Love Hina Fan Fiction / Neon Genesis Evangelion Fan Fiction / Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040 Fan Fiction ❯ Bat Tales ❯ NERV Belfry ( Chapter 1 )

“… What are you doing?”

“ACK!” Talon started, before he dropped the book he’d been reading into the glowing, shimmering pool before him. He turned and glared at the lithe, blue-haired woman, floating above the ground in a white tunic and tights.

“Musey! For God’s sake! Do you realize what you’ve done?” The author turned back to the pool, dejected. “I was trying to make good with Toltiir!”

“Who? Oh yeah… That Elder God.” The Muse of Randomness shrugged, unimpressed. “I could so totally take him on.”

The author sighed, rubbing his temples. He looked down into the one-dimensional construct before him. He’d borrowed some technology from the Asgard, among other alien races, to build it. It had the same capabilities as the infamous Well… Which was the problem.

The author was a scientist. He’d been striving to enhance his version of the Well, to grant the guardians of the first Well greater control over the various time streams that flowed within it. And, he had failed. This portal was just as unpredictable and unstable as it’s parent.

“Aspire to be God and you’ll just get burned.” The muse shook her head. “After watching Evangelion, I’d have thought you’d figured that out by now?”

“There’s a distinct difference between what I’m trying to do and what Gendo tried to do,” Talon pouted. He then glanced into the artificial Well. “Speaking of which…”

“Great. You’ve created another time stream,” Musey sighed. “What book was that anyway?”

---

2006

Shinji Ikari, age six, whimpered shakily. His uncle and aunt laid at his feet. Above him, two large men towered in the dark, destroyed living room.

“What about the kid?” The first asked.

“What about ‘im? He’s just a kid. C’mon,” the thug ordered, turning and exiting into the night. His partner, after staring a bit longer at the six-year old, turned and flew as well.

“… Uncle… Auntie,” the child whispered, on his knees. The blood of his guardians, the ones who had taken him in and given him a home when his own father had abandoned him… Taken from him. Just for their money. By a pair of men with guns.

The boy’s blue eyes, filled with sorrow before this night, welled up in furious tears.

“I’ll… I’ll stop them,” he whispered, his tiny fingers gripping the locks of his aunt’s long hair. “I’ll… Make them pay… I’ll get them all… All of them…”

The window near the door shattered, as two objects flew in. Shinji cowered before the object that flew, squeaking and flapping about in the dark house. The other object sat on the floor, unmoving. Cautiously, the child moved to the second object, the creature still squawking indignantly above him. He raised the book to the dim light from the street lamps outside.

“… The Batman Handbook,” he murmured, looking at the cover of the small, firm volume. He looked back up at the bat, which shrieked before heading back out of the house. The little boy looked back down on the small book in his hands, before he opened it to the first page, reading the first passage aloud.

“The Batman is…”

---

BAT-TALES #1

“NERV’s Belfry”

An omake by Andrew Joshua Talon

---

2014

Shinjuku was a small community on the outskirts of Osaka-2, one of a hundred such towns built from refugee camps in the wake of the Second Impact. It’s ragged origin remained visible in the relatively crude houses, narrow streets, and large criminal population.

A trio of men stalked down the street, heavy bags under their arms. The leader ducked into an alley way, his comrades following.

“Whew! Pay day at last, boys,” the leader breathed, smirking at their sacks of ill-gotten gains. One of his goons looked about nervously.

“Eh? Dai, what’s your deal? You expecting a demon to jump out?” Laughed the other goon.

“I heard… I’ve heard stuff, out in the bars, Yama… There’s something in this town… It beats down guys like us… I heard from Murray, that gaijin-”

“Oh, quiet Daisuke,” the leader groaned. “I’ve had enough of these bat-ACK!” The leader fell to the pavement, knocked cold from behind.

“Wh-What the-?!” Yama fell next, a small shadow sending him tumbling to the ground. Daisuke shivered, panting in horror at the pair of glowing green eyes that appeared in the shadows.

