Variable Reality – Chapter 08: Waking Up in the Morning / Beautiful Morning with You

"Living arrangements have already been made for you Asuka. Headquarters decided that since all of the pilots already lived together, it'd be best to put you here with me and Shinji," Misato had said the previous evening. Asuka and Shinji had both been too tired then to argue and her things had been brought to their apartment. The following morning however, was different.

Shinji awoke early, standing from his bed and straightening his boxer shorts as they had wandered into an odd position during the night. Yawning, he made his way to their bathroom. He was standing over the toilet and cheerfully emptying his bladder before he noticed his new roommate—who had been just as oblivious to his presence as he was to hers. "Morning Asuka," he greeted sleepily, finishing his business and flushing the commode.

"Morning Shinji," she responded, slipping out of her bra and panties and turning on the shower but not stepping in yet—many, many mornings of this routine had ingrained it into her psyche that it was a bad idea to step into the shower for at least a full minute after one turned on the faucet.

Shinji paused, regarding the girl beside him. Something seemed off. Shinji began to turn over the facts in his mind, trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with this situation. 1.) There was a girl—Asuka—in his bathroom. Check. 2.) Shinji himself was standing in the bathroom. Check. 3.) Asuka was nude, and the shower was running. Check. 4.) Shinji needed a shower. Check. Conclusion: Shinji and Asuka were going to share the shower. This last part didn't seem quite right.

"Asuka?"

"Mmm?"

"Why are you in my bathroom?"

Asuka stretched, yawning. "What does it look like? I'm going to shower."

Shinji nodded then froze, his brain finally coming fully online. "Not good," he thought, backing slowly away from the girl towards the door. His hand was on the knob when Asuka's hand made contact with his shoulder, clenching his shirt in it. "I'm a dead man."

"Shinji, how long have you been in here?" she asked calmly—far, far too calmly.

"Uh… not very long at all Asuka."

"And just how much did you see, Third Child?"

Shinji gulped. "Nothing Asuka, I swear." That wasn't entirely true—he'd gotten a fairly decent view of her rear and legs, but it wasn't like he'd stood there and stared at them for ten minutes... but she didn't need an excuse to make his demise any crueler than it was going to be.

Asuka yanked his night shirt hard, bringing him around to face her. Before he had a chance to look down, she stepped into his personal space, bringing her nose to within a hair of his. Their eyes locked…

"Shinji…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm bored."

"…"

"Want to kiss me?"

The Third Child protested and the Second taunted him. Shinji rose to her challenge, jumping up from his chair. The two Children kissed, and Asuka's fingers clamped over his nose as his breath was tickling her cheek. He was good, she had to admit, but not as good as her Kaji was renowned to be. The kiss ended, and Asuka ran to the bathroom, rinsing her mouth out to humiliate Shinji and ease her embarrassment over the fact that she had enjoyed it.

On an impulse, Asuka leaned in the scant half-inch required and pressed her lips to Shinji's. Half a second later, her lips parted slightly, her tongue darting out to trace Shinji's lips. "I don't see what the whole mouthwash thing was about," she thought, relaxing her hold on the boy's shirt somewhat.

Shinji was surprised, to say the least. The way he remembered it she'd been disgusted, and he'd felt used and thrown away for the next several days. Deciding it wasn't all that important at the moment, Shinji relaxed into the kiss—only to go rigid once more as her mouth opened and her tongue grazed his lips. His mouth opened on instinct and the kiss became that much more heated. The bathroom was filling with steam from the shower making it difficult to see though neither child noticed or cared much at that point.

After several moments of exploring each other's mouths the two broke apart, panting. "I don't see what the problem was," Asuka said softly, wondering why she had enjoyed that so much, and why she hadn't seriously thought about Ryoji Kaji since the odd scene between the Fourth and the Vespa Woman. At the thought of the rogue agent, a few more ghost memories surfaced: Kaji and Misato coming in from a night of drinking, Kaji with the smell of Misato's lavender perfume all over his shirt, a technician in a NERV uniform—Maya Ibuki?—telling someone else about an encounter between Kaji and Misato in an elevator…

"You saw that too?" Shinji asked quietly.

Asuka nodded. "Just what the hell is going on Thi—Shinji?"

"I'm not sure," he said, idly wondering why she hadn't moved—or better yet, hit him. Images of Asuka slapping him every time she didn't get her way bombarded him, and he flinched.

"What? It's not like I was going to hit—" Asuka paused, memory surfaced and realization dawned. "Why was I such a bitch?"

"Maybe we'd better get ready for school," Shinji suggested, turning from the girl and grabbing the doorknob again.

Asuka's hand found his shirt again, though she didn't yank on it this time. "Wait," she said quietly, glancing at the floor. Shinji didn't move. Finally, she spoke up again. "You owe me an explanation. I want to know everything Shinji."

"We don't know, though."

"'We?'" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Rei and I have been having the same problem ever since just before the fourth Angel," he said quietly, hoping Misato was still asleep. It would probably not be good if they were found like this by their guardian.

Asuka seemed to read his mind. "I don't give a fuck what Misato thinks, Shinji. I want to know what the hell is going on, and you and the First are going to tell me everything you know. Today after school we're all going to have a nice, long chat. Does the Fourth know anything?"

