Chapter 21 - Matarael

"Could you two please stop doing that?"

Shinji paused, glancing over the table at Kensuke. "Stop what?" he asked.

"That!" Kensuke pointed at Shinji and the person next to him.

Blinking in confusion, Shinji turned his head to the right where Asuka was sitting. She, too, had stopped eating her ice cream cone and turned her head towards him with a look of puzzlement on her face. They both glanced at Kensuke out of the corners of their eyes, and the corners of their mouths on the side that Kensuke couldn't see tilted ever so slightly upwards.

"Why, whatever do you mean?" Shinji asked as he turned back to Kensuke, his words perfectly mirrored by Asuka. "We're just eating our ice cream, same as you."

"Gnnhhhh!" Kensuke twitched in his seat, looking as if he was desperate to escape.

"What's the matter, Aida?" Asuka asked, innocent concern in her voice. "You look like-"

"-you've just seen a ghost," Shinji finished.

It was a dirty trick, both their synchronised speaking and continuing each other's sentences, but Shinji felt like a little revenge was in order. After all, Kensuke had spent most of lunchtime bugging them with questions about NERV and the Evangelions after somehow hearing about the Mount Asama incident, with Toji nowhere in sight to rein him in.

When asked how he had found out about the incident, Kensuke had simply claimed that his father worked at NERV. Asuka had immediately scoffed in derision, stating that that was 'such an old thing', before Rei had interjected with confirmation of a light-haired, glasses-wearing man on the engineering team with the surname 'Aida' that looked remarkably similar to Kensuke. Asuka had immediately shut up.

"Please stop," Hikari pleaded in the tone of an exasperated authority figure. "If you keep it up you might break his brain."

"Oh, alright," Asuka relented after a glance at Shinji to let him know the game was over. "But only because you're the ones paying for this."

Toji, Kensuke and Hikari had pooled their money together after the two boys had insisted on rewarding the pilots for their efforts by taking them to an ice cream parlour. Rei had been invited along as well, despite her protests that she had had nothing to do with their previous Angel engagement, but gave in when Kensuke had simply brushed that concern off, stating that he and the other two were doing it for all their efforts.

And neither Shinji nor Asuka were about to turn down a free cold treat on a hot day like today. The only downside had been how far off their normal route home the place was, but the delicious frosty treats more than made up for it.

"I do not see what the problem is with Shinji and Asuka's synchronisation," Rei remarked, not taking her eyes off her ice-cream. "It is a beautiful thing to watch; two people in tune with each other to such a degree."

"They're only doin' it because they find your reactions funny," Toji added, before taking a bite out of his cone. "I'll bet they don't do it when they're at home."

"Ehhhh..." Asuka waved a hand in a so-so gesture. "We do cook our meals together, which tends to result in things like Shinji practically chucking things into a pot without seeing where it is. I can't even remember the last time we accidentally bumped into each other either."

Kensuke dismissively waved a hand. "You could argue that it's just experience that allows you two to do that, not like your weirdo synchro talk-y thing."

"Whoah, slow down, Einstein," Asuka mockingly replied in a sarcastic monotone, putting her hands up. "Mind dumbing it down for the rest of us?"

In response, Kensuke merely gave her a look over the top of his glasses before returning his attention to his ice-cream.

XXX

There was not a cloud in the sky above Tokyo-3, giving the oppressive sun free reign to bake the city. Shinji wasn't surprised that the city seemed relatively quiet. Who would want to go outside where they'd end up cooked? He could see the heat radiating off the road in places, and the few people that were brave or crazy enough to stay outside seemed to be worn down by the high temperature, judging by how slow they were moving.

He was seriously considering buying more ice-cream to stick in the freezer at home. A lot more. Enough to require using Misato's freezer as well, and perhaps Pen-pen would just have to make do with slightly less living space until this latest heat-wave was over.

Shinji and the others ended up moving quickly from shadow to shadow in order to seek refuge on their way home. Then Asuka decided to take a 'shortcut' by routing the group through a mall.

"This isn't... really on the way," Hikari demurred, but she changed her tune as soon as the automatic doors opened. "Ooohhh that's much better..."

Now they were slowing down for a different reason: to enjoy the miracle of air conditioning for as long as possible. Even Rei seemed much livelier after getting a blast of cool air in the face.

"So Aida," Asuka abruptly said after a few minutes, glancing sidelong at Kensuke. "Been keeping your nose clean?"

"What?" Kensuke jumped a little at the sudden question, then looked shifty. "Y-yeah, of course I have!"

"What's this?" Shinji asked. "Did he do something wrong?"

