Two chapters down, a dozen more to go. And I am well aware that the F-22 might be out of date by 20-whatever the year is. However, I am also aware of the Joint Strike Fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-35, so you will see that the US forces have some other, very powerful fighters, tanks, and infantry weapons and such. The US is going to have lots of fun. Here's a funny thing. When one of the reviewers said something about Asuka trying to attempt suicide three times, I actually drew a blank and had to go back to check where I wrote that. Funny, right? Oh, and the first part of this chapter is to all the army and air force nuts out there.

Flight

Chapter 3: Ties of the Family

"Here you go General."

Shinji looked at the huge stack of paper, then at Sarah, and finally shifted his gaze back onto the stack. He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to feel at the moment. All this stuff was ridiculous and he had better things to do then memorize the full complement of forces the US had arrayed against NERV. However, it might be useful one day so he took the top packet and started reading it.

"You're dismissed Lieutenant."

Sarah saluted smartly and left the office. By the time she closed the door Shinji had already finished half of the first page. The first packet was about the squadron of B-3 Liberty strategic bombers the US had based in Japan. Each of them was capable of carrying an N2 mine as well as conventional bombs. They were all stealth bombers and undetectable by radar or infrared. Another nice adaptation that had been added on them was a camouflage skin that used electric pulses to change the color of the skin, therefore making them invisible in the sky. Research and Development was still working on adapting it for other vehicles besides airplanes. The B-3 could withstand a direct hit from a SAM and still fly. However, Shinji wasn't too sure he wanted to test that possibility.

Shinji skipped the next packet. It was about the electromagnetic railgun and he already knew plenty about that. Originally developed for the Star Wars defense project, the first ones were onetime use launchers and required an enormous amount of energy to fire. Therefore they were extremely impractical until these technological hurdles had been passed.

The air-superiority fighter presence was more interesting. There were two squadrons of F-22E model fighters, as well as three squadrons of the F-35C model fighters. The F-22 was an extremely effective fighter and powerful enough to take down almost any other fighter in the world. It was extremely stealthy and the latest version was armed with a new type of particle weapons cannon. The F-35C, also known as the Joint Strike Fighter, was the latest in a rather recent line. Its first class was built after the first F-22s and the Navy, Air Force, and Marines all shared this fighter. The F-35C had the camouflage coating on its skin, was invisible to radar, gave the signature of a bird on infrared, and had two particle beam cannons mounted on each wing. It actually didn't look too much different from the original model, but it was a far tougher bird.

After skipping the packets on the OICW and other infantry weapons, all of which he had a great deal of experience with and knew a lot about, he came upon the armored vehicles. The M2-A2 Roosevelt tank was tough and powerful. Its cannon was extremely powerful and the armor on it could withstand a direct shot from most other tanks. However, its time was past and the new M2-A3 Eisenhower tank was moving in. Weighing half as much as the Roosevelt, the Eisenhower had stronger armor, a particle weapons cannon, and the capability to hover over rivers. The polymer used for its armor was very new and only the United States had access to it right now. Slowly but surely, the US was returning to its spot as the most powerful nation on Earth.

There was at least a dozen other packets to go through and Shinji managed to get through two more, both on communications equipment. After finishing the second one, he was bored out of his mind and set the rest aside. He left his office for a brisk walk and ran into Bart and Zach.

"Hey Sam," Bart greeted.

"Hey. Enjoying yourselves?"

"Yeah. Tokyo 4 has a lot of great women."

"Piece of advice," said Shinji, "Stay away from a redhead and a girl with blue hair."

"Any particular reason?" Zach asked.

"The redhead is my ex. If she doesn't kill you for trying to hit on her I probably will. The girl with blue hair is my sister. She won't try to harm you physically, but again, I will."

"That blue-haired girl wouldn't be the same one that tried to get you to come here," Bart inquired.

"The one and only."

"There's a lot we didn't know about you," said Zach, "Especially about your family. But hey, if you want us to stay away from your sister we'll follow orders."

