Neon Genesis Evangelion: Remastered

By Death 12

The young man groaned as he slammed the handset back onto the payphone's cradle, its cheap and cheerful appearance not helping his mood.

"All normal lines are down due to the state of emergency!" he repeated in a high pitched voice, rolling his eyes before shifting the bag so that it hung from the opposite shoulder; suddenly glad he'd only brought a couple of day's worth of clothes with him. Considering the so called 'special state of emergency' that'd left him stuck in the middle of a city he'd never visited before and alone to boot.

He let out a long sigh as he took another look at the photo he'd received not a week earlier, enclosed with a letter from his father.

He snuck a glance at his watch before sighing again and leaning against the building behind him.

"Where the hell is she? Her letter said to meet her here half an hour ago, so where the hell is she?" his rant was cut off as a sudden gust nearly bowelled him over, his trained reflexes having been the only thing to save him from meeting the asphalt in a reasonably painful manner. Pavements weren't designed with cushioned landings in mind.

Taking a quick glance up, he watched a pair of guided missiles arc around to their target, exploding violently against its dark hide.

"What the Fuck?" the rest of the question was cut off as he turned and fled, his body finding a much better use for the breath as he put as much distance between him and the swiftly dropping VTOL wreckage.

The street behind him disappeared in a cloud of dust, shrapnel and glass as the aircraft's unspent ammunition detonated on impact.

(Page Break)

The tires screeched as she began to swerve away from the body that'd suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, slamming the brakes on the young woman bolted out of the car as she rushed towards the young man laying dazed in the road.

"Damn that hurt…" he groaned as he sat up, before tenderly rubbing his arms, before looking up and coming face to face with a rather distraught purple blur.

"Oh my god! Are you okay? I'm so sorry!" she started, her mouth talking a mile a minute as she looked him over, nearly frantic.

"I'll be fine once everything focuses properly again, are you Misato Katsuragi?" he asked, slowly getting to his feet, somehow managing to forget the large green and white creature and his first near-death experience less than a few moments ago.

"Shinji Ikari?" she paused to watch him nod before gesturing to the now dinted car. "I'm here to pick you up."

(Page Break)

"Impossible! That was a direct hit! It had to be!" a large man in a green officers suit shouted, slamming a fist against the table before him, scowling as the man beside him lent back, crossing his arms.

"Artillery and guided missiles have no effect; it appears we have no choice. Order the engaging units to pull back and prepare to strike with an N2 mine; nothing can stand up to that amount of firepower!"

(Page Break)

Shinji pressed back in his seat as his escort leaned over him with a pair of binoculars, apparently watching something intently in the direction of the city's outskirts.

"Shit! Get down!" she cried, pulling his head down into her lap as she ducked over him.

Whilst the car didn't roll when the resulting shockwave hit it, the sheer force of the shockwave managed to crack both windscreens and the passenger side windows, several small pebbles hit the car, one flying through the open window before smashing its way through the opposite window, the shockwave easily tearing a hole through the laminated glass.

They sat still for a moment after the shockwave passed, before Shinji shifted slightly, worry overtaking his face as his hand came away from Misato's back bloody.

The woman in question gave him a small smile when she noticed his worried look, sitting up slowly before explaining.

"Something just nicked me that's all, I'm fine." She looked around the car before forcing her door open. "Wish I could say the same for my car though, damn it! How'm I gonna pay for all this? Shit!"

Shinji tried his own door before giving it a swift kick to free it, startling Misato as she wandered around the car trying not to cry at the thought of how much the repairs would cost.

Stepping out he let out a low whistle as he surveyed the damage, the entire side had been dinted with pebbles; a few of the larger ones had managed to make their way through, he cringed as he thought of the state the engine would be in.

"You work for my father and the U.N. right? Couldn't you call it business expenses or something?" she looked thoughtful for a minute before nodding, walking around to the bonnet to take a look at the damage underneath.

He blinked as he noticed a small pool forming beneath the car, he couldn't tell if it was oil, petrol or brake fluid, but he sure as hell didn't want to find out the hard way.

"Miss Katsuragi? Wouldn't it be easier to just find another car nearby? Because it looks like something hit the petrol tank." He cringed at the cry she let out when she checked, before noticing what looked to be an abandoned car nearby, running over he tried the door before picking up a fist sized rock and launching it at the window, idly noting the way it bounced off before adjusting his aim slightly and repeating the process.

"Hey there's one we can use over here!" with that he opened the door and quickly swept the shattered glass onto the floor before setting about starting it.

