[SS] Project Radio Noise

"Someone like you shouldn't feel fortunate of me... Think of it in a way where I'm indebted to you... because that's how it really is and will always be..."

"Haragi.... my name is Haragi Faye...."

The girl watched with a half-opened mouth as the esper turned away and disappeared into the distance.

“Haragi… Faye...” she repeated the name quietly to herself. The second word resulted in matches with some memories stored within the Misaka network, and they all included a certain blonde woman. She paused, remembering their brief encounter earlier this morning.

"Misaka... D-does Accelerator intend to hurt you in this experiment tonight...?
Do you honestly think I would let you go off to do something really dangerous as that??

"Misaka did not understand her words, nor her intentions behind those words..." The girl mumbled to herself quietly. "But it appeared this "Faye" person did not know of the purpose behind Misaka's creation."

The girl stood still for a long moment, as if considering something very profound. Slowly she broke free from her muse, her head lowering so she could peer into the plushie's beady black eyes.

“Misaka doesn’t know what to do with this. Misaka finds herself in a bit of a pickle.”

Her eyes suddenly widened with realisation and a hand tilted the Gekota badge on her vest upwards. Placing the two objects side by side, the clone scrutinised the plushie and the badge in turn, her head turning this way and that.

“They’re exactly the same. Misaka observes.” the girl muttered. “This green character must be a common theme in Academy City, Misaka concludes. Misaka wonders why there is no data on this from the Testament…”

**

Mikoto peeked around the corner of an alley, wondering where the girl had run off to.

‘She can’t have gone far. There’s only one direction to go from here.’

Rounding the edge of the wall, the Electromaster walked forwards deeper into the shadows, eyes narrowing with determination.

The girl with dark Crimson Hair was just about to exit the alleyway when faint lit glow of light particles surrounded her domain. A dark voice was suddenly heard from behind,

"So... I guess I was right about someone roaming through here...."

A boy, cross armed, leaned against the side of the alleyway behind the girl with his eyes focused towards the dark ground below.

"I suggest don't move if you want to keep your limbs intact...."

The spiky haired boy pushed himself from the wall, and approached behind the trapped girl. His eyes filled with bore and glared at the suspicious girl as he continued to speak,

"You don't mind if I ask you a couple of questions... do you?...."

The faint lit particles started to buzz as it was approaching Entropy only to intimidate the trapped girl.

As Mari was about to step out of the alley, but stopped in place when she noticed a buzzing noise around her, and saw that the source of the noise was the flickering light particles surrounding her,

"The Hell...?" Mari muttered to herself.

"So... I guess I was right about someone roaming through here...." Mari turned back, and the shade from her hood hid how her face blanched,

Oh, joy. This idiot. Mari thought, recognizing the boy talking with Misaka Mikoto, and turned to face him. The flickering lights bounced off her, causing the lower half of her face to be easily visible. The rest was still covered in darkness, sans her glasses. They were reflecting the light off of them, giving her an ominous look.

And while Mari wasn't feeling very threatening, she was pretty annoyed at this guy,

"I suggest don't move if you want to keep your limbs intact...."

Mari kept herself from smirking. Well, aren't you quite the fucking gentleman, Mari though, maintaining her composure,

She saw the black haired boy glaring at her, but she didn't care. She hadn't done anything wrong and, while she preferred to do otherwise in the middle of the day, she wasn't afraid to... make the alley messy, so to speak.

"You don't mind if I ask you a couple of questions... do you?...." The black haired boy asked,

Mari smiled, casually, "You make it seem as if I have a choice," she said, her power a the ready should she have to do something drastic,

"I suppose I can, though... I am kind of on the clock, so let's keep the questions quick and concise. And don't forget a please," She said in a friendly tone.

However, her friendly tone immediately dropped, "By the way, do peoples limbs spontaneously fly away from their bodies when they ignore you, or were you planning to do that deliberately? Because, well," Mari's voice got very calm, but at the same time hostile, "I really don't appreciate being threatened,"

Mari was actually rather tense underneath. She needed to work, and despite what she was told, needed to be with Misaka Mikoto.

Plus, she was just irritated to look at Haragi, as he kept wasting her time, talking to Misaka, and even now.

She was not happy, and right now did not feel friendly at all.

---

Mack held the phone to his ear, nodding to himself as he listened to the call, on his way to the address he had been given.

He was just called by his and Mari's employer. Apparently, he needed to head to some sort of apartment where Kaede was.

His orders as of now were to tail her, watch her, and if she learned too much about the experiment, give her a very concise warning. His necessity for the items regarding Misaka Mikoto were for a key part of the job, but he wouldn't need them until later.

Mari should be ready by then.

As he received the last of his instructions, he closed his disposable phone and pocketed it, heading for his next location. He wasn't very informed about exactly what he needed to watch out for, he only learned that it involved her finding a direct correlation between the experiment she was investigating, which was confirmed to him to involve clones of Misaka Mikoto, and another Level 5.

He rounded a corner, pulling up his hood, and weighing the bag on his back. He had a bit of equipment in case things got messy, including his black mask. He walked on, leaving the crowded place he was in to head to his given addres, in order to wait for Kaede Faye to leave the apartment complex she was in and follow her, in case she discovered anything more.

Haragi Faye

Her smart remark led the Level 4 esper to becoming tired and tired. The insults thrown at Haragi didn't even phase him. He ended up yawning as if everything said was treated like his physics lectures. In a dark toned voice, he responded,

"Are you done?.... You know, you're more boring than my physics prof.... Even more so.... you're not the only one on a leash by time.... I got my priorities too...."

Haragi noticed her threatening vibe, indicating she was ready to pounce at him at any moment like an angered wasp. Though Haragi remained unchanged. The bored look on his face proved it so.

"I'd prefer not to waste my precious energy on the likes of you.... So... I saw that you were in a hurry... to do what exactly?...."

His threatening glare clearly targeted Mari's eyes from within the darkness of the alleyway.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Kaede Faye


Light shone through the tiny openings of her near closed eyes. The flickering of the ceiling's light bulb caused her to slowly awake. The 20 year old young woman opened her eyes to find herself lying on the wooden floor in a familiar apartment space. Attempting to sit up, she relaxed herself taking a pause while trying to gather her recovering thoughts.

"W-where am I?"

She tried recalling the last thing she remembered, and a voice entered her thoughts,

"This Misaka understands your concern, however this Misaka as well as her sisters were created with this purpose in mind. Explains Misaka."


Pain surged through her brain as this memory came clear into her mind. She now remembered what had happened. She was knocked out from a surge of electricity after those last words. The words cracking the surface of the truth of Project Radio Noise. Her eyes were soulless as she stood up, seeing the emptiness of this once inhabited room.

"T-then... the project was to create clones only to be killed by that monster? And I was just another pawn for the higher ups to be used only for this to happen?..."

Tears began reforming from her eyelids.

"H-how cruel.. *sniff*"

Kaede could only blame herself. She was responsible for the clones that were made today only to be slaughtered. But why? Why would Academy City plan for something as horrible as this? And all of this was done from her not even knowing about the purpose. She was used. Defiled in the worst possible way.

"All.. All I wanted was for the clones to live a suitable life... *sniff* I didn't want this to happen... *sniff* I thought I was helping Academy City to save lives... *sniff* That means... all those clones that I cared for... all those clones that I put my heart into concerning for... *sniff*... T-there... all gone... *sniff*"

She covered her eyes wailing, as tears began dripping down from the side of her face.

