I know it has been a week or so since I noticed that there were 10 reviews, but I was camping a lot and I also started work just this week. In fact, I have a day of work tomorrow morning. This is the next chapter, and as soon as I get three more reviews, for a total of 13, I'll put the Epilogue up. Thanks for all your support for those of you who too the time to review. And now, on with the fic.

Chapter Six

Misato woke up and wondered out into the kitchen where she got a beer out of the fridge and then walked into the living room. Today, all four of the pilots were still asleep, but what registered in her mind first was the fact that Tai and Rei were side by side under the same blankets. Normally, being a mother figure to the children, she would have woken them to begin scolding them, but she thought better of it. They had clothes on and Shinji and Asuka were there in the room too. It wouldn't be right for them to do anything with others in the room.
Then she looked to the corridor that led to the prisoner's bedroom. The door was closed, and Tai seemed to be undisturbed so she assumed that she was still in there. It didn't take long for the boy to stir though, noticing her presence.
"Mornin', Casanova," she greeted him as his eyes fluttered open and adjusted to the harsh light of the morning sun coming through the window.
"Morning, Misato," he said, yawning. "Sleep well?"
"Yup," she said, chugging a mouthful of beer. "I can see you did as well."
A faint blush appeared on the young man's face as he looked at the sleeping form of Rei, and then he turned back to her. "It's not what it looks like, Misato."
"I know," she said, waving off any further explanation that he would offer. "I'm just teasing."
Tai looked back to Rei from Misato and rested his head back down upon the pillow that he had been comfortable sleeping on before Misato stirred him. The one thing on his mind right now was rest, but he knew that the day's duties were about to begin. After last night's encounter with Vanessa, he was a little sceptical on how things would fall into place though. If he could get her to remain in that frame of mind, he could get to her and reason with the rational side of her. He might even be able to get an authorization code, or a tracking frequency out of her. Anything would be better than simply searching the city with a tricorder in hand everywhere he went.
That thought brought a new one to his mind. If he did find out where the now rogue Lightning had hidden itself, there would most likely be an armed conflict between him and the onboard AI. Liger, Grey Lightning's AI, had never been one to like anyone and had to be tamed. When the programming had screwed up, they had attempted to trace the problem, but were unable to find anything wrong with it. It simply was the way it was because, astoundingly, by choice! The only one that had been able to fully tame it was Vanessa herself, and she was obviously out of commission now that she had been captured. The AI would have long ago considered her a threat now that it knew that the 'enemy' target had captured her.
That was another thing that was really beginning to bother him. He was the enemy in its eyes and he was the darned co-creator of the hunk of metal! This would play out to be a very long and tiring mission if it went the way that he was thinking it would go.
"You okay?" Misato asked.
"Just thinking," he answered. "Things have gotten a lot more complicated with a rogue Lightning in the city. Nothing here could stand up against it if it decided to engage a random target."
"This city was made to withstand the Angels, it can certainly withstand the force of one weapon vehicle," Misato said. "How bad can it be?"
Tai was obviously a little annoyed and the statement that was just made. "The 'weapon vehicle' you speak of has a plasma based propulsion system capable of vaporizing everything within a five mile radius if it is detonated with the self destruct system," he said, a cold and unnerving tone in his voice. "Not to mention the weapons that it already has onboard, including phasers, disruptors, and a limited number of torpedoes."
Misato blinked. "You're not kidding, are you?" she asked, and when he shook his head, a shiver went down her spine. "Does Tokyo-3 have anything that could be used against it?"
"Defence wise, the only thing that might have a chance at standing up to it is an Absolute Terror Field."
"An AT field? The Eva can stand up to it?"
"I said might stand up to it," he said. "And I wasn't including the Eva." He decided to let that sink in for a moment, and then added, "Also, Red Lightning is equipped for Lightning-to-Lightning combat. The only drawback to that is that it was only tested once, and that was in a real combat situation."
Misato cringed at the tone that he used to finish that last sentence. "How did it turn out?"
"The two Lightnings in question suffered extreme damage, making them both look like they had been taken apart by an oversized can opener. Most of the engine was damaged, and the 'enemy' Lightning's engine was about to explode when it gave up and powered down."
"What happened?"
"My second in command and I had a disagreement," he said, a smile now appearing on his face as he remembered the moment. "The Doctor attempted to submit us both for psychiatric help and a few sessions with him, so we deleted him."
"Sounds like you both don't like that guy," she said, indicating the Doc's mobile emitter that was still sitting on the shelf beside the television.
"He gets annoying, too annoying for his holographic health. We once programmed him to sneeze at random times during the day, and when the technician arrived to fix the problem, it was gone. Only to show up five minutes after they had left."
Misato joined in with a laugh at that point, but both stopped when the red haired mass began to stir. Misato curled up on the couch and pretended to be asleep, leaving Tai to deal with it all on his own.
"Good morning, Asuka,"
At the sound of the voice, the German redhead's temper flared and she didn't waist any time.