She looked up as a nearby car suddenly started, pulling to a stop next to her; she gave the boy driving an odd look before opening the door and pushing him across into the passenger seat.

"Steal a lot of cars do you?"

(Page Break)

"High energy reaction detected from within target zone!"

"Visuals restored!"

With that the main screen shifted from static to a clear view of a large green and white creature, the land around it having turned into what looked like molten glass, whilst the creature itself appeared to have been singed and in some places melted, the healthy rise and fall of what appeared to be gills announced that it was definitely still alive, and more than likely, quite pissed off.

"Commander Ikari, we are giving you command of this operation, defeat that creature through whatever means necessary!" one of the U.N. officials said, before the table disappeared into the floor, the officials with it.

"So, the U.N. has given you command, what are you going to do?" a tall man asked, turning to face his one-time student, before running a hand through his grey hair.

The man in question pressed a button on his desk, waiting for the call to be answered.

"Prepare to activate Unit 01, I will arrive shortly to oversee operations." With that he pressed the button again, before turning to the man next to him. "A back-up pilot will arrive shortly, should he prove useless or require coercion, prepare to head to the infirmary and wake up Rei."

"Can she even pilot in her condition?"

"I doubt it will come to that." With that said the shorter man turned around and left the room.

(Page Break)

The purple haired woman sat next to him sighed before leaning back in the seat; she sat up suddenly as she reached around in her pockets for something, before she pulled out a PDA, with what looked to be a card reader built into one side.

"You got a temporary security pass card with the letter didn't you? Here, insert it into that and read it, it's the NERV information pack."

Shinji did as he was told only to frown as nothing happened; he reinserted the card again only to groan as he noticed a tiny crack running from corner to corner across the screen.

"Miss Katsuragi? I think its broken." He passed her the device as she held out her hand, only to do exactly as he had done, before shoving it back into one of her pockets and shifting so she was looking at him.

"Stop calling me Miss Katsuragi, it makes me sound old, I'm not old am I?" Shinji looked at her before quickly shaking his head, he didn't want to piss her off any more than she already was, especially considering her car was now abandoned and trashed, then if you took into account how much of a bastard his father was…well, lets just say he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger, after all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"So, anything on that I need to know or was it just a general welcome?" he asked tentatively, hoping like hell she hadn't written it.

"Nothing really, just the fact we're a U.N. organisation and your father is the commander, but you knew that already right?" He nodded before sighing.

"Any idea what he wants me for? I know it isn't for a nice happy reunion, especially after the bastard abandoned me."

"Wait? He abandoned you? How old were you? Eight, nine?" she asked, her eyes wide with shock at his sudden revelation.

"Six, I was six. He isn't really much of a father is he?" he laughed bitterly before shaking his head. "Bastard better have a damn good reason for calling me here…" he trailed off before turning to look at Misato, taking in her surprised look before laughing again. "What? You thought I might have expected a nice and fuzzy reunion? He only gets in touch if he wants something. Like last time."

Misato was silent for a few moments as she digested that.

"Well, we've stopped, we'd better get going." She tried to open the door and blinked when she caught her hand on something sharp, cursing under her breath for a moment as Shinji smirked at her. "What? It's not my damn fault I forgot there was glass there!"

She thrust the door open and stepped out, slamming the door shut behind her and started to stalk off towards the nearby lifts; a quiet indignant grumble made itself known as her recently acquired charge scrambled after her.

It was at this point where Shinji noticed, with mild amusement, that he was at least a few inches taller than her.

Misato stopped as she heard a quiet chuckle behind her, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all…" he replied with a small smile, waving it off before following her as she set off again at a brisk pace.

(Page Break)

The duo looked at the door to the elevator as it opened with a light 'ding' Shinji standing quietly to one side as the newcomer began to talk to his escort like they were old friends.

"So Misato, is that him?" The woman in question nodded as she replied.

"Yeah, he's the one, the 'Third Child' according to the Marduk report at least."

Shinji tuned out the rest of the conversation, instead taking the time to admire the newcomer's swimsuit clad form, raising an eyebrow as he noticed the way it clung to her form beneath her stark white lab coat, he shifted as he felt her look at him before she ran a hand through her hair, apparently exasperated at the older woman.

Misato lent forwards as an announcement blared over the tannoy system, before following her blond friend as she left the lift, leading them towards a door marked 'Eva Chamber 01'.

Shinji shook his head as they stopped in the middle of what looked to be a viewing platform before a giant purple head.

