Matters of Faith

by jclong

Gendo is out to do some good, in the only way that he can; by being the most magnificent, manipulative bastard that he can be. Rei is out to help us all, by doing SCIENCE!

7. Chapter 6

In the darkness, a man's voice is heard, reading off a list of numbers. His tone is clinical and disinterested, with nothing invested in the subject matter being read. The numbers being discussed are related to the budget concerns of the Evangelion Project and the costs of Operation Yashima on top of the normal costs related to the operation of NERV itself. The numbers are so large there is no easy way to put it into perspective, the costs that have been run up being more than what several industrialized countries saw as a gross national product in the course of a year. Never has such an amount of money ever been physically seen, it is so large.

Another man's voice, this one infuriated and full of outrage, demands to know why Gendo allows such waste to occur. It is made clear to the assembled men that entire nations of people starve because there is no money for food with which to feed them. People die from diseases cured years ago because there is no money for vaccinations and health care.

As clinical and disinterested as the first man's voice was, Gendo's tone was more detached when he deigned to reply, sitting there in his seat, as unreadable and implacable as a mountain.

"It was the only way to defeat the Angel."

It was not said as an excuse nor as an apology. Gendo Ikari never gave either, to anyone. It was simply the statement of a fact, as if stating the earth revolved around the sun or a man required oxygen to breathe. If one could ever think of Gendo being interested in anything, one might accuse him of being bored of this meeting, such was the tone of his response.

In truth, he was bored of this meeting and all such meetings with the old men who made up the Human Instrumentality Committee and their hidden masters, SEELE. The meetings always followed the same format, but both SEELE and Gendo knew there would always be more money to throw into the black project that was NERV. Some, those on the committee who were not in the loop, not party to the particulars of the master plan of those who pulled their puppet strings, might think there was any actual threat to money being shunted away from his project, but they were fools.

They would list the costs of defending mankind, demand he not waste money in his attempts to do so, threaten to shunt funds away from him, and then tell him the rest of the meeting did not concern him.

It always was the same. Oh, of course, there were the occasional cries of nepotism, what with Katsuragi's daughter, Akagi's daughter, and his own son being part of NERV, but that novelty had run its course and could no longer amuse him.

After they had killed his connection to them, he sat alone in the dark, still positioned with his hands folded in front of his face, staring at nothing while his mind worked.

They had said nothing of the Jet Alone project despite the fact the ridiculous excuse for a combat device was nearing its first public display. In fact, they had never mentioned it once, not from its inception, throughout its development, and they probably wouldn't remark on it even after the first demonstrations.

Gendo, who employed more spies than both the United States and the Soviet Union during the height of the so-called "Cold War" and all sides of WWII combined, had known about the JA project from the moment the JSSDF had authorized initial funding. He had design staff, construction crews, and even janitorial staff on his payroll.

They were obviously hoping to surprise him when it was revealed, to show he was not the only one who could field weapons to bring the Angels down. To show him he was, in fact, replaceable. That they did not need the Evangelion Project.

He knew, as SEELE knew, this was a fallacy. The only way for SEELE to realize its ultimate goal, the assumption of the mantle of godhood, was through the Evangelion Project. Instrumentality could only be achieved with an Evangelion. So, while this Jet Alone was not a significant obstacle to him, it was still an obstacle to be dealt with. If his aims were to be realized, however, NERV had to retain complete and total autonomy and had to be publicly seen as the sole organization capable of defending humanity from the Angels.

Gendo Ikari had one response to obstacles in his path. Some might say he steamrolled over obstacles, leaving nothing behind in his wake but flat terrain. While it was true that after he passed an obstacle, there was nothing left, he would not liken the process to a steamroller. He used both speed and overwhelming force, striking suddenly and swiftly.

In other words, Gendo Ikari blitzkrieged.

Tired of standing in the shadows, Kozo coughed slightly. The seated man did not stir, but it was clear that after a moment, all his attention was on the older man. Kozo imagined to himself he felt the air around him grow colder.

"Are we done waiting here in the darkness like two spiders? I ask only because I feel like my knees are going to lock up, and I'd rather not deal with that right now."

Gendo grunted but pushed away from the table and stood up. "They said nothing of the Jet Alone project."

"I noticed, yes. If they are still on schedule, they should be sending out invitations to their public demonstration here in a week or two, yes?"

Gendo grunted again as they stepped out of the darkened room used for the long-distance conversations with the Committee and SEELE and into the well-lit corridor leading back to his office. "They are still on schedule. Dr. Akagi and Captain Katsuragi will both be attending the demonstration, representing NERV."

Kozo nodded to some lower-ranked members of NERV as they passed by. Gendo didn't act as if he had seen them.

"Everything is in place for the demonstration. A remote-controlled device incapable of being controlled is of no use to anyone. It is more a liability than anything else."

"So you are still going with Plan A, then." The old professor stated a fact, not unlike the commander a short while ago. There was no question in his comment.

"Yes. If they begin evacuation when the situation becomes clear, casualties should be kept to a minimum. They will be refugees, but there are so many refugees in this world and another city's worth will be a small drop in the ocean."

"And if they do not?" Kozo asked, playing devil's advocate.

"People will die." Gendo pulled a report from the stack of paperwork on his desk and flipped it open, beginning to read. It was a status update on the progress of Unit-02 in Germany. Carefully encoded in the report was another report, about the status of the spy's plan to steal ADAM from the SEELE laboratory. Everything was on track, according to both reports.

Fuyutsuki stood again and left for his own office, some floors down. He would review the reports sitting on his own desk, most of them relating to the last battle with the Angel Ramiel, already a week past. Once he was done, however, he would be free to take a nap. When Ikari was here, there was little for him to do on a daily basis. Which he felt was a good thing, because he wasn't entirely sure he could give the order to send a mobile nuclear reactor currently melting down into the middle of a densely populated city so calmly and without hesitation.

Gendo Ikari Fact #2: When you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss stares into you. When Gendo Ikari stares into the Abyss, the Abyss gets nervous.

It is perhaps that he was lost in his thoughts, which, considering the weighty nature of the thoughts he had to think on a daily basis, working as a double agent in Ikari's war against SEELE, why he only nodded in passing to the test pilot as she exited Captain Katsuragi's office with a light skip in her step. It wasn't until he had taken a seat in his chair that fact caught up with him, causing him to start.

What was she doing in the Captain's office? What is she doing here at Central today? A quick glance at the calendar showed that, yes, there were indeed no tests scheduled for today, and her next image download wasn't until the beginning of next week. I don't think I've ever seen her here when she wasn't scheduled to be here before. Did the Captain want to talk to her about something? He groaned, rubbing his forehead. They were talking about the boy. Of course. Once again, Ikari whistles a tune and people jump up to dance to it. Shaking his head in disgusted disbelief, he got to work.

Vier, Drei, Zwei, Eins!

