Post by CMPunkCMPunk on Feb 19, 2017 18:24:06 GMT -5
Episode 1, The Third Child
Tokyo 3
Let's be honest – nobody likes to wake up earlier than they usually do. There are plenty of reasons for it to happen, but maybe one of the most unpleasant would be because of an unfamiliar sound. A spry youth, about 20 or so, woke up that way, and reacted about how you'd expect. Today it just so happened to be an emergency siren, and not even something basic like a fire truck or an ambulance. No, at 0740 hours, the citywide raid siren was active for the first time in 14 years. Sounding out, the siren took the form of a particularly bassy and threatening tone that would convince most of Tokyo-3's populace into hiding, but had an even worse connotation to the thickset young adult. It was the day this youth had been groomed for, and possibly the day they'd die. Now then, breakfast is a must, right? It won't sit in there like an annoying concrete block.
Despite physically shaking with trepidation, they were able to shower, dress and cook a few pieces of dry toast as their eyes adjusted. It would be poor form to throw up on a perfectly good uniform, so that was all they trusted themselves to keep down. That, and a loaf of bread was all that was left in this very tiny apartment's very tiny refrigerator. As they finished the last of their crumbs, a message popped up on the only piece of technology in the room – a smart phone lying on the windowsill. Cringing, the early twentysomething grabbed the phone, and read it aloud. “You are already late. Come outside.” A quick glance out the one and only window revealed a small black European-style car idling on the street. Pushing any feelings of nervousness out of public view, the very young one grabbed their nametag ('Logan', it read) and dashed out of their one-room hole and out into the street. Not feeling in the mood to talk to neighbors, Logan instead just dashed straight through the cramped hall into the summer sun. It was pretty damn bright outside, and it was only made worse by the shining, polished exteriors the decade-old city was known for. Tokyo-3, the crown jewel of Japan's successes post-war, was not Logan's favorite. Neither was this entire job.
Without a word, Logan entered the dark vehicle, driving down empty streets as the siren continued to overshadow any attempt at steeling oneself. It was only a scant few blocks to the embassy, which they drove in silence. The destination was easily identifiable by its flat matte-painted look and resemblance more toward a large warehouse than a building where public officials pushed their papers, but that was what Logan, the UA Ambassador to Japan called his workplace. Waving their way past a small camera and gate with a wave and a smack on the car's horn, the United Arms employee pulled into a parking spot half-hazardly and bolted out of it as quickly as possible. Quite conveniently, the hangar-style doors at the edge of the parking lot opened just as accommodatingly as the gate had. Inside was the most fantastic sight Logan had ever seen.
United Arms Embassy
Dwarfing the young adult in size, inside the 'Embassy' was a giant freaking robot. To be more specific, a humanoid giant freaking robot. To be far more specific, it resembled more a piece of strange modern art that was possessing of four limbs and a sinewy torso. The giant white device was far more slender and hooking in its figure than any man or woman ever were, with small plates of grey armor around its torso representing its thickest piece. It was, oddly enough, headless – instead, a trio of eyes. The entire thing looked to Logan as if it could fly even if it didn't have a smattering of equally dark grey painted jets running all along its legs. By god, it even gleamed a little bit in the well-lit hangar! And at its side, where a police officer would holster their gun, was perhaps the biggest surprise of all.
“It really has a sword!” Logan loud-whispered to no one, was transfixed by the view of the impeccable piece of technology. Maybe it wouldn't be entirely bad if this was the tool they had to work with. As the pilot was well aware, the new 'friend' in front of them was the W-E Wonderchild, and it represented serious investment on the part of the UA. It was the first new model of Action Frame that the United Arms powers had been able to develop and produce since the First Eruption, and the first to be deployed in a time of peace. The only reason it would even be activated is in the instance of a worst case scenario – an attack by a giant beast called an Angel. Knowing that the United Arms was entrusting the fate of their best technology, and the safety of their interests in Japan, to one barely old enough to be out of high school made Logan very concerned for their own safety.
However, before much stalling could be done, another message came in on Logan's phone. “Get in. The Angel is walking in the city while you stare.” was the textual content, and it was obvious that postponing entering the giant machine would have negative consequences. With nothing else really left to do, the young pilot stepped onto the small open-air work elevator standing at the left foot of the Wonderchild and began to ascend without having to press any buttons. Lucky enough to not fall off in surprise, Logan realized as she ascended that the door to the interior of the mecha was located in the underarm region – it was a hatch that flipped open just as easily as any of the technology in the hangar. Inside it looked like there was a seat surrounded by controls that were very familiar to the UA's pilot – a pair of hand-grasped handles with some small buttons and a trigger on each, and some additional levers and buttons for more specialized movements and necessities. It was almost criminally simple for such a sophisticated machine! “Welcome Logan,” beckoned a simple robotic voice as the youth entered the hatch, sliding into the seat slowly.
Inside the Wonderchild's Cockpit
At first, Logan was a bit taken aback by the voice that welcomed him. It was obviously not natural, though the pilot wasn't sure whether it was synthetic or just a human being speaking through a filter. With a shrug and a smile he steps in and sits down, looking all around the little mecha room for both the source and a better view. The interior of the machine is as stark and nearly colorless as the exterior, but it's bathed in a warm white light coming from the low ceiling. The overall look is ultra modern, with that horrible glossy paint that would get annoyingly smudged the second anything got on it. Thankfully, the slightly pudgy pilot assigned to the mech didn't mind at all.
"Thank you for the warm welcome! May I ask who you are?" Logan asked the screen in front of him in his best calm and diplomatic tone. His contact with his home faction of the UA in general had not been so pleasant, but that didn't mean it couldn't change!
"I am the Operating System assigned to your Action Frame, the W-E Wonderchild. My primary functions will be movement smoothing and calculations, to make piloting this unit a breeze and a pleasure! I will also be providing you with briefings from the United Arms and monitoring the redundant cameras located all around the Wonderchild's chassis - all in the service of giving you the most tactical information possible! It's my personal hope that we can establish a healthy and positive professional relationship." The voice never really modulated much or stopped displaying that droning quality, but it seemed cheerful and polite enough.
“That sounds good to me! I didn't notice a name in that introduction though!” Logan smiled as he tentatively took his first steps, testing his Frame's legs and arms with simple movements. It was actually a surprising amount of fun – like playing a video game, only with physical feedback. Really, moving the W-E was almost too easy, at least the basic stuff. Of course, Logan knew the controls so it was to be expected. As he got in some minor practice in the safety of the hangar, the OS responded: “I am the Operating System assigned to your Action Frame, the W-E Wonderchild.”
Logan shook his head, nearly smashing his very expensive device into the hangar's ceiling on his first try using the leg verniers. Embarrassed but focused on the awfulness of what the OS called itself, he noted to himself that “That's getting changed!” before addressing the computer. Cheerfully, the young man asked “Would you like to give me one of those briefings as we head out?” He didn't even wait a moment for the computer to answer before activating his handles full blast and sending the Wonderchild into a full sprint out the hangar doors and into the street! Now that was what he calls exhilarating!
“Yes, Eager Logan. As you surely know from being tapped and from the siren which is curently active throughout Tokyo-3, there is currently a Bio-Organism called an Angel walking the streets of the city. At its current path and velocity, the Angel will arrive at the headquarters of the paramilitary organization known as NERV at 0835 hours.” Logans eyes tracked over to the clock in the top right of his screen – 0820 already, not leaving a whole lot of time for him to travel and stop it. Anxiety started creeping back in, as well as the reminder of the fact that this was no game. Logan's new disembodied voice friend continued, “So far, the JSDF have attempted to engage the target with armed attack helicopters to no avail – ballistic explosives did more damage to the nearby scenery.” Images of a huge and imposing black humanoid appeared on the screen, and Logan's body practically turned into a solid block of adrenaline. The horror onscreen ignored blast after blast of conventional explosive in the footage taken mere minutes ago, but that wasn't what freaked out the W-E's pilot.
It was the Angel's proportions that did it, really. Gross, overdeveloped shoulder muscle, with lanky and frightening limbs and skin black as iron. A face with no mouth or nose, only a bony beak and two dead black eyes. This was an unnatural and grotesque shambler the likes of which no United Arms diplomat had ever been faced with. It just hunches over, moving straight forward. When a plane tries to physically block it, the Angel actually rips it apart with a single grasping hand. Gasping for some way to rationalize the beast's dreadful looks, its next opponent asks his Action Frame the most logical question he can: “Is the exposed bone what's protecting this thing?” Unfortunately, the interface responds “Negative. The gunships fired on Angel #2 in too tall of a spread for it to have been using the exoskelal plates as a defense mechanism.” Logan grimaces and notes on the screen's map overlay that he's only a few blocks away from the target as he mumbles, “So, it's just nasty for the sake of it. That's reassuring!”
Having come to a similar conclusion, the huge machine poses a key question to its user. “What will your engagement strategy be?” In an attempt to shake off the shakes and project an air of confidence, the Diplomat operator smiles and raises his eyebrows to look super hyped up and excited as he answers, “Well, our strategy will be based on taking advantage of the fact that we can move straight into his walking path. Thankfully, I won't have to chase it down like I would if the Embassy were located on the other side of it.” He pauses to think, nodding and drumming a brief rhythm with his fingers on the handles before continuing to explain to the computer. “If explosives aren't effective, I'm going to need to try hitting him with another option. Charge all three frontal lasers, and lock the right hand in position to draw the beam saber as fast as possible. I can't risk getting swiped by those claws if it could rip apart gunships like paper.” This would surely be a good fight, one that would prove that Arms tech will continue to secure the safety of their shared world. The weapons were all there, and no living creature could beat an Action Frame of this level of sophistication.
