Closed are the Gates of Heaven 1a (AdEva, IC)

[AmberVael]

Grace wasn't entirely sure what to do. The angel was fast, flying, and just a bit out of her range... and Ty's comment made her wonder if it was even really there. They didn't know what it was capable of, not really, especially with its AT Field being so powerful compared to their own. Besides, she still wasn't comfortable with tactics. Shouldn't one of the adults be directing them?

"We can't do anything until it's closer. Lure it in and then we'll gang up on it, I guess." Grace urged Helel in closer and waited, preparing to strike as soon as the angel came in range.

Spoiler

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Half Action: Move up a bit
Half Action: Delay- Grace is waiting for the angel to come in range, and then she'll try and neutralize.

Updated map.

[garter_snake]

Unit 02 rounded the edge of the swamp and stood on the narrow spot of hard land, near the coast. Good, I'm close enough. Gilles gritted his teeth as he he covered the Angel with his AT Field, dampening its.

Spoiler

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half action move.
half action Neutralize 3 ATP
Map.

[PalusAbel]

EI-01 trained its senses on the rock behind which Layla stood. With its wings upraised, it lets out a shriek and rattles its feathers. A number of these came loose, but caught themselves mid-fall. EI-01 flapped its wings once more, sending the spear-like plumes, nearly as tall as the Evangelions themselves, hurtling into the sky like mortar shells. These would come down in a deadly rain threatening to pin Layla to the ground. Many would shatter upon impact, but a few might survive the landing, implanting themselves into the soil and leaving a grim reminder of the Angel's power.

Spoiler: Actions

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EI-01 uses a Full Auto Burst attack, scoring up to five hits against Grendel. If all the attacks hit, they would deal a total of 6 Rending Damage to the Body, 2 to the Head, and 5 to the Left Arm. Grendel's Right Arm would suffer 2 Critical Rending Damage, rendering that arm useless for one round. Updated map.

[Zazax]

As the Angel's barrage subsided, Ty opened a channel to his partner. "Layla, you okay? That looked close."

Before waiting for a response, he took off running.

Can't be Pinged, huh? Let's make sure.

As he skid to a stop at his destination, he once again expanded his AT-Field, dumping almost his entire field into it.

He was momentarily dejected as he once again detected nothing from the Angel, but something caught his attention.

... Why do the other Evas each have two AT-Fields?

As he made more sense of his Ping, his confusion turned to surprise, then shock.

It's... it's not just the Evas. NERV-Chile is full of AT-Fields. Weak ones, but they're there.
There are subtle differences between them too. Seems to me there's five groups. One is the vast majority, and three of them correspond to the secondary fields on the Evas...

Ty blinked and opened a channel to the other pilots, the shock clear in his voice. "Uh, guys? I'm still not sensing anything from the Angel, but, uh, I am from the city. And from your Evas. Whatever it is is very weak, almost negligible, but it's there. When this is over, we need to talk."

Spoiler

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Full Action Run. Map.
Free action Ping, Test successful with 6 DoS, 6 ATP.

[CrimsonKnight]

With Grendel still hidden behind the large rock she'd set up behind, Layla watched the feathers flying upward on the feed from Unit-00 with confusion.

"That's kinda cool. But why is it firing them into the air... oh SH*TGODDAMNITF*CKF*CKF*CK!!!"

Not only had the Angel somehow known she was there, it had expertly arced the barrage of razor-sharp projectiles right into Grendel's hiding place. For a moment, there was only silence behind the rock... before a Prog Spear poked up and waved once or twice.

"I'm okay! Fecking feather archer crap. Screw it, cover's pretty useless against this guy. Ugh... okay, guess I DID get his attention. What the hell, I've already got him looking this way. Whatever you're gonna do, do it fast!."

She eyed the feathers still embedded in the ground near where she'd been, then shrugged and sent Grendel lumbering the other way around the rock. No sense seeing what the damned things would do if she stepped on them. She approached the swampy ground separating her from the Angel and grimaced at what she was about to do.

"Oh, this is such a bad, bad idea. Why the hell did I sign up for this sh*t?"

