Chapter Four
Another boring day was spent listening to the teacher going on about second impact, but the rest of the classes, Tai actually was interested in. History class was about the French Revolution and, since he had been hearing about it the year before at his old school, he was interested in finding out if there were any differences of perception. There were a few of them that he noticed and questioned in class, and the teacher talked with him during lunch while Rei stayed behind to listen to the discussion.
Since lunch was spent talking to the teacher, Tai bought something for Rei and him before the sync tests were to begin. It wasn't much of a meal, but it was enough to hold them over until supper that evening before they went to the school for the prom.
"Tai," came the call over the comm. link with Central Dogma, jarring him out of his thoughts.
"Yes?" he asked.
"Your sync level is at a hundred and fifty percent," Akagi told him. "Good job."
"How do you and Shinji beat me!" Asuka wined. "I'm the best pilot!"
"Calm down Asuka," Shinji attempted.
"Calm down! Calm down, you say! Watch it, baka-Shinji!" Asuka yelled. "I want another duel with you tomorrow, Tai!"
"Good, I don't want to fight before we leave tonight," Tai said. "Careful, though, Asuka. Shinji might think twice about going with you if you keep this up."
Asuka began to yell in retort, but he muted his audio from her and all he noticed was the video feed that kept changing as she made a futile attempt to get his complete attention. When she was tired of yelling at him, her video feed terminated and Tai sat there with his hands on the control yokes, just in case he had to go into action. Thankfully, no angels were detected and it was mere minutes before they were ordered to eject their entry plugs.
In a bit of a mood about Asuka's wining and yelling, he lifted his Eva's hand to place it over the hatch for Unit 02's entry plug. He sat there for a moment after enabling the audio for her comm signal and waited. Sure enough, her comm. link with him reactivated and she was screaming at him to let her out.
Eventually, after a lot of laughs from Central Dogma and the other pilots, Misato ordered him to stand down and he complied, although he made it look reluctant. He teased Asuka as she fumed after they got out of their entry plugs to join the others for the walk back to the changing rooms.
Shinji had to stop Asuka when she tried to pummel Tai on the walk back to the parking lot. She was furious and the anger had boiled in her enough that she wanted to kill him outright. That was settled when they got to the car and Misato cheered her up a bit by saying that Kaji would be driving the girls to the school before Tai and Shinji would join them. Her excuse was that she wanted the anticipation of seeing each other to last as long as possible.
Asuka emerged from her bedroom as Kaji arrived and she ran to the kitchen to hug him while in her dress. It was more or less a ballroom dress that she had picked out a long time ago for an occasion such as this was, but her mind lingered on the thought of possible jealousy from Shinji. Shrugging it off, she hugged her former infatuation and basked in the moment.
"Hello to you, too, Asuka," Kaji said, returning the hug. "I hear you're finally noticing Shinji."
She blushed at his teasing, slightly. "I'm going to the dance with my Baka," she said, then batted her eyebrows at him. "Unless someone's jealous and wants to go with me instead."
He backed away from her at that comment and waved his hands in front of him. "No, no, no, I'm not jealous. Shinji is the one you should go with. Not me." She laughed and then went back to her room to finish putting on her makeup. Kaji turned to Misato with a worried look on his face. "How long has she been sick?"
Misato laughed and PenPen almost lost his lunch as he closed the door to his fridge, not willing to see another sight like that nor hear the words spoken. "She's not sick, believe it or not. Ever since Rei got hooked she's been attached to poor Shinji."
"Speaking of him, where is he and this man that Rei has found?"
"Locked in their rooms until the girls leave," she said, laughing hysterically.
"That's a little cruel, Misato," he said, smiling at the comment nonetheless, unable to control his laughter that followed.
In Tai's room, he was leaning up against the wall, still on his feet, with his suit on ready to leave. There was no one there, but he continued to speak nonetheless.
"Activate cloaking system and replace the vehicle at the aforementioned coordinates." He had a look in his eye that was dark as he used his Iris displays to see what the cameras on board his weapon could see.
"Transporter lock, confirmed," he heard Red tell him as he saw Misato's car before the cameras literally went through it. "Transporter suspension ready."
