Disclaimer: Neon Genesis Evangelion is the creation of Anno and Gainax. I don't own it, make no claims to it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.

Disclaimer: I do not own DC comics or anything associated with it, and am making no profit from this fan fiction. No infringement of copyright is intended. In other words, please don't sue.


Chapter Ten: Into the Abyss

"I tried to stop her, I really did," Aphrodite said, wringing her hands together as she paced around Rei's tiny apartment. "But would she listen to me? Nooooo. Honestly, Athena's animal is an owl, but she can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes!"

This was not the Aphrodite that Rei was used to seeing. No, in the past, the Greek love goddess had always been calm and collected, with nary a hair out of place. Yet now Aphrodite looked like a nervous wreck and a disheveled one, at that. The First Child was so shocked that she hadn't said a word since the goddess had told her that Athena had done "something stupid."

"I don't know how she expected anything good to come from such an insane move!" the love goddess continued to rant, growing rapidly closer to full-blown hysteria. "I mean, there's a reason none of us have broken the rules for so long!"

"Aphrodite," Rei finally spoke up.

"Okay, fine, I admit that we may have forgotten what that reason was exactly, but that's not the point!" the love goddess continued, acting like she hadn't heard Rei at all. "We gods tend to have pretty good instincts regarding this kind of thing, and all of them said not to break the damn rules!"

"Aphrodite!" Rei repeated, much more loudly this time.

The goddess jumped, turning her attention back to the blue-haired girl. Aphrodite looked mildly surprised to see her, as though she'd nearly forgotten Rei was there.

"Yes?" she asked. She sounded far steadier than she had a moment ago, but she still had that wild, terrified look in her beautiful blue eyes.

"What happened?" Rei asked. "What did Athena actually do?"

"She broke the rules," Aphrodite said and began to wring her hands again. "I told her not to, but she did it anyway."

"Aphrodite," Rei said, grabbing hold of the goddess's shoulders and giving her a small shake. "Calm down."

The goddess blinked stupidly at the First Child for a moment. Then, amazingly, she actually chuckled. "Do you know what happened to the last mortal who dared to shake me?" she asked with a shaky smile.

"I'm sure it was extremely unpleasant," Rei replied in a perfectly flat tone. "Now, will you tell me what Athena did?"

"She invaded the Underworld and attacked Hades!" the goddess burst out.

Rei's crimson eyes widened. "She did? But I thought it was forbidden for the gods to directly battle one another."

"It is!" Aphrodite exclaimed. "That's why I told her not to go!"

"Why did she do such a thing?" the First Child asked before the goddess could begin rambling once more.

"She was hoping she could force Hades to stop interfering with you and your mission, but her whole scheme was doomed from the start," Aphrodite explained. "Even if she'd managed to best Hades, something would have happened to take her victory away from her. Perhaps the Fates would've intervened."

"But she did not best Hades," Rei deduced.

Aphrodite shook her head. "No, she didn't. Not even a war goddess like Athena had much chance against Hades, not in his own realm. She's his prisoner now."

"So she is lost to us, unless we can find some way to rescue her?" the blue-haired girl asked, wondering just why that idea seemed so awful to her.

The love goddess winced. "There are…ramifications to Athena's imprisonment beyond that," Aphrodite said reluctantly.

"Please explain," Rei said immediately, though it was more of a demand than a request.

"With the exception of Hades himself, gods really aren't supposed to be down in the Underworld," Aphrodite explained. "Things…bad things can happen when they're trapped there. It throws the whole world out of whack, starting with the gods and then progressing to the mortal realm. And there's no telling when the effects will begin to take hold."

Privately, Rei thought that the gods—or at least Aphrodite—might already be feeling the effects of Athena's absence. It might explain why the love goddess was teetering on the brink of hysteria, rather than approaching the situation in a more collected and wiser manner.

"Then we must rescue her and bring her back," Rei said, a determined expression settling over her features.

"That's not a good idea," Aphrodite said at once, eyes alight with naked fear. "I can't go down there, Rei. I'm just as forbidden from invading another god's realm as Athena."

"What about me?" Rei pressed. "Is it forbidden for me to invade the Underworld, too?"

"No," Aphrodite said reluctantly, not meeting Rei's eyes. "Mortals, even empowered mortals like yourself, are allowed to directly challenge whomever they please, even gods."

"Then I must go," Rei said, and at once went over to Pandora's Box. Opening it, she withdrew her Amazonian armor and began to change, heedless of Aphrodite's presence in the room.

"Rei, this isn't like fighting some punk demigod," Aphrodite said sharply. "Going down into the Underworld…it'll be unlike anything you've experienced so far."

"I have read the book of legends that Athena gave me," Rei said as she removed her school uniform. "It seems that living heroes went to the Underworld and returned frequently enough."

Aphrodite groaned. "The problem with legends, Rei, is that they never tell you about the people who got squashed like bugs!" she exclaimed. "For every Hercules, every Odysseus, every Orpheus who went to the Underworld and came back alive, dozens more have ventured down there and never returned! And most of the successful ones just wanted to go chat with some dead relative, not pick a fight with the god running the place!"

Rei pulled on her leotard, then reached for the heavier pieces of armor she possessed before Aphrodite grabbed her wrist, stopping her. "Don't," she said. "You'll need speed and agility more than defense down there. Trust me."

The Amazon briefly considered questioning that bit of advice; combat wasn't exactly Aphrodite's specialty. However, she eventually put the bronze plates back inside the enchanted chest.

"I suppose I'll have to worry about the Dark Centurion while I'm down there," Rei said as she strapped her sword and sheath around her hips.

"No," Aphrodite said with a rather nasty smile. "That's probably the one bit of good news. Persephone is in the Underworld right now. Hades' bastard son won't dare go down there until she leaves."

