Author's note: Well, I got caught in two ice storms, power went out…okay, enough excuses here's chapter four!

Part 4: Photo

"So where you able to find out anything regarding the third child?" Gendo asked one of his Section 2 subordinates.

"Negative, we could not open his suitcase by any means. We also attempted to x-ray it, but something in the material blocked all attempts." The agent replied, "His trunk which arrived yesterday is made of the same material, thus it too was unscanable."

"I see." Gendo said behind his bridged hands.

"What would you like us to do sir?"

"Nothing. He proved useful in yesterday's battle. As long as he continues to do so, I could care less." The commander of NERV replied.

As the agent took his leave, Gendo smiled. It wouldn't matter; his son could do as he pleased, once the angels were gone, only instrumentality would remain.

Meanwhile…

Shinji opened his eyes and found himself in a white hospital room, lying in a bed. He turned his head to the side and noticed his sunglasses on the nightstand next to him and his suitcase was next to it. He slowly sat up and put his sunglasses on, then pulled his suitcase onto his lap. From the smudges and scratches on the locks, it was quite obvious that someone had been putting considerable effort in an attempt to break it open. The boy sighed and placed his fingers on the locks. A miniature scanner confirmed the DNA within a split second, and allowed Shinji to unfasten the lock. He quickly checked its contents and found everything to be in order. He then spied his clothes folded neatly on a seat and got up and changed into them.

As he did this, he pondered on how secret his "condition" was. Considering that he was in an average hospital room and not being dissected, it was probably pretty safe. He straightened his tie and placed his bands on. He then grabbed a hold of his attaché case and strolled out of the room. He went over to a set of windows and looked out. He started to think on what his next move should be. He did want to return to London, where he could sleep at "normal" hours, be with people who cared about him (at this moment he was even missing Alucard, though he would never admit it), but there where some things that were on his mind that made him wonder if returning was the best choice.

First of all was his father. Shinji sighed as he thought of how when he had come here, he had hoped (to a small extent) that, although ugly methods had been used, his father had wanted to at least attempt to make up for his abandonment. That hope had been dashed however, as the only things that had come from Gendo's mouth were insults or attempts at manipulation. Shinji gripped the railing by the window tightly, causing it to cave in, as he thought of the things that bastard had said, the insults against Hellsing especially. How DARE he even mention the people who had saved him and given him a home in anyway but respect? The teen's respect for Integra was immense, her fierce spirit was inspiring and gave strength to all who knew her, and Walter had been his main teacher, in both academics and (reluctantly his teacher) in combating the undead. Not only that, he had been the closest thing to a father the boy had, and he greatly appreciated his company. Gendo had gone too far with that remark, and Shinji intended too make him pay for it before he went back. He would also make sure those documents were signed, even if he had to guide his father's hands with his own.

Secondly, there were the angels. The mysterious being that he had fought was only one, and from what he could gather, there were going to be more. When he had said that he didn't care what happened to the city, he had been lying, it would pain him to see lives disappear at the hands of some creature, especially if he had the chance to stop it. There was also an admitted curiosity in regards to them, especially on the topic of combating them. That angel's strength had been quite impressive, and the battle had been quite thrilling, though at times embarrassing. Shinji chuckled as he found himself licking his lips; perhaps some of his master's personality had worn off on him.

Thinking about the angels brought him to the third reason he was having second thoughts about leaving; Rei. If he left, the blue-haired albino would be made to fight and, in her current condition, there was no way she could perform well. There was something about her as well. Although the young midian couldn't place his fingers on it, she had a familiarity about her that went beyond that chance sighting that had occurred earlier that day. There was also something strange about the girl, particularly about her scent and her blood. Though it wouldn't be detectable by the average sense of smell, Shinji's keen sense had noticed her smell was…different. He honestly couldn't place it, it was like a smell of comfort that spoke to his baser side, easing it, but at the same time terrifying it as mixed in that scent was a smell he was more familiar with, the smell of death. Her blood was also strange. After he had caught the girl and placed her back on her bed, he had noticed some blood on his gloves and, when nobody had been looking, he had licked off the wet blood and found the taste very odd. It was sweet and remarkably pure, a rarity with most blood. More disturbingly, an image had appeared in his mind when he drank, and though it had been there for a mere moment it had terrified him. It was…