Facing up to an Angel directly is a little bit different from just watching recorded footage, though. As the monstrosity came into view on the main feed even the steadfast Logan had to gulp a bit, despite feeling ready for the threat. The simple fact was that the 2nd Angel was taller and overall larger than the Wonderchild was, according to a basic visual analysis. “The opponent clearly has more physical force than we do. We're going to need to overcome it with weaponry and speed – no trading blows. What are we looking at when it comes to armor on the W-E?” Logan asks as he steps into position, waiting for what he judges as the right moment for a flurry of deadly energy weapon goodness. The sign that the Wonderchild was entirely ready when a telltale hum came from the most heavily armored areas of its torso – all three glowing points on the front of its chest were ready to fire a brilliant white blast. Everything was just like the young man expected it to be.
The Angel seemed to be paying little heed to the foe assembling in front of it, as its course did not stray from the path it set towards NERV. It was now only a miniscule handful of blocks away from the assumed destination, and so far damage to nearby structures had been minimal. Whatever goal the creature had, it was clearly pursuing it with such single-minded determination that it could practically be ambushed even despite the simple stand-off strategy Logan was aiming for. Oddly enough, despite the evacuated nature of the neighborhood, a blue sports car barreled down the street straight past the Wonderchild. Clearly, someone besides the UA pilot was ignoring the raid siren.
The Operating System informed Logan, “The Second Angel is coming within range. You may fire when ready.” Steadying his breath, he placed his crosshairs first onto each of the Angel's legs, then onto the 'facemask' as the young man decided it reminded him of. Whispering that “The legs should go out, and a blast of electricity straight to the face should easily distract the Angel to be cut to pieces by the beam saber.” He counted down to himself before firing, “Three... Two... One.” Then Logan smashed a button in the array in front of him twice, and the much-invested in Frontal Ray triggers. Blindingly hot white electric energy bursts out of the two lower holes in the W-E's triangularly arranged chest array, and makes contact with the intended opponent! “Yes!” squeals the young man, excited to look towards the foe, who should now be staggering, and ready to get a face of the exact same stuff. It seemed to be more hunched over than it was before and finally paying attention to him, so the aggressive negotiator fired off the third blast of the array with the same button as before! One final eye-piercing bolt of electricity seemed to make contact with just the right spot on the Angel, but any feeling of success was quickly eradicated when it didn't flinch. It didn't even scuff the monster's 'face'!
Okay, so a brief blast, even with high intensity, wasn't working. That distressing fact did not stop Logan from shouting “Draw!”, leading to the computer slicing hard with the sidearm beam saber. It happened to be white, just like anything on this device that wasn't grey (gun metal or otherwise), and its sustained chopping blow had all the force of the Wonderchild's right arm. Despite it being a well-aimed slice straight to the chest, it still wasn't enough to strike ny sense of momentum that the pilot had fell straight out of him. While it might be fair to say that the brief view he got of his blade being stopped right before impact by a minute crackling field was helpful, this would be little compensation for being clawed square in the chest. “Slice registered – damage to armored plating confirmed. Proceed with caution.” It didn't seem like it was a direct threat to Logan's life integrity, but every hit counts in a battle and #2's claws would easily eat through the Wonderchild in short order if that first lick was any indication.
Logan flicked a simple switch in his control array, activating his forward vernier thrusters with all due speed – he was able to make a little distance between himself and the now-moaning giant horror. This was clearly a serious problem, as those weren't a long term solution. If he couldn't find a way to put this thing down, the verniers would burn down his energy supply faster than anything in his arsenal. In light of this, the young intended ace landed and did his best to keep a bit of distance between himself and the opponent. Thanks to the cameras placed all over his frame, Logan didn't even need to be facing the Angel to realize that it was giving chase, and that its speed had picked up by quite a bit from its 'strolling pace'. He realized with mild panic that he was being charged.
The Second Angel vs The W-E on the Streets of Tokyo-3
Let the record show that Logan of the UA was no coward – calling for help just wasn't in the game plan when he could win this fight all on his lonesome. Briefly considering trying to use the environment against his opponent, he also wrote that off. He was on a defense mission, not a pure combat engagement that might justify taking extreme action. Of course, since he was literally running away with the goal of not getting grasped, he would have to get clever when it came to positioning. After all, if he could get back the crackling energy apparently protecting the black-skinned devil, he might be able to chop straight through to the lightly glowing red orb inside its chest. That was the obvious target, even though it was recessed in between plates of bone 'armor'.
Logan groaned, thinking to himself that his enemy's protective plating wasn't unlike the Wonderchild's. “It works the same way the torso's armor protects me – that's got to be my target!” the youngster assured himself, concluding that he was going to need some fancy footwork to get behind the Angel. It was a huge and imposing enemy, but by nature of its weird proportions it surely could not be called the most graceful of giant monsters. As the tactical operator was in the middle of both running into a slightly more open crossroads and figuring out which steps he wanted to take, he was informed by the Operating System that “We're running out of room. Running further will bring the Angel unacceptably close to NERV's structures.” It had to happen right there, or the risks would get worse and worse.
The behemoth of flesh, for its part, chased with the expected tenacity of a hunter looking to rip prey to shreds. It was unclear to Logan exactly how intelligent whatever he was dealing with was, but it did not necessarily matter if it acted like it was expected to. So far treating it like a wild animal had worked, and that strategy was what he was going to stick with. Once right in the center of the intersection, the diplomat twisted both handles, ripping them both back towards him and sharply to the left. Shockingly, the raw G force was intense even in the cockpit as the Wonderchild pushed past all momentum to jump backwards from a sprint – quite the reminder of the scale of the fight, in case Logan had forgotten. The plan resulted in a jolt of pressure for the pilot, but the Angel was entirely tricked by the manuever. It smashed into the ground, cracking the streets and leaving its back utterly exposed to be taken advantage of! “Yes! YES!” shouted the would-be hero of Tokyo-3, allowing himself to get a little worked up at his initial success.
From there, it was time to take full advantage of the literal fallen Angel. Once again after activating the beam saber's shining white blade, Logan began slicing back and forth on the back of the machine. Horribly enough, he ran into the same field on the creature's back – this gave him a very sneaky idea. Instead of directing further slashes, the crafty pilot inverted his right handle. In response to this the Wonderchild's arm twisted, leaving it in a position to stab into the monster's back with finer leverage! After a few trial stabs during which both the computer's balancing programming and Logan's control did its best to keep the positioning aligned, the two successfully bring down a particularly firm downward stab. Watching in frustration, the Ace-in-Waiting found himself realizing two things as he failed to pierce the walking monolith's skin.
The first thing Logan realized was that the field that the Angel relied on for defense was sparking far harder than it had with earlier shots and cuts. The second was that this giant hateful thing had energy blades of its own – they looked to be recessed into its elbows, and glowed a shade of red easily as bright as his mecha's own saber. Terribly for him, this realization came only a moment too late. The monster whipped around 180° during the stab, shaving a thick layer of metal off the W-E's left arm with the thin and nearly blunt looking elbowknife. It was still attached, and a quick test proved it was even active, but the moving parts inside were literally exposed just from a simple flailing cut! The OS interjected to this effect: “Warning, Endangered Logan! Further damage to the unit's left arm will render it inoperable.” The youth was able to prevent this from happening, at least in that moment. The vernier thrusters were a big help, blasting his unit a small distance out of the range of both claw and knife. It was time to try something desperate – if more force meant more crackling, then Logan needed a way to deliver that force.
The idea came when he remembered the matter of size – the W-E Wonderchild was a sleek and speedy machine, but it was still a huge and heavy piece of work. If he could get enough air with the vernier thrusters, he could easily use the force of gravity to jam his beam straight through the top of the Angel! At that moment, it all crystalized in Logan's mind. He calmly ordered the Operating System, “Please charge a single Frontal Array laser, and lock on to as low of a point on this thing as you can hold from the air.” Choosing not to question the pilot, the computer did as was requested of it to prepare for one really good shot. Needing one last feature to pull his plan together, Logan glanced at the intersection for places he could push off for the aerial stab. Fortunately there was no dearth of surfaces around to work with – the walls of Tokyo-3's buildings, while commonly lacking windows, were almost all extremely sturdy and heavy looking. It was like the entire city was armored, and armor would be perfect to facilitate him getting the element of surprise on the 2nd Angel.
Just as the monster seemed ready to charge again, unit W-E rocketed itself into the air with all front and back verniers on both legs! It wasn't true flight, more like a greatly assisted jump that took it out of range from Angel attacks and up at a diagonal angle. Based on the telltale humming, Logan knew that he had a lower array burst ready to go, but first he made contact with a bright red painted wall – one of the towers at the edge of the intersection served as his touchoff point. Much like a swimmer pushing off against the wall of a pool, Logan kicked off against the tower with both of his giant robot's legs! While it left only a miniscule dent on the wall itself, the mecha itself got a good boost with which its pilot followed up with a vernier burst. It was in excellent position to drop, and stab through the evil brute's energy barrier! That was far too annoying of a defense for the United Arms unit and its pilot to care to deal with for much longer, so the beam blade was activated and Logan was ready to go in for some real damage! Tapping the button to fire the single Frontal Array, he chased the burst down and watched it trigger the barrier around the feet of the target! This was what he was hoping for, and it was his one chance for a killer blow!
At least, a truly damaging stab was what he hoped for. He may have expected the Angel to try defending. Logan may have even expected it to try dodging, or even counterattacking. But no, it did exactly and specifically the worst thing that it could have. Angel #2 jumped in pursuit of its current prey, locking arms around the Wonderchild before it could truly stab downwarm. Taking the Action Frame into a sick hug of sorts, it placed both claws around the W-E's torso and landed on the ground with it what resembled an awful parody of a spooning position. Up until that point, Logan had felt fairly good about the fight. He had been anxious and still was, but at least he felt confident in his robot's chances. This all chanced when the victimizing creature began slamming its elbow-recessed energy blades through its 'hands' and directly into the armor protecting Logan and many crucial interior parts! While he was still safe for now, onscreen readouts made it obvious that the Angel was going to keep pulling his blades into and out of its elbow recesses. The enemy was cutting deeper and deeper even into this most well-defended of areas, and for the first time in the battle Logan felt sincere and overbearing fear. It was no mere feeling of intimidation like before – the horror of a possible death in this moment hit him all at once. “NO!” was what he kept yelling over and over, trying to hit verniers and charge arrays all while an awful and repetitive tone redundantly warned of the danger of the situation.