Rei frowned, briefly wondering how Second Impact—and its effect on the Earth's seasons—had affected Persephone's visits to the Underworld, which she knew were supposed to coincide with winter.

Then she decided she had better things to worry about.

"How do I get to the Underworld?" Rei asked as she rapidly coiled up her golden lasso and then put it in its place. "Besides…dying?"

Despite how scared she obviously still was, Aphrodite couldn't help but smile at the remark. "There are hidden routes to the Underworld, ways to bypass the River Styx and the whole business with the boatman," she said. "I can get you down there, but you'll have to make it back to the world of the living on your own."

"Then I will cross that bridge when I come to it," Rei said, putting her enchanted tiara on her head and completing her transformation into Wonder Girl.

She gave the goddess an expectant look, but Aphrodite made no immediate move to transport them to where the Amazon needed to go.

"You know, you don't have to do this, Rei," she said instead. "I could return to Olympus and petition Lord Zeus to order Hades to release Athena."

"What are the odds that that will work?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Um…"

"I suspected as much," Wonder Girl said flatly. "Aphrodite, this is the only way."

The love goddess sighed, clearly still not liking the Amazon's plan. However, she reached out and placed her hands on Wonder Girl's shoulders, teleporting them away.

The blue-haired girl gasped softly; traveling with Aphrodite was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. She felt like she was floating, and the sensation of warmth she sometimes experienced around Shinji coursed through her, but far more intense than she'd ever felt before. It was as if contentment and happiness were tangible things she could wrap around herself like a blanket, and for the first time in her life, Rei Ayanami felt almost giddy.

Then they reached their destination, and all the pleasant sensations abruptly vanished, getting a small moan of dismay from Wonder Girl.

"We're here," Aphrodite announced, taking a step back from her champion.

The Amazon looked around, taking in her surrounds. They appeared to be in some sort of cave; everywhere she looked was dark gray stone, slick with moisture. Nearby was a tunnel that led even deeper into the Earth.

"One secret entrance to the Underworld," Aphrodite said, gesturing toward it. "This is as far as I can take you."

Wonder Girl nodded. "I will return," she promised, then headed for the tunnel.

The love goddess grabbed her shoulder before she could go more than two steps, halting her. The Amazon turned, giving Aphrodite a curious look.

"A few things before you go," the goddess said. "First, Hades can throw a virtually endless number of common soldiers at you. Do not allow yourself to be bogged down. Try to keep moving, at least until you reach Hades' palace."

"I understand," Wonder Girl nodded.

"Second, the rules regarding confrontations between mortals and gods will still be in effect. Even though you're invading his domain, Hades still cannot attack you directly unless you hit him first. So, don't hit him," she said sternly. "Believe me, you don't want that fight, especially not while you're on Hades' home turf."

"All right," Wonder Girl agreed, even though she secretly wondered how she could possibly accomplish her mission without engaging the Lord of the Underworld.

"Also," Aphrodite added, "if the owl dares to give you any lip about how 'unwise' it was for you to do this, with the fate of the world depending on you all that, then her give a smack upside the head for me. A really hard one."

Wonder Girl just arched an eyebrow.

The love goddess threw her hands up, exasperated. "I'm never going to get a smile out of you, am I?"

"Perhaps you will," the Amazon said, completely deadpan. "Stranger things have happened."

With that, she plunged into the tunnel, heading for the realm of Hades.


Takai Banryu was in a pretty good mood for a man who'd essentially been snubbed earlier.

When he had called Asuka that morning in order to confirm that she was indeed dead, only to discover that she was apparently as healthy as ever, he'd been rather surprised, to put it mildly. Badly blindsided by the realization that she was fine, he had stumbled through their conversation, asking her out without even thinking about it.

They had set up plans to meet after she was done with school for the day, and the demigod had hoped that he might be able to find out how Asuka had survived drinking poison while they were together.

That plan had crashed and burned when she'd contacted him shortly before classes at Tokyo-3 Junior High were dismissed for the day, informing him that NERV had called her and the Third Child in for some tests.

Never before has being stood up looked like such a good opportunity, he mused to himself as he entered the apartment building where Asuka lived.

The demigod headed up to the door to her apartment and then pressed the doorbell. He was fairly certain that the redhead's guardian would be at NERV headquarters as well, but it didn't hurt to make sure before he slipped inside.

If the woman answers, I can just tell her I'm looking for Asuka, he reasoned.

"Asuka? Katsuragi-san?" he called, just to be safe.

No answer. Finally feeling certain that he wouldn't be caught trespassing, Takai pulled back to a shadowy corner, closed his eyes, and teleported.

A moment later, he materialized inside the apartment. Once fully formed, the still wary demigod immediately got into a defensive posture, his eyes darting about for any sign that he wasn't alone.

"Wark!"

Without evening consciously thinking about it, Takai allowed the dagger concealed inside his sleeve to drop down into his palm, taking a firm grip on the handle. He prepared to thrust the weapon, but he stopped abruptly when he saw the source of the sound.

It was a penguin. The little water fowl was standing on the floor not two feet away from him, gazing upwards at Takai with a curious look in its beady eyes.

The demigod breathed a sigh of relief, returning his weapon to its hiding place. Asuka had told him about the bird, though he couldn't recall its name off the top of his head. He should've expected the damn thing to be there.

"Heh, you almost gave me a heart attack, you stupid bird," he commented.

The penguin responded by pecking him in the shin, hard.

"Agh!" he hissed in pain, and he very nearly did stab the bird, after all.

However, he managed to stop himself, despite how much the penguin deserved it, because he was hoping to get in and out without leaving any evidence that he'd ever been to the apartment. Coming home to find their pet water fowl eviscerated would definitely give the residents a clue that someone had come by while they were gone.

The penguin must've seen the bloodlust in the demigod's eyes, though, because it very quickly retreated into a large refrigerator, opening a small door in the front by stabbing at a button with one of its claws in order to gain entry.

