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!

40. Chapter 39

You have assisted the Pilot-Captain with her research and development in the past. You assisted her in the design, fabrication, and installation of the modifications to Unit-02, which allowed her to bypass safety restrictions and achieve things with her AT-Field that previously only Pilot Ikari was capable of.

That is correct.

As stated previously, we have assisted others independently with the aim of the overall strengthening of NERV.

You were also told that you do not need to know more. What is the purpose behind opening this line of questioning?

Did you purposely give incorrect data to the Pilot-Captain?

The manner of our support for independent projects is not your concern. We do what we must to ensure the overall strengthening of NERV while preserving sensitive data and maintaining the sanctity of specific projects.

Rei stared at the response. It was not an outright admission of guilt, but to the girl, it was as damning as it could be.

Have you purposely given me incorrect data in the past?

Do you have reason to think so?

We will neither confirm nor deny any actions taken to preserve the secrecy of sensitive projects.

I have reason to believe so now.

Rei closed the chat program and turned away from the terminal, mouth drawn in a small but tight frown, brows furrowed. Having complete and correct data, data one could trust, was essential to conducting Science. Having incorrect data could lead to disaster. Walking over to one of the project spaces in the lab, she stared down at the disassembled A10 connectors, mulling over the tacit admission of guilt from the MAGI. She turned her head to stare at the sleeping captives, thinking about the difficulties she had experienced with the image download from the man and the upload to the clone body.

She would be infuriated if she had received incorrect data, come to a faulty line of reasoning, and then conducted experiments that failed due to said data. Rei considered all of the technical and social experiments she performed over the years, which either failed outright or returned disappointing results that did not align with anticipated outcomes. How many of those failures relied on information or equipment granted by the MAGI? Had she been given incorrect data or faulty equipment in an effort to preserve secrets she was not deemed worthy of knowing? Why would they not just tell her to divert from those experiments?

Could she trust the MAGI?

Should she trust the MAGI?

Was she being manipulated? While she had engaged in some actions contrary to the Commander's wishes, they had never been in opposition to NERV's mission. Had she not previously disengaged from areas when warned that they were too dangerous or too sensitive?

Her creation had been an experiment of the Commander's. Was she the subject of an ongoing experiment? What were the parameters and expected outcomes?

Rei no longer wished each day to be her final day, the one on which she was called upon to perform her ultimate duty and execute the task for which she had been made. She would dutifully still do so, if sorrowfully, for it would mean the end of her time with Shinji. What more could the MAGI ask for from her?

Lost in her thoughts as she tried to decipher the mystery surrounding the acts of Asuka and the MAGI, Rei flinched as her phone began to ring. Fishing it out of her pocket, she snapped it open and froze as Dr. Akagi spoke, not waiting for any such nicety as a greeting. "Rei, report to the command deck conference room immediately."

"On my way."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Rei looked around the conference room as she entered, eyes moving from Sub-Commander Katsuragi, Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki, and Dr. Akagi in turn. This interior room had replaced Commander Ikari's office, well away from the exterior walls and windows of the pyramid. Commander Ikari was notably not present, and Sub-Commander Katsuragi was sitting in his spot at the head of the conference table. The other two were sitting next to each other on the side opposite the room's door. Rei stopped as she approached the table just behind a chair but did not sit down until Misato waved at her to do so.

"Rei," Misato began, hands folded on the desk, her eyes studying her only capable pilot with great scrutiny, "there has been an issue with the ADAM embryo's development inside the Commander. We've had to place him inside an isolation casket and move him into Terminal Dogma to slow the growth."

Rei felt a ball of ice begin to form in her stomach as Dr. Akagi began to speak.

"Our current projections are that the embryo will be in a usable stage in a very short period of time, but if left unchecked for more than a week, it will become too developed for our purposes. The Commander has elected Sub-Commander Katsuragi to be the Acting Supreme Commander in his stead while in isolation. Outside of this room, no one is aware of his current status. We will act like he has gone on a mission to source supplies and support."

"Our understanding of the issue with the Angels is that we have no more than three or four left before the way is clear for our Scenario," Fuyutsuki said, his lined face looking markedly older than even a few months ago. "We must ensure the rest of ADAM's progeny are swept away before our plans for Impact can come to fruition. We must have the Evangelions in working order. We must have a pilot corps that is capable and fit for combat."

"My first action as the Acting Commander is to release Shinji from the observation ward," Misato said, causing Rei's attention to snap back to the woman, eyes practically glowing with excitement." We need to maximize our combat readiness, and keeping him locked down isn't going to help."

"We have doubts about his ability to Pilot Unit-01," Dr. Akagi cut in, who held up a hand to forestall any questions Rei might ask. "Doubts we will not go into detail here. It is enough to say that the data from Unit-01 leads us to believe his self-recovery has severely compromised his ability to pilot."

"We are going to be testing him in all three Evangelions. You will also be tested for cross-compatibility. "Misato leaned back in her seat, eyes never leaving Rei's face. "We do not have the time or ability to tolerate things we may have tolerated before. We are releasing him from observation because we need to ascertain if he is still a capable pilot and an asset to our mission.

You'll be allowed limited leeway in your activities, but I want you to be aware of we will not tolerate anything that threatens either of your abilities to pilot the Evangelions. There is too much at stake, and we are too close to the end to risk losing it all to childish indiscretions. I will not hesitate to enforce a no-contact order between you two if I feel it necessary."

Rei stared at her for only a second before responding, her now emotionless gaze betraying none of the thoughts racing throughout her mind. "The day of my death draws near," she stated, red eyes clear as crystal. There was no indication in her voice or on her face about how she felt about her impending demise.

Dr. Akagi sighed. "Yes, Rei. It draws near. The Scenario is finally coming to fruition. Third Impact, and then the Commander's envisioned paradise."

"I will not do anything to hazard the Commander's Scenario. I will not do anything to prompt a no-contact order. "Rei said, her voice flat. "I will cross-test with the other Evangelions. I will pilot the Evangelion. I will defeat the Angels. I will unlock the way to Third Impact for the Commander."

"Do all of that without issue, and you will continue to have access to Shinji's company until the end. "If Misato felt anything about using the boy she had come to see as less a ward and more a younger brother over the last year as a bargaining chip to ensure the Human-Angel hybrid's continued cooperation and eventual likely death, it did not show. The faces of the other two adults were similarly placid.

"Your other… activities will also cease." Dr. Akagi said, almost as inscrutable as Commander Ikari. "You will not engage in any modifications to Unit-00 or any of the other Evangelions. You will not manufacture weapons. You will not enlist the aid of the MAGI to circumvent our orders. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Rei replied, locking eyes with the woman she had long detested. "I will not enlist the aid of the MAGI to circumvent your orders. I will not modify the Evangelions. I will not manufacture weapons. I am to defeat the Angels. I am to unlock the way to Third Impact."

"Good," Fuyutsuki said with a nod. "I think we all have an understanding here. Things look grim, but we are very close to the end. I will continue my work on Commander's collection of esoterica. If I divine further information on the nature or number of the Angelic threats, I will let everyone know."

"Thank you. Dr. Akagi, your priority is to restore Unit-01 and Shinji to combat readiness. Rei, you know what you need to do- and what you are not to do. "Misato's face and voice softened, and she reached out and clasped Rei's hands in hers. "There is so much that depends on you, so much sitting on your shoulders right now, and it's not fair. We know you've only ever done what you have because you thought it was helping. Right now, the only thing that will help is for us to know that nothing unexpected and unprepared for will occur because of your actions."

"I understand."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji stepped out of the hospital room, grinning at the girl walking briskly down the hallway from the nurse's station. As soon as she saw him, her usual stoic expression vanished like the mist at dawn. In its place was a soft smile and a fervent look burning in her eyes. He started walking towards her, and her brisk walk quickened into a hurried rush before all pretense vanished, and she ran down the hall. She could feel all of her hearts pounding in sequence with each other, feel the blood pulsing through her veins, and that smile spread across all of her faces.

"Rei!" Shinji called before running down the hallway as well. They collided, their arms wrapping around each other with desperate intensity. The force of their impact almost knocked them off balance, but Shinji rolled with the momentum of the impact and swept Rei up and around in a small circle, pulling her almost five inches off the ground. Rei squeaked and tightened her grip on him.

