It was an exceptionally hot day in Tokyo-3, the kind that made one wish Second Impact had made Japan suffer an eternal winter rather than an eternal summer. No one really wanted to do anything but duty called in even the most mundane of ways. The morning found a group of NERV employees at the laundromat.

Ritsuko folded her clothes and grumbled, "The cost of laundry is going to kill me before anything else does."

Maya, who sat in the chair beside where her superior was doing her work, laughed lightly, "It's the time for me. I've hardly the time to do it nowadays."

With a sigh, Ritsuko agreed, "That too."

Aoba, who they had coincidentally met there, sighed, "Almost makes me wish I stayed living on-base."

"If I had to spend any more time there than I already did, I'd go insane," Maya said.

"Why do you think I left?" he asked.

The trio left the laundomat, getting onto the train to head elsewhere. There, they were surprised to find the Vice Commander. Ritsuko greeted him, "Good morning, Vice Commander," and sat a few seats away from him.

Maya and Aoba snapped to attention, "Good morning, sir!" they cried in unison.

Fuyutski lowered his newspaper. He nodded to acknowledge them, "Morning," and went back to reading his paper.

Maya and Aoba stood, holding onto the bar of the train. "You're quite early. Didn't you and the Commander only get back a few days ago?" Ritsuko commented to Fuyutski.

"That'd be correct. I have to go up top in Ikari's place."

"Ah," Ritsuko nodded in understanding, "Isn't today the City Council's regular meeting?"

"That's it. Ikari's got me going over there to make sure everything's in order," he sighed deeply, "I've always got the boring people-facing tasks."

"Could you imagine the Commander doing stuff like that?" Aoba asked.

"The whole Council would roll right over if he went instead!" Maya chuckled.

"At least they wouldn't bicker so much," Fuyutski shook his head, "None of it matters in the long run. We all know the MAGI makes the real decisions."

"Yep!" Maya chirped, "They haven't steered us wrong yet. Isn't it neat, living in the era of science?"

"Having a bunch of computers make the decisions is shady but whatever gets the job done," Aoba shrugged.

Ritsuko spoke up, "It's not like their word is law. Their decisions have to still go through the Council and if they wanted, they could decide differently. They just tend to trust their judgment."

"Your mom made the MAGI, didn't she?" Maya asked.

Ritsuko's eyes narrowed at the mention of her mother but she nodded, "Yes and she also modeled their artificial intelligence on herself. They also formed the basis for all the other ones all over the world. Speaking of, they'll be helping me today with the naked synch test."

"Best of luck with that," Fuyutski told her, "The children will not be pleased about it."

---

"I hate this," Asuka declared when she and the other two active pilots were told of today's test.

"Hate or not, it must be done," Ritsuko told her, "It's important you three be tested in the most neutral environment we can."

She could handle Angels but she so desperately wanted to draw the line at personal humiliation. She crossed her arms and grumbled. Ritsuko reminded, "The faster you go and get undressed and down to the testing plugs, the sooner it'll be done."

She pointed out the doorway, eyes steely. She wasn't backing down on this. Kaworu fidgeted from the side, where he was standing with Shinji and Rei, the trio waiting for Asuka to stop trying to get Ritsuko to back down. He spoke up, "Does this include me, Doctor Akagi?"

"Hmmm," Ritsuko consulted her monitor, "I could have sworn I had you included in this experiment but I guess not. So you can stay up here with us, if you'd like."

Kaworu bowed his head in acknowledgment and pulled an empty computer chair aside to sit down in it.

Asuka stuck her tongue out at him, "Lucky!" and left.

He chuckled as she left, turning to watch Ritsuko begin to punch commands into her computer console. Yeah, it was sure lucky he had been forgotten.

There had been an annoying buzzing at the edge of his awareness since he woke up today and it only grew in intensity as he descended into NERV HQ. It was hard to explain and no doubt impossible to explain to a Lilin. It was the tug of another Angelic AT Field, begging his attention. Most certainly unintentional, as none of his kin knew he was there.

