My father once told me 'with great power, comes great responsibility'. Advice to live by, I'd say. That's why I knew he didn't make up that quote. By the way, I looked it up a couple years ago; it came from a very interesting American comic book series.

Still, whether or not it was his own quote is irrelevant, he should have listened to his own advice. Maybe then things wouldn't have turned out the way they currently are. Don't get me wrong, I accept what has become of me and I believe that I was given this power to truly make a difference. Occasionally one part of me asks, 'what if I were still human?' What does my other half have to say to this?

'I'd be an oblivious pawn in a world dominated by those with true strength'.

In another quote from that comic my father seemed to admire, 'this is my gift, my curse'.

Mythic

Chapter One

Uneasy Alliances

"No, your other left Asuka" Shinji shouted at the redhead, as Unit 02 skipped along a group of battleships. With each hop, another ship was lost to the abyss.

"I know, I see it, and if you say 'you sunk my battle ship' one more time I will castrate you, parasite" Asuka growled in frustration, as she steered her Eva onto another helpless ship of war.

"Well there has to be a better way than hop scotching cruisers mutt." Shinji shouted back as they landed on the super carrier Over the Rainbow.

"Shinji, stop it." Misato ordered strictly, "Asuka, insert the cable and prepare for hand to hand combat." There was a slight pause over the radio.

"You want me to fight hand to hand with a fish?" Asuka questioned, with a hint of annoyance. Shinji stifled a laugh at the thought of Unit 02 judo chopping the angel.

"Other than the Progressive Knife, we have no weapons for you." Misato answered truthfully.

"Why not?" Asuka shouted out.

"Well, we weren't expecting an angel attack out at sea." Misato explained. While Shinji knew Misato wasn't lying about it herself, he figured that others were probably well aware of this situation.

"Bull shit!" And he wasn't alone in that thought as Asuka cursed loudly.

Shinji coughed into his hand, while Asuka cocked an eyebrow at his sudden, and not so subtle, response to her outburst. She let out slight growl but soon calmed herself. With a simple mental command, the shoulder pylon on her Eva's left shoulder opened, revealing its Progressive Knife. She pulled it from its sheath and activated the vibrating blade.

"Here fishy fishy." Asuka chanted as she tightened her grip on the weapon. Shinji simply shook his head.

Five Hours Earlier…

The Nerv VTOL landed on the pad of the Over the Rainbow and a group of four people hopped out of the aircraft. The first out was a very beautiful Nerv officer by the name of Misato Katsuragi, quickly following behind her was the excitable otaku Kensuke Aida, Touji 'the stomach' Suzuhara, and bringing up the rear was the pilot prodigy Shinji Ikari. The three boys looked curiously around the old aircraft carrier while Misato saluted another officer and began talking with the young man.

Kensuke began to film every single bit of the giant ship while Shinji and Touji admired one of the many jets littered across the deck. Walking around one of the fighter planes he was admiring, Shinji suddenly stopped moving, as a shiver ran up his back like ice flowing through his spine. He took a quick look around for the cause of his discomfort, experience had taught him to listen to his instincts. Looking a bit higher he found what was causing him his discomfort.

Leaning on a railing not too far from him was a teenage girl with long strawberry blond hair, and a yellow sundress. That part wasn't what was worrying him. What really made him worry were her glowing, red rimmed, golden yellow eyes.

'What are they doing here,' Shinji thought in a panic, as he quickly glanced around for more people like the girl. Seeing nobody, he turned back towards the railing to find the girl gone.

"Hey Shinji, where'd you go?" He heard Misato's voice calling. Taking another quick glance back at the railing he walked back to his group.

Misato's eye twitched as Kaji started rubbing against her, as they walked down the hall. Touji and Kensuke were watching the man carefully; they didn't like anybody touching their Misato. Shinji was still nervous, although not as much as he was earlier. He now had a better understanding of his situation, and the security of knowing that the girl walking next to him was, as alone as he was.

"Come with me Third Child, I wanna show you my Eva." Asuka Langley Soryu blurted out suddenly, as she grabbed Shinji roughly by his arm, and dragged him towards the carrier's deck. He would have lashed out at Asuka for her actions, but there were too many innocents nearby, so it wasn't an option for him. He absently wondered if that was her reason for not taking drastic action with him either.

After a quick, and silent, ride aboard a Navy VTOL, the two Eva pilots found themselves aboard a large cargo ship. After leaving the deck, and entering the bowels of the vessel, Shinji had finally had enough and jerked away from the girls grasp.

