This is a snippet from what was originally going to be a larger 'verse, something of an AU of Book of Revels, where instead of Fuyutsuki blowing the conspiracy, Gendo Ikari was on the side of the Lilim (yes, it's been done, but it's still an interesting thought), and managed to capture SEELE's infant angel as well as his own.

Since Gendo and Yui had more information that Fuyutsuki did, and that information has been shared with the public in this, most regard Kaworu/Tabris as Adam, because he contains Adam's soul even if there's no trace of the original mind. And they're aware that although it was SEELE that actually set off Second Impact…

Kaworu's been under biohazard containment his whole life and does not like Lilim, because in his experience they really don't like him. Rei is his only company, so he's divided between jealous she gets to go outside sometimes, being viewed as not inherently hostile to humanity, and devoted to her since she's the only person he has, the only person in the world that isn't either just another face of the angel Lilim or trying to reach him to annihilate his personality. Obviously, this is just as Gendo planned: as Rei is Yui's clone and Gendo is a bastard to everyone who is neither Yui nor the combination of his and Yui's genes (in this 'verse, he has a soft spot for Shinji because Shinji is essentially living proof/a constant reminder that Gendo and Yui had sex, and lots of it), he's trying to make sure that Kaworu ends up equally devoted to Rei, because of having absolutely no one else who treats him like a human being.

The larger 'verse didn't really go anywhere, so I'm posting this under manga AUs instead of anime AUs because he ends up broken in a way that's much more similar to the manga version's emotional desperation (like Shinji) than the anime's acceptance of death.

Those red eyes were far more tolerable when they were clouded and dull, preferably with a trace of pain in there, as much as Misato hated to admit the last part about herself. She hated angels, but there was a difference between killing something that was trying to kill you and torturing prisoners.

Like this, though? Vibrant and alive, ignoring her not because of contempt he was too tired to bother to hide but because he was trying to look at everything else, eyes dancing from cloud to blade of grass to mailbox, even to the Lilim that were on the streets despite the NERV convoy? Face pressed up against the one-way bulletproof 'glass' of the transport's window, acting like a dog leaning out a car's window, overwhelmed by all the things to see even if he couldn't smell any of it? There was enough pollen in the eternal summer air that he and Rei would keel over without their shots even if they were allowed into free-flowing air that wouldn't be disinfected before being released to the outside.

Something like this was no reason to let biohazard containment procedures lapse, as worried as she was about Shinji.

Adam seemed so childlike now, so human, and it made her stomach twist to see Rei sitting next to him, watching him with that smile on her face instead of watching the outside, so happy for him that he could see all this when Misato was used to her schooling her face into a carefully neutral expression, one drawn over fear of offending the Lilim. Offending her 'children.' Rei acted like a battered woman, expecting to be abused by her family. Except with Adam, who was the one that had wiped out half her planet… But then, both of them were angels, and Rei clearly saw Kaworu as her protector, shifting closer to him when Asuka's Eva looked down at the truck, somehow managing to glare suspiciously with that terrible rendition of a face.

Without even having to look at the other angel, Kaworu pulled her to lean against him, blue head next to silver, and started pointing out things to her, things that he'd clearly only seen in the TV and movie collections that were cleared for the angels to watch, or read about in books. Mostly e-books kept on single, disposable readers that were changed monthly and never hooked up to any system after passing through Kaworu's hands: who knew what an angel could hide in paper? They'd have to burn them when they did the next decontamination of their quarters, too.

Why was Commander Ikari even allowing this? It was an unacceptable risk: what if they broke out? Ritsuko thought the idea was absolutely ridiculous: it wasn't like they'd get far before the air, the… the earth itself, the planet Adam ravaged would kill them. Still, Misato didn't trust the damn thing one bit: she knew he must want to finish the job. It wasn't genocide to him after all, just murder. He thought they were all masks a single angel wore, so to him there were no civilians. Everyone down to the babies was his enemy, his tormentor, just as much as Misato and Ritsuko.

Yes, she'd seen the look in his eyes when she and Gendo met with him about this: of course Adam would have tried to cut a deal, wouldn't have helped free Shinji from his Eva for free. Misato would have preferred to use Rei, but when Rei was Lilith and Eva 01 was made of Lilith's body, there was too much risk of her getting sucked in too, if Shinji had. Too much risk of Third Impact.

But the angel most likely would have underestimated how much they cared about Shinji, tried to bargain for them to get the UN to hurry up giving them more things to watch, or for them to let Rei go swimming more often instead of anything too bad. Gendo offering this had damn near shocked him fully awake, made him go from a languid little prince that knew that he had his captors over a barrel for once and was going to take advantage of it to a ecstatic little boy offered a trip to Disneyworld.

