A tremor ran through the facility, causing the 6th child to look up towards the ceiling.  Turning to look back at Gendo, he smirked.  "Perhaps this is not the best time to discuss the terms of my employment.  I shall pilot this thing and eliminate the current threat.  Then we can get down to the matter of my extended tenure here."

            "That will do for now," replied Gendo.

            "Then let us not waste anymore time," declared Ishiro, smiling widely.

***

            "The holding cage has been drained," announced Maya, "Injecting entry plug."

            The plug slid down into the Eva at the base of its spine.  The armored plates of the gigantic bio-android slid into place over it.  "Filling the entry plug."

            "Oops, said Misato slyly, "I guess I forgot to tell him about the LCL."  Remembering Shinji's initial reaction to the LCL, she looked forward to Ishiro's reaction, hoping it would humble the boy a bit.

            Ishiro didn't seem to be concerned when the entry plug filled with the translucent fluid.  "I take it that this stuff will oxygenate my blood directly," he remarked.

            "How did you know?" exclaimed Misato.

            Ishiro held back his response as the fluid rose above the level of his head.  When he was fully immersed, he made his reply.  "What other reason would you even think about almost drowning me in this stuff?"  He grimaced slightly.  "This must be one of those acquired tastes.  You wouldn't happen to have this stuff in some other flavor.  Blood's really not my favorite."

            "Oh stop you're whining," scolded Misato, "You're a boy you know."  She had used that very remark in Shinji on that fateful day so long ago.

            "And you would know what that's all about," retorted Ishiro, his smirk returning.

            "What's that?" growled Misato.

            "Is there something you would like to share with the rest of us Major," taunted Ishiro.

            Misato's mouth moved but no words came out.  Her eyes were wide with surprise and rage.  How dare this boy even think about calling her a…she couldn't bring herself to think about it.  Looking around, she noticed several of the technicians, including Maya were holding back giggles.  Shigeru looked like he was ready to burst at the seams with laughter.

            "Opening bi-directional circuits," announced Maya shakily.  "Synchronization reading at 150%."  Her eyes widened.  "How is this possible?" she whispered.

            "No one can synchronize that well their first time," agreed Misato.

***

            Ishiro sat rigid in the entry plug.  He felt another presence in the Eva, a powerful one, but also a gentle one.  As soon as he had entered the Eva he felt like he was being scrutinized, examined like a specimen under a microscope.  It was an unsettling feeling.  Finally he felt a sense of recognition from the being.  Then, its presence unfolded, surrounding him, engulfing him and filling him with strength.

            "I am ready," he said.

***

            "Harmonics seem normal," reported Maya, "S2 engine is stable and at full power.  All systems go for launch.  Beginning final safety check."  She waited while the screen relayed the information to her.  "All systems green.  Launch path has been opened.  The path is clear.  Evangelion Unit 14 ready for launch."  She turned to look at Misato for the final order.

            "Eva launch!" yelled Misato.  The launch platform shot upward like a rocket.  Inside the cockpit, Ishiro felt the momentum pressing him into the seat of the entry plug.  He smiled as the Eva made its assent to the surface.

***

            Topside, the hundred meter Angel was slowly making its way towards the heart of the city.  In front of the Angel, the final doors of the elevator opened and the Eva arrived seconds later.  Its black form stood as tall as the Angel.  As the Angel regarded it, its core flared.

            "Ishiro?" asked Misato, "Are you ready?"

            "Absolutely," said Ishiro in all confidence, "Let me at the bastard."

            "Final safety locks…release!"  The last two locks that had secured the Eva to its launch pad opened, releasing the Eva's shoulder braces.  The Eva seemed to sag forward under the burden of its own weight.  "Evangelion Unit 14…move out!"

            "I don't know how he's going to pull this off," remarked Maya, "He may be synchronized at 150%, but he's never piloted before.  How's he going to know how to make it walk, much less fight?"

            "We don't have a choice," replied Misato.  To Ishiro she said, "Engage the enemy!"

            To her stunned surprise, the Eva strode off the launch pad.  Its gait was smooth and controlled.  The Eva itself was perfectly balanced.  As it walked forward, the Angel/Eva began its attack.  It punched forward with its right arm, the arm extending to an impossible length.

