The clamor from the alarm shook both Shinji and Joanna from their strolling, while Ayanami looked unperturbed by the situation. They looked at each other in confusion.

"Wh-What's going on?" Joanna asked as her legs began to shake a little.

"That's the general battle alert," Shinji replied. "Are we under attack?"

"Do…Do I have to deploy?" Joanna asked.

"They told us that they would give the order through a base-wide announcement, and they haven't sent it out yet. Since it's only a short distance away, maybe we should go to the command center."

"Right, Joanna replied. The three began to run and within a minute, reached their destination. Upon entering, they came upon a quiet but steady hum from the people at their stations. When Burke saw them, he ran over.

"Thank God you guys are here," he said to the three of them. "I was about to order security to go find you."

"What's going on?" Shinji asked.

"We're under attack, that's what," Burke answered as he directed them to looks towards towards the main monitor, where they saw the enemy walking down s corridor. Shinji's eyes went wide at what he was seeing. After a minute of watching, he shifted his eyes to the Ayanami that was next to him. She was staring at the screen with no expression, with no way to tell what she was thinking.

"Do I need to deploy?" Joanna asked.

"For the moment, no," Burke answered. "You can't fight her without demolishing the entire base. But the situation could change, so you will standby here for the moment."

"Why is she attacking us?" Shinji asked.

"Good question. We were always expecting a grand assault from an enemy Eva or from Mark 04 drones. Nothing like this." Aida then approached the group.

"Ken, tell me we have some good news," Burke said to him.

"Very little. We're sealing sections off from each other in order to isolate her, but they'll do little good. We're also evacuating noncombat personnel, but it's slow going. We also have Varagarian units deploying in the base, and that's taking time as well.

"But what is her objective? Do we have any idea?"

"No clue," Aida replied. All of a sudden, they felt a slight jolt.

"What was that?" Burke shouted.

"The Ayanami type has breached the hatchway at Section C7." Lithgow declared. The monitor showed the twisted metal from the bulkhead, the enemy Ayanami stepping through the gash.

"How could she do that?" Shinji asked.

"She can produce an AT Field," Aida replied.

"Does that mean…" Shinji started to ask, shifting his eyes again to the Ayanami next to him, who was still watching the monitor in silence.

"No, she is an early model," Burke answered. "Current location of the enemy Ayanami type?"

"In section D2," Matsu replied, looking at his monitor. "The Varagarians have been engaging in hit and run attacks, trying to keep her busy."

"Any losses?" Aida asked.

"Fortunately no," Matsu replied.

"Very well. Have them try to lead her to D7. There'll be a nice surprise waiting for her there." For several minutes, they watched the running battle on the main monitor. They then saw her enter section D7.

"Okay then," Aida announced. "Are we ready Mr. Lithgow?"

"Yes we are," he answered. "All friendly forces have been evacuated. We're awaiting your word." Aida took a breath.

"Blow the block!" A button was pushed, and they saw sections of corridor explode one after the other, until the image went static, while at the same time, they were watching on Lithgow's monitor, a computer diagram of each section going out.

"It's done," Lithgow said.

"That'll leave a mess," Hood remarked. "Everyone in the city will see the smoke that's going to come up from that."

"Do you think we got her?" Burke asked Aida in a low voice.

"I don't think so," he replied at the same volume, "but we can always hope."

"Hope doesn't always produce results," Burke said.

"Bring up the entrance to section D8," Aida ordered Bertain. Within moments, the screen showed the entrance, smoke pouring through it. For a few moments, there was a tense silence. That tenseness was broken when Ayanami 02 stepped out, not looking too worse for wear. Groans and muttered curses came from several people in the room.

"Keep up our hit and runs, and get our next surprise ready," Aida ordered.

"They're not nicknamed Mary Sues for nothing," Hood said.

"Mary Sues?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, a nickname for the Advanced Model Ayanamis," Hood replied. "I don't know how it started, but it apparently comes from pop culture. Someone who is supposed to be practically invincible, and those Ayanami types are. "I've seen video where one deflected a tank shell that was fired at her with her AT Field."