Shinji nodded. "Naota knows about as much as we do."

"Right then," said Asuka, stepping closer to Shinji. "And Shinji?"

"Yeah?" Shinji asked, growing more nervous by the second. The fact that she was nude and almost pressed up against him was both unnerving and arousing, and it was killing his ability to think.

"You still owe me for what happened in the Eva."

"I do?"

Asuka smirked. She knew that the way she was acting was completely out of character for her, but didn't care at the moment. Repressed feelings towards the boy in front of her from a time that hadn't happened yet were spilling over into her conscious mind and had all but erased her not-so-secret desire for the infamous, charismatic spy. Three things stood out in her mind: this was the perfect opportunity to claim the Third as her own and show up the First, she actually wanted this—especially the more she remembered things from her own past (and those damnable dreams) and hazy soon-to-be future; and she was really, really aroused at the moment. "Yeah, you do. Shower. Now."

Shinji didn't complain, resist, or protest. The girl of his dreams—literally, no less—actually wanted him. It seemed impossible, but it was happening. She was actually being kind to him, as opposed to those rare glimpses of that kindness in his half-remembered memories of a time that hadn't happened yet. "I thought you hated me," he mumbled, shedding his shirt with her help.

Asuka bit her lip and shook her head. "I don't think I hated you Shinji. I hated the Third Child. Does that make sense?"

"Sort of," Shinji nodded. "So what are we going to do?"

"I don't know," Asuka answered quietly, wondering that herself. Finally, she struck upon a temporary solution. "We could start over."

"Start over?"

"Yeah, from the beginning. I won't be a bitch towards you—if you'll show me that side of yourself that I wanted to see."

Shinji smiled a bit, liking this plan already. "What side would that be?"

"This side," Asuka grinned, her lips brushing Shinji's. "The side of you that doesn't wuss out or back down or apologize every three seconds, the side that jumps into an Eva against all orders to the contrary and pulls all our butts out of the fire, the side that I—" she cut herself off, sighing, then shook her head. "Do that for me Shinji and you can see this side of me."

"Ok then," Shinji said, taking a half step back and holding out his hand. "Deal?"

"Deal. I'm Asuka—Asuka Langley Soryuu."

"Shinji Ikari. Asuka—"

Pressing her finger to his lips, Asuka grinned. "Shh. We only just met Shinji, remember? Maybe later. Until then, how about that shower?" she asked, smirk plastered on her face.

"Sure—but I thought we just met?" he asked, laughing.

"Shinji?"

"Yeah?

"Shut up and kiss me."

Shinji complied, one final thought on the matter crossing his mind before his blood flow once more diverted itself from his brain. "If that's all she wants from me, why didn't she say so in the first place? Why did we have to go through all the fights and arguments and rivalry before whatever happened that put us on that beach? I suppose it doesn't matter now though. Things have changed…"

…

In the apartment next door, Rei stood in their own shower attempting to thoroughly cleanse herself. Just as she was preparing to set to work on one of her shapely legs, she paused. Half-memories poured themselves in front of her mind's eye and she took in a shuddering breath.

Rei in Unit-00, her body wracked with pain as it was invaded by an Angel. The Angel penetrating her mind and asking her something, before snapping its attention to Unit-01 emerging from a building in front of her. Rei instinctively reaching out to Shinji with her mind, the Angel mimicking her with its body. "Is this my wish—to become one with Ikari?"

Rei and Shinji literally one, their bodies joined at the waist and her arms flowing into his shoulders. Sitting there joined like that for what seemed like an eternity before Shinji took her hands and pulled them out of his chest, his decision made. It hurt.

Rei slumped to the floor of the shower, her breathing erratic. As with her first recollection of the Third Child, her body had reacted instinctually—but it only furthered her annoyance at her own confusion over his apparent rejection of her for the Second. Stretching out her senses, she found the reason for this sudden, unwanted surge of memory. The two Children in question were currently being somewhat naughty next door, and had come within a hand's-breadth of becoming one. Curling up her fist, she slammed it into the shower floor and growled quietly. "Fuck."

Blinking, her breathing began to return to normal, her fist unclenched and Rei stood. Emotions both her own and not her own ran through her mind faster than she could put a name to them. "What is wrong with me?" she thought, breathing a sigh and finishing her bathing rituals before turning off the shower knobs and stepping out onto the bath mat. Pulling a towel from the nearby stack of clean ones, she ran it through her hair, then over the rest of her body. "This is frustrating. Perhaps I should tell Shinji." Rei's thoughts were cut off as the bathroom door opened and in stepped a partially dressed woman Rei recognized from the photos in the Fourth Child's dossier.

Haruko yawned, scratching at an itch on her thigh through a pair of boxers—Naota's, that is. She blinked, realizing she wasn't alone in the apartment's bathroom, and then grinned as she realized who it must be. She gave the other Pilot a good thrice over, the grin widening. "Hi," she greeted the albino. Stepping closer, she paused and cocked her head slightly to the side, scrutinizing the girl further. Though no one else would probably notice it, Haruko could feel the aura of power surrounding the girl at the moment. It was obviously more active than it had been last night, because she hadn't even felt it then—which meant that either the girl wasn't aware of it and was irked about something, or she was aware of it and didn't care enough to keep it as concealed. "You're different," she stated bluntly.