She left the apartment, and back into her car. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to run away and leave this city so she could never be harmed again.

~~~~~

Firmly sitting alone at the bench of a park.  The sun was setting. Her eyes finally dried up from all those tears. She looked at her cellphone only to see the time 6:34 PM. There was less than 4 hours until the next experiment as per what the clone had said. Her heart ached thinking of the sister whom she had spoken to, the same sister who happily ate the lollipop. The same sister who could smile cheerfully without any restriction. She grit her teeth, mumbling to herself,

"Someone... please help me..."

Haragi appeared in her mind. The last words he said echoed through her mind,

"Aneki... if you need me to help you with anything... just tell me..."

She tightly gripped onto her cellphone while starting to tear up again. The horrible scenarios of her little brother being dragged into something so dangerous worried her even if he was a Level 4 esper. She would never involve him into something she has to clean up herself.

"No... I can't drag him into this."

Suddenly a small girl in front of her tripped while running, scrapping her knees. She started to tear up, until another, older, girl appeared to her rescue. The elder girl comforted her little sister, telling her everything will be fine and how she'll be there to take care of her. This one scenario recalled her own words from the past.

"Look, if you feel uncomfortable with the way things are or you want to talk about something, come find me. I'll be there to listen and help you out as much as I can."

This promise reiterated within her head as pain struck her head once more. She covered her head trying to comfort herself from the pain and realized something.

"I can't sit around... I can't just give up when I'm so close to figuring out the truth. I have to stop Accelerator tonight. I can't let that experiment go through. I won't let it happen!"

She was ready to prepare for the worst. Kaede would gladly sacrifice her life protecting someone she cherishes. Right now, Kaede had set her mind to infiltrating the head researcher's computer for data she would need about this horrible experiment. If she obtains that information, the reason why this project exists would come to light. It was back to that dreadful place known as the Research Division Building she would go to.

Mari stared at the boy who calmly stood his ground against Mari's words. Either he didn't care, or was just very good at hiding how he felt,

Then, Mari watched as the boy yawned, Yeah, he's not taking me seriously, and noted his dark tone when he spoke afterwards,

"Are you done?.... You know, you're more boring than my physics prof.... Even more so.... you're not the only one on a leash by time.... I got my priorities too...." Mari stared at the boy, her anger fizzling out. Now it was just being replaced by annoyance. She was kind of hoping he'd do something that would give her a reason to fight him, but now she was actually a little disappointed by how he maintained his composure,

Though, some anger was still there,

"Yeah, keep talking," She said dismissively, then thought about what he said about time,

Wait... I'm only on a time limit because Misaka might leave soon, though she's just... staring at that Gekota doll... admiring it, I guess. Why's he in a hurry? Mari wondered for a second, but then dismissed the thought, Eh, It's not my concern. If I don't deliver on this job, my boss will not be happy, Mari thought grimly, as she listened to what the black haired guy,

"I'd prefer not to waste my precious energy on the likes of you.... So... I saw that you were in a hurry... to do what exactly?...."

Mari pulled down her hood and answered honestly, "Just run an errand for my friend." And Mari decided to point something out,

"And what do you mean the likes of me? Am I suspicious Mr.Spike-haired-emo-who-threatens-to-blow-peoples-limbs-off-while-glaring-at-them-and-stalking-around-alleys?" Mari said with an innocent to, and started to giggle a little, amused at her own joke,

"Sorry, sorry, that was bad, but I'm just passing through honest." Mari said, her irritation mostly gone. She managed to get it out with the not so thinly veiled insult,

I need to get this over with quick. So I'll comply and answer what I can. Of course, the "errand" I need to run I can pass off as personal and in the 'none of your beeswax' category.

---

Mack had waited outside of the apartment on a bench, watching the exit for any sign of Kaede Faye from behind the cover of a newspaper. He had a subordinate of his watching the back door to be safe, who would text him just in case she left that way.

From the information he had been given, he had learned quite a bit about Kaede Faye. He would  review it after he had a few moments to attach that information to an actual living person,

It helped him keep track of targets. The job was the only real relevance people like Kaede Faye had to Mack. People who were assigned to him. Mack didn't care, he just preferred to have people organized, so he didn't mix up facts about them.

The apartment itself wasn't anything to brag about staying in. It was cheap, and in a bad Academy City neighborhood. Mack thought about possible reasons she'd be here, but didn't bother thinking too deeply about them,

All of a sudden, Mack saw, while peeking over his paper, the woman in question running out of the hote, frantically, and running to her car that was here. It was parked in an odd place in Mack's opinion. At the end of the block opposite to the hotel, the block Mack was sitting at.

She must have had someone else park her car there... but why so out of the way...? Mack watched her dash to the car, and got up of his bench, and started walking in order to get closer. He managed to keep a casual pace, keeping his hood on and face hidden, so as not to arouse suspicion,

He had managed to get close enough to read her license plate, and as soon as the car had left, screeching as it pulled away, leaving it's mark in the space it formerly occupied, Mack typed the license plate number into his pone, as part of a text, ending it with,

This is the license plate of my target, Kaede Faye. She is currently driving around frantically, let me know when she is stopped, and where she is,

Mack sent the text, and then made one for his subordinate,

Target left through the front. You can leave now. And don't take a cab this time, walk home. You may not have work today Mickey, but a little exercise will do your body good,

Mack waited a few minutes for two texts. The first came just a few seconds later,

Alright, thanks Mack. Take care.

-Mikhail

I like Mickey more, Mack thought, his expression staying the same. He sat down at the bench he was at before, staring at his phone for five minutes until his next text came,

sHee s @ a prk bout 10 blks away. Car perked utsid i t.

-Haruka

She is at a park about ten blocks away. Car parked outside, Mack read, looking at the address,

Thanks, He texted back, and began a run to the location he had been given,

---

Mack sat on a bench, reviewing some of the information he had been given about his target. He noticed the the sun had started going down. It made sense, given the time,

Mack sat, leaning down,staring at the grass underneath him, pretending to look like a worn out person resting. He inhaled the cooling air in the park, noticing how it didn't have as much of an industrial smell as some other parts of the city.

It was there, just not as strong.

Mack was acting as the exact opposite of what he was: someone who didn't pay careful attention to his surroundings,

Kaede Faye.

Twenty years old,

Blonde hair,

Orange eyes,

Has three family members: her father, officially missing in action. her mother, currently deceased. The specific causes are unknown, but I presume something circling around organ destruction and blood-loss based on the abilities of the one who murdered her, Haragi Faye, Kaede's brother. A Level 4, with the dangerous ability Solid Air. Very useful for battle, attacking, defending, and least of all...

Murdering ones own parent,

Currently only has him to support, and makes good money working as a scientist. Appears to care about him very deeply, and it is possible there may be a romantic interest, based on what I was told,

Her ability is known as Blood Control, which revolves around healing injuries in a humans body and detecting irregularities,

Given her ability, and history as a scholar who studied more than worked out, I should have limited worries in confrontation, should it come to that.

Mack thought about all of this information of this woman, important part of her life, high points, low points, things that made her sad, things that made her happy, with coldness and calculation. They were tools he needed to use against this woman. He had a message to deliver, and he knew that for the message to stick, he needed to make an impression,

Private information usually caught people's attention,

"Someone... please help me..."

The blond haired woman said in an empty voice, drained of emotion,

It reminded Mack of his own, but he could still feel that there was something going on. A sort of determination? he thought. Then he realized what it was,

Desperation.

Kaede sat two park benches away from him, talking to herself after checking the time on her phone. The park benches were close together, and while her voice was weak, it was perfectly audible,

She had just been sitting there, most likely wallowing in her own misery, Mack had assumed, when he arrived.

He carefully took a seat near her, making sure not to arouse suspicion. She obviously didn't care about him, he was just another bystander to her, a random person whose affect on her own life was so minute she wouldn't notice. That's what he was going for,

Though given all the worrying she's been doing, it was more likely she had ignored him entirely,

"No... I can't drag him into this." Mack heard her say, energy starting to fill her tone,

She seems to desperately want to save those clones from whatever they're being used for... she actually considered endangering her own brother. He is a Level 4, but still someone she worries about, a blood relative nonetheless. Mack thought, his blank face hidden,

Mack heard a person fall behind him, and started crying. A child. Mack didn't move from the spot, not wanting to give his position away. He had minor difficulty resisting his urge to help the little girl, and continued to wait, glad that someone else helped, his emotions not shown in the least.

Then, he heard Kaede Faye speak, resolute, as the two girls walked away,

"I can't sit around... I can't just give up when I'm so close to figuring out the truth. I have to stop Accelerator tonight. I can't let that experiment go through. I won't let it happen!"

Mack listened to her speech as she walked past him in a fast walk, to a place he didn't know about.

Yet, that is.

He texted Haruka again about tracking her car, and sat around waiting for a response, digesting Kaede's words,

After a moment, he simply thought,

It seems that you have given me work to do Kaede Faye. I hope my coworkers don't get injured because of your, Mack thought. That was it. That was all he thought after learning about this woman, and seeing firsthand how desperate she was.

As Mack finally received his text, he got up an walked away.

Walked away to the research facility Kaede Faye had stopped at, fully prepared for what he'd need to do,

Haragi Faye

The Level 4 completely ignored any unnecessary information to his interest to which Mari had spoke of. He sighed once more out of annoyance of how time consuming this was. She gave a vague answer, as to such he felt like she was hiding something.

"You're gonna need to give me a more serious answer...."

He thought narrowing down who he was after would change her own expression, thus making it even more suspicious of what information she knew, otherwise she wasn't someone Haragi would be after.

"Look... I'm after a certain group of people who has their target on a certain girl.... And considering that I know you're hiding something makes me suspicious... Don't piss me off by wasting my time and giving half assed answers..."

Haragi was ready to move onto more drastic measure if this girl was to attack in light of this information.


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaede Faye