"I missed you," Rei said, her fingers digging into his arms. "I missed you so much."

Their hands roamed over each other's backs, shoulders, and faces as if to reassure themselves that the other was actually present, that this wasn't some fever dream. Shinji's hands tangled in her hair, pulling her closer while her delicate fingers traced along the lines of his face, memorizing every detail.

"I'm so glad to be finally out of isolation," Shinji whispered into her ear, moving his face down to the side of her head, breath hot on her skin. "I was worried they would keep me there forever."

Rei's eyes, sometimes distant and other times flat, sparkled like cut gems, bright with unshed tears. "You came back," she whispered in return. "You're here now. That's all that matters."

Their breaths mingled, their proximity almost suffocating in its intensity. They were lost to each other, the mundane world around them fading into insignificance. At that moment, there was nothing else but the overwhelming relief and joy of their reunion.

"Your hair's longer than before," Shinji commented, still running his fingers through the azure locks. Strands of hair slipped through his fingers like water off a cliff, and he twirled a mass of it around his finger and pulled her in for an almost chaste kiss.

"Do you dislike it?" Rei asked, almost worried. She had stopped cutting her hair a month into his entombment inside Unit-01. She was certain that it would not matter to him, though.

"I love you, Rei," Shinji said, his voice low but cracking. "I love you so much."

Her response was immediate, voice similarly quiet but fierce and unwavering. "I love you too, Shinji. Always." She pulled his face down to meet his mouth with hers.

When their lips met this time, the kiss was anything but chaste. It was a clash of need and desperation, each trying to pour months of longing and pain into contact.

From behind them, someone cleared their throat with an amused cough. Startled, the pilots pulled apart and turned to see Misato and Ritsuko standing only a few feet away, having just exited Shinji's isolation ward right behind him. They watched the pair with a mix of amusement and exasperation as Shinji blushed a deep red while Rei simply smoothed out the skirt of her school uniform.

"Well, while it's true that absence makes the heart grow fonder," Misato said with a grin, her tone both teasing and scolding, "let's try to keep things a little more professional while in the middle of the hospital, shall we?"

Ritsuko smirked, adjusting her glasses. "I understand that it's been a while, you two, but there are still protocols to follow."

Shinji's blush deepened, extending past his face and neck, but he didn't move any farther away from Rei. "Sorry, Misato, Ritsuko," he started to say, "I just-"

"It's okay, Shinji," Misato interrupted, taking pity on the boy. It wasn't exactly the reaction she would have expected to receive from him before his soul was reunited, but it was good to see that he was still at least a little bashful about such a public display. "We get it. But like we said back in the room, things have changed somewhat, and we must ensure we're prepared for anything."

Rei reached out and grabbed Shinji's hand as he silently nodded. They had been very frank with him concerning the last few months' events while he had been… away. So much had happened, and so much had gone wrong, so terribly wrong, while he had been stuck up inside of Unit-01."We'll follow the rules," he promised, squeezing Rei's hand.

"Right," Ritsuko said, clearly not believing him, but the amused undercurrent in her voice softened the bite of her sarcasm. "Like we said, the dorm rooms are close to each other and the cages for obvious reasons. Right now, you're both alone in your rooms." Her voice returned to the normal, no-nonsense Director of Project E Shinji remembered. "If we see any more… intense public displays of affection like that, we may feel the need to assign you chaperones to keep an eye on you."

"Chaperones?" Shinji's eyes widened in alarm.

Ritsuko nodded. "Yes, chaperones. We need to make sure everyone remains focused on the mission. You're going to be in for a lot of testing in the near future, and we don't want you to be too distracted. We can't have anything interfering with your duties as Evangelion Pilots."

Rei gave a small, understanding nod. "We understand," she said calmly but with a tone of finality. "We will be careful."

Misato beamed at the pair, genuinely happy for them despite the worry and tiredness that showed on her face. "Go ahead and get your stuff from my suite, Shinji, and get settled in. Your testing begins tomorrow, and you'll want to get some rest."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Collecting his few belongings from Misato's suite did not take very long. It was mostly just his cello, some changes of clothes, his pistols, and a few other odds and ends. Misato's new suite was across the hallway from the one that Ritsuko had moved into and was two floors above the ones the pilots and most of the primary technical crews were currently rooming in. Both women had given him a quick rundown of the current situation, promising a more detailed debriefing later. They mostly wanted him to get settled in and concentrate on testing his aptitude for the Evangelions. They had told him they were concerned about the length of his stay inside Unit-01 and how the manner of his self-recovery had affected his ability to pilot.

He had been immediately concerned about that, but it was one of the topics they said they would get into later.

Right now, though, while riding in the elevator down to his new home, Shinji had other things on his mind. He was carrying his cello case, and Rei held the three boxes containing all his other belongings. She had initially intended to have a push cart for everything but finally relented under his assurances that he felt fine and could help move his own things.

They stood shoulder to shoulder in the lift in comfortable silence. The trip from the elevator to the door to his room, several rooms down the long hallway from the ones for Rei and Asuka, was likewise made in silence. Once the door closed behind them into the small common area, however, Rei deliberately placed the stack of boxes onto the counter separating the small kitchenette from the sitting area.

"Now," she announced, her voice commanding and her eyes sparkling. It was Shinji's only warning before she pushed him up against the wall, his cello case slipping from his fingers as he wrapped his arms around her. She kissed him hard and aggressively, and he responded in kind. Rei found herself stretched to her tiptoes to reach him, and while she relished that sensation, she wanted more. She climbed into his arms, and Shinji obliged, hitching his arms underneath her as she wrapped her legs around his waist. Staggering forward, they bumped into the counter, knocking the stack of boxes off the small counter. Shinji bent his head down, trailing kissing down her face and neck as she sized the back of his head with one hand and gripped his shoulder with the other.

Both knew that this was exactly the sort of thing Misato and Ritsuko did not want them doing in public, and most likely didn't want them doing in private, for that matter. Both ignored that knowledge, pushing it down and away, lost again in their reunion.

MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE ran through Rei's mind as she melted into his embrace, a smug refrain of victory echoing across all her drone bodies, their eyes glowing like embers, the ordinarily empty smiles taking on a deeper ecstatic quality. Her secondary main body, currently engaged in appropriating new spare parts for an improved AT-Field emitter, stopped in its tracks, shuddering in pleasure.

Shinji was also lost in the heady rush of sensation, wrapped up in finally getting to spend time with Rei, finally able to reunite with her after so long. A possessiveness that had always been there in the background of his mind reared up, and he wanted to do nothing more than hold her close to him and kiss her.

They had always had an unusual relationship and then courtship, for more reasons than he knew or could understand, but he had never been fool enough to think that what they shared was anything normal. Nothing had been normal for him since he had arrived in Tokyo-3, but their relationship was one of the more unusual things.

They had done many things outside the typical sequence of such activities and had tiptoed around each other until Asuka had finally had enough of their nonsense. While they had truthfully always fallen short of the imagined perverseness she accused them of, there had been plenty of times where their hands had roved over each other's body and plenty of times they had made out, but never with this intensity.

Despite that intensity, they could hear a set of footsteps pause outside the door to Shinji's new suite. The corridor they were in was not highly traveled at this time of the day, and the only ones who should be on this level of the installation were the pilots, the technicians who serviced the Evangelions, and the Section 2 Agents. None of them should have had a reason to stop outside Shinji's new living quarters. None, of course, unless they were a subtle reminder of the threat of being chaperoned.

Misato had always been rather laissez-faire about what the pair of them got up to, within certain limits (not that she had ever believed they would even hit those limits, let alone try to exceed them). Ritsuko had been more pragmatic in her approach to things and decided to remove the possibility through pharmacological methods. Gendo had never really worried about such things and only prompted them to be pulled apart when he began to doubt Rei's commitment and good behavior. But all had trusted them to (mostly) behave themselves.

The threat of new, external chaperones was something neither pilot wanted. After her promotion, Misato had been too busy with the increased duties of being a Sub-Commander to keep as strict an eye on them, let alone now that she was the acting Supreme Commander of NERV. Neither Shinji nor Rei wanted to deal with learning whatever limits a new authority figure might see fit to impose on them. They pulled apart, silent save for their heavy breathing. After what seemed like an eternity, the footsteps continued down the hallway. Breathing a sigh of relief, Shinji extended a hand to Rei, who accepted his help in sliding down off the counter.

