Chapter 53: Sabotage to Escape

"…when…how did he show up in two places?!" Misato asked shocked and confused. "Don't tell me he can teleport?!"

"He didn't Major," Ritsuko stated from furiously typing at a free monitor. Her demeanor was equally intrigued and irritated as she continued to type quickly.

"What do you mean?" she asked seeing a database being pulled up to the large screen.

"Maya, refresh the feed of both security camera views in section 2-7 and the parking lot that had the Third Child," the doctor ordered after finishing typing. After the technician did so, the screens went static for a second then to live feed. The camera with security personnel were talking with the one guard that was rubbing his temples. Looking at the area where the male pilot blew up, there was nothing there. No blood was seen anywhere.

"…?" Misato and the rest of the bridge crew said blinking in confusion. Looking at the parking garage feed, the vent duct grating was still on were it was suppose to be. There was no male pilot walking anywhere on that level.

"Rits…" the Major said feeling a large headache building in her head. Rubbing the sides of her head, footsteps were heard coming from her right. Looking back, it was Asuka. She still looked uncomfortable. Turning back around, the doctor's expression was ambivalent. A popup window appeared with a long list of files on them. None of them were labeled other than a number.

"What is this?"

"I would like to know that too, Misato," Ritsuko stated then folded her arms. "Maya, select the first file and bring it up to the main screen. Makoto, look for the live feed of the area the file shows."

"Yes ma'am," both lieutenants stated.

The first file was selected and a popup window occurred. It showed the Third Child walking down the hallway of sector 6-6. A second window appeared showing the live feed of the same security camera. It showed two security guards walking down the middle of the same place. Ritsuko make a couple of inputs on her monitor. A third popup window showed Shinji walking behind the two personnel. Asuka looked confused and was about to open her mouth when soft footsteps were heard to her right. It was the First Child looking at the main screen confused.

"Select the second file and repeat," Ritsuko stated. Doing the process again, the first popup window showed the male pilot standing in an elevator in front of the doors. The live feed screen showed three NERV staff in the same elevator. After the doctor made the same inputs, it combined both videos into one again.

"Again with the third file," she stated again. After going through first six files out of many, it only left the crew still perplexed.

"What is all this?" Asuka asked. "Did someone alter the video feed or something?"

"That's correct," Ritsuko said with a tired face.

"Was it Ikari?" Rei asked quietly.

"Yes."

"…?!" Misato said blinking and feeling her headache hurting. "…Shinji did this?!"

"Yes," Ritsuko stated not looking at them. "He hacked into the MAGI network and implemented a series of codes. They were to play various video feedbacks if certain circumstances were seen in the monitoring system. When and how did he do this, I do not know Misato. There are numerous amounts of places that someone can access a terminal. Though I would like to know why he was able to and no one addressed this prior."

"So what you are saying is…we can't detect him by the security cameras?"

"More or less, yes."

"How big is the video file list?" Misato said seeing the scroll bar being selected. The number of files was massive. After passing the 300th file, Misato said that was enough.

"Let me guess," the Major said pinching the bridge of her nose. "With the amount of files here, he could be anywhere on the base."

"Probably," Ritsuko said glancing at her.

"Is it possible that other videos have him exploding to pieces?"

"It is possible."

"Wait a minute, the guard saw him explode. That would mean he was…"

"He was probably somewhere nearby to have that hallucination."

"…great…" Misato said with a deep sigh.

"Major Katsuragi," Shigeru called from his monitor. "There is a call for you. It's from the Commander."

"…damnit…" Misato said under her breath and tried to ignore the migraine. Going to a terminal phone, she nodded at the bridge tech and he nodded. Picking up the phone, she placed it to her ear.

"Major Katsuragi speaking."

[Report Major] Gendo asked in his usual cold tone. Grimacing at first, she collected herself.

"Angel has been defeated sir."

[Any casualties?]

"No sir."

[I see. Anything else?]

"…" Misato said biting her lip about how much info to give the Commander. Deciding that she would get the ax if she hid any, she proceeded forward.

"There are two, sir. First was the school incident with Pilot Ayanami and upperclassmen," she said not noticing the crew techs and Ritsuko's ears perked up.

