Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction ❯ EndGame ❯ First Contact ( Chapter 1 )

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

//"As of 12:30 PM today, a special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district. All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately. Repeating: as of 12:30 PM today, the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district have been declared to be under a state of special emergency. All residents must evacuate to their designated shelters immediately..."//

Set in the broad expanse of a valley was the city of Tokyo-3, sprawled out magnificently - if rather silently - in the afternoon sunlight as orders of evacuation was announced across the city. No particular reason for such a state of emergency to be declared was readily apparent, yet the orders were well-heeded; everyone had hastened to the shelters, and those few who had paused to question directives were either ignored, forcefully hustled along by security personnel, or, as had been mostly the case, both. The streets were abandoned, shops closed, the train service halted. Cars were left at the sides of streets, doors wide open, keys still in the ignition. They stayed that way, for nobody came to see to them. No sounds of urban bustle arose from the network of streets, and the unnatural silence was punctuated only by the occasional trill of birdsong.

Any person who did not possess necessary clearance would have found it near-impossible to not be at the shelters. Few, if any, violated the city-wide, military-imposed curfew that day; even less did so willingly.

"Shoot," Misato complained. "Why do I have to lose him now?"

Katsuragi Misato, however, was one of the disposed few. And under any other set of circumstances, the sight of a blue sports car being driven through the streets of the city would have been a perfectly ordinary one.

The 'him' in question appeared to be a teenage boy, a photograph of whom was lying on the passenger seat, clipped in place to a file, and looking almost sixteen years of age despite being two years younger. He was obviously not used to posing for the camera - he looked tense, his sharp face rigid and unsmiling. Lurking behind several rogue strands of jet-black, spiked hair, however, were a pair of soft brown eyes that almost grinned mischievously at her from the photo. Misato had concluded that he looked like his mother. Not that she had ever met the woman herself, but there was something in his eyes that made him decidedly un-Commander Ikari-ish.

It had seemed like a good idea at first. After all, picking up the boy and chauffeuring him back to NERV headquarters didn't sound at all problematic, and she had, for some reason, been intrigued at the opportunity of meeting the Commander's son. The Commander looked nothing like a man who would've bothered with such trivialities like family; far from it, in fact, and the news that he had a son had fascinated her.

Misato clicked her tongue in mild annoyance. There wasn't a soul on the streets. He wasn't here. He was late. And Misato didn't like to be kept waiting by men, even if it was just a boy. Besides, every moment spent lingering around the city put both her and her charge into that much more danger; his flight had been hastily arranged at best, even more so when NERV's schedule had been forcibly rewritten when the wildcard had shown up sooner than expected.

Or perhaps Section 2 had whisked him away straight to NERV headquarters itself when they had found him on the streets, she mused. Given Section 2's typical level of efficiency, it was a definite possibility. Alone in her car, Misato had to concede to herself that she had just been nosy. As usual. But only a little, a part of her argued. The photo of the boy had caught her attention since she first looked at it, and wouldn't let go.

Misato sighed as she circled the block for the fifth time now, hoping that he would be there this time. There was no one. Of course he wasn't there, Misato thought to herself. He hadn't been there since the past half of an hour. Why would he be there now?

A quick glance at her wristwatch told her she had already spent a good portion of an hour, and was now severely behind schedule. If the reports were correct, the UN forces were in full retreat, and the attack was going to be any minute now. Every second wasted was going to put her that much deeper in shit. Where is he?

I'm so screwed, thought Misato. The Commander's going to have my head for this...

Her cellphone rang. She picked it up. "Katsuragi Misato, NERV Operations Director." This'd better be important.

"Misato," a female voice spoke. "Have you found him yet?"

Ritsuko. Akagi Ritsuko, NERV Project-E Director. Her best friend since college. "No," Misato replied, driving one-handed as she talked. "There's nobody here at all, dammit. Are you sure this is the right place?"

Ritsuko ignored her. "The operation's been called off, Misato. Your new orders are to return to base and coordinate our defenses against the Angel."

"What?!" Misato almost screeched, swerving to crush a can lying by the road. "Who gave the order?"

"Commander Ikari."

Misato frowned. "Why?"

"We have ten minutes before the Angel reaches Tokyo-3 if it maintains its current course," Ritsuko said. The sounds of technicians yelling orders at subordinates could be heard in the background. "Backup UN forces are going to intercept the Angel. You have 90 seconds at most to clear that area."

"The Commander?" Misato uttered in disbelief. Wildly the sports car rounded a corner at sixty miles per hour. Perhaps she could still make one last lap around the area. Misato wasn't really a religious person, but she prayed anyway, hoping that the kid was around somewhere. "This is his son he's talking about, for Christ's sake!"

"He's not there, Misato," said Ritsuko. "I just ordered Shigeru to make a check of the flight he was supposed to arrive on. He's not on the passenger list."

Misato cursed. "Now you tell me?"

