From: eltf@hotmail.com (Eliot Lefebvre)
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] Neon Epoch Evangelion: Episode 8
X-Moderation-Queue-Date: 15 Jul 2002 15:08:34 -0700

Report the presence of the Angel, and deploy the PRE-STORY WARNING:

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.

Man, posting this warning at the beginning of each episode has really 
cut down on the amount of hate mail I expected to receive.  Or maybe 
the fandom has just gotten less virtiolic and no longer assumes that 
someone coming up with original views on the series is a crime of 
nature.  Or something like that.  Either way, I'm happy.

The last episode had more little errors than I would have expected - 
sorry about that.  This one should be mostly clean.  Enjoy.

                                  ]++[

               ]+ ELECTRONIC TRANSCENDENCE PRODUCTIONS +[
                                presents

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

                   ]+ EPISODE 8:  PARALLEL SPIRITS +[

                     By Eliot "Lostfactor" Lefebvre

             Based off of "Shin Seiki Evangelion" by GAINAX

                                  ]++[

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one 
another.
- 1 JOHN 3:11

                                  ]++[

Neil's eyes were closed tightly, the warm stickiness in his right hand 
glaring in his mind as he flopped back down on the bed, breathing more 
heavily and hoping that Nieve hadn't heard anything.  He tended to 
doubt it, but the mere thought of her knowing what was going on only 
increased his revulsion with himself as he clenched his hand into a 
fist, feeling the fluid flow from between his fingers.  "I'm 
disgusting," he muttered, waiting for a moment before pulling his pants 
back up to his waist, hating himself for failing at long last when he'd 
been doing so well before.  "Other people can control themselves when 
they feel this way.  It's like I'm some kind of animal."

He'd done his best to control the reflex, but Nieve had been shooting 
him somewhat odd looks all evening, and the fact that Misato had been 
unusually quiet had only made things worse.  Slightly to his credit, 
he'd managed to restrain himself until ten, when he finally turned in, 
insisting to himself that he wouldn't give himself anything for only 
moments before the thought of Nieve lying on top of him grew too 
great.  It wasn't as though he felt any better afterwards, with all the 
guilt bubbling through him, but at least it was guilt instead of lust, 
something he was used to dealing with.

"I'm sorry, Nieve," he muttered, wiping his hand off on the mattress, 
already wishing that he could take everything back, that he'd never 
discovered it was possible to relieve his tension in such a way.  He 
might not have been able to control himself much longer anyways, and he 
knew that, but on another level he also felt terrible about ruining a 
wonderful evening by succumbing to the urge.  He had enjoyed kissing 
Nieve more than he could express, enjoyed the taste of her lips, the 
feel of her tongue.  "But I'm not a good person," he muttered.  "Not 
when it comes down to it.  Good people don't fantasize about a girl in 
the room next to them."

Then his thoughts drifted to Eiko, and he found himself feeling even 
more guilty as the momentary physical pleasure drifted away, tilting 
his head towards the pencil sketch that he'd placed up on his wall.  
She hadn't dated it, and what he'd initially thought was English on the 
back was a meticulous Japanese script.  It looked somewhat different 
than Eiko's handwriting on the front, but he couldn't be sure, and it 
ultimately didn't matter.  The simple fact that she'd given him the 
sketch meant something, but without knowing when she'd given it to Ryo 
he couldn't figure out quite what.  If it had been before the Fifth 
Angel, it could have just been a peace offering.  If it came later, it 
could have been an expression of gratitude.  Or at either time, it 
could have meant something more, something he didn't even want to 
contemplate for fear of being disappointed.

"Eiko and Nieve... they deserve better than me," Neil muttered, the 
warmth of his fluids still tangible on his hand, the guilt still just 
as fresh.  "They're good people.  They deserve someone who doesn't lay 
in bed at night and dream that they're whores."  The whispered 
statement was harshly directed inward despite its volume, and Neil 
winced slightly at the thought, suddenly feeling even worse about 
himself.  Bad enough that he was unable to control himself, but to 
think that he was dragging the girls down to his level felt even worse.

Unexpectedly, he heard the sound of his door opening, and he jerked up 
in his bed, terror and excitement rushing through him at the same 
instant, both emotions springing from the thought that it would be 
Nieve at the door.  He paused for a moment before he realized that it 
was Misato standing there, the light from the kitchen silhouetting her 
against the darkness of the room, her body leaning at an odd angle in 
the doorframe.  "Misato," he breathed, not sure whether Misato knowing 
about how perverted he truly was would be better or worse.  "Is 
something wrong?"

"Pretty much everything," muttered Misato, stepping into the room and 
shutting the door behind her, pausing for a moment as her eyes adjusted 
to the darkness of the room and she became visible in the twighlight of 
the stars from Neil's window.  Neil touched the wet spots still damp 
upon his bed and tried to fold the blanket over them as Misato stared 
out the window, apparently unconcerned.  "Hey, Neil, you want to know 
something?"

Misato turned towards Neil, and in an instant Neil recognized her 
expression, feeling a sudden rush of heat flow through his body, though 
he couldn't pinpoint the exact emotion behind it.  "Um... sure," he 
replied, sitting up straight in his bed, another old guilt drifting 
back into his mind.

"I was in Antarctica during the Second Impact," the woman replied, 
flopping down at the foot of Neil's bed, the strap of her tank top 
falling slightly from her shoulder.  "I was visiting my father down 
there, maybe the only time I went to see the bastard, and in the early 
morning I head him screaming as everything started getting fucked up."  
She paused for a moment, her eyes just out of Neil's sight and keeping 
him from seeing what she was feeling.  "That bastard kept mother and me 
out of his life for so long, and then when I finally went to see him, 
he..."  She trailed off.  "I was twelve, then."

"You were there when..."  Neil's voice faltered, the thoughts of his 
own failure and his concern for Misato suddenly dampened by the 
knowledge of who he was talking to.  "We learned that there was only 
one person at the site of the Second Impact that survived, the child of 
one of the researchers.  That was you?"

Nodding, Misato pushed herself upwards, sitting up straight although 
somewhat wobbly, her expression still not entirely readable but 
distinctly sad.  "There was a lot of screaming," she muttered, 
describing the events with a sort of clinical detachment that was 
almost frightening.  "People were running all over, panicking... but my 
dad wasn't scared at all.  Or if he was, he didn't act it.  He just 
pulled me out of my bed and carried me to the escape capsules, sealed 
me in that little metal cylinder and sent me off into the ocean, his 
expression just sad, not afraid."  She paused for a moment, looking 
away from Neil.  "He died there.  He never even tried to get in a pod, 
just stared as the light spread and covered him.  I saw."

"That's... amazing," gasped Neil, leaning towards Misato slightly.  
"Misato, I had no idea..."  His words faltered again, and the shock 
slowly began to fade away as he thought about his own father, 
contemplated the idea of his father voluntarily sacrificing himself for 
his son.  It wasn't something that he could wrap his head around.  
"Your father must have been an amazing person."

"Fuck him.  He was never home, he made my mother cry, and he made me 
cry.  The only thing he ever did to make up for it was to save my life, 
and I think he just did it to feel better about what he did to us."  
She sighed heavily, leaning forward and balancing on her knees, head 
hanging low.  "But that's what everyone does, isn't it?  They'll screw 
you as long as they like, until they know that they need to make your 
last memory of them a good one.  And if they come back into your life, 
you'll find out that they were lying all the while, won't you?"

Uncomfortable, Neil shrank back slightly from Misato, an awkward 
silence spreading between the two for a moment.  "I have a scar from 
the Impact, you know," she slurred after a moment, turning towards Neil 
and suddenly perky once again.  "Do you want to see it?"  Neil nodded 
tenatively, and Misato shrugged, grabbing the bottom of her tank top 
and yanking it upwards.  Neil felt his heart skip several beats, and it 
took him a few moments before he realized that Misato had stopped just 
shy of flashing him, the shirt pulled high enough to reveal the curve 
of her breasts.  "Right there," she muttered, pointing to a cross-
shaped scar to one side of her breast, not particularly large but 
distinguishing.

A lump firmly lodged in Neil's throat as his body responded without 
thought to Misato's sudden exposure, the scar below her breast the last 
thing on his mind.  On the one hand, the fact that she had obviously 
had several beers before entering his room was somewhat disturbing, but 
on the other hand she was an extremely attractive woman undressing in 
front of him, and Neil couldn't help the fact that he noticed that.  "I 
see," he managed after a moment, the words coming out as more of a 
croak than a statement.

Misato paused, then noticed the young boy's discomfort, and she glanced 
down at the blanket, a sick sort of smile crossing her face.  "You're 
not even looking at the scar.  You're looking at -me-."  Neil's eyes 
went wide, and he glanced down at the blanket, simultaneously feeling 
angry with it for betraying him and angry with himself for still being 
unable to control himself.  Misato didn't seem to care, shoving herself 
towards the boy, legs still dangling off the bed as she leaned towards 
him.  "Are you a virgin, Neil?  Have you ever wondered what a woman 
feels like?"

Neil swallowed hard, the close presence of Misato intoxicatingly 
difficult to resist.  He closed his eyes for a moment, forcing himself 
to forget the extremely attractive woman next to him and focusing 
instead on the distinct scent of alcohol on her breath, knowing that it 
would drive out any other feelings he had on the matter.  "Misato, 
you're drunk," he said firmly, his breathing coming harder 
unintentionally.

"Yep," replied Misato, grinning widely for a moment before falling 
backwards away from Neil, her head nearly hitting the footboard of the 
bed as she started laughing.  There was an odd bitterness to her laugh, 
as she clutched at her chest, shaking slightly with each heave of her 
chest.  After another moment or two, she pushed herself back to her 
feet and stood unsteadily, waving back and forth slightly.  "Yep, I'm 
sure drunk, all right.  Know what?  It's easier that way."  She was 
still laughing as she staggered into the door, hitting the wood for a 
moment before actually putting her hand on the knob.

"Hey, Neil, can I tell you something else?" she asked as she turned the 
knob slowly, leaning against the door.  Neil paused, then nodded, guilt 
and arousal causing an unsteady mix within his internal chemistry.  
"Most guys would have just told me to lay down and put out.  And if 
you'd told me to, I would have."  She paused for a moment, then laughed 
again, opening the door with an unsteady sort of force.  "Your loss, I 
suppose.  I wouldn't have even felt bad about it afterwards."

