The year 2004, 2 weeks before the first live test of the pilot-eva interface system. Late October.

"Dr Akagi you're presence is requested in eva cage 3, Dr Akagi your presence is requested
in eva cage 3." A droning monologue voice called over the PA system, interrupting Naoko's
thoughts.

-Damnit what does the supposed head researcher of Project E want now- thought Naoko bitterly.
Her hatred of Yui Ikari was well known but the extent of it was not. While many of the tech
staff and other researchers thought it was a simple case of being resentful at a person better
off than her that would eventually pass, Naoko's hatred ran much deeper. While the reason for
her hatred was consistent with the general consensus, Naoko took it much too seriously. No one
had any idea what she was willing to do to clear Yui from the scene.

As Dr Akagi entered the eva cage, she noticed that the Eva inhabiting it was not the expected
Unit 01, but Unit 00. Angry and confused she stormed up to Yui.
"What on earth are you doing to Unit 00? It's my responsibility and my project." Naoko yelled.
"Naoko, I had no choice, as of now Unit 00 is under my supervision. You've been caught siphoning
funds from the maintenance of Unit 00 and now it is nearly crippled." Yui said calmly.
"What are you talking about? I simply shifted the remaining funds from the construction of Unit 00
into my Magi project." Naoko said in an evasive voice.
"Don't look at me, I'm simply taking over. Gendo was suspicious of the high level of maintenance
you claimed was being performed on Unit 00. After he asked me to do an inspection, he found out the
truth. And also you forget you claimed that Unit 00 ran under the budget with no problems, to the
committee, but you were reprimanded for deceiving them after I ran an inspection and found that
Unit 00 was substandard, and filled with design deviations that could have mean that the first time
it is activated, it will be unpredictable and likely to malfunction or go insane." Yui said as she
ticked off each statement on her fingers
"Oh, so we weren't allowed to deviate from your precious parameters were we, for the sake of economy?"
Naoko said in a heavily sarcastic voice.
"Yes, you were, except when human lives are at stake. Even you could imagine what havoc an out of
control Eva could do. In addition you know fully well how much time and money has gone into each of
the Evas, I doubt the committee will be impressed with your cost cutting if the Eva destroys itself
and some very expensive equipment and facilities." Yui retorted
Naoko turned away, furious that her second diversion of funds had been found. She had been spending
the money on running more tests on her proposed processor and memory systems for the Magi system.
Often the experiments resulted in melted circuits, corrupted media and burnt bio-components, very
expensive yet unnecessary experiments, since she wanted to run the experiments with every single lttle
change she did, which was daily. She would be literally burning $4 million dollars a day if she had
her way. Unfortunately for her, the budget assigned to her project was only $10 million a month.

While this in itself is a annoyance almost every researcher is subjected to, Naoko was furious because
Yui ran daily tests on the Eva's components and upgraded them about once a month. She controlled a
budget of approximately $8 billion dollars a year. This is obviously due to Yui's position as head
researcher, a position Naoko wanted to usurp to divert more of it towards her Magi project.

While Naoko was scheming and plotting, Yui was busily going over Unit 00's components with 2 dozen
other researchers and technicians. The list of defects and missing components was huge, over 3000
components were either substandard or plain missing, including the unit's armour/bindings. While
Unit 02 had 5120 mm of advanced titanium alloy armour and Unit 01 had 6480mm, Unit 00 had a staggering
7000mm of medium grade titanium armour plate. Yui shook her head as she mentally calculated how much
agility Unit 00 would lose due to this heavy, low grade armour, which just met the durability criteria
Yui had set out for the project. Yui frowned and decided Naoko believed the A.T. field to be
inpenetrable, and that the Eva would be used against conventional forces. While the armour on Unit 00
would easily handle anything that an army could throw at it, short of a N2 explosive device, it
wouldn't be able to dodge the more powerful attacks of an angel. The Dead Sea scrolls included some
rudimentary clues as to each angel's powers, which all suggested the metal alloys currently available
wouldn't stop their attacks for long, especially their projectile and beam weapons which could be
avoided with enough agility. It was also noted that many would be best engaged in close range, which
would also require strong armour, for defence and attack. In addition The amount and quality of armour
on Units 01 and 02 were directly related to the possibility of it going beserk and the angel in its
soul taking control. Unit 00 currently had no soul and neither did any of the other two Units, but
Yui had calculated that they would develop them after the first activation trial. She sighed and
continued to make a list of corrections, mostly just replacing the cheaper, substandard parts with
parts that met Yui's criteria. -It's going to take at least a month to personaly correct the bio
components and "upgrade" certain components- Yui knew that many of the angels could not be taken out
with giant rifles and had already added a bio component that allowed the Eva to project its A.T. field
like a blade. She was waiting until she could get access to Unit 02 to add the same component.