Gathering her AT Field, she sent it outward again in a spike of energy.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Full Round: Run
Free Action: Flare (6 ATP). Another Difficult (-10) Intelligence Test.
Map

[AmberVael]

As soon as Grace saw that the angel had no incentive to move closer, she broke from her position and started towards it. While the feathers rained down she picked up speed and tried to remember what Ty and Gilles had said about AT Fields so far. Like a blanket... Her field went fuzzy and wobbled uncertainly, which wasn't exactly what she had in mind. Or rather, it was what she had in mind, but it didn't seem to be what she needed. Grace grit her teeth and tried against as she kept moving forward, but with similarly poor results.

What am I doing wrong? She was much closer to the angel now- it loomed ominously before her as she tried to concentrate. I didn't struggle with anyone's field in the simulation, I just broke through them.

During the simulation there was a lot that had just been instinctive. She hadn't paused to think, just had just acted- but now, considering it, she could remember how her field had acted during her attacks on the other Evas. It hadn't just been a passive presence, but had moved with her, striking as she had. Worth a shot, at least.

Helel's field surged forwards in a way that seemed more aggressive and capable to Grace as she focused on it again; it had actually felt like something that would work against the angel. But then, it had also felt like swiping at empty air. Maybe I should have just tried to stab it.

"I tried to attack its field- not sure if it worked." She hefted her small knife and shield and got ready to charge.

Spoiler

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Grace takes two half actions to move, and uses her last to neutralize, spending 6 ATP on it.

Updated map

[garter_snake]

Gilles eyes followed the path of the feathers as they rained down on Layla's position, as his ears took in the data feed. Those things are too dangerous. We can't let it fire them off freely.

Unit 02 sprinted forward towards the Angel, colliding into its body with an earth-shaking thud. Throwing its arms around the Angel's long neck, it half dangled off of the creature as Gilles tried desperately to constrain its movements...to find his arms pushed back by an unseen force.

Oh, balls.

Spoiler

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Full action Charge-grapple. Success.
Free action maintain Neutralize @3 ATP

Map.

[PalusAbel]

EI-01 screamed its indignation at Grendel's having emerged unscathed from the onslaught, and again when Comrade Prime attempted to secure a hold around its neck. It clumsily tried to back away, but only managed to tumble clumsily in the air as lost its bearings for a moment. It corrected itself with effort and retreated away from Comrade Prime. EI-01 was not content to leave the Evangelion unpunished for its insolence, and raised its wings to rain death once more. At least, that was the intention. Despite the sheer number of spear-like feathers that hurtled toward Comrade Prime, none found their mark. A few buried themselves deep into the ground, but that was all.

Spoiler: Actions

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The Angel's last Full Auto Burst was only a Half Action. It then Delayed until near the end of Gilles' turn, where it tried and failed to Disengage as a Half Action. On its proper turn, it successfully Disengaged as a Half Action and followed up with another Full Auto Burst, this time against Gilles. The attack failed horribly, but left a nice ring of feathers around him. Diagonal movement would not count as walking over them. Updated map.

[Zazax]

As the Angel unleashed another barrage, Ty's mind was in overdrive.

This thing is way faster than we are, and can attack at long range. We can't get close enough to effectively weaken its AT-Field and actually attack it at the same time, and without being able to do both it's just going to keep retreating and pummeling us.
We need to try something else.

He looked down at his pistol, clutched in one hand, and shook his head.

This thing is useless.

He looked up in time to see Gilles surrounded by more of those feathers, and something clicked.

The Commander said the AT-Field can do anything we can think of, if we think of it hard enough.
I'll never get through its AT-Field from this distance.
The Angel fired them from long range at Layla. It was certainly confident it would pierce her AT-Field. It's worth a shot.

Ty concentrated, throwing his AT-Field out to the feather nearest the Angel, directly in front of Gilles. It held for less than a second before falling apart.

Come on...

He tried again, and it stayed coherent for slightly longer before dissipating.

On the third try, he was sure he had it. He exhaled slowly, double-checked his aim, and with an exaggerated throwing gesture hurled his AT-Field, and hopefully the deadly feather, back at the Angel.

He was momentarily surprised when the feather actually launched towards the Angel, particularly when it flew straight and struck the Angel. As he'd predicted, it deflected off its AT-Field, but still. He'd hit it.

If they were to weaken its Field a little more...

Spoiler

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Half Action: Aim.
Half Action: Ranged attack via Inertia. 6 ATP. It fails miserably. But the Fate Point reroll succeeds, although it doesn't Breach its AT-Field. TN is actually 100, I'm just an idiot.
Updated map.

