"I wonder how all the others are doing right now." Shinji said with a hint of sadness in his voice as he absent-mindedly prodded some rice around on his plate, "It's been over a week now since we had to leave."

Across from him Asuka gave a shrug of her shoulders unable to reply properly with her mouth still half full of food. She waited a moment to finish and swallow said mouthful before giving her reply, "I'm sure they'll be fine, if anything bad has happened then we would probably have heard about it from Karim by now."

Asuka spoke with an air of confidence although she had to admit she didn't quite believe her own words. She didn't know just how much knowledge Karim would have of the situation regarding WILLE and the Wunder right now. With Misato likely to be locked up in a cell on the Wunder and WILLE on higher alert chances were that any Espèrer people would have been laying low for the moment.

Despite her own doubts she wanted to keep up that air of positivity, if anything for Shinji's sake. Asuka needed him to stay focused and positive for the journey ahead. She needed him to be like that for her own sake, to keep her focused and positive too.

"I… I guess you're right." Shinji finally admitted before resuming his meal.

The pair had been in the village for two days now and in that time not much progress had been made on their objective of locating the Tower Of Babel. Karim and the others from Espèrer had taken a look at Misato's necklace and had soon confirmed that it was indeed one of the artefacts that had been uncovered along with the Dead Sea Scrolls.

This knowledge had proven to be rather useless as of now though. If the necklace held any secrets no one knew how to uncover them. For a time Asuka wondered if maybe Misato had made a mistake but she knew that couldn't be the case. There was something to the necklace they just had to figure it out.

As the team from Espèrer worked, not only to uncover the secrets of the artefact but also follow up on other potential leads it left Asuka and Shinji with a lot of time to kill. They were able to spent time together and wander around the village. At any other time this would have been nice but considering the way things were just doing nothing was not an attractive option. Both wanted to resume their journey as soon as possible.

Shinji let out a sigh as he finished what was left on his plate. He immediately pulled the necklace out of his shirt and began to examine it again. He turned it over in his hand and rubbed against it softly before slowly bringing it up to his lips and whispering quietly to it.

Just as he had expected nothing happened, he lowered the necklace and saw Asuka staring at him, a perplexed expression on her face, "What… the hell are you doing?"

Shinji felt his cheeks glow red as he let out a little laugh, "I… I don't know, I just thought that… if this was a movie or something that maybe asking it to open would have worked! It was worth a try at least!"

Asuka continued to glare at him before smirking and letting out a laugh of her own, "You're an idiot!"

"I know…"

"So what did you whisper to it, 'Open seseme' right?"

"What else?" He laughed again, "I just… I don't want to sit around doing nothing. It doesn't feel right, not when we know what's out there. I feel like… I'm letting Misato and the others down by us sitting here daring to enjoy ourselves."

Asuka looked at him for a moment before reaching across and grabbing hold of his hands. She gazed into his eyes seeing every bit of frustration in them, the same frustration that she was feeling, "I feel the same way Shinji but there isn't anything we can do. They are looking for us and they even said they had another idea but they need to bring something else in first."

Keeping hold of his hand she looked around the area they were in trying to think of something for them to do to take their minds off of the situation they were in. Near to them was the entrance to the laboratories, visiting them would be pointless neither were really able to contribute much at the moment.

Just a short distance past the laboratory was the docking platform and the figure of Evangelion Unit 02. Beyond that were the village boundaries and the zone in which the rich yellow desert sands faded back into the weird and lurid red landscapes of the post-Third Impact World.

Both Asuka and Shinji had been given a brief history of the village by Karim upon their arrival. This village was the first successful demonstration of the terraforming equipment that Espèrer had been developing. The Regula System as it had come to be known had managed to transform an area of five square miles, reverting it to how it had appeared before the Impact.

From this more work had continued on developing the Regular System with them attempting to build upon the success of this experiment. Eventually they were able to recover an area of ten square miles in one location. Unfortunately on a subsequent attempt to replicate that success an accident had occurred. Neither Asuka nor Shinji had asked the details of it, and none were given but they were told that it had resulted in a number of lives being lost and the area being marked as completely uninhabitable.

From what time onwards Espèrer had commissioned no further uses of the Regula System until they were absolutely certain of what had gone wrong and how to prevent it from happening again. In that time they had instead worked on other preservation projects not too dissimilar to the maritime one they had been taken to by Kaji so many years ago.

"Do you think that… maybe one day the world will be back how it used to be?" Shinji asked suddenly, "You know… with it all looking like it used to as well?"

Asuka shrugged again, "Karim and his people seem confident that one day they can perfect their Regula System so who knows? Maybe they'll have the tech to transform all of it back to that way. There are still some areas left on the Earth that haven't been turned either. If it does it does but if not… I've lived it a world like this for just as long as I lived in the previous one. Guess I'm used to it now."

"I-I suppose... that I'm still getting used to it. I've only been here for a few months really. I still have so much to learn."

Asuka very suddenly stood up and that motion was immediately followed by a loud crack as her knee hit the table. She grimaced for a moment stumbling and resisting the urge to cry out and grab her leg. She shot Shinji a glare that instantly told him to not say a word, he complied. Finally she tried to recover it by smiling, "I know… what we're going to do. If we can't contribute in the labs we may as well do it the only way we can."

Shinji was confused, "How do you mean?"

"It's a dangerous world out there Shinji. They have some stuff to repel an attack but nothing says state of the art defenses like an Evangelion!"

"You mean…"

Asuka nodded, "We're going to take Unit 02 out and have a bit of a walk around the area. Make sure nothing is approaching and maybe even get the guys here to throw some training targets out way! We have to stay sharp don't we, and besides you still have a lot to learn about being the support pilot in an Eva!"

Asuka didn't give him an opportunity to respond, she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up onto his feet. He staggered and stumbled as he tried to get his balance and keep up with his enthusiastic girlfriend. He certainly wasn't going to disagree with her, he was just as fed up with sitting around and doing nothing too."