[I'm listening.]

"The upperclassmen have a history for sexual harassment; however, all were taken care of before they could do anything to Pilot Ayanami," she said as the crew slightly turned their heads to look at the First Child. She was stoically looking at the ground.

[Who took care of them?]

"Pilot Ikari."

[What did he do?]

"He injured all of them enough to be sent to the hospital. He is suspended from school for three weeks for doing that."

'Three weeks?!' Ritsuko thought in surprised. She was more surprised seeing both female pilots frowned a little from hearing that. The bridge techs kept their ears perked up.

[…] the Commander said blinking. Not having anything to comment about it, he figured he could get the information from the First Child when he got back.

[What is your second, Major?]

"Its…regarding the Third Child…he has become mentally unstable after the Angel battle."

[Is he under medical arrest?]

"I have ordered him under medical arrest…but he resisted. We are currently under a manhunt for him."

[Will you be able to capture and subdue the Third Child?]

"I should be able to with due time Commander."

[…I see…] Gendo said not sounding disappointed. [Given this development, there is little choice left. Continue with the manhunt. If the pilot escapes to the surface, inform the police officers involved to partake in the manhunt as well.]

"Yes sir," Misato said feeling a little relieved that he didn't sound displeased. However, he continued.

[Also, formulate a team and infiltrate the Third Child's home. Retrieve all S-DAT discs including the black tape. Gather anything else that can be of use. Section-2 is at your disposal. Is that understood?]

"Y-Yes sir," she said with mild shock and surprise.

[Good. I want a full report when I get back Major] he said and ended the call. Putting down the phone, Misato breathed a sigh of relief.

"What did the Commander say?" Ritsuko asked.

"Continue with the manhunt. If he escapes to the surface, have the police manhunt him," the lavender hair woman said turning around to face the doctor.

"He also wants Section-2 to raid Shinji's home and recover all S-DAT discs plus anything else of use. Those were his orders."

"…" everyone said in silence. Rei started feeling uneasy about how things have progressed.

"About time we put restrains on that screwball," Asuka said quietly. It was met with silence before Ritsuko cleared her throat.

"Go ahead with your orders Major. I will look into how the Third Child was able to implement this," the doctor said going to her monitor.

While Misato picked up the phone again to get escorts for the female pilots, Ritsuko ordered an archive of data records. It regarded when the male pilot went into a terminal and gained access. The bridge monitors typed the command and used the MAGI computer to speed up the process. The Major put down the phone and looked up on the main screen. A screen appeared and a list was produced.

"…you got to be kidding me…" Misato said looking at the numerous times the male pilot accessed a terminal.

"Looks like he was an explorer," Ritsuko stated seeing the various places listed that he was at. "Maya, narrow the field down to any classified areas."

"Yes ma'am," she said and typed in the command. To almost everyone's surprise, a few files came up. Ayanami blinked and became intrigued. She was able to go into the classified areas though it was off limits to Eva pilots. It gave her more questions to ask him the next time she saw him.

"Argh…this headache just keeps getting worse," Misato said rubbing her head.

"We'll see how small or big it gets. Select the first data record Maya."

The file opened up and showed a video feed of a dark room. At the bottom of the screen showed a micro-scaled version of the entire NERV complex. There was no sound. Slowly from the shadows, a child's face peered from the doorway. The rest of the boy's body came out. He was recognizable; however, there were obvious differences.

"Shinji…as a kid?" the Major stated seeing the boy walk in with a small smile on his face. He had cobalt blue eyes.

"Is this for real?" Asuka asked surprised seeing recorded video of him.

'…if that is what Ikari use to look like…then…,' Rei thought feeling her head starting to hurt from trying to understand and accept what she has seen and now.

"This is a video feed from the past…it's dated over 11 years ago," Maya said from her screen.

Watching, the child walked toward the scaled model and sat on his knees. Looking side to side, he looked down at a floor panel. Pulling at it and grimacing a little, it popped off making him fall backwards. Sitting up with a dazed face, the boy shook his head and placed the panel down to the side. Lying on the floor near the open floor square, he reached in. Sticking his tongue out to the corner of his mouth, he was trying to grab something below.