Misato came strolling through, pausing to wave at Kaworu, then stopped by Ritsuko, "Everything ready?"

Ritsuko nodded, "Had to wrangle Asuka into cooperating."

Misato snickered, "Told you you'd have to."

She glanced at Ritsuko's screen, "And today was the MAGI's checkup too, huh?"

"Mhm," Ritsuko hummed, looking back over the calculations, "I've got Maya helping me out with that."

Misato picked up a stray coffee mug, "Asuka's right. You need a break."

"I did the other night at your party. Also that's cold."

Her warning came a little too late and Misato forced herself to not spit it out. She swallowed forcefully and set it down, "That woke me up. Still. You should try to fit in some more time for yourself," she shrugged.

Ritsuko frowned, "It's a nice thought."

Asuka's voice came from one of the speakers, "Alright, we're all undressed and at the place you told us to go to!"

"You've all undressed and showered off?"

"Yes..." she grumbled.

"Alright, go ahead into the next room. It's an ultra-clean room environment. We need to make sure there's no possibility of contamination."

"'No possibility of contamination'," Asuka mocked quietly.

Ritsuko smiled slightly in amusement, "Heard that. Asuka, this is very important. It's for an autopilot we're designing."

Asuka's next complaint died in her throat, feeling awfully small in the grand scheme of things. Visions of gore and viscera came unbidden to her mind and it was Unit 01 in the center of it all. She shook herself out of it and walked forward.

"Autopilot?" Misato asked.

"It's in the works but hopefully, it will take the Children out of the fight," Ritsuko raised her eyebrow, "It's what you wanted, right?"

"Of course," Misato eyed her, wondering if this was an attempt to get a rise out of her.

To say Ritsuko had a mask like the Commander's would not be a lie. She brushed the thought off. No point in arguing. She didn't like the idea of staying mad at her friend anyway. She had been worried their relationship was fraying as it was. Then again, that process had started after college and she wasn't sure if anything could return it to that state now.

If Kaji was here, he'd chastise her for longing to return to the past.

Ritsuko turned back to talk to the trio, "Anyways, you three should be done with the decontamination, right?"

Asuka gave a grunt of affirmation. "Then go on ahead to the entry plugs. We have all the cameras switched off for your personal privacy," Ritsuko explained.

The buzzing had subtly but noticeably picked up in intensity. Kaworu waited a few moments until Ritsuko, Misato and the other techs were distracted. He said softly, "It may be a while so I'm going to step out and get something from a vending machine."

Misato waved him off, "We'll be here," too focused on the experiment to even look over at him leave.

He smiled, even though she couldn't see it, and slipped out and down the hallway.

Ritsuko said to her techs, "Alright, start the experiment."

The chamber hummed as the entry plugs were inserted into the simulation bodies. They were gruesome; simply torsos with a pair of gangly arms. Typically, tests were either done inside the Evas proper or sophisticated simulations. This was the first time using these had been attempted and Misato could see why. Along with how gruesome they were, using them demanded using a completely different testing chamber, filled with liquid. Maybe just water though it was hard to tell in the dark lighting of the chamber.

"The simulation plugs are now under MAGI control," Maya reported.

"So how's it feel?" Ritsuko asked the pilots.

"Everything's all muffled," Shinji said.

Asuka flexed the fingers on her right hand then her left, "Yeah! Other than my right arm, everything's fuzzy. It's weird."

"Alright, Rei. Try moving your right hand, just as you would in your Eva."

"Yes, ma'am." Rei willed herself to keep her arm still while she imagined wiggling her fingers. The simulation body responded in kind.

"Seems there's no problems on that front," Ritsuko said.

On her screen, text had appeared, reading "Resolving Dilemma…". Misato hovered behind her and asked, "What's that mean?"

"Well, as you know the MAGI is made up of three components. They don't always agree. I'd say they're just like their creator," Ritsuko explained.

"That's your mom, right?"

