Shinji's Bizarre Evangelion

Part 1: Phantom Bonds

Chapter 1

It was a quiet, normal day in Tokyo-3. The traffic on East Tanegashima street was light, and pedestrians were sporadic. A 15 year old boy, wearing a white dress shirt, blue-green tee under it, black slacks, and white sneakers sat on a bench next to a public phone, right elbow on the armrest and his head resting on his palm, looking at the two reasons he was here: a mostly redacted letter from his Father, of which the only meaningful sentence was just the word "Come" with an address in Tokyo-3, and a postcard from someone called Misato Katsuragi, with a picture of herself in a swimsuit on the front and a request on the back to meet him in this very spot, half an hour ago.

Shinji sighed. His SDAT player hit the end of the tape and started playing in reverse, a feature that he didn't particularly care for, but most music he could get for it was composed to be reversible anyway, so he tolerated it until he could track down a pre-Second Impact music player. The prices for the actual CDs, however, were far past the reach of any allowance he'd been able to earn from his teacher, so he was stuck for now. Shinji packed up the letter and his postcard into his school backpack, and stood up to reach for the payphone and attempt to call Katsuragi with the phone number on the postcard.

However, as soon as Shinji was on his feet and looked forward, he froze. He hadn't noticed the young man standing there, in a dark green tracksuit with hood pulled up and a necklace with a skull pendant. Shinji stayed motionless for a moment, but the person wasn't standing in his way, so he reached for the phone.

"Shinji Ikari?" The strange teenager said, eyes hidden by the hood of his tracksuit.

"Uh. Yes?" Shinji was very confused. "How do you know me?"

"My employer knows you. But that's not important. Tell me, Shinji, do you have any kind of special powers? Something only you've been able to do? That you've kept hidden from everyone?"

The questions did not help Shinji's confusion. He tilted his head. "No? I… Need to make a phone call. Can this wait?"

The teen lifted his head, revealing shock white hair under the hood and deep red irises in his eyes. He smiled. "No… No it can't. I'm here to kill you, Shinji. You'll die at the hands of my Stand!"

Before Shinji had a chance to respond, the stranger began glowing with a strange, heatless blue flame, and behind him appeared something Shinji had never thought he'd see outside of his nightmares - eight feet tall, humanoid form but missing a neck and head and only having three fingers, dark green skin with bone-like armor including a strange mask right between the shoulders, a big red sphere right under it, and pale pink spike coming out of the elbows. Shinji barely even had time to scream before the monster raised an arm, pink spike glowing. Shinji jumped back instinctively, narrowly missing the energy lance shooting out of the palm, but noticed the "eyes" of the mask starting to glow. He raised his hands to try to protect himself, but all of a sudden heard the sound of tires screeching, followed by the stranger making a loud grunt and then the sound of a body hitting a public phone terminal. Shinji peeked through his arms and saw a blue sports car, passenger door open, with a purple-haired woman in a black dress who looked a lot like the woman on the postcard Katsuragi had sent him. "Get in! Now!" She shouted, and Shinji didn't even think about it before diving into the seat, yanking the door closed behind him.

Misato slammed the gear stick into reverse and gunned it, the teenager getting up from collision (which merely scared Shinji even more), and the monster reappearing behind him to finish the eye flash. A huge, cross-shaped explosion hit where the car had just been, shoving it back a fair bit and almost making Misato lose control. She grabbed the handbrake and executed a perfect flying J-turn, speeding away from the scene as fast as possible, as Shinji noticed military tiltrotor aircraft flying in and beginning to fire huge amounts of bullets and missiles at where Shinji had been sitting not one minute ago.

"What the hell was that!?" Shinji finally managed to yell.

"Questions later, escape now!" Misato yelled back, the car getting rocked by the explosion of a missile this time as she left the combat area, making another perfect handbrake turn to the left and breaking every speed limit Shinji knew of as she sped towards the center of Tokyo-3; he thought all cars were sold with speed limiters. The two drove in silence punctuated by random flashes and distant explosions for what felt like an eternity but was really only ten minutes, before Misato pulled over on a rural stretch of highway and got a pair of binoculars out from the glove compartment. She leaned over Shinji to look through them, her chest perilously close to his face, which he tried to ignore by looking in the same direction she was. The fighting had somehow progressed to a hill near the spot Misato had picked him up, and he saw the pink lance strike out at least 200 meters, hitting a tiltrotor and making it explode, joining the dozen or so other wrecks already on the ground. A flash of light from the hill, and the nearby tank battalion firing on the hill like artillery was wiped out in another cross-shaped explosion. After a minute, the tiltrotors suddenly all backed off, and Misato swore. "An N2 mine!? Shinji get down!"

Misato grabbed Shinji and threw herself on top of him just before the explosion hit the car. It tumbled end over end, eventually coming to a rest on the passenger side half a kilometer away from the highway it had been stopped on. Misato's stomach was slumped on Shinji's right leg, and he felt a small amount of very warm liquid seeping onto his pants. "K-Katsuragi-san," he coughed out, "are you bleeding?"

Misato made a short moan as she got up off Shinji, but he noticed she was smiling. "Please, call me Misato. And no -san, I'm not that old yet." She put a hand against her left side, a tiny patch of blood on it as she inspected the wound. "Just a scratch. Are you hurt?" Shinji shook his head. "Good, let's see what the damage to my car is then."

The two of them crawled out the driver door, and Misato began inspecting the wheels and drivetrain of the car. Shinji eventually blurted out "What was that thing? Is it dead?"

Misato kept looking at one of the electric motors. "Probably not. At best, it might be injured, but that could be worse for us to fight. We've got to get to NERV headquarters fast. Help me push the car over."

It took a few tries, but with both of them pushing they managed to get the car back on its' wheels. They climbed back in and Misato set off at a more normal, but still hurried, speed towards Tokyo-3. Shinji was still in too much shock to speak up for several miles, but he eventually managed "What was that thing?"

"You should have gotten a package with a thin book in it with my postcard. Do you have it with you?"

"Oh, uh, yeah…" Shinji looked around for his school bag and fished out a sealed plastic package. He tore it open and pulled out the book, which said "Welcome to NERV" In large letters, and under it, "For Your Eyes Only". He looked at it for a long moment not sure what to do.

