ROGUE

"Lady, you are completely crazy! This plan of yours is mental!" Deadman shouted on Misato's face, unseen and unheard as always. He had been surprised by the Operations Director's plan as much as Dr. Akagi and Commander Ikari themselves.

Now it was too late to do something. She had stated her idea in so few words he didn't even had the chance to try to snatch her body to shut her up. Deadman facepalmed, trying to think a way to stop Misato Katsuragi from risking her life in a very heroic, but completely unnecessary, way.

"And you know what's the worst part? You don't even have to do anything! Your friend here has everything under control! Damn!" Over his shoulder, Deadman pointed at Doctor Akagi with his thumb. He had been present when the Commander had ordered Akagi to design a computer virus to hijack Jet Alone's control, making it seem dangerously out of control for a predetermined length of time, shutting itself off, way before it was a real danger to anybody; it would simply stop in the middle of the desert. The aim was simply to discredit NERV's main competitor and secure their own funding, not actually destroying a city.

A dirty trick, for sure, but effective. And Akagi was good enough to get away with it.

"Okay… Okay…", exasperated, the ghost threw his hands on the air, and then wagged his index finger right under Misato's nose, "I see you're determined to do this. I'll stick around, just to make sure you don't get… agh! There are so many things that could go wrong with this plan of yours it's not even funny!"

"Ok, Shinji, you have to get close to that walking boiler and drop me near the maintenance hatch. I'll shut it down from the inside while you keep it from reaching Atsugi."

Misato had changed into a heavy radiation suit that would protect her from the worst effects of both radioactivity and heat; underneath, she wore a form-fitting insulated suit, as an extra layer of protection. Still, she would not have much time inside Jet Alone to shut it down.

At her side, the ghostly acrobat was shooting her with what would have been a withering stare, had she been able to see it; at the same time, Deadman was, very deliberately, doing the old exercises he used to do before a show. Being a ghost, he didn't actually needed them, but they still worked well enough for his purposes, they helped him to focus and calmed him down.

Next to her, the kid was almost sweating bullets. As far as he could remember, Misato had been the first person to look at him as, well, as a person; not as a burden, an annoyance or a tool. He was, understandably, very fond of her.

Deadman was not the only one doing something to focus, Shinji Ikari had been mumbling a few words to himself. A new mantra instead of his old "I must not run away."- Knowing something about what was in store for him, his fellow pilots, and the world, he had chosen to defy the would-be puppet masters of his fate in the only way he thought possible at the moment; by denying them his weakness. "I will not break.", he whispered a last time. Once again, he found a measure of courage by thinking about the Batman, the Robins, Green Arrow and Speedy; mere mortals in a world of physical gods, who through courage, ingenuity and skill, measured up to them.

"Got it, Shinji?" Misato asked, looking at him.

"Yes. Let's stop this thing." Shinji raised his right hand and closed his fist, making the plugsuit glove squeak a bit. It was a noise he always found annoying, yet somehow, now it helped him to focus his mind.

In Unit-01's plug, Shinji watched Jet Alone walking towards Atsugi, if it wasn´t so big and dangerous, Jet Alone would have been comical; two long slender arms, two long slender legs, and a too big torso in the middle. Its head was just a flat protuberance in top of the torso, from wich six long control rods extended, forming a kind of frill (exactly the worst place for a set of control rods to be during a fight, on the outside; he thought). From the sky, the giant robot looked like a toy soldier a boy had wound up and let loose on a sandbox. Something about this image was itching at the back of Shinji's mind. He pushed the thought down; at the moment, it was just a distraction.

Unit-01 hanged from a complex drop mechanism. The plane Lt. Makoto Hyuga was flying was beyond any adjective Shinji had. Any plane able to fly an Evangelion Unit around was by necessity, impressive. Still, in case Jet Alone went into a meltdown, the plane was as vulnerable as any other flying machine. A stray thought crossed Shinji's mind, "Maybe Misato or Lieutenant Hyuga would get powers, but I wouldn't bet on those odds…" For a split second, he imagined the Parasite's hideous lamprey-like face replacing Makoto's face, or much worse, Misato's. He gritted his teeth, determined to do everything in his power to fulfill the mission just as Misato had planned.

