"Pilot is alive," Hyuga reported.

"Cirus, we can't get to you. You have to get out of that AT field dome yourself somehow," Misato said over the comm.

Unit 14 got up to its hands and knees. "Mind telling me how I might do that, Major?" he asked calmly over the comm.

"We don't know, just do something!" Misato shouted back.

Rei turned and looked up at Commander Ikari with calm intensity. Ikari looked down at her with some surprise. She looked angry, but not at him directly. He looked back up. "Major, prepare Unit 00 for launch again," he ordered.

Misato looked up and then nodded. "Yes, sir! Hyuga, prepare Unit 00 for launch!" she added, looking to the techie.

"Yes, ma'am!" Hyuga replied, putting in the necessary codes into the computer.

Rei ran out of the command center and down halls, through doorways, and down the last hall toward the Eva cage. Running down the metal grating, she quickly climbed up to her entry plug and then into it, settling into the pilot�s chair with a smooth slip, and activated the necessary controls. Her plug filled with a building hum as bright colors, static, light, and then finally the cage room itself. "Unit 00 ready for launch," she reported.

"Launch!" Misato�s shout came over the comm.

Rei performed the command and Unit 00 shot up along the tracks to the surface. When she reached the surface, she broke into a run toward the AT field dome. She wouldn't stand and wait for him to die; she had to do something. Running up to the faintly pink wall of energy, Unit 00 halted, focusing on the other Eva inside the dome, the pilot wondering what she could do.

"If we could just lower this stupid shield!" Asuka shouted as Unit 02 continued to slash at the area of the AT field it was working on.

Shinji had stopped wasting ammo and was doing the same. "I don't think we can..."

Unit 14 activated both of its blades, and he and Camael ran at each other. He lunged up and slammed his left blade into the Angel's neck. His right he used to slash it down the torso. The Angel grabbed the arm with the blade sticking in its neck, and pulled it out slowly, doing the same with the other arm, but keeping it away after it finished the slice. Suddenly, the Angel whipped out its leg, and batted the back of Unit 14's knee with it. The Eva's leg struck the ground with a loud crash. Not even hesitating, Camael twisted the Eva's left arm almost completely around, making Cirus gasp in pain. With its other hand, the Angel started to crush Unit 14's right arm. It finally snapped thickly, and Unit 14's back arched violently, Cirus screaming. Its foe's right arm immobile, the Angel took its left hand around, and slammed it into the plug housing behind the Eva�s head.

As Cirus was still dealing with the pain in both of his arms, the cockpit suddenly turned red with warning signs.

"The plug is damaged!" Ayobi reported.

"Cirus!" Rei shouted, Unit 00's optic blazing.

Suddenly, Unit 00 started to pound on the AT field mercilessly with its fists. Each hit landed with such sheer ferocity that the AT field rippled with the impact. Pitching back and forth with each lunging strike, the Eva's back swung its power cord like a whip cracking for each falling blow. At last, Rei just slammed both hands into the AT field, and started jam the Eva's fingers into the field itself, as if she was clawing her way into it.

"Unit 00's nerve synapses are overloading!" Hyuga shouted.

"Rei!?" Misato and Ikari shouted.

Rei gritted her teeth and sealed her eyes against the burning pain in her arms, her straining muscles forcing her to groan as she tried to force her way into the AT field.

The Angel slammed Unit 14 to the ground again, and then started pounding on the plug housing ferociously.

"Rei! You'll kill yourself! Stop!" Misato shouted.

Rei ignored her. She wouldn't abandon Cirus like he was disposable. But she gasped, the pain suddenly too intense to ignore, her arms quivering. Unwavering, she still pushed against the shield. "...Cirus..." her beautiful voice uttered, strained and tight.

