In the hallway away from the others, Misato pounded a storage locker with her feet as Kaji and Patrick watched.

"And I thought I had a bad temper," Patrick whispered to Kaji under his breath.

Kaji smiled back to him, "it's what so endearing about her. She looks lovely when she's angry."

"STUPID STUPID STUPID!" shouted Misato as she put several dents into the locker, hitting it hard enough to knock one of her shoes off. "What the hell do they think this is?" She turned around and saw she had an audience of two and then managed to regain some self control.

"It's a good think Akira-chan isn't here to see his mommy bust up the place," Kaji said with a smirk.

"Sorry," Misato growled, still not quite over her anger. "I cannot believe I actually to have this discussion. Who the hell is she anyway?"

"From what I know of Watanabe, she has a considerable devotion to the political process," said Kaji. "You may find her formidable."

"Mindlessly stubborn is more like it," She then smirked at Kaji. "You sure you don't have photos of her hooked up with some other politician we could use as leverage?"

Kaji scoffed. "With her?" he asked, pointing to the other room where Watanabe had been earlier. "Who'd be willing? More seriously her reputation suggests she doesn't lead much of a personal life at all. You'd be better off finding ways to work around her than with her, I'm afraid."

"So the government sends us a nanny this time," said Misato. "I hated my nanny."

"We should move accordingly. Patrick? Can you join us for a few moments, I need to discuss the situation with the First Child." The three of them found a nearby vacant office and closed the door, then found seats around a very small table.

Misato had by now completely regained her composure. "Have you found anything?" she asked Patrick. "Kaji said you ran into some trouble back in the US?"

"I did. Whatever trouble Rei has gotten to, Lillith Cult is definitely behind it," said Patrick.

"So it was them who took her?"

"Honestly, Misato," Patrick said with some reluctance. "It doesn't look she was taken. No one came to her apartment and dragged her away."

"But maybe she was coerced?" asked Misato. "That doesn't seem like Rei at all, to just go walking off like that at the request of some group of people that tried to take her earlier."

"Or someone had a great deal of influence over her," said Kaji.

"And just who would that be?" The three of them were silent for a moment and then the realization came to Misato. "Oh, shit. Not him?"

"There's no evidence to suggest the former commander was involved in this," said Kaji. "We keep him in good, constant contact and nothing unusual has been observed from him since her disappearance."

"Does he even know?"

"We haven't told him, so unless Shinji himself contacted him which I very seriously doubt, he shouldn't know anything."

"There's another issue," offered Patrick. "We expected that whoever had her now was trying to fly her back into Japan right about now. Did anyone spot anything, like an airplane, coming into Japanese airspace?"

"Nothing," said Kaji. "The Alliance Western Pacific fleet hasn't reported any signs of a rogue aircraft coming from North America towards Japan. Unfortunately thanks to JA Japan's own air defense system happens to be down at the moment."

"Yeah," said Patrick. "Just at the exact time we needed it."

Kaji was about to reply until he realized what Patrick was saying. "Go on," he instructed.

"Don't you think it's coincidental timing that the air defense system goes down just as we're trying to track aircraft coming into Japan? I mean, at the briefing JA's busted up two radar systems and might be going after #3. Instead of like, attacking something more juicy like a city or even the GeoFront."

"Doing puzzles in your head, aren't you?" asked Kaji.

"I can't say that I could prove it, but I got to thinking about it during the conference," explained Patrick, "Hell of a time for a distraction, isn't it."

Misato realized how serious this could be if what seemed like two separate crisis were in fact one. "If the Lillith Cult were the ones who hijacked JA, God only knows what they would do with it."

"So we have a missing nuclear-powered robot and a missing EVA pilot, actually not just an EVA pilot but something a lot more," said Kaji. "And a cult that could be behind both events. But to take JA would indicate the Lillith Cult has a technical expertise they so far haven't displayed. They might be getting help."

"Did you ever track down any of the JHCI people who built Jet Alone?" asked Misato. "Maybe one of them."

