"An Mi-26 Transport Helicopter! I never thought I'd ride in one of these hot mamas! Man its sure great having a famous Eva pilot like you for a friend Shinji!"

Shinji Ikari couldn't help but smile slightly at Kensuke's enthusiasm as his friend swung his camera around, trying to capture every square centimeter of the heavily customized helicopter. Aida had been on the equivalent of a sugar high since stepping onto the chopper, when the 'quiet day trip' promised by Misato had mutated into a surprise helicopter ride and this was in fact the first time Shinji could recall him making a coherent sentence since takeoff almost an hour ago.

Toji had taken the surprise flight somewhat in stride as he continued to steal an occasional look at Misato in her semi formal uniform jacket with its very short skirt…but it was a dramatic difference from the 'last time' in this chopper where Shinji had been forced to sit next to an utterly infatuated Toji, whose gaze hadn't shifted a millimeter from the back of Misato's seat for the entire flight.

I guess Hikari is having more of an effect on him then I had anticipated Shinji decided with a mental shrug.

So much the better.

With that thought however, his mind drifted back to the events of the last fortnight which, for once, had been empty of major emergencies –with the exception of the Jet Alone incident- to risk his life over.

Not that it had been exactly quiet, just that for a short time he hadn't had to try and battle multi story tall killing machines out to end the human race.

Hikari's campaign against Toji had continued; the two slowly but steadily becoming increasingly at ease in each others company though surprisingly, it had been Toji's younger sister Kana who was doing most of the work.

Clearlyshe was able to see where things were going, approved of it and had decided to step in and carefully nudge the two along with a skill and ease that stunned Shinji. Well either that or she was sick to death of nearly starving every day at lunch time.

And she was good. He had seen Kana manipulate Hikari into walking 'her' home, before stealthfully moving off ahead and leaving Hikari to walk Toji home together instead. She had once had both of them mysteriously take her to the shops to buy things she never actually brought under the justification of taking Hikari for fashion advice and her brother to 'escort' her, then again just vanished to leave them both standing around together with only each other for company, the two slowly opening up…

After watching one of these evasions from a distance by chance, Shinji had decided then and there to tread very, very carefully around Toji's sister.

Not that he didn't find her insufferably cute in a little Sister sort of way of course.

She was just too clever and manipulative by half.

Hisinteractions with the girls of class 3-F had been somewhat more exasperating, though in hindsight he probably should have expected consequences from his rejection of Chihiro.

He had a strong feeling that she was where the rumor that he was 'attracted to members of his own sex', explaining why he wasn't taking any Girl to the dance had started from.

Fortunately, after a rather awkward morning, very few of the Girls –thank you Hikari- and even fewer of the 'guys' –thank you Toji- had believed it and Chihiro appeared to be increasingly isolated outside of her hardcore group of friends.

But the accusations had done their damage, stirring disturbing memories he had tried to suppress of another boy his age; one with red eyes and a perpetually amused smile on his face…who had given up everything for him because he had unconditionally loved him, regardless of such irrelevant 'Lilim' concerns as gender.

And wow, did I show him how worthy I was of that trust.

On the NERV front at least, things were proceeding more or less the same as he had remembered them, with only a few, strange exceptions.

Misato had forgiven him for the snap house party he had called.

Not that she had had a problem with the party itself, with probably three hundred NERV and UN personnel flowing out into a semi street party, a celebration of life backlit by the still cheerfully burning corpse of the 5th Angel in the center of the city…but the cleanup the next day…

Well that and fact that Shinji had headed out to school before she had woken up and Pen Pen had evaded his mistress by mysteriously vanishing from the apartment somehow.

Though she had forgiven him when the cleaning crew had had hired and paid for had shown up half an hour after she got up.

On the plus side, with her beer supplies exhausted after the long night, she had instead been drawn to the coffee machine Shinji had carefully purchased and set up with simple step by step instructions that even a hung over Misato couldn't screw it up, delivering an absolutely delicious cup of coffee that had woken her up without the complication of alcohol. And to his delight before they had headed out to NERV the next day she had again chosen coffee over the beer, despite having replenished her stock without thinking when she did the shopping.

He still had thought it slightly unfair that both he and Rei had to come in for a scheduled Synch test the day after shooting Ramiel down, but given that all the senior staff had come back to work without a break, he could hardly complain. Unfortunately, as Unit Zero was still in the process of being upgraded and repaired, Rei had been allowed to head on home early leaving him alone when had gotten out of the entry plug, showering then heading back out for the lift, only to be stopped short by the cage leader as he had headed towards the long exit to the Geofront.

"Excuse me, Shinji, could I have a word?"

Shinji had blinked in surprise at that, but nodded and followed him into a small office overlooking Unit One standing in its pool of cryogenic coolant up to its neck.

"I would like to talk about my daughter" the senior NCO had said without preamble, as he sat on the edge of a desk loaded with technical readouts, reports and diagrams.

"Your daughter…" Shinji asked in confusion, before it his eyes finally focused in on the name tag on the technician's uniform.

H . Tanaka.

Chihiro Tanaka.

"You're…Chihiro's Father?" he asked in some surprise and even a slight amount of unease.

This could be bad…

"Hai" he replied with a sigh. "Hama Tanaka. I love my daughter, but this job keeps me so busy that I don't have enough time to spend with her". He frowned slightly, a tinge of sympathy coming over his features. "But I've heard a little about what she's been putting you through recently and I have to apologize…she lost her mother when she was very young…and she's always been a very aggressive person as a result-"

"You don't have to apologize for her" Shinji said, a sudden deep sympathy for Chihiro resonating with him as he recalled that a large percentage of his classmates had lost their Mothers…and as far as he knew, every one of those classmates was an Evangelion pilot candidate.

Glancing out at Unit One which, as always, returned his gaze levelly, Shinji felt his jaw tighten slightly.

His mother he knew had made a conscious choice to 'end' her life and Asuka's at least had fully known the risks with the technology she was working with.

But if he ever confirmed his suspicions linking NERV and SEELE to the deaths of his classmates mothers…

The –disturbingly pleasant- image of Keel Lorenze, his Father and the rest of the SEELE gang looking up in horror as Unit One's size four hundred foot came crashing down interjected itself into his mind for a second before he shook it off.

"Chihiro is a nice person Sir…it's just that I have too much to worry about right now with NERV and piloting to consider any kind of relationship". His lip twitched. "I just don't think anyone outside of NERV really can understand what this job means".

"I know that Shinji and I promise I'll try to make her understand that…but I owe you an apology as well" he said, now looking somewhat embarrassed and uneasy. "When you first arrived, the son of the Commander and all that, word…got out of how much you were getting paid. It shames me to admit it, but I thought far less of you then you deserved".

As Shinji opened his mouth to protest, Hama held up a hand, clearly wanting to get his thoughts out.

"No, listen. I was tired from the thirty six hour shift I had pulled and I stupidly complained in front of Chihiro about how you had walked in, picked up your pay cheque and left the mess for us to clean up. It was utterly unprofessional and disrespectful of my position anyway, but then you spent a week working your butt off to get up to speed, putting your life on the line willingly against those damn Angels again and again, treating us with a respect and professionalism that no-one expected from…"

"Someone with the surname Ikari?" Shinji smirked.

"No, from a fourteen year old boy blackmailed into piloting that thing" he replied with a glance out at Unit One. "I wasn't in the cage when you had that shouting match with your Father, but I heard about it later the next day. And after I saw how seriously you took your job…I should have guessed that you might take after your mother more then your father…you are so like her in so many ways"

Thatremark caused Shinji's thoughts to crash to a halt spectacularly.

"You….you knew my Mother?" he asked in a quiet voice, feeling that yearning deep inside him once again. He knew he shouldn't be surprised; his Mother had worked for SEELE then GEHERN for quite some time after all.

But he had never thought any of the 'lower level' workers would have such memories of her…

Hama nodded slowly.

"Yes, I worked with her for quite a few years".

"What…what was she like?" Shinji asked quietly.

Hama simply smiled slightly, as if pleased he had asked the question.

"Yui…" he said thoughtfully, his gaze drifting across to Unit One, "well she was always down here in the trenches…she always had time for the little people, a simple smile or word of encouragement and she could curse like you wouldn't believe when she couldn't get something to work" he chuckled, causing Shinji to smile broadly as Hama recounted an incident where his Mother had screamed in rage for five minutes at Unit One kicking its foot repeatedly with her own the whole time, no-one daring to approach her.

Or laugh.

"Everyone down here utterly adored her. She was the driving force behind this entire project...and for what it's worth, I know she loved you with all her heart".

That at least I had never doubted Shinji thought silently.

"And you loved her" he added. "I remember once when that Zeppelin Soryu from the Third Branch was visiting with her girl, they put you and her together in the play pen upstairs and-"

"Wait, wait" Shinji interrupted as his mind caught up, thinking he couldn't have possibly heard right. "Are you talking about-?"

"The Second Child" he nodded, then cocked his head in thought. "That's right, she's coming back over here with Unit Two in a fortnight, isn't she?"

At Shinji's dumbfounded nod, he continued with a smirk.

"It was so cute, you two kids in the same playpen while your Mothers 'talked shop' with all of the staff, in between everyone 'ohhing' and 'ahhing' at you two. Then Kyoko's daughter picked up one of your toys, some stuffed animal I think. You sort of crawled over and tried to take it back…and she hit you over the head with it, repeatedly, causing you to break down and cry".

It was only by an act of God that Shinji's expression did not change at the implications of thatstatement by bursting out laughing.

The more some things change…

"Yui just jumped over, picked you up and laughed, causing you to stop crying and start giggling right back" he sighed, before focusing his eyes back on Shinji. "So as I said, it's clear which parentyou take after, your Father has never given us plebs down here the time of day. Not to say he is rude, just…distant".

They sat in silence for a second, Shinji savoring the words and look into his mothers past with a couple of deep breaths.

"Anyway, again, I just wanted to apologize for the hell Chihiro is no doubt putting you through. I'll have another word with her-"

"Mister Tanaka …Hama" Shinji interrupted after he decided he had composed himself enough to hold back the tears that had threatened to come out as images of his mother continued to flash through his mind. "No, please don't. I'll have a talk to her tomorrow to see if we can put this behind us. You've…already done enough for me, those memories of my Mother…they are worth more to me then you can possibly imagine".

"I'm glad you think so" he said, standing with a yawn. "Well I won't keep you any more, you probably want to leave and I need to get to work on the post test checklists to really make sure Unit One didn't take any damage in the engagement yesterday".

"Actually" Shinji interrupted, the link between his Mother and the Technical staff crystallizing a decision in his mind, "I was wondering if I could run a couple of ideas past you…"


Shinji was somewhat surprised to find that the Vice Commander Fuyutsuki was actually in his office doing paperwork when he queried a MAGI terminal for his current location. Getting off the elevator and stepping into the 'executive corridor', he gave the huge forbidding doors at one end of the passage a long, level look before he turned away, shivering and instead walked down to a glass doorway into the antechamber of the Vice Commanders much more modest office. It was perhaps a fifth the total size of his Fathers office 'complex', and it had been divided into a series of even smaller rooms, starting with this small antechamber / entrance where his secretary worked as well as doors to the other rooms around them. One to a small bedroom on the left, another to a conference room on the right, and a third just next to the secretaries' desk that lead into the Vice Commanders office itself.

It was an infinitely more functional design for a high ranking bureaucrat then the gigantic, intimidating void his Father preferred for whatever reason.

Perhaps my father gets paid by the square meter Shinji thought to himself with a smile, making a note to use that line the next time he had to go in there.

"Mister Ikari" Fuyutsuki's attractive secretary said with an excellent simulation of astonishment in her voice as he walked in, as if his presence was a true surprise.

Shinji knew better of course. She was actually a Section Two – Delta agent who had been alerted by the MAGI the second he had stepped of the elevator, with security footage sent directly to her terminal. If he had been someone who might want to harm the Vice Commander, he would have opened the door to find an Uzi pointed in his face and a fast response squad already on the way.

