Rei was standing at the railing in the Eva cage, looking down at the four Evas there. Unit 14 had been moved back to the cage without any power and was forcibly restrained thanks to the better bindings of the locked-down area.

She had been on her way to the medical bay to look in on Cirus when she'd thought to check on Unit 14. She had been curious about it since the incident at the activation lab. Its eyes, though inactive, seemed to looking up at her intently, as if she was the only thing upon which it desired to look. She found its vacant stare disturbing, but not enough to make her move. It was disturbing more because it was not allowed to live and look at her; it was forced to stare at her blankly since they would not let it be powered.

Cirus had told her that he and Unit 14 were almost the same being, just with two bodies. Knowing that, and considering what had happened at the lab, it was as if Unit 14 was trying to make up for Cirus' inability to protect her. The moment she had been distracted by Ikari the Eva had turned and started to attack the man instantly. It was as if all it could do was protect her.

She turned away from the railing and continued toward the medical bay. If he would only wake up...

Asuka sourly stirred her cereal in the bowl in front of her on the table. She'd had a sour mood for the past three days, since the Angel attack, and it was beginning to wear on Misato and Shinji.

"Asuka, what's wrong?" Misato asked finally in a weary tone. She leaned back against the counter with a deep sigh.

Asuka calmly raised her eyebrows. "Nothing's wrong."

"Okay," Misato replied and then started to leave the kitchen.

Asuka's mouth fell open. "Hey-wait... well-Alright!" she said finally.

Misato walked back in with a mischievous smile. "Good, now what's wrong?"

"I don't see why Shinji has to keep saving the day. I could have handled the Angel just fine by myself, I didn't need his help,� she answered indignantly.

Misato pressed her lips together firmly and then pursed them, crossing her arms over her chest. "Asuka, you know full well you couldn't have beaten that Angel alone. Why do you find it so difficult to be helped?" she asked back.

"Because I was chosen!" Asuka shouted, rising up from her seat. "I don't need some little brat's help, or that little doll's!" she shouted again, but this time tears started to come down her face before she ran out of the kitchen and into her room.

Misato looked after the girl in mild shock. She hadn't realized it was still such an issue for Asuka, but it made sense. She must still be very hurt...

Pushing off of the counter, Misato walked out and down the small hall to Asuka's room. She leaned toward the door, hearing Asuka sobbing through it. She knocked a few times gently. "Asuka? I'm sorry. Can I come in?" she asked gently.

"Go away!" came the forceful reply.

"Asuka, please. I think you need to talk about this."

No response this time. Misato braced herself and then slid the door open. Asuka was curled up slightly in her bed, her pillow held to her face. The girl's bright red hair was splashed across the covers like a pool around her back. Misato smiled sympathetically and sat down on the bed near the young woman. "Asuka, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. No one doubts your ability to pilot; you've proved yourself more than enough."

"...But not to myself," Asuka replied sharply, curling herself up tightly as she looked side-long out of her pillow with powerfully tightening eyes.

"If that's the case then you don't have a right to lose your temper with anyone but yourself. If you're the only judge be angry with yourself, but don't take it out on everyone else," Misato said more firmly.

"I keep trying!" Asuka said back forcibly. "He just keeps getting in the way..."

Misato sighed again. "Asuka, Shinji and his Eva have a very unique bond. It allows him to do things, on occasion, that aren't really possible for you to do. You also have a unique bond with your Eva, and you and it can do things Shinji never dreamed of. I just so happens that this last time Shinji had to do it."

"But it keeps happening! He won't give me a chance!"

"Would you like us to have him hold back next time?" Misato asked doubtfully.

"No! I have to beat him myself!" the girl answered powerfully. "I won't be pandered to!"

Misato reached out and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. "Asuka, you've gotten your chances and have taken them. And when it comes around again, you'll take it again. There's no point in losing your temper with anyone, including, and especially, yourself."

"I should be able to beat him every time," Asuka whispered powerfully.

"That's not possible, Asuka. Each of you has different advantages and disadvantages, that's why we have all of you. The more variety we have the better."

"I don't care!"

Misato shook her head and then stood up. "Fine then, but don't complain to me about it anymore." And she left Asuka to herself.

Asuka slowly opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall. It was only a little later that day and she'd gotten most of her frustration off her chest so she wanted to deal with the problem itself. She walked down the hall until she found 'Shinji's lovely suite' and knocked on the door three times firmly. "Shinji! You in there?"

The door slowly slid open and Shinji looked at her warily. "Uh... yeah, Asuka. What's wrong?"

Asuka shoved him back and stepped into his room with him. "We need to talk."

Shinji swallowed hard, "Now?"