Shinji smiled back and nodded. He had given the impression to NERV that he had grown up to become like his father. However, his father was held in New York Maximum Security. The UN had asked for someone to hold Gendo Ikari and most nations had refused. However, the US finally took him and he was behind a very strict guard. He was the most dangerous man alive and everyone knew it. If he got free, the world would be in trouble.

"I'll see you guys later at the range," he said.

The two soldiers saluted and walked off. Shinji now stood alone in the hallway. He looked at the window wall and examined his reflection. The sunglasses he had on were like those of his father. He personally didn't care much for his father's sense of fashion and still wore the uniform of a brigadier general. However, the glasses were enough to make anyone think that he was his father, or at least a younger version. Only the eyes were different. Instead of two ice-cold eyes, Shinji's were tired and yet caring at the same time. However, few who saw his smile now ever made it any higher on his face. Shinji expected NERV to request a meeting with him very soon. At most, two weeks. He could wait. He would wait.



"Dr. Ibuki."

Maya looked up and saw Misato standing over her desk. She stood up quickly and snapped a salute.

"Commander Katsuragi."

"How is the activation test proceeding?"

"Everything is ready," Maya answered, "All we need is the pilot."

"Good."

Misato looked out the window and gazed upon the form of Unit 01. The most powerful of the Evangelions, it had ripped apart all of the MP EVAs that had confronted it and didn't even suffer any damage. It was NERV's prize possession, but without a pilot it was absolutely useless. Both Rei and Asuka could not pilot it and their EVA units had been destroyed. The core of Unit 02 had been salvaged and was in storage, but Unit 00 had been completely destroyed when Rei self-destructed it. Unit 14 was nearing completion and it would give NERV a bit more bargaining space if they ever needed it. The Russians had played right into NERV's hands and would be giving NERV the newest and most advanced Evangelion ever built. Perhaps it would be even more powerful than Unit 01.

"What of the preparations for Unit 14?" Misato asked.

"We have the area cleared for it and it will be ready for an activation test twenty-four hours after arrival."

"Very good. Who should be the pilot?"

"Ms Soryu," Maya replied, "She has the highest sync rate of the current active pilots."

Misato nodded. She left the office and walked down the corridor. The hallway was compressing and seemed to come down on her. Her boots clicked as they touched the hard floor. NERV was never known for its comforts, and Misato had better things to do than try to change that. She got into the elevator and took it down to Dogma. With the destruction of Lilith, every one of the Angels had been supposedly destroyed. However, there were things that not even the UN or other members of NERV knew about. Only she and a dozen others knew about all of the ongoing projects in Dogma. She swiped her ID card and the elevator descended. It opened and Misato walked into a dark room.

"Lights."

A hum could be heard as the lighting activated. It took her a few seconds to adjust to the new light but she continued walking anyways. She came upon a blast door designed to keep out anyone not authorized to go in. A retinal scan was taken and she swiped her ID card through another reader. The massive door separated and slid into the wall. Inside was a massive artificial hanger that held up a large creature. Its body seemed to be composed of pure white light and looked very much like Unit 01. However, its head was shaped differently and the eyes were closed. Technicians were working to put on a blue armor to cover the beast. The wing component was still lying in the LCL and the beast was only partially covered in the blue- white armor. Spots of bright light shone through. Misato couldn't help but look in awe at the powerful creature. It had survived the Second and Third Impact and every attempt by NERV to destroy it. Even when it was in its embryo form, it had been powerful enough to overcome everything NERV could throw at it. She walked over to the platform and climbed up the stairs to the catwalk. Makoto Hyuga was looking down at a clipboard as Misato approached him.

"Lieutenant."

Hyuga snapped to attention.

"Commander Katsuragi."

"How is he doing?"

"The pilot system has been installed," Makoto reported, "We had to take out part of its spinal cord to fit everything in but we've rerouted everything through the entry plug system."

"Excellent. The most powerful being known to humanity, and we have tamed it."

"Perhaps," said Makoto, "However, we do not control it."

"What makes you say that?" Misato asked the tech.

"You cannot control something unless you can destroy it," Makoto replied, "We cannot destroy it, and yet it can destroy us."

"Then we'll just have to make sure it doesn't," said Misato, "Give me a rundown of its weapons."

