Chapter 30: The Last Fragment

No lights came out of the hole in the ground. There was a ladder fixed to the manhole wall. Standing over it and looking down, nothing but darkness showed. However, a wave of rancid came out.

"Smells like road kill," Rayne said holding her nose.

She noticed Shinji was not bothered by the smell. Remembering the body-clean up at his home, she shivered wondering if it was the same down there. He holstered his gun and started descending down. Touching her headset, she called in for back-up. Getting a reply back and the time of arrival, she holstered her pistol. Seeing the boy's head get swallowed in the darkness of the manhole, she started her descent.

Going down, nothing could be seen. Both couldn't see their own hands or the walls that were in front of them. Only the sounds of their feet hitting the steps echoed. She heard him slow down to her pace. About 30 seconds went by until Shinji's footsteps stop.

"Floor," he whispered up.

Rayne looked down, she could see light that outlined his figure. She reached the ground and grabbed her pistol again. Looking around, they were in an empty room with swing doors to a hallway. The light was coming down at the other end. The only problem was the rotten smell was stronger than before. She also noticed that she could see her breath.

'Why is it so cold?' she thought. While scouting around the room, she rubbed her arms to warm up a little. Shinji walked to the swing door quietly. Pushing one open ajar, he peered in. Pulling his head back, he pushed it fully open. He walked out a little then held the door open for her. Looking at him and seeing his head turn, she could see his eyes take the gloomy shine again.

"Clear," he said calmly.

Nodding, she stood up and headed toward him. Pointing her pistol forward, she looked out in the hallway. With little light, she could see there were no doors, windows, or ventilation shafts anywhere down the hall. Walking forward, he closed the door quietly behind them. Going down the hallway, only their soft footsteps were echoing.

The smell was getting worse to the point of having rotten corpses around. The temperature was severely dropping to winter temperatures. She spotted red frost on the hallway door windows at the end. When both stopped at the doors, Rayne had to turn gagging from the smell. Pulling the ski-mask off, she put a hand over her mouth.

She couldn't get use to the rotting flesh smell out of her nose. Hearing his footsteps continue, he pushed one door ajar. A freezing breeze of death came through. Rayne fell to her knees gagging more from the intense smell. A small memory of being around large dead bio-machines of some sort came in and out of her mind. Bile began to rise in her but she pushed it down.

'Come on, you've done this before,' she thought sternly to herself and pounded a fist into her right thigh. The stinging helped take her mind off things. She turned to see Shinji still looking at her. He remained impassive and motionless. It gave her the creeps that he was not bothered by the smell.

"I'm ready," she spoke quietly standing up.

"Very well," he replied quietly.

Opening the doors revealed something that gave her the shakes as stomach fluids started to rise up her throat. Both walked and stared into a dim lit operations room that looked like a human meat freezer. Blood smeared across the walls while objects such as scalpels, wrenches, tables, sinks and rope were drenched in the red liquid. Many corpses hanged from the ceiling with their skins paling from the frosty temperature.

Some were hanging from the neck while others hanged from their wrists or upside down. All the dead bodies had a long gash on their backs. The operation of ripping their spines out seemed quick and painful. Given the tortured look on some of the corpses' faces, they were awake during the removal. The amount of blood that spilled from them and onto the floor had frozen over in spots.

Rayne stared in horror at the carnage in both the air and at her feet. Corpses littered the floor. Some were fully intact while others were worse. Decapitation, mutilation, cut opened, dismembered, skinned, smashed in, ripped open...the list of fatalities went on and on. Cold blood filled the open spaces between the bodies turning the concrete floor into a dark reddish-gray pool.

She covered her mouth with her hand as her stomach contents were in her throat. However, what was in the middle of the room pushed her over. A large pile of human limbs in the center of the room was seen. The aura from it made her pull her hand away and hurl heavily into a ripped open chest of a dead man. Everything around her made her feel immensely weak.

"..." the female officer commented.

Spitting the remains of her bile, she stood up. Feeling a strong wave nausea, she backed up and fell onto the dead floor. Sitting up quickly from getting goosebumps all over, she slowly looked at Shinji. Her eyes widen as he stood there emotionless in front of a hanging corpse. Its female face was half blown away by a shotgun blast.

"..." the Eva pilot spoke.

The sight in front of Shinji didn't cause any disturbance to him. He looked down and couldn't see his feet. They were covered with bodies and limbs hacked off their owners. He heard Rayne puke a large amount and was trembling. He was about to ask her something when rustling came from the center. Whipping out his pistol at the ready, he stood behind a hanging body for cover. The pile of limbs in the center began to bulge when a man popped out and shoved some up in the air.

