Ritsuko looked down at the dormant Unit 14 through the lab window. So far it wouldn't activate and even outright refused to take power from all of the connections. Its fists were clenched perpetually as it stood there, attached to the wall, its eyes open, but not active.

"It's as if it is in a coma itself," she said quietly. She turned her head back over her shoulder, and shook her head at Ikari. "There's no point in even putting Asuka in there, it wouldn't open without any power at all."

Ikari adjusted his glasses calmly and then turned. "Very well. Contact SEELE. Tell them we no longer have a use for a catatonic pilot and Eva," he said coldly and left.

Ritsuko looked back down at Maya�s screen with a furrowed brow. And it's because of you! How can you do this to... She looked away from the screen and started to walk out of the lab as the cold truth looked her in the face. She'd helped him do worse.

"Dr. Akagi?" Maya asked after her somewhat mystified.

"Shut it all down, Maya. We don't need it anymore," Ritsuko replied as she shut the door behind her and went down the hall.

"He's not ours to take back, Ikari," SEELE 01 replied calmly. The great, audio-signal only holographic obelisks surrounded the grim Gendo and always calm Koso Fuyutsuki.

"He made it quite apparent he was sent by SEELE," Ikari said back.

"That may be, but you will find no records indicating he belongs to us. He's your pilot, you deal with him," SEELE 03 retorted and the signal ended abruptly. Once again, the Commander and Vice-Commander were left alone in the darkness.

Fuyutsuki looked down at Ikari. "Not what you were expecting?"

"No," Ikari answered. "SEELE knows something we don't again, and we need to find out what it is."

"Perhaps Unit 14 is the spy, not the boy?" Fuyutsuki suggested.

Ikari narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. "Have it brought to the main lab again," he suddenly ordered as he stood up.

"What do you want to do?"

"I think Rei may have an effect on Unit 14."

Only two hours had passed since the initial test for Asuka and Unit 14 had been completed, rather abandoned, and the core command-staff were returned with the exception of Fuyutsuki. Ritsuko, Maya, Misato, Ikari, and Rei were back in the lab, looking out at Unit 14.

"Why is Rei here?" Misato asked her friend quietly. They were both standing relatively close to Maya.

"I don't know, I think Ikari believes she'll have an effect," Ritsuko replied in an even more hushed tone. "Maya," she said loudly, "start the activation."

"Without a pilot?" Maya asked.

Ritsuko's expression answered Maya's question, and the younger woman did as ordered. She hit the key, and was mildly surprised when the flow started to go through. "It's accepting the power now," she reported, and went about activating the other sources before the primary cord was attached for the experiment.

Rei did not know why she'd been summoned to the experiment, but she did not want to be there. Ikari's presence disturbed her, and so she had retreated to the corner closest to the window at its left. Once Unit 14 had started to activate without a plug she turned to see out of slight curiosity.

Framed with pale blue hair and porcelain skin, her shimmering red eyes flowed around the edge of the window, becoming visible to the test-chamber itself at last. Unit 14 jerked, its torso arching as the muscles beneath its armor bunched and rippled. The Eva strained against the braces, and began pushing with incredible determination toward the lab window itself.

Alarms blared, and Maya cut all of the power, but the Eva wouldn't deactivate. Misato and Ritsuko looked up in mute shock as Unit 14 shattered its left arm's restraints, the farthest from the lab, and turned around toward it, ripping its other arm out of the wall as it almost ran into the lab window.

Ritsuko, Maya, and Misato stepped away from the window quickly, but Rei stood her ground as the Eva got down to eye level with the lab, cocking its head to the left. Its eye flashed, almost blinding everyone in the lab, but then the large optic sensor turned down, and focused on Rei. The Eva pulled slightly away from the lab wall, and hunched down, looking up into the lab with both eyes.

Rei, her brow creasing slightly, reached up with her hand, and touched the window with it. The Eva raised its corresponding hand, and placed it over Rei's through the window, though the young woman's was almost microscopic in comparison.

Ritsuko just shook her head and sank down on her own haunches, taking her glasses off and rubbing the bridge of her nose. "Not possible... any of it," she commented calmly.

Misato was too shocked to hear her friend. In an odd way it was cute to see the massive robotic behemoth mimicking the small girl's movements, but on another note it was immensely disturbing. The Eva had an almost pained emotion in its eyes as it looked at Rei.

"Rei, step away from the window," Ikari ordered calmly.

Rei's head spun around, and she glared at him with narrowed eyes. Unit 14's head shot up, and focused on Ikari. It pulled its free hand back, and then slammed it into the lab wall, almost shattering the glass. Rei flinched reflexively, but turned back, and looked up at Unit 14's eyes. They found hers again, and the Eva calmed.

"The Eva will become dormant again if Commander Ikari leaves, and then myself," she said calmly.

Ikari walked down to the window beside Rei, and looked up at Unit 14's eyes. They slowly turned to the older man, the slow speed making the normal movement almost eerie. "You do not know that, Rei," Ikari said quietly, reaching out with his hand to Rei's. He did not grab hers, that would cause the Eva to react, he simply offered.

