Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny ❯ Disarmament Story, part 1: Angels in the Outskirts ( Chapter 14 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer:
This fic uses characters, places, themes from franchises that are the property of others. I do not own these franchises.

Special Thanks to:
Charles Xavier, Fanfiction.net author: For writing an awesome crossover with anime and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Suikosource website: for providing great information that made this fic possible.

The Anime Margin: 108 Stars of Destiny
By: RB3

Disarmament Story, part 1: Angels in the Outskirts

Before the formation of Valiance, Izzy had warned the authorities of Tokyo-3 of Evangelia about Omnipotence cells in their world. Accordingly, the police raided the hideout, but had found nothing but empty rooms. Omnipotence had somehow learned about the threat to their operations and then cleaned out their base to remove all incriminating evidence. Even though this was a set back, hope was not lost. The Abh refugees, Lafiel Abriel and Jinto Lynn, had provided a new lead to the arms running ring instead. It is on this information that Ross, Naomi, and the witch hunters took a Valiance detachment to Evangelia, where they set up operations.

The Second Impact, a horrifying catastrophe, had brought untold destruction to the Earth of Evangelia. It resulted in the melting of the Antarctic ice caps, flooding the entire world. In the chaos that ensued, old Tokyo had been wiped out by powerful non-nuclear weapons. The N2 weapons left a crater which became a lake as water filled it over the years. Parts of old Tokyo were still submerged in this lake to this day. The people have long since moved westward to Tokyo-3, leaving the old city a forgotten relic. It was here, in the ruins of old Tokyo, that Valiance had made camp. As a ghost town, they were separated from the local population and would not disturb anyone.

Ross, Naomi, and the witch hunters glossed over the information relayed by Folken. "So, there are seven locations used to sell arms," Amon summarized as he read the documents. "Omnipotence changes the location of their vendors each time to avoid detection. They frequent underground parking lots so that GPS systems can't spy on the location."

Miho punched some buttons on a small handheld, which displayed the locations of known meeting spots for the arms runners. "Our current position is the northwest section of the lake, near the shoreline. There are three locations to the east, two to the south, and another two across the lake. We'll check each of them out in a clockwise order. I'd like to case the place with my Craft too."

Outside, the Valiance members who would act as bodyguards for the investigators talked amongst each other. Since Omnipotence regularly employed dangerous people with superhuman abilities, Valiance needed to assign similar people to assist the investigators. Assigned to this mission were Koichi, Yolei, Sakura, Madison, Filia, Yoh, and Ryo. "Hello cutie! I never expected someone like you to come with us. So what's your name?" asked Ryo.

Filia took a good look at Ryo, who struck her as a weirdo with a strange taste in clothes and an even stranger taste in hairstyle. She sighed. "If you must know, it's Filia," replied Filia.

"Filia, that's a beautiful name," remarked Ryo. "You know, it's a very tough job trying to catch these thieves. That's why I like to unwind by going out for a night in the town. It gets pretty lonely going there by myself. Would you like to keep me company?"

"Nah, no thanks. My beliefs forbid me from engaging in sin and vice like you do," replied Filia, not wishing to be associated with Ryo.

"Ha ha ha! Shot down again, Ryo?" asked Yoh, trying to stifle his laughter.

"Okay, this is a minor set back, but there's plenty of fish in the sea, and this fisherman is gonna catch them!" proclaimed Ryo.

At the same time, Madison was getting acquainted with her team mates. "That's Koichi. He and Yolei saved me from those bees," said Sakura.

"Hi!" said Madison.

"Hello," said Koichi.

Miho came out of the meeting. "Okay kids, it's time to move out!"

Valiance initiated its operation with support from the authorities of Evangelia. The authorities of Evangelia surrounded each location with armed guards surrounding the area in key locations. Ross' team visited the first location, east of Valiance's base, which was the underground parking lot for the neighbouring mall. After the Second Impact, all that was left of this place was a set of ruins. The investigators searched the area meticulously, being vigilant for even the tiniest thing from a forgotten shell casing or a fallen hair. All they could find were traces of cleaning agents on the walls and ground. As usual, Omnipotence had been very meticulous about removing any form of evidence that could be traced back to them.

Miho touched her hand to a wall in an attempt to use her Craft to learn more about this location. Her psychic powers produced a random jumble of images, sounds, and thoughts. From her visions, she saw what seemed to be dozens of people, most of whom were criminals or terrorists of some kind. She continued to feel around the area, trying to isolate individual thoughts of the people. Since so many people had been in this area, their thoughts produced a great amount of psychic noise. It was difficult for her to process this information and focus on specific thoughts.

Nevertheless, she was able to confirm that Omnipotence had sold arms at this location. "There were people here. It's very jumbled but I can sense that they were here to buy guns. Other than that, I can't make anything else out. There's too much interference," admitted Miho.

"That's alright. At least we know we're on the right track. We can find something at another location," said Robin.