"Oh right, you weren't there when we caught him," Asuka replied, before getting Shinji up to speed on Kensuke's former stealth photography side-business. When the story was over, he found himself directing a glare at his two friends.

"Hey, we're outta that now!" Toji argued. "Red 'n Class Rep shut us down ages ago!"

"I'm not so sure," Asuka retorted, stopping in the middle of the walkway where she turned around to stare quizzically at Kensuke.

"W-what he said!" Kensuke stammered, his hands held up in front of him.

Asuka stared at him a little longer. "You say that, but you hesitated when I asked you."

"Well... you surprised me with the question!" Kensuke brought his hands back to his chest and began to fidget with the camera hanging from its strap around his neck. Shinji wasn't sure why he had brought it out while they were just going home, but at this point he was used to Kensuke randomly snapping shots of whatever the latest thing was to catch his eye.

Asuka thoughtfully nodded. "Maybe... maybe." She stared intensely at him. "Or maybe you're still doing something shady."

Hikari moved up to stand beside Asuka. "Aida, what are you doing now?" she demanded, effortlessly slipping back into her role as class representative.

Kensuke protectively cradled his camera, angling his body so as to put something between it and the two suspicious girls. "N-nothing, I swear! I'm legit now!"

"Look Ken, even I'm gettin' suspicious now," said Toji, folding his arms. "Whatever it is, just come clean before ya get in even more shit."

Kensuke's eyes darted around, resting on each of his friends for a second or two. When he saw that none of them were about to relent, he sighed as his whole body sagged. "Wasn't even my idea this time," he darkly mumbled. "Or my choice."

"Not your choice?" Hikari echoed. "Aida, what's going on? What have you gotten yourself into this time?"

A thought occurred to Shinji, and he gave voice to it. "Did somebody find out about your... hobby?" Kensuke nodded dolefully. "And they're... making you do something by threatening to out you?" Another nod.

"Who the hell's threatenin' ya?!" Toji exploded, drawing the attention of several passersby. "Tell me who he is and I'll lay 'im out!"

"Suzuhara!" Hikari glared at him, resulting in the athletic teen shrinking away from her.

"You're not going to lay anyone out," said Kensuke.

Toji growled. "Wanna bet? I don't care if it's a student or a teacher, nobody threatens my friends 'n gets away with it!"

Glancing over his glasses at him, Kensuke smirked. "Actually, I'm sure you wouldn't lay a finger on her."

That brought Toji up short, along with everybody else. "Her?" Hikari and Toji said at the same time, followed closely by Asuka and Shinji.

"Yeah, her," Kensuke repeated. "She found out about my former... business when she saw a photo her brother had. Apparently she 'asked' him who had taken it and got pointed towards me."

"...I don't get it," said Asuka. "Does this girl want you to keep taking photos or something?"

Kensuke shrugged. "Sort of. She wants me to photograph her."

Everybody in the group reeled back in disbelief, casting glances at each other.

"...Why?!" Hikari incredulously asked. "And... who?!"

"Uh..." Kensuke scratched his head in thought for a moment. "Natsumi Akera, I think. A third year."

"Oh, I know her," the class representative replied, disapprovingly narrowing her eyes. "Kind of. By reputation, mostly. She's in my sister's class, and Kodama occasionally complains about Akera's... relationship habits."

"Habits?" asked Shinji.

"Pretty sure she means that Akera keeps bouncing from boy to boy," Asuka clarified, rolling her eyes in disgust when Hikari nodded her confirmation.

"I haven't actually done anything yet," said Kensuke. "Akera said that she's not quite ready for the photos, but she'll let me know when she... wants my services." He lifted his camera slightly for emphasis.

"Why does this Akera want you to take a photo of her?" Rei asked. "Does she not have a camera at home, or friends she could ask?"

Kensuke shrugged helplessly. "I really don't know. Maybe she thinks I'm talented?"

Toji chortled in derisive amusement. "How much 'talent' does it take ta point a camera and press a button?"

Before Kensuke could offer a rebuttal, everything suddenly went dark. The teenagers looked around to see that every light in the mall had shut off, leaving the skylights as the only source of illumination. Other people were also looking around, murmuring to each other, and some were heading for the exits.

"Blackout?" asked Shinji. "Did the power stations break down in the heat or something?"

"Could it be an Angel?!" Kensuke asked, sounding almost excited.

"There was no alarm," reasoned Rei. "Early warning systems would have detected it and sounded the alert well before it reached the city."

