/AN: First off I'd like to thank the reviewers and the readers. I wasn't sure I could do this fic at first considering the nature of both stories and still keep it in tune with both. But because of your support I believe I can actually make this crossover work .

and don't worry, the action will start to pick up soon but even Shinji needs a real reason to get all heroic like... or it wouldn't be right. ... and as to which of the rest of the eva cast I'm going to introduce to the matrix is a bit of a question. If you guys have any suggestions or request, please tell me and I'll see what I can do. /AN

/Priest/

/0.4: undeterred/

The sun was beginning its daily descent into the horizon while taking its precious rays along with it, attempting to cast the world into another eternal summer night. Some would have called the cycle pleasantly romantic and may have commented on it in such a way as to bring a smile to any nearby listener's face.

Unless that nearby listener was one Shinji Ikari, especially on this day. And as the evening's energetic reds and laughing oranges merged into profound blues and troubling purples the young pilot of Unit 01 ran on, unaware of the changing's of the heavenly bodies above, nor caring for them or any of those around him.

He had lost the troop of Section 2 operatives that usually tailed him whenever he left the Major's home some time ago and briefly, he had thought of asking one of them for a ride but that plan had been scrapped long before it ever actually made it to the drawing board.

They would've been of no help, only getting in the way, asking questions that couldn't be rightfully answered, ones that would eventually lead back to his father.

And that he could not have.

So he continued on his course while silently his subconscious pondered the unusual turnaround in his behavior. Under normal circumstances he would have fallen over winded and exhausted from his trek, but for some unknown reason that was not the case this time.

Outwardly it seemed the young Ikari barely gave a thought to the subject, his mind totally on the matter of Miss Ibuki's safety. And the oddness of him rushing off to someone else's rescue only occurred to him in an abstract fashion. Like someone noticing the grace of a tiger the moment before it struck.

Anyone who knew him might have had second thoughts about if the young man darting through traffic, cutting corners and alleyways to reach his destination actually was the socially inept, perpetually downcast and shy Shinji Ikari.

He didn't even consider of how he would proceed once he arrived at her location. He could have cared less what his options were, or what odds would most likely stand between him and his goal.

All of those thoughts were extraneous, no more relevant than the night sky or the chirping of the katydids. They were merely wasted electric impulses traveling to his brain and he had no time for such useless synapses.

Nightly strollers witnessing his journey who had never met him knew off the bat that the young man was driven toward a goal, whether it be attainable or not, and that he seemed extremely determined through the fiercely unyielding expression in his eyes. His movements were fluid and firm as he dodged people, cars and other inanimate objects alike.

The personification of Resolve.

And as the rise of the train station came into view and the images of his previous battles against the angels and his training filled him with needed encouragement, a stray thought flashed through his mind.

'Would resolve be enough?'

/04: journey's beginning/

The sound of the train car as it hit each track laid a sure and steady beat in my head as I sat in the hard hybrid of plastic and metal that served as a seat on the train. The murk of the before dark shielded my vision of the Tokyo 3 night life in the window as the city's skylines fled from sight, making my apprehension grow stronger.

There was no turning back now. I had come too far. It was as if Misato had yelled 'Eva Launch' as the girls and I began another mission to save the city.

But the girls weren't with me today. No, this was like the Third Angel attack and I was on my own.

The fact that I didn't even actually defeat that Angel on my own didn't do any to help calm my nerves.

I thought I had been ready... but now I wasn't so sure. There was something holding me back, some unknown force in the shadowed recesses of my mind warning me of a old danger that has lain in waiting patiently for some misguided soul to come along for it to sink its filthy teeth into.

Like a half remembered dream or nightmare that had forced me awake night after night, but with no clear recollection of what physical form my troubled mind had given my fear.

But whatever it was, it was holding me back. I had traveled this far and I could not back down now. Miss Ibuki could be in danger and need my help. So I had to keep going. I had to.

Looking out the window only seemed to heighten my nervousness, so I tried to keep my attention on my immediate surroundings rather than the anxiety boiling inside.

Except for a few other tired souls on the train, probably traveling home, I was alone.

Alone...