"Wow," Shinji said. "Then how do you stop them?" As Hood was about to explain, Burke took a closer look at the main screen.

"Magnify her head," he said.

"Huh, you see something?" Hood asked as he walked over to him. Bertain did as ordered, magnifying a still image of the Ayanami, revealing a shiny glistening on her skin.

"She's sweating," Aida declared.

"Hot damn, we're making her sweat," Burke crowed. "Can we make her burn out?"

"We'll try," Aida replied. "We can throw more at her. The boys will love being able to shoot rockets at her."

"See to it," Burke said.

"And that is how you stop them," Hood told Shinji when he walked back over to him. "Make her use her AT Field until she exhausts herself."

"Where the hell is she going?" Aida halfed mumbled.

"I've been working that out sir," Bertain said. "I've had our systems compute some models for us."

"Great, What do you got?" Aida asked. Bertain began tapping on some keys, followed by a small corner of the main monitor going black for a few sections before being replaced by a line map of the base.

"Based on her current location, the layout of the base, and the general direction she is heading, there is only one reasonable place she could be heading to." All of them saw on the monitor a myriad of colored lines snaking down various corridors like a child drawing a line on a maze. Most of those lines ended up in one location.

"The Eva cages…" Hood said.

"Fucking hell," Burke muttered.

"Could she use it to start an Impact?" Shinji asked as he looked around to all of the adults.

"Not likely," Aida answered, "but if she gets into one, she could smash up this base, as well as the entire city. That would not be good." He then turned to Burke. "I recommend getting Units 10 and 11 out of here. If that's her objective, we should make every effort to deny her that."

"Agreed," Burke replied.

"Prep both Units to launch through the rail gates," Aida commanded. "Joanna, I want you to go to Unit 11 and launch with it."

"Huh? I thought that I…" she began.

"True, you won't be deploying to fight her unless she goes back out into the open, but I want you in that entry plug regardless. The reason is that if you're in, but we can't launch for some reason. You can lock yourself in and prevent her from claiming it. Maybe even get a chance to smack her against the wall or something. You understand?"

"Uh-Yeah," Joanna replied.

"Good. Shinji, go with her and make sure she's in that entry plug. I'll get someone to escort you there."

"Right," Shinji replied.

"What about me?" All of them turned towards Ayanami, who spoke for the first time since arriving.

"You'll stay here," Burke answered. "We don't want you getting shot by accident." He rubbed his chin for a quick moment before speaking again. "Designate the enemy as Ayanami 02, and the one here as Ayanami 01."

"Yes sir," Bertain replied.

"Unit 10 is ready to launch through rail gate 3," Lithgow declared.

"Launch it. Take it to the city wall and stop it there," Aida said. "And keep a sharp eye on it. For all we know, that's what they wanted us to do." A guard, armed with a submachine gun, entered the command center.

"Okay you two," Aida said when he caught sight of him. "Corporal Chen here will take you the cages. We'll try to stop her, or at least give you time."

"Right," Shinji replied.

"Get going then," Aida said. "As the corporal led them out of the center, Shinji looked back to them working before they went out the door.

"Are-Are you all right?" Joanna asked him

"Oh, I'm fine," Shinji answered. "I was just thinking about them back there."

"The people in the Command Center? I don't think you have to worry about them. It's the safest place on the whole base. They just sit back, and give their orders. Lucky dogs." Shinji mulled her words as they sounded familiar to him, but his thoughts were interrupted by the faint sound of gunfire.

"I don't think it's as simple as that," he said to her.

"Okay," Burke said when the door closed. "When is our next best chance to blow another block?"

"I believe it is H3," Aida replied, "but she is avout to enter G area, and we'll have a different type of surprise for her. They continued to watch her advance until she entered that point.

"All right," Aida said. "Activate the pillars!" They saw on the monitor small anti angel hex pillar pop out of the corridor walls, and began to glow.

"Are they working?" he asked Hood.

"All are functioning normally," Hood replied while looking at a readout, "though she still is dangerous."

"I know," Aida said, "But without her AT Field, it's more of a fair fight now." He turned to Bertain. "Order the Varagarians in. Take her out.