Even in her car, Misato could feel the ground tremble. Sirens went off all over Tokyo-3, and as Misato coasted the next hilltop, a group of fighter aerodynes roared overhead in apparent retreat. Misato didn't need to look to know what it was; she had seen it enough times from satellite imaging scans. "I have the Angel in sight," Misato yelled into her phone, striving to make herself head above the thunderous din of the aerodynes' rotors. "I'm returning to base now!"

Someone in the background shouted something at Ritsuko. "Dammit!" Misato heard her swear. "Misato! Get the hell out of there! They're going to drop an N2 mine on the Angel!"

"They're going to drop WHAT?" Misato screamed back, practically standing on the accelerator pedal. The massive, hulking form of the Angel loomed in her rearview mirror, diminuted by distance, and Misato could hear the UN aerodynes above her quickly beating a hasty retreat. "Oh shit..."

Then the N2 mine exploded.


~*~

"The N2 mine deployed by UN forces succeeded in burning off 18 percent of the Angel's mass," reported Ibuki Maya, handing over a clipfile to Ritsuko. A girl in her early twenties, with short, black hair and an ever-present smile on her face, she was one of the most highly qualified technician NERV had to offer. "The blast also stunned the creature for six hours, but within that time the Angel appears to have repaired much of the damage inflicted upon it by some kind of bio-regeneration. It also appears that it has enhanced its own scientific functions and weapons via super-fast evolution, which we believe was triggered by attempting to stop it with the N2 mine."

"The target has begun movement five minutes ago," Misato continued. The Operations Director had to walk all the way back to NERV headquarters after the N2 blast had wrecked her car. She didn't look happy. "The majority of the UN forces have retreated after the N2 mine failed to destroy the target. A small automated tank battalion remains at the outskirts of Tokyo-3, but they won't last long against the Angel once it arrives."

"And when will that be?" asked Vice-Commander Fuyutsuki.

Misato turned towards the giant map displayed on a wall-mounted screen. "Approximately fifteen minutes."

"Conventional weaponry have proved ineffective against the target," Ritsuko said. "As expected, the target was able to generate an AT Field around itself that rendered it immune to normal missiles and artillery. This should prove to be our main concern when we engage the target."

"Well, we could try another N2 mine," Maya suggested. "It's not within city limits yet, so the risk of collateral damage should be reasonably small."

"I'd suggest against that," Ritsuko frowned. "We all saw how it adapted after being hit by the N2 blast. There's no telling how further it would evolve itself if we tried that a second time."

"I see."

"What's Unit02's status?" Gendou asked.

"It's in cryogenic freeze right now," said Ritsuko. "But it can be set up and activated in 300 seconds if necessary."

"Good. See to it."

Fuyutsuki frowned in evident distaste. "Are you sure that is necessary, Ikari?"

"The EVA series was created for the very sole purpose of defeating the Angels," Gendou replied impassively. "No other weapon will work for us now. To not use every means we have at our disposal is nothing short of foolishness."

A warning red dot beeped on the map suddenly. "The target is entering visual range," Makoto reported from the command bridge. A young man in his mid-twenties, with clear glasses and neat, smoothed back hair, Makoto was NERV's backup Operations Director, filling in for Misato whenever she was absent. "It will reach city outskirts in two minutes."

"Right," nodded Misato grimly. "Assume battle stations, Level One."

"Roger," affirmed Makoto. "Level One alert status engaged. Preparing ground-unit interception. Current overall combat efficiency is 75 percent."

"It will be enough to stall the Angel." Gendou pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Fuyutsuki-sensei."

"Yes?"

"Wake up Rei, and prep her to pilot Unit02. Dr Akagi, I want the EVA unit ready as soon as Rei is."

"So that's that," Misato said. "Let's get to it, then."


~*~

"Rei."

Ayanami Rei opened her eyes, staring emptily at the ceiling above her bed.

"Yes?"

"The spare is unavailable," Commander Ikari's voice continued from the wall-mounted intercom near her pillow. "You will do it instead."

Rei paused, a small amount of mild surprise registering itself in her mind at the order. The girl took a few short seconds to gauge the capabilities of her battered body at that moment, only to stop short as she acknowledged it as inconsequential. "Yes."

"Good. Unit02 has already been removed from cryo-stasis storage. Dr Akagi is waiting."

Rei's impassive expression quickly returned.

"I understand."


~*~

"So," Ikari Shinji declared to nobody in particular. "This is Tokyo-3."

Quiet, he decided. Definitely too quiet.

Where the hell is everyone?

"Warp jump has been successful," announced a female voice. "Dimensional quantum signature verified. We're now in the Evangelion sector, timeline is the first episode of the series."

"Evangelion," repeated Shinji. The boy leaned against a telephone booth, a hand pressed on his head as he willed the pounding headache away. The falling sensation he had experienced during his warp jump might have been a metaphysical illusion, but the after-effects were startlingly real.

A young girl phased into view next to Shinji. "What's wrong?" she asked, concern in her voice. "You don't look too good."

