Chapter 121: Silent Contamination
"…?" Kaji said blinking from hearing the statement. Wondering which superior he was talking about, he looked at where he was heading. It was the small open area that he had parked his car in. Following him, he rethought about his statement.
"Superior? There is more than one that is your superior."
"Indeed."
"Is it any of the Commanders?"
"No sir."
"Was it…" Kaji continued as both walked by the small building.
Seeing something out of his peripheral vision, there was another agent. He was sitting and leaning back on the side wall of the structure. His neck had dark red lines in which the wires that strangled him were still around his neck. The sunlight reflected a glimmer of the wires that killed him going into a broken window tightly. Shivering and shaking his head, he turned back forward. Continuing to follow the boy, someone else came to mind.
"Misato?"
"Yes sir."
"She wanted you to save me and bring me to her?"
"There was only the order to…contain you Mr. Kaji. Nothing else."
"Then what is the escorting part? Something that you wanted to do for me?" the special investigator asked as they reached his sports car. Not too far from his vehicle was an unmarked black cargo van. Figuring that was the SEELE agents' vehicle, a quivering thought came to him.
'Wonder where they would have dumped my body after killing me,' the unshaven man thought as he reached for the driver side door. Stopping himself, he saw the male pilot walk passed his car toward the van.
"I will not be able to contain you Mr. Kaji if I don't escort you to her."
"Oh? Why is that?"
"Because there is activated C-4 in your car," Shinji answered going to the driver side of the van. About to open the door, he heard quick footsteps going toward where he stood. Turning his head a little, a semi-panicked Kaji was staring at him.
"You…could have said something earlier…you know?"
"…" the Third Child replied with a slow blink then slowly turned back to the driver side door.
Opening it, he reached in and grabbed what looked like the remaining SEELE operative. Pulling the body out and onto the ground, Kaji cringed hard. It was missing its head as blood continued to ooze out. Only able to look inside briefly, he turned away. There was crimson spilled all over the steering wheel and dashboard as a pungent odor of blood, urine, and excrement filled the inside. Hearing something clunk on the ground, he turned to see the agent's head bouncing and rolling on the ground.
"You know…SEELE will hunt for both of us now."
"Indeed Mr. Kaji."
"Guess that makes us desperados."
"So it seems sir," Shinji agreed as he was pulling on something in the van.
Walking over, he saw the male pilot pull off the panel that was underneath the steering wheel. Unplugging a couple of wires, he reached in further and yanked something out. Handing him the piece that was pulled, it looked like a large node of some kind. There was a red and green light with both of them flashing. Looking back at the boy, he stepped out and closed the door.
"What's this?" Kaji asked seeing the boy walking around to the passenger side of the van.
"A GPS tracker," he responded opening the door then going toward the glove compartment.
"How could you have possibly known where this was?"
"I have an informant," Shinji stated grabbing a couple of items. One was a box while the other was a knife.
"An informant? You aren't talking about someone in your head again?"
"No."
"You mean," he asked surprised as he followed the Third Child toward his car. "There is another spy in NERV from SEELE?"
"Yes sir."
"I see," Kaji said feeling his head growing a migraine. Stopping at his car, the boy placed the box on the roof of his car. Watching him go to the front right tire, he took the knife and started cutting something.
"Is it attached there?"
"…" Shinji said jabbing the knife sideways and pulling on the object. The C-4, in its commonly tapped together construction, came out and was in the boy's hands. Looking at him and seeing the same stoic expression, the Third Child's body was calm and still.
"You've got nerves of steel Shinji."
"Thank you sir," he stated with a small bow. Opening the small box and placing the C-4 inside it, he closed it. Turning around, Shinji gave a hard swinging throw of the C-4 toward the small building. Expecting it to detonate upon impact, the case went through a broken window. Surprisingly, nothing happened.
"…" Shinji said blinking and looking up for a couple of seconds. Turning around, he looked at Kaji and blinked.
"Shall we go Mr. Kaji?"
"Sure," he replied with a small smile as a short gust of wind passed by. Treating it as nothing, he walked over to the driver side as the boy walked around to the other. Opening the doors to his car, both got in.
