She quickly wrote out a list of people who did have such security clearance.
Makoto Hyuga, a 2nd Lt. and Bridge operator for NERV. Current duties were standard Bridge operation as well as assisting Katsuragi with tactics and operations. He was a bit of a push over, however.
Aoba Shigeru, a 2nd Lt. and the NERV Bridge Operator for the NERV command staff, handles communications mainly. While serious about his work, his all around personality was rather laid back in general. If Ranma were to stay with him, who would really be the Head of that household?
Maya Ibuki, another of the NERV Bridge Operators.
Ritsuko tapped her pen over that name for a moment as she thought about the girl. No, sending Ranma to live with her was a security threat in and of itself. The girl practically breathed logistics and information about the Evangelions and other classified projects.
She scratched that name off the list post haste.
Fuyutsu.. she quickly erased that from her list as well.
Hesitantly, and against her better judgment, she wrote the name of her friend down. Misato Katsuragi.
"What a list of choices." she sighed, grabbing her cup of Java and taking a sip to calm her nerves. She hated to admit it, but Fuyutsuki's idea to stick the boy with Katsuragi was their best bet. Makoto and Aoba just weren't reliable enough to care for a child, at least, not as reliable as Misato herself was, and that was really saying something if you considered the Captain's personal habits.
---
Ranma was bored, really, really bored. Three days. Three damn days he was stuck in a lab like a rat. Tests, tests, and more tests. He swore, if he heard that damn word one more time he'd snap. When he wasn't under the microscope, he was locked in his little 'cell'. Sure it wasn't a cell, just a simple room with a bed, facilities, and absolutely nothing to do but sleep, or hang yourself from the boredom. After three days of that, he had come to a decision.
Fuck this.
Slowly, carefully opening the door, he frowned at what the saw. The hallway was mostly empty, but there were two guards standing ramrod still on either side of the door that just begged to ruin his fun. Great. Just great. Man, and all he wanted to do was get out and take a walk! He was going nuts in here. He thought about it for a second, then shrugged as he opened the door and stepped out. "Heya!"
Both guards immediately turned to him, stepping in his way to bar his path, "You are not allowed to leave your room." one intoned, seriously.
"Ah.." Ranma rubbed the back of his neck, tiredly, "Come on guys. It's boring in there! Ain't nothin to do! And that weird guy on the TV keeps askin questions like 'What have ya discovered about the Evas' and all that mumbo jumbo!" he added that last part a bit nervously.
The guards blinked, deadpanning. "What."
"I'm serious! It's getting annoying!"
Both guards pushed passed the boy in a hurry as they entered the room. "Hey wait.." one guard stopped, "These rooms don't have TV's!"
"Suckers." they heard the boy chuckle darkly, before slamming the door shut and locking it from the outside.
Ranma whistled a cheerful little tune as he walked down the hall, taking a moment to deposit the clips he had 'lifted' off the guards, and out of their guns, as they passed by into the trash can. He could hear them banging on the door already, prolly figured out he took all their bullets.
---
Misato yawned tiredly as she entered her friends office. It had been a lazy three days for her, aside from reviewing combat reports and statistics concerning the battle with the first Angel, her days had been pretty tame. Running reports, conversing with other officers, dodging Makoto whenever he brought up the topic of the money she owed him for doing her laundry. All she wanted to do right now was grab her friend, pull her away from work, and go bar hopping. Honestly, Ritsuko really needed to get out more! All she did was work work work!
Ritsuko sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly. It was a tough choice in the end, but it basically came down to one deciding factor. Did she want to get stuck with Ranma Ikari as a room mate. It might not have been as bad as she was thinking, since she wasn't at home very often with all her work here, but she just didn't want to deal with the aggravation.
"Rit-su-ko!" Misato chirruped in her sing song voice.
'Speak of the Devil.' Ritsuko glanced back over her shoulder, leaning back in her chair. "Ah, Misato." she gave the woman a nod, grabbing a large folder from her desk and tossing it to the woman. "Good of you to come. I was suppose to give these to you this morning." she gazed at her lazily, "If you had bothered to show up, that is."
