All characters copyrighted by Gainax, not me.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

In this fic, Yui Ikari is NOT part of Unit 1. If you have a problem

with this, don't read.

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If Shinji was mad when his father took control of his body to

destroy Unit 3, and nearly kill Toji, then he was well beyond that

now. He wasn't sure if what he felt really had a name, that's how mad 

he was.

'He's put Asuka through _hell_ just to prove his theory!

That..._thing_ isn't human; it doesn't deserve that privilege!' he 

thought savagely.

His father had no right to do that! But no, nothing was wrong for that

man.

Shinji started to wonder what had made the loving man he had once

known as 'Father' to change into this creature, something far more 

monsterous than the Angels ever would be. 'Maybe I dreamed the years

he was like that...my father as a loving man? Hah, like that would 

ever happen!'

Shinji was in his own private world while he watched the rescue

workers pull Asuka out of his entry plug, and his heart stopped for a

moment when her limp body appeared. The last time he had seen someone

pulled out of a damaged entry plug, it was Toji and he's lost an arm

and a leg, due to Shinji's uncontrolled actions. This time was much 

the same.

'That will _never_ happen again' he swore. He just wouldn't let it

happen.

Not again. When Misato said that she was going down to see Asuka to

the hospital, she didn't even get Shinji's attention. He was still 

looking out at Unit 1, now secured tightly to the walls of the Seventh 

Cage.

"Why? Why did you do it?" He wispered quietly to himself, and

Misato assumed he was refering to his father, before she left. He

started to feel his head throbbing slightly, but he closed his eyes

and focused on something, anything that would take away his pain. A 

brief image of Asuka flashed through his mind. Then another. Finally, 

the last image of her that he saw was of her broken and tortured body,

just like in his nightmare. 'Stop! Stop it!' he thought. 'Please...' 

he was begging now, but to whom? Whoever was doing it must have heard, 

for the pain and the images stopped.

Maya, who was worried about Asuka, took one look at Shinji and knew

that he was turning into his father. Quiet, withdrawn, planning,

highly intellegent, has control over everything, it seemed; these are

qualities found in the Commander of NERV. 'Maybe it's genetic,' she 

thought. She had no idea what he was thinking. After a few minutes 

she gave up and went back to work. There was new data from Unit 1 

that needed analysing, and fast. This new data may provide the key 

to getting all Eva's to synch with any pilot with no problems.

"Maya, will you bring Shinji to the main Control Room, please?"

Misato asked over the comm system, hours later. In that period of

time, Shinji neither changed position, nor did he acknowledge anyone's

presence; it was if he was in his own little world. Maya only looked 

stunned for a few moments, then she summoned up her courage and 

walked over to the beauty.

"Shinji," she started nervously, then tried again, "Shinji, Misato

would like for you to go to the main Control Room." Shinji made no

moves to indicate that he'd heard her, so she opened her mouth and 

started to try again.

"I know," Shinji interupted her, then he turned and left, with

Maya following. 

She jogged up to him and asked: "What happened between you and father 

back there?"

"A warning," was his reply, and try as she might, she couldn't get

him to elaborate. She started to ask him another question, but they

were interupted by the main Control doors opening. "You rang?" he 

asked Misato and she was taken aback by his new attitude, but the 

feeling soon passed.

"Yes, I did. Take a look," she said and idicated the monitor in

front of her. The image shown was Asuka in one of the lounges, crying.

"I thought you might want to see this. We're trying to get to her, 

but she's rebuffed all attempts so far. Rei is down there now."

"What do you have planned?" he asked, trying to keep control of his

anger. He looked up to Commander Ikari for an answer. 'This had better

be good,' Shinji thought.

"We're trying to get her attention," the Commander replied, and an

idea blossomed into Shinji's mind. He remembered that he'd get Asuka

back for pulling him into the pool, and this would _really_ get her

attention.

"Let me," Shinji said. Misato only looked at him blankly. Her

mouth tried several times to move, to make speech, but just couldn't.

"I know what I'm doing, however, what I have in mind will most likely

end up with some damage done to my person. Don't be suprised and 

expect something...unorthodox."

"I expect success," Commander Ikari said. Shinji didn't dignify

that with a response. He walked to the elevator, got in, and rode it

all the way to the lounge. He got out and walked into the plush room.

