As she reached another turn Rei stopped and leaned against the wall as more of the intruders marched by. She slowly peeked around the corner and saw the main entrance to NERV headquarters down the hall. More of the intruders were pouring in every few minutes. Rei quickly ran down the opposite direction toward the command center. It was not that she could do anything, but all of the pilots were supposed to report to the command center in case of emergency.

The sound of more footsteps behind Rei made her freeze. She broke into a run and hid in a small side hall as the footsteps grew closer. The intruders past and Rei started to step out. She froze again when she felt the cold metal of a rifle nozzle point at the base of her neck.

"Going somewhere?" a female voice asked.

"No," Rei answered calmly.

"Good answer. Come with me," the woman replied, reaching out with her free hand and gripping Rei�s shoulder, guiding her along from behind.

Meanwhile, in the command center itself, the chaos was only just beginning to gain some order amid the invasion. The sounds had been heard by more than just Rei, however.

"Reports of shots fired on level fifteen," Maya forwarded.

"Any of our personnel injured?" Commander Ikari asked.

The young woman shook her head. "No sir, they only heard the shots. None of them know what was going on."

Ritsuko's brow creased. "Friendly fire?"

"I doubt that. Has anyone found the pilots yet?" Ikari continued.

"No sir," Ayobi answered. "All of our personnel are in the east section of the base. It's possible that the pilots were isolated."

"Open one entrance into the east section, through the cage room," Ikari ordered.

"Yes, sir!" Hyuga responded as he clicked away on his keyboard.

"Why through the cages?" Ritsuko asked.

"You will see," Ikari answered.

Rei was forced down to her knees at a four-way junction. "Stay still," the woman ordered firmly before reaching for something near her shoulder. "This is unit thirty-seven, I've got the blue-haired one," she reported.

A voice came back over what Rei guessed to be a radio. "Good work. Scouts have identified a possible exit into the east section of the building. Report to the cage room with the girl."

"Yes, sir," the woman replied and clicked the radio off.

Rei was yanked up by the collar of her shirt and pushed forward. She started walking again with the gun pointed firmly at her back.

Asuka shifted position against the wall quietly. The three of them had been sitting in a small ventilation shaft for far too long by her judgment, but Cirus was watching the grating intently, so she didn't want to bother him. Apparently he had some kind of plan. She would have told him about Rei, but he was always so worried about her, ignoring everyone else. Why didn't he ask if she was okay before asking about Rei? Why not? She was right there, wasn't she? But no, he had to be stubborn about it and ask about Rei first.

Several figures suddenly ran by the grating talking excitedly.

"Go, go, go! Report to the cage room!"

"We've got one. That's enough, isn't it?"

"Yeah, but we gotta run!"

Shinji leaned past Asuka and looked at Cirus with curious eyes. "What did all that mean?"

Cirus didn't look away from the grating. "I don't know, but I think we should follow them to the cages," he replied and then kicked the grating out. After he hopped down, he helped Asuka and let Shinji hop down himself, ignoring the sour expression on Asuka's face.

They started to run after the group they'd overheard when someone shouted from behind them. Asuka spun around as Shinji dropped to the floor.

"You three! Freeze!" a male voice shouted again as it ran up.

Cirus pulled his hand gun again, ignoring the rifle over his shoulder, and took aim. "Asuka, get out of the way!"

Asuka ducked promptly as another deafening blast resounded through the hall, the recoil sending Cirus' arm flying back. The man shouted again, this time in pain, and spun around, dropping to the floor. Cirus hopped over Shinji and ran down to the man he'd shot. Asuka stood up and ran after him, Shinji following shortly.

Cirus got down and disarmed the intruder before grabbing him by the shoulder, which he had sent a bullet through a moment earlier. The man gasped in pain, but understood what Cirus was doing. A person can't fight when they're worried about their arm being torn off.

"What do you want?" the man asked in a tight voice.

"How many?" Cirus asked back calmly.