Rei nodded, narrowing her eyes. "She senses my A.T. field," she thought, clamping down firmly on the power being produced by her S2 engine and bringing it back down to an undetectable level. "I must not let my control slip again, lest I set off the MAGI's sensors."

Shrugging, Haruko decided not to push the girl too much for the moment. "Well, I'd love to stand here and chat all day but I need to use the facilities, if you don't mind."

"Certainly," Rei said quietly, stepping around the alien and making her way back to her own room. Drying what she'd missed the first time quickly, Rei finished up and dressed then gathered her things and went into the kitchen for breakfast. Behind her, the door to Naota's bedroom opened and he and Ninamori made their way to the breakfast table, both already dressed. Giving a quiet greeting, Rei continued to eat what was in front of her.

Looking up from his bowl, Naota eyed the blue-haired girl questioningly. He'd been around her long enough to know something was amiss. "Something wrong?"

Haruko answered before Rei could respond. "She's just annoyed 'cause I walked in on her shower," she commented, sitting on the other side of Naota from Ninamori and eagerly taking the plate of breakfast offered to her by Canti.

"Learn to knock," Ninamori said, frowning at the nuisance.

Naota grinned and stifled a snicker. "You're one to talk," he quipped, earning him a punch in the arm. "Ow. Why are women always hitting me and bossing me around, anyway?"

"Because you make it easy for us Takkun."

"Shut up Haruko."

"Make me."

…

Misato opened the door, knowing who it would be. She grinned at the two boys on her doorstep. "Come on in, Shinji's almost ready."

Touji and Kensuke followed Misato into the apartment, only to freeze in terror when they found him. Both pointed at the redhead sitting across from him, wondering how the nightmare bitch had gotten there before them, and better yet—why she was there in the first place. "You!" they cried in unison, mouths agape.

Shinji looked up from his meal and followed their pointing fingers to Asuka, who was calmly ignoring them for the time being—content to simply bask in what remained of her afterglow and eat. At this rate though, Shinji knew it wouldn't last long. Nervously glancing between the three, Shinji wondered if he'd have time to find cover before they spoiled her mood and she went off…

Asuka looked up from her own plate and regarded the pair of stooges. "Oh, it's you," she grinned, turning back to regard Shinji. "Not even they can spoil this mood," she whispered before stuffing a piece of toast into her mouth.

To say Shinji was dumbfounded would have been an understatement. Shaking his head, he put away his plate and went back to his room to get his things, followed shortly by Asuka. The pair emerged together a few moments later. By this time, Kensuke and Touji had figured out how to talk again. "Shinji, what's she doing in your apartment?" asked Touji.

"She lives here. Misato said that headquarters thought it'd be best if all the Pilots lived closer together."

The four made their way back out of the apartment as the one next door opened and the other two Pilots stepped out, followed by Ninamori. Haruko leaned against the doorjamb, giving them a bored wave. Seeing this, Kensuke back peddled several paces until he could get them all into his camera. "Man, why do the two of you have such luck with women? Is it a Pilot thing?"

Shinji and Naota traded a look before shaking their heads. "Bad luck maybe," Naota mumbled, shifting the Rickenbacker into a better position as he drew alongside Shinji, who nodded his agreement. Living with Misato—even as just a neighbor—was a trying experience, and neither would think themselves very fortunate to have a roommate like her.

"She's such a slob," Shinji thought, but grinned nonetheless.

The group made its way out of the building and in the direction of school. Touji, Shinji, Naota, and Kensuke made up the front of the group as they carried on their own conversation. Rei walked a few paces behind the four boys, focused on Shinji alone. Behind Rei, Asuka and Ninamori had struck up a conversation after a quick introduction. Altogether, our little band of heroes looked like any other group of normal middle school students who didn't have a care in the world.

…

Later that day, Asuka made her way across the schoolyard with Ninamori and Hikari—the three had become fast friends—and smiled when she spotted Shinji. "Shinji!" she called, walking faster to catch up to him. "Where's the First? We never did get properly introduced. I feel like a bit of an ass since we walked to school with her and I ignored her," she said, whispering the last part to him.

Thinking for a second, Shinji pointed to a flight of stairs nearby. "I think she's down there reading."

"Thanks," she said, taking off for the stairs. Behind her, Shinji shrugged as Ninamori and Hikari looked at him questioningly, then the three of them followed her. Ahead, Asuka spotted Rei and grinned. Coming to stand before the girl, it took a moment for her to realize she either hadn't been noticed or was being ignored—both of which tended to get on her nerves. Stepping sideways, she purposefully threw her shadow over the book the First Child held in her lap. The book closed and Rei looked up. As their eyes met, Asuka opened her mouth to speak…

"Hi, I'm Asuka, Asuka Langley Soryuu. Let's be good friends."

"…Why?"

"Because it would be convenient."

"I will if I am ordered to."

"Freak-a-zoid…"

"Saved by Rei-fucking-Ayanami. I can't believe it. Fucking Wondergirl. Fucking Invincible Shinji."

"If you do not open your mind to her, your Eva will not move."

"At least I'm not a doll like you."

"I am not a doll."

"Yes you are! You'd do anything your precious Commander ordered you to!"

