The Princeps made his way up to the roof with his meal, though why the scholam would leave the area unlocked was a mystery to him. It seemed that only the pilots were up there, Ayanami, Soryu, and Shinji sitting in a semi-circle facing the rest of Tokyo-3.

"I can't say the food looks any better than back home," said Grant, taking a seat beside Shinji.

Pilot Ayanami's red eyes bored into him, and it took most of his willpower not to squirm. By the Throne, the only time he'd been this uncomfortable being under someone's gaze was when he went along with the other aspirants to a meeting with an Adeptus Astrotelepathica psyker.

Still, the feeling persisted.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced," he said, trying to break the ice, "I'm Princeps Schutler."

"I'm pilot Ayanami," she said in a total monotone, still not breaking eye contact.

Was she some kind of lobotomite? The more he saw of her, the more unnerving she became.

Shinji coughed awkwardly, "Uh, so, where'd you transfer out of?"

"I can't exactly say yet," said Grant, "I'd have to speak to the Director first. He is your father, correct?"

"Well," said Shini, "He is my father, but I can't say he's raised me or anything."

Asuka interjected, suspicion in her voice, "What's so secret you can't tell us? It's pretty clear you aren't from Japan or any other country with a NERV site, but you've got a damn mecha and killed an Angel."

Grant shrugged and leaned against the wall, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be telling you guys anything until I'm cleared by the director."

Ayanami spoke, "There is nothing to fear from us, we are allies."

"For the time being, I work with NERV right now because they were the first people to talk to me when I got... here." said Grant, "That, and your titans seem to be the only things that can match my Warlord."

"They're Evangelions," said Asuka, "And until you showed up, they were the only of their type anywhere on Earth. Even Jet Alone didn't have that level of technology."

"So, what is an Evangelion then?" asked Grant, "They move with an agility I've only seen... well, not in any human creation. With their physical dimensions, you must have some mastery of fiber bundle technology and neural interfaces."

"I'm not sure." said Shinji, "They need external power from a cable, but they bleed."

Grant paused with his food halfway to his mouth, Shinji had said the last word like it was only the slightest bit strange, a passing curiosity.

"They bleed?" Grant asked panic sparked, revulsion warring with fear. No human creation bled, at least nothing uncorrupted.

Shinji shrugged, "I don't really know how else to explain it."

"But you have seen it happen," said Grant.

Shinji nodded, "The first time I piloted an Angel punched through Unit-1's head, there was blood. Red blood."

Grant set down his food. They bled? It didn't make sense, the bio-titans used by the Devourer were semi-independent creatures, and the titans used by the Eldar were artificial constructs. There was no way the humans of this Earth could just assemble a flesh abomination from leftover meat, not even the Master of Mankind had created something so unimaginably bizarre.

Ayanami stared once again, with red eyes.

"Nine hells," muttered Grant as he looked up, "I need to leave, I doubt NERV will have any real issues with that."

"Where are you departing?" asked Ayanami, still in her monotone voice.

"I need to do some reading, I'll be back tomorrow morning," said Grant, picking up his bag and moving towards the staircase.

Rei moved to stand in front of him as he passed, her red eyes showing nothing.

"You should stay here Pilot Schutler," she said, "the day's classes have not concluded."

"I need some answers," he said, sidestepping, "and I doubt they'll be taught in today's mathematics class."

Grant kept walking toward the stairs. Rei stepped into the doorway behind him, and the Princeps turned to look up at her.

"You want to say something pilot?" he asked.

She stared at him, her face emotionless. It was almost... accusatory? He wasn't sure, her wordless gaze never ceased to be unsettling in the extreme.

"You should not leave," she said.

"Why?" he called up to Rei's empty gaze, "I see no reason to stay here for the time being."

"We are friends, and I wish you to remain with us."

"Friends? We've hardly spoken, much less fought alongside one another." said the Princeps, "Besides, I've got a lot of questions, and I don't think you're going to answer them."

Rei's red eyes narrowed, "Do not leave."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It would not be proper to abandon school early."

Grant sighed, "Look, I'm not exactly keen on following your advice, and my trade makes most of what this institution offers superfluous. We will meet again tomorrow."

He stopped for a moment, turning away, "Farewell," he spat.

Nothing.

Nothing at the public archive Grant had managed to gain entry into using his scholam ident card. He'd gained plenty of strange looks with his pile of biological and engineering texts, but all held no answers to his questions. Medical technology was as he'd expected, lacking juvinat treatments and complex augmetics. And while there were energy weapons in small-scale production the only mechanical titanic construct yet built was a sole crude fission-powered walker without anything resembling void shield, a walker that nearly destroyed itself until NERV's own Evangelions intervened.

Nothing.

What in the nine hells were the things called Evangelions? A world that had barely breached the first barriers to solar dominion, and yet somehow managed to create such monsters. He couldn't understand it. They were far too advanced, far too powerful, and far too alien.

The Princeps knew that he needed to keep looking, but his communicator began to chime. Grant pulled it from his pocket and read the message.

NERV HQ, Princeps Schutler, report immediately.

His heart sank. He'd hoped that he might be able to get some answers here, but it seemed that he would have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, standing beside those things seemed like his only option.