"Unit One ready for launch. Is the order given, Commander?"

"Order is given. Launch Unit One."

Shinji roused at that, snapping back to the mission at hand. The G-forces which were already becoming familiar pushed him down into his seat, and Misato's voice came over the radio. "Alright Shinji, here's how we're going to do it. The Angel's going to be one street to your right as you come in, so take the assault cannon, neutralise its AT Field and annihilate it."

"Got it," he said. The lift snapped to a halt, and the massive door opened. The assault cannon – a rotary, battleship-caliber weapon – was in a slot by his legs. He pulled it out, and turned to face the Angel.

This one was different from the last one; rather than a humanoid shape it seemed more like some sort of cuttlefish or squid. Somehow, it was floating – Note to self: get recordings of this fight, Shinji thought – and it paused as it saw him. Just as the last one had. Shinji took the advantage, extended his AT Field as far as he could and emptied the assault cannon's hopper into its face.

"What are you doing, Shinji? Short, controlled bursts! You'll obscure the target in the smoke!" came Misato's voice. It's not like that matters, Shinji thought, it's probably dead alread- a pair of whip... tentacle... things flew out from the dust cloud and cut the assault cannon in half before he could finish the thought. Ah crap.

"-ending you up a rifle. Building two-thirteen. Take it!" That wouldn't be much help. Building 213 was on the other side of the Angel, but it was also the only one in range of his power cable. Dammit, he thought. The Angel's whips slashed out again, and Shinji barely dodged... but lost the power cable at the same time. If I can get behind it, maybe – The Angel attacked again. This time, the whips snared around his arm, and it threw him out of the city into the mountains. This is really not going – oh what the FUCK! The Evangelion's computer had noted two human life signs just beside one of his hands. He zoomed in one of the cameras, and cursed. It would be those two, wouldn't it...

A few minutes previously:

Kensuke Aida was getting bored. This wasn't his natural state of being; normally he could find interest in nearly everything. But being cooped up in a small bunker and being told to stay put while he could be filming the epic battle going on above... "Hey, Toji", he said, getting the attention of his friend.

"Yeah, Ken?" Toji said, drawing his gaze from the Class Representative chatting with her friends on the other side of the bunker. "What is it?"

"Come with me to the bathroom," said Kensuke. "I gotta ask you something."

Toji considered it. "Yeah, sure, why the heck not," he said, then called out to Hikari. "Hey, Class Rep! We gotta go pee!" The brunette did not look as amused by this as he hoped, and glared at him.

"Yeah, whatever!" she called back.

"Damn it, Ken, this better be worth it," Toji snapped.

"So I think with your help I could get the lock on the bunker open!" finished Kensuke, glasses flashing.

"Are you kidding me? You want to go out there?!" replied Toji.

"Look, this is the chance of a lifetime! I could sell this footage for thousands! Besides, it's probably dead already," Kensuke said. Toji sighed, then nodded. "That's the spirit!" said Kensuke.

"Wow, he really doesn't have any idea what he's doing!" shouted Kensuke as the two watched the fight, a video camera pressed to the nerd's eye. "He's letting it keep its distance, where it has the advantage, but isn't pulling back far enough to get out of its range! Did they even train him before sticking him in that thing?"

"We should probably get back inside," said Toji. Truth be told, he was actually feeling pretty bad about hitting the kid earlier. If they didn't even train him before sending him in, no wonder Mari got hurt...

That was when the Evangelion, limbs flailing, came flying through the air towards them. There was a shudder as it landed, but when he opened his eyes Toji found he was still alive. The massive bulk of the gigantic war machine shielded from the sun, and he could almost hear Ken's jaw hit the ground as he realised how close he was to one of the most powerful weapons in humanity's arsenal. There was a hiss, and a panel on the Evangelion's back slid out, followed by a white tube. A ladder came down from it, and the tube opened with an audible pop.

"Get in!" called a voice down from the tube, so Toji and Kensuke rushed up the ladder. After all, it was better to be inside the giant war machine rather than crushed by it.

"What the hell is this stuff?" said the other student from earlier – the one with the glasses. Shinji ignored him. "Oh... crap, my camera!" Shut up please, he thought, closing the entry plug up and re-synchronising. His mind went cold again, and he started assessing the situation. Two minutes' battery power left. I think I have a knife, but I can't get close, unless...