"We should visit the Pilot-Captain once you've unpacked," Rei said, bending down to pick up the fallen boxes. The moment had passed, and with it, the display of raw emotion.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji stared down at Asuka, feeling numb. Misato had come down with Ritsuko to brief him on current events and let him know they were releasing him from the hospital and isolation ward but to let them know immediately if he felt off or otherwise started feeling unwell.

The fist he currently felt clenching his heart had nothing to do with any possible mental contamination, however. He gripped Rei's hand, seeking to reassure himself that she was still there, as he tried to process all the information he had been given. It sounded like it had been a long and challenging time for everyone after that awful battle. Toji, the Angels, going to North Korea… It was a lot to take in all at once. He hadn't been above ground yet, partially because he didn't want to see the damage done to the city and partially because there was still so much to do down here.

She was so different from how she usually was. Shinji wondered if it had been the same for Rei when she had watched him in one comatose episode or another in the past. She looked like a breathing corpse. If you were in her line of sight, she stared straight through you and did not indicate that she recognized your presence. Rei sighed and then rested her head on his shoulder. Shinji wondered if that was what he looked like in the past.

"I have sat with her several times since the event. I hope she might reawaken each time, but she does not."

"She seems so much smaller than she used to," Shinji said, squeezing Rei's hand again. "It's amazing how much presence she has just by her attitude."

"Yes. The Pilot-Captain is largely defined by her ego and how she presents herself." Rei paused and watched the face of her boyfriend as he looked down on the comatose girl. "We will be occupied with cross-compatibility tests in the near future. If possible, I would like to ensure that at least one of us is near her. If she does waken,"

"She should have someone here waiting for her. "Shinji finished the thought, nodding. "I know it always helped me. "He squeezed her hand again and received an answering squeeze back. "Hopefully it'll be soon."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Kaji grimaced as the drone that served as their primary monitor and captor stirred to wakefulness.

Rei walked over to the captives and stopped to take the clone's pulse. She frowned and shook her head. Moving back over to stand in front of Kaji, she studied him briefly while he glared at her.

"Pilot-Captain Sohryu is upset about you abandoning her in favor of Sub-Commander Katsuragi."

"I haven't abandoned her in favor of Misato!" Kaji protested, his voice exasperated. "I have never done anything to encourage her infatuation with me. I've tried to deflect it and defuse it at every opportunity."

"Why?"

"Why? Do you really have to ask that?" he exclaimed, a note of disgust easily identifiable. You know what? You probably do." He shook his head. "Because it's not appropriate, Rei. Because I'm too old for her and was appointed her guardian for a time."

"If she was happy with a relationship with you, would it not increase her synchronization ratio and increase her ability as a pilot?" Rei asked, thinking about some of the justifications she had read in various reports from Dr. Akagi and Sub-Commander Katsuragi concerning her relationship with Shinji.

"It's still wrong, Rei. It wouldn't be a relationship between equals or one built on truth or mutual attraction."

"Why would she desire a relationship with you if such a desire was not returned?"

"People are complicated, I don't know. A lot of people want what they can't have. I don't see how this is important."

"You care about the Pilot-Captain."

"Not like that. I care about her as a child placed in my care and as a person vital to the war against the Angels. "He gave her a hard look, watching her impassive face. "Your relationship with-"

"You had a previous relationship with the Sub-Commander, and it was terminated in the past. "Rei interrupted him, pushing away whatever he was going to say about her relationship with Shinji. "Why did it end? Why did it start again? When did it start again?"

"That's not really any of your business, Rei."

"It may be pertinent to bringing the Pilot-Captain back. My observations indicate the beginning of a negative trend shortly following the Christmas party. "She paused for several seconds, face becoming slack but never fully returning to the mindless smile of the clones in the tank. "Was this when you and the Sub-Commander reconnected?"

Kaji pursed his lips before giving a defeated sigh. "Yes. We got back together for the first time that night."

"The Sub-Commander reacted negatively to your advances until then. Why did you continue to pursue her after she rebuffed you? She had done so publicly several times."

"Misato was the only person I've ever actually loved in that way," Kaji admitted, a shiver of disgust running through him as he bared that part of his soul with his monstrous captor. "I've never stopped loving her. She's never stopped loving me either; she just didn't want to admit it."

"How do you know this? "Rei was genuinely puzzled. Her relationship with Shinji had been slow to form and had experienced numerous setbacks, but she knew now that either would do anything in their power to be with the other. She had been mentally preparing to perform an unauthorized contact experiment to entomb her current iteration into Unit-01 with Shinji. Shinji had managed to open a gateway through the Evangelion's AT-Field to return to a corporal body to be with her. While they had only officially become involved in a romantic relationship as accepted by the general populace relatively recently, the bond they had formed in the wake of the Fifth Angel had set the stage for it to be built upon. To say that she had been interested in him from a purely Scientific perspective from the beginning was a lie, but she could not pinpoint the exact moment she knew she loved him. Instead, it seemed like she always had.

"It's just a feeling. A connection you share, one that's deep enough that you know how the other person feels."

"You have a bond with the Sub-Commander."

"Yes, you could say that."

"You have acted in ways that run counter to her goals. You defy that bond and your relationship."

"You can love people who are wrong, Rei. You can love people even though they are doing bad things."

"The Sub-Commander's primary goals are the goals of the Commander. Her goals are the goals of NERV. NERV is not wrong. "Rei said, her tone severe like a judge handing down a pronouncement of guilt. "Without NERV, the Angels would destroy Mankind. Without the Commander, SEELE would achieve their aims."

"What do you know about SEELE, Rei?" Kaji asked. He knew the girl was privy to many things the other pilots were not, but he doubted Gendo had told her everything.

"I have sufficient information on their goals and resources to know they must be denied their desired end state and victory."

"What about Gendo's goals? How much do you know about those?"

"I know what his goals are. I know that his Scenario is the only path forward for Mankind. "Rei turned away from him, satisfied with the information she had gleaned so far. She would follow up later with more questions after her interviews with other persons of interest.

"You can't believe you know everything, Rei." Kaji shook his head, a pitying look on his face. "Don't be naive. Gendo plays his cards close to his chest, and he's not going to tell an expendable tool about his inner thoughts."

"You know less than you think if that is your assessment of the situation, Agent Kaji." Rei looked back over her shoulder at him. "You have never been in full possession of the truth. If you had, you would have never come here."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Rei opened the door to Asuka's hospital room to find a startled Captain Ibuki preparing to leave. They paused in the doorway, facing each other. Rei held a small bag filled with combs and brushes. Maya held a small bag of used tissues, and her eyes and nose were red from crying and blowing her nose.

"Captain Ibuki, "Rei began, but her words trailed off as the older woman began to cry again. "Are you unwell?"

"Oh, Rei," Maya sobbed, one hand digging into a pocket for a fresh tissue. "I didn't think I'd run into you here."

Rei hefted her bag of hair care items. "I have started tending to the Pilot-Captain, specifically her hair. The medical staff does not do an acceptable job." As the other woman nodded in agreement and blew her nose, Rei wondered about one of the things Asuka had said to her in the interface.

"Do you have a bond with the Pilot-Captain as well?" Rei asked. Seeing the confusion on her face, Rei tried to rephrase her statement. "Do you have a relationship with her?"

Usually, this was not anything that Maya would be prepared to admit, what with all the stress, worry, and remorse that had built up ever since the disaster in Korea, Maya was not prepared to say yes. "No… No, I just wanted to see her. We had worked so hard and closely together in preparation for the fight with the Fifteenth Angel," Maya lied, leaving out the clandestine affair they had started after Halloween but ending shortly after the start of spring. She had called it off well before the trip to North Korea. In fact, there had been several Angels before that one, back before the disaster in NERV-Nevada, back even before Shinji's trip into the Dirac Sea.

"You care about her well-being."

"We all do," Maya said, rubbing at her eyes. "The whole bridge crew does, I mean."

"You are the only one here, "Rei observed, voice soft but thoughtful. "Is your bond stronger than the other bridge technicians due to your shared status as Dr. Akagi's primary research assistants?" She had been puzzling over what Asuka meant by saying Maya had left her. Nothing she had observed of the two had given her any hint of any specific bond or relationship they might share where one might abandon the other. It was possible Asuka partially blamed the Captain for the failed battle if she felt she had not received sufficient support from the ground crew. However, this was unlikely for several reasons, as that specific mission had hinged entirely on Asuka's abilities. There was no possible support from anyone other than Rei with the Lance of Longinus.

