Initial Perturbation Chapter 7: Instability, an evangelion fanfic

I do not own the characters of Neon Genesis Evangelion, nor any other aspects of it. I'm open to donations of NERV property, however.

Rating: T - some swearing (should this be rated higher?)

Initial Peturbation

CHAPTER 7 - Instability

"Due to my negligence, some damage has been sustained to Unit 01, for which I take full responsibility, sir."

"The damage is irrelevant, Major. Your usage of Eva resources was appropriate. Commendations are in order."

"Yes, thank you, sir."

"Is the pilot of Unit One there?"

Shinji's face betrayed his surprise. "Uh, yes sir?"

"Well done, pilot."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at Asuka as he answered. "Uhm, thanks."

'What was that all about?' Asuka mouthed silently to the confused pilot.

Shinji shrugged, his confusion as evident as hers.

Gendo looked through his amber glasses at his second in command. "Are you satisfied, Old Man?"

"Mmm." Feyutski considered his answer. "Lets hope the horse hasn't already bolted."

"Meh."

"All this for some beef brisket ramen? C'mon Misato, splash out. I want shark-fin ramen!"

"Is this adequate recompense for risking people's lives?"

Asuka sniffed. "No. Maybe a roast suckling pig?"

Misato rolled her eyes. "We reconfirm life by celebrating it, and eating is an important celebration, Rei."

The german girl deliberated. "Roast suckling pig with a black-forest cake for dessert."

"I'm fine with beef brisket." Shinji pipped in. No-one seemed to notice.

"And butterscotch schnapps to finish."

Misato huffed, causing her fringe to fly up and fall in a drunk & disorderly fashion. "Well, if little-miss-know-it-all is having shark-fin then I'll have it too. How about you, Rei?"

"I will have garlic ramen."

Asuka poked her face in Rei's direction. "So like, you never eat meat, Wondergirl?"

"I do not. I dislike eating meat. It makes me remember the blood."

Shinji looked at the blue-head in sympathy. He was going to speak when Asuka interrupted.

"Hmm, remind me never to give you blutwurst. Gott, I couldn't imagine going without that."

The conversation died down as the food arrived. Shinji looked over his chopsticks at Asuka, whom he'd hardly spoken to since the game of catch with Sahouiel. To his surprise, she was watching him. Shocked, he immediately and looked down at his meal. When he looked up again, she was eating. Then she looked at him again, their eyes locking. Shinji was caught like a deer in headlights as Asuka smiled into his eyes.

Misato grinned teasingly. "So...how long has this been going on, you two?" she said in her best sultry teasing voice.

"Erhm..." Shinji managed.

"Since you ordered us on a suicide mission, Major." Asuka said sweetly.

"Oh. I see." Misato swallowed like a potato had been stuffed down her gob. Raw.

"I do not understand." Rei said, a slight frown appearing over her delicate features.

Misato, glad of the distraction, explained. "They've got eyes for each other, which means only one thing: they'll be sucking on each other's faces within hours."

Rei took a moment to digest this information. "Is that beneficial?"

"That remains to be seen." Asuka declared loudly. "Misato, stop confusing her with your old-fashioned lingo. Rei, it means that Shinji and I are an item. You understand that, right?"

"I believe so."

"Good."

"Does this mean that Shinji is not otherwise available for reproductive partnership?"

Asuka blinked. Misato sniggered. Shinji pretended he hadn't heard and concentrated on his ramen.

"Yes Wondergirl, it does. Any more questions?" Asuka replied testily.

Misato held up a hand mockingly. "Why so Asuka-chan? Monogamy is so pre-second-impact. Don't be old-fashioned now."

Asuka slurped up the last of her ramen and tugged Shinji's arm for him to stand up. "Thanks for the cheap-eats, Misato. Rei, ignore this sexually frustrated old maid, and if you don't understand what I mean go ahead and ask her. We're off to somewhere populated with less sex-fiends than the monkey enclosure. Auf Weidershern."

Shinji nervously (and messily) gulped down his ramen and followed his red-head with an apologetic look to the two others.

"Are monkeys sex-fiends?" Rei asked Misato as the couple departed. Misato closed her eyes and supped long and deep from the can of oblivion in her hand.