She had noticed the pillars coming out of the walls, but they did not give her cause for concern, yet at the same time, she was beginning to feel unusual. Connecting the two facts together, she began to run in order to escape from the pillars as soon as possible. As she was approaching an intersection of two corridors, several soldiers came around the corner and raised their weapons to open fire on her. She attempted to generate an AT Field, but found that she couldn't.

Ayanami 02 ran towards them at full speed, dodging as much of their fire as she could, though she was not completely successful as one bullet grazed her neck and another on her upper right arm. She reached the group and began to dispatch them, breaking bones, taking a pistol from one soldier and killing what she pointed at, kicking and smashing and killing unto no opposition remained.

She then leaned against the wall, breathing hard. She was tired and hurt, and uncertain how much longer she could hold out. Defeat was becoming inevitable. She even felt within her something she never felt before. It was making her continue to breathe hard, even though she was no longer expending energy, sweat pouring out of her, and what was most disconcerting, having no desire to continue her mission, to find a way to escape.

After a few seconds of quick thinking, the only concept that she could put this feeling under was fear. What did she fear? She had come close to death in the most recent encounter with the enemy. She did not want to experience anything like that. She wanted to continue existing. What she feared was nonexistence. Ayanami 02 began to regulate her breathing while repeating a mantra in her head over and over: There will be replacements, there will be replacements. Within moment, she calmed down, and now was able to make a clear assessment of the situation she found herself in. After she made bandages from the dead soldiers' uniforms and wrapped them around her wounds, she closed her eyes and brought up in her mind the layout of the base trying to find an alternate route. As she found her route, she heard footsteps in the distance. She then scanned the corridor, and found a ventilation shaft. She went over to it removed the cover and slid inside.

"Team 3 reports no contact with the enemy," Bertain said. "Only bodies."

"Shit, where did she go?" Burke muttered.

"Have them search for her and tell them to keep on their toes," Aida said. "Don't overlook anything."

"Yes sir," Bertain replied.

"She couldn't have just disappeared." Lithgow remarked.

"We'll find her," Aida replied.

"Sir, we have word from Team 3," Bertain said. "They found something. I'll bring up a body cam image." The monitor then showed an image of an open vent with specks of blood surrounding the opening."

"That is not good," Burke said. "We have no cameras in the vents."

"That may be true sir, but that doesn't mean she dissappeared," Matsu said. "If we're going on the assumption that her destination is the Eva cages, it would be easy to calculate where she is and what route she is taking."

"Do it," Aida ordered. "Have the security teams and Varagarians peek into the vents. Look for blood or any other trace of her.

"Got it," he replied. Aida then noticed the Ayanami that they had staring at the monitor he went over to her, and began talking.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I am fine," she answered. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that it would seem…uncanny to you to see a copy of you up on the monitor there. I…just wanted to know how you felt about that."

"I don't feel anything like you described," she said. "I know she is genetically similar to myself, but she is who she is, and I am myself. I am not her."

"I see," Aida said. "I asked because…well, it seems unreal to me, having her here. To be honest with you, I felt the same way when I first saw you." Ayanami turned her head towards him.

"Did you know the one that I've heard Ikari talk about?" she asked.

"Yeah, I did," Aida replied, "but we really didn't talk or anything. "I've talked longer with you just now, than I had with her, and we were in the same class together in school."

"Is that so?" Ayanami said.

"But still, these final few months after Shinji arrived in Tokyo 3, I noticed a change in her. She seemed...more friendly, like she wanted to interact with all of us. I like to think that the same thing is happening with you too." She did not reply as both of them turned back to the main monitor,nNeither of them talked as they watched the images rotating on a constant basis to several different areas on the lookout.

"Got something," Lithgow yelled out. The monitor settled on a live image of Ayanami 02 climbing out of a vent.

"Where is she?" Aida asked.

"Section F12," Bertain answered.

"She retreated?" Hood said. "What did she do that for?"

"No clue," Aida replied. "Matsu, what's in that section?"

"Not that much," he replied. "Computer room 4 is in the vicinity, along with some storage areas and direct access to cafeteria kitchens."

