May 3, 2019 - Nerv-Japan Headquarters, Sengokuhara, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

Shinji was pulling Rei's hair again, and Rei was fussing. "Stop that, you brute," Yui mumbled, leaning back from her desk and regarding the playpen with a glare. Shinji continued to tug at the locks, and Rei continued to mewl, not really doing much to defend herself. Yui rolled her eyes, and left her desk. Time for a mommy break.

It wasn't that Shinji was mean, but he was curious, and his little sister was just so interesting. No other child had red eyes, or blue hair, or skin so white, so he kept poking and pulling and prodding at her like she was a teddy bear, trying to figure out what made her tick. Rei was less than amused by the attention, and was becoming a real mama's girl to escape the abuse. Yui grabbed Shinji, muttering, "Come here, you jerk," and picked up the boy. He whined a bit, being removed from his activity, and Rei began to get weepy, bobbing up on her legs and raising her arms. It was simply too much to be picked on, then not be the one to receive attention.

Gendo entered the office, and Yui cheered. "Oh, good. Reinforcements. Take this thing," she ordered, handing the boy to Gendo. The man made a face, caught off guard and hesitant to hold his son while wearing a uniform. The boy threatened to cry being removed from his mother, and then he found Gendo's beard, and made himself busy by tugging at it.

"Is he picking on Rei again?" Gendo asked, ignoring the little fingers hooked into the beard. He had fallen asleep plenty of times as his son endeavored to pull the thing out by the roots, so having him do it while awake was little concern.

"Only because he likes her," Yui said. "He'll be an affectionate brother, assuming she can survive him for the next couple of years." She picked up her daughter, who immediately hid her face against her mother's neck.

Shinji had by now worked Gendo's glasses off of his face. Gendo let him play with the specs, which were durable enough to survive a weight being dropped on them, much less a 18-month old child. "I came by to ask how the Evangelion papers are coming."

"They're coming, when I don't have to play peacekeeper," she sighed, turning back to the desk and sliding some sheafs around with her free hand. It was time's like this she seriously considered dropping them off in the daycare, but she always fought that instinct down. "I've figured out how to take the initial culture we developed with Rei, and boost it more towards Lilith than me to get something a bit more…well, in your line of work." She snuggled Rei, thinking how odd it was that such a gentle and sweet thing was basically the prototype for what she was conceiving in this office.

Gendo glanced over her work, and saw something scribbled on the side. "What's this mean? Pilot?"

"I don't like the idea of using living, thinking weapons," Yui sighed, "It's too uneasy a line for me between living organism and slave. I think I can create something that will mimic a living creature but require a source to work. You know…a pilot."

"That sounds like more work and more time," Gendo said. It was a reasonable question, and one she would be asked herself.

"If we fight the Others, we need to do it as humans. We have to make concessions, yes, but too many and we won't be able to go back. This is as close to a compromise as I can figure," she explained.

The office door opened again, and Kyoko entered. "How's Master Blaster and Mini-Me?" she asked.

"Spoiling for a fight, and stop calling her Mini-Me!" Yui hissed. "Here, go bother Aunt Kyoko for a spell." She handed Rei over, who regarded the other woman with wide eyes. As soon as the transfer was complete, she resumed her policy of hiding her face against her latest handler. "Traded one mommy hiding place for another. Traitor," she crooned, scratching the little girl's back.

"Naoko wanted to let you know about the figures she was running through MAGI on the other nine little monkeys," Kyoko said, smiling. Yui's face went wooden; Kyoko had given her a forced smile. Her friend sighed, abandoning her attempt to be cheery. "I'm sorry, Yui, but we still can't understand it. Rei's so resilient, but remove the others from the LCL culture for too long…" Kyoko shrugged. "I mean, MAGI is crunching numbers and then some. There's still a chance to find out why they're…doing what they do."

"It doesn't make sense," she sighed. It truly didn't. On a genetic level, Rei and her sisters were perfect copies. And yet, Rei was like a rubber ball. Yui had remembered when the little girl and Shinji were up and starting to get some scoot in their walking. Rei had run head first into the corner of a coffee table and cut the skin on her nose between her eyes. She screamed bloody murder, Shinji cried because he didn't know what was happening, and Yui had called Gendo in terror saying that Rei was bleeding and she was going to die and he needed to do something right now. It was a complete 'new mother breakdown' reflex, and the trip to the infirmary had been more relaxed. Expecting to give Rei her first stitches, the doctor was confused as to why she came. There was blood, but no wound.

After a series of very strenuous experiments (for Yui, that was—she was reluctant to subject Rei to anything else following the coffee table), it was determined that Rei's body had a highly adaptive and hyperactive autoimmune system and restructuring abilities. Kyoko theorized that if the girl was to lose a limb or even an organ, the lost item would regenerate in time.

