"Stupid four-eyes and her stupid jokes," Asuka grumbled, fingers flying all over the cockpit as she managed to combine her complaints and her side of the EVA start-up procedure with startling efficiency, as well as a fair share more force than absolutely necessary. "Always the same damn deal with her, I tell you."

"Umm, Asuka?" Shinji suggested, warily looking at how the colours on the walls of the otherwise featureless room he currently resided in steadily began to take on a bright, orangish hue. "Shouldn't you calm down a little?"

'I am calm, Third!'

'I really don't think the controls of the EVA share that opinion,' Shinji snarked to himself. 'The poor technicians you nearly ran over too, I bet.'

'What was that?!'

And then he jumped in his own skin when Asuka directed a roar his way. Scrambling for a quick answer, preferably a placating one, Shinji kicked himself for forgetting that the thought reading between himself and his host went both ways.

"L-Look, Asuka, I agree that it was in bad taste, but I don't think Makinami-san meant it as more than a bad joke, like she said. I mean, she didn't even know Misato, right?"

'But that's just the thing! I can never tell when she's being serious and when she isn't!'Asuka shot back.'Argh! It drives me nuts!'

"...Now where have I seen that before?" Shinji muttered before he could stop himself, deadpanning at the sheer hypocrisy on display. How many hours had he spent asking himself just that very question in regards to the actions of a certain redhead who shouldn't be named, after all?

Just as quickly, the young man felt Asuka's attention shift towards him, none too pleased about his implications. But his salvation came in the form of Lieutenant Ibuki's voice coming from the other side, going over the usual steps of the Evangelion's start-up procedure. A few of the lines were directed at Asuka herself, the need to reply finally succeeding at breaking the redhead away from the topic of the Fifth Child and Shinji's ill-received comparison.

'Bah, whatever. I should just focus on the test...' Asuka sighed, not sounding at all thrilled about her obligations for the near future. It was then that Shinji heard a sudden gasp, as if the Second Child had just realised something.'That's right! I've got a little something to show you, Third!'

"Really? What's that?"

'You'll have to wait until the results are in,' the redhead continued, an image of a toothy grin coming to Shinji's mind.'But it's going to absolutely floor you!'

Shinji had to fight hard not to roll his eyes at the girl's words, the sheer pride and haughtiness in her voice being as hard to miss as an elephant in a small room. He had to admit that it was nice to hear Ace's signature traits shining through the 'real' Asuka, though, and while Shinji had a very clear idea about what it was that she wanted to show him, he made a point of keeping his thoughts as far away from the topic of synch-scores as he possible could. After all, it wouldn't do to ruin Asuka's 'surprise' and get her all grumbly and moody again.

A few moments of comfortable silence passed between the two of them, Asuka busy while she coordinated with Lieutenant Ibuki on the final few steps of the activation process and Shinji content to quietly watch the whole thing unfold. But it was when the first few neural links finally began to be formed that the Third Child saw a sudden flash go off in the corner of his vision. Curious, he turned just in time to watch a familiar door materialize at hand's reach.

"Oh," the Third Child blinked, quickly recognizing the red and orange gateway. "So it appears here, too."

'Appear? What does?'

"The... thing that helped me talk to you during the last synch-test," Shinji explained in very vague terms, but with no real idea of how to better put it. "Guess it's telling me that I should go in?"

"How should I know?" Asuka grumbled offhandedly. "Now be quiet, Third, I need to focus."

Shinji shrugged when his host went silent for a second time, reaching out for the door and opening it. He stepped through a second later to find that everything on the other side was exactly as it had been the last time.

Walking over to stand next to Asuka's seat, Shinji spoke chidingly at the women on the other side of the room.

"You two still have no intention of talking to her, right?"

Silence was the only answer he received, the Third Child turning around to face Asuka with a sigh. It was then that a realisation hit him: Asuka had not reacted at all to his question. Granted, it had not been directed at her, but considering the interest she had shown when he had blurted out Ace's and everyone else's involvement earlier that day...

...

Shinji was still hoping he wouldn't need to explain himself on that front. Telling Asuka that he had been interacting with the manifestations of various aspects of her personality would make for one very awkward conversation.

Shaking his head and focusing back on the task at hand, Shinji decided to test his latest finding further, thinking hard about his previous discussion with Asuka and keeping a watchful eye for any reactions. He saw none.

'...Weird, she can't hear me talk or think now? Why the difference?'

A few seconds of thinking later, the Third Child quickly decided that there were some things he was probably better off not trying to figure out. Unless he was physically touching her representation in the weird European style hall, like Ace had so gracefully pushed for the day prior, Asuka couldn't hear him talk or think and that was fact. Shinji would gratefully embrace the convenience of it if doing so would mean less confusing explanations in his near future, though.

"...Fine," the Third Child plopped down on the floor next to Asuka and closed his own eyes, concentrating on his task. "Let's get this synch-test going."

