Rei stood silently on the escalator to the top level of NERV. Her nerves were steeled and her face expressionless, ready to see Commander Ikari. She would not cooperate with him. She would not allow him to touch her, to defile her, to ruin her. She did not owe him anything. She set her jaw and took a deep breath, watching the top level draw closer. When she came to the top of the escalator a boy stood there, looking at her with a half-smile on his face. He was young, as young as she, but his hair was an unearthly grey, his eyes piercing, but his manner was familiar. "You're the First Child, aren't you?" he asked plainly. "Rei Ayanami. You are the same as I am."

She narrowed her eyes, staring at the boy whose eyes were the same haunting red as her own. She had never met anyone else with eyes the same colour as hers. "Who are you?"

"The Fifth Child, Kaoru Nagisa," he replied, extending his hand. She glanced down at the hand, but did not take it. Soon he withdrew it, the smile remaining. "You are going to see Commander Ikari again."

She stared evenly at him through narrowed eyes. "How do you..."

Kaoru smiled enigmatically. "I know much about NERV and its personnel."

Rei didn't even blink, but she tilted her head slightly, narrowing her eyes further. Her lips parted slightly as she stared into the Fifth Child's eyes, gathering information, connecting. Both pilots held each other's eyes evenly, searching as though seeing straight into the other's soul. Her eyes widened as she read him, but she said nothing, kept her information inside.

"The Commander will force you."

Rei was silent for a moment, a small sigh escaping her lips. "I know," she said finally, her eyes cold and hard. "But he will never have my soul."

Kaoru's smile was sad and gentle, and he reached up and softly brushed her hair from her eyes. He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on the centre of her forehead. "Ritsuko has destroyed the Dummy Plug. You are your own, now, Ayanami."

She backed up a step and stared at him, her expression unrevealing of her shock. "Fifth Child…" she whispered, her lips barely parted. "How do you know about…Dr. Akagi…I…"

But he merely shook his head and smiled, and then moved aside to allow her to pass. "Good luck, Ayanami."

"Thank you." She did not look back, but started again at a steady pace to the Commander's office, leaving Kaoru smiling regretfully after her.

She slowed her pace a beat. Had Dr. Akagi destroyed the Dummy Plug? That would mean that she, she alone, Rei Ayanami III, was the only one left. She smiled with a measure of relief, safe with the secret information that would keep the Commander from issuing idle threats.

She walked evenly until she reached the high, imposing door to his office. She took another deep breath, then turned the handle and slid inside. The door made a loud click as it was closed, and she tried not to flinch at the sound. Standing as far away from his desk as was possible, Rei stared evenly at Commander Ikari's face hidden behind his glasses, her hostility restrained, her anger held in check. "You required to see me again, Commander?"

"You know why you're here, Rei." He walked around his desk towards her, and for the moment she held her ground, lifting her chin and watching him with neutral eyes. She could recognise the look in his eyes now, on his face as he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue, and she fought herself not to run. He reached his gloved hand to touch her face, but she moved her face away with a twitch, and took a deliberate step backwards. He frowned, a slightly bewildered look crossing his hard features. "I thought we had gone over this, Rei," he said through gritted teeth, trying to keep patience in his voice. "I am your Commander, and you must do what I ask you to do."

"You never asked," Rei replied with quiet defiance.

She was challenging him, and Gendo frowned openly, anger flickering across his face. Rei had never challenged him before. He stepped closer to her, looking down at her imperiously, trying to intimidate her. "You will not give me problems now, Rei. You are nothing without me. You are replaceable."

She swallowed hard, steadied her breathing, and stared back at him. "You're wrong," she said calmly. She shook her head insistently, and backed up from him another step. "I am not replaceable. I know that Dr. Akagi has destroyed the Dummy Plug system. I am not replaceable!" she repeated, stumbling backwards. "And I am not her!"

A stinging slap sent her to the ground as Gendo struck her hard with the back of his hand, drawing blood from her mouth that dripped down her lips. "You are nothing without me, whore! You were created to follow my orders, nothing else!" She struggled to raise herself to her feet only to be knocked down again by another blow to her face. "I never had to teach her, but she was better than you." His voice dripped with disdain and anger, and she was stung, lying bleeding on the floor before him. She said nothing, trying to hid her pain from the blow, and her surprise that he would still threaten her.

She looked up at him evenly, anger beginning to spark in her eyes. Gendo stood before her and lifted her roughly by the back of her school uniform, dragging her bodily across the floor and throwing her against his desk. "You will learn," he hissed into her ear as he unbuckled his belt with one of his hands. He pinned her flat on her stomach over the desk with a strong hand on the back of her neck, but he would not have needed the restraint. She would not resist. Slowly she wiped the blood from her mouth with the back of a steady hand, and bowed her head in defeat. She would let him take her body this time. But he would never win. He could strike her a hundred times over, and it would only make her surer. He would never win her.

*

She slipped out of his office without a sound, her footsteps too soft to resonate in the empty corridor. She turned and spat blood at the foot of his door, her face blank and impossible to read. She smoothed her disheveled school uniform with her hands, and wiped blood from her face automatically, without emotion. She walked away this time, not giving him the satisfaction of running away. She would not run away from him. She would find a way to be rid of him. The writing was on the wall for the Commander now, and he would never win her.

*

"Dr. Akagi."

Ritsuko looked up from her chair in a dark NERV interrogation room, barely glancing at the speaker behind her. She laughed morosely, remaining slumped over herself. "Commander Ikari."

"Rei has become..." Gendo paused, searching for the right word. "...difficult." His voice was neutral, calm, but Ritsuko could sense the anger behind his words. "She resists following orders."

Ritsuko snorted softly with a bitter half-smile. "She won't let you bed her."

"She doesn't have a choice," he snapped tersely. "What has gone wrong?"

"Nothing has gone wrong," Ritsuko replied, shaking her head with a secret smile. "She is not the same person, Commander. But I'm sure if you rough her up a little, she'll be more than willing to spread her legs for you." Her voice was saturated with sarcasm and bitterness.

Gendo stared hard into the back of her head, but ignored her barbs. "What can be done?"

"Nothing," she repeated, shaking her head again. She tried hard to contain her angry laughter, to not laugh in his face. "She is not a robot. You cannot program her to do your bidding. She is a human, Commander, and a woman."

"She is not-" But Ritsuko felt no compunction to allow him to finish, and cut him off.

"She is as human as you are," she interrupted flatly. There was a pause as Gendo stood straight and said nothing. "Is that all?" She did not feel threatened by him anymore, and was not subtle in showing her impatience.

Glaring angrily at Ritsuko's back, Gendo turned on his heel and left the room, leaving the doctor alone again. She held her head in her hands, shaking her blond hair slowly back and forth with a mirthless, ironic smile. She knew the repercussions of Rei's disobedience went deeper than Gendo had let on. He had every right to be worried, but Ritsuko felt no sympathy for him. Forcing her to submit to him would not keep her ignorant of her true nature, of the power that was written in her DNA. As a matter of fact… Ritsuko smiled. "Perhaps you aren't just a doll, then."