Shinji was dreaming, a strange dream full of shadows and flashes of red. He felt a weight pressing on his chest and in the distance came the sound of rolling thunder.

His eyes flashed open, and he remembered where he was. He lay on his back on the couch in the living room of his apartment, given to him by NERV while he piloted. He looked down and realized the weight on his chest came from his wife, lying with her head against his chest, fast asleep. Reaching his arm up, he brushed her hair away from her face, caressing her cheek as he did so. She moved at his touch, and slowly came awake.

"Good morn-" his greeting was cut off by the sound of someone knocking at the door, the thunder that had invaded his dream.

"Sonuva-" he muttered, looking at his watch. "Eight in the morning. Can't they leave us alone for a day?"

"Don't worry, Shinji. I'll take care of it," Shion arose, straightened her blouse and skirt, and moved towards the door. Shinji sat up, adjusted his shirt, and got up to see who it was.

Shion rubbed the last vestiges of sleep from her face, took a deep breath, and opened the door. In front of her was a purple-haired woman, wearing a red jacket over functional black military garb. The only accessory she wore was a small silver cross around her neck.

"Oh, you must be Shion. I'm Major Misato Katsuragi from NERV. I came by to drop off some stuff for Shinji," Katsuragi said.

"Yes, I'm Shion Ikari. Come in, come in. We were just about to start breakfast. Won't you join us?" Shion invited.

"I'm afraid that's not possible. I'm needed back at HQ immediately. Thank you for the offer though; I may take you up on it next time." Katsuragi graciously declined. She offered a bag to Shinji, bowed and walked back out.

"By the way, I live one floor up. Stop by anytime," she said. Then she walked away and around the corner to the stairwell.

"She seems nice," Shion commented as she shut the door. "What's in the bag?"

Shinji opened the bag and started pulling its contents out and laying them on the dining table. A dark uniform with a major's insignia, a blue, black, and white armored body suit, and a holster with a pistol soon lay spread out over the table.

"What's the body suit for? Is that what you wear when you pilot?" Shion asked, poking through it. "Go try the uniform on though."

Shinji took the uniform from the table into the bedroom. Five minutes later he returned. Shinji looked in disbelief as her husband stood in front of her. He wore black slacks, with a deep red dress shirt tucked into them. Over that he wore a black dress coat with red highlights. Belted around his waist was a black belt with a silver buckle. Black socks filled in black boots to finish the outfit. His major's insignia flashed in the light as he turned around for her.

"Well?" he asked, as her jaw slowly picked itself up from the floor.

"I… uh… damn, you look good in that," she managed to get out.

"If only you could see your face right now," Shinji laughed. "I'll go change if it's that distracting."

He walked back into the bedroom. He got the jacket and shirt off when the door opened behind him.

"Let me help you get that off," Shion said in a seductive voice.

Soon both of them were undressed and in the bed.

An hour later, Shinji was in the kitchen making breakfast while Shion had a shower. He looked over the stuff on the table again, noting the make and condition of the gun.

"Hmm, Heckler & Koch USP, .40 S&W rounds. Roughly 750 grams, just under 200 millimetres in length, with 13 round magazines. It's a good choice for a sidearm," he mused over the weapon. "I'm just curious as to why they think I need it."

He went back to the stove, finished making their breakfast and served it on the table, clearing off the bodysuit and the pistol. Shion came out of the bathroom, wearing a white blouse with a black skirt, with a small yellow scarf wrapped around her neck. She kissed him on the cheek, wrinkling her nose at his stubble. They ate breakfast together, continuing their conversation from the night before.

After a bit, they decided that they would phone Keiichi and Mion and get them to bring their stuff down in a cube van.

Shion cleared the dishes as Shinji packed the body suit back into the bag. As he did so, an envelope fell out of it onto the ground. Opening it up, Shinji grimaced. Inside were orders to be at NERV headquarters at 0800h for synchronization tests with the Eva.

As Shion ran through the logistics of moving with her sister, Shinji trimmed his beard and got ready for the day. They spent the rest of the day rearranging the apartment and swept for bugs, removing the ones they could reach and disabling the ones they couldn't.