"My apologies for dirtying your vehicle," the Third Child stated sitting in the passenger seat and closing the door.
"It doesn't matter at this point," he mentioned starting the car. Turning the car around and going back the way he came, he looked in the rear view mirror and saw that everything was still.
"…" Shinji commented looking in the side mirror. He saw that the small building was up in flames with high smoke clouds. His eye twitched a little hearing the dark clone give a creepy and haunting gurgle of a laugh.
At NERV HQ, security got a notification of something activating at one of the many NERV outposts. In checking with a systematic graph and sensors, a capsule was being sent to the base. The leader gathered two other security personnel and stated orders to monitor while he went to investigate. After going down a couple of floors and getting confirmation of arrival, the three found the recovery station for all capsules.
Entering the room, there was no one stationed inside as a couple of machines were whirling to life. Seeing the one port that the capsule will come out of, the three waited with firearms. Hearing the container slow down, it entered the docking area. As the capsule was getting secured being placed upright, the three security members stood in front of it. Pressurization lessened and the glass/metal door opened slowly. Waiting, the person inside began unfastening the harness and was immediately recognized. Assisting the individual out of the capsule, all three stood at attention and saluted.
"Sub-Commander. It is good to see you alive and well."
"Likewise," the older man replied with a salute.
"Do you need medical attention sir?"
"No," Kozo answered and shook his head. "I do not need that now. Is Commander Ikari here today?"
"Yes sir. We shall escort you to him."
"Very well."
Leaving the recovery station, Fuyutsuki followed the lead security member with the other two following slightly behind and beside him. Going up in an elevator to the floor that the Commander was on, they passed by a couple of NERV employees. They expressed relief to see that he was okay and not missing. Acknowledging them and continuing, word spread around of the Sub-Commander being alive, had escaped, and had returned. Reaching a lab room, Kozo followed the lead inside. A couple of heads turned to express surprise.
"Professor!?" Yui reacted surprised and quickly walked over to him. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Other than being kidnapped and interrogated for a couple of days, I am fine," Kozo answered with a small smile at the scientist.
"Was it those old fools?" Gendo spoke after reaching them.
"Yes. SEELE was behind the abduction."
"SEELE? Why would they want to abduct you?" Yui asked.
"Apparently the last Angel attack was not what they wished to happen. The three Units eating the Angel's core was a major concern for them."
"…" the Commander commented pushing up his glasses and looking down in thought.
"Is eating the core suppose to do something for the Units Dr. Ikari?" Fuyutsuki asked curious.
"Hmm…not that I know of. Based on Dr. Akagi's tests and results, there was only a small increase in their power supply."
"Meaning?" Gendo asked.
"The Units can last a bit longer on their emergency batteries. More like 10-15 minutes depending on conditions and activity involved."
"That would provide a tactical advantage."
"SEELE was concerned about all three Units going berserk prior to engaging with the Angel."
"That is still under review," Gendo mentioned putting one hand in his pant's pocket. "Anything else?"
"They wanted to know why Unit-01 is on suspension and that Pilot Ikari is a back-up pilot."
"Did you state why?"
"Other than the reasons you gave me."
"Good," the Commander replied with a small smirk. "How did you escape?"
"Special Investigator Kaji freed me and escorted me to one of the transport outposts."
"I see," he said going back to a neutral expression. "A mole to the end."
As Kaji drove further away from the van, the dirt road ended and a one lane-road came up. He had lit a smoke and was breathing deeply to relax. Glancing at the passenger next to him, the Third Child was holding onto the GPS tracker that still had both lights on it flickering.
"So…is there a location that Misato is at?"
"At the moment…she is at NERV HQ."
"Oh…are you planning on surprising her with me showing up?"
"You can see it that way if you wish sir," he answeref stoically staring forward and blinking.
"You never loosen up, do you?" Kaji stated then saw the boy's eyes slowly move. They stopped at the corners of his eyes then stared. The creepy vibe was growing again due to the amount of blood that was stained on him. Looking back to the road, the main road could be seen up ahead.
"Never mind."
"…" Shinji said slowly moving his eyes back forward. "At the intersection, turn left Mr. Kaji."