"Energize."
A few short seconds passed as he stared out the window and watched what he could see on his Iris displays of the progress the AI was making. Before anyone could notice, he hoped, Misato's car had disappeared and had been replaced with Red with the holographics mimicking the appearance of the car.
Keeping a human being in transporter suspension had always been a difficult task for them the work with, but inanimate objects could easily be worked with, Since there was no risk of loosing the pattern due to normal biological properties, there was no risk of bringing the object back in pieces. It would still leave Misato without a vehicle for the evening, but he had a feeling that she didn't have plans to just stay in while Kaji was in town.
He had heard that the two of them had been dating a lot and there were a lot of unexplained absences of Misato when he was around. Put two and two together and you always get four, but with this it was really none of his business and he wasn't going to become a peeping tom to investigate. Honor was more important to him in this area.
He heard Rei and Asuka talking out in the living room and he heard Shinji groan from his room as Asuka teased him. Some things about women he would never understand, and Shinji probably felt the same way. It was probably best for them not to understand.
After about ten solid minutes of nothing but taunts from Asuka, Tai heard a light knock on his door. "Yes?" he asked, not moving from his position of leaning against the wall beside it.
"I'll see you tonight," he heard Rei's gentle voice.
"See you there, Rei," he said, and then he heard her walk away and then the front door open and close.
"Alright! You can come out now!" Misato yelled.
Tai emerged from his room and walked toward the kitchen where he met up with the two other remaining members of the household. Misato was stunned by what they were both wearing; something that Tai suggested when they were walking by a tuxedo rental place downtown three days ago. He snickered, as she looked them over, as if she wanted to go with them and steal them both away from their dates for the evening.
"Impressive," she said, coming out of her trance. "Where did you manage to get those?"
"We got them at-" Shinji started, but his mouth was covered by Tai's hand before he could get any more out.
"That's our little secret," he said.
"Well, let me just get the camera, and I'll-"
"RUN!" Tai yelled, snatching the car keys and running out the door, Shinji right behind him. If a picture were taken of the two of them, they would never be able to say that it never happened. The proof would be there on the film, and he didn't allow that to happen.
Jumping in the car, they looked up to see Misato coming down the stairs, but Tai was too fast for her. He put the keys in the holographic ignition and quickly started the engine. After a few quick revs, he shifted it into reverse and got out of the parking lot as quickly as he could, without squealing the tires. This car may look like Misato's right now, but if he put he pedal to the metal he could crank out a maximum speed of seven hundred and fifty miles per hour.
"Wow!" Shinji exclaimed as they turned onto the road, leaving Misato behind. "I guess you can drive!"
"You ain't seen nothing yet," he said, taking the opportunity to slow down just a bit to take the next corner. "When it comes to car chases and races, I'm one of the best you can get."
Shinji gulped down the lump in his throat and sat back in the seat as they careened toward the school. He just hoped that they didn't manage to screw up Misato's plan by arriving with Asuka and Rei.
Getting out of the car, Asuka waved goodbye to Kaji and then walked with Rei into the school gym. The music was already playing and there were a few people there, but she couldn't see anything just yet. Her eyes needed time to adjust to the lighting in the room, which was only the flashing lights that the DJ was controlling, but she was alright after a moment or two.
"How long will it take Tai and Shinji to get here?" Rei asked.
"With Misato probably drooling over them, about an hour," Asuka joked, but then she saw the slightly angered face of Rei as she waved her hands, imitating Shinji. "Just kidding."
Rei relaxed and sat down at a table with them to await their arrival, but they were interrupted when a student came up to them that Asuka barely tolerated.
"Care to dance with me, Miss Soryu?"
"No, Jerk," she said, staring into him with the most powerful glare she could summon. Most people would describe it as if she was tunnelling into his soul to rip it apart form the inside out.
"Well, I thought you were here to dance," he said, acting shocked but not faltering.
"Beat it, Hentai," she said. "I don't want to have to fight here."
"Who you with?" he sneered, obviously not liking the tone that the German girl was using with him. "I see no man here with you, babe, and that means-"
"She's with me," came a strong voice from behind that sounded angered.
