Shinji looked at the paper in his hands. The words were clear, in English and hangara, the room in front of him belonged to Ikari-Rayne Karen.
What does this mean, he asked himself. Ikari isn't the most common last name in Japan, and certainly not in the US. Why didn't she introduce herself with her full name though, what did it all mean?
Shinji carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket. He looked back at the door, then at the floor. Quietly, Shinji turned and walked away from the home of the new mystery woman. He tiptoed down the stairs and shut the door behind him. The night was still warm. A breeze picked up, ruffling his hair. Shinji turned in the direction of home, and ran.
* * *
Auska sat in her room with the lights off. Even thought the night was warm, she felt cold in her t-shirt pajamas. She had thought about extracting what little she had gotten of the file and reading through it, but decided to wait. What she had read scared her, and the trace had unnerved her.
Misato was passed out on the couch, and Shinji was still out with that woman. Auska didn't know what to say or do, which was rare for her. What did this mean?
Shinji was an idiot sometimes, but there was something almost sinister about this. An American with Shinji's family name, one who was half Japanese, who was only 20, who suddenly ends up on the EVA project, one with a history in the project. Nothing like this could be coincidence.
She heard a noise in the living room, one that wasn't the drunken stumbling of Misato. Auska crept to the door, and slid it aside to look out. Shinji was creeping through the room, trying not to trip over beer cans. Auska hissed, "Shinji!" Shinji looked up, and almost tripped over a can. For a close moment, it seemed that he would fall, but he regained his balance. "Shinji-baka!"
Shinji crept to Auskas room. "What?" he whispered. Auska stepped aside and dragged the boy into her room. "Guess what I found out!"
"Is it about her?" Shinji asked pulling the paper out of his pocket and showing it to Auska. In the moonlight she made out the letters, "Ikari-Rayne Karen," she whispered.
"Look, there's something we need to find out about her. I don't know what it is, but we need to know." Auska leaned closer to Shinji, holding the piece of paper in the air, "This has to mean something."
* * *
Kaji was asleep when the call came.
He was tired, and almost didn't answer the phone, but something told him to get this one. Still rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he answered. "Yes?"
"There has been an incident," and with those words, Kaji was instantly awake.
Someone had been accessing the Yesod data. Seele was sure that the person was somewhere in Japan, and they wanted something done.
"Kaji, if you find the source, you know what must be done," the voice on the other end of the line told him.
"Yes."
Kaji stood, running a hand through his unkempt hair and looked out his window over the sleeping Tyoko-3. Somewhere out there, someone knew something. Who, and how much he did not know, but when it came to Yesod, it didn't matter.
Kaji didn't sleep the rest of the night.
* * *
Ritsuko woke up with cold on her flesh. Somehow the blankets had been shifted exposing her pale skin to the cool air inside the bedroom. A voice in the hall made her come fully into consciousness.
She sat up, pulling the covers close to her, looking out the door. He was on the phone, looking serious. Then, he always looked serious.
"I see." He had already dressed. "Fix this," he commanded the voice on the other end of the line.
Ritsuko resisted the urge to ask what the problem was, he wouldn't answer anyhow. Instead, she got out of bed, wrapping the sheet around her body. As he set the phone back in his cradle, she touched him on his shoulder.
"Do you have to leave?"
He stiffened at her touch. Without turning, he replied. "Yes." Ritsuko rested her head on his shoulder. She had known he wouldn't, he never did, never until morning.
He turned, for only a moment, and looked at Ritsuko. She could never tell what was going on in his eyes, hidden behind his glasses. Without saying anything, he turned and walked down the hall. Ritsuko stood and heard his footsteps as they walked through her kitchen and out the door, and finally the front door closing.
Ritsuko returned to bed, and curled up in her covers. She looked out the window at the night. The moon hung over Tyoko-3. She knew that at any moment, and Angel could come and destroy all that was spread out before her. For a moment, alone in her bed, where she could still feel his warmth, she didn't care.
* * *
Rei was also looking at the night. Something had made her to go up to the roof and look at the moon. When she had left her Spartan quarters to go to the roof, the night was warm, but as time went on her school uniform wasn't enough for warmth. She sat behind some ventilation pipes with her knees curled to her chest looking out over Tyoko-3.
