[Marvel/EVA][fanfic] The Evangelion Four, Introduction.
By Henry J. Cobb
All of these characters are the creation of Hideaki Anno or Stan Lee, but
the inspiration for this story can be blamed on a throw away line from John
Biles & Rod M.
Introduction: Welcome to NERV or Bambi vs Godzilla.
"Where is he?" Captain Misato Katsuragi stood next to her new car and
looked at the crowd exiting the main Tokyo-3 train station.
"Ms. Katsuragi?" A 14 year old boy walked up to her.
"Oh, there you are Shinji, I didn't see you get off the train. And you can
call me Misato."
"I took the previous train, but I didn't know who to call."
"Well it's OK now, get in."
As they drove along, Shinji looked out the window, "They're still cleaning
up after that earthquake last week?"
"The earthquake -- Oh yes, that was a big one. But don't worry, NERV
headquarters is built to survive much worse."
"NERV, is that my father's organization? Am I going to be working there
now?"
"Yes, here," Misato reached down under her seat.
Shinji's eyes followed the motion. Wow, she's got great legs and that
short dress really shows them off. He forced himself to look back up at
the road and grabbed for the steering wheel.
"What is it?" Misato looked up and straightened the car back into its
lane, "Here, read this," She handed him a book titled Introduction to
NERV and labeled Top Secret.
Shinji skimmed through the book. It told how the United Nations had set up
NERV to handle planetary defense following the events of 15 years ago.
Then he looked up. They had stopped in front of the gate of a fenced off
parking lot with one building in the center.
"Shinji, do you have your ID card?" Misato asked.
"Yeah, here," Shinji showed his card to the middle aged man with a mustache
at the gate house.
"Aren't you a little young to be working for NERV?" The man asked.
"Oh, he's just an intern, Mr. Lumpkin," Misato answered then drove through
the opened gate.
As they drove up into the building, it turned out to be just a parking
garage, with a sign in front saying "Baxter Center: U.N. Authorized
Personnel Only".
Shinji looked around at all of the cars, "Where is NERV headquarters?"
"Oh, it's below us, dug into the bedrock," Misato lead the way to an
elevator and used her thumbprint and ID card to summon it.
Shinji noticed while there were only a few buttons on the elevator, it
seemed to go down for a long while, "This is very deep."
"Oh, it needs to be. We're responsible for defending the Earth after all."
When they exited the elevator there was another guard, who watched as they
swiped their ID cards and then a pair of massive blast doors opened.
"We need to go to your father's office, and I think it's over this way,"
Misato turned right at the first intersection.
"My father, what does he do here?" Shinji asked.
"He's the commander of NERV. I don't go to his office very often, but he
said to bring you there," Misato stopped in front of a door labeled Ikari
and pressed the intercom button, "Captain Katsuragi and I've brought your
son, sir."
"Excellent," Gendo Ikari's voice sounded back over the intercom panel and
then the door slid into the wall by itself.
Gendo's office was large, yet sparsely furnished with just the one chair he
sat in and the large desk he had his hands folded on, "Hello Shinji."
"Father, why have you brought me here?"
"To fight."
"I can't fight. I'm just a kid."
Gendo turned to the side of his desk and pushed a button, "Dr. Akagi, bring
Rei to my office. There's a visitor here to see her."
A woman's voice answered back, "Commander, Rei is in no shape to see any
visitors today. She's just finished her training and physical training and
taken her painkillers. She needs to sleep."
"Excellent. Bring her in," Gendo hit another button to cut off the
conversation then turned back to Shinji, "Do you know why NERV exists?"
Shinji held up the book he had been given earlier, "It says to defend the
Earth. But what do you need me for? The U.N. forces have got battleships
and tanks and missiles and jet aircraft and stuff."
"None of these will be effective against the Heralds. If you will not
fight then I must depend upon that girl," Gendo pointed towards a girl in
a wheelchair that had just been pushed through the door.
The girl had pale skin, light blue hair and a dark red left eye. Her right
eye couldn't be seen because it had a gauze bandage over it that was
secured by the bandage around her head. She wore gray sweat pants and a
white T-shirt. Her left arm was bandaged and her right arm was in a cast
held inside a sling.
"Commander, I must protest..." Dr. Akagi, the blond woman pushing the
wheelchair, was cut off as Gendo held up his hand.
Gendo turned to the girl in the wheelchair, "Rei, I've got a visitor for
you today. Do you remember Shinji?"
"Shinji... Shin-chan?" Rei's left eye wandered lazily around Gendo's
office before settling on Shinji, "Is that you Shin-chan? We used to play
hide and seek..."
"Hide and seek?" Shinji thought for a moment and monstrous memories came
back to him in a flood, "No! No! No! Mother..." He dropped to his knees
then curled up on the floor, hugging himself tightly.
"Shin-chan? What's the matter Shin-chan? Did you drop your crayons
again?" Rei attempted to get out of the wheelchair, but Dr. Akagi held her
down gently.
