Evangelion: Beneath the archangel's wing.

Chapter 1, prologue: Eva.

The sunlight strikes him right in the face as he exits the automatic train, forcing him to raise a hand to shield against the momentarily blinding light. The young boy, Shinji Ikari, takes a moment to get his bearings and notes with some confusion that the station is completely empty exempt for those working there, it's as if the concept of rush hour didn't apply to the city. He lets out a forlorn little sigh, hefts his backpack over his shoulders and heads for the main station building. Not that I was expecting the red carpet, but still...

Making it out of the railway station and into the not-so-much bustling city of Tokyo-3, Shinji looks around, and then takes up a crumbled-up picture from his pocket. The small card shows the image of a young woman clad in flowing purple hair that goes well beyond her shoulders, a tight-fitting yellow tank top and with a pair of sunglasses in her hand. Turning the card over it says to wait for 'Misato Katsuragi' at the railway station, along with a phone number at the bottom. Suppose I'll find a phone and call her, I can't see her anywhere. Whatever my dad called me here for it sounded urgent.

As he walks, Shinji ponder whether he's happy or not about the fact that Misato is not his cool step-aunt who's going to take him home to his dad from the class trip to the mountains. Oh no. The only contact we've had in the past seven-eight years is through video chat, it's not been many hours in total, and now he just calls me in like this? Shinji thinks to himself, I just don't get it.

He rounds a corner and finds a phone, finally. Paying and dialling the number on the back of the photo, Shinji has to wait only a second or two before the call is picked up, a cheeerful young female voice responding "This is Misato Katsuragi, hello!"

He stands still and silent for several long moments, realising he should have had a thought about what to say before calling. He stutters searching for words, finally saying "It's Shinji Ikari, I'm at the train station now, at a phone by a nearby corner. Your number was on the photo, so, uh, I figured I'd call."

"Ah, sweet! Just on time too. I'm already on my way, be there in a minute or two!" the Misato woman replies, and promptly hangs up, leaving Shinji with another confused and slightly dumb expression as he slowly puts the phone back, mumbling to himself "I'll just... Wait here then."

Very few cars populate the road that goes past the railway station, making it easy for Shinji to discern by the approaching sound the one that probably represents his ride home. Turning around he spies the blue car approaching, and with the sunlight aimed directly towards the driver Shinji can clearly make out the purple mass of hair and black sunglasses. Yup, that's her alright.

The car slowly grinds to a halt right next to Shinji and the door swings open. "Shinji Ikari?" the woman asks, leaning to the side and craning her head to look up at Shinji as he steps up to the car and answers, "Yes, that's me. You're Misato?"

"That's right," she replies in that same cheerful tone, taking off her sunglasses, "Get in, I'll be taking you to your dad." She has dark green eyes, but thanks to being the shy sort Shinji does his best not to stare too much at the admittedly very beautiful twenties woman as he stoves his bags into the back seat before taking the seat next to Misato, who puts the car into gear and they roll off down the empty streets. She's wearing a red tank top over a black dress rather than the tank top but it still leaves, in Shinji's mind, uncomfortably little to the imagination.

After a few minutes of driving in silence, Misato suddnely speaks up in a friendly but slightly more sedate tone than earlier, "So, Shinji.. I don't know what you've been told, but if you have questions regarding your father's work, I could have some answers for you."

Shinji stirs from his own silence and slowly turns his head towards Misato as he thinks, feeling both like he has a million questions and none at the same time, "Oh, uhm... I guess I'll ask the obvious question: what exactly does he do?"

Misato takes a moment before she replies, weighing by the looks of it how much she'll tell him. He shrugs, muttering "That his work is very top-secret and out-of-the-way has never, ironically, been a secret."