As one, Shinji and Asuka pulled their phones out of their pockets and flipped them open. "Nothing from NERV either," noted Asuka. "The Geofront has its own power plants too. Maybe it's just a problem at the plant up here."

"Nothing we can do then," Shinji said with a shrug. "Should we just continue home?"

"May as well," replied Asuka. "It's gonna start getting hot in here soon anyway, and I really want a cold shower."

"Great, no air-con on a day like this," Toji moaned as the group headed for the nearest exit.

Outside, the sun was still burning bright. Shinji sighed as he brought up a hand to shade his eyes. "I hope you know where we're going, Asuka, because the sun's not going anywhere for a while."

"Of course I do!" Asuka retorted with a huff. "Have you still not studied a map of Tokyo-3 to know where all weapon buildings and defensive emplacements are?"

Shinji abashedly rubbed the back of his head. "Well... since I'd mostly be riding along with you, I thought..."

Rolling her eyes, Asuka set off down the street. "No excuses. Learn," she said as she passed him. A moment later, the others followed suit. Shinji groaned in defeat, then trailed after them.

"Kensuke, do you really have no idea why Akera specifically chose you for this... photo shoot?" Hikari asked after a few minutes.

"Like I said, maybe she recognises talent," Kensuke replied with a shrug. "Dunno why she had to threaten me to do it though."

"Prob'ly so she wouldn't have to pay ya," Toji suggested. "Why pay for somethin' you could get just by leanin' on someone, ya know? And she does kinda have ya in a tough spot."

"Really, it's all his fault for being in that tough spot in the first place," said Asuka. "All he had to do was not take photos of girls without permission."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it already!" Kensuke almost shouted. "Nobody to blame but myself, blah bl-" He stopped, quirking an eyebrow as he looked back the way they came. "...Did you hear that?"

Everybody stopped and turned to face the same way. Shinji scanned the street, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. There was not a person or car in sight, but the hot weather meant that that wasn't a surprise.

"There's nothing there," scoffed Asuka after a few tense seconds. "Don't try and change the subject."

"No, I... heard something too," Rei interjected. "But... I cannot place what it was."

Shinji blinked several times in surprise, turning to look at Rei. Her eyes were narrowed in suspicion and her hands were curled into fists as she cast her gaze about the area. "There it is again," she suddenly said, raising a hand.

"...Ya sure you two ain't just imaginin' things?" Toji asked. "The street's empty. Ain't nothin' there but concrete bein' cooked. Maybe the heat's just startin' to get to ya."

Shinji almost begrudgingly agreed with the jock, right up until he felt a faint vibration in his feet, coinciding with the just barely heard sound of something heavy hitting the ground. He swallowed nervously, trying to bring moisture back to his suddenly dry mouth. "Now I'm hearing it too," he quietly said.

Asuka gave a serious nod. "Yeah, me too..."

Toji sighed and put his hands up. "Fine, there's somethin' happening. Whatever it is, it don't concern us. Can't be an Angel after all, right? No phone call from NERV. Could just be construction somewhere nearby."

"I... believe it might be an Angel," Rei said in a low voice. She turned to face the others. "We should g-"

"What?" Hikari asked, when Rei continued to stare silently at her. "Is something wrong, Rei?"

As slow as a glacier, Rei raised a hand to point towards Hikari. Or rather, as Shinji soon noticed, something behind her. The other teenagers slowly turned around. What they saw made Shinji's heart leap into his throat. Something had sneaked up behind them. A huge, somewhat ovoid something. With many triangular eyes. Staring right at them.

Eventually, Shinji managed to tear his own eyes away from the main body of the creature to see that it was suspended on four legs so big that just the... 'knees'... seemed to rival the height of most skyscrapers.

"Holy shit," Toji whispered. "How'd that thing manage to get here?"

As if to show the boy how it was done, the creature began to move. Its ovoid body drew closer to the ground as its front left leg lifted up. Ever so slowly, the Angel -it had to be one, Shinji decided- moved closer and closer, its legs coming down almost gently on the ground several dozen metres away, while the teenagers seemed to be frozen where they stood. It soon came to a stop mere metres from Hikari, who was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane. She then proceeded to faint, only to swiftly be caught by a quick-witted Toji, who slowly dragged her a couple metres away.

This left the three Children as the only thing standing between an Angel and their friends. An Angel that seemed incredibly interested in them, moving its body slightly so that it could look at all of them. Its triangular eyes appeared to be merely decorative, as brightly coloured as an insect's markings, but there was nothing pretty about the way the irises shifted about inside the triangles.

