Blood Resolve

I do not own Neon Genesis Evangelion or the rights to anything associated with it. Gainax created this world, I just play in it.

I do however own any and all original characters that appear within this story.

Greetings from the land of hockey and beer, and welcome to 2007. I present to you my latest effort and I hope you enjoy it. Your reviews on this piece of work, as well as any of my other stories, are welcomed and encouraged. Unless you're a flamer, which means you can F.O. & D.

Chapter One

Misato sucked in a shuddering, pain wracked breath. The bullet had hit her high, right around the middle of her left collarbone, breaking it and sending bullet fragments into her shoulder. Breathing was painful as the expansion and contraction of her chest pulled at the wound. She could feel blood running out of the wound and trickling over her shoulder to the floor. God, it hurt so much. She was barely aware of the sound of hurried footsteps slapping the floor and people yelling. Her vision began to dim and the last thing she saw was the depiction of the Tree of Life on the ceiling of Commander Ikari's office.

Four Days Earlier

It had been four months since Misato had heard the hiss of a can of beer being opened. Four months since she felt the cold, amber liquid she loved so much caress the back of her throat. The drought was over and there would be many such occurrences tonight and damn if she didn't need it. She had to unwind or she would explode. Actually, she nearly had, which was why she was home from work in the middle of the afternoon.

She started her day trying to get through the mountain of paperwork that still buried her desk, even though they hadn't had an Angel attack in four months. The Seventeenth Angel had yet to arrive and by all indications she had picked up, it was long overdue. So much so that people were actually starting to come back to the city in the hopes that the attacks were over. Even SEELE had been silent, it was as if they had disappeared. It made things tense at NERV, leaving everyone anxious and on edge and tempers were short sometimes.

She had been in the cafeteria having lunch with Ritsuko, the two of them trying to find out if they could put their friendship back together. Someone from the bridge crew, who were also taking their lunch, had made a remark that started a discussion about people's moral standards and somehow an argument had started between herself and Ritsuko. It got pretty heated, so much so that the Commander had ordered them both to go home.

But that wasn't the sole extent of her problems today. She had other things on her mind to contend with. She hadn't been right, she hadn't been herself, since Kaji left her that last message on her answering machine. She had continued seeking the truth behind NERV, unravelling the tangled and hidden strands of the truth. She had traded beer for coffee and she practically lived on it now and she was feeling the effects of high levels of caffeine and too much time spent at work and skulking in the shadows. She knew there was more that she didn't know yet but she knew she was getting close to something.

Asuka was still in the hospital and still in her unresponsive, catatonic state. Thus far, her condition hadn't changed any and there had been no signs that she was going to come out of it anytime soon. She had closed herself off within her mind and nothing the doctors had tried to do so far had brought her out.

Shinji. He hadn't been quite the same since he found out about Rei. She wished that she could do something to help him, but she had been in her own world of hurt and their relationship was suffering. They didn't argue and yell at each other, though sometimes she thought it might be better if they did. They just seemed to coexist and nothing more, all too aware of each other's pain but not sure what to do about it. It was like they were afraid to let down their emotional guard around each other for fear that they would fall apart. Problem was, if they both fell apart together, it would probably be the best thing for them, but neither wanted to be a burden to the other.

So, with everything in her life weighing down on her like she was carrying an Eva on her back, she went back to her old, reliable cure-all. Beer. It made her temporarily forget unpleasant things, it put her to sleep so she didn't have so many nightmares, and it was a blissful escape from reality. It could also lead to big trouble, as she would soon find out.

The Next Morning:

As she slowly began to awaken from her Yebisu coma, she became reacquainted with the effects of the morning after. Her head felt as if someone had driven an axe into it. She groggily pushed herself up into a sitting position and rubbed her head with the heel of her right hand.

"Damn," she swore. "I sure didn't miss this when I wasn't drinking." She stopped suddenly and looked around, coming to the realization that not only was she not in her bedroom, she wasn't even in her apartment. It looked like one of NERV's dimly lit holding cells.

"What the fuck?!" The sound of her own words made her wince as her head throbbed. "What the hell am I doing in here?!"

Possibilities began to circulate through her aching head. Had her snooping around drawn too much attention? It was something that had been in the back of her mind for a while as a probable circumstance to her quest for the truth about NERV. Or, had she done something stupid while she was drunk?

She was still dressed the way she had been when she started drinking, in denim cut offs and a short yellow tank top. Even as drunk as she was known to get, she knew that she would never go out of the apartment when she was already that blasted and not while dressed like this. And she sure as hell wouldn't have forgotten her shoes. Needless to say, she was more than just a little bit confused.

