Chapter 16 - Israfel

"That Angel kicked your ass."

Shinji groaned, somewhat muffled by the fact that he was slumped over in his chair face down on the table in the briefing room. The tone of Misato's voice was clearly that of an angry and disappointed superior who had expected much better. Not that he could blame her; it had been his fault everything had gone wrong.

Because he hadn't thought to make sure that the Angel was actually dead when Unit-02 cut it in half.

"I must say, that was a rather disastrous performance out there."

Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki had apparently been a university professor before joining NERV. That would certainly explain how his voice could radiate such intense disapproval while also sounding like he was still holding out hope that the person could do better.

"Let's go through what happened," said the Sub-Commander. "We also need to work out what happened to Pilot Ayanami."

Shinji looked up at that. "Is... is she alright?" he asked.

"We don't know yet. Doctor Akagi is currently tending to her," replied Fuyutsuki. He activated a projector screen, flashing an image of Unit-00 and Unit-02 facing off against a vaguely humanoid shape. "What we do know is that right before you engaged the Angel, her vital signs began wildly fluctuating and she soon lost synchronisation with Unit-00. You continued on to engage the Angel, splitting it in half in one strike. Those halves shaped themselves into two separate entities, and Target-Beta advanced on Unit-00 while Target-Alpha attacked Unit-02."

The projector screen changed to show two humanoid shapes, one orange and one silver, standing near the two Evangelions that were now laying on the ground. To the right of Shinji, Asuka was growling. He glanced sideways at her and saw that she was scowling heavily, staring at nothing with her arms crossed.

"For some reason, Unit-02 seemed to stop moving properly," Fuyutsuki continued. "Radio transmissions we received from the entry plug shows that you and Pilot Soryu were arguing with each other." He glared at them both. "And while you two were arguing, Target-Alpha easily dealt with you."

Fuyutsuki looked expectantly at Shinji and Asuka, neither of which had anything to say. He threw his hands up in frustration. "Shall I play the argument that was recorded then?" he asked in a somewhat ominous tone. "Or maybe I should show what we have of the entire debacle, so we all can see what may have just made us a laughingstock in front of the JSSDF. We even had to call them in for an N2 strike to disable the Angel."

"There's no need for that, sir," Shinji finally spoke up. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of Asuka turning her head to look at him. "I'm the one to blame for Unit-02's performance."

A quick dart of his eyes to the right showed that Asuka was now staring incredulously at him.

"Oh?" Fuyutsuki raised his eyebrows. "You're saying that what happened out there was your fault alone, Pilot Ikari?"

"Y-yes sir," Shinji stammered. "I was the one that insisted we help Rei. Because Asuka and I weren't working together, we lost synchronisation."

There was a loud slap of flesh on wood; all eyes were drawn to the source of the sound. "Damnit Third, stop playing the damned martyr whenever something bad happens!" Asuka shouted.

"Pilot Soryu? Do you have something to add?"

Asuka looked at the sub-commander and nodded her head. "Sir, I could have just gone along with what Shinji wanted to do, instead of trying to engage the orange- er, Target-Alpha." While she was speaking respectfully, Shinji could see that she was holding her anger back. Barely.

Fuyutsuki sighed heavily as he rubbed his forehead. "So then where did all that teamwork go? You two were doing so well in the simulations that Doctor Akagi had to implement a limiter for your own safety."

"I think I can explain that, sir," Misato cut in. "The simulations were just... well... simulations. And they were against Angels that we already knew everything about. Shinji and Asuka would have had no trouble against them because they knew precisely what to do." She glanced at the two teenagers. "But when it came to something new and unexpected, while there was a teammate in danger, they both had different ideas of what needed to be done."

"I see." Fuyutsuki stroked his chin in thought. "I suppose we should have seen this coming. Even from what little I know about Pilots Soryu and Ikari, I know that they react differently to certain situations." He glanced at Shinji and Asuka, and there was something in his eyes that made Shinji feel like the grey-haired man knew something they didn't.

Asuka scoffed. "Well, if that bottle blonde hadn't decided to limit how awesome we could be, we would have been able to sync with each other and not had a problem."

"Right until the fight ends and you potentially fall into a coma," Misato retorted. "Safety systems are there for a reason. To keep you safe."

