Categories > Anime/Manga > Neon Genesis Evangelion > Science Ninja Avengers
CHAPTER 3
While Misato washed up in the private bathroom all the rooms had, Shinji walked out to inform the others of Misato’s new situation, only to come face-to-face with a large, blue-furred creature in a black vest and pants. Behind him was a tall man in a red and yellow outfit.
"Who are you?" Shinji gasped defensively as the ‘creature’ spoke.
"Hello young man. I am Dr. Henry McCoy, currently of the X-Men. My friends call me 'Hank' and my codename is Beast." he said, quickly summing himself up.
Shinji just looked at the blue furred man in stunned silence.
"Uh, I'm Shinji Ikari." He said, then noticed Captain America come up behind him, and nod his approval. Breathing a sigh of relief as he relaxed, Shinji then said, "Welcome to ISO Field HQ."
"ISO?" Beast asked curiously.
"International Science Organization. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Code name's Falcon. Nice to meet you Dr, McCoy." he explained as he shook Hank’s much larger hand. "Forgive me if I was rude. But I had to make sure you were cool."
"Understandable Shinji," he said as he shook his hand. "I’m sure a group of new faces in a secret underground base would be more than a little suspicious. Especially one like mine."
Releasing his hand, Shinji then turned to look at the tall Russian man.
"I am Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, but you can call me Colossus." He said, towering over Shinji as the pair shook hands.
Shinji just looked at him for a couple seconds before speaking.
"Okay, stupid question, but, why are you called Colossus?" Shinji asked, causing Piotr to respond by transforming his skin into pure metallic steel. Even his eyes looked like metal. His body also seemed to increase in size, now standing about 6 foot 10 Shinji figured. Shinji just looked up at him. "Like I said, stupid question."
He then looked over to see an attractive red head, her mask now around her neck which showed off her green eyes. She grinned at him, thinking him cute as well. He bowed and introduced himself.
"I’m Shinji Ikari." he said.
"I'm Mary Jane Watson-Parker, A.K.A. Spider Woman, I guess." She said, grabbing Spider Man’s arm in a tight hug. "I'm this big lug's wife."
Everyone looked to Spider Man, some in shock.
"You’re married?" Tigra gasped.
Spidey looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, yeah, almost ten years." He said as he removed his mask, revealing his boyishly handsome face, with brown hair and hazel eyes. "Peter Parker, at your service."
I wish. Some of the female Avengers thought.
"Everything alright, Shinji?" Captain America asked.
"Yes, sir. I just asked Misato to join us as a member of ISO." Shinji said.
"And I’m very happy to join you guys." Misato said, stepping out from the room.
"Psylocke?" Beast and Colossus gasped when they saw the purple-haired Japanese woman.
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Meanwhile in NERV, things were not going well. Apart from security having been breached, and several important files stolen, Gendo had been sent to the hospital after getting hit by a fist with the force of a hundred-mile-per-hour baseball.
"His jaw has several hairline fracture’s along the left side of his face, a few of his teeth are gone from the punch." said Ritsuko, reading the doctors report. "He’s got a concussion from the fall to the floor, and because of the punch, his jaw has been wired shut."
Least we won’t have to hear him talk. Fuyutsuki thought with a nod. He was an elderly man, his brown hair turned gray a while back, and his soft brown eyes had seen everything since joining NERV. He was also very regretful about his participation in Gendo’s and SEELE's plans.
He was dressed in the same type of outfit as Gendo, which was to his displeasure, but as the acting commander he had little choice. He was looking over to Ritsuko as she was telling him about Gendo's injuries.
"Alright then," he said. "keep me informed on his condition. And keep me posted as to the whereabouts of Captain Katsuragi and The Third Child."
"Yes sir," she said. "Though he does have a name."
"I haven’t met him and I don’t know him personally, so I can’t call him by his name, now can I?" The elderly man said.
"No. I guess not." Ritsuko replied, noting the logical civility he used.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(ISO FIELD HQ HANGER)
"Are you sure about this?" Shinji asked as he looked at the designs that Tony had rendered on the state-of-the-art computer.
"It does seem rather... egocentric." T'Challa, a tall, athletic, and handsome African man said.
"Are you saying that because it looks like me, or because you don’t think it’ll work?" Tony Stark, a handsome, dark-haired man with a thin mustache asked.
"No, I’m sure your designs will work." the Wakandian king stated. "I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to create a weapon system that so blatantly looks like you."
"It’s my signature, T'Challa. Granted it’s not my usual design, but considering we’re up against giant monsters, I thought a giant robot would have been appropriate. The fact that I made it look like my Iron Man armor is more for consistency."
Consistency he says. T’Challa mused. "Hmm. I think we’re going to have to bring Spider Man in on this. He has expertise in computer and electronic technology. Hank McCoy as well."
"Good idea. They’d be valuable assets in this endeavor." Tony said.
While Shinji went to locate the necessary human resources they had selected, T'Challa noticed the upset look on Tony’s face.
"What’s wrong, Tony?" T'Challa asked.
"Nothing really. It’s just.... back in our world we relied on either government funding, or our own resources to get what we needed. But here, we don’t have that. My company, your country, or even Janet’s family fortune. We’re relying on Shinji and his ISO group for our technology, housing and basic needs. It’s just... unsettling." Tony said.
"True. But we don’t have much choice, since we’re not in our world. And if we’re going to find a way home, we’ll need all the allies we can get. And if we can’t then it’s best to make ourselves useful to Shinji and the ISO, so that we’ll at least be able to live." T’Challa said.
"You’re right, of course. I just don’t like wasting that kind of time, especially in the middle of a war." Tony stated.
"Middle? From what Shinji tells me, this was has just started." T’Challa said. Which probably means we won’t have time to build a complete robot should the next Angel arrive. "Hmm...."
"What ‘Hmm’?" the mustached inventor asked, noticing his friends thoughtful expression.
"I.... have an idea. But... here, let me show you." the African man said as he punched the computer keys.
T’Challa quickly brought up his idea on the computer, and Tony had to grin as he saw it.
"And you said my idea was egocentric." Tony grinned as Shinji, Peter and Hank arrived.
"What’s that?" Peter asked as he saw the panther designs on the computer.
"An idea I’ve come up with to battle these Angels." T’Challa said as Shinji examined the design.
"Angels? Messengers of God?" Hank asked.
"If this is his messenger," Peter said as Shinji brought up the image of the first Angel he and Silver Wing had destroyed. "then his message is ‘get off my planet!’ Hank, these aren’t like the perfect people with wings and halos. These are monsters. And I still can’t believe we have to fight them!"
"I fear we will have little choice in the matter." Tony said as Shinji switched back to T’Challa’s blueprint-designs.
"This could work." Shinji said, as he examined the plans. "If we alter the designs, we should be able to construct multiple assault vehicles that will combine into a single robot. Silver Wing included."
"The panther mech would be the best one to start with." T’Challa said. "It would give us a land-based vehicle to be a counterpart to Silver Wing."
"I guess it’ll be Misato's then." Shinji said.
"Misato's?" Hank asked.
"I did promise her the means to fight the Angel’s on her terms. I checked her file. She’s military trained, but more suited for land-based operations than aerial combat." Shinji said.
"Right." Tony said.
And with that, the team set to work.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The gymnasium in the ISO Field HQ was large enough to train Olympic athletes. And it was where the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, was training Mary Jane Watson-Parker in combat.
"This is incredible!" Mary Jane said as she blocked another onslaught of punches from Natasha.
"Not really. Your ninja form is rather predictable to overcome." Natasha said as she leg-swept the other redhead onto her backside.
"That’s not what I meant." Mary Jane said as she flipped back onto her feet.
"Than what are you referring to?" Natasha asked.
"I meant the fact that I actually know how to fight. This is better than any self-defense class I took." she said as she leaped into the air and threw a roundhouse kick to her ‘teacher’.
Natasha easily ducked the kick, and moved in close to the younger woman, coming face-to-face with her. "Self-defense classes are for muggers and purse thieves. The art of ninjitsu is for warriors. If you wish to be of value to us, then you must use it to it’s full advantage." Natasha explained. "Now... again!" she said as she backed away from MJ enough to continue their session.
"You know, I notice that you don’t train my husband this hard!" Mary Jane stated as she grabbed Natasha’s leg and threw her to the side.
