ONE MORE THING: THIS WOULD MAKE KAWORU THIS SIXTH CHILD. ^_^ ALSO, I'M CHANGING
THE MAKEUP OF THE MANTICORE KIDS SLIGHTLY TO FIT THE EVANGELION PART OF THE STORY--ALL
X5 CHILDREN IN ADDITION TO FELINE DNA IN THEIR GENETIC COCKTAILS, THEY WILL HAVE GENETIC MATERIAL FROM
THE SYNTHETIC S2 UNIT THAT CAUSED SECOND IMPACT AND ADAM'S DNA, LIKE AYANAMI REI HAS..

2. Liebe Ausgang [Loving the exit]

max pressed the button on her new red plug suit. it clung to her everywhere. it was skin tight.
she looked at herself in the mirror. she looked good in it..but...

"max-kun! it's time for your first synchrograph test! hurry!" misato called to her, and max ran
her hands through her hair and sighed. she wasn't exactly scared of the big beast, but..there was
something so dark about it...

"MAX-KUN!"

"hai..hai..." she mumbled, and came out in the plug suit. the male construction staff stared. she made a face.
"what the fuck are you guys staring at?"

misato laughed quietly, "come on, we have to get you in the plug. they're just not
used to seeing a girl in a plug suit like you since asuka."
+++

"okay, max-kun, just focus on being one with 02. that's how synch tests work." ritsuko told her
over the intercom.

max shut her eyes. [imagine it's tinga or zack], she told herself mentally, [imagine it's being one with
all my siblings]..

and so max focused. she missed her siblings so much. she threw herself head first into that void in her mind,
that connected her with evangelion unit 02.

"my god." ritsuko whispered as maya was calling up the results, "we haven't seen a synch rate this high ever. not
since..shinji and unit 01 and that S2 engine incident..."

"what?!" misato ran over, seeing the readings. over 150%. "is she in any danger of falling into klein space
or having her ego borderline set in a loop?"

"none, none whatsoever!" maya exclaimed, staring at the dummy plug tester.

gendo just smiled behind his hands at his desk.

misato turned to him, shocked, "is she an angel?"

ritsuko saw tears streaming down max's face.

"nope. all patterns read red, not blue." a tech answered.

"she's got the same as rei does, doesn't she?" fuyutsuki leaned down and whispered to gendo,
"adam's DNA?"

gendo nodded. "that's why her synch rates are so high. by just wishing to be one with 02, she can do it."

"SEELE knows."

he nodded again.

"are you really going to keep that deal with her?"

"we have no choice, fuyutsuki-kyoju." he whispered back, "lydecker and the US come in and it all goes to hell."
+++

max was getting changed back into her regular clothes. maya was waiting for her, in awe, outside.

"i never thought i would meet a child of manticore." she said quietly, "we'd heard about how you guys were
raised but.." she struggled for words, "that was amazing. i've never seen readings like that before!"

max looked down, then back up at maya. she shoved her against the locker.

"don't think that manticore is a good place." she growled, "because it isn't. they tortured us, and killed
many of my siblings all in the name of 'science'. don't be impressed."

she let go of maya and stalked off.

"it's not going to be easy to have her stay here." ritsuko said behind maya, "she's not asuka in personality,
but she's not going to be easier to handle, either."
+++

max was sitting on the deck of geo-front, watching the sunset. she leaned against the balcony fence, with tears in her
eyes.

[why am i here?] she asked herself, [why did i agree to do this? i've got the world on my shoulders..]

she shut her eyes, feeling the sun's warmth on her back.

[i'm doing this for them. i can't let any of them die.] max slammed her fist against the
railing, [i'm doing it so they can't ever be caught by that bastard again!]

"hey." misato smiled, coming up behind her. "catch!" she tossed a cold can at her and max, turning around quickly,
caught it immediately. "i know that must have been hard."

"hard?!" max glared, "i've just made a deal with the devil, haven't i?"

"you're doing it to protect your siblings. that's noble enough." misato opened her can of tea and drank from it.

"it's okay." misato said quietly, "shinji was the same way in the beginning. hell, he's still a bit
screwed up..."

max suddenly felt a huge longing to open up to misato, even though she'd just met her today. she had
a strong urge to throw herself upon misato and cry on her shoulder. but she kept her tears seething in her chest.

"you were crying during the test." misato ventured boldly, sitting next to her on the bench,
"was there anything wrong?"

"my siblings." max said almost inaudibly, "i never even knew how many of them made it."

"i'll try to get you some information, okay?" misato said, putting her hand on max's back. max flinched
at the contact.

misato also felt intense feelings for this girl. she seemed so strong yet so damaged and vulnerable at the same
time. just like misato was inside.

"thank you." she mumbled, bowing slightly.

"oh yeah, almost forgot. you're going to be living with shinji and i. he's the pilot for 01. that's okay with you,
right?"

"i guess. i have nowhere else to stay. thank you again, katsuragi-ichi."

"call me misato!" she smiled, and helped max up, "c'mon. work's done for today. let's go home to
shinji-kun, okay?"

max felt a slow smile spread across her face. she hoped she could become friends with misato.
+++
"tadaima." shinji called out softly. he saw that new boxes had replaced asuka's old ones. as much
as he hated to admit, he missed asuka. he definately was horrified at the attack the angel had thrown
at her--and wanted to help. but asuka was definately proud, TOO proud to recieve such help, making
shinji all the more sad.

he could smell instant curry cooking and felt his stomach lurch. he had to help misato learn to cook sometime.
he kicked off his shoes and walked into the dining area.

he dropped his bag in shock.

"oh, shinji-kun, you're finally home!"

"who..who..?" he studdered as max turned to him. he blushed a deep red as he took a long look at her.

"meet guevara max, the fifth child."

max turned to him and gave a slow smile. "yoroshiku-ne." she said softly.

"she's from wyoming in the USA."

"yoroshiku." he said, bowing formally. he went to sit at the table.

"what held you up?" misato asked, handing him a can of cold tea.

"oh. ritsuko-san just had a few extra things to test us on. weaponry..stuff like that."

"right! i forgot about that."

"ritsuko-san said that you would, misato-san."

misato went purple with rage and shinji just laughed nervously. max laughed softly as well.
misato was relieved to see max laughing. that girl seemed too guarded.