A few minutes later the door opened, the sudden bright light sending a lancing pain through her head. A Section 2 agent stepped into the doorway, cutting off the light.

"Come with us Major, you have an appointment with the Commander."

'Aw shit!'

It was embarrassing enough to be led through the corridors of NERV barefoot and barely dressed, but it was downright humiliating when standing in front of the Commander's desk. It also didn't help that she reeked of stale beer and looked like she had indeed just crawled out of bed.

True to form the Commander took his time before getting down to business, glaring at her through his orange glasses and hiding his face behind his white gloved hands. His pose was calculated to intimidate, but if she could help it she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of a reaction. For his part, as always, Sub Commander Fuyutsuki just stood silently beside the desk with his hands clasped behind his back.

"Do you know why you are here Major?" the Commander asked coldly.

"No sir, I don't," she answered.

"Have you ever heard of a pro Angel group that calls themselves the Soldiers of Adam?"

"I've heard of them," she confirmed, wondering what this had to do with her. "They started spreading their propaganda leaflets around about a month ago. Like all the rest of those cults groups they condemn us for killing the Angels and depriving mankind of their heavenly message."

"Indeed," the Commander said. "But the Soldiers of Adam have taken a bold step. While you were drinking yourself unconscious last night, they abducted the Third Child and it was done right outside your apartment door."

The blood drained from her face and she felt like her heart had dropped into the pit of her stomach. "They took Shinji?" she gasped.

"One of your few remaining neighbours reported hearing a brief struggle and heard him calling for you to help him," the Commander continued. "The struggle stopped when his kidnappers told him that if he didn't cooperate they would… violate you while he watched. Apparently his concern for your questionable virtue is much greater than yours is for his safety."

Her eyes flared with anger and she met his penetrating gaze. She so badly wanted to rip the bastard's balls off and stuff them down his throat. She wanted to tell him what she thought of him and his opinion, but she was in more than enough hot water already and telling the Commander what she thought of him wasn't going to help Shinji in the least.

The Commander continued. "Admittedly, Section 2 was slow to respond and that shortcoming has been dealt with. However, they knew that you were at home and when they did arrive and saw no sign of you, they entered the apartment and found you passed out on the floor. Considering your condition, and your failure to protect the Third Child, who you eagerly volunteered to look after if you recall, a cell seemed like a good place to let you sleep it off. Considering your propensity to drink, I'm surprised that you haven't spent a few nights in a cell downtown."

The bastard was enjoying this and she'd had just about enough. She felt bad enough already and it was all she could do to keep from crumbling. Her head was pounding, she was worried about Shinji and sick about not being sober enough, or, evidently, responsible enough to help him. She was all too well aware of her shortcomings and she didn't need Commander Ikari to rub salt in the wound.

"They sent us a letter this morning taking responsibility for the kidnapping," Fuyutsuki said. "They claim that in four days we will find Shinji's body in a public place and it will be evident that he died a long, painful, and bloody death. So shall be the fate of those who kill the Angels."

An unbidden image formed in her mind of Shinji's mutilated body lying in the street, his dead eyes wide open and seemingly staring straight through her. She gagged and had to cover her mouth to keep from throwing up.

"What can I do to help get him back?" she asked when she could speak again.

"Nothing," the Commander said coldly. "Just as you did when he needed you the most, you will do nothing. You've done more than enough already. Up until now your behaviour was of little consequence since it did not affect the purpose of this organization. You performed your duties and the Angels were defeated. That, however, has now changed. As the Third Child's guardian, you are ultimately responsible for his safety and well being and you have failed miserably in that regard, possibly costing us our only usable pilot and our only means of defence should there be another Angel attack."

"Commander, I…"

"Enough!" he cut her off, raising his voice only slightly. "You are a disgrace. I am placing you on indefinite suspension and suspending your status as guardian to the Second and Third Child. You will not return to this facility without my permission. Is that clear Major Katsuragi?"

"Yes sir," she said tightly, a note of defeat in her voice.

"You are dismissed."

It was a long and miserable walk home. She had no money on her for a cab, bus or train, and the Commander didn't see fit to have Section 2 take her back to her apartment. It was extremely hot, she was badly hung over, and her sense of guilt and fear for Shinji's safety was eating her alive.

Ugly thoughts of what he might be going through and what his captors were promising to do played through her mind like a horror movie, leaving her throwing up in the street when her nerves got the better of her. The harder she tried to keep herself together, the less success she had. By the time she got halfway home, tears were streaming down her face and she was berating herself for failing Shinji.

