The original plan had called for the two pilots learning to synchronize with each other through close associated living and coordinated motion drills, with the ultimate plan being a well timed and planned assault on the Angel.

Shinji more or less shot that down as soon as Misato told them. The plan was too rigid, and the first maxim of military planning was that no plan survives contact with the enemy. Any sort of planning required a certain fluidity to allow for adaptation to changing circumstances, and it could not have just a single path to success, but rather required multiple paths that could be taken at certain junctures depending on previous successes or failures.

It was actually rather stunning for Misato and Asuka watch him work. He plotted out an eighty-eight node map that had two hundred eighty-three possible outcomes, with eighty-five percent of them ending in victory and all but one of the remaining outcomes ending with the Evas retreating intact from the battle to fight again. There was even one bizarre, but logical, path that ended in victory but required losses at every single node.

The entire demonstration of course was that this sort of thing couldn’t be kept track of in the midst of combat, and to rely on rigid battle plans was asking for trouble. Rather, he pointed out the fact that the closest they got to success was when he had fired upon the building Asuka was standing on.

Simply put, if they could learn to know the other’s movements intimately and to trust the other in combat, then they could make the kind of narrow margin attacks that would allow them to engage opposite partners. Each half of the Angel shielded and covered the other, so they would simply attack from vectors not expected.

To that end their training quickly became a series of non-stop sparring matches between the two pilots as they learned each other’s motions and tell-tale signs. The objective was to come as close to striking the other without actually making contact. They started out slow and with lots of bumps and accidental hits, but they very quickly moved up the pace.

And Asuka demonstrated that when she wasn’t an emotional wreck a decade of combat training really paid off. She couldn’t touch Shinji in staff fighting, he was far too well trained there, but once she was centred emotionally she could fight him almost at parity with axes, and with other forms of melee weapons she had the advantage due to familiarity.

For the past two days they had done nothing apart unless it involved the bathroom. They tried to do everything but the sparring in stereo, so much that it soon became a competition between them to see who could more perfectly track the motions of the other. Asuka went at it full bore, always watching, always correcting, while Shinji preferred to try and slip her up by throwing in chaotic motions at unexpected times. The whole psychic powers bit made it rather easy for him to predict Asuka’s movement, so it was more important for her to figure out his motions.

By the time their classmates had shown up to find out what was going on, their muscles were aching from the non-stop drills they were being put through, but the two were displaying a mastery of martial arts that would not have been expected from two fourteen-year olds. So intent on their drills were they that they did not even bother to pause when the doorbell rang, instead letting Misato answer it.

Wooden practice weapons cut the air, making whirring noises as they fought to not touch the other. Shinji was using a wooden staff, his own regular one considered too dangerous to use, while Asuka was using a practice battle axe. Wood striking wood rang out through the apartment and the two danced and rolled about one another in a series of attacks, parries, feints, and counter-feints that looked choreographed but was merely a product of incredibly focused practice.

When they noticed their friends staring in awe of them, they both paused and as one bowed before saying in stereo, “Hello.”

Kensuke and Toji were in total shock at their friend so readily associating with Asuka, and synchronizing with her no less, while Hikari was in a total state of confusion about what this meant from the standpoint of what was proper.

Each getting a sly look on their faces and said in unison, “This is part of our training. Our enemy has two bodies that act as one, so we must do the same.”

Smiling at the confusion written on the non-pilots faces, Misato explains and then says, “Okay, that’s probably enough for now, you two can cool down while I make some lunch.”

The two glance nervously at each other before saying, “Perhaps Hikari-san would like to cook.”

“Nah! They’re guests here, I should cook,” Misato says dismissively while taking a sip from her beer.

Shinji and Asuka shot Hikari a look that screamed “For the love of all that is holy do not let this woman into the kitchen.”

“Uh… I like cooking, it would be my pleasure to… uh… help you Misato-san,” Hikari says tentatively.