"It is almost like an entirely different person," Misato said watching the boy's face light up. He pulled out a blue bouncy ball. Maya blinked and looked at her monitor. She saw an icon beep at her.

"Dr. Akagi, the next file is taken at the same place but at a different time."

"Bring it up next to the current one," she said and the bridge monitor opened it. The footage showed it was in the same place as the other video. It had the current Shinji standing nearby the same open floor panel. He was looking down at something to his left. He didn't have anything in his hands.

"This was taken three months ago…wait a minute," Misato said looking at the date and time when the video was recorded. Both the time and date were uncannily the same. Despite the year difference, the milliseconds were identical as the video ran.

"This was a week after I brought him here!"

"…?!" everyone said seeing the child version hold the ball in front of him smiling. He turned to his right and said something. The teen version nodded his head and talked back to where the boy was standing.

"…the kid's imaginary friend…was his older self?" Asuka said out loud.

'His future self…was his imaginary friend? How can the child version foresee the future version…I don't understand?' Rei thought blinking feeling more questions brewing.

"Makoto-"

"Already on it," he said and brought up a third popup window.

It made both videos overlap each other. The viewers watched as the child bounced the ball on the ground into the air in the first video. In the second window, the male pilot brought his hand up and pushed an invisible object down. The third popup video showed that both the child and teen were bouncing the ball together. After a couple of seconds, the boy caught the ball and spoke excited to the imaginary person. Seeing the Third Child nod his head, he held out his hand. The child grabbed the older version's hand and led him to something off the screen. Various lights were seen off screen before the clips ended.

"Move to the next one Maya," Ritsuko stated. Bring up the next one, it showed a terminal in another classified area. The door opened and a NERV staff member entered it.

"What a minute…that's the first spy captured," Misato said recognizing the face.

The crew saw the employee type something on the terminal then pulled out an external thumb drive. Putting it in, he began accessing more of the terminal. Suddenly, the door opened and the Third Child came in. Startled, the spy just turned his head and told the pilot was in an unauthorized area. Without warning, Shinji grabbed the fire ax out of the fire box it was in. Panicking, the spy reached to grab his gun with his left hand.

Shinji took a 180 degree lunge to his right and did an overhead swing down at him. The man's left forearm got chopped off as he expression shock, pain, and terror. Dropping to his knees, the male pilot quickly used the back end of the fire ax to hit the staffer's head. Knocking him out, the Third Child went to the medical supply box on the wall and pulled it off. Setting it next to the man's bleeding out forearm, he worked quickly with the medical supplies and syringes.

After wrapping the injured man's arm and stopping the bleeding, he put the medical kit back on the wall. Leaving the fire ax next to the body, Shinji turned to the terminal. Bringing up his hands to the keyboard, he started typing getting faster and faster. His speed matched Maya's and continued for 20 seconds without slowing down. The crew saw various windows and text was flying across the screen. The video ended. Strangely, the next file began playing without being selected to load. It showed another NERV staffer in which Misato stated that was another spy. He was accessing a classified terminal and inserting an external drive. Shortly after, the Third Child entered.

The employee was quicker than the previous in turning at the male pilot. Shinji walked toward him without stopping. The spy pulled out his pistol when the male pilot moved quickly. He countered the spy by grabbing the man's wrist and twisting it quickly. As the gun fell to the floor, Shinji pulled the man's arm to his back. Cringing at the spy's expression of pain, the man gasped harshly from his arm breaking. Immediately grabbing the man's collar, the Third Child pulled the spy viciously to the terminal. Slamming the male's head on a metal panel right of the terminal's keyboard, the teen didn't stop. Everyone watching cringed more and more seeing the man's face get smashed repeatedly before the Third Child let go. The spy was knocked out with a bloody face.

Again, the Third Child accessed the terminal and typed quickly for 20 seconds before the video ended. There were two files left in which the second to last one was similar to the previous two. Going to load the last file, it was created only a couple of weeks ago.

"Access it," Ritsuko told Maya. The bridge monitor typed it, but an error message came up.

"Access is denied."

"Try it again," Ritsuko stated. The error message came again with a beep. Going to the terminal monitor she was using, the doctor unloaded a fast set of commands on the keyboard. After a few seconds, a new popup window came up.