Natasha landed on her hands and spring boarded onto her feet. "That is because Spider Man has proven his heroism time and time again alongside the Avengers. You... are the third person to carry the mantle of Spider Woman. As you do not have the strength of your husband, nor any of his spider-like powers, it is essential for you to be as strong as possible! Now... again!"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It had been a week since Misato had signed on as a member of the ISO, and had thus tried to keep herself busy with her new position. She was relieved that she had been allowed to bring PenPen into the new base, recruiting Logan and Colossus to help her move a few special items. Like clothes.
Naturally the whole group was shocked to find out that Misato had a pet penguin, as was PenPen to find out that his owners new friends consisted of two cat-like creatures (Tigra and Beast, whom he avoided), a guy with claws who spooked him, and a guy who dressed like a cat.
Section 2 still had no idea where Misato or the Third Child were. They didn’t even bother to check out an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city that some people had been seen at. They figured it was just squatters or homeless people.
And even though Shinji had informed Misato of the existence of the Silver Wing, and that he was the pilot, the purple-haired woman was becoming slightly bored as the week wore on. That was, until Shinji came to get her for training.
"So, I’m finally going to get some training." Misato said as she followed the young man.
"Sorry it wasn’t sooner, but we needed to build and calibrate the training module." Shinji said.
"The what?" Misato asked as they arrived at the hanger.
Inside Misato saw the other Avengers, and a couple X-Men, working to build what looked like a new giant robot, though it was still in parts and pieces.
"Here." Shinji said as he lead her to what looked like a flight simulator booth suspended about three feet off the ground by advanced hydraulics.
"Is this it?" Misato asked.
"It’s a modified flight simulator that was reprogrammed to train you based on the data T’Challa came up with for your new mecha." he explained.
"My what?" she asked.
"You said you wanted a means to fight the Angels, correct?" he asked.
"Correct." she said as he opened a small computer screen on the side of the training module.
"Well... this is what we’ve come up with for your assault vehicle." Shinji said as he punched up the computer design of the panther mech. "What do you think?"
Misato cocked her head to the side for a second. "It looks like that metal panther Ravage from the old Transformers cartoon." Misato said. "But without the rocket thrusters on it’s hind legs."
"It’s got more weapons than you think. We should have it operational in a little less than two weeks." T’Challa said, coming over to the pair.
"In the meantime, you should take the time to learn how to pilot the NightClaw." Shinji said.
"The what?" Misato asked.
"That’s the name we came up with for your mecha." Shinji said.
Misato looked over at T’Challa. "You came up with the name, didn’t you?"
"Well... it was my design." T’Challa said with a grin.
Misato got into the simulator, and after some quick instruction from Shinji, she was well onto her training.
As Misato trained, Shinji and the others fell into conversation.
"So.. Shinji... how did you and ISO come up with Anti-AT-Field weaponry?" T’Challa asked as he checked the wire connections to the head of the giant robot.
"That’s a long story." Shinji said, tightening the bolts on the right leg.
"You got a date or something?" Iron Man asked as he welded the last circuits of the left leg together.
Shinji sighed. "About four years ago, when I had completed my Science Ninja training, I was sent by Chief Anderson to infiltrate the secret base of the Galactor."
"The who?" Peter asked, hanging from the underside of the large mecha’s main body.
"An evil race of aliens who were trying to expand their empire to Earth." Shinji said.
"And would this be the ‘Them’ you were talking about with Anderson a while back?" Peter asked again.
Shinji nodded his head. "Their technology was superior to our own and we would have lost, but for their overconfidence in their superiority." he explained.
"Ego, huh?" T’Challa asked.
"Sounds familiar." Tony said.
"They underestimated us, and though their tech was superior, we were able to defeat them. But after we did, we found out that a major source of their technology came from The Angels."
"They what?" Hank gasped at hearing that.
"Centuries ago the Galactor encountered an Angel on one of their planets and reverse engineered them to create their own weapons systems. When Chief Anderson found out that NERV’s purpose was to defeat the Angels, he immediately set about using the Galactor’s information to create weapons that could penetrate their AT-Field’s, which were conceivably more problematic than the Angels themselves." Shinji explained.
"And he didn’t share this information with NERV, because..." Tony asked.
"Because he, like many, didn’t trust Gendo." Shinji said.
"Guess that makes sense." T’Challa said.
"Silver Wing’s systems were adapted with the Anti-AT-Field weapons and proved effective against the Angel that first attacked Tokyo-3." Shinji said.
"You mean you never tested them?" Tony asked.
"Tested them on what?" Shinji replied. "Before the Angels arrival last week there was nothing to test it against."
"Again, that makes sense." T’Challa said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"Sir? I think we may have a problem." Ritsuko Akagi said as she walked up to Commander Fuyutsuki.
"What problem, doctor?" the older man asked.
"I went over to Captain Katsuragi’s apartment last night in order to feed PenPen, and..."
"Who?"
"Misato’s pet penguin." she explained. "Only he wasn’t there."
"Wasn’t... did he escape?" Fuyutsuki logically asked.
"Negative. His freezer was missing."
"His freezer? He sleeps in a freezer?" he asked, slightly shocked and amused.
"Yes, sir. Also, several of Misato’s clothes and personal items were missing. Like her toothbrush and all of her beer." she said.
"So, the Captain is alive. But where has she gone?" Fuyutsuki mused.
"I have a couple theories, but I’m not sure you’ll like them." Ritsuko said.
"Yes?"
"It’s possible that whoever created that robotic falcon that destroyed the Angel last week, and who broke into NERV and injured Commander Ikari, might have also taken Captain Katsuragi." she said.
"Or she joined up with them." he stated. "Which would explain why her penguin and her personnel belongings are missing."
"That was the other possibility, sir." the faux-blond agreed.
"Unless we can proven this, Ikari’s not going to believe or even consider it. He’ll probably get even more upset. So for right now, I think we’d best keep this to ourselves." the older man said.
"Understood, sir." Ritsuko said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Two weeks had passed since Shinji’s explanation of the origins of the Anti-AT-Field weapons that Silver Wing used against the Angel, and both Hank and Peter were preforming the last systems check of the NightClaw before the live activation test while Shinji was going out.
Having been cooped up in the base for three weeks straight, Shinji decided to get some fresh air.
Though the base’s specially designed filtration system provided more than enough fresh air for the entire base, Shinji was beginning to feel much like Storm. He was still beating himself up over Ororo's claustrophobia, sure that the V.R. helmet was working, but the guilt still gnawed at him. Though it helped, Shinji understood Storm’s frequent ventures topside at the warehouse entrance.
Gonna have to change the outside of the warehouse into something livable. Shinji thought. Maybe a nice garden or something.
Dressed in a black shirt, cargo pants, boots, trench coat and shades, a pair of headphones over his ears, and his cell phone on his hip, Shinji headed out of the base and up to the surface using one of the bases three elevators. The first one was a regular passenger elevator. The second was more of a freight elevator large enough for a car. And the third was the mecha elevator, which was used primarily for vehicles the size of Silver Wing and NightClaw.
Thinking back to the day Tony and T’Challa had shown him their mecha designs, he wondered if he shouldn’t have Chief Anderson ‘extend’ the base to accommodate them. Or create a secondary hanger-base. The base was big, but it wasn’t that big.
/Maybe we could have the mecha’s hidden around the city, like they did in Voltron./Shinji mused.
However, while he was lost in these thoughts, someone had him in their sights.
"Section 2 to base: have visual on the Third Child. Will attempt to neutralize." the sniper said.
(/Negative agent! Just follow him!/) The voice in the earpiece stated.
"But sir, I can take the shot." the agent stated.
(/That’s an order agent! We Need Him Alive!/)
While the agent was arguing with base, he didn't see a redhead woman in a gypsy-style dress and coat run up to Shinji, with a tall green-skinned woman along with her.
"Hey Shinji-kun," Jennifer Walters said as the jade goddess slipped an arm around his shoulders. "You are being targeted." She said with a smile as Shinji just looked at her.
In the three weeks the team had been together, the Avengers had shared their real identities with both Shinji and Misato. But it wasn’t just the names that had been shared.
(FLASHBACK)
Jennifer was walking around the base in her blue mid-rift shirt, jeans and sneakers looking for Shinji. Having just gotten cleaned up from an intense workout session with Ms Marvel, Thor and Colossus, the gamma-powered beauty was looking for the young Japanese man because she wanted to get to know him better. After all, three weeks of being cooped up with people she already knew she was more than a little curious about the teams newest member.
She ran in to Carol who had also finished washing up and was now in a black T-shirt, a pair of jeans and slippers. She had her hair in a ponytail and was looking forward to relaxing around the base.
"Hey Carol, you seen Shinji anywhere?" Jen asked.