"Hah! Is that all you can do?"

"I'll show you what I can do!"

"Big words, Third. C'mon, get it out and try me!"

"You asked for it!"

Shinji charged suddenly, whipping out his weapon in a furious motion that defied Asuka's ability to fix her eyes on the massive protrusion. Hard pressed to defend herself, she found herself boxed in as Shinji positioned himself between the mountains, exposing her to an attack from the rear.

"Gah!" Shinji spluttered suddenly. Asuka saw the blue blur brush past and suddenly found herself on her knees, holding her body up by the palms of her hands.

The sound of clapping filtered through the simulation plug audio channel. "Well done, Rei. You two, you were too busy concentrating on each other to notice an outside threat. I hope you've learned from this." Misato said sternly.

"What, I'm supposed to fight off Unit 01 and the Zero at the same time?" Asuka complained.

Shinji sighed. "How am I supposed to deal with both of them? Like Asuka isn't enough to watch out for!"

Ritsuko replied wryly, "No-one said this would be easy. There's always an element of uncertainty in battle. It is quite possible that we will encounter no-win situations, and you all need to be prepared for that."

"But what benefit is there in being ready for a no-win situation?" Rei asked.

"So you can make the best of it. No-win isn't the same as total disaster. You might be able to salvage something at least. Like surviving in the Eva." Misato answered, a touch of maudlin in her voice.

"What, like surviving Third Impact?" Asuka asked. "What good would that do?"

"Well," Ritsuko paused. "It depends who else also survived."

Asuka growled. "Bah! If that were the case, you'd have miniature in-vitro labs stored in the entry plugs. I happen to know for a fact that there is no such thing."

"Enough." Ritsuko reponded firmly. "Okay Shinji, Rei managed to direct a photonic pulse at your abdominal region and Asuka, she sliced your Eva's ankle tendons with her prog-knife. Now, what would your options be in a real battle...?"

Misato frowned as the scientist continued. 'Nice distraction, Rits...but they know that I do the tactical debriefings.'

"Rei."

"Yes, sir."

"How are things?"

"They're good sir."

"Indeed. Are your living conditions sufficient?"

"They're cool sir."

"And how is your schooling?"

"Bogus, sir."

"Are your marks satisfactory?"

"Yeah."

"...Rei, what did you just say?"

"Yeah, sir."

"...Rei. Is something going on?"

"I don't understand, sir. I have changed my mode of speech in accordance with Pilot Sohryu's direction, and it has helped improve my social status."

"...Did your social status need improving?"

"It was...it wasn't ideal, sir."

"Why did you not report this to me earlier, Rei?"

"My status was sufficient, sir."

"'Sufficient'..." Gendo paused for an uncharacteristically long time. Finally, "I...gave you a dictionary many years ago, did I not?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you read it. To clarify my words."

"Yes sir. Was that incorrect?"

"Rei..."

"Sir?"

"This is...problematic, Rei."

"I...do not understand."

"We will have to deal with this oversight at once."

"...yeah."

Gendo's eyes hinted at a look of pain. "This will take some time."

The room was filtered with yellow-tinged light. The musky scent that the cigarettes, sweat and coffee of too-many man-hours produce pervaded the busy sprawl of items used and forgotten. The room represented the now, the next step, the onward struggle. Remnants sat to collect dust or be dashed aside later. The room was lived in.

The man barely noticed the cool, sweetened brown milk that had once been coffee as he slung a dose down his throat. His left hand stayed busy at the keys even as his right lifted the mug.

'I need a stretch...' the seated figure realised. 'Just after this section of the script...'

Forty minutes later, Agent Kaji slumped back in his worn desk chair, blinked and tried to focus on the clock across the room. "Aauuhhh..." he exclaimed as he took his stretch.

Spitting out the long-extinguished cigarette butt from his mouth, the man of no fixed occupation skimmed over his work, satisfied. "This just might do it." he murmered before gulping down the last of the hours-old coffee. He grimaced, not so much at the taste as at the moistening of his dry mouth.

"Nothing for it...let's go." he said in quiet resolution. He typed in the command to execute his computer script. After a momentary pause that seemed tribute to the script and it's mission, he hit the enter key. 'Thanks Misato honey, this might work thanks to you.'