Just when the UA diplomat thought his life was going to be over, he heard heavy footsteps coming from nearby. Shortly after they began pounding, the Angel actually disengaged with the Wonderchild, pushing it out of the way entirely. Logan was free, but quite confused at the Angel's tactical decision. “What's making that sound?” he asked, only to be answered with a simple sentence: “It's coming from NERV, sir.” Just as soon as the Wonderchild was able to get to its feet, the source of the footsteps came into clear view. It was another giant robot, even huger than the Wonderchild. It was impressively colored – mostly purple, but Logan definitely saw bits of green in the scheme. It was humanoid as well, and seemed to be able to move very organically indeed. “NERV's synthetic musculature is incredible...” was all Logan whispered, running his hand briefly through his light grey hair with eyes wide open. It even, as he noted, seemed to have a giant cable running into its back. It resembled the Wonderchild basically not at all – an entirely different line of technology was running inside of it.
The Angel was extremely eager, and rushed the NERV machine with fervor it hadn't displayed so far in the fight. If it was eager before, it was now practically bloodlusted! Thankfully, it seemed the purple mecha had sufficient muscle to grapple with the Angel and keep its elbow knives away. It did seem to be struggling to make that happen, though. Logan paused for a moment, taking stock of his damage and considering his next move. The Wonderchild was damaged, but mercifully still functional. A particularly nasty combination could possibly result in his machine's destruction, but his weapons and the verniers were all 100% working. He was going to have to make a call.
The Second Angel vs the W-E Wonderchild and a Mystery Mecha, on the Streets of Tokyo-3
While he was in large part eager to just take the easy road out and try ganking #2 whenever the purple robot gave him an opportunity, Logan came to the conclusion that since he was a Diplomat he may as well play that role. The only problem with this was that he was still hugely spooked from the abandoned attack – being in a near-lethal encounter with a horrific monster isn't the sort of thing you just get over to have a conversation. Unfortunately, when he asked the computer to “Try to establish a contact with the NERV robot.” he actually felt his voice crack a few times. Biting his lip and watching the fight as he waited, Logan found himself trying to center his thoughts and put on a facade of normalcy. Trying to think about the awful dry toast he'd started his day with and not the sensation of his unit being enveloped by an Angel seemed to sort of work, but the answer came too soon.
The face of a slender Japanese teenage boy showed up on the screen, and the most obvious fact Logan realized was that he looked nearly as stressed as himself. When the words“Watashi no namae wa Shinji Ikari...” came out of his mouth, the UA agent was thankful he spoke fluent Japanese and was ready for a full conversation.
“You're speaking with Mr. Logan of the United Arms. I'm a pilot operating an Action Frame on a diplomatic mission to help protect the city. Can we work together against this enemy?” he asked in Japanese, hoping for a positive response.
In between shoving the Angel away and trying to fumble against the ever-present barrier, the pilot onscreen via picture-in-picture tried his best to give attention to the conversation. “Yes! The only reason I'm even in this stupid thing is because I saw you on the way in! You were fighting, and I couldn't stand by and watch you get killed by that huge monster – they called it Sachiel!” Shinji was actually yelping in his native tongue, and he did not seem to be doing particularly well against the Angel either.
Thinking back to slightly earlier Logan asked, “You were in the sports car, then? It's lucky for both of us that we even made it to stand in front of each other.”
“Yes, but you absolutely have to get out of here! Back down there they said something about an AT Field, and how your machine had no way of countering it! Please run!” The teen pilot asked this of Logan looked square into his camera with pleading eyes.
This was no choice – Logan had already decided he was going to work with this unhappy looking kid. “Shinji, I asked if we could work together, not if you could protect my life. You've already done that, and now I'm going to help return the fav- Ah.” As Logan spoke, his face fell mid-sentence – Shinji literally managed to faceplant his mecha. Clearly, he wasn't as apt of a pilot as his senior was.
Even as he scrambled to get the mech to its feet, the possibly-too-young guy still kept trying to talk to Logan: “See, I can't pilot this thing at all! It's useless for me to even be in the Eva! We're both screwed if we stay!” His panic was clearly rising by the minute and Sachiel was closing in on his robot, looking ready to take its head in hand! Thinking to himself that Shinji may not even know about the arm-blade yet, Logan realized he had no clue what he could do that might have an effect on the rotten beast.
Instead, he triggered his verniers for what was going to be one of the last times – they were burning his energy supply very quickly. They were enough to help literally force the physically-larger 'Eva' into position, helping it to stand on its just in time. “Shinji, don't just give up! If my unit can't break the 'AT Field', can yours?” Logan asked, as both the Wonderchild and Shinji's Eva were operated to stomp back out of range as fast as they could.
Grimacing, Shinji answered, “My father said that I would be able to! The way to beat the field is crazy, though! I'd have to grab and rip open the field with Eva's bare hands! I'd be open to any attack it wanted to try!”
Snapping his fingers in the air, Logan responded with true confidence for the first time since the conversation began. “No, Shinji. Sachiel will be open to any attack that I want to try!” He disengaged from the Eva, juking the opposite direction it did as the 2nd Angel continued to hound Shinji's mech. The UA's best hope also addressed his giant mecha's computer: “I will need 3 full charges of the Frontal Array – I wonder just how durable an Angel is once its field has been penetrated!”
“Yes, sir. I will note that this will be the last major burst of offensive power the Wonderchild will be delivering in this battle. Should it fail, the only option will be escape or close range combat with the beam saber. This has proven tactically unsound so far, though.” The Operating System provided these bits of helpful information, but they honestly didn't make this idea sound particularly great.
“Shinji, I need you to listen to me carefully. On the count of three, I'm going to need you to stop backing up and tear open the AT Field! I have three shots of high-voltage electricity ready to go, but if the Field stops them I'm useless to you. If we fail, NERV is as screwed as we are! Then, once NERV goes down, this city goes down! Are you with me?” Logan knew he was putting pressure on the kid, but he really felt the need to get across how badly they needed to be on the same page.
“Yes, do it.” Shinji answered, breathing deeply.
Logan waited for the hum of the array to reach its maximum loudness, because he was honestly frightened that they might not shoot at all. These were expensive canons, and if Sachiel's grapple assault had loused them up, there was a decent chance of them backfiring entirely. Eh, that was what he figured, anyway. Then, counted in Japanese with as much authority as he could muster. “One. Two. Three!”
It was good timing, as Sachiel was about to try grasping the Eva unit. Instead, it slid to a stop half as graceful as the one Shinji managed using the knowledge of what was coming. The purple and green robot's arms grasped the thin air adjacent to its Angel opponent. For a moment Logan was worried his new ally was wrong about what his device could do, but the next sight his cameras picked up was actually extremely impressive. The AT Field, which his saber use and Frontal Array had failed to break, was actually being ripped open like it was a solid piece of material being torn open. It was an extraordinary sight but despite Shinji spreading the Eva's legs wide for leverage, it absolutely left him vulnerable just as he'd predicted.
Sachiel was perhaps not the smartest hunter, but even it saw an opportunity when it was standing there in a purple machine. As Logan ran his damaged real-type mecha into position on foot, he realized that Sachiel too was spreading his arms. This would be a problem alone, but he was smart enough to notice that it was drawing back its blades as well. If he didn't hurry, Shinji and the Eva could get pierced just like he did! The time had come, and Logan tapped the Array button on the surface in front of him three times in quick succession – his target was already selected for him!
A high pitched whine cried out, and three full beams of extra-densely packed electricity slammed through the small hole Shinji made and into the large red orb on Sachiel's chest! The monstrosity cried out in agony, clearly devastated and unprepared for the sudden rush of power to its obvious weak spot. Even though it had drained nearly all but the power he needed for basic movement, Logan didn't let up for even one second of the possible blast. His three triangularly-oriented chest beams were doing their job absolutely beautifully, tearing excess black flesh off the orb and sending nasty looking blue blood flying around the street. It was gross, but watching the orb itself crack bit by bit was satisfying. Soon, it had practically stopped moving at all. Sachiel had been beaten!
Logan was incredibly relieved. For a while there, he had actually gotten nervous about the results of this first run. Yes, he'd needed some help, but he could breathe easy knowing that his weaponry could easily do a number on giant monsters. This would be great PR for the United Arms, and so would the next goal he had planned. Taking the first step towards this plan, Logan made the W-E Wonderchild face the Eva unit next to it and extend its empty right hand toward NERV's mech. “Congratulations, Shinji! We did it!”
For the first time, the teenaged pilot actually smiled into the camera and nodded wordlessly. The Eva's hand met the Wonderchild's, and the two mismatched giant robots shook hands. It was, in Logan's opinion, super cool. He reacted somewhat less positively to the nearly-destroyed corpse of Sachiel jumping straight for them, but before it could latch on or do whatever it had planned, young Mr. Ikari's mecha literally snapped. Not in a psychological sense, the Eva's head actually snapped for the orb like a beast biting an animal out of the air. While it was surprising that this happened to begin with, Logan was even more shocked by the fact that the Eva seemed to have teeth! This weird sight culminated in the cracked orb finally popping and the biomass that composed the rest of Sachiel rapidly decaying.
Well, that was quite a surprise. To make it two, Shinji surprised the diplomat once again, asking a fairly direct question before Logan could ask exactly what just happened with the teeth: “Where will you take your machine for repairs? NERV has really amazing engingeers, if that would be helpful. You could also come debrief and share information with us.” The young man seemed keen to have Logan around, and there was no message blowing up his phone now that the Angel was neutralized. It was like the UA stopped caring about what he did once he got into the W-E. Still, it was undeniable that his mech needed work. Something had to be picked.
Streets of Tokyo-3, now secured
Logan sank in his seat a little bit. In his opinion, it sucked to have to say no to the hospitality of a possible friend. The sad truth was that he didn't know enough about the paramilitary organization to even consider letting them work on his mecha. For all he knew, they were extremely jingoistic and held a grudge over the conflict 15 years ago. His job was diplomacy, but he also needed to make sure that he held up his #1 priority – protecting his Action Frame. The Embassy would do just fine for that, even though the engineers working there were as much of total strangers to him as anyone working for the secretive NERV.