"So this is what the bastard has been working on? What's it got to do with me?" he asked as he looked it over, before turning to look at the large viewing window behind it at it suddenly lit up.

"You will pilot it."

"Jesus Christ what is this? A fucking anime?"

"Shinji please, at least try and pilot it, if you don't, that thing up there will kill everyone, please…" the purple haired woman to his right pleaded, laying her hands on his arm gently.

"What about the other two?" he snapped rounding on her, his eyes narrowing into a glare. "You said I was the Third child right? So what about the other two?"

"The second child is in Germany and the first is currently comatose in hospital from the original activation test." The cold reply came from behind him; the blond doctor spun him around by the shoulder, staring him in the eye. "I don't like this either, but that's life! Now stop whining and get in the damn thing!"

"Fine, anything I need to know before I get in that thing?" he replied, not breaking eye contact with the blond haired scientist.

"We fill the cockpit with a fluid called LCL, so if you've got anything you want to keep I suggest you leave it out here with either of us." Once she'd said that the young man began to empty his pockets before stripping off his shirt, his hands automatically going to the back of his neck to undo the clasp of his silver chain.

He carefully laid it in the woman's hand before giving her a stern look. "Make sure you don't lose it." Were his last words before he turned and jogged around the back of the robot where several techs were gesturing him over.

(Page Break)

Shinji tried to settle his nerves as the entry plug began to fill with LCL, even though they'd told him he'd be able to breath it he still felt as though he was going to drown, not that he was surprised, considering whilst he could swim, he hadn't since he'd nearly drowned six years ago. Shuddering he squashed the memory before it could take root in his mind, before glancing at the view screen that'd suddenly appeared before him.

"Sync ratio is 7.4" a voice reported over the radio, he grimaced as he tried to force the strange presence he felt in the back of his mind out, visibly concentrating with the effort.

"Shinji, open your mind to the Eva, otherwise you won't be able to fight." The blond scientist ordered, her face appearing to the left of his head, just out of his main vision.

His head whipped around, about to snap a reply only to have a strange gargling noise emit from his throat.

"Shinji-kun? Just try and relax, I know it's hard, but try not to fight it, just relax okay?" a soft voice reached his ears, whilst he didn't recognise it he stopped trying to push out the presence, closing his eyes he let out a long breath, before opening his eyes again, focusing on the presence and tried to bring it to the forefront of his mind, hoping that would help him pilot the machine.

"Sync ratio is climbing, 20, 25, 30, still climbing! 40, 45, stabilized at 53.7" one of the techs reported, her gentle voice nagging at the back of his mind.

"It's like the kid was born to pilot Eva!" one of the other techs shouted, his deeper voice clearly in awe of the teenager.

"Eva unit 01 Launch!"

(Page Break)

Shinji let out a grunt as he felt himself being forced into the seat by the sudden g-force from the launch.

He opened his eyes as he felt the unit suddenly stop, and felt it finally come free of the last of its restraints.

(Page Break)

Misato frowned as she watched the purple Eva grab the green hand aimed for its head and drop into a backwards roll easily, launching the enemy as it released its hand as it reached the apex of the roll.

"What the hell is he doing?" the blond doctor shouted, turning to the three techs before her for an explanation.

"It's called a Tawara Gaeshi Sempai; I think that's what it's called at least, anyway, I know it's a martial arts move, I learned it when I was learning Jujitsu in Okinawa a few years ago." The only female of the trio turn around to address her, her shoulder length black hair left loose, idly she tucked a stray strand behind her ear nervously.

"In Japanese Maya." The older woman stated, having been completely lost by her pupil.

"Basically it's a throw Sempai." She answered, before quickly returning to her duties, watching over the various monitors.

"Four minutes thirty seconds of operational times remaining! That throw just shattered the power cable and its port!" one of the other two techs shouted, already taking steps to eject what remained of the cable and cut the power feed as Misato shouted the order.

(Page Break)

Shinji shook his head as he righted the purple behemoth, curiously watching as his opponent duplicated the move, stilling for a moment before lunging forwards and grabbing the Eva's shoulders and attempted to grapple with it.

Shinji quickly countered the move by sliding both forearms against the Angel's own, suddenly forcing them outwards just below the elbow, breaking the hold and disrupting the Angel's balance.

He capitalised on the opening, dropping into a leg sweep and pouncing on the downed Angel, pounding away with clenched fists against the Angel's thick green hide.

