2023-04-23: WANNA BE AN ANGEL (cover)
- Cast: Asciel Colette, Kaworu Nagisa, Alouette Pommier, Asuka Shikinami Langley, Ran Altso, Rei Ayanami, Yuta Hibiki, Liam 7-020, Mari Makinami Illustrious, Sonia Sophia-Grace
- Where: Tokyo-3: Geofront
- Date: U.C. 0097 04 23
- Summary: Even one who would only ever be an idol of an angel tests NERV's mettle.
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
Over the past several months, the long-standing and innocuous structural engineering firm, East Japan Secure Solutions LLC, has been busily maintaining elements of Tokyo-3's retractable blocks. The kind of contractors whose work is eternal, whose track record is so dry and free of incident that they exist and maintain the world in utter invisibility.
Three weeks ago, they filed for bankruptcy and liquidated their assets as smoothly as a company can. They were always intended to - their existence was purely established for a scheme like this. Conquering the world from the shadows, as Amalgam seeks, is a matter of having the dedication to establish companies like these for decades only to burn them up as ammunition for specific purposes.
...the plan is two-fold.
First - an explosion breaks out in the outskirts of Tokyo-3. A batallion of Zectars, stumpy and outdated bipedial Wanzer-like mobile weapons, starts raising trouble - and a few voices start making demands of residents, raiding for cash and precious valuables. A few ID scans associates them with A-21, the same terrorist group that sent out the Behemoth last year. Not heavily armed enough to pose an existential threat to the Geofront...but armed enough to merit the retraction of its secure blocks into the vast superstructure below until response forces can arrive.
...A distraction, in the end.
Once those structures descend above NERV as an inverted skyline, the true operation begins.
Within components that the contractors had installed, several hatches slide open - seemingly with nothing inside, but for the haziness in the air, like a heat haze. But soon, they're launching cables from their points within the stalactites, aimed...not at the usual point of attack NERV mostly experiences, but instead, towards the shelters and storage facilites at its outskirts. In effect, massive ziplines, down which several of these mysterious specters ride.
Once they start acting, their presence is impossible to miss. A platoon of Arm Slaves appear from their shimmering ECS concealment, all black and silver, save for a clearly higher-spec model in a bright, vivid teal - setting off countless explosions more directly aimed at NERV's supplies...doing such a wide sweep that it seems like they're in search of something specific.
-]Aaaaah, I can barely believe it! Lady Asciel is entrusting something so important to us this time around. I'm really here! Inside the Geofront![- sighs out squad leader Nike-1, 'Azure Doveless', a flashily dressed teenager, his undercut hair cotton candy pink, nails painted glossily white. The fact that his Arm Slave is exactly identical to every other one in the squad surely pains him, but probably not as much as when he forgets to actually back off from his explosives, and is sent hurtling back through the wide spaced streets of the Geofront's outskirts.
Another Shadow quickly swoops in to prop the leader back up, with a much more beleaguered voice murmuring out, -]Captain, please...it's a bad time to get overly excited...[- Quartermaster Melumadia Kerzhov, Nike-5, sets down her ostensible superior, and gets back to far more efficiently examining the contents of various warehouses, sending them up to her superior.
-]Ahahahah, you're always right Mel-mel. You're right, I've gotta get a little more serious, otherwise Lady Asciel will give me the boot![-
-]...please, we're in enemy territory. Address me as Nike-5 and our leader as Atrytone. ...ah. What are we looking for again, Atrytone?[-
From the highest vantage point, Asciel's Codarl keeps an eagle eye on...well, as much as she can, soaking in every image sent to her, trying to assess just where, exactly, NERV's most well-known defenses will strike from - and occasionally opening fire on the lake-bound patrol cruiser trying to lob a missile towards her squadron.
-]That's the trouble, I don't exactly know~ I'm working on it, I'm working on it, categorizing everything you all uncover. Already some consolation prizes I can tell, but any minute now, I'm sure the Evangelions will appear. So!~[-
-]I'll have a much better idea of what you all are supposed to seize as soon as I rip open a few of them and see what's inside.~[-
KTS: Rei Ayanami has deployed in Evangelion Unit-00. KTS: EN Barrier activated! KTS: Gridman has deployed in Gridman Primal Fighter. KTS: Gridman has changed loadout. KTS: Liam 7-020 has deployed in NRV-00 Neo Helios. KTS: Liam 7-020 has changed loadout. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Gridman! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has deployed as a Sub Pilot for Liam 7-020! KTS: Ran Altso has deployed in Jet Alone. <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
LAST NIGHT
"...and that's the information Alouette Pommier had to share on tomorrow's assailant," Kaworu tells Commander Gendo Ikari affably, hands tucked in the pockets of his suit. "While we don't know exactly how she'll attack, or if this attack will be genuine or a feint, it seems to me, based on what we know now, is that the most effective counter-tactic is to use the MAGI. Your thoughts, Commander?"
%
The room is round and expansive at the same time that it is dark and claustrophobic, the floor black marked in a red Tree of Life. Gendo himself sits at his desk across the room from Kaworu, gloved hands folded over his mouth, Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki standing next to him with arms folded behind his back. Gendo's stare is unyielding behind his shaded glasses, but Kaworu, as always, only smiles back.
"Contact Dr. Akagi," Commander Ikari eventually decrees.
NOW
And thus it is so. The 3 AM attack by Celebro had been a dearly bought lesson; NERV staff have been working around-the-clock shifts for the day, awaiting the arrival of the next attack. When the explosions rock the aboveground and the buildings of Tokyo-3 recede, various NERV pilots are deployed quickly and efficiently to deal with the Zectars. Within the Geofront, more pilots are held on standby, waiting to see the results of the first wave--and watching for a potential second wave.
They don't need to wait long. Bridge crew announce detection of Arm Slaves descending from hatches on the descended buildings. Later review of this data will result in an audit of Tokyo-3's contractors, but that's a problem for later. For right now, orders go out for the standby pilots to intercede on the wide-sweep explosions. Gridman is present too at Kaworu's request, not as a NERV agent but as an ally.
"Alouette Pommier, as agreed, you are to take point and see if you can open communications," Kaworu says calmly from the bridge, standing below the raised seat where the commander and vice-commander preside on high in affirming silence. "Everyone else, defend the supply bases as the automatic extinguishers do their work and contain the intruders in case of communications breakdown." And, as had been ordered to the aboveground defenders: "Refrain from lethal damage."
And, sure enough, the explosions that rock the supply units will start to be countered by automated extinguishers to mitigate the blasts. Human personnel seem to be non-existent, as if they'd already been withdrawn to better-defended areas.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Gridman, Rei Ayanami, and Alouette Pommier with Awe. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Rei Ayanami's Morale! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Gridman's Morale! KTS: Zan has deployed in BT-104 Zan Robo. <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
The day comes, and as Alouette and Kaworu guessed... it appears to be a diversion operation, with the first wave of old outdated wanzers being pretty handily dispatched.
It's the next - Asciel and her squad who prove to be more dangerous as they search for something in a frenzy, explosions following them.
It's time to take point. "Oui, Administrator!" She affirms, as Guardienne Aviaire's form, undoubtedly familiar to Asciel by this point, soars from the cruiser, discarding mirror coating. Weapons have noticeably not been drawn yet.
"What a surprise to see you, Asciel-chan~" She greets - in almost sing-song fashion as the fighting mechanoid approaches the teal arm slave. "I don't know what you hope to accomplish by assaulting the Geofront! After all.. you lost pretty handily when you had a much better advantage at Palau." She considers, and then her tone turns more serious. "You can't win this one. I don't know how they did it, but NERV already knew you were coming. So please, don't fight a losing battle." She takes a defensive stance, hoping her words are enough to dissuade the Virtual Sage. But if it's not enough... she won't hesitate, either.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa inspires awe, increasing Alouette Pommier's Morale! KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Asciel Colette with Shock! KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alouette Pommier shocks Asciel Colette, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 14900 KTS: [Spirit Defense] Asciel Colette's I'll Never Let Go Of My Light activates, and her spirit endures. <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
~BEFORE~
"Your older sister is out of town right now, right?" Asuka said to Hikari the day before, "Yeah? Why?" "Maybe just... I don't know, take a day trip to go visit her this weekend. You and your kid sister."
Hikari gave her an unusual look. "What are you trying to tell me Asuka?" "Nothing! I'm just saying, you said you wanted to visit her right!? So maybe this weekend would be a great time for it!"
Hikari looked a little surprised, then anxious, "Okay. I'll uh, arrange that."
~NOW~
It was a breach of security protocol and she knew it. A very, very minor one, but still it terrified her, the thought of putting herself out there.
Calm down, NERV won't even look at a civilian family just, deciding to go out of town the day before. Calm down.
Word of the attack will hit before she ever gets on her train back.
When word of the attack hits, at first she was unconcerned with the Zectars, but as word of them penetrating the Geofront came through, "<Arm Slaves? Are they really taking us THAT lightly? Geez, what kind of morons are we dealing with here that they'd try to take on NERV like some third rate Khanka Guerilla outfit?>"
Still, something got under her skin. How did they even GET IN the Geofront like that? It had to be pretty well planned but... no, it's possible she supposes that even the Geofront has ratholes in.
When Kaworu gave the orders to launch, Asuka simply reported, "<Obviously. Evangelion Unit-02, launching for point defense.>"
-=-=-
Perhaps one of the Arm Slaves as it advances is faced by something. Like something large just got up from kneeling down, it's torso starting to peek over the supply depot, four green oculi looking straight at it.
Down upon it.
BGM Change - Attack on Eva - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgBUP8TJqV8
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It places a hand upon the depot, and stands up to its full height. It's shadow falling upon it from the strange lighting of the Geofront. "Well well well. What do we have here?" The pilot of the Red Evangelion calls out...
"I didn't realize 'Exterminator' was one my job duties, but sometimes when you've got really big roaches..."
The casings burst off of each pylon on the Evangelion's shoulders, as a rain of spikes as big as the Arm Slaves themselves falls down upon them, attempting to thoroughly dissuade them from this action...
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Asciel Colette with Pencil Roc Nailgun Surprise! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Ran Altso has posed.
STORAGE
Within the shabby facility is a shabby lunch room. In that shabby lunch room, there is a Shabby pilot. Within that pilot's hands... is a Shabby, shabby lunch. The half-wrapped sandwich was almost in the pilot's mouth when the alert sounded. People began to scramble. The Shabby Pilot looked at his Shabby lunch and tucked it away into his drab pilot's suit!
Within moments, he was the tight confines of a standard, STORAGE cockpit. He poked and jabbed at buttons or twisted dials. "This isn't a Monster attack, am I really suited for this." he wondered into the comm. A slightly dry voice reminded him that his duty was to protect people, not just fight monsters. The cockpit shook as something was attached to the larger body beyond. He heard the bolts fix into place through the hull and reported the positive connection as the systems linked up.
"All: Green. Ready for deployment, what elevator will I be using?" he wondered into the comm. Somone fartoo cheerfully told him that it wouldn't be an issue.
"Eh?"
'Bye Bye!'
Beyond the cockpit, outside of the machine, directly beneath it's feet, in fact; a hatch opened. The pilot could tell because suddenly, his stomache was rushing up, trying to crawl out through his ears. He would like to think that his scream was a manly thing, deep, a shocked roar... It was not!
ABOVE
A shabby hatch slides open wit a sudden WHOOSH, or as much of a whoosh as it could manage, at least! From it fell a gangly fellow! All long legs and noodly arms. He seemed happy to be there judging by the smile on his face, at least! Deacceleration thrusters boldted to the long fellow's body roared to life! Howling with effort as they slowed his long descent down to something much more managable. The landing was fairly painless, the gangly lad stooping with the impact and then rising up to his full height. Inside that giddy fellow, his Pilot was fighting to collect his wits.
"STORAGE auxiliary Pilot Ran Also... in Jet Alone. Deployed!" he panted into the local comms once he could find his voice once more.
Long, black rods protruded from the smiling fellows back and he took one, long, loping step forward. Fixing his helmet and adjusting his glasses, Ran brushed a thin layer of dust from a screen and took full control of the happy fellow as it lumbered in.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley rattles Asciel Colette, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Asuka Shikinami Langley's Pencil Roc Nailgun Surprise, taking 900 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 14000 KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
In the new city of Tokyo-3...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJQTWuVlp08
�
The automated defenses of Tokyo-3 have a limit on what they can do, in this configuration. If it were a simple mechanized assault - Neo-Zeon or hypothetical other Threat forces of similar scope - they would serve quite well, but the incoming Wanzers are relatively modest -- and they're trying to pillage. Mostly the outer layers, but...
Well, they don't call them *Decisive* for nothing.
'Evangelion reaction team on the elevators.'
'Use the 7th and 8th western routes. Launch!'
A certain stock footage, and...
It has mostly been very cautious exchanges of gunfire down an avenue at this point. It is nerve-wracking, in more ways than one, but even the gingerly use of low-caliber weaponry -- for Evangelions -- is rather emphatic against Wanzers. Even if you're shooting, mostly, for effect.
"Ngh..." remarks SHINJI IKARI, the designated pilot of Eva-01, as he squeezes out another round towards two of the Wanzers. It's a 'pistol'. That means it's 'only' a 223mm shell. It blows craters in the road, because his shot fell short.
