By the morning of her discharge, Asuka was more than ready to leave the sterile, white environment of the hospital. Unfortunately, between her final tests and a surprise visit from Dr. Akagi, it had turned out closer to noon that she left!

Dr. Akagi had come in to take a final blood draw then asked her a series of questions. It wasn't anything that Asuka didn't expect to be asked. Did she see anything, did she hear any voices, and was she contacted by anything? Asuka, knowing it was most certainly a bad idea to reveal anything to her, shrugged and told her that her memory was fuzzy and that she didn't really remember anything like that.

Dr. Akagi seemed to accept that and had left in a hurry, probably off to do more more work.

Now, she was waiting to meet Misato at the interior parking garage, to have her drive her home. Her guardian had insisted, to her chagrin. She was secretly hoping to weasel out, saying she would get one of her friends to come walk her home, but Misato was firm. Oh well. She'd just figure out a way to ask Kaworu about what she had seen after.

"Asuka!"

Speak of the devil. Asuka turned to see Misato crossing the space, smiling warmly at her. She continued, "They made you wait, huh?"

"Yeah, Dr. Akagi took her sweet damn time to come take my blood then asked me all these questions before they could let me leave," Asuka huffed.

"She's a busy lady. I imagine she had to pull herself away from some other task," Misato motioned for her to follow her to where she parked the Alpine.

"How about you? Did you have any work you had to pull yourself away from?" Asuka asked.

Misato groaned and she grinned, "Sounds like yeah."

"Ritsuko took control of the back half of the operation but they still have me doing a lot of the followup paperwork," she grumbled.

Asuka's eyebrows raised, "Dr. Akagi had to take control of the operation?"

She vaguely remembered last time around it was the doctor giving her and Rei orders but she had, admittingly, been too wrapped up in her own angst to care why that was. An infuriating trend, she was starting to notice.

Misato paused, her hand lingering over the handle to the car. Her eyes were hooded, deep in thought. She admitted, "I got...emotional, let's say."

Asuka's eyes widened, "Over me?"

Instead of answering right away, she opened the door and flung herself in. Asuka followed suit, sitting in the passenger seat, but never taking her eyes off Misato. Once she was buckled in, Misato laid her head against the headrest and answered her, "Yes. There was some...quite extreme measures Ritsuko wanted to take to defeat the Angel. And there was no guarantee you would make it out alive."

Asuka remembered them planning to do that with Shinji; both to defeat the Angel and to retrieve Unit 01. But since Misato had no reason to know she already knew that, she gasped, "They were going to kill me?!"

Her guardian shifted uncomfortably and said, "Not on purpose. But you were deemed an, ah...acceptable loss."

"Who would pilot Unit 02 then?"

"It was also deemed an acceptable loss."

That just about confirmed that there was only one thing that the Commander deemed an unacceptable loss. She stared down in her lap, at her balled up fists. Even though none of that was new information, it still lit a fire inside her. She hissed, "Typical."

"At least it didn't come to that!" Misato encouraged in a tone Asuka could tell was forced, "What with that stunt 02 pulled."

She started the car and drove it out onto a lift. With a dull ker-chunk, it was loaded onto the lift and started moving upwards, towards one of the surface access tunnels. Now that Misato didn't have a distraction, she asked, "Are they going to do anything with 02?"

"...I'll be honest, I'm not sure," Misato told her, "I've been trying to catch Ritsuko—for a number of reasons—but I haven't been able to. The past two days have been crazy. I'm getting the sense though that'll be addressed."

Asuka's chest constricted and, with effort, she had to swallow the sudden flash bang of emotion that exploded instead. She muttered, "They better not try to take me off the roster."

"Why do you think they would do that?" Misato asked, a note of surprise in her voice.

"Unit 02 starts acting weird, what if they decide she's more trouble than she's worth!" Asuka cried bitterly.

"Asuka, I don't think we can afford to go down a pilot," Misato told her, "And Unit 02's been quiet since then. It could have been a fluke. Unit 01 did something like that when Shinji arrived."

"Unit 01 didn't eat that Angel."