"Shinji!" called Misato over the radio. "Fall back to position three! Just get out of there!" That wouldn't work. He couldn't get to the fallback point without taking more damage along the way, and he wasn't sure how much damage the Evangelion could take before it went berserker. Let's not have that happen again, he decided, and charged. He was vaguely aware of the students talking next to him, telling him to follow orders, so he shouted, "SHUT. UP!" and kept going. The Angel thrust its whip things at him again, spearing him through the chest, but he kept going. Thirty seconds left.

He drew his knife, passing back into the city. Twenty seconds.

He reached the Angel, and thrust the knife into its core. He realised he was screaming. Ten seconds. The core cracked, but the Angel was still alive. Five. Still alive. Four. Three. Two- the Angel went still, freezing in place. The whips fell out of Shinji's chest, and he slumped forwards.

It took him a few minutes to realise he was crying.

Michael's eyes bolted open as a scream came from outside his door. Old instincts made him reach for his pistol before memory asserted itself. Not again, he thought. He stood up from his bed, and headed for the door. He paused for a second, then bolted his left arm back on just in case his instincts were right. The industrial, piston-like replacement's weight still felt off after three years, but he'd at least learned to use it properly now.

He walked out the door to the sound of a television turning on, and switching to an all-night news channel. He sighed, partially relief and partially worry. This had been happening far more often ever since about a week ago, after she'd heard about Tokyo-3. He proceeded down the hall, unloading his pistol, and stepped into their apartment's living room. The lights outside illuminated the unnamed Pacific island they were on, and highlighted Rose's face as he walked in. She was sitting on the couch, running through the breathing exercise he'd taught her after the first time this had happened five years ago. He let her finish before speaking. "Again?" he said, simply.

"Yeah," she said. "Same as always." He walked over to the couch, sat down beside her and just held her for a few minutes with his real arm. A mix of emotions flooded through him, as it had been for a while now. Fear. Affection. Desire. Shame. He pushed them out, and just tried to make her feel safe. It was, after all, his fault she suffered from these nightmares.

"There's something I'd like to know," she asked after a while, sitting back up as she spoke. "Why is it you never get these?"

"I don't dream," he said. "Not since Wales. I suppose I'm lucky in that respect, despite everything else."

"But you have to remember it sometimes, surely?" she pressed on.

"Yeah, I do." he paused for a moment. Her words had brought up the memories she was talking about. "But... how do I put this? I've been dealing with that sort of thing for as long as I can remember. And ever since Jerusalem, not much has been able to scare me." Rose's face fell as he brought up their last battle.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have -" she began, but he cut her off.

"Don't worry about it. Never worry about it," he said, pulling her back into an embrace. This time, it was for as much his benefit as it was hers; he could still vividly remember the feeling of having his arm – both his and the Evangelion's – slowly infected by the Angel. Not to mention what he'd done when the infection kept coming after the Angel died...

He was glad he'd managed to spare her from that. It made him feel a little better about St. Louis. It was still a mystery to him why she'd forgiven him for that.

Beside him, he heard Rose's breathing fall into a slow, regular pattern. He rested his head on top of hers, allowing himself to revel in the contact, and closed his eyes. The television still blared, unheeded, in front of them as he drifted off to sleep.

"Today's headlines at three from the BBC: Another Angel attacked Tokyo Three, but was promptly defeated by NERV's Unit One two days ago. Rumours about as to the identity of the pilot, with some sources claiming he identified himself openly in a classroom. More on this story as it arises."

"In our other top story, the final satellite in the Orbital Defence Network is scheduled to launch tomorrow from a base in the Pacific. Confidential sources say that the launch ceremony, which is to be attended by both the British Queen and the French President, as well as many other world leaders, will be guarded by the Royal Navy's Unit Seven. Full coverage of the ceremony will be provided live by the BBC."

"In other news, the long-running TV series "Firefly" has been renewed for yet another season. Fans of the series claim that it has, in fact, been running for too long..."