"Is she hungry or something?" Lithgow asked in a light tone.

"All sarcasm aside, we'll need to stop her," Burke said. "Major, would you agree with me that we do have the upper hand here?"

"It would appear so, but that could change in an instant," Aida replied. "I already have intercept teams on the way.

"Very well," Burke said. They watched her walk into the computer room.

"What does she need to go there for?" Lithgow asked.

"Can we see into the room?" Aida asked.

"Bringing it up," Bertain replied. Seconds later, the image on the main monitor was replaced with static.

"Looks like she destroyed the camera," Burke said.

"The teams have arrived, and they want to report in," Bertain said.

"Put them through," Aida said. On the screen, a solider appeared.

"We can't get into the room sir," he said.

"Why not?" Burke yelled out. "How is she stopping you?"

"She… locked the door," The soldier replied.

"Huh?" Burke said before mumbling to himself something about elite soldiers.

"Blow the door," Aida said. "She already destroyed a couple. We can order one more."

"Yes sir," the soldier said.

"Can she escape from there?" Aida asked. Lithgow tapped a few keys.

"No sir, There are no secondary access points large enough for a person to get through."

"Have the general area surrounded," Aida ordered. "We have to be prepared for anything." Both Aida and Burke then noticed Hood accessing information from another terminal.

"Something on your mind Sam?" Burke asked.

"Just looking through what information we have on the advanced models," Hood replied. "Did you know that they have been estimated IQ of around 200? I mean, if Advanced Model Ayanami types are as intelligent as we believe them to be, she must have had a good reason to go into that room, and I'm afraid that-" A small alarm began to chirp from Matsu's station.

"Sir, someone's trying to access our systems," he said. "I can't tell who."

"What?" Burke yelled as Hood rushed over to where Matsu was.

"Put the system in defense mode, and begin opening decoy entries. Start a trace," he said to both Matsu and Lithgow.

"A second attack?" Aida asked as he headed to the station as well. "Was she only a diversion?"

"Decoy entry has been avoided," Matsu said. "Opening another."

"How long before we know who's doing this?" Burke asked.

"Fifteen seconds," Lithgow answered.

"Setting up a secondary barrier," Matsu declared.

"Demolition team has arrived at the computer room," Bertain announced. "They're setting the charges."

"Understood," Aida replied.

"Deploying emergency firewall," Matsu said as the cyberbattle continued. "Firewall has been penetrated. Opening another false entry."

"Trace complete," Lithgow said. "The hacker is in this facility."

"Where?" Burke yelled out.

"I think I have an idea," Hood stated.

"It's coming from Computer Room 4!" Lithgow declared.

"What!" Burke almost fell back.

"Figured," Hood remarked to himself.

"Can the main cable be severed?" Aida asked.

"It won't accept the command," Matsu replied. "I'm opening another decoy…Shit! We're being blocked.

"Demolition teams are reporting back. They're ready," Bertain said.

"Blow the damn thing open," Burke ordered. "Take that bitch out." Within seconds, the monitor showed an explosion ripping the door open. Seconds after that, they saw the Varagarians charge in, followed by some of them being thrown out of the door seconds afterwards.

"She's starting to access our main systems," Lithgow shouted.

"What does she have have access to?" Hood asked. Lithgow did a quick check.

"We're in trouble," he said. "Life support, the self destruct system, power, the weapons systems."

"She could destroy just us, or she could waste the entire city with our weapons," Burke said.

"Can we change synchronization code to every ten seconds, try to slow her down?" Hood asked.

"Trying sir," Matsu replied. Another alarm then sounded in the room.

"Power's gone out in sections B7-C4," Bertain announced. "I don't know—" She stopped for a second, before reviewing in an increased panic. "Now it's in sections D8-F22!" One one of Bertain's screens, they could see sections of the base go out one by one. They then felt a rumbling explosion,

"The block at H4 has detonated!" Bertain shouted. "There were fifty people in that area."

"She's testing to she what she can do," Hood said. Both he and Aida turned to Burke, who spoke after a few seconds.

"Are we still able to shut down the I/O system," he asked in a soft voice.

