"Dr Freeman, I need you to come with me to the Evangelion Cages, Your HEV suit should be there."
Ritsuko said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.
She motioned for Gordon to follow her to the cage, to which he complied. They both walked through boundless corridors and halls, pushing against the flow of employees rushing to get to their BattleStations.
Gordon's heart was racing, he had no idea if he needed to fight directly again or not. But he was certain that if he needed to, his HEV suit would certainly help him.
Chapter 3
EVANGELION CAGE 01
"Dr Freeman, your HEV suit is in the Male's locker room. Just use your ID card to access the Suit locker and you should be good, Charger is on the left, and some tools should be in the cabinet."
She pointed down the hall at the sign and jogged over to the woman's side.
"Meet me out here when ready."
And with that she already entered the women's locker room, leaving Gordon in the hall with several people passing by.
He went into the locker room and found it completely empty. There were three rows of lockers but no names on almost all of them except one; Which had his name on it.
Freeman, Gordon
". . . ?"
Questioned Gordon, as his voice echoed around the empty room. He wondered if this room was for the Evangelion pilots and was just an extra room.
He made his way over to his locker and got undressed only leaving on boxers and a white T-Shirt.
On one side of the locker room stood four HEV lockers with the 3rd one occupied. He walked up to the console and pressed the release button.
The glass case slid up, revealing his pride and joy.
The suit was in pristine condition, with nearly no scratches on it.
Although something was off about it…
On the chest piece was a steel plate with the NERV insignia on it.
" . . . . ."
He looked on the left and found a toolkit. Rummaging through it he found a screwdriver and unscrewed the plate off, revealing his one last reminder of his old life.
Lambda
A symbol he held close to his heart. It may have only been a week in his mind, but to see everyone use it as a symbol of hope, made him proud to be human.
Surely Dr Akagi won't mind.
But… That symbol also somewhat haunted him. Every time he puts on this suit, people die… Back in Black Mesa, The minute he put it on, strange things began to happen. But was it even his fault? Did being late to work really cause the end of the world? He pushed those thoughts aside as he began to suit up.
He opened the suit up and climbed into the bottom piece, sliding the torso piece down and locked it in place.
He felt a slight prick on his arm as the suit began startup and a familiar voice started to speak.
"Welcome to the H.E.V Mark 5 Hazardous Environment Protection System."
As the onboard computer gave its readouts, Gordon collected a toolkit and walked out of the Locker room, with the lights turning off behind him.
Nervousness rose within him.
As he approached Ritsuko, she noticed him and turned to face him, However she frowned as she noticed the missing logo.
"You took off the logo?"
A cheeky smile formed on his face as he was about to explain but stopped as he noticed what she was wearing.
A black and blue wetsuit with diving gear attached.
Odd.
"Look, First things first. I'm going to escort you into the entry plug and tell you what to do. There are a lot of things in there that need to be prepped before deployment."
She said, already on the move. As the two walked, they entered an elevator and pushed the only other button in it.
". . . ?"
He asked, Still not knowing what an Evangelion truly is, besides it being large.
"I was going to explain to you after we finish your Bridge Crew orientation, but I guess it's now or nothing."
She sighed, taking a deep breath.
"What you are about to see is classified, you may not tell anyone outside of NERV about this unless authorized. "
. . .
"We created a weapon not to fight mankind, but to save mankind from total annihilation."
The elevator opened.
"Meet Artificial Human Evangelion. Mankind's ultimate weapon against the new Angel threat. This is Unit One."
Inside was a large purple horned head, with a face akin to a demon. Its mouth jagged along its faceplate, with the jaw breing bolted shut. Its body submerged in a purple liquid. Its arms flush with the walls as if it was being restrained.
It looked like a monster…
"I'm going to inspect it underwater, So I won't be able to guide you. Someone from the bridge will guide you through the process."
She said, putting on a divers mask and connecting the oxygen tank. She motioned to a worker near the back of the Evangelion to open it up before rolling backwards into the purple liquid.
Gordon couldn't take his eyes off of the machine. It had a haunting beauty to it. A marvelous creation that probably shouldn't exist.
The head then tilted forward as the nape of the neck began to slide open and a large white tube slid out.
A beep came from the suit followed by some radio static.
"Dr Freeman, This is Maya Ibuki, I'll be guiding you through the preparation process for the Entry plug."
The Entry Plug was then picked up by a mechanical arm and laid on a platform where people could access it. Next to it was an object that looked like a futuristic vehicle of sorts.
He walked over to the platform and waited for a technician to open it up.
"This is the Entry Plug. While resilient, the walls also act as an external monitor, so please tread lightly when we get to that part. For now we will work on the crash couch."
The Crash Couch had several tags attached in places, mainly in the couch part.
"First things first."
1 hour later.
"Alright Dr Freeman, We are going to do a quick insert test. I need you to get seated and we will get you onboard, then we will begin some diagnostic tests."
". . ."
He said, complying with the instructions. He clumsily got on and noticed the seat was rather small. It may be the HEV suit that makes it hard, but something was off.
. . .
Just as the technician nearby was about to start lifting the Couch, Maya radioed in.
