Neon Genesis Evangelion: Conspiracy Chapter 11
NERV Offices - 1345 hours
Misato glanced nervously at the clock on her desk, it had been nearly two hours since she had told Rei to follow Shinji and Asuka and bring them back to NERV, yet there had been no contact since that time. She wondered just where Shinji and Asuka were headed and why they left so suddenly. She glanced at the clock again, barely a minute had gone by since she last checked. The excitement of being sent to the same branch of NERV as Shinji was quickly wearing off. At first she was happy she was going to be his immediate superior, after the past few days she just wasn't so sure anymore.

It was almost as if he had reverted back to how he was when they first met, he was keeping his distance from her, not telling her anything and doing his best to disobey her, just like he had when he was fourteen before the hospital incident.

'Is it because we haven't had contact in so long, or is that just how Shinji will always be?' <./i>

Her thoughts wandered over to Shinji's recent discovery about his father and how his father was there in that hospital with them. It didn't make any sense that after more than fifteen years of non-contact his father suddenly reappeared like that, coupled in with the cases both he and Asuka had been sent on recently. She just couldn't see the connection anywhere, unless Shinji was once again withholding information.

What surprised her most was Asuka's role in this, she didn't seem to be having any problem with going along with Shinji despite her skepticism and the constant disagreements. Compared to what she had read about Agent Sohryu, it seemed out of character, the Agent Sohryu she had heard about was a brilliant Agent determined to rise through the ranks, there was even talk once that Asuka was headed for deputy director in the far future.

'Is she just trying to find a new way to prove herself? Try to prove something that couldn't be proved and make a name for herself that way?' <./i>

Finally there was Agent Ayanami, the mysterious blue haired Agent, no one she had spoke to knew anything about her. A few people mentioned how she was seen in a NERV Office in one area of Japan for one week and then moved to another the next week. No one knew anything about her or who she was. Her records were completely blank aside from the bare essentials and her assignment to her division was incredibly out of the blue as well.

'Rei Ayanami, a twenty eight year old Agent who may as well not exist, she appears twice, one time attacking one of my Agents and then she gets assigned to my division. Just who is she?' <./i>

Before she got a chance to question anything any further there was a knock at her door, she quickly leapt up and dashed over to the door. She opened it hoping it might be the three agents but gave a disappointed sigh when she realized who it was.

"Oh it's you... What do you want?"

Kaji grinned at her and stepped forward only to find Misato blocking him from entering the office.

"I'll ask you again, what do you want?"

"I just wanted to see how you were, I noticed your Agents are all out and thought you might be lonely down here on your own. These basement offices aren't exactly full of life from what I've heard."

"I was fed up of the constant parties on the tenth floor, you have five minutes."

He entered the office, Misato closing the door behind him. She made her way back to her desk and watched Kaji as he pulled up a chair next to her. Before he was able to get a word out however Misato was able to get out a question that had been bugging her since the morning.

"Why were you in the director's office earlier today?"

"Oh no reason, he just wanted to talk to me about transferring here."

"Aren't you the lucky one, I didn't even get as much as a note."

"Jealous?"

She glared at him and quickly snapped back.

"Of you, you must be joking. What do you really want?"

"Well actually I was telling the truth but I did want to apologize for what happened on the ship, I shouldn't have told Asuka about Shinji's father."

"You're right, you shouldn't."

"But it was only right he found out."

"Was it? If he hadn't found out maybe now I'd have my three agents back here doing something useful and not going around Tokyo 3 chasing after some ridiculous case, that once again you gave them."

"I don't know what you mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean, the case on those twins you gave Shinji. He's followed it up and pulled Asuka into it, I had Rei following them."

Kaji glanced at her, the smile on his face had long since gone, instead it had been replaced with a serious expression.

"Misato, Shinji isn't fourteen anymore, he can handle himself, as can Agent Sohryu and Ayanami. Shinji's job within this department is to investigate the unexplained, what I gave him was something he would be interested in, even if he hadn't found out about his father."

She raised her voice at him, startling him in the process.

"I know he isn't fourteen anymore but that's besides the point... he.... I... forget it."

Misato quickly fought back the tears forming in her eyes and looked out across her office.

"I just wanted to help him, but he won't tell me anything, it's like he's avoiding me."