'We are so, so very far away from our Evangelions right now,' Shinji glumly thought. He then heard what sounded like a quiet, mechanical shutter opening and closing. Turning his head to the left, he was completely unsurprised to see Kensuke with his camera in front of his face.

The Angel moved again, bringing one of its eyes closer and focusing it on Asuka from only about a metre away. To her credit, Asuka didn't so much as blink in the face of an eye as big as she was. In fact, it looked to Shinji as if she was about to haul off and punch it.

Shinji couldn't stop himself from flinching as the Angel turned its attention on him. It seemed to stare right through him, the eye moving up and down several times as if it were scanning him from head to toe.

And then it shifted its attention to Rei who, unsurprisingly, faced it with the same calm demeanour she normally employed throughout the day. The sole concession to acknowledging the danger they were in was the way her fists were once again clenched at her sides.

What was surprising, however, was how the Angel seemed to rear back slightly after scanning her. If it had eyelids, Shinji was sure that it would be blinking in confusion. Then, with the suddenness of a bully changing their mind about picking a fight with somebody who might not be a weakling, the Angel pulled its body up away from the ground and began to walk off. As it passed the Children, its eyes kept an... well... kept an eye on them until its body rounded a building and left their sight.

Kensuke was the first to speak. "Did you guys just stare down an Angel?!"

Shinji sucked in a harsh breath as he remembered to breath, and he heard Asuka do the same. They looked at each other for a moment, serious expressions on their faces, before Asuka folded her arms.

"We need to get to NERV," she announced, then glanced around. "Where's the nearest entrance?"

"Follow me," said Rei, moving ahead. She then paused for a moment, looking back at Toji and a recovering Hikari. "You should come too."

"Wait," Asuka interjected. "I'm not suggesting we leave them out here, but are you really saying we should bring civvies into the Geofront?"

Rei nodded. "The Angel is between us and the nearest shelter. There is no guarantee they will be safe if they try to go that way."

Shinji glanced up. The Angel's long, spindly legs could still be seen over the tops of the nearby buildings. "Good point. Lead the way."

Kensuke's squeal of delight was probably loud enough to draw the attention of the Angel.

After a few seconds to ensure that Hikari was alright, the teenagers set off; Rei taking the lead as they all ran at a fast jog. It only took them a couple of minutes to reach the entrance Rei was heading towards, which consisted of a roofed enclosure with several security doors for personnel and two larger doors for vehicles. Shinji wiped the sweat off his brow, grateful for some shade. Rei took her identity card out and attempted to swipe it through the scanner by one of the doors, only for absolutely nothing to happen.

"Strange," she murmured before trying again. There was still no response.

"Guess NERV did lose power too," Asuka remarked, trying her own card on another door. "What now?"

"There is an emergency access route nearby," Rei said after a moment's thought. She looked around. "It is... this way."

As they set off again, heading down a corridor, Shinji heard a low conversation behind him.

"Hey Class Rep, you... uh... alright now?"

"Um... y-yes, thank you Suzuhara."

"Ya sure? Your face is still really red. Maybe you got heat stroke or somethin'."

Shinji took a second to glance behind him. Hikari's face was rather flushed, still, and Toji's face was also somewhat pink as well. He looked back in front of him to see a sturdy-looking door coming up.

"'Or something' sounds about right," said Kensuke, sounding like he was trying not to laugh.

"What are ya on about, Ken?"

"Oh, nothing. I just noticed that you're still holding on to her, though."

"Yeah, I don't want her to fall over again, ya dingus!"

"This is it," Rei declared, stopping in front of the door and pointing at the device next to it. "It's manually operated by this lever."

"That makes things a bit easier," said Asuka, before turning to Shinji. "Think you can get it open for us?"

Shinji looked at the lever for a moment. "Doesn't look too difficult," he said as he stepped up to it, placing both hands on the handle and pulling down. It took quite a bit more force than he was expecting, and he groaned when he discovered that it was a rotating lever mechanism. With a grunt of effort, he forced the lever up to the top of the wheel and back down for another rotation.

This resulted in the door opening to a massive gap of... a couple of centimetres, to Shinji's great dismay.

"Yo Shin-man, want some help?" Toji offered.

Shinji resolutely shook his head. "No space," he muttered as he turned the lever again.

"Don't push yourself, Shinji," Asuka warned. "If it's too much, let someone else have a go. We still have an Angel to fight."

Pausing for a second, Shinji turned his head slightly to glance at Asuka out of the corner of his eye. With a low growl deep in his throat he pushed harder, turning the lever faster.

Finally, after what felt like an hour, the door was open just enough for all of them to squeeze through. Shinji let his aching arms fall to his side as his friends filed through the doorway. Just as he was about to do the same, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You alright?" Asuka asked, a note of worry in her voice.

