The door opened to the command center and Misato walked in wearing her usual red jacket and black dress attire. "Ah, hello, Maya," she said happily with a slight wave as she walked up.

Maya smiled and tipped her head to Misato. "Hello, Major Katsuragi," she replied.

"So, any Angels up and about?" Misato asked with a wry twist of her lips as she stopped beside Maya's chair and looked up at the main screen.

Maya raised her eyebrows calmly. "Not that I can see at this moment, thankfully," she answered.

"You'll get no argument from me," Misato replied dryly. "So why are you the only one here aside from me, Maya? I thought at least Ritsuko would be here," she continued more lightly.

"Oh, Dr. Akagi is back in the Magi command station running some diagnostic protocols," Maya explained plainly as she looked down at her screen and hit a few keys.

Misato nodded knowingly. "That would be Ritsuko alright. So how are you?"

Maya looked up with a warm smile. "I'm fine, thank you, Major Katsuragi. And you?"

"The same," she answered with an easy smile. As Maya turned back to her screen Misato spun the chair Makato Hyuga normally took around so she could sit down in it. Once seated, she spun it back around to look up at the main screen still. "So you're scanning the entire nation of Japan?"

Maya nodded. "Yes. It's the best way to detect Angels unless they are extra-atmospheric. For that case I have the satellites running checks every few minutes," she explained informatively.

Misato nodded. "I see," she replied, lifting her legs up and resting them on the console in front of her as she crossed her arms loosely over her chest.

A quiet alarm went off suddenly on Maya's screen and she quickly hit another few keys. Misato pulled her legs down and sat upright to see what was going on.

"Oh no, it's-" Maya was cut off by a shattering rumble that knocked Misato from her seat and almost did the same to Maya herself. All of the screens went blank for a moment as the other personnel in the lower level's of the command center started to stand back up from the jarring shake.

"What was that?!" Misato asked quickly, rising to her feet.

Maya busily punched away at her keyboard as the screens came back online. "Missile impact! I need to tell the Commander about this at once!"

"Leave that to me," Misato replied, quickly hitting a control on Hyuga's station and leaning down on it with her hands.

"What is it?" Ikari's calm voice came back in a tone that indicated he was asking what had just happened.

"Sir, a missile attack just struck," Misato led off looking at Maya who told her it was above the Geo-front, "the city."

"Not an Angel?"

"No, sir," Misato answered.

"Fuyutsuki and I will be down shortly, call in the command staff."

"Yes, sir!"

"Sensors show nothing," Hyuga reported sourly as he finished his scanner sweep of the area surrounding Tokyo-3. Ritsuko, himself, and Ayobi had arrived soon after Misato's call, with Commander Ikari and Fuyutsuki at their usual station above and behind the primary sensor stations that the three techies manned.

"How severe was the damage inflicted?" Ikari asked calmly with his hands clasped in front of his face.

"Not very. It was a force generating explosion, sir," Ayobi reported calmly.

"Explaining the shockwave," Ritsuko commented quietly as she looked down over Maya's shoulder at the young woman's screen.

"Why didn't the sensors detect the missile sooner?" Ikari asked.

Maya looked up and back at the Commander. "The scanners detected it five seconds before impact. I didn't have time to call you before hand, I'm sorry, sir."

"It matters little, Miss Ibuki," Ikari replied calmly. "Nothing more can be done at this time without more information," he added as he stood up. "Return to normal duty, if anything else occurs notify me immediately," he ordered and left, with Fuyutsuki following.

"Yes, sir," Maya replied though he was already gone as she turned back to her screen.

Misato raised an eyebrow up at the main screen, showing the section of the city that had been struck by the missile. The damage was light considering the shockwave, only one building was seriously weakened.

"Someone doesn't like us anymore," she commented dryly.

"Yes, that would appear to be so," Ritsuko replied, looking up at the screen herself.

Ikari stood near the massive window in his office on the left side of the large room, looking out over the Geo-front with his hands clasped behind his back. Fuyutsuki was standing near his desk, his eyes looking over at Ikari calmly.

"I spoke with SEELE, they do not know who attacked us, but think it has been coming for some time," Ikari explained calmly.

"Not surprising. Resentment has been building against NERV since Sachiel struck," Fuyutsuki replied.

"Even before actually," Ikari added quietly.

"So what are your orders?"

Ikari narrowed his eyes thoughtfully under his glasses. "Find out who it was. Deal with them," he answered finally.

"We're not an intelligence organization, Ikari. How do you expect us to find out where they are?" the Vice Commander reminded him with a slight tilt of his head.