XXX

By the time Mari finally got herself into the Pilot's locker room Rei was already there. Several hours had passed since the Wunder had changed course to intercept the Angel and according to the reports the Angel itself had also altered its course and was now much closer than they originally expected. Estimates now had it only eight hours away from their present position. Rei and Mari had been given the order to suit up before a briefing and sync test.

Mari said nothing as she entered the room, instead she moved straight to her locker, opened it and pulled the deflated plugsuit from it. She quickly stripped off her clothing and stepped into the suit and pulled it up around her shoulders. The tapped the button on her twist and felt it tighten around her.

For Mari wearing the plugsuit was like an extension of herself. She always enjoyed wearing it, especially when she had started to develop in certain ways. She loved the way it conformed to her body, showing off each and every one of her curves. There was also a certain comfort to it though, like she belonged in it.

She was naturally quite a confident person but being in the Plugsuit and around the Eva gave her just that little bit more. She was going to need that extra shot of confidence now as she finally looked towards Rei.

For the first time in quite a whilst she didn't know what to say to Rei. Mari had made the decision to talk to Rei about what had happened previously with Ritsuko but now that she was here wondered if it was truly the best thing to do. Was now an appropriate time to bring such a subject up? Also how would Rei react to the news that Mari had essentially eavesdropped on her?

'I don't know if she'd forgive me for that. I know if it was Asuka she'd probably kill someone for something like that. If it was Shinji he'd probably be disappointed but Rei... how would she react? It's not like... I meant to eavesdrop on her, I wanted to know what Akagi was up to. I thought Rei was in danger.'

Her nervousness and worrying must have been quite apparent as next thing Mari knew Rei was standing before her wearing that cute smile of hers that Mari had grown to love.

"Something is bothering you." Rei said as she took Mari's hand into her own. It was not a question but a statement and as if programmed to respond to it Mari simply nodded.

"Y-Yeah, just... nervous about fighting another Angel I guess." Mari lied, feeling awful for doing so. In truth the Angel was barely in her thoughts. She had no concerns about it at all, for Mari the thing would appear, both her and Rei would go out and fight it and defeat it.

"I understand, I am also nervous." Rei said with a nod, "But if we support each other we will be about to defeat it. Out bond is too strong to be broken."

If it was possible Mari would have melted on the spot at hearing Rei's words. At any other time she'd have thrown herself at Rei, pinned her up against a locker and kissed her passionately for saying something like that. Now was not that time though. Instead she settled for raising Rei's hand to her lips and planting a soft kiss on the back of it.

Moments passed as the two stood in silence, Mari just stroking the back of Rei's hand lightly with her fingers. With each passing second the weight on Mari's mind got heavier and heavier, she kept going over scenario after scenario wondering what the right thing to do was. She tried to figure out what others would tell her, if she asked Asuka or Shinji or Misato what they would say.

Finally she let go of Rei's hand and took a step backwards, having made her decision.

"Okay... I don't know if this is the right thing to do. Especially not now when we're approching an Angel but I can't keep it in anymore, if something happens to any of us and I haven't got this out then... I'll just regret it."

The smile on Rei's face had turned to a frown, she looked back at Mari reaching out to cup the bespectacled girls cheek, "Is... everything alright?"

Mari shook her head, "No... it isn't. Rei I heard the conversation you had with Akagi the other day. I... I confronted her earlier today before I came here about it."

Rei's expression didn't change which only served to make Mari feel worse. She had been hoping for Rei to maybe look disappointed, to scowl at her or maybe lose her temper. Instead Rei looked contemplative as if she had just been given a difficult maths problem to solve.

"You... heard us. How did you hear us?"

"Long time ago Kaji gave me a few toys he used to use in his travels. I hid one of the recording devices in a ventilation shaft above the office." Mari admitted as she kept her eyes focused on one of the benches, she dared not look at Rei anymore, "I was suspicious of Akagi! I thought that maybe she was going to try to do something to you or that she was up to something else in there! You can't blame me right? Look at what she did, she took over the Wunder, is the only one who knows what you are and how to deal with that and it... well it scared me."

"I suppose considering that I cannot blame you..." Rei finally said, her voice betraying some traces of sadness, "I am happy that you are worried about me but yo-"

Mari finally looked at Rei again, "I... just wanted to help you Rei. I know about the control that Ikari had over you for all those years and I guess I wanted to make sure something like that couldn't happen again. I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you like that, I was only after Akagi. I'm sorry."

"I understand your concern but there is no issue between myself and Dr Akagi." Rei said, "She is in charge of my medication and wishes to help me. You have no reason to be suspicious."

"I do have reason though don't I? I know that isn't everything!" Mari shot back, "I heard all of it Rei, I know that... whatever place this is we're going to that it's dangerous. I know that she has got you doing something there! Please... what is it Rei, let me help you!"

Much to Mari's surprise it was now Rei's turn to look away and avert her eyes, "I am afraid that I can not tell you."

Mari felt her stomach drop at hearing those words. She took a step towards Rei only for Rei to step back and shake her head at Mari.

"R-Rei... I thought we had an agreement to help each other. " Mari was finally able to get within reach of Rei and bring her hand to Rei's cheek, "We can tell each other anything, I want to help you Rei."

Rei didn't move but nodded slowly keeping her gaze averted, "I know you do but there is nothing you can help me with. What I have to do... the nature of the place we are going... it is something I cannot tell you yet. You are not ready to be told, it is... my burden to carry. I am sorry."

Mari backed away from Rei, tears threatening to form in her eyes and the weighty feeling in her stomach increasing, "R-Rei I don't... understand."

"It is not you Mari... I am just not able to tell you until it is over. Please try to understand. Do you trust me?" Rei asked.

