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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Shinji and Asuka were running faster than they ever had before.

After Shigeru called them, there was an unvoiced decision to put off
all

intimate contact until later. Their jobs saw to that. While running

Shinji felt the strangest thing; his blood sang for combat, his pulse

quickened with the thought of battle. After violently telling himself
to

stop, he reflected on his new ways of thinking. 'Probably Asuka's
fault.

It's her influence on me,' he thought.

Asuka was leading the way, and Shinji tried not to think of her in

various ways, but the one thing he couldn't stop himself from longing
to do

was kiss her again. 'It's scary to think about how much my opinion of
her

has changed over the years,' he thought. 'Is this what real love feels

like?' he asked himself. 'Am I in love with her?' he also asked
himself,

but was stopped from answering when she tripped and fell. He stopped
to

help her up, but she pushed his hand away. When she got up she only
glared

daggers at him.

"See? I can take care of myself!"

"I never doubted that, Asuka. But that shouldn't stop you from

accepting a helping hand every now and then," he said when they took
off

again. Now that he was leading, she got a chance to watch him from
behind

and she blushed when she understood how she was thinking. Then she
started

to wonder if he thought of her in the same manner when she was leading
the

way. And for some reason, that idea didn't immediately fill her with
rage.

She almost _wanted_ him to be doing that. It would mean that for the
first time

since she met him that he would be acting like males were supposed to.

'He's never acted that way in his whole life. Even when that Angel and

Dirac Sea business was happening, he didn't act like men were supposed
to.

He tried to, but it didn't work,' she thought to herself. Try as she

might, but she couldn't figure out why she was thinking about him like

that.

Or why she was thinking about him at all.

Shigeru had advised them when he called on what route to take, but

the entrance there was blocked by tanks and armed guards. They found
this

out when Asuka had run out of the alleys they had been using for
cover, and

nearly ran into the back of a large guard. The only thing that had
stopped

her was Shinji, who grabbed her by the arms and bodily hauled her back
into

the shadows. When she started to protest, he clamped his hand firmly
over

her mouth. She couldn't believe how much strength was in those

frail-looking limbs.

"Be quiet!" he hissed. "Those guards have rather large guns and

probably know how to use them well. Any plans for getting in?" he
asked

and then let her go.

"How should I know, idiot?!" she retorted back in a whisper,

however her mind was not focused on getting in. It was currently
occupied

with thoughts of being Shinji's arms again, in them more often,
kissing

those perfect lips, gazing into those eyes... But, right then and
there,

Shinji decided to get her back for that insult.

"Forgive me for putting my faith in your all-powerful brain, my

lady," he whispered back, and it took Asuka a few moments to realise
that

he'd just insulted her. "Let's try one of the emergency exits like we
used

when the power cut out."

"Good idea! What higher power gave you that idea, Stooge?"

Asuka's mind was coming back on-line, but it was a slow process.

"I was trying to think, as you were being less than helpful," he

said and Asuka decided to ask a question that had been on her mind for
a

while.

"Why do you have backbone, now? What's with the attitude?" she

asked, and Shinji wanted to retort back with, "You're asking me about

attitude?" but he instead answered her calmly.

"Being angry all the time does wonders for the attitude," he said,

and Asuka knew that he was right. He had been angry since he'd gotten

back. Unlike most people, when Shinji got mad, it wasn't the

raving-red-in-the-face lunatic type of anger; it was an icy anger that
ran

into a steel edge. The world found that out when Unit 3 was destroyed
by

his hands. Asuka then took one long look at the young man beside her.
He

was looking forward so she got a profile view. 'He's becoming more and

more like his father,' she thought and then hastily added, 'Better not
tell

him that, or he'll blow up!' Of that she had no doubts. If he didn't
like

his father before he left, now he hated the man so much it was
impossible

to tell what would happen when those two got into the same room. Asuka

told herself to talk to a few other people about her ideas, but
sometime

when Shinji was not around.

"Where should we try to get in?" Shinji asked.

