From: Hotwire <hotwire1@airmail.net>
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] Moonlight Sonata (1 of 3)

(this is the second draft of this chapter, any and all CC is welcome
send to hotwire1@airmail.net )

Greetings, and welcome to my first fan fiction. First off I suppose I
should get the disclaimer over with. I naturally do not own Neon Genesis
Evangelion or any of the characters from the series. Gainax owns them,
and I am merely borrowing the small corner of their world to tell a
story. Pleeeeeese don't get mad at me, as I am too poor to be worth
suing.
Ok, now with that out of the way I need to give a brief SPOILER WARNING:
the story here takes place for the most part outside of the main story
of Eva, it concerns the mysterious disappearance of Nerv's second branch
and Unit 04. In order to keep from confusing the hell out of people
unfamiliar with the entire story of Eva, I have inserted many plot
points from the series. Mostly things that were only partially
explained, a few things that were only revealed in the movies (or more
accurately, websites devoted to them... seeing as how I have to date not
managed to get my mitts on the movies) and a few that were only revealed
in the Red Cross Book. I have elaborated a bit using information gleamed
from web pages and from other sources, and with any luck most of this
will not only be accurate, but faithful to the timeline of Evangelion.
If anyone spots a discrepancy in the timeline factor, or something that
can be proven wrong about the story, let me know so I can do some
surgery to this. You can contact me at hotwire1@airmail.net
 The main thing I have knowingly taken for granted is the 2nd Angel.
Some sites on the web argue that the 2nd Angel is Lillith, some say that
the identity is fully unknown. Having not had a chance to see the movies
(yet) I reserve judgment, but for the purposes of this story lets
consider Lillith an outside agent and not one of the 17 angels that were
mentioned in the series. All I currently know of the 2nd Angel is that
it has four great wings that can stretch for miles, and the power to
decimate a continent. Fortunately for me the creators of Eva left the
facts surrounding this and so many other events fully open to personal
interpretation.
The characters that do not appear in Gainax's Neon Geneses Evangelion
are my own. The sketches and drawings that will soon accompany this are
my own and are copyright Todd L Webb and Stormfront Studios 2000. And
now without further delay, on with the show.


                                  StormFront Studios Presents
                                    Neon Genesis Evangelion
                                         Moonlight Sonata
                                            By T. L. Webb
Prelude 01
Antarctica, 2013
The two men stand on the bow of an aircraft carrier looking out at the
still red waters broken only by stalagmite-like shards of ice rising out
of the sea around them. They both wore heavy parkas to protect
themselves from the elements. The sea around them has no harbored life
in thirteen years. It is a place of death.

"So soon?"

 "Yes. The Dead Sea scrolls are most specific, and the timing will have
to be precise. If we don't take action now, all our efforts will have
been for nothing... also I don't know how much Gendou has strayed from the
course."

"Fuyutski, this is a serious breech of confidence, one might even say it
is Mutiny."

"I don't distrust him Jacob, but he has changed so much... it worries me."

"You would do better to worry about things that matter Professor, like
what will happen if Seele begins to suspect what we are doing. My part
of this is far to delicate an operation to make any slip ups."

"We both understand your concern Commander. However Ikari was most
insistent. You are to begin the plan as soon as you return to Nevada"

" You and Ikari both place too much faith in it you know..."

" And what would `it' be?"

"The fear of others. Specifically their fear of Nerv itself, the entire
image they project almost cries out conspiracy. We have taken far too
many pains to change the second branch's image to loose everything
because someone remembered an old movie and put two and two together."

" You have your orders commander, or need I remind you of the promise
th-"

"I remember quite well damn you, and don't worry, this little game will
be played out as Ikari wants."

"Good, now if you will excuse me, my plane is refueled, and I am due
back in Tokeo3"

"Fuyutski? One more thing."

"Yes?"

"Be careful."

-----

1st Movement
 Nevada 2015

The VTOL craft flew across the scorched Nevada desert with its sole
passenger looking out the window. The young boy looked out over the
stretching wasteland and the brilliant sunset that painted the sky and
ground with shades of red and orange. It was one of the most beautiful
things he had ever seen. As he marveled at the sight before him a voice
crackled over the intercom.

"We are making our final approach, please make sure your harness is
fastened properly"

The young boy in the passenger compartment leaned back and sighed as he
tightened his seat belt. With the belt fastened he wouldn't have as good
a view. It was his first time away from the Rocky Mountains in almost
eight years and he didn't want to miss anything. He reached into his
shirt and pulled out a pair of dog tags. For a while he looked at them,
turning them over and over in his fingers and rubbing his thumb along
the slight dent in them. He returned to looking out of the window and
seeing that they were about to land, he returned the tags to his shirt
and prepared to meet the people who were going to change his life.

----------

A cloud of dust kicked up as the VTOL's backwash struck the ground. A
short distance from the landing pad a jeep pulled to a stop. There were
three people in it, two men and a woman. The driver was a man in his
early thirties with red hair and a goatee. He leaned back in the seat
watching the craft lower onto the landing pad and a bemused grin spread
across his face. They looked at the rising haze of the dust cloud and
could barely make out the craft itself. They stood in front of the Jeep
and as they waited, they continued a discussion that had began on the
trip out.

"So why exactly do we have to use this kid again?" the driver asked the
woman with them as they got out of the jeep. She was a few years older
than the man who had been driving. She was tall, neat and had well
groomed with long dark hair that was wrapped in a neat bun.

 "Its orders." answered the woman.

"I know that, we all read the reports, what I want to know is why are we
using this kid instead of one of the other candidates? We have several
on site, and another thing, why the subterfuge?
Why not just tell him the whole story?"

 "Ben." said the man with them, catching both the other occupant's
immediate attentions. He was a tall, serious man in his forties with
graying hair and dark ebony skin. He wore a suit with a coat that sealed
in the front, at the base of his throat rested a triangular clip holding
it in place. He regarded his associates from behind a pair of mirrored
sunglasses, then continued.
"Please listen carefully, this is the last time I will explain. We have
orders to receive this child and tell no one outside of the second
branch that he is anything more than a simple alternate candidate. We
will take him because Commander Ikari wants us to take him. Ikari has
his reasons, although God himself may not know what they are. However I
will follow the orders I have because; for one thing we have no choice,
and for another; despite his lies and trickery towards Seele, I trust
Ikari more than any human on this planet. Is that enough?"

"Yes sir." The two answered in unison.

"Are you two quite done? Rachel? Benjamin? Good here comes the boy now."

-------

From the thick cloud of dust that had been kicked up by the VTOL a
figure immerged. As he stepped off the landing pad the VTOL took off and
headed west. The boy was young with tousled brown hair and a pair of
hazel eyes that looked all around him in wonder, trying to take in every
detail they saw. He had a small smile on his face that widened when the
sun dipped below the horizon and the colors in the sky went from
beautiful to breathtaking. He was wearing a military jacket that was
several sizes too large and was carrying a duffel bag. He walked up to
the three adults as they stepped forward to greet him.

  "Joshua Lexington?" asked the man who had been driving; "I'm Benjamin
Wright head of operations. We are very pleased to meet you. This is
Doctor Rachel Bennington our chief scientist, and the head of the Second
American Branch; Commander Jacob Essex."

  The tall man who had been standing to the side stepped up and offered
his hand. Joshua accepted and shook hands with him. He seemed to be
looking at the boy with great interest but it was difficult to tell
anything behind those sunglasses.

  "We are very pleased that you could join us here at Nerv Joshua, and
we hope to make you feel quite at home here."

 "Yes," the lady doctor said with a smile, "since your father was unable
to accompany you here, we have selected a guardian to look after you
during your stay with us, you will meet her tomorrow morning."

 The boy smiled and thanked them as they got into the jeep and headed to
the Base of Nerv's second American branch.

---------

The jeep cleared a hill and they descended into an ancient dry lakebed.
After Nerv had taken control of the facility US aircraft were no longer
allowed within the airspace, hence the longer drive. In the center of
the open expanse of bare concrete and open land stood a hanger and
several landing strips. They drove down a barely visible road to a gate
where a guard checked their IDs and waved them through. They drove to
the largest of the hangers, and into it. Passing by a row of aircraft,
they drove to a corner and into what appeared to be an elevator. The
door closed behind them and the elevator began to descend.

 "Um...how deep are we going sir?" The boy asked Commander Essex after
what had to be four stories

"The main assembly plant is a quarter mile beneath the surface, it
shouldn't be too long now."

"Why does it go so deep?"

"So no one can see what we are doing"

"... May I ask a question?"

"Go ahead"

"Well when I got here I had the strangest feeling that I recognized this
place. It seems familiar somehow"

"You have probably seen it in a movie or two from before the second
impact."

" You mean that this is..."

"Yes, the original tunnel work was started in the 1920's. Since then the
American Government has expanded it considerably. Following Second
Impact we began remodeling it for our own purposes. Mostly because far
too many people had learned the original layout."

"Wow"

-----------

   The elevator finally reached its destination, and they drove out onto
a platform. Beyond the floodlight, Joshua could see a lake of what
appeared to be crimson liquid stretching beyond the light's reach.

"How much did your father tell you about this operation Joshua?" Essex
asked

"Not much other than telling me that I was going to have to be brave
because I would see things here that would frighten me."

"He was wise to prepare you Josh," Benjamin said, "less than a month ago
the threat Nerv was formed to fend off made itself known. Before I tell
you what your duty here will be, you must understand that everything you
have seen from the moment you landed, and everything you will see from
here out is so classified that the president himself does not have full
knowledge of it. I know your family has been military for years, but I
needed to make sure you realize that disclosing information to someone
outside of this base is not only dangerous to yourself, but to the
person you tell. The things you see and hear in this complex stay in
this complex."

"I understand sir"

 "Good."

   They left the jeep on the platform, and boarded a small boat docked
beside it. As they crossed the lake, Joshua asked why the water was red.

"That is not water" doctor Bennington told him, "it's a fluid that we
use to keep Unit 04 in Cryo-stasis when we are doing construction, but
don't worry, it is harmless to humans."

"Why is there so much of it? What's a Unit 04?"

"The answer to your question is through that door" she told him as they
reached another dock. The dock was built into a steel tower that rose
out of the liquid. It was segmented, and appeared as if it could
separate. Looming out of the liquid and going into the slab was a large
gray and black shape that looked like a mechanical joint. Above, Josh
could see a series of tracks and equipment, but he could not guess what
they could be for. They led him to a doorway built into the tower.
Inside it was dark, and he held tightly to a rail that he found just
moments before the door was closed. As the door sealed shut, darkness
enveloped them.

"Is there a light in he-" he began to ask as the room lights burst to
life.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, he found himself looking into the
face of a giant.

 Speechlessly he took a step back, and was steadied by Commander Essex
before he could back over the other rail. Taking a second look he saw
that he was partially mistaken. The face before him was indeed enormous,
it had to be at least twenty feet tall possibly taller. However it was
clearly not alive. Two cold glass eyes stared endlessly out across the
water. Its face was a cold mask of gray metal with a pronounced chin and
enormous teeth. At its throat and eyes there was a crimson coloring. The
rest was either gray or black. It was equally fascinating and
horrifying.

"What is it?" Joshua asked quietly.

"This is Evangelion Unit 04" Doctor Bennington told him " it is an
cybernetic war machine we have created to defend ourselves from our
enemy."

"You mean...this is what you brought me here for? You want me to pilot
this?"

"Yes, you will be one of the prospective candidates."

  Joshua looked at the doctor, and at the other two men, then at the
enormous face and head rising out of the red liquid. A moment passed,
then Captain Wright kneeled down so that he was face to face with Joshua

"Will you do it?" he asked earnestly.

   Josh stepped up to the rail. Looking down, he could see the lights of
construction crews hard at work beneath the surface of the lake. He
looked back at the Unit 04's face, then turned to the three with a
growing smile.

"Are you kidding?" he said quickly and excitedly, "Of course I will!"

--------

"Do you have any idea how risky that was?" Doctor Bennington asked
Captain Wright in the conference that night. " What if he had said
`no'?"

" You mean like the third child did? The Sisters said that there was
almost no chance of that."

  Commander Essex sat back in his chair absently rolling an unlit cigar
between his fingers. Looking down the table at the captain he spoke.
"For the moment, I share the same concern as the doctor Ben, we are
following a strict timeframe, and I don't like us taking chances like
you did."

"It wasn't a chance, I consulted the Sisters before we went out to pick
him up, and they said that he would have agreed to pilot it regardless.
We have thirteen possible pilots now and you still haven't realized that
we are not in the same situation as Ikari was with the third child.
First off, his father and he have a stable relationship, the boy's dad
told him to come here and follow orders. Second, we didn't shove him
into the pilot seat like they did with Ikari. Third, and possibly most
importantly, American culture is still entertainment driven, The third
child grew up on the equivalent of a farm, he did not have the access to
pop-culture that most children receive."

"What has that got to do with anything?" the doctor asked

"Simple, giant robots are a common theme in children's animation, young
Lexington was already initiated to the concept before he got all of his
adult teeth. He is just as eager to pilot as the second child was. "

"I believe I understand" Bennington said, "but I still think it was a
foolish risk to actually ask him if he wanted to pilot. We are supposed
to give orders here not ask opinions first."

"Your objection is understandable and noted Doctor" Essex told her "but
under the circumstances we did need to keep the boy's introduction to
Eva as stress free as we could, and Captain Wright made the right
decision. Now I need to remind all of you that after Lexington's
briefing I will be out of the country for several days to attend this
silly "Jet Alone" presentation as the American military representative.
While I am gone you are under orders to make sure the boy settles into
his role and relaxes. I also want him fully briefed on the capabilities
and dangers of piloting the Eva; I refuse to make the same mistakes the
first branch made when they took on the 3rd Angel."
"You all have your orders, this meeting is adjourned"

--------------

   It had taken a long time for Joshua to get to sleep. They had
escorted him to the apartment he and his guardian would be sharing. It
was a two-bedroom setup with a separate kitchen and dining room. After
he had unpacked his few belongings he had gone to bed. Unfortunately, he
had been far to excited to relax. He was going to be a pilot of a mech!
Just like in his grandfather's old TV series collection! He wondered if
the Eva could transform... he wondered if he would pass the tests...
eventually his eyelids grew heavy, and as he drifted off to sleep, his
hand closed on the dogtags his father had given him just before he had
left home. He thought of the day they were placed in his care.
-------

"These were your great grandfathers"

  They were standing at the top of a mountain not too far from a ski
lift. Normally at that time of the season, the peak would be covered
with snow, and skiers would be making use of it, but since second
impact, the seasons had been thrown off and no snow had fallen in three
years.
    Joshua's father smiled as he took the dogtags off of his neck, and
slipped them over Josh's head.

" My dad gave them to me the day I joined up with the army. He told me
that they had saved his fathers life once, and that he had worn them
ever since."

Josh looked down at the tags. There was an indention in the metal on
both of them; one dent was deeper than the other was.

"He told me how that happened when he gave them to me. When your great
grandfather was in a war, an assassin pulled out a small hand sized gun,
and tried to shoot his commanding officer, he jumped and tried to pull
the gun away, but while they were struggling, the weapon went off. The
bullet passed through a briefcase, and then somehow his tags here caught
the bullet. Dad and granddad always told me that if the tags hadn't been
so close against his chest, or if the weapon had been a higher caliber,
he wouldn't have made it. I never could figure out if they were telling
the truth, or if it was just a story to make me proud of my granddad,
but he wanted me to give these to you if you ever became military."

That had been seven days ago and it had been the last time he had seen
his father.

    He did not know that it would be the last time he would ever see
him.

--------

   The morning came quickly, and Joshua was up at what he assumed was
daybreak, although the lack of windows in the underground base made it
difficult to tell. He was just stepping out of the shower when he heard
the doorbell ring. Quickly wrapping a towel around himself, he hurried
to the door to see who was there. The door of the apartment slid open,
and he was pushed backwards by a stack of boxes. From behind the stack,
a panicked female voice shouted warnings.

"'Scuse me, pardon me, sorry, outta the way!"

   Trying to keep his balance, and remove himself from the path of the
oncoming boxes, he turned to the side. Gripping the wall, he sucked in
his stomach, and tried to keep the now precarious hold that he had on
his towel. As the juggernaut of boxes passed, he saw the person
responsible for nearly running him over. She was in her mid twenties,
tall, and had short blond hair.

    When she saw him clinging to the wall, she stopped the dolly that
the boxes were resting on and smiled, apparently unaware that doing so
effectively trapped him against the wall.

     Under ordinary circumstances, Josh would have swooned at her. She
was attractive, well shaped, and had a dazzling smile. However being
trapped half-naked against a wall with a girl present prevented the
circumstances from being even remotely ordinary.

  "Hi!" she said in a cheerful voice, " you must be Josh?"

She started to reach out to shake his hand, (something he dreaded, as it
was his right hand holding the towel) but as she did so, the boxes began
to tilt requiring her to put that hand to work holding the stack steady.
(Josh breathed a sigh of relief at this)

  "Yes," he said, "that's me... who are you?"

  "I'm Bethany Dakota, the Commander arranged for me to stay on as your
guardian. I'm also the teacher for most of the military brats on the
base. Nice to meet you."

   "Nice to meet you as well" Josh said returning her smile, " by the
way, I'm a little trapped here..." he nodded at the boxes pressing him
against the wall.
   Her eyes widened as she realized her error.

"Oh m'God! I'm sorry! Let me get this out of here and into the living
room."

 She pushed the load forward and away from him. Unfortunately, in her
zeal to unpin him a bolt off of the dolly caught a loose strand of
material from the towel and Josh suddenly found himself standing there
without apparel.
     As Bethany set her load down in the living area, she noticed
something hanging off of her dolly. Picking it up, she heard a door slam
loudly down the hall, and it was then that she realized what was hanging
there.

 "Whoops..."

   Five minutes later a more clothed Joshua came out of his room to find
that Bethany had already unpacked, and had begun to re-decorate the
apartment.

 "Sorry, just couldn't leave this dingy room stay so...dingy" she said,
still a bubbly as before.

    Wondering if she was always like this, he told her it wasn't a
problem.

 "If I hadn't been so tired when they dropped me off, I might have done
some cleaning," he told her "it's pretty much as I found it."

  "Well I'll have this place sparkly in no time." she told him smiling
again.

    "Ok...so, you said you teach here?"

  "Sorta/kinda. See a lot of the people who work here have kids, and
they brought them along cuz of all the big nasty that's going on out
there since Second Impact. They wanted them to have something of an
education, so I got the gig, and since they started the Eva project they
have a bunch of pilots in training that I'm in charge of, cool huh?"

  "I guess, I never considered that there was gonna be school... but I
guess it will be nice to have some other people my age around."

    "Yep, we have about eleven in the class... well that's not counting
the commander's rug rat who never bothers to show up without being
dragged in."

   "You mean Commander Essex has a kid?"

 "Yeah, she's somewhere around your age, actually all of `em are your
age, but she seems to have more hellcat in her than the whole class put
together."

  "Wow"

"Yeah, the rest of `em can be a handful too, the boys are kinda
outnumbered...and all the gals are better scrappers than any of the
boys, they usually run the show."

  "Oh..."

 "Something wrong? Afraid of dominant women perhaps?" she said with a
sly grin.
 "No, no, no nothing like that. It's just that the town where I lived
was mostly older folks who retired there or had lived there all their
lives. We had a big winter population until the snow stopped, but since
then I really haven't been around anyone my own age.... And I definitely
haven't been around any girls."

"Er... I'm not following ya squirt..."

  "I'm just saying that I might wig out is all. As much as I'm looking
forward to being around them for a change, I don't really know much
about people my own age."

   "You don't talk like a kid y'know?"

  "Chalk it up to growing up around geriatrics, you tend to mimic the
speech patterns surrounding you after awhile." privately he noted that
she didn't talk much like an adult.

  "Well I think that's cool. Your first day of class is tomorrow, but I
could go ahead and give you a tour of the place if you want."

"That would be cool, I really didn't see much when they brought me in
other than the Ev... Um never mind"

"Don't worry about slipping up and talking about Unit 04. This place is
kinda weird about security, but they wouldn't stick you with someone who
you couldn't talk to about stuff."

"Oh"

------------

The facility was enormous, even more so than Josh had suspected. Not
counting the lake of red gunk that held the Eva, the underground
corridors stretched for what had to be miles in every direction, but it
was impossible to tell giving how the base was constructed.

   " `Cording to the history file they gave me, there used to be a
natural cave beneath the lakebed that the US army used for storage, and
after the 40's they started conducting top secret experiments in the
area. Somewhere in the early eighties, the place started to get too much
publicity and they moved a lot of the more classified projects to other
locations. After second impact, they started reworking a lot of the
place for the purpose of building Evas, the first two were built in
Japan, they just finished putting Unit 02 together in Germany and are
porting it to Tokeo3 via an oceanic route. I dunno where the others are
constructed other than Unit 03 is at the first American branch, its
totally need to know around here where the Evas are concerned."

   "So all that stuff you just told me is stuff I need to know?"

  "Yeah. Some of the support team for Unit 02 are going to be stopping
by here as they re-stock the fleet over on the coast, apparently someone
decided it would be a good idea to tour some of what's left of the US.
Anyhow it would look lame if one of our people didn't know anything
about the facility. Hence the info dump"

"I see, so what about the Eva itself? What am I supposed to know about
it? They really haven't told me much."

  "Well there has been a big-time news blackout from Japan, so I imagine
you wouldn't know anything... I don't know too much, but since you're in
the running to be a pilot, you do need some intelligence I suppose...
Let's go see the Doc, she can probably answer any questions you have."

--------

  They took a lift to the red lake where the Eva was kept, or as Bethany
ominously called it `The Cage'. Once inside the chamber where Unit 04
was they found Doctor Bennington in a skin diver suit exchanging a spent
air tank for a fresh one.

"Hey doc!" Bethany called as they crossed the platform in front of the
Eva's face.

 Josh wasn't sure, but he thought he saw the doctor's eyes roll beneath
her mask. It appeared that Bethany's mile-a-minute personality didn't
mesh well with everyone.

    "What is it Dakota? Lost again?" the doctor said in an annoyed tone.


  "Nope, not this time," Bethany said without missing a beat, "Josh was
asking me some stuff out of my range of expertise, and I thought you
might be able to help."

   "Well, I don't have anything pressing for another half hour, but once
the new sensor array arrives, I have to get back to work. What did you
want to know?"
   Josh thanked her for her time and got to the point.

 "As excited as I am about getting a chance to pilot something like
this" he told her, nodding to the giant head in the water, "I don't
understand why anyone would make something like this in the first place,
or a lot of somethings like this for that mater."

  Doctor Bennington nodded. "We planed to give you a full briefing
tomorrow after your classes, but I don't see the harm in giving you a
preview." She set the diving mask on the air compressor and sat down in
a chair beside it.

   "First off, just about everything you know about Second Impact is a
lie."
  Josh's eyes went wide

 "It's a hard bit of information to accept, but its true. A meteor
hitting the Antarctic did not cause second impact, despite what the
textbooks say. The full truth of what caused the catastrophe is so
classified that only the Seele council and the Commanders of each branch
of Nerv know the whole story, and I don't think all of them know as much
as they think. What I know, and am authorized to tell you is that a few
weeks before September 13, 2000 a creature that we came to call the 1st
Angel was discovered."

  "Angel?" Josh asked his face registering both shock and amazement.

" Yes, I do not pretend to understand why they chose to call it that
however. Soon after its discovery, the 2nd Angel arrived and during a
sequence of events that are not fully known, there was a great
explosion. The result was Antarctica melting almost completely, and
flooding every coastal city on the planet. We know certain things about
the Angels from our study of the first of them. We know that they are
not immortal, they can be killed. We know that our conventional weapons
are useless against them due to some type of protective field we call an
A.T. Field. We know that another A.T. Field can neutralize an A.T.
field. These are the reasons we built the Evas. In a straight forward
hand to hand fight, it has been proven that an Eva can defeat an Angel."

    "Ok.... But why me?"

  "I don't know why you specifically were selected Joshua, anymore than
I know why the Marduk institute selects anyone as a potential candidate.
I do know that only children around your age can synchronize with an
Eva."

    There was a loud tone from the PA system, and the doctor picked up
her diving gear.

 "I'm afraid I have to cut this short." she told them, "the equipment
just arrived." with that she climbed down the ladder to the red liquid
below.

-------------

      Josh spent the ride back in contemplation of what the doctor had
told him. It was a lot to accept on someone's say so, but the
non-chelaunt manner in which she had tossed the information out gave it
a bit of weight. She had spoken of these things as if they were old news
and she was bored in telling people of them.
  Angels?
  That was probably the hardest thing to accept. The idea that second
impact had been a conspiracy was barely worth worrying over. He was
riding in a tunnel that was beneath one of the most popular conspiracies
of the 20th century.
       The idea that not only had Angels caused the second impact; but
that he might be called upon to fight them was one that troubled him.
   His grandparents had practically raised him, and they had been
moderately religious. He was too young to completely understand the
Bible, but from what he could remember from Sunday school, Angels were
kind of like knights. They were supposably God's messengers and
warriors.
He remembered his grandmother telling him once that the popular pictures
of the winged people flying around the clouds was a misconception, she
had him look up every reference he could find in the bible of an angel.
He starting reading, and he was surprised to find not one reference to
wings except one passage in the old testament, and that hadn't used the
word Angel. Then again the word it had used was, according to some
groups, a type of Angel. He knew even at that age, that different groups
of people often believed completely different, and in some cases
contradictory things. To say the least it was a little confusing to sort
out.
   What that exercise had taught him if nothing else was that whatever
angels were, the common concept people had of them was open to debate.

  "You ok in there?" Bethany asked, leaning over so that they were face
to face.

  "Yeah, no....I dunno. I was just thinking, if I'm going to be fighting
Angels, am I on the right side of this?"

"Well, I don't know much about comparative theology, but I don't think
that the good guys would make an unprovoked attack on someone."

"I guess..."

"Anyhow, you need to get to bed early after dinner, your gonna have a
busy day."

-------------

   The next morning Josh woke early. He got up, showered, put on a clean
set of clothes and his jacket and went to hunt up some breakfast.
Finding nothing breakfasty in the cabinets, he looked around the
refrigerator for something he could pass off for food. He settled for
scrambled eggs and toast. He had just sat down to eat when he heard a
harried yell coming from Bethany's room. Looking at the clock, he saw
they had just under an hour to get to the classroom. Apparently she had
overslept. Figuring that it would take her a few minutes to shower and
dress, he finished his breakfast. When she finally burst from her room
in a panicked rush, he was waiting by the door with bag in hand.
      The tramline ran in a spiraling loop around the underground
facilities. There were over a dozen stops on the rail, and it seemed
that each one took much too long for Bethany Dakota. She paced back and
forth along the cab, and several times almost fell over when the car
began to move again. The pacing was coupled with a constant chant of
"come on come on come on."
 Joshua would have laughed, except that he had the distinct impression
that so much as a chuckle would result in a swift smack on the head.
     The tram finally arrived at their stop, and grabbing Josh's sleeve,
Bethany broke into a run for the classroom. Twice they almost mowed over
scientist on their way to do scientific things, and once they were
almost crushed in a closing blast door. (Josh privately wondered why
such a remote and inaccessible facility would need blast doors, let
alone the double sets that seemed to be all over the place.) Finally,
with ten whole seconds to spare, they reached their destination.
     Letting go of his sleeve, Bethany checked the makeup she had
applied in the tram, straightened her clothes, and told Josh to wait a
few seconds before entering.

"Once I call you in, stand by your name on the chalkboard and say hello
to the class. Ready? Good."
    With that she opened the door and walked in.

   When the door opened he heard the murmuring that normally filled a
classroom when the teacher was gone. As Bethany stepped into the
classroom, it ended immediately.

  "Morning everyone... strike that, Essex isn't here again, Morning
almost everyone!"

Through a slit in the doorway he saw her walk over to her desk and sit
on its corner.

"We have a new student in today, come on in Josh."

   He stepped into the room. Eleven sets of eyes were focused on him; it
was a bit disconcerting. As per his instructions, he looked to where his
name was written on the chalkboard, stood beside it, and turned to face
the crowd.

 "Hello, my name is Joshua Lexington." he told them. "You can call me
Josh for short if you prefer." he added.

  "So Josh for short! S'it true that your `living' with teach?" asked
one of the guys in the back loudly, the implication unmistakably crude.

"That's enough Paul!" yelled one of the girls up front "learn some
respect already!"

"I know lots of respect Debbie," Pete replied with a grin "I just don't
use any. Its no fun."

   A shouting match erupted between the two, and Bethany had to step
between them.

"Chill already, your making yourselves look like spazoids in front of a
new guy."

  Both looked up at Josh, then around the room where the rest of the
class was snickering, then turned deep red and sat back down.

"Ok, now that we're quiet, lets catch up on chapter three while we see
how long it takes for the spooks to find Essex. Josh, sit over there
beside Deborah."

  He quickly realized that she was referring to the girl up front who
had been arguing with the guy in the back row. He sat down and she let
him read off of her laptop (it would be the next day before his would be
ready) fifteen minutes into class the door opened and two people came
in.
    One was a tall man in a black suit. He wore black sunglasses, black
pants, a black tie and a white shirt, and didn't seem to possess any
emotion or capacity for facial expression. He was dragging the second
person behind him.
   The other new arrival was a girl. She was close to the same age as
Josh and the rest of the class, and she was pretty. Her deeply curled
dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She had a dark tan, and
was showing it off. She was wearing a tight pair of cutoffs, and a short
tank top. Finally jerking her arm away from the Man in Black, she
straightened the long sleeve shirt she was wearing over the rest of her
lack of attire and with her nose in the air, walked to her seat.

   "Nice of you to join us Ruth, your early today" this last part
Bethany said with a grin.

She thanked the Man in Black as he left and picked up a clipboard.

 "Now that we're all here," she said drawing a cold look from Ruth,
"lets make it official and do a role call."

  She looked over her list. "Lets see, ok, stand up as I call your name
so Josh can see who ya are. Diana Antietam, David Cabot, Ruth Essex,
Jeanette and Jennifer Forrestal, Joshua Lexington, Michael Leyte,
Deborah Oriskany, Rebecca Princton, James Randolph, Christopher R.
Reagan, Samantha Tarawa, and Paul B. Wood"

   Done with the introductions, they went right into class. They spent
most of the day in a geography study, learning about the new countries
that had popped up, which ones the UN had jurisdiction over, and where
the new coastlines had settled after the arctic melted. Bethany turned
out to be a fairly good teacher, making each topic somewhat interesting
no mater how dreary Josh might have considered it before, and cracking
jokes as she went. It was obvious by lunchtime that she was well like
among the students.

----------

"So you lived in the Rockies?" Christopher wanted to know.
 The class ate lunch in one of the hangers on the surface. They had been
let up there on the condition that they stay under cover and behave. Two
tables had been set up for them to sit at, along with a buffet table.
Out of the twelve students that were in the class with Josh, ten were
there, Michael had been taken to the lab for some tests, and Ruth had
disappeared (Bethany wasn't worried, Ruth apparently only ditched class
once a week

"Yeah," Josh answered "with my dad in the Navy, and my mom gone, I was
staying with my grand folks in Idaho Springs. It used to be a popular
place for skiers to stay before the seasons got messed up."

  "Musta sucked, all those mountains and no snow." commented Paul.

 "Not really, if you like to climb or hike, there's tons of stuff to
do."

"So when did you get tagged for the old `turn n' cough circuit." James
asked. Seeing Josh's blank stare, he explained.

