Epilogue 1 of 3 - A Day Unlike Any Other

The gathered superwomen and their allies watched as Galactus and his new herald left Earth's atmosphere, awestruck by how close the world had come to disaster again, and thankful that they were able to find a solution to the world-devourer's dilemma. A number of them soon breathed a sigh of relief, as their thoughts turned to another matter altogether.

"Think the food's still any good?" Asuka asked, even though she knew Rei had deposited it in the walk-in fridge of HQ's commissary earlier in the day.

"The commissary's fridge is considered top of the line," Rei answered. "I believe we should be able to finally get the picnic up and running once we collect it."

"I don't know about you guys, but after dealing with Galactus, for some reason I've lost my appetite," Ritsuko said.

"Well I, on the other hand, am getting hungry enough to eat a horse," Misato commented.

"Er, might want to hold off on the picnic plans for a little longer..." Maya said as she looked over her shoulder.

"Why do you say that?" Mari asked.

Hikari, who followed Maya's gaze, went a bit wide-eyed on seeing what Maya was hinting at. "Because I think the next thing we'll be doing is-smiling for the cameras!"

Confused by her words, Misato, Asuka and the others turned around and grew surprised at the crowd of civilians, reporters, and photographers that had gathered several feet behind them, cheering, snapping photos, and peppering them with questions. While the superwomen gaped at the audience that had begun to appear before them, a number of their allies decided to slip away for the moment, as they weren't exactly craving the spotlight at this time. (With the exception of Deadpool, who had to be knocked out cold by Skurge so he could be carried back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. contingent at NERV HQ without incident.) Even Aahno the Watcher had disappeared from sight, though Yui had a feeling he'd show up again when they were free to speak.

It took a minute for some of the superwomen to realize a number of these civilians had emerged from the shelters underneath the city, but what puzzled them was how they knew that they'd been fighting Galactus's heralds at all. Mana and Hikari spotted, out of the corners of their eyes, Kensuke, Toji, and some of their family and friends among the crowd, with a sheepish Kensuke in particular, a laptop tucked under his arm, giving off a shrug as his nonverbal apology. It didn't take long for Mana to figure out he'd had to have shown footage from the battles, and there was only one person who could've given him access to the feeds.

"S.I.D..." Mana intoned forebodingly.

"Hey, I owed him, remember?!" her armor's onboard A.I. replied defensively. "Be grateful the feed cut in-and-out when we were up against Galactus, 'cause I know for sure they didn't see him get his new herald."

"What's wrong?" Hikari asked.

"*Sigh* S.I.D. gave Kensuke some backdoors that let him see us fight the heralds," Mana explained. "The other folks in the shelters must've looked over his shoulder the whole time."

"Guess that explains why we're getting mobbed like rock stars," Maria figured.

"Oh, great..." Aoi muttered as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Yui, at that moment, decided to take charge and, on putting two fingers to her mouth, let out a sharp whistle that rose above the din of the reporters' questions. "Okay, if I can get your attention, please-" The reporters started to quiet down on hearing this. "-Thank you. My name is Dr. Yui Ikari, and I'm acting head of NERV. We've worked briefly on a number of occasions with the superwomen, so if you all could join us in moving to a better place while the construction crews and Damage Control get to work on the repairs to the city, we'll take your questions, one at a time."

Moments later, the impromptu press conference was underway at a nearby plaza, where Yui and the superwomen did their best to answer the questions the reporters had. Most pertained to the battles with the heralds and Galactus; other queries were over why a vigilante like Ghost Rider would work alongside heroes like Spirit or the Silver Surfer, to which Asuka did her damnedest to not bristle at; or how it was that She-Hulk had gone from being a rage-filled monster to a more in-control hero who spoke in complete sentences, which Misato also did her best to not snap at. Fittingly, one of the reporters came from The Tokyo Tattler, the same tabloid that had covered the exploits of nearly all the superwomen for the past year. At one point, the question of Nadia's presence was brought up, to which Yui answered that her background was considered classified, as per their collaboration with S.H.I.E.L.D. (Unsurprisingly, a number of questions were answered that way). The entire time, Mana had used some hologram-projecting mini-drones from her armor to carefully conceal enough features so that those who weren't fully-masked wouldn't have their identities spoiled.