Shinji just stared at her for a moment before shaking her hand off. "'m fine," he mumbled as he went through the doorway.

"Sheesh, sorry for being concerned," Asuka snapped at his back. She then pushed past him and caught up to Rei, who was waiting for them. "You seem to know your way around, Wondergirl. Wanna take the lead and get us where we need to go?"

Rei nodded. "Very well. Follow me, and be careful. The lighting will be poor ahead and we will need to use a ladder."

As she said, the corridor they walked down was lit only by dim red emergency lighting. Shinji stumbled along in near-blindness trying to keep up with the fast-moving Rei, his worry steadily growing as the minutes ticked on. Even though they had been face to face with the Angel threatening the city, he had no idea what it was capable of. And as far away from it as they were now, it could already be laying waste to the city for all he knew.

The group reached the ladder, and at Asuka's... insistence... the boys went first. Toji seemed somewhat reluctant to let go of Hikari, who was still red-faced, but he ended up being the first to descend. The sound of his shoes on the rungs soon faded away, reminding Shinji of just how far down below the surface the Geofront was as he got onto the ladder.

A couple tense minutes later, his feet finally touched solid ground again and he moved away from the ladder to allow Kensuke to come down. Remembering Asuka's warning, or rather her threat, all three boys took a few steps down the corridor and kept their eyes off the ladder until the girls were all off of it. Another minute of fast walking led them towards a tunnel blocked by fallen debris.

"Uh, Rei..." said Shinji. "Did you accidentally take us the wrong way?"

Asuka grinned smugly and folded her arms. "After she said she knew which way to go, too."

"This was the correct way," Rei stiffly replied, shooting the two of them an icy look. "The collapse must have happened recently." She hummed in thought as she looked around, her eyes stopping on a metal grate in the wall. "We will have to go through this air vent."

"...You're kiddin' right?" Toji said, gawping at the vent cover. "Now we gotta crawl the rest of the way?"

"I'm wondering how she even knows the ventilation system well enough to know that," quipped Kensuke. "Maybe she's secretly a ninja or something."

"Just shut up and get moving," Asuka growled as she pulled the vent cover out of the way. "Rei, you'll have to go first to guide us. But if any of you boys dare try and look up her skirt..."

Toji and Kensuke paled. Shinji stepped past them and got down onto his hands and knees to follow Rei. Craning his neck to be able to see her, he happened to notice that Asuka's threat was pointless; The uniform dresses were long enough that the girls' modesty would be protected anyway.

He heard a loud thump behind him, and he paused. "What was that?" he called out behind him, his voice echoing through the metal vent.

"Just my camera," Kensuke replied. "Bit awkward to crawl with it around my neck."

"Hurry the hell up before I solve that problem for you!" Asuka shouted.

Kensuke gave a yelp and quickened his pace.

"How much further do we have to go, Rei?" Shinji asked after an awkward minute.

"We are almost there," came the stoic reply. "In fact..." Rei came to a halt and flipped over onto her back. She then raised a foot and began to slam it onto the metal just in front of Shinji's face. In the darkness, it took him a moment to realise that there was actually a vent cover that she was trying to remove.

"What's the hold up?" came Asuka's exasperated question. "And that damn racket?"

"Rei's trying to ope-" A shriek of metal interrupted Shinji. "...Rei's just opened the way out," he corrected.

"Be careful," Rei warned. "There is a rather large drop."

Shinji nodded, and carefully eased himself through the hole. Grabbing onto the edge, he let his body dangle for a moment before summoning up the courage to let go. He hit the ground hard, bending his knees to absorb the shock, but still felt a jolt of pain in his legs.

"Ah, about time you arrived."

Shinji looked up to see the smiling face of Doctor Akagi, as well as Lieutenant Ibuki standing nearby. "We were starting to get a little worried," she added.

"Look out below!"

Looking up, Shinji squeaked and ducked out of the way as Kensuke almost fell on top of him. Doctor Akagi raised an eyebrow. "You brought civilians into the Geofront?" she disapprovingly asked.

"Um, yes ma'am," Shinji admitted.

With no warning, Rei suddenly dropped down next. She almost managed to stick the landing, but then her right leg gave out and she fell to the ground. "It was... my idea, Doctor," she said, one hand grasping at the leg that had failed her, before looking up.

Shinji did the same, seeing Toji preparing to make the drop, and pulled Kensuke out of the way just as their friend landed. Toji stepped aside, and Shinji saw Asuka's head peeking over the edge of the gap then retreat. Moments later there was a muffled curse. He quickly put his arms up, and almost immediately they were full of a now-blushing redhead.

