Genesis Evangelion - The Case of Ro Sohryu:

Episode 07:

Part 1: Unforeseen Consequences

The quietness of space was all that could be heard as the planet Earth below continued on silently. People rising and falling to sleep, carrying on with their mundane lives. Clouds moved slowly across the green landscape and the oceans of the planet as the winds changed and swayed in natural harmony.

Silently, in one part of the world, the clouds parted in an unusual circular shape, pushed by a physical shockwave that later boomed as the sound followed the wave, expanding outward more and more with every passing second. A bright cross rose from the epicentre and went high into the sky, extending beyond the clouds, which soon began to shift colours from grey into bloody red. They swelled and enveloped a large circular area, spinning slowly into a massive, swirling, blood-red tornado.

Lights flickered brightly surrounding the swelling tornado before dying out, enveloped in the swirling crimson vortex. The grey clouds that were not affected by the colouration were soon dragged into the vortex as it looked like a blood red iris on the planet.


"What?!" Misato exclaimed, standing up straight in the bath.

She held the phone to her ear while hot, steamy water splashed and fell over the side of the bath from her sudden upward movement. The news she had received was still too shocking to believe initially, she stood still as water droplets ran down her naked body, her hand shook a little as she kept the phone to her ear.

"Unit-04 and Branch Two were wiped off the map?!"


The elevator doors opened up for a couple of NERV technicians, both of them quickly getting out of the way and throwing their clipboards into the air as Ro Sohryu slid out on the laminated floor, his white socks giving him a smooth glide between the technicians. Headphones covered his ears, buzzing with loud music and muting any angry response as he slid and slipped along the corridors and around NERV staff who quickly moved out of his way while Ro hummed loudly and played air guitar in just a loose t-shirt and shorts. He slid from one side of the corridor to the next in time with the tune from his headphones. He made his merry way into the monitor room for his Evangelion, taking a desk chair nearby and using its wheels to ride it to the window overlooking the repair of Unit-06 as the prototype engine was being fully installed. Workers had gotten it to about ninety percent installed, a few cables here and then had been all that was left to connect. The rest of the Evangelion looked to be in good shape.

Ro hummed and clicked his fingers as the song entered into a solo phase. The rock guitar instrument strumming its track. He stepped back and turned on the holographic projection, pulling the status screen to his full attention. Tapping on different sections to read them in time with his tune. He then nodded and spun on the chair, pushing it towards the door as the song was coming to an end. Eyes closed, he strummed the final long beat. The chair slowed down as it travelled across the metal floor before gently bumping into someone.

Ro's eyes snapped open as he felt the bump and turned around in the chair, his eyes looked up to see Felia standing there, arms on her hips as she looked down on him. He took his headphones off as he saw her expression. There was a definite problem. He could tell by the expression alone. She was not the usual calm or worried Felia that he knew most of the time. This was stern, business Felia. Something she had rarely showed to his face.

Behind her were two agents, they quickly stepped into the room, one motioned to lead Ro out. The other was quickly walking to the hologram. He complied, more out of confusion than anything else. As he left the room, the agent that had motioned to him followed behind, pointing him in the direction of where he needed to go. He was being escorted away. Something was not right here.


"Ro. I'm sending you to Misato's whilst I'm away." Felia said as she stuffed a couple of socks into her handbag.

"Why? What's going on?" Ro asked.

It had been a frantic hour after Ro had been lead away from Unit-06. Most of that hour of which was Felia packing up most of her stuff, mostly for storage while she would be travelling light with a handbag. And despite her protests, Ro gave his help to her. But he was also concerned. She was not usually like this unless something was very wrong and he had an itching to know what it was. Finally Felia relented giving him some information, if only to calm him down.

"Something's happened with Unit-04 in America. I need to get over there pronto."

"Are the rest of the training pilots ok? But what about Unit-06 here?" Ro asked.

"NERV has it on lock down for now until I can get back. As for the other pilots. I'll have to make sure their ok. I'll be back as soon as I'm able to. Don't worry Ro." Felia said.

Ro huffed and put his hands to his hips. "Right. Lockdown. NERV's not exactly been that great on that front lately. Place has more holes than Swiss cheese."

"Just keep you and your sister safe and follow any orders given. Understand?" Felia asked, looking into Ro's eyes.

"Alright alright. I'll keep an eye on Asuka." He said.

"I'll see you soon. Bye." Felia said, giving Ro a kiss on his forehead before quickly heading out of the door.

Ro looked on for a few moments before a sigh escaped his lips, he pulled out his empty bag and threw it down close by, slowly stuffing it full with his things, taking everything essential he would need at Misato's.


Shinji pulled the bow back and forth slowly across the large Cello's strings as the rain outside fell heavily. He'd been advised to keep up the practice from his teacher before coming to Tokyo-3. Before knowing of Angels and Evangelions. Since his arrival, he hadn't had much time to practice it however. But with everyone else in the apartment gone for the day and the heavy rain outside, it was a good time to bring out the cello and practice for a bit, shake off the rustiness that had already started to settle in. His only audience that he had been comfortable playing in front of was Pen Pen. Who had been lazily laying about on the pillow in front of the television. The soothing tone of the cello's notes were interrupted by the electronic tone of the front door, pulling Shinji into reality sharply.

