A/N: As promised here is chapter eleven of "Stranger in a Strange Land". As you'll notice some events here don't happen as they did in the series, but it is an AU.
Thanks to my pre-reader gunman
Disclaimer: I don't own Evangelion
In her office Major Misato Katsuragi sat at her desk mulling the story Rei had told her and Hyuga yesterday. While strange it was the only lead she had to go on.
"This seem to weird to be true." said Misato to herself, "But Rei wouldn't lie; I don't think she even knows how, so it must be true. She could have just misheard, but with Rei that seems very unlikely. I've already been lied to about Adam so why shouldn't I believe this."
"Misato, can I come in?" asked Ritsuko knocking on the office door outside, "I have information for you."
"Come in." replied Misato who added to herself, "Now I'm being kept in the loop."
"Good morning." said Akagi casually towards her "friend".
"Good morning to you to." replied Misato through a fake smile.
"Have you heard what has happened at the second base in Nevada?" asked Akagi.
"I haven't." answered Misato more irked knowing she had been kept out of the loop again.
"Unit-04 was activated with an S² core and during the test something with wrong. While details are hard to come by the entire second base has been destroyed and everybody there killed." said Akagi.
"My God!" said the Major, putting her hands on her face as she absorbed what she had just been told.
"Because of this the Americans are dropping Unit-03 on us after fight tooth and nail to get it." continued the doctor.
"We'll need a pilot." said Misato.
"We have one. Once you see who it is you'll understand why I've been reluctant to tell you, until now." replied Akagi as she handed Misato the envelope with his information. When Misato saw the picture inside the color from her face drained out.
"Toji Suzuhara." quivered Misato as she read the name, "I've already lost Shinji and now one of the only friends he has in this city is the Fourth Child."
"I've already informed Mr. Suzuhara of this designation. Unit-03 will be arriving in a few days but it won't be activated immediately." said the fake blonde, "Because, I might have discovered a way to recover Shinji and Unit-01."
"How?" asked Misato frantic for a way to save Shinji as she grabbed Akagi by the collar.
"Shinji and Unit-01 might have been sucked into an alternate universe. If my theory is correct then we might be able to enter through the same portal and recover them both." said Akagi.
"That sounds crazy." replied Misato, doing her best acting.
"It does, but that might be the answer." replied Akagi.
"Do you have some proof? Like... another Shinji?" asked Misato.
"We have recovered a boy who claims to be Shinji and who might be the evidence we need to support this theory." answered Akagi not knowing the other woman already knew the answer, "I have to propose my idea to Commander Ikari and get it approved. If that happens then we'll just need to get everything up and running."
"Good luck." said Misato sincerely as Akagi left, "I hope this actually works."
In classroom 2-A, half of the class slept while the teacher droned on about another story about life before Second Impact. While those awake fought incredible boredom, Kensuke Aida was starting to worry that Toji hadn't returned been acting himself since he returned from the principle's office a little while earlier. Trying to figure out the cause he looked at his computer screen and saw a message from Hikari. He opened it expecting it to talk about paying attention but instead was surprised by the contents.
("Mr. Aida, do you know what's wrong with Toji?")
"I wonder why the Class rep is worried about Toji?" asked Kensuke to himself, oblivious to anything not involving guns or explosions.
("I have no idea.") answered Kensuke back.
("Asuka is acting really weird too. I think it might be related.") said Hikari unaware Asuka knew who the Fourth Child was.
("With NERV you can never know what the hell is going on. Might be from one of those synch tests. They can't tell us anything about them.") replied Kensuke letting his inner conspiracy fanatic come out in full force.
("NERV is a top secret facility.") replied Hikari trying to accept what little she knew about NERV before a terrifying thought entered her head, ("You don't think Toji has gotten mixed up with NERV?")
("I just don't get it.") said Kensuke getting more determined to find out was going on when the bell rang signaling that class was official over.
("See if you can get him to talk.") said Hikari before logging off her computer.
"Hey buddy!" called out Kensuke jumping out of his chair and running over to his friend, "You wanna hit the arcade?"
"Leave me alone Kensuke. I'm not in the mood right now to talk man." replied Toji as he walked away.
"Something is seriously wrong with him." replied Kensuke worried as his friend walked away.
At NERV, Commander Gendo Ikari was sitting at his desk in usual pose while Fuyutsuki stood next to him and Akagi, who stood in front of the Commander, explained her plan to recover Shinji and Unit-01.
"So that's basically it." said the phony blonde.
"Interesting." replied Gendo, "Are you certain this will work?"
"It's our best option for recovering Shinji and Unit-01." answered Akagi.
"And how exactly we will go about doing this?" asked Gendo.
"Our only choice may be to send someone or someones through the portal into the universe were our Shinji and my theory is correct, we might be able to recover them both." answered Akagi.
"Then our question is who to send." noted Gendo.
