the space around it began to morph. Then just when it seemed like it was going to explode, the Angel lunged from the rubble of the building it collided with.
Time seemed to slow down. All at once, the angel closed in multiple city blocks, Charlie let out a roar, and the gun fired.
There was no sound until a moment after the actual firing, and the light was blinding. The beam was like a pillar of light, and it sent out a shock wave on the level pf an N-2 mine. If the Angel wasn't coming from an upward angle, the blast would have obliterated most of the city. But as the beam pierced the heavens above, the Angel was for all intents and purposes, gone. Erased. Atomized.
The weapon was practically destroyed, and Charlie fell, seemingly unconscious, to the ground.
The battle raged, the lush, sprawlingly high-tech tropical city a nightmare scene of screams and roars, blood and will.
Director Ashford's feeds were filled with the images. Masau's defense turrets opened fire from the moment the Angel had appeared, and the gun's great barrels began to glow and overheat. A huge, fearsome monster converged on the camouflaged Angel, blood raining from a severed limb. Armor-piercing automatic rockets blew the fuck out of it, sending limbs and enormous chunks of alien flesh onto ground level. It blasted cross-shaped beams of energy, turning sections of earth to molten lava. A sleek, powerful Eva hurtled by, firing the Resonance Gun before collapsing in a heap. A spherical red eye exploded- it was thick and wet and splashing, the stalk falling limply. A decoy!
And still the colors shifted. The full depth of their colors, the effects they had on a human viewing it with their own eyes, was something the cameras could not record. Simply seeing a video of an Angel is only a bare approximation, for there is so much more- the massiveness that was simply titanic, the alien presence in the air, the godlike energies, the sound- Ohotorael talked in words that could be understood, but the recorder picked up only something like a whales's call but... not. It had that echoing quality to it but the pitch and compensation... just didn't sound natural and not in the sense it sounded mechanical either. It simply sounded like nothing on Earth.
The next shot cracked the Core. Ohotorael fell, writhing, convulsing, it's clawed limbs clicking and snapping in its death throes.
[hr]
As the Angel dissolved, it drew it's A.T. Field around itself, creating another Dirac Sea. And then formed it further, curving space into itself- a gravitational singularity. In the evaporating Angel's place was a cataclysmic vortex that dragged the block into oblivion.
Unit-02 turned violently in the air. The Evangelion dug it's heel into the street and ran forward, leaving craters. Thick sheets of asphalt and rock peeled back. But the singularity had hold of her, and she went nowhere. To Unit-02, the whole world was sideways. Gravity pulled at her feet, buildings, trees and streets on a vast wall beside her. Debris was flying everywhere. Piggy clawed at the air, scrambling over armored buildings like platforms. Plates slid. Concrete crumbled. The singularity grew and an entire high-rise was pulled into it. Pieces thudded down on the Evangelions, but they barely felt them.
Unit-31 slid along the ground. Piggy's raw Eva grabbed it by the leg as it passed. Piggy looked out to see LCL streaming out from where the Angel had hit. Within the Entry Plug, Unit-31's HUD flashed red with emergency warnings.
Ohotorael's Core is hit, so it decides to destroy the pilots and itself. As it dies, it collapses the A.T. Field in on itself around a Dirac Sea and creates a singularity that starts dragging in all matter in the immediate area. Nerv HQ now has a mini black hole outside it.
Owen's emotional state was chaotic at best. On the one hand, the angel was gone, vaporized. NERV, under his command, had aided the pilots and the Eva's had triumphed over the angel. Even his new weapon idea had panned out.
But it all came at too high a cost. The Evangelions were battered and broken, Unit-03 had been destroyed - and Grim along with it. Owen nearly cried when he saw the A.T.R.G. implode in on itself, the force of the A.T. Fields too much for the gun to handle.
[i/]"Killed by his own spears. I think you were right about the arrogance" [/i] Called through the link, not really expecting a response. [b/][i/]"You show your own arrogance, mortal. I said he was arrogant AND powerful." [/i][/b] He returned coldly. Owen's face flushed. The crews were already celebrating. If the angel...
His thoughts were silenced as the Angel collapsed in on itself, imploding down to a singularity.
[b/]"I AM A GOD! FACE YOUR DEATHS AND KNOW I AM OMNIPOTENT!" [/b] the Angel screamed out, presumably it's last words. Pollux and Rev were down, Chris was incapacitated or worse, and Rev was on his last legs, or arms rather.