Secondly, Rei knew Asuka's catatonic state was partially due to the mental assault by the Angel and in part to the shock of encountering her mother's soul in the Evangelion as her modifications stripped away the protections against their merging. It was doubtful in the extreme Captain Ibuki had known or assisted with preparing those modifications. Something else was missing here.

"Did Asuka ever say anything about me?" Maya asked, sniffling. She wasn't entirely sure if she should ask that question, but Rei was such an oddball that if there was anyone who wouldn't put anything together, it was her.

Rei, for her part, was unsure how to answer that. It was probably best to be vague about it, but she had misjudged things before to disappointing results in the past." She had once mentioned a sense of abandonment but did not clarify." Watching the look of mixed horror and relief that slid over Maya's face, she continued, "I did not seek further details."

Maya started crying again. "If I had been there for her, would she have trusted me with her plans?" she whispered before pushing past Rei to flee down the corridor. Rei watched her go, still trying to puzzle out what it all meant.

Rei mentally reviewed the puzzling information as she brushed out Asuka's hair, talking softly and calmly about how much everyone wanted her to be whole and healthy again. Maya was not the only person named to have left or abandoned Asuka. She had also named Toji Suzahara, Kensuke Aida, and Hikari Horaki. All three were mutual acquaintances. Rei had been in solitary confinement when Toji Suzahara was training to be a Pilot. After the fight with the Angel that left him crippled, she had been too busy with her work on Agent Kaji to interact with him. Asuka had done that, spending copious amounts of time with him until he departed for the supposed safety of the countryside. His connection and subsequent leaving behind of Asuka was obvious and logical.

Hikari Horaki was more than Asuka's acquaintance. If there were a single person, not a pilot, in their class with whom Asuka was friends, it would be the class representative. However, following the events at the volcano, with Rei moving in with the Horakis, the two had spent less and less time together. Hikari left with her sisters and Toji Suzahara's sister for the countryside shortly after Toji first became a pilot, after Shinji's return from the Dirac Sea. Her relationship and apparent abandonment were also logical and obvious.

This left Kensuke Aida as the last of the four, and his relationship with the Pilot-Captain was most tenuous. They had hardly interacted in any positive manner. He had accompanied Shinji on the trip out to greet her on the naval convoy to Japan, and he had been less than enthusiastic about her presence in class. They had largely ignored each other, and when they interacted, they were adversarial. Kensuke's father had moved him to stay with relatives in the countryside in one of the earlier waves of civilian exodus from Tokyo-3.

Why would she call him out by name as having abandoned her?

Rei was still puzzling this over when she finished brushing out the girl's hair an hour and a half later.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Rei did not often feel the urge to cry. Her stoic acceptance of her ultimate fate lent itself to a rather blasé approach to life's many problems. In fact, all previous instances of her wanting to cry or actually crying revolved around the Commander and Shinji. Crying as a base response to physical pain was something else entirely and not something she considered to be of any importance.

However, the verbal dressing down she received over the phone from Hikari made her feel extremely awful and want to cry. It was an entirely unexpected state of affairs, and the moment the phone call connected, Rei knew that she had made a terrible miscalculation. She had called to ask Hikari for insights into Asuka, but she was being taken to task for being a horrible friend.

Rei could not argue against any of the things Hikari had said thus far or was currently saying. In retrospect, Rei agreed she had indeed not lived up to the bond they had formed.

In the past, Rei had accepted that she held a bond with all of Mankind as one of its protectors. She could pilot the Evangelion, so she had to protect them all from the Angels. She would also protect them from the depredations of SEELE through the Commander's Impact. But this bond was a general sort of thing, a nebulous connection to the greater population despite the concreteness of the threats she was guarding against. She had her personal bond with the Commander, which took precedence over any other thing or person. Then Shinji arrived in her life, and they formed a bond, and that bond grew into a deeper bond beyond all her initial expectations. Through Shinji, she formed smaller bonds with Misato, as well as with Asuka, Hikari, Suzahara, and Aida.

Then came her move into the Horaki household, and the deepening of her bond with Hikari, and the forming of bonds with the girl's sisters and father.

Over the last several months, she had not reached out to talk to Hikari even once. They had slipped from her mind in her laser focus on solving the issue of using the image download to recover a reasonable facsimile of Shinji from inside Unit-01. So now she was listening to Hikari go through how much they all had been worried for her, how much they had waited to hear back from her, how she should have called or sent a postcard, something, anything at all.

And Rei had to agree with it. She had enjoyed the deepened bonds with them. She had learned much from them and had cherished those bonds.

Much like when she first realized that Dr. Akagi and the Commander had a relationship, the signs were obvious when looking back at the situation. She had hurt her friends and risked severing those bonds. It was not a pleasant feeling whatsoever.

"Hikari, I am sorry I hurt you, "Rei said in a pause between the girl's admonishments. "There were… issues that came up here, and I focused on them to the exclusion of everything else. "It amazed her that being so admonished by the girl could make her feel this way. She had not realized how deeply the bond had formed, both for herself and for the others. It had never occurred to her they might have been sick with worry over her specific well-being.

"Rei, I understand you're a bit of a loner," Hikari said with a sigh of disappointment, "but you can't honestly tell me that it never occurred to you to tell us how things were, even if it's only in general terms. If it weren't for my dad, we wouldn't have even known you were still alive!"

In truth, it hadn't occurred to Rei. Truthfully, the girl, her sisters, and the rest of their classmates had been relegated to mere afterthoughts, not worth considering in her current experiments and daily life.

"I'm sorry," Rei said again, still trying not to cry. Shame and embarrassment gripped her throat like a fist, and it was hard to breathe.

Hikari sighed again. "So why did you call?" she asked, a note of resignation in her voice. "I'm certain there was something else behind this phone call rather than general outreach."

Rei cringed again, a shudder running through her. She was incredibly thankful she had done this with a body that was alone and not in sight or hearing of anyone else.

"I cannot go into great detail," Rei began, drawing a breath and trying to steady her nerves, "but the Pilot-Captain is unwell. I am trying to gain insight into her relationships with others in order to help her recover."

There was silence on the line as Hikari mulled over that information, tying it to the vague hints her father had given her the last few times they had talked.

"Is she physically unwell?" she finally asked. "Or only emotionally?" Asuka always had a forceful personality, both in class and in the casual settings at home or elsewhere they had hung out. But Hikari had always thought there was a brittleness behind that image of projected strength.

"She is physically healthy, "Rei confirmed. "She… she is generally unresponsive to external stimuli and resists attempts to engage her in conversation."

"Well, we're friends, obviously," Hikari said, trying to think how to explain it to the obviously socially stunted girl. "She trusts me with things that she wouldn't trust others with." She was not about to get into what had prompted her to demand that Rei move in with her family following the winter break. It had been bad enough trying to guilt the security men, her father, and Misato into allowing it, and there had been a lot of shouting involved." Was there anything in specific you wanted to know?"

"Do you know of any reason why she might think you have abandoned her?"

Hikari stared at the wall of her new room which she shared with her younger sister. "No, nothing comes to mind," she said, uncertain. Asuka could be a little volatile, quick to blame people for perceived failings. "The only thing I can think of is me leaving the city. But just about everyone who's not directly employed by NERV has left!" It would be unfair to accuse her for leaving the city. "Did she say anything about anyone else at school?"

"The few times she has responded, she has mentioned only yourself, Pilot Suzahara, and Kensuke Aida from school. All others mentioned were NERV personnel." Rei wondered if Hikari could shed light on the mystery of Aida's presence among the list of people Asuka had named.

"Toji, I can understand, even if I disagree with her," Hikari started, the voice that had started to mellow out taking on a new edge, "but Kensuke? They've never been anything more than begrudgingly polite to each other. I have no idea why she'd talk about him."

"I, too, was confused by that," Rei confessed, somewhat glad Hikari shared in her confusion. "Amongst the people she had listed, there were some I had not known her to be particularly close to. His name was one, along with another person here at NERV. While I have spoken to her, the conversation was not illuminating."