"Well, open it up and start reading, silly!"

Shinji was startled but did as he was told. After a few minutes, Misato picked up her car phone and dialed a number, talking to someone about reserving an express train. Shinji tried to absorb what was in the book, but a lot of the words simply bounced off his eyes. Defense of Humanity. Project E. Geofront base. His eyes defocused and he looked at the empty space between the kanji, he hadn't memorized a lot of these characters anyway.

"Do you know what your father does?" Misato asked.

The question startled Shinji again. "No… My teacher only told me it was important to humanity. Um… do you know why he called for me?"

Misato rolled her eyes. "Figures. I kept telling them we should have started training you months ago, but nobody ever listens to the Director of Tactical Operations, do they?" She sighed. "I think you need to hear it from your father. We'll be there soon." They drove through a tunnel which turned out to be a loading ramp for a car train. Misato deftly guided her car onto the dock, set the parking brake, and finally relaxed. "So, did you get anything else? If you're going to be moving to Tokyo-3 there should have been some kind of itinerary."

Shinji shook his head again. "The only things I got apart from this book were your postcard and a letter from my dad." He handed both of them to her, kind of glad to get the postcard out of his bag. She looked at the letter, then to her postcard, flipping them both over, and her eye twitched.

"They did this to a letter from the Director of NERV to our only available pilot, but then didn't even censor my phone number or chest on a postcard sent to a 15-year old?" Misato threw her head back against her seat and made a noise of annoyance, exasperation, futility. The train started to move, and Shinji noted they were going down for a lot longer than they should have. "Hey, if things don't work out and they try to stuff you in an underground apartment, do you think you'd want to come live with me instead? I've got a spare room and a nice view."

Shinji was, again, taken aback. "What do you mean? Aren't I going to live with my father?"

"Doubtful. It's easier to count the number of hours in a day he isn't at headquarters. I suspect he sleeps in his office a lot. If he didn't request to have custody of you, HR will probably try to stuff you into one of the "luxury" one person apartments meant for NERV staff. You don't wanna live there, trust me, getting anywhere in Tokyo-3 is a nightmare and the isolation will make you go more than a little crazy after a short time. I got out as soon as I could get a decent loan on my apartment. So, how about it? A pretty lady in her late 20's is asking you to live with her~"

Shinji blushed and turned away, more annoyed than embarrassed. "If my dad doesn't want me. Sure. Not like he will, though. So yeah, I guess."

"That's the spirit!" She gave him a squeeze on the shoulder in what she thought was an affectionate gesture, but he didn't take it that way. Time passed, but suddenly, the train tunnel opened up into a huge open area - Shinji had no idea what was going on, trains weren't supposed to work like this.

"Uh-" He began, but Misato cut him off instantly.

"Come on, I told you to read up about NERV in the book! This is our secret underground base, the Geofront. The pyramid next to the lake with the heavy cruiser is the top floors of NERV headquarters. Don't ask why there's a warship in a tiny lake underground. From here, NERV conducts weapons development for defense against the Angels."

"Angels… Is that what that thing was called?"

Misato shrugged. "That's one name for them. We'll explain more once we get to your father. It's just a few minutes left to the base, but I'll probably need help from Paisley Park anyway…"

Shinji blinked. "Need help from what?" Misato just winked at him. The train passed into the second underground, and shortly after arrived at the lowest station in the world. They both got out, and Misato walked up to one of the nearby elevators. Misato checked some pen writing on her left wrist, then pulled a piece of paper out of her dress pocket and started to reach for the buttons, but let her arm swing down and put the paper away.

"Paisley, I need to go directly to lab 04."

A green, heatless flame briefly emanated from Misato, and a feminine form appeared next to Misato made out of it, but quickly resolved into a deep pink… person, with lighter pink lines crisscrossing its' body in a strange pattern. It pushed several buttons on the elevator controls extremely quickly, then vanished into a few fleeting wisps of the same green flame. Misato looked over her shoulder at Shinji. "Not all of them are bad. Mine is quite helpful for navigation and using computers. Now come on, we're going to be late already." Shinji timidly followed her into the elevator and uncomfortably waited next to her, not at all sure about what to think of the situation.

The elevator, mercifully, stopped and opened its' doors. On the other side was a large room littered with tables, computers, science stuff Shinji had no idea what use it could have, one table with a pair of guns on it, and several people including a blonde short-haired woman in a lab coat, and Gendo Ikari. The unshaven man turned around and looked at his son, a twinge of pain crossing his mind as he laid eyes on the boy. "Shinji." He said, "I'm happy you made it." he forced through his mouth.

Shinji was quiet for a moment as Misato stepped into the room. "I don't even know why I'm here."

"We'll fix that now, then." Gendo picked up a pair of what looked like strange headphones from a table. "The entity that attacked you earlier. That was an Angel. It's a specific type of fighting spirit we call a Stand. Some people have them, some don't, but the important thing right now is that the Angel-type Stand is impossible to defeat with conventional weapons, or even most other Stand users."

Shinji was quiet again, longer this time. "Why is it called a 'Stand'?"

Gendo shrugged. "Because it appears next to you, standing. Don't think about it too much. Right now we need to get you ready to go out and defeat it before it finds us here and destroys human kind."

Years of bottled up anger burst within Shinji, all directed at his father. "But you said it was impossible to defeat! I don't even have a Stand! What the hell do you expect me to do, go out there and just die for you after all these years?"

Gendo looked at the floor and wrung his hands behind his back. "No. I don't expect you to die. You'll be given the most advanced weapon humans have ever created. It has to be you. Nobody else can use it."

Shinji was still breathing heavily, but upon comprehending what his father said, got confused yet again. "Most advanced weapon? What do you mean? I saw the military blow a nuke on it and Misato said it wasn't dead!"

The blonde haired woman in the labcoat spoke up. "Not a nuke, an N2 warhead. N2 stands for non-nuclear. Think of it more like an antimatter explosive with no radiation produced."

