Under New Management

by 049 Faithless Observer

Teamwork is important, whats the worst that could happen? . . . Oh.

5. Makings of a Home

-1As usual I own nothing to do with Evangelion. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I personally think it's a lot better then the last one. Well, here we go.

Chapter Four: Makings of a Home

Ritsuko sat back in her chair starring at her personal log, it seemed rather odd that off all things she would right down her thoughts now but for the most part anything written here could be edited a bit and turned into a report so it made a bit of sense. And allowed Ritsuko to clear her head.

It has been almost two weeks since the Jet Alone incident, since then NERV has received increased funding from the UN and seems to have been given a quiet nod of the head to continue its work as an Anti Angel organization. Quite a lot has changed since Commander Gendo Ikari was declared dead and Commander Shinji Ikari took Command. All data collected for the Dummy Plug has been locked down and Rei's harmonics tests have been discontinued. Furthermore, Terminal Dogma has been completely sealed under the Commander's order's this order was received soon after the modification and decanting of the remaining dummy plug cores was completed two days ago. All seventeen children appear to be in good health and should make a full recovery, with any luck their psychological condition will be stable and they will be able to enter society with a minimum of difficulty.

Other Projects have also been activated to in the place of the Dummy Plug initiative, with the funding increase NERV has begun the expansion of the defense grid to include multiple heavy direct fire weapons including Positron cannons and solid state lasers. The Advanced Equipment Initiative has also been created to upgrade the effectiveness of the EVAs in combat against the Angels with a particular interest in the preservation of the pilot . . . But none of this is what I should be writing here. What I wish to state here are my opinions and Commander Shinji Ikari. Yet all I can say is that he seems capable of the job at hand, despite his young age . . . When he is acting as NERV's Commander the Third Child seems to lose his indecisive demeanor and become a far more dominating presence. It is possible that he is a schizophrenic but such a conclusion is inconsistent with the fact that he has complete continuity of his memories. It seems more likely that being placed in a situation where he cannot avoid his problems is instead causing him to deal with them productively and hence improving his confidence. This would not be advisable under most circumstances but if the Third Child can channel this productive behavior into other aspects of his life he could become more capable of fighting his depression and insecurity.

As has been noted before the Third Child is highly intelligent with an IQ of 130 borderline genius, though his depression has caused him to constantly underestimate his abilities. If he is able to see positive improvement made in himself of his own merit it may tremendously benefit him.

For the time being greater research into the Third Child's psychological condition will be required for review at a later date . . .

Yes NERV had changed quite a bit in the last two weeks, not only was Unit-00 on an accelerated repair schedule but Unit-01 was now undergoing a series of simulated tests with the F type equipment to extend its endurance and combat range. But . . . not all was well, particularly with Shinji. He had seemed greatly troubled and very hesitant for the last few weeks when it came to making even simple decisions, once they were made he carried them out with an assuring confidence but until then he seemed quite the old Shinji the staff had grown used to.

Which was all the more troubling considering some of the decisions he had made lately, it was likely that very soon NERV would find itself in conflict with there shadowy masters and the last thing they need was Shinji going indecisive on them at the worst time. Shaking off the troubling thoughts Ritsuko turned back to the reports on the decanted cores. I could win a Nobel Prize for the research I've done on these damn things . . . then Again I would end up in prison for illegal genetic engineering experiments and crimes against humanity if I ever published anything about them.

It was ironic that of all things, with the death of Gendo she had finally been freed to resume her proper calling as a scientist rather then a multipurpose walking sex toy. It also had brought her vendetta against Rei to an end, it was kind of hard to hate the child when the man she was after was dead and hence unable to give either of them any affection. If affection was the right word, why had she liked Gendo anyway? It wasn't like he was much in bed, and now that she thought about it he'd been rather cowardly in his manipulations . . .

Pausing in her work Ritsuko dropped her head onto the table. "I really need to find myself a man."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The girl's eyes cracked open slowly revealing deep gray irises, vision blurry, she looked about with the curious gaze of one newborn to the world. Her vision slowly cleared as she blinked once, twice, and then a third time, rubbing an eye gingerly she sat up looking about and caught site of the small rooms only other occupant, a messy haired young man in plain clothing looking at her slightly surprised. "I . . . I didn't mean to disturb you . . . I'm sorry . . ." He caught himself and then took a deep breath, "I- I'll go now . . ." Turning to leave Shinji was stopped as a hand captured his own in a steel like vice.

Turning back to the girl he saw her eyes growing damp, she held a vague resemblance to Rei but the clones were genetically malleable to a degree, with no AT field even more so, they were essentially blanks waiting for a soul. No longer.

This child's hair was lank and jet black running down to brush against her shoulders, gray eyes curious and supremely innocent in this first moment of life studied him. Thin lips parted as the as the yet unnamed child worked her mouth trying to find the words . . . "I-I . . . I am . . . Here . . ." She said shivering softly, "I am here . . . I am really here!" She said more quickly as she suddenly grabbed his other arm and pulled him tightly down into an embrace, laughing and crying at the same time. "I'm really here! I'm alive and I'm here!" She cried out triumphantly.

Shinji stood shocked as she laughed, full deep laughter, no giggle for this girl! Were they all going to react so violently? He'd just come to see his handiwork and now one of the girls that only weeks before had been a soulless dummy was experiencing her first embrace even if it was one she had forced him into. The doctors came quickly, carefully dislodging the young commander from the girl's vice like embrace, most of the medical staff had been told the girls that were under their care had all been comatose since the attack by the 3rd Angel when their shelter had collapsed. It was a rather thin lie that wouldn't hold up to much inquiry but it wasn't likely to receive much, very few people questioned NERV.

Misato was waiting for him when he got to the elevators, "You look a little embarrassed." She commented slyly.

"One of them woke up . . . She seemed . . . happy." He said carefully not wanting to give Misato anything to poke at him with. He looked at his Guardian curiously, noting the slight smile gracing her lips. "What is it?"

"I'm proud of you Shinji."

"So your not mad, I thought you would be because of . . ."

"That was because you left me out of the loop." She cut him off.

Looking back at her Shinji smiled slowly, "I did good, huh."

Ritsuko had been fairly open on the systems involved in the activation of the clones, ironically all of the equipment and research was already in place to do something like this so it had taken only a few days to have the MAGI put together a schedule and begin the decanting process. The clones had been altered very slightly at the genetic level, technically speaking they were almost genetically identical to Rei but the genes relating to their physical appearance had been changed drastically the changes had taken affect rapidly on the blank bodies allowing the first to be released less then a week after Shinji's little project had begun. After decanting it had been a simple process to surgically remove the S2 cores and have them quietly destroyed. It made him feel surprisingly good knowing that he had given them a chance to find happiness, each one was a unique being now and with only a vague holistic copy of Rei's memories to give them a basic reference Ritsuko believed their personalities would rapidly diverge from the original template.

She returned it with a mischievous grin of her own. "Yeah, you did, you found a solution that has a chance to leave everyone happier then when they began. So. Do you want to head home now? We'll be flying out to the Pacific Fleet tomorrow morning to meet the Second Child and the last thing we need is the Commander lacking rest."

Shinji yawned at the comment, "I guess, Hyuga can handle things on the night watch. Lets go home."

"Oh by the way . . . I've been meaning to ask about my wages, what with all of the overtime hours and complications brought on by the Angel's . . ." Misato said as they boarded the elevator.

"And I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Shinji responded.

"Really." She replied sweetly, "So what do you have to say." Yes a pay rase at last! I can't . . .

"I've been looking at your efficiency reports and unless I see some improvement I'm going to have to cut back on your pay." Shinji said calmly before coughing into his hand. "You have three weeks to shape up and meet the standards of this organization or a paycut will be put in affect."

Shinji stepped off of the elevator without further comment leaving a shocked Misato in his wake.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I am going to bed, Sir." Rei said quietly as she passed Fuyutsuki. The old man looked up from his book frowning.

"Just a moment Rei." The girl turned around to stare at him curiously, Shinji had done wonders for NERV in the last few weeks and in more ways than one, JHI had taken a hit after the failure of Jet Alone and Shinji had bought up a sizeable portion of the massive conglomerate after having the MAGI index the likeliness of a bounce back, so far this along with other careful business actions were adding a small cash cushion to NERV's operations. On the Moral front the GeoFront was becoming less and less depressing to work in with crews going through and systematically repainting the more heavily traveled corridors in something less depressing then concrete gray. Despite all of this, it really hadn't helped Rei develop any more of a personality.

Fuyutsuki paused considering the painfully off seen before him, the words Cute, adorable, and Rei, were not supposed to be used in the same sentence, well perhaps her classmates would call her cute, but adorable, not likely. At the moment she fit the bill however in a pair of blue pajama's a size too big, the pale digits of her toes barely stuck out from beneath the cuffed pants and her hands were totally swallowed by the shirt cuffs. Even with Rei's cold disposition the image before him would stir a sense of protectiveness towards the girl from any right thinking man.

Smiling kindly, "You should just say goodnight."