  "Everyone in the class is a potential candidate to pilot the bucket of
bolts downstairs, and they gotta run about a thousand tests on you to
find out if you can even make the thing work."

"Sounds wild, I haven had any tests yet though. I just got here
yesterday," Josh said.

"Have you seen it yet?" Deborah asked

 "They showed it to me the other day... It's a bit creepy with the big
teeth and all."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit, it would be totally cool to pilot it."

Josh grinned "beyond cool."

  "So what did you think of Essex?" Paul asked cracking a grin. "We have
an on-going bet to see how long it take for her pop to finally toss her
in the brig."

 "She doesn't get in trouble for cutting class?" Josh asked.

"Naw, she knows her dad'll hush up anything she does so it doesn't
reflect on him."

Diana rolled her eyes. "Not only that, she keeps telling everyone that
Commander Essex is going to make sure she pilots the Eva."

This surprised Josh.

"That doesn't make sense, if she were such a shoe-in, they wouldn't need
all of us."

  Paul grinned at that
"My dads in the PR dept, he told me that the Japanese Branch of Nerv is
under criticism for their Commander putting his own son in their Unit
01, I doubt Essex would pull anything like that."

  "If she is telling the truth," Josh commented, "we might just be a
smoke screen so that he can show he followed procedure in selecting the
pilot."

"What procedure?" Paul shot back. "No one knows where they found the
first child. The Germans found the second child when she was like four
or something, and as I said, the third child was brought in at the last
minute to open up a case of whoopass on the Angel that was trouncing
Tokeo3. If there is a procedure to finding a pilot, it hasn't been used
so far."

"How do you know all this crap Paul?" Diana asked, "your pop isn't that
high up."

"On the contrary my dear," he said with a wink and a smile, " Public
Relations people have their fingers in all the biggest pies in Nerv,
that way none of their wild lies come too close to the wild truth.
Fortunately for me, my dad isn't as creative with his passwords as he is
with his press releases."

--------

Later that day, Bethany brought him down to the lab for his briefing.
Commander Essex, Captain Wright, and Doctor Bennington were all present.

Commander Essex opened the meeting.

 "I am leaving tomorrow to attend a meeting in Japan for a few weeks.
During that time the support group of Unit 02 will be visiting. While
they are here, be as courteous and helpful as you are able. When I
return we should be close to being ready to proceed with the activation
tests, and after that, if your test results are good enough you will
begin your training in earnest. In the meantime, we will school you on
the makeup and operation procedures of the Eva. Your show doctor."

   Doctor Bennington stood up.
  "First off, the Eva series is controlled by a neural link between it
and the pilot, these sensors transmit mental commands to the Eva." she
took out what looked somewhat like a pair of hair clips connected by a
curved band of plastic. She handed it to Josh. "While piloting the Eva
you will wear this with the two sensors just above your forehead. Josh
slipped it on with the band around the back of his head and the two
sensors up front.

 "Yes like that." the doctor told him. He removed the sensors and the
lecture continued.

 "The pilot also wears a specially designed suit to increase the
effectiveness of the transmission of neural impulses between Eva and
pilot. We call this the Plugsuit, it will be your uniform as a pilot
should you be selected."

She set a package down next to the hair clips. Inside the clear plastic
packaging, was a folded article of what looked like clothing. Josh
looked around at the four other people in the room.

"Am I supposed to put this on now?"

 "No, try it on once you get home. The Plugsuit is made of a synthetic
material that is comfortable, and resilient. Once you slip the suit on,
pressing the left wrist switch will activate the suit's air pumps, and
it will conform to your body. It will protect you from heat, cold and
even vacuum if necessary. There will be several stocked in your locker
close to the cage."

   "We are also developing a helmet to accompany the suit, but that
still has a few weeks left to go before we have a working model."

   She pressed a switch and a holographic display lit up just above the
table. It showed the back of the Eva and a thin white cylinder emerging
from the back of its neck. The image enlarged and focussed on the
cylinder.

 "This is the entry plug" the doctor told him.

As she spoke the image zoomed in further to show a cutaway of the
inside.

   "It is the pilot compartment of the Eva. The pilot sits inside, and
the Plug is filled with a substance we call LCL."

 The display showed a yellow liquid filling the image of the Entry Plug.

"LCL is fully breathable, your lungs can take the oxygen it needs
directly from the liquid. It also helps to facilitate the body impulses
between pilot and Eva."

  Josh raised his hand

 "Yes?" doctor Bennington asked, pausing the holographic system for a
moment.

 "You mean I'll be breathing water?"

   "Not exactly, LCL is a liquid, but it is much lighter in composition
than water, in fact if you were to pour water into a container of LCL
the water would sink to the bottom as if the LCL were not there. Other
than a slight amount of discomfort once you exit the Eva and refill your
lungs with air, you won't even notice it."
 " While in the Entry plug, the Eva will pick up your mental commands
and translate them into its movements. The hand controls are there to
both help the pilot visualize the Eva's hand actions and to fire
weaponry. The plug is equipped with a series of liquid crystal display
screens and a regulated sound system."

She pulled out a pointer and indicated a small read out on one of the
screens.

 "This display will show your remaining power. Normally the Eva runs on
electrical power supplied through an Umbilical cable-"

 "Or as most of us tend to think of it: an over-sized extension cord."
Captain Wright piped in with a grin.

  The doctor rolled her eyes and continued. "If this power supply is
removed or severed, the Eva automatically switches to an internal
battery that has up to five minutes of backup power in full activity
mode. This can be stretched, but somewhere around 15 hours is the
longest a pilot can survive without a direct feed. We are currently
working on alternative power supplies, but until then, this is the best
we have."

     When the Doctor was finished, Captain Wright told Josh to direct
any questions he had to him. And with that, the meeting was adjourned.

------------

After the meeting, Captain Wright walked Joshua and Bethany back to
their apartment. When they reached the room, Bethany dismissed herself
saying that she had to make a run to the research department for the
next day's class.

"So what do you think of your classmates Josh?" he asked once they were
inside.

" Well, I haven't had a chance to meet everyone but the ones I had lunch
with today seemed nice"

"Well they're a good bunch of kids, I'm glad to see you getting along.
Did you get a chance to meet Ruth?"

  "No, she took off as soon as Miss Dakota let us out, she didn't seem
very sociable."

 "She doesn't like being made to go to class much, but she can be nice
if you take the time to get to know her."

 He sat down on the couch. "So did you have any further questions Josh?
Anything we didn't cover?"

"Well I told Miss Dakota this earlier, I do have some reservations about
fighting Angels....  It kind of feels like we're fighting the good
guys."

   "Not these Angels Josh. The bigwigs in charge decided to call `em
that, actually come to think of it, they call them Shito at the Japanese
branch, but from what I've seen, they don't seem to be here to help us.
The first couple we encountered blew up Antarctica, and the next one
tore half of Tokeo3 to shreds before they could get the Eva deployed. We
are under attack and we're fighting back, that's about the long and
short of it."

"It just doesn't seem right somehow."

  "Well, Ill get some stock footage from the archives and show you what
happened in Tokeo3, that should convince you if nothing else will."

 "Ok... um..."

"Something else?"

"Yeah, is there any chance I could go for a walk topside some night?
Having lunch up there is great, but having no windows anywhere is a bit
strange for me."
"Well most of the surrounding area has heat and proximity sensors tucked
away under every rock...we shouldn't have trouble tracking you so I'll
check with security and let you know when they clear the request.
Shouldn't take but a day or so."

"Thanks"

"No problem, we don't want anyone going stir crazy before they get into
an Eva." the Captain said as he got up and headed to the door.

 "Oh, one more thing... be careful about volunteering information to
anyone outside your training class, some of what you learned today is
classified."

  The door closed behind him and Josh was alone in the apartment.

---------

Having nothing to do before dinner, he decided to try on his Plugsuit.
Pulling the florescent blue and pitch black suit out of its plastic
sleeve, he noticed that it was not fully smooth. There were several
points that looked like they were sewn in, but actually separate parts.
It took him a moment to figure out what they were for. The small
circular extensions on the chest and shoulders were probably used to
help seal the suit, to suck the air out or something to that effect. The
others were not immediately identifiable, but they looked as if they
were designed to attach to something.
  He went to the bath, and after a quick shower, he slipped the loose
fitting garment on. Following the earlier instructions he had been given
during the briefing, he pressed the buttons that were on the left wrist
extension of the suit. There was a soft hissing sound and he could feel
the Plugsuit conforming to his body. Looking down, he was glad to see
that the suit had been conservatively designed with a codpiece. The thin
material had bothered him a bit in that regard. At least he wouldn't be
too embarrassed walking around.
 Walking into the kitchen he poured a glass of water and was walking
back to his room to change when the door opened and Bethany came in. She
grinned at him and gave a wolf whistle, resulting in his blushing
deeply.

"Not bad Lexington, better not let the gals see you in that, you'll have
to beat `em off with a stick." This made him immediately blush, but once
he recovered he let out a chuckle, and thanked her for the complement.

 "It almost feels like its not there," he told her, " the only time I
feel anything is when I turn and I feel the latches or whatever these
are on the sides and back, if they weren't there I'd probably feel
totally naked."

  " So you're saying you like it?"

" I guess I am" he said, "it might take a bit of getting used to, but I
do kinda like it."

"Well that's good, oh by the way, I got some groceries, I noticed we
didn't have anything other than bread & water rations, or close anyway."

 "Excellent, let me change and I'll help you put them up."

---------

" Try not to move too much"

   It was several days later and they had finally called him in to start
his testing. At the moment they had him laid out in his underwear on a
table while a laser grid ran back and forth across him taking some type
of reading that he couldn't pronounce.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." he said taking a quick glance at
the different instruments pointed at him, and trying to pretend they
weren't as sharp.

     Behind the monitor Captain Wright was going over the first batch of
readings, and almost spit his coffee out. Grabbing Doctor Bennington by
the sleeve he whispered sharply

"Are these readings accurate?"

 "Yes, the Sisters are in total agreement, now don't bother me."

"But these readings are just a bit lower than the second child's were
when they first put her in for synch testing, where did they find this
kid?"

  "I don't know Ben, but keep it under a lid, the Commander doesn't want
anyone knowing about this."

 "So he read these before he left?"

" Yes, the batch you're reading at least, now keep it down, don't let
the boy hear"

  "Ok, ok, but I need to run this through Clotho to see if she can
figure it out."

"Go ahead and use Lachesis and Atropos as well, I am just as curious as
you are, simply not as loud."

    "Your wish is my ecetera, ecetera, ecetera." Benjamin said with a
grin.

 "Don't be fresh" she whispered, " and keep quiet."

----------

     "Did you get what you were looking for?" Josh asked once he had
dressed.

  The doctor paused before answering. Bethany had arrived to pick up her
charge and she didn't want to say too much, that woman had trouble
keeping her mouth shut.

 "Well, for this stage of the testing we cant tell much, but you're
initial readings were quiet good."

     This caused him to smile brightly. "That's great...but, Um, I don't
know how to tell you this, but I was thinking..." he trailed off,
suddenly nervous.

 "Go on kid'o" Benjamin said "fire away"

  "Thanks, well I was thinking that it might not be so good to make this
a race with everyone, it might make things hard on the rest of the class
if the whole thing turns into a competition. Some of them already fight
a lot."

      "He's got a point doc, way I hear it the commander's kid is
already pulling that kind of thing, might be best not to tell them how
their doing till we pick the pilot."

  "I'll take it under advisement" she said, "now if you three will
excuse me? I have a lot of work to do."

  Bethany and Joshua took off, but Ben hung back.

   "What's the deal? That was a good suggestion."

 "I don't know what you're talking about Captain."

   "I'm talking about how you brushed Josh's suggestion off, to be
honest, I was thinking along those lines myself"

    "It makes no difference who suggested it, I will not remove a vital
part of this selection protocol from the process."

    "Don't give me that load of crap Rachel, I think-"

  "It does not mater what you think Captain, I will follow the orders I
have been given."

  "Why are you always so defensive?"

  "What?"

"You could have told me you were under orders, but you had to try to
smoke screen it, that kind of mentality only makes people more curious.
You should know that better than most seeing how long you've been here."

    "I recommend you mind your own business Captain," she said as she
turned back to her work.

 Seeing that she was going to ignore him from that point he wandered out
mumbling about how good a job she was doing at proving his point.

----------

    That night Josh got the ok to go for a walk topside. He had to sign
a few documents resolving responsibility for being attacked by wild
animals, and was ordered to carry a GPD and a can of mace at all times,
but he didn't care. He was outside!
     He had always loved the outdoors. When his dad had arranged for him
to live with his grandparents in the Rockies, he had been ecstatic.
Between rock climbing, fishing in the glacier fed waters, hiking, and
just plain exploring, he had never been at a loss for something to do.
The only indoor activity he enjoyed had been watching his grandfather's
collection of old TV shows and cartoons, but that was only a minor
interest compared to the mountains. The only thing he didn't like was
how quickly it got dark.
 That wasn't the case here. With no mountains to block out the light,
once Josh had cleared the largest hill he could see from one horizon to
the other, and the sunset was every bit as glorious as the one he had
seen the day he arrived. Stretching out a blanket, he lay there watching
the stars come into view one by one.
          An hour later, just as he was about to pack up and go back,
something stepped on a twig close to where he was. He whipped out the
flashlight he had been given and swept it in the direction he heard the
sound. The light settled on a shape huddled behind a large rock not too
far away.

 "Turn that damn thing off!" Came an angry and familiar voice from the
shape.

  "Who is that?" he asked loudly.

"Shut up, and turn off the light you moron!"

  He recognized the voice now. He had only heard it in passing at lunch,
but Ruth Essex had a distinctive voice. She was obviously agitated so he
decided to do as she `asked' and turned off the light.

 "What the hell are you doing out here anyway?" she snapped as she
stepped out from behind the rock  " do you have any idea how much
trouble you just got us into?"

"Um... No, but then again I have permission for this."

"Yeah right."

"No, seriously, I asked if I could take a walk every now and again, I
hate being cooped up. What's your excuse?"

  "None of your business, newbie." she looked out across the hill and
seemed to see something

 "Damn it... Listen do as I say ok?"

 "Why?"

"Cuz I'm gonna kick your ass if you don't."

 "..."

 "S'what I thought."

  Josh looked out into the dark, and could just make up a square of
movement in the distance. As it grew closer, he saw that it was a jeep
with its lights shut off.

"Who's that?"

  "Shut up." she hissed, as she sat down next to him and hid her
backpack under the blanket, "put an arm around me, and if you even think
about trying to cop a feel; you are a dead man."

    Having been warned by his classmates about Ruth Essex's talent at
physical combat, and not wishing to become the afore-mentioned dead man,
he complied.
   Presently the jeep pulled up a dozen feet from where they sat, and a
powerful floodlight blinded them.

"Ruth Essex, come with us." demanded an athoritive voice from inside the
jeep

  "What's the damn idea?" Ruth shouted, "am I not even allowed to go
stargazing with a classmate now?"

 Josh took a deep breath, pushed back the urge to panic, and smiled as
best as he was able. Whatever Ruth was up to, he didn't like it.

   "Miss, we are under orders to return you to your quarters, why you
are out here is irrelevant."

  Ruth cursed under her breath, she seemed frightened all the sudden.
Against his better judgement, Josh made a quick decision.

 "Sir?" he said towards the blinding light, "I didn't know she wasn't
supposed to be out here, if its not too much trouble, I'll make sure she
makes it back."

Ruth looked at him out of the corner of her eye, mostly in surprise. The
two men in the jeep talked over the radio for a moment; finally one of
them spoke.

 "Very well."

   After the jeep was gone, Ruth flopped back onto the blanket and
breathed out audibly, as if she had been holding her breath during the
entire encounter. Josh looked to the hill the Jeep had disappeared over,
then back at Ruth.

  "So?" he asked

 "So what?" she said not opening an eye.

"So what were you doing out here?"

    "My business, not yours."

"You just made it mine, I'm probably gonna be grounded till I'm thirty."
he said with a sigh, "I'd like to at least know what I'm getting into
hock over"

    She sat up on her elbows, actually looking at him for the first
time. After apparently sizing him up, she shrugged.

 "It's all about a difference of opinion.  I think I should be allowed
to go to town, my dad doesn't."

 "You snuck off the base?"

 "It's easier than you think if you know all the sensor locations, and
have someone willing to give you a lift from the highway. If they hadn't
been watching your sorry ass, I would have made it back to the base with
no worries."

 "Please bear in mind that my `sorry ass' is covering for your `sorry
ass' ok?"

She grinned at that
 "That was a very sarcastic statement," she said "maybe there's hope for
you yet."

They walked back to the hanger mostly in silence. Finally Josh spoke up.

 "How long have you lived out here?"

  "Long enough to know the sensor layout, patrol schedule, exactly how
long a walk it takes to get to the nearest road, the average temperature
at night for each month, and mostly long enough to hate it."

    "That would be awhile."

"So what do you want out of this?"

  "Huh?"

"Don't play dumb Lexington, what do you want for covering for me?"

  "Look, all I wanted in the first place was to get outside once in
awhile, I covered for you because I didn't and don't think you did
anything too wrong."

  "Or so you think."

"..."

 "Oh don't get your panties in a wad, I was just buying some new
clothes, nothing like what your dirty little mind probably just came up
with."

  "Don't bet too much on what goes through my head Ruth."

"Whatever... look, thanks for what you did, ok?"

 "It was nothing, but your welcome."

 After awhile Josh spoke up again.
  "So the others tell me you're at the head of the line to be selected
as the pilot, is it true?"

  "The others don't know jack."

   "..."

 "Look, just so we're clear, I don't really want to pilot the damn
thing. The others took what I said wrong, but if what happened in Tokeo3
is any indication my dad will probably shove me in the pilot seat." Her
eyes narrowed and she spat out the last part with obvious anger "Its not
like I'm going to have a choice."

   "I'm sorry I didn't know it was such a touchy subject."

 "Anything to do with my dad is a touchy subject."

"You two don't get along?"

"He doesn't really like me much, he wanted a boy, and I don't think
really ever forgave mom for being white either."

"I'm sorry."

 "Don't be, he ignores me as long as I don't blow anything up. Actually
I take that back. I don't think it has anything to do with my mom, the
whole keeping me on base thing is mostly for appearances. Probably
worried that I might `reflect badly' on him or something"

-----------

 He almost got into trouble. Captain Wright had him come up to his
office and spent thirty minutes lecturing him on security and protocol.
Finally he paused.

 "I'm not going to bust you for anything Josh, relax. If the Commander
had been here, he might have chewed you up though; he is pretty
protective of his daughter. You might do well to remember that."

"Yes sir."

 "Stop being so meek kid, you didn't screw up too bad."

"Yes sir." Josh said a bit brighter.

 "Ok, the other reason I wanted to see you is this; the support group
for Unit 02 arrives in about an hour, and I'm going to arrange a chance
for the front runners in the testing to meet the second child."

  "Front runners?"

"Yeah, the Doc is still using the carrot and the stick to try to get you
guys to work harder in the tests, don't ask me why."

  "Oh...."

 "The point I'm trying to make is that your one of the front runners
kid."

  Josh sat up with a start.

"Congratulations by the way. It looks like you Ruth, Chris, the twins
and Deborah are going to get to meet Nerv's golden child."

  "I don't know what to say, but thank you."

 "No need to thank me kid, your the one who made the cut. Now be sure to
be ready by 0900."

------------

"You look awful pleased with yourself."

  Josh had returned to his apartment in something of a daze. He was
barely containing his excitement. When they had first brought him in and
shown him the Eva, he had been ecstatic, but that had been dampened when
he found out about the other twelve candidates. He had suggested that
the doctor keep the results to herself mostly because he was afraid of
not making the cut, not being good enough. His idea was that even if he
didn't know how bad he was doing until the end, it wouldn't hurt as bad.
He had been at the bottom of the social ladder once, and it had done
nothing but hurt. He honestly hadn't had high expectations for getting
the appointment as pilot... To find out that he was one of the top
candidates was a bit of a shock. Hence the loopy grin he wore.

  "So spill, I'm guessing that they either didn't chew ya out, or you're
in shock cuz they chewed ya out to bad.... Which is it?"

    "I'm one of the top six in the class..."

"Well congratulations squirt! We gotta have a party later, but for now,
shake it off and get ready, the crew for Unit 02 is going to get here in
just under an hour."

----------

Forty-five minutes later he and the five others were taken up to the
main hanger, where along with other high-ranking members of the Nerv
second branch, and Miss Dakota (she was there to wrangle the children).
Captain Wright spent the last ten minutes whipping them up into
formation. He had finally accomplished this as the plane landed.

  "Ok everyone, make an effort to look professional ok? Lets do the
commander right on this."

The plane slowed, and taxied into the hanger. As it came to a stop, the
ground crew got to work, pulling up the stairs, and checking various
parts for wear and tear.
     Once the stairs were in place, the door opened, and people began
filing out of the plane. Two in particular caught Josh's eye.
 The first was a man in his mid to late twenties; he had long brown hair
tied back into a ponytail. He wore an un-tucked blue shirt, and didn't
appear to have shaved in a day or so. Josh would have overlooked this
man, were it not for the young girl hanging off his arm.
   She looked to be about Josh and the others age, with bright red hair,
and excited look on her face. She wore a yellow sundress, and as they
came closer, he noticed that she was also wearing what appeared to be
the same head sensors that they had shown him with the Plugsuit at his
briefing.

  "That must be the second child," he thought.

The group from the plane made their way forward, and the scruffy fellow
stepped up to shake hands with Captain Wright.

  "Mr. Kaji"

 "Commander Wright."

"It is a pleasure to meet at last, I have heard a great deal about you."

  "I categorically deny everything Captain, it was my evil twin."

"Well remind me to buy you a drink later, and you can tell me which
categories those are, for now let's get everyone introduced."

 The members of the support team were mostly scientists and technicians,
it was the pilot of Unit 02 that everyone wanted to meet, and Captain
Wright saved her for last (Josh suspected it for dramatic tension)

"Children, I would like you all to meet Miss Asuka Langley Soryu, the
second Child and the designated Pilot of Evangelion Unit 02. Miss
Soryu's English is a bit rusty, so please don't rush her with your
questions later"

 Bethany Dakota stepped forward and smiled then shocked most of the
people there by speaking in perfect German

 "Guten Morgen Fraulein Soyru, Mein Name ist Bethany Dakota, Heißen Sie
willkommen zu zweitem Zweig Nervs"

 Asuka's face lit up, and she responded in rapid-fire German, Josh
assumed it was a thank you, but he didn't speak German so he didn't
know.
 Josh noticed something at that point. When Asuka had gravitated over
toward him and his classmates, the support team seemed... Relieved.
  He had to abandon that line of thought, because Bethany had begun to
introduce them to the second child. She went down the line starting with
Ruth, and ending with him.

  "Und dies ist Joshua Lexington"

  "Nice to meet you miss," he said politely.

 The man Commander Wright had addressed as Mr. Kaji said something over
his shoulder to Asuka in what Joshua recognized as Japanese. She started
to argue, but he was already waving as he, several of the others left
with Commander Wright and Doctor Bennington, leaving Asuka standing with
him and the others, pouting.
  Josh's Japanese was spotty, he had been learning at the request of his
father for two years now, what he gathered from the exchange was that
Mr. Kaji wanted Auska to spend some time with him and his class, she was
apparently unthrilled at the prospect
 That and the fact she had refereed to him and his peers with a phrase
that translated as "babies" caused his own excitement about meeting the
second child to drain.
  What really bothered him was that Ruth looked furious.

----------

  They made it through most of the day without incident, although
several times Ruth and Asuka nearly came to blows. It would start with
Asuka commenting on how primitive the facilities were as compared to the
German Branch. This would anger Ruth who would begin making non too
subtle comments on Asuka's complexion and weight. How they made it to
lunch without a fight was a mystery that would stand until the end of
the world.
   Even sitting at separate tables Josh could still feel the hostility
between the two. It was like watching two powerful storm fronts that
were on a collision course. He finally got tired of watching the two
give each other dirty looks and went downstairs to pick up his SDAT
player.
      Stepping into this apartment, he heard voices coming from the
living room. Remembering that he shared the apartment, and that his
guardian was more than old enough to date, he cleared his throat and
waited a moment before walking in. When he did enter he was a bit
surprised to find Bethany having a drink with Mr. Kaji. They greeted him
as he walked in and Kaji stood to shake his hand.

 "You must be Mr. Lexington," he said in perfect English, "Beth was
telling me all about you, and I must say that your test results have us
all hopeful for you."

   Josh blushed deeply.
 "Thank you sir, but there are still five others in the running."

 "Now, Now, don't be so modest Joshua. You have a talent, and even if
you are not chosen to pilot, you will almost defiantly be one of the top
reserves. Also lets not forget that you still have a shot at one of the
other Evas in production, so keep your chin up."

  "Thank you sir, I've been doing my best."

   "So whatcha doing down here?" Beth asked, "thought you all were
having lunch upstairs."

 "We are, but I wanted to run down and grab some tunes, Dave says he can
hook my SDAT up to the PA speakers."

   "Are Ruth and Asuka still giving each other the evil eye?"

 "I'm afraid so."

  Kaji let out a laugh. "Joshua, how familiar are you with the kanji
dictionary?"

 "Not very familiar sir, I'm just now getting a handle on speaking
Japanese, but I still use an English translation book."

  "Its a lovely delicate art form as well as the reading language of a
great deal of Asia, but it is very difficult to learn because of the
subtitles between some of the figures. The one in particular that I'm
thinking of is the ideogram that we use for the word `trouble'. The
figure is a story within itself that basically translates as `two women
under one roof'. Now before Beth can attack me with that pillow in her
hand, let me explain my point. Both Ruth and Asuka are very willful
girls with a great deal of pride. I do not know Ruth well enough to
guess, but I would say that if she's anything like Asuka, then she feels
threatened by someone so similar to herself who is already a pilot. The
pressure the thirteen of you are under is incredible, and I would not be
surprised if a fight does break out before we leave tonight. But Asuka
also knows that I disapprove of fighting over trivial things, I doubt
she will start whatever happens."

     "I don't understand...you're telling me it's almost certain that
they are going to get into a fight?"

  "I would say that it is a safe bet."

 "... I need to go, it was nice talking with you Mr. Kaji."

  They said goodbye and Josh hurried back to the surface to rejoin the
group.

---------

   Kaji's prediction was right on the money. Not seven minutes after
Josh returned to where the others were eating, Asuka and Ruth threw down
the gauntlet. He had just grabbed a soda when he heard the two begin to
argue for the umpteenth time. Asuka's English was course, and her German
accent was pronounced, but she was able to make her opinion quite clear.
From what Josh caught, it started with Asuka telling Ruth that she
shouldn't worry too much about the tests,

"You not need skill if father is commander." She said.

 This led to an all out insult match with Ruth telling Asuka that she
was a skank. (Her proof of this was her accusation that the second child
was wearing no knickers under the sundress, but how she discovered this
was something that Josh didn't care to know). He wasn't sure if Asuka
knew what the word skank meant, he didn't know himself, but the
intention and implication was obvious. Recoiling as if she had been
slapped, Asuka started cursing in Japanese. To her shock, Ruth switched
from English to Japanese as fluid as water and the two began insulting
one another without a language barrier.
     As the argument grew louder and louder, Josh prepared to disobey
one of his father's pet sayings.

"The only thing you should ever do during a catfight is enjoy the show"

    As Josh edged closer to the arguing girls, another of Kaji's
predictions came true as Ruth reared back and slapped Asuka in the face,
leaving a red hand shape on the second child's pale skin. This was the
big cue and Asuka took it almost with glee. The hair pulling began and
the table holding the food was wreaked within seconds. Sensing an even
bigger disaster on the horizon if this fighting continued, Josh jumped
in and grabbed Ruth behind the arms, wresting her from Asuka's grip. At
the same time the twins each took hold of one of Asuka's arms. It wasn't
easy to hold onto Ruth. She was, as Beth had warned him, a wildcat. It
was made even more difficult by the food that covered both her and the
German pilot. Three times she nearly slipped his grip, and by the time
the Men in Black arrived, his arms not only had scratches, but also
teeth marks. Later as a medic applied bandages and Neosporin, he decided
that he should have followed his father's advice.

---------

An hour later he was sitting outside the Captain's office where Asuka
and Ruth were getting chewed out. He had tried to tell himself that he
was there in case the Captain needed to talk to someone who had seen
what happened. Actually the truth was he really didn't need to be there,
and he knew that, but he felt strangely responsible for not saying
something when he returned to the hanger. He was pondering this when
Kaji came into the waiting room. He sat down beside Joshua and grinned.
Not in the mood for the cryptic nature of Kaji's conversations, Joshua
favored him with a sour look.

  "So why did you do it?" Josh asked.

  "Why did I do what?"

   "Why did you let it happen?"

  "I'm not sure exactly what incident you're referring to Joshua, your
question has me at a loss"

  "Mr. Kaji I know your older than I am, and have a very important job
with Nerv, but would you please quit playing around with me and tell me
why you let Asuka and Ruth start that fight? You could have stopped it,
you knew it was going to happen. I don't understand."

    Kaji sat there for several moments without answering. Just when Josh
was thinking that he wouldn't say anything at all, he began to speak.

   "I know that this is going to make little sense to you Joshua, but
for Asuka it would have been better if you had let the fight finish.
Sounds insane? Consider this; Asuka is at her core a very insecure
little girl. Something bad happened to her as a child, something I am
not at liberty to reveal to you. She is heading into a situation that is
going to try the small amount of patience that she has. I was hoping
that the conflict that you stopped would allow her to if nothing else
vent some of the stress she has built up inside her. But this in itself
is not the only reason. I do not have time to go into them all, but let
me give you a small hint here, Asuka and Ruth perceived each other to be
threats. Now that they have had a chance to cool off, I will wager that
you will see a change in that when they come out of that room."

   Joshua gave Kaji a sidelong glance then shook his head.

"Mr. Kaji, I've only known you for a few hours, but one thing I've
learned is not to bet against you, t'wouldn't be healthy."

   Kaji just smiled.

---------

   Fifteen minutes later the door to Wright's office opened and both
girls came out. Whatever Josh had expected to happen, he had not
expected them to be giggling together.
Both speaking in Japanese they walked out into the hall arm in arm, as
Kaji and Josh stood and looked on in amusement and surprise,
respectively. They waved as they saw the men, then whispered something
to one another as they left the hall still laughing together.

   "..."

 "You're at a bit of a loss to understand it I imagine."

  "You might say that."

 "Women are a mystery that may never be solved. Young girls, while
almost as mysterious, at least can be partially understood, but not
explained. Joshua, the closest thing to an explanation I can give you is
that they were able to blow off some steam, and once they managed to
calm down, saw each other as the two sides of the coin that they are. It
is in truth much more complex than that, but that's the extent to which
I can give the answer words. I don't know how much good this will do
Asuka, her troubles run deep. But it will help, she will be the fraction
less hostile towards the first and third child that may make the
difference, or at least postpone the hostilities for a short while."

   "Your telling me that its a no win situation..."

  "Well yes and no, the victory will be to outlast the storm, not to
prevent it."

   "I hope you both do well in Japan Mr. Kaji, this has been a strange
meeting, but I am glad to have had the chance."

  "No Joshua, the pleasure of making your aquantence has been all mine,
and I wish you luck on you future endeavors, now if you will excuse me,
I have a package to pick up before we leave for the coast."