I wonder how SEELE pulled off that kidnapping Shinji wondered idly before smiling back at the pleasantly smiling secretary.

"Good afternoon Miss Mutsu" he said with a polite bow. "I was wondering if I could see the Vice Commander".

"One second" she said, tapping a key, causing a holographic window to pop up in front of her expensive looking wooden desk, which Shinji could see was covered in text saying 'SOUND ONLY'.

"Yes?"

"Apologies for the interruption Sir" she said, "but the Third Child wishes to see you, if you are free".

"Send him in" the gruff, no nonsense voice of the Vice Commander decided a few seconds later before the window vanished. Mutsu smiled and gestured at the large wooden door, which magically unlocked with a click.

"Go right in".

"Thank you" he said, stepping through the now unlocked doors which clicked closed behind him, restoring the soundproof, bug proof and bullet proof seal of the Vice Commanders office.

Instantly the difference between the two most senior men at NERV became apparent. Where as his Fathers office was utterly empty, letting his presence fill the space and intimidate anyone who dared to enter his domain to challenge him, the Vice Commanders office was that of an academic. Low shelves lined the walls to the end of the far thinner and shorter rectangular room, filled with countless books, folders and papers. Framed certificates, diplomas, degrees and association records lined the wall above them, along with a handful of pictures of people, few of whom Shinji recognized.

The Vice Commander himself was sitting at his desk, a relatively simple affair with two seats in front of it and he looked up as Shinji made his way down the much shorter walk, gesturing to one of two seats across from him, closing the holographic windows he had been studying.

"Mister Ikari" he said in his usual, straight forward but friendly enough manner. "Please, have a seat".

"Thank you" Shinji said with a nod, sitting before his eyes were drawn to one of the two pictures on his desk.

It was the Professor with Father and…his mother, the former looking…strange without his omnipresent glasses, the later smiling directly at him, in that strange way the eyes of people in photo's appeared to track you. The professor followed his gaze then smiled slightly.

"Ah yes. That was taken shortly after I joined GEHERN, NERV's parent organization" he said. "I had known…your mother for some time before that" he said, catching himself before he said 'Yui', clearly not wanting to sound too familiar.

Of course it was all for nothing, Shinji knew full well of the unrequited love this man had felt for his Mother…which was a useful lever.

Am I turning into my Father? Shinji thought at that horribly harsh sounding concept. Manipulating people's inner most desires and feelings for my own goals as simple buttons and levers?

It was a very disturbing thought, but Shinji pushed it aside for later.

"So, what can I do for you Shinji?" the Vice Commander finally spoke up after a short silence.

"Well firstly I wanted to thank you for helping to get the school dance back on" he said, as he remembered that he had never gotten around to thanking the man for his efforts. Fuyutsuki smiled faintly and leaned back.

"Think nothing of it" he said magnanimously, "I had to use a few favors up but you more then deserve to have some fun given your responsibilities".

"And I'm sure you earned more then a few favors from the Minister of the Interior" Shinji replied in a slightly dry tone, recalling the headlines the next day on the newspapers. "What was it, a fifteen point jump in his approval ratings after he stood up to the evil insurance company?"

Fuyutsuki caught the slight twitch in his expression before it made it onto his face as he studied the self assured pilot across from him. Shinji wasfar too clever by half.

Not that it was surprising given his pedigree.

Still, he conceded the point, allowing a slight smile. "Something for everyone is the best outcome, neh?"

"Hai" Shinji agreed. "But I appreciate the effort regardless".

"Have you organized a date yet for this dance?" he asked far too casually, Shinji saw the thrust of the question, but shoook his head as he ducked to the side.

"No, I don't really know anyone well enough at the school" he replied easily.

"Though I hear that hasn't stopped more then a few…offers being made" he said.

"I didn't know Section Two included my dating habits in their daily reports".

"They include everything Shinji I'm sorry to say. You understand, it's the price for letting you have something even approaching a normal life in public, you are just too valuable, Rei too for that matter".

Shinji heard the double meaning in the words about Section Two as well as Rei's value, but let it pass.

"I know, and I do appreciate their professionalism" then raised an eyebrow. "On the other hand, I would think having an Eva pilot date without being cleared by them would drive them nuts".

"Well, what about Rei?"

Shinji kept the pleasant amiable expression on his face, but inside raised an eyebrow at that statement as the Vice Commander directed the conversation back to her.

What is that curious, tasty looking silver thing flashing in the water, the fish thinks…

"Takeher? Uh, well I've never thought of her in that sense before"

"No?" Fuyutsuki asked with a raised eyebrow, the elderly Vice Commanders eyes boring into him.

"Not really" he shrugged, dropping his fencing sword and pulling out a sawn off shotgun. "She's feels…like a sister to me, a sibling I never had, there's just something so familiar about her …but I don't look at her romantically, if that's what you mean".

Never bring a sword to a gunfight.

The Vice Commander hid his reaction very well, in his position he wouldhave to be able to. But a slight flicker of one of his fingers and a blink of his eyes showed Shinji's buckshot had thrown him right off balance.

"I see" was all he said.

"And I'm actually trying to set her up with one of my friends" he added, frowning slightly. "Though I'm not sure she quite understands the concept of being escorted to a dance…or for that matter, the dance itself".

Thatat least was true. Kensuke had utterly no chance of getting himself organized after all, despite the slightly positive female – male ratio in his year and Rei didn't quite understand the concept, even if she admitted she found the idea 'intriguing' and Kensuke an 'acceptable choice'.

Notquite the enthusiastic response he had hopped for, but it would do. Assuming Kensuke didn't have a heart attack when he actually got around to informing him of course.

"Well I am sure you will find someone, you deserve some time to unwind and enjoy yourself" the Vice Commander said, switching subjects now that he had found out what he wanted. "So, if I might ask, what was the main reason you wished to see me today?"

"It's about these…uniforms".

"I thought you told the Operations Director that you didn't mind the idea".

"I don't" Shinji said with a shake of his head. "But I wanted to discuss a possible modification".

The Vice Commander leaned back slightly, appraising him. "Go on".

"The problem is I've found…well, a barrier, between me and the NERV people I work with. I can't help but think they just see me as a child playing at war games, not really taking me seriously. My mother worked side by side with the teams on Unit One" he said. "They still remember her, even today, as someone who got down in the trenches so to speak, alongside them as part of their team. I on the other hand…well, I'm just the kid who pilots the thing then goes home. They're polite and professional…but…that esprit'de'corps" –Shinji struggled over the strange word- "is just not there, despite how hard I try to integrate myself with them".

"And you have an idea how to change that?"

"Perhaps only partially, but at least it's a step in the right direction" he said...


Two days later, Shinji sat down on his bed and hurriedly finished unwrapping the package that had been delivered while he was at school.

His new NERV uniform.

How exactly Pen-Pen had signed for it, Shinji decided he didn't want to know, guessing it was one of those great universal mysteries that would destroy his mind faster then Third Impact if he ever discovered the truth.

The uniform was the price of being on the NERV payroll in a big way and probably for being somewhat more stable in the head. Even if it was mostly just something for him to wear instead of his school uniform if he ever had any occasion to formally report to higher ups such as 'The Human Instrumentality Committee'.

The concept of standing in front of SEELE's official face quietly terrified him, but Misato had assured him it was rather unlikely to happen.

The formal 'uniform' was really just a jacket of exceptionally high quality he would wear over his usual white shirt and dark trousers, cut similar to Misato's scarlet jacket but in a dark navy blue that hung over his belt without looking too large. All manner of patches covered it and made it look like a pilot's jacket, something he found entirely appropriate. A UN military patch sat on his right shoulder just above a small but strident, Japanese flag. 'S.IKARI' was stitched directly into the uniform on his right breast, with 'NERV' stitched opposite it on his left, an allegiance reinforced by the NERV patch on his left shoulder, though circled in a thin gold band to signify his pilot status.

A half dozen zippered windbreakers were folded up under his jackets, much more simple with only his name and a Unit patch on his left and right breasts, designed to be worn in the field, over plug suits if needed, and joy of joys, they had pockets. Plug suits were comfortable enough, but the lack of pockets on them had nearly driven him insane on more then one occasion.

The Unit Patch was his own addition to both uniforms, sitting on the right breast of both, under the NERV logo on the formal jacket. It was a rather catching patch in his opinion, shaped like the head of Evangelion Unit One, the outline of its face barely visible with the four 'war paint' stripes and white eyes dramatically offsetting the golden 'Evangelion - 01' logo attached under it.

The Unit patch on his jackets had been issued to all the Unit One cage crew who wore them proudly on their shoulders. Moral, already relatively high only improved as the patches were released. When Shinji walked into the bays in his light jacket wearing the exact same patch as 'his' crew, he found himself increasingly getting crisp nods and smiles back from them, greeting them increasingly on a first name basis, slowly building his own network of people he knew, across most of the divisional and organizational boundaries.

He doubted he could launch a Coup d'état with these people against his Father…but they could prove to be useful in the future to 'leak' information at the right times.

Unfortunately, his other proposals to the Vice Commander had met with far more limited success –such as funny hat day and a hot pink paint job for Evangelion Unit Two when it arrived.

But he would adapt…even if he would never see his Father in an Australian cork hat sitting stoically at his desk, his head resting in his hands as he always had it…


Shinji's attention was finally dragged back to the noisy existence of the heavy transport helicopter as he realized Misato was speaking.

"Well I figured you three must be getting sick of being cooped up in those mountains for weekend after weekend, so I figured I'd take you out on a little date!"

"This is a date Misato?" Toji said in surprise, his eyes snapping up in surprise and glee.

Hikari or no Hikari, Shinji knew very few males his age who would ignore Misato with that smile on her face saying they were on a date.

"So…where are we going?" Shinji asked with a sigh at his friend's expression, reminding himself that Hikari and Toji were going along just fine.

Misato glanced out the cockpit, grinned and looked back at him.

"Oh, I thought we'd take a cruise on that little boat down there!"

All three young men in the back of the tiny passenger compartment turned and looked out the windows on the right hand side of the helicopter. Cloud under them blocked their view for a few seconds before being whipped away to show the dull gray ships of the UN Combined Pacific Fleet stretching from horizon to horizon.

"OH MY GOD!" Kensuke screamed, louder then any fan girl he had ever met in his life as he zoomed in on the capital ships at the center of the formation. "ONE TWO THREE FOUR BATTLESHIPS AND FIVE AIRCRAFT CARRIERS! WHAT A FLEET!"

Toji's reaction could not possibly have been more contrasting.

"That's…your cute little boat?" he said in disbelief as their lumbering helicopter turned into approach pattern, loosing speed and altitude as they did so.

"She's gorgeous" Kensuke breathed in reverent awe. "That's the pride of the UN combined fleet, the Super Carrier 'Over the Rainbow'!"

"What kind of a stupid name is that?" Toji sniffed, causing Kensuke's grip on his camera to visibly tighten for a second.

"She's a vintage model from just before Second Impact" Kensuke's huffed, clearly putting aside Toji's near heretical statements for the time being. "She was under construction at Newport as CVN-76 back when Second Impact happened. The tsunami from the impact hit the shipyard and she broke free of her moorings, getting pushed out to sea. In the chaos, everyone thought she had sunk, then two days later, she just drifted back in with the construction crew tired, wet, but still alive. When they were asked where they had been, one of them said 'over the rainbow' and the name stuck.

"It's enormous" Shinji agreed, his nerves slowly increasing the reality of the ships presence started to permeate his mind, causing him to close his eyes and wipe his suddenly sweaty palms off on his NERV jacket that he had worn, to Kensuke's great envy.

Get a grip Shinji he told himself, to utterly no effect.

The Mi-26 flared as it passed over the flight deck of the carrier, her decks filled with an exotic mixture of US, Russian and European naval aircraft. Even so, the arrival of the gigantic, customized helicopter was unusual enough that deck personnel doing programmed maintenance stood around and watched as it slowly fell out of the sky towards them.

They were not alone.