Shinji, Asuka, and Rei in a rail car… Rei seated a few places behind and across from the other two Children, who were involved in an argument—well, that is to say the Third mumbled apologies while the Second berated him for his doubts and insecurities regarding herself and the First. Asuka slamming one heel into the seat inches from Shinji's chest and telling him… telling him....

The two blinked, both looking around at the crowd that had gathered. Asuka frowned. "I'm sorry I ignored you this morning," she said quietly, wishing the crowd would go the fuck away. "I'm Asuka Langley Soryuu, the Second Child. Pleased to meet you."

"Rei Ayanami, First Child," Rei echoed, wondering how events would play out this time.

Deciding that her change in attitude towards Shinji could be extended to the First, Asuka attempted a smile. "Want to be friends?"

"Why?" Rei asked, a faint smile tugging at the corners of her own lips. "Perhaps this Asuka will be different."

"Because," Asuka started, and then paused. Her future relationship with the First Child hung on her next few words and she knew it. "This Rei isn't a doll… I should at least try," she thought. "Because we could both use someone to talk to?"

Rei thought it over for a moment, and then nodded. "Then I will be your friend, Pilot Soryuu."

"Asuka," said redhead corrected.

Standing, Rei placed her book in her backpack and smiled faintly—probably undetectably to anyone save two people. "Asuka, then. You may call me Rei," she said, walking off towards the main building just as the bell signaling the end of lunch rang.

"That was entertaining," Asuka mumbled, rejoining Shinji, Hikari and Ninamori before following their fellow Pilot into the school.

…

Shinji yawned in boredom, drumming his fingers against his desk and half-watching the scroll of conversation in the school chat room. In front of him, Naota was doing much the same—playing with the neck of the bass with one hand and typing out replies to the odd comment with the other. To his right, Touji dozed fitfully with his head pillowed on his arm while Kensuke had networked his personal laptop to that of the school and was doing who-knows-what. "Probably something that will get him in trouble later, if he gets caught," Shinji thought, grinning slightly.

He was snapped out of his semi-stupor seconds later however when Kensuke abruptly sat up and began quickly pulling out the cables connecting his laptop to that of the school's. "Oh shit," Kensuke mumbled, throwing commands into the school laptop and his own at a frantic pace. "Gotta purge the drives…"

Glancing around, Shinji made certain he wasn't being overtly watched before he leaned closer to Kensuke. "What's wrong?"

"You don't want to know. If anyone asks, I was asleep this period, ok?" Kensuke asked nervously, also looking around cautiously.

Shrugging, Shinji started to agree before movement caught his eye. A few seats away, Rei had begun to dig through her school bag. She had it to her ear before it was finished with the first ring. She glanced back to meet his eyes before another trio of phones rang simultaneously—namely his, Asuka's, and Naota's. If her nod hadn't confirmed his suspicions, the voice on the other end of the line did. "Shinji, Section Two has been dispatched to pick up you and the other Pilots," Misato told him rapidly, obviously in Central Dogma already.

"Right, we're on our way," he said, hanging up and picking up his things before standing. Around them, the class had gone silent and all eyes were focused on the Pilots. Shinji was jolted into movement however when the Angel alarm sounded and the class became a flurry of motion as the other students made for the exit, quickly making room for the Pilots as they passed though.

He caught up with Rei, Naota, and Asuka at the front of the school in time to catch Asuka's grin. "This is it Children—our first mission as a team," she said as she got into the back of the NERV sedan that had pulled up just as Shinji arrived.

"No, I will not be able to participate in this operation. Unit-00 is still undergoing repairs and they are not scheduled for completion until the middle of next week," Rei corrected her quietly, slipping in behind Asuka as Shinji and Naota crammed in behind her. Needless to say, it was a tight fit. Luckily for them though, the Section Two driver was nothing like Misato or Haruko. The trip to headquarters was amazingly dull in comparison to their previous experiences—well, Shinji and Naota's, since neither Rei nor Asuka had yet had the pleasure of riding with either of the insane dangers to society.

Naota glanced down at his black-and-blood on silver plug suit as he listened to Misato outline her plan of attack. It was simple really: the Angel would come ashore several hundred kilometers to their east along almost the same trajectory as that of the third and fourth Angels—with just a hundred-kilometer North/South variation between the three—and they were to intercept it on the beach front, before it made landfall. Shinji and Asuka would provide fire support while he—with the only Eva not dependant on an umbilical power supply—would attempt close combat. It made him uneasy, being the one they were relying on to complete this mission, but it couldn't much be helped. But with Atomsk hiding away somewhere in his Eva, there was no way he could lose—or so he hoped.

"One minute to drop zone, everyone ready?" Misato asked, her expression tense but not quite nervous in his display.

Under the display from Central, Shinji and Asuka gave their affirmatives, which he quickly echoed. "Ready as I'll ever be," he thought, grinning slightly. He felt a familiar presence seep into the back of his mind, offering a Cheshire grin as if to reassure him. To his right, the drop-countdown hit thirty seconds and a line of text began to flash.

Deploy wing pack upon release?

"Misato, why is this thing asking me about wings?" he asked quickly, as time seemed to be running out more quickly than he'd thought.

