The operational schedule for this evening is as follows:

1740: Report to Cage 2 in full attire

1741: Enter Unit 13

1744: Establish synchronization within Unit 13

1745-1749: Complete pre-launch checklist

1750: Launch

Approx. 1800: Arrive at designated coordinates

All subsequent orders will be relayed once on-site.

Look upon Unit 01 and behold

The once mighty defender

of humanity laid bare.

Hands forever reaching earthward.

They yearn to touch, yet lifeless

they hang in the air.

An altar of bones at its feet,

testament to Man's work.

Greed, hubris, despair.

He had felt it since testing had begun. Something was wrong. Or, not as much wrong as off. The warm, comforting feeling that had helped him connect with Unit 01 all those years ago was gone. In its place was a cold, mechanical sensation. His union with Rei and Unit 13 was less a joining of the minds and more the insertion of a plug into a socket. He felt replaceable.

"Rei, do you remember piloting Unit 00?"

They had travelled the ruins of Tokyo-3 in silence until now. The burnt orange blaze of the setting sun at their back. The scale of destruction was unfathomable to Shinji. All that he had known was gone. And this new world, was it truly of his making?

"I do not."

"Well...one time I asked why you piloted the Eva. You said that it was your connection to everyone."

"I see."

"Do you feel that way now?"

"I do not."

Shinji turned to Rei. She sat at attention, altogether motionless. Her sky blue hair, porcelain skin, and cardinal red eyes a stark contrast to the raven black plugsuit she wore. There was no expression on her face as she knew of no emotions to express. And even though a strange feeling, almost pleasurable, flashed across her mind when she had earlier disobeyed Commander Ikari's orders, the moment was fleeting.

"Then...why are you doing it?"

"I was ordered to."

Shinji's head sank.

"Oh…"

In the end all there was was the mission. No more, no less.

At the mouth of the gaping crater that was ground zero they paused to survey their surroundings. At the epicenter Unit 01 hung impaled on the Spear of Cassius with an empty entry plug jutting out just below the base of its neck. Around it lay the remains of seemingly countless other Evangelion, both Mass Production and Prototype models. Limbs without bodies, bodies without heads. Organs, both natural and synthetic. Tubes, wires, restraints. All in various states of rusting and decay.

"Rei, Shinji, your goal is to retrieve the spear from Unit 01."

Commander Ikari's forceful, calculating tone reverberated through the LCL surrounding them.

"Yes, Commander."

Her response was automatic. Yes, Commander. Yes, Dr. Akagi. Understood, Commander. Understood, Dr. Akagi. These were the lines she had been force fed since the first day of what little history she could remember. Laying there in the examination room wrapped in bandages. Her vision blurry, her hearing muffled, her joints strangely loose.

This is cold.

Her first thought being the awareness of a steel table against her back. To be cold. It was a feeling she had come to know as normal. Sleeping in a cold room with cold floors. Eating cold food. Drinking cold water. Listening to cold voices. And from somewhere deep within her subconscious another memory: the touch of cold hands wrapped tightly around her neck.

"Asuka?"

Shinji leaned forward, his eyes wide. Through the visual feed a familiar figure appeared. Auburn hair, azure blue eyes, wearing a scarlet jumpsuit. Only, she was not standing on the ground or upon Unit 01. She instead floated in the air before them.

"Shinji, come to me."

"Asuka?! What's...what's going on?"

His unsteady tone rang out over the external speaker as they scrambled forward.

"Together we will escape this wretched place."

The voice dove into the deepest recesses of his consciousness. Smooth and sultry.

"I...I don't get it. Asuka, what's wrong? Tell me!"

"No more pain. No more suffering. No more fear. Only happiness."

"Asuka, I…"

His concentration was broken. A klaxon blared as their synchronization rate dipped closer to the minimum threshold. Unit 13 stumbled on some rotting grotesquery and fell to its knees, sliding to a stop mere feet from Unit 01.

Fourteen years apart. He had missed her, as he had missed everyone he once knew. But after waking from his prolonged slumber one memory remained. Them, laying back to back in his small bed in his small, cluttered bedroom. His SDAT player clicking from song to song. No words said. Just the warmth of another person's touch. The soft, rhythmic sound of another person's breath.