Her sisters were not nearly so lucky. When removed from their tanks, they would begin to develop signs of neurological decay. One girl nearly suffered organ failure, and two had gone into cardiac arrest, truly terrifying moments for Yui. And yet, when placed immediately back in their tanks, they were fine.

That was all well and good, as the LCL was oxygenated and kept at a warm, comforting temperature. For Yui, that wasn't good enough. She had taken to spending Sundays in what was called the 'super-tank,' where she could immerse herself in LCL and actually touch and interact with the other nine. Dr. Anno's contuining research into LCL had determined that it could be 'breathed' when cycled and oxygenated. Breathing liquid was odd the first time she had done it, but Yui had done it so often that it was as natural was walking now. Kyoko, who had become the primary researcher of the 'little monkeys,' also used the tank, trying to condition them to human interaction as much as possible, considering they couldn't do so like normal children.

"It doesn't make sense," Gendo agreed. He wasn't a biologist by any stretch, but he understood enough from listening to Kyoko and Yui, and discussing his wife's research with her. "Considering their identical genetics. Maybe it's something more intrinsic. Have you considered the nature of their AT Fields?"

"Yes, but we simply lack the ability to understand how one works over the other at this time," Kyoko explained. "I did tell Naoko to account for that in MAGI's calculations," she said to Yui, "So maybe we'll see what the results are from that." Yui nodded, tired suddenly. She nuzzled her daughter from the back, and the girl whimpered, feeling her mother's unhappiness.

"Is Asuka in the daycare?" Yui asked, changing the subject.

Kyoko nodded."Probably setting something on fire. I think she's smarter than the staff down there, and with a matching aptitude for destruction." Kyoko sighed. Yui retrieved Rei.

"Bring her up here. Drop her in with these two, that'll be fun for them," Yui said.

"Yui, that would be way too much noise for you to work to, and I don't want to make you watch Asuka," Kyoko sighed. Yui shrugged.

"You'll be closer to her if she's here than all the way over at the center, and it gives you an excuse to drop by more often," Yui insisted. Martin would have been the one watching Asuka, but he had heard of opportunities in Nerv for former military men. Kyoko couldn't disagree with his curiosity, as it could double their income. While he was being put through psychological evaluations, background checks, the whole nine yards, Asuka had been sent to stay with her mother at work.

Gendo put his boy back down in the pen, saying, "Kyoko, since you're here, could I ask you to watch the kids a moment while I steal my wife for a few minutes?"

"Certainly," she said, as Yui put Rei next to her brother. He went back to tugging at her hair, but she merely began sucking her fingers, remarkably more tolerant of his attentions this time.

Yui followed Gendo into the hallway, walking with him a ways. "I need your professional opinion for our budget report," he said.

"That's why you wanted to talk about the Evangelion Project?" she asked. He said nothing, but he didn't have to. "Each unit is, in all likelihood, going to be in the range of 140 feet by 200 feet tall."

"Good God," he murmured. "What exactly are these Messengers were expecting?"

"Awful. Sheer, miserably awful. I only got glimpses of them, but those shadows linger with me," Yui said. She closed her eyes, making a second calculation. "If your thinking paddocks, give them 70 feet by 35 feet. That will be sufficient for them standing; I'd be hesitant to make something that big lie down. We'd have to come up with some sort of combination of suspension system and LCL pooling system to take weight off them when they're down and regenerating."

"How much LCL do you anticipate each unit having?"

"Something in the range of 2.2 million gallons…each. We can afford that, right?" He grimaced.

"I'll run the reports by Gehirn," he sighed. Nerv was actually part of a two-branch organization. Translating from German into 'nerve,' the Nerv Group was what could be considered Research and Development, Intelligence, and Tactical Operations. The Gehirn Council, translating into 'brain,' was the central directorate for all Nerv operations, including a Finance Division, Policy Group, and it's own Research and Development branch. It was based in Frankfurt, and there was no secret the group was beholden to its chairman, Lorenz Kihl. That would be a problem; Kihl was sore at Gendo over the firefight concerning Lilith's remains. He had demanded that all research findings, samples, even Rei and her siblings, be moved to the Nerv facility that had been constructed in Cologne. He almost had his way, too: being a German meant a lot these days, especially when one had the influence of Kihl. France had been knocked down significantly followed the Marseilles Outbreak, and being the primary European force to deploy to Africa in containment operations, the traditional powerhouse of Europe found it easier to hand decisions in the European Union over to its traditional rivals. With a massive economy, huge military force, and stable social situation, it was now said that to get to Brussels, go by way of Berlin.

"I'm amazed that they can get so large," he commented. "Lilith was not very big in comparison."

