Not long after they'd entered one of the many service tunnels that ran from the surface and down into Nerv headquarters, deep within the Geofront, Shinji realized that, even without having to carry both Asuka Soryuu Langley and his former teacher on stretchers, the way down was both difficult and treacherous. Having them both, however, only exacerbated their journey, as did the fact that, without electricity, the darkness of the escalator track tunnels were nearly impenetrable. What scant light there was came from a huge gaping hole right above the Geofront, where, not long ago, massive white Evangelion unit robots had exposed Nerv headquarters on Seele's orders, of all people.

With a grunt of effort, Shinji eased his corner of the gurney's wheels down onto the next escalator platform, wondering how many, exactly, there were left to go. Each one was large enough to hold a depot truck, since these escalators were intended to carry employees' automobiles and other service and utility trucks to and from the silver pyramid so far below. He recalled that it took about 10 minutes to travel from the headquarters to the surface, and vice versa, but that was with a service car running at full speed. His arms were already burning with exhaustion, and his shirt clung to his chest with sweat, but all he could do was carry Asuka down each platform, one by one, and consider himself lucky that Shigeru Aoba had asked him to help carry Asuka and not his teacher.

It took several hours to cross the length of the tunnel, and by the time both teams had reached the bottom, they were both visibly exhausted. Shinji realized that the massive chasm that was the Geofront was considerably better-lit now, and realized that dawn was probably fast approaching. Now looming high above them, the steep slope of the pyramid-like Nerv headquarters seemed to glow in the soft light.

As the Nerv personnel took a moment to rest, Shigeru Aoba withdrew two syringes from the medical kit that hung from his shoulder, and filled them with clear liquid from separate metal-capped glass bottles. "Caffeine and morphine," Aoba explained as he scrutinized the syringe measurements.

Shinji followed the engineer over to Asuka's side, where he smoothly slid one needle into the side of her neck. "Morphine to dull whatever pain she's in," he began, then turned and injected the other into Professor La's forearm. "And the other to wake him up. I didn't want him to find out which route we took to get inside the Geofront, but now that he's down here, he may as well walk for himself. Your father-- I mean, the commander would like to see him and ask him questions, I'm sure."

As the teacher slowly woke up and blink his eyes several times, he groaned and held a hand to his temple, where the butt of a rifle had slammed into his head and left a telltale purple welt.

"Aoba?," Shinji asked, returning to Asuka. "Why DID we take the service escalators down to the headquarters, especially since there are about a dozen other ways to get down here?"

Aoba capped and returned the needles, and slapped the teacher lightly on the cheek several times to stimulate him. "They're all clogged, Shinji-kun. They're either all filled with Bakelite right now, from the counterattack measures we used, or are shut-down without any electricty to open them back up. Others we found completely flooded with LCL-- we made the mistake of opening one of these up, and it gushed everywhere. Poor bastards.

"Hey-- are you awake?" Shigeru slapped the teacher a little more vigorously this time. "Time for you to come with us. We won't have any trouble, will we, sensei?" Shigeru smiled as the teacher stumbled off his gurney, and, still craddling his head in his hands, looked all around the chasm that was Geofront.

"Where...what is this place?" Howard La breathed in awe and confusion. Shinji put an arm around his shoulder, supporting him up, as Shigeru tuned to the rest of the others.

"Home stretch, men," he said, loud enough for all to hear. "Let's get the Children inside and all warmed up." They nodded in unison, understanding what had to be done. As if they'd been trained a thousand times to do it, Shigeru and some of them went to the thick metal gates of Nerv headquarters while others rolled Asuka in her gurney after them, and another pulled the second gurney after them.

Professor La turned to Shinji, his eyes wide with fear and paranoia. "Shinji-kun-- I remember what happened. Are you okay? Is Asuka...?"

"Mm," Shinji nodded. "I know only one of them, but it'll be okay, I guess," he said. "There should be supplies and maybe other people, too, but it doesn't seem like many. I probably can't say where we are, though. It might still be confidential," he offered as an explanation, feeling ridiculous even as he said it. The chemistry professor at least seemed to understand.

"Okay," he said, just as the first group of men grunted with a final shove that opened the steel-plated gates. "I'll trust you and your faith in them, though I think there are too many secrets here. I'll follow you."

Shinji nodded, and together, they followed the rest of the group into Nerv headquarters.

In stark contrast to the chaos and aftermath of the Third Impact outside, Nerv headquarters seemed as still and quiet as ever. Shinji realized that everything was deathly quiet around them, and realized that he could no longer hear the familiar, dull hum coming from the very walls and filtered air vents. Chemical glow-sticks had been left at every corner to light their way, and every so often, one of the Nerv personnel would crack open another to replace one that was dying out.

"Is this... is this what you and Asuka and Rei doing?" Howard asked, after a moment. He stretched out an arm to touch the cool surface of the metal-paneled walls. "What have they gotten you three into?"

"No questions," one of the personnel said, simply, as he swung his rifle back at him. "Hurry it up."

Shinji and his professor looked at each other, but said nothing. Instead, they struggled to keep pace with the others, who seemed to be full of the singular purpose of getting Asuka Soryuu Langley to medical help. He wondered whether it was just him, or if their pace really was quickening to brisk, march-like steps. It was hard to tell in the echoing hallway.

"Shinji, hurry up," Shigeru said, as some of the soldiers ran ahead to wide bay doors, streaked with the black grease of rocket ammunition and riddled with bulletholes. Even with the damage, Shinji recognized it an instant before Shigeru announced, "We're here. Everyone's here. Central Dogma."

"Shigeru? Is that you?" came a familiar voice from beyond the wide doorway. Shinji paused, barely recognizing the woman who stood before them.

Second-lieutenant Maya Ibuki was only 24, but her face was haggard and visibly tired. Her short dark hair was in disarray, and her usual khaki uniform top and white pants were replaced by a one-piece orange jumpsuit, from the engineering department. "Were you able to find anything out there? Or anyone?" she asked, as they drew nearer.

Shinji could hear her gasp as her eyes landed on him, and for a second, she looked like herself again, but for only a second. Her face blanched as the gurney carrying ran past her. "Asuka!" she cried, covering her mouth with her tiny hands.