Indeed, he did see Yui in Rei. Her strength, her power, and more importantly, her determination.

Yui Ikari had been the first person to treat him well. Like she actually cared for him. It was a novelty for him, if nothing else, and helped keep his interest aside from her connections with SEELE. He had even grown attached to her emotionally, which had surprised him. He hadn’t forced her to become one with the Eva, that had been her choice. ‘As long as something exists, there will always be proof it existed’ he remembered her saying.

To see her again, that was why Ikari had created Rei. Though Third Impact was much more than such, it was only a chance for him to find Yui again, through Rei. That was why she had to be used. Rei knew this as well as he did, which is why her refusal had surprised him. If she did not perform her use, what purpose was there for her?

That question had seen a possible answer when Rei had stood up to him. Yui’s presence in the girl shone through clearly then, as if she was Yui, just younger. This had given Ikari pause in his plans, but no, it was not the plan he’d set out for. He would not let the brat SEELE had sent ruin his plans from the inside out. Undoubtedly that was Cirus’ true mission, to disrupt his own plans by taking Rei’s loyalty from him.

Ikari admitted, he had underestimated how persuasive the boy apparently could be. Rei had reacted with emotion on several occasions, completely disregarding his orders. Apparently Fuyutsuki thought they truly had feelings for each other. Rei might, perhaps, Ikari surmised, but Cirus, no. He was too well trained to be swayed by beauty or something like it. And Ikari knew full well how cold Rei was in her interactions, so there was no opening for attraction there.

But, if Rei proved strong enough, Ikari would let her live as she wished. The reason being that if she was strong enough to will herself to survive, she was not a puppet after all, but a whole human.

The idea was fanciful, though. How could a being created by science have a soul? A question that would be answered in two days… if all went as planned.

Misato sighed as she looked over the damage reports from the recent battle. Fortunately little had really been done by comparison to the district 37 fiasco. Only one building seriously damaged, and the majority of the rest was done to the surface itself, which could be easily repaired.

Misato leaned back from the last report and put her feet up on her desk as she held her head up with her hands. She felt arms wrap around her and quickly sat bolt upright, spinning around to see who it was. She calmed down and tried quickly to hide the blush on her face when she saw Kaji standing behind her.

“You’re more jumpy than usual, something more important on your mind?” he asked lightly, leaning back against the wall with crossed arms.

Misato shook her head. “No, you just startled me, that’s all,” she answered with a slight nervous laugh.

Kaji raised his head in a knowing gesture. “Been alone for some time, I see?”

Misato’s blush deepened. “Do you ever stop?” she asked angrily, though it was painfully obvious her embarrassment was primary.

“You know we haven’t made love since that night,” he reminded her softly.

Misato almost gagged and turned her chair around. “I’m on duty,” she said busily and started to fiddle with papers on her desk.

Kaji’s arms wrapped around her from behind again and one hand gently pushed her face to the right, looking directly into his. “So that’s what’s bothering you? Why?” His voice remained very soft, almost in a seductive tone, but holding on to its environment.

“I was just scared after that last time. I thought you were dead,” she replied softly. His face was very, very close.

Kaji smiled. “But now I’m very much alive,” he said, his tone diving completely into a seductive nature as he leaned closer to her.

Misato turned her head away and closed her eyes. “Please don’t,” she whispered.

Kaji stopped and pulled back; her response had been quite clear. “May I ask why not, Katsuragi?” he asked more lightly, getting down on his haunches near her chair.

Misato looked at him seriously and relaxed into her chair again. “…I’m tired of behaving like a child.”

Kaji smiled again. “I see then.” He stood up and bowed to her, his smile turning wry. “Until we see each other again, Major Katsuragi,” he bid her farewell before starting on his way.

Misato sighed with relief. At least he’d let her be with that.

Rei awoke at some time past midnight that night. She sat up in bed, not quite sure why she had woken up. She pulled her covers off and put her legs over the side of the bed before walking to her bedroom door.

The moment she gripped the handle she froze, her eyes widened slightly. The metal was ice cold to her touch, forcing her to let go after a moment. She backed away from the door slowly, moving back to her bed.