"We did," said Kaji. "Among the chief designers and engineers no one's unaccounted for. Most are either now retired or within other firms. As far as the corporate heads go, there were seven men on the board of JHCI. Two committed suicide within three months of the incident, another was killed in an industrial accident within the same year. Two others have since died of natural causes, and one now runs a coffee shop in Izumi. He's accounted for."

"And what about that smarmy guy at the head? Tokiwa or whatever his name was."

"Dead, apparently," said Kaji. "JA's failure let to his dismissal and eventually bankrupted him. As of last year Shoji Tokiwa was living in a homeless camp under a bridge in Tokyo-2. Once this started we sent agents to find his current location and we were then informed by city authorities that he had died some months ago. I'm just waiting for Takao to confirm the details."

"So who's behind this then," Misato mused. "If JA and Rei's disappearance are linked together, I could only think of one person who had an interest in both of them." She looked directly at Kaji and he knew the meaning without having to ask.

"Then I need to go see him, if for nothing else to eliminate him from the list of suspects." He turned to Patrick. "Forrestal, get on a high speed train and to go Kumamoto tonight. Once you're there meet with the president of the Itsuki Foods Company, they'll help you to trace those packages and find out the connection between our bad guys in Boston and the Lillith Cult, and then hopefully find our missing angel."

"Shouldn't I go with you to see Commander Ikari?" asked Patrick. "If anyone would know where Rei might be, it might be him."

"No," replied Kaji. "Let me handle him. I realize this may seem to you like more boring police work but I assure you it's necessary that you do this, as you were the last to see the assailant. I'm hoping to find surveillance video footage of him buying the ramen. So please get going and let's keep in touch."

While Patrick was discussing Rei's disappearance with Kaji and Misato, Erin silently peeled away from the others and found her way down to the lower levels of the GeoFront. It took some time to reach the sub-levels were the inactive Evangelion units were stored but after thirty minutes of riding multiple elevators and moving through a variety of dark corridors Erin found the Vault: a vast chamber consisting of several giant capsules framed in steel and filled with red-colored bakelite made from LCL. There were four such capsules in the GeoFront's sub-levels, two of which were empty and two of which contained units.

Erin walked slowly in the dim lighting, using her mobile phone as a flashlight until she reached an open area of the Vault that was bathed in a red glow that Erin couldn't see where it came from. The EVAs were inside those cells, she knew, even if the bakelite covered them up completely from view.

The giant cell on the left had a steel frame that reached to the full height of the EVA unit inside. There was a cross pattern made of seal and decorated with sealing glyphs on the front of the cell capsule. Directly on the center of the cross was a giant "02" indicating that Evangelion Unit 02, Asuka's own unit, was encased inside. On top of the 02 number was another round-shaped object, a disk with a government logo on it, which showed that the cell was sealed and the unit would not be permitted to be taken out without the seal being removed. Erin walked onward and over to the adjoining cell.

The second cell appeared as the first did, only with the number "04" on the front. Erin saw that the same seal was placed over the number as was also on Unit 02, and she felt her heart sink. The EVA, her EVA, would not be freed from its slumber.

When the twins had earlier come to Japan for their schooling, for a short period of time they also helped NERV conduct tests on Unit 04 as part of their ongoing research. Usually this entailed only activating the unit and little more, and either Erin or Patrick could manage this quite easily. However not long after they started it was noticed by the NERV staff and by the twins themselves that their sync rate with the EVA was declining rapidly. What had previously been a solid fifty or sixty percent sync for either of them had dropped to less than twenty within three months of the research program. The same was also true for Shinji in Unit 01, who's sync rate went down from the high seventies to below fifteen within the same three months, and Hikari's rate with Unit 09 was lower than ten percent. As Unit 02 had never fully recovered its damage done in the raid on SEELE's mountain base, Asuka had never entered the unit since so her situation was unknown. Only Rei could consistently maintain a high sync rate with the EVAs. Despite efforts by Maya and the scientific team at NERV, no one could determine the cause of the dropping sync levels and this matter was kept very secret by the NERV staff.