"Left?" he stated slowly the car down to a stop at the intersection. Looking to the left, there was little bit of road that inclined. However, there were signs that indicated what lies ahead.
"That way leads to a dead end," the investigator commented looking back at the male pilot. Seeing the boy's head turn to him, a loud muffled pop emitted from his neck a couple of times. Staring directly at him and slowly blinking, Kaji stared back. Taking another drag, he closed his eyes and faced forward.
"…alright…left it is," he responded driving forward and turning left onto the road. Going up at an angle, signs passed by indicating that the end of the road was ahead. It leveled off onto unpaved gravel. Kaji saw that the "dead end" gate that was supposed to be there; however, it was wide open. Slowing down to a stop, he glanced over at the Third Child.
"Continue Mr. Kaji," the boy mentioned staring forward.
Kaji drove to the end of the of the gravel portion till it changed to dirt. Not stopping, he slowly moved and saw that there was a gradual down slope on the other side. Not saying anything, he kept driving down it slowly as the car ride became a bit bumpier. Following the directions given, the vehicle made a gradual and long S-curve around the hill ahead. Once the grade became level, Kaji saw a grass field come up. There was a flattened path that had tire tracks. Reaching them and following in line with them, he noticed how oddly even the high grass was around them. That detailed reminded him of something.
"I think I remember what this place is," he mentioned looking around. As the car continued, it changed eventually from driving on flattened grass to a dirt road."
"It is the area that was covered in the Info-Gave Operation," Shinji informed stoically while rubbing both of his eyes a little.
"…ah…" the unshaven man said feeling a little better from knowing where they were. "So…this was your old place we are heading to?"
"Roughly yes."
"Are we stopping there?"
"No," Shinji answered bringing his hands down from his face.
"Oh, why's that?" he asked as the individual weeds of the grass field strangely moved independently from each other.
Blinking, Kaji saw the small lone building alongside of the dirt road up ahead. Hearing the passenger window rolling down a little, Shinji tossed the small GPS tracker out the window. When he rolled the window up, something immediately splattered on it from the outside. While the Third Child ignored what was on the window, the unshaven man hadn't noticed it. Instead, he was seeing something vile the closer they got to the pilot's old home.
'What the…?' he thought after blinking.
The entire grassland was littered with hundreds of large bleeding stakes in the ground. Every single one of them had people impaled on them from various positions. The light green color of the field was now drenched in crimson. A shine was seen as if it were wet being reflected from the afternoon sun. The scent in the air turned pungent and morbid. Glancing at the small apartment as it went by, his eyes widened with fright. The entire building was completely organic with skin, pulsating with veins, and blood splattering everywhere.
"Keep on the dirt road sir," Shinji mentioned calmly watching his side of the vehicle get closer and closer to the grass field.
"…!?" the special investigator reacted blinking and swerving back to being center on the dirt road.
"…s-sorry…" he said sweating profusely and loosened his tie more.
His insides were turning from what was around him. Feeling clammy and sick, he tried pushing down his fear and continued on the bloody dirt road. Driving on it sounded slick with the occasional loud scrunch. The image of running over someone came to mind from seeing crimson shoot out from under the car from each time he ran over a bump. Clenching the steering wheel tighter, Kaji was hearing loud moans. Daring a glance to his driver side window, the sounds were coming from stakes. Each one had various mouths at the lower base end to the ground.
"What the…hell is all this?" he asked in a panic voiced darting his eyes back forward.
"…what do you mean Mr. Kaji?"
"You mean you don't see all this carnage?!" he stated glancing at him.
His eyes went wide seeing that the Third Child was bleeding tears from his eyes. His dark magenta eyes had changed to the black-red. In an instant, his usual murky aura became overwhelmingly malicious, corrupted, and deranged. Still sitting straight and facing forward, he had not moved. Instead, only the boy's eyes slowly moved to look at him from the corner of his eyes.
"What #$ #$caaAARRRNNNaagggEEEE #$%#$sir?"
"…!?" Kaji said starting to shake visibly from hearing that voice again.