"Who could that be?" He asked himself loudly, setting the cello aside for the moment, getting up and heading for the door. "Better not be a salesman, had two this week already."

Shinji opened the door, seeing Ro standing before him, drenched by the rain outside. Ro stood up straight, his hair stuck to his face. This had been the second time he showed up with a bag on his shoulder. He looked a little out of breath.

"Hey Shinji. Felia's dumped me off here. Hope it's ok that I can crash here for a while?"

"Ummm yeah sure." Shinji said, stepping aside to let Ro in.

Ro sighed, stepping in. "Thanks."


A circular hologram slowly moved through the time scale from zero seconds to plus ten seconds. Points moved upward from the center point, showing the extensive amount of energy that had vaporised the entirety of the NERV-02 Branch in such a short amount of time. Holographic models that represented Evangelion Unit-04's position along with the main structures were overlaid on top. Showing Unit-04 was directly at the center of the explosion.

"Evangelion Unit-04, its support group. Along with all of the other facilities within an eighty nine kilometre radius were completely destroyed." Maya Ibuki said flatly.

It was an effort to say those words in such a dead-pan tone. Her hand shook as she read the words. She did her best to hold her composure as she spoke. The reality of the Unit-04's destruction had been all too clear and real for her. Misato Katsuragi stood opposite of the screen from Maya. Her arms crossed in front of her as she looked on.

"And our Evas? Tell me their stable." Misato said.

"Unit-00 and Unit-01 are stable. Unit-02 and Unit-06 are currently on lockdown per IPEA orders."

This raised an eyebrow from Misato. "Why is Unit-02 on lockdown?" She asked.

"Felia issued the order shortly before leaving for America. She should be arriving at the location soon." Shigeru stated as he stood beside Misato.

Felia's camera from her location in America was patched through to a screen nearby, the screen was filled with static, but the audio was coming through fine. "Hello? Is the signal getting through?"

"It's coming through fine audio wise. Why's Unit-02 on lockdown?" Misato asked.

"Since Unit-02 is the production model, it shares the same specification set as Unit-06 and Unit-04."

"So are Unit-06 and Unit-02 a danger to NERV?" Misato asked.

"Unless I knew more I can't say anything for definite. I'm heading to the closest lookout base that is functional. It was on the outskirts of the explosion, but it's still inside of the tornado. It's the best we've got so far till this tornado passes. I'll have more information for you later."

With that, Felia's signal cut out, the interference from the tornado becoming too much for the call to remain stable.


Felia lowered the laptop screen after losing the connection, the tornado outside continued to beat down on the vehicle she was in. The vehicle was a large van with the only windows being reserved for the driver, leaving Felia and her fellow passengers with nothing to see but they could hear everything.

Felia took a breath, she had rushed so much in getting here that time spent in the van had let her mind finally check all the things she might've forgotten. She quickly thought through everything, looking over at her passengers as well. They were the inspectors she had hired personally for situations like this. One of the guides that had tagged along was all ready in his protective suit, he tapped her shoulder to signal her to get ready before doing the same to the other passengers.

Felia nodded and slipped into her protective suit, letting one of the other passengers of the van to secure everything in her suit in the tight confines of the isolated vehicle.
Once she had her head inside of the helmet, Felia could hear her own breathing loudly. She did her best to remain relaxed and calm herself. Focusing on keeping a steady breathing pattern.

Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly. In. Out. Keeping the rhythm.

She felt the tap of the guide on her shoulder once more and she put a thumbs up, nodding in acknowledgement. She had done this a couple of times before and knew what to do. Just stay calm, follow the guide and everything will be fine. That was the idea. She buried all of the doubt in her mind into a tiny little box. Hoping it keep it contained safely.

The door before her was soon opened and the rush of the red mist swirled in front of her eyes. The loud rush of wind was muffled mostly by the interior of the helmet. The red particles in the air blew past her outside.
The guide stepped out first, grabbing onto the railing that lead to the outpost, turning back with a light to signal it was ok. Felia went second. Holding onto the rope that bound her to the guide and she stepped out, turning back and giving the same signal to the third member.

The group slowly stepped out one by one. When all was clear, the van closed its door and drove off to safer parts.
The journey took a few minutes to the facility, which had been set up as a lookout over the American base. For the past couple of months it had been her eyes and ears. Now it was all she had for data. The wind picked up as they continued forward and they were forced to slow down, the effort of taking a step was getting more intense. Felia had to remind herself a few times to steady her breathing, to keep composure and to carry on at a relatively calm pace.

Eventually the group reached the facility, the red particles had coated their suits, Felia had to wipe it off her mask to be able to see that they had gotten into the airlock. One by one the group stumbled in. Felia held onto the wall and kept the breathing pattern. It would be over soon, she reminded herself. The airlock closed on them and they were placed in total darkness, a red light came on with a loud sound. The group stood up, no time for rest now. It was time for decontamination. The light changed to blue, most likely ultraviolet rays and then the process began.