Surako turned to find two young men standing there, both wearing black tuxedoes. He didn't recognize either one of them and Asuka began to snicker as Rei stood from the table to greet them. "And who might you be?"
"I'm Shinji Ikari, pilot of Evangelion Unit 01, and you are harassing my girlfriend," Shinji said, leering at him with a stare that could rival Asuka's. "Now leave, before we deal with you."
"Who's we?" Surako snorted. "You and your precious robot going to stomp on little ol' me?"
"I'll fill in to take the place of the second person," the other one interjected. "I'm Tai, pilot of Evangelion Unit 04. Step away, or I will bring harm to you."
"You're the one that beat up Toji!" he yelled, falling back onto the floor on his rear. Receiving only a nod and a gesture form Tai as if he was goin g to rush him, he ran away as fast as he could.
Asuka hugged Shinji form behind as he watched the fleeing form of the bully that had picked on Asuka for days now about he dance. "Thanks Shinji-kun." At this he turned all red, but he only turned around and led her out onto the dance floor while that left Tai and Rei behind.
"Lovely dress," Tai said, looking the simple blue dress over. It was elegant and looked to be made of satin, but he didn't confirm it until she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said, nervously. "Shall we?"
"I must tell you, I can't dance," he said.
She looked at him, puzzled by this statement. "I've never been to an event like this before, I will not judge you."
With that, he was led, reluctantly, onto the dance floor and they quickly set up a rhythm to dance to right beside Asuka and Shinji who were also beginning to enjoy themselves. A few of the teachers, chaperones for the evening, were watching from locations throughout the gym, but no one paid much attention to them.
"You okay?" Tai asked, noticing that Rei was tensing up.
"Yes," she said. "But I do believe that I am experiencing nervousness."
"Just let it slip away," he said. "There's no reason for you to be nervous here. You're with me."
She smiled a bit, then asked, "Does this happen every time?"
"Yup," he said. "I feel a bit nervous myself. Only lasts for about a half hour and then slips away naturally. When you find the answer to it, tell me, 'cause I'm still searching."
She giggled at that statement and then brought herself a little closer to him as a slower paced song began to play. He was a little hesitant to be this close to her in such a short time, but he decided that it wouldn't harm them to be dating. They seemed almost as though they were meant to be together, their personalities almost matching.
The song, he noticed, was one that he recognized as one by Savage Garden, one that he had liked for a long time. It was one of his mother's favourites called "Truly, Madly, Deeply" and it brought a feeling of home to him as he danced with Rei. He could see some of the people he now knew from his class, but two groups that stood out were Toji and Hikari, and Shinji and Asuka.
Asuka had calmed down a lot and was dancing with Shinji in much the same matter as Tai was with Rei. Both girls seemed to be extremely happy and he hoped that he wouldn't be pulled away tonight. There was always the possibility, wherever a Lightning pilot went, that there would be trouble. He was the first line of defence back home before the Evas, and here the situation was only slightly different.
Thinking back to the last dance that he had gone to back home, he had shown up with a friend as his date. She had been happy all night long, until about the last quarter of the event, and he had to use his counselling skills to comfort someone who was thinking of committing suicide. It was a horrible night after that, and she had been saddened by his job interfering with the night, but he had come back after dealing with it. It brightened her spirits enough and she kissed him . . .
"What was that for?" he asked, coming out of his thoughts of the past as Rei broke the kiss.
"Just wanted to share something more with you," she said, blushing. "Was I wrong?"
"No," he said, and then kissed her back. "As long as it is truthful, it is not wrong."
"Good," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder as they danced. "Thank you for coming with me."
"Anytime," he said, and then all went quite for them.
"Look at those two," Shinji said, motioning toward Rei and Tai a few feet away from them."
Asuka picked her head up and looked in their direction. "Looks cute," she said. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" he asked, puzzled.
"For treating you like I have all this time," she said. "I didn't think that I could show my feelings around you or anyone else. I was afraid of people thinking I'm weak."
He smiled at her and kissed her forehead. "No one will think you're weak for dating a baka, such as myself," he said. "And I'll be strong for you when you need me to be."
She closed her eyes and leaned her head back down on his shoulder. The night was peaceful, and there was no one that could bother her now.
