"I want to see how stable Unit 14's pilot is under extreme circumstances," Ikari answered.

"You're not sending them in to lose are you?" Fuyutsuki asked in surprise.

"No, but they will have to retreat if I am correct about this Angel."

"And what do you think you are going to be correct about?"

"Its adaptation to a new threat."

"Visual confirmation of Angel," Rei said calmly into her comm as her Eva and Unit 01 faced the slowly marching creature before them.

"It looks like an Eva..." Shinji noticed eerily.

Indeed it did. It was tall and humanoid, with a slightly hunched back. A small head rested on the narrow neck, long, slender limbs hanging down from its torso. Its skin was light brown in color and had the apparent texture of leather. The Angel's perpetually bared teeth and glowing red eyes made it look like a sickening form of demon.

At the moment it was just walking forward as if the two Evas weren't even there. Unit 01 took aim with its rifle.

As it did, Rei was watching the Angel with calm, curious eyes. There was something very different about this Angel. Her eyes could see something all around it form, but it wasn't quite there. She was seeing something that did not seem to exist. Suddenly her eyes widened and she turned to Unit 01. "Ikari! Don't fire!"

Unit 01 looked up at Unit 00 in surprise. "Why?"

"Look at it," Rei answered, turning her Eva back to face the Angel.

It was getting close enough to them now that they had to start backing away from it.

As Shinji looked at the Angel he saw what had disturbed Rei. He couldn't quite tell what it was, but there was something around the Angel.

Misato looked up from the screen to Commander Ikari. "What do you want them to do?" she asked.

"Leave them be for the moment," Ikari answered.

"Why didn't Shinji fire?" Misato asked finally.

Ritsuko pointed down at Maya's screen. "Look, Misato. The Angel is... It's as if it's not all there," she explained with a doubtful look on her face.

"It hasn't even activated its AT field," Hyuga informed them.

Fuyutsuki looked down at Ikari. "If you know what it's doing, why aren't you telling them?"

"I told you. This is a test of Cirus," Ikari answered.

Fuyutsuki frowned, but said no more.

Unit 01 was still backing away from the Angel slowly, at effectively the same speed as the Angel itself was advancing. "Ayanami, what should we do?"

"We have not received any other orders," Rei answered.

"But we can't just let it get to the Geo-front, can we?" Shinji persisted.

"Why are you asking me for orders?" Rei asked back.

"...Well you've been a pilot longer than I have, I thought you might..." Shinji's voice trailed off, betraying his nervousness.

"No. We have not received any further orders."

Ritsuko looked up from Maya's screen. "So you're just going to let them walk backwards all the way to the Geo-front?" she asked Commander Ikari with a raised eyebrow.

Ikari didn't answer her causing her to look back down at Misato. Misato shook her head and shrugged, but then leaned down to the comm.

"Shinji, why didn�t you fire?"

"Rei saw something different around the Angel, she stopped me, then I saw it too," Shinji answered, his nervous tone telling them how afraid he was.

"Then what is it?" Misato persisted.

"We... we can't tell."

"Shinji," Ikari suddenly cut in, "fire upon the target."

"A... are you sure?" Shinji asked back.

"Don't question my orders, Shinji. Fire!" Ikari answered.

Unit 01 lifted its rifle, took aim, and fired a volley. The volley past straight through the Angel's body without inflicting any damage and plowed into the ground behind it. The Angel kept marching.

"My G'd... what happened?" Misato asked, looking at Ritsuko.

Ritsuko shook her head in disbelief. "I... I don't know."

Suddenly the Angel stopped marching and just stood there. Units 01 and 00 stopped also and all three waited. The Angel seemed to flicker and then disappear.

Unit 01 started to look around itself wildly trying to find the target. Unit 00 was more calmly changing its viewpoints, but was none the less mystified.

In an instant, Shinji grunted as Unit 01's knees fell forward and then its back arched before it suddenly jolted to the ground with a massive crash.

"Shinji?!" Misato shouted.

Unit 00 tried to pick Unit 01 up, but abruptly its arm was wrenched up above its head, forcing it drop its gun as the arm was twisted around violently. Rei's soft, pained scream and her quivering breathing could be heard over the comm.

"Cirus, Asuka-"

"Do not order them to attack," Ikari cut Misato off.

Misato looked up at Ikari in shock and horror. "You're not going to just let them die out there are you?!"

Ikari didn't answer her.

"Commander?!"

He didn't respond.

Suddenly the comm came to life with Cirus' face. "Good G'd, Ikari! Don't do this!"

Misato, and just about everyone else in the command center, suddenly understood.

"Ah, so you are not going to run to their rescue, despite your orders?" Ikari asked back calmly.