"Er... t-thanks Shinji," Asuka stammered before swiftly moving away.

Toji helped Hikari land safely, and Shinji finally had the chance to look around. He raised his eyebrows in astonishment when he realised that Rei had led them directly to Unit-01's cage. Doctor Akagi was busy checking Rei over after her landing. For some reason, Rei was now also clutching at her head.

"Prepare for manual entry!" came a deep-voiced shout. Shinji blinked, recognising the voice. He looked up near Unit-01's head to see... his father standing on the catwalk, ordering the engineers around.

"How are you prepping the Evas with no power?" Kensuke wondered aloud.

"With electrical power down, we've had to resort to manpower," Doctor Akagi explained, sparing a glance their way and waving a hand at Unit-01's head. "The Commander got everything going."

"...What?" Shinji couldn't believe his ears. Looking up at the catwalk again, he was amazed to see his father working with the engineers to pull on a chain. Even from this distance in the dim light, he could see oil stains on his father's normally-pristine white gloves. He blinked in disbelief, before remembering something important. "Oh right. We've already made visual contact with the Angel," he reported.

"Oh?" Doctor Akagi replied. "What can you tell us?"

"It looks like a giant spider," said Shinji. "Only with four really long legs. Its main body also seems to be covered with eyes." He shivered, remembering the thing staring directly at him and the other two pilots.

The scientist seemed to sense something was amiss. "Did something happen up there?" she pressed.

"It..." Shinji ran a hand through his hair. "It... came right up to us."

"What?!"

"What he said is true," confirmed Rei, waving off Doctor Akagi's assistance as she stood up. "The Angel appeared interested in us."

"Yeah, but these guys were cold as ice!" Toji pridefully exclaimed, clenching a fist. "Stared right back at the stupid thing until it gave up and wandered off!"

"The Angel was then in between us and the nearest shelter," Rei added. "That is why I asked these three to come with us."

Doctor Akagi stared at them, before shaking her head. "...We'll have to give all of you a thorough debriefing," she said. "Later though. Right now we need to get you into your Evas."

Shinji nodded, and ran off with Asuka and Rei. After the fastest change into a plugsuit he had ever performed, he returned to the cages hot on Asuka's heels. He was following her to Unit-02 when a shout caught his attention.

"Shinji!"

He skidded to a halt on the metal floor, turning and looking up at Unit-01's head where the call had originated. His father was leaning over the railing, beckoning Shinji towards him. Shinji rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed that he'd been heading to Unit-02 out of sheer habit, as he hurried up to the entry plug.

"Sorry, father," he sheepishly said as he came up to the Commander. "I didn't realise all three were needed."

Gendo stared at him for a moment, before saying, "Your lack of an AT-Field is a non-issue here. With no power cable, the AT-Field is essentially off-limits. Even the battery backups we've mounted on the Evas won't be enough for sustained usage."

Shinji nodded, glancing at the long black objects mounted to Unit-01's shoulder pylons. "How long will they give us?" he asked as he stepped up to the entry plug.

"An extra five minutes at most," Gendo replied. "But the majority of that time is needed to reach the Angel."

After climbing into the plug, Shinji got himself situated in the pilot seat.

"Shinji."

"Huh?" He turned in his seat to look towards the hatch. His father was leaning in, still staring at him. Or through him. It was difficult to tell with the tinted glasses.

"Is what that boy said about you coming face to face with the Angel true?"

Shinji blinked several times. "Y-yes, father," he stammered. "Is something wrong?"

"Hrm." Rather than giving a proper response, Gendo simply hummed and stared at him for a few more seconds before pulling his head out of the plug and sealing the hatch. Utterly confused, Shinji sat back in his seat and wondered what that was about.

XXX

"Somehow, this is even worse than crawling through the ventilation system in a school uniform!" Asuka groused as the three Evangelions crawled along the metal tunnel on their bellies. "This is so undignified!"

"With no power for the launch catapults, this is the only way to reach the Angel," Rei replied.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it!"

"Well we're almost there," said Shinji, glancing at the holographic map. "The shaft underneath the Angel is just a few hundred metres away." He gave Asuka's comm channel a half-smirk. "I think you can last that long."

"Smart-ass."

The shaft in question was blocked by a blast door, but even that wasn't rated against the strength of Unit-02's boot. A few kicks was all it took to remove that obstacle and send it crashing down to the depths below.

"The shaft will be narrow enough to climb," Rei reported when Unit-02 glanced out.