Halfway though the dance, the music didn't fit the mood that the three couples were in and they had taken a seat near the speakers where they were taking a much-needed rest. Asuka was sitting in Shinji's lap with her arms around his neck, cooing at him as Toji stared in horror. Tai laughed as Hikari tapped his face hard enough to snap him back to reality and he mumbled something about "the Red Devil" getting his friend.
Asuka didn't let her attention fade form her date, but she noted that she would have to pay the stooge back for that comment. Right now, all she wanted to focus on was finally being able to stand down her guard and be happy.
Rei was much like Asuka, but different in her own way. She had finally found someone that she could share her emotions with openly. Sitting beside him she had layed her head back down on his shoulder as she leaned against him and he held her with his arm around her waist. It was pure bliss for her, having not experienced emotions that were this pleasing to her. At one time she had thought Shinji may have been the one for her, but decided against that idea when she thought about him being her half-brother in a since.
The main idea of the night had been achieved. Everyone that lived at the Katsuragi apartment had finally come to terms with things in their lives, or so they thought.
The past tormented Tai as he sat there with Rei. Although he didn't show any of it much, he was still feeling the turmoil that was raging inside his mind. It was nothing that he had not experienced before, but it seemed to him that it got worse every time. The Doctor had tried to give him medications to block the almost telepathic-like communications, but he had refused. His body would adapt to them eventually, he always said, but after ten years they had yet to subside.
Closing his eyes, he saw his Iris displays come to life and he scanned the area for possible energy signatures that would be carrying these communications. As always, though, he couldn't find anything. There seemed to be no source, no carrier wave, and no host that his sensors could detect. It was maddening to him to be in the dark about this, but he knew that if he made a scene here, he'd have to leave and not come back. That would leave Rei and the others alone, and would leave Toji the designated pilot of Unit 04.
Unit 04, another monster that he had control over, had been fussy about what pilot it would allow to operate it. There had been several people attempt it, but he and one other ultimately took the dragon by the horns and forced it to obey. That other person was killed when they attempted to launch Unit 04 during a test. They removed the body from the entry plug, preserved even to the slightest detail, when they recovered the monstrosity only a month ago.
The backup pilot, Regina Kyle, wouldn't have been in that entry plug if he had gotten there a little sooner. He would have been the one piloting Unit 04 and he could have saved her and the others at the base. It wasn't fair that she had to die like that.
When the Lightning team was sent out, after Third Impact was over, they began to recover people who were emerging from the LCL ocean. These had been the only people that had chosen that they wanted to live on in the world.
Tai snapped ut of it and opened his eyes to find that Toji and Hikari had joined them. The music that was playing was a little better, so he stood and Rei went with him back onto the dance floor.
It didn't seem like very long before the DJ got the bright idea to have a dancing competition. There were two separate contests; one for the students, and one for the teachers that were chaperoning the dance. Three different teachers put up an impressive fight for first place in their category, while the students were pretty straightforward.
"Hey," came a voice from behind them.
Tai turned around to come face-to-face with a video camera lens. He glared though it, knowing who was behind it. "What do you think you're doing, Kensuke?" he growled.
"Taking video footage of the happy couple!" he exclaimed, cheerfully.
"Kensuke, if you put them on the Internet like a few other I know of," Toji said, shaking his fist, "I'll give you a pair of black eyes." Hikari shushed him before he could add anything to it. Instead, he fixed a glare on his friend that would scare even the pain of a car.
Unnoticed to everyone else, Tai's fingers flew over his wrist as if he was typing on a keyboard and then he touched his right hand to the side of the camera where he knew the tape was. "Get going, Kensuke. There's nothing to be shot here."
"Ladies and gentlemen," came an announcement over the speakers. "You've been a great crowd tonight. The last dance is about to begin. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope to see you again in the New Year."
Everyone returned to the dance floor for the final dance of the evening, but, as they danced, Kensuke was off on the sideline taking a look at what he had gotten on tape. If he got enough, he could use it as blackmail against Shinji, Tai, and possibly Rei as well.
"What the hell?" he asked, after he saw the blue screen come on, signifying that there was nothing on the tape. "My plans are ruined!"