“Run.” Spoke the entity. Daisuke screamed, running his legs off down the alley, knocking over trashcans and eliciting angry cat meows in his panic. The glowing eyes of the creature followed him, before winking out. Into the yellow light of the streetlamp outside the alley, a short, lithe but graceful figure appeared. Over his eyes were large goggles that gave the appearance of an insect’s eyes. On his head perched a black cowl with two pointed horns on top, which connected down to a flowing cloak. On his chest, over a plain black jumpsuit, was the yellow oval-encased silhouette of a bat.

The boy glared down at the hoods, before he dashed back into the shadows, once again anonymous to the human eye.

---

“Shinji! We’re launching you now! Hang on!” Shinji Ikari, age fourteen, was sitting in a gigantic, purple creature. A creature he was supposed to use to fight a nearly-unstoppable entity a mile above that wished to end all life on Earth.

Great… I’ve read entire libraries, trained in every martial arts style I could find, taught myself how to fly a jet and drive a car… And now I’m supposed to fight in THIS THING?! The young Ikari thought, angrily breathing in the blood-scented LCL. Why the hell am I even here?! What do I owe my father?!

“If you won’t pilot, then she will,” Commander Ikari had stated simply. That was all it had taken. Because Shinji Ikari had sworn on that night, eight years ago, that he would never let another innocent suffer if he could help it. Because the girl in his arms had looked up at him with eyes full of pain and anguish. Because, in the very depths of Shinji’s soul, he knew it was the right thing to do.

And he’d be damned if he let his anger at his father get in the way of that.

The gee-force of the ascent did not harm Shinji. He’d trained himself, in the absence of understanding guardians, to withstand pain and stress well above his comfort level. He’d endured worse at the hands of some of the petty street thugs he’d fought back in Shinjuku. They had dubbed him the ‘Night-Demon’, a horrible, agile creature that struck like a tiger and could not be harmed, even by bullets. Granted, this was because of the Kevlar and Nomex materials he’d ‘borrowed’ from his guardian’s stash of self-defense items and woven into a costume, but the criminals he hunted didn’t know that.

The Angel stood ahead of him, stalking down the street. The teenager wondered who had dubbed such a thing an ‘Angel’-It certainly didn’t look divine. The exact opposite-An unholy terror, a monster from Hell.

Shinji breathed deeply, focusing.

“Okay Shinji, just hold onto the control reins and think ‘walk’,” ordered Dr. Ritsuko Akagi. “Imagine that you’re in a four-hundred foot tall version of yourself.”

“Roger,” he murmured, concentrating. The Zen and Yoga he’d learned helped immensely, as the giant Evangelion Unit 01 took a long step forward. It stumbled over a powerline, but managed to regain it’s balance, preventing an embarrassing nose dive into the ground.

“Good job Shinji, you’re doing great!” Misato cheered him over the radio. The boy smiled: The woman who had been sent to pick him up at the station was energetic and kind, if a bit eccentric.

“Focus, Ikari,” he muttered, getting the Eva to it’s feet. The Angel lashed out with it’s extending arm, striking the Eva dead-on and sending it crashing to the ground.

“SHINJI! GET UP! USE YOUR PROGESSIVE KNIFE!” Yelled Misato. Shinji groaned in response, focusing his breathing, willing his way past the pain. He managed to get the Eva up to it’s knees, before the Angel lanced it’s arm out again, taking Shinji by the head and lifting him as easily as a basketball.

“GAH!” Shinji couldn’t breathe, the feedback loop closing his throat. The Angel tossed him back into the launch platform. He slumped against it, as the Angel’s eyes glowed.

“Shinji look ou-” Shinji’s world was reduced to pain and light, as he screamed through the Angel’s beam weapon attack. He breathed shakily, looking up at the creature that was to be his doom.

“Pull him back! He’s just a kid! Recover the Unit!”

Faintly, over the radio, Shinji heard this. He froze in his seat.

“What about the kid?”

“What about ‘im? He’s just a kid. C’mon…”

“No…” The young man whispered, glaring defiantly into the visage of the Angel. The plug darkened, the lights fading. He could feel the energy of the great beast holding him begin to die.

“No… I won’t… I’m not a kid…” The pilot snarled, fighting the haze coming over his mind. The descending feeling paused.

Then what are you? Shinji blinked, breathing raggedly with wild eyes. The voice… No, it was more of a sensation, than a voice.

“Who… Who are you?”

Who are you? Replied the whatever-it-was. Shinji gritted his teeth, trying to calm himself, focus, even as the Angel loomed over him.