"Not. Helping." Shinji said with gritted teeth. Gendo walked up to him, pushed the headphones into Shinji's hands, and gently pulled him out of the elevator. "It's much easier to show you than to explain it. Put those on. No, the other way up. That's right, behind your ears". Gendo walked over to another table, and Misato stepped close to Shinji, putting a hand on his shoulder. "This next part is tricky. I'll have to give you some encouragement to let the power flow."

"Encouragement? What does he mean?" Shinji looked at Misato, then back at Gendo, who turned around, holding one of the guns with a black-tipped barrell, and pointed it at Shinji. He barely got out "Hey- Wait- NO-!" before Gendo fired. Shinji panicked - It was so fast, there was nothing he could-

Time seemed to slow down for Shinji. Wasn't your life supposed to flash before your eyes when you were about to die? There was flashing… but it was the same green flame Misato had been glowing with earlier. He felt heat, but it was the headset he'd just put on, it felt like it was burning his hair and skin.

A purple and green armored arm reached forward from behind Shinji, hand stretched out, and a series of concentric orange octagons sprang out from it in a protective shield. He saw something impact it, and get shredded into a fine dust. After what seemed like several minutes, time went back to normal, and Shinji looked behind him. An 8 foot tall, purple and green giant robot stood there, arm still outstretched but now pulling back. He stared at it, until realizing the headset was still on him and still burning hot. Shinji yelped and yanked it off his head, throwing it into a corner of the room.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Shinji yelled so loud it echoed twice in the room, falling to his knees then curling up on the floor. He was scared out of his mind, had no idea what was going on, couldn't process anything. Misato bent down and picked him up off the floor with seemingly little difficulty, unfolding the catatonic boy and pulling him into a deep hug. He needed it. He started sobbing into Misato's shoulder for several minutes, the whole room falling into an awkward silence otherwise.

An explosion rocked through the base. Lights flickered and tables shook, knocking some of the equipment to the floor. "We're out of time," Misato said, "Shinji, we need to get you back to the surface."

"What am I supposed to do?" Shinji came through muffled, still on Misato's shoulder. "I don't know how to fight…"

"You'll be given instructions. Gendo?" She looked over to the awkward and ashamed looking man. "You better come clean or he's not going to trust any of us."

Gendo coughed. "It's uh, it's not a real gun," He said, "It's a training weapon we use to help pilots call their stands out."

Shinji looked up. The black barrell tip did look… odd. "It's not real?"

"We call it an Invoker. Totally harmless. But it does hurt like hell." Gendo raised it to his own head, pressing it on his right temple, and squeezed the trigger. Purple tentacles briefly flashed under another cloak of green flame as Gendo's whole body was thrown to his left, just barely regaining his footing before falling to the floor. The spot he'd pressed it against looked quite bruised, but that was it. "I'm sorry, Shinji, but we were short on time. I promise to explain everything to you once this Angel is defeated."

Shinji buried himself back into Misato's shoulder for a few minutes, before letting out a muffled "Fine. I'll do your dirty work. But only because I'll die if I don't."

"Alright, let's get you to a launch platform, then." Misato stood up, again seemingly unaffected by Shinji's whole weight. "Maya, what's the status of the Angel?"

"Target is in the process of breaching Tokyo-3 city limits" A voice emanated from the overhead speakers, "Estimated time to reach city center: 12 minutes."

"12 minutes? We don't have much time, then. Gendo, I'm taking tactical command." Misato looked over to him, and he nodded. "Nagami, get the B equipment for Shinji and meet us at launch chute three ASAP. Let's boogey, everyone!" She seemed to run to the elevator door and slammed the call button, slipping inside before it was even open all the way and swiping her NERV ID to select a locked button, all while still holding Shinji tight with one arm. The few minutes it took for her to run to the launch chute were a total blur, until she finally set him down in front of a set of 6 strange tubes with complicated looking doors on them. Almost immediately after, a woman with black hair in a regular tan NERV uniform burst in through the opposite door Misato and Shinji had come through, holding a sturdy and official-looking cardboard box.

"Shinji, this is Yuki Nagami, she's going to be your handler when prepping for combat. Arms up!" Shinji obediently raised his arms, and Nagami very quickly slid a full-torso armored vest over him, colored in mostly white but with some blue and black added in, and a "01" stamped on the front. She then began tightening it at the back, at first very firmly and then seemingly trying to crush Shinji flat, causing him to make an unflattering grunt.

"Is it really supposed to be this tight!?" Shinji said, getting a little short of breath.

"Yes, it's called the Skull Suit, it automatically senses your vital signs and adjusts pressure on your organs to maximize performance and safeguard their functions. It'll loosen up over time and your diaphragm will get trained stronger and overpower it." Nagami then put him in a pair of white gauntlets with some odd armor near the elbows and black shin guards with the same thing around the knees, but he figured out it was to stop his limbs from bending too far in a bad direction. Finally, there was a comms headset that clamped quite tightly onto both his ear and head. One of the launch chutes opened and Shinji was helped into it, and at this point he had barely any reaction to the carriage inside clamping down on the armor he'd been fitted with and a padded mechanism squeezing his head pretty tightly inward and back. Misato stepped up once he was fully strapped in to be sent to his doom, and put her hands on his shoulders.

"Shinji… I dearly want to go with you. But my Stand can't protect me out there. Yours can. It will be alright. I promise you'll come back in one piece. Alright?" He tried to nod, both not having any words and forgetting his head was restrained, making her giggle. "Go get 'em. I'll be waiting." Misato stepped away, the door closed, and she yelled "Hashin!"

Shinji would have been smacked against the floor of the carriage had he not been restrained so tightly into it, but he managed to survive the railgun shooting him upward back to the surface of Tokyo-3. The "skull suit" seemingly sensed his trouble breathing and loosened its' death grip, which did help a little. The metal chute gave way to an open quad rail as he shot like a rocket up through the geofront, and he could have sworn he saw people waving at him from the deck of the cruiser down there. The carriage reached the top of the Geofront and he was again enclosed by armored chutes; But only for a split second as the carriage began to brake and shot through a hatch built into one of the streets, slamming into the stops at the end of the rails, but the extensive restraints meant the only real shock to his body was via his stomach lurching upward, possibly in an escape attempt. The skull suit resumed it's corset-like embrace as the head restraints released, and Misato came in on the headset.