Up on the Flag Bridge, the three star Admiral in charge of the task force growled in annoyance as the huge UN helicopter descended, ranting to his long suffering Flag Captain about the injustice of this entire insane mission and stupidity about 'bringing a power cord for that kids toy'.

A hundred meters back towards the stern, a cigarette in his mouth and a sloppy grin on his face, Ryoji Kaji watched the cargo helicopter descend with a gleam in his eye, just waiting for the right moment to surprise his old girlfriend and sighed over the fact that he hadn't brought a camera to capture the moment.

Fifty meters forward and several stories higher then the sometimes NERV officer sometimes spy, a young teenaged adolescent who was no longer a girl but not yet quite a woman stood in the stiff breeze generated by the carriers forward motion, long hair waving in as she watched the helicopter descend the last few meters to the deck and lightly touch down, before she turned towards a nearby stairwell.

"COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL COOL! TOTALLY AWESOME! I'M SO HAPPY I WANT TO CRY!" Kensuke almost sobbed in pure joy as he leaped off the helicopter, his camera swinging every which way as he tried, impossibly, to film everything he saw at the same time and came increasingly close to tripping over his own feet. "Look at thoseantennas and dishes and guns and launchpads and missiles…" Kensuke's voice trailed off into silence, mostly because his lungs had run out of oxygen and his mind had fried from the sensory overload, instead simply focusing the camera and making noises of approval from the little gasps of oxygen he had to spare.

Shinji shook his head in amusement as he followed his friend away from the helicopter, pausing as he felt his unzipped jacket catch the wind and start to flutter, then recalling what that wind meant and turning in alarm as Toji hopped down onto the carriers' flight deck, raising his voice over a sudden engine startup.

"TOJI, HOLD ON TO YOUR-"

Too late.

Toji's precious new basketball cap was ripped from his questing fingers by the wind, skidding off down the flight deck with Toji madly following in pursuit, screaming at someone to stop it. Shinji was peripherally aware of Misato coming around from the cockpit, yawning and rubbing her neck as she took in the fresh sea breeze, but didn't pay attention as he prayed that what he had read about Chaos Theory in the last couple of weeks held true.

Unfortunately, the probability Gods didn't take pity on him as a final gust of wind sent Toji's hat skidding into the path of a slim red sandal which crashed down and arrested its progress.

Shinji swallowed. Heavily.

There she was.

She looked exactly as he remembered her, her glorious auburn hair streaming out behind her in the wind with that yellow sundress she had worn sparingly -but had always made him weak at the knees- held up by twin straps neatly tied off with small bows on her shoulders, complemented by a light blue velvet strip that circled her throat. Her eyes were those same brilliant sapphires burned into his memory that could express more emotion in a slight shift of focus then most people could with their entire body, currently focused on Misato as the Captain smiled at her, utterly ignoring the increasingly strident noises Toji was making at her feet. As always, she wore her A-10 clips in an effort to gather her hair back and Shinji spotted a new addition, a pair of tiny studs in her ears that sparkled brilliantly in the bright sunlight, only helping to accentuate the air of maturity she flaunted like a sledge hammer.

"Welllllll Hullo Misato!" she called cheerfully as Toji continued to try and extricate his hat with little success, growling slightly in frustration. "How have you been?"

"Just fine" Misato replied, looking over the other. "Goodness, you've grown some haven't you?"

"Uh-huh!" she agreed happily, before putting her hands on her hips. "And I'm not just taller either, my figures filled out as well" she boasted.

Misato smiled tolerantly at her before speaking up slightly for the benefit of the three other people around her. "Let me introduce you. This is the designated pilot of Eva unit Two, the Second Child; Asuka Langley Sohryu".

Shinji, in a singular perfect moment of revelation –which lucky people might have perhaps one or two times in their lifetimes- finally understood the phrase 'deer in headlights'. Why those majestic animals just froze as enormous, fast moving vehicles came bearing down on them, even when they had plenty of time to get out of the way.

Because right now, despite knowing what was about to happen, despite being aware of the consequences…he found himself unable to look away as a gust of wind pushed across the flight deck, billowing Asuka's dress at her waist and giving the trio of young men in front of her a splendid view of her utterly gorgeous legs and white, lacey –probably cotton- undergarments-

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

Ouch.

He was hardly a person who was comfortable with pain, let alone some kind of pervert who got off on it…but he found himself suddenly ruthlessly fighting back tears that had nothing to do with his stinging cheek.

"WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" Toji demanded as he scrambled to his feet, his cap firmly clenched in his right hand as he glared at Asuka.

Misato was clearly trying not to laugh as Toji was about five seconds from blowing his top and even Kensuke had a wince on his face looking at the impending showdown between the two ego cases.

"That's the viewing fee" she sniffed. "Quite a bargain don't you think?"

"It's overpriced" Toji replied with a strange half snarl, half scoff, anger starting to replace the throbbing shock as he reached for his belt. So this prima donna has a high opinion of herself does she?Well then, how would she like-

His hands stopped just as they reached his belt from the pressure of another hand falling on his shoulder. Glancing back, he saw Shinji shake his head, the somewhat amused expression on his face saying 'trust me, you don'twant to do this'. Growling, Toji let go and retreated back beside Misato, leaving Shinji in the vanguard to face the person Toji had already named 'The Red Demon' in his mind.

"So!" Asuka cheerfully, stepping forward as if nothing had just happened and about to ask a question before she paused as she spotted the strident patch on Shinji's jacket and turned the full force of her gaze onto him, before aggressively stepping into his personal space and narrowing her eyes in study.

It took every ounce of his self control, of his newfound confidence and his strength not to wrap his arms around her, hold her tight and start crying his eyes out as he apologized for everything, as she brought her face to within inches of his.

If she saw the play of emotions across his face, she didn't comment on them, huffing instead as she backed away, her brief inspection completed, her eyes opening doubtfully.

"Well. So, this is the famous Third Child then?"

"Yes" he managed to get out in a surprisingly level voice that gave him some tiny amount of confidence, desperately trying to keep his head clear as he knew the onething that would turn Asuka against him faster then anything else would be acting like a spineless wimp. "And you would be the famous Second Child Misato is always talking about"

"She does?" Asuka asked, her smile twitching wider and a flash of vanity pulsing in her stunning eyes.

I do? Misato wondered with a frown, wondering if perhaps she really wasdrinking too much and her memory was starting to be affected…

"The most heavily trained pilot of our group - over a decades worth of training in fact, a college degree your belt at fourteen years old and the designated pilot for the first production model Evangelion" he said, inclining his head slightly.

That's it Shinji, stroke that ego like you want to stoke her long silky…PAY ATTENTION!!

"Well I'm glad to see Misato has taught you to maintain the proper level of respect for my superior skills, intelligence and beauty!" she declared with an imperious lift of her chin and impish smile, flinging her hair back into place as she stepped back several meters, glancing approvingly at his jacket and stabbing her finger out at it. "Say Misato, when do Iget one of those?"

"When we arrive back at NERV central and you go on duty" Misato replied, blinking away her surprise at how much Shinji knew about Asuka and guessing he had actually spent the time to read the parts of her general file – at least the parts he could access with his low level account on the MAGI.

But why did he say I told him all of those things about her? She wondered, before shrugging and gesturing everyone towards the ships island.


"NERV" Vice Admiral Robert Coones of the United States Navy said several minutes later on the Rainbows Flag Bridge, as if the word summed up every single thing that was wrong with the world, his job and his mission.

Which, actually, wasn't such an illogical position, come to think of itShinji reflected as the senior officer glared at Misato.

"From your actions on the flight deck, I take it youare the leader of this gang of boy scouts? Obviously, I was mistaken" he snorted, handing Misato back her card. Misato, in her full working uniform including a red beret on her head kept a calm, level expression on her face.

"Thank you, for all your gracious hospitality Admiral" she said with the expected difference from a junior officer to a superior one.

"Oh no, thank you for giving me the opportunity to baby sit even morekids!" Coones said with a roll of his eyes towards the ceiling, as if pleading with some divine force to kill him now.

Kensuke, who passed behind Misato giggling softly as he walked around videotaping everything, punctuated the Flag officers complaint rather pointedly.

"And thank you" for your assistance in the marine transport of Evangelion Unit Two" Misato replied, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. As a nominal O3 Captain in the UN Army on detached service with NERV, Misato was outranked by roughly six levels of rank by the O9 Vice Admiral, but the fact that she wasattached to NERV muddied the waters considerably, letting her get away with much more back talk then any normal officer could have. "Here are the specifications for the emergency power supply socket"

The Admiral glanced over the cover sheet, signed by both his immediate superior and some person named Gendo Ikari before snorting yet again. "You've wasted a trip, I'd never agree to anyrequest to activate that…toy at sea in the first place!"

Shinji felt, rather then saw Asuka's eyebrows twitch at 'her' Evangelion being denigrated as little more then a toy, but she kept her peace as Shinji struggled to keep his composure. Her presence right behind his shoulder was slowly smothering him regardless of how much he tried to focus on something, anything else. Her familiar scent, a mixture of her vanilla conditioners and even that expensive German deodorant she had categorically insisted on importing over local brands slowly worked their magic on Shinji, preventing him from being able to concentrate for more then a few seconds at a time.

God damn it, I have to get away from her before I break down right here!

"Just think of it as being prepared for any eventuality" Misato tried one last time to make her peace with the officer in front of her. "The Eva is quite valuable Sir".

"So valuable that the entire pacific fleet is guarding it!" he bit out. "When the hell did the UN re-commission us into a bloody cargo service?"

"If my memory serves me correctly, it was about the same time as a certain secret organization went active and started throwing its weight around" his Captain put in.

"What a grandiose assignment for the entire pacific fleet" the Admiral repeated again as if he just couldn't believe it. "All for thattoy"

Shinji couldn't help but roll his eye at the Admirals continual dismissal of the Evangelion.

"You have a problem young man?" the Admiral addressed him directly with a rather disapproving tone in his voice.

Shinji caught the warning glance from Misato, but didn't care, glad to have something, anything, to distract him from Asuka's overwhelming presence.

"Admiral, have you ever been in combat?" he asked bluntly, then as the Admiral opened his mouth, added "and I mean realcombat, on the front line, not on the bridge directing other men from a distance".

The Admiral glared at him. Shinji took that as a 'no'.

"Well Sir, I have, so has the First Child and I'm sure very shortly, so too will have the Second" he said, jerking his head slightly in the direction of Asuka beside him. "In my first engagement, I went up against an Angel that chewed through a Tank Battalion in four minutes flat, destroyed three dozen aircraft and took more firepower then this entire battle group could dish out, right up to the use of Strategic scale N2 weapons. The UN and JSSDF threw everything they had at it and barely sloweditdown at the cost of over a thousand lives and half a billion US dollars".

Shinji waited a few seconds as a vein on the Admirals forehead started to pulse as he took a breath and continued, keeping his voice calm and level.

"With the greatest of respect, Sir" he continued, "the twin of that toyyou are transporting took out that Angel in sixty three seconds, with no civilian casualties, no military casualties and minimal collateral damage to the city it was fighting in. Us 'kids' have to pilot these things because there isn't anyone else who can. While our classmates at school are worrying about who they'll invite to the dance, we are wondering if tomorrow we'll die as we're ripped to pieces by something nuclear weapons barely slow down, knowing if we fail, out entire race is going to die. So, respectfully, I'd ask you to show some fuckingrespect".

The silence on the bridge was so total that Shinji decided that you wouldn't just be able to hear a pin drop, but the sound of it falling through the air would have been deafening for the two or so seconds no-one dared to speak, move or breathe in.

Jesus H Christ where did thatcome from Shinji wondered in astonishment. Was just being aroundAsuka spiking his testosterone levels enough to do that?

"You four; clear the bridge" Misato ordered her charges without looking away from the Admiral, feeling that if she did look at Shinji, she wouldn't be able to stop from reaching over and hugging him so tightly he would probably choke…which would ruin the effect.