“Well… I suppose you could help if you really wanted to,” Misato says.

Half an hour later and everyone was sitting down to a nice meal while Hikari was glad she had been volunteered. She shuddered to think what Misato would have created without proper supervision. Some sort of unholy abomination of curry and instant ramen probably.

“That was pretty cool what you guys were doing back there… but… uh… how exactly will not hitting each other help you fight the Angel?” Kensuke asks.

“Tomorrow…”

“…we…”

“…go…”

“…to…”

“…train…”

“…with…”

“…the…”

“…Evas.”

The switch off effect leaves the others speechless, causing them both to break down into laughter before Shinji breaks off and says alone, “Really what we’re trying to do is learn to predict and react to each other’s movements and actions so that we can fight as one coordinated entity. For the rest of the time we will be focusing on Eva combat simulations.”

“Hopefully you should get to train with the new weapons tomorrow as well… or well, the simulated versions anyway,” Misato adds on.

“New weapons?” The pilots ask in synch.

“Yeah, we were planning on introducing them about now anyway, but the Angel merely sped up our timetable a little. Don’t worry, they’re both fully tested and there is nothing theoretical about them,” Misato assures.

---

“It’s a nuclear weapon!” Shinji says from the cockpit of Unit 01 while being instructed about the UDPIDTEPW, or Unidirectional Positron Initiated Deuterium-Tritium Enhanced Plasma Weapon.

“Technically yes, but it’s perfectly safe to use,” Misato tells him.

“It’s a thermonuclear weapon!” Shinji expands upon. “And how the hell do they know this is safe? How long ago did they even come up with the theory for this thing?”

“It’s a thirty year old design based off a bomb,” Misato replies.

“Excuse me, but did I hear that last part right? Did you say it was based off a bomb?” Shinji demands.

“The theory was! The US developed a series of shaped charge nuclear weapons during the late stages of the Cold War and continued experimentation afterwards. After Second Impact they perfected the design, but we reworked into something that wouldn’t use the barrel as a fuel source, didn’t use a fission weapon as an initiator, and wouldn’t be destroyed while firing. We’ve tested fired the design a couple times,” Misato explains.

Somewhat more mollified, Shinji asks, “So there is no chance of this thing turning into a mushroom cloud in my hands?”

“Just point it away from civilized areas and you should be okay. You might want to have an AT-field up while firing it too. Oh, and while the current model of the boom gun is designed to be fitted with this new weapon, the recoil is a little much, so make sure you brace it properly,” Misato says.

Shaking his head, Shinji just says, “So this model is good for one shot?”

“Yes. That’s why it was designed to be slung under the boom gun as a supplement rather than as an independent weapons system,” Misato explains.

“It’s called the Wave Motion Gun by the build team, isn’t it?” Shinji suddenly asks.

“Err… yeah,” Misato admits.

“How long does it take to charge?” Shinji asks dryly.

“It takes ten seconds to go from a cold start to a firing ready, which is recommended to do right before firing as the system is a little touchy once the plasma has been primed and rather unstable once the positrons are moved to the firing position,” Misato explains.

“Ten seconds! Do you have any idea how long that is in combat?” Shinji asks in horror.

“A long time, I’m a soldier, I know. But that’s the price paid for getting something this small and manoeuvrable. To get equivalent instantaneous power would be impossible with a traditional design and would require massive capacitor banks. This system sacrifices a degree of safety for enormous firepower, and then sacrifices some readiness of use to gain back some safety. I mean, if you want to carry around an armed nuclear bomb, go right ahead and prime and ready it before battle,” Misato points out.

Shaking his head, Shinji replies, “No, it’s far too useful, if it works, to abandon. So if this is my combat upgrade, what is Asuka’s?”

“Well, there’s the boom pistol, or rather the APHEGSRB-PV, or Pistol Variant. It was developed along with the carbine version you’re using, but as the name suggests it is smaller and has a somewhat shorter range. And then of course there is the RCPTCCW,” Misato says.