"We can," Hood replied.

"Then do it."

"We'd be completely defenseless," Aida protested.

"Tell me, how is that worse than what we have now?" Burke countered, to which Aida had no reply. "Do it Sam, before we're blown to kingdom come."

"Right." Seconds later, the main monitor went blank, and only a few of the station screens remained active.

"Now what do we do?" Aida asked.

"Begin diagnostics, and try to regain control," Hood replied. "Once she realizes the systems are shut down, she'll probably leave the room. "There is still power in that section when we shut down, so if I can get some people down there, she what she did up close, we should be able to bring systems on line."

"Get to it," Burke replied, "because at this moment, this base is Nerv's for the taking."

In the eerie redness created by the emergency lights, confusion reigned as a mass of men ran in one direction or the other, some charged into the fight or some running for their lives, calling for backup on radios that no longer worked. From time to time flashes of gunfire lit the corridors, bringing everything clear for a brief second or two. Anyone would see when there was enough light was the look of panic on the men's faces, and for many, they could see no light as the Ayanami had dispelled them as she resumed her advance.

"What happened?" Shinji asked as he surveyed the corridors, which were now bathed in the warm red glow of the emergency lights."

"No idea," Corporal Chen replied as he looked around as well. "I'll ask command, see if we need to return." He tried to call on his radio several times, but received no answer.

"Huh, this outage must be pretty bad if the com systems are down, and at the worse possible time too."

"Then what do we do?" Joanna asked.

"We continue on," the Corporal replied. "I'm supposed to get you two to where Unit 11 is. At the very least, there are some hard line phones in some of these corridors. They're guaranteed to work. We can confirm what to do then." The three continued to walk on. When they approached a hatchway, both Shinji and Chen opened it manually, the corporal explaining that the hatchways still work. After they had to do that two more times, they came upon two soldiers running towards them. Shinji knew they had some special name, Vara-something or other, but he couldn't remember.

"What's going on?" Chen called out to them. The two stopped, having the look of complete panic on their face.

"It's real bad," one of them replied. "Somehow the power went out, and she went on a rampage. He and I are all that's left of our platoon."

"Where is she now?" the corporal asked.

"Hell if we know," the other one answered. "None of us have been in this facility before, and even with the emergency lights, we really can't tell."

"It didn't help that we were running for our lives either," the first added. "She could have gone somewhere else, or she could be right behind us." Chen cursed under his breath.

"Well, I need to get these two to the Eva cages," he said as he pointed to both Shinji and Joanna. "You're welcome to come along, as I know the way. We'll get a better assessment when we get there. Besides, if she's close, I'm going to need all the help I can get."

"I don't know any better ideas, so why not," The first said. They proceeded on the corporal leading the way, with Shinji and Joanna in the middle, and the two Varagarians bringing up the rear.

Misato stepped out of her bathroom, making final adjustments to her hair. She then tugged at various places on the shirt and jeans she was wearing, making sure she neat and proper, reflecting on the fact that it could be a joy to wear civilian clothes. She knew that she didn't wear them as often as she did back in her Nerv days, so in a sense, the time away from the ship was a good thing. She was aware that this could be the last full day before she and the ship would be back in action, and she had to make the most of it.

"Miyoko, we're going to be late," she yelled out in the direction of her daughter's bedroom.

"I'm going as fast as I can," Miyoko's voice drifted from her room, followed by her head sticking out of the doorway a moment later.

"We still have plenty of time," she said with a cross look on her face.

"The show starts at 2:15," Misato said, "and we have to fit in a couple of places before then."

"I know," Miyoko shot back, her voice raising in volume with each word. "Just give me another minute," she added before her head darted back into her room.

"It's always another minute with you," Misato mumbled. She walked around the living room in a combined state of annoyance and boredom. Her cell phone then began to ring, and seeing that it was Hyuga, who was on Bridge duty at that moment, was calling, she picked it up.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Captain, we have been monitoring some unusual communications from the tower," he said.

"Unusual? What do you mean?"

"Well Ma'am, we've been keeping an open channel with them for coordination purposes when it appears they sounded an intruder alert. A few minutes later, they then sounded a general battle alert, though there was no order for us to scramble. Varagarian units had also been called into the facility. After a short while, nothing."

