(A/N Hey patrons, sorry I haven't submitted in a while, or kept up to my weekly promise. But thanks to a review Darknemo2000, I have replanned the EtLomS story plan to incorporate the truths in what he/she has said. Thank you J. Alana for reviewing, seeing that my story even so much as entertains you brings a lift to my writing spirit. I'm glad that I could finish the Europa chapters with such amazzing results. My second 4000+ word chapter, bringing the saga that much closer to its epic plotline. Lets just say that the SPARTANS are just the first in a list of characters exposed to our younger pilots. [No, I refuse to add more crossover characters, I hereby finish with Blaze and his crew...maybe you'll get mentions though Okay, I'm the master of longwinded speeches, so on to the disclaimer.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion, Ace Combat, or Halo. I've lost contact with my ground forces...I'll get back to you on the battles real soon...; )

Chapter 7

Europa Pt.2

(POV Shinji Ikari)

"An Eva!!?"

I stare up in disbelief at the walking mass as it makes its way down the long street. My first thoughts being that this is an elusion, a trick of the mind, an impossibility. But there it was, people running in fear from it and the Earth shaking from the very steps it took. Using my one unoccupied arm, the one not carrying the dead mass of red hair and grief on its shoulder, I wipe my eyes as to reaffirm that they are still working.

'It really is an Eva…but why is it here. Is it looking for something? And is there a pilot inside it…or is it driven by something else'?

As far as Evas go, this one was almost like a standard typical Eva, nothing special or out of the ordinary. It had a tan paint job with a very blockish head, or at least its armor plating made it seem that way. But it didn't even have any Shoulder 'Blades' sticking up so maybe it had no weapons. In a way, it reminded me of Unit-00 but with two eyes instead of one. But why was it even here? Ah, So many questions and so little time, not to mention that I was still in its crushing path.

Unable to move my legs and at least try to get away, I just continue staring as I'm finally caught in the beasts shadow and all sunlight, as well as all hope for escape, is blotted out. The Eva suddenly stops as it seems to look down at the very spot I lay cowering on. The Eva bends on a knee and pauses in order to get a closer look at me. It than begins to extend its hand out towards me as if to wrap it around me and Asuka. I grip tighter on to Asuka, who has remained motionless in this entire setting. She just continues to cry, probably not even realizing that she has been on my shoulder this entire time.

The hand grows closer as my grip on Asuka tightens, my very being set on keeping her safe from this thing, even if it should cost me my life. I close my eyes and wait for the inevitable as the black hand of the Eva's closes to mere inches from my face when…

'The ground is shaking? What the hell…an Earthquake…or something much worse?'

I open my eyes again to find the Eva has pulled back its hand in the wake of the Earthquake. It than seems to go back to what it was originally trying to do, capture Asuka and me, when suddenly; the skyscraper next to the Eva explodes in to pieces. Dirt, concrete, steel, and all kinds of debris fly all over the Eva; all not even phasing its disposition to capture us. However, the Eva finally turns its head into the debris, only to be met with the sudden flash of a white fist pressing up against its blocky face.

The tan Eva stutters off to the side as the white hand grasps on its shoulder, while another white hand grasps the other. That's when the entire figure of our supposed savior comes in to view as it pushes the tan Eva in to the building across from where it entered. The face of a white Eva appears from falling debris, its eyes glowing even through the bright summer sunlight.

The full body of this new Eva comes into the light, showing us its white armor plating. However, there were black marks across the armor and those marks also seemed to steam and let off smoke as if they had just been burnt. Finally coming out of the debris, carried on the white Eva's back are the form of six blade-like wings, swinging in coherent unity with the movements of their host. The new Eva may have more armor than its opponent, but it still moved just as quickly as any Eva I had seen.

The White Eva wraps its hands around the tan Eva, putting it into a choking grasp as the other Eva struggles to get the white Eva's hands off of it. The white Eva continues to squeeze, pressing the tan Eva further into the building it already had it up against. The tan Eva finally manages to push the white Eva off, sending the giant stumbling a few steps back. Before it can regain its composure, the white Eva is tackled to the ground by the tan Eva. The tan Eva now tries to wrap its own fingers around the neck of its opponents, but they are stopped by the arms of that very same Eva.

I just stand now in utter disbelief, wondering only about where these Evas were from and why they were here. It is now that I remember the weight still crying in a heap on my shoulder. I finally find movement in my legs as I desperately try to distance ourselves from the fight going on behind us. About two blocks away, the fight between the Evas is still continues, their very movements shake the ground even at this distance.

Now stopping to catch my breath, I notice that just across the street, a black sedan has stopped and several men in black coats are getting out. I turn to start walking again, but a car pulls out in front of me and men start to immediately file out. All wear black suits, except for one man, who is wearing a white suit. This man, who has fiery red hair, steps out of the car as well. This man pulls a pistol from his inner coat pocket and proceeds to aim it at my forehead.

