10
Investigator Rei
"There's almost nothing as satisfying as revenge, wanting someone to hurt because you hurt. An eye for an eye. Feels like God's work, until you realize there is no God and you've committed sins for which there is no absolution."
/
Shinji sat in the large somewhat overly comfortable chair, sitting across from him languidly was a young woman who had introduced herself as doctor Karen Destapo, dark spectacles perched on a pretty face her long blond hair clearly dyed. Shinji had been puzzled at first, she seemed only a little older than himself, but he had been assuaged by her mature mannerisms. They were alone in the room, and Shinji sat mulling over the question he had just been presented. This was the young woman assigned to him, this was the person here to provide a different kind of therapy, therapy of the mind. Shinji had been encouraged to speak and to his surprise had done so, his therapist had an easy smile that was highly encouraging. Shinji had admitted he had a mental block when it came to his mother, his mind seemingly refusing to provide him with an image. Then he had tried to cover his time with his teacher, and had immediately suffered a vicious migraine attack that had left tears streaming from his eyes. Karen had crossed the room concern etched on her young face, and he had patiently explained that this happened quite a lot to him. Pain killers had been located and Shinji had settled back down, gently massaging the bridge of his nose as the pain had faded.
"Now I know this won't be easy, but I want you to try and talk about your recent kidnapping." There it was the dreaded moment, Shinji had known that this would very likely come up at some point, had tried to think of a way to stave off addressing it. One look in Karen's compassionate young face though, and Shinji knew she wouldn't judge him. As he turned his thoughts inwards he mused at his therapist's name, Karen was an odd name for someone so clearly of Japanese descent. Shinji sighed as his mind turned to what had happened, turned for the first time in so long to one Anslo Garrick. Mercenary for hire, a cold-hearted monster who had taken Shinji and robbed him of his innocence. A part of him felt this was a waste of time, what possible good could talking about it do? Misato had assured him that the therapy was to help him, had told him that bottling his emotions up and not confronting them, might end up doing a lot of harm. "I feel… angry." He started slowly, it was like taking the emotion in his hands and turning it over to examine it. "I felt so scared and confused, he was hurting me, and I didn't even know why?" Karen didn't move from where she sat, he didn't look up as he tried to vocalise his own internal conflict.
"Why me? What did I ever do to him?" Shinji heard the resentment entering his voice, "was it because I was born? Was it because of my godfather who I've only just found out about?" Had Shinji's body been cooperative he would have gotten up and paced, instead he had to sit still as his mind burned on the cosmic injustice of it. "You feel it wasn't fair." Karen stated softly, and Shinji felt his anger flare up at such a ridiculous statement. "Of course, it wasn't fair! I didn't do anything to deserve that!" His therapist seemed to soak his anger up like a sponge, "He hit me he kicked me, he shattered my goddamn knee and left me in a coma for nearly a year!" Shinji knew exactly what he felt, "I feel angry, and I want to hurt him back, but I can't!" tears were starting to fall, tears he had no control over what so ever. "Everybody always acts so sorry for me! Poor little Shinji can't help himself, can't defend himself and I hate that!" He was so sick of everybody treading softly around him, if anything Asuka's outburst at the pool had been refreshing. For just one moment he had felt she wasn't treating him differently, for once it had felt a little like how things had been. Sure, he'd been surprised and initially hurt, but upon reflection it had been almost like… normal.
"If you had Garrick here, let's say hypothetically he was at your mercy right now?" Shinji looked up now, saw the concern etched on the young woman's face. His mind conjured up an image of Garrick, his ugly scarred face contorted in fear as Shinji held a baseball bat. He looked for the emotion he knew would be there, the weak and snivelling sympathy of a boy who hated violence. Instead all he felt was a grim sense of longing to do harm, let him beg and let him whimper for mercy, he wouldn't get any. In Shinji's mind the bat rose and fell repeatedly, and as he brutalised Garrick in his mind he felt satisfaction, a sense of justice having been done. "I'd kill him." Shinji said flatly, his voice steadier than he could ever recall it being, steady with the surety of righteous conviction. "It's ok to be angry, its fine to want revenge Shinji, those are human traits." Karen's voice was soft gentle and reassuring, and Shinji took a chug from the cup of water next to him. He could still feel adrenaline his mental excursion had caused; a strange and heady excitement had filled him. "I think I may be a bad person." Shinji whimpered, wondering why he felt no remorse what so ever for his thoughts. He knew though deep down, deep in the heart of him he knew Garrick deserved it.