He failed to notice the rapid building up of light in the Angel's eye fire out at him however; shifting him enough for the Angel to free an arm and latch a hand onto his head, driving one of its spikes into the Eva's head repeatedly, managing to crack the eye guard it hit before Shinji snapped its elbow in the opposite direction.

Bringing up its other hand the creature fired the spike on that arm into the Eva's chest, sending it flying backwards to crash into a nearby building.

"Eva has gone silent!" Misato nearly screamed as one of the techs shouted that, but instead began to shout orders for retrieving the now inactive machine.

"What the? Eva's reactivating!"

"No telemetry being received from the Eva, I've got no idea if the Pilot is still in control!"

They could only watch as the Eva charged at the being labelled as 'The third Angel'.

"That has to be the pilot! The Eva wouldn't activate the prog knife on its own!" Maya shouted as she watched with a certain sense of horror as the Eva began to hack its way through its opponent, several of the blows hitting the glowing red orb in the centre of its chest, managing to crack its flawless surface.

"Get me an open channel to the pilot, I don't care how you do it, just do it now!" Misato barked, startling everyone in the room into action.

(Page Break)

The angel somehow managed to wrap its arm's around the Eva and still its violent slashes, before it wrapped the rest of its body around the purple giant, its damaged core suddenly glowing white hot before exploding, evaporating the tarmac beneath them, leaving the Eva sat in the base of a crater.

Inside the entry plug Shinji let out a breath before slumping forwards, his body simply too exhausted to go on any longer.

(Page Break)

"Hey Sleepyhead, nice to see you're awake."

Shinji groaned as he began to focus properly, looking around for the owner of the voice, only to find her hugging him loosely. "So, sleep well? We found you out cold in the entry plug."

"Huh? Maya-san?" he asked wearily, still half asleep as he returned the gesture.

"Yeah, it's me, and here you thought you'd gotten rid of me when I got a job here!" she giggled lightly before hugging him again; still trying to get over the fact he was in one piece.

"It's nice to see you again Maya-san." He greeted, offering her a tired smile before yawning, throwing his feet over the side of the bed before standing up and stretching.

"So, I'm moving in city I take it? You know if they've got a place picked out for me yet?"

He watched as she nodded dejectedly, apparently disappointed with their choice.

"I'm not even sure why the building it's in hasn't been condemned, I'm trying to get Sempai and Colonel Katsuragi to get it changed for you, but I think the Commander just doesn't care…" she sighed before patting the bed next to her, waiting for him to sit down.

"What's wrong Maya-san?" Shinji asked as he plopped down next to her, leaning forwards to try and look her in the eye. "Maya-san?"

"Nothing, just wondering why it has to be you piloting it, you've been through so much already…" she was cut off as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"It doesn't matter, I'll pilot as long as I have to, because I can; after all, I can't let yesterday's excitement go to waste can I?" She looked up at him as he spoke; only just noticing the purple bruises along his shoulders and arms.

"What the hell happened to you?" she hissed as she looked him over, noting several more down his back.

"That would be my fault." The duo turned to look at the newcomer, Shinji's purple haired escort from the day previous. "I kinda ran him over when I went to pick him up yesterday…" she lowered her eyes to the floor as she continued. "He just appeared out of nowhere…well, at least he's alright, that's what matters."

Shinji grimaced as he noticed Maya's glare, glad he wasn't on the other end of it, whilst Maya was usually fairly quiet and reserved when not amongst close friends, she took exception to those who hurt people close to her, and she counted Shinji amongst those lucky few.

She visibly calmed as Shinji slid his arm around her shoulders again, before hugging him once again, shifting closer to him as she did so.

"Anyway Maya, I came down here to tell you that they've outright refused to get Shinji a better apartment, but they did say he could move in with either myself or Rits, I asked why he couldn't stay with you, but they said you were too close to his age."

"What the hell? Do they think I'm gonna try an take advantage of him or something?" she nearly screamed at the purple haired captain, advancing towards her.

"I wouldn't mind."

Both women stared at him, open mouthed.

"What? Did I say that out loud?"

They nodded.

"…Shit…"

(Page Break)

"So you like Maya eh?" Misato asked, taking her eyes off the road for a moment.

Shinji just nodded in reply before rubbing the bridge of his nose between two fingers, at the impending ribbing.

"You know, I think she's single; actually, I haven't seen her with a man at all, while I've been here at least… in fact, the only person I've seen her with outside work is Rits… you don't think?"

Shinji interrupted her with a slow shake of his head before giving her a sad smile.

