Chapter 2: Home is Where You Hang Your Hat

I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.

-Robert Frost

Fascinated by the activity in the workshop around her, Misato Katsuragi idly wondered why she'd never visited this part of headquarters before. She supposed it had never occurred to her that the bespoke weapons used by the evangelions and Tokyo-3's defence systems required an entire department to see to their construction and upkeep. As chief of operations, she was a bit peeved that her input into the development of these weapons was not sought after.

Ha, who am I kidding, she thought with a smirk, I get lost on the way to my office. There's no way I could even find my way here without Rits. The blonde scientist still looked annoyed at having been dragged out of her lair by her friend, who wanted to see what Takao and his department had come up with for herself. Busily typing away on her PDA, she could barely be bothered to look up when the engineer's voice turned their attention his way.

He was waving to a much taller man dressed in an unfamiliar military uniform, who strode towards them from behind the fighter jet she had been quite surprised to find 10 stories underground. So, this was the first pilot in NERV's little air force. She guessed him to be about the same height as Commander Ikari, maybe a bit taller, which would put him around 190 centimetres. He had a more athletic build than NERV's inscrutable commander, filling out his gilded uniform where Ikari's seemed to hang off his slim frame. Like Ikari however, he carried himself with confidence and authority, and cut an imposing figure among the various NERV staff dressed in their more mellow tan uniforms.

"Ah, Major Bishop, I was wondering where you'd gone off to." Takao jogged up to the man as he approached the gathered senior staff. The engineer frowned up at the sharply dressed pilot and gave him a slight rebuke. "I'm afraid I must insist that until you are issued a security pass you do not wander around unless accompanied."

Bishop just gave him a small grin in return before replying. "My apologies doctor, I haven't seen one of these for a long time, and I thought It'd be alright if I had a quick look." He gestured to the silver jet behind him. Takao's frown deepened but he did not comment further. Seeing Bishop's gaze drawn to the two women standing behind him, he cleared his throat and made the appropriate introductions.

"Anyways Major, I would like you to meet a few members of NERV's senior staff who have decided to pay our department a visit." He gestured first to Ritsuko, who had finally returned her PDA to her pocket and now held Takao in a withering glare. The small man seemed to shrink even further under the look, but mustered up enough courage to continue. "Ahem, ah, this is Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, chief scientist and head of the Evangelion program." Bishop gave her a polite nod, barely acknowledged by Ritsuko before she returned her glare to her subordinate, who swallowed before continuing. "And this is Captain Misato Katsuragi, chief of operations."

Misato was somewhat surprised by the Major's soft, almost boyish features and open, friendly expression as he greeted her with another small nod. That face did not fit at all with the man's imposing presence and fearsome reputation, though his cold grey eyes and the jagged scar that began on his forehead and ran up under his cap certainly did.

She held eye contact with the foreigner a moment longer, returning his nod before their attention turned to Ritsuko, who it seemed was in no mood for pleasantries.

"Alright Takao," she said in a voice that made the balding man seem to want to retreat into his lab coat like a turtle into its shell, "let's see what you've come up with. I certainly hope it was worth defying a direct order, not to mention humiliating me in front of the Sub-Commander over."

Takao gulped nervously, before deciding to see if he could rescue a modicum of his dignity. "I apologize Ma'am. I should not have gone over your head like that. But... don't you remember giving the approval for this project to proceed when I came to you with the proposal?"

That just seemed to make Ritsuko angrier, and she replied with a huff. "Yes, of course I remember. But if you will recall, doctor, since then we've been through our first real battle, which proved beyond a doubt that the Evangelions are our only means of stopping the enemy. All of this..." she gestured broadly to the array of missiles and other weaponry around them meant for Tokyo-3's defence systems. "...is, at best, nothing more than a distraction for an angel. I've seen the cost estimates for continuing to develop this project, and they are far too high for a fucking distraction." The defeated Takao seemed to subconsciously step back behind his taller companion, as though expecting his protection if the blonde decided to take a swing.

Misato could only chuckle at her friend's fury, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. "C'mon Rits," she said in her most diplomatic voice, "we've come all the way down here, let's at least hear him out." The Canadian nodded and spoke up, Misato noting his fluent, though sometimes halting Japanese.

"If you'll beg my pardon miss, er, I mean Doctor, but I've come an awfully long way to find out what exactly is in that box..." he gestured to the metal container in front of them, "...and what I will be expected to do with it. Now, I don't know what the other Doctor here has done to make you so angry, but surely it can wait for some other time." Ritsuko's glare turned to the pilot, who did not shrink away but returned a stern look of his own.

Realizing she was outnumbered, Ritsuko sighed in defeat. "Fine, I suppose you're entitled to some answers, if nothing else for putting up with this little weasel all day. Go on then, doctor, dazzle us." The last sentence was dripping with sarcasm. Stomaching the insult to his honour without comment, Takao stepped out from behind the foreigner and nodded to the two technicians standing on either side of the container. They removed a lock and lifted the top off the stout metal box, before undoing latches on the corners and allowing the sides to fall away.