It seemed that I had always been alone. I couldn't help but let out a wistful sigh. 'If only I had thought to bring my SDAT player, but nooo. I just had to run out like an idiot. No wonder she calls me a Baka.'

Another sigh...

Giving the situation, I knew that I really was not thinking clearly. I knew that such a detached thought as picking up my SDAT would never have come to me in the panic that I had been in.

'Truthfully, what the hell would an outdated tape player have done to help save Miss Ibuki... the whole calming my tension part aside?'

The Matrix? What was it and what did it have to do with me? Hell, even Asuka and the class rep wanted to know. I still didn't get that scene back at the Misato's and the girls little talk afterwards didn't help either.

'What was that place that I had went to? What were the thoughts, those memories? And what they hell did that guy do to me?'

The silence of the train and it's lonely passengers lost in their on thoughts held no answers for me. Only at my destination's end would I found the solution to the questions that haunted me.

And so I rode on.

/WRW/

It had begun to rain.

Standing there in the middle of the street a few blocks away from Miss Ibuki's apartment complex with only my dress shirt on as the somber sky emptied itself onto me, I couldn't help but wonder if it was worth it all.

But I didn't need to grace that unspoken question with an answer. Un-pleasantries aside, I was a pilot and I had a job to do. Protecting people was what I did.

'Next time I decide to run out and go rescue someone at night, be sure to snag a coat on the way out at least, eh Ikari?' I said to my self.

I had come that far. The longer I stood there waiting in the rain, the more likely that I was going to get to her too late. And so without bothering with my rain drenched shirt, which I couldn't do anything about anyway, I hurried to Maya's place.

At first it was a few steps, but they eventually crept up a bit to something akin to a slow rush and then into a full fledged run.

Bad move.

Rain slick asphalt plus water soaked sneakers moving at high velocity equaled trouble. And trouble is what I got as my foot slipped in a deviously hidden puddle, that strangely looked a bit like LCL, but that could have just been my eyes playing tricks on me. It was dark out and the streetlights golden glow had to be the cause.

In any case, said puddle had me straining to catch my balance, which is a hard thing to do while you're still running in the rain, so I ended up half skipping, half sliding, I had long since lost control of my run and only the momentum was keeping me up, but of course that didn't last long.

I hit the ground hard, sending water spewing into the air all around me as if someone had just set off a small explosion. If I had been wet before, well... let's just say that the rain and I had become the best of pals and then lovers walking in the park hand in hand, sticking to each other like well... like water on a white dress shirt and black slacks.

Rolling myself over to get off my back and taking that quick nervous look around to see if anybody had seen my little accident was mandatory.

'Great job Ikari, great job. Hell, you haven't even gotten to the house yet and you're already on the ground. What are you going to do when you get there, splash water on the bastards? Yeah, I'm sure that'll solve the problem you rain soaked Baka.'

My subconscious supplemented for Asuka's absent form in berating myself.

There I was on my knees held up only by my hands looking at my reflection with the clouded skies and the pouring rain falling down the dark streets pelting my soaked shirt, wondering how I ended up becoming the pathetic person that I was, but I didn't get to ponder for long as I realized that the person staring back at me through the puddle at my feet was not me at all.

The image wasn't really clear and the night's murk didn't help much, but there was just enough light for me to tell the difference, I mean the face was too long and too old, the eyes the wrong color... but it was the look the held my rapt attention.

It was the same, we both held the same desperate, half dead look of men scarred by duty with the weight and hope of the world on our shoulders, whether we wanted it or not, who had the distinct perverse pleasure of seeing far too much of the darker side of life than any one ever truly needed to see.

Shutting my eyes and slamming my fist down at the distorted reflection that was not my own, I stood up as quick as possible and headed on my way, never noticing the cracks I had put in the pavement in my frustration nor the imprint my small fist left behind.

I didn't know what to make of that scene back then, but too much had happened, too fast and I had wasted enough time as it was. I had to keep moving.

/WRW/

'I should have brought a flashlight' were my first thoughts as I came into the room... but what were the odds of me knowing one would have been necessary just like with the coat and the rain.

The darkened entryway with the door ajar was a clear indication that I had arrived at the right location even without only having just returned to the place where I had gain a small amount of hope for my peculiar condition, but it didn't bode too well for favorable prospects for Miss Ibuki's safety and that's what had me unsettled.