The process took a few more minutes, all of which was meant to clean off the red particles that had coated everyone's suits. After the airlock turned green and the decontamination cycles had finished, Felia was lead into the next room, where scientists unsealed her suit, she pulled her head out of the helmet, the bright lights hitting her eyes as she took a gasp of recycled and clean air. It was finally over for now.


The bright lights of the escalators hit Misato's eyes. The multitude of stairs filled the sides of the room as the stairs slowly descended. Guiding her and Ritsuko Akagi slowly down to their destination. Misato leaned against the moving hand rail, looking out to the other escalators.

"Why would they even push through an experiment with Unit-04 when it was less than sixty percent ready anyway?" Misato asked out loud. It was an obvious question, but one that had failed to be asked in the confines of the briefing room.

"The United States were getting ansty from the look of things. After all, Japan's got exclusive possession of four working Evangelions and America certainly didn't want to be set in last place." Ritsuko said, her eyesight never leaving the report she had been reading.

"Is that the reason why they swiped the rights for the construction and retention of Unit-03 and Unit-04? Just because they got jealous?" Misato asked.

"Probably so, even then there were considerable delays getting them constructed. Incidents like Bethany Base and opposition from the anti-Evangelion faction lobbying against them have gotten them to a near standstill." Ritsuko answered.

Misato crossed her arms, shaking her head. "And now they are handing off Unit-03's activation test to us without a test pilot! Isn't it a bit much that we have to supply our own?"

"The American branch is stating that it won't be supplying the candidates from the advanced training course. The American Department of Defence wants to keep being able to say they are maintaining Evangelion pilot training. If nothing else, twenty percent of their national budget is mandatorily allotted to the Eva's and NERV operations."

Misato scoffed at the answer. "Of course, they want to get their own way. All money and no work."


"You cook by yourself?" Ro asked.

Shinji was at the cooker, making some hot noodles for himself. "Yeah. I learned when I was living with my teacher. You don't?"

"I prefer my food hot and pre-made. Or cereal." Ro said before lifting more Udon noodles to his lips.

Ro slowly ate his noodles, a white towel was still slung around his neck, even though his hair was a rightful mess. It had taken about an hour to get him to warm up fully. Shinji sat down with him. Eating his noodles as well.

"So how come your not at school today?" Ro asked.

"They had me in for synch ratio tests and checking the repairs to my Eva earlier so I had the day off. Asuka's doing her checks now actually." Shinji said.

"And you're not keeping her company?" Ro said, his eyes looking at Shinji with slight concern.

"She... Prefers to be alone." Shinji said hesitantly.

Ro chewed on the noodles before pointing his chopsticks at Shinji. "My sister may be a hot-headed and rash Captain. But even she must know the value of co-operation and team synergy at least."

"Synergy?"

Ro looked at Shinji in surprise. "You've never heard of the term? What about cohesion?"

"Can't say I have sadly. Misato says we need to communicate with each other in order to get along so I guess? Not much luck with Asuka though." Shinji answered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Right. Well synergy is how well the individuals get along with each other. Teams with good synergy tend to get group tasks done quicker. Perform better in combat situations. Watching each other's back and so forth." Ro said, his chopsticks moving left and right as he explained the concept.

"Asuka just charges forward and expects me to cover her."

"Then she's expecting you to be her support. To fulfil a role and cover her since she's going head-first into combat. Otherwise it's gonna turn into a fucking mess." Ro said, before finally picking up some more noodles to eat.


"This is a fucking mess." Felia said to herself quietly.

Felia rubbed her sinus' as she sat on the chair. It had been at least a day or so at the outpost now. Most of it she had spent in a small room with more monitors then she could count on one hand and it was getting to her. Her eyes hurt from the lack of sleep. The constant howling of the wind had kept her awake and the different hours meant she was suffering from jet lag too. Glaring before her was all of the paperwork flashed up on the screen. Sectioned off into several categories. Protests, supplies, financing, training reports, research and development documents on the finished S2 engine. All of the information that had been copied over to Germany. And now she had to trawl through it looking for clues to find something that can point to the cause of the explosion.

An assistant came to her side, offering her a hot cup of coffee. The smell permeated the air, drawing her attention to the hot drink. It had been far too long since she drank some. Hours in fact. She took a sip of it before her eyes went wide and she sputtered out the hot liquid as soon as the taste hit her mouth. "You call this coffee?!"

"I call this America." Said the assistant.

Felia grumbled as the assistant left, tossing the vile liquid into the nearest trashcan as soon as the assistant left her sight. The cramped conditions and the terrible coffee were doing little to improve her mood. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, but no ringtone played. She pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was Mari.

"Tell me you have something."

On the other side of the world, Mari was sat on the couch with a laptop on her lap. The holographic cube splayed open in half a dozen layers. Revealing its contents to her.

"It's not much. Just a piece of information that NERV had listed as of high importance. It's in reference to an automated system for the Evangelions that one Doctor Ritsuko Akagi had been developing. It's an evolution of the MAGI's artificial intelligence. I'm still digging into it. But without access to NERV to verify..."