In Unit-01's hand, Misato Katsuragi waited for the drop, sweating a bit in her radiation suit.

And next to her, Deadman counted the seconds to the drop, ready to act. Even after all these years as a ghost, he still wished he could crack his knuckles… Technically, he could still do the movements, but his knuckles just didn't were solid enough, or at all, to make any sort of noise.

In a colossal cloud of dust, Unit-01 touched the ground running. The transport plane, now free from the Evangelion's weight, shot up to the sky as if a giant had kicked it. Shinji controlled every movement of the behemoth with all the finesse he was capable of. A single mistake could either crush the fragile body of his friend, or drop her to a death like Naoko Akagi's. He felt both honored and worried sick about the trust Misato had placed on him, and was determined to not fail her.

Unit-01 ran after Jet Alone, overtaking the automaton in a few seconds, Shinji managed to equal its speed, and grabbed a structure at Jet Alone's back. It looked suspiciously like a handle, but it was actually for hooking the giant robot to cargo helicopters. Still, it would serve him as a really big and useful handle. Unit-01 grabbed it with its right hand, and dug its feet into the ground, stopping the robot cold for a few seconds.

Shinji raised Unit-01's left hand to the maintenance hatch, taking care not to drop Misato. With amazing precision, the big hand got Misato close to the hatch, and let her jump down.

"No!" Misato had slipped! And was rolling down towards the edge of the robot's torso, and from there, to certain death! Shinji scrambled to try to catch her, but she would fall several meters before hitting the EVA's hand…

"Oh, no, lady! You won't!" Deadman snatched Misato's body in a split second, twisting as she rolled down, managing to grab a ring of the maintenance stairs, Misato's body slammed painfully against Jet Alone's hull, but he held firm to the ring until he was sure Misato would not fall. He signaled "she" was OK to Shinji, and went up the stairs. The young pilot exhaled the breath he had been holding up.

Once inside the robot, Deadman released Misato. "Uh? I though I…" She didn't remember how she had gotten inside the robot, but she left that for later, right now she had to input the password that would shut the thing down.

"Hope", she wrote. An Error message? What? She wrote the password again. The same Error message appeared. 'DAMN! I'll have to do this the hard way.', she thought, as she looked around. There was a series of big control rods in the chamber. If only she could manage to push them manually into their places… "SHINJI! Keep it still! I'll have to insert the control rods by myself!"

"What?"

Outside, Unit-01 pushed against Jet Alone with all its might. The robot still kept walking as if nothing was on its way, its feet carving tracks on the ground. Once again, Shinji thought about a toy soldier. Inspiration struck him like a lightning bolt. "Misato, wait! Get hold of something! I have an idea."

"Wh…t? Repea… …at!", came a garbled answer.

"Hold on to something! I'll tell you when you can go on!"

"…kay! Whate…r you are going to do, it better b… …ood! I'm ready!"

Unit-01 released Jet Alone and stepped aside, letting the robot walk unimpeded a few steps. Then, Unit-01 grabbed the robot under the arms in a bear hug, lifting it above the ground, taking care not to break the control rods protruding from its back and shoulders. With a mighty yell, Shinji held Jet Alone's weight on the air, locking the Eva in position, just like he had during his improvised rescue of Toji and Kensuke, back when he had fought Shamshel. The colossus still moved as if it was walking on solid ground, just as Shinji had suspected it would. "Now, Misato! Hurry up!"

Inside, a desperate Misato was pushing a control rod into Jet Alone's reactor. She was barely strong enough to do it. Fearing the virus would take too long to run its course, Deadman snatched her body again, using all her strength in ways the captain had not yet thought of, and pushed her legs against the walls and her back against the first rod, slowly pushing it until it clicked into its place.

