From: eltf@hotmail.com (Eliot Lefebvre)
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] Neon Epoch Evangelion: Episode 6
X-Moderation-Queue-Date: 24 Jun 2002 16:17:29 -0700

The following is an activation of the Emergency Pre-Story Warning 
System:

This fanfic is an original take on GAINAX's "Shin Seiki Evangelion."
It contains alternative characters, plots, and a different overriding
internal logic.  It is intended, from the beginning, to be different.
This includes different Children and different histories.  In short: if 
the mere thought of someone other than Shinji in the cockpit of EVA-01 
makes you queasy, you are in -entirely- the wrong place.  Any and all 
flames stemming from this alteration will be mocked mercilessly.  You 
have been warned.

Well, things haven't normalized with the schedule at all, combined with 
the fact that I am apparently working for a retarded howler monkey.  
But that's neither here nor there, really.  What -is- here (or there) 
is the fact that next week sees another batch of episodes posted to the 
archive at http://www.lostfactor.net/nee.html, not to mention a content 
update to the rest of the site.  Hey, life's been busy lately.

Enjoy the show.  No talking.  Turn off your damn cell phone.

                                  ]++[

               ]+ ELECTRONIC TRANSCENDENCE PRODUCTIONS +[
                                presents

                         ]+ NEON       EPOCH +[
                   ]+ E  V  A  N  G  E  L  I  O  N +[

                     ]+ EPISODE 6: GNOTHI SAUTON +[

                     By Eliot "Lostfactor" Lefebvre

             Based off of "Shin Seiki Evangelion" by GAINAX

                                  ]++[

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing 
the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
- ROMANS 3:20

                                  ]++[

The room was filled with a pitch-black, permeating darkness, save for 
the single spotlight at the end of the table that shone on Gendou, 
reflecting off of his glasses at just the right angle to obscure his 
eyes.  He leaned his elbows comfortably on the table, hands tented just 
in front of his mouth, the same pose he found himself shift into 
reflexively any time that he was performing his duties as the commander 
of NERV.  The fact that he had to perform this aspect of those duties 
immediately was something of an irritation, but confessing such to his 
superiors would have only made the situation worse, and he knew it.

As he'd expected, a white light at the other end of the table snapped 
on, followed by colored lights to the sides, red and green on his 
right, blue and yellow on his left.  Each light illuminated the face of 
a man, all visibly older than Ikari and bearing some kind of 
condescending expression towards him.  It was nothing that he wasn't 
accustomed to, the sense that the others thought of him as lesser 
because of his youth and inexperience.  He made a point not to be 
disturbed by it.  "May I ask why this emergency meeting has been 
called?" he asked, remaining in the same position as though he were 
stone.

Silence remained for a second, the other figures remaining motionless 
as if to test Gdenou's patience.  After a minute, the figure at the end 
of the table, looking like the oldest of all and wearing an odd 
contraption over his eyes, furrowed his brow for a moment before 
replying.  "The Third Angel, Sachiel.  The Fourth Angel, Shamshel.  The 
Fifth Angel, Ramiel.  The Sixth Angel, Gaghiel.  Ikari, do these names 
mean anything to you?"

"NERV's first four encounters," he replied coldly, sounding as though 
he had no idea what the other man was implying even though he knew 
perfectly well.  "We have successful neutralized the first six seals 
now.  If you desire, I can provide video footage of the battles, though 
the footage of the Sixth Angel -"

"You avoid the point," noted the man sitting in the green-lit spot, 
staring smugly at Gendou as though he were simply waiting for the 
younger man to make a mistake that he could be damned for.  "Four 
angels in slightly less than two weeks.  You have had to make serious 
repairs to four Evangelions, plus the cost of cleanup, plus the cost 
that you have incurred by choosing to modify EVA-00 without the 
comittee's approval."  He paused, his expression and pose unchanging.  
"SEELE does not wish to see its money poured after nothing."

"It is hardly nothing," replied Gendou, casually pushing his glasses up 
with one hand before returning to the same position as before.  He knew 
that his movement would make the others look down on him somewhat, but 
he also knew that there was virtually nothing that he could do to 
improve their opinion of him.  "Mankind must defend itself from the 
Angels.  Without the Evas, we cannot do that."

"Perhaps you forget that there are greater purposes to the Evas," spoke 
another figure, this one inside the yellow light.  Gendou felt a twinge 
of resentment at the statement, at the implication that he wasn't sure 
about what his own project was supposed to be doing, but he ignored it, 
remaining silent and motionless.  "Your primary job is not to create a 
military force with the machines.  You would do well to remember that."

This time it was Gendou's turn to remain silent, pushing up his glasses 
again and letting the rest of the council wait for a moment before he 
said anything.  "I have not forgotten," he replied, folding his hands 
back into their prior position.  "Complementation is proceeding 
according to schedule.  There are only six seals broken in the first 
place.  Accelerating the timetable would only ensure our destruction."

"We do not lack patience, Ikari," replied the man at the head of the 
table, still unmoving.  He stared at Gendou for a moment, as if he was 
expecting the other man to flinch, but Gendou remained motionless, 
simply staring down the table as though the situation was perfectly 
normal.  "But we will not tolerate defiance.  This project is too 
important for waste, and if you prove to be wasting either our money or 
our time you can be certain that you will lose your occupation."

"I would not doubt it," replied Gendou, noting that they'd apparently 
come up with a new euphemism for his death.  He'd never bothered 
bringing it up, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that SEELE 
would destroy him irrevocably if they decided he was no longer useful.  
"You need not worry.  Complementation is progressing, and the rash of 
Angel attacks is a freak occurrence.  I already have my staff looking 
into it."

"Good.  See that you produce some answers."  There was a pause, then 
the colored lights snapped off, the other men's faces vanishing from 
the table.  It was nothing surprising - Ikari knew they were holograms, 
knew that no memeber of the council would be daring enough to appear in 
person before him.  The figure at the other end of the table remained, 
however, still glaring hatefully at Gendou.  "The comittee will 
reconvene in pritvate."  He paused.  "Do not think that you are beyond 
our power, Gendou."

Then the last light flicked off, and only Gendou was left, sitting 
alone at the table.  He paused for a moment, then reached into his coat 
pocket, drawing out a small silver telephone.  Pushing back his chair 
and standing, he flicked the the receiver open, pressing a button and 
putting the phone to his ear, waiting only for the sound of the phone 
being picked up before speaking.  "Speed up the timetable on Ayanami, 
Dr. Fuyutsuki.  SEELE is growing nervous."

                                  ]++[

Niobe had never grown accustomed to moving, had never really had the 
chance to.  However, as she'd unpacked her belongings into her new 
space, set up the photographs and posters that she wanted to keep with 
her over the dull gray walls of the room, she found that she was an old 
hand at it even without prior experience.  It was somewhat gratifying, 
especially considering that she'd been afraid she had brought too 
much.  Instead, as she looked around her room, her belongings arranged 
meticulously as she'd been taught, she realized that the room actually 
looked a little sparse.  Shrugging, she wrote it off to her lifestyle 
and the inherent blandness of the room's paint scheme, bending over and 
smoothing the sheet on her bed.

"May I come in?" asked Ryo's quiet voice, muffled almost to 
inaudibility by the door between him and the room.  Niobe jumped 
slightly at the noise, not having expected it despite the fact that 
they were living together.  She'd been informed by Kaji on their way 
from the boat that Ryo had volunteered to have someone share his 
apartment, but he had barely spoken two words to Niobe her entire first 
night there.  It had actually been somewhat disturbing, the blue-haired 
boy remaining silent even after her attempts at conversation, simply 
eating dinner and then going straight to bed.

Pushing the thought from her mind, Niobe walked over to the door and 
opened it, flashing a smile at him.  He was already dressed in his 
school uniform, and Niobe felt a little underdressed, still wearing the 
boxer shorts and oversized navy blue blouse that she'd worn to bed next 
to Ryo's immaculate shirt and slacks.  "Come on in," she replied, 
stepping away from the door as he moved into the room.  "You came at 
just the right time - I just finished up unpacking."

Ryo didn't respond to her comment, instead simply looking around the 
room, red eyes scanning over everything as though he'd never seen such 
a place before.  After a moment, he stepped over towards the lone table 
in the room, picking up one of the small porcelain figures that Niobe 
had placed there.  She felt a rush of embarassment and worry at the 
same time, but said nothing, simply watched as Ryo delicately turned 
the small white lion cub over in his hands.  "What is this?" he asked 
quietly, sounding genuinely curious.

Frowning, Niobe stepped over to him, snaking her arm around and 
plucking the small figurine out of Ryo's hands and staring at it in 
admiration for a second.  "It's a lion cub," she replied, smiling 
unconsciously as the memories came flooding back.  "My father gave this 
to me when I got the female lead in 'The Nutcracker' for my school.  I 
was eight, I think.  Maybe nine."  Placing the lion back amongst the 
other porcelain animals gently, she turned back towards Ryo, still 
smiling.  "They're about the only thing that I collect, and that was my 
first one."

"Why do you have it here?" asked Ryo, staring at the small collection 
of animals with almost empty eyes.  The question took Niobe aback 
briefly, but then she realized that he wasn't asking as if he didn't 
want them there - he genuinely didn't seem to understand why she had 
brought it with her.  "Do you need it for something?"

Cocking an eyebrow, Niobe stared at Ryo again, trying to figure out 
what was going on behind his red eyes and pale skin.  "I don't -need- 
it, no," she replied, sounding a little indignant despite herself.  
"But it helps me feel more confident.  Every time I remember that day, 
I remember what it felt like for my dad -"  She shook her head, 
catching her self.  "I remember what it felt like when Joseph was proud 
of me, pleased that I had been so successful.  And that makes me feel 
better about now."  She shrugged, blushing again.  "It's just a 
keepsake."