Tai smiled an evil smile as he watched Kensuke checking his camera for some kind of defect that he himself knew wasn't there. The mild charge from his implants electro magnetic pulse generator had obviously wiped the tape, most likely to the point where it was like new.
It seemed as though the dance lasted only a few moments, but Rei knew that it had to be a lot longer. Before the lights came on, Tai hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek before he released her from his hold just as the lights came back to life. They made their way out to the car, the whole way Rei holding her check where he had kissed her. The faintest blush was displayed on her face and she felt warm inside. Before they made it to the car, Tai seemed to tense up though and she wondered if he was not feeling well. This worried her, but she decided that she would not ask until they had a little privacy.
There was something wrong with him, however, something very wrong. He'd sensed that someone or something was watching them, and the power signature that he was detecting was more than enough to raise his alert levels. Red was running the numbers now, but he already had an idea about what was going on and he didn't like it.
Opening the door for Rei, he let her in the passenger's side and then circled around the front of the car to slip in behind the wheel. While the computer was crunching the numbers, there was no reason to jump to conclusions, but he had a strong feeling that nothing good could behind those readings. Right now though, he had to keep the others feeling as though nothing was wrong and he hoped that Rei wasn't seeing through him.
Pulling into the parking lot at the apartment a few minutes later, they got out and walked to the elevator that took them up to their floor. As Shinji opened the door to their apartment, Tai used his Iris displays to send a message to Red to return Misato's car form transporter suspension and await his arrival alongside it.
Without much thought, he took his shoes off and then headed directly to his room where he got changed out of his suit and into his uniform. After he had hastily put that on, he opened a small wooden box and removed his pip-bar and his three golden stars that indicated his rank. Opening another wooden box, he removed his combadge from it and placed it on his uniform. Last were his boots, highly polished, but not needing to do so.
He heard a knock on his door and when he opened it he saw Rei standing there, still in the lovely dress that she had worn to the dance. He was at a loss for why she would be there at his door this late at night, but he opened the door a little wider as if to invite her in.
"Is there something wrong, Tai?" she asked, a hint of hesitation in her voice. Then she noticed that he had changed and took in the sight that now lay before her. He looks quite handsome in that uniform, she thought. "Why is it that you are wearing that uniform? Are you going out?"
He looked down at himself, quickly realizing that he had forgotten to engage the holographic generators. Just as he was about to say something to her though, Red contacted him through the telepathic-like system that they had between them and informed him that the signal had been lost. Sighing in relief, he decided that he owed these people an explanation. "Is everyone still awake?"
"Yes," Rei answered, unsure of why he would be asking such a question, and not answering her questions. "Is there something wrong?"
"Yes," he said. "I'll explain it to everyone though."
She followed him down the hallway to the living room where Asuka and Shinji were relaxing on the couch and they both stared in shock at what he was wearing. Not understanding anything they could only sit there and not say a word. Misato came in a few moments later and was reduced to the same state as she stared at his uniform.
"Please, take a seat," Tai asked as he motioned toward the two remaining places to sit on the couch. Rei and Misato sat down together, but Rei seemed to be the only one who was calm in the entire group.
"Is everything okay?" Misato asked, the first one able to speak besides Rei.
"What the heck is that you're wearing?" Asuka gasped.
"Who are you?" Shinji asked.
Tai bowed his head in frustration as he heard Shinji's question. It was something that even the closest people to him had asked when he had showed them this, more importantly Red though. They always seemed to be shocked by the car. "I'm Tyler Acheson, the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit 04," he said. Everyone let out a sigh, but that soon ended.
Light began to shimmer beside Tai as a female form materialized. "But he is also someone else."
"Who are you?" Asuka asked, narrowing her eyes at the image of the woman in front of them.
"This is Red, a holographic representation of my car's Artificial Intelligence program," Tai answered, receiving a glare from Red.
"You know I don't like to be called that," Red told him as she turned back to the four people that she had been called upon to help him explain things to.
"So, if he is someone else, who is he?" Rei asked.
"Tell them my service record, general information only," Tai ordered.