"Give them what they want," Ikari answered as he adjusted the glasses on his face.

Fuyutsuki's eyes tightened. "Are you sure that is wise?"

"One of them will be able to ensure the safety of the group."

Fuyutsuki didn't respond aside from looking out over the Geo-Front himself. He did not like this idea at all.

The next day two airships were waiting in stand-by for their passengers on the top of one of the taller buildings in Tokyo-3. It was fairly early in the day and the sun was still rising, casting a shimmering orange glow over the city, reflecting off the surfaces of buildings, and painting Tokyo-3 in a slightly surreal landscape of light. Shinji looked up at the two ships as he, Asuka, Rei, Cirus, Misato, and Ritsuko all walked toward them in a formation-less group.

"Why are we going on this trip?" he asked, eyeing the ships with a subtle wince of awkwardness.

"That last political meeting we went to wasn't the greatest success. Ikari wanted us to bring the pilots this time," Ritsuko explained as they approached.

"Then why two ships?" Cirus asked calmly. "Seems to be a bit of a waste to me."

"Eh, the pilots getting their own transportation makes it look more official," Misato explained wearily.

Cirus didn't like this situation at all. Every instinct he had told him not to get on the airship, but he couldn't go against orders so openly. With the missile attack the day before it was obvious what kind of political meeting it was going to be, but he still didn't like it. Too open...

"So then you are not coming with us?" Shinji asked Misato, looking over to her.

"I'll just be in the other ship, Shinji, don't worry," Misato answered with a warm smile.

When they were finally close enough, the stand-by mode for the ships' thrusters tossed their clothing about violently in the wind they created.

"Oh," Asuka drew out the word irritatedly as she grabbed onto her hair with her hands, "I hate these things! They mess up my beautiful hair."

The small group stopped and Misato and Ritsuko turned to the four of them.

"We'll see you four when we get there then," Misato said plainly.

Shinji smiled and tipped his head to her. "See you then, Miss Misato," he replied.

Asuka waved lazily and Rei nodded her silent good bye.

"See you on the other side, Major, Doctor," Cirus said with a tip of his head to both of them before the four pilots started up the ramp to the ship�s belly.

Misato and Ritsuko gave one final wave to them before going up into their own ship.

As the four of them walked into the ship, and sat down Asuka frowned. "These ships are too cramped!"

Cirus sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. He had enough to worry about without Asuka's whining.

Rei sat down and strapped herself in across from Cirus calmly as Shinji did the same across from Asuka. This put Cirus and Shinji beside one another and the same with Asuka and Rei.

The two ships took off into the air. They turned slowly to the left and then struck out at a steady speed. As they did so, Rei looked across at the window between Cirus and Shinji, watching the city pass by beneath them and then give way to green hills and lakes. The roar of the engines was very loud, but she grew accustomed to it as they flew and it eventually became background noise. She focused on Cirus and noticed that his expression was somewhat worried. She turned her head more fully toward him with her brow creased in calm curiosity. "Is something wrong?" she asked him, her voice barely audible above the roar of the engines.

His face bolted up to look at her and he shook his head quickly, lightening his expression. "No, nothing at all. Sorry," he apologized.

Rei could tell it was forced, but nodded as if she believed him and looked down at her hands in her lap. Something was bothering him, that was obvious to her, but she could not tell what it could be.

Cirus felt guilty for not answering her truthfully, but he did not really have an answer for her at the moment. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what it was himself either.

Suddenly the ship jolted from side to side violently and an explosion rang through the cabin.

"What happened?!" Asuka shouted.

Cirus had already sprung out of his seat and run up to the cockpit. "What hit us?" he asked the pilot quickly.

The pilot was straining to maintain control of the ship and his voice showed as much. "I don't know... but it took out the left wing!" he reported.

"How far are we from the city?" Cirus continued calmly despite the situation.

"Twenty kilometers!"

"Then crash land."

The pilot stared up and back at the young man in shock. "What?!"

"You can't fly the ship without a wing, land it!" Cirus shouted back before disappearing from the doorway.

Misato lunged for the window as she saw the missile slam into the other ship, exploding like a blossom of fire and smoke. Metal sheered and peeled away in a burst, and the wing snapped off. "Oh G'd no!" she shouted.

Ritsuko�s eyes widened as she looked down at the diving ship also. "We have to help them. Land!" she shouted up to the cockpit.

"Commander Ikari's orders! We are not to stop," the pilot shouted back.

