Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV Anime and Manga), End of Evangelion, Evangelion: Death and Rebirth, and the Evangelion Rebuild series are owned by Hideki Anno and written by Yoshikuki Sadamoto. I own no characters, locations nor elements or songs from the original Manga, Anime, or Rebuild/EoE movies. I own only OC Shiro Ikari. Please support future Evangelion Rebuild releases.

That Said, Please Enjoy The Show!

Normal Talking- "Hello"
Radio/EVA- "Hello"

SEELE/A.I/Angel-"Hello"

Chapter 18: Perilous Act

WILLE AAA Wunder, Old Paris

Outside the Wunder, the smoking wing clouded over the side of the flagship. It was, unfortunately, the perfect cover for the small insertions the Mark.05A's left behind.

Amidst the small rubble and torn bits of metal a faintly thin mark scratch over the closed rib-cage of Wunder. It was barely noticeable from a distance, half the size of a human as it began to fade into the hull itself. It disappeared, along with a sibling scratch on the opposite side, shortly thereafter.

Interrogation Cell-001, Wunder Quarantine Deck

"Okay so… The Quarantine Deck is a bust." Kensuke said, turning to Shiro who watched Shinji in the other room, with Rei-Q. "This command console is tapped so only high ranking personnel can bypass their login systems."

"You mean to tell me you, the head of EVA engineering and tech NEVEC, can't hack past a login screen?" Shiro asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's not it, dumbass and you know it! These terminals are monitored by a system admin connecting to the MAGI's 666-Type Firewall, which connects to the Achiral MAGI. Plugging alone was a risk as they're monitoring the outlets via fiber cabling all across the ship." He explained, before pulling up an image. It was of Wunder, a cross-section with levels and areas of interest pointed out. "I only managed to snag this before I got out in time."

"A map?"

"Yep. We may not have any real info, but this is a start to it." He said, fixing his gaze to Shinji and Rei. "Speaking of starting, don't you think we should… I dunno, get moving?"

"Moving?"

"You know… away from the Quarantine Deck…"

"For God's sake, man! Just spit it out."

"I'm just saying- and don't get me wrong, I trust Shinji with my life- I… I don't trust this Ayanami, you know?" Kensuke mumbled out, shutting his laptop. "The fact she openly said she's got nothing to lose and painted out the whole world like the bad guy… doesn't hit right with me."

"I guess it's the fact I know Rei only as a high school student, not Rei as an EVA pilot. It could also be because I could see… she was changing, you know? She was growing more…" Shiro nodded.

"I know. More human." He finished, biting his lip with a sad look. "But still, I refuse to believe this will be the Rei Ayanami of today. Somewhere in all the genetic coding and formatting, there's got to still be that human side to her. No way Gendo would risk giving that up."

"But from what Shinji's told us, Gendo kept his distance from her!"

"Well, that's what we know so far. We can't confirm or deny that because Shinji arrived only a few weeks ago." Shiro responded. "For all we know, they could very well have had a relationship. Maybe not like how Rei-2 did at the Geo-Front, but… long distance, perhaps? I don't know, maybe I'm the crazy one here but like I said…" He looked over to them, smiling a bit as Shinji spoke to her. "There's got to be a human side in her. There's one in all of us…"

"Perhaps your right…" Kensuke pulled up his wrist, holding it out to show the map of Wunder. "Okay, so the Quarantine Deck is a bust. We can't access the bridge for obvious reasons, and I doubt the tram station we passed would have any good connections there."

"What do you suggest? We're knee-deep in enemy territory inside more enemy territory." Kensuke hummed quietly, looking over the Wunder map while Shiro looked at his Muramasa. He glanced over the trigger before shuffling into his jacket's inner pocket. "Well while we think, I'm gonna listen to some tunes..."

He pulled out a pair of black, Bluetooth XBA-H3 Earphones and looked down to his old friend-

A matching dark Sony Walkman NW-F887 with an old faded out grey NERV logo on the back. Crazy how you're still with me, He thought, flipping through the music tracks.