"Mam" Shinji acknowledged in that same perfectly level tone that sounded disturbingly like his Father, wheeling around and heading for the door, just missing the look of admiration that had fleetingly passed over Asuka's face as she fell into step behind him along with Toji and surprisingly even Kensuke, who didn't protest as they hurried off the bridge and out the door.

"My apologies for that Admiral" Misato lied through her teeth. "He's had a very hard couple of months".

"I understand" he nodded briefly then sighed, the Admiral ruefully admitting to himself that he hadn't exactly been diplomatic, or picked the right target to vent his frustration with being turned into a glorified cargo service on. "Please…convey my apologies to the pilots if I was out of line" he said briefly.

"Yes Sir" she nodded. "Well, please continued to New Yokosuka as planned" she said with a salute, before backing off the bridge and following the Children out the door, fighting to keep the grin off her face.

"Shinji…" Toji said in pure admiration as the quartet of current and future classmates exited the bridge, "that was the most bad ass thing I have ever seen anyone do in my life".

"To put it mildly" Kensuke agreed, the expression on his face suggesting he was on the verge of getting down and worshipping his friend in awe after that performance.

Shinji felt rather then saw Asuka staring at him, turning to try and decode the odd expression on her face, which promptly fell off as he returned her gaze.

"Wellgoodgoing Third Child, now we've been kicked off the bridge for the rest of this trip!"

"That Admiral deserved it" Toji rebuffed Asuka, as always, the one person utterly fearless of her wraith. "Or are you just jealous that you couldn't say it first as you haven't actually beenin combat yet? Have you Rookie?"

Asuka's gaze went from 'conversation condescending' to 'hyper death' in about a half second and Shinji took an involuntary step back from the Second Child, knowing in his heart that Toji was a dead man-

"Okay that's enough" Misato said as she joined them, shooting a warning look at both Asuka and Toji that caused them both to grudgingly back down, the small party heading down the stairs towards a small elevator. "Shinji, officially, I have to formally tell you that that kind of behavior to a senior UN officer is not acceptable from NERV personnel and you…ah to hell with it, that was just brilliant kid!" she smiled as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

The group chuckled at that and Shinji felt his face go slightly red, before a new voice broke in sounding highly amused.

"Well I can see you're as confident as ever" a man said, causing Asuka's face to light up in delight and Misato's to frown slightly, as if she was trying to match up something in her memory.

The group turned to see a man in his late 20's or early 30's in a blue shirt leaning against the wall, just inside the cross corridor at the base of the stairwell. A slight stubble was present over his face and his tie was hanging somewhat loose in a way no officer on this ship would ever accept…but the combination Shinji knew, for some reason, drove most women utterly nuts.

"KAJI!" Asuka gleefully shouted, her hands clasping together in delight.

Misato's expression was so utterly priceless that Shinji kicked himself for not having Kensuke tape this moment as Kaji levered himself off the wall and sauntered over towards the group with that same, self assured grin Shinji remembered.

Misato looked desperately at the elevator, as if calculating her chances of diving inside and stabbing the buttons on the control panel, but clearly decided she would never make it solo as the doors opened, the six people forcing their way into an elevator really designed for three.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Misato demanded as the elevator dropped down the Island into the honeycomb of compartments under the flight deck…far too slowly.

"Accompanying Asuka" Kaji replied as smoothly as he could, given that he like everyone else had utterly no room to move. "I'm on a…business trip of sorts, from the Third Branch".

"I should have anticipated this" Misato growled, closing her eyes for a second, then snapping them wide open again.

"HEY! DON'T TOUCH ME!" Misato shouted as Asuka also let loose a shout of protest and horror.

"I CAN'T HELP IT!" Kaji and Toji protested right back.

The elevator ride ended a few seconds later and the group all but fell out into the passage just outside the small Captains mess Misato had been directed to. Misato sprinted out first, no mean feet given that she had been at the back of the elevator, followed by the quartet of children and slowly pursuing Kaji, the group claiming a table right next to a TV set, some movie Shinji vaguely remembered from a few years ago playing on it. Misato who made it to the table first took one corner of it with Toji claiming the seat next to her and Kaji claiming the seat opposite her as a matter of course. Asuka of course took the seat next to Kaji and Kensuke –sensibly- chose Toji over Asuka, leaving Shinji the seat he both wanted and dreaded next to the Second Child, as cups of tea and coffee were served up by a steward.

"So…are you seeing anyone?" Kaji asked, his foot tapping softly against Misato's own after the silence had stretched uncomfortably.

"I don't think that's any of your business" she replied shortly, continuing to ignore him as she focused her attention at the TV with a look of irritation on her face, pulling her legs back sharply away from his when he didn't stop.

"Oh. I'm hurt" he mock pouted with a slight chuckle, taking a sip of the excellent USN coffee with a sigh before placing the cup down and leaning forward to look past Asuka.

"So" Kaji smiled at Shinji. "I understand that you're living with Katsuragi now aren't you?"

Shinji nodded and Kaji leaned forward even more, the smile on his face turning somewhat conspiratorial.

"So tell me…is she still wild in bed?"

There was a collective 'WHAAAT?' from the other four people on the table as Kaji's words sunk in.

Asuka, Toji and Kensuke backed away from Kaji, their arms coming up simultaneously in exactly the same warding gesture, Shinji noting to his amusement it would be one of the few times thosethree had exactly the same reaction like that.

Misato who had been slumped in her chair and studiously ignoring Kaji sat up in utter shock, her feet pressing against the floor with enough force to tilt her chair backward slightly, before it crashed forward again, Misato rebounding off the Table as she lunched forward, her arms slamming down with enough force to upset three of the coffee mugs as she brought her face now almost as red as her uniform to within inches of Kaji.

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING BY THAT?!" she demanded in an enraged voice that would have probably made Gendo Ikari himself flinch.

Kaji on the other hand simply smiled slightly, his eyes flicking to her enraged face then back to Shinji with a sigh.

"No…she hasn't changed at all, has she Shinji?" he commented as Misato's face lost its color slowly, rage giving way to embarrassment as she realized how easily Kaji had pushed her buttons…

"Was she just as obsessed about keeping her house clean with absolutely no alcohol back when you knew her?" Shinji asked in a tone of mild curiosity.

Kaji blinked…then burst out laughing as he got the joke.

Misato glared at both of them, then slinked down back into her chair, holding her head in her hands and moaning as if in great pain.

"Ah I see your famous sense of humor is as razor sharp as I've heard".

"So why do you know so much about me?" Shinji asked Kensuke started to right the cups, luckily all empty, that had fallen over.

"Well you're rather well known in my line of work for NERV" he smiled. "The famous Third Child who piloted an Eva in his first battle with no training!"

Asuka who had just lowered her arms now turned in her chair to glare at him out of the corner of her eyes at the praise from Kaji, making Shinji swallow slightly.

"I was incredibly lucky in that battle, the Eva went out of control and I had very little to do with anything that happened" he hastily explained.

Asuka's expression changed slightly as if in consideration before it started to ease, the Second Child apparently deciding this excused his performance in the First Battle of Tokyo-3.

Misato then ruined it of course.

"But the next Angel you fought on your own" she pointed out, rejoining the conversation as she refused to let Shinji put himself down, her pride in him coming forth at the worst possible time. "You made Unit One move in ways even the people who designed the Eva's couldn't understand!"

Misato…I hate you Shinji thought as Asuka's glare, which had started to weaken, was suddenly reinforced to a level that Shinji suspected would have fried the 5th Angel, without the need for anything so mundane as a positron cannon.

I need to change the logo on my NERV patch to 'Asuka is angry with me, all is right with the world' Shinji decided with a mental sigh.

"I was just lucky" Shinji shrugged, shooting Misato a look that begged her to just drop the subject which she finally got, backing off in understanding..

"Luck is a part of your destiny" Kaji smiled, noting the interplay and realizing Shinji did recognize the source of Asuka's hostility towards him. Smart kid indeed…

"Well" Kaji continued, standing, "I've got to be going now so I'll see you later".

"Bye" Shinji nodded politely as he stepped away from the table, giving the still furiously shocked Misato an amused smile as Asuka quickly followed in his wake without so much as glance back at the rest of the table.

"This has to just be a nightmare" the Director of Operations moaned to herself, wondering how what had started as such a pleasant day had turned so horrible.


Buried a hundred meters under what had been a park in one of Japans coastal cities fifteen years ago, Gaghiel stirred. It felt something, a presence it had not felt for quite some time; approaching…floating on the surface of the water it now knew was above it. A presence that, even in its pathetically diminished state sung to it and woke it from its long slumber.

Shrugging off countless tens of thousands of tons of stone and ruble with a pulse of its AT field, the 6th Angel rose from the surface of the Earth in a cloud of mud and silt, then swum at speed to the North.


A few minutes later as the UN Battle Group continued to make its way down Japans Eastern coast, Asuka leaned over the safety rail on one of the carriers numerous observation platforms, her legs carefully tucked through a lower railing to ensure her safety as she breathed the fresh air, content with the presence of the perfect man next to her.

"So" Kaji asked, curious to get the reaction of his young charge beside him. "What do you think of our famous Shinji Ikari?"

Asuka snorted slightly, but found that she had no quick answer to that question. On one hand, she wasn't exactly happy with the way he had been praised to death by Misato and even her beloved Kaji, just because he had been on call when the Angels arrived instead of her…

But on the other hand…she had watched him go head to head with that Admiral when Misato clearly wasn't going to stick up for them and he clearly was in awe of her from the way Misato had used her, correctly, as a pilot eminently worthy of emulation…

"He's…boring" she finally decided, but knew Kaji would hear the doubt in her voice, over the usually dismissive tones she would have used.

"Hmm…and yet, he has consistently maintained an in-combat Synch ratio of over ninety percent since his first engagement" Kaji pointed out, watching his charge closely.

Asuka didn't fall overboard only because she had carefully wrapped her legs around a lower railing in a way that let her lean over the upper railing in safety beforeKaji had delivered the news.

Still, she fell down through the lower railing in utter shock, crashing to a halt on an impromptu seat as she started, dumbfounded, at Kaji.

"Mein Gott in Himmel" Asuka choked out before extricating herself.

"You okay?" he asked in concern.

"I'm fine!" she snapped back then frowned. "Sorry Kaji, you don't deserve that, just that…jerk…" her voice trailed off as she slowly came to grips with the idea that suddenly all those years of work she had put into inching her Synchronization Ratio up to its wonderful place in the high 70th percentile was destroyed by that once sentence from Kaji.

Alright Third Child she decided,you want a fight? I'll give you a fight!

With a look in her eyes that made Kaji want to pity Shinji, Asuka stormed past him and back into the carrier, clearly going in search for the pilot of Unit One.

Those two are going to be…interesting to watch together he decided. Assuming they don't kill each other in the next five minutes, the two of them might, just might…

Shaking his head one last time in amusement at that thought, reflections of his own crazy relationship with Misato flashing through his mind, Kaji followed Asuka through the hatch, but turned instead to the narrow staircase just inside that led down into the bowels of the ship.

Several minutes later, he had worked his way to the relatively luxurious quarters he had stayed in. Heading in, he glanced around the room carefully and noticed the telltale signs he had put in place to see if anything had been disturbed were all intact, suggesting that no-one had broke in while he was away. He still double checked the heavily armored 'briefcase' sitting against a wall anyway, pleased to see the tamper proof seals was still intact, when there was a quiet knock at the door.

He felt his hand twitch slightly for his sidearm, currently resting on his bed before calming himself as he grinned, guessing who this was.

Sure she would slap him around a few times, but after that…well…who knows?

Opening the door, his grin faded into a disappointed sigh.

"Oh, hi there Shinji…well…" he said, sticking his head out in hope to look up and down the corridor before sighing and waving Shinji inside. "I have to admit I'm hurt you didn't bring Misato with you".

"Sorry about that" Shinji smiled slightly, before letting his face fall to a much more bleak expression as Kaji shut the door behind him, trying not to shudder too much at the site of the armored briefcase against the wall. "We...need to talk".