Shinji was the only good thing in her life. He was her family and the only person in the world that she could say she loved. She wished that she had told him that. Knowing that someone really did love him, cared about him, and believed in him, could have helped him so much. She had kept telling herself the lie that by not saying such things to him, she was keeping her distance as she should as his commanding officer. But she had taken him in because she was lonely and that had put her too close from the very start. Once he got used to her strange ways they had started to get along great. But now, she might never see him again and the fact that she hadn't been able to help him was killing her.

By the time she reached the apartment, she was falling apart. She stumbled through the door and lost it completely, the sight of all of the empty beer cans littering the kitchen table and floor sending her into a rage. Rage at the Soldiers of Adam for taking him. Rage at the Commander for his seeming enjoyment at belittling her while his own son was in the hands of people who wanted to harm him. Rage at herself for being so utterly useless. In the debris of her previous night's activities she saw the mess she had made of her life and what it was costing her. Sobbing and screaming, she began to tear the place apart.

The kitchen table was the first thing to go, its load of empties clattering to the floor as she flipped it over. The chairs were next and were sent flying across the apartment. One went through the television, another smashing the stereo, a third one out through the glass of the balcony doors. She swung the fourth one into the counter top, smashing the window in on the microwave and sending the toaster, the coffee maker and a rack of dishes smashing to the floor.

She ripped open the fridge door and began pulling out cans of beer. With complete irrationality, a display of temporary insanity, and a total disregard for herself, she began downing the cold liquid as fast as she could. Old habits were hard to break. When in pain and filled with self doubt…drink. She literally poured it down her throat, gulping it down as fast as she could manage and spilling as much all over herself as she was able to swallow.

By the time her mind re-engaged itself, she had gone through an even ten and was soaked from head to toe. Screaming with frustration and self loathing, she began throwing full cans of beer as hard as she could. Cans dented the walls, took out the table lamps and the phone, several rupturing and spraying their foaming contents around the apartment. Flying cans sailed through destroyed balcony doors, over the railing and down to the street below.

In the midst of her fury she stepped on a piece of glass from the coffee pot with her bare right foot and slipped and fell to the floor, pieces of glass and broken dishes lacerating her knees and hands. The pain jarred her senses and her rage began to ebb. Choking and sobbing, she half crawled, half stumbled down the hall to Shinji's room and sat on the edge of his bed.

"I'm sorry Shinji," she cried. "I'm so sorry. I'm weak and I wasn't here when you needed me. I let you down and you probably hate me now. But I'll do whatever it takes to find you and bring you back. I won't let them get away with this. Even if it costs me my life, I'll make them pay for taking you."

She laid down on his bed and began to drift off to sleep, her rampage having drained her of the little energy she had left.

When she awoke late that afternoon, her head still hurt, but not as bad. She made her way to the bathroom and picked the glass out of her wounds before taking a long, hot shower. Feeling somewhat better when she emerged from the steam shrouded bathroom, she dressed her wounds. The one on her foot was nasty and was going to give her problems walking. It probably needed stitches but she would settle for a heavy bandaging for now.

She turned on her computer and began a search for any information she could find on the Soldiers of Adam. She found that just as with all of the other wacko groups that were out there, they had their own web site. The content was mainly a repeat of the rhetoric from their propaganda leaflets, supplemented by several commentaries ranting against NERV and their destruction of the Angels. It had a tone that suggested they were willing to commit open acts of terror to make their point.

Curiously though, she thought, considering what they professed to be willing to do, there was no mention that they had kidnapped Shinji. Surely they would have boasted about such an accomplishment. They had in their hands the one Evangelion pilot who had killed more Angels than the others combined. If the Soldiers of Adam were like all of the other groups they would not hesitate to take advantage of the publicity that this would bring to their so called cause.

She searched for news items for the past two days and found not a single mention of the kidnapping. She tuned the radio in her room to the local all news station and found no mention of it there either.

"Either NERV has blocked the media from releasing this," she thought aloud. "Or the Soldiers of Adam are focusing on NERV rather than a public campaign." The note Fuyutsuki had told her about stated that Shinji's body would be found in a public place. With no media coverage to lead up to it, that could suggest that they were going after NERV alone, or going after them first before making their deed public. But if that was the case they must want something from NERV.

"Could they be looking for a ransom?" she wondered aloud. "Fat chance on getting one. The Commander didn't care about Shinji enough to raise him, so I doubt he'd pay a ransom to get him back, even if he is the only viable pilot. He'd have to be desperate and have no idea how to find the kidnappers."

