In which being children isn't an escape from accusations of treason

"Deserve? I don't know about deserve. Did I deserve to be sent down here?" - Pravuil, Mister Monday, by Garth Nix

"They're not mine!" Maya said.

Kaito turned to Ritsuko immediately. "You're the other one who gave him this present..." he said. He took one of the photographs.

"But sir," Kyoko protested, "the photos are in the newspapers, aren't they? She probably just cut some out and attached them to better paper so he could se-"

"This one wasn't in the tabloids," Kaito said, holding up a picture of Eva-02 stabbing the Angel. There went that defense. The picture was too good for Kaito to forget it was there.

Maya glared at Ritsuko. How could she have been so stupid as to bring original photographs to a Nerv employee's house? Even if they were for the worker's son, Ritsuko should have known better than to flaunt the rules so obviously.

"Uh…"

Kaito looked almost angry. "Did you leave the shelters to take these photographs?" he asked after a moment.

Ritsuko nodded.

"Did anyone go with you?"

Ritsuko almost nodded, but shook her head just in time. Kaito wasn't fooled, though. His gaze became even colder.

"Are you sure?"

"I went with her," Ryoji said.

Kaito looked from Ryoji to Ritsuko to Ryoji, as if questioning if more students had joined them in their escapades. All the children, except Daisuke and perhaps Gendo, knew that several more people had participated, but none of them spoke up. It wouldn't be fair to Shigeru, who didn't even have the benefit of being there to defend himself.

"You two are going to have to come with me," he said after a moment. He looked at each pilot in turn. "Did any of you know about this?"

Gendo shook his head, which was unsurprising. Maya reluctantly admitted to it, nodding her head very slowly. Anita did as well.

"You guys are coming in too, then. The rest of you can stay, though, and finish up the party."

This meant, of course, a party of four. Kyoko, Makoto, Gendo, and Daisuke. Not an especially fun party at all, but none of the three guests showed any inclination to leave. As Maya put her shoes on and took one last look into the apartment, the three actually social individuals were setting up a video game, and forcing Gendo to play along with them.

The kids were gathered into Kaito's car (with Ryoji getting the passenger seat), and the slow and, due to Tokyo-3's overcrowding, long car ride began. Kaito said nothing coherent, but muttered under his breath about something a few times. Maya tried to listen in, but the background noise of the city kept her from being able to distinguish his words.

Ritsuko exchanged nervous glances with Maya, Ryoji fidgeted frequently, and Anita sat as still as she could, though she was sweating. Maya, for her part, tried to focus on breathing. Kaito didn't seem hugely angry, but… What would happen to all of them? How much trouble would they be in? Should she have told one of the adults about this before it had snowballed to these proportions? She didn't think that a tabloid could get anyone in such trouble.

They took the car-train into the Geofront, a trip which awed everyone except Maya, as no one else in the car had ever seen the view before. They all managed to forget the situation for a few moments, though, which did make Maya rather envious of their luck.

Once Kaito had parked and they began their elevator ride, Kaito called into headquarters. "I managed to find the source of the leak," he said. "You will not believe who it was. You won't believe it a bit."

The elevator ride led them to an unmarked floor, and Kaito took them through two sets of hallways before finding a small, cool room for them to relax in. "This'll do," he said. "They'll be here shortly," he added. "I'll be right back. Don't try running off anywhere, there are cameras."

If Maya had been a snippier child, she might have pointed out that so far the cameras didn't seem to have accomplished very much, as the no-doubt highly filmed security shelters had been unable to verify that several children had broken out of the facility twice with no problems. She would not have had to be much snippier either. Nerv seemed to be the failure here.

Eventually, three adults entered the room; the commander, the captain, and Doctor Ayanami. Anita looked embarrassed when she saw that Asuka was one of the adults concerned. Ryoji perked up (possibly because of Asuka's or Rei's beauty; even Maya saw that), and Ritsuko fidgeted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Hello," Commander Ikari said. He did not sound angry.

That was okay though. He towered over all of them, and looked each one in the eye in turn, and that was terrifying enough.

"Uh…" Maya was the only one who managed to make a syllable escape her lips.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he continued. "This is a very troublesome position each of you are in. It's arguable that leaking military information like that counts as treason." Everyone flinched. "I don't think it quite applies here, though…"

"Because we're children?" Ritsuko asked hopefully.

"Something like that," Doctor Ayanami said. The woman was never especially warm, but today she seemed cold (and sharp) as ice.