Turning back to what was in front of him, he corrected the car again to be back in the center of the dirt road. Focusing hard at just driving forward, he bit through his inside lip. Feeling the pain and the blood that dripped in his mouth, it helped him become more focused. The hairs on his arms started to stand on end seeing something move in his peripheral vision. It didn't take him long to figure out what was in the car.
'It isn't real…it isn't real,' he thought feeling cold sweat dripping from his back and forehead. Pressing the accelerator more, everything from his knees below was flooded. Continuing to ignore the slow rising in his vehicle, he could see where the dirt road ended and the pavement began ahead.
'Come on…come on!' he pleaded in his mind as goosebumps flared over his body.
Something round and slithering was swimming in his blood flooding car and grazed against his stomach. Hearing a distorted chuckle next to him, he pressed his lips in and squeezed them together. Taking a quick glance at the Third Child again, his eyes widen with horror. Sitting next to him was a severely slashed up, disfigured, and blood splattered Third Child who was murderously staring hard at him. The inhumanly wide grin made his appearance look intensely insane.
"MmmmmMMMrrrRRRkkkkkkaaaaJJJJIIIIIII!?"
"…" the unshaven man said not moving.
'…what…who…is this-!?' Kaji thought terrified when the figure was instantly in front of his face. Its grin kept getting wider and wider as its skin broke making blood leak out of the open wounds. Feeling a sharp stab in his leg, Kaji let out a painful gasp. Looking at what it was, it was a tentacle that pierced into his thigh. The demented figure got close to his ear as a vile aroma made him gag. However, the immense fear and pain he had kept him focused enough to push it down.
"Mr. Kaji? Are you alright?"
"…" he said shaking and blinked.
All the sudden, the car was not moving. Blinking again in confusion, he looked slowly with his eyes around him. Noticing that the car was parked alongside the curb, it was also turned off. Looking down at his leg, it was fine with his foot off the accelerator. Still feeling sick and terrified, he slowly glanced over to the passenger seat. Flinching, the Third Child was not in front of his face. Instead, the male pilot had not turned to him at all. Only his eyes were looking at him from the corners of his eyes. His head slowly turned to him showing dark magenta eyes with blood smeared on his face.
"Are you feeling well sir?"
"…?" he said then looked in the rear view mirror. Blinking in surprise, he rolled down his window and looked behind him.
'…what…the…?' he thought seeing nothing of what he saw going through it.
There was no vile smell of death and decay. There was no blood or carnage anywhere behind them. Slowly moving back into his seat, he glanced again at the Third Child. The vibe from the male pilot next to him was his usual murky aura. Looking back to the road ahead of him, he felt his voice was lost and his mind was grinding hard to comprehend what just happened. A migraine didn't take long to develop on either side of his head.
"Would you like me to drive Mr. Kaji?"
"…no…" he replied starting the car again. "I'll…be fine…I think."
"Very well sir," Shinji said as the car turned back on. Both headed back onto the road and toward Neo-Tokyo 3.
"…" Misato said sitting on the cell bunk with her knees up to her chest. With arms around them and leaning forward, she rested her head on the tops of her knees. For the past few hours, she had been waiting and wondering what was happening outside and with certain individuals. A heavy metal unlocking sound emitted from the cell door. Looking up, security personnel opened the door with one entering.
"The custody order has been lifted and you are no longer under suspicion Major. You are free to go."
"…" she replied slowly uncoiling herself. Slowly standing up, she walked out of the dim lit cell. Being escorted to the desk/counter of administration, Misato was given back her belongings that she had on hand.
"Thank you for your cooperation Major," a security staffer stated.
"…" Misato responded with a short nod and a passive expression.
Turning around, she headed toward an elevator. Reaching it and entering, she pressed the button for her level. Going up, she was fighting back the nail biting anxiety of what happened in that cell. Unable to determine if she chose the right one, the Major also questioned herself if she was just seeing things. For all she would know, she was either having an episode or a vivid nightmare. Feeling the lift slow to stop, the doors opened.
'The only way I'll know is if I talk to him,' Misato thought walking to her office.
While heading there, she looked at her hand thinking about speaking to the male pilot. There was also the aspect of talking to Kaji in which she only had a suspicion that he was in danger still. Seeing her hand shake, she continued walking to her office. Once there and entering, she thought about continuing her work to take her mind off things.