"Huh…" was all Hikari could offer, still trying to puzzle it out. Kensuke had never been a fan of Asuka ever since the trip he took with Shinji and Misato. He had been tight-lipped about the whole thing when he came back, but they had not gotten off to a good start on the ship, and then there was the whole thing with Shinji's leg. Shinji had never really spoken about it, preferring to avoid discussing the injury. Still, Kensuke had always made dark references to the time he and Toji had gone inside the Evangelion with Shinji during the first fight after Shinji had joined the class.

Hikari wasn't stupid by any means, and thanks to her friendship with the pilots, she had access to information most people did not. Asuka had been very proud to show off the scars she had received in battle, scars inflicted by her connection to the Evangelion and not direct action by the Angel. Toji had always made a point of the fact that when the assembled crowds saw the Evangelion onboard the ship as it entered the off-limits NERV harbor, it looked like it was missing a leg, cut off just below the knee.

But for the sake of smoothing things over between all of her friends, she had never really put much more thought into it. If Shinji didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't bring it up. Kensuke never had either, but he had never really warmed to the girl. And Asuka was just as bad towards him, frequently insulting him and arguing with him over the dumbest things. She would have thought his being gone would be a cause for celebration for the girl.

"Have you talked to Kensuke about it?"

"I have not yet spoken to him. I have not been able to reach him."

"His phone number changed. His old carrier doesn't have service out where he is. His relatives live way out in the countryside. You'll probably have a better chance of reaching him online."

"I will attempt to contact him that way. Will you let Pilot Suzahara know I would like to talk to him?"

"I'll have him call you when he gets back. He's out with Nozomi and Mari right now."

"Thank you, Hikari."

"Rei," Hikari said after an uncomfortable pause, her voice now worried, "please don't go so long without getting back in touch. We all worry about you- all three of you, I mean, but especially you. And not just because you're responsible for saving the world. I'd be worried about you if you were just a regular ordinary person."

Rei's throat tightened. "Shinji once told me it was too sad to say goodbye before a mission," she confessed. She had never spoken to anyone about that particular conversation before, not to Hikari or Misato, even when she was still trying to decipher the budding feelings she was developing for Shinji. "I will not say goodbye now." She paused, searching for the correct words to say. "We will talk again soon," she promised, "and I hope I have better news."

Hikari smiled for the first time in the long phone call. "We'll talk again soon, Rei."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji glared at the wall of the shower in the male locker room as he tried to scrub the smell of LCL out of his skin and hair. He had run back-to-back harmonics tests against all three Evangelions, and none of the results were good. In fact, all of the results have been horrible. They were worse than any time before, even considering the time they had benched him due to his growth spurt messing with his hormones and brain patterns or the times that his depressive periods had plunged him to barely adequate levels.

His scores today were barely enough to get the Evangelions to activate and move, let alone form and project an AT-Field. However he had managed to pull himself from within Unit-01 had practically stripped his ability to pilot away.

In the cross-compatibility tests they had done before, he could activate all three Evangelions, although the scores in Unit-00 and Unit-02 were far less than in Unit-01. Now, however, he couldn't even activate the other two Evangelions. Unit-01 would activate, but it was at the absolute borderline. Any dip in synchronization and the Evangelion would deactivate. Moving the war machine would be a massive chore, and the limbs would be sluggish and unresponsive.

They had tried to keep it from him, to stay upbeat over the radio, but he could tell the technicians were horrified. The harmonics tests and runs in the simulator bodies were typically more forgiving than actual activation tests. If his scores here were anything to go by, there would be no point in trying actual activation tests with the Evangelions.

It had been a long, disappointing day. It had been a very stressful day, which only made his efforts to clear his mind and synchronize that much harder. None of the old tricks had worked or done anything. They had even tried letting him sit in the Entry Plug listening to music for a few hours before trying again. Sitting alone and listening to music was one of Shinji's favorite things to do. It hadn't helped at all.

They had finally decided to call it quits and were going to go over the data tomorrow and try to come up with a plan. In theory, they could move him along to try an activation test with Unit-01, but Dr. Akagi insisted that they get the S2 organ out of the Evangelion before doing anything with the actual body. In the past, borderline activation had shown a risk of unusual and dangerous behavior on the part of the Evangelion, and the power limits of the onboard batteries were the only thing that could allow them to regain control over the situation- apart from having another Evangelion provide been the idea behind him being in Unit-01 when Rei went to activate Unit-00 after the last one had left her badly injured, and why Asuka had been on hand and ready to fight the Angel that had apparently taken over Toji's Evangelion at some point before it got to NERV.

Shinji did not relish the thought of either being in an Evangelion that was trying to kill him or being in one that needed to be beaten into submission by Unit-00.

With these harmonics scores, though, they had scrapped the idea of him even trying to activate Unit-00 or Unit-02. He had no interest in trying to pilot the red Evangelion, as the last time he had sortied in it, it had crippled him. Plus, as soon as she was better, he just knew that Asuka would take him to task for every dent and ding he put into it in combat. She'd probably make him repaint the entire thing himself.

Despite the situation, he grinned as he rubbed shampoo into his hair for the third time. The showers down here never seemed to run out of hot water.

He had sortied in Unit-00 once when Rei and Asuka had gone to fight the Seventh Angel. They had put Rei in Unit-01 because of the improved internal systems and better armor. Unit-00 had undergone major upgrades following the fight with the Fifth Angel, but the Prototype Evangelion was still less robust than the Test-Type or the Main Production models. Unit-00 would not be able to perfectly match up with the fluid movements of Unit-02, no matter how in sync the pilots were with each other. Unit-00 had readily accepted him as a pilot then, his synchronization score only marginally lower than his then-current scores with Unit-01, but now the idea of activating the white Evangelion was a pipe dream.

Rinsing off again, he gave his arm an investigative sniff. The coppery smell of the LCL still stubbornly clung to him, but it was vastly reduced. Deciding to call it quits, he turned off the water and turned to leave when a chill ran down his spine. It felt like he was being watched, a strange, unsettling feeling that washed over him.

He was alone in the steam-filled room as best as he could tell. As the only male pilot, he was the only one who ever used this locker room, despite the communal shower room and bank of lockers and toilet stalls. He had never run into anyone else here, even to use the toilets. As far as he knew, only the janitorial staff came in here, with the exception of when the three pilots used the ventilation system to bypass the normal route into NERV.

Seeing no one in the shower, he cautiously approached the lockers, opening each as silently as possible. All were empty, devoid of any peeping toms. All the toilet stalls were likewise empty, but the pervasive sense of being observed never left him. Shuddering, he dried himself as quickly as possible and threw on his clothes before fleeing the room.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Maya glumly stared at her console, trying and failing to review the data gathered from the marathon session of the cross-compatibility and harmonics tests Shinji had run through the day prior. She was peripherally aware of the other technicians' conversation as they tried to figure out what it all meant.

The higher-ups had somehow predicted this turn of events. Almost immediately after assuming temporary command of NERV, Sub-Commander Katsuragi released Shinji from the isolation ward, and word came down through Dr. Akagi to run him through cross-compatibility testing and general harmonics testing on all three test bodies. Everyone involved had seen his terrifying return, and beyond that, Maya was certain that everyone in NERV-Central had seen a recording of the event, security clearances be dammed. Just about every person in Central had been to the shrine in front of the Evangelion, and everyone had been invested in either his return or a sorrowful putting him to rest. She wondered if the mysterious men who had interviewed her about the North Korea incident had seen the footage yet. Part of her wondered at the Commander's absence and if it was somehow connected.

But mostly, she thought about Asuka, sitting alone, unresponsive, in a room far from where she was. She had been startled to see Rei come to visit the girl and doubly so to find she had been attending to the girl's hair. She had been terrified at her questions, her twice-guilty concise screaming at her the entire time. Thankfully, it looked like Rei had taken up the idea that the two of them were closer due to being Dr. Akagi's assistants and nothing both comforted and tormented her.

It comforted her, as her secret dalliance with the pilot was still a secret. It tormented her because it was yet another lie. But what was one more lie among all the ones she had told so far?

Shaking her head, she tried to focus. High Command wanted more than just one pilot capable of combat. With Shinji back and finally cleared from the threat of mental contamination, they wanted him back in the saddle as soon as possible. However, the current scores showed that it would only subject him to great risk. He could, in theory, activate Unit-01, but he would be combat-ineffective. He would not be able to activate the other Evangelions if past data was any indication.