A small, wry smirk spreads across Misato's lips as she nods, "He does prefer to let people know his work is above their paygrade rather than pretend innocence. Let's just say that he's the commander of one of NERV's five worldwide bases, NERV-3 to be exact, part of an organisation that has existed for about a decade. We're working on the very top cutting-edge science and tech you'd probably never have heard about if it wern't for me, funded largely by the UN. All those cheesy mecha anime you've probably watched? We can make them happen."

"Really?" Shinji says, sceptical, "And what does he need me for, who can't even get good grades at math? Did my mother leave and he needs moral support?"

Misato snickers at that, her face smirk widening to a toothy grin, "Hate to dissapoint, but I think you'll like the real reason a lot less than that one. Those mecha I mentioned? We need you to star in one, for real. We have a giant robot in a bunker below the city, and you need to pilot it."

"...You what? That makes no sense, miss."

"You're going to have to trust me for now, kiddo. It'll be much easier to explain once we've-"

Misato is broken off mid-sentence by her phone ringing. She picks it up, looks at the screen, and her expression changes to a mix of surprise and concern, she mumbles "Why would they be calling me" and brings the phone to her ear.

– –

– –

Slamming down the phone, the elderly man rises from his elevated position, and looks around the massive cavern of a command centre. One half is occupied by an empty void, the other half is taken up by a set of elevated platforms set up in three levels, the man in question standing behind a plain metal desk on the smallest level at the top. A sigh escapes his lips. So it's finally starting, then.

He opens his mouth to speak, loud so that everyone even down at the bottom level can hear him, "I've just received a call from the JSSDF reporting an enormous object coming in from the sea, on a straight course for Tokyo-3. A message was send from a civilian plane, describing the object as a vaguely human-like creature almost as tall as a sky-scraper."

From the level below him, a woman barely out of her teens sitting at one of the three junior command officer stations speaks up, worry evident in her voice, "Angel, commander Fuyutsuki?"

"I assume so," the old man replies, and activates a small mic attached to his ear that amplifies his voice so that it reaches every corner of the enormous room and into every speaker in the complex, "All combatants and command staff, report to your stations! Combat code two, red alert!"

Throughout the massive underground complex alarms turn on, painting every corridor in red light as men and women abandon their idle activities, scrambling to their station and their duties. Inside the massive command centre, the empty half of the room is lit up by layers of holographic displays showing the city, the region the city occupies, the entirety of Japan, and the massive underground cavity below Tokyo-3, within which NERV lies. A viewscreen large enough to encompass the entire far wall also blinks to life, currently showing a live feed of the ocean just outside Tokyo Bay.

"What is our situation?" Fuyutsuki asks as he takes his seat again.

"Enemy not yet detected by our own sensor stations," the reply comes from a man below Fuyutsuki, smart and military-like. "Judging by the reports though, it won't stay that way for long. I'm guessing at contact within the hour."

The third officer present below Fuyutsuki speaks up now, "Interception systems operating at 20% efficiency. We can't bring any of the heavy guns to bear yet, they haven't been cleared for use."

"Very well. Keep working on it, Shigure," Fuyutsuki replies, "Someone get the commander up here! I'm calling Misato. I believe she's in town to pick up the fourth child at this time."

– –

– –

The car picks up speed, so much that it exceeds the speed limit. "Holy crap, what's the freaking hurry?!" Shinji half-screams as the car speeds down the roads, making turns that are to clumsy and hap-hazard for Shinji's comfort. Outside, every screen display's gone from displaying commercials or whatever to:

Evacuation code Red

Please drop current activity and head for your designated shelter

This is not a drill

Voice completely lost of the earlier friendliness, there's now a flat professionalism about Misato that tells Shinji that something isn't right, "I think you'll be getting your answers sooner rather than later. What's presumed to be the enemy has been sighted off the coast and is heading for this city. I'm getting you to NERV HQ pronto, so civil introductions with the rest will have to wait." Face hardened and eyes focused upon the road, for all it helps her driving Shinji thinks, Misato changes the gears up one more level.