Takai tilted his head to the side slightly, staring at the large appliance in disbelief.

"…where in the world does a person buy such a thing?" he wondered aloud.

Then he shrugged, deciding it was of no importance. The annoying avian was out of his way, and that was all that mattered.

Now, to get to what I actually came here for, he thought.

He'd never been past the apartment's little entrance hall before, but it wasn't a big place, and he located Asuka's room with little difficulty. Resisting the momentary impulse to go riffling through the redhead's underwear drawer, Takai began to poke around the room. He wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, but he felt certain that he'd know it when he saw it.

"Hey now, what's this?" he muttered to himself as he opened up Asuka's closet.

Sitting on the floor just inside it was a tall stack of magazines. Takai squatted down and began to go through them.

They were all copies of the Tokyo Tattler, and every issue had a picture of Power Girl on the cover. It looked like Asuka possibly had every copy of the tabloid to ever feature the Girl of Steel, judging by how many there were.

Takai frowned. He'd believed she hated the superwomen.

No, he thought, his frown deepening. She hates Wonder Girl.

He really hadn't noticed it before, he realized, but Asuka had never said one bad thing about the Girl of Steel, even though she had nothing but scorn for the Champion of the Amazons. It didn't really make sense; to a casual observer, the two superwomen would seem very similar.

So why would someone who apparently loathed Wonder Girl be a big enough fan of Power Girl to read and collect every issue of the Tattler that she appeared in?

"Could it be…?" he whispered, probing deeper into her closet.

It wasn't long before he found the white leotard and red cape that Asuka had buried all the way in the back.

"Son of a bitch," he whispered. "She is Power Girl."

Well, that certainly explained why she wasn't dead; apparently the Girl of Steel's invulnerability extended to poisons as well.

However, this left him with a whole new set of problems.

Am I even capable of killing her? He wondered.

Takai wasn't sure, but he knew that he didn't want to keep making attempts until he discovered a method of assassination that worked. He wouldn't want to do that even if he wasn't rather attached to the redhead; the potential for her to realize what he was doing would just be far too high.

However, he was a child of Hades, and as such, Takai had been born a schemer. The demigod almost immediately began trying to figure out how he could turn this unforeseen problem into an advantage.

A slow smile formed on his face as he realized just how much potential this situation had.

"There is definitely a way I can use this," he decided.


Meanwhile, Wonder Girl was feeling sure that she was definitely entering the land of the dead.

She felt cold. This might seem only natural, considering that she was very deeply below ground and clad in only a leotard, but the Amazon hadn't been truly affected by temperature since she'd become an Amazon. Now she was all but shivering.

Nor was this even the worst of it, not by a long shot. Something about her current location was making her skin crawl unpleasantly, and a deep weariness had grabbed hold of her minutes earlier. Despite the importance of her mission and the warnings she'd been given not to stop, the Amazon felt a nearly undeniable temptation to come to a halt, curl up on the stone beneath her, and take a nap.

Is this what it feels like to be dead? She wondered, even as she doggedly continued on. Or is it because I do not belong here yet?

Either way, she definitely wasn't enjoying her time below.

Eventually, the tunnel she was flying through gave way to a truly massive chamber, one that could've housed all of NERV headquarters (both the pyramid and the significantly larger subterranean sections) and still had plenty of room to spare. Even her superhumanly keen eyesight didn't allow her to clearly make out the far wall. However, the chamber appeared to be empty.

Aphrodite made it seem as though I would have to deal with Hades' entire army the moment I arrived, she thought. Was she merely panicked and assuming the worst? Was Athena's absence affecting her that much already?

Well, the Amazon decided, if Hades didn't intend on making this difficult for her, she wasn't going to complain.

Naturally, it was at this point that she detected movement in the distance.

"What…?" she whispered to herself in the distance.

The walls and floor in the distance appeared to be undulating, and for a moment, Wonder Girl wondered if the very stone was alive somehow. Then the Amazon drew a little bit closer, and the truth finally became apparent.

The walls and floor weren't moving at all; what the Amazon was seeing was an army.

On the ground stood legions of skeletal warriors, stretching out for miles. The animated bones were clad in uniforms from every nation on Earth and every era of human history. With only a glance, Wonder Girl spied British redcoats, Japanese samurai, and modern day US marines.

In the air flew countless monstrous beings. Some looked like oni, while others resembled the demons of Judeo-Christian lore. The blue-haired superwoman thought she saw harpies among the group, as well.

Not that she had very much time to survey her enemies; they were approaching her at an almost frantic pace, and the Amazon refused to slow down her own advance in the face of this army. It wouldn't be long before they were upon her.

One of the flying demons pulled ahead of the pack and foolishly got within striking range. Wonder Girl's sword rang as she drew it from its sheath, slicing the beast's head off with the same movement. Black ichor spurted through the air as the creature rapidly began to spiral toward the ground.

One down, one billion to go, the Amazon thought grimly.

In a flash, her golden lasso was in her other hand. She twirled it through the air for only a heartbeat before casting it out, and loop flew perfectly around the long, slender body of an insectoid creature.

"Raagh!" she grunted through clenched teeth as she pulled on the lasso, causing the loop to draw closed around the giant bug. It released a furious buzzing sound as it realized it was captured.

The Amazon allowed her quarry to have as much slack as she could give it without surrendering her lasso, and the giant insect immediately pulled the golden rope taut.

Then Wonder Girl swung the lasso around in a wide, deadly arc, catching scores of other flying beasts. Feathers and shrieks of pain and anger filled the massive chamber as the Amazon knocked her enemies out of the air.

Yet even this was not enough to fend off her enemies for more than a moment. A seemingly endless tide of airborne monsters managed to navigate past Wonder Girl's spinning lasso and moved toward the Amazon. The blue-haired superwoman's sword flashed as she swung, taking the life of a few more monsters.

And then they were on her.