"We'll send Rei and Asuka. There's really nobody else we can send." replied Akagi.
"I don't want Rei going. It would be too much of a risk to the scenario." said Gendo.
"Once again you molly-coddle her." thought Fuyutsuki to himself.
"We have located the Fourth Child and told him of his designation." replied the doctor, "The Fourth is Toji Suzuhara. He's a classmate of the pilots and seems to be a friend of Shinji."
"The it will be him and the pilot of Unit-02." said Gendo, "I want Rei and him here at headquarters with the other two. When they arrive we will fill them in on the details needed and send them on their way."
"Understood, and I already told Mr. Suzuhara to come here earlier today when I informed him he was the Fourth Child." replied Akagi before leaving.
"Do you really think this can work?" asked Fuyutsuki.
"Right now it's the only action we can take." replied Gendo.
At Tokyo-3 Middle School the kids were heading home after classed had just let out. While this was normally a joyous occasion one boy, Toji Suzuhara, was noticeable upset as classes left.
"Hey man, wait up!" called out his best friend, Kensuke Aida, as he and Hikari caught up with the down jock.
"I said I don't want to talk." replied Toji, "This conversation is over."
"But-" began the otaku.
"Over." reaffirmed Toji with force.
"If there's something wrong we want to help you." said Hikari grabbing the boy's arm.
"You two can't do anything." said Toji pulling his arm away.
"What happened at lunch?" asked Kensuke still following Toji as the latter boy reached the exit to the school grounds only to turn around and face the two.
"Look Kensuke, this is something I have to deal with. You and the class rep have to figure that out." replied Toji as he saw Asuka and Rei headed in their direction, "You two ready to go or what?"
"You better not make us late!" snapped Asuka as reached the boy with Rei behind her.
"Whatever." said Toji rolling his eyes.
"Oh no! The Devil got you in her clutches!" cried out Kensuke.
"Shut up dummkopf!" snapped Asuka at Kensuke as Toji turned his attention back to the two non-pilots then took a deep breath.
"I'm the Fourth Child." confessed the jock.
"How cool!" cried out Kensuke before shaking the right hand of Toji, "Congratulation. You're so lucky to be an Eva pilot."
"I'm glad somebody thinks it's cool. Frankly, I'm only doing this cause I have no choice." replied Toji sighing.
"Why does fate seem fit to punish me?" asked Asuka.
"It's all right here." replied Toji pulling his file from the "Marduk Institute" out of his bag and showing it to Toji and Kensuke.
"Welcome to NERV, Pilot Suzuhara." said Rei stoic as always despite the news, "In light of this development I assume you be joining us as we depart to NERV."
"Dr. Akagi made it very clear I had to." replied Toji as Hikari finally broke out of her shock and spoke.
"Toji...I wish you best of luck." said the girl bowing out of respect and to hind the concern of her face.
"Thanks." replied Toji confused by this but happy at the same time. Though he was uncertain as to why he was feeling happy Hikari had said that.
"Well if we don't leave we're gonna be late." said Asuka and with that the trio of Asuka, Rei and now Toji left for NERV. The trip to NERV was long, silent and awkward before they three finally arrived.
"We're here." sighed Asuka upset her personal space was being invaded by Toji.
"Damn this place is huge." noted Toji staring around at the massive interior of the Geofront.
"I believe a tour of the Geofront would be appropriate so Pilot Suzuhara does not get lost." said Rei.
"Yeah. Well, let's get this over with." sighed Asuka and the tour began as the two took Toji all over NERV, showing him the most important places like the lockers, the Eva cages and medical.
"So...do either of you know where Shinji is?" asked Toji causing his new comrades to stop in their tracks.
"We know about as much as you do." answered Asuka shooting a glance at Rei.
"We need only pilot the Eva as that is our primary duty." added the cloned one before the three entered Central Dogma.
"Glad to see you made it." said Misato greeting the three as they arrived, "Toji, welcome to NERV."
"Thanks Misato." replied Toji before returning attention to the three technicians, "So, who are you three?"
"My name is Makoto Huyga." answered the bespectacled one, "These are my colleagues Shigeru Aoba and Maya Ibuki."
"We're your tech support." added Aoba.
"We also operate the Magi." said Maya as Toji turned around to get a good look at the three supercomputers.
"Man, Ken would have a field day here." mused Toji as Dr. Akagi entered Central Dogma.
"Good, you're here." said the blonde seeing everyone she needed in the same location, "I need you all to come to the briefing room with me.
"What for?" asked a skeptical Misato.
"An update on the situation involving Shinji and Unit-01." answered Akagi peaking everyone's interest.
Upon reaching the dark briefing room everyone gathered around the computer inside where Fuyutsuki was waiting.
"You must be the Fourth Child. Pleasure to meet you." greeted the old man, "I'm Kozo Fuyutsuki, and I am the Sub-Commander of NERV."
