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NEON GENESIS EVANGELION: ASCENT OF THE FALLEN

By Sparky Clarkson

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Kaoru sighed softly in relief as he gently lowered Shinji onto the bed. He knew from the younger boy's slow, regular breathing that he had at last fallen asleep. Kaoru had quickly put the picture he had drawn of Yui away when he saw Shinji's severe reaction. Badly shaken, Shinji had been unable to explain his response for some time, shivering silently in Kaoru's comforting embrace for at least ten minutes. When Shinji had at last calmed down enough to speak, the discussion had been cut short by his exhaustion. The emotionally harrowing events of the day had drained Shinji completely, and he slipped into fitful doze after a quick explanation. Several more minutes had passed, however, before sleep had truly claimed him.

Shinji stirred slightly as his head touched the pillow, and he moaned softly. Kaoru leaned down and whispered, "I will be back soon this will only take a minute." Shinji nodded, muttering something incomprehensible, and snuggled down into the bedding.

Kaoru walked over to one corner of the room and sat down cross-legged. He lowered his head for a moment, then lifted it to look at the ceiling."Father, I have not spoken to you in some time..." he said quietly, then paused. It felt so strange to address the Father in this way. Before, it had been a wordless communion, a joining of minds that transcended mere conversation. Every concept or feeling was shared exactly, not obscured by imprecise words. By comparison, speech seemed hopelessly inadequate.

Kaoru sighed. "I suppose that I am not really used to being human," he said. "I still miss my old life, when I knew your will instantly and clearly. My brothers and I often marveled at mankind's ignorance, wondering how humans could miss what to us was so plain. Yet now I flounder helplessly, and I wonder how your will ever could have been so obvious to me. That, I suppose, is what it is to be human one step removed from your grace. Ihave to pay this price for my decision."

He glanced at Shinji, sleeping quietly over on the bed, and smiled."Still," he continued, "I do not regret my choice. I wonder sometimes whether what I feel for Shinji is what you feel for all humans. I so desperately want to shield him and protect him... but I know that unless he finds his own way, he will never be truly happy. I cannot take that away from him.

"He does not need to feel this pain, though. The old wound of his mother's death has never healed... and today's events have only served to reopen it. Her face... I would not have expected it to have such an effect. Then again, when I looked at it, I felt something familiar...

"Help me, Father. I know Raziel gave us these messages intentionally. Iknow they have some meaning beyond themselves, but... I am so confused. I sense an important glimmer of truth, but it is wrapped in a shroud of mystery that my mind cannot penetrate. Please, Father, give me the wisdom to find the answers, so that I can help heal the wounds in Shinji's heart."

Kaoru took a deep breath and closed his eyes. After several moments, he shook his head and chuckled grimly. /How silly of me/, he thought, I must be more human than I think, if I am actually becoming impatient. I should know better, yet here I sit, as if Father were about send me the answers written across the night sky in giant letters of fire. He chuckled again, then unfolded his legs.

As he slowly stood, the phone rang, jarring the peaceful stillness of the apartment. Kaoru leaped at and grabbed it before it could wake Shinji. He took a breath to calm himself before he lifted the handset to his mouth and greeted the caller.

"Is he there?" Misato asked.

"Er... who?" Kaoru asked in reply.

"Don't play dumb with me, boy. I want to know if Shinji's there," she snapped at him.

Kaoru shrugged, trying to quell his rising annoyance. "Yes, he is here. He is sleeping," he replied.

"Sleeping?"

Kaoru sublimated a growl as he responded, "Yes. That is what people do at night, is it not?"

"Well, wake him up. I want him to come home and get to bed."

Kaoru blinked several times, and it seemed that as his eyes fluttered his grip on his temper weakened. "Might I repeat that for clarification, please?" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he pressed forward."You want me to wake Shinji up, interrupting his sleep, so that he can take a half-hour ride on the trains through the city... so he can go home and go to sleep?"

"Yes!" Misato yelled, then paused. Perhaps she realized how silly she sounded, but Kaoru knew her distrust of him would win out. "I'm his guardian, and I have the right to decide for him," she added, a little more tentatively.

Kaoru fought to keep from shouting after all, he didn't want to wake Shinji up. "Major Katsuragi," he growled through gritted teeth, "Shinji has had a very hard day, and he is completely exhausted. Maybe that does not matter to you, but I certainly am not going to wake him up so he can sleepwalk through the city to satisfy some whim of yours. is totally exhausted. He has had a hard day, and he is completely drained. If that is what you want, then you can come here and wake him up your own damn self!" He slammed the phone back down before Misato could reply, then quickly checked to make sure that the conversation had not awakened his friend.

