Ok, since I'm going to be temporarily off the ml because I'm going back
to Iowa and need an internet provider there, I've decided to send what I
have done with this episode.  Don't worry, I'll continue writing, but I
figured this will keep you over until I do get internet service and can
send a final draft.  I'll be on until Friday morning, after that, c+c
can reach me at:  rdavies@cornell-iowa.edu

Warning:  this is still in rough draft so things can change when I
release everything.

And I'd also like to thank a few people before starting:

Tom Rothamel for his help with keeping to continuity.  You sure know
your stuff.
Skywise for help with stylistic things.  I have lots of problems with
that.  At least you can tolerate reading my fanfics now...
Key up there in the peanut gallery.  Ya, I'm talking to you.  It's for
the amusement of your El Hazard fics.  And no, I'm not going to make a
spinoff lemon fic between Shinji and Asuka.  Oh ya, your help with word
choice is a distant second I guess...
Live and their new CD.  Inspiration in writing the Touji scenes.  Some
songs like "Turn My Head" really helped in setting the mood...wait a
minute, I bought the cd, you should be thanking me...
And everyone who dosen't offer me Dr. Pepper, ya, I hate that concoction
more than Sailor Moon.

Notes on the rest of this fic:

I believe I've come to the point where characters can change from the
original series.  It's time for sub-plots to interweave.  I have already
changed the timeline some (Touji is now an Eva pilot whereas he comes in
later in the Gainax timeline.)  Kaji was part of the original storyline
I thought up, but was scrapped because it would have only complicated
things in the story, sorry.  Angels will also become an even less factor
in the story (this could be the last one)  while characters thoughts are
explored even more.  Remember, internal struggle is what I'm focusing
on, not the angels, the religious aspects of the series or the Human
Instrumentality Project.

With this angel, I'm going to deal with the thoughts of Rei in the next
part.  This part just has too much stuff going on.  I'm not forgetting
it.

EPISODE 5:  ENEMIES

Unit-01 was launched 10 minutes before Unit-02.  This was because NERV
had more personnel to tend to Unit-01 than Asuka had for her Eva.  The
landing point of the new angel was on the outskirts of Tokyo-2.  Rei's
ability of a pilot enabled her to get into position before Asuka,
despite having to come all the way from Tokyo-3.  Although she expected
help from Asuka, she was warned to watch out for problems of an uneasy,
temporary truce.

Over Unit-01's radio, Asuka offered her help while Maya was ringing off
the details of the enemy.  "Hello wonder girl.  Long time no see."  She
made her tone as polite as she could.

Rei disregarded the greeting and continued with the business at hand.
"Target's altitude is 10 kilometers.  Estimated landing time is 1
minute."

The two waited a few seconds before Ritsuko broke in over the radio.
"Something's wrong.  Clear away from the landing area."  What she saw
was the large, black circle shifting it's trajectory.  There was also
something odd about the target's height.  It appeared it was getting
thinner.

Asuka, ready to attack was confused by the order to withdraw.  "What?
You mean run away?"

"Just do it!  Move!"

The two Evas started to clear from the angel's path, but its descent
accelerated faster than predicted.  The shift in the landing site fell
upon Unit-01 and three blocks of Tokyo-2 that surrounded it.  Once the
angel had reached its landing point, Rei as well as the Eva was
completely engulfed.

"Damn!"  Misato didn't like the situation.  An Eva had been engulfed by
the angel and she could not think of any solutions.

Maya, looking over her instrument panel, could not find any solutions
either.  "Readings on the pilot are unknown.  The umbilical cord was cut
when we lost contact with the Eva.  Four minutes, 45 seconds left of Eva
activation."

Asuka was just as suprised by the angel's method of attack.  "What the
hell happened?"  Asuka stood a mere 10 meters from the angel, but she
couldn't find a core to attack with the prog knife.  Combined with the
shock, the affect was a pilot who was unable to think of anything to do.

"What the hell is happening?"  Misato turned to Ritsuko for answers.

"Interesting.  The angel is only 3 nanometers thick.  It appears the
angel is using an inverted AT Field to maintain its structure.  It also
appears the inside of this angel is a portal of some sort."