Rei shifted back and forth for a moment, "Very well . . . g-good night then." He watched her go down the hall with a sigh, dealing with the enigmatic child was still taking a great deal of effort. It wasn't that Rei was particularly demanding so much as the fact that she seemed incapable of making her wants or needs known to others. Making every day a struggle to understand her and help to help her. As Fuyutsuki now knew too well. Getting up quietly he walked softly to her bedroom door, left slightly ajar he watched as she sat on the futon starring at her wall, to be exact, she was starring to the south east on an almost direct line with her old apartment.

"Rei." He said as he tapped the door frame. Turning to face him, Fuyutsuki could see the pensive look that adorned her face for a brief moment before her defenses snapped into place hiding her feelings from the world, and possibly even herself. "Is something the matter?" Fuyutsuki asked.

Her lips worked for a moment as if whispering to herself before speaking aloud, "I believe Ikari is . . . angry with me."

The old teacher was taken aback by this soft spoken comment, "Why do you think that Rei?"

She seemed to focus on the floor of her small bedroom as she spoke not wanting to meet the gaze of her superior, she was damn hard to read that was for sure. "Ikari has avoided me he has not spoken to me since the Jet Alone testing and I fear that he will not keep his promise to me . . ."

That was when it all began to come together, Rei was not okay, even when Gendo had been alive she hadn't been. Her will to live was bound to her by the most fragile thread and it was now dangerously close to being wrenched away from her. Acting with the assurance only a mentor could show he responded gently. "Perhaps Shinji has been distracted Rei, boys his age rarely have much initiative with girls, if you want to talk to him you'll just have to face him yourself."

"Then . . . Ikari is not avoiding me?" She questioned.

Fuyutsuki worded his reply carefully, "I think, that he is troubled right now about what he saw in terminal dogma . . ." Before Rei could draw her own conclusions Fuyutsuki continued, "That doesn't mean that he is angry with you Rei . . . People like Shinji, and Gendo . . . they have trouble dealing with others if he's not talking to you its more likely because he is afraid he has hurt you."

"But he has not hurt me." Rei frowned, human relationships had too many double meanings, she had seen this more then once while observing her classmates, finally giving up on that endeavor when she had been unable to interpret their behavior in any logical context.

"Yes that's true." Fuyutsuki admitted, "But he feels that way, I think his decision concerning . . . the Dummy plug system . . . is his way of reaching a reconciliation, it bothered him that you were like that because he felt it made your life less valuable then it should be and he feels ashamed that such a thought could even occur to him."

Rei absorbed the information in silence, in all honest it did not bother her that Shinji had destroyed the system that allowed her reincarnation, being forced into existence was not something that should be done to any being and it was quite possible that her past death had scared her psyche even if she could not remember the event. Thoughts of Doctor Naoko Akagi still deeply disturbed her. She would not regret the loss of her pseudo immortality, though she no longer wished to die she did not wish to live forever either. She wanted to live her human span and then slip away like every other soul did. She wanted her existence for lack of a better word, to be allowed its natural course.

"Just confront him Rei, I'm sure he's not angry with you . . . just himself."

"I . . . will consider this." Rei replied thoughtfully.

Seeing that there was nothing more to be done Fuyutsuki turned to leave.

"Goodnight again, sir."

"Goodnight Rei." In the shadows the smile etched on the old mans face was invisible.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Oh, wow a Mi 35-G transport helicopter, I never thought I'd have a chance to ride on one of these hot momma's!"

Shinji sighed to himself, mentally bashing his face in at asking Touji and Kensuke along for the flight. The good news was that he had been able to keep his identity secret from Kensuke and the public at large. The bad news was that he had been able to keep it from Kensuke and the Public at large, meaning that he was still treated like a kid by most people. Not that he minded in most cases, but a personal call by the Commander of NERV may have held a little more wait with the 5th Fleet if he could actually admit his identity openly. Though he supposed it was also a good thing that his identity wasn't well known, in his station as a mere 'Pilot' He would be able to assess the Second Child without worrying about her trying to sucker up to him as her boss.

"Thanks for taking us along on this trip Misato." Touji shouted over the thunder of the rotor blades.

"Oh don't thank me, you guys needed to get out of the mountains, and I thought why not bring you along on this little date." Touji went off on a tangent dreamily commenting to Misato that he would never take off the rather ugly baseball cap he was wearing 'just for her' -cough- snicker- yeah- Shinji smiled slightly at the jocks enthusiasm, he'd been in much better spirits ever since his sister had been transferred to the NERV infirmary ward. Shinji had been happy to at least start on the path to righting some of the wrongs he felt were ultimately his families doing, and it was good PR for NERV besides.

His face darkened once more however when he remembered just what he was heading to personally oversee. Shinji had seen his father's files, there was more then just Unit-02 being transported by the pacific fleet.

"So how much longer until we land?" Shinji asked beginning to grow fidgety from the wait, his hands clenched reflexively as if to work out the tension.

"Oh not much longer, we're going to take a cruise on that little boat right . . . there." Misato pointed to the rapidly clearing cloud bank where the first parts of the UN pacific fleet were becoming visible.

"Woh! One, two, three, four, FIVE carriers and FOUR battleships what a fleet!"

"That's your little boat?" Touji asked.

"Frankly I'm surprised such a crust old relic can still stay afloat." Misato commented.

"Its not that bad, she's a vintage model from just before the Second Impact, she was originally going to be christened the Ronald Regan but after the Unified Peacekeeping forces were established it ended up as the Flagship of the UN pacific fleet." Kensuke went on about the ships draft, reactor rating, crew compliment, all of the minute pieces of information that the other three passengers could have done without. Thankfully the heavy lift chopper landed on the cleared deck space with no further difficulty and immediately began disengaging the heavy cargo box attached to its mounting points.

Kensuke was the first to the ground running around snapping shots of all the aircraft laid out on the deck, it was an Otaku's smorgasbord and he didn't seem likely to waste it. Touji went running ahead as a gust of wind whipped off the hat that had moments ago become his most valued possession. Shinji and Misato trailed behind, Misato busy trying to get her sealegs under her. "I told you not to have that Yebisu before we took off." Shinji said with no pity for his friend and subordinates unfortunate situation.

"Oh, just be quiet and let me suffer by myself." She muttered, Shinji just shrugged as he dropped the pair of wrap around sunglasses over his face protectively.

Touji was well ahead of the group trying to catch his hat before it was blown over the side of the Super Carrier and taken to a watery grave. In that regard the red high healed shoe that crashed down on top of it could be called a mixed blessing. "Hay, get off of that . . ." Touji's words were drowned out by the German accented Japanese from the offending shoe's owner.

"Well, hello Misato, its been a while."

Misato perked up a little at the comment from the Second Child. "Its good to see you too Asuka, you've certainly grown."

"Uh-huh, and its not just my height, my figure's filled out as well." Shinji was too shy to comment on such things but she was right on that, he'd had to recheck the proportions listed in her file when he had first read it. The perverted little part of his mind that lay locked behind multiple armored blast doors to put the GeoFront to shame wondered idly if they were real.

"Allow me to introduce you, this is Asuka Langley Sorhyu, the Second Child." Misato said, introducing the attractive young woman, her face was a mixture of harder European features softened by her mostly Japanese ancestry and her hair seemed too long to be practical for piloting, not left like it was out in a loose wind whipped mane anyways.

The rest of Shinji's mind was preparing to say hello to his new colleague. Before such thoughts could go any further however the wind picked up once more catching on the redheads yellow sun dress and hiking it up in a tasteless recreation of the famous Marilyn Monroe scene.

Smack "Don't"-smack "You"-smack "Look!" The three males stood in mild shock at the trauma the girl had just inflicted upon their faces. A red hand print that would hopefully fade . . . with time . . . maybe.

"What the hell was that for!" Touji shouted.

"That's the viewing fee." The redhead replied arrogantly, "Not bad, ne?"

"Its overpriced . . ." Touji said back as he undid his belt buckle, "Here's your change." Shinji had to admit, there were some stupid things, and there were some stupid things, dropping your pants in front of a short tempered and arrogant young woman was one of those stupid things. Touji received another slap for his assigning display, "Such and idiot!" Asuka muttered in disgust as she passed him by and came up to Misato, "So where's the famous Third Child." Paling visibly she glanced back at Touji, "Oich, nine . . ."

"Don't worry Asuka this is Shinji." She patted her flat mate on the back drawing Asuka's attention to him.

Looking him over with a thoughtful eye, "Not much to look at now is he." She finally decided.

Just remember Shinji she's rather proud and she had a right to that first slap. He told himself tightly, it had really hurt.

"Well, you should withhold judgement for now." Misato said slyly.

Shinji looked at her accusingly but stayed quiet as they walked towards the Carriers island section where they could ascend to the bridge.

Asuka went on about how high her synch score was and how Shinji and Rei were going to be relegated to backup duty when they got back to Tokyo-03 with Unit-02. Shinji didn't care much about whether Asuka was better than him or Rei. Rei probably didn't care either so he politely nodded and acted suitably impressed at her self proclaimed exploits.

"After all the Japan branch only has a pair of test machines, you'll be able to rest easy when you get my Unit-02!" She was still trailing one when they reached the bridge, Misato simply barging in unannounced and showing the social grace of a baby elephant. "Hello Admiral Manchester it's a pleasure to meet you." She said shaking the hand of the gray haired man standing next to the helmsman. There was only a slight problem with Misato's over energetic greeting.

