AN : What can I say about this one? Though Evangelion is not really a fandom I am all that into, I still found myself sometimes reading some of the fanfics there...and subsequently cringing away from the spineless Shinji populating them...Thus, Shinji 2.0 was born.

Ikari Shinji casually leaned against the wall next to the payphone as he waited for his ride to arrive. Shinji was a tall fourteen year old boy, who had an impressive physique. He wasn't ridiculously muscled; he had the cut physique of an athlete and his eyes radiated a calm and self-assurance that was rarely found in teenagers his age. He was also peripherally aware of the destruction being wrought by the Third Angel, Sachiel, but he paid it no heed.

Suddenly sensing a presence not too far from him, he raised his eyes to lock with the red eyed gaze of a blue haired girl standing in the middle of the street. He met her deadened stare with an impassive look of his own, ignoring the rumbling which occurred as sections of the buildings near him were knocked off by the Angel's rampage.

Without saying a word, he turned away from the girl, not even reacting when he felt her presence vanish.

It was then that his eyes noticed the cloud of dust rapidly approaching his position, and with a near silent sigh, he bent to pick up his bag. With only one thought to himself, he stepped forward to begin his adventure.

Here we go.

Captain Katsuragi Misato slid her car to a stop, feet away from the tall teenager approaching her. Taking a moment to observe his figure, she allowed herself to think that he was quite the looker, before she dispelled all such thoughts and focused on the matter on hand.

By the time she had gathered her thoughts, he was already sliding into the passenger seat. He turned to her and she suddenly felt like a bug under a microscope. A smooth and even tone emerged from his lips as he asked,

"Miss Katsuragi, I assume?"

Shaking off the sensation of being x-rayed, she responded with a slightly flirtatious smile,

"Yes, and you must be Ikari Shinji. Sorry, I'm late."

He merely inclined his head towards her in acceptance of her apology, then turned to face forward, completely unruffled by the destruction occurring around him.

Now slightly perturbed by the too calm teen next to her, Misato gunned the engine and sped off, just in time to dodge a huge chunk of concrete that crashed into the place they had just occupied moments before. She sped off, fishtailing as she swerved to avoid the debris in her path.

When they finally got out of the main city and onto the road towards NERV headquarters, she stopped and was in process of taking out binoculars to view the on-going battle when Shinji's cool tone, with a hint of admonishment in it, cut through the space in the car, halting her movements,

"As I understand, Miss Katsuragi, we are already late to begin with."

Seeing the beginnings of a sheepish smile on her face, Shinji continued,

"Furthermore, do you think it advisable to stop out in the open like this, especially when there is a huge battle involving long range weapons not too far from here?"

Looking like a deer caught in headlights, Misato aimed what she hoped was an innocent smile at the teen looking at her. All she got for her troubles was an unimpressed raised eyebrow. With a huff, she turned back to the wheel, and pulled out of her stop, continuing on to their destination.

They had only travelled a few miles further when the world suddenly vanished under a blinding flash of white light.

Misato abruptly slammed on the brakes, grinding the car to a halt. Once her vision cleared and her ears had stopped ringing, she looked out her window. Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened when the devastation surrounding the silhouetted figure of the Third Angel made it clear to her what had just happened.

In her state of shock, she could only stutter out,

"They…I can't…I can't believe they used an N2 mine."

She turned her bewildered gaze on her charge, only to blink in shock when she found him still calm and unbothered. She spent a few moments just gaping at him, until she noticed the laughter shining in his eyes. She then pouted when she heard him chuckling, at her no doubt.

She merely huffed as she put the car back in gear and continued towards the NERV base. She reached forward into the glove compartment and pulled out a thick file, which he handed off to Shinji with a petulant,

"Here, an information packet, read it."

With another amused chuckle, Shinji opened up the file and began to read.

Sometime later, Misato began casting furtive glances at the teenager's downed head, wondering about him. Unable to sit quietly for so long, she asked,

"So, do you know why you're here?"