Rei looked down at the ground. She didn't know what to do. Ikari stepped closer to her, and put his hands on her shoulders. "Come with me, Rei," he said calmly, slowly pushing her along with him.

Unit 14 slammed both hands into the wall on either side of the lab, its eyes flashing down at Ikari. Rei looked up at it, and raised her hand to the Eva, shaking her head slowly. The Eva pulled back, narrowing its eyes. Finally the eyes faded back to black and the Eva was powerless again, standing against the wall.

"Dr. Akagi, continue to monitor Unit 14 until further notice," Ikari ordered calmly as Rei left alone. Misato left after her quickly.

Ritsuko nodded, and she and Maya walked back over to the console. Studying was better than handing them off to SEELE.

The next day, near noon, Rei was sitting in Cirus' medical room in a chair near his bed. She was free at that time, so she decided to keep him company, though she truly had no idea how much of him was there with her.

After she had been silent for about ten minutes she furtively looked down at his left hand, which was closest to her. She reached out slowly, and then curled her fingers into his hand, squeezing gently. He didn�t react, and so she slowly pulled her hand back.

"...Don't leave me alone like this..." she begged quietly. She looked down at her lap, and tears silently started to fall down her face. "...Please."

She knew it wasn't his fault, but she didn't care. She wanted him to keep her from being lonely. She had been like that for so long... she didn't want to go back to it.

If Ikari did know how to bring him back, maybe she should do what he wanted? If it brought Cirus back to her it might be worth it. But then what would stop Ikari from making Cirus leave her again? Nothing. Her brow creased and she pulled herself in as if she was being assaulted. Please wake up...

An alarm cut into her silent plea and she quickly looked up.

"Unidentified object is approaching Tokyo-3! Repeat, unidentified object is approaching Tokyo-3!" Hyuga's voice shouted over the comm system.

Rei hopped up from her chair, casting one last glance at Cirus before rushing out of the room and down the hall.

Misato's brow creased as she looked up at the Angel on the screen. It had floated down from the upper atmosphere, where it had suddenly appeared just a few minutes earlier. It resembled four spheres, one red, one blue, one orange, and one transparent, connected by straight distortions in the air that arranged them all into a diamond pattern. From tip to tip, it was about thirty meters wide and tall.

"So far it has just hovered above us, not taking any action," Ritsuko explained from her usual location, standing to the right of Maya's chair with a clipboard in her arm.

"Are the Evas ready for launch?" Ikari asked calmly, his eyes focused on the target.

"Yes, sir," Ayobi reported.

"Record the Angel and launch the Evas."

Ayobi hit several keys on his board, as did Hyuga and Maya.

"Launch paths clear!" Ayobi reported.

"Evas in position," Hyuga.

"Stand-by for launch," Maya.

Misato stepped forward. "Evas, launch!"

"Unit 02, launch!" Asuka shouted as she rocketed up to the surface.

"Unit 01, launch!"

"Unit 00, launch."

The three Evas appeared above the surface and just below the Angel within twenty seconds. It instantly started to react to their presence. The orange orb spun around, and faced Unit 01 as the entire Angel turned flat in the air.

"Energy build up!" Ayobi reported urgently.

Shinji had already started to dodge as the large beam of orange-white energy seared past Unit 01 and corroded several buildings down to the ground.

"What was that?!" Misato asked in shock. It had barely nicked the buildings that had melted away.

"Super-concentrated AT-field. It excited the atoms to the point of liquefying the targets!" Ritsuko answered quickly.

Asuka hefted a missile launched in Unit 02's arm, and fired at the Angel. The transparent orb spun around to meet the blast and the missile never exploded, it just disappeared.

"What the-?!" Asuka was cut off by the abrupt loss of her gun, the weapon flying out of her hands and vanishing into the clear orb itself.

Rei fired at the Angel with her cannon, and the red orb rotated around to meet her. A beam of red light seemed to streak away from Unit 00 and back toward the Angel before a massive rippling over-wave poured back at the Eva along the thin line. Rei's other blasts were destroyed by the attack, and she activated her AT field to full spread. The blue orb came around as the red orb continued to attack, and it emitted a conical blast of light-blue energy at Unit 00. Suddenly Unit 00's AT field collapsed.

Rei's eyes widened, and she dodged to the side as the red blast ripped into the ground where she had been, blowing it apart. The force of the explosion sent Unit 00 head over heals into another building. Rei groaned sharply as she hit the building, and fell back down to her hands and knees.

Shinji pulled himself back up, holding a rifle in his Eva's hands. He opened fire. As the transparent orb came around he realized what it did, and changed his aim so that he was still aiming at the blue orb. Several of his shots still flew into the transparent orb, but several more hit the Angel's blue sphere, and it started to pull away suddenly.

"Follow the target!" Misato ordered.

The three Evas ran after the rapidly retreating Angel. It was moving so quickly that the churned air was violently whipping about anything beneath it on the ground. The floating creature flew back until well out of Tokyo-3 before stopping again, and then bringing the orange orb around to the Evas. The orange beam rushed out toward Unit 02.