"I'm . . . not the Admiral." The man commented, on closer inspection he wore a Captains rank insignia.

"I am." A stern voice came from the seat directly behind them. Misato turned chucking to hide her embarrassment, "Erm, of course you are." She shook his hand quickly and pulled out the paper work that would sign jurisdiction of Unit-02 over to the Japan branch. "Under the jurisdiction of NERV I hereby request that you hand over authority of Evangelion Unit-02 to us."

The Captain looked the paperwork over frowning, "Everything is in order . . . But I will not sign that thing over to you until we reach the harbor. The sea is our jurisdiction, you will follow our rules here."

Misato didn't let it show but she had expected as much, "Just be sure to have the umbilical linked with your ships reactor, if a combat situation arises NERV's authority will supersede yours and it is important that we be able to use the EVA in such an event."

He snorted, "You think I would let you use that thing here?"

"Well the EVA's are pretty expensive, and each one takes a long time to build it would be a shame to lose one due to over site." Shinji reasoned.

"I hardly need to be told how to operate my own ship by a child." The Admiral spat indignantly quieting Shinji with an irritated glare. "You'll have your power feed, but I guarantee you won't need it." He waved his hand in dismissal.

If Misato took the old Admirals words personally she didn't show it instead giving him a slightly bow. "Well thank you regardless for your hard work, just get us to New Yokozuka as soon as possible, m'kay?" Turning to the pack of children she was riding herd over she gestured towards the door. "So, lets head to the Cafeteria, we have a good half days voyage left you know."

"What an excellent idea Katsuragi, and maybe we can catch up in all that time." A voice came from the bridge hatch. Misato paled eye twitching as she saw the man leaning in against the bulkhead. The scruffy unshaven features were all too familiar. "Y-you!"

"Kaji!" Asuka shouted running to glomp onto the new arrival.

Shinji looked back and forth between Misato and the newcomer, his carefully developed commanders sense was saying they knew each other. Fancy that.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The members of SEELE were not pleased with events to date.

"How could Ikari do this!" SEELE 07 shouted angrily, "He could not have outmaneuvered us, NERV was supposed to fall into our hands in the case of his death."

"It appears that he was prepared for such a contingency." SEELE 02 replied, "Its been confirmed all of the papers and accounts were fakes, he played us all for fools!"

"How did he get away with this!" SEELE 11 Roared.

"Gentlemen we have already settled this before." SEELE 01, Kiel Lorenz replied with a remarkable amount of calm. "It was our own arrogance that allowed Ikari to move those assets, we all agreed that working to give ownership of the GeoFront to Ikari was the best way to internalize NERV and minimize any external involvement with the Evangelions. We could never expected his treachery to manifest itself in such a fashion."

"But it has, and now we must deal with the repercussions." SEELE 02 pointed out.

"This could work to our advantage." SEELE 01 noted carefully.

"How so?" SEELE 04 queried.

"The Third Child is in a position where we can more easily manipulate him, it is possible that we can use him to control NERV more effectively, even with the GeoFront and Unit-01 in his possession the child cannot move against us, we are his life blood, destroy us and he will seal his own fate as well. For now we may use each other and when the time comes we will be able to place him in a position which will lead to our final goal."

"Instrumentality." SEELE 04 whispered.

"The reunification of man with god." The others chanted.

"The prophecy has not been greatly affected, we will adapt and see this through to the end."

"And if the Child does not bend to our will?"

"He will." Kiel assured. "That much we can be sure of." The SEELE 01 monolith disappeared followed by the others in quick succession.

The lights in Kiel's office however did not rise. Instead he spoke to the shadows, "You were listening weren't you." It was a statement, not a question.

There was silence for a moment before a dainty giggle emanated forth from the darkness. "I must say it is amusing when you lilim quarrel amongst one another, you fight so much and yet achieve such a great deal." The voice had changed greatly in the last two weeks becoming much more feminine.

"Tell me, is there any particular reason for the changes you have made to your vessel?" Kiel asked suspiciously. The 17th was an odd one, ever since it had approached the Council in its quantum form it had been of great interest. Most of the SEELE members believed it was an entirely artificial angel like the late Ikari's precious abortion of an experiment. That was not entirely inaccurate, after all, they had provided the Angel with a host vessel based off of the same methods used by NERV to create its Nephilim. Still the Angel seemed full of surprises especially the way it could manipulate its form.

"Yes." The Angel admitted from the shadows, "After all my aims are yours as well, I have studied the 3rd Child a great deal in the last year just as you have asked. His state of mind factors greatly into your scenario, with his father gone one of the pillars maintaining the stasis in his growth has been destroyed. It may no longer be enough to show him simple concern and friendship, inevitably I will not be the first one to offer him such things by the time you allow me to go. I may have to go further then I would have been capable of otherwise. And . . ." There was a certain amount of mischief in the shadowy voice. "I can say most certainly from my studies that he is mentally quite healthy in that regard. He may not allow me close enough to his heart in any other form."

If Kiel had still possessed his natural eyes they would have narrowed down to bare slits at that comment. "It troubles me how much you seem to be enjoying yourself."

The voice turned quite serious, "Why not I? For all intense and purposes I will only live two years at most, why should I not embrace every moment of that time? If that is all I have other things to attend to." When the Angel received now response the silent scuffing of a pair of a cheap sneakers became audible heading to the rooms only door. As it opened the light from the outside outlined the 17th's silhouette for a brief moment. The most defining characteristics were the shoulder length silver hair and the pure white sun dress it wore.

Frankly, the creature bothered him greatly. It is a necessary evil. Kiel told himself once more, with a host vessel made from the children of Lilith the 17th would have to initiate instrumentality if it wished to receive what it was after. It benefitted both parties, that didn't mean the old man had to like it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"How have things been going for you Katsuragi?" Kaji asked as he played, or attempted to play anyways, footsies with an unresponsive and obviously slightly irritate Misato.

"Fancy running into you like this."

"Yeah?" She asked agitated, "What the hell are you doing here anyway?"

"Like I said, I'm accompanying Unit-02 and its pilot, the Eva is as Shinji said so astutely, quite expensive, the last thing we would need is its theft or mismanagement."

Misato snorted showing just what she thought of that happening. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any further her turned to Shinji. "Shinji Ikari, I must say it is an honor to finally meet you."

"Uhm, why?" Shinji asked, he couldn't think of any significance in his position that would make him well known in any circles and he had been quite happy to keep his rank hidden from the public to avoid such attention.

"You're the famous Third Child who synchronized with EVA with no previous training in your first battle. You're a bit of a celebrity in the defense field." Asuka looked irritated at the older man praising Shinji but then she had been clinging to him since he had shown up. It didn't take a genius to figure out she fancied him.

"I-its just luck." Shinji insisted.

"Its your talent." Kaji countered.

"Yeah, maybe." He relented.

"So . . . you've been living with Misato haven't you?"

"Uh, yeah."

The unkempt man leaned in grinning, "So tell me . . . is she still so . . . wild in bed."

"WHATT!" Everyone but Shinji and Kaji had rocketed from their seat in horror at the thought that their respective idols might have gotten it on with someone at some point in the past.

"J-just what are you implying!" Misato screamed as she slammed her palms down on the table in rage.

Kaji looked back to Shinji apparently unruffled by the outburst, "It appears she's still the same, isn't she."

Shinji chuckled, it was pretty fun seeing his oft times tormentor thrown so completely off balance like this, "I guess."

"My god, this is all just a bad dream, it has to be a nightmare." Misato gibbered in horror.

"Uhm, its not that bad . . . Misato." Shinji tried to comfort her.

There was a faint buzzing from Kaji's belt and he looked down at his beeper, apparently frowning at the message he looked up. "I'm afraid I have to take this call, I hope we can talk again soon Misato." With that the man got up and left, Asuka trailing close behind.

Misato's mood brightened as soon as he disappeared down the corridor. Shinji wondered just what kind of relationship the two had had in the past. Such idling thoughts did not stay long in his mind however as he turned back to an issue that had been bothering him for quite some time. Rei. He wondered what she was doing right then.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Sir, what are we doing here?" Rei asked as she sat beside the sub commander in a folding beach chair absently holding the fishing rod she had been given. Her curious expression was made all the more ridiculous by the big swab of sunscreen covering her nose.

"Here." Was a small picnic area on the shore of Lake Ashino, the Tokyo-3 cityscape was visible in the distance as the weathered old sub commander finished tying the hook on his own fishing pole. "We're going to go fishing Rei."

"Why?" She asked, it was honestly a waste of time to fish in her opinion, fish could be bought at the market with much greater uniformity in size and nutritional content, furthermore she did not eat meat.

"If it bothers you." Fuyutsuki began, "You don't have to fish, you can just sit here and keep me company."

She thought for a moment and then accepted his suggestion quietly putting the fishing pole down and watching as he cast his line out into the lake before sitting back down. "Its very peaceful today." He said quietly.

