"Why now!?" yelled Rob Great, Arirx Incorporated's Avatar project head. "Why'd an Angel have to attack now? Why when we were refitting the AVA armor?"

Ian Malcolm, the project head for the InGen/Lockheed Martin EVA project, smiled and stood up, his black on black clothing rustling. "Chaos theory."

"That's your Godammed explanation for everything," commented Ritsuko Akagi, the NERV biomecha expert, "Besides, it's more the waveform theory of the universe."

The one non-adult in the room, a sixteen-year old with a slim frame, curly brown hair, and slim glasses, looked up. "Honestly, to me it seems like Murphy's Third Law: If something can go wrong, it will do so in the worst possible way."

The scientists looked at each other. The teen was right. "Ker, your obsession with those laws never seems to fail you, does it?" asked Ritsuko.

The boy smiled and shook his head. "Nope." But the grin dropped off his face almost immediately. "What are we going to do about the Angel? Ayanami can't pilot in her condition. Am I going out without armor?"

Ritsuko shook her head empathically. "No. You're the absolute last resort."

The boy eyed her strangely.

"I mean it," declared Ritsuko, "We'll use nukes first!" And after WWII, no nukes in Japan.

Ker's eyes widened. "I just hope the Third child doesn't take the scenic route." He thought of the 'Glass Plains', what used to be the Great Plains of the US. "Those things should never be used." He stood up. "I'll be in the cafeteria."

The scientists watched him walk out. Rob looked at Ritsuko. "You weren't serious, were you?"

"I wish I was. If Ikari's son doesn't accept…"

"Ker is dead," finished Ian, "This is bad."

As they spoke, a monitor on the wall showed the deployment of UN forces.

"Damn! Why'd I have to lose him at a time like this? What station was he supposed to come in at?" Captain Misato Katsuragi drummed her fingers against the steering wheel of her blue Renault Alpine. The traffic she was in was not conductive for her normal driving style, something more akin to street racing than commuting. "Oh, screw this!" She reached down to check the file. "Ah!" In blatant disregard for traffic laws, she shifted her car into reverse and sped backwards to a street two intersections back. There she turned onto the street she wanted and indulged in her car's power. She was at the station in no time. She got out of the car. "Now where is he?" she asked herself, shrugging on her red uniform jacket. He wasn't anywhere to be seen. She remembered he was arriving on a train by himself. That would be easy enough to spot, even with the crowd. In fact…there it was! She walked towards the boy, who was looking very lost. Misato evaluated him as she moved towards him. He wasn't well-built, in fact he was on the scrawny side, but he was of a little above average height, and looked better in real life than in any of the photos NERV had on file. But then again, NERV's file pictures were atrocious. He was a little better looking than average, nothing more. She was about twenty feet away from him when a klaxon started sounding all over the city.

The klaxon shut off and a recording came on over the PA: "Attention, a special state of emergency has been declared for the Kanto and Chubu regions surrounding the Tokai district. All citizens, please evacuate to your designated shelters."

Bedlam.

The boy looked around, confused, unsure of what to do. Misato bulled through the crowd to where the boy was. "Hi," she greeted cheerfully, "You must be Shinji Ikari. We meet at last."

Shinji looked at her. "Oh, hello, Sho-sa Katsuragi," he said with a slight smile on his face.

She smiled at his slip. "I'm a Chu-sa, and we stick to UN standard ranks at NERV."

"I'm sorry, Captain."

"Ahhh, Misato will do fine. It's nice to meet you."

"You too," said Shinji, shaking her hand, "Where are we going?"

Misato noticed a shadow flashing over them. "What is that?" She looked towards the sky, only to see some kind of pod burst open, and ice demon forms rain out. "Cherubim!"