The man chuckled and Cirus tightened his grip, making the man wince.

"Okay, okay! Forty... there's forty of us," the man answered quickly.

"Thank you," Cirus replied before sending his other hand down at the man�s head swiftly, knocking him unconscious.

"Forty of them?" Shinji asked in mild surprise.

"Not many, really," Cirus answered. "I would have expected more for an attack like this, but then again, we did wipe out their main headquarters."

"Can we get out of here now?" Asuka asked in a slightly weak tone.

Cirus looked up at her and nodded as he stood up. "Let's get to the cages."

"Intruders are heading for the cages," Hyuga reported quickly.

Ikari narrowed his eyes under his glasses. "Good. Dr. Akagi, prepare the cage defense systems," he ordered calmly.

Ritsuko looked up with widened eyes. "If they have any of the pilots with them-"

"I am aware of the risks, Doctor Akagi, proceed," Ikari cut her off coldly.

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes, but turned around to the console and nodded to Maya. Maya hesitated for a moment, but then pushed the button on her keyboard to activate the defense systems. She just hoped none of the pilots had been captured, because they would undoubtedly be used as human shields.

Three of the intruders converged at the entrance to the cage room. One nodded to the other two and took his rifle; quickly running into the cage room doubled over, narrowing his size as a target. The other two then followed his example and ran in, then split off in different directions along the narrow walkway before stopping and falling down into defensive positions. The last one of them looked back into the darker hall and waved with his hand.

The power suddenly came back on, filling the cage room with almost blinding white light.

"Power has returned!" Ayobi shouted, looking up at Ikari.

Ikari nodded. "They want us to see them," he said aloud. "Command the defense guns to go to stand-by," he ordered.

Maya nodded and did so.

"Who do you think they have?" Ritsuko asked plainly.

"They want to negotiate, so I would guess no more than two of the pilots."

The three soldiers stood up in plain sight of the security cameras as another set of them entered. Four of them, in a diamond pattern, with Rei in the middle.

"If you want one of your precious pilots to stay alive, you'll surrender," the first soldier shouted out to the room.

Back in the hallway, behind a small grating in the wall, Cirus was watching. He had led Asuka and Shinji back in the ventilation system shortly after they started to follow the soldiers. He had to remind himself that he was in no position to help Rei at the moment, otherwise he would have leapt out of the grating and run to her.

More soldiers poured into the cage room and filled out into a holding pattern. They pointed their rifles up at certain key locations and waited. Cirus counted around thirty in the room alone, with the remaining few still in the halls as back up.

Ikari looked at the main screen, which had switched to the main security camera in the cage room, allowing him to see the intruders as they ran in and took up positions.

"We can't activate the defenses with Rei in the middle," Ritsuko commented.

"Activate the defense systems," Ikari ordered firmly.

Ritsuko looked up at him in shock. "You can't be serious! Rei could get killed!"

"Activate the defense systems," Ikari repeated calmly.

Hyuga looked from Ritsuko to Ikari and back tensely. Ritsuko finally closed her eyes and nodded to him. Hyuga hit the button on his keyboard and looked up at the screen. "Defense system activated."

Rei looked up and saw guns pop out from panels opening on the walls and ceiling of the cage room. Just before they started to fire she dropped toward the ground. The soldiers opened fire all around her and soon a firefight had broken out as the soldiers ducked for cover.

Cirus looked up with widened eyes as he watched the guns open fire. The remaining soldiers charged into the cage room giving him the opportunity he was waiting for. Cirus kicked out the grating and pulled his gun again, running toward the cage room, and more specifically where he'd last seen Rei. Shinji and Asuka looked on with concerned expressions, but couldn't do anything to help.

Rei looked up from holding her hands to her ears and was staring straight down the barrel of a rifle.

"Looks like the deal is off, girl," the man behind the rifle said calmly.