---------

    Back in the office, Doctor Bennington and Captain Wright sat
discussing the events of the day. They both had quite opposing views on
the situation

   "Look doc, it all turned out ok, they were thick as thieves on the
way out, they just needed the little push we gave `em"

   "I do not care Benjamin, the hostility they showed earlier today
indicates a basic trait that most of the higher rating girls show for
one another. Initial distrust, and hostility. I do not like this trend
Captain, or its implications."

"Do you think it has something to do with the Eva's themselves? Your old
theory about all the Evas being female leads me to believe there is a
connection."

"In case you are forgetting Captain that was before we began assembling
Unit 04. The Eva is effectively a eunuch. No sex either way."

Well let's not forget that every single unit to date has been tested,
and programmed using women. The mental imprinting is still female."

   "We just don't have enough data, hopefully once the second and first
children meet we will have a better idea of what we're dealing with.
What I find most bodeing is that once Soyru and Essex realized that they
shared so much in common, the anger that was between them vanished
instantly. From these reports I have that Fuyutski sent, the first child
is not like anyone. I doubt that we'll see this kind of bonding between
them."

"Hmmm why didn't I get this file on Ayanami?"

  "It wasn't necessary at the time to release the file to you."

  "Damnit Rachel, don't give me that, I can not properly prepare this
kid for piloting that thing unless I have all the information, not some
of it, all of it."

"I do not make these policies Captain, I merely follow them, and you
were already far to engulfed in the data from the 5th Angel to bother
you with yet another stack of paper."

    "Listen doc, I know that you've been working here longer than I have
and that you outrank me. But do not think for a second that rank is
synomonous with intelligence. This `its classified' crap is going to get
all of us killed if you don't start playing ball and realize that there
is more at stake than a few stacks of papers, a toy robot, and a rickety
old wreck in the basement."

     He turned sharply on his heels at that and walked out.

------

 Later than night, the six of them were once more lined up in the
hanger, this time to see the support team off.
   This time, there was none of the ceremony, and less of nervousness.
Word of Asuka and Ruth making up had spread fast, and everyone was more
relaxed. The twins and Chris wished her luck and Deborah gave her a
dining catalog for Tokeo3. She and Ruth gave each other a hug and
apologized for the thirtieth time that day, she came up to Josh after
that and in broken English, thanked him for keeping her and Ruth from
hurting one another too badly. He smiled, and told her it was nothing.
They shook hands and he wished her luck.

  "Give `em hell" he told her.

As she bounded up the stairs to the plane, Josh found Kaji standing next
to him with a briefcase in hand.
 "Well that's one crisis adverted" he told Josh with a grin.

"Is she going to be ok? After what you told me...I'm worried for her."

 "Josh, she would not be capable of piloting an Eva if she was not
possessed of great inner strength and a powerful will. She will probably
make it, but I wouldn't put any money on her being in one piece when the
dust settles."

Josh's eyes widened in surprise at this, he nodded slowly, and held out
his hand to Kaji.

 "I don't pray often, but tonight I'll do it for the both of you."

 " You have a good heart Josh," Kaji said with a smile, "you'll go far."

 They shook hands and Kaji climbed the stairs to the plane. It was
backed out of the hanger, and moments later, the second child was on her
way to meet up with the pacific fleet...
And her destiny.

--------------

      The thirteen candidates all met up in the recreation room later,
eager to compare notes on the day's events. Ruth practically had to
fight off the crowd, as everyone seemed to have a question about the
second child.

 "Are you two really friends now?"

  "Are you going to write her?"

 "Is she a good fighter?"

  "Where did she get that dress?"

  The questions kept coming and Ruth did her best to answer, she finally
got a break when Paul asked if Asuka had really been a natural redhead.
This was immediately followed by every girl in the room taking a swing
at him. He weakly defended his line of questioning by pointing out that
Ruth had said that the second child wasn't wearing undies, so she
probably knew. His argument did not help in the least, and resulted in
some of the boys joining in. Finally Ruth pulled him to his feet, told
him to keep his mouth shut and let him go. He fell to a chair laughing
and at the same time nursing a bruise on his head and muttering about
the impossibility of a girl who was a quarter Japanese having red hair.
    Josh sat in a corner watching all this, but mostly thinking about
the things Kaji had told him that day about Ruth and Asuka. He set his
elbow on the arm of the chair to rest his head on his hand.
Unfortunately he had forgotten about the few dozen scratches he had on
his arms, and hissed as one on his elbow made contact with the chair.

    "You ok?"

He looked up to find Ruth standing there offering him a soda and
looking, for the first time since he had seen her in class, meek. He
nodded in thanks and took the drink as she sat down next to him. He
started to open the top, then changed his mind and held it against the
wound on his elbow.

 "I'm sorry about that," Ruth said, seeming sincerely remorseful. She
looked down at her own drink, then back up to him. "You seem to be
developing a habit of keeping me out of trouble..." she started, but
trailed off.

"Its nothing, just didn't want anyone to get hurt."

  "Yeah, but look at your arms... You didn't quite get what you wanted."

  "Maybe, but I kept you two from killing each other, I think the others
were in to much shock to move. If I hadn't jumped in who knows what
would have happened."

  "..."

 "Ruth, don't worry about it, I don't need you to repay me for
anything."

 "I..." she looked a bit hurt.

  "I didn't mean it like that." He said quickly, realizing that she
believed he was angry with her. "Look, I helped you that night on the
hill because you were in trouble. I... Damn it this is hard to say, but
chivalry aside, I also jumped in because a pretty girl needed help."

  It took a moment for her to register this. "Are you saying you have a
crush on me or something?"

  "I don't really know... last crush I had was about three years ago,
and that's a long time to remember what its like. What I'm saying
basically is that your pretty, and I like you, but I don't know you very
well. If nothing else I'd like for us to be friends, this competition
they're putting on us doesn't lend to that much."

    "I know... I guess I don't have a problem with that, but on one
condition."

  "What's that?"

 "Stop being so damn polite all the time, ok?"

   "Ill give it a try, but we're talking about eight years of
conditioned reaction, so don't expect an overnight change." he told her
as he smiled

 "Ok, look, Ill make you a deal."

 "What's that?"

 "You loosen up a bit, and Ill clean my act up a bit. Sound fair?"

"I think I can take a swing at that."

  They shook on it.



Epilogue 01
  On the cold surface of the moon not even a breeze existed to stir the
dust. Footprints from half a century before stood exactly the same as
the day they were made. On the dark side of the moon, the mysterious and
unexplored far side of the silver orb that never faced the Earth, a
giant stirred from its fifteen-year slumber. Encased in stone and held
by chains that were cast of the densest metal in existence, the creature
slowly drifted out of its sleep. Soon, soon it would be time. The wrath
would one again be unbound, and the Lilian would suffer.


From: Hotwire <hotwire1@airmail.net>
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] Moonlight Sonata (2 of 3)

(as with part one, send any CC to hotwire1@airmail.net )

Well here we are again, welcome to chapter two. The town that Josh grew
up in, Idaho Springs, does exist by the way. I have stayed there several
times during vacations. Once again, I do not own Neon Genesis
Evangelion, Gainax does, please don't sue me, I'm not making any money
off this, its just for fun. Again here is the SPOILER WARNING!!!! I deal
a bit with chairman Kiel in this chapter, if anyone knows for sure who
the guy is, let me know, cuz all I have are a bunch of theories that I
picked up along the way. Also, the whole conspiracy with Yui and Gendou
Ikari to stop Kiel was fleshed out from various theories and posts on
the Eva Mailing List. I hope you enjoy this at least as much as I did
writing it. On with the show


                                      StormFront Studios presents
                                        Neon Genesis Evangelion
                                              Moonlight Sonata
                                                 By T. L. Webb

Prelude 02

Japan 2004

In a darkened room, three people who would one day be of enormous
importance to the fate of the world sat discussing matters of
incalculable importance

"I am having a difficult time believing all of this Yui."

"Its true Jake, and what's more, we may be the only ones who can even
hope to stop it."

 "Its just so...huge, I'm not used to thinking in these scales"

 "What is important is that we make our move as soon a possible. If we
can get our own people inside, we may have a chance."

"I have to agree with you Gendou, speed is of the essence. You both will
work through the branch of Gehirn in Japan, I will use what connections
I have and carry out my part in the US. Gendou... you are going to need
someone to help, someone you trust"

"I have a candidate already selected, you may remember Professor
Fuyutski from when he was working with Yui, he is a most trustworthy
individual. Also he was been most successful in finding information that
I had thought hidden forever."

 "Very well, ever since the Valentine treaty the American military is
not what it once was, and other than two people in particular, I do not
trust anyone in my division. "

"Jacob, I know we are asking a lot, but when the time comes, you must
act swiftly, if we do not then Kiel will have what he wants, and we are
all doomed."



2nd movement
Nevada 2015

As the VTOL landed and Jacob Essex walked to the jeep that awaited his
return, he thought back to that fateful day when Yui Ikari told him of
the horrific plan that Chairman Kiel had put into motion. It would be
nothing less than the end of the wold if the old bastard succeeded.
Kiel was a legendary figure in the shadow government community. No one
seemed to know where he came from, yet he had been around for longer
than even the elders remembered. It was secretly rumored that he was the
legendary "wandering Jew" once a mere peasant who had been cursed to
walk the earth until the End of Days for spitting upon the son of God in
Biblical times. Essex doubted if this was true, but he was convinced
that Kiel was attempting to bring about Armageddon. He had seen the
results of the old man's last try.
    Kiel had ultimately caused second impact while trying to capture
Adam, the first of the Angels. Adam had been discovered during an
Antarctic excavation. Ikari had left with the biological sample and Kiel
had remained to oversee the capture of Adam. As the scientists tried to
contain the "Giant of Light" a second angel had blasted down from the
heavens to free Adam. The next sequence of events were unclear, but
apparently Adam and the 2nd Angel began to fight, and as the conflict
escalated, something enraged the 2nd Angel. The beast had let loose a
powerful destructive burst of energy that had laid waste to the entire
continent. In the aftermath, Kiel resurfaced, and the shadow government
came forward as Seele, the throne of souls. The fate of the first two
angels had remained a mystery until Ikari delivered a package to the 2nd
branch of Gehirn, claiming it was the cryogenically frozen remains of
the giant of light; Adam itself. Essex had kept the package safe and
hidden through the years, even through Gehirn's transformation into
Nerv. He had kept it until a few days ago when it was taken to the First
Branch for final regeneration. Now Essex was unsure to make of the
entire thing. The latest rumors hinted that Adam had been in Germany. If
that was the case, then what had been in the package he had held safe
for so long?
 Fuyutski had been right. Ever since Yui's death Gendou Ikari had
changed, and could no longer be fully trusted. He seemed to be operating
on his own agenda, and what that was even God might not know. And then
there were the unanswered questions that plagued the entire plan.
 Just who was Kiel? If he was truly this immortal wanderer, then it was
understandable that he would want to end the world, after almost two
mellinia a person would want peace.
  What was Ikari up to? Was he still following Yui's plan?
 What had caused the second angel to fight Adam? And was it really Adam
in the case he sent Ikari?
  Too much that he didn't know, and yet he would follow the plan that he
and the Ikaris had crafted over a decade ago, he would make sure that
mankind survived their ultimate test.

---------

   Ruth Essex was nervous.
  She had caused a lot of trouble while her father had been away, and
she knew she was in for a chew out. She had been getting into trouble
for as long as she could remember, and was almost used to it by now.
This time however she had screwed up in a big way. Fighting with the
legendary second child was not something that her father would take
lightly, no matter how things had turned out. So as she sat outside her
father's office, she glanced down the hall nervously and tried to keep
breathing normally. It had been several weeks since he had returned, and
that was another of the little things that angered her. He would
deliberately keep people waiting on punishment. He had done it since she
was a child, and it made the dread of what would happen even more
intense because he never forgot, merely postponed.
  As she sat kicking her feet back and forth under the chair, she
finally heard something she had been listening for. The sound of
footsteps signaled the arrival of Bethany and Joshua. Josh had promised
that she wouldn't have to face the wrath of dad without their moral
support, and he had come through. She had to admit, he was a decent
enough guy, and it would be a shame that he wouldn't get a chance to
pilot the Eva. With the activation test coming so soon, she would have
to be ready to do her best in the pilot seat.
   As Josh and Beth arrived she smiled and hugged them both.

 "Thanks for showing guys" she told them, "he's about done with his
meeting, and I should be next on his hit list."

  "It won't be that bad Ruth" Bethany told her, "you're his daughter, he
loves you."

  "I wish I could agree, but I doubt that emotionless bastard loves
anything."

"Ruth, that is no way to talk about your father."

 "It's true though, he didn't even cry when mom died in that food riot."

"Ruth, he is still your father-" Josh started to say as Ruth cut him
off.

 "I know your just trying to help Josh, but please stop. Let me get
through this my own way."

"... Ok Ruth."

 "Thanks" she told him as her father's secretary buzzed her in. "well
wish me luck"

 "Good luck" the other two said in unison as she walked into the office.

-------

  She had always hated her father's office. It was a huge room
overlooking one of the storage caverns, and was one of only six places
in the entire facility that actually had a window and something to look
at. This would have been nice if it had not been for the weird designs
etched into the ceiling and floor. She had never been able to work up
the nerve to ask what they were. She vaguely suspected there was a
religious theme, but she didn't know for sure. At any rate they creeped
her out. The only furniture in the entire room was a desk that had a
single chair. Her father was in the chair, and she would have to stand.
The entire office seemed designed to intimidate visitors.
  She walked timidly up to a few feet from the desk as her father
finished going over some papers, after a moment he looked up at her and
set the papers down.

 "You caused some trouble while I was gone young lady." He told her
calmly.

 "I know and I'm sorr-"

"One moment, Ruth your misbehavior while not something to be taken
lightly can be excused, but it makes it much harder to tell you what I
actually called you in for."

 She was confused... just what was she here for?

  "You of course remember the recent harmonics tests." It was not a
question.
  She thought back to the latest series of tests that Doctor Bennington
had given the class, they had been made put on Plugsuits and climb into
a mock Entryplug, where they were instructed to relax and clear their
minds. It had felt strange, and had been somewhat uncomfortable.

 "Yes I remember. " she said.

 "The final results are in and I am afraid that you will not be the
selected Fourth child."

    Had there been a chair, she would have fallen into it. She had been
expecting to be made pilot. Ever since the first branch's third child
was found it had seemed a safe bet. She honestly hadn't considered any
other option, it simply had not occurred to her.

    "Ruth, I want you to understand that it is in no way a result of any
behavior you have shown in our time here. The harmonics tests show that
you will be unable to synchronize with the Eva. Your other tests were
passed with flying colors, and I am proud of you for doing so well, this
is a sad ending for so much hard work."

 "But... why?"

  "Ruth one of the biggest unknowns concerning the Evangelions was why
only people of a certain age and temperament were able to synchronize
with them. When we tried to use other pilots, the Eva would either not
respond, or in a few cases, we lost the test pilots life or mind. It
appears that there is a basis for the age limit now, and we know exactly
when it is, take heart in helping us discover it. We have always
suspected this, but until now we hand nothing to confirm theory. The
instant of Second Impact is the terminator line, Ruth I'm afraid you
were born moments before that line, I am very sorry."

    By this time Ruth was in tears, and was having trouble focusing on
her surroundings. One of the greatest things she disliked about her
father was that he never left anything open for debate. She was, as
usual, left without a single argument to throw back at him.
 As she stood there, her father went down a mental checklist, and
nodded.

 "Now if you will excuse me Ruth I have a great deal of work to do, and
once again, I am sorry things didn't work out."

  With that, he went back to his papers, leaving Ruth to make her way
out. Once outside, she found Beth and Josh waiting. As she drew closer,
Beth could see the young girl's tears; she took her in her arms and held
her as Ruth really cried for the first time in almost five years.

---------

   "I hate him." She told Josh and Beth once she had calmed down.

"He is always like this, its not like he's completely cold hearted, even
when he chews you out he seems calm and a bit compassionate, but that
the most he ever shows. Just once I'd like him to actually say what's
really on his mind; tell me why I've never been good enough for him.
Just once I'd like to see him get angry, or sad or something! Its like
whatever made him human was sucked out and what was left is some damn
computer that doesn't have the whole program for emotions, but just has
enough to fake it"

   "Ruth," Bethany said gently, "he is in charge of one of the greatest
undertakings in mankind's history, he may no be able to show more
emotion. Many times men like that sometimes can't allow themselves the
luxury. I understand that the first branch's Commander Ikari is even
worse, but that's just hearsay"

 "But I'm his daughter damnit! Can't he show for once just a little bit
of love for his own daughter?"

Beth didn't know what to say to that.

 "Ruth, you told me once that you didn't want to pilot the Eva in the
first place, I would have thought you'd be relived." Josh said gently.

  "I don't, I didn't, but it still hurts Josh, to find out at the last
minute like this... you know they select the pilot in seven days right?"

 "I didn't know, I've been deliberately ignoring the progress repots"

 "You're probably the only one, the rest of us have been glued to them.
Its down to you and Debbie now, the twins washed out when they found
that the synch tests didn't work unless both were present."

   "What about Chris? I'd have thought he'd be on there too."

 "He had a weird experience with the first harmonics test and wouldn't
go back in for the second round."

  "I guess I've been out of the loop"

"It's not your fault Josh" Beth said, "I've been keeping you busy with
your homework, one of the disadvantages of living with a teacher."

"Still, I should have paid more attention. I can't believe I tuned
everything out like that."

  "Look," Ruth said softly, `its not like any of this matters, I'm not
gonna be able pilot the damn thing, and nothing changes that. Might as
well deal with it."

  Privately Josh wondered if she was as sincere as she sounded.

------

    Seven days later twelve of the prospective candidates were gathered
in the classroom, whispers shot back and forth as to which of the two
final candidates would be selected. Deborah sat with a nervous smile
beside Josh, who drifted away to the music he was listening to.
  Ruth hadn't shown up to class since she discovered she would be unable
to pilot the Eva, Bethany had called several times to the security
department, but apparently making sure the Commander's daughter attended
classes was no longer part of their duties. This bothered Josh somehow;
it was almost as if Ruth didn't matter to anyone but Beth and himself.
   The class continued to gossip right up to the bell, whereupon a
deathly silence gripped the room. All eyes turned to the door as it
opened and Doctor Bennington and Captain Wright walked in with Beth.

  "Morning everyone" Wright said cheerfully as he sat down on the edge
of Beth's desk, "I know your all excited about today's announcement, so
I'll keep this short. We are all proud of all of your work, and if it
were possible to select you all to pilot Unit 04, we would. Hopefully as
the other Units are completed you will each get your chance, until then
we ask you to be patent with any tests we are required to run. Now, that
said I turn this over to the Doc so that we can get the big announcement
over with."

   Doctor Bennington stepped forward and nodded at the room.

 "Thank you Captain. After extensive testing and review of all data
gathered, the Marduk institute has selected the pilot who has the
highest preliminary synch ratio and therefore the best chances of
piloting Unit 04, that person is... Joshua Lexington. Congratulations
kid."

   Eyes widened all around the room and Josh's jaw dropped. After a
moment of looking deeply disappointed, Deborah stood up and began to
applaud. The rest of the class soon followed her. Blushing deeply, Josh
looked around and wished Ruth had been there. He was somewhat split on
his joy. He was ecstatic at being selected, but at the same time he
wished it could have been Ruth, she seemed somehow suited to the task,
despite the fact she denied any interest.
   Sensing that he should do something besides sit there and look
surprised, he stood and bowed slightly, thanking the others as they
stepped up to congratulate him. When they had all finished, Captain
Wright called him up, and told him that he needed to meet in the
briefing room after class. Josh told him he would be there and the
Captain and Doctor left.

--------
  After class he made his way to the briefing room and sat down in the
chair marked for him. Wright was already there, as was Beth and Dr
Bennington. Not too long after he arrived, Commander Essex entered, and
after congratulating him on his appointment, they all sat and the
meeting began.

"Now that you have been selected as the fourth child Josh," the
Commander said, "there are certain things you need to know."

 The holographic display came to life, and footage began to play of a
giant creature walking through countryside. Around it dozens of VTOLs
flew like a swarm of insects. The monstrous giant was green with gray
bones sticking out of its skin where its ribs would have been had it
been human. It was humanoid shaped however, save that its bird-like gray
head was placed at the center of its chest, the beast did not seem to
have a neck whatsoever.
   As it walked, several explosions began to erupt around it as the
VTOLs opened fire.

"This footage is of the 3rd Angel's attack on Tokeo3" Captain Wright
said, "as you can see from this, all attempts to stop it with
conventional weapons failed miserably. Finally Evangelion Unit 01 was
authorized to be deployed."

    The scene on display changed to a few hours later. It was night and
the beast was deep inside the city itself. Several blocks away, a hole
opened in the ground and with a metallic screech Unit 01 erupted from
the ground. It was purple and black with neon green trimming, and a
frightening sight to behold. The only major differences between it and
Unit 04 that Josh could see beside the color scheme and chest armor was
that the Eva's head armor seemed to resemble a helmet with a single horn
on the forehead, and that the torso was slightly different.

"The first battle with the Angels was almost lost due to the pilot's
inexperience," Wright said, "the pilot himself was nearly killed and had
the Eva not gone into a berserker frenzy, I have no doubt that we would
not be here today. Since that crucial first battle the third child
Shinji Ikari has received the proper training and has grown into his
position, it was a learning experience for all of us as this was the
first time an Eva had ever been successfully activated in the first
place."

   Again the scene shifted, this time to late afternoon. A shape that
looked almost like a cobra reared up and two glowing whips shot out and
struck a building.

  "The 4th Angel was defeated comparatively easily, and due to the
tactic used we were for the first time able to study the biological make
up of these creatures. In addition, data from that angel is enabling us
to finally develop an alternative power source for the Evas."

 The scene then showed what looked to be two pyramids attached to one
another. It floated in the air above Tokeo3 and began to extend what was
later found to be a drill.

"The quick thinking of Captain Katsuragi of the First Branch saved the
day during the 5th Angel's attack, a high powered energy canon was fired
and pierced the angel, destroying its core and rendering it inert. This
was also the first sortie made using Unit 00"

The scene shifted to show the ocean and dozens of battleships
surrounding an enormous aircraft carrier.

   "The Second Child's first sortie was against the 6th Angel, and was
also the first time we ever tested the Evas underwater. Working with the
third child, who was in the Entryplug with her, they managed to play a
key role in Captain Katsuragi's plan that eventually destroyed the
Angel."

    "The most recent Angel we have encountered, the 7th, proved to be
the most difficult to date"

 The scene showed a hunched figure climbing out of the ocean. As it did
Unit 02 leaped down upon it with a violent swipe of a weapon.
 The beast was split in half.
Seconds later each half formed a separate creature and resumed
attacking. Both units 01 and 02 were defeated.

   "A M2 mine was launched at the Angel and while it regenerated,
repairs were made to Units 01 and 02. When they were back into fighting
condition a simultaneous attack was made synchronizing both Evas in a
death dance, the Angel was confused, and defeated."

      The footage paused as the Angel exploded.

   "These attacks have only grown in their complexity, and we are not
sure when they will end, the Seele council will not share that
information, all we can do is fight back and pray each battle is the
last."


Josh sat in silence. He had watched the footage with something close to
horror. The creatures that Seele called Angels were like nothing he had
ever seen before, hideous beasts that had attacked Tokeo3 without
warning or mercy. Whatever he had expected, they were not that. He still
worried about the concept of doing battle with Angels, but the merciless
fury that these creatures showed lessened this.
   Doctor Bennington stood and addressed him.

 "Unit 04 will be completely operational in less than 48 hours, at that
time we will need you to report to sub-level 22 to begin preparations
for full activation."

  "When will I be shipped to Tokeo3?" Josh asked, "if these things keep
growing stronger, they are going to need help soon."

    "Your initial training will only take a few weeks, but it will be
awhile before we send you and Unit 04. The German branch recently
finished work on a prototype power source based on the remains of the
fourth angel. Unit 04 has been selected to have it installed and tested
here at the second branch. Once the testing on that is completed, you
and Unit 04 will be dispatched to Japan to join the other Evas under the
command of Captain Misato Katsuragi."

 "So better get jumping on those language lessons kid" Captain Wright
piped in.
 Commander Essex ignored this and closed the meeting.

"If there is nothing else, consider yourself on leave until then, you
and the other candidates will be allowed a trip to town to shop or
sightsee, enjoy yourselves."

----------

           Having been cooped up in the base for months, the others were
more than excited to hear about the trip to town. Those who had been
jealous at Joshua's appointment to Pilot were set more at ease at the
treat. They were loaded in a large bus with the Nerv half fig leaf
printed on its side and Bethany drove them to Vegas. Before second
Impact, the city had been a large gambling mecha. With the horrors
following second impact, it was still a popular town to visit, but
mostly for the spectacular hotels that still lined the strip. Most of
the more illicit business had been driven out of town, the gambling
remained, but at a much smaller scale than before. It was all in all a
much tamer town than it had been fifteen years before.
      They pulled up to one of the larger malls and piled out of the
van, stretching from the long drive. They were given spending money and
split into several groups, agreeing to meet back an hour before sunset.
Josh, Ruth, Chris, and Deborah took off together.
     Sitting in a small fast food joint later, Deborah wanted to know
where Ruth had been.

 "When I washed out of the project, there was no reason for me to keep
going to class." Ruth told her sadly.

 "Nice load of bullcookies, but your gonna have to work harder if you
want to convince us. I mean even after Chris here pussed out-"

 "Watch it Deb."

" --He still came because he had friends there"

 "Well mostly I came because I didn't want to get into trouble."

"Chris?" Deborah asked sweetly.

"What?

"Shut up."

"Yes'm."

"Seriously though Ruth," Josh said speaking up, "we do miss you, truth
be told I was worried, and so was Miss Dakota."

 "I appreciate it, but I just needed to be alone... still do I guess"

"Not good enough Ruth." Deborah said, "Even if Chris or I never make it
to pilot, we still have reasons to stay around. You even have a reason,
because of your dad. Mine is because they might need me to Pilot one of
the other Evas, and even if you don't think so, its not healthy to cut
yourself off from everyone."

   "How would you know?"

 "I try to learn by observation when I can, saves me the trouble of
screwing up myself. I've seen it happen."

   "I'll think about it, but for now I don't want to even think about
the whole thing, I feel like... like I wasted my time or something."

-------

   Later that day as he and Ruth wandered through the mall, Joshua
decided to ask about something that had been bothering him for awhile.

"Hey Ruth? Can I ask something private?"

"Forty-two."

"W-what?"

"Sorry" she said with a grin, "obscure joke, don't worry about it. Now,
what did you want to know?"

"It's about you and your dad."

"... Go ahead." She said after a long pause.

"That night on the hill, you said something about him not liking your
mom? Then a few weeks ago you said something about her dying. Do you
remember her very well?"

"...Yeah, how come?" she asked suspiciously.

"I don't remember my mom very well, she left about nine years ago. I my
grandparents never spoke about her, except to cuss her out."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you... my point is that I never could bring myself to hate her like
they did, and that's why it took me so long to understand why you were
so angry with your father. Bethany tried to explain it to me that night
but I think that-"

Suddenly something caught something out of the corner of his eye.
Someone was standing on the balcony with a hand-held camera. It wasn't
the first time he had seen the man, four times that day he had seen the
same person crossing their path. The last time he had ruled it out as
coincidence. It was a large mall, but they had run into the others once
or twice. But with the camera now pointing at them, he made a mental
note to report it. He just hoped it wasn't something dangerous, he
wasn't much of a real fighter. (Fortunately the Evas themselves did all
the fighting, the Pilot just gave the instructions)
    As they turned a nearby corner, Ruth grabbed his arm and yanked him
out of view.

 "Did you see him?" she asked worriedly.

  "The guy with the camera?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've seen him before on some of my trips to town, we gotta hide,
I used to think he was working for my dad or something, keeping tabs,
but now I dunno."

  " We ought to tell Beth, she'll know what to do"

 "Right, but first we gotta ditch our stalker"

"I'm open to suggestions as to how."

Ruth smiled mischievously.

"Leave that to me."

---------

   Ten minutes later the tall man with the camera was standing outside
of a woman's lingerie store. For some reason the two children he had
been following had gone in there. That had been seven minutes ago.
Walking past the window for the fifth time, he saw no sign of the two.
He should at least have been able to see the boy. As he circled around
for another look, he wondered if they were even there.

----------

   Several hundred yards away and around the corner, a door opened. Ruth
Essex and Joshua Lexington burst out of the freight hallway, dodged a
large man in a leather jacket, and ran down the corridor to the mall's
entrance. Taking momentary glances behind them to see if the man was
there, they dashed into the parking lot and found Bethany Dakota siting
in the Van looking through a magazine. Slightly out of breath the two
tried to explain what had happened.

   "Damnit." Beth muttered when she realized what the two were telling
her. The security division was not going to be happy about this. It was
a open secret around the base that certain aspects of the second branch
were kept hidden from even Seele itself, but the man who had followed
the two children could actually have been there from any number of
agencies that disliked Nerv's stranglehold on the UN's checkbook.

     "The others should be here any moment " she told Ruth and Josh,
"you two hide in the back, as if this thing didn't stand out like a sore
thumb." She added sarcastically as she thought of the enormous stencils
on the side.

     In less than ten minutes the others had arrived and Beth gunned the
van out of the lot, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was
following them. To her dismay, a black sedan was indeed trailing them
from long distance. After dialing back to Nerv HQ on her cell phone. She
turned to the others.

 "Ok everyone, listen up." She said in the voice she used during lessons
to get their attention. "We got someone following us, and there isn't
anything on this road between us and home, so:
A; they don't care that we see them.
B; might not exactly have the noblest of intentions for us.
What I want all of you to do is buckle up and assume crash positions.
Get your heads down and keep `em there. Just hang on everyone."

--------

       As she ran the van up to as fast as she dared on the road she was
on, she took another look at their pursuers, they were noticeably
closer, despite the speed she was pushing the van to. Keeping one eye on
the road ahead and another on their new buddies in the back, she prayed
that someone made it from the base before they tried anything.

   The black sedan made its move less that thirty minutes into the drive
back. Moving at dangerous speeds on the old roadway, it pulled up behind
and then beside the van. A window rolled down, and glancing down, Ruth
saw a gun emerge from the darkness within.
 Not being one to wait for the hammer to fall, she yanked the wheel to
the right and slammed the van against the sedan, succeeding in both
knocking the gun from the hand of whoever was aiming it, and also caused
the sedan to fall behind.
The two vehicles began a game of tag as the sedan began to try to pull
beside them again, each time it was blocked by Beth, who moved in front
of it. Finally up ahead, she saw what she had been waiting for; several
of Nerv's security troops were putting a roadblock together. Gunning the
engine even faster, she shot ahead and toward what was hopefully safety.
Risking a peak behind them, she saw something that made her heart sink.

  "Please be kidding God." she whispered as the unmistakable shape of a
man with a rocket launcher leaned out of the sedan's window.

     Gripping the wheel and sending out every prayer she knew, Beth
floored the accelerator. As the roadblock grew ever closer, she was
horrified to hear and feel an explosion behind her. It took her a moment
to realize that it wasn't the van exploding. All she could see in the
rearview was a fireball.
   Not wanting to slow down until they were safe, she rocketed between
the cars of the roadblock before screeching the microbus to a halt. Once
behind the security teams armored vehicles, she risked a glance back.
     What remained of the Sedan that had been following them was now a
smoking and burning wreck. Above it one of Nerv's VTOL craft with two
empty missile ports hovered around the blaze.
    She wondered who the men chasing them had been working for. She had
a grim suspicion who it was.