"Yes, now, you idiot!" Asuka repeated and then set her arms against her sides.

"W-what about?"

"How do you do it?"

"Do what?" Shinji asked back in sheer bewilderment.

"How do you make your Eva do that!? What makes your Eva so powerful!" Asuka shouted back. Her irritation was evident as always.

Shinji's face calmed and he sat down on his bed. Perhaps he more fell onto it than anything, but it had the same effect. He looked down at the ground and shook his head. "I don't know."

"What do you mean 'I don't know'?!" Asuka shouted back, her arms flying out to the sides.

"I just don't know!" Shinji shouted back.

His anger made Asuka's eyes widen and she calmed down quite a bit herself. "...You must know something."

"No I don't! Why do I have to know something!?" Shinji shouted back, tears starting to well up in his eyes. "I can't remember any of it!"

"What are you crying for? You're a boy aren't you?" Asuka asked him softly.

"I don't know how it happens," Shinji continued more calmly, speaking slowly. "I just... black out... and when I wake up the Angel is gone."

Asuka narrowed her eyes thoughtfully for a moment. "What are you saying? You weren't even piloting your Eva during the fight?"

"No," he answered firmly. "It just... does it by itself."

Asuka smiled mischievously. "So you didn't beat the Angel at all?"

"...I guess not, no," Shinji answered slowly, eyeing her warily.

Asuka suddenly grinned widely and then grabbed Shinji in a tight hug. "That's the best thing I could have heard!" she exclaimed energetically before letting go of him and standing back up. Her face turned serious and she wagged her finger at him. "Don't even think about reading into that," she reminded him.

Shinji was still too shocked to react to her warning.

Asuka smiled again and sat down on the floor across from Shinji. "So," she started again happily, "you were in Unit 14's cockpit for a little while. What was it like?" she asked.

Shinji snapped out of his shocked stupor and his eyes widened before he shrugged. "...Nothing really out of the ordinary aside from all the black. It smelled like blood, and I guess like Cirus, there was another scent there," he explained slowly.

"Well the thing lost control! Didn't you see what it was like then?" Asuka repeated hopefully.

"Well, I couldn't really tell what I was seeing through the cockpit. I could see some of the lab, but then there was something else there. It looked kinda like people, two of them, leaning down over me."

Asuka frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It was like I was seeing two things at once, and they were kinda... on top of each other," Shinji answered haltingly.

"That's really strange. I wonder why it does that?" Asuka asked herself more than Shinji.

"I dunno," Shinji answered anyway.

Asuka thought of something suddenly. "Hey! What did the people look like?"

Shinji looked down at the ground as he tried to jog his memory. "It was really blurry, but... I think one of them had longish red hair and the other had shorter dark hair."

Asuka�s eyes widened. That's what Cirus was seeing... "Yeah... that's really weird," she replied distantly. If that had happened it would imply that Cirus was perpetually linked to his Eva. He'd said he'd had a special relationship with his, but she'd had no idea that's what he'd meant. But even if that was the case it wouldn't help wake him up.

"You alright, Asuka?" Shinji's question cut off her train of thought.

Asuka snapped out of her trance and looked up at him with widened eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." This has to mean something...

She was running down the hall, slamming doors open as she ran. A large grin covered her face and almost closed her eyes as she ran too fast for her little legs to carry her. She stumbled and then picked herself up and kept running.

"Mama! I've been chosen!" she shouted as she ran. "I'll show the whole world how wonderful I am, Mama!�

She ran through the last door and stopped short. She looked up at the limp feet swaying slowly from side to side above and before her and tears welled up in her eyes.

Asuka sat bolt upright in her bed with a cut-off scream. She calmed down and curled her knees up to her chin, resting her forehead on them as she closed her eyes against the tears pouring down her face. Flashes of her mother holding the doll made her wince and pull herself tighter into a ball with a rustle of the sheets. "...That stupid doll..." she whispered painfully, her eyes opening slightly. She lifted her head and looked out her window at the moon. It shone brightly through the glass and cast a pale glow over her room. That doll...

She bowed her head again and tears started to come down her face quietly. "Why couldn't you hold me like that...? Why was I nothing to you, Mama?"

She understood more now of course. She felt her mother when she was in Unit 02, and she was really there with her. A slight smile crept over Asuka's lips at that thought. I have that now... I just wish I'd had it then, Mama.

The next day, about an hour before noon, Rei was walking down one of the halls that ran perpendicular to the Eva cages. It had a large, continuous window that allowed anyone walking through it to look at the Evas.