Carol looked over to her gamma-irradiated friend. "I think he went out to get some fresh air." She said. "Ororo does it frequently."
Wanda, who had just finished dressing in her Gypsy Queen outfit and flats, had overheard them.
"Oh no!" She gasped. "After what happened at NERV, Gendo might have him targeted."
"Wanda," Tony said walking out of the hanger while wiping his oil-stained hands with a rag, while dressed in a tank top, jeans and work boots. "Calm down. Their security systems never recorded the team. And they didn’t know what Shinji looked like as Falcon."
"They don’t have to." Misato said as she appeared from the kitchen. "They had a file on him as the Third Child when they sent me to look for him. I’m pretty sure they’ll be looking to get their hands on him even now."
Wanda gasped. "My Shinji? No!" She said before dashing out to find the boy she saw as a son.
Jennifer just sighed. Mommy impulses just run rampant with her. "I better go with her." She said and followed her friend out.
(END FLASHBACK)
The sniper who had been arguing with his superiors had finally turned to look at Shinji. But the second he did, and saw a woman with a green face in front of his original target, his finger flexed and fired off a round directly at the woman.
"Ouch." Jen hissed as the bullet collided with her temple. "Damn mosquitos!"
"Since when do mosquitos have armor-piercing noses?" Shinji asked, picking the dented bullet up.
"To state the obvious, they don’t!" Wanda said as she held out her hands. "Winds Of Destiny… REVEAL!" she shouted, causing a surge of crimson wind to surround the trio, but at the same time it revealed to them the trajectory of the first bullet. "THERE!" she said, pointing towards a nearby building.
"Gendo doesn’t know when to quit!" Shinji said as he touched his watch quickly. "TRANSMUTE!" he shouted and transformed into Falcon. "Hold on!" he shouted as he wrapped his arms around the two lovely ladies and quickly took off into the air.
As soon as the crimson glow around the trio had dissipated, the sniper suddenly realized that he had lost them. "What? Where did they go?" he asked as a shadow passed over him. "What the..." he gasped as Falcon tackled him hard before he noticed two female figures drop onto the roof as well.
The sniper was quicky tied up and left hanging over the side of the rooftop, clearly phased by what had just happened.
Just then a beeping of his watch caught all of their attention.
"What is it?" She-Hulk asked.
"Something large is approaching from the west." Falcon said as he examined his watch. "It’s... oh my god!"
"Look!" Wanda shouted.
The city alarms went off before the creature had entered the city limits. The trio looked over the side of the building and saw what looked like some weird amalgamation of an insect and a lamprey soar towards the city. The creature reared the front part of it’s massive body into the air, a pair of glowing, whip-like tendrils extending from it’s sides.
It lashed out at the nearest building to its position, slicing it up like a knife through jell-o.
"It’s an Angel!" Wanda gasped.
"I know." Falcon said as he brought his watch up to his lips. "SILVER WING, ACTIVATE!"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Deep within the massive hanger of the ISO Field HQ, the emergency systems quickly activated as Silver Wing was remotely moved into position for launch.
The Avengers and The X-Men saw it and gasped.
"Uh-oh!" Peter gasped as MJ ran up to him.
"What’s going on Tiger?" the redhead asked.
"Silver Wing’s been activated! There must be an Angel up top!" Peter replied.
"But Shinji, Wanda and Jen are still up there!" Carol Danvers, the amazing Ms Marvel, stated.
"Guys! I just intercepted a message to NERV from one of their agents!" Greer Nelson, The Tigra, shouted as she raced into the hanger. "They found Shinji and they’re sending up a whole squad of agents to nab him!"
"Sounds like our young avian member needs help. Right Steve?" Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, asked.
Steve didn’t have to think about that. "Someone get Misato to the NightClaw!" he shouted to the group of heroes. "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" he shouted.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Silver Wing launched from it’s secret hanger and was airborne as the lift retracted to go back and pick up NightClaw.
"Falcon to Silver Wing! Assume Automatic Piloting Sequence! Priority One: Delay Angel Until NightClaw Arrives!" Falcon shouted into his watch.
(Acknowledge!) The on-board computer said.
Silver Wing flew around the giant Angel, keeping clear of it’s whipping tentacles as it fired lasers and missiles at the Angel in order to delay it as ordered.
"Wouldn’t it be easier to let Silver Wing destroy the Angel?" She-Hulk asked.
"It would." Shinji agreed. "But I promised Misato she’d get a shot at the Angels herself with the NightClaw." he explained.
So considerate too. She-Hulk mused.
Within less than a minute, the anticipated third player had entered the playing field.
"NightClaw’s here!" She-Hulk shouted as the large mechanical panther bounded through the city streets.
Shinji was quickly on his watch again. "Misato, remember! The NightClaw has special sensors that will detect and analyze the Angel’s AT-Field so that your weapons can be recalibrated to penetrate it. As soon as the computers give you the go-ahead, take that thing down!"
(/Right!/) Misato said from inside the Ravage-like panther.
Gripping the controls tightly and pushing them forward, Misato grinned maliciously as she pushed her mecha forward into action.
"NIGHTCLAW ATTACK!!!!" she shouted, dressed in a form-fitting red and black Godannar-style bodysuit with a panther-shaped helmet over her head that let her long hair flow out from the back.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"WHAT IN HELL IS THAT??!!!" Gendo shouted from his seat, his jaw having only healed up this week, which resulted in his return to duty.
"A giant robot panther." Ritsuko said from the lower bridge area.
"I CAN SEE THAT, YOU WHORE! WHERE DID IT COME FROM??!!!" Gendo shouted.
"Obviously the same place the metal bird came from." she said calmly, though there was obvious contempt in her eyes that he didn’t catch.
"Which you have yet to locate." Gendo hissed.
On the one hand, Ritsuko was answering him, the problem was it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
"I so do not need this!" he hissed. "Rei isn’t ready for duty, the Second Child is still in Germany, and we seem to have lost the Third Child again!"
"The UN is going to wonder why we’re even necessary if we fail to destroy this Angel, Ikari." Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki said.
"I know." Gendo hissed. "Do we have those spare N2-Mines on standby launch?" he asked.
"Yes." Fuyutsuki said, slightly fearful of where this was going.
"Good. Get ready to use them." he ordered.
"But the Mines won’t destroy the Angel. Probably only that metal panther." Fuyutsuki said.
"Exactly!" Gendo smiled maliciously.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The NightClaw’s weapons had been tuned to the frequency of the Angel’s AT-Field, which Misato was using to blast away at the massive creature with both lasers and missiles.
"Aim For The Core, NightClaw!" Falcon shouted into his watch as he ducked another round of bullets from the Section 2 agents.
(/I’m trying! That thing seems to be protecting it rather fiercely!/) Misato said through his watch as NightClaw leaped away to avoid it’s tentacles.
Apart from the giant monster battle in another section of the city, a couple dozen black-suited agents were currently engaged in battle against numerous costumed foes.
Captain America, Wasp, Spider Man, Spider Woman, Black Widow, Luke Cage, Wolverine and Black Panther were duking it out with the ‘men in black’ while Iron Man, Colossus, Beast, Tigra, She-Hulk and Scarlet Witch were trying to protect the citizens who hadn’t been evacuated from the city. Thor, Ms Marvel and Storm were using their powers to help Misato take down the Angel. Falcon was there helping when he wasn’t giving Misato help, either advice or as Silver Wing’s pilot.
"So! I take it this is normal for you, Tiger?" Spider Woman asked as she flipped through the air and kicked down another agent who was about to shoot the other spider ninja in the back.
"You have no idea, sweetie!" Spider Man said as he leaped into the air to preform a split-kick that knocked down two more agents.
"You should be glad we got you a suit!" Wolverine shouted at Power Man as he sliced the agents guns into scrap with his claws while dressed in a black and white version of his original yellow costume.
"I still think the mask is dumb!" Power Man, a.k.a. Luke Cage, said as he hurled another agent across the street into their black SUV, while dressed in his black leather jacket, red shirt, silver metal belt, blue jeans, black boots, and black Domino-mask over his face. "Never needed one before."
"It’s called a secret-identity, soldier! Get used to it!" Captain America shouted as he used his shield as a battering ram to slam into two more agents.
"FALL BEAST!" Thor shouted as he hefted his hammer at the massive Angel, only to have his mystic hammer ricochet off it’s weakening AT-Field. "You will not bring more disaster to this city of man, nor it’s people! So sayeth Thor, God Of Thunder!"
Off to the side, both Storm and Ms Marvel were watching and listening.