Meanwhile, in the opposite room, Shinji was looking over Rei-Q's wounds. "I'm very glad you're safe," Shinji said, looking over Rei's forearm. She'd hit herself on one of the curving support beams in the room- it cut through her Plugsuit and into her wrist. Luckily the interrogation room had a medical kit, so he was able to wrap her injury nicely.

"Thank you." She replied, checking her wrist. She stared at it for a while before speaking again. "I… I believe I saw Rei Ayanami, Ikari."

"Hm?" Shinji gave her a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

"While I was resting in my LCL tank at Neo-NERV Headquarters, I saw something. I saw the Commander, as well as a woman and an Entry Plug." She explained. "It was… disturbing. They spoke as though I was not there, talking about an Entry Plug System for Evangelion, and that all they needed was an EVA to believe a person was piloting it to move in sync."

Shinji was genuinely taken back by this. Where was it coming from? An Entry Plug… Does that mean she saw the Dummy Plug System when it was brought to the Geo-Front? But that would mean she'd have to have been there which is impossible since Rei-2 was. Unless… Could she be remembering Rei-2's memories?

This raised a new number of questions- How was this possible? Could this be happening because she and Unit-01 are at close-range? What happened to Rei-2, is she really within the core of Unit-01? If so, how was Rei-Q receiving- if not, being sent these memories? "Do you remember anything else?" He asked slowly.

She shook her head. "No, I don't and it… troubles me."

"Well, how?"

"Because they are not my memories- I do not know of any scientist working for NERV aside from Dr. Akagi who now works for WILLE. So it conflicts with my memories of-" Sudden Rei-Q felt a sharp pain jab right into her cheek. She grit her teeth as the pain, putting a hand up which only made it worse. "Ack-!"

The pain shot right up to her head, and it felt like a skull-splitting crack shot down the middle. She screamed, falling to the side in pain as Shinji rushed to help her. "Rei!" he grabbed her shoulders, pulling her back the best he could as he looked over her. "What is it?! What's wrong-?"

In a flash, Shinji's vision turned red. He screamed, clutching his head as voices all around began whispering and talking, rising to screams and cries of agony. It hurt so much as if his head was going to explode.

He shut his eyes tightly and breathed heavily to try and reel in this, what he assumed to be a panic attack. It must have been working considering the screams died down to a slow groan with eerie background sounds. He couldn't tell if it was from Rei or the Wunder itself, but it was loud. And everywhere. But, to Shinji's confusion, the groaning melted into the sound of bubbling, lowering to a final humming tone. When he opened his eyes, Shinji saw darkness; the voice.

There was something off though. The sound of small gasps filled the black room, but they weren't his. But they were… familiar... "o… lo?... H….llo, i-is... ny...ne t...r…? He…l me…"

Shinji flew around. "Hello? Who's there?!" He called out. Nothing. No response.

The breathing was still there though. "...h….p….me…..ji-k….."

"Hello?! Please, I need you to speak up! I can't hear you, or see you!" It was so familiar- who was-

"HELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMEHELPMESHINJI!" The voice exploded all around, and Shinji screamed as his head was hit with flashes of pain everywhere. It was the worst pain he'd experienced until he felt someone shaking him.

"inj...Shinji…! Shinji!" Black clashed with color and Shinji gasped, falling forward. He was back in the Interrogation Room, sitting beside an unconscious Rei-Q and his brother. Shiro pulled him close, shaking him. "Shinji, Shinji for the love of God breathe!"

"Y-Yeah, Yeah I…" He breathed, looking to the blue albino. "It can't be…. Can it…?"

"Shinji? What happened back there?"

"I... heard a voice. Yeah-I think…." He struggled to talk, trying to think. "I think it was Rei's."

"Rei?" Shiro raised an eyebrow, looking from his brother to the downed girl. "But, Shinji… Rei's knocked out. How could she have-"

"No. Not Rei-Q, but…. Rei. Rei-2, the one we've known, Shiro…" He finally breathed, feeling a chill run down his spine at the name.

