Evangelion: Time of new Hymns

by Blockio

My personal, less dark, take on Evangelion, mixing the TV series with elements of the Rebuild movies, the manga as well as other canons. Later chapters may still contain sensitive subjects such as violence, trauma or death.

2. Chapter 2

Second Chapter: The aftermath of Contact

"Oh, this is bad... I visit a colloquium for the first time in months, and the first thing I am greeted with is a massive wound right across Zerogoki" Doctor Ritsuko Akagi, head scientist of NERV, took off her diving mask as she grabbed the ladder leading out of the pool of LCL filling cage 11. "How bad is it, senpai?" First lieutnant Ibuki was at the edge of her seat, as Dr. Akagi climbed out of the pool. "Hello, Maya. It's nothing unfixable... but it will cost quite a bit of money, the chest plate and a few helmet plates are totaled, on top of fourth degree burns and a cut across the pectoralis major. How about the nerve pulses?" Dr. Akagi put down the heavy oxygen bottle on her back, as she reached for a towel. "Mostly minor deviations, well within tolerance, but there are three peaks that we should take a closer look at" After she had taken off everything besides her swimsuit, Dr. Akagi sat down next to first lieutnant Ibuki to take a closer look at the readings from the quick test run after Unit 00 returned from its first combat deployment.
Across the orange lake, a group of technicians were busy taking off the burnt plate covering the haed of Unit 00, revealing its beige skin. Suddenly, Dr. Akagi's phone rang. "Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv bioengineer?" Dr. Akagi stood up and began walking towards the thin catwalk to the other side of the cage. "Give me a couple of minutes, Maya... one of the techs said, there was something that I hould take a closer look at. Can you do me a favor and compare the last readings to those created after the first combat simulation? This might help in finding the reason of these peaks" Despite having seen the mask of the Evangelions countless times, Ritsuko Akagi couldn't help but experience a feeling of awe every time she looked at the monolithic creature towering above everything else in the hangar, looking like it was silently condemning everyone who walked in front of its giant, red visor.
Waves were crashing against the walls of cage 11, as two cargo cranes were lifting the molten remains of the Evangelion's chest plate out of the LCL. Dr. Akagi stopped for a few seconds to take a look at the damage to the inner surface of the plate, hoping that the plating had some effect in protecting against the beam fired at it. When she arrived at the other side of the cage, one of the technicians led her to a fragment of the helmet, that had already been taken off. "Doctor, from my understanding, the metal was supposed to melt, without carbonizing." Indeed, a big part of the armor plate's inside was charred, while on the outside of the armor plate, there was no such reaction. "This is an interesting phenomenon" Dr. Akagi replied "may I ask, where this plate was located?" The technician replied, that the plate used to be located in the mid-section of the helmet, about where the right ear would be on a human. "Oh, I see how it is... underneath this section, there were optical instruments to decrease the distortion while aiming a rifle. It appears, that the circuits of said instruments vaporized when the Unit was hit by the angel's attack. Is there anything else I should take a look at, while I am here?" When the technician denied this, she started heading back to the other side of the cage, where first lieutnant Ibuki was eagerly comparing the readings of not just the first, but all combat trainings with previously unknown variables. "Ritsuko-senpai, I also got some of the other major combat tests as comparison values... there seem to be similarities in some readings, but others appear to have no method to them." Smiling at the enthusiasm of the young lieutnant, Dr. Akagi took a seat next to Ibuki. "Good work, Maya... especially the third test has virtually the same readings for #135/44... I am fairly certain that we can safely link this reading to Zerogoki's fighting instinct, its equivalent to adrenaline, if you will... however, I am not so sure about the second and third peak" "I have one idea as to what it might be, senpai, but I haven't been able to check it yet." With that, she pulled up another chart of a previous test "Look here, senpai... those peaks might be the Eva's reaction to pain... the nerve areas are from the head and chest" Dr. Akagi took a second to adjust her glasses before taking a look at the charts on the screen. "Yes, yes... that might be it... if this is true, it would also explain the spike at #264/81 in Test 14/11/8-" Dr. Akagi's phone rang again. "Ritsuko Akagi, Nerv bioengineer?" "Doctor..." it was commander Ikari "push the evaluations back a bit and focus on fixing up the Evangelion. As soon as the armor is repaired, we will be running a synchronisation test." With that, he hung up. "...understood. Maya, we will have to save those things for later, Zerogoki has to be ready for a full-scale synch test as soon as possible. Now where is Takao when you need him...?"
NERV's chief weapon engineer was on the other side of the orange pool giving instructions to the removal of shoulder plates to a group of technicians, as he saw the doctor heading towards him. "Akagi, what's the matter?" he asked in his usual, cordial voice. "It's probably not news to you, but we need to get Zerogoki fixed up sooner rather than later, the commander wants to run a - presumably extensive - test on the Eva and Rei, and we better have it complete by then." "Alright," he spoke to his men, "you have heard her - Fukui, Himura, get going to bridge 2 and help change the rest of the helmet plates, all others back to your positions!" The two engineers he tasked with helping on the helmet rushed off tomads the grid bridge leading to crane 2, as the rest of the workers returned to where they came from before the short briefing.
With the technicians taken care of, Koji Takao turned around to Dr. Akagi. The two could not look any more different - the doctor in nothing but a one-piece swimsuit and a lab coat with her hair still wet from her dive in the LCL next to the bald, slightly bulbous engineer with his oil-stained uniform sleeves. "Huh, a synch test... you'd think Rei has proven that she can pilot this thing in battle" he pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the Evangelion, of which's helmet only the visor was still attached. "I don't think the test is supposed to test Rei's skills in piloting... I think it is supposed to test what effect confrontation with an angel has on the synch rate between Rei and Zerogoki." After a brief moment of stroking his beard and brooding over the issue, Takao shrugged. "I don't even understand what is going on in the head of my wife... I'll leave those thing to you, Akagi."