Countless monsters crashed into the Amazon head on. It was an artless tactic, but her foes' sheer numbers made it very hard to resist all the same.

For a moment, Wonder Girl's superhuman strength allowed her to persevere against the unending tide of enemies trying to push her down. She swung her sword about furiously, confident that no matter what direction she picked, the blade with meet with one of her foes' flesh. Her other hand, still clutching the end of her lasso, lashed out, and her small fist knocked several of the beasts from the sky.

Then it simply became too much.

The weight and sheer ferocity of hundreds of kicking, scratching, and biting beasts forced the Amazon downwards despite her superhuman strength, and she released a loud cry as she went careening toward the ground.

"Ugh!" she grunted loudly as she hit the rocky floor of the chamber. The Amazon landed with such force that the impact created a spider web of cracks in the stone.

The flying creatures pulled back somewhat, but it was only to allow the innumerable undead warriors on the ground room to advance. Even so, the Amazon was able to get back to her feet in the split second she was given to breathe, easily performing a kick stand in one fluid motion.

This is insane, she thought as an army the likes of which had never been seen in the realm of the living converged on her, though the placid expression never left her face.

Bullets flew through the air, too great in number for even the Amazon to deflect. The blue-haired superwoman didn't even waste time making the attempt, allowing the bullets to slam into her pale flesh. The myriad of different slugs and shells were unable to injure her, but some of the larger ones were intensely painful. Despite her best efforts to stifle them, tears of agony sprang to the Amazon's eyes.

Wonder Girl swung her sword, reducing a skeletal Prussian soldier to dust. She balled her free hand into a fist and bashed the bony face of a French musketeer, shattering the dry skull.

Then the skeleton warriors began to tackle her, dog piling the Amazon. She released a small cry as she again overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of her enemies. Within seconds, she was buried beneath a colossal pile of undead soldiers. She couldn't see anything besides the faded and tattered uniforms that hung loosely off of her foes. She could barely breathe.

"Hades can throw a virtually endless number of common soldiers at you. Do not allow yourself to be bogged down. Try to keep moving, at least until you reach Hades' palace."

Wonder Girl's eyes widened as she recalled Aphrodite's words of advice, spoken to her not two hours ago. How in the world had she managed to forget them? Was the Underworld affecting her that much?

Never mind. It is irrelevant, she decided.

What was relevant was escaping this situation.

The Amazon gritted her teeth, pressing her superhuman strength to its limit. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the enormous pile of skeletal warriors went flying in all directions. A passive observer would have thought that a bomb had gone off in the center of the heap, not that a teenage girl had simply managed to stand up straight.

Yet the undead soldiers were undaunted by the Amazon's show of strength. For every one that was reduced to dust when they crashed to the ground, three more rushed to replace them.

I must hurry! Wonder Girl thought.

The young superwoman took to the air once more, and the multitude of flying monsters took that as their cue to converge upon her once more. Wonder Girl's first impulse was to fight—to meet her enemies head on in combat. It was an instinct borne from her time on Themyscria, but she knew that in this case, it was wrong.

So instead of fighting, she merely plowed forward, her fists held before her. She struck at anything that got in her way, knocking it out of her path, but otherwise, she ignored her flying foes.

There must be some way out of this situation, she thought, scanning her surroundings as best she could with hundreds upon hundreds of winged beasts buzzing around her like giant gnats.

There!

Her keen eyes picked out a small tunnel, very much like the one she had used to reach this vast chamber, in the far wall. She headed directly toward it.

Seeming to realize that she had located the exit, the fleet of flying monsters roared, cried out, or squawked in rage and redoubled their efforts to bring her down. The Amazon felt sharp claws scratching at her flesh, gigantic paws trying to bat her out of the sky, but she ignored it all and continued on.

I cannot fall, she thought, especially not here. Not in the Underworld!

She broke free from the cloud of winged monstrosities mere seconds before she reached the tunnel. The beasts' cries of fury were so loud that they echoed even inside the gargantuan chamber.

Then Wonder Girl plunged into the little tunnel. The beasts attempted to follow, but their numbers, which had been an advantage only moments ago, now became their undoing. They all tried to enter first, and the result was a massive, hopeless jam, with the first several beasts getting painfully stuck in the mouth of the tunnel.

Not that the Amazon stuck around to watch this play out; she flew down the tunnel as quickly as she dared, and only after several moments did she venture to look back.

It appears that I have lost them, she thought. Good.

However, the Amazon's feelings of satisfaction didn't last very long. The already cool temperature plummeted as she went ever deeper into the Underworld, enough to cause even her severe discomfort. It wasn't long before every breath she expelled was steaming in the air.

Finally, when she was wondering if she would simply freeze to death, she saw a light at the end of her path. It seemed that she had almost reached the end of the tunnel.

Hopefully, this leads to the Hades' palace, she thought.

The tunnel ended. Wonder Girl gasped when she saw her surroundings.

It was not the palace of the death god. Instead, it was somewhere very similar, somewhere she had once known very well. It was a place that still showed up in her dreams.

This is…this was my room, she thought, looking around in amazement, memories she thought she had lost forever resurfacing abruptly. This is where I lived, before I was allowed to leave Terminal Dogma.

It was a room as depressing and shabby as her current apartment, and yet the superwoman couldn't help but feel a trace of…nostalgia as she looked around.

"It is rather nice, isn't it?"

The Amazon stiffened, the small voice catching her by surprise. She whirled, raising her sword.

Then she froze.

A little girl who appeared to be about four or five years old stood before her, clad in a red and pink dress. Her blue hair was cut short, and amusement glittered in her ruby red eyes.

"Most people would not understand," Rei Ayanami I spoke. "They would just see ugliness here. But this place was all I knew for a long time. It was my home. It was familiar. Safe. Secure."

Wonder Girl didn't respond, just staring at her previous incarnation with wide eyes.