"I'd rather not talk about Ibuki-san behind her back like this." At this Misato raised an eyebrow.

"Ibuki-san? From the way she switched between glaring at me to making sure you were okay and clinging to you I'd've thought you were a smidge closer than that."

She shot him a look only to find him staring out the window.

"So whad'ya think of Rits Shinji?"

She saw him turn around out of the corner of her eye. "Rits?"

"You know, the blond in the bathing suit an lab coat! She met us in the lift!" she declared, idly changing gears as she sped through the city.

"Oh, she's alright I suppose. Bit old for me like, why? Is she an old flame of yours or something?" a sly smirk made its way onto his face as she turned beet red and purposely threw the car around the next corner, barely dodging an oncoming van.

(Page Break)

"So what'd'ya say we celebrate a bit, not everyday I get a new room mate?" Shinji gave her a guarded look, moving away from her slightly, before saying, "Define 'Celebrate'".

She gave him a small smile before she changed direction, heading towards a nearby shop instead of her apartment complex.

"I mean order a takeaway, have a few beers and watch a good film, sound good?"

"Yeah, got a film in mind? Preferably with big assed explosions?" he hinted, before resettling in his seat.

"Yeah, I have the perfect film in mind…"

(Page Break)

"Say hello to my little friend!"

Shinji watched as the man onscreen began to slaughter countless mobsters as he opened fire with his 'little friend'.

He froze as he felt someone snuggle into his lap; a pair of arms wrapped themselves tightly around his waist before he looked down, slightly relieved as he noticed his new guardian was asleep he made himself as comfortable as he could before settling down and watching the rest of the film and falling into a light sleep.

(Page Break)

Misato snuggled into her pillow and tightened her grip on it before she noticed it was warm, and that she was still fully clothed.

'What the hell?' she thought as she picked herself up, away from her 'pillow' finally noticing it was not only the wrong colour, but the wrong shape.

'Wait, my pillows aren't black…and why am I on the couch?'

Finally she noticed the couch's other occupant, a young man dressed in a pair of black jeans and a black cotton T-shirt, with an unruly mess of chocolate hair atop his head.

'Okay, why the hell did I fall asleep in Shinji's lap last night?' she slowly untangled herself from the young man before trying to slip away into her room to get changed.

"Morning Misato."

She blinked before looking over at her new charge.

"I've been awake awhile, I'm just trying to get rid of this damn headache." He continued, before cracking open one eye and giving her a weak smile. "You haven't got any aspirin have you?"

She rolled her eyes before throwing the bottle she kept on her at him, managing to nail him on the forehead.

"Take two with water." She ordered, grimacing when she watched him swallow them dry.

(Page Break)

"Just aim at the centre of the target and fire." The command came over the internal comm. system inside the simulator, he'd been in NERV for over three hours already and had only just gotten suited up for simulator practice; the previous two and a half hours having been his compulsory medical as a pilot, not that there was anything wrong with him in the first place.

Inside the plug Shinji subconsciously set his shoulders before firing off a three round burst that went high of his still target; quickly he dropped behind a building, taking cover behind its armoured surface.

"What the hell are you doing Shinji?" a bemused voice asked, a comm. window oddly popping up in the middle of his view screen.

"Taking cover, getting hit hurt enough the first time." He grumbled before cutting the connection.

(Page Break)

"Unit 01 is abandoning the rifle! Prog knife engaged!"

Ritsuko looked up form her station before letting out a few choice curses as she began furiously typing away, nearly screaming out of frustration as it spat errors back at her.

"Ikari! Stop your advance and resume ranged attack! That is an order!"

Nearly everyone in the room turned and openly gaped at the speaker whilst the purple Eva onscreen ducked around the digital form of its opponent, ducking back into the buildings and crouching behind a nearby supply building.

"Why the hell is it just stood there? I was fucking open!"

"It's not in the simulation Shinji-kun." Maya sighed as she tapped a few key's loading another rifle into the supply building, before listening to Shinji as he muttered something to himself.

"This is supposed to be training yeah? What good's me using the damn thing for target practise unless it's gonna be difficult for me? I mean come on! The thing didn't even react when I was stood in front of it ready to impale it!"

She looked over at her superior, who'd stopped typing as she sat back and listened to the two converse. "Can we fix that? It'd save us some work down the line."

The older woman nodded before they both began to program rapidly, before giving Shinji the okay to attack at close range as well.

(Page Break)

"Maya, can I ask you something about Shinji?" the question shook the room's other two occupants out of their brooding; they'd been studying the data from the simulation that morning, like they had been all day, and it was already past midnight.

