Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, support official release.

"Commander, we are now ready to commence reactivation of Unit-00." Maya reports, to which Commander Ikari nods. He, as well as, Fuyutsuki, Ritsuko, Misato, Shinji and Adam are waiting in the observation platform across from Unit-00, where Rei was. Unit-00 was a very different model than what the boys were expecting. It has bright orange colors with white forearms and a single large red eye just below its helmet with no visible mouth to speak of.

"Rei, are you ready?" Gendo asks without hesitation. Every second wasted an Angel draws closer. They needed to be ready, most of all they needed Unit-00 as their second EVA.

"Yes."

"Initiate Primary Contacts." The commander pushes back his glasses. Immediately, Ritsuko and Maya begin working on their workstations as they begin the startup process.

"Main power contact?"

"Operational voltage critical point is cleared, senpai!"

"Good, shift format to phase 2!"

"Begin synchronization with Unit-00!"

"Pulse and harmonics are all normal!"

"All nerve links connected!"

"No abnormalities in CNS."

"List items 1-2590 are cleared."

Shinji stares at the orange EVA, remembering what happened back in the escalator. 'Rei… why did she react so violently towards my answer?' It doesn't make any sense, she asked him a question so why did she get so mad. 'It's weird, I'm not used to getting so uptight about this… am I jealous?' He shakes his head in denial. 'No, that can't be… there's nothing to be jealous ab-'

Shnji suddenly recollects the image of Rei and his father smiling at one another before Unit-00. He narrows his eyes at his father before turning to Unit-00, the EVA returning the glare through its single red optic.

"Border lines cleared, senpai!" Maya reports.

Unit-00 raises its head, though this time not so abruptly.

"Unit-00 has been reactivated. Now commencing linkage test."

All of a sudden, a phone from one of the computer terminals springs to life. Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki immediately picks it up before hanging and turning to the commander. "Ikari!" Fuyutsuki calls, looking at his colleague. "An unidentified object just touched down 5 miles east of Tokyo-03, and is heading this way. It's more than likely an Angel."

"I see." The commander replies, before turning back to Ritsuko and Maya. "Abort the test. All personnel are to go to Level 1 Yellow Alert!"

""Yes, sir.""

"And what of Unit-00? Will we be sending Rei out?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"No, it isn't ready yet." Gendo replies, exiting the observation platform with Ritsuko and the others.

"What about Unit-01?" Ritsuko asks, gesturing to Shinji and Adam. "We can have the EVA send up in 380 seconds."

"Granted." Ikari replies, entering the far elevator with Fuyutsuki. "Have the Third Child scramble immediately."

Ritsuko nods, before looking at the boys. "...well, what are you waiting for?" He asked, frustration rising in his voice. "Get going!"

"Yes sir…" 'He doesn't even bother to wish me luck.' Shinji thought as he headed towards the locker room.

Adam sends a glare at the commander as the elevator doors close. "Ass."

Gendo hears this and glares at the boy, and for a moment, he felt anger rising inside him. With his existence, the entire scenario is put into jeopardy. His ability to synchronize with Unit-01 and his relationship with the Third Child is a cause for concern, he could see how much influence he is having over the boy and it's only a matter of time before he acts on that influence.

One way or another, this wild card has to be dealt with.

Across the mountain terrain around Tokyo-03, a gigantic floating crystalline octahedron comes flying towards the city. It is sky blue and transparent reflecting all light and anything that meets its glass-like body. A barely formed halo flashes above its form before vanishing. A choral voice is heard singing a single F note repeatedly as it moves.

It is clear that the 6th Angel, Ramiel, was born with a calm and peaceful demeanor, but its objectives will reveal otherwise.

Central Dogma

Everyone stares in awe at the Angel's form, being completely different from the last two Angels.

"It's an octahedron…" Adam identified.

"The target just crossed past Lake Ashino and is now in on Tokyo-03!"

Right, prepare for launch!" Misato ordered.

"Misato wait." Adam said.

"What?"

"There's something wrong about this Angel. It hasn't attacked or done anything of the sort." He states. "Let's send a decoy for now and see what happens."

Misato narrows her eyes at her ward. "We don't have time, send Unit-01 to the surface immediately."

