First of all I want to apologize to all the readers/fans of this story, when I started writing these stories I had clear cut destinations for both of them, obviously "The Spar" reached its conclusion as I had wanted, however when I sat down and started working on "Re-Trial" things started fine, then I started losing focus on where it was going as I would overlap the story around this time. That caused me to step back and kind of give up on writing as I had hit a wall so hard that it literally derailed all trains of thought on this and other projects I was mulling over.

I realize that it has been almost a decade since I have made any kind of update to this story, and I do apologize. I have noticed recently that there have still been some people who star/follow this story and that has kind of spurned me into trying to finish this story. I will try to finish it in the next chapter or two as I really do not want to overlap the two stories as we all know how things will go, more or less, and that's part of what killed me on this story the last time.

Hopefully, I can complete this story to the best of my writing abilities and my readers enjoy what I come up with.

Chapter 12

Chairman Lorenz sat in silent thought as he waited for the connections that would bring Seele together for this "Surprise" meeting at the request of Ikari. Thing's had not been going to plan at all. The actions of the pilot's had been erratic and not at all what they should have been. The ease of which several of the Angel's had been brought down, especially the newly acquired "prisoner" of the latest Angel. None of this was foretold in the Dead Sea Scrolls and it was a major concern with the committee.

The signal was given an all member of Seele appeared in the darkened chamber, represented only by their monolith hologram. What they saw confused them, the room was empty. Under normal circumstances Gendo would be standing in the middle of the lone beam of light awaiting their arrival.

"Sorry Gentleman, but this isn't going to be an ordinary meeting." A voice spoke from the dark.

One of the Seele Members spoke up, "Who do you think you are to..." he was cut short as the figure behind the voice stepped into the light.

"Shinji Ikari, Pilot of Unit-01, and ultimately, your worst nightmare." He said with a grin on this face as he took center stage. "Now, I am pretty sure a lot of you have quite the confused look on your faces. I understand, you were under the impression that your secret little club was safe and secure, and that you were meeting with my father. Well, I am sorry to disappoint, but nothing about that last statement is true."

The young Ikari let that sink in for a moment before he continued, "Okay, so I can tell you right now, that your little plans for world domination or whatever the hell they were are over. As of right now, I'm running the show. Well me and my partner in crime," He made a simple hand motion and Asuka came into view, "and my some-what Half-sister? I never could figure that one out." He made another motion and Rei stepped out of the shadows.

Lorenz finally spoke up, "Just what do you think you can do, and where is Ikari?" slightly irritated by this child's grandiose statements.

Shinji smiled as he looked at the Monolith marked 01 and spoke, "Oh, Father has seen the error of his ways and has realized that my way is much easier. See, I know the real reason the Angels are attacking, I know what they want and how to deal with them. But you Twelve, you are the ones that are the real threat, not the Angels." Shinji could now hear several of the members muttering and could only imagine the looks on their faces.

"I say again, just what do you think you can do?" Lorenz said again, his voice more stern than last time. "You are but a child, and this committee has power far reaching that of which you might think."

"You say that, but you do not understand how far reaching my power actually is. You have seen what Asuka and I are capable of doing while in our Eva's, and from what I hear you are capable of see what she can do in person." Shinji looks towards Monolith 3 with a slight glare, "Which I will make sure is repaid in kind." He turned his focus back to Lorenz. "Now, let me tell you a story that will sound crazy, but trust me, ever word of it is true. By the end, I am sure you will understand just how much trouble you guys are in."

Elsewhere in the Geofront, Ritsuko was looking over the information that had been gathered since the arrival of the latest Angel. It had been kept 'dry docked' as Kaji has called it, it was for all intents and purposes an aquatic being, however it seemed fully capable of breathing outside of the water. The creature had been more or less left to lay out on the floor of a large multi chamber testing facility as far from NERV HQ as possible.

"This doesn't make any sense." She said as she looked over the results of the data.

"What's that?" Maya asked from the terminal next to her.