"Precisely," said Fuyutsuki. He turned back to the projector, and changed images. Now the screen showed diagrams of the twin Angels. "The point is moot anyway. Analysis indicates that both halves will need to be engaged simultaneously. Meaning that we will need two Evangelions. On your own, even if you had not been fighting each other for control, you would likely have still failed."

Misato started to look shifty as Fuyutsuki pointedly glanced at her. "Pilot Ayanami is currently indisposed, and we're not sure how long that will last." He turned to look at the pilots. "It's a shame, considering the dual-sync plug has just been developed, but it appears that it will be useless for this engagement."

"What are we going to do then?" Shinji despondently asked. "I'm pretty sure I won't be allowed to pilot on my own." He wondered just what was wrong with the First Child, and if she would be able to work with Asuka to take down this Angel.

Fuyutsuki smiled thinly. "I believe that when the time comes, you'll be out there fighting, Pilot Ikari. Now then, you two should head home and rest for today. We have a week to come up with a solution, and I believe that solution will soon make itself known to you. Dismissed."

The two teenagers stood up and saluted Fuyutsuki before filing out of the briefing room. The door closed behind Shinji, and he turned to look at it, realising that Misato was still in there.

"Come on Third," Asuka barked, dragging his attention to her. "If we were 'real soldiers'-" she put her hands up to make finger quotes, "I'd say we should go drown our sorrows at the nearest bar. Unfortunately we're just good little children who should go home and do our homework."

Shinji mentally agreed with her sardonic attitude. He glanced one last time at the closed door, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling it. "Let's stop off at the grocery store on the way home then," he suggested. "I have an idea for how we can at least feel a little better."

Asuka rolled her eyes and turned to walk down the corridor, dismissively waving a hand. "Fine, but you're paying."

XXX

The moment the door clicked shut behind Shinji, Misato felt the full force of Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki's stare on the back of her head. She turned around despondently.

"Hmph," Fuyutsuki grunted at her, sitting down on one one side of the table. Misato got the hint and sat down opposite him, already feeling like a chastened school girl in front of the principal. The only thing that could make it worse would be if the Sub-Commander decided to do that hand thing Commander Ikari did all the time. Fortunately, his second-in-command elected to keep his hands clasped on the table as he spoke.

"After today's attack was aborted, you came to me and confessed that you believed you were the reason for Pilot Ayanami's incapacitation. Considering everything that was happening at the time, I wasn't immediately able to question you on the details. But now we have time."

Misato nodded, unable to maintain eye contact with Fuyutsuki for more than a few seconds at a time. She took a deep breath and began to speak.

"I happened to be awake early this morning, thanks to the call of nature getting me out of bed. I was going to the bathroom when I saw Ayanami in the kitchen with a glass of water and a handful of pills..."

XXX

"Rei..." Misato hesitantly began, staring at the array of tiny coloured pills in the girl's pale hand. "What are those?"

Rei turned to look at her. "This is prescription medication," she quietly replied. She made to put the pills into her mouth, but Misato quickly raised a hand to stop her.

"Wait a second," said Misato. "How long have you had this prescription? This is the first time I've seen you take any medication since coming to live here."

"I have had this prescription for as long as I can remember," said Rei. "You have not seen me take them because of your sleep schedule, as I always take the pills when I wake up."

Misato huffed. Despite the girl's ever neutral tone, it had still somehow sounded like Rei was taking a slight dig at her sleeping habits. "Well then... what are those pills?" she asked, stepping closer to examine them. There sure seemed to be a lot of them.

"I am not allowed to talk about my prescription," Rei stiffly replied, closing her hand and hiding the pills from Misato's sight.

"What? Not allowed?" Misato reared back slightly in surprise. "They're pills, not top secret weapons."

Rei blinked slowly. "I am not a-"

"I heard you the first time!" Misato exasperatedly interrupted, putting a hand to her forehead as she sighed heavily. "Look, as your superior officer and guardian, your health is my concern. The same with Asuka and Shinji. If they were on medication I would need to know what it is and how it could affect them."

It was only somewhat truthful, but Misato could see that Rei was mulling over her words. Finally, the girl nodded and put the glass of water down next to the sink. "The bottles are in my room," she said as she headed down the small hallway towards her bedroom, fist still clenched tight.

