2022-07-18: Blood Type Q
- Log: 2022-07-18 Blood Type Q
- Cast: Celebro, Kaworu Nagisa, Jana Cektru, Eisen Daiwel, Liam 7-020, Rei Ayanami, Misato Katsuragi, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Haruki Natsukawa, Yuka Ohta
- Where: Northern Japan
- OOC - IC Date: July 18, 0096 (2022)
- Summary: NERV receives notice of a Namegon, a fairly weak slug-like kaiju, awakening and attacking a city. They arrive to handle it, only for it to abruptly sprout an Angelic core. How could this have happened--and why? Includes some IC news and radio chatter, as it becomes relevant during the scene.
A reporter speaks;
"And today, we have a rather unusual item. As you know, the Ravnui National
Science Laboratories has hosted a great deal of projects and distinguished
speakers since its inception. On the 3rd of August, they are welcoming a
returning Academic from Luxembourg. Known from his talks on 'Enhancing
Companion Animals to Improve Living in Harsh Environments', Eisen Daiwel -
self-identified 'Mad Scientist' - is presenting a promising new topic.
'Relieving Famine Conditions through Cybernetic Applications and Unique
Kaiju Metabolism'. Tune in at six-thirty in the evening!"
[T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Administrator. Would it be possible for me to gain access to one of the Evangelion Flight Carrier units for about three days - so I can ship some things to Ravnui and back? [T-NRV] Kaworu Nagisa> I can see to it that it's arranged. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Excellent. I'm just checking off the last few things I need for the Conference. [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "Is there anything else you'll need, or is that all?" [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> If we can have at least one anti-Kaiju unit on call at location, that'd probably be for the best. Just in case something goes horribly wrong. [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "I'll see to it your Evangelion comes with you." [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> I don't think I'd have the time to board and go through the sequence if something were to occur. [T-NRV] Rei Ayanami> What are you doing? [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "Hmm... I'll assign a pilot and their unit to accompany you, then." [T-NRV] * Eisen Daiwel ahem, "I, the great Eisen Daiwel, Mad Scientist... am speaking at a science conference in Ravnui." [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> I've been working on some cybernetic integration technology with Kaiju biology. You're welcome to attend the talk. They should also get recorded and televised. [T-NRV] * Eisen Daiwel is trying to downplay it, but he's sounding a bit proud about all of this. [T-NRV] Jana Cektru> Oh that sounds very interesting! You must send me a copy! [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> I absolutely will, professor. [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "Dr. Ohta will be fascinated too, I imagine. I hope she'll have the chance to attend." [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> The designer of Sevenger, right? [T-NRV] Rei Ayanami> Ravnui... [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> That's right. Formerly the Republic of Belarus. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Did you ever visit, Rei? [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "Sevenger and Windom, yes." [T-NRV] Rei Ayanami> No. I have never gone to Europe. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> That's a shame. It's a very different place from Japan. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Administrator. You're pretty grounded. What do you think; 'Defeating the Horseman of Famine through Integration of Mindcontrol Technology in Wyrd Beings' or my editors' more boring 'Relieving Famine Conditions through Cybernetic Applications and Unique Kaiju Metabolism'. [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa says, "I think the first is delightfully you." [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Great. [T-NRV] Jana Cektru> If I may interject I think that leading with mind control might lead to ethical concerns... [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> I knew you were a man of good taste. [T-NRV] * Kaworu Nagisa chuckles. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> How else am I to convey I am a Mad Scientist, professor? [T-NRV] Jana Cektru> Hmmm... what about... 'Relieving Famine Conditions through Cybernetic Applications and Unique Spooky Kaiju Metabolism' [T-NRV] Rei Ayanami> What is the mechanism of action? [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Like... Spooky Action at a Distance? [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> This isn't really Quantum science. [T-NRV] * Rei Ayanami seems to not have a response to that. [T-NRV] * Eisen Daiwel to Rei, "I won't bore you with the medical classifications on some of the gear. But it's basically metalic deposits injected into its brain, activated by means of magnetic resonance to deactivate its pain centers and adjust its mood patterns." [T-NRV] Rei Ayanami> How does it address food shortage? [T-NRV] Jana Cektru> I was just thinking of ways to make it sound alarming that were more ethical-sounding. Perhaps 'Scary Cybernetic Applications' and 'Alarming Kaiju Metabolism' [T-NRV] Jana Cektru> Either way, good luck! I've got to go back to my research. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> I'll.... workshop that a bit. [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Ah! To know that, you'll have to come to the conference, or watch the recording, Rei. Can't give away the secret yet! [T-NRV] Yuka Ohta> I think we'll need to have a talk after your presentation. Which I'll gladly attend, assuming Captain Hebikura can secure the day off for me? [T-NRV] Eisen Daiwel> Absolutely. I look forward to it.
<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.
After several tense days of shocking revelations, a dimensional fault unspooling into real space, and more than one battle with hearts and souls on the line, it is, blessedly, a quiet day for NERV. Orbit Base's monitors are showing all green, STORAGE's satellite tracking of high-risk kaiju is showing them all comfortably asleep, and the central NERV crew at the Geofront have been told not to expect any major operations today.
And then, because things come in threes, the alarm goes off. STORAGE picks it up first, a massive slug rumbling out of a cavern in northern Japan; it's a Namegon, the Mars Monster, originally encountered on the Red Planet decades ago, but quite indigenous to Earth as well. A bit large, maybe 40 meters; bigger than the standard class, at least. Not a tremendous problem, but it's close to a city so it requires intervention. The sort of thing NERV exists for, and the sort of thing STORAGE exists for. Still an ordinary day.
---
Among the streets of the small town Namegon is lurching toward, occasionally letting out a hoarse cry and firing a laser cannon from its eyes, a man is standing by, dressed entirely out of place in a full Monster Research Department HAZMAT suit, with thick rubber gloves, and thick rubber boots, and a thick fleshy skin.
Shinya Kaburagi's face cranes lazily up to peer at the Namegon. Somehow, despite looking utterly bored, there's a piercing, frightening focus to that gaze...not that there's anyone here to see it. He turns to his gloved hand, thumbing the model of a fuzzy giant full of light with interest. "Beginning effect analysis," he declares, to nobody.
Then he rears back and pitches the medal, and it soars toward Namegon. The medal flies, and flies, and flies, behaving like gravity were a far lesser concern to it than the *intent* behind its flight.
---
It's just as people are starting to arrive to the scene that it happens. The Namegon suddenly SHRIEKS, rearing back - as best as a 40 meter tall slug is able to, anyway - wriggling in a way that signals discomfort.
And then there is a strange light, and the creature's back shifts up, something emerging from the center of its body: A familiar red core.
Which is the exact moment someone in NERV HQ yelps, "I'm reading an AT FIeld!?"
The eyes on the slug-creature begin to glow again, a deeper, richer red now. The lances of light that emerge this time blaze from red into white, punching entirely through a building that it had previously merely singed.
And at the ends, they split into a familiar cruciform.
KTS: Celebro has deployed in Gimmick Type Kaiju. KTS: Celebro has deployed as a Boss for 6 opponents. KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in MPMZ-17 Ichinana. KTS: Rei Ayanami has deployed in Evangelion Unit-00. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Rei Ayanami! KTS: Eisen Daiwel has deployed in Evangelion Unit-Zahllos - Carestia. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has deployed in Evangelion Unit-02. KTS: Misato Katsuragi has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Asuka Shikinami Langley! KTS: Haruki Natsukawa has deployed in SAA-1 Sevenger <Haruki>. KTS: Yuka Ohta has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Haruki Natsukawa! KTS: Jana Cektru has deployed in MPMZ-17 Ichinana TG Tector Gear.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
An ordinary day, after an extraordinary weekend. With the immediate danger in Tsutsujidai resolved, and no clear-cut means of dealing with the Chaos Bringer effect therein, Kaworu returned to Japan with the rest of NERV. It'd been his intent to rest by way of doing deskwork--he'd managed well enough, but he's been warned amply by the nurses not to overextend himself--but then the alarm went out... Even then it hadn't seemed like an especially large problem. Surely he'd be able to help oversee things from the bridge of the aircraft NERV and STORAGE units end up taking up to northern Japan to intercede.
But then...
But then, as the aircraft closes in with its transport of pilots and units, the Namegon lets out an ungodly shriek--glows with a brilliant light--and then, from its center, emerges a red core.
Shigeru Aoba, at the bridge, yelps, "I'm reading an AT Field?!"
Kaworu is rarely flustered, let alone surprised. He's seen a lot in his short but repeating life; he usually knows the basic flow of things. But he knows that, a moment ago, that kaiju was simply a run-of-the-mill kaiju, and now, it has the presence of an Angel. Thus: "What?!"
Below, in view of everyone on board, including those prepped and ready in their mechs waiting to launch, will see the Namegon let loose with a cross-shaped lance of light. The building it hits is rapidly reduced to slag. Fortunately, evacuation had already been completed by the time they arrived, or else...
With a sharp glance Misato's way first to ensure they're on the same page, Kaworu declares, "All units launch. This should not be so."
"All units, launch!" the bridge crew declare, passing on his orders to the waiting pilots. It'd been intended that only one or two would launch, with the rest on standby just in case--but this is precisely the 'just in case' that they brought extras along for, isn't it?
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Rei Ayanami, Jana Cektru, and Eisen Daiwel with Awe. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Jana Cektru's Morale! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Eisen Daiwel's Morale! KTS: Eisen Daiwel has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Eisen Daiwel: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Eisen Daiwel has activated the Spirit Spirit Command.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Jana is concerned by this dimensional fault, and these battles for hearts and souls. But she is not in a position yet to invesigate those properly, nor to solve them; she just trust to others. However... when the alarm goes off, she finds that this, at least, she cannot simply leave be. Something tells her... That it's important. Despite the fact that it's a normal day. So she asks to join the team.
---
Jana's Ichinana is in the transport, preparing to engage, but then she feels a strange sensation, and frowns. This is moments before the Namegon SHRIEKS and suddenly--
"What!?" A pause. "Right," Jana says, ready in her unit--because she asked to be part of the offensive team, this time. And now she begins to understand why.