“What is with all the acronyms?” Shinji asks in annoyance.

“It’s a military organization, live with it,” Misato says with a shrug.

Punching in a few codes in his entry plug, Shinji examines the meaning of the acronym before saying, “Rotary Chain Progressive Tooth Close Combat Weapon… you made a giant chainsaw!”

“Well… technically they were originally trying to make a chainsaw sword but they couldn’t fit all the components in properly, so they settled for a chainsaw axe. It should cause tremendous tissue damage to the Angels,” Misato explains.

“Sweet…”Shinji notes with a grin. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve learned.”

---

Asuka was annoyed at Shinji, although he couldn’t really blame her considering the fact that he kept accidentally shooting her in the simulations against the Seventh Angel. He was getting better, and their coordination was significantly up, but after several days of practice, he was still having trouble with the melta, as he liked to call the fusion weapon strapped to his bolter.

The thing kicked like a mule! And it didn’t have a targeting icon so much as it had a cone where everything ceased to exist in a flash of light and plasma. So far he had vaporized Unit 02 twice, although the second time wasn’t entirely his fault as Target Beta got wise to him powering up the gun and hit him with a beam weapon, triggering the burst early.

Tomorrow was it, the day where they would have their rematch with Israfel. The plan was to intercept well outside of Tokyo-3 and then launch a coordinated assault using everything they had learned. It was going to be tough, but Shinji was confident they could pull it off.

Asuka was bathing while he practiced his cello, Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”, a perennial favourite for obvious reasons, flowed from his strings, although it was a pity he didn’t have any other cello players for accompaniment. Music could be so cathartic for him. Helped him centre, to bleed off pressure and empty his mind.

Exiting the bathroom dressed in her night clothes of a loose yellow t-shirt and short pants, Asuka asks, “Where’s Misato-san?”

Pausing, Shinji says, “She called while you were in the bathroom to say that she would be at work all night, and, to quote ‘I had better not find out about any hanky-panky when I get home’.”

Rolling her eyes, Asuka says, “Please.”

“Yeah, I mean, it’s like she doesn’t trust me to be smart enough to properly dispose of the evidence,” Shinji says cheekily.

Glaring at him, Asuka opens her mouth to say something before asking, “Are you going to be playing much longer? I want to go to bed now.”

“No problem,” Shinji says while packing away his cello and taking it back to his room. Setting it away, he then kneels before his shrine and begins his nightly prayers.

Asuka watched him for a time before commenting, “Your god has a funny name, even by Japanese standards.”

“It’s obscure and I do not believe that it is of Japanese origin,” Shinji replies. He then asks, “Would you like to learn more about Tzeentch, or any of the other gods in the pantheon?”

“No thanks, not interested in your crazy cults,” Asuka says while walking off.

Every day her rejection becomes less enthusiastic. She sees the strength I gain from my faith, and she wonders if it is the secret to my strength. She will accept my offer… eventually.

Leaving his room, Shinji goes to the main living area where Asuka is gathering up her sleeping bag and pillow, obviously intent on not having to sleep in the same room as Shinji.

Shinji looks at her and says, “That’s a bad idea.”

“Why? Because ‘it will break our synchronization’ or some bullshit like that?” Asuka asks sarcastically.

Smiling, Shinji says, “Because you will be cold and uncomfortable in the morning.”

Looking at him strangely, Asuka says, “Are you stupid? I have everything I need right here.”

Shaking his head, Shinji says, “Mark my words, you won’t by the end of the night.”

Staring at him suspiciously, Asuka drops her stuff and says, “Whatever. This is the impenetrable wall of Jericho. Cross it and you will suffer instant death.” She then closed the door between them.

Turning off the lights, Shinji settles down into his own blankets and smiling to himself whispers, “…and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.”