-O]|[O-

"Senpai, the strange readings for Unit-02 are back."

"As expected," Ritsuko muttered, walking over to take a look at the data Maya was poring over. "Guess it was too much to ask for a one time occurrence.

"At least we've got the chance to take it nice and slow this time," the Doctor put a hand on her aide's shoulder, the young woman stiffening a bit at the contact. "Keep it monitored, Maya. And check the readings with the history of blue and orange patterns in the database for similarities, while you're at it."

"Y-Yes, Senpai."

"Wow, that's..." Ritsuko heard Misato mouth, a quick check revealing that she barely trusted her eyes. "...That's a very big spike on her scores."

"Even bigger than the last one, in fact, she's at eighty-nine percent today. That's a whole two points higher than yesterday's test, and a new record synch-score among all the Children. Barring the Third's four-hundred percent ratio against the Fourteenth, of course," Ritsuko sighed, grabbing the bridge of her nose. "...And it still doesn't make any damn sense."

Misato raised an eyebrow at her former friend's stumped expression before narrowing her eyes at the data Maya was flying through. It didn't take her long at all to figure out what Ritsuko was trying to investigate.

"...Are you thinking it could be contamination from the last Angel?"

"It's too early to tell, and I fail to understand how such a thing could bring about this kind of drastic change in the Second's abilities as a Pilot, but that's a possibility we're keeping open."

"Is there... something weird with Asuka's telemetry? Something that wasn't there before?"

"Do you really believe we haven't checked that, Katsuragi? The readings are completely normal, as far as we can tell. Which is to say, in very deep detail," Ritsuko shook her head with a sigh. "There's nothing there. All signs seem to point that, in a matter of days, the Second Child went from barely staying over the EVA activation threshold to holding the highest synch-rate within the Pilot corps, for no apparent reason whatsoever. I shouldn't need to tell you how ridiculously low the chances of something like that happening are, especially for someone with her... mental attitude."

"But you're saying it's not impossible. Maybe you're overthinking this."

"It wouldn't be the first time the odds have slapped me in the face, I'll admit. But I find it hard to believe that this situation will follow that trend."

'Is that so? And why are you so sure of that, Ritz? Because it's not Shinji?' Misato speculated with a raised eyebrow, her eyes slowly travelling to the purple giant on display, next to its crimson counterpart. '...Or because it's not Unit-01?'

Not that trying to get any extra information out of the Head of Project-E was going to net her any results, Misato was willing to bet. With a sigh, she decided to leave Ritsuko to her own devices and check on the data that Unit-02 was transmitting as a way to pass the time, on the very, very unlikely possibility that she managed to come upon something everyone else had overlooked.

...

That possibility was further diminished when Misato realised she couldn't make heads or tails of most of the info the instruments were transmitting.

"What's that, Maya?" the Major questioned, indicating two cascades of green lines on one of the monitors that had caught her eye. They looked like sonar readings of sorts, and half of the screen was labelled as 'Second Child', while the other belonged to the Fifth.

"That's a reading of the Pilots' mental activity, Katsuragi-san."

Misato took a closer look at the readings. The lines on Asuka's feed appeared to travel from north to south in a fairly stable manner but with some small fluctuations and criss-crossing, while the Fifth Child's were all over the place.

'Probably because Asuka is focused on the synch test and the test for Unit-01 hasn't started yet,' Misato figured, before pointing at some more transparent lines and splotches in the readings. "And what are those?"

"That's background noise."

"Do you mind elaborating?"

"Of course not! Putting it into words is a bit difficult, though..." Maya paused her investigations for a second, thinking of how to best explain herself. "In layman's terms, it could be said that a human's brain is not designed to remain in complete inactivity. While we practice something like meditation or... a synch test in the case of the Children, where we focus, relax and try not to think of anything else, stray thoughts always interfere for most people. The small deviations from the main focus of the brain are what's indicated by those transparent readings."

"I see," Misato nodded, inwardly snickering at how Maya could have made a nice career as a teacher. "And that amount of 'noise' is normal for Asuka?"

"It's a greater amount than usual but... well, among the Children, Asuka's always been the one to generate more noise. These values fall roughly in line with the ones from the synch tests following the Fourteenth, so I'm inclined to think that they're due to her having a lot of stuff on her..." The petite Lieutenant trailed off, her eyes falling on the appendage Misato had used to indicate her questions. "K-Katsuragi-san! Your hand's all red!"

"Hmm?" the Major blinked, bringing the hand up for a close inspection. It stung a little, she suddenly realised. "Oh, it's nothing much."

"N-Nothing much?! That looks painful!" Maya protested, and Misato found herself unable to suppress a smile at how the young woman was making a mountain out of a molehill. "How did you hurt yourself like that?!"