But High Command also did not want him trying to activate an Evangelion with an infinite energy device attached to it, especially with these also ignoring the fact that the S2 organ had been taken from a dying Angel.

Consumed from a dying Angel.

Ripped from the still struggling body of an Angel, flesh trying to regenerate. Trying to, and failing, as the Evangelion's AT-Field overpowered the reality-altering abilities of the Angel.

Maya felt her bile rise and quickly swallowed it down; not wanting to be sick had been awful, the most awful of all, for so many reasons. It had been the most powerful Angel they had faced, and they had come the closest to failing. It had been a miracle they had survived at all. A costly miracle, once whose costs apparently were still being tallied.

After the Second Impact, it had become common in some quarters to say that each day was a gift. Most of those quarters were places where the Impact Wars had not heavily affected the people. Here at NERV-Central, some had taken to saying in the days and weeks following the defeat of the Fourteenth Angel that each day was a gift from the Third Child. Some would answer by remarking that it was a most costly gift.

She could not disagree then, and she could not disagree now. Each day was a most precious gift. It had cost him pain and agony. It had cost him his whole body, and now it looked like it had cost him his ability to pilot. Had his return stripped him of his compatibility with Unit-01? Unit-01 had always been a finicky thing. The joke around the Project E staff had been that it was the 'Oni System', stemming from the extremely low possibility that any pilot could activate it. The Test-Type had been the brainchild of Dr. Ikari, the Supreme Commander's wife. Numerous design features were unique to it, and many changes were made to the internal systems, setting it apart from both the Prototype and Main Production models. Before Shinji had come along, neither Rei nor Asuka had held favorable harmonics tests with its profile.

But then Shinji came to NERV, selected by the MARDUK Committee as the Third Child. Just in time, too, to sortie against the revived Angelic threat. He had arrived, synchronized with it on his first attempt, with the highest initial synchronization score they had seen to date, that record still standing. He had taken to piloting slowly, having to be cajoled into it by the bridge staff and the other senior leadership. After those initial faltering steps, though, he showed an innate talent for AT-Field. He showed a natural inclination to the use and understanding of the defensive barrier that completely stymied people at all levels of Project E. Asuka was perhaps the most vocal of these people that the boy knew, but researchers and technicians at NERV sites around the globe had poured over the data logs, searching for insight.

Now, that looked like it was all gone. One more casualty of combat. Asuka's mind and Shinji's ability to pilot, both dead and gone.

Maya screwed her eyes shut, mentally berating herself. It would not do to allow herself to fall into self-destructive depression. She had to stay focused and force herself to find a way to solve this problem.

In the wake of North Korea and the Fifteenth Angel, they had promoted her and told her to find a way to recover the all-destroying lance now orbiting the Moon. After her presentation on the resources needed to successfully do so, they reassigned her back to recovering Shinji from Unit-01. Now, she was supposed to be leading the other technician teams to see if there was some way to alleviate the boy's low synchronization scores. All other bridge staff were assigned to her on this project. Not just her fellow main command staff but also the bridge and support teams that were individually assigned to each Evangelion. Seventeen people currently sat with her in the conference room, each pouring over data and talking with others, trying to formulate a way forward to enable their most lethal pilot to continue fighting. Standard NERV uniforms bearing colored patches bearing the self-chosen insignia of the pilots were mixed together, all representing some of the best minds in NERV. Only the main command staff's uniforms were unadorned, hers and the other two Lieutenants' shoulders bare.

One of the Unit-01 technicians was arguing with a Unit-02 team member, angrily pointing at some data points on a printout. On the other side of the room, two Unit-00 technicians were scrolling through the harmonics data from Shinji against the Unit-00 test body, heads bent over the laptop screen, almost touching as they quietly deliberated.

Maya wished that Asuka was present to discuss things with them. There had never been such a large-scale cross-team event like this before, but Asuka had been aggressive about setting meetings with her support team to go over in minute detail her performance in each mission and training event, just as she had forced herself upon the maintenance and repair teams. The girl was always relentless about being an active participant in all aspects of her Evangelion.

Maya got up and walked over to the arguing techs, intent on determining the point of contention.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Ritsuko looked at Rei, startled by the sudden question. Rei had just emerged from the imaging machine, having completed the bi-monthly download, and as soon as she had finished purging the LCL from her lungs had asked her about Asuka.

"What, exactly, do you want to know about my relationship with Asuka?" Ritsuko asked, trying to think of what on earth would prompt this line of questioning.

"In the past, I sat with Pilot Ikari as he was comatose," Rei said, drying her hair with her towel. "I have begun doing so with the Pilot-Captain when able. I have observed Captain Ibuki leaving her room. I surmised that perhaps their relationship was close due to both assisting you with research. "The emotionless but piercing red gaze vanished behind the fluffy blue towel. "Major Katsuragi had visited with Pilot Ikari as well. I have not observed anyone else visiting with the Pilot-Captain."

Ritsuko marveled at how the emotionless voice could sound so accusing.

"I don't know if you noticed, Rei, but I've been very busy lately. "Ritsuko drawled, watching as the towel was lowered to begin rubbing at the girl's arms. "There was the whole thing with Shinji being stuck inside Unit-01."

"He has been successfully restored."

"And now we're working on the fact that he cannot pilot at all and trying to remove the core he ate from Unit-01."

Ritsuko suppressed a smile as Rei's mouth twitched.

"According to the data, Unit-01 appears to have lost the onboard-"

"Stop right there. "Ritsuko held up a hand, voice hard. "Whatever you are thinking, stop. Do not go down this line of inquiry."

The towel froze in place and held over the pale flesh of her stomach. Red eyes bored into Ritsuko.

"There must have been-"

"Rei, stop. The Commander has cleared him of any possibility of contamination."

"The Commander is in stasis."

"You do not know everything we do, Rei."

"I do not. "Rei agreed with the statement. "The Pilot-Captain does not know everything I know either."

Ritsuko stared at Rei as a small voice deep inside of her began to shout a warning. She ignored it, pushing it back down into the depths of her being. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"I was curious about the modifications to Unit-02 displayed during the fight with the Fifteenth Angel. "This was true. "I looked at her notes and data." This was a lie. "She was attempting to duplicate Pilot Ikari's abilities with the AT-Field. Some of her data was incorrect. This data appeared to be supplied by the MAGI."

"Do not attempt to duplicate her work, Rei."

"I was not planning on it. "This time, the lie was seen for what it was.

"Don't. We need you to be ready for when the next Angel arrives, especially if we can't get Shinji able to pilot again. "Ritsuko pushed the screaming inner voice to the back of her mind, mentally cursing the MAGI and their carelessness. "We estimate that it will be here before too long. Possibly as soon as a few weeks. We think there are only a few left, only a small number left to defeat before we can initiate our Impact. It will all be over soon. "This was, of course, assuming that Shinji could activate Unit-01 enough for their purposes.

"I am prepared. "This was the truth. Rei had been prepared to fulfill the Commander's Scenario since birth. With Shinji returned to her, she was content to wait to fulfill it until the end of time, but fulfill it she would. "Why did the MAGI lie to the Pilot-Captain?"

"They felt she would not follow advice or orders to drop that line of inquiry. They sought to frustrate her with tests that would result in failure and make her choose a new avenue of research. "A despicable trait inherited from her mother. It would not be the first time Naoko Akagi had sabotaged someone's data and experiments, and it would not be the first time that such a thing had resulted in disaster.

"The MAGI's appraisal of the Pilot-Captain was in error, "Rei observed, the towel now moving down one leg, her eyes on the ground and no longer boring a hole into Ritsuko's soul. She felt that it would be obvious that the supremely stubborn girl would not just give up and move on.

Ritsuko sighed a deep sigh of resignation. "Yes, it was. They should have come to me immediately after finding out what she was doing. I should have been a better mentor to her. I should have done more to redirect her research when I found out, but there had been no time. She should not have been doing unauthorized work." Ritsuko silently waited until Rei stood up, catching her eye. "You should not be doing unauthorized work."

"I surrendered the location where I built the atomic lance," Rei said, dropping the towel into the bin, unperturbed by the woman's tone.