"Alright Shinji, I want you to remember the rage and fear you felt when your father pointed the Invoker at you, and summon your Stand: Evangelion unit 01, Codename: 'Can't Be Yours!'"

Shinji was already too far gone remembering the rage he felt towards his father, a blaze of green flames enveloping him as his Stand, the purple and green humanoid robot with a long horn on its' helmet, again appeared behind him, eyes glowing bright white before dulling to a non-blinding level. The rest of Shinji's restraints released right as the teenager from earlier, in the green tracksuit and skull necklace, stepped into view at the next street intersection. He smirked, and the Angel Stand again appeared behind him, the two staring each other down as the last traces of sunlight faded from the horizon.

Shinji awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling.

He made a loud groan as the pain from at least three bruised if not broken bones asserted itself, the dull throb waxing and waning with each breath. He closed his eyes again and laid there for a few minutes before noticing the clickety clack of someone typing at a keyboard to his right. He cracked his right eye open and peeked at them, the purple hair telling him it was Misato. Shinji closed his eye again, not ready to interact with her again after what just happened.

Wait. She was… waiting for him to come to? Was she concerned about him? That would be a nice change of pace after living with his teacher for so long. Shinji rolled on his right side against the protests of his body and reopened his eyes, seeing Misato had set up a rolling desk with a laptop and had been working out of this ICU room for some time, given the amount of trash on and around the desk.

"Good morning, sunshine." Misato looked over and smiled at Shinji. "How are you feeling?"

He coughed, the pain in his ribs making him regret not suppressing the urge. "I feel like I lost. Did I lose? What happened?"

"Nah, you did great, kid." Misato turn in her chair and smiled a bit wider. "The Angel was defeated with minimal damage to the city. The planet is a little bit safer, thanks to you. We'll go over the combat footage at the debriefing later today. I've got some pain meds for you." She pressed a button on the side of the bed and it slid so Shinji was sitting up, and she handed him a tiny plastic cup with two unmarked white pills and a cup of water. He downed both of them and relaxed a little, thankful for the positive attention for once.

"So… what happens now?"

Misato turned back to her laptop. "Your father wanted to know as soon as you woke up. He wants to show you something today."

Shinji made an unhappy noise. "Do I have to see him so soon? I'm really not over him pointing a gun at me and pulling the trigger, even if it wasn't real."

Misato was silent for a moment this time. "Your father… Is not happy about what happened either. You weren't supposed to be the one we used for combat. But after what happened with Rei last week…" She trailed off.

"Who's Rei?"

"She's who you're father wants to take you to today. Rei was supposed to be our combat pilot, using a different Stand. Except… that didn't work out. You'll see why when you meet her."

The door to the hospital room opened, and Gendo practically sprinted inside, just barely stopping before he hit the side of the bed. "Shinji, are you okay? Can you move? Please tell me you're okay!"

Shinji was silent yet again, and he noted this had suddenly become very common in the last day. Concern from his father? That was way too new, and unwarranted, for him to process in this state. "I'm… Uh… Fine. I've got some bruises, but Misato just gave me something for the pain."

Gendo breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear. I don't want my son getting hurt out there. Can you walk? I want you to come meet someone."

"I'll try." Shinji noticed and then pulled an IV needle out of his left forearm, then moved the bedsheets out of the way and swung his legs over the side, wincing from the pain in his ribs. He pushed off the metal railing and immediately made a pained grunt, his left side and lower spine complaining from having to support their own weight.
"You'll want to put the vest back on", Misato said, pointing behind her to the same torso-crushing device that seemed to be trying to suffocate Shinji before the battle. "It'll support your torso and keep your weight of the injuries automatically. Plus you need to get used to wearing it. I promise it will help to have it on."

Shinji groaned again. "Really? That thing?" Misato nodded and smiled. "Fine. But if it hurts too much I want it off."

"Fair." Misato got up and pulled the Skull Suit off its' hanger and carefully helped Shinji into it, tightening the back the same way Nagami had last night, then wincing as it started crushing his torso again. He was about to protest when it released some of the pressure on the pain areas, and even started heating up in those spots automatically, which helped even more. He turned to Misato, and noticed that it was indeed doing quite a lot to help with the injuries. "What *is* this vest?" he asked.

"I told you, silly, it's the Skull Suit. If you're putting your body and life on the line in combat conditions, you're going to get the best military hardware humanity has to make sure you're not going to die out there. Once you're healed up we'll get you fitted for the rest of your combat gear so you don't have to go into battle in a dress shirt and slacks again. Now go meet Rei, I have a bunch of paperwork to finish filling out now that you're here, we'll meet up later this afternoon and talk about your housing situation."

Shinji noticed a somewhat pained expression flash across his father's face out of the corner of his eye. He thanked Misato and the two of them left, walking down the dull-colored, harshly lit corridors of NERV First Branch in silence, Shinji walking slow and a little funny from the pain in his right knee. Gendo broke the silence with a cough, then managed to blurt out "I really am sorry for pulling a gun on you two days ago."

Shinji was about to snark back with some ill-thought-out phrase, but stopped at the last three words. "Two days? I was out that long?"

"I'm afraid so. I was honestly worried you weren't going to wake up after what happened out there."

Shinji narrowed an eye. "Misato said I did great. You and my injuries are implying I took a really bad beating out there. What happened?"

Gendo sighed. "I suppose it's a matter of perspective. It could have gone a lot worse. I'm just happy you're still in one piece."

Shinji took a while to contemplate on that last sentence. "What is this, all of a sudden? You send me away and barely talk for 9 years and now all of a sudden you're worried about my well-being? You can either drop the act or explain what's going on."

Gendo stopped walking, and after several seconds turned to face Shinji, a very sad look on his face. "I didn't want you involved with all this", he said, "I knew that if I tried to raise you myself, you'd end up getting exposed to my work, and I knew what that meant for your safety and life. I sent you away because I thought it was the only way to shield you from all this. But then, Can't Be Yours… She requested you by name. We tried to get her to synchronize with other people, but nobody else was compatible. I only asked for you to come because it was our only option left."

"What do you mean by 'requested'?"

