AN: Here we introduce two new characters from Girlfriend of Steel, as well as the next Angel assault, and I'm bringing back an old favorite.

14: Zafkiel - I

"There are two of them?" Fuyutsuki asked as he read over the reports, "This is getting to be a problem. We have more pilots than we do Evangelions at this point."

Gendo nodded, "True, but the fact remains that if any of the active pilots are injured or killed, then we have plenty of back-ups." He remarked coldly as he looked down at one the files on the pilots, "Hmm, this young man is a survivor of the South Dakota incident."

"I thought there were no survivors of that area?" Fuyutsuki asked, surprised.

"As I believed," the Commander said, "But apparently this young man was to be the pilot of Unit-07 before it went Rogue, and destroyed the base." He explained, reading over the incident report written by the young pilot. "Lucky for him, he was inside of an Entry Plug, and was quite safe. The Evangelion was well away from the base at the time of its destruction, leaving our young Corpral Strasberg in a wasteland after the initial destruction. Keep in mind that an Eva causing such an event on its own is nothing compared to that of an Angel setting off an Impact Zone."

"Indeed," the Vice-Commander said, sighing, "Either way, with these two new pilots, and the addition of...what was his name? Nagisa?"

"Kaworu Nagisa," Gendo nodded, "Apparently he's stationed on the Moon Base with the Mark.06 until it's complete." He said, frowning, "He also happens to have a relation to Lorenz."

Fuyutsuki winced, "That isn't encouraging." He noted, frowning, "Shall I inform Major Katsuragi of this?"

"Have her, and Captain Ikari come in," he said, "I need them to finalize their promotions."

Fuyutsuki chuckled, "Oh, he's not going to like that."

"Then he shouldn't be doing such a good job." Gendo remarked.

"Come to think of it, Captain Shikinami might not take to kindly to that, either. She does have seniority on him." The Vice-Commander said thoughtfully. "Given her attitude towards him these last few months - "

"She will either accept it, or she won't, and then she will get over it." Gendo said, "Piloting skills alone do not gain one a promotion in rank. She needs to show us that she can take charge if the situation calls for it."

The older man nodded, "I'll make the call."

(*)

"You didn't give it to her, yet?" Shinji asked, frowning at Kensuke. "You've got to be kidding me? You spent three hours trying to find the right ring, and now you're chickening out?"

"That's easy for you to say!" Kensuke snipped back quietly as they stood outside the house. It had been two days since their first Christmas together, and things had been...complicated at one point. On the one hand, Shinji had thought he'd finally won Asuka over, but that turned out to be a little disappointing. After their first(second) kiss, Asuka had gently pushed him away, and told him that it would have to wait until all of the Angels were gone...but she did thank him for the bracelet. She was wearing it even now.

Kensuke was having more doubts than he was himself, however, after what had happened the next morning. Hikari's parents had finally decided to visit. It had been a prickly affair the entire time they were there. Right in the middle of Sakura opening her first present, a china doll from Touji, Mrs. Horaki had been talking with Misato about potentially pulling her daughter from the roster and taking her out of the city.

Hikari had heard her, unfortunately, and hadn't taken it all that well. She and her mother were very much alike in their tempers, and the resulting shouting match between them had nearly gotten out of hand when the woman attempted to slap her. Touji had gotten between them just as Hikari was about to shove the woman away from her, resulting in a fairly large crash as the girl hadn't controlled her newfound strength.

Touji had taken the brunt of the blow, and had gained a large bruise across his shoulders. Hikari's parents, however, were horrified by the fact that their daughter had sent them clear across the room in a single shove. Her mother was unharmed, of course, but her parents had quickly fled the home, and the GeoFront afterwards.

Things had not calmed down since then, either. Hikari was distraught over what she had done, both to her mother, and Touji. After calling to apologize she found out that the people that she called her parents had already packed their belongings, and were on their way out of the city. Touji's father had caught wind of the incident, and was furious with them.

He had come to visit on a few occasions and got along well with the rest of them, and utterly adored Hikari like his own daughter. When he heard about the situation with her parents, he'd gone on a rant for a full hour about their cowardice, and all but offered to adopt the girl right there and then.

Asuka, meanwhile, had spent a large amount of time comforting the girl in question over what had happened. Meaning she had little to no time for Shinji. No wonder he was being sour.