Rei closed her eyes and bowed her head, but the shot never came. The man shouted in pain and Rei heard muffled thuds come from his approximate location. She looked up as he dropped to the ground, bleeding from several holes in his torso. Rei looked up to the right and saw Cirus running toward her, putting his gun away in his coat. Another soldier stopped returning fire to the automated guns and turned on Cirus, but the young man leapt into the air and kicked the soldier's gun away before hitting him in the face firmly with an elbow as he landed. The soldier grunted and fell over the railing and into the liquid Bakelite below him.

Cirus dove down and landed near Rei. "Are you hurt?" he asked quickly as he sat up with her, ducking reflexively as a few shots ricocheted off the railing above them.

"No," Rei answered calmly with a brief shake her head.

When a bullet lodged in the cement near Rei's hand Cirus realized they weren't much safer there anyway. He got up to his feet and looked at Rei expectantly. She got up with him and he put his arm over her, raising himself above her as a living shield. "Run straight ahead and don't stop... no matter what happens," he added as they started to run.

Rei didn't respond aside from running with him. She thought she heard Cirus gasp as they ran, but didn't notice any change in his running so assumed she had heard one of the soldiers do so as they ran past. She looked ahead and saw two NERV security personnel at the other door shooting back at the soldiers as one of them waved fiercely for her and Cirus to hurry up.

With bullets ricocheting off all around them and the loud, repeated clap of gunfire it was very hard to concentrate on running in a straight line, but they got to the door. Cirus stopped and let Rei run through first before rushing through himself.

"Close it, Shinji and Asuka are safe on the other side at the moment," Cirus reported quickly.

One of the NERV security men nodded and closed the door as he and his partner ducked back to the sides to avoid gunfire. "Are you two alright?" one of them asked.

Cirus looked at Rei for a moment and she nodded up at the security officer, who nodded back before looking at Cirus. "And you, sir?"

Cirus gave the man another nod, but was resting on his knees. He felt a hand rest on his upper-arm and looked up to Rei's eyes. They were calmly concerned as the looked back at him. He smiled at her weakly. "I'm sorry for ordering at you back there, but... I... it was a bad situation- I'm sorry for ordering you..." he repeated, looking down at the ground.

"...You did nothing wrong," Rei replied softly in his ear.

Cirus smiled weakly again and thanked her with a nod before starting to stand back up. He moved more slowly than usual, but Rei wasn't sure if she should ask him or not.

One of the security officers picked up a radio and turned it out. "This is unit Tee-one, we have the designated pilots for Units 00 and 14, the other two are reportedly safe at this time, but not in our custody," the man reported.

"Where are they?" Ritsuko's voice asked back.

"...Ventilation shaft... block dee thirty-seven," Cirus answered through gritted teeth.

"Ventilation shaft, block dee thirty-seven," the officer repeated into the radio.

"Good, thank you," Ritsuko replied and the signal ended.

Cirus nodded to himself and slid down the wall to a sitting position against it. A bullet had hit him as Rei and he were running. He wasn't sure how serious the injury was either.

"...You are injured," Rei's voice brought his attention back to reality. He looked up at her and saw her looking behind him at the wall. There was a red stain trailing down with his shoulder.

"It's alright, Rei, it's just a glanced hit," he replied, though he wasn't certain himself. He'd been shot once or twice, but not enough to be able to identify the pain caused by different types of damage.

Rei got down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder, pulling him away from the wall slightly. Cirus went with her physical instruction and felt her hand gently touch several placed on the back of his shoulder. One stung badly and he winced.

"You must go to the medical bay," she said softly.

Cirus looked at her for a moment, and she realized he didn't wish to go to the medical bay. She looked at him more intently with quietly concerned eyes and he gave in, nodding slowly. She helped him stand back up, but before they could start walking the firing inside the cage room stopped. Cirus and Rei looked up at the two security officers, one of whom turned his radio back on.

"The intruders are surrendering. All security personnel assist in detaining them," Maya's voice came over the radio.