[Hello…Doctor Akagi I presume] the text read on the screen. Everyone blinked. Ritsuko ignored it and continued trying to find the root of why the last file was not accessible.

[That file…is only accessible by one person] the popup message continued. Playing along, she answered it.

[Who has access to it?]

[Commander Gendo Ikari]

[Why does he only have access?]

[All other files of this kind were terminated. He holds an encrypted code to make the file function.]

[Who are you?]

[A complex code and logic system in MAGI]

[Why were you placed here?]

[Insurance]

[For the Commander?]

[Yes and No]

[Did he program you?]

[No. A member of SEELE did.]

"SEELE?" the Major stated. "That's our overseer company."

[What is in the file?] Ritsuko typed curious and wondering what other secrets are buried.

[I am not programmed to say]

[Does MAGI have the code?]

[Possibly]

[Would you give me a hint of what to look for?]

[The files that you have selected and viewed are your hints. By viewing them, you have activated my programming]

[Were the external drives, loaded from SEELE members, part of the code?]

[Yes. They were updates to the original code.]

[Does the Third Child know the code?]

[Yes. He has accessed the information stored]

[How does he know?]

[That is beyond my computing power and code complexion. I do not have an answer.]

[Does MAGI know?]

[I do not know] the text read before many italics were seen. [I am at the limit of my code programming. If you gain the code, just enter it in this file. If not, this entire conversation will be looped back to the beginning]

"Well that was a lot of help," Misato stated seeing the popup window dialogue close. "How do we go from here?"

"Do your orders that the Commander gave. I will try to unsolved this," Ritsuko stated with a deep sigh.

"Right, right," Misato stated. "Makoto, can you let me know when Pilot Ikari is spotted without the corruption of the cameras?"

"Will do Major," he said nodding turning back to his monitor. Misato turned around and walked toward the hallway to her right. Asuka followed beside her.

"What will ultimately happen to the Third Child?" the redhead asked.

"Once captured, probably placed in solitary confinement in the NERV medical building," the Major said rubbing her temples from the headache that was pounding her head.

"…" Ayanami said looking at the various video windows. The one with the child and teen version seemingly talking to one another kept playing in her mind. Turning to follow the Major and Second Child, she was in deep thought.

'Both of them radiate different auras and personalities despite being the same person…something about the child version of Ikari…seems familiar,' the First Child thought.

A vague remembrance about the past came; however, it was mostly static. She never thought about her past self. Rei only thought of certain events that happened growing up. With memories with the Commander and much more with the Third Child, trepidation seemed to be in the back of her mind. Remembering the evil version that was in the men's locker room, she wondered if the male pilot was actually inside at the time. Convincing herself that she was over thinking again, she continued following with a small amount of apprehension.

The door to the fire stairs opened slowly with the hinges squeaking softly. Poking his head out slowly, Shinji saw no one down either hallway. Exiting and closing the door quietly, he staggered to the wall to his right. The voices were non-stop laughing hysterically and rattling his sense of balance. Reaching the wall for support, he kept stumbling and tripping over his feet. His vision kept swaying and doing barrel rolls. Trying to focus at what was ahead of him, there was a pathway that would lead him to a terminal door. He hoped it lead to the parking garage or outside in the Geo-Front.

Falling to the ground twice, he crawled the rest of the way. Seeing that his vision went black, he estimated that it was a yard or two away. Taking a couple of crawls forward, his head hit the metal door. Ignoring the feeling of blood gushing out of his head, he reached forward feeling the rollup door. Pulling himself up on the nearby handrail, he went to the right side. Knowing the card reader was there, he did not feel it. Taking his card and inserting it where it should be, he heard no audible sound or the door rising.

"…it's open…" Rana whispered and nudged her elbow on his back.

Nodding, he proceeded forward. Hearing the door roll down quickly, Shinji rolled forward. Feeling that he was on asphalt, his vision recovered to see that he was in the parking garage. However, everything seemed to have a radiance of a dark murky yellow. The lights that were on in the car storage facility were glowing with the odd pigment. He struggled to get on his feet and eventually stood up slowly.

Thinking he was recovered a little, he saw his vision blur a bit as fuzzy objects were coming and going. They popped out of the walls, ground, and ceiling. Some of them bounced toward him while others attached themselves to random objects and cars. The one's that attached themselves exploded shortly after causing him to feel the rush of heat, the smell of smoke, hearing the fire cackle, and see the brightness of the explosions and flames.

Reaching a large square pillar, he stopped near it and closed his eyes. He tried deeply breathing and clearing his mind to lessen the bombardment to his senses. It worked the first time when he was crawling through the vent ducts. Now however, it only lessened it a little as his voices continued. Without the black tape to keep them at bay, the male pilot felt himself crumbling physically and mentally on a continuous loop.

"…" Shinji said opening his eyes.

The world was still in the murky yellow tint. Smelling iron, he looked down to see blood on the asphalt. Moving his tongue to the top lip, blood was trickling out of his nose. Blinking with a stoic expression, he continued walking forward to the elevator across the parking lot level. Dodging the bouncing fuzzy bombs, his voices all sounded like they were taking as a chorus.

"What is the matter?"

"Are you dying?"

"Succumbing to your mind?"

"Your time is up."

"You were never meant to last."

"Just another knock off…except worse."

"Lowest of the low."

"Nothing but a drone."

"A fake."

"A copy."

"A defect."

"We shall show you why."

"…" Shinji said stoically looking forward and ignoring his voices. Seeing him halfway to the elevator, his voices pushed something into his mind. A vision crossed his eyes showing the past. It involved a lighter with old dirty rags and sleeping doctors in the overnight stay room. The smells from the flicks from the lighter rushed into his nose filling it with burning fluid from the small container.

Once a flame was produced, the lighter fell to the ground. A fire trail took place as the small flames lined up to the bunk beds where the doctors were resting. Once they made it to be under the beds, blazes of hellfire erupted. Several columns of flames shot up wildly with men screaming in agony. Multiple shadows danced wildly on the walls as the victims desperately tried to extinguish their surroundings of fire.

Shinji smelled the burning flesh of the doctors, the screams of their pain, and the fury of bright colors as it engulfed his entire vision. Sensing something below him, he looked down with his eyes. A younger version of himself with copper red eyes smiled at the sight. The child began to chuckle and dance as the inferno continued to spread.

"…" the Third Child said feeling the intense heat making him start to sweat. Turning around, he started walking away and blinked. He was in front of the elevator. Looking behind him, there was no burning inferno with screaming medical people. The child was nowhere to be seen. Pressing the elevator button, it opened with no one inside. Entering and selecting the ground level, the elevator doors closed and ascended.

When the elevator sounded that it was at the ground level, the doors opened up with sounds of someone breathing heavy and haggardly. Shinji had fallen to the floor and slowly crawled out. He couldn't completely block out the visions or painful memories that his voices were continuously putting his senses through. Slowly and staggering to his feet, he continued forward walking like a drunkard. Feeling his clothes stick to him, he figured he was covered in sweat.

'…I…can't…seem…to…focus…enough…' the male pilot thought feeling his forehead drip with sweat down his face and off his chin. Knowing that he was now "exposed", he had to tread carefully to not be seen. Trying to put on the body lotion in his backpack would be impossible in his current state of mind. Through his sporadic vision changes, he was about halfway through the parking garage while staying close to a wall.

Hearing menacing giggles around him, the voices started poking and inserting sharp needles in his body. Despite being uncomfortable and painful, his vision sharpened greatly. Seeing where the opening exit was, he jogged alongside the wall toward it. About to reach it, movement was seen in the guard post. A security guard came out.

"Halt pilot!" the security personnel shouted. He saw the Third Child look at him with a stoic face and dashed at him quickly. The man hit his ear piece while getting out his tranquilizer gun.

"This is NSG Haul. I found the Third Child in parking lot 2, gro-oompf!," the guard stated when Shinji speared him to the ground. The tranquilizer pistol slide away from his hand.

[NSG Haul. Apprehend and restrain the Third Child.] security personnel in the camera feed room responded.

"Cease and desist pilot!" the guard stated wrestling with the teen. Struggling a bit, the man was surprised how much strength the boy had. After a short tussle, he was able to get him in a headlock.

"I told you to stop pilot! Stop making…this…difficult…" the Haul said trailing off feeling and seeing something very off.

Looking down at the pilot, his arms looked something passed horrible. He only moved his arm a little bit and felt something on the boy's neck that made his skin crawl. Feeling startled and clammy, Shinji wrenched free. Off balance and leaning to far forward, he saw the Third Child quickly turn around. Clasping his hands behind the guard's head, the boy threw a hard knee strike into his chest. Releasing a grunt from the blow and kneeling a little, the teen swung a downward elbow to the back of his head. Haul made a short cry out from the pain before losing consciousness.

[NSG Haul. Were you able to apprehend and restrain the Third Child? NSG Haul! Do you read?!]

"…My…apologies…sir…" Shinji said with wide open eyes bowing to him.

'…go…' the evil voice said in his head.

"…" the male pilot said hearing something behind him. Glancing with wide open eyes, he sprinted in the opposite direction.

'…t-t-t-t-toooooooo…the…ThE…THE StAiRwAy…stairway…s…t…a…i…r…w…a…y…'

"…" Shinji said mad dashing to the car escalator. Something was chasing him as he could no longer control his voices' vision implants.

'…hehehe…heeeeeeee…w-H-a-T-w-I-l-L-you/YoU/YOU!…do-gO-SeEk-SeArCh-CLAIM!' the dark clone screamed at him. It materialized as a black-red eye near the Third Child's head. Reaching the fire stairs next to the escalator, he opened it quickly and slammed it shut. Skipping a step with each stride, Shinji jogged as quickly as he could up the stairs.

'…I have…to…tell…to…show…her…' he thought hearing the door explode below him. Something giggled innocently and loudly.

"DoN'tRuNaWay,LeT'sPlAy!" the figure at the bottom of the stairs stated sweetly. It giggled again then started hopping up the steps one by one.

'…yessssss…run-RU#$%UN! ThEy-THEY-THE REJECTS!…KnOw WhAt CaUsEs YoU…TO COWER AND FLEE!' the evil voice chuckled deeply and evilly. Veins were going outward from the following black-red eye in all direction as it hovered above the male pilot's head. The veins slowly grasped his head and the pupil formed a mouth line. It smiled while pushing itself down onto the running boy's head.

"…!?" Shinji said gritting his teeth and breathing harder from feeling a sharp pain.

When the eye attached itself, it felt as if a giant syringe inserted into his brain. His vision turned into pulsating shades of crimson and black. It reminded him of the black and white TV shows he saw years ago. His hearing changed as well. Instead of the constant mayhem of sounds his voices were producing, the evil voice blocked all of them out. Instead, he would only hear the sounds of people suffering or dying of various ages and genders. A heartbeat resonated in his head as well that matched his pulsating view of the world.

Oddly, the sounds and vision made him calm down a bit to not feel as alarmed and disordered. The immense pain from the stab helped him focus more. Giggles from the figure far back kept getting quieter and quieter, but never faded away. Continuing up the stairs, he used the handrails to launch him faster up the stairs. He was skipping two steps at a time.

Misato was in her office after having NERV personnel escort both Rei and Asuka home. Several minutes had passed by when she hadn't heard anything about a manhunt update. About to address another document, her office phone rang.

"Major Katsuragi."

[Hello Major. Makoto here.]

"Is it good news or bad news?"

[…its bad news]

"…" Misato said with a sigh. "How bad is it?"

[Pilot Ikari knocked out a security guard at parking garage lot 2. He is heading to the surface through the emergency stairs next to the escalator.]

"He's using the stairs!?"

[Y-Yes Major.]

"Are the guards at topside notified of the situation?"

[Yes Major]

"How long will he reach the other end?"

[Based on the camera feed, he should…] Makoto said when he stopped and looked at the main screen.

"Don't tell me…he's topside," Misato thought pitching the bridge of nose.

[Y-Yes…he…]

"Skip it. I can guess what happened to the guards. Thanks for the update."

[Welcome Major. Makoto out]

'Guess the police are needed,' she thought putting her phone down then put it up. 'They would have more manpower, eyes, and connections to do the manhunt than we would at the moment.'