"Ikari! How can... You know I only acted when I thought it was for the best! You can't justify letting them die like this just to test me!"

"I need loyalty, Cirus," Ikari replied, calm as ever.

Unit 00's arm was suddenly pulled around behind its back and then some unseen force gripped its neck, forcing it to the ground on its knees. Even Cirus could hear Rei's choking. He gripped his controls so powerful that his Eva�s hands started to bleed.

"Please... let us go..." he said quietly.

Ikari looked down to a horrified Misato and nodded. She spun around and shouted into the comm, "Go now!"

Units 14 and 02 blazed off towards the other two Evas, leaving trails of dust several hundred feet in the air. Unit 02 was carrying a large missile launcher and Unit 14's forearm blades were both out to their fullest extent as they ran.

Rei was starting to faint from the lack of air. Her arm felt broken even if it wasn't and her lungs felt as if they were about to burst. Her free arm tried desperately to grab at whatever was choking her and holding her down, but grasped nothing save air. Shinji still hadn�t stood up and Rei didn't want to rely on him for assistance.

"She's suffocating!" Maya reported.

"How long until Units 14 and 02 get there?" Misato asked.

"At least three minutes," Ayobi answered.

"She'll never last that long..." Ritsuko said quietly.

Rei started to desperately grope behind her head, trying to grab the apparently invisible Angel. She could not be replaced this time. Finally, in the cockpit, she reached down to the comm and activated it. "Ikari... I... can't..." she ran out of air.

Shinji stirred awake, having been knocked out from the violent thrust to the ground, thanks to Rei's voice coming into his cockpit. He focused and saw Unit 00 above him, struggling against some kind of restraint. "Ayanami!" he shouted, Unit 01 rocketing upright and throwing its arm over Unit 00�s head. It hit something solid and Unit 00 fell free of the grasp.

A large form fell back onto the ground as Rei was able to breathe again. Her arm was still in excruciating synch-pain, but she didn't say a word. Unit 00 stood up and turned back around to face the Angel with Unit 01. Suddenly a missile flew past them and slammed into the Angel's AT field.

"Sorry it took us so long," Asuka said as Unit 02 and Unit 14 ran over to them.

"At least you're here now," Shinji replied.

The Angel's depression in the ground lifted and was reduced to two smaller ones, presumably where its feet were. Suddenly, with a flicker as before, the Angel reappeared before them, its mouth open.

Cirus looked from the Angel to Unit 00 and then down to its arm. "Miss Ayanami, can you use your Eva's right arm?" he asked calmly.

"No," she answered in kind.

Cirus nodded to himself, he'd thought as much. He keyed on his comm. "Instructions?"

"We still don't know what to advise you against. We haven't even been able to tell how the Angel was able to disappear from the visual spectrum," Ritsuko's voice answered.

"Then we need to able to see it without seeing it," Cirus commented. "Hmm, do Evas have ears?" he asked.

"I believe they have sonic detectors," Rei answered.

Cirus did a systems check for the devices and found them, right where a human ear would be. "Thank you, Miss Ayanami. Now then," he hit the activation button; he had a hunch. He focused the receiving ability of the 'ears' at the Angel specifically and then listened. He smiled and then keyed on his comm. "There's a wind resonance coming from the Angel at all times."

"Yes, so?" Ritsuko asked back.

"What causes wind resonance, Doctor?" he asked.

Asuka cut in. "Vibration! And a great deal of it," she added.

"Exactly," Cirus confirmed. "It's perpetually vibrating, and so quickly that we can't even see it."

"Of course!" Ritsuko said as if she were hitting herself in the head. "It's simply increasing its vibration to prevent the light photons from bouncing back off of it!"

Ritsuko looked to Misato, "Set their visual spectrums for motion," she said.

"All units, set visual spectrums to motion!" Each pilot checked in as he or she did so. A gray scale surface flowed over their views, the are around the Angel violently exploding in an undulating cloud of distortion. It appeared to almost triple in size, but it was physically the same, it was simply moving very quickly.

"No wonder my shots when right through it. It was dodging them," Shinji realized.

"Affirmative. Now then, who wants to pick a fight?" Cirus asked with a wry smile.

"Why don't you Cirus? You seem to be better at hand to hand anyway," Shinji pointed out, though there was a noticeable quiver in his voice as Unit 01 readied its rifle again. "We'll cover you."

Unit 02 and 00 hefted their weapons again also, though Unit 00 was holding its cannon in its other arm.

"Understood," Cirus replied finally and Unit 14 leapt forward.

The Angel quickly solidified in their vision as it reached up to grab Unit 14 as it landed. Unit 14 slashed at the Angel's hands with its forearm blades, allowing it to land closer without being grabbed. The Angel's wounds healed almost instantly and then it exploded into a massive cloud of vibration.