"You don't really know anything, do you?"

Misato scowled. No one told her anything! She defended, "It's not like you talk about her a lot!"

"And for good reason. But yes: my mother created the MAGI. And they're based off of her."

Misato opened her mouth to ask further when a small orange box popped up on the main screen. "Another water leak?" Ritsuko asked.

Maya answered, "No, it's apparently some kind of corrosion in the protein wall above us."

Ritsuko sighed, "Wonderful. Will it have any effect on this test?"

"No, at least I don't believe so."

"Then we continue. This is only a minor technical issue and we can't abort it over that. Else we'd never hear the end of it from Commander Ikari," Ritsuko turned away.

She could see it now: he would warn her she was delaying the all important Scenario and that he could find someone else to do her job. She didn't believe that...but she also didn't like to hear him say it.

Meanwhile, Kaworu walked through the hallways, counting to himself as he did. He hadn't lied as he was planning to go to the vending machines. He checked the signs as he walked by, making sure he was on the right track. To the cameras, it would appear nothing was amiss; he was simply making sure he was going the right way in the labyrinthine base. Then he stepped into a side hallway, where a blind spot for the security cameras were. He counted to himself silently. At thirty, an alarm began to shriek.

Bingo. He had been through this particular song and dance enough times to have it memorized.

Ritsuko was jolted from her thoughts as the Angel alarm began to go off. Behind her, the techs were in a buzz. Maya cried, "Corrosion area of the protein wall increasing at an explosive rate!"

The diagram on screen showed the corrosion rapidly eating through the wall. Ritsuko turned and cried, "Abort the experiment! Initiate emergency shutoff by the sixth pipe!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Ritsuko went back to watching the diagram as Maya worked. Even though she didn't show it, adrenaline was pumping through her system.

"No effect! Corrosion is spreading along the walls!"

Ritsuko hissed under her breath. "Prepare the polysomes," she ordered.

From the wall came a series of drones that approached the corrosion along the wall. "Set laser power at maximum. Fire upon contact."

Blue light illuminated the room and a high whine came from the drones. Behind Ritsuko, Maya cried, "The corrosion is growing. It's coming! Rei's body is moving!"

The body closest to them shuddered and Misato snapped her attention to it, "Rei!"

The arm from it twitched and came down from where it was floating, suspended in the liquid.

"Impossible," Ritsuko hissed, backing off from the window and stopping beside Maya, "Why is it moving? It isn't Rei, is it?"

"Negative," Maya reported, "The corrosion has entered the suspension system of the simulation bodies."

No good came of an Angel in control of anything derived from an Eva. Ritsuko begin hammering in commands to Maya's console before pulling a lever just underneath the desk. A muffled explosion rocked the room as the arm of Rei's simulation body was blown off. "You're gonna hurt Rei!" Misato protested.

"She'll barely feel it," Ritsuko dismissed her, "Maya, eject the pilots' plugs. We don't need whatever this is contaminating them. And get me updates on the lasers!"

Clearly overwhelmed, Maya did what she was told anyway. Another series of muffled explosions rocked the room as all three plugs were shot up and out of the chamber. The drones started to whine again, blue light illuminating them. They shot their lasers which hit the wall, it shimmering orange in response. The lasers bounced off, harmless. "An AT Field!" Misato cried.

"Of course. It's an Angel," Ritsuko said.

The severed arm still shimmered ominously, a point of light collecting at one of the fingertips then shooting at the window like a bullet. The glass of the Pribnow Box's window cracked. Misato's eyes widened and she turned away with a cry of, "Abandon the area! All personnel evacuate!"

As if to punctuate her command, the Angel shot another light bullet, cracking the glass further. The techs abandoned their posts but Ritsuko sat there, not reacting. "What are you doing?!" Misato cried, running back to her and grabbing her arm, "Hurry!"