And two little excursions like this? One now, and one after he freed Shinji, if and only if he managed to do it without hurting him and the Eva? Yes, that would definitely give him incentive to save the Commander's son, but even if nothing happened now, he would have time to plan for the other one. Misato really hoped Gendo was lying, that there would be no second trip and that the only reason he'd told Adam that was so that Adam would wait for the second before trying anything, to lure them into a false sense of security.

That was when Kaworu spotted a bird, and even though it was a pigeon, rats with wings in Misato's eyes, the way he grabbed Rei and pointed it out to her so excitedly?

It fit the image for him to be disheveled, otherworldly and menacing, not for him to be almost bouncing with excitement. What had Ritsuko put him on this morning, speed? Well, frying his attention span might help avoid the damn thing coming up with any evil plots, but…

She would prefer thinking that this was an act, but there was no way an act like this would benefit him, not when he could basically goodbye kiss the dignity he'd tried to cultivate despite being a prisoner that spent most of his time as a test subject or watching TV after this. It wasn't like this would make them underestimate him enough to cancel out the fact that watching this, it was very clear how much he would just love to break out. To break loose, get out there in the world he'd almost destroyed. And probably finish the job, once he stopped gawking and got over the rush of finally being free.

Being locked up for years…

Misato didn't want to empathize. Maybe that just made her hate him more, even though it should have seemed like karma, how Adam suffered something like what she had suffered, even though it had no father to lose and clearly didn't care much about its own children.

Well, it wasn't like Adam remembered them, so she couldn't ascribe it to only being naturally heartless. That would be a good way to underestimate how far he'd go for Rei, and she'd seen Commander Ikari use Rei as leverage on him twice. One thing she definitely did have to admire about the man… Well, two things. His ruthlessness and his ability to manipulate. The UN could have used him as a general. Although perhaps his genius was wasted on anything besides keeping the angels in check and saving the world. He was also enough of a bastard that she could trust he certainly wasn't doing this as some kind of treat for the angel, giving it a day 'out' out of some misplaced guilt for keeping it prisoner its entire life, well, the life that it remembered.

Kaworu's bright joy at this, the way it translated into squeezing Rei because he simply couldn't contain it and had to share it with someone, the way he kissed the top of her head and she nuzzled at his cheek, clearly intending to calm him with that gesture, let him know that yes, she knew, and she was glad he was happy? It made her want to ask Ritsuko once again if she was sure they weren't lovers. A boy and a girl who shared a bed when they weren't in tubes for testing, who slept wrapped around each other so it was harder to remove one of them and leave the other to only find out later when they woke up alone?

Ritsuko just looked extremely bored, though. When Misato got this job and could finally ask questions like that, her friend explained curtly that as far as she could tell, the two of them didn't have human-style sex drives, which made sense when they were supposed to reproduce by merging and spawning or whatever, and since they were both seeds anyway their obliviousness to the idea of being sexually attracted to each other probably just meant they were the angel version of straight.

That made Misato wonder again for a moment about what the other angels would think about the sight of Adam and Lilith cuddling like that, since after all the entire point of this from their perspective was reaching the seeds in order to merge with them and make a planet full of babies, but she wasn't really interested enough to go there.

She'd thought she was attracted to men, not feminine-looking boys.

Dammit, Shinji…

Misato would have liked to separate them, but Commander Ikari had looked at her over his glasses the one time she even hinted at the idea, in a way that made her feel about two and wonder if she had any functioning brain cells. There certainly hadn't been any doubt about the fact that she'd better shut up instead of actually suggesting something so stupid if she wanted to keep her job.

Shinji was right: Rei did seem pretty motherly right now, patting Kaworu on the head and gently restraining his childish enthusiasm. It was hard to think of him as Adam, seeing him like this. As a several-billion-year-old being when this was just forcing it home that he'd never been outside unless he was being transported from facility to facility under heavy sedation, and that happened only a handful of times. The risk was just insane. The only reason this was anything like 'safe' was because no one out there should have any idea Adam was in this truck.

That was when Misato realized that the word might leak before Gendo's promised second trip, and guess who would be responsible for security on that one?

What had she done to piss him off?

Oh, right, she'd been in command when his son got absorbed by his Eva. That would do it. It wasn't so much that Commander Ikari had soft spots for his wife and son as that even though his people skills when it came to anything other than bastardry were as outstanding in their absence as his bastardry was in its genius, touch them and die.

Ancient conspiracy 1. Gendo Ikari 15, and that wasn't counting the angels. And Shinji thought his father didn't love him because he'd gotten the kid out of the line of fire…

She did kind of have to agree with Ritsuko, in that his creepy factor aside, that kind of dedication was damn hot. She definitely wasn't going to join the line of people trying to get in his bed, because she liked her ego and she wasn't sure it could survive too many more of those over-the-glasses looks.