"Look, just come out and ask her," he grumbled, "It's not like it's going to kill you?"

"This coming from the guy that got rejected?" Kensuke snapped.

"I didn't get rejected!" Shinji snapped right back, "She just thought it wasn't the best time for a relationship!"

"Rejected!" Kensuke simplified.

"At least I had the balls to do something!" Shinji shouted, his eyes flashing brightly. "All you managed to do was give her that dress you picked out!"

"Getting a girlfriend and asking the one you already have to marry you are two different things!" Kensuke yelled, "Come on! Cut me some slack!"

"Slack?! You want slack!?" Shinji roared at the top of his lungs, "You're sleeping with my sister! I call that plenty of slack!"

"It's not like that, and you know that's not what I mean!" Kensuke whined, waving his arms uselessly, "I'm not the type of guy that usually gets a girlfriend, and now that I have one, and a serious one at that, I really, really don't wanna screw this up!"

"Hey!" Mana poked her head out of the window above them, "Could you guys take the shouting somewhere else? Some of us have had enough of that for rest of the year!"

Shinji looked up at her in apology, "Sorry about that."

"Yeah," Kensuke sighed, "It's...been kind of a sucky holiday, huh?"

Shinji sighed as Mana withdrew back into the house. "Look, I know Rei well enough to know when she really cares about someone, and she undoubtedly cares about you." He said, sighing, "But I'm not an expert on girls, or else I might've figured out what I did wrong with Asuka." His shoulders slumped, "And you're right, I pretty much got rejected in a way. Just not totally."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Kensuke sighed, "Total rejection."

Shinji shook his head, "You idiot," he sighed, making Kensuke look at him strangely...before socking him in the gut.

"Pwah!" Kensuke coughed, dropping to his knees from the force of the blow. "What...what was that for!?" He gasped, glaring up at the teen.

"For being a total, and complete idiot," Shinji said, flexing his right hand, "Rei's afraid of the same thing you are. That you'll reject her, or the rest of us will. More so now because she has so much more to lose...believe me, I can tell that much."

"Yeah?" Kensuke growled, staggering back to his feet. "How?"

Shinji sighed, not really ready to say anything, but relented, "I can...sort of...hear what she's thinking sometimes." He said as Kensuke looked at him sharply. He shrugged, "I guess I'm advancing more than the rest of you are because I've been fighting longer," he explained as Kensuke nodded in understanding, "I told Asuka a little bit about...what's happening to me, and she seemed a little more freaked out than you are, but she's not used to situations like this."

"And we are?" Kensuke frowned, "But man, I had no idea you could do something like that!"

"It's only with Rei, and only on certain occasions," Shinji said, "She's probably able to do it too to some extent, considering I think it's be because were siblings."

"And you're...sure she feels that way?" Kensuke asked.

Shinji nodded, "Yeah, I'm positive."

"Only fools are positive," Kensuke scoffed.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive...dammit!" Kensuke growled at him and tackled him. Shinji laughed and easily threw him off.

It was then that Misato came out to find them wrestling, "Hey, knock it off!" Misato laughed, "Shinji, we've just gotten called in. The Commander wants a word with us."

Shinji groaned, "Alright." He sighed, and helped Kensuke up, "Remember what I said, alright?"

"Yeah," he nodded, smirking, and punched him, hard, in the shoulder, "Thanks, Bro."

Shinji shook his head, rubbing his shoulder slightly as he and Misato headed for her car.

Kensuke then watched them drive off, and sighed, dusting himself off. "What a mess." He said, looking back at the house. He then took out the small box in his pocket. Opening it up revealed the ring he had picked out. A sapphire rested on the crest of the band. It was different than a typical diamond ring. But the blue stone reminded him so much of Rei that he had to take it. And the meaning behind it would make it all the more clear to her that he would never leave her. "I guess now's as good a time as any." He sighed.

.

Rei was sitting idly on the couch, staring at the Christmas tree still sitting in the room. She drew her legs up to her chest. She knew that Christmas was supposed to be a relatively happy time of the year. That being said, she didn't understand why everyone seemed so unhappy at the moment. Hikari's parents had been...unpleasant, yes, and perhaps it was a good thing that they had decided to leave the city. It would soon become dangerous again with the Angels coming. And she thought that Hikari would be sad if they were to be harmed because they had stayed.