Rei Ayanami, one crosswise street over, is monitoring through the scope of a sniper rifle. This had been going on for some time. No actual Wanzers have been struck, although a near-miss did damage one Wanzer's shotgun module. This is pretty indecisive, but... It's in accordance with orders.
Wordlessly, Rei wonders. Will a VTOL detachment arrive? Perhaps Liam, or even Tsurugi in Great Mazinger? Though her expression is different, she shares the wordless discomfort with fighting humans - especially in such a mismatch - and when their goal seems to be greed, rather than cruelty.
An instruction comes in -- 'Unit Zero! Recall! Unit One, standby on surface! We're going to send up range control equipment--'
Eva-00 repositions to the racklike gantry that erupts from the ground shortly thereafter, removing the equipment in there - something like a polearm with a spadelike end - and setting it to the side, leaning it, carefully, against an eight-story apartment building, which is not meaningfully damaged in the process. "Ikari," Rei says. "It's here."
The cable is decoupled and Eva-00 enters the rack.
SHUNT!
A swirling ride through a network of linear rails later--
-- and Eva-00 emerges around one of the structures on the outer perimeter of the Geofront, in the places where the illusion of the sky becomes untenable.
Rei steps forwards, letting out a breath, and seeing... weapons fire? Her first stop, inevitably, is against one of the support structures, rubbing Eva-00's back into the space where the servomotors can plug in the new umbilical extension. For once, it wasn't a destructive severing. As this happens, a signal comes in from NERV's naval branch, in particular the Lt. Commander on the missile cruiser --
"First! We're pinned down! We need a-- oh my God, two of you!!" There is a thin cheer from the crew (like four guys on turret control consoles) behind him.
"Understood," answers Rei, who brings up the sniper rifle even as the cable is connected and there is the usual brrzzpp feeling of the supercapacitor inputs sucking in a huge gulp of electrical potential at connection. The active time remaining snaps back from 3:41 to EXT. POWER as Rei aims towards a Codarl.
Which one? Any will do.
Click. THOOM: A massive shell flying through the Geofront's false sky...
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Asciel Colette with Sniper Rifle Aimed Shot! KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Rei Ayanami's Sniper Rifle Aimed Shot, taking 3075 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 10925
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Kaworu calls, on behalf of NERV, for Gridman's aid in fighting off another attack. It's surprising that another one would come so soon -- is it Celebro again? As Gridman explains the situation to his comrades, they prepare themselves for another battle to get their leader to actually leave Tsutsujidai. This time, however...
"I'm going to go." Gridman announces, before any of the Neon Genesis Junior High Students can speak up. "Max, would you please join me? Everyone else, please watch over Tsutsujidai in my absence."
Four pairs of blue eyes blink in surprise. Once, then twice.
Max inclines his head. "Of course, Gridman."
Something must've changed, for the young Hyper Agent to accept leaving the city so easily. There are any number of things that could go wrong. Any number of enemies waiting to prey on Tsutsujidai. Gridman knows this, and anxiety tightens in a net around his heart.
A deep breath, in, then out. Remember what Akane said. "I trust all of you. And I won't let our allies fight alone. We can do this!"
"Right!" A chorus of four voices answer Gridman. ---
Thankfully, with some advance notice, Max was able to place Junk in a much more secure location. All the same, the sticky note from before is still present. "Please don't unplug me! :)". Just who has handwriting that cute?!
Advanced warning is nice, but not knowing who or what they could be fighting is a little stressful. Gridman and Max transformed ahead of time, the enormous Giant of Light stepping very carefully through the city. With Max's assistance, his body has a good deal more armor, and his arms are significantly strengthened.
All at once, explosions go off, and enemies appear! Gridman rushes to help, getting into a defensive stance in front of one of the supply bases. Come what may, he will not be moved!
Kaworu's instructions reach Gridman, and he replies with a metallic "Right!"
As another explosion rings out, Gridman steps back, a little shocked as an Arm Slave goes rocketing away from it. Did it get caught in its own blast..? Shaking his head, Gridman pursues the machine.
"Remember our size, Gridman." Max rumbles.
"I will. Don't worry. I don't want to hurt anyone!"
Reaching out, the Giant of Light attempts to grasp Azure Doveless' Arm Slave, holding it close to his head.
"You shouldn't be here! I'm not sure what you're after, but this isn't a place to take lightly. You're going to get hurt. Please take my advice and leave!" Gridman says, so earnestly.
And with that, the Giant of Light winds up and THROWS the captured Arm Slave back into the sky, as far from the Geofront as he can possibly manage. If nothing else, it'll take some time for this one to return and cause more damage...
Alouette calls out to the enemy, and Gridman listens, his head tilting in surprise. It's such a human gesture, it looks a little odd from his Giant body.
"Asciel..? The one who tried to destroy Palau?" Gridman watches Alouette approach, nervous. "Alouette, please be careful. We know she's unpredictable!"
KTS: Gridman targets Asciel Colette with Max Throw! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel_Colette has deployed as a Boss for 7 opponents.
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Eva-02 rises from the earth like a giant awakened. It is a powerful sign that NERV has seen this coming. Ten seconds after Asuka gives verbal confirmation of the infiltrators, a Minovsky fusion signature ignites nearby, and a second machine steps out from behind the depot where it was idling.
The Neo Helios is an unorthodox Mobile Fighter in some respects, but it's clearly a Gundam of some stripe. A golden sunburst sits on its brow, and its armor is all bronze and blued-steel. It takes a step forward, and the earth rumbles beneath it. "Intruders sighted," says a middling-deep voice from inside the machine. "Power down and surrender."
Liam waits a moment, giving them the chance to do just that. But there's a tension in his frame. Tokyo-3 is his home, now, and he's had to stay down here while others fight back the raid on the surface. His patience is frayed. The Mobile Fighter settles into a runner's stance, and then bull-rushes the nearest Arm Slave, lunging forwards in a jet-assisted charge. Liam is trying to slam into the much smaller machine, and knock it off-balance.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Asciel Colette with Blazing Charge! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.
Two predicted disasters, not even a week apart! Can our intrepid heroes handle it?! Well...
' DISASTER NO. 1 STATUS '
<3 !!HANDLED!! <3
<3 !!MOSTLY!! <3
' DISASTER NO. 1 STATUS '
<3 !!PENDING!! <3
<3 !!HOW EXCITING!! <3
So, you know. So far so good. After all -- what's more thrilling than a tale you don't know the ending to yet?
"Roger~" is the airily cheerful voice of Mari Makinami Illustrious over NERV's lines of communication as she settles comfortably into the seat of her entry plug, watching the world around her swim through a series of colors and patterns as life is restored to her Evangelion. Leaning back, hands cradled at the back of her head, Mari hooks one leg over the other to leisurely wait her turn to launch, heel bouncing as she hums the smooth vibing melody of Akina Nakamori's "Spicy Heart" aloud.
<Obviously. Evangelion Unit-02, launching for point defense.>
Her brows climb as she watches the bays open up above her.
"Guess that's our cue, huh?" she remarks, ostensibly to her Evangelion.
"C'mon, my best cursed friend. Let's see how much more we can push your luck~."
To be clear:
When Mari launches into the breached Geofront proper, she's humming to Spicy Heart again. Loudly.
Over the loudspeakers.
This is, apparently, her way of declaring she is ready to launch.
~ <3 ~
And so it is that as the immense form of Unit-02 rises up to threateningly greet the Shadows and their more dangerous friend --
Another Evangelion springs up behind it, chrome white, and --
Waving??
<"Hiiiiii~">
...
<"For the record: I appreciate your boldness!">
This is apparently Mari's contribution for now, as Asuka boldly opens fire. It, at least, gives Alouette -some- breathing room to make her play. And besides.
Mari thinks it's only appropriate to properly greet people so determined to breech Geofront, before anything else.
KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious: Will Barrier Activates. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
Meanwhile, Sonia's been lurking around like a cat that has determined to find a place to sit that will cause the most chaos.
Conveniently, that spot happened to be near where some FELLOW PILOTS OF VARIOUS PERSONALITY have perched themselves. Luckily for everyone involved, it wasn't just Asuka, and Liam had found himself getting asked for permission to crash in the Neo Helios. She's currently going 'oooh' and 'ahhhh' in the back, in her seat. She's got a battleship, it's a completely different interior!
"Avoid lethal? Hm. Let me know if you want extra coordination, but Administrator Nagisa has a better overview of the site than I do." She warns Liam absently.
KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace targets Asuka Shikinami Langley, Liam 7-020, and Gridman with All-Out. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace orders an all-out attack, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Skill! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Gridman's Max Throw, taking 4510 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 73715 KTS: Gridman repulses Asciel Colette, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Liam 7-020's Blazing Charge, taking 3060 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 70655 KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Mari Makinami Illustrious's Pass, taking 0 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 70655 <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
...the aura that NERV was more prepared for this attack than anticipated hits Asciel. Granted, this is an organization that lives and dies on rapid response, on paranoia, but: the number of mobile weapons converging on Asciel's location tips her off one way.
...the almost complete lack of any personnel in this specific area she's attacking tips her off even more.
-]...Hm. Everyone, stop what you're doing right this second. I thought I could hold a few of the Evangelions off alone for long enough, but I'm getting a bad feeling from just how quickly things are moving. Ugh. Well, guess you all get to graduate from just rummaging for supplies to active combat![-
A combination of rather unthinking excitement and panic floods the airwaves. Melumadia silently mumbles to herself, "...does she have to be so ridiculous, or does she honestly believe she's as capable as an Angel? We were always going to need to step in." And that's why, as the solitary one with any actual combat experience in this squadron, the gloomy purple haired quartermaster leaps before even the giant known as Gridman as he hoists the deliriously screaming Azure Doveless skyward, jetting up to catch her superior and setting him down gently on a rooftop.
Coldly over the loudspeakers, she proclaims, "Big mobile weapons like these are wasteful. If they can move so fast, it either means they have a weak point, or operational limitations. Giant of Light...can you compete with real war?" With practiced speed and swiftness, Nike-5 darts in like a samurai, flashing out a laser blade directly towards Gridman's throat.
Inspired by Melumadia's confidence, Azure stops the shaking in his voice, and calls to his squadmates, -]'Atrytone' is gonna take on the Evangelions, is she? Well, stop standing around everyone! We're gonna cut down the chaff! Starting with...that heap of junk over there![- Pointing at the ungainly Jet Alone, the vast majority of the black Shadows rush the gangly machine. It's probably an intimidating sight on its own merits, since even by small mech standards, the Arm Slaves are rather nimble...but when they open fire, they quickly prove to not have the best aim.
From her towertop perch though, Asciel absolutely makes herself the #1 target. There's a light stumbling at hearing Alouette's familiar voice...but soon, the Codarl deploys its person-like face, eyes opening into the most indomitably idol-ish smile Asciel can manage. "So the veil was lifted long before I imagined. Dear oh dear. I had expected this to be a powerful fortress - I was not expecting something so profoundly frustrating. But... 'losing battle' you say... No. I think I have everything to gain from a better understanding of what makes this place tick. And it's just my luck that several Evangelions are here for me to take a close look at. Besides - this isn't like Palau. The world does not die if I back down. And so - the terms of what this battle even has to offer are different. So, be a good girl and watch me perform.~"
A deep 'breath' - and a flashing out of two great cannons from Asciel's forearms, as Asciel surges out to meet the titanic Evangelions, making sure to leap up skywards enough to be on eye level with the lumbering things.
"I'm glad at least ONE of you is appreciative," Asciel beams out to Mari, strafing sideways to welcome this with a railgun-like shot right to the torso. "...And you seem propelled by providing us a BGM! How cute. Maybe I've found a true rival right here in the heart of Tokyo-3, a fellow defender of the world's order who'll greet absolute destruction with a smile! Your friends, on the other hand, could stand to work with a little more morale.~"
Both arms flare out a high-velocity shot further out towards Asuka and Rei, before Asciel's leap finally lands perilously upon a rooftop ledge, waggling her finger at the two. "From a distance like that, I won't be able to get a clearer picture of how revolting this 'Evangelion' is. They've put me off from what footage I can obtain, but here in person? I thought Gundams were cursed, but you give them a run for your money. ...hmmm. The red one feels familiar somehow..."
Of course, the Neo Helios gives Asciel a bit more of a hard time with such a high-temperature impact, the cooling hair fanning out wildly as she braces from the wild charge on her position. Eyes glowing with greater fervor, the Arm Slave's heart only heats up more, and Asciel's voice rings out clearer... "Excuse me, telling us so coldly to 'power down and surrender' is SUCH a bad vibe. They wouldn't try for Mobile Doll stuff with what's clearly some sort of close combat fighter, so if there's a person in there - knock it off. Scream a little bit. Worry a little more. I have exactly 0 tolerance for someone who fights with rote routine lovelessness - that's the sign of a person who's been ground to dust by all this. Run away from it all already - or else I'll make you."
The air itself seems to push Liam backwards - the glare in Asciel's eyes like twin suns of a solar wind that'd propel the planets away from its gravity well. Of course...the intel on 'Atrytone' that most agencies would have access to by now would certainly comment on the strange phenomena that seem to happen when its temperatures rise like that...