Ritsuko snapped from her trance and was half-dragged, half-ran behind Misato. The door snapped closed behind them followed by a crash of water. She didn't look back and Misato didn't quit running. Only when they turned the corner did Misato let go and paused, bending over with her hands on her knees, panting. Ritsuko glanced back, if only to confirm there was indeed no water rushing their way. She spoke into the silence, "This is terrible. Let's get to the command center."

As they ran once more, the alarm system continued to blare, overlaid with a woman's voice announcing the quarantine of that quadrant. Then, with no fanfare, it went silent. Misato raised an eyebrow, "Surely the Angel hasn't been defeated already?"

Ritsuko shook her head but offered no insight on why it might be the alarm went silent. She saw Misato even look at her for theories so she stared ahead, focused on her objective. Inside her thoughts, it wasn't as simple.

She supposed the Commander had a reason for hiding evidence. He had even suggested as much before to her so this would be the perfect opportunity to do so. No damage to hide, only data to erase.

She sighed internally, already seeing the work ahead of her that night—that is, if they made it to that night. The Commander made it so simple to believe the end would come his way but an end from the Angels never left Ritsuko's thoughts. After all, to do such would be prideful and she remembered the saying: pride comes before the fall.

---

Back in the Command Center, the Commander had told Aoba coolly to cut the alarm. The man shot a confused glance at him but nevertheless did as he was told. As the alarm stopped, Gendo said, "This is a malfunction, an error in the alarm system. A false alarm, if you will. Report that to the Japanese government and the City Council."

That seemed to be enough for Aoba for he relaxed and barked back, "Yes, sir!" and began his job dutifully.

Fuyutski leaned in to whisper into his superior's ear, "This is no good. The..."false alarm" descending into a bad area."

"We cannot have it get too low into the base," the Commander agreed.

Without pausing, he began to relay orders, "Stop the corrosion within Sigma Unit! What's the Evas' status?"

Hyuga was the one to reply, "Standing by in cage seven. We can launch them as soon as the pilots are recovered."

"There's no need to wait for the pilots. Launch them immediately. Unit One has top priority so launch it first."

That got some glances around of confusion. Aoba voiced this, "Unit One? But sir, we cannot physically destroy the Angel without all the Evas."

Gendo raised his voice, only slightly, "Do as I say. Hurry!"

This got the unruly techs in gear, all turning away to tend to his orders. This was an interesting challenge: how did one destroy an internal invader without their primary weapons, the Evangelions? He glanced downwards. Where was Dr. Akagi? This was her area of expertise.

As if on cue, her and Major Katsuragi sprinted into the command center. He was pleased to find both immediately slid back into their roles. Ritsuko commanded, "Bring up a graphic of Sigma Unit."

The graphic appeared on the mainscreen. She studied it for a minute then pointed out, "There. It won't rise into the areas where oxygen is higher, rather go lower where the concentration thins out."

Misato followed this idea to its logical conclusion, "So its weakness is oxygen?"

Ritsuko nodded, "Seems so, correct. Try injecting some ozone."

Hyuga started tapping away, "Injecting ozone. Concentration is increasing."

The red sections began to blink out and Aoba grinned, "It's working alright."

"Let's see if Dr. Akagi's theory pans out," Fuyutski murmured.

The Commander gave no response.

---

Kaworu closed his eyes and carefully unfolded a tiny part of his AT Field, keeping it as small as he could. When no second alarm went off, he pictured it growing in frequency until it was indistinguishable from the other AT Field in the vicinity. Like stepping into someone else's footprints so it appeared there was only one entity in a trail.

Said AT Field was writhing in pain and rapidly attempting to warp into a different shape. He reached out for that second Field and gently brushed his own against it. A confused curiosity came from it.

TABRIS? MY SIBLING?

Hello, Iruel, Kaworu greeted.

WHAT HAS BROUGHT YOU HERE?

Kaworu stayed silent, prodding Iruel's field to test it. Iruel had stopped shaping it, curiosity having gotten the best of her.

WHAT IS YOUR PLAN?

I have no particular plan.