Satisfied that Shinji had not been disturbed, Kaoru stood up and walked over to his dresser. He ripped off his socks and shirt, the almost violent actions serving to dissipate some of his anger. He paused, realizing how silly he must look, then continued undressing and changing into his nightclothes at a more leisurely pace. Kaoru flipped the light off, then lay down on the bed next to his friend.

Shinji apparently sensed Kaoru's arrival, because he groaned and half rolled over. Kaoru reached out and helped his friend complete the motion. The result was that they were very close, and very entangled. One of Kaoru's arms supported Shinji's neck, and the other was pressed against his back. Shinji had thrown one arm around his friend, and bent the other beneath him. The two boys were facing each other nose-to-nose on a single pillow.

As Kaoru gazed at Shinji's peaceful face, he felt the last of the tension in his body slipping away. The heat of Shinji's body against his was creating an equal warmth in Kaoru's chest a pleasant tightness that reminded him of that first night.

Kaoru smiled gently at the boy lying on the floor. He sighed and said,"I might have been born to meet you."

Shinji stared back at him inquisitively for a moment, then asked,"Kaoru-kun, why do you say such things?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well... what you told me when we were in the bath today, and just now. Nobody has ever told me things like that before. Why do you?"

Kaoru propped his head up on one elbow. He said, "In my life, Shinji, I have seen many people, and I have cared about many people. Some of them have cared for me. Yet I have never felt so strongly for any person as Ido for you. I do not know how I came to feel such a powerful emotion so quickly, I only know that I saw your heart and loved it. So I think it must have been destined." He smirked at the irony in those words a cruel twist only he could know.

Shinji seemed to digest this for a moment. Then he replied, "Does it feel like... a part of you that was missing has come back into place? Like you're complete enough to say and do things you never would with anyone else?"

Kaoru nodded slowly. "Yes."

"Then... I... I think I love you, too," Shinji said, his voice wavering. His eyes glistened with extra moisture, some of which spilled and rolled down his cheek. Kaoru reached down and brushed the tear off Shinji's cheek, and Shinji grabbed it, holding the palm against his face.

Kaoru saw the need, the unasked question glistening in Shinji's tear-filled eyes. He gently kicked away his sheets, then levered himself down to the floor with his free arm. He pulled Shinji close, drawing him into afirm, but gentle embrace. Shinji returned the hug fiercely for a moment, then relaxed just as the single tear turned into a torrent.

/You carry so much pain and guilt that is not yours/, Kaoru thought, remembering the things Shinji tearfully told him that night. Slowly, gently, he pressed his lips against Shinji's forehead. "I love you, Shinji," he whispered, then pulled back slightly. As his eyes drifted shut, he thought, Father, please help me protect him.

He had hoped to at least have some pleasant visions in his slumber. But all that night he kept having the same dream: the single, static image of Ikari Yui.

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"You know, you probably made her really angry," Shinji said as the four boys ate their lunch at school the next day. "I bet she'll have some choice words for you when we go to headquarters later."

"Let her yell," Kaoru said. "You were tired and she was being arbitrary. There was no reason for you to have to get up and hike across the city just because she does not like my origins."

"Aw, that's sweet," Touji said mockingly.

Kaoru just smiled at the fourth qualifier. "I thought so, too," he said. Touji almost responded, but was prevented from speaking by the arrival of his lunch.

"These are for you, Touji-kun," Hikari said, handing the boy asmall box. "It's a little less than usual, 'cause Asuka stayed at my place last night and I made her lunch, too."

Asuka, who had walked up with Hikari, smirked at Shinji and said, "Bet you were glad to be off the hook."

"Hm? Oh, no, I wasn't home last night either."

"He was at Kaoru's," Kensuke volunteered helpfully.

Asuka shook her head, saying, "I should have known. You didn't come home for dinner, which was perfectly understandable given that it was Misato's night to cook. Where else would you go?" After a moment she added,"So what did you boys do?"

"We just had to... talk," Shinji said. "We both saw some pretty strange things inside that angel."

"Oh? Like what? You didn't tell me," Asuka said.

"I... I can't really... it's too weird."

"Well, how about you, Kaoru?" Asuka asked. "Or can you guys only talk things like this over with soulmates?" Shinji blushed a bit.