"It's too confusing, I can't aim!" Asuka reported.

"Neither can I," Shinji confirmed, sounding as if he was pain.

"I can fire, but I can't positively target it," Rei added.

"Switch back to normal visual spectrum then," Ikari ordered over the comm from the command center.

All four Evas did so.

Unit 14 was at a noticeable disadvantage in either case. It slashed at the slight distortion in the air the Angel made even in the normal visual spectrum, but hit nothing. It slashed all around itself trying not to get hit from any one place. Suddenly its left arm stuck in something and it wouldn't move. The Angel appeared again, this time with no flicker at all, it was solid. It was holding Unit 14's left arm out at the wrist and had its other hand at the base of Unit 14's neck, keeping the Eva from taking any offensive action. Suddenly the Angel reached back with the hand that had been on the Eva's neck and shoved violently into the Eva's elbow, breaking the arm the wrong way. The Eva itself appeared to scream in pain as the Angel quickly kicked it in the side, making it bend over towards the broken arm before receiving another powerful blow to the back, sending it forward. The Angel held onto the broken arm however and so Unit 14 was almost yanked apart, by the mangled arm, as it was pulled back towards the Angel for a powerful knee to the chest.

Then the Angel wrapped its arms inside the Eva's and held the Eva's head between its hands, still standing behind it.

"Cirus?" Misato asked in quiet horror.

"...Yes... Major?" Cirus asked back, his voice was strained incredibly.

"Turn down your synch rate to lesson the pain," she advised him.

"My... Eva... works... differently, Major," he replied, breathing heavily. "I... can't..."

Ikari stood up at his desk. "All Evas, fire on the target," he ordered.

"I can't, I'll hit Unit 14," Asuka replied.

"So will I," Shinji.

Rei was silent.

Ikari narrowed his eyes. "Rei, can you fire?"

"Not without hitting Unit 14," she answered finally.

"There is no other way, Rei. Take the shot," Ikari ordered. He could see that Unit 00 had a straight line with it rifle to the Angel's head, the glowing eyes being its core.

"...Yes, sir," Rei replied after a pause.

Unit 00 lifted its rifle to its face and started take aim.

"Fire," Ikari ordered.

"I... can't," Rei replied.

"Unit 14 is irrelevant, destroy the target!" Ikari ordered.

Misato looked up at him. "Don't make her do this!"

"There is more at stake here than a single boy! Rei, destroy the target," Ikari repeated.

Rei took aim and held her finger in front of the trigger, quivering.

"Rei..." Cirus' voice came over the comm, "...Rei, take... it..."

Rei looked up from her targeting screen and saw Unit 14 looking over at her.

"Rei," Ikari said more softly, "it must be done."

Why? Why did it have to be done? Because Ikari said it must be done? Rei was confused now; she didn't know what to do. She finally deactivated her targeting sensor and threw the cannon to the ground. "No... I am not your doll," she said over the comm, and then Unit 00 ran towards the Angel and Unit 14.

"Rei!" Ikari shouted.

The Angel looked up at the other Eva approaching it rapidly and brought Unit 14 around as a shield. Unit 00 leapt into the air, over Unit 14 and landed behind the Angel, grabbing it around the neck with its left, usable, arm and crashing to the ground. The Angel let out a horrendous howl as Unit 00 started to choke it.

Unit 14, no longer in the Angel's grasp, fell to the ground limply, the pilot unconscious. Units 02 and 01 took aim at the now exposed Angel and started to fire. The attacks passed through the Angel's body, it was vibrating everything below its neckline.

The Angel reached up and grabbed Unit 00 around the neck with its hands. Rei started to choke again and then it was race between the two of them.

"We can't fire without hitting Rei," Shinji reported.

Ikari sat back down and narrowed his eyes at the screen.

Suddenly, Unit 01 broke off its attack and ran over to where Unit 00 had been standing. It grabbed the cannon and then ran over to Unit 00.

"Ayanami!" Shinji shouted as Unit 01 tossed the gun through the air, leaping down at the Angel. Unit 00 reached up with its good hand and grabbed the rifle as Unit 01 dived into the Angel, breaking its grip of her neck. Unit 00 took the cannon and shoved it into the Angel's face. Rei squeezed the trigger and the resulting explosion sent both Units 01 and 00 flying into the air and crashing into the ground.

"Target destroyed," Hyuga reported.

"Unit 01 and 00 are undamaged from the explosion, they're getting up. Unit 14 is... reactivating..." Maya quelled her surprise when she remembered that Unit 14 had an S2 organ.

"Send a medical team down to meet Rei, she may have residual synch-damage," Ikari ordered calmly.

Misato nodded and did so.

