Chapter 52: The Borderline

After the pilots returned to a specific Eva cage, they lined up their units to the back wall shoulder harnesses. Once connected and secured, they turned off their war machines power. As mobile catwalks were extending to the Evas, both Misato and Ritsuko were standing on the main one. Both of them were looking at Eva-01 all bloody over.

"Did the readings during its controlled berserk indicate that he is gone?" Misato asked with her arms folding in front of her chest.

"No…he is only borderline to the last stage still," Ritsuko stated.

To her left was a medical team waiting with restraints, a stretcher, and tranquilizers. Escorting them were two armed security officers. The mobile catwalks made locking sounds. The red lights on them turned green to indicate connections were made. Misato looked at the medical team and nodded. The group made its way to the purple unit's entry plug. Technicians went on the other catwalks to the other Evas' entry plug.

"I guess will just have to wait and see what happens when the hatch opens," the Major said gripping her jacket a little.

"If anything, he will be under sedation till we can do something for him," the doctor stated putting her hands in her lab coat pocket. She played with a pen's cap opening and closing it in one of them. Both watched as all the Evas' head moved forward and upward. It allowed the entry plug to spiraled out for ejection. With the final rotation, all three hatch doors were facing the catwalks next to them. Each opened at different times. Asuka was first followed by Rei. Shinji's waited a couple of seconds before opening.

"…" both Misato and Ritsuko saw the female Eva pilots step out of their capsules. Doing a small status with the techs, Asuka walked down her catwalk first. Ayanami walked soon after on hers. Once the hatch for Unit-01 completely opened, the medic team slowly entered the entry plug. One of the security guards also entered. Both the Major and the doctor felt something off as they didn't hear the team say anything.

Something to their left catch their attention and quickly glanced over. Rei was walking and looking at something to her left and walked a little faster to get on the main catwalk. Turning back forward, both recoiled seeing the Third Child walking down the catwalk. He was about halfway across his walkway with the medic team and security guards not noticing him. However, he had streaks of blood down his face and body. Each footstep sounded like a loud wet scrunch. Looking down, a blood trail of footsteps went all the way to the open hatch. His expression was stoic with blood shot eyes looking at them.

"…!?" Misato and Ritsuko said looking at him with frightened eyes. The closer he got to them, the more they felt the need to step back. Their insides kept getting tighter and tighter. Hearing brisk footsteps to their left, they glanced over to see Ayanami looking only at him with her normal expression. Asuka came toward them but rounded around him to be near Misato. She folded her arms in front of her looking uneasy at him.

"Greetings," the male pilot said bowing a little.

"Ikari…are you feeling alright?" Rei asked. They saw him bring his hands to his face and slowly closed his eyes. He began to gentle rub the back of his hands on his eyes.

"I believe so…for now," he said as small amounts of red were staining his hands.

"…!?" Misato and Ritsuko said with wide open eyes. The blood streaks down him were gone as well as his blood foot trail from the entry plug. The medic team came out then blinked in surprise to see the pilot at the other end of the catwalk. They started walking forward to the group with confused faces.

'…what…what is going on?!' the Major thought bewildered at what she saw and lightly scratched the side of her head.

'…' the doctor thought closing her eyes and taking deep breathes. '…I'm just tired…I'm just…very tired.'

"Is there anything else that is needed Miss Misato?" Shinji said putting his hands to his side. His eyes were closed with smears of blood on them as well as his hands.

"We are going to the medical room for examination. Especially you Shinji."

"Very well."

"You two come along as well," Ritsuko stated turning around and leading the group.

Misato pointed at two medics to take the sides of the Third Pilot. Looking at the security guards, she told them to stay behind the group and keep an eye out. Nodding, the group moved forward to the medical room. While walking there, the two medics that were standing beside the male pilot started hearing things. Every time they looked in the direction of the sound, there was nothing there. Ignoring them, it became harder when whispers were being heard. Oddly, no one else was hearing them.

When the group reached the medical room, Maya was waiting outside with a clipboard and other documents. She was about to ask Ritsuko something when she saw the doctor motioned her to be quiet. Nodding, she turned to see the Third Child with smeared blood over his eyes and hands. The faux blonde pulled gently on the technician's shoulders to get Maya out of her stupor and follow her. Everyone entered the large medical room with one security guard inside and outside the door.