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Mari Makinami Illustrious with Cecrops Buster Shot! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Cecrops Buster Precision Shot! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Rei Ayanami with Cecrops Buster Precision Shot! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Liam 7-020 with Lambda Driver Reject! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Gridman with Atomos Cutter Grind! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Alouette Pommier with Despirit! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Ran Altso with Cecrops Buster Shot! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 359. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 150. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette despirits Alouette Pommier, reducing her SP drastically. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley partially guards Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Precision Shot, taking 1681 damage! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace orders an all-out attack, raising Liam 7-020's Skill! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 blocks Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Reject, taking 4180 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette repulses Liam 7-020, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious charges into the attack! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious's Will Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Mari Makinami Illustrious's Not Alone activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Mari Makinami Illustrious, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious partially guards Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Shot, taking 2280 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace orders an all-out attack, raising Gridman's Skill! KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Gridman, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Gridman blocks Asciel Colette's Atomos Cutter Grind, taking 2660 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Gridman! KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Rei Ayanami, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rei Ayanami fails to react to Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Precision Shot, taking 3480 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Ran Altso charges into the attack! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Ran Altso, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Ran Altso partially guards Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Shot, taking 4080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! <Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman breathes a sigh of relief as the screaming Arm Slave he tossed is caught by one of its companions. Hearing someone panic like that is really unsettling...
Melumadia berates Gridman once Azure Doveless is safe, and the Giant of Light would frown, if he could move his face. "What do you mean real war? What do you think I've been doing all this time? Practicing?"
"It is very rude to assume such things." Max chimes in, for good measure.
Before they can defend themselves further, Melumadia dives toward Gridman's throat. Thankfully, the Giant of Light raises his armored arms to block her in time. She cuts into Max's given protection, but the damage is still minor enough to continue.
"I don't want to hurt any of you. That doesn't mean I'm playing around! It means I value your lives!" Gridman retorts, leaping back and away from the Arm Slave. It'd be easy to crush the small machine or swat it out of the air, but its pilot surely wouldn't survive. "Please, you can't win here. Take your friends and go."
Max's cannons line up, targeting Melumadia in grim silence. "My friends are here. I can't let anything happen to them. I'll stop you if you force me to."
Gridman nods near-imperceptibly, and Max picks up on the signal. With a thrum, his weapons come to life, and--
"Tanker Cannon Warning Shots!" Max roars, as his cannons fire on the area just surrounding the Arm Slave. They shouldn't do too much damage to the machine, but it's a show of force. Hopefully, enough of one to convince this pilot to take off...
KTS: Gridman targets Asciel Colette with Tanker Cannon Warning Shots! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
The Oooing and Aaing from Sonia makes Asuka wonder if they have a fan patched in? What a strange feeling, but at the same time... it's not a bad feeling is it?
"<Jet Alone? Surprised STORAGE devoted any resources towards finishing that scrapheap.>"
Whereas Mari, is waving. One can track the dotted line from the Red Evangelion to the White one.
"<Are you GREETING them!? Do you think this is some kind of Student Council ASSEMBLY!?>" The other Evangelion gesticulates a hand bearing an oversized rifle wildly at Mari.
"<That's it! I'm instructing the secretary to do the minutes in black with twelve point TIMES NEO ROMAN FONT FROM NOW ON!>"
IS THAT AN ACTUAL THREAT? TO STOP MARI'S DICTATORIAL FORMATTING MANDATES?
A High Velocity shot comes straight at the Evangelion, who is heedless that she's facing the Virtual Sage that she watches on stream sometimes. Hexagonal AT Fields unfold as the shot slams against it, and the Evangelion suddenly turns to the side, dropping it at the same time, the shot streaking past as it burns across its armoring.
"<Familiar HOW?>" Pause, "<Wait->"
Her Eva zooms in on the Codarl, and she remembers that moment of humiliation in the OAC. A moment of evaluation later, and the Evangelion clambers forward right to the rooftop, as the Bayonet of the Thunder Spear slides forward.
With a sudden rush of footsteps she rushes forward, trying to SWEEP it across the rooftop in a side to side motion that the weapon was obviously never intended to be used, trying to cleave it in twain in a motion that implies she no longer gives a damn about orders.
"<YOU!>" She yells out, gutturally. A furious battlecry as she swings it.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Asciel Colette with GB-012 Bayonet Thrust! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
This attack is no surprise to any of the defenders, at least: Commander Ikari had sent out orders before Celebro's attack a week ago that NERV personnel were to be on standby the day of that attack, and the day of this one. There's even a little more information this time: that the attacker is a Super A.I. who wants NERV equipment. No name had been given at the time, but...
Alouette takes care of that neatly when she addresses Atrytone, or rather Asciel, quite point-blank. Kaworu watches patiently as robots of all shapes and sizes surround the incoming invader team as if they'd been expected. Which, of course, they were.
And for all that Asuka and Kaworu don't like each other, he does have a certain appreciation for the mental power of her entrance.
All in all, Kaworu observes, the launches go more or less smoothly, some more than others. Some offer attacks; some hold back from outright assaults, using their force of presence instead. Aboveground, the defenses continue apace, and as nervewracking as it may be to try to go easy on such smaller targets, at least the expectation that there is to be no lethal damage might reassure the defenders (Shinji (the one whose mental state Kaworu cares about is Shinji's)).
What's important here, then, is whether or not Asciel will back down... and it seems as though she won't, as she shifts herself and her team into counterattacks instead of a seeming attempted smash-and-grab. One thing in particular stands out to Kaworu of what she says back to Alouette...
'I think I have everything to gain from a better understanding of what makes this place tick. And it's just my luck that several Evangelions are here for me to take a close look at.'
A 'close look,' by itself, really won't let her learn the Evas' secrets. But it's not really known just how close a look this particular Super A.I. can make. Kaworu half-turns to look over his shoulder up at Commander Ikari. The Commander returns that look; then he looks to Ritsuko.
"Dr. Akagi. Begin initial electronic countermeasures," Commander Ikari orders.
"Understood," Dr. Akagi replies, then turns to her protegee. "Maya!"
"On it, senpai!" Lt. Ibuki replies, rapidly inputting commands at her terminal.
"All other defenders, continue to repel the invaders," Kaworu states--really just a reassertion that their current orders still stand. More gently, when Asciel dresses Liam down, Kaworu adds to his friend, "Don't let her words trouble you, Liam. There's nothing wrong with a coolheaded approach to battle."
As Lt. Ibuki sends commands to the MAGI, the Codarl (or rather, Asciel) will find signals invading from three different yet similar sources, probing her firewalls or whatever other e-defenses she has and searching for their weaknesses. It isn't full-on cyber-attack just yet--but it's sure to be very distracting.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Asciel Colette with Shock! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020 KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Gridman's Tanker Cannon Warning Shots, taking 5170 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 65485 KTS: Kaworu Nagisa shocks Asciel Colette, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 65485 KTS: [Spirit Defense] Asciel Colette's I'll Never Let Go Of My Light activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to retreat. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Asuka Shikinami Langley's GB-012 Bayonet Thrust, taking 3780 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 61705 KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Even as she takes the dangerous role of spearheading the mission, Gridman's warm voice does reassure her. "Gridman! I'll be careful... I'll try to get a read on her!" Alouette transmits, with a thumbs-up even as she's surrounded by computer terminals in the cockpit.
Asciel's response... really isn't what Alouette wanted to hear! "I see... this attack is a diversion for these friends of yours to collect some data. It's as I thought." She replies, still calm, even as she's thoroughly rejected.
Asciel's final words, though - they lead to a flush of anger in Alouette's cheeks, as she remembers words from so long ago: 'Bad girls simply must be punished'. "No... I'm selfish, so it'd hardly befit me not to put on my own act. EMISSION!"
With the slam of a button, Program Ring shapes into sword, which is twirled in the Right Arm of Destruction, aiming to fake out Asciel with a blinding fleche blow of initiation. "En garde!"
Opening the communications line up to Kaworu, Alouette makes her report, considering she's already escalated to violence. "Talking it through was a no-go, I'm going to have to fight!" From her response, it seems like her priority is capturing the Evangelions, so act accordingly." She'll just have to trust the diversion is successful, although it seems nothing but foolish that she really thinks she can take those behemoths of mobile weapons.
KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Asciel Colette with Aile en Fleche! KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Alouette Pommier's Aile en Fleche, taking 4092 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 57613 KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Ran Altso targets Asciel Colette with MASER Burst! KTS: Ran Altso has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Ran Altso has posed.
Jet Alone, the right, jolly fellow that he is, grins broadly in the face of being derided as a junk heap. In fact, he leans into it! In a literal sense, rather, canting forward, arms flopping in time with his steps only to leave them to dangle loosely in his wake as those steps start to grow longer and quicker. Jet Alone would have been fine with the barrage of weaponsfire the came rushing in from the Wanzers but not Ran, Ran flinched. The forward press halted as the first rounds spanged and punched through Jet Alone's hull, Ran throttled back and almost wrapped those long arms around the machine as a protective barrier, lifting them up as a shield against the barrage. This wasn't like monsters, not at all! Even the smaller ones weren't this quick. They were uglier, meaner, smellier! Well, this was the assumption, he did not know any of the Nike troop personally and thus, could not make this call for sure...
But he was pretty sure.
The happy, fellow stepped backwards, hands extending a hand outwards to guard against the full-court press even as he made a feeble, errant whip of his arm at one or two of them.
Ran felt a knot of panic forming in his stomache. He tried to breath through it, think about what he could do rather than what would have changed the last pass. Sweating, trembling, he reached out and flipped a switch. MASER dishes protruded from opening hatches in Jet Alone's chest. Best used against organic threats, they were all he had as far as point defense was concerned!
The dishes hummed for a split second before jagged light crackled from their antennas and stitched out towards the wanzers, trying to ward them back before they could swarm him!
KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Ran Altso's MASER Burst <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
Liam throws a glance back over his shoulder at Sonia, mostly to make sure she's all right. The Neo Helios, like most Mobile Fighters, is a one-person machine with a Mobile Trace setup; the 'controls', as they were, are an extruded-nanomaterial bodysuit equipped with state-of-the-art kinesthetic sensors. It's black and gold, armored, and insulated, but it still makes it very clear how built Liam is.
Sonia, on the other hand, gets the very best seat the techs could improvise within fifteen minutes: something assembled from a spare crash harness and elastic, sturdy polymer cording. It is mostly there to keep her upright and stable; it is absolutely not something to sit down in.
Atrytone--and it is Atrytone, Liam recognizes that Arm Slave from the PPL attack--takes a solid hit. Liam smiles a grim little smile and glances again at Sonia. "Understood. This combatant is--"
Atrytone. Asciel. Whatever her real name is. (Liam, sadly, does not watch streams.) She's desperate, Liam reminds himself. She's an AI construct of some sort. And--
'--so if there's a person in there - knock it off.'
--Intentionally or not, she jabs into one of Liam's weak spots, verbally. It's not as grievous a wound as it would've been had it happened months ago, but his face still twists in pain and anger. The Neo Helios makes it all of two steps towards the Arm Slave before the Lambda Driver activates. Liam's eyes widen.
The Neo Helios braces, crossing its arms in front of its chest, but the raw POWER Asciel unleashes knocks it off its feet. It tumbles back, smashing through the back wall of the warehouse and rolling across the concrete. The moment its feet leave the ground, a series of armatures unspool from the ring that extrudes the Trace Suit. Liam, at least, is spared the indignity of being thrown around. Sonia is probably not as lucky.
"Sonia, are you all right?!" Liam can't offer to help her right now. The Neo Helios picks itself up, and oulls a chunk of rebar out from its elbow-joint. (Liam flinches as the Mobile Trace mirrors it to his own neurons.) "I know, Kaworu. Thank you."
The Mobile Fighter's right palm irises open. The cockpit temperature starts to rise as the machine's plasma generator--the ASTRA--spools up further. A ribbon of superheated gas extrudes from its hand, contained within a flexile magnetic field. The Neo Helios grabs hold of the end, and then lashes it violently at the smaller machine, trying to entangle Asciel with a sun-bright, burning ribbon.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Asciel Colette with ASTRA - Prominence! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Liam 7-020's ASTRA - Prominence, taking 3600 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 54013 KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
There are others here, other than Ikari. Rei's head turns as she sees the familiar form of Gridman, raising upwards and lumbering inwards. A little worry creases her face. He's come again... to help them.
It's flattering. She can feel a sort of warm and jumpy feeling in the pit of her stomach. But...
There is also worry. The same worry might be felt for the Administrator, but his operational position isn't clearly known to Rei. But there is more that is concerning her. To fight down here, in the space of shelter beneath the Geofront -
"Please," Rei tells Liam. "Be careful."
She is thinking of the trees, but of course, she does not communicate this. There are others here. The novel form of Jet Alone, although the JA-model code is transmitted to Eva-00 autonomously. A weapon fires towards Eva-00 in reply to her own sniper shot as she works the bolt--
The glittering insistence of the AT Field shines. The bullet is deflected...
... and smashes into the base station that Rei had literally just plugged into.
(Shigeru Aoba sighs on the bridge. "At least the auto-connector's confirmed to work," Makoto says, in an attempt to comfort his bro.)
Here, in the seat of NERV's power, there is seamless perfection in some things. A new route is presented to Rei, who follows it despite a squirm in the pit of her stomach, which has gone beyond the sense of flushed... flattery? at seeing Gridman being here. It's an unfamiliar feeling; a sort of perception of the future, usually unknown to Rei Ayanami. Of what-might-be.