Captain Katsuragi, or, as she often would tell people to call her, Misato, was busy with what she considered the worst part of her job; the seemingly unending paperwork. She had to stay on top of the repair and maintenance schedules for the Evangelions, keep track of ammunition supplies for various weapons systems directly used by the cyborgs (thankfully, she didn't need to keep track of supplies for the hard-point city defenses, that was handled by another captain who kept her appraised of the overall status and provided a detailed breakdown when she requested it), the maintenance of the Evangelion weapons systems, and more. So, even during the interludes in between Angel attacks, she was hard at work in the office, making sure she could effectively field the troops assigned to her. It made her yearn for the days when she was only a lieutenant in the JSSDF, in command of a tank platoon. Maybe I'll hit up the gym later today for some stress relief. She looked up when she heard her office door open and close, and blinked a few times, not sure if she was actually seeing who she thought she was. She shot a look at her calendar, only to confirm there were no tests scheduled for today. She looked back to her visitor, who was quietly standing there in front of her desk.

Confused, she still forced a cheerful tone. "Hello Rei! Can I help you? Did someone schedule a sync test and forget to tell me about it did they?" Of course, if that were the case, Ritsuko would be down here yelling my ear off.

"Captain, I am here to compare notes with you on Pilot Ikari, as you requested last week."

Misato stared at the girl, not understanding at first, then recalling what she was talking about. "Oh! Ohhh... okay." She wants to talk about Shinji! A mix of apprehension and a thrill of girlish delight ran through Misato. It had been a long time indeed since she had last gossiped about boys with someone, but... this was Rei. She definitely did not seem the type to want to gossip about boys, even if you looked at their age disparity, and... it was Rei. Rei, who wanted to talk about Shinji. Still, it was at least a temporary diversion from the monotony of the paperwork she was wading through, and it might give her something new to tease her ward with when she went home.

"Let's go get something to drink while we gossip then, shall we?" Misato asked with a wink as she made her way to the door. Rei followed her silently down the hall to the alcove housing several vending machines. Misato swiped her card over the sensor and retrieved several cans of tea and a small package of blueberry muffins, but all Rei selected for herself was a bottle of water.

"Are you sure that's all you want?"

"It is sufficient."

Misato rolled her eyes. "Sure, it might be sufficient, but it might as well taste good. Besides, you can't have a good gossip session with just water!"

Gossip session? She must mean the exchanging of notes and comparison of observed data. But... I have observed other students 'gossiping' before, and there seems to be very little Scientific Data being discussed at all. It seemed very... frivolous. However, a large majority of these 'gossip sessions' did occur during the lunch period, and were accompanied by various drinks and food. Perhaps it is a prerequisite for a mutely beneficial exchange of information? I wonder if I should have paid more attention to some of these sessions. Perhaps there is some sort of stigma associated with ordering only water when there are other beverages available? That would explain Ikari's behavior during dinner...

Rei, deciding she had something else to experiment on, decided to obtain a basis on which to work, and selected two teas and a package of snack cookies, to Misato's approval. Provisions in hand, they returned to the office. Misato waved Rei to the low couch next to the door and cleared the center of her desk for their refreshments.

Grinning at the girl, she popped the tab on one can. "So, I've been meaning to ask him about that date you two went on a few days ago..."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

"Dude, come on. You can tell us, we won't blow her cover. We saw two of those things! Two! Just confirm it, that's all."

Shinji shook his head. "I'm not sure if I was supposed to let it out that I'm a pilot, let alone the identity of another pilot."

Toji looked over to his friends as Kensuke pestered Shinji about the identity of the second robot's pilot. The bespectacled boy had been trying to worm the information from the boy the moment he had shown back up to school.

"Kensuke, if he doesn't want to say anything, he doesn't want to say anything. Besides, you don't need him to confirm anything, because I figured it out after seeing the damn thing. There's only one explanation that makes any sense, and you know it. If you're not going to blow her cover, you don't need the Shin-man here to verify anything."

Shinji shot the jock a grateful look, but Toji wasn't done yet. "What you should be pestering him is how he managed to get past Ayanami's cold, icy exterior and get her to go out on a date with him."

Shinji, flustered, sputtered out a garbled response as the trio arrived at the arcade. "It's not like that!" He managed to get out as they filed into the dark and deafeningly loud parlor.

Kensuke grinned again. "Just like it wasn't like that when you were ogling her during gym class? It's not like that when you go ballistic on people over little misunderstandings?"

Shinji continued to blush. "I thought we weren't going to mention that anymore."

Toji shrugged as he dropped coins into the multiplayer flight sim. "So, are you two an item now? Because, well, you know, she's never shown a real interest in anyone before. If people get wind she might be on the market, you'll have to beat some of them off with a stick. Yeah, she's weird, but she's also hot. Back before you got here, like, a year or so ago, dudes would ask her out and stuff. She never shot them down, you see, she never said anything. Just stared at them until they left. Weird as all get out. But once word gets out she went out with you, well, you'll have dudes asking you how you managed it, and then you'll have dudes asking her out again."

While Shinji was mulling that over, Kensuke slipped into the other seat of the simulator. "I don't see what you have to worry about. Have your security detail scare them off, or something."

"I couldn't do that!"

Toji laughed. "Like how you never want to ask them for a ride? It can't be an inconvenience to them, I mean, they already have to follow you around. They might as well give you a lift from place to place."

"Whatever. So when are you going to spill the secret of what you two did on your date? That's far from being classified information."

Shinji was wishing he had never let it slip to them that he had had dinner with the 'Ice Queen' as she was sometimes called. It might not be so bad if they had gone to dinner right after the battle, when both were still on the massive adrenaline rush that accompanied combat, but they had put it off until after the next day.

It was enough time for Shinji to work himself into a nervous wreck, obsessing over every little thing, trying to figure out what it was he was expected to do. Misato had been absolutely no help at all, merely laughing and handing him a box of condoms. He fervently hoped that was just the alcohol at work.

Rei, on the other hand, had spent the time trying to figure out how to pry information from him without skewing the data and future experiments. She also came up with no less than seventy-five different scenarios in which to attempt physical contact without overtly drawing attention to it. She was looking forward to the meal, both as it would provide her an opportunity to closely observe him, free from other variables, and because her unconsciousness was screaming at her to claim the Angel destroying stud-muffin for her own before some harlot from school tried to do so.

As could be expected, the dinner was a disaster. The only people who had fun that night were the off-duty Section-2 personnel of both Groups 4 and 6, who were sitting in a bar near the restaurant, doing shots whenever the situation was awkward, whenever Shinji blushed or stammered, and whenever Rei said or did something out of a bad romance comedy.

By the time the main meal had arrived, they were all roaring drunk, and starting to scare the bartender, as the men and women had scared the rest of his patrons out of the establishment with brandished firearms. He also wasn't very reassured by the fact the live feed being displayed on the televisions showed the interior of the posh restaurant down the street.

They spent most of the meal in silence, punctuated with the odd question and strange movements from both diners. At the end of the night, both participants were entirely miserable, but for different reasons. Shinji was fairly certain that while she did not hate him, she wasn't particularly interested in him, at all.

Shinji sighed, "It's not that she doesn't have a personality. I mean, it's not fair to call her the Ice Queen. She's got a sense of humor."

Toji stopped piloting his aircraft to stick his head out the side of the game to stare in open disbelief at his friend. "She has a sense of humor? Ayanami?" The game promptly informed Toji that the other player had shot him down but was ignored by the incredulous jock. "I can buy you're a pilot. I can buy that she is. What I can't buy is Rei having a sense of humor."