"Yes ma'am. Currently the Unit has only twelve percent of its armor plating installed. The wing component will have to wait until we finish its front and in the final phase of installing its rear armor. Per your orders, we've installed a powerful positron weapon on its left arm and it will draw power from the S-2 engine. We have two undamaged Lance of Longinus copies left over from the attack Seele launched on NERV. Those will serve for now."

"They'll have to," said Misato, "We have no way of retrieving the original, and the only ones that even have a shot at it are the Americans. Japan won't be spending any money on development of a new kind of space shuttle."

"Very true. It has healing abilities similar to that of Unit 01, if not surpassing," Makoto continued, "and in two weeks we'll have finished the pilot interface program."

"Excellent. With this, we'll have three EVA units. A pity that Unit 01 refuses to work without Shinji."

"I assume you had no luck in convincing him to return," Makoto noted dryly.

"No," Misato said with a sigh, "Shinji's changed and he hates NERV with a passion. If he found out what we were doing he would ripe NERV apart with Unit 01."

"Is there anything else commander?"

"No. Carry on lieutenant. You've done good work."

Misato left Makoto to his work. Makoto adjusted his glasses as he looked up at the giant before him. This being had always been considered with great fear and respect for its power. Now humanity had chained it for its own purposes. Besides the weapons that humanity had given it, the Unit was capable of focusing energy in devastating ways and had one of the strongest AT-Fields imaginable. Of course, that was probably because of what it was before being transformed into an EVA Unit. Makoto was standing before the supreme being known as Adam.



"Ladies and gentlemen, these are photos taken using our satellites over Vladivostok," the intelligence officer said, "As you can see, something is being transported and that something is incredibly large. It covers an entire freighter and so far we know of only one thing that requires that much space to move."

"An EVA."

The staff officers all turned their heads and looked at Shinji. He was sitting with his arms on the table and his hands clutched tightly.

"I assume this is confirmation," Shinji said to the intelligence officer.

"Yes general. According to our measurements and our best estimates, the only thing that this can be is an EVA. However, there are still some holes."

"There are always holes," said Shinji, "I have already sent a report to the Pentagon asking for permission to intercept this transport. NERV is not authorized to obtain any more EVA units without the authorization of the Security Council of the UN. As far as I know, NERV has not filed a request and the Council never gave them permission for anything."

"That may be a dangerous operation," said the logistics officer, "We would require the navy to stop that convoy and possibly have to engage foreign warships."

Shinji turned his head and looked at the logistics officer. Amanda was an intelligent woman and could be counted on to point out problems that needed solving. It was a very useful thing to have.

"We should get authorization from the UN," said the operations officer, Victor.

"That would take too long," Shinji countered, "We need to move fast. If the Pentagon approves my request, will the navy support this?"

This time all of the heads turned to look at the commodore present. He had the authority to call in a small fleet of destroyers and cruisers for any operation and his cooperation would be needed.

"You'll get what you need," he said, "Who will board the freighter?"

"Two Ranger teams and a Delta team," Shinji answered, "Are there any other questions?"

There were none.

"Meeting adjourned. I suggest you come up with a decent plan on how to intercept and stop that convoy. I don't want to start a war with Russia here."

Shinji was the only one that left the meeting room. Everyone else started putting together some kind of plan to commandeer the Russian convoy. Shinji had other things to take care of, one of which was to join his daughter for their afternoon walk. They always went for a stroll at around four and Shinji wasn't about to miss today's. There usually wasn't much to see around a military base, but they were in a new base. There were new people and new places to explore. Jessica always had a yearning for the unknown that Shinji never really shared. He preferred constants instead of unpredictability, but his daughter usually won him over whenever she wanted to go someplace new. Jessica was waiting for him at the main door into the compound.

"Hi Daddy."

Shinji smiled and took Jessica's hand. She still stuck close to him when she could and like holding his hands. While most children nearing her age would want to walk on their own, Jessica was different. She didn't see herself as immature for holding her father's hand. She saw herself as her father's daughter, and that was fine with Shinji. Father and daughter walked around the main compound but Shinji kept her away from the airfield. The noise from the engines could be deafening and he hated it anyways. Five helicopters flew over them as they came to land at the pads. Shinji could still remember when the VTOL aircraft of the Japanese Special Forces attacked NERV. He knew that Asuka had taken them out but he had failed to protect her. He had promised her he would protect her, and he never made a promise he could not keep. As much as they thought he was harming them, he was probably doing them more good than they could ever realize.