"ADDISON; PIGGY; LEONIDAS! EXTEND YOUR A.T. FIELDS!" Owen screamed into the mic before all power cut to the base, the strain of the black hole above too much for the base to handle.
"good luck" he said, before collapsing in his chair and praying.
"Shit!" Lisa barked as she felt her Eva start to get pulled towards the dense ball of blackness. "Everyone, do what he says, extend those fields, NOW!"
In an instant, the three Evas pushed their energy out at the all consuming mass, effectively protecting themselves from the death that seemed inevitable. But Lisa barely had a moment to breathe before she saw Pollux's Eva getting dragged along the ground towards it. "Oh shit, the other Evas! Nikolai, grab Aiber, Addison, get Rev! I got Pollux! We have to protect them!"
The Coffin ran to position itself between Pollux and the ex-Angel. She was easily able to do so, and saw that the other operational Evas had managed to protect the others as well. She leaned back in her seat and sighed with relief. She had moment to think about what to do next. Then she opened her eyes and glanced at the rapidly decreasing number.
Charlie began to rise slowly as the black hole devoured the area around it. A flying chunk of concrete hit him in the head on it's way to the black hole, but he hardly even noticed.
"Get out of their Aiber!" someone in the control room yelled.
Charlie got back onto his feet and let out a massive roar. Aiber wasn't in control anymore. The sound Charlie made was almost mournful, then it advanced toward the black hole. when he got to the point that he was just barely staying grounded, he unleashed an A.T. field on a level far past that of a human's. Charlie created a force field around the black hole and tried to contain it. His eyes snapped open and he roared again, he began to move his arms as if he were trying to squeeze something very hard, and the A.T. Field compressed on the vortex. Black blood began to fall from Charlie's mouth and eyes with the strain. He fell to one knee, but kept struggling. Then just when it seemed like the A.T. Field was going to break, the vortex imploded, sending out a massive shock wave, knocking all the Evas off their feet.
-------------------------
Charlie? What's happening out there?
There was a feeling of exhausted satisfaction.
So it's over then, did anyone survive?
There was a tingle of hope.
I knew you wouldn't let me down Charlie. That's why we're brothers.
There was a sensation of happiness followed by tiredness, then sleep
------------------------------------------
The wind blew across Charlie's chest and his eyes were closed. There was still a bit of bleeding, but nothing fatal. The giant machine seemed oddly peaceful from a bird-eye view in his bed of rubble and blood.
It would only be a few moments until Unit-09 would shut down. Addison breath became short and more sporadic. The concussive blast knocked most of the wind out of her system and even with all this technology keeping her alive it could do nothing to regain the lost air at this moment.
WARNING UMBILICAL CHORD DETACHED
"Nikolai, grab Aiber, Addison, get Rev!"
Unit-09 rose, nearly stumbling over due to the pull of the black hole and Addison's woozy control. But soon she was able to regain her footing thanks to the other pilots. Addison could feel soul of Unit-09 beckon her to go forward. To run faster. She trudged forward and reached for Rev. She couldn't tell whether or not he had regained control but there was no time.
Unit-09 grabbed the beast by its collar. Using what was left of her strength she lifted the Midnight beast over her head and threw them away from the black hole. She turned to face it and just in time to received the shockwave that sent Unit-09 into the ground again.
"Don't ... don't count me put just yet!" came the pained cry over the radio. The midnight beast's dead eyes lit up with a red blaze, scorching to those who dared to look. A great resounding scream, from both pilot and Eva shook the ground in a burst of A.T. They rushed, their single arm scraping up Addison into their hold. They turned to move, but the grip of the black hole was pulling them deeper and deeper.
Rev cried out, a pained shout as he struggled against the ever-increasing pull of the abyss.
"NO ONE GETS LEFT BEHIND."
Unit-27 crouched and built up pressure. Then, it jumped. In a sing leap the pair flew far, far from the grasp of the midnight singularity.
They crashed down to the ground, almost a thousand yards away. The midnight beast's eyes were dulled and dark. At HQ his timer hit 0.
Rev saves Addison from the blast in his last moment of power.
Pollux sat in his plug, intense pain shooting through his body. Unit-31 had taken serious hits before, each hit vibrating through Pollux's body. But this was something else entirely. His entry plug only had a minor gash in it, but as the the fluid leaked out, so did Pollux's strength, only to be replaced by nothing but pain.
