LNCrawler

Chapter 26: Hostile Signal Blue

Neon Genesis Evangelion ANIMA — LNCrawler · All chapters

Chapter 26:
Hostile Signal Blue
A S SIX REPEATED THE MESSAGE from the enigmatic black giant, Nerv Japan stood prepared to meet the enemy, whoever they might be.
Meanwhile, Shinji was trying to convince Super Eva to land, but the Eva kept drifting about in circles above the base. To provide cover for this mishap, Shinji and Super Eva had been retroactively assigned patrol duty.
This was not the first time Super Eva had acted against Shinji’s commands. Sometimes the Eva’s ferocious side took over, while other times its reaction had been delayed—but this was something different.
If he was going to go into battle impaired like this, Shinji thought he should at least have a weapon ready. The Powered 8 carbine was stored on a rail in Super Eva’s left shoulder. He took hold of the weapons and attempted to raise the Eva’s arm—but as he did so, the right wing’s A.T. Field became unfocused, and Super Eva made a sharp roll.
Shinji yelped in surprise, while Maya protested, “What are you doing?!”
What just happened? Shinji wondered.
He made another small movement, and this time the left leg responded.
“Maya-san, control of Super Eva’s limbs and my perception of the wings keep getting switched up with each other. And there’s not a pattern to—”
“What’s that sound?” Maya interjected.
Ayanami’s voice came over the plug’s hydrospeaker.
<< The surface world… Atop the Earth… Wandering… Continuing eternal… The fate of humanity… >>
“Trois?” Maya asked, but Shinji grimaced.
Now he knew that what he’d seen in the cage had been no trick of the eyes. She was there. The transmission was coming from somewhere very close by, and the IFF identification system registered an Eva he’d previously classified as hostile.
“Command, this is an emergency! I’m picking up Quatre’s signal!”
Hyuga replied.
<< Shinji-kun, if you’re talking about Armaros’ message—Six is in some kind of trance down here. She’s going on just like when Armaros used Quatre to make Trois speak. >>
“Hyuga, I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, but right before we started flying, I saw an Ayanami in a black, older-model plugsuit. I thought I was just seeing things…but Quatre and her Eva-0.0 are somewhere in this facility. Damn it, something is messing up all my readings—I’m picking up responses from all over the base.”
Shinji was flying over the center of Nerv HQ. Through the round chasm, he saw the mutant Eva-0.0 standing quietly atop the dome of the sarcophagus.
“Command, I found the Eva! It’s on the sarcophagus.”
As the comms line from the command center erupted, Ayanami Rei Quatre stood on the shoulder of her mutant Eva and looked up toward Shinji.
Without making a conscious decision, Shinji zoomed in on Quatre, who wore the older black plugsuit.
She’s pointing at something. But what?
The dome beneath the opening was deeper than an Eva was tall and lower than the surface of Lake Ashi. From down there, in the direction Quatre was pointing, there was nothing but the walls of the underground facility.
No, wait—look closer.
Quatre’s eyes remained on Shinji. Her lips moved, and her voice rattled in the plug’s hydrospeaker.
<< Humanity…lives… As long as they live…they shall not obtain wings…shall not be liberated. I mean you, Ikari-kun. >>
“Command,” Shinji said, “is there anything unusual south of HQ?”
But the reply was dismissive. << Super Eva, remain focused on Quatre. >>
Quatre continued. << He saw you through my eyes. Through Eva-0.0’s eyes. You were seeking wings. Is the Second Child that important to you? >>
“We can’t attack her while she’s on top of the sarcophagus,” Toji said.
In the command center, the staff were arguing over how to evict Quatre’s Eva from atop the dome. No one could agree on a solution because no one knew how the Chronostatic Sphere would react.
“Ayahachi!” Toji said, determined to make the eight reference work. “Can you see Unit Quatre on the sarcophagus from the Komagatake sniping post? Can you shoot it?”
<< I can’t see the Eva. I can shoot it, but the dome would be destroyed. >>
“That’s no good! Damn… Maybe it would’ve been better to fire up from the lower levels of the cage.”
Either way, he didn’t want to make one Ayanami shoot another.
<< Command! Toji! >> Shinji’s voice had risen to an angry yell. << I’m seeing enemies on the caldera’s southern side! >>
But it was Ayanami in Eva-00 Type-F who replied.
<< I can see them from the Komagatake sniping post. Two unknowns to the south, on the western ridgeline of Mount Daikan. >>
The clamor in the command center fell into momentary silence as all eyes fixed on the main screen. Across Lake Ashi, on the ridgeline of mountains that had been reshaped again and again by battle, stood two shadows.
Not shadows…something black.