The investigators managed to search two more sites before calling it a day. In particular, Miho was fatigued from the extensive use of her Craft in her investigation. When she returned to her tent, she plopped herself down on her cot. "What a day!" she thought to herself.

---

A beautiful day dawned on Tokyo-3 with the golden sun rising to illuminate the concrete jungle. The coming of the sun brought the radiance of life back to a city that went dormant with the darkness of night. Mothers from small, single family apartments opened doors and brought out their clothes to dry for the day. Workers set out in their cars to begin the daily grind to support their families. At the heart of this city was a meek boy named Shinji Ikari, sleeping soundly in his futon. The young boy seemed so innocent as he turned to his side in his sleep.

"Wake up Shinji, it's time for school!" cried the boy's guardian, Misato Katsuragi.

"Just another minute, mom," said Shinji, still in a sleep-induced stupor. Misato squeezed Shinji's nose, interrupting his breathing. "Oh! Hey, what was that for?"

"Wake up already, it's almost 8 in the morning!" said Misato.

"I'm up, I'm up," said Shinji grumpily.

After finishing the rest of their morning routine, Misato drove Shinji and her other ward, Asuka Langley Soryu, to school. The two kids couldn't be more different from each other. Shinji was the darker and more sombre of the two, with a meek and unassuming appearance. His counterpart, Asuka Langley Soryu, was the stereotypical fiery, hot-tempered girl whose hair matched her attitude. They were very different walks of life with Shinji being Japanese and from the East, whereas Asuka was mostly German, a country of the West. The two were literally opposites of each other, like male to female and water to fire.

"It's all your fault!" said Asuka, in reference to Shinji. "You had to sleep in today, didn't you? If you woke up on time, we'd be in school by now."

"I'm sorry," said Shinji.

"Sorry? Is that all you have to say?" asked Asuka.

Somehow, the two kids managed to make it to school, barely in time for the first period bell to ring. The school day went by as normal, with the teachers explaining everything from the newest mathematical formula to a brand new exercise for gym. Lunch time came, with hundreds of students gathering in a small cafeteria for sandwiches and assorted goodies to please even the most selective teenager. Shinji sat down at a table and took a bite out of a delicious sub. The taste of turkey, tangy mayonnaise, cheese, verdant lettuce, and tomato filled his mouth. It was a delicious meal, one that he couldn't have anticipated any more strongly.

Shinji's cell phone emitted a high-pitched sound. It was NERV paging him, requesting his help. As the Third Child selected to pilot an Evangelion, a gigantic biomechanical robot, he was a vital asset to NERV. Evangelions, or Evas, were used to repel attacks against Tokyo-3 from the bizarre creatures known as "Angels." Shinji rushed out of the lunch room with Asuka, the Second Child, not far behind him. Misato's bright red car came to a skidding stop just as the kids hit the street. "Hop in!" she cried.

The three scrambled to reach the Geo-Front, NERV headquarters. In the streets of Tokyo-3, several of its civilians scrambled to evacuate the city under the guidance of the military. The three burst into the strategy room to join the First Child, Rei Ayanami, who was already waiting inside. Misato gave a briefing on the situation, as the computer displayed images to assist her. NERV forces had detected four Angels on a direct course for the Geo-Front. The Angels resembled their namesake as white masses of flesh with wings. They were shaped like bowling pins which used their wing-like growths to propel themselves forward as they hovered above the ground. Each Angel had a single red, jewel-like eye on its head with a penetrating gaze that almost seemed to peer into the human soul.

"The four Angels are coming from the north, east, west, and south. We are going to send one Eva each to the ones attacking from the north, west, and south," declared Misato.

"What about the one coming from the east?" asked Rei.

"I was about to get to that. In the east is a camp belonging to a counter-terrorist group called Valiance. They have offered to engage the Angel by themselves. We will not assist them," replied Misato.

"We're not helping them? How will they manage without Evas?" asked Shinji.

"They told us they'll manage. Our orders are to take care of the other three," replied Misato. "Okay children, I want you geared up and ready to go within ten minutes. Dismissed!"

While the three suited up to sortie in their Evangelions, Valiance prepared to do battle with their Angel. The enormous bowling pin hovered through the ruined spires of old Tokyo, smashing what little structures remained standing in its path. After five minutes of floating through the city, it came face to face with a massive white hydra with Tokagero's face on its chest. This strange beast was flanked by a gigantic samurai. Both enemies seemed somewhat translucent, as though they were not entirely within this plane of existence. Each had a human master standing on their shoulders. The Angel's gaze moved to each individual, its eye rolling in its socket as though trying to gauge its opponents' strength.

"So this is what's attacking our camp; an overgrown bowling pin?" asked Yoh incredulously.

The Angel seemed to have been offended by Yoh's comment. It turned its eye to Amidamaru and fired a beam of energy. The mighty samurai, not expecting this move, barely raised his sword in time to block the shot. The beam pushed Amidamaru back, causing him to grind troughs into the ground with his sandaled feet. "I think you made him mad, Yoh," commented Amidamaru.