"Sure, but I don't see how that makes a difference."

Of course, Misato wasn't "in on it", Asuka thought bitterly. She didn't know that that made all the difference. So, she just remained silent.

Misato sighed, able to tell she was still bitter. She murmured, "Whatever decision they make, I'll make sure it's not a complete suspension, alright? I really don't think we can afford to throw out a whole Eva."

Once off the lift, and into one of the surface access tunnels, they drove on home. Not much talk was exchanged, other than small talk. Asuka mentioned that she wasn't particularly looking forward to returning to school and the remedial work she had to do. It was all stuff she knew already so, at the end of the day, it was just busy work.

As the pair drove up to the front of the apartment complex, they found a familiar silver-haired character sitting outside at the front on the bench. Asuka bolted upright, "There's Kaworu!"

"Looks like he was waiting on us," then, with a grin, Misato remarked, "...you sure there's nothing going on between you two?"

"Gross," Asuka remarked as she opened the door, "Can't a boy and a girl just be friends?"

"Not in my experience but I'm sure it's happened before," Misato shrugged, "Now, get going. I've got to get back to work."

Asuka stepped out and watched her go. Kaworu approached to stand beside her and, once Misato was out of sight, asked, "How are you doing?"

"Doing alright, all things considered," she shrugged, "But I bet you had your reasons to meet me out here."

He nodded, "I know you just got home but I hope you may indulge me in a walk."

She rolled her eyes, "I suspected as much."

He smiled softly, "Then we're on the same page. Let's get going."

As she suspected, he lead her to the abandoned park, where it was sure no one would overhear them and was quick becoming a favorite haunt. Like before they sat by the green pond, facing each other. Immediately, Asuka asked, "I bet you wanna know what I saw in the Angel."

Kaworu nodded eagerly, a rare curiosity shining within his crimson eyes, "Did the Angel try to communicate with you?"

Asuka sat her head on her hands thoughtfully, "I think so. It looked like me—like I looked before, after the Third Impact."

"It was most likely drawing upon your memories to get under your skin. Or perhaps some ill-thought means of communication," he hypothesized.

She told him what she remembered of her conversation with the other her, who she suspected was the Angel. Kaworu tilted his head as he considered this. He set a hand on her shoulder, "The Angel is right about one thing. Overthinking won't help you."

"You say that like it's easy," she grumbled.

"I know it's not," he said in that serene tone that pissed her off because she couldn't actually be mad at him.

She leaned back, looking up at the clear blue sky. She sighed, "When Misato showed that we were all tied, it made me feel...weird. Like I did way back then even though I know better now!"

He nodded in understanding, "That's why you so readily took point then. Because you thought doing the hard work of defeating Leliel might validate that you were still the best."

"I know I don't need to be the best!" she snapped then frowned. In a quieter tone, she said, "I just need to know I'm not slipping again."

"I don't think that it's you're slipping," he encouraged, "I think it's just Rei and Shinji are doing better."

"That's weird though, isn't it?" she asked, "It's not like all that much has changed."

"You've changed," he pointed out, "And I wasn't here for this long last time."

"Can that be all it is?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

He hummed in thought then shrugged, "Human connection is a funny thing. Seemingly so insignificant but can be so powerful."

Asuka considered that then said out loud, "At least, I know I'm better than I was last time."

"Indeed," he agreed.

Once more propping her head on her hand, she diverted the conversation back to where it began, "That wasn't the only thing I saw but I'm not really sure what was fever dream or hallucination or what."

That shining curiosity returned to his eyes and Kaworu leaned in, "What kind of things did you see?"

"Lots of red seas, my mother..." she paused, "...you too, funnily enough."

"Me?"

"Yeah. You told me not to fail and then..." she grimaced, "...your head came off."

A horrible shudder went through Kaworu and Asuka wasn't so stupid she think she hadn't accidentally prodded some nerve. He swallowed thickly, his tone shaky as he said, "That's...disturbing."

Asuka frowned, a pit forming in her stomach at the obvious distress on his face. For a moment, she considered pressing him, curious on the context, but decided that would be way too forward, even for herself. "Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up. I imagine it was just that; a fever dream," she trailed off.