The sound of a bed rolling down the hall way broke Shinji out of his thoughts. He took a whiff and, after noticing a familiar smell, watched as the aforementioned beauty was rolled by, still bandaged up, but now in a hospital gown instead of the tight white suit she had been wearing. As she passed by, her uncovered left eye looked at him, perhaps trying to analyze the strange teen that had helped her yesterday and had the strangest pair of eyes she had seen. Shinji looked at her in return as the doctors rolled her away, he felt an urge to speak with the girl, but decided it would be best if he let her rest for moment. He did, however, make a mental note about Rei's room number, in case he wanted to visit later.

Meanwhile…

"Shinji just woke up!" Ritsuko said toMisato as they rode back from cleaning the city of unit 01's armor and the angel's bits and pieces.

"Huh, that's good. He's been out for some time, the battle must have really worn him out." Misato mused.

"There's something wrong with that boy," Ritsuko thought aloud.

Misato looked at her friend, "Like what, the fact that he's courteous, or the fact that he stood up to the commander?" She chuckled a bit at that last line as she remembered how that little shrimp of a boy had been trying to order Gendo Ikari, the most powerful man at NERV, around.

Ritsuko sighed, "no, it's not that, though it is strange to see teenagers act that way when they meet women. But his readings were really weird, especially his bpm."

"Hmmm? There's something wrong with his heart?" Misato asked, surprised that someone who could fix a car (not too mention setting it upright without waking her), and make the amazing dash he had made to catch Rei, could possibly have any physical problems.

"Well, not exactly." The faux blonde replied, "It was just too good. During the entire fight, it stayed at exactly 70 beats per minute, even when he was under extreme stress, it remained at seventy."

"Well maybe he's just really cool headed." Misato replied, trying to sound optimistic.

"That's another thing, we had a thermal recorder too, and it was registering his body temperature at around fifty degrees."

"Maybe it's just broken."

"That's not feasible though, we checked those systems up to an hour before he piloted, the thermal and coronary recorders should have worked perfectly." Ritsuko explained, "He certainly is a weird one."

Meanwhile…

"A-choo!" Shinji sneezed. That had been quite unexpected, and unfortunately, he had been looking through the contents of his case, so now everything was covered in the sneeze. He quickly grabbed a framed photo he had been looking at and tried to wipe it off.

The picture was taken at his tenth birthday. It showed him dressed up much like he was now, holding up a pair of gloves and wire, his own personal set. Around him were Seras, who was making the victory sign, Integra giving a small smile, and Walter who was blushing from all the thanks Shinji was giving him. Though Alucard was not directly present, a shadowed face with a blazing white smile could be seen in the background.

Shinji smiled as he remembered that day. It was also the day he was first allowed to go along on a mission. It had just been a couple of ghouls that had gotten away, but to him it had been like a rite of passage that allowed him to truly be one of the family. He chuckled as he remembered how poorly he had done too, he was so scared upon seeing a ghoul up close that he had just swung his wires at it with no regard for the training he had received. That had merely angered the thing, and had Seras not blasted it, it might have made a meal out of him. To his chagrin, Alucard had started to laugh at the boys efforts, but he surprised both of them when he managed to wrap the other ghoul around its open mouth, separating just the top of its head from the body, leaving a lower jaw hanging there quite miserably. He remembered how his fingers had quivered after he had done that, and how he had almost decided to just be a normal boy, when a pat on the head from Alucard and a hug from Seras made him feel comfortable and secure.

The picture did cause him pain however. The smiling boy in the photo had no idea that in a little over three years time, he would no longer have those blue eyes, but orange-red ones instead. He had no idea that he would take up residence in the basement so the sun wouldn't sap away his energy or that he would eat alone from then on, pouring bag after bag of medicinal blood down his throat. He had no idea that he would stop calling Alucard by his name but call him "master" instead.

