Shinji laid in bed soundly as the sun began to peek into his window. This caused the boy to wince and turn over to get some extra winks.

"Good morning, sir. It is now 6: 15 a.m. the current temperature readings are at 82 degrees Fahrenheit with clear and sunny skies today."

Alas, JARVIS was not going to oblige him.

Grudgingly, Shinji sat up and moved to prepare for the day. First, a shower that's quickly followed by a teeth brushing. As he was drying off, Shinji thought back on the past few days. It had been three weeks since he came to this city and things had been, for lack of a better word, uneventful. Ritsuko had presented with something called a plug suit and A-10 clips. She explained that they would allow him to connect with the Eva better in combat. When he asked how, the blonde went in to detail that it indirectly links with his nervous system; allowing him to control with his will.

That sounded like it had numerous applications outside of Eva and so he asked if it was possible to borrow the A-10 clips for study. Ritsuko said she would run it by Commander Ikari.

Which now brings us to today. After a decent breakfast and dressing for the day, Shinji approached his roommate's door.

"Misato, it's morning already."

"I just got back from night duty a little while ago. I don't have to go to work until this evening, so please, let me sleep," came the captain's groggy reply.

"Okay, I'll go. I left some breakfast for you on the table."

"Thanks. Oh, is today Thursday? It's burnable trash day so please take it to the garbage, please."

"Sure."

"By the way, how's school?"

"It's okay but I still don't understand why I need to go; I mean I already graduated from MIT."

"You need to have some semblance of a normal life. I'll see you."

'What part of my life has ever been normal?' Shinji thought to himself.

"I'll see you later."

Shinji took that as his cue to leave.

Not too long later, Misato's phone began to ring. Fighting off sleep again, she reached out and answered.

"Hello, that you Ritsuko?"

/Yeah, how's it going? Are you getting along with your boyfriend?/

"Boyfriend? Oh, you mean Shinji. Well, he tends to make wiseass jokes and make a few passes at me but nothing harmful."

/Passes?/

"Not as bad as someone whom shall not be named. Anyway, it's been two weeks since he started school and so far, he doesn't have a hoard of girls following home every day. I didn't have to worry about giving him a phone since he has a real high tech one already; he's even got his own digital butler on that thing."

/A digital butler?/ Ritsuko's voice sounded with a hint of amusement.

"Yeah, he's called JARVIS and it feels like talking to a real person."

/How do you mean?/

"Well, he acts like he has an actual personality. He can get sarcastic and everything with Shinji and me; it's amazing."

/An advanced A.I. with a personality; I have to admit, whoever made that is some genius. What about his school life?/

"I'm not sure, but I don't think he has any friends."

/Well, I would guess that, despite his mannerisms, Shinji's not the sort who makes friends easily./

"With his mannerisms, I'm surprised he hasn't come home with handprint on his cheek every day."

Tokyo-3 Municipal Junior High School

A male student with dirty blond hair and glasses was putting the finishing touches on his VTOL model when a girl with freckles approached him.

"What's up class rep?" he asked.

"Did you deliver the printout I gave you yesterday?" the girl asked in a gentle but firm tone.

"What? Well…" the boy stammered as he tried, and failed to hide something in his desk, "Well, there wasn't anybody at home over at Touji's place."

"Mr. Aida, you're good friends with Suzuhara, right? He's been absent for two weeks. Aren't you at least worried about him?" she said.

"I doubt he's sick; he's never had so much as cough or a sniffle for as long as I've known him. You don't think he was injured, do you?"

"What, you mean in that robot incident?! The report said that no one was injured!" she exclaimed.

"No way, you saw the explosion site on Mount Takanosu, didn't you? There had to have been well over a couple dozen people injured, and there had to have been a few fatalities, too."

Their discussion was cut short when the subject of said discussion opened the door with a scowl.

"Touji!" Aida exclaimed.

"Suzuhara!" the class rep mimicked.

"Where is everyone, Kensuke? Has the class population dropped or what?" he asked as he looked around.

"They've all either evacuated or transferred to other schools. No one wants to stay here after that battle inside the city. Speaking of which, where have you been, Touji?" the now named Kensuke answered, "Did you get caught in the crossfire?"

