A small error messege appeared on the screen and Maya sourly hit the 'cancel' command. "Ever hear of a rhetorical question?" she asked, more quietly.

A small beeping sound came from the console to her right and Maya scooted her chair over to see what it was. The screen read:

Ritsuko ran into the room almost instantly. "What is it?"

"Gravitational disturbance less than ten kilometers away! It looks like an Angel," Maya explained, looking down at the monitor's visual.

The air itself seemed to be distorted into a roughly ball-shaped form, just floating idly along.

"You're right. Call Commander Ikari. Get the command crew down here," Ritsuko ordered swiftly.

Maya nodded and quickly punched in the auto alert calls in the computer.

"I'll go talk with the Magi," Ritsuko said as she ran out of the command center.

"Prepare for launch!" Misato ordered in the command center.

"Prepare for launch!" Hyuga repeated into the main comm.

Rei confirmed as Unit 00 raised up onto the launch track, Unit 14 and 01 rising up on her left and right, locking into place as their pilots followed her example. Unit 02 locked back only a few seconds after, its bi-level head snapping upright with the quick jerk of the connection.

It was one hour later, and, as Ritsuko had ordered, everyone was there. It didn�t take much convincing after the word 'Angel'. Hyuga and Ayobi were seated just in front of and to Misato's left, respectively, as usual, with Maya sitting under Ritsuko's right flank, the elder woman looking on tensely.

Misato was deeply thankful that the launch-lifts had been constructed through to the cover, and enough of its structure had been completed to maintain the weight of four Evas. They rushed up to their full heights from the gaping holes in the cover, each unit activating fully and pulling away from the support tracks.

Asuka frowned impatiently as she looked ahead. "So what do we do?" her voice came back over the comm.

"We can't let it get near the Geo-front, hold it back until we think of a way to destroy it," Misato answered.

Rei, Shinji, and Cirus confirmed the orders as all four Evas began to close in on the Angel. Seemingly, the Angel was little more than a large, distorted sphere hanging in mid-air five kilometers out from Tokyo-3's Northeast sector. Moving slowly and steadily for the past sixty minutes, the Angel was certainly in no rush.

"Hmm, sensors indicate there's a solid structure at the center," Cirus informed the other pilots.

"Yes," Ritsuko chimed in over the comm, "it's like a very weak black hole."

"Fun. I wonder what happened to their little Dirac play field?" Cirus commented with a slight chuckle.

Shinji shivered at the reminder. Being locked in Unit 01 for over sixteen hours while being contained inside the Dirac field Cirus had mentioned only frightened him, and the things he'd seen between the life-support's cut-off and his recovery...

Unit 01 faced the Angel directly as Units 02 and 00 moved out to either side. Unit 14 swiftly went around to the right, circling wide, and came to be across from Shinji.

Ayobi's eyes widened and his head shot up to warn Misato. "A gravitational vortex is appearing in front of the Angel!"

Misato looked up and could see the additional distortion in the air. It was pointing at Unit 01. "Shinji, dodge!" she ordered.

Unit 01 complied without a word as the ground from underneath the Angel exploded in a line towards him. Unit 01 flipped to the side as the ground ripped apart where he�d been standing. Suddenly, a multicolored flash appeared around the Angel, and Units 00 and 02 were moving in slowly. Their AT fields were holding it in its place again.

"No, another surge!" Ayobi warned.

Misato shouted into the comm, "Asuka, Rei, no!"

The sphere suddenly expanded past the AT fields and started to pull the two Evas into itself.

"It's increased in size by four hundred percent!" Ayobi reported.

"Shinji, Cirus, get Rei and Asuka away from it!" Misato ordered.

Without a word, Units 14 and 01 ran up to their comrades and grabbed them, yanking them away from the now very large distortion front. Units 00 and 02 fell to the ground to recover.

"Is there something solid at its core still?!" Cirus asked quickly over the comm.

"Sensors confirm, but there's no way we can get to it!" Ritsuko answered.

"Oh ye of little faith," Cirus' voice came back very calm as Unit 14 started to charge the sphere.

"No! If he does, he'll be crushed instantly!" Ritsuko warned Misato.

Misato leaned down to the comm. "Cirus, fall back now. That's an order."

"I can-"

"You swore, Cirus."

A brief pause came as the Eva stopped its advance, and then, "As you wish, Major," as he turned around and retreated to minimum safe distance.

Cirus switched his comm to a private Eva line, the command center wouldn�t hear him. "Shinji, I can't disobey her orders again, but you can this once."

"What are you talking about?" came back the young boy�s voice.

"The solid core is the Angel, that has to be destroyed or we're all going to die here today," Cirus explained.

Cirus watched Unit 01 with his Eva's eyes as Shinji appeared to think it over.