“Shinji, I think I will take the Wonderchild back to its usual hangar. No offense to you or your company, I just want to be professional about it since it represents a lot of 'brainy' work and investment.” Logan happened to say 'brainy' in English, to test Shinji a bit. The teen's lack of reaction indicated that he at least understood a bit of spoken English.
The younger pilot nodded and answered, “That's okay. I'll be heading inside then. Please feel free to visit and join the conversation. It would be far less awkward if I had another pilot backing me up in there.”
“I'll probably drive over in a car, so it might be a short time. Oh, and Shinji, my personal number is...” Logan shared his cell number, since his home didn't have a landline. “If you ever need to contact me out of our mecha, that's the best way. I like to text.”
Blushing a little, Shinji confirmed, “I prefer that, too. Mine is...” After sharing his number he cut off the direct feed. Somehow, it wasn't quite as easy to just talk face to face as it was during the fight. Logan had to remind himself that the NERV agent was young, and probably still shy when it comes to professional adults like him.
“Pfft.” The finest pilot the United Arms had to offer actually laughed at the idea of himself being a professional adult. Not too many of those got to barrel down the streets in a giant robot, which he got started on by pushing his handles into a full sprinting position. It wasn't far to the Embassy, but Logan would still have preferred to have a little energy left to speed it up with his verniers. Retracing his steps, he appreciated just how little damage had been done to the high tech shining city. This was his home, at least for now. Protecting it gave the young man a tremendous feeling of satisfaction that he hadn't been expecting – almost like a pit in his stomach, but more like a bright and refreshing spring day! That combination may not seem to make a terrific amount of sense, but to Logan it was as natural as anything.
His thoughts turned to the verniers once again, though. He genuinely didn't have enough power left to spare them a few bursts. That was almost frightening – the very first engagement his mecha had, and it was walking out of it dry and with actual exposed parts! It was still a great coming-out, and one hell of a show of force. After all, once the AT Field was down the Frontal Array proved that mass amounts of electricity are as deadly to a giant monster as they are to just about anything else. Curious, he asked the computer, “Adam, please run a diagnostic of the Wonderchild's physical condition.”
“Sir, I can run a diagnostic. However, I have no record of any human by the name of Adam involved in the battle today.” The computer answered, starting its processes.
Logan smiled into the interior camera just as he did when he was talking to Shinji. “Adam is your new name, computer! The W-E Action Frame already had a name, and I have a name, so I've decided to give you one as well.”
“I am an Operating Syst-” The OS began, before being cut off.
“A designation isn't a name! I'm going to call you Adam, and that's final. All three of us are the parts that make up this unit, so it's only fair that we're all treated equally.” The young pilot nodded into the camera and patted the handles and plain, spartan style seat as he spoke.
The computer politely resumed speaking, “Sir, thank you. As my first act as Adam, here are the results. The unit's left arm is nearly entirely stripped of coating on one side. The entire coating will need to be replaced for integrity, but functionality hasn't been lost. The interior should be possible to simply refurbish without consequence. The damage to the armor plating is a much larger problem, representing vulnerability to weaponry available to locals. If Shinji's mecha was designed to defeat an Angel, it follows that its offensive capabilities would be on par with one. While the armor itself can be repaired thanks to the erratic damage pattern the Angel caused, further investment may be necessary for greater levels of invulnerability.”
Noticing that he had arrived at the United Arms Embassy, Logan finished listening to Adam and finally responded. “Budget is one thing I have no control at all over.” Stepping back into the hangar, the Wonderchild was directed to head back into its usual spot – centrally located, in the foot clamps right next to the elevator. As it moved into place, the hatch opened once again and Logan said his goodbye. “I'll be back, Adam.”
“I'll be here, Logan. Shutting down...” was the last thing it said before the mecha went quiet.
Logan stepped out, back into the work elevator that would take him back to ground level. The sheer size of the W-E was absolutely incredible, and for a moment Logan had forgotten this. The fact that it wasn't as big as Sachiel or Shinji's 'Eva' didn't make it any less of a badass giant robot. As Logan exited the elevator on arrival, he took a look around the hangar. It seemed quite empty, much as it did before. He wondered if there was even a crew here to look after it, but dismissed that as foolishness. Obviously, someone had put it there in the first place. Putting it out of mind and stepping back into the light, the diplomat was relieved to see that the car he'd taken to get there earlier was still present. The awful parking job he did was intact, so he just hopped in and took back to the streets.
It was a lonelier trip than the mech walk there, with nobody to speak to and nobody on the streets yet. The warning had stopped, but people were bound to be spooked for at least a short time. Logan thought it was slightly weird that he didn't have any messages from the UA, but he knew they had their own way of doing things. Since he was able to break the speed limit with no cars on the road, the pilot actually arrived at the imposing exterior of NERV HQ a bit faster than expected. It was also a bit more impressive than he'd expected. While the grey-haired man had seen a few really cool sights that day, NERV's edifice was still a thing of beauty in his eyes. It was less like a corporate or military base, and far more like a blue pyramid straight out of a high-tech Egyptian kingdom. Glimmering in the light of day, Logan actually felt a tinge of envy. His mecha was stored in a simple warehouse – these guys had a super fortress! He was even able to drive straight in, and his small car fit extremely well onto an actual vehicle elevator. “Very nice...” He whispered to himself, taking in all the views he could through the elevator's glass doors on each floor.
NERV HQ
As it turned out, the interior of NERV's building was equally impressive as the exterior– everywhere Logan looked, he saw some kind of shiny metal plating, bulky piece of machinery or brightly lit screen! The entire zone had an aesthetic of cold sophistication, as if the technology itself was too advanced to explain to common people like him. It really felt to the W-E's pilot that absolutely anything could be on the floors or halls that he passed. Soon, the elevator came to an abrupt stop and begun making a pinging sound. Logan wasn't exactly clear on what to do, as there was a metal door in front of him instead of a road for him to drive further. “Please exit your vehicle at this time. We've been waiting for you, Mr. Logan.” addressed a smooth female voice.
Slowly, and with a touch of hesitance he turned off the dark vehicle's ignition and stepped out. Despite being an awesome pilot, hewas unarmed and actually felt at quite a disadvantage just by being there. How much did he actually know about NERV and their practices? Literally almost nothing except that Shinji seemed like a nice boy that worked well together with him for the span of one single battle. Still, the diplomat stepped through the door. It opened into a room with absolutely awful lighting. It was like stepping into one of those tres-chic restaurants where the lights are super dim and you can barely read the menu because they want it to be 'edgy'. Logan squinted to see, and spotted a large black table around which a group of strangers were assembled. On a basic visual analysis, he spotted an older bespectacled Japanese man with an even older man standing next to him. “Stern guys.” he thought to himself before looking over towards the pair of exceptionally conventionally attractive women. They seemed a bit older than him, but both the purple haired woman in the red jacket and the blonde scientist looking one were very good looking in his opinion. Smiling unconsciously, his eyes tracked over to the final person in the room. It was Shinji, and he seemed relieved to see his fellow pilot.
Since the room seemed to have gone quiet as he stepped in, Logan took the opportunity to introduce himself. “Hello, I'm Logan. Currently I'm working in Tokyo-3 as a representative and diplomat from the United Arms. As I am also the pilot of their newest Action Frame, the Wonderchild, I can say it was an honor to work alongside your fine agent earlier.” He gestured to Shinji, bowing slightly.
It was the older man in the glasses who spoke first, utterly failing to introduce himself. “Shinji has explained to us the role you played in defeating Sachiel, the second Angel to attack our world. From a practical perspective, we're grateful to you. However, the Angels are NERV's business alone. We will not need further assistance with this issue or any other.” He linked his hands in front of his face, letting his elbows sit on the table while he leaned forward slightly.
Logan had been prepared for such a lukewarm reception, and clarified his position. “I understand. I was responding to the raid siren and an internal report of an Angel attack. I am, however, in Tokyo-3 as a diplomat from both my faction and indirectly my entire world, so I will reserve the right to launch again if it's necessary to protect our ally. The Japanese government would agree with that, I think.”
Shinji piped in as well. “So would I! I agree with anything that means I don't have to fight any more Angels alone!” It sounded like they told him more than they had Logan, but Shinji continued to speak before he could ask anything. “You wanted me to fight Sachiel all alone! Even if I am the Third Child, that's crazy, and it's way too much to ask of me! That other girl looked too hurt to fight, but Logan was out there helping protect all of us! Please let me have an ally, father!” He was shouting by the end of it, but the man who Shinji called 'father' neither reacted nor even broke his linked hands position.
The woman with purple hair had something to say, though. “Commander, I think Shinji's right. As we were driving through the city to get here earlier, we passed the 'Wonderchild' as it was engaging Sachiel. I'm not sure how effective it was against the AT Field, but Shinji said that was the only reason he was even willing to board Evangelion 01 at all. In my professional opinion, Shinji will be much more successful if he has some backup.” The scientist nodded in agreement, seemingly having reached a similar conclusion.
Moving slightly in his seat but not much else, NERV's apparent Commander relented slightly. “NERV will not interfere with your mecha as long as you agree not to operate against us or in situations contrary to our goals. However, we reserve the right to change our judgement in the future pending any change in the situation.” Ice cold.
Suddenly acutely aware of the fact that there was no chair for him to even sit at, Logan realized he wasn't welcome to stay. Maybe if he'd parked his mech there as a sign of good faith, it might be a bit different. As it was, Logan confirmed that, “Those sound like fair terms to me. I'll be leaving.” Turning to Shinji before walking out, he said goodbye specifically. “Take care of yourself, 'Third Child'. We'll get the next one too.” The pair of giant robot pilots shared a smile, but soon the outsider had left the room and the teen was left alone with the serious adults.
Stepping back into the elevator and the car he'd been driving, Logan sincerely hoped he could follow through on that promise. At least he got to take the rest of the day off!