"Ahh, nothing like a day swimming in the sea!" he expressed cheerfully with his arms up in the air. He heard someone hurling and turned to the direction of the sound. The man saw a young woman covered in black on her hands and knees.

"Come here sir," a voice impassively called to him.

He didn't know where the voice was but heard a click of weapon. Complying, he kept his arms up and walked over the dead bodies. A small enjoyment came from feeling them on the bottom of his feet. When he passed the last hanging body, he saw the woman struggling to stand. The sight made him smirk and started to put his hands down.

"Keep them up sir," the same voice stated somewhere from behind. Putting his hands back up, the woman fully stood up. He could see that she was overwhelmingly disturbed. The orange eyes, though unique, told him clearly that the woman was a bit weak at heart.

"Who are you sir?" a male teen voice behind him asked.

"He's…Rob…Tennsuki," Rayne labored her breathing. Get enough air in her lungs, she scowled fiercely at the stark-naked middle-aged man.

"And who might you two be?" Rob asked smoothly.

"You are under arrest for illegal actions across the nation and your macabre hobby!" Rayne barked. His chuckle turned to a laugh which earned him swift kick between his legs by the woman. He continued to laugh with a slight numbing in his groin.

"Castrated," Rayne commented quietly. Shaking her head, she pointed her pistol at the man's face. She really didn't want to deal with this inhuman man anymore and took one step back.

"What's the matter? Do I scare you?" the man asked. He slowly turned around to look at the person behind him.

It looked like a male teen in a suit. His smile dropped a little as he studied the boy's face. Something of recognition occurred on his face that made him jerk back suddenly. Unable to keep his footing, he tumbled over the bodies on the floor. Looking back at his face, the boy only moved his dark magenta eyes as the mob boss expressed shock. Rayne froze seeing him shaking and pointing at the boy.

"H-H-H-How t-t-the hell a-are y-y-you still a-a-a-alive!?" he shouted stammering madly.

Rob looked frantically around him and found the light switch. Flicking them, all the lights in the room turned on. When he saw the whole image of the boy and knew who it was, he started to have trouble breathing. Rayne looked back at Shinji who still held an impassive face pointing his pistol at the man. She concentrated heavily on his face instead of the numerous corpses around them.

Shinji looked at the man till his vision started becoming static. Suddenly, a large scar on his back burned painfully. The two others saw the teen's eyes shrink tremendously small as he started to tremble in place. Flashbacks ripped through his mind like a hailstorm. A faceless man splashed some strong acid on a child's back forcefully. The screaming, the blood pouring from the boy's mouth, and the murderous laughing in the background was relived.

"…" the pilot reacted grabbing his head and began thrashed around. Without warning, he was growling painfully and dropped his pistol on the ground. The mobster saw his chance to escape. Turning around and about to run, he stopped when a cold barrel was shoved at his temple.

"You aren't going anywhere bastard," Rayne stated gravely.

"YOU FOOL! WE HAVE TO LEAVE NOW!" the frightened, paled man screamed in her face.

"Shut your face," the officer retorted pushing the barrel harder in the mobster's temple. She had never seen a man so scared that he started crying before. Glancing over at the male pilot, he was now covering his eyes while shaking all over.

"..." Shinji groaned harsher. More flashbacks from the past played through his mind on fast-forward. All he saw, felt, smelled, heard, and tasted in the images fed into his mind and senses. All the pain was relieved tenfold in mere seconds. Even breathing felt like thousands of needles being inserted on the inside.

As if his vision started to be tinged with red, something clicked in his mind. It brought the subconscious image of the hospital hallway. Static occupied his vision again for a second till it showed two doors directly across from each other. One was the pulsating blood drenched door and the other was completely webbed cracked.

Sounds of them unlocking echoed throughout the long hallway. All the voices in his head scattered when the doors slowly opened and creaked loudly. Uncomfortable silence came as the blood from the one door started flowing faster. Suddenly, something evil and vile burst through them and rushed down the hallway. The double doors to his consciousness exploded as a dark cloud spread through his mind in a rush.

"...?" the Third Child voiced. Slowly, he felt himself losing to a vaguely familiar voice. Everything around him started to become chaotic. It was as if something morbid had rapidly infested his thoughts and actions.

"...!?" Rayne and Tennsuki reacted with fright.