Misato looked up at Ritsuko in horror and disbelief.

"He wouldn't... not to..." she shook her head against the thought.

Ritsuko shook her own head as they watched ship go down.

Cirus ran back into the main cabin. "The ship is going down," he reported quickly.

"What do we do?!" Asuka shouted as she pulled herself out of her seat.

"I can't control the ship!" the pilot's voice shouted from the cockpit. He suddenly ran back into the cabin with the four of them.

"Are there any parachutes or anything?" Cirus asked him quickly but calmly.

The man nodded. "An escape pod system. Over here," he said, pointing and walking toward the aft section of the ship. Cirus, Rei, Asuka, and Shinji followed him quickly.

The man opened a section of the wall, but stopped before entering the vertically opened hatch.

"What is it?" Cirus asked.

"...It only holds four." the pilot reported grimly. He then stepped aside with a calm expression on his face and motioned in to the 'pod'. "Your safety is my priority, please get inside," he said to the four of them.

Cirus stepped aside and let Asuka and Rei go through first. He and Shinji stepped up to the hatchway and he let Shinji through ahead of him as well. Cirus looked up at the pilot calmly. "My apologies, but I'm afraid I can't just let you kill yourself," Cirus told him with a slight smile and then hit the man at the base of his neck. The shock froze on the man's face as he was stunned and Cirus tossed him into the pod.

"Cirus!" Shinji called back as he pulled the man in.

Rei met his eyes with her own widened in shock at what he was doing.

Cirus looked at her calmly with a smile, then pulled himself back, reached up, and shut the hatch. A red switch appeared on the side of the opening and Cirus hit it. The pod shot off from the ship and some thrusters activated on it, slowing its descent along with a parachute. Cirus then quickly ran back to the cockpit and jumped into the pilot's seat. He pulled back on the controls, making the ship pull its nose up. ...Rei, forgive me.

Shinji, Asuka, and Rei looked through the window in the pod down at the falling ship. They watched its nose rise up and then the tail slam into the ground, followed by the nose, skidding along for several meters before slamming to a halt. The pod itself landed smoothly and the hatchway opened.

Shinji helped Rei pull the pilot out of the pod as Asuka stepped out after them. She numbly walked over to a rock and sank down onto it. Rei and Shinji propped the pilot up against a tree and then Shinji sat down also, his eyes wide.

"H-he's alive, right?" Asuka asked suddenly, her voice tight.

Rei was looking down at the ground. The others couldn't see it but her eyes were wide. "...I hope so," she said quietly.

A loud explosion made them all jump and look up. They could see the smoke rising in the distance.

Rei sunk down to her knees, silent tears coming down her face. It had happened so suddenly that she was in shock, numb from the sheer speed at which she'd lost him. She suddenly felt very confused and dizzy. She shook her head and put her hand out to try and steady herself, but her hand met air and she fell down to her hands and knees.

"Ayanami?" Shinji called her softly.

She looked up at him, quivering slightly.

"He could have survived, he may have escaped before it exploded," he offered her sympathetically.

Before Rei could respond a click resounded through the small clearing they were in and they all looked up. A rifle was pointing down at Shinji's face from a man in a cammo uniform with a facemask.

"You three, stand up slowly," his voice was calm and smooth, muffled a subtle amount by the mask as he motioned up slightly with the nozzle of the rifle.

Rei calmed herself, and stood up with a cool expression on her face. Asuka and Shinji did so less demurely, but still stood.

"Is he dead?" the man asked, motioning with his head at the pilot.

Shinji shook his head, swallowing a lump in his throat. The man turned with his rifle and took aim at the pilot's head. Shinji and Asuka both jerked their heads away, but the shot never rang out. The man's guttural choke and then the sound of him collapsing replaced it. Shinji and Asuka looked up, and saw a very grim expression on Cirus' face, standing over the fallen man. He was holding the man's rifle in one hand, the other holding the man's neck. Cirus looked up at them and released the man to the ground along with the weapon.

Shinji was half caught between relief that Cirus was alive and had just saved them, and shock at what the young man had just done. The two mixed into a fairly bewildered expression on his face. Asuka looked at Cirus similarly with numb, wide eyes. Rei's eyes were the only ones not suddenly afraid of him.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Cirus said calmly and then stood up more straight.

Shinji noticed that his clothes were very dusty and that he appeared to have fallen. The young boy shook his head. "At least we're alive," he said in a lighter tone.

Cirus flashed a faint smile at the other boy, and then stepped over to them. He glanced over at Rei more intently as he stepped up, but didn't let the others see it.