Regardless of the motivations of the Soldiers of Adam, she needed to find them and get Shinji back. She didn't trust Section 2 to do the job, since they should have been paying attention in the first place and succeeded where she had so obviously failed. If they had been doing their jobs Shinji wouldn't have been kidnapped. She wanted to talk to those agents as well as any of the others who were trying to locate Shinji. If she had to she would turn the city inside out to find out where the kidnappers were hiding him. She would threaten and lean on whoever it took to get the information that would lead her to whatever rat hole the Soldiers of Adam called home.

After downing some aspirin, she slipped into a pair of jeans and a dark blue tank top. She pulled her old military boots out of a duffle bag in the closet and put them on. She hadn't worn them since the last training course she went on and that was when she was still back in Germany. The boots were big enough to accommodate the bandages on her right foot and were reasonable to walk in.

Even though it was still very warm out, she put on a lightweight jacket, mainly for the purpose of concealing her gun. She checked the load in her trusted HK USP .40 and slid it into the waist of her jeans at her back. She checked the three spare magazines she had for it put them in the jacket's pockets. At thirteen rounds apiece, including the magazine in the gun, she had a total of fifty two rounds on her. She had a feeling in her gut that she was going to need it before this was over.

If she found herself in a position where she had to make an assault against the cult, she was confident that she had the skills to do it. She was well trained and was a damn good shot. However, she would have liked to have had a little more armament to fall back on. She wished she could have raided the armoury at NERV for one of the HK 416 carbines or an MP-5, lots of ammunition, and maybe a few flash bang and CS gas grenades. But, since the Commander had suspended her and restricted her access to NERV, she would have to make due with what she had.

She went back to the closet and dug into the same duffle bag she pulled the boots from and pulled out a knife in a black nylon sheath. She pulled the knife and checked the blade. The five and a half inch, non-reflective, drop point blade was still razor sharp. She returned it to its sheath and hooked it to the waist of her jeans at her right hip. Her jacket was long enough to cover it and keep it concealed.

She grabbed her cell phone and her keys and took a moment to gaze at the damage she had done to her home before she left. She felt the anger welling up inside her again, but this time she would be directing it elsewhere. It would be channelled towards her search for information and anyone who stood in her way of acquiring it. She knew she could be intimidating when she was angry and she would need to be if she was going to find out anything.

As a matter of fact, she was counting on it. She was going to get her Shinji back and tear apart the assholes who had taken him from her. She didn't care if she had to stomp through Tokyo 3 like fucking Godzilla. Hell, she'd burn the whole goddamned city down if that's what it took to find him and get him back.

Stoked high on anger and adrenaline, and armed with only a pistol, a knife, and a nasty disposition, she went out into the night. She was going to find out who took Shinji, she was going to find out where they were, and she was going to kill them. No matter what it took, no matter the cost.

It had been a hard night and Misato looked pretty rough around the edges the next morning as she sat in a small café a few blocks from her apartment, having breakfast. She had talked to and screamed at a dozen Section 2 agents and every one of them had given her the cold shoulder and refused to say much. Even the two or three agents she was on good terms with wouldn't give her any information. It was clear that the Commander had told them not to tell her anything about what happened the night of the kidnapping or about the subsequent investigation.

Her next course of action had been to hit every out of the way dive and weirdo bar she could find and throw her NERV ID around and see what she could shake loose. The cults that were more well known had gained members from both the gutter and the more intellectual ends of society. In some of the higher end bars and cafes she had found people sympathetic to the pro-Angel movements, but no one who looked like they had the balls to do anything more than chant and hold up protest signs. They were little more than misguided idealists.

She had a little more luck in the low end places and a lot more trouble too, and that had been fine by her. She had to fight her way out of a few places, earning a black and swollen left eye, some sore ribs, and bruised knuckles for her trouble. But, she had made her presence known and had left considerable damage in her wake, proving that she wasn't all that rusty at the art of breaking heads. Several people would be spending time in the hospital. In a few places she had needed to pull her gun to both get information and get out in one piece, and in a couple she had needed to spend a couple of rounds to let people know just how serious she was.

The summary of the thin information she gained was that the Soldiers of Adam was a small outfit and seemed to find their members among former military personnel who had run afoul of the law and were down and out. Why those people would suddenly go pro Angel was unknown, short of being paid to do it, but the one thing they all had in common was their ability to handle a gun.