"He does know that this thing probably can’t understand human, right?" Ms Marvel asked, charging up her fists to fire off another barrage at the creature.
"If he did, would he care?" Storm replied as she summoned up more lightning bolts to attack the creature.
Meanwhile, Falcon had just saved a little girl named Mari from the chaos on the street, when he noticed one of the agents leveling a rocket-launcher at one of his teammates.
"Get her out of here, NOW!" Falcon shouted to Toji as he leaped into the sky towards the agent.
The Section 2 agent leveled the launcher at the Scarlet Witch and fired, right as Falcon swooped in and activated his energy field to protect both himself and Wanda. The impact knocked both of them down to the ground, but as Shinji had taken the missile point-blank, his injures were much more noticeable.
"ARGH!" Falcon shouted as he fell to the ground in pain.
All around them, the fighting seemed to stop as a horrified, and then extremely upset Scarlet Witch suddenly came to life. Her body glowed with immense crimson energy, a much darker color than its regular.
"You hurt him." Wanda gasped. "YOU HURT HIM!!" she shouted.
Both the Avengers and the X-Men saw this and started backing up.
"Uh-oh." Tigra gasped.
"Strategic retreat?" Beast asked.
"AND FAST!" Spider Man shouted, grabbing his wife’s hand to pull her along.
Even the Angel stopped fighting when it sensed the power Wanda was summoning. An advantage that Misato used to fired a missile directly at it’s core in order to kill it.
Without warning, The Scarlet Witch exploded with power, her hands thrown forward to let loose a massive bolt of energy that lit-up the energy city in a nearly blinding reddish-white light.
There was no noise as a good quarter of the city just ceased to exist.
The Avengers and The X-Men, along with Misato and whatever cameras were still operating for NERV, just gasped at what they saw.
It was Tigra who managed to find her voice before the others.
"Good lord, Wanda! You probably took out half the city with that blast." the striped catwoman said as she stared at the devastation, all the while said woman was tending to the injured Falcon with She-Hulk right next to her.
(Actually she took out the Northwest Quarter.) Iron Man radioed the team from up high. (Estimating damage at... 37% complete loss.)
"When you say ‘complete loss’ you mean.." Wasp started to ask through her communicator.
(/I mean, smoking craters and buildings turned to ashes. Like a nuclear bomb went off./) Iron Man said to the woman. (/Only no radiation. No residual energy. Nothing. Area’s clear./)
"No kidding." Wolverine whistled as he took in the completely decimated area. "Whole place looks like a parking lot."
"Without the lot." Power Man said.
"Good thing that area was evacuated." Storm said.
"Good thing that area was already scheduled for demolition." Misato said, having gotten out of the NightClaw and was now on street-level.
"It was?" Captain America asked the woman.
"The Northwest Quarter was the slum area of Tokyo-3. It was first built to house the workers so that they could build the more modern buildings and homes of the city. When the city was finished, they all just moved out and... left it." Misato said.
"She vaporized 37 percent of the city? With ONE shot?" Spider Woman gasped.
"See, this is why we don’t get her mad." Spider Man said.
"Yeah. Last time she got pissed she collapsed all of reality." Tigra said.
"THAT was a headache in of itself." Wasp said.
"And you go through stuff like this everyday with the Avengers?" Spider Woman asked her husband.
"No! Of course not." Spider Man said. "Just... once every week."
"But... couldn’t you have done something to stop her?" the redhead asked.
Spider Man just looked at his wife like she had grown a third-eye.
"Honey, unless you’ve got GALACTUS on speed dial, there’s very little, if anything, we can do when the Scarlet Witch goes all ‘Carrie’ on us." the spider ninja explained.
"Let’s get back to base, people!" Captain America shouted.
Within seconds the entire Avenger/X-Men team, including their mecha’s had vanished from the streets.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"The entire Northwest Sector of Tokyo-3 has been..... it’s just.... gone!" Maya Ibuki gasped as she stared at the monitor.
"What do you mean ‘gone’? How is that possible?" Makoto Hyuga asked.
"What about the Section 2 agents in the area?" Ritsuko asked.
"They’re... not responding!" Shigeru Aoba answered.
It would later be determined that in her rage, Wanda hadn’t vaporized the agents as she had the city, but had instead petrified them into stone statues. A process that was both painful and temporary. They would be fine and recovered within a few days. They were in fact alive, and fully aware, and while they would be both hungry and thirsty they would not be able to die. Which meant that their suffering had only just begun.
"It seems we have bigger concerns to worry about now, don’t we Ikari?" Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki asked.
"Indeed, sensei. Indeed." Gendo said softly, now sweating visually at the unexpected and raw power this new group of costumed individuals possessed. Such power! I’ve never see anything like that come from anyone. Would even an N2 Mine have been useful against them? He mused.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(ISO FIELD HQ, Shinji’s Room)
"How’s he doing?" Misato asked the blue-furred X-Man.
"Better." Beast said as he adjusted the instrument readings on the monitors. "His suit managed to absorb most of the blast. There was some bruising and maybe a broken bone or two. But he should make a complete recovery in a week or so."
"I could heal him in an instant." Wanda offered, sitting next to the bed.
"Considering what's just happened, it’s better to let him rest, Wanda." Captain America said.
"And speaking of which, the boy needs his rest, so everyone clear out!" Beast said, ushering the group of heroes out into the hallway. "Wanda?"
"I’d like to stay, Hank. I promise I won’t do anything." Wanda said.
"Alright. Call if anything happens." Beast said as he stepped out of the room.
It was hours later, just after sundown as She-Hulk stepped into the room with a tray of food.
"Brought you something to eat." the gammazon said.
"Thank you." Wanda replied.
"How’s he doing?" Jen asked as she set the tray down on a table next to Wanda.
"No change. Still sleeping." Wanda said.
"You should get some sleep too you know." Jen said.
"I don’t want to leave until I know he’s alright." Wanda said.
"He’s not dead, Wanda. He’s strong, he’ll survive."
"I know. If he wasn’t he would already be dead, but... I just..."
"I know, but you’re not his mother, Wanda." She-Hulk said.
"I know that, I just.... I just worry about him." Wanda said. "I mean... it’s only been three weeks since we met but I... I can’t explain it. I just care about him, like he was family."
"We’re all family, Wanda. We may not be blood but we stand together and take care of one another. And Shinji’s one of us now, so don’t worry."
"I just wish he knew that." Wanda said. "I just wish he knew how much we cared."
Before Jen could say anything, Shinji’s eyes fluttered open as his head turned towards the pair.
"I do now." Shinji said weakly.
"Shinji?" Wanda gasped as the boy smiled at her.
"Thank you... Aunt Wanda." Shinji said before closing his eyes to sleep.
Wanda cried happily that Shinji was going to be alright now as Jen went out to tell the others.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
TBC
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
OMAKE
"The entire Northwest Sector of Tokyo-3 has been..... it’s just.... gone!" Maya Ibuki gasped as she stared at the monitor.
"What do you mean ‘gone’? How is that possible?" Makoto Hyuga asked.
"What about the Section 2 agents in the area?" Ritsuko asked.
"They’re... not responding!" Shigeru Aoba answered.
"Hey! We have a visual!" Makoto shouted.
Everyone turned to the main monitor as they looked and gasped at what they saw. There, on the screen, were the two dozen Section 2 agents standing amidst the decimated wasteland, and all of them completely unharmed... and totally naked. "MY EYES! MY EYES!" Maya shouted as she covered her face.
"WHAT ABOUT MINE?!!" Makoto shouted as he tossed his glasses away.
"Someone has a strange sense of humor." Fuyutsuki said.
"Indeed." Gendo said. "We may need to hire some new men. These agents have obviously been... exposed."
"Couldn’t resist saying it, could you?" Fuyutsuki grinned.
"Nope." Gendo grinned.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
OMAKE 2
"We’re home!" Misato said as she carried PenPen off the elevator and into the massive underground base with Logan and Piotr carrying her things. "Can you put those in my room, boys? I need to get PenPen some dinner."
"Sure thing." Logan said as he lead the large Russian to the woman’s room.
However, once Misato had gotten into the kitchen and set PenPen down in order to get him some fish or something, a certain female tigerwoman entered.
Her eyes froze as she saw the penguin walking around, and then bolt when he saw her.
"Ooh! Live prey!" she grinned and licked her lips. Outside in the living room, the other members of the Avengers quickly turned their attention to the ruckus in the kitchen.
"AH! PENPEN! NO! BAD KITTY, BAD KITTY!" Misato shouted as pots and pans began flying all over the place.