Ritsuko knocked on the door to her friend's apartment and waited, but she heard an unusual amount of commotion from the other side as she waited. It sounded as though a war was being fought on the other side and she thought about returning later, when the door opened.
"Wark?" PenPen said as he looked up at her. The small warm-water penguin was the cutest thing that she had ever seen, but she would never tell anyone that. She had a reputation to keep.
"Where's Misato?" she asked, receiving a glance toward the living room and then she thanked him to then step inside and shut the door behind her. She took her shoes off and met Misato, Shinji, and Rei in the kitchen, but the war-sounds still continued. "What's happening in here? Sounds like Third Impact."
"Mount Asuka just erupted," Shinji said, not bothering to glance over his shoulder, but he winced when he heard a sound that resembled bones being crushed.
"Who's she fighting with?" she asked, curiosity taking over now because she finally registered that Shinji was cooking and not under the German girl's assault.
"She's fighting Tai," Rei answered, emotionlessly.
"And neither of them are winning," Misato added. "They are just too enduring. Yet, I believe that she will tire before he will."
"No, I think they're just getting warmed up," Shinji said. "Normally she would have killed me by now, but he seems to be up to the task."
Just as he said the words, a body flew past Ritsuko and landed just before it would have crashed into the table. The boy picked himself up off the floor and wiped a trickle of crimson red blood from his mouth. "Man that girl has a mean left hook." He then dusted himself off and stormed back into the living room, only to have another body be thrown back in his place.
"Uuggh! Why don't you just stay down!" Asuka yelled, picking herself up as well. She looked up to Ritsuko and nodded as she pulled her sleeve back and then stormed back to the battle.
"How long has this been going on?" Ritsuko asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.
"It started as soon as we accidentally woke Asuka this morning," Misato said. "That was about a half hour ago."
"And he's lasted this long?" she asked, not really believing it. She really would have killed Shinji by now if he were the one in the Canadian's place at the moment. "At least she has someone to spar against."
"That's not sparing," Rei said. "They are actually fighting."
Ritsuko gave up. Even though Rei had been developing her emotions and keeping away form the Commander, something she took a great deal of pride in getting her to do, she still kept a dry attitude at times. Ritsuko then laid a file down in front of Misato. "I hear there was quite the disturbance at the Tokyo-3 mall last night. It seemed to only involve two people, but it tore the place up a lot. Any idea what I'm talking about?"
Remembering how reluctant Tai had seemed to be before he told them the story about what he was and what he could do, Misato instantly said, "No. What happened there?"
"Normally I wouldn't bring this up, but the Magi picked up four separate signatures. Two have been classified as Blood Type Yellow, and the remaining two have been classified as simply red."
"No blood type for the second two?" Misato asked, curiously.
"No, the Magi are either having a glitch or they have picked up some kind of very powerful technology. Yet, if you look at the readings from one of the type yellow signatures, the power levels go off the scale at one point just before they disappear and then the red pattern disappeared shortly afterward."
"Weird," Shinji offered, not showing any sign that he knew anything. "Did you check the Magi?"
"Everything seems fine," Ritsuko said. "Yet I hear that Tai here is a computer technician, and from his file I see that he has some very amazing skills. I was wondering if you would bring him by later to have a look and maybe offer up a second opinion."
"Sure thing," Misato said. "I'll bring him in this evening."
"Thanks, Misato," she said, and then turned to leave. "I'll see you tonight then."

