Disclaimer: I own neither Evangelion or the X-Men. I did come up with this story however. So, it’s mine.

Author’s note: Wowee! Took long enough. Going on, let’s see, one, two... several months. I’m sorry. Things happened, I just didn’t work on it, excuses excuses. Thing is, I finally got the first volume of the show. It totally renewed my interest in Evangelion, and it got me thinking about both Apprentice and this story here. So, I finished my half finished Apprentice chapter(which had been that way since the end of school) and decided I should work on the next chapter of this as well. I’ve been avoiding it due to having to copy some things from the manga directly, something I’m not thrilled about. But, I’ve worked this around some and now can make it more original. In fact, I’ll be able to reduce relying on the manga a great deal pretty soon, or so I hope.

So, without further ado, on with the show!

“Hurry!” exclaimed Misato, the monster getting closer to their position.

“Okay!” exclaimed Shinji, jumping into the car. Misato floored it, taking off before Shinji even had the door all the way shut. It closed, and Shinji quickly put on his seatbelt.

“Sorry I’m late,” said Misato, eyes glued to the road.

“N-no,” said Shinji, the sound of explosions filling the air behind them, “I’m the one who was late.” Another explosion sounded.

“The entire tank force was wiped out,” said Misato. Shinji couldn’t quite read her expression, her shades being too dark to see her eyes. “The army’s throwing everything they’ve got at that thing. The missiles aren’t even affecting it!”

“What is it, anyway?” asked Shinji.

“You seem pretty calm, all things considering,” said Misato.

“Yeah?” asked Shinji. Misato nodded.

“That thing,” she explained, “Is an ‘Angel’.”

“Angel?” asked Shinji, confused. “No kind of Angel I’ve ever heard of.” Suddenly, one of the missiles fired at the Angel veered off course, ricocheting off of a building.

“Oh no!” exclaimed Misato, quickly trying to turn the car away and head in a new direction. The missile hit right behind them, exploding and flipping the car over. Misato groaned. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” said Shinji, upside down. Suddenly, the car was covered in shadow. A giant hand reached down and grabbed the car. “Another one!?”

“No!” exclaimed Misato, “This one’s on our side!” The hand put the car back right-side up. Shinji looked out the window to see what it was, but he couldn’t get a good look at it. All he could tell was that it was human-like in shape, and that it was the biggest moving thing he’d ever seen. There were suddenly several crashes in succession, sounding like giant footsteps.

“The Angel’s coming!” exclaimed Misato. The giant thing turned to the Angel. It balled it’s hands into fists. Suddenly, three long blades extended from each hand. Shinji’s eyes widened.

“Whoa,” he said. “That’s just like-”CRASH! The Angel tackled the giant, sending it crashing into a nearby building.

“Hang on!” said Misato, flooring it once more. As she dodged the debris in the street, Shinji kept watching the battle behind them. Actually, it was all around them. The two fighters were so large that almost everything they did covered a massive amount of distance. No matter how far away Misato got them, the battle seemed to get there in no time. The giant was taking a severe beating.

“Our guy’s getting clobbered,” said Shinji, worried.

“Not for long,” said Misato, her eyes still invisible. Cloud’s began forming overhead. They quickly became dark storm clouds. Suddenly, a huge bolt of lightning struck the Angel, momentarily paralyzing it. The clouds moved downwards, becoming a fog around the giant, who kneeled down. The mist cleared, and the Giant was gone.

“What was that?” asked Shinji. “What’s up with that weather?”

“No Time to explain,” said Misato, “We need to keep going.”

888

“Pilot’s heart rate and blood pressure dropping!” exclaimed a techy. “Neural interface down 5!”

“She’s hemorrhaging through the chest plate seems!” cried another.

“Three minutes until N2 detonation!” announced a third.

“Call it back,” said the man with the shining dark glasses. “It can’t be helped.” The mist gave the Giant on screen cover as a hatch opened. The Giant was taken underground on a large metal platform. The hatch closed just as the mist cleared.

888

Shinji looked back at the city. “All the planes are clearing out,” he said. “Did they give up?”

“Oh no!” exclaimed Misato, seeing something in her review mirror. “Tuck your head in your lap and brace for impact!”

Suddenly there was an explosion larger than Shinji could have ever imagined. The car, though miles from the city, began to leave the road. Misato grabbed on to Shinji to try and protect him. The car flipped straight over.

888

“Ha!” exclaimed a military man. “We got it!” They watched the explosion on screen, the military man, his two comrades, and the man in dark glasses and his team. “Did you see that!? That’s the power of our N2 mines!” The man in glasses simply watched the now static filled screen grimly, the light reflecting off of his glasses and hiding his expression. “Do you know what this means? The Eva’s are unnecessary!”

“Still standing by for target destruct confirmation,” said a techy.

“An explosion of that force?” asked an older military man. “Can there be any doubt?” Suddenly, there was a loud beeping from one of the monitors.

“The energy readings just spiked!” exclaimed a techy.

“WHAT!?”

“Visuals back online!” The screen showed a gigantic crater with a small black object in the center. The screen zoomed in, and the military men paled. The Angel slowly stood up. The mine had done nothing to it, except reveal a second face growing from the chest.