"A keepsake," muttered Ryo, his left hand closing more tightly around 
the strap of his schoolbag, recalling the sketch that Eiko had meant 
for him to give to Nieve that still sat within the bag.  He understood 
the word, but as he stared at the small porcelain object he still 
couldn't understand the meaning behind it.  "Does that mean that it's 
an object of art?  Is that all?"

"No, that's not it," replied Niobe, gently touching the boy's shoulder 
and drawing his attention back towards her.  His eyes were penetrating 
in a way that she'd never seen before, a sort of hungry curiosity 
dancing across them as though everything was completely new to him.  
Looking into them, Niobe felt as though she could feel an underlying 
sadness to him, but she pushed it out of her mind, focusing instead on 
the question.  "A keepsake is something that you care about.  Something 
that helps you remember.  Don't you have anything like that?"

Ryo stared back at Niobe for a moment, then looked towards the 
porcelain animals once again, still feeling very confused.  "No," he 
replied at length, knowing that the answer was correct but feeling as 
though he hadn't quite understood the question.  "I don't have anything 
like that."  He paused, then looked back at Niobe, seeing the shock 
evident in her blue eyes.  "Is there something wrong?"

"You..."  Niobe shook her head, shocked at Ryo's response both on 
general principal and because of the vague memories that it stirred up 
at the back of her mind.  Shutting her eyes for a second, she composed 
herself silently, then stared back into Ryo's eyes, the same sensation 
of being scrutinized by the red iris as before.  "It's just odd, that 
you don't have anything like that.  Don't you have things that you want 
to remember, things that remind you of happy times?"

"I have no problem remembering things," replied Ryo, glancing back 
towards the animals before recalling that he had a routine to keep and 
looking at his watch.  He had only thirty minutes to get to school by 
eight, meaning that he would have to walk quickly if not jog.  He was 
running behind on his routine, not something that usually happened to 
him.  "I have to go to school now," he announced, stepping out the 
door.  "I will see you again tonight."

"Um.  Okay."  Niobe was unsure of what to say, the boy's comments 
lingering in her head even as he walked out of the apartment and shut 
the door behind him.  Flopping backwards onto the bed, she stared 
upwards at the room's fluorescent light fixture, a pale white that 
seemed to cast the dull gray into even starker relief.  Her room was 
right near the front door to the apartment and had no windows, and 
shutting her eyes it felt as though it were a newfound prison, sharp 
contrast to her window-filled room painted a bright yellow back at home.

Sighing deeply, she opened her eyes again, tilting her head towards the 
arrangement of porcelain figures on her table, the small lion cub at 
the head of the group from where she was staring.  "Doesn't have any 
trouble remembering," she muttered, feeling both confused by Ryo's 
responses and somewhat useless.  She wasn't supposed to go into NERV 
until later in the day, which meant that until then she had to find 
something to entertain herself, which further meant that her mind had 
nothing to focus on besides Ryo's cryptic comments.

An idea formed itself in her head, and she thought on it for a second 
before smirking to herself, pushing off of the bed's clean white sheets 
and stepping out of her room.  Ryo had shown her where his room was, 
and she had no doubt that it was unlocked.  "We'll see what you -do- 
have, Mr. Ayanami," she muttered to herself, walking down the hall past 
the kitchen, turning left and away from the bathroom and den towards 
his bedroom.  Placing her hand on the door handle, she had a brief 
moment of guilt at the thought of invading his privacy, but she 
swallowed that thought, resolving to tell him when he got home before 
turning the handle and opening the door.

The room was almost completely empty, and for a second Niobe wondered 
if she'd gotten the wrong room, if he had another spare bedroom in the 
apartment.  But as she stepped into the room and looked around, she 
could see another one of Ryo's school uniforms hanging up in the still-
opened closet, and she knew that she'd gotten the right room.  It was, 
for all she could tell, a hospital room, completely sparse, the white 
bed unadorned, a single metal table in one corner of the room with a 
few objects on it, a clean bureau agains the wall near the head of the 
bed, and a few bandages on the floor.  Curious, Niobe glanced about for 
a second before stepping over to the table, feeling as though she were 
walking through a mental institution.

While she'd had some idea of what was on the table before she'd walked 
over to it, something inside of her had wanted not to believe it until 
she saw it, made her want to think that her eyes weren't catching the 
full picture.  Standing beside it, there was no question that she was 
seeing correctly, a table with more bandages piled on it, a few beakers 
of water, and the unmistakable orange perscription bottles that seemed 
to somehow have spread throughout the world as the universal symbol of 
medication.  Narrowing her eyes, she picked up one of the bottles, 
examining the label as though she expected to see someone other than 
Ryo's name on it.  Most of it was in Japanese, but she could read the 
name without trouble.  "Ayanami Ryo," she muttered, placing the bottle 
back down on the table and scanning the room again.

She finally found something else in the room besides the slightly-
stained bandages and the utilitarian items, posted within the closet as 
though to obscure it even futher.  It was a tiny photo, wrinkled so 
badly as to be almost unrecognizable, taped up on a part ot the wall 
that seemed unlikely to be reached by the sunlight, the lines around it 
making it very clear that it had been torn from something else, most 
likely a newspaper or a magazine.  All it was, much to Niobe's 
surprise, was a picture of a kitten lapping up milk, a rather cute 
picture aside from the obvious age of the thing.  "This is all he's 
got," she muttered, stepping away from the closet and sitting down on 
the bed.  "Just that one photo."

Closing her eyes, Niobe found herself drifting back to a time many 
years prior, the part of the story about the porcelain figure that she 
hadn't told Ryo, when she was practicing as hard as she could to get 
into the part.  She gritted her teeth, remembering how bright the sun 
had been on that one day, dancing across the pages of her book as she 
flipped through it, savoring the words as if they were a release.  She 
had known that it was in her interest to be practicing, that without 
more practice she didn't stand as good a chance of getting the lead, 
but she was enjoying a momentary break, simply reading her book and 
relaxing in the warm caress of the sun.

Then she remembered her father storming in, and her eyes closed tight, 
hands gripping the edge of the bed more tightly almost reflexively.  
She remembered her father's strong hands grabbing the book out of her 
hand, his deep voice bellowing at her with an intensity that she'd 
never heard before, her smaller voice pleading with him not to do what 
she knew he would.  Her grip on the bed tightened again, and she 
remembered seeing shreds of pages on the floor, her father pulling her 
roughly to her feet as she tried to reassemble the pages, pushing down 
the bookcase without any restraint.  A single tear began to form at the 
corner of her eye, thinking about the sight as her toys were snapped 
apart, broken indiscriminately.

Without even meaning to, her mind brought her to that horrible day, 
sitting in the wreckage of her room, her father standing over her with 
the sun seeming to wrap around her, ignoring the fact that she was 
shedding hot tears over the torn white paper on the floor.  "You were 
getting distracted," he had said, his voice the same sort of stern 
bellow that he used whenever Niobe had failed to do the right thing.  
"Distractions prevent you from reaching your full potential.  I know it 
seems harsh now, but you'll thank me in the future, when you're 
successful."

A lone tear splattered against Niobe's leg, catching the sunlight from 
Ryo's window, and she snapped out of her reverie, looking around his 
room once again as she wiped the water from her dark skin.  "Just like 
this," she whispered, standing from his bed and feeling unusually 
oppressed by the walls, more so than she had even in her own room.  "It 
looked just like this, after Joseph got rid of everything."  She 
sighed, rubbing the back of her head, stepping swiftly over to the door 
and through it, closing it firmly behind her.  Despite the warmth of 
Tokyo-3, she suddenly found herself feeling very deeply cold, down to 
the bone.  Hesitating for a moment, she walked to her room, resolved to 
grab a towel and get into the shower.  It seemed like the only thing 
that could even start to cut through the chill of memory.

                                  ]++[

Neil awoke, as he had ever since he'd come to Japan, with a single 
image flashing across his vision, the sight of the green eye against 
EVA-01's helmet.  At first, the sight had scared him, but now it simply 
seemed to be a persistent memory, one that it might take years to train 
out of his mind.  Though he couldn't recall ever hearing of someone in 
a similar situation, he also knew that he was one of the first people 
ever to pilot the Evas, and from what else he thought about himself he 
knew that he wasn't a normal person anyways.  Once the eye had faded 
away, he blinked, rubbed both of his own eyes to clear the sleep from 
them, stumbling to his feet and grabbing a ratty Third Eye Blind shirt, 
one of the few things he had from his father.

Still not thinking entirely clearly, he shoved open the door to his 
room, blinking in the bright light as he headed towards the cupboard 
where Misato kept her cereal, opened the small wooden door with a 
little too much force so that it slammed against the fridge, then 
pushed his hair back with one hand and grabbed for the box of cereal 
that he knew was there.  Feeling his hand close around it, he tugged, 
then realized that there was someone else holding onto it.  Checking, 
he saw the other person's hand, and half-consciously followed it up 
their arm to their shoulder to Nieve's face.  "Oh.  Morning, Nieve."

"Morning, Neil," replied Nieve, sounding perfectly alert as she tugged 
on the box.  Neil slowly found his eyes returning to focus, and he saw 
that Neil was wearing a rather revealing outfit from bed, a thin blue t-
shirt that stretched down to midway on her hips.  She stared at the 
cereal box for a moment, then released it with a shrug, leaning back on 
her arms.  "You can have it first.  I'm in no hurry."