Back at NERV, Ker wandered the halls, eventually walking, without his realizing it, to the hospital. I might as well visit Ayanami while I'm here. Ker didn't know what to make of the albino girl, but she was his colleague. He figured it was good to at least be on semi-friendly terms. That was as much as he was likely to get, considering his habits at letting people close to him and her…aura, if that was the right word. It kept those who saw her as a prize in school from asking her out. Ker wasn't one of them. Oh, she was pretty, to be sure, one of the prettiest girls he had ever met, but he just wasn't attracted to her. Her beauty was just too perfect. He was attracted to humans, and more on the base of the person than the body.

He shook himself out of his musings and went up to the visitations desk. "Pilot Ker Selais to visit Pilot Rei Ayanami."

The bored receptionist hardly looked up. "Card."

Ker reached into his wallet and withdrew the security card. "Here."

The woman flicked her eyes over it before handing it back. "Try to keep your visit short. The patient requires rest."

"I will," confirmed Ker as he placed the card back in his wallet.

"Hello Ayanami."

The azure headed girl looked over at her visitor. "Hello Pilot Selais. What are you doing here?"

"I wandered into the lobby and decided to check in on you. How are you feeling?" The question was a formality. The girl had an IV in her arm. And Ker also knew what injuries she had suffered. He had been there when 00 had gone berserk.  It hadn't been a pretty scene.

"Most of my internal injuries are close to healed, but still put me in great pain. As for broken bones, my arm is all that has not knitted."

"And your eye?"

"The prognosis is for a full recovery. However, at the moment, the eye is painfully light-sensitive."

Ker let out an internal sigh. Rei had almost lost her eye in that ride. She was extremely lucky "When do they predict you will be able to return to duty?" Jesus, I sound like the commander.

"Within two weeks. However, Unit 00 will not be ready for four weeks."

"What about Unit 01?" inquired Ker.

"As the tests indicated the cause to be mental instability on the part of the pilot, it is inadvisable to risk another EVA Unit. Besides, the third candidate is arriving today," stated Rei, matter-of-factly.

"So is the Third Angel," mumbled Selais, under his breath.

The normally collected girl's azlarin eyes widened. "An Angel is coming?"

Ker grimaced. "Yeah, if the scientist's calculations are right." He walked towards the door. "I should go." He snapped to attention and gave her a salute, mirror to the one he gave her before her failed activation test, before walking out the door.

It was both a curse and a blessing that most of the civilians had been quick in getting to the shelters. A blessing for those civilians that had got away, and a curse for Shinji and Misato, along with the few poor souls who didn't get into the nearly impregnable shelters. Two platoons of Cherubim had fallen on the town, and the remaining civilians had a shotgun and a Luger between them. Misato was a little better armed with her .45 cal USP, but…Gears were made for one-on-one fighting for Cherubim, and this variety had never been encountered before. No known weak spots. At least they were anthromorphic. Misato decided to go for the head, if it came to that, but her main job was to get Shinji out of here and back to NERV safely. The best way to do that was to call out the cavalry.

Misato ran Shinji towards the thickly constructed bathrooms. The ice demon Cherubim looked too large to follow them in.  Once she had secured and locked the door, she turned to Shinji. "Stay away from the door and window." Seeing the boy nod fearfully she pulled out her radio headset. "This is Operations Director Katsuragi. I have acquired the Third Child, but two platoons of unknown Cherubim are cutting off our retreat. Roll out the 1st HIFV Battalion. Bring them to my locator."

"Roger," crackled the voice in her earpiece, "Shoulder Devils, Batt 1 moving out. ETA, five minutes." Misato sighed in relief, just as a Cherub burst through the wall heading straight for Shinji. Misato emptied her clip into it, all twenty rounds, mostly around the head and shoulders. The thing crashed into the teen but was quite dead, it's head and neck an unidentifiable mess of blue pulp. Misato ejected the spent clip and popped in fresh one. "Are you alright?"

"The most scared I've ever been, but I'll live," said the boy, shaking violently. "What was that?"