“Our trump card for nothing,” said the first military man. “We sacrificed all of Tokyo-2. That thing is a monster... a demon...”

“Yes,”said a third military man, talking on a telephone. “Understood.” Click. He looked at the man. “HQ has just transferred authority for this operation to you, Ikari. Let’s see what you’re capable of.”

“We’ll be frank,” said the older gentleman. “The U.N. army admits that our weapons were ineffective against the target. But, do you really think you can do much better?”

“Do not be concerned,” said Commander Ikari, standing up with an unnoticeable limp. He turned to face the three men. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, just moving them out of the glare and revealing his eyes. “After all, this is the purpose of NERV.

888

“Ugh,” grunted Shinji, ignoring the broken glass around him. He turned his head, coming face-to-face with Misato’s chest. He blushed. “A-are you alright M-Miss Katsuragi?”

“I... I can’t take this anymore...” whimpered Misato, her shades having fallen from her eyes. She looked somewhere between dazed and on the verge of tears. They crawled out of the car. Misato helped Shinji up. “You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Shinji, putting his hand to his forehead.

“AAAHH!” screamed Misato, causing Shinji to jump. “No! The body’s riddled with shrapnel! And I had 33 payments left on her!” She looked down. “Damn it! My favorite dress, ruined! I’ll never get these stains out!” She bent down, picking up what used to be her sun glasses. “And my shades are ruined to boot.” She hung her head in defeat.

‘What a strange lady,’ thought Shinji. She turned to face him.

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed, rushing to grab him. “Shinji are you okay?”

“Huh?” asked Shinji, blinking.

“You’re bleeding!” Sure enough, there was a good amount of blood on Shinji’s forehead, and on his hand.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Shinji. He wiped his hand across his forehead again. He wiped off all of the blood. Misato waited for him to keep bleeding, but nothing happened. “Did I get it off?”

“Uh, yeah,” said Misato, slowly. “Are you in pain? Do you feel any more bleeding?” Shinji shook his head, wiping the blood off of his hands.

“It might have just looked bad,” said Shinji. “It could have been one of those small cuts that heal up really fast.”

“I guess,” said Misato. “Come on. Help me with this.” She and Shinji grabbed the car, and began to tip it over. “We still have a schedule to keep.”

888

The car was on a special platform, which moved down a large hallway. Misato sat in the driver’s seat, reapplying her lipstick.

“NERV?” asked Shinji, looking at the manual he’d been given.

“Yep,” said Misato, putting the final touches on her make-up. “A special agency under the direct control of the U.N. I work there as an international civil servant, same as your father.” Shinji smirked.

“So you’re in the ‘admirable job of defending humanity’ too?” asked Shinji.

“What’s with the sarcasm?”

“What’s so great about humanity?” asked Shinji. Misato looked a bit confused. “Never mind.” They rode on in silence for a bit, until Shinji finally asked the question that had been burning in his mind from the beginning. “Miss Katsuragi?”

“Misato’s fine,” she answered. “But what’s up?”

“Why did my father call me here?” asked Shinji. “I thought he’d forgotten about me.”

“You should ask him that yourself,” said Misato. Shinji looked down at his lap. “You’re not comfortable around your father, are you?" Shinji shook his head. They suddenly reached the end of the hallway. The rail was now taking them through a gigantic, dome covered area. Shinji looked out the window in awe. Above them were buildings, and below was a lush green forest with a pyramid in the center.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Shinji. “Is this a real geofront?”

“Mhmm,” answered Misato. “NERV H.Q. The stronghold of humanity, and the key to resurrecting the world!”

888

“Haaah! Haaah! Haaah!” The blue haired girl’s labored breathing pained even the medical team that was rushing her down the hallway on the Gurney. She had bandages over one eye, and a cast on her arm.

“Pilot has suffered severe injuries!” exclaimed one doctor. “There’s a possibility of splenic rupture!”

“The LCL is causing interference!” explained a second. “She can’t-”

“We can see that!” shouted a third. “Just hurry and get her to the medical bay now! We need to get as much LCL out as possible before we can help her!” He put an oxygen mask on her face to help her breath. It would take everything they had to help her pull through.

888

“The U.N. is beating a full retreat,” said the older man who had been with Ikari earlier. “What do you plan to do?”

“We’ll simply have to reinitialize Unit 1,” said Ikari.

“But Gendo!” exclaimed the older man. “Rei can’t go again! We have no pilot!”

“No need for concern,” said Gendo, watching a screen. It showed a purple haired woman leading a brown haired boy down a hallway. “One has just been delivered.”

Boom! And we’re getting ready for it! I wanted the battle to be in this chapter, but I felt that it would be better to wait or this chapter would be too long, and too much would have been going on. Besides, I wanted to get it done and get it to you guys. Of Course, I might go and combine this with the first chapter. Tell me what you think.

So yeah, next time I’ll reveal some more. What is the LCL disrupting? Was Shinji's wound really small enough to just heal up that fast? And where’d the lightning come from? Answers next time. Stay tuned.