"I guess I did," muttered Yoh. "Okay Ryo, let's get him!"

Ryo's hydra-like spirit, Orochi, charged at top speed towards the Angel, who raised an orange barrier in response. Orochi came to a halt and lashed his many heads forward with jaws snapping at the barrier. Amidamaru joined his comrade at the orange wall and stabbed the tip of his sword into a single point at chest height. Using all of his might, Amidamaru attempted to pry the barrier open so that he could pass through. At the same time, Orochi's teeth grabbed a tuft of the torn barrier and began to widen the rip. It wasn't long before the two ripped through the barrier and tore into the Angel. Orochi snatched one of its wings with its teeth, ripping the entire appendage off. Amidamaru followed with a severing slash through the torso.

The Angel collapsed onto the ground in pieces. "Piece of cake," said Yoh.

He had spoken too soon. Tendrils of flesh lashed out of the Angel's pieces and connected them together. The tendrils pulled the pieces of the Angel towards the top half of the torso, sealing the cuts with regenerated flesh until it was whole once again. The Angel stood up. "Oh great!" remarked Tokagero.

In a maniacal rage, the Angel fired endless beams of energy at the duo. Amidamaru and Orochi were forced to go onto the defensive to weather this onslaught. "It's that damn eye," cursed Yoh.

Another beam struck Orochi, producing a massive, blinding explosion. "If we don’t' think of something soon, we're goners," warned Ryo.

"It's his eye," observed Amidamaru. "It looks like it is the creature's power source. If we can take out that eye, we might be able to beat him."

"His eye... Ryo, I have an idea, but I need you to cover me," requested Yoh. "I hope it works."

"Okay," replied Ryo.

When the Angel's stopped firing to recharge, Orochi proceeded to exhale massive jets of flaming white spiritual energy in retaliation. This torrent of supernatural energy collided with the Angel like a spreading brushfire, keeping it pinned down and unable to return fire. Through an exertion of its will, the Angel restored its barrier to withstand the onslaught. Orochi increased the intensity, forcing the Angel to do the same in order to maintain the integrity of his shield. The two sides struggled to achieve dominance, each putting forth an increasing amount of power to defeat the other.

With the Angel's attention diverted to Orochi, Amidamaru made his move. The ages old samurai came from above with katana in hand. Just as he came close, the Angel noticed him, but it was just a second too late. Amidamaru's katana punctured the Angel's ruby eye, which began leaking vital orange juices over its body and onto the ground. The writhed it agony and dropped its barrier as a result. Orochi's spiritual energy, no longer contained by the barrier, came gushing through like a tidal wave of whiteness. It washed through the Angel in its wake, consuming and disintegrating the Angel in a deluge of spiritual flame.

"He won't be bothering us again," said Ryo.

"Yeah, let's go back to camp," replied Yoh.

Meanwhile, the battle went smoothly for the three children. At first, each Angel gave the children difficulties as they tried to battle the creature. Asuka raised her Evangelion's AT Field, a special type of defensive barrier unique to Angels and Angel derivatives like the Evangelions. The two fields ground against each other until both collapsed from overexertion. Unit 02, Asuka's Eva, pulled a small knife from a side compartment and plunged it into the Angel's eye. The ruby-like organ ruptured, gushing orange blood freely as the Angel collapsed on the ground writhing. Deprived of its eye, the monster withered away until all that remained was a husk.

"Okay kids, well done!" complimented Misato over the communications system. "Let's bring'em home."

Upon returning to NERV HQ, the children disembarked from their Evas and attended a debriefing by Misato. "Welcome back kids. You did well out there. The damage to Tokyo-3 was minimal since you successfully intercepted the Angels before they could reach town. Valiance had also successfully subdued their Angel as well. Good work."

"Misato, maybe it's just me, but I can't help but find today's Angel strange," admitted Shinji. "I've fought many Angels, but they don't normally come in such large groups. They usually come at us one at a time."

"I hate to admit it but Shinji's right," said Asuka. "The only time we ever fought multiple simultaneous Angels, was with that stupid dance."

"Yeah, I do admit that it's a little strange for four Angels to attack us simultaneously. I'll ask Ritsuko about this later. Dismissed!" said Misato.

Three hours later, Misato paid a visit to Ritsuko Akagi, NERV's chief scientist. At the moment, Ritsuko was writing something down on a piece of paper attached to her clipboard. NERV troops had taken a sample of the Angel's corpse for their scientists to analyze in the comfort of their labs. Like Misato, Ritsuko had suspected something was amiss with this Angel. Angels normally didn't attack in groups this large and certainly without this degree of coordination. She had meticulously scrutinized the Angel's DNA, looking for anything that might shed light on this abnormality.

Ritsuko turned to Misato as she entered. "Oh hi Misato!"

"Hello!" replied Misato. "Did you find anything new?"