"No, I mean, well, it's a strange sense of humor, but... I could tell that it was there. She's just.. really good at hiding it."

Toji shook his head. "Uh-huh. And how can you tell this thing exists?" He ignored another player defeat message and Kensuke's exultant cry of victory.

"Well, it's the way she smiles at some things..."

"Wait, so now she's smiling at things?"

"She smiles!" Shinji protested, although he had a sinking feeling this was a battle he was going to lose.

"Yeah huh. So what's the problem then, exactly? If she is all smiling and making jokes for you, something we've certainly never seen, she must like you."

"Well, I'm not sure if that's the case. We didn't really talk during dinner. It was supposed to be a victory dinner, you know, with everyone being alive. But... I dunno... I guess I don't know all that much about her still."

Shaking his head while pulling himself back inside the simulator, only to groan when he saw the score Kensuke had racked up while he was distracted. "Well, you like her right? Then what you need to do is find out more about her. Talk to the people she knows."

That would be a very short list. I think of all the people at NERV she interacts with on a regular basis is Father and Dr. Akagi. I don't think there's anyone at school. Maybe Horaki? The class rep should know something about her, at least.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Rei had ended the night staring at her ceiling trying to figure out where she had gone wrong with the boy, as none of her brilliant plans to initiate physical contact had succeeded satisfactorily. None of her verbal probes had revealed anything of note she didn't already know, either. So, apart from the mild enjoyment of his company during the meal, the night had not ended in a manner she felt conducive to enabling further research with him. It left a bitter taste in her mouth.

As she closed the door to the Captain's office behind her, she was deep in thought and so did not notice the Sub-Commander as he passed by. Of course, even if she had noticed, it was unlikely she would have done anything to acknowledge him.

While I am certainly relieved the Captain does not have a similar interest in Pilot Ikari as I do, I must say that for someone who is filling a role as an older sister, she was depressingly unable to provide any real insight into her ward. Still, this visit was beneficial in clearing up several questions. It is also gratifying to know she was not hiding an interest in Science from me. That would have changed the results of several past experiments and invalidated much research.

Hypothesis: Ikari somewhat resents my closer relationship with the Commander. While all evidence supports this, I do not foresee it being a major obstacle, if I implement some of the Captain's suggestions.

Hypothesis: I may have to sacrifice personnel objectivity entirely in my research with him if I am to further enjoy physical contact. The pros and cons of sacrificing him as a test subject for a wider assortment of tests will have to be evaluated.

Hypothesis: Direct information gathering from those who know him, as opposed to external observation may yield more data. Subjects for interview could include the Commander, the Class Representative, and Students Suzahara and Aida.

She stopped walking and tilted her head to one side, reviewing her last hypothesis.

The Commander may not be amiable to being interviewed about his son, especially in the light of the experiments I wish to preform. While he did encourage me to decrease the distance between us, I do not believe he would allow the course I wish to engage in. Even if we are not related biologically, the Commander is, for all intents and purposes, our father. Incest has traditionally had a stigma associated with it, even among blended family groupings.

Interviewing the Class Representative should be the easiest. I already have a solid basis on how to engage in a 'gossip session', and simply will have to wait until an opportunity presents itself at school.

While interviewing the other students will be more problematic, I do not foresee any issues that cannot be resolved. Is it not said; 'Speak softly, and carry a flamethrower, and all the world will rush to hear what you have to say?'

While waiting for the elevator, she was pulled from her thoughts as her cell phone rang. As there was no alarm klaxon ringing, she knew it could only be one person calling her; the Commander.

"Yes?"

"Rei, come to my office."

"Yes."

The phone disconnected the call, and she tucked it back into her pocket. Once the elevator arrived, she took it to the floor on which the Commander's office was. She knocked thrice at the door, having been informed long ago that even though she had been summoned, she must still announce her presence by knocking on the door and wait for permission to enter. Sure enough, the door's lock buzzed and she entered, the automatic door shutting behind her.

The Commander watched her from behind his desk, his gaze piercing and calculating. Eventually, he spoke, with the barest hints of interest present in his voice.

"How are things, Rei?"

"They are acceptable. The repair schedule for Unit-00 is being adhered to, with no deviations. I am physically recovered from the battle, and no lasting damage was taken."

"I see you paid Captain Katsuragi a visit today."

"Yes."

"How is school?"

"It is fine. It was not damaged during the last battle, and classes have resumed according to the regular schedule."

"I read that you and Pilot Ikari had dinner together, at Rosewater's earlier this week."

"Yes." She paused and then continued. "It was a celebratory dinner. To celebrate our victory over the Angel."

"Indeed." He pulled a paper out from one of the stacks on his desk, scanning it. "The Rosewater restaurant is considered to be a high-class restaurant, is it not?"

Unsure as to where he was going with this, Rei decided that, yes, a four-star restaurant probably was considered to be high-class. "Yes."

"But both of you wore your school uniforms there. Surely this was outside the restaurant's dress code?"

It would explain some of the looks the other patrons wore. We were violating the accepted local social norms. "Yes."

He shuffled the paper back into the stack and withdrew another. "Perhaps you should obtain clothing suitable for such a restaurant? If you decide to hold more celebratory dinners in the future."

Is he telling me to have dinner with his son again? Or is he telling me to obtain a wider assortment of clothing, more in line with the normally used garments for different situations and places?

"Yes."

"You are free to go then Rei. Thank you for clarifying things for me." Gendo turned his attention to another sheet of paperwork, and Rei left his office, new thoughts swimming through her mind.

Clarifying things? I do not believe anything was made clear in our conversation. Perhaps I should seek assistance with obtaining a wider assortment of garments. Perhaps Ikari would be of assistance in the selection of additional garments. We would be able to procure the required items at the same time, thus saving time and enabling further research sooner.

Satisfied with her projected course of action, she left the Geo-Front for the surface, eagerly looking forward to the next school day, for she had several new experiments to conduct.

While he wasn't particularly engrossed in the racing simulator, nonetheless, it took Kensuke tapping him on his shoulder to get his attention. "Hey man, your phone's been ringing for a couple of minutes now."

Scrambling for his phone, he flipped it open to see "No Number" displayed. So it's not an Angel Alert. Who could be calling me?

Thumbing the call button, he put it to his head tentatively. "H-hello?"

To his massive shock, his father's voice, cold and unfeeling responded. "Pilot Ikari, report to my office immediately."

The phone beeped, signaling the call had terminated. Shinji closed the phone, shaking softly. What could he want? Did I do something wrong? Try as he might, he couldn't think of any reason why his father would want to see him.

Kensuke, watching his friend with growing unease, leaned against the sim. "Hey man, what's wrong?"

"Uh... nothing. I just have to go to NERV is all."

"Now? But I thought you said..." The bespectacled teen glanced around, and leaned in, his voice lower. "It's not an attack is it?"

"No, well, I don't think so. I've never been told about an attack like this before. I think I might be in trouble again."

"For what? You haven't done anything. You don't even confirm things I all but know are true!"

Shinji shrugged, already walking for the exit. "I'll see you guys at school tomorrow, OK?"

"Yeah, OK. See ya man."

Outside, Shinji started walking towards the train station, when he had an idea. He changed course and veered off towards the black sedan parked unobtrusively down the road. As he approached, the driver's side window rolled down.

