Authors Note: I'm going to be honest, I'm not as confident in this chapter, but it helps progress the plot forward. Also I think maybe I should have said that the characters would be at least somewhat ooc, but I feel like nearly all fanfic make the character ooc, as its what helps make it a fanfic and not a recreation. But I digress, I hope you think this chapters alright.
Disclaimer: Yeah No, I still don't own Evangelion
The mismatched color coordinated trio walked through the monotonous grey halls of Nerv's geofront headquarters. The two teenagers were still somewhat recovering from their disorienting car ride. It was a miracle Misato didn't hit a pedestrian. Both of them felt Uneasy, Rei worried that the commander would appear at any moment, and the consquences would be dire. Shinji had learned a lot about Nerv as Rei had told him what she knew in confidence, it only made him vilify the man he called father more.
He heard about what lies in terminal dogma, that an angel lies at its center. He heard of a pit that is occupied by a pile of evangelion corpses. Of where Rei was raised, where she was born, where she was made.
But right now they had other matters to attend to. That is if Misato could get them there.
"Misato, I really think Rei should lead us to Dr Akagi's office, she knows how to get there" Shinji commented quietly, still somewhat afraid to talk to her, as he was sure they were walking through the same hallway for the third time. Misato looked around before giving up and letting out a sigh.
"I don't even understand how your suppose to know where you are when every hallway looks the same" Her shoulders sagged in defeat, "Alright Rei, lead the way"
Rei simply walked ahead of them, the other two following as the blue haired girl made turns throughout the hallways without even stopping to see where they were. It was quite a task to keep up. But in the end, it only took them five minutes to arrive outside the Dr's office.
Misato felt demoralized as she saw Rei do something that she had been struggling at so easily in about a third of the time.
Rei went up to the door, it was made of wood with a window that was covered by blinds that opened inwards, 'Dr. Akagi' was emblazoned on it. She then proceeded to knock on it.
"Come in" came a voice from the otherside, prompting her to open it.
Dr Ritsuko Akagi was currently holding her head in her hands as she tried to think while also trying to not fall asleep. She was genuinely trying to find a way everybody could get out of this situation alive, Rei included. She reached out and grabbed her cup of coffee, taking a long sip, savoring every moment of it. Thank god for caffeine, it was the only thing fueling her at the moment.
'Thank you Maya' she thought, as it was her pseudo apprentice/intern that had gotten her this coffee about half an hour ago, and she couldn't be more thankful. Nerv definitely had some perks, not that they really make up for all crappy things.
But for her, Maya was definitely a perk. Also her large office, which practically doubled as one of her labs with all the equipment in it. Oh if only she could be a scientist on her own that didn't have to work for a shady paramilitary organization, then she could have lots of help. It would be a nice change of pace for everything important to not fall to her.
She missed her college days, when the only worries she had were completing assignments that were honestly not so difficult for her. Then she could go out and have fun with Misato who, for all her flaws, really knew how to party.
Now she practically worked all the time, only having a few days off every once in a while to go home or do something. It's the reason she had to hire a pet nanny for her cat, a nice ginger munchkin breed named mittens. She had a soft spot for cats.
Even at home though, she can hardly relax, not when you know of a secret illuminati that controls most government's and has eyes and ears where you least expect. Which was another reason why she had to figure out what to do with the situation she had found herself in. Her stress was getting to the point where she could have sworn she found a couple of gray hairs the other day.
Her thoughts were interrupted by knocking at the door, she looked at the clock and guessed who it was.
"Come in" She called out, sure enough the door opened to reveal Rei Ayanami who walked into the room, following behind her was Shinji Ikari, and… Misato? Who closed the door behind them.
"Misato… I take it they told you about their... situation?" She said as she stood up from her chair, adjusting her lab coat on herself while waving her hand around trying to think up the right words.
"Hey Rits, yeah they told me… about an hour ago, and I'm still pretty pissed at Shinji" Misato replied, still a bit sour about their conversation they had, Shinji still looked ashamed.
"Saves me the trouble of telling you I guess," She mumbled to herself, not fully realising she said it aloud.
"Ugh Rits, you alright?" Misato asked, worried for her friend as she notices the slightly dark rings around her eyes. Ritsuko just waved her hand.
"I'm fine, why?"
"Well, you look like you haven't slept," She pointed out.
"I haven't, but that's not important" She rubbed her eyes before turning to Shinji and Rei who were still standing, just watching them as they talked.
"Okay Rei, I'm going to run some tests on you and I'll need to draw some blood from you first, so go sit over on the table there" She gestured for it, Rei did as told, sitting down on the table Shinji standing next to her. Dr. Akagi then dug through her things until she came back, a syringe needle in hand as she carried a tourniquet in the other. Her hands slightly trembled, either from her tired body, or too much caffeine.