After Ritsuko had departed, Misato got up from the table and went to the fridge, grabbed another beer and then stormed into the living room. Shinji and Rei were not too far behind because they knew that Misato was going to somehow stop the fight hat has ensued between the Second and Sixth children. She didn't step between them, but she reached underneath her jacket and made sure that her gun was there.
Misato then stepped off to the side of the living room where she reached out and took hold of the energy weapon that Tai had placed there before he had talked to Vanessa. She upholstered it and aimed it at the both of them, making Tai instantly seize up, and giving Asuka a free shot at him.
After he had recovered a little from the punch that he had received to his chest, he looked up to see that Asuka had also stopped and was now kneeled down beside him. Misato was still standing there, beer in one hand Type-2 phaser in the other.
"Misato, please give that to me," Tai asked, making a move to get it and when her gaze hardened he sat back down.
"Make another move, and I'm going to start pushing buttons," she warned. "You two have been fighting for over a half hour now, and the time has come for you to cut it out."
"He started it," Asuka said, adding a punch to Tai's gut as emphasis.
"Enough!" Misato bellowed, placing the beer down on the shelf and allowing her full attention to be brought to the weapon in her hand. "Stand down or I will be forced to use this."
"Alright, I give up," Tai said, weakly standing and holding out his hand to her as he used his other hand to hold his injured stomach. "Give me the phaser." When Misato reluctantly handed the weapon back to him, he turned it so that the business end of it was pointing toward the floor and checked it. What he saw was that it was set in it's high red mode. "This is set to its maximum setting, Misato. If you would have fired this, you would have vaporized not only Asuka and I, but most of the room and whatever lies below it."
"Wow," was all that Misato could say to that statement before she heard the beeping of him pressing buttons on the weapon to disarm it, and then he pulled the power pack out of it. "I need another beer. No, make it another twenty-four."
As Misato left the room Rei walked up to Tai and hugged him before Asuka could stand up off the floor and examine the weapon that he then let her have, minus the power pack of course.
"Sorry for the rude wake up call, Rei," he apologized as he held her.
"Asuka can be quite a hothead at times," she answered. "Although, I think she had most definitely found her match."
"Thank God Misato stopped us," Tai said. "I was starting to get angry."
Laughter bust from the German at hearing that and she turned her attention back to the Canadian once again. "Sore looser, eh? We can have a rematch any time you want."
"No one lost here, it was a draw," Tai said deploying his chest armor for a split-second before looking at her in the eyes. He could see that she had noticed it, because her eyes were wide open in shock. "And the rematch is welcome any time that you want."
Asuka shook off the feeling of fear that she had just experienced and she walked off behind the Sixth Child to the kitchen where the two of them enjoyed a quiet breakfast with the rest of the residents of the apartment. PenPen had retired long ago back to his fridge when he decided that the fight between the hotheaded German and the willingly confrontational Canadian had gone on even after a guest had arrived.
Misato chewed her food nervously, and consumed more beer in one sitting than any of the others could even imaging. Tai was seriously wondering if she was having a nervous breakdown or something. Sure, she had almost killed both him and Asuka, but she was A Major working for Nerv and should have had training in stuff like that. Then again, she was holding something that was a lot more powerful than your normal everyday handgun.
Shrugging, Tai finished his meal as quickly as he always did these days and then reclined on the floor in the living room as he flipped though the channels on the TV. The only reason he was even still there was because he had to wait until he was alerted to some sign that Vanessa had woke up. After she did, he would be back in his normal command mode, and for now he just wanted to be a normal person. If that happened to only be a short amount of time, so be it, but he would enjoy it until it ended nonetheless.
A rustling sound made his ears perk up and he turned to see that the others had joined him in the room. He was about to speak when his Iris displays slid into place and alerted him of ambient readings having been changed in the room of his prisoner. This was the sign that he had been waiting for all morning.
He excused himself and then headed for the bedroom that severed as his prisoner's quarters for the time being and slipped inside without knocking. She was indeed, awake, and just beginning to get the sleep rubbed out of her eyes when he knelt down in front of her.
"Geez! Don't do that!" she exclaimed as she pulled back from him in surprise. "Were you in here the entire night?"
"No," he told her. "There are sensors all over this room. One of them told me that you were just waking up."
She shook her head and looked at the futon that lie below her. "What do you need?"
"Answers," he said. "First of all, how you got a Lightning from Base One when it's several hundred feet underwater." She recounted the entire event as detailed as she could remember to him and he took it all in as if it were all something that should have been told to him long ago. If Base One had been in top working order, even underwater, it would have alerted him to a possible intruder. "Why did you take her?"
"I wanted to find you and convince you that I could still be with you," she answered. "I see now that that is a futile effort."
"It was even before you began the effort," he told her. "Protocol 001 Alpha states that the Beta variant of it can only be used twice, and it registers that it has been used those two times already. Protocol also classifies you at the present time as Protocol Theta 001 Alpha. You should be thankful that I even granted you medical attention." He let that sink in as she realized just what he meant by that. "How did you track me to Tokyo-3?"
"I heard what the soldiers were saying when I traced Red Lightning to Nerv's fifth branch. They didn't mention your name, but the description they gave of you and your younger sister was enough to tell me who they were talking about." She leaned back against the wall as he continued to kneel there in front of her with one arm laying over his raised knee and letting his hand drape down over it. "Then, when you left for Tokyo-3, I hitched a ride by magnetically attaching Grey Lightning to the underside of the hull of the cargo ship."
He took that in as if it was trivial to him, but he had a look of complete disgust on his face as well. "Now, what of this random program that you placed into Grey Lightnings AI?"
"It's a program that randomly designates a new place to hide," she answered. "I really don't know what it would do, it was just a simple command to Liger."
"And that sinister artificial intelligence probably took it willingly too."
"Yes."
"What exactly did you say?"
"I said to create a random program to keep away from you and that if you were to come near to fire upon you if you became hostile."
He cringed at the thought of his own creation firing upon him, but it was a possibility. His armor would protect him if he had it raised, but nothing cold last for long under the assault of a Lightning weapons load out.
"I guess that we'll have to find it on our own then," he told her. "This isn't good Vanessa."
"I know."