"It's ok." Felia said reassuringly. "You won't need to access NERV for the files. Is there anything else?"

"Yes. Apparently the system had an application of interest from Zodiac. They were interested in using it for an artificial intelligence that can remotely operate under bio-hazardous conditions. They even came up with some rudimentary code. Which so happens to be very similar to Unit-06's computer systems." Mari continued.

Felia lifted her head at Mari's words mention Unit-06. "So that's why they want Unit-06. They think it's using the same code. Any other activity with Zodiac's involvement?"

"No, NERV shut down any interest in the project. But this Dummy System's been around for a long time using the data from the First Child."

"Makes sense. She's been at NERV headquarters the longest. Anything else?"

"No. That's about all I could uncover at the moment, want me to keep looking?"

"Not for now, but keep that entry plug suit ready. We're short on numbers and we need every pilot we can get."

"Will do ma'am."

Felia ended the call suddenly. The mention about Zodiac was troubling. Coupled with the incident of Unit-04 and her mind started to work on a thousand different theories. She started to dig in a little deeper into the files.

Meanwhile at the same time in Japan, Mari continued to stare at the image of the First Child, Rei Ayanami, for a few more moments. She had found it when she was looking through the file. She looked at it like it was someone that she had remembered before. She shook her head gently, muttering something to herself about the image before shutting it down and laying the laptop to one side.


The rain had continued into the night, passing by at dawn to the bright sun. It was midday before the concrete of the city and buildings had started to show signs of being completely dry. Overhead were still a couple of clouds, leftover from the rainy storm the day before.

The clouds drew Asuka's attention as she ate alone in the classroom. Ro had been quiet for most of the day, he had gone to deal with his things in his locker. The idiot Shinji was hanging out with his friends, Toji and Kensuke. Completing the trip of the three stooges. Rei Ayanami wasn't anywhere to be found. As per usual. Probably off getting more brownie points with the Commander.

"Hey Asuka. Mind if I join you?"

Asuka turned away from the cloudy sky and saw Hikari standing in front of her desk with a lunch box in her hand. "Sure."

"Thanks." Hikari said with a smile, pulling up a chair to sit with Asuka. Her desk now a food table. "So how's things?"

"Everything is doing ok. I got some more tests tonight at work to do sadly." Asuka said, sighing as she ate her food.

"Are you gonna be free tomorrow then?" Hikari asked.

"Unfortunately yes." Asuka said.

"Great! Maybe you can help me with something." Hikari said.

She leaned in to whisper something into Asuka's ear. "What?! A date?!" Asuka exclaimed.

"He's a friend of my sisters and really wants to go out with you. Would you please?" Hikari pleaded, bowing her head.


"Oh man! Lunch time is the best thing a guy can look forward to in the day!" Toji exclaimed as he walked with a few sandwiches in his hand.

Shinji walked along side him, carrying his own lunch box. Toji had made it a regular thing to visit the cafeteria to see what food he could buy and they were now heading the staircase to the locker room where Kensuke was.

"What do you mean it BLEW UP?!" Came a loud angry voice.

Surprised at the sudden outburst, both Shinji and Toji picked up their pace to leave the staircase and head into the locker room. As they turned the corner, they could see Ro gripping Kensuke by the collar tightly, dragging the nerdy kid's feet along the marble ground. Ro was snarling, his teeth bared. He was obviously not in a good mood.

"Hey! What are you doing with my friend?!" Toji shouted, handing his lunch to Shinji and stepping forward, rolling up his sleeves.

Ro looked up at Toji. "It's none of your business, you're not an Evangelion pilot." Ro snarled, dropping Kensuke to the floor.

"Yeah! Well he's my friend! So you better back off of him! Or your gonna be dealing with me!" Toji warned.

Ro clenched up his right fist, he spun around, letting out a cry of rage as he slammed his fist into the nearest locker he could aim his fist at. The force of the impact made the metal cave in around his fist slightly, but it still stopped him from punching through. He pulled his right hand back and held it in his left. Gritting his teeth as searing pain shot through his arm. He quickly stomped away as Shinji helped Kensuke up.

"What the hell was that about?" Toji asked, dusting off his jacket.

"He took the news about Unit-04 pretty badly." The otaku said, adjusting his glasses.

"What kind of news?" Shinji asked.

"You didn't know either?" Kensuke asked, turning to Shinji.

Shinji shook his head. "Ummm no. Misato keeps me in the dark about that sort of stuff."

"It blew itself up apparently. Took out the entire second American NERV branch with it. My dad's division has been going nuts about it. Guy must've had friends there."

"Why'd you tell him then?!" Toji said, almost shouting at his friend.

"I didn't know he had friends there did I?" The otaku said, shrugging his shoulder in defence.

"Well maybe this is a good reason to shut the hell up about this stuff!"

As Toji continued to berate his otaku friend on the virtues of silence over secrets, Shinji noted that the locker that Ro had punch was dripping blood, Ro had hit the locker hard enough to cause him to bleed.


