Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Evangelion or any related works, they all belong to Gainax. This is VERY LOOSELY based off conversations in the Nobody Dies thread on spacebattles dot com, but is not canon with Nobody Dies.

NERV: Antarctica

Part One

NERV-Antarctica does not exist.

There is no artificial island where Antarctica once was, straddling the dead sea left by the Second Impact. There are no ADAM-derived life forms spawning in those dead waters, rising up to inherit the Earth after the Angels have triumphed and wiped humanity away. NERV does not maintain a military force to hunt down and contain those life forms, for the protection of humanity.

NERV-Antarctica does not exist.

Gendo Ikari's glasses caught the light, hiding his eyes as Doctor Mayumi Yamishi sat across the desk from him, the black haired woman shifting nervously. 'Does he do that intentionally?' she wondered, imagining him practicing taking different positions to see how the light would best reflect off of his glasses.

"Doctor Yamishi, your superior Doctor Akagi speaks well of you," Gendo said tersely, steepling his hands as he studied her calmly.

Mayumi did her best not to fidget, thought it was hard. She had been working under Ritsuko in Project E for several months, and she felt she had done pretty well. Her only issue had been the lack of opportunities to do hard science, rather than just running tests on Angel remains. "Thank you sir," she said with a nod.

"In fact, she recommended you for a detached assignment," Gendo said, pushing a folder across the desk towards her with one hand.

Flipping it open Mayumi scanned the pages, frowning at how much was blacked out. From what she could piece together from the non-censored bits, NERV was running a research center somewhere, and there was apparently the chance to study Angelic lifeforms directly. "Where...," she looked up at him questioningly.

"I can't divulge details until you sign the agreement to be stationed there," Gendo told her flatly, "however, I believe this is a place where your skills would shine." He hesitated a moment as he admitted, "And in all honesty we need your skills there."

Mayumi looked at Gendo, then down at the contract at the end of the folder. She hesitated, then picked up a pen and signed, decisively.

"Very good," Gendo smiled slightly as he continued, "Welcome to NERV-Antarctica."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Weeks later Mayumi mentally cursed as the scientist desperately held onto a strut on the helicopter as the military craft soared over the sea. The waters below them were eerily calm, as was the entire Dead Sea that now existed where Antarctica was, but the winds still buffeted the copter. After signing the documents at NERV she had been bundled off to a waiting resupply vessel, leaving Japan with barely enough time to close her apartment and tell her friends she would be gone. Then the rough sea voyage and seasickness, and now a helicopter trip with a maniac pilot.

'My mother was right, I should have gone into interior decorating,' Mayumi thought, trying her best not to be violently sick.

"Are you all right, doctor?" Kaede Agano asked, her short, pixie cut brown hair falling around her face. The NERV technician was officially Mayumi's aide, and had accompanied her from Tokyo-3 on all the steps of her journey. They had even shared a room on the ship, leading to a certain degree of temptation on Mayumi's part. Sadly the young lady seemed uninterested, and she didn't want to spoil the working relationship with a unwanted advance.

"I'm fine," Mayumi smiled weakly as the helicopter rattled around them again, "the ride is just a bit rough, is all." She looked out at the water, not even able to see the ship they had launched from, and asked, "How much longer?"

"According to the briefing papers I read, we should be there soon," Kaede comforted her. She looked out another window, frowning as she peered off into the distance then pointed south as she said, "There it is!"

The artificial structure resembled a simple oil drilling platform, at first. A metal platform supported by columns of concrete and steel, perched above the oddly red waters. But as they neared the sheer size of the artificial island became apparent, stretching miles across and very wide, as well as descending below the waves in some portions. There were what looked like safety walls rising along the edges of the platform, almost reminding her of fortifications.

'Though why would they be worried about someone climbing on?' Mayumi thought, dismissing the notion. Still, she had to admit she was impressed, especially since she hadn't heard about any of this in her professional journals.

"Coming in for a landing," the pilot's voice sounded oddly nervous as he continued, "please look out for any bogies, please."

"Bogies?" Kaede blinked.

"Why are they worried about attackers...?" Mayumi started to agree with her when SOMETHING leaped at the copter out of the red waters.

The thing looked a bit like a fish, but it also had legs, suction cup tentacles on it's head and a wide mouth with a hell of a lot of teeth in it. Hissing and snapping it stuck to the passenger side window as Mayumi screamed, scrambling backwards in shock. She yelped as Kaede yanked her away from the window, then gunfire rang out. The creature exploded against the side of the copter in a splash of red, the copter hovering for a moment as they waited for another attack.

Both woman sat there in a tangle of limbs, hearts racing as the excitement faded. "Get this thing down," Kaede called angrily to the pilot, recovering her wits first.

"Right," the somewhat wild eyed pilot agreed, taking the stick and carefully easing the copter down on the landing pad where several security officers were looking around warily, at least one of their guns smoking faintly

They landed softly, the door to the helicopter sliding open and the two women scrambling out, standing there as a cool breeze washed over them. Staff hurried to unload supplies as a tall blond strode forward, ushering them away from the copter.

"What the hell WAS that?" Mayumi recovered enough of her composure to ask.