The result of this was that NERV was only able to operate two units at one time, Unit 01, from whom Rei was now the primary pilot, and Unit 09, which having no S2 engine and only a power cable limited its actions and endurance, was used in a secondary test program with Hikari still piloting on occasion. As both Forrestal twins now had poor sync rates, a decision was made to keep Unit 04 in bakelite stasis along with Unit 02. This had disappointed Erin greatly, and she had reluctantly watched as Unit 04 was put in storage for an unknown future.

In returning to Japan now, Erin had hoped to once again get a chance to reconnect with Unit 04. So much of her life was tied to the unit, she felt, so much of her purpose still determined by it. She wanted the familiarity of the entry plug again, to feel the LCL in her lungs and her hands on the actuators, ready for action. But her last sync had been twelve percent, and even Erin knew her ability to pilot or even just communicate with the EVA was somehow coming to an end. And she felt sad for it.

'Hey!" Erin swiveled around and saw Patrick just behind her, waiving at her. She forced a smile and waved back, and he walked right up to where she was standing, just a few feet away from the EVA on the steel gantry that led up to the unit.

"Thought I'd find you here" she told her. "Sucks balls that they won't let her out."

"Not like we can pilot much anyway these days," Erin said cynically.

"Still you want another shot at it, right?"

"Yup," said Erin. "Just one more chance. That's all I ask."

Patrick sighed and put his hands in his pockets. "I got more good news."

"What is it? Did they find Rei?"

"No," he said. "But they're sending me down to Kyushu to go search for whoever took her."

"Is that going to help? How long does she still have?"

"less than four days, gonna be less then three by the time I get down there. But if they flew her to Japan whatever plane she came in hasn't been spotted, and Olivia told me nothing found back home in the US. She's gotta be here in Japan, but no one's got a clue where."

"Oh my God," said Erin. "Oh, Patrick. Something will turn up. It has to!"

"I know," he replied. "Kaji's going to also track down another possible lead, but this Jet Alone thing has kind of messed up the situation a lot. I'm starting to get really worried."

"She'll be alright, somehow, " Erin told him. He took her hands and looked at her. "Anyway I got to leave now and go on the hunt. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just not sure what I'm gonna do here other than watch and be worried all the time."

"I'll keep you posted if I learn anything more," Patrick said. "So take care, okay?" Erin leaned into him and embraced him tightly, and then they parted. Erin still holding onto Patrick's hand. She didn't let go just yet, as there was something else she needed to tell her twin.

"Hey, bro?" she said to Patrick, "you didn't ask me about what happened with Diego."

"I didn't need to," he answered. "I knew what happened the first time I saw you again."

"So, you don't think badly of me , do you?"

"No," said Patrick, "I don't. It was something you had to work out for yourself, although I had my hunches."

"I should have listened to you more back then," Erin told him. "So much for following my heart."

"Hey, no one ever gets this thing right," Patrick said as he smiled at her. "As long as you learned from it."

"That I did," she said. "Good luck, bro," she let go of his hand, smiling back at him. "And good hunting!"

The previous twenty-four hours had been a blur of numbness and disorientation for Rei. She felt disjointed from her body, as if she was floating in space watching herself being led from place to place by other people. She had been moved by vehicle, then by boat, then by aircraft and then after a lengthy flight to yet another boat, and yet another vehicle, and now finally here although she did not know where "here" was. She was barely spoken to, in fact she was barely even looked at directly with her silent captors only giving her hand motions showing her where to go and what to do.

Where she had ended up was dark and drafty, with a chill air inside of candlelit chambers. The structure where she was kept smelt of old wood and mildew, mixed with the scents of charcoal, ash, and a strong smell of incense. Moved one more time within whatever building or cave she was in (she couldn't tell) she had finally be placed in a spacious room with bamboo paper walls and a tatami floor. In contrast to how she was transported this final room was quiet and immaculately clean. Exhausted beyond her senses, Rei collapsed on the tatami floor and slept.

