Chapter 8
Secrets of the Jenova Project

Sephiroth Junior looked at his prey as he turned to look to the side to find a bench. He walked over to it and he put Asuka down on it. He turned to face Shinji again as he drew his sword. He held it in an offensive stance while Shinji pulled out another broom from the Janitor's cart and held it up in a defensive pose.

"Do you honesty think that broom is going to help you?" Sephiroth asked. Shinji didn't say a word as Sephiroth smiled. "Fine, have it you're way. It's your funeral."

Sephiroth raised his sword ready to strike Shinji down, but suddenly someone came through the elevator door and punched Sephiroth Junior in the face. Cloud had punched his way through the elevator door when he detected that Sephiroth junior was standing right outside of it. Misato walked out of the elevator right behind him. She ran over to Shinji to see if he was okay. Meanwhile, Cloud was facing off against Sephiroth Junior.

"You're not Sephiroth, are you?" Cloud asked.

"I am Sephiroth... Junior to be more precise. I was named after the man who is one of my biological fathers. But believe me when I say that I am a whole different game from the Original Sephiroth." Sephiroth spoke as he got back to his feet.

"Are you saying you have more than one father? How is that possible?" Cloud asked.

"In a strange way I do. Sephiroth's blood was injected directly into my body while I will still growing in my mother's womb and I began to take on his appearance as I grew, so I kinda resemble him a little. My second father is the one who conceived me with my mother. However, Sephiroth and Jenova's cells weren't the only blood cells used in my creation." Sephiroth said with a smile.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked as he drew his sword.

"Fight me and you'll find out." Sephiroth said as he held his sword in front of him, ready to fight Cloud.

Cloud jumped to attack Sephiroth Junior, but he put his sword down and he held up his hand. Cloud hit a powerful energy barrier and was sent flying into a wall. Misato and Shinji looked at the powerful barrier created by their foe and they knew what kind of barrier he had created.

Misato gasped. "That's an AT field! But how can he create one? Unless he's an Angel..."

"That is correct. But to be more accurate I am half angel. The DNA of Adam and Lillith were used in my creation as well. I have the best of both worlds. I possess the best the Angels and Sephiroth had!" Sephiroth said as he raised his hand as it started to surge with energy.

Aiming for Cloud, Sephiroth Junior unleashed a Shadow flare on him. Cloud was badly injured by the attack as he lay on the ground. Sephiroth walked up to him and he raised his blade ready to take his head off. Suddenly Cloud jumped up to his feet and he blocked the in coming deathblow with his sword. Cloud was trying to push Sephiroth back with his sword, but both men were in a deadlock. Cloud and Junior were trying to over power one another, but both men seemed to be almost equal in strength. Sephiroth raised his leg up as he kicked Cloud in the stomach as he sent the blonde swordsman falling to the ground.

Sephiroth was going in for the kill as he moved towards Cloud to finish him off, but Cloud raised his sword just in time to stop Sephiroth from cutting him in half. Cloud didn't except this Sephiroth look-alike to be so good with a sword. Cloud was almost convinced that for a moment that he was fighting the real Sephiroth. Misato raised her gun and started shooting at him. But Sephiroth's AT field blocked all of the bullets fired at him.

Sephiroth junior looked up at her and said, "Please those bullets can't stop me. Nothing you fools do can stop me. Once I am done with you three I am taking Asuka with me."

"Why do you want her?" Cloud asked as he struggled to keep Sephiroth's blade from cutting him.

"Because she has Jenova's cells" Sephiroth replied.

Misato gasped at the words "She has Jenova's cells."

"But how is that possible? That girl can't have Jenova's cells!" Cloud said.

"I am not sure how she has them, but I can sense that she dose." Sephiroth replied, "I will take her with me and maybe I could convince her to join with me and my brothers. Then I can help her to fully realize her Jenova powers, if she chooses to join me that is."

Shinji wasn't fully able to comprehend what Sephiroth was planning, but the thing that surprised him was the fact that Asuka has Jenova's cells. He almost couldn't believe it, but if Sephiroth was going though all this to get her then she must have them. Shinji didn't really understand what any of it meant. Did it mean that Asuka has the same kind of powers that Sephiroth has? Suddenly Asuka's eyes opened and she began to sit up. When she saw what was going on, she stood up. Asuka recognized the sliver haired man as she yelled out, "Stop this now!" Everyone turned to notice Asuka was awake.

"So you are finally awake" Sephiroth said.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Asuka demanded.

"I came here for you, but my plan to capture you isn't going as well as I have planned."

"I am not going anywhere with you" Asuka replied firmly.

"Pity... Then I'm wasting my time here. I'll be back for you some other time. But keep this in mind; it's best for you to join with me because the humans you help are actually against you and your friends." Sephiroth moved away from Cloud and back up to a window.

"What do you mean?" Misato demanded.

"If Asuka joins with me I will tell her. I hope that we meet again Asuka. In fact, if you ever pilot your Eva again then I wouldn't mind going one on one against you. If you are as skilled with an Eva as I have heard, then you should be a worthy opponent. Good day everyone and remember. I will be back."

Sephiroth dove out the window. He was falling towards the ground, but just before he hit the pavement, he stopped and slowly floated to the ground. When he landed on the ground, Sephiroth hopped onto his motorcycle and rode off into the distance. When he was finally gone, Cloud put away his sword.

"Ok, now that he's gone, would someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Asuka asked.

"Actually I was about to ask you the same question Mr. Strife" Misato looked at Cloud.