Rei starred out along the gently lapping shore of the lake. "Yes. It is."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"So, what do you think of Shinji Ikari?" Kaji asked as he stood observing the sea as it passed the carrier at 20knots, fall off and you'd be left behind in short order.

"The Third Child?" Asuka asked as she swung on the guardrail, "He's boring, how a kid like him got to become an EVA pilot is beyond me."

"You shouldn't just make such brash assumptions Asuka, I think they're something more to him then meets the eye." He said, Kaji already knew who Shinji really was and how far his authority extended, the other NERV Commanders had been agitated at the thought of admitting a child among their ranks but had grudgingly accepted the arrangement knowing Fuyutsuki would keep things running smoothly. The Old Men however had been much more shaken by events which was of interest to Kaji and his benefactors in the UN.

"What do you mean by that?" Asuka asked suspiciously.

"Well, he did synch with his EVA in battle at over forty percent with no previous training." Kaji said in a laid back manor.

Asuka's eyes widened, "Mein Gott!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Man, that Admiral sure is a pain the butt." Touji commented as the group worked its way up towards the upper levels of the carriers superstructure. (I somehow doubt there are escalators on aircraft carriers)

"Its his pride, too much of it is bound to make him cynical, that might put him in a tough spot some day." Misato predicted confidently.

"And that Mister Ryoji is certainly an interesting character." Shinji said with a slight hint of humor in his voice.

"That chauvinistic pig hasn't changed a bit." Misato snapped.

"Hey, Third Child.!" A voice came from above, Shinji looked up curiously, Asuka stood at the top of the stairs they were currently scaling. "Your coming with me."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"And that's when I first met Gendo, he was a bit rough around the edges back then mind you." Fuyutsuki drawled on, Rei had asked him about the late Commander and though he would never lie about his opinions of the man he did believe that for Rei's sake he needed to soften the truth. Even in death Rei held a great faith in the man, a faith likely now to never be undone, his death had in a way immortalized him in Rei's childish mind.

And that was the crux of the matter as she sat listening attentively. For lack of a better term Rei was emotionally stunted, her soul was essentially copied from the soul of a being thousands of years old, her body was fourteen, and her mind was only eight, it created a very strange personality when it came right down to it. She wasn't really so much mature as raised without any of the social taboos that many people were ingrained with from early childhood. This also meant he had to treat her with the same care he would a ten year old.

"The . . . Commander . . . Did he love his wife?" Rei asked.

Fuyutsuki was silent, this was the question he had been dreading since starting the conversation. "I think, he believed that what he felt for her was love." He said carefully.

"Sir?"

"Gendo . . . Was a troubled man like I've said before Rei, he never really had a very happy life and I think the only person he could find happiness with was Yui." The one person who never pushed him away or treated him cruelly . . . God, father and son are so much alike, I cannot allow something like that to befall Shinji as well. Fuyutsuki thought. ". . . So yes he did love her but he let that love grow into an obsession after her absorption into Unit-01. If he could have been happy and lived on I think he would have left this world much happier then he did . . ." Fuyutsuki trailed off as Rei focused her attention firmly on the water trying to discern the complex pattern of the ripples.

"What is it Rei?"

"I do not make anyone happy . . . So I cannot be loved." She said softly. To anyone but Rei such logic would make no sense, but to her . . .

"That isn't true Rei . . . Child you have just as much potential to be loved as anyone else." The words range on deaf ears leaving Fuyutsuki with only one recourse.

Rei looked up at a hand squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "I hope that one day you'll be able to look back on this time and know that you were loved by me at very least, not just as your Guardian, but as your Parent, and as your friend." The words were a bit of a surprise even to the elderly Sub Commander. He had just said it, finally put it down in verbal contract, he was Rei's parent, the person who would watch over her through thick and thin and help her mature from a child into a young woman who would then be able to go out into the world and live her own life. Looking at it like that did make it seem like a rather significant responsibility. Even so, Fuyutsuki felt there was no person in the world so particularly suited for the job.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"I didn't know it was red." Shinji said trying to sound polite. Asuka had dragged him out onto the flight deck and used her authority as a pilot to pull rank and get the two of them sent over to the Cargo ship carrying Evangelion Unit-02. The side of the ship was emblazoned with the name Titanic right next to the north star lines logo. Shinji had a strange feeling he'd heard that name somewhere before.

"That's not all that different about Unit-02." Asuka growled as she pulled him under the tarp to take a better look. As far as Shinji could tell the EVA was fairly similar at least externally, the head like Unit-00 and 01 was the major distinguishing feature aside from color. In this close four small beady green eyes were arrayed above the elongated jaw mouth guard giving Unit-02 a much more alien appearance then even Unit-00.

"Why does it have four eyes?" Shinji suddenly asked.

"That is a sign of Germany's superior engineering Third Child." Asuka said as she scaled the side of her EVA to lord over it, and him. Shinji was busy compiling a list of grievances and thinking just how sweet it would be when he invited her to his office later that day. "Normal eyesight only allows for accurate aiming along the x axis, but with a second pair of eyes paired with the lower pair the EVA and hence the targeting computers received more data to accurately target along the Y axis as well. Its sorta like taking the next logical step with human depth perception." Asuka explained. "But of course that should come as no surprise, Unit-02 is the worlds first true Evangelion, designed for actual combat it's the bases for the final production models!" The ship shook slightly as she finished speaking nearly knocking her from her perch on Unit-02's back.

"What was that?" Shinji asked.

"Undersea shockwave? Or depth charges? It sounded close." Asuka worked her way down from Unit-02 running across the arm to meet Shinji near the side of the tarp covering Unit-02 she jumped across a coolant filled gap to catch up with him and staggered as another explosion rocked the ship."

"Shinji's eyes widened as he caught sight of the high speed wake of something traveling just beneath the surface. It intersected with a destroyer breaking the unfortunate escort ships spine as other warships began firing depth charges and torpedoes into its path. "An Angel!" Was it after the EVA, or could it sense . . . Adam . . . Its after the one being transported by the Over the Rainbow!

"Asuka, quick get your EVA ready." Shinji shouted.

"Hey you don't have the right to boss me around!" She shouted back, admittedly she wouldn't mind taking Unit-02 out at all. It was just the thought of being told to do it by such a wimpish boy that rubbed her the wrong way. "Come on." She grabbed his hand dragging him back towards the transports superstructure, "Schnell, schnell, hurry, hayaku!" She shouted for Shinji to speed up like only a true trilingual could as she took a duffel from a storage cabinet and looked around quickly for some place to get changed. Spotting a stairwell she ran down the first flight and began changing."

"What are you doing? We don't have time for you to worry about your plugsuit at a time like this!" Shinji said as he stuck his head in through the hatch and caught site of Asuka's bare back.

"Ack!" She grabbed onto the front of the suit to try and cover herself completely, "Don't peep you pervert!" The angry command was unneeded Shinji had already stuck his head back out terrified at seeing a girl naked. It could probably be proven that Shinji's Uncle had subscribed to the perverted thoughts make you go blind school of thought when teacher his nephew about sex ed. This would explain a great deal about the poor and slightly emotionally damaged young man.

Not knowing any of this Asuka pondered aloud why all men had to be perverted, with the exception of Kaji of course. Finally she managed to get the suit on properly, taking a deep breath she nodded to herself, this was it, her first battle, "Lets go . . . Asuka."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Sir . . ." Rei said, finally looking him in the eyes once more.

"What is it Rei?" He asked kindly.

"You've caught something."

"What?" Fuyutsuki glanced at his fishing line and saw it bent at an alarming angle!

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"You want me to wear this?" Shinji asked as he starred at the red plug suit that had been tossed into his hand.

"Of course you idiot, do you think I'd want you to go naked! No wait! On second thought don't answer that. Its just my old plugsuit for god sake its not going to bight you."

Shinji paled, "You mean you've warn this before?"

"Well of course its not like they just hand out spares you know."

"I'm not wearing it!" Shinji said, suddenly very assertive. But then the fear of wearing something that had been covering a girls body and at had some point come into physical contact with some rather intimate places was pretty high on the list of things that scared him, along with orange tinted sunglasses and Captain Ahab style beards. "I'll go in my street clothes but I'm not wearing a girl's plugsuit!"

The ship shook again, "Fine! There's no time to argue but if my EVA's synchronization rates gets screwed up it'll be all on your head!"

"Gah, whatever." Shinji snarled as he pushed his way into the plug where he was promptly crammed in behind the plug seat. The hatch sealed and the plug flooded with LCL. Asuka went through the activation and German and frowned as the system failed to boot.

"What's the matter?" Shinji asked nervously.

"Its thought noise." Asuka sighed, "You thinking in Japanese, if you must think then do it in German."

"Uhm, okay, strudel, liverwurst . . ."

"Not like that you idiot!" She bawled at him before calming, "Fine reset the language to Japanese . . ." The panoramic display blurred into existence once more before fading back down now showing the outside world in almost perfect definition. "Evangelion Unit-02, activate!"

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Damnit why isn't it sinking, all ships confirm the range!" The Admiral shouted as another of his pickets was destroyed. Despite the fact that his fleet was being systematically whipped out he was having quite a grand old time fighting one of these so called 'Angels'.