"I can do it, Cirus!" Asuka's voice returned as Unit 02 stood up.

Cirus hadn't intended to get either Asuka or Rei involved, but he couldn't say that to Asuka's face, knowing her. "It's not as simple as you think it is, Asuka. The Eva and pilot who do this could very easily die," he reminded her.

"Hah! I'll show you who can die easily," Asuka replied as Unit 02 charged, whipping out its progressive knife.

"Asuka, no!" everyone shouted at once.

The sphere instantly reacted to the new threat. A massive vortex of distortion appeared between the sphere and Unit 02, but Unit 02 dove into it, expanding her AT field and using it to simply make the gravity ignore her as an object. She slid through and slammed her blade into the main sphere with a scream. Suddenly the vortex tightened around her, through her AT field, like a tentacle, and started to squeeze. Unit 02 lurched and then started to try and break free.

Both Units 14 and 01 started to run for her, but Shinji got there first.

"Let go of her!!!" he roared as Unit 01 leapt up, grabbed Unit 02's legs and pulled her out of the gravity well.

Suddenly Unit 01's eyes blazed and its AT field become powerfully visible. It instantly expanded around the gravity sphere and froze it in place. Shinji pulled his knife and then leapt at the sphere, his own AT field allowing him through. With Shinji screaming in rage the whole time, Unit 01's blade arm shot out and stabbed into the sphere deeply. The arm started crease and warp that very instant, but apparently Shinji wasn't feeling pain at the moment.

Suddenly the blade hit the center of the sphere and distortion disappeared. Unit 01 fell to the ground with its feet, but held the knife in place. A strange scream resounded out of the knife�s general area and then a massive explosion engulfed Unit 01. It rose into the air like a pillar of white fire, and split apart near the top in the usual cross-pattern of the Angel attacks.

When the explosion dissipated, Unit 01 was standing there, its upper body heaving periodically, calmly, its knife hand down at its side.

"Pilots, report," Misato ordered quietly.

"...Here," Cirus replied finally, calm as ever.

"All systems functioning," came Rei's response.

"Ouch... here though," Asuka.

Misato looked up at the screen, her eyes focused on Unit 01. "Shinji?"

"Here, Miss Misato," he replied instantly, almost cutting her off.

"...Good work," she said. "You can all come home now. I think you earned a break from construction," she explained, her tone turning lighter.

"Ah, about time," Asuka replied a little too cheerfully.

In Shinji's cockpit Cirus' face appeared in a small screen to his left. "Shinji?"

"Yes," Shinji replied, looking down at his feet.

"Well done. Go home and get some rest," the other�s voice came back calmly.

Unit 01 reluctantly turned around and walked back to its launch pad.

When Shinji climbed down from his plug, Cirus was standing there waiting for him. Averting his eyes, this time to the ground, the shorter boy just walked past his dark comrade wordlessly.

"Shinji, what happened to you out there?" Cirus asked, still facing forward.

"I was angry with the Angel," Shinji answered and then kept walking.

Cirus nodded, more for his own reasons than as a response to Shinji. He then calmly turned around and headed for the locker room himself.

When he was on his way out of the locker room, he saw Asuka and Shinji having a rather heated discussion. ...Well at least heated from Asuka's side.

"Oh yes, all powerful Shinji comes to the rescue again! Why couldn't you just leave me alone! I had it where I wanted it!" she shouted at the other boy.

"I-I'm sorry, Asuka. I thought you were in dang-"

"I wasn't!"

"Actually you were, Asuka," Cirus cut in as he approached them. "Another few seconds and you would have been a very large mess on the ground, or at least your Eva would have been," he continued.

Asuka glared at him, but then turned up her chin and stormed down the hall.

"Thanks," Shinji mumbled.

"Don't thank me," Cirus replied quietly and then brushed past Shinji to go down the hall.

Shinji wondered why darkly attired boy had said it when he remembered that Cirus had asked him to attack the Angel, and had said that the person who did so was in danger of dying. He must have felt he owed Shinji. "Why didn't he do it himself?"

Ikari smiled under his hands. This was exactly what they needed. "Fuyutsuki, call him in," he said.

"Yes, sir," the Vice Commander replied, hitting a button on Ikari�s desk. "Mr. Trent, Commander Ikari wishes to speak with you in his office."

"Well done, Major," Ikari continued once Fuyutsuki had deactivated the comm.

"What do you mean?" Misato asked him from her standing position a few feet away from his desk.

"This is exactly what we needed to get rid of Cirus as a risk," Ikari explained.

"What?!" Misato asked in shock.

"Whether Shinji was successful or not, Cirus incited him to betray your orders. That is more than enough to send him back to SEELE," Ikari answered.

"But he's a great pilot. We could still use him at NERV," Misato pleaded.