The teen shuddered as he remembered the night his life had changed so dramatically. Briggs going down, that giant man with blonde hair and those (shudder) bayonets coming out. The failed attempt at defeating him, which ended with him pinned to the wall by the bayonets, the way the priest had just stopped after seeing him. The way Seras was crying over his dying body…

"Shinji! Shinji!" She had cried, only to see the light start to fade from his eyes. "Don't worry, the medical team will be arriving shortly, you'll be alright." Seras looked as blood poured from the wounds and bit her lip, trying to keep the tidal wave of distress from coming out.

"He won't make it at this rate, Police girl."

"Master, what are you…?"

"You're not looking so well, fish boy." Shinji couldn't see him through his blurred vision, but he could tell Alucard was there, "Is this how you want it to end?"

Shinji stared blankly, his strength completely gone. He didn't want to die, he still wanted to keep going, to be with the people he loved and cared about, to talk with Walter and Integra over tea, to go to movies with Seras, he couldn't let it end here! He mustered his remaining strength and muttered

"No."

He then passed out and wouldn't awaken till the next night when-

RING! RING!

The noise of his cell phone going off broke Shinji out of his walk down memory lane. He grabbed his phone out of the open suitcase and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Seras, it's so good to hear from you!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just woke up a little while ago. How is everyone?"

"I did. I will."

"I'm sorry Seras, but it looks like I won't be able to come back for some time."

"Yeah, he wouldn't sign. But there's some other reasons too."

"NO! I mean, uh, I've only been here for a day, it's not like I could have met someone in already."

"It's not funny!"

"I don't know where I'll be staying."

"No, she already has done so much, I'll deal with it."

"I miss you too Seras. Tell everyone I said hi."

Meanwhile, in London…

"Definitely met a girl," Seras said while nodding her head.

"Well, looks like you dealt with my ghouls, but how will you deal with-

The freak suddenly exploded into dust as he took a 30mm depleted uranium shell through his chest.

Later…In Japan…

"Shinji." Misato said as she came upon him sitting in the lobby of the hospital.

"Captain Katsuragi, a pleasure to see you again." Shinji said as he bowed.

"I thought I told you to call me Misato," the violet-haired woman said, "Now, come with me, were going to find out about your residence and get your paperwork filled out for your permanent id card."

"Of course," The lad said as he grabbed his suitcase and followed her towards the elevator.

At the elevator, Shinji got quite the unpleasant surprise as the doors opened to reveal his father. Shinji suddenly dropped his suitcase (though it resembled more of a toss) and it landed, quite hard, on Gendo's foot, causing the commander to scream out in pain.

"Oh, very sorry about that." Shinji said as he reached into the elevator and retrieved the case, "You know, I believe that whenever someone wrongs someone, they should apologize as soon as possible, don't you?"

The commander of NERV merely glared at his son and waited for the door to close. When the elevator finally closed, he thought of how the boy had been quite a pain in the neck since he had arrived. The little brat even had the audacity to make demands and insult the organization that he had spent the past decade and a half building. As he thought this, he noticed that the elevator had stopped moving. He reached out to press the emergency call button, but was shocked as a black material covered it, along with the other buttons. Gendo quickly reached for the door, but the black material covered that as well, in fact, it was covering the entire elevator, in mere moments, it had covered every wall and the floor, and it started to eclipse the lighting, leaving Gendo in complete darkness. This only lasted for a few seconds though, as dozens of small red lines appeared all around him. The lines then opened up one by one into horrid crimson eyes, all of which focused their gaze toward the man. Gendo's eyes widened as the horrid optics peered at him and sweat poured from his glands and soaked his clothes. As he stood there in horror, he felt something crawling on his arms. He shook his sleeve and opened his mouth in shock as a foot long millipede fell out and started to crawl around on the floor. He quickly smashed the insect under his feet, but as he did, a part of the eye-covered wall stretched out and formed a cruel, shadowy face. The face looked at him and opened its mouth from which a mass of white maggots, millipedes, and earthworms came forth until Gendo was up to his ankles in the crawling cadaver-scavengers. The face then opened its mouth wide and came towards the traumatized commander who started to whimper in reaction to his approaching doom.