"Kaji? Are you home? Hey!" Asuka called, having let herself into Kaji's apartment.

"Asuka! What are you doing here!" Kaji spluttered, up from his seat and arms held up in preparation to bundle the girl away. She easily avoided the befuddled man to peer toward the computer.

"What, more reports? Misato sure knows how to drive her writing slave." the girl said with slight scorn.

"Uhm, sure honey. Now..." the corner of Kaji's eye saw a warning flag pop up on the screen window. Another followed immediately, and several others. He bruised his backside sitting down in front of the machine and began typing furiously. The hack was a failure, but he needed to know his options - would he be traced?

"Kaji? What's wrong?" Asuka cried, surprised at the man's total irreverance to her presence. 'Something really bad must be wrong...' she guessed.

"Uh...Asuka...go...away now, okay?" Kaji said absently, able to spare her but the smallest degree of attention.

"Oh geez! You're being hacked!" the girl gasped as she stared at the screen over his shoulder.

"Err...yeah, Asuka..."

The girl's eyes darted about the monitor. "Move!" she said, pushing Kaji's chair away from the machine. She attacked the keyboard in a frenzy of keystrokes, pulling open windows and running commands Kaji had never seen before, and those he had with options beyond his ken. From what he could comprehend, she was being incredibly reckless.

"What...?"

"Shuttup!" Asuka commanded. Her faced was a twist of knots, pursing her lips so much that her teeth clamped them down. Her eyes remained wide and searching.

Kaji watched dumbstruck as the fourteen year-old closed off ports and terminated malignant processes. She was sealing the machine off like a welder. She hardly blinked and the sweat formed on her brow as she worked. Finally she let off a puff of air, pulled the PC box forward and desperately yanked at the network cable. It snapped out like a whip as the connector tabe sheared. Closing her eyes, she leaned gently against the desk.

"Gott..." she whispered.

"Asuka..." Kaji said gently. "Are you okay?"

She gave him a weak smile as her eyes cracked open. "Yah, it's just that I havent done anything like that since universität."

Kaji nodded as he got out of his desk chair. He went to the kitchen, coming back shortly with two cans of drink. He handed one to the shell-shocked girl.

"So," he began, "How did you learn skills like that Asuka?"

She broke the tab a took a healthy slurp from the can. "One of my departments had a war-games lab with heaps of random computers in it, so we could hack each-other and counter-hack. Lucky for you, one of the machines had a setup like yours on it. I got to know it pretty well."

He nodded again. A twitched ran across his face briefly. "Do you know who was hacking into my computer?"

The girl put her can down on the desk. "The Magi. But of course, they were the ones being hacked..."

She pushed off the desk and turned towards the door. "You really are a stupid man after all, Kaji. First you reject me for Misato, and now you trust her to be able to give you access to Nerv's computers. Men are just so...dissapointing."

Kaji slumped back as she left, missing the chair and landing on his butt. "Shit..."

He looked after the departed girl. 'Now what am I in for?'

"Another one..." Shinji said pensively, his face fallen in shadow. "Why won't they stop coming, how many do we have to kill before they stop dammnit?"

"Jeez Shinji! What's the point in asking why! They do, just as the sun rises." Asuka told him scornfully.

Rei sat in one of the opposite couches in the Pilot's lounge outside the briefing room. Interstingly, there was enough seating for far more than three, with the maroon lounges arranged in an open pentagon. "Mankind will struggle to overcome the obstacles before it. This Angel is before us now." she intoned, in a way that Shinji found slightly eery.

"Just like winter and exams!" Asuka nodded.

Shinji shifted his weight away from the redhead who sat right against him. She looked at the falorn boy. "Why do you always have to get so worked up?"

Rei shrivelled her brow momentarily. "Are you a depressive, Shinji?"

The boy let out a sad groan. "Maybe I am."

Asuka grabbed him in a cheery shoulder hug, saying, "Well we can't have that! That's it, after we kick this Angel's butt we'll extort a celebratory party out of Misato! I'm gonna force-feed you some apfel strudle covered in your favorite ice-cream!"

A smile cracked Shinji's patented mood. "Uh...okay..."