When she finally woke she was still alone in the room but placed next to her were a neatly-folded set of robes. Still in the same clothes she borrowed from Zummy, Rei herself was anxious to change and started removing the sweaty outerwear when she noticed that the bamboo doors on one side had been opened to reveal another room, one with a wooden bathtub placed in the center.

What is this place? Seems like a ryokan onsen inn.

Rei walked over to the sitting tub and carefully placed her hand in the water. It was slightly hot, warm enough to be comfortable to bathe in, and Rei could smell that fragrant plants and spices had been placed in the water itself. This wasn't just a bath, this was a beauty treatment.

Deciding that the logical thing to do was to at least get clean, Rei proceeded to remove all of her clothing, and then looked for a traditional bathing pail and platform, which she found right to the side of the bathtub in a separate chamber made up of wood. As anyone in Meiji-era Japan would have done to get clean, Rei knelt on the wooden floor, promptly lifted the pail of water and poured it over herself. There was a second pail and a third some feet away, so Rei used the second pail for her hair, and then found an ointment in a small jar that she determined was traditional hair cleaner. After using it she used the third pail to rinse, and then got up off the wooden floor and placed her now-clean body in the still-warm bathwater.

As she soaked in the bath Rei considered her current situation. She wasn't strictly considered "kidnapped" as she came to these people of her own volition, although that was not entirely true either. But since appearing in their presence she was treated gently, and not touched or even looked at by any members of the cult. From that and from the luxurious amenities of where she was now kept, it was clear that the cult gave her a great deal of reverence or at least wanted to make her as comfortable as they could.

What was not answered at this point was what exactly did the cult want with Rei. Why she was important seemed obvious, they had learned of her role in Third Impact and the connection to the Second Angel, Lillith. But what role they expected her to now fulfill was still a mystery, and one she needed to find out to determine if her decision to surrender herself had been worth the price.

Within another hour she had completed her bath and had dressed in the new clothes provided for her. The robe was a kimono of white, silver, and blue made nearly entirely from silk, and of very high quality silk at that. As she had put it on, Rei realized that this apparel wasn't simply the way a guest would be treated, it was the way that royalty would be treated and that gave her further insight to her captors motivations.

There was a knock on the door but Rei at first didn't answer. There was a second nock follow by a woman's voice speaking Japanese within very formal grammar, the traditional speech known as kaigo. "My lady, may we not enter? We must clean your bath please."

"Hai" was Rei's simple reply, spoken nearly at a whisper, and the door slid open. Two women dressed in red decorated kimonos entered, followed by another each bearing a tray. The first two women walked forward, said "please excuse us" to and bowed deeply without making any eye contact, then moved to clean up the bathroom. The second two ladies also bowed with their hands still upholding their trays, then knelt in unison in front of a table and laid out their trays. Each contained food, carefully crafted and presented and including vegetables, rice, and soup all prepared under traditional Japanese gourmet methods which Rei recognized as kaiseki ryori. As with the others, the food tray ladies made no eye contact with Rei and were apologetic about practically everything they did, as the made the bed and cleaned up around the room while Rei stood there and watched.

"My lady,' said one of the ladies, "please eat."

Should I eat at all? Rei asked herself. She was not hungry, and she hadn't eaten anything since leaving her apartment. Still she knelt at the table and then watched as the maids finished with the room and exited. After they left Rei simply remained at the table, only satisfying herself with a few sips of the miso soup provided there, which she had to admit was one of the most delicious she had ever tasted.

Rei remained at the table for some time, waiting for someone to come and take the food as she assumed the maids would do after a while. Someone did approach the room eventually, but unlike the maids this person didn't ask for permission to enter and instead just slid the door open.

The man entered and sat down across from Rei. He was dressed in a traditional Shinto priests' robes but instead of a shaven head his was with hair that fell to his neck. The man wore round wire-framed glasses that illuminated small black eyes, and he had a slight smile as he looked at Rei directly.