Just under an hour later, Shinji returned to the Captains mess with Kaji in tow, to find Misato, Toji Kensuke and surprisingly, Asuka, sitting around finishing up lunch.

"Where did you run off…oh" Misato cut herself off as Kaji followed Shinji into the room, a green pilots flight suit on over his shirt and tie, a flight helmet under one arm…and a large gray suitcase under his other arm.

Misato's eyes went wide with delight.

"You've convinced him to leave?" she breathed in hope.

"Actually I have an…urgent delivery to make" he said with his famous smile at Misato. "But I'll see you all a little later in Tokyo Three".

His eyes flickered down the front of her uniform jacket which was lying open, confirming the cross given to her by her Father, was still very much there.

Predictably, Misato leapt to the wrong -but perfectly understandable- conclusion, grabbing her jacket and slamming it shut as if it was a banks vault.

"It's a big city, don't count on it Pervert".

Kaji sighed tolerantly, leaning back again.

"Well, tomorrow is another day Misato. And I must be off now".

"Can't I come along too?" Askua complained, clearly not liking the idea of 'her' Kaji being out of immediate reach.

Kaji just smiled at her tolerantly.

"I'm sorry my dear, but someone from the Third Branch has to stay here and watch over Unit Two".

"Hey…that's right" she said suddenly, as if embarrassed she had forgotten. "Well you don't have to worry, I won't let you down!"

"I know you won't" he said with a sincere smile, before turning back to Shinji. "Well, Mister Ikari, I shall see you later. I am looking forward to continuing our conversation".

"What conversation" Asuka and Misato asked in perfect synchronization and perfect suspicion, jumping slightly as they looked at each other, then looked away, embarrassment on their faces.

"Oh…this and that" Kaji said vaguely, heading for the door, glancing at the blushing Misato, then looking at Asuka before grinning knowingly at Shinji as he left the group behind.

As he wandered down the stairs to the hanger level, he reflected that suddenly this had become…a much more interesting trip then he had figured on.

Atmost, he had thought he might have had to kill some deep cover SEELE agent among the crew, if SEELE had figured out he had taken Adam from them and issued retaliation orders.

Though Asuka's half drunken insistence last night that she was ready to 'do the other stuff' with him, followed by her flashing him had been almost enough to cause him to choke on his beer.

But even that had been nothing next to Shinji's revelations…

At first he had simply thought he was joking and Misato was trying to get back at him, trying to figure out her angle but having no luck.

Then he had started to figure it that the Third Child was just, well, insane.

Then he had wondered if this was all some trap from either his Father or SEELE, using a fourteen year old kid as an agent provocateur, as unlikely as it was.

Then after he had calmly listed off things no-one, not SEELE, not his Father not Misato could possibly know about his 'jobs', about Misato and his history with her that she would never share with anyone…about his brother…

It was at that point Kaji had admitted the possibility, however terrifying, that Shinji Ikari might just be telling the truth…and somehow, he had gained an extraordinary amount of trust from him that had lead to him coming to him.

And if he was telling the truth…if NERV and SEELE didn't exist tostop the Third Impact, but initiateone of their own design…or designs depending on who controlled it...

Well the game just got far more interesting he decided with a slight shake of his head, exiting onto the lower hanger deck where a Russian Yak-38 Custom with its pilot was standing by. If Shinji was telling the truth and an Angel was going to attack in less then an hour, well…as Shinji had pointed out, having Adam in the same area was probably nota good idea.

And if an Angel shaped like a giant fish about the size of this ship didattack…

Placing his briefcase into the tiny rear cargo compartment and ensuring it was secure; Kaji stepped up the ladder and jumped down into the cockpit as the engines spun up.


Back in the Captains mess, Asuka watched Kaji leave with a sigh, annoyed that he was running out on her and leaving her with these jerks, but knowing he was correct that as the only other representative of the Third Branch, and the designated pilot it was clearly her duty to stay with Unit Two until it arrived in Japan.

And speaking of Unit Two…

"Third Child" she said, standing up suddenly from her seat without warning. "Come with me".

Shinji to her annoyance didn't instantly obey, instead raising an eyebrow slightly and turning to Misato, dropping his voice to a much lower pitch.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to hear her say that…"

Misato almost sent the coffee she was drinking out through her nose as she desperately tried to suppress her laugher, those other two morons the kid had brought with him not even trying to hide their own as they collapsed laughing.

Asuka felt her right eye twitch.

"Don't make me destroy you" she ground out in a tone that would have frozen lava, wondering why the Third Child was getting under her skin like he was.


The ride over in the small fleet launch was at least fast, Shinji feeling terrified the whole way that the 6th Angel would show up early and destroy them without even realizing it had run them over, but they made it to the civilian freighter uneventfully. Asuka, despite wearing near heals and a long dress scampered up the rocking stairway that hung off the side of the freighter fearlessly, Shinji following at a much more cautious pace as the framework swayed and groaned from the movement of the ship.

"Will you come on already?" Asuka demanded impatiently at the top

"Coming dear" he muttered, albeit low enough so she wouldn't hear as he continued to put one foot after the other, trying not to look down at the deep waters of the pacific under him.

There were things in the water today far more deadly then mere sharks after all.

"Finally" she huffed when he reached the top, then to his surprise, grabbed his hand and marched him firmly up towards the bow of the ship.

Shinji was so startled by the physical contact of her slender fingers around his hand that he almost stood around gawking, but somehow managed to – just - get his suddenly shaking legs into motion.

He thought about saying something…but in the end decided to just live in the moment. He knew Asuka wasn't holding onto his hand because she liked him, just because it was the most convenient way to hurry his ass along…but he didn't give a damn, griping her back ever so slightly.

Eventually, she let got as they arrived at the forward edge of the container, pulling up a section of the tarpaulin not tied down with a flourish.

"Well…its color suits you" Shinji said on reflex, hoping to sound sincere, but cursing himself for saying such a corny, idiotic thing.

"What do you mean by that" she said, her eyes narrowing.

"I mean the red…it's like your hair…" he said dumbly, knowing he had to play it out and bracing for the slap.

Asuka simply blinked, looked away for a second and then turned to head in, gesturing for Shinji to follow, who let out a slow breath in thanks for dodging that mistake.

"Well…the color isn't the only difference Asuka said", confidently walking down the linked ribbon bridges that took her across to the giant Evangelion lying on its front in the coolant before boldly hopping up to climb to the highest point of its back as Shinji cautiously followed across the bridge.

Don't look up the dress. For the LOVE OF GOD Shinji, don't look up the dress!

"Units Zero and One were created as part of the development process, the prototype and test-type proof of concept respectively" Asuka stated with a superior sounding tone in her voice. "The fact that it synchronized with an untrained pilot like you is proof of that. But my Unit 02 is different; created for actual combat conditions it's the world's first true Evangelion!"

Shinji's irritation with her denigrating both his and Rei's Evangelions increased to the point he was tempted to point out that as a general rule, bleeding edge technological prototypes required far more skill and ability to control then production model variants, but was tempered by the fact that Kaji had mentioned Asuka clearly felt her 'top pilot' status was now under direct threat from him.

Given that her pride in her piloting abilities was, when you got down to it, all that Asuka Langley Sohryu thought she had, Shinji kept his peace. He had seen the nightmare that had happened when herpride was shattered and he had utterly no wish to see that door open ever again…

"So. What do you think of myUnit Two, Third Child?" she asked with a smirk.

Shinji opened his mouth to reply with a generally approving statement that pointed out nominally Unit Two was several billion dollars of UN taxpayers property and her really 'hers' but was cut off as the rumble of an explosion echoed through the enclosed area, Asuka almost loosing her balance as a shockwave passed through the ships hull.

"What in the-"

"Undersea shock wave" Asuka exclaimed, sliding down the side of her Eva then jumping down to the floating bridge. "And it sounded close!"

The two children raced back out to the freighters port side just in time to see a Frigate in the far distance explode in a huge ball of fire, a skimming wave of water streaking away from it as something huge but submerged zipped through the outer edges of the fleet.

"What in the hell is that?" Asuka demanded.

"An Angel" Shinji replied curtly, feeling a sick ball in his stomach as he watched the funeral pyre of what, three hundred good men who he hadn't been able to save?

Gritting his teeth, he watched another ship, a larger Cruiser or Battleship he guessed, shuddered as the wave front passed under it. There was no explosion this time, but the ship rapidly started to fall out of line and ever so slowly settle into the water, the rest of the fleet breaking up its formation, water churning at the sterns of ships as they clawed for maneuvering room, klaxons and sirens screaming.

Making a snap decision, he grabbed Asuka's hand and started moving towards the bridge, enjoying the reversal greatly from the last time she had almost yanked his arm out of its socket as she had run around the ship looking for somewhere to change.

"What are you doing?" she demanded as she hurried along after him…though Shinji couldn't help but note as she closed her hand around his while he pulled her along…

"We have to go to the bridge and tell them to move this ship as close to the Rainbow -and your power cable- as possible. Unless you feel like swimming in B type equipment".

"Well why can't you do it yourself?"

"Because I don't speak English and this is an American ship?"

"Baka" she snorted, hiding her embarrassment at the obvious problems by attacking his flawed strategy. "We can call it in from inside here" Asuka snapped, pulling him to a halt then back under the tarp and to a nearby sound powered phone on the wall. She picked it up, conversed tersely in English with Shinji picking up perhaps one in every five words for about a minute before she hung up with a satisfied expression. Seconds later, Shinji heard the rumble of the ships engines increase in pitch.

"There" she said, looking around and then reaching into an alcove to pick up a large red bag, smiling. "Well come on then Third Child; you are going to have the singular honor of watching as Asuka Langley Sohryu defeats this Angel!"


"To all ships, fan out and take evasive action! Radio room, status?"

"TheBristol has gone silent! Kongo can't locate the target and Kirov is taking on water!"

"Damn it to hell" Coones snapped as the Rainbow accelerated into a radical turn under him, a pair each of Burke and Udaloy class destroyer escorts holding formation as they clawed for maneuvering room. "What in God's name is going on here?"

"That would probably be an Angel attack" the voice of Misato Katsuragi came cheerfully back from the door to his bridge.

"This is a combat situation Captain, get the hell of my bridge" he snapped without turning around, his binoculars following the wave of water thrashing off their port quarter in the distance. "Send to all ships; engage ASW, fire at will!"

"It's pointless" Misato sighed to herself, knowing she was wasting her breath as much as those ships were wasting ammo.

A mixed formation of ex US/UK Frigates linked into the UN Battle Net tracked the enormous contact with their anti submarine technology, locking in a salvo of relatively lightweight ASW torpedoes and calculating the optimal spread pattern over several milliseconds.

Finally satisfied with their work, they eventually told the lowly, inefficient humans in the loop to open fire.

A pattern of torpedoes from VLS ASCROC launchers and Mark 32 torpedo tubes crashed into the water around the Angel, bracketing it so even if it had evaded, it would still probably have be caught by some of them. The Angel however didn't even bother to evade as the torpedoes pounded into its AT field with no more effect then plankton hitting the steel hulls of the ships around it.

As if to make the point about how stupid an idea attacking it had been, the Angel dove under a nearby frigate which uselessly tried to turn hard inside the closing target, rolling and almost lazy pointing a fin up at its belly, the monomolecular thin AT field projected from it slicing right through the ship like a knife through butter, its unfired Surface to Air Missiles detonating in a brilliant explosion that snapped its keel in half.

As the explosions shockwave rattled the windows of the flag bridge, the Admiral crashed his fist against a bulkhead, watching more of his men die as the smoke cleared to show the stern of the stricken frigate sinking, pathetically few survivors visible in the water.

"Why in the hell won't it sink?" Coones demanded, not expecting an answer, but getting one anyway…and not from one of his officers.

"Only an Eva can beat it".

"What was that?" the Admiral demanded, swinging his glare to one of those two other boys who had followed Captain Katsuragi onto the bridge.

"Uh, nothing" the same boy said, suddenly quailing in the face of the glares at him to hide behind the NERV officer.