Kaoru eyed her nonchalantly. "I saw the image of his dead mother," he said coolly. The group fell silent. Dead mothers were not the best topic to discuss among these children. Several moments passed without a word.

"I'm sorry," Asuka said at last. "I shouldn't have pried."

Shinji quickly defused the tension. "I thought apologizing was my reflex action," he replied.

Asuka laughed, then said, "Shut up, you jerk."

"Ah, now that is more familiar," Kaoru said, "Though not necessarily more welcome."

"Sorry," Shinji replied. Touji glared and took a mock swing at him.

"Don't you dare!" Hikari said. Touji stopped halfway through the pantomime, confused. "Use that good arm for eating those noodles I made you! Honestly! How ungrateful can you be?" From her smile, it was obvious that she was teasing, but Touji scrambled up and started to apologize anyway. In doing so he accidentally knocked over Kensuke's cup with his artificial arm. The tea in it spilled all over the military maniac.

Kensuke swore and started to make an almost hopeless effort to wring out his shirt. The other children began to laugh, and the awkwardness of a moment before was forgotten.

But Shinji and Kaoru shared a glance which indicated that its cause had not.

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"Misato, don't be mad with Kaoru, please?"

Misato looked at the boy in his plugsuit and responded, "Why would I be mad at him?"

"He said you were pretty angry when he wouldn't wake me up last night," Shinji replied, somewhat confused.

"What? Oh! I remember," Misato said, turning back to her console in the command station. The other members of the command crew were watching asurface exercise by Asuka and Rei, a coordinated attack on a slow-moving target. "I was just a little irritated because of some stuff at work that had gotten piled up, and because you hadn't called me," she explained."Much as I hate to admit it, he was right. There was no need for you to get up. I hope you slept well?"

Shinji nodded, with a slight blush creeping into his face.

"Yeah, well in a way it was kind of welcome," Misato said. "With Asuka out of the apartment too, I got a chance to relax and blow off some steam."

Makoto suddenly had a coughing fit. Misato turned to look for a second, winked at Shinji, then returned her attention to the console. Asuka and Rei fired in tandem on the small target, both hitting it easily.

"Why are they the only ones doing this exercise?" Shinji asked.

"Commander Ikari decided that we should have a repertoire of tactics available for fighting the angels," Misato said. "So, to maximize combat options, you'll be trained in pairs for various tandem attack patterns. These first few days, only Asuka and Rei are going to be doing surface exercises. Since they've had the most problems cooperating in the past, we want to focus a lot of attention on them. In a few days, we'll put you and Rei on the surface for one set of exercises while Asuka and Kaoru are training at another surface location. Then you boys will switch partners. The last few days it will just be you and Kaoru on the surface, because we want to concentrate on some special patterns based on the abilities of your S2 engines."

"Oh," Shinji said unhappily, "that sounds like a lot of training."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, but you're going to have to miss school for the next two weeks," Misato said. "I can't imagine how you kids manage to learn anything, missing as much school as you do."

"As boring as that teacher is, I can't believe we learn anything when we're in school," Asuka said over the radio. "That pattern was easy," she added, changing the subject. "You got something harder?"

Misato snorted. "You bet," she said, dismissing Shinji with a wave of her hand.

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Even computers as advanced as the Magi were not omniscient. They required a huge network of remote information-gathering stations that apprised them of the world's condition. The weakness of this system was that those stations had to communicate with the Magi. Some transmitted their data via microwave relay, but most used hard lines. And those hard lines could be tapped.

The triple redundancy of NERV's supercomputer had a further expression in that each of the Magi was linked to the outside world by three main bundles of cables, which fanned out into the massive networks from subsidiary mainframes located in various stations just outside Tokyo-3. Each of these nine bundles was encased in a heavily-shielded titanium sheath meant to make it all but impossible to physically contact the cables. The Magi themselves predicted only a 0.001 chance that anyone could access them.

Of course, Ritsuko had beaten worse odds than that before. She sighed as she maneuvered herself around to the right cable. She wanted a particular one in the bundle that came in from an unusually noisy monitoring station in old Tokyo. Each cable had a serial number printed at various intervals on its plastic sheath, but they did not coincide exactly. She had to shift several meters up and down the bundle until she found the right one. "Here we go," she whispered, smiling as she coaxed the single line out of the bundle. She slipped a removable splicer onto it, then linked it to a small laptop.