The heavy-duty suspension of the trolley it sat on was clearly struggling under the weight of the massive silver dart, belying that it was made of something much heavier than steel. Misato was familiar with the general concept: that this weapon would be launched from the aircraft that stood behind them and would use pure kinetic energy to damage its target, but was herself unclear on the details, and listened carefully as the Takao began to explain.

"This is the air-dropped kinetic energy penetrator prototype. Our nickname for it is god's arrow." Misato raised an amused eyebrow at the choice of name but kept her comments to herself as the engineer continued. "It is five and a half meters long and thirty-eight centimetres in diameter, made of solid tungsten, and weighs just under eleven thousand kilograms. The tail houses a guidance unit which manipulates the fins to steer the weapon onto target. The nose..." he gestured to one of the technicians, who removed the protective cover from the Dart's tip, revealing an impossibly sharp point. "... is coated in super hardened tungsten carbide, and is sharpened to a point of just over one micrometer in diameter."

Tungsten wasn't cheap, and Misato knew there had to be only a few foundries in the world capable of smelting the incredibly dense metal at these quantities and to such exact specifications. She began to understand where Ritsuko's concern for cost came from, but the blonde remained silent and Takao continued his lecture, fear of his boss seemingly forgotten as his passion for his work shone through.

"We calculate its terminal velocity to be around twenty two hundred meters per second, and if it reaches this speed it will deliver roughly twenty six thousand megajoules of kinetic energy upon impact. That is equivalent to the energy released by the detonation of six tons of TNT."

Bishop frowned at that. "Hold on doctor, that monster survived an N2 mine that had to have been at least a hundred kilotons of TNT equivalent. How is this supposed to kill one of those things if it only delivers a small fraction of that?"

Takao grinned at the question. "I'm glad you asked Major. You see, while its true the energy delivered by god's arrow is a small fraction of that given off by an N2 or nuclear detonation, explosions release their energy in a sphere away from the point of origin. Ideal if you are trying to destroy a city, but against an angel that means most of the energy is wasted radiating away from the target. For example, if we were to detonate the Tsar bomb, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made, eight hundred meters away from one, it would hit it with the equivalent energy of six tons of TNT per square meter. God's arrow will concentrate that six tons of TNT equivalent onto a microscopic point at the moment of impact. Concentrating as much energy as possible onto as small a point as possible has always been the guiding principle for designing armour-piercing munitions, and hopefully that principle will hold true for punching through an AT field as well. And, it will accomplish all this without the collateral damage of a large explosion, meaning it can be used against a target in a built up area."

He paused for a moment to allow the implications of that statement to sink in. Misato supposed that if anything that wasn't an Eva or a nuclear weapon could knock out an angel, that would be it.

Looking over at Ritsuko, she could tell by her changing expression that the blonde genius was running the numbers in her head and coming to a similar conclusion. It was the Canadian who broke the silence, clearly growing more apprehensive as he thought about what he would need to do to deliver this terrifying weapon.

"Okay, so why pick the Avenger to deploy this thing then? If all you need to do is drop it from high altitude, there are plenty of bombers that could do that job better, and carry more than one at a time. Eleven thousand kilos is pushing her maximum payload."

Takao shook his head. "I'm afraid it isn't quite that simple Major. Even if dropped from the edge of space, it would take over two minutes to reach the ground, leaving too wide of a margin of error to reliably hit a moving target, and gravity alone would not be enough to accelerate it to terminal velocity. No, in order to reach the required speeds, it will need to be not dropped, but fired using a combination of an explosive charge and a small rocket booster from the launch tube you saw in the weapons bay. Even that is not enough to accelerate it to the required speed, to get that last bit of kinetic energy, and to deliver it with the required precision, the launch aircraft will need to be in a near vertical dive at very high speed."

The Canadian flinched at that. "How high?" he asked suspiciously.

Takao pushed up his spectacles before answering in a deliberately nonchalant voice. "At a minimum, the aircraft will need to be diving at a true airspeed of around one thousand meters per second."

The Canadian frowned as he did the math. "...so, just under Mach three?"

"Correct. The Avenger is the only aircraft available to us that has the performance to rapidly carry the weapon to very high altitude, and then accelerate to the required speed quickly enough in a dive to allow the pilot time to pull out, all while carrying it internally."

Misato studied the man as he considered the engineer's proposition. He did not seem afraid per say, as she was certain she would be if she had just been told her new job was to rocket straight towards the earth faster than a bullet fired from a gun, but did seem to have serious doubts.

Bishop turned to cast a dubious eye on the aircraft before continuing. "Well, she'll go faster than that in level flight, but that's only at high altitude where the air is thin. In a steep dive you'll quickly run back into the thick air. So, even if it reaches Mach three going straight down, there will be a very narrow window to fire that thing off before the air resistance becomes too much and the plane either slows down or breaks up."