But now the girl seemed upset by the fact that they were gone. Why was she so upset? She didn't understand.

Asuka came into the room a moment later while she was thinking, "What was all that shouting about?" She asked, "Are the Captain and the Nerd fighting or something?"

Rei shook her head, "I do not know." She said truthfully, "It would seem that Christmas is not the happy day that everyone says it is."

Asuka shrugged, "It's not for everyone," she admitted, sighing as she looked down at her left wrist where her gift from Shinji was settled. "Sometimes it can hurt a lot."

"Is that why you have been avoiding my brother?" Asuka flinched as Rei turned a questioning look on her, "Shinji has not been himself these last few days, either, and I do not believe it has anything to do with our father."

Asuka scowled at her, "That is none of your business, Wondergirl."

"I believe it is, Pilot Shikinami," Rei said, scowling right back at her as she rose from the couch, "You both outrank me, but he is still my brother, and whatever harms him, harms me as well." She said, her eyes flashing an faint iridescent red from the small flecks in her irises. "I feel his pain somehow, and I know that it has something, possibly everything to do with you, Captain."

Asuka took a small, fearful step back. 'Since when could Rei's eyes do that!?' She shook herself, "Listen, Rei, it's not as simple as you think," she said, crossing her arms, "I...get along with your brother, I do...but -"

"You are afraid of him, yes?" The blue-haired girl asked, frowning, "Shinji is frightening, this is certainly true, but you must know how he feels about you?"

"Do you?" Asuka demanded angrily stomping her foot, "We've known each other for just under three months, Rei, and he's already trying to put the moves on me - "

"Which is what you desire," Rei said, "I am not as emotional as most people, but I am beginning to understand what it means to love, and be loved by someone." She said, sighing, "We are...more than human, now, but I have never felt more human than I do now. I used to be unable to feel anything, except for pain, and even that was dulled by the medications they kept forcing me to take. I can feel so much warmth coming from Shinji and Kensuke when I am near them that I feel as though I am wrapped in a blanket. For Kensuke, that warmth is something that I cause him to feel for me. But for my brother, you are what causes him to feel warm."

Asuka blushed. "I have to focus." She told her, "Falling in love was not something I was meant to do. All my life has led up to piloting my Evangelion, and nothing else." She looked the girl in the eyes, "It's the one thing I was meant to be good at, to be unsurpassable at it. And yet, here I have Shinji to deal with. If I'm outdone by him, then that's it, I'm replaceable. They'll put someone else inside of Unit-02, and I'll be cast aside as if I was no better than garbage!"

"Then you and I are no different than each other," Rei said, shocking her, "I am as replaceable as you seem to think yourself to be." She gestured to herself, "But now I am different than I once was. I am...me...I am myself, not the Rei Ayanami that NERV wanted me to be. I am the only one like myself that there is, no matter what anyone says. And Kensuke once told me that he would accept me even if the rest of the world rejected me." She smiled, her chest blossoming with warmth, "I believe that Shinji would feel the same way about you."

"It's still not that easy," Asuka frowned, "I...I'm not the same as I was either, but that sort of training doesn't just go away when it's been pounded into your brain since you were able to walk."

Kensuke chose that moment to open the door and step back into the house, spying the two girls facing each other. "Uh, am I interrupting something?" He asked, looking a bit bashful.

"No, we were just finishing up," Asuka said, taking the chance to flee up the stairs to her room.

"Coward." Rei commented.

"I heard that." Asuka growled.

Rei nodded in her direction, "Then it was meant to be heard."

Kensuke was shocked, "Whoa, Rei, you've got your claws out today."

Rei blinked, confused as she looked down at her fingers, "I...I do not believe I have grown claws, Kensuke..."

'Typical Rei,' Kensuke chuckled, taking one of her hands, "That was a figure of speech." He said, "Listen, I need -"

An alarm sounded from inside his pocket, and from inside the pocket of Rei's dress. Asuka also stopped as the same tone alerted her to her phone going off. Asuka looked at the pair of them, "Angel warning."

"I'll get the car ready," Kensuke shouted, rushing outside with Rei right behind him, "Go get the others!"

