The elevator promptly took Shinji and Rei to the floor where the gate accessing Terminal Dogma was. Its doors opened, allowing them to get out of it and Shinji did so while glancing in several directions, wondering where Asuka could be. Luckily, he didn't have a hard time finding her. The redhead was sitting on the floor not too far from the elevator, her forehead resting on her bent knees. Although it seemed obvious that she must have been aware of their presence by that point, the girl remained silent. The pilots of units 00 and 01 tentatively approached her.
"Asuka... are you okay?" Shinji asked softly once they were in front of the girl.
"...I've been better" the girl replied without raising her head.
"...Do you want to talk about it?" the Third Child asked a second later.
"There's not much to talk about" the redhead muttered "It's just… we're always the last ones to know about all this shit… and that pisses me off"
Shinji exchanged a look with Rei. He then moved closer to Asuka and sat at her left in the floor. The bluenette looked at him hesitantly and he nodded, so she also approached the red-haired girl, sitting to her right a second later. The three pilots were silent for a few moments.
"I know it's not much comfort, but… I understand how you feel" Shinji murmured after a while, resting a hand on the girl's shoulder.
Asuka remained quiet for a couple more seconds, before finally speaking again "...Thank you" she whispered softly "I guess it sucks for you too"
"...Yeah, it does" Shinji acknowledged.
Asuka finally raised her head from her knees, her face expressing disappointment, anger and sorrow all at the same time "How is it possible that every new thing we discover about NERV is worse than the last?" the girl wondered aloud bitterly.
"I wish I had the answer to that question..." Shinji murmured.
Rei, respectively, was directing a concerned glance towards them, listening to their words. Since she couldn't think of anything better to do, she decided to express how she felt "I'm sorry for what happened" the bluenette said.
"It's alright, Rei" Shinji said quickly, smiling weakly at her "It's not your fault"
"I know, but I'm still sorry" the girl replied "I don't like seeing you both like this..."
This time it was Asuka who smiled at the red-eyed girl "Don't worry, Wonder-girl... we'll get over this. We just need a little time, right, Shinji?"
"Yeah..." the boy agreed "Time heals all wounds… or so I've read somewhere"
"Anyways... thanks for being there" said the redhead "It's good to know that I can count on you, Rei... and the same goes for you, Shinji"
"Don't mention it" the boy said "The three of us are in this together. For the good things and for the bad ones"
The three pilots remained silent again, lost in their respective thoughts. After a while Asuka, stood up, glancing at her two fellow pilots "Well, enough moping around. I guess it's best that we all get back down there... I don't want to miss whatever Misato is planning" said the redhead, extending her hands towards her friends. They took her hands and she helped them get up.
"Let's go then" Shinji said, and then headed alongside both girls back to the elevator.
Shinji, Rei and Asuka walked outside the elevator, returning again to the gloomy floor of Terminal Dogma where they had been just a few minutes ago. A few steps ahead of them, Misato and the others were still talking.
"As soon as the mass production units approach the Geo-Front I will be able to notice it, even if I am hidden here" said Kaworu "My ability to detect Adam-based life forms is very precise"
"If that's the case, do you also know where the commander has Adam's embryo hidden?" asked an interested Kaji.
"Not specifically where, but I can always notice its presence with him" Kaworu replied "He must have it on his person at all times, I suppose"
"That makes getting it back without him realizing more complicated... but at the same time at least guarantees that if we're able to put the commander against the ropes, we'll also get Adam at the same time" Kaji reasoned.
Misato, who then noticed the return of the three pilots, turned her attention to them "Guys... how are you?" the woman asked with some concern.
"Better..." Asuka said "What have we missed?"
"Not too much. We are finalizing the details of our defense plan against SEELE" replied the woman, who then explained the details "In short, Kaworu is sure that they will soon send the mass production units against our headquarters, with the objective of reaching Lilith or taking over Unit 01 and starting the Third Impact. Obviously, we must be prepared for when that happens. That is why from now on I need you to remain inside the Geo-Front facilities at all times" the woman said "We will assign you rooms in the medical wing so that you can spend the nights there"
"Do you want us to be locked up here all the time?" Asuka asked, a flash of annoyance finding its way into her voice.
"It's the only solution, Asuka" Misato replied "We can't risk being attacked and you not arriving in time"
The redhead grimaced, but then nodded "Alright, fine... I don't like the idea but I have to admit that it makes sense"
Misato returned a small smile, grateful for her understanding "Good. You probably won't be locked up here for long anyway" the woman added.