"Look, I wasn't there to see what he was like most of the time, all I know is what you've told me, but going by that that's just what he's like. I'm sure he knows what he's doing, besides which even if he doesn't Sohryu and Ayanami will be able to sort him out."

"Maybe you're right, it's just that I can't help but think something's happening and I'm just not being told anything, I mean look at Agent Ayanami. The first contact we had with her was when Shinji was out on a case involving a man named Sachiel, the second time she attacked Agent Sohryu. She actually attacked an agent and then she suddenly gets assigned to work with them, doesn't that seem a little bit strange to you?"

"NERV does operate in strange ways sometimes and gets its Agents to do peculiar things to bring down certain people. Ayanami was probably just one of these
Agents, don't delve into it, you'll only be wasting your time."

"Possibly, maybe I'm worrying too much."

Forest - 1400 hours
"Stupid phone, what are we going to do now. We can't just sit around here with whoever this guy is for company, waiting for our phones to come back on and we can't leave because paranoid Shinji there thinks we won't be able to find the body again if we do leave."

Asuka glared over at Rei and then towards Shinji, at this moment in time hating them both very much, she had started the day off well. Well that was a lie, she had started the day off in one of the worst ways possible, then she had decided to help Shinji with this and now she couldn't help but think she had made a huge mistake, she was cold, wet from the rain that had just started and her headache from earlier that day was starting to return.

'This is stupid, I could be back at the office now, sure it'd be boring but I'd be warm instead of bored, cold and in the company of Shinji, Wondergirl and this dead guy' <./i>

"Logically, one of us should make our way out and go to get help."

"Well there you go it's settled, I'll go back to NERV and get Misato and transport for the body."

Shinji quickly spoke out forcefully enough to startle Asuka.

"No."

"What do you mean no, do you have any better options?"

"If you go you might not be able to find us when you come back."

"I can look after myself you know, look it's the only option we have."

"We'll stay here for another hour then, and after that we'll see about sending one of us out."

This time Shinji wasn't as forceful when he spoke, instead he was speaking much more quietly and softly. Asuka knew immediately that all he had just said about them not being able to find their way back was a lie. There was something else on his mind that he wasn't letting on, something he didn't want to tell them or her. She watched him as he made his way over to the edge of the clearing and sat with his back against one of the trees. She shouted back at him angrily.

"Fine, have it your way, but we're wasting our time."

It was perhaps a bit harsh on her part and she almost regretted saying the words but quickly bit back an apology. If he wasn't going to tell her anything, in her mind why should she apologize for one harsh comment? Shinji merely turned his head up towards the sky and looked around absent mindedly, completely ignoring Asuka's comment. Asuka sighed angrily and turned towards Rei, the blue haired agent seemingly taking no notice of the argument or simply not caring.

"So what is your story anyway?"

"I do not understand."

"Well why were you so suddenly assigned to work with us?"

"I don't know, I am just carrying out my orders."

Shinji raised his head towards the two women, his mind still trying to sort out what had just happened to him.

'Have I found what I was looking for?' <./i>

He cast the thought away quickly, not wanting to believe it, despite the fact that his whole purpose within NERV was prove to himself and to others that extraterrestrial life existed. The fact that he could have just came into contact with it was too farfetched.

'The light...the bright light pulling me towards it, was that them? Were they trying to get to me, do they know who I am? It had to have been them but even if it was, no one would believe me. Agent Sohryu...she'd never believe me and Agent Ayanami...she was there coming towards me, she saw it but won't acknowledge it...is she with them? No, she couldn't be, it's impossible.' <./i>

He looked over again, noticing Asuka had now stood up and was now speaking more forcefully at Rei.

"I suppose it was your orders to attack me as well."

"My orders are top secret, I cannot tell yo..."

"How convenient...if your orders were to kill me would you have done that?"

"If I was ordered to..."

Asuka was about to bring her hand back to slap Rei when she felt someone grabbing hold of her wrist. She turned to find Shinji glaring at her angrily, it was almost scary, she had never seen him truly angry. He let go of her wrist and shouted.

"Agent Sohryu stop it, what's gotten into you?"

