Hi! This is an ongoing fanfic combining Evangelion and Gundam Wing. I apologize if the writing gets clunky at times; I am very much in the stage where ideas are going faster than second drafts, and while I plan to rewrite eventually...I'm going to stick up chapters as soon as I crank them out, because feedback would be great. Especially for the characterization of the Eva kids. Thanks!

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Shinji and the other children sat in their classroom. Outside, rain poured down into the pavement, leaving puddles that they would have to slosh through once the bell rang. Shinji leaned his hand against his chin, and wished he could do that right now. Two more hours. And still their tutor droned on, and he didn't doubt that it would be interesting, if only her voice didn't have that soporific effect. He looked over, and Rei was in the usual position, with the usual expression, staring sedately into the rain, the silver, the grey. That was who she was. Just yesterday, she had smiled at him. Shinji wondered if she would do it again. It had been beautiful. Asuka had been chattering incessantly, and flirting shamelessly with another student in their class. Shinji had been walking by while carrying some books, and she hadn't noticed when her hair, flung out with a flirty laugh, had wapped Shinji in the face. Shinji had sneezed, and rolled his eyes...and looked over just in time to see a smile grace Rei's lips. They had made eye contact, and Shinji has smiled back. Now, as she melted in with the silver rain behind her, she seemed like a new person. Just one smile.

Shinji looked up as the teacher suddenly stopped talking. She was looking at a beeper. "Class, we will be having a quick ten minute break. Don't leave the building. Shinji, Rei, Asuka, I'd like to see you in private for a moment."

The class erupted into a bubble of chatter, and Shinji reluctantly rose and walked down the aisles. Rei was already at the front desk, and Asuka left a conversation to wander up, her eyes glittering with savage interest.

"You are to return to Nerve headquarters. I have no idea why, they won't tell me." The teacher looked slightly miffed. "But don't think I'm going to let you off. I want all of you to do the full reading, and I've posted HW problems on the class website. You'll have them for tomorrow, of course?"

They nodded, Asuka adding a "humph".

"Good. You're excused."

-----

An hour later found them at NERVE Headquarters, sitting in a conference room with the head scientist. Ritsuko looked down on them from the head of the table.

"We feel that we ought to fill you in on a new situation that has come up. I hate to add more complications to your lives, but this change of events will effect you three immensely."

Asuka gave the adult a sharp, almost petulant look. "If you found a new child, we don't need one. I'm doing perfectly fine." She looked over at Rei. "Though I suppose a backup wouldn't be a bad idea for certain people..."

"Asuka." Ritsuko matched the sharp look. "We are not replacing any of you. Though we may very well have found some reinforcements."

She twitched a pointer at the screen, and a series of graphics appeared. "For several years now, a department of NERVE has been doing research on where the angels come from. What they found is incredibly interesting. If you remember your history, try to recall when the first Mars colonizations took place."

"800 hundred and 3 years ago." Asuka smirked, and Ritsuko nodded, pulling up a new set of graphics.

"And of course, we know how the space colonization efforts managed to reproduce earth's ecosystems and habitats on the planet, by using chemicals to manipulate the atmosphere. And once Mars became established as a self-sufficient planet, we cut off communication. Our governments worried that if we kept communication networks between the planets open, that would lead to trade, leading to power struggles, and ultimately leading to war."

Shinji frowned, and was about to open his mouth, but Asuka beat him to the punch. "In school they told us we still have contact with Mars."

Ritsuko nodded. "Simple propaganda. Communications between the two planets have been dead for 700 years. The earth government ensures it. But back on topic. For the past couple decades, our special NERVE department has been keeping an eye on Mars for angels."

Shinji shifted in his seat. True, they all knew about the Mars colonization, but this was completely different from what they were fed in school. This was more interesting than anything he had heard in months, and he felt that they were being told something big; something that few people were privy to.

Ritsuko took a sip of water and cleared her throat. "Now I know you probably have no idea where this is going, but stay with me. I need to give you this background. Now, to sum it up, no angels have been detected around Mars. However, we had the extremely unique chance to observe Mars, considering that the entire planet is a black hole of information to the general population. What we've discovered about their civilization could change the course of everything we are doing to battle the angels."

New graphics appeared on the page, and a series of television spots flashed on the screen, showing men in business suits orating, and people in strange, British style uniforms. All three pilots watched in fascination, and Shinji and Rei shared a rare glance; it didn't pass them by that they were witnessing real footage of Mars. It was like seeing a unicorn.

"Over 600 years ago, the Martian government began a special program of re-education of their citizens. All records were erased, and children were carefully fed altered history books; well, in short, the colonists of Mars have been raised under the impression that they are in fact on Earth."

"Holy crap." Shinji was pleased to see that Asuka was flabbergasted at this information, even as he closed his own hanging jaw. "They actually believe that they are on Earth?"