"…" Shinji said hearing that everyone was not near him in the large room. The NERV staff was to his right as the medic team was on his left. Each were either shuffling papers or getting something out of bags. With his eyes closed, it felt very familiar to him. Almost that it had happened before. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end.

"Dr. Akagi…may I wash out my eyes?" he asked calmly.

"Go ahead," she said and told a medic to escort him to the eye wash station. Hearing a person step closer to him, the male pilot slowly turned to the washing station at the wall behind him. The medic asked if he needed help with operating it, the Third Child politely declined. Slowly stepping toward it, Misato fidgety watched him. His murky atmosphere was stronger than normal making her feel uneasy. Asuka stood near her and wanted to leave.

"…" Rei stood by feeling uncomfortable with so many people around. It prevented her from wanting to converse with the male pilot. Seeing that the medic team had prepared everything they needed, she glanced over and blinked in surprise.

'…they…are going to restrain him? Is he already…' she thought looking back at him with anxiety building.

"…" Shinji said feeling the eye wash station. Removing the cover caps for the nozzles, he heard giggles coming out of it in demented tones and pitches. Feeling his right eye twitch, he pressed the leveler to allow water to flow. He felt the cold water hit his face until it reached a warm temperature. Opening his eyes a little, he began washing out his eyes.

"…!?" everyone in the room said seeing blood shooting out of the eye wash faucets.

The male pilot pressed the lever a little more making a metal squeak as more blood flowed out and showered into his eyes and head. Sprinkles and gushes of blood hit the ground around as the Third Child continued to wash his eyes out with the red liquid. Watching in flabbergasted silence, he washed his eyes for several seconds. With another metal squeak, the blood flow lessened to nothing. Seeing him straightening up, his face was coated with blood as it dripped heavily down his plug suit. Blinking a few times, he opened his eyes.

"…" Shinji said slowly turning toward them and blinked again. Walking back to be in the center of the large spread out group, they all looked apprehensive and leaned back as he passed by. Standing in his previous spot, he faced both the Major and the doctor.

'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?' Misato screamed in her head as she felt fear gripping her quickly.

Maya was behind Ritsuko and held the clipboard up to her face. The top part of it covered her quivering mouth. She was looking at the male pilot frightened and shaking a little. Asuka hid behind the Major and was apprehensively staring at him. Rei felt alarmed and was trying to process why these things were occurring. Ritsuko lightly put a hand on the lavender woman's shoulder and slowly moved to her ear. Whispering something very carefully, the doctor had an alarmed look on her staring at the Third Child. Slowly nodding her head, the Major tried clearing her throat a little.

"S-S-Shinji?" Misato called quietly and stammered a little. Both of his dark magenta eyes moved slowly toward her and blinked. Despite seeing the natural color of his iris, everything else still completely bloodshot.

"Yes Miss Misato?" he asked calmly. Though he cleaned out his eyes, he could only see shapes and colors. His vision was cloudy with a hue of red toward everything. It was like being in a dense fog with a strong light reflecting color through it. Despite not seeing clearly, he could feel who was around him. His eyes stung and still felt itchy, but he didn't react to the sensations.

"…your…" Misato said carefully and swallowing slowly. "Your eyes still…look like hell."

"So, you have noticed," Shino stated with a smirk. Everyone blinked and recoiled at seeing a brown eyed adult version of the boy standing where the other one was. Blinking again, only the male pilot was there.

"…!?" Asuka stated remembering that one evening at the apartment.

She started to shake. Her face faltered seeing Sno where Shinji was. The occupants of the room saw a spiked haired version of the male pilot smile mischievously at them. He shrugged his shoulders. When they blinked again, it was the dark magenta version. However, all the blood on him was gone. He had mild bloodshot eyes with a dripping wet face of water.

"…Ikari?" Ayanami asked quietly feeling apprehensive of the atmosphere in the room. It was getting colder, murkier, and dark. Shinji blinked and his eyes changed to cobalt blue.