"Change of plans, The pilot has arrived with Captain Katsuragi, and they need an escort. I can guide you to their location."
". . . ?"
"Yeah, It's easy to get lost here, It's only been a few weeks for her."
Gordon understood, he was the same when he first worked at Black Mesa, often getting on the wrong tram line.
He dismounted the Crash Couch and made his way back out of the Evangelion Cage. He had noticed Ritsuko a few times around the cage, but she never interacted with him directly.
Exiting the cages, he decided to leave his suit on, in the event that he needed it again.
He jogged down a long corridor, pushing past people as they moved against him.
" . . . "
He said, noting the rather tense look on people's faces.
CORRIDOR
The elevator doors opened revealing a purple haired woman and a young boy standing outside it.
Gordon peered down at them as he was a head taller than them.
". . . ?"
He asked, rather confused on why there is a child here.
"This is Shinji Ikari, I'm supposed to bring him to his father."
The woman stated, with a rather flustered tone of voice.
" . . . ?"
"Oh, I'm Captain Misato Katsuragi… Who are you?..."
She asked, somewhat suspicious of the rather tall American man.
". . ."
She raised an eyebrow, but quickly shook it off. She had more important things to do and Gordon here was supposed to help her.
"Alright Doctor Freeman, lead the way."
He nodded and took one last glance at the rather nervous boy following them. What purpose could he serve here?
Unless?...
Entering the cage again, Shinji stared in awe at the size of the Evangelion.
Gordon had a bad feeling about this when a speaker crackled to life.
"So we meet again, Shinji."
Standing on the observation deck was a bearded man with a uniform that screamed important. He could only assume that was Shinji's father…
The commander.
"F-father…"
A barely noticeable grin appeared on the man's face.
"Launch the Eva."
! ! !
Gordon now knew who was going to pilot the Evangelion. A twisted knot formed in his stomach.
"But sir, Rei is still-"
"We have a pilot right here."
. . .
"W-Why me?..."
. . .
"Because you are the only one capable of doing this."
And at that moment Gordon knew fate had taken control of this kid's life, Something that had happened to Gordon a few "Weeks" Ago.
He no longer had a true choice.
"N-no, I can't do this. I just got here, a-a-and I'll mess up!"
Clearly Shinji was unaware of this for a long time. A father calling his son back only to do his bidding.
"Shinji please, you are the only one we know that can do this."
Misato said, pleading with the teenage boy.
"No! After all this time, you said you didn't have a use for me all these years!"
He cried out, plenty of hurt in his voice. A droplet of tear fell to the floor.
"Stop wasting time, get in the Eva or get out!"
Shinji looked like he was on the verge of breaking down. Gordon knew he needed a push in the right direction.
". . . "
"But… Im not good at this-"
". . . ? . . . !"
Gordon said, trying to give him a pep talk via his own experience without directly telling him what he did.
"But you had some training. . ."
". . . !"
He exclaimed, trying to drive the point home. Shinji seemed to be getting it, but needed one last push. Gordon tried to think up all the ways he could try and get him to do this.
". . ."
. . .
"Fine, I'll pilot the Eva!"
Klaxons began to blare as Shinji was lowered into the entry plug and sealed in. Technicians ran around the cage beginning to drain the coolant.
Gordon sat at his station in the Primary Command Center, telegraphing commands to and from his spot.
"Primary cooling cycle complete, begin coolant drain!"
Large pumps began to drain the vasts amount of purple coolant.
Unit 01's purple body began to be more and more visible and ground crew scrambling around the behemoth just to get it ready.
"Begin LCL flooding."
The entry plug began to fill up with a thick orange liquid, encompassing Shinji.
"Allow the LCL to enter your lungs, it will help you breathe and synchronize with the Evangelion."
Begrudgingly, Shinji complied and allowed it into his lungs. It reminded Gordon of the almost endless time he had to swim through literal sewage.
"Synchronizing now!"
A series of colors cascaded in the cockpit. mesmerizing Shinji.
"A10 Nerves connected, Startup complete. Synchronization at 35.22 %."
"Thats amazing, it took Rei months to achieve anything like that!"
Dr Akagi Exclaimed, she seemed so excited.
The coolant had since then been fully drained and a long arm began to connect a cable to Unit 01's back.
"Umbilical Cable attached, now releasing restraints."
"Primary Lockdown bolt numbers 1 through 5 have been released!"
The Evangelion's arms slouched a bit as the frontal restraints were removed. The walls surrounding the cage began to open, leaving a frame on the back of the Evangelion.
Gordon saw on the monitor how large this thing truly was. This thing was over 80 meters tall! It was larger than the Nihilanth!
The Evangelion restraints moved up on a rail to a large elevator pad of some sorts and locked onto it.
Misato turned around and faced the commander.
"Do we have your permission to launch?"
. . .
"Of course, The future of humanity depends on us defeating the angels."
. . .
"LAUNCH EVA!"
I resisted the urge to say "In awe of the size of this lad" earlier. I also hope you find the Level joke funny. I am currently working on Chapter 2 of Neon Genesis Blues, so stay tuned for that. I would like to thank you guys for all the positive comments left on the last chapter.
Thank you
-DerpymanMT
-Deus