As Rei walked, she found herself doing so. She finally stopped and turned to the window, looking out at Unit 14. Its dead eyes still seemed to look at her intently. Rei shook her head, almost shivering, and turned back to the hall. She quickened her pace and kept her eyes on the ground.

As she reached the middle of the hall she almost ran straight into Asuka.

"Agh!" Asuka yelped. "Why don't you watch where you're going?" she asked sourly as Rei started to brush past her.

"I'm sorry," Rei said quickly and started to hurry down the hall.

Asuka turned back around and ran after the other girl with a curious look on her face. She reached out and grabbed Rei's shoulder, spinning the other girl around. "What's wrong?" she asked quickly.

Rei shook her head. "Nothing, please let go."

"Something has you really spooked, what is it?" Asuka persisted suspiciously.

"Please let go," Rei repeated, trying to pull herself free.

"Tell me and I will," Asuka replied.

Rei stopped struggling and looked at Asuka intently with her red eyes. "...It is Unit 14."

Asuka's brow creased, but she let go of Rei and watched the girl briskly walk out of the hall. She turned around and looked out at Unit 14. She didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about it. The eyes were off, the restraints were holding, and it hadn't apparently moved at all. Asuka shrugged. "I guess she's just going loony for once," she muttered and then went on her way again.

Thinking of Unit 14 got Asuka's mind to wander back to Cirus. She frowned slightly at the thought, but then realized that at least he was alive. She smiled mischievously; he was cute too. He was almost like a younger version of Kaji. That got Asuka's eyes to stare off into nothingness for a few moments until she remembered his thing with Rei. She frowned again. He paid more attention to that little doll than to her and it made her furious. What did she have that Asuka didn't? She was no where near as attractive as Asuka was. She was rude, annoying, self-righteous; just about everything that could annoy an individual was in Rei, yet Cirus was infatuated with her.

She's just a doll! Why can't he pay more attention to me?!

Asuka suddenly froze in her tracks, her eyes widening as she realized how similar it was. She leaned back against the wall and numbly slid down along it to the ground. He ignores me for Rei; she ignored me for that doll. Tears started to pour down Asuka's face and she held her head in her hands, curling up her knees and sobbing. "Please just look at me!" she shouted, pleading desperately with the air around her.

She heard another voice from around the bend. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried desperately to dry her eyes off on her hands. She sniffed and started to stand up as Shinji ran around the bend.

"Asuka?" he asked in bewilderment.

Asuka looked up in her own form of shock and then depression. Of all the people to hear her...

"I heard you shout, are you okay?" Shinji asked.

Asuka nodded and started to walk past him.

"Who did you want to look at you?" Shinji asked more softly, turning around as she walked past.

Asuka stopped and her head raised in quiet surprise. She whirled around and grabbed Shinji in a hug. The boy gasped in surprise and then gulped as his cheeks turned red, but he returned the embrace, if not awkwardly.

Asuka cleared her throat and let go of him, stepping back. "If you tell anyone about this I'll kill you, understand?" she said in a deathly calm voice.

Shinji's eyes widened and he nodded vigorously.

Asuka nodded. "Yes... good. W-well..." she suddenly caught herself looking at Shinji and turned around, hiding her embarrassment by raising her chin up, "I have to go do something, so I guess I'll see you later, Shinji," she said calmly and started to walk off.

"Y-yeah, later, Asuka," Shinji replied haltingly before hurrying on his way. Why were girls so strange? He sighed and shook his head. He would never understand them.

Rei opened the door to Cirus' room quietly and stepped through it. She gently walked over to the side of the bed and looked down at him. He seemed peaceful, but somehow empty, as if he wasn't all there. Kneeling down beside the bed, she rested her elbows on the edge, looking at his closed eyes with hers. She reached up with her hand and gently stroked the hair out of his face with the backs of her fingers. The fingertips lingered subtly down near his eye, her throat tightening and her vision watering subtly. A single tear silently fell down her cheek as she looked at him, letting her hand down. "...Please wake up, Cirus... I'm frightened," she added, looking down at the bed. "I'm frightened of Commander Ikari and of your Eva. Please," she repeated more softly, "I don't want to be alone again."

The sound of the door starting to open startled Rei and she stood up quickly, stepping away from the bed and wiping her eyes.

Misato walked in and looked up, her eyes widened slightly when she saw Rei. "Rei, are you alright?" she asked, polite concern evident on her face.

Rei nodded. "Y-yes, thank you Misato," she answered haltingly.

Misato knew Rei well enough to drop the subject. She smiled faintly and then walked up to Cirus' bedside. "I came to check in on him too," she replied finally.

"...Do they know how to help him yet?" Rei asked quietly.