"Liam! I'll count on you!"
She deploys, and her Ichinana drops down to the ground, rocking with the impact and then lifting its arms above. The Ichinana lifts its hand in a pattern that will be quite familiar to Celebro in all likelihood--just like an Ultraman's attack, forming an 'L' with the arm and extending from the side of its hand a sudden set of beams!!
"I'll try to pin it down so we can get close!" the scientist calls, and her beams are not particularly damaging--they seek to ensnare, to bind, to hold, to prevent.
KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 KTS: Jana Cektru targets Celebro with Chain Beam! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Rei Ayanami's Morale! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 50. <Pose Tracker> Eisen Daiwel has posed.
The NERV transport is carrying a winged Evangelion, Carestia. And while it may be Flight Capable, it still has the rather troublesome issue of having limited ability to move without being connected to a heavy power supply.
"I am not sure we really needed to deploy all of us. It's just a Namegon. I could probably solo the darned thing." He pauses, then asides to Asuka with a teasing tone in order to playfully rib her; "Maybe Asuka needed the backup..." The Evangelion, in low power mode, motions a hand at Unit-02.
When suddenly, alerts go off and NERV HQ manages to get a message through, alerting of an A.T. field actualizing, and local drones catching sight of a Red Core. "Not taking that back. This just means today will be more interesting!" Eisen is quick to follow up, as the numbers on the Carestia quickly begin to spike. The youth's own excitement generating quicker synchronization numbers. Personal communications of his synchronization status and depth being read back to him as the LCL begins to shimmer and shine, the unit moving out of standby into active mode.
"See you all on the ground!" As the Carestia is released from its moorings within the Transport, and uses a foot to kick off, lunging out of the vessel and detaching the intial 'Bungee'. Its wings immediately engage, gossamer light flashing between the phalanges of its metalic wings, causing it to drift and almost 'feather fall' for just a moment, before the unit grabs hold of two of its spears from its wings and swings them around for a moment, and chucks them down towards the ground!
They land at the edges of town, just... stabbing into the ground. Looking almost like the pilot missed significantly, as the unit itself comes down towards the enormous slug with a third weapon. A Sonic Glaive being held down as it sails down, almost like it's about to Belly Flop, but fully with the intent of arresting its momentum downwards by stabbing the spear into the Slug's body! <"ANNIHILATING ASSAULT!"> He's not aiming for the red core yet. But rather looking to interact with the A.T. field, expecting it to halt his initial assault, and to weaken it so the others can engage better. <"LOU CARCOLH SLAYER!">
KTS: Eisen Daiwel targets Celebro with Annihilator's Roar! <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
A pair of Ichinanas stand in the back of a transport plane--one stock, the other... heavily-customized. As the craft passes over the city, the stock Ichinana steps forward, planting a foot on the edge of the drop bay as it surveys the ground below. "Visual on the target," says Liam, his voice crackling over the radio. His hands tighten on the Ichinana's sticks as he readies himself. "Commencing drop. Follow my lead, Doctor."
The Ichinana steps out of the drop bay, and into free-fall. It plummets a few hundred meters, turbulence shaking its frame. At five hundred meters up, Liam hits the jets, easing into a controlled burn.
"Preparing to--"
The light washes across the city, and Liam blinks. His mouth falls open.
"AT Field?!" That--that shouldn't be possible. But then Namegon turns around, and Liam sees what is unmistakably the same giant red sphere he saw in the guts of Jophiel. His lips twist into a scowl. "Is this the Devil's doing?" Liam's Ichinana charges regardless, its heavy feet churning up the turf. "Understood, Doctor. Providing further covering fire!"
The Ichinana whips its machine gun off its mount, draws it to its shoulder, and opens fire, snapping off short, controlled bursts. Liam is trying to target the core, but given the fact that it even has a core...
Liam has suspicions. He paid attention during Mari's flipbook lecture.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Celebro with Ichinana MG Burst!
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
Rei Ayanami had waited. Marking time, and waiting for events to transpire towards a conclusion. It was not tactically wise to have herself deploy outside of Tokyo-3. Tsutsujidai would resolve itself with the aid of Mari and the Second and Fifth Children, or not at all.
It was sensible. Yet somehow...
It felt like she was...
But that was then. To hear this report, though alarming, holds a certain frisson. This is the purpose of Eva. Rei lives to pilot the Eva; and so it is her purpose, too. Rei had been travelling in the entry plug -- if this is simply a maneuver then they might as well gather yet another sub-chapter in the tomes of testing with a consistent test article -- and this means that when the order to launch is given
She hits the ground...
... standing. The deployed EVA-00, activated and alive if moving with a power-conserving leisurely aspect, raises up a vast slim black object. No, look at it from a different angle - a vast *firearm*, artillery as a sniper piece...
Rei centers on the mass of the sluglike body, but there is a good question at foot here. "Inside the other monster?" she wonders, before pulling the trigger. The gun goes 'bang' - more like 'FWOOOMH' - and the shell is sent slugwards!
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Celebro with Sniper Rifle Aimed Shot! <Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato Katsuragi is having a day, she had just called up an old friend requesting a meetup so she could get him jealous only for yet another fucking monster attack to happen over the course of like four days. Misato has to cut the call short before she can even get into it and ends up kicking a locker so hard she dents it.
"Give me a break!! We're supposed to be prepping for summer break!!"
Fuming she makes her way to the aircraft.
Luckily this slug thing doesn't seem like much of a threat so Misato is hoping that they can get through it quickly.
And then Shigeru Aoba says there's an AT Field.
"What...?" Misato asks. "That's an Angel??"
She squints suspiciously at the viewscreen. She supposes they CAN look rather weird, but...
She exchanges a look with Kaworu. They might not be on the same page, but Misato nods because there's really only one response to this either way.
"Well Angel or no, we'll take it out the same as we would any other Angel. "And be wary of any tricks! Something like that almost certainly has a trick up its sleeves!"
She steps back, pinching the bridge of her nose as she looks back to Kaworu. "If someone has actually figured out how to grant AT Fields to run of the mill kaiju... This could just be the beginning of a really bad situation."
KTS: Misato Katsuragi has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Misato Katsuragi targets Asuka Shikinami Langley, Rei Ayanami, and Jana Cektru with Coordinate. KTS: Misato Katsuragi coordinates maneuvers, raising Jana Cektru's Piloting! <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka took the day off from school to sleep in. That's atypical of her, but the other night just left her drained, physically and emotionally. She wants to do absolutely nothing but sleep today. And she has, nestled up under the covers with her doll, she'd crashed hard.
The universe has other ideas.
She still has bedhead at the base, finishing off an energy drink and tossing it at a waste receptacle before she steps into the plugsuit. "One day. This Kaiju couldn't wait one day." She hits the button on her wrist, as it vacuum seals her in.
She sits there, staring at her wrist, and takes a deep breath, "A Human heart. That's one in a million for a Kaiju right?" She asks herself. It was only three days ago that she wouldn't hesitate to fight a Kaiju as if it were some very big pest...
... now though?
-=-=-
The aircraft casts a shadow over the countryside, a long limbed shadow conjoined with it as it passes over the countryside. "<Oh did someone put on his big boy pants today? You mind saying that again you Chuutwo Flunky? You couldn't even figure out a proper name for your academic lecture and you think you can upstage me in a Kaiju fight?>"
The aircraft has no ordnance to offer to fight the threat, but a bomb will be dropped nevertheless.
Evangelion Unit-02 drops, arms spread out like a Skydiver its green 'sensors' turning up to peer at the slug-like creature in the distance as an umbilical cable unspools behind it.
"<What the hell? Was it doing that before? Why wasn't it in the initial reports?>"
Asuka zooms in, then further, and further. And glowers, "<... I'm seeing a Core. Looks like Guitar Hero is right. We've got ourselves an Angel.>"
Her Evangelion hits the ground in a three point landing (Of course she's showing off a bit), a moment later a rifle like weapon is dropped and as the Eva rights itself, the Evangelion grabs it out of mid-air before it can drop, grasping it as a violet bayonet flips out like a switchblade.
And then she takes off in a dead sprint.
Utilizing the Ichinana and Unit-00 for cover as she runs down the main thoroughfare of the town and... then actually, on Misato's advice of bewaring any tricks, breaks off into a flanking run, "Let's see how tough this thing's AT Field actually is-HORYAAAAAAAA!" She cries as she tries to drive it into the Slug from the side, trying to keep herself directly out of its view.
KTS: Misato Katsuragi coordinates maneuvers, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Piloting! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Celebro with GB-012 Bayonet Thrust!
<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.
A kaiju with an AT field? Can they do that? Are the kaiju and angels joining hands or something? No, no, that doesn't seem right, but still... Well, there's only one way to figure this problem out.
"Uh... Hey! Yuka-san! Can Angels and kaijus have babies? Is that a thing?"
Already deployed in the Sevenger, Haruki asks his extremely dumb question behind the safety of his radio as he rapidly approaches and weighs his options. AT fields are like barriers, at least, that's how Haruki remembers them being in function. Sure, there was a lot of science and complexities behind how they work, but at the end of the day, it's just a forcefield, right?
That means, tiny things like small bullets will be stopped while bigger things will have a better chance of getting through, because bigger things hit harder. The only question now is, what bigger thing does Haruki want to use? He's got a few options, and all of them seem good. So if that's the case, he'll just go with his favorite.
Attempting to kneel down to fire off a rocket punch, one of Haruki's hands on the robot's control levers slips, causing the massive cylindrical robot to misstep.
"Eh??? No! No! Not again!"
It's too late. His plan to fire off a rocket punch and look cool is now replaced by him desperately trying to prevent Sevenger from faceplanting into the concrete roads below.
Still, Haruki can't waste his chance to push the offensive, so instead, he improvises, turning the currently hobbling machine into a weapon itself as he drives Sevenger head first into the Namegon.