The certain researcher assistant found herself back within her own workplace. The place in which the clones were being produced just to be murdered. She had 3 hours until the experiment was made, so she had to act fast while time was limited. From what she knew, the head research who directs this project, Dr. Amai Ao, had to have all the information about these horrid experiments and the clones' fate within his computer. She had thought of a simple plan to infiltrate his computer without raising any alert.

Kaede herself was a computer whiz and had the expertise skills in hacking from which she picked up from the education system in Academy City. Her brother surprisingly was inferior to her when it came to computers. The only difficult part of this plan she had in mind was to lure Dr. Ao away from his computer, however she had a plausible excuse to do that.

Upon entering his office, Kaede requested certain documents under the supposed request of Yoshikawa Kikyou. Amai Ao was seen to have a skinny build, and a gaunt look on his face, which is amplified by his long wavy and greasy-looking black hair. Dr. Ao looked a bit surprised upon the request,

"Those documents? What on earth would she want to do with those?"

Kaede bit her thumb trying to come up with the perfect excuse,

"She said it was urgent. I don't know exactly why because she never tells me anything about what she's working on."

Ao sighed upon hearing Yoshikawa's habit,

"Sounds like her. Do you mind waiting around 10 minutes? It's gonna take me a while digging out those documents in the back room. Just can't imagine why anyone would need something as old and obselete as those."

As per requested, Ao exited the room searching for those certain documents. So far, everything went according to plan. Kaede knew that if she would have used her senpai's name to request old documents, Ao would have to resort to using the back room to locate those kind of documents. Otherwise, he could have easily sought to find them on his computer if it was more recent. With Ao out of the picture, Kaede cautiously proceeded to his open computer but it was in a locked state.

However, Kaede wasn't intimidated as she took out her USB she managed to retrieve from her house before she came here to upload an decryption program she created herself to hack into his computer. After a few moments for the program to be uploaded, Ao's files were now accessible.

Cracking her fingers, she smashed down at keys on the keyboard at lightning speed to access the hidden files that Ao kept deep within his hub. After easily decrypting security measures such as firewalls and locked file directories, 'Project Radio Noise' was one of the hidden files that Kaede came across. As she was about to copy those documents into her USB drive, something else interrupted her train of thought. While every other file as irrelevant to her cause, the file named 'Level 6 Shift' caught her interest.

Curious as she was, she accessed the file to read the contents. The first few paragraphs of information mentioned Accelerator's potential and how the Tree Diagram predicted reaching the status of Level 6 was very possible. She wanted to read, but a familiar voice was heard from the back room of Ao's office.

"Oh, found it."

Kaede widened her eyes as she was on the verge of getting caught. The transfer of these documents should only take about a few seconds. She included the suspicious document she had briefly read into this process. As Ao unlocked the door to his office, the process had just completed and Kaede took out her USB drive from the computer's hub while acting as nothing happened.

Ao took a few seconds double checking if the documents were correct, before focusing his attention towards the blonde haired research assistant.

"Hmm, well these are the documents."

Kaede slowly approached the director, as her heart beat pounded at a fast rate. The director didn't seem to notice anything different about the office or Kaede, seeing how he went about the whole situation casually. Kaede received the said documents and left the office in a hurry.

"Thanks, I'll tell Yoshikawa-senpai you said hi!"

Upon exiting, she had succeeded in what she came for. She had the truth stored within her USB drive. Her target destination was now her home to uncover these secrets and potentially come up with a plan to counter the experiment taking place tonight.

"You're gonna need to give me a more serious answer...." It was obvious Mari was bugging this guy, and she knew it. She was sort of happy about that, but she needed to get him off her back.

"Fine, whatever," Mari stated, and the spike-haired man spoke again,

"Look... I'm after a certain group of people who has their target on a certain girl.... And considering that I know you're hiding something makes me suspicious... Don't piss me off by wasting my time and giving half assed answers..."

A certain group of people targeting a girl? Could he mean us...?

Wait, what kind of girl? Misaka's fourteen, but she's a Level 5, I don't think she's the type people would need to worry about, Mari thought, And,'a certain group'? 'Certain girl'? And he's accusing me of being... Mari thought up a proper counter statement,

"What makes you think I'm hiding something? Maybe I just don't like telling random strangers what I'm doing." Mari said calmly, and then placed her hand to her chin, tilting her head questioningly, "And, I'm the one being half-assed? Maybe, but you're not exactly being forthcoming about anything either,"

Mari put crossed her arms, and put a mocking smile on her face, "A 'certain' group  after a  'certain' girl? And you're trying to pin me as suspicious?" Mari let out another chuckle,

"Is this an interrogation, or a comedy act...?" than her smile turned more sinister, and she went into a predatory stance,

She bent her legs, spreading them out, putting her left leg behind her right, and bending her torso forward. She clenched her right fist and kept her left hand open, prepared to strike at the boy.

"Because I just can't take a joke like you seriously,"

It was more of a way to antagonize him, hoping he'd want to fight her. This was both boring and annoying for Mari, she could use a quick spar.

Very quick.

She would wait for his response and act accordingly. Mari didn't like forcing people to fight, and she wasn't going to start now.

---

Mack stepped off of the bus and walked towards his current destination,

Kaede Faye had apparently stopped at her research institute. Camera's were set up, but the way they were angled prevented anyone from seeing specifically what she took.

It's safe to assume that she's working alone on this. The head administrator has a lot invested in this project, and can't afford it's failure, and he's the person who presents the biggest threat to the projects destruction.

Other researchers have simply been working on this project a lot, and haven't shown any signs of defection, save for one.

Some prodigal highschooler Haruka said was noted for some unknown reason. Mack presumed that he'd may have to deal with her later on.

The facility itself was too far away from Mack for him to walk, and while he considered taking the bus, Haruka had given him a suggestion.

It was obvious she took data, and would want to find a secure location, or at least somewhere she felt secure, so she gave Mack the address of one such place, and that was where Mack waited for several minutes, before stepping behind Kaede's apartment complex as she parked her car, dashing straight into her apartment.

Mack considered attacking her here, but outside of an apartment complex there were too many people. He needed to wait for an opportunity to arise.

And wait he would, outside of Kaede Faye's apartment. And he'd tale her until she went to a more secluded location.

"What makes you think I'm hiding something? Maybe I just don't like telling random strangers what I'm doing. And, I'm the one being half-assed? Maybe, but you're not exactly being forthcoming about anything either.

Is this an interrogation, or a comedy act...?

Because I just can't take a joke like you seriously."

All this pointless chatter rendered Haragi to sigh in annoyance. Her stance changed and the instant she moved, Haragi tried intimating her more by causing one of his OFR molecules to be placed in a state on the verge of Entropy. This meant, that the OFR molecule lit up bright as the buzzing noise increased in sound.

"Oi... I told you not to move... My esper ability is meant to kill... and I'm not in the mood to consume my precious energy on you..."

What Haragi found odd was why was this girl so determined? Maybe the possibility of some members of Skill Out having the sheer will to fight against their odds should be considered.

"Like I said... you're hiding something... if you were like anyone else I've interrogated... they would have already told me from fear... unlike them, you seem to be confident in what you don't want to say... so I found that suspicious about you..."

Mari noticed the sparking around her get more frequent, and the lights getting brighter, but was surprised to see that that was all that happened,

Anything more and she would have attacked this emo weirdo.

"Oi... I told you not to move... My esper ability is meant to kill... and I'm not in the mood to consume my precious energy on you..." Mari groaned audibly, and her distaste to the boy's passiveness could be easily seen on her face.

Ugh, for the love of god, more talking,

She then listened to what the spike-haired boy said next,

"Like I said... you're hiding something... if you were like anyone else I've interrogated... they would have already told me from fear... unlike them, you seem to be confident in what you don't want to say... so I found that suspicious about you..."

Mari maintained her stance, but spoke in a composed tone,

"Dude, let me make one thing clear-I am as obligated to tell you anything about what I'm doing as you are to tell me what you're doing. Which is to say, I don't have to tell you jack! Neither do you."

And Mari addressed another part of Haragi's statement, "And please, you're just not intimidating to someone like me. You come off as... stupid. Live by the sword, die by the sword. You use your esper powers to harm me, and I won't hesitate in using mine the same way."

I bet this little jerkoff's one of those espers who likes picking on weak espers. Oh, how I would, love to show him what a poor choice he made. Mari thought, glaring at the boy in front of her,

All the incoherent nonsense that came out of the girl, with a butchish personality, wasn't taken seriously as he should have. Instead, Haragi spent the whole of her response picking his ear with his pinky finger. But that was until he heard her claim of her own esper powers. His eyes straightened, only to retain his intimidating expression.

If this girl was esper, then Haragi's interrogation of Skill Out's whereabouts would have been pointless. That would have been he just wasted his whole time trying to get her to reveal information useless to him. But on the other hand, she may have been lying which meant Haragi still had yet to see her use her esper powers if she was serious about her intentions. For now, he had to determine if she was telling the truth or not.

"Oh?... You're an esper, huh?... Well... how about this.... Prove to me you're an esper by using your personal reality against me... if you can easily do that... we'll both go our own ways..."

Haragi diminished the OFR molecules surrounding the hooded girl, releasing her from her bird cage. He crossed his arms, waiting for the girl's response.

"I'm waiting...."

The various shops and stores lined up about the streets did little to attract my interest as I walked.

The little ear-piece given to me by Miss Nunotaba was comfortably and discreetly in place. The tiny transmitter was very well hidden, and I was still a bit surprised that something so small could function as a two-way method of communication.

She had called the device a "Codec". I had asked her if there was a reason for such a strange, foreign name.


As someone who speaks fairly good English, I was surprised at the clumsiness of the acronym behind the miniature radio's name.

But it wasn't misleading, exactly.

According to the scientist, the device was a temporary implant that went so far into the ear, it couldn't just be "seen" unless someone was looking for it. It allowed her to track my every movement, allowed her to "call" me via the unique frequency assigned to the device, and - by pressing or holding down the device - answer calls and switch between a push-to-talk and hands free mode of operation.