Misato sweated, nervously twiddling her thumbs. She didn't want to admit she got lost again today, her pride had taken a real beating the other day when Ranma had made fun of her about it. "Ah.. was busy.." he lamely defended herself. She spared the folder a look over, desperately trying to find a means to change the conversation, "What's this?"
"Ranma Ikari's physical, and psych evaluations along with his residency papers." Ritusko turned back to her desk, grabbing another report from one of the huge stacks occupying her desk.
Misato opened the folder and leafed through a few pages before blinking. "What's this?"
"What's what?"
"Race: Meta-human?" the captain sounded flabbergasted.
"Ah, yes." Ritsuko shrugged, "Ranma's what we call 'The Next Step In Human Evolution'. Through a twist of fate, luck, good breeding and what have you, he's far superior physically to normal men. He may be as well mentally, but he's not very learned, so we aren't too terribly sure about that."
Misato gawked at the information. "Amazing!"
"Yes he is." Ritsuko allowed, before snapping her fingers and making a play at just remembering something, "Misato, would you mind terribly doing me a favor? I'm so busy here, I just haven't had time to do it."
"What's that?"
"Could you take Ranma to his residency? He doesn't know his way about Tokyo-3, and could use a little help getting accustomed to the change in venire."
Misato blinked, looking up at Ritsuko, "Why can't the Commander do it? Aren't they living together?"
"They aren't living together." Ritsuko shrugged, "It's not unexpected. The Commander did abandon him three years ago, the two just don't get along." Hook.
"That's so sad." Misato sighed, shaking her head. "How's Ranma taking it?"
"He doesn't care." the doctor shrugged, "It's his way of getting through life, I suppose. Just push everything away so it doesn't hurt you." Line.
Misato blinked, digesting that information. It hit eerily close to home, far to close for her tastes. She had done that for years after Second Impact, reverting to a creature that completely rejected human contact so she couldn't be hurt again. It just wasn't worth it in the end, pushing everyone away so they couldn't hurt you. "Kind of sad, isn't it?"
"It's the way things go, Misato." she sighed a little, "Just take him there, make sure he knows where he can buy food and wash his clothes, and leave him be. He's a tough kid, he should be fine." And sinker.
Misato got a little glint in her eye as she closed the folder, a devilish little smirk growing on her face. "Hey.. Ritsuko.."
"Hmm?" she made a point of taking a sip of her coffee at that point.
"Why don't you let Ranma live with me?"
Ritsuko blinked, slowly moving back from her coffee as she looked at her friend as if she had grown a second head, "You can't be serious."
"Oh!" she stuck her tongue out at the doctor, "It can't be that big a deal!"
"Misato." The doctor sighed, tiredly, "You can barely take care of yourself, how can you ever expect to meet a child's needs?"
"You saying I can't take care of a kid like Ranma?" Misato scowled a bit.
"Now now." she waved her hands off to placate the girl, "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into her! Taking care of another human being isn't easy!"
"We'll see about that." Misato snapped, walking away as if she had a purpose.
"Misato!" Ritusko rolled her eyes, "Fine. If Ranma says yes, he can stay with you. Now are you satisfied?"
"Completely!" Misato chirruped, doing a little skip out of the office as she went. She'd show her she could take care of a kid like Ranma! Seriously, how hard could it be?
---
"Hey pop!" Ranma greeted cheerfully as he walked into the rather spacious office. He had gotten lost back there, really, really lost, and some how ended up in the big dog's office.
Gendo gazed blankly across the room, doing an amiable job of keeping the compulsive urge to twitch under control. "Ranma."
Fuyutsuki whipped out a cell phone and made a call. This was going to cost some one their job, you could bet your ass on that.
The Third Child strutted across the room, hands in his pocket, making a mental note of everything. "Nice place ya got here." he shot Gendo a glance, "So.. how's tha plans to take over tha world going?"
Gendo frowned, "Everything is on schedule." he had been tempted to snap at the boy, but wasn't about to appear frayed by his sudden appearance. "Why are you bothering me?"
"Eh." he shrugged, "Bored, felt like it. Take your pick."
Gendo raised an eyebrow curiously at that.
"Hey!' Ranma snapped his fingers, "Where's this dead sea scroll thing? Always wondered what it looked like."
Gendo twitched despite himself.
---
Let's Look Towards
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(Posted Sun, 02 Jan 2005 04:38)
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