Rei? Cirus looked up at his comm window, but it was near impossible to see with all of the warning screens, continual beating, and the bone shattering pain in both of his arms. He saw Rei's face as she was straining against something incredibly powerful. He looked up with Unit 14's eyes, and saw Unit 00 forcing itself against the AT field. "Rei, don't!" he shouted. Another crash into the plug housing from the Angel's fist caused the Eva's vision to go out for a moment. "...ugh... Rei stop!" he repeated after recovering from the hit.

Finally Cirus wrenched his mangled right arm up, unsheathing the blade and slammed it into the Angel's face, right between the eyes. Camael grabbed his arm with both hands and started to crush it again, but Cirus ignored the pain and stood up, using his other arm's blade to drive into the Angel's mid-section. Then Unit 14 hefted the other behemoth above its head and threw it off the blades, sending the Angel crashing to the ground several hundred meters away. Unit 14 sank back down to the ground, its arms hanging limply.

"Rei, stop!" he shouted again, putting all the strength he could muster into his voice despite his failing body.

"No!" Rei shouted back.

Suddenly Cirus grunted, and Unit 14's back arched violently. The Angel's hand suddenly burst through its chest, and lifted it into the air.

Maya looked away from the screen, her stomach feeling violently ill.

Misato�s face paled. "My G'd... did he survive that?" she asked quietly.

Ritsuko nodded. "The Angel's arm missed the plug by two meters."

Rei looked up, her arms still burning in pain, but she ignored it as she saw the Angel rip its arm back out of Unit 14, and let it drop there. Looking from the hewn Eva up at the Angel, her blazing eyes narrowed angrily. She screamed, and shoved her Eva's hands straight into the AT field. Unit 00's eye flared brightly, and its own phase-wall suddenly exploded out around the Angel's.

Ayobi stared down in shock at his screen. "...I... I've never seen an AT field that powerful..."

"From what?" Misato asked urgently.

"Rei..." Ayobi answered.

Ikari smiled under his hands.

Unit 00 suddenly ripped its arms through the AT field and pulled it apart like paper before leaping through the tear and charging the Angel, the pilot still screaming in anger. Unit 00 raised its fist as it charged, ready to slam it through Camael's head. The Angel raised its hand, caught Unit 00�s fist like it was air, and gut-punched the Eva before yanking it to the ground powerfully. Rei gasped as the synch-pain of the fall shot through her body, rose up from the impact, and focused her AT field around her fist. She lunged again with a scream. The Angel tried to catch the fist again, but its arm was shattered bloodily by the powerful attack as it moved forward. Camael spun around, grabbed Unit 00 by the neck, and lifted it into the air, squeezing powerfully. Rei couldn�t breathe at all, and her eyes widened at the sudden loss of air. Unit 00 reached up and tried to claw away the hand gripping it, but couldn't.

"Get away from her!" Cirus' voice shouted as Unit 14 suddenly grabbed the Angel around the neck in a headlock with one arm and stabbed its knife into the Angel�s throat.

The Angel dropped Unit 00 again and whirled around, its bloody stump spewing a spiraling mass of fluid and matter to reform the arm, slamming its remaining fist through the hole still in Unit 14's chest. This time it moved its hand and reached in, gripping the plug in its hand inside the Eva�s body.

A blue leg flew between them, and nailed the Angel in the face, throwing it away from Unit 14 and into the ground. Unit 00 stepped forward and leapt onto Camael, quickly getting into a strength match as she tried to push the Angel down.

Unit 14 started to heal finally. The hole in its chest slowly closed and its arms became smooth and whole again. The plug housing repaired and Unit 14 stood back up.

The Angel forced Unit 00 back up with itself; their hands locked together as one tried to push the other down.

Cirus gritted his teeth and ran toward them. Unit 14 unsheathed its right forearm blade and then gripped it with its left hand. Cirus clenched his jaw and yanked the blade off completely, bone-shattering pain coursing through his arm from the action. "Rei! Here!" he shouted and tossed the blade toward the two battling behemoths.

Unit 00 looked up and released its right hand, reaching up and catching the blade. Its AT field swirled around the weapon, and Camael's corroded away.

