sup. Did y'all miss me? I expect not. This fanfic's update schedule is slow enough that I probably lose a lot of readers to "forgot it even existed" syndrome. Well, I'm back to spam your mailing lists all over again anyway! Enjoy.

X-X-X

Chapter 22

X-X-X

"This loss is… unfortunate."

"Hmm." Fuyutsuki tilted his head. "How so? Unit One is still intact and undamaged. She scanned clean."

"Unit One is the keystone," Gendo replied, his tone neutral. "But a keystone must still have the rest of the arch in place. Unit Two, and the second child, are currently NERV's strongest attack dogs. Their removal from the duty roster leaves us vulnerable."

"I suppose she has been quite useful." The sub-commander nodded. "She autonomously stopped the incursion in the Eva bays, and successfully terminated the angel without severely damaging its host. I hadn't even considered that Iruel might make a two-pronged attack."

"Even I had deemed it unlikely." Gendo stared into the distance. "The Second's demotion and removal from duty are mere theater, though. For the foreseeable future, Unit Two will be out of service for extensive repairs - a complete reactor replacement, for one. I expect that this is just SEELE trying to send me a message."

"It would be in their character."

"Indeed." The Commander's fingers were laced together in their eternal brooding pose as he leaned forward on his desk. "Ryoji is still employed by UN High Command. I shall have him investigate this order… as well as the delays around Unit 03. I want my force at full strength, and for that I need pressure on SEELE."

"Do you have a pilot yet?"

"I've been in correspondence with Marduk. They have narrowed it down to a few candidates, but they have asked for a final round of re-tests to ensure their final selection provides absolutely optimal performance."

"I see. So it should only be another week or two. That's good."

Gendo nodded. After a moment, he inclined his head a fraction of a degree, and his voice grew even quieter.

"Have Ryoji tailed. He will notice, but don't let slip that the tail is one of ours."

Fuyutsuki frowned. "You don't trust him, sir?"

"He's a career spy. Of course I don't trust him." There was no change in Gendo's voice, but the sub-commander couldn't help imagining a hard expression beneath the eternal orange sunglasses. "The hour has grown too late to risk any… mistakes."

A sigh. "I can't argue with that."

The Commander fell silent again, and Fuyutsuki decided that such was his cue to leave.

X-X-X

This body is 10.63 years old and its heart has beat 447,965,508 times.

Asuka had stepped off the UN Learjet in her Bundeswehr uniform, sans A10 clips. The lieutenant bars were also missing from her sleeve.

On the ride home - sandwiched in the back seat of Misato's car, between Mari and Rei - she'd remained stoic and silent, staring straight ahead with a dark expression.

It would appear she has also been demoted, as well as removed from duty. It is not surprising that she would be angry.

Still… she does not look angry, as she normally does, burning with fury like a beacon light. She looks cold. She looks defeated.

The thought made her want to shudder in distaste - and that in itself was a surprise; that she had invested enough attention in Asuka's well-being to form an emotional opinion on the subject.

It is only because she is my commanding officer… former commanding officer. A leader must be strong, after all.

Asuka is strong. She should feel strong. I don't want her to feel weak…

This body is 10.63 years old and its heart has beat 447,965,554 times…

Abruptly, the car lurched to a halt. Mari made a surprised sound, and went to open her door, but Rei beat her to it.

Asuka didn't so much as look in Rei's direction, stepping out of the car with the same sullen manner as before. Her steps were measured and her eyes fixed straight ahead as she stalked towards the apartment elevator.

"Asuka…"

The German girl froze, and Rei faltered, surprised by the sound of her own voice. Another heartbeat, and Asuka was turning, fixing Rei with the same look of hollow hostility.

Rei opened her mouth; but to say what, she would never know. She was rudely interrupted by a shrill ringing from her phone, and a second later, the wailing howl of an air raid siren echoing over the Tokyo-3 rooftops.

Asuka's glare softened, and she let out a small sound that might have been a laugh.

"Rei! Get back in the car!" Misato barked.

"Go on, Blue." Shaking her head, Asuka turned away, and began heading down the street to the local evacuation zone. "Go save the world."

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"How many?"

"Terrestrial AT arrays are showing at least four." A beep from one of the consoles. "Make that five."

"All identical."

"Just so, sir." Ritsuko's expression was grim as she swiped through several display overlays on her tablet. "The obvious conclusion is that these are seraphim, not true angels."

"And no pattern in their emergence?"

"Only that most are north. One signature has been spotted south of Toyko-3, and all the others are north."

"I assume there's no clear sign of a nexial point."

"MAGI are already on it, sir. They seem to have begun modeling the question as soon as the second emergence was spotted." Ritsuko looked at the tablet again, then back up on the big screen. "Not enough data to do much with yet, though. The signatures don't appear to be moving to attack."

Gendo sat unmoving for a while, gazing at the big screen. With beeping noise, a sixth signature appeared.

Finally, he spoke again - his voice measured, but hard. "Myself, Fuyutsuki and the entire staff of Sections One through Three are hereby on red standby until further notice. I want the control room at no less than fifty percent manpower, around the clock."

"Yessir."

"Captain Katsuragi."

"Yes, sir?"

"Draw up a patrol rotation. Starting with the First Child, I want at least one active Evangelion unit on the ground at Tokyo-3 street level at all times."

"Yessir."

"Doctor Akagi, have Section Three compile an uplink driver for Units One and Five with the Second Child's A10 profile."

"... Sir? The Second Child is off the duty roster -"

"You heard me, Doctor."

"Yessir."

X-X-X

The quiet in the shelter was eerie. From time to time someone would shift, or there would be an anxious, choked sob for a fraction of a second, but then it would be gone - sucked away into the tense silence.

This sucks.

Asuka had lost track of time. She knew it had been near noon when she'd run for the shelter entrance, but she wasn't sure of anything specific. She'd been in too much of a depressive fugue to pay much attention to anything.

The clock on her phone read 18:23.

Six hours… plus or minus two.

Some people had given her strange looks; most just stayed away from her corner. She wasn't wearing her A10 clips, but she was a child - fourteen, nearly fifteen - in a formal military uniform. And as a white German surrounded by a sea of Japanese faces, she wasn't exactly inconspicuous. Plenty of the sheltering civilians would have to have seen NERV's promotional materials.

Fortunately, no one had summoned the nerve to ask her why she was in the civilian shelter instead of on the battlefield.

The ground shook slightly, then again. A worried murmur rippled through the crowded hall.

It's fine. Those are the footsteps of an Eva walking at a normal pace.

Despite herself, though, Asuka shivered. Not knowing if she was safe, and lacking any means to defend herself, was torturous.

I hope Shinji can hold up his end of the fight. I hope Mari doesn't get herself killed with her reckless bullshit. I hope Rei can handle herself without her squad leader… Asuka shook her head again. They're fine, they'll be fine. They're your pilots, Asuka, your soldiers. They're strong; you've made them strong.

The earth shook again, and Asuka curled her arms a little tighter around her knees.

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