"Indeed. The mass production units were reportedly completed this week" stated a serious Ritsuko.
"How many are there in total?" Shinji asked.
"Nine" the doctor answered.
Shinji's expression flashed concern upon the reveal of that fact "Damn... nine of their Evas against three of ours..."
"Those are not the most encouraging odds, we agree" Kaji remarked "But now, thanks to you, we also have Kaworu on our side"
"That's right" the boy said with a confident smile "My ability in battle I would say is... quite similar to that of an Eva. I do not possess enough mass to perform the feats of strength that an Evangelion unit is physically capable of, but I would say that my AT field is more powerful. At the very least, my contribution will tip the balance a little more towards our side"
"That's the attitude" Kaji said while smiling "Well, when it comes to defending ourselves against SEELE, things are clear... which brings us to how to act against Commander Ikari. Ritsuko, you know his plan better than we do, what do you think?"
The woman was silent for a few moments, thoughtful "Fortunately, dealing with the commander should be easier than with SEELE... at least if we play our cards correctly" the woman said "Evidently, the key component is Rei. The Third Impact that the commander intends to cause undeniably needs her assistance" the woman began to explain "But Rei alone will not be enough, the amount of Lilith DNA in her is too small to be enough to generate a Third Impact. That is why it is almost certain that the Commander will try to bring Rei to the lowest floor of Terminal Dogma to combine her, Lilith, and the Adam embryo he possesses"
"I see. In that case, if we want to recover Adam's embryo to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands in the future... we must ambush the commander" Misato deduced.
"Indeed" Ritsuko agreed.
The next few hours passed between trips by Misato to the pilots' houses to bring their clothes and basic belongings to the headquarters for the following days and preparations by Ritsuko and Kaji for the events that were to come. In order not to raise suspicions that the four pilots were going to spend the next few days at NERV, the blonde doctor had used as an excuse that since they had been in contact with Kaworu for those days, they should remain there so she would be able to perform various medical examinations and thus confirm that the Seventeenth Angel had not caused any type of physical contamination in them. It wasn't a very elaborate excuse, but it would serve to avoid awkward questions.
The four pilots, respectively, didn't have much else to do. Once the details of the plan against SEELE and Gendo Ikari had been properly stated, they had several hours of free time ahead of them, although they would have to spend them inside NERV's facilities, of course. This is why after the four of them ate lunch together, Shinji and Touji decided to take a walk outside the headquarters.
"It still surprises me that so much wildlife thrives under all those layers of armor" Shinji said as he observed the landscape.
"Yes... it's hard to believe" Touji said, seeming not to show much interest. The boy remained silent afterward, lost in his thoughts.
"Is everything alright?" Shinji asked as he gave her a curious look "You seem distracted"
"...I guess I am" replied the Fourth Child "It's just that these last two days have been... very dense"
"Yes... I know what you mean" Shinji nodded "And I already knew a lot of the information that Misato told us yesterday at home... in your case it is even more new information"
"Yeah..." Touji murmured "Hey, Shinji... I'm sorry about your mother and Unit 01."
"Thank you" the boy said with a weak smile.
"It seems like you're handling it decently well" the athletic boy later said.
"I guess... Asuka took it worse than me, but luckily it seems that she has also recovered from the news" said the Third Child.
"Yeah..." Touji murmured "Hey... do you think my mother's soul was also inside Unit 03?"
Shinji glanced at Touji with slight surprise "Why do you ask that?"
"Ritsuko said that the souls of the Evas have to be related to their pilots... and since my mother worked for NERV when she died..." the boy said regretfully.
Shinji's surprise increased "I didn't knew about that…" the boy whispered. They were both silent for a few moments, until the Third Child spoke again "I suppose that may have been the case, but..." he began to say.
"But?" Touji encouraged him to continue.
"But if it was like that, I guess she's in a better place now" Shinji completed "The core of the Eva was destroyed, and according to Ritsuko that's where... the soul is"
Silence once again took over the moment. Touji heaved a sigh. "Well, I hope whatever the case is, she's resting in peace" the boy said "Sorry for bringing up the subject..."