KTS: Haruki Natsukawa targets Celebro with Sevenger Kabuki Attack! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Jana Cektru rattles Celebro, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Celebro blocks Jana Cektru's Chain Beam, taking 330 damage! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Eisen Daiwel enervates Celebro, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Eisen Daiwel anchors Celebro, forcing him into close range. KTS: Celebro blocks Eisen Daiwel's Annihilator's Roar, taking 3520 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Eisen Daiwel's Experience This Curse With Me! activates, causing Deject! KTS: Eisen Daiwel has engaged Celebro! KTS: Eisen Daiwel begins a Formation attack! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Liam 7-020's Ichinana MG Burst, taking 1950 damage! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Rei Ayanami's Sniper Rifle Aimed Shot, taking 930 damage! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Asuka Shikinami Langley's GB-012 Bayonet Thrust, taking 840 damage! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Celebro! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Haruki Natsukawa's Sevenger Kabuki Attack, taking 1450 damage! KTS: Haruki Natsukawa has engaged Celebro!
<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.
Namegon is nothing unusual really. But it's still a kaiju. And the Namegon STORAGE first deployed against had been its own sort of troublesome, with how it had dissolved into nothing upon defeat. So Yuka had been called upon to join the operation to capture or exterminate the overgrown pest-species. Because while it doesn't have much that's traditionally useful for development... Yuka is not exactly a traditional researcher or inventor.
That NERV also deployed some of their own pilots was largely unexpected, but it's a surprise she's happy to see. She's wanted to have a meeting and talk to some of them. Maybe see what she can sort out on the front of unknowingly subjecting them to therapy and mental health care. And of similar importance, she's been waiting for the opportunity to check in on her friend, Administrator Kaworu. That, she can definitely accomplish today. In fact, she'd been in the middle of a conversation when the alarm rang out.
A Namegon with the abilities of an ANGEL?! That certainly is new. She puts on her headset to begin remote assistance for STORAGE's half of the deployment, right as Haruki asks... An INTERESTING question. One that actually has her curious about the compatibility of different kaiju species, both terrestrial and galactic. "Short answer, I haven't been given access to enough files on angels to tell you that. So do try and bring me something to study, would you please?"
She's still getting everything configured to her liking on the ship, so she's not able to do terribly much YET... "The introduction of foreign abilities may also have removed its weakness to salt and salt-water, so don't count on dunking it in the bay this time."
KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Celebro with Pass! KTS: Celebro fails to react to Yuka Ohta's Pass, taking 0 damage!
<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.
If you see an Angel on the road, you must kill it. Someone clever said that once, maybe an Akagi or something. The entire NERV team lands hard, scattering boulders and the occasional landslide as they line up and open fire. It's a frankly unnecessary level of force to deploy against what amounts to a hugely oversized slug, albeit one with laser eyes. Or....it would, normally, be.
The thing emits a horrible noise, its throat bulging and vibrating to release a mighty roar. And then everything aiming at it just STOPS. The sight is familiar enough - a perfectly flat plane of force, resonating hexagons rippling out from a central point between its eyes. Its eyes seem to fixate on that point.
And after a long few seconds of clashing forces, the barrier pulses forcefully backward, forcing Sevenger and Eva Unit 2away.
It's not just an AT Field. It's a VERY STRONG AT Field.
Its eyes are on stalks and not particularly required to look at the same thing, which it abuses presently; power gathers in each of its eyes, visible glowing coursing up from the Core and through its body, into the eyestalks, into the sockets, and then BLASTING outward. First are a pair of short pulses, raking across the two Mobile Suits, before it seems to realize, somehow, on some buried instinct, the inherent threat of the two Evangelions. It moves forward - it's not half as slow as you might think - leaving a trail of flattened earth in its wake before the light in its eyes peaks again and it releases huge rays of light from its eyes, one at each of the two distant EVAs, the ground cooking under the passage!
KTS: Celebro has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Celebro targets Haruki Natsukawa and Asuka Shikinami Langley with Innate Kaiju Protective Barrier Wave. KTS: Celebro targets Eisen Daiwel with Kaiju Cross Beam Blast! KTS: Celebro targets Liam 7-020 with Kaiju Cross Beam Pulse! KTS: Celebro targets Rei Ayanami with Kaiju Cross Beam Blast! KTS: Celebro targets Jana Cektru with Kaiju Cross Beam Pulse! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley parries Celebro's Innate Kaiju Protective Barrier Wave, taking 900 damage! KTS: Celebro repulses Asuka Shikinami Langley, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Jana Cektru successfully evades Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Pulse KTS: Haruki Natsukawa blocks Celebro's Innate Kaiju Protective Barrier Wave, taking 1800 damage! KTS: Celebro repulses Haruki Natsukawa, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Misato Katsuragi coordinates maneuvers, raising Rei Ayanami's Piloting! KTS: Rei Ayanami successfully avoids Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Blast KTS: Liam 7-020 charges into the attack! KTS: Liam 7-020 successfully avoids Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Pulse KTS: Eisen Daiwel's Will Barrier activates, negating 500 base damage. KTS: Eisen Daiwel blocks Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Blast, taking 2580 damage! KTS: Haruki Natsukawa has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Haruki Natsukawa has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Eisen Daiwel KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Is it an Angel?
"Uh, negative!" Aoba reports, sounding somewhere between confused and shaken. "Despite manifesting an A.T. Field, the target isn't reading as Blood Type Blue! At the same time, the sensors can't agree what it is! If the MAGI were here, we could get their analysis, but..."
"It's not an Angel," Kaworu states with the decisive finality of absolute knowledge. "It's simply absorbed the power of Angel, somehow. And it did so just before we arrived."
"What? But how is that possible?" Maya interjects, turning around her seat. "There wasn't any sign of any other unusual lifeforms anywhere else around!"
Kaworu's lips thin. Were it not for the walking cane he carries in his good hand and his bad hand resting in a sling, he'd press one of them over his mouth. Is this the Devil's doing, as Liam wonders? "...I don't know," he says, answering Maya and Liam both. "But it doesn't seem like his style."
Haruki asks if Angels and kaiju could have babies. Kaworu's lips thin further. He glances over at Yuka as she weighs in. "As Dr. Ohta says, gathering samples would be wise."
'Inside the other monster?' Rei queries as Eisen and Asuka bicker. Kaworu leans forward, grip tightening on his cane. "Yes. The core will tell us much." He meets Misato's eyes as she rubs the bridge of her nose. "...Yes. We need to determine how this happened."
Because it really shouldn't be so. This presence... it's familiar. It's very familiar, in a way that aches with dread on one side of his skull. He shuts his eyes tight for a second or two, meditating on the pain and the presence both. Then he lifts his chin to focus back on the battlefield as the Namegon forces its enemies back with the sheer power of its borrowed A.T. Field and unleashes more Angelic cruciform beams.
"...however, our first priority is to exterminate the target," he concludes grimly. "Don't hold back."
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Jana hears 'Blood Type Blue' and 'hmms' a moment in the cockpit without broadcasting anything in particular. It's fine. Super fine. But.. "Not an Angel, but with the power of an Angel. What do we know of that's capable of drawing out such power?" she wonders, somehow calm despite the alarming nature of this situation. But Yuka's answer is interesting enough--samples...
"Very well, Doctor. I will help to acquire samples if I am able."
But...
"It's... clearly in pain," Jana says over the radio, dismayed. "What has happened to this creature...?"
The pulses come, and Jana moves quickly, forcing her Ichinana to the side with deft controls. The pulse of power crashes behind the machine, destroying the ground where it was standing just moments ago. "We must end this pain!"
SHe does otherwise stick close to Liam, as he's directed. She can't answer much about the Devil, but, "Just keep at it--we can gather data when we're finished," she says to him. "...You can do this, Liam. Let's go in together!"
This time she doesn't use one of ehr clver Ultra-style tricks; she just pulls the machine gun from her mobile weapon's side and advances, firing off a full barrage to try to get through that barrier.
"Sufficient force should overwhelm it!"
KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 KTS: Jana Cektru targets Celebro with Ichinana MG Full Barrage! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Rei Ayanami with Prospect! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa assesses Rei Ayanami's prospects, increasing her SP! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 68. KTS: Yuka Ohta has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Haruki Natsukawa <Pose Tracker> Eisen Daiwel has posed.
<"I figured out a title just fine, thank you! But my editor said I should use a different one and 'consider the target audience'. I figured I'd bring in some people I socialize with for the discussion. Sorry for trying to bond."> Eisen calls back, with a tone of... annoyance that isn't usually there. Almost like she hit an actual nerve. <"Definitely going to upstage you this time!"> Eisen then adds, which... isn't something he usually actually goes through with.
Eisen is still listening when he hears the callout. <"Not a True Angel huh? Good! Because this thing sure doesn't look like an Angel. Look at this thing. It's hideous! I'd have been disappointed!"> One can always rely on his sense for Aesthetics.
Eisen and Evangelion Unit-Zahlos are repelled, stepping back, putting it right into the sights of its eyes. The heckles on the youth's neck rise all of the sudden, and instinctively he brings up the A.T. field not a milisecond before the pulsing beam rips across it. The A.T. field flickers, and soon a sheering heat slashes across the shoulder of the Carestia, causing Eisen to grit his teeth as he re-establishes the A.T. field!
<"It may be worth trying to extract the Core instead of exploding it."> Eisen then adds, not seconds before driving the Carestia forwards again, its two hands coming out, trying to find and DIG into the A.T. field and try to tear it open, and the moment it might succeed at such a thing, using its wings to apply multiple A.T. fields to stop it from closing in on itself, and then reaching forward with its claws to DIG IN and start tearing against the back of its body, and try to work forward!
KTS: Eisen Daiwel targets Celebro with Rending Devastation! <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam's eyes narrow as that geometric field forms. He was expecting it the moment someone said the words 'AT Field', but the way it turns everything aside... He weighs the merits of asking Kaworu if he's sure, but... is that his place?
Liam's Ichinana ejects the spent magazine from its rifle; it lands with a heavy THUD in the middle of the street. "It is," he says, to Jana. "The other fusions... they weren't." Generonglee and Gill'yavec were just murderous, not agonized. Of course, that doesn't mean the modified Namegon isn't.
Liam sees that eyestalk turning to face him, and boosts forwards. The scrander on his Ichinana's back ignites, sending the machine into the air. It arcs high over a chain ramen shop, then the little office building behind it, and twists to the side as the pulse races at it. The energy burst slams into a field just outside of town, blowing a new crater into the landscape. Liam grunts.