Genesis Evangelion - The Case of Ro Sohryu:

Episode 07:

Part 2: Domino

Misato yawned as she approached the elevator. She wearily pressed the call button and focused on keeping herself up straight as it arrived to her floor. Inside was Mokoto Hyuga. Reading a report in his hands.

"Oh. Hello Hyuga." Misato greeted.

"Ma'am." Hyuga said, nodding in acknowledgement.

Misato wearily walked in. The emergency of the day had passed for now and while it still lingered on. The knowledge that everyone else doing their part of enough comfort for her to leave for the night. The lift doors closed behind her and the confined space slowly jolted before moving upward. She propped herself against a wall opposite from Hyuga, crossing her arms. Trying not to fall asleep.

"So I take it you're going to the Unit-01 cage as well?" Hyuga asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Misato's face rose in curiosity "No. Is there something wrong?"

"Oh nothing's wrong Colonel." Hyuga said in a reassuring tone. "It's just that there's a new piece of tech that's just come in from Doctor Akagi's division. I assumed you knew of it."

"Ummm no. What is it?" Misato asked.

"Well its probably best if you saw its installation for yourself."

Misato leaned over the railing as Hyuga stood behind her. Below them was black entry plug, the main access panel was wide open. The Commander, Vice Commander and Ritsuko were huddled in a group discussing among themselves as a large piece of equipment behind the pilots seat was hosted into the new entry plug. Technicians worked away to secure the connections between the pilot's seat and the new equipment.

"It's suppose to be a new support system for the pilot. In emergencies its capable of assuming control of an Eva and generate its own AT-Field. I suppose it's safer this way then purely relying on the pilots." Hyuga explained to Misato.

Misato stood up from the railing, taking a step back and turning to Hyuga.

"Hyuga, keep me informed of any other circumstance where something like this has happened without my knowledge. I don't like being kept in the dark." Misato said in a flat toned order.

"Yes ma'am."


The underside of the black entry plug was a smooth glass panel, underneath shone neon green lettering that spelled out "Dummy system". Gendo's fingertips brushed over the smooth reflective surface. His white glove reflecting back at him as he oversaw its installation.

"How long will the installation take?" Vice Commander Fuyustuki asked. He stood with his hands behind his back.

"At least another couple of hours. It's currently using Rei Ayanami's personality data. But we're still having to iron out the kinks in the system. It's not perfect." Ritsuko replied.

"If the Evangelion accepts the signal and moves then that is good enough." Gendo said. "Unit-03 will be here within the next few days, I leave it in your hands Dr Akagi."

"Yes Sir."

"Have you decided on the testing facility yet Dr Akagi?" The Vice Commander asked.

"We plan on having Unit-03 do its start up tests at Matsushiro Base. Afterwards it will take over Unit-02's position at headquarters. Unit-02 will launch alongside Unit-06 at Gotenba Base given that both Units have the same parts." Ritsuko explained.

"Good. Keep us informed." Gendo said as he started to walk away from the dummy plug.

"I will Commander."

Both commanders left Dr Akagi to her devices, exiting promptly from the Unit-01 cage. As they left, a technician came in with a report for her to check. She nodded and read through it as the technician left her side. As she read though, she picked up on someone watching and looked up at the railing above, seeing Misato stand there for a couple of moments before she turned and left the cage as well.


It took a couple of hours after Misato had left NERV to finally reach her apartment. It was late into the night by the time she walked through the front door. She noted the front room light was still on. She removed her shoes and jacket, walking to her room. Asuka was laying on her back, munching away on a bag of crisps while Pen Pen lay on his side beside her.

"Hey Asuka!" Misato said, trying to sound cheery even though she was tired.

"What's happening?" The red head asked.

"I'm gonna be heading to bed in a bit. Don't you have a date tomorrow?" Misato said as she walked past Asuka to her room.

"With some guy." Asuka replied. Her eyes widened a little as she remembered something and sprung up into a seating position" Oh! Misato! Can I use your lavender perfume?"

"Ah, no." Misato said as she got out of her uniform, throwing the dirty clothes to one side.

"Aw, meanie."

Misato put on a yellow shirt, not even bothering with any sort of bra underneath. "That stuff is not for kids. Is Shinji in his room?"

"He is. Ever since he got home. He mentioned something about tomorrow but I didn't listen to half of it." Asuka said, rolling onto her front and taking a crisp from the packet to munch in.

Misato casually walked past the redhead in her shirt and shorts, walking to Shinji's room. Gently knocking on the door a couple of times.

"Shinji. You awake? It's me. I'm coming in ok?"

Misato didn't hear a reply, so she slowly slid the door open to peer in. It was dark, the only light coming in from the hallway behind Misato.

Shinji was laying on his side, his fingers were curled up, holding the bed sheets tightly.

"Listen. I know what tomorrow is." Misato said gently.

"You've done a lot of brave things and I'm sure your mother will be proud. Don't be nervous about it ok? I'll see you tomorrow. Have a good night." Misato said before slowly sliding the door closed.