"I don't feel too good," Shinji groaned. "Man, I hate warp jumps. They always give you this... god damn headache."

The head of a small, white-furred snow ermine poked out from Shinji's shirt pocket. The creature scampered up quickly and onto Shinji's shoulder, and the boy scratched it gently behind the ears. "Ermines appear to suffer no such side-effects," observed the girl.

"I know," said Shinji. "I'll be fine, really. Just... leave me alone for a few minutes."

"Rest," she advised. "I'm going to access the database network for any useful information."

"Queue an e-mail for Celia while you're at it," Shinji ordered. "Tell her we're already within the Eva sector, and that we'll begin looking for EVA-01 as soon as possible."

"Assuming there's still an EVA-01," the girl frowned.

"The Eva sector hasn't collapsed yet," Shinji mumbled in reply. "It and its pilot must still be around somewhere."

The second, female voice belonged to what appeared to be a rectangular, slim wristwatch-like object with obsidian-black finish, strapped firmly to Shinji's left wrist via a thick Velcro strap. It was his PErsonal Terminal, or PET for short, a small, powerful personal computer and cybernetic companion. To Shinji, it was far more than a handy accessory; his PET was crucial for powering his warp jumps and launching his quantum signature in the anime dimensions, among other things. And through a quirk of fate, the PET's generic NetNavi functions had evolved a personality of its own after being caught in the ensuing blast when the Paekxis Pragma power core had exploded. So rapidly had her behavioral patterns developed that it began pestering Shinji for a name; Shinji called her Misao now.

Misao was standing next to him now in her holographic visual mode, rapidly working her way through a series of visual screens that she called up in mid-air by her very fingertips, summoning and banishing them at will as she quickly perused whatever data they had to offer. Shinji never got tired of watching her doing that. For reasons unknown, Misao's preferred holographic form was that of a young girl in her late teens, dressed comfortably in a pale spaghetti strap and short denim pants, with both her eyes and shoulder-length hair ice-blue in color. Her figure was skinny at best, but Shinji had seen her in action enough times to know better.

The headache was still there, but it had receded considerably. Shinji made a mental note to bring along industrial-strengh aspirin the next time he went dimension-hopping. Misao looked at him. "Hisame appears to be fine," she announced. "No traces of quantum signature corruption detected."

Shinji stared at the ermine perched on his shoulder. The ermine stared at him. "How come Hisame never gets paradigm shifts?" he asked. "And why can he warp jump without a UNIVER quantum signature?"

"Paradigm shifts only occur if you have a UNIVER quantum signature that matches the Avatar database list in computer network," Misao explained. "Hisame relies on your signature to warp jump along with you, as do I. That's why we don't experience shifts; the system detects our signatures as yours when we traverse the Fourth Wall."

"This sucks," muttered Shinji.

Misao ignored him. "Have you watched this anime before?"

Shinji frowned. "No. But I am well-versed in the more technical aspects of the Evangelions; I did a bit of research on it for a semi-crossover fanfic I was writing a few months before I became an Avatar."

"Good," Misao said, apparently satisfied. "I've downloaded the general episode guides and basic character profiles from onto my hard drive, you'll find them in the temporary system folder. Incidentally, I've also detected the presence of a highly advanced computer network around this city, but it's too well-protected for me to hack into for the time being."

Shinji snapped his PET open with a flick of a wrist, revealing a small touchpad keyboard and display screen. A holographic scanning display projected from it, showing a bird's eye aerial map of Tokyo-3. "Forget the network. It's probably maintained by NERV, and we don't need a confrontation with the MAGI supercomputers right now. Where's everyone disappeared to?"

Sprawled out before him was the metropolis of Tokyo-3, the place where things happened in the Evangelion universe. Shinji knew that much, if very little besides - he had never watched the anime before, and what little he knew consisted almost entirely of what he had been able to gather from various fansites and fanfiction. Shinji wasn't worried, however. Months of journeying through the numerous sub-sections of the anime dimensions had imparted to him the belief that, for better or for worse, he was perfectly capable of dealing with anything that anime could throw at him.

Almost anything, anyway.

"I detect no signs of human activity in this city," Misao said, "but it doesn't look neglected at all, and all vital systems still appear to be fully functional. My estimate that this city has been abandoned for no more than 24 hours so far."

"This makes no sense," Shinji wondered aloud. "If they've deserted the city, why did they keep everything running?"

"Kyuu," Hisame cried.

Shinji paused. "Right," he sighed. "It's getting dark. Maybe we should just find a place to spend the night first, then figure out just exactly what's wrong with this place tomorrow morning."

Hisame gave another cry, this time sharper than the last. Shinji gave a start as he realized that something was agitating the ermine. Then he heard it too; the unmistakable wail of sirens, which quickly set off a chain reaction as warning klaxons all over the city began howling, the sound filling the desolate, abandoned metropolis like the baying of a pack of wolves.