"Understood, Doctor," Liam says. "Closing." The Ichinana lands with pavement-crunching force, sending a nearby parked car briefly airborne. In the same movement, it reaches for the greatsword on its back, pulls it free, and brings it down across whatever passes for Namegon's 'torso'.
"Natsukawa," Liam says, the Ichinana glancing down at the prone(?) Sevenger. "Right yourself, I'll hold it off."
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Celebro with Mazinger Blade Swing! <Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.
"Huh? Well, I guess if you think it's a good questio-Hey! Wait a minute! I'm talking!"
Haruki doesn't get much say in the manner as the Sevenger is pushed away, the large robot rolling away like someone kicking a tin can down the street. Thankfully, despite its shape, it's eventually capable of picking itself back up the ground, resting on one knee as it lines up an outstretched arm at the Angel-Kaiju hybrid.
"Watch out! Rigid Iron Core, FIRE!"
Haruki lets out a warning, but given the amount of delay between his callout and the attack actually coming out, it wasn't really warranted. Eventually however, there is an audible disconnect noise as Sevenger's forearm disconnects, a billowing cloud of smoke erupting from its end as it goes sailing through the air before slamming straight into the Namegon's AT field.
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato's eyes slant towards Kaworu's cane. He should be rested, not on the field, but they can't afford to not be all hands on deck with alll these attacks...
"Mm." Misato considers, cupping her chin as she tries to figure out how this happened. NERV is usually rather good about securing Angel corpses. An artificial manner? If it actually absorbed an Angel, could it be that somehow an Angel lost to another Kaiju? That seems impossible to her.
"It doesn't make any sense..." She murmurs.
The slug starts firing LASERS FROM ITS EYES. "Don't underestimate it just because it's not a real Angel!" Misato shouts. "For all we know that just makes it MORE dangerous...!"
EVA's are specifically designed for Angels after all, not other sorts of Kaiju. A combination might actually prove to be even more dangerous. Who knows how they'll attack?
"How is it even stable...?" Misato murmurs. "I'm surprised the FIeld isn't rejecting the body."
KTS: Haruki Natsukawa targets Celebro with Rigid Iron Core! KTS: Misato Katsuragi targets Asuka Shikinami Langley, Rei Ayanami, and Jana Cektru with Caution. KTS: Misato Katsuragi suggests caution, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Intuition! KTS: Misato Katsuragi has activated the Foresee Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Misato Katsuragi suggests caution, raising Jana Cektru's Intuition! KTS: Misato Katsuragi suggests caution, raising Rei Ayanami's Intuition! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
And so, Rei Ayanami hears the voice of Haruki Natsukawa for the first time. What are the words of this first warm meeting?
'Can Angels and kaijus have babies?!'
Rei's lips turn down, a millimeter, perhaps two.
But there are greater things to concern yourself with. Rei cycles the action on the sniper rifle with dreamlike leisure, EVA-00's low-power mode requiring this almost sleepy, cold-reptilian motion. But the creature has not yet been confirmed. If this is truly a 'regular' kaiju -- is that a sensible term? Rei wonders. Eisen has written about the relationship between the thing and famine, it would seem. There are others. Such beasts are titanic, and while they may come in small clusters, they are sui generis - unique. God, perhaps, breaks the mold.
But then the barrier pulsates as it shoves away both the Second and the Sevenger -- and Rei draws in a sharp gasp of a breath. Because that effect-- she knows it.
Whatever, however, whomever, wherever: Even if this beast is no Angel, it has manifested the AT Field. The confirmation from Kaworu - instruction perhaps - comes through and Rei sets the sniper rifle aside with that same dreamlike cautiousness. EVA-00 stands up straight...
The eyestalks look at EVA-00. The air grows tense as a violet pall seems to draw around the area and --
SSHHHHHNNNKHHGGGGGGGGG
The ray lances forwards and strikes against another AT Field! As EVA-00 shifts to full operational mode, the maintenance battery packs slotted into its shoulder binders purge and bounce outwards, ricocheting merrily through an empty Lawson parking lot as Rei surges forwards. There is a clock, now.
THAM THAM THAM, the Evangelion closes the distance. The progressive knife is gripped from a hip compartment as Rei brings the weapon up, twisting it round in her grip and then leaping over several blocks forwards, throwing out her other hand in a very heroic splayed-finger pose...
... which skitters against an invisible wall that flickers on just the edge of visibility...
And then flutters to prismatic life as Unit Zero's own AT Field unfolds... at which point Rei draws the Evangelion back and stabs it forwards, sinking it into thin air and beginning to pull it down, bringing both hands behind it. The prog-knife glows and the data feeds show an attempt to synchronize. "Ngh," Rei says, with effort, if not (yet) pain.
"Daiwel," Rei says, with effort. "Open it--"
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Celebro with Progressive Knife Thrust! <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Asuka picks up that tone of hurt from Eisen, but this is a subject she feels no sympathy on. His obsession with calling whatever he does 'Mad Science' is just too uncomfortable for her given what she is and where she comes from.
"<Keep telling yourself that. I've heard that sometimes wishes come true.>"
Asuka's bayonet makes contact. And it stops, against the familiar hexagons of the ATField. Aoba is uncertain, but Kaworu is skeptical, "<Feels real enough! You sure an Angel couldn't just hide its blood pattern!?>" Clucking her tongue, she pushes the Induction Levers forward, trying to push the Bayonet in further, but she doesn't manage it before it starts pushing back. Bracing the Rifle Butt of the Thunder Spear against the Evangelion's body, she holds fast, as the barrier rapidly grinds its feet down into the dirt, the restraint armor of Eva-02's chestplate rattling against the butt of the weapon, pushing the Evangelion a good fifty meters before its done.
Still upright despite the violent push.
"<We're way out in the Boonies anyway. He's got no reason to make this thing out here if he can just make a Kaiju appear in the middle of Tokyo-03.>" She replies of Alexis being behind this to Kaworu and Liam, as her Evangelion tries to encircle around behind the Slug.
'It's... clearly in pain.'
She can't let thoughts of that munchkin allow her to hesitate. Especially if there's any chance this is an Angel. Misato cautions it might be more dangerous, and while Asuka's not sure she buys that given what's been shown so far, she at least doesn't charge back in heedlessly.
"<Yeah? Well let's see if I can't give it something else to->" Asuka does what she did before, shoving in the Bayonet. It's tougher than most AT Fields she encountered, but she only needs to wedge it in a millimeter. "<-FEEL!>"
The induction levers of her Eva are pressed, the Evangelion's hand pulls the trigger in kind, the Thunder Spear's function is rather literal. There's a sudden blinding flash, and if successful, a shot like a bolt of lightning flies out, to course through the Kaiju slug's body like the world's biggest tazer. "<What are you waiting for - someone GET IN THERE!>"
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Celebro with GB-012 Foe-Piercer! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley anchors Celebro, forcing him into close range. KTS: Celebro partially guards Asuka Shikinami Langley's GB-012 Foe-Piercer, taking 4464 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asuka Shikinami Langley's Sole Shikinami activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Celebro! <Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.
The Namegon is... in pain. This wasn't a natural creation then. Not a power it was merely hiding. Not that the average Namegon would be capable of such. As kaiju go, they're exceptionally... dim. Not really capable of much higher thinking, as opposed to operating on instinct or command. ...Now that might be a train of thought worth pursuing. "Administrator. Has there ever been an Angel that went missing without NERV dealing with it? Or had some amount of remains not be destroyed? I don't have anything concrete here yet. But... with all the combination kaiju recently, perhaps we ought to keep that in mind."
Of course, those sorts of observations aren't really why she's here. She turns in her seat, looking over the camera feeds and replaying its use of the AT Field in slow motion. Every little bit of combat data she can get from even a False Angel is that much more than she had. She's considering ways they might be able to get around it. "Haruki, keep it steady. Sevenger wasn't designed with those barriers in mind, but we've also got more assists than usual. So play to your strengths for now."
Not really the best advice, but thankfully, she has something else here. A tactic to go for the typically photosensitive eyes of a Namegon, who can't really deal with incoming light in high quantities, when they're naturally used to either deep, unlit caves, the Martian environment, or a mix of both. Even in regular daylight they're nearly blind, and tend to lash out blindly if not under control. A few flipped switches, and the ship's brightest external, fog-piercing lights are focused on the Heavenly Namegon's right eyestalk to disorient it. Assuming it retains that trait like a normal Namegon still, at least.
KTS: Celebro partially guards Haruki Natsukawa's Rigid Iron Core, taking 3690 damage! KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Celebro with Demoralize! KTS: Yuka Ohta demoralizes Celebro, reducing his Morale drastically. KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Liam 7-020's Mazinger Blade Swing, taking 1050 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Celebro! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Jana Cektru's Ichinana MG Full Barrage, taking 4320 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Jana Cektru's Margin Of Error activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Celebro fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 3450 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Celebro! KTS: Eisen Daiwel enervates Celebro, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Celebro fails to react to Eisen Daiwel's Rending Devastation, taking 5720 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Eisen Daiwel's Experience This Curse With Me! activates, causing Deject! KTS: Eisen Daiwel has engaged Celebro! KTS: Celebro has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Celebro has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.
Namegon is a PARTICULARLY low-threat Kaiju, and it's still holding off most of the EVAs in active service *and also* STORAGE thanks to this strange power it's gained. Imagine if whoever did this had used a Red King, instead? Something more powerful, more vicious? More able to defend itself from people stabbing it with knives?
On a related note, people immediately bust out the things that counter barriers, and that works a treat. After the slightly lazy way it erected the first one, it seems to quickly have gotten the hang of it; Liam's Mazinger Blade hits an impenetrable field. It's like hitting a brick wall with a bat, all you do is hurt your own arm, and the wall feels nothing. An inflexible, silent plane of forces. The other Ichinana's full barrage meets with similar results, bullets simply slamming flat against a silent field of resonating hexagons.
Then Asuka punches through with the Thunder Spear. The AT Field is so vicious even Asuka's own power wouldn't cancel it outright, but combining it with barrier-piercing functions causes scintillating light to crackle throughout the Namegon's body. It wobbles and wiggles, releasing pained shrieks. No feet to stomp with, but it looks like it would if it could.