"Definitely, I looked at samples from the Angels defeated by the children and the Valiance guys today. I noticed that each Angel had consistent genetic defects. Take a look."

Misato took some diagrams of the structure of the Angels' DNA, each labelled according to whomever had slain the Angel. Ritsuko had circled two connections between the DNA's double-helix pattern in red. The first was two strands down from the top and the second was three strands above the bottom. These were the locations of the genetic defects. "They're all in the same place," remarked Misato as she flipped through the documents.

"That's right," replied Ritsuko. "This is evidence that these Angels were not natural but had, in fact, been cloned. They were created by someone to attack the Geo-Front."

"Who would want to attack NERV HQ?" Misato asked rhetorically.

"That's what I'd like to know," said Ritsuko.

---

One night three days later, several unscrupulous characters gathered in an underground parking lot of a local mall. Large camouflaged trunks were parked in virtually every space imaginable. The vendors had makeshift stands and stalls set up along the back of the lot with their wares showcased across shelves and tables. In their stock were weapons from worlds beyond those of Evangelia. There were weapons for personal defence, like pistols and submachine guns, to much more devastating hardware like rocket launchers and missiles. Even the technology of weapons varied from modern, bullet-firing weapons to technologically advanced energy weapons.

The buyers seemed to come from almost every ethnicity and criminal group imaginable. One group consisted of over a dozen Japanese men, all wearing shades and designer suits. Another were a group of guerrillas dressed in blue berets, camouflage, and combat vests. Yet another was a group of tough-looking Jamaicans in street clothes with their black hair tied into dreadlocks. As these men approached the stalls, the vendors scrambled to lure the customers to their stalls. They droned a pre-planned sales pitch to encourage their customers to buy their hardware.

"Hey my friend, how about this E22 handgun? It's a beauty, isn't it? It can fire two modes, stun and kill, and renders typical Kevlar armour useless," said the vendor to a passing Yakuza thug.

A Jamaican drug dealer stormed in front of the vendor and slammed the remains of a broken energy handgun in front of the vendor. "You sold me a defective weapon! When I fired it yesterday, my gun broke down. I want my money back!" cried a Jamaican, a drug dealer.

"I'm sorry but what you see is what you get. Our policies prohibit us from granting refunds," said the vendor.

"Damn you, I want my money and I want it back now!" cried the Jamaican, who pulled a gun on the vendor. In response, the nearby guards pulled weapons on the Jamaican, whose friends pulled weapons on the guards in turn, leading to a dangerous Mexican standoff. More guards entered the area, training guns on the Jamaican's friends. The Jamaicans, now outnumbered and outgunned, decided to put away their weapons. All of the guards did the same once the situation was under control.

In truth, the Jamaican's weapon was perfectly functional with nothing wrong with it mechanically. The problem was that the Jamaican never took the effects of Paradox into consideration when he used his weapon. Although science was the most lenient of the power types in the worlds, there were still limits to what one could do with it before running afoul of Paradox. The Jamaican man hailed from a world that had not developed energy-based weapons yet. Due to that fact, he lacked the metaphysical makeup that could support the existence of such a weapon. Thus, it broke down some time after he tried to use it.

After the Jamaican drug dealer stormed off, a new truck pulled into an empty space in the lot. A brunette woman clad in form-fitting black suit and sunglasses disembarked from the truck with underlings. She went up to one of the vendors and ordered at least a dozen missiles. As the woman ironed out the finer details of her purchase, one of her men broke away from the pack unnoticed. The man secretly threw a small metallic sphere in an easily overlooked area between tents. The objected began flickering with a faint red light. The man returned to his comrades just in time to help load the missiles into the back of his truck. The buyers sped away in their vehicle soon afterwards.

Two hours passed with the criminal and terrorist elements of various worlds arming themselves for their next crime. After that, the dreaded announcement came. "This is the police. We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up!"

That announcement sent waves of panic throughout the arms market. The crooks rushed to their vehicles in a desperate attempt to escape the law, while the vendors hastily moved to close shop. As the Yakuza car attempted to speed out, police cars skid to a sideways stop at the exit, blocking their only path out. Fearing capture, the Yakuza opened fire rather than be taken alive. In her car, Armitage and Ross ducked just before bullets went sailing through their windshield. The police left their cars and returned fire from behind the cover of their vehicles while the Yakuza continued the attack.

For several minutes, hundreds of bullets when sailing back and forth between the two sides. Both sides were pinned down under heavy fire until Madison intervened in the battle. Letting lose a high pitched scream through the Voice card, the magic of the Clow amplified her voice to an inhuman level. The deadly scream shook the ground and rattled the Yakuza painfully, leaving the police unharmed. The scream was so shrill that they had no choice but to stop shooting and cover their ears. With guns constantly trained on them, the police slowly surrounded the Japanese criminals. The Yakuza wisely raised their arms to surrender.