Rei I tilted her head to the side, and a malicious little smile formed on her young face. "What?" she asked. "Are you really surprised to see me?"


The two Evangelions faced each other, unmoving giants each giving silent challenge to the other. They were separated by more than a city block, but it was obvious that either could cross the distance in mere seconds. All around them, Tokyo-3 was quiet, as if its citizens were collectively holding their breath.

Then the EVA in the crimson armor abruptly burst into motion, sprinting straight through the building between itself and Unit One, creating massive amounts of havoc as it went. Unit Two's progressive knife seemed to just appear in its fist, the blade flashing in the light of the sun.

Unit One took a few steps back, moving to get out of the way, but it was too little, too late. The production model's knife plunged into the test type's chest, causing the purple EVA to stagger backwards. Blood gushed from the wound. Then…

"Ha!" Toji laughed triumphantly as the video game declared him the winner, the image of Unit Two raising its fists skyward and roaring loudly. "That's three out of three!"

"Good game, Toji," Shinji said as he climbed out of the arcade booth, smiling weakly.

"Man, you think you'd be a lot better at this EVA simulator, Shinji," Kensuke commented, having watched the whole game, brief though it had been.

The Third Child just shrugged. "This thing isn't very much like the real thing," he said.

The jock's eyes narrowed. "Are you okay, Shin-man? You're even more quiet than usual today," he commented.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine," he answered, though his distracted demeanor put the lie to that statement.

"Sure you are," Toji said sarcastically, crossing her arms over his chest and giving the pilot a hard stare.

Shinji squirmed uncomfortably for a moment before answering. "Look, I…I do this too much in real life," he said, gesturing back toward the game. "It gets to me when we do it here at the arcade."

The boy in the tracksuit seemed to buy this explanation; his posture relaxed and he allowed his arms to drop down by his sides.

Kensuke, however, wasn't so easily fooled.

"Uh-huh, so why didn't you ever get all mopey the dozens of other times we've gotten you to play this game with us?" the otaku asked skeptically. "C'mon, man, we're your friends. What's bugging you?"

"I think that Rei's mad at me, but I have no idea why," Shinji finally admitted.

Toji and Kensuke traded a look, then turned back to their friend.

"You think that Ayanami…" Kensuke began slowly.

"…is pissed off at you?" Toji finished.

Shinji shrugged. "Well, yeah."

The jock and the otaku again locked eyes for a brief moment before refocusing their attention on the Third Child.

"No offense man," Toji said, "but…"

"How can you tell?" Kensuke asked.

Shinji glanced from one of his friends to the other. "How do you guys do that?" he asked. "The finishing each other's sentences bit?"

"Never mind that," Kensuke said dismissively. "How the heck can you tell whether Ayanami's pissed off or not?"

"Yeah, man, she doesn't exactly get very emotional about…anything," Toji added.

"I just…I just know, okay?" Shinji said, spreading his arms helplessly. "I've been spending a lot of time with her lately, and she's been acting differently than usual. Colder. Quieter."

"Again…how can you tell?" Toji asked.

Shinji frowned, finally growing annoyed. "Come on, guys, knock it off," he grumbled.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Toji said in a placating tone. Then he smiled. "Man, we were just kidding around all those times we said that you had a thing for Ayanami, but it looks like we were right on the money, huh?"

"N-No! It's not like that!" Shinji insisted, blushing furiously.

"Whatever," Kensuke said, clearly not wanting to get into that. "Look, if it's bugging you so much, why don't you just go and ask Ayanami why she's ticked off at you?"

"Yeah, because asking girls why they're mad works," Toji said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Eh?" Kensuke frowned in confusion.

The jock responded by placing his fists on his hips, affixing an angry scowl to his face, and leaning toward the otaku. "I think you know what you did!" he exclaimed, pitching his voice an octave higher than normal.

The otaku snickered…then broke out into a fit of laughter. "Oh man!" he chortled. "You did that waaaay too well!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Toji said, looking mildly embarrassed. He turned his attention back to Shinji. "Take it from someone who knows man. You're not getting a reason why Ayanami's mad at you unless she feels like telling you."

"What do you know about women?" Kensuke asked, still chortling.

"More than you!" Toji snapped, before again addressing Shinji. "Look, if you want to smooth this out, then buy her a present or something."

"Maybe," the Third Child said dubiously.

While he had little doubt that there were girls out there whose forgiveness (and affections) could easily be purchased with expensive gifts, Shinji didn't think there was a very good chance that would work with Rei. She didn't exactly seem to be a material girl.

On the other hand, it wasn't like he had any better ideas.

"Maybe I will," he said. "In fact, I think I'll go looking for something right now. Is it okay with you guys if I take off?"

"Sure, you're so distracted that you're not giving either of us much of a challenge anyway," Kensuke said.

"Hey, Ken, you want to play winner?" Toji asked, gesturing toward himself.

"Sure. Dibs of Unit Zero!" Kensuke exclaimed.

"Damn," Toji cursed, "why do I always get stuck using the Devil's EVA?"

Already walking away by this point, Shinji just shook his head ruefully. Toji and Kensuke were good friends, some of the best he'd ever had, but they both just came off as so childish sometimes.

Yet here he was, taking advice on a rather delicate matter from them.

Well, they're less messed up than I am, he reasoned as he exited the arcade.

Fortunately for him, the place where he and his friends went to play video games and blow money was located in the middle of Tokyo-3's only shopping mall, so all the stores he could possibly want to visit were within easy walking distance.

The hard part was choosing something for Rei.

What do you get the girl who doesn't have anything? He wondered, jamming his hands in his pockets. It should've been an easy question to answer, yet somehow, it wasn't.

"This might be harder than I thought," he sighed as he looked at the rows and rows of stores.


"What are you doing here?" Wonder Girl demanded of her counterpart.