Rei didn't know what to think of the city she called home. She couldn't remember a life before it. All she knew is that the people out there, sleeping in the dark depended on three teenagers to protect them. Did they know what their safety cost?
She didn't know how long she was out there before the door to the roof opened. Rei looked over to see who would be on the roof at that hour, and saw a dark haired young woman walk out on the roof. She wore a bulky sweater. The woman walked over to the edge of the roof, and looked down the side of the building, the out over the city.
"So this is my fathers home," she whispered to herself. Rei decided that the woman couldn't see her, and resumed her ponderings, though keeping an eye on the woman.
The two shared the roof, not acknowledging the other's presence for some time. The wind picked up, getting colder all the while.
"Do you plan on being so quiet all night?" The sweater woman asked the moon, startling Rei. When she received no answer, the woman turned to Rei, "Well?"
Rei didn't know what to answer, so she simply stood.
"I'm glad to see I wasn't seeing things in the moonlight," Sweater woman asked turning back to the moon. "You must be Rei."
"Yes," Rei answered, stepping closer.
"I've heard you were the quiet one," the woman smiled. "My name is Karen Rayne, I just moved into the building." Karen waited for a response from the quiet girl, and receiving none, continued. "I've just started working for NERV. Shinji told me that you lived in this building."
Rei moved a few steps closer, and could smell beer on the woman.
"I have to be up early in the morning, but I couldn't resist this moon," Karen gestured to the sky. "It's a beautiful city you have. I hope to help keep it that way. There are too many things beautiful that have been destroyed lately. Ha!" she laughed, "I can't even talk right anymore."
Rei felt another gust of wind sweep across the roof, and began to shiver. She turned and walked to the door to the stairs. Karen was still standing at the edge of the roof. "I hope that you like your fathers city," Rei told the woman before she walked down the stairs.
She walked the halls to her apartment. She entered the room, shed her school uniform and crawled into bed. Rei felt sleep call to her, and gave in willingly.
* * *
Misato woke up to everyone else's bad day. She had a lot of fun the night before, talking with the newest addition to the NERV team, but it seemed that everyone else she knew had had a bad night.
At breakfast, Shinji seemed preoccupied, and Auska seemed nervous. Since today was a synch test day, the three of them drove into NERV together. All of Misatos attempts to start a conversation were met with silence or flat answers.
At NERV, Ritsuko was quiet and almost moody. Even unshakeable Rei seemed to be bothered. No one preformed well in the tests, each of the pilots seemed too preoccupied to concentrate on the tests.
Misato was dismayed. What was going on, she demanded of Ritsuko. "I had a long night," was all the blonde would answer. By noon Misato was in a bad mood herself, when she heard her name over the intercom. "Katsuragi Misato, please report to Commander Ikari's office. Katsuragi Misato, to the Commanders office."
With a groan she stood up from her reports and straightened her clothes. Something was up and she wasn't sure what.
After a few moments she found herself in front of the Commanders office. The receptionist told her that the commander was still in a meeting, and that she should wait a moment. Misato took the time to wonder what the Commander could want with her. She didn't think it was about the day's tests, though she didn't know what else it could… "Oh no," she groaned. It couldn't be about Karen could it?
At this thought, the doors to the commander's office swung open. Misato was surprised to see Kaji leave the room. He looked intent, and failed to notice that she was standing right in front of him until he ran into her.
"I'm sorry… Oh, Misato," he said plainly. "Hello."
"Major, the Commander can see you now," the receptionist called out. Misato wanted to ask Kaji what he had been there for, but knew she couldn't keep the Commander waiting.
She entered the office and stood at attention. "You asked for me sir?"
Ikari Gendo sat behind a desk filled with papers, most marked with the bright red top-secret stamp. He looked over the rims of his glasses at her. "I have been told that Karen Rayne joined you for dinner last night."
Misato had no idea what she was walking into. She swallowed and answered yes.
"I also understand that you conducted her background check." Misato answered yes again. "Did you find anything in her background that would preclude her involvement at NERV?"
Misato thought back to the background check that she had preformed. It had been fairly straight forward after dealing with the American bureaucracy. Rayne had lived a fairly normal life for a girl who had grown up post impact, and the security report that she had submitted had reflected that. "No sir, I found nothing suspicious in her background."