"Was Shinji always like this? I mean, it just seems odd that he doesn't seem to have any friends… whenever I ask about it he just shrugs and changes the subject."

The youngest of the three women sighed and turned around to face the young man in question's guardian, before slowly replying, "I really don't like talking about Shinji-kun behind his back like this, but, you're his guardian so… He never really had any friends, sure he had people he'd hang out with, but I never once saw him really happy… well, that one time when he fell asleep in my arms…" she blushed as she remembered the night, it had been fairly intimate, and she was sure it was a scene she'd remember for the rest of her life.

"Misato? Do you mind if I stop at your place for the night?" a small smirk crept onto Misato's face as the young scientist asked before nodding.

"Sure, I doubt Shinji-kun will mind."

(Page Break)

"Shinji? You still awake?" the captain asked quietly as both her and Maya slipped into the apartment, looking around as the young man in question waved an arm from the couch.

"Yeah, not like it matters I'm at school tomorrow, so who's with you?" he asked, lazily not bothering to look. Maya sent Misato a 'shush' motion before sneaking up behind Shinji, before pouncing on him from behind the couch.

He looked puzzled for a moment or two before returning the hug loosely, closing his eyes for a moment as he did so, a low rumbling sound emitting itself from his chest as he did so.

'Did he just? Damn that's kinky!' Misato blinked before heading to the fridge, intent on a drink before she headed for bed. 'No beer. What? What happened?'

She chanced a look across at the two laid curled on the couch, blinking as she noticed that Maya had almost instantly nodded off.

"Shinji? How come the fridge's empty?" he gave her a curious look before rolling his eyes.

"No, it's just not full of beer, I put most of it into the cupboard, figured you could just cool a couple at a time, makes more room for real food. Anyway, can you give me a hand with Maya-san? I kinda can't get my legs out from under her." Misato shrugged and walked over to him, gently lifting Maya's weight off his legs then shifting her so that she was still nestled against Shinji's chest comfortably.

"Can you manage?" She gave Shinji a smile before ruffling his hair. "Well in that case I'm gonna go to bed. Night."

A few moments later, Shinji had managed to get Maya to his bed without waking her, gently laying her down he tried weakly to slide out of her tight embrace, only to sigh and lay down next to her.

(Page Break)

Maya sighed and snuggled into the warm body behind her, pulling the arms around her tighter before falling back to sleep.

(Page Break)

For once Shinji didn't bolt awake with a start, startled out of his restless sleep by a memory induced nightmare; instead he slowly woke to a gentle embrace with a warm body, her naked soft skin and subtle curves pressed against him.

'Wait a minute; she was still dressed when I fell asleep last night.' He felt her stir against him and froze.

"Morning Shinji-kun." She offered with a small smile, the thin sheet fell away from her body as she sat up, pressing herself against him she laid a long kiss on his lips before pushing him back down and snuggling into his chest.

"Oi! Shinji! Don't forget you've got school!" the young man's purple haired guardian shouted as she left the apartment, the tumblers falling back into place as the door locked with a near silent click.

"Shinji-kun, just hold me, please?" the young woman asked meekly as she pulled his arms around her smaller body, desperately trying as steal some warmth from him.

"Sure Maya, not like I even need to go anyway…" he replied, tightening the embrace.

(Page Break)

"I'll see you later Maya-san, I've got more tests after school yeah?" he asked, stepping around the car to the driver's side; after spending most of the morning cuddling with Maya, she'd offered to drive him to school, her car had been parked in Misato's spot as they'd driven it back to the apartment the previous night, Misato's own car still being repaired from his initial adventure upon arriving in-city.

"Yeah, oh and Shinji?" The young man in question met her gaze as she smiled at him.

"Thanks for caring." The young man returned her smile before heading into the building, turning and giving her a wave as he reached the doors.

(Page Break)

Shinji looked around bored, he'd been listening to the teacher ramble on about the second impact; now whilst he wasn't sure exactly what caused the second impact, he had a feeling it sure as hell wasn't a meteor, after all, if a meteor had hit the Earth, one large enough to knock it off its axis would've also kicked up enough dust to cool the Earth, not something that accompanied a permanent summer, more like an ice age.

He blinked as a message popped up on screen,

Is it true?

Looking around he rolled his eyes before he spotted a pair of girls waving at him.

Are you the pilot for that robot?

He thought for a moment before smirking.

That's classified information.