The First looked at Asuka. "What is his favorite ice-cream?"

"Vanilla. Such a boring little boy."

"Vanilla ice-cream is nice! But you have to get the good stuff."

Asuka stood in front of him and pressed her forehead against his, forcefully. "So cheer up and help me kill this thing, alright?"

Shinji blushed heavily. "Asuka-chan...Rei...and Misato might come in..."

"So what? Are you ashamed of me, Third Child?"

"No..."

Rei looked at the two with interest. "Will you cook the dessert for Shinji?"

"Well...maybe I'll buy it this time and practice making it first." Suddenly self-concious, Asuka released Shinji and fell back into a seated position (as she'd been basically climbing Shinji just prior). A blush spread from her collarbone up. "Well, whaddya think First Child?"

"About what?"

"About me and Shinji, of course!"

"You mean...that you are intimate? I suppose congratualations are appropriate?"

"WHAT! NO! We're like, together, but we're not..."

"Fucking?"

"AAAAGH! Rei, don't scare me like that!" Asuka screeched, clutching her chest as her heart hammered delieriously. Shinji's eyes rolled to the top of his head, and didn't come down again for several seconds.

"That is the slang you taught me for intercourse?"

"Well yeah..."

Shinji choked. "You...taught her to say that?"

Asuka looked panicked. "What? No! I just...told her what it meant in case she heard it."

Shinji suddenly grinned, wryly. "If fairies die when you say you don't believe in them, does an Angel die when Ayanami swears?"

Misato came into the room with a skeptical look plastered over her face. "Just how far does your introductory course in social misbehaviour extend, Asuka?"

"M-Misato! How long...?" Shinji eeped.

"Long enough to hear Rei swearing thanks to the Second Child. So Asuka, perhaps you have also taught Rei something useful, like how to kill Angels?" Misato sneered.

"By swearing at them?" Rei pondered. "I will do it if it helps."

"I...!" the girl responded haphazardly, flustered.

"Come on. We've got bigger problems to deal with. Or one big black one, at any rate." Misato told the three bruskly. They entered the briefing room together where Ritsuko and Maya were waiting at the tactical display desk.

"Hi kids. I see you're suited up." Ritsuko said offhandly.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Yeah."

"Yeah...I think I need to go up a size again."

Ritsuko raised a brow at Rei's response, but said nothing as she sipped from her porcelein coffee mug.

"Hi kids!" Maya waved cheerily.

Misato ushered the pilots to the table. "Okay guys, this is what the target looks like."

"Is it the same as the fifth angel?" Shinji wondered out loud.

"You mean that pyramid-fortress thingy? This is smaller...and while that thing was massive this has no mass at all. Weird!" Asuka said, eyeing the assembled data synopsis.

"That our sensors can tell us about, anyway." Ritsuko clarified.

"Our readings from this Angel are rather anomolous, to say the least." Maya explained. "We haven't even got a reasonable wave-form from it yet, so we aren't certain that it's an Angel."

Misato frowned. "It's moving slowly, are you sure it's appropriate to mobilise without more information first?"

Ritsuko turned. "Major! Discipline please, we won't discuss tactical decisions in front of the pilots."

Maya shrugged. "Actually ma'am, we can't get anymore information. The next logical step is to elicit a response from the Angel by sending the Eva's out."

Ritsuko rolled her eyes. "That's right, but you really should trust us by now Misato. We know what we're doing."

Misato sighed. "If it involves the use of the Evas and the safety of the Pilots, consult with me. And by the way, it's my call if the pilots hear operational information or not." she said with a hardened hint of territoriality seeping into her eyes.

"A black sphere, like a ghost..." Asuka mused. "If I were superstitious, I think I'd take this as a bad omen..."

"Baka." said Rei.

The Eva's surfaced at strategic points around the Angel, scattered equilaterally around the city. The black orb hovered above a cluster of less afluent businesses and a multi-level carpark. Oddly, the Angel appeared more solid than the buildings around and beneath it. The human eye was stretched in viewing it, the mind confounded in seeing it.

"In position." Shinji reported several seconds after the others had surfaced. Misato looked at his face on the pilot monitor. He seemed calm and determined, a serenity that seemed at odds with the boy she'd known mere months before.