--------

   Captain Wright immediately ordered a full lockdown of the base and an
immediate review of all phone calls and traffic to town. The wreckage of
the sedan revealed little, two dead males, no match for dental records
in any of Nerv's files. It was more than a little disturbing. A search
on the sedan itself dead-ended at a used car dealership; the men had
paid cash. The security division was going out of their heads attempting
to figure it out. Obviously someone was interested in seeing the fourth
children dead, but who? Was it Seele? Did they know what Essex was up
to? Was it the same group that had been plaguing the first branch? Was
someone trying to stop the activation of Unit 04? Was it simply some
angry country trying to take revenge on Nerv for consuming so much of
the UN's budget? The list was far too long for Wright's liking.
     Several hours later he received the go ahead from Commander Essex
and turned on the PA system that reached the entire base.

   "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Benjamin Wright. Following the
incident earlier today, we are sorry to inform you that the current
lockdown will be continued indefinitely. All shopping for both food and
other items will be taken care of through an outside liaison, please see
your supervisors for specific instructions, also all outside movement
will be restricted to the immediate base, all phone calls will be
monitored, and there will be no more visitors. In addition all non-vital
personnel will be indefinitely relived of duty. We are sorry that we
have to take these steps, but for the safety of ourselves and the
projects taking place here they must be taken. Thank you for your
support, and again, we are sorry for the inconvenience."

   The Josh and Ruth were the most upset by the lockdown, they were both
accustomed to taking walks though the surrounding area, under lockdown
rules, this would no longer be allowed.  Later that night at Beth's
apartment, a few of the children voiced their complaints about this.

  "I think we are all in agreement that-." Started one of the twins.
 "-this totally sucks." The other finished.

  A nod of agreement went around the table. Ruth, Chris, and Deborah
were also there, having been invited by Beth to share some of the food
she had bought on their trip out.

  "Well we were almost killed today" Chris pointed out.

  "I would rather not repeat that myself, I almost threw up." Josh added

"That better not be a complaint about my driving squirt" Beth yelled
from the kitchen.

 "No, no, you defiantly saved us with your skills in that category, "
Josh quickly amended, " It was the whole `people shooting at us' part
that made me sick"

"Ruth, you said that-"
"-you had seen these me before-"
"-did they ever try to attack you in the past?"

The twins had done this often, and each time it had been just as
confusing. Some said it was because they were so close mentally, others
claimed they had a telepathic link. (The problem that arose during the
harmonics tests supported that theory) Either way, when they started
bouncing sentences off each other like that it almost always left their
victim's head in a spin.

   Ruth took a moment to sort out the sentence before answering.
 "No, I did ditch the guy once before, but he never chased after me or
anything. At first I though he was just a local pervert getting an
eyeful, later I thought my dad might just be keeping tabs on me."

  "I imagine of Paul were here he would have something clever to say
about that, but what I really want to know is were they after one of us
or all of us?" Chris said, " They might have been after you or Josh,
Ruth, both of you are important to the Commander."

"Yeah, but why try to kill Beth?"

"Probably just to get her out of the way, she was the only adult, and
there was no way to tell if she was armed or not"

 "That is just soooo comforting" Beth said as she served the food, "I
almost get shot through the head and blown up by a bazooka because I was
`in the way'."

"Don't feel too bad Beth, on the upside you saved all our lives and
foiled the evil plot, whatever it was." Josh said with a smile.

 "Well there is that."

-------

The next morning Josh awoke from a fitful sleep and remembered what was
going to happen that day. Showering and dressing quickly he hurried to
the cage to watch the final preparations being made on Unit 04. Not too
long after his arrival, a few of the other children joined him in
watching the enormous lake of red fluid slowly being drained out of the
cage. Looking around, Josh wondered when Ruth was going to make it. He
had asked her about it before she had retired the night before, and she
had told him she just didn't know.

 " I'll see you off Josh, but I may not stay for the actual activation."

 "Why not?" he had asked

"Because I'm still a little messed up about the whole thing. I still
don't want to Pilot the thing, but for some reason I feel...
disappointed."

  "I think I understand a bit."

 "I gotta get some sleep, see ya later."

 Now as he looked back at the elevator that was the entrance to the room
they were in, he wondered if she was even going to show. She had taken
the whole rejection from the program much calmer than anyone had
suspected she would, but he worried she might not have had time to work
through it all.

------

   He was eventually called to change and get ready. Sitting in the
locker room, he looked at the dog tags in his hand. He wouldn't be able
to wear them in the Eva, too dangerous if they caught on one of the
latches of the Plugsuit. He had only taken them off a handful of times
since they had been given to him, mostly for tests at the project. This
would be the first time he had ever gone anywhere without them however.
In a way it made him nervous.
  A sound from behind him brought him back to reality. He turned to find
Ruth standing there with a half smile on her face.

"Hey there." She said

 "Glad you made it."

"Told you I'd see you off."

"Ruth... you know if there was anyway I could change places, I would."

This made her eyes widen. He realized suddenly that as often as he had
thought this, he had never actually said anything about it. She looked
away with a blush rising to her cheeks.
   Not too sure what to say or do at a time like this, he stepped up and
smiled nervously. Leaning over slightly to the side so that he was
looking her in the eye, he spoke up.

 "Listen, can I ask you a favor?"

 Thankful to have the subject changed, Ruth asked what it was.  He held
out his hand and showed her the dog tags.

  "My dad gave me these a few days before I came here. They belonged to
my great grandfather, and apparently they have been passed down for
awhile. The doc says that I can't wear them in the entry plug because
they might get hung up on something at a crucial moment. The favor is
this; could you hang on to them for me?"

   Her mouth dropped open and she was left speechless. Looking down to
his hand and back to his face, she finally managed a nod. Taking her
hand, Josh placed the bundled chain and tags in it and closed her
fingers around them.

 "Thank you." He said with a smile.

They stood there for a few moments, neither of them quite knowing what
to say. The nervous silence between them was finally broken by Doctor
Bennington, who was calling Josh over the PA system. It was time for him
to report to the Cage. Thanking her again, Josh hurried out the door,
leaving Ruth Essex looking down at the tags fondly.

-------

"250 seconds to activation and counting."

"Restraints are in place"

"Harmonics are normal"

"Synch ratio holding at 31.4%"

"Preparing to activate the second stage of neural links"

  These and other phrases that Josh barely understood came through the
audio link between him and the command center. So far everything seemed
to be going well, save a slight discomfort he felt in breathing liquid.
He had instinctually held his breath when the amber colored LCL fluid
had filled the Entryplug, some deep natural fear of drowning he
supposed. When he had finally forced himself to take the fluid into his
lungs it had been strange. The fluid was only slightly heavier than air,
and his lungs had to work fractionally harder to move it, but other than
that he was able to breath normally.
   The only thing that really bothered him about the stuff was the
smell. It had been strong at first and had lessened quickly, but it was
familiar somehow. He hadn't had time to worry about this however,
because the wall of monitors surrounding him burst to life and he was
treated with a crystal clear view of the Cage. Save for the breaks
between the screens, he could almost pretend he was sitting in mid air
on the chair, it was that good an image. As the systems came online one
by one, windows popped up around him. He tried to read them, but they
were gone so fast he didn't have a chance to understand them all.

 "Josh," came Doctor Bennington's voice over the audio link, "we are
about to activate the third stage of neural connections, prepare for
full synchronization. This may feel a little strange at first."

  Strange was one way of putting it. As the neural links were one by one
activated, his own body began to feel almost numb, as if the sensory
input was being dampened. After a few moments he realized that he was
actually beginning to feel the restraints holding the Eva in place.

"Wow" he said under his breath.

  As he looked around he wondered if the Evas head was moving too, there
were no reflective surfaces handy for him to check.

 "Final borderline approaching"

  "All systems normal"

"We are past the final borderline, no mental contamination detected"

"Activation of Evangelion Unit 04 is complete."

 Through the audio pickups, he could hear cheering. Glancing to where
his classmates had been watching, he saw them waving and jumping up and
down.

  "Josh, we are going to shut down the Eva now, prepare to exit the
Entryplug."

  There was a multicolored flickering of light, and he was once more
looking at the gray metal of the Entryplug. Seconds later the LCL began
to drain out and he was suddenly nauseous.
    Grasping his sides he began to heave and cough as the LCL began to
drain from his lungs. As the door of the entry plug opened he had
finally managed to vomit up all the fluid, and was feeling better. They
had warned him about this, but it was still unpleasant. Thankfully they
said that it would become easier each time.

------

     As he climbed out of the Entryplug, several of his classmates came
running along the walkway. Smiling weakly he jumped down and joined his
friends.
   Ruth ran up to him and surprised him by wrapping her arms around him
excitedly

 "You did it!" she said as she hugged him.

He blushed deeply and smiled back. As the others gathered around, Ruth
reached up to her neck and started taking the dog tags off. At that
moment, Josh made a decision.

 "You hold onto them for a while, keep them safe for me." He said softly
so the others wouldn't hear.

  Again her eyes went wide, and she nervously chewed on her lip as she
nodded in agreement. The others gathered around congratulating him, and
he somehow knew his father was proud of him wherever he was

------

   Above all this in the control booth, Captain Wright, Doctor
Bennington and Commander Essex watched the children; each was following
their own trails of thought.
 Doctor Bennington was annoyed that the children had been let into the
cage, it was not proper procedure, and very dangerous. Without the
crimson cryostasis fluid in place, it was a long fall to the ground.

    Captain Wright was wondering just what his superiors were up to, and
why he had not been fully briefed concerning the matter. The previous
day's attack on the children notwithstanding, it was Lexington's
surpassingly high synch ratio that was bothering him the most. How had
the commander known that the boy would be so adapt at using an Eva,
specifically how had he known before the boy had even arrived? He had
disclosure on a great number of Essex's secrets; why this one had not
been made known to him was disturbing. Wright would follow his orders,
but he would also have to find out the answer to this riddle.

   Essex was worrying that even with Unit 04, they might not be able to
accomplish their mission.  Time was running out, and they still did not
have a crucial piece of data they required. He prayed that he would be
able to fulfill his promise to Yui Ikari before it was too late. Also,
he would have to have a word with his daughter.

-------

 "This has to be the dumbest idea I even heard of." Samantha said while
waving smoke from her face.

  "What's the problem Sam, you never been on a campout before?" David
shot back as he and Josh tended the small campfire. They had pestered
Captain Wright for three weeks before he had finally agreed to let them
take a night out. The security troops just over the ridge would be a
constant presence, but it was just as comforting as it was annoying

 "Of course I have!" she shot back angrily, "bet we called them that,
not `moonlight picnics" or any romantic crap like that. Whose dumb idea
was it anyhow?"

 Josh kept his mouth shut. It had been his idea, and the reasons behind
it were slightly embarrassing for him.  To make matters worse the person
he had most wanted to invite, the whole reason he had suggested it to
Beth, had not shown up for the trip.
  He was saved from fessing up by the timely intervention of Paul, who's
dislike of Samantha was well known in the group. (He claimed he merely
hated her everyone-must-worship-me attitude, but Josh was beginning to
suspect that there was a strong machocistic streak in the guy)

"Behold the glorious Samantha!" he said in a mocking tone as he stood up
on a rock "champion of spoiled rich girls everywhere! Watch in wonder as
she attempts to cook a marshmallow without a crew of servants-ouch! Hey
that's- ouch- hot!"
  He was immediately chased off into the darkness by Samantha and Diana
who both were wealding fire-heated coat hangers that were dripping bits
of melted marshmallow.
    Assuming that the guards would deal with the situation if it
escalated to bodily harm, the others turned back to the campfire and
resumed telling silly stories and exchanging gossip.
    Josh paid attention as much as he was able, but mostly looked off
into the dancing fire and thought of Ruth. This had been happening often
lately. An observer could usually tell this particular subject was
occupying his mind by checking the corners of his mouth for a smile.

Finishing off another samore, he stood and walked off a bit from the
fire to the spot he had stretched out his sleeping bag. At the very edge
of his hearing range he could make out the high pitched whine from the
devices that the guards had placed around the site to drive away snakes
and other critters.  Looking up at the crescent moon that was giving off
just enough light to make out the ground, he lay back on the ground and
watched the stars spin above.

  As he lost himself in the sky he wondered again about the Angels. In a
way he wished they hadn't translated the word from Shito. At least then
he wouldent feel as if he were going to war with the Heavens.  He knew
he would feel much better once he found his center, a goal to latch
onto. Something that he could put himself behind and fight for. Once he
found that he could charge in without regrets.  Until then however he
would just have to do his best.

    He was startled out of this by something landing three feet to his
left. He let out a small yelp as he jumped to a sitting position and
looked around to see what had happened. It didn't take long to make out
the object, which was another sleeping bag, or its source. The source
was much easier to find and identify as she was rolling on the ground
giggling like an idiot.

"Very cute Ruth." He said with a grin springing to his face.

  Trying to calm back down (and having minimal luck) Ruth sat up and
tried to apologize between snickers. Somehow it was less than
convincing, but Josh didn't really mind; he was just happy that she was
there.

Helping her to her feet they waked to the campfire where the others were
laughing about something or another. "You're making a habit of this," he
said with a small chuckle.

"What, scaring the crap out of you in the dark?"

"Well that too, but I meant showing up after I was afraid you wouldn't.
A casual observer might think you were fickle."

"Humph. I'll let that one slide because you are not aware of all the
facts."

"You have my apologies, would the kind maiden enlighten me?"

"First I'm gonna make Beth stop teaching you so much Shakespeare," she
said with an amused roll of her eyes, " but to answer your request for
info, someone decided that tonight was a good time for me to fill out a
bunch of non-disclosure paperwork, and do the standard tests.""

"That's weird... I did all that the night before I left to come here."

"Yeah, but I got `em whooped, I read over all that stuff years ago and
breezed through the tests in record time."

"You memorized over two hundred pages of security protocols and
procedures? Why?"

"Despite popular opinion, I am not some psycho-rebel out to get in
trouble to get even with my dad, however much fun it might be.  I
started reading them when I started sneaking off base. It's easier to
break a rule when you know what the dangers are than to blunder into it.
Besides, they aren't exactly the Nevada department of education here.
They use the same test each time."

"Well I'm just glad you made it."

The others were glad as well and as the night progressed they eventually
one by one slipped away to their bedrolls.
Beth had already selected the spot beside Josh (much to several of the
other's surprise) it was not such a huge issue however as they had the
ever-watchful guards around them just out of view. The two lay there
less than two feet apart and watched the sky for awhile before Ruth
spoke up.

"Hey Josh...there's something I want to clear up."

"Hmm?"

"Remember the first night we were out here? When I was sneaking back
from town?"
"Of course."

"I said some stuff about my dad... about him and my mom."

"I remember."

"Well a lot of it I won't take back if he begged me, but one thing I do
want to take back. He isn't a racist."

"..."

"When my mom left him she said a lot of things... some of them weren't
kind. I think some of her attitude rubbed off on me, at least where he's
concerned.  It's just that I'm so confused about him. On one hand he
acts like I don't exist so much of the time, and on the other... well lets
just say that I don't think that my little test was a coincidence. It
frustrates me so much... because I want to love him; it's like you said
that day he called me in. He's my dad. I just don't understand him."

"I only see my dad once or twice a year." Josh said quietly

"And that doesn't bother you?"

"It does, but when he comes back he tries to make up for it. He tries
too hard sometimes, but it's always an attempt to make up for the long
absence. I think that your dad doesn't know how to make up for what he
does. But that's just from what you and the others tell me. No one
really know what he's like, even the people he works with. I think Beth
was right about him."

Ruth was quiet for awhile, and Josh thought she might have fallen
asleep. After a few more moments, he suddenly felt something touch his
hand. His first response was over ridden by instinct so instead of
jumping up and screaming he was frozen in place. A moment later he was
glad that instinct had taken over because he found that Ruth's hand was
intertwined with his own.
   Fighting back the blush that was rising to his cheeks he glanced over
at her to find her smiling warmly at him.

 They looked at one another for several moments before she turned back
to the sky, still smiling. As her eyes closed he continued to watch her.
Her hand was still linked to his own, but he felt the grip slowly
loosening as she drifted off to sleep. As he started to close his own
eyes, he saw something glint in the soft moonlight. Upon closer
inspection he found that he could make out his great grandfathers
dogtags lying against her neck.
   Stunned, happy, giddy, nervous and half a dozen warm and fuzzy
feelings later he closed his own eyes and drifted to sleep with a smile
on his face.

-------

  Almost a month to the day after the activation of Unit 04, Captain
Wright was sitting in his office going over the latest reports from the
security division when a call came through on his private line. Picking
up the receiver his listened to the voice on the other line tell him
something that was more or less the worst thing that could be happening.
Thanking the caller, and clearing the line, he took a breath and called
Commander Essex.

 "Sir," he said,  "I think we have a problem."

---------

  For more than a month the base had been under a full security lockdown
as they investigated the few leads they had concerning an attempt on the
fourth children's lives. The investigation was going nowhere, and the
security division was growing more frustrated by the day. Apparently
Seele didn't care for the increased secrecy in a base they already knew
very little about. Within two weeks an inspector from Seele was to
arrive to conduct an Audit of the Second branch. If this happened then
it was entirely possible that a carefully orchestrated plan to foil
Seele Chairman Kiel's ambition for Armageddon would be put in jeopardy.
    As soon a word arrived, a standing contingency plan was placed into
effect. The base that the second branch utilized had long ago been
refitted to conceal secrets, and the tools to do this had been left in
place for an event such as this.
  The lower levels of the Base were unmapped; the few personnel who
worked in the `catacombs' as they were called carried the only maps in
their heads. Down deep beneath the surface in an old volcanic cavern
that was ageless itself, a large tarp-covered shape was moved into a pit
that was concealed in the floor.
      The children themselves were also required to move, and soon
Joshua Lexington found several walls removed in the apartment that he
and Bethany Dakota shared. These gaps in the walls were soon replaced
with new living quarters, and not too soon after the construction was
done, they had eleven more fourteen-year-olds living with them.

   "This is going to get interesting real fast" Josh told Bethany as
several of his friends were moving their belongings to their new rooms.

 " How do you figure?" she asked.

"Well before the weather got too strange we still had skiers come to the
town my grandparents lived in. They ran a restaurant in town and I
helped out sometimes once I was old enough. Mostly the skiers were with
schools and church groups, but what I'm getting at is I'd listen to them
talk while they ate, and over the course of the trip the conversations
always followed the same pattern."
    "This usually happened with the big groups that doubled or tripled
up in a room mind you. Anyway the first couple of days everything would
be fine, then the third of fourth day they would start arguing, and as
the week went on it got worse. Sometimes by the end of the trip it
wasn't too unusual for a fight to break out. When I asked my granddad
about it he shrugged and said `fish and visitors stink in three days.' I
just hope this doesn't last too long."

 "Well at least they put in a couple more bathrooms, that's one less
thing."

 "Yeah, but get ready for it, especially since they kept us cooped up so
long."

--------

  "This would have to happen now." Doctor Bennington said angrily.

Commander Essex nodded, but assured her it would not be as bad as she
was making it out.
"It is only a slight handicap Doctor, you and your team can still finish
the project."

 "Not with the S2 engine about to arrive from Germany, not with this
Seele goon sneaking around. My team can not do their jobs and look over
their shoulder at the same time."

 "Don't sweat it doc, we'll figure something out, and besides, we can
find all kinds of ways to hold up an inspection."

  "Yes, " Commander Essex added, "we must stall them as long as we can.
Their timing is of the worst sort; Seele does not yet suspect what we
have planned. They want to end the world and Kiel still holds the key to
this. We will have to be most careful to conceal our hand until we are
ready."

  "And just what is our position?" Wright asked, "have the Sisters
finished processing the information from the 12th Angel?"

 " By the time we have the S2 engine in place they will have what we
need. Now that we know for sure that the S2 can reproduce the type of
energy required for Project Artemis we can proceed much faster. However,
do not forget, either of you; time is of the essence."

---------

"Paul I'm going to kill you!"

  It hadn't even taken two days. Already the bickering had begun, and
with each of them sharing a room, Josh was not very surprised. This
particular threat of death was the result of a desert lizard that had
been hidden in a shower waiting for an unsuspecting female to wander in.
It would have been an amusing trick had two factors not intervened. The
first was that Paul B. Wood had been keeping the lizard as a pet for
awhile now, and everyone knew who the little critter belonged to. The
second was that Diana Antietam in no way showed the fear of reptiles
that was stereotypically assumed of women. She was actually more
insulted that someone had assumed she would scream in fear than
anything.
   As the chase moved out of the apartment and into the corridors beyond
Josh and his roommate, James Randolph went back to their game of cards.

 "What I don't get is why they stuck all of us but Ruth in here." James
said as he drew another set from the stack.

  "Well most of us are here because when you were selected for the
project your folks had Jobs with Nerv right?" Josh asked

  "Pretty much."

 "Ok, so where are your parents?"

  "At the other American branch actually."

 "I've been asking around, and it turns out that none of the others have
on base parents. Oh, all of their folks work for Nerv, but none work
here."

 "So what does that have to do with Ruth?"

 "She is the only one of us with an on sight parent."

 "Oh right, duh, her dad!"

 "Yeah, I think the whole reason they moved all of you here together
instead of with the guardian they had you living with is that they don't
want someone knowing we're here, Beth says they are gonna restrict us to
this floor here in a few days."

 "You're kidding."

 "I wish I were, I'll draw two more by the way, I know they had
everything tight when those goons chased us back from town, but in the
last few days its gotten real bad, they even closed off access to a few
levels."

 "How do you know that?"

  "There are a few elevators that only go to the lowest levels, they
sealed them off yesterday. You'd never know they had ever been there
unless you knew they were originally in that spot."

  "How do you notice all this, they've kept you pretty busy with Eva
training, and your studies."

 "I dunno, I just have that kind of eye I suppose"

 "Speaking of eyes and looking, have you seen Ruth this week?"

 "..."

 "I'll take that as a no, hey Josh.... So what's the story with you two
anyhow? You both seemed pretty tight after that camping trip."

"I don't know." Josh said as he fought down a blush, and lost.

 "Come on, you can tell me." He said with a lecherous grin

 "I just did; I don't know. I mean I like her, and I think she likes me,
but beyond that? I haven't had the chance to ask her."

 "Awww, no smoochies?" came a voice from behind that made Josh jump.

"Hello Deb, pull up a rock."

 "Thanks Jim, so seriously Josh, no kissing yet?"

 "Does everyone know I have a thing for her?" Josh asked with a sigh.

  "Pretty much, it's the only worthwhile thing we have to gossip about."

"You guys are in serious need of a life."

"What Josh?" Deborah said fluttering her eyelashes and trying to look
innocent,  "Are you saying that the designated pilot of Evangelion Unit
04 and the daughter of the Commander of Nerv's Second branch making
moon-eyes at one another isn't worth gossiping about?"

 "Well when you put it that way." Josh said with a chuckle, "I don't
know what the deal is with us, I might leave for Japan any day now and
she wont be going... I really do like her, but at the same time I don't
know how fair it is to start anything."

 "Hard sitch dude" James said sympathetically.

"Thanks, I think."

-------

  About that time, the young woman in question, Ruth Essex was meeting
with her father. She still hated his office, but she took comfort in the
fact that she hadn't screwed up since last time, and she was most likely
not there for a chew out. She didn't know she was wrong.

 "You wanted to see me dad?"

"Yes, come over here and sit down" he said as he got up and leaned
against the desk. This was to say the least, a complete shock for Ruth;
she had no idea how to take it.
   As she walked around the desk and sat in her father's chair, her
unease grew. The carvings in the room seemed even more ominous from the
seat.

  "I understand that you have taken a liking to the pilot of Unit 04."
He stated.

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened, she had no idea why he was asking
her about this, for as long as she could remember, he had shown no
interest in her life at all. This question was one she never would have
expected from him.

 "Um... well I... I do... I guess I... kind of like him a bit, um... why?"

Still showing no emotion other than the slight air of concern that made
up his poker face, he nodded.

 "You are currently wearing a family heirloom of his, that is more than
`kind of' wouldn't you agree?"

 Clutching the dog tags that Josh had given her before his activation
test, Ruth blushed deeply.

  "The reason I bring this up Ruth," her father said, "Is that I am
concerned for you. Emotional attachments and relationships are almost
always difficult to maintain, and the one you appear to be starting is
most likely going to cause you a great deal of pain."

 "W-what?" she stammered. She did like Josh, it was true, and when he
was around her she felt giddy and warm. As far as `relationships' and
the like, she hadn't given it much thought. It occurred to her that Josh
would be leaving soon, sooner than she had realized. It also occurred to
her that she didn't want him to go.

  Her father was still talking
"Your becoming involved with an Eva pilot is only going to be painful
for you Ruth, they are placed under great stress, both mental and
physically in their battles with the Angels. We believe that some will
eventually go mad under the pressure placed upon them. To be
romantically linked to one would be incredibly difficult and would
require infinite patience on the part of the other. I also strongly
disapprove of you dating at such a young age. Not only that, but when
Lexington leaves, you will most likely never see him again, do you
believe that you can carry on a relationship with such a distance
between the two of you?"

  As he droned on, Ruth slowly came out of the shock that she had been
in and began to get angry.

  "The fact remains that long distance relationships are always
problematic, and without the promise of a reunion, almost always doomed.
I think that if you consider all of thi-"

 "Oh shut up."

  This was the first time she had ever seen her father looked shocked.
It made her strangely satisfied to have caused it.

 "What did you just say young lady?"

 "I told you to shut up. Since when are you an expert on relationships
anyway? Its not like you ever gave mom even half the consideration
you're saying I should give Josh."

 "I don't think this is very appropriate young lad-"

"And another thing," Ruth said cutting him off (and enjoying it
immensely) " I know Josh leaves soon, and while I haven't though much
about it, I don't know why you even give a damn. It's not like you ever
really care what I do. You slap me on the wrist and tell me not to do it
again, but you don't really care. Last time I ever even saw you for a
birthday was the year before mom died. And we hardly ever saw you other
than that. I never knew if it was because mom was white, or if it was
because you were just a cold hearted creep, but I don't care anymore."
 She stood up and backed away from the desk, her father stared at here
as if she were a snake that might bite.

    "If I want to see Josh until he leaves that's not your business, oh
don't worry I won't get in the way of your precious experiments and
training. But if the job is as stressful as you say, it can't hurt for
him to spend his free time with a girl he likes. Even if it is your
daughter."

 With that she stalked out and slammed the outer doors behind her,
leaving her father sitting on the desk more stunned than he had ever
been in his whole life.

----------

   As she stalked down the hallways angrily she thought back on what she
had said to her father, and regretted none of it. He had really never
been there for her. Before her mother died she remembered seeing her
father only a handful of times, on birthdays and Christmases mostly. She
had carried that inside for years and never said anything. It felt good
to finally get it out. She fingered the dog tags hanging around her
neck, and thought about Josh. She hadn't really thought about it much
until now, she supposed that most people didn't often think about their
feelings for people too deeply, they just did what she had and went with
the flow. Now that she considered it all, she realized that she might be
in love.

--------

   Several levels higher and a fifth of a mile to the East, Josh was
thinking similar thoughts without knowing it. In his mind it came down
to what was fair for Ruth. Was it fair for him to start something and
leave a few days later? What would that do to her? He knew how dangerous
the job he had taken was. He had seen the footage over and over from
several angles. He knew what a ruthless enemy he faced. He knew that he
might very well die. What he didn't know was what Ruth felt for him. He
wasn't even sure how deep his own feelings were toward her, he had never
felt like he did about anyone, and had no way to compare. What
frightened him more than anything was that she might not feel as
strongly as he did.
    Thinking back to the fact of his departure in the not too distant
future, he wondered if it were possible to have a relationship over such
a distance. How hard would it be on her of she did feel as strongly?
   He couldn't answer some of these questions; his young mind simply
lacked the experience to reason it all out. Indeed, many men and woman
much older than him had wrestled with the same problems and had never
answered them.
 He was still working these things over in his mind an hour later when
Ruth found him at the Cage. He had developed a habit of going there and
sitting in one of the inflatable rubber boats when he needed to think.
   She climbed down the ladder to the raft, and as he saw her, he helped
her sit down. Leaning back and looking up at the monstrous face of Unit
04, Ruth spoke up.

  "You'd think they could at least have made it a bit less ugly huh?"

 "I guess, what I wonder though is that this thing looks scary as hell,
but who are we trying to scare? I doubt the Angels would flinch at it,
well the 3rd did blink but I don't know if that was in fear or not."

  "Maybe they have to make them like this."

 "Maybe... hey, something wrong? You seem kind of distant."

 "Just a lot of crap I don't want to talk about right now."

 "Ok" he said as she moved closer.
 He put an arm around her and looked back up at the Eva.
  He was about to bring up a few of the things he had been brooding over
when he realized she had fallen asleep.

---------

 Twenty minutes later a shadow passed over him and he saw one of the Men
in Black standing at the top of the ladder. Glancing down at Ruth he
quickly put a finger to his lips. Nodding the Man in Black gave a series
of hand gestures that let Josh know that he wanted him to climb up and
follow. Slowly working his arm free from the still sleeping Ruth Essex,
he gently climbed out of the raft and up the ladder. Following the Man
in Black out of The Cage, he asked where they were going.

 "The Commander wants to see you." The emotionless Man in Black said.

  A little concerned, seeing as how he had moments ago had an arm around
the Commander's daughter, Josh clamed up and followed.

---------

 "Good evening Joshua" the Commander said from his chair.

  Josh, unlike Ruth, found the Commander's office more fascinating than
disturbing, the detail put into the carvings on the wall and ceiling was
amazing.

 "Good evening Sir" he answered back.

 "Let us get straight to the point. I know you and my daughter have been
spending a good deal of time together lately."

  Josh was not entirely surprised by this, but it still made him nervous
to have Ruth's father confronting him about it.

"Yes sir." He said, deciding there was no reason to dance around the
subject.

 "While I do not believe that the two of you are entirely old enough to
be spending time unescorted, I understand that you two are becoming
close, am I right?"

 "Yes sir, if I understand what you're saying, then I think we are."

"Hmm have you given much thought to what will happen when you leave here
Joshua?"

"A little sir."

 "Then you may understand what I'm about to say. I do not think that
given your duties as a pilot, and your imminent departure that it is a
good idea to allow anything to begin with Ruth. I believe that it would
hurt her in the long run, do you understand?"

  Josh had indeed been thinking along those lines, and hearing an adult
tell him made him think even harder about what impact his leaving,
perhaps forever, might have on Ruth. It was not an easy situation to
begin with. As much as he had grown to care about her, the last thing he
ever wanted to do was hurt her.

  "These decisions are always difficult Joshua, I offer no easy answer.
But I will tell you this, if you do care about her, think about what
would hurt her less. Breaking it off now, or the pain she will feel if
you were to die over in Japan or possibly even find another whom you
care for even more. Don't dismiss these things out of hand, they do
happen, especially when a person believes they will not."
   "The fact remains that when you leave it will most likely be the last
time you ever see Ruth. I want you to think about what I have told you.
I trust you to make the best decision."

-----------

    Until that conversation Josh would not have even considered breaking
off with Ruth before he left, in honest he had been hoping she would be
able to come along somehow, however unlikely that might have been. He
was beginning to realize how impossible that was however. He wasn't even
sure if he knew what he was doing in the first place. This was all so
new to him.
      Essex on the other hand had known exactly what he was doing when
he called Josh in, and he had succeeded in planting the line of thought
he intended. Josh spent the rest of the day trying to imagine which of
the choices Essex had brought up would hurt Ruth less.
    His head in a whirl of complicated thoughts, he wandered back to his
apartment to think it over and get some sleep.