"Brian Alexander Fergason; Rank: Third Star Admiral," Red recited the information. "Assignment terminated upon cryogenic freezing in 2006."
"I don't remember ever experiencing anything until about a few months ago," Tai said, a hint of sadness in his voice. "My family was with me in the cryogenic stasis system and we were going to get woke up just a year afterward, but something happened."
"The base was attacked and the system that controlled the cryogenic system was destroyed," Red told them.
The cryo pod opened and Tai fell onto his knees in full uniform. His sister and the rest of his family were by his side and he hoped that they were all right. When he looked up from his kneeling position he saw that there was a pair of combat boots on the floor.
"Are you Tyler Acheson?" a rough voice asked.
"Who wants to know?" he chocked as he tried to get over the cold feeling of the room that looked very dark for him. He was attempting to bring his Andronian systems on line, but his human systems needed time to wake up before he could accomplish that.
"We were sent here to find a Tyler Acheson," another voice said, sounding a little kinder, and this one was also feminine. "Are you him?"
"I'm him," he said. "What do you want?"
"You have been designated the pilot of Evangelion Unit 04," the man said. "We are soldiers from the Nerv's American branch."
Looking around a little more carefully, he could see that the room had been trashed. Medical equipment was spread out on the floor like debris and there were bullet holes in the wall. "You attacked my base, my home, and you ask me for you help?" he asked, angrily.
"We did not attack you," the woman said. "But we do not know who did, nor why you would be in this kind of facility."
"Well, this is where I was put up when they decided that I needed to go into cryo stasis," he answered. "Now, what is this that you wanted me to pilot?"
"According to what our employers tell us you have been selected to be the Sixth Child and the pilot of Evangelion Unit 04," the man said, like he was reciting something from a computer program.
"It's a big robot, kid," another soldier said as he walked into the room with a firearm. It looked as though it was a machine gun, and on closer inspection Tai identified it to be an MP5K Double clip sub machinegun.
"As you can see, I am not a kid," Tai said, standing to his full height to reveal the weapon that was secured in a holster on his waist. "I have to wake my family."
"If you know how to work the system, be my guest," the first soldier said.
Walking over to a console, Tai observed that they had used it to awaken him using the emergency control that had been destroyed by excessive force. Fighting the system failures that were threatening to hamper his efforts, he eventually made it into the system and then turned to the soldiers. "If you will step outside for a moment I will join you with them in Sickbay."
The lead soldier nodded and then exited with his two subordinates. Once they were gone, Tai turned back to his console and activated the recovery systems. Four additional pods opened in the room and his father, mother, and two sisters emerged from them. "It's alright guys, just give yourselves a few moments to recover from the temperature," he said, draping blankets over them.
"I told you you'd have ice in your hair, bro," Jodi said as she stood from her kneeled position first.
"Yet I am able to shrug it off because of the advancements thanks to the Andronian implant," he said, picking his youngest sister up off the floor. "You alright, Jen?"
"I'm cold Tai," she said, snuggling into his shoulder. "Let's get somewhere warm."
"I'll take you guys out of here in one of the cars up top."
"What's happening?" his mother asked.
"I don't know," he answered. "But it looks as though nothing good happened. There are soldiers outside waiting to take us to the surface. I'm going to see if I can get any of the power to the turbolifts if they haven't already."
"They under your control son?" his father asked.
"No," he said. "And I'm still not going to tell you what's going on with me."
His father seemed to accept that and they walked through the door to Sickbay, where five soldiers were waiting. Three he had already seen, but the others he had not met yet. What concerned him the most was the fact that Sickbay had been trashed.
"Are you ready to go?" the soldier asked.
"You have a medical facility?" Tai asked as he still held the shivering form of his sister in his arms.
"We have one back at base," the female soldier responded. "Top of the line medical equipment."
"Okay, who are you and what year is this?" his father asked, stepping forward.
"We are soldiers from the organization known as Nerv," the leader responded. "And the year is 2015."
Misato watched as the image of Red dissolved in front of them and it left Tai standing there with his head down. He was obviously upset and he couldn't come to tell them why, but they already knew. His entire family had lost a lot more time in suspended animation than what they had intended.