"Rei, it's time for your nap," Dr. Akagi wheeled her charge back out the
door.
Gendo got out of his chair, walked over and gently prodded Shinji with his
boot, "He is obviously not ready yet, take him away and fire that
psychologist."
Misato knelt down and shook Shinji by the shoulder, "Are you ok?"
Shinji nodded, wiped away his tears and let Misato help him to his feet.
Shinji remained silent as they went back to Misato's car then on the way
back to the train station he asked her, "When my father said he wanted me
to fight, he didn't mean with my hands did he? And if you got a giant
robot or some super weapon then anybody could use it and not just that
girl, right?"
"I'm afraid that we don't have any giant robots and we can't build a weapon
that can harm the Heralds, but don't worry about Rei, she's tougher than
she looks. By the way, you must never tell anybody about anything you saw
at NERV, especially about Rei's current condition. It's all top secret."
At that moment the alarm sounded in NERV headquarters.
Gendo punched the intercom for the command room, "What is it?"
"An orange signal just came over the southeast horizon," First Lieutenant
Makoto Hyuga replied.
"I'm on my way," Gendo punched the comm button for Dr. Akagi, "Get Rei
ready."
"We're on it," She replied.
On the surface evacuation signs lit up along the street.
"An attack now?" Misato looked up as jet aircraft streaked across the sky
on full afterburners, "Shinji, I need to get back to headquarters. Get to
that shelter and I'll come pick you up after this is over."
Shinji stood and watched as she drove off then started to walk towards the
shelter sign she had indicated.
As Gendo entered the command room he could tell at a glance how close the
Herald was already, "Why didn't Australia warn us?"
"They were down for repairs," Makoto answered.
"Why wasn't I informed that our sensor network was down?"
"They didn't tell us about it."
"Heads will roll. Assuming any of us survive this day," Gendo pushed a
comm button, "Is the first child ready yet?"
"We're getting her there," In the infirmary, Dr. Akagi and her assistant
First Lieutenant Maya Ibuki dressed Rei in a form fitting dark blue suit
with black trim, gloves and boots and a white circle on the chest with a
blue number zero in it.
Dr. Akagi gave Rei a shot in her left arm then rolled down her left sleeve
and locked her left glove to it as Maya adjusted Rei's sling over her right
arm.
"Now Rei, can you hear me?" Dr. Akagi asked.
Rei blinked her left eye then focused on Dr. Akagi, "Yes Doctor."
"In a few minutes this shot will take full effect. Then I want you to get
up and try walking. We'll be here to catch you if you fall. This shot
should bring you to full alertness for 30 minutes while blocking your pain,
but it also blocks your sense of touch. So don't use your stealth power
all that much because you won't be able to feel where your feet are. And
also be careful because you can hurt yourself very badly and you won't know
it until it's too late."
"Understood, and after the 30 minutes?"
"You're going to fall into a coma and there's nothing we can do to bring
you out of it for the rest of the day without killing you. So please win
the battle before then. The Herald's AT field is most likely going to be
stronger than yours, but we hope it's not as strong as its master's."
"Understood."
Up on the surface, Shinji reached the sheather then read the note on the
door that it had been damaged in the recent earthquake and that the nearest
working sheather was at the corner of E and 4th streets. He walked over to
the street corner and tried to figure out which direction that was. In the
distance he could hear thunder, but it was from explosives, and not the
weather.
In the command room First Lieutenant Shigeru Aoba looked at the screen,
"UNAF first strike complete. No survivors, no effect. They're asking if
they should try a nuke now?"
"No," Gendo studied the display, "It's too close now. It wouldn't have any
effect on the Herald and it would mess up our sensors. Call them off;
we'll handle things from here."
"Call from Germany," Makoto said.
"I'll take it," Gendo picked up his handset after the first ring, "Is the
Second Child active yet? No, just keep her there. Have The Weapon ready
and hand it to her if Third Impact happens. She was there the last time it
was activated so she'll have to figure it out. She can't save the Earth
today, but she might be able to avenge it."
Misato rushed into the command room and looked at the viewscreen, where a
giant foot came down on a figure running down the street. She touched some
controls and the display rewound and zoomed in on the figure as it crossed
its arms over its head just before it was stepped on. "It's Shinji. Oh my
god! It's killed Shinji! That bastard!"
"Captain."
Misato turned to Gendo, "That thing just killed your son. Don't you care
at all?"
Gendo continued to study the screen over his folded hands, "The Third Child
is not dead."
"Blue signal" Makoto announced and Shigeru confirmed it.
Misato turned back to the screen and watched as something flowed from the
footprint and reformed into a battered, scraped and stunned, but very much
alive Shinji Ikari. "Dr. Akagi, Shinji has activated. And his power isn't
the same as Rei's."
"I heard. We expected that." Dr. Akagi handed a second blue uniform to Rei
as Maya strapped her into a pod set into a tube in the wall, "Give this to
Shinji."
"Understood."
Next chapter: The Third Child, or It's Quite a Stretch.