Someone—Ritsuko—pushed Misato away from the camera. "Your Eva is the partial prototype for the Mass Production models. Don't worry about it for now, since you haven't been trained to use them. Key in 'no,'" she instructed, stepping away.

Following her instructions quickly, Naota glanced at the clock. "Five seconds—this is it!"

"EVAS LAUNCH!" Misato yelled, then Naota didn't have time to worry about it as he was suddenly in freefall—which felt very different from all the other times he'd flown.

Inside Unit-01, Shinji almost laughed as Asuka whined about the unfairness of Naota's Unit-04 having wings, but didn't get the chance as his stomach suddenly gave a great lurch. "I'll never get used to this," he thought, watching the ground rush up to meet him yet again. He didn't fail to notice Asuka's whoop of elation though—at least someone seemed to be enjoying this. Seconds later, they all touched down—exactly on target, just as was planned. Turning to regard the image of Asuka, he grinned. "Adrenaline junkie," he muttered, loud enough for them all to pick up.

Asuka promptly stuck her tongue out. "What's the matter Third Child, afraid of heights?" she teased, watching her power countdown stop as the ground crew got her Eva's umbilical connected.

"No, I just don't like being dropped out of a plane on a regular basis."

"Oh quit whining, you big baby."

"I am not whining!"

"Yes you are!"

Glancing at the Pilots in his display, Naota grinned and shook his head. "Guys! This is no time for a lovers' spat! We've got a job to do," he said, picking up what looked to be a short sword of some sort from the box beside his Eva. "Too bad they don't have an Eva-sized guitar," he thought randomly.

Spluttering, Asuka glared at her display. "You're dead Fourth Child. Just you wait," she growled, though she was grinning when she said it. "I am so not letting him or the Third take the glory for this operation either. This Angel is mine!" With that, she tossed down the rifle she'd been about to pick up and grabbed what looked to be a long spear of some sort. "I'm going in, cover me!" she yelled, dashing off before anyone could object.

"What?! Hold on, you damn rookie!" Shinji yelled, but opened fire anyway. He could hear Naota's hasty cry of 'shit!' before the Fourth dropped the progressive sword, grabbed Asuka's dropped rifle, and opened fire as well.

"What the hell is she thinking?" Naota called, making sure to keep his line of fire well clear of Unit-02.

"Hell if I know!"

Ahead of them, Asuka flew through the air with a yell before crashing down in front of the Angel, splitting its gray mass straight down the middle. "HAA!"

"Well, I'll be damned," two voices exclaimed softly. It seemed Naota had his answer.

"You see boys? A battle should be clean and elegant—without waste…"

"A battle should be clean and elegant—without waste."

The sixth Angel, split straight down the middle, reformed itself into two smaller halves and began their approach on Unit-02…

"ASUKA!" Shinji called, dropping his rifle and sprinting forward, the progressive knife already in his hands.

"FUCK!" Asuka yelled, ducking to the side and narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of the Angel's halves—later designated as 'target Beta' by NERV command.

Rushing in, Shinji attempted to drive the pair back, but to no avail. Seconds later, he was careening through the air—his umbilical severed and his Eva switching to its one minute of reserve power at full activity. "Shit!"

Asuka, for her part, recovered well and was on the offensive—at least until her own umbilical was cut and she was sent spiraling further into the bay. Standing, she saw Shinji doing the same several hundred yards away. Together, the two rushed the pair of Angels, attempting a coordinated attack.

Back on the beach, Naota growled in frustration. The situation had gone from 'manageable' to 'shit storm' in the blink of an eye, and there wasn't much he could do at the moment. He had picked up Shinji's dropped rifle, and along with Asuka's was attempting to dual-wield them and distract both parts of the Angel, but they were simply shrugging off the rounds. Every few seconds he'd have to cease firing to either avoid hitting one of the other Pilots or to reload. "I hope someone up there has a plan!"

Shinji's and Asuka's attempt at a joint attack was thoroughly and completely denied—the Angels simply functioned too well as a unit to allow the Pilots to form any cohesive attack pattern. Thirty seconds into the battle, Shinji was blown two kilometers out into the bay—his batteries dying before he hit the water. Six and a half seconds after that, Asuka was thrown two kilometers the other direction, her Eva embedding itself headfirst into a nearby hillside.

"I'm so fucked," Naota whined as his rifles clicked dry and the Angels began their approach on his Eva. Picking up his dropped short sword, he grinned. "I wish I had my Rickenbacker," he mumbled before giving a short battle cry and charging into the fray. After seeing two more experienced Pilots so easily and embarrassingly thrashed, he had little hopes of coming out on top of this one—but then again, who knew.

He quickly discovered one of the up-sides to his Eva as he ducked and rolled out from under a blow that should have taken his head off: though a full head shorter than the other Units, it was more maneuverable and faster from the look of it. A roundhouse kick to the closest half's side later though, he discovered its main downside: it clearly lacked as much physical strength. The Angel simply shrugged off the blow and retaliated with one of its own, sending Unit-04 crashing back into the bay, flat on its ass.

Standing, Naota frowned as he noticed that sometime during the skirmish he had managed to lose his weapon. "Shit. Now would be a good time for one of the others to stand up and help. Stupid fucking batteries."

