Unit 01 stood still, once again motionless. At its feet, a roughed up Unit 00 let go of its right leg, and then remained motionless as well. Rei breathed heavily inside her entry plug, feeling a little dizzy. She could still feel the phantom pain of Eva 00's severed left leg on her own leg, crawling through the ground towards Unit 01 hadn't definitely done any favors in easing said pain, but all the hardship was worth if that meant that Shinji would be able to get out of his Eva unharmed. The girl directed her attention again to the intercom with the command center, awaiting to hear confirmation on Shinji's status.
"Activity in unit 01 has stopped" confirmed Maya, looking intently at her screen.
"How is Shinji?" asked a worried Misato.
"The entry plug readings indicate that he has lost consciousness, but otherwise he seems fine" Maya reported, much to the relief of everyone at the command center and Rei.
"Thank goodness..." sighed the operations director "Rei, how are you feeling?" she asked later, her face displaying on Eva 00's intercom.
"I'm… exhausted" the girl admitted softly, glancing at the purple-haired woman.
"Hold on a little longer, you've done a great job. The rescue team will be there right away to assist all three of you" the woman stated while smiling softly at the girl.
"Understood" Rei murmured before closing her eyes, falling asleep shortly after Misato's face disappeared from her entry plug.
The door of the office of NERV's commander opened, after which to the two most important men in the organization, Commander Gendo Ikari and Deputy Commander Kozo Fuyutsuki entered the room. Both of them walked inside the office, Gendo taking a seat in the chair behind the office table a few seconds later, clasping his hands in front of his face. Fuyutsuki stood near the table, without looking directly at him.
"Unit 01 has rejected the Dummy Plug System" Fuyutsuki stated, his voice very calm despite the arduous battle that had taken place just a few minutes earlier.
"Yes" Gendo replied flatly.
"Won't that be a problem in the future?" the older man asked.
"Not necessarily" the commander replied "As long as the pilots are able to defeat the angels on their own, we won't need the Dummy System"
"That is correct..." the Fuyutsuki conceded "But considering how much time and resources were put on its creation, seems like a considerable waste if we don't use it"
"Indeed. I'll have Dr. Akagi look into it" Gendo admitted "But that's not a significant concern. Our scenario remains untouched"
"True. With the awakening of Unit 01 the most important aspects begin precisely now" murmured a serious Fuyutsuki "But SEELE will probably become suspicious. If they suspect our true intentions they will not sit idly by"
"That the old men end up trying to meddle with our scenario is something we already have considered" Gendo replied.
"Yes, I know" the Deputy Commander agreed "Still... better if it happens later than sooner"
"We agree on that, but it won't matter in the end" Gendo admitted "Our wait nears its end"
Kaji was in one of the deserted alleys of Tokyo-3, looking at the sky while smoking a cigarette. The evening was reaching its end, so the sky would soon turn completely dark. Still, despite the dim light that surrounded the place, the man had no problem distinguishing a female presence approaching him.
"Good evening, Misato" the man greeted with his usual confident smile.
"Hi, Ryoji" the woman returned the greeting, her face serious and her voice letting her weariness be known.
"Long afternoon, huh?" the man said before taking a drag of his cigarette "I'm surprised you have time to talk considering the work that today's battle must have generated for you"
"That can wait until tomorrow" the woman said, her face still serious "What did you find out yesterday?" she asked later.
"Straight to the point, huh? I guess I can't blame you" Kaji smiled. He took another drag on his cigarette before explaining "Yesterday I finally found out what the Human Instrumentality Project is"
Misato's eyes widened upon hearing this. The woman directed a deep gaze at Kaji, her attention completely focused on what he would say next.
"It's going to sound like the biggest nonsense you've ever heard in your life, but what SEELE wants is to cause a Third Impact controlled by them with which to unify all human life into a single being. Basically they want to turn us all to a humongous mass of LCL that contains the minds and souls of all humanity" said Kaji.
Misato's face contorted into an expression that showed equal parts surprise and confusion. The woman was silent for a few seconds, trying to understand what she had just heard. She didn't have much success in doing so "They want to unify all of humanity into a mass of LCL?" Misato asked, dumbfounded. Kaji's response was a silent nod "You're right, it's the biggest nonsense I've ever heard in my life. Why do they want to do such stupidity?"
