(Irritation)

Every time we moved through the city for a substantial amount, I would pass the steadily shrinking stain left by Ramiel's remains, and though the cleanup steadily proceeded, it took just enough for xier sad leftovers to mark the advancing passage of time, steering inexorably toward the inevitable.

The days that followed had allowed us to slide into just enough of a lull to feel a sense of disruption when the inevitable next link in the predestined chain of events finally made its presence known.

It began, as most new developments had, with a sudden alarm, this time in the middle of the night.

I was awakened by the pager noise, beeping harshly from where I'd left it inside my school bag. Though it was as familiar as anything could be by now, the suddenness of it still came close to making me jump out of my skin, especially since I knew it to mean urgency.

By the time I had hastily pulled on my uniform, I found the agents of Section Two already waiting outside my doors, ready to usher me into one of their black limousines.

I expected to be rushed to the cages the moment we'd make it to the geofront, but that did not happen.

Ikari-kun arrived shortly after I did – contrary to what one might expect, he did not arrive together with Captain Katsuragi. It appears that she had been working the evening shift today, leaving her young ward home alone.

As soon as they brought him in, he immediately rushed to her side, showing signs of visible agitation: "Misato-san, what is it? It is an angel again? Do we have to move out?"

The Captain was not all that forthcoming today. "Maybe. Nothing's for sure yet."

"What does this mean?" I inquired.

"For now, what it means is that we'll need you two on standby just in case. Change into your plug suits in wait in one of the ready rooms near the cages. Maybe you could play some board games?"

She tacked on that last bit as a forced attempt at levity.

True to her word, she had procured for some popular board and card games to be brought to the otherwise bare room adjacent to EVA 01's cage, and even a second bed, though the fresh sheets seemed rather wasted seeing as we would hardly be able to feel their softness through our plug suits.

The Captain's efforts proved vain across the board, for as it would turn out, neither of us knew the rules to any of the popular children's games that she had prepared for us. I don't think that I'd played a single one of those so much as once in my life.

Ikari-kun chose instead to curl himself into a sullen, moody ball on one of the beds.

"They're not telling us anything. Again."

"If they are not telling us, it is probably because it does not concern us at the moment."

"Nonsense. They dragged us here. The least they could do is tell us why. But I guess they expect us to jump when they say jump…"

"And if they did tell us? Then what? What good would that do? If there was anything that we could be doing about this situation, they would be deploying us as we speak."

At this, at least, he relented: "Let's just hope you're right."

By this point, there was not very much left to do or discuss, so that I went looking through my bag for the book that I'd been reading this morning during recess.

Ikari-kun gratefully took this as permission to retrieve his cassette player and turn away to brood in relative privacy. I suppose that he did not want to bother me with his morose ideations.

In truth, I would have liked to hear his thoughts, but I knew not how to ask so as to gently unlock the truth rather than to pry it out, so I figured it was best to let him be.

Be that as it way, we spent the next few hours in companionable silence, until Captain Katsuragi finally returned to let us know that we would be allowed to go home.

At once, I started packing my things away.

"Wait, Rei – is it alright for you to be walking home alone this late at night? I could drive you home if you want?"

"There is no need."

There was, after all, absolutely no risk that there would not be an 'Ayanami Rei' available for the next mission, no matter what happens to me.

Captain Katsuragi, however, was not informed of this: "Oh come on, I insist! We've got space enough!"

It was apparent that it would take more of an effort to refuse her than to simply go along with it, so I acquiesced, and consented to take my place on the backseat just behind a rather drowsy Ikari-kun.

I don't remember very much of all the various things that the good Captain kept going on and on about – for most of them, I didn't see their context or their relevance.

I realize that she meant well, though – I could see why Ikari-kun would grow fond of her.

As it would turn out, Captain Katsuragi and the others never meant to hold onto their secrets for very long.

No later than the very next morning, Ikari-kun and I were summoned to headquarters for the express purpose of getting briefed on the cause of yesterday's alarm.

An angel had been sighted indeed, but very far out from the usual location – and it seems that it had been defeated without requiring either of our intervention.

The footage that we were presented with showed the crimson behemoth that was EVA 02 deftly leaping between a scattered fleet of battleships on the open seas, with the ease of a small child playing hopscotch.