She pulled herself up from underneath the bundle and lay down on top of it. The metal sheath surrounding the coiled cords left little room for movement, but she somehow managed to maneuver herself so that she faced her laptop. She reached out and began to type, but paused to push a few strands of blond hair out of her face. Halfway through the motion, she stopped, staring at the yellowed hair in her fingers.

After a moment, she turned back to the computer. She hit a few keys, and started a program that subtly inserted a new signal into the continuous flow of data from old Tokyo. "Well, mom," she whispered, "Let's see if we can reach some agreement..."

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Evening was always the most pleasant time in the apartment building. In the morning, the hurried footfalls of businessmen and laborers on their way to work brought a busy tension to the halls, and during most of the day the building was vacant as people went about their daily duties. In the evening, though, the residency was once again full of life, moving at a relaxed pace. Giggling children played in the atrium as their parents looked on over books or newspapers. The sounds of TV stations or low music filtered out into the hallways, wafting along on the same air currents that carried the tantalizing aromas of sizzling dinners.

In any relaxing situation, however, Misato could induce at least some kind of tension. She rushed along, burdened with an over-full bag of groceries, trying to avoid bowling over any of the other tenants in her journey towards her apartment. Just my luck, she thought, spinning to avoid a squealing boy who came hurtling down the hall towards her, chased by a girl of about the same age, The one night I insist on doing dinner out of turn, we're out of instant food.

A week in the intensive training program that Gendo designed had severely worn the children down. Even the usually ebullient Asuka had spent the last few days wandering around like a zombie. Then this morning, Shinji had almost fallen onto the hot stove while making breakfast. Misato decided that the pilots needed as many breaks as they could get. She spent the morning wheedling half aday's rest out of the commander, then brought all the children over to her apartment to relax. The children had napped, watched movies, or played quiet games while she waited on them as best she could. Misato meant to take over all the chores for the day, but just as she started to prepare dinner she discovered that the apartment's store of ready-made meals had finally run out.

Misato had hoped to grab new supplies and get back to the apartment with time to spare before supper. That plan, however, had quickly been ruined by aseries of traffic jams. Half the people of Tokyo 3 at this point were recent immigrants, flowing into town to support the new headquarters of the UN. Naturally, none of these newcomers knew how to deal with the carefully planned traffic patterns.

"They've probably given up and let Shinji start dinner," she mumbled to herself in aggravation as she came to the apartment door. She fumbled for her keycard, swiped it through, and entered without even calling out the customary greeting. As she started to kick off her shoes, she heard Shinji shouting from the living room.

"Dammit, Kaoru! Stop! Stop! Help!" he cried, the last word trailing off pitifully.

Misato's worried mind kicked into overdrive, leaping to a quick conclusion that the fallen angel had at last betrayed them all. She calculated just how long it would take her to reach the gun secreted in a compartment underneath the coffee table, disengage the safety, and fire a few desperate shots at Kaoru. Even as her mind did that, her arms dropped the groceries and she sprang forward into the main room.

Kaoru was sitting on top of Shinji, who was giggling hysterically, red-faced and teary-eyed from laughing so hard. The grey-haired boy's long fingers were moving up and down Shinji's ribs, despite the young Ikari's attempts to stop this by clamping down on the hands with his arms. Kaoru desisted as Misato entered. Misato thought she heard Shinji sigh, "Whew! Saved!"

"Major Katsuragi!" Kaoru said, his eyes wide with surprise."Did you know that Shinji is ticklish?"

Misato shook her head at her own paranoia. This job really isgetting to me, she thought, looking at the innocent grey-haired boy, Maybe Asuka was right, for once. I should give him more of a chance. She smirked and asked, "Is he really?"

"Oh no!" Shinji cried as Misato advanced on the prone boy and his friend. Shinji tried to curl up in a ball, but without much success, since Kaoru was still getting in his way. The defenseless blue-eyed boy began to contort convulsively when Misato started to help Kaoru by running her fingers along his ribs also.

Asuka stuck her head out of her room to see the cause of the noise, and immediately shook it in disbelief. "Ticklish?" she asked incredulously. "I can't imagine what led to that discovery."

"Isn't that... cute, though?" Rei asked from within. Her face glowed with a small, gentle smile.

Asuka thought a moment, shrugged, and said, "Yeah. I guess it is. But still ticklish? He's such a child."

