"Father"
odd really, in all the various scenario's of meeting father again I'd constructed in my mind I'd always assumed that I'd be angry, that I'd rage at him, maybe even kill him, yet here I was standing before him and all I felt was… sick.
I'm not sure if it was still the affects of the Bakelite or just that I actually did hate the bastard, but all I felt in his presence was nausea.
"I assume that there's a reason for you calling me here father…beyond you burning desire to get to know me of course"
If father was annoyed by my sarcasm, he didn't show it keeping that same smirk e always wore fully in place.
Naturally Misato and Ritsuko were shocked by my seemingly cavalier attitude towards the man they knew as 'bastard king' and commander Ikari' respectively

"Of course, you will pilot it"
I stared at him aghast for a moment then at the 'EVA' then back to him "You want 'me' to pilot that?"

"Correct."

It was so ludicrous that I almost burst out laughing; he'd experimented on me, turned me into who knows what, abandoned me without a word of explanation and NOW after 7 years just called me up and expected me to jump through his hoops like nothing had happened.

"No."

Judging from Misato's expression this was clearly the wrong answer.
"Are you serious?"

"Yes I'm serious father, get another lackey, I'm sick of playing your games."

There lying on a hospital gurney was the girl from before, the exact one from the image. She was slick with some liquid and stank of blood, so much so that I could detect it over the chemical stench of the Bakelite. She was in intense pain and sweating heavily, whatever had happened to her had happened HARD.

"Rei. Our spare is useless, you will do it again."

I did laugh then ignoring the disgusted looks sent my way by Misato and Akagi, a harsh laugh born of disbelief, he really expected this girl to do anything in the state she was in?
To my amazement she actually pulled herself upright, teeth gritted in agony, only a small squeak of pain escaping her despite her wounds.

"Y…yes sir."

I don't think that I hated him until that moment, truly hated him I mean. I was always angry at him for he did and didn't do, an anger that only intensified over the coming years but that event, his using a dieing girl to force me into his plans again planted the seeds of true hatred in me.

"So…you'd go that far would you"
My only reply was his insufferable smirk.

Our staring contest was interrupted at that moment by a resounding crash that both sounded and felt like a very large mountain and just body-slammed the base.
Both Misato and Akagi fell, the former pulling the latter down in her attempt to remain stable. I dove forward in an attempt to catch Rei but was a fraction to late; she toppled off her gurney with a wet -Smack- causing her to cry out in pain.

Concerned I gathered her up into my arms, her frail body feeling oddly light in my arms.
Creeak…

I looked up aghast; the ceiling had partially collapsed, causing a fairly large collection of rubble and debris to rain down on us. In her currant condition, Rei was in no shape to be moved quickly, and even if she was, I doubted that I could have moved with sufficient speed to avoid the shower of rocks and broken metal. So I shield her as much as I could with my back and waited for the inevitable. As deaths go this wouldn't be a bad one, I can think of worse ways of dieing then with a beautiful girl in my arms.

For an instant all other sound was drowned out in a screech of tortured metal followed by a number of huge CLANGS! Like metal impacting on metal, then silence.

A few moments passed and I wondered why I wasn't dead yet, after another minute I decided to risk opening my eyes to discover the reason for my continued reasoning.

Pieces of bent and broken metal lay scattered around us and, looking up I saw the reason that we were still breathing: the EVA's arm was curled protectively around us! The EVA had torn itself free from its restraints and extended its arm to shield Rei and myself from harm!
REI! In all the confusion and mental writing of wills, I had completely forgotten about the fragile girl in my arms.
(This says a lot about me really, I have a beautiful girl wearing a skin-tight outfit clasped to my chest and I let a little thing like dieing distract me)
Her pulse and breathing were erratic and even as I watched her I felt a warm trickle of blood run down my arm.
"Well Shinji, you've seen the options, if you don't pilot it, that girl, and everyone here will die. Can you actually let that happen"
Guilt, it always came down to guilt with women didn't it? Moreover, from fathers satisfied smirk this was his plan from the beginning.

"…I'll do it."