He smiled weakly, but it didn't reach his eyes, "I do hope so. I can't say how much of that was Leliel communicating and how much was your own mind. I apologize."

"I get it. I really didn't expect you to have all the answers," she shrugged. She was desperately curious as to why that had disturbed him so much but the haunted look that lingered in his eyes cemented her decision to leave it alone.

Instead, she went to her next line of questioning, "What's your take on Unit 02? What she did?"

"If I didn't know better, I'd say your mother is on our side. How curious. I don't recall seeing that before."

Asuka's eyebrows knitted together, "Really? In all your loops?"

He sincerely shook his head, "If I'm correct, your mother sought the Angel's S2 Organ."

Asuka frowned deeply. The term sounded familiar but she couldn't place where she had heard it before. Kaworu clarified, "Do you remember when Unit 01 went berserk and consumed that Angel?"

"I remember that! When Shinji was inside Unit 01, I remember pouring over that footage for weeks, trying to understand what happened! But Momma didn't act like that. Not like," she scrunched her face up, "Like an animal."

"I can't say why she behaved differently but I do know what Unit 01 did then that your mother didn't: reach 400% synchronization rate."

"That's why Misato was worried about having to 'fish me out'," Asuka nodded in understanding.

She was suddenly pretty grateful for not getting stuck inside Unit 02. Though, if that was the case, she knew she wouldn't linger as long as Shinji had—once there was a salvage operation ready, she'd be chomping at the bit to get back to business!

She added, "Do you think she knows about this loop business? Y'know, by proxy?"

"Now that's a thought!" Kaworu set his head in his hand as he pondered this, "She could have gotten mixed up in our sync back on the Over the Rainbow and got some kind of idea. But how much I'm not sure!"

He hummed, his eyes alight with interest, "All this is so new. I wonder, since I'm sure she attained Leliel's S2 Organ, if she has the potential of a god, as Unit 01 did. Maybe not, because their differing biology. Or maybe, in a particular twist of fate, your mother's simply better at hiding it."

Asuka smiled, more than a little proud at having made him curious. If her mother had some idea of what was going on, that is if she was conscious in there, then maybe they had a better shot at this than ever before! Well, that was if she was even allowed to function. Asuka's smile fell, "Misato mentioned something about "the situation getting addressed". She said she doesn't think it'll be a full on suspension but what if?"

"I don't think they'd have the luxury on keeping her on ice long," Kaworu said.

Considering the next Angel was the parasite Angel and the one after that being the one that took Unit 01 going berserk to put down, Asuka was inclined to agree. Still, that didn't completely banish the concern in her heart. Seeing her still a bit put down, Kaworu pointed out, "You know what that means, right?"

"What?"

He smiled, an uncharacteristically wild glint in his eye, "They fear her."

---

Gendo Ikari's life had gotten a fair bit more difficult in the past few days. Dr. Akagi had relayed him the terrible news he had expected early that morning: Unit 02 had integrated Leliel's S2 Organ into her biology and it was active. The good news was it seemed there had been no more effects—other than the fact she now possessed infinite energy. She had gone into a state of inactivity and seemed content to remain that way for the time being.

Thankfully, no attempts to transcend the mortal form from Kyoko.

Unfortunately, the old men had been hounding him for the past couple days for a complete report and there was only so long he could delay them. He had snatched what time he had by delaying the automatic data transfer, insisting there had been a lot of data to sift through. To make matters more complex, they had gotten wind that Unit 02 had done "something abnormal" and were clamoring for him to do two things. One, to find out why (and exactly what) it had done so they could iron out the problem in future Evas and two, to do something about it.

They wanted a full suspension of it—absolutely no further activation and to suspend the Second Child from piloting duty. According to them, Units 03 and 04 would be more than enough to pick up the slack. He had placated them for the time being by coming up with the compromise that Unit 02 would be put on lowest priority until those two Units came into NERV Japan's possession. They couldn't risk an Angel attacking them and only being allowed to use two out of their three active units.