Armed with nothing but the simple prog knife that had been transported along with her EVA as part of its standard equipment, the pilot of Unit Two had nonetheless managed to gut this unfortunate angel's whale-like body from front to back, much as a cook might take apart a fish.

I was inclined to pity the poor creature;

The Second Child was skilled indeed.

Dr. Akagi, who had been viewing the footage alongside us, went on to summarize it thus:

"True – She had help from the Pacific Fleet. But to think that she defeated the Angel within thirty-six seconds… long before the internal batteries could run out. No matter what you look at – evasive maneuvers, decision making, piloting skills… She's nothing short of perfect.

It's hard to believe that the Second Child's abilities surpass even the rumors."

Captain Katsuragi had other concerns: "But what was the angel doing there? All the ones before have always made a beeline for our location. "

I could certainly think of a reason for that, but it wasn't one that she was supposed to be privy to.

Much as I expected, Dr. Akagi took it upon herself to distract her with excuses: "It could have been after Unit Two."

Captain Katsuragi has a keen mind.

I suppose she would have to, to plan our operations. For her own good, I hope that she doesn't ever find out anything she isn't supposed to. It would rather that she didn't have to be liquidated.

In that respect at least it was probably fortunate that she and Dr. Akagi were old friends from college, from what I'd overheard of their conversations – that may make it take longer for the Captain to begin to seriously suspect the good Doctor.

For now, the leader of the operations divisions had her mind on more pragmatic concerns: "So where is Unit Two right now?"

"Still in transit. It's expected to arrive within the next few days, along with its pilot. The logistics division has already checked out a hotel room for her as a temporary accommodation."

"Good."

Only then, when everyone was ostensibly done speaking, did Ikari-kun volunteer his thoughts – which was already a marked change from how silent he had been when we'd first started training together. Despite his great ambivalence towards all things Evangelion, he was still enough of a pure, sincere youth to be genuinely impressed by the flashy visuals:

"That was seriously amazing though. I didn't know something as big as the EVAs could move so gracefully! If she's going to be our new comrade, I'm sure our battles will go much smoother from now… It will be safer for all of us, right?"

I could tell that he very much wanted to believe this.

"So, what's she Second Child like?"

"Interested, Shin-chan?"

At once, the Captain's playful teasing reduced her young ward to a flustered mess.

"I'm- I'm just asking 'cause she'll be going into battle with us from now on!"

He needn't have worried. I don't think anybody present was seriously accusing him of harboring any impure intentions.

Once the two older women shared a hearty chuckle – I for my part didn't really see the humor in it, but I suppose it must be that thing that Ikari-kun had mentioned earlier, about the sometimes paradoxical appearance of close human bonds. Clearly, these three had grown rather familiar with each other compared to the beginning, particularly Ikari-kun and the Captain.

I simply stood aside watching, wondering if the Second Child was soon to be integrated into that sense of fraternity as well – it would make sense, since Captain Katsuragi was already familiar with her.

Though, once the ladies had had their laugh, it was Dr. Akagi who ultimately answered the question:

"Well, she's really bright, for one thing. A prodigy even – apparently, she graduated from a prestigious university at the age of fourteen."

"What, university?!" Ikari-kun was quite flabbergasted.

No wonder. That was unusual indeed.

I think I'd heard of just one or two other cases of people our age working at NASA or the like, mentioned in some article that I'd read at some uncertain point in the past.

Though Captain Katsuragi, as the one who actually knew the subject of our discussions on a personal level, would arrive at a rather different conclusion.

She turned towards Ikari-kun and myself and contemplated us with a long, pointed look.

"Actually, I think she might be the most normal one of the bunch…"

"Ehh...?"

I think Ikari-kun minded that remark.

As if to make up for it, Captain Katsuragi addressed us with a grin, a wink, and an expertly raised finger: "You know what? Once she's arrived, I'm treating all of you to lunch so you can get acquainted, alright? Something to look forward to ~"

Thus we were dismissed.

I didn't think there would be anything more left to discuss, but just as our elevator ride back to the terminal gates was picking up speed, Ikari-kun reluctantly voiced what, in hindsight, must have been on his mind for a while:

"Did you know? That the other EVA was already on its way here…"

"Yes."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"You never asked."