"Daddy?"

Shinji looked down at his daughter.

"What are you looking at?"

Shinji realized that he had been staring off at the direction Tokyo 4 would be.

"Just thinking," he said to his daughter, "Come on. Let's go see those jeeps."

Jessica nodded and followed her father. She always had a fascination about any kind of machine and always tried to figure out how they worked. Shinji had shown her how to fix an engine she was eight and then taken her flying on one of the old Blackhawks just two months ago. They walked over to the garage and saw several mechanics working on a few Humvees.

"General."

Shinji nodded to the lieutenant.

"Mind if my daughter tries her hand?" he asked the lieutenant.

"As long as she doesn't damage anything," the lieutenant replied, "Isn't she a bit young?"

Shinji chuckled. "Lieutenant, Jessica probably knows as much about engines as you or anyone else here."

"Is that a fact?" the lieutenant asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Honey, show them what you know."

A wide smile appeared on Jessica's face.



Toji tossed and turned a few more times before Hikari rolled over and placed an arm around him.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

Toji wasn't sure how to answer her. Everything was the matter these days. After Shinji had been located, he had expected everything to settle down. Now the US and NERV were engaged in a battle of words and right now NERV was losing. The Security Council was listening more to the US than to NERV these days and they were putting more and more restraints on NERV. Fortunately, as far as Toji knew, no one outside of the command staff knew about the EVA unit the Russians had built and were delivering. However, there were secrets kept from him as well. There was a major project in Central Dogma that he knew nothing about and another one involving Asuka's division that was also cloaked in secrecy. A person could only take so many secrets.

"I was just wishing everything would return to normal," Toji said to his wife.

"Everything should be back to normal," Hikari agreed, "Shinji's back but he's a completely different person."

"I doubt that man is even Shinji anymore," said Toji, "He calls himself Sam Richards. Does that sound like the Shinji Ikari we knew and trusted?"

"No," Hikari admitted reluctantly, "Asuka's still having some trouble copping with everything that's happened. I mean, Shinji showing up with a daughter and taking command of the US forces in Japan."

Toji turned again and laid on his back with Hikari leaning partially on his shoulder. He was tired from globe hopping and just wanted a chance to actually live a life. Unfortunately, he worked for NERV and NERV required that you put your family aside.

"What exactly are we going to do?" Toji asked, "There is no reason for NERV to even exist anymore, but it still does. How has Misato done this?"

"I don't know," Hikari confessed, "She's kept the Security Council off of our backs for this long. I think she'll be able to keep them off of our backs for a while longer."

"Long enough to finish whatever projects your running?"

"Hopefully."

Toji noticed his wife tensing when he mentioned the projects. He was only aware of two and then only of one in detail. He was still against it but he couldn't do anything about it. Hikari, Asuka, and Maya were working on another dummy plug system. He couldn't help but wince at the thought of another dummy plug. The first one had cost him his arm and nearly his life. Why they needed another dummy plug was beyond him. Perhaps it was because of the new EVA unit being delivered from Russia. That he knew a bit more about. After spending three years on the drawing board and four more in construction, it had finally been completed. As far as Section 2 was aware of, no outsiders knew of the project. But why they needed an Evangelion was another story completely.

"Let's try to get some sleep," Toji whispered to his wife.

Hikari sighed and cuddled up to him. It was nice to have her husband back and she wanted to enjoy every last second of it.



"General, message from NERV."

Shinji nodded and got up. Jessica was playing BS with his squad mates. Every few days Jessica would join their card games. At first they went easy on her but ended up being annihilated every time she played. Though these were not betting games, they were still not used to losing to a ten year old. After that, they actually started trying and yet Jessica was still able to win most of the time.

Shinji walked to the office next to his and turned on the screen. Misato's face appeared.

"Shinji."

"I hope you have a good reason for calling me," he greeted coldly.