Swallowing and trying not to lose his nerve, he walked up to it. "I am supposed to report to the Commander's office as soon as possible. Is there a faster way to get to Central than the trains?"

The two men sitting in the front exchanged, looked at each other, and shrugged. Shinji heard the locks on the doors disengage, and the rear passenger door opened. "Get inside."

Climbing inside, he saw a third man sitting in the back seat, holding an MP5. He nodded at him as he buckled in. "T-thank you"

"Not a problem, Mr. Ikari."

They sped through the roads and alleyways of Tokyo-3, getting to a nondescript building like so many others in the fortress city: low, squat, and heavily fortified and reinforced. Inside the warehouse, an express vehicle lift kicked into action, sending them down into the bowels of the earth. If one likened Tokyo-3 to a castle, which many did, then the Geo-Front was its keep, the fortress within a fortress, the last line of defense.

The analogy was rather lost on Shinji, who wasn't much of a student of European architecture or history.

Likewise, not being much of a student of Western religions, the placement of his father's desk at the head of the Tree of Sephiroth was also lost on him. What wasn't was that the glowing emblem made his father's office really creepy.

He stood there alone with his father. The Sub-Commander was not present for some reason, absent from his normal place slightly behind and to the left of his father's chair.

He wilted under the impassive gaze of his father, who sat there, silently watching him. Then he shifted and pulled a paper from one of the stacks atop his desk.

"I received a report that you and the First Child had dinner together."

Swallowing hard, he somehow managed to keep his voice from trembling. "Yes, Father."

"The report also mentioned it was at the Rosewater restaurant. How did you manage to obtain a reservation there? They have an age restriction and a dress code."

This time, there was no hiding his nervousness, shifting his eyes from his father to the glowing symbol on the floor. "W-when I asked one of my S-section 2 escorts about a place to c-celebrate at... h-he suggested it, a-and said he would take care o-of the reservation."

His father said nothing, and when Shinji looked up again, he saw him putting the paper into another pile and withdrawing a second sheet.

"Third Child, you will find there are... some unofficial... 'perks' to being a Pilot. This city is indeed a Company City. NERV is the law here, and I am NERV. Do not abuse these 'perks' further."

Watching his son visibly cringe, he continued. "If you dine at Rosewater again, I suggest you obtain clothing that meets the dress code."

Shinji's brain crashed. What? Is... is that what he called me in here to say?

"I will not have the Pilots giving NERV a bad name or public image. I trust that I am understood?"

"Y-yes, Father."

"Good."

There was silence for a few moments as Shinji watched his father make a few notations on the sheet before trading it for another one. Thinking they were done, he turned to go, but was stopped by his father's voice.

"How is school?"

School? "It's fine."

"I see you have not joined any of the after-school clubs. Extracurricular activities are important. Your duties at NERV come first, but the time restraints placed on you do not preclude you from attending some of the clubs."

"Err.. yes, Father."

Gendo shifted to another document. "I would suggest the book club, or possibly the strings group."

"Yes, father."

"That is all. You may go now."

Shinji refrained from bolting for the door and made it to the elevator before collapsing in shock and disbelief. What just happened in there? Is he actually interested in how I'm doing in school? He wasn't sure how to feel about that. It raised several questions he wasn't sure he liked, or how to answer them. If he's interested now, did he keep track of my education during the time we never spoke? Has he been keeping tabs on me my entire life? Why do that, unless he cares, but if he cares, why send me away? Why treat me the way he does? And if he doesn't care about me, why bother asking me about school and clubs?

It would not be until much later that his frazzled brain would figure out his father's ambiguous statement about not abusing the unofficial perks of his position could be taken to be a sort of blank check.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Misato stared at her closed door for several minutes after half of her pilot corps left. Major portions of her brain had shut down from horror and shock. Looking at her clock, she saw it was only noon. Deciding that she didn't care, she locked her computer and left. She needed the sweet release of the alcohol-induced haze. It wasn't right, no it wasn't right at all that the universe was such an uncaring bastard it would just dump her into Ayanami's inner thoughts like that. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, Misato wondered about the Commander's parenting style and choices.

She staggered through the corridors, headed for the surface and freedom. There was light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel was very long. Even the adrenaline rush she normally got from driving insanely did little for her, the thrill of the speed and danger seeming shallow and unfulfilling.

Once inside her home, she noted Shinji was still out. Good. I don't think I could face him right now. That poor, poor, doomed boy. Rei is crushing hard on him, and he had no idea what she wanted to do to him. She did see Pen-Pen, and drew the protesting penguin into a tight embrace, rocking back and forth on the floor for a few minutes, relishing the downy softness of his feathers.

Releasing him finally, she threw open the refrigerator and took stock of her beer supplies. Maybe, just maybe, I have enough. Cracking open the first of many cans, she got to work. These children were so awkward it physically hurt to think about. Hopefully, the girl would take her suggestions to heart and not ruin things between the two of them before they got started. She would have to figure out how to get him set on the right course to get Rei as well, but that was a problem for future Misato. Present Misato wanted to drink the second-hand embarrassment away.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

It was raining outside, the pounding sheets of water instantly soaking anything or anyone foolish enough to venture outside. Thus, there was a larger than normal amount of students who elected to take their lunch in the classroom, either unwilling or to lazy to go to the cafeteria downstairs.

Shinji yawned, looking around the class. He had been up later than normal last night, cleaning up the horrific mess Miss Misato had generated. He wasn't entirely sure what had brought it on, for he had not seen it anywhere near as bad as it was when he got home yesterday from NERV since he had first moved in. Empty beer cans littered the place, as well as delivery food boxes. Thankfully she had kept her clothing on for once. Small victories.

He stared at the lunch he had brought for himself. It had been a hurried affair, being in actuality some leftovers from her delivery food he had scraped into his box. It was still as edible and palatable as it had been last night, which wasn't saying much, in his opinion. He didn't feel like eating right now.

He stood, dropped his box on Toji's desk, and headed for the classroom door. Toji, already eating, barely seconds after the bell had rung, swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and called after him. "Hey, Shin-man, where ya headed? You ain't hungry?"

"No, I'm not. I need to check something in the library. I'll be right back." He closed the door after him, moving down the hall in the sea of students.

Toji looked at Hikari, who was eating with them that day. "What's he gonna do in the library?"

The pig-tailed girl shook her head. "I don't know." She paused, looking thoughtful. "We don't have any research projects right now. Maybe he wants to check out a book for pleasure reading?"

Toji shrugged. "I dunno, I don't think I've ever seen him read a book for fun."

"Well, it could be for later, you know, at home."

"I don't think I've ever heard him mention that he likes to read either."

Growing exasperated, she pointed a finger at him accusingly. "You don't know all that much about him anyway. What are his hobbies? Tell me one."

"I don't think he has any. I mean, yeah he hangs out sometimes with us at the arcade, but other than that, I don't know what he does. Besides work, you know."

"That can't possibly take up all of his time. He has to do something to unwind."

Toji grinned. "Yeah? So what do you do?"

She turned red. "That's none of your business! What I do in my spare time is my business!"

"And so what he does isn't? But I still don't see him as the book-reading type."