Mari nodded, "I do trust you Rei but I can't trust Akagi. I heard that conversation! I heard the reference to a facility and a reference to 'him', what is Akagi planning Rei? What are you caught up in! I can help you, we can end it before it begins, we can run away just like Shinji and Asuka did!"

Rei shook her head, "No Mari... you don't understand. What I need to do... Akagi is not forcing me or planning anything. She is trying to stop me as well but I have to do it. I just... can't tell you yet. You will understand in time but I need your support for now. I am scared of it as well but I mustn't run away from it."

"Then tell me what it is Rei!" Mari said defiantly.

"I cannot!"

Mari considered asking again but before she could say anything an alert sounded throughout the room.

'Pilot's Ayanami and Makinami please report to the Captain's Meeting Room immediately for briefing.'

Mari turned back as Rei grabbed both of her hands and looked into her eyes again, "Please understand Mari... I wish I could say something but... I cannot. I would be putting you at risk too and... I love you too much for that."

XXX

Ritsuko had seen a lot of strange and horrific things in her life, to the point that it actually took a lot to scare her. Yet the image that was being displayed on the screen right now had that very effect. It was hard to explain why, it was just unnerving to look at. As she gazed around the room she could see that it was having a very similar effect on the others that had been assembled.

No one had said a word since she had put it on the screen instead they all averted their eyes and exchanged nervous glances at one another. She didn't blame them, it did look nightmarish.

The door to the room slid open and in stepped both Mari and Rei in their plugsuits. Ritsuko gave a nod to Rei who did nothing back, she then briefly caught the eye of Mari who immediately looked way. It was obvious that the girl was still angry with Ritsuko from their earlier encounter, her expression said it all. Their dispute was not of importance to Ritsuko right now though, instead all that mattered was the image of the Angel on the screen.

She gave both Rei and Mari the opportunity to sit down before starting to speak, "Now that we are all here we can begin. Out scouting drones sent back the following images a short while ago. This is what we are dealing with."

Everyone's eyes hesitantly turned towards the screen again and Ritsuko watched out for their reactions. Maya's eyes had widened with fear ever so slightly, it seemed only natural. Maya was terrified of the Angels and what they were capable of. Makoto and Hyuga also seemed to be shocked by the look of the Angel, they had been there for all the Angels so far so that certainly said something.

Takao, the oldest of the remaining bridge crew, looked to be in deep thought and contemplation as he glared at the image. The three younger members of the crew kept on looking from the screen to each other, exchanging worried glances and wondering just what this thing was.

Finally Ritsuko looked towards Rei and Mari. They were both looking at it too their eyes locked on their upcoming opponent. Rei looked fearful, her hands visibly shaking. Mari, the girl who normally wore a grin when looking at an enemy seemed to be frozen on the spot, it was however her who broke the silence and asked the question that no one else dared to, "I-Is that… an Eva?"

All Ritsuko could do was nod solemnly, "Yes… we believe it is."

Mari stared at the image on screen once more and suppressed a shudder. The scouting drone had been able to capture the entirety of the being from the front. She could see that there were in face two objects captured in the image.

The first object was the Evangelion itself. It was standing upright and motionless, its stance reminding Mari of a soldier standing to attention.

She thought back to the other Eva's that had been built trying to recognize which one this might be. It did seem familiar but she couldn't quite place it. Its shape resembled Evangelion Unit 01 in a few places and also had elements of Evangelion Unit 03. She knew that it could be neither of those Units though. Unit 03 had been destroyed a long time ago and Unit 01 was powering the Wunder.

There were other possibilities she thought to herself but it was pointless speculating at the moment. Instead she continued to look the Unit over, starting from its feet all the way upwards. The machine had a bizarre colour scheme and also looked like it was missing sections of its armour. This Eva seemed to have a zebra like pattern painted onto it which in another time or place might have looked comical.

What was not comical was the head of the Unit. The head was completely jet black and where the eyes of the Unit would normally be were two round glowing orbs. Beneath this where the mouth of the Unit would be was another glow, it seemed to point upwards giving the Eva a sadistic looking grin.

It was unnerving, she couldn't explain why but it just looked so unnatural, even compared to all of the strange things she had seen so far. It genuinely frightened her and the more she looked at the still image the more she got the feeling that the Unit was staring directly at her, she averted her eyes. It was silly and she knew but she was frightened that the Eva in the image was suddenly going to come toward and walk forward.

The other object on screen was situated directly behind and slightly above the Evangelion. It was a large sphere and seemed to be attached to the Unit by means of two rope like strands wrapped around its shoulder pylons. This sphere was also covered in the same black and white pattern that the Eva was and the entire image gave off the vibe of someone holding a balloon.

There was another lingering thought inside Mari's head and as she reached out slowly to take hold of Rei's hand and give her girlfriend a quick look she knew that Rei was thinking the same thing. There was another Evangelion there, despite how terrifying it looked that meant that there could be another pilot in there, another human. Neither of them really wanted to hurt another person unless they absolutely had to.

"Do we knew what Evangelion it is?" Rei finally spoke, her voice soft and slightly shaking. Mari gave her hand a small squeeze to comfort her. Any thoughts of their argument moments before had vanished, this was more important.

Ritsuko nodded in confirmation and this prompted Maya and stand up to explain, "The shape and dimensions of the Evangelion correspond with that of Evangelion Unit 04. The same Unit that vanished fourteen years ago during an activation test in Nevada."

Aoba spoke up, "Activation test in Nevada? You mean the Null incident? I thought Unit 04 had vanished without a trace! It wiped out an entire base, nothing was left for miles around!"

Maya nodded, "That is what we thought. The circumstances behind what happened in Nevada on that day are still unknown to us. Between the people in this room it was believed that SEELE might have sabotaged the experiment but nothing was proven."