"Don't give me orders, Lieutenant!" Asuka snapped, and ran up stairs, almost colliding with Mana, and Mari, "Where's Hikari?" She demanded.

"Here," Touji called from above them as he and the girl came down, "Shinji and Misato?"

"Already gone," she said before their phones started wailing again, this time in a higher, more urgent pitch, "What's that one mean?"

Mana looked at her phone, "That's an Alpha level warning...it means whatever's coming for us is either big, powerful, or both."

Asuka nodded, "Right, we need to go, and I mean now!"

(*)

"Damn, damn, double damn!" Shinji snarled as he stripped out of his clothing, and slipped his Plug Suit on, pressing the wrist button as the suit shrunk around him. "An Angel would pick now to show up," he frowned as he bolted out of the locker rooms, and down the hall, and pressed his phone to his ear, "Misato, I'm heading to the cages. Any info on the target, yet?"

"Sorry, Shinji, all we can tell you is that it appears to be a humanoid type similar to the Angel you defeated when you first arrived." Misato said, "It hasn't entered the city, yet, but we figure that'll change as soon as you're deployed. It appears to be waiting for a fight."

That gave Shinji pause, 'Strange...if this is the same one as last time, then I'll definitely need help to deal with both halves...but - '

"The other pilots are on their way," Misato said, interrupting his thoughts, "ETA puts them about fifteen minutes out. As soon as we get them loaded, we'll send up back-up - "

"Send up Asuka and Touji," he said, turning down a corridor and slid into an elevator before punching the right floor key, "Asuka's got the most experience out of most of us, and Touji's got the muscle power to back up a close range fight. Have Kensuke and Unit-04 equipped for long range sniping. What about Unit-00?"

"Still under repairs," Misato sighed, "Are you almost there?"

The doors opened, releasing him into the Eva cages, "I'm just arriving."

Misato sighed over the phone once more, "Be careful out there, Shinji, we don't know what this thing's capable of, and I don't wanna lose you."

Shinji nodded, and hung up the phone, passing it off to a technician, "Have a gatling gun prepped and ready in the nearest weapons cache, I want to take this thing out as soon as possible."

"Sir," the man nodded.

Shinji frowned and ascended into his Evangelion.

.

"Kensuke, hurry it up!" Touji roared a short time later as the male pilots exited the locker rooms, "The battle's already started!"

"Sorry!" Kensuke bungled out of the room as the two of them pelted toward the cages. A loud rumble shook the halls, making them stagger, "What the hell was that?!"

Touji growled, leaning against the wall for support, "Must be Shinji and that Angel that showed up." Another rumble shook them, nearly knocking them off of their feet, "Aw, man, they're seriously going at it!"

"We better book it if we don't wanna miss out!" Kensuke said, and took off again, before a loud, earth-shaking explosion rocked them, "Oh, wow!" Kensuke and Touji were sent sprawling on the floor.

"Christ!" Touji snarled, "What's going on up there!?

"Guys!" Mana yelled, running toward them, "Are you two alright?!"

"Yeah, we're good," Touji stood up, dusting himself off, "What's the situation up there?"

Mana shook her head, "Last I heard, Shinji's got this thing on the ropes, but I don't know what's really going on. Everyone's been called to the control room."

"Not the cages?" Kensuke frowned.

Mana nodded, "Yeah, and Shinji already had a battle plan for Asuka and you two to help him out. Misato's furious about being ordered to scrap it."

"I'll bet," Touji growled, another rumble shaking the halls, "Come on, let's get up there!"

.

The bridge was in chaos when the two stragglers arrived as they all watched a familiar form grappling with Unit-01. 'That looks like the one he fought before,' Kensuke frowned as the monster used a long club-like tail to slam the purple giant across the city. 'Shit, it's bigger, though!'

"Why aren't we out there?!" Asuka all but screamed at the Commander, "It's obvious that he needs help!"

Gendo sighed, "The pilot we have on site is more than adequate to handle this Angel. It would be a waste of resources to send more than one Unit."

"Yeah, and meanwhile your son is getting the shit beaten out of him," Mari sneered at the man, her eyes glinting dangerously behind her glasses. "Need I remind you that if anything happens to him - "

"Lieutenant Makinami, that is quite enough," Gendo growled.