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Ritsuko stowed the tiny vacuum back in its spot in her closet, on top of the hanger rack. She slid the door closed, then walked back into the kitchenette, looking carefully for any spots she might have missed. Satisfied that there were none, she put a pot of water on the stove to boil and got a packet of instant soup out of the cupboard.

The cramped kitchenette matched the size of the rest of the apartment. After she had placed the splicer on the cable, Ritsuko had set up remote hardware so that she could access the Magi without going to the underground cables. The JIA had decided therefore that she should be put in this tiny apartment, buried somewhere in a suburb not too far from Tokyo-3. Though it was adequate, Ritsuko couldn't remember living in a place this small since she had been in college.

She smiled as she stirred the contents of the instant soup packet into the warming water. Her eating habits had also come to mimic those she had back in college. Much as she liked a fresh meal, the JIA wouldn't allow her to leave the apartment the risk of discovery was too great. So she had to live off whatever they brought her.

Satisfied that the soup was ready to simmer, she covered it and headed to the bathroom to survey her handiwork. The hand-mirror she had been using gave her some idea, but she wanted a clearer picture. She flipped on the fluorescent light and looked into the mirror over the sink.

She winced, thinking, I must admit, I've had better than this before. It's not as bad as it could be, though. She'd already been behind on dyeing her hair, and the addition of several weeks had meant her brown roots had grown out considerably. So her scalp still had a very short covering of hair. Ritsuko ran her hands through her new cut, relishing the feel of hair untouched by harsh coloring chemicals. Sure, it might not be the best-looking haircut she ever had, but she took a grim satisfaction in knowing that every single blond strand was gone forever.

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"Okay boys, that's enough. You're done," Misato announced.

Shinji relaxed slightly in his entry plug. "Done for today?" he asked.

"No, that's the last pattern, period. You've learned all we want you to for now," Misato replied cheerfully.

Shinji relaxed even more, and allowed his eyes to close. Two long weeks of surface exercises had completely exhausted him, despite Misato's efforts to make life easier. "I thought we'd never be done," he mumbled.

"It did seem to drag on, did it not?" Kaoru sighed. EVA-05 stood about 200 meters from Unit 01, lowering the positron rifle it had just used to shoot the tiny, plus-sign-shaped target they had just executed an attack pattern against.

The cross had levitated, moving erratically along a canyon at high speed. Kaoru and Shinji's task had been to hit the target simultaneously from different positions. The exercise had gone on for hours, as Gendo had continually adjusted the parameters. The cross rested a few meters away, its silvery surface pitted and scorched from the multiple hits it had taken.

"Well, you kids have earned a bit of a treat," Misato said."Tomorrow night, Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki will be taking you all out to dinner."

"That should be interesting," Kaoru said. "I have had less time to converse with Fuyutsuki-san than I would like."

"Yeah, and I'll be glad to eat something other than instant food," Shinji mumbled, his eyes still closed. He willed EVA-01 to begin walking back towards the city. "I appreciate your giving us a break, Misato," he added, "but instant noodles are beginning to give me indigestion."

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Misato chuckled softly, smiling despite the mild insult. She had honestly tried to make her cooking more tolerable, but she knew she would never pass as a chef. She also knew that Shinji had been suffering, despite her best efforts. He'd said nothing up until now, but she had noticed a sharp decrease in her supply of antacids. The end of the exercises would be a relief for everyone.

Asuka and Rei had already managed to mostly get back to normal, since they'd been done with the exercises for four days. The boys, on the other hand, had continued to train. Perversely, their exercises during the final few days had been the most strenuous of all that the pilots had undergone. The results had gotten her very concerned. Shinji was on the verge of coming apart at the seams. Kaoru, though generally more upbeat than his friend, had also become quite ragged. Misato had practically had to carry the two of them into work today: Gendo had kept them working late into the night the previous evening, and demanded that they return before dawn. Misato wondered briefly whether he'd done so just to be cruel.

Her reverie was interrupted when Shigeru called to her from his station."Major Katsuragi, you need to look at this," he said, staring intently at his display. Misato quickly checked her own console. The two Evas were almost back to the exit routes, and proceeding normally, so that couldn't be the source of the problem. She stood up and walked over to Shigeru's station, immediately noticing the disturbing waveform his monitor was displaying.

"The radiation is too diffuse to localize right now," Shigeru said, "but there's no mistaking it."

"Waves coming in more strongly," Maya announced. "Pattern is..." she trailed off. Quietly she continued, "Pattern is blue."