While Misato washed up in the private bathroom all the rooms had, Shinji walked out to inform the others of Misato’s new situation, only to come face-to-face with a large, blue-furred creature in a black vest and pants. Behind him was a tall man in a red and yellow outfit.
"Who are you?" Shinji gasped defensively as the ‘creature’ spoke.
"Hello young man. I am Dr. Henry McCoy, currently of the X-Men. My friends call me 'Hank' and my codename is Beast." he said, quickly summing himself up.
Shinji just looked at the blue furred man in stunned silence.
"Uh, I'm Shinji Ikari." He said, then noticed Captain America come up behind him, and nod his approval. Breathing a sigh of relief as he relaxed, Shinji then said, "Welcome to ISO Field HQ."
"ISO?" Beast asked curiously.
"International Science Organization. Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Code name's Falcon. Nice to meet you Dr, McCoy." he explained as he shook Hank’s much larger hand. "Forgive me if I was rude. But I had to make sure you were cool."
"Understandable Shinji," he said as he shook his hand. "I’m sure a group of new faces in a secret underground base would be more than a little suspicious. Especially one like mine."
Releasing his hand, Shinji then turned to look at the tall Russian man.
"I am Piotr Nikolaievitch Rasputin, but you can call me Colossus." He said, towering over Shinji as the pair shook hands.
Shinji just looked at him for a couple seconds before speaking.
"Okay, stupid question, but, why are you called Colossus?" Shinji asked, causing Piotr to respond by transforming his skin into pure metallic steel. Even his eyes looked like metal. His body also seemed to increase in size, now standing about 6 foot 10 Shinji figured. Shinji just looked up at him. "Like I said, stupid question."
He then looked over to see an attractive red head, her mask now around her neck which showed off her green eyes. She grinned at him, thinking him cute as well. He bowed and introduced himself.
"I’m Shinji Ikari." he said.
"I'm Mary Jane Watson-Parker, A.K.A. Spider Woman, I guess." She said, grabbing Spider Man’s arm in a tight hug. "I'm this big lug's wife."
Everyone looked to Spider Man, some in shock.
"You’re married?" Tigra gasped.
Spidey looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, yeah, almost ten years." He said as he removed his mask, revealing his boyishly handsome face, with brown hair and hazel eyes. "Peter Parker, at your service."
I wish. Some of the female Avengers thought.
"Everything alright, Shinji?" Captain America asked.
"Yes, sir. I just asked Misato to join us as a member of ISO." Shinji said.
"And I’m very happy to join you guys." Misato said, stepping out from the room.
"Psylocke?" Beast and Colossus gasped when they saw the purple-haired Japanese woman.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Meanwhile in NERV, things were not going well. Apart from security having been breached, and several important files stolen, Gendo had been sent to the hospital after getting hit by a fist with the force of a hundred-mile-per-hour baseball.
"His jaw has several hairline fracture’s along the left side of his face, a few of his teeth are gone from the punch." said Ritsuko, reading the doctors report. "He’s got a concussion from the fall to the floor, and because of the punch, his jaw has been wired shut."
Least we won’t have to hear him talk. Fuyutsuki thought with a nod. He was an elderly man, his brown hair turned gray a while back, and his soft brown eyes had seen everything since joining NERV. He was also very regretful about his participation in Gendo’s and SEELE's plans.
He was dressed in the same type of outfit as Gendo, which was to his displeasure, but as the acting commander he had little choice. He was looking over to Ritsuko as she was telling him about Gendo's injuries.
"Alright then," he said. "keep me informed on his condition. And keep me posted as to the whereabouts of Captain Katsuragi and The Third Child."
"Yes sir," she said. "Though he does have a name."
"I haven’t met him and I don’t know him personally, so I can’t call him by his name, now can I?" The elderly man said.
"No. I guess not." Ritsuko replied, noting the logical civility he used.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(ISO FIELD HQ HANGER)
"Are you sure about this?" Shinji asked as he looked at the designs that Tony had rendered on the state-of-the-art computer.
"It does seem rather... egocentric." T'Challa, a tall, athletic, and handsome African man said.
"Are you saying that because it looks like me, or because you don’t think it’ll work?" Tony Stark, a handsome, dark-haired man with a thin mustache asked.
"No, I’m sure your designs will work." the Wakandian king stated. "I’m just not sure it’s a good idea to create a weapon system that so blatantly looks like you."
"It’s my signature, T'Challa. Granted it’s not my usual design, but considering we’re up against giant monsters, I thought a giant robot would have been appropriate. The fact that I made it look like my Iron Man armor is more for consistency."
Consistency he says. T’Challa mused. "Hmm. I think we’re going to have to bring Spider Man in on this. He has expertise in computer and electronic technology. Hank McCoy as well."
"Good idea. They’d be valuable assets in this endeavor." Tony said.
While Shinji went to locate the necessary human resources they had selected, T'Challa noticed the upset look on Tony’s face.
"What’s wrong, Tony?" T'Challa asked.
"Nothing really. It’s just.... back in our world we relied on either government funding, or our own resources to get what we needed. But here, we don’t have that. My company, your country, or even Janet’s family fortune. We’re relying on Shinji and his ISO group for our technology, housing and basic needs. It’s just... unsettling." Tony said.
"True. But we don’t have much choice, since we’re not in our world. And if we’re going to find a way home, we’ll need all the allies we can get. And if we can’t then it’s best to make ourselves useful to Shinji and the ISO, so that we’ll at least be able to live." T’Challa said.
"You’re right, of course. I just don’t like wasting that kind of time, especially in the middle of a war." Tony stated.
"Middle? From what Shinji tells me, this was has just started." T’Challa said. Which probably means we won’t have time to build a complete robot should the next Angel arrive. "Hmm...."
"What ‘Hmm’?" the mustached inventor asked, noticing his friends thoughtful expression.
"I.... have an idea. But... here, let me show you." the African man said as he punched the computer keys.
T’Challa quickly brought up his idea on the computer, and Tony had to grin as he saw it.
"And you said my idea was egocentric." Tony grinned as Shinji, Peter and Hank arrived.
"What’s that?" Peter asked as he saw the panther designs on the computer.
"An idea I’ve come up with to battle these Angels." T’Challa said as Shinji examined the design.
"Angels? Messengers of God?" Hank asked.
"If this is his messenger," Peter said as Shinji brought up the image of the first Angel he and Silver Wing had destroyed. "then his message is ‘get off my planet!’ Hank, these aren’t like the perfect people with wings and halos. These are monsters. And I still can’t believe we have to fight them!"
"I fear we will have little choice in the matter." Tony said as Shinji switched back to T’Challa’s blueprint-designs.
"This could work." Shinji said, as he examined the plans. "If we alter the designs, we should be able to construct multiple assault vehicles that will combine into a single robot. Silver Wing included."
"The panther mech would be the best one to start with." T’Challa said. "It would give us a land-based vehicle to be a counterpart to Silver Wing."
"I guess it’ll be Misato's then." Shinji said.
"Misato's?" Hank asked.
"I did promise her the means to fight the Angel’s on her terms. I checked her file. She’s military trained, but more suited for land-based operations than aerial combat." Shinji said.
"Right." Tony said.
And with that, the team set to work.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The gymnasium in the ISO Field HQ was large enough to train Olympic athletes. And it was where the Black Widow, Natasha Romanov, was training Mary Jane Watson-Parker in combat.
"This is incredible!" Mary Jane said as she blocked another onslaught of punches from Natasha.
"Not really. Your ninja form is rather predictable to overcome." Natasha said as she leg-swept the other redhead onto her backside.
"That’s not what I meant." Mary Jane said as she flipped back onto her feet.
"Than what are you referring to?" Natasha asked.
"I meant the fact that I actually know how to fight. This is better than any self-defense class I took." she said as she leaped into the air and threw a roundhouse kick to her ‘teacher’.
Natasha easily ducked the kick, and moved in close to the younger woman, coming face-to-face with her. "Self-defense classes are for muggers and purse thieves. The art of ninjitsu is for warriors. If you wish to be of value to us, then you must use it to it’s full advantage." Natasha explained. "Now... again!" she said as she backed away from MJ enough to continue their session.
"You know, I notice that you don’t train my husband this hard!" Mary Jane stated as she grabbed Natasha’s leg and threw her to the side.
Natasha landed on her hands and spring boarded onto her feet. "That is because Spider Man has proven his heroism time and time again alongside the Avengers. You... are the third person to carry the mantle of Spider Woman. As you do not have the strength of your husband, nor any of his spider-like powers, it is essential for you to be as strong as possible! Now... again!"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
It had been a week since Misato had signed on as a member of the ISO, and had thus tried to keep herself busy with her new position. She was relieved that she had been allowed to bring PenPen into the new base, recruiting Logan and Colossus to help her move a few special items. Like clothes.