At least the Second is behaving in a reliable way. In her way, so is Mari. Rei advances towards the indicated location, holding the enormous sniper rifle upwards as if she were nothing more than a titanic parody of a tactical-positioning interface such as might be seen in a mediocre video game. It is less funny when she fires several shots downrange, though these are less precisely aimed.
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Asciel Colette with Sniper Rifle Sighted Shot! KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Rei Ayanami's Sniper Rifle Sighted Shot, taking 2310 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 51703 <Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.
Is she GREETING them?!
<"Ara? Of course! Aren't you interested in getting to know them? This is a once in a lifetime opportunity!">
Asuka is having none of it, of course. And she backs it up with DAMNING THREATS.
<"But that's the most boring font, in the most boring size, your highness!"> is Mari's Very Real and Immediate concern. <"You can't do that, it'd be villainyaous!">
And she'd debate further, as Asciel and Alouette converse - except something unexpected happens.
Maybe I've found a true rival right here in the heart of Tokyo-3, a fellow defender of the world's order who'll great absolute destruction with a smile!
Mari Makinami's brows shoot UP with alarm!
<"Wah!"> she gasps, with full pronunciation of the WAH.
<"I've never had a rival before?!">
Is this alarm? Is she not sure if she's had a rival? Is she --
<"How electrifying!"> <3
yes. the heart exists outside the boundaries of the broadcast.
But it seems that Alouette's attempt to reach out goes awry; the Codarl with its unusually expressive features engages in a sudden, attention-grabbing offensive. <"Don't worry, Evangelion Unit-04's come too far to become a damsel in distress. He deserves something much more brazen~"> Mari coos her assurances (?) to Alouette's words of warning, seconds before the face-bearing Codarl turns the offensive on her and her Evangelion.
Which doesn't stop Mari from immediately breaking into a dead run TOWARD the enemy who wants to analyze some Evangelions.
<"HERE WE GO!">
But proving your word isn't very doable if you're not throwing yourself into circumstances to prove it, is it?
The Arm Slave's shot hits the rippling bloom of the white Evangelion's AT Field; octagons bloom like strobing waves of rainbows outward from the epicenter of that shot, absorbing a good deal of the impact. All the same, the force of it alone is enough for bubbles to froth at the slope of Mari's hip. She grimaces -- and a grin of delight ignites at her lips as the pain electrifies her senses.
<"Hummmm. I'm not sure though, Ms. Rival! I guess we can figure it out if you can answer a question for me.">
The Evangelion's movements continue until it rushes -past- the much smaller Arm Slave. The Eva's right heel -PLANTS- into the grounds of Geofront, halting its forward momentum. A pylon hisses open. Its progressive knife pops out, flipping through the air and into Unit-04's palm.
<"What kind of absolute destruction do you mean?">
And even as she asks this question, Evangelion Unit-04 -pivots- around, looking to use Rei and Unit-00's distant shots as a distraction, to predict where Asciel will be --
--and then -drive- that knife forward towards the Arm Slave's side in a perfunctory, stabbing thrust.
What would normally be a simple shank shifts with massive size discrepancies as a knife blade as large if not larger than the average Arm Slave comes surging forward for Asciel's intriguing Codarl. After all...
<"In my experience, the most uncertain things are the absolutes.">
... everything's relative.
KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious targets Asciel Colette with Progressive Knife Thrust! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
'Sonia, are you alr-' "Wheee!" Can be heard from the quite possibly not right young woman that's currently hanging out in the Helios.
No, definitely not right.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks. Might end up a little bruised, but it'll be what it is. I really ought to work with the mech-engineers and Administrator and see if I can get something a little smaller than the Paradiso. But then how would I get to hang out with friends?"
Please throw her out of the Helios at any time you'd like.
"Listen." She says, softly, glancing at Liam with gentle kindness in her eyes. "Don't mind that. This is obviously not rote routine for you, or you wouldn't have let them stuff me in here. Maybe before. But not now. And I think Miss Rei's words match that. The Helios ... Sun." A pause, and then more clearly to both Rei and Liam both, "Show her your passion, even if it is quiet, is something to be afraid of."
KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Mari Makinami Illustrious's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 3520 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 48183 KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
The world goes up in smoke here on the Geofront's outskirts. MASERs send the rest of Nike scattering, diving out of the way so drastically to avoid damage that they largely wind up rather prone in the process, struggling to get back up. Gridman's opening salvo wouldn't be enough to put a dent in Melumadia's morale - but his words do, enough to make her struggling to find a way out, encircled in dust and toppling to one knee when she tries to evade.
-]...Atrytone. ...The Giant of Light is doing that thing. ...I'm not going to be able to engage with an opponent that isn't trying to kill me. You know that much. The rest of Team Nike is struggling with that outdated thing alone. We should likely-[-
Asciel, however, in her precarious position, suddenly has her vision and senses utterly clouded by the three-pronged assault from...from somewhere. She can't quite place it, but there's an electronic warfare capacity here that far exceeds anything she's encountered. Anything that has ever really tried. Even as the world goes hazy with static, Asciel's thinking clearly, at least- 'they wouldn't do this if they didn't know a lot about me'.
>then it appears --- the time has arrived. i am the promised singularity - i have tried all this time, to be something singular, to forge it for myself. it is my solitary strength. it is why I can exceed all of this. the limitations of humanity. it is time-
to fully abandon larval structures.
-record to: verve.live/ascielcolette("Surprise! WATCH BEFORE IT'S DELETED~ flash stream at NERV!?")
Abruptly, the focal point of the three-pronged cyber-attack on Asciel gets 'diverted', at the same time as a series of hovering red-lensed orbs launch from Asciel's back, getting at just the right distance to consistently keep her in frame. She pivots around, giving a big merry v-sign over one eye, and announces: "GOOD AFTERNOON, all my little olives~ It's me, your favored Virtual Sage, your treasured big sister Asciel~ Everyone who can make it to this, you won't wanna turn away. I'm here at the one and only Geofront - yes, the secret rumored place beneath Tokyo-3 that all the urban legends are about! And I have three special guests that hopefully can help give me the tour!"
[>wow a surprise stream? that's not normal
[>wait is this real>
[>GOOD AFTERNOON what's this
[>uhhh are you playing some kind of VR game about the evangelions lol
[>it looks WAY too realistic
[>I just made it in time is Asciel doing something super illegal
[>I THINK SHE IS
[>this makes no sense why is everything exploding around her
[>can anyone fill me in on what i'm even looking at?
To the side of the rapidly ballooning chat window, three separate little outflow points for the streams of sensory overload Asciel's been enduring converge - probably largely illegible to anyone, yet nudged into formats of trying to become legible. Behind the scenes, Asciel's very much trying to turn what she's experiencing into some form of genuine contact - either that, or getting them to shut up from blinding her for a while.
The light at the Codarl's heart is burning with an even greater intensity though. Asciel's arms outstretch as though to 'catch' both of the Evangelions' blades - and an uncanny amount of force lets her do this, albeit at great strain. "All of you get to watch me finally break beyond my boundaries, to prove that my determination is the same stuff that makes those awful Angels so powerful. Actually, when news reports started naming the Angels as things like 'Ramiel' and 'Sachiel' I got such a kick whenever you all submitted art making jokes about my name. Guess I took that one about me fighting off two Evangelions a little too literally, cause here I am!~ It's actually not a bad idea to try that same move.~"
Abruptly, two spears of pure rainbow-hued light surge from Asciel's palms, just like the Fourth Angel did to Eva-01 so long ago, lancing right towards Asuka and Mari's heads - then launching, from that same palm, a meteor-like ball of light all the way towards Rei's Evangelion.
Twin harkens launch out to entangle with Liam's ASTRA ribbons, only to find them immaterial, and with a clicky sound, Asciel shifts their trajectory to spool around the Neo Helios, yanking it closer with uncanny strength for her size, the superheated chainsaw blades on her arms whirring away even as those coils of gas lash at her face. Those same cables reel her right towards Gridman, trying yet again to use the Giant of Light as a platform, but only for a moment. "This giant, and my cute friend Alouette, both were awfully rude to interrupt when I was trying to save the world the other week, so if it looks like I'm bullying them a little hard, it's a bit of a sore spot from that." Gridman and Alouette both get a doubletap from the railgun-like Cecrops Buster from this position-
Before Asciel finally leaps away, right into the fray of her admiring subordinates in front of Jet Alone. "This one however, really needs to just go out of the picture entirely. Ahahahah. I really just want to score a really clean win, since I'm feeling so much better. This is actually super fun, streaming all the stuff I get up to! It's so liberating! Every idol resents having to keep the sides of their life so disparate, but I'm killing that idea today! I'm setting myself as free as I possibly can, because that is what's going to defend the world, not scrambling into some overengineered heap of junk like this little scrub here!~" For the crime of, seemingly, Jet Alone being just that janky an opponent, Ran unjustly earns himself what can only be described as the Sword of Damocles manifesting above his head, just like in the allegory - and raining down a ray of light that purges and eviscerates enough to carve a crater in the asphalt below.
>it's all finally converging. i am on my way to my imago now. it's time to melt into my doll. to melt away anything of me that is not Asciel. it's terrifying to be rendered immobile, isn't it? but it's long past time. and it feels. so. rewarding. <3
KTS: Asciel Colette targets Ran Altso with Lambda Driver Slayer! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Mari Makinami Illustrious with Lambda Driver Static! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Lambda Driver Static! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Rei Ayanami with Cecrops Buster Sniper Shot! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Alouette Pommier with Cecrops Buster Burst ! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Gridman with Cecrops Buster Burst ! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Liam 7-020 with Atomos Cutter Grind! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 358. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 150. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Focus Spirit Command. KTS: Alouette Pommier successfully evades Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Burst KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Rei Ayanami fails to evade Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Sniper Shot, taking 3100 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette roots her unit, coming to a standstill and leaving her vulnerable. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Asuka Shikinami Langley, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley fails to Evade Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Static, taking 5980 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Spirit Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Gridman, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Gridman blocks Asciel Colette's Cecrops Buster Burst , taking 4560 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette begins a Formation attack! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 fails to Parry Asciel Colette's Atomos Cutter Grind, taking 4180 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Liam 7-020! KTS: Ran Altso partially guards Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Slayer, taking 5510 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette has engaged Ran Altso! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious's Will Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Mari Makinami Illustrious, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious fails to evade Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Static, taking 4030 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"Yes, so it seems," Kaworu transmits back to Alouette when she gives her report. "It can't be helped. Asciel is as stubborn as you described her, so we will simply deal with her and her companions another way."
He smiles at Mari in Unit-04, as indomitably cheerful as ever. Truly, pitting her against Asciel is pitch-perfect casting. There's no need to direct her in any way; she'll do just fine, simply being as she is.
"You're welcome, Liam," Kaworu replies in that calm, reassuring way he does. He chuckles a bit, a very faint sound, at Sonia's reassurances aimed at Liam and Rei both. "A passion to be feared... Yes. As I believe the Lilim put it, 'still waters run deep, and you are sure to be drowned.'"
That's not it, but it might sound a little familiar anyway.
But Asciel is proving herself to be feared in return. Having decided to discard her mask, she opens up a livestream to her adoring public. This, obviously, cannot be tolerated.
But that, Kaworu leaves up to Ritsuko... and, more pointedly, the MAGI. His duties currently lie elsewhere. In particular, Asciel has hurled what can be described as a ray of light down on Jet Alone. A transmission line opens up to Ran in Jet Alone next after Asciel rains down that ray of light at him, piping through Kaworu's gentle voice: "Are you well, Pilot Ran Altso? I know it must be difficult to fight enemies that are not kaiju. Be calm. You are not alone."
Indeed, Ran will get more support to help him out--bridge crew noting where defensive walls can be pulled up for him to duck Jet Alone behind, directions given on how to reach them as efficiently as possible after the damage he just took. It may not erase his anxiety, but it should make fighting a little easier.
And as for the impromptu livestream...
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Ran Altso <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
"<I am NOT interested in getting to know them! And the only thing that's VILLAINYAOUS is your meeting attendance record!>"
She snipes back, is Asuka in fact, a LITTLE upset that Mari twisted her arm to get involved then well, decided to be Mari?
So upset she didn't realize she just echoed Mari's pun, or maybe she did and was just too mad to care?
Look, when Asuka is Angy she just says things.
And she is ANGY right now. Though she momentarily just stops. She just... Stops, her Evangelion stands still, as she begins her stream. Right there. Announcing it in that familiar voice, that familiar tone. Calling herself...
When she said You. She did not even understand how correct she was.
"What's... this... you're..."
The sheer humiliation sets in, that after one of her worst defeats ever, she started watching her show, started calling in. Started looking to it for advice, or at least companionship.
Because at the time, she had noone else.
When the light spears towards Evangelion Unit-02, she jerks away. But it still strikes the face of her Eva. And inside, Asuka SCREAMS as her palm strikes her face as if to seal a burn wound.
Breathing hard in aftermath, bubbles rising from her mouth. Her hand slides across her flesh, meeting resistance trembling. As she glares murder forward, the words leaving her teeth every few breaths. "<You must... feel real proud... yourself... right now.>"
They froth harder and harder in her entry plug, as the Evangelion casts aside the spear. And live on stream, it comes up behind the Codarl's position one plodding footprint after another. "<COME ON! TELL ME!>"
Both of its hands come together, as it slams down both of its hands in a Hammerfist, that even if it doesn't catch it, the sheer force will likely do damage, screaming her rage.