But Naoko knew that there was one critical part that wouldn't seem to be substandard, a part she had
deliberately sabotaged. Yui had participated in the development of every component in the Eva, except
the pilot-eva interface and Eva entry plug. These were in Naoko's area of expertise and hence she had
developed them without Yui seeing the plans. Naoko had deliberately neglected to add the power cable
to the synchronisation buffer Yui had requested. This part would prevent a Sync ratio of over 100% from
occuring. Naoko had heard Yui say that a sync ratio any higher could result in the mental
contamination of the pilot. And Yui was to act as the pilot in the first trial of the system in 2
weeks time... With the 2nd trial on Unit 02 due 3 months after. Naoko knew the loss of Yui would spark
a furious bug test that would find nothing because the lack of the power cable would be found as a
manufacturing error. Naoko smiled -Soon.... the resources of the committee will be at my disposal.-

Meanwhile in the refurbished lab where Rei lived, Shinji was a very happy boy, he had just managed to
"borrow" Rei's toy blocks while she was sleeping and was happily playing with them when he felt a light
hold on his neck. On a pressure point, although Shinji didn't know this.
"Why did you take my blocks?" Rei's calm coice sounded from behind him.
"You were sleeping." Shinji replied.
"That is not a sufficiently valid reason to take my blocks for you own use."
"But mom says I should share, so you should share too."
"I do not know what sharing means."
"ummm, its when you let someone else use some of your stuff."
"I see, I will share my blocks with you." Rei said as she let go of Shinji's neck, sat herself down and
took two thirds of the blocks to use for herself, leaving Shinji with the rest. Shinji just grinned at
Rei, happy that he got at least some of them.

Test Day

Yui was feeling giddy. The day had arrived, the first time a human would control an Eva. Yui sobered when
she remembered that Seele wouldn't hesitate to dispose of her if they thought she would foil their plans
in anyway, regardless of her briliance. She planned to become the soul of Unit 01 after she had modified
the Evas to be more independent than Seele wanted. Kyoko was planning to do a similar thing, ever since
they had found that only those pregnant during second impact or born within a year of it could interface
with an Evangelion. The two women assumed that since so few children had been born in that period and that
by the approximate time the Dead Sea Scrolls had predicted the Angels would begin to arrive, they would be
teenagers with better reflexes than those who had been pregnant. Naturally this meant that Shinji and Asuka
would be candidates for Eva piloting due to their mothers. Both parents wanted to be there to take care of
them if it happened and the best place to do that would be as the Eva's soul, secretly aiding them and also
being in the perfect position to avert or guide 3rd impact. Rei would have the ability to pilot any of the
current 3 evas unless the soul within actively resisted.
"The test of the Eva-pilot interface will begin in t-minus 3 mins, will Dr Ikari please report to Eva cage 2."
Yui was finished changing into a prototype plug suit and walked to the Eva cage. She took a quick look at
the observation deck and it's occupants. She heard the conversation regarding Shinji's presence on the
observation deck and told them she had let him in to see what a bright future was ahead of him. As she climbed
into the Entry plug she saw Naoko with a smirk on her face. Disturbed, she waited for the Entry plug's hatch
to close and the plug filled with LCL. She heard the announcement of the beginning of the test and then heard
no more as her body dissolved into the LCL.

"Sync ratio is over 400%!!!!!"
"YUI!!!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!"
A satisfied smirk appeared on Naoko's face that was wiped off as Unit 01's hand broke free of the restraints
and began to draw back for a punch before the shocked Naoko managed to cut the power. With the internal
batteries not yet installed, the Eva stopped immediately and the arm slumped down to Unit 01's side. Gendo
saw this through his tears and realised it was a sign from Yui... He swore revenge as soon as Naoko became....
disposable...

3 hours after the accident

Shinji was still crying, looking for his mother. Rei was also silently crying inside. Yui had been her mother
too. While Shinji had little idea as to what had happened to Yui, Rei however had understood the research tech's
attempt to explain what had happened. It also helped that Yui had taught her as much as she had been able about
the operation of the Evas. She had an inkling on what had gone wrong, and that the Dr Akagi she had heard about
was likely to be responsible. Rei knew of the concept of revenge and she decided to wait for the opportunity to
use the concept. Gendo had disappeared after the accident and no-one had been able to locate him...


3 months later

"The synch ratio is increasing!!! 140% 200%!!!"
"Disconnect the nerve impulses, cut power to the Eva!!"
"Links cut, power cut, the pilot hasn't dissolved but we read massive mind contamination."
"Momma? Are you ok?" a small red-headed girl cried out.
"Your not my daughter, you are holding her, please let her down before she gets hurt" Kyoko said as she emerged
from the entry plug, pointing at the doll Asuka was carrying.

Naoko's revenge was complete, Rei had disappeared and Shinji was sent, still crying, to live with his uncle.
Gendo still lead the Gehirn branch but came to be despised for his icy demeanor and utter ruthlessness.

The Beginning of the end.


Well it's finished. At least that's the plan. I might eventually do a fic in the years between this and the first
episode. Pls review and C&C this fic. And give me some flames if you wish, it is still cold where I live. I'm
thinking of adding an epilogue with Yui's thoughts from within Unit 01.