Shinji woke up in the cell that had been his home for the past night. They'd been thoughtful enough to give him a TV, but he'd kept it off. Aside from the occasional clips of Evangelion deployments on the news, he'd never been interested much in television. He stretched out his arms, working out the kinks that came with sleeping against a wall, and sighed. It wouldn't even be so bad if they'd given me some of my equipment, he thought. Then again, all of his stuff was at Misato's apartment.

He grimaced as he recalled what had happened after the battle two days ago.

"What the hell, Shinji?" Misato had shouted just after some security goons had led Toji and Kensuke away. "In battle, you follow my orders! It's that simple!"

Shinji knew he should point out that he couldn't have followed her orders, but just like always he couldn't say it. "I'm sorry," he said lamely. "I'm not sure what it really matters, though," he muttered under his breath. Unfortunately, Misato heard him.

"What was that?" she said, her voice low and level.

"It's just... I killed the Angel," he said, desperately searching for a way out, "What does it matter how I did it? Besides, what do you care? I'll keep killing the Angels, and that's all that-" Misato slapped him, and walked out before he could react. That's it, he thought, time to get some fresh air.

Shinji had reached the end of the road.

Literally, not metaphorically.

He'd been walking the entire night, trying to get a good vantage point on the Angel's corpse. A probe was held weakly in his hand; he hadn't had the time or money to get food. And now, before him lay the wreckage of the one major road out of the city. I must have taken it out coming down that hill, he realised; the road was between the hill and where he'd killed the Angel. Someone – probably NERV – had moved its body into a structure since then, as he couldn't see it. He tried the probe anyway, looking for any sort of after-image of the battle. There was some, a few weird readings that he'd found only came up after two active AT Fields collided, but nothing he could work with. Not for the first time that night, he wished he had access to his equipment, or maybe even NERV's stuff. Misato had told him to ask Doctor Akagi for it, but he hadn't yet worked up the courage to speak to her.

He had long noticed NERV's security goons following him. They hadn't stopped him, so he'd ignored them. Now, however, he'd done everything he'd wanted to. "Alright," he said, apparently to thin air, "I'm ready to go back." A set of floodlights lit up the road, and Shinji was suddenly surrounded by the black-suited men.

"-and now we go live to our reporter on the scene in the A-F Union's Pacific launch base. Jake, how're things looking down there?"

"Well, May, I'd have to say it feels pretty positive here. We're a few minutes away from the Inauguration Ceremony, and the entire viewing platform seems packed. I've never seen so many government officials in one place! Just behind me is the rocket that will carry the last of the Longbow weapon platforms into orbit, to join the Camelot command station and the other thirty-five satellites that have been launched in the past year. And just behind that is Unit Seven; it's been a while since I've seen her. There were reports after Jerusalem three years ago that the pilot had been put out of action, but they seem to have recovered. Wait – just now, the Queen's taking the stage for the speech."

Michael closed the window showing the live news feed with a wave of his hand. They'd been deployed early in the morning, and he hadn't had much to occupy himself with. Behind him, Rose ran yet another scan of the perimeter. "Anything?" he asked.

"Nothing. Quieter than Rio," Rose replied. Strictly speaking, they both knew that wasn't true; there was a Navy task force near the island, not to mention several Air Force Typhoons on patrol. More to the point, Rio was several metres underwater. Michael sighed, and switched on the feed to the speech.

"-one must be grateful to the brave men and women who sacrificed so much, including their lives, to fight the American menace. Five years ago today, a historic treaty was signed which returned peace to this ravaged world after ten years of devastating conflict. Today, we bear witness to the force which shall sustain that peace. For the first time in history, an impartial, multinational organisation will have a striking force independent of any nationality. History teaches us that such a thing is required for world peace. We have learned the lessons of Hitler and President Morris, and will not make that mistake again. It is time to put aside petty national differences in order to ensure our children do not have to go through the same things we have. America once claimed to be a "beacon on a hill". We do not claim the same thing. Our past is not spotless. That is why we have done this; not as a way of securing some military advantage but as an act of atonement. We, who have sacrificed so much in the name of peace, sacrifice a portion of our wealth and prosperity to allow peace to continue. One hopes the rest of the world will follow our example."

"Wow, she really went at it," said Rose as the applause died away.

"What are you talking about?" asked Michael.