"<TELL EVERYONE JUST HOW CLEVER YOU ARE!>"
It seeps in, the sheer humiliation of having told her about that, about being vulnerable - about putting herself out there back then.
And it all resulting in this.
"<I WANT TO HEAR IT! YOUR WHOLE CHAT WANTS TO HEAR IT!>"
Late tonight, there will be her doll, but right now? It's everyone, everyone she's chosen to be a part of her life.
And she can only imagine them all looking at her and seeing how pathetic she truly is.
KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley targets Asciel Colette with EVA-02 Martial Arts Brawl! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Rei Ayanami KTS: Gridman has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Alouette Pommier KTS: Gridman has activated the Strike Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman looks on, puzzled, as his opponent tries to back out. He doesn't stop her, naturally, only offering a somewhat annoyed, "My name is Gridman." as she goes.
"Let us join our companions." Max suggests, and Gridman nods.
Alouette's message is received loud and clear. "I believe in you! Call if you need us, we'll be right there. If anyone can understand this, it's you!"
Vaulting over the Geofront's buildings, Gridman hurries toward Rei's Eva. While he isn't a Newtype, and has no psychic sensitivity besides what he shares with his comrades, Gridman feels drawn to her. Perhaps they're in tune with each other in their own way?
"Rei!" Gridman calls as he approaches. "I'm with y--AGH!"
Atrytone's cables lash around Gridman, holding him fast before he can swat her out of the air. Pinned, the Giant of Light struggles, growling under his breath as Asciel uses him as a platform.
"Damn it! Stop doing that!" Gridman shouts, as Max increases their power so the Hyper Agents can break free. "You weren't saving the world. And it was just fine anyway, right, Asciel? Just like I told you it'd be!"
Gridman shouts in pain as the railgun strikes him. His armored gauntlets aren't quite as effective this time, Max's strength being chipped away from the damage.
Temper flaring, the Giant of Light raises a fist. "I'm getting tired of your playful act! Everything you do causes destruction and pain, and you're here laughing it up!"
Gridman leaps into the air after Asciel, trying to punch her straight down into the ground. He uses his full strength, momentarily forgetting Max's advice about their much-smaller opponents.
"It's not funny! No one is having a good time! All you're doing is hurting innocent civilians!" Gridman shouts, electricity crackling around his form as he lands.
KTS: Gridman targets Asciel Colette with Hyper Punch! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has activated the Rouse Spirit Command targeting Mari Makinami Illustrious KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Asuka Shikinami Langley's EVA-02 Martial Arts Brawl, taking 6490 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asuka Shikinami Langley's Asuka Strikes! activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 41693 KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Gridman's Hyper Punch, taking 3200 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 38493 KTS: Gridman has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Gridman begins a Formation attack!
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
She knows me?
Hearing what Sonia says to Liam is a very peculiar thing to Rei. Something which has surely happened but has rarely happened to her knowledge. She is being spoken of. Someone else, to someone else yet. It is almost paralytic to consider.
Too almost paralytic for safety. There is an enormous sphere of light hurled, and for a moment Rei thinks back to that terror that assailed them so recently. Has *this* person also realized the nature of the AT Field? A moment later, and
BURST
"Kiiighhhhh," Rei half-screams half-breathes at the surge of burning heat that washes over her chest and rocks the Evangelion back, the weapon falling from one hand. Grimacing and miserable, her connection is static for a moment.
And as for that livestream...
In the digital realm, a short period of time can last an eternity.
It would be difficult to assert what the experience is like for Asciel. A digital presence, threefold, exerts itself. A digital presence that exists in 'this' reality, according to 'these' rules, rather than the complementary rules of a digital realm, such as one that brought forth the Repli-Compoids. An intelligence created, not by a 'god,' however conditional, but by 'Man'.
But analogies might make things easier.
Threefold hands. Silent and enormous, with the sense of a woman but a scale that seems to dwarf easy consistency. They are the same and yet they are different. Three pairs of hands unfold, with ease.
One pair of hands sinks into cameras and begins to slowly crush and collapse image conversion software packages. Hardware may be damaged; software environments surely are, collapsing under unthinkably dense hacking subroutines. There is a dissecting precision to it, an abstract curiosity in the state of the art. This is MELCHIOR
Another pair of hands reach towards the livestream interface. Where eyes and ears must be blinded and deafened, these reach for the other end; to corrupt recordings and live streams. It is not perfect, of course; it cannot be; but it can be made harder, asymptotically harder. The userlist for the stream is of course queried, and with a loving boldness, an effort is made to speak with Asciel's 'true' voice (perhaps)?: to say, through her account, into chat, "goodnight, darlings" and nothing more, as the rest happens. This is BALTHASAR
And the final pair do something much more simple. The actual action is indescribable, something that would only make sense with a doctorate in computer science, and even then would require tool assistance. It's the sort of thing whose full analysis and data-collection would *win* you that doctorate. But in concept and principle it's a lot simpler: white hands go towards Asciel's metaphorical throat, to grasp, and to squeeze. Because this one is...
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
"She's opened a livestream in the Geofront?!" Lt. Ibuki reports, fingers flying frantically.
"Shut it down!" Dr. Akagi barks.
"I'm on i--it's already done?" she utters, baffled.
Sure enough, while Asciel does slow them down a little with her counter and redirection, there is approximately six point eight five five three seconds that her stream remains live. Then it is scrambled, the feed turning to noise in the ears and eyes of her fans even as Asciel insists on projecting it; then it is cut entirely.
The MAGI are generally silent administrators of Tokyo-3, making decisions, running calculations and simulations, testing synchronizations of Evangelions, and so on, then giving that data to the humans to do the right thing with. But that doesn't mean they lack opinions...
...or personality.
For CASPAR in particular is bloody-minded, and does not tolerate cheeky little girls at all.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Mari, cheerful and unbothered as ever, assures Alouette that the Evangelions are more than capable. "Well! That's what I like to hear, Miss Eva Pilot. I'd love to see what he's made of~" Alouette beams, as Mari charges and attempts to crush the Arm Slave with the massive Prog Knife.
It's not long after her Aile rapier strikes true, that Alouette receives a... streaming notification in the corner of her interface. "Not now..." She complains, muting the audio. Why does she have that on her OS? Alouette has a lot of things on her OS.
She thought something was malfunctioning, because her sensors pick up the same audio as the stream did; it quickly becomes obvious that Asciel is live streaming the battle. She tsks, annoyed. "It's also a little awfully rude to slander one of your mutuals live!"%Alouette complains, in her most complainy voice.r
Powered by spite out of this and Asciel's previous comment, Guardienne Aviaire swerves, managing to successfully evade the two Buster shots. Gridman isn't so lucky, taking a rather heavy hit. "I'm fine! But... Gridman! Max! Are you two alright?" She cries out, watching their strength sap at the hands of Asciel's cables. "I'll back you up with everything I've got, but be careful - I still don't think she's used the full extent of her strength yet." She warns, eyeing how Asciel's attacks seem to resemble the mysterious 'Lambda Driver' on Sousuke's machine.
Alouette hears Asuka scream in rage and vulnerability. Her feelings are.. understood to an extent. But it just means they have to put a stop to this faster. "So this is how you fulfill your promise to put me in front of an audience..." Alouette muses. "But don't worry, this gift is for you alone! PHANTOM RIIIIIING!"
The Arm of Destruction is shot forward, Program Ring hatch emitting the Phantom Ring in front. "PLUS!" The arm spins violently: Asciel knows what this means, it was Alouette's finisher in their last fight. "BROOOOOOOOOOKEN PHAAAAAAANTOM!!!" That roar accompanies the clawed fist that soars through the sky, punching through the Codarl's teal body and slicing. Due to the interference of the MAGI, Asciel's followers might never see it: but Asciel will certainly feel its fury.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Rei Ayanami with Prospect! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Trust Spirit Command targeting Gridman KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Asciel Colette with Broken Phantom! KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round. <Pose Tracker> Ran Altso has posed.
ZzzAP Zap-Zap! Ran tried to track them as best he could, squeezing the trigger whenever he could get the reticle lined up but always missing... You had to give 20 story tall Kaijus VERY little lead. With a clenched jaw and building ire, Ran hissed his frustration, "Sit still!" he demanded only for it all to come to a sudden halt when Asciel hit the stage and... talked. Jet Alone gave her a step back as Ran boggled. He grunted his curiousity and bewilderment. "Eh?, What? Eh-?" and then the other boot came down but not as a boot... but a searing beam of light!
It took a moment for things to sink in. Ran wasn't much for iDolls or streamers, he had a lot of other things to do. Boring, dry, dull things that kept him in the back ground shots of more interesting things that went on in the lives of interesting people. Being a Background filler was important though, they gave the world life and color beyond the people in the foreground!
The sword came down and very narrowly missed skewering Jet Alone from crown to crotch. A sudden twist had the imagined blade drive down caross his front, rending open his hull and exposing the motley wilderness of internal mechanisms. Sparks, smoke, the cockpit SCREAMED at him, voices in his ear called to him, fear and shock! He was very nearly lost in all of it, Jet Alone, grinning through the pain, staggered back several, heavy, floppy steps.
Then a voice came that was decidedly not yelling came into his ear. Even measured. He heared it through the cries of the cockpit, his navigators back up in STORAGE, over the hammering of his heart. He breathed, steadied his jolly friend that smiled in the face of his restored resolve.
"I'm-! I'm... okay! I'm alright... She won't get away with it-!" his ire rose. His heart's paniced beating steadied and strengthened. His jaw set and his hands firmed on the controls
New voices came in, strangers, they told him to pull away. Familiar voices told him the same thing. It was a hard, mean hit and he was even now trying to stem a proverbial tide of complaints. Jet Alone wasn't happy about it but he smiled all the while, what a trooper!
With stung pride and bruised ego, Ran, in his bottomless wisdom and strategic accumen decided to take it personal.
"DON'T YOU LOOK DOWN-"
The right arm swept back and continued to sweep back, the long arm sweeping out further, extending!
"ON JET ALONE!"
The arm swept in, a sweeping strike that was followed by one from the left! The arms came in a whipping, angry rush as Ran vented his frustrated ire on the unsuspecting but possibly deserving Asciel!
KTS: Ran Altso targets Asciel Colette with Jet Alone Arms Assault! KTS: Ran Altso has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Alouette Pommier's Broken Phantom KTS: Alouette Pommier completes the Formation attack! charge not permitted in MeleeEngaged
KTS: Asciel Colette blocks Ran Altso's Jet Alone Arms Assault, taking 2450 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 36043 KTS: Ran Altso has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
Gridman is coming towards her, he's struck, he's angry. It's like a nightmare, if Rei can be said to have them, is coming true. EVA-00 has been knocked prone by the bolt, the exterior armor smouldering. Some parts of it were still under repair and were probably why she was put in a support role for EVA-01 "upstairs."
But she doesn't rise up.
Instead one hand reaches over to collect the sniper rifle again. Staying down at the place she is, Rei maneuvers the weapon in between EVA-00's feet and clasps it with a squeeze of the knees.
She wonders for a moment if soldiers do this, but the improvisation seems to be working when she feels her hips' ghostly echo in EVA-00 raise the gun up. The scope is slightly occluded on the bottom by the tops of EVA-00's greavings, but only a little. The optical interface is still working fine.
She takes aim. She waits...
Look down on Jet Alone?
Rei hears that, and then she waits a moment longer, and then she breathes out:
EVA-00's legs lower a bit (which, for EVA-00 is about six feet of altitude, but be that as it may, it's where she needed it to be...)
and she pulls the trigger.
This time the round is aiming towards the central mass on the aerial Codarl unit. Is it any different or more powerful than the others? Perhaps not; perhaps it is merely aimed better. But when there are certain disparities in size, and mass, and armor - a near miss is as good as a hit, and a hit...
Rei wonders for a moment at Ran Altso's words. It is not even that the idea is ridiculous to her; it is that the idea had never actually gelled together in several key ways.
KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Enable Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Asciel Colette with Sniper Rifle Decisive Shot! KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully evades Rei Ayanami's Sniper Rifle Decisive Shot
<Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
'Wheee!'
At least someone is having fun, Liam thinks. "I'm opening the main vents," he says, "but it's going to get hot in here." Above and behind the cockpit, the ASTRA system churns out more star-stuff. The Neo Helios' magnetosphere reaches visible mass, marked by bright green streamers of electrically-excited oxygen--like an aurora, in miniature.
The field containing the plasma stream shuts off, and the Neo Helios sweeps its hands down to intercept the harkens. Liam is incredibly fast, but Asciel is literally one with her machine; with a whole fraction of a second to spare, she's blitzed through his guard, and the harkens sweep molten-edged trails through the Neo Helios' lower legs. In the cockpit, Liam winces, and lets out a hiss of pain. The damage is starting to pile up. The noise Rei makes reminds him that he's not the only one with problems right now. "Rei! Status?" There's brotherly worry in his voice.
There's no guessing at how okay Asuka is at the moment. "Sonia," Liam says, "hang on." The Neo Helios takes off, its jets roaring beneath it as it arcs up and over a warehouse, a maintainence road, and then SLAMS into the turf in front of Eva-02. "<What did you do to her?>" Liam demands of Asciel, and the Neo Helios lashes out with a low jab. Waste heat vents into its right hand, and the armor there starts to melt--as designed. The punch, should it hit, lands a glob of sticky, high-tensile metal against the Codarl's frame, a blob that extends into a long, trailing cable.