Ritsuko followed her gaze. "Misato, about Shinji. It's quite likely that his new-found confidence is...fragile."

"Mm, right." Misato said grimly. "But at least he has some, thanks to Asuka." Addressing the Pilots, she gave her orders. "Okay, holster your melee weapons and equip yourselves with the ranged ones."

(These crappy pea-shooters again! What's the point, they've never worked against an Angel anyway!) Asuka complained.

(They are pathetic puss-toad dweebs.) Rei said agreeably.

Ritsuko's brow ticked. "Look, we've up-rated the output on the portable posititron rifles so don't knock them until you've tried them. And Asuka, STOP TEACHING REI SLANG! She doesn't use it right!"

Misato let out a poorly stifled chuckle, earning a flint-edged glare from her erstwhile colleague.

The pilots obeyed, the fight having been taken out of Asuka. 'Ayanami's out of control...so much for my teaching skills. It's like when I tried to teach Shinji to plait my hair for me...'

Maya looked up from her board. 'Excuse me, but I think you should see this Major..."

The tactical officer looked over Maya's shoulder. "He's finally surpassed her? They were both improving so much...I can't believe he actually caught her."

"No activity from the target." Makoto reported, a tad pointedly. This wasn't a simulation, after all.

"Hmm." Misato hummed, taking the new information into account. "Okay, approach the target from these 120-degree vectors." she said, sending tactical information over the link. "Asuka and Rei, use stealth to approach to within 150 meters of the target. Shinji, you hold back at 400 meters, which is the extreme 80 effective firing range. You will then open fire and observe the target's reaction. Asuka and Rei, you will initiate a melee attack when Shinji opens fire. Shinji will then either provide cover fire or join the melee, depending on my call. Acknowledge."

(Roger.) Ayanami answered.

(Hai,) Shinji echoed.

(Why does he get to do the shooting?) Asuka asked haughtily.

"Because he's got the highest synch ratio." Misato said pointedly. "Move out!"

Asuka gave the image of Shinji an blank look for a moment before moving to obey her commanding officer. Shinji felt a tingle run down his spine.

In position, Shinji rested his elbow and the butt of the rifle on a stubby building designed primarily for that purpose (secondarily as a low-cost apartment block). He sighted up the target and released the electronic safety. "Ready to fire." he reported, his voice distant as his emotional mind took a back-seat.

"Asuka and Rei are in position, Shinji. Fire when ready." Misato told the boy.

"Alright. Position the target in the reticle..." the Third Child muttered, lost in concentration. In this configuration, the rifle drew more power from the Eva's umbilicle than usual and would burn-out after one shot. Another sat next to the purple Eva, ready for the next move.

A dull thump was followed by a blinding shot of energy flying toward the oddly-patterned sphere, less impressive than that sent toward the fifth angel but respectable nonetheless. It penetrated the sphere -

Two shards of red and blue flew into the air, short swords and bo prone to batter into the Angel's hide. Asuka flew up above the target, Rei spun to it sideways.

The sphere was gone.

Asuka's vector took her down into a munitions building, which she hit heavily before glancing back down into the streets. Rei continued sideways into another low-cost housing building/barrage wall.

"The target has dissapeared!" Makoto called in in alarm.

Shigeru typed furiously at his desk. "Blue-pattern confirmed, but it's crazy! Cannot pin-point source!"

"Abnormal readings from Unit 01!" Maya reported tersely.

"Blue-pattern source located! IT'S UNDER UNIT 01!" Shigeru exclaimed.

"YyaaaHHH!" Shinji yelped as his unit's knees seemed to disappear beneath him. "AARGH I'M SINKING! ASUKA, MISATO! HELP! MY LEGS ARE NUMB - OH MY GOD!"

"Shinji!" Misato yelled. "Get out of there!"

"MISATO! HELP ME!"

"Scheisser..." Asuka moaned, picking herself up. "Oh, my head...Shinji! Oh gott..."

"HELP ME!" Shinji cried, anguish and panic echoeing about the comm. lines. He was up to his waist, the buildings around him having sunk already. He kept his arms up and flailed pointlessly at the black morass beneath him with his katana. Suddenly a flash of blue appeared before him. "Rei!"

