[ WP ] `` What I 'm about to show you is so top-secret that we had to invent a new security clearance level for it . ''

`` Pilot Forrestal,'' a man clad in a navy-blue suit stood before you, hand outstretched. `` I'm Ed Bennington. In charge of Technical Operations here.'' 
 
 You shake his hand. `` Glad to finally meet you.'' 
 
 Bennington is definitely, probably in his late 40s. His black- no, *dark brown* hair is combed back, green-gray eyes set in tired sockets, but with a genuine smile on his face. `` Did n't have any trouble with Section 2, did you?'' 
 
 `` No, sir,'' you chuckle, hands raised. `` No trouble with security.'' That's a half-lie. You *did* have to go through several authorization points, passing through bulkhead after bulkhead. Then again, that's every day. 
 
 `` Glad to hear it.'' He patted you on the shoulder. `` Hear your father works with the UN. That true?'' 
 
 `` Yeah,'' you admit, rolling your eyes. `` Talks about this place often.'' 
 
 The two of you stop in front of a massive bulkhead door, the familiar half-fig leaf and upside-down apple logo emblazoned onto the triple-thick steel plates in red paint. Bennington fumbles through his jacket, handing you a card. You look up at him, confusedly. 
 
 `` Mr. Bennington,'' you look up at him. `` What's this for? I already have one.'' You rifle through your own pockets and retrieve your own card. He chuckles. 
 
 `` Avery,'' he says, crouching down a bit to be at eye level with you. `` Do you know how many clearance levels we have?'' 
 
 `` Easy. Seventeen.'' You smile as you give him the answer. 
 
 `` Eighteen now.'' Bennington smiles, patting you on the shoulder as he swipes his own card. The bulkhead doors shudder as they slowly open. 
 
 You step out onto the catwalk. Before you, in a sea of red-orange fluid, are two titans of human engineering. The one to the left is clad in black armor, with red and white detailing. The menacing glare of its presumed cockpit strikes fear into you, as it probably did into the hearts of those that defeated it. To the right is one with three eyes, sea green armor with dark red and golden detailing. You simply *gawk* at the scale of these... these... 
 
 `` This is what you've been learning to pilot, Forrestal.'' 
 
 You look up. It's Bennington again. He's smiling, proudly at the two humanoid figures. 
 
 `` These are the pinnacles of our species' achievement. Evangelions.''