The engineer simply nodded and assured Bishop that they had run extensive simulations and were sure the aircraft could do it. He also gave a brief explanation of the weapon's guidance system, which was linked to a very powerful ballistic computer onboard the aircraft. Once locked onto a target, it would calculate a dive trajectory that would give a high probability of a hit if the weapon were released anywhere along it, and would guide the pilot onto that trajectory using an indicator on the head up display. It would then automatically fire the instant the minimum airspeed was reached and make any last second course corrections remotely using the dart's tail fins

Not entirely convinced, however, Bishop Continued. "Okay..." he said, deep in thought, "Maybe, maybe. But, there's still the matter of pulling out of the dive. Trying to pull up without slowing the aircraft down will rip the wings right off, and I'm not sure the airbrakes can handle that much wind resistance."

Takao did not seem fazed by the pilot's concerns, still confident as he answered him. "We have thought of that Major, perhaps you noticed the thrust reversers fitted to the tailpipes?"

Bishop nodded, understanding beginning to dawn on his face as the engineer continued. "They are not normal thrust reversers meant only to slow the aircraft after landing. We've had them specially constructed to be able to endure the stress of deploying during high supersonic flight. The airbrakes have likewise been modified, and numerous measures have been taken to strengthen the airframe. We have access to materials and construction methods that the people who built this aircraft did not." He shot the speechless pilot a confident grin. "We have also significantly boosted the flight control system to make the control surfaces less susceptible to compression. All of this means that as long as you deploy the airbrake and thrust reversers in time, you should be able to recover with survivable, though uncomfortable G-forces on both the pilot and aircraft."

Bishop shook his head with a sardonic smile. "And if I don't, I'll have about three seconds to make my peace before I'm splattered across half of Japan."

The small engineer could only shrug at that. "I have confidence in your abilities, you wouldn't be here if we didn't think you were up to the task. We also haven't left everything up to you, we have installed a fail-safe system that will automatically complete the dive pullout once initiated if it senses a loss of pressure on the controls, such as from the pilot blacking out."

Still shaking his head in disbelief, the pilot again turned to his old mount and said quietly in English "So, old girl, they've turned you into an overgrown Stuka, eh?"

Misato smirked a bit at the comment, she being the only one of the gathered NERV staff able to speak a bit of English, though she had no idea what the hell a Stuka was. Takao cleared his throat and interjected. "Er, sorry what was that Major?"

Switching back to Japanese, the Canadian turned around and waved a dismissive hand. "Nothing doctor. Anyways, this all seems feasible in theory, but I assume there is some flight testing to be done..."

Takao nodded eagerly. "Yes Major, that is after all why you're here. This aircraft has not flown since it was delivered to us last year, and probably not for some time before that either. We have obviously taken great care to ensure its airworthiness, though you may make the final judgment call on that once you've made a detailed inspection. We can be ready for the first flight as soon as the end of this week, but we will of course not proceed until you are satisfied that the aircraft is safe." Takao frowned down at his clipboard as he continued. "We know you have not flown in several years as well, so unfortunately you will have to undergo an examination by a NERV physician before going up, perhaps tomorrow. Also, tomorrow we will begin to go over the testing schedule in detail, but suffice to say for now that for the first flight the aircraft will be unarmed, the purpose simply to test the targeting computer and to measure stresses on the airframe during the dive and pullout."

Misato noted the uncertainty that crept into the engineer's voice in that last statement, as though he were still not entirely sure the aircraft would survive the extreme flight regime. Glancing over at Bishop and expecting him to comment, she instead saw a resigned look on the man's face, perhaps too tired to argue the point any further. He simply shrugged and nodded his assent.

"Alright doctor, I suppose it's worth a shot at any rate." Having committed himself now, the Canadian let out a weary sigh and looked down at his watch. It was a little after 8:00pm by this point. "Now, is there anything else that I need to see or do today?" He looked around expectantly at the assembled company. "...If not, would someone mind showing me where my quarters are? It's been a long day and I've had very little sleep lately." Misato exchanged glances with Ritsuko, who gave a small shrug, clearly not having an answer for the Canadian either. Luckily, Takao came to the rescue.

"I think we've covered all we need to today with regards to your role here Major, as I said we will brief you in more detail over the coming days. There is the matter of your security pass, however, you will need to go to the administration department to have it issued before you leave. They will also assign you your living quarters while you are there." His pager beeped at that moment, and the engineer frowned as he withdrew it from his pocket and read the message. "Unfortunately, it seems I have more work to here before I leave, I'll have one of my staff take you there."

Sympathetic to the man's obvious weariness, having had a string of very long days herself recently, Misato decided to do him a favour. Waving her hand in a dismissive gesture as Takao looked around for a subordinate to pawn his pilot off on to, she offered to take him there herself.