Someone had caught him as he was sliding towards the angel's farewell gift. Miss Leonidas? Piggy? He didn't care. But as he heard the voices through his comm, he realized what they were dealing with.
"Guys, t-t-this isn't a black hole. Its simply a point of dense mass collapsing in on itself. A real black hole would swallow us up in mere seconds. This is simply a singularity, if I remember correctly"
Pollux knew now probably wasn't the right time to be lecturing people, but he felt like explaining this before explaining his plan. He was having problem breathing and everything was going wonky. He coughed up some blood.
"Listen, resonance. J-just enough resonance can slam this thing shut. We don't have time to worry about finding the right frequency. Owen, check it there are any operational resonance poles around and just fire them off. You need to act fast, before everyone's evas time out and they go limp. If he can't, someone will have to set them off manually. How? Hell if I know. Just do it before it's too late."
Pollux wasn't even sure if what he was saying was true. He was simply going light headed and saying random things. And with that, Pollux fell into unconsciousness.
Pollux explains his plan on how to stop the singularity and falls unconscious
Pappytech is still in control of the assassin, although at this point his survival is measured in varying degrees of "lol". Even if a sniper could miraculously avoid being killed by a lightning-charged explosive 200-foot spear (or a dense beam of the antimatter equivalent of electrons, or a rapid-fire armor piercing grenade), if he was near the gravitational singularity- well, imagine extreme distortion of space so that he could see the back of his own head for a few nanoseconds before his A.T. Field strips away and every cell in his body is crushed together to the size of a grain of sand. Now that's epic.
Sheer, brutal force. Gripping Unit-31 tightly, Unit-02 pitched sideways and slid on the ground. He felt the hold on Pollux's Eva moving from it's shin, it's ankle. He could feel the pull of the singularity. He imagined what he would feel when he was crushed and the Evas were dragged into it. It pulled relentlessly, inexorably. Piggy was frantic. He could feel his blood pooling at his waist, away from his brain.
At last they came forward. Piggy screamed and triggered off the Evangelion's A.T. Field, shaping it in front of them like a solid wall. She collided with Unit-31's back and slammed it aside. A moment later, Unit-7.5 neutralized the Dirac Sea, causing it's mass to explode outwards. In the LCL of the plug, Piggy blacked out.
[hr]
Piggy came to under a deep rumble. Still in his plugsuit, he saw the faces of other pilots and slowly regained comprehension until he realized what it was: the rhythmic thumping of a helicopter. We're flying, he thought. The craft rose low through the city.
The day before, this district had a highway, trees, and commercial zones. But now it was a wrecked mess of a place, choked with rubble. Ramps of dirt twisted around shells of buildings, crumpled metal jutting out and wasted. The ground was stripped to rock. We could see yellow Caterpillar earthmovers and cranes at work already. They seemed weirdly normal in this ravaged place. Backhoes, bulldozers, dump trucks and other complicated rigs. Some of them Piggy had no idea what their names were or even what they did. There were tons of people too, rescue teams, engineers and construction crews. They were taking survey, laying wire and track, and pouring foundations for concrete support beams.
It swung over the ocean, over the water. It followed the line of the surf, high above the docked supply ships and trawlers and moved back over the landscape towards Nerv.
Nerv HQ had survived. Layered underground with 70 armor plates, with it's main entrance nestled deep in the volcanic rock, this base had been fortified to resist an Angel presence. Overlapping defense bastions still stood. But the damage shown. Surface facilities were cracked and gutted. Armor layers had been carved out of the Earth. Huge trenches penetrated subterraenean parks, places that had seen only artificial sunlight now exposed to open air. Barriers were shredded. Reconstruction would take months.
But it was still there. The Evas had seized victory through courage, valor, and no small amount of good fortune.
The craft moved in to land. The side door was latched open and uniformed personnel came running to see the pilots.
Piggy saves Alexander while Aiber neutralizes the vortex. When Piggy wakes up, the pilots have been pulled from their plugs and are being airlifted out.
Aiber's eyes opened sleepily in the helicopter and when he tried to get up he found he was strapped to a stretcher.
"Hey, uh, I'm fine everyone. You can let me up." he said.
"Not quite yet son." His father responded in a cold voice.