Kensuke finished chugging one of the energy drinks that made up his normal lunch. "He said he was going to check something, not check something out. He's just looking for information."

She turned to give him a frank stare. "OK, then, Mr. Semantics, what's he going to check? What information is in the library that's not available on the school network?" She took a small bite of her own lunch, which she had made last night.

None of the trio noticed Rei walking up to them. She had, of course, noted Shinji's departure. His comment had also not gone unnoticed, but she was also at a loss as to what information he sought, even if she did agree with Student Aida as to the meaning of his statement. However, Ikari was not the subject she was interested in at the moment. At least, not directly. She stood behind Toji, holding one arm with the other, suddenly uncertain as to the best way to phrase her request. Kensuke froze with his second drink halfway to his mouth, and Hikari stopped in mid-chew, both staring at the suddenly self-conscious girl.

"Class Representative Horaki, I... I would like to engage in..." Rei searched for the best way to say it, not entirely sure that using the term 'gossip session' was best. She had, in the past, observed a social stigma attached to those who stated things bluntly, even if it was the most direct method of exchanging ideas and information. Finally selecting something she felt was suitable, she continued. "I wish to engage you in conversation on the various merits and demerits of Student Ikari as opposed to other males in our age group." Seeing that no response was forthcoming from the stunned girl, she added "I am able to provide refreshments, if this is an issue. I have brought a selection of canned beverages and muffins."

If a pin were to drop in the classroom, the sound would have been ear-splittingly loud. Everyone who remained in the classroom sat in hushed anticipation, watching and waiting for their Class Rep's response.

In a sudden burst of movement, Hikari stood, scooping her food up in one hand, grabbed one of Rei's wrists with the other, and fled the room, the eminently confused girl in tow.

Toji swallowed his mouthful of food. "Ken, did Ayanami say what I think she said?"

"Yes, Toji, I do believe that she did say what you think she said. Did she really just ask Hikari for her opinion on the Shin-man?"

"Good. For a minute there I thought I was going insane." He resumed his meal, shoveling the rest of his sandwich into his mouth, and opened up the box Shinji had given him.

Kensuke looked at his friend. "So what are we going to tell him?"

"Tell who what?" Toji asked around a mouthful of food.

Kensuke rolled his eyes. "Ikari. What are we going to tell 'Student Ikari'? He made quotation marks with his fingers in the air.

"We're not saying a damn thing about it. I don't want any of that crazy on me."

"And what was all that about 'refreshments'?" He again made quotation marks in the air.

"Ken, what did I just say about not wanting any crazy on me?"

"C'mon, man, this is an earth-shattering event here. Do you mean we're going to let it pass on by? You're not interested in finding out what she thinks about him? I mean, this is the first time she's shown an interest in anything. Normally she just stares out the window."

"She always stares out the window. She's weird."

"It's Ayanami. If you looked in a dictionary for the definition of the word weird you'd find her picture. But that's the point. If she's suddenly interested in him, after all this time, what does that mean?"

"That..." Toji shook his head again. "No, I'm not even going to talk about this. Every time you rope me into something, it goes south for me. I'm just going to sit here and eat," he said, shoveling cold noodles into his mouth to punctuate his point, "and forget anything ever happened. If you're so interested, go find them and listen in."

"Nah, I didn't bring any eavesdropping gear with me today." He took a swig from his drink and then rolled his eyes at his friend's incredulous stare. "What, I'm not allowed to have spy devices now?"

"When did you get spy stuff?"

"Oh, I'm making them. It's actually pretty easy when you get down to it."

"You want to be a spy now? What happened to bugging Shinji for a recommendation to be a pilot?"

"Well, I was looking at the stuff I got on the things, and I was thinking about that one day. Some things just don't add up. A normal cockpit does not look like a featureless gray tube one minute, and then look like what it should the next. That means they are using some sort of brain interface. Those things we saw on his head probably help with it." He tapped his own head in the approximate areas the A10 connectors went before continuing on. "Do you remember the control yoke system they had in there? I don't think he actually uses it for anything. If I'm right, the only reason it's there is because part of his brain expects a hardware control setup. If he's getting all the audio and video feeds piped into his brain, that means they have some sort of input/output connection. They input sensory data, and he sends output to the machine itself."

He paused to drink from the half-forgotten can, still building steam in his detailed explanation. "Now, I'm sure I don't need to tell you that messing around with your brain isn't that good of an idea. There might be reasons why those two are so withdrawn. If it wasn't for the spectacular way in which we met him, I don't think he would have any friends at all. There's something... off about them. They're shut in on themselves. I mean, we still have to twist Ikari's arm to get him to go to the arcade."

Finishing off the can, he popped the tab on his third and final drink. "The next item is even worse than hooking things up into your brain. He felt it. He felt what happened to the thing. It got stabbed, and he felt it in his gut. You know it, and I know it. I felt like I got kicked in the stomach." He lowered his voice and drew in close to Toji. "I didn't say anything to anyone else, but after they let us go when I got home, I had two small red marks, like burns, on my stomach. I'm willing to bet that if you had looked at Ikari, he'd have the same. And I bet if you had looked at the Eva right after the fight if you matched up the spots, it would be right where it got stabbed." He pulled back now, his point made.

"If you're driving a car, and you hit another car, you might bounce around a little and get hurt that way. But you don't break your nose because someone smashes your fender in. You don't break an arm or a leg because a tire goes flat. You don't get cut when someone keys your car."

Toji silently nodded, food forgotten. He's right. He's completely right. It makes absolutely no sense at all. He felt a sudden stab of guilt for simply putting it all out of his mind, for dismissing the innate wrongness of how it all had been. He had just wanted to put it all behind him and get on with his life, and that was fine. What wasn't fine was he had promised himself that he would make up for his previous idiocy by befriending the pilot, who had seemed so fragile in those few minutes they had shared in the dark cockpit of the robot after the fight. He had needed a friend, and he would be one. But he had been ignoring some vital facts about what his friend did, and what it might mean to him. Unfortunately, there was nothing he was able to do about any of it. Except try harder to be a good friend.

Kensuke continued on with his spiel. "So, while I'm still interested in the whole thing, it's more out of curiosity than an actual desire to pilot one of those things."

The boy's conversation was interrupted by another classmate walking up to them. It was Arata, another boy who had been on the school's track team while it had existed. He did not, however, share Toji's proclivity towards wearing the tracksuit in lieu of the regular uniform.

"Hey, Toji. So, did Ayanami actually ask the Class Rep about the Ikari kid's 'merits and demerits?"

"Looks like it, Arata."

Arata smiled and stretched his arms as if getting limber and loosened up before a track meet. "I guess I'm going to have to discuss my merits and demerits with her, then."

Still eating, Toji shook his head. "Wouldn't do that if I were you. My boy's a pilot of that robot, remember?"

Confused, Arata pulled out a chair and sat down. "Yeah, so?"

"Mean's he's got a lot more going for him than you." Toji shrugged. "Besides, it's raining out."

Now extremely confused, Arata's tone showed his irritation. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"It means I'd hate to have to throw you out the window. Getting rained on, on top of a broken ankle or leg? Insult to injury." Toji swallowed his food. "It's be nicer than what Ikari would do to ya. He's sweet on Ayanami."

"I think I can take care of myself Toji. He's a bit of a runt."