The darkness underneath the door suddenly started to pour forth along the ground like water, erasing any sign of the carpeting or any objects on it. Rei quickly spun around to run to her bed and out the window near the roof, but stopped short again. Her bed was gone, so was the room. All that was left was blackness. She felt it start to envelop her feet and gasped sharply, the blackness being icy cold. It was very thick, like some kind of syrup, and it slowly poured around her feet and moved forward, completely engulfing her vision in blackness. All Rei could see was her own body.

“Is this what you fear?” her own voice asked from behind her.

Rei spun around in a mild state of shock and fear. The other her was dressed in her school uniform, its head lolled down so that its hair covered its eyes. “Yes,” she answered.

“Why?” the other her asked back, tilting its head to the side and calmly creasing its brow in curiosity.

“I do not want to be here,” Rei answered with a slow shake of her head. “I do not wish to return to this.”

“You were created from this, should you not return to it?”

Rei tried to step back, but her feet were held fast by the blackness. “…Yes,” she answered finally, her tone becoming sorrowful.

“You should, but you do not wish to.”

Rei nodded.

“Then why must you?”

Rei looked back up at her alter self and shook her head slowly, her sorrow wallowing up inside her and starting to form a lump in her throat. “That is my purpose.”

“Who gave you that purpose?”

“Ikari.”

“Why does he create your purpose?”

“He created me…”

“No. He created your body, your shell. He did not create that which is you. The experiences and memories that make up your mind. The immortal part of your Self that is your soul. These things Man can not create.”

Rei raised her hands to her head, covering her ears. “Stop, please! I do not know what I am supposed to do!” she finished, raising her voice in anguish as she fell to her knees.

“Yes, you do know.”

Rei shook her head violently, tears streaming down her face.

“Yes. You know, you simply do not know how to listen to your own mind. You have been led to believe that you existed as a hollow being, strictly for the purpose you were created for. Now you have been told something else.”

Rei calmed and her hands slid down from her face slowly. “…Cirus?”

“Yes. His words comfort you, but they seem to be false. You are too accustomed to suffering to understand what he says to be the truth.”

“How can I make my own purpose? I was not supposed to exist, how can I serve any other purpose than that which I was created for?” Rei asked back desperately.

“All beings, once they are given life, have the choice to live or die. Most beings have a natural instinct to survive. Man is the only species to be conscious of his mortality, and thus the ability to choose death over life. Whether a being is created by Man in his image or not, the immortal part of the self is still imbued. That which no human can remove is instilled in every being, no matter its origin.”

“…But Ikari…” Rei’s voice called out softly, desperately.

“He can not take away your right to exist!” a new voice shouted.

Rei’s head shot up and she looked to her right. A new figure was standing there, his face deeply concerned as he it looked back at her. “…C-Cirus,” Rei called out to him softly. She wanted him to hold her like he had before. She felt warmth and was not alone when she was with him. “…Why do I have a right to exist?” she finally asked, her frame sinking in on itself as she curled up into a ball.

“Because you were born,” Cirus’ answer came back in a warm tone, his voice softly drifting into Rei’s ears.

Rei burst into tears as she finally let the words have meaning for her. Relief filled her heart and she let herself cry. She let the sobs shake her frame as they welled up within her, her hands clasped together between her torso and legs as she curled up on the blackness beneath her.

Asleep in her bed, in her bedroom, in her house; Rei’s peaceful face was slightly altered by a thin glistening stream running down from her closed eyes.

Hyuga was working at the scanners quite busily. Since two Angels had shown up in such rapid succession he was taking his duty very seriously. As a result, when Asuka came into the room and started poking her head in at every screen he was working on he got very frustrated at a rapid clip.

“Miss Soryu, would you please let me work?” he asked finally.

Asuka looked back at him with raised eyebrows from one of his screens. She frowned and leaned back out of his way as he started again. She turned her head nonchalantly around to see if there was anything of interest. She’d finished all of her tasks for the day at school and at NERV, and wasn’t in the mood to go back to Misato’s apartment just yet. One set of screens was devoted to the security cameras on the surface roads. She watched some people walk across street crossings for a few moments before checking her watch. It was 12:03 by her watch and she sighed wearily. There was nothing to do but sit around and do nothing. She looked back at the screens solemnly and watched more people walk back and forth across the street.