"And you have no reason do doubt your conclusions?"
Misato thought back. "No sir, everything checked out."
"You didn't over look any details due to her familial connections?"
He won't even call her his daughter. "No sir."
"Very well. Thank you Major."
Misato snapped to attention and walked out of the room. What did all that mean? Did I over look something?
Gendo sighed, and leaned back in his chair. Misato knew nothing. The security problem was not there. He picked up the handset of the phone and dialed. "The breach is external," he reported when the call was answered. "They know nothing of Yesod, I see no reason to terminate the subject."
* * *
The next week seemed almost normal. Shinji and Auska went to school and back, and argued as always, though not as often. Misato worked hard, and drank harder. The progress on the prog knife upgrades was ahead of schedule, which made everyone happy, until Israfel came.
In the week that the new knives were being built, there was an Angel attack. Israfel advanced on the city, and when Auska attacked with her prog knife, the Angel split in two pieces. During a dormant cycle, Shinji and Auska trained together to perform a synchronized attack designed to destroy the Angel.
During that dormant cycle, as the two Eva pilots trained, Karen worked non-stop, doubling the efforts of the prog knife upgrades.
Ritsuko came to the lab to check on her progress occasionally during the training, and watched as Rayne began to deteriorate. The younger woman was out performing the other scientists in her project, but the work had taken its toll. Her already thin frame had grown thinner, and dark circles had formed under her eyes. At one point, Agaki had brought some lunch for Karen, but the woman had waved it off in favor of reading through data on delta wave feed back.
Israfel could not wait forever. Auska and Shinji suited up and attacked without the benefit of the upgraded Prog knives. The attack a success, Ritsuko insisted that Karen leave the lab and take care of herself. "Go. Let our people do their work," Ritsuko told her as she shooed the younger woman out of the lab.
Karen didn't fight too much. She rode up the elevator to ground level, the walked home. As always, the weather was warm, and the sun shone brightly. Clean up crews were still working on repairing the damage that the Angel and the Eva's caused, so the sound of birds was replaced with the sound of heavy machinery.
Karen walked up the stairs to the second floor and into her apartment. While she was at the lab, her things had arrived from Utah, so her small quarters were filled with boxes. Rayne prepared some ramen in the microwave, ate quickly then went about unpacking.
The majority of the boxes were filled with books, ones that she had gathered over the years, and ones that her mother had left to her. Outside of her books and clothes, Karen had few keepsakes. There were a few pieces of art that she liked, the collection of horror movies, her professional grade cook wear. There was a photo album, the one with the photos post-impact. Everything before the impact was destroyed during the flooding.
Karen put the photo album aside to look at after she finished unpacking, which wouldn't take long. After some hours, she sat with a mug of hot chocolate on her bed and opened the scrapbook. Because of the time she had spent in the hospital, there were no pictures of her until her 6th birthday. Her arm still bandaged, her face shone in the light of candles. There were pictures of her and her mother, Sara looking younger than she was. The blonde woman held her dark haired daughter close in silent memories. Karen reached out and touched the picture, trying to remember her mother's smell. Mom had always smelled of lilac, she remembered.
Karen flipped thought the last of the pages, watching herself get older as her mother grew more tired. Karen had always known that her mother's work was important and kept her out late, but looking back now, she could see the strain the woman had undergone.
Sleep was calling. Karen finished the last of her coco, and put the album on her bedside table. Karen got up, and rummaged though some boxes until she produced a colorful quilt. Wrapping herself in it, Karen thought of her mother, and fell asleep.
* * *
"Shinji, you baka, why won't you believe what's in front of you?" Auska's voice echoed through his mind. It was late Shinji lay on his bed, listening to his SDAT, staring at the paper he found in front of Dr. Rayne's apartment.
Auska insisted that it proved something. Shinji had looked at her then, and told her that it meant nothing. That Rayne was nothing to him, that she couldn't be. Auska had called him a fool again, and told him she didn't know why she bothered with him at all, and more things that Shinji chose not to remember.
She hadn't said anything about it since that night, but every time she looked at him, Shinji could tell that she was thinking it.
