The battlefield was raging with sounds, weapons blazing as the armies fought across the desert wasteland. Tanks exchanged fire as missiles raced back and forth, men hunkered down in bunkers as they tried to survive. "Is it coming?" the commander asked, his sand colored clothing providing him some cover in the dry, arid lands. His second frowned, the black haired man wearing a white hood to try to screen out the worst of the sun. "It's on the move," he revealed, "but estimated time of arrival is unknown." "We've paid enough for their assistance," the commander grumbled as the first shots of another round whizzed by, "they could at least tell us..." THOOOM. Both men jerked to a stop as their eyes widened. Turning they looked out to the desert, eyes searching the haze until a figure seemed to emerge from the haze. It looked human, but only broadly as it's arms and legs were eerily distended. It's face was entirely covered by a eerie helm, only the red glowing eyes visible as it strode across the sands, a massive metal axe at the ready in it's one hand. "Is that...?" the lieutenant asked weakly. "Evangelion," the older man nodded grimly. Without a word it advanced, stepping carefully over their lines as the massive entity advanced on their enemy. Panic raced through them as they desperately opened up with everything they had, sending tank shells, rockets and bullets out only to see them stopped instantly by the AT field. The first swipe of the great axe was pure slaughter as men were reduced to splatter, then the robot moved in on the machines. Explosions flared and men screamed as it relentlessly destroyed, tearing apart defenses and swiftly reducing the enemy force to rubble. It stood in the wreckage a moment then moved on, lumbering away out into the sands until it was consumed by the waves of heat off the sands. It took some time for the commander to emerge from under the jeep, gazing across the way at the devestation before them. "Do you think...," he gulped, "there were any survivors?" "I don't know," the younger man managed to get out. They looked across at the fire and wreckage, "Should we... send someone to look?" Another explosion rang out as a tank's fuel went up, sending metal flying but otherwise carrying no more noise. "I really doubt it," the commander said bleakly. The Evangelion unit walked across the sands, lumbering a bit as it headed northward until it reached a tall structure. The building looked strange out in the sands, like someone had plucked a skyscraper and dropped it down on the desert, but it stood proud and firm in the sunlight. The Evangelion walked up and the front of the building folded out, revealing a compartment that the massive machine stepped into, the panels covering it as the whole building disappeared beneath the shifting sands. The underground facility was barely a shadow of NERV's geofront, but it was still respectably sized as the Evangelion dropped from the surface down a shaft into the holding bay. Restraints and walkways swung out to contain it then the entry plug ejected, the silver tube moving into place by a ramp. Medical teams raced forward as the hatch popped free helping the brown haired woman out. Mana Kirishima climbed out, easily accepting a hand from one of the young men. The reddish brown haired girl patiently waited as a doctor checked her over, then the green plugsuit clad woman hurried down the walkway to the lockers. Emerging in a simple military style uniform in black and silver she walked at a more calm pace to a elevator, the walls of the shaft lined with rooms filled with busy people. The office was about halfway up the shaft, a armed guard waiting outside the door. He nodded respectfully to her as he pressed a intercom switch, "Ma'am, Lt. Mana Kirishima is here to see you." "Send her in," the woman replied. "Thank you," Mana nodded to the guard as the door swished open and she stepped inside. The office was simply decorated, with only a few photos on the wall, the floor inscribed with symbols similar to astrology. The desk was a older type, a bit battered but still usable, but Mana found her eyes going to the woman waiting within. "Welcome back," the similarly uniformed woman said, her short black hair framing her face, a simple pair of round sunglasses covering her eyes. "Commander Rokubungi," Mana saluted, "the mission went well." "I know," Nao Rokubungi replied, "I was monitoring mission telemetry. I'm sorry you had to become involved in such a trivial matter, but they were fighting dangerously close to NERV station Alpha." "Of course, ma'am," Mana nodded, "quite understandable." Nao returned to her seat, placing her hands in front of her thoughtfully as she mused, "Any difficulties? I know Unit-14 is more touchy than earlier designs..." "So far, we've had no difficulties," Mana replied, "out tech teams have smoothed out the control interface, and I'm needing 35 less pain-killers to operate it." "We're working on stealing a original interface from Tokyo-3," Nao confessed grimly, "once we do you should no longer have to deal with painful feedback." "Thank you ma'am," Mana replied quietly. Nao gave her a perceptive look, seeing how tired the girl actually was. "You'd best rest up," she ordered gently, "we'll have more work for you tomorrow." Ignoring the girl's protests Nao ordered her to her room, then walked to her window and gazed down at the Evangelion in it's restraints. This was the inheritance from her father Gendo and mother Naoko, the peak of human creation and her own greatest achievement. Or it would be, when she proved the superiority of her work. 'Mother,' Nao thought, 'is this enough?' Naoko Akagi had been chief scientist of GHERIN, working on the early Evangelion units when she became pregnant by her lover, Gendo Ikari. Unwilling to stop her work she had the fertilized egg implanted in a surrogate, but Naoko died before the child was born. Raised by allies at GHERIN her daughter Nao developed her intellect and learned from her mother's journals, as well as contacting the computer Magi. 'Which I can't do now,' Nao thought grimly, her hand clenching into a fist. Somehow the Magi had become impervious to outside contact recently, even using the back doors her mother had installed in the system. Nao didn't know why, but she suspected the new commander of NERV was responsible, Misato Katsuragi. Restless Nao left her office, walking the halls as she visited various sections of the underground facility. Built by NERV as a emergency base it was left untouched by the war between SEELE and Gendo, and had continued with it'd development of Evangelion. However, it had been created secretly by Gendo, supplied covertly and was therefore without the latest technology. Worse, they were cut off with the death of their patron Gendo, and were now attempting to continue their work entirely without support. 'Just replacement parts alone are hideously expensive,' Nao mused as she walked through the technology division, 'which is why we needed to sell our Evangelion's services as a mercenary.' Shiro Tokida nodded respectfully to her as she passed, the older man supervising checks on Unit-14's limbs. The former chief of the Jet Alone project Nao had made him a offer to escape the humiliation of that project's failure, instead using his skills to develop and maintain this new technology. "How are the system's holding up?" Nao asked, looking over his shoulder and studying the readouts knowingly. "Our cyborg limbs are grafting well on the basic Evangelion core," Shiro pointed at the image of the organic center of Evangelion in blue, the robotic arms and legs in red, "no signs of rejection yet." "Good," Nao nodded, "and the feedback issue?" Shiro deflated a bit at that, "No progress yet, ma'am. In essence we're using the pilot as the brain of Evangelion, and the stress is immense." "NERV solved the problem," Nao noted mildly, "we can too." Shiro nodded, "Yes, ma'am." As Nao left she thought, 'Maybe I need to remind him there are still people looking to charge him for the near nuclear failure of Jet Alone. He could use some... motivation.' Security was next, Nao pausing to run through staff listings and estimates of their fighting forces. With the possibility of NERV moving against them as well as political instabilities in the region they needed a strong fighting force other than Unit-14, and they maintained a security force 300 strong. After that Nao made her way downwards, reaching the basements and the heart of NERV Alpha... a pulsing, living piece of the life form found in the geofront beneath Tokyo-3. "Lilith," Nao murmured as she stood on a platform and watched as LCL fluid pumped from the piece of flesh, the same material they grew their Evangelion from. Did it feel pain, she often wondered, or have any awareness of the world around it? Or was it merely a piece of flesh, growing mindlessly to try to replicate it's 'mother?' "Either way," Nao murmured to herself, "you are mine. And I will never surrender you to anyone else."
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