Authors Note: I feel that these later chapters arent as good as my earlier ones, and thats probably true. This one falls into that category, being not so good. But this is what I chose to do... so... yeah. Honestly, I'm still new to making stories, and it shows, badly. The fact there are people who make multiple stories, that can be longer than book series, is an incredible feat, one that I have come to respect as the sheer amount of work it would take to do so is incredible.
Disclaimer: Evangelion is a property of Gainax
The sun just passed the horizen let the night dominate the sky when the trio had gotten to one of the entrances to the geofront. Following Rei's lead, Shinji and Kaworu accompanied her down one of the maintenance tunnels that she knew about. They were going to use this entrance to get Kaworu into geofront, once there they would enter Nerv headquarters and proceed from there, trying to avoid anyone else.
Kaworu still wasn't too keen on going into the heart of Nerv, though he was willing to help if it meant he could get his father back, and maybe get some revenge on Seele.
-Flashback: Earlier-
" ...your help would be crucial if we are to get rid of both them and the Commander"
Kaworu blinked.
"Excuse me?" He said.
"We will need you to help us get rid of Seele, as well as Commander Ikari of Nerv" Rei repeated.
"Right, you just want me to help you get rid of the most powerful group of people in the world, am I correct?" He asked, to which she nodded.
"Uh Rei, why Seele though?" Shinji asked.
"Well Seele does control Nerv, the commander reports to them, they also pose a big threat to us and everyone else at the moment. If we are to get rid of them, then we can deal with the commander. It's in our best interest that they are gone," she explained.
"You say this as though you're sure I can be of help," Kaworu told her.
"Can you not?" She asked.
"I can see how, as I do have knowledge of their members, including the head of their council, but you can't do much with that alone, and as for the Commander, I don't know much about him, I only know what Seele told me and what I've overheard from them. But considering that he is less powerful, and still Lilum, he should be easier to deal with" He said.
"Hmm, he is right, we can't do much if we can't apply his knowledge." Rei said as she considered it and looked thoughtful for a minute.
Shinji then thought of something.
"Well why don't we talk with Dr. Akagi and the others? We might be able to figure something out then right?" Shinji offered, making Rei look at him.
"Yes, you are right" Rei agreed, "It would be better to discuss our finding with the others"
"Others?" Kaworu asked. Rei looked at the boy.
"We will need you to come with us to Nerv" She said.
"Um, I don't really know if that's a good idea, '' he replied.
"Yeah, how would we even get him in? He doesn't have a card to get in" Shinji pointed out.
"Simple, we will use another way"
-end flashback-
They had arrived at a maintenance and service section of the geofront and made their way deeper into headquartes. Rei of course was able to identify where they were and how far away their destination was. Luckily, because it was the weekend, most of the office workers who occupied this part of headquarters were gone.
The bluenette then was able to quickly navigate them to the elevator door to Terminal Dogma. Only it was keycard protected.
"I don't suppose one of you has a card to open it, do you?" Kaworu asked as he looked at the door.
Rei hummed in thought for a moment, as Shinji also tried to think of what to do. Kaworu just stood there waiting for someone to say something.
"So… I'll take that as a no…" He said to himself before taking a moment to think, 'I just wanted to get out and visit Tokyo-3, not have my entire world turned upside down, and to top it off, I'm now working against my previous allies in order to rid them of their power... with the help of two teenagers... fu-'
Rei then suddenly had a lightbulb and voiced it.
"Shinji, you could call Misato and ask her to send the elevator up" She told the brown haired boy, to which he also lit up with realisation.
"Yeah, you're right" He pulled his phone out.
'I've been calling Misato a lot lately,' Shinji thought as he dialed her number and waited.
In Terminal Dogma, Misato, Dr Akagi, and Ryoji were brainstorming. But in reality, Misato was just spit balling and pacing while Ritsuko was trying to stay awake in her chair, and Kaji was adding an occasional suggestion or comment from his own seat on why they were bad ideas. This had been happening for about two hours now.
"There has to be something we can do…" Misato whined.
"Like what, the U.N has been trying to keep an eye on Seele for years, but they're so damn elusive. Hell, the only way I was even able to get in there employ was because I got pointed in the right direction by the right people who needed someone like me. They're practically non-existent if you don't know where to look" Kaji replied as he smoked a cigarette.
"Ugh, but what about you? Can't you tell the U.N what Seele is planning and have them do something?" She asked as she sat down, having tuckered herself.