About an hour or two later, Asuka emerged from her room and went straight to the bathroom. There was the sound of running water and a light from under the doorway.

And then Asuka plunked down next to Shinji.

His eyes still closed, he said, “I told you.”

Asuka bolted upright as she realized Shinji was still awake.

Lifting up his sheets, Shinji says, “Do not be angry at me or yourself, be angry at the Angels. They were the ones who ultimately left you this way. Left you lonely.”

Asuka was about to leave angrily when Shinji said, “You are strong Asuka. Seize what you want. I know I’m a poor substitute for your dream man Kaji, but do not deny yourself what you want when you can take it. I offer warmth and a refuge against the lonely night, are you scared to take it?”

“You’re just a pervert trying to rub up against me,” Asuka says.

“You trust me to point a thermonuclear weapon at your back and yet you don’t trust me to behave honourably. You should know me better than that. You’ve been to the school; you’ve seen the fan girls. If I wanted to, I could have as much ass as I wanted at a snap of my fingers,” Shinji says, snapping his fingers for emphasis. “But I’m not interested in that sort of thing. Pawing over a woman like that is so… juvenile.”

“What are you, gay?” Asuka asks. She was quite noticeably not leaving.

“The same principle would apply. I bet I could get Kensuke to blow me if I let him into the entry plug of Unit 01,” Shinji suggests.

Giggling, Asuka says, “Yeah, I bet.”

“So what will it be? Me or the night?” Shinji asks.

There was a moment of silence and then Asuka slid in next to him, muttering, “One wayward limb and I will make the stomping Israfel gave you look like a boisterous tussle.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Shinji says before adding on, “Just don’t you toss about in your sleep. I can only keep track of my own limbs.” Shinji then crossed his arms over his chest like an Egyptian mummy.

After a few minutes, Shinji felt Asuka’s face press against his shoulder and he could feel the tears on her cheeks. He said nothing and finally Asuka asked, “How can you be such a bastard and so kind at the same time?”

“Because kindness serves my purposes best. Traps are best laid with something tempting rather than something repulsive,” Shinji admits.

“Bastard,” Asuka says.

“I know. But if I snare your heart, will you complain? If I am there to fill the hollows left by the losses in your life, will you resent your completion?” Shinji asks.

“And why do you want my heart?” Asuka asks.

“If I answered in a way other than ‘control’ would you believe me, even if I spoke the truth?” Shinji asks quietly.

“Tell me,” Asuka asks.

Sighing, Shinji says, “I have holes in my heart too. I have hopes and desires, and I must admit that you are very warm and your skin is very soft, and it is incredibly pleasant to have such a beautiful, confident, wondrous woman lying next to me.”

“How incredible?” Asuka asks, her face still pressed against his shoulder so he could feel her smile.

Thinking for a moment, Shinji says, “Do you want the honest answer or the poetic one?”

“I would be amused to hear a straight answer out of you,” Asuka says.

“Well then you would be disappointed, because there is a difference between an honest answer and a straight one. If you want the honest answer, then I shall say that if you were to begin groping me you would find yourself highly ‘complimented’,” Shinji replies.

It took Asuka a second to figure that one out, but before she could scream in outrage Shinji says, “It’s biological in nature, and as I said, you should feel ‘complimented’.”

Frowning, Asuka asks angrily, “You’re not going to jerk off over my comatose body now are you?”

“Please, that would be pathetic. And if you were that deeply asleep I chose to only do something like that, well that reflects poorly on my part, now doesn’t it?” Shinji notes.

“Yeah… yeah… I guess you do have better standards than that,” Asuka admits before snuggling in closer. This however brought her breasts into contact with Shinji’s side.

After a moment she says with a giggle, “So that’s how I control the thermostat.”

---

It was zero hour. Israfel, having reformed during its regeneration, was up and about again. The UN had observed it during its rest, but had now pulled back to let the Evas have their second shot at the binary Angel.