"Maybe we should try one that has no guns pointed at it?" Asuka

replied in a 'Valley Girl' voice, and saw him wince. 'Better remember

that, it could be useful,' she thought. Of all the insults and
torments

that Asuka used, the only one that he had difficulty in ignoring was
the

'Valley Girl' stuff. That was something he just couldn't block out of
his

mind. They started to back away, and then they checked on another

entrance. That one had guns on it, too. Same with the next. Ditto
every

other one that they checked. They decided to settle on an entrance
that

only had one guard. His helmet was off and his face showed obvious

boredom, and unhappiness.

"Looks like this is the best shot we'll get, Asuka. How should we

get in?" And when Shinji got no answer, he glanced at Asuka, only to
see

her with her eyes closed. He knew from experience that when she closed
her

eyes, she was doing her hardest thinking. In a flash, those blue orbs

snapped open.

"I have an idea," she said, and then proceeded to lay out her plan...

Meanwhile, inside the extensive complex that the two pilots wished

to gain entry to, Misato, Shigeru, Maya, and Makoto were all trying to
find

ways to help the pilots. Sighing heavily after several unproductive

minutes, Misato thought she had everything straight.

"Let me get this straight, we can't send a van to them, we can't

send an escort, we can't call them, and if they do get here, we can't
open

the doors to let them in?" When Makoto nodded his head, she continued,
"So

what can we do for them?" Ritsuko overheard her question, and joined
her

friend.

"Nothing. We can only get them set up when they get in. That

they'll have to do on their own," she answered. "They have nine Eva's;
we

have four. Do the math and you see that we need those two to get here

ASAP." Rei was in the base when it was attacked, and Toji got in just

before the entrances and exits were cut off. Ritsuko's comment
reminded

Misato to ask the question that had been on her mind as there was
nothing

she could do.

"Commander Ikari, why are the UN forces attacking us? And how did

they get _nine_ Eva's on their side?" Only after choosing his words
very

carefully did the Commander answer.

"You don't think, Major, that in our entire existence, we've made

no enemies, do you?"

"No, sir. I know that the UN Military was pretty unhappy that NERV

had been chosen to lead the war against the Angels, but _how_ did they
get

_nine_?" Commander Ikari was saved from answering by his phone
ringing.

He picked it up, silently thanking co-incidence.

"Yes? Good," he said, and then covered the mouthpiece with his

hand, "ETA on enemy reinforcements?"

"Thirty-two minutes, sir," Shigeru answered, and the Commander

removed his hand from the phone.

"Set charges for thirty-five minutes," he said, and then hung up.

"Thirty-two; that doesn't give us much time," Fuyutsuki whispered

in his ear. Commander Ikari started to answer when a flash of movement

caught his left eye. He swivelled his head to focus on it, and then he

smiled at what he saw.

"Perhaps; perhaps not. Look," he said, and ordered the image put

on the main screen. It was from one of the external security cameras.
It

showed a single security guard looking bored.

Corporal Hohta was sick of guard duty. He'd been left on his own

with orders to keep the entrance sealed. That had been more than an
hour

ago, and he was completely out of things to do to pass the time. He
didn't

understand why this door had to be guarded, with the power cut off
there

was no way to open it except manually, and that would only open a door
to a

place that was far away from anything that might help NERV. 'But
that's

why they get paid so much, to think of everything, I guess," he
thought

ruefully.

Suddenly he was attacked from behind. His combat-honed instincts

kicked in for a moment, but he relaxed when a voice called out to him.

"Help! Help me! Please help me!" the person who'd latched onto

him said. The voice made itself out to be female. Hohta looked down to

see the pair of arms wrapped around his torso tighten, as if he were
some

kind of life-line.

Hohta was too shocked to answer.

"P-please yo-you've got to help me! There were people with guns,

a-an-and sho-shooting, please, you've got to help me! Save me!" the
girl

said, terror colouring her voice. Hohta turned around, but she
wouldn't

let him go. He looked down to see flame-red hair framing a lovely
face.

'A body like that should be illegal,' Hohta thought, trying not to
stare,

and failing miserably. The girl gave no indication that she noticed
his

eyes on her body.

It took him a few minutes to pry her arms off him, though he took

his time when touching her. He knew he shouldn't be thinking what he
was,

but he couldn't stop the thoughts. When her arms were off him, she
reached

for his helmet, but he put out an arm to stop her.