"Range is confirmed." The Com Officer reported.

"Fire at will!" Admiral Manchester ordered.

Two of the fleets remaining anti submarine destroyers fired off torpedoes which seemed to have little affect on the fast moving aquatic target. We'll just have to lure it to the surface and attack it directly then. The Admiral decided.

Things seemed to be going well in his opinion until a certain mauve haired little birdie decided to come chirping at his window. "Hellooooo NERV delivery, would you like to place an order for tactics and weapons to use against this enemy?" Misato said in a rather cheerful demeanor, like most women Misato had a vengeance streak a mile long and it tickled her shoulder devil just the right way to see Admiral getting what he deserved for his previous remarks.

"Stay silent Major we don't have time for your interruptions." Manchester waved her off.

"Well excuse me but it looks to me like that thing is an Angel." Misato huffed sarcastically, her comments fell on deaf ears.

"Depth charges set to sixty meters, FIRE!"

Another string of explosions broke the surface of the water about the target with no discernible affect. "Look!" Kensuke shouted as he ran across the bridge to film the cargo Ship carrying Unit-02. The entire vessel was rocking as the tarp suddenly rose.

"What, I didn't give authorization for that thing to launch!"

"Who cares!" Misato shouted as she snatched the microphone in the Admirals hand and adjusted it to the appropriate frequency. "Asuka, is Shinji with you?"

"Yes Ma'am!" Shinji called out on the radio as he reverted to his normal subservient mode of address. That was good, it made things a lot easier for Misato knowing that Shinji wouldn't question her orders in the middle of a battle.

Seeing no real strategy to be used at the moment Misato just gave herself a slight shrug, "Just get to the carrier so we can connect the power feed."

"Roger." Shinji and Asuka said in unison.

"What are we going to do, Unit-02 isn't equipped for aquatic operations, if we fall in we're done for."

"Then we just won't do that." Asuka said confidently, the Angel veered towards the transport as if sensing the threat and intending to nip it in the bud. Gathering its legs beneath it Unit-02 hurled itself into the air an instant before the Angel crashed into the transport, cleaving it in two. Coming down with a surprising grass Unit-02 crashed onto the helicopter deck of an Aegis cruiser warping the ships entire hull and killing several crew members as it crushed the lower level and sent shrapnel flying across the deck. (Honestly the things Asuka has done would make her a mass murderer. And if you don't think people died in that battle your kidding yourself.)

Unit-02 didn't stay put for long. "We only have one minute of power left." Shinji pointed out. Shinji personally proffered to get the most out of his EVA's battery but Asuka obviously wanted maximum performance while it lasted and was running Unit-02 at maximum power.

"I know that . . ." Taking a breath she set her face in a determined mask, "Lets play hopscotch."

"Wha . . ." Shinji didn't get any further before Unit-02 was once more air born bouncing from ship to ship narrowly ahead of the Angel.

"This, is, getting, ridiculous." Shinji whimpered as his stomach pancaked into his throat.

"Unit-02 coming in for landing!" Asuka shouted exultantly as 1500 tons of bio mechanical weapons system crashed onto the flight deck of the Super Carrier managing to crush one of the ships launch catapults and send half of its fighter complement over the edge in the process.

Asuka grabbed the umbilical and plugged into the power supply with eight seconds to spare. Turning back around to face the oncoming Angel which now surfaced as it prepared to attack. "Its enormous." Shinji commented, and the Angel truly was, possibly larger then any of the ones he had fought so far.

"The bigger they are . . ." Asuka trailed off.

"But . . ." Shinji glanced between Ausuka and the oncoming Angel. "We don't have any weapons." Somehow he doubted the Angel would let them settle this with a polite round of fisticuffs.

Asuka's grin didn't falter for a second in fact it grew more predatory as she depressed as switch on the left induction rod, "The progressive knife should be all we need to turn that thing into sushi." She said confidently.

Unit-02's short high vibration blade emerged from its holster, grabbing it Asuka got braced from the Angel's strike just as it through its entire body out of the water in a great leap which landed it square atop the carrier sending the vessel rocking once more. Unit-02 struggled with the creature which squirmed about with all the grace of a beached wale upon the carrier deck. The progressive knife was knocked free and managed to slice into effortlessly through the hull of an unfortunate F-15 on its way to the deck.

"For the love of god, look what they're doing to my flight deck!" Admiral Manchester wept as Unit-02 staggered back and got a poor footing atop one of the carriers aircraft elevators, unable to hold out against the tremendous weight pressed down upon it the entire assembly collapsed back down to the hangar deck. Unit-02 went tumbling over the deck with the Angel in close pursuit.

Why didn't I have Rei deploy with the A-type equipment we could have put her on watch in one of the Transport planes. Shinji thought as he beat himself over the head for his stupidity. Well hindsight was 20/20 they always said.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fuyutsuki hauled back as he started to real in whatever was on the other end of the line. Damn, whatever it was it must have been big. "Rei, get the net ready."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Damn it why can't I move!" Asuka shouted as the slightest hint of panic entered her voice.

"Its because we're using B-type equipment."

"Oh shut up, what do you know." She snapped back before catching sight of the Angel charging towards them again, just when things couldn't possible get worse, they did, the Angel's massive jaws opened revealing ranks of razor sharp, "Teeth." Asuka gulped.

"Its an Angel." Shinji said as if it was only to be expected.

Meanwhile up on the deck of the Over the Rainbow Misato and the bridge crew watch as the last vestiges of the carrier's air wing were swept from the deck by the rapidly unwinding umbilical cable.

"What a waste." Kensuke mourned the destroyed aircraft as the umbilical neared the end of its length.

"How much cable is left?" Manchester asked.

"Only seven hundred meters." His flag Captain replied.

The Admiral adjuster his microphone to call on the general intercom. "All personal brace for impact." The cord ran out, the entire umbilical carrier was nearly wrenched off of its hasty mount, still it did not give, having been bolted down through a preinstalled hard point mounted on the carrier during its last refit specifically to act as a support ship for EVA operations.

As the shaking stopped the second lift rose from the carrier hunger. "Ah, A Yak-23 custom!" Kensuke shouted as he struggled to swap video disks, Misato caught site of the person sitting in the small VTOL aircrafts copilots seat.

"Kaji!" She sounded surprisingly happy to see him.

"Well, its been nice seeing you again Misato." His voice came over the bridge radio, "But I must be going now I have an important package to deliver to NERV central, I leave this to you Major, Admiral." With that said the small aircraft lifted into the air and was quickly on its way safely clear of the battle.

"He just ran away." Touji said stupidly.

"Smart on his part." Kensuke commented.

"Grrr, Can't we shoot him down or something?" Misato asked the Admiral voice hinting at inflicting bodily harm to someone. .

"With what?" Manchester asked, "Your toy destroyed all of my Anti Air cruisers.

Misato sagged down in defeat, there were days it really sucked to be alive.

"Now we still have to deal with that Angel . . ." Misato thought aloud.

"How, it ate your EVA." Manchester said.

"The way its got Unit-02 almost reminds me of Marlin fishing." Touji said absently.

Misato's eyes widened, "That's it! Touji you're a genius, she leaned down and gave the boy a slight peck on the cheek causing him to pass out and leave Kensuke feeling cheated, he was the military Otaku/Nerd/Genius he should be the one receiving a small kiss from NERV's beautiful operations director!

"Admiral I would like to request your assistance." She said, trying to force as much sincerity as possible into her voice.

Sighing Manchester nodded, "What is it?"

"We'll attack the Angel point blank with the fleets two remaining battleships, all we have to do is programmed the navigation computers to execute a controlled scuttling maneuver and then have the ships onboard Nemesis arrays fire all of their turret cannons at the Angel as we real it into their path." Misato gave a victory sign as she finished her hasty outline, it was the perfect plan.

"There's just one problem with that." The Admiral's flag Captain commented, "The Maneuvering thrusters on the Iowa and Missouri were heavily damaged by our depth charges, neither ship will be able to maneuver into position for more than fifteen minutes."

Misato face faulted, they really didn't have fifteen minutes, she doubted Unit-02 would hold out even five minutes, either the umbilical would finally be broken off or the Angel would finish chewing through the EVA.

"Well, don't you guys have any submarines?" Kensuke asked as he looked up from fiddling with his Camera. Starring at the boy as for the first time the group acknowledged his existence he elaborated. "Well just make it come up so you can shoot it on the surface. They did it in world war two to take out U-boats."

"The Seawolf and Michigan are in position to attack with N2 torpedoes, if we can hit the Angel while its just a few kilometers ahead of us . . ." The Flag Captain trailed off.

"It'll be meat." Manchester grunted before closing his eyes, "But how do we penetrate its AT field?"

"That's easy, we'll let Unit-02 neutralize the AT field, we can even use the umbilical to control its distance and depth" Misato said as she began to revise the plan in her head, "We'll use the Submarines to force the Angel to the surface and then hit it with conventional weapons."

"What about the EVA?" Kensuke asked.

"The armor on Unit-02 will handle those N2 torpedoes just so long as they get free before the fleet hits it." Turning back to the Admiral she nodded, "I don't know about you but I know Commander Ikari would prefer we cooperate rather then fight each other."