"A Cherub, one of the enemy's infantry. As you can see, they can be killed by conventional weapons. The Angels can't. And I think I got lucky with this one. Cherubim generally rip apart standard forces. NERV was created to stand against these things. We need to get you out of here. Your father wouldn't be very pleased if these things killed you."

"I'll be seeing father?"

Misato didn't respond, busy looking around. "Well, I think it's obvious that we're not safe in here, so waiting for the cavalry isn't a good idea. We'll have to run to them. Come on!" She grabbed his arm. Shinji, not wanting to die, followed her at a run to the Alpine. Misato shoved Shinji in, then vaulted across the car's hood to the driver's side. She started the car up then spun the blue vehicle around before taking off at speeds most fighter jocks would deem unsafe a thousand feet up. Her maximum altitude was only ten feet, and only after she ran over a Cherub standing on an incline. Shinji saw Cherubim slaughtering civilians everywhere he looked. Everywhere except back. When he looked back, all he saw was a Cherub flying after them with flaps of its leathery wings, intent on ripping open the metal shell of the car to get to the soft, killable center.

"Misato! There's one right behind us!"

"I see him!" The speedo jumped even higher. A UN VTOL flew towards them, firing its chain guns at the Cherub. The nimble creature merely dodged the streams of lead and tracers and ripped through the cockpit, blood on its claws as it emerged in a spray of metal fragments from the fuselage of the gunship. The gimbaled engines flipped opposite and the craft spun into the ground, detonating impressively. The Cherub kept coming. "Dammit! Where are those Gears?" screamed Misato in frustration. The Cherub swooped down and landed with a thump on the Alpine's roof.

"MISATO!" screamed Shinji in terror, "He's on us!"

"I know that!"

That was when the N2 mine went off. The car flipped from the shockwave, rolling over onto the Cherub, smashing it between pavement and car roof before flipping again and slamming up against the cliff. Misato was knocked unconscious. Shinji looked around, dazed. The sight immediately shocked him out of his stupor. The Cherub, which they had left plastered against the pavement, was getting up and lurching towards him. That monstrous clawed hand was reaching for his throat! Shinji tried to back away, but found himself out of space. Suddenly, the Cherub flew backwards, aided by about 50 high-velocity, high caliber hollowpoint rounds. And a lot of noise. Rapid-fire, auto-loading cannons have never been quiet weapons.

"Hi kid. Sorry I'm late." The Gear racked the autocannon on the left V-engine slot and grabbed the car. Servomotors whined and the Gear pushed the car back onto its wheels. "How's the Captain?"

"I think she's unconscious," responded Shinji timidly.

"I was afraid of that," groaned the pilot. The Gear's head swung back to reveal what looked like a smaller head. Then the plastrons opened, letting the pilot step out and remove his helmet. The pilot wasn't small. In fact, he was huge! The man looked like he was made of titanium, covered by a blanket of flesh. He jumped down to the ground. Other Gears ran in to establish a perimeter. As he got near the car door, Shinji noticed the pilot was holding a cylinder in his hand.

"Who are you?"

"Gunny Ed Jones. I'm the senior NCO for the Shoulder Devils' Gear forces. It's nice to meet you, Shinji Ikari." For looking like such a brute, he was a remarkably affable fellow. He put the cylinder next to Misato's ear and pulled a tab on top. There was a slight hissing sound. He then held the open container under the woman's nose. Shinji couldn't believe his eyes. Misato, unconscious until a few milliseconds ago, grabbed the beer and chugged it.

"HOO-YEAH! That's the stuff!"

Shinji looked over at the Gear pilot. "Wh…wha..?"

The big man just grinned and shrugged. "Yebisu beer. Works better than smelling salts on the Captain."

"What happened to the Cherub?" asked Misato.

"Saw one, swatted same. We need to get you two back to NERV. The Angel is advancing, and rapidly. UN is slowing it down but…" he trailed off. It wasn't necessary to finish the sentence.