Armed with a bolt pistol and a chain axe, Asuka was to lead the assault while Shinji delivered close fire support. They were to mix it up with the two halves, switching targets spontaneously as the situation warranted and acting in perfect synchronization.

Tightening her fist about the butterfly grips, Asuka wondered if Shinji could provide the support he was supposed to. Even after days of training he still hit her on occasion with his boom gun. How could she trust him when…?

It suddenly dawned at her that she had been at fault. Last night, he had been a perfect gentleman and had demonstrated that her trust in him was not wasted. He kept her secrets, and did not use them against her. He cared for her, cared to soothe her pain, to take away the intense loneliness that had gnawed at her for the past ten years.

He trusted her to trust him. He knew what she was going to do, and he trusted her to act. When he pulled the trigger, he had to know that she would be elsewhere when the rounds arrived on target. If she hesitated, then she would not be where she should be.

So she would trust him. She would not hesitate, she would simply act. Shinji would do what he needed to do, and she would do what she needed to do. It was as simple as that. The hesitation and confusion from just a moment before faded away, and Asuka saw only the Angel. And she began to see red.

Mother died building Unit 02.

Unit 02 was built to fight the Angels.

Mother died fighting the Angels.

The Angels took mother from her.

And they would take everyone else from her if she failed. Suddenly she understood what Shinji had been talking about nearly a week ago. Piloting the Evas was incidental to the mission of killing the Angels. If she could, if she had to, she would fight them on foot. They would take everyone from her if she failed. They would take Kaji. They would take Misato. They would take Hikari. They would take Shinji…

Asuka felt hate, purest hate well up in her breast and when the orders to attack were given, she let out a roar of absolute fury escape her lips, and suddenly time ceased to have meaning. She existed from moment to moment with the clarity of a mind focused entirely on a single goal: to fight. To make war and bring conflict with her wherever she went. She touched the essence of the warrior and she fought.

The individual teeth humming with ultrasonic vibrations and the entire chain assembly roaring, Asuka advanced on the Angel, pumping out rounds from her pistol. In the periphery of her awareness, she knew that rounds from Shinji’s gun were whipping past her Eva’s head and shoulders, but she paid them no heed. Shinji knew what he was doing, and so did she.

With both Evas AT-fields unfolded, the armour piercing high explosive rounds struck exposed flesh, digging in for a few milliseconds before detonating, blowing enormous holes in the alien abomination. Already it was regenerating, faster than before, but then Asuka got to close combat range and swung her axe. With the enormous momentum built up by her charge and swing, the super sharp cutting teeth ripped all the way through the Angel’s flesh before striking its core and sending off sparks.

Rather than risk further damage to its body, the Angel immediately split into its two halves, the momentum transfer knocking both aside like baseballs struck by a Major League batter. One Angel clearly had a crack in its core, so Asuka booted it in the chest before it even hit the ground, sending it flying into a hillside.

She then ignored it. As best they could tell, Angels could not regenerate damage to their cores on their own; they needed an outside input of something, data most likely. That meant that the other half would have to pause for a brief second in order to affect repairs on its partner.

Shinji had already blown off a leg by the time Asuka got to the target, jumping on its before it could recover, her mass crushing its back while she hacked away at its head and fired more shells into it. In response, the Angel took a move from Shinji’s playbook and fired point blank into the ground, blowing both itself and Asuka into the ground.

Crashing into a hillside, Asuka rolled and pistol whipped the other half, which had recovered as best it could with a cracked core. There was a flash and it regained its strength, the wounds to the crimson sphere on its chest disappearing. Asuka blew off its face with a burst from her pistol.

Shinji’s fire patterns suddenly shifted and Asuka knew that the other half was behind her. Trusting that Shinji’s aim was true, she swung her axe blindly about and was satisfied to feel and hear the pitch of the saw change to something meatier. Spinning about, she fired the last three rounds in her magazine into the gut of the beast, showering her Eva in tens of thousands of litres of purple-blue blood.