Ritsuko turned to her and showed her the documents she had been going over, "This is the first specimen we have ever managed to obtain alive, and it does not match any of the information provided by the Magi, other that it's blood type." She drew a cigarette from her pack and lit it. "Which means one of two things, either this thing isn't really an Angel, or that the Magi are wrong." The last bit sounded so foreign to her that should could hardly believe it came from her mouth.

"But… what's that mean then?" Maya said, obviously as confused by the readings as her mentor.

"It's mean's there's a bigger game being played here." Misato said as she walked into the room.

Both women looked at her with a bit of confusion on their faces.

"What do you mean 'bigger game'?" Ritsuko said raising an eyebrow, "Are you still a little drunk?"

Misato smirked as she shook her head, "No, but I kind of wish I was." She replied as she got closer to the two. "I have a story to tell, but I need to know one thing first." She stopped just a few feet from the two scientists and looked at Maya, "How much do you really know about the organization?"

Maya started to open her mouth and was cut off by Ritsuko, "What is this all about Misato? What do you mean by asking her that?"

"I need to know just how much she knows; does she know about what's beneath headquarters, does she know the truth about Rei, does she know what we are really doing here." Misato said matter-of-factly.

Maya sat with a rather blank and confused look on her face, while Ritsuko looked more concerned than anything. "I can assure you she doesn't know about anything you mentioned."

Misato nodded, then pointed towards the door, "Then for her safety she should leave this room right now and pretend she was not here." Her face relayed the seriousness of the conversation she was wanting to have.

Maya looked at Ritsuko and seemed to plead with her to explain what was happening. Ritsuko could only close her eyes for a moment before speaking, "Maya, please go back to headquarters and say nothing about this." She opened her eyes and looked at her young apprentice and nodded.

Maya stood and left the room to the two women, not entirely sure what was going on.

Misato took a seat next to her friend and let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in. "You know, I always knew there was something funny about this organization, but I could never put my finger on it." she said after a moment. She turned to look at her friend "How long have you known?" she asked.

Ritsuko took another drag from her cigarette, "I've known about Rei since my mother took her own life. I've known about Lilith since the beginning, it was a focal point in the creation of the Eva's. As for the last question you asked about, I can only go with the information I was provided in that we are trying to stop Third Impact, which could possible wipe out the rest of the human race." 'Just what the hell is she going on about?' Ritsuko thought to herself.

Misato nodded, "What about the data you were going over? Does that make any sense?"

Ritsuko had to admit it didn't, she had pretty much said so a moment ago. "No, but that would mean the Magi are wrong, and the odds of tha…" She was cut short as Misato spoke up.

"What if I told you the Magi were part of a cover up that was designed to actually aid in the cause of Third Impact?" she asked, a serious expression on her face.

Ritsuko looked shocked, she had very rarely been rendered speechless by her friend, but this was one of the most profound moments. After a moment she spoke "Wait…. You mean…. You expect me to believe that everything has been a lie? To what purpose?" Ritsuko was now wondering if the Major wasn't actually still drunk from last night or something else.

"Think about it. Lilith was found in the Antarctic and triggered an event that wiped out a portion of humanity, then the Eva's were created as a clone of Lilith, but for what purpose? Why? What if someone had the knowledge and means to attempt to create Third Impact in a controlled setting, to get the result they wanted? What is the basis behind the belief that Third Impact would wipe out humanity? What would the Angels get from us being gone after all this time?" Misato asked, never wavering in her speech, nor looking away from her friend.

Ritusko still couldn't wrap her head around it, "Do you know what you're saying? Do you really understand what you are implying? You are saying that NERV was being used by a shadow organization to what? Bring around the end of the world? Who would want to do that? Why would they? What is to gain?" she took another drag from her cigarette before snuffing it out.

"What if I could show you proof that what I am saying is true? Would you believe with your own eyes, your own ears?" Misato asked as she turned to the terminal, as she started typing, she spoke softly, "Please Rits' I need to know you had no idea this was going on." She finished accessing the camera's Kaji had placed in the Seele meeting hall.

On the main screen of the lab there appeared a room that was completely dark except for a single column of light in the center. Standing in the middle was Shinji, Asuka and Rei, around them were several holographic monoliths labeled sound only with an odd emblem on them.