"How many Gears have we lost?"

"Only five. We've killed about 50 Cherubim. We were only able to deploy Baker Company and the command squad."

"What happened to the others?"

"Bunch of downchecks for Able, and we just didn't have enough V-engine fuel." He put his helmet back on. "We'd better get going." Misato nodded as Jones climbed into his cockpit. The Gears all went onto the road and engaged their SMSs. The convoy sped off.

"Oh. My. God." Shinji stared, transfixed by the demonic face of Unit 01. "Is this what my father was doing?"

"Correct," rang Gendo Ikari's voice from an observation box, "It's been a while Shinji."

"Father," Shinji whispered.

"I have a need of you."

"What? What is it?" Trepidation was easy to read, radiating as it was from Shinji.

"I need you to pilot Unit 01," he nodded towards the biomecha, "And defeat the Angel."

"How can I do that? I've never even seen that thing before!"

"You have the ability, and our crews will instruct you."

"No father! I can't! I just can't!" Shinji looked down at the deck. "There's no way."

Gendo grimaced and opened a channel to Kozo. "Wake up Rei."

"Can she pilot? Shouldn't we use Selais?"

"She might survive long enough to kill the Angel. Selais would be slaughtered before he got within 200 meters without armor. Do it."

The channel changed to sound only. "Rei, you will have to pilot."

"Yes sir." The channel clicked off

I'm sorry Rei.

Ritsuko shook her head. "Reconfigure Unit 01 for Rei, then activate! We don't have much time! She'll be here in a couple of minutes, and we can't waste any time waiting for the Angel."

"Roger. Loading the First Child's profile."

The sound of a gurney running over metal decking soon filled the room, along with a boy's shout. "She's here!"

"Good. Ker, please escort this boy out." Ker handed the IV drip he was holding to a nurse and walked over to Shinji. His gauntleted hand grabbed Shinji's shoulder.

"Come on." Shinji wouldn't move. Ker pulled at him again, his flight suit's armored pieces grinding against one another.

"Is she going…going to f…fight like that?"

"Yes," answered the Gypsy boy, "She'll probably die too."

"Th…then what?"

"I go out. And probably die."

An explosion shook the building. Shinji looked at the girl, bandaged and gasping from pain, struggling to sit up. "Why?"

"Because you won't. Don't really blame you."

"No. No. I can't."

"Every human can fight. It's just a matter of how well." Another explosion rocked the chamber. This time, lights started falling, some into the coolant, but others towards Shinji. The tremors were also strong enough to knock over the gurney and the nurses. One fell into the coolant. The other was not so lucky. She fell backwards and got her neck caught in between two ladder rungs before flipping towards the liquid. A sickening crack marked the end of her life. "Dammit!" yelled the suited teen as he dove out of the way, abandoning Shinji to his fate. Only after he started his dive did he realize what he had done. The lights would crush the other boy. But they didn't. The EVA's arm ripped out of its restraints, heralding its arrival with the shriek of rending metal. The lights shattered on its armored surface. A few pieces arced into Ker's back, sending him sprawling with a grunt of pain. Another trashed the gurney.

Shinji ran over to the girl. To do what, he didn't know. He gathered the azure-headed girl up in his arms. She gasped in pain as Shinji felt a warm liquid coat his hand and forearm. Selais dashed over. "She's going to die, she's going to die, she's going to…"

"Die, if she goes out." The curly haired boy took the girl from the other boy. "I'll get her to the med wing. You kill that Angel." He stood up, wincing in pain.

"Will you be alright? You got hit."

"Man, I'm wearing more armor than most tanks have. I'll be fine. Just get moving." He moved out of the room at a good pace, careful not to jostle the girl too much.

Shinji looked up at his father, who had just regained his composure after nearly jumping forward when he saw what had happened to Rei. It was something no one had seen. "All right, I'll do it!"

Gendo gave a tight smile. "Prepare Unit 01 for Pilot Ikari."