"Good, because I just happened to leave my climbing gear at home today," Asuka snarked before moving into the shaft and beginning to ascend. Unit-00 was close behind, and Unit-01 brought up the rear. The smooth metal wall should have made the climb difficult, if not impossible, but the designers of the Evangelion had apparently accounted for something like this, as Shinji couldn't feel Unit-01's boots slipping at all.

Just as he thought they'd be able to make it all the way to the top, Shinji saw something orange flash past his view screen, and then an alert screen popped up in front of his face. Something was wrong with one of his backup batteries. He glanced up at it to see a viscous liquid eating away at it.

"Is it... dropping acid on us?!" he exclaimed in shock.

"What the hell?!"

The shout drew Shinji's attention up to Unit-02, just in time to see more acid fall on it. Losing its grip, the red Evangelion fell back down the shaft, colliding with Unit-00 and causing that to also fall. Thinking quickly, Shinji shifted Unit-01's position, spreading it out in a star shape to catch them. Both Evangelions crashed hard onto Unit-01's back, sending it sliding down as well until Shinji managed to force his hands and feet against the shaft with enough force to arrest their uncontrolled descent. They ended up coming to a stop just under the tunnel they had entered from.

"Phew. Nice save, Shinji!" said Asuka as Unit-02 clambered back into the tunnel. It extended a hand to Unit-00, who grabbed it and got hauled in. With the weight off his back. Shinji carefully walked Unit-01's hands and feet up the wall and eventually ended up back in the tunnel with a helping hand from the other two Evangelions.

"Had to pay you back somehow," Shinji replied once Unit-01's feet were on solid ground.

"What? You don't owe me-" Asuka sighed and shook her head. "Forget it, we've got bigger problems."

"We appear to have dropped our rifles," Rei noted, Unit-00's arm patting at the spot where its Pallet Rifle once sat. "Most likely they are at the bottom of the shaft, about three hundred metres down from here."

"If they're down there, they could be melted as well for all we know," Asuka moaned.

As the one closest to the shaft, Shinji risked sticking Unit-01's head out just far enough to look down. He switched his display's vision to low-light mode and scanned the bottom of the shaft. There was a ragged hole melted into the metal, and he could just make out what appeared to be a gun-shaped lump.

"I think I can see one of our rifles," he reported. "There's a big hole in the floor down there though."

"Good, at least one of our guns survived," said Asuka. "Now we just need a plan."

"We should eject our backup batteries," Rei suggested, putting actions to words. "They are empty and will only weigh us down now."

Shinji nodded, hitting a button to drop the rectangular batteries to the ground. Unit-02 swiftly picked one up and squeezed past Unit-01 to sit at the edge of the tunnel.

"Asuka, what are you doing?" Shinji asked, staring at the red Evangelion as it waved the spent battery about in the shaft.

"The Angel's not attacking right now," Asuka replied, still waving the battery. "I'm seeing if it's reacting to mov- yes it is," she hastily added as a glob of acid nearly landed on her Evangelion's hand. She dropped the battery and turned back to them. "It knows we're here and it looks like it's waiting for us."

"There is not enough time to find an alternate route," said Rei as their power timers collectively hit the three minute mark. "We must attack from here."

"Yep. And I've got just the plan!" Asuka grinned. "There won't be any time to mess around, so we need to do this swiftly and correctly! One of us needs to go up and shield the others from the acid, one of us needs to go down and grab the rifle, then throw it up to the third person who'll take the shot."

"I volunteer for shield duty," Rei immediately said.

"No way, Wondergirl," replied Asuka, shaking her head. "You're the best shot out of the three of us, and I plan to be the shield."

Rei stared at her for a moment. "... Accuracy will not be an issue at this distance," she stiffly said. "But I shall comply."

"Guess I'm grabbing the gun," said Shinji, glancing at the shaft.

Asuka nodded. "Yeah, you already know exactly where it is, so I'm sending you down there. Right, any questions?" Neither Shinji nor Rei had anything to say. "Good! Let's move out!"

Unit-02 charged out into the shaft, quickly climbing up above the tunnel exit and spreading out like Unit-01 had. "Go go go!" Asuka shouted as the Angel began its attack.

Shinji crawled out and dropped down the shaft, firing Unit-01's pylon-mounted retro-rockets to slow its fall. The damaged metal of the acid-burned floor began to slowly sag under the Evangelion's weight. He heard some crashing sounds above him as Unit-00 dug its feet and shoulders into the shaft wall to sit in place.

"I am in position, Ikari!"