"Sabotage?" Tama suddenly spoke up, "You mean… someone actually wanted that to happen? Someone actually made it so that all of those lives were lost, for what rea-"

"Now is not the time to discuss what might have happened fourteen or so years ago." Ritsuko stated bluntly, "We focus on what is happening in front of us right now. Evangelion Unit 04 has reappeared and also appeared to be part of an Angel. It is possible that the presence of the Angel is what caused the incident all those years ago. With that in mind, if the Angel was the cause it means that anyone within a certain radius of this Angel is at risk. For these reasons we are going to attempt to fight the Angel at range."

Maya continued from where Ritsuko had left off, "The Wunder will approach the target and maintain a distance of five kilometers. When it is safe to do so we will deploy Evangelion Unit 08 along with a high powered positron rifle. TARKUS Units will work to set up the rifle and power banks for it as quickly as possible before retreating to a distance of seven kilometers."

Mari and Rei exchanged a quick glance at one another before Mari nodded, "So we snipe the Angel from afar? Is the rifle going to be powerful enough to get through its A.T. Field?"

Maya nodded, "We believe so. The rifle is based on the same prototype weapon that was used against the fifth Angel many years ago. It's been significantly altered since then, it is smaller in size, does not have the same power requirements yet should still output the amount of power we need to pierce the A.T. Field of an Angel."

The room fell silent once more with Maya's explanation, Ritsuko looked around, "Any further questions?"

Rei nodded, "What about the pilot?"

Ritsuko would be lying if she said the possibility of the pilot being on board had not crossed her mind, yet it was a thought she had forced out, "It has been fourteen years since Unit 04 originally went missing and it has now fully transformed into an Angel. It is highly unlikely that there is a pilot anymore, our priority is on defeating it."

"It is unlikely but not impossible." Rei said somewhat defiantly, in a moment that reminded Ritsuko very much of Shinji or Misato, "If there is even a small chance should we not try to rescue them?"

A few awkward glances were exchanged around the room before the pink haired Kitakami spoke up, "You heard what she said! We don't know if there is a pilot anymore. This is an Angel we're up against here, it'll likely have killed the pilot by now and besides if there is someone in there then they'll probably just be contaminated by now and be a risk to us!"

"Shikinami was not a risk to us." Rei stated rather bluntly, "When she was in Unit 03 that was taken over by an Angel and she managed to survive. My brother was able to survive inside of Evangelion Unit 01 for fourteen years. It is not impossible, so should we not attempt to rescue them?"

Nagara now piped up, "I can't believe I'm doing this but I agree with Ayanami. I signed up to WILLE to save lives and help this world. Not to condemn people, if there is a chance we can save someone then… I think we should take it."

"You can't actually be serious?" Tama now spoke, "You saw the fallout of that thing in Nevada right? We know how dangerous this is! The pilot is likely already dead, we cannot risk it surely!"

Nagara nodded, "I know just how dangerous it could be but I think if there is a chance then we sho-"

"Enough!" Ritsuko's voice echoed through the room and put an end to the impromptu debate, "Rei, I understand your concerns regarding the status of the pilot but you do understand that the chances of the pilot being in there and alive are slim to none right?"

Rei nodded again, "Yes, I understand that but a very long time ago the chances of us defeating an Angel falling from the sky were also said to be slim to none. Yet we did it and that is why I do not think we should give up."

Takao let out a hearty laugh, "Well the kid knows her stuff, almost like she prepared for this."

Rei was not sure what to make of Takao's comment, she turned to him, "Thank you but I did not prepare."

Ritsuko ignored Takao and turned her eyes onto Mari, "And what do you think Makinami, you'll be the lead pilot in this after all."

Mari glared back at Ritsuko, "I always preferred to fight ranged but I'm not comfortable with the idea of killing someone. I've fought against humans before and didn't like it. My best friend was almost condemned in a similar fashion too and I don't want that to happen to someone else."

"Oh come on!" Tama called out, "This is not the same as Shikinami! This person has been in there for fourteen years! Alone in an Eva, no one could survive that!"

"As I said before, my brother Shinji was able to." Rei said, correcting him instantly. Her comment drew a few sniggers from others around the table and silenced him in the process.

Rei looked around the table, "I understand the thread the Angel poses to us but if there is a way to save the person inside, I think we should take it."

All eyes now turned towards Ritsuko and Maya who remained silent for a few moments. Ritsuko took a bit of time to think about it, the logical choice would be to deny Rei and just go on with the mission. Yet that would only end up hurting Rei and Ritsuko didn't want to do that.

There was also the matter of her conscience. She had written off Shinji in the past, almost condemning in and forcing Misato to use the collar to kill him. She did not want to make that mistake again, she was not a murderer.

"We are still several hours from the target. If in that time we can confirm the presence of the pilot or a means of extracting them we will alter the plans. I can make no promises, for now prepare to attack according to the plan laid out."

Rei smiled, "That is fair, thank you."

XXX

Ritsuko entered her office followed closely behind by Maya. This was where she always preferred to be, staying and dealing with things in the ready room just didn't feel right. This office the labs near to it and the Eva were her home.

Ritsuko immediately sat down at her computer as she heard Maya's voice behind her, "We are actually going to look into rescuing the pilot then?"

Ritsuko turned her chair around slowly and as she did so Maya could see the tiredness written all across her lovers face. She had seen this building for a while, not just since Ritsuko had taken charge of the Wunder but in the weeks leading up to it as well. She allowed her guard to drop for a moment, making her way over to the woman and resting a hand gently on her shoulder.

Ritsuko finally nodded, "We are going to do what we can. I said in that meeting that I would make no promises that we can rescue the pilot but... if we can find a way then we should do so. I am not going to order someone's death... not again."

"This is about what happened with Ikari isn't it?"

Ritsuko smirked, "Among many other things yes. When he came back it was I who ordered the collar be placed on him and it was I who urged Katsuragi to use it. I should never have done that, I'm better than that."

"That was different though, we were all scared of him. Some of us still are and it made sense at the time."