"It's right down the hall from my office, I have to stop there before I leave for the day anyways. And besides," she said with a smirk and wink to the Major, "Without me there to prod them along, those damn pencil pushers will have you waiting all night." That last remark was only a slight exaggeration; NERV's corps of bureaucrats had a reputation for being infuriatingly inefficient at their jobs when not being actively threatened by someone with authority.

The Major returned her smile with gratitude in his eyes. "I'd be much obliged, ma'am, thank you." He turned to Takao again and extended his hand. "Well doctor, I suppose this is where we part ways for now."

Takao clasped the proffered hand with both of his own and replied. "Indeed Major, and thank you for agreeing to help us with this project. You may not realize it yet, but you are doing humanity a great service. I will have section two send a car to collect you tomorrow." He then turned to Misato and Ritsuko, giving each a curt nod and a good evening before hurrying off in the direction of his office.

Stepping off in the direction of the elevators with the Canadian in tow, Misato noticed Ritsuko was beginning to follow Takao. "Uh, Rits, where ya going?" she asked.

The blonde cast a baleful look in the retreating engineer's direction before answering. "I have some... matters to attend to here as well, a personnel issue. I'll catch up with you tomorrow." She gave Bishop a cool nod before excusing herself and setting off in pursuit of her subordinate.

May god have mercy on his soul, Misato thought to herself. Hell hath no fury like an Akagi scorned. With a slight chuckle she turned to continue on to the elevators, beckoning her new companion to follow. "Come along, Major," she said lightly. "I'm pretty sure I can find the way back to my office from here."

The tall Canadian raised an eyebrow at that. "Pretty sure?" he asked with a note of apprehension.

Pretty sure, eh? Bishop grumbled to himself. Well I'm pretty sure we're lost.

He was standing to the left and a pace behind NERV's chief of operations on a moving walkway suspended hundreds of feet above the floor of a cavernous chamber, remaining silent as the dark-haired woman intently studied a map. He held on to his cap when a pair of blast doors slid open and hit the two with a gust of stale air as they passed into another identical space. Glancing down over her shoulder at the mess of lines and squiggles on the paper, he supposed he couldn't blame her. He fancied himself a better map-reader than most, and he doubted even he could make sense of it.

The pair hadn't spoken much on their journey thus far, Bishop's mind focused on the task ahead of him, and his companion becoming increasingly absorbed in trying to read her map. Tired of worrying about what the next few days would bring, he decided he ought to try and make some friendly conversation instead.

Damnit, he thought, what was her name again? His mind had absorbed so much new information over the past few hours that the woman's name seemed to not gotten through. He remembered that she was a Captain...

Wait a minute, she's chief of operations and she's only a Captain? Does that mean I outrank her? He was mildly amused at the thought, though he had no idea what this place's rank structure was. He supposed it could be based on a Navy model, wherein a Captain was usually equivalent to an army or air force Colonel. But that didn't make any sense either, since the old gentleman he had met earlier who clearly outranked this woman titled himself sub-commander, and even a full commander was a rank below a Captain in the Navy. He supposed it didn't really matter, surely he was less important than the chief of operations, though he still wasn't too sure what that title meant...

Hey, focus! What was her name again? I think starts with a K... Well, there was one surefire way to find out. "Say, uh, Captain K..." K... Katsuragi! The name popped into his head just in the nick of time. "Ahem, sorry, Captain Katsuragi, you're chief of operations, right? What exactly does that mean?"

Katsuragi was still engrossed in map, muttering angrily to herself, and her head shot up in surprise at the sound of Bishop's voice. "Oh, sorry!" she said with a forced smile "This thing is impossible to figure out, but we have to wind up there eventually right?" She sounded more optimistic than Bishop felt, but he remained silent as it dawned on her that he hadn't asked about the map. "Oh right, my job. Well, I'm in charge of combat operations. Coming up with battle plans, giving orders to the Evangelions in the field, that sort of thing."

"I see..." Bishop nodded, impressed. He had thought from her title that she was the head bureaucrat or something like that. "Then I guess you would know better than most people what those... things you're fighting are capable of."

She turned to look at him, forced smile dropping as she fixed him with a serious gaze. "I would say so. And it's things we're fighting Major, you're part of this now too. Why?"

"Well, what you think of this whole idea of doctor Takao's? Do you really think that dart of his could kill one of those monsters?" Bishop's steady gaze met her brown eyes, imploring her to give him an honest answer.

She thought on the question for a moment, before replying in an even tone. "I think it's... possible. The angels have an organ called a core, you probably noticed it when you saw the battle, the red sphere on its chest." Bishop nodded in understanding as she continued. "We don't know how it works, but it seems to be the Angel's source of power. As long as it remains intact, it can recover and regenerate from any amount of damage given enough time. If the core is destroyed, the angel dies. Now, If everything Takao said is true, then I suppose a direct hit to the core would probably destroy it and kill the Angel." She frowned in thought. "But I suspect scoring a hit with a projectile that size and travelling that fast on such a small, moving target would be almost impossible."