Gendo shifted uncomfortably. "When we… found Unit-01, it was violent and untamed. As a combat Stand, it wasn't able to sustain itself for very long once we'd released it, and it said 'Shinji Ikari' before fading back into dormancy. We tried implanting it in others the way we'd done with you, but it wouldn't take. So I had to send you that letter."

"You mean, the one where everything was blacked out and all I got was 'Come'?"

A different expression, this one of rage, flashed across Gendo's face. "Is... Is that why you're being so hostile? They seriously blacked all of that out, coming from me?" He took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "The redacted parts were me trying to explain this to you. I knew you'd be like this if I just summoned you. I tried to explain, Shinji. I really did. I'm going to have to have a talk with Intelligence about what else they've redacted from my letters."

Shinji was still for a while, and followed when Gendo started walking again. It was a lot to take in, his entire world turning inverted like this. Angels attacking Earth. Him getting super powers after getting shot at. A cute older woman wanted him to live with her. His father cared. What else could change today?

They finally reached a different ICU hospital room, quite a ways off from where Shinji had been. Gendo swiped his ID card at the door and opened it, letting Shinji in before closing the door. This room was set up almost identically to the room Shinji had been in, single bed and medical equipment in a large and otherwise empty room, but without the rolling desk. Someone was laying in the bed in a blue-green hospital gown, right arm in a sling and right eye bandaged. She also had very pale short blue hair, and her remaining eye was blood red. However, as she turned to look at the two, it sprang wide with joy. She sat bolt upright and probably would have jumped off the bed were it not for the multiple IV needles in her left arm. "You're Shinji Ikari!" She said, a very big smile spreading across her face.

He was taken aback. "Um, yeah. You're… Rei? It's nice to… meet you."

Rei giggled. "It's okay, I've just been told a lot about you. I heard how you kicked the Angel's ass. I'm sorry I had to send you out there alone, but, well, you can see why I wouldn't have been much help."

Gendo rolled his eyes. "Right, your body being injured is why you couldn't support him, it wasn't at all how your Stand went crazy and tried to kill us all."

"You're a meanie, stealing my fun." Rei pouted. "I was just trying to boost my own ego."

"So, um, about that." Shinji shyly uttered, "What did happen?"

"Combat test", Rei said, "We knew the Angels were going to start attacking soon, but my Stand, 'Fly Me To The Moon`, hadn't done much other than appear since it was the first one. So we tried a combat test with robots and a danger course, but it raged out and tried to kill everyone. Took every other combat Stand user we had just to fight it to a stalemate. Eventually I had the idea to knock myself out to get it to return, which worked, but only after I'd already been injured in the battle."

Shinji blinked. "There are others with combat Stands?"

"Yes, but none as powerful as yours" Gendo cut in, "The Evangelions were created as far more powerful versions of regular Stands. You saw how powerful that Angel was, our top soldiers would barely slow it down before getting killed. That's why we need you two. The defense of ADAM can only be done by the Evangelions, and they only work with you."

Shinji blinked again. "Who's ADAM?"

"The first Angel. It was the cause of Second Impact, not the lightspeed micrometeorite that was fed as a cover story to the public. Fifteen years ago, researchers discovered ADAM at the south pole, and flew too close to the sun, so to speak. ADAM awakened from suspended animation, created the other Angels, and did radical damage to the planet before being put back in stasis by the Lance of Longinus. ADAM is currently being stored here, deep under NERV, to stop the rest of the Angels from getting to him, causing Third Impact, and finishing the destruction of our planet. That's why we need you to fight."

Shinji had tempted fate, and now was paying the price as even more weird shit was being laid in his lap. He spotted the chair next to the hospital bed and sat down, hanging his head in his hands. After some time, he spoke, not raising his head: "Back when you fired the… Invoker? At yourself, I saw that same green energy come out and some kind of purple thing. What was that?"

"Ah", Gendo responded, "That's my Stand, Hermit Purple. It's not good for a whole lot, unfortunately, mainly what I end up doing is destroying film cameras."

"How many other people have Stands?"

"There's about a hundred working directly in NERV, a dozen or two more with much weaker ones in Tokyo-3, and I'm not actually sure how many others there are in the world. Certainly less than a thousand."

Shinji sat in quiet thought for a while again. "So, now what? I just live here and fight Angels now? Do we know how many there are?"

"If SEELE is correct, eighteen, but we're not exactly sure about it." Shinji gave him an inquisitive look. "Don't worry about them. We'll burn that bridge when we get to it. Right now we just need to focus on getting you situated here in the city, and Rei healed up so we can try again to get her combat capable. I'm sorry to lay this in your lap too, but we'll need you on hand in case her Stand goes crazy again."

Shinji made a very long, unhappy groan, which was suddenly cut off by Rei leaning as far as she could over the bed and grabbing him in a tight hug. "Hey. It'll be okay. I'll help you out as soon as I'm able. Plus, we're getting that redhead over here as soon as we can prove Tokyo's being targeted, right Gendo?" He nodded, and she turned Shinji's head to look at her. "I'm sorry again we had to throw you to the wolves like that. But it won't happen again. We're all here to help you out."

Shinji was somewhat entranced by Rei's smile and happy eye, enough that he began smiling himself without noticing. "…Yeah. Okay. I think I can manage." Rei beamed at him, then suddenly coughed into her hand, and as she pulled it away Shinji saw it was covered in blood.

"You… should probably go. I need to rest" Rei said, settling back down in the bed and grabbing a few tissues. "But thanks for coming. I really enjoyed meeting you~"

Gendo took Shinji's wrist and pulled him up out of the chair. "I'll come back and see you this evening, Rei. Shinji, we should head to your debriefing, the army and government are going to have a lot of questions for 'my toy'." The two of them left, with Shinji feeling both warm to and concerned about the girl he'd just met.

Shinji looked at the clock for what must've been the hundredth time. Six hours. They'd been questioning him for six hours. Almost all of them were a variation on "why did you do this specific action", to which he really had no answer. He thanked every cosmic entity there was that Misato, Gendo, and the blonde haired lab technician who he now knew as Ritsuko were there to bat for him and answer any awkward or inconvenient questions. They also showed the complete fight in detail, covering every section multiple times, and basically confirmed that Shinji had his ass handed to him except for right at the end when he managed to gain the upper hand by "Neutralizing the AT Field", whatever that meant. All he knew was it had been very difficult and made him feel weird afterward.