"If that is your position, why did you tell us this?" Ikari asked back calmly.

"Because it proves his loyalty," Misato answered.

"How does his treachery tell of his loyalty?" Ikari asked with a raised eyebrow of interest.

"He heard my orders and followed them. Shinji heard them also; it was Shinji's call. If anyone is to be punished it should be Shinji, but that wouldn't help matters."

Ikari put his hands down on the desk. "Are you saying you trust him, Miss Katsuragi?"

Misato narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought. After a pause she said, "...Yes."

Ikari similarly sharpened his gaze at her as he put his hands back together in front of his face. After a few tense moments, the door's opening broke the silence. Cirus walked up to Misato's side calmly and looked at Ikari.

"You called me here, Commander?" he asked.

"Yes. We are fully aware that you incited Unit 01's pilot to betray a direct order of retreat," Ikari started bluntly.

Cirus cocked his head but stayed silent.

"You realize what we could do to you for this?" Fuyutsuki asked in a tone that appeared to be like that used to remind a child of the amount of trouble in which he or she was.

"Yes," Cirus answered calmly.

"You are suspended from piloting for one week, Mr. Trent. Is that clear?" Ikari said with a finality in his tone that did not evoke a rebuke.

Cirus' face betrayed no emotion as he bowed his head once.

"Very well. Dismissed."

Cirus nodded and turned around, leaving without a word. Once he was gone Ikari looked up at Misato.

"If he betrays us, it is your responsibility, Major Katsuragi," Ikari reminded her coldly.

Misato couldn't help but smile anyway. She saluted. "Yes, sir!" she said strongly and then left herself.

"Are you sure that was wise?" Fuyutsuki asked as the doors closed.

"Major Katsuragi is not an idiot. If she trusts him enough to stand up for him to us he may be of some use in future."

"Understandable, but it's not like you to take risks."

Ikari smiled faintly under his hands. "This one may be worth it, Fuyutsuki."

"He was suspended?" Shinji asked surprised.

"Oh don't worry. It's a slap on the wrist compared to what they could have done to him. We're lucky," Misato answered from her room. Shinji was sitting in the kitchen.

"But I'm the one who disobeyed your order," Shinji said quietly.

"Oh don't beat yourself up over it. I disobeyed it first," Asuka replied from the doorway of the kitchen.

Shinji looked up, surprised again at Asuka's sympathy. "T-thank you, Asuka."

"Hmph, well don't get too comfortable with it. I'm still mad at you for pulling me out," Asuka reminded him with a mild glare, but walked in and sat down beside him with a sigh. "I can't believe he got suspended either."

"Aw, going to miss having him there to rescue you?" Misato asked in a mock tone as she walked into the kitchen herself.

Asuka's face turned bright red. "I do not- I mean I won't- ugh, just leave me alone!"

Misato laughed as she sat down. "You're so easy to rile up, Asuka."

"Yes," Shinji agreed.

Asuka glared at him again. "I am not!"

Just then the doorbell rang. Asuka and Misato looked at Shinji who sighed and stood up, heading for the door.

He checked who it was, and seemed quite surprised. "It's Cirus," he said as he started to open the door. Asuka shoved him out of the way suddenly and opened the door instead. "Hello, Cirus!" she said with a smile.

Cirus cracked a wry grin. "Hello, Asuka. Can I come in?"

"Of course!" Asuka answered throwing the door open and letting Cirus step in.

Upon seeing the dazed Shinji on the floor he looked up at Asuka with a knowing expression on his face and shook his head slowly. He then leaned down and helped Shinji stand up.

"Uh, thanks," Shinji replied to the action.

Cirus shook his head lightly and then walked into the kitchen. "Ah, Major Katsuragi. I was hoping to run into you."

When Shinji walked in he noticed that Misato had a nervous air about her as Cirus sat down beside her. A dreamy eyed Asuka and Shinji sat down on the other side.

"I've been needing to speak with you," Cirus said to Misato.

"About what?" Misato asked, feigning ignorance.

"I wanted to thank you for speaking with Commander Ikari and the Vice Commander on my behalf."

Shinji noticed Misato visibly relaxed. "Oh! Heh, don�t mention it!" she said quickly.

Cirus cracked another wry smile. "As you wish. Hmm, how far behind schedule will this put the repairs to the cover?"

"If we work hard enough it shouldn't be more than a day or two," Misato answered.

Shinji and Asuka grimaced.

"Don't work them too hard, Major. I'd rather not get beaten to a pulp when I get back to work," Cirus replied, still keeping his wry smile on his face.

They continued to talk warmly with surprising ease. As the evening drew on, Misato realized two things. One, Cirus now trusted her a great deal more, and two... he wasn't going to miss being in his Eva for that week.