With the frequency selector she had fitted into an everyday wristwatch, I could talk to her as well.

Now, as far as magicians go, I'm actually pretty good with technology. I know how to fix wiring, I can freely use the Internet, I even know a little bit of basic programming code. But in my wildest dreams, I never would have thought it possible for the "modern day" technology I regularly use to be this far advanced.

I guess in a "City of Science", such a device is little more than a teenager's cell phone accessory.

To take it to this level; for a device this small to be so sophisticated is still awe inspiring. It's not like such a thing is beyond me. I am not a proper magician, so using technology like this is easy enough to learn. But I still can not help but be in awe of this nifty little device.

The CODEC was in standby mode, meaning Nunotaba could track my location, but could not eavesdrop on what was happening around me unless I were to "answer" via applying pressure to the device or activating it with the watch.

I didn't know if she merely wanted a convenient tool with which to contact me twenty-four seven, or if she also wanted to monitor my whereabouts.

In the end, I guess it doesn't matter, though. I am still doing this errand for her, and am supposed to meet with her this evening or wait for her to call me. So, I decide to kill time by meandering about a shopping area.

That is when the faint, fluctuating orbs of light catch my attention.

Had they not been strobing - and in the middle of a dark alleyway no less - I doubt I would have even noticed them.

But I did, since the person within them was near the exit of the alley, as if she had been prepared to leave and emerge onto the streets.

Apparently this city is notorious for suspicious activity going down in dark alleyways.

Emiya Shirou had no idea how right he was, and moved closer to the alley, though he did not enter it yet. Instead, he listened and did his best to observe the situation without peeking around the corner. He had obstructed from physical view, and had made sure to approach quietly.

What he heard was a guy's voice, expressing almost mocking disbelief.

"Prove to me you're an esper by using your personal reality against me..."

Was he trying to start a fight?

Was he an Esper, or a Skill-Out member like the thugs who had been harassing Nunotaba-san?

"Geez. Another alley-lurking idiot who wants to act like a tough guy and push around innocent people."

The crude assessment was true, perhaps, but this was no average idiot.

And the superhero "Shirou Emiya" would learn this the hard way, if things went South.

Without wasting a further thought, I check my sides to make sure no one - like an accomplice - is watching me.

I don't detect anyone, so I briskly around the corner and move into the alleyway.

It wasn't the best of ideas, but I wasn't about to let some Esper flaunt his abilities on a potentially weaker victim.

Much less a girl.

"She is free to go her own way whenever she wants."

A firm statement, with only a steel, cylindrical rod in my right hand to back it up.

"First of all, isn't it against social policy to allow Espers to randomly use their powers without a reason?" I ask, hoping the threat of Academy City's commendable public security system will deter him from using violence.

"And why are you cornering a defenseless girl anyway!?"

Without meaning to, I begin to raise my voice a little, though I'm not exactly yelling.

"What kind of cowardly person are you, that you have to threaten people who haven't done anything to you with your powers!?"

I take a breath, and in the next second I am standing between the redhead and the firefly.

"That's pathetic, and I won't let you boss people around because you have some gift or another!"

The hero's heart and mind had written a large check, and it would be up to his ass to cash it.

Mari watched the apathetic young man perk up as she mentioned her own ability.

"Oh?... You're an esper, huh?... Well... how about this.... Prove to me you're an esper by using your personal reality against me... if you can easily do that... we'll both go our own ways..."

Looking around, Mari noticed the boy's flashing lights around her dissipate and disappear, and she stood up from her stance normally.

I guess our resident Emo-Fairy's done showing me his sparkles.

Under her hood, Mari felt a wide grin spread upon her face. This guy had practically asked Mari to beat him up.

She was about to say something along the lines of "Oh, I'd be happy to oblige," but she didn't get to, due to the interference of a Red-Head walking in front of her with a metal rod in hand,

"She is free to go her own way whenever she wants." He said, and Mari's face turned from one of glee to one of distaste.

I was just hoping the guys at work were messing with me... but it's just as they said... there are people who actually give hero speeches. Mari thought in disbelief,

As the two boys talked, Mari placed her and on her chin and started thinking about what she would do next.

How should I show the Emo-Fairy my abilities? I don't ant him to think I'm faking, but I want to make sure I don't show enough for him to get an idea of what my actual power is. Mari thought, frowning, And than theirs the Red-Head. I'll probably need to get him out of my way. Mari kept thinking for another moment before she finally came up with an idea,

She tightened her hood, placed her right foot forward, and casually started shifting back and forth slightly on her left and right foot,

Well, simplicity is beautiful, and these two... well, i wouldn't want to over complicate the little lesson I'm about to give them,

Mari's sinister smile reappeared on her face, and she accidentally let out a cackle from her excitement, interrupting their discussion,

"Hehehehehyahahahahaaaaaaa..." Mari kept shifting her weight, pushing herself back and forth on her two feet as she spoke,

"So, as you were saying previously, you wanted to see my abilities." Mari said, completely ignoring the presence of Red-Haired boy, "Well, if you just need me to show a demonstration, than i would be..."

On Mari's last lean forward, she multiplied the force of that slight push by many times, allowing her so be sent flying forward, slightly above the air at a high speed,

"DELIGHTED!" Mari said, as she moved her arm, casually slamming the Red-Haired boy into the wall, out of her way. Without stopping, she continued the motion aiming her fist at the Emo-Fairy's forehead, intent on hitting him.

This certain individual, who had randomly appeared from nowhere, decided to interfere with his interrogation and literally try to get himself involved. His ultimatum led Haragi to believe that he was just a innocent civilian who misinterpreted the situation at hand. He also considered that this person possibly knew the girl personally, leading to him sticking up for her. However, Haragi remained the same after he finished his 'heroic speech'.

"This doesn't involve you... don't get yourself into something we'll both personally regret later on..."

However, that was when the hooded girl immediately made her move. Haragi closely observed the girl, with his OFR particles about the environment. His focus shifted to her immediately. The hooded girl began to shift her feet forward and backward, only to ready something that Haragi considered a possibility. This girl was able to access her personal reality which had meant that she wasn't a Skill Out member, who are known to be only a group of Level 0s, but rather a ranked Esper.

It was then she flung herself forward destroying everything in her path at an immense speed only to with Haragi as her primary target. The red haired boy was just a insect to her as she easily slammed him into the wall on the side without difficulty, only because he was in the way of her true target.

Haragi remained still, carefully observing what was coming without any intention to move. The dull look in his eyes remained unchanged as she got closer and closer to 'it'.

Her fist curled into a wrecking ball, and violently thrust it forward onto 'it's' forehead.

BAM!

Resulting in a direct hit, a violent crash occurred. Within that moment, the shattering of glass was heard with crystal shards scattering into the air in every single direction. The figure that was there was now headless. Haragi himself greeted death, or should have.

The figure that took the dangerous hit was not Haragi. In fact, the figure was not even a living human. 'It' was composed of OFR molecules in it's crystal-lattice state. In other words, this figure was made out of crystal only to resemble Haragi. The darkness from the alley made his imitation even more effective.

"It takes alot to break through my crystals which you managed to do... Applied Force is how you use your personal reality, huh?.... Which means you really are an esper.... How unfortunate, I'm only interested in Skill Out..."

The dark voice came from behind the destroyed, crystalline human-shaped figurine. Haragi's figure was located not too far behind the crystal-lattice clone only to be concealed by the darkness of the alleyway. He was shown leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his eyes gazing on the ground. He recalled the events from minutes ago after he asked the girl to demonstrate her own esper powers. He played it safe by formulating another figure of himself with the use of his esper powers.

The interruption of the red-haired boy and the darkness of the alleyway helped him execute this plan. And from having the girl attack his dummy, he could feel the Oxygen molecules in the air oddly shift towards one direction. By the result of her own attack, he determined that the girl had manipulated the vectors in the air to be directed in a specific area. In other words, applying force.

"If I had a purpose to... you'd already be dead just by attacking that dummy..."

Haragi accessed his personal reality to dissipate what remains of his OFR molecules and the crystalline figurine in order to conserve his precious energy.

"But... I've wasted enough time here... you're not someone I'm after... so as I agreed... we'll both go our separate ways..."

Haragi shifted his eyes towards the red haired boy's state,

"Also... your boyfriend doesn't look too good right now... consider being a better girlfriend than recklessly rushing in and hurting someone innocent along the way..."

The Level 4 pushed himself from the wall, as he was about to walk deep within the darkness of the alleyway and paying no heed towards the two.

For a moment, my focus remains locked on the person in front of me. With his dark aura and his calm disposition, I can only assume this guy truly is one of the reasons Skill-Outs exist. The girl behind me is pushed out of my mind; as long as I stand between the girl and her attacker, then she will be safe. My objective here is not to start a fight, despite my hostile choice of words earlier. The entire point of my presence here - the bold declaration of my intention to protect the girl and my position between him and her - was to distract him and get him to focus only me. Metal pipe in hand, I prepare to reinforce my weapon so that it can shatter these molecules and surprise him in the event of an attack. With my stance firmly rooted, the words of my mentor - Kiritsugu - resonate within my head in a silent echo.


And with my brazen actions, I have just proven the truth of that simple statement. My enemy does not release the shower of flickering orbs, which seem to have stabilized.

For now, he keeps his distance, perhaps trying to calculate a plan of attack or retreat.

"This doesn't involve you..."

The words were spoken coldly, and without much actual concern behind them. Even so, I don't think he is trying to egg me on. For one reason or another, he seems to truly want me out of the way. The least I can do is hear him out. After all, doing so while he is still distracted might allow the girl to escape.

"Don't get yourself into something we'll both personally regret later on..."

I can't decide if he is merely trying to intimidate me, or if he genuinely wants me to stand down so that he can beat up the girl.

His focus shifts, and he looks past me in that same instant.

Crap!

That is the first thing I think to myself, but then I realize there must be a reason he returned his focus to her. The look on his face is still apprehensive, if not passive. I use his vision as a mirror, and follow the girl's movements with his eyes.

If he is watching her, but still looking almost right at me, then---