"Unit-04, respond!" a voice called from somewhere inside the entry plug and it took a moment for Naota to realize that it was Misato and that she had been trying to get his attention for the past few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm here. What is it, Central?" he asked, rolling away from another pair of blows.

"The plan has changed. We need you to lure them back out into the bay. At that point, we're going to drop an N2 mine on them—you won't have time to get clear of the area, but the Evas should be able to withstand the blast. After that, we're going to collect the Units and retreat until we come up with a workable plan. Do you understand?" Misato asked, the tone in her voice and the look she was currently giving him told him implicitly that nothing other than 'yes' would be satisfactory.

"Yes ma'am," Naota replied, jumping back quickly from another set of strikes. Grinning, he sprinted in, getting a running start before pulling back a fist and throwing a hard uppercut to the nearest half's core. Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed the text flashing across his screen as it had earlier, this time with a different message.

Angel Buster deployed.

It seemed some developer somewhere along the line had a sense of humor—but a poor taste in names. Along both forearms, stretching from elbow to wrist, someone had decided to install yet another 'modification' to his Unit at some point—what could best be described as something akin to the third Angel's weapon of choice. A short, relatively thin, and altogether very sharp spike of sorts had been preprogrammed to extend the moment the Eva's fist made contact with anything—and it had attempted to embed itself into the Angel's core and then retracted again before Unit-04's fist had been pulled back in an attempt at another blow.

The blow never came however as Naota froze, watching as both Angels began to writhe in agony. Looking down, he saw why: Beta's core had several cracks running along its surface. The Eva's hidden weapon hadn't managed to penetrate the core, but it did do quite a bit of damage. "Wait—why's the other one acting like I just kicked it in the balls?" he asked softly. Before anyone could answer though, the two halves had rejoined and the semi-damaged core merged slowly with the whole one. When they were finished, the main core was completely intact. "Oh, crap."

Half a second later, the core lit up and fired off an energy beam, catching Unit-04 square in the chest and sending it tumbling backwards. "Naota, go! Draw it back quickly!" Misato yelled again, catching his attention.

Naota stood, one hand clutching his chest and the other wiping at his lips to check for blood. "Yeah, that sounds good," he agreed, turning his Eva on its heel and high-tailing it for the middle of the bay. He was taken completely by surprise when the Angel jumped… and landed in front of his Eva. It didn't give him time to slow down though, as it reared back one of its gigantic arms and clocked Unit-04 hard against the front of its helmet, sending the Evangelion flying all the way back to shore.

Luckily for Naota though, that was far enough. His senses reeling, he somehow managed to sit up in time to see the N2 mine detonate on top of the Angel—but that proved to be his downfall as his brain decided it'd had enough and promptly shut down. When the retrieval crew got Unit-04 into a position that would allow the entry plug to be ejected, besides coughing up LCL its Pilot didn't so much as move when they removed him from his seat.

…

Two hours after the start of the operation, the Pilots—save for Naota, who was currently still unconscious somewhere in NERV's medical ward—had gathered with the rest of the Operations crew to review the battle. It was humiliating, to say the least, and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki made sure the Pilots knew it as he—with the help of Misato and Maya—pointed out every flaw in the battle: from Asuka's botched attempt to show off all the way through to Naota getting taken by surprise at the end when his sensors had given him enough warning to avoid the Angel's last blow, considering his Eva's own capabilities.

"It was his fault! This idiot dropped his rifle and didn't give me adequate cover fire!" Asuka yelled, standing and pointing at Shinji, her cheeks aflame at having been singled out more than the other two Pilots.

Shinji jumped out of his seat, closing the distance between them. "The hell it is! If you weren't acting like a stupid rookie and had stuck to the plan, it wouldn't have happened!"

"Oh please, even if I had we'd still be here having this argument."

"If you weren't so full of yourself at the time, you'd have noticed them getting ready to smear your ass all over the beach when I did!"

"How did you manage that, Shinji? From what I could see, there were no obvious signs that the Angel hadn't been defeated when you went charging in," Misato commented softly, looking from one of her charges to the next. Both Shinji and Asuka froze, and then turned slowly to regard Misato. "And Asuka, you started to move away around the same time."

"I—uh… It didn't look dead," Shinji mumbled lamely, glancing back at Asuka. They were saved from further questions when the rear door to the room opened and the missing Pilot stumbled in.

"What'd I miss?" Naota asked, one hand attempting to find the drill that was currently trying to find its way into his N/O gate and the other holding up most of his weight on whatever would support it.

"Pilots Soryuu and Ikari were just being reprimanded for their lackluster performance and deviation from the Captain's battle plan," Rei said, speaking up for the first time since this reaming—for that's what it had predominantly been—began. "How are you feeling?"

Naota grinned, remembering the pre-battle commentary. "Like I've been hit with a Vespa," he said, pausing to consider it for a moment. "Yeah, I'd say that's about right. So are they still acting like newlyweds?" he asked, missing the look that flashed over the First Child's face at the comment—of course, everyone else missed it too, seeing as it was gone almost before it had fully materialized.

"Fourth Child," Asuka ground out, one eye twitching and her hands unconsciously curled as if already around his throat as she took a menacing step in his direction.

Misato saved his life a second later however, cutting off the Second Child's approach with her next words. "Nice work by the way Naota. At least someone has some clue about following orders around here."