The room wasn't deaf with silence, it was stifled by it and damn near strangled by some anonymous presence that scared even the palpable unease away.

Just standing in that place was freaking me out. But what else was eerie about the whole thing was that there did not seem to be the normal look as if a struggle had taken place and that just didn't sit with me.

Considering who was after her and their previous history, I highly doubted that Maya would have gone without a fight, but her apartment just didn't show it, yet no one could have persuaded me to deny the feeling I had that something terrible had happened there that night evidence or no evidence.

I wanted to search around for more clues but fear had me by the roots, fear and despair... despair that I had been too late for her. I didn't know what to else to do. Standing there felling as useless as I did around father, I couldn't help but be reminded that I was just a middle school kid with close to no social skills to speak of in the middle of the scene of a crime that probably would never be reported or solved.

And what the hell could I do about it.

'Those men could still be around some place even though I doubt it,' I thought. 'but then again I had also doubted that they had followed me home so no matter how cowardly it seems I can't just discount that nagging feeling telling me that I'm still in danger.'

"No!" I yelled... or tried to, but it only came out as a fierce whisper in that quiet hell. "I came this far, so I have to find some clue as to what happened to her."

"I mustn't run away. I mustn't. I failed her once, but I can't fail her twice. I just can't!"

"You know you could shout just a bit louder. That would be a sure way to get them crawling back here." a voice said from behind me, making me jump slightly.

Once again I found myself wishing I had something from home to help me out. I mean a bat would have been nice or at least an umbrella... 'something' to defend myself

'Really got to plan those rescue missions a bit better next time, Ikari.' I thought as I turned to question the other. With the dim light they only looked like a mass of moving shadow, I myself must have looked the same to them.

"Um... who... are you?" it was a weak question... no more like an offer if anything. I was scared alright! You go through what I had been through and ... whatever.

"I could ask you the same question?" the voice said evenly, throwing my question back at me, forcing my tired and frustrated mind to work up a reasonable retort.

It was around then that I actually took in the entirety of my situation. Standing there, in the middle of the night, in someone else's apartment, with the door wide open, the lights off, soaking wet and looking like a bum, it couldn't have looked any more like a robbery even without the black mask and flashlight.

"Um... i-it's not what you think." I started... more like stuttered. "I was looking for a friend, but something's happened to her and I..."

"I know." the figured replied, cutting me off.

"You do?" that shut down a few of my higher brain functions for a minute. But that only made me more suspicious. 'She could be with the people who took Maya.'

"You never answered my question before. Who the hell are you and why are you here?" I very nearly demanded. This whole day had had me on edge and I really wasn't in the mood for anymore riddles to this already whacked out puzzle.

"Do you know what happened to the women who lived here? Do you know where Maya is?"

"We don't have time for all of that. The Agents could be back any minute to get you, so we have to go now." The speaking shadow said as it turned and strode out into the night.

"Hey, wait damnit!" my angered voice followed close behind, pausing at the doorway to call her out. "We're not done yet!" I yelled.

It's probably what saved my life. The stopping that is... the yelling was probably what landed me in the situation.

But on a side note... have you ever seen a bullet being shot at close range?

I have.

The loud clap of the muzzle, the trail it leaves in its wake as the bullet cuts through the oxygen filled air, all the while spiraling toward its destination and finally the hard sting of the hit as it bites into your flesh.

It truly is an amazing experience. Painful, but amazing all the same. Of course I doubted that my mysterious visitor felt the same way about that particular ordeal at that particular time as her own blood coated her arm and the ground where she fell at my feet.

Shock held my mind for a second as I took in the scene, but hers was as free as ever it seemed as she shoved me back in the room as she dove in, bullets falling hard behind her.

My hesitation was shattered as I hit the floor. It was the enemy. The ones who took Maya. But more importantly, the ones trying to kill us. My pilot training took over and I grabbed the bleeding girl and headed for the back door.

I'm not sure I even truly realized the speaker from before was a female until hours later, but that was a whole other issue to deal with. With far too much of its own foolishness to go through that I was only just beginning to get a glimpse of.