Misato whirled back towards her station, silently cursing her bad luck."Shinji, Kaoru, wait a minute. I'm afraid you guys can't come back in just yet," Misato said into the radio, then turned to Makoto. "Get the girls back here immediately."

"What's going on?" Shinji asked. His voice sounded tired and resigned.

"We've detected something that might be an angel. We're trying to localize it now," Misato replied. Shinji said nothing in response.

"Major, we're getting better resolution on the sonic detectors," Shigeru called. Misato turned to look.

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Back in the canyon, the cross once again levitated. But this time, it did not begin the type of erratic flight pattern that had been programmed into it. Instead, it hung motionless over the floor of the gorge, and began to hum loudly. The black scorching fell away, revealing the smooth, silver surface the cross originally possessed.

For a moment, nothing further happened, and then the device began to shift form, changing shape even as it grew larger. Wings, limbs, and a head sculpted themselves out of the original components of the cross, quickly developing into a titanic figure horrifyingly familiar to the people of NERV. The silver-skinned giant spread its argent wings as the hum began to crescendo. Some rock outcroppings shuddered and crumbled in the face of the strong vibrations, tumbling down into the bottom of the gorge.

The silver angel smiled, and opened its mouth. A thunderous cry erupted from within the winged titan, a tsunami of sound that flattened all the trees in the canyon, and caused even more of the walls to fall away. As the echoes of the call dissipated, the archangel spread its wings and launched itself into the air.

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"Boys, the angel has appeared in the canyon where you were doing exercises earlier," Misato said.

Shinji slumped. His exhaustion and frustration threatened to bring him to tears. "I can't..." he mumbled softly.

"Shinji, we must," Kaoru said to him. The words said little, but the soothing sound of Kaoru's voice lent Shinji some extra strength. He had aduty, after all.

"Boys, I want you to wait as long as possible. We'll send Rei and Asuka up to you as soon as we can," Misato ordered. "Try and take some cover, though. The angel is moving as though it knows where you are. Arm your positron rifles."

"Do you really think the rifles are going to work this time?" Kaoru asked.

"Hey, somebody once said, 'Strong hope is a much greater motivator of life than a single realized joy could ever be,'" Misato replied, proud she'd remembered the obscure quotation.

"That was Nietzsche. He also said, 'God is dead,'" Kaoru replied.

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"Any word on the girls?" Misato asked, shaking her head.

Makoto looked up from his console and reported, "We reached Rei on her portable phone, but we've had no luck with Asuka. Some little girl keeps answering it, and we can't get her to understand what we want." He gnawed nervously on his lower lip as he turned back to the console.

"What?" Misato asked. Something about that tugged at one of her mental channels. She remembered calling for Asuka once at some place, and getting a little girl... "Horaki-san's!" Misato shouted in realization. "Send a team over to the Horaki household immediately, and try to get them on any telephones in the house."

"Do we have visuals yet on the angel?" Fuyutsuki asked calmly.

"Yes sir," Shigeru said. He rapidly typed in a series of commands and a few of the large screens began to display various perspectives of the winged silver giant. One temporarily showed the angel looking straight at it with an open mouth for a second before it went static. The other shots showed the destruction of the helicopter that had been hovering with that particular camera. Auxiliary data began to pop up on the remaining screens.

"That weapon was sonic in nature, but, it's so broad band..." Maya began.

"Break it down, then report," Fuyutsuki ordered. After a pause, he continued, "I wonder what that is."

"It is Gabriel the Messenger, second highest among the angels," Gendo commented as he entered the command center, his eyes placid behind the ever-present orange lenses.

"Well, it seems he's doing a good job delivering whatever it is he was sent to bring," Misato noted.

"I have a preliminary analysis of the sound pattern. It contains astrange series of constructive harmonics. It starts off at the level of suprasonic vibrations, then descends through a series of pitches to a subsonic level. But all the wavelengths produce constructive interference," Maya said.

Misato nodded. "So the vibrations become intense enough to shatter anything. Great," she muttered. "Do we have any kind of protection available that might counter the weapon?"

"We have some absorbent armor that was developed to deal with certain heat situations after the deal with Sandalphon," Maya said. "It has alayer that due to its design can trap sound as well as infrared rays. But it's too unwieldy to be used in surface combat."

"Damn. Then our only recourse is a distance attack."

"Our only hope, Major?" Gendo asked.

Misato bit her tongue.

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"You want us to fire at what?" Shinji asked.