Ritsuko laughed, "You really think so? A scan proved to us that he was human and yet we still had it on him. I disagree with how Katsuragi handled the situation regarding Shinji and how she has handled other situations beyond that but I am not completely free of wrong-doing myself."

"You did the right thing Ritsuko, Katsuragi couldn't captain this ship anymore. We can't achieve what we want to with her in charge."

Ritsuko nodded, "I know... but that knowledge doesn't make things any easier. Talking about this is pointless, what we want to achieve doesn't matter until this Angel is defeated."

Maya back away slowly allowing Ritsuko to turn towards her computer again, she watched as an image was brought up of the Angel. This time focused entirely on the Evangelion itself and also from multiple angles.

"Do you think we can actually recover the pilot?"

"You tell me Maya, you're probably one of the few people in this world with the same level of knowledge on the Eva's as I do. Do you think we can recover the pilot?" Ritsuko asked.

Maya took a moment to think about it before nodding slowly, "It is a risk but I think that we should be able to. If we can recover the Entry Plug much like we did with Ikari then we might be able to recover the pilot."

Maya took a moment to pause, "That is of course if we can recover the Entry Plug. With Ikari it was a matter of locating and bringing Unit 01 back to us. With this... it's inside an Angel and it looks far beyond what happened with Unit 03."

"I agree. We also have no idea of how the pilot might be synchronized with the Eva at the moment. We don't exactly have the Eva's systems hooked up to ours. If we did we could try ejecting the core remotely but I doubt that is going to work."

"If we damage the Eva enough then maybe we could extract it manually."

"Exactly." Ritsuko brought up some blueprints of Unit 04, "The problem is that we don't know anything about what this Angel is capable of nor do we know anything about Unit 04. It was constructed by the US Government at the time and away from NERVs eyes. We saw that when Unit 03 was infected many years ago the natural abilities of the Eva were greatly enhanced. We should expect that Unit 04 will be the same, as for the object above we don't know what that is."

"It's too much of a risk Ritsuko." Maya stated firmly, "We both know that."

Ritsuko frowned, "it's not impossible."

"Why are you so intent on helping Ayanami with this?"

"You know why Maya!"

Maya sighed, "Yes... I know why. I'm sorry but I just... find it hard to trust that Ayanami sometimes. I know what you said is true it's just..."

Ritsuko turned in her chair again and reached up a hand to Maya's face, "I know Maya... but if you can't trust her then trust me alright?"

Maya reached up with her own hand to Ritsuko's cheek and smiled softly, "Thank you."

Maya slowly leaned in and kissed Ritsuko softly on the lips, running her hand around from her cheek to the back of her head. Her other hand slowly tracing its way down Ritsuko's body eliciting a soft moan from the woman.

Ritsuko pulled away reluctantly despite enjoying the moment, "Maya... I can't, we have to-"

"No." Maya said, "We don't have to. We haven't done anything together for so long Ritsuko and you made a promise to me a long time ago that you'd be there for me when I needed it. I made that same promise to you too, you need it. We already know what we need to do. It can wait."

Ritsuko looked at the smile on Maya's face and then into her eyes for at least half a minute before wondering if she should allow this to happen. It seemed to dumb and irresponsible but Maya was right. It had been so long since the two had spent any time together. The two of them together could easily figure something out and her body and was aching out for that sort of comfort right now.

"We can't take too long." She said finally.

"It'll take as long as we need it to take." Maya said with a devious smirk.

"Lock the door."

Maya backed away immediately and went towards the door ensuring it was locked firmly. Ritsuko set about ensuring any communications directed her way were diverted elsewhere and seconds later Maya was back up against her, kissing her neck and letting her hands explore Ritsuko's body.

Ritsuko allowed herself to be taken over by Maya, allowing her to do whatever it was she wanted and allowing herself to forget about everything else in the world for this moment.

XXX

Rei had been wandering aimlessly around the Wunder for quite some time since leaving the meeting. As she finally came to a stop she found that she was stood outside the medical bay. She wondered why she had ended up at this place. She was not feeling unwell and there was certainly no other reason for her to be here.

Yet she had nowhere else to go at this moment in time. Her earlier conversation with Mari was playing through her mind over and over. She couldn't help but feel guilty for not being able to tell Mari the truth yet. She was wondering if she should tell Mari the truth of their destination and what would lie there. Wondered if she should tell Mari the truth about what Ritsuko was to Rei all those years ago.

Telling Mari those things would be a massive weight off of her chest but at the same time she knew it just wasn't possible. It would complicate things so much to tell her anything right now. Rei was not ready to tell Mari nor did she think Mari was ready to be told either.

As Rei stepped into the medical bay she spotted Sakura was sat on the other end of the room and looking down at a tablet. She spotted Rei had entered and shot her a quick smile, "Hello Rei! This is a surprise, is everything alright?"

Rei smiled back and nodded, "Yes, everything is fine. I was just taking a walk."

"I see." Sakura placed the tablet down and got to her feet and made her way over to a small kitchen area that had been set up in the bay, "Would you like some tea then whilst you're here?"

Rei nodded again, "That would be nice, thank you."

Sakura immediately started making some tea, talking to Rei as she did so, "Take a seat, well I bed I suppose. I'll bring it over to you."

Sakura happily hummed to herself as she made the tea. Rei moved further into the room and selected a bed close to the kitchen area and sat herself down. She watched Sakura as she moved around the kitchen and smile on her face an ever present feature.

Rei had not spoken to Sakura too much since coming to the Wunder but the few encounters she had had were always pleasant ones. Sakura always seemed to be happy and enthusiastic and more important she always seemed to take the time to talk to people. She supposed that this is what made her a good person to work in the medical bay.