The Admiral nodded back, "Agreed, shall we?"

Misato grinned, "Yes, lets." Orders went out, ships began to change their positions and gun mounts were loaded and brought online as the Fleet prepared its counter attack.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"Range seven kilometers, depth one hundred and twenty meters."

"Range seven kilometers, depth one twenty, aye sir."

The Commander of the Submarine Seawolf made the final adjustments in the firing plot and then nodded to his XO. "Tubes one and two load N2s" They had only received the new N2 tipped torpedoes when they had arrived in Germany, supposedly somebody had suspected something like this might happen and he was quietly thankful for the two, half kiloton none nuclear warheads.

"Tubes one and two N2s, Aye sir." One crewmen said quickly, "Release codes sir?"

"X-ray, Alfa, Bravo, Six, Six, Four, Hotel."

"Affirmative X-ray, Alfa, Bravo, Six, Six, Four, Hotel, N2 warheads have accepted code and are primed for firing."

"Set for pre ranged detonation at one hundred and fifty meters, correct aim, range minus one hundred meters, depth plus ten meters."

"Aye sir, range minus one hundred, depth plus ten."

"Fire tube one."

-Shoonk-"Tube one fired."

"Fire tube two."

-shoonk- "Tube Two fired."

Likewise aboard the Michigan two more torpedoes were launched and sent on their way towards the angel at a steady sixty knots. They reached their preset detonation range in less the forty seconds detonating in a blast wave of high pressure water and steam which smashed against their target's great bulk, stunning the 6th Angel and sending it racing for the surface in surprise, and right into the waiting arms of the rest of the Pacific fleet.

"God I can't believe they're shooting at us!" Asuka cried out.

"Oh shut up and help me." Shinji said as he grabbed the control and pulled.

"Hey, don't you touch my EVA without my permission." Asuka balled, beating Shinji atop his head with her balled fists.

It aint going to be yours much longer if you keep this up, I know, I'll give it to Kensuke, sure he'd be a terrible pilot but at least he'll die happy! The vengeful part of Shinji's mind chanted this rewarding thought over and over again as he grew quite fed up with the girl torturing his head. Of course the good part of his mind that could be termed Whimpy Shinji was currently busy trying to get the unresponsive behemoth to move. "We're done for if we're still in this thing when we reach the surface . . . Come on Asuka we have free ourselves!"

Finally stopping her attack on Shinji, Asuka was left fraught for a moment with indecision if she kept this up she wasn't going to be able to do anything . . . Well it was worth a shot. Lacing her fingers with his she began chanting to herself, Open, open, open . . .

Open, open, open . . . Shinji commanded in concert willing it to happen with all of his might.

They were lest then ten meters from the surface, Unit-02's eyes flashed.

The Angel burst from the sea, arching into the air like the whales it somewhat resembled, and right into the sight of every remaining ship in the fleet, with its AT field neutralized. They had a bone to pick with it.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The flat form of a catfish arched through the air into the waiting net held by a startled Rei, still jumping about as Fuyutsuki took a look. "Heh, that's a nice sized one." He handed Rei his fishing pole, "Here hold this while I measure him."

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The world filled with thunder as two battleships, sixteen cruisers and eight destroyers hammered the Angel's sides with their combined retinue of Naval rifles, 205mm, and 155mm cannons, rapid fire paired 5inch anti aircraft guns, and even 20mm CIWS mounts repurposed hastily by computer geeks as makeshift ship to ship weaponry for use against the Angel. Even a few missiles from a box launcher managed to get off. But the real show stoppers were the eighteen shells off of the two battleships, hitting with full broadsides the hardened bunker buster rounds penetrated the Angel's exposed body to riddle its insides with shrapnel and high explosives.

When the blood and dust cleared the remains of the Angel smashed back into the water as a bloodied mass of pulped flesh and bone, one of the broadsides had actually managed to saw it in half through its middle. The remains sank for a moment before they bobbed back up on the sea's surface. A moment later Unit-02 bobbed to the surface as well, when the power had depleted its emergency retrieval system had been activated, Unit-02 now sat riding the Ocean waves kept buoyant by a ridiculous pair of floaty wings. (The bright orange kind that small children wear.)

The jokes made about that particular feature in the German built EVA would never be lived down. What could be said, Kyoko Zeppelin Sorhyu had always believed in safety first.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Fuyutsuki noted Rei starring at the catfish sitting in the bucket squirming. Even after a half a hour it had stubbornly refused to die. That didn't bother Fuyutsuki too much he'd gutted fish live since he was a small child, hell he'd thrown them straight out of the water and direct into the frying pan on occasion. However it did apparently bother Rei as she starred at the helpless creature eyes filled with anxiety and even perhaps sympathy for a being which possessed no control over its fate.

"Let me guess . . . You won't eat it." He said chidingly. Rei nodded. "And you would prefer I didn't eat it either." After a moment of hesitation Rei nodded slowly again.

Sighing Fuyutsuki pulled the still struggling fish from the bucket and walked carefully down to the shore. "Come here Rei."

After a moment the girl followed him watching as he slowly put the catfish back in the water. It squirmed about desperately trying to escape as Fuyutsuki held onto it by the deeply imbedded fishing line. "Life is an amazing thing Rei, truly remarkable, you know Yui Ikari . . . Shinji's mother loved life a very great deal. The greatest thing about it, she said once, is that life loves to beget more life, even things as simple as nitrogen and carbon hold onto life they are used over and over again in the respiration cycles of plants and animals." He studied Rei listening at tentatively beside him. "Just remember this Rei, no matter what, never give up your hope in life, sometimes, it's the only thing that can let you move on." Like I should have long ago . . . Consider this the Official beginning to my repentance Yui.

With a practiced twist Fuyutsuki removed the hook from the catfish's mouth and released it. The creature shot back out into the lake escaping for another day.

When he looked up again Fuyutsuki froze as he saw the small delicate smile that graced his young charge's pale face. He smiled back, "Now then, I don't suppose we could go get some Sushi?"

"I am not averse to that." Rei said as she helped him pack up the lawn chairs and fishing equipment, "Just so long as I do not have to eat any."

"Of course, we'll get you some tempura vegetables . . . Have you ever had ice cream tempura before?"

"I have never had ice cream at all." Rei admitted.

Fuyutsuki paused for moment, "Well, we'll just have to change that won't we." Finishing with his work Fuytsuki closed up his tackle box. God it feels good to be doing honest work again. Rei took his hand like a small child as she worked her way carefully up the narrow foot path just ahead of him. As the Sub Commander left followed he swore he felt ten years younger.

Yui had been right as usual, it truly was glorious to live.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Shinji did his best to ignore the general discomfort of his sticky clothes as he found Asuka up on the observation deck of the Over the Rainbow, they didn't have the equipment to pull Unit-02 out the water to it was instead being towed rather embarrassingly behind the super carrier still wearing its little floaties.

He was surprised to see the Admiral and Kensuke over near the other edge of the deck, apparently the old man had congratulated Kensuke for his quick thinking to use the fleets submarines assets, something that everyone had forgotten in the heat of battle. It looked like that was true considering how pleased Kensuke looked. He wondered absently where Touji was before finally speaking to Asuka.

"G-great work today Asuka, I just want to say . . . Thanks."

"Well of course you would." She said turning to give him a big victory grin, "But then I am the best pilot NERV has ever produced and you should count your blessing having me here now, just wait and see I'll take the next Angel down all by myself! You and the First Child will just be there for show."

Shinji hesitated for a moment before going on, "Uhm, I hope you'll be easier to work with then Misato. She's pretty . . . Uhm, unusual."

"Oh really?" Asuka asked starring out at the sea.

"Asuka . . . You're a girl." He said.

"You just figure that out?" She asked sarcastically before noting the faint blush on his face and giggling. "Your just too easy Shinji. So what did you want to ask."

"Well . . . I know this girl . . ."

"Oh my God!"

"What is it?" Shinji asked startled.

"A twerp like you has a girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Shinji shouted, catching the attention of Kensuke and the Admiral who had been discussing maritime history.

"Well, you see she's, just a girl who's a friend . . . And . . ."

"Never mind that just go on." Asuka prodded impatiently.

"Well, I feel like I kind of hurt her feelings and I want to make it up to her because I hate to see her sad and I promised to help her be happy, but I don't know how."

Asuka made a show of giving it some thought before finally giving a shrug, "Buy her something."

"What?"

"A gift, oh it should be something that she might like, but still a gift, something that makes up for whatever you did, is always a good idea. Say you forgot chocolates on Valentines day, nothing beats a triple sundae with extra fudge on your next date, stuff like that. You know."

A thought came to his mind, Rei seemed to Miss his father, other then himself and Fuyutsuki she had been the only one at his funeral. He nodded slowly, "I think I know just the thing. Thanks Asuka, hope I'll see you at the Command meeting tonight."

"Command meeting?" Asuka asked.