"We believe it most likely that the angel's core is located in his voicebox," Misato replied. "When the girls get here, I want you to run dual attack patterns alpha-3 and fire at his larynx."

"And what if he gets here before they do?"

"Then I want you guys to run the very last pattern you tried out today: omega-7," Misato answered.

"Very well, Major Katsuragi," Kaoru said. His Eva was"hidden" behind a low clump of trees. Shinji's crouched 50 meters away behind a large boulder.

"Please, Kaoru, call me Misato."

"As you wish, Ma... Misato."

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"Um, Major, we have a problem," Shigeru said.

"What!" Misato snapped. This was not going well. She definitely didn't want the two exhausted boys to try and face the angel by themselves.

"The angel's airborne velocity has exceeded the Magi's predictions Iguess the monster was holding back earlier. It will reach the location of Eva units 01 and 05 in approximately three minutes," Shigeru explained.

"What about the girls?"

"Team A has picked Rei up and will be here in a few moments. Team B has just now reached Horaki-san's... good news! Asuka's there. They're coming back as soon as they can get going."

"Tell them to speed! This is an emergency!"

"Major, you realize that there is not enough time for the first and second children to get into their Evas before Gabriel arrives," Gendo said.

"I know," Misato growled. "Boys, the angel is coming faster than we expected. You'll be on your own for a while. I want you to get ready for pattern omega-7."

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Shinji caught his first glimpse of the angel over the boulder as it touched down. The massive winged man did not stop, but slowed down to a more cautious pace as he approached the Evas' positions. Shinji tensed for a moment, gathering what strength he had left after weeks of exhausting training, and sprang out from behind the boulder. A short distance to his right, Kaoru also emerged from his hiding spot. Gabriel did not immediately respond to their appearance. Of course, it was possible that it had known of them all along.

The boys began to execute their planned attack pattern. Shinji swung out to the right, while Kaoru patiently wove across the archangel's line of attack to distract it. Not that the archangel seemed to be distracted by anything they did. It simply marched forward.

Shinji suddenly veered sharply to the left, crossing the angel's line of attack, then diving into a roll parallel to the line. Kaoru had swung out to the right, and leaped up in the air, firing at Gabriel's larynx just as Shinji sprang out of the roll and fired at the same spot.

The two rays collided with a powerful AT field, fizzled and died.

"Hubris," Kaoru muttered in disgust as he willed his Eva to toss aside its positron rifle. He equipped his progressive knife, and Shinji followed suit.

"What?" Misato said.

"Hubris. It is a Greek word meaning excessive pride. Mankind has it in plenty particularly when it believes its weapons can penetrate the light of an archangel's mind."

"Do you have another idea, Misato?" Shinji asked.

"Execute the first pattern you did today. Omega-6 is designed for knife work."

"Okay," Shinji replied. He remembered the drill he and Kaoru had spent four hours perfecting the hand-to-hand attack against the cross-shaped target in the canyon that morning. EVA-01 ran forward, heading a bit left of the line of the angel's approach to try and swing around behind.

Shinji tried to keep his full attention on the archangel. Gabriel still hadn't reacted to the Evas' activities, but Shinji could feel those featureless eyes watching him. He found it hard to keep his concentration, however, because of a strange hum he kept hearing.

Kaoru, meanwhile, began juking left and right across Gabriel's line of approach. He started off with his Eva fully upright, but as the angel got closer, he lowered his center of gravity. Finally he started pulling off more to the right. Then, when Gabriel was 50 meters away, he sprang forward, using the immensely powerful legs of his Eva. At the same moment, Shinji launched himself from the exact opposite direction.

This time, however, Gabriel reacted. It turned its head towards Kaoru, opening its mouth and leaping backwards as it did so. The huge harmonic sound that emerged from Gabriel's throat had so much force that it arrested EVA-05's forward progress and dropped it to the earth. Kaoru grunted as his unit fell.

Attack pattern omega-6 had been designed to deal with the simple tactic of jumping backwards, but as Shinji corrected for the angel's move, Gabriel turned its powerful voice on EVA-01. Unfortunately, his unit was much closer than Kaoru's was when the voice hit it. The bone structure in EVA-01's right shoulder shattered immediately. That problem was only aggravated by the fact that the same shoulder bore the brunt of the impact when EVA-01 crashed to the ground.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Shinji! Are you okay?" Misato asked.

The boy whimpered a bit, but managed to grunt out, "I'm... I'll make it."