She had at one time been told by Shinji that he would sometimes go and speak to Sakura about life on the Wunder when he felt he was unable to speak to anyone else. He said that despite her being young she seemed wise and always willing to help. With that in mind Rei wondered if maybe her coming here wasn't just the result of her wandering aimlessly, maybe her subconscious had selected this place as a means to get advice.

A few moments later Sakura brought over a cup of hot tea and set it down beside Rei on a small bedside table. She placed a small pot of sugar and a pot of milk near to it. She went back to the kitchen and brought over a second cup for herself before sitting on the bed opposite to Rei.

"So do you want to talk about what it is that's bothering you then?"

The question caught Rei off guard, she was still debating in her own head whether she wanted to talk about it. All she could do was give Sakura a confused glance, shake her head and a somewhat flustered response, "I am… I do not think there is… I… I am fine… I think."

Sakura giggled, "You know, you're just like your brother in many ways."

"I am?" Rei enquired.

"Yup! You both have exactly the same expressions when something is troubling you."

Rei felt herself blush, "I do?"

"Yeah! You're both really alike, maybe more so than you think."

Rei felt herself smile, "I am… glad that you think so. Are you like your brother in any way?"

"In some ways we are, more so then I think a lot of others see it anyway. People always looked at the two of us and made a very clear distinction, Touji is the stubborn, headstrong one who charged in without thinking and can get into trouble. Sakura is the kind, caring and thoughtful one. I'm the one who is there for people."

"Is that not true?"

"Well it is true that we are both each of the things people describe but we each have our moments where we're alike. Touji is incredibly kind and caring and he's always there for people if they need him and be. People just don't go to him usually on account of his big face."

Rei felt herself giggle at Sakura's remark, "And me? Well I've been known to be a bit headstrong and stubborn from time to time too."

"In what way?" Rei asked, suddenly very intrigued by Sakura's admission.

"Well you can ask the people who have been in here about when it is I let them go back on duty. You have to pass a very thorough amount of tests before I let you go back to work, no exceptions." Sakura laughed again, "I suppose there is also the time when we were kids too. It was just after I got injured and ended up in the hospital. Touji barged in stupidly and said that he had got hold of 'that stupid kid what did it.' I was furious with him, if I could have walked I'd have kicked his ass. I demanded he go and apologize to him. If he didn't then I was never going to speak to him again!"

Rei was surprised to hear about Sakura's demands although she supposed Sakura was only a child back then, children did after all say strange things, "Did you really not speak to him?"

Sakura nodded and grinned, "Yup! For a whole week! Even after he told me he had apologized I made him wait another day. Any messages had to be relayed to him through nurses or Kensuke."

Rei laughed imagining what such a situation would have been like.

"So what is it that's bothering you Rei?" Sakura asked, "Is it about the Angel and the pilot inside? I heard from Takao about the whole thing."

"You heard it from Takao?" Rei asked finding it hard to believe that Sakura conversed with the elder member of the bridge crew.

Sakura nodded again, "Yeah, we talk quite a bit. Takao is a bit like an uncle to me really. He's an old family friend. Always been there for me and Touji. When I need advice I usually go to him."

"I see."

Rei said as she sipped from her tea. She wondered if maybe she should be honest with Sakura about what was really bothering her or if she should lie and claim that it was the Angel. She knew that if she was to speak to Sakura about what was on her mind that she wouldn't be able to tell the girl everything but maybe she could say enough to get some advice, after all there was no one else she could turn to. Everyone else had left.

"It is not the Angel that is bothering me." Rei finally admitted, "It is something concerning myself and Mari. There is something that I will have to do soon but I cannot tell Mari what it is."

Sakura's smile faded and her expression turned serious, "I see, and is there a reason why you are unable to tell Mari about it?"

"Yes. This thing is… something that is personal to me but will affect a great many people. I do not feel that I am ready to tell her yet but I also think that if she knows then it would be dangerous for her at this moment in time, as well as others."

"And let me guess, Mari knows that you have something that you can't tell her?" Sakura asked.

"That is correct." Rei admitted.

It was hard for Rei to not notice the frown that had appeared on Sakura's face. Instantly she dropped her gaze to the floor and felt the waves of guilt wash over her, "Do you think I am wrong in what I am doing?"

Rei slowly looked up to see Sakura shake her head ever so slightly, "No… I don't think you are wrong. It is a complicated issue, lying to people or… withholding the truth from them it's something that… isn't an easy thing. On both sides. Especially given the situation."

"A part of me wants to tell her, I do not like these feelings I am having due to my keeping it from her. I feel unwell and uncomfortable because of it. Yet I am simply not able to do so." Rei said in reply to Sakura.

Sakura sighed, "You said you had your reasons for doing so though, right? Look Rei, the truth is people do keep secrets from one another. When I was growing up in this world I kept plenty of them from my brother and he hid a lot from me too. He hid away some of the ugly truths of this world until I was ready to face them. I hid my first boyfriend from him until… well I broke up with him before I had the chance to tell Touji but you get the idea."

"So it is alright to keep secrets from one another?"

All Sakura could do was shrug, "It really depends on the secret and the reason for keeping it from them Rei. There are times that we might want to keep something from our loved ones because we're waiting to get additional information ourselves or because the timing isn't right. If a patient has a test here for something they might want to keep that knowledge secret until they get the results so they don't make anyone worry."

"I see, but the intention is to tell the person eventually and that makes it alright?"

"In that particular case yes, but sometimes you might have a situation where the person keeps putting it off and that only ends up hurting the two of you more."

"That… is what I am afraid of. I have seen this happen to Shinji and Asuka… I do not want me and Mari to face that sort of thing."

"You intend to tell Mari eventually though?"

"When the time is right then I do but as of now I cannot."

"In which case Rei you need to talk to her and tell her that. Put her mind at rest and explain to her why you can't say anything as best you can. Mari might bug you about it but if she knows those things then it might help put some of the darker thoughts out of her mind."