As Rei was walking back into the changing room, she saw commander Ikari waiting outside of it. "Rei." He wore his usual dark blue jacket and reflecting sunglasses. "You did a good job against the angel." Rei nodded briefly. "We will run a synchronisation test on you and Unit 00 as soon as it is out of the repair bay - it is best to not change, you will need to be ready immediately." Rei replied in her seemingly emotionless voice, before heading back into cage 11: "Yes, commander Ikari."

"Connect main power supply!" The voice of Dr. Akagi was clearly audible over the noise in the control bridge. The response of first lieutnant Ibuki followed at hand: "Main power supply connected, activation of subsystems in progress!" Second lieutnant Aoi Mogami followed up with the next step on the checklist: "Voltage increasing, 0.8 to critical... 0.5... 0.3... 0.2... rising!" After a quick look at commander Ikari, who was sitting in the back of the room filled to the brim with devices to monitor the activity of the Evangelion in the cage beneath the screen of bulletproof glass, Dr. Akagi gave orders to move on to the next step of the activation process: "Initiate second phase of activation!" A few tense seconds of staring at the readings of the Evangelion later, first lieutnant Aoba finally announced what everyone was waiting for: "The pilot has commenced joining, initial contact was successful." After a brief sigh of relief, Dr. Akagi ordered the second phase systems to be connected to the main circuit. The previously low mind activity of Unit 00 suddenly skyrocketed, as first lieutnant Aoba announced the system connection to be successful. "Power has been transmitted to the brachial muscles of both arms, nerve link readings are well within boundaries - clear for third stage", second lieutnant Mogami confirmed. "Initiate final connection!" Responding to Dr. Akagi's words, first lieutnant Ibuki read out the readings on her screen: "Satisfied up to point 2580, approaching absolute Borderline! 0.9... 0.8... 0.6... 0.3.. 0.1... borderline breached!" The second she spoke the last word, a deep growl combined with the scound of tearing steel filled the bridge. "The pulses are beginning to flow backwards!2 Ibuki yelled, as Unit 00 began freeing itself from the locks holding it in place. "Problems encountered on the third stage! Nerve center elements are rejecting the-" Aoba was interrupted by Dr. Akagi. "Stop contact! Break circuits 1 through 6 and start over!" "Negative", Ibuki responded, "the signal is not being recieved!" Meanwhile, the Evangelion had freed itself from its restraints and began violently punching the walls of the test cage. "Unit 00," lieutnant Ibuki was on the verge of panicking, "has gone out of control!" "Abort the experiment immediately! Shut off Unit 00's power supply!" Commander Ikari's usually composed manner was replaced with unmistakable concern. "Yes, sir!" Dr. Akagi replied, as she smashed the glass of the emergency shutdown switch and pulled the handle. With a loud bang, the power cord broke away from the Evangelion, followed by the hiss of the two thruster rockets to lessen the impact just before hitting the ground. "Unit 00's power supply has switched to standby, 38 seconds of active time remaining!", Mogami yelled, as the Evangelion began punching the screen of bulletproof glass seperating the brige from the cage. "Step back, commander! It's too dangerous!" Dr. Akagi shouted, as she grabbed commander Ikari by the arm and pulled him away from the shattering screen. "Entry plug is being auto-ejected!", Ibuki yelled, her voice tumbling, as the escape jets acceletared the plug out of its socket, only to be aprubtly stopped by the cage's roof. "God dammit! Release the special bakelite! Hurry!" All calmness was gone from commander Ikari's voice. "Ten seconds until complete shutdown!" Ibuki was shouting over the chaos "Nine! Eight! Seven!" The entry plug was now grinding along a corner of the room. "Six! Five! Four!" "Rei!" Commander Ikari screamed, as the plug got caught in the corner of the cage and dropped to the floor when the jets ran out of fuel a split second after. "Three! Two! One! Shutdown!" The thick, dark red bakelite was slowly filling the chamber, and was only a few meters away when the entry plug crashed down onto the floor behind the now motionless Evangelion. Less than a minute later, commander Ikari was at the bottom of the cage, running towards the entry plug. When he tried to open the escape hatch, the metal, still hot from the launch, burnt through his thin, white gloves, causing him to briefly flinch before grabbing on to the handle again and under extreme strain open the hatch. The second it was open, he leaned into the entry plug, his voice shaking from concern: "Rei! Are you all right? Rei!" The blue haired pilot could only marginally raise her head and nod. Obviously relieved, commander Ikari answered with a brief "Okay", before rushing off into the direction from which he came, ordering second lieutnant Mogami to immediately call the paramedics.
When they arrived in the cage just over a minute after, the last thing Rei saw before blacking out from the pain were the commander's glasses laying on the floor in front of the entry plug, the lenses cracked from the sudden heat effect when touching the hot LCL leaking from the plug.

-Author notes-

After a bit longer than I originally intended, I got around finishing the second chapter of my fic. The only thing I should probably add for those not as familiar with the Japanese names: Zerogoki is Unit 00
Not much else to be said, so here is the usual list of new characters:

Obviously canon:
Ritsuko Akagi
Obscure, but still official:
Aoi Mogami - NERV techie in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project
Koji Takao - Engineer/bridge crew of the AAA WUNDER in 3.0
Made up:
Fukui, Himura - random technicians under Takao