"It's about Asuka. You need to talk to her face to face. She's a wreck right now."

"Fine. I'll provide an escort for her and she can come to the base."

"I was thinking you could come down to NERV," Misato suggested.

"You could try a more subtle approach," Shinji shot back, "I'm not that stupid and it would be a sad thing to make that mistake twice."

"Shinji, Asuka won't leave NERV for any reason at all. I've tried to convince her and she won't budge. The only thing that will make her feel better is a face to face with you and I can't get her to leave the installation."

"Then give her the damn letter," Shinji yelled, "I am not going to walk into a trap to fix a mistake you made, Misato."

"Shinji, I have no idea what you're talking about," Misato tried to convince him, "There are no letters. If there were we never received them."

"Then I guess I don't have to worry about coming to NERV," Shinji replied, "Until Rei and Asuka get their letters, I will not even consider coming to NERV."

"But we don't have them," Misato persisted.

"Good. That means I'll never have to worry about coming to NERV. Goodbye Misato."

Shinji terminated the communiqué just as Misato started speaking again. He came back and noticed it was his turn.

"Where are we?" he asked.

"Fives," Andrew informed him.

Shinji took out two cards and laid them face down. "Two fives."

No one challenged him, which was a very good thing. Both were random cards he had picked out.

"So what was that message about?" Sarah asked, then laid one card down, "One six."

"NERV's trying to get me back again," Shinji replied, "Not going to work though."

"Those guys need to give up," William said, "So you going to call it or play?"

Zach carefully looked at Sarah and then at his deck. He had three of the sixes and the chances of Sarah having the fourth one was slim. What he couldn't see was Sarah praying for him to just play a card.

"BS."

Sarah let her head fall and took all of the cards. The other officers and Jessica chuckled. William then played.

"One ace."

"Three twos."

The officers all looked at Jessica and she dared them to call BS on her. Of course, it was a small hand but all of them remembered when Shinji had nearly won and he had called BS on her. He ended up losing the game.

"One three."

The tension finally passed when William played.

"I heard that Jessica fixed three Humvees this afternoon," said Bart, "More than the mechanics could do."

"She has a natural gift with machines," Sarah remarked, "Now play."

"Two fours," Bart played.

"General, another call from NERV."

Shinji growled but got up and walked over to the display. To his surprise, it wasn't Misato. Instead, Rei's face was on the screen.

"Hello Rei. What can I do for you?"

"May I visit you tomorrow?"

Shinji quickly brought up his schedule for the next day and scanned through it. He had two inspections in the morning and a meeting in the afternoon. However, his evening was free.

"How does dinner sound?" he asked.

"That would be excellent," Rei agreed, "I will see you for dinner. Formal or informal?"

"Rei, we're family. Informal of course."

Rei nodded and the screen went blank. Shinji cracked a smile before returning to the game. He really didn't have anything against the people who worked for NERV. It was just the institution he hated.



Rei raised her head and looked at Asuka. The redhead had an exhausted look on her face but tried to hide it.

"You may come if you wish," Rei said.

"No," Asuka said, shaking her head, "Shinji didn't even leave a message for me when he left. Why should I go crawling back to him?"

Rei hesitated for two full seconds before she came to her decision.

"Asuka, I think Shinji did send messages."

Asuka snapped her head up and stared at Rei.

"According to him he sent messages through the American CIA but they were intercepted by Section 2 and were never delivered."

"But Toji's the head of Section 2," said Asuka, "He would never do something like that."

"Perhaps," said Rei, "but I believe this was before he took over Section 2. I believe Shinji, but someone is hiding the messages from us. He sent one to me as well, and I would like to see what he had to say."

Asuka nodded. "Yeah. I guess I shouldn't have doubted he'd try to send a message. But who blocked them?"

"There is only one person that could have," Rei answered, "Commander Katsuragi."

End of Chapter 3

How many of you caught my reference to my other fic, Formalities, with the B-3 Liberty bomber? And the other story with Shinji in Delta Force is the Human Cleansing Project by me, though if there is another one out there I don't know about it. Okay, also had to remove a bunch of repeated reviews. I'm not a person that's just trying to rack up reviews.

Z98