"Just... got caught on something earlier," Misato waved away Maya's concern. "But it's not a big deal, really. Can you give me a line with Asuka, please?"

The tech looked at her superior with concern for a few more moments, more than suspecting a fair share of foul play being afoot, but ultimately decided to humour her with a sigh. Maya's worried look quickly morphed into a troubled one when the young woman felt her Senpai take a spot on her other side, however.

"...I trust you don't intend to tell her anything she doesn't need to know?" Ritsuko asked with an undertone of warning.

"Your concern is touching," Misato scoffed. "But you can rest easy, Akagi. Your hypotheses will remain a secret until you confirm them. If you confirm them," the Major's concerned eyes then travelled to the live feed from the inside of Unit-02, with the Second Child fully focused on her task. "Asuka already has enough things on her mind without worrying about whether that bastard Angel did something even worse to her.

"Congratulations, Asuka," Misato then complimented the girl, going from worry to enthusiasm in the blink of an eye. "You're number one!"

A step next to the Major, Ritsuko watched as the Second's face became a perfect definition of content ego-stroking with just five, straightforward words. A far cry from the expression that had lamented the fate of her teammate and her own part in it not even two days ago. Despite her knowledge of the Second being such a simple child, Ritsuko couldn't help but be a bit amazed at what she was witnessing.

Still, putting the sheer coldness of the gesture aside, it was better and far more useful to their efforts than the Second wallowing in self-pity, the Doctor figured.

"Fifth Child, it is time to begin with your own test," she then spoke into a second channel, ignoring Misato's own frown at the sight. "Are you prepared?"

"I was born ready, Doc." Mari replied, sounding much more enthusiastic about the prospect of a synch-test than any of her fellow Pilots had ever been in the past.

'Let's see if all that bravado will actually avail you something...'

"Fill the plug," Ritsuko ordered. "Begin Unit-01's activation checklist."

-O]|[O-

"Mmm... the smell of LCL..." the Fifth Child mouthed with a small smile, the golden-coloured liquid climbing along her legs as it was poured into the plug. "Brings back so many memories..."

The LCL reaching up to her nose, Mari willed herself to breathe the amber liquid and allowed it to fill her lungs despite the protests of every single one of her instincts, finding very quickly that it indeed worked exactly as Akagi had advertised it. It was a strange feeling, not needing to breathe, and the sensation of the foreign substance tickling the inside of her lungs was fairly distracting to her neophyte mind.

She did her best to keep her mind from thinking too much about what she was breathing, lest it distract her, too.

"Connecting main power..."

"First neural connections established..."

"All circuits transmitting..."

"Good, continue the activation sequence for Unit-01," Ritsuko's voice broke through the reports of her subordinates. "We don't have an Angel on our doorstep to worry about like during the Third Child's first activation, so let's keep this nice and slow."

Mari raised an eyebrow at the woman's words. Clearly, Ritsuko had been absolutely serious about the alternative plan with Unit-02 being a pain to implement if she was going the extra mile for her.

She should try her best not to disappoint.

"How are you holding up, rookie?" Asuka's face suddenly appeared in Mari's field of vision, looking very satisfied with herself. A result of the Major's recent words, no doubt.

"I'm doing fine," the Fifth Child replied. "Congratulations on your top spot, by the way."

"Oh, it's nothing." The Second Child's tone could have been taken as a downplay of her efforts if not for the grin that threatened to split her face in half. "Things just going back to the way they should be, that's all."

'Damn,' Mari thought to herself, barely managing to keep her laughter in check. 'Throw a little more smug in there and you'll burst, girl. Why are you telling me all that, anyway?'

"I'm sure that's right," the Fifth Child continued in stride. "Got any pointers for me, Senpai?"

She promptly felt a pointed stare spear her through the comm. channel.

"...I thought I told you not to call me that."

"Why not? It's cute!"

"Just don't, alright?" Asuka retorted, foregoing her usual rants for a tired sigh. "And there's not a big secret to synching or anything, at least not to doing it at a base level anyway. Just clear your mind and concentrate as hard as you can on controlling the EVA."

"Okay, guess I'll try that," Mari nodded in agreement, before an impish smile appeared on her face. "And I'll come up with something even cuter than 'Senpai' as a show of thanks, deal?"

"Cut the chatter, Children. This is an important test," Ritsuko crossly cut into their conversation before Asuka could protest. The doctor then very meaningfully narrowed her eyes in Mari's direction, and the young woman felt a second stab fly through the waves. "Especially you, Fifth Child. Concentrate on the test and on achieving a successful activation."

This time, it was Mari's turn to sigh.

"...Yeah, yeah, Doc."

'Nothing wrong with living a little, you know?'

Asuka's face blinked out of her HUD and Mari heard the technicians mention something about small and steady steps towards an 'Absolute Borderline', right as she felt her arms and legs begin to tingle and the ghost of a strange and almost imperceptible presence settle at the back of her mind. One that she would surely have pegged as a fabrication of her own mind had she not already been aware of the secrets behind the EVAs.