Misato sympathetically frowned, but hid the expression before turning around to look at the young girl. "...I'm afraid not. They don't even know what's wrong with him."

Rei nodded slowly and then headed for the door.

"Rei?" Misato called after her gently.

Rei stopped and turned back around.

"He'll come back to you," Misato said with a warm smile.

Rei bowed her head before looking back up and thanking Misato with a nod. She quickly left the room after that.

Misato turned back around and looked down at Cirus herself. "She needs you, Cirus. Come back to her," she whispered and then left as well. She had just started moving down the hall when it filled with red light, alarms blaring at her ears.

"Attention all personnel, Angel approaching! I repeat, Angel approaching!" Hyuga's fast report came through loudly.

"Crap, what a time to happen!" Misato swore and then ran down the hall toward the command center.

Upon entering she ran up to her post. "What's the situation?" she asked quickly.

Ritsuko looked up tensely as the target was brought up on the main screen. "Tokyo-2 sensors detected an unidentified object an hour ago. The idiots didn't think to tell us until it grew in size by four hundred percent and started to move in our direction," she reported firmly.

"Great," Misato commented dryly, "and the pilots?"

"On their way down to the cages," Hyuga answered.

Misato looked up with a wryly raised eyebrow at the 'target'. It was very large, very dark, and very ugly, at least in her opinion. It was about one and half times the height of an Eva. The head was hunched down into the chest area and it hard a very large hump on its back that led smoothly into the broad shoulders and powerful arms. The hands had three, prong-like appendages like fingers, very reminiscent of Sachiel, the third Angel. The middle torso was thinner, but very muscular and it led down into lithe, but powerful legs that were quite high in and of themselves. The head resembled a mix between a bulldog, a pig, and a wolf. It had the upturned, wrinkly snout of a bulldog, the upturned nostrils of a pig, and the jaw line of a wolf.

It was storming through the countryside toward Tokyo-3.

"What's the ETA?" Misato asked.

"Estimated time of arrival is ten minutes," Maya reported.

"Aye yai yai, they certainly know how to cut it close, don't they?" Misato asked no one in particular.

"Yes, that they do. Pilots ready," Ritsuko reported, looking down at Maya�s screen.

"Launch them," Misato ordered rather calmly.

Hyuga nodded and hit the proper controls. "All Evas, prepare for launch."

Starting with Rei and ending with Shinji, the three pilots confirmed and launched.

Just as the Angel was beginning to reach the border of Tokyo-3, the Evas reached the surface.

"Attack the target," Misato ordered.

Just as Shinji was about to move forward, the Angel whirled around and faced him, its eyes flashing brightly. Shinji suddenly gawked and his eyes widened. He looked down at his controls and tugged on them manually, but nothing happened.

"U-Unit 01 just lost all synch with its pilot!" Ayobi reported in shock.

Misato stared at the techie. "What?!"

"All of it!" Ayobi repeated, staring at her with a flash of his dark hair from the quick turn.

"Asuka, Rei, attack now!" Misato ordered quickly.

The Angel spun to each Eva in turn, its eyes flashing.

"Ugh, it won't move!" Asuka reported frustratedly.

"My controls will not respond," Rei.

"Pull them back, now," Ikari ordered calmly.

Hyuga wordlessly complied, quickly hitting the keys to pull the three Evas back down into NERV headquarters.

Misato turned around. "H-how do we beat this thing without any Evas?" she asked Ikari desperately.

"We still have one Eva, Major Katsuragi," Ikari answered, standing up from his desk.

Misato face turned serious, but still doubtful. "But it won't follow instructions or a pilot's commands."

"We have one pilot left to test, do we not?" Ikari asked calmly as he started to step up on his personal elevator.

Misato and Ritsuko looked at each other. Ritsuko took off at a run out of the command center. Misato didn't like it, but it was their only hope in this situation.

"Prepare to launch Unit 14, Hyuga," she ordered calmly.

"Yes, ma'am," Hyuga replied with a nod and started to do so.

Rei climbed down from her plug in a minor state of shock. As Shinji and Asuka were doing the same, and in the same mood, Ritsuko and Ikari hurried down to Rei. Shinji realized he'd never seen his father run before.

Rei looked up at the two of them with a slightly creased brow. She did not like Ikari standing there.

"Rei," Ritsuko started, "we have to put you in Unit 14 and activate it. It's our only chance," she explained as calmly as she could while catching her breath.

Rei's eyes widened slightly. She wasn't sure what it would be like to be inside the Eva. It could react very badly to her presence.

"Please, Rei, it's our only chance!" Ritsuko repeated more desperately.

A sudden reverberation shook the entire complex.