"So how do we defeat it?"

"I'm not sure yet."

Three minutes, forty seconds left of Unit-01's internal battery pack.
At this point, the angel began to move slowly toward the city of
Tokyo-3.

Sensing the danger, Unit-01 came to life.  It lit up in berserker mode,
swinging at nothingness, running in no particular direction.  But
somehow, it was able to effect the angel.

>From the outside, the perfectly circular disk began to warp at the
edges.  The circle soon lost it's shape and began to collapse upon
itself.  As the angel closed, Rei and the Eva appeared through the top
half of the enemy.

Now that the immediate danger was gone, Unit-01’s savage rage then
turned against the intruder inside.  Ayanami's nerve pulses were
rejected and LCL pressure increased.  With the pilot being rejected as
well as damaged pilot sensors from an unknown cause, there was no way
for NERV to determine the status of the pilot or do anything about it..
Finally, the Eva calmed down and ceased its attacks.  Because there was
no more of a threat, the Eva no longer carried out its menace.

This was the opportunity Asuka had been waiting for.  She despised Rei,
always showing her up.  Now that she was an enemy, this was the perfect
opportunity to get her back.  She moved in and began striking at Rei
repeatedly.  The armor was beginning to wear at the continuous strikes.
Only the brief moment it took to activate the prog knife paused the
attack.

Misato and Ritsuko saw this and didn't like what they were seeing.
Asuka’s annoyance had turned to anger as she attacked Rei, screaming
insults as she assaulted her enemy.  There was no use getting to her,
she was in a berserker mode of her own, visualizing anyone from NERV as
the enemy.

NERV was also helpless to do anything.  Still unsure that Rei was even
alive, they had no options.  Unit-03's pilot had yet to synchronize with
it, and the dummy plug was not ready for use.

Rei sat there listening to the screams from both commands, but mostly to
Asuka's voice.  "I won't let you be better than me!  You are just a
puppet for NERV..."  She still had some composure in the entry plug when
she looked over her options.  There were few, berserker mode had drained
the internal battery down to 15 seconds, Unit-01 had rejected her, the
high LCL pressure kept her from even moving in the entry plug.  The only
conclusion she could come up with was to await her death.

Only the automatic ejection system stopped Asuka's pounding and Rei's
fate to die.  The buildings in the city made the entry plug difficult to
track as it landed harshly on a street corner.  The initial jolt of the
bottom end striking the ground and the tube falling to its side gave Rei
a sharp sensation of pain in her left arm.  The pain soon went away as
everything went black.

Misato only saw the ejection of the entry plug on Unit-02's monitor.
With the intent on saving Rei,
she promptly shouted commands to Ritsuko to get Asuka back down and to
retrieve Unit-01 as well.  She hastily left the command center and
rushed through the hall, passing a confused Shinji.

Rei had woken up in a plain, white room, lying on a bed.  She tried to
stretch to get rid of the stiffness in her muscles, but found her left
arm immobilized.  She looked town to see her arm in a crudely made
cast.  Ayanami recalled the events that occurred before she had passed
out and came to the conclusion her arm was broken.  There were many
times she had had something like this happen, so nothing much was
thought of it.  As she sat up and blinked, a woman was seen through her
peripheral vision.

“Good.  You’re awake.  So how are you?”

The injured girl turned to look at Misato, but gave no answer.

“I’m sorry about Asuka.  She will be scolded as soon as I have the
chance.”

“Why?”  It was all she was going to say.  Rei knew Asuka disliked her,
but had no idea why.  It was something she simply dismissed as part of
Asuka’s personality.

“Don’t be nervous.  You can move about if you wish.  We’re not going to
lock you up in here.”  Misato tried to change the subject.  She wasn’t
going to be too militaristic with the children.

“Why would I be nervous?”

Misato thought about telling Rei to stop acting that way, but thought of
Shinji’s personality and how she couldn’t change him.  Instead, she
decided to let her get out of the room so she could see the Shinji.
“Shinji is in the room down the hall if you would like to see him.  I’m
sure he wants to see you.”

