Super-revised chapter 2!
"Shinji! We're launching you now! Hang on!" It was a week later that Shinji Ikari, age fourteen, was sitting in a gigantic, purple creature in the depths of NERV, beneath the megatropolis Tokyo-3. A creature he was supposed to use to fight a nearly-unstoppable entity a mile above that wished to end all life on Earth.
Swell… My dad calls me here for the first time in eleven years, and the first thing he has me do is pilot this monster in an impossible situation! The young Ikari thought, angrily breathing in the blood-scented LCL. Why the hell am I even here? What do I owe my father?
"If you won't pilot, then she will," Commander Ikari had stated simply. That was all it had taken. Because Shinji Ikari had sworn on that night, eight years ago, that he would never let another innocent suffer if he could help it. Because the girl in his arms had looked up at him with eyes full of pain and anguish, a look that was simply too familiar. Because, in the very depths of Shinji's soul, he knew it was the right thing to do.
And he'd be damned if he let his anger at his father get in the way of that.
The gee-force of the ascent did not harm Shinji. He'd endured worse pain at the hands of some of the petty street thugs he'd fought back in Shinjuku, Fuyuoka, and a dozen other little towns scattered around the region. Some had dubbed him the 'Night-Demon', a horrible, agile creature that struck like a tiger and could not be harmed, even by bullets. Granted, this was because of the Kevlar and Nomex materials he'd covertly acquired and woven into a costume, but the criminals he hunted didn't know that.
The Angel stood ahead of him, stalking down the street. The teenager wondered who had dubbed such a thing an 'Angel'-It certainly didn't look divine. The exact opposite-An unholy terror, a monster from Hell.
Shinji breathed deeply, focusing.
"Okay Shinji, just hold onto the control reins and think 'walk'," ordered Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. "Imagine that you're in a four-hundred foot tall version of yourself."
"Roger," he murmured, concentrating. The giant Evangelion Unit 01 took a long step forward. It stumbled over a powerline, but managed to regain its balance, preventing an embarrassing nose dive into the ground.
"Good job Shinji, you're doing great!" Misato cheered him over the radio. The boy smiled: The woman who had been sent to pick him up at the station was energetic and kind, if a bit eccentric.
"Focus, Ikari," he muttered, taking another giant step forward. The Angel lashed out with its extending arm, striking the Eva dead-on and sending it crashing to the ground.
"SHINJI! GET UP! USE YOUR PROGESSIVE KNIFE!" Yelled Misato. Shinji groaned in response, focusing his breathing, willing his way past the pain. He managed to get the Eva up to its knees, before the Angel lanced its arm out again, taking Shinji by the head and lifting him as easily as a basketball.
"GAH!" Shinji couldn't breathe, the feedback loop closing his throat. The Angel tossed him back into the launch platform. He slumped against it, as the Angel's eyes glowed.
"Shinji look ou-" Shinji's world was reduced to pain and light, as he screamed through the Angel's beam weapon attack. He breathed shakily, looking up at the creature that was to be his doom.
"Pull him back! He's just a kid! Recover the Unit!"
Faintly, over the radio, Shinji heard this. He froze in his seat.
What about the kid?
What about 'im? He's just a kid. C'mon…
"No…" The young man whispered, glaring defiantly into the visage of the Angel. The plug darkened, the lights fading. He could feel the energy of the great beast holding him begin to die.
"No… I won't… I'm not a kid…" The pilot snarled, fighting the haze coming over his mind. The descending feeling paused.
Then what are you?
Shinji blinked, breathing raggedly with wild eyes. The voice… No, it was more of a sensation, than a voice.
"Who… Who are you?"
Who are you? Replied the whatever-it-was. Shinji gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself and focus, even as the Angel loomed over him.
Who are you? Why do you continue to fight? The sensation pressed. Shinji shuddered
"Because it's the right thing to do! Because I'm NOT a helpless kid! No more!" The child screamed into the LCL.