"Um, is it really a good idea for you to be performing these tests right now?" Misato asked slightly worried due to the fact her friend looked like a druggie going through withdrawal with the way she was holding an empty syringe with her disheveled look and slight shake.
"Who's the doctor here, me or you?" Was the only reply she got as she wrapped the tourniquet around the girl's pale arm. Rei flinched slightly and reached for Shinji who grabbed and held her hand. Once she saw the vein dilate, Dr Akagi took the needle and inserted it into the vein. Rei squeezed Shinji's hand as she felt the dr draw her blood.
One it was full, Dr Akagi then removed the syringe and pulled a small round band aid out of somewhere and covered the tiny wound. She then removed the tourniquet and set it down before going across her office/lab to a work table. She started grabbing at equipment that the others couldn't really identify. They stood in silence as the Dr was hunched over with her back to the others, analysing the blood, writing things down on a clipboard she had sitting nearby.
It was about ten minutes later that she stood up, let out a breath, grabbed her clipboard and turned around to them.
"Alright Rei" She said as she started reading off her clipboard, "You complete blood count came back clean, your rh factor is positive, you don't show signs of rubella or any other diseases either… in other words, your bloods healthy"
Rei felt somewhat relieved, Shinji also feeling less worried.
"I'll need you to come in another day so I can do some more tests, but that should be good for today" Ritsuko then sets the clipboard down on a table before turning to the other three in the room.
"Right now we should talk about what the hell you guys are going to do abou this" She said as the mood suddenly shifted.
"What do you mean?" Misato asked from where she was standing.
"Well obviously Rei's not going to be able to pilot the eva long if she is going to have a baby, not to mention the fact we won't be able to hide this for long" She explained.
"Well why don't we go discuss this with the commander?" Misato innocently offered.
"NO!" Came the reply from the other three.
Misato blinked
"Uh well, there's clearly something you guys know that I don't"
"Well seeing how Shinji seemed to know why, I'm guessing Rei told about some of the things happening behind the scene" Dr Akagi shot a questioning look at Shinji who nodded.
"Yeah… she told me a lot about Nerv" he said as he returned an almost scrutinizing look at her.
"Okay… So is anybody going to tell me or…" Misato trailed off.
Shinji, Rei, and Ritsuko looked at each other before looking back at her. It was Ritsuko who decided to tell her, if only to vent and lighten her chest, afterall, secrets can be the heaviest of weights.
"Screw it, Im already risking so much, might as well gamble it all, you see Nerv is not actually fighting off the angels for the best interests of humanity" She stated simply, Misato just stared at her.
"What do you mean" Misato asked as she adopted a inquiring look.
"Well you see, Nerv is actually controlled by an illuminati group known as Seele who kind of control most of the world's governments and are helping us to deal with the angels so they don't interfere with their instrumentality." Misato blinked.
"Huh?"
"-Sigh-Nerv is controlled by a group known as Seele, both Seele and the Commander are part of a council known as the human instrumentality commitee."
"Human instrumentality?" Misato asked.
"From what I was allowed to know, its pretty much their goal to cause a controlled third impact" At this Shinji's eyes widened as Misato's jaw dropped.
"WHAT!" however at the same time there was a quiet thud from the door, one that didn't go unnoticed by the Dr or Misato.
Misato gestured for Dr Akagi to continue.
"Y-Yes, I don't know many details but it involves using the first angel, Adam, and using it to control a third impact" She said as she and Misato moved towards the door. Shinji and Rei watched in silence.
"But I thought Adam was destroyed?" Misato said genuinely, but still reached into her jacket, pulling out her 9mm pistol from her jacket's holster.
"No, not fully anyway, you see…" She said as they reached the door and looked at each other. They nodded before Miasto reached for the handle and quickly opened it. Causing a figure who was outside it to immediately fall to the floor. Misato swiftly put her gun barrel to the back of their head. Though as she did she saw who the figure was.
They wore black pants with a light blue button up and a black tie. They had shaggy brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, they also smelled of cologne. Misato would recognize this man from anywhere.
"Kaji… " She growled as Ritsuko closed the door behind them.
"Been a while Misato" He replied with a smirk growing on his face.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't pull this trigger" She said with gritted teeth.
"Well now, you're more kinky than I remember you being" Misato pulled back the hammer.
"What are doing here anyway, I seem to recall your office being somewhere on the other side of the compund"
"It is, but I was looking for you," he told her.
"Oh? And why's that?" She said coyly
"Hmm, I'll tell you why if you tell me what was going on here"
"You know too much already, pretty sure he's a spy for the commander too" She said the last part to her faux blond friend
"No, I'm pretty sure he's a double agent working for Seele," Ritsuko replied as she stared down at him. Shinji and Rei were now just sitting down together and watching as this all happened.