They saw the boy suddenly stopped shaking. Unnervingly, blood was slowly dripping out of his hands from covering his eyes. Slowly removing them, he stood up and looked up at them. His eyes return to normal size, but the color changed. The sclera was darker, his irises were redder, and his pupils were smaller. Insanity was growing on the teen's face. Blood tears were dripping from his wide open eyes and the wicked toothy grin that grew. It made him look almost inhuman.

"…ah…Mr…Rob…Tennsuki," Shinji began in a more deranged voice. "…it hhhhhaaasssss…been-BeEn-BEEN! AAAGGGEEESSSSSS!"

"…!?" Rayne responded feeling his aura change to something menacing. The way that the boy was speaking was as if he was completely insane or a severe druggy. His voice boomed from suddenly shouting monstrously.

"…w-w-w-w-w-h-h-h-h-a-a-a-a-t-t-t-t-t is the mmmmmmmmmmmmmmatter…Mr. Rob…Mr. Rob…Mr. Rob…Mr. Rob?" the boy asked standing still and continuing to grin evilly with wide open eyes.

'It is like a demon possessed him,' Rayne thought feeling her legs shake a little. Glancing at the mob boss, he was trembling in fear. The female officer saw steam coming from him and moved a little away. Blinking in surprise, Rob defecated himself.

"P-p-p-p-please…d-d-d-don't k-kill m-m-me," Tennsuki whimpered. Both he and Rayne jumped for hearing sickening cartilage cracking in front of them. The Third Child still had the same demented expression as he stretched his neck to the left. However, it looked beyond what a normal person could do.

"What's this? What's this? Are you sure you want to do that Mr. Rob! It be the greatest pleasure to do so! Even the woman would agree!" Shinji spoke in a growling distortion. His eyes slowly moved toward the female officer. "…Y…E…S…!?"

"…!?" Rayne answered looking at the boy in terror. Shocked from how vicious he raged at her, she only slowly nodded her head.

"…" the boy blinked his eyes separately.

Slowly, he moved them back to the cowering form of the mobster. Immediately, the boy made two fast lunging steps. Before the two could react, the pilot was in front of the gang leader. Thrusting his arms forward, he gripped the sides of the man's head. Increasing the grip to pull the hair out, the Third Child brought him to his face.

"iT wOuLd Be ThE AbSoLuTe EcTaSy To RiP oFf YoUr HeAd AnD eAt YoUr FaCe!" the male teen shouted in evil joy not moving away.

'Oh…my…god,' Rayne thought trembling all over. The fear that the boy was producing overwhelmed her fright of the corpses around her.

"Wouldn't you agree?!" the boy asked squeezing his head more and causing the man to cry in pain.

"WoUlDn'T yOu AgReE?!" he repeated again; however, he changed his voice to sound like a little boy. The man looked wide eye at as Shinji slugged a fist into his face. Rob's nose started to bleed as the Third Child giggled innocently as a small boy. Looking back at the pilot's face, it still had the same menacing grin.

"wOuLdN't YoU aGrEe?!" his voiced shouted in distortion letting go of the man's head.

The Third Child quickly picked up a severed arm on a nearby counter. Violently, he swung it like a baseball bat to the man's head. Rob dropped hard to ground of corpses. The officer didn't move. Powerless came from feeling the intensity of the pilot's savageness and insanity growing. As much as she wanted to flee, she felt petrified in watching the horror unfold.

"W-W-W-W-W-W-O-O-O-O-O-U-U-U-L-L-L-D-D-D-N-N-N-T-T-T!" Shinji screeched at the man.

Dropping the arm, he saw something to his right. Walking to it and greedily picked it up, the grin on his face tugged more. Turning around without swaying, he walked to the mobster that was covering his head. Her eyes widen seeing the teen holding an ax. Watching him forcing the man up and put Tennsuki's chin up, she took a step back.

"WOULDN'T YOU AGREE!?" he screamed at the top of his lungs. With brutish swing at the mobster's neck, the head got chopped. Before the head even hit the ground, blood started flowing out its neck. When the head hit the floor of corpses, it rolled toward the female officer's direction. However, the brutality didn't stop.

"WOULDN'TYOUAGREE-WOULDN'TYOUAGREE-WOULDN'TYOUAGREE-WOULDN'TYOUAGREE-WOULDN'TYOUAGREE!" the boy screeched louder and louder. Relentlessly, he brought the ax up and swung down consecutively at the man's body. Bones and cartilage broke and buckled loudly as the onslaught saw no end. A minute passed as blood, limbs, and organs splattered everywhere.

"...GGGNNNNNRRRR...AAAAHHHHHHH!" Shinji roared swinging the ax down.