"Well," Shinji muttered sardonically. "Playtime already?"

The ground began rumbling as buildings started to sink into the ground, making it hard for Shinji to keep his balance. He could almost have sworn that the city was transforming itself. Skyscrapers vanished, retracting into the ground as armor plates sprang into sight everywhere. Rooftops, hill vales and overhanging cable cars alike suddenly swiveled around, revealing ammunition and missile turrets previously concealed from sight. Shinji frowned. The city was getting itself ready, bracing itself for something. He wished he knew what it was.

"Robots!" Misao hissed, pointing upwards at the far distance.

Shinji spun around. Silhouetted against powerful spotlight beams, the gigantic, humanoid form of the mecha was unmistakable for anything else. Shinji gasped as he saw the machine. Its face was almost insectoid, two pairs of green eyes glowing in the darkness of night. Burnished red armor shimmered like liquid fire as it reflected the rapidly fading dusk sunlight, its graceful design exuding a terrifying aura of elegance, power... and primal hunger.

"It's an Evangelion," he gaped in awe. "EVA-02!"

Misao was far less enthuastic. "I don't like this." Her eyes narrowed. "If NERV sent out an Evangelion, that'd mean..."

"Kyuu," Hisame gave a frantic cry.

Shinji whirled around as a giant shadow loomed over him. He looked up. And up. And up.

"... I think an Angel's coming," Misao mumbled uncomfortably.


~*~

If Rei Ayanami had known of emotions, she would've been glad to find herself inside EVA-02. The EVA was the extension of the pilot's body, and since EVA-02 was undamaged, Rei felt no pain... for the time being. And while that didn't necessarily mean all was well - any damage to EVA-02, however slight, would be felt with full force upon her already severely wounded body - she would, at least, be capable of performing her duties relatively unhindered by the injuries of her physical body.

On the far side of the city stood the Angel. A tingle of trepidation raced down her spine as she gazed at its otherworldly, hunchbacked form, framed against the backdrop of the city. It didn't show, but Rei had often wondered about the true nature of the Angels; the enemies of Humanity she had never seen, but had been trained to fight against ever since as long as she could remember. White, bony ridges plated its shoulders and upper torso, at the centre of which was a reddish orb. It had two faces, one mounted above the other; the one above seemed to be cracked and bleeding dark ichor, which Rei knew was the result of the N2 mine.

Rei took a deep breath, inhaling LCL.

"Target sighted," she reported quietly.

"Right," said Misato. "According to our reports, the red core is its weak point. Get close enough to neutralize its AT Field, and attack the core to destroy it."

Rei's grip tightened on her palette rifle. "Yes."


~*~

[MODEL TYPE: PRODUCTION MODEL EVA-02]
[CLASS: ANTI-ANGEL COMBAT EVANGELION]
[DESIGNATED PILOT: SOHRYUU ASUKA LANGLEY]
[SECOND EVA PILOT QUALIFIER]

"Metasearch 'Production Model'," Shinji ordered.

"Metasearch complete," Misao reported. "EVA-02 is the first Evangelion production model to be constructed, and therefore deemed as a template for all future EVA units. EVA-02 introduces improved stability with the core, reducing the possibility of berserker rampages, as well as superior compatibility with existing weapons designs, but still utilizes the standard power umbilical cord as its power source."

"What kind of production model is that?" Shinji exclaimed. "I mean, even EVA-01 had a functional S2 engine!"

"According to the database, EVA-04 was the first experimental S2 test type model," Misao replied. "I have no idea why this..."

The rest of her words were drowned out in a thunderous roar as the EVA swung its rifle upwards, took aim, and opened fire. The noise threatened to shatter his eardrums. Salvos of explosive rounds roared towards the advancing Angel, only to bounce off with fiery sparks as they encountered resistance in the form of a yellowish semi-translucent barrier of energy. The Angel pressed forward, undeterred and unaffected by the EVA's attack, then, with a unearthly roar, threw itself bodily on EVA-02.

"Dammit," Shinji swore. The Angel just had to attack now, of all the time it had at its leisure. "Character profile page, Sohryuu Asuka Langley!"

"Affirmative."

His PET's screen flashed, displaying the requested list of characters. Shinji had scrolled down no more than two pages before he stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the screen. What he saw didn't please him.

"... Misao?" he asked hesitantly. "Something's screwed up here."

"What?" Misao asked, peering over his shoulder. "Third Child: Ikari Shinji..." her voice trailed off. "Male, 14. Third Evangelion Pilot Qualifier. Designated pilot of EVA-01."

A rather uncomfortable pause ensued.

"Well," summed up Misao. "This isn't good."

"You... you didn't misjudge my paradigm shift, did you?" Shinji asked nervously, fighting back a brief spike of panicked confusion. He didn't normally panic easily. This, however, was distinctly unsettling.

"All systems are functioning within their expected parameters," Misao frowned. "I can detect no abnormalities within the Fourth Wall subsystems."