"What good will doing that be? We don't even know who the people in charge are. If they can't find them, then they can't apprehended them. Simple as that. There's nothing we can do, and theirs nothing they could do, and Seele would surely catch word of us telling, and have us killed" He said, holding back a sigh.
"How the hell do they even run everything if they're constantly hidden?" Misato asked.
"They have many ways of communication so they can run it all from a chair. For example, I know they someitmes meet through these black screens that only show a number, the Commander has a hidden room where he talks with them like that, I've seen it before" Ritsuko explained as she rubbed her eyes.
"What if we just dealt with Commander Ikari first, then deal with Seele later?'' She suggested as she had run out of ideas.
"You really don't think, do you? If you could even manage to do something to him, you would probably get locked away or killed" Dr Akagi said as she felt an urge for caffeine.
Misato just slumped and groaned, running a hand through her hair. Today has gone from bad to terrible within hours. Oh how she almost wished Shinji didnt call her that morning and left her to sleep in without having to worry about her ward getting someone pregnant, or that she's been working for a terrible paramilitary organisation, or that there's a secret illuminati group that wants to cause mass extinction.
She then felt something vibrate in her pocket as her phone ringtone went off. She pulled it out and saw the I.D.
'Speak of the devil,' She thought as she answered.
'Yeah?"
"Misato, could you send the elevator up, the doors locked?" Shinji spoke from the other end.
"Your back? Why?" She tiredly asked.
"Well, me and Rei found something that can be really helpful right now" He vaguely explained.
"What is it?" She questioned, not really in the mood for any more surprises.
"Can we just come down and tell you?" She sighed at his response.
"Okay, I'll go do that now" She then ended the call and got up before reluctantly making her way to the elevator, once there she reached and pressed the up button, causing the elevator to close and go up.
It was about three minutes later that the elevator returned and opened to reveal three people rather than two as she was expecting.
"Who are you?" She asked as her hand instinctively went to rest on her guns handle.
"Im Kaworu Nagisa, pleased to meet you" the boy replied. Misato noticed that he disturbingly kind of looked like Rei, mainly due to his pale skin and red eyes, but his silver hair, long neck, and the fact he wasn't a girl really ruined any real resemblance. But wait, if he looked like Rei, then could he also be. . .
"We'll explain, but can we go do it in front of the others?" Shinji said.
"Uh yeah, let's go then" She responded, slightly suspicious and perturbed.
They then entered the other room, Shinji and Rei going first as Misato was staying wary and walking behind Kaworu.
"Everyone this is Kaworu Nagisa, he's um…" Shinji began
"He's the seventeenth angel," Rei finished.
Silence ensued as Misato's eyes widened for the umpteenth time today, Kaji's cigarette fell from his mouth, and Ritsuko tried to be alert and attentive but failed due to being half asleep.
"What…" was all Misato said, deadpanning as she was tired of raising her voice.
"It's nice to meet you all," Kaworu greeted.
"Shinji, Rei, could you two explain why you decided to bring an angel here?" Misato said in a sickly sweet voice as she pulled her gun out and pointing it at the silver boy who just blinked.
"W-well we kind of just um found him when we were walking around" He replied nervously
"We talked with him and have come to an arrangement," Rei continued.
"What kind of an arrangement" Ritsuko managed to ask, as she stifled a yawn.
"In exchange for you returning my father Adam to me, I will not only ensure that the other angels will no longer try attacking, but I will also try andhelp you out with your current... situation," Kaworu explained.
Misato and Kaji deadpanned while Dr Akagi struggled to keep her eyes open.
"Ignoring how insane this sounds, how exactly can you help us? What do you even know about our problems" Kaji asked curiously.
"I was in the care of Seele for the past fourteen and a half years. You see after what you call second impact, me and my siblings were born from the amount of stored energy our father released. We essentially stay adrift as a form of energy until we accumulate it into a physical form. It takes us about fifteen years to do so, thus why my siblings only now appear. However, Seele managed to make contact with me not long after I was born. They created this Lilum body you see for me to inhabitat" He told him, going into detail, "They showed me the dead sea scrolls and said that I was fated to come to Nerv after all my siblings had been bested, reunite with my father, and bring about instrumentality. We made a deal, once all my siblings were defeated, they would claim I was the fifth child and send me hear so I could infiltrate the Geofront from the inside and easily get my father back. In exchange, I would give them their instumentality. Only now I have learned they've been lying to me, plotting my demise to facilitate their goals and make themselves the gods controlling the third impact, and I simply only wish to deliver them a retribution that I believe to be fit"
"Well that good and all, but what do you know about Seele?" Kaji said, slightly intrigued by the 'teens' story.