Hearing the blade hit the remaining flesh and stick, he slowed his breathing. Blinking both eyes separately again, the teen gazed at what was near his feet. The man was disfigured passed the point of recognition. He kept his toothy wide grin. Slowly moving his eyes to where the female officer was, she was not there. Reducing his grin to a small evil smile, he turned around. Dropping the ax, he picked up the pistol.

He gave evil eyes to all the corpses that were hanging. All of them were staring back at him impassively with empty eye sockets. Walking toward the center, the Third Child looked from the corners of his eyes at the undead. The corpses never blinked or said anything except stare back at him. It was as if he were the center of their void.

"…w...h...e...r...e...a...r...e...y...o...u…m...y...s...e...e...d...s…?" Shinji cooed in an air breath. Not hearing a response, he walked around the large pile of severed limbs in the center of the room. Feeling a presence coming toward him at the entrance, the pilot turned around and grinned. It was the voice with dark magenta eyes.

'I am here sir,' the butler voice reported impassively.

"…j-j-j-u-u-u-s-s-s-t-t-t-y-y-y-o-o-o-u-u-u…" the boy commented in slow motion then blinked. The voice peered around them and saw none of the other voices.

'Appears that way sir.'

"…hehehehe…hahahaha…so it ssseeeeeeeeeemmmmmsssssssss," he said walking in front of the butler voice. Grinning menacing at the dark magenta eye colored figure, it stoically stared back. It showed no emotion to him. Reaching out toward the figure, Shinji placed his hand on its chest.

"…hmmmmmm…I wonder-WoNdEr…" Shinji whispered getting nose-to-nose with the butler voice. It still didn't flinch away or show emotion. "Do you-yOu-YOU? DOYOUWONDERWHATCOULDBEINTHATHEARTOFYOURS!?"

'…'the voice replied.

He was about to answer when the Third Child pierced his hand through its chest. Violently pulling out an organ, both moved only their eyes down. It was the voice's beating heart. It was roughly covered half with red and the other half with black. As blood was dripping out of the hole in its chest, both looked back at each other. Shinji saw the butler presence continued to be emotionless. No pain registered on its face.

"…wonderful…" the teen whispered then shoved the heart back in the voice's chest. Still nose-to-nose with each other, the Eva pilot started laughing joyfully out loud in its face.

"Wonderful my seed…you seem worthy," he stated evilly and unscrewed the silencer. Pocketing it, he put the pistol at the butler voice's temple. "Tell me…do you wish to be free of them?"

'…' the butler voice said blinking. 'If I gave an answer sir, would it make any difference in the end?'

"YOURANSWERIS #$% #CORRECT!" Shinji shrilled deafening loud in its face and pulled the trigger. A pistol fire echoed throughout the room.

Topside, Rayne was back in the warehouse breathing hard and trying to calm down. Her heart was pounding like a jackhammer on full power. She heard about people with the mental disorder but…never that mind altering.

'That wasn't him…That wasn't him…That wasn't him," she repeated to herself hearing distant sirens of her back up coming.

She walked shakily to the front of the warehouse. Finding the control panel, she opened the door. As it rolled up, Rayne recalled vividly his face, his change in tone, his screaming, and his aura. It was scary to know that he could rattle her enough to block out the corpse filled room. Shaking her head vigorously, she tried to clear her mind.

Once the door rolled up, she saw that it was raining outside. The two guards that were at the front of the door were taken out. In the distance, she could see the flashing sirens in front of the buildings. Momentarily, she saw police officers in bullet proof vests running passed the buildings. When they got closer to the door, Rayne could see the Chief in front of the group.

"Rayne, what's the situation?" he questioned saluting to her as police officers gathered at the front.

"…They're…" she saluted but was reluctant to say what she saw.

"They're what?" he asked seeing her face was ghostly white. She just gulped down the bile that built up in her throat.

"Guards are knocked out, leader is dead, and we have multiple corpses in the basement," she reported looking at the ground. Ryu groan but ordered his men to locate the guards and the corpses.

"By the way where is-" he started to say when a distant gun shot went off. The Chief blinked then saw her face become apprehensive rapidly. She turned and bolted toward a manhole between the storage units in the warehouse.

"Hey, where you going?!"

Rayne heard his shout but kept running to the tunnel. Reaching it, she grabbed the ladder and slid down. Hearing officers follow her, she kept going for something else was gripping her mind. Hitting the floor hard, she pushed off and bolted toward the doors. Shoving them open harshly, it made the windows shattered from the cold temperature. She kicked open the last set of doors at the end of the hallway and ignored the fetid smell.