"A runt that drives a monster-killing robot. I'm pretty sure they give him fighting classes outside the robot. Right, Kensuke?"

Kensuke nodded. "It's a pretty standard thing for military personnel. Especially pilots."

"But let's say he doesn't stomp you into the dirt. I'm pretty sure someone as important as him would have some sort of security detail following him around."

Kensuke crushed a can between his hands for emphasis. "Tasers, pepper spray, armor-penetrating bullets, knives... I'm sure they are pretty bored and are just waiting for an excuse to unload on someone. He can't be a very exciting of a person to guard."

Arata, looking slightly green, swallowed. "You know, forget I ever said anything. Really. Don't mention it." He moved back towards his seat but then looked out the window into the driving rain as if to see if there were bloodthirsty bodyguards prowling around.

The thing of it was, there were trench-coated men, still wearing sunglasses despite the downpour and gray sky, assembled down in the courtyard, as if the mere mention of them had caused them to appear. One of them pointed towards the window of the classroom. Four heads turned and looked up as one.

Arata nearly shit his pants.

Down in the courtyard, four men laughed so hard that tears formed, but all evidence of them was lost in the rain. One man frowned, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets. "Can we get out of the rain now that we're done being scary secret agents?"

The leader, the one who had pointed up at the window, grinned. "Alright, let's get out of the rain for Wet McSadpants here."

The complaining agent rolled his eyes. "Hahaha, very funny."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Ritsuko poked her head into Misato's office. "Misato? Are you in here?" The blond doctor heard a muffled groan coming from underneath the paper-strewn desk. Walking around the desk, she saw her friend curled up in a ball. "What on earth are you doing?"

The only part of Misato's garbled response that Ritsuko was even partially certain of was 'resting'.

Sighing, the doctor sat down in Misato's chair, rolling back up against the wall, and leaned down to look at her friend. "You need to cut back on your drinking if it's affecting your job. It wasn't a problem before, but if you come in like this again I'm going to have to do something about it." She poked the cringing woman's shoulder, who burped. Ritsuko drew back, her nose crinkling in disgust. "God, you reek of booze. How much did you have last night?"

Misato whispered through clenched teeth. "All of it."

"All of it? What do you mean all of it?"

"There wasn't any left in the apartment when I looked for breakfast. I must have had it all."

Ritsuko, well aware of Misato's choice of breakfast materials, and similarly aware of the amounts of beer she kept in her home, was aghast. "Why? What possessed you to do that?" She swallowed hard. "We need to get you down to my lab. I wanna check you out. Even with your system, that should be more than enough to kill you." She grabbed Misato by the arm and half drug, half supported her on the way down to her lab and primary office, deeper in the NERV Pyramid.

"Oof. So, why did you try to drink yourself into a coma? I wouldn't think Shinji would be that bad of a roomie."

Misato yawned and shook her head, and then whimpered as that set the world to spinning. "S'not him. At least, not just him." She yawned again, and then giggled, and then groaned. "You know Rei's... Rei's..." She burped again and grimaced at the taste. "Rei's sweet on him. We chatted about him yest.. yesterday. Sweet girl." She giggled again. "He's sweet on her toooo..."

"Yes, yes, the two pilots are all making eyes at each other. That's not important right now." At least he'll be happy to know this little disaster is well on its way to happening. God, Misato, you weigh a ton. "What's important is you stop drinking so much. This can't be good."

They eventually made it into her lab. Misato collapsed on the examination table, pressing her head to the cool metal. Turning her head sideways to watch the doctor as she hurried about grabbing things, she sighed.

"We'll have to give them the talk you know." She giggled again. "I get to do Shinji."

Ritsuko, only half listening to the semi-drunken ramblings, continued on with her preparations for a minute before the words registered in her brain. "Wait, what?"

"The talk. You know, about the birds and the weasels. I get to tell Shinji." She frowned. "I should have talked to him already. When they went on their date I gave him a box of condoms, but that was mostly a joke."

Ritsuko dropped the test tube she was holding in horror, ignoring it as it hit the ground. "They went on a date? When the hell was this?" She blinked, processing the last sentence. "Condoms? What the fuck?"

Misato started to cry, and tried to sit up. "Am I a bad person Rits? I mean, I'm trying to be there for him, but he never says anything. He doesn't respond when I tease him. Maybe it's best that I can't have kids. I'd be a bad mom..." She trailed off in sobs.

Ritsuko sighed and hugged the shuddering woman. "Don't say that. He's just... like his dad. They're very introverted. They're closed in. Besides, you're too young to be his mom. You're more like an older sister." She paused, trying to think. "Besides, what about Pen-Pen? You've done all right by him."

"He's a penguin... he don't count..."

"Well, it's good you took him in. Otherwise, we'd not even know the two might be going at it. Plus, I think it's actually helped him, being there. He's shown a steadier improvement rate than Rei after all."

"Really?"

"Yes." Ritsuko released her hold on Misato to rummage around in a cabinet. She pulled a few bottles out and dumped a few measures of their contents into a short beaker. She mixed the concoction with her pen before handing it to Misato. "Here, drink this. It'll make you feel better."

Misato took the drink without comment, sniffling a little, and downed it in one go. She grimaced. "What was that? It tasted horrible."

"Just something to help purge your system." Ritsuko handed her trash bin out to Misato, who looked confused for a moment. She then gagged, her eyes going wide. Snatching the offered bin, she promptly started vomiting into it.

"You'll thank me later. Listen, I mean it about you cutting back, I can't keep you from drinking unless I go to some extremes I'd rather not go to, but I want you to slow it down. We need the Operations Director." She filled a new beaker with water and sat it next to the vomiting woman.

Sitting down in her chair, she called up her calendar of tests and experiments. "I think the best thing is for us to talk to the two together. Make sure they know that however they feel, their duties to NERV and the rest of the world come first. Condoms or not", she remarked with a roll of her eyes, "I don't want them having intercourse. We need to have them stable for the highest sync ratios. If they get all heartbroken like regular teens do over the dumbest things, we don't know what it will mean when it counts."

If Misato had been physically capable of nodding at that point, she would have done so. Ritsuko's argument made sense. She certainly could recall as a young adult, years older than the two, doing stupid shit over infatuation and perceived love. She had seen it on the battlefield too.

"Of course, we should keep this quiet. I don't know how the Commander will react, and I don't really want to know." He'd probably dance a jig. But if I can keep them apart long enough, he might decide to give up on the whole idea.

Misato did nod now, spitting to clear out her mouth. She downed the entire beaker of water. "Ugh... Yeah, I don't think I'd want to be the one to tell him. So when do we talk to them?"

"Depends." Ritsuko jammed a needle into Misato's arm and drew a measure of blood into a new test tube. "How close do you think they are to actually hooking up?"

"Oh, I don't think we're in any danger right now. I don't think neither of them has the faintest idea of how to go about becoming friends, let alone bumping uglies."

"Then we'll talk to them after their next harmonics test in two days. The Commander is scheduled to be in a meeting with the Committee during the test, so we'll be free of him. When I brief him on the test later, I just won't mention our little pep talk with the pilots." Ritsuko smiled, pleased with her cleverness. Everything would fall into place, and she could sleep easier knowing the pilots were not engaging in potentially crippling extracurricular fun.