Naturally the whole group was shocked to find out that Misato had a pet penguin, as was PenPen to find out that his owners new friends consisted of two cat-like creatures (Tigra and Beast, whom he avoided), a guy with claws who spooked him, and a guy who dressed like a cat.
Section 2 still had no idea where Misato or the Third Child were. They didn’t even bother to check out an abandoned warehouse on the edge of the city that some people had been seen at. They figured it was just squatters or homeless people.
And even though Shinji had informed Misato of the existence of the Silver Wing, and that he was the pilot, the purple-haired woman was becoming slightly bored as the week wore on. That was, until Shinji came to get her for training.
"So, I’m finally going to get some training." Misato said as she followed the young man.
"Sorry it wasn’t sooner, but we needed to build and calibrate the training module." Shinji said.
"The what?" Misato asked as they arrived at the hanger.
Inside Misato saw the other Avengers, and a couple X-Men, working to build what looked like a new giant robot, though it was still in parts and pieces.
"Here." Shinji said as he lead her to what looked like a flight simulator booth suspended about three feet off the ground by advanced hydraulics.
"Is this it?" Misato asked.
"It’s a modified flight simulator that was reprogrammed to train you based on the data T’Challa came up with for your new mecha." he explained.
"My what?" she asked.
"You said you wanted a means to fight the Angels, correct?" he asked.
"Correct." she said as he opened a small computer screen on the side of the training module.
"Well... this is what we’ve come up with for your assault vehicle." Shinji said as he punched up the computer design of the panther mech. "What do you think?"
Misato cocked her head to the side for a second. "It looks like that metal panther Ravage from the old Transformers cartoon." Misato said. "But without the rocket thrusters on it’s hind legs."
"It’s got more weapons than you think. We should have it operational in a little less than two weeks." T’Challa said, coming over to the pair.
"In the meantime, you should take the time to learn how to pilot the NightClaw." Shinji said.
"The what?" Misato asked.
"That’s the name we came up with for your mecha." Shinji said.
Misato looked over at T’Challa. "You came up with the name, didn’t you?"
"Well... it was my design." T’Challa said with a grin.
Misato got into the simulator, and after some quick instruction from Shinji, she was well onto her training.
As Misato trained, Shinji and the others fell into conversation.
"So.. Shinji... how did you and ISO come up with Anti-AT-Field weaponry?" T’Challa asked as he checked the wire connections to the head of the giant robot.
"That’s a long story." Shinji said, tightening the bolts on the right leg.
"You got a date or something?" Iron Man asked as he welded the last circuits of the left leg together.
Shinji sighed. "About four years ago, when I had completed my Science Ninja training, I was sent by Chief Anderson to infiltrate the secret base of the Galactor."
"The who?" Peter asked, hanging from the underside of the large mecha’s main body.
"An evil race of aliens who were trying to expand their empire to Earth." Shinji said.
"And would this be the ‘Them’ you were talking about with Anderson a while back?" Peter asked again.
Shinji nodded his head. "Their technology was superior to our own and we would have lost, but for their overconfidence in their superiority." he explained.
"Ego, huh?" T’Challa asked.
"Sounds familiar." Tony said.
"They underestimated us, and though their tech was superior, we were able to defeat them. But after we did, we found out that a major source of their technology came from The Angels."
"They what?" Hank gasped at hearing that.
"Centuries ago the Galactor encountered an Angel on one of their planets and reverse engineered them to create their own weapons systems. When Chief Anderson found out that NERV’s purpose was to defeat the Angels, he immediately set about using the Galactor’s information to create weapons that could penetrate their AT-Field’s, which were conceivably more problematic than the Angels themselves." Shinji explained.
"And he didn’t share this information with NERV, because..." Tony asked.
"Because he, like many, didn’t trust Gendo." Shinji said.
"Guess that makes sense." T’Challa said.
"Silver Wing’s systems were adapted with the Anti-AT-Field weapons and proved effective against the Angel that first attacked Tokyo-3." Shinji said.
"You mean you never tested them?" Tony asked.
"Tested them on what?" Shinji replied. "Before the Angels arrival last week there was nothing to test it against."
"Again, that makes sense." T’Challa said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"Sir? I think we may have a problem." Ritsuko Akagi said as she walked up to Commander Fuyutsuki.
"What problem, doctor?" the older man asked.
"I went over to Captain Katsuragi’s apartment last night in order to feed PenPen, and..."
"Who?"
"Misato’s pet penguin." she explained. "Only he wasn’t there."
"Wasn’t... did he escape?" Fuyutsuki logically asked.
"Negative. His freezer was missing."
"His freezer? He sleeps in a freezer?" he asked, slightly shocked and amused.
"Yes, sir. Also, several of Misato’s clothes and personal items were missing. Like her toothbrush and all of her beer." she said.
"So, the Captain is alive. But where has she gone?" Fuyutsuki mused.
"I have a couple theories, but I’m not sure you’ll like them." Ritsuko said.
"Yes?"
"It’s possible that whoever created that robotic falcon that destroyed the Angel last week, and who broke into NERV and injured Commander Ikari, might have also taken Captain Katsuragi." she said.
"Or she joined up with them." he stated. "Which would explain why her penguin and her personnel belongings are missing."
"That was the other possibility, sir." the faux-blond agreed.
"Unless we can proven this, Ikari’s not going to believe or even consider it. He’ll probably get even more upset. So for right now, I think we’d best keep this to ourselves." the older man said.
"Understood, sir." Ritsuko said.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Two weeks had passed since Shinji’s explanation of the origins of the Anti-AT-Field weapons that Silver Wing used against the Angel, and both Hank and Peter were preforming the last systems check of the NightClaw before the live activation test while Shinji was going out.
Having been cooped up in the base for three weeks straight, Shinji decided to get some fresh air.
Though the base’s specially designed filtration system provided more than enough fresh air for the entire base, Shinji was beginning to feel much like Storm. He was still beating himself up over Ororo's claustrophobia, sure that the V.R. helmet was working, but the guilt still gnawed at him. Though it helped, Shinji understood Storm’s frequent ventures topside at the warehouse entrance.
Gonna have to change the outside of the warehouse into something livable. Shinji thought. Maybe a nice garden or something.
Dressed in a black shirt, cargo pants, boots, trench coat and shades, a pair of headphones over his ears, and his cell phone on his hip, Shinji headed out of the base and up to the surface using one of the bases three elevators. The first one was a regular passenger elevator. The second was more of a freight elevator large enough for a car. And the third was the mecha elevator, which was used primarily for vehicles the size of Silver Wing and NightClaw.
Thinking back to the day Tony and T’Challa had shown him their mecha designs, he wondered if he shouldn’t have Chief Anderson ‘extend’ the base to accommodate them. Or create a secondary hanger-base. The base was big, but it wasn’t that big.
/Maybe we could have the mecha’s hidden around the city, like they did in Voltron./Shinji mused.
However, while he was lost in these thoughts, someone had him in their sights.
"Section 2 to base: have visual on the Third Child. Will attempt to neutralize." the sniper said.
(/Negative agent! Just follow him!/) The voice in the earpiece stated.
"But sir, I can take the shot." the agent stated.
(/That’s an order agent! We Need Him Alive!/)
While the agent was arguing with base, he didn't see a redhead woman in a gypsy-style dress and coat run up to Shinji, with a tall green-skinned woman along with her.
"Hey Shinji-kun," Jennifer Walters said as the jade goddess slipped an arm around his shoulders. "You are being targeted." She said with a smile as Shinji just looked at her.
In the three weeks the team had been together, the Avengers had shared their real identities with both Shinji and Misato. But it wasn’t just the names that had been shared.
(FLASHBACK)
Jennifer was walking around the base in her blue mid-rift shirt, jeans and sneakers looking for Shinji. Having just gotten cleaned up from an intense workout session with Ms Marvel, Thor and Colossus, the gamma-powered beauty was looking for the young Japanese man because she wanted to get to know him better. After all, three weeks of being cooped up with people she already knew she was more than a little curious about the teams newest member.
She ran in to Carol who had also finished washing up and was now in a black T-shirt, a pair of jeans and slippers. She had her hair in a ponytail and was looking forward to relaxing around the base.
"Hey Carol, you seen Shinji anywhere?" Jen asked.
Carol looked over to her gamma-irradiated friend. "I think he went out to get some fresh air." She said. "Ororo does it frequently."