She glared back at him not saying anything, her face showing pure rage at Shinji shouting at her, inside she was fighting back tears and the urge to slap him as well. Asuka quickly pushed her way past him out of the clearing, taking her phone out as she reached the edge. Shinji stood there watching her moving out of sight, he was about to call over to her or even go over to see if she was alright but something stopped him. Instead he sank to his knees and turned to Rei.

"Sorry..."

"What for?"

"For what just happened, not exactly the best introduction to how we work."

"Is this what it is usually like?"

"No, usually it's alright. I mean she's usually making jokes at my expense but nothing like that has ever happened before."

"I see."

"Although you and her didn't really have the best first meeting, you know with the whole you attacking her thing."

He smiled trying to make a joke out of it, Reis expression remained fixed.

"I was only doing what I had been told to do, would you and her not have done the same?"

"Maybe, it depends on what we would have been told I guess. I'm not the best person to ask about that, I don't really have the best track record with NERV."

"I did not know that, if this is what it is going to be like, maybe I should request a transfer."

Shinji turned to Rei, her voice had remained the same but there was almost a look of hurt across her face. He lowered his head trying to think of what to say, he had already angered Rei today and he didn't have any intention of driving her away with his words.

"You don't have to do that, maybe you should try apologizing to her though, it might be a start."

Just outside of the clearing Asuka was leaning against a tree, listening into the conversation. She looked around noticing both Rei and Shinji were talking, their backs away from where she was. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve and checked her phone again.

'Why am I getting upset over this? It's stupid just because the idiot raised his voice, that's no reason to upset, I don't get upset at other things. Just because he's standing up for that blue haired bitch. <./i>

She looked and noticed her phone appeared to be giving her a signal now, she was about to dial in the number for Misato when she heard Shinji speaking near her, startling her slightly.

"Agent Sohryu, are you alright?"

She looked at him and spoke.

"Yes of course I am I was just checking the phone again, we're getting a signal now so we can probably get in contact with Katsuragi."

"Good, tell her we need an autopsy performed on the body. Preferably by someone we can trust."

"Leave it to me, I know the perfect person who can do it for us."

Morgue - 1615 hours

"I can't believe you talked me into doing this."

"Oh come on Hikari, we need you to do this."

"Why me? Any of the other people here could have done it. I'm a lecturer at the academy not a field agent. Besides, it's against regulations, you haven't even gotten permission to do this."

"Look, the body is unidentified and died under mysterious circumstances. We have our director of operation's blessing on this."

"Unidentified by whom?"

"Well me and Agent Ikari but..."

"Agent Ikari, you're doing this for him? I'm surprised at you, I thought you would have been more intelligent than that."

"I'm not doing this for him, and what do you mean more intelligent?"

"As much as I feel sorry for him, and the way many Agents within NERV ridicule him for his beliefs, sometimes I can't help but think he deserves it. I mean, he threw away a career here to look into such ridiculous things as the paranormal and aliens."

"So he's a bit strange, is that really important? Besides which, he isn't the one asking for this, I am, so are you going to do it?"

Hikari sighed and looked at her friend

"I guess so, I'm here now aren't I? Show me the body."

Asuka nodded and turned towards the entrance to the morgue, the two of them entered the room to find Shinji already standing there waiting for them. He made his way over to them both and extended his hand out to Hikari.

"Agent Horaki, thanks for doing this on such short notice."

She shook his hand and smiled back at him politely.

"Not a problem, I just need to ask a few questions first. What was the body's condition when you found it?"

"Heavily burnt across the face, and throughout the body there were burns everywhere. The victim was wearing a uniform of some sort, with a logo which had seven eyes within it on the shirt. The victim had no belongings of any sort, no ID, no wallet or anything."

"I see, well lets get started."

Hikari walked over to a counter and picked up a small recording device, she pressed one of the buttons on it and spoke into it.

"Beginning autopsy at four twenty pm, Autopsy is being performed by Agent Hikari Horaki with Agent's Sohryu and Ikari present."

She removed the covers, revealing the body on the counter and stepped back in surprise at the state of the body. The face was just as Shinji had said, completely charred and unrecognizable, the rest of the body was also severely burned. She spoke into the device again.

"I have just removed the cover and taken my first look at the body, victim is male and has severe burning on the face and throughout the body. The burns appear to be in some sort of pattern and have been inflicted by someone else. There also appear to be two stitched wounds around the sides of the body. From initial observation I'd estimate time of death to be around twelve thirty today."