"No clue, you'd have to ask them why. In any case, I'm not so concerned about their motivations, but rather about preventing them from succeeding at their plan" the man said before finishing his cigarette and throwing it on the ground, stepping on it a second later.
"I agree on that" said Misato "How do they plan to cause Third Impact? I assume they will want to use the Second Angel somehow"
"Indeed" Kaji agreed "They want to cause the Third Impact with the union between Lilith and Adam, the First Angel"
"The First Angel?" Misato asked, surprised "But… the First Angel was destroyed during Second Impact…"
"Not exactly" Kaji denied while shaking his head "Adam was reduced to an embryonic form of itself during that incident. That embryonic form is not in SEELE's hands right now, however"
"No? Who has it, then?" the woman asked.
"Your commander" Kaji replied, much to Misato's surprise "And I know this firsthand, since I was the one who entrusted it to him preserved in Bakelite when I returned to Japan"
"What?!" exclaimed an incredulous Misato, unable to stop herself from raising her voice. The woman looked around them with concern on her eyes before continuing to speak, this time in a lower voice "Why did you do such a thing and why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Firstly, because I had to somehow earn NERV's trust when I arrived here, and secondly, because at the time I had no idea of Adam's relevance in all of this crap" Kaji replied while shrugging his shoulders. Misato fell silent at that answer.
"So... it's very likely that the commander wants to do something similar to SEELE..." Misato said after a moment of reflection, her frown narrowing.
"I agree. Even more so if we take into account the nature of the First Child" said the man "It can't be a coincidence that Rei Ayanami has Lilith's DNA in her"
"Yeah... it's the most logical conclusion" Misato regretfully agreed. They both fell silent for a moment.
"Can we trust her?" Kaji eventually asked.
"Rei hasn't given me any reason to distrust her until now, so I would like to think so" the woman replied while crossing her arms "I bet she doesn't know anything about this whole mess..."
"Well, I hope you're right. We can't let her help your commander" Kaji murmured "Also... I've noticed how close she and Shinji are, and considering where things seem to be going, I'm almost completely sure we'll need their collaboration in the future" said the man while looking at the sky "If we're going to try to thwart SEELE's plans, we'll probably need all three Evas to do so"
Shinji opened his eyes, and came across a ceiling that at this point was anything but unfamiliar to him, much to his displeasure. The boy quickly identified that he was inside NERV's medical facilities once again, lying on one of the beds. He also noticed that it felt like he had been there for a good while. Upon checking his watch, he confirmed that it was indeed the case, it was shortly after seven thirty in the morning, which meant that he had spent the night there. The boy sat up on the bed and looked at his surroundings, and then he realized that he was not alone in there. To his left, a particular blue-haired girl was sleeping on the other bed of the medical room.
Shinji got up from his bed with a hint of concern on his face and approached Rei's bed in silence, worried about any possible injury that the girl might have received in the previous day's battle. His gaze softened once he realized that the bluenette was sleeping peacefully without any type of visible bandage on her body "It seems that after yesterday's battle we both simply were too exhausted to go home..." he thought relieved, his lips curving into a pleased grin as he observed his girlfriend's calm sleeping face.
Shinji recalled the events of the previous afternoon. The battle against the Fourteenth Angel had probably been the toughest they had had up until that point. While it was true that the Fifth Angel gave them a lot of trouble at the time and the Twelfth Angel literally had him trapped inside for several hours, no other angel had required such an arduous effort in an actual battle against their Evas. To be honest, not even Shinji himself was sure of how he had managed to defeat it. Unit 01 ran out of energy in the middle of the battle, much to the despair of the boy, who could do nothing but wishing with all his might that it would move again. After several seconds, it actually did, but unlike the other times it had gone into berserk mode, this time Shinji was conscious and could control the Eva's actions. Still, his memory of the event after the reactivation was hazy. He remembered the image of Unit 00 lying on the ground, with the angel about to unleash a beam on it, and a searing fury taking over him. After that, the memories were fuzzy. He only remembered throwing the angel through the air with a projection of his AT field, and blasting it afterwards with some sort of beam, causing a large explosion "How could the Eva do all of that?" the Third Child wondered. He would have to ask Misato or Dr. Akagi whenever the next time he met them.