"... no misjudge?"

"No misjudge," Misao affirmed. "Your paradigm shift identifies you as Ikari Shinji, Avatar-class Entity, user ID 203066."

"Look at this guy!" Shinji hissed, stabbing a finger at the thumbnail graphic, which depicted a brown-haired boy clad in a simple white buttoned T-shirt. "He's Ikari Shinji! He's supposed to be the main character!" He paused. "Wait a minute. Why hasn't this sector crashed yet?"

Misao looked uncomfortable. "This would indicate that the other Ikari Shinji is no longer within the boundaries of this sector."

"But how -" Shinji started. This was wrong. It was impossible; there was no way it could have plausibly happened...

Then his eyes widened.

"Seth! An Author change! I should've known!"

"That is one plausible explanation," Misao agreed unhappily. "If he's already erased the real Ikari Shinji from this sector, then that means he must be one of the last two Incarnates."

He already had the distinct impression that things weren't quite all right in the Evangelion universe since he had squared off against a berserk, dummy plug-operated EVA-01 in the Vandread dimension, and the latest turn of events only served to verify his misgivings. "But that's impossible," Shinji argued. "If Seth went as far as to erase the main character of the show, this sector should have suffered a temporal dimensional collapse already!"

"It hasn't," Misao stated simply. "Because you're Ikari Shinji now."

"But I don't -" Shinji started.

Then the full enormity of the situation hit him.

"Lord," he whimpered. "Why me?"

Behind him, the red EVA was blasted by a cross-shaped energy projectile, sending the machine toppling off its balance and towards him. It took Shinji a full minute to snap to his senses. It would have took him another to realize the danger he was in, had Hisame not gave him a sharp nip on the ear. Shinji yelped in terror, breaking into a run as the EVA barreled towards him, crushing a path through the city's streets.

He had almost cleared the EVA's path when a piece of concrete clipped him on the back of his head. Had Shinji been an ordinary human, the blow would have killed him outright. Instead, it stunned him, and in the haze of pain and confusion, Shinji tripped.

"AARGH!"

Something struck him squarely between the shoulder blades, and Shinji's vision exploded in a starburst of colors. A deluge of concrete and rubble roared down onto him, and Shinji suddenly realized that he had run straight into a collapsing building. Pieces of concrete and mortar rained on him, and within minutes the Avatar was trapped in a virtual tomb of rubble.

Dammit. "Hisame!"

A muffled titter cried out from his backpack. Shinji heaved a sigh of relief. He wriggled a hand free, pressing his index finger against the nearest piece of rock, then focused.

"Voltekker!"

The pile of rubble and debris flew outward as if it had been dynamited apart. Coughing, Shinji crawled out of the grit, blinking and rubbing his eyes as he tried to clear them of dust. It was a rather unpleasant sensation, but that discomfort was quickly forgotten as he found himself in the presence of the EVA - the bioroid was sprawled on the ground, back-first, and Shinji couldn't help but take an involuntary step backward as its green eyes, almost as large as his own height, stared unblinkingly at him.

"I think the pilot has seen us," Misao remarked.

Inside the entry plug of EVA-02, Rei brought up a comm-link to NERV HQ with a mental command. "This is Unit02," the girl reported impassively. "I have reason to believe that I have located the Third Child."


~*~

"Magnify visual feed!" Misato ordered.

"Visual feed magnified," affirmed Makoto. "Facial records identify him as the Third Child with 99.98 percent positive probability."

Misato stared at the boy. It was him; the same hair, the same glasses, the same eyes as he stared back at the EVA unit in terrified awe. There was, if nothing else, no mistaking the intriguing aura in his soft brown eyes. "How did he get there?" Ritsuko wondered aloud.

"Hmm." Fuyutsuki appeared almost amused. "Your son certainly knows how to make an entrance, Ikari. Let's hope he doesn't kill himself in the process."

"Agreed," Gendou adjusted his glasses. "Time is short enough as it is. We can scarce afford wasting any more to look for another spare pilot, assuming there are more to be found."

"The Angel has started moving," a technician reported. "It's advancing towards Unit02!"

"What shall I do with the boy?" asked Rei.


~*~

The liquid felt like blood...

... smelled like blood...

... and tasted like blood.

Well, Shinji thought, at least it doesn't look like blood.

Which meant it wasn't blood. Shinji sincerely hoped so, for he was, at the moment, fully submerged inside the liquid. Even worse, he was breathing the liquid, feeling it inside his lungs. It was thicker and reeked of the sharp tang of blood, but otherwise seemed pretty much like ordinary, everyday air. At least Hisame didn't appear to be taking to the liquid any worse than he was, which was a relief. He wasn't worried about Misao; the PET was quite waterproof, among other things.

He had stared at the EVA in the eye for several seconds, frozen like a deer caught in the headlights. Then the Avatar gathered his scattered wits and bolted. He didn't get far, though; the back of EVA-02 snapped open, ejecting a large white cylinder halfway outwards, and a giant hand had picked him up by the scruff of his neck, completely disregarding his vigorous protests, dropping him unceremoniously into an open hatch on the cylinder.