As Misato stepped into the bedroom, she was shocked to see that Rei had a messy bedroom. While it wasn't filthy, there were clothes all over the place despite there being a perfectly functional wardrobe. On one hand, she was a teenage girl. On the other, it was Rei that always did the dishes in the morning before heading to school. Misato wondered what Asuka, also a teenage girl but one who kept her room scrupulously clean, would think about Rei's living space and considered how to steer the redhead towards discovering this mess.

In the meantime, Misato had more important things to deal with. She strode over to Rei's bedside table, boggling at the sight of eight pill bottles sitting there.

All unlabelled.

"Rei..." Misato looked back at the girl. She decided to start with what she hoped was a simple query. "Why don't these bottles have labels? How do you know which is which?"

"Labels are not necessary," Rei stoically replied. "I must take one of each every morning."

"But you don't even know what they are! What they could do to you!"

"I have had this prescription for many years. I am used to them."

Misato stared incredulously at Rei, swearing mentally. "So you know nothing at all about the stuff you put in your body every single day. Not even what they're called."

Rei looked thoughtful for a moment, then replied, "I think I know one of them. I heard Doctor Akagi mention... clonazepam."

Misato inhaled sharply, her eyes widening in shock. Clonazepam had been... forcibly prescribed to her when she had become catatonic after the events of Second Impact, by the people she had been placed into the care of. She had later learned that the one doctor among them had lost his medical license, but she couldn't remember if that had happened beforehand or afterwards. Thanks to all the drugs they had pumped into her in the name of science, most of that period of her life was a blur.

Now she swore audibly, running a hand through her hair as she spoke. "Shit, Rei... these are just anti-depressants and such. Why the hell are you taking so many?!"

Rei didn't seem to have an answer, simply standing there and staring at her. With a snarl, Misato turned and swept a hand across the bedside table, knocking the pill bottles onto the ground in front of Rei's feet.

"I don't want you taking these anymore," Misato ordered. "There's no reason why a girl like you should be doping herself up like this."

"But... Commander Ikari said that I must take them," said an uncertain-sounding Rei.

Misato grit her teeth. "And what if he ordered you to kill yourself?" Rei opened her mouth, but Misato barrelled on. "Military personnel have no obligation to follow illegal or immoral orders."

Rei looked down at the bottles, shifting uncomfortably. Misato sighed as she tried to bring her emotions back under control. "Please, Rei. You're not old or sick; there's nothing wrong with you."

After what seemed like an eternity, Rei held up her clenched fist and looked at it for a while, before opening it and letting the pills drop to the ground. Misato exhaled in relief and moved over to her, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you Rei," she softly murmured, relieved that the girl had decided to trust her.

XXX

Misato stopped talking as she leaned forward, propping her head up with her hands, elbows resting on the table.

Across from her, Fuyutsuki digested what she had just told him. Her own outlook wasn't very good. Penalties were harsh for those that poisoned or otherwise made military personnel unable to perform their duty. Misato recalled an incident in boot camp when a private had been bollocked from one end of the training ground to the other for tying another private's boots to a bedpost before reveille, resulting in the victim suffering a broken nose.

All Misato had going for her was that what she had done wasn't out of malice.

"While your efforts were noble," Fuyutsuki finally said, "you are not a medical professional. As such, you should not be making judgements on a person's medication."

Misato nodded dolefully, ready to accept her punishment.

"Ayanami's medication is not simply emotional adjusters. Did it ever occur to you that Clonazepam is in her prescription to counteract the effects of one of the other drugs?"

"No sir," Misato admitted. "When Ayanami mentioned that drug, all I could think of was how I had been treated after Second Impact. I hated the thought of somebody else going through what I did. That somebody else was just getting drugged to keep them pliant."

"Yes," Fuyutsuki mused. "I am very much aware of what you went through back then. Though it does explain your reaction, it is not a valid excuse for what you did to Ayanami."

Misato slowly breathed in and out. "What is my punishment, sir?"

Fuyutsuki closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, tapping his index fingers together in his lap. "Fortuitously for you, Captain, you are too valuable to summarily dismiss or imprison with an Angel on our doorstep." He opened his eyes and looked down his nose at her. "Consider yourself on probation for the time being. Your pay will also be docked. However..."