"Completely. They so completely eradicated the history of the recolonization that even government leaders are ignorant of their true origin. This has allowed a fascinating and sophisticated culture to grow on the planet, one that mirrors the real earth in many ways." Ritsuko looked at the gaping youngsters and sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry to dump so much novel information on you at one time. It took us years to figure this out, and we've had years to absorb it. If I had my choice, I would be telling you this over a longer period of time. But a turn of events has given us no choice, so please, just bear with me, and quit gawking so much." A stern look. "And I don't need to give you the spiel about classified information. What I've told you in this half hour is more information than anyone else earth is privy to, excluding myself and a select few Nerve researchers."

Ritsuko didn't wait for an answer, but went straight on talking. "I'm going to gloss over the political structure of Mars, for time, and also because we don't know much about it ourselves; we've had other priorities. But here is a synopsis. Three hundred years ago, a coalition of established countries placed five colonies into orbit around Mars. They are largely self-sustaining, though they do depend on the planet for metal resources. The technology these colonies exhibit is fantastic, and not only does it rival the mechanical creations of home Earth, I would say that it is greater. True, they have no where near the biological sophistication of our own planet, but their mechanical ability is extremely advanced.

"And that brings us to mobile suits." A bizarre machine flashed onto the screen; a rather grainy 3-d rendition of a blocky robot, humanoid in form, a mechanical foil to the sleek organic contours and lithe muscles of the Eva's, Shinji thought. His mind reeled with the information he was taking in. They needed time to digest this massive addition to their understanding of the world. Ritsuko, however, seemed to have other ideas, and she plowed onwards.

"The different countries use them for defense and warfare. The main models are piloted by individuals, and are essentially humanoid tanks with guns. Over the past several hundred years, these weapons have become more and more advanced, largely due to the innovations of several specific countries. We don't know much about the older models, but we do know quite a bit about the last hundred century, thanks to one of our employees, who managed to infiltrate a military library on a meteor outpost."

Asuka shoved her way in. "Does that mean NERVE has actually visited the planet? That was forbidden by the UN, and if you were detected, wouldn't that make the people realize that they aren't really on Earth? I mean-"

"Patience, young woman, I'm getting there." Asuka closed her mouth with an impatient snap, and Ritsuko looked at all three of them with a hint of sympathy. "I can only imagine that questions that you are holding in. I know this is mind-blowing. But just listen."

"Unfortunately for the people of Mars, the military power inherent in the suits has led to international conflicts, and more recently, conflicts between Mars and the satellite colonies." A graphic of a blue and green Mars flashed on the screen, with large blue circles, no doubt representing the colonies, orbiting around it. "The colonies are by nature pacifistic, we have discovered, but somehow a recent conflict on Mars was taken up into space. The leading regime used mobile suits to take control of the colonies, and the colonies, without weapons, were helpless. These are the mobile suits commonly seen on earth, built by an organization called OZ. Taurus is land-based, and Aries is air based, all extremely effective fighters." Ritsuko sighed longingly. "You have no idea how helpful a squadron of these machines could be against an angel. The mechanical firepower of our military pales in comparison...I'm getting off topic. God this is a lot to cover." Ritsuko massaged her temples and looked at the three kids. This time Shinji felt a flash of sympathy for her; he could only imagine the different things running through her head.

"We're taking a break. I need to organize my thoughts before we get to the meat of this." And with that Ritsuko swept out of the room.

Rei looked over at Shinji, and he was amazed to see her stunned expression. He was sure his wasn't less. Asuka burst out in an amazed voice, "do you realize what we are hearing? This is mind-blowing! I mean, not even the leading world officials know anything about this-" Shinji focused his eyes on her but wasn't listening; too much was going on his own head. Asuka was dealing with the overload by talking, he and Rei by silence.

"I'm back! Ok, lets get this over with." Ritsuko rushed back in with a determined energy, took a sip, and started talking again.

"The gundams. We've gotten to the Gundams. The colonies could not defend themselves in an obvious way, and so they resorted to hit and run terrorism that could not be traced back directly to the colonies. Somehow the colonies each produced a gundam, essentially a super mobile suit. They are built out of gundanium, an alloy that can only be produced in the zero gravity of space. We ourselves haven't produced this metal, and it is just one other way that this Mars planet has surpassed us technologically. So the Gundams. They are fantastic. Phenomenal. Here, I'll show you what we've discovered about them."

All three pilots gasped as a robotic monstrosity appeared on the screen. A tiny head, massive chest, solid, gorgeous, and so radically different from their own Eva's. It was pure mechanics, and Shinji didn't know what to think about them. "This is the Gundam nicknamed Sandrock. There are four others, one for each colony, and for the past seven months they've been wreaking havoc on earth, taking out the military outposts of different governments."