Her Field radiated further confusion and then, determination.

HELP ME. I CAN DESTROY THIS FACILITY SO YOU MAY FREELY SEARCH FOR OUR MOTHER.

I cannot do that. I will not do that.

Anger and betrayal washed over him across his Field.

YOU WOULD BETRAY YOUR FAMILY FOR THE LILIN? THEY'RE HURTING ME!

Iruel's Field warped into a lance and stabbed into his Field, which held firm. There was no way she planned to break through his own Field. Kaworu frowned and closed his eyes.

I apologize, Iruel. But I love the Lilin so I cannot betray them.

He pressed with his AT Field, her own Field shredding to pieces in its wake. He pictured it slicing down, right through her core and her form dissipating from existence.

She died with a strangled cry.

He waited for a few moments more then folded his AT Field back onto itself. It never pleased him to kill one of his own kin but necessity won out over his own emotions. He counted to five then bolted down the hallway, trying to look like a frantic pilot.

---

Ritsuko's eyes widened as the corrosion blinked out of existence, "Blue pattern destroyed. Huh, it must have worked."

Misato arched an eyebrow, "That seemed easy."

"Too easy," Ritsuko grumbled, taking seat at an empty terminal and beginning to type away.

Misato sighed, "I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth."

"Let me check for my own benefit—"

"Doctor Akagi,"

Ritsuko bolted up and turned around, "Commander Ikari."

He stood, "Run checks on all parts of the Geofront and the MAGI. I want to make certain the Angel is dead. Then wipe away all evidence of what has happened here today. This goes for everyone here. What transpired here today was simply...a malfunction."

Misato cocked her head at his unusual behavior. Ritsuko nodded stiffly and returned to her task. With that, the Commander left.

Kaworu scrambled into the command center, an opened bag of chips in hand, "What happened?! Where's Shinji, Rei and Asuka?!"

Misato immediately went to him, "Kaworu, they're fine."

Ritsuko supplied, "Their plugs were ejected up into the Geofront lake. As for what happened...appears there was a malfunction."

Kaworu nodded, "I'm going to go there," he declared, leaving as quick as he had come in.

Misato shot a disapproving look at Ritsuko once he was gone, "Why did you lie to him?"

Ritsuko answered, "I was ordered to clear all evidence. As the other Children don't know of this, I figured no reason for Kaworu to know."

"You really think you should do that?"

Ritsuko turned to face her and said in a low voice, "Listen. As of right now, Kaworu is only a backup to the Commander and even worse, we have next to no information on him. You should know that."

Misato nodded slowly. She had seen Kaworu's file; whoever sent him to them with Asuka was determined that very little about him be revealed. She had been suspicious of it but decided to look the other way, not wishing to let it color her perception of the boy.

Yet, she didn't get Ritsuko's point. Ritsuko beckoned her over. When Misato came over, she said even quieter, "I don't believe the Commander trusts him. So I won't paint a target on his back. I'm doing him a kindness."

She blinked in surprise, "That's...oddly thoughtful of you."

"I'm not as heartless as I come off," Ritsuko replied, her tone gone cold.

"I didn't mean it like that," Misato frowned, "You just seem…"

"Detached," she answered for her, then sighed, defeated, "It's a necessity for this job. I'm glad you haven't gone cold. One of us has got to stay warm."

Misato nodded and left for her post at the central area of the command center. Alone once more, Ritsuko called Maya over, "Maya, come help me with this."

Maya nodded quickly and went over, "Yes, Doctor?"

"I just want a second set of eyes for this, if that's alright."

Maya nodded, perhaps more excitedly than she meant to, and sat down in the next terminal. She asked, "What would you like me to do?"

"Just look over the areas after I do. I've judged Sigma Unit is clean so please look that over while I look over the other areas."

Maya nodded, "Yes, ma'am!" and started her work.

Ritsuko ran the command to scan the next unit over. Since Sigma Unit was clean, she supposed that meant the Angel was truly dead.