---------

   "You're not making sense."

"I didn't ask you to understand, Ben."

"Well for the record I think what you did was and is wrong, that and it
won't work."

"Duly noted. And why do you believe so?"

"I talked to Lexington's grandfather just after he got here, to get a
handle on what kind of kid he was, he said that Josh is basically a good
kid, and from what I've learned from the boy himself, that's not just
family mishmash. The one thing that stuck out was that they said that
Josh tends to be a bit tenacious."

"How so?"

"He doesn't like to quit. For example, when he was nine he decided that
he was going to learn to snowboard. It was a crowded year at the resort
and he couldn't find an instructor, so he set out to learn himself. The
end results after three days was several dozen bruises, a cut on his
forehead that required ten stitches, a sprained wrist, a turned ankle,
and that he learned to snowboard. Point is he didn't give up until he
got it right, and he didn't care how badly he got hurt in the process.
That's one example. There are others, but I think you get my point."

"I'll take it under advisement."

 "I'm sure. Look the kid is probably about to get himself killed with
what we're planning, and your daughter has never been very happy with
you, why did you go out of your way to screw up what they had going?
Especially since neither of them are going anywhere near Japan."

 "They are fourteen and fifteen. Whatever they had going was nothing
more than puppy love. At best, raging hormones."

 "I'm sure that will be very comforting if we all die during the
operation. To know that you made them miserable because you were worried
about hormones."

"... She's my daughter Ben."

 "Look.... If I say something you don't want to hear will you actually
listen or clam up?"

"You might as well say it."

 "Since she joined us here five years ago I can count on one hand the
number of times you have spent a day with Ruth. I know you have
responsibilities she can't even imagine, but she doesn't know that, she
doesn't know how important what we are doing is. All she can see is what
it appears to be."

 "And what is that Ben?"

"I'm not a fifteen year old girl sir, I only have a hunch. And it isn't
pleasant. You never have really gone out of your way for her since she
came here. And when she finally finds out the truth she is going to be
even more furious with you than she is already."

"Perhaps...  But it's too late to do anything about it."

"If you say so sir."

--------

"Say that again?"

  It was two days later and Josh had still not worked it all out in his
head, he was sure now that he had a strong attraction to Ruth, and he
was equally strong that it ran deeper than a crush. She had managed to
catch up with him after his training class that day and had told her
that he wanted to know what she thought was best for them.

  "I asked if you thought we could work out."

"That's a hell of a question"

 "Tell me about it... look what I need to know is; do you think we could
have something together even with me being in Japan?"

 "... My dad asked me the same thing, I want to say yes..."

"I know, he called me in too," Ruth's eyes narrowed in anger at hearing
this, "the thing is, as much as I don't want to believe it, he did have
a point. How are we even going to keep in contact? Even when the base
wasn't locked down like it is, none of us could call out without a
restricted access and someone listening in. I don't think your dad wants
us seeing each other in the first place, and I doubt he would let you
have a pass to call me."

  " I could go with you." Ruth stated.

Josh sat down on the bench that was just outside the locker room.

 "You don't know how happy hearing you say something like that makes me
Ruth, but it wouldn't work. You dad would never approve it. If he wont
let you date me because he doesn't want you to get hurt, then he would
never send you into the Tokeo3 war zone."

 Josh hung his head.
"I've been going over and over all of it in my head, and I haven't found
an answer Ruth. As much as I like you, and want to be with you, I don't
know how we could ever work the distance thing out."

 Had he not looked so defeated and forlorn, Ruth might have been angry
with him. He looked like he might be on the verge of tears. She was
close herself.
 Sadly she sat down beside him and put her arms around him. Returning
her embrace he did his best to apologize.
 "I wish I were smarter. Or older even, then I might be able to think of
something. God, I even wish I were never selected, at least that way we
could be together longer. I'm sorry Ruth; I just don't know what I can
do. I even thought of quitting, but I don't know if they would let me,
or if I could live with myself even if they let me stay."

     They sat there for awhile longer, and then finally Ruth gently
placed a hand on his cheek, turned his head and kissed him.
   Without another word she got up and walked out of the hall. Once
around the corner she leaned back against the wall, sliding slowly to
the floor. Wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them closer,
she began to cry.

---------

    Several days later, the Auditor from Seele arrived. To Captain
Wright's annoyance, he came on the same plane that was shipping the new
S2 engine.
  The man was tall, and thin, with slicked backed gray hair and glasses.
With sour amusement, Wright wondered if the man had worked for the IRS
before Second Impact. He fit the mental image that Wright had always
carried of their agents perfectly. He knew the man's name was Noah Carl
Vinson, but beyond that he knew little else. They would have to proceed
carefully; the man could not suspect what they had planned for the S2.

"Mr. Vinson, welcome to Nerv's second branch" Wright said cheerfully.

 Vinson did not share Wright's attitude; in fact he refused to shake
hands. In a dry calm voice, he did not ask, but demanded to know where
Commander Essex was.

   "I'm sorry sir, but the Commander has many pressing projects that he
is personally overseeing to make sure they are ready for your
inspection."

 "Very well Captain, then you can at least show me to my quarters, I
wish to wash this... dust off before it ruins my uniform."

  "Yes sir right away."

 Privately he wished that one of his jobs while the man was on site
hadn't been to pamper his every whim.

---------

"This sucks."

   The twelve children had not only been restricted from leaving the
level, but two days before, the Security division had ordered them all
to remain in their apartment. None of them were happy about it, least of
all Josh who hadn't seen Ruth since their talk a few days before. He
didn't know if she was angry with him, or if she simply hadn't been able
to get to him due to the security restrictions. What he had said was
gnawing at him. He still didn't have a solution, but over the last few
days he had wondered if he hadn't done exactly what her dad had wanted
him to. He didn't know what problems she and her father had gone through
over the years; Ruth didn't like to talk about it. He did know that she
didn't have the highest opinion of his parenting skills however, and
from what he had himself seen and heard, he tended to agree.
 Looking over to Deborah who had summed up their situation, he nodded
and agreed.

 "It does indeed suck Deb."

"Still down in the dumps about Ruth?"

 He had confided in Deborah mostly because she was one of the few of the
other children who talked to Ruth socially. Also he had seen Beth less
and less over the past week, he assumed she was finally getting tired of
all the bickering.

 "Yeah, I still think I screwed up."

 "Well I usually tend to think of guys as screwups who only occasionally
get stuff right, but I don't think what you did qualifies as a total
screw up Josh."

"How do you figure?"

"Well first off you're fourteen, and as you said you don't have too much
experience with the arts of amore right?"

"True enough."

"Well given your limited experience and young age, I think you handled
it as best you could, you didn't patronize her or try to tell her it was
for her own good or any of the crap her pop tried. You told it like it
was and asked what she thought you guys ought to do."

  "Still, I could have done a better job."

 "Listen to Mr. Humble! Look Josh, your doing the best you can here.
Providing you live through the whole Eva thing, I think someday your
gonna make some gal real happy. I bet if you can wait two or three years
till she's old enough to skip out on her dad you two can pick right up
where you left off."

"Three years... That's a long time Deb."

 "Its not forever. My parents met over the Internet, and they talked
almost that long before they finally met in person. So at least there is
a precedent. And besides, its not like the base is going to be on
lockdown forever, eventually you two will get back in contact."

 Josh thought this all over.

 "Thanks Deb." He said with a smile.

"Don't sweat it," she said privately envying Ruth a bit.

---------

 "Welcome to the Second American Branch of Nerv Mr. Vinson" Commander
Essex said.

"Thank you commander, now lets get to the point shall we?"

 "As you wish."

 "You closed all but minimal contact to the council months ago, we have
received no word concerning the final stages of Unit 04 and its status.
Is the machine going to be ready for activation on schedule?"

 Privately Essex was relived, Seele might still be unaware they had
selected a Fourth Child.

 "We will be ready once the S2 engine is installed, all tests show that
Unit 04 is ready for the process."

 "Very good, I will be witnessing the activation. The dummy plug system
is should almost be ready and with it we will not have to worry about
putting these things in the hands of children any longer. That brat of
Ikari's has caused more than enough trouble what with his running away
every few days and all."

 "I'm very sure. So will the units five through thirteen all be using
the Ayanami system? I understand there may be a change made."

 "Yes there is a boy in Germany who's initial tests show that he might
make a much better template, Kaworu Nagisa I believe his name is. Your
Unit 04 will be the last to use the dummy plug template taken from
Ayanami. They are waiting on the first tests to be completed before
proceeding however."

  "I see, you are very well informed, I only got the reports on the
Ayanami system a few days ago from the first Branch.

 "It is what I am paid for Commander."

The tall man paused and a disturbingly gleeful smile crossed his gaunt
lips.

"Now tell me something Commander... is the UFO really here?"

Commander Essex would have laughed if he had not expected this question
from every visitor the base had. The American government had allowed far
too much publicity before Second Impact occurred.

  "The UFO from 47? That is the one you are referring to, Correct?"

 "That would be the one."

 "You haven't looked out my window have you Mr. Vinson?"

"No, I suppose I was too busy admiring your decorations, do you know
Ikari has a very similar design?"

  "I am aware, but please allow yourself a look outside" Essex said as
they both walked to the window.

  Below them in the large storage cavern, a metallic blue craft sat in
holding clamps. It was twice as large as a commercial aircraft and it
was vaguely shaped like an arrowhead. Its edges were not smooth, but
jagged, no round surfaces at all.

 "Amazing, and it has been completely rebuilt?"

"No we were never able to restore whatever they used to travel faster
than light, whatever you want to call it; warp drive or whatnot. But it
has been tested, and we have taken it into space three times, it is
fully functional."

 "It looks similar to the stealth crafts"

 "We know to swipe a good idea when we see one. Some of the first space
shuttles used ideas gleamed off of it. Some of its features we were
never able to duplicate because we do not have the alloys necessary. But
we learned a great deal from it."

 "What was wrong with the FTL drive?"

"Its power source was lost when it crashed, or its fuel source, we were
actually never sure which to classify it as."

  "It's amazing. What of its crew?"

"Contrary to popular fiction and conspiracy theory, they did all die in
the crash."

 "Do we know where they were from?"

"We lost some of the data in the crash, but the Sisters... that's what we
call our Magi system, recovered lot of it, we only know they are from
the same quarter of the galaxy. Nothing more."

  "Why do you call them the Sisters?"

 "The woman who programmed them named them that, their individual names
are Clotho Lachesis and Atropos after the three fates. I think part of
it was an inside joke, but I never understood it fully."

 "Well the programmers are somewhat excused for their excessive animism,
I suppose. After all they do use their own thought patterns to program
the Magi."

 "That was my take on it as well, incidentally it is almost time for
dinner, care to join me?"

---------

Several levels down, Doctor Bennington was hard at work with her team
hooking up the test computers to the S2 engine. Wright called in on the
radio and gave her an update on the status with the auditor. If they
could finish fast enough then they could deal with the man, but as long
as he was here he had a direct line to Seele, and could upset their
plans far too fast. They were too close to fail now.

-----------

    When Bethany finally returned, she looked tired. Josh had already
started dinner and was hoping to talk with her.

 "What's the up squirt?" she asked with a yawn.

  "I dunno what to do about Ruth." He said.

"What do you mean?"

 "Well I think I know a way to make things work between us while I'm
gone, but I wont be able to get in touch with her because of the
lockdown. Think you could help?"

 "I don't know Josh, think she wants to sit around waiting on you while
you run around with the two cute female Eva pilots? She already started
a fight with one of them."

 He hadn't expected this from Beth, he guessed she must be more tired
than he thought.

  "Well I don't know about the first child, but I don't really see
myself falling for Asuka, I don't think that will be much of an issue."

 "If you say so squirt, but you might want to keep you options open,
Ruth might not want to wait around forever y'know."

  With that she hit the showers leaving Josh with something else to chew
over.
He didn't even notice she had completely steered him away from asking
her for help.

---------

   The next day the tour began of the Second Branch. Mr. Vinson was
shown the cage and even given a tour of the UFO. Hours dragged on as
Commander Wright lectured on and on about every part of the base he had
an amusing story to tell. He had been there for twelve years, and had
many. As they reached a break in the tour, Vinson's cell phone rang.
Excusing himself to take the call, Vinson moved out of earshot. Moments
later he returned, with a strangely satisfied smile on his face.
 Later that night at dinner, he explained what he found so amusing.

   "I think its time we began to turn the cards face up Essex." He said.

"Whatever do you mean Mr. Vinson?"

 "I want to know what you have been hiding from me and Seele. For
instance, why did your reports not mention a training course already in
place for an Eva Pilot?"

  Essex thought for a moment, looking back to see if the tour could have
revealed this. It was possible, but unlikely. He would have to play
along however as they still had a few hours before they could act.

 "It wasn't deemed necessary, the training programs were my own idea to
see if we could develop one that was independent of the first branch.
After what happened with the 3rd Angel and Unit 01 I saw the possible
need."

"And what about the activation of Unit 04?"

 Essex knew at that point that they had a security leak. With most of
the staff off base since the day before the activation test and with the
misinformation they had circulated they had hoped to pin down the
source. It was obvious that someone had betrayed them. The question was
who?

"I don't know what you are talking about Mr. Vinson, we don't have a
pilot, how could we possibly activate Unit 04?"

Vinson looked at him for several moments without a word. When he finally
spoke it was with a tone of annoyance.  "If you are going to continue
being evasive, you will not enjoy the consequences."

 "You of course assume that you are leaving here alive."

 "I wondered if that would be the case. You also make assumptions
however Commander. Yours most likely are that the consequences I spoke
of involve something happening to you. I was referring to someone else."

 Still holding his poker face, Essex asked for an explanation.

  "One moment commander."

 Vinson reached into the pocket of his jacket and removed his cell
phone. Dialing, he almost immediately got a reply. He handed the phone
to Essex. Placing the phone to his ear he was given an enormous shock.

"Daddy?"

 Taking the situation in quickly, he glared at Vinson.

  "Are you alright Ruth?"

 "No I'm not alright damnit, some goon kidnapped me! I'm out in the-"

 As the line went dead Vinson quickly spoke up.

 "Do not worry, she has not been harmed, and will not be as long as you
cooperate."

 "The line went dead."

"Of course, even I could hear her trying to tell you where she was. Her
guards were merely being prudent."

"I see. So what happens now?"

"Now we wait for the armed force Seele prepared in case you had betrayed
us to arrive. You will be arrested, and your little pilot will be sent
to Japan with Unit 04 as planed, why you and Ikari insisted on using
your children is beyond me, but so be it."

  Essex almost allowed a smile. He still had one card left after all.

--------

"Wake up kid!"

   Captain Wright was shaking Josh awake. Why he didn't know, he was
just glad he had gone to bed after dinner, he at least had a few hours
of sleep. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up just in time to catch a
Plugsuit as it was tossed to him.

 "What's going on sir?" he asked completely confused and unsure if he
was dreaming or not.

"You're about to take Unit 04 on a shakedown. Hurry up and put that on,
I'll explain on the way."

 As soon as they were out the door, Wright told Josh what was going on.

 "Vinson sprung a trap on the Commander, we have about an hour to get a
rescue mission done before Seele's shock troops show up and gun us all
down where we stand."

 Working through his shock, Josh had one question.

 "Who am I rescuing?"

 "Ruth."

 "What?"

 "Apparently Seele's little gofer thinks she is the forth child, and
kidnapped her both to keep Unit 04 out of play and to get a handle on
Commander Essex. We think we know where she is, but we don't have the
personnel or the time to get to the location. Its going to be up to you
kid."

 Turning white in fear and anticipation, Josh nodded his head and
prepared to do his job.

---------

  "So what keeps me from killing you and finding my daughter. Do not
underestimate our security division."

 Josh listened to the recorded conversation in shock, as Unit 04 was
prepared for launch.

  "I will tell you where she is. A few miles from here there is a
testing site for explosives. It is well armored and the men there have
dug in considerably. By the time you even arrived there, assuming of
course that you could launch such a assault fast enough, troops from
Seele who are less than an hour from here will arrive and overtake your
instillation."

   "I see, and your calls every quarter hour are all that is keeping my
daughter alive I assume?"

  "Naturally."

 "Well then; let us discuss what it is you want to know."

  The tape ended there and the Captain's voice came through.

"We were monitoring the whole conversation and I grabbed you as soon as
I heard the Commander sneak the plan out of Vinson. Your map has the
location of the test site. Your gonna have to work fast, we don't have
much time. Good luck kid. Evangelion Unit 04... Launch!"

---------

  The hatch above him had opened moments ago, and with a jolt, the gray
and black Eva rocketed upwards along the launch track. One of the
scenarios they had taken him through in training was for rapid
deployment. Basically the lift would release him just before it arrived
at the surface. The lift would stop, he would not.
   The sixty-meter tall beast of flesh and metal burst from the catapult
shaft and flew high into the night sky. Its arms spread out and with an
agile flip. As it crashed back to earth, it landed next to the power
outlet.

"They DO look like oversized extension cords!" he thought with a laugh
as he reached down and hooked the umbilical plug into place on the Eva's
back. He gathered the extra cable that had been hooked up for his trip
in a loop and slung it over the Eva's shoulder. Checking his compass and
map, he found the direction, and in an earthshaking dash, took off to
save the girl he was quickly coming to love.

---------

  Unaware that a gray death was heading their way, the two men who were
in charge of guarding Ruth Essex were playing cards. In the corner, Ruth
sat tied to a chair. They hadn't originally intended to gag her, but
half an hour of her screaming had convinced them to do so. She now sat
glaring at them, it was a little unnerving, even with her being tied up.

    They were so intent on their game that when the cell phone rang,
they jumped in surprise. It was their boss; they were good for another
half-hour.
   Ten minutes later, something else shocked them out of their game. At
first they thought it was an earthquake, but then they realized it was
far to even to be that. Looking out the window of the bunker, one of the
men was just in time to see a gargantuan foot slam down a few feet in
front of him.
     Letting out a scream of terror that put Ruth's earlier efforts to
shame, he fell backwards. His partner was about to ask what he saw when
there was a loud creak in the walls. From his position on the floor, the
first guard had the best view as Unit 04 tore the roof directly off.
    Its angry gray face lowered to the gap in the ceiling and its
horrible mouth opened angrily when it saw Ruth tied to the chair. The
face went away, but was soon replaced with a gray and black hand that
was twice as large as anyone in the room.  Filling the guards with
visions of the movie King Kong, the hand gently picked up Ruth Essex and
backed out.

   "D-do you think its gonna go away?" one of the asked in a trembling
voice.

  They soon got their answer as the roof fell back, its dirt and rock
covered top portion first trapping both men in the bunker.

----------

  Cradling Ruth in its hand, the Eva stood back up and lowered its head.
Lifting Ruth up level with its back and neck, a huge panel opened and
the Entryplug swirled out of its back.
    Looking across Unit 04's hand in the bright moonlight, her hopes
were confirmed as the hatch opened and Josh jumped into the Eva's hand
from the Plug. Still coughing LCL, he hurried over and untied her.
Careful not to knock them both off the Eva's hand she pulled him close
and for the second time, kissed him. This time they did not break for
several moments. As they climbed into the Entry Plug Josh heard Captain
Wright calling for him.
  Closing the hatch and holding Ruth's hand as she breathed LCL for the
first time, he answered back and apologized for the delay.

  "Tell me your sorry later, we need your help again."

 "What's the problem now?"

 "Those Seele troops are a lot closer than we thought, we need you to
buy us half an hour."

  "You want me to fight them?"

 "I'm afraid you have to Josh, if they had been twenty minutes later we
could finish a little project we're working on and still make it, but we
need that time! We're counting on you again kid; here are their
positions, keep out of view until they reach the marked point. That
should bring them into range of our jamming efforts. Good luck."

---------

 "Sir, we have her."

Wright's voice had interrupted Commander Essex's delvulgion of most of
the secrets he had kept from Seele. Vinson was shocked to learn how much
he and Ikari knew of Kiel's plans. He was just getting to the part about
the Lance of Longinous when Wright's announcement came through.

 "I'm afraid my lecture is over now Vinson."

Vinson sat in shock, there was no way they could have ambushed the
bunker so quickly with the reduced personnel they had, and the doors
were all booby-trapped. The windows were bullet proof and almost a foot
thick.

  `I don't understand..."

 "Ruth was not the Pilot, a young Man named Lexington just rescued her
using Unit 04. It was a clever plan, and had your intelligence been
correct you would have succeeded, I want you to know it wasn't your
fault before you die."

  "I thank you Commander, it is a small comfort however. You do realize
that Seele will eventually re-take the base."

 "No they will not, because we will not be here."

 "I don't understand."

 "When the UFO crashed in 1947 the data recovered by the government
showed a power signature that at the time they did not recognize. When
the Ikari's approached me to join their conspiracy they showed me the
data taken from the 1st and 2nd Angels, it matched the power signature
from the UFO's damaged FTL drive. In less than half an hour we are going
to activate it using the S2 engine."

  "But why? How?"

  "It is no use Vinson, we know about Rogziel"

There was a stunned silence as Noah Carl Vinson stared at him in what
might have been awe.

"You amazing bastard." he finally said in wonder

 "Yes, it takes one to do this job I'm afraid."

 With that, Essex pulled a gun from beneath the table and shot the Seele
Auditor in the head.

--------

  "There they are."

Josh and Ruth had hurried to the point where they would ambush the Seele
troops. As silly as he felt trying to hide in a 65 meter-tall robot, the
moon had passed behind a cloud and the darkness did hide them quite
well.

 "Thanks Ruth, I feel kind of weird about attacking people though."

 "Captain Wright said we didn't have to kill anyone, just hold them
back."

 "We still might step on someone by accident."

 "If it makes you feel better, remember that they want to kill all of us
in cold blood, you're protecting people from that."

 "My dad always said there were only two good reasons to fight."

"What were those?"

  "To defend yourself, or defend someone else."

 "Well this is the later, so lets get moving."

 "You got it."

-------

 Crashing out of the darkness, the Eva was a sight to behold. As it
landed on all fours in the convoy's path, its great mouth opened and it
released a roar that blew out the windows on half the APCs.

 "What the hell is that?" The commanding officer screamed as the beast
stood up. The moon came from behind the clouds and its gray armor almost
glowed in the silver light.

"Its Unit 04 sir, somehow they got it working."

 "But we're supposed to have their pilot, it cant be here."

 "Um... sir it is, and I think it's... mad"

-----------

 The Eva brought its foot down right in front of the first APC, sending
a shockwave along the road that tossed both concrete and two of the APCs
in the air. Crashing down and spilling troops everywhere; the APCs were
no longer driveable in the least. This was insured as the left wing-like
shoulder extension on Unit 04 opened and the creature pulled out a
glowing knife. Kneeling down, the Eva slashed each truck in two, then
stood back and held the progressive knife threateningly.

 "What if they open fire? " Ruth asked.

 "The AT field should protect us." Josh said nervously.

"What the hell is an AT field?"

 "Wait...they didn't tell you?"

"No, why?"

 "They told me the second day I was here, they should have briefed you
long ago on this stuff."

 "Later, they're trying to drive around you."

"You're kidding!"

----------

Indeed two of the APCs had left the road and were attempting to pass
Unit04. They had turned their lights off in a vain hope that the Eva
didn't have night vision.
 They were wrong.
 The Eva reached down and grasped the first one about the roll bars.
Lifting it; the Eva began to shake the soldiers out as if they were toys
in a box. As soon as the drivers jumped out, the Eva held the truck like
a football and then punted it off into the night. Almost a mile away it
landed and exploded.
  The second was picked up in a similar manner, but this one was not
kicked. Once the men were all shaken out, the Eva sat down cross-legged
and did something even more disturbing than its sitting position.

As it bit into the truck like an oversized child with a candy bar,
Unit04 began to chew.

--------

 "I think that should scare the fight out of them quite nicely." Josh
said with a satisfied grin.

 "Too bad you said we can't scare the Angels like that huh?" Ruth said
with a similar grin as they watched the tiny men flee on foot.

 "Do you see the air support yet?" Josh asked getting serious.

 "I think that's them on the radar there."

 "Something else just occurred to me."

 "What?"

" Shouldn't your being in the plug mess up the mental commands?"

 "I don't know, you're the pilot, maybe its because I don't have those
cute little hair clips."

"They aren't hair clips."

"They look like hair clips, and that's what Asuka used them for."

"Oh just drop it, lets see if we can take care of these VTOLs."

--------

  The last thing the first VTOL pilot saw was half a truck sailing
toward him thought the night air. Its impact crushed in both the pilot
compartments and most of the electrical equipment, fuel still in the
tank of the APC detonated and lit up the night sky.
  The second crafts pilot barely had time to recover from the shockwave
of the first's explosion before a fist as large as his craft slammed him
from the sky.

-------

"I didn't like doing that." Josh said sadly.

 "They had N2 missiles, we didn't have time for anything else."

 "I know, but I still didn't like it."

The radio came back to life moments later.

  "Josh can you hear me?"

 "Yes Captain, loud and clear."

 "We're ready to activate, you need to grab hold of something fast."

"Activate what?"

"No time to explain, there are more VTOL on the way and we don't have
time to get you back inside, just get as close to the base as you can."

 The line went dead.

 "Any idea what he's talking about?"

 "Not a clue, lets hurry though, it sounded serious."

--------

He had just gotten in sight of the base and reattached a closer part of
the Umbilical when it happened.
 It started with a blur that they mistook for a glitch in the visual
system. As it grew stronger they realized that it was something in the
air. Crouching and wrapping the closest part of the power cord around
the Eva's arm Josh looked around in confusion and wonder. The shimmer in
the air began to change colors shifting from red to blue to yellow in
fluctuation. Suddenly a bust of energy and heat came from above, below,
and around them. It was so intense they could feel it through the Eva's
armor.
   The light and heat didn't last long however and it suddenly went dark
so fast that their eyes didn't have time to adjust. Both of them grabbed
onto the pilot seat as a sensation that was not unlike falling swept
over them. It lasted two seconds, and then there was an enormous
crashing impact. The ground around them shook and tilted. Suddenly the
Eva was sliding along the ground towards a cliff that had not been there
a moment ago. They sailed off the cliff but were saved by the Umbilical
line, which snapped taunt as they fell. Swinging inwards, they struck a
wall and as the Eva automatically went into power conservation mode,
both pilot and passenger fell unconscious from the collision.


Epilogue 02

  As the S2 engine shut down, the base was silent. They had made it, but
the main power was gone. If they could not restore it fast enough, Unit
04's pilot and the Commanders daughter would be lost.
   Slowly around the base people began to recover from the fall and
crash that had ended the activation of the FTL drive. In the apartment
where the 11 children who had been possible pilot candidates, Bethany
Dakota climbed to her feet. The floor was at an angle, but it was
walkable, she felt much lighter for some reason. As she checked the
others, crossing the floor in the darkness she sat down and cursed under
her breath. Kaji had warned her, but she never though they would be
insane enough to actually do it.
 On the control deck Captain Wright and Commander Essex looked at a
display on one of the few remaining monitors that had survived the power
outage. The mountains, the terrain all around the base were a dull gray.
In the distance a shape could be made out, but all they could tell was
that it was there, not what it was. As the camera panned up at the night
sky, Wright turned to Essex
 "Well I always wanted to go to the moon."


From: Hotwire <hotwire1@airmail.net>
Subject: [Eva][FanFic] Moonlight Sonata (3 of 3)

(same as parts one and two, send any CC to hotwire1@airmail.net )


Well here it is. The third and final chapter in my story, signed sealed
and delivered. I hope all of you have enjoyed things so far. Remember
this story has entered Major SPOILER territory; don't say I didn't warn
you. I want to warn you now, the second half of this chapter is going to
be rather violent, the 2nd Angel has been imprisoned for fifteen years
and is very pissed off. Also I popped in a theory as to how Shinji's
Plugsuit appeared in the Entryplug after he had been absorbed into Unit
01.
 After this chapter I have a listing of the inspirations that brought
all of this about, as well as a key for some of the more obscure terms,
kind of a mini Red Cross book. As usual I do not own Neon Genesis
Evangelion. It and the characters from that series are the property of
Gainax. I am merely borrowing them to tell a story. The characters that
do not appear in Eva are my own, as are the drawings of them that will
hopefully someday accompany this on the web page I have planed. I want
to quickly thank a few people who gave me the CC; technical info and
suggestions that helped me finish this story. To Wendy, Lori, Roland,
Sandra; thank you all for proofreading this. I want to thank Orbit for
the info he provided about the life support system, and thanks to Jen &
Jen, two friends of mine who inspired the twins. If I missed anyone I
apologize, and offer this thanks in hopes it makes up for my oversight.
And now: the conclusion of Moonlight Sonata.


                                StormFront Studios Presents
                                  Neon Genesis Evangelion
                                       Moonlight Sonata
                                         By T. L. Webb


Prelude03
 Antarctica September 13, 2000

Lorentz Kiel stood on a ledge watching the giants do battle. This was
not part of his plans; in fact it was one step away from being a
disaster. He watched the giants of light and darkness fight across the
ice and came to a decision. Kneeling down, he began to unwrap a long
shape from a bundle of cloth. It was a spear, two rust-colored bands of
metal twisted around one another, ending in two parallel razor sharp
spikes. Hefting it, he thought of how long it had been since he had
actually used the cursed thing. 1945? 43? It had been more than half a
century. As he took aim and drew the lance back, he cursed his
stupidity, they should have been far more careful. Then again there had
been no way of knowing that Rogziel would attack, and even less way of
knowing that the weakened Adam would try and stop it. When the dark
beast had appeared, they had all been under the assumption that it was
after them, and it had been. But for reasons that Kiel only suspected,
Adam had intervened on their part and the two beasts had begun to do
battle.
   As he lined up his target however, Kiel realized that he might be too
late. In a panic, he let fly and the lance began to grow in size to
match its target, but the ground had shifted at the last second, and the
weapon crashed into the ice, just short of its intended victim.
  Enraged that the foolish Lillian dared try to attack it, Rogziel let
loose with an earthshaking roar and spread its four great wings. Adam
had just climbed back to its feet when the first shockwave hit. Hurled
back into an ice shelf, and already weakened by the Katsuragi effect
that had been tested on it earlier, the 1st Angel was buried in a
falling wave of ice that also contained a screaming man named Kiel.
   The 2nd Angel's wings continued to spread, and as they did, the wave
of shear force and destruction grew in power. The shockwave tore across
Antarctica, melting ton after ton of ice and killing the several dozen
scientists who had been studying a biological anomaly that had turned
out to be Adam. Only one of the crew survived. Moments before the final
devastating blast, Misato Katsuragi's father placed her in a tube that
was originally designed to protect biological samples during
transportation. She was badly wounded and would be catatonic for several
years afterwards, but she would survive.
   Only one being saw what happened after that. Kiel, whose immortality
was both his blessing and curse, made it to the surface of the waters.
In a stroke of luck he had not sunk very deep. Grasping hold of the
shattered body of the 1st Angel he saw the second slowly retract its
wings. As the beast settled on the water, a sudden bust of light came
from above, and the creature screamed again, this time in agony. There
was another blast of light, and once Kiel's eyes cleared enough, he saw
that the creature was gone. It had broken whatever strange laws that
governed the Angels, and had attacked its brethren. Rogziel had always
been overzealous, Kiel thought.
It had turned out as the Dead Sea Scrolls predicted after all. The
damage to his body and eyes would not heal for years and due to the
nature of his wounds they would worsen before they improved. But none of
that mattered; he knew where the beast was to be imprisoned. This would
not impede his plans in the least.