"I don't think you're a bad person Shinji, but you were left damaged by what happened, and I don't mean just your body." Shinji suspected he knew what she meant, the scars on his mind were perhaps worse than the ones on his body. "I don't want anybody to go through that, to be scared and hurt, to almost die." Yet at the same time he wanted people to stop walking on eggshells around him, he didn't want to be nannied and fussed over like some damn invalid child. He wanted his body to start getting strong again, even if that meant braving the waters of the pool, and potentially Asuka's wrath. Shinji lapsed into silence, his mind doing a rerun of his conversation with Asuka. The red head had surprised him when she had asked to talk, when she had haltingly told her tale to him. It had broken Shinji's heart to hear the details, the mental anguish that the girl must suffer daily. Asuka suffered in her mind just like he did now, and only really now could Shinji understand her anger and where it came from. Ironic really, Garrick had unintentionally made the two teens so very alike, both Shinji and Asuka were like volcanoes boiling under the surface. Shinji yawned, but for once nobody told him it was time for a power nap.
Karen continued taking notes and providing little insights, at one-point Shinji did in fact drift off to sleep in his chair. Instead of waking up back in his bed he was still in the chair, Karen filling out forms while he had dozed. She wasn't alone, Gendo Ikari was sitting on the couch seemingly waiting for him to rouse. Shinji blinked dumbly expecting the man to vanish like some mirage or illusion, however his father remained were he was sat. "I understand you've elected to continue with the aquatic therapy?" The question surprised him, this was the first time he had seen the man since waking up. In fact, looking at his father Shinji noticed something odd, the man seemed vaguely uncomfortable. "It was producing better results, yes." Shinji responded, feeling some of his usual timidity coming back to him. "That's good to hear, Major Katsuragi has a case at the moment. Therefore, I've arranged for someone to stand in, since we can't seem to reach pilot Soryu." His father got to his feet, and then paused awkwardly at Shinji's side. "Doctor Akagi will handle things, until the situation has been dealt with." Shinji swore the man looked like he wanted to pat him on the shoulder, instead he left dragging his seemingly tattered ego behind him.
Shinji blinked wondering just where the hell that had come from, and if perhaps Reddington had threatened the man? Then another thought came to him, what situation were they dealing with? "If its ok, I'd like to go back to my room now." Shinji asked his therapist, Karen nodded and helped him over into his wheelchair. The whole way back to his room his mind was in overdrive, something was going on and he suspected it involved him. Had his father's presence simply been to alert him to this, but why given the man had shown no interest before now? Shinji returned to his bed and bade Karen goodbye, and after locating the remote switched on the television. He flicked through the channels until he found the news, and then listened in as the news reporter babbled about the murder. Details were sketchy, but the young victim had been identified as sixteen-year-old Shinji Ichibura. Shinji's eyes narrowed, there was no way this was a coincidence. Laying there he turned and noted mister Bigglesworth sitting forlorn next to him, and picking up the bear nestled it in his arms. The next time he saw Reddington he planned to demand answers, the man had to know what was going on, and this had to be what Misato was working on.
/
Misato stood slightly off to one side as Reddington's cleaner worked, dressed in scrubs and working hand in hand with Ritsuko, Kate Kaplan was in her element. The pair were working on the boy's body, the boy who now had a name, Shinji Ichibura. Misato knew it was no coincidence, their killer had deliberately singled this kid out. "Toxicology came back, confirmed what you suspected." Ritsuko spoke to Kaplan, the older woman nodded almost absently as she examined the corpse. Normally this would be handled by the local police department, however Gendo had pulled rank assigning everything to section two. "whoever did this used a neuromuscular blocking drug, Doxacurium by the looks of it." Misato shook her head, she was not up to date on the names of such drugs, Kaplan seemed to sense her confusion. "Causes paralysis and hypotension, hence the victim didn't die from blood loss but shock." Misato's eyes widened in horror as she realised what Kaplan was saying, "he was alive when they cut his face off?!" Kate turned to regard her lips drawn in a tight line, "yes dearie, I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm saying." Ritsuko shook her head in disgust, "no sign of any anaesthetic in his system, killer must have really gotten a kick out of this."