"Maya, what is that?" Ritsuko asked, walking onto the bridge in Central Dogma.
"Not sure, the sensors just picked it up," Maya told her. As she looked at it further a familiar warning began to sound. "Blood Type Blue."
"Go to battle stations, Level one," Fuyutsuki said calmly from his position beside Gendo. "Alert the pilots."

"Angel Attack!" Misato yelled as she burst through the door to the room where Tai had been sitting with Vanessa gathering more information. "Let's go!"
"How much time?" he asked, standing and hurrying out the door with her to the living room.
"Only a few minutes!" Asuka shouted, already pulling her shoes on.
"Dang," Tai said, grabbing the mobile emitter off of the shelf and activating the Doctor.
"Please state the nature-"
"There's no time for that!" Tai yelled and the Doctor shut up as quickly as possible. "Take Vanessa to a shelter, you will be shown the way. Keep her under guard; my extra sidearm is in the case on the shelf in my closet. The combination is 34, 78, 93. Take her and get out of here as fast as you can."
"Yes, sir," the Doctor answered, taking off to Tai's bedroom and he heard the shuffling of cases as he slipped out the door behind Misato and the others.
"Let's get going," Misato said, taking the handle of the door to her car in hand.
"No, we'll take mine," Tai said, decloaking Red Lightning on the other side of the parking lot. "She's a lot faster."
As soon as everyone was in, Tai skipped the pre-flight sequence and gunned the engine, throwing them quickly from zero to three hundred miles per hour. The buildings flew by outside in a blur and before they knew it they were already at the entrance to the geo front. Not wanting to get Red inside the Nerv facility, he programmed the transporters and beamed them in.

"Are the pilots here yet?" Gendo asked, looking at the Angel on the screen as it neared the city.
"They just arrived, sir," Misato answered, stepping into Central Dogma. "They're getting ready."
"Good."
"Units 04 and 02 are ready for launch," Maya reported, being the only technician that was on duty when the Angel attacked. The others were still on their way.
"Launch Evas!"

Asuka had barely had time to get into her plug suit, coupling that with the daze she was in after Tai had transported them in to the base, and now she was already charging into battle. Tai was there with her, and they broke the surface standing next to each other. The black and red-stripped Evangelion stepped forward and snatched a rifle that had been sent up with them and she willed her Eva to take hold of the positron rifle that had been sent up for her.
Making a quick check of the weapons, they then barely had time to dodge an energy beam from the Angel.
"Dang, this thing is quick," came Tai's voice over the comm. "We need the others up here."
"Move out," came Gendo's voice, obviously having taken command of this operation. "Eva Units 00 and 01 are on standby."
"Great!" Asuka wailed as she squeezed the trigger and sent an energy beam back at the Angel, but it turned its attention to her as soon as she had done so. Barely having enough time to duck back into the buildings, her Eva took damage on its right arm. She was hurt, badly and her communications were cut off.