As they were pushing the second rod, the red emergency lights were replaced by white lights. The rod they were pushing slid into place, making them fall anticlimactically to the floor. The crisis was over, the other rods went inside without a hitch.

Jet Alone deactivated itself, the virus had run its course, and was erasing itself, leaving behind the original programing from Japan Heavy Chemical Industries, and zero evidence of tampering.

Deadman released the captain, and sat on the opposite side of the control room; knees high, and his forearms over them. "Lady, you got guts; I salute you." And he did.

Jet Alone stopped his crazy walk on the air, and seemed to relax. "Misato? Are you okay?"

The answer took a little while to come. "Yes," she panted, "I'm just really, really tired… I need a beer… a really, really cold beer…"

"I'm so happy to hear you." Shinji sighed loudly, relieved. "I'll get you a beer from Pen-Pen's stash. I may have to bribe him with a top shelf tuna can. Meanwhile, I think I should get you down before something else happens."

A weak "Okay…" answered.

"Just give me a moment." He pushed a button to change channels. "Lieutenant Hyuga?"

"I'm here, Shinji. Want me to evacuate you guys up?"

"No need, the robot has stopped. Just tell me where can I point this thing, in case it decides to go walking off again. I think it just got stuck into walking mode, and the city was just in the way."

"OK, turn it around… about 40 degrees to your right. There's nothing but desert for miles in that direction."

"Thanks!" careful not to jostle it too much, he put Jet Alone back on the ground. Soon, the maintenance hatch opened again, and a tired to her bones Misato appeared. A quick glance showed Shinji Unit-01 still had about half a minute of power, enough time. Unit-01 grabbed the handle, just in case Jet Alone decided to go for another stroll; releasing it as soon as Misato had dropped safely on Unit-01's hand. Shinji covered the hand Misato was on with Unit-01's other hand, both to keep her from falling and to protect her from any radioactive leak. He walked Unit-01 several EVA-sized steps away from Jet Alone before getting Misato to the ground.

'We did well, Mom. Misato is safe.' A feeling of satisfaction responded.

EVA-01 knelt, letting Misato jump down to solid ground. Shinji ejected the plug and released the folding ladder to get down too.

Once on the ground, Misato took readings with a portable Geiger Counter. Her suit was somewhat charged with radiation, but not over safe limits. Anyway, she took it off far away from her young ward, keeping the insulated undersuit on. After another check, she was satisfied she had not been exposed to radiation. Both she and Shinji were safe.

They sat by the Evangelion's feet, and watched as the sun set in the horizon, glad for each other's company.

Deadman lied lazily over Unit-01's foot, his head pointing at its toes, hands on his belly, ankles crossed high, resting over the cyborg's own ankle, smiling at the improbable pair of heroes. "I'll have to watch you closely, Cap. I just hope you don't get any more crazy ideas like this one."

While they waited for the recovery crews, Misato fell asleep, the adrenaline rush she had been riding on had been spent. Shyly, Shinji passed an arm over her shoulder, and held her to keep her from falling. It didn't take long for her to start snoring softly. Big difference from the way she snored/roared at home…

'I wonder… I was half-expecting the Stranger would show up…' he thought. "I hope he's okay."

He blinked slowly, and then smiled at himself as he realized he was more worried about the Phantom Stranger than of being abandoned. He rested his head against Misato´s, and thought about just how much his life had changed since he met him.

Author's Notes

Not to diminish Misato's courage in this episode, but Deadman would not stand still while she rolled down Jet Alone's hull. He saw a chance to help, and did it without hesitation. BTW, it is really fun to think of the outrageous things Deadman would do; after all he is, very literally, a restless spirit!

All that reading about the Second Heroic Age is paying big dividends; Shinji got a new way to look at the world, and everything is getting filtered through it.

I want to thank my beta reader, Arkbeth, for his valuable help in all my published fics, plus a few loose notes and pilots I´ve writen and have yet to publish.

And don't worry, the Phantom Stranger will be back soon.