Bishop let out a dejected sigh at that, having come to a similar conclusion in his own mind. Katsuragi smiled a bit and tried to cheer him up. "Don't worry, the ability to kill an angel on its own isn't why I'm on board with the project. The killing blow can be administered any number of ways by an Evangelion. The real value in this weapon, if it ends up working, will be to provide the Evas with air support, something the JSSDF can't do without resorting to N2 weapons and levelling the whole damn city. It seems to me that a hit anywhere on an Angel's body would seriously wound it, and Takao told me that his guidance system can at least promise that much. A wounded Angel needs time to regenerate, and that can open up tactical possibilities like allowing the Evas to retreat or reposition that we otherwise wouldn't have. I mean, you saw that fight, imagine if we had been able to knock the Angel down, even for a few minutes while it was pounding unit one. How differently things might have played out..."

That did lift his spirits a bit. He was still pessimistic, but at least something useful might come from him risking his neck. Katsuragi's last comment made him think back to what he'd seen in Fuyutsuki's office. Yes, the thing did seem to have the purple robot beaten for a while, but the Eva bounced back pretty quickly and seemed to have little trouble ripping its opponent to shreds. What difference would a blow from the silver dart have really made to the outcome of the battle?

Positing this question to the dark-haired Captain, her face remained in thought for a moment before responding, as though trying to decide how much to tell him. "Yes..." she said carefully, "...Its true unit one won without support, however not without taking critical damage that we are still trying to repair. That's not to mention the damage to Tokyo-3 from the Angel self-destructing, and the effects on the pilot..."

Bishop's eyes widened at that last word and he interjected. "Pilot? Wait a minute, you mean there are people inside those things?"

Realizing she had said too much, Katsuragi's eyes darted around looking for an out, before she sighed in defeat and went on. "Yes Major, the Evangelions have a human pilot on board, did you not know that? Weren't you given an employee orientation dossier?"

Realizing he had left the packet of reading material in his office, he sheepishly admitted he had not had an opportunity to read it yet, to which Katsuragi responded with a reproachful look. Resolving that his first order of business tomorrow would be to read the damn thing, he decided not to press the matter.

"Well, whoever you convinced to do that must have some serious guts. Attacking your enemy from the air is one thing, but looking him in the eye as he tries to kill you is another entirely. Especially," he said with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood, "when your enemy is a giant alien monster."

Katsuragi nodded slowly, eyes dropping to floor and clearly wishing to drop the matter. He sensed she was keeping something to herself on the topic of the Evangelion pilots, but he supposed whatever it was he would find out soon enough. An awkward silence reigned for a moment. Salvation finally came when another blast door opened, revealing a junction which Bishop was sure they had passed several times already. Katsuragi's face, however, lit up in recognition, and her dour mood was forgotten in an instant.

"Ah, I knew I'd find the way" she proclaimed with a broad smile, stepping off the moving walkway onto the adjoining platform and striding confidently towards a short corridor leading to an elevator. Sighing wearily, the Canadian could only follow, pondering on this mercurial woman who was so deadly serious at one moment and completely carefree the next, despite the massive weight of responsibility he now knew rested on her shoulders.

The bespectacled receptionist typed away busily at her terminal, not bothering to look up at the two figures who approached her desk. When one of them cleared his throat, she ceased her typing, but did not deign to look up from her screen.

"Excuse me," the man said politely, "I was told to report here to have my ID issued and to be assigned living quarters." Still without looking up, she pointed to an empty row of chairs against the front wall of the office.

"Please wait there, we'll be with you soon sir." she said by way of dismissing him.

The man looked around, seeing the complex of offices and cubicles almost fully staffed, odd for the late hour, but with nobody else waiting to be served. "But... there's nobody else here, and lots of staff. Couldn't someone help me now?"

Properly irritated now, the receptionist finally bothered to lay eyes upon her visitors, about to chew out the lowly mechanic or technician who had dared to question her methods. The words caught in her throat however, as she saw the man to be a dashing military officer, European or American by his complexion, accompanied by one of the few people the bureaucrats feared outside of Commander Ikari himself.

Misato leaned over the desk and fixed the mousy haired woman with a withering glare. "I think you'll help us now, miss" was all she needed to say to spur her subordinate into action.

A few brief moments later, Bishop was examining his freshly minted NERV ID card, glad for the first time as he eyed the photo that he had elected to wear full-dress. Pocketing the card, he followed the receptionist over to the housing affairs office, glancing over at Captain Katsuragi who returned the look with a wink. He could see that there had been no hyperbole in her description of the administration department, and was truly grateful for her help.

"I'm sorry sir, it seems there are no accommodations available in the geofront shelters or the visiting officer's quarters at this time." The pair now stood before another bureaucrat's desk, this one a bearded man with a completely shaved head who gave them a helpless shrug.