"You really don't expect me to believe that you brought me here just to see your Evangelion?" He asked, accusingly, as he backed away from Asuka.

"Straight to the point, like most blood suckers." She declared jokingly but then, she turned serious, "I don't know what exactly you are but I won't let you harm these humans." She said callously with confidence.

"What are you talking about?" Shinji shouted back, "I was about to say the same to you, Lycanthrope".

"Oh really," she let out a sarcastic laugh, "You're obviously Nosferatu, but with no apparent weakness to the sun" Asuka's eyes turned from their beautiful sapphire color to an exotic golden yellow, with a red outline glowing around her irises. "But that won't help you against me." Shinji took a slight step back and tensed, preparing for the girl to strike.

He was abruptly thrown to the side, as the cargo ship they were on leaned to starboard from a powerful shockwave.

"What's going on?" Asuka shouted, her eyes reverting to blue, as the ships sudden movements threw her about as well.

"It can't be." Shinji said aloud as he picked himself up and ran back topside, with Asuka hot on his tail. The two teens quickly made it on deck to find one of the ships horrifically split in two by a massive hunk of flesh.

"Damn, an Angel all the way out here." Shinji mumbled, as the remains of the former battleship sank into the murky depths.

"What?" Asuka nearly shrieked but kept herself in check, 'come on Asuka, this is what you were trained…born to do', she mentally prepared herself and began to head towards her Evangelion. She then looked back at the worried features on the creature behind her. With a frustrated growl she reluctantly spoke up.

"Look Third Child, I don't like you and you certainly don't like me, but we need all the pilots we can get if we intend to save all these humans, you did say that was your goal, right?"

Shinji stared hard at the girl, before another explosion erupted from the distance.

"Well then, Miss Soryu, what do you have in mind?" He asked, as an inhuman grin appeared on the girl's pretty young face.

He would later find out that red was definitely not his color.

Two days later…

Gendo Ikari read the report that had been compiled following the defeat of the angel, Gaghiel. Next to him, Kouzou Fuyutsuki read his own copy of the report.

"This definitely wasn't in the scenario," The sub Commander mused as he examined the sixty-two page accounting of the incident.

"No, it was not." Ikari stated grumpily, as he perused a few pictures that were clipped to a couple of other pages.

"Still, I'm sure Dr. Akagi is pleased with this current development, considering the last one was taken to the second branch for research." Kouzou let out a small laugh "I'm surprised the children were able to accomplish such a feat, considering how much they seem to dislike each other." Kouzou put his report down and watched as a small, and unfamiliar, smile appeared on Gendo's cold hard face. The commander tossed the pictures onto his desk and let out a sigh.

"You would be amazed at how well opposites can work together towards a common goal." Gendo thought back to a time long ago when an insecure ruffian met a passionate girl with the heart of a true angel.

As Gendo lost himself in his own memories, Fuyutsuki glanced back at the pictures strewn about the giant oak desk. Unit 02 was kneeling on the deck of a super carrier holding a giant red orb in its palm. The picture had been taken a few hours after the orb had been ripped out of the Angel known as Gaghiel.

It was now lunchtime at school, and Kensuke diligently cleaned the lens of his prized digital camera. Satisfied that neither speck of dust, nor smudges of cleaner were on the piece of glass, gracing the front of the camera, he turned the device on, and looked around the school courtyard with mild interest in the daily lives, of his fellow students. Soon though, he quickly regretted it as a flash of red hair filled his cameras screen.

Kensuke hadn't forgotten what had happened a few days ago. How one of the coolest days in his young life had lost a few points because of that particular color of hair. He absent-mindedly rubbed his right cheek in memory of his first meeting with the girl known as Asuka Langley Soryu. The class otaku was surprised at how hard she could hit, considering, she was a girl, but he repeatedly told himself that it was because of her training to be an Eva pilot. He was also mildly surprised that Shinji had been able to dodge such a quick strike, though he figured that that too, had something to do with being an Evangelion pilot.

He turned his cameras attention to the pilot of the purple behemoth, known as Unit 01. Shinji was laughing at a joke Touji had made, and the two were now pointing at him, while they shared a laugh. Kensuke switched off his camera, and removed it from his face.

"What?" He exclaimed, as the two continued to laugh at him for reasons unknown to the bespectacled boy.

Not too far away, Asuka watched as, the dirty blonde nerd, known as Kensuke Aida began to comically wave his arms around, apparently embarrassed about something.

