Rebuild of Third Genesis

Seven

A new day dawned in Tokyo-3, and with it more work to do. Misato Katsuragi left Asuka snoring on the couch, the redhead sprawled there under a light sheet. They planned to go shopping for a bed today, to replace the one destroyed in the attack on the city, but it would have to wait until Misato got off shift. It didn't help that there was a lot on Misato's plate right now, too.

In the aftermath of Third Impact, the usefulness of NERV was in question by the United Nations. A perfectly understandable reaction, considering that the whole organization of NERV was founded by a secret conspiracy and that saving the Earth had only been it's second objective. Incredible amounts of money and resources had been wasted, at least in the eyes of the world, and they were demanding steps be taken.

By UN order the majority of NERV branches were closing down, the staff either let go or, if Misato wanted, offered positions at Tokyo-3. Misato had hoped to recruit senior staff from other NERV branches, but a depressing number had disappeared after Third Impact. No one knew if they were willing collaborators with SEELE or simply criminals in other areas, but they had dropped out of sight and no one seemed able to find them.

Worse, many NERV employees no longer wanted to be involved with the organization. During Third Impact everyone at the NERV bases all around the world were reduced to LCL and experienced something like a group mind. Their secrets were stripped bare, their innermost selves revealed to the people they worked with everyday. Some people emerged from that more... centered, purified in a way. But many others couldn't cope and ran away as fast as possible.

'I wonder which one Asuka will be?' Misato wondered as she reviewed files on her desk. 'She was pretty rocky when she awoke, but not so much now.'

Making the overall situation even more complicated, the President of the United States had seized the two NERV facilities there. Both NERV-Boston and what was left of NERV-Nevada were now under US control, presumably because the States wanted to continue experimentation with the S2 engine, a copy of the Angel's S2 organ.

Misato knew the mass production Evangelions had had functioning S2 engines so she supposed it was possible to master the technology, but she had her doubts. As far as anyone could tell the secret of controlling the S2 had died with SEELE, and rebuilding that technology would probably involve a lot of disasters like the S2 engine test that destroyed Area 51.

Shaking her head Misato turned to the resume's on her desk. Staff from NERV-Bethany, NERV-Berlin and NERV-Beijing were transferring in to replace staff lost in the resignations and deaths before and during Third Impact, and she was stuck vetting some of them.

'Thank goodness I dumped the science people on Ritsuko and Maya,' Misato mused as she started digging through the piles, 'but there are still too damn many to go through.'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The old United Nations building was underwater, now, but still visible from the city of New York-2, built atop the sunken towers of the original city. It was a marvel of engineering and a symbol of defiance, of how the people refused to abandon the flooded island and instead rose above the waters.

'But is it admirable?' the old man thought as he gazed out the window at the sunken towers out in the bay, 'Or just stubborn?'

Dr. Gerry Cornelius was not the most powerful man at the UN, in fact to most people he was a unknown. However the Englishman had been a very well connected and knowledgeable man in the UN, and had been one of the first to suspect something was going on. Sadly even he hadn't realized how bad it all was, and his agents had paid the price.

A soft knock on the door jarred Gerry out of his dark thoughts and he turned towards the door as he walked over to sit behind his desk, then he called out, "Enter!"

Satoko Shinden nodded respectfully as the green haired Japanese woman entered, closing the door behind her as she walked to the desk and waited. Dressed in a fine business suit she projected the image of a strong, capable woman. In the aftermath of Third Impact she had managed the chaos as the UN's representative along side Katsuragi.

"Miss Shinden, welcome back from Japan," Gerry said respectfully, "I'm sorry to pull you away from the recovery effort."

"No problem sir," Satoko answered calmly, "I'm sure you had good reason to."

There was a certain degree of bite in the last bit, and it made Gerry smile. It was rare that anyone had the nerve to get snippy with him. "That's part of why I asked you here," he acknowledged, "what's the situation in Tokyo-3?"

"Difficult," Satoko answered, "we're just getting services back up over the city, and NERV staff have been fleeing like rats from a sinking ship."

"That bad?" Gerry asked, surprised.

"There were people who did things for Gendo Ikari that were...," Satoko paused, "if not illegal, were at least morally reprehensible. Many of them have chosen to take early retirement or otherwise take their leave."

"Kozo Fuyutsuki?" Gerry wondered.

"He was one of the first to go," Satoko nodded agreement. She smiled grimly, "Misato has been able to lure some staff back, and I understand she is combing through the staffs of other NERV branches for people too."