It was dark inside, and filled to the brim with breathable orange goo. Shinji mumbled unintelligibly, pounding frantically against the wall of the entry plug. If he had dared to open his mouth, a few choice expletives would have been uttered at that moment.

"You will experience initial discomfort in LCL," a voice spoke. It was female; probably the Sohryuu girl, Shinji guessed. "Do not fight it. It will go away after a while."

He couldn't see her, but the cold, utter emotionlessness of her tone of voice struck him. And then the inside of the cockpit lit up as the Evangelion reactivated, and suddenly the walls of the entry plug faded away, replaced by a full 360-degree lookaround of his surroundings. The Avatar had to stifle back a gasp of shock as the floor vanished from below his feet, and he found himself floating sixty metres off the ground.

Calm down, he reassured himself. Get a grip on yourself, boy. It's just a visual simulation.

Hisame let out a burp, and a trail of bubbles floated upwards. Shinji was glad he wasn't altophobic. Looking straight ahead, he could see the Angel, but his attention was riveted on something else - a girl, a few years younger than his own age sitting in a padded seat, with the back facing him.

Blue hair. Red eyes.

Definitely not the Sohryuu girl.

"You're the First Child!" Shinji blurted before he could stop himself, recognizing her from the character profile page. "Ayanami Rei!"

An instant later, he wished he hadn't; the stench of the orange goo in his mouth was already more than enough to see to that, if nothing else. She was looking rather the worse for wear; a loop of gauze wound around her head held a pad in place against her eye, her right forearm was encased within a cast, and, wrapped around her neck, Shinji could see a a swathe of blood-stained bandages which disappeared into her white plugsuit. EVA-02 belonged to the Sohryuu girl, and he hadn't expected to find Ayanami piloting it instead, but questions died unasked on his lips as he wondered who was the bastard who had sent her out in this condition; she was in no condition to even be out of bed, much less fight.

A small rectangular box popped up in front of Rei on her lower left. A communications link, Shinji surmised. His deduction was proven correct as the video image of the woman, with shoulder-length purple hair and a red jacket on her shoulders, spoke. "How's the boy doing?"

Rei took the liberty of answering for him. "He is displaying no adverse reactions to LCL."

"Um, I feel sick," Shinji said weakly. "Really sick. Does that count?"

"Not unless you throw up inside the entry plug," said another voice. He peered over Rei's shoulder; it was a blonde, lab-coated woman this time. "Try to empty your mind," she instructed, turning to address him. "The EVA is detecting you as a foreign object, and your thoughts will be interpreted as static on the pilot's nerve connections."

Shinji tried to push images of him drowning in both orange gunk AND the contents of his own stomach out of his mind. "I'll try," he laughed nervously.

The Angel charged.

The palette rifle in EVA-02's hands fired, spitting six thousand 90mm armor-penetrating shells per minute at the incoming Angel with devastating force - and failing to so much as causing the behemoth to flinch. The Angel pressed with its charge, the depleted uranium shells from EVA-02's rifle creating ripple-like disturbances as they bounced harmlessly off its AT Field, closing the distance between itself and the EVA unit with six massive, lopsided strides -

Shinji closed, grimacing as he awaited the inevitable impact -

The Angel's blow toppled the building behind EVA-02 almost cleanly in two as Rei ducked and sidestepped in one swift motion, discarding the palette rifle and drawing a short vibro-blade from the EVA unit's right shoulder pauldron. The momentum of the manoeuvre threw Shinji and Hisame against the wall of the entry plug, the blow cushioned by LCL, and as Shinji recovered groggily from the impact, Rei's thoughts seemed to echo in his mind.

AT Field... open.

Every nerve in Shinji's body jangled as AT Field slammed against AT Field. The initial burst of light blinded him, and the sound of what seemed to a pair of chainsaws hacking at each other drowned out Hisame's agitated cry. The immediate time-space around Angel and EVA unit warped wildly out of place - EVA-02 straining with both hands to drive its vibro-blade through the Angel's defensive barrier, the latter willing its protection to hold.

"Dear lord," Shinji mumbled in awe. It had taken a 60-gigawatt electromagnetic pulse cannon and a suicidal gamble to bring down EVA-01's AT Field when he had fought it in the Vandread sector. And compared to his own monumental effort, EVA-02 was now neutralizing the Angel's by mere force of will alone, corroding the metaphysical barrier with its own - almost like canceling a mechanical wave with one of opposite magnitude and equal force. "Amazing..."

"Kyuu."