As far as where they based themselves, it was rumoured to be somewhere in one of the zones that were marginally habitable due to damage from the Angel attacks. That didn't narrow it down very much and she could spend days checking out damaged buildings and she didn't have that kind of time. In roughly forty eight hours they would be dropping Shinji's lifeless body somewhere in Tokyo 3.

She wouldn't be able to live with herself if that happened, and she would probably end up eating her gun if it did. She wanted him back where he belonged, safe and sound in their home where he should be. She felt connected to him, like they were somehow intended to be a part of each other's lives. She wanted to be able to tease him again and make him turn red. She wanted to flirt with him and see him go ballistic. She wanted to see him smile and hear him laugh, something neither of them had done much of lately. Most of all she wanted to apologize to him and ask him to forgive her. She needed him in her life and she couldn't imagine him not being there. The loneliness would be unbearable.

She leaned back in her chair and stretched as the waitress brought her another cup of coffee. She needed to try and narrow down the possibilities of where the Soldiers of Adam might be hiding. There were several areas that had buildings that would fit the rumours she was told about. She could rule out any place that was obviously unsafe and marked as condemned on the damage assessments. She was very familiar with those damage assessments because it was part of the paperwork that landed on her desk and never seemed to go away.

The next level of damaged buildings were ones that were designated as requiring further engineering inspections to see if they were worth repairing. Most of those buildings were damaged badly enough that it would likely be more economically feasible to just knock them down and rebuild. They would probably pick a building that was reasonably sound but had been evacuated and might still have utilities. While that narrowed down the selection a bit, it was still a lot of territory to cover.

In her mind, if she was going to kidnap someone, she would not want to transport them any farther than necessary. A longer distance to travel to the hideout meant a greater chance of discovery along the way, especially if the kidnappers were to be spotted as they fled the scene. The idea would be to make the snatch as quickly and quietly as possible and get into hiding fast without being spotted. That meant they might choose a place close to the scene, even if it was only as a temporary hideout. She could think of some places that weren't too far from her building that fit the bill, but unless they were still there she wouldn't be any closer to finding them than she was now.

Something that was bothering her from her activities the night before was that not once had she run into any Section 2 agents after her initial confrontations with them. She also hadn't seen any indication from the people she had talked to that anyone from NERV had been around to make the same inquiries she was.

She certainly wasn't a trained investigator, but common sense and a little bit of basic knowledge about the other pro Angel groups had led her to a line of reasoning that she felt had her on the right track. Unless she was way off, why hadn't Section 2 come to the same conclusions she had? They had trained investigators on staff, they had plenty of personnel to hit the streets with and should have hit the same places she had, even if it was just a routine process of elimination. The lowlifes she had talked to were the type of people who usually knew what was going on in the dark shadows of the city and were the type of people that any investigator would hit up for information.

'Dammit!' she swore to herself as she drained her coffee. 'Something really doesn't smell right about this whole thing and I really need a break here somewhere if I'm going to find them.'

She paid her bill and limped out to her car. The cut on her foot had been bleeding during her activities of the night before and it felt like the bandage was stuck to it and was pulling at the wound with every step. She would re-bandage it when she got home and would try to grab a couple of hours of sleep before she resumed her search. The physicality of the previous night, along with the exhausting effects of her anger had drained her. A quick power nap might refresh her mind a bit.

When she opened the car door she spotted a plain, white envelope on the drivers seat. Her hand went under her jacket and gripped her pistol as she carefully looked up and down the street for any sign of someone watching her. When she saw no one but uninterested pedestrians, she picked up the envelope and opened it. Inside was a hand written note.

You will find what you are looking for at the address below. You are right not to trust Section 2 in this, they are incompetent fools. If you wish to catch the Soldiers of Adam all at once, do not come until after dark. The one you are looking for is thus far unharmed.

The address was for the Komae Senior High School, which was about fifteen blocks from where she was now and it was right on the edge of the habitable zone where Rei had detonated her Eva four months earlier. Alarm bells began to go off in her head. This was just too damned convenient, but she didn't see where she had any other choice but to go with it. There were enough inconsistencies with this whole incident that it made her suspect that there was another motive behind the kidnapping. She had a couple of ideas forming in her head, but she didn't have anything to substantiate them with. Somebody obviously wanted her specifically to go there and the shiver that went up her spine told her that she better watch her ass when she did.

Thank's for reading Chapter One. As always, I encourage and look forward to your reviews.

This will be a three chapter story and I will be updating on Fridays which seems to have become my day of choice.

Unless I decide to be exceedingly evil and leave everyone hanging.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Anyway, while you're at it, read and review my other stories. You know how to find them.