Rebuild of Third Genesis

Misato Katsuragi really wasn't sure about this, as she stood in a doorway in NERV's medical wing. The place had been set up as a extended care facility, with the right kind of bed, monitors and a expanded bathroom for bathing the subject. In the new bed covered by crisp sheets was the comatose form of Shinji Ikari, why looked both peaceful and oddly fragile in the bed.

"I'm still not a hundred percent sure we should be moving him here," Satoko Shinden echoed Misato's thoughts, the official representative of the United Nations looking at the boy uncomfortably. She had never met the boy, just read his files, and it was a bit strange seeing the legendary Angel killer as just a ordinary boy.

"After a former NERV staffer broke into the hospital and tried to sufforcate him, I don't think we had much choice," Misato sighed.

She really should have anticipated it happening, Misato knew. In the aftermath of the attempted Third Impact, news had leaked about NERV and what it had done, but also about it's pilots. To say that there were mixed feelings about the kids who had fought to save the world was a understatement. There were even some whack jobs who had decided we should have let the Angels win.

And, sadly, there were officers at Tokyo-3's NERV and other branches who suffered varying levels of psychological damage. The reduction of their bodies to pure LCL and the strange group mind everyone experienced was something that touched everyone differently. Many people benefited, becoming more stable and centered. But at least a few couldn't cope with the experience.

"Did you know who it was?" Satoko asked curiously.

"No, not really," Misato admitted. "She was a worker in the Evangelion cages. I knew her to look at, but..."

"Hmm," Satoko nodded, understanding what she meant.

Doctor Suema Kazuko made her way up the hall, her long black hair flowing down her back in a pony tail. "Checking in on our new resident?" she asked them, looking rather tired. She had already been rushing around getting the medical check ups done for all the new arrivals, and now this was dropped on her lap.

"Sorry about this," Misato said apologetically.

"Well, I knew the job was going to be interesting when I took it," Suema shrugged eloquently. She nodded towards the room, "I should note that I am not a extended care professional. We're going to need to bring in a specialist nurse, at least."

Satoko nodded, "I don't think that will be a issue."

"Good," Suema nodded. She looked at Misato curiously, "I know it's indelicate to ask, but who has power of attorney for Shinji?"

Misato looked at her curiously, "I do, actually. Gendo made me Shinji's guardian in his will, god knows why."

"Hmm," Suema hesitated. She wasn't sure if there was a tactful way to bring this up, then just decided to go for it. "Are you certain you want to keep him on life support?" she asked calmly. "I've checked his medical records, there is no upper brain activity registering," she said.

Misato nodded slightly as she conceded, "I know, but... I did some reading. There are cases when people can come back from this sort of thing."

Suema silently wished people would not watch too many medical dramas, while some cases do recover, the usual patients did not awaken. Still, she couldn't blame Misato for wanting to hold onto hope, even if it was unreasonable. "Well, we can keep him comfortable," she said, "but..."

"I understand," Misato sighed.

Satoko was a bit surprised to see such a tender side to Misato, though she supposed she shouldn't have been that surprised. She had taken care of Shinji and Asuka for months, after all. Still, she seemed all business on the job, remarkably so. It was... kind of impressive really.

Changing the subject a bit Satoko asked, "Do you think we'll need to put a guard on him too? I hadn't considered how people might feel about him."

"I don't think so," Misato mused as she looked at Suema, "we finished psychological profiles on NERV staff, right? So I don't think anyone here would...?"

Suema made a face, "Well, yes and no. We put the current staff through a screening process, but it doesn't mean someone isn't unstable." She grimaced, "God, the usual personality type we get at NERV is at least a little obsessive, solitary..."

"Oh, that's comforting," Satoko muttered, "I'm surrounded by potential nut-jobs."

"I resemble that remark," Misato chided. She shrugged slightly, "I think we should be fine. I ordered the Magi to constantly scan the area, so we'll know if someone unauthorized breaks in."

"Other than my staff," Suema added. "I don't want a alarm going on if I go in."

"I don't see there being any problems," Misato reassured her.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Meanwhile, Ritsuko was attempting to determine what was possibly wrong with the base's three Magi computers. The intense blond in a lab coat and NERV jumpsuit was intimidating both Mana and Aoi, despite their technically being her superior. The black haired Aoi was covertly monitoring progress on a seperate tablet computer, and was astonished at how fast Ritsuko was typing in code.

Mana watched the numbers and letters fly by, barely keeping track of what the other woman was doing. She had thought she was a good programmer, but this was a whole different level. Even stranger it wasn't the sort of code she had used back in NERV Berlin, instead it seemed some kind of hyper efficient shorthand customised to this system.

"Looks like you were right," Ritsuko admitted, frowning as she studied the monitor. "There is a large amount of data transfer going on between the three Magi. It's that which is causing the lag you noticed."