"Hmm," Gerry nodded as he studied her a moment. She seemed confident and intelligent, just as he'd been told, but he had wanted to see her before he made up his mind. So far, she looked perfect for the job. "You've been keeping an eye on NERV as you assisted with rebuilding." he noted.

"Tokyo-3 is now laid out around the NERV Pyramid. I almost have to keep an eye on them," Satoko told him wryly.

Gerry nodded in agreement as he asked her, "How would you like to keep an eye on them in a more official role?"

"Oh?" Satoko looked curious.

"As much of NERV's funding comes from the United Nations," Gerry told her, "we have decided to keep a closer eye on how that money is used. A liaison officer will be appointed to watch NERV, monitor what they're doing and if needed stomp on them to stop."

"I'd be honored sir," Satoko answered stiffly, "but... are you sure I would be appointed?"

:I'm owed a number of favors, young lady," Gerry smiled as he said, "I feel very certain you'll have the job."

"Sir!" Satoko nodded before she was dismissed.

'Yes, I think this will work out well,' Gerry thought as he got up from his desk and walked back to the window, 'Along with my other precautions.'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Satsuki Ooi was acting head of NERV-Berlin, a rather large jump in rank from being a mild mannered technician. The tall woman with long brown hair had started out as a simple researcher, and had risen in rank to study the notes of Kyoko Zeppelin Soryu, trying to extract useful technology from the disjointed diaries both before and after her breakdown.

Like everyone else in NERV-Berlin she had been caught up in Third impact, reduced to a puddle of LCL by the image of a woman she had admired. She had found herself dwelling in the group mind for a unknown period of time, before gradually pulling herself free. While part of that joining she had bonded with her friends in a new, deep way. And became aware of the horrors that NERV carried out from others.

'Like our former commander,' Satsuki thought grimly.

The man had resigned not long after her regained consciousness, along with the entire command staff. In a teleconference with acting Commander Katsuragi she had been promoted to Commander of NERV-Berlin, though Misato had also apologetically told her NERV-Berlin was likely to be shut down. However she also had quickly offered Satsuki a position at Tokyo-3.

'I think I'll take her up on it too,' Satsuki mused as the elevator reached a subbasement deep beneath Berlin. This wasn't on any official map, the only reason Satsuki knew about it was studying a power use map and noticing the anomaly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Aoi Mogami asked, the black haired young woman following her out into the hallway and clicking the flashlight on.

"No, but when has that ever stopped us?" Satsuki asked, smiling.

Aoi smiled back wryly, the smaller woman pushing up her glasses as they looked around. They had both been lab technicians at NERV-Berlin, as well as becoming good friends off duty. Aoi and her had drank together, Kareoke'd together, gotten sick together and generally became best friends in the three years they'd worked here.

"Which way?" Aoi asked, shining the flashlight around.

"There, I think," Satsuki pointed with her own light down a deep, dark tunnel.

"Of course it would be there," Aoi sighed as they headed off. She looked around as they walked, "Awfully clean down here. They must have let cleaning staff in here."

"Or cleaning robots," Satsuki suggested as they walked.

"No robots," Aoi shook her head no.

"Why not?" Satsuki had to ask.

"NERV is too cheap to special build a class of cleaning robots," Aoi pointed out reasonably as they walked along the dark hall.

Satsuki laughed, "You are so right."

They reached the end of the hallway, where a large, unmarked door awaited them, a keypad glowing slightly in the darkness. The door simply bore the stylized leaf of the NERV emblem, with no other text or symbols.

"Any idea what we're dealing with here?" Aoi asked as she unclipped the gun at her side, just in case she needed it.

"Not much," Satsuki said as she used a number off a note to unlock the keypad, "whatever is behind here is Project Valkyrie, and was budgeted under the Dummy Plug project."

"The plan to use Rei clones as pilots?" Aoi blinked.

"That's the one," Satsuki agreed as they walked inside, looking around the dimly lit lab. The section they were in was dark, but there was a source of light ahead of them behind a corner.

"Creepy," her companion noted as they advanced, Aoi staying near her side. They went around the corner then froze, both women staring wide eyed.

"Is that...," Satsuki blinked, taking in the familiar looking girls floating in tanks of LCL.

"I think so," Aoi answered weakly, studying the girls with a faintly shocked expression, "I think they're Asuka."

To be continued...