Interludes After the Fourth Angel

Katsuragi Apartment

"...Back home..." whispered Shinji. "This time, I have a lot to think about."

He apologized to Misato, and locked himself in "Shinji's Lovely Suite", as Misato has named his room.

He laid in bed, and without him realizing, his hand searched for his SDAT, as he always did to run away from the world. He was about to put the earplugs on when he remembered the Stranger. His hands stopped. The images the strange man had showed him whirled around in his mind.

An angry look flashed on his face. The STAD had belonged to his... to Commander Ikari. For a moment, he was about to throw the SDAT against the wall, but he stopped himself. "No. Maybe it will be useful later." He took the batteries out, and carefully, he put it in a drawer.

Silently, he went out the room, and to the kitchen. Misato was there, nursing her second beer of the night. She seemed so... fragile. As if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

The young man gathered his courage, and went closer. "Misato?" The woman turned towards him, a bit startled. She was lost in her thoughts, and didn't notice Shinji's presence until she heard him sit at the table.

"Can we talk?"

The young Captain nodded.

'She's still mad at me.' Shinji thought.

"I won't make excuses. My behavior was dangerous. I see that now."

Misato raised an eyebrow, interested.

"I want to do my best. Being in the EVA, I should feel powerful, safe; but it really hurts. I feel like I'm goint to... I don't know... lose control. Do you think I could take a course or something? Maybe martial arts. I don't want to be that scared again." He rubbed his left arm, above the elbow.

Misato smiled. "YES! That's my Shinji!" and ruffled his hair. "There are a few instructors in NERV, let me check with them. I'll let you know tomorrow at dinner."

"And gun practice?"

"Don't push your luck, Shinji. You have to earn that privilege."

"Yes, Misato, I will. Urm... Can we talk about something else?"

"Like what? You have a girlfriend and don't know where to take her for a date?"

Shinji blushed immediately. "N-no, not yet. It's just... we barely know each other."

"I see. You want to ask me to be your girlfriend and don't know where to take me for a date." She was practically purring.

Shinji 's face was an interesting shade of purple. "I-it's not like that!"

"Aww, you're so easy to tease!" Misato gave him a big smile. "Well, OK, what do you wanna know?"

They talked for a long while. About likes and dislikes. Music. All the trivia that is part of a person's character. Neither went into too personal stuff. Shinji made some tea, distracting Misato from her beer.

By the time they went to sleep, they knew each other a little better

And they felt a little bit less.. alone.

A few days later.

Shinji was about to fall asleep on class. He wasn't the only one. Of all his classmates, the only ones who seemed to be immune to the Sleep spell their old teacher invoked everytime he started his reminiscences of pre-Second-Impact life were Rei Ayanami, who was looking out the window, very focused on her study of a tree; and Hikari Horaki, who stayed awake out of pure stubborness, had she not being named Class Rep, she would have gladly joined the sleepers, but she wouldn't dare to set a bad example. Although, frankly, at this hour she was the only one who cared.

Near Shinji, Toji and Kensuke both snored softly. At the moment, not even the class chat had any movement, every student had shut down his or her brain, waiting for the bell signalling the end of the school day.

The young pilot was trying to find a confortable posture on his desk, when something in the old man's voice claimed his attention.

"...men and women with strange powers. Most of them at the other side of the ocean, in America; or even in space. My own grand-uncle had a terrifying encounter with one, who killed the rest of his platoon like some kind of avenging angel."

"What?" Shinji was instantly awake, paying attention. The old teacher kept talking.

"I myself saw one of them." He went on. "I was visiting my cousin, in the old Tokyo, before it was destroyed, of course, beautiful city... Anyway, another city had just been destroyed by a living storm and a living tsunami, and they came to Tokyo to destroy it too. But we got very lucky that day. A man plant turned himself into a dome over the whole city. It was a sight to last to the very end of my days. He protected us all."

The old man looked into the distance, lost in his memories.

"I don't know what he was doing there, but I thank the heavens. For him and the man of fire, who when the sky and the sea calmed down, burned the dome, it was the finest ash you could imagine. It became dust in a few minutes. Then he told us to be kinder to the world, and left."

He paused, while Shinji hurriedly took notes.

"We must never forget the help Aquaman and Tempest gave us years later. They were near Japan when Second Impact hit. Thanks to them, the death toll was much lower than it could have been, Aquaman's friends helped many people to come back to shore after the tsunami had dragged them into open sea. And Tempest held back the tsunami itself. It costed them both a lot. I myself have not been willing to eat a single fish since then..."

The bell rang then. The other students finally awoke, and began to get their stuff to go home. Hikari directed the daily ceremony, barking "Stand! Bow! Dismissed!"

Shinji hesitated between walking Ayanami home, as he had started to do since his talk with the Stranger, or ask the sensei for more information. He decided on the latter.

"Um... Sensei..."

The old teacher looked at him, surprised. Ikari was a generally apathetic student.

"Sensei, do... do you have any books about those people with powers?" The young man spoke in a soft, but very curious voice.