Elsewhere, a firefight brewed between other arms dealers and Miho's team. Since Miho's group was up against actual Omnipotence agents, they were forced to deal with superhumanly powered beings. Instead of firing bullets, the arms dealers used Crafts just like the witch hunters did. As a result, it went very poorly for the mundane police officers. One such Craft user shot a pair of officers with bullets made out of pure ice which froze them solid on contact. These fantastic powers terrified the police officers, who were completely unable to put up a decent fight despite their firepower and training. The only three people who didn't run away when exposed to the supernatural power of the Craft were Robin, Amon, and Miho, Craft users themselves.

Miho fired at a witch, downing a different arms dealer with Orbo pellets. The ice Craft user froze water vapour into bullets of ice and sent them at Robin. In response, she pyrokinetically melted the bullets before they could even reach her, evaporating them as steam in mere microseconds. The cryokineticist blew out a torrent of ice which Robin stopped with a wall of flame. She pushed the flames through the ice and snow until it reached the enemy and formed a ring of fire around him. The enemy writhed in pain and terror as the tongues of flames lashed out at him. Being defenceless, Miho finished him off with a pair of well placed shots from her Orbo gun.

Amon's opponent lashed out with bolts of dangerous lightning. The dark detective raised a wall of telekinetic force which blunted the attack harmlessly. The enemy turned up the power by using both hands, forcing Amon to channel more power to maintain his defences. Miho fired a pair of Orbo shots at the Craft user, which he nullified with arcs of lightning. In retaliation, the man fanned out bolts of lightning everywhere in front of him from his fingertips. Robin defended herself in the nick of time with a burst of Craft fire. The lightning travelled to Miho, who tried to manoeuvre out of harm's way, but was a split second too slow. She was struck by the lightning and thrown to the ground writhing.

"Miho!" cried Robin.

Amon took this opportunity to strike a blow at the enemy. With the Craft user's attention diverted onto Miho, he made a tactical error and released some of the pressure on Amon. With telekinetic Craft, he slammed the enemy hard into a concrete supporting beam. As the witch was dazed, Amon telekinetically tore the bumper off of the man's truck and wound it around his prey. "Is she okay?" asked Amon.

"I'm fine," replied Miho, still somewhat dazed as Robin help her up.

Valiance and their police allies mopped up the arms dealers and their customers with ease. Duskmon cornered a group of unaware Jamaicans and sprayed an aphotic black miasma over them. Pain fell over the Jamaicans like the sensation of having their innards ripped out of their bodies. Drained until exhaustion, the men collapsed onto the ground for the police to surround and capture. A whirlwind flung the soldiers of Blue Cosmos into the air, letting them drop to a heap on the ground like rag dolls. Vines sprouted from the ground and tangled the enemy up, ensuring they could not retaliate once the police officers approached to take them into custody.

Ross and Naomi went to check up on the success of the other officers. "Ross, Naomi, we've caught the men!" announced Sakura.

"Good work, Sakura," said Naomi.

Back at the witch hunter's location, a holding van had arrived on the scene to secure the suspects. Tails came into the area to check up on the Omnipotence arms dealers, the most important individuals nabbed in the raid. "Are these things really going to keep them from committing suicide?" asked Robin as she showed Tails a small metal bead with a flashing red light.

"Don't worry, you can count on me. Those things will jam their signals so we can get them to talk," replied Tails.

Valiance hauled the arms dealers off to their camp for a session of intense questioning. With Tails having rendered the suicide devices a non-issue, Valiance was finally able to question Omnipotence agents directly. Ross watched though a tinted window as an interrogator questioned and browbeat one of the arms dealers forcefully. The man, unable to handle the pressure placed on him, buckled about an hour in and leaked the information the police wanted. Although this man did not know the source of the weapons entering Abh rebel hands, he did reveal a critical node where the weapons passed through on their way to the Abh insurgents. This node was in the world of Bebop and one of its key figures was an Abh named Vicontiel Dunner.

Bebop was the home of the Cowboy Bebop anime. In that world, it is the year 2071. The human race had taken its first steps into space. Though lacking faster than light engines, the human race of that world had successfully constructed a set of hyperspace gates for quick travel through their Solar System. An accident involving one of the gates near the Earth exploded, taking chunks of the moon with it. These chunks rained down on the Earth like meteors, annihilating more than two thirds of the population. As a result, most of the human race had scattered to the rest of their solar system, where they live in various colonies.

In the world Bebop, crime levels had been increasing steadily while criminal syndicates still exerted much influence in the world. To counter this, the government issued a bounty system similar to the one used in the Wild West. Vigilantes and bounty hunters, also known as "cowboys," were encouraged to capture criminals alive and then deliver them to the authorities in exchange for generous rewards of Woolong, Bebop's currency. Omnipotence and its allies would fit in with this cesspool of crime. It was the perfect place for black market arms dealers and terrorists to hide.

