Tokyo-3 (Day)

"Argh!" Shinji said, slamming a pay phone back into its slot.

"Let me guess. No service?" a boy with blonde hair and green eyes asked. He wore a red jacket and torn jeans. "Oh, I wonder why the phones are down during the apocalypse?" the blonde asked sarcastically. "Seriously, though, what did you expect?"

"I don't know!" the Japanese boy yelled. After calming down a bit, he continued. "It's just... my father didn't want to see me for 10 years. Why the hell did he call me back after all this time?"

"And why did he send this along with the letter?" the blonde asked, getting a photo of a woman out of his pocket. "If you ask me, I think he doesn't want to see you personally. He just needs something from you."

"Wow, thanks for that." Shinji said dryly. That's when he noticed something on the street. A girl with blue hair and red eyes. But when he blinked, the girl was gone. 'I must be seeing things.' he told himself.

That's when the ground started to shake. Both of the boys turned to a nearby mountain. Coming from behind it were several military-grade aircrafts, followed by a giant monster with black skin and bones protruding from its body.

"Hmm. Looks like we have company." the blonde said, not worried by the appearance of the threat. His expression remained the same even as the behemoth annihilated everything sent at it. Hearing the sound of tires screeching, he turned to the right, where a car was stopped right in front of Shinji.

The car door opened, and in the driver's seat was the woman on the photo. "Sorry if I kept you waiting." she said, having not yet noticed the blonde.

"You should be." Shinji said, getting into the passenger seat. Just before the monster stepped on them, the car sped away.

Once they were far enough away, the car stopped. Confused, Shinji turned to the driver, only for her to lean over him and look out his window with a pair of binoculars. "They wouldn't... They're gonna use an N2!?" the woman said. "Get down!" she yelled, pushing Shinji down as a massive explosion went off on top of the monster.

"King's Shield!" the blonde's voice commanded. A glowing hexagonal forcefield appeared between the car and the blast, protecting it from any damage it would've taken. "Good work, Aegislash." he said, followed soon after by an odd sound. If one were to describe it, they'd say it sounded like light shrinking. The boy turned to face the car just as the woman got up. "You're welcome." he said, pocketing a small white and red orb.

"Who are you?" the woman asked, wondering how this kid managed to get all the way out in the middle of nowhere, as well as how he survived the blast.

"Dominic Xiao-Long." the blonde introduced, bowing. "By the way, if you're going to send a picture of yourself to a 14-year old, put something on."

She needed a drink.

Car Elevator (Day)

"NERV?" Shinji asked, acting confused.

"Yeah. It's a secret organization directly attached to the UN." Misato explained. Sitting in the backseat was Dominic, making the woman unsure of what she was doing. She was expressly told to bring the Third Child and no one else. But, as she quickly learned, Dominic Xiao-Long doesn't take no for an answer.

"And old Gendo works here, right?" the blonde asked.

"That's right. Do you know what he does?" Misato asked.

"Whatever it is, I have some...things I'd like to say to him." Shinji said, still angry after what happened ten years ago. "We're on the way to see him, right?"

"Uh huh. At least I think so." Misato said.

"Good enough." Dominic said.

"Oh, I almost forgot, did your father send you any ID forms?" Misato asked Shinji.

"Uh, technically." the boy responded.

"Long story short, we lost them." Dominic explained, leaving out the fact that he deliberately tossed them out the window. "But, I always come prepared. Here." He handed a custom ID Card to Misato, marked with all of Shinji's relevant info, like his birthday, age, gender, and Element. The last one confused the woman, but something told her that it wasn't important.

"Read through this, okay?" she said, handing a pamphlet to the boy. After a while, Shinji and Dominic were able to see the outside of the elevator as they descended below the walls. It looked like an upsidedown city, with building coming out of the ceiling.

"So this is a Geo-Front." Dominic said, impressed. 'Note to self: Steal blueprints for this place.'

"That's right. And below us is NERV Headquarters, our secret base." Misato explained. "The key to rebuilding the world, and the last bastion of humanity."

Shinji and Dominic understood that the word 'bastion' had two meanings, as it meant something else in the Jambastion Language. Even still, it managed to evoke the same feelings.

Geo-Front (Night)

"We're lost, aren't we?" Shinji asked.

"Probably." Dominic said.

"Quiet!" Misato snapped, silencing the boys. "I wonder where Ritsuko went. Sorry, but I'm still not used to this place."

"Then why did they send you!?" Dominic yelled. Misato could've sworn she saw his left eye turn red, but it was probably a trick of the light.

"Don't worry, NERV has systems for this very situation!" the woman proclaimed.

"You mean you getting lost with two underage children?" Shinji said, a small smile on his face.