"What's up Rei?" Shonj stated then couldn't stop himself from giggling out loud. The figure glitch and morphed back to the stoic version. Vibrating in a frenzy for a second, it started to change again.

"What…what is going—!?" Ritsuko started to say when an adult Ikari with green eyes and glasses cut her off.

"On?" Shoji stated with a small chuckle looking at her. "Oh, nothing much…maybe a little bit of mischief."

Everyone recoiled at the adult version that looked similar to the Commander. They blinked to only see the male pilot stoically looking back at her. Strangely, his bloodshot eyes were almost gone. His eyes looked just irritated as if he had been rubbing them. The security officer rubbed his eyes quickly wondering if he was past the point of being tired. Opening his eyes, he saw another version with silver eyes grinning at one of the woman officers.

"Lt. Ikubi," Shinzin stated with a grin causing her to jump and gasp. He uttered a light laugh seeing her reaction as well as the other people in the room. Adjusting his glasses, he gave a smirk that looked similar to the Commander's. However, it looked sadistic and evil.

"Are you all feeling well?" Shinji asked them with a stoic expression and tone. Everyone blinked and saw the male pilot standing in the same spot and looked fine. There were no bloodshot eyes, no eeriness, no murkiness, no blood anywhere, or coldness. Instead, the ventilation system and the computers in the room were the only sounds they heard.

"…?" everyone said still no sure what just happened.

"Is something wrong?" he asked again with a blink. When he received no answer, he slowly moved his eyes to each person in the room. All of them veered back a little when his gaze came upon them. Asuka looked out of sorts and was giving him the same fearful expression. Ayanami looked frozen and locked in a state of being alarmed and very confused.

'…C…o…M…e…H…e…R…e…M…y…S…e…E…d,' the evil voice stated in his mind. Internally bowing, he turned toward the security guard at the door. Walking to him, he stopped in front of him and looked up with his eyes only. Seeing the man tense up and reach for a hand on his firearm, Shinji blinked and bowed a little to him.

"Excuse me sir. May I pass through?"

"…?!" the security guard said blinking. He was not understanding what was going on or what was happening. He felt someone tugging on his right arm a little. Glancing to his right, he saw a female version of the pilot. The medic team just stared in bewilderment. Misato, Ritsuko, Maya, Asuka, and Rei looked at her with wide eyes and a parted mouth.

"Could you scoot a little this way. Pretty please?" Rana said sweetly with a bright smile. Everyone felt goosebumps at the drastic aura difference from her and the aspect that she was grabbing and pulling the security guard's forearm to her.

"…" the guard said speechless. He had a thousand mile eye stare as he slowly walked forward away from the door. The aspect that the female version was actually pulling him was flabbergasting. Shinji stepped in front of the door and hit the open button. The door opened to reveal the other security guard's back. He turned around and saw that no one was in front of the door; however, he saw many bewildered and disturbed faces. Upon entering through, he saw many of the room occupants look back and forth between him and the space in front of the door.

"What's the matter?" he asked looking a little unnerved from their hard staring and expressions. The door closed and made a clank when it met the doorframe. All saw the female version vanished. It caused the other security guard to recoil back and rub his eyes frantically.

"You didn't see Pilot Ikari walk out?" Misato asked with disturbed wide eyes.

"What? No. I saw no one in front of me when I walked in. There is no way out of this room except this door and the vent ducts," the security guard stated.

'…I…I don't understand…' Rei said blinking and feeling her brain grinding and hurting to understand what was going on. Shaking her head, nothing was making sense. Feeling a combination of fear, frustration, anxiety, and a small yearning to comprehend, she quickly headed to the door and opened it.

"R-Rei!? Wait!" Misato stated with fear seeing the First Child exit the room. Ayanami looked at something to her right and stepped in that direction. The door closed before the Major could get to it. Slamming the button, it opened again. She got out and looked right. Ayanami was walking quickly towards the Third Child as he was heading towards a hallway.

"Ikari," Rei quietly called seeing him stop. She stopped as well. He was in front of a hallway that stretched out some distance before it changed direction. They were about a few meters apart from each other. Misato heard the others come out of the room as she quickly headed toward the First Child. As the Major got closer, the evil and menacing aura got stronger. It was emitting from where Shinji was.