Shinji was brought out of his musings when he noticed Rei's eyelashes flutter slightly. A moment later, the girl slowly opened her eyes, which Shinji stared, captivated. His girlfriend's eyes were, without a doubt, very unusual, but very beautiful as well. Rei finally noticed the boy's presence and gave him an affectionate look.
"Good morning, Shinji" the girl said, her glance turning questioning an instant later "How are you? Are you okay?"
"Good morning, Rei. I'm fine... what about you?" Shinji replied, holding gently one of the bluenette's hands with his own.
Rei considered this for a moment, caressing Shinji's hand with her fingers. The night of rest she experienced seemed to have remedied her fatigue from the previous day's battle "I'm fine too" she replied while smiling softly.
"I'm glad to hear it" the boy whispered, mirroring her smile "Yesterday's battle was very though, we were lucky to get out of it alive and well" he stated, to which Rei nodded in agreement. Then Shinji wondered about his roommate "Do you know if Asuka is fine as well?"
"I don't" the girl replied while shaking her head "As soon as I had confirmation that Eva 01 had not absorbed you, I fell asleep. I was exhausted"
Shinji raised an eyebrow "That Eva 01 hadn't absorbed me? What are you talking about?"
"Shortly before you destroyed the target, Dr. Akagi warned us that if your synchronization rate continued to increase your body could dissolve into the LCL and the Eva would absorb your consciousness" the girl replied.
Shinji's eyes widened, his surprise evident "I had no idea that could happen..." he murmured. That was a concerning thought.
"Me neither..." Rei said, remembering the anguish she felt in those moments while looking away "You had me very worried... I thought I would lose you"
Shinji felt a pang of guilt while he stared at the blue-haired girl's sulking face "I'm sorry that I have worried you, Rei..." he apologized, holding her hand tighter.
The girl shook her head and looked back at his eyes "It's alright... if things had gone differently we probably wouldn't have survived to begin with. Just... try to be careful if you have to do that again in the future" the girl said, standing up on the bed and wrapping her arms around him, melting into a tender embrace "I don't want to lose you"
"I don't want to lose you either" Shinji whispered in her ear, embracing her back and stroking the girl's soft blue hair "But I promise I'll be careful"
Asuka walked inside Misato's apartment and bolted to her room. She had been discharged from NERV's medical facilities not too long ago, and the redhead had gone straight home afterwards, her mood clearly not in the best state.
"I… I couldn't do anything..." the German girl thought, closing the sliding door of her room tightly, frustration filling her mind. She was furious at her performance of the prior day against the Fourteenth Angel, which had been much more powerful than those who had preceded it. The redhead, aboard Unit 02, had not managed to make even a measly scratch on the target, which meant that at that moment she had been completely useless in two consecutive battles against angels. To make matters worse, after her pathetic performance, Shinji, helped by the doll, had managed to heroically defeat the angel, saving everyone's lives, including hers "I lost again against stupid Shinji" the girl thought furiously.
Asuka grabbed a magazine that was on top of her bed and tore out several pages, venting her frustration. Then she threw the magazine angrily to the floor, before doing the same with a cushion and one of the school textbooks that were on her desk. Finally, she grabbed a cup that she had left there the day before, and tossed it into the wall, breaking it into pieces.
The red-haired girl stood still for a few seconds, breathing heavily. Slowly but steadily, her anger faded, leaving behind sad, pathetic bitterness. The girl threw herself on her bed and buried her head in her pillow, while she felt how tears began to run from her eyes, much to her regret.
"I'm useless" Asuka thought as she cried.
"I don't know, Shinji" Touji said as both he and Shinji finished putting on their respective Plug-Suits, still inside the Geo-Front men's locker room "These suits may be as useful as you say, but they seem very uncomfortable to me"
"You think so?" Shinji replied as he closed his locker and headed for the exit "I guess I've been using mine for so long that I've already gotten used to it"
Touji also approached the door and both boys left the locker room "I guess so. With any luck I'll get used to mine soon too" he murmured while putting a hand on his chin, thoughtfully. A mischievous smile crept to his face a second later "Although I gotta admit… they sure look very nice on girls, don't you think?" he asked, almost drooling.
Shinji gave him a narrow look "Touji, that's my girlfriend and your girlfriend's best friend you're talking about… I don't think that's the most appropriate remark, honestly" he stated with resignation in his voice.