"Thanks," replied Neil, his reflexes slowly returning as he removed the 
box from the cupboard, then opened another to get out a pair of bowls.  
He hesitated for a moment, then remembered that Nieve was there as well 
and would need a third bowl.  "You seem to be in a better mood this 
morning.  Sleep well?"

His comment seemed to remind Nieve of something, and as he began to 
pour cereal into his bowl she grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around 
slightly and standing disturbingly close to him.  "Don't think that I 
necessarily forgive you for yesterday!" she snapped, ignoring Neil's 
sigh as she held onto the chest of his shirt.  "You tried to take 
advantage of me, and I don't appreciate that.  If you ever do something 
like that again, I will be -far- angrier than I was yesterday, and you 
can be certain that you -won't- get to live it down."  She paused, then 
released his shirt, apparently satisfied by the blank stare she was 
receiving from Neil.  "But yes, I didn sleep well.  Better than I have 
in a while.  I'm kind of surprised, to be entirely honest."

Neil considered what to say for a moment, then decided not to dwell on 
the prior day's events, though he still felt a twinge of guilt when he 
remembered how angry he'd allowed himself to get.  "Glad to hear it," 
he replied, finishing with the ceral and then offering it to Nieve.  
She took the box, and he stepped over to the refridgerator, pulling out 
the red carton of milk within and pouring it over the brightly-colored 
cereal.  "You had a better run of it than I did - my first night in 
Tokyo-3 was spent first inside an Eva, then in a hospital bed."

Chuckling even though he wasn't quite sure why, Neil grabbed a spoon, 
then walked over to the table and sat down, crossing his legs and 
beginning to eat.  Nieve, having been ready to pour the milk herself, 
had been stopped in her tracks by Neil's last comment, something she 
hadn't expected.  She still thought he had done a terrible job in his 
first encounter with an Angel, but she hadn't known what had happened 
afterwards.  "You were put in the hospital?" she asked, regaining her 
composure as she poured on the milk, then went to sit down next to Neil.

"Yeah," replied Neil, biting his lip momentarily before taking another 
bite of his cereal as Nieve sat down beside him.  "I was out of it for 
most of the battle, come to think of it.  They said that I did 
excellently, but I only have distant memories of it."  He shrugged, 
noticing that Nieve hadn't taken a bite of her cereal but deciding not 
to ask about it.  "I was released after a couple days, though.  It 
wasn't anything serious."

"Oh," replied Nieve, suddenly feeling guilty for being so angry about 
his performance in EVA-01.  She'd assumed that he'd been in complete 
control of the machine, that he simply hadn't been paying much 
attention, but the thought that he might not have been threw a new 
light on things.  Realizing a split second later that she was letting 
herself mope, she forced herself back into a determined smile, slapping 
Neil heartily on the shoulder.  "Well, the only cure for that is to 
make sure that you've got a firm control over your Eva.  Trust me, I've 
been working with these things longer than anyone, I'll teach you 
everything I know."

Neil wasn't sure of exactly what to say, so he stayed silent for a 
moment, taking another bite of cereal and knowing that Nieve was 
staring at him.  "Misato taught me how the thing works already, and I 
sort of got a crash course in piloting it against the Third Angel."  He 
paused, and he could see as Nieve took a bite of cereal that she wasn't 
happy with his statement, though he couldn't quite tell if she was 
angry or just sad.  "But it is hard, working with the machine.  I still 
haven't mastered it."

"Working -with- the machine?" asked Nieve, almost certain that she 
hadn't heard him right.  She stared at him and cocked her head to one 
side, and Neil, unsure of what she was expecting, nodded.  Nieve said 
nothing for a moment, then could no longer resist the temptation to 
laugh, ignoring Neil's indignant expression for a moment.  "I'm sorry, 
I'm not laughing at you," she offered, holding up a hand as a peace 
gesture as she leaned on the table with the other.  "It's just a silly 
concept.  You don't work with the Eva, you tell it what it's going to 
do.  Make it work -for- you."

Before Neil could say a word in response, Misato cleared her throat 
behind both of them, and they turned their heads to look at her, Neil 
particularly fascinated by her outfit.  She was wearing a black 
miniskirt and a black jacket over a bright red blouse, with a small 
golden pin on her lapel that was shaped like the NERV insignia.  "Good 
morning, guys," she said, waving to the pair of them as they stared, 
neither having expected her to be so elaborately dressed.  "Sorry, but 
I'm not going to be able to have breakfast with you this morning.  I've 
got to be to Central Dogma early, so that we can leave on time."

Watching as Misato moved across the room, stepping into the kitchen 
quickly and grabbing the lunch that she'd made the night prior, it was 
only a matter of time before one of the Children asked Misato what was 
going on.  As it happened, it wound up being Nieve.  "Where are you 
headed?" she asked, sounding just the slightest bit accusatory.  "You 
didn't tell us anything about a trip today."

"This is one you're not going on," she noted, winking at Neil, who 
smiled back.  She'd remained genuinely apologetic about the prior 
incident, and Neil appreciated the gesture, even though he was certain 
Misato didn't know exactly why.  "There's an American company, Babel 
Technologies Limited, that has apparently been working on developing an 
alternative to the Evangelions."  She paused.  "Apparently, NERV's 
American branches have been working with the company, along with the US 
government.  We only got a report from our intelligence department 
about it recently."

Scowling, Nieve slammed her fist down on the table, furious.  "I -knew- 
it!" she snapped, gritting her teeth in anger, feeling as though she'd 
been violated even further by not knowing the details.  "I knew that 
there had to be a reason why we had to go by ship instead of going 
through America.  I didn't think that it would be that bad, but..."  
Sighing, she leaned back, holding herself off the floor with her arms 
and still obviously angry, though she wasn't sure if it was more 
because she'd been delayed by the American obfuscation or because the 
implication was that she needed to be replaced.  "So, NERV's going to 
do something about it, aren't they?"

"Yes.  Hear them out."  Misato closed the refridgerator door, lunch in 
hand, and ignored Nieve's indignant squawk as she turned back towards 
the Children.  "Listen, Nieve, if we just blow them off, then NERV will 
probably lose the support of the US, and considering the fact that 
we're in a budget crisis anyways, we'll only be shooting ourselves in 
the foot by doing it.  So we're going to go to BT's presentation of 
their weapon, they'll do a demonstration, and the UN will decide 
whether they want NERV to switch to their project instead of our own."  
Nieve coninued to glare at her, and she sighed.  "Nieve, it's not going 
to be able to manifest an AT Field.  It's not using any of the 
technology that's been developed with the Evangelion project.  There's 
no way that it can stand up to an Angel, and I'm sure that will be made 
clear in the demonstration."

"And what if they don't?" snapped Nieve in response, obviously in no 
mood to back down.  "I know that the UN has only given approval to the 
project because they've realized that they don't possess any weaponry 
strong enough to destroy the Angels.  If they think that they've got 
something capable of hurting them, they'll sideline NERV again!"  
Misato said nothing, and Nieve's scowl deepened as she slammed both of 
her fists down on the table.  "I'm starting to think that you want 
their new weapon to work!"

"Maybe I -do-," replied Misato, freezing in mid-step and then turning 
back towards Nieve.  Nieve was about to speak up again, but she could 
see the strange expression dancing in Misato's eyes, somewhere between 
concern and simply anger.  "You're not invincible.  None of you are.  
And fighting the Angels isn't a video game, it's real life."  She 
paused, realizing that she was sounding far harsher than she wanted to, 
and forced herself to take a deep breath.  "The point is, if they come 
up with something that could actually fight the Angels without putting 
your lives in danger, I'd be happy to use it instead."

Nieve wanted to say something in response, wanted to say that she'd 
almost rather have her life on the line and at least know that she was 
in control of whether or not the Angels won.  But Misato's expression 
told her that it was better to hold her tongue, and she went back to 
eating her cereal, scowling as Misato stepped down into the area where 
her shoes were, slipping on her heels casually.  "I'll be back late 
tonight, probably," Misato announced, staring at both of the Children 
and hoping for some kind of response.  "Have a good day, both of you."

The door closed behind her, and Neil and Nieve both sat in silence for 
a second or two.  Then Nieve leaned over and smacked Neil firmly in the 
back of the head, feeling more frustrated than ever.  He turned towards 
her with a questioning expression on his face, but she already knew the 
question.  "You could have said something to back me up, you know," she 
said, sounding rather hurt.  "We're pilots.  We've got to stick 
together about these things."

Shutting his eyes, Neil remembered the surge of anger that he'd gotten 
when he and Nieve had first met, remembered the way it had felt when he 
had hit Vash on the day they had met.  It was a dangerously 
intoxicating feeling, and even the memory of it send a small tremor of 
adrenaline through him.  "Maybe Misato's right," he said, standing 
despite the fact that he wasn't done with his meal.  "Maybe it's better 
if there is an alternative, if we're not the people that are piloting 
the Evas."

Left speechless by the boy's statement, Nieve simply sat and watched as 
Neil got up and went to his room, shutting the door behind him.  She 
suddenly felt very small, unsure of what to do, and very much a 
spectator instead of an authority.  She wanted to know what was going 
on, but more and more it felt as though others were plucking her 
strings.  The thought was an uncomfortable one, and she pushed it from 
her head, focusing instead on her momentary resentment of Neil's 
statement.  "Men," she muttered to herself, recalling how casually Kaji 
had taken their delayed arrival.  "They just don't understand anything."

                                  ]++[

Vash could already tell what Kensuke was thinking, staring at the other 
boy with a blank expression.  School being out had given him an excuse 
for not seeing his friend, but with the beginning of the week, there 
was no longer anything he could do.  Instead, it had become a waiting 
game, Vash slumped back against the wall with his chair leaning back, 
Kensuke turned just far enough to stare at the other boy, both waiting 
for the other to say something.  After what seemed like an eternity, 
Kensuke sighed, shaking his head and adjusting his glasses before 
staring at Vash once again.  "Let me get this straight," he said, 
sounding a little baffled.  "You had the Eva.  You knew how to pilot 
it.  You knew where the Angel was.  Am I getting all this right?"

"And the damn thing sent me back into the docks," replied Vash, 
gritting his teeth.  He was resentful of the whole occurence on more 
levels than he could even begin to enumerate, especially knowing that 
it just made Neil seem all the more innocent for his actions.  "Look, 
Kensuke, it wasn't up to me.  I was recalled.  You're the military 
buff, you should know that I couldn't choose whether or not I felt like 
coming back in."

"Yeah, but I'm not the one who was in the Eva," replied Kensuke, 
shutting his eyes and grinning as the thought passed through his mind.  
Vash's scowl deepend, feeling as though he was receiving all the wrong 
kinds of attention.  "Heck, after all that posturing about how you were 
going to show those slackers at NERV how an Eva should be piloted, it 
was that gaijin that wound up defeating the Angel, wasn't it?"

"His name is Neil," replied Vash, sitting up, unsure of why he felt the 
urge to defend the other boy.  He shook his head, closing his eyes for 
a second before glaring at Kensuke again.  "Besides, he had Eiko 
protecting him, otherwise he would have been out of there as quickly as 
I was.  I said that the two of us would show them, didn't I?  How would 
they have done it without me?"

One of the boys sitting next to Vash chuckled, and he glanced over, 
certain that they were either laughing at him or about him.  The stare 
was harsh enough that the boy felt the urge to explain, and he opened 
his mouth, then started laughing again.  "You mean, 'How would they 
have done it without my girlfriend,' right?"

Gritting his teeth, Vash snapped his head back towards the front of the 
room, focusing on the white walls of the classroom and the bland green 
of the chalkboard.  "That's a pretty prejudiced view to take," he 
muttered, narrowing his eyes and feeling the stares of Kensuke and the 
others on him.  There was a time that he could have deflected all of it 
with a casual joke, but now he'd lost that ability with his rather 
public failure, and all he could do was endure.  "Where is Hikari, 
anyways?  She should be telling us that class is starting soon."

Ryo was distantly aware of the conversations going on behind him, but 
he payed them little mind, hearing Vash defend himself against the 
assertions of others that he had done terribly in the Eva.  He had 
other things on his mind, most importantly Niobe's comments before he 
had left.  Staring out the window with a blank expression, he watched 
as the sun traced its golden rays across the city, light glinting off 
the irregular window or the sheen of a car, the sky a mix of clear blue 
and vapor-filled white clouds.  It was the ideal day, and aside from 
the ongoing recovery operation being performed on the remains of the 
Fifth Angel, an operation going on too far away for Ryo to be able to 
see it, the city looked like any other Japanese city in the wake of the 
Second Impact.

"Ayanami-san?"  The voice was one he was familiar with by association, 
and he turned his head towards the desk next to him to see Eiko, 
sitting as usual, always seeming somewhat nervous about talking with 
him.  He stared at her, assuming that would be acknowledgement enough 
of his attention, and she swallowed hard.  "Have you... have you seen 
Neil since the last battle?  I thought that he was going to -"

"Neil was on the ship transporting the Second and Sixth Children," Ryo 
replied flatly, surprised that she hadn't been informed by Dr. Ikari or 
Dr. Fuyutsuki.  Not wishing to continue the conversation, he looked 
back out the window, observing the city again, Eiko's presence 
reminding him of the sketch that he still held in his bag.  For the 
briefest of seconds, he wondered about the connection between that 
object and the objects in Niobe's room, wondering if their purpose was 
the same.

Forcibly reminding herself that Ryo was just another kid her age, Eiko 
reached over and tugged on his shoulder, turning him back towards her.  
She was momentarily worried that he would be angry, but if he was he 
certainly didn't show it, keeping the same flat expression that he wore 
at nearly all times.  "Didn't an Angel attack on the ship?" she asked, 
certain that Ryo would know the answer.  "I heard rumors that the JSSDF 
Naval Branch was going to be deployed, because it looked like the ships 
weren't going to be able to activate the Evas."

Ryo blinked for a second, feeling something that he'd never felt 
before.  The small period of time since Neil's arrival had seen a 
number of new emotions enter his world, but this was one of the more 
awkward ones, something that told him he simply didn't want to talk to 
her for whatever reason.  "You should ask Captain Katsuragi about these 
things," he said flatly, turning back towards the window.  "Dr. Ikari 
has told me not to discuss NERV's operations in school."

Eiko frowned, unsure of how to interepret the response.  With any of 
her friends, she would have known that they were being flippant, and if 
she'd said that her parents had told her not to do something it was 
almost a certain precursor to her doing precisely that.  But Ayanami's 
statement seemed different, as though it genuinely mattered to him that 
the commander had given him the order.  "All right, all right, I'll ask 
them this afternoon.  Will you at least tell me what's going on with 
Neil?"

"I believe that the Second Child has moved in with he and Captain 
Katsuragi," he replied, still feeling the awkward sense of almost 
impatience at the back of his skull, not bothering to turn towards Eiko 
this time.  "Her housing arrangements were made before she arrived in 
Tokyo-3."  Eiko didn't say anything in response, and he took it to mean 
that she was finished talking, allowing him to refocus his attention on 
the situation in his apartment with Niobe.

"She...?"  Eiko whispered the word to herself, not loud enough for Ryo 
to hear, not wanting to explain emotions to him that she didn't even 
fully understand herself.  It wasn't particularly unusual, she assumed, 
to have the personnel for a military organization housed together, 
though she knew that Kensuke would know the answer.  But something in 
her didn't want for Neil to be living with a girl, to be living near 
anyone else female.  She frowned, sinking her head and shutting her 
eyes tightly, trying to understand why it even mattered to her.

At the back of the room, Vash could see Eiko's head sink, and he knew 
from experience that it meant she was upset about something.  He'd been 
humiliated enough already, but he didn't like the thought that she was 
being humiliated by something else, the idea that he was falling down 
on his own tasks because of his classmates.  "Hey, Eiko!" he shouted, 
starting to stand from his seat.  She turned her head towards him, then 
one of the girls from the glass shoved her head in front of him, asking 
him some mocking question that he was only paying the vaguest attention 
to.  Grimacing, he tried to stand, but he still found himself 
surrounded by a sea of noisy questions.

Ryo was lost in his thoughts, an experience that he wasn't accustomed 
to, when he heard Eiko's chair slide back.  Slightly curious, he 
glanced towards her, then followed her gaze towards the back of the 
room, seeing Vash swamped by almost the entire remainder of the class.  
"Vash isn't doing too well," she muttered, only barely speaking loud 
enough for Ryo to overhear.

Closing his eyes, Ryo remembered Eiko's words to him before, standing 
in front of EVA-00.  Pushing his own chair back, not quite sure of what 
he was doing, he stepped towards the group of students, startling them 
simply by the fact that he'd moved out of his seat towards them.  
"Leave him alone," he said flatly, his quiet voice carrying an 
intensity with it that somehow managed to cut through the louder voices 
surrounding Vash.  "He was given poor tools to work with in his first 
encounter.  That's all."  He paused, letting his words sink in as he 
lowered his gaze slightly.  "He didn't understand what it was like to 
pilot an Eva any more than you do.  Now he does."

There seemed to be something hiding within Ryo's words, and that 
combined with his simple bluntness effectively silenced everyone as he 
walked back to his desk, sitting down without another word and turning 
back towards the window.  The emotions stirring with him hadn't 
entirely settled from his actions, but they seemed different somehow, 
in a way that he simply couldn't place.  Shutting his eyes for a moment 
before staring back out at Tokyo-3, wondering why he was feeling 
different now, what all of the new things in his life meant for him.

                                  ]++[

Despite her best efforts, Misato had managed to be late for the 
departure to the conference, and she'd had to turn around and speed her 
way across Japan to Tokyo-2 in order to be there in time, something 
she'd tried to explain to a police officer before showing him her NERV 
ID and getting back on her way.  It was somewhat embarassing, but she'd 
never been particularly adept at the art of being anything other than 
late, something she remembered her mother always scolding her for.  
And, as if to aggravate the problem further, the parking spaces 
allotted for NERV's core personnel had already been filled, meaning 
that she had to take the only free spot in the parking garage on the 
lowest level before running in high heels into the building and to the 
conference room where it was being held.

It was as much of a surprise to her as she expected it would be to the 
rest of the staff at the meeting when she managed to walk in before the 
presentation had started, and she checked her watch to find that she 
had a good ten minutes before the speaker was scheduled to begin.  The 
projector was showing the classic Second Impact footage, the orbital 
pictures of a huge explosion, the news reports about a tiny object 
moving at amazing speeds hitting and melting the South Pole from 
orbit.  Smiling to herself, she smoothed back her hair, then casually 
walked across the tan-walled room, heels clicking despite the thin 
black carpeting as she approached the circular table reserved for 
NERV's senior officers.  She could see Ritsuko's blonde hair before she 
reached the table, and she tried to take her seat as casually as 
possible, hoping that the other woman wouldn't make an issue out of her 
timing.  "Hey, Ritsuko," she said, smiling at the other woman as she 
sat and waved.  "Have you been waiting long?"

"We left when we were scheduled, Captain Katsuragi," replied the other 
woman, wearing a deep blue outfit otherwise similar to Misato's, her 
white lab coat wrapped around her and trailing over the edge of the 
chair.  Misato sighed almost involuntarily, knowing now that she wasn't 
going to be able to live down the situation.  "You hadn't arrived at 
the time."

"There were other things that required my attention," she replied 
flatly, staring up at the screen in front of her, watching the latest 
computer-rendered display of the meteor tearing through the atmosphere 
and striking the ice cap.  She bit her lip, forcing herself to keep 
away from her first reaction.  "Nieve was distressed by the implication 
that we're willing to sell her out for the first alternative that comes 
along."

Ritsuko shook her head, shutting her eyes and letting a humorless smile 
drift across her face for a moment before taking a sip of the champagne 
in front of her.  "That's hardly something she needs to worry about," 
replied Ritsuko.  "Whatever the Americans have cooked up, it won't be 
able to manifest an AT Field."  She paused, and Misato knew what she 
was doing, trying to let her implications sink in before she said them 
outright.  It was a habit that Misato remembered from the earliest days 
that she'd known Ritsuko, something that had annoyed her then and still 
did.  "You should have told that to Nieve."

"I did," Misato replied, still watching the footage, her left hand 
resting on the white tablecloth of their table while her right moved 
unconsciously to a spot an inch or so below her left breast, feeling 
the mark beneath it even through the layers of cloth.  "It didn't do 
any good."  Turning towards Ritsuko, she wondered how the other woman 
managed to stay so certain about the situation, how she had no doubts 
that their jobs would still be there when they woke up the next 
morning.  "You can hardly blame her.  Her mother and father gave their 
lives to the project... more even than that.  And she's on the road to 
do just the same."

"She has nothing to be worried about," replied Ritsuko, uncrossing her 
legs and then crossing them again in the opposite direction, obviously 
fighting the urge to light a cigarette.  "If the American branch didn't 
use information from Project Evangelion, then they can't have developed 
anything capable of using an AT Field.  And if they did use information 
from our project, then they wouldn't have brought us here, because all 
they would have is an alternative design."

Misato sighed heavily, feeling as though she were carrying on a 
conversation with a brick wall.  Sometimes she thought it would 
actually be better if Ritsuko didn't have emotions, so that she didn't 
lace all of her words with an air of self-importance, with the 
implications that she was doing everything right and Misato was doing 
everything wrong.  Forcing herself to think about something else, 
Misato turned back towards the screen, noticing that the footage had 
looped back to the orbital photos and news reports.  "You don't think 
that the American branch told the company what actually happened at 
Antarctica, do you?"

"Perhaps," replied Ritsuko, still sounding remarkably calm about the 
situation.  "It's NERV's best-known classified information.  Many 
governments that weren't to be informed managed to obtain the data 
anyways."  She paused to sip her drink, now focusing on the footage as 
well.  "But unless the American branches managed to gain tremendous 
resources when we weren't watching, I doubt they know everything.  We 
didn't tell them the whole truth, after all."

Opening her mouth to reply, Misato was cut off when she saw Ryoji Kaji 
walking towards the table, dressed in the black uniform of NERV's 
Intelligence Division, his top button left open and black tie hanging 
loosely around his neck.  He wore his usual casual expression, ponytail 
swinging back and forth behind him, the same two-day beard stubble that 
had always infuriated her.  "What are you doing here?" she hissed as he 
sat down next to Ritsuko, leaning across the table in an effort to keep 
the conversation as private as possible.

"Acting as the head of NERV Intelligence," Kaji replied bluntly, 
leaning back in his chair and obviously not worried in the least by 
Misato's concern.  "Didn't you hear?  Considering that the last 
director obviously didn't have as tight a hold on NERV's various 
divisions as he thought he did, he got replaced.  I was next in line, 
apparently."  He shrugged, offering only a smile in response to 
Misato's irate stare.  "I'm as surprised as you are, frankly."

"Surprised doesn't begin to describe it," muttered Misato, turning 
angrily back towards the main screen with her arms crossed.  She wanted 
to say something to him, but the words didn't seem to want to come, at 
the tip of her tongue but just barely managing to escape her somehow.  
Irritated now by the presence of Kaji, Ritsuko's cold arrogance towards 
her, and the fact that she had been late in the first place, she 
glanced at her watch, hoping that the presentation would begin soon.

Before her eyes could fully register the small digital numbers, the 
room began darkening, and the Second Impact footage faded away, 
signaling the start of the presentation and the first good news that 
Misato had gotten since the day had begun.  There was a brief moment of 
silence and darkness before a man stepped up to the podium in front of 
the display screen, the darkness managing to obscure his features.  He 
coughed gently, and the projector began rolling a new sequence of 
pictures, still of the Second Impact.  The man let a few shots of the 
sequence show, then bent the microphone in front of him down and began 
to speak.

"Sixteen years ago, the first of January, the year 2000, at 
approximately 8:23 GMT, an asteroid struck Antarctica with enough force 
to utterly destroy the ice cap."  The sentence was accompanied by 
camera footage of the cap immediately after the impact, almost entirely 
empty except for a few remaining icebergs.  "A research team on the 
site was lost as the first casualties of the strike, but many soon 
joined them as global water levels rose and the climate of the Earth 
underwent immediate changes."  The sequence changed to a slow pan of 
the buildings of Manhattan, some still poking out of the water at the 
very top.  "It was termed the Second Impact, after the First Impact 
that destroyed the dinosaurs.  We humans proved significantly harder to 
kill off."

Another sequence began to show, this one of NERV's American facility 
under construction.  Misato mentally noted the convenience that they 
were showing only the American side of the equation, but she held her 
tongue, knowing that any outbursts would only make things worse.  "It 
was only a short time after the Second Impact that we learned the truly 
horrific implications of what had happened.  A research branch of the 
UN, NERV, learned that among the other changes, the strike had awakened 
a race of beings known as the 'Angels', creatures of unknown biology 
and shocking power.  It was almost certain that mankind would be wiped 
out by these beasts, unless some kind of defense was formed."

Once again, the display behind the speaker changed, this time showing 
EVA-03 in dock in its American facility.  "The head of NERV at Tokyo-3 
threw its resources behind the Evangelion project, headed by Dr. Gendou 
Ikari and Dr. Yui Ikari.  However, the project suffered from numerous 
setbacks, including but not limited to the death of Mrs. Ikari and the 
fact that the project itself was based off of unreliable science to 
begin with.

Misato tensed, and she felt herself gripping the tablecloth more 
tightly as the sequence behind the speaker began to show the opening 
moments of the battle against the Third Angel.  Ritsuko put a hand on 
her shoulder, and she glared at the other woman, though she couldn't 
tell if it was because she resented the implication or that she was 
simply angry about the presentation.  "They're intentionally showing us 
at our worst," Misato snarled.  "They don't even understand what's 
going on, and they're making us out to be crackpots."

"Don't worry," replied Ritsuko, managing to sound almost non-
condescending with her tone of voice.  She placed her hand gently on 
Misato's shoulder, and Misato sighed, feeling even more like a child 
that had to be kept under control as the speaker continued to speak of 
the flaws of Project Evangelion and its lackluster performances against 
the Angels.  "This will never get off the ground.  I'm certain of it."

The speaker paused for a moment, then waved his hand, and the lights 
snapped back on, the presentation screen behind him going blank.  
"However, NERV's American branches invested their research into more 
productive methods of holding off the Angels, and we're proud to 
announce that we've at long last been successful at producing a 
reliable, -functional- defense against the Angels.  Ladies and 
gentlemen, I present to you the first fully autonomous combat robot, 
Jet Alone!"

With a flourish, the presentation screen rose behind the speaker to 
reveal a window, staring out into a cool gray room that housed the 
robot he spoke of.  It was equal in scale to the Evas, from what Misato 
could see, with a bulky white torso and a squat red head almost seeming 
to be stuck on as an afterthought.  There wasn't much of the machine 
visible, but she could already hear the murmurs amongst the crowd about 
the machine's appearance, apparently pleased that it was less 
disturbing than the Eva.  Misato grimaced, and she stood forcefully, no 
longer able to control herself.  "That machine wouldn't last a minute 
against an Angel!" she snapped, sounding angrier than she'd meant but 
as angry as she felt.

Pausing for a second, the speaker smiled and gestured towards Misato, a 
condescending attitude about him.  He reminded Misato of someone she'd 
seen in a movie once, a used-car salesman that simply seemed to ooze 
slime.  From her point of view, it seemed an apt comparison.  "And we 
hear from the senior staff of NERV, at long last."  The comment met 
with a chuckle throughout the room, something that served only to 
aggravate Misato's anger.  "Well, ma'am, I wasn't planning on opening 
the floor to questions just yet, but since you insist, please, explain 
to us why it wouldn't work."

Misato sighed, but before she could say a word Ritsuko stood behind 
her.  She wanted to look back, to tell if Ritsuko was looking at her 
with anger or approval, but she knew that doing anything of the sort 
would make NERV look even worse.  Coughing, Ritsuko turned the 
attention of the room towards her, a minor shift from Misato.  "It 
can't manifest an AT Field," she announced, sounding perfectly calm.  
"The whole reason that the Evangelion units are being used is because 
they are capable of utilizing and neutralizing the AT Fields of the 
Angels."

"Ah, yes.  I almost forgot.  The Absolute Terror Field, the absolute 
crowning achievement of Project Evangelion."  Leaning forward on his 
podium, the speaker stared at Ritsuko, a cocky half-smirk on his face 
at the mention of the field.  Misato winced involuntarily, seeing that 
the man had obviously been prepared for the mention.  "Such an 
acheivement, in fact, that I have yet to see a single coherent 
explanation of what it is.  In fact, I have yet to see much coherent 
explanations about -anything- coming out of the project.  Very 
convenient, isn't it?"

"If you don't believe me, you can look at the battle footage," replied 
Ritsuko, her calm not shaken whatsoever by the murmurs of the other 
attendees.  "The phenomenon classified as the AT Field is displayed 
clearly in all of the encounters we have had with the Angels.  And in 
all cases, it was necessary for an Evangelion unit to neutralize the AT 
Field of the target."

The speaker opened his mouth to speak again, but Misato stepped forward 
before he had even said a word.  "Dr. Akagi is forgetting something.  
The battle footage will also clearly demonstrate how effective 
conventional weapons are."  She offered the same kind of smug grin to 
the speaker that he had been wearing moments earlier, a gesture that he 
replied to with an outright frown.  "Jet Alone is a conventional 
weapon.  Do you really think that that's all there is to it?  Throw a 
big enough weapon at the Angels, and eventually they'll make a dent?  
If an N2 mine wasn't able to damage an Angel, how will Jet Alone do any 
better?"

"It won't have children staking their lives on its reliability," 
replied the speaker, drawing another chorus of murmurs from the 
assembled crowd.  Misato's gaze narrowed as she gritted her teeth, 
annoyed at the thought that he would try to play on the audience's 
sympathies so blatantly.  "Perhaps some of you aren't aware of this - 
the Evangelions are piloted by sixteen-year old children.  Children 
recruited specifically by NERV, not volunteers."

Once again, the crowd began to talk amongst itself, and the speaker 
grinned again at Misato, almost as if he were challenging her to come 
up with a better argument.  She closed her eyes for a second, trying to 
block out the nagging suspicions that she was still having about 
precisely that, forcing herself not to think about the injuries that 
she'd seen the Children suffer.  "They're not forced to stay," she 
replied, letting her eyes open once again and staring dead at the man 
at the podium.  "We ask them to come, and they say yes.  They're free 
to leave at any time."

"And I imagine that you make that option perfectly clear," replied the 
speaker, provoking another murmur through the crowd.  Some part of 
Misato knew that he was trying to egg her on, and that same part 
recognized that despite everything he was succeeding.  "Another bit of 
Project Evangelion's science, the concept that only these children can 
pilot the machines.  Rather sketchy, if you ask me."

"But if only certain adults could pilot the machines, I doubt that 
you'd have any problem with that," replied Misato, forcing herself to 
keep her anger in check, somewhat gratified by the fact that the crowd 
was at least equally receptive to her statements as those of the 
speaker.  "Frankly, isn't everyone's life at stake when it comes to the 
Angels?  Is it any less fair to ask for children to pilot the Evas than 
it is to ask the rest of us to sit and watch?"

The statement stung Misato even before she'd finished it, and she felt 
guilty about saying it, but she continued to stand, making sure that 
her facade didn't falter for a moment.  The speaker seemed to have no 
such compunctions.  "I think that's precisely the point I was trying to 
make," he muttered, his face obviously displeased with the direction 
that the session had taken.  "All right, everyone.  Questions will no 
longer be fielded.  The demonstration of Jet Alone's capabilities will 
begin in approximately half an hour."  He paused, obviously nervous.  
"You'll have the chance to decide for yourselves who you want to rely 
on."

                                  ]++[

EVA-00's repairs had been completed, aside from the standard 
maintenance performed on the machine, and for some reason Ryo found 
himself feeling unusual about that fact.  The routine was one that he'd 
had drilled into his brain long before he ever got inside of the 
machine - it would be activated, be repaired, be activated again, be 
repaired again, and so on until all of the Angels had been destroyed.  
But there had never been any mention of the machine's design, of the 
color or appearance of his machine.  He hadn't noticed it before, but 
after his conversation with Niobe, the thought wouldn't leave his head, 
the fact that his Evangelion unit was no longer the same as he 
remembered it.

Objectively, it was immaterial.  He knew that all it meant was he had a 
new routine to memorize, that now his unit was changed and he had to 
work with it.  Yet as he stared at the single red eye of the machine, 
the blue helmet, the chest surrounded by the nutrient bath that kept 
the biological portions of the machine functioning correctly, he found 
himself wondering if perhaps the Evangelion itself was his equivalent 
of Niobe's keepsakes.  It was an odd thought, and he realized it, 
sitting on the cold metal catwalk in his plugsuit, watching the machine 
remain stationary, two red eyes staring into a lone red eye.  He knew 
that the machine was his to use, but he was almost certain that he did 
not use it to remember, which meant by Niobe's definition that it was 
not a keepsake.  Still, the thought wouldn't leave his mind.

"Ayanami Ryo, right?"  The voice surprised Ryo, and he turned to see a 
red-haired girl in a bright red plugsuit at the end of the catwalk that 
led further into the Eva hangars, the blocky numbers on her chest 
marking her as the Second Child.  He stared at her for a second, then 
rose to his feet and nodded, and she walked over to him, a slight 
bounce in her step as she extended her hand while walking.  "I'm Nieve 
Soryu-Leary.  Pleased to finally meet you."

Ryo took her hand and shook it once she got close enough, examining her 
quickly before turning back towards his machine.  For his purposes, the 
conversation had no reason to continue.  Feeling a hard tap on his 
shoulder, he turned towards her, seeing that she obviously had very 
different feelings on the matter.  "Aren't you going to talk to me?" 
she asked, looking a little hurt.  "Seeing as how I'm the new Child and 
all?"

"I hadn't planned on it," replied Ryo, turning back towards the Eva, 
his mind fixed on his prior train of thought.  He was examining the 
project logically, a routine that he'd been taught by Gendou, something 
he expected primarily to use against the Angels.  He knew that Eiko had 
mentioned her sketch was a keepsake for Neil, and he knew that it was 
supposed to be something that helped one remember.  He also knew that 
Eiko had defended Neil with her life, and he knew that Neil had 
defended him with his life.  There was a connection beneath it all, one 
just out of his reach, and it brought on the same sensation that he'd 
felt when Eiko was talking with him before in class.

Nieve watched for a moment, trying to be polite, then shook her head 
and tapped Ryo hard on the shoulder again.  He remained stationary for 
a moment, then turned his head towards her, eyes staring at her with an 
inexplicable intensity.  "What are you thinking about?" she asked, 
trying to strike up a conversation once again as she glanced towards 
EVA-00 herself, admiring the machine's smooth lines.  "You're obviously 
lost in thought, and it's obviously something about the Eva.  So, 
what's going on?"

To the best of Ryo's memory, nobody had ever asked him what he was 
thinking about, not even Gendou.  The question felt odd, a definite 
break from routine, and he wondered for a moment if he should just 
remain silent.  "I... I was thinking about events that have happened 
recently.  I was attempting to figure something out."  He paused, then 
turned back towards EVA-00, feeling as though he'd done something 
wrong.  "I don't know exactly what."

"Hmm.  Fair enough."  The statement sounded more than a little odd to 
Nieve, but she could identify with the feeling at least slightly, and 
besides that she didn't want to create tension between her and her 
fellows.  Turning fully towards the blue unit herself, she crossed her 
arms across her chest, slightly unnerved by the synchronicity of the 
Eva's red eye compared with Ryo's eyes.  "These machines are funny like 
that - even though you control them, you get to thinking about why you 
bother with it."  She paused, her voice audibly shifting down 
slightly.  "Why you stick with it even with all the bad things they 
bring to you."

Ryo caught a hint of something else in Nieve's tone, but he didn't know 
what, lost in another train of thought.  Perhaps there was a connection 
between why Eiko defended Neil and wanted him to have the sketch that 
lay within the piloting of the Eva.  "Why do you pilot Eva?" he asked, 
turning slightly towards Nieve.

Nieve grinned broadly and flashed Ryo an enthusiastic thumb's-up, the 
note of sorrow from her earlier words completely gone.  "Because you're 
in complete control inside of the Evangelion," she replied, turning her 
smile back towards the machine and re-crossing her arms.  "No matter 
how little you can control in the world around you, the Eva is yours.  
Nobody else can pilot it, nobody else can control it."  She smirked to 
herself, lowering her head slightly.  "You get to be the ruler of your 
own little castle."

"Control," muttered Ryo, staring back at the Eva.  He had been told by 
Gendou that he piloted the machine for the good of humanity, but if the 
others piloted it the way that Nieve described, it would certainly 
offer explanations about what was going on.  His mind was forming 
connections quickly, extrapolating the idea that Eiko had been piloting 
the Eva to the fact that she had saved Neil, an oddly warm sensation 
flooding his body.  "I understand."

"Well, it's not a tough concept," she replied, more for her own benefit 
than his.  She glanced towards the boy, his eyes still fixed on the 
Eva, and found herself wondering almost involuntarily what he was so 
intent on figuring out, what gave him the strange sort of intensity 
that he was carrying with him.  Shaking her head, she turned towards 
the exit out of the Eva hangars, stepping around Ryo gingerly.  "I'm 
going to go get changed.  I just needed to come in for some minor synch 
work - most of my data's up to date, with all the testing NERV required 
up in Ireland.  You..."  She paused, unsure of how to say goodbye to 
the boy.  "I hope you figure out whatever it is you're thinking about."

"I will," replied Ryo, his voice flat but his mind racing.  The noise 
of the catwalk door opening and closing only distantly registered in 
his brain, with his brain far more intent on finishing the connections 
that Nieve had started him on.  He was intrigued by the fact that she 
could come up to the solution to his questioning so quickly, even 
without knowing most of the situation.  Staring into EVA-00's eye, he 
wondered if perhaps Nieve's statement had wider implications than she 
had said, that the Eva was a path to controlling others as well.