Asuka and Shinji exchanged a glance, that was about the same time they had entered the forest. They let Hikari continue speaking.

"The pattern on the body seems to consist of eleven circular sections, all connected to each other."

Shinji's quickly moved forward and began looking at the body more carefully, counting each of the circular sections Hikari had mentioned and the number of connections. Hikari paused the recording the device and spoke to him.

"What is it?"

"The marking, what you just said reminded me of where I've seen it before. It's a Jewish Religious symbol, the tree of life."

"I see."

She un-paused the device and began speaking again.

"I am now beginning the internal examination."

She put the recorder down on the counter and picked up a scalpel. She looked up at Asuka and Shinji and smiled.

"You two don't have to stay for this part you know."

They both looked at her and nodded but remained where they were. Hikari made her way over to the body and began to make a vertical incision into it, from the base of the throat down towards the pelvis. The first thing she noticed when she opened the body was the blood within it, it was a strange orange color. She looked up at Asuka and questioned her.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?"

Asuka nodded.

"Yes, several times, we don't know where it comes from, only that it's been present in some of the cases we've been a part of. All we know is it's called LCL, I've ran tests on it only to find it is a ninety nine percent match to human blood. It seems to act in the same way as well."

"I see, well I don't think we can use this for identification so we'll have to make do with something else, I do however want to take a sample of it to analyze further."

"I can take care of that, if you want."

"Thanks, ok now to take a look inside."

Shinji stared down to the ground at hearing her say that, he tried to focus his thoughts on something else for that moment, while he waited for Hikari to finish. Asuka also took to looking at the other side of the room, at the now highly interesting cabinet full of test tubes and other scientific devices. After what seemed like an eternity, Hikari finally spoke, her voice slightly jubilant at seeing the two agents doing their best not to look at the body.

"You two can look now, I'm done with the body."

They both stepped forward towards her and looked at her expectantly. Asuka was the first to speak.

"So, what did you find?"

"Aside from the liquid you call LCL nothing unusual inside the body. That's not what concerns me though, I did find trace amounts of actual blood within the body. I'd have to run some tests on it, but it looked as if it was turning into the LCL substance. I also found out the cause of death."

"The burns?"

"Surprisingly no, our victim suffered what I can only describe as a complete system failure. His entire body just...shut down. What is really strange is that it seems like the burn marks on the victim came after he died, at least a good couple of hours or so later."

"But who would have done such a thing?"

"I don't know, that's yours and Agent Ikari's job to find out. At a guess I'd say some strange religious cult. Agent Ikari mentioned it was the tree of life on the victim's body, victims of sacrifices often have religious markings engraved into them."

Asuka tilted her head and looked at the body on the slab, her eyes wandered to the stitch marks on the sides of the body.

"What about the wounds on the sides of the body?"

"I took a look and found nothing, again just speculation but I'd say bullet wounds. Maybe from a similar type of weapon to the ones NERV issue out to its agents. Upon closer inspection there were more wounds, all of them sustained today."

"What time?"

"I honestly couldn't say, they look recent though."

The man from earlier that day flashed into Asuka's mind, she and Shinji had fired four shots at him, however he recovered from them immediately. There was also the matter of the time of death, according to Hikari the time of death was about the time they entered the forest, the same time the man they were chasing had escaped and the same time she lost track of Shinji. Also, the exact same time she had encountered Agent Ayanami in the forest. She bit her bottom lip and looked over towards Shinji, he too appeared to be deep in thought about the whole thing. He looked up at her and then turned to Hikari and spoke.

"Is there any chance we could get a positive identification on the body?"

"It'll be difficult, but there are still a few things left I can use to get an ID."

"Thanks, can you do it now please?"

"Umm sure, it might take a while though so you two might want to wait outside."

"Fine with me."

The two of them made their way out of the morgue, leaving Hikari to do her job. Once outside Asuka, quickly turned to Shinji and spoke.

"It was Agent Ayanami."

"What, what are you talking about?"

"Look, think about it right. The time of death was about the same time we lost track of him, the same time I got separated from you. A few minutes later I encountered Agent Ayanami in the forest. That person in there is the same person we were chasing, it has to be, there's no other possibility."