"I happen to know the names and of all the members, and the general locations of most" Kaworu smiled at the shaggy man, whose jaw just dropped at how valuable the information he had was.
"H-how?" was all the man could think to say.
"Why would Seele care how much I know when they knew I wasn't going to say anything. That I was just going to stay in the dark, stupid and naive until it was time for me to accept my fate and die? " Kaworu shrugged, but his words had hidden mockery and disdain.
"Can we really trust him though?" Misato asked, not to sure about trusting an angel, especially with what they've done. But then again she was trying to trust Rei, who was also an angel, but Shinji asked her to, so she was willing to try. But now they were asking her to trust another one, she felt strained and wanted to do nothing more tham drink until she forgot about this entire day, unfortunately that wasn't an available option at the moment.
"What choice do we ,really have? All the other ideas were trash, and he has just what we need?" Ritsuko pointed out, but Misato still looked very wary.
"If I give this to my contacts, they would definitely use this as soon as they could, without Seele, Nerv will loose a lot of their resource. Not to mention that the Commander will probably be given the same treatment as Seele, seeing as how he's in cahoots witht them," Kaji added.
"But we would still need to secure Adam beforehand" Rei spoke up, causing the others to look at her.
"Why would we need to do that?" Shinji asked.
"Because once Seele is gone, and the Commander realises that he's next, he would get desperate, and most definitely try to start a third impact himself" She explained.
"Why does he even care about causing it?" Misato questioned.
"Why else? To be reunited with his wife" Ritsuko said half awake with a hint of anger, Rei just nodded.
"But isnt she dead?" She asked.
"Gendo is convinced her soul is inside of unit 01, he wants to cause the third impact in order to try and get it out so they could be together again" Ritsuko answered, getting questioning looks, Shinji processed the information, Rei rubbing his hand as he did.
"But how would he even be able to do that?" Kaji asked, prompting Rei to speak.
"I don't know for certain, but from what I had been told, his plan ultimately involved him using Adam, Lilith, and... Me" She stated as Kaworu adopted a thoughtful look at that.
"That's insane" Shinji mumbled as he started thinking that his father may genuinely be insane, making him feel slight pity for the man, but he shook the thought away, he didn't believe the man deserved it..
"Alright then, we'll make sure he doesn't have Adam, then he won't be able to do anything" Misato said simply.
"Yeah, but where is Adam?" Shinji asked.
"Hmm, now that I think about it, you never did tell us where Adam was," Misato said as she looked at Ritsuko.
"Knowing Gendo, it's probably locked up somewhere secure, so it's not exactly going to be easy," Kaji mumbled.
"It was locked up pretty tight, until he had it moved that is," Dr Akagi said.
"Moved? But where?" Misato asked aloud.
"-sigh-I know exactly where, as I was the one who helped him put it there," She replied
"Great, if you know where he is, then you can get him right?" Kaworu asked.
"Not exactly…"
"What do you mean?" Misato questioned.
"Well, the commander wanted to keep it close" She responded vaguely
"What, is it in his office?" Kaji asked
"No, more like he keeps it on his person" She didn't want to go into detail.
"Huh?"
"...He had me graft it... onto his hand" Ritsuko shuddered as she remembered the procedure. How it felt from grabbing the organism, to the way its eye watched her during the operation, and the fact anyone would want such a thing implanted in their hand.
Everyone else felt some similar disgust. Misato felt disturbed at the thought of something living, being in her hand. Shinji felt disgusted at what length his father would go to for his selfish desires. Rei feeling the contents of her stomach shift at the thought. Kaworu felt revolted that his father had been put into the palm of some Lilums filthy hand.
"Well that may be a problem…" Kaji eventually said.
"No it wont," Kaworu said as he glowered, "I will retrieve my father, but I can't assure that there will be much left of Ikari"
"Well hold on, lets do this one step at a time and actually make a plan, we shouldn't rush this. Lets start with who Seele are..."
Author's Note: So this is sort of the interlude before the climax, next chapter, stuff happens. It's almost over, tell me how you think the story is so far, I would like to know, as long as its nothing that isults or threatens me on a personal level. Though I don't think people care enough about this to do either of those. Anyway, to be concluded...