                                  ]++[

Sitting in one of the chairs set up for the viewing of Jet Alone's 
military demonstration, Misato found herself checking her watch for 
what seemed like the thousandth time in only a few minutes.  There were 
still fifteen more minutes until the demonstration started, and with 
the slow crawl of minutes after the embarassing events of earlier it 
seemed as though it would be fifteen hours.  But she'd forced herself 
to sit in the bland green skybox overlooking an abandoned airfield,  
Jet Alone visible at the far end of the field as various personnel set 
up what she assumed would be the tests for the machine.  If nothing 
else, she wanted to prove to Ritsuko that she could be on time.

Ritsuko, unsurprisingly, had given Misato a few choice words about her 
outburst after the fact, but Misato had been paying little attention to 
the other woman's scolding, more concerned about what she'd said to the 
speaker.  She remembered Neil's anger at being coerced into the 
situation, remembered how Vash and Eiko were practically shoved in 
their machines with less than a day of training.  For all that she 
wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, that she wasn't party 
to an organization that went about and randomly stole children for its 
own purposes, she was feeling as though that was the ugly truth of the 
situation.

"Mind if I sit here?"  The voice was deep, masculine, and familiar, and 
Misato whipped up her head to see Kaji standing over the seat next to 
her, mouth curled into his characteristic smirk, obviously not troubled 
in the least by the demonstration about to take place.  Misato said 
nothing for a moment, then gestured towards the seat with a wide motion 
of her arm, a clear indication for him to sit.  He nodded in gratitude, 
then took his seat, still staring at Misato.  "Thanks.  This place is 
starting to fill up."

"Don't get the wrong impression," Misato snapped, whirling towards Kaji 
and glaring at him.  "I'm not letting you sit there because we have a 
past.  I'm letting you sit there because those of us who actually know 
what's going on in this situation need to stick together."  She 
paused.  "It's no coincidence that most of the NERV staff that's in 
attendance today works at the American branch.  They wanted to make it 
look like they were being fair, but they just want to have our 
positions.  So we staff members need to stick together."

"Actually, I hadn't even considered the possibility you were giving the 
seat to me because of us," replied Kaji, leaning back and stretching 
his arms into the air above him.  Misato frowned at him, then turned 
back towards the airfield, knowing that Kaji was at least partially 
lying but having no way of doing anything about it.  "I thought that 
you were just giving the seat to someone who asked."

Sighing, Misato turned her head towards the wall on her left, closing 
her eyes as she looked specifically away from Kaji.  "Why are you here, 
Kaji?" she asked, feeling suddenly as though she was back in college 
all over again.  "You weren't in NERV before.  You weren't even in it 
when I joined, when we were still together."  She paused, an idea 
occuring to her.  "Did you come here for me?"

"I came to find something," replied Kaji, the humor seemingly 
evaporated from his voice.  Misato turned back towards him and could 
see that he was being deathly serious, something that she'd only seen 
happen a few times in all the time she'd known him.  His eyes were 
focused on Jet Alone, but she knew that he wasn't actually looking at 
it, that the robot simply provided a convenient object to stare at.  
"That's all you need to know right now.  You'll find out eventually."  
He paused, then turned towards her with a grin, as though he could 
cover everything up simply by acting casual again.  "Besides, right 
now, I'm just here to watch the Americans make fools out of themselves."

"You're in the right place."  Neither Misato or Kaji had noticed 
Ritsuko enter the room, nor had they seen her walk towards them until 
she was standing more or less directly over Kaji's shoulder.  She 
seemed not to mind the fact that she had been unintentionally ignored, 
simply sitting down without any ceremony and staring out at the robot.  
"I managed to get a look at the robot's blueprints, and the thing isn't 
capable of manifesting an AT Field.  It won't be an effective weapon 
against the Angels."

"That's great, Ritsuko, but we don't have any Angels handy to 
demonstrate that fact," replied Misato, slumping down slightly in her 
chair.  Checking her watch, she could see that there were only a few 
moments until the presentation began, a fact that did little to 
reassure her.  "They'll just see the fact that it works against 
conventional targets, and they'll find it a lot more comfortable than 
the idea of sending out children.  We'll be back to square one."

Neither Ritsuko nor Kaji had a response to Misato's statement, and the 
three staff members remained silent as the lights in the room dimmed 
slightly and Jet Alone began moving, the announcer's voice giving 
everyone watching a clear description of each action taken by the 
machine.  Misato failed to be even vaguely interested, too worried 
about the prospects of sending the machine into combat against an Angel 
to be paying attention to its performace.  She could see that it was an 
effective weapon, but it was hardly up to the standards of the Evas, 
even without considering the factor of the AT Field.

Jet Alone's demonstration was scheduled for half an hour, and Misato 
found herself glancing at her watch in despair as the machine walked 
through a line of drone tanks, the loudspeaker coming on once again.  
"Jet Alone will now turn to the left and retrieve its primary armament, 
the experimental Phase Cannon."  There was a pause.  "Um... Jet Alone 
has apparently detected a threat outside of the primary target."

Misato knew the tone of voice that someone used when trying to cover up 
from her own usage, and she brought her attention back towards the 
white robot as it lumbered across the airfield on its spindly limbs, 
moving far faster than it had been before.  "Er... Jet Alone's onboard 
systems appear to have suffered a minor malfunction.  It's nothing 
serious, a simple navigational error.  We'll have it cleared up in a 
few moments."

"They're lying," muttered Misato, watching as the machine lumbered off 
of the airfield and into the foothills surrounding the field, heedless 
of the obstacles in its path.  She glanced towards Kaji and Ritsuko, 
and both nodded to her as she stood, headed for the exit with her 
companions close behind.  She had to get to the command center for the 
robot, find out what was actually going on.  And, though she hated the 
thought, she might find something out that would ensure the project's 
abandonment.

Luckily enough for Misato, the control room was only a couple floors 
above, and it was only a short climb upwards into the center.  Once she 
stepped inside, she could see that the officials were doing their best 
to contain a disaster before it became a catastrophe, the green metal 
room lighting up with red alerts all over, computer screens flashing 
angry screens and announcing the alert situation with grating noises.  
One of the staff members inside stepped towards Misato, but she pushed 
him aside, stepping into the room without even bothering to show her 
badge.  "What's going on?" she demanded, drawing the immediate 
attention of nearly everyone in the room.

An awkward pause hung in the air for a moment, then the speaker from 
the earlier presentation stepped forward, looking extremely nervous.  
"Jet Alone's undergone a serious malfunction.  It's headed straight for 
Yokohama-2, south of here.  Once there, it's apparently received orders 
to self-destruct."  He paused, sighing heavily and obviously 
distraught.  "It's not obeying any of our commands.  Something's 
corrupted the system."

Despite herself, Misato smirked, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt 
that the project wasn't going to get any further than it already had.  
"Shame about that, really.  We're going to have to destroy the 
machine.  Get in touch with the UN intercept forces, have them scramble 
the aerodrones to Jet Alone's location and -"

"You can't do that!" exclaimed the former speaker, a panic rising in 
his eyes that gave Misato pause.  All three of the NERV staff members 
stared at him for a second, and he sighed heavily, distraught.  "Jet 
Alone is powered by a nuclear reactor.  If you destroy it, then the 
reactor will go critical... it'll turn the area into a radioactive 
wasteland."

Misato paused for a second, then clenched her fists tightly, resisting 
the urge to hit the speaker as hard as she could manage.  "You knew 
this?  And you were simply betting on the fact that it wouldn't get 
damaged in a battle?"  The speaker offered no answer, and Misato 
slammed her fist against the nearest computer console, feeling the 
uncontrollable urge to do a lot more damage than simply hitting 
something.  Then, taking a deep breath, she reached into one pocket of 
her jacket, retrieving a small cellular phone.  "All right.  I have an 
idea."

                                  ]++[

"Eiko, are you ready?"  The question was a statement more than a 
question, with an obvious right and wrong answer, something that 
unnerved her slightly as she watched the ground race beneath her 
machine.  She'd been stopped just before leaving the facility, told to 
quickly change back into her LCL-soaked plugsuit and get back into the 
Eva's entry plug, do just what she'd done before except for the fact 
that it was no longer a simply synchronization test.  The mission 
information had only been relayed to her after she was in the air, over 
a static-filled radio connection with Misato.  Luckily, the connection 
had grown better as they'd gotten closer, but with her Eva facing 
facedown towards the ground, her thoughts were more on how strong a 
hold the plane had one her machine than they were on the radio 
conenction.

"I'm ready," she replied, knowing that she'd have to be sent in even if 
she wasn't  "Get you into Jet Alone, then do my best to hold the 
machine back while you try to shut it down.  Simple enough"  Closing 
her eyes, she felt the Evangelion's limbs around her once again, the 
same as before, but this time Neil was nowhere nearby.  He had been to 
the synch testing required and then left before she'd shown up, and 
she'd been stopped before she had a chance to go see him.  She hadn't 
even been given a choice, just forced into the Eva.  And she hated 
being forced.  "Why am I being used, anyways?"

"Your machine has armor designed to reflect energy projections from the 
Angels," replied Misato, watching as the speck in the sky that she knew 
was the Eva transport plane grew closer and closer.  She had already 
changed to the skintight red-white radiation suit that Jet Alone's 
staff had provided, an awkward fit to say the least.  "If I'm not able 
to make the thing shut down in time, you've got the best chance of 
survival."