As the three of them were about to pass through another door, a blonde woman wearing a lab coat and a diving suit met up with them. "Where have you been, Captain Katsuragi? We're short on both manpower and time." she said.

"Sorry!" Misato said, embarrassed.

"So, this is the boy?" the woman asked, turning to face Shinji.

"Yep. According to the Marduk Insitute, he's the Third Child." Misato said, using terminology she assumed the boys didn't understand.

"And the other one?" The woman turned to face Dominic, who had a wide grin on his face.

"Dominic Xiao-Long." the boy said, his smile ever-present. "I've been looking after Shinji ever since that stronzo Gendo left him in the care of a man who didn't care if he lived or died." His gaze became more menacing as he slowly walked closer to the woman in the lab coat. "If any human, monster, or anything else so much as deals 1 damage to Shinji, they will answer to me."

Both women were terrified by the boy's words. They had no idea why, but they felt as though the temperature was gradually increasing.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" Dominic said, laughing as the temperature went back to normal. "You two wouldn't be able to take on Shinji in a fair fight."

Eva-01 Chamber (Night)

"Does it have to be so dark in here?" Shinji asked.

"Maybe we've all gone blind." Dominic joked. A second after that remark, the lights came on and a giant purple robot became visible to them. "Holy mother of me, that thing is huge!" the blonde yelled.

"So, this is the Unit-01 you were talking about?" Shinji asked Ritsuko, who nodded.

"This is the ultimate multipurpose decisive combat weapons system created by man." the woman explained. "The Artificial Human Evangelion. Unit-01 of the series. Built in complete secrecy, this is mankind's very last trump card."

'I bet I could beat it in less than a minute.' Dominic thought to himself, devising strategies for annihilating the robot.

"So this is part of my father's work?" Shinji asked.

"Correct." Gendo said from a room above the Eva, watching over the group from a glass window. "It's been a while."

Shinji's expression darkened, and the boy clenched his fists in anger. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

It was at this point that Gendo noticed Dominic's presence. "You were instructed to come alone."

"I may have... lost the invitation..." the blonde said, feigning guilt. "Besides, it's not like you can force me out of here. Though, I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to see you try."

'How cocky is this kid?' Misato asked herself, wondering if the Third Child's friend was of sound mind.

The entire facility began to shake, as the Angel above was moving closer and closer to them. Just after the tremor, dozens of men in black suits entered the room and aimed their guns at Dominic's head. Despite this, he wasn't threatened at all. If anything, he was eager for them to shoot.

"You're crazy. You know that, right?" Shinji told the blonde.

"If having a little fun is crazy, I don't want to be sane." Dominic replied, smiling madly.

"Ugh. Launch the Eva." Gendo commanded, tired of the boy's antics. He could deal with him later.

"But Unit-00 is still grounded!" Misato shouted. "Wait, you want to use Unit-01!?"

"There's no other choice." Ritsuko said.

"Rei's in no condition to pilot it!" Misato said, knowing how badly injured the First Child was.

"But I can." Shinji said, silencing both women. "That's the reason you brought me here, right?"

"Yes." Ritsuko confirmed.

"But it took Rei seven months to synchronize with her Eva!" Misato pleaded. "He can't possibly do it right now!"

"I want you to remember those words in the next... maybe four minutes." Dominic told the woman. He then turned to face Shinji. "So, you up to it?"

"Don't really have a choice, now do I?" the boy answered, a smile on his face.

"Not really." Dominic said. "But really, what's the worst thing that could happen?"

"Death." Shinji said bluntly.

"I wouldn't worry too much about that. After all, you haven't died once in all the time I've known you!" Dominic said, laughing.

'This kid is crazy.' Misato thought to herself.

Eva-01 Chamber (Night)

Dominic watched with an eager smile as Shinji's capsule was lowered into the Eva's neck. While the idea of being submerged in any kind of liquid personally terrified him, the concept of LCL was interesting.

"Amazing. All harmonics are at normal levels." one of the scientists said, astonished.

"I don't like saying I told you so, but..." Dominic said smugly to Misato, causing the woman to groan.

"No signs of a runway!" another scientist said.

"Prepare for launch!" Misato shouted. Several metal parts detached from the Eva, freeing it. Now that all of it was visible, Dominic could see a cord connecting the back with what he assumed was its power supply.

'Of course, Shinji being in there renders that thing useless.' the boy thought to himself, chuckling as he walked away.

"Where are you going?" Misato asked.

"Outside, of course." the blonde replied, exiting the room. Nobody realized that by 'outside', he meant the surface. As he made his way to the elevator, he looked down to his hand. Resting in his palm was a white orb with a single red line going around it. "Let's see just how strong these Angels are." he said with a wide grin.