They continue in relative silence, Shinji finally mastering his nerves; the only noise being the roar of the engine, the agonised screams of the car's tires and the alarms outside still announcing the evacuation. The car eventually reaches a checkpoint, and once past it -Misato just flashed some card and they were let through- they enter a car-sized elevator, which takes them downwards in a rather steep descent.

And then there was light. Again.

Shinji can only sit and stare in awe, squeezing his face against the car's window, trying to take in as much of the massive underground cavity as he can. It's a dome, with the city sitting on top of the massive cave above ground, the bottom floor being covered by roads, grass, even trees. Underneath the city, upon the floor of the cavern there is a chalk-white pyramid built next to an artificial concrete lake. The underground space is, all in all, large enough that the actual lake down by the pyramid look like a swimming pool by comparison.

They continue along a rail path built into the side of the cavern, and eventually reach the ground, where they once again are taken underground which seems a tad excessive to Shinji. Finally they come to a stop inside a fairly unremarkable garage, and Misato parks the car. They both exit, Misato gesturing to Shinji to follow her into one of the elevators waiting for them. She keeps a hurried pace, and seem tense as the lift goes up.

After a moment's standing still however she suddenly relaxes, her shoulders slumping, and she turns her head down towards Shinji, "I'm sorry I just dropped you from my mental radar there... The command central, Central Dogma as we call it, has received word from the Japanese military that a massive object is approaching Tokyo-3." She falls silent for a moment; with a low grunt she puts her hands on her hips, "I might as well tell you, we'll run into the others any minute now anyway. The being that's approaching… We believe it's one of a race of supernatural beings we call Angels. Your job here is to fight them."

"...What?"

"You will be the pilot of a war machine specifically designed to combat the Angels, something we call an Evangelion. I'm taking you to our chief scientists and engineers so that we can give you some rudimentary practice before the Angel arrives. We will then send you out against the Angel in combat, with the support of the JSSDF." The flat professionalism again.

"What?!" Shinji blurts out upon hearing this, stuttering as he tries and fails to say something more. There's a few moments of perfect silence between the two as Shinji stares up at Misato, hoping that it's all some bad joke. Misato's shoulders slump, and her face hardens. She turns her eyes away from Shinji, back towards the elevator door. She suddenly seems sad, like one powerless to change a bad situation, "I'm sorry, Shinji. I like it no less than you do, but you won't be alone here, and you will be well-prepared."

Shinji opens his mouth to protest again, but is halted by the elevator stopping and the two are deposited into yet another featureless corridor. Misato picks up the pace, Shinji following, their shoes clacking against the metal floor. He gives up trying to protest for now, and instead asks with a hint of irritated sarcasm, "I won't be alone, huh? And who's going to help me? NERV's chief scientist that I heard my mother mention in passing once?"

"Oh yes... Ritsuko Akagi." There's a rather clear indication in Misato's voice that these women aren't at the best of terms, "She heads this place's science division, while I am the head of military ops. The commander still has supreme power over this place, but he can't do everything on his own. And yes, she'll be helping during your fight with the Angel as well."

"Okay," Shinji responds. And once again he's about to say something more when he's interrupted by rather narrowly rounding a corner – and running his face straight into someone's chest, plain surprise combined by the impact of batting your forehead against something like a ribcage knocking Shinji back so hard that he would fall, were it not for being caught in the last second by Misato.

When he regains his balance a tall woman in her early thirties, with short, thick blonde hair stands before him. She's dressed in a labcoat, her right hand just falling from clutching the point Shinji collided with, looking equally surprised. Next to her stands an even younger woman with black hair, not much taller or older than Shinji. "Well, Misato. Just in time, it seems," says the taller of the two, "And you have the fourth child with you."

"Yes I do. This is Ritsuko Akagi, by the way," Misato says in a very dry tone, not taking her eyes off the blonde, who in turn folds her arms and motions to the third woman, standing patiently and waiting next to Ritsuko, "And this is Maya Ibuki. She's a senior bridge officer here at NERV, and my assistant. Please follow her, she'll take you to your father."