“OK”  The First Child got off the bed and left the room.  It was more to
get away from Misato’s questioning than anything to see Shinji.

It had only been 6 hours, but SEELE had demanded a meeting with Gendou.
The loss on one Eva was not appreciated.  The loss of two was something
he had to have a good explanation for right away.

“Ikari, you have lost not only Unit-02, but now Unit-01.  How much of
our resources must we have to spend to get progress from you?”

“Don’t worry.  We are taking measures right now to get both Evas back.
The Human Compliment Project is still my first priority.”

“But still, you have two Evas that are beyond your control.  Why haven’t
you acted on your promise to get rid of the rebels?”

“We still have to deal with the angels as well as the Instrumentality
Project.  There will be action as soon as we can get Unit-03 activated
and its pilot trained.”

“Alright.  But we expect results, not excuses.  The rest of this meeting
does not concern you.”

At the cue, the SEELE members at the table disappeared, leaving Gendou
alone.

“Don’t worry.  I fully intend on getting Unit-01 back.  It’s time the
rules change...”

The rest of the SEELE meeting concerned their confidence in Commander
Ikari.  There was something wrong here, but they didn’t know what it was
yet.

“Well what do you think?”

“He should be replaced.  He is becoming too much of a maverick, like he
was several years ago.”

“I agree.  He’s up to something.  There are two Evas in Tokyo-2 right
now.  He is cooperating with the rebels when fighting angels.  Who’s to
say he has been in contact with him all along?”

“Well there does seem to be a dissidence between him and Katsaragi.  The
last incident clearly showed Pilot Asuka’s intention to kill Pilot
Ayanami.”

“Also, Ikari is the only one who can carry out both projects.  We will
have to use him until the schedule is completed.”

“We do have to acknowlege that.  But should we increase surveillance?”

“No.  We have ample security as it is.  Too much more will make him grow
suspicious.”

Touji was finally able to get back home after the long hours of
briefing.  He didn’t understand it.  Not at all.  His newest and best
friend was now his enemy?  Sure Asuka was a true bitch if he’d ever seen
one, but Misato and Shinji leaving NERV?  There was something missing.
Although relieved to finally know some news of Shinji, but was it really
worth it?  NERV didn’t want any of it leaked so he couldn’t even tell
his friends.  Now he was stuck in the middle.  On one side, his sister
was getting the care she needed, but on the other hand, he was now at
odds with Shinji.

The phone rang, leaving the bells in his mind.  Touji the only one home
had lost his thought and finally got off the futon to answer it.

“Suzuhara?  How are you?”

“Oh.  Hikari.  Why are you calling me at this time?”

“I was worried.  You suddenly leaving with NERV and all.  I thought you
were in trouble or something.  What happened?”

“I...I’m working for NERV now.  Now my sister can have better care
and...”

The class rep cut him off.  She wanted to know how he was doing.  “You
sound nervous.  What’s wrong?  Can we talk about it?”

This was a suprise.  But it only made things worse.  “That’s the
problem.  I can’t tell anyone.”

“Are you sure?”

“Ya.”  There was a long pause.  Neither knew what to say.  “Listen.  I
need to get some rest.  Tomorrow I’m going to see my sister and with
NERV and everything, I...”

“Oh, Sure.  Can we talk later?”

“Um...ya I guess.”  There was a click and a dial tone followed.  She
slowly put the phone back on the hook and wondered what was wrong.

<That’s not like Touji at all.  I think he really needs to talk to
someone.  Its one in the morning, I’ll have to talk to him at school
tomorrow.>

Touji lied down to sleep, but sleep didn’t come easily.  All he could
think of was the time he had beaten up Shinji.  He too was forced to
pilot the Eva.  He didn’t understand that before, the helplessness of
not having a say.  But now that he had to do this for his sister,
Suzuhara felt like he was the only other person who understood how
Shinji could have felt when he had first piloted.

<Sure I had him hit me to make it even, but what kind of apology is
that?>  It took a while, but the darkness of sleep finally overcame his
worries.  But there was nothing to keep his feelings from invading his
dreams.