Misato had been disgusted at the case to begin with, cutting off some kids face and leaving a vile message behind, but this was beyond the pale. Was this the sort of thing Reddington's world involved, vile and terrible human beings capable of monstrous acts? Garrick had been one such monster, and now there was a new monster here in Japan. In both cases Shinji had been the focus, in both cases her ward had been an intended victim. "Hmm this is odd." Ritsuko grumbled, Kaplan looked up and approached Ritsuko who had been examining the victims mouth. In her hand she held a long white hair expression curious, "have it sent down to forensics, get the DNA checked." Ritsuko nodded and bagged the strand of hair, Misato felt a surge of hope that this might be from their killer. Right now, Ressler was working with Navabi and Aram, Ritsuko had granted Mojtabai access to the MAGI. Aram had been like a kid in a candy shop, able to use the power of the super computer to analyse CCTV footage and to look at recent arrivals in Japan. One thing Reddington had been insistent on, was that the mask collector was not from Japan. Reddington had handed the case off to them, and had disappeared out of the country yet again.
Typical of the man really, just when Shinji needed the man most he would disappear, Misato mentally groaned at her own faults. She had seen the way Shinji perked up when the man was around, in such a short space of time he had ingrained on the boy. When Shinji had learned of Reddington's identity, she had been hopeful the boy would reject the man. That had not happened, if anything Shinji was drawn even closer to the master criminal instead. She had turned to Cooper, the older man admitting that Reddington had that effect on people. He had kept the late Elizabeth Keen close, the dead woman torn between feelings when it came to Reddington. "Keep me posted if you find anything." Misato said and turning exited the autopsy room, she pulled off the gloves and mask glad to be rid of the paraphernalia of death. Misato needed to sort things out between Shinji and Asuka, she hated the idea of a rift coming between the pair now. Yet Asuka was not answering her phone, and most of section two was tied up hunting down a serial killer, a killer whose face was an unknown. Misato reached Shinji's room and peered inside, the boy was asleep or, so it seemed the television playing to itself. Misato switched the thing off, reaching down she brushed a stray strand of hair out of his face, and then leaning in gently kissed his forehead.
She stayed by his side watching him sleep noting with a wry smile he was clinging once more to the bear, a decent sign he had moved past Asuka's outburst. "I want a better world for you, I want you to be able to smile again." She whispered, her emotions rose up threatening to drown her in a torrent. It was not at all fair what had been done to the boy, was not fair that he was still being targeted. This connection to Reddington was at the core of the problem, someone had found out something and had decided to kill her boy. Misato paused where she sat analysing that thought, her boy. She had always felt a strange mixture of feelings around Shinji, a desire to protect him and sooth away his woes, but at the same time an awkward attraction to him as well. Misato had already vowed never to act on that attraction, Shinji needed someone his own age not some old maid. A snort of self-depreciation escaped her mouth, they were so alike in many ways herself and Shinji. She was his legal guardian, and guard him she fully planned to do. Misato sat back and for the next hour just watched him, sleeping the sleep of the innocent, at least she hoped so. Yawning she realised she needed to make a move, surely, they had something from forensics?
Rising she raised her phone and dialled out, Misato had asked one of the section two agents to track down Asuka. "It's me, have you found her yet?" Misato listened in surprise, apparently, they had tracked Asuka to Rei Ayanami's apartment. That was damn peculiar, given how the girls had not really hit it off when they had first met. The agent explained that due to orders from the commander, they weren't allowed to enter the girl's apartment unless it was a medical emergency. Misato frowned, if Asuka was with Rei then why wasn't she answering her phone? "stay there I'm on my way." Misato hung up and let out an irritated grunt, with a killer on the loose who was targeting kids, this was the last damn thing they needed. She was about to head toward the parking bays when her phone bleeped, Aram had found something, and she should take a look. Groaning Misato changed direction, she was going to chew Asuka out when she got her hands on her. The command centre was quiet when she reached it, she spotted Aram tapping away excitedly on a keyboard. A bemused looking Samar Navabi looking over his shoulder, Ressler was leaning against one wall doing his best tall and brooding routine. Aram turned and smiled in greeting, "I think we have something."