"Nothing?" Misato asked.

"No communication from the tower. We tried to raise them, but no response."

"That does seem…" she trailed off as she approached the window. She noticed smoke coming from the direction of the tower.

"Do you see this?" Misato asked.

"We do Captain," Hyuga replied. We can't tell from here whether it's from there or from somewhere else in the city. She saw that the smoke was coming from the tower premises.

"Okay, I'm ready," Miyoko said as she entered the living room.

"Hold on a minute," her mother told her.

"What! You make me rush, and now—" Miyoko began.

"I said hold on!" Miyoko could tell from the tone that something is wrong. She walked over to where her Mom was and looked out of the window.

"Is that coming from the tower?" she asked.

"Yeah," Misato replied. They saw another small explosion come up from the complex.

"Isn-Isn't Shinji and that girl in that building?" Miyoko asked. Misato didn't answer, instead telling Hyuga to standby before walking over to the apartment's phone and dialing. She stood there for a few moments listening before she hung up.

"It's automatic voice message. That shouldn't be happening." She said as she went over to her computer.

"Mom…" Miyoko said, the worry apparent in her voice. Misato tapped on the keys for a minute before she spoke again.

"Everything seems to be down, Something is very wrong."

"What's happening?" Miyoko asked.

"Hyuga, call for battle stations, and standby to receive us." She said.

"Yes ma'am. "Everything will be ready."

"Good," she said. "I'll contact you in ten." She then snapped her phone shut before turning to her daughter.

"I'm afraid that I can't go to the movie with you," she said as she began typing again. "In fact, I have a feeling the movie's going to be canceled anyway. As she accessed the appropriate files and putting in commands and access code, she was more than aware that she would be interfering with family meals, naps, and probably several cases of bedroom fun, but it was necessary.

"First time for everything," She mumbled as she entered the final authorization codes and pressed the enter key. Within seconds, alarms began to blare along with a computerized voice.

"Emergency deployment. All Wunder personnel report to your assigned stations!" it declared, repeating the message every thirty seconds.

"Miyoko, I want you to go with the other families to the shelter, like we talked about," Misato said as she ran over her closet and grabbed her uniform jacket and hat. "Take what you need and go."

"Right," Miyoko said. "Good luck…" Misato walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Love you too honey. See you soon," she said before heading out the door.

She was heading down the hallway at a full run, seeing other members of the crew leave their apartments struggling to get coats around them and putting shoes on their feet. She saw Aoba speak to another man who was holding a toddler from his apartment as she went past him. A few seconds later, she noticed him running right beside her.

"Did you see the Vice-Captain?" she asked him.

"She went past me about thirty seconds before you did," Aoba answered. "There were droplets of soapy water flying off her head. What's going on?"

"The Tower appears to be under attack," Misato said. "I have no clue on the details, but we have to be ready for anything. We'll need to launch right away. Hyuga's already been informed."

"Yes, Captain," Aoba replied. As they approached the special train that would take them to the ship, all she could do was hope that everyone there would be all right.

"Shinji," she muttered to herself as she boarded the train.

After a short while of walking and going through a couple of hatchways, the group came to a sudden halt by Chen who signaled for them to stop.

"What is—" Shinji began to ask, but the corporal signaled silence.

"I heard something," he whispered, but still loud enough for everyone to hear him. In the silence, they could hear a set of slow and steady footsteps walking through the corridors, and it seemed, at least to Shinji, that they sounded as if they were coming towards them.

"Could it be a good guy, like those two?" Joanna thumbed towards the two soldiers.

"Could be, but we need to make sure." Chen then signaled to the soldiers who came up next to him. The three of them went over to the next corner, and peeked out. After a few seconds, they rushed back to where they left Shinji and Joanna.

"She's here," one of the soldiers hissed at them. Joanna brought her hands over her mouth, and looked like she was about to cry.

"What do we do?" Shinji asked. Chen pointed right past him.

"You take her and get to the cages," he answered. "We're almost there. It's a straight shot, just keep going in that direction."