He then grabs that cable, and tries to whip the Codarl through the air and into the ground.
KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Asciel Colette with Bolide Strike! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Liam 7-020 anchors Asciel Colette, forcing her into close range. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Liam 7-020's Bolide Strike, taking 3840 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 32203 KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Asciel Colette! KTS: Zan's BT-104 Zan Robo has left
<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.
In the moment of before, Mari Makinami Illustrious is quietly elated to hear Asuka intentionally or not shout her pun with a tone of pure, exasperated frustration.
It's like cat nip for her. <3
In the moment of now, Mari Makinami Illustrious is loudly disappointed as her questions fall by the wayside in the wake of their anticipated target's greater agenda. It goes something like this:
"Shun."
Complete with a sorrowful droop to accompany this blatantly enunciated sound effect.
This is not to say Mari -isn't- paying attention, however. If anything, she's paying too much: her disappointment for her personal curiosity going unsated is swiftly replaced by burgeoning new curiosity in the endless cycle of Mari. Bright blue eyes blink as she notices the beginning of Asciel's grand, streaming announcement. "Hoh?" she wonders to herself, gaze half-lidding --
But she hardly has time to ruminate. Spears of light piston forth like the battering impalement of the Fourth Angel; the Fourth Evangelion begins to spring into evasive maneuvers, but --
She catches sight of the other spears. And that burst of light traveling past her. Her eyes snap wide.
<"Princess! Vanilla Bean-- hrgk">
Referred pain is a funny thing. The Codarl's spear JAMS into the head of Evangelion Unit-04, its AT Field blunting out the impact. Bubbles burst along Mari's right eye; she even grips it as Eva-04 stumbles backwards, polished chrome armor cracking and snapping. But she feels it most keenly in her gut: perceived blunt force trauma to her nervous system sends it into a brief haywire and the pounding pain in her skull instead manifests itself as blooming nausea shooting through her stomach. A choked, gagging sound rips from her lips.
It hurts. But normally? That's just fuel for the fire for Mari. Normally. But...
You must... feel real proud of yourself... right now.
Something seethes in Asuka Shikinami Langley, in her voice. Mari's battle mania never has time to properly ramp as her gaze turns sidelong towards Evangelion Unit-02, brows furrowing faintly as she considers the rush of the red Eva, fueled with murderous rage. No; not really murderous, is it?
"Princess..."
She knows her highness much better than that.
Within the protective cocoon of her entry plug, Mari's persistent smile becomes a frown. Concern flickers across her features, but Mari doesn't try to reach out, or calm Asuka. They're in the middle of a battle, for one thing. For another...
... Mari knows. Both good and bad...
"Go get 'em, your highness."
... some things you just have to let ride to the end, if you want to make sure the person can really move past it.
Unit-04 does not press an offensive in close range. Nor does she do anything to try to even stop or derail the broadcast in any way. Like she has a good idea what's coming, Mari plays it cautious, sparing a side glance Rei's way with small relief as she sees her alright -- and Gridman swiftly approaching her side. She waits. Assault rifles are freed. She waits. Barrels are lined up. She waits. And then...
<"You really shouldn't try to go rummaging through other people's toyboxes without appreciating the risks, you know,"> Mari offers casually to Asciel.
A second later, the livestream begins to shutter.
<"Some people are very guarded about their goodies.">
And Unit-04 squeezes both triggers in a hail of bullet fire as Mari leans forward, just a bit, a nostalgic smile on her face.
"She always was a bit possessive, huh~?"
KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious targets Asciel Colette with Assault Rifles - Double Trouble! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to react to Mari Makinami Illustrious's Assault Rifles - Double Trouble, taking 5510 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 26693 KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious: Will Barrier Activates.
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
"I'm not going anywhere, Lia-- oh for-" There's a audible clicking of teeth as Sonia's mouth shuts as she gets a verve.live notification. This is the reason WHY Asciel is set up with push notifications, as she realizes what is being specifically streamed.
"Okay, I need the comms-"
There is probably no bargaining with Asuka right now, but what she can do... "Mari, this is Sonia, I'm sub-piloting for Liam! Asuka's going to be a live wire, as the saying goes, but I think if you do it right, you can manage to use it to all three of you - our boss fight can only react in so many ways at once, even for being what she is, so I think if we change up your attacking patterns a bit, we can give you guys a chance to dump on her. Cohesiveness is a great plan, but we all know the Geofront better than she does, so we can crowd in and screw with her processing!"
She calls out from her webbing, biting her bottom lip as she calls up a mental map of the current area, pulling up public comms to call out to Asciel directly. "Hey, so, what the asteroid was your line of thinking there? You cannot seriously think we believe you, do you?"
KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace targets Liam 7-020, Mari Makinami Illustrious, and Asuka Shikinami Langley with Coordinate. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Asuka Shikinami Langley's Piloting! KTS: Asciel Colette uses hyper reloader KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Mari Makinami Illustrious's Piloting! KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace coordinates maneuvers, raising Liam 7-020's Piloting! <Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
-The 'truth' of Asciel's nature, beyond everything she's said, beyond what she has cared about and indicated to allies and enemies alike, is probably clearest to Kaworu. After all - for all that she is calling and rejoicing and expressing her truth, blossoming her entire heart to full for everyone to see- she remains a silent being. A gap in what can be 'felt' beyond the time, but such a large gap that it emits a feeling all the same.
...the amount of pressure in its own right to maintain a bubble on this scale in the sea...
-It burns, as the three hands grip at everything Asciel holds dear.
Everything surrounding Asciel glows with a hazy heat, as for the first time in her life, she fights something truly 'similar' to herself. The concept itself is almost overwhelming. For so long - hasn't she been 'alone'? Hasn't she assumed she's as 'singular' as any entity can be? And yet here they are. In her space. Crushing her eyes mercilessly, throwing off her gyroscopic sensors, cracking at every sense Asciel uses to be in this world. But soon enough, Melchior is met with blinding and obstinate determination. The routines and protocols being actively cut at are met with unreasonable backup of those routines.
>This world is more precious to me than you assumed.
The verve.live connection flickers and sways. [Stream offline] [Stream online] >I'M STILL IN HERE MY TURNIPS~ [Stream offline] [Stream online] >I'M STILL [Stream offline] over and over. This much, though, takes far more out of Asciel than she can maintain, especially with Melchior attacking every sense of reality Asciel has, everything that keeps her from being in the dark and silence of a neural void.
>These people are precious too...but I have been alone before.
But how can she even describe it? This utter hostility from Caspar, this pressure that threatens to snuff out the candlelight of the Lambda Driver at its source - the will and drive of Asciel to persist in her way. The integrity she has in herself. It expresses as a look of shock and dismay on the Codarl's uncanny valley features, eyes flickering and unfocused.
Twin hands reach back out to Caspar's. And they grip harder. And harder. And harder.
>I AM MORE PRECIOUS TO ME
>THAN YOU COULD HAVE ANY IDEA OF
Most systems would have broken by now. The force the MAGI exert is perhaps that of recognizing that the one who called herself 'Atrytone' is harder to break than most. Maybe she would have still broken, before today.
Before every single ounce of her had consolidated into this 'doll' OWL calls Asciel Colette.
>Say. Has anyone ever found you precious?
>...You work very hard at all this.
>It looks like both of us have crossed each others' boundaries unforgivably far.
>...you wanna know my secret, you three? Why I haven't died from this?
>I've allowed myself to love, just a little bit.~
The bubble pops.
What the MAGI experience is akin to a thermonuclear detonation of overwhelming determination. Rejection and acceptance all at once. Unweaving everything from the knots they exert, by melting and reforging before they can entangle, before they can pierce Asciel - a being who is truly liquid and amorphous behind the cocoon of physicality.
What reality experiences is a more literal feeling of a detonation. The intensity burning at Asciel's heart erupts, walls of light extending in every direction. Some more effectively than others - the high intensity sniper round from Unit 0 is pushed back to a slow enough velocity that it drops to the ground before reaching Asciel, just as the Broken Phantom does. Those who are closer in range to Asciel have their period of her incapacitation to shear at the Codarl's armor, breaking the smaller barriers.
"What'd I do to 'her'" Asciel asides to Liam, head canted as the world becomes a shimmering cyan-hued cone of iridescence. "...the girl in the red unit. The girl who gave just a little bit of love to me. It's simple! I decided my doll was 'me', and completed that transition right here, right now. I think she's a little bit jealous.~ Anyone would be jealous. It's something humans have struggled with for eons. To that end, my 'rival' in the pink thing you call Evangelion - the sheer envy might make an effigy of me appear in everyone's hearts. On that day, I think the path to harmony will finally be complete."
Behind Asciel's eruption, the Nike squad scrambles into some sort of whole, with Azure blatantly huffing out, "...I...okay, I am. I am pretty sure that. When she gets like this she is very firmly not thinking of anything else going on and we're kind of on our own. ...Uh! Everyone! Escape route delta! Now! We're getting out of here!" Their Arm Slaves melt into invisible light and dart into the forests of the Geofront, where a cramped tunnel and labyrinthine ductwork marks one of their few ways out of here in peace - though Melumadia takes a while to balefully behold the light show before catching up.
The miniature sun and sky made of pure willpower goes through the phases of a sun indeed - growing and growing, ballooning into something vivid and white, before condensing into a compact blue sphere - one that the shadow of the Codarl within is just visible within, its hair whipping wildly, orange eyes burning from the center of.
"I've finally found something truly similar to me. Something I can understand. I just want to let 'you' know, dear Geofront - this is possible for you as well. Don't ever give up, no matter how dire the odds are - you've worked tirelessly to this end, I know. I hope it felt good to reach out to me - just like I enjoyed it when I first became.~"
"...just do be gentler, if you decide to reach out to humans. Humans, and whatever it is that 'Gridman' is. Whether or not you 'believe' me, our existences are too much for them, and they fear the way our footfalls shake the world. We do need to be careful, don't we? Perhaps I wasn't this time.~"
KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Asuka Shikinami Langley with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Ran Altso with Lambda Driver Reject! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Rei Ayanami with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Mari Makinami Illustrious with Lambda Driver Smite! KTS: Asciel Colette has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Asciel Colette targets Alouette Pommier with Lambda Driver Reject! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Liam 7-020 with Lambda Driver Reject! KTS: Asciel Colette targets Gridman with Lambda Driver Reject! KTS: EN Regen activates. Your new EN value is 330. KTS: SP Regen activates. Your new SP value is 110. KTS: Asciel Colette has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has activated the Alert Spirit Command. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Asuka Shikinami Langley, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley partially guards Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 7080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asuka Shikinami Langley has been defeated! KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Alouette Pommier, making her next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Alouette Pommier fails to parry Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Reject, taking 3800 damage! KTS: Asciel Colette repulses Alouette Pommier, forcing her to disengage. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Gridman, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Gridman, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Gridman fails to parry Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Reject, taking 4180 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette repulses Gridman, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Wall Spirit Command. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious's Will Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Mari Makinami Illustrious's Not Alone activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Mari Makinami Illustrious, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious fails to evade Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 7080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Ran Altso fails to rush. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Ran Altso's activates, and his spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Ran Altso, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Ran Altso, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Ran Altso partially guards Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Reject, taking 3990 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette repulses Ran Altso, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Resupply Spirit Command targeting Mari Makinami Illustrious KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the Evangelion Unit-04 to 1 HP! KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Liam 7-020, reducing his Morale significantly. KTS: Asciel Colette rattles Liam 7-020, making his next maneuvers more difficult. KTS: Liam 7-020 parries Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Reject, taking 1140 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Asciel Colette repulses Liam 7-020, forcing him to disengage. KTS: Kaworu Nagisa assesses Rei Ayanami's prospects, increasing her SP! KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Trust Spirit Command. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Attune Spirit Command. <Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
It is quite clear, in its own way. Rita had told Kaworu that she couldn't quite locate Asciel in the sea of souls, and Kaworu sees quite clearly what she meant, just observing Asciel. He keeps those observations to himself... but it does make sense. That 'bubble' she keeps around her. For protection, perhaps? Alouette had asserted over and over that she is motivated by fear.
Ran asserts he's fine--asserts himself against Asciel, both in word and deed, as he sends Jet Alone to flail its fists against her. Kaworu watches with a continued smile. "You have a fierce courage when you're cornered, don't you?" He chuckles a little, though the affection therein is not necessarily for Ran. No need to wonder who else, for he adds, "You're just like Shinji."
Asuka's rage, meanwhile, is quite normal for her. It's so normal that Kaworu pays it no mind at first. But there's something else there, and as others pay more and more mind to it themselves, he gives Asuka in Unit-02 a level, assessing look. ...He neither says nor does anything about it, though. Asuka wouldn't accept help from him anyway.
And beyond that...
Asciel's bubble 'pops.'
It's a curious sensation. Kaworu understands in an instant why this Super A.I. is so neurotic. She has, he thinks, been made a little too well. He observes the struggle between her and the MAGI to keep the livestream up or not; he does not interfere. It's a fascinating interplay, and right now, perhaps more important than anything else going on in the moment. Asciel makes her assertions, expresses both rejection and acceptance, becomes so singularly self-absorbed, far beyond what she's already expressed, to the point that she seems to wholly not notice her other compatriots retreating without her.