I turn, and my arms automatically move of their own accord. They cross, one over the other, and defend my ribcage from the blur of motion that lashes out at me. The force lands a direct hit, right where my forearms overlap, and I am lifted off my feet by the sheer, sudden force.

An odd sensation, to be literally lifted from the ground by force applied to you... This must be what getting hit by a train feels like.

I fly backwards, my arms perfectly fine; I had absorbed the attack, just as Kiritsugu had taught me.

But I know that what follows won't pass so easily.

As the girl speeds past my airborne body, I grit my teeth and exhale so that the air won't be knocked out of my lungs.


"...gh!!!"

A silent grunt of pain escapes my mouth as the wall comes forward to meet my back. The rest of my body suffers the shockwave of residual force, and it takes a deal of effort to not allow my neck or head to be moved by the impact. I don't need a case of whiplash or some mysterious concussion giving me trouble later.

I let my back take the brunt of the impact, knowing my body will take care of the relatively minor damage that will follow.

It is fine if the bones there endure cracks or bruises, because to Emiya Shirou, such injuries are only temporary.

I slump to the ground, and turn my gaze further down the alley. My out-of-focus vision and my ears are left to pick up on the conflict between the two superhumans.

Espers, both.

I realize this only now, and the echo of my mentor watches me in disapproval for making my move before assessing the situation.

Sorry, Kiritsugu. I think to myself, and to his spirit. There was no time, though. If she had been some person with no power, it was my job to intervene.

I pull myself to my feet, using the wall as a support for the briefest of seconds.

To accompany the metallic stitching within my body that lasts for an instant, another noise rings out.


The sound of glass being shattered by a baseball fills my ears, and I feel a slight pang of pain as my body returns to normal.

The sight before me, however, is anything but "ordinary".

A headless version of the enemy who had been there moments before, the rest of him standing as if nothing had happened.

---For a second, I almost feel sick, but then I understand things a little more clearly.

I calm myself, and allow my eyes to replay their memories.

The man had made no attempt to move since I entered the alleyway, and the girl acknowledged my presence. Even as she brushed me aside like an insect and bolted towards him, he made no move to defend himself. I had already realized this meant one of two things. Either he believed his defense to be so ultimate that she could not hurt him, or there was no reason to fear harm in the first place.

Orbs of light... Did he use reflection of the particles to create that mirror-image?

That seems to be the obvious answer, and my suspicions are confirmed when the real version of this enemy comes into focus behind his doppelganger.

"Also... your boyfriend doesn't look too good right now..."

And my face flushes, not with anger, but with embarrassment.

Girlfriend!?

Does this gothic punk really believe such a violent girl and myself are---



No. I'm not done yet.

The girl in the glasses proved to me that she didn't need saving, but I won't just let him walk away after cornering someone like that. The very fact he had asked her to use his powers - and the words he spoke after watching her demolish that copy of him - have affirmed my original convictions. This girl can hold her in own in a fight, but...

"Wait just a minute!" I demand, forcing the words out of my throat.

"What if she hadn't had any powers to begin with? Aren't bullies like you the reason Skill-Outs group together in the first place!?"

I pause, until I am sure that he heard my question.

"You can't be that strong, if you're too blind to see that pushing others around with your special talents is what helps spark this city's endless cycle of violence!"

I say as much to his back, my body no longer needing the support of the wall beside me.

And while he has no reason to answer me...

I want to know why.

A green plushie tucked neatly under one arm, and a shiny frog mascot badge pinned on the other side of her Tokiwadai vest, the brown-haired girl harboured the appreance of a complete fan of Gekota.

After studying the smiling green face for a long minute, the clone had decided she actually kind of liked the figure herself. She wanted to find out more about this frog, and portrayed her need for more information across the Misaka network. Of course, it would take time.

“Misaka is already 8 minutes 34 seconds behind schedule.”

Tonight was her experiment with the Target. The girl looked up at the sky, eyes slowly following the fluffy white clouds trailing along the azure.

“Misaka thinks she can win this one. Misaka boosts her own self-confidence. But if Misaka is to win, then she must get back to her training schedule immediately.”

With a nod, she began to walk down the street.

Mari was rough around the edges, but she was still a good person at heart... to an extent. Unless it was necessary to do otherwise, Mari always made sure to lower the force she used when hitting someone to avoid any fatal injuries.

When she got close enough to notice how strangely the light went through her target, she realized that it was a fake, and increased the force in her punch drastically, shattering the head of the crystal replica of the Emo-Fairy,
Mari used her ability to stop herself and look at the remains of the fake. She then looked up and saw the shadowy silhouette of the spike-haired man who had gotten in her way,

"Hey, wanna give your friend here a hand?" Mari said jokingly. She had released some anger with that punch, and had calmed down a bit,

"It takes alot to break through my crystals which you managed to do... Applied Force is how you use your personal reality, huh?.... Which means you really are an esper.... How unfortunate, I'm only interested in Skill Out... If I had a purpose to... you'd already be dead just by attacking that dummy.."

"And if the Red-Head hadn't gotten in my way, I could have taken your head off. Hindsight's 20x20, pal." Mari said casually, watching the crystal replica dissipate,

But, I've only got a vague idea of what he's capable of... though I wish he hadn't found out about my powers... Mari thought, slightly frustrated,

"But... I've wasted enough time here... you're not someone I'm after... so as I agreed... we'll both go our separate ways..." Mari noticed him eyeing the Red-Headed guy, but kept her eyes on the Emo-Fairy,

"Also... your boyfriend doesn't look too good right now... consider being a better girlfriend than recklessly rushing in and hurting someone innocent along the way..."

Mari ignored the boyfriend comment and stated, "Oh screw off. If he willingly got himself involved, he should be fine with accepting the consequences of doing so-good or bad." She said, while walking past the Red-Headed boy, ignoring his comments, and the Red-Headed person himself,

Mari bent her legs down and as she straightened them, she shot up into the air, letting her hand grip the building to help stop herself,

She didn't do so completely, only enough so that she wouldn't keep going up into the sky. She used the remaining force to flip herself upside down and for a moment, balance herself in the air, her body stock straight, before she pushes off her arm, allowing her to do a 180 degree spin while leaping to get onto her feet.

She walked near the edge of the building to look down at the store her current target was supposed to be at,
Okay, now that my encounter with one of the most unintimidating espers is over, I'll just get back to considering how to steal from Misaka...
...
......
.........
............WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!?

Mari panicked, look around frantically, thinking she had lost 'Misaka' and would have to spend another several hours searching, she sighed with relief to see that she was just walking away with the plushie the Emo-Fairy had given her,

Wait, he gives out presents? All I got were sparkles and death threats, Mari thought, amused at her own joke,

Mari broke into a casual run, her pace increased by her power to safe some time as she ran over buildings, and leapt across the gaps in between until I got close to where Misaka was,

After looking down into the alley way to make sure there was nothing emo in it this time, she hopped down several stories into it without issue,

Mari quickly walked out of the alleyway and looked across the street for a brief moment to see her charge holding her plushie and mumbling something to herself,

Mari notices something green on her shirt, and looks away to avoid drawing the girl's suspicion,

It's a button, with the same design as that plush doll she has with her... well, it's obvious she's a fan of that mascot thing, and how many fourteen year olds wear buttons like that? not a lot, I'm sure, Mari thought, Looks like i know what to take,

Mari thought, nodding to herself.

She had considered taking something directly from Misaka, and was aware of how dangerous a Level 5 could be... but only if she realized that something had been stolen,

My plan is so brilliant, that she'll never see it coming, Mari thought, extremely confident.

First, Mari looked both ways before crossing the road.

Second, she crossed,

Third, she made sure that Misaka was walking past an alleyway when she did,

Fourth, she bumped into Misaka by "accident"

Fifth, while this happened, she grabbed the badge on Misaka's shirt, and took it so swiftly that the fabric barely moved at all when it was taken, she hadn't noticed at all,

Sixth, she moved away with a fast walk, telling Misaka "I'm in a hurry!" and going into the alley, moving faster, and gradually increasing her speed until she was able to turn into another alley, where she went way faster with the use of her ability,

She sped through, jumping over gates with ease, knocking trashcans away like paper, scaring people walking through the alleys plenty. Some because they were surprised to see someone moving so fast, others because they knew Mari, and knew that they would get just get knocked out of her way,

Eventually, she stopped when she believed she was far away enough, and hopped up a sky scraper to observe her prize,

A green Gekota badge, not that Mari actually knew what the mascot was called,

"Mission accomplished," Mari stated, satisfied. Essentially pickpocketting one of the most powerful Espers in the city. They'd never see it coming. So stupid, it's brilliant,

Mari took out her phone and texted her partner, Mack,

Got everything we need. Just let me know when to bring them. Anything else? Mari sent the message and got a reply relatively quickly,

No, you can relax, just rest for now. Also, is it alright for you to be cutting school? You don't have to worry about your grades, do you?

-Mack

No worries, I'm fine. See you soon Mack.

I reply with, and look on at the city, taking in the magnificent view. The tall buildings, the bright blue sky, it's all so amazing......... I'm bored, I should get some lunch now,

And Mari leaps off of the building to the nearest restaurant to fill her stomach, pocketing the Gekota badge, satisfied with a job well-done,

The Level 4 sighed out of annoyance by her last remaining words before she took a giant leap into the air to go about her own business. Whatever she planned or did was not of Haragi's concern. But as he was walking off, a voice suddenly peaked through his ears from behind him.

"Wait just a minute!"

Haragi paused within his movements to realize who had called out to him. But why?

"You're still up and kicking... huh?..."

He continues to speak.

"What if she hadn't had any powers to begin with? Aren't bullies like you the reason Skill-Outs group together in the first place!? You can't be that strong, if you're too blind to see that pushing others around with your special talents is what helps spark this city's endless cycle of violence!"

Why was this random bystander preaching to Haragi? Did he misinterpret the situation that badly? But the fact that he spoke of Academy City's 'Endless cycle of violence' made him peculiar. Haragi didn't even look back to answer him.

"I told you before... you're not involved in this... so don't stick your nose into something that's completely irrelevant to your interests... I'm only after Skill Out and that's all you need to know..."

Haragi continued his movement as he spoke,

