Batman created by Bob Kane and owned by DC Comics. Evangelion created by Hideki Anno and owned by Gainax Animation Studios. I own the story and any original characters; no copyright infringement is intended.

Neon Genesis Evangelion/Batman: Darkness Returns

Synopsis: As the war against the Angels rages on, the Batman, hero of yesteryear and long thought dead, comes out of hiding to expose the truth behind SEELE and NERV's machinations and by doing so, to avenge those closet to him who suffered SEELE's wrath.

Shinji Ikari

Rei Ayanami

Asuka Langley Soryu

Misato Katsuragi

Ritsuko Akagi

Touji Suzuhara

Makoto Hyuga

Maya Ibuki

Shigeru Aoba

Gendo Ikari

Kouzou Fuyutski

Ryouji Kaji

Keel Lorenz

Bruce Wayne AKA the Batman

Barbara Gordon AKA Oracle

John Henry Irons AKA Steel

And more to come!

"We hold all the tiles, all the winds and dragons. There is nothing they can do."

-Gendou Ikari, episode 14: WEAVING A STORY (English Dub)-

"Will you require anything else, Mr. Malone?"

"No thank you."

The man known by all outward appearances as Matches Malone waited until the bellhop had left his Tokyo-3 hotel suite that he allowed himself a breath of relief.

That was not an understatement. In the years before the Second Impact he had faced some of the greatest mortal threats the world had ever seen. LexCorp and its ruthless founder former President Lex Luthor. The International terrorist Bane, the man who had broken his back. Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins…

Despite his long standing hatred of the man who had unleashed the Ebola virus in Gotham City and had used his anti-JLA files against him, the man allowed himself just a hint of amusement play across his face.

How Ra's had reacted to the crisis would never be known; he had not been sighed in fifteen years and try as he might, the Dark Knight had been unable to locate him. If Ra's was alive, Bruce doubted that he would be showing his six-hundred year-old face anytime soon with SEELE in control. The same also applied to Vandal Savage and so many others with aspirations of world domination who had disappeared or gone underground after the Second Impact.

Unfortunately, the same had applied to heroes as well. Those who had tried to investigate the truth about the Second Impact had disappeared and had most likely been eliminated. The Atom. Booster Gold. Bruce however, had done this for many years, most notably during his infiltration of LexCorp, which he had been in the middle of before the Second Impact.

In the aftermath, he had recognized the government cover-up when he had seen it. But the security that concealed this cabal was more tightly drawn than anything the World's Greatest Detective had ever encountered. It had been so great that it had taken just a year to learn the cabal's name.

SEELE.

German, meaning soul. A dominant soul that stood upon thousands of others.

Including the souls of Dick and Tim.

Bruce began shuddering violently, consumed by an anger that rivaled his fury over his parents' deaths. But he calmed himself instantly. He could do nothing to bring them back. But he could stop SEELE and those bastards Lorenz Kiel and Gendou Ikari here and now and make his protégées' sacrifice not in vain.

Now calmer, Wayne opened one of his suitcases and with a tap of a switch, disabled the lock on the false compartment. Inside was a Bat-costume, circa 2015. He had not worn it in almost that long; it had simply been too dangerous to be seen as the Dark Knight after the Gotham incident. Inside were also several utility belts, each containing Batarangs, gas pellets, Bat-Rope, and the rest of his arsenal that had caused Superman to dub him, "The Most Dangerous Man on Earth."

Clark…Bruce sighed. More than ever he could have used the friendship and powers of the Man of Steel and the other half of The World's Finest Team as they had been dubbed many years. But Clark was gone, missing after the JLA's attempted intervention in Antarctica. But there were other allies. Oracle and Steel were awaiting his uplink to the one of the many satellite Batcaves that he maintained around the globe.

And so, soon it would begin. The infiltration of NERV HQ would commence in order to expose the truth behind the so called "Project E" and the Evangelion. They were many and he was one. They were the law and he was an outlaw (something that hadn't changed in this entire time). But he was the Batman, the Dark Knight of Gotham City. He was ready. It would be dangerous and the future was unforeseeable. But, after all, as it had been stated on so many occasions by friends and foes alike, when did the Batman not have a plan of action?

To be continued…