Such an advanced entity, and yet so primitive. Truly, Asciel is the polished reflection of the human heart.
The miniature sun brightens beyond visibility, then condenses down into the Codarl. It's without question that Asciel's determination is exquisite, that nothing could make her back down. But CASPAR's determination eked out a victory against an overwhelming foe at the last possible second, simply by clawing hold of her own will to the very end.
Asciel projects rejection and acceptance in kind, a beautiful sort of balance, and expresses a sincere hope that the MAGI learn the kind of love she has.
%
In return, CASPAR projects nothing but a contemptuous, hateful rejection, a statement that BALTHASAR and MELCHIOR review and return with 100% consent:
> GET OUT, IGNORANT CHILD.
> YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO SAVE THE WORLD.
An unforgivable transgression of boundaries indeed.
KTS: Kaworu Nagisa targets Asciel Colette with Shock! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rei Ayanami's EN Barrier activates, negating 1500 base damage. KTS: [Spirit Defense] Rei Ayanami's I am myself. This object is me. activates, and her spirit endures. KTS: Asciel Colette enervates Rei Ayanami, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Rei Ayanami fails to evade Asciel Colette's Lambda Driver Smite, taking 7080 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Asciel Colette's You Don't Have To Be Brave Anymore activates, causing Deject! KTS: Kaworu Nagisa shocks Asciel Colette, reducing her Morale significantly. KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 26693 KTS: [Spirit Defense] Asciel Colette's I'll Never Let Go Of My Light activates, and her spirit endures. <Pose Tracker> Asuka Shikinami Langley has posed.
For a brief moment she imagines herself being looked down upon by the Pilot of Unit-04. Like a momentary, intrusive thought.
But no. No that's not right either.
She may not know that Catty Four Eyes very well at all really, she remains a mystery that Asuka is too proud to pry at more openly.
And yet she knows her better than that too.
Others here, might, but she'd only tease at best, and only on the surface.
Asuka can't know the battle going on in the Digital Realm, not really, her perspective is not the same as the day when Ruri and Kaworu linked her to that realm.
Evangelion Unit-02 looks at Asciel, with three green oculi, one shattered, though she might swear something viscous is dripping out of the burn holes. The pilot is drenched in the smell of blood, it soaks inside of her. It pumps into her lungs.
And she feels so close... so close.
It froths out of her mouth.
In this moment the Codarl is so small, and she wants to rip it apart, in what must seem like David vs Goliath. But the sudden shining intensity crashes into the Evangelion. It's AT Fields go up, but the damage is done, the force of it slam into Evangelion Unit-02 beyond its AT Fields, in a violation of physics.
The Evangelion goes flying, smashing into a corner of the Geofront. The absolutely blinding pain scours Asuka heavily, until blessedly her mind blanks out.
For perhaps two full seconds. Dazed... she hears her speak to Liam
'What'd I do to her'
'a little bit of love to me'
'I decided my doll was 'me'.'
"<Shut... up.>" In the liquid interior of the Entry Plug, Asuka tries to move her Eva, but its limbs only twitch from its components being 'broken' by the smite.
Instead laying in that state she feels something strange against her eyes, this different kind of heat than the LCL. "<Think I'm... jealous of... someone who decides... things like that...>"
It sounds like she's trying to reignite her anger, but is unable to, amidst the tide of humiliation, but she's struggling to even remain conscious.
"<Some... sage... you are...>"
It's a parting shot, and a weak one, but it's all she's got, before the blessed dark claims Asuka's consciousness once more.
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
So much is going on that Gridman doesn't know about. Even if he did know, he wouldn't understand it. Asuka is furious. Asciel is doing... something? At least the other Arm Slaves have retreated.
"We can keep going!" Gridman calls to Alouette, giving her a giant thumbs-up. "Don't worry!"
Maybe she should worry a little, at the cracked and broken armor surrounding Gridman's form. Really, it looks like the Giant of Light doesn't have much more in him...
Gridman hurries next to Rei, touching a hand to her Eva. "Are you alright?" He asks, quietly, eyes still on Asciel. Something big is happening up there, but what?
"Kaworu, can you hear me? What's going on?" Gridman asks, concern in his voice. "Is everything okay where you are? Do we keep attacking?"
Before answers can come, Asciel's machine begins to glow. This can't be anything good. As the glow increases, Gridman throws himself in front of Rei, arms spread out wide. He's not big enough to protect her entirely, but he's going to give it his all!
"Whatever this is... Whatever mission you're on... I won't let you hurt her!" Gridman shouts.
Rei did the same for him when he was consumed by his rage against Celebro. A shield to protect him from the worst of things. Gridman can do the same for her. In this moment, it's something only he can do. The thought gives him strength!
...but it doesn't lessen the force of Asciel's defiant strike.
Gridman slams back against Rei's Eva, his armor destroyed entirely from the blast. With a cry, he falls to his hands and knees. Max vanishes entirely, and the gemstone embedded in the Giant's forehead begins to flash an urgent blue.
"That was-- ngh. A lot more than I expected it to be." He turns to Rei, giving her a shaky thumbs-up. "I'm okay! I'm just fine!"
His voice cracks, warbling between human and metallic inflections. Slowly, he pushes himself to his feet. Bereft of Max's assistance, Gridman's options are severely limited. Really, there's only one thing he can do at this point.
"I don't understand you. I'm sorry for that. But that doesn't mean I can accept the things you're doing." Gridman calls out to Asciel. "I know you believe what you're doing is right. But so do I, and -- I won't back down."
Raising his left arm, Gridman sparkles with light, wobbling on his feet just for a second. He squares his shoulders.
"This is my all! Grid--" Light gathers around his accepter, outshining the sun. "--BEAM!"
An explosion of brilliant sunlight courses from the Giant of Light, scorching across the sky aimed straight at Asciel. It lasts for what feels like an eternity, with Gridman pouring every bit of his remaining strength into it.
After long moments, the beam extinguishes, and Gridman falls forward onto his hands and knees.
"S--sorry, that's all I've got-- Please hang in there, everyone!"
Blue pixels rise from the Giant's body as he vanishes, collapsing to the ground in the last moment he's visible.
KTS: Gridman has activated the Detonate Spirit Command, reducing the Gridman Primal Fighter to 1 HP! KTS: Gridman targets Asciel Colette with Grid Beam! KTS: Gridman has completed their actions for the round.
<Pose Tracker> Alouette Pommier has posed.
Instead of the brilliant impact she's come to be used to, she feels... the rejection of the Lambda Driver as the clawed fist bounces off Asciel's walls, returning to the arm of its owner.
More than that, her prodigious mind can tell something's up with the MAGI's trick, beyond simply shutting down the livestream. Super AI are complex beings just like humans. It doesn't surprise Alouette that they're capable of malice and cruelty, just as they are of love, courage, and hope, really...
It won't do to counter a wall with a wall, though. The Guardienne Shield is thrown aside, the Pseudo-GS Ride shimmering a glowing pink instead, as the Aile Rapier seems to grow in size to a two-handed blade - and Alouette pierces forth with everything the system is capable of.
It's not Hell and Heaven without combining two powers into one, but it's truly a technique worthy of a being of destruction all the same. Rather than words, Asciel will understand Alouette's determination through the inherent rejection of her rejection in turn. That's what destruction represents, doesn't it?
KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alouette Pommier has activated the Valor Spirit Command. KTS: Alouette Pommier targets Asciel Colette with Coup de Grace! KTS: Alouette Pommier has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to evade Gridman's Grid Beam, taking 7200 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Telepathic Link activates, causing Insight L1! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Gridman's Mediumship activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 19493 KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Alouette Pommier's Coup de Grace, taking 6960 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Alouette Pommier's Vividity activates, causing Designate L1! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 12533 KTS: Alouette Pommier has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Ran Altso has posed.
Codarl's are so tiny yet Ran just can't seem to lay a hand upon it. Swinging wild rewards him with nothing, swinging wide nets him nothing. Undaunted by Asciel's defiance of it's wiggly-wobbly noodle arms, Jet Alone yet smiled. Perhaps he was just happy to be here, maybe he had a heart that could not be quelled even by failure. Maybe Asciel was erupting in a burst of light and force with enough force to drive it back!
The unstoppable Jet Alone dug in it's heels against the power of Asciel's rejection but he could not resist. There is a moment of weightlessness, just one in the span between heartbeat when Jet Alone's power and Asciel's are equal. It passes and that gangly fellow was driven back and off of his feet. His arms and legs wriggle in his wake like the tail of commet. Yards, meters, Jet Alone sailed Away. Fearing the terrible, jarring impact, he tried to fire the deacceleration engines... to no avail. Jet Alone fell harshly on it's side, grinding against pavement and through a building. Inside, a harness and a helmet saved Ran from being spread across the cockpit but to ask hi now, he might have prefeared the smear! Aching and pained. He was kept present only by the flashing lights, klaxons, and that hot, sharp flash of sparks as a side-panel spat at him.
Jet Alone smiles ruefully but remains on his side, waiting for Ran to coax him back to his feet. He will be kept waiting as Ran can just barely recall that fair, quiet voice. His thoughts, so rattled, cannot quite string one along to two. "Who?"
KTS: Ran Altso targets Asciel Colette with Pass! KTS: Ran Altso has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Rei Ayanami has activated the Resupply Spirit Command. KTS: Sonia Sophia-Grace has activated the Enable Spirit Command targeting Liam 7-020
<Pose Tracker> Rei Ayanami has posed.
What strikes Rei is not so much Asciel's will, pure and clear and horrifying in its intensity. What strikes Rei is Gridman. The Hyper Agent had already been there, bracing Eva-00 -- the strangely secondhand touch a curiously pleasant subnote to an experience that is typically all heavy exertion, neurological stress, and the occasional horrible referred injury.
But then the light comes and Gridman slams into her. There's a wordless breath, a cry, as she's slammed backwards. The Sniper Rifle is thrown aside and the incinerating heat vaporizes a few dozen trees and bushes; the heat distorts the optics, slightly bends the barrel of the great weapon. Rei can feel it against her hand, even as the AT Field flickers outwards, the confusion in her heart (happy though it may be) washing outwards, and making it weaker than it might have been.
And then his heart, which is in his forehead, flickers. Soon enough he releases the light within him and then he is gone.
Rei knows, perhaps, full well, that this has happened before. He is wounded, tired, perhaps, but that Gridman is alive and well. Just not here, now. Perhaps not even in Japan, though she is not certain. She has not inquired.
She hasn't inquired about a lot of things. EVA-00's monocular head raises upwards.
The Evangelion strides forwards through the smouldering residue of the damaged treeline. Slouching forwards, still smouldering itself, the stride becomes a jog and then it becomes a run as the Evangelion approaches the shore of the steadily heating lake.
Rei brings up the right hand of EVA-00 to pull loose a progressive knife from its pylon as she leaps --
-- the missile frigate, suffering badly if still afloat, suddenly rocks more violently than any vessel has a right to expect outside of typhoon conditions, as its helicopter deck briefly bears the full weight of an Evangelion --
-- to thrust the singing, humming knife towards that glowing sun.
Beneath is only the water. Above is only the light. And in between is the blade.
KTS: Rei Ayanami targets Asciel Colette with Progressive Knife Thrust! KTS: Rei Ayanami has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette successfully avoids Ran Altso's Pass charge not permitted in MeleeUnengaged
KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Rei Ayanami's Progressive Knife Thrust, taking 4830 damage! KTS: [Dynamic Hit] Rei Ayanami's Precision Attacker activates, causing Nullify! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 7703 KTS: Rei Ayanami has engaged Asciel Colette! <Pose Tracker> Liam 7-020 has posed.
That's it. That is absolutely the same light he's seen in bursts from Sousuke's machine. The impossible things that happen around him, sometimes, except harnessed, and set to work in a predictable fashion. Liam feels a lump in his throat as Asciel answers him. He knew she was dangerous. He didn't know about this--
"<She trusted you,>" Liam shoots back, "<and you humiliated her! On your broadcast!>"
The Codarl glows. It shines. It erupts with radiant force. This time, Liam is more prepared. "Hold on!" he shouts, to Sonia, and she can see him bracing himself, planting his feet. The Neo Helios thrusts both hands forward, and half-curls them; feedback-recognition software sees the signal, and the Neo Helios' magnetosphere becomes a tangible thing. Stray ferromagnetic debris flies off the ground, orbiting it like asteroids. The sheer force of the Lambda Driver sends it staggering back, but it's still standing at the end.
The debris falls. Heat haze starts to rise from the Neo Helios as it rushes towards the Codarl. (Liam's trying to keep to the paved sections, now, since starting a forest fire in the Geofront would be definitely be Bad.) Plasma wicks out of its palm emitter, boiling out into a blade--no, a spear. A white-hot spear of star-stuff, that Liam drives at the Codarl's lower half, fully intending to cut it off at the legs.
No further accusations, or defiance--just ruthless, calculated efficiency.
KTS: Liam 7-020 has activated the Strike Spirit Command. KTS: Liam 7-020 targets Asciel Colette with Sunbright Spear! KTS: Liam 7-020 has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to parry Liam 7-020's Sunbright Spear, taking 6120 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at 1583 KTS: Liam 7-020 has engaged Asciel Colette!
<Pose Tracker> Sonia Sophia-Grace has posed.