[CrimsonKnight]

Layla hammered her controls in frustration as Grendel was slowed to a crawl by the swampy muck they were wading through. She was a little surprised, however, by the Angel's actions.

"What the hell is this guy's problem? He almost pincushions me when I'm behind the rock, yet now that I'm stuck and can't move in this crap, it ignores me? Not I don't mind not being a target, but make up your frigging mind! Hmm, it targeted me when I blew up my AT Field the first time, but ignored me this time to shoot at Gilles instead... who had just tried tackling it. Maybe it's going after whoever it thinks poses the biggest threat? ...oh crap. Ty, move! It's gonna target you next! Run your ass off!"

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Full move, distance halved due to rough terrain.
Map

[AmberVael]

Too fast... Grace gritted her teeth as the angel slipped out of her range, and her AT field exerted itself uselessly at empty space. Not that she was sure it was doing anything in the first place. She was feeling increasingly lost and uncertain, and the silence on the comms wasn't helping matters- they weren't supposed to come up with tactics on their own, were they?

Running after it wasn't going to work. Grace moved forward cautiously, trying to decide how to proceed and figure out if she could do anything to the angel at all.

Spoiler

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Half Action: Move
Half Action: Delay

Map.

[garter_snake]

The Angel's feathers shot down from the sky like a steely rain, cutting through Unit 02's AT Field like paper. The Eva crossed its arms and crouched down, trying to protect its vital points, as the ground around it shook and dirt flew up in the air. It was over in seconds, but to Gilles, cowering in the entry plug with his face white and his breathing rapid, it seemed like an eternity.

As the dust cleared, Gilles looked around to find himself alive and unharmed, with the feathers forming a rough circle surrounding him.

Gilles's breathing slowed. The chatter from the entry plug's coms systems informed him that none of the others were having any better luck than he in getting through the Angel's AT Field. This is getting nasty. Gilles thought. It was a rule of thumb; If you're not winning a fight after thirty-seconds, change tactics. And- Gilles surveyed his surroundings -they weren't winning.

Gilles eyes fell to one of the feathers embedded in the ground besides him, and he remembered how easily it had sliced through his AT Field. Maybe...

Sticking out its left arm, Unit 02 grabbed it and hefted it up with its right hand, feeling that it was surprisingly light. As he did so, the feather made a loud keening sound, and Gilles felt his AT Field weaken.

Spoiler

Show

Half Action Ready action to pick up the feather in the square just north of Giles
Half action delay

ATS decreased by two thanks to the feather.

Map.

[PalusAbel]

EI-01 paused to survey its opponents. Then, wings spread, it let out another cry, and another wave of feathers surged forth. This time, they were aimed at Unit-00, who was the latest offender. The Angel did not seem to appreciate having one of its own feathers thrown at it, whether any damage was dealt or not. As the Evangelion's arm fell to the ground, the Angel screeched in triumph.

Spoiler: Actions

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Half Aim, followed by Half Action Full Auto Burst. Unit-00 Dodges all but the last hit, which Righteous Furies, dealing 21 damage and severing its right arm. Updated map.

[Zazax]

Ty's momentary triumph at his discovery was dampened somewhat by Layla's warning, then crushed immediately afterwards by a barrage from the Angel. He ducked and weaved through all but the final shot, which scored a lucky hit on his right arm and removed it completely.

Flashing alerts appeared in the peripherals of his screen, and he recoiled in his Eva and clutched his arm, phantom pains shooting through it. Blood sprayed out over the landscape for a moment before the stump sealed itself.

It took him a moment to regain his senses, and it was about that time that he decided it would be prudent to follow Layla's advice.

None of the others have attacked it since me. If Layla's right, it should still view me as the biggest threat. That being the case, I'm not crazy about staying in its firing range. Let's see how far you can shoot, you bastard.

He stopped abruptly as he noticed something. Taking into account distances and ranges seen so far during the fight, and the positioning of the Angel and his fellow Evas, something clicked.

Wait a minute...
Commence running my ass off, as advised.

Ty spun and took off as fast as he could in the opposite direction.

As he ran, he noticed that the ground seemed to be blurring underneath him, and he realized he had covered a far greater distance than he'd anticipated.

What the...?
Oh, look at that. Unit-00's AT Field's taken on that pattern I switched to from the simulation. So that's what that does.
Faster movement and telekinesis? At least this fight's been educational.