"How did you survive?" Asuka asked him finally.

"I jumped out," Cirus answered plainly as he got down near the pilot. He felt a warmth on his shoulder and spun his head up and around, but calmed when he saw Rei there, her eyes looking down at him calmly, but with a much deeper emotion behind them. He reached up with his hand and gently touched hers. She nodded and then stepped back to let him check on the pilot, her hand slipping off his shoulder softly.

"Is he badly hurt?" Shinji asked.

Cirus shook his head almost instantly. "I knocked him out, yes, but I didn't injure him seriously."

"And the... the soldier?" Shinji continued nervously.

Cirus nodded more slowly. "The same." He could feel Asuka and Shinji relax behind him. If he had been alone he would have killed the man instantly, but he didn't need them to see that part of him. Especially not Rei...

"So what should we do?" Shinji asked.

Cirus looked up at Rei with calmly raised eyebrows above his glasses. She looked up at them in turn. "We must get back to headquarters."

"Shouldn't we wait here for a ship to pick us up?" Asuka asked.

Cirus shook his head. "There's a great deal more where he came from," he pointed out, motioning at the soldier with his hand without looking at him. "We can't risk staying here."

"Too late," another voice said from above Cirus.

They all looked up and saw more men, dressed in the same fashion as the soldier before, hanging from the trees by ropes, all with rifles pointing down at them.

Cirus' face turned flat as he stood up, raising his hands into the air.

The other three followed his example as the men dropped down from the trees.

"Now what?" Shinji asked quietly.

"Leave that to me," Cirus answered in a deathly calm tone.

One of the men stepped up closer to Cirus with his gun's nozzle pointed straight between the boy's eyes. There were three other men, one for each pilot, and they all had their guns aimed for kill shots. Cirus glanced to either side as much as he could with his eyes beneath the glasses without moving his head. He was standing at the end of a diamond shaped pattern with Shinji and Asuka as the next two points and Rei as the opposite. The soldiers were standing directly in line with each of them.

Cirus weighed the possibilities of actions in his mind. One plan came through his mental filter, but it was not exactly a smooth one. Cirus cleared his throat and flashed a small smile at the soldier aiming at him. "We're not leaving, are we?" His voice remained perfectly calm.

The soldier smiled to himself beneath the mask, and answered with dry amusement, "Well, well, well, we've got a sharp one here."

Cirus nodded slowly as if he was calmly thinking of something. "Now I would be inclined to ask why it's taking you so long to aim for an almost point-blank shot with a high-powered assault rifle, but that would seem odd coming from a captive who undoubtedly wished to live, correct?"

The soldier's demeanor switched instantly. He knew Cirus was up to something, though it was not exactly a subtle action on the young man's part, and brought his finger up to the trigger, taking more steady aim. Cirus tilted his head at the man calmly with slightly raised eyebrows before his left arm shot up, his upper body flew out of the way, and his hand shoved the gun's barrel to the right violently. The man pulled the trigger out of reflex and his bullet shot through another soldier's head. Shinji ducked out of the way with the threat to him directly averted as Cirus spun around the man and the other two soldiers aimed at him.

Asuka grabbed the soldier's gun who was standing beside her and then kneed him in the groin. The man groaned and fell down as Asuka took his gun. She spun around and took aim at the other soldier with it as Rei fell down to a crouch calmly. As this had happened, Cirus had taken his soldier's gun, and knocked the man out, also taking aim at the remaining soldier above Rei.

The soldier, though Asuka wasn't holding her weapon properly, was not stupid. He fell down to his haunches and pointed his rifle at the base of Rei's neck. "Put the weapons down now or I will kill this one first," he said calmly.

Cirus narrowed his eyes, aiming at the man's shoulder socket. One hit would kill the nerve impulse to his finger before it got there, but with Asuka standing right there with her own gun aimed at the soldier he was wary to start firing.

"Do it now!" the man shouted.

Cirus raised his hands apart and crouched down, placing the gun on the ground silently. Asuka glared at him, but didn't say anything as she copied his motion. The man grinned beneath his mask and stood back up. "Good children," he said in a mock tone.

Cirus looked across at Rei and saw that she was truly quite calm, and considering her predicament it was an impressive show of will power.

"P-put your gun down!"

Cirus� widened eyes looked up to see Shinji aiming at the soldier with another gun. He was even holding it properly against his shoulder and had an excellent shot straight at the man's head.