Maya nods and shoots Shinji a warm, welcoming smile. "Please come this way," she says and gestures down the hallway behind her. Shinji only shrugs as acknowledgement and falls in behind her as she sets off at a brisk pace down the corridor. He glances at Maya as they walk, and comes to the conclusion that his dad is not in fact commander of an organisation that will save humanity from invasion by aliens, but running his own personal harem. Great.

"I assume you've only met Misato, Ritsuko and me here, so far?" Maya suddenly asks in a shy tone Shinji could easily have heard in himself while clutching a folder close to her chest, her azure blue eyes directed directly at Shinji. Knowing eyes, the eyes that can read you in an instant.

"Uh.. Yeah, that's right," replies Shinji. Flashing a small grin to go with her penetrating gaze, Maya continues, seemingly amused, "Well, don't worry. It's not like your father's running a harem here or anything."

– –

–

–

–

– –

Shinji and Maya having left, Ritsuko gestures to Misato down the corridor that Ritsuko and Maya came from, "Come on, Misato. The JSSDF defence committee wants to see you."

"Sounds important," Misato says, a frown coming onto her face to go with the surprised tone in her voice. The blonde nods, keeping her neutral calm. The set of corridors they now enter are more populated than previously, doors lining the walls which occasionally deposit NERV employees into the winding metal pathways. All of the regular NERV grunts are wearing beige jackets with dark orange stripes at the shoulders and pants to match, whereas the women wear short beige skirts and white linen tights instead of the pants. Distinguishing the dark brown formal uniform of NERV-3's deputy commander approaching through the crowd is not hard, and they both slow down to meet him.

"Commander Fuyutsuki," Misato says at length, a small smile crossing her face as she takes the elderly man by the hand, shaking it briefly but vigorously. Ritsuko and the deputy commander simply exchange a nod for greeting, and the three are off down the corridor again. "You're looking good, Misato. How've you been holding up since you were out on assignment?" Fuyutsuki breaks into a small smile of his own, reminding Misato of a grandfather asking his step-children what happened during the last school trip. The question prompts a hearty chuckle from her, and she draws her hand through her flowing purple hair as she gathers her response, "Well, it took a while to get used to the western food and customs. I hope I remember how to act properly," she says with a toothy grin.

"You probably shouldn't be too concerned, you might have learned a thing or two in Europe," Ritsuko breaks in, prompting Misato to spin on her heel, shout "Shut your face!" at Ritsuko and complete the turn on her heels to catch up to Fuyutsuki, having lost only two steps on him. The deputy commander doesn't seem to mind the little outburst, but after a moment he does raise an eyebrow like he's remembered something, and falls a step behind Misato to adress Ritsuko, "Speaking of acting properly... How are we doing with Unit-00? Getting any closer to a solution to the Vessel problem?"

"I believe so," she replies, pondering, "It won't be ready to be used for another two-three days, however. We're going to have to rely upon Unit-01 until then."

"Very well," Fuyutsuki says as they round another corridor, coming up to a large stair. When they reach the base, Misato grins to a halt and turns around, eyes affixed upon Fuyutsuki, "I need to ask... Judging by all this activity," Misato throws her arms out, gesturing at the significant traffic in the corridor, "I'll assume you weren't kidding when you called. So, why are you taking me to the JSSDF defence committee, and not Central Dogma?"

Ritsuko comes up to Misato, giving earlier mentioned purple-hair a brief glance as she goes, and then looks up at the deputy commander, "Do you really believe it's the Angels?"

Fuyutsuki frowns, "Indeed I do. But we don't know for certain."

"What else could it be?" Ritsuko replies, folding her arms, her voice unusually harsh for a second.

"If I knew that..." Fuyutsuki bounces his gaze between the two women. Misato folds her arms, expression as determined as her tone, "It's the Angels. And we're not ready."