"Its just this thing the Commander does." Shinji said chuckling, "Likes to welcome new subordinates and have the pilots gather. It helps to build team moral I'm sure Rei will be there, she's the First Child you two should hit if off great! See you later Asuka." He turned and head back down into the ship feeling better then he had for several weeks.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"The knocking at the door came as a slight surprise, the Sub Commander was currently in his room sleeping after the days exertion and was unavailable. Rei couldn't think of anyone else who would come to the their home. The looked at the door for a moment before carefully unlocking it and undoing the deadbolt. Opening the door she paused.

"Ikari . . . Why are you here?" She asked frowning. Please be as the Sub Commander said, please prove his words right Ikari.

"I . . ." Shinji hesitated for a moment, "I . . . I . . ." Pausing he took a deep breath, "I have something for you." He said.

"Rei cocked her head, I do not believe my ID card needs to be updated until next month, what have I forgotten."

"Y-you didn't forget it Rei." Shinji said quickly, "I w-want to give it to you, as a gift."

"A gift?"

He nodded quickly, "Yes, so uhm, close your eyes."

"I do not see why closing my eyes is necessary."

Smiling a little as he became a little more bold, "Just close your eyes Rei, trust me."

Doing as she was told Rei shut her eyes, "Now put your hands out." Rei complied sticking her hands out in front of herself. A moment later something soft and surprisingly weighty fell into her hands. Opening her eyes in surprise Rei blinked as she looked into the peculiar face of a rather large teddy bear.

"I saw this at a toy store a few weeks back and it reminded me of my father for some reason . . . And you said you missed him so . . ."

Rei looked at the bear and had to admit that it did somehow managed to capture a similar air to the late Commander if on a more light hearted and goofy note, from the black fur to the mean frowning face it reminded her of the departed man a great deal.

"So, uhm, I'm s-sorry if you don't like it, I can return it if you want . . ." Shinji wasn't able to say anything more before Rei pressed up against him and then gently pecked him on the cheek, her face was flushed a faint pink as she leaned back looking a away in embarrassment. "I have seen other students do such things . . . I h-hope it was appropriate."

Shinji looked at her with something akin to aw, gently touch his cheek he shook out of the trance and nodded quickly. "That's was fine, n-no problem it was okay . . . No better then okay t-that was great Rei uhm, I'm just going to going to go yeah that right just go, I-I'll see you at NERV later tonight." Shinji bumped into the open doorway before stumbling down the hall feeling slightly giddy. Rei watched him leave curiously before looking at the teddy bear again. On an impulse she went back into her room and found the Commander's old glasses, they fit perfectly on its large head. Looking back to the door she hugged the stuffed toy like she had seen young children do and felt a little warmer inside for it.

For the first time in a long while Rei felt truly content.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

It was some time later as Shinji sat in his office preparing for Asuka's arrival and more importantly his first look as the First Angel, that he noticed that something felt a little off. Glancing up he almost jumped out of his skin as he realized that his desk had somehow been flanked without him noticing by three men and a woman all in black middle class business suits. They stood to either side slightly behind him, hands behind their backs and appeared to be of a mix of nationalities ranging from Chinese to African American.

Wondering how this had happened, he knew they hadn't been there when he had come in an hour ago, Shinji slowly pressed a button on his intercom. "Misato . . . Please come here."

Half a minute later the door to his office opened and Misato came walking in brushing herself off quickly the Operation's Director's office was directly down the hall from Shinji's own room making meetings in the room quite convenient. "What's up Shinji?" She asked as she noted him starring at one of the suited sentinels.

"Uhm, Misato . . . Who, are these people?"

"Oh, them, I see you've met your new bodyguards today's their first day on the job we just got security clearance off of their background checks yesterday."

"Couldn't you have told me before now?" Shinji asked, "I really don't think its too much to ask to know what's going on in my own office. For all I know they were Yakuza here to shake me down for money."

The four stiffened slightly at that comment, Misato leaned in quickly, "Shhh, don't say something like that Shinji." She whispered before noting the lack of understanding in his eyes, "Shinji these guys aren't just your average bodyguards or soldiers, these guys are Turks." Still seeing no comprehension she sighed, "You know Sydney, Somalia, the French Foreign Legion of the Twenty First Century the fact that a group of them decided to sign up with us is a tremendous honor, the Turks only sign up when they believe a group is in the right but they never step down from a contract once its signed. Please don't say anything so disrespectful about them again we were really lucky to get them."

Shinji nodded before glancing at his new bodyguards, he couldn't tell from experience but from the way Misato spoke it sounded like they were really good at their job. "I'm really sorry, you guys just startled me."

"Its okay Boss, we're a little more thick skinned then that, yo." A redheaded man on his left with his suit jacket undone and his dress shirt un-tucked assured him.

"Still I feel bad about this, so uhm, could I ask for your names, if your going to stand around here I might as well know who you are."

The man to his right face him with dark black hair coming down to his shoulder and a small black dot at the center of his forehead he bowed slightly, "I am Tseng, leader of this detachment." He pointed to the redheaded man, "That is Reno, and the man to his right is Rude." He gestured to a large dark skinned man wearing a pair of sunglasses. "And this is Elena." He pointed to the blond woman beside him, "As per contract we will act in any capacity you see fit, we are at your disposal Commander Ikari."

"Yo, yeah boss if you like need anything, we can handle it." Reno chimed in. Shinji shifted a little in his seat, "Ok then, uhm, Misato have they been told about . . ."

"We have already been given a full briefing as pertains to the situation we will do everything in our power to help you avert impact and prevent SEELE's plans, on the honor of the Turks." Tseng confirmed.

"Oh-okay." Shinji said slowly, glancing to his clock. "Uhm, I have a meeting in about ten minutes so do all of you guys have to stay or can I dismiss you or something . . ."

"I will stay." Tseng said simply, "Reno, Rude, Elena, you will wait outside." The others nodded and began filing out leaving only Shinji, Misato, and Tseng. "If you have some time I would like to go over some of the changes in security."

"Okay?" Shinji replied."

Coughing into his hand Tseng took the remote for the rooms small projector and clicked on. The lights dimmed instantly as the projector lit up a blank wall revealing a basic layout of NERV. "As you know, NERV central is serviced by eight entrances guarded usually by two Section Two Agents and a reinforced blast door. I would like to upgrade this to four Section Two Agents in full body armor and have preformed barricades placed at the end of these hallways to form firing positions incase of an infantry attack."

Shinji and Misato nodded, so far it made sense.

"Secondly, I would like to suggest a redesign of the MAGI system to allow manual activation of the blast doors this will allow us to lock down NERV central completely in the case of a hack attack."

"A hack attack? Against the MAGI?" Misato asked.

Tseng nodded, "No system is perfect and the MAGI are not the only super computers on the planet, given enough machines operating in parallel even the MAGI's resilient 666 type defensive firewall would be decrypted in short order. For this case we will be working closely with the Science and Maintenance divisions to mount a series of logic gates and back ups throughout the NERV mainframe. All external interfaces will operate through a secondary mainframe that will be kept separated from the MAGI system, this will allow us to minimize the bandwidth any hacker can use to only a small amount and thus neutralize the advantage of a more powerful network."

It was basic anti hacking tactics 101, normally computers that were designed to avoid hacking were built to only accept specific types of impute and ignore all other data but in the case of the MAGI such a system was not practical as the computers needed to be capable of rapid reprogramming. Therefore the best way to minimize a hackers power was to limit the amount of bandwidth he could actually use. It didn't matter if you had all the water in lake Michigan to put a fire out with, if you only had once hose you wouldn't get very far.

"What would you say the chances of an attack on NERV central are . . . By conventional forces." Shinji asked.

Tseng turned off the projector and allowed the lights to rise. "In all likeliness, there is a very high chance of an attack. If what I have been told is true, inevitably, SEELE will have to force our hand and the only way to do that is to attack with UN ground forces. They could quite easily overwhelm us simply with sheer numbers, in Japan alone there are fifteen UN mechanized division and almost two hundred attack aircraft. The defense grid would be easily overwhelmed and neutralized without the support of the EVAs. And from what Dr. Akagi has told me, without the MAGI to handle system coordination . . ."

"The EVAs would be next to useless." Misato finished, the MAGI handled everything from power flow to the umbilical to regulating the lift system and cages. Though the EVAs could fight without MAGI support, if the MAGI was actively opposing them it would be over in second. The MAGI's overrides were hardwired into the plug system, the MAGI could eject the entry plugs, increase plug pressure to killing levels, order the EVAs to discharge their batteries or simply shut down the massive bio mechanically weapons. The MAGI were the keys to NERV and Misato could see how they should be guarded jealously.

"This is all very interesting." Shinji said, "I'd like to go into it at length at a later date but for now my next engagement will start soon so please Mr. Tseng please take a seat." He gestured to one of the Sofa's sitting before his desk one on each side of a small coffee table. The man did as he was told accepting the seat with no complaints and setting in to await their new comers.

"You know, I'm surprised Asuka didn't make a bigger deal of it when you told her you were the Commander."

"That's because I haven't told her yet." Shinji replied.

"What? Why wouldn't you tell her . . ." She trailed off when she saw the humorous little grin on his face, "Oh . . . Your going to get burned for this somebody."

"Your right Misato but I thought it would be kind of . . . Well . . . Fun."