"…" he said slowly turning around in his plug suit. "Yes Miss Ayanami? Is there something I can do for you?"

"…" Rei opened her mouth when two hands were felt on her shoulders. It was the Major as she was looking tense and sweating from her forehead. The other personnel stood further away from them. Shinji blinked and heard his voices talking as one.

'They have abandoned you…'

'…like all the others…'

'…they only bring more pain…'

'…more suffering…'

'…more agony…'

'…more death…'

"…" the male pilot said blinking.

"Shinji," Misato said seeing his eyes move toward hers. Feeling her nerves on edge, she slowly reached out her hand toward him while keeping a hand on Rei's shoulder.

"Please come here. Let us help you."

"…!" the Third Child said as his pupils went small.

The medic team changed to doctors and other medical professions with featureless faces. The adult women turned into the adult sister with no facial features. The female pilots turned into the teenage sister with no parts on their faces. However, all of them were smiling crookedly at him. The environment around him became darker as if an eclipse was occurring inside the open space. The walls turned into various parts of a hospital as well as hallways of a mansion.

"…" Shinji said feeling his heart and pulse beat quickly. After hearing the voices mocking him, he forced himself to calm down. Slowly blinking, the faceless group of adult and teenage sisters remained. He felt his fingers slowly close into fists then opened them. The cartilage in them creaked and popped.

'…heeeeeeee…do-Do-dO-DO THEY WANT-WANT-WANT-WAAAAANNNNNTTTTTT…t…o…pLaY…PlAy…P…l…A…Y…play-play-play-pl-pl-pl-p-p-p-p-p…' the evil voice faded in and out ending with heavy wide blade dragging on the ground.

"Excuse me. I have an errand to attend to," Shinji said after bowing a little to them. Turning around, he began to walk to the hallway.

"Pilot Ikari!" Misato shouted in fright feeling the evil presence continuing to grow. "As the standing commanding officer of this base, you are hereby placed under hospital arrest! Lay on the ground now!"

The medical team only took one step forward and froze with fear. Something ominous was emitting from where the Third Child was standing. Suddenly, they noticed that the lighting down the hallway started flickering out. From the far end and heading toward where the male pilot was standing, it was getting darker and darker to see down it. When the beginning light of the hallway flickered out, the ceiling light above Shinji flickered a little from time to time. However, it stayed on while going off and on randomly.

Everyone started to hear things. Sounds were emitting from the walkway in front of the male pilot. Voices from various ages, gender, tones, and pitches were saying various things and mumbling a lot. Morbid silhouettes were seen scurrying down the hallway. Pops and smacks were heard along with various breathing. A thick tension of horror was building in front of the Third Child as he still hadn't turned around. Misato stepped back and pulled Rei; however, the First Child stayed where she was. About to whisper to her, the darkness in the hallway suddenly became illuminated from something more sinister.

As if something revealed to them, the entire hallway was littered with black-red eyes of various shapes, sizes, and dimensions. They occupied the floor, the walls, and the ceiling. Some were next to each other while others overlapped one another. There were eyes as big as a person and small ones the size of a softball. All the eyes were staring at the group behind the Third Child. The flickering light above him gave weak illumination down the hallway. They could see black ooze and blood filling the gaps between the eyes. Various things slithered or crawled around everywhere making many hissing and growling sounds. Something very close to Shinji sounded like it was eating something very wet.

The view caused one medic person to immediately turn around and shake uncontrollably. The entire medic team took a slow step back as they looked down in the hallway in terror. Ritsuko, Maya, and Asuka felt their legs grow weak as they sat on the floor in horror. Misato looked terrified as she froze in her place.

Rei was slightly shaking from the large amount of fear that she felt. It triggered the memory that was suppressed from the social visit of Shinji to the apartment. Despite feeling disturbed from the images of the memory, she glanced at him. He wasn't shaking or showing signs of fear. Figuring that this was another illusion, she tried to collect herself. Something sounded that made her blink and look at him closely.

"…?" Rei said thinking that she heard the male pilot's voice. She was about to whisper when all the sudden, an army of distorted and deranged individuals spoke. One after another, they became louder and louder reeking of madness.