"Not by a long shot..." Ritsuko injects with a gloomy undertone.

At this, Fuyutsuki chuckles a little to himself, knowing that one is foolish to argue with these two when they agree, and simply states, "Well I hope you aren't quite as adamant about that before the defence committee. They need at least some relatively good news or they'll do something stupid."

The two women exchange a quick glance, and then follows the deputy commander up the stairs. As they get to the top, Misato speaks again, "Look, unless the committee's planning on talking the Angels to death, they're a waste of time. I should be up in Central Dogma and Ritsuko should be down helping Maya with Shinji and Unit-01."

Fuyutsuki's shoulders slump at this, and he turns to Misato, voice raised ever so slightly, "Damn you and your impatience. They're just scared. They haven't seen what you've seen, only the reports, the data SEELE and you collected. It's all just theory to them."

Once again Misato's eyebrows furrow into a frown, borderline angry, "That why they've been constantly denying me promotion, denying NERV the budget it needs?"

Fuyutsuki raises a hand up in a defensive manner at this accusation, "You know that's not true. NERV, and especially you, lieutenant colonel, have been a rather sharp thorn in the side of their attempts to rebuild the Japanese military for the last decade. You should feel lucky that we have what we've got, and that we have only because we have the Evangelions to show off. The fact that you're the sole survivor of the second impact, acting as the public face for an organization of mad scientists, hasn't helped either."

"Had we not had Unit-00 and Unit-0X to keep the Third Angel locked up three years ago everything could've gone to hell, commander, and they know that," Misato says.

After a second's hesitation, Fuyutsuki responds, "I know, Misato, and so does the defence committee. Had it not been for Rei's and Aoi's actions and your excellent command during the incident NERV would have been dismantled there and then. The fact that the JSSDF didn't have to intervene was the only thing that saved us."

"That, and your good word, sir?" Ritsuko injects from behind Misato.

"Of course," Fuyutsuki nods, "I'm the last one that would see NERV be taken apart by government bureaucracy. They just need the same insurances now that they needed then, you know how quick bureaucrats are to forget old enemies."

"I'm a soldier, Fuyutsuki, not a politician," Misato states with an evident dislike for the latter in her voice. Fuyutsuki nods, his face set, "I don't need you to be either. I just need you to do whatever the hell it takes to help stop the Angels."

– –

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–

– –

I'm not sure if this is awesome or terrifying, Shinji thinks. He was taken along by Maya through a maze of corridors, a few elevators, to finally take a short boat ride across a small lake inside a hangar, and then he was brought into the presence of what these people here at NERV call an Evangelion. A machine with a dominantly purple-and-green colour scheme over a skin-tight suit of armour stands before him, shaped just as if a person was hiding behind the armour. Tall as a small sky-scraper, pylons of some sort attached to each shoulder, Shinji just decided that he could at least give it a trial run. Surely whatever's coming ain't got nothing on this?

"Shinji, please leave your shirt here, it'll get in your way in the entry plug," says Maya as she gestures to a trolley standing upon the bridge next to them. The Evangelion is locked rather firmly in place by a pair of freaking walls that holds the robot's arms in place, and a large bridge that serves to 1) lock down the Evangelion at the shoulders, just next to the neck and 2) enable people to get near the thing, as the Evangelion is drowned chest up in the same red liquid the earlier-mentioned lake is made up of.

Shinji goes on to unbutton and remove his shirt, leaving him in his black jumper, and in exchange he's given a headset-like device that Maya says he needs in order to pilot. "It augments your synchronization with the Evangelion," she explains as if he's supposed to understand what that means, "Now, let's get you into the entry plug. I'll be going back to the command centre now, but we'll talk you through everything we do here, alright?"