While that consciousness is distracted, Sevenger's Rigid Iron Core punch plows through the barrier, smashing against it and pushing pound for pound for several moments before coming through and beaning Namegon literally between the eyes. Another scream.
Eva-00 and Eva-Zahlos lunge next. with Rei's progressive knife shoving, skittering against that uncommonly mighty AT FIeld for several precious moments before her own unfurls and cancels it out enough to scrape her knife out. The slug beneath it is...a slug, like cutting through butter.
There's no blood, just slime.
Zahlos gets in and applies much the same approach, to much the same results, earning him screams and warbling. The core sparks as it is touched.
The beast roars again, and the AT Field redoubles in strength, spreading out like an envelope and engulfing Eisen and Asuka. AT Field cancels AT Field: They find theirs suddenly pressed down against them, unable to expand.
The eyes track then to Sevenger, the brave little robot that threw such a powerful punch its way, and there's a loud whine; the core seems to pulse and throb as energy feeds visibly through the translucent creature, into its eyes, and then fires a double-barreled blast right into Sevenger, swallowing it whole with light.
The eyes then sweep, scanning across the remaining opponents and blasting against them. At the far edges of the sweep, a mountainside turns to glass and coal.
KTS: Celebro targets Haruki Natsukawa with Kaiju Cross Beam Engulf! KTS: Celebro Changes attack to Liam 7-020, Jana Cektru, and Rei Ayanami with Kaiju Cross Beam Sweep. KTS: Celebro targets Liam 7-020, Jana Cektru, and Rei Ayanami with Kaiju Cross Beam Sweep. KTS: Celebro targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Nullify! KTS: Celebro targets Eisen Daiwel with Nullify! KTS: Celebro targets Haruki Natsukawa with Kaiju Cross Beam Engulf! KTS: Celebro nullifies Eisen Daiwel's defensive abilities. KTS: Celebro nullifies Asuka Shikinami Langley's defensive abilities. KTS: Eisen Daiwel has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Haruki Natsukawa KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Jana Cektru's Otherworldly Calm activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Celebro enervates Jana Cektru, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Jana Cektru blocks Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Sweep, taking 5280 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Celebro's Kiete Karekareta activates, causing Deject! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Celebro's The More Hurt, The Better... activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Haruki Natsukawa blocks Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Engulf, taking 3240 damage! KTS: Rei Ayanami successfully avoids Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Sweep KTS: Liam 7-020 rushes into the attack! KTS: Liam 7-020 successfully avoids Celebro's Kaiju Cross Beam Sweep
Haruki Natsukawa transforms to Ultraman Z Alpha Edge
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
This kaiju is in pain... Dr. Cektru is right. The Namegon will not, Kaworu suspects, be able to handle the power that it has absorbed over a long period of time. Either they'll end its life, or it will rend itself asunder. Misato raises a good point, though: whether the Namegon is able to handle that power long-term, in the *short*-term, it's doing quite well for itself. That means that the Angelic power it's absorbed has been... processed, perhaps? To make it easier to take on? But who would be able to do such a thing? And where would it have come from?
...There's a simple answer to that last one, isn't there? It's just as Yuka asks: there's a piece of Angelic genetic material that was not recovered. Kaworu can't imagine that his would-be assassin would want more of him in this world... but that bloodied shoe of Nidaime's was never found. But he can't tell any of them that.
Likewise, Asuka scoffs at his assessment, suggesting the Angel might simply be hiding its blood type; Liam silently questions it. "It isn't that," Kaworu says with difficulty. To Yuka and everyone, he continues, "Angels... are massive. Although NERV makes cleaning their remains after their defeat a priority, such things take time, and at least two have been defeated in or over an ocean. One could imagine that some genetic data might have... washed ashore somewhere."
One could imagine it. But that wouldn't make it true. It's the sort of thing SEELE would say. He lifts his left hand and cane with it long enough to rub at the side of his head.
At that moment, the Namegon unleases another cruciform beam, directly into Sevenger--then in either direction away from it, into the mountains. The turbulence that rises from the heat tilts the aircraft, and Kaworu stumbles, steps wrong on his injured left leg, and crumples to the metal floor. His cane clatters next to him as he utters a low, pained huff. "....."
Slowly, with his good left hand, he attempts to push himself upright. "Unit-00, cover Sevenger to allow its retreat. Everyone else, pull the target's attention towards you," he states as he struggles, only a hint of a tremble in his otherwise calm voice.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Haruki Natsukawa KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Celebro with Pass! <Pose Tracker> Eisen Daiwel has posed.
<"Stop worrying about this thing being in pain. We slaughter cows and eat them. And cows aren't nearly this destructive or hard to kill!"> Eisen calls back at Jana Cektru. The Carestia draws back just enough to ensure the other assaults don't come too close, including that Rigid Iron Core. But he goes right back into things as he hears Rei call out to open it!
<"Working on opening it. But this one's A.T. Field is pretty sturdy. Shinji is better at disrupting those!"> The turbines of the Carestia begin to rev up, and its wings tremble as it tries to force the A.T. field further open!
Within the cockpit, the green light rises. The youth grabs at some wires near him, bundled and ready, and lifts them up to his face. Finding the little gate for it, he stabs the wires into a feed of his Cybernetic eye. Before laying his hands back at the controls as the unit stumbles back!
The enemy's A.T. field suddenly begins to grow, pushing across the land. Eisen has his A.T. field up in the moment, resisting the initial push against the Carestia, as he follows its gaze. Those eyes, and begins to move from the back to the ground. Its turbine rushing it forward and the A.T. field, as it begins to wane, comes up. Just enough to take a bit of the blast aimed for the mountainside and Sevenger!
For a moment, it looks like it might last. But the A.T. field is simply outpressured by the (Faux?) Angel Core. The A.T. field shattered, and the Carestia lands to the ground next to Unit-00. Its wings slamming to the ground forwards, scraping into the ground and halting its momentum.
Its hands coming to the side, grabbing one of the Spears it had thrown initially down to earth. Almost like he'd foreseen a need to grab something more quickly than that. <"A.T field down on the Carestia --- And I'm working on getting in there!">
<"GAZE INTO THE FUTURE, CARESTIA!">
The light from the cables rush into Eisen's eye, the youth grimacing for a moment as he connects further. The Dive Depth suddenly surging a bit. Synchronization Numbers going up! <"HEIMDALLR'S GAZE!"> As the Carestia's eye seems to flinch, twitching, then... opens its second set of eyes! Metal gates opening, and eyes spin for a moment in their sockets, before laying upon its enemy.
Like a cap being removed from a falcon, made to hunt when it sees its prey!
<"Going back in! AMALGAM DEVASTATION - SECOND MOVEMENT!"> It throws the spear at high speed, creating a small crater beneath the Carestia from the sheer pressure. <"A.T. Field or no A.T. field! I'm not afraid!"> As the Carestia's turbine pushes it forwards, the unit following after the spear. Knowing that an A.T. field will arest its movement first! So the moment it makes contact, and the Carestia reaches it, it grips and swings itself 'over' the enormous slug, using the bladed tip to try and SLICE through the barrier as if cutting open a Cocoon - before letting go and activating the Progressive Tip at a perfect tip - pointing down to the ground - and releasing. Looking to have the spear SINK downwards.
Landing on the other side, turning, grabbing hold of the second spear he'd initially dropped, and dropping it towards the ground, before immediately using the Tail of the Carestia to LAUNCH the second spear. The Progressive Tip set to interface with the A.T. field as well, giving it multiple points it has to protect against, before rushing in, gripping hold of that spear, and beginning to slowly 'PUSH' it through. Aiming to dig the spear in. To dig it into its back. Into its Spine. To reach forward, and slowly make a path through its Barrier, through its BODY towards the Core, to reach towards it with one hand. Not to crush it, but to tear it off.
<"UMEBOSHI PLUCKING RED LOTUS!">
KTS: Eisen Daiwel targets Celebro with Code: Annihilation! <Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.
Like Yuka said, Sevenger really wasn't made for these sort of engagements, and it's really apparent given how well the machine takes the retaliatory attack from the kaiju. That is to say, it really doesn't fare well. Even though it remains in one piece, the STORAGE unit goes flying, landing on the ground with a loud thud as smoke billows out of every orifice that it can.
Despite the punishment however, Haruki is still awake, and with really no option left, he reaches for his Z-Riser. He however pauses for a moment. The kaiju is in pain. Does he have to kill it? Should he at least try to figure out what's wrong? His mind goes back to the kaiju that attacked the Ichinana event, it's last cry of loneliness... It doesn't sit right with him, he has to do something! Saving it would be nice, but failing that, maybe if they can just figure out what's wrong with it, they can prevent this sort of pain from happening again.
He disengages the Sevenger's emergency radio before pushing the button on the Z-Riser, transporting him to the familiar inner space as a confused Z looks at him.
"Haruki, what are you-"
"No time, quick, we're going to hold that thing in place!"
There's a sudden flash of light as Ultraman Z suddenly drops down from the sky and in front of Namegon, the giant of light adopting a fighting stance before suddenly lunging out. Two giant legs wrap around the monster's 'neck', holding it in place as Z attempts to anchor the monster down with its body.
Meanwhile, taking a gamble, Haruki attempts to use the radio. Will it work? Can it work??? He's not exactly sure there's any reception inside whatever space he's in, but if it doesn't pan out, maybe everyone can read Z's intentions? Maybe? Hopefully...
"Yuka... Everyone... look now!"
There's an ungodly amount of static coming from Haruki's radio, drowning out most of what he's saying. Probably to be expected from everyone, given how much punishment Sevenger has taken.