His smirk widened as he heard a shocked gasp spring from the back of the room, he never said he was, and he wasn't lying, he'd just said that it was classified, which it was.

Further questioning will endanger your life, the walls have ears.

'Well, that should keep them quiet.' He chuckled as he heard several muffled gasps form the back of the room, 'Okay, so the walls don't have ears, but my security detail does…' he corrected himself mentally, before chuckling again.

(Page Break)

"Hey, new kid, outside, now." Shinji turned to face the speaker, his large chest and thin arms gave him the look of an ape, but then again, apes had more manners.

Shinji turned and followed him his feet lightly tapping the floor as he casually warmed up.

Once the pair were outside the speaker stopped a few steps away, facing Shinji as he spoke. "So you're the pilot eh? My sister got injured because of the stunt of yours! What the hell were you thinking?"

"I was trying to stay alive, considering I'd already been run over, pelted with debris from an N2 mine, oh and let's not forget nearly fucking crushed by a falling plane I'd say I did a pretty good job wouldn't you? Especially considering I'd never even heard of the damn thing before yesterday!" Shinji shouted, pinning the younger man up against the wall by his collar, stilling him with a glare.

The younger man sighed before shaking his head slightly, "Sorry, I'm just pissed off you know? I'm supposed to protect my little sister, and all I could do was stand and watch as the rescue team pulled her free of the rubble…"

Shinji let the younger man go, laying a hand on his shoulder.

"I know how you feel, and from now on I'm going to try and keep the battle out of the city. That's what I've been doing nearly every day, training to fight, so the next time one of those things shows up I'll win." As he said that, his mobile rang, vibrating in his pocket and rattling against his apartment keys.

Letting go of the young man, he stepped back, pulling out his phone and answering it in one smooth motion.

"Ikari here."

A few moments of silence prevailed before he spoke once again, before turning around and sprinting off.

(Page Break)

"Pattern blue, it's an Angel!" one of the techs shouted, not that it mattered, everyone present already knew that, no man-made weapon moved like that.

"Launch Eva 01!"

(Page Break)

Shinji let out a grunt as he felt the pressure against him for the few seconds it took to reach the surface, before snatching up the rifle at his feet when the restraints unlocked.

Ducking around the corner of the lift he fired off a quick burst with the rifle, only to dive across the floor as a glowing whip-like limb sliced its way through the lift, leaving a glowing red line of molten metal in its place.

"Look out!" Misato cried over the comm. as the second appendage snapped towards him, missing his legs by a hair's breadth.

"Power cable severed!"

Shinji let out a growl before grabbing the tentacles and beginning to drag the Angel out of the city, he'd made a promise and he was damn well going to keep it.

"Move!" he screamed as he tugged harder, before it suddenly flew over him, the tentacles snapping in the direction he'd been pulling, sending him flying onto a nearby hill.

Two magnified faces appeared to his left, two of his classmates sat huddled together not three feet from where his hands would've landed had he not been gripping the Angel's tentacles.

"Damn it! Civilians! Orders?" he shouted, doing his best to keep the energetic angel still.

"Let them into the entry plug! Hurry!" Not wanting to waste time he slammed a fist against a large button on the side of his cockpit, he waited a few seconds before opening the main hatch.

"Get in! Now!" he bellowed, forcefully hurling in the pair as they pulled themselves up to get in. Shinji slammed the button once again before trying to focus his mind on one thing.

The cockpit screens began to show static as the young pilot released the tentacles, activating the progressive knife stored in his shoulder, before he felt the Eva slowly slam it into the Angel's core.

"DIE!" he screamed, shocking his two 'passengers' into a blank state of mind, at least they weren't worrying anymore.

He felt the arms tense and push harder against the knife as he regained more control over the Eva.

"Thirty seconds remaining!" Maya's familiar voice reported over the comm., slightly distorted by his single-mindedness on his goal.

"FUCKING DIE!" He screamed again, this time forcing the Eva to crouch and use its legs to push up against the knife.

"Target has…" Shinji sighed as he relaxed, before suddenly tensing, wrapping his arms around his stomach, whilst the cockpit around him faded out.

(Page Break)

"What were you thinking?" Shinji gingerly touched his cheek with his hand, wincing as a fresh wave of pain struck him from it, it was already slightly swollen and red from his debriefing session with Captain Katsuragi, and now he'd just been slapped again, and by Maya no less. "They were civilians in the plug! What the hell were you doing attacking the Angel like that?"