"Uh, alright," Shinji responds dumbly as he's shown around the back of the Evangelion by another NERV employee, and up a ramp. Then there's a sound like a crane coming to life overhead, and looking up he can see a holding arm lifting down a cylinder of some description, almost completely featureless exempt for a hatch that opens up before him. Inside there is nothing but a hatch at the bottom and a strange, sleek seat with a pair of butterfly wing controllers, one for each hand, with a set of buttons and a slit along the side of the seat where the controllers can move back and forth.

A part of the armour plating covering the Evangelion's upper neck opens up and reveals a hole in the evangelion's spine, where he guesses this cylinder is supposed to fit in. Shinji stands and inspects the cylinder tentatively, thinking This day has been so full of crazy, what am I doing, incredulous and strangely giddy. He freely admits to himself that despite the fact that this is apparently for real, and dangerous, it's every nerd's wet dream come to life before him and he is definitely nerdy enough to be excited.

"Shinji!"

A woman's voice echoes through the hangar, one that snaps Shinji right back to Earth. Turning around, he sees a woman walking up to him across the bridge, approaching the ramp he's standing on. Short brown hair and slender figure, Yui Ikari's shoes echo against the metal as she steps up to Shinji. A smile breaks out over his face and Shinji steps away from the entry plug, "Mother? You are here too? Where-" Shinji gets out no more as Yui embraces him tightly, "It's so good to see you again, Shinji, but to meet under these circumstances... I'm sorry."

"Yes, it would've been nice to have you here as insurance when they tried to convince me to get in the giant robot... I'm no child, but I feel like getting the input from someone I know would be reassuring."

Yui sighs, and lets Shinji go, staring into his eyes, "I'm here now. Had the situation been any different, I would not be encouraging you to do this, but this is important. You are our last line of defence."

"Figured I'd find you both here," says another voice from below. As Shinji and Yui turn their heads down towards the voice, Yui keeping a hand on Shinji's shoulder, it dawns on him that surely he's been set up all along. This is the most elaborate and exaggerated late birthday party ever.

Down below, sporting a black formal jacket and pants, Gendo Ikari adjusts his amber glasses as he looks up at the two, "We don't have much time, I'm afraid. Shinji, I'm standing with your mother in that we need you on this. I hate to say it, but introductions will have to wait. The Angel is on its way." Shinji is still amazed at how his dad can look so stoic and yet sound supportive.

Yui sighs again, and lets go of Shinji. She gives him one last look, as if trying to reassure him, and then she begins stepping down the stairs towards Gendo, who continues, "We'll be walking you through this. Now get in the giant robot, son," he finishes with a very subtle little smile, his voice almost cheery for a moment. And it does reassure Shinji.

Somewhat.

Awesome.

And so he climbs in.

– –

– –

"Alright, like Ray Arnold said: hold on to your butts, we're starting synchronisation!"

Lieutenant Shigeru Aoba grins to himself as he taps a last button on his own keyboard, the main viewscreen coming to life, displaying the purple Evangelion as it stands now in an enormous, featureless white room. The transport pad which is still holding the motionless mecha slowly sinks into the floor, and Shigeru gestures dramatically to the girl on the other side of the command bridge, "Take over, Maya."

Nodding, she swiftly taps in a few commands, a code, and then makes way for Ritsuko, who taps in one of her own. Yui then does the same, having arrived at the bridge together with Gendo. "The Evangelion is cleared for synchronisation," she states, anticipation evident in her voice. "Ready, Shinji?"

A tense "Mhm" is the response they get from Shinji, who is now confined to the entry plug inside Unit-01.

"Beginning preliminary contact. First stage connection initialised."

"Roger," it comes from the lower third level, "filling the entry plug with LCL."

–

Shinji can, with increasing worry, notice how a bright amber liquid starts filling the entry plug from the bottom. "The hell is this? Why is there-" and he gets out no more as the liquid gets over his head and he has to hold his breath, that western proverb that he's taken water over his head coming to mind. After a moment, Ritsuko's voice comes in through the mic, "This stuff is called LCL. It will act as a shock absorbent during combat. It's oxygenated, too, you can breathe it perfectly well."