'This place is too..fluffy,' he decided. Rei moved away when she saw 

him, and then she dissappeared. He walked up to Asuka, her back to him.

"Asuka, it's me."

"P...p...please go away," she said after a few tries, trying to

keep calm. She was in no mood to deal with _him_ right now. Rei was

easy, just ignore her. Shinji was hard to ignore before he left, he 

just didn't give up. Now, he was worse, being the beauty he was.

"Asuka, don't do this. Come back to us," he tried again, this time

adding emphasis on the 'us'. Although it seemed that he was trying to

get her to admit her wrongs, etc., that wasn't what he was thinking.

Asuka, however, lost it, she turned angrily on him and Shinji saw the

opening he'd been looking for.

"For the last tim-" she was interupted by Shinji placing his mouth

over hers in a deep kiss. Asuka just stood there, too dumbfounded to

react. When he finally broke it off, she didn't know what to do to

him.

She just couldn't decide. She finally settled on a course of action.

"Since when does 'go away' translate into 'please shove your tongue

down my throat'?!" she asked angrily.

"It got your attention, didn't it?" he replied. When he saw the

distinctive shade of red spread across her face, he added, "Besides,

that was revenge for the pool!" Asuka was _so_ mad now. Rei walked up 

from wherever she'd disappeared to.

"Did the Commander put you up to this?" she asked, monotone, not

betraying any of her thoughts. This time, it was Shinji who got mad.

"NEVER!!!!I will never again do as he says! He's SLIME!" he turned

his head to the camera in the room. "Slime," he repeated again. Then

he turned back to the two girls standing there. Rei looked at him

intently.

Then she did as she usually did when he insulted his father. She

slapped him.

Shinji's head whipped to the right, his left cheek smarting. He

staggered, and nearly lost his balance, but fought it and remained

standing. He rubbed his jaw a little, then turned back to them again.

"Not bad, but try following through with your shoulder and twisting

your hips," he suggested, putting out her fire. Asuka looked from Rei 

to Shinji, and followed Wonder Girl's lead. She backhanded him, using 

his suggestions.

Again Shinji's head snapped around, this time to the left. His

view of the world fuzzed out, turning black. He lost his balance this

time and went crashing to the ground, hard. Asuka felt _real_ 

satisfaction since being the first to synch with Unit 1 in three 

years other that Idiot Boy. A smirk starting to spread across her 

features, and quickly turned into a full grin as she spun on her heel 

and walked, almost pranced, out of the room. Rei trailed behind as her

orders were to follow Asuka. Shinji just lay there, still not moving.

Everybody in the control room was left with their mouths agape.

All but one that was; Commander Ikari sat there like a statue. Misato

looked at Kaji, then at Ritsuko, and finally at Maya. Their

expressions mirrored hers: completely blank and lost. Nobody moved 

for a long time, then Shinji started to stir. He moaned and rolled 

over, hitting a nearby table in the process with his head. He sat up 

and looked directly at the security camera.

"I hope that was to your satisfaction. I'm going back to the

apartment."

Commander Ikari was glad nobody was looking at him, otherwise they

might have seen the smile threatining to cross his face; this was

getting better and better!

Within a few minutes, Shinji had left the base and was well on his

way home, and heard a loud rumble, but dismissed it as an earthquake.

He was too far lost in thought about what he'd done to Asuka and how 

he felt about it to give the thought any serious consideration. 

'Wait a second, _what_ earthquakes? There haven't been any here at 

all...' the thought ended as he backtracked to the large street he 

crossed a few blocks back.

He poked his head out and looked to his right; he saw nothing. He

looked to his left and saw a large tank with "UN" stenceled on the 

back.

'What are they doing here?' he thought to himself before giving up as 

his head started to pulsate.

"Please stop," he whispered to himself, wondering if he had in fact

gone insane for thinking that his father may have been right. But his

head didn't listen to him, it started redoubling it's efforts to 

explode.

Then it stopped suddenly, and he breathed a sigh of relief while 

returning back to his new home, never knowing that Misato and the

rest of NERV were fighting for their lives.

End

Cory Holmes

gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca

Thanks to: Jon Farber and Mark Eymer.