"And... if I really did seem like someone attacking the weak just 'for the hell of it'.... Why are you still safe?... In the end... my reasoning will always be that I'm carrying out a burden only to achieve my priorities... People like you who stay in the light shouldn't get involved with the darkness.... Otherwise my sins will keep haunting me because of the burden I carry... I don't expect you to get what I say because... you're not involved with the darkness..."

With those words, Haragi disappeared into the illuminating darkness of the alleyway.

“For tonight’s experiment, Misaka has devised a new plan of action. Misaka reports.”

The girl was mumbling quietly as she walked down the streets. Images and voices flickered by in her thoughts, presenting their opinions on the proposal this clone was submitting to the MISAKA network.

“That may be so. But Misaka is determined that this should work. Misaka stubbornly stands by her view-??!!!”

Something suddenly rammed into her from the side, interrupting her thoughts and almost knocking her over. A hand shot out to steady her and the clone found herself face to face with a complete stranger.

“Misaka apologises but inwardly thinks you should really watch where you’re going. Misaka tells you to be care-?”

"I'm in a hurry!"

With that, the stranger had dashed off, leaving the clone standing opened-mouth in astonishment.

“She didn’t even apologise, Misaka notices. How rude. Misaka rates the stranger’s etiquette level to be zero.”

Shrugging off the incident, her thoughts quickly turned back to the battle-to-come as the clone continued on her way. As she reached the top of a hill, she noticed the sun was beginning to set in the far distance, sweeping the sky with magnificent purple and orange streaks.

Brown eyes looked up, widening as they took in the wonderful sight.

“The colours of the sunset are so rich and beautiful tonight. Misaka muses in wonder…”

She shared the beauty with her sisters through the MISAKA network, which was met with quiet murmurs of appreciation. She realised though, that there was one sister she couldn’t share this with right now. The girl wished she could, although she had no idea why.

“Onee-sama… Misaka wonders if she can also see these sweeping swirls in the sky…”

Hands mindlessly traveled to the place where she knew the badge that Oneesama had given to her was resting. Her fingers hovered there, trying to grasp it. But was met with nothing.

“How strange. Misaka was certain she put it-“

Confused, she looked down. The usually calm eyes filled with panic and alarm when she realised the badge was missing.

“How…? Misaka doesn’t understand…”

She turned over her skirt pockets, and even removed her shoes and peered inside them, but her efforts were in vain. The badge was simply gone.

Vanished, without a trace.

***

As Mikoto moved deeper into the maze of alleys, shadows grew darker with passing time. She knew Kuroko would have probably noticed her disappearance by now, but quickly decided her junior could deal with it. She couldn’t afford to be distracted away now, not when she had a lead in her grasp.

Up ahead of her, the girl Mikoto had spotted was moving further into the alleyway at a steady pace. The Electromaster kept out of sight, maintaining maximum distance while keeping track of her clone's movements with her electroperception. She still had no clue whether this girl was the one she had met yesterday, but that was beside the point.

Just what was her clone doing in such a place?

A new set of feedbacks abruptly informed Mikoto that there were more people up ahead. Her eyes widened with the sudden realisation of who they were. That eerie feeling of a signal exactly the same of hers… But this time, there were multiple sources.

Heart beating rapidly, Mikoto burst forward into a run, determined to see the truth with her own two eyes.

“There are four of them… That girl was really telling me the truth last night… ‘A handful,’ she had said… There are actually five copies of me then… Five clones… Five… Five…”

The heavy weight of dread began to grow deep within her stomach as Mikoto rushed forwards, a whirl of thoughts spinning around and around in her mind.

As she rounded the final corner, the Electromaster skidded to a stop, beads of sweat running down the sides of her face.

Four figures. Exactly as she had sensed.

They all looked up simultaneously as she arrived, perfectly in-sync like timed machines. Mikoto’s eyes grew large when she was met with four perfect mirrors of herself. Their tightly controlled faces revealed nothing as they stared blankly at the Level 5.

Mikoto had known there were more clones of her… She had known what she would have to face when she arrived here and had mentally prepared herself in the brief period of time. And yet, a small part of her had wanted to deny it, wishing that her own powers had been mistaken in their judgement. Now, coming face to face with four clones of herself for real, the truth of her own denials came to full light.

The dread that had gathered deep in her stomach rose, blocking and squeezing her airways.

“Wh-what…” she stuttered feebly, taking a small step backwards. The girl’s dilated pupils were locked on the four figures as if in a trance.

They possessed her face, but never had her own face looked so unfamiliar. Their features were shadowed by the darkening sky, the effect enhanced by the tall structures that rose around them ominously like a cage.

In that instant, Mikoto felt like a complete stranger to herself.

Previously on Radio Noise (Sayuri-chan):

Halfway through eating her sweet waffles Sayuri thought somebody was looking over her shoulder and when she looked she noticed the cook and waitress were looking at her whispering how cute she looked.

Sayuri embarrassed by overhearing this pretended to ignore their comments and finish her meal.
When she was done she let the waitress take her plate away before bowing as if to say thank you.

Before Sayuri could leave the Corner Cafe the cook came out of the kitchen grabbed her arm to get her attention and then handed her a napkin that had some writing with a map quickly sketched on it.
"I hope it helps, Sayuri-chan and good luck" She said smiling before quickly dashing back into the kitchen.

Looking back at the kitchen door for a moment Sayuri walked out The Corner Cafe ignoring the bunch of Tokiwadai students gathering around the cafe.


The directions on the napkin seemed to make sense at first, but as Sayuri followed them she found herself more confused and lost than before.
'What was that girl thinking?' Sayuri thought as she kept looking down at the napkin puzzled.  She remembered the waitress telling her that she thought the cook was a precog.
'A precog is somebody who tells the future right?' She thought to herself. 'Perhaps she wants something to happen if I follow this' Sayuri shook her quickly.
"It doesn't make any sense!" Sayuri yelled up to the sky.  Ofcourse nobody heard her, but she had suddenly got the attention of the School Gardens security who escorted her to the gates of the school gardens.

After leaving the school gardens Sayuri wandered further into the cityscape now feeling completely lost and slightly betrayed by the cook who's directions had not helped her in the slightest.
Unknown to her though that the cook's precog's powers were flawless and she had already created a route for her to follow by simply being lost in the first place.


Sayuri wandered about the town area until she came across a shopping complex known as 'Seventh Mists'.  Outside the shopping complex Sayuri was knocked over by a boy who wasn't watching where he was going.
"Oh great! Now you've done it Watanabe-kun!" A girl standing next to him raised her voice.
"Hey, it's not my fault alright. I didn't hear anybody behind me and she is pretty small!" The boy shouted back.
Both Sayuri and the girl frowned at the boy talking her height.  The girl decided to ignore her boyfriend and put her hand out to pull Sayuri up. "You alright there?"
Sayuri accepted the girl's hand.
"Yes thank you" Sayuri said silently once again forgetting she has no voice and replying in her old way instinctively.
The girl thought it was odd Sayuri's voice didn't come out but decided to not question it much further.
"Oh your from our school!" The girl said as Sayuri got on her feet.  She too had noticed they too were wearing the same uniforms, except the boy who obviously had a boy's uniform.
"I'm lost" Sayuri said aloud hoping they would understand her.
Both the girl and the boy looked at Sayuri puzzled, she could assume they didn't understand her.

Sayuri took out her small whiteboard from her pocket and began writing on it.
"I'm lost. I'm looking for somebody at this school" Sayuri then tugged on her clothes before tugging on the girl's.

"Er okay.. I guess we got nothing better to do" The girl replied, she was now wondering who this girl was and why she'd ask for where their school was if she was wearing their uniform.  Was she a transfer student?
"Are you a transfer student?"
Sayuri paused for a moment wondering if they'd say no if she said she wasn't, so she decided to lie. "Yes I am, but I got separated from my Senpai"

The boy suddenly burst out into laughter.
"Midori-san, you sure meet weird people!" The boy laughed.
"Yes I do.. your one of them" The girl quickly snapped back making the boy almost weep in response.  "Don't worry, we'll show you the way.  What's your name?"
Sayuri quickly wrote.  "Sayuri. Fujiwara Sayuri"
"Nice to meet you Sayuri-chan.  I'm Midori and this good for nothing is Watanabe"
Watanabe looked at Midori shocked that she called him 'good for nothing' but she just gave him a glare and he quickly broke eye contact feeling slightly rejected by a girl he seemed to like.

The group of Haru Chugakko then walk off through into the Seventh Mists in the direction of their school.

It seemed for the most part that he wasn’t going to really run into anything at this moment. His wondering didn’t really draw to much attention to him, which was good. But seemed to go against the point of tracking down that odd speaking girl again. Her constant talks of Misaka was something that drew him to his original idea of her possibly being a clone maybe. No this assumption was based on some interesting light hacking he had managed to do. Though with less then no evidence, he had to just follow a different path. If he could run into this person once more he could probably ask them about the possibility of them being something on those lines. Of course again this could have been an issue if that wasn’t the case and she was some sort of odd twin sister that was even worse in social understanding then he was. Though maybe she was in fact just following some weird anime cute thing that people found cute. He hadn’t really watched that much tv since he was here but for all he knew that could have been the situation at Hand.

He sighed, it was more because he was annoyed at the fact that he couldn’t really put it all together as simply as he had planned, yes finding people would have been interesting. But the more he saw some of them he just wanted to either kill them, or just let them live. All of which was being over run by his understanding that he needed to figure out this situation at hand. Hell his own job was just pulling in weirder and weirder people as it went by. At this rate he was probably a normal person to some of the people in the area around that school…besides the fact he had to travel there just so he could manage to get to work. Yah this wasn’t really the best plan but at the moment he was going to continue to walk around. You never know whom you’d run into and it was better if he just kept his light pace. Watching and searching for a possible person for him to see if they were going somewhere, acting strange or whatever the world would deem as such.

He moved past many different alley ways as he continued his path. He was generally just keeping an eye out for these Misaka sisters, though still he figured finding Mikoto would be the best bet. Of course…this still fell on him actually finding them. Well it was that or he spent the whole day walking around pointlessly, it wasn’t such a bad idea…at least health wise.

"And if the Red-Head hadn't gotten in my way, I could have taken your head off! The girl responded harshly, though she did not look in my direction.

Apparently, she was not satisfied by just destroying a clone she was not expected to defeat.

As the clone dissolved, Mari gave a casual response, as if she hasn't just punched through a person's head.