Something on one of the screens made her brow crease and she leaned closer to it. At one intersection, with a car parked just behind the walkway between lights and pedestrians walking back a forth, the ground was almost black with shadows. At noon there should have been almost no shadows at all. “Hyuga, look,” she said, still focused on the screen itself.

“I don’t have time for that, Asuka,” he replied busily.

“This is serious, Hyuga, look,” Asuka continued, looking back over her shoulder at him with a sober look on her face.

Hyuga saw her face and picked himself up out of his chair before walking over and looking down at the screen she was looking at. “What the…?!” he exclaimed quietly. “Let me sit here,” he said quickly, pushing Asuka to the side by her shoulder as he sat down at the console.

Asuka didn’t comment on her irritation at being shoved and settled back down to look over his shoulder as he typed at the keyboard.

The screen went through several bizarre changes before Hyuga set it back to the human visual spectrum. “…Nothing on any of them. It must be a camera glitch or something,” he explained.

Just as Hyuga was about to stand up from the chair, motion on the screen and Asuka’s quick intake of breath made him look back quickly. The shadowed ground seemed to suddenly be noticed by the pedestrians and cars. Each and every one of them suddenly scattered, but the shadow remained. The parked car was suddenly enwrapped in several black tentacles coming from the shadow.

Hyuga didn’t waste the breath to curse as he jerked the emergency phone off the hook. Just as he was about to relay the situation to the Command when the shadow disappeared and the car was fine once again. The people and moving cars stayed well away from the source of the shadow however.

“Yes? What is it?” Commander Ikari asked from the other end of the line.

Hyuga wasn’t sure what to say. “S…Sir!” he regained his composure. “I have strong evidence that another Angel is in the city,” he said.

“Where?”

“I… I can’t tell, Sir. It’s… it’s as if it just disappeared now.”

“…Very well, notify the rest of the command staff and the pilots. All other operations are on hold until this is dealt with,” Ikari ordered after a brief pause.

“Yes, Sir!” Hyuga replied firmly. He heard the click on the other end and hung up the phone before looking up at Asuka. “Find the other pilots, tell them we may have an Angel in the city, I’ll tell the command staff.”

Asuka nodded before hurrying from the room.

As Ikari hung the phone up Fuyutsuki looked to him. With an Angel possibly in the city, and so soon after the last two, it would be idiotic to risk Project-7. However, Ikari was beginning to grow desperate, Fuyutsuki could sense it. “So where does that leave us?” he asked calmly.

Ikari sat forward in his seat and clasped his hand in front of his face in the all-too-familiar position he took. “It might be possible to move forward. The Angel obviously has not shown itself yet.”

“It may simply be waiting for us to make Eve vulnerable,” Fuyutsuki pointed out.

“Possibly, yes,” Ikari responded calmly. He had intended to act within three days of the last Angel, but this would delay him much longer than he liked.

“We do not understand what will happen, it is possible that even when Rei joins with Eve the Angel could still cause the end of this world,”

Fuyutsuki persisted. Even if he truly did agree with Ikari’s plan, this was a foolish and brash choice, he had to prevent it.

Ikari nodded once slowly. “Agreed. We shall wait and see,” he replied calmly.

Fuyutsuki nodded with honest relief and relaxed more fully into his chair beside Ikari’s desk. A question had been nagging at the back of his mind, and now seemed like the optimal time to ask it. “…Do you still intend to let her live if this does not come to pass?”

Ikari raised his eyebrow, but did not look directly at Fuyutsuki. “Yes.”

That’s what he says at least. Fuyutsuki mused to himself. I do not like this. Using a girl- putting her through this much suffering- for what? So that we old men can ‘evolve’ to the next step in humanity? I would rather live out and die like I am. What gives us the right to take this girl’s life in exchange for our own? he asked himself as he looked out the window and onto the Geo-front. No matter what way he thought about the question, there was no positive answer.

“Three Angels in one week, I don’t like this pattern,” Cirus commented in a light tone as he entered the command center.

Misato looked up from her usual post, standing in the middle of the three scanner stations. “Me neither. If they keep coming like this they’ll start arriving within five minutes of each other soon.”