Fuyutsuki looked down at Ikari. "What will you do?"

"She was able to destroy the Angel, she took the shot. She followed orders," Ikari answered.

"But not when ordered," Fuyutsuki reminded him.

"I wanted to see if she trusted Cirus as much as the other pilots, she does," Ikari explained.

After the Evas had docked, Rei climbed down from her entry plug. When she reached the grating with her feet she held her arm and gritted her teeth. She leaned against the Eva and tried to breathe, but it came in quivering gasps.

Footsteps ran up behind her and stopped quickly. "Miss Ayanami?" Cirus' voice asked softly.

"Yes?" she asked back, hiding the pain in her voice.

"How badly is your arm injured?" he asked calmly.

"It's just sore," she answered.

Cirus reached out gently and touched her arm. She winced and took a quick gasp of air. Cirus turned her around by her good shoulder and looked down at her with a slight smile. He took of his glasses and looked into her eyes directly. "Look into my eyes, concentrate on them," he told her gently.

She looked up into his eyes curiously and did as he said. She stared into their deep black depths as Cirus put his hand down on her injured arm gently and then pulled it away. "Now how is it?" he asked softly.

Rei moved it gently at first, and then freely without pain. She looked back at him as he put his glasses back on. "How?" she asked calmly.

"I'll tell you some other time, alright?" he said, his voice sounding much weaker than before.

A medical team ran up to them and looked to Rei. "Is your arm broken?" one of them asked.

"No, only my Eva was damaged," she answered.

The person who spoke nodded and they hurried back towards medical bay.

Cirus looked back down at Rei with a thankful nod. "Thank you for not telling them, Miss Ayanami."

"You're welcome," she replied calmly.

"And thank you for... saving my life again," he added calmly, but his voice faltered slightly.

"Are you two alright?" Shinji asked as he and Asuka ran up to them.

Cirus smiled at Shinji. "Yes, but I won't presume to speak for Miss Ayanami," he said, looking down at Rei with a gentle smile.

"I am also," she answered.

"I'm glad," Shinji replied.

"And me too," Asuka agreed, her eyes hovering over Cirus for a moment longer.

Cirus nodded to her. "Well, forgive the intrusion, Miss Ayanami, but I'm glad I could be of assistance," he said and then walked around the three of them, heading for the locker room.

Rei looked up as if to say something, but hesitated too long and Cirus was gone. ...Thank you.

"Are you alright, Ayanami?" Shinji asked her more directly.

Rei looked back at Shinji calmly. "Y... yes," she answered.

"Good, I just wanted to make sure. You seemed like you were in a great deal of pain," Shinji admitted.

"Yeah, I saw it too," Asuka replied, slightly apologetic in her tone.

Rei was surprised at their concern. Her cheeks turned slightly pink as she nodded, "T-thank you, I�m fine." Shinji and Asuka both nodded and then hurried off to the locker room themselves. Rei hesitated for a few moments before going there as well.

That evening, the phone in Cirus' apartment rang. He was sitting in the chair beside it reading and so didn't take much time to pick it up and say hello.

"Ah, Cirus, there you are," it was Misato.

"Ah, Major Katsuragi, and to what do I owe the honor of your call?" he asked back.

Misato smiled to herself almost evilly on other end. "I wanted to invite you to dinner at my place tomorrow night," she said.

Cirus raised one eyebrow. "What's the occasion?"

Misato grimaced; construction hadn't been completely after all. "Eh... just for fun! So what do you say?" Cirus narrowed his eyes thoughtfully for a moment. Major Katsuragi was up to something. He could tell from her tone yet alone the request. "Hmm, did you originally have something else planned and now you need guests?" he asked.

Misato's eyebrow twitched violently on the other end. She would get him back for that one. "Well I was planning on celebrating the completion of the covering, but with the Angel attack it wasn't quite finished, so I'm having the dinner anyway," then the perfect opportunity came to her. "And you know... Rei will be there."

Cirus' thoughtfully narrowed eyes turned to angry ones. Touch�. "Really?"

"Yes! She's going to help me cook. And it's her first time you know, I think she needs some positive reinforcement."

Cirus grimaced. He didn't realize he'd made her that mad. "Ah, I see. Yes, she might. I don't see why you'd need me there though."

Slippery little bastard. "Oh come on, it'll be fun. I think she's really looking forward to seeing you there."

Polite interest, maybe. 'Really looking forward to it,' I don't think so. "Ah, Major, I have a lot of work to do tomorrow night."

"Oh come on, for Rei."

Cirus grimaced again. She had him between a rock and hard place. He cleared his throat, "Sure... I'll be there."

"Ah, that'll be great! Thanks!" and she hung up.

Cirus put the phone down distractedly. "I'll get her for this..."