Surprising everyone was Rei though, who stood and embraced him in an attempt to calm him. Silent tears rolled down his cheek as he returned the gesture and then they were all standing around him.
"I am the last hope if the Evangelions fail now," he said as he sat down on the floor. "If we screw up, there will be nothing left."
"If third impact were to happen, is there any chance that you will be able to do something?" Asuka asked, yet another surprise.
"I only have Red Lightning here with me, but there are others and the pilots still remain in cryo stasis," he said. "Or so I though." When he received questioning looks from everyone he decided that the only thing he could do was show them. "Misato, you are the Tactical Officer at Nerv whenever an Angel attacks so you know what I mean when everything has to go right or it all falls apart. When we were leaving the dance tonight, I detected a power signature that I thought I had seen the last of before I went into cryo stasis."
"What is it?" Misato asked, convinced that her skills may be needed.
"An ex pilot who had this," he said, revealing his Andronian implant. "This gives me access to technology implanted throughout my body. She also has one, and if she is here it could mean only one thing. She wants revenge against me."
Everyone was silent, but Shinji broke the silence. "Are you human?"
Tai laughed at that statement. "Only the technology you see here is alien, I myself am human."
Misato stood and looked at her watch. "I think we should all get some rest," she said. "The four of you can camp out here in the living room if you like, but we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. Ritsuko has ordered up another round of sync tests."
Everyone groaned, but complied and Tai brought out his futon, as did his fellow pilots and roommates. There was mostly silence as they got ready for bed, but Rei pulled him aside to talk for a moment.
"Is there something you wanted to ask me, Rei?" he asked, looking down at her since he was just a little taller.
She smiled at him "With our current relationship, would it not be warranted to say that we are boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asked, getting ready for rejection. Never before in her life had she been in a relationship like this and she wanted to know if this was something more. What really got her wondering was the fact that she wanted it to be something more.
Tai stood there, frozen solid because he had been expecting her to ask him about something from his past. This kind of question blew a whole new lid off the proverbial cookie jar. "I took you out to dinner and I was your date for the dance tonight, so that's two separate official dates," he said, kicking himself for saying something like that to start off with. He noticed that she was looking down and away from him with a saddened expression on her face. "I guess we could consider ourselves in that kind of a relationship . . . if you wanted me to be your boyfriend, that is."
Rei's head snapped up and she looked at him with her crimson red eyes as she quickly nodded her head. His light blue eyes, that seemed to have lightning streaks of yellow around them, captured her. He drew her into a hug and they stood there for a moment just enjoying each other's company. When they parted, he kissed her.
"You two, get a room!" Asuka yelled from the other side of the living room.
Rei giggled as Tai led her back to the other couple. "So, I guess that you two are a couple now too, eh Shinji?" Tai asked. The answer to that question startled him a bit as Shinji drew Asuka into a passionate kiss on the lips. He stood there in shock as Asuka didn't bother to protest, and then a smile crept across the Canadian boy's face. "You two, get a room!" he said, faking a German accent.
Asuka glared at him, but made no attempt to yell at him for copying what she had said to him. Instead, she and Rei went off to their rooms to get changed for the night out of their dresses. This left Tai and Shinji to then do the same as Shinji still was in his suit and Tai was now in his uniform.
Tai returned a few moments later in a pair of jogging pants and a T-shirt that got him a strange look from Shinji, but he didn't say a word as they got into their separate futons and prepared for a relaxed evening. Unfortunately, Asuka snuck up on him and pounced, causing him to yelp in surprise and then look at her with an expression that softened from fear as he caught his breath.
"Baka-Shinji, you should not be surprised by me like that," Asuka teased. "I could have given you a heart attack."
"I think you did," Tai said, sarcastically.
"Why you little . . ." She stopped up in the middle of her sentence as Tai levelled his phaser at her. "Never mind."
"I thought so," Tai said, placing the weapon back under his pillow. "Now lay down and go to sleep before I knock you out."
Rei entered a moment later and got under her blankets. She simply said goodnight, and she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. This shocked everyone, but they had all had a long day so they could understand why she would go to sleep that fast. The poor girl had been isolated most of her life and she had never gone to a dance before, so they all just layed down as well and went to sleep.