"God damn it, what are you still doing here?" Aiber said in a voice filled with more frustration than rage.
"Hush son, you need your rest. The effects of being taken over by an Evangelion can be unpredictable." Colonel Blake said in a slightly more satisfied sounding tone.
"Charlie would never hurt me dad. He isn't like you." Aiber shot back.
"That thing is a multi-ton beast we made into a weapon, not your friend."
"You know what, I just helped save the world. I'm not gonna have this conversation with you right now. Wake me up when we get to the hospital." And with that Aiber laid his head back down and remained as silent as his father.
Owen slowly made his way to the helipad, preparing himself for how to speak to the pilots. What should he say; it's not like this was something he was trained for. He was a scientist, not a public relations expert like Mr. Ashford. Heck, this is why Sandor was supposed to be the operational director: HE was trained for this kind of thing. "Director" was just a title, and not one he had earned.
[i/]"Alastor, remind me to look up the word "promotion", because I think Seele and I have very different definitions" [/i] Owen called out sarcastically to the symbiotic entity. The beast, missing the snark in his tone, responded [b/][i/]"You expected a deal the the Doomsayers to end in your favor?"[/i][/b]Owen, seizing a chance to question the chained angel, launched his retort, [i/]"I can only wonder what sort of deal you made? What could Seele have possibly offered an Angel?"[/i]. Silence fell through the link.
As Owen reached the upper deck of the battleship they had commandeered as HQ during the interim, he glanced at the metal plates that protected the command center. Even in the distorted reflection he could see the stress he had been under; his eyes were blood shot and outlined with black circles, his hair was long and unkempt. His lab coat was a mess.
Turning, He looked over the enormously damaged city. The tallest buildings were broken, smashed by loose fire, the angel, or the implosion there after. All structures in the city had a slight bend to them, in the direction of the great battle, as though on the edge of their seats, engaged by the mini war that had taken place.
Owen glanced at his watch, mostly out of habit. The after effects of the singularity had rendered most timing devices in the old world out of sync. "God I hate relativity." Owen muttered under his breath, his brand new mantra since the after effects of the battle were first felt. Guessing, from a combination of his watch and his own memory, that the helicopters would arrive shortly, Owen hastened his way to the landing pad.
His guess proved correct. The helicopters landed, their precious cargo intact, and NERV personnel swarmed the mechanical beasts of burden with great haste: no one was quiet sure what the negative effects of being that close to a singularity (under the divine protection of an A.T. Field anyway) would be, and doctors were flying in from all over the world to find out.
As the bodies were pulled out, Owen could see they were still in varying states of unconsciousness. He sighed a little in relief; they were in no condition for the conversation he was going to need to have with them and Owen was more than willing to let the matter sit for a few more hours. After all, he still had not figured out a way to properly convince a bunch of teenagers with nigh unfettered access to super weapons to submit to a psych evaluation with scientists they still did not seem to trust to confirm the death of their teammate would not, as the psychologists had so aptly put it, "have any long term negative effects on their mental health and, therefore, synchronization rates".
"Yeah... this is going to end REAL well..." Owen muttered, again under his breath.
Owen sees the pilots arrive, has a conversation with Alastor, and tries to come up with a way to convince the pilots to undergo a psych-eval.
In the wild days following the defeat of an Angel, we weren't just celebrities- we were the only celebrities. The pilots had a story to tell and everyone wanted the details of how they and their weird monster titans had saved the world. Even without names, they were becoming icons, heroes for all humans, not one nation. They had stopped Third Impact. And so they werepassed from press release to examination, always racing around here and there in government vehicles, flanked by omniprescent security.
And it became very easy to glance to the Nerv officers, standing taller than the pilots, broad-shouldered in their uniforms with deeply lined mature faces. The population's hearts seemed to turn over at the sight of them. If they could they would have stretched out their hands and laid them on the Nerv officer's chests. They had never loved Nerv so deeply as at this moment, and teared up at the feeling that these men were their protectors. They even had that whole tragic-hero thing going on, carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders, and the populace couldn't get enough.
And so the adults gathered influence and power, showing off their pilots like dogs on a leash while they negotiated with world figures. And the pilots would get memos, requests from every college on planet tried to recruit them as instructor in the Tactical Application of Emerging Technologies and Angelic Warfare. They got marriage proposals (and other proposals) from girls as young as twelve and starlets who would not have even noticed them if not for a plugsuit.