Unit 00 was stretched out, the bo pointed right at the sinking unit. She was lying on her side on the edge of the black pond, right arm holding the bo single-handed as the left anchored her to a nearby power supply building. Shinji dropped the sword and grabbed at the bo, awkward in his desperation. Rei gasped as it was nearly torn from her outstreched grasp. "Shinji, relax and dont move so much. Hold onto the bo and let me drag you in."

"Rei..." Shinji gasped. "Rei, oh Rei..." he repeated, and began to pull himself in hand-over-hand.

"Shinji! Stop it!" Rei ordered. "I cannot hold it...!"

"Rei...help me..." Shinji gasped, still not in his right mind.

"Shinji! Stop at once! That's an order!" Major Katsuragi called frantically. She could see that Rei was at risk of being pulled in or letting go.

"Idiote! Shinji, stop!" Asuka bellowed as she approached the stricken Eva. She latched onto Unit 00's body to further stabilise Shinji's anchor.

"Rei..." Shinji whimpered, continuing to pull himself along.

"GEH..." Rei gasped inwardly as the bo slipped from Unit 00's fingers.

"NO!" Asuka screeched and dove for the bo's end. Rei instantly grabbed Unit 02's leg and pulled her up while Unit 01 cast about wildly, sinking.

"HELP ME REI DON'T ABANDON ME REI HELP M-" Shinji's transmission cut-off abruptly.

"SHINJI!" Asuka wailed. Getting to her feet, she promptly slammed her unit's arm through a steel-reinforced concrete building. "NEIN! NEINNNNNN!"

Maya's voice filtered over the suddenly silent comms. "Unit 01...has gone silent..."

Unit 00 righted itself and assumed a cross-legged position at the edge of the Angel's darkness. Rei stared into the infinite pool before her. "...baka..."

"Now you look like you could use some company."

Maya looked up from the cup of coffee she was nursing in the kitchenette of Nerv's main science division. She sighed. "Not now, Kaji. Please?"

Kaji took a seat opposite the petite woman. "Don't worry, this is hardly a time to be celebrating life's little pleasures. But you do look like you need a sympathetic ear, though I would offer more."

Maya stirred the cup gently. "Cream and three sugars."

Kaji nodded. "It's usually enough, isn't it? You've never liked chocolate, but it cheers you up. This time, though..."

Maya nodded back. "I should be in there, helping Rits find a way to get Shinji back. He's just a boy! But...I just can't think right now. I'm such a flake!"

Kaji grinned slightly, shaking his head. "Just a boy, you say. Is Gendo just a man? Is Ritsuko just a woman? Have some faith in him. And yourself."

Maya shook her head abruptly. "He fell apart! He's a scared little kid and we force him to do this! Is it the Angel who are the monsters, or us?" she picked up her cup, and slammed it down, only to collapse onto the table. She rested, silent in her misery.

"That's enough!" Kaji commanded. He grabbed her wrist and made her look at him. "We may be monsters to force our will on those kids, but we'd be downright evil if we didn't do anything to defend them and everyone else. If we've made a mistake, if we can avoid making them hurt, we must do something about it. Get to work, or despise yourself with a good reason to!"

Maya choked. "Fuck you, Kaji. Fuck you! Fine!" and got up. "Fine!" she started to leave at a march, but stopped short.

"You didn't come in here to flirt, did you? You came here to motivate me..."

Kaji smiled his rougish smile, and scratched his shoulder blade.

Her breathing was still fast from her ranting. Nonetheless she managed to say, "You're a...you'd make a good father..."

Kaji froze as she walked out of the door.

"...and so it appears to be only a few nanometers deep."

"And given the tolerance on our sensors, we could be dealing with the first truly two-dimensional object in existence."

"Don't be insulting; that what is real must conform to basic physical law, if only those parts that exist in our universe."

"A 'sea of dirk' is all very well, but we're here to rescue an Eva and it's pilot, Doctor. Save the physics experiments for after the war."

"The physics experiments are what got us this far through the war, Major!"

"I know, I'm sorry...but I need solutions right now, not puzzles."

"Always the pragmatic one. No wonder you flunked theoretical physics."