"Yes," Misao's digitally synthesized voice snapped, "and you're creating too much static on the nerve connections, you idiot fanboy -"

- And in the blink of an eye EVA-02's AT Field collapsed and failed as the Angel's became whole again. The reconstructed AT Field snapped shut, catapulted EVA-02 backwards - the physical impact rippled through even the dampened entry plug, and a compressed wave of LCL struck Shinji in the chest, feeling as though he'd jumped off a diving board and landed flat chest-first on the pool. EVA-02 backflipped in mid-air, landing on all fours, skidding backwards from the impact, crushing everything in its path; the vibro-knife was snapped loose from its grip, skidding away out of sight between a cluster of buildings.

The Angel's core glowed a deadly white.

"Ayanami-san -"

Shinji never managed to finish his warning as a cross-shaped blast of energy struck EVA-02 directly in the face. His world turned white, all sense of direction robbed from him as the EVA was hurled back through the air from the force of the blast, stopping only as it crashed back-first against a building.

The Third Angel stalked towards the fallen EVA, a monstrous, malefic shadow of dark blue that blended in against the quickly-darkening evening sky. Shinji shook off his disorientation, scrambling his way up in an unorganized breast stroke through sludge-like LCL inside the entry plug, which had been tipped into an almost vertical orientation from the EVA unit's position. Rei lay still, her body muscles hanging limply back, only to stir slightly, her features wrinkling in agony, as Shinji grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Ayanami-san! Are you alright -" Shinji stopped short as he felt a warmth by Rei's side. He withdrew his right hand, only to have trails of dark red liquid follow it, swirling around in LCL. "Holy shit -"

Rei's one good, unbandaged eye suddenly snapped wide open, gazing at him with unbridled intensity. "Move aside."

"Hu - aaAAAHH!"

The entry plug's orientation shifted dramatically again as the Angel closed a three-fingered hand around EVA-02's head, lifting it unceremoniously to its feet, and causing Shinji to topple off-balance once more. Rei's hand closed around the butterfly grip of the cockpit, and EVA-02 responded by producing a pair of Colt King Cobra revolvers, scaled up to suitable proportions for its massive hands, opening fire at the Angel at point-blank range.

"No good," Misao muttered. "EVA-02's AT Field isn't deploying."

"Eh?!" Shinji shrieked in panic, clinging on for dear life at Rei's left armrest. "Nande?"

"Like I'm supposed to know!"

Spent rounds bounced harmlessly off the Third Angel's AT Field as the behemoth effortlessly held EVA-02 aloft with one arm, and Rei's effort was abandoned completely as an energy lance projected itself from the Angel's palm, slamming against EVA-02's head like a titanic pile driver. The revolvers dropped limply from EVA-02's hands as the Angel began pounding at its adversary with a merciless frenzy - the energy lance retracting back through its palm, and slamming forward again - through the eardrum-shattering booms of the Angel's weapon impacting against EVA-02's reinforced armor plating, Shinji thought he heard Rei scream in agony.

And then the EVA's armor gave way, yielding to the energy lance as it punched cleanly through EVA-02's forehead, and slamming it back against the wreckage of a building. A high-pressured blood-red spray of liquid spewed from both ends of the wound as the Angel retracted its weapon, finally satisfied that its foe had fallen, and as it walked away, Shinji could see Rei's one good hand slipping limply from the EVA's cockpit controls.

"Ayanami-san!"


~*~

"Brain case has been compromised! Extent of damage unknown!"

"We're having problems maintaining activation!"

Misato cursed, watching the Synchrotron flooding out of control with red warning signals as EVA-02's vital systems failed and shut down one by one. "Status report," she demanded.

"Synchrograph is reversing," Maya reported. "Control pulses are flowing backward!"

"Break the circuit," Ritsuko ordered.

"No good," Maya said, working feverishly at her booth controls even as EVA-02's neural interface connections all broke down one by one. "We've lost the main interface, it's not accepting the signal!"

Misato suppressed a rising spike of panic as alarms continued to resound sinisterly in NERV Central Command. EVA-02 lay insensate, with only the building behind its back propping it up in sitting position. Their strategies had failed, provisional untested failsafe mechanisms were breaking down, and the situation was spiraling horribly out of control "What about Rei?"

"Condition unknown," Makoto replied. "Monitors aren't responding!"

"Unit 02 activation status is at zero percent," Shigeru reported. "It's completely shut down."

We've lost, Misato thought fighting back a wave of despair. Our very first battle, and the Angels have already won. "Abort the operation," she ordered. "Rescuing the pilot is top priority! Eject the entry plug!"

It was then the upper left one of EVA-02's four insectoid eyes re-illuminated with an emerald green glow. The red alerts of the Synchrotron faded, replaced by a less-forbidding yellow. "U - Unit 02 has reactivated," Maya said hesitantly. "Synchronization rate fluctuating at seven percent and destabilizing fast."

"Seven percent?" Misato demanded. "But -"

"Unit 02 is attempting to reject the pilot's pulse signals," Makoto stammered in disbelief as EVA-02 rose clumsily to its feet, chunks of loose debris and rubble from destroyed buildings falling from its body as it straightened itself to full height. "Whoever's piloting it... it's not the First Child."