"That's the truth, Shinji. It's harmless to you," Yui injects.

Fighting down the instinct that tells him not to open his mouth because he's about to freaking drown, Shinji takes a moment to convince himself that his own mother wouldn't to do that. He finally opens his mouth, and instead has to fight down the urge to vomit as the liquid fills his lungs. But he does survive.

–

"Good," Maya continues, focusing intently on the scaling data streams on her console, "Connect main power."

"Connecting main power," Makato Hyuga announces, the third second-level bridge officer.

"Commencing secondary connections. A-10 connections nominal."

"Set the thought configuration to Japanese," Ritsuko says, hand on Maya's shoulder as they go. She taps in some command into her console, and then announces with anticipation, "Bi-directional circuits are open. All preliminary contacts established."

"Synchronization rate holding at.. 30%.. 35%.. 40%.. 42%!" Yui says with surprise and amazement. "Impressive. You're doing good, Shinji!" she adds with cheer unusual for someone usually so dignified.

"Uh.. Yeah, that's great, please tell me the magical rainbow ride I just took was normal?" Shinji sounds somewhat distressed, the small screen in the top right corner of the viewscreen showing him moving his head here and there and poking at the walls of the plug. And Yui can't help notice, with a smile growing on her lips, that the Evangelion's head is moving as well.

– –

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–

– –

Ritsuko's surprised that Shinji's learning to operate the Evangelion so quickly. Well, the term 'operate' being relative, he's just figured how to jump from one side of the room to the other without falling over. Oh joy, she thinks. "Alright, Shinji, I want you to try to draw your knife. There's one stored inside each one of your shoulder pylons. Just think 'deploy knife', and then draw."

The Evangelion ceases its ridiculous hopping about the test room, and stands as if petrified for a moment; the words 'KNIFE DEPLOYED' are after another moment displayed on the main viewscreen, and you can see the left shoulder pylon opening up at the front to reveal a handle. The Eva fumbles for a bit as it tries to draw the knife, and eventually succeeds, inspecting the stylish weapon as the edge begins to glow subtly white.

"That wasn't so hard... How do I put it back in there?" Shinji wonders, and Ritsuko is just about to respond when an angry red light starts blinking over at Shigeru's console, "The hostile's been sighted, approaching fast. It'll reach Tokyo-3 outskirts in approximately fifteen minutes!"

"Blood pattern blue confirmed," Maya reports from her station.

"Well then. Training session's over, Shinji. Let's get the EVA to the launch pad." Walking over to Makato, Misato taps in a few commands of her own, then asks Makato, "Can you get a visual image of the target?"

"Yes, ma'am."

The viewscreen momentarily turns off, and then flashes to life again.

Then all in the bridge are faced with the statue of the Angel before them, a living proof of how small mankind ultimately is, at least technically speaking.

The Angel's still a little to far out for anyone to make a detailed account of the creature, but Misato can tell as much: it has the shape of a human torso, with what looks like a single leg hanging down from the 'hip' that lacks a defined foot, unmoving despite the Angel's rapid transit over the land. Its skin colour is a borderline black grey tint. She also thinks she can discern three pairs of thin, white appendages like bones sticking out from some point on the thing's back. She can see white lines going around the Angel's torso, but can't make out what they are, exactly. There is also a white dot between what would constitute the Angel's 'shoulders' had it had arms.

Looking down at the ground, you can see rows of tanks lining up in the path of the approaching Angel. In the skies VTOLs soar through the evening gloom, and all at once missiles, rockets and tank fire hails down upon the Angel. Then there's a flash of light, centred upon the white dot on Angel's upper chest between the shoulders. The ground vibrates as a massive explosion rips up the amassed tank columns in a pillar of pink energy that shoots into the sky. As it reaches the cloud layer it develops two horizontal pillars as well, taking the form of a radiant crimson crucifix of pure energy, casting a dim red light over the city.

End of prologue chapter 1.