"…" she reacted staring at her chair. Remembering what she was doing, she glanced at her desk. The papers that she was looking at before being taken to custody were still there. Recalling the anxiety building up and the foreboding, she shook her head.
'No…I'm going home,' she thought determined.
Grabbing a couple of other things in her office, she left. While heading to the parking garage, she got her phone out and looked under contacts. Seeing the Third Child's name, she hesitantly pressed the call button. Putting the cell phone to her ear, she got an automated voice stating that the number she dialed was out of range.
'I forgot, mobile calls can't call out to the surface down here,' the Major thought closing her phone and continuing forward. 'I'll try again once I'm on the surface.'
Reaching the parking garage, she got into her car and drove to the car escalator. Getting into a slot and slowly ascending up to the surface, her anxiety and trepidation kept growing to the point where she couldn't focus. Shaking her head and trying to reassure herself that things would be okay, paranoia was convincing her that something happened. After a period of time and reaching the top, she felt herself taking long and deep breathes to calm down. Driving out of the slot and onto the road to the highway, she glanced down at her purse.
"…" Misato thought thinking about getting the mobile out and calling again. Feeling her foreboding raging at her, she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. Deciding to not call, she focused on driving home.
Reaching her apartment complex, she parked her car in the parking garage. Entering into the lobby, everything looked normal. Going into the elevator and up to her floor, she could feel her heartbeat in her head booming. Reaching her level and exiting the lift, she walked toward her apartment. The closer she got, the more trepidation she felt. It got to the point where it was making her tremble. Stopping at her door, she had to use two hands to insert her keycard.
"I'm home," she said out loud stepping inside. Looking down, there were shoes missing. Looking at her watch, she smiled at herself.
'They are still in school…but they will be home soon,' she thought sighing and heading toward her living room. Only taking a couple steps into the room, she saw the answering machine blinking. Putting her things down on the table it was on, she continued to stare at it. Lifting her hand up and descending toward the play button, her hand started shaking again. Pressing it, a voice came on.
[Hey Misato. Kaji here. How are things? Never got to ask you how was that night…it definitely brought back nostalgic memories…back in those carefree days…Anyways, I wanted to let you know that this is my last mission. From here out, what I gave you is the latest of what I was able to uncover from the secrets at NERV. There are also more ties into SEELE in that drive I gave you.]
[If you could honor me one last favor…continue to dig into the secrets of NERV. Find out for yourself what your hands are getting dirty with…it is a shame that this will be the last time I can call you…you looked as beautiful as you did back in those college days…can honestly say that my feelings for you only grew when we were apart…anyways…thank you for sharing a night with me and rekindle being together again…and also…I'm sorry.]
"…" Misato said hearing the message end. As the automated voice stated when the call was delivered, it was earlier today.
"…no…" she said quietly to herself.
A slow realization came to her of what she feared. The aspect of hoping that a miracle would happen was just that. Hoping and asking something impossible from someone. Placing her hands on the table for support, grief started to take control as she began to feel her legs grow weak. Bowing her head, she felt her eyes starting to blur. Suddenly, three separate knocks were heard from the front door.
"…!?" the Major responded recognizing who did that knock. Feeling hope surge into her, she rushed toward the front door. Opening it, her eyes widen to see who was standing on the other side.
"…" Kaji greeted with a small smile and lifted his hand up to wave a little. "Yo."
"…" Misato reacted feeling tears fall from her eyes from seeing him. The grievance from hearing his voicemail to the elation that he was alive, made her rush to him. Embracing him hard and crying into his shirt, he embraced her back. Without saying anything, both kissed each other hard. The Major felt the dark cloud and paranoia leave her mind as she felt she could be able to relax. Pulling away and holding onto each other, Misato pressed her face against his. She was facing away from the other individual standing near them.
"I thought…I thought."
"Yes…I thought so too," Kaji said softly. "But you were my lady luck that got me out of that jam."
"So…Shinji heard me?" she asked hearing him give a confirming grunt. It made her smile brightly continuing to hold him.