"No, I had a few, but I lost them when old Tokyo..." Shinji seemed to deflate even more than usual.

"But I remember the titles. Maybe you can find them at a library or book shop."

Shinji beamed. "Thank you, sensei." The boy bowed deeply.

"Take note." And he gave him several titles. Shinji thanked him again, and ran out to catch up with Ayanami.

That weekend, Shinji hit paydirt. He found two of the books. One was a children book, about the Justice League of America, written by a reporter, Lois Lane. It was full of colorful stories, frankly unbelievable. The other book was the autobiography of a scientist, Dr. Thomas Thirteen, nicknamed "The Ghost-Breaker", denouncing the shams and frauds commited by a series of supposed wizards and sorcerers. Despite its hostile tone, this book was the better of his two findings.

One of the latter chapters, was a detailed account of Thirteen's frustrating encounters with a charlatan who only answered to the alias "Phantom Stranger". That man, according to Thirteen's despription, couldn't be anybody else but the mysterious man who had shown him NERV and SEELE's hidden story. He was the only wizard Thirteen had been unable to prove a fraud.

Thirteen´s book had only a few pictures, and the Phantom Stranger wasn't in any of them. However, in the first book, a picture of the JLA during the so-called Satellite Age, had an astonishing reflection on a trophy case. It was the Stranger's silhouette.

And the roster of the JLA listed him as an honorary member.

So, he hadn't dreamed about his encounter.

Next Monday

"Sensei, what happened to the metahumans?"

"No one is completely sure, Ikari-kun, Most disappeared during Second Impact, maybe they died then. Others were still active during the Post-Impact Wars; by the time the UN declared world peace, there was none left. Some say they all died, others say they are still among us, awaiting for some signal to return. Others say they abandoned us. Others believe they ascended to the heavens, and still protect us from invaders from others worlds. I think it's a bit of everything. "

"Thank you, Sensei." Shinji bowed goodbye. The old teacher's memories of the Second Heroic Age were as rambling as the ones from pre-Second-Impact life. Just knowing not all heroes had needed powers to make a difference encouraged him to do his best. Misato had enrolled him in combat classes at NERV, and he, remembering Green Arrow's prowess, went at them with every fiber of his being.

The Second Heroic Age ended in the year 2000

Second Impact destroyed completely the delicate equilibrium existing between heroes and villains. The tsunami caused by the Antactic ice being vaporized ended the lives of many metahumans who tried to fight it while saving as many lives as possible.

Most members of the JLA, JSA, and the Titans sacrificed themselves then.

The villains were not directly affected by the catastrophe, but their own selfish natures caused turf wars among them. They culled their own numbers fighting for power, money and resources.

The magical community was hit in a different way, most of the planet's magic was channeled through the ley lines that crisscrossed the planet like mystical arteries and veins. The destruction of a whole continent, and the chance on the axis of the planet destroyed or displaced many ley lines, and changed the effects of others.

Ra's al Ghul was extatic. The death of half the world's population fit perfectly in his plans to create a new paradise. He was about to cause a second catastrophe to kill half the survivors but Batman and his allies stopped him, at the cost of most their lives. Ra's al Ghul died too. But the attemp of his last few followers to rescucitate him in a Lazarus Pit ended his threat forever. The energies of the pit had been altered by Second Impact, and instead of infusing his body with new life, the pit consumed him and exploded afterwards.

The only survivor was Dick Grayson, but his career as Nighwing was ended by his injuries. He still fought to the best of his capacity, now as the heir and successor of Bruce Wayne. His still sharp mind directed resources to where they were most needed. With the help of Oracle, he became Delphos; a new computer wizard.

In a place that's not a place

Maya, the spirit of the Earth, the very soul of the planet, lies wounded, Fighting not only for her life, but for all life on the world. She was terribly hurt, her wounds caused by human ambition. Around her, her children and avatars, the Elementals, care for their wounded mother.

Swamp Thing, the Earth Elemental, reduced in size and power by the destruction of most of the Amazon Rain Forest. He is the last survivor of the Parliament of Trees, and carries their memories within him. With them, he still carries the memories of the man who was his template, Dr. Alec Holland.

Firestorm, the Fire Elemental, who came back to the planet of his birth. Now again a composite being, made from Professor Martin Stein, and his friend and partner, jock Ronnie Raymond.

Red Tornado; actually, Tornado Champion. A creature made of living wind, born in another planet. For years, the mind and sentience of an android created to destroy heroes, but that became a hero by his own right; and even adopted a human identity, John Smith, to understand and fit better in the human world.

Naiad, the Water Elemental. Mai Miyazaki during her original human life, an ecological activist, murdered in fire. By far, the most violent elemental; her power even more reduced than Swamp Thing's, on account of the Dead Zone that poisoned the South Pole.