"Pleasure." replied Toji as Akagi began.
"What I'm about to tell you will sound ludicrous and farfetched, but I am convinced it is the truth about what is going on." began Akagi, "As you will recall I informed you that the Twelfth Angel has a Dirac Sea inside of it and I also stated it was my professional and scientific belief that it might be attached to another dimension."
"Yes." answered Misato wondering where this was going.
"I'm certain you've heard of the multiverse theory." said Akagi.
"Not really." replied Toji getting confused already.
"It's a theory that an infinite number of parallel universes exist next to our own." explained Rei.
"Correct, and I belief that Shinji Ikari and Unit-01 have crossed over into another universe." said Akagi leading to a minute of silence.
"Ma'am, are you sure?" asked Maya as not even she could believe what the doctor had just said.
"I am." answered Akagi, "Shortly after the Twelfth Angel was terminated, Section 2 found Shinji lying near the battle scene but dressed in a school uniform. Upon interrogation he had no knowledge of NERV or his position here, a completely different attitude and made other claims that seem to reinforce this position such as claiming Misato is a teacher."
"He has also claimed Yui Ikari is still alive." added Fuyutsuki.
"If you're right then our Shinji would be were ever this Shinji came from." said Misato.
"Well, if the dummkopf is another universe, how do we get him back?" asked Soryu.
"The best plan we can arrive at is we'll have to send a party into the other universe to retrieve Shinji and Unit-01." answered Akagi, "It's already been decided that Asuka and Toji will go."
"Why the hell do I have to go with him?" asked Asuka.
"Somebody needs to remain in case an Angel arrives, and Rei was chosen." answered Akagi lying through her teeth.
"What about their Shinji?" asked Misato.
"After we have our Shinji and Unit-01 return then we'll send their Shinji back." answered Akagi, "We'll have Asuka and Toji enter the other universe in Unit-02 and have them find Shinji-"
"I don't want this idiot in my Unit-02!" cried out Asuka.
"For once I actually agree with the Devil." added Toji.
"You have no choice." replied Akagi forcefully, "Anyway, since there is an alternate Shinji there will be alternate versions of you as well so you'll go in your school uniforms and try to blend in while finding Shinji. Once you do he'll pilot Unit-01 back here with you in tow. Then we'll send their Shinji back. The trouble will be closing the portal. You will leave in two days."
"Only here two days and already a mission." mused Aoba.
"Shinji piloted Unit-01 in his first day here." whispered Hyuga, "And into a fight, not a rescue mission."
"I hope you're right about this." said Misato.
"Of course, and Commander Ikari has approved." replied the doctor.
"This is a top secret mission so no word can leak out." added Fuyutsuki and with that everyone left not knowing a familiar spy had recorded everything they said.
In the alternate universe, Dr. Ritsuko Akagi was in her office working at her desk. She was finishing up paperwork regarding a liver transplant she had successfully preformed earlier that day. As she worked a knock came on her office door.
"Come in." called Akagi, still working.
"Ma'am." said Maya entering the room, "Mr. and Mrs. Ikari are here and they wish to see you."
"Send them in." said Akagi who finished her work as Gendo and Yui entered the room, "Hello."
"Good to see you doctor." said Yui.
"We' understand you wanted to talk to us." added Gendo as the two sat down.
"Indeed. Shinji, at least the one we have here, has been showing incredible progress and shows no sign of any illness. Because we can't simply say he's from another universe I'm afraid keeping him here is no longer a viable option." explained Akagi, "Which is why you two must take him home tomorrow."
"But he has no idea what home is." replied Gendo.
"Which is why you will need to show him." said Akagi, "I know this is unorthodox but at the moment we have no other choice."
"That's not my son!" said Yui shaking her head.
"I know but for the time being you'll have to pass him off as your son. Just keep him inside as much as possible so he doesn't cause an incident or have someone else look after him." said Akagi.
"Someone else? How many people know this isn't our Shinji?" asked Gendo curious as Akagi mentally slapped herself.
"Misato, Kaji, Maya and her friends Hyuga and Aoba, and his friends. They got suspicious and eventually backed me into a corner where I had no choice but to be honest." answered Akagi.
"At least it's people close to Shinji, so we can trust them." sighed Gendo.
"Mother has told me you are trying to figure out a way to return that Shinji and his Evangelion while getting ours back. You just need to keep this charade going until then.
"I can do it. Just until then." said Yui.
"We both can." added Gendo.
"Right. The pick him up after school tomorrow and hopefully we can find a way to bring everything back to normal until then." said Dr. Akagi, not knowing that would be coming soon than they thought.
A/N: So the plot continues to thicken as a rescue attempt is hatched and will be soon carried out. Next time, canon Shinji tries adjusting to his new environment while in the canon universe the final preparations are made for the rescue plan and the Fifth Child arrives. Please review!