"The Angel is protected by a defensive barrier known as an AT field" Misato supplied, deciding the kids behind her could be trusted to keep a secret…though she made a point to have Kensuke's tapes censored after the battle. "It's effectively impervious to conventional weapons".

"Why in the hell wasn't I informed about this?" the senior officer fumed. Misato shrugged.

"Need to know basis Sir" she said, glancing out the window again. "Unit Two is capable of generating its own AT field that will neutralize the Angels…" she let her voice trail off as she looked down at the spray of water. Strangely, the Angel now appeared to be simply circling up and down the convoy, almost as if…

Is it looking for something?

But the only thing of any real value is…

"Oh no…is it after Unit Two?"


As the explosions continued to echo across the water, Asuka opened her sports bag, looking inside in approval at the contents. A voice crackled in English over the loudspeakers causing Asuka to cock her head slightly, and then nod, looking up at Shinji.

"The Captain is saying we're approaching Over the Rainbow…urgh, we don't have time to fine somewhere to change" she fretted, looking around desperately before focusing on Shinji with a determined look in her eyes. "Okay Third Child. I'm going to change into my plug suit. You will turn around, look at that far bulkhead and keep your eyes shut until I say otherwise, or I swear to whatever God you believe in that-"

"Understood!" he said quickly, spinning around and shutting his eyes, not needing to hear the rest of Asuka's threats to know she meant everysingleword of whatever form of grievous bodily harm she had been going to threaten him with.

He felt her burning glare on his back for a few seconds, and then heard her dress rustle as she removed it, followed by her undergarments leaving her utterly naked, a zipper sounding as she retrieved her plug suit.

He trembled slightly at the thought of Asuka's naked body behind him. Not to much fir typical male reasons, but because he remembered the first and last time he had seen her naked…and how he had used her body in ways that almost made him want to throw up right then now at how perverted he had acted.

How disgusting he thought with a slight shudder.

With a slight hiss behind him, Asuka's plug suit inflated, but he still didn't dare to turn around or open his eyes, until a grudging "okay, you can look" came back. Turning, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the familiar site of the Second Child in her scarlet plug suit

Well he didn't look Asuka thought to herself, a strange spike of irrational annoyance that he hadn't tried to look coming from somewhere at the slight smile he was directing at her, before she caught herself in shock wondering what in the hell was going on with her mind before she shook it off, reaching down and tossing him one of her spare plug suits. "Well?" she asked at the slight downturn in the corner of his mouth as he looked at it, "Put it on!"

Wincing slightly at the knowledge of how…tight…certain parts of the suit, designed for Asuka's body were, Shinji sighed and started to remove his jacket as Asuka danced away towards Unit Two.

"Let's go, Asuka" he heard her whisper to herself and he couldn't help but grin at her pure, raw confidence.

That,he had missed more then anything else Shinji decided as he stripped.


"TheFitzgerald has taken a glancing impact to her rear and has heavy damage aft of frame sixteen but is continuing to engage. New Jersey can't depress her guns sufficiently in these close quarters and is disengaging and…oh damnit, we just lost Chabanenko" the Flag Captain groaned as the Improved Udaloy class Destroyer rolled over, showing her keel had been neatly sliced open like the tin can she truly was as she sunk to crash into the underwater cityscape along with more then a few others ships from today.

Admiral Coones tried to keep the rage from his face as more of his men went to their depths. They had thrown an absurd amount of ordinance at this thing, but they were still down almost twentypercent of their ships only ten minutes into this battle! This was going to be the biggest disaster in naval military history since some of the lopsided battles in World War Two if something didn't change!

And he couldn't help but recall what that kid…no, that pilothad said to him, as well as his friend a few minutes ago.

Only an Eva can beat it!

Taking a breath, he set his jaw.

"What is the position of the Othello?"

His Captain glanced at the computerized tactical display which was tracking everything, combining all the various sensors on all the ships into a single unified picture. "She's taking position alongside us Sir" he said in some surprise. The Admiral grunted.

"All stop. Tell the engine room to route all reactor power to that damn external power socket. Captain Katsuragi?"

"Yes Sir?"

"Get that damn thing up and running!"

"Yes Sir" she nodded respectfully, stepping past Shinji's friends and up to the communications console, keying in her NERV priority code and Unit Two's ID. If she knew Asuka…


It was an annoying fact that Entry Plugs were very much single person affairs, designed to hold an Evangelions pilot securely in place without any thought as to what would happen when multiple people got inside.

Still, Shinji managed to find a place to half sit and half stand relatively securely as the entry plug slammed back inside Unit Two and Asuka started her synchronization.

He felt only a faint echo of the connection with her Evangelion that he did with Unit One, unsurprising given that he wasn't wearing neural interface, but he couldn't help but think the connection was…colder, as if the Evangelion itself recognized him as something different.

Foreign.

It wasn't truly hostile, but like something was watching him closely through narrowed eyes from the dark…

Shaking off the forbidding feeling, he listened with half an ear as Asuka proceeded through an abbreviated startup checklist before suddenly a wave of red flashing "Fehler" messages scrolled all over the super cockpit display.

Opps. Forgot about that.

"I knew we shouldn't have had Microsoft program these things"

Asuka, who had been sitting in her command couch with her head slightly bowed and total concentration on her face as she went through her synchronization procedure snapped her head around and glared at him.

"It'sthought noise, I thought I told you not to disturb me!"

"I'm sorry!" he protested and then wanted to kick himself for it, though at least it was a justifiable reaction as it actually washis fault.

"You're thinking in Japanese aren't you? If you mustthink, do it in German!"

"Jawohl Mein Fuhrer" he said with a roll of his eyes that would had Asuka punching him, if not for the fact that his blood would just leak through the LCL all around her.

"Bakka" she snapped, turning around and addressing her Eva. "Set language mode to Japanese and Re-Synch!"

The test patterns again whirled around them, this time fading into the standard cockpit view, showing where Unit Two was lying down on its side, Shinji feeling a second, deeper echo of a connection threading between him and the Evangelion, then strangely another thread to Asuka herself, feeling her intense concentration through the link.

A communications window popped up, showing Misato who didn't look at all surprised to see Asuka and Shinji in the entry plug.

"I should have expected to see you two here" she laughed lightly. "You ready?'

"Always am" Asuka cheerfully declared. Shinji just nodded, looking around for something firm to grip a hold of….rejecting the idea of her breasts as soon as it came to him with a violent shake of his head.

"Power supply is in place and you're right alongside the Rainbow Asuka!"

"Roger that. Evangelion Unit Two, go, NOW!"

The barely controlled monster that was Evangelion Unit Two shuddered into life, energy surging from the fuel cells in its chest as it moved, the thick secure tarpaulin covering it shredding against its armor plates as it slowly stood, the bottom of the ships hull groaning in protest as the minimal crew on board ran for the lifeboats, having no desire to be on a ship that was about to become a target. As Unit Two rose, it's AT field unfolded with a wavy blur that tore the thick canvas into fragments, sloughing into the sea around…and attracting the attention of the 6th Angel like blood in the water for a shark, the wave of water arrowing for the Freighter at high speed.

"Asuka, Twelve O'clock!" Misato shouted in alarm as the rapidly moving wave arrowed in directly at Unit Two.

"I see it Misato" Asuka growled in the joy of battle, watching as the power counter started at sixty seconds and started counting backwards. "Hang on Ikari!"

With a careful flex of her legs, Asuka leaped off the Freighter, the force almost snapping the keel as Unit Two leaped into the sky, seconds before the Angel slammed into the freighter from below, rebounding from the wreck as it shattered and diving deep into a long turn to its left. Far above it, Asuka reached the apogee of her AT field assisted leap and Unit two plummeted, Shinji yelping behind her in fear to Asuka's delight as she thrust her controls forward for more speed, clearly impatient to get down onto the flight deck.

"UNIT TWO COMING IN FOR LANDING!"

"Sound collision, all hands brace for impact!" the Flag Captain shouted into the 1MC as Unit Two leaped off the deck of the doomed freighter into a high arc, its destination rather clear to every ship in the fleet, dozens of sets of binoculars trained onto the terrifying scarlet figure few of them had seen under those covers as it arced down towards the carrier. All over the flagship, officers and men grabbed onto anything handy a matter of seconds before Unit Two crashed down, the impact denting the very expensive flight deck and instantly making it unusable for conventional operations, the ship listing heavily and sending a handful of aircraft overboard as their tie downs snapped from the movement before Asuka leaned her unit forward and allowed the hundred thousand ton fleet carrier to come level out.

"Switching to external power" she called out as she reached down to where the technicians had installed her three kilometer long power cable, expertly snapping it into place in her back as the clock ran down to thirty seconds, then stopped, power flowing into her Eva..

"Switch completed" she declared seconds later as the clock stopped, hundreds of megawatts flowing into her systems from the enhanced fusion reactors that had been built into the ship several years ago.

"Oh man what a waste!" Kensuke all but sobbed as he tallied the trio of F-14's that had gone overboard, followed by a pair of Su-33's and an E2-D.

"The target is approaching rapidly!" the Flag Captain shouted both over the combat channel to Unit Two as well as the ships intercom, trying to give his crew some kind of warning of this crazy battle as the fleets sonar systems traced the Angel finish its long curve just under the surface, moving forward very, very fast.

"You realize we have no room to maneuver and no weapons, don't you?" Shinji asked as the wave front of the Angel arrowed towards them from Starboard at high speed.

"The progressive knife will be just fine" she grinned, drawing Unit Two's more utilitarian knife from her shoulder holster, the vibrating blade looking rather pathetic in Shinji's opinion as the 6th Angel finally surfaced, racing across the water towards them with its enormous bulk.

"Oh, great" he said then paused. "Do you think we should be fair and give him a chance to surrender first?"

"Shut up Ikari" she snapped, shifting her stance slightly as the Angel raced towards them, bobbed down then leapt, clear out of the water and crashed into the side of the Carrier in an attempt to crush. Asuka barely dodged the surprise maneuver, grabbing onto the side of it as it crashed onto the deck, her progressive knife going flying from the impact while support beams under the flight deck groaned at a weight they had never been designed to hold.

"Looking good Asuka" Misato cheerfully commented, just before Asuka looking for firmer footing, shifted onto one of the numerous aircraft elevators, which promptly collapsed under the full force of Unit Two's straining leg muscles, upsetting their balance and cart wheeling the Angel and Evangelion into the sea, the power cord rapidly unwinding behind them.

"So much for German efficiency" Shinji muttered just loud enough for Asuka to hear as the Angel swam deep at speed, crashing itself into the cityscape again and again in an attempt to loose the parasite clinging to it. The Second Child snarled something in her native language that Shinji guessed was not complementary, both of them hanging on for dear life as the Angel crashed through the sunken ruins of what used to be the Fukushima prefecture coast.


"How much cable is left?" Misato asked, feeling her hopes sink about as fast as Unit Two, watching as the Cable was pulled every which way across the flight deck as it unwound sending more multi million dollar aircraft to Davy Jones, care of NERV.

"Twelve hundred meters and dropping" the Flag Capitan called out, studying the cable reel with his binoculars. The super conductive core was heavily insulated then wrapped in many thousands carbon nanotube segments that gave great flexibility while making it astonishingly strong, but it meant the crew on the flight deck had to keep the hell out of the way of it as it thrashed left, then right, then left again, sparks flying off the deck as it grinded through small fixtures here and there.

"What do we do now?" the Admiral asked in exasperation after several seconds of silence on the bridge as everyone caught up with the insanity.

"We'll think of something" Misato said with as much confidence as she could.

"Well if the Evangelion is engaging it, does that mean this…AT field is disabled?"

"More or less" Misato said, wishing Ritusko was here to answer these questions as she tried to think of some kind of plan to get an Evangelion, underwater in standard B-Type combat armor to fight against an Angel wholly adapted for aquatic combat.

"After seeing the size of that monster, I don't think out torpedoes would even dent it" the Flag Captain put in. "They're designed to punch holes in hollow submarines, not blast apart living things thatsize.

"What about N2 warheads?" Misato asked, getting an 'are you insane?' look from the Admiral which Misato ignored.