"All right, we'll take one more question, and then we seriously need to debrief at NERV HQ on the Galactus situation," Yui stated. In response to that, one young female reporter stepped up with her audio recorder in-hand. She had long brown hair with a pair of sunglasses in light brown frames resting on her head, and wore under a light orange blazer with brown stripes a salmon pink top, a red scarf worn almost like a necktie, light gray pants, and sneakers. Her photographer was a young man in a gray suit with a blue-green tie.

"Nanami Ōta, The Tokyo Journal," the young woman said as she introduced herself. "Question's for the superwomen themselves-in World War II, there was an assemblage of superpowered individuals known as the Invaders, who were brought together by the Allies to face the strangest threats the Axis powers could come up with. Should the world find itself facing threats of a similar nature, do you all plan to continue working together in the future in the same vein?"

The superwomen looked to each other, as they pondered the question amid the chatter among the civilians that ensued. Eventually, Mari stepped up in an attempt to answer Nanami Ōta's question.

"Um, hello," she greeted. "I...I'm Captain America. I know it may be strange, considering most of my fellow superwomen here are Japanese, but that's beside the point. To answer your question, Ms. Ōta, that's something we'll have to discuss among ourselves." She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts a bit more. "The fact is, today, all of us actually made a difference. One-on-one, each of us is more than capable of taking down a super-criminal or two, but against someone or something of the scale of Galactus...none of us could do it alone, but together, we stood a chance, and it paid off. What we did here today, and last year when the Angels and later SEELE attacked, changed things, and made it clear that the world doesn't just need each of us 'superwomen'-it needs all of us superwomen, as a team, independent of larger organizations like S.H.I.E.L.D. Put together, we can work to avenge the wrongs caused not just by SEELE in the past, but by whatever menaces decide to rear their ugly heads in the future." She offered a small smile before she finished. "But again, this is something we need to discuss among ourselves. Thank you."

With that, the impromptu press conference began to wind down, as the reporters and photographers began to disperse and the civilians followed. Of that group, only the close friends and family of the superwomen stayed behind as they reconvened with their loved ones as they headed back towards NERV HQ.

"Guess it's safe to say we're putting the picnic off till tomorrow, at best," Mari commented. "I've got a feeling we really will need to debrief with Dugan and company."

"I'm sure we'll live," Shinji offered as he walked alongside Asuka and his mother. "Though for tomorrow, I think maybe we should find someplace a bit far from the city, just so we have a bit of peace and quiet."

Ritsuko and Maya, who'd overheard all this, gave each other a look that belied their mutual 'eureka!' moment. "We may have an idea for that..." Ritsuko hinted.

The next day...

The "V-S-G-Day picnic", as Kensuke had called it (in reference to the V-E and V-J Days of World War II) was at last in full swing as the group of friends, family, and allies (all of whom, thankfully, were out of costume, and minus Deadpool) sat, ate, and chatted away, all on a hill overlooking the site of the former Matsushiro Secondary Experimental Facility. At one time, it was NERV's back-up station with independent support facilities for at least a single Evangelion, though it was mostly used for research and logistical support with the aid of its own set of MAGI. The area had been largely abandoned following the disastrous test of EVA Unit-03 due to its possession by Bardiel the 13th Angel, but signs of life had started to reemerge, if the people rebuilding nearby homes were any indicator.

Four new faces were among the group, as Noriko, Yoko, Haruko, and Nadia had been invited to join them, with the former three clearing it with their respective S.W.O.R.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D. superiors and the latter one (via the communicator disguised as the seashell on her outfit) reporting in to her monarch. In particular, Nadia had also been given a tablet containing copies of all the reports and findings of the SEELE investigation to be presented to King Namor, in the hopes of putting the surface on the path to better relations with Atlantis.