Grainy footage of flashes and explosions appeared on the screen, and they realized that they were watching a space battle, of the sorts that Shinji remembered from those ridiculous sci fi movies he had watched as a young child. Dogfights, they called them.

"Two months ago, however, these war-machines stopped fighting. Apparently the large opposing force on Mars threatened to fire on the colonies unless the gundams stopped their activities, and the gundams disappeared."

"And now we come back to us. Our NERVE unit had been using an abandoned government shuttle on the Martian moon as this unfolded, and by some sort of freak chance, we contacted to designer of one of the Gundams. Dr. J. We have reason to believe that this man is one of the few Martians who knows the history of the planet, and had been watching for surveillance activities from our planet for years. He got us into contact with the other designers of the gundams; there are five of them in total, all codenamed after letters. We told them about the angels, and the Evas, and NERVE, and the three of you. We told them how we were looking for the source of the angels, and how much we could utilize any force that would give us an advantage. Like I said, even a simple squadron of basic mobile might help us if an angel attacks soon, but there's no way we could get our hands on them. Between breaching the silence between the two planets, and covering our tracks, it would be near impossible. But the Gundams...these terrorist machines are unusual in that they are essentially shunned by earth, and invisible to their home colonies."

"Those machines are coming here." Asuka glared up at Ritsuko. "I get it, but I don't like it. We are doing a damn good job fighting the angels ourselves, look how we beat the last one. We don't need those things to take over for us! I mean, how do we know that they would even last one minute? It could be they'd be useless, or a huge disaster-"

"Asuka!" Ritsuko glowered at the girl. "Yes, that's the punch line; we're hoping to use the mobile suits against the angels. But it's complicated, and you are in no way being replaced. The contrary, the hope is that you will be bolstered. The evas are our first defense, but anything we can do to help them is invaluable.

"Two gundams are currently heading towards Earth. How we managed to negotiate this with the creators is complicated; if you want to know more, I can give you a basic outline later. They will be entering the moon's orbit within the week. Listen to me now, carefully. This is going to get complicated. To maintain the silence between Mars and Earth, we are going to project to the world that they were engineered and created by NERVE." She paused slightly to let the words sink in. "This will hopefully keep the media from discovering that we've made contact with Mars. We also don't want governments trying to petition Mars for weapons, support, anything. It would end in nothing but war, and with the Angel threat as it is, Earth could face disaster."

"Why are you telling us all this? If this information is like a time-bomb; I mean, what if one of us accidently lets something slip?"

"You won't let a word slip. Not a phrase." The steely assurance in Ritsuko voice chilled Shinji to the bone. "If you do, people will die. And why am I telling you? If you want to know the truth, I had to convince Gendo let me tell you this much, and that involved over a week of pleading. Listen; Misato is also aware of this new development, if you need someone else to talk to. But no-one else. I knew I had to give you the truth, because I would have to give you explanations anyway. Better to get it out before you get strange impressions. Also. If all goes as planned, you are going to be spending time with the pilots of the Gundams."

This time even Asuka was speechless. "If the Gundams prove to be a useful tool against the Angels, you will need to work with them in the Evas. You will need to understand the pilots' psychology, and vice-versa. That can only be achieved by direct contact."

Ritsuko snapped off the graphic. "They will be arriving within the week. We'll try to give you heads up on what to expect." There was a pause. "Off the record, we ourselves aren't sure what to expect, but desperate times call for desperate measures, and we're plunging in head first. We're depending on you three to connect with these pilots, both in person and suited up. There are just two of them, one for each mecha. We don't know more than that."

Ritsuko heaved an exhausted sigh and collapsed into a chair. "Dismissed. I'll answer questions later. That means you, young lady."

Asuka glared. "Fine. We'll do our homework, and meditate, or something. Can't you tell us anything more? How old are the pilots? Suit stats? Anything?"

"Not now. Dismissed."

Defeated, Asuka and her red hair flounced out, and Shinji and Rei filing after.

Ritsuko waited for the door to seal shut, before she bent forward and started massaging her temples. "God, do I need some coffee."

"Hard liqueur might do more good, Akagi." The blond captain looked as Misato entered the back door. "But good job with all that updating! I think you managed to condense the biggest hairball of the century."

"Where you listening? That's a great breach of code, woman." Ritsuko stood up and wandered over to the computer terminal. "If you had been a UN representative, you could have very well doomed the world to a horrible fate."

"But I ain't, missy, and won't ever be! I swear all those politicians must have serious digestive problems, with that attitude of theirs. I noticed you didn't explain the political situation more."

"I'm not sure if I even understand it myself, it's all happening so fast. You know our communications with this Dr. J have been, enigmatic, at best. That man is up to something, and I don't know if I like it."