At 0730h the next day, Shinji and Shion made their way to NERV. Shinji was dressed in his uniform (much to Shion's delight), and Shion was dressed in functional black pants and a navy blue blouse. Shinji wore the H&K USP40 on his hip, though he kept the holster strapped shut. Shinji carried the bag that Katsuragi had given him, slung over his shoulder as though he were going to the gym.

Soon they reached the testing chamber, where they were greeted by Major Katsuragi, Lieutenant Hyuga, Dr. Akagi, and two other aides. One of them, a disgruntled looking middle-aged man with shoulder-length hair, introduced as Shigeru Aoba, looked at Shion.

"Who's the whore?" he snarked.

Shion abruptly took two steps back from Shinji and the man. Aoba looked at her in confusion, and then back at Shinji. And then his face exploded in pain. Shinji's fist retracted, covered in blood. His eyes were cold as ice, and in the light looked like the eyes of a shark, devoid of emotion.

"I'd appreciate it if you referred to my wife as Shion or Mrs. Ikari from now on." Shinji's voice was hard as steel.

"Y-yes, sir," came the pained response, as Aoba held his hand to his nose.

"If you're quite done assaulting my assistant, Major, perhaps we can get started. You'll need to get changed into your plug suit. There is a locker room just down the hall, and on the other end of it is the entrance to the Eva cage. We'll meet you there," Major Katsuragi said.

"Yes, ma'am," Shinji acknowledged the order.

He took his bag into the locker room, opened it up. Taking out the plug suit, he laid it off to the side. Stripping down, he hung up his uniform on a hanger, placing it in a locker with his name on it. As he got into the plug suit, he noticed that it was extremely baggy. The only part of it that wasn't extremely loose was the armoured chest plate. Shinji sighed and put the connector clips on his head.

He walked out into the Eva cage. Shion, Dr. Akagi, and Major Katsuragi immediately burst into laughter. Aoba and the other assistant started to laugh as well, but Aoba had to stop as his nose started bleeding again.

"Here, let me help you with that, Shinji," Dr. Akagi came over to him and pushed a button on the wrist.

The plug suit made a loud sucking noise and vacsealed itself against every inch of Shinji's body. After it was finished, the suit was skin-tight, and showed off every inch of muscle that Shinji had. Major Katsuragi and several of the female technicians swarming over Eva Unit 01 began giving catcalls, while Shion just rolled her eyes at them. Aoba looked impressed, and more than a little wary. Dr. Akagi got everyone settled down and back to work.

"Alright, Shinji. Climb in and we can get started," she ordered.

Shinji climbed into the entry plug. It was inserted into Eva 01.

"Hello, Shinji. I'm Maya Ibuki. I'm going to be running most of the system checks and everything," the female assistant's voice came from the headpiece.

"Alright, Miss Ibuki," replied Shinji.

"Please, call me Maya. Anyways, prepping for LCL flooding. We'll be started in just a minute."

Shinji relaxed in the cockpit.

"Flooding entry plug with LCL. Neural connection established. Connections one through fourteen are showing green. Plug depth at…" Maya's voice dropped off.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Dr. Akagi and Shion asked simultaneously.

"Nothing is wrong, per se. But I'm showing plug depth at ninety-eight," Maya breathed out. "He's bordering the point where he and the Eva become one, but he's keeping his mind in control. Two points further and the line between Eva and human would be smashed. The Eva would be in control, not him."

"But he is in control, right?" asked Shion.

"He has absolute control. His mind is his own, and the Eva is an extension of his body." Dr. Akagi explained. "He's safe, unless he tips over the threshold."

Shion deflated in relief. Until the main viewscreen flashed red.

Blood Pattern: Blue

4th Angel Detected

"Well, at least he's ready to go," remarked Katsuragi. "Major Ikari, prepare for launch. We need to deal with this now."

"I want to see what I'm going to be dealing with first. Prepare the Eva for launch, but hold off until we've seen what we're up against," Shinji countermanded. "Bring up footage of the Angel for me."