Episode 1, The Third Child Complete!
Tokyo 3
Let's be honest – nobody likes to wake up earlier than they usually do. There are plenty of reasons for it to happen, but maybe one of the most unpleasant would be because of an unfamiliar sound. A spry youth, about 20 or so, woke up that way, and reacted about how you'd expect. Today it just so happened to be an emergency siren, and not even something basic like a fire truck or an ambulance. No, at 0740 hours, the citywide raid siren was active for the first time in 14 years. Sounding out, the siren took the form of a particularly bassy and threatening tone that would convince most of Tokyo-3's populace into hiding, but had an even worse connotation to the thickset young adult. It was the day this youth had been groomed for, and possibly the day they'd die. Now then, breakfast is a must, right? It won't sit in there like an annoying concrete block.
Despite physically shaking with trepidation, they were able to shower, dress and cook a few pieces of dry toast as their eyes adjusted. It would be poor form to throw up on a perfectly good uniform, so that was all they trusted themselves to keep down. That, and a loaf of bread was all that was left in this very tiny apartment's very tiny refrigerator. As they finished the last of their crumbs, a message popped up on the only piece of technology in the room – a smart phone lying on the windowsill. Cringing, the early twentysomething grabbed the phone, and read it aloud. “You are already late. Come outside.” A quick glance out the one and only window revealed a small black European-style car idling on the street. Pushing any feelings of nervousness out of public view, the very young one grabbed their nametag ('Logan', it read) and dashed out of their one-room hole and out into the street. Not feeling in the mood to talk to neighbors, Logan instead just dashed straight through the cramped hall into the summer sun. It was pretty damn bright outside, and it was only made worse by the shining, polished exteriors the decade-old city was known for. Tokyo-3, the crown jewel of Japan's successes post-war, was not Logan's favorite. Neither was this entire job.
Without a word, Logan entered the dark vehicle, driving down empty streets as the siren continued to overshadow any attempt at steeling oneself. It was only a scant few blocks to the embassy, which they drove in silence. The destination was easily identifiable by its flat matte-painted look and resemblance more toward a large warehouse than a building where public officials pushed their papers, but that was what Logan, the UA Ambassador to Japan called his workplace. Waving their way past a small camera and gate with a wave and a smack on the car's horn, the United Arms employee pulled into a parking spot half-hazardly and bolted out of it as quickly as possible. Quite conveniently, the hangar-style doors at the edge of the parking lot opened just as accommodatingly as the gate had. Inside was the most fantastic sight Logan had ever seen.
United Arms Embassy
Dwarfing the young adult in size, inside the 'Embassy' was a giant freaking robot. To be more specific, a humanoid giant freaking robot. To be far more specific, it resembled more a piece of strange modern art that was possessing of four limbs and a sinewy torso. The giant white device was far more slender and hooking in its figure than any man or woman ever were, with small plates of grey armor around its torso representing its thickest piece. It was, oddly enough, headless – instead, a trio of eyes. The entire thing looked to Logan as if it could fly even if it didn't have a smattering of equally dark grey painted jets running all along its legs. By god, it even gleamed a little bit in the well-lit hangar! And at its side, where a police officer would holster their gun, was perhaps the biggest surprise of all.
“It really has a sword!” Logan loud-whispered to no one, was transfixed by the view of the impeccable piece of technology. Maybe it wouldn't be entirely bad if this was the tool they had to work with. As the pilot was well aware, the new 'friend' in front of them was the W-E Wonderchild, and it represented serious investment on the part of the UA. It was the first new model of Action Frame that the United Arms powers had been able to develop and produce since the First Eruption, and the first to be deployed in a time of peace. The only reason it would even be activated is in the instance of a worst case scenario – an attack by a giant beast called an Angel. Knowing that the United Arms was entrusting the fate of their best technology, and the safety of their interests in Japan, to one barely old enough to be out of high school made Logan very concerned for their own safety.
However, before much stalling could be done, another message came in on Logan's phone. “Get in. The Angel is walking in the city while you stare.” was the textual content, and it was obvious that postponing entering the giant machine would have negative consequences. With nothing else really left to do, the young pilot stepped onto the small open-air work elevator standing at the left foot of the Wonderchild and began to ascend without having to press any buttons. Lucky enough to not fall off in surprise, Logan realized as she ascended that the door to the interior of the mecha was located in the underarm region – it was a hatch that flipped open just as easily as any of the technology in the hangar. Inside it looked like there was a seat surrounded by controls that were very familiar to the UA's pilot – a pair of hand-grasped handles with some small buttons and a trigger on each, and some additional levers and buttons for more specialized movements and necessities. It was almost criminally simple for such a sophisticated machine! “Welcome Logan,” beckoned a simple robotic voice as the youth entered the hatch, sliding into the seat slowly.
Inside the Wonderchild's Cockpit
At first, Logan was a bit taken aback by the voice that welcomed him. It was obviously not natural, though the pilot wasn't sure whether it was synthetic or just a human being speaking through a filter. With a shrug and a smile he steps in and sits down, looking all around the little mecha room for both the source and a better view. The interior of the machine is as stark and nearly colorless as the exterior, but it's bathed in a warm white light coming from the low ceiling. The overall look is ultra modern, with that horrible glossy paint that would get annoyingly smudged the second anything got on it. Thankfully, the slightly pudgy pilot assigned to the mech didn't mind at all.
"Thank you for the warm welcome! May I ask who you are?" Logan asked the screen in front of him in his best calm and diplomatic tone. His contact with his home faction of the UA in general had not been so pleasant, but that didn't mean it couldn't change!
"I am the Operating System assigned to your Action Frame, the W-E Wonderchild. My primary functions will be movement smoothing and calculations, to make piloting this unit a breeze and a pleasure! I will also be providing you with briefings from the United Arms and monitoring the redundant cameras located all around the Wonderchild's chassis - all in the service of giving you the most tactical information possible! It's my personal hope that we can establish a healthy and positive professional relationship." The voice never really modulated much or stopped displaying that droning quality, but it seemed cheerful and polite enough.
“That sounds good to me! I didn't notice a name in that introduction though!” Logan smiled as he tentatively took his first steps, testing his Frame's legs and arms with simple movements. It was actually a surprising amount of fun – like playing a video game, only with physical feedback. Really, moving the W-E was almost too easy, at least the basic stuff. Of course, Logan knew the controls so it was to be expected. As he got in some minor practice in the safety of the hangar, the OS responded: “I am the Operating System assigned to your Action Frame, the W-E Wonderchild.”
Logan shook his head, nearly smashing his very expensive device into the hangar's ceiling on his first try using the leg verniers. Embarrassed but focused on the awfulness of what the OS called itself, he noted to himself that “That's getting changed!” before addressing the computer. Cheerfully, the young man asked “Would you like to give me one of those briefings as we head out?” He didn't even wait a moment for the computer to answer before activating his handles full blast and sending the Wonderchild into a full sprint out the hangar doors and into the street! Now that was what he calls exhilarating!
“Yes, Eager Logan. As you surely know from being tapped and from the siren which is curently active throughout Tokyo-3, there is currently a Bio-Organism called an Angel walking the streets of the city. At its current path and velocity, the Angel will arrive at the headquarters of the paramilitary organization known as NERV at 0835 hours.” Logans eyes tracked over to the clock in the top right of his screen – 0820 already, not leaving a whole lot of time for him to travel and stop it. Anxiety started creeping back in, as well as the reminder of the fact that this was no game. Logan's new disembodied voice friend continued, “So far, the JSDF have attempted to engage the target with armed attack helicopters to no avail – ballistic explosives did more damage to the nearby scenery.” Images of a huge and imposing black humanoid appeared on the screen, and Logan's body practically turned into a solid block of adrenaline. The horror onscreen ignored blast after blast of conventional explosive in the footage taken mere minutes ago, but that wasn't what freaked out the W-E's pilot.
It was the Angel's proportions that did it, really. Gross, overdeveloped shoulder muscle, with lanky and frightening limbs and skin black as iron. A face with no mouth or nose, only a bony beak and two dead black eyes. This was an unnatural and grotesque shambler the likes of which no United Arms diplomat had ever been faced with. It just hunches over, moving straight forward. When a plane tries to physically block it, the Angel actually rips it apart with a single grasping hand. Gasping for some way to rationalize the beast's dreadful looks, its next opponent asks his Action Frame the most logical question he can: “Is the exposed bone what's protecting this thing?” Unfortunately, the interface responds “Negative. The gunships fired on Angel #2 in too tall of a spread for it to have been using the exoskelal plates as a defense mechanism.” Logan grimaces and notes on the screen's map overlay that he's only a few blocks away from the target as he mumbles, “So, it's just nasty for the sake of it. That's reassuring!”
Having come to a similar conclusion, the huge machine poses a key question to its user. “What will your engagement strategy be?” In an attempt to shake off the shakes and project an air of confidence, the Diplomat operator smiles and raises his eyebrows to look super hyped up and excited as he answers, “Well, our strategy will be based on taking advantage of the fact that we can move straight into his walking path. Thankfully, I won't have to chase it down like I would if the Embassy were located on the other side of it.” He pauses to think, nodding and drumming a brief rhythm with his fingers on the handles before continuing to explain to the computer. “If explosives aren't effective, I'm going to need to try hitting him with another option. Charge all three frontal lasers, and lock the right hand in position to draw the beam saber as fast as possible. I can't risk getting swiped by those claws if it could rip apart gunships like paper.” This would surely be a good fight, one that would prove that Arms tech will continue to secure the safety of their shared world. The weapons were all there, and no living creature could beat an Action Frame of this level of sophistication.
Facing up to an Angel directly is a little bit different from just watching recorded footage, though. As the monstrosity came into view on the main feed even the steadfast Logan had to gulp a bit, despite feeling ready for the threat. The simple fact was that the 2nd Angel was taller and overall larger than the Wonderchild was, according to a basic visual analysis. “The opponent clearly has more physical force than we do. We're going to need to overcome it with weaponry and speed – no trading blows. What are we looking at when it comes to armor on the W-E?” Logan asks as he steps into position, waiting for what he judges as the right moment for a flurry of deadly energy weapon goodness. The sign that the Wonderchild was entirely ready when a telltale hum came from the most heavily armored areas of its torso – all three glowing points on the front of its chest were ready to fire a brilliant white blast. Everything was just like the young man expected it to be.