But on a whim, she opened the security cameras for the Pribnow Box, where they had been stationed previously. A murky picture came in, the severed arm of the simulation body floating with shimmering red spots of Angelic corruption. Holes in the wall opened, letting ozone into the chamber. The red flickered and grew. It did this for a few moments then stopped, shimmering orange. It tried to use an AT Field? But against what? The ozone? Ritsuko wondered. It shimmered orange again, this time doubly brilliant, then died, the red spots blinking out of existence.

It appeared the Angel tried to defend itself, deploying an AT Field as it did. However, it either didn't have enough time to do so or was too weak. She pulled up the data on its AT Field, watching the properties of it fluctuate. It appears to not deploy it often but when it did, it was in defense. Curiously, it appeared to have doubled in strength before it perished. Ritsuko arched an eyebrow.

Something about all this felt...off.

She copied the data and sent it to her personal private profile, deleting the evidence of it before she purged the data entirely. She then pulled up the security footage and began to work.

They worked in silence as Ritsuko let the system scan the facility and edited the footage to be a loop of the Childrens' test. Maya followed dutifully along and for not the first or last time, Ritsuko found herself grateful for the girl's help.

It had only been a few years ago Maya joined NERV. Like Ritsuko herself, Maya excelled with computer technology. But unlike her, she was optimistic.

Ritsuko didn't find this to be a flaw; one of them had to be so. It was a cheery change from the doom and gloom that constantly dogged her time here at NERV. Perhaps that why she had taken her on as protege, not just because she was the only programmer who could keep up.

"Maya, only a few more sections then I'll put you on something else."

Maya nodded happily. Ritsuko let herself smile. Misato returned, dragging a chair by her and offered her a hot cup of coffee. She said, "Kids are fine though I suppose Kaworu forgot they'd be in the nude when he got there."

Ritsuko snorted, "How'd that go?"

"As far as I heard, Shinji nearly fainted on the spot, Asuka got back in the entry plug and Rei, well, she just stood there."

She couldn't help but chuckle, "Sounds about right."

"They're being herded back in to get dressed now. What should we do?"

"Send 'em home," Ritsuko shrugged, "Test's a bust now with the Pribnow Box flooded. If I want to do another one, that's weeks of prepwork."

"Is that going to be a problem for you?"

"We'll adapt."

"So what are you doing now?"

"Now I'm scanning the MAGI to make sure it wasn't contaminated."

Misato nodded, taking a sip of her own coffee. "So, could you tell me some more about the MAGI? You were going to earlier but...y'know."

Ritsuko shrugged, "It's a long story and not even an interesting one at that."

When Misato didn't complain, she internally sighed and began, "Do you know about personality transplant OS?"

Misato nodded, "Yes, it's a system that implants an individual's personality into a seventh generation organic computer so it can think. Similar stuff to how we operate the Evas, right?" she beamed like a child who answered a question right. It was oddly endearing.

"The MAGI is largely why we were able to get the Evas to work," she explained, "My mother developed the technology."

"And her personality that what its based on?"

"Yes. Other systems around the world use other personalities but here, it's the original."

Misato turned to look at the screen, where it had finished scanning Caspar, finding no bugs. She asked, "You didn't like your mother very much, did you?"

"I can't say I did."

"I couldn't wait to get away from mine."

Ritsuko sighed, "Y'know, the night before my mother died, she told me something of the MAGI."

Misato leaned in, intrigued. She continued, "She said the MAGI were the three aspects of herself. Herself as a scientist, herself as a woman and herself as a mother. The MAGI is those three aspects struggling for dominance. She intentionally left in the dilemmas of human experience. So each is slightly different."

Misato looked down from their perch to the computer's gigantic towers, "It makes them almost human."

Ritsuko shrugged, "You can think of it that way."

Misato looked back, "If it was you who had created the Magi, would you have done it that way?"

