"What's the situation?" Misato Katsuragi asked.
"No response to the commands we've sent. We have yet to confirm whether it's a system issue!"
"Have MAGI run a system check! See if you can get it to fix the problem and remotely guide the units back into orbit!"
Misato Katsuragi shouted, and Maya Ibuki quickly issued the order through MAGI Unit-03. A system response soon arrived.
"MAGI has reached a conclusion. It says the operating systems of all five EVA Angels are refusing remote access. Chief Angel has already left orbit, and its current location is unknown."
"How did this happen!?" Misato Katsuragi froze. "What about the other four Angels?"
"Chief Angel, Mighty Angel, Authority Angel, and Great Angel have gone offline one after another. They're about to leave orbit."
"Is there any way to see what's happening to them right now?"
"We have orbital satellites near the EVA Angels' operating orbits," Ritsuko Akagi said. "They can capture images of the EVA Angels' locations."
"I'll leave it to you." When it came to technical matters, the Commander-in-Chief trusted her Deputy Commander completely.
Ritsuko Akagi quickly brought up the images on the main screen.
"Metallic debris detected, with fragments scattered throughout the area. Based on the spectrum, MAGI has determined that they belong to the five EVA Angels."
"Were they shot down?" Shinji Ikari asked. The images certainly looked like fragments scattered after a metal object had been shattered.
But what could do something like that?
Shoot down five EVA Angels with AT Fields without anyone noticing-could it have been an Angel?
As far as he knew, no Angels had appeared in the three years since the battle at Headquarters.
After so many peaceful days, he had thought those creatures had vanished for good.
That was why the various nations were dissatisfied