He traced over the letters again, making out the letters that spelled the family name they shared. He thought about the last week. With the Angel attack, everyone had been so busy that he hadn't seen Rayne for more than a few moments at a time, and even then it was when there were dozens of others around. Did she look at him differently than others?
"Father," he whispered at the ceiling. "Father, what is this?"
* * *
Auska sat in the darkness of her room. She had finally gotten over her fear of the data she had downloaded, and had begun to decrypt it. The screen of her laptop shone light against her face as she watched the lines of data steam across the display. Auska cursed her luck. It was a partial download, and it was well encrypted.
In the last few weeks, she had seen little of Rayne, but still did not trust the woman. Auska had no idea why Shinji refused to believe the obvious, but more than that, she needed to know why this woman bothered her so. Auska could admit, even to herself, that it wasn't about her ego, it was deeper than that.
Slowly the file began to divulge its secrets. It was an incident report, 13 years old. It was about an early version of the entry plugs interface system, there was an error. A woman named Sara Rayne (Karen's mother, Auska wondered) was involved, but the documents about the nature of the error, what happened to Sara Rayne were missing.
Auska sat back, looking at the screen, at the bits of evidence that sat in front of her. There was so much else that she needed to know. She needed Karen's background checks, her files. Perhaps a little about the history of the Eva Project as well. Twisting a bit of hair in her fingers, she realized that this was almost too easy. Data this sensitive shouldn't have been able to be accessed this easily.
"Did they want someone to find this?" Auska slammed the laptop shut, and looked around her room as if NERV security would burst in at any moment. She let her hair drop, and slid the laptop under her bed. She crawled under the covers, and pulled the blankets up to her nose. "I can't be scared. I have nothing to be scared of at all."
"Shinji-baka, this is all your fault."
* * *
Misato sat in darkness. Apparently NERV didn't feel that people spying on their computer systems needed light in the middle of the night, she thought to herself with a smile.
Her terminal was the only light in the dark caverns of NERVs central database. Here, all the data about the EVA project, it's personal, their families, and all the intelligence reports since the second impact were stored. There was immense amounts of information, and to the untrained, it was hopeless to try. Misato, however, was. She knew that once she connected to the mainframe, she would have 20 minutes until they noticed her, after that, she would have only a minute until they came to look. She looked at her watch and dove in.
Gendo's comments had triggered a thought. It was too easy to find information on Karen Ikari-Rayne. The American government never gave out data that easily. Something had to be wrong.
Misato had decided to work from the present and work backwards. Starting with the background report she had initially filed, she tracked the members of Karen's family and career back to the beginning. She decided to skip Shinji; the two had nothing to do with one another, and Misato knew Shinji well enough as it was. Gendo was also a know factor, more or less. Misato didn't want to chance breaking into his files as it was. Katsuragi started with Sara Rayne, Karen's mother.
In the initial background report, Sara had shown up as a researcher working under Dr. Waverly in Utah. It seemed that her primary job was developing the neural links between the pilot and the Eva. Sara had died in an accident during an early test of the link systems. It seemed that there was some problem with a computer link that electrocuted Rayne who was trapped inside.
Everything that Misato could find supported the accident at work claim. She decided to move on. She chose to look into Waverly next.
Dr. John Thomas Waverly had had a lackluster career until shortly after the second impact when he had met Sara Rayne. Misato found that Waverly had worked for Seele since that time. After Rayne's death, he was the executor of the estate, since Karen was only 8 at the time. He sold off most of the household goods, and sent the young girl to live at a boarding school. During Karen's third year of college, he had requested her transfer to his projects. This had rushed her graduation from the University at Utah. Based on the reports logged about the man, he seemed to be completely devoted to his work, there was no mention of any outside work or family.
Misato frowned at this information, Waverly had rubbed her the wrong way when they first met, and she was not inclined to believe anything about the man.
Misato continued to trace back the girl's files, but found that all information on Karen Ikari-Rayne stopped when she reached the Second Impact. Misato couldn't even find an original birth certificate, the one in her file was a replacement issued by a courthouse in Utah.
Katsuragi looked at her watch. Her time was almost up. Why was there no more information about the girl? It was common for people to be missing large amounts of information from before the Impact, but no one had lost all of their documents. There had to be more to this.