Ritsuko's eyes widened as she looked down at Rei�s synch ratio. "It's risen ten points!"

Rei tossed the Angel's other hand away from hers, and then brought the blade down straight through its head before it could recover. The blade slammed into the ground, and the Angel stumbled backward. It looked at Unit 00 as the Eva stood up straight again, and then split in half and fell apart.

The AT field dome started to collapse inwardly as the Angel�s body exploded.

"The AT field is maintaining its integrity!" Hyuga shouted.

"It will crush them!" Maya reported.

Before Misato could shout into the comm the AT field dome suddenly surged back into itself and shrank to nothing in a matter of seconds.

Units 01 and 02 stood there silently, looking at the empty battlefield.

Misato numbly fell to her knees. "Rei... Cirus..."

Hyuga looked up from his screen in quiet disbelief. "There's not even any wreckage left."

Maya looked down at her screen before she couldn't stop her tears. She closed her eyes tightly before opening them and looking down at her readouts. Her brow creased as she looked at them. "W-wait... I'm still receiving vital signs from both pilots..." she said, looking up at the others.

Misato looked up, her tears quieted for a moment. "How?"

Maya shook her head.

"My G'd, look!" Ayobi shouted, pointing up at the screen.

Misato's head shot up.

The air near the center of the battle field shimmered and came alive. It slowly started to melt away from two Eva units. Unit 00 was standing still, looking down at Unit 14 which was down on one knee, its hand raised toward the other Eva.

"He used his AT field!" Misato shouted, relief flooding her.

Unit 14�s arm sagged softly, then its head lolled, and suddenly it fell to the ground completely, collapsing into a heap.

"Cirus!" Rei shouted, reaching down to his Eva. She dropped the blade and quickly pried open the plug housing, triggering the emergency ejection of the plug. She pulled the plug out with her Eva and set it down on the ground, then started to deactivate her own.

"Get a medical team out there now!" Misato ordered.

"Yes, ma'am!" Hyuga replied, doing so before he spoke.

Rei ran down from her plug and toward Cirus', tears coming down her face. Had she lost him after all that? She ran down, and as both Commander Ikari and Shinji had done for her, she triggered the emergency manual release of the hatch. The two handles popped out and she started to rotate them. She strained against them with what at least felt like all her might, but they wouldn't move enough. She gritted her teeth and pushed harder on the higher handle, her arms quivering with force as her throat let out a strangled groan. It finally gave way, and she spun it around until the hatch came open. LCL poured out over her and she realized the emergency discharge hadn't fired. She quickly looked out over the plug and saw that it was damaged, but quickly ducked inside.

"Cirus?" she asked urgently. As her eyes grew accustomed to the light she saw Cirus lying in the pilot seat, unconscious. She quickly waded in through the LCL and came closer to him. "Cirus?! Wake up, please," she pleaded, shaking him by the shoulders.

His eyes came open and he looked up at her weakly. A faint smile came to his face. Rei looked back into his eyes and smiled, but her smile faded slightly as she looked over his body. She looked back up at him with worry in her eyes. "How badly are you hurt?"

Cirus weakly shook his head. "Don't worry about it," he replied, his voice hoarse.

Rei's eyes grew more accustomed to the light and she looked down at the LCL they were in. It was filled with blood. She reached out and grabbed him around the shoulders, starting to drag him out. He gasped in pain.

"No, Rei, stop," he said.

"You're bleeding, I need to get you out into the light so I can at least stop it," Rei explained as she pulled him out.

After getting him out of the plug, Rei laid him down on the ground. His left leg and arm were badly wrenched and there was a large gash on his right side. Rei pressed her hand to the wound firmly to stop the blood, knowing that a medical team was coming.

"How did you get so badly injured?" she asked.

"Crushed... plug," Cirus answered weakly.

His eyes started to close and Rei lunged over him. "Cirus! Don't leave!"