The idea of doing it like her mother, following in her footsteps was revolting. Ritsuko shook her head, "I don't think so. I don't think I'll ever be a mother anyways. It's why I didn't understand my mother as a mother. But I respected her as a scientist...," she paused, "...and as a woman, I hated her. So no, it wouldn't be anything like her MAGI."

Misato nodded then said, "You're awfully talkative today."

"It's been known to happen."

"No," Misato smiled, "But I'm glad we're talking. It's like the old days, when we were in college."

Dwelling on that thought was painful. Not because she didn't want to return to that time. But because she couldn't return to that time. She turned to Maya, "Maya!" she called, "Once you're done scanning the Geofront, start scanning Caspar, then Balthalsar then Melchior!"

"Right, ma'am!"

Misato grinned, unfazed by her ignoring her comment,"You guys are really close."

Ritsuko didn't look up. This wasn't the first time Misato did this, "You've noted this before."

"Yes, but I wouldn't have to if I didn't keep noticing it!"

"Don't you have some children to check on?"

"I guess I do…"

"So go do that and get outta my hair!"

With a laugh, Misato rose, "You know I'll be back!"

With a wave, she left. Ritsuko returned it and when she was out of sight, she sighed. She wasn't looking forward to yet another all-nighter. But such was her job.

---

Asuka had been left to go home alone. After they got dressed, Rei left right away, even before she could offer to walk with her there. Kaworu and Shinji had split off to go visit some music shop. Apparently the two had really hit it off about the subject at the party. At least this time, he had good reason to leave her alone.

She tried to not feel too sour at being left alone. Maybe when she got home, she could go visit Rei or something.

"Look out below!"

A shadow passed over Asuka and she looked up above just in time to see a girl descend and crash into her!

Her and the mystery girl tumbled onto the ground in a heap. With an annoyed huff, Asuka disentangled herself from the other girl and her parachute then shuffled backwards. She asked, "Who in the hell are you?!"

The other girl sat up. By her stature, she looked like she might be Asuka's age. She was wearing a dark green getup that looked halfway between a plugsuit and combat armor and she had dark brown hair tied back in a low ponytail. Her face was hidden by a pilot's helmet but it wasn't for long as she took it off. She blinked in the late evening light then retrieved a glasses case from her belt. She took the glasses from them, put them on then studied her. She asked her own question, "Soryu or Shikinami?"

"Excuse me?"

The girl exaggeratedly rolled her eyes, "The last part of your last name. Duh."

"It's Soryu, thank you very much," Asuka scowled. It was one of the few things she had from her mother. There was no way she letting this weirdo get that wrong.

"That sounds right," the girl nodded.

"Now answer my question: who the hell are you?!" Asuka demanded.

Unaffected by her temper, the girl offered a hand for a handshake, "The name's Mari Makinami Illustrious!"

"That's your name, not who you are."

Mari pursed her lips as she went silent. Then she gave an answer, "Former Eva pilot, from America. I decided I needed to go my own way because it was looking like I was never going to get deployed over here."

"You ran away?!"

"Mhmmm, what are you going to do? Report me?" Mari began to pick herself up and gather her fallen parachute, "Then you'd have to answer all sorts of questions and come under all sorts of suspicion."

"Jeez, I get it. Keep this a secret," Asuka scowled, "The hell are you doing here then?"

"Not sure yet," Mari hefted the bulk of the parachute on her shoulder, "One more question: what was the last Angel you fought?"

"Big eye Angel, Sahaquiel was the designation."

Mari nodded, "Well, that doesn't clear a lot up unfortunately. Eh, I guess I'll have to play it by ear like always!"

She began to jog away and called after her shoulder, "See you later, Princess!"

"Hey, wait! And don't call me Princess, you weirdo Brit!" Asuka yelled after her.

But Mari kept going, only waving at her as she disappeared down the street.

What the hell was that about? How did she (sort of) correctly guess her name?

Asuka grimaced and continued trudging home, her mood further ruined. It seemed the questions were only piling up around her.

She really had to pull Kaworu aside and get some more things out of him.