And you know what? Piggy was happy. It was not an empty experience- he didn't go off and have some breakdown or whatever. He was still Nikolai Ark. But he was different. Smaller and bigger at the same time, if that makes any sense. He was closed off, inward. He would sound almost like another eleven-year old sometimes but you got this sense that he was out of phase with everyone else. Piggy could have snapped his fingers and had anything he wanted.
The problem was, he didn't want anything.
Except to be inside Unit-02. He loved Big Sis. And maybe, just maybe the chance to unlive one fateful moment when Unit-03 was dismembered by the lighting-wracked thing that skewered it. Chris Gannon had been scheduled to be transferred elsewhere, perhaps to Argentina, which only had 1 active Evangelion. Nerv wasn't talking. Nerv didn't say whether he was still alive. But we didn't scare, and we didn't play a part or strike poses wondering what history would think. We fought without regard to all that. But then, when the shooting was all over, we can't start questioning everything we do and decide we made mistakes. Well, no shit. We're not Gods.
Today the veil comes down.
[hr]
Fallout from the battle. Piggy recovers, goes to regroup, and prepares to steal data from the Director.
Déjà vu is a strange feeling. Every person experiences the state of mind occasionally, only to dismiss the feeling as time passes. As whole, the event is ignored as just a quark of human memory - a combination of a person misremembering an event, remembering the similarities with a previous event and forgetting the differences. It's been understood in many ways over humanities vast history: As a memory of a forgotten past, a previous life perhaps; As the remembrance of a vision of the future, as an error in the human brain.
Whatever Déjà vu truly is, Owen could not help but experience the worst form of it: remembering the last time he was caught in a vehicle with a bunch of technicians and soldiers headed out to collect a piece of classified NERV technology.
Owen didn't know what to expect; the last time he had traveled to a battlefield, it had been to collect a brand new Evangelion/Angel hybrid. All he could hope was that there target, the remains of Unit-03, would be in a relatively stable condition. Well, that and for the conversation to be something a little more intelligent than "I love those pilots"
As Owen reached the vehicle of choice, a troop transport jet-VTOL, He knew his hopes were both meet and dashed. Around the transportation were a large number of administrators, all waiting for his signature on some "urgent" request or proposal, none of which were as urgent as securing the destroyed Eva before some poor fool out there touched the wrong part and killed them self.
Not even pausing in his movements, Owen pushed his way past, motioned for a handful of the more trustworthy administrators to join him for the ride, and prepared himself for takeoff. Minutes later, they were in the air, on route to the dismembered Evangelion. The administrators made their pitches: increased funding to the recovery funds to fix the traffic systems, increased funds to the defense budget to reload the turrets, increased funds to the research department to make a new A.T.R.G., and a proposal to increase NERV personnel by 45% (which required funds of course)
Owen signed them all without really looking them over. NERV had more problems on it's plate than it could possible deal with effectively and the one advantage they held, aside form the Evangelions, was a near-inexhaustible supply of money - complements of his favorite group of paranoid, old men with a propensity for, as Alastor had come to call it, "Doom-saying".
Alastor, for his part, had been remarkably quiet; ignoring Owen entirely, save what was required for the infrequent reports to Seele. The silence, much to Alastor's presumable irk, only fed Owens growing desire to understand the Angel-Seele alliance. Owen could understand Seele; given the option of allying with an angel, Owen grudgingly had to admit he would have made much the same decision - offer it anything it wanted to stop a third impact and protect humanity. What Owen could not grasp, is what Seele could have possibly offered an Angel? He knew that the angels wanted Adam, but Seele would never truthfully promise such a thing. Were they controlling Alastor somehow; with some fragment of god's power? If so, why did they even need NERV or the Evangelions? Could Alastor have approached Seele with an deal; offering his service for some unknowable gain at the end?
The whole question gave him a headache and his fellow passengers, and their constant propositioning, were not helping. Owen banished the thoughts by looking at the city below. The city was still standing, a minor miracle considering the black hole that had opened above it. The majority of the buildings still stood, but nearly all that were non-retractable had been damaged beyond reasonable repair. Ohotorael, for all his arrogance, had succeeded where his brothers and sisters had failed: he had caused enough damage to impede recovery. Looking at the broken city from above, he could see that it would be years before the city could be 100% repaired and no amount of Seele resources could complete the repairs before the next attack.