Shinji marveled at the cockpit. The ergonomics were very good and the butterfly handles were perfectly placed so his hands fell right on them. He didn't quite get how he was supposed to control the thing with just the two handles, though. And what was the point of the headband they made him wear, with the two plastic…things on them?

"Filling the entry plug."

A liquid started rising towards him. That worried him. "Hey what is…" he held his breath.

"Don't worry," said Ritsuko, "Once your lungs are filled with LCL, your blood will be oxygenated directly. You'll get used to it."

"Ugh. I think I'm going to be sick."

"Stop complaining!" yelled Misato.

"Begin pilot/EVA sync, Maya," ordered Ritsuko.

"Yes ma'am."

"Aoba, check on all mechanical systems."

"Yes ma'am."

"Pilot sync ratio at 43.56%. Harmonics look normal."

"Power connected, all combat computers up, internal batteries fully charged. Diagnostics are…at 84%"

"Hyuuga, how's the weapons delivery system?"

"No good, Captain. He'll have to make do with the pistol and progressive knife."

"Shit. Ritsuko?"

"The EVA is ready for launch, Captain, coolant already drained away."

"Right. Shinji, you ready?"

"I guess…"

"Good. Start pre-launch!"

"Roger. Remove primary lock bolts."

"Removed."

"Remove secondary lock bolts."

"Removed."

"Remove the umbilical bridge."

"…Removed."

"Confirm all locks removed?"

"Confirmed. Evangelion gantry is mobile."

"Launch path, Captain?"

"A34."

"Move EVA 01 to launch pad 34. Clear track A."

"Track A clear. EVA 01 locked on the launch pad."

"Understood. All ready, Captain."

"We're here," announced Ian Malcolm as he walked in with the project other project heads and Ker.

"Good," sighed Misato, "Dr. Malcolm, please assist Dr. Akagi. Ker, get ready to instruct the pilot. Here's a headset."

"Thanks." Ker moved up to a holoscreen next to Makoto. "Can you switch this over to a dedicated com line? Thanks," he said as Shinji's face appeared. "How ya feeling?"

"Sick."

"Liquid environments can do that. I'll be your voice of reason on this ride. Now, we'll be using the weapon draw control setup. Basically, to draw the knife, pull the left control back, then push it forward. Pistol is the same, except with the right. To fire the pistol, pull the right trigger. Left trigger will throw your knife. Don't do that. Aiming is automatic. All other controls are neural."

"What?"

 "What you think of doing, the EVA will do."

"I'm not sure I can do this."

"It'll be just like using your own body. Word of warning. Ayanami told me that her balance seems a little strange whenever she pilots. You'll have to compensate for a while by hunching over. She said it feels normal after a while, though."

"No. I can't really fight."

"I already said it. Every human can fight, it's just a matter of how well. You ready?"

"I guess."

"All ready here, Captain!"

"Right. EVA LAUNCH!"

The electromagnets fired, throwing EVA 01 up to the surface. Shinji looked around, only to see buildings on either side.

"Time to rock kid. Draw your pistol and kill that freak!"

Shinji drew the pistol and edged clumsily out around the corner of the building. The Angel just stood, seemingly waiting for a fight. Shinji put the pistol out around the corner, using the camera slung under the barrel to target. Shinji's finger convulsed twice, the gun booming the same number of times. Blue blood spurted from the Angel's wounds.

But the massive XT was not fazed. It walked steadily towards Shinji's hiding place, jewel-like points in its 'palms' glowing. Light flashed in the black holes that passed for eyes for the monster and the building Shinji was using for cover disappeared in a cross-shaped explosion.

"Thumb triggers!" Shinji's thumbs followed Ker's order. The EVA leapt into the air on its shoulder pylon-mounted jump jets. The Angel's one-two beam lance combo speared through the air, just missing the purple EVA's feet. Shinji pumped the rest of the pistol's clip into the Angel's face as he gained altitude. The EVA automatically dropped the pistol. A thud came through the comlink. Ker's fist hitting the console. "Damn. Those hits are doing nothing! Go for the red orb!"