She declares that as someone who chose to get involved, I should be prepared to accept the consequences of my actions. As she says so, she doesn't spare me a second glance. She is looking at this man with black hair, and finally she comes to a stop between him and myself.

For a moment, I wonder if she plans to continue this fight even though the spiky-haired guy's words clearly imply he considers his game at an end.

If she does, I'll have to get involved again.

Instead, she bends at the knees, and in an instant she propels herself upwards.

She moves with such speed and force, that for a moment I wonder if she is planning to attack or retreat.

Truthfully, I am a tad relieved when she opts to remove herself from the fight.

I watch with cool interest as she trusts an arm outward, and hurtles herself over the nearest roof's edge. Every motion she makes is precise, and with almost catlike balance she brings herself to a stop before pivoting inward towards the roof.

And just like that, I am left with the person who I had initially asked my question towards.

Without turning to acknowledge me, the man's voice resonates throughout the alleyway, and because of that I can hear his response clearly.

I told you before... you're not involved in this...

Yes, he had said as much.

But I don't accept that answer.

If one person sees another person in trouble, then the right thing to do is to help them.

I will never stand idly by and watch while someone suffers, if there is anything I can do.

I made that decision on a moonlit night, looking with determination into the eyes of a Dark Knight.

"I'm only after Skill Out and that's all you need to know..."

Idiot! That's the reason they even exist!

I think that to myself, but as I see him continue walking away, I hear his next words.

"If I really did seem like someone attacking the weak just 'for the hell of it'.... Why are you still safe?"

I don't say anything just yet, but I know that I could take this person out while his back is turned to me.

It would be easy.

But I won't do that, and he knows it.

I'm sure that is why he keeps his back to me, and steps further into the shadows.

"People like you who stay in the light shouldn't get involved with the darkness."

Darkness?

What is he talking about?

The jargon he uses is lost on me for a moment, and he keeps talking.

"Otherwise my sins will keep haunting me because of the burden I carry... I don't expect you to get what I say because you're not involved with the darkness."

Burden?

Not involved with the Darkness?

Then, the light bulb in my mind is clicked on.

Both Kiritsugu and Kirei have mentioned "Darkness" before.

Kiritsugu claimed he walked the path of Darkness, to destroy the Darkness.

Kirei claimed that Darkness was inherently evil, but could be used as one's motivation and source of power.

According to the Fake Priest, it is an Executor's job to oppose the Darkness on behalf of mankind... To stand between modernity and magic, and vanquish heretics who threaten the safety and existence of humanity.

Could the Darkness both my father and master addressed be the same thing this guy is talking about?

No, it must be.

But that means he could be on their level.

I know he probably isn't, but even so... If nothing else, he is mentally and emotionally on their level, and undeniably more seasoned than myself.

I can only watch him melt into the inky maw of shadow further within the alleyway, and I notice the area where the light and darkness meet.

A thin line, several yards away...

Behind me is the open-street, the shops, and the people bustling about like busy bees.

In front of me is the shadow-laced labyrinth of darkness; where people dwell unseen and move within the veil of night.

My instinct is to go back to the world I know. The people walking about, the merchants selling their cheap wares or advanced technology, the security and custodial robots moving about the streets to create the image of public safety. Where the Chapel on the Hill awaits me in District 12z

But within the shadows, I see Kiritsugu with his back to me, barely visible.

And I realize that the decision is not so simple.

"Which way should I go?"

I don't realize that I ask the question aloud, and the only answer is silence.

July 23rd

19:30

Accelerator walked through the eerie stillness of the Railyard. He was particularly alert this time, registering every change in the wind direction, every vibration, every tiny sound that would be lost to lesser senses. Tonight, he had decided, he would see how far he had progressed by going all out. He was going to test the limits of his ability to see how far it had grown. A 'test of his journey to Godhood' one might say. He could afford such pass-times, given his opponents. The clones had gotten better, more inventive, more cunning, more ruthless. But he could never really say they posed a real challenge. He needed these 'distractions' to keep him from growing bored.

He hoped that tonight's victim would last long enough to entertain him.

Upon parking her car in front of her home, she immediately exited to rush into the house. Before then, she noticed setting sun. Time was running out before the experiment begins. She had to hurry and learn about what the purpose of such horrible experiments were. All the information she needed was contained within her USB stick, the forbidden document of the Radio Noise project.

She rushed into her home locking the door behind her.

"Haragi-san, I'm home."

She called out to her younger brother, who never responded. Was he not home? Recalling his class schedule, she remembered that he had no classes today. If that was the case, it was reasonable that he was probably going about his own business. Kaede herself would never question Haragi's actions, nor his whereabouts unless he was gone for a really long time without notifying her. Kaede trusts her younger brother as he trusts her own privacy. She knew this to be true, so she trusted Haragi to not make any stupid decisions and disregard his odd disappearance.

In her room, she locked her own door and closed the curtains just as a precaution. She was well aware to have stolen high secure and forbidden data, to which the higher ups will catch on eventually. Before any consequence befalls her, she has to resolve her own mistakes. She has to somehow come up with a solution helping the clones she was tricked into developing. The only lead she has was within her USB.

Inserting the drive into her computer, she opened the contents of the "Project Radio Noise" document.

Her eyes leered at the text as she thoroughly read line by line. However one portion of the document caught her eye,

...Mikoto willingly gave a DNA sample to the Research Division at the 7th Medical Research Center of the Higuchi Pharmacies, under assumption that they would use it to help children who are living with muscular dystrophy; using her powers to replicate bio-signs,  she was convinced that the result would lead to the control of the bioelectrical signal of the body and be able to reroute it to a nerve signal network, meaning the children would be able to gain control of said muscles, thus allowing movement....

She paused as she gazed at the words. No one ever had mentioned this event to Kaede. The fact that Misaka Mikoto was tricked into giving her own DNA only for the sake of possibly curing the disabled. That was cruel. Kaede herself felt like she had to take the blame.

She always assumed that Misaka had gave her own DNA knowing about Project Radio Noise prior. A certain disgust was felt the true colours of Academy City's Researchers. Even her elder researcher, Yoshikawa Kikyo, was now viewed in a completely different light. Her eyes continued scrolling down the useless information in the document until another section of interest caught her eyes.

...the simulation that the Tree Diagram produced showed that it was impossible to create a level 5 clone of Mikoto despite genetic manipulation and use of the Testament. It showed that the clones' specifications reached less than 1% of that of the real Mikoto's, which was equal to that of a level 2. To cut losses, the project was suspended indefinitely, all ongoing research stopped, research teams were dissolved, and data on the project purged.

It had ended there. Other than the fact that Kaede is convinced she was tricked into helping the Research Division, the document barely had any information as to what she had been searching for. Project Radio Noise was nothing more than a failure. This made her efforts to risking her life to get this documents meaningless. Her fists tightened up and her lips pursed.

"No matter how much I try, I just seem to be useless. Nothing I did helped those sisters in anyway. The experiment will start soon, and I have nothing or know anything of how to stop him. At this rate, she'll... *sniff* die..."

Tears started streaming down from her eyes, in spite of not being able to figure out a solution. But then she realized if Project Radio Noise ended, why was she still working on the clones? Not only that, Radio Noise had ended at a date long before she was hired to help develop the Misaka sisters. That didn't make any sense at all. The position clearly stated Project Radio Noise and further development of genetic engineering. Or was that merely a lie to convince her that there was nothing suspicious about it.

She raised her head glaring at the eerie presence of the other document. "Level 6 Shift" was a forbidden document within Dr. Amai Ao's computer. It had several mentions of Accelerator and the concept of Level 6 from what she briefly skimmed through. Could that document be of use? If she wasted more time with useless information, the experiment would already start and she would be too late to stop it. But on the other hand, going to the experiment without any knowledge of Accelerator's capabilities or intentions could be suicidal.


Her tears dried as she cautiously clicked on the suspicious document regarding the ridiculous theory of a Level 6 esper. Her eyes focused onto each line of text.

...According to Tree Diagram, only Accelerator can achieve Level 6, and with the implementation of the current curriculum, he can acheive Level 6 in 250 years. As such, seeing it was unfeasible to have Accelerator remain active for 250 years, we were lead by Tree Diagram to a different method.

She stopped reading there. Her eyes widened as she made sense of this information. The Tree Diagram was a large supercomputer orbiting in space and was supposedly to be able to calculate the most accurate results than any other computing device. It was predicted that Accelerator would be able to attain Level 6 in 250 years time. But they resorted to using a different method.

"S-so.. D-does this mean..."

Shocked and in terror, she dared not to read further. But knowing fully well whatever may be the reason, it would lead into information about Accelerator's Esper abilities.

...Knowing that by training and combat scenarios, an esper such as pyrokinesis gain better accuracy, Tree Diagram has calculated that by preparing special battlefields for Accelerator, he can achieve Level 6. The fastest way for Accelerator to achieve this is to do battle with another Level 5, namely Misaka Mikoto—the Railgun.

Her teeth clenched as she heard Misaka's name. The purpose of Radio Noise was only achieved by Misaka Mikoto's DNA. Having this experiment's purpose be only possible by the same person couldn't be a just a mere coincidence. The fact that the sister admitted to having Accelerator battle her could not be a coincidence. The fact that Accelerator was involved with Project Radio Noise could not be ONLY a coincidence. Her spine shivered as possibilities swarmed her head of what the reason might be. The gap between both Project Radio Noise and this unheard experiment was slowly closing.

Tree Diagram determined that Accelerator killing Mikoto 128 times would allow him to achieve Level 6, however, since 128 Railguns cannot be created, the experiment determined that the reusage of the failed Sisters Project for the convenient use of clones of Misaka Mikoto. Since the clones are of a level below the Original, it has been determined that within 20,000 battlefields, to achieve Level 6 required the complete killing of 20,000 ----

"-- sisters."

The word echoed within her head as she completed the sentence of the paragraph. Her mind boggled in light of this new horrid information. Her mind couldn't accept this. She wanted release herself from her body and just float into another space where reality didn't exist. But that wasn't possible. What she had read, what she had learned, was all truth. The purpose behind Project Radio Noise was to develop Accelerator into a Level 6 esper.