"And what are you guys going to do?" Shinji guessed the answer, but he wanted to hear it from him.

"We'll buy you time," the corporal answered. "We can't stop her, but we'll slow her down for you. Just get her there."

"But that mean you'll…" Joanna couldn't finish the words. The corporal put his hand on her shoulder, though Shinji could see that it was trembling a little.

"We'll try to lead her away, so it'll give you guys more time," he replied. "We're not planning to die or anything, so you worry about that." Shinji saw his trembling increase, making him wonder if Joanna believed the words he said.

"He's right," one of the soldiers added. "You head on over there."

"Okay," she said.

"Now that they matter has been settled, shall we get started?" the corporal asked. All of them could the footsteps getting closer. One of the soldiers took out a hand grenade and pulled the pin with one hand while keeping a firm grip on the handle with the other.

"When we throw the grenade, you two run like hell to the cages. Got it?" Both Shinji and Joanna nodded.

"Okay then," Chen turned to the solider holding the grenade. "On three…." The soldier prepared to throw. "Three!" The solider threw the grenade while Shinji and Joanna bolted away from them. The two runners heard the explosion followed by a barrage of automatic fire. Seconds latter, the two heard the gunfire stop and a blood curdling scream filled the air. Joanna stopped running and turned around.

"Come on!" Shinji commanded, grabbing her arm, and dragging her back into a run. He soon got to full speed, though Joanna had a hard time keeping up as he was still holding her by the hand. They approached a doorway, which Shinji with a struggle, began to open. Joanna looked back, and thought she saw a shadow move closer to them.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry." She kept repeating in a whispering voice.

"Trying to," Shinji replied as he forced the door open. They rushed to the other side, Shinji closing the door behind them. They began to run again, and not even thirty seconds had passed when they heard an explosion behind them.

"Faster!" Shinji told Joanna, not caring to whisper any longer.

"Going as fast as I can," she replied in between huge breaths. They reached another hatchway, both of them helping to open it, and once it was opened, continuing on without bothering to close it. From time to time, Shinji looked back, some of those times, he saw something, or thought he did. The two then saw another hatchway, this time with two sentries in front of it. One of the guards raised his rifle at them, but was stopped by the other.

"It's the kids," he told him as they arrived.

"She's right behind us!" Joanna yelled. The four quickly got inside, shutting the door behind them. As they were catching their breath, they saw a silhouette of Unit 11 nearby.

"Great, you guys are here," one of the technicians said as he came over. "This way." As the three were making their way over to the Eva, they saw soldiers and guards rushing around them, and forming a defensive line near the hatchway where they came in.

"I'll be brief," the technician began. "Some power has been restored, and we're using it to send Unit 11 on it's way. Once you're gone little lady, everyone is getting the hell out of here." He took out a pair of neural connectors out of his pocket, and handed them to Joanna. "No time to put on your plug suit, but be sure to attach these on your head.

"Right," Joanna replied as she put them on. The three arrived and the technician pushed a few buttons to release the entry plug.

"Your chariot awaits m'lady," he said.

"Okay," Shinji replied before turning to Joanna. "It's time to go," he said to her.

"But what about you?" She asked.

"I'll be fine," he replied. "Now climb aboard." He said those last words at a faster pace to move her along.

"I could take you with me," she said. "There's enough room in the entry plug."

"It'll only screw up your synch rate." His voice was sounding more frustrated. "I'll leave with them. There's no more time now. You have to-"

"I-I could hold you in the Eva's hand—" At that point, Shinji grabbed her by the shoulders, and said the next words in English to get his point across.

"Get in the fucking—" He couldn't finish as the door blew apart, spreading fragments all over the chamber. As the soldiers began to fire towards the gapping hole, Shinji swooped up Joanna, who gave a little shriek as the suddenness of his action, and laid her in the entry plug. Before she could say anything to him, he closed the hatch.

"She's in!" he yelled at the technician, who was at the control panel. He pushed a few buttons, and the trolley began to move away. Shinji watched it go for a few seconds, before turning around, only to find that from across the chamber, he found the Ayanami type staring right at him.