The Angel seemed to be paying little heed to the foe assembling in front of it, as its course did not stray from the path it set towards NERV. It was now only a miniscule handful of blocks away from the assumed destination, and so far damage to nearby structures had been minimal. Whatever goal the creature had, it was clearly pursuing it with such single-minded determination that it could practically be ambushed even despite the simple stand-off strategy Logan was aiming for. Oddly enough, despite the evacuated nature of the neighborhood, a blue sports car barreled down the street straight past the Wonderchild. Clearly, someone besides the UA pilot was ignoring the raid siren.
The Operating System informed Logan, “The Second Angel is coming within range. You may fire when ready.” Steadying his breath, he placed his crosshairs first onto each of the Angel's legs, then onto the 'facemask' as the young man decided it reminded him of. Whispering that “The legs should go out, and a blast of electricity straight to the face should easily distract the Angel to be cut to pieces by the beam saber.” He counted down to himself before firing, “Three... Two... One.” Then Logan smashed a button in the array in front of him twice, and the much-invested in Frontal Ray triggers. Blindingly hot white electric energy bursts out of the two lower holes in the W-E's triangularly arranged chest array, and makes contact with the intended opponent! “Yes!” squeals the young man, excited to look towards the foe, who should now be staggering, and ready to get a face of the exact same stuff. It seemed to be more hunched over than it was before and finally paying attention to him, so the aggressive negotiator fired off the third blast of the array with the same button as before! One final eye-piercing bolt of electricity seemed to make contact with just the right spot on the Angel, but any feeling of success was quickly eradicated when it didn't flinch. It didn't even scuff the monster's 'face'!
Okay, so a brief blast, even with high intensity, wasn't working. That distressing fact did not stop Logan from shouting “Draw!”, leading to the computer slicing hard with the sidearm beam saber. It happened to be white, just like anything on this device that wasn't grey (gun metal or otherwise), and its sustained chopping blow had all the force of the Wonderchild's right arm. Despite it being a well-aimed slice straight to the chest, it still wasn't enough to strike ny sense of momentum that the pilot had fell straight out of him. While it might be fair to say that the brief view he got of his blade being stopped right before impact by a minute crackling field was helpful, this would be little compensation for being clawed square in the chest. “Slice registered – damage to armored plating confirmed. Proceed with caution.” It didn't seem like it was a direct threat to Logan's life integrity, but every hit counts in a battle and #2's claws would easily eat through the Wonderchild in short order if that first lick was any indication.
Logan flicked a simple switch in his control array, activating his forward vernier thrusters with all due speed – he was able to make a little distance between himself and the now-moaning giant horror. This was clearly a serious problem, as those weren't a long term solution. If he couldn't find a way to put this thing down, the verniers would burn down his energy supply faster than anything in his arsenal. In light of this, the young intended ace landed and did his best to keep a bit of distance between himself and the opponent. Thanks to the cameras placed all over his frame, Logan didn't even need to be facing the Angel to realize that it was giving chase, and that its speed had picked up by quite a bit from its 'strolling pace'. He realized with mild panic that he was being charged.
The Second Angel vs The W-E on the Streets of Tokyo-3
Let the record show that Logan of the UA was no coward – calling for help just wasn't in the game plan when he could win this fight all on his lonesome. Briefly considering trying to use the environment against his opponent, he also wrote that off. He was on a defense mission, not a pure combat engagement that might justify taking extreme action. Of course, since he was literally running away with the goal of not getting grasped, he would have to get clever when it came to positioning. After all, if he could get back the crackling energy apparently protecting the black-skinned devil, he might be able to chop straight through to the lightly glowing red orb inside its chest. That was the obvious target, even though it was recessed in between plates of bone 'armor'.
Logan groaned, thinking to himself that his enemy's protective plating wasn't unlike the Wonderchild's. “It works the same way the torso's armor protects me – that's got to be my target!” the youngster assured himself, concluding that he was going to need some fancy footwork to get behind the Angel. It was a huge and imposing enemy, but by nature of its weird proportions it surely could not be called the most graceful of giant monsters. As the tactical operator was in the middle of both running into a slightly more open crossroads and figuring out which steps he wanted to take, he was informed by the Operating System that “We're running out of room. Running further will bring the Angel unacceptably close to NERV's structures.” It had to happen right there, or the risks would get worse and worse.
The behemoth of flesh, for its part, chased with the expected tenacity of a hunter looking to rip prey to shreds. It was unclear to Logan exactly how intelligent whatever he was dealing with was, but it did not necessarily matter if it acted like it was expected to. So far treating it like a wild animal had worked, and that strategy was what he was going to stick with. Once right in the center of the intersection, the diplomat twisted both handles, ripping them both back towards him and sharply to the left. Shockingly, the raw G force was intense even in the cockpit as the Wonderchild pushed past all momentum to jump backwards from a sprint – quite the reminder of the scale of the fight, in case Logan had forgotten. The plan resulted in a jolt of pressure for the pilot, but the Angel was entirely tricked by the manuever. It smashed into the ground, cracking the streets and leaving its back utterly exposed to be taken advantage of! “Yes! YES!” shouted the would-be hero of Tokyo-3, allowing himself to get a little worked up at his initial success.
From there, it was time to take full advantage of the literal fallen Angel. Once again after activating the beam saber's shining white blade, Logan began slicing back and forth on the back of the machine. Horribly enough, he ran into the same field on the creature's back – this gave him a very sneaky idea. Instead of directing further slashes, the crafty pilot inverted his right handle. In response to this the Wonderchild's arm twisted, leaving it in a position to stab into the monster's back with finer leverage! After a few trial stabs during which both the computer's balancing programming and Logan's control did its best to keep the positioning aligned, the two successfully bring down a particularly firm downward stab. Watching in frustration, the Ace-in-Waiting found himself realizing two things as he failed to pierce the walking monolith's skin.
The first thing Logan realized was that the field that the Angel relied on for defense was sparking far harder than it had with earlier shots and cuts. The second was that this giant hateful thing had energy blades of its own – they looked to be recessed into its elbows, and glowed a shade of red easily as bright as his mecha's own saber. Terribly for him, this realization came only a moment too late. The monster whipped around 180° during the stab, shaving a thick layer of metal off the W-E's left arm with the thin and nearly blunt looking elbowknife. It was still attached, and a quick test proved it was even active, but the moving parts inside were literally exposed just from a simple flailing cut! The OS interjected to this effect: “Warning, Endangered Logan! Further damage to the unit's left arm will render it inoperable.” The youth was able to prevent this from happening, at least in that moment. The vernier thrusters were a big help, blasting his unit a small distance out of the range of both claw and knife. It was time to try something desperate – if more force meant more crackling, then Logan needed a way to deliver that force.
The idea came when he remembered the matter of size – the W-E Wonderchild was a sleek and speedy machine, but it was still a huge and heavy piece of work. If he could get enough air with the vernier thrusters, he could easily use the force of gravity to jam his beam straight through the top of the Angel! At that moment, it all crystalized in Logan's mind. He calmly ordered the Operating System, “Please charge a single Frontal Array laser, and lock on to as low of a point on this thing as you can hold from the air.” Choosing not to question the pilot, the computer did as was requested of it to prepare for one really good shot. Needing one last feature to pull his plan together, Logan glanced at the intersection for places he could push off for the aerial stab. Fortunately there was no dearth of surfaces around to work with – the walls of Tokyo-3's buildings, while commonly lacking windows, were almost all extremely sturdy and heavy looking. It was like the entire city was armored, and armor would be perfect to facilitate him getting the element of surprise on the 2nd Angel.
Just as the monster seemed ready to charge again, unit W-E rocketed itself into the air with all front and back verniers on both legs! It wasn't true flight, more like a greatly assisted jump that took it out of range from Angel attacks and up at a diagonal angle. Based on the telltale humming, Logan knew that he had a lower array burst ready to go, but first he made contact with a bright red painted wall – one of the towers at the edge of the intersection served as his touchoff point. Much like a swimmer pushing off against the wall of a pool, Logan kicked off against the tower with both of his giant robot's legs! While it left only a miniscule dent on the wall itself, the mecha itself got a good boost with which its pilot followed up with a vernier burst. It was in excellent position to drop, and stab through the evil brute's energy barrier! That was far too annoying of a defense for the United Arms unit and its pilot to care to deal with for much longer, so the beam blade was activated and Logan was ready to go in for some real damage! Tapping the button to fire the single Frontal Array, he chased the burst down and watched it trigger the barrier around the feet of the target! This was what he was hoping for, and it was his one chance for a killer blow!
At least, a truly damaging stab was what he hoped for. He may have expected the Angel to try defending. Logan may have even expected it to try dodging, or even counterattacking. But no, it did exactly and specifically the worst thing that it could have. Angel #2 jumped in pursuit of its current prey, locking arms around the Wonderchild before it could truly stab downwarm. Taking the Action Frame into a sick hug of sorts, it placed both claws around the W-E's torso and landed on the ground with it what resembled an awful parody of a spooning position. Up until that point, Logan had felt fairly good about the fight. He had been anxious and still was, but at least he felt confident in his robot's chances. This all chanced when the victimizing creature began slamming its elbow-recessed energy blades through its 'hands' and directly into the armor protecting Logan and many crucial interior parts! While he was still safe for now, onscreen readouts made it obvious that the Angel was going to keep pulling his blades into and out of its elbow recesses. The enemy was cutting deeper and deeper even into this most well-defended of areas, and for the first time in the battle Logan felt sincere and overbearing fear. It was no mere feeling of intimidation like before – the horror of a possible death in this moment hit him all at once. “NO!” was what he kept yelling over and over, trying to hit verniers and charge arrays all while an awful and repetitive tone redundantly warned of the danger of the situation.