KTS: Haruki Natsukawa targets Celebro with Alpha Scissor Whip! <Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Jana listens to Eisen's counter to her statement, and frowns within the cockpit of her Ichinana. She looks down, disappointed. But she doesn't speak it aloud, for now. Instead... Asuka suggests giving it something else to feel. It's violent, but Jana wonders about her--at least her last-minute adjustment to the weapons eems to have gotten through the barrier. But the sudden lights on the ship--Yes. Jana sees what the plan is immediately, and while she cannot smile in the face of this kind of suffering, she takes a grim appreciation of a well-executed plan. Shortly thereafter however, the Namegon counterattacks. Suddenly Jana has to set the shield between herself and her mobile weapon, and the Ichinana stands firm against a blast that blackens the shield and sends it sliding backward along the ground, feet carving great rents in the plain below. It is a powerful hit even blocked, and the whole Ichinana smokes--
But Jana's eyes focus sharply, and she says, calmly, "The power of rationality and science will overcome this trial."
She worries for Haruki and Sevenger, but she cannot repair their unit or affect them; she must act according to what she can do. And what she can do...
Is to do as Kaworu says.Dr. Cektru does not know what could have caused this, but she knows that 'one can imagine' something that may not be confirmed. ...But she simply doesn't have the pieces to put together to find the truth. She just knows that there may be more to it than that. ...And she has absolutely no reason to share that impression, so she doesn't. "Right--I'll move in to take attention!" But then, suddenly--
Jana does not exclaim it into the radio but her eyes widen as she ses Ultraman Z drop into the sky, the monster being held in place. The static is coming from the radio, and Jan can only hear what he says because of her superior hearing. Look now...?
"Liam! This is our opportunity!" She calls. "Quickly, while Ultraman has it bound!"
She rushes, her Ichinana surging forward until she gets a good place to aim. Then, she moves back, her mecha's arm moving up into another L, the side of that hand glowing brightly blue. "Array--"
"Wide Shot!"
Jana lets loose the power of her Tector Gear. "We end this pain now!"
KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 KTS: Jana Cektru has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Jana Cektru targets Celebro with Wide Shot! <Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato, of course, has no idea that Kaworu's blood could have been used to grant the power of an AT Field because naturally he is a completely normal human.
Well, okay, maybe not completely normal--she doesn't know any other 14-15 year old administrators even if maybe it's a little more common in NERV. Maybe Misato was a late bloomer because of all that military school.
"But what are the odds that someone who could create something like this would just so happen to stumble upon it?" There can't be too many people in the world that could do something like this.
Misato's initial thought is Dr. Hell and she clenches her fist tightly. No. Dr. Hell is, well... Dr. Hell is in Hell. Some new generation of mad scientist?
"Kaworu..!"
Misato crouches down to help Kaworu up. "Take it easy..." She murmurs to him. "You're still healing."
"You heard him!" She shouts.
Asuka mentions that there's no reason to make a Kaiju like this if it'd be Alexis. "Yeah... this doesn't feel like him." Misato admits.
"Asuka, put it out of its misery."
She exhales after before looking to Kaworu. "Do you need to sit down? If there's going to be more of these things we'll need you in top shape as soon as possible."
KTS: Misato Katsuragi targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with All-Out! KTS: Misato Katsuragi has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Misato Katsuragi has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Misato Katsuragi orders an all-out attack, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Skill! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
Why does this Kaiju have such power? Rei can imagine reasons, but they are only imaginations, and she is not the most eloquent of speakers. Dark stray thoughts of yawning, blind mouths or red infections forming perfect glossy spheres are only that; for she must also focus on eroding the enemy's AT Field.
A field of such power - she can barely reach the thing beneath. It has a subtle kinesthetic echo back. The touch of the flesh against the blade. In through the Evangelion, up to her -- the feeling is somehow squeamish and revolting and when Kaworu speaks --
Rei is not unhappy to pull the weapon back. Especially when faced with that vivid reminder from Eisen.
Eva-00 steps back - JUST in time for another horrific cruciform beam to smash forwards, the Evangelion's own field erupting in scintillant light and turning it into a ray-splatter that nonetheless carves a new ditch into the roadbed of this city as it radiates spectacularly into space (though it's daytime - some of the light's brilliance will surely be wasted).
Sevenger. Protect the machine. It's falling. Rei feels urgency - even if it isn't the same sort of dread that might pervade her in other contexts. Breaking away, Rei turns herself away from Nomagon, vaulting forwards even as there is a flash and Ultraman Z suddenly descends!
Rei turns her head - and Unit Zero's goes with it - as she looks at the manifestation with surprise, perhaps wonder. Then back forwards; "Sevenger," she says as the thin form of the Evangelion crouches, scooping the smouldering machine up into a fireman's carry.
Rei's eyes flick towards the active time remaining. Cradling Sevenger, staggering for a moment at the different weighting, Unit Zero strides forwards, even as Rei says one word, echoing the Colonel:
"Quickly,"
But it's sent towards one and just one specific target.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Asuka Shikinami Langley KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Celebro with Pass! <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
Kaworu offers his assessment, and Asuka actually sideeyes it, "<Someone could do that with just Core Fluid? What are you thinking then, Bionet?>" It's actually more respectful than her last one. Because she didn't actually consider the idea that Core Fluid could be utilized as such.
'Stop worrying about this thing being in pain. We slaughter cows and eat them. And cows aren't nearly this destructive or hard to kill!'
Asuka thinks of Anti, that kid. That Kaiju that she hurt so many times. That kid just like her, created for a purpose. Hurt and abused. Nearly disposed of...
... like so many girls she knows. That she devoured, sacrificed so she could get to the top. Eating their failures as if they're like meat so she could beat the top of the chain. And Eisen hears a growl before she just erupts, "<SHUT UP! SHUT UP DAMNIT! Stop trying to act like you're the smartest person in the room for once in your life Chuutwo! Just SHUT THE HELL UP!>"
Asuka WOULD like to make actual progress through its AT Field but this Kaiju (Angel?) certainly isn't making it easy for her. In fact, the Bayonet is getting beaten back, pushed against like before...
... this time she puts up her AT Field in response, that hexagonal resonance impacting the creature's AT Field, however...
She watches the thing's ATField violently expand, and Evangelion Unit-02's press back so far that it falls apart uselessly. "<My Unit-02's AT Field is down! If this isn't an Angel how is this thing's AT Field so strong!?>"
This is DANGEROUS, and she knows it. With an AT Field that strong, with her up close, and unprotected. She should back off, but she doesn't have Unit-02's crossbow with her. Sure they could send it, but she might be out of the fight for a while before they Catapult it in.
Unacceptable, she doesn't retreat from a fight like this.
So instead as she watches Ultraman hold it down...
"<Oh now you show up!?>" 'Asuka, put it out of its misery.' 'Quickly.' There's a pause, as she actually wonders... was Rei actually...
... she can't mess this up. She wasn't going to back off before, now she truly is giving it all you've got. "<Giving it all I've got then - I'm dumping in the whole battery. GET CLEAR!>"
... well at least she gave him some warning. This time, as she wedges the Bayonet in, the Eva's finger hits the trigger, and pulls back. This isn't like before with a quick burst, instead it's this sustained cone like arc, that erupts, scathing the thing with so much electricity for as long as the charge holds out, trying to fry it from the inside out. Hopefully it'll give someone an opportunity to capitalize and get the core because...
... with Unit-02's AT Field down, her chances of surviving at this range are grim.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Celebro with Super Thunder Spear Collider!! <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
If Liam were in the Proto Helios, slamming into that AT Field would've been painful. The Ichinana's shoulder joints groan under the strain as he tries to shove the blade through using raw force, but all he can manage is a slow, steady scraping against that barrier. The Ichinana backpedals, and settles into a crouch in the local dentist's parking lot; Sevenger's fist flies overhead, followed shortly after by two Evangelions. Then--
"Natsukawa!" Liam shouts, his eyes opening. Sevenger is a massive machine, and it's a lot bulkier than the Evangelions; the mutant(?) Kagedon sends it flying likea lawn dart. But a hit on that scale could slag half the Ichinana. Liam surges forwards, activating the scrander and taking to the air again. The beam passes neatly through the space where he once stood, before rushing to its final, cataclysmic destination.
"Then which?" Liam says, as Kaworu brings up the question of angel remains. "Jophiel?" There was a great deal of Jophiel for the sampling.
Then, with no warning whatsoever--
-Z-
"Ultraman?" Liam breathes. Questions of who this one is or how he knew there was trouble fall by the wayside. And as Jana notes, he's provided them with an opportunity. As Asuka drives her Thunder Spear into the kaiju's AT Field, the Ichinana boosts past Unit-02's right leg, its blade in a two-handed grip. Liam grits his teeth and pulls back on the controls. The Ichinana's arms thrust forwards, driving the slab of Super-Alloy Z in a mighty strike at the Kagedon's core!
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Celebro with Mazinger Blade Topple Strike! KTS: Celebro fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Haruki Natsukawa anchors Celebro, forcing him into close range. KTS: Celebro fails to react to Haruki Natsukawa's Alpha Scissor Whip, taking 3040 damage! KTS: Haruki Natsukawa has engaged Celebro! <Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.
Yuka is used to dealing with all kinds of people. Military, eccentrics, regular people. Some of these pilots though, they're a whole new brand of personalities. Really the only reason she isn't giving a spirited explanation of kaiju with intelligence, hearts, and other such things is that... In this VERY specific case, yeah. Namegon have absolutely no higher reasoning whatsoever. They are very much on par with the regular, finger-sized creatures they look like. They're just more dangerous.
And while she's gotten focused on considering who could have caused this inelegant combination of traits, Sevenger gets blasted into non-operation? ALREADY!? "Haruki, are you alright in there?!" Thankfully, she gets a static-filled answer as... Ultraman appears!? What even prompts him to show up, every time her precious machines get trashed? And other times of course, but particularly then.
Asuka's screaming... Huh, beneath the enraged words, she feels something else. A sense that... just maybe, they agree about a few things more than usual.
KTS: Yuka Ohta targets Celebro with Pass! KTS: Celebro fails to react to Yuka Ohta's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Celebro blocks Asuka Shikinami Langley's Super Thunder Spear Collider!, taking 5520 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asuka Shikinami Langley's Sole Shikinami activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Celebro! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Eisen Daiwel enervates Celebro, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Celebro partially guards Eisen Daiwel's Code: Annihilation, taking 9360 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Eisen Daiwel's Experience This Curse With Me! activates, causing Deject! KTS: Eisen Daiwel has engaged Celebro! KTS: Celebro fails to react to Kaworu Nagisa's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 96. KTS: Celebro fails to evade Jana Cektru's Wide Shot, taking 4350 damage! KTS: Jana Cektru roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Celebro's EN Barrier activates, negating 1000 base damage. KTS: Liam 7-020 rattles Celebro, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Celebro partially guards Liam 7-020's Mazinger Blade Topple Strike, taking 3034 damage! KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Celebro! <Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.