Cirus' eyes opened and he smiled at her weakly. He then looked down at his Eva and seemed to reach out to it. Rei looked up at Unit 14 with curiosity despite their situation.

"W-what...?" she wasn't sure how to phrase the question.

Suddenly Unit 14's eyes blazed brightly and the air distorted toward Cirus. It encompassed him and danced over Rei lightly. She could see it, but she felt nothing as it sparkled all over her. She looked down in shock as his arm and leg healed, and then the gash on his side. Unit 14's eyes shut off again and the distortion faded.

Cirus raised a hand to Rei's face, and caressed her cheek gently. He smiled, more strong, but still weak. "I'm not leaving you, I will never leave you. I just need rest," he explained.

Rei nodded, holding his hand to her face as his eyes started to close again. He slightly tightened his fingers to caress her one last time before he fell into a deep sleep in her arms. She gently put his hand down on his chest and smiled down at his closed eyes.

"It's incredible," Ritsuko started as she looked down at the information screen on Cirus. "The scanner shows the residual marks of all the injuries he's received since he got here. He's had his arm broken, twice, then wrenched so badly it was practically useless. His legs were crushed once, then twisted. It keeps going, too," she explained, looking at Misato to her left.

Misato took a sip of her coffee as she stepped closer to the window. Cirus was still sleeping in the medical scanner. Ritsuko had insisted on it because of what the vitals had been when Unit 14 had crashed. "So he's going to be out for some time then?" she asked.

"No, that's just it. He's completely healed now."

Misato looked at Ritsuko in disbelief and incredulity. "You mean he just snapped his arm back into place and healed his legs?" she asked dryly.

"More or less," Ritsuko replied.

Misato's eyes widened.

"And look at this," Ritsuko added, opening another screen on the window through which they were looking at Cirus.

An energy graph appeared, titled for Unit 14's AT field activation energy. It suddenly spiked up beyond the graph�s capability to read and then died.

"And that means?" Misato asked.

"This was taken just before the medical team got to him and Rei. Unit 14 activated its AT field for a full thirteen seconds without an entry plug inside it," Ritsuko explained.

Misato�s brow creased. "How?"

"I don't pretend to know. I also did a check on the in-base scanners at the cages for any more of these spikes in his Eva's AT field. I found two other occurrences. One for a brief period, but intense session, and another for a week-long, low energy session," the Doctor went on.

"What was he doing during those times?" Misato asked.

Ritsuko motioned at the screen again and Misato looked down. It changed to a replay of the security camera system in the cages. It showed Cirus and Rei speaking near Rei's Eva. He took off his glasses and touched her arm; afterwards she flexed her arm and appeared to think it was very surprising from her expression. Then a medical team ran up to them, but Rei shook her head and they headed back.

"That was the intense, short burst," Ritsuko explained.

Misato knew when that had occurred. "That was after the Angel that twisted her arm," she confirmed.

"Yes. She never reported any kind of injury from that attack," Ritsuko added.

Misato suddenly felt distinctly unsettled. "...And the long period spike?"

"...Guess," Ritsuko answered, both of them looking in at Cirus.

"When Rei was in the coma," Misato stated the guess aloud.

"Do you realize what this means, Misato?" Ritsuko asked, subtle awe in her voice.

"What?"

"He is perpetually bonded with his Eva. So much so that he always has control of it, even outside his entry plug," Ritsuko answered, her voice building.

"Well, we know SEELE did something to him," Misato reminded her friend.

"Ikari will want to know about this," Ritsuko said.

"Oh really?" Misato asked sarcastically. Of course he would want to know.

Ritsuko looked at Cirus through the window. "We'll move him to a normal ward in about an hour. Just some busy work to do with his check-up," she said.

"'Kay, see ya then," Misato replied with a quick wave and left the scanner room.

Ritsuko sat down in the chair and leaned back, crossing her legs. She knew Misato didn't want her to tell Ikari a word of this, which is why Misato didn't say anything. Don't worry, Misato. I'm not Ikari's flunky anymore...