Shiro froze. "But… Wait, that can't be right! Shinji, you were there in the Geo-Front! We saw the whole thing go down- Unit-00 got swallowed by the Tenth Angel!" He finally said. "She couldn't have survived that."

"She did though, somehow…" Shinji argued. "She never died, Shiro. Far from it, she was absorbed by the Angel, into the core."

"Absorbed… Like what, like how we were in Unit-01 and 13?"

"No. Well, sort of..." Shinji continued. "I never bothered to bring this up because… well, I never really got the time with all the shit happening, but when Unit-01 had gone berserk I heard a voice in the Entry Plug."

"A voice?"

"Yes, it was Rei's voice. I saw her, Shiro- she was inside the Angel's core, I-I wanna say the Angel and Unit-00 fused and it trapped her in there."

"Well, that shows how it got past the security systems at NERV. But that doesn't explain how you-"

"I'm getting there, I'm getting there!" Shinji responded. "It was when Unit-01 lost control… when the Angel was pinned that I was able to see. I was able to hear her, see her…. She was so lonely, so hopeless like she was trapped." That got everyone's surprise.

"Well, how do you know all of this?"

"Because I pulled her out, that's how." He said, watching their eyes widen. "I pulled her out and into the EVA."

"Wa-Wait, you pulled Rei into Unit-01's core?" Kensuke questioned, looking at Shiro. "Is that even possible?"

"Well, considering I'm able to enter and exit an EVA core for the most, it's not unlikely." He pondered, looking down in thought. "But… If Shinji had pulled out Rei from the Angel's core, then that explains that giant woman who appeared when the Angel exploded."

"Giant woman?" Shinji asked.

"Not the point. This would mean in turn Rei was able to enter Unit-01's core and openly fused the Angel and Evangelion."

"Christ almighty…" Kensuke whispered in amazement. "That explains why your synchronization rate was so high; all of that neural energy and power, it had to have come from the Angel which shifted to you and Unit-01. That's why Unit-01 continued Third Impact, it was the literal catalyst of it all."

"And that's not the only thing," Shinji said, pulling something at the small box on his hip. It was his S-DAT, which had sat in the back case. "There's this."

"Our S-DAT…" Shiro whispered in shock, taking it and looking the cassette player over. "But, didn't you…"

Shinji nodded. "Yep. The last time I saw this was when Rei-2 had it in her hands. Inside Unit-01's core." Shinji finished, smiling a bit as he saw that look in Shiro's eyes; that look of joy and remembrance as he held it in his hands.

And then it dawned on him. "That's why WILLE isn't using Unit-01 on the field, it's not just a matter of using it as an energy system, they must be terrified of the power it has."

"Yeah, and there's no doubt that if Shinji could come back, then Rei could come back as well," Kensuke stated. "Which means…"

"We need to get to engineering," Shiro said, standing up with murasama in hand. "And fast…!"

Command Center, Euro-NERV Old France

If you were to look at Euro-NERV and compared to NERV HQ you'd probably find close to very little differences. The hallways were bright and pale, the important chambers wither either wide or open in space- most of it was the same save for the EVA cages. Instead of being side by side, the EVA cages were built in a large cylindrical room, with cage connections and restraint holders lining the walls for at least 5 to 6 units.

Not that it meant much considering they now had no fully functioning EVA's. But luckily that's where all the new armor and weaponry storage in the old NERV facility was open for taking. Most of WILLE's Battalion was resting in the area, relaxing from the battle.

"I gotta say, I thought we'd make it out okay but-"Mari gestured to her ruined Unit-08, being held up in one of the EVA cages with it's lower half 'sitting' below it. "My Unit-08!" She whined.

"Oh quit being a baby, Four-Eyes! Besides, at least you have something to salvage!" Asuka snapped, huffing as she sat back. "But in all honesty, we lost probably a bit more than we should have."

"We miscalculated, simple as that," Prodigium told them. "We expected Section-31 to appear, yeah; we just didn't know the firepower they had backing them. But now we know to be careful, especially with Cypher's side of 31."