He skid to a stop and turned to face the Angel, then spiked his AT-Field much like Layla had earlier.

Alright then. Come and get me.

Spoiler

Show

Free Action: Quick Spread - Switch to Accelerated Field.
Full Action: Run
Free Action: Flare. 2 ATP, Augmented by 4, total 6.
Updated Map.
Synch Disruption: Increase of 12

[CrimsonKnight]

Layla swore violently as she watched Unit-00 get pincushioned and lose an arm for its trouble. Somehow, she managed to stop herself from giving in to her initial urge to charge the Angel blindly in her fury.

"Ty, are you okay?! And are any of you adults actually gonna get off your lazy asses and help us sometime today?! Some kind of plan would be nice!"

She moved Grendel up to where Grace and Gilles had gathered, still muttering under her breath something about "useless adults".

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Sorry for the delay. Thanksgiving gets pretty brutal for me.
Half Action: Move
Half Action: Delay
Map

[AmberVael]

Grace grit her teeth, hands shaking as she tried to keep control. The situation was looking bad- they hadn't even been able to lay a scratch on the thing, and now it was showing just how dangerous it was. She resisted the urge to run back to Ty, knowing that it wouldn't help anything- and resisted the urge to charge in, realizing that it would only push the angel back towards the ocean and leave it beyond their reach. Instead she moved cautiously along the shoreline, her eyes focused on the angel, her fingers clenched tight around the handle of her knife.

Spoiler

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Delayed Half Action: Move
Half Action: Move
Half Action: Delay

New Map

[garter_snake]

As his teammates maneuvered, Gilles inspected the feather as his AT Field continued to be pulled into it.

Why would it do that? Think, Gilles. What are the possibilities?

-This is a trap, and it's taking my strength to feed it.
*No, I don't think that's likely. The feather's design doesn't support that, anyway. If it was supposed to sap my AT Field, it would make more sense for the Angel's feathers to be designed the way they are. It doesn't need them to fly, that's for sure, they're too dense for it to fly the way that birds do. If they were supposed to suck off my AT Field, they would be more like porcupine quills: barbed, and designed to stick in.

-This interaction with Unit 02's AT Field and the feathers isn't intended by the Angel.
*I think this is the case. I don't think it's a trap, since a trap that revolves around your enemy picking up your used ammunition is way too unreliable. And I don't think it's a function of the weapon, either- Gilles glanced at his other teammates status on the holodash of the entry plug, noting Unit 00's physical damage and the lack of an effect it had on his AT Field the feathers had had. -as our AT Fields strength hasn't been damaged at all by its attacks.

So if the feathers' draining properties aren't intended to do damage... that must mean it has some other function...

-It's related to how the feathers are propelled through the air?
*No, they came at me shaft first, which is the part Unit 02 is gripping.
-It's related to how the feathers were able to penetrate Unit 01's AT Field, despite the extreme range.
*...That might be it. Gilles looked at Unit 02's shotgun in its left hand. The range at which I can put the force of Unit 02's AT Field behind its attacks is about 400 meters. What if the angel has a similar limit, and these feathers are a way to try and overcome it?

Unit 02 snapped its shotgun into the weapons rack on its back and then held the feather with both hands, as Gilles tried 'willing' more of Unit 02's AT Field into the feather.

Spoiler

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using delayed half action from previous turn put away shotgun.
half action? misc to try and put 2 more atp(ats? you can't spend ats, only atp. that whole thing is screwy.) into the feather.
half action to make another Delay action.

"Ah!" Gilles flinched as the feather shattered in Unit 02's hands. Well, so much for that...

[PalusAbel]

The Vice Commander returned a phone to its base. "Captain Elvenes has been detained, and is being held in a cell for later interrogation," he announces dryly. Commander Sheridan nodded in recognition while twirling a pencil. "Well done. I suppose he couldn't stomach how I handled the pilots earlier. Hopefully his replacement will be more open-minded." She slouches back in her chair, hands raised in desperation. "Still, I can't help but feel justified. Look at this farce. Nothing's getting done. This Angel's a nuisance, and the pilots are a disappointment. I don't care anymore. Launch an Eraserhead. XXL should do the trick."