"I think we're done here" the lead questioner said, swiftly packing his equipment into his suitcase and standing up. "Gendo, your staff will handle all future debriefings and will forward the complete contents to the JSDF Intelligence, Japanese Secretary of Defense, and UN Security Council within a reasonable time of holding them. Pilot Ikari, you are dismissed. This Council will reconvene tomorrow morning at 0930 in Tokyo-2 to discuss the findings of this meeting. Good night, gentlemen."

The 20 or so government and army officials started filing out of the large meeting room, and Shinji sank into his chair. There was a water pitcher and cup on the table next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to drink anymore because he really had to piss. He was trying to figure out how to find a bathroom before he wet his pants when Misato and Gendo walked up to him.

"You did a great job, kiddo, Director Solomon usually gets annoyed at this kind of meeting." Misato said. "It's time for me to take you home, unless you want to spend the night in that hospital bed."

Shinji made a defeated sigh, then looked at his father. "I guess I'm not staying with you after all?"

Gendo scratched his head. "Shinji, I… I sleep in the base a lot. I'm barely ever at my apartment. If you were to live with me, we'd barely see each other outside of work anyway. With Misato offering to take care of you, I would be remiss in my duty as a parent to not accept."

"Fine. Are we at least going to see each other on the base?"

"I'll make every attempt to be part of your life. That includes coming out of my hole to see you, time permitting."

"I guess that's as much as I could ask for." Shinji rolled his eyes, then looked at Misato. "I, uh, really need to pee. Can you point me to the nearest bathroom?"

"No, I can't, but I know someone who can!" Misato closed her eyes and briefly glowed with green flame, the same pink humanoid as when they used the elevator appearing next to her. "Paisley Park, take Shinji to the nearest men's room, then bring him back."

A silent acknowledgement from Misato's Stand was all Shinji saw before it picked him up and ran out of the room. A yell of fear was forced out his mouth as the corridors became nothing but a blur, until the very sudden stop ended the trip in a tiny break area containing a few vending machines and two bathrooms. Paisley Park set Shinji down slowly as his yell died out, and he slowly walked into the mens' restroom, doing his business on a very scared autopilot. He'd just about come to his senses by the time he exited the restroom, at which point the Stand picked him up again and ran all the way back to the conference room, depositing a winded and traumatized Shinji back into the chair he'd been sitting in and vanishing into wisps of purple energy and sparkles.

"Enjoy the ride?" Misato asked, and patted Shinji on the shoulder. Gendo had already left, and it was now only the two of them plus Ritsuko left in the room.

"That's… not at all what happened!" Shinji blurted out. "You could have at least warned me!"

"Aww, but where would the fun in that be?" She ruffled his hair, and he withdrew slightly. "Let's get out of this hole in the ground. What are you hungry for?"

Shinji pouted a little, but his stomach took this exact moment to betray him with a loud rumble. "...curry on Soba. Extra spicy."

"Sounds like a plan. I've had Section Two deliver all your stuff to my house already but I guess unpacking will have to wait until you're feeling better. Well, let's go!"

Misato led Shinji up through NERV to an express elevator to the surface, mercifully just walking like a regular goddamn human this time. They had some small talk about Shinji's hobbies, what else he liked to eat, media preferences, topics that he was just barely comfortable talking about with her. They eventually found their way back to her car, still dented and damaged from the N2 mine explosion from two days ago, but it seemed to be running safely while Misato waited for repairs. They went to a couple stores and got a feast of a dinner, mostly instant food but Shinji insisted on preparing the curry sauce himself.

"Will you please get this chest crusher off me?" Shinji begged as they got in the door.

"I thought it was helping?" Misato set her bags down and went over to Shinji, turning him around and working at the back.

"That was several hours ago. I can't breathe!" He inhaled sharply as the Skull Suit fell away from his torso, rib pain be damned. He took a moment to reacquaint himself with the freedom of movement he had again, then started unpacking the groceries onto the kitchen counter to prep for cooking. "So, do I have to go through that entire thing with the Invoker every time an Angel attacks?"

Misato walked out of the bathroom in a much more comfortable tank top and shorts. "What? No. Can't Be Yours is a part of you. You can summon it whenever you want."

Shinji paused, about to start cutting an onion. "I was honestly expecting you to say yes." He cut it up into eighths, then strips, and moved on to carrots. "But, like, what are the restrictions? I assume I can't just whip it out anywhere I want."

Misato grabbed a beer out of the fridge and nearly belly flopped onto the couch. "You're not allowed to use it to attack or threaten anyone, except in self defense or if you have orders to. Other than that? Don't cause any damage, and you're allowed to do whatever. But please be sensible about it, I don't want to have to send Rei after you."

"...You'd do that?"

"Well, you heard what happened, right? We could barely fight her Stand to a stalemate and yours didn't go berserk. She's the only option we would have to subdue you. So, again, please behave yourself."

Dinner came and went - Misato showed her rambunctious side, Shinji got embarrassed, she invited him to take a bath. He actually chilled out quite a bit during it - time alone to process everything that had happened. He did try to summon Can't Be Yours - but although he could get the green flames to appear in brief flashes, he couldn't quite get it up. He eventually gave up and climbed out, drying off and getting into pajamas, but what Shinji didn't expect was a penguin on the other side of the bathroom door. Shock turned to stammering turned to tripping over his own feet and he was about to completely clobber the poor animal-

-but hit nothing but floor. Pen-Pen calmly walked away from Shinji, a golden flaming aura quickly fading away from his body as he opened his personal fridge and went in. Shinji was so startled, the only thing he could do was turn to Misato and shout "PENGUIN!"

She just giggled. "That's my Pen-Pen. He's a warm water penguin, the ones that adapted out of Second Impact altering the biosphere. By the way, I forgot to mention you have school tomorrow, so you should probably get to bed."

"But-"

"No buts, young man, I've already got your bed set up, second door down the hall. Sleep tight!"

