Evangeli-Moon

Episode One

Over fifteen years later sirens wailed as a inhuman monster strode across the view screen, but Yui Ikari's gaze found itself resting on the young woman watching the battle. Misato Katsuragi was intently studying the battle even as she organized emergency response teams and prepared the Geofront for their own response.

"Confirm evacuation of civilians into shelters," Misato ordered, using a headpiece. She listened a moment, "Kensuke Aida's outside? Grab him and haul him in, then! There's no reason to let the military otaku get shot getting a photo!"

An amnesiac found at Antarctica after the event commonly known as Second Impact, Misato was a mystery. No fingerprints and dental records had turned up nothing. She spoke Japanese like a native but looked Caucasian, her hair was either blonde or brown (it had grown back in patches of both colours) and facial recognition programs came up zero.

"Conventional military weapons are having no effect," Misato confidently addressed the generals supervising the battle, "I suggest pulling them back and using a N2 mine."

"Don't tell us our business!" one old man growled.

Up on the screen the watched as the angel caught a missile out of midair, crunching it before it detonated harmlessly. Then it strode forward confidently, shrugging off more cannon fire as a destructive beam of energy blasted out of it's hand.

Yui winced as a helicopter exploded, killing who knows how many men. "Do you think they'll launch the mine?" she asked Gendo quietly, the two sitting in the back of the room as the military attempted to deal with the situation.

Gendo kept his face expressionless but the contempt was clear in his voice as he said, "They have to prove to themselves they've done all they can, first."

More missiles were wasted and several tanks went up before a general sat back, a disgusted look on his face. "Pull our forces back," he instructed, deliberately not looking at Misato, "and launch the N2 mine."

The angel strode forward as the military pulled back, seemingly mindless in it's determination to reach them. 'Is it operating on instinct,' Yui wondered, 'or is there a rational mind at work? Does it even know that Adam is dead?'

Then the N2 mind struck, and the screen went white. While not a nuclear weapon the N2 mine delivered similar power, with the advantage on no radiation effects. It was the most powerful weapon in the military's arsenal, and the generals up front were already congratulating themselves on their victory.

"Maya," Misato moved to where one of the technicians sat in front of the big screen, "can you clear up the interference?"

"I'll do my best," Maya Ibuki smiled as she went to work.

"Gentlemen," Gendo calmly addressed the generals as Maya cleared up the image, "your celebration is premature."

Cries of fear and alarm came up as the image appeared, the angel still mostly intact. The N2 mine had burned it, no question, and it had slowed down a bit, but other than that it seemed entirely uneffected by the attack.

"But," one general was looking up at the screen, slack jawed as he muttered, "that was our most powerful weapon!"

"Conventional military might cannot stop these things, General," Yui addressed him calmly, "that's why you need Evangelion."

The lead general swept over her and Gendo, his expression profoundly unhappy. "We can't stop it," he conceded, "you're certain you can?"

"Yes sir," Gendo said calmly, his white gloved hands crossed in front of his face.

The general put on his cap straightening it gravely as his fellows stood up. "Then we turn this operation over to you," he said.

Gendo nodded, watching them file out, then he looked towards the front of the room. "Captain Katsuragi, over to you," he nodded.

Yui watched in pride as their ward and nearly adopted daughter took command. "Launch bays, ready Unit 01 for launch," she ordered, "Shinji, you ready?"

The young man's face appeared on screen, his brown hair floating slightly in the LCL filled entry plug, "Loaded up and ready to go," Shinji Ikari said, eyes flickering to his parents as he smiled.

'Good luck,' Yui mouthed at him.

"This isn't going to be easy," Misato cautioned him, "but we've gamed this out in scenarios before. You know it's attacks?"

"Energy beams from it's hands," Shinji answered promptly, "and it's probably damn strong. Best strategy would attack from a distance, if we had the rifles ready."

"We should have one ready in a week or so," Ritsuko Akagi said wryly, the black haired woman looking a bit sheepish from where she stood off to the side.

"Not your fault, Rits," Misato answered. She looked up at Shinji, "Best strategy I can suggest is speed. Get in close fast or behind him, and use the prog knife."

"Right," Shinji nodded.

"Rei," Misato called out, connecting to where Rei Ikari waited, the black haired young woman looking annoyed at having her arm in a cast. "With Unit 00 on ice, you're on standby for now," she informed her.

"Understood," Rei nodded, "with a broken arm I'm going to have trouble piloting anyway." Under her breath she muttered, "Last time I agree to be a extra player in lacrosse...."

Yui hid a laugh, but it took some effort. Her daughter was a very bright girl but also somewhat good natured, which had gotten her into trouble a time or two. This latest incident had happened two weeks ago, and it was just her luck to not have healed up yet.

"Kick that thing's ass, Shinji," Rei addressed her brother.

"Will do," Shinji said.

"Tech teams report ready to launch," Maya relayed.

"Shinji, brace yourself," Misato ordered as Shinji was eased onto the magnetic rail-launch system. He grabbed the controls and took a deep breath, nodding. "Evangelion, launch!"

Everyone watched with bated breath as Evangelion Unit 01 emerged in the city, but it was worse to Yui. That was her son in that war machine, and while she had built it's AI and cloned the flesh from corpses Gendo salvaged from Antarctica, this was it's first real test. If it failed....

Thankfully, her worries were meaningless. Shinji got banged around a bit, but eventually he got in close, deployed the prog knife and successfully stabbed the angel in it's core. The thing exploded messily, which was worrying too, but Shinji deployed a AT field and survived that, too.

As they recovered Shinji, Yui saw Misato slump tiredly, the stress of running the battle suddenly telling on the young woman. She soon shok it off and straightened up, asking to be excused to go check up on their pilot.

"She did very well," Yui noted as she and Gendo left the command center, confident their teams had the situation well in hand.

"That she did," Gendo agreed, taking off his glasses and rubbing at his eyes. He might delegate but being 'commander of NERV' was a lot of work, jobs Yui was thankful didn't land on her desk. "Have you had any nibbles on your search yet?" he asked.

"No," Yui admitted. She and Gendo had, mostly quietly, been continuing the search for Misato's parents and family. Not with any success, either, since the time she appeared had also been when things went crazy all around the world.

"It would be nice if we could find that out," Gendo said with a slight sigh, "I think it bothers her, living under a dead girl's name."

"Are you getting sentimental?" Yui teased.

"Never," Gendo said gruffly.

"We'd better get our poker faces on," Yui sighed, "SEELE will be calling, soon." She smirked, "And we get to gloat our Evangelions work as well as planned."

To be continued....