All four elementals have tied their own lifeforces to Maya's, trying to restore her. This wouldn't work normally, as their own essences are part of Maya's, but they draw strenght from a gathering of paraelementals, like Poison Ivy, Solomon Grundy, or even Killer Frost; all of whom know they can´t survive without Maya. The process is long and difficult, without any guarantee of success.

They aren't the only ones; most mystic entities who walked the Earth at the time of Second Impact are here. Zatanna Zatara, Dr. Fate, the wizard Shazam, Dr. Mist, and many others, spin their spells trying to cure Mother Earth.

Some, like the Spectre, are mysteriously absent. Others, like the Phantom Stranger or Madame Xanadu, work in the mortal's world, to stop another apocalypse. One that, should it happen, would mean the death of the entire planet.

About others, like Etrigan, better not to remember, at least for now. The Demon resented any attempt to ask for his help.

About the Hellblazer... John Constantine was best kept very far from Maya. It was an unspoken agreement. He was better employed controlling or destroying minor mystical threats.

Tokyo-3, during the next weeks

The Second Heroic Age became a minor obssession for Shinji. Any chance he had, he toured the used book stores in Tokyo-3, looking for any scrap of info about the metahumans. Sometimes alone, but usually accompanied by Toji, Kensuke, Rei, or Hikari.

Soon, he had a big collection of books and magazines. In some cases, in other languages. During his training sessions, their example was enough to galvanize him to greater efforts.

He was especially fascinated by the Bat-Family. More than once, he dreamt of being a Robin. Never Batman. The sour expression of the Dark Knight made him feel insignificant. Subconsciously, the Batman reminded him of the Commander. He never thought that the Batman would have been deeply offended by such comparison.

But the most scarce info, was about wizards and sorcerors; especially, about the Phantom Stranger. It was as if the man was a shadow, or smoke.

Katsuragi Apartment

"Um... Misato? If Rei is the First Child and I'm the Third, who is the Second?"

Before answering, Misato poured even more instant curry over her instant soup; at the sight, Shinji's tastebuds tried to hide themselves inside his tongue. Sadly, that night was Misato's turn to cook.

"Ah! Much better!" Misato inhaled deeply from the steam rising from her soup. "Sure you don't want some? It's delicious!"

"Um... No, Misato, Thanks. I don't think I could handle it." Shinji resigned himself to his own bowl of instant soup, accompanied by a sinple salad he had prepared beforehand, to at least compensate a bit for all the chemicals in their instant meal.

Shinji was perfectly aware of who was the Second Child. His trip with the Phantom Stranger had been very informative. But he wanted to hear about her from Misato herself. Maybe he could get some recent info, know a bit more about his future co-worker, know her character before actually meeting, and prepare himself for her arrival. Knowing they both shared some common problem was... well, encouraging was not the right word, but he thought they might click.

"Could you tell me something about him?" he insisted, adding a bit of misdirection.

"OK, for starters, the Second Child is a girl." Misato answered, between sips of soup and beer. "I was her guardian for a while, back in Germany, before coming to Tokyo-3."

"She's german?"

"Not exactly, she's actually American, raised in Germany; she's a bit younger than you. And she has been training to pilot since she was a little girl."

"How is she?" Shinji was really interested.

"What? You want another girlfriend? Rei is not enough for you, Casanova?" Misato smiled from behind her bowl. Inevitably, Shinji's face was red as a tomato.

"Mi-Misato!"

She answered with a laugh. "You'll meet her very soon. She and her Evangelion, Unit-02 are on their way here. The trip is very long, they have to cross the whole of Europe."

"I didn't imagine it would be such a long trip..."

Misato winked. "You better be ready for her. Asuka is veeeery competitive, and will try to knock you down to second place as soon as she arrives."

"Ah." Shinji looked down. He hadn't expected that, altough he probably should have. "Well, I actually don't care much about who's number one, as long as we make a good team."

It was Misato's turn to be surprised. She had not expected that from Shinji. The boy had adopted a leadership attitude towards Rei after the battle against Shamshel. The two days of lock-up had done a world of good to him, he had matured a lot. He had trained and studied with great enthusiasm ever since. Not only at NERV and with Unit-01; also in his classes at school and in his classes of martial arts. He had even developed some muscles. He was still skinny, but his muscles had started to look defined. But the most surprising change had been his social life. He actually had one! His phone rang, not all the time; but at least a couple calls everyday.

"Don't you think language might be a problem?"

Whoah! It seems the kid is thinking ahead. "No, Asuka speaks several languages, her japanese is perfect, although she still has some german accent."

"Hmm... Then I think I should learn some German, don't you think?

Misato choked on her noodles. After clearing her throat (and wiping a couple of tears, caused by the curry up her nose), she asked, "Why do you want to learn German?"

"Courtesy? If I had to go to work at another country, I would like to speak my native tongue with someone."

Misato remembered how alone she had felt those first few days at Germany, and conceded the point. "Very well, but I think you're trying too hard."

"How about I look for a self-taught course. We could practice during the evenings. You do speak German, right?"

Misato nodded appreciatively. 'Yep, he is thinking ahead.'