"Don't apologize" Shinji shook his head "We're friends, Touji. For the good times and the bad ones as well"
"Thank you" Touji said as he smiled weakly at the Third Child "I feel the same. Even if in these upcoming days I don't do anything relevant and end up not contributing much to… this whole mess we have ahead of ourselves... I want you to know that I support you, Shinji. You can do it, man"
"Thank you, Touji" Shinji said, now smiling sincerely "That's worth a lot, believe it or not"
"Well, you do what you can" replied the Fourth Child, bringing a hand to the back of his neck "Honestly, I'm partly relieved that probably all I'll have to do is stay at the Geo-Front and support you guys" the boy admitted a little embarrassed "You have it much worse, having to fight the mass produced Evas and all that"
"Yeah, well... they can't be much worse than the last few angels" Shinji said "Honestly, I'm more worried about Rei than about myself. At least I just have to face an enemy face to face. Her, on the other hand..."
"Oh, really?" Touji asked, raising an eyebrow "I know your father is dangerous, but after what Kaworu taught Ayanami a few hours ago... I think he should be the one to worry" the boy said, letting out a light chuckle.
The improvement in Touji's mood rubbed off on Shinji's own mood, who also chuckled "Yeah, maybe you're right..." the Third Child conceded.
The remaining hours of that afternoon passed peacefully. After returning from their walk, Shinji and Touji spent some time with Rei and Asuka in the leisure rooms of the Geo-Front, until eventually it was time for dinner, so they returned to the cafeteria again to relieve their appetites. Once they were finished, they went to the locker rooms to take a refreshing shower and later they went to the medical wing, where each one went to the corresponding rooms they had been assigned.
Shinji, now dressed in more comfortable clothes for sleeping, considered his options for spending the next minutes until he was sleepy enough to call it a day. He didn't have much to choose from, so he finally settled on listening to music on his SDAT until sleep overcame him, as he had done on more than one occasion at Misato's apartment. The boy was about to go to take the device from the pants pocket in which he had been carrying it until a few minutes ago when he heard a knock on the medical room's door. The Third Child approached the door curiously and opened it, only to come across a certain girl with blue hair and scarlet eyes at the other side.
"Oh... it's you, Rei" Shinji murmured curiously.
"Yes" the girl replied, smiling softly at him "Can I come in?"
"Um... yeah, sure" Shinji replied, stepping aside. Once the First Child entered the room the boy closed the door behind them "What can I help...?" Shinji began to say, before he was surrounded by Rei's arms, which held him gently against her "...oh" was the only thing the Third Child could say when he felt the girl's embrace around him "Are you okay?" Shinji asked as he reciprocated the hug, wrapping his arms around the girl.
"Yes" the girl murmured softly in his ear, as she rested her head on the boy's shoulder "I just want to be with you some more time"
"Oh, well... I'm glad to hear that" Shinji said happily, his lips curving in a pleased smile "I thought maybe you were worried about... this whole thing"
"No" Rei said as she moved her face away from him enough to be able to look him in the eyes "I believe in us"
"Me too" said the Third Child, widening his smile "We are going to make it"
Rei then brought her face closer to his and they both joined their lips in a gentle kiss at first, which deepened slowly as time passed. After several wonderful seconds, the teenagers' mouths parted ways and the bluenette once again rested her head on the boy's shoulder, while she tightened her grip on him a little more.
"Shinji... I want to spend the night with you" the girl whispered softly in his ear.
"O-oh…" Shinji muttered after swallowing loudly "Are you sure?" the boy asked "Don't get me wrong, I'd love that, but... well, we are here"
"There are no security cameras inside the rooms, Shinji. We already discussed that yesterday with Asuka" Rei murmured.
"Yeah, but still..." he started to object further, just before Rei brought her hands to the sides of his face, placing them delicately on his cheeks.
"Shinji... I trust that everything will turn out well and that we will get out of this alive… I really do. But that could not be the case" said the girl, looking deeply into his eyes, her own expressing all the love she felt for him "If that happens, if unfortunately things go wrong... I want us to become one at least once more while we still can"
Shinji felt his heart melting when he heard those words, both because of their content and because of the sincerity with which they had been said. His objections, which had not already been particularly convincing even to himself, disappeared instantly. He leaned quickly into her again, kissing Rei once more, who immediately returned the kiss, very eager. In a few seconds they were on the bed, her under him.
"I love you" Shinji whispered between ragged breaths, his lips parting from hers for a second.
"I love you too" Rei murmured in a similar manner before locking her lips with his again in a new kiss.