Shinji raised his eyes from the file and closed it. Misato wondered for an instant if he had finished reading it, before dismissing the thought as ridiculous; as a teenager, he must have obviously considered it boring. She quickly tuned back in to listen to his response,

"Not really, no…apparently, I was summoned."

Misato was not really surprised by his answer; it was Gendo Ikari's way after all. Instead of providing any explanation, though she noticed that Shinji wasn't really asking for one, she motioned with her head towards the structure that they were approaching.

Shinji looked at where she was indicating and saw the NERV Headquarters. Misato, who had been watching his face for any reaction, blinked at the small unreadable smile that appeared on the teen's face. Somehow, she couldn't help but think that things were about to get interesting.

Misato fought to keep from fidgeting when she felt Shinji's unwavering gaze on the back of her head. She had been leading him around the facility for minutes now, trying to hide the fact that she was hopelessly lost.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she noticed that the only footsteps she could still hear were hers. She spun around to find Shinji studying the wall in front of him.

Making her way over to him, she opened her mouth, intending to admonish him to keep close to her, when his voice cut her off,

"This way"

Without waiting for any response from her, he turned back the way they had just come and began to walk. She floundered for a moment before hurrying after him, noticing from the corner of her eyes that the wall he had been studying had a map of the base on it.

A few short minutes later, the two of them were standing before an elevator which opened to reveal a blond haired woman, wearing a skin tight bodysuit under a white lab coat.

She spoke up in a tone that held mocking surprise,

"Well, Captain Katsuragi, I must say that I am surprised to see you so soon. I expected you to have been wondering for a half hour more, at least."

Misato could only rub the back of her head with an embarrassed flush on her face. She pouted at her friend's teasing and said,

"That's not fair Ritsuko, I was retrieving this cutie here."

Doctor Akagi Ritsuko followed her friend's outstretched hand to find a tall teen simply standing next to her. Startled at not noticing him before, she took a few moments to observe the figure standing before her eyes.

He was taller than the reports had indicated – for she had no doubt that this was Ikari Gendo's son – and the look in his eyes spoke of an intelligence and confidence that wasn't meant to exist.

Determined to observe the boy, in case his behaviour posed a threat to their plans, she extended a hand to him in greeting. He casually and firmly shook it, with a polite smile on his handsome face.

The three rode up in the elevator, with Ritsuko taking the time to tease Misato along the way while Misato responded in kind.

Arriving at their destination, Ritsuko led the other two into a darkened room which, although it was impossible to see into, still managed to give off the impression of being cavernous. She led them down a metal bridge and halted. Together, they turned to face the same direction…and then the lights came on.

Like a king surveying his domain, the purple and green Evangelion Unit-01 gazed down imperiously from its great height.

Ritsuko, who had been closely observing Shinji, was disappointed, and maybe a little bothered, by Shinji's lack of reaction.

As soon as the huge machine had been revealed, he merely blinked placidly at it.

Not to be deterred, she gestured grandly at Unit-01 and said,

"Behold humanity's last hope. This is the Evangelion Unit-01, designed to combat the Angels."

Up in his hidden observatory, Ikari Gendo gazed down on the form of his son. He was momentarily surprised by his impressive – for a teenager – stature, before he dismissed the observation as irrelevant.

Stepping forward, he prepared to play his own part and his cold voice echoed through the room,

"And that is why you are here."

At his chilly tone, Misato fought to hide the shiver that trailed down her spine before both she and Ritsuko turned their eyes upwards to see the silhouette of the Commander. From the corner of their eyes, they noticed that Shinji was still looking at the Eva unit, paying no attention to his father.

Ignoring Shinji's lack of attention, Gendo ended his statement with a chilling finality that left no room for disobedience,

"You will pilot the Evangelion Unit-01."

Only then did Shinji turn to face the man whose genes he shared, to whom he spoke with a nonchalant shrug,

"Of course, provided that you are able to satisfy my conditions"

Misato rocked back on her heels in surprise, while Ritsuko blinked in shock. The various NERV officials present in the huge room paused in what they were doing, gazing at the bold child in awe.