Asuka laughed like it was a warm spring rain before smoothly holstering the weapon and using her now free hand to pick up the stunned and wounded Angel so as to toss it over her towards the other. They collided and merged back into one being, confused by the forced integration.

With Asuka safely out of the way, Shinji began the process of arming his melta. Gaseous tritium and deuterium flooded the barrel and was confined and excited by incredibly powerful magnets and high energy RF waves. Within a few seconds the inside of the barrel was a swirling chamber of blue light, while the outside ironically frosted over as super cooled liquids flooded the superconducting materials.

The Angel detected the energy build-up and turned its battered face towards Unit 01.

Asuka threw herself between the Angel and Shinji, taking the particle blast dead centre to her chest. It was incredibly powerful, but with the damage sustained, it was not full strength, so it merely dented Asuka’s armour rather than punching right through. Still, it also propelled her backwards, the momentum transfer threatening to do what the beam could not directly do.

Asuka hurled herself backwards, throwing her Eva into a back flip that took her just barely clear of Unit 01, which had dropped into a crouched position to better brace the weapon. Asuka was upside-down and facing the Angel when Shinji pulled the trigger.

A packet of positrons, brought into the final firing position, was injected into the electron rich section of the plasma at the back of the barrel. As dictated by the laws of physics, they annihilated, releasing a burst of gamma rays. These rays went off in a straight line until they struck the barrel, which was specially designed to reflect light at such small wavelengths back upon the interior.

These gamma rays collided with the charged plasma and compressed it until at the very heart of the barrel the hydrogen isotopes slammed together with enough energy that they suddenly became helium atoms, releasing more gamma rays and neutrons, which were also reflected back to initiate further fusion. The temperature inside the barrel quickly jumped to a ludicrous value, causing the liquid nitrogen cooling down the outer barrel to boil away and the superconductors to stop superconducting. This produced a massive magnetic flux that began to push the plasma out the barrel along with the impulse from the gamma rays and neutrons reflected off the back of the barrel.

It all took about less than a thousandth of a second for the wave of fusing plasma to reach the end of the barrel. A torrent of ravenous plasma and ionizing gamma and x-rays swept out of the melta. Still disoriented and with its AT-field down, the Angel barely had time to realize its own doom before it was annihilated in a cone of thermonuclear fury, the detonation of its core adding to the storm of destruction.

A storm that threw Asuka’s jump off course as it caught her Eva and Shinji’s and picked them up, causing them both to crash into the ground a distance away, their Evas tangled together at the edge of a molten crater.

Climbing out of their Evas, the battle over, they could now engage in a bit of unprofessional behaviour, such as verbally abusing one another.

“Nice landing twinkle toes!” Shinji shouts out at Asuka.

“Nice landing? My landing would have been perfect if you hadn’t been in the way,” Asuka screams back.

“Oh yeah, blame the guy who was stationary! Look before you leap bitch!” Shinji replies.

“Oh! ‘Stationary!’ Yeah, you were real ‘stationary’ getting blown on your ass by your own gun there! Learn to shoot idiot!”

“Arrogant, stuck up, incompetent bitch!”

“Scrawny, short, little puffed up jerk with a Napoleon complex!”

“Oh! So the barbarian Amazon queen knows a little culture and history, the beer swilling slack jawed expression hides it so well!”

“Come over here and say that Dummkopf!”

“I think I will!”

“Then do it!”

“Well, unlike you, I understand that when something is glowing when it shouldn’t be glowing it’s a good idea to wait a little while for it to cool off. I’m sure kept burning your fingers on the stove as a child, never quite getting the concept of hot!”

“Coward!”

“Dumb ass!”

From there it degenerated into one or two word name calling, much to the annoyance of the Vice Commander and the amusement of everyone else. There was still passion in their insults, but there was far less vitriol than when they first met.