"Idiots." She mumbled, as she tore a piece out of one of the strips of steak she had brought for lunch and tossed it into her mouth.

"Oh, they're not that bad." The pigtailed class rep of class 2-A commented, as she took a bite out of her bento, "They're a lot better than a lot of other groups of boys around this school." Hikari Horaki stated to the German transfer student, "Especially since Shinji joined them, I think he balances them out pretty well."

Asuka thought about that for a moment. Frankly, she didn't trust him; of course she trusted very few people, let alone someone like Shinji. He had been pretty civil with her since their time against the sixth Angel. It was after that engagement that she had learned of his origins. How, like her, he was a child of Project M. Still, even with that, she wasn't letting her guard down with a Vampire.

Asuka looked towards a tree a little bit away from her, and Hikari, to spot a mop of unruly azure hair. She shuddered as she remembered her first encounter with the pilot of the prototype. Asuka had already been agitated because she was standing next to Shinji, preparing for their first sync test together, but when the First Child appeared next to her, she felt the sudden urge to get far away from the pale girl.

She had heard Shinji mumble 'you get used to it', as they began to walk to the test plugs. She was slightly glad to know that the blue haired girl didn't just disturb her but quickly let that relief die, as she remembered that he was an enemy as well. She'd call him a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' but felt slightly offended at the thought.

At the time, she had no way of knowing how wrong she was about him, but then again, her past experience with his kind has been downright brutal, and deadly. She couldn't have known how much of a kindred spirit Shinji Ikari truly was, when it came to experiences with his species, let alone her own kind as well.

But that would soon change as more serious events unfolded and the two were forced to work together towards a common goal. Their bond would grow and they would learn that they needed each other if they wanted any chance of succeeding.

Night had fallen on the fortress city of Tokyo-3 but its residence continued to move about their business, all but a few were unaware of the dangers that lurked in the shadows of this city of angels.

Maya Ibuki was now firmly a believer that such dangers existed. She ran down a dark alleyway, her groceries long since forgotten as she fled for her very life. She had simply been walking back from the store with some snacks for a long night of B-horror movies when she had suddenly been grabbed and thrown against a dumpster. When she looked back up she had found a really handsome man, in a business suit, with a devious smile stalking towards her. Panic had struck her and she threw her bag at the man, and then bolted down the poorly lit alleyway.

After a couple minutes of steady running she chanced a glance behind herself to find that the man was nowhere in sight. Turing back around she was shocked to find the man calmly standing in her path with his arms crossed. As fast as she could, Maya turned down another pathway only to find different man, with blue jeans and a faded novelty shirt, standing there as well. Quickly turning around in a panic she ran into yet another person, this time wearing black leather.

"Leave me alone." She cried out as the leather clad man grabbed her by her arm and threw her viciously against a wall, causing her to cry out in pain.

"I hate it when they run." The man that threw her growled out in annoyance as the other two walked up to him.

"Actually," The business suit stated as he stared at their wheezing victim "I enjoy the thrill of the chase, it gets the blood pumping." He grinned fiendishly as he stated that. The casual dressed man gave him a firm look.

"I won't deny that I get a feeling of satisfaction out of it, but the fact of the matter is we don't need the unwanted attention right now." He then walked over to Maya and picked up the dazed woman. "Let's just hurry this up and get out of here before anybody shows up".

"What are you so jumpy about? Don't tell me you're scared of the new Lycan's in town." The businessman scoffed.

"We've already lost eight associates to those filthy dogs" The one in leather told his acquaintances while the other tilted Maya's head to the right and exposed her neck. It was at that time that the three men heard a deep growl coming from down the alley. From the shadows, eyes burning gold and red, stared coldly at the three goons.

"Shit!" One of them hissed "They're already here." The three men slowly backed up as the growling continued and a small, redheaded figure appeared from the shadows wearing a middle school uniform. The men did a double take, and then began to laugh out loud.

"It's just a pup." One of the men chuckled and the small girl before them began to snarl, exposing sharp canines "Uh oh, I think we made the bitch angry." It was after that statement that the men jumped back as the girl dove for the group and deeply scratched the first goon on his side. His two associates stared at the bloodstained palm that the girl now inspected with little interest. With a flick of her wrist all of the blood splattered onto the ground and off her hand.

"You fucking bitch." The second man shouted as he pulled out a knife and tried to stab the girl. He swung with inhuman speeds but the girl continued to skillfully dodge each attack and remained one step ahead of the goon. Just when it seemed certain that he would strike the girl, the man slashed with all of his strength, only for her to duck under the move, come back up, and fracture is arm mid way, causing him to drop his knife in immense pain.