Who are you? Why do you continue to fight? The sensation pressed. Shinji shuddered.

“Because it’s the right thing to do! Because I’m NOT a helpless kid! No more!” The child screamed into the LCL.

Then what are you? The sensation seemed to have a note of expectation. Shinji snarled, gripping the reins as tight as he could, fighting the darkness threatening to envelope him.

“I am vengeance… I am the night. I am BATMAN!” Shinji roared, as the Eva’s eyes burned with amber fire. It rose up, diving into the Angel’s mass with a feral bellow, sending it’s enemy crashing into the pavement. The Angel’s dead eyes blinked, as it struggled to get up, before the Evangelion bodily lifted the creature up over it’s head and threw it into a skyscraper, it’s horrible scream shattering the night. The Angel slowly got back to it’s feet, and was sent back down again as the Eva punched it’s torso into the wreckage it had just emerged from. Leaping high above the Angel, the Eva brought it’s whole mass down onto the creature through it’s feet, splintering it’s prostrate enemy’s core. A massive explosion followed, sending the Eva tumbling back into a skyscraper.

Through the inferno of the Angel’s self detonation, the bridge crew of NERV watched in stunned awe as the Evangelion got to it’s feet and walked, a determined gait guiding it, through the flames. It’s eyes still burned yellow, an eerie glow in the midst of the burning city.

“That… That was…” Misato started, before stopping. Words seemed empty husks for describing the scene before them.

Above, on the command deck, Commander Ikari watched the Evangelion with a frown. This was not in the scenario… it was no-where near the projections of the MAGI. Somehow, instead of making the Eva go wild to protect it‘s offspring, the Third Child had melded the creature’s full strength and will with his own. In a sense, it was a berserker shift…

But the sheer will of his son had kept Unit 01 under his control.

“He sure is something, isn’t he?” Fuyutsuki commented quietly. Gendo steepled his fingers and held them in front of his face.

“Irrelevant. The scenario will not be altered.”

Even though his face seemed expressionless, Fuyutsuki knew that his former student was worried, if even only a little.

---

“…”

Musey grinned.

“I… Am… BATMAN!” She cackled hysterically, falling over in laughter. Talon groaned.

“Would you shut up? It’s your fault…”

---

“… And then POW! The guy goes down! And then, the Batman just WHOOSH! Flies away!” Kensuke Aida enthusiastically related, grinning throughout the entire story. Sharing the shade of the oak tree, Shinji Ikari and Touji Suzuhara looked up at the otaku with mirrored expressions of disbelief.

“C’mon, Kensuke… You don’t really believe in this crap, do you?” Touji shook his head. “You’ve been reading too many comic books…”

“But it’s true!” Kensuke protested. “Ask lots of kids around school! They know people who were saved by Batman!” Kensuke frowned. “In fact, it began after the first Angel attack. Batman showing up and saving people.”

“Come off it, Kensuke,” Touji sighed. “It’s bad enough that Mari talks about it all the time when I visit her - The ‘Batman’! Yeah, right.” The athlete turned to the Eva pilot.

“I think ‘Suke’s lost his head.” Shinji smiled slightly.

“Yeah. C’mon Kensuke-What kind of guy would seriously go around, dressed like a giant bat, saving people?”

“Totally! See, Shinji agrees with me,” Touji grinned. “Now… When are you gonna slip your old pals some of Misato’s underwear, hm?” Shinji frowned, just as the sounds of police sirens filled the air.

“She’s just my guardian, you guys,” Shinji protested, before getting up. “I’ve got to go to the bathroom.”

Shinji departed, just as a fleet of police cruisers raced past the school. Kensuke grinned and turned to Touji.

“C’mon! Let’s go!”

“We have class,” pointed out Touji.

“Come on! That many police cars? It’s got to be something big!” Touji rolled his eyes.

“Fine, fine… Only to make sure you don’t do something stupid, got it?”

---

“THIS ENTIRE CITY SHALL BURN! BURN FOR IT’S CRIMES AGAINST THE LORD!” Shrieked the man dressed like a pastor in the center of the bank, over the heads of the terrified people. A number of his accomplices were busy filling bags with money, or pouring gasoline over the floor.