"You know, recent history of the area aside, this turned out to be a great spot," Misato commented as she ate her hot dog.

"Agreed," Kaji concurred. "Can't argue with the view."

It was a sentiment the kids of the group shared.

"Hard to believe this was where my own EVA went nuts," Toji noted, his mouth full of sandwich (much to Hikari's mild annoyance).

"Thankfully, some of us were around to make sure that's as far as it went," Hikari added.

The choice of locale for the picnic did raise a minor question for at least one among their number.

"Call me curious, but why did you think of this place at all?" Hitomi asked.

"Mostly because of the relative isolation," Ritsuko answered, "but there was something else, too."

"We were thinking of what Mari said to that reporter yesterday," Maya elaborated. "How if we really wanted to do the whole 'super-team' thing at all, and with the Geofront being out of the question, the Matsushiro site would be the perfect place to set up our own HQ."

"I thought this was still owned by NERV, and by extension, the government," Shigeru pointed out.

Maya briefly shot Mana a glance, which she returned in understanding. "Well, yesterday I...might have asked Mana to use one of her shell companies to buy out the title and all other documentation for the land underneath the facility. And possibly gotten help from Kaji's U.N. contacts to ensure the transfer was smoothed over."

"I did it mainly because I agreed with them on the HQ," Mana chimed in. "There's practically enough space where I could relocate my workshop, and we'd be able to rebuild whatever infrastructure's still here into anything we want to suit our needs."

"IF we decide to actually get the team going," Asuka pointed out. "Remember, the jury's still out on that. Mari did say we were still 'in discussion'."

"And the more I think about it..." Mari started to say, "the more I'm actually liking us putting a team together."

"I agree," Yui concurred. "Mari, what you said yesterday made absolute sense. All of you put together can really make a difference in the world, and you should follow through on that potential. Establishing the team is the perfect start."

"Well then-how about putting it to a vote?" Misato posed as she eyed the others. "All in favor of making this super-team happen?"

"Aye!" the majority of the female members of the group sounded off. Rei, Asuka, and Mayumi silently nodded in agreement.

"Ayes have it then," Misato affirmed.

"So, begs the question..." Asuka began to ask with a hint of sarcasm, "what're we gonna call our little band of 'costumed adventurers'? The Super Hero Squad?"

"God, no," Maria replied with mock disgust, "that's like something some hack writer would think up for a cheap Saturday morning cartoon!"

Rei, who had been mostly quiet throughout the discussion, chose that moment to enter it. "I have an idea," she spoke. "I was inspired by something Mari had said in her statement to the reporter, and a little of what Asuka had said when she faced Galactus. If we are to avenge the wrongs brought upon innocent people...why not call ourselves 'Avengers'?"

The others briefly gave Rei's suggestion some thought, before one of them offered a response.

"Y'know...that's actually got a nice ring to it," Asuka said with a small smirk.

"Seconded," Misato added, followed by a number of affirmations from the others.

"And you just gave me a good idea for our rallying cry," Mari said with a grin as she raised her soda can, as if starting a toast. "Avengers, assemble!"

The others, raising their own cans or cups, followed her lead.

"Avengers, assemble!"

Meanwhile, observing from a distance, Aahno the Watcher smiled at the events unfolding before him. Though he knew he would no doubt be disciplined by his colleagues upon his return to the main sanctum of the Watchers, he felt that this was worth it in the end, as he resumed speaking into his recording device:

"And so, as in a number of other clusters of reality...there came a day, a day unlike any other, when this Earth's mightiest heroes found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born, to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand..."

To be continued...

**Author's Note(s)**

And so the process of winding down this story begins, with, as I stated previously, a number of surprises left in store.

-Nanami Ōta, and her photographer Ichiro Masuda, originate from 2010's Marvel Anime: Iron Man, one of four shows (followed by two movies) Marvel produced in collaboration with the legendary studio Madhouse.

-Asuka's initial 'suggestion' for a name riffs on The Super Hero Squad Show, a 2009 animated series based on Hasbro's line of action figures portraying the heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe in a cartoony super-deformed style.