ARSENAL

 ARSENAL is a Neon Genesis Evangelion Deconstruction Fic by the Sage of Toads that is no longer hosted by Andrew Joshua Talon on fanfiction.net. The first twelve chapters are still available in the Wayback Machine.

Starting out as your typical Peggy Sue fare, ARSENAL dispenses with that notion and wastes no time in establishing that Shinji is an insane, brilliant, and completely amoral young man with an extensive agenda. Armed with the knowledge of the future, training, and careful planning, he intends to not only avert the future that is canon, but do it in the most gloriously violent and over-the-top fashion possible.

Not to be confused with the football club of the same name.

"Sage Of Toads: Yes, it's an acronym, and no, I'm not telling you what it means. You'll have to find that out for yourself."
 * And I Must Scream:
 * Anti-Hero: Shinji, an indisputable Type V.
 * Ax Crazy: Shinji's first official act in the story is to bash a pay phone in for failing to connect him to his father. This is followed swiftly by him holding NERV hostage with a suitcase nuke. And that's just the beginning.
 * Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Ramiel's arrival at the very end of Chapter 8 has been hailed as this.
 * BFG:
 * Brick Joke: Early into the story, Shinji mentions that he can kill someone with wet paper and a paper clip.
 * The Chessmaster: Shinji constantly makes references to playing chess, and lives up to it by predicting everything that happens during the entire Black Bunnies arc. Notable in that none of them are part of his foreknowledge but he's able to recognize every single ploy they attempt to stop him.
 * Curb Stomp Battle: Directly invoked in the fight between Sachiel and Unit 01.
 * Death by Sex: suspects that this is going to happen to him after  lays him and tries to defy it, but fails.
 * Deconstruction Fic
 * Determinator: Shinji fights Ramiel after receiving several blows, each the equivalent of a shotgun blast to the chest. He follows this up while still recovering by having a knockdown drag-out brawl with Satsuki and essentially surviving on will alone.
 * Engineered Public Confession:
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Gendo is disgusted by, and even near-Villain Protagonist Shinji is disgusted by the stuff Gendo and SEELE are responsible for in canon.
 * Fate Worse Than Death:
 * For the Evulz: Shinji invokes this occasionally. He's been known to carry a baseball bat to big fight scenes just so he can beat someone to death with it. What he does with is even more horrible.
 * Freaky Is Cool: Touji and Kensuke's opinion on
 * Freudian Excuse: Aoi claims that Satsuki and Kaede have this. Misato slaps it down as "a shitty excuse".
 * Gorn: Lots and lots of graphic violence. Special mention goes to Pen-Pen in chapter 11.
 * Fun with Acronyms: A Really Sadistic Evangelion... Now Action Laser! You try.

"Blood for the blood god!"
 * Grey and Black Morality: It would almost be more accurate to say Black and Black Morality, but Shinji's altruistic motives manage to make him half a shade grayer than the people he's fighting. His motives, however, are just about the only thing keeping him from being a Complete Monster.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: Shinji's behavior comes down to fighting people ruthless and efficient beyond measure, meaning he has to be willing to hold nothing back in order to win., none of which contribute to stopping Third Impact in any way, push him completely into "monster" territory if he wasn't there already.
 * I Call It Vera: Shinji names all of his weapons. Sterling example: "Hiroshima-kun" for his suitcase nuke.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Ai puts a belt sander and reciprocating saw (among other tools) to good use in Chapters 10 and 11.
 * In Love with Your Carnage: Satsuki.
 * It's All About Me: Aoi says something to this effect.
 * Kick the Son of a Bitch: Shinji's punishments of are twelve shades of this.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia:
 * Laser-Guided Karma:
 * Shinji's punishments for
 * His reveal that works as this for.
 * Little Miss Badass: Ai Suzuhara, Touji's sister who avoided injury thanks to the above-mentioned Curb Stomp Battle.
 * Meaningful Name:
 * Motive Rant: A short one in chapter 11 is given by Aoi
 * Necessarily Evil: Shinji's view of himself.
 * Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Ai Suzuhara, again, when she is introduced in Chapter 9.
 * Number Two/The Dragon: Misato is either to Shinji.
 * An Offer You Can't Refuse:
 * Only Sane Man: Hikari and Maya both qualify as this. Fuyutsuki as well, but he's playing along.
 * Papa Wolf:
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: Cited specifically as the reason for.
 * Peggy Sue: Shinji somehow has complete knowledge of how things went in canon!Evangelion, including End, and seems to be haunted by Asuka's final words.
 * Early in the first chapter, he claims that he experienced it all in dreams, over and over, after Gendo abandoned him.
 * Refuge in Audacity: The only reason most will be able to take most of the events as they unfold without screaming in horror is simply because it's too outrageous to believe -- even in-universe.
 * Samaritan Syndrome: Alluded to; Shinji recognises that he's not God and doesn't let himself be guilt-tripped about it.
 * Shout-Out:
 * Ai is a Warhammer 40,000 fan.


 * Gary Sanderson sounds oddly familiar
 * Ghost screaming this doesn't seem physically possible
 * Allusions to Axis Powers Hetalia when SEELE's members are involved.
 * Fargo is mentioned when Shinji tells Gendo why his plan failed.
 * "Your mission is complete, go home and be a family man."
 * "I guess a sense of humor is one that's..." In the back of his mind, he wished he had a pair of sunglasses, "...Evolved." YEEEAAAHHHH!
 * Sociopathic Hero: Shinji, to the ninth degree.
 * Take That: Some, mostly aimed at one fanfic in particular.
 * Tap on the Head:
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Shinji's answer to Aoi's Motive Rant
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Shinji, emphasis on the "extremist" part.