Adam's eyes widened in shock. "Misato!"

"EVA Unit-01, LAUNCH!"

The EVA is sent though the railway at high speeds at her command.

On the surface, the 6th Angel senses something on its way here and light begins to appear within the octahedron.

"Energy spike detected from the target!" Aoba states as his terminal detects the energy build up.

"Wait, what!?" Misato exclaims.

Unit-01 reaches the surface.

"Shinji, look out!" Misato screams in horror.

"Huh?" Shinji looks up to see the Angel's body shift and change into many shapes, with glimpses of its Core at its center. It settles for an hourglass form before a powerful beam of energy cuts through every tower in its way, however, something surrounds the purple behemoth protecting it from the devastating attack.

"A barrier is protecting Unit-01!" Makoto states.

"Is it Unit-01's A.T. Field?" Ritsuko asks.

"Negative. The barrier isn't coming from the EVA." Maya said.

The Angel halts its attack as it's body shifts again into that of a cross, with shapes and pieces spinning rapidly and fires an even more powerful particle beam.

The beam clashes with the barrier splitting the beam into two directions forming a cross. Shinji goes pale as he notices the cracks forming around the barrier.

"The barrier surrounding Unit-01 is destabilizing, it can't take much more!" Maya exclaims.

Misato can only look in horror as more cracks appear, if this keeps up…

"Misato do something!" Adam yells causing Misato to snap out of her trance.

"Abort the mission, execute recovery of Unit-01 now!" Misato orders.

The catapult opens and pulls the EVA in just as the barrier shatters and eviscerates everything in front of it.

Seeing that the threat is gone, the 6th Angel shifts back into its "default" form.

NERV HQ Hospital Sector

Adam slams his fist at the wall, narrowly missing Misato's face. Rei is there as well, staring at the two fighting.

"What the hell was that!? I told you to send a decoy up there and what do you do!? You don't listen!" Adam yells.

Misato didn't say anything, instead opting to just let Adam vent out his frustrations.

"We know next to nothing about this Angel, oh wait, now we do because you almost let Shinji get killed!" Adam states.

"...I'm sorry."

"Sorry is not going to cut it. It's a miracle that the barrier protected him, otherwise he would be dead!" Adam hisses out. "You and that damn commander are so invested in saving that hunk of junk that you've purposely forgotten about the one driving the damn thing. I don't know whether I should be impressed or revolted at how backwards your priorities are!"

"The EVAs are humanity's last line of defense. Without them, the human race would perish." Misato tries to reason with him.

"So what!? It makes it okay to sacrifice children for that!?" Adam cries out questioning her logic.

Just then the hospital door opens to reveal a doctor. "How is he doc?" Misato and Adam both ask while Rei walks past and down the linear hall.

"He is fine, merely exhausted." The doctor explains. "It should be a few hours before he comes to."

Adam sighs in relief while Misato nods. "Thank God," Adam throws himself back onto the bench.

Misato's phone busses to life. She picks it up, "Katsuragi here… I see… right, I'll be there in a sec." Misato hangs up before turning to Adam. "Go check on Shinji for me. I have a meeting with Ritsuko and the others about our next strategy."

Adam nods before he enters the Hospital section. He walks past several empty rooms before coming across one with its windows open. Looking in, he sees Rei sitting down beside a resting Shinji, reading a book apparently. Adam walks in calmly before Rei looks up aware of his presence.

"Why are you here?" Rei asks calmly, closing her book.

"I can't come in and check on my friend."

"You are not part of NERV's personnel and as such you do not have permission to be here." Rei states.

"Yeah and so what? That still didn't stop me from piloting Unit-01 and saving your asses." Adam retorts sitting beside Rei.

"I see." Rei replies. The pair say nothing to each other before Rei spoke once more. "Why did Shinji say those things about the commander?"

Adam turns to Rei looking perplexed. "You really haven't noticed? He hates him." He states with a hint of venom in his voice. "He's been absent for most of his life and when he finally gets word from him it is to pilot a giant robot because he was a last-minute candidate. Honestly, I think I can relate a little since my dad was pretty much the same."

"..." Rei doesn't respond, but looks at Shinji and then at Adam. "I see."