            "Look out!" shouted Misato.  Unit 14 smoothly sidestepped the attack, twisting and reaching out with its left hand to grab the Angel's arm.  Continuing its spin, the Eva yanked on the Angel's arm, forcing the Angel to stumble forward slightly.  The Eva reversed the direction of its spin so that it was now pulling, but facing the opposite direction.  The Angel's arm seemed to flex and bend like a rope.  The Angel stumbled into the Eva's reach.

            Unit 14 punched with its right fist as it pulled on the Angel's arm with its left, yanking the Angel right into its punch.  The blow struck the Angel right in the center of its mirror-like face, sending it reeling back away from the Eva.  Unit 14 pulled on the Angel's arm again, forcing the Angel to come back.  This time, the Eva lashed out with a kick while releasing the Angel's arm.  The Angel was sent flying backwards.

            The Angel slowly righted itself.  As it did so, its left shoulder brace opened up, revealing the handle of a progressive knife.  The Angel pulled the knife from its sheath.  Immediately, the knife began to hum with ultrasonic energy.

            "Ishiro, engage your progressive knife," instructed Misato.

            Ishiro didn't respond.  Instead, he faced the Angel head on, the Eva's arms hung motionless at its sides.  The Angel charged forward.  Ignoring Misato, who was screaming at him to follow orders, Ishiro waited for the Angel to get nearer.  The Angel thrust forward with its knife.  However, Unit 14 had already left the ground.  A flying forward flip sent it soaring over the Angel's head to touchdown lightly behind the monstrosity.  The Angel immediately spun around, its knife held for a backhanded slash that would sever the Eva's head at the neck.

            Ishiro seemed to already know what the Angel was going to try.  The Eva had already ducked down by the time the Angel had entered its spin.  The knife slashed harmlessly over Unit 14's head.  The Eva then went into a forward roll, right before the Angel reversed both its grip on the knife and the direction of its swing, trying to stab downward.  By the time it did so, the Eva was already out of reach.

            This game went on for another few minutes.  Ishiro seemed to know every move his enemy was going to make before it made it.  The Angel couldn't so much as touch Unit 14, which hadn't even deployed its AT field yet.

            Misato had forgotten her anger at being disobeyed.  The anger was replaced by a profound sense of awe at the boy's natural skill for piloting the Eva.  Moreover, unlike Shinji, Ishiro seemed to enjoy every minute of it.

            As the Eva dodged away yet another time, Ishiro finally decided that he had enough toying with his prey.  "It's time for a counterattack," he announced.  However, the Eva did not reach for its progressive knife.  Rather, it retreated a short distance and stood with its arms hanging down again.

            "I need a more effective weapon than that knife," the boy muttered.  The Eva, sensing this, responded appropriately.  The metal plates over the Eva's wrists began to bulge as if something was pressing at them from underneath.  Inside the cockpit, Ishiro felt the bulges as if they were his own wrists.  Slowly, a seam opened in the plates, running down the center of the bulge.  At last, the sheets of metal parted.  From the opening in each wrist, there emerged a black rod.  The rod was about as long as the handle for a progressive knife.  The two rods flipped down into the Eva's hands.  The Eva's mouth opened and it emitted a low, gurgling bellow.

            "This just isn't possible!" Maya nearly shrieked, "The Eva can't modify its body to that degree just to suit the whims of the pilot."

            "It just did," observed Gendo from his seat.  His face held a look of intense interest.

            Ishiro marveled at the mysterious objects for a moment.  Even he wasn't sure what they did.  However, their purpose became clear when, with a flare of orange light, a shaft of light emerged from the end of each rod, extending down towards the ground.  The shafts lengthened and shifted until it had taken form.  They were the unmistakable shapes of sword blades.

            "What are those?" gasped Misato.

            "The sensors show that they're AT fields," announced Makoto.

            "The Eva can manipulate the shape of its AT field," gasped Fuyutsuki, "That's impossible."

            "So far everything about this fight has been impossible," remarked Ikari, his tone suspicious, "The boy's ability to synchronize at such a high level, his natural control over the Eva, his skill in battle, his ability to manipulate and shape the Eva's very body to his will, even the ability to shape and manipulate an AT field.

            The Angel regarded the Eva, its featureless face conveying nothing, but its posture indicating the monster's uncertainty.  Unit 14 raised the sword in its right head until it held the blade in front of its face in a salute.  It then lowered the sword and awaited the Angel's move.