3rd movement
2015 The Moon

  On the Dark Side of the Moon, a bowl of rock, metal and stone that had
literally been scooped from the Earth lay against a mountain at a slight
angle. The FLT drive from a UFO that had been found wrecked just outside
Roswell New Mexico in 1947 had created a Sea of Dirac that had
transported Nerv's Second branch and a hundred square miles of
countryside there. Using the S2 Engine that had been intended for
instillation in Evangelion Unit 04, they had powered the device and made
a leap of over four hundred thousand kilometers in the blink of an eye.
Unexpected fluctuations of power, and a slight miscalculation had placed
the Second Branch's landing twenty feet in the air, and at a poor angle.
They had fallen and landed against the mountain leaving the entire
complex tilted fifteen degrees. That had been the least of their worries
however. Unit 04 had been outside fending off an attack from Seele when
the drive had been activated, and was now trapped. With no direct feed
of power, the Eva had less than 15 hours of life support. That was under
normal circumstances. Maters were complicated by the fact that Unit 04
had slid over the edge of the bowl made by the transported mass of the
Second Branch. Inside the Eva were both its Designated Pilot Joshua
Lexington, and the daughter of the second American Branch's Commander,
Ruth Essex.
    Hanging by the power cable wrapped around its arm, Unit 04 was
trapped against the side of the Second branch with no power to feed its
overtaxed Life Support system. The dense wall of rock that the Eva hung
against blocked communications. There was less than eight hours of life
left for the two if power was not restored soon.

---------

"If your not going to ask I will." Ruth Essex said as they sat inside
the Entryplug of Unit 04.

"Ask away." Joshua Lexington said as he checked the device on his wrist
for the twentieth time. It displayed the remaining power that the Eva
had, he hoped Ruth didn't ask how much they had left.

 "What happened back there? Where did this ledge come from? Where are
we?"

 "I don't know Ruth, last we heard they were activating something. Then
the light, then this.
That's about the extent of my knowledge in the matter."

 "You scared?"

"Terrified."

"Me too... think they'll get the power to this thing back soon?"

"I hope so, the view is boring me." He said with a grin.

 When they had come to after the impact knocked them both unconscious,
he had flipped on the outside monitor, all they could see was rock, and
a hint of gray at the edges. He had thought about turning the head to
see better, but decided against it and turned the monitors off to
conserve power. Since then all they had seen was the gray metal of the
Entryplug.

 "Hey Ruth?"

 "Yeah?"

"I was going to say something before I left for Japan... kinda moot now
but I still want you to hear it."

 "..."

"I think I do love you Ruth. I don't think I've really ever been in love
before, so I can't say for certain, but if this is what real love is
like then I'm definitely in it."

  They had been sitting in the pilot seat since they woke up; it
apparently had rotated to keep them level before power shut down. Ruth
was seat just in front of him. She leaned backward to look him in the
face.

  "What do you mean you don't know?"

 "Well, I just don't have anything in my life to compare how I feel to."

Climbing up and sitting on the control panel, she looked him in the eyes
for a moment before speaking.

"Hmmm ... there has to be something... how about Romeo and Juliet? Do you
feel like that?"

  "To an extent, but I was never really sure those two were fully in
love."

 "Comeon! That's a classic love story Josh."

 "... I always thought it was more of a tragedy. I mean, I don't doubt
that the two were starting to be in love, but they really didn't have
time, I think, to be fully in love. And I don't quite think I'd ever
kill myself like that."

"Ok, you might have a point, besides if dad thinks what we have is
nothing but hormones then we better not use that as an example anyhow,
how about another one?"

 "I got it; the Princess Bride."

"I hope you aren't comparing me to Buttercup, she was a flake and a
half."

"Agreed, but I was thinking about Westly. The guy was willing to go off
to America, and bust his butt to provide for her, talked the most
ruthless pirate on the seas into sparing him. He came back and fought
the best fencer in the world, the strongest giant in the world, and the
smartest man in the world, died, then came back from the grave for her...
I'm pretty sure that had to be more than hormones, if you will excuse me
for using you pop's term."

  "You're excused. Good example by the by. What about West Side Story?"

"Aren't we back to Romeo and Juliet with that?"

"Sort of, but those two didn't kill themselves. They got killed yes, but
by someone else."

"Hmmm that's a good one... how come so many of the classics are
tragedies?"

"I don't know, maybe it adds to the sympathy factor, you feel more
connected to the characters if you feel sorry for them."

"I guess, I wonder though... why are we so interested in watching people
get hurt emotionally for entertainment?" Josh said as he checked the
timer.

There was far too little time left.

---------

"So what your telling us is; we're screwed." Captain Benjamin Wright
said angrily.

 "No I said we have a 75%chance of failure at this point." Doctor Rachel
Bennington answered coolly as she reattached several wires to a circuit
board. "With half the generators blown, and several transformers down,
we can not use the main power grid for at least a day. Our only chance
of retrieving Unit 04 and its occupants is to tear out half the power
conduits in the base and hook them up to the S2 Engine. If they do not
burn out, and if the Umbilical Cable is intact, then Unit 04 should be
able to climb back up."

  "Only chance, if they don't, should be able.... You're not exactly a ray
of sunshine here doc."

 "Optimism is not my job, now if you will excuse me I have a lot of work
to do."

--------

While all this was going on, Bethany Dakota was crawling through
darkened corridors trying to locate the command center. She now knew for
certain where they were, and was furious. This had definitely not been
something she had planned for. Behind her eleven fourteen year olds who
were the reserve pilots for the Evangelion series followed caring
flashlights and candles. She hadn't told them where they were yet,
although she was sure the much lighter gravity had probably clued a few
of them in. Not being used to bouncing in 1/6th gravity, they were
reduced to holding on to the rail that lined the wall and slowly working
their way along the slanted hallway

----------

  "Why do I feel so tired?" Ruth asked

"I don't know, I'm feeling it too, maybe it has something to do with the
Eva?"

"Then I shouldn't be feeling anything, I cant synchronize with it
remember?"

"I guess, look, I think its going to start getting cold soon, you might
want to get closer."

Ruth grinned back at him.

"My, my Josh, aren't we forward?"

"And to think you once accused me of having a dirty mind," Josh said
with a laugh, "I'm serious, they were telling me about this in one of my
last training classes. It is going to get cold, and its not like we have
any blankets handy."

  "Ok, I'll buy that," she said as she almost floated off the control
panel where she had been sitting to directly beside him in the pilot
seat."

 "How did you do that?" Josh asked surprised at her maneuver.

"I don't know, but don't you feel lighter?"

"I assumed it was because the life support was covering for two people,
making me light headed and all."

  She snuggled up closer to him and looked up at the blank screens that
lined the Entryplug.

"I just cant believe that they actually built these, how did they know
that the Angels would attack in the first place?"

  "They didn't tell you anything?" Josh asked in shock, one of the first
things they had done when he arrived was to brief him on the truth
behind the Second Impact.

"No, what did they tell you?"

  Josh began to repeat the story that Doctor Bennington had told him of
how the public had been lied to. How instead of the meteor strike that
most people believed to have caused Second Impact, it had actually been
caused by an explosion from the Angels. He told her what they had
briefed him on in the first and second meetings. She listen with
interest as he told her about the AT Fields, and the other technical
details that she was unaware of. When he finished she frowned.

"Sounds almost like they planed to make you pilot from the start."

"I honestly didn't know that they hadn't told you or the others, looking
back I could have guessed, Deb looked at me funny once when I was
telling her about some of this. I just never considered it really. Kind
of naive of me huh?"

 "A little, but Beth was always keeping you jumping with your language
lessons. You didn't talk to the others much even when you did have free
time until just before the trip to Vegas."

  "What bothers me is why did they bring me here? Its not like I ever
had anything to do with Nerv or any of this, my dad is a Navy pilot, I
don't really understand it."

"What about your mom? You mentioned her once, what was her name?"

"Grandpa was real pissed when she left my dad, he always called her by
her maiden name, ` that Monterey woman' was all he'd ever call her."

"..."

"What is it?"

"Marian Monterey?"

"How'd you know?"

"My mom worked for Nerv for awhile, back when it was Gehirn. She worked
with a woman
named Marian Monterey."

"Ruth... are you kidding me?"

"No, Mom worked in the programming department, she helped with these big
Computers in the command center, Miss Monterey was a software engineer
too, but I don't know what she did specifically, just that she knew my
mom. I didn't even know she was married."

"This is too weird..."

"I never knew why mom left Nerv, I think it had to do with my dad."

"I hardly knew my mom, did you ever meet her?"

" A couple of times, she was a nice lady."

"..."

"Josh?"

"I didn't know she worked for Nerv... why didn't anyone tell me when I got
here? For that mater, why didn't my dad tell me before I left?"

"I don't know... brrr you were right, it is starting to get cold."

Josh put an arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.
 "Is that any better?"

"I don't know about warmer, but it is more comfortable." She said with a
sly grin.

"They should keep a spare Plugsuit in here or someth-... doh! Hold on a
sec!"
Excited by something, Josh climbed up to the top of the Pilot seat and
began hunting for something. After a few moments he found a switch and
pressed it, there was a click, and he ducked as a hatch opened by his
head.
  "I knew I remembered something about that." He said triumphantly as he
reached into the hatch.

 "What is it?" Ruth asked him, completely confused by his behavior.

"Something I should have thought of a couple of hours ago when we woke
up. After the first two fights in Tokeo3 the scientists decided that
they didn't want anyone to be stuck in an Eva without a Plugsuit, so
they built a little thing here for spares."
    After checking over the two packages he had removed, he tossed her
the second.
"Here ya go, let me get this one put back in its slot here and you can
get warmed up."

  Removing the loose pink and black suit, and noting it was cut for a
female, Ruth cocked an eyebrow and looked at Josh expectantly.

"What?" he asked, still proud of remembering the spare suit.

"You want to turn around while I put this on?" she asked amused.

"Oh. Sorry"

Moments later he heard the distinctive hissing sound the suits made,
this time a little slower as the suit had to filter the LCL. Turning
back he saw Ruth in the tight fitting material, and his heart skipped a
beat. He had a quick flash in his mind's eye of the first time he had
seen her. She had been wearing a very revealing outfit that day, (he'd
eventually found out that she had been sunbathing when the Man in Black
had found her) but even that hadn't been as flattering as the skin tight
Plugsuit.
  Seeing his reaction to her new apparel, she struck a quick pose.

"Well, is it me?"

A warm blush rising to his face, he could only manage a nod.

--------

"So what's the holdup now Doc?"

Dr. Bennington had Just called the Command center to report another
delay in restoring power to Unit04. They had less than four hours to
rescue the two occupants and Commander Essex was becoming noticeably
edgy. He was standing at the highest point of the command room; the room
had three levels, the top where the Commander was. The second, which
housed the Sisters and the control stations. And the main deck where the
holographic displays would normally be shown when power was on.

 "We need to take a team out to check the Umbilical Cable. When we ran a
test pattern though it we got an error. We think there might be a break
in one of the connections."

  When Unit 04 had been launched, they had rigged several Umbilical
cables together to allow the Eva to reach the testing bunker where Ruth
Essex had been held. Just before the FTL had been activated, Unit04 had
unhooked from the longer cord and reattached to one of the closer links.
If one of the connectors outside was damaged a team was going to have to
go into the vacuum and fix it manually. It would obviously be very
dangerous.

"Be careful out there doc, the tilt on the place is gonna up the ante."

"We are always careful"

--------

Still trying to make headway in the darkness, Beth and the other
children were pausing for a break. It was rapidly getting colder, and
they were still unable to find a lift with a shaft that had not been
blocked off.

"What floor is this?"

"Paul, I swear to God if you ask `are we there yet' one more time; I'm
locking you in a supply closet."

"Chill out Diana. I think I got an idea, what floor are we on?"

"B-22 I think" Bethany said in a bored voice.

"Then we're not too far from The Cage right?"

 "Yeah the locker room is on this floor."

"Well since you guys are starting to complain about the cold, why don't
we grab some of the spare Plugsuits? Aren't they s'posed to be insulated
against all kinds of stuff?"

"I think Josh mentioned something about that"

"Well let's go then!"

---------

"Sir, I have a visual on the children."

  They had lost most of the internal cameras in the transport, along
with the power. Earlier, Essex had ordered a tech to check up on the
children personally, but by the time he made it to their level, they had
already gone. Since then they had been shuffling though all available
cameras in hopes of spotting them.

"Excellent, where are they?" the Commander asked.

"They are in The Cage locker room Sir."

"What are they doing there?"

"It looks like they are retrieving the spare Plugsuits we had made for
each of them, Miss Dakota is with them as we expected."

"Good this will save us the time of getting the suits for them
ourselves. Send an escort to the locker room and bring them to the
briefing room, once they and the other half dozen missing personnel are
located, seal off the rest of the base. We have plenty of air, but I do
not want to waste any in the event of an emergency occurring later on."

"Right away sir."

---------

"What's this display on the back of my hand?"

 Josh had been afraid she would find the life support readout sooner or
later, he had actually hoped she wouldn't find it at all.
Not seeing a way out, he told her.

"... You're saying we only have a couple of hours left then."

"I'm afraid so."

"Oh God..."

"Ruth, don't worry, they'll get us back online any minute."

 "How can you be so sure?"

"Because I won't believe that we're going to die."

"I thought you told me you were scared too."

" I am, but what do you want me to do? Panic and bang on the Entryplug?
I could do that if you want, it's taking about everything I have not
to."

"Ok... I guess I see what you're saying. There's nothing we can do but
wait is there?"

--------

"We found the damaged connector Captain."

"How long till you can have it repaired?"

"We have to clamp down the Umbilical first, it should take us just under
two hours to get the equipment positioned."

 "That's too long Doc, the kids don't have much time left."

"We are working as fast as we can Captain, if we work any faster then we
will make an error, and if that happens we will never get Unit 04 back."

"Understood."

--------

"Do you think that-"
"-they are still alive?" the twins asked.

Bethany looked down the table at the eleven expectant faces. She sighed
and answered.
"Its possible, we won't know for sure until they get the power back,
until then keep your fingers crossed."

"Are we really on the moon?" Deborah wanted to know.

"You've felt the gravity yourself, and we all saw the footage of them
working outside, figure it out Deb" Beth said, no longer in the mood to
play 20 questions.

"Look I gotta hit the necessary room, be back in a few." She told them
and headed out the door.

--------

"Do you smell that?"

"I'm trying to ignore it."

"How?"

"I said trying Ruth, not succeeding." Josh said with a week laugh.

"Does it smell like... blood to you too?"

"A little, lets try not to think about it."

"Ok, but there is something else about it I cant put my finger on"

Josh took another look at the timer, and wished he hadn't.

"When we get back, I want to take you out on a real date" he said to
take his mind off the time they did not have left.

"Oh? A date huh? Where are we going?"

"Hmm... I dunno, Vegas is your town not mine, where's the best food?"

"Well even though they mostly cleaned up the town, most of the best
places are still a little lowbrow, and I doubt we could get in... why
don't we wait till we get to Tokeo3, I glanced through the restaurant
guide Deb gave Asuka, there are some nice places there."

Josh in his mind, backed up what she had just said.
"When ` we get to Tokeo3'?"

"Yeah, I don't give a crap what my dad says anymore. If I have to
hitchhike and steal a plane ticket, I'm going with you."

 Josh's mouth hung open, then a smile crossed his face.

"Your dad never was very good at keeping you on base was he?"

"Nope"

Ignoring the slowly increasing cold, Josh leaned over and kissed her.
"Won't Asuka be surprised to see you again." He said with a grin.

--------

"We're almost ready to reactivate the S2" Dr. Bennington told Captain
Wright a while later. "We had to completely replace the coupling and run
almost half a mile of extra cable, but we finished."

"Half an hour behind schedule."

 "Beggars and choosers Captain, beggars and choosers."

"Look just get the damn thing online ok?"

"Right away captain."

--------

Holding each other tightly and shivering in the ever increasing and
encompassing cold, Josh and Ruth were beginning to have trouble
breathing. When he opened his eyes, he could see the LCL; it was dingy
and almost crystalline. Looking at the readout on the back of his hand
he saw that they had less than ten minutes before the system would give
out completely.
Stroking Ruth's hair and trying in vain to comfort her, he almost didn't
notice the displays on the control panel light up.

"Ohm'God! Ruth!" he shouted as he brought the main systems online.

"W-wha?" she asked as she opened her eyes.

"They did it, we're getting out of here!"

 Outside the Plug, the Eva's Eyes began to glow as its massive hand
swung up and dug into the rock wall. Careful not to put anymore stress
on the Umbilical cable (he had no idea what shape it was in) he began to
dig in with the Eva's feet and climb.
  He had just cleared the crest of the cliff when he realized it had not
become any easier to breathe. It had become harder.

-------

   "Oh shit."

"What is it Doctor, talk to me."

"They just ran out of life support!"

"The hell? How is that possible? Power is back online isn't it?"

"Yes, I don't know what's wrong, but they have just under two minutes to
get back in here before they run out of breathable LCL."

---------

Once they cleared the cliff communications burst back to life.

"Kid get to the access shaft NOW"

His vision beginning to blur, Josh guided the Eva toward the Base, ten
steps from the shaft, he passed out.

--------

"Why did it stop?"

"The pilot is unconscious!"

"Get all personnel out of the way, that thing could fall any second!"

"Wait a minute! It's moving again?"

 Indeed, Unit 04 had wavered a bit then began a slow drunken walk toward
the access shaft. Kneeling down on the elevator, the shaft opened and
began to swiftly lower Unit 04 to the cage.
   As the airlocks slammed shut, and crews began to swarm over the Eva,
the Entryplug opened and swirled out of the Eva's back. A ladder was
quickly raised into place, and as the first of the crew arrived, she was
just in time to see Ruth Essex cough up the last of the LCL. Looking up
at the blurred figures in front of her, she managed to mutter something
before she passed out.

 "You lying bastard."

---------

In his dream Josh was back on the slopes of the Rocky Mountains. It was
before the weather had changed and the snow had stopped. He stood at the
top of the slope with the clouds below him and only the sky above. It
was night and the full moon shone above him in a silver glow. He could
see its light reflected off the tops of the clouds around him. As he
prepared to shove off and sail down the fresh powder, he took one last
look at the majesty around him. Suddenly behind him there was the crisp
crunching sound of footfalls on snow. Turning around he saw two women
approaching him. One was dimly familiar, the other was not. Walking up
next to him, the two turned to him, smiled, and pointed out across the
clouds in unison. He followed their gesture and in the distance, like a
set of hellish shark's fins, he saw four ink-black shapes flowing
towards them. The four shapes soon stopped and began to rise, and their
bases grew closer and closer together. Finally the four spires merged
and a dark shape rose from the white clouds, it continued to flow
upward, and ended in a pure white sphere close to where he stood. As the
sphere continued to rise, he saw it was not a sphere at all. It was a
massive skull that looked like a bizarre cross between a human and a
bird, save that there was no mouth. Its two coal black eyes looked at
him, as if looking into his soul. He turned to the two women to ask what
he was seeing, but they were gone. Alone and afraid he looked back to
the beast rising from the clouds. It was blocking the moonlight now, but
a new source of light had appeared. The four protrusions from its back
were growing and beginning to glow. With a hideous shriek that was
disturbingly close the Unit 04's own roar, an unbearable burst of light
and heat hit him as a tangible force. It blew him off the mountain and
into the clouds beyond. As he fell endlessly he screamed in pain and
absolute terror.
 Then he woke up

----------

 Sitting up in bed Josh let out a scream of fear before he realized that
he was awake. Clutching the covers to himself, he tried to return his
breathing to normal. It took him several moments to calm himself. That
had not only been the first nightmare he'd had in years, but the worst
he remembered. Realizing that he was nude, he looked around the room for
something to wear. Not seeing anything, but more interested in finding
out what happened to Ruth than fashion sense, he wrapped the blanket
around himself like a toga and climbed out of bed. He had only gotten a
short look outside as the Eva had cleared the crest, before his vision
had begun to blur. Had he not seen what he had, and had he not bounced
(!) when he hit the floor, he would have never believed where he was.
How they had gotten to the Moon was beyond his understanding. He decided
he would figure out later, at the moment he was having too much trouble
figuring out how to open the door. There was no handle, only a slot on
the side and a pad on the door itself. As he was pondering this, the
door shocked him by sliding into the wall on its own. He was equally
shocked to find Doctor Bennington standing outside wearing a pressure
suit and looking annoyed.

"You," she said sternly "are supposed to be in bed."

He would normally have complied immediately, but his primary concern was
not for himself, he felt fine.

"Where is Ruth?" he asked as she began leading him back to bed.

 "She is alive if that's what your worried about, women have better lung
capacity than men, and she was able to last longer once the LCL gave
out. Now sit still, once I finish this physical you can get dressed and
see for yourself."

 Relived that Ruth was still alive and that he would see her soon, Josh
obediently sat on the edge of the bed.
 As the doctor worked he wondered how they had made it back, he didn't
remember anything clearly after he cleared the cliff.
He had a vague impression of Ruth screaming his name as his head hit the
controls, but beyond that nothing.

 "How long have I been asleep?"

"About thirteen hours, we sedated both of you to make sure you had time
to recuperate. You were both under a great deal of stress and we had to
run a couple of tests to make sure there was no brain damage from oxygen
deprivation, no there was none by the way."

  "Oh, what happened to the LCL? Why didn't it come back on with the
power?"

Doctor Bennington smiled for the first time since he had met her. She
was thinking back to when she had told the Commander the reason for the
glitch. Apparently when Ruth had changed into her Plugsuit, her shirt
had drifted and got stuck in the LCL intake valve. When the system had
kicked back on at full power it had resulted in a malfunction. Commander
Essex had not been very happy in learning that his daughter had removed
her clothing in the presence of Lexington, despite the fact recordings
showed that they both had behaved, and that it had probably saved her
life.

 Learning of the latter had lessened his displeasure.

Then again the audio portion had disturbed him greatly.

She explained what had happened and after explaining three times that it
was not his fault, she declared him fit for duty.
  Giving him a fresh Plugsuit and waiting outside, Bennington took him
to see Ruth. She was still asleep, but it comforted him greatly to see
that she was ok. Just before he and the Doctor left, he saw his great
grandfather's dogtags on the desk beside her. He was glad they had let
her keep them instead of throwing them away.

--------

 The others were more than excited to see him. He was disappointed
however to find that Bethany was not there, and disturbed to hear that
she had been missing for several hours. Even with main power back online
and half the security systems working again, no one had been able to
find her.
    This lessened his enjoyment of the multiple congratulations he
received from the others. Each of them was also wearing a different
colored Plugsuit he noted as they each took turns asking him what it had
been like in the Eva. He tried to answer as best he could, but in the
back of his mind, he still wondered where Bethany was.

-------

Unlike Joshua, Ruth did not dream that night. She woke up slowly and
groggily from her sleep to find her father sitting in a chair beside
her. Memories flashed back to her of what had happened in the Eva. Of
how she had caught Josh before he fell off the Pilot seat. Of how she
had realized suddenly that she could feel the Eva's arm wrapped in the
Umbilical Cable. Of the cold fury she fought down as she began to
stumble the beast to the elevator. And mostly of the rage she felt for
her father's lie.
  All of it came to her in a rush and she almost slapped him. She would
have, save that for the first time since she had known the man; her
father was not wearing his poker face.
  Settling for a verbal slap, she took a breath and spoke.

"You lied to me."

 Looking remorseful he answered sadly.
 "Yes."

" I could have piloted the thing the whole time couldn't I?"

"Its much more complicated than that Ruth."

 "Do tell."

"I shouldn't tell you all of it now, Joshua deserves to hear it at the
same time you do."

"It has something to do with his mother doesn't it?"

Her father paused a moment.
"Yes it does. But I want you to understand something, you would not have
been selected regardless Ruth. I was under direct orders to use Joshua
as the pilot, and his Synch ratio backed those orders up. He has a
higher ratio than any of you, only the selected third, second, and first
children have higher and are more adept."

  "I want to believe you, I really do, but I can't trust you, I never
could. You lie far too easily."

"I am sorry for deceiving you Ruth."

"It doesn't matter anymore, you had your chance."

"Ruth-"

"No. You wait till I almost die before showing a shred of God-damned
humanity, sorry, that doesn't cut it and it never has."

Closing his eyes and nodding in acceptance of his fate, Jacob Essex
stood and walked to the door. As he pressed his hand to the panel,
activating the door, he turned back to his daughter.

"Ruth, for what its worth, I'm sorry." He said simply as he walked out,
leaving Ruth alone in the room.

 She looked down and saw the dogtags siting beside her. Picking them up
and putting them around her neck, she turned to the wall and began to
cry.

------

  As soon as he heard Ruth had woken up, Josh took off in a run to her
room. Running was not easy in the ultra-light gravity, but he soon
figured out how to time his bounces and began to make good time. As he
turned a corner he almost ran directly into Commander Essex who was
going the opposite way. He apologized for almost knocking the man over,
but before he could continue on his way, Essex asked him to wait a
moment.

"When you two are ready please report to the Briefing room, there is a
great deal we need to discuss. And one more thing, Joshua, your behavior
while the two of you were in the Entryplug was admirable, I thank you
for your discretion and manors."

"...Your welcome sir, I'm sorry if any of the things we said offended you
though."

The older man was silent for a moment, then responded.
 "I do not believe I have the right to take offense for what was said, I
gave that up a long time ago."

 With that Commander Jacob Essex continued down the hall.

--------

When the door opened, Ruth had just put on a fresh Plugsuit. Josh had
asked why they were all wearing them earlier and Dr. Bennington
explained that the adults would soon be outfitted with pressure suits as
well in case of a leak in the base. The latches on the back of the
Plugsuits that he had long wondered about turned out to be designed to
hold a pack containing air and water in case the wearer was trapped
outside. Also the helmets were issued to each of the children almost
fresh off the assembly line. They had been instructed never to be far
from them.
  Seeing Josh enter, Ruth's tear streaked face lit up in joy. Running
over to him, and miscalculating her new weight, she actually knocked
both of them to the floor in a wild hug. Sitting up and laughing a bit,
he returned her embrace. Climbing to their feet, both started talking at
the same time, each having new information for the other.

   Josh told her where they were and why the LCL filter had gone out.
Ruth told him how she had taken control of Unit 04 and how her father
had lied to her about her inability to pilot the Eva. Josh was shocked
and angered at this, but then remembered his brief conversation with
Essex on his way to Ruth's room. Pushing that aside for the moment, he
told her that Bethany was missing.

 "She took off hours ago, no one has seen her since. I'm more than a
little worried."

"Well it's a big base, she might have just slipped from this screwy tilt
the place is in and gotten stuck somewhere. I'm sure she is ok."

 "I hope so, this place is pretty dangerous."

Walking out into the hall they continued to marvel at how difficult it
was to get used to the light gravity.

 "You better be careful in the Eva Josh, jump too high and you'll end up
in orbit."

"That's more than likely not going to be a problem. We're bouncing so
much because our reflexes aren't used to the gravity, I bet they already
got Unit 04 programmed for this ... I still don't understand how we got
here though."

 "Or why we're here. Dad better have a damn good explanation."

----------

He did have a good one.
 Once the other children were herded out of the briefing room, (quite a
task seeing as how they were just as excited to see Ruth as they had
been to see Josh earlier.) Commander Essex began to explain what had
happened not only in the past 24 hours but in the past 15 years.

"This all began almost fourteen years ago when I was drafted from my
position in the US military into a top secret organization called
Gehirn. At that time I was still on good terms with Ruth's mother and
she soon joined the group as well. We worked mainly on a project to
design and construct what eventually became the Eva series.
"About a year after I joined, a young woman named Yui Ikari, who I had
met a year before Third Impact during a conference concerning genetic
engineering, contacted me and told me what Gehirn was really about. I
had been under the impression, as was everyone else; that the Eva series
was to defend against the creatures that caused Second impact. To an
extent this was true, but the real truth of the matter was that a man
named Kiel was planning to use the Evangelions to further his own goals.
I do know fully understand who this man is, but he is old. So old that
even the elders of the Seele organization that controls Nerv do not ever
remember a time when he was not there. He has changed mind you, mostly
since second impact, but he still remains a dangerous man.
   "We always were told that if we did not stop the Angels then mankind
would be utterly destroyed. I still believe this to be true. If we
defeat the Angels then we, as a race, will be allowed to choose our own
destiny. Kiel has his own agenda for what that will be, and Yui
discovered it somehow. We believe Kiel wants to end the world.
   "Yui, her husband Gendou, and I began to plan to stop what Kiel
planned and for the past several years I have been working toward that
end, it is why we are here on the moon. Yui was lost to us not a year
after we began, and I do not believe Gendou ever recovered from that,
but we were still committed to carrying out the plan she crafted."
"Eventually the Gehirn group was disbanded and spread among a larger
group that was named Nerv, it was during this time that your Mother came
to work for us Joshua. Marian Monterey, she had been using her maiden
name professionally, and my wife were both software engineers in charge
of programming Unit04 and our Magi system. At the time we were still
beginning to understand what the Evas really were, and despite two
incidents that had occurred in Japan and Germany we did not, in our
arrogance, take the risks seriously.
   "One day while during a routine test on Unit 04's Entryplug there was
an accident and Mrs. Monterey was injured. She was never the same after
that. She left your father and eventually quit Nerv, no one knows where
she went after that, and with the horrors of Second Impact's wake it is
a safe bet that she died soon following her departure. Ruth's mother
stayed on long enough to finish both projects, but left after that, she
blamed Nerv and I think possibly myself for what happened to her
friend."
    "That is one of the reasons that you both were able to synchronize
with Unit 04 so easily. It, much like the Magi Computer series, was
programmed with a human mind as the template. In this case Unit 04
contains a small part of both your mothers. Ruth I must tell you now why
I removed you from the training program. I was afraid at the time your
synch ratio might be higher than Josh, in which case you would have been
used as the pilot. I was afraid of loosing you so I lied about the hour
of your birth; it was in fact five hours afterwards. The final tests on
Josh revealed him to have not only a 10% higher initial synch rate, but
a projected one almost equal to the second child, when and if he was
ever fully trained. If he had ever had the chance to make it to Japan,
he might have one day ranked as one of their best pilots."
    "As for the reasons why we are here, it has to do with Second Impact
itself. We have watched Kiel over the years, and discovered that he had
taken two separate trips to the Moon aboard the Japanese space shuttle.
When we were finally able to disguise a satellite and move it into place
to take pictures of the site he had visited, we were shocked to discover
that the 2nd Angel was still... I suppose you could say alive. It has been
imprisoned in a citadel several miles from here; we are here to destroy
it. Whatever Kiel has planed for Rogziel, rest assured that it is not to
the benefit of mankind's future."

 Josh and Ruth sat in a state of pure shock. What they had just been
told had completely shaken them both to the core. With Josh it was the
revelation that his mother had not merely run out on his father as he
had been told for years. He was also disturbed by the idea that `a part'
of his mother was inside Unit 04. The rest paled before that revelation.

  Ruth was thinking back to everything her mother had ever said about
her father.  She had always spoken bitterly of him, and Ruth had known
for a while that some of that bitterness had not rubbed off. To know
that he had actually been afraid of loosing her... it was something she
had not considered. It still did not excuse his behavior, his absence or
his lies, but it did ease the anger she felt for him to know that she
might be wrong in at least one regard.