Kensuke frowned and went up to Rei where she stood, her eyes glued to the screens, "How's he doing?"

Rei shook her head, "He is...fighting hard to defeat this Angel, but...he needs our help, but..."

"Commander, I repeat my request to send up at least one other Unit!" Misato pleaded, pointing to the screen, "If this goes on any longer, Unit-01 will be in danger of possibly being destroyed!"

"I am confident that my son will prevail," the man said, looking down at her, "Or is your faith in him so thin?"

"Sync ratio dropping!" Maya shouted, "Whatever that thing's doing, Shinji's not able to raise his sync rate as he usually does!"

"He's dropping below fifty percent!" Aoba shouted.

Asuka snapped around at this, "That's too low! Pull him out!"

"Belay that order," Gendo frowned, watching the battle, and sighed, "Captain Shikinami, to your Unit, please?"

"About fucking time!" Asuke snapped, pelting out of the room.

Suddenly, the Angel roared, and the eyes flashed a bright white light as Unit-01 was roaring toward it. As soon as the flash happened the Unit stumbled, rolling on the ground as if it had struck down by a physical blow. The Unit staggered back to its feet.

"Shinji!" Misato called out over the communications link, "Fall back, and regroup with Asuka. She'll join you in a minute or two, so -"

"Who is that?" Shinji asked, startling her as he shook his head, dazed, "Who's voice is that? Wh-where am I?!"

The pilots all looked at each other in alarm. "Did he hit his head?" Hikari asked, worried.

"Shinji, this is not the time to joke around," Mari shouted, "We need you to - "

Another flash, and the Evangelion hit its knees again. "SHINJI!" Rei shouted in alarm as the image of the boy on the screen showed a face of utter confusion. "Asuka, hurry, please!"

"I'm trying, dammit!" Asuka shouted from her cockpit, "Hurry up with the catapult!"

"It's gonna hit him again!" Mana shouted, and a moment later, the Angel's eyes flashed one last time, and the Evangelion went down. All of the systems shut down, the sync ratio dropping to zero.

"Vital signs on the pilot are confirmed, but...but the brain activity is gone..." Hyuga frowned at the readings as Ritsuko leaned over his shoulder to get a look, "According to these readings, that Angel...it erased his mind. Everything's gone!"

"The Angel's on the move," Aoba said, watching as the Angel began...to leave? "Wait, what?"

"It's moving away from the city?" Fuyutsuki frowned, "Why? It has him dead to rights!"

"Captain Shikinami, recover Captain Ikari from the Entry Plug. A medical team will be en route within five minutes. Major Katsuragi, see to the recovery of Unit-01 after the pilot is moved into the hospital wing." Gendo said, rising from his seat.

"And where may we find you if the need arises?" The woman asked, a bite in her voice as the man turned his back on the scene.

"In my office," he said, the door opening, and closing as he left.

"Gutless snake eating son of a bitch!" Mari snapped at the door as the Commander left, "That's his son out there and he just brushed this whole thing off like it was nothing!?"

(*)

Asuka paced back and forth outside of the OR, biting her thumb nail as she did, not trusting herself to speak as the others looked at her with varying levels of concern. 'He'll be fine.' She told herself, her heart hammering into her ribs, 'He'll be just fine. It just an effect from the Angel, that's all. He'll be up and around in no time, like usual, and then I can - '

The light about the OR door went off, and the door opened as a gurney bearing Shinji was wheeled out, two assistants on either side with Ritsuko behind them, "I want him monitored at all hours of the day!" She snapped, "If anything in his behavior changes, you will inform me immediately, or I will have your jobs!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

Misato rose and stood next to her former friend, who looked more exhausted than she had ever seen her before. "Well?"

Ritsuko shook her head, "I don't know, Misato, I really don't," she sighed, "We've ran every test we could think of on him while he was in there, and everything points to him being...lobotomized."

"Say what?!" Touji snapped. "How could that happen!?"

"Those flashes of light the Angel produced had to have been the cause," Ritsuko said, shrugging, "As far as I could tell, he's capable of motor skills, and communication, but he no longer knows how. We'll have to re-teach him everything about being a human from the ground up...that is to say, if he doesn't come out of this on his own."