Owen was jarred from his thoughts by a sudden deceleration; the vehicle had arrived above the corpse of Unit-03. LCL covered the immediate vicinity like blood stains, and the area smelled of rotting, burning meat. Owen covered his nose with his sleeve to dampen the blow to his senses, opting to breath through his mouth. A small army of NERV soldiers had already cordoned off the site to prevent any unlawful access to the site, and the engineering teams were already hard at work, assessing the obviously considerable damage. One of the Evangelion's feet had already been loaded on a truck, and a hand was not far behind. The Evangelion's torso however was still untouched, awaiting his approval before they began to desecrate the final resting place of a valuable pilot. Not for lack of desire of course, The scientists looked like starving wolves, just awaiting their alpha to give the go ahead before they tore the slain beast apart in a blood fervor.
The vehicle was not on the ground for ten seconds before Owen had shot from the vehicle, his trajectory taking him to the aforementioned torso; anything was preferable to remaining in the presence of the money-grubbing bureaucrats he had shared a copter with. Owen hadn't made it half way before the engineering teams, their eyes gleaming in hope, began pestering him for the go ahead to tear the beast down. Owen retained his strategy to ignore the distractions and marched forward with renewed vigor; anything was preferable to remaining in the presence of the money-grubbing bureaucrats AND/OR ethically dubious scientists. His thoughts paused at the irony for a moment: he WAS an ethically dubious scientist, at least to some degree.
As Owen approached the final containment line, still guarded by soldiers, he flashed his badge and marched inside, pausing only to return the soldiers salutes before proceeding. As soon as he was past the security check point, it quieted down immensely. He was alone with the carcass of the Evangelion. What was left of the head unit stared down at him unblinkingly. Owen shuddered at the feeling. He had never much cared for the Evangelions, they always felt off to him, like they were silently judging him for some past crime against them. Not that Owen felt himself innocent, especially after gaining a pilot for himself. The hesitation passed however, and his curious nature began to rear it's ugly head. He reached out and placed a hand upon the fallen titan. The beast felt warm, to the touch, the last of it's life-force still bleeding out into the aether.
The next thing Owen knew, his body was acting of it's own accord, ducking to the ground as the arm of the beast moved with lightning speed, aiming to crush the you directer in it's massive grip, a seething rage in it's one intact eye. As his had separated from the reanimated monster, the beasts came to an agonizingly slow stop, again dead.
[b/][i/]"You should be more careful directer, this behemoth of yours has no love for me or my kind and they hold little love for the Lilim that chained them so" [/i][/b] Alastor muttered as a warning through the link, his timely actions having saved both their insignificant lives.
[i/] "I'll remember that." [/i] returned Owen, still in a state of shock.
Owen goes to the battlefield to aid in the recovery of Unit-03's remains. On route he signs some requisitions, wonders about Alastor's motivations, comments on ethically dubious scientists, and nearly gets himself killed by a hate-filled zombie Eva - just a day in the life for Dr. Owen J. Laurence
Alexander sat in the university's chop shop class's garage and worked on his moped. When he'd finally been given the okay to leave the hospital, he'd found that a number of guards and officers had done a number of repairs on it. They were all very thankful with Alexander, hell the whole city was even if they didn't know the pilot's names. Apparently, the angel's farewell gift hadn't simply been a desperate attempt for the final blow, but something along the lines of a third impact. Alexander couldn't believe they'd done it. And he didn't. He doubted that would have destroyed the world to the degree that the second impact did. Alexander simply took the offerings of "thank yous" and slightly less broken mopeds so he could get on with his day.
"Look to the bottom left, next to your drill."
"Ah, there we go. Thanks, Castor!"
"No problem. Glad I can help in some way while rebuilding this thing."
The moped was coming along nicely, probably better than its former self. The original had felt like it was perfect and contained actual quality, but it had really just been an inferior side project that was mediocre compared to the real thing. That pretty much summed up Alexander's feelings about being an A.T Tactician. Before, he'd felt like he understood A.T fields, he practically did, but he wasn't using them correctly. Aiber was the real thing. Taking out an angel's A.T field, messing with physics, and a bunch of other things. Alexander was the inferior model. But that was gonna change. His moped would be better and so would he. He was practically replacing the inferior model with all the changes he was making.