"I did not! I passed with honors!"

"I was adjusting for the help I gave you."

"If you adjusted for the help Kaji gave me, I'd have aced it. Now, I need ideas...how about shoving an AT field down there...?"

Sub-commander Fuyutski deepened his already excessively sober frown as he heard the byplay on the lower command deck. "Ikari, this could be a major disaster. It's too early to lose an Eva, let alone Unit 01."

Gendo sat in his customary posture, the world seemingly simpler through his amber-coloured glasses. "You have it backwards, old man. It is too early to lose Unit 01, or it's pilot. Therefore it will not be so."

The Sub-Commander sighed. "Confound it, I never can understand you. You are the damndest mix of existentialist and faithful fanatic. If it's all fate, why do we bother at all? It will all fix itself in the end."

"It is man's fate to struggle to achieve it's goals. That it is necessary does not change the fact that it is pre-ordained. We will do what we can, and the scenario will be fulfilled. The way the vague fortelling will be fulfilled is our hope, the key to our goals."

The old man shook his head. "I'm not sure if that's faith or blind hope."

Asuka stared up at the sky through her Eva's eyes. "Here they come, those bloody vultures."

Rei nodded.

"Is this how we get Shinji out of this god-forsaken unholy pit of Satan's asshole? By blowing him up a thousand times!"

Rei tilted her head. "His AT field may be able to defend him."

"If it's working! Hell, if he's even alive! He's stuck in a two-dimensional object for crying out loud - what is he, a cartoon cut-out!"

"You were partially immersed in the sea of Dirac for a time, as was the umbilical cable we retrieved. It's reasonable to assume he might be alive."

Asuka stared fiercly at the black before her Eva. "Why him, dammnit! Why is he in there, what did he do to deserve this! He shouldn't be here, he shouldn't be piloting! He doesn't even want to be here. He's virtually had no training even!" she took her head in her arms, letting go of the control levers.

Rei closed her eyes momentarily. "Shinji should not be piloting, unlike us? So, he has value outside of being a pilot?"

"Value outside of piloting Eva..." Asuka intoned quietly. "He has value outside of Eva. That's why he shouldn't be here. Do you have value outside of Eva, Rei?"

"I have none."

"Neither do I. It should be one of us in there, Rei. We should be the ones to give our lives for Eva."

The planes were nearer. Asuka looked at the countdown. It was perilously low.

"Ach nein..." she said in dispair.

The sky darkened.

Asuka and Rei's Units looked up, only to see the outline of the sphere appear.

"It's back!"

(Ready weapons you two!) Misato's voice came tersely over the comms.

A soft wailing echoed in the ears of all who saw the sphere. Then it broke into a ragged screech as the sphere's surface cracked red. An outstretched arm of purple broke through the chunks of ragged black-and-red. Blood sprayed like steam from the fautline ruptures in the Angel's skin.

Evangelion Unit 01. Covered in blood and glory, it fell from the sky, roaring in triumph. Black meat rained down amid the red vapour.

Asuka stared at the terrible visage in shock. "Mein gott...is that the Eva...or Shinji...?"

Rei's lips curled into a smile, a look of fervour in her eyes.

Author's Rant:

I've got a 9-5 job (or a close approximation)! This means money. It also means less time to spend it. Oddly enough, it appears to be a condition conducive to writing. Is creativity a form of procrastination from having a life?

/ Omake for Chapter #6 by Shinji the Good Sharer /

"Due to my negligence, some damage has been sustained to Unit 01, for which I take full responsibility, sir."

"The damage is irrelevant, Major. Your usage of Eva resources was appropriate. Commendations are in order."

"Thankyou, sir."

"Is the pilot of Unit One there?"

Shinji's face betrayed his surprise. "Uh, yes sir?"

"Well done, pilot."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow at Asuka as he answered. "With all due respect sir, you can kiss my lilly white ass till your nose turns brown the but moment all the angels are gone I'm STILL gonna pop your head like a zit from inside Eva Unit-01."

Fuyutski smiled to himself as he patted the commander on the shoulder. "That went better than I thought."

If he'd have stayed a few moment longer he'd have seen the brown stain on the back of the commanders pants as the former student walked out of his office.

-fin-