The mega-slug assumes (correctly, sort of??) that Sevenger is now down, and is VERY not expecting a new silver guy to show up from just, Up? Somewhere?. It SHRIEKS as Ultraman Z arrives, wobbling in aggression, attempting to wriggle free. But Ultraman has it in a tight spot! There's no chin to grab Namegon with, but Ultraman manages to hold on to its wriggly body long enough for the job to get done! Eva-00 goes to help the fallen Sevenger, leaving things up to her comrades. Asuka lunges in in the gap; Evangelion Unit-02, even with its AT Field swallowed whole by Namegon's inexplicably powerful one, SLAMS into that AT Field's resistance again, rippling hexagons resisting her powers fiercely. But counter she's able to push through just enough - with her own, with the Bayonet's nature, with the thunder spear's force - that the bolt crashes through into Namegon's body, sending it wobbling and shrieking and sparking.
Eisen has his opportunity, then, as his own AT Field busting techniques force their way through in combination with Asuka's assault. It looks vicious and bloody, a savage way to extract an organ, but it DOES work, the core bodily shoved out of the Namegon's body. It rolls away, fractured, off down the streets.
Namegon's still screaming, because it's currently being stabbed, wrestled, and electrocuted, but immediately the sense of that oppressively powerful AT Field fades. The next several shots, from Liam and from Jana, slip through totally unharrassed, splashing against the sluggy creature and clearly scoring direct hits.
The mega-slug manages one more force of strength, wriggling finally away from Ultraman Z and the clawing and blades, its eyes buzzing with a less unearthly kind of light, in preparation to attack again.
But slowly, it just...backs away, lurching off toward the countryside in quiet, if screamy, defeat.
KTS: Celebro targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Pass! KTS: Celebro targets Eisen Daiwel with Pass! KTS: Celebro targets Jana Cektru with Pass! KTS: Celebro targets Haruki Natsukawa with Pass! KTS: Celebro targets Liam 7-020 with Pass! KTS: Celebro targets Rei Ayanami with Pass!
<Pose Tracker> Eisen Daiwel has posed.
<"Honestly..."> Eisen strains in the midst of his combat maneuver. <"If there's someone who can create faux Angels from that genetic material, they are a genius and I'd love to meet them. But they need to work on their Aesthetics!"> He remarks to Kaworu, just before Asuka tries to tear him a new one.
<"What are you fucking snapping at me for - Loud Phoenix?!"> Eisen demands to know from Asuka. He doesn't understand what has happened after all. And he's not good at shutting up. A lot of information about active operations has been kept from the 'Mad Scientist'. NERV is a place of secrets. So he has no ability to even contextualize the outburst other than 'Asuka is being unreasonable again'. <"It's just a damn Kaiju! And one that looks to have an Angel Core. Just fucking slaughter it! Just like you've killed so many more before it!"> He's about to snap back at her more - like how she's killed humans if her military record against ZAFT were legit - when suddenly light comes from above, and and Ultraman lands from the skies.
<"What the!?"> Eisen demands to know, as he's still trying to dig into the enemy Kaiju. Until finally it reaches that red orb and manages to pry it out of its body, and sends it rolling into the streets. As the A.T. field falls, the Carestia almost falters in its steps, coming to a halt near the Red Orb, and slowly takes it into its claws, looking at it.
Eisen as no intentions of destroying a perfectly good object for research. Instead, he gaze turns towards the Slug crawling away, pointing at it with a spear, looking like the Carestia may just end its life as they have ended so many Kaiju lives before. But the weapon has not yet been thrown.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
At least an administrator isn't a military position--no need for all that military school for Kaworu. The rest, though...
'But what are the odds that someone who could create something like this would just so happen to stumble upon it?'
'Then which? Jophiel?'
'If this isn't an Angel, how is this thing's AT Field so strong!?'
"........"
He gives Misato a tense smile as she helps him up. He accepts it without struggle or complaint, only pausing to grab his cane and use it to help himself balance back on his right foot. That smile fades as he looks out towards the display screen. "Ultraman Z..." he murmurs, eyes flickering in recognition. The pilots work together, and soon that A.T. Field is neutralized long enough for the core to be punched clean out of the Namegon's body. It returns to normal and decides it's had quite enough fighting, leaving the great round sphere behind.
For the time being, it seems stable. But it's not going to last. Kaworu has a hunch.
"...Yes, I think that's best. Thank you," he murmurs to Misato. He eases into a seat near to Yuka; he's already pale, but right now sweat beads his face, and he distinctly favors his leg leg. His breathing is slow and measured, and his gaze is troubled.
A lot of people have a lot of things to say, still, like Eisen about wanting to meet the one responsible for all this. Kaworu doesn't respond. For right now, he needs a moment or two.
<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.
The Namegon dislodges from Ultraman's hold and then retreats. It takes a moment for them to fully process what's happening, but they figure this is ultimately good. Right? Whatever was hurting the kaiju is gone, and now it's stopped whatever it was it was doing. The question remains though, is everyone else okay with that? NERV and STORAGE are after all, organizations dedicated to eliminating these sorts of threats...
It isn't a threat anymore though.
Ultraman Z steps forward, putting himself between the escaping Namegon and the rest of the group, back turned to the kaiju as he raises its arms out in a feeble attempt to block everyone off. Haruki really hopes this gets the message across that they don't need to fight any longer, but he knows there's a good chance he might need to take a hit or two.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
Asuka seems to explode--but Jana senses, she thinks, something beneath all of that, and it reassures her about the pilots. She does not explain why she is so comfortable with Ultraman Z showing up. But she does keep an eye on the battle continuing. They shoot, and shoot, and shoot, and...
Ah. The Core's out. Rolling away, fractured...
Hm.
"The threat appears to be neutralized," Dr. Cektru reports. Then, she eyes the slug, as if to confirm whether it is indeed disengaging... And here she notices the Ultraman moving to protect it.
"...Personally," Jana says, "I am willing to leave matters at that. If this Ultraman believes that it is no longer a threat..." She trails off. "Liam, good work. Would you escort me back to the ship? My Ichinana has taken some damage."
Then she pauses. "Mr. Daiwel," Jana says next. "As a scientist, I would think that you would hold yourself to higher standards of ethics than that. Yes, beings kill and consume in order to live, but there is no reason that we should prolong suffering, or be inhumane in our treatment of those things we must destroy."
"I am disappointed in you. You did well in the battle, and I have no complaints with your skills as a pilot. But please consider what I have said in your work as a scientist."
She prepares to go back to the transport.
<Pose Tracker> Yuka Ohta has posed.
There's really only so much of certain things Yuka can really stand hearing at once. She's a pretty happy, upbeat woman. But Eisen is wearing on her patience. So, after taking care not to disturb Kaworu as he's settling in, she slams her hands down. Anger is something that almost nobody has seen in her before, aside from that one time... When she found out the military was planning on deviating even further from her plans for Sevenger and Windom. That had to be dealt with via both compromise and outright bribery using rare kaiju parts. "That. Is. Enough! Eisen, you're being scheduled for a lesson on kaiju physiology and behaviors once we return to headquarters!" Thankfully, the core dislodges and the kaiju starts... waddling home? It's certainly not trying to cause any more destruction. "The problem we were called here for has been resolved. Namegon is no longer rampaging, so somebody collect that False Angel Core, and bring it back for study. Everyone else, return to dock." Strictly speaking, she's easily outranked by say, Misato, or Kaworu. But she's placing her opinion as the expert on general kaiju, onto the field.
She's not really sure if he can hear them, but she'll add one last thing anyway. "Thank you for the assistance, Ultraman."
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
Misato crosses her arms. "Least we got the core--"
She takes a moment to take a look after her pilots. They SEEM to be alright but you can never really be sure.
"Good work everyone. We'll have to send a team in to secure the core--" She expects, of course, that her agents are going to finish the kaiju off--
--she catches Haruki moving to step in to ... protect the kaiju??
"What the hell...?" Misato asks. "It might've lost the desire to fight but it could still cause trouble!"
She exhales, and rubs at her forehead. What is she going to do about this?
"Fine, I'm hardly gonna order our team to shoot through him."
Yuka Ohta indicates that the kaiju is no longer a threat.
"You too?" Misato says in disbelief. "Just because we found a kaiju or two that can be reasoned with doesn't mean the ones without intelligence can just...be left alone. People befriending kaiju..." She mutters. "What's next? Befriending an Angel?"
She mulls. Then claps her hands once. "Well whatever! If you want to leave that Namegon alone, you're the expert! But if it causes trouble again we're taking it down for good."
She looks to Kaworu and takes a moment to feel his forehead. "We should get a wet towel for our hero over here." She jerks a thumb over to Kaworu.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Goop drips off the edge of Liam's blade as he sweeps it back for a second strike. But the core pops free--which is a bizarre concept, given everything he's heard about Angels--and the other pilots move in to grab it. "Pursuing target," Liam says, his voice tight. The Ichinana takes a total of three steps forward before Ultraman Z intervenes. It stops in its tracks, and looks the giant in the eyes. Liam's comm broadcasts tense silence for a few moments, and then: "Understood. Standing down." The Ichinana slides its sword into its mount, and raises a hand in salute.
"Thank you, Ultraman," Liam says. Should he ask this one for his name? Geed was talkative, but this one didn't say a word. Maybe there will be another time. Liam's Ichinana jets carefully over the city roofs, and settles down next to Jana's. "Is this... the first Angel Core NERV has salvaged?" he says, his voice low. "If Yuka and Doctor Akagi can figure out how it works..."
He doesn't comment on the emergent ethical issues. It's not his place to. Nevertheless, he can't help but feel relief that this kaiju might live... and that there are others here who are willing to issue corrections to a budding 'mad scientist'.