Misato leaned back, resting on her elbows. "They'll need to do something as a release of pent-up energy and frustration, though."

"Shinji's still going to the range, right? He can keep doing that."

"What about Rei?"

"When have you ever seen her with an overabundance of energy?"

"That's not fair. She kinda reminds me of myself. Back then, I mean. Before college."

"Back...? Oh, I see." Dropping the test tube into a complicated-looking machine, she shrugged. "She's completely dedicated to the project, and other than the book club at the school, I don't think she does anything."

"Book club?"

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

It had still been raining when Rei had left school for her home, but had stopped once she was almost home. She had walked the entire way, not bothering her escorts for a ride. She only did that when she had to carry items from one place to another. A little rain was of no consequence to her.

Stepping into her dingy apartment, she hung her raincoat up to dry but dumped her damp socks and skirt on top of the rest of her dirty laundry in one corner of the room. Still only partially dressed, she started boiling some water for tea.

Leaning up against the wall and engaging in the nth iteration of her experiment of whether or not a pot that is observed boils (She had long ago decided the evidence firmly supported that bringing water to boil was not affected by outside observation, but she retained some amusement in ensuring her previous test results were still reproducible), her thoughts soon turned back to the advice and admonitions Class Representative Horaki had given her, mostly about openly stating such things in public.

While she was unable to give her much information on the boy, Rei had discovered that while he had been the subject of much discussion, there was no serious threat of anyone trying to 'snap him up' as Hikari put it. While it was undeniable he was the pilot of the giant robot, the general consensus was he wasn't that impressive to look at. It was true that he did try to fade into the background a lot, but Rei chalked the obviously incorrect perception that he was not much to look at up to no one outside of NERV having seen him in the plug-suit, (apart from two presumably heterosexual males) and they had not seen him in action (again, apart from those two).

It is gratifying to know that I may proceed, for now at least, at my own pace without fear of extra variables interfering with the experiments. I do wonder, however, why the Class Representative gave me that strange look when discussing his status as a NERV pilot. Does she think this is the only reason I am interested in him? Does she think I aim to acquire him as a sort of trophy, with which to artificially inflate my potential social standing inside the school's hierarchy? A previously unforeseen aftereffect. Interesting. What other social aftereffects would a 'relationship' with Ikari provide a female student?

Her thoughts were interrupted by the successful boiling of water in an observed vessel; she poured water into her mug, a heavy-duty piece of plain black ceramic. It had not been washed for over a year, as Rei did not see the need to clean the mug as the only thing that went into it was boiling water and various teas. The spoon that was dedicated to stirring the tea likewise had not been washed, and the change in color from silver to tea-stained metal was abrupt.

Moving into her lab, she sat down on a stool and pulled out one of her bacteria and LCL cultures. She had added a stronger version of penicillin to the staph farm, and while it seemed to be handling the improved staph culture well, she found she could not gather enough interest to come up with the next course of action for the sample. Her thoughts kept running back to Pilot Ikari.

She frowned.

Perhaps I have been focusing too much on social experiments. There is a wealth of other hypotheses that could be tested without interfering with the current experiment. Perhaps I could follow up on the suspected external synchronization, or attempt to duplicate an infinite synchronization score.

His score, while slightly higher than mine, has come nowhere near approaching an infinite level again during harmonics tests. I will need to obtain the battle logs for the last two fights. That will be easy enough. Perhaps it is the stress and danger of an actual battle that prompts him to synchronize with the Evangelion fully. It could be an unconscious reaction. Other variables could be at work here, as well. For instance, the majority of the harmonics tests occur with the test bodies and not the Evangelions. What else could be different?

She sipped her tea, looking around the messy and cluttered laboratory, her eyes coming to a rest on the two lab coats hanging on pegs on the wall. She smiled momentarily before shaking her head.

Obviously, something more than the normal harmonics test would be required if I were to test this. I will also need to either construct my own test plug or obtain access to one in the Pribnow Box. That will be an issue. If I make one, I will need to get him to get inside of it. While not outside the realm of probability, it would certainly ruin other potential experiments. How then, could access to the Pribnow Box be attained? I obviously would not be able to run the test. I would have to make the test seem like it came down from my nemesis. The personnel working under her would undoubtedly run through the test for me if it appeared the order came from her. How, then, do I do this?

Still drinking her tea, she moved back over to her apartment, done for now in the lab, as she was engrossed in the planning stages of her next experiment.

Tests are issued, scheduled, and logged electronically. Thus, I need access to her computer terminal. The log-stamp will provide enough authority for the test to be carried out.

Access can be gained in two ways: physically and electronically.

Physical access would require being able to obtain entry into her lab unnoticed and unobserved by the MAGI security systems. While the individual offices on that level are not monitored, due to the need for secrecy, the hallways are. Therefore, I am presented with two options: circumvent the security system or obtain access without the use of the hallways.

An interesting question on its own. How would one gain access to a room with only one entrance, without using the door?

She leaned against a wall, scratching an itch, a phantom remnant of old stitches long removed, through the fabric of her shirt when the heater came on, blowing warm air on her and sending ripples across the top of her tea. She watched the movement of the liquid for a moment, before snapping her head up to stare at the air vent.

If the air vents inside of NERV are large enough, access could be obtained through them! One could go anywhere unobserved inside of NERV if one used the air vents!

So, physical access is available. What of electronic access? Remote electronic access to the computer terminal would require convincing the MAGI to let me into the network, and then to her computer terminal. The MAGI have allowed me remote access to the network in the past and have assisted in previous experiments. Perhaps I could enlist their help in this one? Having direct access to the gathered data would be a boon.

Despite the attraction of exploring how far into NERV she could get via the air ducts, her desire for direct access to the test data won the fight. Plugging her cell phone into her laptop, she dialed the number for MAGI access. She called up a custom-built chat client that allowed her to interact with the three distinct computer personalities that made up the MAGI triumvirate governing NERV and Tokyo-3.

... Greetings, Ayanami, R. It has been 112 Days since your last remote access to this system.

Greetings, MAGI. Request Remote Access to MAGI and Log-stamp for Subject:Akagi, R.

...For what purpose?

The purpose is to have Tech Division personnel run an adjusted harmonics test on Subject: Ikari, S. The purpose is to determine if Subject: Ikari, S can unconsciously obtain higher synchronization with the test system. Data will be used to extrapolate if Subject:Ikari, S can unconsciously obtain higher synchronization with Evangelion Unit-01.

...Please wait.

...

...

...

...Remote Access and Log-stamp granted. Please upload a file with test parameters. Will there be anything else?

Download file of NERV Central Ventilation System Schematics.

...Internal Blueprints are considered Classified. Reason?

Rei stared at the computer screen. It made sense the blueprints would be classified, and thus the MAGI would be loathe to hand them out, if they decided to help her in getting her test done at all. Telling them she planned to try to evade the security system using the ducts would only have them flag the ducts as a potential security concern, and thus ruin them for future use. So, what could she tell them that would not cause them to decide to not help her with both her experiment and the air ducts? The MAGI had moods, not unlike the person on whom their composite personalities were based. There was no telling what they might do if she failed to appease them.

...Reason?