            The Angel finally made up its mind.  It charged forward, its knife leading.  Unit 14 remained motionless.  The Angel came on, its charge seemingly unstoppable.  It was now almost on top of Unit 14.

            The Eva's movements were almost too fast for the eye to follow.  The first slash sheared through the blade of the progressive knife.  The second, coming from the other hand, sliced through the Angel's chest.  The third strike severed the Angel's leading arm while the fourth strike sliced diagonally through the chest and shoulder.

            Several more slashes followed, each faster and more difficult to trace than the last.  The Angel seemed to be in the center of a whirlwind of glowing orange lines as the blades struck again and again, their AT fields shearing effortlessly through armor, flesh and bone.  A final thrust from the Eva's left sword impaled the Angel's core.  The storm of slashes ended abruptly.

            For a moment, both the Angel and the Eva seemed frozen, motionless.  Finally, the Angel seemed to fall apart.  Its body had been sliced into dozens of pieces, all of them tumbling to the streets below.  At last, only the core remained, impaled on the Eva's left sword.

            Unit 14 held the pose for a moment.  Then, with a flick of the wrist, it sent the spherical red core flying up off the end of the sword.  The Eva sliced the core with both blades in a crisscross motion that cut the core into neat quarters, which followed the remains of the doomed Angel.  The blades disappeared.  Unit 14 twisted its grip on the rods until they were held next to its wrists.  The rods seemed to melt into the metal skin of the Eva's wrists.

            "Mission completed," declared Ishiro.

            Silence reigned in the command center.  Then, slowly at first, someone began to applaud.  The level of applause increased in volume and intensity.  It was followed by cheers and shouts of exultation.  Soon, the entire command center was in a celebratory uproar.

            Only three individuals did not join in the celebration.  Ikari watched the Eva with a look of intense interest.  Fuyutsuki watched with a look that bordered on disbelief.  Misato also watched Unit 14 with a similar look.  She cast a worried glance at a monitor that showed Shinji huddled under a random stairway.  She would have to talk to the 3rd Child later.

***

            Ishiro stepped out of the entry plug.  Smiling, he looked fondly at the Eva he had just emerged from.  It had been an experience of a lifetime to pilot Unit 14.  Ishiro turned to face the group of people who had come to greet him.

            "Good job," said Misato exultantly, placing her hands on the boy's shoulders.  Ishiro smiled smugly.  Maya, Fuyutsuki and Gendo stood behind Misato.

            "You are to be commended," remarked Fuyutsuki, though his face showed that he did not agree with his own statement, "We took only minimal damage thanks to your skill in piloting Unit 14."

            "Speaking of Unit 14," said Misato, turning to face the commander and vice commander of NERV, "Why was it such a big secret."

            "There is something very different about this one," stated Ishiro from behind her, drawing a confused look from both her and Fuyutsuki, "Something that sets it apart from the other Evas."

            "That is correct," came a voice from farther down the passage.  A blond haired woman strode up the passageway.  She was dressed in a white lab coat and appeared to be about Misato's age.

            "Ritsuko," gasped Misato, "But your arrest…?"

            "All a ruse," replied Ritsuko, "Gendo needed me to devote my total attention to Unit 14.  But I couldn't do it without raising suspicion, so we staged my incarceration in order to give me the chance to work on the unit unnoticed."

            "And an excellent job you have done Dr. Akagi," commented Ishiro, not even noticing Ritsuko's surprise, "You have indeed created a work of art."  He grinned.  "Perhaps you would like to tell us what makes this Eva so different from the rest."

            "What makes you think you are entitled to that information?" demanded Ritsuko.

            "It is one of the conditions of having me as a pilot," replied Ishiro nonchalantly, "That and the opportunity to become an assistant of sorts to you Doctor so that I might find out all there is to know about this Eva."

            "Speaking of your conditions," interjected Ikari, "I think you had better list them now so that we can separate the reasonable from the ludicrous."

            "Certainly," said Ishiro, "First, I will be allowed unimpeded access to all data concerning this specific Eva.  Second, I shall participate with Dr. Akagi on all experiments and the like conducted on this specific Eva.  And third, outside of attacks on the city, I shall arrange my own schedule for all tests synchronization tests and medical exams."

            "Hmm."  Commander Ikari considered the demands carefully, weighing them, gauging them, trying to see where the boy stood to benefit from them.  Finally, he gave his answer.  "Very well, I agree to all your conditions."