“This is the Tokyo-3 police. We have you surrounded,” came the announcement through the glass doors of the bank. “Come out with your hands up and surrender.”

“INFIDELS!” The ‘pastor’ screamed again, hefting a sobbing woman to her feet and holding a gun to her head. “YOU WILL ALL BURN! BEGINNING WITH YOU!”

At that moment, a small sphere dropped from the ceiling onto the pastor’s head. It exploded into a small cloud, making the man gag and fall away from the frightened woman. The other men looked up, only to see the dark shape of a wraith drop from an air conditioning duct.

Batman threw four batarangs on his way down, each one hitting one of the ‘pastor’s’ men, making them scream or fall as the tiny blades imbedded themselves into their flesh, causing intense pain. A few others raised their guns as the Dark Knight of Tokyo-3 landed, but a second pair of batarangs knocked their weapons away.

The goons rushed Batman, trying to close the range and take him down with their fists. The Batman jumped and drop-kicked one man, before throwing two more gas capsules into the faces of two more, making them scream and fall as the high-concentration pepper spray burned their faces. Batman brought them down by a roundhouse kick, before dodging a blow from another man and rabbit-punching him in the groin.

The ‘pastor’ saw his flock easily defeated by this lone man, this… demon. Breathing heavily, he grabbed the same woman by the hair and held his gun to her head as the Batman turned to him.

“Not a step closer, demon!” Shouted the madman over the woman’s whimpers. “Or I’ll send her to Hell! Then, I’ll send you to follow her!” The Batman paused, his opaque eyes boring into the pastor.

“Let her go. She has no part in this crusade of yours,” Batman ground out. The pastor laughed.

“ALL OF YOU HAVE A PART IN MY CRUSADE! THE PART OF THE DEAD! DEAD! BUR-” While the madman ranted, a single batarang had knocked his weapon from his hand. The woman he held then violently elbowed him, before punching him and sending him to the floor in a beaten, mumbling heap. She turned, brushing her short black hair out of her eyes. Batman was still there, staring at her.

“… Um…” The Batman dropped a capsule, which exploded into dark, harmless smoke. As it cleared, it revealed the former hostages rising to their feet, confused, but no Batman.

Maya Ibuki sighed. I didn’t even thank him…

A few blocks away, Kensuke Aida and Touji Suzuhara had nearly been run down by a police cruiser, had it not been for Batman’s timely interference. The Dark Knight told the two to stop being so reckless, before heading off to the bank, leaving a squealing happy Kensuke and a completely shocked Touji…

---

Gendo Ikari frowned as he watched the bank security footage yet again, Fuyutsuki ever at his side. Dr. Ritsuko Akagi watched with them as well, a single un-dyed eyebrow raised as the Caped Crusader of Tokyo-3 took down a terrorist cell that NERV had been unable to track and stop for about six months.

“He’s serious,” Fuyutsuki commented. “This is no mere cosplayer. He knows what he’s doing.” Ritsuko nodded.

“He is…” The faux-blonde agreed. And he has a nice ass in tights, too.

Ritsuko’s cheeks colored slightly at that thought. Down girl.

“The committee is concerned about the appearances of this ‘Batman’,” Gendo broke the silence. “I told them that there is no danger to the scenario…”

“Was this before or after he interfered in the Jet Alone incident?” Fuyutsuki observed dryly. Gendo frowned as Ritsuko winced.

Somehow, the Batman had infiltrated the Jet Alone conference. When the giant nuclear-powered robot had gone berserk, Misato had been frantically searching for Shinji through the rubble, who had asked to come along, the vigilante had entered the situation.

The bottle blonde couldn’t shake the memory of how Batman had just… Appeared, as if by magic, and had made the head of the project confess what the password was, by sheer willpower. The Dark Knight had gone after the giant robot after that, in a sleek, powerful automobile. Agonizing minutes passed, before the technicians reported, astonished, that the robot was shutting down.

Despite Ritsuko’s hacking, the Batman had hacked his way through her programs and had shut down Jet Alone all by himself, before NERV could send in an Eva to effectively prove that it was superior to any other fighting machine for use against the Angels.

“This Batman was able to defeat your programming skills, Doctor,” Gendo said flatly. “And has struck down Section 2’s undercover gangs, for use in keeping the public in order.” Gendo assumed his trademark position.