Within moments I was loaded into a huge tube-like object that Akagi referred to as an 'Entry plug'
Mercifully the hideous smell of the bakelite was cut off as the plug closed finally allowing me to really think clearly, absently I noticed that the girls blood was still on my arm and left hand, a cursory sniff confirmed my earlier suspicions: the girl, Rei wasn't human, at least not entirely.
Soon the plug began to fill with a clear orange liquid. My eyes told me that it was tango but my nose knew that sharp coppery smell to well to make any mistake; the plug was filling with blood, or something made from it. At the time, I couldn't determine what or whose blood they were using but it didn't smell or taste entirely human, if anything it was uncomfortably like Rei's…

"Keep calm Shinji, the LCL will oxygenate your blood directly. "

Dr Akagi had evidently spotted my look of distaste and misconstrued it as a fear of that I might be drowning.

Synching with Eva will always be difficult to describe (both Asuka and Rei's experiences with it differ from my own greatly) For me it's a period of warmth combined with a feather light touch of another awareness, (most likely that of Eva herself) before it's huge body becomes mine. Being able to control both EVA's body and my own simultaneously took some getting used to, I won't use the term practice because that infers that was learning new things. Piloting EVA felt more like remembering a talent I had recently forgotten then something that I had never done before.

The first time it was incredible. Every one of my senses was sharpened at least five-fold. I was so entranced by this that I failed to notice Misato's voice drifting over my com until she turned the volume up and screamed

"Shinji! Are you listening!"

So loudly that I almost leapt through the roof.

"Huh? Oh yes I'm fine, this just takes a little…getting used to"

"ok, we'll be sending you into combat directly, are you ready?"

oh sure, as far as they knew I had zero combat training and was being sent out in a completely untested robot against a foe that I had witnessed taking an atom-bomb to the face and laughing it off, I mean what's there problem, its not like I don't do this sort of thing everyday? (note the sarcasm)

"Evangelion LAUNCH!"

My spine compacted as the tremendous G-force created by the insane acceleration of the EVA rocketing up its coil-gun launch system, if I had been normal or if the LCL hadn't cushioned it the force would have snapped my neck like a twig. The sensation of air rushing over the EVA's armour brushed against my senses in an odd contrast to what my own body was telling me, it was kind of like having one foot in a thick sock whilst the other was bare Within seconds I was on the surface, the fresh night air wafting through the Eva's slightly numbed senses. I immediately detected the same scent as before, only when filtered through the EVA's nose it seemed…fowl somehow.
As I was trying to sort out the reason for my disgust the object of it slowly shambled into view, Sachiel was never the prettiest ANGEL looking a lot like a child's attempt at forming a man from clay, the limbs were to long each terminating in an odd tri-dactyl appendage. The face (if you could call it that.) was a simple bone plate jutting from the centre of the torso. I noted with some disgust that the N2 mine had made some changes; a second skull now grew from the first, shoving the original to the side, the odd patches of bone and chitin that dotted its body seemed stronger too.

'Trust father to come up with a weapon that makes the enemy stronger' I groused, levity being my only defence against the mounting unease caused by the sheer…hatred the ANGEL's mere presence caused in me.

Trying to fight in the EVA for the first time was…hard.

Whilst Synching with it had made me more aware of my surroundings and sense of balance then ever, it had also left me inexplicably…dull. As though I were weighted down, or had just woken up from an overlong sleep making my charge slow and uncoordinated.

The ANGEL did not have this problem and despite its awkward appearance moved with lightning speed, neatly sidestepping my pitiful excuse for a punch and taking my left arm in its claws

CRUNCH!

Just the sound told me that the bone had been broken, this hypothesis was confirmed by the blinding pain shooting up and down my arm, 'my' arm!
After a short while Misato's voice broke through my yell of pain her voice made tinny by the radio:

"Keep calm Shinji, that's not your arm!"

Unfortunately this amazing advice helped little, 'I' knew that it wasn't my arm, the EVA knew that it wasn't my arm but unfortunately the arm in question, being somewhat behind events, stubbornly refused to belief that it was mistaken, and therefore unharmed.

The ANGEL was not idle during all this, while the EVA had gone slack, the link disrupted in my confusion. Sachiel had pulled me close, wrapping a clawed hand over the EVA's head.
The centre of the claw started to glow pink, the light growing brighter and brighter…

"Shinji! Get out of there!"

Misato's panicked squawk and a blinding flash of pink light were the last things I saw before my world disintegrated into pain and darkness.

Sorry about the wait, and also sorry about this story…

As for dennisud; thanks for the review and just what do you think the 3rd child might be? You'll find out in the next chapter.
Titans lost is suffering a slight hiatus while I work out some chapter issues, but should be updated in a day or two, thanks for reading and reviewing.