"Um... alright, point taken, sorry" the Fourth Child acknowledged, placing a hand on the back of his head. Shinji simply sighed while both teenagers headed towards the of the test plugs to begin the sync test.
A few seconds passed in silence, until Touji eventually spoke again "Hey, Shinji... do you think I'll have to pilot an Eva at some point?" the boy asked, a little indecision on his voice.
"Why do you ask that?" Shinji asked raising an eyebrow.
"Well, considering how things went the last time I got on one…" Touji replied.
"Oh… you're still worried about that, huh?" asked the Third Child.
"A little" admitted the fourth chosen one.
"Well... that's understandable. I didn't really want to get back on Unit 01 either after my first encounter with the Fifth Angel, for example" Shinji reasoned after a moment of thought "But it seems very unlikely to me that something like what happened with the Thirteen Angel will happen again, honestly"
"I hope you're right..." Touji murmured, lost in thought. After a moment he shook his head and smiled sheepishly "Well, there are only three Evangelions now anyway and I'm the least experienced pilot and the one with the lowest sync rate of the four of us, so it doesn't seem like it's going to be necessary for me to get into an Eva anytime soon"
"Yeah, I guess that's true" Shinji agreed while nodding "Still, better be ready just in case. You never know what the future holds"
Maya's terminal displayed the first results of that day's synchronization test. The woman observed the data, noting that was more or less what she would expect… at least until she noticed Asuka's results. The young woman's eyes widened, her surprise clear. Ritsuko, who approached her in order to check the results, soon noticed her surprised expression.
"What's wrong, Maya?" the blonde asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Um… take a look at Asuka's results, doctor" the younger woman murmured after making sure that the intercom with the test plugs was not on. Misato, upon hearing this, also approached them, curious.
Ritsuko looked at the data on the screen, and was as surprised as Maya "Oh, that's… unexpected" the blonde pointed out "I never though I'd see Asuka having this kind of sync rate"
Misato glanced at both women, fearing the worst. She had noticed that Asuka had been in a bad mood lately, especially the day before. If that wasn't enough, the redhead seemed to also be avoiding her "Has her sync rate dropped that much?" she asked worriedly.
"It's at 43%" Ritsuko stated "It's almost as low as Touji's…" Misato's eyes widened, only for her face to turn into a grimace. Knowing Asuka, she would most likely not take this news very well
"Dammit..." the purple-haired woman cursed quietly.
Asuka finally finished drying off after taking a long shower and stormed off to her locker, wanting to get dressed and leave as soon as humanly possible. She felt publicly humiliated. It was bad enough that Shinji had surpassed her in sync rates, or that he had become an invincible pilot who defeated the most recent angels while she was barely able to put a dent on them. But that her sync rates had dropped so much that even a novice like Touji started to seem like a reasonable alternative for piloting instead of her was something she simply couldn't stand.
Asuka opened the locker and began to get dressed with a disgruntled expression. A few steps at her left was Rei, who had already finished with her shower a couple of minutes prior and was about to finish getting dressed. The First Child glanced towards Asuka. Even for someone as little versed in social matters as her was easy to conclude that her fellow pilot was not pleased at that moment. Considering what she knew about Asuka, was also easy to guess the reason for the girl's bad mood. Rei reflected on that for a few moments while staring silently at the German, suddenly finding herself feeling sorry for her. While Asuka was definitely a very different person from Rei, in a way at that moment she reminded the bluenette of herself not so long ago: she felt no happiness for her current situation. That was something she surely could relate to, as even though she was not fully aware of it at the time, Rei had been in that exact situation just a few months ago.
It was at that point that Asuka noticed the look that the First Child was directing at her. She looked back at her immediately, clearly upset "What the hell are you looking at, doll?" she hissed, her words full of anger "Do you actually have something to say today?"
Rei tried to order her thoughts for a second before replying "Yes. I'm sorry that your synchronization rate has declined" she stated flatly.
Asuka was taken aback by her words, her eyes widening sightly. She recovered quickly from her surprise, however, her frown narrowing once again "You, feeling sorry for me? Is this a joke?"
"No" Rei replied, slightly confused "Why would I jest about something like this?"
Asuka was not convinced by her retort "What would you care about my sync rates? Whenever a new angel appears in the future, NERV already has your invincible boyfriend to heroically defeat it without my help" Asuka spatted bitterly.