They are getting impatient. I need to think of something. A small smile spread across her face. Of course! It's perfect!

Emergency access to Evangelion Cages in the event of a hostile takeover of NERV or if other routes to cages are blocked.

...Please wait.

...

...

...Granted. File being sent to you now. Ensure this file is kept secure. Classified materials must be protected at all costs.

Understood. I will upload test parameters once I have them outlined.

...Understood. Will there be anything else?

Rei frowned at the screen. It wasn't often the MAGI deigned to help her, and if they were offering more assistance, then it would be a waste of resources not to use them.

Can you determine if an Impact Event, Human Initiated, and Controlled or otherwise, could result in one or more persons being sent either backward or forwards in time, or across dimensions, given an infinite parallel worlds scenario?

...Interesting concept. We will devote some cycles to it. Good night, Ayanami, R

The chat client went dark, with no evidence of the previous conversation. There was, however, a new folder on her desktop marked as 'Ventilation'.

She gulped down the last of her tea, and went to make more, foregoing another attempt to reproduce the previous results and instead returned to her laptop on her bed. She yawned suddenly but got down to deciding just how she would begin testing Ikari's ability to initiate and maintain an infinite synchronization score.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Gendo frowned at his computer terminal suddenly, scrolling back up several pages to re-read a passage in his agent's report. Opening up a new window, he pulled up the Evangelion Equipment Types schematics, and paged through it to the B-Type entry. As he continued reading, his frown deepened until he was actively glaring at his monitor.

So, SEELE was rattling the saber, it seemed. A foolish move, to tip their hand like this. He could not see what they could hope to gain by shipping Unit-02 with equipment not capable of underwater operations. If the convoy fleet were attacked, by Angelic or terrestrial forces, the Evangelion would be extremely vulnerable. This move of theirs was foolhardy. They knew, as he did, that they needed to be able to repulse all the Angels while the stage was being set for Instrumentality. The loss of a combat-ready Evangelion and Child would be catastrophic.

Although his agent did not come out and say as much, he was also perplexed by this move. It was a long trip from the North Sea to Japan, as the convoy would have to travel around Africa instead of taking the shortcut through the Suez Canal, as the entire area was currently embroiled in open conflict. It had been deemed too much of a risk to send the ships through there.

His computer beeped at him, as the MAGI passed a test request along to him for final approval. It seemed Dr. Akagi was working late again, which was of little surprise to him. He opened it up, scanning through it. He paused, impressed if a bit underwhelmed. This was an interesting idea, these new tests of the synchronization link between the pilots and the Evangelions in different stages of consciousness. It had been demonstrated that a very weak synchronization could be attained and maintained with an unconscious pilot, but the score was so low it did not allow for actual movement or utilization of the Evangelions. There were several new tests detailed to be tested on top of the tests previously completed with Rei. While he couldn't see what she hoped to discover, it was an interesting notion, and he saw no reason to deny this test. He typed in his signature block on the paper, logging it with his log-stamp. Turning his attention back to the report from Berlin, he was again interrupted as the MAGI delivered a records request from Rei.

Opening up the request form he read through it more carefully than the test request. Rei wanted access to the recordings from the last two Angel battles, again stating a desire to study and determine the best possible way to defeat them.

She also wanted permanent use of one of the conference rooms near the locker rooms for use as a pilot waiting area/ready room in the event that not all pilots were being sorted.

It was, he reasoned, not an unreasonable request, doubly so, as it came from Rei, who seldom asked for anything.

He approved both requests and returned to the task of undermining SEELE.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji stared at Lieutenant Ibuki's face over the video link. "You want to do what?"

Maya sighed. I don't know why Sempai would schedule this test for a day when she's up working on the remains of the last Angel. "We are going to be testing your synchronization with the test body while you are at various stages of consciousness. Today, we'll be taking a baseline reading under normal conditions, and then we will proceed from there. There are three major levels that we will be taking readings from, and as we get to them, I'll let you know, okay?"

Shinji sounded doubtful to the techs manning the Pribnow Box, but he agreed nonetheless.

It's not like I've got much of a choice in this anyway. At least it got me out of class. I wonder what was up with everyone?

Upon his return to the classroom from the school library, he had been greeted by odd looks by everyone in the class. Hikari had been missing from where they had pushed their desks together for lunch, and he noticed that Rei was also gone. Toji said Hikari had gone to the bathroom. Neither boy said anything about Rei.

The odd looks continued throughout the rest of the day, causing him to try to sink down into his seat. Once school was over, he managed to flee to the safety of his room and SDAT. This morning, before his phone beeped at him to tell him to report to NERV, he had been met by the same odd looks, and in his growing paranoia, he was sure there were hushed whispers going on behind his back. So while a battery of harmonics tests and being stuck in the test plug all day wasn't his idea of a good time, at least he didn't have to worry about whatever was going on in class.

He settled down, leaning back against the seat, taking deep breaths of LCL, and trying to clear his mind. As always, the test plug felt... different from when they did tests with Unit-01. There wasn't any way that he knew how to describe the sensation to the techs, had they thought to ask. He had never mentioned it before, simply because he thought the difference was normal.

There was a difference in the harmonics tests they performed with the test bodies and the regular activation and synchronization tests done with the actual Evangelion Units, but the difference was not in how the acts of synchronization felt. It was in that it was easier to synchronize with the test bodies than the actual Units. Thus, the test bodies were used specifically for testing out new equipment, from new plugs and plug-suits, or when doing tests or taking readings on the pilots during synchronization itself. If it worked there, they could then move on to testing the gear or procedures on the Evangelions. Above all, they wanted to avoid having a repeat of Rei's failed activation test, where the prototype had gone wild.

Maya sighed again as she watched the monitors that were providing information on Shinji's brainwaves. Everything looks normal enough. She looked down at the test procedure in her hands and then turned to Makato.

"Alright, we'll stick like this for another two hours, and then we'll induce unconsciousness. We'll pipe a mild sedative into the LCL mixture and let him drift off to sleep. This test is calling for a more in-depth battery of tests on an unconscious pilot than previous tests, so we'll have him napping for a bit while they run."

He nodded, having read through the outline already. "I wonder what prompted this set of tests. I thought we were done with the sleep tests."

"Maybe the higher-ups want confirmation on the data we gathered from Rei? I know they did the same tests with the pilot of Unit-02 in Germany."

"But what about the new tests? If they are just looking for confirmation, why add more on top of it? If they are adding new tests, shouldn't we have Ayanami down here as well?"

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Kensuke idly watched Rei as she stared at the clock on the wall above the teacher's desk. She had been staring at it for the past three hours, ever since Shinji's phone had beeped at him, and he had left before class had begun for the day. He looked at it and then spoke shortly to Ayanami and then left in a hurry, not stopping to say goodbye on his way out. It obviously wasn't an Angel attack, as the alarms had yet to sound, and Ayanami hadn't left either. All she had done was tell Hikari that Shinji had been called to NERV and would not be present today.

When Hikari informed the teacher of the matter when he called role that morning, the room erupted in a buzz of whispers until Hikari restored order.

And now Rei was staring at the clock instead of out the window she sat next to. It was all very odd to the bespectacled teen. Was she expecting something to happen, or was she simply waiting for time to pass so she could go to NERV?