"No, No you're both wrong, I work for the U.N" Kaji said from his place on the ground.
"So you're what? a triple agent?" Misato asked
"Something like that yeah" He casually answered
"You would must be pretty terrible at it if you would tell us just like that," Ritsuko commented.
"Well I have some assurance you won't tell anyone" Her replied.
"How so?" She quirked her eyebrow.
"If you tattle on me, i'll tattle on you" He said as he looked at the Dr who paled slightly at the implication.
"How much did you even hear" She said dejectedly
"Well I didn't intend on listening to your conversation, but while I was looking for here, I overheard an interesting tidbit about the most mysterious eva pilot, that she was apparently pregnant, then you started talking about Seele, I didn't even know about their goals, also I wanted to say I'm proud of you Shinji, even I didn't lose my v card until my last year of highschool," He grinned at the teen who flushed at the apparent praise.
"Don't encourage him!" Misato said as she hit the man on the ground.
"Why the hell were you even looking for me?" She continued.
"Well as much as I like you on top of me, I'll only tell you, if you let me stand" came the cheeky answer. Misato scowled but did get off of him as she put her gun in her pocket where she could still get to it, just in case.
The man then picked himself up and dusted off his clothes, before reaching into his pocket to pull out a card.
"There was something I wanted to show you down in Terminal Dogma" He said as both Ritsuko and Misato examined the card, the former scoffing.
"That card can only get you through heaven's door, there's nothing important in the central chamber" She told them as she folded her arms.
"Oh, I guess the crucified body of Adam isn't of much importance?" he asked mockingly.
"The what?!" Misato yelped.
"Your wrong, that isn't Adam" Dr Akagi said while shaking her head
"But you said-" Misato started
"I said Adam wasn't destroyed, but it was substantially weakened, its body was reduced to nothing more than a type of embryotic state, no bigger than the palm of a hand" She shuddered as she remembered where it currently is, then looked at Kaji, "You of all people should know that, seeing as your the one who delivered it"
"HUH!" Misato turned to look at Kaji.
"When I delivered it, it was encased in bakelite, who's to say that wasn't the only thing keeping it from returning to its original state" He told them.
"Wait, so that's why the angel attacked during unit 02's delivery, because you had Adam on board with us?!" She screeched at him.
"It was harmless while it was encased in bakelite, outside of it, I have no Idea" he shrugged, "But if that's not Adam in Terminal Dogma, than what is it"
"It's the second angel, Lilith," Rei added, speaking up.
"She's right" Dr Akagi agreed.
"Wait, wait, wait, you mean there's been an angel underneath us this whole time!?"
"Yes, but its not like the ones your thinking of" She told her
"What do you mean?" Misato questioned.
"The ones we've been fighting are made of the same matter as Adam, they were created by it and are its offspring if you will, Lilith is similar to Adam, but made of different matter, in fact, from what we can tell, we are to Lilith as the angels are to Adam, offspring in a way" Dr Akagi explained.
"But why the hell do you have it here?" Misato said, not really understanding but still trying to continue.
"You don't understand, we didn't bring it here, Lilith was already here when we found this place, that's why they built the Geofront here in the first place"
"Why can't you just kill it then?"
"Even if we could, which we're pretty sure we can't, why would we? It's where we get LCL"
"Wait, you mean…" Misato's face cringed with disgust.
"Terminal dogma's central chamber is essentially the LCL factory, only Lilith is the factory, why do you think it smells like blood? it is blood" Misato felt sick, Shinji still felt queasy whenever he thought about it, even Rei started feeling nauseous, her morning sickness not helping.
"What's even to stop that thing from attacking us?" Kaji spoke up.
"Aside from the fact that the lance of Longinus is buried in its chest, Lilith is essentially brain dead, it shows no signs of motor functions, it remains perfectly still always, the only reason we know it's living in some way is the fact that it continues to bleed"
Misato sat down in a chair and put her head in her hands, this was so much information for her to process.
"You said earlier, that there was nothing of importance in the central chamber, but what else is there?" Kaji asked.
"Well, if you must know, theres the old laboratory from back when Nerv was Gehirn, thats where some of Nerv's darker secrets came from" Kaji's interest had been peaked. While Rei's breath caught in her mouth, something Shinji noticed, he squeezed her hand, knowing it must be hard for her to hear of that place.
Dr Akagi reached into her jacket and pulled out a similar looking card to Kaji's, showing it off.
"How about a field trip?"
Authors Note: There wasn't a lot of Shinji or Rei in this chapter, I want to give the other characters some time to actually be characters, and yeah there was a lot of exposition and stuff at the end, but it helps me move the plot, so yeah, tell me how you feel about this if you want, I'm always open for reviews as they help me know what I can do to make my story better.