"Excuse me son but I believe you have something that belongs to me. Put her in the car and we can continue without any problems," He yells out over the noise of the fight behind us.

I simply look away from the man's face, unable to find a reply to even so much as stall his impending actions.

"You know what? I don't have time for foolish games, just throw them both in the car," He orders impatiently to the other two men after several moments of silence.

The men come charging at us and before I can even put up any sort of fight, we were both shoved in to the vehicle. Before I can even get myself oriented, the vehicle starts moving, picking up speed as it flees from the scene. Struggling to get myself head up as the vehicle twists through the streets, I finally manage to get upright and sit myself down, trying to get a hold of the situation around us and maybe figure out what's going to happen next.

I look to my right in the backseat, where Asuka now sits. She has stopped crying but now she has chosen to just fall silent and stare at the floor of the moving vehicle. And to my left is one of the black suited men who had thrown me in here. In the driver's seat is another black suited man and in the passenger's seat is the red haired man with the white coat.

"So, Doctor, do you know what's up with the freak robot fight going on right now?" asks the man in the drivers seat.

"I can't say for certain because we currently don't have any Evas based in Germany right now," replies the man in the white jacket.

"So what you're saying is that you have no idea what's going on, even though you have these things, which are in your department by the way, just strolling around Germany's backyard?" points out the man to my right.

"I honestly don't know what to tell you. Let's just focus on putting some distance between 'them' and us," he stated before looking straight at me and saying, "and than we can deal with this hooligan in the back."

"Thought you could get away, did you?" sneers the man to my left again as he sticks his face less than an inch away from mine. His stale breath starts to piss me off but flying off the handle in here would only make the situation worse. I simply choose to look away and possibly breathe some fresh air again.

The car ride quickly takes us to a hill that overlooks the carnage that the two Evas had created. The car stops on a lookout point which gives a full view of the damage. The man in the white coat and the driver step out as they walk over to the ledge of the lookout point. They seem to start up another conversation as each point to different undeterminable points in the city. Dust and smoke seem to bellow from the city, its source slowly moving along the city line, the fighting probably just as fierce as ever.

I look back over at Asuka, her eyes as blank and filled with despair as ever but at least she's stopped sobbing. She hadn't moved at all since we were thrown into the car and unless something drastic happens, that probably won't change. I look back over to my right as the man to my left attempts to light a cigarette. He curses out in frustration as he finds himself unable to make a spark to ignite the gas inside the lighter.

When I look back, I see the man in the white suit walking back with a brisk pace. He approaches Asuka's side door and rams it open.

Looking at me, he yells, "Get out of the car!"

Not wanting to add to my list of burdens, I maneuver myself over Asuka's immobile self and follow out of the car trailed closely by the white coated man's gaze. Finally making my way out to the outlook's ledge, I find myself squeezed between both the suited men.

The man in the white coat grabs me by the back of my collar forcibly lifting me about an inch off the ground. He begins to point out to the burning city and yells, "Do you know anything about this!!?"

I shake my head as fast as I can, trying to show that I know just as much as him about this, if not less. I look up into his face, which seems unsatisfied by my answer. He finally releases me which results in my feet hitting the ground once more.

"Get back in the car," he finishes quietly.

"What?" Protests the man in the black suit, "Your just gonna' let him off like that?"

"We'll take him back to HQ for questioning before we can even think about letting him off the hook," the other man states back before looking at me again yelling, "Did you not understand me? Get back in the goddamn fucking car!"

The sudden burst of temper sends a jolt to my heart as I start to quickly walk back to the car. Before I can open the door to get back in, a large boom comes from the hill behind me and the ground starts to shake violently once more, with more force than the last time it had happened. I find myself thrown on to the ground. I look back to the outlook point to find both suited men fallen but using the railing along the edge to try and keep upright.

Suddenly, both suited men start to run back to the car screaming as a giant hand reaches up onto the outlook and crushes the point where the men had just been. They both turn and stare as the blocky head of the tan Eva moves up over the ledge of the hill, its eyes staring and scanning us all. But before it can react, its head is slammed back down into the Earth as the Eva is pulled back down the hill by a white hand. Curious at what had just happened, I walk over to the destroyed outlook just in time to see the white Eva on top of the tan Eva.

The white Eva is kneeing the tan Eva in the back, its left hand keeping the tan Eva's head in the dirt. The white Eva placed its free hand upon the Entry plug hatch before forcibly removing it. However, the plug did not rise, as if to defy safety protocol, or maybe the pilot has control of the plug from the inside. In any case, the white Eva proceeds to pull its Progressive Knife from a holster hidden in its thigh armor.