---

The next day, the three children were summoned to the Geo-Front as the result of an emergency. Joining them were two more fourteen-year-old Children, one a bronzed boy with a "jock" motif and the other a typical junior high school girl. The boy was dressed in black track pants and a jacket to match. He was the Fourth Child selected to pilot an Evangelion and his name was Toji Suzuhara. The girl, who had a freckled face and hair tied into two ponytails, was the newest Eva pilot. Her name was Hikari Horaki and she was the Sixth Child. Although both could pilot Evangelions, they functioned more as reservists to be called in during dire emergencies.

Currently, the situation around Tokyo-3 would be classified as exactly that. Misato began the briefing, describing the situation around the Geo-Front. At the moment, twelve Angels were moving towards NERV HQ, the largest number to ever make such an attack simultaneously. The Angels were the same kind as the four which had recently attacked NERV HQ. They were approaching from the four cardinal directions in groups of three. The JSSDF had already made an attempt to subdue the Angels with conventional firepower, but was ineffective. With the Evas outnumbered, NERV turned to the only people left who were in a position to help; Valiance.

Valiance had demonstrated that the strange supernatural powers of their forces were just as effective as the Evas versus Angels, possibly even more so. Their agents had successfully defeated one of the Angels as it advanced on their camp. For this second attack, the Children would receive support from Valiance in intercepting the Angels before they reached the Geo-Front. Toji and Hikari were to stop the ones coming from the west. Rei was to take the north, Asuka the south, and Shinji the east. Rei, Asuka, and Shinji would receive help from Valiance agents and had to hold out until they arrived.

The pilots geared up and sortied in their Evangelions. Within minutes, Shinji encountered his Angels hovering their way towards the Geo-Front. The Angels looked over his Evangelion and opened fire with their eye beams. Unit 01 raised its AT Field, blunting the threat of the beams without harm to itself. Shinji dropped his AT Field and opened fire with his assault rifle. The bullets punctured holes into the first two Angels struck, while bouncing off of a hastily erected AT Field formed by the third. As the two perforated angels fell to the ground, the third fired beams of energy at Shinji, which kept him pinned down behind his AT Field.

Within seconds, the fallen Angels began to recover from the wounds they had suffered from Shinji's bullets. The bullets holes filled with newly formed flesh until they sealed up completely. They rose to a vertical position and joined their brethren in firing on Shinji's AT Field. Now with three Angels firing on him, Shinji was in big trouble. Even though an AT Field was a powerful defence, such a defence still relied on an energy source, which could be taxed and overloaded. Already, he could feel his hold on his AT Field weakening. Once it broke, the beams burst through and seared their way to Unit 01's chest sending an equivalent paroxysm of pain through Shinji's.

Unit 01 fell to one knee, unable to resist as the Angels closed in for the deathblow. Suddenly, an aphotic miasma fell over the three Angels, surrounding them in an aura of darkness. The Angels writhed in agony as the foul, tainted presence of negative energy viciously wrenched the very life from their beings. Shinji wasted no time in drawing a progressive knife and viciously stabbing it into an Angel's ruby eye. He rushed to the second, driving the deadly blade into the eye, causing its vital orange blood to spill on the ground. Shinji pivoted Unit 01 around to the final Angel, plunging the knife back into its eye in a single swift motion.

As the Angels collapsed to the ground in a withered heap, he searched for whoever had helped him. He saw a being of darkness, an armoured demon that seemed to be half vulture and half man, and stood over twice the height of an average man. This creature didn't seem natural at all, let alone of this world and seemed to watch Unit 01 with knowing, lidless eyes. The creature expanded his wings to their maximum length before soaring off at immense speeds, leaving Shinji with the husks of the defeated. Secretly, Shinji was thankful for this creature's intervention. It was only because of that creature that Shinji survived this ordeal.

Back at the Geo-Front, the guards of NERV HQ came under fire by hundreds of unknown, jackbooted enemies in black. Thousands of energy bolts ripped out of their guns as they fired upon NERV guards who returned fire with firearms. The enemy's superior firepower proved to be more than a match for NERV's. One by one, guards fell in battle as the jackbooted storm troopers flooded into the underground complex. With brutal efficiency and expedience, the men killed all who dared to oppose them. The enemy soon met a barricade of NERV forces, exchanging fire with them in a heated shoot out.

"Yolei, the NERV HQ is coming under attack!" warned Folken over the radio. "The Angels were a diversion to distract us while they attacked the headquarters. NERV is sending out a distress signal asking for our help. There's an underground emergency access tunnel just a bit north of your location. I've sent Sakura, Madison, and Filia to help you. Get in there on the double!"

"Okay, I'm on my way!" replied Yolei.

Meanwhile, the Children were receiving instructions from their commanders. "Children," addressed Ritsuko. "We're coming under attack. There have taken over the hangar area! You can't return to HQ." Ritsuko glanced at Misato, who fired a handgun at several unseen attackers.

"Where do we go?" asked Rei.

"Head to the Valiance camp. They're making preparations to evacuate us to safety," replied Ritsuko. "Move it, we don't have all day!"