The next day, Ritsuko headed to the command center, hot coffee in hand and ready to start that day's work. The woman took a sip of the beverage, hoping that its effects would soon kick on her, since she was more tired than usual. The previous day had been a very mentally demanding one, despite it being Sunday. Not only had the attack of the Seventeenth Angel occurred, but the subsequent meeting with Misato and the rest of their allies had also been particularly intense. As if that were not enough, the blonde scientist had quite a bit of work in the afternoon, since now that Kaworu was on their side, she had to alter the Geo-Front sensors so that they would not detect him as an angel despite his nature. Obviously the boy was going to remain hidden inside Terminal Dogma, but when the time came for him intervene, it was necessary that the rest of the command center did not panic when a blue pattern was detected due to the boy's actions.
The woman finally walked inside the command center, where Maya, Makoto and Aoba were already at their posts "Good morning everyone" the woman greeted after taking another sip of her coffee.
"Good morning, doctor" those mentioned returned the greeting. Maya seemed to notice the tiredness on the woman's face, and she was about to comment on it, when an alarm appeared on the command center screens. The surprise of all of them was immediate.
"The sixth net has fallen" the younger woman remarked "What is happening?"
Makoto typed on his terminal, then his expression darkened, concern obvious in his features "All outgoing network lines are being cut off..."
"Data is coming in from the external terminals" Aoba reported "They are trying to invade the MAGI"
"Where is the invasion attempt coming from?" Ritsuko asked, her face very serious.
"The attempt comes from all external MAGI units" replied a tense Aoba "I can confirm invasion from Germany, China and the United States"
Ritsuko frowned "It's starting... SEELE is finally coming for us" the woman thought as she left her cup of coffee next to Maya's terminal "I'll take care of this. You three close the central database" the woman said as she walked towards the physical structure of the MAGI Casper "And notify Misato"
"Report" Misato said as soon as she entered the command center.
"The MAGI's invasion attempt has been thwarted" Makoto reported "Doctor Akagi has taken care of the counter-hack"
"Dr. Akagi's skills are amazing" remarked Maya with a hint of admiration next to him "120 pages of code in just a few minutes"
"Good" Misato nodded, feeling slightly relieved "What do we know about the cause? An invasion attempt from all five external MAGI units at the same time cannot have been a coincidence"
"Nothing yet, but…" Makoto began "We have received a statement that the Special Forces' protection of NERV has been revoked and its command has been transferred to the Japanese government"
Misato narrowed her eyes at the news "That... doesn't sound good" the woman murmured.
"I agree" said a voice behind her. Misato turned to face Ritsuko, her concerned expression mirroring hers "The fact that they have tried to invade the MAGI is just the beginning"
"Do you think that…?" Misato began to ask.
"Yes" the fake blonde replied immediately "We must get ready"
Shinji stood in front of the men's locker room, concern obvious in his expression. Alongside him, Rei, Asuka and Touji shared a similar expression. From the moment the alarms started ringing through NERV's facilities and the intercom informed everybody about the attempted invasion of the MAGI, the four pilots had headed to the locker rooms, suspecting that they might have to get aboard the Evas shortly.
They were right.
Not even ten minutes after they were properly suited, the phone of the Third Child rang. Shinji answered almost immediately "Yes, Misato?"
"Go to the locker room and put on your Plug-Suits" the woman said with a serious voice "I think you're going to have to go to the surface soon"
"Okay, we're already here, we came as soon as the emergency alarms started ringing" Shinji said.
"Good, well thought" complimented Misato "You and Asuka get into the entry plug of your Evas. Tell Touji to go to the shelter, if everything goes well we won't have to put him in danger" instructed the purple-haired woman.
"Understood" Shinji nodded "What about... Rei?" he asked a second later.
"Tell her to stay there..." the woman whispered quietly.
In a dark room, far away from there, several black monoliths manifested.
"Ikari has installed a Type 666 firewall on the MAGI's external feed circuits. It is very difficult to breach" SEELE 03 said.
"Seems we will have to forget about the assault of the Tokio-3 MAGI" SEELE 06 intervened
"I had hoped to settle this peacefully, but we'll have to do it the hard way" SEELE 01 said ominously "Launch the invasion forces immediately"
In one of the forests on the outskirts of Tokyo-3, a man clad in camouflage military clothing hung up a portable telephone.