"Well, it's just more complex than our childish understandings can wrap around, that's all." Misato chuckled and leaned back with her arms behind her head. It was a sensual pose, and Ritsuko could think of a large number of men who would gawk at the sight. "He wants production blueprints on the evas, which isn't asking for much, when you think about it. It's a mutually beneficial sharing of technology."

"Except they are using their technology for warfare, to kill. It still worries me."

"I just hope that this doesn't disturb the silence between Earth and Mars. This man seems to have known the truth for a long time and not spoiled it, so he must know how disastrous it would be. Gol, if so much as a hint gets out to the media, we are going to need some serious damage control put in place."

"Remember, only our scientists will have access to the machines, and there is no reason for the public to suspect that we didn't create the suits ourselves. Speaking of which, how is that fuel shipment working out? If we don't have fuel for the suits when they arrive, they might not be much help..."

"Um, it's getting there. Asking for several tons of specially treated crude oil is a bit awkward, and the Alaskan government is already on bad terms with us..."

"You're just sitting on your lazy ass drinking beer and eavesdropping on others, is the only problem I see. Get that shipment up and working, or else, buddy."

"Geewhiz, blondy, take it easy. I'm more worried about atmospheric entry, if you want the truth."

"According to the information from the suit designers, they both should be able to handle entry easily. The pilots will be given coordinates to land in the sea just off the Japanese coast, in a military training area. Shouldn't be a problem."

"And if people ask?"

"We tell them we were testing the machines to make sure they could handle the heat."

"Fine." Misato sighed, and looked pensive. "I'm actually like you, still feeling uneasy about the whole thing. I mean, if he gundams are so important to the civil wars over there, why are the creators risking them on a whole nother planet? Yeah, yeah, I know the rational reasons, and they all cue up. Well, forget it. With three evas and two warmachines, we have one helluva chance against the next angel, maybe the next couple of angels. How long do we have until they arrive?"

"Our Mars team reported that shuttles carrying the suits just passed that asteroid field marking the halfway point. We have 6 days and three hours." She shot Misato a pointed look. "To get fuel, and a communication system up and running."

"On that too. Quite worrying. Lt.. Johnson said that the suits use a basic communication system with high frequency radio waves. Finding their signal shouldn't be a problem." She groaned. "Now I have the distinct pleasure of explaining every little detail to our feisty miss Asuka; thank you, oh head scientist."

"You know it. Now to work."

Misato gave a sloppy salute and charged out of the room with her customary energy.

--------

"Shinji, quit looking so confused." Asuka glared over at the boy as they mounted the steps to Misato's apartment. "If you tried thinking a little, you'd see it made sense. I already have it worked out in my head."

Shinji blinked up at her, shyly. "Maybe. There are just so many things that aren't adding up. I mean, people on Mars can see Earth from where they are. How can they be ignorant of such a huge fact?"

"People are stupid, that's why." Shinji looked up again, this time in surprise.

"You can't believe that."

"Prove me wrong! I mean, all they have to do is teach their kids that this Earth was Mars, and just another uninhabitable planet. That's not hard to do, and people believe whatever you tell them. I mean, did you know that Misato is having an affair with Ritsuko?"

"WHAT?"

"Just kidding!" Asuka taunted in a singsong voice. "See, even you are dumb as a stump sometimes, Eva pilot or whatever! Guess that leaves saving the world up to me..."

Shinji sighed and set down his books, Asuka rummaging around in the refrigerator. Shinji tried very hard not to focus on the butt shamelessly sticking out of the appliance. "I'm not going to think about it too hard. I bet we'll get to know all the details when the pilots get here." Asuka sighed and looked heavenward as she emerged with an arm full of sandwich makings. "They could be devastatingly handsome, heroic men fighting for their cause against all odds, kind hearted, intelligent, brave..."

"They might be women, too."

"Humph. Well, that would be alright, too, I suppose. As long as I get to wean as much golden information out of them as possible. I mean, these people are from an entirely different civilization, and I'm gonna be one of the few people that actually gets to interact with them! Talk about the anthropology opportunity from heaven."

"I wonder what they'll think about us." Shinji paused, thinking over what he had to say carefully. "We're only fourteen...and..."

"And you seem like a twelve year old wimp that doesn't know how to operate a toaster? Yeah, you can worry, but I'm not going too. I plan to impress a bit." Asuka stretched out her full length with a smirk, smugly watching Shinji squirm. "I feel that I'm a fully competent pilot, though you and Rei might want to work on your image..be more confident and pilot like or something. Otherwise you guys are stuck with a serious inferiority complex."

Asuka took her sandwich and left Shinji alone in the kitchen, the conversation (albeit largely one-sided) considered closed. Shinji felt a butterfly of anticipation in his stomach, a feeling he hadn't felt for quite some time. Naturally, a feeling of dread clawed right along with it...but that never quite went away anyways.