Chapter 11: Finding Another
Shinji got home an hour or so later and prepared to make dinner. When he was about to put the heat on the stove, the apartment phone rang.
"Hello, Shinji Ikari residents," he said calmly.
[Come on ask him…no way you ask him, you seem more attached to him…WHAT!? I-I'm n-not!] Rayne and Nami argued close to the phone. Some rustle went around on the other end till someone responded.
[Hello Ikari, this is Chief Yogosami…err emm…I need to ask you a favor?]
"What might that be Mr. Yogosami?"
More rustling came from the other end which not much was said. His voices started to speak from the phone in which sounded like they were strangling people on the other end. Blinking, he waited until they stopped or if the Chief would continue. The strangling turned to a fire fight of handguns and machine guns.
"…" he said deciding to hang up.
Looking at the phone wondering if the chief would call again, the land-line device started crumbling apart. Blinking, he slowly pressed a finger on it. His digit sank into the phone then turned to powder. Staring hard at the fine mound of dust, Shinji scratched the side of his head. When he blinked again, the phone was back in its original state. It rang.
"Hello, Shinji Ikari residents."
[My friend. There is an item I want to inspect] the accented voice came from the other end.
"What would that be sir?"
[Go to the blue people…don't keep me waiting] it said with an evil chuckle.
"…very well," Shinji said and hanged up the phone. Changing his clothes to the suit, he grabbed something from the fridge to eat and walked towards the city. At the police station, three officers were in the Chief's office.
"If you would have just answered first and didn't sputter we could have got him to come here," Nami sighed.
"…" Rayne said with a small frown.
"So what did he say Chief?" Nami asked hopping there was still hope.
"Hmm…I guess he hanged up during the little argument between you two," Ryu said. Rayne scratched the back of her head looking at the ground while Nami sighed again.
"How are things going Chief and ladies?" Jack asked while grinning.
"Fine," both Rayne and Nami said in a low-toned unison glaring at him.
"So Wonder-boy isn't going to show eh?" he asked chuckling.
"Who knows, he may or may not," the chief shrugged his shoulders.
"Well if he doesn't today, you lose your bets," Jack said while chuckling. All three knew him long enough to know that was a possibility. They went back to their office spaces doing more paper work.
A half an hour passed by with no development. The Chief was busy signing papers as Nami worked on a few while handing him more papers. Rayne came in because she didn't have anything to do and didn't want to go home. All three put their coffee mugs on the desk and forgot about them.
"Should we try again?" Rayne ask as she looked out the window while resting her head on the desk. Nami looked at Ryu, he shrugged his shoulders while looking at a petition from a union to have permission to hold a strike in a business area.
'Why do they give me these…it gives me a headache!' he thought narrowing his eyes at the paper.
Nami picked up the phone and dialed Shinji's apartment, but the phone kept ringing. She put the phone down, sat in her chair organizing more papers. Rayne gave a deep breath in slight frustration and continued to stare at the sky changing to small amounts of orange and purple.
Fifteen minutes passed by which felt like a couple of minutes. All three thought of the same thing and went for their mugs. Each were still trapped in what they were doing. Lifting their mugs, they did not know that they were refilled. The scent didn't register quickly enough and all three took sips. Their faces changed to thinking that there was never tea in the police station.
Another wave of realization hit their faces. All three turned/looked up slowly to see Shinji in his suit. He was sitting in the visitor's chair with a coffee pot in front of him. The impassive look on his face and odd shining in his eyes gave him an unholy glow.
Their eyes widen and froze in place. The Chief's heart was beating faster than the other two women with Nami second and Rayne third. A very quiet silence went by that made the three a little spooked out. They kept their shocked/scared gaze at the young lad. Shinji sat still through the silence, keeping his sights on the Chief. He saw them move their free hand towards what his voices repeated the word "poppers" menacingly and giggling.
"You rang sir and madams?" he asked calmly still staring.