"Trying to stay alive." Was his cold reply, the response shocked the young tech into silence as he continued, "Retreat would've been impossible, the nearest access route had been destroyed on deployment, and with two civilians hampering my control I'd've not got much further than that without getting my arse handed to me. It's nothing short of a miracle I managed to get off with just being impaled as it is."

With that said he turned on his heel and marched away from her, the automatic door swishing shut behind him as she began to sob quietly.

(Page Break)

The man watched impressed as Shinji ruthlessly attacked the punch bag, each fist striking hard and fast but staying long enough to hit the bag properly, rather than waste a large amount of force on nothing.

Shinji paused in his assault, wiping a trickle of sweat off his forehead that'd been threatening to drip into his eyes; he'd not been beating the bag that long, in fact most of his time had been spent running on the nearby treadmill and after that on the weight machines that littered the room.

"Problems with Maya-san?"

Shinji whirled around and dropped into a fighting stance, the man having managed to sneak up on him during his exercises.

"Who're you?" he snapped, his already deep breathing giving him a dangerous edge.

"Calm down, I'm Shigeru Aoba, I'm one of the techs, I work with Maya-san on the command deck." the older man stated, walking towards Shinji, before gesturing to the mats set up nearby. "Up for a spar?"

(Page Break)

Shinji sighed as he tried to slip through the living room unnoticed, more to do with the large purple bruise he had over his left eye, than his bust lip, or the fact that his knuckles were also bruised; in short, he'd had one hell of a spar with Aoba.

"Where do you think you're going young man?" Shinji blinked before sighing again, stepping in front of the couch, where his guardian no doubt lay. "What the hell happened to you? Have you been fighting?"

"Not quite, sparring with Aoba-san, why?" he asked innocently, even though he knew exactly why, he'd spent a fair bit of time cleaning the blood off his face from his bust lip in the gym changing rooms after their spar.

"Shigeru? I'll teach him to pick on someone his own size next time I see him!" Misato growled, her mind clouded in anger that a grown man could pick on the boy, the only available pilot they had at that!

"Wait! We were sparring damn it! We just got a bit carried away, besides, I'm fairly sure I broke his nose, and gave him one hell of a black eye. Trust me; he'll be sore in the morning." Shinji quickly corrected, considering he'd needed that spar badly, the punching bag had just been getting him more and more angry.

"Fine! But if he ever does this again I'll kill him!" Shinji didn't reply, instead he quietly retreated to his room, switching on his stereo, normally he'd just listen to his MP3 player, but considering that got shattered on the first day here he'd be stuck without music otherwise.

(Page Break)

"Shinji? I'm heading over to the lab we've set up to study the last Angel you killed, I won't be back while late. Okay?" Shinji let out a groan before rolling over, idly wondering why she had to tell him that anyway, it wasn't as if he couldn't get in touch if he needed her; but at least she'd been quiet after he came in last night, or it could've been that his music had drowned out any noise she'd made, but that was besides the point.

Ring

Shinji blinked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, before stumbling to the phone in the living room.

"Hello?" he asked wearily, wanting nothing more than to crawl back into bed, he'd had to get up for school all week, and it wasn't as if people called the apartment on a weekend for Misato, they all called her mobile, that way it didn't matter where she was they could still get in touch.

"Shinji-kun?" he blinked before his mind caught up with him.

"Maya-san?" he asked tentatively, almost feeling her nod through the phone before replying.

"Yeah, I just wanted to apologise for what I did yesterday."

"It's fine Maya, anyway, have you seen Aboa-san?" he replied, shifting his weight from one foot to the other idly.

"Yeah, why? Do you know something about how he got so beat-up? Shinji cringed as he replied.

"Yeah, we were sparring and kinda got a bit carried away…"

"You broke his nose sparring? What the hell were you doing?" she nearly screamed, causing Shinji to wince as he moved the phone away from his ear slightly.

"Sparring without padding." He casually replied, before sitting on the end of the table, settling in for a long conversation.

And that was how the two spent the next few hours, sat, talking away down the phone to the other, just discussing their lives.

AN: That's it for the first chapter. Like it? Hate it? Want to string me up for butchering the Anime? Tell me in a Review!

Omake:

"Hel-lo? Is this Miss-es Kut-sur-gei…Kat-sur-gei…Kat-sur-agi?" A male voice asked from the phone, stumbling over his words.

"Do I sound like a Miss Katsuragi to you? No! If you're gonna fucking call do it when she's at least fucking in!" he shouted, before slamming the phone down.

"Fucking telemarketers…" he grumbled and headed into the shower.