The normally unflappable Lonell flinches at the command, and Dr. Cazada freezes at his station. "Sheridan, are you certain that that is what you wish to do?" The Commander gave him an icy stare. "I don't recall ordering you to second-guess me. Launch the missile now." The wail of a siren tears through the bridge and propagates through the rest of Nerv-Chile like lightning through a cloud. Blast doors jolt open one by one, creating a passageway from deep underground to the open air with a sound like deep, booming drums. "All personnel, be advised: Eraserhead XXL-01a is being launched," a mechanical voice solemnly proclaims.

A missile, half again as long as the Evangelions were tall, slowly rose out of the center of the Nerv-Chile complex. It picked up speed, soaring high above the ground as it arced toward EI-01. The Angel sensed the incoming missile long before it reenters visual range, and screamed its defiance at the man-made weapon. It loosed a torrent of feathers in an attempt to shoot the missile down. With a screech of its own, the Eraserhead produced an A.T. Field, against which the feathers crumpled and broke into countless shards. EI-01, seized by its survival instinct, raised its own A.T. Field, but to no avail. The Eraserhead spun like a drill and tore the Angel's A.T. Field to shreds with minimal resistance. Upon contact with EI-01's body, the missile simply sunk into its flesh, disappearing without any visible trace. Judging from the Angel's reaction, however, the Eraserhead had inflicted severe internal damage - EI-01 slumped to the ground, wracked with pain.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

EI-01 has lost its actions for the round, and has fallen Prone.

[Zazax]

Ty panted in his entry plug, one hand clutching his right arm. He could of course still feel his arm, and it hurt, but he could also feel a stump where his right arm should have been. The disparity was... jarring.

Nevertheless, he prepped for another attack. He eyed his target and flexed his AT-Field, confirming range. It hadn't worked last time, so he'd have to wait, but he knew he could hit the Angel again. He double checked his aim, then waited for the opportune moment.

He was preparing for the Angel to fire another barrage at him when a missile streaked overhead. The Angel attacked it instead, firing a barrage of feathers and shrieking. To Ty's surprise, the missile shrieked back, and raised an AT-Field to deflect the barrage. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and his face went pale.

What the hell was that?
That missile just shrieked. It also deployed an AT-Field.
First AT-Fields in the city, now missiles with them. NERV told us that only Angels and Evas have them.
Apparently not. And since when do missiles shriek, anyways?
Since now, apparently. That's not what disturbed me, though.
A missile proving that NERV has lied to us is not enough for me? What then?

Ty's expression hardened and his grip on Eva-00's controls tightened.

Why did that missile's shriek sound exactly like me?

Spoiler

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Half Action: Aim
Delay Half Action.

[CrimsonKnight]

Layla was too stunned to speak for a moment, before going into another profanity-laced tirade at Sheridan.

"What the hell was that... it breached the AT Field?! And you were gonna tell us you had this weapon when, exactly, Commander?! Goddamn NERV secrecy crap. Hell with this."

Grendel was moving forward even as she was venting her anger. Focusing her own AT Field outward, she sent all of it straight into the Angel's own, weakening it and hoping to finally get something useful done in this fight.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Delayed Half Action: Move
Half Action: Neutralize (6 ATP)
Delay Half Action
Map

[AmberVael]

The situation was too desperate for distractions- the angel had been taking them apart, but now there was a chance they could close in and take it out. Grace started moving towards it, going cautiously but quickly as she attempted to assault its AT field.

Spoiler

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Delayed Half Action: Move Action
Half Action: Neutralize, 6 ATP
Half Action: Delay

Map

[garter_snake]

Unit 02 was reaching behind its back for its tonfa, seeking to replace the feather that had exploded in its hands, when the Eraserhead missile screeched out of the sky, impacting into the Angel.

****. They called in the arty. Unit 02 widened its stance and Gilles closed his eyes and gripped his seat, bracing himself for the explosion.

A second later, Gilles right eye snuck a peek, and was presently surprised by the lack of an antimatter-created moonscape. Instead, it found a prone angel, its hexagonal AT Field stretched thin under the pressure of Unit 01's and Unit 03's field neutralization.

For a moment, Gilles simply stared. Then, the earth shifted under Unit 02's legs as it retried its initial, ill fated charge attempt.

Spoiler

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Delayed Half Action: Ready Tonfa(left hand, I guess.)
Full Action: Charge Grapple. Hit.
Prone targets suffer a -20 to dodge, and a -10 to WS tests(parry).

Map.