The tan Eva seemed to get a glimpse at this and begins to struggle even harder. But it cannot escape from beneath the white Eva's weight. The white Eva raises the knife above its head and brings it down swiftly upon the tan Eva's back. Slowly, it begins to cut an outline around the hatch for the entry plug, tearing away at both flesh and metal. The tan Eva squirms harder as its back is sliced into and its armor plating torn apart. The white Eva continues until it has cut a perimeter around the entry plug and begins to remove it by force.

The tan Eva continued to wriggle around as its entry plug is yanked at, slowly pulling it out in a combined mess of flesh, blood, metal, and wires. I cover my eyes at the sight of this horrific scene as the white Eva makes one last tug and pulls the last remaining wires and bone that hold onto the plug out from the tan Eva. The tan Eva goes silent as it soundly powers down and deactivates.

Uncovering my eyes, I watch the white Eva set down the blood covered entry plug down next to the hill. Releasing the plug and therefore setting it on the ground, the white Eva itself now deactivates and kneels down. Ignoring the screams from the two suited men behind me, I start making a run for it down the hill towards both Evas. Looking up at the victorious white one, I see its entry plug spring from its back and the hatch open revealing a small yet distant figure.

I continue to run through the trees and dirt down the hill towards the scene of the fight, hearing the sounds of the suited men's footsteps following close behind mine. Whether they are really chasing me or trying to see for themselves what had happened I care not. What my focus lay on was the figure now sliding down his Eva towards the wreckage he/she had made.

Anger was mixed in with fear and curiosity, all of it tumbled in my mind at the mindless destruction that had just taken place. Never had I seen an entry plug removed like that, not even when Eva Unit-03 had been obliterated by the dummy plug. This thought took me back to a sad place, making me still wonder whether I could have done more for my old friend Touji. Everyone has told me over and over that I shouldn't blame myself, but the mere sight of this battle has brought back a whole mess of bad memories.

Finally making it to the bottom of the hill, I find myself staring out into a barren empty field. A feeling of remorse sweeps over me as I ask myself one last time whether I want to go through with this or not.

'Oh well, no turning back now I suppose,' I think to myself, as I take one step out into the open.

Out on the field, the first things I see are the blood covered entry plug and a lone individual walking up to it. The lone figure finds a panel and hits a few buttons, releasing the hatch on the fallen plug. He peers inside to look at whoever was just piloting the other Eva. Across the sky is a background of smoke and flames as sirens wail off in the distance. My anger at its peak, and with a sudden flood of courage, I storm off towards the individuals responsible for this. I watch closely as the lone person who had walked up to the plug opens up the hatch and pears inside. He pulls back and turns around to see me coming. This is when I get my first good look at the supposed pilot of the white Eva.

The person was clad in large olive green armor and I couldn't see any details about his body at all. Even his face was covered by a gold tinted visor on his olive green helmet. Immediately seeing that he was much taller than me, I freeze in my tracks, and a long awkward silence ensues. The armor clad figure continues to stare before finally starting to walk towards me.

"YOU!!!" He yells out with a strong voice and his pace increases.

He quickly runs over before he stops in front of me and picks me up by the neck of my shirt.

"You of all people, what the hell are you doing here?" he asks before yelling right into my face, "And just why the fucking hell didn't you tell me that you were an Eva pilot?"

Confused at the question, I stare right into his visor, searching for any sign of human appearance, but none can be found behind the strong tint. Hearing footsteps, we both turn in time to see two of the men who had captured me coming out of the brush, stopping for a moment to catch their breath. Than the white coated man stands up, straightening himself up again and walking over towards to us.

"Who the hell do you think you are to destroy Berlin like this?" Yells the coated man.

The armor clad man lets go of my shirt and I plop to the ground. Orienting myself, I get back up in time to watch the man take off his helmet. As it comes off, I take a second to look and realize quickly…

"You're the man who took me from the hospital," I state, suddenly flooded with the knowledge of knowing who he was. The familiar cut of his facial hair and short brown hair still fresh from just a few days ago.

"The kid can speak after all," He says quietly to himself before turning to the continuing rants of the coated man.

"Hey you didn't answer my question," He yells once more as he stands up taller, trying to make up the height difference between himself and the armored man.

"I don't have to answer a single one of your questions," he states back into his face, "but since you asked so nicely and you caught me in such a good mood, I'll tell you anyway. Simply put, I was sent here from NERV Japan to stop THAT."

He points to the gory fleshy mess of an Eva still sitting on the side of the hill. He looks back at the coated man before continuing.

"And after that, I am to take Pilot Soryu and this one here back to their designated holding point until the end of the UN investigation," He says looking back at me with a look of annoyance.

"What gives you the right to take my daughter," yells the coated man.

"UN jurisdiction gives me the right to take who I need to," the armored man yells back, "And if you don't like it, than you can take it up with them. For now, however, I'm taking this one back with me to Japan as soon as I locate the other pilot."