“I want him eliminated. His continued interference may yet endanger the scenario.”

“Curiously, he’s never shown up during an Angel attack,” commented Fuyutsuki. “Well… His vehicle has been sighted in the city, but physically, he has not appeared during any of the attacks.”

“Even so, how long will that last?” Ritsuko asked. “The Second Child is due to arrive soon,” added the false blonde. “If we’re to do anything about him, we should probably do it quickly.”

“What about trying to recruit him?” Suggested Fuyutsuki. Gendo and Ritsuko looked at him. “Think about it: The majority of the public approves of him. He has obviously great skill, as a fighter, a computer expert, an investigator… Can you think of a better addition to NERV?”

“He is also fighting while masked, Sensei,” Gendo countered. “And clearly has great intelligence and determination. Were he to discover our projects, he would most certainly attempt to stop them.”

“Well… What about this?” Ritsuko began. “We try to talk to him, at least… Make him make contact with us. If we use the proper means, we could probably manipulate him into doing things for us.” Gendo looked thoughtful, before he opened a drawer of his desk. He reached into it, and retrieved a stack of plastic-wrapped papers. He slid them across the desktop to Ritsuko, who picked the first off the top of the stack and blinked.

“Detective Comic’s Batman?” The doctor looked up at Gendo. “You can’t be serious.”

“Begin a new project, Doctor,” Gendo ordered. “Offer a reward to whomever of our staff can make contact with Batman. Perhaps some clue to how to accomplish it exists in these Pre-Impact graphic novels.” He turned his chair to face the window of the office. “Dismissed.”

Ritsuko and Fuyutsuki departed, leaving the Commander to brood once more… Before he turned and opened another drawer. He retrieved another plastic-bound comic book, that he carefully, meticulously, opened, before opening the book itself and beginning to read.

“Superman is such a moron… Shame we couldn‘t have him instead of Batman,” Gendo muttered to himself, engrossed in the ancient serial.

---

“So… How did Shinji get his hands on a Batmobile?” Musey broke the silence that had descended on Talon when Gendo had revealed that he was a comic book geek-Er, collector.

“Let’s see… Oi. He hacked Gendo’s accounts and re-invested them, under the names ‘Bruce Wayne’, ‘Alfred Pennyworth’, and ‘Richard Grayson’.”

“… Is everyone in this time stream a comic dork?”

“Looks like,” Talon responded mildly.

---

“No! It’s my project!” Ritsuko growled to Misato, the lavender-haired Head of Operations snarling back.

“I don’t care! I’m the head of Tactical Operations! This is a Tactical operation, Doctor!”

“It’s also my project, Major,” Ritsuko sniffed.

“But… But I look better in the costume!” Misato pouted, indicating the skin-tight leather jumpsuit she now wore. Ritsuko, in her usual lab coat, scowled.

“Misato…”

“I even look like Catwoman! C’mon! Purple leather… Purple hair… Not to mention I’ve got the ‘talent’,” she commented mildly, indicating her bust. Ritsuko groaned.

“Then who am I supposed to be, hm? Harley Quinn?! I’m allergic to clown make-up, and besides, I’m not a sycophant to some deranged jerk!”

Misato stared at her former college roommate. Ritsuko coughed.

“Well, at least he doesn’t wear a purple suit and clown make-up, right?” Misato offered, grinning cattily. Ritsuko glared, before sighing and turning back to the “research material”.

“Hm… I could always go as another villainess,” Ritsuko mused. “ On the other hand, there’s no reason I can’t come up with something original, now is there?”

“Rits, if this is Batman, then this guy is probably just as clue-oriented as the comic book guy,” Misato pointed out. “Any mention of the Rogue’s Gallery will make him, well… Batty.” She grinned.

“Now then… What about the… Riddler! C’mon, you’re smart… And you look good in green, matches your eyes…”

“The Riddler was a guy!”

“So? The comic Batman was like… Six feet tall! And this Batman’s barely taller than Shinji! We’d call him Batboy if he didn’t kick ass so well!” Misato grinned lecherously.

“And speaking of his ass…”

“Mmm…” Ritsuko murmured, smiling naughtily. It’d been a while since she’d engaged in this kind of banter with Misato. Far too long… She’d forgotten how much amusement she could get out of it.