"No but my little sister did," Kensuke's friend said with a grimace.

Touji took a seat on his bespectacled friend's desk, causing the wood and metal to groan in protest as if something larger had been placed on top.

"I'll still never understand how a guy like you could weigh half a ton," Kensuke said, glancing at his straining desk.

"I do NOT weigh half a ton," Touji rebutted indignantly, "And besides, it comes from a lot of iron in my blood." Kensuke regarded his old friend's 'explanation' of his unusual weight with a cynical eye.

"I'll believe that when you believe my alien story."

"Considering what you 'claimed' you saw, I don't see myself becoming a believer any time soon," Touji countered with an equally skeptical glance

"I know what I saw; it was a man in a mask, two green-skinned people, a tree man, and a raccoon walking onto a spaceship."

"Sure you did."

"So what happened with your sister?"

"She was crushed under a pile of debris. She survived, but she's been in the hospital ever since. Both my dad and granddad are working at the lab and there's no way they can leave their posts right now. So, if I ain't with her, she's all alone in the hospital," Touji explained, fighting the urge to unsheathe his claws.

"That robot's pilot was really dumb! It just makes me so angry!" It was good thing the dark-haired boy was facing away from his bespectacled friend, otherwise he would have seen Touji's eyes glow red.

"How could he wreck our own city? What did that stupid idiot think he was doing?!"

Kensuke took this moment to speak up, unaware he just stopped his friend from doing something he would regret later.

"Speaking of the pilot, have you heard the rumor about the transfer student?"

"What transfer student?"

"Him, over there," Kensuke motioned to Shinji at his desk, AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill playing loudly out of his earphones.

"He transferred in from America while you were absent; right after the giant robot incident. Don't you think that's a bit of an odd coincidence?"

'Not only that but I swear I've seen him before but where?' Kensuke asked in his mind.

All further came to a halt when the teacher entered.

The teacher began his lecture of life just after Second Impact; during which half of the class was fighting to stay awake. Shinji, in his first day at this school, found it odd they would do this but, after several days of hearing the same thing over and over again; he couldn't fault them. Why the teacher kept repeating the same lecture every day when he's supposed to be going over Captain America's final assault on HYDRA was beyond him.

He was brought out of his musing when he noticed he had a message.

/Is it true you're the pilot of that robot? Y/N/

Curious, Shinji looked around the room until he caught sight of two girls behind him waving and giggling. Another message then popped up.

/It's true, isn't it? Y/N/

'They never said that my status as a pilot was to be kept classified so I guess it's okay to tell them… Then again, I'd probably tell them anyway.'

/YES/

The moment he hit enter, the class erupted in surprise as they all surrounded him, much to the class rep's annoyance; the teacher continued on as if they were still listening. Many girls bombarded him with questions. While this was going on, Kensuke looked at the new guy then to the name that his reply was listed as.

'Shinji Ikari, now I know I heard that somewhere.'

He then proceed to log on to the internet to find his answers. As the bell rang, the students were still crowding around the new kid while, still seated in the back, Touji locked gaze on the boy; he now had his target.

Later

The distinct sound of a punch landing on a cheek echoed from behind the school.

"Sorry new guy but I just had to clobber you," Touji growled down at his victim as he cracked his knuckles, "I had to pop you one to work off my own anger."

Shinji rubbed the area where this guy decked him. 'Damn, it felt like his bones are made of steel or something!'

"You know, people usually deck me when I say something they don't like and I know I didn't steal your girlfriend; I haven't had the time," Shinji quipped. This earned a shirt grab from the jock

"Trust me, you've done more than enough!" Touji growled out as he punched him again.

Shinji was sent sprawling to the ground and Touji huffed and walked away.

'Guy's got a mean hook but seriously, what I do to piss him off?'

Touji's friend leaned over.

"He's mean, huh? His little sister was injured the last time you and robot fought a battle. Well, that's his excuse, anyway."

This left Shinji in shock.

'Someone got hurt… because of me?'

Kensuke said nothing else as he ran to catch up with his old friend; leaving the Ikari boy to stew in his thoughts. It wasn't long before another person walked up.