Should I have? It didn't seem a pleasant or comfortable proposition, to always have to be on the lookout for what one 'should' tell another. Was it even feasible to know what he expected?

Fortunately, he did not continue to insist on this point.

It was not his main concern.

Something else was, at this moment:

"...say, Ayanami… you both must have worked at NERV a long time… have you ever met the Second Child before?"

"Not in person, no. Why do you ask?"

"No real reason, just…" he trailed off there for a bit, but, against marked resistance, forced himself to keep on speaking. "I guess I'm just worried that she's not going to like me."

"Worry not. Her personal opinion of you is irrelevant for the success of project E so long as it does not interfere with your cooperation in battle."

"I… I guess so…" he conceded, though he did not sound very persuaded.

It occurred to me that I may have failed to grasp something about the meaning of his inquiry – but I didn't think that asking about it would make it better.

While the first few angels had each left us several weeks of respite between their appearances, this was not the case for this next one.

Of all possible times, it happened to strike just as Captain Katsuragi was en route to the harbor, where she was due to pick up the Second Child. With her went Ikari-kun and his two close friends from our class, in Aida-kun's case, because he wanted to have a look at the battleships, and in Suzuhara's, because he was supposedly fond of Captain Katsuragi from what I had been told.

I myself was not among their number, for, by Commander Ikari's decree, at least one active-duty pilot must be kept within the bounds of the Neo Tokyo-3 metropolitan area at all times.

Now, the wisdom of that precaution should be proven – as Ikari-kun was now a several-hours-long drive away from the city limits, it seemed none too likely that he may be retrieved soon enough to engage the enemy in any kind of timely fashion.

Had he been close by, it was likely that he would have been deployed on his own and myself kept back on standby, for after the recent mountaintop battle, EVA 00 was still somewhat worse for the wear: Some of her bent and molten armor plates were yet to be replaced.

Beneath them, I felt the soreness of her still raw and tender flesh from the moment that my nerves were connected to hers.

Even so, the busted-up prototype was now our best bet insofar as we knew.

While the cyclopean EVA and I were still on the transport plane, headquarters obtained footage of this new foe of ours, and had an image of xier likeness sent to me over the intercom.

On account of our distant relation, it may not be so strange that many of Adam's kin arrived in shapes reminiscent of animals or even people – but this new angel was rather like xier vanquished sibling Ramiel: a brazen display of something that defies reality, or rather, a declaration of intent, an annunciation of the very different world order that the victory of xier kindred would impose.

The self-similar pieces that made up xier body did not even appear to be visibly connected to each other, at least not within the three-dimensional space that humankind may perceive.

Standing on two spindly limbs, it was unclear how xir managed to support xier weight.

In the light of the abrupt jerky ticking motions of xier head and xier long, pendulum-like appendage, it might be said that xir most resembled a clock out of all known or imagined objects.

As with xier siblings before xem, there was no telling what xier capabilities may be.

Once again, I knew the odds were grim.

Perhaps this here was to be my last fight, my long-awaited doom spelled by random chance after I had just recently managed to slip through its fingers – incidentally erased, when I might easily have lived if the angel had simply waited to arrive a few hours later, when I might have been fended off by not one, but three EVAs.

Still I was grimly resolved to fight to the last if need be from the moment the transport plane disengaged the lock bolts. I knew that first of all, my mission was to buy as much time as I possibly could until Ikari-kun could be collected via helicopter, or perhaps, they might deploy the Second Child as soon as she reached the shore alongside her EVA.

The half-closed burn scars of Unit Zero stung as her feet touched down on the ground – armor plates both deformed and newly affixed pressed into her flesh from the force of the landing.

Gritting my teeth, I forced us both upright nonetheless, and began sprinting toward the distant expanse of the ravages shores.

Herding the poor abused EVA as quickly as I could without spending all my strength before the battle, I ran the winding, tree-lined street up the mountain beyond which both the shore and the enemy were sure to be revealed…

...only to come stumbling onto what may have been the single most anticlimatic moment in all three years of my brief, short life.