As Unit 02 came within striking distance of the Angels bulk, it leapt off the ground, its crashing crashing into the Angel's upper body. Gilles felt the sharpness of the feathers on his arms and legs as Unit 02's arms found and wrapped around the Angel's neck, holding on for dear life, while Unit 02's legs, straddling the neck, dug into the marshy earth.

[Zazax]

As soon as Ty saw Gilles successfully grapple the Angel through its AT-Field, he saw his opportunity. The others must have weakened its Field enough for that to have worked, which had been exactly what he'd hoped would happen.

He threw out his AT-Field and wrapped it around the feather he had thrown earlier, then hurled it again at the Angel at point-blank range.

Spoiler

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Delayed Half Action: Inertia with Angel-adjacent feather. Base 2 ATP, augmented with 6.
Attack was successful, for a total of a somewhat-disappointing 13 damage (4 from roll + 5 from weapon + another 4 from Inertia's Strength). Should hit the Body. Breach is 11 (2 from weapon, 8 from Inertia, 1 from DoS), Pen is 6.
At least assuming I've done my math right.

[PalusAbel]

The Angel screamed and beat its wings feebly as first Unit-02 seized its neck, and then Unit-00 shoved one of its own feathers deep into its side. It tried to fly up and away to get away from it all, but found itself grounded by Unit-02's hold. EI-01 struck at its assailant with a wing, hoping to dislodge it, but the blow was at too awkward an angle, and had no weight behind it.

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Grapple Full Action, failed. Ignore the wing attack - it was a mistake, and would have missed anyway.

[Zazax]

Again!

A third time Ty wrapped his AT-Field around the feather, tore it out of the Angel, adjusted his aim, then hurled it back. Served it right for shooting off Eva-00's arm.

Wow. How vengeful of me.
If it didn't want us killing it with its own feathers, it shouldn't have shot them at us. Or taken the arm.

Spoiler

Show

Half-Action: Aim.
Half-Action: Inertia. 2 ATP, augmented with 6.
Attack succeeds. Should hit the left wing. A pitiful roll of 1 for damage means it's only doing 10 this time, with pen 6. If it matters, I believe Breach is 13 (8 from Inertia, 2 from weapon, 3 from DoS).

[CrimsonKnight]

Layla quirked an eyebrow in disbelief as she saw Unit-02 wrap itself around the Angel's neck... and laughed as its attempts to dislodge the Eva failed miserably. "Gilles, I could kiss you for that. Now hold that bastard still for me for just one bloody second..."

A feral grin was stamped across her face as she leveled the Progressive Spear at waist height and sent Grendel charging forward with the deafening sound of its massive frame thundering off the cliff competing against the amplified sound of her screaming wordlessly at the top of her lungs in a battle cry. With the Angel pinned, it was helpless as she slammed into it full tilt, striking upward and burying almost the entire spear with the mighty blow into the monster's midsection... and managing to impale and shatter the Core within in a single strike.

For a moment, it seemed as though some kind of energy reaction was going to occur from the shards of destroyed Core raining down around Grendel and Comrade Prime, but at the last second, it simply guttered and died away, following shortly by the collapse right in front of them of the Angel's corpse as it ceased defying gravity. A small chuckle turned into a howl of victory as Layla pumped Grendel's fists into the air a few times before slapping Unit-02 across the back hard enough to almost knock it down in her exhilarating.

"That was bloody f***ing brilliant! That's how we deal with you ugly monsters! God I hope someone was recording, because that was something else! Wrestling an Angel that's proportionally as large as a truck? Stabbing it using its own feathers with your mind? Impaling the bastard like a shiskebab? We are officially Team Awesome now."

Spoiler: Actions

Show

Full Round Action: Charge
Attack was successful. Righteous Fury was successful. Attack deals 26 damage with Penetration 6 to the Angel's Core. Angel defeated. Miller Time baby!
Map

[PalusAbel]

"Rest assured, Layla, we've got it recorded." Commander Sheridan's voice over the comm sounded more weary than anything else. "I'll have a DVD made so you guys can watch it whenever. I'm sure Ty'd love to see his Evangelion's arm removed from a bird's eye view. Head on back, you guys." The sirens blaring throughout the Nerv-Chile complex fell silent, only to be replaced by the sound of thousands of cheering voices booming over the speakers. "Apparently everyone thinks you're heroes now. Before you go off and party with my employees, stop by my office. I want to talk to you all."