Puzzled, Misato looked up at the Sub-Commander.

"As I said, there is an Angel on our doorstep. One that will require an unconventional method to eliminate." Fuyutsuki suddenly leaned forward. "Prove that you are still worthy of your position as NERV's Tactical Operations Officer, and I may be convinced to keep this incident quiet."

"...Sir?" Misato blinked in confusion.

"Ayanami will make a full recovery," Fuyutsuki explained. "I will admit to you that something similar has happened a long time ago, where she missed a dose. That was the result of a forgetful nurse though, not a well-meaning guardian. However, because of the condition her medication manages, she will be unavailable for duty for at least a week."

"A week?" More confusion was heaped upon Misato. "Sir, just what is wrong with Ayanami that missing one dose puts her out of action for a week?"

Fuyutsuki's voice turned ominous. "You are not cleared to know that. If and when the time comes that you need to know, you will be told then. Not until."

"Erm... yes sir," Misato abashedly replied.

Confusion piled upon confusion, in turn piled upon wondering just what the hell was going on with Rei Ayanami. Just what could be wrong with her that missing a single dose of medication would cripple her for an entire week?

"With the First Child indisposed, you will therefore only have Pilots Soryu and Ikari available for this sortie," Fuyutsuki continued as if nothing had happened. "It is up to you to work within your... limitations to defeat this Angel. As Commander Ikari is away on business for two weeks, I am in charge. Understand that I will listen to any reasonable ideas you put in front of me."

Misato knew exactly what Fuyutsuki meant by 'limitations'. The strange situation between Shinji and Asuka meant that it was dangerous for Shinji to pilot solo. But... he had just said he would listen to 'any reasonable idea'. A thought occurred: was the Sub-Commander surreptitiously stating that he would allow Shinji and Unit-01 to fight if she came up with a good enough plan to justify the risk?

"Captain?"

Misato shook her head and shot to her feet, snapping off a salute to please even the hardest of superior officers. "Sir, it is the duty of NERV to eliminate the Angel threat. I will not fail in my duty again."

Fuyutsuki beamed at her. "Excellent, Captain. Pull this off, and I will see to it that Commander Ikari does not hear of this incident."

Lowering her hand, Misato bowed low. "Thank you for this opportunity, sir."

"Dismissed."

Turning as if she were on parade, Misato headed for the briefing room door.

"Oh, Captain?"

She stopped with one hand raised towards the door handle, twisting around to look inquisitively at the Sub-Commander.

"You know that Commander Ikari was very reluctant to sign Ayanami over into your care," said Fuyutsuki. "Of course, then her apartment was destroyed during the Fifth Angel's attack, rendering your efforts in arguing your case mostly pointless as she needed a new home anyway. Even then it was it was only when I agreed with you that consolidating the pilots into one area would improve security that he agreed."

He stared through Misato. "Consider yourself fortunate that he is away right now. I would not like to imagine what his reaction would be if he found out what happened so soon after she was placed in your care."

Misato cringed, but said nothing to the warning, simply saluting again before leaving the room. In the hallway on the other side of the door, she closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, sighing in relief that she hadn't been fired or imprisoned.

Yet.

"I take it you avoided the chopping block then."

Her eyes shot open, glaring at the unexpected and somewhat unwelcome newcomer.

"Kaji," she ground out through gritted teeth. "How nice of you to finally decide to show your face again."

The unshaven agent winced exaggeratedly at her tone of voice. "Now is that any way to greet an old friend?"

Misato narrowed her eyes. "I don't know. Do old friends vanish at the first sign of trouble for weeks at a time?" she venomously asked.

Kaji put a hand over his heart as if he had been shot. "Such hostility when I come bearing a gift."

With a growl, Misato pushed past Kaji and stomped off down the corridor. "I have no time, nor am I in the mood for your stupid games," she said over her shoulder. "I'm a pilot down and I need to come up with a plan to kill this damn Angel, in case you hadn't realised."

"What a coincidence. My gift could do just that."

Misato halted abruptly, skidding slightly on the polished floor. It took several long moments of thought, debating whether she should just leave the insensitive jerk in her dust, before she gave in and turned around.

"Fine," she snarled, stalking up to Kaji. "What's this brilliant plan of yours?"