The very first thing I saw upon clearing the curve of the mountain was a blazing pillar of light, a radiance so black that the dissolving splatter of the angel's body appeared nearly black in the foreground of such a spectacle – before the blaze was even done fading, the loud boom of rocket thrusters was plain above me, the noise of a jetpack much like the one that had slowed down my own fall when the cargo plane released me.

Evidently, there was nothing left for me to do.

That is right:

The pilot of Unit Two had defeated the angel before she even touched the ground.

She came down crashing before me, landing in a masterful, striking pose, with not a single movement wasted…

That is, until she stood up and turned right towards me, placing her arms right on her hips, or rather, those of Unit Two.

The meaning of the gesture was lost to me at first.

I barely had the chance to process what had happened when I became aware of a light flick against my foot. Well, Unit Zero's foot.

As soon as I managed to space the small, blue vehicle, I was hit with a sense of Deja Vu:

It seemed that Captain Katsuragi's car would be due for repairs once again…

Thanks to the invention of the seatbelt, none of the car's occupants sustained any kind of injuries.

I met up with them by the side of the road as soon as I was free of my plug.

Fortunately, all four of them were left without a scratch – if anything, Aida-kun seemed positively wired… From what Ikar-kun had told me of his prior antics, I would presume that he must be glad to have witnessed another battle up close, though I cannot say why the sight of destruction and slaughter would be considered a cause for elation. But then again, he knew not what the angels really were, nor the EVAs, and that was probably for the better.

As of now, he was having the time of his life, filming the work of the ground crew as the EVAs were being taken away.

Captain Katsuragi was perfectly unfazed of course, and Suzuhara, too, seemed to be doing fine, but I could tell, even from a distance, that Ikari-kun appeared somewhat fatigued from the turbulent events. By now it was plain that he was of a rather sensitive constitution – the nerve-racking events must have rattled him.

I stood some distance away from the others, watching the convoy of vehicles.

So far as I knew, EVA 00 was already en route back to the geofront.

Not so for EVA 02: Her garish bright color was impossible to miss as she was driven past us.

"So EVA 02 is red, huh?" commented Suzuhara.

And not her alone: Right atop her massive form, right next to the exposed plug on her back, stood a smaller, lighter silhouette wrapped in the same bright attention-grabbing crimson, an athletic maiden of taut muscular limbs, whose mighty voice compelled attention by its very presence.

Her posture, too, was just the same as that which her EVA had taken on the battlefield – from the peak of her resting form, she gazed down upon us with much the same imposing presence as the scarlet behemoth at her command:

"The Color's not the only thing that's different! You're looking at the world's first real Evangelion, the final production model, specially constructed for battle!"

Her resonant speech brimmed with obvious pride and absolute, unfaltering confidence. She stood in a wide, domineering pose as her long, copper hair flowed in the wind.

From there, she faced us down with a cold smirk:

"Units 01 and 00 were still part of the development process – A prototype and a test model. No wonder they could be synchronized with inexperienced second-rate pilots. But fear not, because the genuine article has finally arrived. Little kids like you are no longer needed!"

...I knew it. Of course.

There had to be one – a fatal flaw.

It all just sounded too perfect – her track record, her endless list of talents, her effortless, immaculate performance in this battle and the last…

All along, I'd been discounting it as irrational and pretended like it wasn't there, but somewhere in my gut, I had known all along that it was only a matter of waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She had seemed like the platonic ideal of the perfect EVA pilot from the very first, and after a short, nasty, brutish life of pain and deprivation, I had known all too well that perfect things don't come falling out of the sky with no strings attached.

When I'd first seen the evidence of her prowess in battle, I had thought that she may be about to become an invaluable asset to our cause – but now that she was before me at last, I could feel nothing but a distant apprehension.

Even now, I was telling myself to suspend judgment, to hold off on forming any kind of solid opinion until I'd seen more of how she performs.

But with every word she said, she only seemed to confirm my first intuition:

She's a glory hound.

An individual with no sense of mission or seriousness who is only interested in gathering accolades to her own name – I'd read about this kind of thing in books. In every kind of war story, there is at least one such figure.

I'm nowhere near certain yer, but I think that I'm right.

And if I am, this 'ace pilot' may present any number of problems…