Second part

Old Lies, They Die, Harder

Chapter 6

The Plan

“It’s not as simple as that” Kaji said as dettached and unworried as usual, before he took another bite from the fish he was eating.

“Then why don’t you plan the strategy this time?” she replied angrily. “It shouldn’t be so difficult for someone who finds so many flaws to my ideas” Someone in her position was clearly not used to have her orders discused and even Commander Ikari usualy let her be in charge of the situations and make her own desitions.

“I was just trying to help” he defended himseld inocently.

Misato sighed tiredly and ran a hand through her face, as to erase tortuous thoughts from her mind. It was no the time for being stubborn. This time it was more than just her pride what was at stake, but also the future of manking. For that reason she tried to calm down and counted up to twenty before trying to speak again.

“I know you’re doing your best, and the main deductive line is okay. Just tell me something” he asked trying to be nice to her in order to avoid further confrontations since it was just the two of them and with her angry he was alone and doomed to get bored. “What do you think will cause the Third Impact?” he asked her to make her think.

“What do I think...?” she repeated while trying to figure it out.

“...will cause the Thirs Impact” he corrected nodding slowly. She remaint silent for a while, as if she knew there was more to that question than what she thought was the obvious answer.

“Do you mean it’s not the contact between Adam and an Angel?” she asked beginning to fear she had been more disinformed than she had originally thought.

“Well, yes. But more specifically...?” Kaji tried to guide her to do the thinking herself so she wouldn’t feel so diminished. She thought at it for a while and then she shook her head to the sides.

“I don’t know...” she sounded as if the situation began to overwhelm her. “I’m not sure about anything anymore... you tell me”

“Your plan is okay, but gaining access to him would be too difficult and dangerous” he explained seriously as he was rarely seen. “There is an easier way” he assured her. Misato looked at him inquisitively, tense as she awaited for the answer to that. “Rei” he simply said.

“Rei?” she repeated visibly confused.

“Yes, Ayanami Rei, the first children” he corroborated. She looked at him puzzled.

“But what does she have to do with all this anyway?” curiosity was now burning her. She needed to know.

“You said that the Instrumentality Project would begin with the contact between Adam and an Angel. That is correct, but there are many ways to accomplish this, so it has become a matter of which one is more effective.” He said still looking deadly serious but also glancing kindly at her, as if he thought her lack of information was cute.

“They have Adam and they also have the second Angel...” he said when she interrupted him.

“Lilith!” she exclaimed jumping in her seat a bit. He nodded.

“But since Ikari has merged his hand with Adam, he became Adam himself and, unless you can think of a safe way of chopping his hand off or effectively kidnap him in spite of the heavy cutody he has at this time...” by this moment Misato was deadly serious too as she understood the situation.

“I understand” she admited her defeat. Her logic was not rusty after all, it was the lack of information what had made her previous plan useless, but that was not her fault. She couldn’t be blamed for that, excepting maybe for not being curious enough. At any case, he was curious enough for both of them. “But I still don’t get...”

“Ikari can’t act as Adam himself, because he’s not the proper environment for Adam to achieve the maturity level required for the Third Impact to begin. That’s where Rei comes in. She is not human. She was created by humans to meet their needs and as if preventing any accident that might happen, they mass produced them then kept them living as empty shells in LCL liquid then if something happens to one of them...” but he couldn’t finish his explanation.

“They no longer exist” she interrupted. “Rit-chan destroyed them when she showed Shinji and me the lab” Misato explained and for the first time in a while, Kaji smiled.

“That’s great news” he decreed. “So, now we only must take care of a single Rei, the one with a personality implanted” the combination of the concepts Rei and personality made Misato chuckle. She looked like an autist most of the time, but she had to admit that compared to the ones they saw back there at the lab she did look more human.

“Don’t you think they must have put her under custody too? Now that she has become one of a kind...” her logic was still working more than properly, as he could see. But he still didn’t seem so worried about it.