"Seriously?" Katsuragi spat before Bishop could say anything. The man could only shrug again.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but a lot of displaced citizens from the surface are being housed in the shelter, and the officer's quarters are being taken up by all the scientists who have transferred in from Germany." He thought for a moment, before turning to the Major. "If you don't mind commuting, there are apartment buildings in the city earmarked for NERV personnel, although a lot of them are still damaged from the attack..."

Katsuragi's face lit up. "Hey, how about my building? There's plenty of vacant units, and it wasn't damaged at all." she gave the bearded man the address, and punching it into his terminal, he examined the screen and slowly nodded.

"You're right, ma'am, it looks mostly vacant. I could assign you a unit in this building if that works for you Major." The Canadian nodded eagerly, about ready to check in to the local homeless shelter if it meant he could get a bed for the night.

"Yes, yes that will be fine, thank you." He had directed his statement of gratitude more towards his beautiful benefactor than the bureaucrat, but the man still bowed his bald head politely in acknowledgement.

"Not a problem, sir. You will not have to pay for rent or basic utilities of course, though you will be responsible for any other costs such as cable. If you wish to furnish the unit beyond what is already there, you will be responsible for those costs as well. Now, is there any unit you would like in particular?" he asked, turning the monitor to face the pilot. Examining the display which showed a map of the building's vacant apartments, Bishop shrugged and picked one from the top floor at random, figuring he may as well take the penthouse if he didn't have to pay for it. Nodding, the clerk typed away some more at his terminal, before a machine behind him spat out a plastic card.

"Here you are Major," he said, handing the tall man the card. "Your key. Just swipe it in the lock beside the door." Bishop examined the card, plain white plastic with a black mag stripe on one side and the number '12-B' stamped on the other.

Standing beside him, Misato silently raised an eyebrow at his choice of apartment. He had ended up one floor above her and one unit to the side, making them diagonal neighbours. She hoped her new neighbour wouldn't be too noisy, having come to appreciate the quiet of the almost empty complex. However, she had no particular objections to the man living nearby, thus far she had taken a liking to the tall foreigner. He spoke and conducted himself as a gentleman, not like the loud, cocky punks from whom she had formed her opinion of fighter pilots during her frequent dealings with the JSSDF.

She also knew, however, that he was a killer. However friendly he may seem outwardly, Misato had read his file and seen the accounts of how the man had fought in the air like a cold-blooded predator. He never showed mercy, never gave quarter, even against damaged aircraft just trying to limp home. It may have been as a soldier defending his country, but it didn't change the fact that this friendly gentleman with the boyish face had ended more human lives than most serial killers.

Perhaps such a killer is just what they needed; in fact, she was fairly sure that was why he had been selected in the first place. Still, knowing this about him made her slightly uneasy. She was also mildly concerned about what his reaction would be to the news that the Evangelions were piloted by children. He had seemed shocked that anyone could survive being in unit-01 after the beating it took, what would he think of her when he found out that the person inside was a terrified 14-year-old-boy who she had all but forced to be there.

No doubt he would hate her, as deep down she hated herself for it. What would a killer like that do to someone they hated...

No, she thought, I looked into his eyes and I didn't see a murderer. She wasn't entirely sure what she had seen, certainly the look of a hardened soldier, but also genuine kindness and warmth, and she certainly didn't see someone who would ever hurt her or her Shinji. She also knew that Section 2 would not have let him anywhere near her if they had any doubts at all about the man's character, and that the black clad agents would be continuing to keep close tabs on him at all times.

Attention returning to the matter at hand, she saw the bald man now showing the Canadian a map of Tokyo-3 and the Geofront's train system and explaining how to get to his new accommodations. Deciding she may as well put another favour on his tab, she waved a hand and interjected.

"Don't worry about all that, I'm heading home now anyways, I'll give you a ride." She said with a broad smile. Anything to hasten their escape from this grey carpeted hell-hole. The Major seemed taken aback at her generosity.

"Please, miss Katsuragi, you've already done so much for me. I can't impose on you any further, I'm sure I can find my own way home..." She cut off his protestations with another dismissive wave, already tugging on his sleeve and heading for the door.

"I insist, besides it's not like I'm going out of my way." Bishop could do nothing but accept, barely having time to thank the bearded clerk for his help before the pair were back out into the corridor and on their way. "I have to warn you though, Major; I drive fast." The dark-haired woman said with a mischievous grin.

Bishop seemed slightly offended by the comment. "You do know what I used to do for a living, right?" he asked, returning the grin, "Don't worry about me."

It took a moment after they had arrived at the complex's parking lot for the Canadian to relax his white-knuckle grip on inside handle of the little blue sports car's door. It seemed the years behind a desk had dulled his ability to look death in the face without flinching.

She said she drove fast, he thought, steadying himself with a deep breath, not like a suicidal maniac. He glanced over at the woman, casually checking her hair in the rear view mirror as if she hadn't just raced across Tokyo-3 like a getaway driver with the fuzz on their tail.

"You okay there, tough guy?" she said, looking over at her passenger with a grin like the cat that ate the canary.