Aoi felt decidedly stupid, not realizing the lag was actually just a symptom of the other problem. Still, at least they had spotted it. Loyally she said, "It was Mana who spotted it, actually."

"Well done," Ritsuko gave the young woman a absent minded nod as she opened up files and dug into the system.

Mana blushed in pleasure, watching Ritsuko work intently. The older woman was one of her idols, and if she was single she could easily imagine asking her out. Sadly, she was taken, or at least that was what the grapevine said. "So," Mana mustered her courage to ask, "do you know why the Magi are communicating so much?"

"Not a clue," Ritsuko admitted, nearly making Aoi drop her tablet.

"What?" Aoi asked, surprised.

Ritsuko paused her work and stretched tiredly. "I hate to burst your bubble, but my mother was the expert on the Magi," she admitted, "I'm mostly just doing my best to decipher her notes and figure out what she did."

"Oh," Mana said, blinking.

"Is the Tokyo Magi really so different?" Aoi had to ask.

"Very much so," Ritsuko said, "my mother was in full on 'Mad Scientist Mode' when she built them. The Magi in other cities are the tame version."

"That's not very comforting," Mana said as she watched Ritsuko type.

"It's not meant to be," Ritsuko shrugged. She sat back, frowning, "It's like the three Magi are functioning like a single brain... but that makes no sense."

"Id, Ego and Superego?" Aoi ventured.

"More like Scientist, Mother and Woman. My mother had issues," Ritsuko noted. She looked thoughtful, "If the three personality components could integrate somehow..."

"Is that even possible?" Mana asked nervously, imagining scenarios from various science fiction films where robots ran wild.

"Well, I guess we'll have to find out," Ritsuko said. She sighed, "I'm gonna have to pull Maya in to help me with the programming."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Rei Ayanami was watching curiously as people walked down the road outside of the apartment building they lived in. The blue-ish haired girl liked people watching, in between practicing piloting the Evangelion and spending time with Asuka. She didn't really understand people, yet, which was one reason she found them fascinating.

Take the group of teens she was watching. There were three of them, two girls and a boy, and they were showing what a nature program might call 'pack dynamics.' The two girls were each trying to get the boy's attention, either by conversation by the more studious one, or sexual attraction from the taller, bustier one.

The mousy girl seemed to be very possessive of the boy, and glared antagonistically at the other girl. The sexy woman seemed rather un-bothered by the glare, and instead seemed to enjoy ramping up her charms to befuddle the boy. Which, of course, irritated the other girl and resulted in her acting waspish to the other two.

Rei wondered why the one girl didn't suggest just sharing the boy? It would resolve the difficulty, and would be more efficient too. Or was this one of those social things Asuka was trying to explain to her?

As the three moved out of sight Rei saw Mari Illustrious Makinami getting off the commuter bus running to NERV and frowned slightly. Rei didn't think she liked Mari, though it was difficult for her to state why. Yes, Mari had placed a unwelcome hand on her body in the showers, but Asuka had dealt with that quite efficiently.

(Rei had been so startled by Mari grabbing her breast that she had just froze. And frankly, she didn't have much experience with such things anyway. Thankfully she didn't have to DO anything, as Asuka practically teleported across the shower and slugged Mari one sending her staggering against the wall. As Asuka practically ordered Mari to leave Rei alone, she had been surprised at how nice it had felt, being protected.)

What bothered Rei about Mari, she thought, was the unconscious arrogance of the girl. Maybe it was because she was a pilot, maybe it was a cultural thing, but Mari seemed to expect things to just come to her if she wanted them. Yes, she was a terrific pilot and practiced quite hard, but because of being a pilot she seemed to think other things should come to her too.

Rei pushed away from the balcony, deciding now wasn't the time to worry about it. She was home while Asuka and Misato was out, so she decided to try some cleaning. With the sort of messes Misato left it couldn't hurt, and she wanted to contribute.

About half an hour later Rei heard Asuka and Misato talking out in the hallway. "So let me get this straight, you have a DATE?" Asuka demanded.

"It's not a date, it's business," Misato shot back, "Satoko and I are just going out for a few drinks to talk about the UN funding we can expect."

"Sure it is," Asuka snickered, "I think Satoko is becoming a friend at least."

"Well, I am friendly," Misato said.

Rei smiled as the two walked into the living room, "Welcome home."

"Huh?" Misato blinked.

Asuka opened her mouth, then paused. Finally she asked, "Where did you get the apron, and why aren't you wearing anything under it?"

To be continued...

Notes: Wanted to get into Rei's head a bit. Because she really isn't all that well socialized, her conclusions are a bit unusual.

Shinji being attacked occurred to me when I realized I had revealed the secrets of NERV in earlier chapters. If people knew who Shinji was, why wouldn't at least some crazies decide to go after him for various reasons?