"Now," Commander Ikari said, "The good news here is that what you have released is nowhere near as classified as other things might have been. The forms of the Angels were kept secret because of how terrifying they can be, something I'm sure you can appreciate, but they're not something that needs to be kept hidden."

"Same with the Evas," the captain noted. She was glaring at Anita.

"Yes," the commander agreed. "However, the Jet Alone acquisition was kept secret, mostly because while it is useful for us, using it might be seen in poor taste by others. Understandably."

"So people don't have the right to know that their city is being defended not just by regular giant robots, but by a giant robot powered by nuclear energy? A robot that'll go off should it get too damaged and decimate Tokyo-3 regardless of the Angels do?" Ritsuko asked, sounding angrier

"Jet Alone is not going to be used against Angels with a high probability of detonating it," Commander Ikari said.

"The Sixth Angel did not demonstrate capabilities remotely similar to the Fifth or even the Fourth," Doctor Ayanami said. "Note also that Jet Alone was not deployed until the Angel had had a chance to become focused on the Evas, who will not cause devastation if they become destroyed, or even damaged."

Ritsuko bit her lip.

"So what'll happen to us now?" Ryoji asked.

"I'm not sure," admitted the commander. "Locking you up seems extreme, and fining you punishes your fathers, who probably had no control over you when the Angels attacked. They have a way of hitting us on school days."

"Hmm…" the doctor looked at them. "Perhaps we don't have to punish them at all. If it was during school time, I do believe the teacher is the one responsible for punishment… If he's not responsible for them having the opportunity to sneak out in the first place."

Captain Soryu considered. "The school could give them detentions," she said. "But… the teacher? Do we have the authority to do anything about him?" She looked the most concerned about this question, far more than either of the others.

"No," Doctor Ayanami said, almost a little too quick, "I don't believe we do. But the school, aware that a teacher managed to miss several students straying into danger, will probably take its own actions."

"Good, then that's settled." Commander Ikari stared deeply at Ritsuko and Ryoji. "Keep in mind, both of you; that you're getting off quite lightly. There are quite a few military organizations that would have no problem with making your lives living hells. Stay in the shelters from now on. You could get killed out there."

Ryoji looked over at Captain Soryu for the slightest of moments, and then looked the commander in the eyes. He nodded. Ritsuko nodded after he did, but begrudgingly.

"Agent Yamada is waiting outside. He'll return you to your homes," the captain said. "You two may now leave."

Both teens rose hurriedly and left the room. This left Maya and Anita outnumbered, and Maya was dreading whatever would come now.

"Maya, Anita," Commander Ikari began, "you two knew about all of this?"

Anita nodded. "I'm sorry for not saying anything," she said.

"Why didn't you?" the doctor asked.

"I…" Anita gulped and looked away. "I liked the idea of Eva-02 being in the papers," she explained. "Where everyone could see it. It… it's what I was born for, wasn't it? Piloting? So shouldn't people know?"

The captain sighed sadly.

"Maybe," the commander admitted. "But not now. The world will know soon enough, I promise you that. It's probably inevitable that our control over the press will slip up."

"What about you, Maya?" Captain Soryu asked. "What's your justification?"

Maya gulped. "I… I didn't really think… I was trying to convince them not to do it. To stay inside the shelters."

The commander and the doctor exchanged a quick glance, and then Doctor Ayanami asked, "You're telling us the absolute truth?"

Maya nodded.

"That's good enough, then," Commander Ikari said. "But, Maya, if something like this happens again, you're under orders to report it. I don't care who is doing it, if people are running out there to take pictures, they're putting themselves in danger. There were a couple of thrill seekers during the Fourth Angel who learned that the hard way."

Maya gulped. She'd never realized that people died during those fights.

"That goes for you too, Anita," Captain Soryu added. "And we'll be sure to let Gendo know too, just in case."

"Yes," the pilots said in unison.

"Good," said the captain. "Now both of you are to come with me. Extra synch training this weekend."

"What?" Maya shouted.

"It'll keep you out of trouble," Asuka said jokingly. "Besides, Maya, you need to keep your synch level up; this past week of not using the real deal might hurt you in the long run."

Maya sighed and followed Asuka and Anita to the Eva Cages. Today would just be another day in the grind.

That night, she considered calling Ritsuko, but decided against it. She was far too tired, and the knowledge that tomorrow she wouldn't even have the morning free made her all the wearier.

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