Shinji made a whimpering noise but obediently got back up and staggered to the described door, opening it to find said bed and a stack of boxes up to the ceiling of his things from his Teacher's house. He slumped to the floor, sighed deeply, and looked around for his SDAT player finding it in the knapsack he'd left in Misato's car, but was now in here somehow. He was about to put the earbuds in when Misato came to the doorway.

"I'm not actually that mean. Wanna talk?"

"Well, I mean, why a penguin?"

Misato shrugged. "I'm not a cat person. That's Ritsuko's domain. But I'm also too lazy to get a dog, so my options were kinda limited. But being tactical commander of NERV gets me a few favors, so I picked up a penguin as a pet."

"I… Guess that makes sense." Shinji shifted on the bed. "What about school tomorrow? Shouldn't I be training or something?"

"Well, you can accept high school and have at least some time to yourself, or you can go full military with NERV and basically work a 14 hour day of nothing but tests, classes, and training. I figured you'd want the first option. Besides, it's not like going to school is going to be a problem, what's the worst that could happen?"

The fist impacting Shinji's cheek, causing all sorts of fun reverberations in his skull, instantly sent him to the floor. He was disoriented, in even more pain from his injuries now, and coughed from dust inhalation as Toji Suzuhara cracked his knuckles after the impact.

"Sorry, new kid, but I had to do it. My sister was in one of the buildings you demolished. If you'd done your job right, she wouldn't be in the hospital right now!"

Shinji spat out the rest of the dirt as he got back up, rage in his eyes and wisps of green already starting to wick away from his shoulders. Who was this asshole? He considered just letting him get away with it - but no, this was personal, he'd been insulted on a job he never wanted to do, that he almost died doing. This was war. And Misato had said he was allowed to use the Stand in self defense, and he just got punched hard…

"I'm sorry," Shinji said, wiping the blood from his mouth as the crowd began to form. "I didn't quite get that. You're saying I suck at the job I didn't want to do?"

"That's exactly what I said!" Toji stepped closer "My sister almost died because of you-"

"Then maybe you'd like to see firsthand what I DID!" Faced with the danger of being beaten up, Shinji had no issue releasing this new feeling, this fighting spirit, and Can't Be Yours materialized behind him, towering over Toji and letting out a low, quiet rumble. Toji stopped in his tracks. Kensuke instantly pulled out his camcorder. The younger kids in the crowd screamed and ran. "I'd like to see YOU do better fighting that monster, when I has THIS backing me up and I still got my own ass on a platter!" Toji, predictably, only got more angry at being called out, but he still didn't dare come closer to the new kid with that… thing behind him. The two stared each other down, until a familiar girl's voice shouted from the nearby school door.

"Alright, break it up you two, that's enough!" Rei stomped over to the confrontation, still with arm in a cast and bandaged eye, and stood directly between the two of them, glaring at both. "Shinji, put it away. NOW. Toji, you better get out of here before I have to report that you beat up the pilot that saved Tokyo-3. Kensuke, turn it off and delete that clip before I have to come over there and confiscate your camera." Toji took a step back, huffed loudly, and stormed off. Shinji released his Stand, and Kensuke unhappily deleted the several seconds of footage he'd gotten. Rei turned to Shinji and put her remaining arm on her hip. "Really? Your first day and you've already outed yourself like this?"

"He punched me first! Misato said I was allowed to use it in self defense!"

Rei rolled her eyes. "And do you know how to control yourself yet so you don't kill anyone in 'self-defense'?"

Shinji instantly deflated. The color drained from his face and he could do little more than stammer. "I.. Well… Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry."

"You better be." Rei walked over and playfully slugged him on the shoulder. "Come on, let's skip the last two hours and go get something to eat. We've got a lot to catch up on."

Shinji stared for a moment. "Can we do that?"

Rei smiled. "Well, as the ranking officer here, I'm giving you an order, so you can either disobey your superior or you can skip class. I'll leave that up to you."

"I'll… Go." Shinji picked up his bookbag and followed Rei off the campus. "You outrank me?" He asked after a short while.

"I'm officially a First Lieutenant, and with you having already gone out in a combat situation, that technically makes you a Second Lieutenant, since our kind don't go out into the field as Enlisted personnel. So yes, I outrank you, which is sort of why I had to break that up. I know Toji had it coming to him, but I also can't let you fly off the handle like that as a subordinate of mine. Looks bad on me for my leadership skills. No hard feelings, right?"

"Oh, yeah, no hard feelings. So where are we going? And what did you mean by having a lot to catch up on?"

"We're heading to this cute little cafe that does the best milkshakes," Rei said, practically singing the words, "And also, I want to know all about you! If we're going to be fighting alongside each other, we need a strong social link. Your father is comically inept at describing you, by the way."

"That… doesn't surprise me at all." Shinji pinched the bridge of his nose as they stopped to wait for a street signal. "I didn't expect him to be this caring, though. I thought he'd just kinda forgotten about me."

"Gendo cares a lot about you." The pair started walking again. "That's why he was pushing so much to get me combat ready with the other Stand. Which, don't get me wrong, I'm fine with doing this so you don't have to. But it looks like that might not be an option anymore."

They arrived at the cafe, and it was indeed tiny - outdoor only seating, and maybe a 200 square foot kitchen in the only building. Rei went up to the window and ordered two strawberry milkshakes, paying with a card that Shinji noticed had the NERV logo on it. She handed one of them to him and they sat down at the only empty table. "Enough about work. I want to hear about you."

"Like… what?"

"I want to know who you are. I basically only know your name. What do you quest for in life? What's your favorite color? What are you good at? What do you like to watch on TV? Music? Books? Games? Or are you more creative? Art? Poetry? What's your favorite subject in school? Do you like to exercise?"

Rei took a long sip from her milkshake while Shinji desperately searched his own mind for any sort of answer to her questions. It quickly dawned on him that Rei was searching for a person that almost didn't exist. "Uh." He said, more in shock than anything else. "I like blue a lot. I guess my favorite subject is history. I kinda prefer to just lie down and think about the world than actually do anything with my time."

"Try the milkshake" Rei said between sips. Shinji kind of forgot it was there. He lifted it up and took his own sip, and was quite surprised at the taste. It was pleasantly sweet, not the sickening kind of sweet he was used to from this kind of thing. He got slightly lost in the taste before Rei spoke again. "I looked at your previous school grades. You seem to be a pretty good student. Is that something you like?"