"She was a living encyclopedia of genetic potential," Yui said. "One little sample of her flesh, combined with human cells, can, with the right push, create anything we want. Honestly, we could probably fund the whole thing ourself based just on the medical patents we can come out with."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you heard of the issue with prosthetics and Darrow Deficiency Syndrome?" Gendo nodded. Essentially, any prosthetic that was required to feel required a sympathetic nervous response from the host's brain and nervous system. Unfortunately, the technology used to create those junctions between artificial and natural nerves could not prevent the body's natural rejection of the foreign object, building glial nerve tissue and scarring around the intrusive object. DDS was the result of that rejection, a gradual collapse of the nerves similar to Lou Gehrig's Disease.

"What if I told you that as a side affect…a side affect…of our research, we've found a way to permanently do away with DDS without the use of constant and costly drug therapy?"

"You have something like that," Gendo said, flatly. It was news to him, but he was surprised and pleased. Yui nodded, smiling.

"We drop a line to Sarif, and the Americans, who already adore us, will back us up in anything that has to happen in Gehirn."

Gendo smiled. "Sarif has to be over the moon for you by now. He'll definitely want to steal you away by the end of the year."

"I'm not doing this for him, lover, I'm doing this for you. And us. And Shinji. And especially Rei." Yui fixed her husband with a deadly look. "I will not forget or forgive that man for trying to take them away." Gendo stopped, seeing her tense. She had suddenly become stiff, and defensive, still frightened and furious at the mere memory of that awful time. He tucked a finger under her chin and kissed her gently, and she relaxed.

"Did you know I have reservations at Firo tonight?" he whispered.

"You liar," she said, scoffing. Firo was a restaurant that had been started by an American chef from Napa Valley, who had moved to Japan to be with his wife. It was one of Yui's favorite places to eat, and a pricey treat. On a Nerv Director's salary, less expensive, but hardly a weekly event.

"I was going to surprise you after work. I had Misato promise to watch the kids."

"You think of everything, lover. You kept Lilith for me, you kept Rei for us. You'll get our facilities." She kissed him on the nose, and walked back to her office.

The duck here was Gendo's favorite. It was tender enough to cut with a fork, and he would rarely chew it, just let it sit on his tongue with its melting overplay of butter and sweet and salt. Yui was a fiend for the fish platters, and was enjoying a tilapia fillet that had been smothered in goat cheese and spices. It took talent to make something as bland as tilapia a delicacy, but the chefs here were not mere mortals. They were magicians, and knew their trade.

"…I just wish I could factor the Capstone into our research," Yui said quietly, stirring the rice on her plate. They were free to speak about sensitive topics here: Gendo had had the place swept by men from the Security Section of Tactical, and three of them had their dates scattered around the room, enjoying a meal on Gendo's own check. It was one of the reason's they kept their visits to Firo for special occasions.

"I still don't even know what the Capstone is," Gendo said, sipping his wine. "That frightens me most. It's clear that Lilith placed some importance on it."

"But what is it?" Yui asked, suddenly agitated. "Is it a…an object, or a concept? A phase?"

Gendo scratched his nose. Yui had kept information concerning the Capstone to herself as far as Nerv was concerned, primarily because she knew little beyond what Lilith had told her. A name was not enough to go by, in the scheme of things, and the more time went on, the more nervous she became trying to figure out what was meant by that ambiguous term. The Capstone…

He nudged her wineglass a little closer to her, clearing his throat. Yui blinked, and chuckled. She raised the glass, and shrugged. "I'm sorry, honey. We have a night to ourselves, and I can't stop thinking of work."

"Start thinking of the blood orange torte," he said. Her eyes brightened, and her lips pursed in a way that he found adorable. He was pleased that his ploy seemed to have worked, and now she was looking forward to dessert over vague threats of the future.

In truth, though, he himself was still thinking about work, and doing his best not to. With the appearance of Others who behaved in more intelligent and coordinated ways beyond simple flock mechanics and herd/pack instincts—especially tool and weapon using ones—the war had taken a strange turn. On the one hand, it was a very unnerving implication to be fighting against an enemy that was intelligent in defending its territory, and may seek to claim more beyond the random appearance of fluxes. On the other, military leaders the world over released a collective sigh of relief. This was a fight they could understand.

He had, a week ago, unveiled a new element to that fight which had the Japanese, American, British, and French military delegation visiting the Headquarters begin plotting whole new campaigns against the Others. The spastic round, or spasmodic resonance and fluctuation bolt, to be more precise, was, for all intents and purposes, a mere bullet. The rounds used in the demonstration were of the 5.56 variant, for instance, and fired from a Japanese Seburo 511 assault carbine. Each round was filled with a small core of infused and charged LCL, which would emit an erratic burst of KL Particles on impact with a sympathetic flux. Specifically, an AT Field.

