Slumped back in his chair, Councilor Ium holds the icepack against his jaw and listens.  He doesn't understand, of course.  He does not understand what the Asari is currently yelling at him, because the punch shorted out the translator module of her Omnitool and thus, Misato has been yelling at him in Japanese for the last five minutes.
	Lia has pulled up a chair, sitting down next to Shinji and rubbing his arm.  Rei has pulled over another chair on Shinji's other side and doing the same.  Asuka gives them both a brief glare and turns back to the Councilor.  Walking over, she taps Misato's shoulder, takes her left wrist, and taps open her omnitool.
	“Huh,” Misato says, suddenly understandable again, “Neat.”
	“Five minutes are up,” Wrex states, voice like gravel.
	Everyone stares at Wrex.  They can feel the tension, feel the anger.  The term Papa Krogan was a thing, after all.  Ium stares down the Battlemaster, however, and that puts him a few points higher in Asuka's book.
	“Wrex, understand that the Council has wanted to make Shinji a Spectre since Dekuuna,” he responds.
	Wrex narrows his eyes.  Asuka purses her lips and tilts her head.  “So wait, wasn't that five years ago?”
	“Yes,” the Councilor responds, leaning forward, “Wrex, I have been running interference for you, and for Shinji, since Dekuuna.  Especially since I was made Councilor.  But with what happened on Athame's Garden, we've run out of excuses.”
	“Still doesn't explain why.”  Wrex rests his hands on his belt, snorting.  “We're already the only ship that can carry an Evangelion.  We can go wherever we want in Council Space.”
	“Yes, Wrex.”  Ium stands up, setting the icepack down on his desk.  He folds his hands behind him, looking Wrex in the eye.  “However, the mission I'm talking about is outside Council Space.”
	Wrex blinks.  “Start at the beginning.  What does the Council want this time?”
	Ium quirks his lips.  He sighs, and his face, his body language, is of a man who has decided to just get it over with.
	“The Council wants to figure out how to cure the Genophage.”
	The office goes silent.  Lia stares at the Councilor, while the other girls give her questioning glances.  In that moment, Wrex does reveal that he truly is Shinji's father.
	“I'm sorry, what.”


	The sphere appears, its soft blue glow illuminating the coils of black that make up the world.  It unfurls, taking a form more familiar, more personal than the avatar with which she explores the world.  Yui Ikari sets her feet down on the black, taking a deep breath to set her self-image.
	Looking down, she sees herself in her old Dive Suit.  A twitch of her nose and it becomes a sweater, skirt, and lab coat.
	“Hello?  I wanted to ask you something.”
	She cups her hands, despite this not being the physical world.  “Hello!  Is this, or is this not, the Core of Unit-02?”
	It is.
	The coils shift, they rise.  Like before- at at least this time on purpose- she finds the world around her rising.  Shifting.  Parting like a curtain to reveal the death mask face of the Angel imprisoned within the core of the Evangelion.
	It peers at her with eyes like dying suns.  The coils beneath her rise like a pedestal, bringing her up to meet its gaze.
	“Zeruel, is it?”
	Yui Ikari.  You are known to us.
	She cocks an eyebrow.  Hands on her hips, waiting to hear how so.
	You are of the Fruit of Knowledge and have consumed the Fruit of Life.  Like the other who restrains me, reaching that which is beyond my kin.
	Yui shifts her hips with a grin.  Mm mm, she thinks, That's some sweet, sweet validation.
	“Have to admit, this is a lot more cordial than I expected.  I expected you to start with some sort of speech like,” she drops her voice a few octaves.  Adds some reverb.  “Limited creature of blood and flesh, you touch my mind and you fumble in ignorance, unaware of what is before you.”
	Zeruel stares at her.  She sighs.  Tough audience.
	“So what is the darkness and why must it not be breached?”
	The coils beneath her feet strain.  The face of Zeruel inches closer.
	Leviathan.
	“You're familiar?” she asks, “What was it?  What is it?”
	To know Leviathan, you must know the Origin.  Were all Time a single day, and now the stroke of midnight, Leviathan was the Sunrise.
	Yui blinks.  She understood that.  “Tell me everything.”