Then what are you? The sensation seemed to have a note of expectation. Shinji snarled, gripping the reins as tight as he could, fighting the darkness threatening to envelope him.
"I am vengeance… I am the night. I am BATMAN!" Shinji roared, as the Eva's eyes burned with amber fire. It rose up, diving into the Angel's mass with a feral bellow, sending its enemy crashing into the pavement. The Angel's dead eyes blinked, as it struggled to get up, before the Evangelion bodily lifted the creature up over its head and threw it into a skyscraper, it's horrible scream shattering the night. The Angel slowly got back to its feet, and was sent back down again as the Eva punched it's torso into the wreckage it had just emerged from. Leaping high above the Angel, the Eva brought its whole mass down onto the creature through its feet, splintering its prostrate enemy's core. A massive explosion followed, sending the Eva tumbling back into a skyscraper.
Through the inferno of the Angel's self detonation, the bridge crew of NERV watched in stunned awe as the Evangelion got to its feet and walked, a determined gait guiding it, through the flames. Its eyes still burned yellow, an eerie glow in the midst of the burning city.
"That… That was…" Misato started, before stopping. Words seemed empty husks for describing the scene before them.
Above, on the command deck, Commander Ikari watched the Evangelion with a frown. This was not in the scenario… it was no-where near the projections of the MAGI. Somehow, instead of making the Eva go wild to protect it's offspring, the Third Child had melded the creature's full strength with his own. In a sense, it was a berserker shift…
But the sheer will of his son had kept Unit 01 under his control.
"He sure is something, isn't he?" Fuyutsuki commented quietly. Gendo steepled his fingers and held them in front of his face.
"Irrelevant. The scenario will not be altered."
Even though his face seemed expressionless, Fuyutsuki knew that his former student was worried, if even only a little.
Mari Suzuhara had long since stopped screaming in pain. It had felt like hours ago… Or maybe days, she couldn't tell. No matter how long it had been, it would do no good, and would only waste air in the small pocket amid the wreckage burying her. She'd kept her eyes closed, and hummed a small song to keep herself awake and conscious. She may have only been nine years old, but she was sensible enough to keep her head in such a situation.
I wonder what that was? She idly thought, recalling the huge black shape that smashed against the hospital she'd been in, visiting her friend from school. The blow had seemed to send the entire building falling down upon her. She could not feel her legs, and one of her arms was pinned. She kept thinking about other things. Her brother's dumb jokes, her father's kind smiles, the wind blowing across her face, wide fields of grass spread out before her…
A sudden movement above her broke her from her reverie. The rock and steel over her head was shifting. Mari held her breath and stayed perfectly still, hoping that the rest of the wreckage was not about to come down on her.
A small blast registered above her and made her cry out, closing her eyes tightly. She felt a wave of fresh air wash over her face, and slowly opened her eyes to a dark silhouette outlined in moonlight above her. Two white, glowing eyes widened slightly above her as the figure stooped down.
"Stay calm. I'm going to get you out of here," the figure spoke in a gruff, yet gentle voice. He pulled off the rocks covering her legs, and Mari bit down a scream. The figure looked up at her.
"Is it bad?" She whispered. The being growled.
"Your legs are broken in several places. There may be damage to your pelvis." The person ran his gloved hands over her lower body quickly and professionally, sighing as he pulled back. He produced a device that resembled a squirt gun, and pulled the trigger. Mari gasped as cold, white foam covered her lower body, and began to harden almost instantly.
"This will keep your bones from being moved, at least until they can be properly set," the figure stated, gently pulling her out of the wreckage and into strong arms. Mari wrapped her good arm around his neck, and gasped when she felt a pinprick against her skin.
"Pain killer and sedative. It will help," the person stated matter-of-factly, his covered eyes narrowing behind the horned black cowl he wore. Mari felt her grasp on consciousness loosening, but managed to get out a question:
"Who are you?" She felt them begin to move, and his response, before she fell into darkness.
"A friend."