"My lady," he said in Japanese, "how are your accommodations? I hope you find this humble abode suitable?"

Rei was in no mood for small talk. Looking straight at the man, she said without emotion "Why did you bring me here?"

"We did not," he told her. "I believe you came of your own accord."

"Compelled by your threats to others," said Rei.

"Please, my lady," said the man. "There's been enough death dealt out already. I've only asked you here to come and put these matters to an end."

"What do you want with me?"

"We only ask," said the man, "that you take your rightful place at the head of humanity. Surely that is your birthright as it were, no?"

"I am not who you think I am," she said.

"And just who is that? Yes, you wear the mask of one who is named Rei Ayanami, and you live a life that you would term simple and unassuming. But we both know the truth of this. The one called Rei Ayanami is but a construct, designed to misdirect others from your true nature."

"That is not true. I am me."

"Really?" said the older man. "If your body were to cease functioning, would you die?"

"Yes."

"But I can just as easily take something inside of you and place it into another body, couldn't I? And if I did so then the one known as Rei Ayanami would no longer exist. Instead it would be that which is now still inside of you, which would create an entirely new and different person. Oh, the core would be the same as you have now, but it wouldn't be you, would it?"

For the first time in a very long time Rei felt a certain type of fear. The stranger indeed knew much about her, and the truth of her condition, that deep inside her body there was a core, a physical one, that was not unlike the Evangelions themselves. It was the means by which she had been reborn again and again, but now the stranger was presenting a new and sinister means of taking that core for his own ends.

"You…you cannot do this."

"Oh, but I can," the man said. "All I need do is to wait for your body to fail, which it will do so if it is not stabilized with medication and later with treatment, stabilization that must take place at a certain type of facility. If you don't receive this within a matter of days, your body will begin to reject the LCL inside of you and it will eventually lose its shape and separate into pieces, leaving only the core inside. I can then take that core and place it into something new, something far better than a mortal body."

"I will not allow you to do this."

"Then I suggest you cooperate with us fully, and abandon the identity that you wear as a mask. Otherwise we will make good on promises that I discussed in my earlier letter to you."

"If you have so much reverence for me as your people have shown, why can you not also respect my being and my own identity as well as that of my family," asked Rei. "What harm have these people come to show you?"

"Denial of the truth is harm enough," said the man. "And anyone who denies such truth is forfeit to the power of it. That also includes the one known as Rei Ayanami, for if she denies who she truly is, we will seek to set the matter right…with or without your cooperation."

"By watching this body die," asked Rei.

"Yes, by doing so. Oh, since you've been here you've probably contemplated if you could escape. I'm quite sure you could, as all you would have to do would be to establish your AT Field and you would be impervious to any attempt to stop you from leaving. However, in doing so I would be compelled to carry out what I had sworn to do earlier. Oh yes, you'd survive, but you would not prevail."

To reinforce this threat with Rei, the man pulled out a small tabled from underneath his robes, and opened up several photos to show her. The photos featured several people that she knew well, who were very close to her, and that the photos were taken from some distance. She also knew the photos were very recent, taken within Japan and probably within the last day.

"As you can see," said the stranger, "we have a very close presence to those we spoke of. If you choose to not cooperate with us, they will feel the consequences as I told you earlier."

"What must I do then?"

"You have two choices, as I see it. One is that you can continue to resist but remain here in our care. If you do so, your body will eventually fail and we will dispose of it and take the core of the Angel within you and create a new, more perfect body. You will be gone but your loved ones will not be harmed. Or, you can cooperate with us fully, completely, under your true identity and your true nature. You will lead us into the new world that was promised. In this way, you can still ensure the safety of those around you and you still have memories of them, but you will no longer be Rei Ayanami. The choice is yours."

Rei didn't answer back, but instead stared right at the man with what looked on the outside as simply a straightforward glance, but inside of her was a fire lit of anger.