"I am just nervous about what would be the right time, I do not want it to be too late when I tell her. I hate the idea of losing her because of something like this." Rei sniffed, which prompted Sakura to stand up and put an arm around her.

"You're not going to lose her Rei! Mari adores you and I know you adore her too. She will understand, just talk to her. Tell her as much as you can and explain why you can't tell her more. She will understand but she is… well she is a bit stubborn too."

Rei nodded, "I will… thank you."

XXX

After leaving the Medical Bay following her talk with Sakura Rei felt somewhat better about the situation she was in. She had made an attempt to track down and talk to Mari but had unfortunately been able to do so.

It was only until an hour later when she had received the call to go to the docking bay that she had finally seen Mari again. Unfortunately this had not given her an opportunity to talk as upon being briefed by Akagi they were immediately put into Unit 08 and deployed.

So now Rei sat in the cockpit of Evangelion Unit 08. Mari was in the front seat as always and was walking Unit 08 to its destination. Now was not a good time to discuss such things, they needed all their focus on the mission ahead. Instead Rei resolved to tell Mari once this was over.

The one saving grace in this situation was that Ritsuko and Maya had been able to come up with a plan to potentially save the pilot within Evangelion Unit 04. It did not require too many alterations to the original plan either. Their thinking was that they could make a few adjustments to the positron rifles output, instead of working to destroy the Eva they could weaken it.

This would be done in conjunction with an attempt by the Wunder to gain remote access to Unit 04 and either force eject the plug or at least work on providing a method of extracting it. It was explained that all of this was a long shot and they would still have to engage the Eva and Angel in combat but it was what they had.

Rei felt nervous and scared for the pilot within the Eva knowing that what was to happen could hurt them, yet the alternative was much worse. Both Rei and Mari had been warned and told that if things did look like they were about to take a turn for the worse then the order would be given to destroy Unit 04 immediately.

It was warm inside the cockpit of Unit 08, the midday sun shining directly into the Entry Plug. Rei could already feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead. She reached up to pull a visor into place and felt a chill run down her spine as she was given a close up view of Unit 04.

From far out it was a genuinely imposing figure, it stood in the middle of the wasteland like some sort of twisted monument. The surreal sphere behind it floating and rotating slowly. Through the visor she was able to make out more detail on the Eva. She could see the strange zebra-like pattern that covered its armour but was also able to see that sections of the armour had rotted away exposing the very flesh of the Evangelion itself.

She brought her gaze up to the face of the Eva. It had not moved ever since it had appeared to them hours ago. Those glowing orbs where its eyes would be still chilling her to the bone. Despite the distance Rei couldn't help but feel that it was staring directly at her.

She immediately moved the visor back up to the top of the cockpit and tried to shake the nerves she was feeling. She distracted herself by running a check on the Eva's other systems. This was all she needed to do, Mari was the one handling the combat and Rei would support her. She just hoped that all would go smoothly.

XXX

"Makoto, how far along are we in establishing the remote connection?" Ritsuko asked the technician as he worked on a console near to her.

"I've brought everything online now and we are just finishing uploading the data we have for Evangelion Unit 04. We weren't able to recover everything, most of it was destroyed along with the Nevada base but we were able to recover backups of the pilot's core data and the relevant access codes." Makoto replied confidently.

Ritsuko gave a nod before stepping away from him and gazing down to the lower parts of the command centre. She looked across at Tama, "Have they set up the positron rifle?"

Tama looked up at her, "It's ninety percent charged. Our TARKUS Crews are reporting no problems with its deployment nor with any of the power banks. They say we should be ready to go shortly."

"Good. Order them to finish up and then return to the Wunder immediately. When they are back on board I want us positioned a hundred metres away from Unit 08."

Nagara looked up at Ritsuko, "A hundred metres? Captain, I thought we were retreating to a distance of two kilometres from it!"

"That was the original plan." Ritsuko corrected her, "We need to remain close to Unit 08 and the Angel so that we can establish a good connection to it. If there is any trouble we will still be able to retreat. I presume that this isn't a problem?"

"N-No, no problem…"

Ritsuko felt the ship shudder and shake as it started to slowly creep forward. The image on the large overhead screen reflecting the Wunders movement. Finally they came to a complete stop at their destination and Ritsuko could see the figure of the Angel in front of them.

She looked at Tama again, "Status of the rifle now?"

"TARKUS Crews are saying it's fully charged and are returning to the Wunder."

She said nothing in reply to him and instead looked back at Makoto, "Makoto, everything fine on your end?"

Makoto nodded, "On your word we can begin."

"Open a channel to Unit 08 first."

"Of course."

Ritsuko waited for the channel to be open fully before speaking, "Pilot's Makinami and Ayanami we are about to attempt to establish a remote connection with Evangelion Unit 04. When this is done we will begin trying to eject the Entry Plug. If you detect movement from the Eva you are to shoot at it to slow it down, be prepared for your orders to change depending on the situation."

"Shoot at it? What about the pilot, will they be alright?"

Ritsuko frowned, "It will just be to slow it down, target the legs to bring it down if possible and stay away from any critical components. If there is a pilot and they can feel anything then it will be an unpleasant experience but we can treat their pain and injuries here. We both know what the alternative is for them."

"Right-o then, I'm ready to go when you are!" Mari sounded cheery when she replied but Ritsuko could detect the shakiness in her voice. She took one final look around the bridge and wondered just what it was she had gotten herself into.

'Is this really the right thing to do? Should I really have put this plan into action knowing the risk it poses to us all? The odds of us doing this are slim to none, I don't need a MAGI system to tell me that. It's because of her, I can't turn her down… I just can't let Rei down.'

Finally Ritsuko took a deep breath, "Makoto, status."

"I've managed to establish a connection with Unit 04!" Makoto replied, sounding surprised at what he had accomplished, "We have something but I don't know what it is. I'm just seeing a lot of corruption on that end at the moment."

"Can you clear it up?"