"u-n-d-e-r…w-h-a-t…c-h-a-r-g-e?" "u…nnnnnnnddddder…what-t-t-t-t…ch-ch-ch #$^ &arge?" "UnDeRwHaTcHaRgE?" "u…n…d…e…r…w…h…a…t…c…h…a…r…g…e?" "UNDER!-UNDER!-UNDER!-UNDER!" "UNDER-WHAT-CHARGE?" "…what…CHAR-AR-AR-AR-ARRRRRRRRGE?" "UNDER…w-W-w-What…CHARGEEEE$%* EEEEEE?" "cHaRgE…UnDeR…wHaT?" "what…UN-un-UN-un-UNDDDDDDDDER-CHARGE?" "under…WHAT-WHEN-WHERE-WHO-WHY!?" "under…what…charge?" "un#$^ #$der…WH #%$ #%&AT…ch$%&($ arge?" "under…WHAT…charge?" "COMMMMMEEEEEE#$^$#JOINMY$ &^$^$SEEEEEEDDDDSSSSPATH!"

"…!?" the group said shaking and quivering in horror hearing the familiar evil and menacing voice. It shouted from the bowels of the hallway with monstrous distortion. It caused their insides to quiver from how much it gripped their very concept of fear.

"…" Shinji said taking a look at the surrounding grotesque infestation. Just blinking at everything, the dark creature that was eating the insides of a small looking human didn't bother him. Glancing back at the people behind him, they were the same faceless and crooked smile doctors and sisters.

"…" he said bowing his head a little to them. Looking back forward, he walked into the hallway being swallowed by the darkness. All the sudden, an army of screams were heard. Most of them were young children that sent icy chills down the group's spines. The large chorus bent their pitch into a shrill so loud it was ear piercing. Everyone plugged their eyes to block out the sound and grimaced as it continued getting louder and louder. The last scream sounded older and very familiar.

'Ikari!?' Rei thought looking up at the hallway. Her eyes widen to the size of saucers. Slowly everyone else did the same. The hallway was back to what it looked like with all the lights on. There was nothing wrong with it and the male pilot was nowhere to be seen.

"…what…what the heck is he?" Misato asked herself still shaking and breathing hard. She looked lost at the hallway. Minutes upon minutes trickled by as the group slowly were able to calm down and unfreeze themselves from fear. The Major felt cold sweat still on her back and forehead as she looked back at the others. Seeing that everyone was relatively alright, she noticed the Second Child still shaking.

"Asuka?" Misato said softly going toward her.

"Its…a mind…trick," Asuka muttered and slowly stood up. She looked at the Major with a forced amused smile. Her eyes looked disturbed still.

"That psycho idiot…he…he just did a mind trick…right Misato? All of that was just a stupid illusionary magic trick."

"…" she said opening her mouth then closing it. Blinking, she gave a fake small smile.

"Of course."

"What is the command Major?" Ritsuko asked helping Maya stand up. The doctor wasn't shaking as bad as the technician was. The lavender woman blinked then went to a wall intercom. Pressing the overhead function, she picked up the phone and spoke into it.

"This is Major Misato. All security personnel, be on guard and apprehend the Third Child. Tranquilize on sight. He is heading toward sector 4-3. I repeat. All security personnel, be on guard and apprehend the Third Child. Tranquilize on sight. He is heading toward sector 4-3," she stated then hanged up the phone. Looking behind her, she saw relatively everyone in the group relax a little. The First Child looked surprised at what she ordered.

"Don't worry Rei. Capturing Shinji is not because he is in trouble. We want to help him before he hurts anyone else."

"…okay…" Ayanami said quietly then looked at where the male pilot was last standing. Despite the dying down fear and horror, the helpless feeling came again. It made her grimace as she walked behind the group.

Splitting up, the medical team went back to their facility building and the bridge staff went to the command center. The female Eva pilots went to a nearby locker room to change. As they entered, neither of them said anything to each other. Asuka changed quickly and left leaving Rei behind. Slowly changing out of her plug suit and into her school uniform, she still felt the emotions of wanting to do something for the male pilot. Hearing the sound of a muted locker close, she blinked.