"Where…where is he?" the Major asked when she felt him suddenly become ridged. Leaning back a little to look at him, his face looked horrified staring hard to his left. Feeling a familiar aura, she slowly turned and matched his expression.
Shinji was walking away from them with people slaughtered all around him. Some of the victims were screaming as spikes were being inserted into their bodies or being skinned alive. The objects that were doing this were a merge of several body parts and bones that were fused into the ground. Every footstep the Third Child made, splashes of blood shoot out like objects being dropped into a puddle from far above. It also caused a double boom sounding in their heads which was their heartbeats beating hard and heavy. Not even looking away, the environment around them looked like bleeding flesh that moved and pulsated as if it were alive. Glancing at something on the floor in front of them, it was another victim. It was spasming from being completely sawed in half with its guts splattered onto the floor.
"Was there anything else you two need?"
"…!?" both Kaji and Misato flinched hard from hearing someone near them speak. Holding each other tighter, they saw the Third Child standing in front of them with blood stained pants, shirt, hands, and face.
"…Shinji…why…are you covered in…"
"He killed my would be assassins…rather brutally," the special investigator stated quietly not moving.
"…!?" she responded with wide eyes as the male pilot stoically stared at both of them. Shaking her head, she let go of Kaji slowly. Walking toward the boy and leaning forward, only the male pilot's eyes moved up a little to look at her. The passive gaze, his murky aura, and the guilt from shooting him made it difficult to talk to him normally. Even though she wanted to thank him, she felt like she couldn't reciprocate anything to him to show him thanks. Pressing her lips together and thinking hard, nothing came to mind.
"Let's...get you cleaned up Shinji."
"I can clean myself in my apartment Miss Misato if you prefer," he commented as she shook her head and pointed to her apartment. "…very well."
The three entered her apartment where the Major ordered the male pilot to take a shower. Kaji didn't object of going into the neighboring apartment to pick up spare clothes for the Third Child. While entering the place and doing a quick look around, he entered the boy's room. Finding spare clothes and underwear, he was about to leave when curiosity grabbed him.
'I doubt I can find anything here given how minimal it looks,' he thought looking in the other drawers.
Other than finding more clothes, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Closing them and turning around, he recoiled hard hitting the dresser. Fear shot through him from seeing two women that suffered a far worse fatality than the SEELE agents earlier. The high school teen was split open from the neck down and pined to the wall with spikes through her skin. The young adult woman was chopped up into bloody bits where a large portion seemed to be in a waste bin that overflowed. Inners and flesh hanged over and spilled all over the crimson pooled floor. Only getting a brief stare at their pale dead faces, he blinked to see them gone.
"…!?" Kaji spoke blinking a couple of times and not moving. Shaking his head, he quickly got out of the apartment. Despite feeling rattled, exhausted, and sleep deprived from what happened throughout the day, the two females made him curious.
'Wonder what connection those two have with Shinji?...they aren't women I know,' he thought entering Misato's apartment to hear the shower still going. Going toward the living room, he saw Misato sitting at the dinner table with two beers.
"Found clothes for him?" she asked with a small smile.
"…yeah," he answered smiling back. "His room is a bit bare."
"Yeah. I can imagine given his personality and lifestyle…wait."
"Hmm?"
"Put his clothes on the table."
"You want to see him with only a towel on?"
"No…but I want to ask him something. It is about him growing up."
"Oh?" he replied placing the spare clothes on the end of the table. Going to the chair adjacent to Misato's right and sitting down, he opened the beer and took a sip.
"Didn't the documents that his father provided state what his growing up and lifestyle was?"
"…" she answered with a small nod then looked not sure. "I don't think those documents are true…but I can't prove it."
"Why's that?"
"Because…there is a possibility that he is not Shinji."
"…?" Kaji reacted by blinking and looked hard at her. "…what do you mean?"
"…" Misato continued gently holding her beer can and looking down. "There is a possibility…that Rana…is really Shinji."
"…!?" he flinched again. blinking a couple of times, he placed a hand on her forehead. Removing his hand, her head didn't feel hot or cold.
"…you…aren't kidding are you?"
"To be honest…I wish I was…"
"When did this start?" he asked as she retold him what happened since the incident at the Sakura Palace.