"TheWisconsin and Missouri each carry eight, class three N2 warheads for their Cruise Missiles" the Tactical Action Officer supplied after a nod from his Captain checking his computer inventory. "But they are incapable against underwater targets and detonating them on the surface would be suicide".

"Then we don't detonate them on the surface" she said, a plan slowly forming in her mind as she reached for the microphone. "Asuka, Shinji" she shouted, the radio signal passing down the power cable along an integrated fiber optic data line, "how are you doing?"

"We're just fine Misato" Shinji called back cheerfully over he sound of distant crashing and smashing noises. "The Teutonic Terror here has got this thing right where she wants it!"

An explosion of German came back down the line making Misato wince as Asuka submitted that Shinji's ancestry was tied to a much lower level of primate and his sexual habits left much to be desired.

That girl has spent way too much time around Kaji Misato shook her head, suddenly not pleased that she remembered so much of her German, turning to look at the tactical display with showed the enormous Angel swimming around under the fleet, before glancing at the reel. "Cables almost out" she warned, get ready for the shock!" Seconds later, the ship jolted slightly as the Cable went taught and pulled, yanking Unit Two free of the Angel and leaving it floating with a neutral buoyancy as Gaghiel moved off into the depths.

"Eva has lost the target" the TAO called, his eyes glued to his readouts both of the fleets status and sensor reports as well as via the datalink from Unit Two itself.

"Admiral?" Misato said, breathing in deeply. He probably wasn't going to like this…

"What now?" he asked, sounding somewhat befuddled by the rapidly changing situation.

"I'm going to need your cooperation".

He raised an eyebrow at that, but nodded for her to continue.

Aplan was better then noplan after all…

"Anuclearattack with the Battleships?" he asked several seconds later with a disbelieving tone in his voice.

Misato opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off as an alarm sounded from the TAO's board.

"Sirs, the target is approaching Eva again!"


"Alright" Asuka snarled as the Angel approached, looking far more deadly and threatening in Shinji's mind deep in its natural environment then it had when it tried to crush them on the carrier. "I'll finish it off this time!"

Asuka growled and worked her controls, willing the Eva into action, ready to introduce the Angel to the concept of returning to nothingness.

And she succeeded.

Nothing happened.

"Hey…it's not working!" Asuka cried out, the first faint edge of terror finally going into the voice of a girl who despite all her training, had no real understanding of mortality until this moment.

"It's B-type equipment" Shinji pointed out somewhat gently. Despite the fun he got out of pushing her buttons for a change, he really did love her dearly. "It won'twork underwater".

"Well what are you going to do?" she demanded, turning towards him as the Angel continued to advance, a look of fear flashing across her face.

"What am I going to do?" he asked in protest.

"You're the famous and oh so perfect Third Child aren't you?" she scoffed, her head turning to bring her face to within centimeters of her own. "DO something!"

Temptation to lean in and kiss in response rising…rising…

"Okay" he shrugged, reaching out to grab a hold of the back of her command couch. "I'd hold onto something if I were you…"

Asuka glared, then turned around to the Angel which had gown large enough that she could disable the zoom…just in time to see its mouth open and row upon row of needle sharp teeth come into view.

"TEEEETTTHH" she screeched, backing up deep into her command couch as if desperately trying to get away from the approaching monster, seconds before it crashed into Unit Two and its mouth snapped shut, two of the teeth catching the edge of Unit Two and holding it firmly in place, the Angel looking for all the world like a large tuna that had just taken the bait; Unit Two's legs dangling out of the front of the Angel with the rest of its torso inside, the power cable extending back to the surface like some giant improbable fishing line.

"This just gets better and better" Shinji grunted.

"Oh shut up you dork" she snapped at him. "You couldn't have done any better you know!"

"True" he conceded –to her slight surprise…and making her feel satisfied that the Great Shinji Ikari admitted hecouldn't have done better- "but if I know Misato, she'll be coming up with some insane over the top plan right about-"

"Asuka, Shinji. Whatever you do, don't let go!" Misato's voice came suddenly into their cockpit.


"Eva has entered the Targets Body" the TAO called, the display blinking slightly before the 6th Generation super computer buried deep in the carrier merged the two sensor icons to a '6th Angel with Eva Unit Two' tag.

"They've been eaten?" Toji said in astonishment and more then a little raw worry. His best friend was down there…and he didn't really want Asuka to die either.

Hurt perhaps, but not dead…yet.

"Uh huh" Misato agreed suddenly, turning one of her dazzling smiles on him. "And its time to real them in" she declared, turning back to the battle before Toji's legs got too shaky from the effects of that awesome smile.

"The ships are evacuated and the nuclear pre-arming sequence has been completed" the Flag Captain called out as he hurried down his checklist, everyone moving with a purpose now that there was a 'Plan', turning back his binoculars on the pair of Iowa's. In the post Second Impact wars, they had been hurriedly pressed back into service because the USN had lost most of its fleet in the cataclysm and had needed anything that could float pronto. Extensive and horrifyingly expensive upgrades had reduced their crew numbers to only a few hundred, driven by automation and advanced technology that now served Misato's plans perfectly.

"The ships are on course, remote guidance linked in" the TAO called out as the frigates that had rapidly taken off the crew moved away.

"Alright, do it" the Admiral ordered, feeling a pang as the two proud ships shuddered with huge spurts of air and water rushing out of their sides as they settled.

"Kingston valves opened, scuttle at point Z confirmed" the Captain read of his boards as Over the Rainbow eased into position behind and between the two old ladies, the cable extending right down between them. "Crash stop".

"Aye" the helmsmen confirmed, throwing the ships engines into reverse to bleed off speed as the two Battleships, moving at close to thirty knots slid under the waves.

"All back full!"

"Reverse the cable!"

The cable reel's enormously powerful motor cranked into reverse, spinning wildly fast for a few seconds before the cable snapped taught and it slowed down, but steadily pulled the Angel which didn't fight the pull, inwards towards an interception point the ships tactical computers had calculated based on relative velocities, expected positions and probably a hundred other factors that made this plan only preposterous rather then insane.

"Eva has started to surface!" the TAO called as the Evangelion and the Angel chewing on it were pulled slowly towards the surface by the cable.

"Detonation sequence?"

"Set to be transmitted via the Eva's communications systems" the TAO said, hurriedly working his console as the Admiral pulled out a key around his neck. "As soon as it's transmitted, they'll have ten seconds to get clear".

"Make it five" Misato said shortly, getting a stunned look, but shaking her head. "Any longer and the Angel might get it's AT field back up, do it!"

"Aye" he said with a deep breath, altering the settings as the Admiral inserted his own key on his own console, a series of sixteen red icons suddenly turning yellow.

"Shinji, Asuka, do you understand the operation?" Misato's voice crackled over the speakers.


"We'll do the best job we can" Shinji grunted back, trying not to scream in pain from Asuka yanking on his hair for daring to touch her Evangelion without her permission.

"Will you stop that for a second Asuka? You're supposed to be the best damn pilot we've got; if we don't open its mouth by the time those ships arrive, we're going to be vaporized!"

Asuka 'Humphed' but let go of his hair, hesitated a second, then leaned forward, the front of her plug suit coming in contact with his back…the all too sensitive material of the suit letting Shinji feel everything as her chest pressed into his back…

Oh…my...he thought as to his horror he felt a stirring inside a plug suit not really designed for a man to wear.

Think un-sexy thoughts! Think un-sexy thoughts!

Okay…Father in a one piece worked…but now I'm going to throw up into the LCL. Bad tradeoff Shinji…

"Don't get any stupid ideas" Asuka warned him, her mouth right next to his ear, her speech sending a wave of warm LCL flooding past his face.

Waaayyyy too late.

"Works for me" was all he grunted as she extended the grips and opened them, placing her hands on top of his.

"Eva continues to surface" the TAO cried out, his stoic detachment starting to fade as the hastily thought out plan advanced. "T minus sixty to contact".

"How's its mouth?" the Admiral called, his binoculars not shifting from the point well forward where the cable spooled back out of the water at speed.

"Still closed" his Captain called, his own gaze not shifting a millimeter from his readouts.

"Both battleships are sinking in line towards the intercept point, their forward speed decaying along expected curves" another officer called out, the exact active sonar ranges being calculated and recalculated every second in case it would be necessary to speed up or slow down the cable, as the sister ships advanced for their final engagement. "Eva continuing to surface along predicted lines, T-Minus forty to contact!"

"Hurry or you won't make it" Misato demanded down the communications line knowing they had one chance to pull this off...


It wasn't helping that Asuka remained physically in contact with so much of his body.

Shinji knew his piloting skills were better then ever, his synch ratio at its peak and he had knowledge that no human on Earth could possibly have access to. Including the fact he andAsuka would die if they didn't get this Angels mouth open.

But her presence, building up against him for most of the day was finally overwhelming him, flashes from the 'past' moving through his mind at increasing speed every time he tried to move his mind into contact with hers and touch it-

-(Turning around on the floor of Misato's to find Asuka inches away from him, asleep)-

-(Leaning in close in utter fear, wondering if he dared kiss this Goddess)-

-(His heart breaking as he saw a single tear roll down her face and a whimpering cry of "mama")-

-(Catching sight of Asuka waiting outside his hospital room, his roommate ducking away in horror at the fact that he had caught her waiting outside as Rei left)-

-(Asuka's patience snapping as she grabbed him, pinched his nose and pressed her lips against his, every nerve in his body overloading in an instant and locking him into stasis)-

-(A memory of Asuka looking at her reflection shortly after as she faked washing her mouth out, feeling utterly worthless after hehad not done anything but stand there)-

-(Another memory, looking across at Shinji and Rei at a train station together, her heart breaking as she realized then and there she had lost someone she didn't know she had even wanted)-

-(A four year old Girl running down a corridor, so excited she could hardly stop from tripping to tell her mother the news that she was a pilot…only to open the door and find her mummy hanging from the ceiling, her head bent oddly to the side with that doll hanging next to her…its formerly happy smile now utterly terrifying as it rotated towards her)-

-(Looking down on her comatose, naked body…that perfect body that had haunted his dreams, horrified…and aroused…)-

-(The shouts over NERV's speakers as Asuka fought better then he ever could have on his best day, better then Rei, better then Toji, better then anyone as she became her Evangelion in a glorious, futile dance to the death against impossible odds before with a scream it all ended as he sat around helplessly)-

And now, her voice was in the back of his mind, somehow through the link connecting them both to the Evangelion as she furiously tried to force her Evangelion to 'open...open...open' the Angels mouth…the Evangelion responding, but simply not enough without his help...which, to his terrified horror, he realized he couldn't concentrate enough to give her, just when she neededhim the most, he was going to fail her again!

"T minus twenty! Pre-arming sequence complete! Set for delayed detonate via Unit Two!"

"Come on you two, please" Misato begged, her grip on the microphone so tight the plastic started to crumple slightly.

"T minus fifteen to contact!" the voice came over the link, Shinji feeling the Evangelion pushing and opening the jaws through the shear force Asuka's indomitable will, but it was not nearly enough and there was no-one else here to help her-

Wait…there was one other.

Turning his perceptions around and breaking away from Asuka, he turnedinward, inside the deep black pit that was the core Evangelion and threw his force against it, pushing with every single fiber of his being, with every shred of love he felt for Asuka and not giving the slightest care what would happen to him.

KYOKO YOUR DAUGHTER WILL DIE IF YOU DON"T HELP HER!

Deep inside the Evangelion, where no pilot would dare to look…something…or someone stirred and Shinji felt a titanic presence recoil and slam through his mind like tissue paper, the titanic force of a mother instinctively reacting to protect its young-

Up on the carrier, the unwatched Syncrograph readout on the TAO's board showed Asuka's ratio suddenly spike to 1:1. as Evangelion Unit Two's four eyes suddenly blazed, its head rose up and with a mighty Herculean effort, the Angels mouth was snapped open, Unit Two now only tethered to the Angel by its grip-

-just in time for Wisconsin and Missouri to smash into the Angel, 90,000 tons of ships hitting at a combined speed of roughly forty knots.