XXX

"Well, I certainly do feel a little better now."

Pausing with his spoon halfway to his mouth, Shinji smiled at Asuka before popping it into his mouth.

The stop at the grocery store had been fruitful. Regardless of his lack of taste, Shinji wanted to know if junk food's mystical properties would still work on him and had spent a chunk of money getting some, as well as a lesser amount on some staple foodstuff.

The first test with ice-cream certainly seemed to have helped. It definitely made the aching arms worth the effort of getting all that food home. At the very least, Asuka wasn't burning the house down with her laser glare. Instead, she was making an effort to clean her bowl after consuming a sizeable amount of chocolate and strawberry ice-cream. Eventually, the bowl clattered on the coffee table as Asuka leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh of satisfaction.

"You have some good ideas sometimes, Shinji," she remarked while patting her stomach.

"Thanks, Asuka."

Asuka sighed again. "I should have just gone along with your plan. Then we wouldn't have looked like idiots out there."

Shinji blinked, then put down his bowl and spoon. "Well... considering what's been happening with the dual-sync plug, chances are we would have both decided to switch plans at the same time."

Asuka snorted in amusement. "Yeah, I can see that happening. Like when two people try to walk past each other on the pavement; stepping in the same direction several times."

"There has to be something we can do about that," said Shinji. "As good as we did in the simulations, we're still different people."

"That's why I argued for letting us synchronise with each other in the plug," replied Asuka. "At that point we were one person in two bodies so we basically couldn't counteract each other."

Shinji nodded. "I understand, but I really don't like the idea of being out of action for days after each attack though. What if the Angels got smart and attacked quicker?"

Asuka punched the couch's armrest in frustration. "That's where it falls apart, damnit."

The two teenagers lapsed into silence for a few minutes. Shinji finished his bowl of mint-chocolate ice cream and placed it with Asuka's. While it didn't matter what the ice cream tasted like, since it wasn't made by her, he knew what it tasted like from a long time ago, and had simply recalled the taste as he ate. And even without the taste, the psychological effects were definitely still there.

"Hey Shinji," Asuka suddenly piped up. "Speaking of that synchronisation, I had this really weird dr-"

A knock at the door cut off whatever Asuka was going to say.

"That could be Misato," said Shinji as he got up to answer the door.

Sure enough, their guardian was on the other side of the door, carrying a plastic bag, but she didn't exactly look happy as Shinji invited her in. Just as he was about to close the door behind her, a hand shot out to grab it.

"Hey, kiddo," greeted Kaji, earning a scowl from Misato.

Shinji looked back and forth between them, trying to work out what had caused Misato's bad mood. Kaji took the opportunity to slip in and follow Misato, who huffed and headed for the lounge room.

"Hello Misato," said Asuka. "How did things go?"

As Shinji reached the lounge room, he saw Misato slouch over to their sofa and collapse onto it, staring at a disc in her hands.

"Well, I have a plan that could work to defeat the Angel," said Misato, not taking her eyes off the disc even as Kaji sat down next to her. "Thing is, it's a bit... unorthodox." She looked at Shinji and Asuka. "I'm not sure how you two will react to it, but I can hazard a guess."

"Us two?" Shinji echoed. "What about Rei? Is she...?"

"Rei will be unavailable for this," Misato replied, her eyes shifty. "It will be entirely up to you two."

"That's going to be a bit difficult considering Shinji's handicap," Asuka reminded her, jerking a thumb in the boy's direction. "And since we can't synchronise as well now-"

"Actually, if this plan works out you'll be able to synchronise," Misato interrupted. "Well... sort of. Mostly. Not in the same way, but hopefully with similar positive results."

The growing smirk on Kaji's face did nothing to ease Shinji's worries.

"Well, stop beating around the bush," Asuka irritably said. "Tell us what this plan is."

Misato's sour mood finally evaporated as she grinned, setting off warning bells in Shinji's head. He really didn't like that grin. It was the look of a woman who was about to get a lifetime's worth of blackmail and teasing material. And when she reached into the plastic bag and drew out two identical outfits...

"You two are going to learn how to dance!" Misato announced.

"Are you..." Asuka began.

"...freaking..." Shinji continued.

"Joking?!" they shouted together.