All three flinched. Each grabbed hold of their sidearm. Shinji blinked from hearing three pistols boom loudly in his head. The three looked at their hand that was on their firearm. Blinking a few times, they slowly let go of them. Putting their mugs down on the desk, they took slow breaths before addressing the materialized boy.
"…nice for you to stop by…" the Chief said trying to hide the creepy feeling in his nerves.
Shinji nodded, "Is there something you needed?"
Rayne reacted first, "Yea…um could you possibly do something for us? It wouldn't be taking too much of your time."
Shinji turned toward her, "May I ask what that would be?"
"We want you to come to the shooting range for a…demonstration I guess you could call it," Nami said then sipping her tea.
"May I ask what the demonstration is exactly?" Shinji said calmly while turning toward Nami.
"It is mostly shooting targets that one of our officers has set up in the range. That's all," Ryu said finally calm.
"Jack will probably ask him to do the impossible like he always does," Rayne said with annoyance sipping her tea again.
Shinji looked back at the Chief the nodded his head. "Very well."
"Alright…do you need to practice or anything," the Chief said while standing up and stretching.
The Third Child stood up and shook his head side to side. He walked toward the door and held it open for the rest. Nami mostly recovered from his sudden appearance. She was about to ask how he could sneak in with the door close. The Chief's office door needed oiling because the hinges squeak. Deciding that another time would be better, she shrugged it off following the rest.
The four reached the shooting range to find a small crowd of officers already there with goggles and ear muffs on. Shinji stood adjacent toward where he believed was the place for his shooting. Rayne, Nami, and Ryu stood behind him and saw Jack coming forward to him.
"Ah so Wonder-boy came. Good good. Are you ready Ikari?" Jack said with a smirk on his face.
"What are the requirements of this demonstration?" Shinji asked calmly.
Jack pointed to the targets in the shooting range. A couple was placed for close range while the rest was varied. Based on how far some were, it seemed like a pistol would be the weapon of choice. Looking up a little, there was a wooden box handing in the air by rope.
"Those are your targets. You will be given a weapon from my choice that has the number of bullets to number of targets. The box will need to take two," Jack said. Looking at the three officers behind the male pilots, their faces were frowning a little. Jack looked back at Shinji to see he was still staring, waiting for him to continue.
"Do you understand?"
He nodded.
"Alright," Jack said as he motioned to another officer to get the pistol on the table. Handing Jack the black pistol, he turned around.
"Okay wonder-boy, you will use this type of pistol…" he trailed off to see the teen put on patted black gloves.
"Which hand is your dominate?"
Shinji raised his right hand.
"Left hand," he said while grinning.
"Hey! That's going overboard!" Rayne said angrily.
"That I have yet you know how I work. But, I will make a composition to this…"
Rayne and Nami rolled their eyes while the Chief yawned.
"If the kid passes my predictions, then each of you gets double the award money from my own pocket plus Wonder-boy will get some too…that is if he can hit a target," Jack said as he chuckled.
"Very well," Shinji replied holding out his left hand for the pistol. Everyone looked at him and saw he still had his stoical expression. Jack just grinned handing him the pistol.
'This is going to be funny,' the officer thought evilly.
Shinji held the weapon for a second then placed it on the small counter of the booth. He got out one of his straps from his backpack and began to wrap it around his belt to hold the weapon from behind. His accented voice came back to fill him in of what the weapon was.
"Ah the Desert Eagle Mark VII version II, a rather noisy but powerful companion…"
"Made in the USA, it was conceived in 1979 by the Magnum Research, Inc. Their idea was to create a gas-operated, semi-automatic, magnum-caliber pistol. The Mark VII model became the standard in 1989 as well being popular in Hollywood films during that time. This upgraded second version has similar specs as the Mark XIX. It's used for sport/hunting as well as combat for more fun against friends," the voice chimed the last part.