"Why do you have faith in the commander, hm?" Adam asks. "You're asking us about faith, but what about you?"

"I have faith in Commander Ikari because he entrusted me to pilot Unit-00." Rei replies.

"Why do you pilot anyway?" Adam asked.

"It's my bond."

"Your bond?"

"My bond with everyone."

"..." Adam says nothing, trying to comprehend that answer. Rei really is alone, having only the commander to rely on for any sort of emotional comfort and believes Unit-00 is the only way she can form a connection.

"...it's wrong." Adam said.

"?"

"You don't need the EVA to form bonds, you can do that well on your own without an external force. Like right now, we are bonding not because of the EVA but because of our mutual concern over Shinji's well being." Adam explains.

Rei blinks a few times, realizing what Adam's implying. She looks away, a look of awe in her eyes. "I see…"

"Maybe if you try to talk to others, I'm sure you can form bonds with people in our class. I know a couple of them would be overjoyed to get to know you." Adam states. "I could even help you if you want."

Rei's head whips up at the proposition. "That… would be nice."

A small smile forms on her face.

War Room

The entire NERV staff, minus the commanders, alongside Misato are seen planning their next attack.

"The target has started its attack from directly above us, drilling straight down towards the Geo-Front."

"So this one is looking to hit us where we live. It's coming straight for NERV HQ." Misato realized. "Okay people, analysis reports. Give me something."

One of the technicians takes a data chart. "Based on earlier target data, we have surmised that the target automatically eliminates all hostiles that approach within a certain range."

"Which means close-quarters combat is out of the question." Misato rationalized. "What about its A.T. Field?"

"It's still active. On top of that, it keeps its phase pattern constantly shifting that's why it changes shape." Maya states.

"According to MAGI's calculations, it is theoretically possible to neutralize the Angel's A.T. Field using a barrage of N2 missiles, however, a blast of that magnitude will destroy NERV HQ." Makoto reports.

"Yes. MAGI-02 and Matsushiro came to the same conclusion." Ritsuko confirms the report. "And it seems the Japanese government along with the U.N. are proposing attacks that will inevitably destroy NERV HQ."

Misato groans in annoyance. "That's ridiculous, they clearly don't know what's at stake here. If this place goes, then it's all over for humanity."

"But ma'am, it may already be too late." A technician states, "by our latest reports, the target's drill has already penetrated Armor Level 2 with no signs of slowing down."

"There are twenty-two layers of armor plating between us and the surface. At present rate, penetration of all remaining levels is expected to occur tomorrow morning, in 6 minutes, 54 seconds past midnight." Hyuga reports. "Less than 10 hours."

"Unit-00 hasn't been calibrated yet, so it's still not combat ready."

"Aside from a few burns due to exposure, Unit-01 is still fully functional." Ritsuko tells Misato.

Misato's left eye twitches. "So as it is, there's nothing we can do…"

"What do you mean? We're completely out of options." Maya states.

"We could always send a white flag." Makoto quips.

Misato smirks. "Heh, there a thought. But before we do that, there's one little thing I wanna look into." She turns to Makoto. "Those secret JSSDF papers, intelligence still has them, right?"

Makoto blinks at the question.

A series of VTOLs fly through the red sea and towards a construction site.

"I've got to hand it to you, this might just be your most ambitious plan yet." Ritsuko said as she and Misato walked through the construction site.

"It's executable in 9 hours, and it gives us a fighting chance against the Angel. "

"Operation: Yashima. You're requesting electricity from all over Japan so that you can charge a high-powered self-propelled positron cannon, a top-secret prototype which you somehow commandeered from an JSSDF research facility." Ritsuko explains. "It's incomplete so to make up for its lack of a targeting system, you're going to use the EVA as a precision sniper. I'm still amazed at how you managed to pull this off in record time."

"Well... they owed me a few favors." Misato said as the two looked on the horizon where the Angel was.

Author Notes

So as you've noticed, I've been editing the chapters to make them better and give the MC a more active role rather than just being in the background. I'm not sure when I'll come back to this, but this story isn't dead that I can assure you.

Leave a comment/review and tell your thoughts.

Peace~