Just when the UA diplomat thought his life was going to be over, he heard heavy footsteps coming from nearby. Shortly after they began pounding, the Angel actually disengaged with the Wonderchild, pushing it out of the way entirely. Logan was free, but quite confused at the Angel's tactical decision. “What's making that sound?” he asked, only to be answered with a simple sentence: “It's coming from NERV, sir.” Just as soon as the Wonderchild was able to get to its feet, the source of the footsteps came into clear view. It was another giant robot, even huger than the Wonderchild. It was impressively colored – mostly purple, but Logan definitely saw bits of green in the scheme. It was humanoid as well, and seemed to be able to move very organically indeed. “NERV's synthetic musculature is incredible...” was all Logan whispered, running his hand briefly through his light grey hair with eyes wide open. It even, as he noted, seemed to have a giant cable running into its back. It resembled the Wonderchild basically not at all – an entirely different line of technology was running inside of it.
The Angel was extremely eager, and rushed the NERV machine with fervor it hadn't displayed so far in the fight. If it was eager before, it was now practically bloodlusted! Thankfully, it seemed the purple mecha had sufficient muscle to grapple with the Angel and keep its elbow knives away. It did seem to be struggling to make that happen, though. Logan paused for a moment, taking stock of his damage and considering his next move. The Wonderchild was damaged, but mercifully still functional. A particularly nasty combination could possibly result in his machine's destruction, but his weapons and the verniers were all 100% working. He was going to have to make a call.
The Second Angel vs the W-E Wonderchild and a Mystery Mecha, on the Streets of Tokyo-3
While he was in large part eager to just take the easy road out and try ganking #2 whenever the purple robot gave him an opportunity, Logan came to the conclusion that since he was a Diplomat he may as well play that role. The only problem with this was that he was still hugely spooked from the abandoned attack – being in a near-lethal encounter with a horrific monster isn't the sort of thing you just get over to have a conversation. Unfortunately, when he asked the computer to “Try to establish a contact with the NERV robot.” he actually felt his voice crack a few times. Biting his lip and watching the fight as he waited, Logan found himself trying to center his thoughts and put on a facade of normalcy. Trying to think about the awful dry toast he'd started his day with and not the sensation of his unit being enveloped by an Angel seemed to sort of work, but the answer came too soon.
The face of a slender Japanese teenage boy showed up on the screen, and the most obvious fact Logan realized was that he looked nearly as stressed as himself. When the words“Watashi no namae wa Shinji Ikari...” came out of his mouth, the UA agent was thankful he spoke fluent Japanese and was ready for a full conversation.
“You're speaking with Mr. Logan of the United Arms. I'm a pilot operating an Action Frame on a diplomatic mission to help protect the city. Can we work together against this enemy?” he asked in Japanese, hoping for a positive response.
In between shoving the Angel away and trying to fumble against the ever-present barrier, the pilot onscreen via picture-in-picture tried his best to give attention to the conversation. “Yes! The only reason I'm even in this stupid thing is because I saw you on the way in! You were fighting, and I couldn't stand by and watch you get killed by that huge monster – they called it Sachiel!” Shinji was actually yelping in his native tongue, and he did not seem to be doing particularly well against the Angel either.
Thinking back to slightly earlier Logan asked, “You were in the sports car, then? It's lucky for both of us that we even made it to stand in front of each other.”
“Yes, but you absolutely have to get out of here! Back down there they said something about an AT Field, and how your machine had no way of countering it! Please run!” The teen pilot asked this of Logan looked square into his camera with pleading eyes.
This was no choice – Logan had already decided he was going to work with this unhappy looking kid. “Shinji, I asked if we could work together, not if you could protect my life. You've already done that, and now I'm going to help return the fav- Ah.” As Logan spoke, his face fell mid-sentence – Shinji literally managed to faceplant his mecha. Clearly, he wasn't as apt of a pilot as his senior was.
Even as he scrambled to get the mech to its feet, the possibly-too-young guy still kept trying to talk to Logan: “See, I can't pilot this thing at all! It's useless for me to even be in the Eva! We're both screwed if we stay!” His panic was clearly rising by the minute and Sachiel was closing in on his robot, looking ready to take its head in hand! Thinking to himself that Shinji may not even know about the arm-blade yet, Logan realized he had no clue what he could do that might have an effect on the rotten beast.
Instead, he triggered his verniers for what was going to be one of the last times – they were burning his energy supply very quickly. They were enough to help literally force the physically-larger 'Eva' into position, helping it to stand on its just in time. “Shinji, don't just give up! If my unit can't break the 'AT Field', can yours?” Logan asked, as both the Wonderchild and Shinji's Eva were operated to stomp back out of range as fast as they could.
Grimacing, Shinji answered, “My father said that I would be able to! The way to beat the field is crazy, though! I'd have to grab and rip open the field with Eva's bare hands! I'd be open to any attack it wanted to try!”
Snapping his fingers in the air, Logan responded with true confidence for the first time since the conversation began. “No, Shinji. Sachiel will be open to any attack that I want to try!” He disengaged from the Eva, juking the opposite direction it did as the 2nd Angel continued to hound Shinji's mech. The UA's best hope also addressed his giant mecha's computer: “I will need 3 full charges of the Frontal Array – I wonder just how durable an Angel is once its field has been penetrated!”
“Yes, sir. I will note that this will be the last major burst of offensive power the Wonderchild will be delivering in this battle. Should it fail, the only option will be escape or close range combat with the beam saber. This has proven tactically unsound so far, though.” The Operating System provided these bits of helpful information, but they honestly didn't make this idea sound particularly great.
“Shinji, I need you to listen to me carefully. On the count of three, I'm going to need you to stop backing up and tear open the AT Field! I have three shots of high-voltage electricity ready to go, but if the Field stops them I'm useless to you. If we fail, NERV is as screwed as we are! Then, once NERV goes down, this city goes down! Are you with me?” Logan knew he was putting pressure on the kid, but he really felt the need to get across how badly they needed to be on the same page.
“Yes, do it.” Shinji answered, breathing deeply.
Logan waited for the hum of the array to reach its maximum loudness, because he was honestly frightened that they might not shoot at all. These were expensive canons, and if Sachiel's grapple assault had loused them up, there was a decent chance of them backfiring entirely. Eh, that was what he figured, anyway. Then, counted in Japanese with as much authority as he could muster. “One. Two. Three!”
It was good timing, as Sachiel was about to try grasping the Eva unit. Instead, it slid to a stop half as graceful as the one Shinji managed using the knowledge of what was coming. The purple and green robot's arms grasped the thin air adjacent to its Angel opponent. For a moment Logan was worried his new ally was wrong about what his device could do, but the next sight his cameras picked up was actually extremely impressive. The AT Field, which his saber use and Frontal Array had failed to break, was actually being ripped open like it was a solid piece of material being torn open. It was an extraordinary sight but despite Shinji spreading the Eva's legs wide for leverage, it absolutely left him vulnerable just as he'd predicted.
Sachiel was perhaps not the smartest hunter, but even it saw an opportunity when it was standing there in a purple machine. As Logan ran his damaged real-type mecha into position on foot, he realized that Sachiel too was spreading his arms. This would be a problem alone, but he was smart enough to notice that it was drawing back its blades as well. If he didn't hurry, Shinji and the Eva could get pierced just like he did! The time had come, and Logan tapped the Array button on the surface in front of him three times in quick succession – his target was already selected for him!
A high pitched whine cried out, and three full beams of extra-densely packed electricity slammed through the small hole Shinji made and into the large red orb on Sachiel's chest! The monstrosity cried out in agony, clearly devastated and unprepared for the sudden rush of power to its obvious weak spot. Even though it had drained nearly all but the power he needed for basic movement, Logan didn't let up for even one second of the possible blast. His three triangularly-oriented chest beams were doing their job absolutely beautifully, tearing excess black flesh off the orb and sending nasty looking blue blood flying around the street. It was gross, but watching the orb itself crack bit by bit was satisfying. Soon, it had practically stopped moving at all. Sachiel had been beaten!
Logan was incredibly relieved. For a while there, he had actually gotten nervous about the results of this first run. Yes, he'd needed some help, but he could breathe easy knowing that his weaponry could easily do a number on giant monsters. This would be great PR for the United Arms, and so would the next goal he had planned. Taking the first step towards this plan, Logan made the W-E Wonderchild face the Eva unit next to it and extend its empty right hand toward NERV's mech. “Congratulations, Shinji! We did it!”
For the first time, the teenaged pilot actually smiled into the camera and nodded wordlessly. The Eva's hand met the Wonderchild's, and the two mismatched giant robots shook hands. It was, in Logan's opinion, super cool. He reacted somewhat less positively to the nearly-destroyed corpse of Sachiel jumping straight for them, but before it could latch on or do whatever it had planned, young Mr. Ikari's mecha literally snapped. Not in a psychological sense, the Eva's head actually snapped for the orb like a beast biting an animal out of the air. While it was surprising that this happened to begin with, Logan was even more shocked by the fact that the Eva seemed to have teeth! This weird sight culminated in the cracked orb finally popping and the biomass that composed the rest of Sachiel rapidly decaying.
Well, that was quite a surprise. To make it two, Shinji surprised the diplomat once again, asking a fairly direct question before Logan could ask exactly what just happened with the teeth: “Where will you take your machine for repairs? NERV has really amazing engingeers, if that would be helpful. You could also come debrief and share information with us.” The young man seemed keen to have Logan around, and there was no message blowing up his phone now that the Angel was neutralized. It was like the UA stopped caring about what he did once he got into the W-E. Still, it was undeniable that his mech needed work. Something had to be picked.
Streets of Tokyo-3, now secured
Logan sank in his seat a little bit. In his opinion, it sucked to have to say no to the hospitality of a possible friend. The sad truth was that he didn't know enough about the paramilitary organization to even consider letting them work on his mecha. For all he knew, they were extremely jingoistic and held a grudge over the conflict 15 years ago. His job was diplomacy, but he also needed to make sure that he held up his #1 priority – protecting his Action Frame. The Embassy would do just fine for that, even though the engineers working there were as much of total strangers to him as anyone working for the secretive NERV.