"I don't expect an answer now," said the man. "So please enjoy our hospitality and we will wait until the time comes, which can't be that long from now." He then stood up from the table and walked towards the open door, followed by two maids who had been cleaning up the room while they were conversing. The bamboo doors then closed shut and Rei was alone again.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, still holding back the fear and anger she felt. She also felt humiliation, as by taking the invitation initially offered to her she had indeed earnestly hoped to persuade these people not to harm others in her name, or at least in the name of Lillith. But that also had failed. Instead she had been led into a trap, a trap she had fallen right in.

Rei opened her eyes and looked down at herself, dressed in the finest silks but still a prisoner. I've done a stupid thing….

Erin woke up the next morning in her guest bedroom. Cramped small, the room had barely enough space for a twin sized bed and a shower/bath capsule, plus a closet for her things. NERV wasn't a hotel, she reminded herself, and promptly got herself cleaned up and dressed for the morning.

Pilots and related family and guests had been put into a secure floor that had several bedrooms and a common room at the end with a kitchenette, tables, chairs and a video monitor. Erin walked down the hallway and saw that nearly all of the other bedroom doors were shut, everyone taking their time to get ready or perhaps even sleeping in. In front of one bedroom she noticed two sets of slippers, one ladies and one mens, and knew that it was Toji's room, and that Hikari was also inside. The outside door was firmly shut and there was silence from the room, but Erin couldn't help but wonder what they were doing.

I bet they're naked, just lying there after they did it, she thought. Well, it's what he wanted after all.

Pushing the images in her head aside, Erin made her way to the common room and saw one boy there, setting up what looked like a video game console on the monitor's plug in panel. The boy was Japanese, with medium brown hair that stood up a little, and he looked about thirteen or fourteen years of age. He wore a red-white-and blue patterned set of fleece sweats. As he worked he didn't notice that Erin had walked into the room, and Erin quietly let him be as she went for the refrigerator in search of juice.

The noise of Erin opening up the refrigerator door caught the boy's attention and he suddenly turned around. "Oh! Hi there!" he spoke to her in Japanese. "I mean, Good morning!" he also said in English.

Erin smiled at him, orange juice pitcher in hand. "Good morning!" she replied in accentless Japanese.

The boy stood up to introduce himself. "You must be Forrestal-chan."

"I am. And you are…Train Boy?"

The boy giggled a little. "Yup, I guess that's me. My name's actually Hayato, Hayato Hatsugi."

"Is that bullet train outside yours?"

"I guess you can say that. We call it the EVA Type 500, and I'm the test pilot for it. Although, I guess I'm not the same kind of pilot that you are."

There's a way to find out if you are. "I bet your parents are quite proud," she told him.

"Yeah, my mom and dad were sort of scared at first of me doing this, but they're pretty happy with hit now. And my sister wants to drive too now."

An ordinary kid, thankfully. "But it's just a train, right?"

"Well, not just a train. The EVA Type 500 uses the Evangelion's control plug technology to drive the train, it's sort of an experiment on how you can apply the technology to non-EVA things."

"So, you have an entry plug and A10s and all that?"

Hayato smiled a little in embarrassment. "Not exactly the same, but close. Anyway we don't fight Angels or anything, so I guess it's just a train in the end. Still exciting though."

Erin poured herself two glasses of juice and offered one to Hayato, who took it and promptly downed it. "Are you here to pilot EVA then?" he asked her.

"I was supposed to be, but that sort of got messed up last night. Now I'm not even sure what I'm doing here."

Before they could continue the phone in Erin's pocket buzzed and she pulled it out, seeing an unfamiliar number that originated from Japan. Wondering if was Patrick or even possibly Rei, she answered it quickly.

"Hello?!"

"Forrestal-chan," said Maya, "Good morning."

"Oh, good morning!"

"Seeing as you're up already, are you free to help me with something?"

"Apparently I have nothing else to do so yes, sure."

"Great! Meet me in front of the guest suites in five minutes and bring something to wear for physical activity, you'll need it."