"Shinji!" she called out breathing hard. Nobody was there. A couple of the hanging bodies were swinging side to side a little.

"Shinji, are you here?" she asked the silent room. Officers came and recoiled at the sight and smell.

"Oh my god, what the hell went on here!?"

"I think I'm going to hurl," one said. Turning around, he vomited onto the floor.

"...Rayne, what happened here?" Ryu asked in a nasal pitch plugging his nose. He looked at the pile of meat next to him and saw pieces of a face.

"Who was this unlucky guy?"

"…Rob Tennsuki…" Rayne stated. Going forward, she grudgingly moved piles of limbs away in the center. She failed to see Ryu's or the other officer's shocked gaze.

"Did that Ikari kid do this?" one officer asked looking at the lack of a human body around the carnage.

They didn't find an answer as Rayne moved to the back of the room searching for something. She looked and looked but could only find more dead bodies around. All of them were naked and none of them wore a black suit with a dark red tie. She turned back not noticing a blood spotted ventilation shaft above her head. Ryu noticed her stressed face and the gloom in her eyes.

"Hey, why not you go home? We'll handle the rest" he offered placing a hand on her left shoulder. She raised her eyebrows a little, but seemed completely out of it. It was as if thelife drained out of her a little.

"Man…look at this ax. It's all chipped and cracked. Whoever used this did a hell of a number on the gang leader," an officer observed.

Rayne looked at the drenched ax. She could still hear the pounding and the screaming as she frantically ran away from the scene. Shaking her head, she walked out of the room. Going down the hallway, she climbed back up to the warehouse. Getting topside, she ignored the other officers communicating with each other for more resources while gathering the knocked out guards.

Walking outside in the rain, she started heading toward where her police car was parked. Distant thunder was heard alongside the flashing red lights. Reaching the street, there were several police cars and sounds of emergency vehicles coming. Continuing across the street, she walked into the alleyway from where the operation started.

"…" Rayne spoke looking up at the night sky. Dark clouds had covered the sky as rain continued to pour down. Looking down, lightening flashed in the sky and shadowed the alleyway.

"…!" she reacted jumping in fright seeing the male pilot standing near a dumpster. Her eyes widen to see him bowing to her. Thunder clapped loudly when he came up. His figure was in the shadows, but she could see his face. His eyes were closed and didn't have blood on them.

"…Is that you…Shinji?" she asked glad and scared to see him. He slowly walked toward her and opened his eyes. They were back to the dark magenta color. Rayne sighed in relief and walked up to him. They were a few feet apart. When he spoke, it was that voice again.

"Greetings Miss Rayne, I believe the operation was a success," he began to say noticing her stiffen considerably.

"However, I could not keep my actions to the book. My apologies," he mentioned bowing deeply. He came back up to see her shaking and put on a fake smile on her face.

"…?" he responded when she started to giggle.

"Shinji…who...was that down there?" she asked thinking how weird it sounded.

"Me and Myself."

"…you don't make much sense."

"Forgive me, it was a voice," he corrected as a thunder clap boomed in the night sky. Rain came down heavier as if it was responding to the subject the two were discussing about.

"Is there anything else needed?" he asked impassively ignoring the rain.

"How can you say that after doing that?" she questioned with a hollowed voice. She looked back at him seeing not only his calm face, but the inhumanity that lurked within him.

"Would you like a logical or opinioned answer?" he questioned back calmly. Rayne stared in surprise that the boy wasn't even afraid to tell her the reasons behind his slaughter.

"How can you be so damn calm?!" she shouted confused and frightened.

"It was...a reenactment," was all he said. Doing a small bow, the Eva pilot urned around. Without saying anything else, he started walking away with his backpack on.

"…" Rayne replied finding it hard to contemplate what he said. She didn't know if what he meant was copying what someone did or he repeated something similar from his past. Just the thought that he did this as child made her shiver as the rain continued to pour down hard.

Another lightening was seen flashing the dark sky again followed by a thunder clap several seconds later. Shaking her head, she walked to where her police car was parked down a ways. Reaching it, she entered in the driver side and sat in the seat. As if a heavy weight was taken off her body, she started to relax.

"…" Rayne commented closing her eyes and listening to the rainfall. It was helping her drown out the images of tonight's operation. She also noticed that her breathing became easier the more she listened to the continuous droplets on the car. Once her head felt clear enough to think, she pondered.

'That gang leader was from Shinji's past…now his dead…what did that guy do to him?…Let alone that, why did the mob boss ask why he was still alive,' she thought to herself opening her eyes. Turning on the car, she headed back to the police station before heading home.