"Asuka!" Shinji shouted, Unit 01 leaping over to shove Unit 02 out of the way. Asuka had already started to dodge, so the two Evas flew into each other, and hit the ground just in time for the blast to streak by overhead.

Rei charged forward with Unit 00, taking aim with her cannon as she did. She opened fire at the orange orb, but the blue orb suddenly spun around, and this time it emitted a powerful wave out from itself in all directions. The blast slammed into Unit 00, knocking the cannon out of its arms before hitting the Eva and sending it flying back into the hills.

Rei pulled herself back up. The throw hadn't been too bad, but it had been enough to get her away from the other Evas. Unit 00 stood up completely, and ran back to the battle.

Asuka rose from the ground, and before she could berate Shinji for his stupidity, ducked a blast from the transparent orb. She charged the orb, her progressive knife in hand, and shouting at the top of her lungs, leapt at the Angel. The transparent orb spun around by itself, and then a large conical distortion surged out of it to engulf Unit 02. It sent the Eva somersaulting backward before it slammed into the ground with a shattering crash. Asuka winced, and started to stand up again. She'd landed on her Eva�s right arm in a bad way, and it felt like it was broken.

Unit 01 took aim with its rifle again and fired. The Angel turned vertical again, and all four orbs started to glow.

"Massive energy influx!" Ayobi shouted.

"Shinji, dodge!" Misato ordered.

Shinji had been about to do so without being ordered when a massive energy stream the size of the Angel's entire body surged forward, and slammed into the Eva. Pain surged throughout Shinji's body, and the boy screamed in pain as his back arched in the pilot's seat. The blast dug Unit 01 into a deep trench back toward the city before stopping, and the Angel lay back down on its side as Unit 02 and 00 approached.

Asuka narrowed her eyes at the Angel, and sent her AT field surging toward it. The Angel brought its red orb around, and emitted a dome of red energy that surged out, and slammed into Asuka's AT field attack. Unit 00 attacked from the other side, pulling its knife and leaping in. The orange orb shot out a stream of energy at Unit 00. Rei spun around in the air in an attempt to dodge the attack, but the stream drove through Unit 00's shoulder, and sent the Eva to the ground. Rei gasped in pain, and gripped her shoulder. It burned as if it was on fire.

"Rei, Shinji, report!" Misato ordered.

"Damage to right shoulder," Rei reported, grimacing.

"External damage to most systems," Shinji reported, his voice strained.

Rei stood back up, and gripped her knife more firmly in her left hand. Unit 00 rushed the Angel again, on the opposite side to Unit 02. The Angel emitted an attack from its blue orb at Unit 00, and the Eva blocked it with its AT field.

"Shinji, can you get back to a launch pad? We need to repair Unit 01," Misato asked Shinji over the comm.

Shinji just couldn't respond again. His entire body burned with seething pain, and his arms felt broken.

"Shinji?!" Misato asked more urgently.

Suddenly the Angel's attacks surged past Units 02 and 00's AT fields, and hit the Evas. Unit 00 was hit in the good shoulder, spinning her around, and Unit 02 was hit in the mid-torso, sending it flying into the hills behind it.

Shinji heard Rei and Asuka shout in pain, and gritted his teeth. Anger surged up inside him. Anger at the Angel, anger at his father, anger at everyone for putting him this idiotic machine. He was tired of it all, and he wanted to be left alone. And at that moment, the one creature that would leave him alone as going to be that Angel. Shinji glared at the Angel in his view, and screamed in rage. Unit 01's eyes suddenly blazed, and the Eva's body healed instantly. The jaw broke apart, and it roared as it leapt back up to a standing position. It flung both arms out, and roared again at the Angel.

The Angel brought all four orbs to bare on Unit 01 once again. The blast surged out, but this time Unit 01's AT field stopped the blast, and in fact started to send it surging back up at the Angel. With another roar, Unit 01 raised it arms, and then slammed them down, tearing the energy blast apart with its AT field, and sending the energy surging into the ground. The Eva leapt after the Angel, snapping its power cord with the shear ferocity of the leap. The Angel spun around, and tried to attack, but Unit 01 slammed its feet into the Angel, and drove it into the ground. Climbing down on top of the Angel, the Eva then started to repeatedly bash it with its fists; the Eva's AT field spiraling around the balled extremities as it did.

Finally Shinji reached down, and grabbed the orange orb, tearing it off and away from the rest of the angel with his Eva letting off another blood-curdling roar. The orange orb glowed intensely in the Eva's hand before the entire Angel and the orb exploded, engulfing Unit 01 in a massive pillar of energy that tore up into the air and split apart.

When the energy cleared Unit 01 stood up tall as its jaw reformed into a solid mass and it became calm again.

Misato looked up at the screen somewhat numbly. "Well done, Shinji, get Rei and Asuka back to their launch pads," she ordered quietly.

"Yes, Miss Misato," Shinji replied calmly as Unit 01 went about doing so.