Cirus nodded with a dry expression on his face as he walked to the back wall and leaned against it, his own usual spot, as he crossed his arms. He’d been the first pilot to arrive since they had been called twenty minutes ago. Shinji, Asuka, and Rei were all at school, so it was logical it would take them some time to get out.

Maya shook her head at her station. “Something did happen at the street-crossing, but aside from the security camera nothing shows up on any scanners. It’s like there was absolutely nothing there.”

“Another Dirac Field?” Cirus suggested.

Ritsuko, who was standing behind Maya’s chair, shook her head. “No. The Dirac field could be registered on other sensors, this is completely non-existent on the same sets of them.”

Cirus nodded in acknowledgement. He had noted upon entering that Ikari and Fuyutsuki weren’t present. As much as that bothered him about the situation, he felt better with Ikari out of the room.

Suddenly the main screen started flashing red with warning signs and the alarm started to sound.

“My G’d,” Hyuga exclaimed with wide-eyes as he set the visual on his screen to the main.

Everyone present stared up at the screen in varying measures of shock. Cirus stepped away from the wall, his arms falling back down to his sides as he did so.

A playground in the east portion of the city had been replaced with an ovoid pillar of black, rising almost fifteen meters up into the air. It was as big around as the playground, which was a fifteen-meter-wide square.

“I don’t believe it, nothing is showing up on any of the other sensors,” Ayobi reported as he quickly flipped through their primary scanning spectrums.

The door to the command center opened and Rei quickly walked in, her face already aimed at the main screen as she did so. Asuka and Shinji followed a moment later before the three of them stopped behind Misato.

“Is that the Angel?” Shinji asked as he looked at the black amorphous pillar.

“What else?” Cirus asked back calmly as he stepped up beside the three of them.

“Were there any people there?” Misato asked quickly.

Hyuga quickly tapped a command into his keyboard before looking back up with a quick shake of his head.

“Alright, that’s something. Should we dispatch the Evas?” Misato asked, looking to Ritsuko.

Ritsuko looked up at the screen for a moment before looking to her friend. “I believe that’s all we can do,” she replied and then turned to the pilots. “Be careful, we have no idea what this Angel will do, or how it will react,” she warned.

The four pilots gave various signs of acknowledgement before Misato gave them a quick nod and they hurried out to the cages.

Maya was looking up at the screen in silent awe and shock still, but then her brow creased and she looked down at her console, starting to type something in quickly.

“What is it, Maya?” Ritsuko asked.

Maya responded as she typed, “I recognize that playground.”

Ritsuko wasn’t sure what Maya was getting at, but it wasn’t like the younger woman to just blow off something this serious for a personal interest, so she waited. Maya brought up a map of the city and two squares glowed green. They were directly beside each other and each square represented a district of the city. Ritsuko saw what Maya was doing and looked up at Misato. “That’s district thirty-six! It’s directly beside district thirty-seven.”

Misato narrowed her eyes up at the screen. “They really like that part of the city. Alright that settles it. Order immediate evacuation and activate defense systems,” she ordered.

“Evas ready for launch,” Hyuga reported.

“Launch,” Misato ordered.

The four Evas appeared aboveground near the ovoid in varying positions. Rei was closest so she started to approach the ovoid, which was the size of a small dog by comparison to Unit 00.

“Rei, don’t get too close yet,” Misato ordered over the comm.

“Roger,” Rei replied calmly and Unit 00 ceased its forward movement.

“Can any of you get readings off of it?” Ritsuko’s voice asked.

“No, there’s nothing there according to scanners,” Shinji answered.

“Same here,” Asuka added.

“And here. Nothing,” Cirus.

“No presence is registered,” Rei responded finally.

Misato frowned as she looked at the situation. The entity existed, that was certain, but it did not register on any sensors at all. “It must be stealth oriented,” she said finally.

“Then why would it appear in the middle of a major district, in a known gathering place for humans?” Ritsuko asked back dryly.

“Maybe it doesn’t know that,” Misato replied with a shrug.

Ikari and Fuyutsuki entered at last and took their stations at the upper level command station. “Have Unit 00 fall back, send in Unit 02,” Ikari ordered calmly.