Asuka turned the television off as her program finished and lifted her legs. She used the momentum of going forward to get onto her feet and stood up, kicking the cushion to one side of the room gently. Before she headed to towards the kitchen.

She heard the front door go again and noticed Ro slowly walking in. Looking down and a bit pale. His right hand was bandaged around the knuckles. A couple of spots of blood could be seen soaking through the bandages.

"Hey Sis." Ro said quietly.

"What's with the hand?" Asuka asked.

Ro shifted a little. Putting his left hand over his bandaged hand. He'd forgotten to hide it. "I uuhhhh... Had an argument. With a locker. The locker won."

"You idiot. That'll teach you not to argue with metal." Asuka said, turning back to head to the kitchen.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'm gonna go take a lay down. Pretty knackered from today." Ro said, his feet shuffling on the floor to his bed.

He tossed his stuff down in the dark room and collapsed face first into the futon. His eyes looking at the clock nearby as the seconds ticked by, his eyes slowly closing as his body passed into sleep. Hoping his dreams wouldn't be nightmares as his hand throbbed in pain.


Most of the morning had been a blur of the usual routine for breakfast and then staring at the horizon as he travelled with Misato to the graveyard. She tried to make conversation with him, but between still being in a haze from waking up early and not caring much about his father, Shinji was not much of a participant. Soon though, they arrived and Shinji left Misato's car and slowly walked alone.

As Shinji wandered through the mass of graves, he contemplated how many years has it been since he had last came to this place. His memories were really fuzzy concerning his mother. It had been at least a decade since he had last seen her face. He had only been a toddler back then. He kept walking through the rows of grave stones. Stone pillars aligned perfectly next to each other. The amount of graves passed over the hillside and onto the next. Thousands of pillars. Creating a sea of the deceased.

Even amongst the sea of dead, Shinji was not the only living soul. His father knelt at the grave he had been aiming for, placing a bouquet of flowers at the base of the grave stone.

"Dad?"

"Shinji." His father said, turning to him slightly.

Shinji took a couple of steps to join his father's side. "I can't believe you actually came. Do you come here every year?"

His father nodded. "I do."

"You don't have a picture of her do you?" Shinji asked as he stood before his mother's grave.

"No photographs. Even this grave is a pale facade. No body remains." Gendo said.

"Then it's true what my teacher said. You threw everything away."

"Everything about your mother is in my heart and mind. That is all I need for now."

There was a long pause, Shinji couldn't find the words he had wanted to say to his father. His mind had gone blank as he stood in front of his mother's empty grave.
The loud blast of the VTOL's engines suddenly hit Shinji's ears as it started to descend into a clear patch in the graveyard.

"It's time. I'm leaving." Gendo said.

Shinji looked over the VTOL as his father turned to step towards the aircraft, noting the speck of blue hair in the passenger seat. It must've been Ayanami.

"Father!"

Gendo turned towards his son. Staring at him as the blow back from the engines hit the back of his head.

"I'm glad! We got to talk! Today!" Shinji shouted over the engines.

"Indeed." Gendo said back.

Shinji looked up as the VTOL lifted off, watching until it became a speck in the sky. He took a step away from his mother's grave.


Throughout the rest of the day. Misato, Asuka and Shinji all left the apartment to do their own things, giving their goodbyes at the door as they departed one by one.

"Well..."

"See yea..."

"...Later."

Ro waved with his bandaged hand as he held Pen Pen in his good left hand, who let out a quark as the door closed leaving the two of them alone in the apartment. Ro soon put Pen Pen down and walked into the main room. Taking a moment to stretch in the hallway. Letting out a loud yawn.

"You'll be fine. Misato said. Pen Pen doesn't need much supervision she says. Stupid bird." Ro muttered.

Pen Pen waddled past Ro and headed towards the television. Prompting Ro's curiosity as he finished stretching, he watched as the penguin picked up the remote control, then using his beak to change the channel onto a nature program about penguins. Pen Pen dropped the remote and laid onto his side on a nearby cushion, watching the program.

Ro turned away, shaking his head. "Huh. I take it back. That bird's pretty damn smart."

Pen Pen turned back to Ro, who saw that he had the bird's attention and leaned out from behind the corner. Pen Pen's eyes slowly closed a little. A slight sound came from Pen Pen's beak.

"Heh. I'm just gonna... Do my own thing and let you be." Ro said as he slowly withdrew from Pen Pen's sight.

Pen Pen slowly turned back to his program. Content with watching his fellow penguins enjoy the ice cold water as they swam around on screen.


The noise of the restaurant was loud as people chatted and ate amongst themselves. Busy with their own conversations as music played from old stereos. Hot food along with drinks of many variety moved along as waiters brought them to the table.

In one corner, a cup was slammed into the table, making the plates and bowls clink and shake. Misato Katsuragi leaned over the table with her cheeks and nose a bright pink from the large quantity of alcohol she had already consumed.

"So I find out that I was the last person contacted about Unit-04 and then this new dummy system they installed into Unit-01? What the hell is NERV up to not telling me about it? It just rubs me the wrong way!" She shouted in a drunken slur.