'Is Ikari…' Rei thought and quickly finished. Quickly exited the female locker room, she pushed the male locker room door open and froze.

"…!?" she said with a scared expression.

"…" the dark clone said standing in front of the door on the other side. It was grinning viciously at her with its black-red eyes squinting at her. As it bore at her, it hissed softly at her as it slowly went down through the floor. Only its eyes continued to look at her as its entire body and head disappeared.

"…?!" Ayanami said blinking feeling that the evil presence was fading away. After calming down her nerves, she wondered about the locker that sounded. Thinking about entering, someone forced her to stop.

'You enter…I will black you out…again,' her second self stated sternly.

'…I…I want to talk to him,' Rei protested. She was shaking a little and clenching her hands into fists with trepidation.

'You cannot…he is gone,'

'…no…he responded to me…he—'

'Why are you resisting?…your mind, your body, and your instincts…all state stay away,' it asked.

'…?' Ayanami thought feeling her mouth part open a little. As much as she was trying to figure out a reason why she was, nothing came to mind. There wasn't a logical reason for her to continue with what she was trying to do. In all respects, Asuka's behavior and actions to the development of the Third Child were sound. It was her that was being illogical.

'…if what I am doing is illogical,' she said then felt a mild painful sensation in her chest. Looking down, she put her left hand over the organ that pumped her blood through her body.

'…that means my heart is leading me…how can it do that?'

'You should not…follow its instincts…they are unnecessary…they do not serve a purpose.'

'…but…' she thought clenching her blouse where her heart would be. Ayanami felt her fingers were trying to claw it from feeling the sensation gripping her. '…it feels wrong…to leave him…I don't understand.'

"Status update" Misato stated coming back to the bridge. Ritsuko and Maya were following from behind and got to their position and station.

"Security personnel have been deployed in sector 4-3 as well as neighboring sectors and levels. No word or sighting on the Third Child," Shigeru stated.

"How about heat sensors?"

"Last heat signal was sighted going toward sector 4-3, a locker room, then to an auxiliary room before," Makoto stated.

"Heat signals get lost going into that room. Have security personnel occupied that room yet?"

"Affirmative. However, they reported no one was inside."

"Is there vent ducts in the auxiliary room?"

"Only a couple."

'Damn…that means he could have gone in any of them,' the Major thought thinking of what to do next. A radio buzzed to life.

[Security Check Point sector 2-7. Male teen spotted walking toward the main floor level. Heading in my direction] the security guard reported. Makoto typed in the sector and brought up the security cameras. Popup windows came on the main screen showing three views. One was looking down at the main floor. Another was from the security checkpoint where the security guard was standing. The last one was from the opposite side of the level.

"Security personnel. All neighboring sectors report to sector 2-7," Misato ordered after pressing an intercom.

[Roger] came the response. The bridge watched as the Third Child entered the floor level and walked toward the security guard. He stared at the guard who had a tranquilizer gun out and pointing at the male teen.

[Third Child. Cease your advance and lay down-!?] the security guard stated when he saw the male pilot shake in place while continuing to walk toward him. He then suddenly exposed with a large bloody burst. The man recoiled back a little and saw that there was nothing left of the Third Child. No limbs or inners littered the ground. Just blood splattered far and wide from the explosion point.

[…what…what just happened?!] he asked shocked and confused.

"…?!" the NERV bridge crew said blinking in surprise from what they saw. A sudden sound was heard from Maya's monitor as she looked at it. It was an indicator of detecting the Third Child. Gasping, people turned to her.

"Maya? What's wrong?" Misato stated still shocked from what she saw.

The technician pulled up a new popup window. It showed the parking garage with a vent duct with grating. A dark silhouette was behind it. It started hitting it a couple of times. The last whack knocked out the grate as it clanged onto the asphalt below a few feet. Crawling out, the silhouette hanged out from the vent a little. It let go and landed on the ground. A single shoulder strap backpack was seen as Shinji slowly turned around to be viewed. His expression was stoic with murky dark magenta eyes.

"Third Child spotted in parking garage," Maya stated perplexed.

"…" Misato said blinking and trying to process what just happened. "…what?…"