'Oh great, is there another person that I stepped on?'

The newcomer turned out to be Rei Ayanami, still bandaged up from whatever meat grinder Gendo put her through or so Shinji thought.

"There's an emergency, I'll report in first," she stated and took off.

Shinji remained where he was, confusion etched on his features until the sound of Angel Alarm echoed in the air.

NERV

"Our cameras have sighted the target," Hyuga reported, "It's already penetrated into our territorial waters."

"All personnel, assume battle stations, Level One!" Fuyutsuki barked out his orders.

"Roger! Prepare for anti-aircraft interception!"

"Tokyo-3 is transforming to the battle formation!"

"House the central block!"

Up above on the surface, various latches supports and bolt became undone as many tall buildings began to sink into the street. Directly underneath, the buildings hang down from the ceiling of the underground city and lock back into place.

"The central block and District1 to 7 have been housed."

"The notifications to the government and all ministries concerned have been finished."

Misato then turned to Lieutenant Aoba, "What is the status of noncombatants and civilians?"

"It was reported that the evacuation has been finished."

At one of the shelters, mostly housing students, sat about on blankets or played a little; treating this more like an impromptu picnic than an emergency. A voice over loudspeaker called out:

/Elementary and junior high school students, please get together in your respective classes. Residents, please get together in the block./

As for two particular boys, one was looking into the view finder of his camera, hoping to see some action. However….

"Ah not again!" Aida hissed.

"Just text messages again?" Touji asked

The bespectacled boy sulked as he held out his camera for his jock buddy to look in.

"It's news censorship. They won't show anything of the battle to us civilians. Even though it's an incredible historical event."

"The fourth angel would show up while Commander Ikari is away. It's a lot sooner than we expected," Misato commented.

"Last time, they gave us fifteen years. This time it's only been three weeks," added Hyuga.

"They never care about our convenience, do they? They're the kind we women hate the most."

The NERV crew watched in a somewhat amused manner as the JSSDF fired volley after volley at the monstrous beast with no effect.

"What a waste of the taxpayers' money," Fuyutsuki muttered under his breath.

"The committee is demanding we dispatch an Evangelion again," Aoba chirped in.

"Please, I'd have mobilized it anyway," Misato responded tersely.

Back at the shelter, as the structure shook a little from the explosions outside, Touji held a grimace as if we was contemplating something he shouldn't have done. His glasses-wearing friend caught this and leaned towards him.

"Hey, I need to talk to you, privately, for a second."

"What for?"

"Come on, please?"

"Oh alright."

The two stood up and located their class representative, Horaki.

"Hey, class rep!"

Hikari turned to the two, "What?"

"We both have to go to the bathroom."

"You were supposed to go before you came," Hikari sighed in annoyance.

A short time later, Men's bathroom.

"Alright, what is it?" asked Touji

"I gotta see it, even only once before I die," Kensuke exclaimed.

"See 'it' once? You mean the battle above?"

"Nobody knows when the enemy will come the next time..."

"Kensuke, you are real mental case!"

"If I miss this chance, I might not get another one, ever ... Please help me unlock the gate."

"If you go out, you'll be killed."

"If we are here in the shelter, I wonder if we'll survive. Since I may be killed anyway, I want to see it before then."

"What an idiot! What do you think NERV exists for?!"

"And what do you think NERV's primary weapon is? That robot which the transfer student pilots. At the last time, he protected us. But you hit him pretty hard. Two hits at that!"

Touji flinched at being reminded of that as Kensuke continued.

"If he doesn't want to pilot the robot, we'll all be killed. You have an obligation to watch his battle, don't you?"

"Okay, fine, I'll help you! You're a real pain in the ass, you know that?" Touji grumbled.

Kensuke only responded with a chuckle and a smug grin.

Three days later

The rain was falling hard, seemingly providing the only sound at the school. Rei was currently staring out the window as if in a daze. Not too far away from a certain pair of boys were deep in thought over what happened as a result of the foolishness.

"It's been three days," Touji finally spoke as he sulked in his seat.

"You mean, since we were chewed out?" Kensuke asked, not taking his eyes off his computer.

"No, since he stopped comin' to school."