Rei I smirked. The sardonic, contemptuous little twist of her small mouth seemed out of place on such a young face. "I'm dead," she answered. "I belong down here. What are you doing here?"

Realizing that her previous incarnation was in a less than helpful mood, Wonder Girl decided that she should just be on her way. She looked about for an exit, and soon spotted the heavy steel door that was the only means of egress from the room. As she expected, it was firmly locked, just as it had always been when she'd lived down there.

"Very well," she muttered to herself, cracking her knuckles.

With a grunt, the Amazon threw a punch at the door backed with every ounce of her superhuman strength, intending to knock it right off its hinges.

Incredibly, though Wonder Girl created a very large dent, the door remained in place.

"Impossible," she breathed.

The Amazon immediately struck the door several more times, switching to kicks when punches failed to remove the obstacle from her path. However, all her efforts were for naught.

"You know, it's not actually a big old door that's stopping you, just like we're not actually back in NERV right now," Rei I said condescendingly, as though wondering how her older self could possibly be so stupid.

The Amazon turned, and noticed with a trace of alarm that the tunnel she'd entered the room through had vanished. She was trapped.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "What is 'actually' keeping me here?"

Rei I spread her hands out. "Me," she answered with a small grin.

"You?" Wonder Girl's eyes narrowed. "How can you hold me in this place?"

The little girl sighed, as though the answer to that question was painfully and that explaining it would be a very large bother indeed. "I am the first, you are the second," she said. "You and I are linked, and you are in my little corner of the Underworld now. You cannot leave here unless I say you can."

"Then what must I do to get your permission to leave?" Wonder Girl asked.

Rei I gestured to a tiny table that Wonder Girl was absolutely certain hadn't been there when she'd first arrived in the room. Three equally small chairs were placed around it, and a simple teapot made of porcelain sat in the center, along with matching cups.

"Tea party?" Rei I offered, and for just a moment, she looked like a sweet and innocent little girl.

Wonder Girl blinked, speechless. This was the absolute last thing she ever would have expected. She had never owned such a tea set, and she had certainly never indulged in a tea party.

However, if this was what her younger incarnation wanted to do, she saw no way around it.

"Very well," she agreed.

Rei I clapped her hands together. "Lovely," she said, rushing to the table to sit down.

Wonder Girl took her seat, ignoring the fact that the chair was far too small for her. She quirked an eyebrow in the direction of a third chair, upon which sat a simple doll with red yarn for hair and buttons for eyes.

Rei I smirked. "Oh, ignore her," she said. "She's just a…private joke. You pick up a lot of those when all you can do is watch the living world."

The Amazon remained silent, deciding that she didn't want to know.

"Tea?" Rei I offered, holding up the little pot.

"All right," Wonder Girl agreed, holding her cup forward.

Rei I poured for her, and the Amazon took a cautious sip, the taste of strong green tea hitting her tongue.

"I have a lot of time on my hands these days, and there is not much to fill it with besides watching the world of the living, like I said," Rei I told her. "I have seen a lot of other little girls my age do this. I…do not understand yet why they seem to enjoy it so much, but I am hoping that if I do it enough, I will." She confessed, a flicker of sadness ghosting across her features.

"I see," Wonder Girl replied in a neutral tone, even though she was secretly glad to have her curiosity about the whole strange affair sated.

"Of course," Rei I continued, as she poured for herself and then the doll, "I spend most of my time watching you."

"Of course," Wonder Girl agreed, playing along because she had no idea what else to do in this situation.

"And I have been horrified at what I have seen lately," Rei I added, in a tone she might have used when discussing the weather.

Wonder Girl straightened. Why was her younger incarnation so upset with her? Was this what she needed to overcome in order to leave? Did she need to justify her actions to the first Rei?

"Why are you…horrified?" she asked.

Rei I took a dainty little sip from her cup, extending her pinky as she did so. However, once she put her tea down, she fixed her older self with an intensely cold glare.

"The way you've been fawning over Pilot Ikari, of course," she answered.

A frown formed on the Amazon's face. "I have not been—"

"Yes you have!" Rei I snapped, slapping the table so hard that she sent tea splashing out of the cups and onto the tabletop. "You devote a disgusting amount of time to trying to win that…that filthy maggot's affections!"

"Do not call Shinji that," Wonder Girl hissed, hands balling into fists.

"Or what?" Rei I sneered. "You will kill me? I am already dead."

It took the Amazon a surprising amount of effort to master her temper. "Shinji is a good person. He is kind. He piloted Unit One against the Third Angel so I would not have to, even though he did not know how. He…he makes me feel warm inside," Wonder Girl confessed with a small blush. "It is very pleasant. You would understand if you had experienced it."

Rei I scowled. "Do you know why Ikari piloted in your place?" she asked. "It was because he knew if he refused to take the place of a half-dead girl, everyone would hate him. He's afraid of that. That is why he piloted. Not for you. He didn't even know you then."

"He knew me when he pulled me out of Unit Zero, after the Fifth Angel melted my Evangelion's armor," Wonder Girl countered.

Rei I smirked, as though her older self had just fallen into a very obvious trap. "Unit Zero took that much damage because Pilot Ikari needed you to shield him for longer than planned. And he needed you to do that because he was too slow destroying the Angel," she said. "He was frantic because he knew that if you died, it would be his fault, and everyone would hate him."

"You cannot know his reasons for his actions," Wonder Girl protested.

"Of course I can. I have watched him. He fears the scorn of others, even if those others mean nothing to him. He fears it intensely. It guides nearly everything he does," Rei I spat disgustedly. "It guided him to leap into a swimming pool to 'save' you, even though he cannot swim."

"He is k—"

"Kind?" Rei I interrupted her. "What has he really done for you? Most of the time you are the one showing him kindness, and then only because Aphrodite told you to."

"He does not ignore me, like so many others. He treats me with respect," Wonder Girl countered.