“Shinji, I think I will take the Wonderchild back to its usual hangar. No offense to you or your company, I just want to be professional about it since it represents a lot of 'brainy' work and investment.” Logan happened to say 'brainy' in English, to test Shinji a bit. The teen's lack of reaction indicated that he at least understood a bit of spoken English.
The younger pilot nodded and answered, “That's okay. I'll be heading inside then. Please feel free to visit and join the conversation. It would be far less awkward if I had another pilot backing me up in there.”
“I'll probably drive over in a car, so it might be a short time. Oh, and Shinji, my personal number is...” Logan shared his cell number, since his home didn't have a landline. “If you ever need to contact me out of our mecha, that's the best way. I like to text.”
Blushing a little, Shinji confirmed, “I prefer that, too. Mine is...” After sharing his number he cut off the direct feed. Somehow, it wasn't quite as easy to just talk face to face as it was during the fight. Logan had to remind himself that the NERV agent was young, and probably still shy when it comes to professional adults like him.
“Pfft.” The finest pilot the United Arms had to offer actually laughed at the idea of himself being a professional adult. Not too many of those got to barrel down the streets in a giant robot, which he got started on by pushing his handles into a full sprinting position. It wasn't far to the Embassy, but Logan would still have preferred to have a little energy left to speed it up with his verniers. Retracing his steps, he appreciated just how little damage had been done to the high tech shining city. This was his home, at least for now. Protecting it gave the young man a tremendous feeling of satisfaction that he hadn't been expecting – almost like a pit in his stomach, but more like a bright and refreshing spring day! That combination may not seem to make a terrific amount of sense, but to Logan it was as natural as anything.
His thoughts turned to the verniers once again, though. He genuinely didn't have enough power left to spare them a few bursts. That was almost frightening – the very first engagement his mecha had, and it was walking out of it dry and with actual exposed parts! It was still a great coming-out, and one hell of a show of force. After all, once the AT Field was down the Frontal Array proved that mass amounts of electricity are as deadly to a giant monster as they are to just about anything else. Curious, he asked the computer, “Adam, please run a diagnostic of the Wonderchild's physical condition.”
“Sir, I can run a diagnostic. However, I have no record of any human by the name of Adam involved in the battle today.” The computer answered, starting its processes.
Logan smiled into the interior camera just as he did when he was talking to Shinji. “Adam is your new name, computer! The W-E Action Frame already had a name, and I have a name, so I've decided to give you one as well.”
“I am an Operating Syst-” The OS began, before being cut off.
“A designation isn't a name! I'm going to call you Adam, and that's final. All three of us are the parts that make up this unit, so it's only fair that we're all treated equally.” The young pilot nodded into the camera and patted the handles and plain, spartan style seat as he spoke.
The computer politely resumed speaking, “Sir, thank you. As my first act as Adam, here are the results. The unit's left arm is nearly entirely stripped of coating on one side. The entire coating will need to be replaced for integrity, but functionality hasn't been lost. The interior should be possible to simply refurbish without consequence. The damage to the armor plating is a much larger problem, representing vulnerability to weaponry available to locals. If Shinji's mecha was designed to defeat an Angel, it follows that its offensive capabilities would be on par with one. While the armor itself can be repaired thanks to the erratic damage pattern the Angel caused, further investment may be necessary for greater levels of invulnerability.”
Noticing that he had arrived at the United Arms Embassy, Logan finished listening to Adam and finally responded. “Budget is one thing I have no control at all over.” Stepping back into the hangar, the Wonderchild was directed to head back into its usual spot – centrally located, in the foot clamps right next to the elevator. As it moved into place, the hatch opened once again and Logan said his goodbye. “I'll be back, Adam.”
“I'll be here, Logan. Shutting down...” was the last thing it said before the mecha went quiet.
Logan stepped out, back into the work elevator that would take him back to ground level. The sheer size of the W-E was absolutely incredible, and for a moment Logan had forgotten this. The fact that it wasn't as big as Sachiel or Shinji's 'Eva' didn't make it any less of a badass giant robot. As Logan exited the elevator on arrival, he took a look around the hangar. It seemed quite empty, much as it did before. He wondered if there was even a crew here to look after it, but dismissed that as foolishness. Obviously, someone had put it there in the first place. Putting it out of mind and stepping back into the light, the diplomat was relieved to see that the car he'd taken to get there earlier was still present. The awful parking job he did was intact, so he just hopped in and took back to the streets.
It was a lonelier trip than the mech walk there, with nobody to speak to and nobody on the streets yet. The warning had stopped, but people were bound to be spooked for at least a short time. Logan thought it was slightly weird that he didn't have any messages from the UA, but he knew they had their own way of doing things. Since he was able to break the speed limit with no cars on the road, the pilot actually arrived at the imposing exterior of NERV HQ a bit faster than expected. It was also a bit more impressive than he'd expected. While the grey-haired man had seen a few really cool sights that day, NERV's edifice was still a thing of beauty in his eyes. It was less like a corporate or military base, and far more like a blue pyramid straight out of a high-tech Egyptian kingdom. Glimmering in the light of day, Logan actually felt a tinge of envy. His mecha was stored in a simple warehouse – these guys had a super fortress! He was even able to drive straight in, and his small car fit extremely well onto an actual vehicle elevator. “Very nice...” He whispered to himself, taking in all the views he could through the elevator's glass doors on each floor.
NERV HQ
As it turned out, the interior of NERV's building was equally impressive as the exterior– everywhere Logan looked, he saw some kind of shiny metal plating, bulky piece of machinery or brightly lit screen! The entire zone had an aesthetic of cold sophistication, as if the technology itself was too advanced to explain to common people like him. It really felt to the W-E's pilot that absolutely anything could be on the floors or halls that he passed. Soon, the elevator came to an abrupt stop and begun making a pinging sound. Logan wasn't exactly clear on what to do, as there was a metal door in front of him instead of a road for him to drive further. “Please exit your vehicle at this time. We've been waiting for you, Mr. Logan.” addressed a smooth female voice.
Slowly, and with a touch of hesitance he turned off the dark vehicle's ignition and stepped out. Despite being an awesome pilot, hewas unarmed and actually felt at quite a disadvantage just by being there. How much did he actually know about NERV and their practices? Literally almost nothing except that Shinji seemed like a nice boy that worked well together with him for the span of one single battle. Still, the diplomat stepped through the door. It opened into a room with absolutely awful lighting. It was like stepping into one of those tres-chic restaurants where the lights are super dim and you can barely read the menu because they want it to be 'edgy'. Logan squinted to see, and spotted a large black table around which a group of strangers were assembled. On a basic visual analysis, he spotted an older bespectacled Japanese man with an even older man standing next to him. “Stern guys.” he thought to himself before looking over towards the pair of exceptionally conventionally attractive women. They seemed a bit older than him, but both the purple haired woman in the red jacket and the blonde scientist looking one were very good looking in his opinion. Smiling unconsciously, his eyes tracked over to the final person in the room. It was Shinji, and he seemed relieved to see his fellow pilot.
Since the room seemed to have gone quiet as he stepped in, Logan took the opportunity to introduce himself. “Hello, I'm Logan. Currently I'm working in Tokyo-3 as a representative and diplomat from the United Arms. As I am also the pilot of their newest Action Frame, the Wonderchild, I can say it was an honor to work alongside your fine agent earlier.” He gestured to Shinji, bowing slightly.
It was the older man in the glasses who spoke first, utterly failing to introduce himself. “Shinji has explained to us the role you played in defeating Sachiel, the second Angel to attack our world. From a practical perspective, we're grateful to you. However, the Angels are NERV's business alone. We will not need further assistance with this issue or any other.” He linked his hands in front of his face, letting his elbows sit on the table while he leaned forward slightly.
Logan had been prepared for such a lukewarm reception, and clarified his position. “I understand. I was responding to the raid siren and an internal report of an Angel attack. I am, however, in Tokyo-3 as a diplomat from both my faction and indirectly my entire world, so I will reserve the right to launch again if it's necessary to protect our ally. The Japanese government would agree with that, I think.”
Shinji piped in as well. “So would I! I agree with anything that means I don't have to fight any more Angels alone!” It sounded like they told him more than they had Logan, but Shinji continued to speak before he could ask anything. “You wanted me to fight Sachiel all alone! Even if I am the Third Child, that's crazy, and it's way too much to ask of me! That other girl looked too hurt to fight, but Logan was out there helping protect all of us! Please let me have an ally, father!” He was shouting by the end of it, but the man who Shinji called 'father' neither reacted nor even broke his linked hands position.
The woman with purple hair had something to say, though. “Commander, I think Shinji's right. As we were driving through the city to get here earlier, we passed the 'Wonderchild' as it was engaging Sachiel. I'm not sure how effective it was against the AT Field, but Shinji said that was the only reason he was even willing to board Evangelion 01 at all. In my professional opinion, Shinji will be much more successful if he has some backup.” The scientist nodded in agreement, seemingly having reached a similar conclusion.
Moving slightly in his seat but not much else, NERV's apparent Commander relented slightly. “NERV will not interfere with your mecha as long as you agree not to operate against us or in situations contrary to our goals. However, we reserve the right to change our judgement in the future pending any change in the situation.” Ice cold.
Suddenly acutely aware of the fact that there was no chair for him to even sit at, Logan realized he wasn't welcome to stay. Maybe if he'd parked his mech there as a sign of good faith, it might be a bit different. As it was, Logan confirmed that, “Those sound like fair terms to me. I'll be leaving.” Turning to Shinji before walking out, he said goodbye specifically. “Take care of yourself, 'Third Child'. We'll get the next one too.” The pair of giant robot pilots shared a smile, but soon the outsider had left the room and the teen was left alone with the serious adults.
Stepping back into the elevator and the car he'd been driving, Logan sincerely hoped he could follow through on that promise. At least he got to take the rest of the day off!
Episode 1, The Third Child Complete!