"We have green light. Let's start the operation" he said.
At his sides, dozens of men dressed like him emerged from the foliage. Behind them, military planes took flight. Dozens of meters ahead of them, tanks began firing.
Inside Terminal Dogma, Kaji took a long drag off the cigarette he had just lit.
A short distance from him, Kaworu stared at him with one of his characteristic smiles full of confidence "If I'm not mistaken, tobacco consumption has harmful effects on the health of the Lilim in the long term"
Kaji exhaled smoke from the cigarette and mirrored the boy's smile "You're not wrong... but hey, we have to die of something" the man replied slightly amused.
Kaworu chuckled softly "How curious you Lilim are... you have been risking your life for a long time to prevent it ending soon, but at the same time you voluntarily shorten it on the long run for no reason other than personal pleasure"
"I didn't say it was a rational decision" the man remarked maintaining his smile. Barely a second later, his phone buzzed. Kaji's face turned serious as he quickly answered the call.
"Misato...? I see... I understand… alright, goodbye" the man said before hanging up the cellphone. Kaji finished his cigarette and threw it on the ground, after which he crushed it with his foot to extinguish it "Our wait is over. It's our turn to act"
"Are you sure?" Kaworu asked "I have not yet noticed the presence of the mass production units near us"
"It seems like they're not going to start with that" the man replied.
"We have lost the radar feed from sectors 8-17!" Maya reported with concern "Several cameras in sector 7 of our headquarters are also useless, there is some type of interference going on"
"A large detachment of Special Force Units are approaching from the Gotemba sector" Aoba did the same.
"Three air squadrons are coming from Mishima" Makoto also said.
"All personnel go to Level One battle stations, quickly!" Misato ordered "Are the pilots already in the Evas?"
"Shinji and Asuka are already on board in their respective units" Maya confirmed "But I'm unable to locate where Rei is"
"Don't worry, I've already informed her of the situation, she's on her way. Launch units 01 and 02 to the surface for now" said Misato, well aware of the blue-haired girl's whereabouts, but evidently not wanting to reveal anything about them "Shinji, Asuka, do you hear me?"
"Yes" both replied through the intercom of their EVAs.
"The Geo-Front is under attack by ground and air troops of the Special Forces" the woman said "We are sending you to the surface, activate your AT fields and keep them at bay, for now that should be enough"
"Understood" both pilots agreed.
Several meters behind Misato, Fuyutsuki observed the images displayed by the command center screens with regret "After the war against the angels, the only enemies left for humanity are humans themselves" the man murmured "They have mobilized an entire division... at this rate the occupation of the headquarters it's a matter of time"
Gendo stood up from his seat, giving the man an unreadable look "Fuyutsuki, I'll leave the rest to you"
The deputy commander held Gendo's gaze for a few moments, after which he nodded "Very well" he said as the commander began to head to the elevator "Give my regards to Yui…"
Gendo disappeared behind the doors of the elevator that connected the command center with the rest of the facilities. Not too far away from there, next to Misato, Ritsuko had carefully observed the scene.
Shinji took a deep breath as Unit 01 was launched towards the surface, trying to calm himself "Everything is decided today..." the boy thought, unable to help but feel nervous. Everything they had been fighting for in the recent months was coming to a head and it was up to them to make sure things turned out well. Shinji closed his eyes, synchronizing with Eva 01 "Mom... if you can hear me somehow... please give me the strength to face what is coming today" the boy thought. Somehow, the interior of the entry plug felt more welcoming after that. Shinji smiled softly.
Asuka, respectively, was having a similar train of thoughts. Like Shinji, it was the first time that she was aboard her Eva with the knowledge of the secret hidden in its core "Mom... if you're there... today I'm going to make you feel proud" the girl thought with determination in her eyes.
Both Evas finally surfaced. Asuka opened the intercom with Eva 01, her face appearing in Shinji's entry plug "The final battle awaits us…" she murmured.
"Seems to be the case" Shinji said while nodding slightly.
"Are you nervous?" the redhead asked.
"A little…" Shinji acknowledged "You?"
"More than I would like..." the Second Child admitted before her lips curved in a confident smile, her eyes flaring with determination "But make no mistake, I'm not going to hold back one bit. Today we are going to win"
"Well said" the Third Child agreed, mirroring the girl's expression.