Misato's words sent a sudden tremor of panic down Eiko's body as the 
plane neared the drop point, the power cord attached to her back being 
given more slack in anticipation of her release.  She'd felt confident 
before, knowing that Neil was there to keep her safe, but relying on 
Misato felt different.  Despite the way that she knew she'd seemed, she 
also knew that she wasn't very brave.  "You'll be able to shut it down, 
right?" she asked, watching as her display began to show the drop point 
far below with a blinking light.  "I mean, it can't be that hard, can 
it?"

Biting her lip, Misato watched the plane come closer, the silver 
surface of EVA-04 glinting in the sunlight.  "I certainly hope it's not 
that hard," she replied, moments before the plane let out a burst of 
smoke and let the Eva begin to fall, the black cord trailing behind it 
unwinding from within the plane at an amazing pace.  She watched as the 
machine seemed to suddenly realize that it was falling, moving from a 
prone position into a sort of mid-air crouch before it hit the ground 
hard, debris rising from the ground as a deafening crash filled the 
air, the gray pavement of the ground shattering under the landing's 
impact.

Eiko remained crouching for a moment, then extended the Eva's hand 
towards the ground, letting Misato climb in.  The woman climbed into 
the palm of the gigantic gray hand, looking almost like a speck against 
the sheer size of the Eva's palm.  "All right," she said, still 
speaking over the radio as Eiko stood, clasping her other hand around 
Misato to make sure that the woman didn't fall.  "Now you've got to 
catch up with Jet Alone.  There should be some kind of guide on your 
display -"

"Got it," replied Eiko, digging in her machine's heels for a second 
before she started it running, focusing her entirety on making the 
machine go as fast as she could, feeling its muscles pulsing just 
beneath the surface of its armor.  She crashed out of the airfield, 
through forests and plains, the power feed from the plane remaining 
steady as she began to approach the white and red robot, crashing its 
way across the highway as cars fled from it.  "I can see it, Misato!  
What now?"

Ignoring the distinct dizziness that being jostled in EVA-04's hands 
had caused, Misato forced herself to remember her own momentary 
briefing.  "Place me on the back of the machine," she replied, 
squinting slightly as the machine opened its hands and extended one 
towards the robot's back, running ever closer to the other machine.  
"Once I'm inside, get in front of the thing and do everything that you 
can to push it backwards.  Your AT Field will help slow it down, but 
you might have to grapple with it - the field isn't really meant to be 
used like that."

The robot was only walking, and while it took long strides it was only 
seconds before Eiko's hand was resting on the thing's back and Misato 
jumped off, flashing her a quick sign of approval before grabbing hold 
of a hatch and yanking it open forcefully, jumping inside.  Gritting 
her teeth more firmly, Eiko moved to one side and ran around the 
machine, pushing her Eva's legs harder than she'd thought possible as 
the silver unit raced past the robot, then came to a stop slightly 
ahead of it as it turned to face Jet Alone.  "AT Field, full power," 
she muttered, focusing all her energy on the field itself and shoving 
the handles of her cockpit as far forward as they could go.  The robot 
hit the octagonal field only a few meters away from EVA-04, then began 
pushing against it, obviously not distressed by the fact that it was 
being held back.  "Shut it down, Misato."

Misato distantly heard Eiko say something, but the thought was pushed 
from her mind as she entered the service room of Jet Alone, cast in a 
red light by the flashing alerts covering the room.  The entire thing 
was a maze of pipes and cubes that didn't seem to serve any immediate 
function, obviously designed for engineers and not for her.  Struggling 
to ignore the intense heat of the room, she glanced around for the 
console that she'd been told would be there, scanning the room for a 
second and wishing that the helmet she wore had some kind of peripheral 
vision before she noticed a flashing computer screen set up against a 
wall.  Hopping over to the screen, she began tapping away at the 
keyboard, struggling to remember the commands as the screen flashed a 
warning of only four minutes remaining before self-destruct.  "Eiko, 
this might take a minute."

"Hurry!" Eiko shouted, already feeling the cold steel of Jet Alone's 
body pressing closer to hers, the AT Field buckling inward despite her 
concentration.  She doubted that she could withstand the thing's death 
throes, much less grapple with it, but as it came closer she found 
herself without any other options, jerking her arms upwards and pushing 
them against the thing's chest, digging in her heels as best she 
could.  "I can't hold it back!"

"You're going to have to!" replied Misato, grimacing at the computer 
screen.  "The system won't allow me access to it - I think it's part of 
the program malfunction!  I'll have to shut it down manually!"  She 
reminded herself mentally that she didn't know how to do that, then 
began looking around for something that looked as though she could move 
it, something that might be an emergency shutdown lever of some sort.  
"We've got three and a half minutes left until it explodes, at least."

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" asked Eiko, noticing that 
someone up on the plane had seen fit to add the countdown clock to her 
display as well, blocky green numbers seeming to count down until her 
death.  Panic gripped her body, and her hold on the Eva faltered for a 
moment, giving Jet Alone the chance to surge forward.  The machine 
slammed into her chest, and she forced herself to stay upright, 
wrapping her arms around it and trying to push it backwards with all 
the force that the machine could muster.  As she felt her heels digging 
furrows in the ground beneath her, however, she could tell that it 
wasn't working.  "Please, Misato, shut it down.  I don't want to die."

"Neither do I," Misato muttered to herself, seeing what looked like a 
row of gigantic buttons along one wall of the room.  Glancing around 
for a second to see if she could see any better possibilities for an 
emergency shutdown switch, she sighed and threw her body against the 
nearest cylinder, pushing all of her weight behind it.  "I'm trying to 
shut it down, Eiko, but it seems like it's jammed in place."  She 
paused, suddenly feeling very helpless as she struggled desperately 
against the warm metal.  "I don't think I'm going to make it."

Eiko felt something warm against her eyes, and for a moment she thought 
that the LCL was warming from damage, the way that it had against the 
Fifth Angel.  Then she realized that tears were forming at the corners 
of her eyes as she strained against the machine, watching only the 
green numbers slowly tick away to a minute.  "You've got to shut it 
down, Misato.  You've got to."  She felt the tears beginning to flow 
more freely, the white robot proving too forceful for her to hold it 
back.  "I don't want to die.  I don't want to die."

Misato felt sweat pouring out of every conceivable part of her body, 
the thick scent of the salty fluid filling her nostrils and her mouth 
going bone-dry in the horrible heat of the room.  All her efforts 
didn't seem to be even budging the metal cylinder in front of her, even 
as she forced everything she could behind it, trying to push it in, 
knowing that if she could just manage that everything would be all 
right.  "I'm trying, Eiko," she replied through gritted teeth, the fear 
of death striking through her desperately.  "I'm trying as hard as I 
can."

The countdown was down to half a minute and going fast, and Eiko found 
herself unable to control her terror any longer, her focus on the Eva 
fading almost entirely.  "Shut it down, Misato!  I don't want to die!  
Please, there's more that I want to do!"  Her tears were blurring her 
vision to practically nil, but she could still see the green numbers 
running down, closer and closer to their mutual destruction.  "I don't 
want to die!  I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"

In the back of her mind, Misato knew that the countdown was reaching 
the final seconds, and she forced everything she could against the 
cylinder one last time, still without it budging a centimeter.  
Defeated, she slumped weakly against it, knowing that she could no 
longer do anything.  Then, as she leaned on the heated metal, she felt 
it suddenly retract along with its fellows against the wall, moving 
back to be flush with the surface of the metal room, the alert light 
going off.  "It... it shut down," she muttered, unsure of what to think 
for a moment.  "Jet Alone shut down."

Eiko, curled into the fetal position with her eyes shut tight, 
tenatively opened them, almost unable to believe the words even as they 
echoed in the cockpit.  The countdown had stopped at less than one 
second remaining.  "You did it, Misato," she breathed, wiping away her 
tears as best she could in the liquid bath of the LCL.  "You shut it 
down in time.  You saved us both."

"Yeah," replied the woman weakly, leaning against the now-smooth wall 
as the temperature returned to normal, knowing that she had nothing to 
do with Jet Alone's sudden decision to shut down.  The machine had shut 
itself down at the last moment, and Misato knew that it wasn't a 
coincidence, that somebody had sabotaged the project.  It was a 
foolproof plan - NERV looked better for having stopped the runaway 
robot, the robot itself would be scratched forever for having nearly 
unleashed a nuclear blast in Japan, and the American branches of NERV 
would get very firmly reminded of their place in the world.  She 
remembered Ritsuko's insistence that the project wouldn't get off the 
ground, and a rather disturbing thought struck her as she removed her 
helmet, letting her hair flop against her suit, wet with perspiration.  
"Whatever the cost, we're safe now."

                                  ]++[

Outro: Neon Epoch Evangelion is based off of -Shin Seiki Evangelion- by 
GAINAX and company.  It is not intended to be a straightforward fanfic, 
but it is building off the work of others, and as such it is done with 
the utmost respect for the original works and their authors.  
Basically, even though this is an original work, it's based off the 
work of others, and if you read this, you should go to see the original.

Special thanks to all of the real Children - you know who you are.

Extra special thanks to Joe Augulis for his consultation on the 
Japanese portions of the story.  He might not know much Japanese, but 
that's more than I know.

Copyright 2002 Eliot Lefebvre.

NEXT EPISODE:
             The sky seeks the earth.
             A man seeks a woman.
             The Children seek one another.
NEON EPOCH EVANGELION 7: HIEROS GAMOS
"Because I love him."

                                  ]++[

We only have a little time in our lives to waste.  Make the most of it.
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