Ritsuko closed the comm channel and put her back to a barricade, clutching a handgun in her hands. Misato peeked out from behind the barricade and squeezed off a trio of shots. Other NERV personnel fired handguns and assault rifles at the enemy, who hid behind whatever cover they could find. Two of them were dead and five more were wounded. Unlike NERV's weapons, the enemy's fired energy bolts. Rather than puncture the flesh, these weapons incinerated it. Those who were wounded suffered from severe burns rather than lodged bullets.

"We're boxed in," said Misato. "We can't keep this up for long."

"We have to hold out as long as possible. Valiance agents are coming to assist us. We must hold out until they arrive," said Ritsuko.

"Easier said than done," quipped Misato.

The Major peaked from under the barricade and let out another trio of shots. The enemy suddenly peaked out of a corner with return fire. The first three shots missed, but the fourth hit its mark, striking Misato near the ribs. "GAHHH!" she gasped painfully before toppling over.

"MISATO!" cried Ritsuko.

"GAHHH UGGGH!" gasped Misato, in far too much agony to answer. The burns from the shot were quite severe and the wound was bleeding profusely. The medic desperately attempted to remove her jacket and shirt to apply first aid.

"Damn, if this keeps up we're going to die here," gasped Ritsuko.

Ritsuko noticed something strange happening at the enemy's end of the hallway. One of their squad members went flying width wise across the adjacent hallway. From the way he flew, it looked more like he had been thrown back. The man landed outside of the NERV defenders' view, so they didn't know what had happened to him after that. A beam of energy streaked by, striking an unseen object and sending more men crashing to the ground from an ensuing explosion. Several shots went flying sideways to an unknown victim, followed by an enraged griffon-like creature pouncing onto the invaders. Suddenly, more men went flying across the hallway in the opposite direction, likely thrown by that creature.

When the coast was clear, Yolei approached the NERV with hands raised. "Don't shoot, we're Valiance! We're here to help!"

"What is that thing?" asked Ritsuko, referring to Halsemon.

"I resent being called a 'thing,'" said Halsemon.

"He's Halsemon. He's just my Digimon. Don't worry, he won't bite."

"I am a medic. What is the condition of your men?" asked Filia. The NERV medic reported the condition of the wounded. Two of his men were dead and couldn't be saved. Six more were wounded including the highest ranked officer, Major Misato Katsuragi. Filia laid her open palms above the open wounds of Misato. They began to glow with a faint but serene white light as she began to chant a spell. "Oh great lord of the flames, grant this humble child the breath of life. Resurrection!"

"UGGGH!" gasped Misato. Though feeling pain at first, a soothing sensation washed over Misato's body as Filia's divine magic began to regenerate Misato's flesh.

Ritsuko could only watch this miraculous event awe struck. "Miraculous!" she remarked.

Yolei channelled the natural powers of the Crest of Sincerity upon the wounds of a downed NERV soldier. The Crest of Sincerity appeared in a verdant light between the palms of Yolei's hands as she invoked its powers. As her hands glowed with a green light, she hovered them over the wound. A leaf-like image superimposed over the wound which began to close as the restorative powers of nature began to regenerate the burn. Filia and Yolei moved from soldier to soldier, healing each with the life giving powers of their magic. Within minutes, the soldiers had recuperated enough such that they could be moved safely.

Soldiers slung wounded comrades on their shoulders and helped them reach safety. The girls of Valiance led the NERV survivors through several lengthy metal corridors. Within minutes, the group found a location where the rays of daylight filtered through a doorway. A pair of Blue Typhoon shuttles were waiting for them there, ready to ferry them out of the deathtrap that the NERV HQ had become. Yolei urged the NERV survivors to enter the shuttle, which promptly lifted off with a burst of jet power. The shuttles made a brief flight eastward, where they docked inside the Blue Typhoon's hangar.

The Blue Typhoons engines started with the sound of hot air streaming. The Blue Typhoon rose into the sky, clearing escape velocity and entered into the void of outer space. "Tails, we have a dozen space-time shots approaching this location," announced Chris. "They are coming from Abh ships!"

"It's an invasion force," said Tails without hesitation. "We don't stand a chance against that many ships by ourselves. Helm, take us home!"

"Aye, aye, captain," replied Cream.

The Blue Typhoon's dimensional travel module filled with power channelled to it by the Master Emerald. Knuckles chanted prayers to the gigantic gem, calling on it to empower the Blue Typhoon. The black void began to bend and warp until space and time itself became distorted and the image of the Valiance home world’s moon appeared. The Blue Typhoon entered this aperture between worlds, just seconds before the Abh warships materialized in the area. With the Valiance battle ship having fled elsewhere, the Abh turned their attention to the planet instead and began to orbit it.

---

Shinji and the other Eva pilots laid paid a visit to the infirmary to visit the wounded NERV workers. "Misato, are you okay?" asked Shinji.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch, nothing I can't handle," replied Misato. The doctor applied another bandage to cover her ribs. "Ouch! Not so rough!"