Kaji stood in the shadows of the meeting room, silently watching and waiting for the signals from Shinji. He had to grin to himself, his whole adult life to this point had been as a multiple sided agent just trying to bring down this shadow organization and here, he was, just moments away from seeing it all because of this kid. He was sure that by now Misato would have Ritsuko watching on the closed-circuit camera, hopefully swaying her to their side. He was sure she would, she didn't like having her strings pulled either.

Kaji continued to listen in and watch as he began to think back to the start of the current "act".

**The Previous Day**

Gendo was sitting in his office, having recovered and composed himself from his visit with his wife. He sat there thinking about what he had to do, and how his wife and berated him for his behavior. He glanced across the table to Shinji and Asuka, Kaji standing off to the side.

"Do you think this will work? You do realize what kind of people you are dealing with correct?" Gendo finally said.

Shinji and Asuka both nodded in unison, Shinji spoke up first, "We are well aware of who and what we are dealing with. Kaji already has the information he needs; we just need to put up a little bit of a smoke screen while his teams get into position." He turned towards Kaji, "However I do have a request for the German representative." As he spoke Kaji waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about him Shinji, you just say the word and he'll be the first one to be taken out." Kaji responded.

Gendo was still slightly surprised that his own son was able to get the information on the members of the clandestine organization that even Gendo himself could not obtain. After another moment he spoke up "Just what do you think this will accomplish?" he asked, some concern in his voice.

Shinji stared at him for a moment, then smiled and spoke "This will stop Third Impact. Seele is the only who truly wants Third Impact, but to do that they need Lilith. The only reason we fight the angels is because they want to take their… I guess you say it's their Mother, back from us. They don't wish to instigate Third Impact, never have." He leaned back in his chair, "Since we know when the next Angel is going to attack, we are going to move Lilith to the target location and stand back and let them have her."

Gendo just sat in silence and absorbed the information. He knew what his son said was correct, he also knew that with the information his wife provided things could be reversed and he could have the love of his life back. "Alright then, Kaji, how much time do you need to set this up?" he said looking to the former Seele spy.

Kaji pulled out his phone and punched a few numbers in, "Everything will be in place by this time tomorrow. See I have had my allies getting into position ever since I was given the locations by Shinji on the ship." He tucked his phone back into his pocket and smiled.

Gendo nodded, "Then I shall call for a meeting at this time tomorrow. If they ask for the reason, I will use the cover of having captured the last angel alive as our topic." He knew they would not care as it does not directly affect their plans, however he was under orders to report to them if anything unusual occurred.

***Present Time***

Kaji roused from his thinking just as Shinji was getting to his first signal.

"… Then there was the whole bit were agents were sent to terminate the Second Child while training in Germany." Shinji turned to stand face Monolith 3 straight on, "See, that annoyed me a lot not because I was worried about her, I knew she could handle herself perfectly. No, what annoyed me about it is you attempted to kill a child because you were afraid. That has to be one of the lowest things a snake like you could do. Which is why I take great pleasure in this." Shinji stood for a moment with a giant grin on his face and raised his hand dismissively.

Kaji punched the send button on his phone and a moment later Monolith 3 was a buzz with activity as explosions and small arms fire could be heard before the hologram flickered out of existence.

Shinji continued to smile as he turned back to face the rest of the organization. "As you just witnessed, things did not end well for Seele 3. Now before any of you start panicking and thinking you have to flee, let me just tell you this. It's already to late. Each and everyone of you is surrounded, and none of you will make it out of your locations alive this night. Your reign of terror and global control ends tonight. This so-called war with the angels will end, society will go forward and we will recover from your failed attempt at forced human evolution. With any luck, no one will ever think to cross this bridge again, and god help those that try." He stood in silence as the monoliths made either no sounds or shuffling as if pacing the rooms.

Asuka stepped up to stand beside him and grabbed his hand in hers, she gave a gentle squeeze and a smile as he looked at her. He nodded and smiled at her as he spoke, "Do it." was all he said.