Misato looked up in surprise as Himiko entered her office, her black hair falling into her eyes. "Yes?" the commander of NERV asked her, trying rather weakly to sort the papers on her desk into some kind of order. "There's been an emergency call from the hospital," Himiko Yamato's ash gray hair fell into her eyes as she reported breathlessly, "Shinji Ikari is awake." Misato looked at her blankly a moment then was out of her desk like a shot. "You're with me," she barked as she grabbed her red jacket and lead the way out of the office and down the hallway, "let's go." "But someone has to be here to watch the office," Himiko followed, her casual blue dress matching the color of her eyes. "I need someone on the phone while I drive," Misato said as the elevator descended, letting them out in the underground parking. "Here," she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and smoothly handed it to Himiko. "Yes, ma'am," Himiko gave in, seeing that Misato was quite determined. The doors to the little red sportscar popped open automatically as they neared and they climbed in. With a squeal of tires Misato was off, the car swiftly emerging into daylight. "Get Ritsuko and Maya first," Misato ordered as she raced them through the streets of Tokyo-3, "tell them to meet us at the hospital. If there's anything odd going on, Ritsuko is going to be needed to find out why." "Already dialing," Himiko nodded, "should I yank Rei and Asuka out of school?" Whipping them around a corner so sharply that Himiko squeaked in alarm Misato said, "No, it's not an emergency yet, and I want to see what shape Shinji is before they see him." "Ma'am." Himiko reached Ritsuko as the car hit a bump, "Shinji Ikari has awakened, Misato and I are already en-route and she want you to meet us there." "Got it," Ritsuko answered crisply, "any news on him mental state?" "The doctor said he was acting strangely," Himiko said for both Ritsuko and Misato's benefit, "but other than that..." "All right," Ritsuko said, "I'll grab Maya and meet you there." 'I wonder how she'll grab her?' Misato thought with a little smirk as she dangerously whipped the car around a corner. "Eep!" Himiko held on to the dashboard for dear life as they ran another red light,. sending other cars squealing aside dangerously. "Ah ha!" Misato gunned the car one more time before yanking the wheel and skidding to a stop in one of the hospital parking spaces. She sprung out onto the pavement only to look back once she realized Himiko wasn't moving, "What's wrong?" Carefully Himiko pried her fingers from the car as she sighed, "Give me a moment to catch my breath, boss," "Wuss," Misato chuckled as they strode inside. They hit the elevator and rose it upstairs, Misato tapping her booted foot impatiently as they hurried. The hallways were mostly clear as they ran towards the suite, Ritsuko and Maya hurrying up the other hallway to meet them there. A young doctor stood there nervously by the door, his brown hair messy and his lab coat slightly askew. "Ma'am," he saluted nervously. "What's the situation?" Misato demanded, looking every inch the commander as they nearly surrounded the man. "Uhm," he looked vaguely uncomfortable, tugging at his tie nervously. A deep breath and he said, "You might want to go in, it would be simpler than trying to explain." Ritsuko frowned, "Don't play games with us, young man...." Misato stopped her with a wave of her hand, a similar frown on her face. "All right," she said to him crisply, "but this better be good." She pushed the door open, leading into a quite normal looking hospital room. The white window curtains blew gently in the breeze, bright morning sunlight streaming in to light up the figure who was sitting up there on the bed. Shinji Ikari’s dark hair was messy and his eyes were round with alarm. He looked up as they came in, his chin coming up confidently as he studied the four of them intently. 'He doesn't seem to recognize us at all,' Misato thought worriedly as she studied the boy, 'does he have some kind of amnesia?' "I thought that I asked for the commander of NERV," Shinji finally said to them coldly, "so where is Gendo Ikari?" Misato thought about softening the blow a bit but decided against it. "Gendo Ikari is dead," she said, "my name is Misato Katsuragi, and I'm the head of NERV." It took Shinji a moment to digest that piece of information before quietly saying, "Then I'm sorry, ma'am." He looked up at them with a wry smile as he said, "My name is Yui Ikari, and I think I really need your help." "Yui Ikari?" Maya echoed weakly while the others looked on in surprise. Not long after they were holding a hasty meeting outside of the hospital room while the patient was being given a lunch that was mostly made up of mushed food. "So what do you all think?" Misato asked, hands shoved in her jacket pockets. "If it is a delusion it's a remarkably consistent one," Ritsuko answered her, "the information I could quiz him on all matched up." "It was a bit eerie when he finally recognized me as Dr. Katsuragi's daughter," Misato murmured to herself softly. "Is it possible..." Himiko started tentatively. "We think that Gendo intended to shift Yui's consciousness out of the EVA-01 and into the human Rei Ayanami clone," Ritsuko admitted, "it could be that he missed." "That's one hell of a miss," Maya muttered. "It would explain why Rei thought that Shinji was in EVA-01," Misato shook her head, "along with the Rei consciousness." "We need to get anyone who knew Yui previously in here, especially Prof. Fuyutsuki," Ritsuko said thoughtfully, "it may be the only way to confirm her identity." "Assuming he IS Yui," Himiko said a bit nervously, "what do we do about it?" "Good question," Misato sighed. "I'd better start digging through Gendo's encrypted files," Ritsuko said to herself grimly, "maybe he has more details there." "Maybe under 'Human Instrumentality Project' files," Maya offered, "from what I've found in the accounting data he put a lot of project money in there." "Do that," Misato nodded firmly. There was the sound of running footsteps in the hallway and they saw Rei and Asuka hurrying down the hallway towards them. Both young women were still in their school uniforms, Asuka looking tough in her boy's costume while Rei's skirt swirled around her legs. "Someone at headquarters said that Shinji was awake?" Asuka asked, her long orange hair falling around her face. "Why weren't we called out from school?" "Is Shinji all right?" Rei asked, the blue haired young woman looking at them in concern. "It's a bit more complicated than that," Misato said wryly, "and as it wasn't an emergency, I thought we should hold off on getting you out of classes." "Shinji either believes he's Yui Ikari," Ritsuko explained to them simply, "or he's been possessed by Yui's consciousness, depending on how you look at it." "Damn," Asuka blinked.
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