/
Asuka had been stunned when she had entered Rei's apartment, when approaching she had gotten the impression of a demilitarised zone. The sound of industrial equipment thumping and banging, the apartment itself looked dilapidated from the outside, and the inside had not been much better. It was not the state of the apartment that had left her almost speechless, rather it had been the set up one Ayanami Rei had here. The girl had an evidence wall with pictures pinned in place, and she had seemingly stripped out everything none essential. A computer desk was next to her bed, and judging by the dust marks she had moved the bed from its original position. Asuka had located a seat and had watched, watched as Rei had logged into her computer and directly into Nerv's systems. Camera access was hers to utilise, and Nerv's camera infrastructure was considerable. "They are taking that out for a start!" Asuka had bellowed, there was a camera in the bedrooms of Misato's apartment. "Those rotten perverts!" The bedroom was not the only place under surveillance, they had hidden camera's in the bathroom as well. Oh, there would be death and blood, she was going to make section two wish they were dead!
One camera stream came up as blank, "that one is mine." Ayanami had uttered silently, the pale girl seemingly unphased by the intrusion. Asuka watched as Rei flew through the camera's and found what she was looking for, Asuka wrinkled her nose as she realised they were looking at the autopsy room. A click and they had audio, both girls had listened as Kaplan addressed both Ritsuko and Misato, listened as the victim's gruesome death had been addressed. "Does this thing record?" Ayanami nodded, Asuka had spotted one camera feed with Shinji, the boy sitting in a chair opposite a young woman. "keep that one till later." The pale girl looked at her piercingly, "that is likely pilot Ikari's therapy session, I do not believe it pertinent or polite." Asuka raised one eyebrow at Rei, "do you want to help him or not?" Rei blew out a sigh and tapped the feed for later, "don't worry, if he asks you had nothing to do with it." Asuka reassured the girl, Rei turned her lips half upturned in what Asuka swore was a smile. "To do with what?" Asuka smirked, it seemed she had badly misjudged this girl. When Asuka had first met the girl, she had been less than impressed, Ayanami had declined her initial offer of friendship claiming if ordered to she would accept.
That combined with her pale skin and almost robotic demeanour had put Asuka off, her constant jibes in Rei's direction about her being the commanders pet and a doll, well it had been akin to insulting a brick wall. Indeed, Rei's reaction when Asuka had questioned her in the hospital, that was the most emotion she had ever seen from the albino girl. Asuka's phone bleeped and she groaned, it was Misato once more trying to contact her. Perhaps she should answer but Asuka was worried, worried that Misato might put a halt to their little investigation. Unless both hers and Rei's phones went, then there was no emergency situation to deal with. They sat observing the monitors, listening in where at all possible as others gathered bits and pieces of data. Rei was able to take the gathered information and process it, "we're looking for somebody with medical proficiency, given the victims and methods I would hazard a guess at sociopathic as well." Asuka nodded, that made sense given what they had to go on. Asuka watched as Rei ran a check on all inbound flights, checking for anyone with the right medical background. There were three doctors, but they didn't have the required skill set, and a quick background check drew up nothing suspicious.
Asuka hated to admit it but the girl would make one hell of an investigator someday, they sat for about an hour when something caught the albino's attention. The report had come back on the hair strand found in the victim's mouth, and it wasn't human hair. "Canis lupus familiaris." Asuka worded the identification out loud, Rei tilted her head and Asuka could see the girls brain ticking over. "Dog hair, more specifically the hair from a Shih Tzu." Asuka raised one eyebrow smirking, and Ayanami's fingers once again danced across the keys of her laptop. Asuka realised that Rei was not just pulling from the MAGI, she was using them to supplement her laptops capability. "There, shipping manifest. One animal matching the criteria came in via boat." Rei was like a hound with the scent, "documentation is likely falsified, however." Rei was now pulling up camera feeds from the docks south of Tokyo three, Asuka watched stunned as the girl scanned the images rapidly, almost faster than the human eye could follow. Finally, she got a hit off the old footage, a tall spindly looking man walking his black and white pet Shih Tzu. Rei froze the frame and zoomed in eyes like a hawk, Asuka decided that Rei's future career was in law enforcement for certain.