Kaji sat across from her, he remained calm in light of Misato's drunken outburst. "The system is a top secret project of Ritsu's. Command probably would've told you when it was ready. The incident with Unit-04 has bumped up the schedule."

"Shinji and the others. Are they really just pawns in a game? To be used as and when? Tossed aside on a whim?" Misato questioned in her drunken state.

"You're saying your better with the kids in the cockpits?" Kaji asked.

Misato didn't answer him. Her eyes looking elsewhere. She was still battling the issue. This moment of silence was enough to bring her temper down.

"You know the price of military tactics. Some may see the price of keeping humanity safe as being worth the cost of the shit we have to put them through. Some think they shouldn't have that burden at all." Kaji said.

"And you?" Misato asked, looking at him.

"Not for me to decide Misato." Kaji said.

Misato sighed and leaned on one arm, she'd calmed down. Kaji swung the cup in his fingers. The ice cubes clinked inside as the liquid swirled around. "This is our first meal in years, and all we do is talk about work."

Kaji sat the cup down, leaning back into his seat. The people outside were in their own little worlds. But Misato's phone ringing in her bag was clear for them to hear over the traditional karaoke music. His eyes looked over Misato's body as she leant over to her bag and picked up her phone.

"Hello? Yeah. I'll make my decision soon." Misato said.

"That Ritsu?" Kaji asked casually.

Misato ended the phone call quickly, looking up at him, her cheeks still pink from the alcohol. "Yeah. She's been pestering me to choose a candidate for Unit-03."

"It is your decision after all as Chief of Operations." Kaji said.

Misato looked down at her phone. "I'm not sure whether to follow the Marduk report or to pick from our own set."

"If you want to look for the full list of potential candidates for the Marduk report. Look up code 707."

"Huh? But that's Shinji and Asuka's school." Misato said.

"That's all the Marduk report really is."

Misato lowered her head slightly. "Human Instrumentality." She paused to look up at Kaji. "What is NERV really doing behind the scenes? What else don't I know about?"

"Honestly? Pulling a lot of strings. Ones that even we are tied to. Other than that, I don't know myself. Wish I did though." Kaji said quietly, sipping his drink. The sound of a distant horn from a train ran through the air and mingled with the rest of the restaurant.


The train sounded its horn as it ascended from the Geofront towards the city above. The train carriage was empty except for Gendo and Fuyutsuki. The orange light of the Geofront slipping into its night-time setting filled the carriage. Fuyutsuki sat opposite Gendo, reading the global section of his newspaper, one of the pages showed the local spin on Unit-04 as being a freak tornado that was carrying tons of debris.

"The Committee seemed pretty alarmed by the loss of Unit-04. What did you tell them?"

"With the facts. We don't know the cause and an investigation by the IPEA is underway. Anything else is out of our hands." Gendo answered, his chin resting on his hand as he continued to look out at the Geofront.

"SEELE must be busy rewriting the Dead Sea Scrolls as we speak."

"The Scrolls are merely a guide. They are not set in stone. This will teach the old men a lesson."

"And that is?" Fuyutsuki said, looking up from his paper.

"Nothing is absolute. Chaos has a way of changing even minor aspects of the plan." Gendo said.

"But without order, chaos would just lead into anarchy."

"Which is the paradox, order trying to control chaos into to have both spontaneity and order."

"So how will that apply to us with our current situation?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"We will improvise and adapt. As humankind as done so many times before." Gendo said before the train ploughed into darkness as it entered a tunnel leading to Tokyo-3.


"Hey! I'm home!" Shinji called out as he stepped into the apartment. Nobody answered him as he took his shoes off and stepped inside. He looked down the hallway and saw nobody, he slowly walked into the main room, finding Pen Pen asleep in front of the television. He'd been watching it again. But the window to the balcony was open, the window gently blowing the curtains. Ro was standing outside, leaning on the railing.

"Hey. What are you doing out here?" Shinji asked as he got closer.

Ro looked out across the city before him, seeing the mass of grey buildings before him. He took a few moments to respond, listening to the wind gently blow past him. "A lot of people died in America yesterday. Can probably imagine that they'll have a place like that graveyard soon for them too."

As he spoke his words slowly, Shinji heard every word sinking in. The sudden pang hitting him as he understood that a large amount of people had lost their lives. Things began to fall into place inside of Shinji's mind. The reason why Ro had come by to Misato's. The way he had acted at school. It all began to make much more sense.

"It kind of hits you like that doesn't it? When you suddenly think of all the people in this city. What would happen to them if we failed. What happens to the rest of the world if we failed. Pretty massive weight on us when you think of it." Ro said almost rhetorically.

Shinji found it difficult to say anything. How could he?

"I uhhhhh... wanted to apologise about yesterday." Ro said, turning his head to one side. His injured hand resting on the railing to one side.

"It's alright. You feeling better?" Shinji asked.

"Not really. Feel like I got side-swiped you know?"

"You better come in. It's pretty cold out there." Shinji suggested.

"In a bit. I mean, in a minute. Just want some along time ok?"