Tai heard the scream from Asuka before the comm line went dead and he charged the Angel, drawing both of his energy swords as he did so. "I've had enough of this!" he yelled, breaking the control yokes down so that he had a pair of joysticks in his hands.
The Angel reacted, but too slow as he hacked away at it, twisting and jerking on the control sticks as his effort turned into a struggle. He wouldn't be able to hold the angel much longer and he began to sweat with the exertion. This one was tough, worse than in the simulators and a lot worse than the one actual Angel that he had fought only a few days ago. Something was different from it.
Bringing his Iris displays into place over his eyes he scanned the monstrosity with his Andronian sensors and found out exactly why this one was so tough. At the heart of its body, where the core should have been, was something that was very familiar.
"I need Evas 00 and 01 up here now!" he yelled, allowing the Iris displays to slide back, away from his eyes.
"They are on stand-"
"Don't give me that!" he yelled back at Gendo, knowing that he would probably be in a lot of trouble for his outburst. Right now he didn't care, there was something that was a lot more trouble than him staring him in the face now. "Send them! I can't do this on my own!"
"Asuka is still alive, she will help you in a moment," Gendo snarled as his face appeared on the screen.

On the bridge, everyone watched as Eva Unit 04 struggled to keep a grip on the Angel and hold it off from entering the city, but it wasn't getting very far. Misato was angered by how Gendo had taken over the mission, but she had to step down when he wanted her to. Insubordination with that man could lead to many things that she didn't want to find out for herself first-hand.
"You ever here of the Lightning incident in which a whole American base was wiped off the map Gendo?" came the reply from Gendo's last statement about Asuka. Gendo obviously had heard that, because now he was standing and staring at the video screen that showed the image of the Sixth Child.
"What of it?" he barked.
"I'm the pilot," came Tai's response, which put Gendo back into his chair. "I'm Third Star Admiral Brian Alexander Fergason. Commanding officer of the Federation Alliance." Now, everyone on the bridge was shocked as he declared this, but Misato was not shocked by the information but the sheer fact that he'd told everyone. "If you hadn't noticed, I outrank you, Commander. Get those Evas up here now before I get ripped in half."
The channel closed after that, leaving everyone in shock. Yet, static was displayed on the screen.
"We've lost communications with Eva Unit 04," Maya reported.
"Is he still out there?" Fuyutsuki asked.
"Unit 04 is still active, but I am getting no readings from the pilot. Damage reports indicate that a seventy eight percent failure rate if he continues to hold the Angel without assistance."
"Launch the other Evas," Gendo ordered. "Do it now!"
"Yes, sir,"

Unit 00 lurched as it was launched up through the tunnels leading to the surface and Rei soon found herself looking at the body of the fallen Unit 02. She didn't have time to check on Asuka, but she hoped that she was alright. Next, she found that Unit 04 was on the outskirts of the city and she moved in to assist, just when Unit 01 arrived on the surface.
Rushing into battle was not one of the things that she had been taught, but she did so because she feared for Tai's life. Over the radio he had sounded tired and frustrated and that's something that she didn't see him doing. Not even when he had faced Vanessa down had he been in that condition. Something was terribly wrong.
"You okay, Rei?" a voice asked.
Rei jumped a bit in the pilot seat and turned her head to see Tai in the entry plug with her. His image flickered a bit and she instantly understood that this was just a hologram. His voice was strained, but he was alive where he was transmitting.
"I'm fine," she answered, grabbing hold of the Angel with her Eva. "Hang in there."
"Will do," he said. "Tell Shinji to fire on the Angel."
"Already heard you," Shinji responded. "Asuka is in position as well, at least it looks like it."
"I'm in communication with her," Tai answered. "She's ready to fire on my order."
"Okay," Rei said.
"Everyone, aim for the core," Tai ordered, then waited a few seconds; his Eva then tore the Angels arms out. "FIRE!"

An explosion threw all the Evas away and took out a few buildings with them. It was deafening and the only thing that Shinji could see was swirling images in front of him. As he vision cleared though, he began to take notice that his Eva was lying on its face.
"Misato, you there?" Shinji asked, but received static in response. "Asuka, Rei, Tai, everyone okay?"
"I'm here, baka," Asuka responded.
"I'm alive," came Rei's calm reply.
Silence was heard for a few more seconds, and then, through a lot of static came, "Mayday, mayday, Unit 04 is down and disabled. Entry plug penetrated by shrapnel and I cannot get it open. Mayday, may-"
"Anyone got power available?" Shinji asked, checking his Eva's status. "I've got maybe enough to stand, and that's all."
"I've got enough for the communications system, any more and I'll be drained," Asuka told snapped.
"I'll go."
"Sorry, Rei, I'll see ya back at Base."

