Author's note: The Neon Genesis Evangelion continuity has been altered for this story. In the original timeline, The Fourth Angel attack took place three weeks after the attack of the Third. In this, it takes place only a few days later, to keep the story moving. Be warned that this may happen a few times in this story, so try not to associate it too much with the original Neon Genesis Evangelion canon.

Chapter IV

The Fourth Angel

Shinji Ikari, the reluctant Third Child at NERV Headquarters, was in no mood for an angel attack. His black eye still throbbed from the punch that had been thrown at him earlier that day by a jock in his class, whose sister he had accidentally crushed unknowingly a while ago. Now Shinji felt guilty. He knew he hadn't meant it, but it had really hit home as to how easily he could hurt people.

And now he had been told to come along immediately by Rei Ayanami, his co-pilot, and he just knew that today was not going to be a good day. Still, there was little else he was going to do with his life, so he did what he supposed was the "noble" thing, and followed orders. It was all he could do, really...

Misato hurried up to an elevator to get to the part of the bridge nearing the highest part, with the Doctor and Amy in pursuit.

'Excuse me,' The Doctor said, 'But did that young man just say there was an "Angel" attacking?'

'Yes, he did.'

'Well, what's that? A kind of ballistic missile codename?' Amy said. 'I thought Angels were supposed to be all—' She put her hands together as if to mimic a cherub of some kind.

'Wait,' The Doctor said. 'What do these Angels look like? Are they made of stone?'

'Stone?' Misato said. 'These are creatures of flesh. We don't know what they are or where they came from, but what we do know is that they are our enemy, and that they will use any means necessary to destroy us.'

'Kind of like Godzilla,' The Doctor remarked, tactlessly. When Misato gave him a funny look, he realised what he had said and looked down. 'Sorry.'

The elevator arrived at the topmost point.

'Right, what's the situation?' Misato said, flipping almost instantly into a commanding position.

'Angel is currently at an altitude of 300 feet, and is at least 100 kilometres from main land,' a male technician with shoulder-length hair replied.

'Ritsuko, how are the pilots?'

'First and Third Child are ready to g—' Ritsuko began. 'What are they doing here?'

'They're here to help,' Misato said, with as much cheer as she could manage.

'If the Commander finds out you're keeping civilians here to watch an Angel attack, he will fire you. You don't want to lose your job at a time like—'

'Captain Katsuragi,' a voice menacingly uttered from above. 'This is not a time to keep civilians here for their childish amusement. This is a deadly situation. What are they doing in Central Dogma?' Up above sat a man wearing white gloves and orange-tinted glasses, with an elderly-looking man standing beside him.

'Commander Ikari, sir, I think they can help.'

'Help, Captain Katsuragi? This is a military operation. Civilians can help little here. Get them out of my sight.'

'Angel is currently at fifty kilometres!' cried one of the lieutenants.

The Doctor suddenly popped up from behind Commander Ikari's seat.

'Hello, I'm the Doctor!'

The man standing next to him was taken quite aback, as Ikari actually yelped in surprise, before regaining in composure. The Doctor offered up a hand to shake.

Ikari, much like Misato before, refused to grip it.

'How the hell did he get up here? Get him away from me!'

'Now now,' The Doctor said. 'Let's not be so hasty. I'm a doctor. Now, as far as I can tell, the lovely lady over there with the bleached-blonde hair and the labcoat, what was her name? Ritsuko, that was it, would also appear to be a doctor. So, let's think for a bit. Two doctors, means twice the brains, means, I can help you defeat this...thing.' Ritsuko gave him a funny look much similar to that of Misato.

'We have visual on the Angel! Now at 25 kilometres!'

On the screen appeared the Angel. It had a big, almost triangular head with two large markings resembling eyes, and a long body. It looked like a big, flying slug that slithered through the air like a snake.'

The Commander thought for a moment. 'I'll deal with you afterwards. Send out EVA Unit-01 immediately!'

Misato turned. 'Shinji, can you hear me?'

'Yes, Misato,' came the response.

'All right, Shinji, just remember what you did last battle. Defeat the Angel. Rei will provide backup in Unit-00. Rei, did you get that?'

A small voice replied, 'Yes.'

'Good. Evangelions, move out!'

'Evangelion?' The Doctor said. 'That's Greek, isn't it? It means "gospel", or "good news".'

'It's also the thing that will save mankind from destruction,' Ikari responded. 'And everything you see here today, you are going to forget, or I will personally have you killed.'

'Why? What is this "Evangelion"? An experimental fighter plane of some kind?'

The visual onscreen changed to a large, vaguely-human figure, except with a very long torso. It wore purple and green-coloured armour.

'Angel is over the city! It's descending! Two hundred feet! One hundred feet! Fifty feet! Ten feet! The Angel has made contact!'

'Shinji, attack!'

The human-like figure grabbed a gun that must have been the size of a small skyscraper, firing off round after round at the Angel, over and over again, creating more and more dust and smoke.

'Shinji, stop firing! You're going to—'

Two glowing tentacles writhed out of the smoke like demonic eels, slicing the gun to pieces. The figure was driven back by the creature's attack, diving behind several buildings. The tentacles decimated the buildings. A sudden beeping noise was heard.