            "Excellent," remarked Ishiro, smiling coldly, "I'm sure that working with you will prove to be an interesting experience Commander."

            For the first time in his life, Gendo Ikari found himself suppressing a shudder as he watched the boy.  Ikari was used to being the manipulator, using people to suit his own ends.  He had never realized that someone could turn the tables on him so easily.  Without saying another word, Gendo left, Fuyutsuki following right behind him.

            "And now," said Ishiro, turning to Misato, "Let us find the 3rd child."

***

            Shinji had not moved from under the stairs for over an hour now.  He remained motionless, hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head against them.  He no longer fought back tears because they could no longer come.  In the distance, he heard footsteps echoing down the hallways.  He was sure that they were coming for him now, probably to drag him and throw him into the cockpit of his Eva so that he could go fight for them.

            "Let them try," he muttered weakly.  Everything was wrong.  Rei was nothing more than a walking dummy plug.  He would probably never live to hear Asuka insult him, call him an idiot or hit him again, never live to see hear her laugh again.  He would probably die alone in the world.

            Even Misato couldn't help things.  For a while he had thought that she had actually cared about him, that he mattered to her.  He had thought that she could be like his mother.  How foolish he had been.  He was nothing but a tool to her.  She manipulated him, just like his father had.

            The steps grew closer.  There were two of them.  Finally, they emerged from the darkness of the hallway into his view.  The first was indeed Misato.  The second was a boy about Shinji's age, remaining in the shadows.  The boy's eyes were two red pinpoints in the darkness over his face.

            "Shinji…" Misato began, about to scold him for running away again, for only caring about himself.  But the boy reached out his arm so that it blocked her from moving forward.  An excellent sign that he wished her to be silent.

            The boy came and crawled under the stairs to sit down next to Shinji.  Brown had replaced the red in his eyes.  His face was filled with a look of kindness.  He sat next to Shinji, looking across at the wall in front of them, saying nothing.

            Misato was about to start again, but the boy silenced her with a glare.  Misato took the hint and left the way she had come.  The boy remained where he was, saying nothing.

            For the first time in his life, Shinji found that he could stand the silence no more.  He turned and looked at his companion.  "Who are you?" he asked quietly.

            The boy smiled, returning Shinji's stare.  "I am Ishiro Saegusa," he answered.  His smile widened.  "And you are…?"

            "Shinji," replied Shinji, managing a weak smile of his own.

            Ishiro turned his head back to look at the wall in front of him, the smile lingering on his face.  "Would you like to tell me?" he inquired gently.  Shinji started.  "I can tell just by watching you that you have been through hardship and trouble.  Will you tell me what is happening to the boy whose smile is so much more becoming than a frown?"

            Shinji was silent for a moment as he searched for the right words.  He realized that he wanted to bear his soul to this boy he had known only for a few short minutes, to spill the story of sorrow, fear and anger that had been welling up inside of him ever since he had first arrived in Tokyo 3.  "I don't know where to begin," he said softly.

            "Where stories always begin," replied Ishiro, "At the beginning."

***

            The ocean is a vast place.  The blast of heat from the second impact that melted the ice over Antarctica served only to make it even vaster.  The ocean is the cradle of all life.  From its waters crawled the ancestors of all animals, the soft lapping of its waves had worn away countries and continents.  Its waves and currents had remade the world a hundred times over.

            The ocean is the perfect place for many things.  It is the perfect place to hunt, to live, to play, to drift, or to die.  Yes, the ocean is the perfect place for many things.  It is also the perfect place to hide.  The ocean's vastness hides ranges of mountains that dwarf the highest ones ever to grace the land and valleys deep enough that those same mountains could sink into them and never be seen again.  In a place so vast and in terrain so varied, even the largest of things could be hidden and never be found.

            At the bottom of the ocean known as the pacific, many hundreds of feet down, the ground was littered with bones.  Not the bones of animals, but rather the bones of ships long since sunken beneath the sea.  The age of these ships ranged across all eras.  Some were as old as the mid 1950s, others were more modern, some of them coming from times as recent as 2001.  Among the graveyard of hulking ships was the singular reason they were there.

            The ocean is the perfect place to hide.  Many secrets are locked away in its depths.  At the bottom of the pacific, among the wrecks and ghosts of ships long lost, one such secret was about to become a secret no more as something among the wrecks, something enormous, stirred.