With that, Neil's door finally shut, Misato's heavy footfalls stil 
vaguely audible as she staggered down the hall.  The boy remained 
sitting stark upright for a moment or two before collapsing back down 
upon his bed, his mind fighting a battle with his body's renewed desire 
for gratification.  He had wanted Misato, but even as he'd felt 
disgusted at himself for that he'd felt something burning inside of 
him, an urge to blame her for his failing of control, to hurt her for 
lapsing in her judgement.  Sighing heavily, Neil lay down and closed 
his eyes, the familiar image of EVA-01's green eye drifting across his 
vision as he began to drift into sleep.

                                  ]++[

Vash did not want to deal with Kensuke.  He didn't want to deal with 
Hikari.  He didn't want to deal with most of the class, and he 
certainly didn't want to sit through an entire day of school.  What he 
wanted to do was figure out what in the world had gone wrong the night 
before, what had made Eiko suddenly decide that she didn't want to make 
love to him that night, why everything had suddenly gone wrong when it 
seemed to be going perfectly.  Unfortunately for him, he also knew that 
Kensuke wasn't stupid enough not to figure out what was going on, that 
Hikari would be told sooner or later, and that when two class members 
found out about something like that it wasn't long before the entire 
class knew about it, even if one of those people was Hikari.  So while 
he was disappointed when he entered the classroom to see the students 
of his class gathered around his desk, he wasn't particularly surprised.

Kensuke was the first to step forward from the crowd around Vash's 
desk, eyes wide beneath his thick glasses, his curiosity almost 
uncontainable as Vash walked towards the back of the room, distantly 
noting the fact that Ayanami was the only member of the class not 
crowded around his desk.  "What was it like?" Kensuke breathed as Vash 
elbowed his way to his desk, slinging his schoolbag to the ground.  
"Did you like it?  Did she like it?"  He paused for a second, then 
leaned closer to Vash, smirking.  "Does she look as good under those 
clothes as she does with them on?"

"That's my girlfriend you're talking about, you pervert," snapped Vash, 
smacking Kensuke in the side of the head lightly, not truly angry with 
his friend so much as he was irritated with the entire situation.  
"It's none of your business."  He paused for a second, glancing around 
to the other students in the vain hope that they'd get the message.  
"Come on, guys, what's going on."

Nobody spoke for a moment, then Hikari stepped forward, her ponytails 
bobbing slightly as she moved.  "Nekasa, while I can't endorse what's 
going on, I'm afraid that you're obligated to tell us what happened 
between you and Suzuhara last night."  She paused, and Vash couldn't 
help but sighing, knowing that Hikari was just as interested as the 
rest of the class.  "Please?"

"Oh, for God's sake," he muttered, shaking his head as he clutched at 
his forehead, feeling even worse about the situation.  He was entirely 
at a loss to explain how he'd managed to strike out to himself, much 
less to the entire classroom, and with Hikari behind them there was 
little he could do to drive everyone off.  "Nothing happened, all 
right?  Absolutely nothing."

A pause settled in the air for a moment, then everyone seemed to start 
talking at once, and Vash slumped down into his chair, feeling 
humiliated once again.  He remembered the day after the Fifth Angel 
attacked, recalling how he'd been chewed apart by the class for 
bragging, and he knew subconsciously that the entire class was laughing 
at him on some level, something that he entirely didn't need.  "You 
didn't even get a kiss?" asked Kensuke, closest to Vash as he sat in 
his chair, his expression disapproving.  "Man, you really screwed 
something up."

"It wasn't -that- little!" snapped Vash, hearing everyone suddenly fall 
silent once again as he leaned forward on the small wooden desk, the 
classmates all staring intently with the obvious expectation that he'd 
begin to finally tell them what they wanted to hear.  Vash shook his 
head, then leaned back again, tilting his head just enough to focus on 
the manilla ceiling instead of his fellow students.  "I just didn't get 
as far as I'd expected, all right?  Something came up."

Hikari made a small coughing noise, but it was lost in the din of the 
classmates almost assaulting Vash with questions, still finding the 
subject fascinating.  One boy asked him if he'd gotten to see her 
boobs, another shouted about how far he'd expected to get, and a third 
asked if he'd made her angry and not want to do it.  Vash slumped in 
his chair, plugging his ears as the questions came and his embarassment 
increased, ignoring the small grunts from Hikari's direction.

The questions continued to come, and at length Vash pulled his hands 
out of his ears, slamming them down on his desk and silencing everyone 
other than Hikari.  "We didn't have sex, all right?" he announced at 
length, figuring that directness was the only thing that would satisfy 
his classmates.  "We got close, but for some reason Eiko wanted us to 
stop.  Are you all satisfied now?"  Hikari glanced towards the front of 
the classroom for an instant, then tugged roughly on Vash's shirt, only 
increasing his already-present irritation further.  "What -is- it, 
Hikari?"

"Eiko..."  The single trailing name was enough for Vash to know 
instantly what was going on, and he glanced with terror towards the 
back of the group of students.  Sure enough, Eiko was plowing her way 
towards her boyfriend, her school uniform getting slightly dissheveled 
as she forced her way though the crowd.  "Eiko's coming over here," 
Hikari stated at length with a note of belated satisfaction, stepping 
back slightly from Vash.

Vash felt his heart skip a quick beat as Eiko shoved the last staring 
member of the crowd out of the way, then glared down at him, obviously 
having heard more than enough.  There was a brief pause, then the 
entire class suddenly dispersed from around Vash's seat, all returning 
to their own chairs as Kensuke turned around and leaned forward.  "He's 
going to get killed," he muttered dejectedly to himself, leaning his 
chin down atop his folded arms.  "Too bad.  I was going to show off my 
new video game."

For a split second, Vash felt the intense desire to reach over and hit 
Kensuke firmly, but he was cut short as Eiko fixed him in place with 
her glare.  Sighing heavily, he stared up at her, trying his best to 
look innocent and wondering in the back of his mind why these things 
always seemed to happen to him.  "You told the entire class," she 
breathed at length, obviously angry.  "You went and told everyone 
exactly what was going on between us."

"-No-," replied Vash, shaking his head enthusiastically and getting the 
distinct impression that this was the sort of thing that could end his 
relationship permanently.  The thought unearthed a mild twinge of anger 
with him at the sudden turn of events, the fact that she'd been willing 
to give herself to him a day earlier and now was furious with him.  "I 
just told Kensuke.  He must have spread the word."  He paused for a 
moment, then leaned forward and tapped his friend on the back, 
eliciting a bored sort of stare from the other boy.  "Come on, man.  
Help me out here."

"Sorry, Vash, you've dug your own grave this time," muttered Kensuke, 
turning back away from the blonde boy sitting behind him.  "I'm not 
getting involved in a domestic disturbance."

Gritting his teeth, Vash began to reach towards the other boy, then was 
stopped once again by the harsh stare of his girlfriend.  "You know 
what?" she asked, shaking her head and crossing her arms across her 
chest.  "I'm not mad about that.  I was -proud- of what we've got.  I'd 
be happy if everyone knew what was going on between us.  What bugs me 
is the way that you're talking about it."

His confusion compounding, Vash pushed his chair back and stood, 
rubbing the back of his head, noticing as he looked around that every 
class member had their gazes half-turned towards the arguing couple, as 
though they simply couldn't get enough of them.  It was precisely the 
time that he didn't want to be dealing with the attention of everyone 
around him, and some part of him wasn't surprised that his desires on 
the subject mattered little.  "Exactly why would that be?" he asked 
Eiko at length, wishing that he could rewind the morning and take back 
his words.

"Like..."  She paused, then hurled her arms down angrily to her sides, 
fists clenched and voice rising in both pitch and volume.  "Like you 
didn't care about the fact that it was -me-!  You're talking about last 
night as if you just wanted to get something to sleep with!"  She 
paused, then lowered her gaze slightly, gripping her right shoulder 
with her left hand uncomfortably.  "Is that the truth?  Did you just 
want to have sex?"

"You're not being fair, Eiko," Vash snapped, feeling even more exposed 
than he had before.  "I love you.  You -know- that.  I was there with 
you because I wanted to be with you.  But it's not like I wasn't 
looking forward to having sex, too."  Eiko's eyes suddenly snapped up 
towards Vash, angry once again, but by that point Vash was struggling 
to save face in any way possible, and a solution sprang to his mind 
almost unbidden.  "Believe me, I'd have no problem finding a girl that 
actually -wanted- to sleep with me instead of one who pulled out at the 
last possible -"

"Jerk," snapped Eiko quietly, letting her right hand freely slam across 
Vash's cheek, the unmistakable popping noise of the slap filling the 
otherwise silent room and drawing a few students to stop pretending 
that they weren't watching.  Vash let his head recoil from the impact 
for a moment, then turned towards Eiko slowly, seeing something between 
anger and sadness welling up in her eyes.  He opened his mouth to 
speak, but Eiko simply turned away and stormed over to her seat, 
sitting down forcefully.

Vash stared after her for a moment, then flopped limply to his desk, 
knowing that he'd said the first thing that popped into his mouth and 
screwed everything up again.  It wasn't the first time that he and Eiko 
had fought over something, but it was the first time he could remember 
her slapping him in something other than a joke, and he knew that meant 
something important.  "You really did screw up back there, Mr. Humanoid 
Typhoon," noted Kensuke, tilting his head back slightly towards Vash.

"Shut up, Kensuke," growled Vash, crossing his arms across his chest 
and feeling intensely bitter.  He was certain that the whole thing was 
tied back to Neil somehow, knowing that most of the things wrong with 
his relationship has started right about the time that Neil had 
arrived.  The simple fact that he knew he'd have to work with the boy 
was bad enough, but Neil ruining his relationship seemed even worse, 
especially in light of what Neil had done to Toji.  "Eiko should be 
even angrier than I am," he muttered, unsure of the exact connection to 
Neil but willing to bet that it was there anyways.