Rei didn't have a choice. Even if something did go wrong, they were right, it was there only hope. "...Yes," she replied finally.

She quickly followed Ritsuko around to Unit 14 as the plug housing opened and the plug was brought down to Rei. The young woman climbed into the plug, almost lost in the darkness of its black interior for a moment before she finally slipped into the command seat. She felt the plug shudder as it was moved up and then down into the Eva. It spun down and the plug started to activate. LCL filled the chamber as Rei gripped the controls in her slender hands, looking down with a softened expression was she detected the scent Cirus usually had with him, mixed powerfully with blood. Forcing herself to ignore the scent, she looked up, and Unit 14 started to move toward the launch ramp.

The Eva's eyes came online. Rei tried to activate the comm, but it wouldn't work. As far she could tell she had no synch with the Eva at all.

"Launch Unit 14," Misato ordered.

Hyuga hit the controls and Unit 14 rocketed up to the surface, a few hundred meters in front of the Angel, which had been dubbed 'Ezrael'.

Ayobi shook his head. "Her synch is zero and as far as I can tell there's no power running through the Eva from the power cord. Her comm won't activate."

Misato�s shoulders slumped and she leaned down on the console. "Then this is it?"

"It's moving!" Maya reported with a badly hidden cheer in her voice.

Rei found she was able to make the Eva move, but it was very awkward. It walked at her command, but it was sluggish, as if her control was taking much more time to get to the Eva. There was no way she could fight like this.

Ezrael looked up and flashed its eyes at Unit 14, but Rei noticed that she maintained the sluggish control anyway. Ezrael roared and charged forward, its right arm curled up, ready to strike. It stopped just short of Unit 14 and uppercutted the Eva. Rei had tried to block, but her command hadn�t reacted in time, and Unit 14 was thrown back into the air, slamming into the ground. Rei's head hurt from slamming into the pilot's seat, but she wasn�t feeling any synch pain. She had a vague impression that the Eva was damaged in its back, head, and arms, as she rubbed the back of her own head with a soft wince, but it was more like she was being told it was damaged than actually feeling it.

Rei started to try and get up, but Ezrael grabbed Unit 14 by the neck and lifted it into the air. It slammed its other hand into Unit 14�s chest repeatedly, but aside from the shudder in the plug, Rei felt nothing.

Ezrael suddenly let go of the Eva and it dropped like a pile of stones, crumpling down to the ground. Rei winced as her head slammed into the pilot�s seat again. She looked up and saw Ezrael reach down, picking Unit 14 up to the right and raising its left arm above the plug housing. Rei's eyes widened. She tried desperately to get the Eva to listen to her and reach up and grab the arm, or anything to resist, but it wouldn't listen fast enough. Ezrael let off another roar and its arms started to surge down.

Rei, and just about everyone in the command center, braced for the impact. Suddenly Unit 14's eyes flashed brightly and its right arm shot up, grabbing the Angel's fist in its hand and squeezing. The bone and cartilage snapped inside Ezrael's hand and Unit 14 started to rise up, forcing the Angel back.

Rei's eyes widened again. She could feel the Eva's being in her mind. Cirus?

Ezrael roared again and slammed its right fist into Unit 14's side. The Eva snapped to the side and slammed into a building.

Rei sensed the pain course through the Eva's body and winced. "Cirus?" she repeated aloud.

Ezrael reached down and grabbed the Eva by the neck, lifting into the air again. It spun around and slammed Unit 14 into the ground.

Rei felt the pain course through he Eva again. Tears started to come from her eyes. No! Defend yourself!

Ezrael slammed its foot into the Eva's back. Unit 14 splayed its limbs out in pain, but went limp again.

Rei shook the controls as she cried. "Cirus! Don't just defend me! I don't want to lose you again!" she shouted in anguish.

As Ezrael brought its other hand down Unit 14's eyes flashed even more brightly than before and it surged up, slamming its fist into the Angel's.

Cirus' consciousness cleared when he'd heard Rei scream. He looked up at the Angel calmly and then activated his forearm blades.

Rei's eyes widened when she sensed the pain shoot through Unit 14's arms as the blades came out. It causes him pain?

Unit 14's mouthpart cracked and opened, letting out an unearthly scream. The Eva spun around and slashed the Angel across the mid-section, bringing its other arm around and doing the same closer to the neckline.

Unit 14 backed away and flung out its arms, screaming again at Ezrael.

"It's gone berserk?" Maya asked quietly.

"Apparently," Ritsuko answered. "Let's just hope that if it can defeat this Angel that it will cooperate with us."

Asuka and Shinji were in the command center now, and Asuka narrowed her eyes thoughtfully at the screen. I'm not so sure it went berserk...