Rebuild of Third Genesis

Chapter Seventeen

Dr. Gerry Cornelius was a man who possessed great power, but used it with care and subtlety. In the United Nations he was simply the British Ambassador, but he had also been the head of the UN's anti-SEELE forces.

(Which, he was perfectly willing to admit privately, he had failed at. Not only had he not fully grasped the scale of which SEELE had been acting, he had also failed at infiltrating NERV. His sole successful agent, Ryoji Kaji, was murdered by Gendo Ikari.)

No, in the aftermath of a aborted Third Impact, humanity was finally moving forward. The first children born since Second Impact had appeared, and the seas were gradually returning to normal. It was as if the battle with NERV and SEELE had ended something, closing one chapter and allowing another to begin.

'Of course, there are those who are refusing to move forward,' Gerry sighed mentally as he reviewed the reports. The survivor of SEELE in New Vegas had died, but took the entire city with him using a nuclear device. The United States itself had seized several NERV bases and appeared ready to experiment with S2 engines. And several SEELE holdouts were in Europe, spending money like water to keep themselves safe from mobs that wanted them dead.

There was good news from Japan, though. NERV appeared to be making progress in rebuilding the Evangelions, as well as rebuilding Tokyo-3. The city had been reconstructed to nearly ninety percent of it's former capacity. The Evangelions were a greater problem, with the biological technology behind them now crippled, but there was confidence at NERV that they would be running again.

With that, Gerry moved over to his desk and put a call through, waiting only a moment before it was picked up. Satoko Shinden's face on the monitor screen looked tired. "Sir, you forgot the time difference again," the green haired woman noted.

Gerry hid a smile. He actually hadn't forgot... a sleepy agent was more likely to reveal something than a wide awake one. "My apologies," he said smoothly, "I lost track of time."

Satoko gave him a look that implied the woman didn't quite buy that. "Of course," she deadpanned. Briskly she asked, "Did you get my report, sir?"

"I did," Gerry agreed, "I see you and Misato are getting along well. I am a bit concerned this may impact your working relationship."

Satoko met his eyes calmly, "You should have heard our last funding argument, sir."

Gerry snickered softly at that. "The request to build Evangelion cheaper?" he asked.

"That and my telling her we had no more money for the medical division," Satoko admitted. "Though honestly I think NERV is going to be running at a far lower budget than we initially expected," she added.

"You confirmed Gendo was padding his accounts?" Gerry asked.

"Quite a lot," Satoko agreed, "to fund his black projects. He would double or even tripple the costs of items to make funds available for other projects. I'd also suggest running through the books of the closed NERV branches he may have been generating funds there too."

"I'll put my people on it," Gerry agreed. Intently he asked, "How close are NERV to successfully reactivating a Evangelion?"

"Weeks, possibly months if something goes wrong," Satoko admitted. "I went to the engineering section and watched them growing the replacement parts... it's rather eerie to see, but from what I can see they nearly have a third of it done. According to Maya, the time consuming process will be encasing it in armor."

"Hmm," Gerry nodded. He wanted to ask her to expedite the process, but while she controlled the money for NERV, se didn't have that kind of direct authority.

Satoko picked up on something as she asked, "Is there a problem?"

Gerry made a face as he said, "Nothing yet, but I don't like what I'm hearing in Europe. There are surviving SEELE cells, and they may have exotic technology."

"Does Misato know about this yet?" Satoko asked curiously. When he shook his head no she continued, "I understand operation security, but keeping her in the dark means she can't actually assist the situation. And, frankly, we both know she isn't tangled up in the situation with SEELE."

"Agreed," Gerry conceded, "I'll make sure she gets the information."

They discussed several more matters then he let her go, noting she was probably going to go back to bed. As Gerry sat there he considered if Satoko was getting too close to the NERV staff... he might need to take out some insurance. Just in case.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Suema Kazuko smiled with some amusement as she washed the cut on Misato's head then carefully piked the grit out. "How did you manage that?" she asked curiously.

"Was bicycling," Misato admitted, "and took a header."

"No helmet?" Suema said disapprovingly.

Misato held up a hand, "I already got the lecture from Asuka, thanks. She's becoming the grown up of our little family."

Suema snickered at that. "Seriously, be careful," she said as she applied disinfectant, "I know you've been through a lot, but..."