A few, small bubbles of LCL escaped her mouth as Mari made herself comfortable and closed her eyes like Asuka had instructed her, the Fifth Child focusing the entirety of her attention on the person she knew to be with her.

'Good morning, Mrs. Ikari,' the girl greeted cordially. 'How's the day treating you?'

Shock and confusion in equal measures, those were the two feelings that the presence's curiosity suddenly morphed into.

'Mrs. Ikari? Please don't be startled,' Mari continued reassuringly. 'I just want to have a chat.'

The presence went eerily silent for a prolonged stretch of time, to the point where Mari would have considered it having abandoned the EVA had Akagi not insisted on the impossibility of such an event during their previous talks. Still, the girl continued to wait patiently, exuding goodwill and her usual extroversion until...

"...Who are you?"

...a voice spoke to her. Almost as if it was speaking from within her, in fact.

'My name's Mari Makinami, ma'am, and I wanted to-'

"No, it's not."

Mari blinked in confusion at the correction.

'...Excuse me?'

"'Mari'," the phantom elaborated. "That's not your name."

The Fifth Child frowned, shocked at the strange development. Clearly, the spirit within the EVA was getting some sort of first-hand look at her memories, or something? Akagi had certainly not mentioned anything of the sort being possible, but she supposed that it wasn't a stretch for the doctor's expertise to not be completely infallible.

'...Huh. Well, that's... unexpected,' Mari recovered, quickly trying to wrestle back control over the conversation. 'What else can you-?'

"This 'Saya', on the other hand..." Ikari continued, ignoring the girl. "Now that is a pretty name."

Mari suddenly gripped the control yokes of the Evangelion tighter, making the hardened plastic strain and squeak under the pressure. Gritting her teeth, she threw all pretence of cordiality out of the window.

'Get out of my head, Mrs. Ikari.'

"...Very well. But let me ask again," the presence replied, staying a hair's breadth away from open hostility as well. "Who are you, and where is my son?"

'I suppose the second question is more pressing for you, so I'll start with that,' Mari took a heavy breath to calm herself down and refocus. 'I gather you're perfectly aware of the direction the last battle took?'

"I recall Shinji's feelings being in turmoil for a long time when he last entered Unit-01. Something was happening that he could do nothing about and he hated it. Then we engaged the enemy, and... I remember little else. I believe he screamed a name, 'Asuka', at some point. A redheaded fellow Pilot, from what I gather?"

'That would be right, the Second Child got into some real trouble in that fight,' Mari confirmed, before a small smile appeared on her lips. 'And what you just said pretty much confirms that there's some unresolved tension of the teenage kind between those two.'

"...I see," Yui answered after a brief silence, an evident backdrop of disappointment in her voice. "She has a pretty smile, if nothing else."

'Not popular with the in-laws, huh?'

"I have seen little to like from the bits I could gather."

'Not defending her, but she had her reasons for turning out the way she did, I guess. Plus, Sohryu was an absolutely pitiful sight the first time I saw her standing by your boy's bed, so I'd say that if she isn't carrying a massive torch, she's at the very least feeling very responsible about what happened. Maybe she never got past the kindergarten stage of courting?' Mari added with a small mental shrug. 'In any case, I thought that you would be a lot more aware of what was going on around you, Mrs. Ikari. Especially considering how you just invaded my privacy?'

"I'm only aware of the most prominent images in Shinji's mind. To try and see more would be... unwise," the Fifth Child then felt the atmosphere in the EVA become far more oppressive. "But I want you to stop beating around the bush. Where. Is. Shinji?"

'Way to spoil the mood, Mrs. Ikari. And we were having such a nice conversation, too...' Mari sighed dramatically, before her voice turned factual. 'Your son's in the cranial ward, room 303. He's in a coma. The last Angel did something to him after he rushed to shield Asuka and he's been like that since. I'm his backup.'

The plug went silent once more, the indignant feeling Mari had been receiving slowly turning into one of utter heartbreak as realisation dawned on the phantom inside Unit-01. The Fifth Child, for her part, couldn't help but feel sorry alongside her.

Regardless of the accuracy of the reports and second-hand comments that she had received on Yui Ikari, and of the negative light in which she was painted in most of them, it was painfully obvious that the woman cared about her son.

'...For what they're worth, you have my condolences, Mrs. Ikari.'

"And they even sound sincere," the presence scoffed, struggling to push past her feelings. "...Thank you for telling me. Now, who are you?"

'I told you already, I'm the Fifth Child. Shinji Ikari's backup.'

"No simple 'replacement' would know to find and contact me."

'I guess not, huh?' Mari conceded. 'Okay then, I'll come clean as a show of good faith: I work for a... certain organisation. One that's currently at odds with those old farts at SEELE because we don't believe in their plans for mankind.'