Shinji nodded slowly. "Sure. I'll cook something up."

"Thanks."


The door opened and Asuka looked in with a scowl on her face. Her heels were kicked off into the wall beside her, the heels bouncing off and chaotic strewn about the welcome home carpet. She walked on in a care to set them right.

She stomped into the hallway, grumbling to herself as she walked past Shinji and Ro in the kitchen and headed straight for the bathroom. Shinji was about to call out to her when Ro trapped his shoulder and shook his head to stop him.

Asuka soon appeared from the shower about thirty minutes later, clad in just a couple of towels as steam escaped from the room. Her face was more relaxed. By now Shinji was in his room while Ro sat and watched television. Watching the international news.

"So how was your date?"

Asuka sighed. "Ugh. Terrible."

"That bad huh?" Ro said. Keeping his eyes on the television screen.

"The guy couldn't find any words to say to me. So I ended up taking the train home when he went to get in line for the roller coaster."

"That sounds pretty harsh." Ro said.

Ro switched the news to a different channel. But it was more of the same. The tornado in America being passed off as a freak weather event. But he knew what was going on.

"Your still watching the news about that tornado? Who cares about a bunch of Americans? We've got Angels here that need killing that deserve more attention than that." Asuka said.

Ro turned off the television and took a deep breath. The pang of anger welled up in him and it rose to a sharp peak. But he breathed out, reminded himself that she didn't know. Nor was he gonna put her into her place for it. No matter how deserving it felt to do it.

Ro stood up quietly. Tossing the remote control to Pen Pen and walked into his room without uttering a word. He shut the door firmly and laid on his futon.

He stared up at the ceiling. His left hand under his head. His bandaged right hand at his side. It throbbed in hot pain occasionally. A nearby fan blew warm air over his body and face, slight sweat beads dripped down from his forehead. The room was warm and he was slowly melting. But he remained still. Forcing himself to bare through the discomfort. The light bulb above him was blinding. But like the temperature of the room, he didn't care one bit. His eyes were focused on the ceiling. Examining the wood that criss-crossed the walls and ceiling. Focusing his attention to a single object. His hand throbbed again, reminding him that his body was still there. He slowly moved his right hand up towards the light. Feeling the pain, but ignoring it and pushing on. Fingers outstretched. The light shone down between his fingers, reaching out as if to grab the light and hold it tightly.

"I'm still alive. I'm Ro Sohryu and I'm... still alive." He muttered to himself.

He clenched his bandaged hand tightly into a fist.


Felia rubbed her eyes, yawning from another night full of howling winds and lack of sleep. She turned on the monitor and looked over the data once again in the confined data room. She had made it her personal quarters for her stay. Staying separate from everyone else. It was dark, her face lit by the brightness of the screen. The data before her were observation reports on the support group for Unit-04. Observed by the IPEA agents she had sent there personally. The horrible thoughts of whatever was left of their bodies reached into the back of her mind as she slowly woke up. She had sent them there and they died for it. What kind of Commander could she be if losses like this were hitting her this hard? Especially when they were still fresh in her mind.

She scrutinised the data again. Studying the timeline. The Commander of the facility, the pilots, the S2 engine that she had worked so hard for had left hours before the incident. Transferred to the 01 Branch in Massachusetts. But no transport log was made at their destination. They never arrived. It was like they had vanished into the unknown. Something was not right. The last log mentioned something about another set of transports coming in. The words: "Possible construction supplies?" and "Dummy system?" were all that was left.

The IPEA agents didn't know about a supply shipment coming in? Or even about a new system that was Ritsuko's pet project? That wasn't right at all. They knew all of the supplies that were incoming at all times. This was unscheduled. The last log was dated a full fifty nine minutes before the facility was destroyed. Almost an entire hour that nothing was reported.

Felia stood up from her seat. It was time to leave. She left the small data room and walked out to the main observation room. There were a few staff still working on collecting data from what they could in the weather. She walked briskly past them, hitting the small makeshift cafeteria that had been made in the largest of the rooms. Some of the staff had settled for a sleeping bag along the wall. She spotted the guide sipping coffee and tapped him on the shoulder. Her face was stern, but she didn't say a word, just a thumb pointed at the exit. He nodded. Gulped down the last off his coffee and walked off to get ready.

It was time to leave.


In the silent emptiness of space, the young boy with silver white hair and crimson eyes stood on the finger of the giant. Tabris, or rather the name he was given by SEELE: Kaworu Nagisa, lifted his hands towards the blue and green planet called Earth before him, his right thumb pressing the button on his left wrist. The loose plug suit he was wearing quickly conformed to his body's shape and contours tightly, removing any creases from his suit with a slight hiss as the suit vacuumed out all of the space inside the suit. He took in a deep breath through his nose, resting his crimson eyes on the planet before him.

"The time is almost here. The song of the first act will be ending soon. I hope there is enough time for me to enjoy its encore."


End

A notice to all readers:

Every chapter will generally be released every 1-2 weeks. So stay tuned for the next chapter of Genesis Evangelion when its next released!