Erin chuckled a little, glancing at the polyester green windsuit she was currently wearing. "Got that covered already, actually."

After confirming with Maya on where they'd meet Erin hung up the phone and then parted ways with Hayato, snagging a muffin from the countertop before she left the common room. Walking back down the hallway she noticed that Hikari was now out of Toji's room and standing in front of another door, this one with two girls' pairs of slippers in front. "Nozomi-chan, wake up already!"

"Having trouble getting her out of bed?" Erin quipped to Hikari. This startled Hikari, "Oh, hi! Good morning!"

Erin tried her best to be on a good front with her one-time rival. "Good morning, Hikari-chan."

"Did you sleep okay?"

"I guess, considering my twin brother is out there trying to find my missing best friend with nothing else to go on but a discarded ramen package, I slept okay."

Hikari was taken aback by Erin's reply, "I'm sorry," she said, "Everyone's so worried about Rei-chan. I'm sure she's fine wherever she is."

"Hikari?" a voice came from the room, and she looked shocked when she turned around, motioning violently to Toji to do something. "Um, excuse me," and then to Toji she whispered. "Put that on!" Erin's eyebrows went up in surprise.

Toji's head popped out of the doorway, with hair tussled from sleep. "Oh, hi Erin," he said in English, also surprised to see her standing there in front of him and Hikari.

"Um, Good morning," Erin blustered out.

"Uh, let me get something on here…"

"It's okay, gotta go! Bye!" said Erin as she bolted for her own room. Leaving the others behind, she quickly opened the door, switched her slippers for runners, and then flew out the outside door. Waiting for her was Maya, who sat on an electric scooter with a helmet on. She wore her white lab coat over a blue maternity dress that was bulging in front.

"Oh, good morning Erin-chan!" said Maya. "Hop on, please!"

Erin promptly grabbed a second helmet that was hooked onto the scooter's back seat, and then after she put it on hopped on the rear seat and Maya took off with the both of them.

"Are we going that far so you need a scooter to get there?" said Erin.

"It's not too far, but it's just that I'm not very mobile these days," replied Maya. "This thing comes in handy getting around." Indeed the ride only lasted five minutes of Maya running through a series of hallways, passing by only a few other people on the way.

Where they ended up with another dark corner of the GeoFront's labyrinth of now unused laboratories and workspaces, barely lit by flickering LED lighting overhead. Maya stopped the scooter and got off with some struggle, and both her and Erin removed their helmets as they looked for one area in particular. Maya found the door and promptly slid he security card on a lock to the right side and the door slid open.

As they entered the room lit up automatically and brightly, revealing a completely open space about four meters by four meters. While the room had no furniture of any kind, notably all four of the walls were fitted with projection displays that took up the entire space of each wall.

"What is this place?" Erin asked.

Instead of immediately answering, Maya used her mobile phone to issue a set of commands and suddenly the four walls of the room came alive with various graphics, including technical images of an Evangelion and a tactical map of the GeoFront itself. On each wall was emblazoned, in both English and Japanese, VIRTUAL EVANGELION.

"Welcome to the Virtual EVA," said Maya.

"What? What is a virtual EVA?"

Maya turned to explain. "Because we were experimenting with applying the EVA unit control system to other uses, one of the projects we worked on involved a new type of neural linkage that uses a gaseous form of LCL. It's the same LCL you experience in the entry plug, but with the molecular density about .005% of the liquid form."

"Meaning you can breath it?" Erin asked as she followed along.

"In combination with either an oxygen environment or even just mixed in with regular air. Has to be carefully filtered however, but using LCL gas would allow for control of something using neural interfaces in a similar way that the EVA does."

"I get that, but where does the virtual EVA part come in?"

Maya explained further as she walked to the wall and motioned for a drawer to pop out. "Because we only have two Eva units that can be called on in case of an emergency, we felt we needed at least something further to defend the GeoFront. We can't, or rather we won't make another Evangelion, but what we can do is create a fully digital version of one, and use the Virtual EVA to control it." Out of the drawer Maya picked up several objects and then approached Erin.