"Yeah, sure... uh, thanks for the ride." he managed to utter, regaining his composure. The dark-haired beauty continued to fix him with a highly amused look, but said nothing more as she gathered her things and stepped out of the vehicle. He did likewise, and glanced up at the ugly concrete monolith that he would now call home.

Brutalist architecture at its finest. He followed Katsuragi as she strode across the lot towards the door to the lobby, showing him how to access the building using his key card.

As the mismatched pair stood silently in the empty lobby waiting for an elevator, Bishop decided he would seek an answer to the question that had been bothering him the entire ride home, when he wasn't busy making his peace with the almighty that is.

Why? Why has she gone to so much trouble to help me?

"Look, Captain Katsuragi..." he paused to choose his words before continuing, "I really do appreciate all you've done for me today. But I have to ask, I mean, I'm a complete stranger to you, and you're a high-ranking officer here. Why go so far out of your way to help me?"

Misato pondered on that for a moment, having asked herself the same question, before answering noncommittally. "Well Major, you've come all this way to risk your life to help us, I just think you're owed a little kindness." Bishop continued to look at her expectantly, seeming to know as well as she did that that was only part of the answer. Perhaps he was owed some kindness, but it didn't have to come from her. No one would have blamed her for pawning the man off onto a subordinate.

Though she didn't fully realize it, the fact of the matter was that she sensed a certain kinship with this foreigner, a kinship that made her feel compelled to offer her assistance when she saw him in need. It wasn't a physical attraction per say; no one could replace a certain scruffy pain-in-the-ass in that regard. It was more like what she had felt when she first met Shinji, a sense that this person had felt pain and loss on a level comparable to her own.

Continuing to eye her as they stepped on to the elevator, Bishop seemed to understand what was left unsaid, and remained silent as they ascended. As they reached the 11th floor, she stepped out and turned to bid the Canadian good night.

"Good night, Captain, and thanks again" he replied with a weary smile.

"Please, call me Misato," she said with a dismissive gesture, growing tired of being called by her rank outside work, and hesitated slightly before adding "And my apartment is 11-A, just ring the bell if you need anything." The doors shut before she could hear his indignant reply. Chuckling to herself, she headed for home, the smell of something delicious wafting down the hall. It seemed Shinji had been busy.

Still deep in thought as he stepped off the elevator, Bishop realized suddenly that he did not have his duffel bag. The last time he had seen it, it was being locked in the trunk of the car that had brought him from the train station. Grumbling to himself as he walked down the hall for being so careless with the bag that contained a good chunk of his worldly possessions, he arrived at the door marked 12-B.

The panel beside the door had a bewildering array of buttons on it. He was so tantalizingly close to a good night's sleep; he had not come this far only to be defeated by an overly complicated door. There was an obvious spot to swipe the card, and after doing so the light on the panel switched from red to green.

Okay, now which of these buttons opens it... Selecting one at random, he grimaced in irritation as he heard the chime of the doorbell coming from inside. Another turned on a light above the doorway. With the third press he heard a thump from the door, as it seemed to attempt to close further than it already was. Reasoning that that was the button to shut it, he hit the identical one above it and was a rewarded with a hiss as the metal door slid open.

With a victorious huff, he stepped into darkened entryway of his new domicile, and promptly tripped over a large object on the floor directly behind the door. Fumbling for the light switch, he looked down and, to his surprise and delight, saw his olive-green duffle bag.

Damn, he thought, impressed and a little unnerved, those agents work quickly. He had been assigned the residence less than an hour ago, and already the men in black had come and gone, and knew where to find him. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth however, he hefted the bag and proceeded down the entry hall to survey his new home.

The hallway led to a small kitchen, which was equipped with a fridge, stove, and a small table with a single chair. An accordion door off the kitchen led to a bathroom with a tub, shower, sink and toilet. Thus far he was impressed, the place was already head and shoulders above the barrack rooms where he had spent most of his adult life. The kitchen led into a carpeted living room which seemed to be completely devoid of any furnishings. Sliding open a flimsy wood and paper door off the living room, he entered what he figured must be the bedroom, also completely unfurnished.

Frowning with dismay, he strode to the other side of the living room where another paper door led to a small storage room, which seemed to be full of someone else's junk. After checking every closet and cupboard, he came to a disturbing conclusion.

"For fuck's sake," he said aloud to himself, "there's no bed." Weary and defeated, he considered for a brief moment simply crashing on the floor with his bag for a pillow. His spine twinged at the thought. He had certainly spent many a night on the cold ground, but he had been a hard young soldier then who didn't know the meaning of back pain.

Nope. He decided with renewed resolve, I'm thirty-two-years-old and an officer of the King, by God. I am not sleeping on the floor. Forced to rely once again on the kindness of strangers, he headed out the door to canvass his new neighbours, thinking one of them must have a spare cot or futon he could borrow for the night.