  "The reason I was approached by the Ikaris was twofold." Essex said as
he continued his narrative. "First was the fact I was in line to be
placed at the head of Gehirn's second branch. This was partially due to
my service record and partially due to my familiarity with the chosen
site. The second reason was the same Seele selected me, I knew all the
hidden secrets of this base, and was able to provide the means to
destroy the 2nd Angel."
 "Back in the first half of the 20th century a spacecraft not of our
world crashed in Roswell New Mexico. The readings that our scientists
took as it entered range were recorded and left for years in a vault. It
was not until after Second Impact that anyone realized that the energy
patterns were a 99% match for the Angels. It did not take us long to go
back over all the data we had and compare the patterns. A theory was
produced that whoever our `visitors' were they either had developed a S2
Engine by coincidence or had encountered the Angels on their own.
    "I do not believe in coincidence. The FTL drive that allowed the
craft to transverse the massive distance in seconds was based off the
same Dirac Effect that the 12th Angel displayed. It is our standing
theory that whoever the extra terrestrials were, they were attempting to
warn us of what would come to pass when the Angels returned. We believe
they were faced with the same test we are now battling. However we
simply do not know for certain as so much of the ships data was lost in
the crash. "
   "That is why we are here. If we do not defeat the 2nd Angel Rogziel
then Kiel still has a card up his sleeve. We can not allow for this
unknown factor to remain. Josh we need you to take Unit 04 to the
citadel and destroy the angel. Once we have the S2 installed in Unit 04
the mission will commence. You have a while to get your strength back
and get used to the gravity, I suggest you use the time to do so."

--------

   "I can see what you meant about your dad not leaving any room for
argument." Josh said later that night. (day? It was hard to tell on the
moon) "does he always do that? Dump so much information that you can't
sort through it until he's gone?"

"Pretty much, it's definitely one of his more annoying traits"

"I wonder what my dad is doing right now..."

"When was the last time you heard from him?"

 "A few days before I left to come here... well to Nevada anyway."

"You said he's a pilot for the Navy? He probably got pulled to help
guard Unit 02."

"Could be..." Josh suddenly looked worried, "I hope nothing happened to
him, the 6th Angel hit the fleet pretty hard..."

 "Well that thing was underwater you said?"

"Yeah, it was like a weird king-sized cross between a shark, a whale and
a squid."

"Then he probably stayed airborne most of the way, I wouldn't worry to
much."

" I hope so... I wonder if he met Mr. Kaji."

Ruth smiled

 "What?"

"Asuka has a major crush on Kaji" she told him.

"You're kidding? He's like ten... maybe fifteen years older than her!"

 "Nope, she has the mother of all crushes on the guy, I said the same
thing, she told me that she didn't care. Are you telling me you never
had a crush on an older woman, hmmmm?"

"Yes I have actually."

"Oh?" she asked a little surprised, "who?"

"You silly."

Ruth looked confused for a moment then smirked and thumped him playfully
on the head.
"A half dozen months doesn't exactly qualify me as Mrs. Robenson you
twit"

"Ok, ok, but to answer you question, no I don't think I've ever had a
thing for an older woman, not consciously anyway... well unless you count
gawking at pretty girls around town."

"No we're talking an all out, head spinning, pulse racing, gotta be with
them every second, heart breaking crush. You never had one of those?"

"I had something like it, but not as bad as with you."

"Stop trying to make me blush and spill Lexington."

"Ok, this was about three years ago and I was skiing at one of the
resorts that Idaho Springs was close to. It was also the last year that
we got any snow. Anyway I was standing in line for the lift one morning
and I ended up doubled with this girl. She had short brown hair and
these really pretty bluish green eyes, but she didn't speak any
English."

 "What language did she speak?"

"I didn't find out till my dad started me a year or so later, but it was
Japanese. Anyway all I knew was her name, but we spent the day skiing
together, it was her first time without an instructor so I had to help a
bit. Neither of us minded I think. She was there for about three more
days and we spent a lot of time together, we ended up with about ten
words between us that we both could understand. I never heard from her
after she left though."

"What was her name?"

"I never could pronounce her last name, and by the time I started
learning Japanese I forgot it, but her first name was Mana."

"That's a pretty one."

 "I thought so, well now you know my sordid history. Was it everything
you hoped?"

"It was about as clean as I expected from you, yeah."

"Well I didn't tell you about the smooching."

"You dog!" she said with a laugh, "here I was hoping I had been your
first kiss."

"You were the first real one, all me and Mana did was a quick peck
before she left."

"That's sweet, so I was your first real lip-lock huh?"

"Were you ever!"

"Flatterer."

-----------

"Why didn't you tell me about this before Commander?"

  Captain Wright wanted to know why the information that Essex had
revealed to the children earlier that day had been kept secret for so
long.

   "Because Captain, there was far too much risk that someone could
overhear us discussing it. It was a large enough risk to keep the base
open while we tested the children, if Seele had ever come close to
discovering why it was possible for us to have a pilot almost equal to
the Second child we would never have been allowed to continue. We also
had not identified the security leak by the time the Eva was
operational, there was too much at stake."

 "Ok, Ill buy that sir, but it still bothers me, I knew Lexington's
mother while she was here but I never suspected any of this."

"Understandable. Once she was... injured we covered up most of the
evidence." Commander Essex grew quiet for a moment. What had happened to
Joshua's mother had not been purely an accident nor was the cause and
effect unknown. There had actually been an accident but not in the way
he had implied. True, something had gone wrong and the result had
actually cut short the process. In order to finish the job they had been
later on forced to use Ruth's mother to complete the procedure. It was
not something he was proud of, or something he felt the need to reveal
to Wright. Better to let them think it was merely a programming process,
not the truth behind Project E's dirty little secret. It was one of the
few things he and Gendou Ikari were ever in agreement on. The fewer
people who knew the truth, the better.

"But you have more pressing matters." He said changing the subject, "has
Dakota been found yet? We will need her to watch the children while the
base is on full alert."

"No sir, and that worries me, we should have found her long before now."

"Well keep the search going, I do not want those children underfoot
while we tackle Rogziel."

"Oh, by the way, the communication satellite is almost ready. We have
the scrambler set to the frequency you requested so there shouldn't be
any problems."

"When do we launch?"

"We will be ready about the same time that Unit 04's S2 is installed."

"Good. Keep me updated on the progress, Ikari needs to know we made it
as planned."

"There is one more thing sir, we reviewed all footage we have of Vinson,
and we don't think he reported anything that would endanger Ikari, or
the plan. It looks as if he was afraid that Seele would wipe the place
of the map with him here."

"Excellent, then it is as we suspected. Was there any indication of how
he learned what he did?"

"We know when he learned it, but we were unable to discover who. He
received a call not too long before that last dinner, from his responses
we believe it was then he was informed. It was a cloned cellular from
one of the guards that was with us during the tour, so we don't have
much on the origin. Directly after that he made another call and had the
troops deployed, he did not say why, only that he would have it in his
report."

"The important part is that Seele does no know what we did. We can
continue as planned."

------

  A few days later, Ruth found Josh in his usual place in the Cage. The
crimson liquid had been mostly drained, but the rafts had been left on
the docks. She hopped down beside him, startling him out of deep
contemplation.

"Hey there, whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked with a grin.

"...I'm thinking that I have never been this frightened in my entire
life."

"Come on, you held it together great when we were stuck in the
Entryplug."

"Yeah, but this is different, I've only been in two fights in my life,
and I lost one of them."

 "Oh... but doesn't the Eva do most of the fighting?"

"Sort of... Dr. Bennington explained it once. Its like the Eva has all
these reflex actions programmed in, and it takes the commands from my
mind. I tell it to throw a punch and it does all the work. But beyond
basic hand to hand and the weapons they trained me... I don't know. A lot
of it depends on the synch ratio too. The higher the synch rate is the
better the Eva can get the specifics of what I want it to do from my
head. With a lower ratio the Eva knows that I want to throw a punch,
with a medium rate it knows what kind of punch, and with a high rate it
will take specific commands like a martial arts fighting style... if I
knew one that is."

"Well too bad they didn't have time to teach you any kung fu"

"That takes years to learn I guess they just didn't have the time or
didn't think it would do any good at the stage I would be at when I
reached Tokeo3. It's a lot easier to screw up when you think you know
something than it is if you don't know anything about it."

"I... guess that makes sense."

"It sounded a little weird when I first heard it too, but the more I
thought about it the more sense it made."

   Ruth looked up at Unit 04, its face looked out across The Cage
endlessly.

 "Does it bother you?" she asked.

"Does what bother me?"

   "That the thing up there has some part of your mom in it, something
from her mind that's still around even after she died. Does that bother
you?"

  "Sometimes... for a couple of days I thought of it like they had stolen
something from her, that they had knowingly put her in there so it would
happen. I'm not so sure of that anymore, but I'm starting to change my
mind about it. Remember while we were trapped, you said something was
familiar about being in there? I felt it too when they were training me.
It was something just out of reach to understand for awhile, but I think
I recognize it now. Finding out that Mom worked here, I think, was the
key. The only really clear memory I have of my mom was her taking me to
a place called Hanging Lake when I was very young. Its this little lake
that was made by a natural spring and a rockslide that happened like two
hundred years ago, it's way up in a pass in the mountains. We hiked up
to the place and had lunch up there. I remember sitting in her lap
looking across the small lake, how comforting it was to be with her.
There is something about the Eva that makes me think of that day."

  They spent the rest of the day there talking about what they
remembered from their childhood.

--------

  It was almost four weeks later when they finished installing the S2
engine in Unit 04. It had been a complicated process that required that
they remove and regenerate several parts of the Eva's body. The
regeneration process had taken most of the time; they were still unsure
how to cause the rapid self-repair to an Eva that Unit 01 had preformed
against the 3rd Angel. Power was another issue, with the S2 being
installed; the Base's power plant had been restored as much as was
possible. They were running at 54% output, and this slowed their
efforts.
    As Unit 04 was completed, Josh prepared himself for his task. He
spent time in the gym making sure his balance was restored, and that his
reflexes were used to the lighter gravity. The others joined him often,
they were tired of misjudging their moves and falling.
      Finally the night before Unit 04 was set to launch they got
together for dinner.  Bethany was still missing, and many of them feared
that she might be dead. They didn't discuss that however; this was
Josh's party.
 There were dozens of toasts and encouragement's, each of them offered
him the best of luck, and told him how proud they were. Josh spent most
of the night in a perpetual blush. After the party, Ruth checked in on
him.

"Still scared?" she asked.

"Of course, its not like this is something a person can take lightly."

"Sorry, dumb question."

"Not really. You're worried, and it's comforting to know that you care."

"... There was something I wanted to tell you Josh... something I realized I
hadn't said."

 Turning to her, he smiled. "I know, I love you too Ruth, I'm sure of it
now."

"Now how fair is that?"

"Huh?"

"Here I am about to bare my soul and you go and beat me to the punch."
She said with mock indigence "how am I supposed to tell you I love you
when you do that, it feels like the wind got let out of the sails."

 "I'm sorry," Josh said with a calm smile, "tell you what, I'll shut up
and we can start over."

"Good, now as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I love
you Joshua Lexington, you better come back to me."

  She took hold of his shoulders and kissed him, he put his arms around
her, and suddenly realized that she was on the verge of tears. Holding
her close, he whispered that it would be all right as she cried against
him.

 "Stop that! Stop being so calm and casual, you're about to go put your
life in danger! Don't you know how scared that makes me? I don't want to
lose you Josh!"
 She hit him in the shoulder to empathize the point. As she pulled back
she saw that he was crying as well.

 "I keep telling you Ruth," he said as the tears rolled down his cheeks,
"I am scared. I try not to show it because I don't want to scare
everyone else or myself any more than I am. If I did I might not be able
to do what I have to do. And I do have to. If your father and Commander
Ikari are right then there is too much at stake. I could never live with
myself if I didn't do this because I was a quitter. Do you understand?"

  "I... I don't know damnit, all I know is that you're going out there
tomorrow and you might not come back... that scares me more than anything.
What I'm I going to do if you die?"

"Ruth if I don't succeed at this then we are all doomed. More
specifically you are and I will never allow that to happen."

-------

   Three hours before the Eva launch was scheduled, the Communications
satellite made contact with the first branch. Ikari was quick to answer
and for the first time in months, he and Essex spoke.

  "It is good to see that you made it Jacob. Is everything going as
planned?"

"Yes.  We will have Unit 04 ready to launch shortly, if the information
we have is accurate then we should have no trouble with destroying
Rogziel where it is imprisoned. Is the plan still proceeding on
schedule?"

"We had a slight setback with the 13th Angel, but the Dummyplug system
worked as planed."

"I still do not trust those Gendou, and I have grave reservations about
allowing Seele to have access to that technology."

"It does not matter, the 14th Angel has already appeared and Unit 01 has
achieved its true form."

"Did Seele give you any trouble then? We dealt with their Auditor, I'm
sure they were not happy to have lost him along with the Second Branch"

"Seele believes that there was a malfunction with the S2, they do not
suspect where you are or what you are doing. They also never found out
about your fourth, we produced a child to mislead them."

 "Good, then I will see you when I return."

"I do not believe you should be so hasty to leave Jacob. The reason I
had you gather so many of the potentials was to provide safe haven in
the event that I fail. In that event, the Second Branch will be
humanity's second Ark."

"Gendou... this was not part of the plan."

"I have altered the plan."

"Then what I suspected is true. How dare you."

"Explain what you mean."

"You changed when Yui died, I didn't fully realize how until now. You
don't want to stop Third Impact; you want to control it. I began to
suspect when you had me send Adam."

"The Dead Sea Scrolls say that only one life can choose the fate of our
race, if I do not then Kiel will."

"I have read them damn you. You do not have to chose this path Gendou,
it is unfair to the world."

"More unfair than to allow the pain and suffering to continue? More
unfair than the loneliness we all feel each and every day?"

"It is not for you to chose Gendou, it is not what Yui wanted."

"Yui wanted us to be together."

"And you honestly believe she would approve of this method? Damn you
Gendou, don't do this!"

"You disappoint me Jacob."

"Do I? Why is that I wonder... Because I don't feel that the world is a
cold and hollow place? Because I hate myself for my wrongs? Because I
don't believe the ends always justify the means?"

"Because you did not love your wife."

"How dare you-"

"If you had truly loved her you would understand."

"I may not have been as deeply in love as I should have been when I
asked her hand in marriage. I may have regretted the decision, and I may
have been almost relived when she left me. However, do not for a second
think that I did not love my wife Ikari. And never feel that because I
went along with the transfer procedure... that I was not ashamed."

"The situation has not changed, you will destroy the 2nd Angel. It does
not matter what you do once that is completed, you may stay and keep the
children safe, or you can return to join with Lilith. It is your
decision. Consider it carefully."

  The monitor went blank. And Jacob Essex bowed his head in prayer that
someone could deliver Earth from the madman who would end it all to be
reunited with his wife. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a cigar.
It had been a gift from his former commanding officer. He had never been
a smoker, but had kept it out of respect and nostalgia. It seemed that
nostalgia might be all that he would have left soon.

"I've failed." He thought to himself. " I failed my wife by sacrificing
her for the greater good. I failed my daughter by placing everything
ahead of her happiness. Now I have failed the task that I put ahead of
both of them. Damn you Gendou. Damn me as well."

He was startled out of his grief by the sound of a weapon being loaded
and readied. Slowly turning his head, he found Bethany Dakota aiming a
gun at him.

  "Surprised?" she asked, all traces of her happy-go-lucky persona were
gone.

"Not really, your disappearance more or less gave you away. If anything
I'm surprised that you are threatening me after what you just heard." He
said calmly. He was beyond shock now.

"I am a bit shocked that he actually has the stones to go against the
council, he seemed like such a little lapdog until the Angels returned."

"So you are working for Seele then?"

 "Not just for them, no I'm more of a free agent, it just so happened
that Seele could give me what I want."

"What would that be?"

"Later for that, right now you are going to launch the Eva"

"I don't follow you."

"You're going to have Lexington go out in the Eva as planned, but you
and I are going to stay in here. Also I want all the children but Ruth
to report to the briefing room. Ruth will join us in here."

"And the consequences for not complying?"

Bethany held up her wrist, there was a small device taped to the arm of
her pressure suit.
 "If you don't do as I say a few dozen nerve gas grenades will go off
and everyone here will die painfully."

  "I see."

"Also don't count on Wright to save your skin like he did last time, I
already deactivated the security monitors in here."

 "How did you manage that without security finding out?"

"Call your security office."

 Essex pressed a switch on his desk and there was a burst of static from
the monitor. There should have been an immediate answer, but as the
static cleared he saw a form slumped in a chair, there was a red blur in
the corner of the camera lens."

"Sorry about the picture, but blood just tends to spray everywhere" she
shrugged, "couldn't be helped"

"Are you to have me believe that you killed our entire security force?"

"Wasn't as hard as you'd think, men are suckers for a pretty face
y'know."

"... Very well." He pressed another switch. "Ruth Essex, please report to
the commanders office, all other Eva candidates immediately report to
the briefing room." He started to sit back, but Bethany gestured with
her weapon. Sighing, he reached back and closed the microphone circuit.

 "Nice try, next time it buys you a bullet."

---------

In the command center Ruth was talking to Josh as the Eva was being
prepared for launch. Josh was already in the Entryplug, and she was
speaking over the closed circuit when her father's page came across.

"Crap. Josh I gotta go, anything you need me to get on my way back?"

"Yeah, could you get my SDAT player? I could really use some tunes, I'm
feeling a little edgy."

  Captain Wright looked up from the printout he was reading and spoke
up.
 "No need to wait, what's your pleasure? Classical? Rock? Easy
listening? Country?"

"Um... classical would probably be best for now, I'm trying to calm down
the others would either excite, annoy, or depress me."

"No prob kid, hold on a sec."

 He brought up a menu on the computer next to him. As he did so Doctor
Bennington took a quick glance from her terminal and frowned.

 "Captain, why do you have thirty-nine gigabytes of music stored in the
Sisters?"

"Because you wouldent let me bring my CD collection to the command
deck." He replied with a grin. " You can go now Ruth, better not keep
you dad waiting."

 "Ok. Josh, I'll be back as soon as I can."

As Beethoven began to play through the communications system, Josh gave
Ruth a thumbs-up and told her to hurry back.

--------

As the double doors to her father's office slid open and Ruth stepped
in, she knew something was wrong. There was a figure sitting on her
father's desk. The person was not merely leaning against it or even
resting. They were sitting in the center of it cross-legged.
    Confused and worried, she took a few tentative steps closer before
she saw her father. He was sitting in his chair a few feet to the side
of the desk, and there was something around his wrist. It flashed in the
dim light and Ruth realized it was a handcuff.

Turning to run, she saw the doors slam shut, and heard a click.

She was locked in.

Slowly turning back to the figure on the desk she heard a familiar voice
speak.
"I'd go ahead and come over here if I were you, its not like you're
going anywhere."

 "Beth? What's going on here?" she asked frightened as she walked deeper
into the room.

"Well I have some good news and some bad news... well all bad news
really." Bethany told her in a cold voice.

"I-I don't understand." Ruth said confused, she could now see that her
father was not only handcuffed, but gagged as well.

"It doesn't matter if you do or not, just go over there and sit by your
father."
 Bethany pulled out a small device and hit a switch. Ruth was shocked to
hear a recording of her father's voice.
 "This is Commander Essex, I will not be attending the launch. Proceed
without me. That will be all."

"Now," she said turning to the confused young girl, " if you will remove
your fathers gag, there are some things I'm sure we would all love to
know."

---------

"That doesn't make any sense..."

"Benjamin, has anything that the Commander has ever done made sense to
you?"

"Thanks doc, you're a regular fount of support. Can you handle things
here? I have one thing I need to check before we launch."

 "Go on ahead, we wont need you until Unit 04 reaches the citadel."

"Good. Hey Josh, you relax in there, ok? We're gonna take that thing out
before it knows what happened."

"Thanks again for the music Captain, it is helping."

"Well they say music has charms to sooth the savage beast."

 "Breast." Doctor Bennington said without looking up

"Beg your pardon doc?"

"The quote is `music hath charms to sooth the savage breast.' Not
beast."

"As much as I'd love to hang around and discuss female anatomy with you
doc, I'm in a hurry. You guys behave."

--------

"Why are you doing this?" Ruth asked from the floor beside her father.

"We'll go into that later, right now you and your pop should get
anything you want to say out of the way."  With that Bethany turned back
to the computer, and appeared to ignore the two.

"What's going on dad, why is she doing this?" Ruth whispered in fear.

"She was the one who arranged for you kidnapping Ruth, we knew there was
a mole in the base, we did not know who however, and we certainly did no
suspect her."

"But they tried to kill her! They tried to shoot her that day on the
road, I saw it!"

Bethany did not look up from the computer; she simply spoke up.
"The American Seele representative was getting anxious. He wanted to
take the bunch of you out, they didn't care if I went with you. Their
mistake was screwing it up."

 Commander Essex frowned. "If you are betraying Seele, why are you doing
all of this Dakota?"

"Revenge."

"If you were so angry with them, why did you assist with the
kidnapping?"

"I had been telling them that the pilot was probably selected but I
wasn't sure. If they had known for certain, or if I had not told them
something, then they wouldent have bothered with all that, they would
have just dropped a few N2 mines on the place and dug Unit04 out of the
rubble. I didn't feel like getting blown to atoms. When Vinson arrived I
had already decided I was through with Seele, so I fed him some false
info. "

"I see. What are you doing with my computer, if you don't mind
answering?

"I am cutting off several parts of the base and re-routing the reserve
air tanks from a few sections."

"We have enough air to last a year, why are you so worried?"

"Because Commander, I do not want any of the reserves to become tainted.
Oh and by the way Ruth, if there is anything you want to say to your
father; I would advise doing so now."

 Realizing what Bethany meant to do, Ruth's eyes went wide.
"Oh God no..." she whispered, then turned to her father "daddy..." she
started with tears in her eyes.

"No Ruth, let me speak first," Jacob Essex said. He had to phrase this
gently, Ruth was at a delicate point, if he said the wrong thing, if he
told the full truth of all he had done, she might not make it through
whatever Dakota had planed.
"I have a great deal to answer for. I was not the father I should have
been, and I am sorry for my shortcomings. Not having the love I should
have had for your mother was another. I was also wrong in what I told
you and Lexington, I fear I may have placed my own interests above your
happiness in that matter. I hope one day you can forgive me for what I
have done."

That said, Ruth took a breath and tried to be as brave as her father was
being.
   "Dad... I- I'm sorry I should have... I didn't mean it when... I'm sorry."

"Ok, that's enough." Bethany said, "Ruth you step back."

"No! Beth please don't!"

"Look half-pint, I'm not going to argue about this all day, move or I
throw you across the room and do it anyway. At least I gave you a chance
to talk with him, I could have just shot him before you arrived."

"Ruth." Commander Essex said calmly. "Do as she says."

"Hell no! She's going to kill you, and I'm supposed to stand here like I
don't give a damn? I. Do. Not. Think. So."

"I guess it's the hard way then." Bethany said with a sigh.

----------

"Weapon cache loaded and ready."

"outside teams have reported to their airlocks."

"Synch ratio at 61%"

"S2 Engine functioning at 100%"

"Removing the right arm restraints."

"No problems detected."

"Left arm restraints clear."

"Harmonics are normal."

"Unit 04 ready for loading."

"Moving to the second Lift"

"Second lift fully functional and ready"

"Pilot life signs are stable."

"We are go for launch."

Doctor Bennington looked around, both the commander and captain had
left, so she was in charge of the operation until Unit 04 reached the
citadel. Confirming the rest of the data, she nodded to herself and
spoke.

  "Evangelion Unit 04, launch!"

-----------

"About time," Bethany muttered as the shockwave washed through the Base.
As precariously tilted as it was, the entire structure was shaken by
Unit 04's launch. Ignoring the crying girl in the corner and the body on
the floor, she pressed the switch on her wrist.

---------

  There was a sudden hissing sound in several rooms of the base and a
green gas that rapidly spread throughout each of the occupied rooms
suddenly surrounded their occupants. After a moment of gagging, those
who breathed the gas would begin to vomit, and what followed that was a
nightmare of pain and agony that may have only lasted seconds, but felt
like an eternity. As the gas filled the command center, the techs
fumbled for the helmets of their pressure suits, only two managed to get
theirs attached, but it was still too late. They had already breathed
the deadly nerve toxin, and soon they too were feeling the effects. Dr
Bennington managed one final act before she succumbed to the toxin; she
fumbled to activate the red alert system. Unfortunately she missed the
switch in her confusion, and in the Briefing room, the Commanders
office, and throughout the base the few people still living began to
hear Captain Wright's music play through the PA system.

----------
"Doctor Bennington?"

"Captain Wright?"

"Commander Essex?"

"Anyone there? Hello?"

 Josh was worried. He had not heard from anyone since he launched. The
weapons cache had been waiting for him at the top, but when he called in
to announce that he had it, no one had answered.

"Can anyone here me?"

He was getting ready to try to open the shaft he had come up through
when a window popped up on his screens. It was Bethany Dakota.

"Wha...?" was all he could manage in his surprise.

"Hi squirt." She said without humor.

"Beth!" he finally managed, "where have you been? What happened to the
command center?"

"I'm afraid they are all dead Josh."

Josh was again stunned into silence. When he finally managed to find his
voice, all he could ask was what had happened.

"I released a nerve gas into most of the rooms, they didn't suffer
long."

"What?"

"I killed them Josh."

 "W-why?"

 "Because it was part of my orders. I was hired to spy on the second
branch, and if they in any way attempted in any way to break from
Seele's timeline, my orders were to remove Essex and anyone else who was
in on it."

"But... what about-"

"Your little girlfriend is still alive, as are the other children. Call
them insurance."

"Insurance?"

"Yes, Ruth's still breathing because you are going to do exactly as I
say, the others are just in case you don't think she is enough
motivation."

"... Motivation for what?" Josh asked, a coldness creeping into his voice.

"First things first, I want you to start toward the citadel. You so much
as hesitate and I kill Ruth as dead as her father."

 With that another window popped open and showed Commander Essex lying
on the floor, still in the chair. There was a red pool around his head.
The camera paned up and showed Ruth sitting against the wall holding her
knees and shaking.

"Ruth!" he screamed as the window went out

"No. You can talk to her later, for now start moving.

 His hands shaking in fear and rage, Josh started toward the cliff.

---------

All around the bowl of the Second Branch there was rubble spread for
miles. When he had asked the late Dr. Bennington about this she had
explained that the FTL drive had not originally been designed for use in
a gravity well such as Earth, and as a result they had taken bits and
pieces of land from almost a hundred square miles around. Only the main
structure and a small amount of land surrounding the second branch had
arrived intact. As he climbed down the side of the cliff, he thought
back to Beth's behavior in the past few days before the jump to the
Moon. She had defiantly been different, at the time he had assumed it
had to do with being restricted to one level with 12 fourteen year olds...
obviously it had been more than that.
   As he jumped the last of the distance to the Moons surface, he asked
Beth the same thing that Ruth had wondered earlier.

 "Why did they try to kill you that day?"

"I was giving them reports that you guys were nearing the finishing line
and they didn't like the implications. The American Seele representative
didn't want any of the other Council members to know that he had let
whatever was going on here happen under his nose and decided to get rid
of the problem and cover the tracks with one sweep. They screwed up and
I lived. He's probably pissing himself right now and praying that the
other council members don't figure out that he knew something was up."

"Why are you still helping them after they did that?"

"Who said I was helping them?"

"I don't understand, you said you were following orders."

"Seele wants to start what they call the Third Impact and take everyone
off to wonderland all at once. I used to want to go, but I changed my
mind."

 "... Wonderland? You mean like Heaven?"

"I think its something like that, they want to merge everyone on Earth
together into this huge group mind that's supposably the next stage of
evolution."

  The Eva jumped over one pile of rubble after the other on its trek,
and Josh found another part of Beth's betrayal he didn't understand.
"Evolution... how did we get from talking about Heaven and Angels to
that?"

"Don't look a me kid I just work here. Let me ask you this; do you
believe in God?"

"... Yes I suppose I do."

"Lets say that this whole Third Impact thing does take the whole human
race to Heaven, think He will let me in?"

 "..."

"That's right, after what I've done ain't no way in hell I'm getting in,
if you will excuse the pun. I got nothing to loose here understand? All
I have left is a chance to pay Seele back for the little pot-shot at my
head."

"What does that have to do with me?"

"You'll see."

---------

He finally got passed the last piece of Nevada that had followed the
second branch and his destination was now in sight. It was a spire of
what looked to be a clear material that refracted the light from the sun
from atop the peak of a mountain. It was an oasis of color on the gray
surface of Luna. As he drew closer he saw that there was a cave in the
side of the cliff.

"Hold it." Beth said suddenly. "Loose the weapons."

Nervous, frightened, and confused, he set the large attachment the Eva
had carried on its back to the ground.

"The progressive knife too" she said.
As the hatch on the Evas shoulder wing opened and the knife popped out,
he removed it and set it on top of the other weapons.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Now you get a moment to talk to Ruth before I tell you what to do
next." She said.

-------

Hearing her name, Ruth sat up and looked to the desk. Bethany had been
talking to someone for the last half-hour or more, but Ruth had heard
none of it. The grief and regrets from her father's death had hit her
all at once and she had drawn away in fear and sadness. Once again
someone called her name and she looked up. Bethany was standing beside
the desk with an annoyed look on her face.

"Get on over her we haven't got all damn day for this."

"We have all the time we need Bethany, remember if anything happens to
her you're next."

It was Josh.

---------

A few seconds later they were as face to face as they could be.

"Are you all right Ruth? Has she hurt you?"

"Not physically."

"I don't know how much time she is going to give us, so I have to make
this quick. Remember what we talked about when we were trapped? About
how I never liked what Romeo and Juliet did at the end? I want you to
promise whatever happens to me your going to keep going and not take the
path they did."

"Josh..."

"Promise me. I know what you lost today is hard and it's only going to
get harder. Promise me that you will not give up. Ever."

"I promise." She said sadly. But in the back of her mind something
clicked and she understood what he was telling her to do.

"I love you Ruth, remember that."

"I love you Josh."

The camera was turned and Bethany was back on the screen.

"How sweet, now lets get to business."

 "Listen to me you cold hearted bitch." Josh said showing real rage for
the first time since she had known him, "I don't care what happens to
me, but if you so much as harm a hair in Ruth's head; I will come back
from the grave if necessary to send you to hell."

"Been there kid, its called life. But if it's that important to you; I
swear that as long as you behave she won't get so much as a scratch."

"Done."

"Good, now here is what you are going to do. In that citadel is the 2nd
Angel Rogziel. You are going to take the Positron rifle and go into the
cave. Once you're in I will give you your next instructions."

---------

Josh removed the Positron rifle as he had been ordered, and hooked the
power cord to the umbilical port on the Eva's back. The S2 engine, with
its virtually unlimited power, would feed the weapon directly.
Shouldering the enormous gun, he began walking the Eva into the cave. At
the end of the long passage, he found stairs that were surprisingly
large enough for the Eva. As he neared them, he saw something that
caused him to increase the magnification on one of the monitors. As the
image enlarged he was a set of man-sized footprints and marks along the
dust of the cavern.

"...Footprints don't fade on the moon, who made these?" He muttered in
confusion.

 Climbing the stairs and coming up at the top, he soon found himself in
what looked almost like a cathedral. It was a circular room topped by
the shining crystal dome he had followed to get there. Through the roof
light poured down in every color Josh had ever seen. It was beautiful.
   In the center of the circular room however there was a statue of a
winged man chained to the floor in a kneeling position. The figure's
head was bowed and held by a collar chained to other restraints. Its
wings were also held together by chains. The body of the statue was
easily the size of the Eva, possibly larger.