"First the Angels and now we're stuck in this dinky place," complained Asuka.

"Well excuse us for making the place so 'dinky,'" said Eddie as he entered the infirmary. "It's not like we had a welcoming party prepared just for you."

"Mr. Valiant? I didn't expect you to show up. What brings you here?" asked the doctor.

"I'd like to talk to the Major," said Eddie.

"Yeah, I'm here, what do you need?" asked Misato.

"I'm here to ask about you guys," said Eddie. "You see, since your headquarters is now a new hangout for storm troopers, I was wondering what you were going to do. Not to pressure you, but we'd really appreciate it if you guys could run with us. If you go that route, we can help you take back NERV when the time comes. We could really use guys like you around here."

"I don't know," replied Misato. "I need time to think about it."

"Sure, no problem," said Eddie, before leaving. "Even if you don't want to run with us, we'll drop you off somewhere safe until this blows over."

NERV's personnel gathered together to discuss their next move. "Okay folks, as you all now by now, terrorists have taken over the Geo-Front. Valiance sent agents to rescue us and brought us back to their base. As of now, NERV no longer exists so I'm no longer your commanding officer. I'm just plain old Misato Katsuragi now. I can't tell you where to go or what to do. Valiance has extended an invitation for us to join if we want to take back our homes. If we refuse, they promise to drop us off somewhere else."

"I don't understand," admitted Rei. "Why do they care so much about us?"

"I guess it's because they're in the same position we are," replied Ritsuko. "Many of the people had been attacked by these guys. They know what it's like to lose family and friends to them."

"Well, I don't know about you but I don't want them dropping us off God knows where. I want to return home to Tokyo!" stated Misato. "I can't let what they did slide. I want payback so I'm joining Valiance."

"If you're staying Misato, then I am too," declared Ritsuko. "Plus, the scientist in me wants to study these people and their technology."

"Well, I'm staying too. How could I possibly leave?" asked Asuka rhetorically. "Plus, there's a lot of cute guys I want to meet."

"I'm staying too," said Shinji. His announcement came as a surprise to the other NERV personnel, who whispered amongst themselves.

"Wow, Shinji is staying too?" asked Toji incredulously.

"I must be dreaming..." remarked Hikari.

"Yeah, me too, who would have thought Shinji would actually grow a spine and stand up for himself," remarked Asuka.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" asked Shinji.

"Oh nothing," replied Asuka, feigning a sense of innocence.

With so many people announcing their intent to remain and assist Valiance, the feeling spread through the NERV remnants like wildfire. It was quite likely that deep down, each NERV survivor wanted to join Valiance against the enemy that invaded their home. The announcements of key members of their ranks served as the impetus for the others to act on their desires. Thus, the remnants unanimously voted in favour of joining Valiance. Despite Valiance's loss that day, they've gained new allies in the form of NERV remnants and the military expertise they had.

END OF CHAPTER

New Stars of Heaven/Heavenly Leaders:
#24 Tenkyu, The Lewd Star: Misato Katsuragi (Evangelion)


New Stars of Earth/Earthly Warriors:
#52 Chijiku, The Axis Star: Rei Ayanami (Evangelion)
#69 Chitai, The Retreating Star: Shinji Ikari (Evangelion)
#80 Chichin, The Supressing Star: Asuka Langley Soryu (Evangelion)


Spotlight: Neon Genesis Evangelion

This anime takes place after a disaster known as the "Second Impact," which caused Antarctica to melt, flooding the world and throwing it into anarchy. This marked the beginning of attacks by the Angels, strange creatures with incredible powers and the formation of NERV to fight them. Drawn into this conflict is Shinji Ikari, a meek, reclusive boy whose father, Gendo Ikari, is the leader of the force that fights the Angels. Seeing Rei wounded in battle with an Angel, Shinji becomes an Evangelion pilot. He is caught up in the Human Instrumentality Project, a plot by a shadowy group called "SEELE" to initiate the Third Impact, artificially evolving humanity by uniting it into a single transcendent "God."

Origin:
This project began with SEELE's acquisition of the Dead Sea scrolls, which foretold many things, including the coming of the Angels. Much of the technology used by NERV was created for the purpose of starting the Third Impact. As a result, the concepts and beings in Evangelia all have names derived from Christianity. In fact, the Evangelions, save Unit 01, were based on Adam, the first Angel. It was really humanity's attempt to capture Adam that caused the Second Impact. The Third Impact ultimately happened, but Shinji's choices stopped the event from fully completing, returning humanity to its normal form.

Powers:
Evangelia is a world of science, despite its closeness to religion and faith. Humanity has not truly moved into space since the Second Impact and the Angels prevented that from happening. The main technological advancement is the Evangelion, humanoid war machines. Technically, Evas aren't even machines. They are actually living beings encased in armour which allow the pilot to control it. They have a special defence known as the Absolute Terror Field or AT Field for short. It is a strong barrier of energy and is one of the best types of barriers in all of the anime worlds.