"And who do you mean by 'he?"

"The new kid, who else would I mean?" Touji said as he sat up to look at his bespectacled friend, "I wonder what he's been doing since then?"

"Are you worried about him?" Aida asked, finally looking at the jock.

"No, not exactly worried," Touji lamely denied.

"Touji, for someone who is so blunt and tactless, you're pretty stubborn," Kensuke chuckled as he returned to his computer, "If you had just apologized to him back then, you wouldn't have had to agonize over it for three days."

Kensuke then handed the jock a slip of paper.

"Here, this is the new kid's phone number, take it. If you're so worried, why don't you call him?"

Touji took the paper and found something a little odd.

"Why are there two numbers?" he asked.

"The bottom one is for Stark Industries in case he might be there instead of at home or wherever he lives."

"Stark Industries, why would he be there?"

"Because, that new kid, Shinji Ikari, is the godson of The Tony Stark and he's the heir apparent to the whole company. To put it bluntly, he's rich."

"I didn't think he was serious when he offered," Touji mumbled to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, I'll uh…. Tell you later," the jock quickly replied and took off to find a phone.

Stark Tower, Same Time

Shinji sulked into his chair as his mind kept going back to what that Suzuhara kid told him; how the boy's little sister got hurt because of him. Misato had tried to comfort him; saying that the Eva went berserk but that didn't help him feel any less guilty. He felt like it only increased, especially after hearing that a good number of people got hurt in his fight with the angel. Shinji offered to pay for the little girl's medical bills but the Suzuhara boy and his family turned it down; though they thanked him for the offer. Paying anyone's medical bills after you hurt them was the least a person could do but Shinji didn't think it was enough. He put people in harm's way, now he wanted to shield them from it but the Eva wasn't going to cut it in the slightest.

Shinji then opened the old projects files to search for something, anything that might.

"Arsenal… no. . . . . . . . Extremis…no. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pym Particle Suit… no. . . . . . . . . . . Technovore… no. . . . . . . . . . . . . Ultron… no," he said as he skimmed through the old project Tony never finished or started.

They were all either unusable or too dangerous to put to any good. It was then that Shinji had an epiphany.

(Flashback)

"Um, Tony?" a five-year-old Shinji squeaked out.

"Yes Shinji?"

"Why do you keep this in your house?" the boy asked, pointing at the patchwork armor in the glass case.

"Well… a long time ago, I used to make the best weapons in the world and I sold them to our military. At that time, I was full of myself and didn't care what they used them for. And then one day, I was showing off a new one and I got hurt badly. When I came to, I was being held captive by these… bad men along with a doctor named Yensin and your mother."

"My mom?"

"That's right. And the worst part was that they had a lot dangerous weapons; weapons that I made. And they wanted me to make another one. I agreed but your mom, Yensin and I fooled them. We all made this suit to escape using parts from the weapons they collected."

"Did you escape?"

"Yes we did but Yensin didn't make it."

Shinji looked down in sorrow.

"When we got back, I was so angry that those men got their hands on my weapons but I was even angrier at myself for not caring about what they were used for in the past. I didn't want any more innocent people to get hurt by something I made. From then on, I made a promise to Pepper and your mother that I would never make another weapon again."

The older male then pointed at the suit.

"And I keep this here to make sure I never forget that promise or the mistakes I made."

(End Flashback)

Shinji then knew exactly what he needed to do.

"JARVIS, are you there?"

"Always, sir."

"Do you have a wireframe blueprint of that patchwork armor Tony has in the mansion?"

"The one used in his escape? Yes, I do."

"I'd like a copy of it for my private server."

A miniature hologram of the armor appeared on his projection desk.

"Will there be anything else, Mr. Ikari?"

"Yeah," Shinji said with an edge in his voice, "Open a new template and label it 'Mark II."

A/N: I know a lot doesn't happen in this chapter; this is a transition phase. I'd also like to remind everyone that I won't be writing certain Angel battles since they won't be any different from canon and you came here to see superheroes, not over-regurgitated battles from the anime. Next chapter, Shinji begins work on his armor, with some hiccups along the way, and a mysterious new girl comes to Tokyo-3.