This had meant all the clones she had cared for. All those faces that glared at her with human life, was only fated to die by Accelerator's hands. Kaede had to accept this and move on despite what she had read was absolutely evil and unreal. She tried holding her own emotions back, knowing that she didn't have much time to only cry about it. So she continued reading.

More information was found after within the document describing Accelerator's growth and the description of his esper abilities. Even more so, the next category of the document left her shocked. It was a series of scheduled experiments and the description of each about Accelerator's growth towards Level 6. She immediately covered her mouth gasping as soon as she reached today's date.

Over 10000 clones have already been deceased by Accelerator's hands. And tonight's experiment is with the clone she had spoken to earlier in the morning. She couldn't hold back her tears this time, learning about the fact that the sisters that were developed before she was hired. Those faces that were filled with life are now gone. She cared about the sisters just as much she cared about her brother, and seeing how these sisters were murdered would be as much as painful as seeing Haragi being murdered over 10000 times.

She couldn't cry now. She had to stop Accelerator know that she knows the truth. Crying would only lead her to her own despair and she knew that well. Despite how painful and suffering this information was, wasting her time would only lead to more deaths and she couldn't let that happen.

Wiping her tears, she rushed to leave the house to drive to her final destination: The Railyard where Accelerator and the sister will battle in about 30 minutes. She knew this attempt could end up killing her, but she couldn't sit around doing nothing.

As she exited the house, she recalled her final words to her brother that was written within the letter she wrote upon first entering her room when trying to figure out the truth. She knew danger would come her way if she discovered Academy City's true intentions, but she was well prepared in doing so.

Her sins, her actions, and even begging for forgiveness to what she was about to do were all within that letter. Knowing this, she had no fear of death if it welcomed her. Stopping Accelerator is what she prioritized over her own life.

She was still 'eavesreading' on the boy and the Sister.

"Unlike you... I have business to take care of with someone... Right now.. I'm just waiting till he shows up... Speaking of which... you shouldn't be wandering near the alleyways here... take it as a warning...."

(It doesn't seem like that guy's aware of the experiments, if so then I shouldn't really mind him ... But if he doesn't have anything to do with it that Sister won't say something suspicious concerning those alleys...)

“There are greater dangers hidden in those alleys, Misaka agrees with you to some extent, but such dangers would not apply to you. Even so, Misaka suggests you do not wander around those hidden places. Misaka takes her turn at being quite hypocritical.”

(...I take that back.)

Each now and then, she would quickly steal a glance at the figure who was watching the boy and the Sister

"Who says I'm not in danger?.... I've been dealing with my life on the line throughout my life... and yet I'm somehow still alive..."

She thought that what the boy had said about him being somehow still alive suspicious, but decided to cast it aside, as it currently was none of her business.

"You said you know these alleyways well... right?.... Have you been through them recently?..."

“Misaka has, Misaka answers your question directly without hesitation.”

(Hey hey now, did you seriously just answer that?)

She was amazed at the fact that the Sister had answered that question so directly, and wondered if those experiments were actually kept a secret from the citizens or not.

But she quickly disregarded that idea, assuming that it was just part of the Sister's personality.

"It seemed like you wanted that plushie... Am I wrong?"

“You are incorrect, Misaka answers. Those sorts of items are ill suited to Misaka’s preferences. Misaka explains honestly.”

“Oneesama on the other hand, is the one who enjoys spending her resources on gathering childish and useless objects. Misaka lets you in on the shameful family secret.”

(...Holy crap, I think I found a way to troll the Level 5 Railgun ... Damn this is good stuff.)

A few more words were exchanged, and the boy disappeared into the store. After a little while, he reappeared, with the said plushie in hand.

That plushie was that Gekota frog mascot, Natsumi had seen it multiple times while shopping.
She made a mental note about buying something related to Gekota for the sake of bothering Misaka Mikoto later on.

After handing the plushie to the Sister, the boy walked off, and the Sister thanked him.

“Haragi… Faye...”

The Sister muttered. Natsumi couldn't read what he had told the Sister since he was turned around, but she assumed that Haragi Faye was the name of the boy.

(Haragi Faye, huh ... I don't have a reason to check anything on him right now ... But I should ask Hisakawa if she knows anything concerning him or his relatives having a link with the experiments)

The conversation being done between the Sister and him, Natsumi's binoculars found their way back to the figure.

The figure was moving to a side of the building.

(The hell is it doing?)

And saw the figure fall off the railing.

Natsumi wondered if the figure had fallen off while trying to jump from roof to roof

Bewildred, she kept on staring for a while.

Pointing her binoculars down to the street, she saw a red-head with a steel rod in his hand.

(...The fuck he's doing here? Man, don't complicate this even more...)

She was confused at the apparition of the red-head.

She pulled out her phone, not detaching her gaze from around that building, and started composing the number.

"Hisakawa, need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Two things. Primo; Do you know anything about whenever a boy named Haragi Faye, or his relatives have a link to the experiments? Like say, researcher or assistant."

"Faye...? I think there was a researcher by that name, but I'm not sure ... If there's a primo then there's a secundo, right?"

"No, not really."

"...Then why did you say 'Primo'?"

"Coz it sounded fun."

"....Well, if you found something to amuse you, then that's good."

Suddenly, she spotted something.

The figure was making its way back to the roof of the building.

She felt something was wrong, then it hit her, the figure had fallen from the building, and made its way back to the roof of building without a scratch.

"..."

"What's up?

"Actually, there was a secundo. Wait a bit."

She continued to observe the figure, who was panicking.

(...Either that person has schizophrenia, or is a total retard, what the hell is it panicking about?)

She then remembered that the figure was spying on the Sister earlier since the boy had left, she assumed that the figure was after the clone again.

(...Does she have something against that Sister?)

"Did you just think it up, or were you just messing around?"

She then saw the figure casually running and jumping from rooftop to rooftop, until she finally got close to the Sister.

The figure did the same thing as earlier, fell down from the several stories building

"I was messing around, so. Secundo; You wouldn't happen to know anything about an ability that lets you fall off a multiple-stories building with no apparent injuries?"

"Fall off? Wouldn't that just be a wind user?"

She then saw the figure bumping into the sister, then disappearing.

(A klutz? ...Who knows, oh well...)

"That's what I thought too, but if wind was used to cushion the fall, then at least the user should have at least minimal injuries."

She carried on without leaving a chance to answer.

"At that, that 'wind user' made its way back to the roof of the building, and it seemed like she was relying more on her body than wind."

"No idea ... Try looking into the Bank... But that'd be hard considering that's the extent of what you know about it, it is right?"

"Yeah ... I'll try giving it a go. Though I'm kinda busy right now ... Later."

She hanged up before Hisakawa could say anything, and resumed her wait.

“What is Oneesama doing here, Misaka asks warily on behalf of her Sisters.”

Mikoto almost jumped out of her skin when the girl started talking, but let her shoulders loosen as her words sunk in.

‘She knows me… That means she’s her, right? The girl from yesterday…’

She felt relieved for some strange reason.

“Th- That’s just what I was about to ask you guys,” Mikoto said. She somehow managed to keep most of the trembling out of her voice.

“We have some important work to do here. Misaka explains, while secretly hoping that Oneesama would just go away.”

“Hey!” Mikoto’s irritation huffed out, “that was uncalled for!”

Her eyebrows twitched as she tried to gather her thoughts in the short silence.

‘She’s just as lively and disrespectful and rude as yesterday. It definitely IS her. But that’s not really the issue here, is it? I can’t keep getting sidetracked by her like this…’

Taking a deep breath, Mikoto took a step forward towards them.

“Just what kind of ‘work’ are you talking about?”

“Misaka has no obligations to answer that question. Misaka says while slyly implying that Oneesama should keep her nose in her own business-“

“What?!” Mikoto yelled, frustration quickly igniting her irritation again. “I even generously gave you my Gekota badge yesterday and you…!”

The words died on her lips when her eyes roamed to the edge of the girl’s vest and found nothing pinned there.

“Wait, wait!” Her eyes widened into a gaze of panic that could only be associated with obsession. “You still have it right?! You kept the badge I gave you?!”

“Hehehe…" The girl raised a hand to her lips in a gesture to muffle her laughter. The other three silent figures around her mirrored the movement. “Are you referring to that lame item Misaka fairly and squarely won-?"

“WHAT?! Why you little-!”

A blue spark burst out with a crackle from the side of her head, but died away into the darkness. Steadying her breathing, it took her a few seconds to re-focus herself.

‘I’ll figure out what she did with that Gekota badge later,’ Mikoto thought with gritted teeth. 'She better not have done anything...' Pushing aside the miserable images of a crying Mr Gekota that had popped up in her mind with much difficulty, the Electromaster inwardly prayed that he was safe for now.

Her eyes gazed around the four figures, coming to rest upon a black sack that was draped across a Sister’s shoulder. Large and bulky, something was obviously inside and it looked quite heavy.

For some reason though, the sight of the object suddenly made Mikoto uneasy and the dread throbbing deep within her stomach returned.

“What’s… that?” the Tokiwadai girl asked, brown eyes never leaving what she was referring to.

***

Steady footsteps carried a lone girl towards the Railyard as darkness dawned and spread like a plague.

Slung over her shoulder was a shiny cello case, but her hands were now empty. The girl had carefully stored the plushie a certain Level 4 had given her in a public locker. She knew that if she died today, another Sister would look after it.

A more pressing worry kept nagging at her mind. The smiling green figure on a glinting badge continued to haunt her. Instead of following the scheduled training, Misaka 9982 had spent the last few hours remaining before the experiment searching for the missing badge. This had earned disapproving comments from her Sisters in the Network, but she somehow felt this was a more important issue. The girl had no idea why… Nor had she any idea what that constricting feeling in her chest was… Despite this, she had continued her search.

Still, she hadn’t been successful. In fact, her efforts had ended in a complete failure.

The very first gift her Oneesama had given her... And she had lost it the very next day...

Her steady pace abruptly stopped as an albino figure emerged from the darkness. The girl dropped the cello case on the ground, opening it to reveal an automatic gun. Taking it in her hands with expert skill, she placed the green goggles over her eyes as she spoke to her Target in her usual monotone.

“Experiment 9982 will be commencing in 35 seconds. Are you ready, Misaka asks to confirm.”