"He pities you, he does not want you," Rei I asserted, and with such certainty that the Amazon wondered if her prior incarnation knew something she didn't. "He told you himself that he does not find you attractive. Instead, he looks at you and sees the only person he's ever known who is more out of place in this world than he is. He seeks out your company because he feels superior when he's around you."

"That is not true," Wonder Girl said flatly.

"Prove it," Rei I said.

The Amazon opened her mouth, then hesitated when she realized that she had no proof of Shinji's true motivations, even though she still felt totally confident that they were not the self-serving ones the younger girl was describing.

"I cannot. Shinji has not told me his reasons for everything he does," Wonder Girl said, keeping her voice level. "However, I have…faith in him."

The younger girl's lip curled into a sneer. "Faith," she spat. "Well, here is something you don't have to take on faith: Commander Ikari cares about us…me…you."

"Yes, but—"

"Do you remember how it was when I was confined to this room? When it was my whole world? Do you have those memories?" Rei I pressed.

Wonder Girl hesitated, then nodded.

"Do you remember how frequently the Commander would come down here, to eat with me? To educate me? To just talk with me?" Rei I asked. "Do you?"

"Yes," Wonder Girl admitted in a small voice.

"The most powerful man in Tokyo-3, perhaps the most powerful man in Japan, and he always made a point of making time for me," Rei I reminisced, a wistful smile on her face. "A man who couldn't even be bothered with his own son. He didn't have to spend time with me. He did it because he cared about me, just as he cares for you."

"He has a use for me," Wonder Girl protested.

Rei I smacked the table again, sending more tea splattering onto the wood. Wonder Girl jumped slightly in surprise and hated herself for it.

"Do not say that he sees you as a tool!" she snapped. "People aren't nice to things they see as tools! People don't voluntarily get themselves hurt to save tools they can replace! People don't…people don't cry when a tool is destroyed."

"Cry?" Wonder Girl asked, her eyes widening.

Rei I nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes, cry." She said. "The Commander didn't let you see it, but he cried for me after the old hag killed me. He cried hard."

Wonder Girl blinked. She'd never known that.

"The Commander doesn't see us as a tool," Rei I continued. "He's the only one in Tokyo-3 who ever really saw us as a person. Pilot Ikari views us as some pity case, something he can hold against himself so he doesn't look so pathetic in comparison. Everyone else just sees us as some freak to be avoided, more like a beast than a person."

The Amazon swallowed, knowing that there was truth to her other self's last words, at least. She had heard many people refer to her as a "freak" or "weirdo" over the years. The Commander had always told her to ignore them, and she had long ago accepted that she would never be welcomed into a group, into humanity in general. Yet the reminder still hurt with the dull ache of a bad injury that had long since healed.

"And now here you are, working for so-called gods who want to stop the Commander from ever being happy again," Rei I continued, in a soft, almost sorrowful tone. "Gods who kidnapped you, manipulated you, and changed you to fit their needs. Gods who are constantly working to make the job they gave you harder."

Wonder Girl was silent for a long, long moment. She wanted to argue, to protest, but she could find no flaw in her previous incarnation's logic to latch onto. The teenage girl felt shame welling up inside her as she thought of how easily she had been made to work against the man who had given her life.

"What would you have me do?" she asked quietly, her voice almost a whisper.

"Do not leave the Underworld," Rei I answered immediately. "If you stay long enough, it will be just like you had died, and the Commander can awaken the third. It will be like none of this ever happened."

"I…" Wonder Girl stammered.

"Stay," Rei I urged her. "Stay here. With me."

Those two words proved to be the dead girl's crucial mistake. The Amazon heard the longing her voice when she said them and saw that same longing reflected in her red eyes.

And just like that, everything clicked into place.

"I understand," Wonder Girl whispered.

"Understand what?" Rei I asked with a frown, clearly sensing that things were no longer moving in the direction she wanted them to.

"You cannot move on, can you?" Wonder Girl asked. "We are linked; you said that yourself. So long as I or any of our sisters live, you are trapped in this place. You cannot truly be at peace."

The younger girl's eyes widened, and the Amazon knew she was on the right track.

"Even in death, you are kept apart from the rest of humanity," Wonder Girl continued, her voice sympathetic. "So you have remained down here for years, all alone, with nothing to do but watch the world of the living. Watch, but not experience, and grow more bitter with each passing day."

"Stop it!" Rei I shouted, her normally pale face flushing a deep red with her rage. "Shut up!"

Wonder Girl ignored her and pressed on. "Then, one day, you see me starting to…to grow close to people besides the Commander. To question my loyalty to the Commander, and it makes you furious."

"Of course is does!" Rei I screamed, her young voice even higher than normal. "He was the only one who ever cared about us!"

"No," Wonder Girl said evenly. "He was the only one who ever cared about you."

Her words left the younger girl speechless. For several seconds, Rei I opened and closed her mouth, but no sound came out.

Wonder Girl rose from her diminutive chair and went over to her previous incarnation, kneeling down on one knee so she was eye to eye with the young child. She gently placed her hand over the little girl's smaller one.

"I understand how you must feel," Wonder Girl said. "I can imagine what I would think of myself, if I was in your place. But please try to understand me. I have experienced so many confusing but often wonderful things because of the Olympians, and because of Shinji."

Rei I didn't reply, so the Amazon pressed forward. "I don't know if the warm feelings Shinji causes me to experience are the sign of something…real, or if I am merely deluding myself," she continued. "Perhaps you are correct, and Shinji does see me as pathetic and pitiful. But I have to find out. I have to know if life holds more for me than the Commander ever said it could. If I stay here and allow the Commander to activate an unaltered clone, I will spend eternity wondering if I could have had something meaningful with Shinji. If we could have made one another complete and happy."

Rei I one looked down at her shoes. "I'm so tired of being all alone down here," she said petulantly.