And their final request—more like demand—was an in-person interview, really an interrogation, of the Second Child.

There was no way he was letting a child, much less a clueless firecracker like that German girl, talk to them. And he didn't miss that she harbored no small amount of hatred for him, with how she'd cast venom-filled glances at him whenever they were both in the command center. If he tried to coach her in what to say, she might just tell them the whole truth to spite him, without knowing what was really at stake!

He didn't hold any strong feelings to the well-being of the girl but with the Dead Sea Scrolls predicting great trial and tribulation in the future, he couldn't yet let that asset go. So "disappearing" her was out of the question.

With all this in mind, he offered them an alternative: her guardian and commanding officer, Major Katsuragi. He explained to them that they couldn't trust the Second Child's testimony. Her sanity was still being called in question, even out of quarantine. And knowing what happened to her mother, they had plenty reason to believe him.

"Just as well the daughter inherits the sickness of the mother," Keel had drawled, "Fine. We accept your substitution."

So now, he had to prepare the Major for meeting with the committee without actually letting her in on anything that was happening. He hated having to bring her even this tiny bit into the fold but he had no choice.

The door to his office chimed and in strode the Major, right on time. She stopped a few feet in front of his desk, "You called for me, Commander?"

"Correct. I've...got a unique task for you, Major Katsuragi."

By the way her eyebrows knitted together, he could tell she was caught off guard. Yet she forged onwards, "What is the nature of this task?"

"As you may know, NERV largely depends on the funding on a number of sources. Namely, the government and a committee."

"A committee? A committee of whom?"

"Investors and shareholders. People who have both a vested interest in the safety of Tokyo-3 and the technologies we have developed. They also have...particular opinions on how things are ran."

The Major gave a sardonic snort at that, though didn't respond otherwise. Good, she thought these people were like the rich businesspeople of any other tech company. He continued, "Somehow, there has been a leak, namely on Unit 02's actions during the last battle. This has annoyed them greatly and I can tell they want an explanation, lest they withdraw their funding. Unfortunately, they wanted it from the Second Child."

Major Katsuragi stiffened and she cried, "But she's just a child! What would she know about something like that!"

"We are in agreement then, though you might want to have a better lid on your temper before them."

She cringed, bowed her head and murmured, "My apologies, Commander."

"It's quite alright, at least in this space."

He hadn't actually minded her outburst. It felt like, in some very small way, he was able to commiserate with someone on how much he hated the old men. And it certainly couldn't hurt to show her that these weren't people to be trusted. He cleared his throat, catching her attention once more, "Of course, it would not do to let the full truth out to these people. So, you will tell them that Unit 02 suffered a berserk incident, similar to Unit 01 when the Third Child arrived. Nothing else happened. Are we clear?"

Her eyes narrowed but she stiffly nodded, "I understand, sir."

"Good. Now, let's go," he said as he rose.

Her eyes widened, "Right now?!"

"As much as I'd like to delay this meeting, these are not people who like to wait, Major Katsuragi," he beckoned her to follow him out.

Misato followed him out of his office and down the hall, to an elevator. She had been called on her way back to work, further delaying her meeting with Ritsuko. The last thing she had considered was something like this! She had known that NERV got its funding somewhere but it had never crossed her mind that it could be private citizens providing some of it. It made sense when she thought of it; after all, when the Angels were defeated, someone was probably hoping NERV would sell out the plans for the Evas.

It was weird, being this close to the Commander too. She couldn't remember ever spending any extended length of time with him and the more and more she spent, the more tense the air seemed to get. Her only solace was that he seemed as excited about this meeting as she was; so not excited at all. Like herself, he probably wanted to just get these people off their back so they could get back to the important business of killing the Angels.

Still, she couldn't shake the memory of the giant in the basement. Was there more here than meets the eye? Were these people she was about to meet with actually who Commander Ikari said they were?

The elevator let them out a few floors down and he stopped by the first door. He gestured for her to go inside, "This room is set up for virtual meetings like this. Sit at the desk and the committee will be with you shortly."