"Shinji is not invincible" denied the bluenette "And even if that were the case, I still sorry about what happened to you"
"Oh, yeah? Why?" Asuka asked, still not believing a single word.
"If I'm not mistaken, your performance at piloting the Eva is very important to you" the scarlet-eyed girl explained "You seem to be unhappy about this turn of events, and I don't like that"
Asuka was once again taken by surprise. The way the First Child spoke seemed so genuine that she even started to believe that she was telling the truth. She frowned again. Others feeling sorry for her wasn't something she was comfortable with either "Huh, it must be a special day today, for an emotionless doll like you to sympathize with me. Maybe it will snow tomorrow" the girl replied with bitter irony in her words.
"I'm not a doll" Rei stated flatly, holding her gaze.
"Of course you are! You would do anything the commander ordered you to do!" Asuka snapped.
"No" Rei interjected, her face hardening as the memory of commander Ikari ordering her to break up with Shinji crossed her mind "I won't do anything he orders me"
Asuka stared at Rei, noticing the change in her body language. Her face was still stoic as usual, but she could notice more conviction in her words and her eyes seemed full of quiet determination. Still... "I don't believe you" retorted the redhead.
Rei kept her gaze on the redhead for a few moments, puzzled. The bluenette was still quite socially inept, and had been more so in the past, but even then she had been receptive when Shinji had shown concern for her and her well-being. Why wasn't Asuka reacting the same way as she had done? Didn't she appreciate others caring about her? "It seems I was wrong. Her situation seems different from what mine was" the girl thought, deciding to give up on her attempt.
"Do as you wish. Regardless, I still hope your situation improves" Rei remarked before heading for the door, ending the conversation "Goodbye" she added before opening the door and leaving the locker room.
Asuka stared at the door through which the First Child had just left, her face contorted in a grimace of disgust "What could you understand, doll…? What could you understand about trying so hard your whole life to be good at something only to be surpassed by someone who not only hasn't tried even half as hard as you have but doesn't even care about surpassing you…? What could you understand about being alone, if you have invincible Shinji always by your side…?" the girl thought bitterly.
Ritsuko pressed a number of keys on a terminal and then swiped her NERV id card through the terminal's reader. The blonde woman waited for the gate to Terminal Dogma to open, but after a few seconds it remained closed still. The doctor raised an eyebrow, confused. She began entering her password one more time, guessing that perhaps she had pressed a wrong number by mistake the previous time, when she heard footsteps behind her.
"Don't bother" Misato said sternly while approaching the woman "It won't open without my password"
Ritsuko turned around, trying her best to conceal her surprise "Misato? What are you doing here?"
"I think I should be the one asking you that" Misato replied, her eyes glaring daggers at the scientist.
"I don't know what you're talking about" the doctor said, holding her gaze.
"Don't play dumb" Misato countered "I know you're hiding a lot of information from me"
"Oh, really?" Ritsuko said trying her best to keep her voice even "Like what?"
"Like the fact that Rei was artificially created by NERV, just like the clones of her you have down there" Misato replied while pointing towards the gate "Or the fact that she shares DNA with the Second Angel, Lilith"
Ritsuko's eyes widened. Given the situation, she assumed that Misato might have already been suspecting some things, but she was not expecting that she knew that much already "How did she discover that information...?" the scientist thought for a moment, until a certain man with a slightly unkempt beard came to her mind "Of course... it seems that Kaji is more subtle at spying than I expected"
"Fortunately" Misato retorted "But even he can't figure out some things... so I've decided to take a more direct approach. You're going to answer my questions right here and right now"
"What if I refuse to talk?" the scientist asked, crossing her arms.
Misato simply took out her gun from her jacket and pointed it at her. Ritsuko's lips curved into a weak smile.
"I didn't think you'd have the nerve to point a gun at a friend" murmured the faux blonde.
"If you were really my friend I wouldn't have to do it" Misato replied without lowering her weapon.
"Things aren't that simple, Misato... but I guess that's not what you want to talk about" Ritsuko said before heaving a sigh "Well, what do you want to know?"
"What is Commander Ikari's plan?" the operations director asked.