Shinji sighed and looked at her in disbelief, he thought about her explanation. It did make sense but he knew Ayanami couldn't have done that. He thought about what happened to him earlier in the forest and wondered if he should tell Asuka about it.

"It can't have been. There was only a few minutes between you losing sight of him and then encountering Ayanami. She wouldn't have had time to kill him and then burn all that into him. Besides which, there was...."

He quickly stopped himself from telling her about the light her saw and Ayanami coming towards him and freeing him from it.

"There was what exactly?"

"There was no way she could have caused all of his major organs to fail all in one go, I will admit there is a lot we don't know about her, but she isn't a murderer."

"Unless it was in her orders to do so."

"I think you're being unfair to her."

"Unfair? She attacked me, she came at me, unprovoked, with a knife, Ikari. She doesn't even have the guts to apologize to me later and expects me to be fine with it, just because she was carrying out 'orders'?"

"I guess...maybe you're right. It's just when you were away I had to work on something with her, take down some guy called Ramiel."

"Yes I know, I read the case report, what about it?"

"She told me she has nothing else but NERV, I'm angry that she attacked you and I wish we knew more about her, but if she thinks she has nothing else then how can we blame her for it?"

"Fine, whatever, I can't be bothered to argue with you. I'll tolerate her for now."

"Thank you."

The area fell into silence as they both waited for Hikari to exit with some news. After a short while the door opened and Hikari stood there with a bewildered expression.

"I...have some news regarding our victim."

Stooges Residence - 1800 hours
"You knew that was going to happen didn't you?"

Shinji grinned and looked out the car window.

"Yes, as soon as I saw that logo on his shirt I had a feeling something like that would happen. You were thinking the same thing though weren't you."

"What, that when we did get a positive ID we'd find nothing on the victim? I had a vague idea, seems to be the way our cases go, we find someone try to find out who they are and run into a brick wall."

"Right, someone doesn't want us to find out anything about those people. Agent Ayanami, my father, that victim the source of these cases we've been sent on, they're all connected, the only question is why?"

"Ayanami?"

"I believe so, although unlike the others I don't think she understands why. She's only carrying out the wishes of the others."

"What about our victim?"

Shinji thought about it for a moment and said the only thing that came to his mind.

"Maybe he disobeyed them, or they ran out of a use for him?"

Asuka pulled the car into the parking lot and looked up at the apartment. She sighed and hung her head in disgust.

"Ok, so I understand all that, the only question is why did we have to visit the two stooges?"

Shinji laughed at her comment and opened the car door.

"Because despite being 'stooges' as you put it, they can also help us get more information on our victim, just like they were able to get more information on Ayanami."

"Yes but when they got the information on Ayanami the information was subsequently hidden by that same logo we keep seeing."

"Simple, we'll get them to print it as soon as it appears on screen."

"Right, I still don't like the idea of it though, you realize what happens if we get caught?"

"Yes I do, but if we find out the truth in the process it's worth it. Besides which you just had your friend perform an unofficial autopsy."

"Well that's different...that's...alright you win."

They both stepped out of the car and made their way up to the apartment, once there Shinji knocked on the door and waited for an answer. A few moments passed with no answer so he knocked again, receiving no reply once more.

"They're.... not in? What is this world coming to if they of all people aren't in?"

Shinji couldn't help himself but laugh, he would have tried to defend his friends but in this case he had nothing. A noise was heard on the other side of the door, Shinji stopped laughing in time to hear Kensuke's voice.

"Who is it?"

Shinji called through the door.

"It's Ikari and Sohryu, open up."

The familiar sound of the locks being opened was heard and the door finally opened to reveal Kensuke standing there wearing a pink apron with a spatula in his hand. Asuka immediately burst out laughing, causing Shinji to do the same. Kensuke just stood there glaring at them both.

"Yeah yeah hilarious isn't it, what do you both want?"

"Sorry, we need your help again, although if you're busy we could always come back later."

Shinji made his way into the apartment and Asuka soon followed, still grinning heavily, as she walked past Kensuke she couldn't help but comment.

"So what are you cooking? You know the apron suits you, maybe you should wear it more often."

They made their way into the main living area, just like Asuka expected the room was exactly the same as it had been when they were last in there. Cables all over the place linked up to computers, in fact Asuka could have sworn more had been added since they were last here. Touji turned around from his screen and noticed they had entered the room.