After that exchange of words, the pilots took a look at the surroundings. At a certain distance from there they could distinguish the different military vehicles that had been mobilized for the attack, as well as ground troops. They did not take long to attack them. Dozens of missiles began to fly towards units 01 and 02. However...
"Ha, do you really think you can do something to us with those pathetic weapons?" Asuka said smugly. The girl deployed her AT field, causing all the projectiles to crash against it, causing harmless explosions for them "Even without the AT fields, both of us are protected by twelve thousand plates of special armor... you don't stand a chance!"
The military planes, rapidly approaching them from the flank, began to relentlessly rain down all the projectiles they had. Several of them launched missiles of considerable caliber, so large that they were comparable in size to the Evas themselves.
"Oh, that's a little better..." Asuka said as she watched the huge missiles approach. She raised a hand, and Unit 02's AT field projected forward in front of her, causing them to explode quite far away from her position "…but still not good enough"
Unit 02 rushed towards the military planes, destroying them one by one without any effort. Shinji, respectively, was just limiting himself to raising his AT field between the troops and ground vehicles and them, completely blocking all the projectiles they were launching. Then, one of the military planes decided to flank its AT field on the opposite side where Asuka was, with evident intentions of attacking Unit 01 instead. The boy noticed this, however, and before the plane could finish flanking him, Eva 01 emitted a flash from his eyes, projecting a beam that directly hit the plane, destroying it instantly.
This favorable situation of the Evas against the Special Forces continued for a few more moments, until finally the remaining planes turned around and began to move away, apparently retreating.
"Oh, is that all?" Asuka asked smugly, her confidence through the roof "Pathetic... is this all it takes to make all of you run away with your tail between your legs?"
"How strange…" Shinji murmured with a narrowed frown once he observed the ground troops "The planes are all retreating at the same time, but the tanks back there are not moving…"
Then, Misato's face appeared in the intercom of both Evas "Careful, guys! The MAGI have detected the presence of a SU-33 flying over us!" exclaimed the woman "They are going to drop an N2 bomb on you!"
Shinji and Asuka's eyes widened.
NERV's security personnel had barricaded themselves just outside of the gates of the main entrance to the facilities. It was a matter of time before the ground troops of the special forces started their invasion of the headquarters. Most of the entrances had been secured with Bakelite by Misato's order once they knew NERV was under attack, but in the case of the main entrance that would be moot as soon as the special forces used explosives, due to its layout. They'll have to intercept them first.
Several minutes of waiting had passed, when the gates were finally blown up. Before the smoke could clear, dozens of heavily armed soldiers crossed the gates, quickly heading for the stairs that connected the entrance to the rest of NERV's facilities. The security personnel prepared to shoot the intruders... when a huge AT field formed between them and the Special Forces.
"What the…?" one of the security workers muttered out loud.
"Sorry for the wait" said a voice behind him. NERV's personnel turned, observing how a pale boy with red eyes levitated above the stairs, approaching them.
"You are..." said another of the security employees.
"Go to the shelters... I'll take care of this" Kaworu said with a confident smile.
Rei was standing next to the female pilots' locker room, already dressed in her white Plug-Suit. Although she had her usual serious expression, the girl was far from feeling calm at that moment. As if it were not enough with the alarm signals that were ringing non-stop throughout the Geo-Front, warning all personnel of the attack that was being carried out on the facilities, Shinji and Asuka had left for their Evas a few minutes ago, so they would undoubtedly already be on the surface, facing whatever was up there at that moment. Rei wanted nothing more than to be able to go to Unit 00, get on board and go to the surface to help them, but she knew that she had to wait.
First… she had to take care of something else of vital importance.
The blue-haired girl finally noticed the presence of another person walking in the hallway she was in. Rei directed her eyes towards said person, and met the serious face of Commander Ikari, approaching her at a surprisingly calm pace, given the circumstances. The man closed the distance that separated him from her and gave her an unreadable look, which the First Child could notice even through the man's tinted glasses.
"It's time, Rei" the commander said, his voice collected and precise "I need your assistance inside Terminal Dogma"
Rei suppressed the urge to contort her face into a grimace, showing her displeasure at those words and what they implied. Instead, she kept her neutral expression and nodded "Yes, sir" she said.
"Follow me" said Gendo, after which he walked again, this time in the direction of the elevator at the end of the hallway.
Rei began to follow the man, her face still frozen in a stoic neutral expression. Her eyes, however, were filled with determination.
To be continued...