"I-is that...?" Josh managed to stammer

"That is what is holding it. You will now fire at the chains."

He started to hesitate, but remembered the warning she had given him.
Bringing the massive energy rife to bare on the closest chain, he opened
fire. The links of metal the beamed touched melted slowly, but finally
fell apart. Turning to the next, he repeated the process and soon all
that was holding the statue was the restraints on its person.

"Now," Bethany said, "take the rifle and destroy it."

He quickly unplugged the power cord and shattered the rifle over the
Eva's knee. Tossing the pieces aside, he asked what he was supposed to
do now.

"Now you are going to stand there as the Angel frees itself and then let
it destroy the Eva."

From within the room Josh could hear Ruth scream in protest.

"One scratch... remember that Beth."

"I will honor the deal squirt."

Josh crossed his trembling arms to show that he was in agreement.

"Remember this though," Bethany added, "one punch and the deal is off."

"I will remember."

"Good."

--------

 It was almost an hour before the statue began to move.
 When it did, it woke Josh from a trance like state of fear and into the
purest terror he had ever experienced. It started with a crack running
down the cheek of the statue's perfectly carved face. The crack widened
and a darkness that was so intense it seemed a living thing appeared in
the growing crack. Pieces soon began to fall from the form, and as they
did the metal bonds placed around the body of the statue began to
shatter. As the stone crumbled around it, Josh caught a glimpse of the
thing's face. It was the same skull-like visage from his dream. The
horrible mix of avian and human skull that had disgusted him then was
even more repulsive in person. His pulse pounding faster and faster, he
fought the urge to destroy the thing then and there with the Eva's bare
hands.
 As the last of the stone fell, he got his first good look at the 2nd
Angel.
It was taller by a fifth than the Eva, and so jet black that it seemed
to be cloaked in darkness itself. Its arms legs and torso were slender,
and almost serpentine. The only exception to its darkness was its
bone-white skull. It had two hands and feet, but from its back extended
four slender limbs that Josh recognized from his dream as being its
wings in their folded state. When they extended they would spread and
glow with heat and radiance.
The creature stood and looked around before finally turning and facing
Unit 04. It turned its head to the side as if confused. The two looked
across the room at one another for what felt like an eternity, then the
Angel raised its hand.

   For one delirious moment Josh thought it was actually offering to
shake hands. Then, without warning, it struck.

  The arm telescoped out and grasped the Eva by the throat, hauling it
up close in one violent pull that left Josh's head spinning.  Lifting
the Eva by the throat, the Angel slammed it into the floor, sending
cracks spider-webbing all around the room. As Josh screamed in pain and
held his head, the creatures other hand seemed to elongate, and its
fingers grew to sharp points.

   Josh's eyes shot wide as the hand plunged down and speared Unit 04
through the gut. A bust of agony drove itself into Josh as the neural
connection between him and the Eva transferred the pain to him as if it
were real. Screaming in fear and pain Josh's hands flew from his
pounding head to his stomach as the angel turned and twisted the blade
like hand that was imbedded in the Eva.

   As the hand pulled out, a burst of blood sprayed out of the wound,
freezing as it hit vacuum. Trembling and holding his stomach, Josh
looked up just in time to see the Angel stand and begin to spread its
wings.

   He was actually grateful, he did not know how much longer he would
have been able to keep from fighting back.

-------

 From the Second Branch, Bethany watched an external camera pick up the
explosion. As soon as the Angel had released the first blast she had
lost the satellite feed. Either the satellite itself had blown out or
the Eva's communications array had been fried. She smirked at the
thought, remembering how important it had been to Doctor Bennington that
day in the cage. Turning to Ruth, she found that she was suddenly alone
on the room.

"Shit." She said as she saw the open air-vent. The little snot had snuck
out while she was wrapped up in the greatest beat down ever filmed. It
did not matter however. She knew the vent system quite well, and she had
a pretty good idea where the little brat would end up. Taking the gun
she headed off to find her prey.

------------

Josh sat up and found himself in a place he had not seen in almost nine
years. He looked around and was sure of it; he was at Hanging Lake. The
fallen tree was even still there in the water. The water itself was
still as clear as glass and the waterfall still fell into the frigid
lake. Forgetting about everything else he smiled and walked over to the
place where he and his mother had gone years before.
 As he sat down on the slab of granite he looked out across the water
and relaxed in the warm sun. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath
of the cold invigorating mountain air he had grown quickly to love.
 Suddenly he was not alone. Two women were sitting with him, one on
either side. They were the same two that he had seen in his dream. In a
burst of insight he finally placed the one he had recognized before.

"Mom?"

"Hello Joshua."

Tears rising to his eyes he threw himself in her arms. She held him for
a moment then spoke.

"I want you to meet a friend of mine Joshua, her name is Leah Essex."

"Your Ruth's mother aren't you?"

"Yes I am."

"I'm happy to meet you Mrs. Essex."

"Joshua, we have something very important to talk about."

"What is it?"

"We know how you feel about Ruth, and we know what you almost gave up
for her."

"Almost...I'm not dead then?"

"No honey, you were hurt badly, but you are still alive."

"Am I dreaming?"

"In a sense, but that is not a conversation we are able to have now. You
have a very important choice to make Josh. You can choose to stay here
with us, and sooner than you might think, Ruth will join us. Or you can
face Rogziel again, and risk never returning here or seeing Ruth again."

"Did Bethany break her word? Is Ruth ok?"

"We do not know that, it is hidden from us."

Ruth's mother spoke up.
"This place is a way station of sorts Joshua, it is both inside the Eva
and at the same time is not. If an Angel triggers third Impact then all
life ends. Oblivion is the result of that path. There are others that
can be chosen, but the test must be passed first and the seventeen
Angels must be stopped. Rogziel had been removed from the test due to
his insolence and anger. He struck his own brother in rage. For that he
was punished, but Bethany Dakota forced you to release him, and he will
not be captured again. He can only be destroyed."

  Josh's mother spoke again.
"You can stop Rogziel Joshua, and we will be there with you each step,
as we always were. But the choice is still yours. The other pilots could
eventually destroy Rogziel, but not without a loss of life that would
endanger their chances of stopping the final angels."
For a long time he sat and thought. Finally Josh looked at the two women
and smiled sadly.

 "I made Ruth promise me never to give up. Doing what you are offering
is the same as committing suicide. I wouldn't be worth much if I didn't
honor the same promise she made. I chose to return."

Both women spoke in unison.
"So be it."

-------------

Beneath a mountain of crumbled stone and glass Unit 04's eyes burst to
life. With a roar that was silent in the vacuum of the Moon, it's bones
and flesh began to regenerate. As the healed limbs began to move, stone
shifted, and with a push the Eva managed to get its legs underneath
itself. Activating the thrusters built into its armored back and
launching itself upwards with its powerful legs, Unit 04 exploded out of
the rubble with a shriek or triumph.

Crashing back to the surface of the moon Josh immediately went for the
weapon cache. Loading it onto the Eva's back, he looked about and found
the Angels trail leading off toward the horizon. With a look of grim
determination set in his face, he began to dash off after it.

-----------

  Kicking open the vent's grilling and jumping into the locker room,
Ruth climbed to the floor. She jumped over to her locker and quickly
grabbed her helmet. Bethany had tossed her other into a far corner of
her fathers office, and she needed the replacement for what she had
planned.
 Placing a liner on her head to hold her hair out of the way, she
slipped the helmet over her head and pressed the activator. The mask
sealed around the neck, conforming to the neck ridges that had been
specially designed for the second Branch's Plugsuits. As the sound relay
came online, she heard a door open and dashed back to the vent. She had
just climbed in and turned a corner when she heard a gunshot.

     Standing at the opening to the vent, Bethany Dakota cursed herself
for being slow, it would be much harder to catch the little snot now
that she could go anywhere in the base. The suit's air supply wouldent
run out for several hours and they had placed refill banks everywhere.
When she had slipped away several weeks ago she had reprogrammed the
ventilation system to allow safe passage between the closed sections.
There was no way to shut the virus down; she would have to block off the
vents. She would also have to manually shut down the air refills and
lock them. She was just glad she had jettisoned all the polluted air
earlier. At least all the reserves would still be available when she
turned the system back on.

   Rolling her eyes and checking her own air supply, she headed back out
to the hall to continue the game of cat and mouse.

----------

 Most of the weapons had been damaged in the eruption of the 2nd angel.
Discarding them as he checked them, Josh continued to make headway in
his pursuit of Rogziel. He didn't know what to make of his dream. He
wanted so badly to believe it was real, that he had really spoken to his
and Ruth's mothers. It was slipping from him the longer he was awake,
and he was starting to fear that it had been nothing more than a fever
dream. He only ended up with a handful of working weapons. Most of the
hand to hand equipment had made it through the eruption intact. He still
had the progressive spear, the smash hawk (which he thought was an
interesting name for a progressive ax) the main projectile rifle and his
Unit's Progressive knife. With the rifle shouldered, the knife in its
holding bay, he hooked the ax to what was left of the weapon cache.
Spear in hand he kicked the Eva into overdrive and half ran, half leaped
after Rogziel.

    The rock and dust of moon's surface was an almost prefect reflective
substance. When a large object such as the 2nd Angel left a footprint
the compressed dust almost seem to glow. Following those tracks, it
wasn't long before he saw the Angel itself. Griping the progressive
spear in the Eva's hand tighter, he leapt Unit 04 high in the sky and
with a mighty throw, he flung the spear at the beast. Its high-speed
vibration silent in the vacuum, the spear flew without a sound and
struck the unprepared Angel in the shoulder.

   It's arms and wing limbs shooting out in an almost comical response
to its pain and surprise, the Angel turned to see who had assaulted it.
It unfortunately did not look up. Gripping the smash hawk and
un-slinging the rifle, Josh took aim and opened fire as he drifted in
the low gravity. A hail of molten metal rained down upon Rogziel and the
beast finally saw its attacker.

   Activating the Eva's jets and discarding the empty Rifle, Unit 04
plummeted to the surface of the Moon. Intent on slamming the ax into the
skull of the Angel, Josh did not see its wings flip forward until it was
too late.

 Turning to the side, the angel straightened its undamaged wings and the
edges flowed into razor sharp points. Having no time or room to
maneuver, Unit 04 was impaled on the two edges.

    Bending its wings in unison, the Angel brought Unit 04 face to face.
As it did so, Josh managed to stop screaming in pain and brought the
smash hawk down.

   It was then that he realized he had not yet harmed the creature.

  As the ax hurled down, the angel caught the ax in its hand. Ripping if
from Unit 04's grip and flinging it away. As Josh looked on in horror,
the Angel flicked its wings, sending Unit 04 sailing into a rock face.

   Plucking the spear from its shoulder, an activity disturbing to watch
(the flesh seemed to flow around the spear), the Angel rammed it into
the neck of the Eva, pinning it to the rock wall. The Eva's mouth opened
in a silent scream, then dropped to the side as the light in its eyes
went out.

   The Angel stood there for several minutes watching for signs of life
from the Eva. Unit 04 lay there in a slump against the stone face. Its
bleeding stopped, but only because the exposed blood had frozen. Turning
its back Rogziel continued its trek across the Moon's Sea of
Tranquility.

    In a daze of pain and rage, Josh could just make out Earth rising in
the distance.

  He was in more agony than ever, but he knew that if the angel were
allowed to get too close then it would all be over. He had seen in his
dream and in person what power the Angel wielded. He had no doubt that
it could attack Earth from the Moon.

  Fighting off unconsciousness, he reached up with the Eva's great hands
and grasped the spear. There was a blinding flash of pain and his vision
wavered momentarily. Gritting his teeth, he took a tighter grip on the
spear, finally snapping the shaft in the Eva's hand. As blood flowed and
froze just as quickly, he lurched the head of Unit 04 forward, freeing
it from the broken shaft. As the wounds began to heal, a cold rage came
over him unlike anything he had ever felt in his life. Releasing a
scream of anger and hate, he launched the Eva in a mad dash after the
Angel.

-------------
  Deep within Nerv's Second American Branch, Bethany Dakota had finally
found Ruth Essex. She was attempting to climb to the outside from the
Cage. There were girders and other handhold all over the walls that
allowed an excellent grip to a climber. It would be easy to pick the
child off from where she was perched.

   Lining her sights up, she was about to pull the trigger when a spark
glanced off the rail beside her. Not waiting to see what had caused it,
Bethany leaped over the edge, dropping a floor before grabbing the rail
and climbing back onto the next level of the Cage's framework. Risking a
glance back up she saw a person in a pressure suit taking aim over the
rail. Bringing her gun up and popping off two rounds she ducked and
jumped behind a set of crates. Off in the distance, Ruth Essex had heard
the gunfire and had jumped to another air vent.

  Slipping into the darkness provided by the crates, Bethany watched the
stairwell. A moment later a shadow appeared, and a voice came drifting
through the pressure suits built in radio.

"Give it up Dakota, I have you covered."

"Why captain Wright, how did you ever escape that nasty old nerve gas"
Beth said in a mock southern accent.

"You locked down the areas you didn't want contaminated, I tried to get
into one."

"And you put your helmet on as a precaution, I see, well all your co
workers and friends are dead, I don't suppose you want me to put you out
of your misery too?"

"Not a chance bitch" the cold voice over the radio told her.

"Too bad, guess I'll just have to change your mind then."

"Really? How you going to do that?"

"Well the little Essex bitch is still running around, but the other
eleven are just a button press away from death by asphyxiation."

"Nice try."

"Oh? Do you actually think I'm bluffing? Didn't you see all the dead
bodies lying around?"

"Yes I did, and that's why the first thing I did was check on the
children. They are all geared up. Check and mate you psychotic bitch. If
you're so hot for oblivion, why the hell are you hiding down there
anyway? I can end this nice and fast for you. No waiting in line."

"Idiot. Why do you thing Rogziel is up here anyway? Whatever happens on
Earth won't affect us here, I'm going back."

"What makes you so sure I won't cap you from here?"

"This." With that, Bethany threw a small item the size of a battery up
the stairwell. It bounced off the wall of the stairs once and then
exploded.

   If she had not been wearing her pressure suit, the explosion and
compression of the air would have killed her. As it was she was thrown
off the edge and down to the bottom of the cage where she landed in the
pooled red liquid that, due to the tilt of the base, had not drained.

   When she shook off the dizziness she climbed out of the red liquid.
On the floor of the cage was a slowly moving body. It was Wright. He was
crawling slowly towards his handgun that lay between them. Walking over,
she picked the weapon up.

His faceplate had shattered in the fall and he was covered in blood.
Looking up at her, she could see the hate in his eyes.

"Sorry Ben," she said coldly, "just doing my job."

She pulled the trigger several times.

----------

"Must have blacked out after the bastard stuck me." Josh thought as he
raced after Rogziel. He was moving faster than ever. The Eva was racing
on all fours gripping the surface to keep from launching up too high off
the ground. As he followed the Angels trail he suddenly saw a glow begin
to shine over the horizon not too far away. As he cleared the ledge, he
saw the Angel standing in the center of an ancient crater.

  Its back was to him and it was gathering its power. Directly above he
could see Earth, turning slowly and unaware what was about to happen.
With a war cry that traveled along the stone floor of the Moon and shook
the Eva to its core, the Angel began to glow. The four black spires on
its back began to glow and with a fluid jerk, the insect-like wings
began to unfold. As they did the reddish glow surrounding the Angel
began to spread, striking the Eva and producing a strange geometric
shape in air between them.

 "The AT Field..." Josh thought.

 Reaching up to its shoulder the Eva drew its progressive knife and
began slashing its way through the field as its own neutralized the
space between.

------------

    As Rogziel's power gathered, it looked up at the blue sphere in
disgust. The beings living on it had never been worthy, and it would
prove it. As the force pulled together it raised its arms to the sky.
The glowing energy began to flow from its wings to its arms. Its coal
black eyes glowing with pure power, Rogziel took aim at the land of the
East. It intended to wipe the only true threat out in one fell swoop. As
the crackling and arcing energy grew to its greatest level, Rogziel took
a final look at the swirling white and blue of the planet Earth.

   Just as Rogziel unleashed the devastating blast, Unit 04 leapt upon
its back, gripping its wings in its massive hands. The blast went low,
and cut a swath through the crater, into the crust of the moon. A gouge
was formed as tons of rock shifted and fell into the gap, a scar that
the moon would forever wear.

 Shrieking in rage, the Angel fought to throw Unit04 from its back. The
Eva held tight, and bracing itself with a foot, gave a Herculean pull on
one of the Angel's wings. There was a sickening wet snap, and suddenly
Unit 04 was falling against the crater wall. Looking down Josh was
almost shocked to see that he was still holding onto the wing. A white
blood was oozing out and there was a bone-like protrusion. Looking up,
he saw that the angel was also gushing the white blood from its back.
The contrast against its ink black skin was startling.

    With a dark smile that would have struck terror in any man's heart,
Joshua Lexington threw the Eva against the bleeding beast. Had any of
Nerv's technical officers been monitoring they would have been shocked
as his synch ratio began to slowly rise past 98%, and continue to climb.
Rogziel dodged deftly to the right and swung its hand at the Eva's face,
raking four thin lines down the armored head. Unit 04 responded with a
backhanded slap that sent a thin crack along the head of the Angel. The
wings suddenly shot down driving straight at Unit 04, missing by mere
yards as Josh danced backwards.

  Letting loose with a scream Josh leapt the Eva up, bringing its feet
up in a drop kick. The angel was knocked backwards by the impact but
using the ends of its folded wings to catch itself, it flipped back to
its feet. It only had a split second to recover however as Unit 04
charged headlong into it, carrying both of them back into the crater
wall

   Both of them slammed into the wall in a fierce bone shaking impact.
Unit 04's mouth opened in a growl that the Angel could only hear through
the vibrations of their contact. With a silent Roar, the Eva threw back
its head, opening its massive mouth, and brought it down on the Angels
neck. There was a wet crunch, and suddenly everything was white mist.

  With almost gleeful abbadon the Eva tore into the 2nd Angel, its foot
slammed down against the creature's middle, as a mighty pull liberated
its arm. It used its feet, its hands and even its mouth to decimate its
opponent. Tearing the Angel to pieces, the only words Josh spoke were a
constant chant.

"Die! Die! Die! Die!" he screamed over and over.

  Finally there was only the head. Grasping an enormous boulder, the Eva
slammed it down again and again, cracking the shell of the skull. Inside
there was a glowing sphere that Josh knew was the Angels S2 Organ...

Its Core.

    Lifting it out of the shattered head of Rogziel, Unit 04 took the
Angel's Core and crushed it in her bare hands.

        As the dust of the core slowly drifted around the knees of the
Evangelion, Josh looked down at what he had done, and was sickened by
it. The white blood lay all about in crystalline form; it coated the
Eva's hands, face, and body. Dark oozing pieces of the 2nd Angel lay all
around. If he'd had the strength, he would have thrown up. Shaking in
the aftermath of the battle, Josh remembered something that made his
already pale skin go whiter. Bringing the Eva to its feet, he whispered
one word before dashing off the way he had come. The dangerously high
synch rate began to drop as he prayed he had enough time.
"Ruth!" he whispered as the Eva raced back the way it had come.

----------

At had taken hours, but Bethany had finally cornered Ruth again. The
trick had been to deactivate the air resupply stations one by one and
herd the girl back to where she wanted her. Back to her father's office.

  "Its no use kid, might as well come out, your only prolonging the
inevitable."

Silence was the only answer.

 "Ok, be that way."

 She stepped into the office and locked the door behind her. With the
air vents all locked down there was nowhere else for the girl to go.
Somewhere in the darkness of this room it would end. The other children
had been locked in the briefing room, and were going nowhere; she would
deal with them soon enough. As she stepped deeper into the pitch-black
room, she turned up the volume of her sound system to maximum. She could
hear short frightened scrapings on the floor from somewhere in the room.
Walking around the wall, she checked the corners until she reached the
window. Flipping a switch she turned on the lights in the storage cavern
beyond, lighting the office.

  As the room was illuminated, a shape leaped from the center of the
room slamming into Beth and knocking not only the wind from her, but the
gun as well.

She bounced off the thick glass and Ruth flew back from the impact.
Climbing to her feet, Beth looked up and was in for a shock.

Ruth held the gun in her trembling hands. They stood there for several
moments, eyes locked.

Ruth pulled the trigger.

The click of the hammer falling on an empty chamber was as loud as an
actual gunshot.

Bethany breathed a sigh of relief, she normally would have known better
than to leave a gun unloaded like that. She had forgot to count the
shots that Wright had gotten off at her before she had taken his gun. No
matter though, it worked out for the best. Smiling cruelly she drew a
survival knife from its sheath at her leg and began planing on where to
cut the girl first.

     Suddenly there was a shrieking crash of steel and stone being torn
apart. This sound was amplified times ten by Bethany's suit and she in
vain tried to cover her ears. Finally managing to remember the volume
controls, she turned them back down and tried to clear the ringing in
her head. As something wet ran down her face she knew her ears must be
bleeding. Moments later, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end
and she slowly turned to face the window.

   Standing before her was a towering nightmare of melted metal, red and
white blood, and very, very large teeth. With a roar that she could hear
through the rapidly thinning air, even with the sound lowered, the
Evangelion's hand smashed into the window and closed around her.

   Screaming in terror Bethany Dakota was thrown into the open breach of
Unit 04's dramatic entrance. She reached escape velocity and was soon
drifting through the emptiness of space.

Forever.

------------

    Making certain his helmet was fastened properly Josh coughed up a
few stray drops of LCL and opened the Entryplug. As he had gotten closer
to the Second Branch, he had periodically checked a small window in his
communications system. The link to Commander Essex's office had been
left open during the confusion of the Angels first attack. He had seen
Ruth sneak back in, and had just climbed back to the top of the base
when Bethany had entered. He was thankful that had made it in time.

    Carefully making his way down the arm of the Eva, he jumped into the
Office once occupied by the Commander of Nervs Second Branch.  He saw
the man in question with lying on the floor just as he had been when
last he had seen him. Ruth was kneeling over him. As he walked closer,
she looked up and through her tears, she mouthed his name. Flipping his
radio on, he ran up to her and they embraced.

 "I ... I thought I had lost you... when the Angel started... I just ran like
you wanted, I didn't dare hope that you were still alive."

 "I almost wasn't. I barely made it back as it is. Unit 04's about had
it though. The living part still works, but all its equipment that make
up its machine parts are almost melted together."

 "Josh... what do we do now?"

"Now we go home." Josh said looking out at the old spacecraft in the
Storage cavern.


Epilogue 03

 It had taken a couple of months, but they were finally ready. The UFO
had been moved by Unit 04 to the runway of the base, and was as primed
as they could make it. What had taken the longest was the training.
Using a virtual reality program that had been developed before Second
Impact, Deborah and Chris had managed to reach a point where they would
be able to get them home. They honestly couldn't wait much longer, the
air reserves were running out. Besides, everyone was eager to get back
and away from the memories that the Second Branch held for all of them.
They had given everyone a burial. All save Dakota who was still drifting
somewhere in the reaches of space. Paul, who had matured a great deal in
the past few weeks, gave the eulogy and did a remarkable job.
The night before launch, Josh and Ruth had a strange dream.

-----------

  They were standing on the hill where they had first spoken on that
long ago night when he had helped her out of a jam and she had decided
he was worth talking to. Hand in hand they walked through the moonlit
desert night. Once in awhile one of them would take a quick, almost shy
glance at the other.  Standing and looking up at the rising moon, Josh
put his arm around her and she lay her head on his shoulder.
 Josh began to hum a song.
 Suddenly he saw something off in the distance and stopped humming his
tune. He stood and pulled her to her feet. Looking off to the next
ridge, she could see a group of people standing in the distance. She
couldn't make out their faces, but she could tell the crowd was growing
from hundreds to thousand and increasing by the second. Suddenly the
night sky was awash with the same amber color of LCL, and the multitude
began to slowly drift into the sky, swirling in the liquid. Gripping
Josh's arm she watched as the sky all around them filled with people.

Suddenly everything went as red as blood.

 With a terrified scream, she woke up.

------------

 On the bedroll next to her Josh woke with an identical scream of
terror. Realizing that they were both awakening at the same time, they
looked at one another in surprise. Moments later the others in the room
began to wake in similar manners. Looking around the room, everyone
wondered the same thing.

Had they all had the same dream?

What had happened?

What did it mean?

------------

The next day they strapped themselves into the spacecraft and as the
countdown neared its end, Josh looked out the window at Unit 04. He had
elected to leave it on the peak of the mountain that the Second branch
lay against. It was kneeling in the same position as he had found the
Angel. He thought of it as a prayer for mankind.

 The countdown ended and the craft moved forward, lifting off the runway
and sailed away toward home.

-------------

 "Will you at least look at me when I talk to you?"

"I can hear you fine, just say your piece."

   Asuka Langely Soryu stamped her foot in anger and frustration. Shinji
Ikari had been like this since that night on the beach when they had
woken up alone in the sand. She didn't pretend to understand what had
happened, Shinji had tried to explain, but he only understood a little
of it himself.

   His father Gendou Ikari had wanted so desperately to be reunited with
his wife Yui that he had forsaken everything, his morals, his son, his
humanity, and even his life. He had intended to take control of Third
Impact and merge Rei Ayanami with the being she from whom she had been
given a fragment of her soul: Lilith. While Asuka and Shinji had tried
in vain to stop the mass-produced Evangelions from starting the ritual
of Red Earth, Rei had turned on Gendou and had given the choice of
Humanity's fate to his son Shinji. Shinji had chosen to return to Earth.
Despite the fact that he would face being hurt by others as he had been
for most of his life, he had chosen that possibility over the mindless
bliss that Third Impact offered. The next thing he really remembered
after that was waking up next to Asuka on a beach. She was still
confused and annoyed about what had happened next, but not as much as
the fact that he had practically ignored her since, concentrating on
putting the tiles back on the roof.

"Say something already!" she shouted at him, "anything!"

"What?" he said tuning and looking at her with calmness that she was
unused to from him. "So you can tell me again how much I disgust you?"

"Are you still hung up over that?" she asked surprised. "I only said
that because just after you finally showed some spine for the first time
in your life you started crying like a baby."

"Am I not allowed to feel ashamed for choking you? Or sad at loosing
everyone I knew and getting stuck alone with someone who hates me?"

 She paused at this.
 "If you felt so bad about it why did you do it in the first place? And
who ever said I hated you?"
Shinji sat down on the edge of the platform he was standing on and
looked at her in frustration.

"You said you hated me the last time we spoke before Third Impact. As
for the rest, it might have been because ever since I met you, you have
done nothing but insult me, put me down, call me a pervert, all for no
reason I might add. And to top it all off, the one time I desperately
needed your help you refused me and turned your back."

"..."

"Look I got to get these boards in place, if it rains we're gonna get
soaked."

 He turned back and continued working.

"I... I'm sorry."

 His head jerked up and he slowly turned around. Asuka was still there
but her head was bowed.

"What?" he asked. This was not something he had heard often, especially
from Asuka.

"What do you want?" she said suddenly becoming angry, "Me to sing it
from the damn roof? I'm sorry already."

Shinji was quiet for several moments, then climbed down. Around his neck
he was wearing a silver medallion in the shape of a cross. It had
belonged to a close friend of his; she had given it to him just before
she died.

"Asuka..."

"Are you happy now? I've degraded myself before the high and mighty
Shinji Ikari."

"Stop that."

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired of it, I'm tired of listening to the same thing over
and over." He sat down and leaned against the side of the building.
"Ever since I met you all you've done is mock me. If it wasn't about me
moping around and feeling sorry for myself, you were screaming about how
I was `showing you up' when I actually did something right. I'm tired of
it ok? Just what do you want from me?"

Asuka looked at him for a moment. She was about to say something when a
large silent shape passed overhead.

"What the hell is that?" she yelled over the sudden wind that began to
blow around them. The shadow passed over them and lowered off in the
direction of the beach. Running together, they burst out of the path and
onto the beach. The shape was a large craft that was settling into the
water that was still red in the aftermath of Third Impact. The craft was
metallic blue and shaped like an arrowhead.

"Oh my God what is it?" Asuka whispered in wonder.

"People" Shinji said simply as the hatch opened on the side.

As the hatch opened several people began to climb out and down the wing.

"Are those.... Plugsuits?" Asuka asked confused.
 The first of the new arrivals reached the beach, it was a girl in a
pink and black Plugsuit, she was Joined by a male in a blue and black
one, all the suits used the same pattern, but were different colors.

The girl reached up and removed her helmet, and Asuka's eyes went wide.

"R-Ruth?" she stammered in shock as the others began removing their
helmets.

"Hello Asuka" the young man, who she suddenly remembered from her tour
of Nerv's second branch, said.

"Where... how?"

"I think we all have a lot of notes to compare." Ruth told her solemnly.


----------------

  They had managed to finish patching up the apartment a week ago. None
of them felt comfortable going into the other cities yet; it was far too
quiet. Other than a few quick trips for tools, they had stayed together
and close to the beach where they had met. Even the lifeless forms of
the mass-produced Evangelions in the distance of the ocean didn't bother
them as much as the silent cities. A few times in his life Josh had
daydreamed what it might be like if everyone in the world had
disappeared but him. This was disturbingly close to that.

   Now looking out across the water that was shimmering strangely in the
colors from the sunset, he finally accepted that they were really the
only ones left. Diana had set them down on the beach because it had been
the only place where there was any life reading other than animals.

   That had been a frightening experience. Once they passed the horizon
of the moon they had started broadcasting a mayday on all bands. All the
way back there had been no answer. Once they had made Earthfall, they
had been completely shocked to find not only no answer to their calls,
but no radio traffic at all. Their first pass over a city had confirmed
their fears. Cars were stalled on the roads, a few fires were burning,
but there were no people.

   The spacecraft had detected only one place where human life forms
existed on the whole planet, and that had been on the coast of Japan.

   There were still so many questions they all had. About what had
happened, about the role they had played, about the entire third impact.
Shinji had been able to answer some of these questions, but he didn't
know or understand the why of it all.

   He and Asuka were a strange couple to say the least. Until about
three days after they all arrived the two ignored each other almost
constantly. Ruth had tried to talk to Asuka about it, but when Asuka
didn't want to do something, it was nigh impossible to change her mind.

   Eventually the two would have go off and talked whatever problems
they had out. Josh wondered why Asuka had called Shinji spineless one
day, the guy seemed to be calm and decisive, well at least when Asuka
wasn't around. Perhaps it had something to do with how he was before,
Asuka had mentioned to Ruth that he had changed, but wouldent say how.

 In the end, Ruth said that they had a lot to work out, but she pointed
out that they never argued about anything for long, and despite the
bickering, the two had almost constantly been in one another's company
since they had returned from the moon.

    As the sun set behind him he felt a shadow fall over his back. It
was Ruth. Sitting down beside him she leaned against his shoulder and
they watched the stars come out. He had brought his old jacket and the
rest of his clothes with them, as had she. They were each wearing one of
his great-grandfather's dogtags. As the stars began to come out one by
one she asked him something that had been bothering her.

"Do you think what we're starting here will be any better than what was
before?"

He thought about this for a bit.
"I think that people will always be petty, bitter, and cruel. But they
will also always be noble, honest, and kind. It was never as black and
white as some people thought it was. There will always be pain, but
that's not all there is to life. I think it's the worst kind of mistake
to forget that. In the end, I think Shinji made the right choice. Yes,
there will always be pain in this world, but there will also always be
love, kindness, and hope."

  As the moon rose in the distance, Joshua and Ruth watched its
reflection ripple across the ocean.


                                                       The End.