Ripping the back of Unit 04 off was easy, but she had to be careful of how she got the plug out because of what he told her. Technicians were on the way, but with the plug compromised, there was no telling how long they had before he wouldn't have enough LCL to stay alive. Within the Eva, there was no air, and the LCL kept the pilots supplied with oxygen, so it was critical that she get him out of there fast.
Ejecting her own entry plug, she climbed down to Unit 04, lying on its side, and went for the back where its entry plug was now exposed. There was an emergency hatch on this one, or so it looked, and she opened it to find that there were computer circuits behind it. By this time she was extremely worried about him.
"Rei!" came a yell from below as a truck pulled up. It was Misato, and she had the technicians with her. "Is he alright in there?"
"He's trapped!" she yelled back. "The entry plug has been compromised! It won't eject!"
"We're on our way up!" yelled Maya, getting out of the truck as well and carrying a large looking pack along with a cutting torch.

Once they were up near the plug they looked the situation over and then Misato got to work with Maya on cutting the entry plug form the back. It was a long task that was not proving to be very easy and when they finally got it open, LCL sprayed out at a very high temperature.
"Uuggh, I'm burned!" Maya yelped as she stepped away and cradled her left arm. "That LCL is boiling!"
Rei let her head fall so that she looked at the armor of the black and red Eva she was standing on. Nothing worse could come out of this now, he was certainly dead.
"Something's in the pilot seat," Misato said, standing. "I can't get to it with that temperature though." She looked at the one pilot that still had a working Eva. "Rei, get back in Unit 00 and pull the entry plug out of Unit 04."
"But-"
"He'll be okay, just do it."
"Yes, ma'am"
Once she had pulled the entry plug out with Unit 00, the power reserves were exhausted and she had to manually eject her entry plug in order to get out of it. When she looked at the mess of LCL that had spilled out onto the street she hoped that she hadn't dumped it onto anyone.
When she was one the ground she saw that there was an armored figure laying in the entry plug's pilot seat. It seemed as though it was grappling the control yokes to keep it there. Under protests from Misato, Rei ignored them and stepped inside where the dripping liquid dripped down from the ceiling onto her. It burned, but it was nothing more to her than a sting, as she kept her focus on finding out if he was alive.
The armor had sustained damage and there was an object pressing against the ankle portion of it. Taking hold of it in her gloved hands, she dislodged the object from the plug and threw it aside.
"Tai?" she asked, attempting to hold back her emotions. "Tai? Are you there?"
The armor then pealed away, slowly, and revealed that he was there. It only revealed his face and he blinked a few times as he tried to keep the pain held back. "I'm here."
"He's alive!" Misato yelled, trying to get the attention of the Nerv paramedics arriving on scene. "Get a stretcher!"
"I'm unsalvageable, Rei," he said, a single pair of tears forming in his eyes. "Take this thing off my neck."
She reached out to the chain that was around his neck and took it off him. On the end of it was a sword that had many symbols on it that she had no idea how to read. "What is this?"
"Take it to Dr. Akagi," he answered. "I'll see you soon." With that, the armor redeployed and a clicking sound was heard.
"No," she said, trying to make it seem as though it wasn't real.
Appearing in the open part of the entry plug was Asuka and Shinji, who looked at her as she came out of the plug. "Is he alright?" Shinji asked.
"He's dead," Rei answered, hanging her head.
Shinji took her into his arms and held her as she sobbed. "It's alright, Rei," he said. "I'm sorry."
Asuka looked at the two of them as they held each other. If they weren't brother and sister they would make a cute couple, but she was with Shinji and nothing anyone could do would break them up. However, she let her fiery temper take a back seat as she joined them, and then Misato was there too.
"Is he gone?" Rei asked, looking at Misato.
"Yes, they're removing the body now," Misato answered, tears forming in her eyes.
The screech of metal was heard as the technicians attempted to get inside the plug, but it faded as a holographic message was put up in front of them. It was a countdown and they all knew what that was. "Run!" a technician yelled.
As soon as they were out of harms way, there was a flash and then there was only an empty entry plug. Inside, there was no sign of a body at all, and Rei stood up first to check it out. Burned into the control yokes of the pilot seat were the words, "I'll be back."

Okay, that is the last chapter of the story. Next is the epilogue. That's right! This isn't over yet! Like I said, 13 reviews, and I'll put up the epilogue. I'll make sure I don't wait this long after I have the reviews to do so though.