"I can try!"

Ritsuko looked up at the screen again as Makoto continued to work. There was no movement from the Angel. In her mind she had one of two theories for this, either it was not bothered by their attempts to make contact with it or they had simply gone unnoticed. She really hoped that it was that the attempts had gone unnoticed. That gave them more time to accomplish their task.

All eyes on the bridge were fixed on the screen with each person deathly silent. No one dared speak, each one afraid of what might happen next. Ritsuko took a quick moment to look around the bridge at each member of her crew. It had been so long since she had felt this sort of tension. When Misato was on the bridge, even when things were at their lowest there was always a sense of life and enthusiasm amongst the crew. That was gone now, all that was left was the air of fear.

"I… I'm in!" Makoto suddenly exclaimed "I've managed to clear up the corruption and I can access the primary functions of Unit 04!"

Makoto sounded surprised and Ritsuko couldn't blame him. It was not expected to work so cleanly although she did suspect that this was only the beginning. They had managed to access the functions but whether or not they still worked was another matter.

"Good work, what do we have?"

"At the moment only basic functions are available. I'll need a bit more time to uncover the rest but I'm able to get the vitals for the Eva and… the pilot! I can't believe it, the pilot is in there and is actually alive!"

Ritsuko rushed over to his console, "The pilot is alive? Can you bring up a visual of the inside of the plug to confirm?"

Makoto shook his head, "No… I can't yet but I should be able to-"

Ritsuko was not able to hear Makoto finish his sentence nor did she know if he actually did. There was a sudden flash from his console accompanied by a deafening bang. She felt her body get thrown backwards landing against the solid steel of an empty console behind her. She screamed out as pain shot through her back and she sank to the floor, the sound of sirens now filling the once silent bridge.

She crawled forward trying to force herself to her feet, her eyes barely able to see through the thick smoke that had filled the area. Though her ears were ringing she could hear the sounds of the other yelling, there were shadows around her as they moved around trying to fight the fire and sort out what was happening.

She felt a pair of hands slide around her and pull her up onto her feet. She screamed out as the pain shot through her back once more. She heard someone speak to her, she was sure it was Maya but couldn't make out anything the woman was saying. All she could do was stumble forward and feel herself slipping into unconsciousness. The last thing she saw were the two orbs of Evangelion Unit 04.

XXX

Both Mari and Rei cringed and brought their hands up to their ears as an ear splitting shriek was heard in the cockpit of Unit 08. This was immediately followed by a deathly and terrifying silence. Rei looked forward and in horror realized that the Angel was no longer still. The sphere behind Unit 04 was slowly rotating and the Eva itself was starting to move forward.

Its movements were jerky and unnatural. They reminded Rei of a zombie from one of the games she had played in Mari's quarters. In front of her Mari was recovering from the noise and looking around and desperately trying to open a communications channel with the Wunder.

"Wunder! It's starting to move forward, do you want us to shoot at it?"

No reply came from the ship and Rei started to feel her body tremble at the realization that something had gone horribly wrong.

"Mari… you focus on the Angel, I will attempt to contact the Wunder again."

Mari gave a nod, "Sure thing Blue!"

As Mari brought her visor down and observed Unit 04 slowly shambling across the landscape towards them Rei tried desperately to contact the Wunder, "This is Ayanami to the Wunder, what are our orders?"

She waited but again no reply came from the Wunder. In front of her Mari had brought her crosshair in line with the leg of Unit 04, "Rei… I'm going to shoot it!"

"No!" Rei protested, "What about the pilot?"

"I'm just going to try to slow it down Rei! That's all, you keep trying to contact Akagi or the others!"

"I… Please Mari…" Rei said again, "Just a bit longer…"

"I can't Rei! If I don't do it now it'll get closer and you know what these things are like! I'm just going to try to slow it down, maybe the Wunder will get its communications back online by then."

"Mari!" Rei started to protest again but it was too late. Mari had already fired the first shot at the right leg of Unit 04. Rei could only watch open mouthed as the rifle shot out beam of light towards its target. Her mouth and eyes opened only wider in shock at the end result.

"What the fuck!" Mari yell out, "That's cheating it just…"

"It vanished!" Rei added, finishing the sentence for her.

Mari immediately started to scan the battlefield trying to find any trace of the Angel. Behind them was the Wunder, still silent after whatever had happened previous but both Unit 04 and the sphere were gone. She turned around in confusion, "Was it… another decoy?"

Rei shook her head in frustration, "No it… they… they found a pilot! It has to be-"

As she spoke a huge shadow was suddenly cast over the cockpit of Unit 08. Rei and Mari both looked upwards in horror to see that the large sphere had reappeared directly above them. Mari immediately brought Unit 08 to its feet withdrawing a holstered pistol and aiming two shots at the sphere. Each one passing through it.

Changing tactics she now withdrew the progressive knife and readied herself to charge at it. Only when she tried to move she found herself unable to do so.

"What the hell! I can't… I can't move!" She called out.

Rei was behind her looking at the data on her screens. She looked up towards the sphere once again only now realizing that Unit 08 was moving, or to be exact it was sinking.

"Mari we are…"

"I know!" Mari shouted back as she thrashed against the controls trying desperately to move Unit 08 out of whatever it was sinking into, "Come on! MOVE DAMNIT! MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

"Mari!" Rei called out wishing she could do something to help. Mari continued to jerk her controls back and forth hoping that something would happen. Finally she sank forward, realizing that there was nothing she could do. She turned, Rei seeing the tears rolling down Mari's cheeks, "I can't… I can't move it Rei… we're…"

Before she could finish speaking Rei's world went black as Unit 08 was pulled into and under whatever this Angel had. She reached out to touch Mari, to hold her or do something but all she felt was thin air. The warmth of the cockpit changed to a deathly cold and she looked up to see two orbs directly in front of her. Rei did the only thing she was able to at that time, she screamed.