She nodded in understanding and complied. The room beyond was reasonably large and barren. As he told her, there was a desk in the middle of the room, accompanied by a chair. The walls were sleek and glossy. Maybe screens? Or hiding some other form of technology. She sat at the desk, folded her hands in front of herself and waited.

She didn't have to wait for long. The room went dark and before her, a series of grey monoliths materialized, each bearing a different number. She had to bite back a gasp. So these were the kind of people the committee were? Trying to intimidate her right out the gate. She straightened her back. One of the holograms "spoke", "Major Katsuragi, Operations Director of NERV Japan, I presume?"

She nodded, though she wasn't sure they could see her, "That would be correct."

Another spoke, "I'm sure you are aware of the purpose of this meaning?"

"Yes. I was told I was to speak to you on the events regarding the recent Angel and Evangelion Unit 02, in substitution of the Second Child."

"That is correct. We were told the Second Child would not be suitable to give us the information we desire. Do you agree with this assessment?"

She had no idea what the point of such a question was, unless it was to catch her in some sort of lie or deception. She answered, "She's just a child. What would she truly know of the Evangelion, even if she pilots one? Even us adults don't fully understand them."

Internally, she winced. She hated speaking so dismissively of Asuka, even if she might never know she did. Oh well, it was all for a good cause.

Yet another new voice chimed in, his tone mocking, "Isn't she your ward? To speak so dismissively of her…"

Misato had to bite the inside of her cheek. That confirmed this was, in-part, an attempt to get her to lash out. She would not bow to some old rich men! She answered, "That's true but at the end of the day, she is just a child. And I am an adult."

The second voice, the one she was starting to believe was whoever was in charge of this whole thing, spoke, "Then let us speak as adults. Tell us what happened at the end of the operation against the Twelfth Angel."

"Evangelion Unit 02 exhibited a berserk state, similar to what Unit 01 did against the designated Third Angel. We found it to be out of power but it still emerged from what was designated as the Angel's "shadow"."

"Did it do anything past that?"

"No, sir. It merely brutalized the Angel to escape then shut down shortly after, allowing us to bring it back into the base."

There was a long silence and Misato had to dig the nails on her free hand to not outwardly react. Would they catch her in the lie? Did they perhaps already know she was lying and were deciding what to do? What could they even do to her? After all, it was the Commander who was her higher-up, not these old men. But if the Commander had instructed her to be careful of what she said to them, then maybe their words carried a lot more weight than she knew.

Finally, the leader voice droned, "Very well, Major Katsuragi. We appreciate your cooperativeness and wish you luck in your future endeavors against the Angels."

With that, the monoliths winked out one by one until the one designated '01' left last. She lingered for half a minute more before she rose, beating a hasty retreat to the door.

Outside was the Commander, just as he left her. His head raised to acknowledge her as she left and he asked, "All went well, I presume."

She nodded, "They seemed content with my explanation."

"Good, very good," he nodded.

She lingered a moment more before she decided to voice her mind, "Sir, a question, if you will?"

"You may ask freely."

"Do you have to speak to those people often?"

"Unfortunately, my job does entail coordinating with our funding sources," he answered, his tone as neutral as ever.

She turned to leave and quipped, "Almost makes me glad to be the one facing the Angels, not them. At least with them what you see is what you get."

"Indeed. Unpredictability is the human way."

She remained where she stood and he looked up at her, coolly asking with his eyes if she had anything else to say. She added quietly, "Thank you Commander. For allowing me to take Asuka's place and protecting her. So I must thank you."

"The Second Child and her Evangelion Unit are assets we cannot afford to lose quite yet. Nothing more. Nothing less."

"...I see," and with that, she briskly walked away, stepping into the elevator.

Once inside, she further mulled over the strange meeting and the Commander's behavior after. Even though he had continually called these people "investors" and "funding sources", she couldn't shake the sense there was more there. They had tried to provoke her and, no matter what, she couldn't wrap her mind around why. Was it just how they got their kicks? If they were rich old men, she could believe they had done it just because they were power-hungry jerks.