"Right!" Shinji grabbed the rifle and gave it a quick check. Luck was on their side, as the only damage it had received was some tiny acid holes in the stock. "Here comes the gun!" he shouted as he threw the rifle up to Rei.

"Hurry up!" Asuka yelled, groaning in pain as Unit-02's back was repeatedly splashed with acid.

Rei took a few agonisingly long seconds to line up the shot, before calling out, "Soryu, move!"

Shinji couldn't see well past Unit-00, but he heard Asuka say, "I'm clear!" at almost exactly the same time Rei opened fire, emptying the rifle's magazine skyward. When the gun clicked empty, she let it drop back down towards Shinji and held Unit-00's arms out just in time to catch Unit-02. The impact sent Unit-00 sliding down the shaft until friction brought the two of them to a halt just above Unit-01's head.

"Did we do it?" Shinji nervously asked, moving Unit-01 to give him a clear view upward. Something was blocking the light that had been coming through the hole leading to the surface.

"The Angel is neutralised," replied Rei, and Shinji thought he heard a hint of satisfaction in her voice.

"Good," said Asuka. "By the way, Wondergirl, I'm grateful for the save but it feels like everybody's catching me today!"

"Perhaps you should stop falling from unsafe heights then."

Asuka groaned, her head dropping to her chest. "Great, I'm surrounded by smart-asses today as well..."

There was no way, even through the comm windows, that Shinji could miss the slight upward tilt to Rei's lips. "You are welcome, Soryu."

"Could you, uh, hurry up and move out of the way please?" Shinji begged, looking nervously at the damaged floor beneath his Evangelion's feet. "You know, before I'm the one that ends up falling next?"

XXX

Shinji wasn't sure whether to believe the power outage was caused by 'Matarael', as the Angel was now being designated, but the fact that NERV had power as the Evangelions returned in triumph was certainly something to consider. It at least made returning their Units to the cages easier, along with showering and finding his way to the debriefing room where Doctor Akagi, a strangely frazzled-looking Misato, and their three friends were waiting. As was to be expected, Kensuke tried to press them for details on their assault before a pointed throat-clearing from Misato got him to sit back down.

The sight of Misato reminded Shinji that their guardian hadn't been around while the Evangelions were being prepped, and he wondered what had happened to her. The only answer he ended up getting was that she and Kaji had been stuck in an elevator for the duration of the power outage.

His father was nowhere to be seen, though. Shinji didn't know what to think of that, considering how he had seen him acting earlier.

Nothing really tangible could be gleaned from when Matarael had examined the pilots, except that its interest in them was unusual, as was the way it simply wandered off instead of attacking. Misato theorised that it might have had something to do with Asuka and Shinji's unique situation, something which caused some confusion with their civilian friends, but to Shinji that didn't explain its reaction when Matarael looked at Rei. When he brought this up, his query was rather brusquely brushed off by the scientist.

"I suppose that's all we'll be able to get out of this debriefing," Misato finally announced, to groans of relief from Asuka and Toji.

Doctor Akagi nodded. "With no power during the attack, we have far less data on Matarael than I like. Nothing we can do about that, though," she remarked with a despairing sigh. "Anyway, there's one last thing I'd like to speak to you all about."

Asuka paused in the act of getting out of her chair. "What now?" she asked in an impatient tone.

"Well, I'd just like to thank you for something," Doctor Akagi remarked. "We were originally planning to go out and speak to them today, but you've brought the Fourth Child directly to us instead."

"The what?!" Asuka and Shinji shouted in sync.

"Fourth Child?!" Hikari, Toji and Kensuke were far less synchronised, but their exclamations still ran over each other. All the teenagers, bar Rei, stared at each other in disbelief. Well, mostly in disbelief. Kensuke was looking between Toji and Hikari, a big grin on his face and his hands jerkily alternating between pointing at one of them or at himself.

"With Shinji and Asuka's situation," Doctor Akagi loudly said, bringing everybody's attention back to her, before she continued in a calmer voice. "We had a need to find the Fourth Child ahead of schedule."

"But... who is the Fourth Child?" Shinji asked, eyes darting between his friends. While piloting an Evangelion was certainly a... unique experience, he didn't exactly want to wish such a risky occupation on anybody.

"Oh, how silly of me," Doctor Akagi chuckled, adjusting her glasses. "I've completely forgotten to say which one of your friends it is."

"Well don't leave us in suspense!" exclaimed Asuka. "Just tell us already!"

"Alright, alright." Doctor Akagi took a piece of paper out of her pocket and unfolded it. She cleared her throat. "The Fourth Child is..."