"Sorry, ma'am, but you can't have that," he said in his best

'I'll-protect-you-ma'am' voice.

"Please? I'm really sc...ared, and I need your helmet! I don't

want my face to burn off, or be shot, or cut by falling rocks, or..."
the

girl's voice cracked as her eyes started to tear up. "Besides, what
does a

big, strong, man like _you_ need something as trivial as a helmet. I

_need_ a big, strong man like yourself to protect me! I can't do it!"

The flattery went straight to the Corporals head. He relented and

gave up his helmet for her to put on. He took the chance to see her as
she

put the helmet on, and he agreed with his earlier thoughts; she had a

killer body. He tried again to stop himself from thinking thoughts

unbecoming of a soldier, but again, he failed miserably, so he turned

around; but the girl called out to him, and he turned back. Then, with

head-protection secured, the girl looked him square in the eye and
gave him

the biggest, warmest smile that anyone had ever seen. Then she smiled
a

different smile, it was the smile of the cat who ate

the canary, and he thought it was because she felt safe; but then he
felt a

tap on his shoulder...

Shinji had been having fun watching Asuka practically throw herself

all over the guard, but then he started having reservations about
Asuka's

plan; he was pretty sure that he couldn't bring himself to do his
part. He

had admitted to himself that Asuka's plan had the highest chance of

success, but he just couldn't do the role she'd assigned him to. When
she

finally got the helmet on, it was time for him to take over, but he
could

only look at the man's back. Then his head started to throb, and when
the

guard turned around, his face slowly faded from view, only to be
replaced

by his father's. While looking at his father's visage on this man,

Shinji's thoughts fled back to three years ago, back to when the man
he

called 'father' killed his very soul.

He felt his blood begin to boil, the feeling driving away some of

the sirens call for combat. At that point, any reservations he had
about

what he had to do went out the window. When the guard turned around
again,

because Asuka had called him, Shinji walked up, right behind him, and

tapped him on the shoulder. When the man turned around, Shinji slammed
the

garbage-can lid into his nose. He was holding it by the top strip, so
the

lid hit the guards nose with the flat part.

The man's world turned white with blistering pain. Blood flowed

freely from his now-broken nose. He reeled back, but kept his balance.

Then he realized that he was under attack, so he reached for his gun;
a big

mistake. Shinji used the time that he was given to cross the distance

between him and the guard and drove his foot into the man's groin.
Hard.

Opening his mouth, but no sound coming out, he dropped to his knees in

agony.

Shinji, still seeing his father's face on the man, took the man's

head by his hair, and buried his knee into the hated visage. The man

flopped to the ground and Shinji started to turn to the exit, but he
heard

the man moan, still awake. Looking down at the lid as if he forgot it,
he

looked back at the maimed guard. But his father's face was still on
it.

"When I say, 'Stay down!'," he said while approaching the prone

form, "I mean it!" he finished the sentence while lifting the lid high

above his head, then he brought it down on top of the man's head. He
did

that with so much force that the lid folded across the middle. The man
was

not going to be going anywhere for a long time. When Shinji saw this,
he

tossed the dented weapon back into the ally that he got it from and
started

to walk to the entrance.

Asuka, not wanting to be undone by this...this..._male_ picked the

helmet off her head and tossed it next to the man on the ground. In
order

to get to the door that Shinji was standing by, she had to walk by the

injured man. She kicked him in the head as she walked by him. Then she

reached Shinji and saw the quizzical look on his face, she answered
the

question that she knew was coming.

"You don't think I didn't see that perverts eyes looking at me, did

you?" she replied, but then went on before he could answer. "I had to

teach him a lesson about how to tread a lady like me!" she said as
Shinji

pried open the door. Then she walked by him and into the blackness.

Shinji could only shake his head and mumble to himself. It was the
same

retort that he wanted to use on Asuka when they fought their first
Angel

together over Japanese soil. It was when she said she should go first.

"You're the _most_ unlady like girl I've ever met, Asuka," he said.

end part 12

Cory Holmes

gholmes@rodeo.sd27.bc.ca

Thanks to: Mark Eymer, Jusenkyo Guide, Addison Godel, and Short Yes.