"That's what you're here to help us find out," the woman said, smiling slightly. She was dressed in the typical NERV uniform of tan jacket and trousers. Oddly she also wore a pistol belted to her side, and there were marks on the leather indicating it saw fairly regular use. "Doctor Yamishi?" she smiled.

Mayumi looked up at her, clearing her throat nervously. "Yes, that's me," she nodded.

"I'm Satsuki Ooi, head of NERV-Antarctica," the woman offered her hand as she said pleasantly, "Welcome to the base."

"Thank you," Mayumi answered weakly, shaking her hand, "and this is my assistant, Kaede Agano."

"Pleased to meet you," Kaede squeaked.

Satsuki Ooi hid a smile. "Follow me, let's get you out of the wind," she said briskly.

The group headed for a stairway leading down into the artificial island as Mayumi tentatively said, "Uhm, I was never fully briefed on what I'm supposed to be doing here..."

"Commander Ikari tends to keep security fairly tight on this facility," Satsuki told her mildly. She continued, "As you know, creatures commonly called 'Angels' have been attacking Tokyo-3 over the past several months."

"Yes," Mayumi said, looking around curiously as they entered a steel lined walkway. There were cameras placed evenly along the hall, and what looked like security shutters set up to seal off sections of the hall.

"What you may not know is that a similar entity we refer to as Adam was the trigger to Second Impact, the event that destroyed Antarctica," Satsuki told her as they entered a large command chamber, with large view screens showing the ocean floor, the sea around them as well as thermal views and sonar displays. Men and women worked at terminals in front of them and on both sides, though it was hard to tell what they were doing from where they were standing.

Mayumi hid her lack of surprise at that information. While the cover story had been accepted by the general populace, most hard scientists knew that the asteroid hitting Antarctica story was bullshit. Too many details didn't match what scientists expected a meteoroid impact to cause, not to mention the lack of a expected 'nuclear winter.'

Satsuki smiled faintly, covertly acknowledging that Mayumi wasn't stupid. "Not long after the disaster scientists from GHEIRN and later NERV established a research station here, trying to fully understand what happened," she explained, waving around them.

"This is a lot bigger than a usual research station," Mayumi noted dryly. She didn't want to imagine how much this base cost, much less the staffing requirements.

"That's because when the Angels attacked Tokyo-3, things started happening here too," Satsuki shrugged with remarkable casualness. She put her hand on the shoulder of a technician working on a nearby terminal, "Aoi, bring up file footage 21-d."

The boyish young woman with the name tag 'Aoi Mogami' nodded as she hit a series of keys. "Yes, ma'am," she said.

What came up on the smaller screen nearby them was under water footage, showing a large pipe leading into the sea bed, much like in a oil well. "This is a conduit into a geofront discovered here before the turn of the century," Satsuki said, "we believe that Adam emerged from it. Watch, this happened at almost the exact time Sachiel launched it's attack on Tokyo-3."

The scene remained still for a moment, then suddenly gasses bubbled out around the pipe. Air, or possibly some other gas. As the gas vented the pipe shook and rattled, then it visibly jerked to the side as various things wiggled out into the sea. They looked like no fish or land animal Mayumi had ever seen, some horrific hybrid of existing creatures. Some died as they hit the water but others didn't, spreading out to swim up or away.

"Eep," Kaede gasped softly, the young woman taking a half step back even as Mayumi leaned forward, studying the image intently.

"What are they?" Mayumi asked, her eyes widening as she watched more of the things crawling out onto the seabed, "Were any captured?"

"We've been catching and containing these things since the Angel attacks started," Satsuki answered seriously, "as what they are, we're hoping you can help answer that question."

"Incredible...," Mayumi breathed out while Kaede gave her a look as if she was crazy.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Barely a week later alarms rang out through the base as Mayumi crouched behind a desk turned on it's side as a improvised barrier, holding a NERV issue pistol in sweaty hands as another life-form rampaged through the hallways. "Does this happen often?" she squeaked to the red headed security officer guarding the lab.

"Yeah, somewhat" Yoko Litner agreed casually, hefting a very big rifle as she fired shots down the hallway. The busty redhead was the head of Mayumi's security team, watching over the lab and preventing any subjects from escaping. And in this case, making sure nothing broke in. "We can usually catch anything that comes up the Geofront tap, but sometimes stuff gets by us," she noted.

"Oh god we're gonna die," Kaede moaned, looking at the shaggy, lovecraftian horror that was making it's way up the hall. The thing looked like a unholy cross between a sheep-dog and a octopus, trailing green ooze.

"Don't bet on it," Yoko snarled as she pulled out a grenade, yanking the pin and hurled it down the hall even as she fired her rifle.

"Duck!" Mayumi tackled Kaede down as Yoko also dived for cover, the grenade detonating with a roar. The hall shook and the floor jerked, the blast splattering the walls with green ooze.

"We're alive?" Kaede ventured weakly.

"We're alive," Yoko agreed, peering up the hall. "Hey, doc, looks like you have lots of new stuff to test out."

"Oh joy," Mayumi sighed, climbing out from behind her desk and considering how to mop up the remains. 'Wonder if they have a industrial strength vacuum?'

To be continued...