"What if he doesn't?" Asuka asked, frowning. "You're telling me he could be stuck like that?!"

"No, he can relearn everything," she said, "Eventually, he'll be back to what we can call normal, it might just take a little while. But, as I said, he could come out of this on his own, or if that Angel that fled the scene after he was downed is destroyed. Remember it fled the battle as soon as Unit-01, I.E. Shinji, was taken out. It didn't want to risk facing Asuka, which leads me to believe that this Angel can only use that ability on one person at a time, meaning that as long as Shinji is like this, it can't do it to anyone else, or it must release Shinji from its hold to do it again, and even then it would have to contend with the other Evas."

"So facing it again in one on one is a bad idea," Kensuke growled, "Okay, so where is that damned thing?"

"We lost just off the coast when it dove too deep for our sensors to follow." Ritsuko frowned. "As far as finding it, we've considered using N2 mines to bombard the area it was last tracked to in hopes of flushing it out. But the JSSDF is vetoing that idea; apparently the use of precious N2 mines on a non-threatening entity is prohibited."

"NON-THREATENING!?" Misato exploded, and grasped the woman by the front of her coat, "You listen to me; if those idiots don't wanna waste their time on us, then you can just tell them that from now on, they can handle the Angels, and I can take care of my kids without having to worry about them being beaten, shredded, scorched, or blown to bits by some gargantuan monsters that don't really give a shit about us!"

"Misato, calm down -!"

Rei stepped forward, "Would an injection of that serum be able to help him?"

Both women looked at the girl, her eyes no longer cold, but concerned. Ritsuko sighed, "I'm not sure, but the likely hood of it aiding him when he's already made the transition is low, unless..." She trailed off, her eyes going wide. "I...need to visit the aquarium!"

"Huh?" Was the all around response.

.

Some hours later found the blonde doctor working tirelessly with her idea. The idea consisting of the combination of the S.I.24, and a protein found in an exceedingly rare, and endangered species of deep sea jellyfish. Drugs using such proteins had once been considered a wonder drug for people with memory problems, but combined with the serum derived from Shinji's cells, she had the makings of a super drug. Whether it would work, however, she didn't know.

Now, at near three o'clock in the morning, the once clear serum was now a very dark shade of green. The first test would be to use it on inactive brain tissue, which she had poached from a few subjects in the lower levels...Rei's clones.

Placing the tissue under the microscope, and adding the improved serum, she watched with baited breath...and saw the tissue begin to revitalize! "YES!"

.

Misato yawned as she sleepily followed the blonde, "You're sure this is gonna work?"

"About ninety-nine percent." Ritsuko said, "I just wanted you here in case he comes around, and is confused."

"Of course he'll be confused, look what happened to him," she sighed s they neared Shinji's room, "But, this won't hurt him, will it?"

"No," Ritsuko said, "If anything, we should see immediate results given his healing rate, and the rate his blood now flows." She punched in a code on the door and entered with the violet haired woman right behind her. Asuka was found in the room. "Ah, I'd forgotten about her."

"You shouldn't have," Misato huffed, crossing her arms, "they've been getting closer for a while now."

Asuka had insisted on staying with the young man in case he came out of his stupor on his own, but so far, he remained catatonic. The girl had long since fallen asleep, and was resting her head on the mattress next to the stricken pilot.

"Should we wake her?" Ritsuko asked of the girl's guardian, who shook her head.

"She's exhausted enough as it is," Misato sighed, "You should've seen the way she nearly tore into the Commander earlier when she brought him back. I thought she was going to murder the man. And I, for one, would've let her. It made no sense to let Shinji fight on his own for so long."

"He's been under a lot of stress lately, Misato," she said, preparing the injection. "Alright, here we go."

Misato bit her lip as the needle was inserted into the boy's arm. The entire syringe was drained soon, and Ritsuko pulled away, both of them waiting...

But nothing had happened.

He remained asleep.

Not even a twitch of an eye, or finger.

Misato growled, "I'm not waiting a moment longer," she said to the blonde, "I'm getting those idiots in the JSSDF on the horn, and I'm going to force them to flush that Angel out if it's the last thing I do!"

AN: Shinji is down for the count. And now it's up to Misato and the others to deal with the Angel, and, hopefully, find a way to bring him back.

Please review!