“You hear that, you two?” Misato asked.

Two affirmative replies came and Unit 00 stepped back from the ovoid as Unit 02 moved into position.

“Be careful, Asuka, you don’t need to prove anything today,” Misato warned the young woman.

“Yes, Ma’am,” Asuka’s voice came back, though it was noticeably irritated.

“Without sensors we have no data at all. It’s up to you, Major Katsuragi,” Ritsuko explained.

Kaji, who had been there whole time, but chosen to stay silent, looked up at the screen warily from his position, sitting on the edge of the last console on the left. Something was not right about this. Commander Ikari’s late arrival, the Angel’s circumstance itself, and everything that had been happening lately made him deeply suspicious. Ikari was up to something, and he needed to find out what that was soon.

Asuka eyed the Angel warily, but more so than was expected had it been any other Angel. It was too calm, too quiet. It was waiting for them, like the cheese in a mousetrap. “Well what should I do?” she asked over the comm finally.

Misato looked at the Angel on the main screen with thoughtfully narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “Units 00, 01, and 14, get ready for anything. Asuka, I want you to get closer to the Angel,” she ordered after a moment.

Unit 00 raised its cannon and took aim, Unit 01 doing the same with its rifle, and Unit 14 pulled the twin Eva-blades out of a nearby weapons-pick-up building.

“Asuka, don’t worry about anyone thinking less of you if you break and run, just don’t get yourself killed,” Cirus’ voice came calmly over Asuka’s private frequency.

Asuka frowned at him as she focused on the Angel. “It’s not like I’m going to do something stupid. I can take care of myself, Cirus.”

“I don’t doubt that, simply reminding you,” he replied in the same tone as before and cut the transmission.

Asuka mumbled something to the effect of, “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” but it wasn’t heard by anyone as Unit 02 eased toward the ovoid shape. It stepped closer and then got down on its haunches, giving the eyes a closer look. The ovoid was a solid black mass; no movement was visible, nor anything within it. Asuka shook her head at this and opened her comm. “No good, I still can’t tell anything.”

Misato gritted her teeth. There was only one last thing to try and it was a very foolish, if not down right wrong. “Shinji, Rei, do you two have confirmed locks on the target?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Yes.”

Misato nodded loosely. “Asuka, touch it and see if anything reacts.”

“What?!” Asuka asked back in open-mouthed shock and wide-eyed as she looked down at the comm window with Misato’s face in it.

“Major, are you insane?” Cirus’ voice asked over the comm as his screen appeared with a quizzical expression on his face.

Misato looked back over her shoulder at Commander Ikari and Fuyutsuki. She saw Fuyutsuki lean down and whisper something in Ikari’s ear before Ikari shook his head calmly.

“You have authorization, Major Katsuragi,” Ikari said calmly.

Kaji stood up from his perch in visibly mild disbelief. Are they trying to destroy us all?

Misato responded with a curt nod and turned back to the main screen. “Asuka, those are your orders.”

Asuka opened and closed her mouth several times slowly as if she was thinking of different protests, but she knew better than to question it. Very uneasily, she deactivated the comm windows and turned her attention back to the ovoid. Unit 02 reached out with one hand very slowly. It grew closer and closer until it was less than a meter away from the ovoid. Asuka swallowed hard and flattened her hand so that Unit 02’s palm was toward the ovoid before pushing forward the last bit. Unit 02’s hand touched the ovoid and a ripple traveled throughout the ovoid’s surface as if it was liquid.

“Energy build-up within the target!” Ayobi shouted urgently.

“Asuka get back!” Misato shouted into the comm.

Asuka leapt back in a combination of obeying orders and reflex as a bright core became visible in the ovoid. And then, with ferocity that vibrated the air, the ovoid exploded. Walls of black liquid swirled up into the air in a great rising pillar as the shockwave swept out in all directions. Unit 02 was hit the most powerfully and flew up into the air at high speed.

“Asuka?!” Shinji shouted as Unit 01 started to run for Unit 02’s power cord, which was quickly being pulled up into the air as the Eva flew higher.

Dark clouds swirled in around the pillar of swirling streams of black liquid. Soon the entire sky was black with clouds, lightening flashing through some of them with deep moaning thunder.