With his side still bleeding, the first man quickly jumped into the fray to try and help his comrade, only to be kicked in the groin and fall to the ground with a small whimper escaping his mouth.

"Enough of this shit, I'll finish her." The leather clad man yelled as he pulled a pistol out of his jacket pocket and aimed it at the savage young girl. Hearing his declaration, the red haired girl turned to the man only to find a red laser beam pointing at her head. She stopped moving and her breathing began to calm down slightly as she realized how much danger her life was now in.

"Good." The gun-toting thug purred, "You're fast, but I don't think you're fast enough to outrun a bullet." He slowly circled around the girl, never letting his gun stray from its target. He nudged his associate squirming on the ground with his foot. "Get up, you'll live." He stated coldly.

"Yeah, but it still hurts." The bleeding man hissed as he continued to hold his aching groin.

"Hey." The leather-clad man shouted as the girl glanced at a passageway nearby "Don't even think about it." He then walked up to his other associate, who was now standing "How's the arm?"

"It'll heal." The casually dressed man grumbled.

"So what do we do about our little friend here?" The gun toting man asked his comrades. A sickening smile crawled onto his face as an idea came to mind "It'd be a waste to just kill such a cutie, even if she is one of them". His partners both grinned at the idea of degrading one of their sworn enemies.

"You people make me sick" A young male voice growled out viciously. Three loud bangs echoed throughout the alleyway. The three sick men collapsed to the ground in pain as blood appeared from their wounds. "Wow, this thing really does pack a punch." A familiar young man appeared from the shadows and holstered the polished chrome revolver he had just used to down the three scumbags. He stared at the redhead for a little bit before he let out a sigh.

"Sorry I'm late Asuka, but I lost track of you," The teen apologized as he walked up to the three thugs writhing on the ground.

"It wasn't my intention." Asuka stated as her eyes reverted back to their sapphire color "but I refuse to allow lowly creatures like them harm innocent people," She walked over to the thugs as well and kicked one where he had been previously shot. Apparently it hurt, because he wailed quite loudly in pain.

"So where'd you get the fancy gun Shinji?" The redhead asked her fellow pilot and he pulled out the massive weapon. It was a highly polished chrome revolver with a hardwood handle.

"From a friend," A female voice declared from behind them before he could answer. They both turned around sharply to find a gorgeous woman with shoulder length ebony hair and golden colored eyes sitting cross-legged on a dumpster with an amused expression.

"Who are you?" Asuka demanded defensively as she crouched low and her eyes shifted in color.

"Settle down red." the woman stated with a passive wave of her hand, the expression never leaving her face as she jumped off the dumpster. She then walked towards the two pilots. A low growl came out of Asuka's throat as the woman approached. She didn't like the smell coming from the woman; she reeked of blood, and not just human blood. The strange woman took another step forward and Asuka didn't like that one bit.

"Asuka don't," Shinji shouted and tried to grab the girl as she leapt towards the woman. Asuka proved to be too fast for the boy as she nimbly moved around him and stretched her arms straight at the now grinning woman's neck.

In a fluid motion, the woman slapped Asuka's arms down, tripped her, and smacked the German girl in the back of the head. Asuka landed face first into the concrete with a crunch.

"I think someone's going to be mad that I just did that to you" The woman joked as Asuka rapidly shot up to her feet and once again charged at her new foe. "Actually, I think she'll be more pissed at you for letting it happen." The woman promptly sprung towards Asuka in a blur of motion and then rapidly ran past her. Asuka swiftly turned around to find the woman grinning again. Asuka was really starting to dislike that grin.

"Oh boy," Shinji slapped his palm to his face. Asuka looked at him, confused for a second, but then she felt a slight draft. She looked down to find her top now unbuttoned and her bra exposed to the world. With her face flushed, Asuka clenched her shirt closed.

"Who are you, you pervert?" Asuka shouted out as she hastily tried to button her blouse. Stifling a laugh and trying to be serious, the woman decided to answer her question.

"My name is Jennifer-Lee Fenrir and would you believe me if I said I'm here to help you?" The woman known as Jennifer asked honestly. The dark look Asuka gave her immediately confirmed that, no, she didn't. Shaking her head in dismay, Jen glanced at Shinji.