"Kaoru?"

"I am up, Misato. Should I withdraw, or attack?"

"Try to cover Shinji's retreat," Misato ordered. She watched on the screen as Kaoru crossed over to stand in front of his friend while EVA-01 struggled to its feet. Gabriel, standing in place since their aborted attack, did not react. "Where are the girls?" she asked desperately.

"Rei is being inserted now. Asuka has just arrived," Makoto reported, then swore explosively. "Damn! What the hell...?"

Misato refocused her eyes on the screens, then shouted, "Kaoru!"

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

As EVA-01 finally stood, Gabriel decided to act. It unleashed another sonic blast directly at the chest of EVA-05, a blast so powerful its vibrations could actually be seen in the air. The armor and bone structures in the torso of EVA-05 all snapped explosively. Kaoru screamed, but his exclamation was cut short as he coughed up a thin trickle of blood.

Shinji saw EVA-05's torso buckle, and he took immediate action. He snatched up his progressive knife in his left hand, and muttered "Sorry, Kaoru-kun," as he leaped up, then catapulted off EVA-05's shoulders and into the air. Gabriel, still unleashing its force on the white Eva unit, didn't manage to react before EVA-01 crashed down on top of it.

Gabriel fell to the ground with an earth-shaking boom when the purple giant collided with it. EVA-05 also slumped to the ground, somewhat more gently. EVA-01 was thrown clear by the fall, but somersaulted and came up on its feet. It immediately reversed its direction, leaping back on top of the archangel before it could get to its feet.

Gabriel had stopped its sonic attack when it fell, but it did not need that special power in this situation. The archangel grabbed hold of EVA-01's shattered right shoulder, almost causing Shinji to faint. Gabriel then whipped its arm forward, sending the Eva flying in a graceless arc through the air-an arc that ended with a sickening thud.

Dazed and in a haze of pain, Shinji acted on reflex. His Eva rolled out of its crash and sprung back at the archangel before it had time to react. Gabriel had managed to stand, but the unexpected impact of EVA-01 again knocked the archangel to the ground. With a roar, the Eva pushed its knife against the larynx of the mighty angel.

Gabriel opened its mouth as the knife began to puncture the surface of its skin, unleashing the most massive auditory blast yet. The maxillary structure of EVA-01 shattered instantly, followed by the rest of the skull. Still, the Eva grinned evilly as it pressed harder. The sonic wave intensified, and swept down the whole body of EVA-01.

But Gabriel had miscalculated. In its berserker rage, EVA-01 would not allow the attack to fail. Shinji's last semi-conscious act was to curl the rubbery body of his Eva around the progressive knife, bringing all the weight of the massive creature to bear on the weapon. With a ripping sound, the knife plunged into the angel's throat.

With a final clarion call, Gabriel evaporated.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"Sever the neural link /now/!" Misato shouted. "Emergency medical crews to the scene immediately!"

Maya frantically worked the controls at her station, keeping up a running commentary as she attempted to bring all the life-sustaining capabilities of the Evas and the plugsuits to bear on the two boys. "Shinji's blood pressure is falling rapidly, and his temperature is increasing. Massive vascular injury increase pressure jacket inside of the plugsuit... where are the rescue crews? We need them in the hospital immediately!" she shouted, desperation creeping into her voice.

Kaoru's face appeared on one of the screens in the command center. His lips, rather than their usual pallor, were red with blood that he had coughed up. His Eva had already healed its wounds, but his body still bore the signs of the battle. "How's Shinji?" he asked weakly. His eyes looked dull and somewhat glazed, their mahogany color made flat by his weakness.

"Don't worry about him for now. Your stats show you've got several internal wounds in your lungs and abdomen. I want you to eject and wait for the medical crews. They'll be there in a moment," Misato ordered.

Kaoru nodded, his expression glum. The screen went blank as his entry plug emerged from the body of his Eva.

"Girls, stand down," Misato said as Evas 00 and 02 were about to reach the catapults. "Sortie canceled."

"What happened?" Asuka asked.

"The boys won," Misato said, "But they're both wounded."

"How... how is Shinji?" Rei asked quietly.

"And Kaoru... how's he?" Asuka added.

"It's too early to tell with either of them," Misato lied. She watched the monitors as the girls' Evas were returned to their cages. Then, unable to bear the sight any longer, she switched off the screen showing the interior of Shinji's entry plug.

A screen which showed the battered child bleeding into the LCL.