The entire class remained silent after the small drama had played 
itself out between Eiko and Vash, nobody daring to speak a word as the 
professor stepped in, the class standing and bowing appropriately with 
as little noise as possible.  Vash, not particularly interested in 
class anyways, only distantly heard the noise of the professor 
preparing his lecture, beginning to outline his discussion topics.  He 
wished that somebody would say something to make him feel better, that 
one of his friends wasn't simply observing him and waiting for him to 
fail, but nobody spoke as the professor launched into the beginning of 
his lecture, as usual centering around the Second Impact.

It was almost an afterthought at first when the loud siren tore through 
the air that signaled Tokyo-3 was under attack, and while the rest of 
the class jumped to its feet it wasn't until a moment or two later that 
Vash realized it was the Angel alert.  "Everyone, line up for 
evacuation!" shouted Hikari, immediately springing into her role as 
class representative, getting the rest of the students into line.  Vash 
finally rose to his feet, feeling horribly disoriented as he stepped 
towards the back of the line, more going through the motions than 
anything else.

"You don't go into a shelter," said Ryo's quiet voice, somehow managing 
to cut through Hikari's shouting despite the obvious discrepancy of 
volume.  Vash simply stared at the other boy for a moment, then smacked 
himself on the forehead and stepped out of line, heading towards the 
door as he remembered his role.  Hikari didn't even seem to notice as 
he elbowed past her and ran for the stairs, Ryo close behind, and 
somehow her ignorance didn't particularly surprise him.

                                  ]++[

Misato's head was still doing somersaults as she stared at the central 
screen, watching the black vaguely humanoid thing fly towards the city 
at an amazing clip.  The UN aerodrones were engaging it with their 
typical effectiveness, the beast alternately ignoring them entirely and 
simply plowing through them.  From the blurry camera shots that they 
were getting, it looked much like the Third Angel, albeit with more 
curves and a slightly different face that looked suspiciously like a 
Chinese yin-yang.  "This is the worst possible time," muttered the 
woman, balancing still somewhat unsteadily on her high heels, one arm 
across her chest and the other raised so that she could rub her 
forehead.  "At least all six Children are finally here."

Ritsuko stared at Misato disapprovingly for a moment, overtly enough 
for the woman to notice and glare back.  "You're hung over," noted 
Ritsuko calmly and harshly, her gaze focused back on the display of 
Maya's screen.  "You really ought to be acting a little more 
professional, especially in these circumstances."  She glanced back at 
Misato, and Misato snorted disapprovingly while Ritsuko turned her gaze 
towards the display of the Angel.  "What's the current status of the 
Eva units?"

"All of the pilots are awaiting synchronization," replied Maya, fingers 
dancing across the keyboard and bringing up small portraits of the 
pilots sitting inside their cockpits.  "We've detected no connection 
abnormalities.  Everything is at peak functionality."  She smiled, then 
turned towards Ritsuko, swiveling her chair around just enough to face 
the other woman.  "We've been working overtime to make sure that we 
were ready for the next Angel attack at full strength, and it's paid 
off."

"Shigeru, open a communications channel to all of the units," Misato 
shouted as best she could, still rubbing her forehead and hearing the 
communications officer's reply as if through a thick blanket.  She 
didn't remember exactly what had happened the prior night, lost in a 
haze of alcohol and bitterness towards Kaji - who, she noted, hadn't 
shown up for work, or at least had managed to avoid her thus far - but 
she'd seen an odd expression on Neil's face when he'd come out to 
breakfast, enough to make her wonder exactly how poor her judgement had 
been.  It wasn't as though she'd intended to drink until she passed 
out, just that she'd needed to bleed away the memories that had filled 
her head, and there wasn't any other way available to her.

Noticing the quick hand gesture from the younger man that indicated the 
communications were open, Misato stepped towards the main microphone, 
leaning towards it and nearly hitting it with her mouth.  "Eiko, Ryo, 
you'll be sortied first.  We'll launch you near the outskirts of the 
city, where you'll be able to obtain long-range weaponry from within 
the nearby weapons depots.  Your mission is to destroy the Angel before 
it clears the ruins of old Tokyo.  Nieve, Niobe, I want you ready to be 
launched as backup as necessary."  She paused for a moment, feeling 
another railroad spike of pain driving itself between her eyes.  "Is 
everyone clear on the plan."

Leaning back in the cockpit of his machine, Neil heard the choir of 
affirmitive responses from the other Children as he focused on the 
sense of the LCL around him, the noxious scent becoming no more 
familiar as time went by.  "So even though you aren't planning on 
involving me in the mission, I still have to breathe this into my 
lungs," he muttered under his breath, low enough to keep the command 
center from hearing.  "All right, Misato.  I'm ready if you need me."

Vash scoffed at Neil's statement even as he distantly heard the noise 
of EVA-04 and EVA-00 moving towards the launch tubes, sitting at the 
ready inside his own cockpit.  "Nobody will need you, Neil," he 
snapped, wishing that he'd remembered how to open a private channel 
between the two machines but not particularly caring.  "They barely 
need Ayanami, for that matter.  I'm sure that Eiko will be more than 
capable of handling the Angel by herself."

A surge of jealousy pulsed shallowly through Neil, and he leaned 
forward himsely, resting his hands lightly on the grips of the cockpit, 
the smooth silverish metal offset by the orange color of the blood-
scented liquid in the chamber.  "You're not worried about her at all?" 
he snapped, sounding slightly more protective than he'd meant to.  "If 
I were you, I'd be begging to be sent up there, to make sure that she 
was all right."

"I'm sure you'd be able to save her if she was, too," replied Vash, the 
cynicisim dripping from his voice as small bubbles of air formed in the 
LCL from his speaking.  He'd meant to sound like the reasonable half of 
the argument, but he was distantly aware of the fact that he had failed 
miserably.  "Because, after all, everyone loves having you around.  
Never mind that -"

"Children," snapped Misato, distantly wondering what the cause behind 
the argument was but deciding that she didn't really want to find out.  
Glancing over towards Maya's console, she saw that both of the 
operating units had reached the dock, and she stepped away from the 
microphone slightly.  "All right.  Orient 04 to Port 17, 00 to Port 3, 
and unfold both weapon depots."  She paused for a moment, letting Maya 
key in the commands.  "Launch!"

Eiko had never experienced the harsh acceleration of the Eva launch 
tubes before, and as she felt the LCL push down against her harshly she 
couldn't say that she would look forward to using them again in the 
near future if she could avoid it.  Closing her eyes, she waited until 
she felt the machine lurch to a stop as she'd been taught, hearing the 
loud clanging noise that she'd been told to expect as the Eva was 
brought forcibly to a stop.  Opening her eyes slowly, she could see the 
taller buildings of old Tokyo still poking out from beneath the waves, 
empty and damaged, many lying at odd angles.  She glanced behind her 
quickly, looking at the white buildings of Tokyo-3 almost as 
reassurance, noticing Ryo's blue machine several meters away.  "This is 
Unit 04," she announced, glancing around for a moment before seeing the 
white building with the red NERV logo on one side that she knew 
designated a weapons depot.  "I'm obtaining a weapon now."

"Good.  Your Eva's targeting system is designed for encounters like 
this, so it should work well.  Take the rocket launcher on the far 
right, then point it out towards Tokyo Bay.  Your target should appear 
within a few moments."  Eiko silently absorbed Misato's commands, 
removing the large tubular weapon from the storage facility and letting 
her machine's hand slip around the handle, her finger resting loosely 
on the trigger as she looked out across the blue waters of the bay.  
She heard the noise of Ryo's Eva coming up behind her, another rocket 
launcher in his hands, cradled with the grace of a professional.  "As 
soon as the Seventh Angel appears within range and you lock on, begin 
firing.  If at all possible, destroy it before it gets into Tokyo-3."

"Just like a video game, huh?" asked Eiko, smirking despite herself as 
she watched the targeting cursors dance across her display, the green 
hills rising around Tokyo Bay visible at the edges of her sight, the 
blue water and clear sky almost seeming to meet as one at the horizon.  
The thought that all she had to do was act as though she was playing a 
game made her feel slightly better, and she simply focused on the twin 
targeting cursors, waiting for some sign of the Angel's form in the 
distance, watching patiently.  "I won't be afraid," she muttered, 
gripping the handle tightly.  "I won't be afriad."

Then a black speck appeared on the horizon, and Eiko gritted her teeth 
as the green cursors lined up on her display, the beep even sounding 
like confirmation from a video game as the cursors flashed red.  "Back 
me up, Ryo!" she shouted, pulling down on the trigger and watching a 
rocket streak forth from the launcher, a plume of smoke bursting out as 
it cruised towards the target.  Doubting that a single shot would be 
enough, she released the trigger and pulled again even as she watched a 
glinting streak of flame fire from Ryo's position, confirmation that 
he'd gotten a target lock as well.  Both launchers sent blast after 
blast towards the target, the coast of Tokyo-3 filling gradually with 
the smoke of launched rockets.  "Misato, we must be hurting it!"

Inside the command center, the central screen had switched over to the 
display from one of the cameras on the hills encompassing Tokyo Bay, 
providing a clear shot of the Angel as it flew along the surface of the 
water, rocket after rocket exploding with the octagonal ripple of the 
AT Field.  "Negative, Eiko," snapped Misato, still feeling oddly 
distanced from the situation, due in no small part to the effects of 
her hangover.  "Its AT Field is too powerful.  Our weaponry can't 
penetrate it."  Inwardly, she was sighing - even though the Eva 
weaponry was designed to puncture AT Fields, it was well-known that the 
ordnance could only break through a field of minimal strength, which 
made advance interception even more difficult and the Evas even more 
dangerous.  "We'll have to try a different tactic.  Ryo, your machine 
should be able to generate a more powerful AT Field - spread it out to 
the maximum distance and full power.  Eiko, retrieve a standard rifle 
and start shooting as soon as you receive notification from the command 
center that it's within range."

Nodding, Eiko dropped the rocket launcher, a growing fear mounting 
inside her gut.  She knew that the Eva was designed to protect her, but 
the Angel was getting decisively closer, and even as she shouldered the 
black weapon and turned back towards the approaching beast she wondered 
if she'd be able to cut it down fast enough to stop it.  "I'm ready," 
she said, trying to force herself to be brave, finger twitching 
slightly against the trigger.

"EVA-00 has spread its AT field to the maximum possible radius," noted 
Makoto, fingers dancing across the keyboard and displaying a quick 
green wireframe of the domed field expanding to encompass both of the 
units.  "Still, it's not much.  Eiko is only going to have a window of 
thirty seconds before the Angel reaches her, and I'd hate to think 
what'll happen if she doesnt make it."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," replied Misato, leaning 
towards the microphone as she watched the Angel grow closer and 
closer.  "All right, Eiko, the Angel should be vulnerable within twenty 
seconds.  Be ready to fire on my signal."

Sitting in her Evangelion and slowly counting the seconds as they 
ticked by, Nieve found herself unbelievably bored despite the tension 
of the situation, and she leaned back in the dampened nylon of the 
chair, tilting her neck back and staring at the darkened ceiling of the 
entry plug.  "You should have sent Neil up there," she said, sounding 
disinterested with the entire process.  "After all, he's got a record 
with shooting these things down.  Isn't that right, honey?"

Hearing Nieve's last words, Eiko suddenly froze, the implications 
obvious to her instantly.  She flashed back to the prior day, when Ryo 
had asked her about what Neil had meant to her, how he'd asked if it 
was anything like a relationship, and for reasons she couldn't entirely 
explain a wave of terror shot through her body.  "I'm unprotected," she 
whispered as Misato shouted something through the comm line, her eyes 
drawn away from the bay and sinking towards the ground.  "I don't have 
anyone to -"

"EIKO, SHOOT!" screamed Misato, and the girl's attention was suddenly 
brought up to the black humanoid form streaking towards her.  The fear 
from before suddenly found itself redoubled, and her hands nervously 
jerked the rifle around towards the Angel, her finger closing down upon 
the trigger suddenly, and the weapon jerked out of control, rounds 
biting into the ground and the air before she brought it finally down 
towards the Angel's location.  Unfortunately, by the time that she was 
actually aiming at her target the Angel was only a few feet away from 
her, and she froze from panic, hands suddenly going slack and dropping 
the rifle as the beast's clawed hands sank into her chest.

The sensation of being cut with burning knives from her battle with the 
Fifth Angel suddenly tore into her chest, and she tasted the harsh salt 
of the LCL as her mouth jerked open in a scream, terror gripping her 
even more firmly as her Eva's limbs flailed wildly.  "Somebody, help 
me!" she screamed, the Angel crouching atop of her and driving its 
claws into the machine's silvery chest, the armor not thick enough to 
effectively deflect close combat attacks.  "Help me!  HELP ME!"

"04's synch ratio down to 35% and dropping!" shouted Maya, turning 
immediately back to her screen and widening her eyes in shock.  
"Pilot's heart rate is critically low!  She's approaching a cardiac 
arrest!"

"Ryo, move to defend her!" shouted Misato, her head already aching 
without the added impetus of Eiko's screams.  As she turned her gaze 
back towards the main display, she found herself thinking that the girl 
turned into a wreck without someone else she seemed to rely on nearby, 
and she instantly felt bad about trivializing the pain that she had to 
be feeling as the Angel tried to force its hands past the chest armor 
of her machine.

"Understood," said Ryo curtly, pausing only momentarily at the nearby 
weapons depot to grab the first weapon that he could find and rush at 
the Angel, slamming his shoulder into the beast and sending it rolling 
off EVA-04 as the other machine twitched on the ground.  Ryo's brain 
only registered the weapon in his hand after he had sent the Angel 
tumbling away, and he realized that he'd gripped one of the axes, a 
weapon that NERV had only produced in limited numbers.  Ignoring the 
thought, he forced his machine forward, swinging the axe in a practiced 
routine motion, using it to deflect a slash from the Angel, then 
letting it bite shallowly into the Angel's side and cause the beast to 
stumble backwards slightly.  For a split second, he contemplated the 
fact that Eiko hadn't defended him so much as panicked, then he twirled 
the axe in his hands and brought it down from above the Angel.

Everyone in the control center watched with reassurance as the blue 
golem brought its axe down through the black skin of the Angel, tearing 
it nearly in half vertically and tearing the core in half.  Misato 
sighed with relief, certain that the beast couldn't have survived the 
attack.  "The Seventh Angel is down for the count," she breathed, her 
headache slowly fading to a painful but regular pulse.  "We'll need to 
recover Eiko and her -"

"Negative on the target's status!" shouted Makoto, screen flashing 
warnings as his fingers moved across the keyboard smoothly, flipping 
swiftly between multiple displays of the Angel's condition.  "The Angel 
is still active!"  He paused, then gaped, thin-rimmed glasses jostling 
on his nose slightly as he jerked away from the console in surprise.  
"I'm detecting -two- AT fields activating, both with a blue pattern!  
The Angel has split itself!"

Misato turned her gaze back towards the main screen and watched in 
horror as the two halves of the Angel seemed to liquify and reform, 
each half into a smaller mirror of the prior Angel, one with a silver 
cast and the other with a gold shade.  On the surface, Ryo felt 
nothing, simply accepted the requisite change in routine and began 
moving once again, lashing out with the axe towards the nearer of the 
two Angel clones and letting it bite shallowly into the arm of the 
beast.  Half a second later he felt the claws of the other beast rip 
into his back, and he lashed out in a circular arc, missing the Angel 
entirely and instead simply sending it jumping backwards.  "I require 
assistance," he noted calmly, backing away from the dual Angels for a 
moment, waiting to hear confirmation or denial from Central Dogma.

"The Angel seems capable of further division," announced Makoto, 
drawing up a quick display on his screen as the blue Evangelion slashed 
desperately against its twin oppressors.  "The core structure is 
organic to an extent, as though it's actually designed to take these 
divisions in stride.  Ryo isn't going to be able to beat that thing, 
and throwing the rest of the Evas in isn't going to help at all."

"Hold on, Ryo," Misato announced into the microphone, feeling as though 
she'd signed both his and Eiko's death warrants as she turned away from 
the main screen, trying to think through the haze of her hangover.  
Commander Ikari was still away in a conference, and that meant that she 
was the ultimate authority in the situation.  Biting her lip, she sank 
her head slightly, then turned towards Ritsuko and Maya, both of whom 
were watching casually.  "We'll draw the two Angels out into Tokyo Bay, 
then deploy EVA-05 with an N2 canister.  Once it detonates, Niobe will 
retrieve both machines and bring them back inside."

Ritsuko simply stared at Misato as she explained her plan, the same 
disapproving glare on her face that she usually wore.  "You're not 
authorized to utilize N2 devices," the woman noted coldly, glancing 
towards the main screen.  "The commander won't be happy if you activate 
one."

"Do we really have any choice in the matter?" snapped Misato, trying 
not to show that she was losing her own confidence in her ability.  She 
knew that the N2 weapon wouldn't destroy the Angel, but with its AT 
field neutralized she hoped that it might at least stun the thing long 
enough for another plan to coalesce.  Ritsuko simply turned away from 
Misato towards Maya's display, and Misato took a deep breath as she 
stepped back towards the microphone, leaning towards it and wincing as 
her headache aggravated itself once again.  "Ryo, Niobe is being armed 
and prepared for launch.  Draw the Angel into Tokyo Bay, as far away as 
you can safely get."

"Affirmative," replied the boy, the orders taken without bitterness as 
simply another part of a routine.  Stepping backwards, Ryo lunged 
slightly forward and slashed at the Angels idly, more interested in 
making the beasts think that he was attacking them than actually trying 
to damage them.  The two things paused for a moment as Ryo backed 
towards the water, then followed after him, moving with ponderous 
efficiency as he slashed idly towards them, just enough to look 
threatening.  His left foot sank into the waters of Tokyo Bay, and he 
hesitated for only an instant as he continued backing up, letting the 
water slosh around his Eva as the two beasts advanced.

Inside her cockpit, Niobe gripped the handles of her machine tightly, 
gritting her teeth and forcing herself not to feel any hesitation about 
the mission as her Eva hurtled towards the surface.  She would be 
launched some distance away from Ryo and Eiko, far enough so that she 
could retrieve the N2 canister from one of the Geofront's surface 
elevators and then move in without the Angel being made aware of her 
presence.  "I'm coming, Ryo," she said firmly, her voice measured as 
the Eva slammed to a stop, her head jerking down a little too quickly 
and giving her a view of her yellow-brown plugsuit before she corrected 
the error and glanced towards the surface elevator, watching as the 
canister slowly came into view.  "Just hold on a little longer, and 
I'll be there.  I'll get you out."

Ryo did not respond, instead focusing on drawing the seventh Angel 
outwards, noticing that the Angel was intentionally trying to spread 
around him, pin him between its two halves and tear him apart.  As the 
water of the bay splashed about his waist, he felt the power cord begin 
to pull slightly taught, and he realized that he couldn't draw the 
beast out any further, that it would have to be far enough.  "I am 
engaging the Angel until Niobe arrives," he announced, slashing the axe 
towards the golden half's bone-white face, letting the vibrating edge 
crash into the structure with a satisfying crunch.  A second later he 
saw the silvery claws of the other half close firmly around his 
forearm, and he winced as the Angel tightened its grip casually, 
tearing into the armor and crushing the bone.  Nothing daunted, Ryo 
deployed the prog knife from the right shoulder flange, letting the 
left hand fly up to grab it before he drove it towards the other half, 
forcing the beast to release him and move backwards as the golden half 
extracted the axe from its face.

Niobe reached down and grabbed the N2 canister before the elevator had 
even quite reached the surface, then sent her machine running down the 
streets of the city, dashing between the white buildings towards the 
site of the battle, springing over the prone EVA-04 as she ran.  Both 
Angel halves turned to notice her as she approached, but she did not 
falter for a moment, pushing the handles of her cockpit further forward 
as she gritted her teeth.  "Don't show fear," she hissed, jumping 
towards the bay, cradling the N2 canister in her hands as she soared 
over the blue water and Ryo began to withdraw his damaged machine.  She 
waited for a moment longer, then hurled the canister as though it were 
a football towards the spot between the two Angels, landing roughly a 
few meters away and dipping beneath the water as she landed in a 
crouch.  Grimacing, she activated her AT Field to full power and pulled 
the radius as close as she could, knowing that there was no time for 
her to try and avoid the blast.

"Canister detonated," announced Makoto grimly as the main screen showed 
the effects, the center of the bay suddenly lighting up in a ball of 
flame, water hissing away to steam almost instantly at the site.  The 
flash was too bright for a moment for any of the NERV staff to see 
through it, but a second later it faded away, leaving the Angel still 
clearly visible.  Everyone held their breath for a moment, but the 
Angel remained still as EVA-05 emerged from beneath the water, several 
meters away from its initial position, looking rather banged up but 
otherwise functional.  "Target is still active, but all instruments 
indicate that it's regenerating.  The Magi computers are still working 
on decoding the exact time until it's finished."

"Thank God," muttered Misato to herself as Maya reported all of the 
Evas on the surface still functional.  "Niobe, retrieve EVA-04 and 
place it on the nearest entry port.  Ryo, withdraw immediately.  We'll 
have to go after this one from a different angle."  She paused for a 
moment, then moved away from the microphone and leaned against the edge 
of the operations level, staring down towards the level below and the 
three red boxes that she knew housed the Magi computers.  She'd 
thought, for a moment, that the project would have had its first 
casualty because of her poor decisions, and she felt as though only 
sheer luck had proven her wrong.  Combined with her headache, she 
wanted more than anything to simply return home and go back to 
drinking, knowing that both the guilt and her headache could be cured 
with the one balm.

                                  ]++[

Misato stood at the far end of Commander Ikari's office, staring across 
the room towards the Commander at his desk and Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki 
beside him through the red light of the room, wondering if the 
commander had any reason for such a huge office besides sheer 
intimidation.  The whole thing was easily four times the size of 
Misato's office, but as sparse as her office was this one seemed even 
emptier, the desk clean and organized from what she could see.  
"Captain Katsuragi," announced Ikari at length, his glasses a shining 
red under the light.  "Explain your actions against the Seventh Angel."

"Yes, sir," replied Misato sharply, restraining the urge to say 
something else.  "The Seventh Angel, Israfel, was first detected by our 
forward radar off Tokyo Bay on a direct course into Tokyo-3.  UN 
interception forces were launched immediately and had no effect on the 
target.  All six Children had reported ready for combat by the time the 
target was within 30 kilometers of the bay.  Reasoning that it was best 
to attempt to dispatch the Angel before it came any closer, I deployed 
Units 04 and 00, both machines designed for long-range combat.  Both 
pilots were directed to the surface, obtained weapons as directed, and 
proceeded to open fire upon the Angel."

Pausing briefly, Misato tried to gauge whether or not the commander was 
reacting favorably for a moment, but even if there was some trace of 
emotion on his face she was too far away to see it.  "The Angel's AT 
Field was too powerful to penetrate from our location, so I ordered Ryo 
to spread his field as wide as possible and Eiko to gun down the Angel 
as soon as it had come close enough for Ryo to neutralize its field."  
She paused once again, unsure of exactly how to phrase Eiko's sudden 
panic on the field, still not entirely clear on the causes herself.  
"Eiko lost control of herself and was rendered incapable of further 
safe operation by the Angel, and Ryo proceeded to split the Angel in 
halves.  The Angel proved capable of splitting itself into multiple 
forms, and I therefore decided that we would need a chance to formulate 
a new strategy.  Unit 05 was sent to the surface with an N2 canister -"

"I did not authorize the usage of N2 devices," interjected the 
commander, moving one hand to push his glasses up on his nose before 
folding them together in front of his face once again.  "Moreover, I 
fail to see what made the deployment of EVA-05 with an N2 canister a 
necessary action."

Misato gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to get angry, knowing 
that it would only make the situation worse.  "To address the first 
issue, you were in a conference at the time, and as you were not 
available to authorize the device's usage I took full responsibility 
for any consequences.  As for the deployment, we had one Eva pilot out, 
and one that could not handle two Angels at once.  Had I simply left 
them out there, they both would have died.  The Angels needed to be 
stunned for a time, and my first priority was to make sure that the 
pilots were safe."

Dr. Ikari said nothing for a moment, simply stared at Misato behind the 
reflective lenses of his glasses.  "Incorrect," he said at length, 
startling her slightly.  "Your first priority is to destroy the 
Angels.  The pilots can be replaced.  Four fully functional units were 
still within the base, and could have been deployed after a new plan 
was formulated.  You should not have detonated the N2 canister."

Once again, Misato bit her lip, forcing herself not to scream at the 
commander for his emotionless expression.  She wanted, more than 
anything, to storm over to his desk and tear him from his seat, to 
shake him back and forth until he finally seemed to understand that the 
Children were not objects to be used, but she remained silent, simply 
waiting for him to continue.  There was a momentary pause, but he did 
resume, position unchanging.  "Why did the pilot of Unit 04 panic?"

"We haven't determined that yet," replied Misato, trying not to sound 
bitter despite herself.  Eiko's sudden failure to operate her machine 
had been disturbing to say the least, and it looked bad that Misato 
didn't have any explanation for her actions.  "Our suspicion is that 
some kind of neural feedback was coming from her AT field.  The Magi 
are currently attempting to analyze the situation data."

"Irrelevant.  You had a pilot lose control of their machine."  The tone 
was harsh but still nearly emotionless, and Misato was momentarily 
struck by the fact that it sounded almost exactly like she imagined 
Ryo's voice would sound if he were capable of displaying harshness.  
"The fate of the planet depends upon these children being capable of 
keeping themselves under control.  As their commander, you are 
responsible for making sure that they are an effective combat unit."

"Yes, sir," replied Misato, keeping silent out of knowledge that 
speaking would only make things worse.  She wanted to defend Eiko, to 
say that the girl had good reason for panicking as soon as the Angel 
had come within range, but she didn't know why herself, and there was 
little that she could offer in way of a defense.  Besides, she also 
knew that Gendou was right, that she needed to make sure the Children 
were capable of fighting the Angels in the first place.  "I'll make 
sure that they're better prepared for the next sortie."

A brief silence settled over the room, Ikari's eyes feeling as though 
they stared right through Misato despite being hidden from her sight.  
"Dismissed," he announced at length, his position remaining fixed even 
as Misato turned and stepped out of the sliding door, back into the 
comfortable by comparison fluorescent lighting of Central Dogma's teal-
gray hallways.  She paused for a moment, then leaned against one wall 
of the corridor, her headache still splitting her brain in half, the 
effort of standing still and not wincing in pain in Gendou's office 
having been almost beyond her ability to bear it.

"Keep it together," she muttered to herself, squeezing her eyes shut 
briefly and rubbing her forehead, knowing that the day wasn't over by 
any stretch of the imagination.  She still had an Angel to deal with on 
the surface, and that meant that no matter how much her head was 
hurting, she needed to keep herself coherent.  Allowing herself one 
more moment of rest before she pushed away from the wall, she began to 
head towards the command center, hoping that Makoto had come up with 
some solid information on the Angel.

                                  ]++[

Vash and Neil stared at one another bitterly, their plugsuits still 
damp from the LCL and hair still occasionally dripping the red-orange 
liquid to the floor of the conference room.  It looked for all the 
world like a prison movie theater, except for the addition of a podium 
at the front and the absence of guards.  Only the two boys were sitting 
in the room, both trying to measure one another, Vash's bright blue and 
Neil's bright green.  The fact that Eiko was down in the infirmary was 
on both of their minds, even more than the fact that they didn't know 
why they'd both been called down to the room instead of the other 
pilots.

It was Neil who spoke first, his guilt beginning to slowly overcome his 
anger towards Vash.  "I should have been protecting her," he muttered 
to himself, breaking the gaze with Vash for just a moment before he 
turned back towards the other boy.  "I should have been making sure 
that she was safe."

"You're damn right," replied Vash, his glare deepening.  "After what 
you did to her brother, you should be laying your life down for Eiko.  
But wait... you did that defending the city, didn't you?"  He turned 
away from Neil, throwing his hands in the air and pretending to be 
suddenly repentant.  "Well, in that case, obviously, please, don't get 
anywhere near Eiko.  With protectors like you, the Angels are getting 
their jobs done for them."

"Really?  You weren't so tough yourself when the Angel blasted you in 
the chest, were you?"  The accusation was meant to sting, and Neil felt 
a small twinge of guilt drowned by his growing anger.  He knew that 
Vash didn't have the vaguest clue what being inside of EVA-01 was like, 
and he hated the implication that he was doing the wrong thing even 
though he kept getting in it.  "I've screwed up, I'll admit.  But you 
haven't managed to even get deployed against an Angel -"

"Oh, I'm -sorry-, great and radiant Neil," replied Vash, ears burning 
slightly from embarassment at the mention of his lack of proficiency 
with EVA-03.  "Not all of us can go berserk while we're supposed to be 
protecting the city and crush innocent civilians!"  He snarled, 
clenching one hand into a fist involuntarily.  "First Toji, now Eiko.  
Who are you going to screw up protecting next?  Me?  Nieve?  The whole 
planet?"

Neil's fist clenched involuntarily, and he felt the urge to rush over 
and hit Vash hard, to give Vash what he'd been asking for the day 
they'd met.  The glove of the plugsuit squeezed taught for an instant, 
then the door of the conference room opened to reveal Misato, a haggard 
expression on her face as she walked to the front of the room from the 
door in the back, distracting Neil enough for his anger to fade 
slightly and turn his attention towards her podium.  Vash continued to 
glare at the other boy for a moment longer, then turned his attention 
as well.  "What's going on?" Vash asked, trying to sound as calm as 
possible and look like the better of the two boys.

Misato took a moment, leaning forward on the podium and apparently 
trying to compose herself before returning to her full height and 
trying not to look exhausted.  "I'm in no mood to try and make this 
sound better than it is, boys," she said after a moment, perceiving for 
a split second what seemed like an affirming glance from Neil.  "We've 
finished analyzing the Angel, and it's as bad as it looks.  The thing 
can divide its core, and it looks as though it's designed to do that 
instantly if the core sustains lethal damage."

"So it keeps splitting in half," muttered Neil, still trying to cap off 
his anger and feeling guilty about the fact that he had failed to 
protect Eiko.  "Eventually, it's going to get too small to target 
effectively if it keeps that up.  How are we supposed to defeat 
something like that?"

"We've come up with an idea," replied Misato, rubbing her forehead once 
again at Neil's question, wishing that she had a better answer than she 
did.  "The core takes a moment or two to split, just like a dividing 
cell.  If we deal a fatal blow to the core one moment, then hit the 
remaining core before it finishes splitting, that should be enough to 
finish the thing off for good."  She paused for a second, less out of a 
dramatic necessity and more because she needed to allow her aching head 
a brief rest.  "It's not a certainty, and we'll need to have the blows 
be nearly perfectly timed.  But it's the best plan that we've been able 
to come up with."

"Fair enough," replied Vash, leaning back slightly in his seat and 
resenting Neil slightly more.  The other boy had managed to make 
himself look significantly smarter than Vash, something that was more 
than a little annoying in light of recent events.  "So why aren't the 
other Children in here?  Aren't they going to be involved in the 
operation?"

The question had been coming since the beginning of the briefing, and 
Misato had known that, but it still took an effort not to sigh in 
response.  She'd heard the boys shouting at one another before she'd 
entered, and the argument that was no doubt about to ensue wouldn't be 
good for her head.  "The primary units for this operation will be EVA-
01 and EVA-03," she announced after a moment, trying her best to filter 
out the disgusted noises from both Children.  "Both units have stronger 
armor than the other Evas, and they're better suited to close combat.  
This is going to have to be a close combat operation by nature.  You 
two will have to work together."

Both Children, unsurprisingly, were shouting at Misato the instant 
she'd finished talking, each one screaming about how the other was 
unfit to pilot the Eva in the first place, their complaints eerily 
similar.  Either way, Misato's headache wasn't helped by the shouting, 
and after a few moments she slammed her fist down on the podium with 
enough force to shut both of the Children up.  "This isn't open for 
debate!  Neil, you're going to work with Vash.  Vash, you're going to 
work with Neil.  The operation won't start for another five hours, so 
we're going to send you back to your homes for a time."  She paused, 
rubbing her temple.  "Don't be childish about this, you two.  For 
everyone's sake."

Misato remained at the front of the room for a moment longer, then 
stepped out from behind the podium and headed towards the door, 
desperately in need of some beer or some painkillers, preferably the 
former.  Vash and Neil said nothing, instead choosing simply to stare 
at one another, unflinching as Misato stepped out of the room and they 
were left alone.

                                  ]++[

It was a ten-minute drive from the most accessible car exit from 
Central Dogma to Vash's house, plus the ten minutes it took for the 
Children to shower and change back into their street clothes for what 
little relaxation they could hope for.  Misato had hoped, for the sake 
of her sanity, that the boys would have shouted themselves out by that 
point, but to her amazement their argument hadn't even slowed down 
since they had gotten in the car, both trading insults recklessly.  
Nieve, either put off by the argument or simply lost in thought, was 
being entirely silent in the front seat, staring out her window and 
ignoring both of the boys.  At the back of her mind, Misato was vaguely 
aware that the boys were really repeating the same few things over and 
over, Vash saying that Neil should feel guilty for his mistakes, Neil 
saying that Vash wasn't even good enough to have the time to screw up.  
On a more conscious level, however, she had heard more than enough 
shouting as she pulled her car to a stop in front of Vash's house.

"All -right-," she snapped, silencing both boys as she turned back 
towards them, her eyes beginning to grow bloodshot from stress and her 
headache.  She had the urge to shout at them for their immaturity, but 
forced herself to remember that she was dealing with teenagers even if 
they had adult responsibilities.  "Vash, your parents should be back by 
now.  We're not going to be evacuating the populace again until half an 
hour before the operation commences.  NERV should contact you before 
then."

Vash nodded curtly, glaring at Neil as the other boy glared back.  He 
wanted very badly to hit Neil, though he couldn't quite decide why, 
whether it was because of Neil's injuring of Toji, or the fact that 
he'd turned Eiko against him, or the fact that he hadn't protected 
Eiko.  Distantly, he wondered for a split second why he was so certain 
that Eiko's reluctance had been a result of Neil, but he pushed the 
thought out of his head as he opened his door and unbuckled his 
seatbelt.  "See you later, gaijin," he snarled as he stepped out of the 
car, slamming the door as he walked towards his house.

Neil watched him leave for a moment, unsure of whether he was angrier 
at Vash or himself.  "'Gaijin' means something bad, doesn't it?" he 
asked after a moment, glancing over towards Misato as she nodded.  
Sighing, Neil looked back towards Vash's house as the car began to move 
once again, unsure of whether he was more angry at himself or at Vash.  
He certainly didn't feel as though Vash had any right to question his 
performance in EVA-01, but he also hated himself for what he'd done in 
the machine, for the way he felt around it.  Still, it wasn't as though 
he'd set out in the machine to crush one of Vash's schoolmates.

The thought of Vash's school tickled something at the back of Neil's 
mind, and it took him a moment to think to look down at the floor of 
the car where Vash's schoolbag still sat, forgotten in the argument 
from before.  "Stop the car, Misato," Neil said, grabbing the bag from 
the floor and feeling himself sigh inwardly.  "Vash forgot his bag.  
I've got to run back and give it to him."

"You're not going to do that," announced Nieve as Misato slowed the car 
down to a stop, the redheaded girl suddenly taking an interest in the 
situation and turning back towards Neil, her voice sounding slightly 
empty as she spoke.  "It'll be a disaster.  I'll take it - he's not too 
fond of me either, but -"

"I don't want you anywhere -near- him," snapped Neil, speaking somewhat 
more forcefully than he'd intended and surprising Nieve.  Opening his 
door, he glanced back and forth for a moment, unsurprised to see no 
traffic on the road as he stepped out.  "I'll do it.  Besides, this way 
I might get to tell his parents what a pathetic kid he really is."

Slamming his door shut, Neil crossed the street and walked idly towards 
Vash's house, not turning back out of the presumably justified fear 
that Misato or Nieve would try to stop him.  He wanted to do something 
more final than argue with Vash, but despite himself he couldn't figure 
out what in the world he actually planned on doing inside the house, 
already feeling guilty for wanting to hurt the other boy.  As he 
stepped up to the front door of Vash's house, he grinned at himself 
bitterly, recalling that at least being angry at himself had kept him 
from feeling guilty about the prior night.

Neil took a deep breath before knocking on the door, waiting for a 
moment and hearing nothing from inside.  It was tempting to simply turn 
around and walk away, but Neil forced himself to remain, knowing that 
he would only feel worse if he ran away.  "Vash?" he shouted, trying to 
sound as innocent as possible as he knocked once again.  "It's me, 
Neil.  You forgot to -"

Without warning, the door swung open, and Neil felt a familiar scent 
assault his nose as an older man stared at him, eyes only dimly focused 
and long black hair tied in a messy ponytail and looking somewhat 
greasy.  The man was obviously rather tall, but looked shorter because 
of his slumped posture, dissheveled blue shirt and jeans hanging 
loosely off his body.  "You're one of those kids from the program, 
aren't you?" he asked, the words slurred and spoken with a crippling 
Japanese accent.  "Fighting those big black things, right?"

"Um... yeah," replied Neil, beginning to feel another memory bubble 
into his head as the stink of fermentation reeked forth from the man.  
He bit his lower lip for a moment, wondering if the man was of the same 
mindset as Vash about Neil's performance or not and feeling 
uncomfortable regardless.  "Is Vash here, or has he -"

"He's here," slurred the man, stepping aside from the door and 
gesturing for Neil to step in.  Neil hesitated for a moment, then 
stepped up into what seemed like the same depressed space as Misato's 
apartment, the implication obvious.  He removed his shoes, and the man 
nodded approvingly, shutting the door and awkwardly staggering towards 
a nearby couch, beer cans strewn about the floor and couch itself, 
television blaring something incomprehensible.  "You look like a good 
kid.  Probably for the best, you kids doing this stuff.  God knows that 
I need my rest nowadays."  The man paused for a moment, taking a sip 
from what seemed to be a largely random beer can, then staring back at 
Neil.  "C'mon over, sit down.  Let's talk."

"Really, that's all right," replied Neil, taking a step back and 
suppressing a slight twinge of terror as the man turned back to 
whatever he was watching with a shrug.  Neil stared at him for a moment 
longer, unpleasant memories jumping to the surface, then turned around 
to see Vash standing behind him, still glaring.  Giving a small start, 
Neil began to take a step backwards towards the drunk man on the couch, 
then realized that wouldn't make things any better.  "Vash.  I was 
looking for you."

Vash said nothing for a moment, then reached over and firmly grabbed 
Neil's collar, yanking him away from the small den and tugging him 
through the brown halls of the house into what Neil assumed was Vash's 
room.  Yanking Neil in, Vash slammed the door to the small room, then 
turned and glared at the other boy, his opinion of Neil obviously not 
getting any better.  "I'm going to open this door in a minute," snarled 
Vash, "and when I open it, you're going to leave this house and -never- 
say a word to -anyone-.  Not Misato, not Nieve, not -anyone-.  Do you 
understand that?"

"I..."  Neil trailed off, suddenly feeling intensely guilty, knowing 
that he was intruding on something private.  "I just came because you 
left your bag in Misato's car.  I thought you might need it."  He 
swallowed for a moment, hoping that maybe he was incorrect about his 
assumptions on who the man was.  "Was that man your older brother, or -"

"Don't you -dare- make fun of my father," replied Vash, grabbing Neil's 
collar once again and pulling the taller boy towards him, eyes 
sparkling with anger.  "He's my problem, all right?  I hate him, and 
I'm disgraced by him, and you have absolutely no right to intrude 
here."  Neil mumbled something, turning his head down and away from 
Vash, and Vash's eyes narrowed as he shook Neil roughly.  "What did you 
just say?"

"At least you have one!" snapped Neil, anger beginning to take over 
from guilt as he broke free of Vash's grip with one hand, the other 
tensing into a fist.  Stumbling backwards, he rubbed the back of his 
neck for a moment as Vash continued to glare at him, trying to compose 
himself.  "I said that you should be thankful that you've got a father 
in the first place."

There was a moment of silence between the two boys, then Vash's stare 
grew darker, grabbing at Neil's collar once again.  Neil held the other 
boy's hand back tightly, but Vash continued to struggle against him, 
his eyes flashing with anger.  "Oh, so you just spawned spontaneously 
from your mother, did you?" asked Vash, glaring harshly and managing to 
force his hand closer to Neil's collar.  "That's just great, Neil.  You 
don't have to live with -anyone's- opinion, because you're just so damn 
special."

Neil glared for a moment, then his anger took over, sending his arm 
snapping up towards Vash's collar and grabbing it roughly, taking 
advantage of the fact that his arms were slightly longer.  "My father 
was an alcoholic too," replied Neil, his hand tightening around Vash's 
collar unconsciously.  "He started drinking almost as soon as I was 
born.  He died when I was ten.  Mother never divorced him, even though 
he never did anything, even thought he just wasted his life and made 
mine miserable."  He scowled, tightening his grip even more.  "What 
gives you the right to judge me?  What makes it all right for you?"

Both boys remained quiet for a moment, Vash's hand slightly away from 
Neil's collar, Neil's grip almost tight enough to tear the white fabric 
of Vash's school shirt, the dark brown walls suddenly seeming 
oppressive.  Then Neil felt guilt start to seep through his body, and 
he let go of both Vash's collar and Vash's wrist, wondering for a 
moment if the boy would try once again to grab his collar.  The 
Japanese boy did no such thing, simply staring angrily at Neil, shock 
creeping into the edges of his expression.  "Here's your bag," 
announced Neil flatly, dropping the small schoolbag and stepping around 
Vash, opening the door and beginning to walk out.

Vash heard the door close only distantly, his arms slowly sinking back 
down to his sides, Neil's words hitting him with a sting he hadn't 
expected.  He still wanted to be angry with the other boy, but 
something about the situation made it feel impossible, made him feel as 
though he was doing something wrong by resenting Neil's unconditional 
acceptance from others.  "He's been through the same thing," muttered 
Vash, the words sounding alien to his ears.  "He's dealt with it just 
like I have."

                                  ]++[

Misato's table was unusually quiet, both Children remaining perfectly 
silent as they ate their lunches, Misato slumped over her lunch and 
still feeling as though a sledgehammer was working the inside of her 
skull.  "This is nice," she muttered to herself, ignoring the icy stare 
she was receiving from Nieve for a moment.  Neil simply hadn't spoken 
since whatever had happened at Vash's house, and Nieve seemed to be 
angry about something without any intention of telling Misato what it 
was.  "This is really nice.  Don't you two think so?"

"Yeah," muttered Nieve, obviously lying.  "Nice."  Neil noticed her 
tone and looked up at her, but she didn't look back, simply eating her 
lunch quietly.  He wondered for a moment if she was angry with him, but 
then noticed that she was glaring daggers at Misato, waiting for the 
woman to take notice of her.  A thought occurred to Neil, and he turned 
back to his lunch as well, hoping that he got a chance to talk to Nieve 
before she did anything.

"What's going on, Nieve?" asked Misato, her speech sounding pained as 
she forced herself to sit upright, jostling the table slightly.  She 
could tell that Nieve was angry with her, but she hadn't wanted to say 
anything beforehand.  Nieve simply glared at Misato for a moment 
longer, then went back to eating her lunch, angering Misato slightly as 
her headache continued to pound at the back of her skull.  "Listen, 
Nieve, I can tell that you're angry, so just tell me what -"

"I was sitting down in EVA-02 for the whole time, waiting for you to 
sortie me, and you just left me there," replied Nieve, gripping her 
fork more tightly as she stared over at Misato.  "I sat, and I waited, 
and I didn't say anything about it as I waited for you to send me to 
the surface.  But you didn't.  You just left me there doing nothing.  
That's why I'm angry."

Groaning, Misato leaned back slightly, tilting her head towards the 
ceiling and trying to ignore the increasing headache.  "Nieve, we only 
sent out three Evas," she said at length, forcing her voice to remain 
quiet and calm despite how annoyed she was getting at everything around 
her.  "We only needed to send out three.  It's not like Neil or Vash 
were deployed."

"No, you're saving them for this afternoon!" snapped Nieve, eyes 
flashing with anger as she glared towards Misato.  Neil felt himself 
unconsciously pushing away from the table, the shouting making him feel 
deeply uncomfortable even as he felt the desire to clench his fists 
once again.  "You're giving everyone else their turn in the field, but 
you're -sidelining- me!  I'm probably the best pilot that you've got, 
and after all the effort I've given to this project, you're just 
ignoring me!"

Misato gritted her teeth for a moment to try and restrain her own 
irritation, but all the resentment that she'd felt over the course of 
the day so far had to come out sooner or later, and as she leaned 
forward towards Nieve the young girls could see that she'd made herself 
a perfect target.  "Has it ever occurred to you that maybe there's some 
kind of -risk- involved in these operations, you insolent little girl?  
Have you ever thought that maybe we don't want to send you all to your 
deaths?  Has it begun to cross your tiny little mind that maybe the 
Evas have different capabilities for a -reason-?  Or do you just feel 
like shouting at me so that you can feel better about yourself?"

The table was once again silent, Misato glaring at Nieve in anger, 
Nieve recoiling slightly and obviously not prepared for the sudden 
outpouring.  Sighing heavily, Misato pushed herself up from the table, 
standing somewhat wobbly and knowing that she'd lost control over 
herself, that she needed to be more collected in situations like this.  
"I need a beer," she snarled at nobody in particular, turning towards 
the refridgerator and sliding open the door, knowing that she'd feel 
better once the alcohol started to blot out her hangover."

As her hands closed around the golden can of alocohol, Misato heard the 
sound of silverware slamming down to the table, and she whirled around 
angrily, expecting that Nieve had gotten a second wind for her little 
hissy fit.  As she stared at the table, however, she realized that it 
had been Neil, his hand still pressing the fork down into the table, 
eyes shut tightly and fist clenching in his free hand.  "Do you really 
think that will make anything better?" he asked, sounding as though he 
was trying to be angry but failing despite himself.  "You think that as 
long as you've got a beer you... you..."

Neil's words trailed off into silence, and the entire room followed 
him, all three people unsure of what more there was to say.  At length, 
Misato looked at the can in her hand for a moment, then put it back 
inside the fridge, ignoring the slight spike of pain in her head that 
seemed to come with the knowledge she'd get no such relief.  The 
refridgerator door swung shut as Misato stepped back towards the table, 
and all three were about to return to eating when the phone rang and 
cut through the silence.

Misato stood silently, stepping over to the black telephone and picking 
up the receiver as casually as possible, feeling guilty for what she 
hadn't done and wondering if Neil hated her now.  She put the receiver 
to her ear and opened her mouth to speak, but before she even got past 
the first syllable of a greeting Ritsuko's calm, analytical voice had 
already started.  "The Angel is regenerating faster than we'd 
expected," she announced, the hint in her voice that it was somehow 
Misato's fault.  "You're required back at Central Dogma immediately."

The two Children at the table couldn't hear Ritsuko's voice, but they 
could hear Misato's startled exclamation that Ritsuko couldn't be 
right, and as intelligent people they had no trouble figuring out what 
it was that Ritsuko couldn't possibly be right about.  Gulping down one 
final bite of their lunches, both stood, turned towards the door, and 
walked to the small recess where their shoes remained just as Misato 
hung the phone back on the hook and turned towards them.  "That was Dr. 
Akagi," she announced to the pair, her head still splitting.  "The 
Seventh Angel has almost finished regenerating.  We need to start the 
operation early."

                                  ]++[

Both EVA-01 and EVA-03 had been moved to the same oversized holding 
bay, prepared for immediate launch as soon as the last elements of the 
operation were in place.  Neil, lost in thought, stood on the catwalk 
in front of his Eva, green and purple plugsuit hugging tightly to his 
skin and feeling unexpectedly nervous.  He'd never worked with Vash 
before, but he recalled how angry he had been when he left the boy, and 
he remembered the red haze of his vision when the Eva had gone 
berserk.  "I've got to control it," he muttered, remembering Nieve's 
words about who was in charge of the Eva.  "It's my tool.  I won't lose 
control of my temper with it.  I refuse to."

Neil stared at the purple head of the beast, the monstrous jawline, the 
diamond-shaped eyes, and he thought of Nieve once again, knowing that 
she and Niobe had already been placed inside their respective units.  
The girl had been mostly silent after Misato's angry shouts towards 
her, but she'd given Neil a quick kiss before they'd gone into the 
locker rooms, saying nothing to explain.  Something about her was 
unspeakably sad, something that Neil couldn't quite place, and he 
wished that she was being allowed to pilot her machine into the 
operation, knowing how badly she wanted to be in control of defeating 
the Angel.  Shutting his eyes, he thought of her, then of Eiko, the 
faces of both girls dancing at the edge of his vision like some exotic 
form of torture.

"I thought you'd be out here."  Vash's tone sounded oddly regretful, 
but Neil still took a moment longer before looking towards the other 
boy, his black and purple plugsuit looking rather striking against his 
spiky blonde hair.  He was at almost the other end of the catwalk, 
seeming hesitant to get any closer to Neil.  "Do you mind if I come 
over?  I want to talk."

"Actually, yes, I mind," replied Neil, feeling somewhat bitter as he 
turned away from Vash once again, his right hand clenching into a fist 
almost unconsciously.  "I think I know what you're going to say, 
anyways.  You want me not to get in your way, even though you've never 
piloted the Eva before, even though you have no idea what you're 
doing."  He sighed.  "Fine.  I don't care.  I didn't stay in Tokyo-3 to 
argue with you.  All I want to do is to destroy the Angel."

"God, give -me- a chance to talk, will you?" snapped Vash, glaring over 
towards Neil and shaking his head.  Neil's expression softened slightly 
as he looked towards the other boy, and Vash found himself wondering 
about the sort of person that he'd claimed to hate, the same person who 
had given his all to defend Eiko for no personal gain.  "I... I 
wanted..."  He swallowed for a moment, then turned towards Neil 
completely and started walking.  "I wanted you to hit me.  The way that 
I hit you when we first met."

Neil didn't reply, simply turned and stared back at the boy as Vash 
came to a stop within arm's length of Neil, his expression stoic.  "I 
owe you an apology," he said curtly, the statement clearly taking a 
great deal of effort to say.  "When I blamed you for hurting Toji... it 
wasn't fair.  You hurt Toji because of something that we did."  He 
paused, then sank his head slightly, staring towards the catwalk and 
the liquid sloshing around beneath.  "Kensuke wanted to get a look at 
one of the Eva units in action, after he'd gotten his hands on some of 
the design details over the Internet.  So Toji and I agreed to help him 
out on the surface.  We shouldn't have been out there in the first 
place."  He paused, then turned his gaze back towards Neil, setting his 
jaw.  "So, I'm telling you to hit me.  Because I'm the one who hurt my 
friend, not you."

For a moment, neither boy moved, Neil simply staring at Vash, Vash 
closing his eyes tightly and waiting for Neil to hit him.  Then Neil 
turned back towards his Eva, and after a moment Vash seemed to realize 
that he wasn't being hit and opened his eyes to stare at the other 
boy.  "No," said Neil, crossing his arms across his chest defiantly.  
"I won't."

"What, am I not good enough for you to deign to touch?  Come on, Neil, 
you know that you want to."  Vash spread his arms wide, presenting 
himself as an open target for the other boy.  "Go ahead, hit me.  Just 
smack me in the chin.  You know I can take it.  One solid blow, and 
then I'll -"

"I said no!" snapped Neil, turning around and glaring at the other boy, 
fist clenching involuntarily, his mind forcing down the desire to do 
exactly as Vash said.  "I don't want to hurt people.  I don't want 
revenge."  He paused for a moment, letting his hand relax as Vash 
stared at him, his breath beginning to relax slightly.  "You might have 
led your friend out of safety, but that doesn't make it your fault that 
he got hurt.  You were right, it was my fault.  I should have had more 
control over the Eva."  He paused, then extended his hand towards the 
other boy.  "Can we move on from here as a team?"

Vash stared at the outstretched hand for a moment, then smiled despite 
himself and took it in his, giving it a firm shake before letting go 
and glancing towards EVA-01.  Neil turned towards the machine himself, 
wondering if he'd done the right thing or not, then felt Vash tap him 
on the shoulder.  "Can you dance?" Vash asked as Neil's head turned to 
face him, a grin slowly spreading across the Japanese boy's face.

"Not particularly well, no," replied Neil with a shrug.  "But I can 
manage it."  He paused, cocking his head slightly and trying to figure 
out what it was that Vash wanted.  "Why do you ask?"

"Had an idea," replied Vash, smirking and turning towards the door at 
one end of the catwalk, glancing back at Neil over his shoulder as he 
walked towards it.  "I was talking with one of the head technicians 
before I managed to find you, and he turned out to be a pretty nifty 
guy.  Just thought of something that might help us focus against the 
Angel."  His smirk widened, and he flashed an incomprehensible hand 
signal at Neil before stepping through the door and letting it hiss 
closed behind him, Neil still baffled as to what the other boy's plan 
was.

                                  ]++[

Misato could feel Ritsuko's eyes staring at her as she switched her 
gaze back and forth between the main screen's display of the 
regenerating Angel and the display at Makoto's console of Neil and 
Vash's Evas racing through the launch tubes towards the surface.  Her 
headache had only slightly improved, but the fact that Ritsuko was 
watching her seemed to cancel out the positive effects of the slowly-
receding headache.  As the two Evas exited the Geofront and headed up 
closer to the surface, Misato finally sighed and turned towards 
Ritsuko, eyes narrowed.  "Is there something you want to ask?"

Ritsuko shook her head, expression still icy as she shifted her grip on 
her clipboard.  "Not a thing," she replied, sounding almost bitter.  
"I'm just somewhat surprised that you're still sober.  I had expected 
you to come back drunk again."

The comment struck Misato like a slap across the face, and she fought 
the urge to slap Ritsuko at the same time that she fought the urge to 
shed a tear.  "I did, too," she replied at length, turning towards the 
main screen where the two Eva units were finally emerging.  She took a 
second to compose herself, then leaned over into the microphone, 
clearing her throat slightly.  "All right, boys, you remember what you 
have to do.  Hit the core simultaneously."

Sitting in the cockpit of his machine, Vash flexed his fingers and let 
the Eva flex its own, watching as the Angel slowly returned to its 
original form.  The LCL still stank like blood, and it reminded him 
vaguely of the horrible burning he'd felt as the Fifth Angel's beam had 
hit him square in the chest, but he forced the thought out of his mind, 
tightening his grip on the handles and grinning sinisterly.  "All 
right.  Shigeru, you ready?"

On the upper level of the command center, the long-haired console 
technician grinned, letting his fingers dance across the keyboard for a 
moment.  "All ready, Vash," he announced happily, hitting one final key 
and letting the room's speakers fill with the aggressive noise of an 
electric guitar playing to a drum backup.  He smiled for a moment, then 
noticed that everyone else on the upper level was staring at him and 
shrugged.  "He thought that it would help them focus against the 
Angel.  Keeping in time with the beat, and all."

"Well, now I know why you asked if I could dance," sighed Neil, 
flipping open the Eva's shoulder flange and letting the progressive 
knife pop out into his hand.  He glanced towards Vash, and the black 
Eva nodded back at him as it deployed its own knife, holding the thing 
with the blade pointing down.  Taking a deep breath, Neil began to move 
the Eva forward, Vash walking next to him as the Angel rumbled to life 
once again and slogged its way towards the shore.  "Let's get to work."

Both machines hesitated for a moment as the Angel stared at them, then 
rushed forward at the same moment, letting the Angel watch them come.  
The beast's arms shot out at both of them, and Neil let his machine 
skid to a halt as Vash continued forward, one claw catching on the 
upper right arm of EVA-03 while the arm aimed at Neil snapped against 
thin air.  Seemingly frustrated, the Angel took a step forward with one 
foot, attempting to snatch at EVA-01 with its free arm, and Vash 
switched the prog knife to his left hand, then let the blade slice 
through the Angel's core as it went off-balance.  "It's going to 
split!" he shouted, breaking free of its grip and stepping back to 
where Neil was standing, the pain in his upper arm severe but managable.

Certainly enough, the black beast split back into its two smaller 
forms, the gold one taking lumbering steps towards Neil and the silver 
one heading straight towards Vash.  "Distract them, then force them 
back together," Neil said firmly, sidestepping a blow from the golden 
Angel half and chopping into the thing's shoulder with his knife.  Vash 
gave a quick nod with his unit, then jumped backwards as the silverish 
Angel lunged forwards, letting the beast overextend its reach before he 
slammed the prog knife down into the back of its head.  Both halves 
recovered within instants, only for the two Evas to hit them again, 
driving them apart with surprising synchronicity.

As the two Evangelions worked together, driving the Angels in a loop, 
first away from one another and then back towards their starting point, 
Maya heard a beeping noise from the console over the still-playing 
aggressive guitar music, and she stared at it with surprise, watching 
the synch graph.  "Both pilots have achieved a synchronization of 60%!" 
she shouted, amazed.  "The rate seems to be leveling off, but they're 
doing amazing!"

Neither Vash nor Neil heard Maya's statement, and even if they had it 
would have probably had no effect upon them as they continued to drive 
the Angel's halves back with remarkable efficiency, now keeping them 
unaware of the other's position while forcing them back towards the 
center.  Both pilots drove their target towards a single center point 
until the halves were within a few meters of one another, then both 
Evas flashed one another a thumb's-up sign, and clenching their free 
hands into fists they slammed hard into the Angel's face, sending it 
staggering backwards into itself.  The parts seemed disoriented for a 
moment, then merged back into the original Angel once again, apparently 
willing to recombine.

There was a momentary pause as the two Evas waited for the Angel to 
recombine, then both pilots rushed at the thing, prog knives at the 
ready as it staggered slightly.  Neil's Eva reached the beast first, 
and slipping around a half-hearted claw swipe he drove his knife into 
the thing's core just as the music reached a climax.  Seconds later, 
Vash followed suit, driving his own progressive knife into the core as 
well, and the red orb suddenly splintered and cracked for a moment.  
Seconds later, the entire Angel exploded, and the main screen of the 
command center was filled with the red haze of the explosion as the 
music finally ended.

"EVA-01 reporting," announced Neil, his body feeling slightly achy from 
the impact of the Angel's explosion and the LCL tasting distinctly 
bloodllike but otherwise fine.  "Looks like we destroyed it."

Misato confirmed Neil's statement as the explosion began to fade from 
sight, but Neil had other things on his mind as he shoved the prog 
knife back into the shoulder flange, stepping over and extending his 
Eva's hand to Vash.  Vash paused, then handed the prog knife off to his 
other hand and shook it, a rather corny display in the Evas but still 
somewhat gratifying.  "You did well," noted Neil, smirking.

"So did you," replied Vash, releasing his Eva's hand and pausing for a 
moment.  Then his picture appeared on Neil's display, and Neil was 
surprised for a moment before he realized that the other pilot had 
opened a private communications line with him.  "Listen, Neil..."  Vash 
seemed oddly hesitant, looking away from the other boy's face.  "I 
really appreciate what you did today, but I need to tell you 
something."  He paused briefly.  "Eiko makes a better friend than a 
lover.  You should remember that."

Almost involuntarily, Neil felt his grip tighten around the handles of 
the cockpit, the scent of blood suddenly increasing within the LCL.  He 
knew, consciously, that he wasn't alone anyways, that Nieve and he 
seemed to be taking the first few tenative steps into a relationship, 
but Vash's thinly-veiled warning somehow still managed to sting just 
beneath the skin.  "Yeah," replied Neil, sounding oddly distanced even 
to himself.  "I'll remember what you've said, Vash."

                                  ]++[

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:
             As one, they are gifted.
             As one, they are resolute.
             As one, they can be betrayed.
NEON EPOCH EVANGELION 9: WITH ONE VOICE
"It's important that the Children remain aware of their place."

                                  ]++[

We only have a little time in our lives to waste.  Make the most of it.
Electronic Transcendence Productions: http://www.lostfactor.net
Producer of, um, stuff for an unspecified time-period.
Rants: http://www.livejournal.com/users/lostfactor