The line to Unit-01 went quiet for a third time and the Fifth Child felt the presence brush up against her consciousness. It was a feeling that would have been very hard to put into words, and one that was somewhat uncomfortable, but Mari managed to stay relaxed through it all, nevertheless. It was probably just Ikari taking a second look into her brain, anyway.

The fact that she could so quickly grow dismissive of something as bizarre as someone reading her mind wasn't lost on the mischievous part of Mari's mind.

"That's... I don't believe I've ever heard of your people," Ikari eventually spoke up with a hint of interest. "But you're fools if you believe that you can fight SEELE."

'And you're a bigger fool if you believe that rolling on your back and accepting their one path for humanity was the right thing to do.'

"I never rolled on my back, but my personal situation was not tenable without a modicum of cooperation," Ikari shot back, somewhat indignant. "Nevertheless, I made sure to lay the groundwork for a resistance effort against the worst of SEELE's ambitions."

'...Right, about that,' Mari couldn't help a sarcastic chuckle. 'You might want to know that your husband's priorities have probably shifted from whatever it was that you expected him to do. He's apparently more interested in getting you back out of this giant robot than in whatever fate may befall humanity in the process.'

A pang of surprise, followed by a twinge of disappointment. Mari could make out a tiny joyous backdrop to the wave of emotion, as well.

"Oh, Gendo...

"Honestly, that was one of the parts of the plan I feared could go wrong. I suppose I underestimated his... reliance on me. I truly believed Gendo had gained enough confidence in himself to move on without me, however." Ikari let out a deep sigh, her mood turning sombre. "Troubling, especially considering that I have no intention of ever leaving Unit-01."

'Wait,' Mari blinked in surprise. 'You... want to stay here?'

"That is exactly what I said. Is there a problem with that?"

'Not really, I guess...? But...' the Fifth Child had to fight the urge to scratch her head at Ikari's strange statement. 'I mean, don't get me wrong. Being a giant robot sounds awesome, but don't you... you know, miss your family and stuff?'

"Of course I do. There's not a single moment I don't wish I could hold Shinji and Gendo in my arms again," the phantom elaborated. "But what I aim to do is greater and far more important than my own selfish wishes."

'And that is...?'

"To become a lasting testament to the existence of mankind until the heat-death of the universe," Ikari elaborated. "Humans can only live on this planet, but the Evangelion can live forever, together with the human soul that dwells within it. Even after 5 billion years, when the Earth, the Moon and even the Sun have disappeared, it will still exist as long as even one person still lives. It will be very lonely, but as long as I remain..."

Ikari trailed off meaningfully and somewhat dramatically, unknowingly offering an answer to some of the question marks that remained within her incomplete psych profile. This time, however, Mari could not help herself from opening her eyes and raising a disbelieving eyebrow.

'...So you want to become a giant space-faring 'Humanity was here' marker.'

"...That's an incredibly shallow way of putting it."

'...I think it's pretty darn accurate, but who am I to judge? We all have our dreams. Do you really need to assist in fucking up humanity in order to become one, though?' the Fifth Child argued, ignoring the disgruntled impression behind Ikari's response. 'I mean, we could just strap some rockets on Unit-01 and send you on your way once everything's done and dusted, you know?'

"Nonsense. There is no rocket that would be able to launch something as massive as an Evangelion past Earth's gravity well."

'Yet. Nobody would have bet on mankind putting a man on the moon a hundred years ago, either. Didn't stop us from doing it,' Mari promptly replied, applying some seldom used sobriety to her argument. 'Don't underestimate human ingenuity, Mrs. Ikari. If I say that we can send you into space within ten years for you to become another, giant Voyager, you better believe it.'

"Fair enough," Ikari admitted, her voice making it perfectly clear that she still had some qualms to herself. "Although that still doesn't address the issue of humanity's evolutionary rut. Something that SEELE's plan, for all of its shortcomings, does."

'You call throwing all of humanity into a mixer and hoping for the best 'evolution'?' Mari deadpanned, not bothering to hide just how ridiculous she found the idea.

"I call it what it is: an open door. A door that has a small, yet remarkable chance of becoming the vital step that the returning humanity would need to move forward in a constructive way," Yui argued back. "And even if they should decide against returning to a physical existence, there's a beauty of its own to the Gestalt consciousness, at least once SEELE's hold over the collective of humanity inevitably broke. Given enough time, humans would no doubt use the freedom obtained from shedding our physical form and evolve further along our newfound path, eventually becoming one with the Universe itself, or something equally as wondrous."

Ikari's words steadily rose in volume and intensity as the woman continued with her explanation, quickly giving Mari another insightful look at the sorts of people that were attracted to a Doctorate in something like Metaphysical Biology. Obviously, the pretentiousness came with the territory.