“You know what they say about short guys,” Misato added. Ritsuko raised an eyebrow.

“What do they say?”

“Sempai! Sempai! I’m done!” Maya Ibuki announced happily. The two older women turned… And blinked.

Slightly flushed, Maya Ibuki stood, dressed in her costume. Green tights showed off her long, thin legs, while a tight red tunic with a stylized R on the left breast showed off her slim, attractive torso. She wore black boots, a yellow utility belt, and green gloves, with a short, black and yellow cape hanging from her shoulders. On her face was a domino mask with opaque, one-way lenses that hid her eyes.

“Nice, Maya,” Misato grinned. “Where’d you get it?”

“Er… Old Halloween costume,” Maya blushed. “It’s a bit tighter than I remember…”

“So, you had to go commando to get into it?” Misato grinned. “That’ll get his attention, all right.”

Maya blushed prettily, looking at the floor.

“Well… I should try to thank him… For, you know… Saving my life,” she mumbled.

“And how would you consider going about ‘thanking’ him, hm?” Misato purred. Maya’s blush deepened.

“You’re really getting too into this cat thing,” Ritsuko noted, reading one of the comic books. Misato stuck out her tongue.

“Meow.”

“So Sempai, how are you going to… Attract Batman?” Maya asked, blushing. Ritsuko smirked.

“Well, the simple way would just be to put up a Bat-signal and wait,” the faux blonde observed mildly. “It would be the easiest method, actually.”

“Aw… Where’s the fun in that?” Misato pouted. “Give him a good riddle and see if he follows it. C’mon… Test him. See if he’s really as good as we think he is.”

“Oh… All right. But, if we all fail, I’m putting up the Batsignal, got it?” Ritsuko stated firmly. She then leaned back in her chair thoughtfully. Now where did I put my green leotard…?

---

Unknown to anyone in Tokyo-3 (a feat that Shinji couldn’t help feeling incredible pride for, despite his alter ego’s appearance of despondence and self-hatred), Batman’s lair was an abandoned emergency shelter accessible by a maintenance tunnel underneath Misato’s apartment.

He’d “borrowed” a few million in American dollars from his father’s personal accounts (when would that man get more creative than using his mother’s name for a password?), spending it on getting a few essentials for his base of operations - A Batmobile, for starters. It was a heavily modified Dodge Viper, with bulletproof, lightweight armor panels, ejection seats, satellite communications systems, and booster jets, not to mention enough defensive weaponry to make James Bond’s car look like a Pinto.

A few super computers and crime lab accessories were next, that he’d picked up at various drop-off points in different points in the city, under fake company names and always under disguise. He’d set them up here, along with an independent power source, advanced security technology, and at least three doors made of three-inch thick high-tensile steel.

Finally, he’d established a couple of auxiliary “fake caves” with plastic props of super computers, that he could use to park the Batmobile in-Before simply opening a secret passage and driving down into the sewer system, in order to make sure that anyone who had invaded the fake cave would be unable to find another fake (much less the real one) without slugging through slime and sewage for the rest of their lives.

Shinji Ikari may have been paranoid. But, he’d hacked enough of NERV’s files (not the entire mainframe but certainly a fair amount of top-secret info) to know the depths of his father’s ruthlessness. He had no doubt that if the Commander found out who Batman really was, the best thing he could look forward to would be exile or imprisonment.

It was therefore completely understandable for Shinji, dressed in full costume, to immediately strike out with a cutting batarang the instant he heard a footstep behind him.

He stared at the intruder. The intruder, holding his batarang between her hands, dropped the weapon to the floor and stared back.

“Ikari-kun,” Rei Ayanami nodded.

Shit, thought Batman.

---

Talon was beating his head against the nearby wall, as Musey cackled.

“This just keeps getting better and better,” the muse of Randomness leered. She rummaged about in a Barnes and Noble bag, produced another copy of The Batman Handbook, and tossed it into another time stream.

“NO! MUSEY! What the hell are you doing?!” Talon screamed. The blunette grinned.

“What? No one ever got hurt by a book… Hurt by reading a book, maybe, but never a book itself…”

---

TO BE CONTINUED