Misato hissed in pain. "Isn't there a pain free version?" she complained.

"I save that for people who aren't idiots," Suema joked.

"That's it, you deffinately aren't getting the money for more tongue depressors," Misato grumbled good naturedly.

"Next time, I'm chilling any medical instruments I need to use on you," Suema mock threatened.

"You don't already?" Misato asked.

"Oooh, you're gonna get it for that," Suema laughed as she applied a adhesive bandage to the now cleaned wound.

The phone rang and Misato sighed as she pulled it out of her pocket "Excuse me," she sighed as she answered it, "Yes? Yes. I understand. Yes. I still think we should have a exception... yes. Right."

Suema watched with some amusement as Misato looked more and more harried as the phone conversation continued. Finally it finished as Suema asked, "Everything all right?"

Misato looked pained, "The Japanese government has decided that with the rebuilding of the city, it's time for the kids to go back to school."

"Asuka and Rei?" Suema guessed. "You were arguing they should get a special exemption, I suppose?"

"Yeah, but no luck," Misato made a face. "Just guarding the kids is going to be a pain, much less everything else."

Suema watched Misato get up as she noted, "Well, it might help with developing Rei's socialization, at least."

"There's that," Misato conceded, "I'd better get going. Thanks for the help."

"Just be more careful, please," Suema requested as Misato headed out.

Misato hurried out of the medical wing, only stopping in for a moment to check in on Shinji. He slept on, his face peaceful, and she wondered if the poor boy would ever awaken again. If not, she would do what had to be done. Being a complete coward Misato decided the simplest thing to do was phone Asuka and give her the news. The young lady's reaction was predictably.

Asuka cursed softly in German, then continued, "They can't be serious."

"Sorry," Misato said, "I think the Japanese government wants to show they have some control over NERV, so they're throwing this petty stuff at us."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to manage," Asuka admitted with a frown. "Who are they making attend school?"

"You, Rei, Mari and Mana," Misato said. Wryly she added, "I expect much yelling from Mari about it when I tell her."

"Good luck with that," Asuka agreed wryly. "Better meet with Satsuki too. Isn't she the one who's running our security teams?"

"Crap, you're right," Misato agreed, "I'll see her next."

"Try not to get home too late," Asuka added as she hung up.

'Definitely becoming our group mom,' Misato mused as she headed to the bridge. Satsuki, Kaede and Aoi were there, as expected, but Ritsuko was there as well, hunched over a terminal and frowning fiercely.

"Still having trouble with the Magi," Kaede explained as she nearly jumped to attention.

"Relax," Misato said, "as I keep telling you, I don't want military style formality."

"Sorry," Aoi looked amused.

"I need to borrow Satsuki for something," Misato smiled at the woman as she asked, "you free?"

"No, I'm very expensive," Satsuki winked. "Your office?" she asked.

"Yeah, please," Misato agreed as she led the slightly younger woman into her office just above the bridge. "Take a seat, I'm about to make your life immesurably harder," she waved Satsuki to a seat.

"Hit me," Satsuki said, bracing herself.

"I've pretty much been ordered to put the pilots back in school," Misato admitted, "security for that will drop in your lap."

Satsuki paused then relaxed a bit. "Not as bad as I expected," she admitted, then seemed to consider it a moment. "Scratch that," she mused, "it's going to be a mess."

"Oh?" Misato prompted. She had her own theory about why this was going to be a mess, but she wanted to hear Satsuki's opinion.

"Previously it was known around Tokyo-3 that the kids were pilots, but that was pretty much it," Satsuki said, "but with the leak of SEELE data, the whole world now knows. We can't even guess who might take a interest or what they'll do."

"Pretty much my thoughts," Misato agreed, "plus there's the fame seekers who might take a shot at the kids just to get their names in the papers."

"Ugh, yes," Satsuki made a face. "I'd like to assign agents to shadow the kids, as well as put some into the school itself," she said, "and what kind of budget do I get?"

"Same as previously," Misato admitted, "though if you need to, I'll try to squeeze some more out of the other departments."

"I'll develop a deployment plan with the agents," Satsuki promised, "and I think we can manage. If not, I'll yell."

"Fair enough," Misato agreed.

To be continued...