'We've lost umbilical power!' cried out a lieutenant. 'Only a few minutes of power left!' The tentacles reached out and clenched round the figure's leg, lifting it up and throwing it high up and into a nearby mountain. Over the radio came a yell of terror from the pilot, "Shinji", as the Doctor knew he was called, as the creature went flying through the air, colliding with the mountain with a crash.

The camera changed angle to show the massive figure's landing spot.

'My God, is that...' Misato mumbled, focusing the camera in on the creature's fingers. Near them were two young boys, who appeared terrified out of their minds.

'What the hell are they doing there?'

'Shinji, let them into the Entry Plug!'

'Yes, Misato.'

The creature's neck opened to allow the two boys in, and then shut again to allow Shinji to begin piloting again.

The Angel advanced, tentacles writhing as it prepared for a final attack.

'Shinji, retreat!' Misato cried. 'That's an order!'

'NO!' came the shout of defiance, as the creature launched a knife and plunged it deep into the Angel's breast. Sparks flew as the Angel shoved its tentacles through the figure's chest. Over the radio came a horribly pained scream. Amy cried out and covered her eyes in fear. She didn't even know the pilot, but she was worried for him.

The Doctor listened carefully as the creature's knife continued cutting into the core, sparking ever the more violently, the scream becoming more intense with every passing moment.

'Shinji, get out of there!' Misato cried, as the burning tentacles cut through the flesh with staggering precision and ease, a deadly embrace.

The Doctor suddenly turned to Ikari. 'That's not the scream of an adult. That's a boy. You've sent a boy to tackle an invading extraterrestrial species?'

'You know, Doctor, they always say "Never send a boy to do a man's job"—but in this case we have no choice but to make an exception to that rule.'

The scream ended as the clock ran to zero. Everyone turned to the screen. The Angel's tentacles stopped writhing hideously, turning into black solids, like coal, drooping like dead plant matter. The creature's life was gone from it, and it was dead.

Misato swallowed. 'Status report on the pilot?'

'Pilot's life signs appear normal,' a young woman dressed the same as the other two lieutenants, with short-cropped hair said.

'He didn't retreat when I told him to. Idiot, he could have got himself killed,' Misato said. 'I'm going to have a word or two with him when he gets back, how dare he disobey me like th—'

Misato stopped when she noticed Amy looking at her. 'What?'

'He just survived battling an alien, and you want to tell him off for disobeying an order? He saved your life. Is that what you do these days? Take and never give back?'

'He came here knowing he is required to be obedient to orders—'

'And if he had followed the order, you would probably be dead.' The reality hit Amy. 'And so would I. Your orders nearly got all of us killed!'

This was met with a quick slap from Misato. 'Don't you dare tell me how to do my job.' The Doctor winced.

'That's quite enough, Captain Katsuragi!' Ikari cried out. He turned to The Doctor. 'Get out of here. You've disrupted one of my operations. You shall not disrupt any more.'

'I didn't do a thing,' The Doctor said. 'I was merely an observer.'

'Get out of my sight,' Ikari emphasised, presumably gritting his teeth as he covered his mouth with his gloves.

The Doctor realised this was probably a battle he couldn't win.

'Okay, Commander. Take care. Goodbye.'

He stepped over to the elevator and descended.

'Doctor!' Amy said. 'These people need our help!'

'Evidently not,' The Doctor replied. 'They can fend for themselves.'

'Doctor!'

'Come on, Amy, we're going back to the TARDIS.'

The elevator finally stopped in one of the corridors. The Doctor made his way down the corridor to the TARDIS.

'Doctor, what if there's more of those Angels? What if next time, they don't get so lucky?'

'Well, that's their decision,' The Doctor said. 'And to be honest, even though this is most definitely not the 2015 I know, and I don't know how I got here, I certainly know that it's a farce. So we're leaving. I never did understand humans. Give them power, and they don't want your help.'

The Doctor unlocked the door. 'How strange,' he remarked. 'The light in the sign isn't on.' Suddenly, his eyes widened. 'The light in the sign isn't on!'

He fumbled with the key in the lock, and opened the door. It was dark inside the TARDIS.

'Oh no,' he said. 'No, no, no, this is bad. This is very bad.'

The TARDIS wasn't softly "breathing" as it usually did. There was an eerie quiet. The central column did not move, and the control panel was not lit up. All the lights were off.

'Doctor? Doctor, what's happened?'

'No!' The Doctor shouted, taking a mallet and bashing the control panel futilely, hoping desperately there would be some reaction.

'Doctor?'

'Of COURSE!' the Doctor yelled, clutching his forehead. 'How could I have been so stupid?'

'What?'

'Amy, there's a reason, a very good reason, that this isn't like the 2015 I know.'

'I don't understand, Doctor.'

'This isn't the 2015 I know. It's an alternate reality. Another possibility. A...parallel universe.'

'Right...'

'The TARDIS only functions within your universe. But there's usually some kind of explosion associated with crossing universal boundaries, so I don't even know how...'

'Do you mean to say we might never get out of here?'

The Doctor paused. '...yes. Yes, Amy. That's right.'

Amy covered her mouth. 'We're trapped...?'

The Doctor nodded. 'Yeah.' He looked up at the dead column. 'Yeah.'

All characters, settings, and boxes of a blue time-travelling nature are owned by Studio GAINAX and the British Broadcasting Corporation, and other affiliates. I own none of these things. Please don't sue me. I don't like being sued.