"Hey Shinji, how ya doing man?"

"I'm good, look we have something we need you guys to look into again."

"Not a problem, what is it?"

"We need you to look up a person again, although this time as soon as the information appears we need you to print it out. We're expecting that logo to flash up again and block access."

"Not a problem, when do you need it by?"

"As soon as possible."

"I can get to work on it now, I got a few new things installed that I want to test out anyway. Why do you need it anyway?"

"Can't say I'm afraid, we don't even know ourselves."

"Well be sure to let us know when you do because we might be able to help out."

"Sure thing."

Shinji was about to give Touji the name of the person when his cell phone began to ring. He answered it quickly and began to speak only to be cut off by the other person, almost immediately.

"Hel..."

"Shinji, it's Kaji there isn't much time for this, you and Sohryu have to get to Ayanami's apartment immediately." <./i>

Reis Apartment - 1900 hours
Storm clouds had begun to appear over the apartment complex as Shinji and Asuka pulled up outside the building. Much to their surprise Rei's apartment was situated in one of the more run down areas of the city. The building itself looked old and nearly ready to be demolished. Asuka shouted over to Shinji as they made their way up towards the entrance.

"Are you sure this is the place?"

"Yes, this is the address Kaji gave me. He said to get to Ayanami's apartment immediately and then gave me this address."

"How could she live in such a place, it's disgusting."

"I don't know, we don't have time for this, let's get up there quickly."

They both quickly made their way into the dark hallway, just as they did so the sound of thunder roared over head. Shinji made his way forward and the smell of damp attacked his nostrils, he turned to see the rain had started to come down heavily outside and had already began to run down the walls of the hallway. They made their way towards the staircase and began to climb up it, slowly withdrawing their hand guns ready for whatever might be up there.

Eventually they came to the third floor, just where Shinji had been told Rei's apartment was located. They turned into the corridor, the first thing Shinji noticed being the figure lying unconscious on the ground. Shinji ran towards it and immediately recognized it as Rei, he turned towards Asuka who was also kneeling down besides Rei.

"Room 302, this is her apartment."

"Yes, call for help I'll check out the apartment."

He stood back up and edged towards the room, the door was already open so he moved slowly inside. As he stepped inside he wondered how a person could live like this, the apartment wasn't even what could be called an apartment, it consisted of a bed on one side of the room, a single chest of drawers, a small kitchen and a door leading to a bathroom. No more and no less. He stepped into the main area and noticed two figures, he aimed his pistol at them only to find out they were two young girls.

'Could these be the twins Kaji spoke about... no, they were nineteen, these girls couldn't be a day over eight' <./i>

He lowered the gun and observed the two girls, they were looking at him but not speaking. They were identical with no noticeable differences, between them on the floor was a small doll. Shinji knelt down and spoke to them.

"Are you two alright, what are you doing here?"

Shinji turned and saw Asuka now entering the room, she looked at the two girls with a look of confusion and then her eyes wandered to the doll. Shinji looked at her as she stood there transfixed on the doll.

"Agent Sohryu are you al..."

He was cut off as the two girls began to speak.

"We were playing with our doll, but she isn't well."

Shinji's eyes darted back and forth between the two children, they spoke in unison. He replied to them softly.

"Who are you both?"

"Do you want to see our doll, we think she's dead. Her name is Asu..."

"YOU BITCHES!"

Asuka aimed her gun at the doll and fired a shot directly at it, taking the head completely off of the doll. She then aimed her gun at the girl on the right only to have Shinji grab hold of her hand and push the gun out of the way.

"What are you doing, they're only small children?"

The child on the right began to speak, closely followed by the girl on the left.

"Yes we're only..."

"...small children."

Shinji turned his head towards them after hearing them speak, their voices had changed that time. As he turned he found the two young girls had gone, instead now standing before him were two nineteen year old girls. Shinji released his grip on Asuka's hand and aimed his pistol at them, Asuka not speaking but also doing the same. He stammered out.

"Wha... what are you?"

They once again spoke each one finishing off each others sentences.

"We are..."

"...Israfel...Gendo made..."

"...us like this."

There was a flash of light between them, as Shinji and Asuka looked on, the light subsided and now in front of them stood one single woman. Shinji once again spoke out this time barely able to speak.

"G...Gendo, my father?"