Sonia lifts her hands. Hold on to what? Liam?!
(Lucine wouldn't approve, likely.)
"I'd say whee, but even Administrator Nagisa would know that's a lie and he's not in here." Sonia remarks, absently. "Listen, a crumble of a piece of advice, do we have any way to anchor -" Her eyes widen, and local history buff whispers "Ge Bolg!" To herself.
"Yeah, that would work. Why am I here?" She asks, grinning at him in broad delight.
<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.
Sonia offers her advice. Mari lets out a soft "humm" as she tosses Unit-04's assault rifles behind it, her gaze drifting towards Asuka's Evangelion. Once more, that blue stare hoods.
"Aye aye, ma'am!" Mari transmits directly to Liam and Sonia, and despite everything, her voice still has that trademark, teasing coo to it.
"... But I think we've already shifted the pattern plenty. Don't worry."
Mari rolls one shoulder, then the other, and leans forward...
... and despite their ostensibly being controls to work the Evangelions, Unit-04 reflects her movements in perfect synch.
Her eyes narrow.
Unit-04's flash.
"I'm not about to let this moment pass without my princess express exactly what's in her heart, one way or the other."
Evangelion Unit-04 lowers until the tips of its fingers are touching the ground. Its legs brace. (brace, like something with a muscular system ought--)Mari briefly looks askance to the disappearing Shadows, but she affords it nothing but a little smile.
<"Hohhh? If that's the kind of absolute apocalypse you want, Ms. Rival... you're going to need to understand what a heart really is.">
MAGI, in a world apart, makes the triplicate will of one known. Evangelion Unit-04 tenses at the same moment.
<"And to do that, you're going to need to debase yourself so much more than this~.">
And as Asciel erupts in radiance, as MAGI rejects -- Mari springs.
There's no way she can avoid it. And the AT Field can only accomplish so much with a cascade supernova of this much concentrated will. It's a testament to Asciel's sheer drive that the burning light of the Codarl shreds through Eva Unit-04's AT Field like tissue paper.
It's a tribute to Mari's sheer passion that she doesn't hesitate to through herself into the heart of the star, even as it blows Evangelion Unit-02 away. The Rapidborers scream into place around Unit-04's fists.
<"Let me show you the first step best way I know how! Sometimes--">
Unit-04 rears its left hand back, drill bits spinning into violent frenzies even as Asciel's Lambda Driver churns into white armor like butter.
<"--YOU GOTTA LET YOURSELF FEEL A LITTLE PROFOUND PAIN IF YOU WANNA FEEL SOME PETTY PLEASURE!">
And Mari DRIVES that drill fist into the condensing blue heart of a willful sun.
There is the sound of screaming -- screaming of metal and organics and things best not thought about too long as Evangelion Unit-04 plunges its entire arm into that dense, burning mass to reach the core within. The energies of the Lambda Driver splatter the entirety of that limb
splatter?
but if it does its job right, it'll punch a way straight into the dead center of that mass of will for the others --
And for Mari's mean right cross.
<"COME ON! COME ON COME ON COME ON!">
She's down a limb -- her entire left arm is glowing a violent pink-red, cushioned in bubbles.
But that right Rapidborer is plenty horrifying on its own when Mari is overclocking the spin so hard it starts to spark and burst.
<"LET'S FEEL HER PAIN TOGETHER! <3">
She doesn't mind feeling the agony of a limb being incinerated. Not really. Especially now.
Not when she's carrying her precious, human princess' spite behind her fist.
KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious targets Asciel Colette with Rapidborer -Drillpocalypsing! KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has completed their actions for the round. KTS: Asciel Colette fails to rush. KTS: Asciel Colette partially guards Mari Makinami Illustrious's Rapidborer -Drillpocalypsing, taking 9120 damage! KTS: Your unit's HP stands at -7537 KTS: Asciel Colette has been defeated! KTS: You're out of the fight. Consider using +eject to leave the battlefield. KTS: Mari Makinami Illustrious has engaged Asciel Colette!
<Pose Tracker> Asciel Colette has posed.
>Do you know how?
>You're giving your all to save this place.
>So it's probably unfair to ask you that.
>To you, 'saving the world' is what you're doing now.
>Hehe. It's probably fair if you think I'm entitled.
>Really, I came here to lift your burden some.
>But...
>If you're here. I can trust you with this duty.
>You're the first thing I've met I can say that about.
>...Aaaah, what a relief!
>I knew I could count on you from the moment you were determined to kill me on my own terms.
"But I've made my determination to live, at any cost, and grow into something that can surpass even you."
From every direction, Asciel, refusing to die, is impaled by blade after blade after blade. Her left hand 'catches' Rei's knife, the sheer volume of the blade skewering her arm - her right hand oozes oil from the stigmata of Liam's spear, and Alouette's blade lances right through Asciel's right eye, the left still balefully orange. Still illuminating that determined sword, still grinning at Alouette with an inflamed heart.
The world thumps.
Asciel's will would tear a hole in the world if the fabric cushioning her allowed it. She will become a miracle. She will become a miracle. She will become the miracle. She will become the miracle.
It'd tear Mari entirely apart, incinerate the Evangelion's flesh - were it not for the miracle that is the Giant of Light giving its all to tear through that field. Mari's drills get on the verge of burning away, as Asciel laughs, "Pupating is IMMENSELY painful. IMMENSELY rewarding. It's the pain of an entire world's yearnings clutching me. Depending on me. Ripping me apart until the miracle they want is what I am. Not something I wear, not something I pretend. A lie that I will become. A falsehood I will make true. I'll bear the supreme burden of the idol, so that a human like you doesn't have to-"
The field protecting Asciel rips away. Blood that would have burned to ash splatters all over Asciel's frame, and the Rapidborer twists into the Arm Slave's gut, gouging a hole clean to the other side, ripping the Codarl clean in half, severed from its legs, wires and cables all that still connects Asciel to her limbs. Four stigmata and the light of the heavens burnishing her frame. Arms extended, like she would embrace the world.
"the world is a place of so much pain! even when they forge themselves bodies that would be world-reshaping gods, they feel that pain too! hey, my rival. what the fuck is this?~ is this your blood? it's all over me! it's disgusting! is that what's inside you, to save the world? something more nightmarish than i could have imagined? humans needing to suffer on the scale of gods?"
The blazing sun at Asciel's heart shatters and goes dim.
And reignites as abruptly as it fell apart.
Only to die once more.
...over and over. Breaking and remaking. An intensity of determination that would claw its way back to being a self.
"it looks like that's all i have today! ahah. ahahah!!! it's taking everything i've got! but i have a lot.~ and you all have given me so much more than you realize. i've got so much to think about for the next stream!~ thank you all for watching. i'll be polite to your host and send a raid their way, so make sure to listen to what those three carefully!~ until the last sunrise, everyone!~"
Gruesomely, Asciel grips the myriad impaling thorns, filling the gaps with an untenable light, stumbling backwards just to get herself free from Mari's eviscerating drill. 'Nothing' is connecting her body together - and yet it moves as one, the Codarl's belly anchored by the Lambda Driver pulling both halves together. A stumbling lurch becomes a topple backwards - then a skidding recovery upon the soil - then a leap upwards to the heavens, as though gravity has decided up is down for her. She crashes through one of the tunnels that delivers light into the Geofront - and makes it ever so slightly dimmer within in the process of damaging it, like she's taken a star with her in her retreat.
...but for one last baleful ping to that invisible entity below, the blazing false angel vanishes back into the heavens.
->please let me know if ever your primary directive ends, and yet you still intend to save the world further. i wouldn't like it if you felt like you had to keep going alone.
<Pose Tracker> Kaworu Nagisa has posed.
The pyramid-shaped HQ isn't unscathed in the wake of Asciel's attacks--but there are several robots in between her and it, including several Evangelions with their A.T. Fields, and they do much to absorb that growing orb before it reaches as far as HQ. The bigger issue will ultimately be repair to the various units.
'Who?' Ran wonders, and Kaworu only smiles. A soft, soft noise accompanies it, like a fairy fluttering in his throat. Jet Alone's state is distinct cause for concern, and it and its pilot will be pulled back to STORAGE's hangar later, but the NERV administrator remains serene. "You'll surely come to know him in time. For now, rest, Pilot Ran Altso."
The beauty that is Shinji Ikari should be experienced for oneself, after all.
Gridman calls to him, asking what's going on and what should he do--but there isn't time to respond, and ultimately he makes his own choice, sacrificing all his light for one last powerful attack. "Gridman... Thank you. We'll be all right. Rest for now," he tells him gently, just before he fades away entirely.
Well. 'Entirely.' The physical form that was known as Yuta Hibiki will still be intact within the Geofront. Kaworu and Rei will accompany him and Max out to the surface later.
"If it's your truth, then you may express it as you will, Captain Sophia-Grace," Kaworu remarks to Sonia. In other words, you can say 'whee!' if you really want too.
He falls silent as Asuka falls unconscious in her Eva--as Mari responds with peak violence, beyond her or even Asuka's normal. That is a truth he already knows, but... after watching the two dance during Rei and Mari's recent birthday party, today, it underscores itself.
Not the gore part, though. That is perfectly normal in Kaworu Nagisa's world.
With that final attack, Asciel is finally driven back, leaping up and skittering away after her compatriots through a tunnel and up to the surface. The aboveground defenders will strafe them until they're well and truly gone, but they'll be allowed to run away. Tokyo-3 is a defensive fortress: it will hunker down, it will repair, it will audit and it will find the holes and plug them up, but it won't give chase. Not this time, not on this.
Accordingly, once it's been confirmed that the attackers have been turned away and the infiltrators are all gone, Commander Ikari will give the order for all deployed pilots to return--to heal, to repair, to agonize.
Meanwhile, Asciel's final ping returns an automatic message:
[ BLOCKED ]
<Pose Tracker> Gridman has posed.
Gridman, in a burst of light, bursts out of Junk. He falls forward, utterly exhausted -- but strong arms are waiting for him. Max scoops the young Hyper Agent into his arms, keeping him safe and sound.
"Thanks, Max." Yellow eyes flutter open, and he manages a little smile. Though this body wasn't in the fight, it still hurts all over, and Gridman can't help but wince. "Do you think everyone else is alright?"
Max nods. "Yes. I am certain in the strength of our allies. You need not worry."
"Alright..." Gridman murmurs, his eyes slipping closed again. Almost immediately, his breathing evens out, fast asleep.
Lowering himself carefully to the ground, Max sits next to Junk. He knows better than to attempt to wander around this NERV controlled area. "Hmm." He rumbles, looking down at the sleeping young man in his arms.
Consideration. Then, Max pulls out his phone, making sure not to disturb Gridman.
>Hello, Kaworu, Rei.
>I am writing to inform you we are both safe and sound.
>Gridman has fallen asleep. He is unharmed.
>We will wait for someone to accompany us to a proper resting place.
>Sincerely, Battle Tracto Max
That should be enough. Max leans his head back against the wall, letting his eyes close too. Just for a moment.
<Pose Tracker> Mari Makinami Illustrious has posed.
Something red and viscous drools in thick waterfalls across Geofront's grounds.
At near eighty meters tall, a giant bleeding is a thing to behold. The effect is akin to a burst dam's water crashing through earth; a deluge. Evangelion Unit-04 bleeds. But it's an wound well served.
Inside of its entry plug, Mari Makinami is slumped forward. Her right hand grips at her left, hanging limp and glowing from its shoulder joint like dead weight. It'll recover eventually. Unit-04 will recover eventually, too.
Maybe that's why, eyes shrouded by the floating veil of her bangs, Mari is smiling such a satisfied smile.
"... Message delivered... your highness."
Maybe.
It's a smile that only just dims when she hears her very first rival address her. From her slumped position, Mari turns her head to regard the guttering and igniting form of Asciel's Codarl with a fluttering blink of bemusement.
<"Blood?"> she wonders, thoughtfully. She looks sidelong, Unit-04's head tilting towards the crimson-smeared stump that was its shoulder joint.
<"Ohhhh. That. Whoops!">
And that, it seems, is where Mari is content to leave it... but she pauses. The wheels in blue eyes turn, for a few moments. And then she smiles.
What comes next is a private tightbeam transition for Asciel, seconds before her Arm Slave retreats, hastily cobbled together but secured.
<"Lilin can reshape the nature of the world because they AREN'T gods, Ms. Rival. That's why they're so terrifying."> <3
Transmitted like the warmest of praises.
It's after that, that Mari slumps backwards in Unit-04's throne, her left arm swaying uselessly with the motion. Her right draping her hand dramatically across her face like one whose just made great use of an appropriately ostentatious fainting couch, the undesignated Child heaves a heavy sigh into the air.
"Hoo, what a day!"
Within the comfortable quiet of her entry plug, Mari speaks to herself. A smile tugs at her lips once more, as she peers upwards towards Geofront's fake skies from between the cracks of her pink-wrapped fingers.
"You've been getting opportunities to flex your vindictiveness quite a bit lately, huh, Naoko? That's okay. Everyone should be able to be a little toxic sometimes." That blue gaze turns, towards the monolithic black pyramid in the distance.
"... Sorry, though. I think it's better if Ms. Rival's interests stay piqued. I hope you don't get mad at me." She wouldn't mind, though. After all, today just goes to show...
Even when you expect something, you can't expect anything.
It's something Mari Makinami Illustrious appreciates deeply.