Momentum, was a bitch.

The Angel itself was huge, but actually massed very little; this being the reason why despite being the size of Over the Rainbow, its little stunt on the flight deck hadn't snapped the ship in half upon landing. With its AT field nullified by the presence of Unit Two, the twin Battleships hit and dug deep into the flanks of the Angel, sending it crashing backwards as Unit Two was ripped free by the still retracting Cable, now surfacing much faster without the Angels mass in the way, the distance between them opening as Asuka focused her AT field into the most powerful flat barrier possible-

Just as the cargo of N2 mines obeying the instructions relayed via Unit Two's combat communications system, reached their time limit and detonated, the sixteen warheads each initiating insidethe Angels AT field at a nominal yield of one hundred and fifty kilotons.

The explosion was actually quite well contained by the Angel, for the fraction of a second it continued to exist, but the shockwave blasted out, hitting Unit Two's fully extended 'AT Shield' and pushing it along.

Straight up.

Unit Two broke the water as if shot from cannon, the jolt kicking Shinji back into groggy consciousness as a gigantic waterspout from the detonation marked the funeral pyre of Wisconsin and Missouri. A scarlet figure hung a thousand feet above the scene for a second, before falling towards the flight deck of the carrier, a quick thinking Asuka firing off her integrated thrusters, Unit Two rocking hard with the incredible amount of kinetic energy being spent in the deceleration as Asuka brought her unit in for a perfect landing, her feet only lightly toughing the deck before the unit fell to its knees, then to its face as it powered down, the enormous water spout behind it making a fitting final shot for Kensuke's film.


"My my my!" Doctor Ritsuko Akagi said in appreciation as the jeep she was riding in moved down the dock next to Over the Rainbow, the scars along her port flank a mute testament to the battle that had raged on what had supposed to be a simple 'meet and greet' mission for the Captain next to her. "You don't pull any punches do you?"

"I got careless" her companion, the Director of Operations moaned, leaning back in the late afternoon sunshine and enjoying the breeze that helped wash away her fatigue. "I should have had Unit Two loaded onto that Freighter rigged for underwater combat as a matter of course".

"You're apologizing? Are you feeling okay?"Agagi smirked.

"Oh don't be insulting" Misato snapped back, her eyes still closed. "At least we picked up a lot of new data".

"So I see" Ritsuko agreed, ignoring the raw data on the Angel for now in favor of the pilot data…stopping dead as she looked over the numbers. "Misato…"

"Humph?"

"This really is important data"


Shinji followed Asuka down the side of the ship to where she was waiting impatiently for the 'gangplank' to be connected, congratulating himself for having the presence of mind this time to put his jacket inside Asuka's waterproof bag along with her clothes, which the Second Child had dumped into a small cargo area at the rear of the entry plug. He pulled the jacket tightly over the plug suit, nothing with pleasure that it really did fit quite well as it was designed to, zipping it up to hide the rather embarrassing 'cups' on his chest where Asuka's…assets…were designed to be lifted and supported.

"So" Shinji said from behind her, trying to make conversation. "Welcome back to Japan".

"Welcome back?" she asked, turning to glance at him in slight confusion. "I've never been to Japan before, Baka".

"Actually you have" he corrected her. "When you were two".

"I did?"

"Yes" he nodded, debating the course he was about to take, knowing how spectacularly this could go wrong if he screwed it up…and reflecting that it really wasa long, long drop to the dockside from the edge of the flight deck. "Your Mother brought you over while she was working on the Evangelion project with…my Mother" he said, sensing her tense up at the subject of her mother, but pressing on. "You and I were, uh, put together in the same playpen while they talked".

"And?" she asked in a slightly sharp tone as she sensed his hesitation.

Shinji let a slight, if rueful smile come across his face.

"You apparently stole one of my toys when they weren't watching, then when I tried to get it back you continually hit me over the head with it until I ran away crying and my Mother pulled me out of the playpen".

Asuka stared at him for several long, long seconds.

It started as a low level snicker, but it rapidly escalated into a chuckle, then an earth shaking peal of laughter that caused tears to flow from her eyes as she gasped for air, leaning back against the flight deck as she struggled to helplessly to control herself at the idea that even at the precocious age of Two, she was beating up on her rival successfully.

"That's…that's…" she gasped for air desperately.

"Disturbing" Shinji supplied.

"Brilliant!" she countered wiping away the tears as she desperately worked to regain her composure, the spasms of laughter slowly dying as she took deep breaths, snickering until she was back under control. "So, Baka; are you going to run and hide behind mummy again with me here?"

Bingo.

"My Mother is dead Asuka" he said shortly, causing the smile on her face to fall away, like her muscles were slowly being drained from her face. "She died when I was Four in an…incident, with Unit One".

Asuka, a tone of genuine shock and regret in her voice stepped closer.

"I'm…I'm sorry" she said softly, Shinji glancing across at her read every emotion that passed across her face.

Shock at the revelation.

Anger at herself for being so stupid.

Pain as her own memories resonated…

And an almost macabre fascination at how disturbingly similar her story was to his at first glance.

The only question left is will she-

"What…what happened?" she asked in a voice so soft Shinji barley heard her, despite the fact that she was now standing right next to him.

He didn't turn but after a pause of a few seconds, he slowly told her everything.

Well almost everything; it wasn't exactly time to let her know his mother had chosen this fate. He continued with a twitch on his face as he recounted a few months ago when he had confronted his Father with his memories, probably the only genuine emotion he showed as he tried to push his way through the first of Asuka's multi layered defenses.

Asuka stood there and listened, frozen into something approaching shock at his story, her eyes wide and open in a way he had almost never seen them as he finished.

"Shinji…I….I" she slowly said, glancing down and to the side as she fought inside over what she could say as she felt…what?

Not sympathy she knew as she studied the strange sensation as she looked into Shinji's distant eyes.

No. It was empathy.

He smiled ever so slightly. Somehow, she felt as if he was gazing through her eyes and reading her very soul, as if every secret she had was open to him. He reached up his hand gently to ease a lock of her hair back into place behind her ear in a way she would never have let him do even two minutes ago, but found she strangely didn't mind as she tried desperately to think of something to say. For the first time in her life, she felt a willingness, even a desireto talk to someone of her own wrenching loss and the deep, dark feelings that still surfaced in the darkest depths of night, alone in her room as she woke up hugging herself and desperately trying not to cry…

But almost as if he knew, he just stood, shaking his head slightly.

"It's okay Asuka. You didn't know, you couldn't have known. Come on, lets get out of here" he said, easing past her to jump lightly up to the gangplank and head down to the docks.

Asuka took a long, deep breath as he leapt up, dashing away the flood of emotions that Shinji's effortless penetration of the barriers she had erected had brought up. His story of how he had lost his mother was so similar, the skeptical, College educated part of her mind immediacy denied the possibility of a pure coincidence, but she simply didn't know what to think…except that perhaps Shinji Ikari might not be the stuck up, show off jerk she had thought he was…

Shaking her head, she jumped up onto the Gang Plank and walked down to stand next to him, forcing her usual cocky smile onto her face.

Shinji felt Asuka follow him onto the gangplank, standing far closer to him then he had expected she would as they rode in silence down to the docks. He had seen the turbulent emotions in her eyes, guessing she had been on the verge of sharing her own horrible past but he had stopped her before she could do anything she could regret later.

She had to choose for herself if he deserved that level of trust and not in the heat of the moment. He knew better then anyone…perhaps even Asuka herself, just how painful those memories were. And the last thing he wanted to do; was to hurt her. She had had more then enough pain in her life already.


"They broke their synchronization records didn't they?"

"Well…yes and no" Ritsuko said, studying the record. It was a relatively simple graph with two lines representing Synch levels across time, with key events in the battle highlighted. "Asuka for exactly six seconds actually reached a ratio of One Hundred".

"Really?" Misato said, opening her eyes in surprise at that, recalling what Rits had said about the difficulty of that.

"That might just be stress and focusing so intently on such a limited objective and she couldn't sustain it…but at the exact same time, Shinji's crashed to zero and he lost synchronization".

"That's odd" Misato said in a tone that clearly suggested she didn't really care.

"Very" Akagi agreed, scratching her head at the bizarre data, sighing at Shinji for giving her yet another mystery, before she glanced up at Misato, wondering at the scowl on her face. "So why are you in such a bad mood?" Misato grunted, then started to explain.

Twenty seconds later, Doctor Akagi was laughing harder then she had for avery long time.

The reason for that bad mood was currently standing in front of a simple stone marker in Tokyo-3 cemetery number one, having completed his delivery to Gendo Ikari half an hour ago. Adam, his 'buy in' to the game accepted with a cold smile by NERV's Commander as they both looked at the tiny sample inside the dura-bakelite, alive but contained before he had taken his leave, heading out of the city after taking great pains to shake anyone who might have followed him, purchasing a bouquet of blowers on the way.

Entering the cemetery, just one person among dozens visiting a grave with flowers in their hands, he had 'borrowed' one of the ground keeper's small trowels smoothly and headed down after a quick glance at the written directory, wondering if at some point in the future his name would be written into this book…or one of the Children.

Although his perfect poker face had never shown it, he had felt his heart freeze as he had listened in on the fleet tactical channel as the Angel had flailed about at the task force while they flew away, the Angel's image on his screen relayed over the Battle Net so perfectly matching Shinji's description that it had actually shaken him. He had swallowed as Unit Two had gone overboard, listened to Misato's typically insane plan, closed his eyes and slowly exhaled as the Angel had been vaporized, watching Unit Two surviving to land on the Carrier with two children, one apparently boastful and one shaken, being helped out by the deck crew a few minutes later.

Now as he stopped in front of the 'grave' of one of those children's mothers, he casually made a final check around to ensure no-one was watching him too closely before he knelt down in the dirt and probed carefully. He had to go down a good hand span before he hit it, carefully removing the dirty plastic box before planting his bouquet of flowers into the crater and packing the dirt back down around it, the grave soon looking like dozens of others.

Smoothly, he rose up and left the cemetery, getting back into his car and having a look around to ensure no-one was watching before he pulled out the dirt encrusted container and broke the seal, retrieving the clean plastic bag from inside.

His hands were shaking slightly as he looked over the exact same necklace he had seen on Misato only hours ago, knowing right then and there itwas the same necklace, the tinniest imperfections along it standing out with instant familiarity to his eyes. Either someone had spent anextraordinary amount of resources to perfectly duplicate Misato's necklace in one of the craziest plots in the history of the intelligence game…or…

I'll have to get a DNA test, check this for fingerprints and other forensics…but I just know…God in heaven…I know he's telling the truth.

He placed the bag into his attaché case, handling the necklace as carefully as if it were forensic evidence in a criminal investigation as he pulled out his secure cell phone, which had the latest encryption that even the MAGI would find damn hard to crack, ringing a number he had never rung before.

It was picked up after three rings.

"03 8734 8842"

"Oh. I'm sorry, I was trying to reach 03 8734 8852"

There was a long, significant, silence on the other end.

"Oh, that's perfectly alright" the voice said in a tone that suggested this was not the case.

"My apologies" Kaji said, before hanging up, tossing his phone onto the seat and kicking his car into gear, turning out of the cemetery onto the Tokyo – 3 / Tokyo – 2 highway and gunning his engine.

In a safe house in Kyoto, a women who had been sitting down to a nice quiet evening exhaled in surprise and made her own 'mistaken' phone call using a 'clean' prepaid cell phone that she then carefully stripped, wiped and destroyed. The person who received her call noted the number she had expected to reach before hanging up and making an internal building call to the deputy chairman of the Japanese Defense Agency.


Well another chapter just came from nowhere. I had written about half of it, then I took a break from Derelict after hitting writers block, trying to juggle about a zillion plot threads going on at the same time after getting to a little over 10,000 words on the next chapter.

So I opened this up and just started typing...and my muse just blasted me for about six hours straight. shrugs When it hits you, it hits you!