"She's telling the truth" He urged the flustered redhead "Jen's been helping me grab intel on Nerv and its sides projects." This got Asuka's attention. "Come on, between the project that we're apart of, Rei, and the mysteries surrounding the Eva's, it's obvious Nerv is playing some sort of game".

"I know." Asuka commented as she straightened her shirt and looked back at Shinji "The signs are everywhere if you know where to look." She then glared at Jen; she still didn't trust the woman who was obviously not human. "So what do you get out of helping us?" Jen considered the question for a moment before the answer came to her.

"Let's just say that it's in my packs best interest that the world keeps spinning," She answered "Plus my sire really dislikes the Commander of Nerv, that alone means we're willing to help." Asuka's glare deepened for a moment before turning towards Shinji.

"You have no problem that they're probably going to kill your dad?" She asked. Shinji only shrugged.

"He's the ringleader in this circus, that much is clear to me. Besides, I haven't had a father since I was abandoned, why should I care what happens to that man." Shinji stared back at Asuka "Do you care?"

"Not one bit." She declared quite easily.

"So we all agree." Jen said cheerfully "The bastard must die."

"I just wish you'd stop putting it like that." Shinji mumbled. "It makes you sound insane."

"Shinji, sanity is overrated" Jen commented "Hell, that's the Fenrir motto." Jen looked down at the three men still writhing on the ground. "I'll take care of these weaklings, you guys should go take Maya home, I think she's about to pee herself."

Shinji and Asuka both looked towards the alley wall and found Maya cowering in sheer fright.

"Yeah, sure" Shinji agreed and walked up to the young Nerv technician. He put out his hand, "Let's get you out of here Miss Ibuki."

"Stay back" Maya screamed fearfully. Asuka rolled her eyes while Shinji seemed a little hurt.

"You can trust us, were not here to harm you." As he continued to hold out his hand and look at her, eye to eye, Maya appeared to calm down slightly. After a minute of debating, she slowly took his hand and got up. "Let's go Asuka." He called out as he supported Maya and walked away. As Asuka began to follow, she heard Jen call out to her.

"I know you don't trust me, but you have to believe what I've told you," Jennifer said quietly, "I may have misplaced a few of my screws and lost a lot of morals when I was turned, but I was once human, and I still have human friends and family".

Asuka said nothing after the woman told her this, but it did slightly change her opinion of her.

"By the way, since Maya now knows about our little conspiracy, it may be in your best interest to employ the girl. In the long run she may be able to help you recruit a major player in this game we're playing." Asuka thought about it for a moment before nodding her head and rushing after Shinji. As Jen watched her go, she pulled a small device out of her pocket.

"Pandora, you copy?" She spoke into the device, seconds later there was an answer.

"Yeah, I hear you." A childish voice came from the speaker.

"I've got two new scratching posts for you."

"Really?" The woman known as Pandora exclaimed excitedly. Jen grinned as she stared into the eyes of one of the men.

"Yep, two naughty little Vampires who need to learn how to treat a lady with respect. I'll see you in a little bit". She pocketed the device and turned to the vampires.

"Oops" She cooed innocently. "There are three of you here, but I told her that there were two. I'll just have to correct that little mistake." The injured vampires could only watch in horror as the woman before them transformed into a ferocious beast, a werewolf. When the creature spoke again, her voice came out much deeper and insane than before. "It's time to show you vermin what a real Lycan can do".

The police later found a bloody smear covering the entire alley in the morning.

A/N: Unlike my previous stories, I've had help with this one, so first I'd like to thank them.

94saturn, for pre-reading and being supportive of my slowly evolving writing skills.

Mister Cynical for letting me use his over-sexed pack of psychos, the Fenrir's, from his awesomely insane 'Lycanthrope' series.

Shinji Ikari01, for throwing me a whole bunch of good ideas for this and other stories of mine, you've been a big help man.

Check out these authors stories, you won't regret it.

Anyway, like a lot of my stories lately, I've wanted to do this for years. I've had plenty of inspiration from fan fics and other fandoms all over this and other sites, but I wanted to do something a bit different from the normal 'Shinji gets bitten' or 'Shinji was born a Vampire' scenarios, that's why I created Project M. But I'll be getting into that later in the story.

For those of you who've read the original Lycanthrope series, I hope you'll enjoy seeing these nut jobs back in action. If you've never read it, then I'll tell you that the Fenrir clan intimately knows all about Nerv. That's why Jen called Maya by name and her sire utterly despises Gendo. Read the original, seriously.

Review if you'd like to, but feedback is always appreciated.

Read ya Later.