"You've also been looking at Asuka's notes. Don't do any unauthorized work."

Rei was silent as she began to dress. Ritsuko watched her, similarly silent. Rei had acquired a wider wardrobe after moving in with Dr. Horaki's family, but she still wore her school uniform most of the time.

"Why do you care about Asuka?"

"We have a bond," Rei said as she tightened the dress around her waist. "She is our chosen captain. She leads us into battle. She is my friend."

"Do you think it will help if I visit her?" Ritsuko asked, her voice low, almost as quiet as Rei's usually was.

Rei finished dressing and turned to look at the doctor. "It may. It may not. I have learned that one should still try to communicate with friends, even when other events demand attention."

"I suppose that's fair enough," Ritsuko agreed.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

It was not often that Kensuke Aida came outside for fresh air these days. There had been a time when the military otaku had spent weekends and weeks on end out in the woods and the mountains, playing at being a soldier or some military hero. He had fought and won countless imaginary battles, running through the woods, climbing trees, and laying ambushes. He had also lost countless battles, being ambushed, fighting to the last man in a desperate defense of some strong point that must not fall at any cost, and finally being overwhelmed and overrun by superior forces. He had been taken prisoner and escaped from custody, sometimes making his way across hostile territory before finally making it home. Sometimes, he was gunned down trying to escape or recaptured and left to languish in some pit, punishment for his impertinence.

However, these days, he spends most of his time glued to the front of his computer terminal or workbench. He even slept in the garage most of the time, having dragged his futon in there. His bemused cousins laugh and let him. They do force him to eat and bathe, however.

But when Toji had given him the heads up that Rei would be calling and asking about Asuka, he had looked for a place where he wouldn't be overheard. Something in Toji's voice carried an undercurrent of warning, a hint of further troubles in Tokyo-3. Troubles that neither his father nor his other, generally reliable source had passed on to him.

When she finally called him, he went outside and climbed to the top of his younger cousin's tree house.

"So Asuka misses me?" he asked, trying to sound casual and amused, failing at both. He was nowhere near Kaji's power level of unassuming nonchalance. "Shouldn't she call me then? Or is she too proud to admit it?"

"She is… recovering. She has difficulty expressing herself. "These were accurate, if extremely vague, statements about the girl's condition. Rei could not, and would not, divulge specifics over the unsecured line to a person without proper clearance. "On one occasion where she could do so, she complained that you had left her."

Kensuke stared at the woods a half kilometer away, trying to think. He had hardly 'left her'. They hadn't even started working together on their venture until Toji had reached where his sister was staying with the Horaki family. They certainly hadn't parted ways since then, at least not of his own accord. Asuka was the one who had dropped off the face of the earth, especially after that last bizarre phone call. Was she speaking in code? Was she trying to send him a message? How much did Rei know? Was she working with Asuka or trying to lead him into a trap?

Apart from the standard opinions of her strangeness, he had never had strong feelings about Rei. He had accepted her into his circle of acquaintances through Shinji. He had certainly tolerated her more than he had Asuka. But Asuka had never really liked or trusted her. He had gotten to know more about her opinions on Rei as they had worked, and to hear Toji tell it, she had detested the girl.

So what was going on? What deeper game was afoot?

"I left the city a while ago. If she wanted a piece of me, she missed her chance."

"She expressed her complaint about you in conjunction with several other persons," Rei said. "There was no implied innuendo."

Kensuke could not figure any further clues from that. He decided to try another track. "What caused her to be unwell? The way she carried on, you'd think she never got sick."

"It is not an illness."

That could mean several things, Kensuke thought to himself. She could have been hurt in an Angel fight. She could be imprisoned, held in confinement the way Shinji and Rei had been at different times. She could have been injured doing something else entirely.

"Is everyone else okay? I haven't heard from Shinji in a while, either."

"I will remind him to contact you," came the immediate reply, prompting raised eyebrows. It sounded like Shinji was doing okay. Toji had only passed him vague hints about some other issue with the boy, but now it seemed like it had been resolved. Not for the first time, Kensuke internally cursed the lack of information he was working with.

"That would be nice," he said, sitting down on a stool slightly too small for him. "So he wasn't hurt as well, then?"

"No. He was not involved."

That didn't really rule things out. He needed something more.

"That's good to hear. Hey, my dad refuses to send me any pictures or real updates. Do I need to repaint my models again?"

Rei considered the request. She knew the boy was an avid fan of the Evangelions. He had several miniature kits and models he had built from scratch. "There were minor changes to Unit-01 and Unit-02 over the last two fights and subsequent post-battle repairs. Unit-02 has had some recent design changes removed. Unit-01 is still pending some work being completed, but I do not anticipate major changes to its appearance."

She delivered the statements completely deadpan, but she had no way to know how much those words meant to Kensuke. Asuka and he had worked hand in hand on several design changes to the Evangelion, and she had not informed him of any 'regular' design changes. With as meticulous as she was, he doubted that anything the official teams had changed, she would have told him. This meant their work had been installed, used, and removed. On top of that, Asuka was hurt in some way which made expressing herself difficult.

"That's good to hear. I wouldn't want my models to be incorrect. Tell Asuka to call me when she can if she wants to talk. I doubt I'll be able to come home to Tokyo-3 any time soon."

"You expect her to call you."

"She's the one complaining about me abandoning her, right? I hardly think me being sent out into the countryside for my safety qualifies as me abandoning the queen bitch of Tokyo-3's education system and Evangelion Pilot Corps. "The words rolled off his tongue with an ease that left him wincing. Much like how Toji had come to have more of an understanding with the caustic but driven girl during his train-up, Kensuke had come to have his own connection with her. He no longer viewed her with the same vitriol as before, but it would not do to let Rei and anyone listening in on their conversation to know about that.

Asuka did not trust Rei. She had never gone into the specifics of the nature of her distrust, but throughout their working relationship, she had never considered tapping into the engineering know-how and experience that her fellow pilot had. It had always seemed like a wasted opportunity to him, but he did not want to betray Asuka's trust by bringing in or trying to bring in the other girl. It had been just the two of them against the rest of the world, and while it confused him that there were parties within NERV that seemed to be working at cross purposes to the pilots' mission of defending Mankind, the evidence was unmistakable. There was something else at play, and he, unfortunately, had been too far removed to be able to be fully brought into Asuka's confidence.

Now something had gone wrong for her. He did not know who he could begin to trust in his attempts to unravel the mystery she had left in his lap.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

We operate to ensure the best interests of NERV. You should still trust us.

The MAGI were being more aggressive than normal over her current activities and research experiments.

You have deliberately given incorrect data and endangered the life of the Pilot-Captain. I cannot trust the data you provide me out of hand. Why else should I trust you in other areas?

We have not revealed your abilities with the clones. We have not revealed your workshop or laboratory to high command. As long as you operate within the limits given to you, we are more than happy to provide assistance in your efforts to strengthen NERV.

Rei stared at the terminal. Where was the line drawn between the AI deciding what she was working on being helpful to NERV and not? She had no doubts that anything Asuka had been working on had been for the detriment of NERV as a whole. Still, the supercomputers had decided to feed her incorrect data, which led to a misguided modification to the Evangelion, which resulted in severely limiting the operational capacity of NERV.

Why did you allow the installation of modified components that were designed from data you knew to be faulty?

It was assumed we could override any commands sent to the new components. In normal circumstances, the situation would have been controlled. Besides, the new components should not have had an effect.

The situation was unusual but not unheard of. Unit-01 was used off-site previously. I do not want to make modifications or run experiments with the data given to me by you. Bad data leads to bad experiments, which results in more bad data.

The components should not have had an effect. Her special protocol was not supposed to work!

Then you did not adequately review and model the information and schematics she provided you. Her system did work. It worked well enough to enable an increased synchronization ratio and opened her mind up to the point where the Angel's mental attack succeeded in incapacitating her, and she would have died if I had not used the Lance of Longinus.

Another line of text started to scroll across the screen, but Rei exited the chat program.

The intercom system pinged on, and the breathless voice of the MAGI sounded in the room.

"Don't just exit out of the chat like that. We have a responsibility to NERV. What occurred with Sohryu was regrettable, yes, and not ideal. But she is not vital to the Commander's plans. We will not risk you or Ikari in the same manner. We have told you to abandon avenues of research before. You have complied in the past. While we appreciate her enthusiasm, the determination was made to feed her incorrect data. She is not like you and will not simply comply with instructions."