"That... is a complicated question to answer" Ritsuko replied, gathering her patience "First I would have to explain to you the real reason why we have the Second Angel guarded inside Terminal Dogma"
"I already know that," Misato retorted "SEELE wants to use it alongside Adam for their Human Instrumentality Project"
Ritsuko stared at the woman, surprised "Do you know what that is?"
"Yes" was Misato's flat reply.
"My, my... Kaji really has found out plenty of interesting information, I see" the doctor said with a lopsided smile "Well, that saves me a lot of explanation. In essence the commander wants to do something similar, causing a Third Impact controlled by him"
"For what purpose?" Misato asked later.
Ritsuko looked away, frowning "He wants to reunite with Yui Ikari again..."
"Reunite with his dead wife?" Misato asked while raising an eyebrow.
"Yes. Through the power of an Impact, souls and consciousnesses can be… manipulated, let's say. That idiot wants to use that to reunite with his wife's soul" the doctor explained with obvious disapproval in her words.
"You don't seem to be very happy with that" said the purple-haired woman, slightly surprised.
"I already told you that things aren't that simple, Misato" Ritsuko remarked "Just because I haven't told you anything about this before doesn't mean I'm on the commander's side"
"Well, if that's the case, I don't see you being very cooperative with someone who wants to prevent it" replied Misato, her frown narrowing again.
"I've done more than you think..." the fake blonde said "I guess that since you know that Rei has Lilith's DNA in her, you also know that she's a key piece in the commander's plan"
"I figured as much, yes" Misato nodded "Why?"
"The commander plans to use her in the Lilith-Adam fusion and thus have a conscious Lilith component that follows his orders in the process" the woman revealed "Of course, for that to go his way, it is imperative that Rei's loyalty to him is absolute... knowing that we have clones of Rei down here... what do you think the commander wanted to do when he found out that Rei and Shinji were romantically involved?"
Misato's eyes expressed surprise when she understood what the blonde was implying "You can't be serious…" she murmured.
"Of course I am" said the scientist with a stern face "If it weren't for me, the commander would have gotten rid of Rei at the first opportunity, put her most recent memory in which she didn't harbor any feelings for Shinji inside one of the clones and replaced her with it. Fortunately, when you told me about their relationship, I erased all the backup copies of Rei's memories so the commander had no choice but to keep the current Rei"
"You did that?" Misato asked, incredulous "...Then why hide it from me? Do you think I wouldn't have agreed to that or tried to help?"
"I've already told you that it's not that simple, Misato" Ritsuko repeated again "I couldn't allow him to somehow find out what I was up to"
Misato was silent for a few moments, staring intently at Ritsuko. She didn't seem to be lying, and what she was saying made sense... The woman sighed and put her gun back inside her jacket "Dammit, Ritsuko... you have to learn to trust others..."
"Brave words coming from someone who corners a friend at gunpoint to make her reveal her secrets" said the blonde woman, a lot more relaxed when now that Misato was no longer pointing her at gun at her "But I guess you're partly right... well, I suppose that from now on there is no point in me continuing to hide anything else from you... what else do you want to know?"
"Do you have any plans to avoid this whole Third Impact nonsense?" Misato asked.
"Besides Rei rebelling against the commander when the time came, no" the woman admitted "I would guess that you do, however, am I correct?"
"Of course" Misato replied, her eyes filled with determination "I'm don't intend to survive all the angels to then let any of these psychos end the world themselves"
"I imagine your plan will involve using the Evas to defend ourselves, right?" Ritsuko asked, to which Misato nodded in response "Have you discussed this with the pilots?"
"...Not yet" Misato acknowledged "I wanted to talk to you first. But it's not a conversation I'm looking forward to having with them either... I'm assuming Rei doesn't know anything about this, right?"
"Unless the commander has told her, no" said Ritsuko "And I highly doubt he has told her anything"
"I see..." Misato said, deep in thought "I don't know how Rei and Shinji are going to react when I tell them that she has angel DNA in her..."
Ritsuko looked at Misato for a few seconds in silence before speaking again "If you're going to reveal that to them, it's probably best that you tell them about something else" the doctor said "If they somehow find out later the blow will probably be harder"
"What are you taking about?" the operations director asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Do you know whose human DNA NERV used to create Rei?" the scientist asked. Misato shook her head "...the human DNA was taken from Yui Ikari's available remains"
"What...?" was the only thing a stunned Misato could say.
To be continued...