"Miscalculate my ass! It if wasn't for that 4444C, we totally would have had them! But apparently, Gendo just loves giving his new friends the best toys on the market!"

"Yeah. Well on the plus side all those EVA unit parts are gonna be very helpful with reconstructing our units. 08 and 05, we can work with but Unit-02.D will take time no doubt."

"That is correct." The voice of Vice-Captain Akagi came up, and the EVA pilots looked to see her walk up beside the shutdown Shagohod. "Even with all these parts, many of our specialists and head researchers have never worked on something so complicated."

"But we made Unit-08, remember?" Mari called out.

"Yes, but we had a lot more resources at the time…" She looked away a bit. "Not to mention we had people who knew how the systems worked and how to create the tissue and armor of EVA itself…"

"But," she continued. "In the end, we will prevail. I'm overseeing the reconstruction of all our Evangelions, as well as the upgrading of Unit-02 Dash into Unit-02 Alpha."

Mari smirked a bit while Asuka blinked. "Wait a sec, I thought Project U2A was barred but the UN." She stated.

Ritsuko nodded. "It is. However, with the new arsenal and weaponry, we have here we'll be able to build a more down-to-Earth variation, and the U.N Council won't have to lift a finger in regards to it." She answered.

"Well, that's one thing we can look forward to…!" Mari noted, humming before she pulled something from behind her. It was a drawing pad of sorts, with an attached pen to it; she used it mainly for drawing and killing time. It also helped her cope with essentially everything that went on daily in their lives and acted as a makeshift recording of everything up to this point.

As soon as she began drawing, Hyuga walked up to Ritsuko and saluted. "Ma'am," He started. "We've managed the primary systems of the base. While we don't have a MAGI, the central computer can run close to all the optimal testing and battle plans, similar to how Archial on Wunder has been able to, however at a very impressive rate in comparison."

"Well then, looks like we'll be staying here for a while." Ritsuko hummed. "Anything in regards to the damage done to Wunder?"

"Nothing yet, comms are down. We've to assume the Mk.4444C disabled one of the communication towers." Hyuga responded.

Strange, Ritsuko thought quietly. Normally this shouldn't be a problem, Wunder has three communication systems. There's no reason they shouldn't be being hailed by us unless something was wrong. "I see. Inform me whenever something new comes up."

"Yes, ma'am."

Emergency Encasement Chamber, AAA Wunder

A good hour had passed before the four arrived at their destination- The 'Reactor' Encasement Chamber. By proxy, it was just as the name implied; a massive room with a ribcage-like design across the walls, curved roofing with lighting coming from the back wall and front control deck, which was seemingly left untouched.

Up till now, that is.

That aside, massive cables and tubes connected to the oval-shaped object before the Ikari brothers, solid black and covered by a purple zig zag-like pattern, with a round access hatch on the top-er, in front of them now. Leading up to the access hatch; a grated walkway with guard rails that surrounded the entire cocoon, with energy tubes and connector wires all across the outlining walkway, all of which hovered above a lake of LCL where the cocoon sat. And it didn't take a genius to know what was underneath it.

"So…." Shiro mumbled, crossing his arms with 'interest'. "This is it huh….?"

"Yes," Shinji replied, clenching his blade tightly, eyes boring across the black chrysalis. "Beneath this…. cocoon is Unit-01." Words couldn't describe the feeling he had inside; it was anything but joy, that he knew to heart. But he couldn't help but feel this... Nostalgia? Reminiscence maybe, it felt like he was staring back at Unit-01 the day he arrived at the Geo-Front.

"Well, let's hope they haven't removed the Entry Plug; otherwise, this will be a lot more complicated than I hope," Shiro stated, turning to the control deck above them. "Ken, I'm hoping you're logged back in?"

"Almost- man, they forgot about this place didn't they?" The control center was more or less a mess, much like Wunder itself; a simple rectangular room with red walls, and unlit ceiling and a white floor where wire, cables, sealed wooden boxes-hell even server systems were left untouched…. And perfect open to access. Well, one was, which connected to the control panels by the glass viewing, where Kensuke was.