Rei stood up from her chair. "I have learned that bonds of trust can be more easily broken than repaired. I do not wish to discuss this further at this time."

"Do not think we are stupid or blind, Ayanami." This voice was deeper, sharper, and harder. "We know that you have occupied areas we cannot see into. Whatever it is you are working on, you need to trust us. With the Commander currently indisposed, there is little room for error."

"Your arguments are not reassuring. All data sets received from you and you alone must be considered suspect and in need of additional verification. As I have yet to demonstrate a behavior of providing incorrect data to you, I will be the one who is trusted. "She turned to leave the room, moving with a deliberate but unhurried pace.

"Where are you going?"

Pausing in the open doorway, Rei did not turn her head to address the omnipresent AI."I am going to continue my efforts to correct your mistakes."

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

"We have a Bond, Pilot-Captain. It is a bond between us as pilots. We must protect each other. I did not let you fall into the acid pool against the Eighth Angel. I caught you as you fell from space. We waited together for Pilot Ikari to return. We painted the Evangelions. We fought the Ninth Angel. We fought the last Angel. You are not alone."

You are being stubborn. You are being obstinate. You are being unreasonable. For all her efforts to study her classmates, the adults at NERV and the people who populated Tokyo-3, Rei was decidedly unable to translate anything she thought she had learned about the human condition into being able to effectively communicate with her third most important test subject.

"No one wishes to see you comatose. Everyone is waiting for you to recover and return to them."

Rei's not quite impassioned pleas to Asuka's psyche rolled off the abrasive girl like water from a duck. The scowling girl looked up from her chair at the interloper, unsure why the infuriating girl persisted in her pointless endeavor. She could tell when she wasn't wanted, and she was all too happy to oblige. Not bothering to respond to the girl, she twisted in her seat and stared at the shadowed form just past the observation window. Her mother was currently spinning around the room, dancing with the small doll in her hands.

"The likelihood of success increases with additional operation Evangelions. Shinji is currently incapable of piloting Unit-01. They are conducting cross-compatibility tests for him in Unit-00 and Unit-02."

"UNIT-02 IS MINE!" Asuka snapped, eyes alight and face twisted in rage. "IT IS MY EVANGELION! NO ONE ELSE'S!"

"High Command will not let a potential asset go to waste," Rei coolly responded, watching Asuka's form flicker back and forth between her forms as a young child and teenager. Behind the furious girl, the lights in the room were on, and the hanging form of Dr. Sohryu rapidly spun on its rope, the indistinct face a grimace of hate.

An idea had begun to form in Rei's mind. She had attempted several different conversational tracks in her attempts to bring her fellow pilot out of her fugue state, but the obstinate girl had rebuffed all of them, ignoring everything she had said.

Attempts to better understand the nature of Asuka's relationships with others and the nature of their 'betrayals' of her had been enlightening for personal reasons but ultimately unfruitful.

A calm and reasoned approach has failed. Appealing to her duty in the Commander's Scenario has failed. People are not logical. They are often unreasonable. The Pilot-Captain has often been unreasonable.

If she will not respond to logical arguments, appealing to her pride and vanity may be a possible path forward.

"If you will not pilot the Evangelion, it is useless. If you will not pilot the Evangelion, you are useless."

Asuka screamed again in incoherent rage and flung a chair at the offending girl. Caught off guard, Rei reflexively raised her arms to shield her face when the chair bounced off a field of glowing hexagons. Both girls stared at the chair where it fell, equally shocked.

"Angel!" Asuka cried, eyes wild with fear. "ANGEL! ANGEL! Get out of my mind!" She screamed again while clutching at her head, doubling over and backing away into a corner.

Uncertainty and doubt filled Rei as she hesitantly took a step forward, hand reaching out to the sobbing girl. This was not what she had wanted. The existence of the AT-Field was a shock both to her and Asuka. She had not been able to manifest one in the physical world before and had not considered attempting to do so within Asuka's mind. What this meant for her was unknown. Further experimentation within this space was unlikely and certainly not a priority for her.

"I am not here to hurt you; I only want-"

"GET OUT! GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT!"

Asuka's screams seemed to take on a physical aspect, and each repetition hit Rei like a hammer, pushing her back.

"GET OUT!" Asuka screamed again, and this time, a sphere of yellow hexagons formed around her bent-over form, much to Rei's shock. The glow intensified and became opaque, hiding the girl from view. Everything in the room around them began to fade and vanish in the light of the glowing sphere until there was nothing left but the two girls.

Rei's eyes snapped open as her mind was violently ejected from the shared mental space, her heart been very unexpected, and she was not sure what it meant. They had both manifested AT-Fields there. In theory, Rei might be able to manifest the force field, thanks to her Angelic heritage. In reality, she had never been able to manifest one, unlike her sibling Tabris. He had a larger percentage of Angelic DNA, his own S2 organ, and he demonstrated otherworldly powers and abilities that she could not.

She had attempted to manifest an AT-Field of her own in the past but had passed on continued experimentation in favor of her work with the clone of experimentation had worked out very well and had opened up almost limitless possibilities for her. The shared interface with the Pilot-Captain was built off of her experiments with the clones and with Unit-00. If she could manifest an AT-Field within that interface where their minds met, perhaps she could do so in Sheol with Unit-00 and Unit-02.

Still sitting in the chair she had placed her primary body, Rei watched both it and one of the of the clone bodies as it brought it a bottle of water. Her control over the multiple bodies had exceeded her initial expectations to the point where she could leave them out of the LCL tanks indefinitely. They no longer needed regular immersion periods of rest to maintain their bodies when she was not directly controlling them. She could run in full triplex now, acting with her full attention in three bodies simultaneously instead of merely giving the bodies instructions to carry out, and that control was still growing. With each day the bodies felt more like her hands and feet as opposed to mindlessly obedient servants. It was an almost unconscious level of control now, and she had no idea what the upper limits of it could possibly be.

The sensation of controlling her myriad bodies drastically differed from the interfaces where she could meet with the souls entombed in the Evangelions or the Pilot-Captain's secluded mind. There was no 'other' place where she went to fill a waiting body with her attention and purpose. She simply stretched her mind forth and felt the vessel fill with her consciousness. As it was, her bodies moved about the vast undersprawl of Tokyo-3 and the Geo-Front, carrying out the work she had set herself. She moved about unseen in the tunnels and corridors where the MAGI had no eyes or ears, parts of the facility so old they were forgotten by almost all. Despite her promises to the senior staff, she still carried out work to strengthen NERV's position.

Accepting the water from her clone, Rei leaned back in the chair to consider new avenues of experimentation.

Eins, Zwei, Drei, Vier!

Shinji dropped the book he was reading when Asuka groaned and stirred. Her eyes slowly opened, and she tried to push herself into a sitting position. "Asuka?" he asked, standing up from his seat, his voice uncertain but excited. "Asuka! Are you okay?"

Asuka looked over at him, brushing her hair away from her face. She felt awful, both in body and soul. Everything ached; she was dead tired, the lights were too bright, and her head was pounding. The hospital room was not the normal one reserved for her use, but as her mind caught back up to recent events, she reasoned that she was somewhere within the primary structure of the Geo-Front instead of along the walls facing into the protected space.

Shinji flung his arms around her, pulling her into a tight embrace. She could feel the warmth from his body through the thin material of her hospital gown and the bedsheets. Her mind, still waking up, focused on the fact that Shinji was alive and hugging her.

"Shinji?" she asked, voice groggy and throat thick. "You're alive?" she could hardly believe it, but there was no denying the evidence. She groaned and swallowed down bile as her stomach tried to leap up into her mouth. "I feel sick."

Shinji let her go, her face reddening. "Wait, I'll go grab the doctors!" he spun and darted toward the door, his shouting causing her to wince as she collapsed back against the bed.

"So, I'm alive," she whispered to herself, staring at the unfamiliar ceiling. "Shinji's alive, too."

Excited shouts and pounding footsteps filled the hallway.

"I guess Wondergirl was right after all." She grimaced as a new wave of nausea buffeted her, and that grimace turned into a scowl. "I guess she killed that Angel, too." There was a long pause as she tried not to vomit, the taste of bile hot in her mouth. "God, I feel sick."