"Not… Really." Shinji thought about it for a moment. "I guess I just do what I'm told. I lived with my teacher for nine years. He wasn't really interested in me other than my schoolwork. I felt like I needed to please him."

"Were you happy that you pleased him?"

"Yeah. Isn't that how relationships are supposed to work?"

"Hmmmmmm" Rei took another long sip of her milkshake, this time making Shinji a little uncomfortable, and he felt like he said something wrong. "Have you ever heard of a card game called Yugioh?"

Back in Misato's apartment, after a quick stop by Rei's to pick up a few short, white boxes, the living room table and immediate surroundings were littered with trading cards. Shinji held three in his hands, a bead of sweat just starting to drip down the left side of his head as he faced off with Rei, who he'd have thought would have a hard time playing a card game with only one hand free, but that was apparently a wrong assumption.

"I use my Junk Gardna to switch your Blue-Eyes White Dragon to defense mode" He said, performing the action, "And I equip Junk Barrage to my Stardust Dragon, go into Battle Phase, and attack your Blue-Eyes."

"I flip Negate Attack in response. Your priority." Shinji shook his head. "Battle phase ends."

"I end my turn."

"I draw, and flip the Chain Materials trap card, then play Polymerization, and banish the Blue-Eyes on my field and both still in my deck to fusion summon Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon. Then I play X-Head Cannon and banish it, Y-Dragon Head, and Z-Metal Tank to special summon the XYZ Dragon Cannon in attack mode. I'll pitch Emergency Provisions from my hand to make Dragon Cannon destroy Junk Gardna."

"Gardna's effect lets me change Ultimate Dragon to defense mode."

"In that case, I'll use Miracle Dig to put the three Blue-Eyes I have banished back into my Graveyard, and then play Dragon's Mirror to banish them again and summon a second Ultimate Dragon. Battle Phase, XYZ-Dragon Cannon attacks Junk Warrior and destroys it, then Ultimate Dragon attacks for game."

Shinji let out a groan and fell over backwards, gently hitting the floor with his arms splayed out. "That's three in a row. I feel like I'm getting the hang of it but you're just too good."

Rei giggled, then started clearing up her deck. "Do you not want to play anymore?"

"No, I'm having fun." Shinji sat back up and started picking his deck up as well. "I just wish I was going against someone making the same mistakes I am."

"You'll get better. Using a Yusei deck is about sharpening your wits and wringing every last bit of utility out of your cards. Once you start memorizing what each can do in a given situation, you'll start doing a bunch of combos I just don't have an answer for with this deck. Then I'll move on to something harder like Xyz monsters."

"Not that Malefic deck?"

"That's not fun to play more than once or twice due to how limited it is. Sucks that they nerfed the monsters so hard from the Movie renditions."

At that point, the door beeped, and Misato walked in with a single shopping bag. "Oh, you're both here," she said, smiling, "I was informed you both skipped the last part of school, and I come home to find you playing children's card games. What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Rei quickly stood up and saluted Misato with her free arm. "It was my doing, Major. I gave Lieutenant Ikari a direct order to follow me off campus, and implied he would be punished for not doing so. The fault is mine, and mine alone."

Misato smiled and rolled her eyes. "Don't make a habit of it. But since you're here, I can give both of you these." She reached into her purse and pulled out a pair of ID cards. "Shinji, this card will get you through any entrance into NERV and also acts as an all-access public transport pass. Rei, this is just your re-issued one. Are you going to be staying for dinner? Shinji is cooking tonight."

Rei turned to Shinji. "You cook? Hm. I guess I wasn't being thorough enough with my questions."

"He makes a really mean spicy curry." Misato added.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to stick around and try his cooking." Rei turned around and grinned at him.

Shinji blushed slightly. Getting praise and attention for something as simple as cooking wasn't something he was used to dealing with. "Uh, sure, we're having pizza casserole tonight."

"Oh yes, before I forget," Misato said, "Shinji, you need to report to the NERV armory tomorrow directly after school so you can get fitted for the rest of your combat gear. Afterward there will be an instruction session on summoning your Stand more easily followed by a brief combat course. Rei, we've scheduled your next combat test for next week. You're still on reserve with your injuries, but Ritsuko wants to at least try to get it summoned without going berserk."

Rei nodded. "Understood."

Deep underneath Tokyo-3, a steel Pyramid stood on the floor of the geofront, the upper administration area for NERV. An entire floor of it was set aside to be a single office for the Commander, a vast room with windows on three sides yet only occupied by a single desk in the precise middle of the room with an error no more than a millimeter. Gendo Ikari sat with hands tented, glasses reflecting to soft mood lighting as he contemplated just how wrong things had gone in the last three days.

The only door to the office made a noise, then opened, and Fuyutsuki stepped through, looking far more like the old, seasoned admiral of a large starship than he should have. "I see you're taking things well." He mused, walking up and taking his normal spot to Gendo's right. "I suspect SEELE is not happy with the situation either."

"You're damn right they aren't. They're all panicking now that the Dead Sea Scrolls have lied. They might be planning to make me disappear and attempt to assume direct control of defense of Terminal Dogma."

"I assume your own plans are also in question. Are you sure it's okay to just change your tune about your son like this? He's going to be questioning everything and may act unpredictably."

"I have no choice. Without Rei functional, 01 is the only Stand that can fight. But that also means Shinji needs to be loyal to us now that She's implanted in him. If I went through with my original plan, he'd probably rebel against us and start destroying things after his second combat sortie."

Fuyutsuki sipped the coffee mug he'd brought with him. "Are you still planning on reuniting with Yui?"

"SEELE took her away from me. I'll do anything to get her back. If I can't pull her out, that means jumping in with her."

"So the game is still on, then." Fuyutsuki stared into his mug. "It's us vs SEELE for the fate of the world, and our game pieces are teenagers wielding all-powerful superweapons."

"Are you saying I should be doing something different?" Gendo moved slightly to see Fuyutsuki's expression, but found it mostly blank, except for maybe a bit of longing.

"I'm saying that I hope to survive this."