Chapter 3 - Bickering Amongst Colleagues
9:05 A.M. March 30th, 2051.
Nerv HQ, Tokyo-3, Japan.
I barged through the doors of Nerv's Command Center, my clothes fluttering behind me. I was out of breath when I entered the massive room, having ran all the way from my car. It was apparent I had to rush to get to work on time, and even then I failed. The room was mostly empty. The only person there was Dr. Ritsuko Akagi, who was working on some miscellaneous notes I could not make out.
"You're late." Dr. Akagi declared, not bothering to turn her gaze away from her paperwork.
"Tell me something I don't know." I snorted at my colleague as I dusted myself off.
"You know, honestly, I have no idea what we're still doing here." Dr. Akagi blurted randomly.
"What do you mean by that, Ritsuko?" I asked.
"Well, the Angels have all been defeated, and that was our sole purpose here at Nerv. We were founded to create the Evangelions and stop the Angels. Now that we've done that, what are we still doing here?"
"Who cares? At least we still have a job."
"That's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about what Commander Ikari wishes to do with the Evangelions, now that their purpose has been met, or so it would seem. They have so much power―"
"Speaking of which," I interrupted, "where is the Commander?"
"He's off on another one of those conferences he seems to always be attending. God knows what the hell he does there."
"Did he bring Fuyutsuki with him?"
"Yes, he said that this time he had something very serious to discuss with the committee."
"Great, I guess that means he's left me in charge. Perfect…" I said sarcastically.
"He said he had faith in you, you should be proud. The Commander doesn't give compliments out often."
"That's true, but he knows I'm disorderly. He should at least give me some ideas of what I need to do. Before it was fairly obvious: run diagnostics, perform maintenance and repairs on the Evangelions, run through sync tests, hell, half the children aren't even here for the sync tests!"
"Does that mean that Shinji ran away again?"
"Yes, yes he did. I'm really getting sick of his attitude. I mean, I know he went through some tough times, but he needs to let go of that stuff. He can't drag himself and everyone he knows down with this crappy depression spree he always gets into after shit hits the fan!"
"Just give him some time. He'll get over it eventually; he always has before."
"Yeah, maybe you're right." I paused for a moment, "What about Asuka? Is she still in a coma?"
"She's getting better but yes, she is. Hopefully, at this rate of recovery, we'll have her back in less than a week."
"Do you think she'll be responsive?"
"Hard to say. She has a very strong personality."
"Do you think she'll ever get in the Eva again?"
"Perhaps, if we can get her confidence back. It'll take time, but I think it's possible."
"Well at least you have confidence… What of Rei?"
"She's doing fine. There was nothing wrong with her to begin with, not after Armisael."
"You mean after you cloned another one of her! She died that day, didn't she? You just went on and made another one of her as if she were an expendable robot, right?"
"You shouldn't be talking about classified information like that out in the open."
"Should I not, or is it that you don't want me to?"
"Both, now can we please move on to more pressing matters, Major Katsuragi?"
"Fine, but don't think I'll forget about this. We're going to have this conversation sooner or latter." I stated sternly, with a bit of anger in my tone.
"Whatever you say Major…" Dr. Akagi said sarcastically.
"So, is there really anything for me to do here?"
"Not really. I didn't really need you today."
"Great, this day just keeps getting better-and-better!" I said angrily, "Well, in that case, I'll go home and look for Shinji."
"Hold on. Now that I think about it, the Commander does have some papers that need to be filed. Could you do that?"
"Why can't you do that?"
"I would, but I have to go in a couple of minutes. I have to run the routine diagnostics and system checks on the Magi with Ibuki today."
"That's today?" I exclaimed, rather annoyed.
"Yes, those are today. I probably won't have time to finish the paperwork, and you know how cranky the Commander can get when his paperwork isn't done." Dr. Akagi replied, knowing that I had no choice but to agree.
"Fine, I'll do it. At least it'll give me something to do."
"When you find Shinji, we should do a sync test with him to make sure he hasn't lost any of his luster."
"You think he'll even get in the Entry Plug, let alone the Eva?"
"Hard to say. Maybe, but that'll be for you to figure out, not me. Remember, you are his guardian."
"I know, I know… just… let me concentrate." I said, frustrated and angered by Dr. Akagi's pestering.
"You were the one to bring it up." Dr. Akagi pointed out.
"Shut up, Ritsuko!" I irritatingly shouted.
"Whatever. If you need me, I'll be working on Caspar with Ibuki." Dr. Akagi stated as she moved over to the control panel and pressed a few keys. When she lifted her fingers, the three S.C. Magi Systems rose up from their containment units underneath the floors of the three sections of Nerv's Commander Center, exposing their tangled messes of brain-like circuitry. Dr. Akagi exited the main branch to meet First Lieutenant Maya Ibuki at the third branch to run tests on Caspar. I was left alone, irritated and forced to handle a lot of paperwork.
"This better not be more property damage complaints. I'm so sick of reading those!" I grumbled as I sat down at the desk and began shuffling through the many piles of papers I was tasked with organizing and attending to. As I rummaged through the stacks of papers, I accidentally toppled a few folders and sheets of paper off the desk.
"Goddammit! Why does the world always have to be against me?" I grumbled as I bent over to pick up the papers. I piled the strewn papers together on the floor in a disordered stack so I could pick them up all at once. I put them back on the desk, and that was when I realized that one of the folders I had knocked over was Shinji's portfolio.
"Dammit, Shinji, where could you be?"