Gendo did not even react to Shinji's statement; he had expected some rebellion from the teen. He smoothly moved to crush his feeble resistance,

"I see. Doctor Akagi, prepare Unit-01 for deployment. If he will not pilot it, then Rei will simply have to do so."

Ritsuko's eyes widened in shock and she began to splutter her protests, which were then summarily squashed by Gendo's unwaveringly cold stare.

She motioned to the person standing at a door, and he left to retrieve the other pilot.

Gendo focused on his son as the hospital bed carrying Rei's battered and bruised form was wheeled into the room. He began to feel the faint stirrings of unease when he noticed Shinji's disinterested gaze casually roving over Rei's injured form. His unease grew into full discomfort when he realised that he couldn't read any emotion on Shinji's face.

For a man who had years of experience in reading and manipulating emotions, the unreadable teenager before him bothered him a lot. He had relied on common empathy to squash whatever feelings of rebellion Shinji would have been able scrounge up. This unruffled dismissiveness convinced him that Shinji had inherited more from him than he had originally thought.

Ritsuko, somewhat used to Gendo's methods by now, had calmed down when she noticed Shinji looking at Rei. She fully expected him to condemn her harsh treatment, and then ultimately cave in to his father's demands.

Misato, still surprisingly naïve in some ways, thought that Shinji would do like any decent human would and agree to pilot in place of Rei; even though he had no prior knowledge on how to pilot such a machine as Unit-01.

Thus, the three adults were completely shocked by what happened next.

Shinji casually turned to face the door, and began to walk, obviously intending to leave the room.

Coincidentally, his path would take him just past Rei's approaching form.

Just as the two teens drew side by side, though one was being wheeled, a tremor shook the entire cavernous room, causing a huge beam to be dislodged.

A cry left Misato's lips as her quick eyes easily predicted the trajectory of the falling beam; Shinji and Rei would be killed.

Before anyone could react, there was a blur of purple and the clang of metal on metal.

The observers turned to watch the deflected beam sail out over the platform and crash into nothingness somewhere below.

Gendo had a hidden smirk on his face; as expected of you, Yui. His calculating gaze then zeroed in on Shinji to find him looking down at Rei on the bed. The silence that had fallen after the averted disaster allowed everyone to hear Shinji's spoken words to Rei,

"Good luck out there, Rei-san."

With Misato and Ritsuko fairly gaping at him, and Gendo subtly gritting his teeth, Shinji resumed his journey to the exit. Without turning around, he continued speaking,

"I expect that you will buy my return ticket, seeing as you're the one who tore me away from my life over there. Now, as I recall, there's a cafeteria somewhere on this level; I haven't eaten since I began the trip to arrive here."

The last part, spoken at a lower volume was obviously not intended for everyone to hear, yet it carried effortlessly in the wake of the speechless surprise left behind by the teen's actions.

Just as Shinji stepped up to the automatic doors, causing them to hiss open, Gendo's blank voice reached him,

"And…just…what…were your conditions?"

With his back to his father, Shinji finally let his triumphant grin spread across his face while back in the room, NERV employees whispered at the fact that Gendo had given in to his teen son.

Shinji 1…Gendo 0

The command room was a hub of activity as people rushed around to get the Eva Unit 01 up and running.

From her place beside her friend in the center of the room, Ritsuko directed the scientists around her with only half of her mind on the task; the rest of it was on the mysterious child currently sitting in the Eva's cockpit.

Barking at one of the scientists in the room, Ritsuko commanded,

"Release the LCL."

Observing Shinji through one of the screens available, she noticed him tensing as the orange liquid began to flow into the cockpit.

Just as she moved to reassure him, he relaxed and began to breathe in the LCL, showing none of the discomfort always found in first timers.