~*~

"Steady," Shinji muttered to himself, frowning in concentration. "Steady..."

"Piki," Hisame cried shrilly, perching himself on Shinji's right shoulder.

"Operating system upload complete," Misao announced. "Initiating General Unilateral Neuro-link Dispersive Autonomic Manoeuvre Synthesis System. Virtual interfaces established. ZENTRONICS established."

"I think I've more or less got the gist of it," Shinji said. He lifted a hand, clenching it into a fist - and watched in fascination as, through his holographic wraparound view in the entry plug cockpit, EVA-02 clumsily repeated the same motion. "Neural interface controls. Sure beats piloting a Taraak Bangaata, at any rate."

"It would assist your synchronization rate if you take my plugsuit," Rei said.

"Nevermind that," Shinji looked away, his face reddening. "I'll manage." He cleared his throat. "ECS setting 3, bilateral selection 5. Set ATLAS to urban combat mode. And hurry," he added. "I think the Angel's noticed us."

"G.U.N.D.A.M. Synthesis System initiation complete," Misao replied. "ECS setting 3, bilateral selection 5. ATLAS has been configured for urban combat mode. Secondary input drivers installed and active. Input subvertion complete."

Under instructions from Misao and a half-catatonic Rei, he'd strapped himself into the pilot's seat, with Rei sitting on his lap facing him so the seatbelts would securely hold them both, and removed the hairpins from the blue-haired girl and pinned them onto himself. Misao was jacked into EVA-02's controls via a USB extension cable, analyzing the EVA's operating systems at 226 gigaflops per core. As Rei leaned limply on him, her head resting on his shoulder, his pulse quickened as he inhaled the scent of her shampoo, and he was quite thankful that the shade of LCL made his furious blush somewhat hard to notice.

The Third Angel had paused its efforts of trying to blast a hole in the ground with the energy cannon mounted on its chest, returning its attention to the revived Evangelion, with a brief pause as its only display of surprise.

"Ikari Shinji." Shinji couldn't help but feel a cold tingle run down his spine as Rei spoke softly right next to his ear. "Who... are you?"

"How should I put this," Shinji pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "I'm this world's messiah, if you will."

The Angel let loose an unearthly howl from an unseen mouth as he broke into a headlong charge towards EVA-02 once more in readiness to re-commence combat. Shinji gritted his teeth, gripping at EVA-02's controls with white-knuckled tightness, and willed the EVA to move as Rei had instructed him earlier. The EVA functions as an extension of your body. Extend your senses. The EVA unit will move if you think of it as part of you -

And to his utter amazement, EVA-02 did just that - one unsteady step, and then another, as his senses warped and melded until he wasn't quite sure his brain belonged in his own body or the EVA's anymore. EVA-02 broke into a jog, and then a run, and then a full-body charge, meeting the Angel's advance head-on; Shinji grinned as he took a running leap, torquing the machine into a horizontal sweepkick aimed squarely at what passed for the Angel's face -

- And missed.

"What the -"

The Third Angel's energy lance extended, catching the airborne EVA's torso in a crushing blow. EVA-02 fell backwards, plowing an indiscriminate path through Tokyo-3, crushing everything in its way until friction finally slowed it to a halt. Shinji coughed for air; the Angel's blow felt for all in the world as if it had landed on his own stomach instead of the EVA's, knocking the breath out of him. "Misao," he wheezed. "I think the motor control algorithms need some recalibration."

"Negative," Misao replied. "Algorithms have been fully optimized."

"Cockpit controls account for only basic movement and weapons," Rei said. "Advanced motor controls rely on direct nerve impulses from the pilot, which depend on your synchronization ratio."

"Let me guess," Shinji groaned. "And I have a really lousy synch ratio."

"Maybe you really should just take her plugsuit," Misao suggested.

"Urusai!"

The Angel's core glowed white once more as Shinji manoeuvred EVA-02 unsteadily back into a crouching position, twisting aside just in time as the blast screamed past, exploding upon impact somewhere behind, peppering EVA-02 with chunks of hot debris. The EVA unit broke into a run, sprinting through a block of buildings even as the Angel swiveled around to face it, and Shinji reached for his left inner wrist - mounted on the Velcro strap that secured Misao on his forearm was a small pouch which housed what appeared to be a deck of cards. He flipped the pouch open, drawing the first card from the small deck inside.

"Shinji," Misao began uneasily, the agitation evident in her voice. "I don't think -"

"I know," Shinji snapped. "Can't be helped now, though. We need to finish this before Ayanami-san bleeds to death, and I'm just about as useful at piloting this thing as a cripple in a tapdancing competition."

A flash of white filled the cockpit's wraparound displays as the Angel let loose another deadly blast of energy from its chest. Shinji closed his eyes, offering a silent prayer on his lips, as the bolt of destructive force hurtled towards the EVA unit. "Gate Access -"

With a single motion, he thrust the card into a slot along his PET device's length -

"Henshin!"