My constant desire to write for Rei produced the next brief section, where she's little more than listening in on the militia's communications. This also establishes that the invaders are falling for Ikari's set-up, whatever it may be. Then the focus turns to Asuka, Shinji, and Cirus. As usual, with numerous perspectives, I tend to find an 'order' of perspectives, and run through them in cycles to reveal everyone's activity in an orderly manner, so it was simply Cirus' group's turn. Asuka's whiny narration is simply characterization filler for the paragraph, but it's little touches like these that really make a story come alive, to my view. The point of this scene is really to show that the three pilots also know the invaders are heading to the cage room, and then it's an excuse to have Cirus show off his skills and 'dark side' again. As with the forest sequence, I have Shinji react quite well considering his relative condition and psychological nature. The boy plasters himself to the ground the moment he hears another voice, while Asuka takes the time to face them. She's perfectly cogent, herself, so she obeys Cirus' quick demand for a free line of sight. The 'torture' sequence, with Cirus clenching the man's wounded shoulder, is relatively tame for such scenes, but I think it got the serious nature of Cirus' personality across quite well. If he's not around Ayanami-sama, he always has that combat training revving in the background. She brings balance to his personality, like he does for her. Rei makes him more human through gentleness, he helps her understand that she is indeed human. This just part of the dynamic between them I love so much, and I really wanted to cast it into relief with revealing Cirus' 'true' nature. He doesn't so much hide it, as only bring this part of himself out when needed.

Now Ikari's plan is more clearly revealed, specifically in the nature of its danger to anyone in the cage rooms. Though the series only ever used bakelite as 'in-base' security, I figured some modifications could have been made during the repairs after the failed Third Impact attempt. I would consider revising this sequence to use NERV security forces rather than automated guns if I were more heavily revising the story to remove this questionable choice of mine. Then the reader sees that the militia have taken the bait, pouring into the dim cage room, and someone turns the power back on. That Cirus doesn't immediately run to Rei may come as a surprise to some readers, but he is disciplined enough to wait for the right time, not the soonest time, to rescue someone, especially Ayanami-sama. And now we see that Ikari is willing to risk Rei's life to get rid of the militia. Is he really? Or this another manipulation? This is the question I hope comes up in the reader's mind while this scene plays out. His real reasoning is never directly explained, but I consider it a calculated risk, with Ikari betting on Cirus coming to her rescue. He also knows Rei can handle herself in an adverse situation.

Though Rei does react well, Cirus is clearly shocked that the command center would activate the guns. The time is now. So, with some old-fashioned action, Cirus runs to Rei, taking out anyone in his path. That he actually kills the man aiming at Rei shows he has no effort to waste, and this also demonstrates that Rei herself is not as squeamish about his violent side as he might suspect. As always, Cirus establishes if someone is injured or not before anything else, but the circumstances force them to make a move. Cirus ordering Rei to run seems both natural to the scene, but out of character for Cirus about Rei. This comes up after this sequence in a fairly cute scene between the pair, but I confess I only realized it was out of character for him to order her to run after he'd done it, hence the scene coming afterward. While they run, however, I think the mention of Cirus getting shot, while deliberately vague, could be better. It's a little abrupt, and doesn't flow well, so I may revise that section if I come up with a better way of doing it.

Cirus profuse apology for giving Rei a command is, I think, a perfect moment of the paradoxical nature of his personality. He just killed a man, sent another falling into Bakelite, all to rescue her, and then feels awful for not being accepting enough to let her choose her own way of fleeing the scene, simply because it wasn't her idea. His simultaneous gentleness and violent capacity keep him interesting, I hope, for the reader. Rei, of course, calms him with her irrasible directness. Then the notion that Cirus is wounded finally comes up, and, of course, Rei can change his mind like no one and nothing else can. Only for her would he go to the medical bay like this. And, of course, the image of Rei helping Cirus walk is just adorable to me.

The two paragraphs of narration at the start of the next section follows the mood, I was attempting to anyway, of the various 'report' sequences in the actual series, where large amounts of information were relayed by some formal document. What follows is simply some character-interaction with plot-references between Misato and Ritsuko. I do so love Ritsuko's little explosion about Misato's 'few years older' comment. So cute/funy. Then a serious conversation about Ikari's risk-taking comes up. Though little is revealed, it firmly establishes that Ikari's behavior is changing, and they aren't sure what to do about it. The scene logically led off with Misato's concern for Cirus, and Ritsuko's own development in Kenosis gives her the desire to follow.