"'One hopes the rest of the world will follow our example'? She's talking to the Russians and Chinese. Not to mention NERV, and the American States." Seeing Michael still didn't understand, she continued. "She's trying to guilt-trip them. Making the UN into an actual world government has been her goal since the wars began, and everyone else has been dragging their feet on it. Rather understandably, too; the UN's track record isn't exactly spotless either."

"So that's why we're just handing the entire network over to them," Michael said. "I thought it was part of the Vatican treaty or something."

"It is," Rose replied. "But we put it there. An orbital weapon capable of destroying an Evangelion with a direct hit? Not to mention Camelot Station? No-one would have let us put it up there if they weren't sure they could stop us from using it."

"Not that they can," said Michael. "We built them. I'd bet real money – if I had any – that we've got a way to override them. You never sell a weapon you can't defeat."

"And as usual, your cynicism shines like a diamond," Rose said, and both of them laughed. It was an old argument they had. "I've taken a look over the control system for the satellites; it seems pretty foolproof to me."

"I'm sure it does," Michael said, "And I'm also pretty sure that the signal telling the satellite it can fire, while not easily duplicated, can also be sent from some bunker back home. Sure, the UN'd know as soon as it was sent, but what are they going to do about it?"

"The signal has to be authenticated by Camelot before the system can fire, though," argued Rose.

"And who's crewing Camelot at the moment? The only military astronauts on the entire planet, who just so happen to be former British and French astronauts we gave to the UN. Oh, in a few years' time there might be a few different nationalities up there, but I have no doubt the majority will be British or French for the foreseeable future," countered Michael.

"You know," Rose said, and Michael could feel her exasperation, "just once I'd like you to take something at face value. I mean, it's starting to rub off on me now!" Michael grimaced at that; they'd had lots of problems with long-term pilot-to-pilot synchronisation. Sometimes, he could barely tell which mind was which. Rose fell silent as she felt his change in mood. That's another problem, he considered. It's impossible to keep secrets from her sometimes. And vice versa.

He re-opened the television window, to the sound of the countdown. Has it really been that long? We missed the President's speech...

"Ten."

"Nine."

"Eight."

"Seven."

"Six."

"Five."

"Four."

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

"LIFTOFF!"

Shinji sat up as someone entered his cell. The light from outside blinded him for a moment, before his eyes adjusted and he saw who had chosen to visit. "Rei?" he asked in surprise, blinking. "What are you doing here?" He looked closer. She seemed to have recovered from her injuries. Maybe she's here to tell me they don't want me to pilot anymore, he thought. He felt... ambivalent about that.

"I wish to ask you some questions," said the girl. Ah crap, Shinji realised. I never did answer her question earlier. I really hope she's not annoyed.

"It's not like I'm doing anything else at the moment," he said, a rare piece of sarcasm which went unheeded by the blue-haired figure before him. She nodded.

"Firstly, could you please finish answering my questions from earlier?" she said.

Shinji drew in a breath, and brought up all his reserves of courage and patience. Not that he had much of the former. "Why I acted like that back when I got here? I suppose I just got really angry with Father." Rei stared at him, so he continued. "He called me here after ten years of showing how little he cared about me. Then, he asks me to get into a giant cybernetic war machine known for psychologically damaging its pilots. Fine. I can deal with that. But to brush me off when I dare ask for something in return? And to drag you out, when you couldn't even walk? To play with both our lives like he did? That angered me." He sighed, and kept talking. She wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than a full explanation, Misato had told him before the second Angel attack. "When I get angry... everything sort of snaps into focus. All the things holding me back normally just disappear. Like Miss Misato said, I get a lot like Father. Unfortunately, all those things holding me back also stop me from doing things like threatening someone's life, or throwing them out of a window like the first time I got angry, so I've learned to recognise the signs over the years. Back then was... a special case."

Rei seemed satisfied by this. "Secondly, what is the nature of your scientific enquiry?" she said.