Wanda, who had just finished dressing in her Gypsy Queen outfit and flats, had overheard them.
"Oh no!" She gasped. "After what happened at NERV, Gendo might have him targeted."
"Wanda," Tony said walking out of the hanger while wiping his oil-stained hands with a rag, while dressed in a tank top, jeans and work boots. "Calm down. Their security systems never recorded the team. And they didn’t know what Shinji looked like as Falcon."
"They don’t have to." Misato said as she appeared from the kitchen. "They had a file on him as the Third Child when they sent me to look for him. I’m pretty sure they’ll be looking to get their hands on him even now."
Wanda gasped. "My Shinji? No!" She said before dashing out to find the boy she saw as a son.
Jennifer just sighed. Mommy impulses just run rampant with her. "I better go with her." She said and followed her friend out.
(END FLASHBACK)
The sniper who had been arguing with his superiors had finally turned to look at Shinji. But the second he did, and saw a woman with a green face in front of his original target, his finger flexed and fired off a round directly at the woman.
"Ouch." Jen hissed as the bullet collided with her temple. "Damn mosquitos!"
"Since when do mosquitos have armor-piercing noses?" Shinji asked, picking the dented bullet up.
"To state the obvious, they don’t!" Wanda said as she held out her hands. "Winds Of Destiny… REVEAL!" she shouted, causing a surge of crimson wind to surround the trio, but at the same time it revealed to them the trajectory of the first bullet. "THERE!" she said, pointing towards a nearby building.
"Gendo doesn’t know when to quit!" Shinji said as he touched his watch quickly. "TRANSMUTE!" he shouted and transformed into Falcon. "Hold on!" he shouted as he wrapped his arms around the two lovely ladies and quickly took off into the air.
As soon as the crimson glow around the trio had dissipated, the sniper suddenly realized that he had lost them. "What? Where did they go?" he asked as a shadow passed over him. "What the..." he gasped as Falcon tackled him hard before he noticed two female figures drop onto the roof as well.
The sniper was quicky tied up and left hanging over the side of the rooftop, clearly phased by what had just happened.
Just then a beeping of his watch caught all of their attention.
"What is it?" She-Hulk asked.
"Something large is approaching from the west." Falcon said as he examined his watch. "It’s... oh my god!"
"Look!" Wanda shouted.
The city alarms went off before the creature had entered the city limits. The trio looked over the side of the building and saw what looked like some weird amalgamation of an insect and a lamprey soar towards the city. The creature reared the front part of it’s massive body into the air, a pair of glowing, whip-like tendrils extending from it’s sides.
It lashed out at the nearest building to its position, slicing it up like a knife through jell-o.
"It’s an Angel!" Wanda gasped.
"I know." Falcon said as he brought his watch up to his lips. "SILVER WING, ACTIVATE!"
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Deep within the massive hanger of the ISO Field HQ, the emergency systems quickly activated as Silver Wing was remotely moved into position for launch.
The Avengers and The X-Men saw it and gasped.
"Uh-oh!" Peter gasped as MJ ran up to him.
"What’s going on Tiger?" the redhead asked.
"Silver Wing’s been activated! There must be an Angel up top!" Peter replied.
"But Shinji, Wanda and Jen are still up there!" Carol Danvers, the amazing Ms Marvel, stated.
"Guys! I just intercepted a message to NERV from one of their agents!" Greer Nelson, The Tigra, shouted as she raced into the hanger. "They found Shinji and they’re sending up a whole squad of agents to nab him!"
"Sounds like our young avian member needs help. Right Steve?" Janet Van Dyne, the Wasp, asked.
Steve didn’t have to think about that. "Someone get Misato to the NightClaw!" he shouted to the group of heroes. "AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!" he shouted.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Silver Wing launched from it’s secret hanger and was airborne as the lift retracted to go back and pick up NightClaw.
"Falcon to Silver Wing! Assume Automatic Piloting Sequence! Priority One: Delay Angel Until NightClaw Arrives!" Falcon shouted into his watch.
(Acknowledge!) The on-board computer said.
Silver Wing flew around the giant Angel, keeping clear of it’s whipping tentacles as it fired lasers and missiles at the Angel in order to delay it as ordered.
"Wouldn’t it be easier to let Silver Wing destroy the Angel?" She-Hulk asked.
"It would." Shinji agreed. "But I promised Misato she’d get a shot at the Angels herself with the NightClaw." he explained.
So considerate too. She-Hulk mused.
Within less than a minute, the anticipated third player had entered the playing field.
"NightClaw’s here!" She-Hulk shouted as the large mechanical panther bounded through the city streets.
Shinji was quickly on his watch again. "Misato, remember! The NightClaw has special sensors that will detect and analyze the Angel’s AT-Field so that your weapons can be recalibrated to penetrate it. As soon as the computers give you the go-ahead, take that thing down!"
(/Right!/) Misato said from inside the Ravage-like panther.
Gripping the controls tightly and pushing them forward, Misato grinned maliciously as she pushed her mecha forward into action.
"NIGHTCLAW ATTACK!!!!" she shouted, dressed in a form-fitting red and black Godannar-style bodysuit with a panther-shaped helmet over her head that let her long hair flow out from the back.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"WHAT IN HELL IS THAT??!!!" Gendo shouted from his seat, his jaw having only healed up this week, which resulted in his return to duty.
"A giant robot panther." Ritsuko said from the lower bridge area.
"I CAN SEE THAT, YOU WHORE! WHERE DID IT COME FROM??!!!" Gendo shouted.
"Obviously the same place the metal bird came from." she said calmly, though there was obvious contempt in her eyes that he didn’t catch.
"Which you have yet to locate." Gendo hissed.
On the one hand, Ritsuko was answering him, the problem was it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
"I so do not need this!" he hissed. "Rei isn’t ready for duty, the Second Child is still in Germany, and we seem to have lost the Third Child again!"
"The UN is going to wonder why we’re even necessary if we fail to destroy this Angel, Ikari." Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki said.
"I know." Gendo hissed. "Do we have those spare N2-Mines on standby launch?" he asked.
"Yes." Fuyutsuki said, slightly fearful of where this was going.
"Good. Get ready to use them." he ordered.
"But the Mines won’t destroy the Angel. Probably only that metal panther." Fuyutsuki said.
"Exactly!" Gendo smiled maliciously.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The NightClaw’s weapons had been tuned to the frequency of the Angel’s AT-Field, which Misato was using to blast away at the massive creature with both lasers and missiles.
"Aim For The Core, NightClaw!" Falcon shouted into his watch as he ducked another round of bullets from the Section 2 agents.
(/I’m trying! That thing seems to be protecting it rather fiercely!/) Misato said through his watch as NightClaw leaped away to avoid it’s tentacles.
Apart from the giant monster battle in another section of the city, a couple dozen black-suited agents were currently engaged in battle against numerous costumed foes.
Captain America, Wasp, Spider Man, Spider Woman, Black Widow, Luke Cage, Wolverine and Black Panther were duking it out with the ‘men in black’ while Iron Man, Colossus, Beast, Tigra, She-Hulk and Scarlet Witch were trying to protect the citizens who hadn’t been evacuated from the city. Thor, Ms Marvel and Storm were using their powers to help Misato take down the Angel. Falcon was there helping when he wasn’t giving Misato help, either advice or as Silver Wing’s pilot.
"So! I take it this is normal for you, Tiger?" Spider Woman asked as she flipped through the air and kicked down another agent who was about to shoot the other spider ninja in the back.
"You have no idea, sweetie!" Spider Man said as he leaped into the air to preform a split-kick that knocked down two more agents.
"You should be glad we got you a suit!" Wolverine shouted at Power Man as he sliced the agents guns into scrap with his claws while dressed in a black and white version of his original yellow costume.
"I still think the mask is dumb!" Power Man, a.k.a. Luke Cage, said as he hurled another agent across the street into their black SUV, while dressed in his black leather jacket, red shirt, silver metal belt, blue jeans, black boots, and black Domino-mask over his face. "Never needed one before."
"It’s called a secret-identity, soldier! Get used to it!" Captain America shouted as he used his shield as a battering ram to slam into two more agents.
"FALL BEAST!" Thor shouted as he hefted his hammer at the massive Angel, only to have his mystic hammer ricochet off it’s weakening AT-Field. "You will not bring more disaster to this city of man, nor it’s people! So sayeth Thor, God Of Thunder!"
Off to the side, both Storm and Ms Marvel were watching and listening.