"So it's a digital simulation of an EVA then," Erin recapped.

"Yes, but it does more than just work as a simulation. Virtual EVA was designed to work as a defensive screen against non-Angel, or technological types of threats. Basically nearly any type of military hardware has a CPU at the heart of it, and that CPU and the circuitry surrounding it can be attacked with a digital weapon system. So Virtual EVA serves as a defensive platform that can control a variety of electronic warfare devices, all based on VTOL drones that are housed here in the GeoFront."

"Interesting," said Erin. "But it fights like an EVA."

"Correct, complete with a simulation of AT Fields and all, although the analog is not exactly the same as a real EVA. What happens is that you control it remotely with full-body motion using this control room, as if you're the EVA itself. The VTOL units then project digital images and other information on the outside. If needed, you can create a hologram that appears as an EVA to the outsider, and while it's not physically there that sort of "scarecrow" might be enough to scare off someone. If not, then you have the whole arsenal of digital attacks houses within the program along with a tie-in to the Alliance's Artillery Fire Control center in case you needed actual kinetic punch." Maya shrugged a little. "I admit it's not a perfect system, and truthfully it's not even tested much, but considering our current circumstances with only one active EVA I felt that this would be useful. Here." She handed Erin the objects. "These are wrist and ankle sensors, and there's a modified A10 headband there too. So put these on and I'll start up the system."

Cool thought Erin. "I think I can do this."

"When you went to school here last year I used to watch you on the rhythmic gymnastics team so I figured you'd be a perfect candidate to operate in any case. And considering that your programming and computer skills are already pretty good…"

"Can't wait, then," said Erin. She then promptly stripped off her sweatsuit and runners, revealing a simple nylon black tank leotard underneath. Intuitively she put on the ankle and wrist banks and then slipped on the new A10 headband, this one appearing as a more normal headband similar to Mari's own A10 controller with larger triangular-shaped emitter/sensors on either side. "Is this right?" she asked Maya.

"Yes, it's correct. OK now I'll leave the room and start up the program. The LCL gas will come out first, so just blow air out of your lungs when it first comes in and then breath in for a minute. It's a little strange at first but you'll quickly get used to it." With that Maya went out the side door and after the door shut the graphics on the walls switched to a rainbow-colored set of fast moving graphics that greatly resembled the EVA's start-up sequence.

Erin heard hissing above here and then took a deep breath, and blew out the air with her mouth. Her next breath tasted strangely salty and she choked at first, but she took another breath and that time was smoother. After a few more intakes she was breathing normally with the LCL gas.

"Are you okay?" Maya's voice came from the speakers.

"Yes, I'm breathing fine now," replied Erin. On the screens there was a sync-progress display that showed her interface with the Virtual EVA. After some progression of functions red lights turned into yellow, and then turned into green. In another few seconds a main graphic on the front screen now showed the vector graphic of an EVA, with the large words VIRTUAL EVANGELION ACTIVATED written besides it.

"Alright, I knew you'd sync in with it quickly. Now let's begin with some training to get the interface down. Ready?"

"Yes!" Erin's face showed a broad smile. Perhaps the Virtual EVA wasn't Unit 04, but she was glad to at least be piloting again, and in a way that she felt completely in her element. "Let's Go!"

Here we finally are with another installment. Fortunately this last month provided me with a few opportunities to write and I was able to bang this out in between work and family issues. As mentioned, we're in Japan and now fully in the hunt and finally we get to catch up to Rei and see that she's in a dire predicament indeed. Things are going to get even more sticky as we go so stay tuned.

Also, if you were paying attention you read that this chapter has a notable cameo. It's sort of a quirky thing but I was so impressed with the Shinkagelion x Evangelion matchup they did earlier last year that I've borrowed it and tweaked it a bit to fit our storyline.

Hopefully I can get another chapter out in about 3-4 weeks, before I have to go and travel again. I'll keep moving on this so please keep those reviews coming.