The man turned and raised his gun at Shinji, but Asuka ran up and bashed up over the head with both of her fists. The man was more shocked than hurt, but he lost the grip on his gun and Rei sprang up, crashing back into the soldier and shoving him bodily to the ground.

"Good work, Shinji," Cirus said quickly as he surged up and hopped toward Rei and the soldier.

The soldier rose up, forcing Rei off of himself, but he was met full force by Cirus, slamming them both into a tree behind the soldier. The man punched Cirus in the face, and it threw his head back, sending his glasses flying off behind him. Cirus looked back down, and narrowed his black eyes at the man, whose own eyes widened at the sight. Cirus gut-punched the soldier and then slammed his fists into the back of the man's head as he doubled over. The man fell to the ground unconscious. Cirus turned around and helped Rei stand back up. She wasn't badly hurt, but he hadn't known for sure until he'd seen her.

Shinji numbly let the rifle hit the ground and fell down to his knees, his eyes widened. Asuka hopped down and then walked over to him with a slightly concerned look on her face. "...Are you okay, Shinji?" she asked slowly, looking up into his eyes.

He snapped out of a trance and looked down at her. "Uh-oh! F-fine, yes... fine... thank you," his voice gradually became more thoughtful as he spoke.

Cirus stepped up to the young man and smiled wryly. "Honestly, Shinji, I wouldn't have expected that from you. My apologies for doubting you," he finished, offering the boy his hand. Shinji looked up rather numbly, but then shook away the fogginess in his mind and took Cirus' hand as the other boy hefted him up to a standing position. "In all fairness, I'd say you're the hero of the day," Cirus added, his wry smile still on his face.

Shinji's face turned slightly red. "...Y-you did much more than I," he stuttered out.

Cirus actually chuckled. "That's because I was trained. You did a hell of a lot more than I did considering what it took," he replied.

"I am sorry to interrupt, but I believe we should start back to headquarters," Rei said calmly.

That fact that she apologized beforehand took Shinji and Asuka off-guard, but they didn't address it, and soon they started to head out through the woods. Cirus stayed behind for a moment, but then caught up to them. Rei led the way, with Asuka, then Shinji, and then Cirus with the unconscious pilot.

"Won't those men follow us?" Shinji asked.

"After what we did to them? Ha! I think not," Asuka said triumphantly, her head rising into the air noticeably.

Cirus hid his smile. "Believe it or not, Asuka is right. If anything they'll just wait for another opportunity like this to get at us," he explained.

With a sudden yelp, Asuka tumbled down to her hands and knees. Rei stopped and turned quickly to see what had happened as Shinji and Cirus hurried over to the fallen girl.

"Asuka, are you alright?" Shinji asked quickly.

Asuka moaned as she leaned down on her side. "My ankle..." she said in a pained voice, her arm reaching down along right leg, "I think it's twisted."

Both Shinji and Cirus looked down along her leg and then saw where her foot had caught. Two thick roots had come out of the ground and formed a nice little trap. Cirus looked down at her ankle and saw it already starting to swell up.

"Yes, but thankfully not fractured," the darkly clothed boy reported. "Come on Shinji, you'll need to carry her with that foot like it is," he said as he hefted the pilot on his back a little.

"I'm not a baby!" Asuka said angrily. "I can walk," she added, starting to push herself up. She pulled her leg up and pressed down to stand up, but instantly regretted the motion. She grimaced and inhaled sharply.

"Asuka, you can't walk like this," Cirus told her pleadingly.

"No! I don't need your sympathy, your help, or your pity. I'll be fine!" she shouted at him and then pushed herself up with her good foot against the tree that owned the pesky roots on her right. She started to hop forward, but then started to fall. Weighted by the pilot, Cirus could do nothing, but Shinji shot in and caught her in his arms. He almost fell down with her weight, but he managed to stay standing. Asuka was about to protest when she realized how close she was to his face; she blushed rather abruptly and didn't say anything.

Cirus tried in vain to hide a smile, but he managed to force it back by the time Shinji helped Asuka stand up. "Thank you, Shinji. You... assist Asuka, I'll keep watch back here," he said finally, thinking of the right word to use that wouldn't set Asuka's temper off.

"B-bu-" Shinji couldn't figure out what to say against the point, but he didn't want to carry Asuka all the way back to headquarters.

Cirus looked up and nodded to Rei, who turned back around started walking again. Shinji stepped around Asuka and pulled her right arm over his shoulders to take the weight off of her leg. Cirus noticed with a quiet smile that Asuka was not complaining at all, and was in fact, still blushing as Shinji helped her walk.