"He does know that this thing probably can’t understand human, right?" Ms Marvel asked, charging up her fists to fire off another barrage at the creature.
"If he did, would he care?" Storm replied as she summoned up more lightning bolts to attack the creature.
Meanwhile, Falcon had just saved a little girl named Mari from the chaos on the street, when he noticed one of the agents leveling a rocket-launcher at one of his teammates.
"Get her out of here, NOW!" Falcon shouted to Toji as he leaped into the sky towards the agent.
The Section 2 agent leveled the launcher at the Scarlet Witch and fired, right as Falcon swooped in and activated his energy field to protect both himself and Wanda. The impact knocked both of them down to the ground, but as Shinji had taken the missile point-blank, his injures were much more noticeable.
"ARGH!" Falcon shouted as he fell to the ground in pain.
All around them, the fighting seemed to stop as a horrified, and then extremely upset Scarlet Witch suddenly came to life. Her body glowed with immense crimson energy, a much darker color than its regular.
"You hurt him." Wanda gasped. "YOU HURT HIM!!" she shouted.
Both the Avengers and the X-Men saw this and started backing up.
"Uh-oh." Tigra gasped.
"Strategic retreat?" Beast asked.
"AND FAST!" Spider Man shouted, grabbing his wife’s hand to pull her along.
Even the Angel stopped fighting when it sensed the power Wanda was summoning. An advantage that Misato used to fired a missile directly at it’s core in order to kill it.
Without warning, The Scarlet Witch exploded with power, her hands thrown forward to let loose a massive bolt of energy that lit-up the energy city in a nearly blinding reddish-white light.
There was no noise as a good quarter of the city just ceased to exist.
The Avengers and The X-Men, along with Misato and whatever cameras were still operating for NERV, just gasped at what they saw.
It was Tigra who managed to find her voice before the others.
"Good lord, Wanda! You probably took out half the city with that blast." the striped catwoman said as she stared at the devastation, all the while said woman was tending to the injured Falcon with She-Hulk right next to her.
(Actually she took out the Northwest Quarter.) Iron Man radioed the team from up high. (Estimating damage at... 37% complete loss.)
"When you say ‘complete loss’ you mean.." Wasp started to ask through her communicator.
(/I mean, smoking craters and buildings turned to ashes. Like a nuclear bomb went off./) Iron Man said to the woman. (/Only no radiation. No residual energy. Nothing. Area’s clear./)
"No kidding." Wolverine whistled as he took in the completely decimated area. "Whole place looks like a parking lot."
"Without the lot." Power Man said.
"Good thing that area was evacuated." Storm said.
"Good thing that area was already scheduled for demolition." Misato said, having gotten out of the NightClaw and was now on street-level.
"It was?" Captain America asked the woman.
"The Northwest Quarter was the slum area of Tokyo-3. It was first built to house the workers so that they could build the more modern buildings and homes of the city. When the city was finished, they all just moved out and... left it." Misato said.
"She vaporized 37 percent of the city? With ONE shot?" Spider Woman gasped.
"See, this is why we don’t get her mad." Spider Man said.
"Yeah. Last time she got pissed she collapsed all of reality." Tigra said.
"THAT was a headache in of itself." Wasp said.
"And you go through stuff like this everyday with the Avengers?" Spider Woman asked her husband.
"No! Of course not." Spider Man said. "Just... once every week."
"But... couldn’t you have done something to stop her?" the redhead asked.
Spider Man just looked at his wife like she had grown a third-eye.
"Honey, unless you’ve got GALACTUS on speed dial, there’s very little, if anything, we can do when the Scarlet Witch goes all ‘Carrie’ on us." the spider ninja explained.
"Let’s get back to base, people!" Captain America shouted.
Within seconds the entire Avenger/X-Men team, including their mecha’s had vanished from the streets.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(NERV HQ)
"The entire Northwest Sector of Tokyo-3 has been..... it’s just.... gone!" Maya Ibuki gasped as she stared at the monitor.
"What do you mean ‘gone’? How is that possible?" Makoto Hyuga asked.
"What about the Section 2 agents in the area?" Ritsuko asked.
"They’re... not responding!" Shigeru Aoba answered.
It would later be determined that in her rage, Wanda hadn’t vaporized the agents as she had the city, but had instead petrified them into stone statues. A process that was both painful and temporary. They would be fine and recovered within a few days. They were in fact alive, and fully aware, and while they would be both hungry and thirsty they would not be able to die. Which meant that their suffering had only just begun.
"It seems we have bigger concerns to worry about now, don’t we Ikari?" Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki asked.
"Indeed, sensei. Indeed." Gendo said softly, now sweating visually at the unexpected and raw power this new group of costumed individuals possessed. Such power! I’ve never see anything like that come from anyone. Would even an N2 Mine have been useful against them? He mused.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
(ISO FIELD HQ, Shinji’s Room)
"How’s he doing?" Misato asked the blue-furred X-Man.
"Better." Beast said as he adjusted the instrument readings on the monitors. "His suit managed to absorb most of the blast. There was some bruising and maybe a broken bone or two. But he should make a complete recovery in a week or so."
"I could heal him in an instant." Wanda offered, sitting next to the bed.
"Considering what's just happened, it’s better to let him rest, Wanda." Captain America said.
"And speaking of which, the boy needs his rest, so everyone clear out!" Beast said, ushering the group of heroes out into the hallway. "Wanda?"
"I’d like to stay, Hank. I promise I won’t do anything." Wanda said.
"Alright. Call if anything happens." Beast said as he stepped out of the room.
It was hours later, just after sundown as She-Hulk stepped into the room with a tray of food.
"Brought you something to eat." the gammazon said.
"Thank you." Wanda replied.
"How’s he doing?" Jen asked as she set the tray down on a table next to Wanda.
"No change. Still sleeping." Wanda said.
"You should get some sleep too you know." Jen said.
"I don’t want to leave until I know he’s alright." Wanda said.
"He’s not dead, Wanda. He’s strong, he’ll survive."
"I know. If he wasn’t he would already be dead, but... I just..."
"I know, but you’re not his mother, Wanda." She-Hulk said.
"I know that, I just.... I just worry about him." Wanda said. "I mean... it’s only been three weeks since we met but I... I can’t explain it. I just care about him, like he was family."
"We’re all family, Wanda. We may not be blood but we stand together and take care of one another. And Shinji’s one of us now, so don’t worry."
"I just wish he knew that." Wanda said. "I just wish he knew how much we cared."
Before Jen could say anything, Shinji’s eyes fluttered open as his head turned towards the pair.
"I do now." Shinji said weakly.
"Shinji?" Wanda gasped as the boy smiled at her.
"Thank you... Aunt Wanda." Shinji said before closing his eyes to sleep.
Wanda cried happily that Shinji was going to be alright now as Jen went out to tell the others.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
TBC
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
OMAKE
"The entire Northwest Sector of Tokyo-3 has been..... it’s just.... gone!" Maya Ibuki gasped as she stared at the monitor.
"What do you mean ‘gone’? How is that possible?" Makoto Hyuga asked.
"What about the Section 2 agents in the area?" Ritsuko asked.
"They’re... not responding!" Shigeru Aoba answered.
"Hey! We have a visual!" Makoto shouted.
Everyone turned to the main monitor as they looked and gasped at what they saw. There, on the screen, were the two dozen Section 2 agents standing amidst the decimated wasteland, and all of them completely unharmed... and totally naked. "MY EYES! MY EYES!" Maya shouted as she covered her face.
"WHAT ABOUT MINE?!!" Makoto shouted as he tossed his glasses away.
"Someone has a strange sense of humor." Fuyutsuki said.
"Indeed." Gendo said. "We may need to hire some new men. These agents have obviously been... exposed."
"Couldn’t resist saying it, could you?" Fuyutsuki grinned.
"Nope." Gendo grinned.
HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
OMAKE 2
"We’re home!" Misato said as she carried PenPen off the elevator and into the massive underground base with Logan and Piotr carrying her things. "Can you put those in my room, boys? I need to get PenPen some dinner."
"Sure thing." Logan said as he lead the large Russian to the woman’s room.
However, once Misato had gotten into the kitchen and set PenPen down in order to get him some fish or something, a certain female tigerwoman entered.
Her eyes froze as she saw the penguin walking around, and then bolt when he saw her.
"Ooh! Live prey!" she grinned and licked her lips. Outside in the living room, the other members of the Avengers quickly turned their attention to the ruckus in the kitchen.
"AH! PENPEN! NO! BAD KITTY, BAD KITTY!" Misato shouted as pots and pans began flying all over the place.
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