Shinji got his strap on and tightened it. Testing the holster from behind, the handgun seemed to hold but dropped a little. He noted that it was heavy and adjusted the strap. Pulling the pistol out, he held it with his left index finger in the trigger slot. As it dangled, he rocked it forward and backwards slowly. He looked at his test dummy targets then took out the magazine. Looking at the number of bullets, he placed it on the small counter. Pulling the slide assembly back, the chamber was empty. Putting the slide back, he pulled the trigger making the hammer slam with a dry metal click.
"Technical specs: Type; Single Hammer Action, Caliber; .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, Length; 260mm, Weight; 2,315g without loaded magazine, Magazine; nine with .357 and eight with .44…"
Shinji loaded the magazine back, pulled back the slide then holstered the pistol. Jack kept the grin on his face and turned toward the range as well as the rest of the officers.
"That asshole. His making him use a Desert Eagle!" Nami whispered detestably to the Chief.
"Yeah and from what I know, Jack likes to boost the stopping power on those things. Can't imagine the recoil…might break the kid's wrist," chief whispered back.
Nami was about to say something when she felt a finger stop her. Both she and Ryu turned to see Rayne grinning evilly. Both shuddered from believing that they could see an odd shine in her orange eyes. Whenever she had that look, she could complete a crazy mission without a scratch on her when it was going in guns blazing.
Rayne turned around to see Shinji put on ear-plugs and his sunglasses. She did the same and tried to watch him and the targets at the same time. He got in to his stance with the right leg out front and left leg back to support. His voice made one last note.
"Hmm…this version has a module inside that increases stopping power to more than intended. The firing rate has slowed down considerable, but I wonder…"
Shinji heard all his voices giggling, sometimes one right after another and some with each others. The target dummies slowly morphed into large plush toys. All of them were very cute with vibrant shades of color on their fur. They began singing happy songs about friendship, love, family, and expressed their affection toward everyone. The shooting range morphed into a bright flower garden with many different colors and types of flowers. The hanging target changed to an angelic plush toy that had feathers and wings. A choir was singing a soft chord somewhere that he couldn't see. While seeing this, the giggling continued in his ears along with the singing. The volume of everything rose to an almost yelling volume.
"Unleash the fun my friend," the accented voice said with dark humor.
"May I begin?" Shinji asked staring at the shooting range with a twitching right eye.
Jack chuckled, "Su…"
The male pilot cut him off by whipping out the Desert Eagle with his left hand. Placing his right hand on the other side of the handle for support, he unleashed the bullets. The officers saw targets being blown to pieces as well as hearing small explosions from the handgun. But, it was the rate at which the bullets were fired at that shocked them. The box was the last target and it was falling from a bullet that hit an edge making it spin quickly down.
The officers turned quickly to see Shinji holstering the gun. He quick drew the Desert Eagle and shot the falling target. The box flew backwards suddenly getting hit at the middle. It shattered into pieces when hitting the ground. Everyone smelled burning metal and gunpowder. Shinji stood straight and looked at his watch.
'Seven seconds,' he thought.
All the officers turned toward the teen hearing him eject the magazine. Both the clip and the depleted, smoking gun were place on booth table. Taking a step back, he started to remove the sunglasses, ear plugs, gloves and belt strap. He put his items inside his backpack. Placing his glasses in the jacket's outer pocket, he turned toward the paled mechanic.
"You can mail me the award money or I can pick it up now. What is your choice sir?" Shinji said calmly.
Chief and Nami had their mouths open and nothing audible came out. Rayne was shocked as well but had a feeling that something would happen…just not as it happened. Walking up to Shinji, she looked at a once in a lifetime picture that she wished she had a camera. Jack pale, speechless, and his predictions shot down. She felt like laughing in his face but felt that she couldn't do that with the pilot next to her.
Jack turned slowly toward the teen and recoiled to find him staring at him. His un-emotional face and eerie dark magenta eyes made him shudder noticeably.
"Are you ill sir?" the Third Child asked calmly only his eyes moving.
Jack recoiled again and fell on his rear. Rayne was enjoying this very much. Ryu and Nami blinked out of their trance when they heard the fall. They walked over and grew wide internal smiles at the sight.