"I can't tell you all of it," he said, as the enthusiasm started to rise up. "Too many unknowns, and I don't have enough data to even begin to confirm or deny my theories. But... the base of it is that I noticed AT Fields interact with light." Rei raised an eyebrow quizzically. This would take some explaining. "I saw a broadcast of the St. Louis battle as it happened. Right up until the nuke hit. That set off some spark in my mind, and I gathered up every last scrap of information I could on the AT Field. I found enough to indicate that they're somehow frequency-based, although they don't use a medium known to modern science. There's some sort of information carried in the AT Field; that much is obvious from the various pilot interviews and so on – why would there be a minimum synchronisation requirement for manifesting an AT Field otherwise? More to the point, why else would it be necessary to have the pilot synchronise so much with the Evangelion? It's a proven fact that synchronisation can be limited below the threshold where the pilots begin to feel the Evangelion's pain, and it's incredibly rare for two of them to meet in combat where control fidelity actually matters. So, after a while, I got to thinking. What if we could decode that information? Perhaps more importantly, what if we could find out whatever medium the AT Field works in and replicate it mechanically? It'd be so useful! Leaving aside making the Evangelions – and thus the necessity of using child soldiers like us – obsolete, it can be used to shield against radiation, making space travel far easier, it can be used to support an object in the air or on water..." he trailed off, the burst of energy spent. He looked up at Rei. "Does that answer your question?" he asked.

"I do not believe your endeavours will be successful," she said. That's what they all say, he thought, but I will show them. "But... " she continued, her voice even quieter and softer than normal, "I hope they are." That's... not what they normally say, he thought, looking up in surprise.

Rei was already gone.

Michael pulled his helmet off as he stepped into the locker room designated for his use. They'd been on duty even after the rocket had launched, until the last VIP had left the island. They were shipping out tomorrow, to their new base on Gibraltar. The launch facility there had just been completed, and although Evangelions were supposedly vulnerable to the sheer firepower from the Longbow satellites, the government still wanted Unit 07 in a position to deploy to any new crises. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the thoughts of politics, strategy and tactics, and was about to start stripping off his armour when he noticed one of the lockers had been opened slightly. Instincts flared up again, and his mind switched back into tactical mode. No-one should have been here at any point since I was last in here, he observed. There doesn't appear to be anything inside the locker, but I'll be cautious anyway. He edged closer to the offending locker, and carefully opened the locker door the rest of the way. Ah, shit.

Inside was a bag – clearly a bomb - rigged up to a laser sensor. The instant he stepped into the shower, it would have gone off. He slid his helmet back on, drew his pistol and stalked out of the locker room. Priorities, his mind began, firstly: find Rose and make sure she's safe. Secondly: Warn people. Thirdly: see if the person who set this bomb is still here. Finally: find a shower that isn't trapped. As he walked back into the corridor linking their locker rooms together, he noticed a group of armed soldiers moving towards the other locker room further down the corridor. An abduction attempt? thought the strategic part of his mind. The tactical part brought his pistol up, the crosshairs on his helmet's HUD lining up with one of the enemy's skulls. "Stop!" he ordered. One chance. That's all you get.

For their part, the enemy soldiers reacted quite admirably. They spun round as a group, those at the new front of the formation kneeling to allow those at the back to fire. It didn't matter. He squeezed the trigger on his pistol, moving the barrel across the enemy formation as the three rounds spat out. He noted that he'd got all three bullets into different enemies before ducking back into the shelter of the locker room. Hopefully that bomb doesn't have a remote trigger, he thought belatedly. The staccato sound of Rose's carbine told him he had an opportunity, so he ran down the corridor, spitting fire from his pistol. He brought down three more as he closed the distance – he'd only had enough time for one more burst – and he brought his left arm up to bat aside the first enemy he came close enough to. Another came at him from the right with a knife, so he fired another burst into that one, grabbing the final enemy with the claw-like hand of his left arm. The enemy soldier tried to draw another weapon – knife, grenade or pistol, it didn't matter. Michael retracted his left arm, the hand moving back into the elbow, and with the force of an industrial piston shoved them into the wall. The wall cracked as the man went right through, and he dropped the pistol he'd been reaching for. Amazingly enough, the man survived.

"Looks like you caught one," said Rose. Michael felt relief as he heard her voice.

"What happened to the other one I hit?" he asked, looking at her. Her face told him all he needed to know, and he felt the usual sadness. "I see. Well, let's go get this guy to a cell or something."

Misato walked into the cell a few seconds after Rei had left. They looked at each other for a moment, before she broke the silence. "Ready to go home, Shinji?" she said.

"Yeah," he replied.