“Maybe” he said with a mysterious smile. “But it still looks easier to me than accessing Commander Ikari. Whatever order she might have received of keeping away from you, you can always invent some story... she’ll surely buy it. She’s been programed to follow orders, haven’t you notticed?” he asked her confident about the whole thing.

“So... what do you suggest? Changing the target and kidnapping Rei instead?” she asked him as she remembered they were actually eating.

“Well... it’s that or shooting her” he shrugged. Being a triple agent as he was, ethicals were never his strong point.

“Hum... I think we better kidnap her until we figure out how to safely destroy Adam... or Lilith.” She saw the doubtful look in his eyes and hurried to add. “It’s not as I’ll doubt to kill her or whoever it takes to grant humanity will continue to exist, but if killing can be avoided, then why take risks?” she said in her own defense and sounded pretty convincing, so he believed her.

“Then it’s settled” he said treating the matter as solved.

“Yes, but we still have one problem, Sherlock.” She insisted. “We’re still here in the middle of nowhere camping in the wild while back at N.E.R.V.’s HQ the preparations for the Third Impact are still going on. “How do we know they won’t do it while we’re still planning our strike?” she asked him suddenly worried.

“They won’t” he simply said. She still looked at him inquisitively so Kaji continued to talk after a short while. “They’ve thought of an ensurance policy in case Rei/Adam fail, so until...”

“The Serial Production Evas!” she exclaimed as she began to understand the whole plot.

“Exactly... so, until they are finished, we still have some time. I guess I still have a contact or two back in Germany and USA that could handle us the information if we find a way to get in touch with them” he said still calmly.

“I could use Shinji-kun as an informant to get the data from inside N.E.R.V.” she suggested, talking as she did during an angel attack, when having to plan a strategy.

“If the line is safe as to talk through it...” he objected.

“Oh, I’m not THAT big of an idiot” she replied. “I know how to play dumb” Misato insisted looking seriously at him, almost frowning slightly. “I can always say I call to see how things are going and whether Asuka’s feeling better and such. I know how to get people to talk” He gave her a mieschievious grin.

“Oh, you surely do” he agreed with her. “But you don’t ever shut up long enough for anyone to reply” he teased.

That night, while laying in the still darkness inside Kaji’s tent, she suddenly asked him “Do you think we’ll make it?” in a soft worried voice. Her head was resting on his chest and her hand slowly stroke it while thinking about the whole matter with her eyes closed, unable to sleep.

“Huh?”he incstinctivly looked at her face though he wouldn’t be able to see his own hand if he were to move it in front of his eyes.

“Stopping the Instrumentality Project I mean” she especified.

“Ohh...!” then he understood what she was talking about. “I hope we do” he simply said. ‘It’s our only hope as a species’ he thought. “Go to sleep already” he said as if he were his father rather than her boyfriend. “You still have to go see that doctor tomorow morning.” He reminded her.

“Hum... you’re right...” she said sleepily. “I don’t wanna go” Misato complained as she drifted into sleep.

The morning was clear and the weather as stable as usual. Clear and warm like always after the Second Impact. The crickets were chirming and the breeze slightly shook the trees, but Misato was already dressed up and ready to go.

“I’ll see you later” he greeted her as she got into the car, now taken out of its hideout. She smiled.

“I’ll be back soon” she promised before speeding off.

Someplace near the therapist’s office, two men in black had their snipers set on the man’s door from the roofs of two different buildings nearby and were getting ready to work.

Author’s Note: I was really lost about this chapter, so I was rather avoiding writing it. I was not quite sure about what precisely had caused the Third Impact and I couldn’t precisely remember the movies, so I had to do a lot of research before writing this. Good thing is I like the final result and I’m more or less happy with this chapter.

I got the inspiration to write this one after seeing Evangelion last movie You’re Not Alone (2006)... you know... the one that’s a remake of the first episodes with new scenes, different camera angles and some slightly different plot points. A really excellent work they’ve done witht that one and I’m looking forward to seeing the second.