"Right." Shinji's arm pumped the left butterfly grip and immediately flipped the knife backwards. He dashed at the Angel, slashing as he came into range. Blue blood spurted from the three new gashes in the Angel's hide, spraying onto the purple-painted alloy of the EVA's armor.

"The orb!"

"I know!" Shinji reversed his grip on the knife again and stabbed it towards the red jewel.

The Angel was having none of this. It thrust its long right arm at the EVA and fired the beam lance. Shinji back-jumped it, as before, staying in the air for an extended hop. Points of light flashed in the eyes of the beast. Shinji quickly let off on one of the thumb triggers, feathering the output from one of the jet systems. The EVA's predictable arc curved off to the side, out of the way of the cone of energy that cored right through where the EVA would've been.

"Nice j…SHIT!" The energy cone suddenly burst out cross-pieces, one of them trashing one of Shinji's jump-jet arrays by ripping off the shoulder pylon. It had been the array at full power.

"AHHH!" screamed Shinji as he shot towards the street, unbalanced by the loss of most of his thruster power and the mass the system had put on his left shoulder. The EVA plowed into the street, ripping up pavement as it slid to a halt. The Angel used its own form of jumping to quickly cover the distance, only to find its core spitted on landing by the Bowie-style mk. 1 progressive knife. Shinji soon found a -huge- cross-shaped explosion to be the only thing on his knife. Breathing hard, he brought the EVA to it's feet.

"See, I told you," said the other teen over the com system, "Any human can fight, it's just a matter of how well. And -you-, have nothing to worry about," he finished, pointing at the Japanese boy.

The corners of Shinji's mouth turned up.

When Shinji finally got out of the showers he saw another boy waiting for him. With a start, he realized it was the boy…'Ker', who had spoken to him. He was still wearing the slim pair of glasses, but his face was wearing a sardonic smirk, almost as if he was greatly amused with the whole of Creation. It was a far cry from the faces he had been wearing earlier. So was what he was wearing. Not much could be farther from the veritable suit of armor he was wearing earlier than a school uniform and a fairly thin dark-blue jacket.

"Hey," said the curly-haired boy as he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on and walked towards the shorter boy. "I'm Ker Selais."

"Shinji Ikari."

"So, you staying?"

Shinji looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"Will you keep on piloting that thing? I don't mind telling you that you do a great job." He chuckled a bit. "It does pay, by the way."

"I don't know."

The other boy looked uncomfortable. "You do know you are one of the few people in the world even capable of piloting that thing?"

"What?"

"Well, you know about Second Impact, right?"

"Of course. When the aliens came into this world."

"Right. Well, you know how we -stopped- their first offensive, right?"

"Thermonuclear weapons."

"Exactly. And that ended up doing us more harm then them. It'll be fifty years before any human can live in the affected zones."

"Most of the Americas."

"Yeah. And they can live there. So we created a cleaner solution to getting rid of them. Things like the EVA, biomecha. Interestingly enough, no human older than 16 can control even one of the projects, and the controllers are exceedingly rare among even us."

"So, I'm needed?"

"Pretty much, yeah." The gypsy boy changed his expression to a smile. "Though, you'll probably be safest in a biomecha. I have doubts about the shelters."

"I guess I will," confirmed Shinji uneasily.

The other boy produced a mag swipe card. "And here's your ID. At least, your temporary one. So, you need anything?"

"Is the girl alright?"

"You mean Ayanami? I really don't know. It seemed that she'd be alright. We can go see her if you want."

"Yes, please."

And…they're off! To visit Rei that is. NERV: ADA has begun. God knows when it will stop. The world is no longer the same, and the characters are different too. So, REVIEW! Thank you!

See ya!