"Um…I know where the other…um…pilot is," I finally spit out, now half sure if I should really tell him.

The armored man turns to look at me. He kneels down so we look at each other face to face and a moment passes before he says, "Alright kid, I guess if you really know, than you can lead the way."

"No he won't," yells the white coated man, "you can't have my daughter. She won't be going back with you."

At that, the white coated man raises the weapon concealed in his coat pocket up at the armored man.

"So than by your statement and current act of aggression, may I be so kind as to say that I'm talking with the 'great' Doctor Soryu right now, head of NERV's German branch," asks the armored man.

"You would be correct in that assumption," answers the white coated man, a scowl now crosses his face.

"So you of all people have nothing to complain about. After all, it was you who lead us to her in the first place," he states matter-of-factly, now crossing his arms.

Dr. Soryu straightens his arm, emphasizing the gun in his arm and struggling to find a retort to throw back at the unarmed soldier. His body seems to tense and before he can act any further, emergency vehicles surround us from as many directions as possible. Sirens blare as uniformed officers and medics step out from all the vehicles and swarm the area. Now distracted, Dr. Soryu lowers his weapon and just seems to stare at the quickly forming crowd of people.

Then I feel a tug at my arm and the armored soldier quickly pulls me off to the bushes before saying, "Come on, let's get your pilot friend before we get the interrogation committee."

The man still had his helmet off, carrying it under his left arm. After we had put some distance in the trees between us and the German authorities, we stop and I start to catch my breath.

"Hurry and catch your breath, we need to keep moving," States the armored man, "unless you want to be detained for the next several days while NERV struggles to get us back out."

Finding enough air in my lungs to reply, I ask the question I've been meaning to ask for a while, "Just who are you?"

"That's not important right now," he quickly says.

"Well…I guess I need to thank you for helping out back there," I reply.

"No thanks are necessary, it's just part of my job," he says, no longer looking at me.

"Yeah…well still, I need to call you something," I tell him because, truthfully, calling him the armored man just gets a little annoying after a while.

A moment passes in what seems like forever before he says…

"…You can call me Blaze…"

With that, he continues to walk up the hill, his back turned to me. I just stare and struggle with the strange name before his voice echoes off in the distance…

"Are you coming or not?"

"Um…yeah," I say as I start to give chase.

As quickly as possible…for me that is…we started t make our way up the hill. Blaze seemed to slow down just enough so that I could keep up.

"So, where is the other pilot," he asks as we walk.

"Um…she should be just at the top," I say, not knowing what else to add.

A few more moments pass before I decide to ask for some answers that I really itch for.

"So…um…are you the pilot of that white Eva over there," I ask first.

"Yes I am pilot Ikari," he says…adding nothing more.

'Pilot Ikari…I haven't heard that since…' A second passes before I realize, 'Rei.'

"What happened to the pilot of that other Eva," I ask again.

Walking, Blaze turns his head to me, looks me in the eye before turning back and saying…

"He's Dead…probably killed by the shock of having his entry plug pulled."

Not saying another word the entire climb, Blaze picks up the pace. As we near the top of the hill, near where the lookout point was, Blaze works his speed into an all out sprint, making it to the top way before me. By the time I catch up to him, I sit down to rest. He gets up and I try to stand up too, but he just pushes me back down.

"Wait here," he says adding, "I won't be long."

Blaze puts his helmet back on and starts to walk toward the car that held Asuka and the last of Dr. Soryu's men. I peer over the edge to watch Blaze as he approaches the car. The man guarding Asuka steps out and runs over to Blaze, yelling something indistinguishable at him. I can hear both there voices but can't make out any of the conversation. This goes on for a few minutes before Blaze picks up the man from the collar of his shirt, just as he did to me, and tosses him aside. Than he looks back and waves me over.

Getting up out of the dirt, I run over to meet him at the door of the car. Blaze opens the car door and points at Asuka who seems to have not moved since I was last here.

"Is this her?" he asks.

I nod my head in affirmation.

"Well then, your girlfriend here's not looking too good," he says returning with, "alright princess, up you go."

He throws Asuka onto his shoulder with one motion.

Turning to me, he says, "NERV has set out an extraction point for me, they should be there in an hour, we need to wait there and than we can return to Japan."

"But what about your Eva?" I point out

"Don't worry, NERV isn't as dead as you've been lead to believe," He says patting my shoulder, than saying, "Now, lets get you back home."

Home…at this point, that sounded like a relaxing proposition…but I had a feeling everything was far from over…

(A/N Well, another chapter brings us that much closer to the end...which is still a LOOOONG way off. Don't worry, we'll definitely get there...eventually. Just like YoungBoch did after 120 chapters.) DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW ON YOUR WAY OUT!!!