“The black giant,” whispered a technician.
“Wait,” Toji interjected, “Armaros is on the moon. Besides, whatever those are, there’s two of them.”
“Pattern undetectable,” Hyuga reported. “Our probe signals are passing straight through them!”
Once more, intruders had appeared without any advance warning or observed emissions.
Hyuga said, “Everyone, stay calm! They’re not the same shape as Armaros. They each have only one rear plate, not two, and they’re only about as big as an Eva. Armaros was bigger.”
“But they clearly have something to do with Armaros,” Aoba replied. “You can bet on it!”
The two black figures moved.
“Movement from Victor Two and Victor Three!” Hyuga said.
For the time being, he called them by the designations assigned to unknown figures by the Magi system. Presently, Quatre’s Eva was Victor One. Enemies detected visually were designated V—phonetically, Victor—and any detected by radar were assigned R—or Romeo. Lately, there had been almost all Victors and very few Romeos. The enemy just had to be difficult like that.
The two black giants approached the top of the ridgeline and stood with their rear plates touching.
DWUM!
When the two plates touched, they made an eerie sound like the clapping of a bell—except it wasn’t any ordinary sound. It reached through the thick, armored walls of the command center.
“Wh-what is that?” Aoba asked. “Is it a single unit that can split into two and rejoin, like the Angel Israfel?”
RUMMMBLE.
But the two giants didn’t fuse. They separated again, and the ground trembled. As their rear plates pulled apart, the space between them revealed scenery that looked nothing like the southern side of Lake Ashi. Between the plates, it was night. Dusk, maybe. And as the two giants grew farther apart, the view expanded to fill the area between them.
“Is that…a video?” Aoba said.
RUMMMBLE .
The command center vibrated as if a great metal door was drawing open.
As the view of this other place widened, the two giants began to fade, as though their essences were being stretched thin.
And then— SLAM!
Everyone who was standing reflexively clung to the nearest fixed surface. The jolt felt like a door being thrown all the way open, and the vibrations continued to ripple through every surface.
“Victors Two and Three are…gone?” Hyuga said.
Had the danger passed? The giants had disappeared, but the mysterious window into another landscape remained.
A soft light flickered in the distance of this twilight landscape. The light pushed through like lapping waves, and warm air spilled through the window.
A frantic-looking guard appeared on the screen. << South shore security post to command center! Two of the watchers—they turned into salt! Beware! The light…the wind…the sweet air— >>
There was a rustling sound, and the guard suddenly turned into a white pillar and crumbled. Gasps echoed all over the control room.
Strange ripples began to shimmer in the air, spreading out from the window toward Tokyo-3 in the shape of a fan.
Hyuga leaped to his feet. “We’ve lost contact with fifteen outdoor observation posts.”
“T-tell everyone who’s outside to take shelter immediately!” Toji shouted.
Hyuga and Aoba began relaying the command with more detailed instructions to the various teams.
“All personnel proceed to the anticontamination areas! Seal all partitions! Ensure all indoor spaces have positive air pressure!”
Envisioning the apocalyptic mass transformation of 1.9 million Europeans into pillars of salt, Toji said, “We need to instruct all civilians to avoid looking into that light!”
Shinji’s voice announced another danger.
<< Command! Something is coming out! >>
No sooner had Shinji spoken than three Angel Carriers emerged from the window.
And these Carriers had wings.
Gunfire roared from the city’s defensive stations, and their projectiles exploded into the cluster of Angel Carriers on the caldera’s southern rim. But the enemy withstood the attack with their invisible shields as their wings lifted them effortlessly into the air.
One Carrier seemed to bear Zeruel in its cocoon. The larva fired flashes of tremendously destructive energy beams that destroyed armed sector after armed sector, leaving behind cross-shaped pillars of light that raced toward the heavens.
In moments, the Angel’s attacks had wiped out seventy percent of the city’s offensive capabilities. On the status board, the southern side of Tokyo-3 was nearly entirely red.
“Incredible…” Aoba said.
“Command to Ayahachi,” Toji said. “Don’t attack them yet! Just one of those blasts will chew through the sniping post’s heavy armor like it was nothing. Hide yourself and wait for your time to strike.”
<< Unit Zero Type-F, acknowledged. >>
The sniping post at Mount Komagatake went silent as commanded, and the Zeruel Carrier flew through the air, almost drifting, until it found Super Eva.