"Uh, thanks," he mumbled, but shut up about it when he caught the death glare Asuka sent his way. "Oh! There was something I wanted to ask."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Why wasn't I told my Unit could do that?"

"Do what?" Misato asked, confused.

Naota frowned, thinking back to the battle. "That last good shot I got in—it did way more damage than it should have. I mean, it shouldn't have even scratched the thing—I was just trying to get its attention at the time. From what I can tell, Unit-04 is weaker than the others."

Ritsuko, who had also been mostly silent up to this point, spoke up. "We didn't know it could."

"Huh?"

"Well, when we recovered Unit-04, all the data on its most recent modifications—and everything else for that matter—had been wiped from NERV-02's mainframe, most likely a result of being swallowed by the Sea of Dirac. All we really had to go on was its original production specs, which didn't even include the addition of wings."

Removing the hand that had been massaging his temples, he held it up in the universal 'hold-on' gesture. "Wait… you mean to tell me you put me into an Eva and sent me into battle with no real clue what the hell it was capable of?"

Ritsuko had the good grace to look embarrassed. "Well, uh…yes."

"Never mind. So… what's the new plan?"

"We have six days before it fully regenerates itself… and we don't have one yet," Misato said quietly, her mind already fast at work going over anything that might be of use. "Why don't the three of you get showered and go on home—Rei, you're free to go too. I won't be there until late tonight, if at all, so don't worry about cooking dinner for me Shinji," she added as the boy walked past.

Shinji smiled at his guardian. "Ok Misato. Don't work too hard."

As the pilots left, Ryoji Kaji stood and followed them from the debriefing room. "I think I've got it," he thought, making his way to the elevator, and from there his office where he began putting together what he suspected was the only workable strategy to take out the latest Angel. "And was it just me, or is Asuka acting a bit off… maybe she's finally found someone to take her mind off of me for a change. I do feel a bit sorry for the young Ikari though… heh."

…

Elsewhere, across Tokyo-3, Kensuke was far from worried about the impending Angel attack. He was more concerned about the possibility that he'd actually been caught and was in the process of copying all of his vital data onto disc and emailing copies of it to trusted friends before he wiped it from his system, then he would mail the discs to a post office box in Tokyo-2 where one of those friends would wait for his signal before sending them back. "Maybe I'll get lucky and be forgotten in the confusion, what with the Angel attack and all…" he mumbled, not concerned in the least that he was talking to himself. Hearing the doorbell ring, he keyed in a sequence that would cause the computer to format its drives should he not come back and give it the password to stop within the next three minutes. "Coming!" he called, closing the door to his bedroom.

Walking into his living room, he wondered just who would show up at this time of the day. If it were Touji, he would have probably already come in since he had a copy of Kensuke's key—and vice verse—just in case of an emergency. "Could be the class rep… wonder what she'd want though? Maybe she forgot to tell me I had cleaning duty this week or something."

His hopes were dashed however when he opened the door to come face to face with a man in a NERV uniform—Makoto Hyuga by the name tag. A phrase he'd heard Touji use once—the last time the class rep had broken up their photo racket, actually—came to mind: "I'm boned."

"Mr. Aida?" Hyuga asked—his face carefully neutral. Seeing Kensuke nod, he continued. "I'd like to have a word with you, if you don't mind." His tone implied that whether the boy minded or not, they would be having words.

It was after dark and Misato still had yet to return to her shared apartment with Shinji and Asuka. Four Children, one welcome guest, one freeloader, a penguin, and a robot either sat or stood—all of them crammed into Misato's small kitchen where aforementioned robot was serving dinner.

"You don't conveniently remember anything useful about this Angel, do you?" Ninamori asked, glancing between Shinji, Asuka, and Rei. The three Pilots shook their heads in tandem.

"It's pretty much random," Shinji said before taking another mouthful of ramen.

"Yeah, from what I can tell, that only happens at the most inconvenient of times," Asuka added before digging back into her own bowl.

Swallowing a mouthful of salad, Rei shook her head. "Even if we did, we could not suggest anything to Captain Katsuragi—she already suspects something is amiss."

Leaning against the sink, Haruko eyed the five people sitting at the table suspiciously. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Ninamori groaned softly—she'd managed to completely forget that their resident alien was standing all of four feet away. That was understandable however, considering the fact that Haruko usually couldn't keep her mouth shut long enough to be sneaky. "It's none of your business. Why are you here anyway? I thought you were supposed to be chasing after something."

"Naw," Haruko grinned. "Atomsk isn't going anywhere for the time being. Isn't that right, Takkun?"

Naota sighed—he'd hoped to be mostly left out of this conversation since his head still felt like a certain alien had her hand up to the elbow in it. "I wouldn't know. I haven't seen it."

"You can't lie to me Takkun. It's written all over your face. Besides—I saw your fight."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure."

They were quiet after that, until Haruko finished her meal and announced she was going to bed. As soon as the door separating the apartments closed, Asuka leaned in closer to Ninamori. "What's her problem?"

"Haruko is a psychiatrist's wet dream," Ninamori grinned, and would have gladly listed a few dozen or so of those problems, had the front door not slid open.