Knocking on the door nearest his own, there was no answer. Continuing down the walkway that surrounded the cavernous building's hollow interior, he knocked on half a dozen more doors. No dice. Looking down at his watch and seeing that it was past 10:00pm, he supposed his neighbours must all be in bed. He remembered Katsuragi mentioning that there were a lot of vacant units, but they couldn't possibly all be empty, could they?

Shrugging off the thought, he remembered the woman's apartment number, 11-A. He was going to have to try the next floor down eventually...

No. He couldn't possibly ask her for anything more, she already done so much on his behalf. It was just a spare futon though, and if she didn't have one, then no harm done. Sighing, he headed for the elevators, chalking up another favour he would owe his new neighbour.

Arriving at the door to apartment 11-A, he was confronted with an identical control panel, and saw that the door was unlocked. Not remembering which button had rung the bell, and conscious that accidentally opening the door to a woman's apartment could have disastrous consequences, he opted to knock instead.

A moment later, the door hissed open, and the weary Canadian immediately launched into his explanation. "I'm so sorry to bother you miss, but... oh, hello there."

The person who answered the door was not the woman he had expected, but a skinny, brown-haired boy, in his early teens by the look of him. The boy, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and shorts, eyed him suspiciously and said nothing.

"I'm sorry, I thought this was Captain Katsuragi's apartment..." The Canadian thought for a moment that maybe she had purposefully given him the wrong number, and was slightly hurt by the idea.

The boy, however, answered him. "Oh, uh, yes, it is, sorry, she's in the shower. Can I give her a message or something?" The boy stammered nervously.

Bishop didn't understand why he made the boy so nervous, before remembering that they likely didn't get many visitors in this ghost town of a building. That, and he was about twice the kid's size, dressed in a foreign military uniform, hadn't showered in 2 days and was unshaven. Smiling as disarmingly as he could manage, he continued.

"No, no that's alright. I just moved in upstairs and my apartment doesn't have anything to sleep on, and I was hoping I could borrow a spare cot or futon if you had one. If miss Katsuragi is busy though, I'll try the other apartments, thanks. Good night." He gave the kid a nod and began to continue on down the hallway when the boy called after him.

"W-wait sir! I think we have a spare futon, I-I'll go look for it." The boy disappeared into the residence as Bishop returned to the door and waited. A moment later, to the pilot's delight, the boy returned dragging a thin floor mattress behind him. Handing it off to the tall foreigner, he once again disappeared into the apartment and returned again with a blanket and pillow.

"H-here you go sir. It isn't much, but I hope it will be alright..." Bishop cut him off with a broad smile as he accepted the offering, thinking at that moment that the bedding was about the finest thing he had ever seen.

"You're a lifesaver, kid, thank you. And make sure to thank miss Katsuragi for me." The skinny boy blushed at his elder's gratitude, offering him a respectful bow. Bishop returned the gesture before turning for the elevators and hearing the door hiss shut behind him.

Huh, he thought to himself has he sauntered down the walkway with his comfy prize, Katsuragi has a kid. Looked to be in his teens. He figured the dark-haired woman to be about his age, maybe a bit younger, which meant...

How scandalous. Doing the math, the Major was surprised. One of the most important officers at the organization he now worked for had been a teenage mother. Don't judge, he reminded himself with a frown, you were once a teenage father.

Forcing down the painful memories the thought stirred up as he arrived back at his new home, he entered and plopped the white futon down in the middle of the bedroom floor. Stripping off his uniform tunic and trousers and carefully hanging the stiff wool garments in the tiny closet, he flipped off the light and flopped onto the thin but comfortable mattress with a contented sigh.

Exhausted as he was however, when he closed his eyes, the memories came flooding back. There would be no restful sleep tonight, at least not until he lived through it all again. As he lay staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, the all too familiar scenes emerged from his memory to haunt him, as they always had, and always would.

He saw a horizon lit by the fires of a burning city. He saw a group of soldiers in a rowboat, enduring a hail of bullets and shells that churned the wide river they were trying to cross into a frothing maelstrom. He saw the telltale glint of a sniper's scope on the roof of a ruined building. He looked down and saw a neat hole in his chest, leaking his life's blood into the filthy gutter he should have died in. He saw a bomber crewman, clawing at a window in desperation as his doomed aircraft broke up and hurtled towards the ground. He saw his gloves melting to his hands as his cockpit was engulfed in flames.

Above all of the horrifying scenes, there hovered an ever-present pair of blue eyes. They fixed him with a cold, lifeless stare. Judging him. Taunting him. Torturing him.

He made it his business to never show weakness in public; too many lives had depended on him being strong.

But when he was alone, with no one but the memories for company, he was no longer the ace of aces.

He was just another broken old soldier, tearfully begging sleep to take him.

A/N: Hope folks have been enjoying it so far, more to come soon. A note on the title change, I was never too pleased with the original, I think this new one is a bit more thematically appropriate. If anyone is curious, its a line from the song "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle.