“Well, that’s that.”  With the installation of the plant over by the window, Shinji put the finishing touch on their apartment.  The group was going to be coming over later for a housewarming dinner, which he’d have to start, shortly.  The pair had agreed to switch off on cooking days, and today would be his.  Behind him, the warm, soothing tones of a cello played.  He smiled; she was almost as good as he, the almost simply because she wasn’t totally used to the physical properties of it.  “The cello sounds beautiful, Asuka.”

“Danke,” she replied, distractedly.  She was focused on the music, trying to learn it her way, not so much out of a need for independence, but a way to expand her--their--skills.

He looked back at the past week, and how different things were for him now.  Most of his life, he’d felt like, what was the word?--malcontent.  Yes, that was it; like he was born in the wrong era.  From what he’d heard from Misato, he’d have fit right in during, say, the 1990s or so.  But that was then.  Now, here he was, feeling a little more in his time, in his place, and thanks, ironically, to an Angel.  But that was the way things went, the way the world moved.

Perhaps, just maybe, if I have to spend the rest of my life like this, it can’t be that bad.

“Maybe, maybe not,” she agreed to his unspoken question.  “But time will tell, won’t it?”  Beginning to play once again, she added in her mind, Now, if you’ll stay on your side of the futon, we’ll be fine.

“Stop hogging the sheets, and maybe I won’t have to move closer.”

“What do you mean I hog the sheets?” she demanded.

“Well, your feet are cold at night, so what choice do I have?”  He shrugged.  “Fortunately, the rest of you is pretty warm.”

Although he’d said this matter of fact, Asuka didn’t take it that way.  “What?”  Dropping the cello, she leapt to her feet and said, “What did you mean by that, Shinji?”

Shinji took the offensive route as well.  “Well, I didn’t mean anything by it, but ice princess, if you’re going to have that kind of attitude...."

“What do you mean by that, you idiot?”

“Hear me out, Yuki-onna, your feet are cold, but the rest of you is pretty hot!  I was being matter-of-fact about it, but if you’re going to act like that,” his eyes blazing indignant fury for a second or two before he found he didn’t want to say anything more to her.  “Awww, fuck it.”  Storming towards the door, he had every intention of getting the hell away from her for a few hours...well, at least physically.

He’d made it no farther than the door, when he felt a pair of arms grab him from behind and a voice whisper, “Shinji, I’m sorry.”

“Let me go, Asuka,” he said in a tight, controlled voice.

“Shinji, don’t leave me,” she said in a small voice, a soft tone that was just one step above a whisper.

“I can’t,” he said, his voice one step below a snarl.  “Even if I wanted to--and I’m damn well tempted right now--I can’t.  I won’t do to you what our parents did to us.”  He turned around and faced her.  “I’m stuck with you.”  As he completed his turn, he realized that they were facing each other.

“I’m glad, Shinji,” Asuka said with true feeling.  “I’m glad.”  She looked at him, not letting go.

The pair stared at each other for a second.  Two.  The emptiness became oppressive, the quiet thunderous in its silence.  And with no concrete agreement, the pair kissed.  At first it seemed a sloppy, unsure kiss, the kind that people have done for the first event since time upon time began.  However, it didn’t take long for them to really get intense about it, as their emotions and the tension of the moment flowed into that once space between instants, that one infinite pass of time that seemed to loop forever into nothing and everything and anything, all at once and never at the same time.

However, Shinji broke off.  Asuka, fearing rejection, didn’t bother to hide the fear in her face, or in her mind.  Knowing what she felt, he said nothing, simply thinking it, and letting her probe.  As she looked within, she instantly understood, instantly.

“You’re right, Shinji,” she answered.  “We did, didn’t we?”

“Yeah,” he droned, clearly somewhere between embarrassed and longing.  “Misato warned us about that.  I guess we’ll have to be more careful about that, then.”  Her answer was to lean against his chest, letting him hold her.  They both knew what was happening to them--the bond that they had was causing them to fall for each other.  Despite their short time together, the bond had intensified what one knew about the other, and vice versa.  In the three weeks they had been in this situation, they may as well have been together for years.

Looking up at him, she asked, “Shinji, do you think...?”

“Someday,” he sighed.  “Someday.  But we can’t let it be now.  We’re too young, and although we have no choice but to stay with each other for life, it would be a long time to regret mistakes.”

“You’re right,” she said, looking at him again, even as he looked at her.  Once again, nature danced before them, and the pair’s lips moved closer to each other, brushing gently against the other, as doves on the wing...

...to be rudely interrupted by a phone call.  Caught off guard, both jumped as though spooked by the very specters of the past themselves.  Asuka recovered fast enough to dive for the phone.  “Yeah, wa’s up?”

//Asuka, this is Misato over at Terminal Dogma.  I need you and Shinji to get down here immediately.  There’s been another attack.//

“Funny, I didn’t hear the Civil Defense systems sound off,” she commented.

//The attack wasn’t here.  The Angels hit the base at Los Angeles-2.//   There was a rustle of voices in the background for a second before Misato came back on.  //Civil Defense is sending a police cruiser your way to pick you up.  Be suited and ready in the Briefing Room in 40 minutes.  Misato out.//

Los Angeles-2, Nevada, United States:

Out on the farthest reaches of what was once eastern California, lay the newest part of the state of Nevada, the 15 counties that made up the section of Nevada known as the California corridor.  Mankind had built there after the San Andreas faultline had slid beneath the waves, taking a massive chunk of the Western US with it.  Cities such as Los Angeles-2, New Francisco, New Honolulu, and San Diego-2 were the successors to their original towns, having the pace and feel of their predecessors, though those were lost to the bottom of the sea so long ago.

The largest city on the West Coast, Los Angeles-2 was known for not only its posh Nuevo Beverly, glamorous New Hollywood and trendy Westwood-2 districts, but also had as part of the city two of the largest bases on the West Coast, Joshua Tree Naval Base, and Edwards Air Force Base.  While Joshua Tree was the home of the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet and Combined UN Fleet Operations--COMUNFLEOPS, Edwards was also no less special.  It housed both the Headquarters for the US Air Forces Pacific, but also had as a tenant command, something a little less known, the North American HQ for NERV, commonly called Branch-2.

Its existence was known only to a few people on base.  Outside of Edwards, the only thing known about the monolithic black buildings in the middle of the desert was that it was a “DOD Laser Weapons Test Site”.  A generation ago, the citizens of a major metropolis would have railed against having such a major weapons test platform so close to them.  The death of most of humanity had changed such an outlook drastically.  Now, they were glad that such an important facility was close to them.  It represented safety; it represented protection.

Not today, however.

Out in what was left of the New Watts district, a giant plastic-looking object was setting the financial district of the city ablaze, turning it into so much ash and cinder.  The object in question was a chromed torus with a star-like light in its center hole.  Occasionally, that star would fire a bluish-white beam that would incinerate any ferrocrete building that happened to be in its path.  At the moment, the Navy and Air Force had their F-22 and F-23 fighters airborne, launching everything they had at it.  Artillery and tanks from Fort Schwartzkopf up near Las Vegas would still take a few hours to get here, and what forces the Army had on-site were currently ineffective.  Just about every type of weapons system short of N2-class weapons were being launched at it, but to no avail as the Second City of Angels was being destroyed by its extraterrestrial namesake.

Deep below the surface of the ocean sat the main operations of Branch-2, commonly called the Frontier.  In the cavernous facility underneath the shore, bedlam was breaking out.

The base commander, Naval Captain Pamela Ayers turned to her second-in-command, Lt. Col. Pat Sumner, and shouted, “Where the hell are the EVAs?  Why the hell haven’t they been launched yet?”

Sumner looked at his boss.  “Captain, the pilots are climbing into the spine tubes.  At the moment, all civic power is being shunted to the launch catapults.”

“What’s the status of the EVA Units?”

“Unit 03 is being powered up at the moment.  Unit 04, as usual, is combat ready.  Unit 05 just went on-line, and is going through the preliminary operations procedures.”

“OPS!” Ayers shouted, this time at a slightly younger woman with long calico-red hair and green eyes, windowed behind a pair of glasses.  “Lieutenant Chapel, is your team ready for this?  Really ready?  They’ve never been in combat before, and, let’s be honest, Lieutenant--they're just kids.”

Kendra Chapel, Lieutenant, US Navy, looked at her CO and said, “I hope so.  Raven seems a little ready for combat--of course, when is she not ready?  Carter is sardonic about it, but he’ll manage.  The only one I’m worried about is Wendy.  She’s not at her peak, but she’s the only one who can pilot Unit 03.”

Ayers, apparently looking to rage over something, commented, “You call your junior officers by their first names, Lieutenant Chapel?”

“Captain, they’re kids, ma’am, freshmen in high school.  They have no one.  Carter’s parents were killed in the tsunami that destroyed Hawaii.  Wendy’s parents were also lost when LA-1 went under the Pac.  And Raven, well…”

“They’re not just ‘kids’, Lieutenant,” Ayers growled.  “They’re all commissioned officers in their respective services, and it would behoove you to treat them like that.”

“Aye, Captain.”  Arguing with the way Captain Ayers treated the kids--especially the CO’s own daughter--would do no good.  The child was treated as though she were nothing more than a tool.  It was little wonder that Raven lashed out at everything, considering how her mother treated her.

A young man’s voice came over the comm system, and a visual display showed up, revealing the pilot within.  //Frontier, this is EVA Unit 05, going online.  Kendra, what’s the situation?//

Kendra smiled.  She could always count on Carter to take control of the situation.  He was responsible and reliable, even if somewhat of a social recluse.  “We have a UFO currently tearing up the New Wilshire section of town.  Confirmed DEFCON-1.  This is no simulation, guys, it’s the real thing.  We have an Angel on our hands.”

//All right!// a second voice shouted, as the visual display for Unit 04 came into view.  //Let me at the bastards!  I’m going to tear out their cajones, and show them who’s boss!//

Kendra grinned.  “Wait until you’re on the field, Raven.”

//Gotcha, Kendra.  Oh, if I draw first blood, the pizza’s on you tonight.//

//vegetarian, please,// a quiet, demure voice said as Unit 03’s connection came online.  //i don’t care much for meat.//  And with Wendy joining them, the trio was set.

“All right, bastard!” Kendra shouted at the image of the torus Angel on the second monitor.  “Time to get what’s coming to you!  EVAs away!  Repeat, EVAs away!”

Geofront, Tokyo-3, Five Lakes region, Japan:

From their seats in the briefing room, the four pilots of Branch-1’s EVAs watched the combat unfold on the panorama hologram system.  In the center of the room, Misato was pointing out tactical strategies that the US forces were applying against the Angels.  The Children were trying to soak it all in.  Rei watched the events unfold with the usual expressionless look on her face.  Toji’s visage revealed shock at the situation that was unfolding, half a world away.  But the most odd look was saved for Shinji and Asuka.  Their glances could best be described as cool, calculating, as though they watched the moves that the Angel made and were plotting eight or nine other ways to combat it, as though they were playing a chess game in their heads.

The first to speak was Toji.  “Misato, call me stupid, but where are the power tethers on those EVAs?”

Misato grumbled.  “Call the Americans stupid.  Their EVAs run on nuclear reactors.  Seems they didn’t listen the last time when someone tried that stunt.”  She refused to say anything further, as it left a bad taste in her mouth.  She already knew the true results of that incident with the French mecha’s malfunction two months ago, and what that meant made her feel all the more uneasy.

In the far corner of the display, three new images came into view, colored black, gray, and white, respectively.  Units 03, 04, and 05.  Unit 04 seemed to be moving faster than either of the other two, and definitely on a combat course with the Angel.

This was not lost upon the children.  “major,” Rei asked, “what is the build on unit 04?  it seems to have better agility than the other two.”

Misato answered.  “Well, Unit 04, like our Unit 02, is equipped with a different propulsion system.  While Unit 02 has the S2 organ that it ingested from the 6^th Angel, Unit 04 has what the Americans are calling a ‘Studer’ drive--an S2 Derivative system.  Based on what research we gave them regarding the 6^th Angel, they were able to come up with something.  Although it’s not as good as an actual S2 organ, it’s still pretty fair.  We’re hoping to have them installed aboard all the EVAs sometime in the immediate future.

Toji watched as the Angel vaporized another set of buildings in its path.  Despite the speed that Unit 04 was putting on, and the fact that the other two EVAs weren’t that far behind it, something wasn’t right.  “Why are they all attacking separately, Misato?  Didn’t the American Army teach them group tactics?”

Asuka answered that.  “This is their first operation, Toji.  They’re not used to working together yet, as we are.  And besides, you haven’t been in combat yet!  How the hell would you know?”  At her side, Shinji chuckled.

Misato interrupted them.  “EVA Units engaging!”

Nuevo Olivera district, Los Angeles-2.

The 7^th Angel, code named Maruiel, was so far unstoppable.  Nothing had been as of the moment, able to do much damage against it.  On the other hand, it was doing quite a bit of damage itself.  If it wasn’t running into buildings and knocking them over, it was firing a beam of AT energy from its central maw every so often, the bolt slashing through and immolating anything in its path.  The Angel was proving to be a force that would not, could not, be stopped.

Someone, apparently, didn’t tell that to Raven.  Without thinking twice, she raced forward, not even pausing to pull out her prog-knife.  She was going to rip it to shreds and teach it a lesson about fucking with her home.  Then, she’d drag the corpse of the thing and either get her mother to give her some respect, or she’d shove the thing up her full-bird ass.

Over the videocom, Carter’s visuals came.  //Raven, back down.  We have to give a chance for Wendy to set up a sniper location, alright?//

“FOND, Carter,” she snarled venomously, using the old acronym for Fuck Off ‘N’ Die.  God, he annoyed her.  Man thinks just because he gets the highest scores on the system that someone died and made him God.  Turning on the radio in her EVA--if her mother knew it was in here, she’d kill Raven, but Kendra and Colonel Sumner allowed it--she was popping in a MiniDVD of her favorite retro-techno group.  After all, it was better than listening to either of the idiots.  As the synthesizers kicked in with the bass, Raven dashed forward in her silver and cobalt EVA, closing the distance between her and the Angel.  She was their close-in fighter, so she should be doing that close-in kind of stuff.  Carter was their melee gunner, and the damn mouse was best at sniping.  “Okay, Angel-baby,” Raven screamed, “are you ready to rumble?”

From his point, Carter had moved behind the Anno Bancorp building and was setting up to fire.  Behind him, Wendy, in her EVA, was doing the same.  In his cockpit, he looked at her visuals with a warm, fuzzy feeling.  The Mouse, she was called around the Frontier; a fourteen-year-old girl with a slight build, plain brown hair and eyes, glasses set on a freckled, plain-Jane face.  She was quiet and unassuming, and in truth, most people forgot that she was there half the time.  But she had a knack for intellectual stuff, and when it came to sizing up the enemy, there was probably no one out of the three who was better at it than she.  Plus, unlike that psycho Raven, Wendy was actually nice--and she was kinda cute....

“Lined up for a shot,” Carter commented, “Calibrating final solution.”  This was going to take several rounds, and it might not even be enough, unless they found out what the Angel’s weak spot was.  Of course, with Raven racing towards it like a juggernaut on too much caffeine; and Wendy trying to probe it and sense a weakness, hopefully there’d be an answer before it was too late.

//understood,// came her reply.  //plasma rifle initiated, and ready for fire.  all we have to do now is to wait for raven to get out of the line of fire.//

The original plan had been for Raven to dash over to the armory tower in the center of Nuevo Olivera, picking up a plasma rifle of her own.  With Carter to provide a distraction by running out and strafing the Angel with fire, it was expected that Maruiel would charge up its center weapon and use it against him.  At that time, both Raven and Wendy would open fire on that spot, hitting it and hopefully setting off a chain reaction that would destroy the Angel.

Of course, no battle plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and especially when Raven took matters into her own hands, charging the monster instead of sticking to the game plan.  Now, Carter was stuck with the option of running towards the armory tower and wasting valuable time, or setting up alongside Wendy for a combined fireburst.  He chose the latter.

He only hoped he made the right choice.

In the Frontier, Kendra watched as her forces raced into combat.  Her stomach butterflied like there was no tomorrow.  This was the first combat situation for her troops, the first chance that they would go into battle.  Scariest of all, these were kids, just barely starting high school, and now expected to save the city from an unknown threat.

“LT Chapel,” a voice at her side called out, “AMHA missiles in the New Westwood district are launching.  Total payloads are N2 warheads.  AMHAs should impact in ten seconds.”  A dance of seconds played out torturously as the monitor showed the tracks of the weapons systems as they stitched a pattern across the angel, detonating nearly simultaneously, but doing no damage whatsoever.  In fact....

“Oh my God,” a sensor tech screamed from his location.  “The Angel has fully absorbed the blast!  Energy bleed is nil, repeat, energy bleed is nil!”

The senior command of the Frontier stood there, transfixed, all three collectively not knowing what to say, when all of a sudden, the same sensor tech called out, “Unit 04 is preparing for engagement in H2 conditions!”

Kendra was the first to snap back to reality.  “Unit 04, what do you think you’re doing?”

The call came back loud and clear.  //I’m going to play rough and tumble with this thing.  What the hell does it look like I’m doing?//

“Raven!” Kendra roared, “Get back to your station at once!  You’re jeopardizing the mission, dammit!”  When it was clear that getting Raven out of the way wasn’t going to succeed, Kendra looked for other options.  “Damn it, she’s going to ruin the mission!”  Turning to one of the ops techs, she asked, “Who’s closer, 03 or 05?”

“03 is, ma’am,” the OS replied.  “05 can get there faster, but 03 can stop 04, then hide behind the Bank of North America building and resume her firing solution.  We can send 05 over to the armory tower at the corner of Mendoza and 17^th, and he can take up Raven’s sniper position.  As for 04, she’s going to have to be powered down, or else she’ll try it again.  We can access remote AT shielding from here, so that she’ll live until we can open fire.”

“Shit,” Kendra swore.  “Raven’s got a lot of explaining to do.”  Moving to a personal channel, Kendra said, “Unit 03, get a hold of 04 and get her the hell out of there!  Unit 05, remain on standby until we can get them out of there!  Revised OPLANS are being uploaded to your TACOMPs.”

Meanwhile, Raven had already reached the closest point of attack, and whipped out her prog knife.  “Okay, donut-from-another-planet, let’s play slice and dice!”

//RAVEN!!!!!!// Kendra screamed over the comlines.  //GET BACK, NOW, DAMN IT!!!!!  THAT IS AN ORDER, ENSIGN AYERS!!!  DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!?!//

Raven ignored the comments and turned up her MiniDVD, tuning in to an oldies song from the last century that she really thought was cool.  As she leapt towards the Angel, she sang along with the music, canting, “Here in my car, I feel safest of all....”

“Lieutenant Chapman,” someone shouted, “The Angel is charging up another blast of energy, and it’s aimed right at Unit04!”

“What?!?!?” Kendra dived at a keyboard and brought up a HUD that showed exactly what was about to occur.  If the Angel fired its AT beam, would Raven be able to get her AT field up in time to counter? Also, that beam seemed stronger than the normal AT field, so would the EVA’s field have any countering effect at all?

They couldn’t afford to lose Unit 04 due to Raven’s stupidity.  At the top of her voice, Kendra shouted, “Unit 03, you have authorization to stop Unit 04 by any non-lethal means!  Unit 05, open fire on the Angel and draw it away from them!  Hurry, Carter!”

Wendy dropped her rifle and ran towards Raven as fast as she could push the EVA.  The mission had been blown, no thanks to Raven, and now they’d have to find a new way of dealing with the beast.  Hopefully, there was some way to do so.   Wendy sighed.  With the city at red alert, they weren’t going to get much rest tonight.  Then as she reached Unit 04 and saw the Angel floating above, ready to rain down death on them, she realized she’d be lucky if she got any rest at all.

Everything happened so fast, it was impossible to believe that it had happened at all.

Having been given the go ahead, Carter opened fire on the Angel, a volley of depleted uranium 50mm CWIS-type shells ripping away from the autorifle and slammed into the side of the torus, actually affecting it long enough to jitter its aim.  Maruiel’s blast was loosed, a shaft of otherworldly energies that meant to core everything in its path, Unit 04 included.

Unit04 would have been cut to tinfoil ribbons if it weren’t for Unit 03 bodyslamming it and pushing the silvery EVA out of the path of the beam.  As it was, there was a price to pay: the beam sheared into the spinal area of EVA03, slicing almost straight down the spine of the black biomech, sending a shower of sparks, ichor, metal, LCL, and other materials into the superheated air, most vaporizing in the wake of the destruction that had just been caused.  The azure beam continued on, boring through everything in its path.

Deep in the Frontier, the operations staff went deathly silent, despite the General Quarters klaxons that were sounding off all around them.  It was as though it was a diorama in a wax museum, detailing an event in history.  No one moved, no one dared to breathe as the watched the beam immolate the dorsal side of EVA Unit03.

Across the Pacific, in Tokyo-3, the combat team of NERV-1 watched in complete shock as the damaged Unit03 fell to the street, crushing cars and unfortunate innocents under its blasted, heavily-damaged exterior.  Though Rei, Asuka and Shinji had had many close calls themselves, to see another suffer the fate that they so feared completely unnnerved the trio.  As for Toji, a lump built in his throat as he realized that this could be his possible fate, were he not careful about his actions in combat.

In the cockpit of Unit 05, there was total silence for a second as Carter’s jaw dropped in total shock, realizing what had just occurred.  Once he did, thought, he bellowed an inhuman roar that rivaled anything the EVAs could have ever done, and stood up, laying full-out on the trigger.  A storm of bullets tore across the distance between him and the Angel, each supersonic round hammering across the breadth of its AT field.

As the miniature booms echoed in the concrete canyons of the city’s buildings, life kicked into forward gear again in the Frontier.  Captain Ayers stood from her seat and bellowed, “I have the conn!  Control Team Bravo!  Power down Unit 04 while its grounded and force up its Emergency Defense Field!  Control Team Alpha, monitor Unit 03 for any life signs.  Control Team Charlie, get through to Unit 05 and notify of second change in OPLAN.”  Finally done, she turned to her OPS Officer.  “Lieutenant Chapel, report to the CSAR team.  We’ll handle the withdrawal from here.”

“Withdrawal?” Lt. Col Sumner spoke, for the first time since the crisis began.

“Yes.  Withdrawal.  Our forces are scattered.  Now all we can do is to try to get our remaining EVAs out of the fray, and attempt recovery of Unit 03.”  Turning back to Kendra, she said, “Once Unit 04 has been recovered, I want Ensign Ayers placed under arrest and thrown in the brig pending charges.”

Kendra looked stunned.  Admittedly, that’s exactly what Raven deserved, but....  “Your own daughter, ma’am?”

“I don’t need to be reminded of my relation to Ensign Ayers,” Captain Ayers snapped.  “She is a Naval officer and understands the risks of her actions...or at least I thought she did.  That will be all, Lieutenant.  Report to the recovery teams.”

Somewhat disgusted at the whole turn of events, Kendra was about to leave the Frontier’s Ops room post haste, when she heard someone call out, “What the hell...”

“Speak up, soldier!” Sumner bellowed.

“Captain!  Unit 05 is....”

“IS WHAT?”

“Unit 05 is trying to take out the Angel by itself, Captain!”

He wasn’t really sure why, but at the moment, it really didn’t matter.  Shouldering a plasma rifle in each arm, Carter aimed both at the...thing that had...no...why her?  Why her, damn it?

“WHY HER, DAMN YOU?!?!?!?!” he screamed as he pulled both triggers at the same time.

Twin shafts of crimson death blew their way out of the barrels of the gun as they raced towards their target.  Carter, with no way to brace the rifles, felt the kick of both of them, knocking the EVA back until he slammed into the side of the Orbital Musicorp building, caving it in.  The building groaned but stood firm, holding his weight and stabilizing him as he held the triggers down, barely conscious due to the impact against the structure.

Meanwhile, the two beams danced forward, piercing through and coring the star that was at the center of Maruiel.  The star flickered out, guttering like a candle before turning into a miniature circle of its own.  Finally it burst like a balloon, sending the energy from its explosion to rain against the chromed side of the Angel’s body.  When that happened, the torus began to glow with every color of the spectrum, becoming translucent and turning into a ball of flame before...

Geofront, Tokyo-3, Five Lakes region, Japan:

“We lost the signal, Major,” a voice commented as the hologram disappeared from the central display.  “Shall I try to raise it again?”

“No, that’s okay, Tech Control,” Misato answered.  “Don’t worry about it.  Thanks.”  She then turned to her charges.  “Any questions?”

“none,” Rei said in her usual monotone.

“None for me,” Toji replied, his voice unsure and his face pale.  What he’d seen in the past twenty minutes gave him more understanding of the concept of war than he’d ever wanted.