"Open your heart to me, Shinji."

"Asuka, I don't get it. Please!"

Shinji felt his chest grow tight with anguish as Unit 13 fell to its hands in prostration.

"Let me in."

The voice began to change. Slight but noticeable.

"I don't..."

"Let me in."

More change. The seduction now masked by a veil of artificial compassion and kindness.

"I…"

Shinji's voice cracked with emotion.

"That is not Asuka."

Rei remained unmoved but for a small crease that had formed in the center of her newly furrowed brow. A strange sensation had arisen inside her. The same one that had manifested after being reprimanded by Dr. Akagi. Almost as if a fire had been lit deep within her abdomen. Her pulse quickened. She could feel her muscles tensing. Her hands wrapped tightly around the control arms.

"Ahh, it speaks. Rei Ayanami. Or, more correctly, the puppet of NERV designated as Rei Ayanami. Tell me, little doll, what incarnation are you? The eighth? Tenth? Do you even know?"

"I am not a doll."

Authority spread throughout her voice.

"Kaworu Nagisa, child of SEELE, step aside."

His name was not one she was meant to know.

She had passed by Commander Ikari's quarters on the night before the mission. While she was accustomed to hearing him yell out orders to others, it was the restrained shouts of Dr. Akagi that had brought her to stop and listen. Eavesdropping, as the Commander had called this practice, was tantamount to treason. All were given the exact information they needed. Attempting to obtain more, by any means, was cause for absolute termination.

Dr. Akagi questioned why Shinji had to be included in the first place. Enough data had been collected during the tests to re-institute the Dummy System. And even if it was a matter of needing bodies, couldn't another Rei be assembled?

Assembled?

No, the Commander retorted. The Dead Sea Scrolls prophesied that it was the child of the creator that must meet him. To be offered up as the ultimate sacrifice and appease the heir of Adam. To end the Angel's assault and allow humanity to ascend peacefully.

And what made him so sure that this child, who SEELE had kept hidden away for so long, would even appear?

Because it is foretold.

And what if Shinji refused to cooperate?

He will cooperate.

And what if he doesn't?

He will cooperate.

"Rei? Shinji? What is the meaning of this delay? Continue with the mission."

Kaworu's unsettling chuckle rose from Asuka's lips.

"Yes, the mission."

"Take the spear from Unit 01."

Commander Ikari's voice barked into their ears.

"But father, what's-"

"That is an order!"

"Yes, do as your cowardly father says. Take the spear and shed the lamb's blood. Become another familial cog is his ill-fated machine."

"I don't…"

"Poor Lilin, what ignorance you live in. Simply put, your father means to let you die."

"...what?"

"You are the fabled one, Shinji Ikari. Destined to save humanity, Offered up to me as a sign of your kind's humble submission."

"Father?! What...is that true?"

"I have no time for this nonsense. Lieutenant Ibuki, eject entry plug number one."

A low hum followed by a high-pitched whine. Rei felt her surroundings begin to vibrate.

"No."

The plug lurched backward before violently stopping. And Rei, through it all, remained still.

"I will not allow this."

"Rei? What is the meaning of-"

The audio feed cut off abruptly. Rei turned to Shinji, his look of agony only fueling the fire that now burned within her.

"I see now the error in my devotion to your father. Shinji Ikari, you are no lamb."

A seismic wave of energy erupted from Unit 01. The AT field, only a permeable mental barrier when Hikari and Mari had crossed, suddenly erupted into the physical realm. A towering, iridescent dome of every color imaginable, covered in constantly shifting geometric patterns, enclosed the diameter of the crater.

A red glow emerged from the once dead eyes of Unit 01, followed by a low, sorrowful moan. In a flash it took hold of the spear and let out an ear-splitting wail. Pain coursed through the skewered beast as its legs kicked wildly through the air.

Asuka's body floated closer as the leviathan began to feverishly snap its gargantuan mouth. It pulled at the crimson lance as an animal with its arm stuck in a trap would do, feebly attempting to free itself.

"Then our contract is broken, Lilin. I am left with no other option but to take what is rightfully mine by force."

With one last bellow Unit 01 slammed its mouth shut, swallowing Asuka whole.