"I think we should go back to NERV. It's safer there. When we are inside the complex I will tell you everything you want to know." Cloud said.

"Alright then." Misato said as she and the others started to leave the hospital.

"I'm glad that you are alright." Shinji said to Asuka.

"I am fine, but I wish that I didn't wake up" Asuka said as she went with Misato.

"I guess you're not fine..." Shinji thought as he entered the elevator with everyone else.

Elsewhere in a dark room, Gendo was going through some of his late wife's things. Ever since Hojo came to NERV, he was suspicious of his actions. Since Yui had apparent found some information on some of Hojo's projects, Gendo was looking for the information his wife found. After going through box after box filled with many different folders he came across one that got his attention. The folder was big and was filled with a lot of papers titled "Jenova Project. Top secret. For Julian Hojo and Keele Lorenz eyes only." A folder with that kind of secret warning on it could only mean that his wife must have stolen it.

"Why would Yui steal this file?" Gendo thought as he opened the folder and started reading the contents.

"Jenova project restarted in the year 2000 three days after the second impact. Professor Hojo and Keele Lorenz will oversee the project. The propose the of the project will be to create a Sephiroth/Angel hybrid using the DNA cells of Sephiroth and the angels Adam and Lillith to fashion the prefect subject to assist in the completion of the Human Instrumentality Project." Gendo read the first page aloud, and then looked though the other parts of the file.

He came across another log entry that read, "One month of experimentation and we have created Ren and Loz, pure clones of Sephiroth. From these clones we can harvest Sephiroth's cells. However, neither of them has the full abilities possessed by the original Sephiroth. Hojo has proposed that we inject a high concentration of Sephiroth's cells and Adam and Lillith cells into an unborn child within a woman's womb. Hojo theorized that if this child was born through natural birth using this process, he believes that we can create the prefect Sephiroth/angel hybrid though a child born by natural birth instead of cloning. Hojo has selected a woman who is expected to give birth to twins. Hojo has made sure that the woman is aware of the one child but not the other. During the months of her pregnancy, Hojo and hired scientists will use an injection process designed by Hojo to feed one of the unborn children Sephiroth and angel cells during development while keeping the experiment secret from the child's parents."

Gendo continued reading the log as he looked through scientific notes that explain how the injection process was done and how they were able to keep the mother from knowing what was being done to her. They had used a drug that erases all memory of the process while she visited for her check ups. When the child was born, they were able to take the child they had injected with Sephiroth and angel cells while the parents were still unaware of what transpired. The report goes on saying that Hojo named the child Sephiroth because the child had a resemblance to the original Sephiroth.

Gendo found another entry log written by Hojo. "The child abilities have begun to flourish and we surprised by how far the boy has come. Keele is pleased by the boy's development and we have agreed that he shall be designated as the sixth child and his brothers will be designated as the seventh child and eighth child. All three of them are suitable to pilot the Eva units X-014, X-015, and X-016. The Eva X series were created from Adam while unit 016 was made and created to be a copy of Eva unit 01. It is to be used in The Human Instrumentality Project in the event unit 01 and Lillith are destroyed. Sephiroth has become very powerful and Keele and I agreed that it is best that the boy is convinced that he is nothing more than a clone. Keele and I agreed that we don't need another Sephiroth bent on destroying the planet like what happened with the Original Sephiroth. Once Sephiroth and his brother's skills as Eva pilots have been perfected, we will replace NERV's Eva pilots with them."

Hojo's entry ended as Gendo went through the rest of the file. As he looked at the DNA mapping of Sephiroth and the other scientific notes taken of him. Gendo was wondering why would Keele approve of the creation of such a being.

This report was troubling, but what troubled Gendo even more was what he found at the end of the file that said, "To complete the project Keele has asked for the work on Jenova/Angel hybrids to use in the project if they are needed. Also during the project, selected individuals have been injected with Jenova's cells to help further the experiment and Jen was cloned and created from Jenova's cells. She was 'born' on the same day Ren and Loz were created. Stage one and two of the Jenova project has been completed. Now we shall proceed to stage three. This ends the report. Further notes of stages 1 and 2 done during the project are kept in another file called Jenova project details on stages one and two."

Gendo closed the file and put it away. He was beginning to understand why his wife didn't trust Hojo. All of these projects had been going on behind his back.

"What were you trying to find out Yui?" Gendo thought to himself as he was trying to figure out what was his wife up to, and what was she looking for. Gendo was sure that the information here was the first piece of the puzzle his wife was trying to solve. Gendo need to find more information on the Jenova project in order to understand what his wife was looking for. Suddenly, he heard his phone ringing. He walked to his phone as he picked it up and answered it.

"Commander Ikari here." Gendo replied.

Gendo listened to the man on the phone. It was someone from SEELE, and he called to inform Gendo that eleven chairmen members of SEELE have been killed. Gendo was informed that only Keele survived the attack with some injuries. When the man told him that the weapon used by the assassin was a long sword, Gendo was a bit surprised by that fact. The man didn't tell Gendo anymore and hung up. Gendo was a tad bit shocked to learn that almost all of the chairmen for SEELE had been wiped out. He suspected that Keele was involved because he was sure that whoever killed the chairmen would have killed Keele as well, but yet he was still alive. Gendo knew that something big was going on, and he knew that Keele and Hojo were in the center of it.

A/N: something big is going down and it looks like that Gendo's wife was onto something. Now lets see if Gendo can uncover the truth behind the Jenova project.