Filing away that puzzling fact for later, Ritsuko ordered,

"Begin synchronization"

Moving forward, she grabbed one of the microphones available and spoke to Shinji,

"Now, Shinji, try to relax while we begin your synchronization with the Eva Unit."

Shinji merely nodded his head as the process began.

Since she was focused on the teen in question, Ritsuko relied on the periodic reports of the scientist monitoring the sync rate to tell her how Shinji was doing.

Her attention was diverted from the monitor when she heard a faint stirring of surprise from those around her.

Snapping her gaze to the screen showing the sync rate, she felt her jaw drop in surprise.

Heedless of the spectators' surprise, the number implacably blinked back at them,

Seventy five percent

Choking on air, Ritsuko and the others in the room, whirled to the screen displaying Shinji's serene face as the Eva Unit came to life around him.

Blinking in shock, she thought to herself,

Such a sync rate, on his first try…impossible

In his seat, hidden in shadow, Gendo Ikari's clasped hands tightened until he lost all feeling in his fingers; it was looking more and more like Shinji would be a threat to the scenario.

As the locks engaged, clamping down on the Eva in preparation for transport to the surface, Shinji's even tone sounded through the speakers in the command centre,

"Tell me, Dr Akagi, what are the capabilities of this Eva Unit and of the enemy I am about to face?"

Pausing at the unexpected question, Ritsuko's voice reflexively took on a slightly condescending tone as she replied,

"Now, Shinji, don't worry yourself about that; what you should instead focus on is mastering how to put one foot in fr –"

Shinji's suddenly cool voice ruthlessly cut her off,

"Dr Akagi…what are the capabilities of the Evangelion Unit 01 and the attacking Angel?"

Momentarily rendered speechless at the hard tone of voice – so reminiscent of another Ikari – issuing from the speakers, Ritsuko could do nothing as Misako abruptly moved to reply,

"Without going into too many specifics, the Eva Unit is designed to move as you would. It also has a knife in a compartment in its left shoulder as well as a sidearm. The Angel is just as strong, if not stronger than the Eva, and also fully sentient. Data is limited on it since it is only the third Angel humanity has ever faced, but destroying the red core should take care of it."

Quietly taking in all that she had said, Shinji replied just as the Evangelion came to a jarring stop on the surface of the city,

"Fully sentient…so it is in my best interest to finish this quickly."

In the now silent command centre, the spectators watched as slowly, the right arm of the Eva came up in a smooth motion and clenched its fist, before the left leg moved forward as well.

Realizing that Shinji was simply testing out the controls, they were somewhat surprised at the ease with which he piloted for the first time.

Giving a satisfied nod in the Entry Plug, Shinji focused on the Angel which had been simply observing him since he had come up.

Silently staring back at it, he observed it as his quick mind came up with plans and back up plans for quickly and efficiently dealing with it.

Mind made up, he exploded into motion just as the Angel opened its mouth to utter a ground shaking roar.

Like a blur, the purple Eva Unit crossed the gap separating it from its enemy with strides that caused the earth to tremble before the titan.

As it neared its foe, the Angel's left arm came up to intercept it, and it was then that it acted.

Jaws dropped in shock as the Eva grabbed the extended arm and vaulted over the Angel, viciously wrenching the arm backwards and dislocating it at the shoulder, as it came to rest now facing the Angel's back.

Landing in a crouch, the Eva unit suddenly reversed its momentum and it launched itself towards the back of the off-balanced and pained angel.

In the command centre, the monitors registered a spike in the Eva's AT-Field centered on its right arm, though none was there to notice as they were all riveted on the scene unfolding on the monitors.

Before the Angel could recover, the Eva's right arm extended in a knife thrust which – backed by the explosive force of the Eva's reversed momentum – shred through the Angel's core as though it were cutting through water.

Shocked silence descended like a curtain inside the command centre as the Angel's core exploded outwards when the Eva's arm breached through it, leaving the Eva standing front to back with the Angel, with its arm sticking through its chest.

With nary a sound, the Angel slid off the arm impaling it and crashed into the floor.

The battle was over.