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
"You did well," Rei says quietly in the entry plug as she lays the battered and smouldering form of Sevenger down away from the kaiju. She doesn't quite remember saying it; it is on the flight recorder but it isn't transmitted to the other pilots. Some things you keep to yourself.
After a breath that takes six seconds of active time, Unit Zero's head comes up and so too does the Evangelion itself... the kaiju is screaming, the pressure is building, a sudden second-sun brightness as Unit Two makes its strike known. Rei's fists curl loosely;
So do Unit Zero's;
But...
Rei expected, perhaps, a surprise. Spikes, maybe. A reversal. An eruption into high molar acid, enough to erode megatons of bedrock into foul mist, taking with it the Second as well as Eisen and the Zahllos. But then perhaps there would be simplicity: a penetration, an eruption, and that curious bloody cascade.
What Rei doesn't expect is for that feeling to just sort of -- dissipate; for the AT Field to collapse and...
Rei's head tilts five degrees to the side.
So does the Eva's.
Rei blinks (if Unit Zero does too, nobody can see it) and is silent for several seconds. The Evangelion's electronics detect her shifting posture and subtle neurology through the A10 cranial nerve circuit and shifts quietly to low power mode.
"... Standing by," Rei reports, at last, blinking and looking towards the video pane in the entry plug's constellation of screens that shows the command space. "Colonel; Admininistrator."
Several seconds pass.
"... Awaiting vector."
Is this feeling relief?
(The Evangelion, of course, will return where indicated, even if it will be shambling unless Rei is told to move Sevenger around. Sevenger is treated with reverence.)
<Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
The electrical arc of the spear finally gutters out, the Thunder Spear's power supply exhausted and the regulators fried. It needs to be recharged and repaired before she can use it again. However... the core is out.
'It's just a damn Kaiju! And one that looks to have an Angel Core. Just fucking slaughter it! Just like you've killed so many more before it!'
It's not Anti. It's not like him. It doesn't have a human heart...
... but the capacity to be like Anti, at least raises it above cattle. She understands she has to kill it. It's her purpose to kill Angels, but...
"<You think I was holding back when I just emptied the GB-012's whole power supply into it!? Have you even READ the specs on it? Just read the room for once in your life!>"
... but she can't treat Kaiju like cattle anymore. It just doesn't sit right with her. It may be necessary to kill them, but she just can't dismiss their existence as some inconvenient vermin.
Eisen grabs the Core.
And the slug just wriggles away from Ultraman, then lurches towards the countryside, away. Asuka just stands there, nozzle of the Thunder Spear still smoking pointed slightly in the way. Ultraman stands in the way - obviously barring them. Misato doesn't approve, she even understands her hesitation. Her arguments are sound but... at the same time...
Ultraman. Yuka. She even remembers Yoko telling her all about how Kaiju attack mostly because they've lost their territory. This one was simply... used. After a moment, she takes a breath...
"<You're the one who thought it was so pathetic that you could solo it without my help. So go ahead prove that if you want...>" Asuka hits a switch and the bayonet folds back into the Spear.
Evangelion Unit-02 starts walking back towards the aircraft they came in on. "<...but I've got nothing to prove to you.>"
<Pose Tracker> Eisen Daiwel has posed.
As Ultraman Z intercedes, stepping between the Carestia and the Namegon, Eisen lowers the Evangelion's weapon. <"What're you trying to say here?"> He asks. After all, the Ultraman hasn't spoken. Not that Eisen knows of, that is.
But his intentions towards the Ultraman are eased off as Jana speaks to him. <"What part of Mad Scientist are you not getting here?"> He inquires with her. <"Not that I was intending to make it suffer unnecessarily. But in battle, ignoring the pain of a Kaiju threatening the town is me putting the lives of the people here before a rampaging non-sentient monster. Sure, people were evacuated, but must they come home to torn down buildings? Shattered belongings? Mementos they will never get back? The crushed corpse of a cat they might have left behind, because we decided to tip-toe around a monster's Pain?">
The youth huffs. But it perhaps gives some insight into what kind of person Eisen is. At Yuka Ohto adding to things, he lets out a hiss of a sound, but it seems he's not going to try and continue rebuking people. And who knows, maybe there'll be something useful he might get from the Kaiju Biology portion of what Yuka was speaking on. He listens as Asuka reminds him that she was trying to end things fast too. He mumbles within his cockpit. She is right of course, but he just whispers to himself: "Then why did you have to yell at me. People are so difficult to deal with sometimes."
And why is it bothering him at all?
He's definitely not going to engage an Ultraman in order to prove a point and slay a Kaiju here. The moment of 'battle', of 'hot emotions' are over. And it wouldn't look cool anymore if he somehow fought Ultraman Z, just to drive a stake through its body.
Instead, the Carestia turns to move to the same airplane they'd arrived on. Quietly irritated. Letting it fester within. Even though some part of him knows that he's not in the right.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
Kaworu likewise doesn't weigh in on the matter of ethics in dealing with kaiju. When Misato scoffs at the idea of befriending an Angel, his eyelids droop to half-mast, and Yuka's outburst gets her a faint smile that she might catch before it fades away, but that's all. He has no problems with her orders, and it seems like Misato's all right with it as well... for the most part.
He does blink over at Misato when she feels his forehead, though. "I hardly did anything worthy of the title of hero," he protests, but he won't refuse a towel. This level of physical discomfort is... truly unpleasant.
Rei's voice reaches them through the bridge's communication devices. Kaworu regards them, and the other pilots and units on the viewscreen. "...We're withdrawing now. Once the core and everyone is aboard and secure, we'll take off."
And everyone *will* get on board and secure, including the core! ...until halfway through the flight, its structural integrity finally collapses and leaves behind an ocean of red and a tiny medal depicting a strange luminous silhouette of something (someone?) humanoid...
Until then, though, Kaworu will lean back in his seat and shut his eyes until someone brings him a damp towel.
<Pose Tracker> Misato Katsuragi has posed.
"Huh? Oh I was just saying because you're already rushing back onto the battlefield when you haven't even healed up." Misato says, completely oblivious to Kaworu's reaction to her quip about Angels. Misato, of course, can't even fathom an Angel that can look like a human. Even the ones that kind of look humany are terribly alien looking. The idea that she could be talking to one is completely out of her expectations.
Fellow human Kaworu is definitely worth worrying about even if he's clearly some kind of Coordinator. "But I appreciate it. You kept a cool head. Wasn't easy in this kind of situation."
Aoba is able to fetch a towel and she places it on his forehead. "Can you hold it up there yourself?" She asks.
She sees that Kaworu doesn't seem to be in the best---
--she imagines it's not just because of his injuries. "Don't worry," She assures him. "We'll get to the bottom of this."
IN THE FUTURE
"Son of a bitch!!" Misato shouts as the core splooshes and leaves a hell of a mess.
<Pose Tracker> Haruki Natsukawa has posed.
Surprising him a bit, Haruki didn't have anyone contesting his decision. Ultraman Z visibly heaves a sigh of relief, its arms dropping down to his sides once the Namegon has fully retreated.
"Are you sure about this? We don't know if this is the last we'll see of it."
Z asks Haruki within the privacy of the innerspace, a slight hint of concern in his voice at his partner's somewhat sudden change in monster approach.
"Yeah.... Yeah."
Really, he's not sure. He's not even sure if this kind of thought is sustainable, really. But at the very least, he feels slightly good about himself, so that's something.
Not being able to stick around forever, Ultraman Z gives everyone a thumbs up, before suddenly squatting down and jumping up. Rather than land back down however, the Ultraman soars off into the distance, creating a large 'Z' shape in the sky with the trail of energy that follows him.
Eventually, later, Haruki finally shows back up, a couple blocks from where Sevenger initially crashed. Apparently he left the cockpit after Sevenger broke down.
<Pose Tracker> Jana Cektru has posed.
"Hm," Jana replies as he questions the matter of what she doesn't get about Mad Scientist. She decides against replying to that directly; instead, "Its pain was relevant to the battle; usually a kaiju is not caused pain by the normal use of its abilities. This battle was an aberration, and we must take into account both the needs of the people and the pain of our enemy. That is our responsibility, as civilized beings."
"...But that is all I will say for now. I do not intend to..." She thinks of the phrase. "Birdpile you."
Then she turns, and watches Ultraman Z fly off. ...She smiles, in the cockpit. "...Ah, so this is where you are..."
---
Jana will, of course, be most interested in their new passenger on the ship. And in what becomes of it.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Ah, I see," Kaworu says simply, smiling at Misato. A kind sentiment for her to convey. He doesn't argue with it, though he doesn't agree with it. Instead, he simply says, "Thank you." He does accept the towel and hold it to his forehead, though.
Some time later, before the pseudo-core breaks down, he'll leave with Rei. But that's another story.
<Pose Tracker> Celebro has posed.
The aircraft is departing. They didn't kill the Namegon. Data, information on their methods. How trite. But that's fine.
Such bleeding hearts will crumple faster in his game. That's almost a shame.
He claps the small moleskine closed, filled to the brim with notes in a hand that is by no means Japanese. He tucks it into an acidproof pack.
The body of a man lurches clumsily out of the storefront its pilot had tucked it away into. Thick black rubber boots. Thick black rubber gloves. Thick Monster Research Division HAZMAT suit. Thick, unpleasantly meaty flesh.
But perhaps that's just the pilot's opinion.
The man's body watches the aircraft go, the face a strange mix of vacuously bored and piercingly, keenly intent.
"Results...exceeded expectations," he mutters to nobody. His jaw sets to one side, displeased. "But the Medal is lost." ... He'll have to work on preventing that, next time. Getting his property back will be a nuisance. He does hate it when the mobs pilfer his belongings.
Still.
He looks out of the city, to the glassed and broken plain that hosted the battle, and his face twists into an ugly, rictus grin, only one half of his face exhibiting the emotion, turning it into more of a grimace than anything. One of his eyes bulges, the iris glowing a faint red.
There will be other chances. The game is only beginning, after all. What fun this will be!
"Kiete karekareta..." the body speaks, as a strange, pulsing whine comes from deep within it.