The two security officers opened the doors and saw the remaining intruders standing up, their weapons on the ground and their hands above their heads.

"Come," Rei said softly, and she and Cirus started walking. "Thank you," Cirus replied weakly.

Rei looked down at the ground for a moment, "...You are welcome."

The next day enough had been gathered from interrogations of the intruders, who had identified themselves as the People's Defenders, to understand their motives. Thanks to the NERV budget increase close to six months earlier, approximately twenty-thousand people were left starving and homeless. The PD had taken it upon itself to remove the cause forcibly.

Thanks to some 'negotiations', the extent of which was never revealed, the PD members captured during the brief skirmish inside NERV HQ revealed that they were the last militant faction of the PD along with the names of the remaining section leaders and the number of members in their sections. A joint action between SEELE and NERV saw to the removal and imprisonment of these terrorists.

That afternoon Misato put her feet up on one of the tables in the lounge room of NERV headquarters, used for recreation when NERV personnel were on break. She let out a relaxed sigh and smiled as she put her hands behind her head. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi sat down across from her and glanced out the window, looking over the Geo-front.

"Ah, I'm glad that's dealt with. I'd rather deal with Angels than other humans," Misato commented lightly.

"'Other humans' seem to cause more trouble for us than anything else. At least since SEELE failed in their attempt at Third Impact we've had a small break," Ritsuko replied.

Misato sat up straight, taking her feet off the table. "I guess there's always going to be someone who disagrees, eh, Ritsuko?"

Ritsuko nodded briefly. "Yes, it would appear so." She looked around for a moment before looking back at Misato with a slyly raised eyebrow. "You know... I haven't seen Kaji around recently."

Misato raised her eyebrow back at her friend sourly. "And neither have I. I don't appreciate that implication, Ritsuko," she added, wagging her finger at the doctor.

Ritsuko shrugged innocently, but her wry smile revealed her game. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, sure. Well he called me a few days ago, saying something about business... I just hope he doesn't get himself killed."

"That's a risk for all of us, Misato," Ritsuko replied wistfully.

"Why do you always have to spoil my fantasies, Ritsuko?" Misato asked in an intentionally immature tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Why can't I just pretend he could be fine?" Misato answered.

Ritsuko smiled more genuinely and nodded. "Then let yourself wander off into fantasy land, Misato. Don't let this old woman hold you back."

Misato chuckled. "Now, now, Ritsuko. You're only a few years older than me."

Ritsuko's mouth opened. "A few?! You arrogant little-" "I was kidding, Ritsuko!" Misato said quickly before her friend really got ranting.

"That's better," Ritsuko replied, but a wry smile cracked her firm fa�ade. "Have you heard from the kids yet?"

"Well of course I have. I live with two of them, don't I?" Misato replied.

Her friend's expression became darkly dismal for a moment. "I meant the other two."

"Ah yes," Misato replied in a slightly wistful tone, "Cirus is recovering just fine. He'll have another battle scar to add to his surprisingly vast collection, but he'll be fine."

"And Rei?" Ritsuko asked in a slightly more serious and concerned voice.

Misato looked at her friend curiously. "Fine, too, yes. Is something wrong, Ritsuko?"

The doctor looked down at the table for a few moments. "... This can not be said beyond the two of us, is that understood?" she asked quietly. The order was more of an honest question.

Misato nodded softly.

"Commander Ikari has been getting more and more unstable lately. I don't know what to expect from him. He... he even ordered the defense system activated when he knew Rei was there," she explained slowly. "He may be cold, but that was odd to say the least."

Misato nodded numbly. "Yes... very. He needs Rei, doesn't he?"

Ritsuko nodded.

"Then why would he risk that?"

"That's what I don't know," Ritsuko answered.

Misato exhaled deeply and stood up. "I'm getting very tired of this stuff. Come on, let's go check on Cirus. Something more positive to do," she said as she started to walk off.

Ritsuko nodded her agreement and followed Misato out.