Misato turned to talk to Asuka and Shinji, but stopped short.  Asuka, regulations be damned, was snuggled against her bondmate, not out of any sort of romanticism but more akin to a security blanket.  As Shinji held her, he looked at his guardian, his eyes baleful in their tale.

Misato nodded an unspoken agreement, then whispered, “Dismissed, guys.  We’ll take this up tomorrow after school.”

As the EVA pilots walked out of the 4^th gate, headed for the downtown of Tokyo-3, the quartet were eerily quiet.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Toji said, a few minutes and blocks later.

“I don’t know,” Asuka replied, her voice a reedy whisper.  She looked to Shinji, but one glance at him was enough to know that he had no more answers to the mystery than she did.

After a few more minutes, Rei spoke.  “i think the pilot of Unit 03 didn’t make it.  the shot looked as though it completely destroyed the interface plug.”  Everyone looked at her in amazement, but she continued to walk on, in her own little world, wherever that was.

“She spooks me,” Toji whispered.

“She spooks all of us,” Shinji replied.  He would have added more, but their cel phones went off all at once.

Asuka was quickest on the draw.  After answering it, there was silence on the line.  When her face grew grim, Toji and Rei took note.  When Asuka and Shinji’s faces grew grim, that really caught the attention of the other two.  Finally, after a few minutes, Asuka shut down her phone, a troubled look on her face.

“what is it?” Rei asked, seemingly ambivalent.

The redhead briefly looked at her bondmate, as though asking him something silently; he nodded in reply.  After taking a second to clear his throat, he spoke, his voice uncertain.  “That was Misato.  She said for us to go out and enjoy tonight, because tomorrow we’re on call again.”

“What’s going on?”

“She didn’t say,” Asuka answered.  “It’s just...Misato sounded...very worried, as though she was afraid that what’s about to happen will be a no-win situation.”  Turning to Shinji, she said, “Let’s go home. Please.”  He nodded, and putting his arm around her waist, they turned to leave.  But before they did, Asuka turned and asked her friends, “Um, what are you two going to do tonight?”

“I dunno,” Toji answered.  “My sister’s in infection quarantine for the next couple of days, so she can’t see any visitors.”

“i have no plans,” Rei responded.

The pair looked to each other for a second, then Shinji spoke.  “Tell you guys what: why don’t you come over for dinner tonight?  I’d be nice to have some company for a change.  Besides, we’re a team, right?  We should get to know each other a little better.”

“it seems you know Shoryu well enough, Ikari,” Rei replied, unaware that her innocent statement could have--and was--taken in another meaning.

To add insult to injury, Toji wisecracked, “So, Shinji, let me get this straight: you and the wife are playing the hosts tonight, ne?”

The look on the faces of the two was hot enough to fry okinomiyaki on.  Their eyes squinted with a leashed anger that gave Toji pause and even made Rei wonder what was wrong.  After a second though, Asuka relented, calming down and giving a reply of, “Well, in a sense.  So, our place in an hour?”

“Sounds fine to me.”

Rei was silent for a second before issuing a simple, “i will be there.”

As Shinji and Asuka walked the rest of the way home, arm in arm, Toji watched his friend and fellow combatant walk off.  Sighing, he mused, “At first, I never woulda thought it.”

“excuse me?”  Toji reacted at the ghostly sound of Rei’s voice; in all that had occurred, he’d forgotten that she was there.

“Well, I never woulda thought that Shinji would ever get a girl--I always thought he was a wuss.  And I never woulda thought that he would end up with Asuka, from when I first met her.  Now....”  He continued to walk with Rei, both silent for a few heartbeats before he admitted, “Well, no matter what, Shinji’s my pal.  And if he’s happy with Asuka despite...well, whatever’s happened to them, well that’s fine by me.  But I gotta admit that I’m really wondering if they’ll get one of those Happily Ever After sorta lives.”

“why say that?”

“Because after what I saw on the holodisplay today, I’m wondering if any of us will live long enough to think about a future.”

Naval Station Joshua Tree, Los Angeles-2, Nevada, United States:

A burly Marine Corporal, hand on his pistol as he knocked on the door said, “Ensign, ma’am, please come with me.”  Behind him, as was the procedure, another brig guard stood by, armed with a pump shotgun.  Admittedly, the need for weapons in the brig at the Naval Station wasn’t standard procedure.  Then again, this was no ordinary prisoner.

Ensign Raven Ayers, United States Navy, looked up from where she was lying down on the cot in her cell in the brig.  She was in the standard khaki uniform of a naval officer, sans any pins of rank, ID tag, or decorations.  Frankly, if they’d have let her, she would have rather been in the normal clothing of someone her age.  But she was, she thought ruefully, a US military officer, and not just a simple girl.

Damn the world.  Damn everyone and everything in it.  Damn herself, especially.  Her own stupidity had gotten Wendy killed.  Not that she really liked the other girl, but....  She certainly didn’t intend to....  Raven was at a total loss for words.  A good portion of LA-2 was in ruins, saved only by Carter’s last-minute Super Soldier tactics.  There wasn’t even enough of Wendy left to hold a burial, much to the chagrin of the Air Force, and for her role in the debacle, well, she was here, right?

But the twin pains in her heart were that of Wendy’s sacrifice, and her mother’s dejection.  Raven hadn’t expected The Mouse to do anything like she did.  All the time, all she ever did was poke fun at her and the way she was, a shy, unassuming girl.  Now, Raven realized that girl had a heart of gold, and now that heart was nothing but disassembled molecules somewhere in the atmosphere.

And as for her mother....  A lone tear, a symbol of pain, sorrow, and rage slid down her cheek.  She knew that she was adopted, not her mother’s natural child, but she was hoping that meant that at some degree, her mother loved her.  Couldn’t she see that was all she wanted, damn it?  She didn’t care about being some EVA jock, she didn’t care about wearing the blue suit, she just wanted some acknowledgement that she meant something to her mother!

Raven collapsed, depressed and spent on the cot, ignoring the guards.  Let them shoot her, she decided.  It would probably save the Nav the cost of a General Court-martial, she mused bitterly.

“ATTENTION ON DECK!” the Corporal bellowed, coming to attention right along with his fellow guard.  Even Raven, with her ingrained training hopped off the rack and snapped to.  As she stood there, waiting for whoever, Raven’s mind hummed.  Any officer above a certain rank required such protocol; there were certainly enough COs and flag officers that rated it.  But in truth, only two officers who deserved that sort of laurel would come visit her.  One, unlikely, was a high-ranking JAG officer; the other was...

As a female voice called out in commanding tones, “Carry on,” Raven knew who it was in a second.  As the base’s Commanding Officer came into view of the cell, she told the guards, “Wait outside.  I have some business with the prisoner.”  With smart crisp salutes, the two guards stepped out of the containment area.

Raven dropped into parade rest, protocol guiding her actions.  Mother or not, Captain Ayers had never shown any slack on her daughter in military issues, and it wasn’t likely to happen now.  So she was a bit surprised when she heard the Captain say, “Drop the military bit, Raven.  I’m not here as the CO.”

Pamela Ayers sighed and grabbed a visitor’s chair on her side of the bars, sitting down in it as though gravity was having fun pummeling her down.  “I just got back from a meeting with Admiral Coxswain.  Frankly, she’d like to see you in Leavenworth, turning big rocks into little ones.  What you did today was stupid, selfish, and unthinking.  You nearly got 4 million people killed today.  You did succeed in getting your teammate killed, and 450 million dollars in damage done to EVA Unit 03.  If it wasn’t for Unit 05, we’d all be very much dead.

“I did what I had to do.  Your EVA was shut down.  You’ve been removed from the flight roster.  You’ve been placed under arrest, pending NCIS investigation of your actions.  Your career, and a good portion of your life are in jeopardy of being spent in that hole in the middle of Kansas, Raven.”  At this point, Raven was about to launch out with some--any--response.  Her mother had relaxed protocol, so she could damn well say whatever she wanted to...and there was plenty on that list to say.  So she was totally stunned when her mother said, “I’m sorry, Raven.  This is all my fault.”  

Before Raven could say, “Huh?”, Ayers continued.  “Raven, dearest, I have to admit that I’ve failed you as a parent.  I’ve been pushing you a little too hard, and I’ve made a jackass out of both of you and me in the process.  I know all this time, your gung-ho attitude has been mainly to impress me, and I’m proud of your initiative, but I can’t show that in front of the others.  But I never pulled you aside at home and told you that, either.

“So this all resulted in what happened.”  Ayers then muttered something that Raven never expected to hear.  “I’ve been treating you just like your father did.”

“My what?” Raven stammered, incredulously.  “What did you just say, Mom?”

“Your father.”  She gave her adopted daughter a wan smile.  “Does that surprise you to know that I knew your real father?  Raven, don’t ask me about him.  I don’t respect the man.  He gave you away when you were a little girl, Raven.  He didn’t care about you at all.  I made it my business to take care of you and raise you as my own.  I may not say it much, sweetheart, but I love you and am proud of you.

“Which is why I’m here to tell you this: you’re being released into my custody, Raven.”

The girl blinked.  “Why?”

“Well, despite the fact that you have most of the Pentagon pissed at you, there’s three main reasons why.  One is the fact that we’re at war, and we can’t afford to squander our resources.  You may be a troublemaker as far as the Navy is concerned, but you’re one of only a handful of people who can pilot an EVA.  No one’s forgotten that.

“Number two is that our active EVAs need to be deployed immediately for an operation.  We’re picking up DEFCON-1 activity near New Vancouver, and you know what that means.  One EVA alone isn’t going to cut it.  You’re all we have, and we don’t have anyone else in the quadrant identified as capable, much less trained.  Your team is deploying immediately.

“And number three?”

Pamela Ayers gave a bright smile.  “Because despite what they think of you now, they also know me.  And they know that I treat you no differently than I would any of my other officers.  And bearing that in mind, if I’m willing to go to bat for you against the JCS, that means something to them.  I gave you a break today because you’re a good officer, but more so because I owed you one as my daughter.  Don’t blow it, Raven.”

The young girl blinked back tears as she said, “I won’t, Mom.  I promise.”

“Good.”  Getting out of her chair, Ayers’ demeanor changed, and ended the familial chat.  Turning to the far door, Captain Ayers shouted out, “Corporal, I believe you have the keys to this cell?”

Geofront, Tokyo-3, Five Lakes region, Japan:

Misato shifted in her seat, much to the amusement of Ritsuko.  God, she hated conferences, especially these teleconference ones.  As the Acting Base Commander in Commander Ikari’s absence, she was required to deal with it; Ritsuko only here for advice purposes.  So far, she really hadn’t been of any help.  Some advisor, Misato thought acidly.  At least some good had come out of it; she was able to send Shinji and the rest home early.  With a tense lull at the moment, and NERV’s senior officers at a conference in Europe, things weren’t exactly easygoing for her as Acting Base Commander.

Onscreen was her Branch-2 counterpart, looking rather disheveled.  Misato knew that feeling intimately; she’d dealt with it more than enough times in her life.  //And so, Major, with our drydocks hit hard by the attack, we’ve got no repair facilities for Unit 03.  We were hoping that we could send it to your Branch for repair.//  Although Misato and Ritsuko spoke fair English, they were reading the computer-enhanced subtitles at the bottom, as their brains were a little too exhausted to deal with anything else at the moment.

“Lieutenant Chapel,” Ritsuko asked, “If we do take on the repairs for Unit 03, do you have anyone ready to handle the EVA?”

//Frankly, Dr. Akagi, no we don’t.  Our manpower assets in the US have already been tapped out, and neither Canada nor the Mexican archipelago has been able to give us any sign that they’ve identified a candidate.  Branch-3 in Europe is just getting their program off the ground, so we can’t expect any assist from them.//

Double-checking the term the American was using for a Child, Misato said, “Well, we’ve identified a new...Candidate...on our end.  If it is okay with your superiors, we’d like to use her.  It would give her practical training in an EVA until we can begin construction on a new one, and will supply you with a pilot in the interim.”

//I’ll have to check with my higher ups, but I don’t forsee a problem,// Lieutenant Chapel answered.  

There was a sudden burst of activity in the background, followed by someone trying to flag her attention.  After a second, Chapel said, //If you’ll excuse me for a second....//

As the screen went into a blank “hold” mode, Misato turned to her advisor.  “So what was that about?  You don’t think they just got another Angel to deal with, do you?”

“It’s possible,” Ritsuko conceded.  “We don’t have--or want, I’d think--a monopoly on them, you know.”

A warning flicker appeared on the screen, and Chapel was back.  //Major, I’m going to have to cut this meeting short.  We have a serious problem on our hands, and I have to attend to it immediately.//

“Something the matter?” Misato asked, sitting up in her seat.  Things just got uncomfortably more interesting.

//We’re detecting DEFCON-1 up near New Vancouver.  We’re deploying both of our EVAs to investigate.// At those words, Misato and Ritsuko went slack-jawed in shock.  New Vancouver was the world’s main N2 explosives manufacturing facility.  If Blue Patterns (what the Americans were calling DEFCON-1) had been detected up there, the situation was in horrid shape.  Worse yet, if they were using both EVAs, that meant that they were pulling the second pilot out of confinement, which meant that the situation was worse than the Americans were saying.

“Lieutenant Chapel!” Misato called out.  “Do you require assistance?  We can have a strike team in the air by tomorrow morning.”

The American paused in thought for a second before saying, //Yes.  Your people are more combat experienced than mine are.  I could use the help.  NERV-2, over and out.//  With no further ado, the line was cut.

Misato wasted no time.  Vaulting from her chair, she turned to Ritsuko.  “Okay, you’re in charge while I’m gone.  We need to get everything set up for an 0800 launch from New Yokota.”  Reaching for the phone on the desk, she groaned, “And I’d promised the kids some downtime, too....”

As Misato began dialing, Ritsuko pointed out, “If that factory goes, the rest of the world’s N2 factories won’t be able to handle the strain.  We can’t afford to give them time off.”

Misato mumbled mournfully, “I just know I’m going to regret this, Ritsuko.  I really will.”  Waiting for the phone to connect, she finally said, “Moshi moshi, Shinji.  It’s Misato.  Listen, I’m sorry to flag you down so soon at home, but--oh, wait?  Is that everyone else there, I hear?  Damn....  Look, you’re being recalled now.  We’ve got a crisis brewing and I....  I know, I know what I said, but I didn’t expect this to come up, and....  Look, I’m sorry, okay?  Just have all of you report in.  Thanks.  Bai bai.”  Wistful, she hung up the phone.

“What’s wrong?” Ritsuko asked.

“Apparently I just interrupted a time when they were team building.  Damn.  You know what they say about all work and no play....”  She shook her head sadly, and the argument was done with.  “Now, I’ll need you to ready Repair Bay 8 for Unit 03.  While I’m gone, begin training our newest Child, and make sure she’ll be ready for combat as soon as possible…”

Next:
Part Two: Convergence