Dr. Cazada took over the comm and told the pilots how to get back to the hangar. Once the Evangelions had been properly secured, the entry plugs were ejected, and pilot and machine alike were thoroughly expected for damage. Layla and Ty received the most attention in this regard. Everything seemed to check out well enough, once Unit-00's obvious injury had been attended to. Dr. Cazada himself stopped by at the end of the inspection with a cart full of the pilots' casual clothing. "I've got permission to remove your collars so you can get changed, but unfortunately you have to put them back on afterwards. At least you don't have to wear your plugsuits anymore. I didn't know what you guys wanted to wear, so I grabbed a bunch of stuff from your room. Hopefully there's something you want in here, haha."

The pilots changed into their casual outfits before having their collars reattached, and were immediately thereafter shooed into Sheridan's office. The Commander, sitting in her almost comically oversized chair, waved her greetings, and Vice Commander Lonell stood beside her stoically as ever. Sheridan reached into her desk and drew a gaudy pistol made of red plastic and suddenly fired it at Layla. "Heads up!"

[CrimsonKnight]

From the cages all the way to the Commander's office, Layla was bouncing about like she was eight years old and on a sugar high, excitedly recapping the tense battle and the dramatic finale as they'd collectively taken it down with the single coordinated, massive assault to the medics, engineers, blank-faced Section 2 guards, and even the other pilots despite knowing full well they'd been there and done it as well. The fact that she was out of her plugsuit for the first time since arriving on Cape Horn certainly didn't hurt her jubilant mood. Even the sight of Sheridan as they walked in did little to dampen her spirits. Or at least, until she whipped out a gun and shot Layla point blank.

"F**K! What the f**k are you... wait, what is this?" Despite the large splash of red across her chest that one would expect to have been the result of a large caliber round leaving a fist-sized hole where her heart used to be, it occurred to Layla that not only was she not, in fact, dead, dying, and/or in excruiating pain but was in fact entirely unharmed apart from a minor sting that didn't even qualify as annoying, as was her shirt despite the large red stain on it. She reached down and scooped some of the viscious red liquid up and brought it up to examine it. Her eyes narrowed as she realized it wasn't blood, and a quick sniff and taste test confirmed what she suspected it to actually be.

"...the hell is your problem Sheridan? You make a habit of shooting everyone who goes out and kicks ass for you with goddamn ketchup-filled paintballs? Not that it would surprise me." Layla muttered that last bit out of the corner of her mouth as she scanned the room for something to try and wipe off some of the mess dribbling down her front, preferably something of Sheridan's that looked valuable and/or of significant sentimental value.

[PalusAbel]

"I figured that I had an image to upkeep. It was supposed to be a joke." Sheridan shrugged nonchalantly. "I just had lunch, and I had this condiment gun handy. Guess you didn't find it all that funny." She returned the toy to her desk. "In all honesty, I have to congratulate you for a job well done. I can't imagine that the Angel was in the pink of health, but you did take it down in one shot. Of course, we have to give credit to Gilles, too. Who'd have thought to grab the sucker and keep it from moving? I saw everything on the monitor - damn thing was fast."

Commander Sheridan rose from her chair and walked in front of Ty. "But what was with your performance, dude? I mean, you got a couple of good hits in, but you lost an arm. Those don't grow on trees, you know. And as for you Grace... you didn't do much. I suppose there weren't any opportunities for you to shine, so I guess you need to try harder. Getting back to the woman of the hour, I don't suppose you want to wear that ketchup stain all day? Lonell, give her your handkerchief. That's an order," she finished with a smile. The Vice Commander sighed, fished an embroidered cloth from his pocket and proffered it to Layla.

[garter_snake]

Gilles stood at attention, right hand in salute and the left folded around his back, upon entering the Commander's room. He stayed that way as she pulled out her condiment gun and covered Layla's face in ketchup. As the Commander started to congratulate them them and the Vice Commander lent Layla his handkerchief, Gilles realized that this was probably as close to 'At ease' as they would get, and carefully lowered his right hand.

Gilles kept his left hand where it was. He was wearing a light-grey greatcoat that he had brought from the NUSSR over his plugsuit. It was a bit too large for him, and the pressure from his left arm and belt caused a slight bulge to form in the small of his back.

"Thank you, Commander." Gilles said after the Commander finished speaking. Gilles winced slightly, then continued. "...are we permitted to ask what that missile was?"