"Imagine, if you would, exploring the cosmos and all of its secrets as a transcendent being of pure energy, and seeding human life in different worlds, only for they themselves to follow suit and join the cycle of their ancestors many millennia later. Wouldn't something like that be a lofty goal for any living being to aspire to?"

'No thanks, I'll stick to exploring the cosmos with my own two hands,' the Fifth Child quickly rejected the idea, pulling Ikari back to reality. 'And who's to say that something like Instrumentality should be the only door forward, anyway? Rather than bank on world-wide lessons that will be forgotten in a generation or two, or a romantic take on evolution that we cannot even begin to predict at this point, I'd rather bet on furthering the human body in different ways. There are plenty of potential unexplored avenues at the reach of our fingers, already.'

"Potential avenues that won't arrive before the last breath of our dying planet." Ikari scoffed.

'Then we will return to the stars, and we won't use silly ethereal forms to do it,' Mari argued back. 'Where there is a will, there is a way.'

"You would still require for the rest of the planet to follow said will, and I don't believe I need to go into why such a thing would be severely unlikely to happen. I'll admit that the possibility, improbable as it may be, is intriguing, however," Ikari half-conceded. "But again, I fail to see why your employers would be so confident that they can succeed where the UN, and many others before it, have failed…

"…If they actually have designs beyond their own self-preservation, that is."

'I'm afraid that I can't tell how far the planning goes, Mrs. Ikari. But if there's one thing I know for certain, it is that my employers do have the best interests of humanity in mind.'

"So do SEELE, my dear, or at least so they would claim," the phantom shot back, as if lecturing her. "And it would be a true exercise in naïveté to believe that the same could not easily be said about your own benefactors."

'…Duly noted, Mrs. Ikari,' the Fifth Child allowed, voice neutral. 'Now then, I believe it's time for us to-'

"The activation process has stalled for a few minutes now, Fifth Child," Doctor Akagi suddenly reported from the observation area, sounding somewhat tense. "Should we cancel the test?"

"Nah. It's alright, Doc, I got this," Mari promptly reassured her, quickly shifting gears. "Just give me a bit more time."

The Fifth Child heard Asuka deliver a sarcastic remark over the channel to Unit-02 but barely paid any attention to it in favour of resuming her debate with Yui Ikari. Another move that was likely to earn her Asuka's ire later, Mari realised, but one that she was willing to risk considering that the Second Child was already somewhat miffed with her in the first place.

'Trust Doctor Akagi to always be as impatient as she is on point, I guess.' Mari thought to herself with a sigh.

"Akagi?" Ikari echoed with surprise. "So she still works for GEHIRN, even after all these years?"

'…GEHIRN? Wow, you're really out of the loop, aren't you?' the Fifth Child amusedly shot back. 'First of all, it's NERV now, not GEHIRN. And the serious woman on the line wasn't Naoko Akagi, but her daughter, Ritsuko. Naoko Akagi passed away a few years back.'

"Is… that so…?" Ikari's words took on a sullen note, the atmosphere within the plug darkening just as much. "…A shame. I may not have personally liked the woman much, but it's undeniable that she is… was brilliant. Losing a mind like hers is a blow to all of humanity."

'Yeah, I guess she was pretty great from what I've heard. And her kid's not bad at all, either. Just a bit on the uptight side, is all.

'But anyway, I believe it is time for our discussion to end, Mrs. Ikari. Ritsuko won't give us much more time, at least, that's for sure,' Mari gravely posed to the phantom inside Unit-01, making it perfectly clear that the time for small talk was truly over and done with, as far as she was concerned. 'And so again it is that I ask for your cooperation in toppling SEELE's schemes. I believe I have presented my case very well, of course, but it's up to you to make the final call.

'What do you say, Doctor? Will you assist us in giving humanity a second chance?'

Ikari's reply was as definite as it was immediate.

"No, I won't. I have no reason to, at this point."

Hearing the words, the Fifth Child reclined into her seat and allowed a few more bubbles of LCL to escape her mouth. The closest thing to a disappointed sigh that she could muster, considering the conditions.

'...I see. Is that your final answer, Mrs. Ikari?'

"Indeed it is."

'…Then…'

'…Then I'm afraid that you're forcing my hand.'

The words that came out of the Fifth Child's mouth were more akin to a growl than a phrase, their sheer ferocity and menace catching Yui completely off-guard. Once again, Mari felt a few, quick strikes probe at the back of her mind in response, and the young woman allowed them, invited them, even, by focusing her thoughts on recalling the room she had first met Asuka in

It was then that a feeling of anxiousness suddenly invaded the plug, to the Fifth Child's grim satisfaction. It would appear that Doctorates in Metaphysical Biology were also quick on the uptake.

"What… What do you… mean...?"