"Ikari! What the hell is the matter?" Came the voice of Fyutski, Gendo's partner in crime.

Gendo looked around the elevator and saw it was back to normal, no trace of the eyes, bugs, or the "face." He composed himself as much as he could, still sweating uncontrollably, and stepped off the elevator.

"Ikari, you might want to change your pants."

Gendo looked down and noticed a wet stain on the crotch of his pants.

Shinji smiled and pushed his glasses back up.

Later…

"He'll be living alone?" Misato asked after hearing about the conditions of Shinji's stay with NERV from one of the secretaries.

"That's right, his room will be in the sixth block beyond this one, is that all right?" the man asked.

"I suppose it is." Shinji said with a half smile.

"Shinji." Misato said, "Are you sure about that?"

"Misato, I appreciate your concern, but it would probably be best if I were to live by myself."

A little later…

"What did you say?!" Ritsuko bellowed into her phone.

"I said that he's going to be living with me, and don't worry, I won't be making any passes at him." Misato joked.

Shinji scratched the back of his head nervously as he stood behid her. "How will Sir Integra take this?" he wondered, remembering the phone call he had received yesterday. Well, he wouldn't have to check in with her for quite some time, at least enough to come up with an acceptable story.

Even later…

"Well, I guess we need to throw a party" Misato said as she drove Shinji out of NERV.

"Oh please, there's no need for that." Shinji protested. "I would hate to be a bother to you."

"It's not a problem, besides, I haven't had a roommate for quite some time!" The woman said with a large grin on her face. She then parked illegally outside of a convenience store. About a half an hour later they came back out of the store with bags of instant made food and Yebisu beer.

Shinji sighed as he got into the car. "This could be quite a bother," he thought as he looked at the food.

After a bit of a drive, they arrived at Misato's apartment where A metal trunk was waiting outside of the doorway for Shinji, apparently, NERV had tried to search it as well, from the marks on it.

"Well, looks like your stuff already arrived." Misato mused. She opened the door to the apartment, and Shinji followed suit.

"Welcome to your new home!" Misato said.

Shinji looked around. It was indeed a nice, cozy place, with a good amount of room for an apartment. Yes, it wouldn't be so…The boy's eyes opened up almost past his sunglasses and his mouth shot open as he noticed the massive amounts of trash, beer cans, and wadded up clothing that covered every surface of the apartment.

"As you can see, the place is a lee-tle messy." The purple haired vixen said.

"This is what she calls a little messy?" Shinji thought.

As Misato walked off towards her room, she looked back and asked, "Sorry, would you mind putting the food away?"

"No problem." Shinji said as he opened the fridge. To his surprise, the only contents were a few bags of ice, snack food, and a ridiculous amount of beer. If he wasn't concerned as it was, he certainly was now, trying to picture the type of life his temporary guardian was leading. As he put away the food, he noticed another refrigerator like device on the other side of the room. This one having a small door that was very close to the ground.

"Captain Katsuragi, excuse me, but what's in the other fridge?"

"Oh, don't mind that, he's probably still sleeping." She called from her room.

"Sleeping?" the lad wondered.

A few microwave uses later…

"LET'S EAT!" Misato yelled as she looked at the layout of instant food. She was now dressed in a yellow t-shirt and a pair of shorts that were cut ridiculously short.

"Uh, sure."

"Whew Yeah!" Misato screamed as she finished chugging down a beer, "you know, life just does'nt get any better than this!" belch Noticing that her young ward was'nt eating she said, "Not hungry? You should eat, its really good, even if it is all instant."

"Oh, yes, well, it looks…delicious, but I'm not really all that hungry." Shinji shrugged and smiled.

"Oh, come on! You've been in the hospital all day, you could'nt have eaten anything." She then reached over and grabbed a hold of his sunglasses. "And take these off, they make you seem so unapproachable!"