The image was not perfect, but they had something to go with, tall and balding the Caucasian man stood out from the crowd. "I'm sending this data to central headquarters." Rei stated, and Asuka felt a momentary surge of anxiety. If she could catch this guy somehow and bring him in, then this might be the key to her getting back into Shinji's good books. Then reality tapped her on the shoulder, she was a fourteen-year-old girl. Her IQ and her ability to pilot an Eva meant nothing, this guy was a danger to an unarmed kid. It was when Rei began looking up hotel bookings that Asuka blinked, the albino seemed intent on tracking this man down. It made sense, there had been one death already because of this spindly bald man. "He may be using fake ID, but he sticks out like a sore thumb." Asuka mused aloud. "Indeed, that's doctor Alister Creed." Asuka almost jumped out of her skin, whirling she spotted her teacher standing in the room hands folded in front of him. The man's gaze swept Rei's wall expression bemused, "I may have told everyone a little white lie about being out of town." The man confessed, and Asuka felt her heart hammering in her chest. "Are you… really Reddington?" Asuka found her voice.
He paused for a beat considering her question before slowly nodding, "yes, though I suggest not believing everything you hear about me. Some of it is true and some is wildly exaggerated." Asuka glanced at Rei the girl had not moved, she hadn't even looked up from the computer. How long had Reddington been watching them for? "Aram noted the data tap, I was listening in and decided to take a peek." Behind him standing watch in the doorway was Dembe, "you can relax miss Soryu, I'm not here to harm either you or miss Ayanami. In fact, I think you both deserve a reward, that's some of the fastest detective work I've ever witnessed." Reddington walked a very short circle his gaze returning to Ayanami's wall of evidence, "I'm just glad you weren't on the task force assigned to track me down miss Ayanami, you would have been a formidable adversary." Rei finally looked up a faint flush to her cheeks, and Asuka chuckled at the albino's reaction to the complement. "right now, we need to track Alister down, before any more kids turn up dead." A window flashed up on Rei's screen, and she opened the video comm. Aram Mojtabai was on the line with them, and behind him was a very stern looking Misato.
"You lied about being out of town." Misato growled, this had little to no effect on Reddington who smiled politely. "I had my reasons, and they are my reasons alone." Asuka felt her lips twitch, this man was not only an incredible teacher but also completely anti-authoritarian. "all right we have miss Ayanami's intelligence, quick work by the way you should consider a career in law enforcement." Aram babbled as he downloaded the data. "Ok Alister Creed, fifty-two-year-old male. Was discharged from Chicago North-western Memorial Hospital twenty-one years ago, mal practice." Asuka sat back and listened in as Aram disseminated the mans information, "oh, this guy sounds delightful. Apparently, the hospital managers son went missing, his face turned up in the mail. Creed was investigated but no evidence could be found." Reddington nodded slowly, Creed had struck back against the hospital after he had been dismissed, yet had been clever enough not to leave any evidence. Asuka's brain was working a mile a minute, trying to digest the new turn of events that had come about. Raymond Reddington, master criminal and most wanted on the FBI's list. Now here in Japan and guarding one Shinji Ikari, and Misato it seemed had known about this state of affairs.
Rei had presented the idea that the man might be related to Shinji, might in fact be the boys biological father, and the more Asuka wrangled the idea the more sense it made. For why else would he have come and rescued Shinji? Yes, Asuka was convinced that it had been Reddington who had recovered the boy, and now he stood watch and guard. Did Shinji know who the man really was, or was he as blind as Asuka had been? "does Shinji know? Who you are?" Reddington turned to look at her, "he overheard a conversation, yes he knows." Asuka frowned, and he had never once mentioned that little bit on information. Then again it was not Shinji's secret to divulge, the man was incognito here in Tokyo three. "Guess we should keep this to ourselves, wouldn't want to upset the idiot, or get a boring teacher for that matter." Rei glanced at the two and slowly nodded, was it her imagination or did Reddington look relieved? "Got something, another kid reported missing less then two minutes ago." Asuka swore and glanced at Rei, then noticed the pained look on Aram and Misato's faces. "What?!" She demanded, for the longest time nobody spoke until Rei looked up, an expression of concern written on her normally stoic face. "He has the class rep."
AN: Apologies for such a long wait, this chapter has been sitting pretty much finished for a good bit. The follow up chapter has been proving more difficult than I anticipated however it is now finished, for better or worse.