'Shinji Ikari currently slumbers in cranial ward room 303, and while he receives frequent visits from many sources, he spends hours upon hours in the sole care of his nurses. As it so happens, this is one such time,' Mari coolly elaborated, allowing her words to further sink in with some well-practised flourishes. 'Now, everyone knows how stressful some of those hospital shifts can be and how some... unfortunate accidents have come to pass in the past...'

"YOUWOULDN'T DARE!"

'I would. I wouldn't be proud of it, mind you, but the mission comes first. And since you've peeked into my head you probably have seen enough to know I'm not bluffing,' the Fifth Child continued, even-tempered even in the face of a giant's wrath. 'After all, what's a single life in the grand scope of saving what's left of humanity?'

An ominous rumbling from the outside and a million frenzied reports reached Mari's ears, just as she noticed a dim light make its way through her closed eyelids. A million alarm notices going off at once in her HUD, she guessed.

'And don't even think about locking me in here, or trying to do any of the funny stuff that Unit-01 is known for, by the way,' the Fifth Child stated, completely ignoring the warnings. 'Should you cause my... permanent leave from this mission, your son's life will be forfeit within the minute. Arrangements are already in place for that.'

The clamour came to an end just as quickly as it had started, both outside and within, baffling many a technician within the observation deck and throwing the whole place into a flurry of activity. Reports and orders flew from one end to the other, and while some of those were probably aimed at her, Mari paid them no heed.

The beast was contained. And while its leash was little more than a thin piece of string at the moment, it was also more than enough.

"…What do you want?" Ikari growled, making it perfectly clear that she would love nothing more than to dispose of Mari in the same manner she had the Fourteenth.

'You know what I want, Doctor. And now you're also fully aware of the extents that I'm willing to go to in order to get it, even if I certainly didn't want to resort to such threats. Nevertheless, the ball, as they say, is in your court, Mrs. Ikari,' the Fifth Child casually replied. 'Now, what will it be?'

The answer, if wary, did not take at all long, much to Mari's continued satisfaction.

"What... What guarantee do I have that you will keep your word?"

'The knowledge that your cute little boy passing away would leave many broken hearts in its wake, and be a lot more trouble than it's worth to fix. Also, and to quote my favourite doctor, that I'm not a completely amoral monster,' Mari relaxed within the Entry Plug, clearing her mind and focusing her thoughts away from the pit of nastiness that had been her latest necessary evil. 'The moment I have your cooperation, I'll have no reason to betray your trust, Mrs. Ikari.'

Mari tried her best to appear earnest and project an image of goodwill, one that, in truth, wasn't even a mere fabrication. For if there was a compromise that the Fifth Child had been more than willing to reach, it was the progression towards a scenario in which everyone came out a winner.

Hopefully, Yui Ikari would see past her unfortunate but necessary blackmail and come around to seeing it that way, too. Then again, one could never tell whenever they were dealing with omnicidal maniacs.

"...I swear," the doctor eventually snarled. "If anything happens to Shinji, I'll-"

'You'll murder me, bring me back, slaughter me again and generally make the last moments of my pathetic existence the kind of torture that the people who wrote the old Greek myths would blanch at, right? Then go on a roaring rampage of revenge against everyone involved, and a fair few uninvolved, as well?' Mari finished for her. 'You don't have to worry. I'm the first person that stands to lose from backing out of our agreement, in more ways than one.'

"I'm not merely referring to this moment," Ikari continued, not at all amused by the Fifth Child's attempt at humour. "Should I agree, I want you to promise me that Shinji will not suffer any more than he already has."

'Of course. We are already in a similar agreement with Ritsuko Akagi, so it's not a problem for us to extend our network and cover for your son, as well. Shinji Ikari will be protected to the very best of our ability, now and until the ceasing of hostilities between all involved factions. You have my word.'

Right on time with her promise, Mari felt Yui probe her mind once again and she allowed her to do so to her heart's content. She had nothing to hide, after all.

...

A conclusion that Yui Ikari soon arrived to as well, if the yielding tone of her final words were anything to go by.

"...Very well."

"A-Absolute Borderline breached!" Akagi's mousy assistant suddenly yelled over the comm. line, incredulous. "Unit-01 is active! Synchronisation's at… thirty-three point seven percent!"

And right as she did, Mari felt a surge of energy go through her entire body for a split second, before it settled on a faint, phantom feeling of raw power at the back of her mind, completely unlike anything she had ever felt. Feeling investigative, the Fifth Child brought the Evangelion's right hand as high as its restraints would allow and tightened it into a fist, the second taste of the bio-mechanical giant's might making her more than a bit envious of the fact her fellow Pilots had been doing that and far more for years, by then.

Mari could hardly wait to get started, herself.

'…You have my thanks, Yui-san,' the Fifth Child offered to her newfound ally, a wide grin growing across her features. 'Here's to a long and fulfilling relationship.'

For everything was going according to schedule.