"Please don't!" the boy protested in vain as she ripped the pair of shades off.

"There, that's much better, isn't it? Besides, you have a lovely pair of blue eyes."

Shinji nervously smiled.

"Now are you going to eat, or am I going to have to make you?"

Shinji slowly picked at his food and painfully managed to swallow a bit, though he knew he was going to regret it. Luckily, Misato continued her drinking, so she didn't seem to mind so much.

After a while, Misato proposed that chores should be decided by games of Janken. Though he had developed many a skill over the last eight years, winning games of chance was not among them, thus, Shinji quickly fell behind and ended up with most of the chores, though it wasn't much off a loss in his mind though, considering the state of the apartment under Misato's care.

"That was a fair way to split up the chores, huh?" Misato asked.

"Yes, quite fair," Shinji said, trying to keep the sarcasm in his voice to a minimum.

"Now this is your home, so feel free to take advantage of anything and everything here, except for me of course!" Misato joked.

"Oh, of course." Shinji nervously chuckled. "Dear lord woman," he thought, "have you no shame whatsoever?"

Misato continued chuckling for a while at her joke, and then said, "Hey why don't you go take a bath? Yeah! Wash away your troubles! Bathing cleans the mind and soul."

Seeing it at least as an excuse to get away from the plastered woman, Shinji grabbed some clothing from the trunk he had brought in a little while ago and headed into the bathroom where he encountered a strange little penguin that was drying himself off with a towel. Shinji looked at the little bird and shrugged, he had seen a lot weirder. The penguin however took a look at him and ran between his legs and out the door warking like crazy. Shinji looked at the bath that was still filled with water and shivered a bit. Though it wasn't fatal to vampires, water wasn't exactly something he liked, especially after Alucard had told him a lovely story about a vampire who had fell in a pool of water and drowned, but wasn't discovered for fifty years, all the time being aware of what was going on. And when he had been pulled out, he had become so weak that the sun burned him to death. Shinji changed his clothing (midians didn't have to worry about smell as no sweat or oils left their body) and looked in the mirror at the design on his back, a pentagram surrounded by occult markings and words that went around it in a circle that read: HELLS GATE ARRESTED-GOTT MIT UNS-AND SHINE HEAVEN NOW-HELLSING. That circle was then surrounded by another circle of ancient lettering.

That mark had been with him for only two months, ever since…

"Shinji? Did you do something to Pen Pen?" Misato called

"Pen Pen?"

"Yeah, that's the name of my warm water penguin."

"No, I didn't do anything."

"Oh, all right then."

Shinji chuckled; he hadn't gotten along with animals for almost a year.

Later…

Shinji put the photo on the trunk and smiled. He then grabbed his suitcase and pulled out a bag of dirt that he placed under his pillow. He then pulled out his contact lens case and took out the blue ones he had been wearing, revealing the red irises he had put so much effort into concealing.

He put on the black gloves and smelled them; they were his greatest treasure and smelled of his old house. He wiggled his fingers, letting the wires flow slightly, the tiny sound they made as they went through the air felt like a soothing melody to the boy.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened causing Shinji to quickly throw his covers over him and face the wall.

"Shinji," Misato said, "I forgot to tell you something, you did something very good and very noble today. You should be proud. Good night Shinji."

"Good night Misato."

The door closed.

Shinji then realized that when he had put the covers on, the wires had run against his legs. He looked at the damage and muttered

"Son of a-

End of chapter

Well, I probably could have done better on that one. Still, throw in the variable effect and the deletions…sorry, it's late. I know I missed the unveiling of Tokyo-3 scene, and the SEELE scene, but they would have said the same thing as in the episode, so…I think the chapters will get more interesting from now on. I'll try and tie things up with Shinji's back story really soon, along with some funny bits I wanted to put in this one. I hope the attack on Gendo went all right. Well, if you're still interested, here's the promo.

Part 5: Caution! MPD nun!

How will Shinji, who was home schooled, do at his first day of public school?

Medical examination time!

Section XIII agent/s appear/s, and it aint Anderson!