"Holy shit," one officer roared from within the shooting range that was covered with gore and insides from all the plush toys.
"I got a head shot here," shouted one looking down at the decapitated head of a large stuff bunny. It's body was a few feet ahead with blood flowing out of its neck in pulses.
"Here too, how about the ones down there?" shouted another officer as he walked over squashing brains and intestines.
A female officer looked at a couple of blown apart bodies. She was surprised seeing large bullet size holes in their necks. The plush toys were soaking in their blood as it poured out of their necks. They tried reaching out to the officer mouthing for help.
"Got two neck shots over here!"
"How many bullets did the box take?" asked another female officer.
"I think I saw two…yep two," a male officer said looking down at the red drenched Angel.
Its skin color was paling quickly from the two shots. One hit the angel's left collar bone causing it to explode. As it was falling, the second shot hit its mid-torso. A bowling ball size hole burst open sending its heart and lungs far away. The angelic choir changed their tone to a dark clashing sustaining chord. The angel whispered pleads of help to the male officer.
"That was so cool seeing the box go suddenly backwards and not rotate," a male officer said smiling making hand motions at the dying angel.
"Hmm…what shots were these?" an officer asked looking at a fuzzy bear that sat lifeless on the ground.
"Dude, half of the dummy's head is gone!" another stated pointing at how half the head of bear was blown apart. Grey matter, bone, cranial fluid, blood, and parts of its face spewed in a fan away from it.
The officer snapped his fingers, "Oh yeah, eye shot."
Rayne, Nami, and even the Chief couldn't help the smiles growing on their faces. Jack was reacting to each of the comments as if someone was surprising him over and over. He turned toward Shinji and stared at him. The other officers' chatter went outside leaving only Jack, Ryu, Nami, Ranye, and Shinji.
An awkward silence went by when the mechanic got up and dusted himself off. He looks at the Chief and two female officers who were grinning at him.
"What are you guys looking at?!" he demanded.
Nami and Rayne chuckled while the Chief just cleared his throat but a smile was stuck on his face. Jack frowned and waited impatiently for them to reply.
"Oh nothing in particular," Rayne chimed smiling broadly.
"Sure, sure."
"Sir?"
"WHAT!" Jack shouted angry at Shinji which he didn't flinch.
"Will you give us who won the bet our reward or will that be another time?"
Jack tried to think of a way out but knew it would come at a price. 'Besides, the kid can't be that smart anyway…heh heh.'
"If you believe that I have cheated in this demonstration sir then I would have to disagree with you. Installing a module inside a Desert Eagle Mark VII with more firepower than intended would result in fractured wrists, forearms, and dislocated shoulders. The same feedback as a shotgun fire if not held properly," the boy replied.
Jack's eyes widened and looked back to see two angry glares from the female officers and a not so pleased Chief. The voices in his head kept chatting on beating him and ripping him apart. Shinji blinked at them, but did agree that some retribution was in order.
"If do not wish to give me my share, can I ask for something else sir?"
"Sure, what?" Jack answered quickly.
His answer was a quick right fist in his stomach. It felt like a hard swing of a baseball bat. He grabbed his stomach and fell to the ground unconscious. Shinji bowed then turned to see three shocked faces.
"Is there anything else you need?" he asked with a blank face.
Rayne blinked and thought cheerfully, 'I wanted to do that…hee hee but his punch is probably good enough.'
Nami seemed surprised and thought, 'Alright! Now that is award money to see!"
Chief smirked and scratched his cheek. "Hey Ikari…uh how about dinner?"
"That would be pleasant sir, thank you," Shinji said with a bow. The three watch Shinji pick up the unconscious Jack from his belt with his right hand. In one jerk motion, he got the man up and over his right shoulder. Shinji turned to see again three suprised faces.
"May you please direct me to this sir's office?"
"Uh…sure." Nami said and lead the group.
They came to Jack's office and Shinji put him in his chair. Reclining the seat back, he place Jack's pillow under his head and a blanket over him.