-O]|[O-

"What the hell was that, Doctor?!"

Misato's heated demand echoed throughout the chamber for a few moments, a sentiment shared by over half of the crew within the observation deck, most of which looked like they had soiled their pants following Unit-01's latest episode.

Not that Misato could blame them for it. A human's frail body wasn't made to stand in the presence of something as unimaginably powerful as an Evangelion, and the armoured walls and glass that served as their only protection had proven themselves to be lacking in the past. That knowledge had made it so that the warning sirens were enough to send most every tech and scientist present into a panic, never mind the fact that the purple giant had never even appeared to struggle against its restraints.

"It looks like it was a standard and very brief feedback pulse through the nerve connections, not unlike that one time in which Unit-00 went berserk with the Third Child as the pilot," Ritsuko explained, eyes flying over the data on the event that the instruments had collected. "Thankfully, though, we won't need to rebuild half the cage this time. You can thank my team's foresight for that, Major."

'...You look awfully calm considering that this whole thing just came a hair's breadth away from turning out just like that time, Ritz. With the added caveat that there's no way we could have stopped Unit-01 short of having Asuka fight and restrain it.'

"...Of course," Misato stopped her eyes from boring a hole into the Doctor's head to turn a wary look towards the active Evangelion. "Status report?"

"The Fifth Child is perfectly healthy, all the readings are in the clear, and Unit-01 appears to be completely stable now."

"'Appears'?"

"I'm a scientist, not a diviner, Major. Even if I'll admit that my talents make me look like the latter, sometimes," Ritsuko jeered back. "Unit-01 seems to be perfectly fit for service, but that's about all I can tell you at this time."

"…Right," Misato replied, shifting her attention to the pilot's telemetry and motioning for Maya to give her a line with the Fifth Child. "Low thirties is not a great synch-rate, though. Rei did better during her time in Unit-01."

"Indeed," the doctor agreed, although she didn't sound at all disappointed by the results. "We can only hope that she will improve as time goes by."

For the second time in a short time, Major Katsuragi glanced long and hard at her former friend, her mind working furiously to piece together the bits and pieces that she had been gathering ever since she had set foot on the observation deck not forty minutes ago. There was a lot of time and missed information that she had to make up for, after all, and it wasn't until Maya reported that communications with the new pilot had been established that Misato allowed herself to stop reading into the schemes that were certainly going about and focused back on the task at hand.

Although considering that there was obviously much more to the new girl than met the eye, how much this task differed from her unofficial duties was up for debate.

"How are you feeling, Fifth Child?"

"This. Is. AWESOME!"

...

...Then again, some of the stuff the Makinami girl did had Misato constantly second guessing said suspicions, too.

"...I'll take that as 'fine'," the Major sighed, deadpan. At least, the Fifth Child's sheer enthusiasm had served to lighten the mood within the observation deck, somewhat, if the chuckles that were reaching Misato's ears were any indication. "Anyway, what do you say? Are you good enough to jump straight into some training exercises?"

"Right-o!" was the immediate and ardent answer, just as basically everyone at this point had learned to expect.

What turned to be an unexpected development as far as the Major was concerned, however, was the way in which Asuka jumped into the conversation from a second channel, sounding somewhat uneasy.

"Is that a good idea, Misato? She's barely managed to get it active."

"Oh-hoo~" Makinami replied without missing a beat, hiding a coy smile behind a hand. "Are you worried about me?"

"The only thing I'm worried about is you making me look like an idiot out there," Asuka shot back with a deep sigh.

"Eh. If it happens, it happens. There's no better teacher than the battlefield, anyway," the Fifth Child shrugged nonchalantly, before grinning back at her teammate. "I'll be yielding to your leadership, Princess!"

"At least you got that ri-" Asuka paused, blinking once, and then once more before she dangerously narrowed her eyes at the smiling Fifth Child. "...Wait, Princess? The hell's up with that?"

"Princess Charming, of course~!" Mari shamelessly replied, injecting industrial amounts of tease into her words as Misato watched in stunned silence. "You know, the one who will wake Sleeping Beauty with a magical kiss~?"

And it was then that all Hell broke loose.

-O]|[O-

Reclining back in her seat, Mari sighed in contentment as she watched her handiwork explode into a red-faced shower of denying stuttering, and the entirety of the bridge crew burst into laughter. She also watched Katsuragi palm her face after a few moments of quiet disbelief and Akagi send her one of her patented very serious looks over the Major's shoulder, but the Fifth Child didn't allow those to dampen her spirits.

Of course, it was plain obvious that she was going to be paying for that joke later down the line in some way, shape or form, but still, it was more than worth it. After all, how was a girl supposed to resist when Sohryu always gave her the best reactions?

"...I will admit, that was adorable."

Mari's smile somehow became even wider at the words that suddenly sprang within her mind.

'I know, right?'