"Shinji? Shinji, where are you-GAH!" Misato started, clutching her heart. She'd been turning to call for her new ward once she'd seen that he wasn't in his room, and came face-to-face with him instead. Shinji smiled apologetically.
"Sorry Misato-san, did I scare you?" Misato took several deep breaths, and shook her head.
"Please, don't do that! God!" Shinji cringed, as Misato finally got her heart rate under control. She looked back at Shinji a bit guiltily.
"I didn't mean to yell, but really!"
"I am sorry, Misato-san."
"Well… Can't be helped, I guess," Misato shook her head with a small smile. "You're pretty good at sneaking around." The purple-haired captain's face gained a sly look.
"Were you trying to sneak into my room and steal my underwear?" Shinji's face turned bright red.
"GAH! Nononono! I swear!" Misato giggled. He's just too easy!
"Better not be, Shinji-kun… I might have to spank you!" Misato winked, and Shinji's face turned a shade darker.
"ACK!"
"Well, anyway Shinji-kun, you'd better get to sleep," Misato told him after having her laugh. "It's been a long day, after all."
"Yeah, I know," Shinji sighed, before Misato moved to the side and let him pass to his "lovely suite". He paused and turned back.
"Misato-san? About the… The people in that hospital?" Misato stared at him blankly, and the young man sighed.
"The one I smashed up?" Misato nodded.
"Oh! Oh Shinji, don't worry about it. No one was killed, and only about ten people seriously injured. You hit a wing that's still under construction and isn't very full at night." Misato smiled at him encouragingly when his face turned into a grimace. "Don't worry about it, Shinji. You saved a lot more than you destroyed. If it wasn't for you…" Misato trailed off when she saw that Shinji's grimace wasn't dissipating. She sighed, strode over to him and wrapped him up in a hug.
"Its okay, Shinji-kun. Believe me… It could have been a lot worse. You made sure that it didn't." Shinji sighed deeply into her bosom, and wrapped his arms back around her.
"Misato… Thank you." The purple-haired woman blinked.
"What for?" Shinji inclined his head, smiling up at her.
"For everything… Good night," he told her quietly, before pulling away and entering his room, closing the door behind him. Misato stood for a moment, before smiling herself and heading for the kitchen. There was still a certain penguin that needed to be drunk under the table tonight…
Shinji pulled out a laptop, and plugged it in. He began working it, and nodded as the computer confirmed what he'd suspected-Monitoring devices in all of the rooms of the apartment.
Paranoid bastard, Shinji thought derogatorily, before quickly hacking the computers managing the surveillance grid. He nodded in satisfaction-The loop he'd set up of himself sleeping, and then going out for a glass of water were all that the cameras picked up. Right now, anyone watching the feed would simply see Shinji back in his bed, sleeping. The young man set aside his computer, and reached under his bed, pulling out his Batman costume. He nodded in satisfaction at the new version he'd created just before he'd been summoned to Tokyo-3 by his father.
Cassandra was unable to assist him as directly as she once had. Shinji had only spent two years in Yuna's care before being uprooted and moved by his father's command. But she'd still been able to put him in contact with a friend of hers working for a developmental section of the JSSDF. The main body of his costume was a refitted prototype combat suit for infantry-Designed mainly to keep troops warm, waterproof, and protected from weapons fire up to the semi-automatic range. The gauntlets were steel, and equipped with spines useful for hand-to-hand combat and climbing, while the gloves and boots were modified from advanced climbing gear models. The belt was crush-proof and carried numerous weapons and gadgets Shinji had either bought or built with Cassandra's tutelage, including bat-shaped shuriken he'd fashioned himself. Finally, the cape and cowl were made from fire-retardant materials, and reinforced in key places with Kevlar and other protective materials. Though his business and mission were serious, the young man could not help the smile that came to his face as he looked out his window over the city of Neo Tokyo-3.
His city. Which he'd protect in every way, as both an Eva Pilot… And Batman.
To be continued!