Misato strolled into the kitchen, opened her beer refrigerator, and pulled out several cans of Yebitsu—anything to take her mind off the slip of paper currently residing in her right front pants pocket which read: "To my dearest honey… ' 3'". Seconds later—after the first can had been drained and was sent sailing towards the trash bin—she leaned back against the counter and regarded the gathered Children. "Well, we've got a plan now," she announced, but her tone of voice seemed to indicate that she didn't much care for it. "From what Ritsuko and her people were able to gather from the previous battle, the only viable plan is a synchronized attack on both cores."

"This was Miss Ritsuko's idea?" Shinji asked curiously.

Misato shook her head and scrunched her face up—as if her beer had suddenly gone very, very sour. "No. It was Kaji's idea," she groaned, slumping a bit.

Asuka nearly spit out her own drink. "Kaji's idea? I thought he'd have been sent back to Germany or something, since his job was just to deliver myself and Unit-02. He's still here?"

Misato grinned. "I wish he'd been sent back. No, that pain in my ass is still hanging around NERV somewhere. He says he got orders to stick around—I don't believe it."

"So how are we supposed to hit both cores at the same time? We could barely lay a hand on them last time, and you saw what happened when I got in that lucky shot," Naota asked.

"The two of you—" she pointed at Shinji and Asuka, "are going to eat, sleep, and breathe together for the next six days."

"WHAT?!" Asuka yelled, her cheeks almost matching her hair color. Naota flinched and slid his chair further from the redhead, hoping to avoid going deaf.

Misato's grin was bordering on cruel. "You heard me, Asuka. Unit-00 is still undergoing repairs and isn't in any condition to assist. And the way this operation will run, Unit-04 will only be a hindrance—sorry Naota, you'll be on standby unless the mission bombs. The most evenly matched of both Evas and Pilots are the two of you and your Units. I expect this operation to be carried out to the letter. Do you understand?" she asked, glaring at the two Children in question. Both nodded. "Good. Get some sleep, we start in the morning. And before you ask—yes Asuka, you'll be sleeping in Shinji's room. I'm going to check in every few hours during the night and I expect the two of you to be no more than two feet apart."

"But Misato, don't you need to sleep at some point?" Shinji asked innocently.

"That, my dear Shinji, is what coffee is for."

"Oh."

Asuka 'humph'ed, but didn't argue further. "I wasn't quite ready to go that far Misato. But at least now you won't be able to complain if we get caught…" she thought, unconsciously partly echoing Shinji's own thoughts. Glancing at the boy in question, she saw that he too was attempting to hide a grin. "Don't look so excited, Third Child," she mouthed when Misato had her back turned.

"I am to remain on standby with Pilot Namdaba?" Rei asked, wanting her standing orders to be made perfectly clear. Seeing Misato nod, she stood. "I see. Goodnight."

Seeing Rei leave, Naota and Ninamori stood as well. "Night guys," Naota waved, following the albino.

Grinning at Asuka, Ninamori waved as well. "Remember to use protection," she taunted before dashing to the door and locking it behind her.

Misato looked from Shinji, to Asuka, to the door, and back to the Pilots. "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

Things of Note: More reviews, yay! Let's straighten some things out. Remember three things: one—this is a half-way different timeline from the original series, things are a bit off by design; two—this is how they reacted in my mind to my scenarios (ooh, I'm using Gendo's favorite word, scary); and three—it's a work of fan-fiction, meaning that sometimes we make mistakes that we don't see and beta readers (know anyone who wants to do that, I could use another set of eyes?) don't pick up but can probably be fixed in later revisions and repostings. On a side note, do any look like an SI character? I'm not out to take Foxboy's job of writing the self-insert fic. If I were going to do that, it would be blatantly obvious (to me anyway). When I checked my review alert email it took me a minute to tell that one of the reviews was for Tangent and not Variable—the self-insert review. This was originally meant to dissuade the belief that any of the characters in Variable were a Mary Sue or Gary Stu, but when I actually checked the review page it took me a minute to figure out that no, that one was for the other story and by then I'd already written half of this as a response to it so I just reworded or cut out some things... I didn't feel like letting it go to waste. Wow, I didn't think this one would draw attention to that one, and I'm impressed—I think. Rachel, from Tangent, wasn't meant to be an SI character (more like an original character stuck in the Eva universe than anything)—she was just an idea I played with one evening after re-watching Eva for the hundredth time and thinking "what could I do with Rei IV (the Rei from the series end version of Instrumentality, the balanced, normal Rei)". I don't remember where I got the whole "let's stick her in a Rei-body" idea, but looking up a few lines it probably came from reading something similar to 'I Was A Teenage Dummy Plug.' The only problem with that theory: I didn't read that fic until a couple of months ago, right before my connection died and I started on this one. Odd, huh? I have that problem sometimes when writing: "hmm, let's do this..." goes to take a break and read something elsewhere "...damn, why is it every time I come up with something I find it's already been done a dozen times?" It's hard to be original these days when everyone else is out trying to do so as well. Originality is a scarce commodity, though I hope that Variable at least has its fair share. If it starts sounding un-original, tell me please. ...Ok, I think I'm done now. Last chapter before I have to write more. Oh! And now, Titled Chapters! Don't expect updates every three days, but maybe I can get one in next week or the week after—maybe. Until then... afkdoing whatever it is I do.