"It's almost a shame to see all this nice tech open… and exposed…. And left for little ol' me to take over!" He bemused, fixing his glass with a smile as he sped through command prompts as he sent in and pulled out data packets and commands for the room. Beside him was Rei-Q, resting quietly in a chair after her mental crash. "Okay…. Annnnnnd done! I now have full root access to the security systems in the room!"

"Close off all camera feed and have redirected outside or across other parts of the ship," Shiro ordered. "From there on, lock the entrances and exits to the room. I also want you to establish a connection to Musashi and the White Sun; tell them to be ready for the final run."

"You got it, boss….!"

The NEVEC Commander nodded, before looking to his silent brother. "So…" He started slowly. "How does it… feel? Being so close to Unit-01 and all….?"

"I don't know…" Shinji admitted, resting his hands atop the katana's pommel. "A part of me is concerned, being so close after Unit-13 and…." He paused, inhaling. "Fourth Impact. I know I had a hand in it, even if Unit-13 was possessed by the 13th Angel. But right now… I'm not sure what to think."

"Yeah, I know what you mean…." He admitted, looking over the area for a brief moment before shaking his head. "You know, I'm surprised! Even with all this 'security', I'm surprised the Nullification Blocks weren't brought up to control Unit-01's S2 Engine."

"Oh, they're there, alright!" Kensuke called over the comms, looking over his computer details. "In truth, the Nullification Barriers are not surrounding the reactor right now because they're under the reactor."

"Wait what?"

"The Emergency Chamber, as I'm sure you're already aware, is incomplete thanks to Neo-NERV's little assault in the Arctic. Because of this, Achiral has revealed to me that in order to 'protect' the cocoon, the Chamber used gear pulley systems and rotors to reposition the Blocks below the reactor. And because the Blocks aren't made to be exposed, they can easily be destroyed; leaving the reactor still exposed."

"Jesus Christ…." Shinji chuckled a bit, watching Shiro run a hand through his hair and over his face with disbelief and disappointment. "If you're gonna play the Gendo part, at least know how to protect and do shit right, Misato…"

"Oh, but Shiro you forget-" The brother spoke up. "This is Misato we're talking about; you know, action first, details later…?"

"Touche." With that, the two stepped forward and up to the access hatch. The round hatch flashed an outline in red, a small beeping coming off. "Kensuke?"

"I see it. It's some sort of final defense, requiring the captain's ID and password. Not that it'll do much, considering…." After a moment of typing, the hatch stopped beeping as its outline glowed green. "I am the captain- in this part of the ship anyways."

"And they can't see you messing around in their systems?" Shinji asked.

"Nope! Those morons decided to leave this little part of Achiral open to access, allowing me to fire up a 666 Firewall to cover us." Kensuke reassured. "Don't worry- if anything comes up, I'll let you both know immediately!"

"We're counting on you, Ken. Watch Rei for us," Shiro grunted, pulling the hatch level out and causing the hatch to fly open. A thick LCL scent met them at the entrance. "Wish us luck….!"

A/N: Hi everyone, KnightOfZ3R0 here! It's... been a good while since I came back; I want to assure anyone concerned, I am fine! I'm taking precautions, being careful outside, staying in as much I can, etc. I finally graduated! Yay! So I have a lot more time to work on chapters- I.E fleshing out Cease To EXist's first chapters. But that aside, I've been trying to figure out what I'm going to do after EVA, after Tokyo Ghoul.

I'll admit... I've said before that I have had plans. That I have projects in order here, things to do, but now I've begun to really prioritize what to work on, when to work on it, and overall just fleshing out my daily routines. That said, this is the layout; this is the plan. Once Evangelion: We Can (And Will) Reverse This, I will continue to work on Tokyo Ghoul: Cease To EXist.

From there, I pushing to work on Code Geass: Nero Of The Reflection.

And from there... I don't know. I admit I don't know which leaves room for ideas and possibilities. Though as the old saying goes- One thing at a time.

That Said, This Is The KnightOfZ3R0 signing off!