"I understand that, and I am sorry you are trapped in limbo like this," Wonder Girl said sincerely. "You may take heart in the knowledge that whatever happens, every last clone of us will die someday, one way or another. You will not be here forever."

Rei I didn't say anything.

"Please, will you let me see this through?" Wonder Girl asked. "Will you let me decide for myself what I want to do with my life?"

Rei I sighed heavily, and the armored door to the chamber opened, its hinges groaning.

"Thank you," Wonder Girl said.

Rei I smiled bitterly. "Words of gratitude," she said. "I never had a use for them. Not even around the Commander."

"I will not forget you," the Amazon vowed as she got to her feet.

"And if you find out that I am right about Pilot Ikari?" Rei I asked.

"Then I will do what the Commander created me to do," Wonder Girl answered, before she departed from the room.

The exit from her previous incarnation's personal hell led directly to another one of the long, winding tunnels that the Amazon was already coming to loathe. This one, mercifully did not seem to go on for miles and miles as the previous two had. Instead, it proved to be quite short, ending abruptly.

As the Wonder Girl emerged, she found herself before Hades' palace.

It was one of the most massive structures she had ever seen, easily dwarfing the NERV pyramid. The building was done in the ancient Greek style, with soaring pillars and bronze braziers lining the front. However, instead of the white marble most people associated with the aged ruins of that region, the entire palace was built from obsidian of the darkest black.

It would have surprised the Amazon not at all to discover that Hades' palace was the photo negative of Zeus' temple up on Mount Olympus.

As she drew nearer, her keen eyes quickly spotted more undead warriors standing by the gigantic door to the palace. The Amazon immediately readied herself for another fight, but it never came. Rather than open fire on her, the guards saluted her, displaying a level of synchronization that would've been utterly impossible for living soldiers, no matter how strenuously they might have drilled.

It seems that Hades is finished throwing large numbers of common warriors at me, Wonder Girl thought, not quite sure whether she should be relieved or anxious about that.

She flew through the front entrance of the grand palace, directly into the main hall. It was so vast that a pair of VTOLs could have easily had a dogfight in it.

Still the Amazon pressed forward, eventually reaching a set of massive black oak doors that had been left open. Soaring through it, she entered a throne room that was huge even in comparison to the main hall.

At the far end of the room sat a pair of thrones. Hades sat upon the larger of the two, which was made out of what looked like solid platinum. Next to him, in a throne that had been craved out of more obsidian so it resembled a black flower, sat Persephone. The Queen of the Underworld looked almost as imperious as her husband.

However, Wonder Girl's barely paid them any heed; her attention was immediately captured by the room's other occupant.

"Athena!" she exclaimed.

The goddess of wisdom had been stripped of her bronze armor, and was now clad in only a tattered white shift. She was gagged, and thick chains were wrapped all around her form, forcing her into a kneeling position by Hades' feet. Yet her gray eyes were as sharp and willful as ever.

"Welcome to my palace, Wonder Girl," the Lord of the Underworld greeted her, a small, smug smile on his face.

"Hades," Wonder Girl spat. "Release Athena. Now."

The god's smile widened. "Only if you can make me."

The Amazon's hand immediately went to her sword. She was just an instant from drawing the blade when she stopped, recalling Aphrodite's words.

"Even though you're invading his domain, Hades still cannot attack you directly unless you hit him first. So, don't hit him."

She hesitated, suddenly unsure of what to do. If she struck at Hades, the god would probably respond by obliterating her, and then everything she had endured would be for nothing. However, she didn't know how else to go about forcing the god to release Athena.

Hades arched an eyebrow as the moment dragged on. "Frightened, Amazon?" he asked. "Scared to fight me?"

"No," Wonder Girl said.

"Yes, you are, and with good reason," Hades said, tenting his hands before his face. The gesture made him look disturbingly similar to the Commander. "So instead, I offer you another way to get what you seek. A wager."

"A wager?" Wonder Girl repeated, wary of a trick.

Hades nodded. "Yes. The terms are simple. You face one challenge of my choosing. If you defeat it, then you may leave here with Athena. If you fail, then you will become my champion, and you will work to achieve my goals."

"What is the challenge?" Wonder Girl asked.

"That, Champion of the Amazons, is something you can only learn if you decide to take my wager," Hades said.

Wonder Girl bit her lower lip, considering. There was no doubt in her mind that the god of the Underworld had a virtually impossible task ready for her. However, her odds of overcoming whatever he had in mind where probably better than her odds of defeating Hades on his home turf.

She had not come all this way just to give up now.

"Swear upon the River Styx that you will honor the wager if I win, and I will accept," she told Hades, recalling the oath that Apollo had once used.

Hades smiled in amusement. "Ah, the Amazon learns fast," he observed, turning toward his wife. Persephone did not break her stony silence, and the Lord of the Underworld directed his gaze back at Wonder Girl. "Very well, I swear upon the River Styx that I will honor our bet if you win."

"What is your challenge?" the Amazon asked.

As if in answer, the massive doors to the throne room slammed shut of their own accord, startling Wonder Girl. Yet before she could demand to know what was going on, the blue-haired superwoman saw shadows pooling on the floor in several places. They swirled and churned like water, growing steadily, taking on shapes.

Familiar shapes.

Wonder Girl gasped as she recognized them, the shadows becoming flesh a moment later.

Sachiel. Shamshel. Ramiel. Israfel. Sandalphon. Matarael.

"Your challenge is this, Champion of the Amazons," Hades said. "Defeat the Angels which have fallen in combat to the Evangelions. All of them."


Author's Notes: Yes, another cliffhanger. Bear with me here. I promise that the next chapter won't end with one. Probably.

And what could Takai possibly have in mind now that he's discovered Asuka's alter ego? I'm sure you can take a few guesses.

Anyway, thanks as always to my readers and reviewers, and thanks to my beta reader as well.