"So Ikari, were you always this strong," Rayne asked out of the blue.
"No. Only a few years ago did I gain strength" he calmly stated.
"More areas than one huh?" Nami asked without thinking.
Shinji felt that question was asked before from a certain lavender haired woman. He turned towards Nami, "That is a possibility Miss Blaze."
The three officers let what he said sink and smirks came across their faces. Yogosami snorted then cleared his throat.
"Let's go get some grub," he said smiling. Shinji nodded and they all went out to eat.
"Well you brought a new member to the eating crew aye Ryu?" The chef said smiling at the Chief.
Dinner was at an open noodle stand. Ryu introduce Shinji which he bowed toward the chef which he smiled at the gesture. There were four open stools available; left to right was Rayne, Shinji, Nami, and Ryu. The sun started to go down shifting evening to night. Ryu ordered some beer, Nami had wine, Rayne had soda, and Shinji ordered tea. Light discussion came about between the three officers which the pilot stayed out of. Not much came from him, just a sort of one word or sentence responses. Their food came and it was eaten with a drunken Chief, slightly buzzed secretary, an annoyed female officer, and an impassive male pilot.
"So kid…do you wear contacts or something…hick…" slurred the Chief. Shinji finished his meal and set the chopsticks across the bowl.
"I do not sir," he calmly replied.
"Really?" Nami asked turning toward the boy. Rayne took a sip of her soda seeing the boy nod.
"So they are your natural color then?" the Chief asked out of curiosity.
"No and Yes," Shinji said drinking his tea.
"Oh…" the Chief said confused, but took another sip at his fifth beer. Nami was trying to see if something registered on Shinji's face. Nothing appeared and she sipped her glass.
Rayne looked at her drink and stirred it around and around. She remembered when people asked her those questions and how quiet she became around the subject. But, she was thinking about it from how Shinji was responding to them. Even though he didn't elaborate on his answers, they were just told however blunt they were. So far, she felt that she was the only one that had strange eyes. But when Shinji came, she felt more at ease from not feeling alone. She smiled slightly then drank her soda a little.
The chef of the noodle stand wasn't much of a social worker, but could observe people pretty well and tell where they came from. The only two people that he ever had a trouble figuring out was Rayne and Shinji. He got use to not asking personal questions around her. The boy was a different story. He had the looks of someone who was blunt, maybe autistic, and quiet yet no shyness emitted from him. He had a calm presence as he sat straight. He concluded that he was in Rayne's category…just weirder than hers. His eyes shined in an odd way that a cold-blooded killer would have. But if you stared long enough, the calm face battled against that image into something tranquil however strange it was.
"So kid, where do you come from?" the Chef asked as he was cleaning the counter. Shinji looked at the man.
"I do not wish to answer that question sir," Shinji said calmly.
"Eh, sorry about that. I sometimes get a little nosy with people that stop by," he said with a smile as he took Shinji's and Rayne's bowls.
Shinji nodded, "That is alright" and sipped his tea.
He stared at his cup and some nightmarish flashbacks went by that some of his voices acted as narrators. They added sounds causing an effect to the distorted images but he remained impassive. Everyone paid their share for the dinner and walked back to the station. Rayne had to help Nami a little. From time to time, she would lean over a little too much. Shinji walked behind the Chief because he leaned back too much.
Inside the station, the Chief was put in his office and fell asleep as well as the secretary. Rayne came out of the secretary's office and sighed.
"They do that every time. I guess it's good sometimes to have a drinking buddy huh."
"It would seem so," Shinji replied standing outside Ryu's office. Rayne looked in and smirked.
"Sleeping like a baby,"
"Is there anything that is needed Miss Hymity?"
"I don't think so…oh call me Rayne please."
Shinji nodded, "Very well, please forgive me for old habits."
"They say old habits die hard," she asked with a smile.
"That they do. Until we meet again, good night Rayne," Shinji said with a bow then walked home. Rayne smiled and walked to her cubical space.