The fourth Angel came flying in from over the ocean. It was an ugly creature, reminiscent of a prawn, with an orange carapace and eight small legs rippling through the air. Easily visible underneath a rudimentary ribcage was the core. Two small holes in the sides of the carapace could be seen.

A squadron of fighters engaged it, firing missiles and machine guns without relent. Explosions surrounded the beast, and flashes of ricochets could be seen from where the bullets glanced off its carapace.

Out of the holes on its side, two glowing whips emerged. One lashed out and wrapped around one of the fighter jets, constricting around it until the fighter was sheared in half. The other one flicked into another fighter, connecting with the fuel pod, resulting the destruction of the craft.

The whips kept lashing out, until the entire squadron had been destroyed.

"Is it possible to quickly reinforce the armour on the Eva's hands?" Shinji asked, an idea forming in his mind.

"We can add plating but it will take several minutes," replied Dr. Akagi.

"Start on it now," Shinji said. "Delay that thing as long as you can."

He relaxed and formed his battle plan in his head.

Turrets popped out of buildings, unleashing torrents of fire upon the Angel. Anything that came near the core was deflected by the Angel's AT field. Everything else merely glanced off of the carapace. The whips started flashing again, shearing through turrets and buildings alike, destroying everything it deemed hostile.

"We're ready!" shouted Aoba.

"EVA LAUNCH!" Shinji ordered.

The platform the Eva stood on flashed upwards, leaving Katsuragi, Akagi, Shion and the technicians behind.

"Quickly, to the command center," barked Katsuragi.

Above the Geofront, ruined buildings surrounded the Angel. It leisurely moved away from the carnage, floating towards its ultimate destination.

Underneath it, a hatch in the street opened. Out of it leapt Eva Unit 01, directly towards the Angel.

"Target's designation is Shamshel, Major. It looks like you'll have an open shot to the core," came the voice of Major Katsuragi.

"Yeah, right. Since when is it that easy?" replied Shinji.

As he moved up, he pulled one of his prog-knives out of its mount, and stabbed towards the core. He missed and sheared off the tip of one of the legs instead, imbedding the knife in the carapace.

The Angel grabbed Unit 01 by the leg with an energy whip. It swung the whip in an arc, throwing the Eva across the city. The armour on the leg hissed and bubbled where the whip had grabbed it.

"Hmm, probably is a good idea to minimize contact with the whips," murmured Shinji. "Good thing we reinforced the armour on the hands."

He rolled to the side as the energy whips sailed towards him. They scored twin ruts in the hillside where he had just been laying moments before. He moved to a marked armoury, grabbed the rifle from inside, and held it loosely at his side in one hand.

"Hmm, scaled up Howa Type 89. It's good to feel a product of home in one's hands."

The whips lashed forth again. However this time, Shinji was ready. He reached out and caught the whips with one hand, braced against the building, and pulled the Angel towards him. Suppressing the Angel's AT field with his own, he rammed the muzzle of the rifle against the core and pulled the trigger twice. Two bursts of three bullets cracked open the core, and the Angel reared back in pain. Shinji pressed his advantage, entangling the Angel within its own tendrils, and fired another salvo directly into the core. It exploded in a torrent of blood, and the Angel followed suit.

The main screen stopped flashing.

4th Angel Destroyed

As Eva Unit 01 had repair work begun on it, Shion met Shinji outside of the Eva cage.

"You kind of stink," she wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah, LCL isn't the greatest stuff to take a bath in," he smiled. "I'll clean up, and then we can go. I think we're done here."

Deep underground, Gendo Ikari stood in front of a massive tank.

"It's time."

Author's Note: Again, thanks to BakaLyte from for reviewing.

Okay, when I asked for a way to contact you if you left a review, I didn't really want the reviews to stop. Seriously, if you sign in with your account, I can PM you regarding your review and we can talk about what you think are weak/strong points, ideas, etc.

Please, keep the reviews coming. If you don't want to sign in, that's fine. But ultimately what will make this fic better is feedback and the exchange of ideas between us.

Sincerely,

Ken

P.S. Three weeks until my sister's wedding, so I apologize in advance if my chapters don't come every Wednesday.