Then again, what rational person wanted to interrogate a 14-year-old girl? She had been unconscious too when she was pulled from the plug so she had no idea what the Evangelion was doing. She hadn't even been synchronized with it, something Ritsuko had alluded to as "being a good thing". Though how exactly it was a good thing, she never followed up on.

All of this confirmed her fears—secrets were being kept from her. Now she just had to decide if she wanted to tell Kaji she wanted to know the truth. There'd be no going back then.

---

The meeting with the committee wasn't the only thing on Gendo's to-do list for the day. Once the Major was on her way and off the elevator, he took it yet deeper into the base, to the Dummy Plug Production Plant within Terminal Dogma. Unit 02's aberrant behavior aside, plans had to continue moving forward and this was one he found of utmost importance. Maybe because of the Eva's aberrant behavior.

As he had told the Doctor, the Evangelion's berserker state was borne of a mother's desire. It allowed them to do fantastical things, like function without power, but it only proved their control over them was tenuous. If he could remove the children from the equation, it would minimize such incidents.

Yet...it was the only way he had found to coax any humanity from the Evangelion—to coax Yui from her slumber within 01. His plans meant she would have to attain godhood at one point or another, though how he hadn't quite figured out yet. NERV America was performing their own experiments on the S2 Engine but only time would tell if that would work out.

For the time being, it seemed he wouldn't need the Dummy Plug for Unit 01. Shinji hadn't shown any indication that he didn't want to pilot it. Even when he arrived, all that time ago, he had accepted his duty with a grim responsibility. One that he couldn't help feeling pride about.

No, the Dummy Plug would prove useful, whether it was in replacing the Second Child or, better yet, putting a leash on SEELE's pawn.

He arrived to his location and turned into a medical room, finding Rei sitting on a bed in a hospital gown. He told her, "You arrived early, as I requested."

"Yes, sir," she nodded, "Did you have a reason for requesting me early? Am I...in trouble?"

Behind his sunglasses, his eyes furrowed. Did she have reason to believe that? He told her, "No. But my work has left me very busy so I haven't yet had the chance to ask you about the battle."

"Ah," she nodded in understanding, "I am alright."

"Good. I noticed you were very concerned of the well-being of the Second Child."

Rei bowed her head to look at the ground and, in a very small voice, admitted, "She's my fellow pilot. And a good friend. Of sorts."

"Of sorts," he echoed.

"Correct."

Gendo closed his eyes behind his glasses. Even with his best efforts, she had still made good friends with the other pilots, especially the trouble child. Perhaps he should have been more proactive but he had told himself that if he involved himself too deeply in the children's affairs, it would erode trust in their higher-ups. Considering one seemed to outright despise him and another was his estranged son, he had decided to stay mostly hands-off, hoping Rei's conditioning might disallow her deeper friendships.

Clearly, that didn't work.

Pushing Rei from any of her friends at this point would be more trouble than its worth and likely to make Rei resent him. Replacing her brought a whole new set of troubles. He had a whole myriad of reasons to only replace her if he absolutely had to. He didn't need more questioning from the people around him, much less the old men.

Not to mention whenever he saw that tank, he could help the rush of disgust of what he had done. Perverting Yui's remains as he had done.

Rei asked again, in a small voice, "Are you upset at me?"

Her tone, so small and evidently hiding fear, made some long-forgotten emotion rear its ugly head and make his chest twinge. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter, if only so he might not see her face, "No, Rei. I just hope you remember what your ultimate task is."

She nodded slowly, "I remember, sir."

"Good."

To his immense relief, he could hear Dr. Akagi's heels clicking down the hallway. She stopped beside him just as he opened his eyes, "Hello, Commander. Here to survey Rei's memory upload, for the Dummy Plug?"

"No, Dr. Akagi. I have other tasks I must attend to. I leave it in your hands," and with that, he left back for the elevator.

Rei stared out the door as she left. When the doctor bid her to follow her, she did without saying anything, her mind somewhere else.

The Commander knew she had friends and, for one reason or another, was permitting her to keep them. She was grateful but...her continued purpose meant one day those she cared about would have to go away.

And that it would be her fault.