Tseng made no comment.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Asuka starred at the plain polished would doors before her, she was a bit late but hay, it wasn't like she could help it, this damn GeoFront was a maze not logically laid out like the German Branch at all.

Deciding on a course of action she knocked loudly on the door hoping to arouse the attention of the occupants.

"Enter." A voice came muffled from the other side. Pausing for a moment Asuka placed a hand on each door and pushed flinging them wide open and barging in to get as much attention as possible. She froze as she instead received an array of curious or irritated stares. She picked out Shinji sitting behind a desk with Misato leaning against it immediately, a gray haired man sitting next to a blue haired young girl took up one sofa while the other was occupied by Kaji and another rather handsome man with long black hair. On the coffee table between them sat a large metal case marked with biohazard warnings. The blue haired girl seemed to be starring straight throughout with a look of agitation writ in her eyes.

"Please close the door and lock it." Shinji said waiting for Asuka to comply with the simple request. "Now that you're here I guess we should begin with some introductions." Shinji nodded his head first to the gray haired man, "That is Sub Commander Kouzo Fuyutsuki, and to his left you have the First Child Rei Ayanami pilot of Evangelion Unit-00. Then of course your familiar with Mr. Ryoji who is a member of NERV's Section Four Internal affairs branch, Mr. Tseng is the head of the Section Two Paramilitary Security Branch. The blond woman in the chair next to you is Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head of project E." Asuka twisted about quickly and noticed the bottle blond sitting in a chair in the corner apparently in a good position to listen and make comments without getting to caught up in the flow of the meetings. "You've also met Misato and me so I guess that's everyone." Shinji finished.

"But what about the Commander? I thought he wanted to meet his new best pilot?" Asuka said looking about.

"The Commander has already met you." Rei said quietly looking up from the metal container.

"What do you mean? I haven't seen this Commander Ikari guy," She looked over to Shinji, "He's your dad right?"

"Commander Gendo Ikari was the previous Commander, Fuyutsuki said speaking up, but he was killed recently in an accident so the Commander has been changed."

Asuka paused frowning, "Wait a second, how come the German branch doesn't know about this, the registry still had Commander Ikari as the Commander of the Japan branch, I saw those files just before I got on the Over the Rainbow." Turning angry she snorted, "Can't you people even keep your paperwork in order?"

"Well Asuka, the registry wasn't wrong." Shinji said carefully. Looking up she cocked her head, "What is your mom in charge now or something?" She didn't see Shinji flinch slightly at those words.

"Not quite." He said slowly, "Asuka . . . You see . . . My father placed me as his successor in the event of his death so . . . I-I'm the Commander of the Japan branch." God were those words hard to say, the thought that Asuka would take it poorly as Kaji had suggested to him had been part of the reason for his hesitation, the rest was fear that she would. . .

"Ha, hehehe hahahahaaaa." Laugh. The cackles went on for a good half a minute before she realized no one else was laughing. "Oh come on, its pretty funny, who would put this dork in charge of a NERV branch!"

"His father would." Rei stated simply, not understanding the subtleties of sarcasm.

Asuka paused as she looked back and forth between the group finally stopping on Kaji and silently asking for confirmation. He gave her a matter of fact look, "Yep, he's not kidding, he's the Commander, has the club membership and everything."

She suddenly paled shaking he head slowly, "No, this, this isn't possible, this has to be a bad dream, a nightmare, yeah, I'm going to wake up soon, I haven't met Shinji yet, that must be it, I must still be on that Carrier and . . . And . . ." She felt a sharp pain on her wrist. "Ow! What did you do that for!" She shouted as she saw the bleu haired girl pull her hand away quickly.

"I have been informed that it is common practice to cause physical discomfort to verify whether or not one is having a dream." She stared simply, "It this wrong."

"Yes! No! Yes, I don't know!" Asuka shouted as she took a seat on the arm of one of the Sofas. "How the hell did he get to be in charge?" She pointed an accusing finger at Shinji, some people would have started kissing but at this point but Asuka figured she'd already dug her grave, no point backing down now.

"Nepotisms a bitch." Was Misato's only comment.

"Tell me about it." Kaji agreed.

"Quite you." She spat at him.

Ignoring the interplay between the two ex-lovers Shinji nodded, "it's the truth Asuka, I hope we can work together though, and please don't tell anyone about this I would kind of prefer it remain inside of NERV for now. Only the bridge staff and the people in this room are fully aware of the authority I hold." Shinji knew it would have to come out eventually but he would do his best to delay the inevitable, he really hated being in the limelight. "And now that the introductions are totally finished its time to show you all what we have here today."

He glanced to Kaji, "Mr. Ryoji, if you would please."

Pausing for a moment he nodded before unlocking the metal case with a small key and then opening it. So that everyone could see the contents.

Rei gasped and half stood as Fuyutsuki looked at her concerned, Tseng, Misato, and Kaji leaned in to study the small object encased in bakelite like an insect in a piece of amber. "What the heck is that?" Asuka asked as she got her first good look at the fetus like creature within.

"It is the father . . ." Rei whispered, there was a hint of fear in her voice as sweat began to bead up on her head. Ever since her awakening in her second incarnation Rei had heard the harpies call of this tiny creature, it had never been strong enough to affect her, but it had always been near. Now with her core gone that call had changed from an alluring one to a sick high pitched shriek. She silently wished to get as far away from the small creature as possible.

Kaji nodded at Rei's comment. "Its in stasis, but alive, its managed to regenerate this far on its own. I have to admit it is quite remarkable."

"Remarkable eh?" Misato said quietly, the hate in her voice was almost tangible.

Shinji finally stood walking around his desk to get a good look. "So this is it, first Angel, the Giant of Light . . . Adam."

"You mean, that's the First Angel!" Asuka shouted as she leaned in close to get a better look, this was after all the thing that had been responsible for Second Impact.

"So what will you do with it now?" Kaji asked.

"We should destroy it." Misato said without hesitation.

Shinji held a hand up to stop Misato before she went into a rant. "We can't do that yet, getting rid of the Angel's we have may cause the remaining ones to indiscriminately attack other targets rather then be drawn here. If that happens the loss of life could be phenomenal, not to mention SEELE will likely catch on, an their plans do not require Lilith or Adam. For now I want it locked down in the Artifacts room in sector 42."

Sector 42 was the ultra high security storage section. It housed anything that could not be kept safely in terminal dogma. Gendo had apparently already prepared a large bakelite filled contained with a high explosive base designed to destroy Adam in the event an Angel breached its storage chamber. For now that would be the best place to put the encapsulated being.

Looking back and forth between the group Asuka asked, "SEELE? Lilith? Kaji, what's going on?" Her voice sounded small and frightened, filled with an uncertainty she had not known in a very long time. Her mind knew instinctively that a comfortable lie was about to be ripped away.

"Sit down Ms. Sorhyu and we shall do our best to explain." Sub Commander Fuyutsuki said calmly. Kaji sat up giving Asuka his seat and walking around to stand behind the sofa as the aged Second in command began to explain, not for the first time, everything he knew about the plans of SEELE and an event known only as instrumentality, a plan that even he did not know in its fullest extent. Perhaps lack of knowledge was the most dangerous thing about NERV's position. They simply did not know everything that SEELE did and so could only make some educated guesses on how to proceed. Still . . . Shinji thought, it was better then nothing.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

As the meeting broke up Misato escorted a rather shaky Asuka out, Rei had already taken her leave long before the meeting was through having been unable to tolerate her proximity to the first Angel. The look on her face as she had left the room had suggested that she was fighting to keep her lunch down.

Soon only Shinji, Tseng, and Kaji were left. As Kaji made to leave he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning around he saw Shinji giving him a serious look.

"Yes sir?" He asked smoothly.

"You can be either a Friend of a Foe Mr. Kaji. Don't dig, I think Asuka is very fond of you and it would be a shame for you to disappear." He sighed, "This is the only time I'm going to warn you, if your caught I'm not going to ignore your transgressions in order to fulfill some secret agenda. So for your own sake . . . Don't dig."

With that Shinji walked from his Office followed quietly by Tseng who fell into step behind his boss. Behind him a pale Kaji shakily put a cigarette in his mouth and lit it. Somehow, he had a feeling he was going to be smoking a lot more in the near future.

HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wow, this is the longest chapter I think I have ever done. AND YES SHINJI'S BODY GUARDS ARE THE FREAKING TURKS! Why you ask? Because they are awesome, and no, this is not a cross over, the Turks just exist in EVA in an alternate form. Why? Because I said so.

Also, yes I gave the Rei clones souls, and well, made them less clones, I figure that software to modify their DNA probably exists somewhere and with no AT field they're essentially as plastic as molding putty. Still they are in fact virtually identical to Rei on a genetic level. They simply have drastically different external appearances and have had their S2 cores surgically removed. Two of them will be reoccurring characters at this time but I'll await feed back on that one.

And again on the plot twists, yes Kaouru is a girl, the Angel's have shown some malleability in the past and I figure she's likely to be prepared for such an altered scenario where Shinji may realize others love him before the arrival of the 17th in which case saying I love you may not quite be enough to get the necessary affect. DEAL WITH IT. Ok, that is all. Review and flame.