The theory was that, once enough rounds struck an AT Field, the Field would overload, cascade, and collapse, possibly even stunning the entity maintaining the field. That was all theory, of course, but it was something that got the collective soldiers chattering amongst themselves, plotting field tests for the device by way of combat drones.

Gendo found that Yui was staring at him. "Now you're thinking of work. Fine pair we are," she murmured.

"I was just thinking about the spastic rounds," he mumbled. "I hope they work as intended."

"They will," she said. "I trust everything Anno has done with his research on LCL. You should, too. Now…no more work. I'll be a good girl, and enjoy my dinner. Tell me about how pretty I look, instead," she said. Gendo could do that, easily. He did so for the rest of the night.

Yui and Gendo returned home to find Misato asleep on the couch, Shinji draped on top of her like a sloth, and the television playing the menu for Supper Sammy over and over. Shinji was using Misato's already ample bosom as a pillow. Most amusingly of all was Naoko's girl. Ritsuko had come over to hang out with Misato and keep her company. She was asleep on the floor with Shinji's pacifier in her mouth.

"That boy's going to be a heart breaker," Yui grumbled, picking up the sleeping child. As the warmth and weight of the boy vanished, Misato snuffled and woke up.

"Oh. I'm so sorry," she muttered. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's fine," Gendo whispered. "Where's Rei?"

"She went to bed without fuss. Shinji wasn't having any, so I put on a cartoon to try and zonk him out," Misato said, sitting up. Her shirt was covered in drool, and she brushed at it ineffectively.

"I thought Pen-Pen was helping with that," Gendo asked a little louder, Yui having vanished to the back of the house. Misato stood up, woozy.

"Of course, he does. That stupid penguin is as big as he is," Misato said, "Thinks its the coolest thing there is. But he's so clingy." Her hair was knotted where the boy had been tugging at it, and she brushed it with her fingers. She had presented the stuffed animal to Shinji just today, as a means to try and get him to stop prodding Rei. It was a sweet gesture, especially as she had bought the bird with her own cash. Shinji had seemed quite taken with it, and when Yui and Gendo left, he was wrestling with the thing, giggling manically the whole while.

"Have you had dinner?" Yui asked, coming back from the hallway.

Misato nodded. "Ritz made some ramen. I wasn't very hungry tonight." As they were speaking, Ritsuko's eyes fluttered. The girl sat up, the pacifier working for a moment before she realized it was there and removed it in confusion.

"Sorry," Misato said, "Shinji thought he was helping." She turned to her mom. "Ritz fell asleep during episode seventeen. Shinji popped his soother in her mouth. He was very serious about it." Misato's eyes had a twinkle in them at that.

"You're not a very good friend," Ritsuko mumbled, seeing Yui and Gendo in the kitchen. "Hello Dr. Ikari, Director Ikari. Did you have a pleasant night?" Yui smiled at the girl.

"Yes, Ritsuko, thank you," she said sweetly.

The two girls were good friends, but couldn't be more different. Ritsuko was a quiet, brainy girl with rosy brown hair, a skinny frame, and a shy demeanor. She had a small mole under her left eye, something that Yui had found charming in a way. Misato, on the other hand, had grown into a more aggressive, more assertive, and more athletic individual, her hair having become a more violet shade as she grew older. She was more fragile than she let on, and Ritsuko seemed more stable than her quiet ways implied. She was a year older than Misato, and seemed to treat the girl as kind of a younger sister.

Their friendship was probably sealed, Yui considered, when Misato had broken Ritsuko's ex-boyfriend's nose with a basketball. It had gotten her grounded for two weeks, but Ritsuko had proved a devoted fan of Misato from that moment on.

"It's kind of late," Yui said, looking at the clock, "But tomorrow's Saturday. Why don't you stay over? The bed in the guest room is made."

"She can just share my bed," Misato said, "That way we can talk without waking you up."

"That's fine," Ritsuko said, dropping the pacifier in the sink. She still seemed half-asleep.

"Come on, I've got some spare pajamas," Misato said. She wished the Ikaris a good night, Ritsuko shuffling after her.

"That's not odd, is it?" Gendo asked, a strange look on his face after the girls were gone. Yui glanced after the girls, then back to Gendo, and crinkled her nose at him.

"No, it's not. I used to do the same thing with my friends when I was in high school."

"I don't…have to have a talk about that, then? I'm not very good with those kinds of talks." He sounded immensely relieved when he said it.

"No, you don't, you weirdo," she said, rinsing off the pacifier. "All you need to worry about is how to get the funding we need for the production facility."

"And the storage container, and the repair bays, and the training facility, and the transportation methods…" he began listing, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"I knew this was in good hands," Yui said, pecking her husband on the cheek.