The woman in front of him smiled and spoke, still sounding like two people.

"Correct, we were Angel Project number seven."

There was a flash of light and the two nineteen year old twins stood in front of Shinji and Asuka again.

"We were taken at the age of nineteen..."

"...and altered by SEELE, we were..."

"...altered to operate as one mind..."

"...and one body. Our purpose was...."

"...to succeed where our other Angel"

"....brethren have failed..."

They spoke the final sentence together.

"To eliminate the Evangelion."

"Evangelion?"

"You don't even know? This should make it easier."

The word ran through Shinji's mind and then it hit him, on the day he passed out and Ayanami attacked Asuka that is what Ayanami had called him, she had called him Evangelion Unit 1.

"You mean us don't you? Ayanami was Zero, I am Unit One and Sohryu is Unit Two, am I right?"

"You finally understand, it's a shame it's too late. That knowledge could have saved you."

The two women quickly dashed towards Shinji and Asuka, as they did so the two Agents immediately fired a shot simultaneously at them. A bright field appeared in front of the girls as the bullets rebounded off. Shinji felt a heavy force in his stomach as he was sent backwards by a kick from one of the girls. He looked over and saw Asuka also being sent backwards.

Shinji looked up just in time to dodge a blow from the girl and tried to follow up with a knee to the stomach only to be thrown across the room by the force of the field the girl had brought up. He felt himself hit the wall and go straight through it due to the force, he lay their dazed for a moment, only to have to quickly dodge out the way when Asuka was also sent through the wall. She landed with a huge thud next to him and scrambled to her feet, through the hole in the wall Shinji noticed the two girls had reformed into one woman again and was just standing there.

"We need to think this one through."

"They're able to operate as one mind and have full synchronization with each other, what one see's or feels the other seems to be able to. How do we defeat that?"

"They're in their single form at the moment, if we can somehow keep her like that we might have a chance, follow what I do."

Shinji looked at her with confusion but nodded.

"I think fun time is over now, it's time to destroy you both."

Shinji turned to see Asuka had raised her gun at the woman, Shinji did the same and fired at the exact same time as Asuka. She moved around to the other side of the room as Shinji did the exact same. There was a flash of light and the woman split into two again, one going after Asuka and the other going after Shinji. Shinji saw the girl coming towards him and rolled out the way just as Asuka had done. They both stood with their backs to each other in the center of the room as Shinji quickly spoke to her.

"This dancing around is all well and good but what now?"

"Wait and see."

Asuka dived forward, Shinji followed suit. Both of the girls were now in the center of the room facing each other. Asuka quickly took her chance and fired a series of shots into the girls backs, Shinji followed suit. The bullets merely deflected from the field but each time Shinji noticed the bullets getting slightly closer to the girls. He caught Asuka's eye and she nodded towards him as they both reloaded their pistols. The girls once again moved towards them, only to have both Asuka and Shinji moved back through into Rei's Apartment. Shinji spoke quietly to her again.

"Asuka, I don't think I understand what we're trying to do here."

"You haven't been injured yet have you?"

"No but..."

"I'll explain after we get out of this then, just keep doing what I do ok."

The two girls made their way back into Rei's apartment only to be met with quick knee's to the stomach from both Asuka and Shinji. The two of them staggered towards the center of the room and Asuka and Shinji quickly fired shots at them once again. One of Shinji's shots grazing one of the girls in the shoulder, there was a flash of light again as the two girls merged into the one woman. This time Asuka took her chance, she dived towards the woman knocking her to the ground and unloading the rest of her ammunition into the woman as she ran. She quickly got off and looked over towards Shinji who was staring at her in disbelief, Asuka panting, turned towards him and spoke.

"You see, nice and easy, just like I said."

Shinji sank to the floor and looked onwards at the dead woman lying on the ground, there was a faint glow around her as she once again split into the two nineteen year olds. Both lay there motionless, a pool of orange liquid trickling from the bullet wounds. Shinji let his gun fall to the floor as he looked from the bodies to Asuka who was also kneeling on the floor, once again transfixed on the doll she had shot earlier. He looked at her curiously and spoke.

"Asuka, are you alright?"

She turned to him, an angered expression on her face, but still speaking calmly.

"I'm...fine let's get out of here and wait for Katsuragi to show up."