"...replacing." Alexander mouthed the words. He'd been thinking about that word. Why had Aiber been flown in? They already had about 5 or 6 pilots at the time, why add more? Alexander tried to keep himself from overeating. Maybe they just wanted insurance, more than on A.T Tactician on the field, a better playing field for fighting angels on the same level. But it still bothers him. They'd known about his developing condition, but didn't bother to tell him about it. He could crack anytime in the next few years, why wait to replace him? That was the logic Alexander thought NERV was working with. Alexander made the final adjustments and looked at his handy work. It was a bit bigger than his older one, and had a lot more horsepower.
"Alright, it's presentable. Still have a few more things to do. I'll have to pick up Addisona bit later, I don't want this thing failing on me." Alexander wanted to sort a few things out. Awhile back, Alexander remembers Addison saying something along the lines of her not liking most of the team but being able to talk to him. He simply wanted to have a good day with her, actual enjoy their break from defending Earth, but a part of him wanted to figure out what was going on between the two of them. They were friends and teammates. But part of him wanted more. Alexander figured that he'd have a few years of functioning brain left, might as well spend them with a girl. If she wants to. But first he'd need to finish his only mode of transportation and wrap a present.
"Now, I have a few other "modifications" I want to add. But where I'm gonna get some of the parts are beyond me."
"Why don't you just borrow stuff from NERV like you usually do? And don't pull that, 'What are you talking about' crap. I know you take parts, chemicals, tools , and other things from NERV. You used a couple of things to make those gifts you have back there. Hell, does it even matter if I know, not like I can tell anyone.
"I know, I know...but I just don't want to have to deal with NERV at all. I just want to have a good day and perhaps find out a few things."
"Whatever."
Samuel leaned back, arms folded behind his head and faded away.
Alexander works on his moped and discusses his plans about a day with Addison. He then makes his way to NERV.
"Look forward, Thirteen." One of the scientist said. The "bed" that she was in began to move into the rings of technology that slowly began to whir around her, using their magnetic fields to generate imaging of her brain once again. It was all too common for her and most of the time her mind drifted elsewhere.
The tests always ended up normal-looking and there was no anomalies that could be visibly seen. The scientists knew that her battle with Ohotorael was fought up close and as a result they needed to see if the angel had affected her. It was all a blur though and her movements were swift in dealing with the Angel leaving her little time to think about it. She was made to act rather than hesitate on what would be the cost.
But something different happened in those chambers. Instead of her mind usually drifting off as usual to a far away land, it stuck close to home. Her home was NERV and there would be no escaping that and she didn't mind. In the world without Angels or EVAs then she wouldn't have existed. It was because of them that she lives. Addison was content with that. Content was a new word for Addison and she didn't like it too much.
After the testing was done, the scientists let Addison go. Probably to do more testing on Fifteen. They figured that it was not a good idea putting the both of them in the same room so they scheduled their meetings in different times to make sure that they not only are not in the same session but also not in the same building.
Just a few moments after things settled from Angel attack, Piggy mentioned the plan to be set in motion relatively soon and no doubt it would be a difficult task. Even before that, she remembered what Pollux wanted to plan with her.
"Meet me in front of the Ice Cream Shop." Is what thought she heard him say. Either way she went there. It had already become and impromptu meeting place for the group and no doubt she would see the others there as well. Not to mention the other places that would be good to meet at is now reduced to rubble due to the Angel. Addison wondered what Pollux wanted with her. It was true, she did find him partly enjoyable to talk to and slightly cute-looking. She swirled the ice cream in her Root Beer float as she tried to anticipate what exactly was in store for her. A proclamation of his love to her certainly wasn't out of the equation but neither would it be if Pollux wouldn't either. They were both friends and she wouldn't mind it going either way.
What concerned her the most is that, would Pollux know what he would be getting into? Addison knows all too well that the last person that she would trust is herself and that her hormones was her own worst enemy. It had been the death of the previous Addisons before her and she had hoped that it would also be the fate of Fifteen as well. She looked at her watch, looking as the arms tick away. She leaned back and fetched her book from her messenger bag. It was a medium-sized book with a simplistic cover which was that of an eye with red lettering reading: 1984.
It would be a wait and no better than to enjoy a nice book.
Addison goes through even more testing and learns that the scientists have tried to entirely separate her from Fifteen to prevent any further conflict. She contemplates her motives in going with Piggy's plot and the relationship between her and Pollux.
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