A Certain Scientific Experiment (Arc 3 Main Story)

She couldn't blame others to think this isn't what she had expected. Despite the countless failures of the sisters before her and most likely those who will come afterwards she thought she could do some damage to the target. But just like before and despite everything she had tried. For some reason her attacks are just bounced off without much effort from Accelerator.

"Like I said, why prolong it?" Accelerator said as he cracked his fingers as he made his way closer. This was surely her last stand. There was no where else to go but the water behind her or attempt to slip past him. Both seemed suicidal at best since diving into the water would make her reactions slower and its hard to slip past an enemy as fast as Accelerator.

Taking a deep breath the battered Misaka sister 10031 relaxed herself as she looked through the goggles which had remained in tact and begun looking through them to observe the surroundings rather quickly. It was so she could see if there was anything that could help with this situation. And she indeed startled for a second to see something and then placed the goggles on her forehead to get a clear view of Accelerator. Stepping slightly back on the small amount space she still have left the sister begun to speak.

"Humidity is actually 78% today Says Misaka 10031 interestingly who believes it's best to carry on as long a single percentage chance of victory remains." The sister said as she stepped back further before turning towards the water and leaped off the dock with her right hand stretching out just in time as a singular iron beam flew past to which the sister latched onto as a form of escape.

Taking her away suddenly from Accelerator's reach... for now.

It had taken her a bit of time to pinpoint where Accelerator and the Sister were as Mikoto only saw traces of destruction by the time she had arrived at the alley, following the path of destruction in fear she'd only meet a bloody corpse at the end of it.

But thankfully, it was not the case. The Sister was injured but most certainly alive. Mikoto had suddenly crouched on top of a container not too far away from the two as soon as she arrived, and used magnetism to move an iron beam from an abandoned pile fast enough to catch the falling Sister without injuring her further.

(...Thank God she read that.) Mikoto admitted that her plan was quite dangerous for something that was made up on the spot. What if she had miscalculated and the iron beam had hit Accelerator instead...?

In any cases, she couldn't afford to let him approach her again. The iron beam led the girl to a more distant container, though making sure she slowed down enough for the collision to not be rough. After that, she herself jumped off her own container as she manipulated magnetism to avoid breaking her ankles, and slowly approached Accelerator with a darkened expression.

“Accelerator.” She said, without yelling or whispering, as she fished a coin out of her pocket. “This time, I'll definitely stop you.”

Though she was well-aware that she couldn't possibly do so.

As she rounded the roof they were on, Natsumi analysed each alley that could be visible from the building, though stopped and squinted her eyes with a deep frown when she noticed something. Something annoyingly familiar. “That's...” Realisation hit her and she pointed towards the alley as she called out to Kuroko. “Shirai. Teleport us to that alley.”

“Eh?” Kuroko exclaimed in utter confusion, approaching the spot where Natsumi was standing to see what was in that alley. “...A civilian?!” Though the details were blurry, they could still make out the shape of a man currently unconscious in a random alley. Kuroko quickly teleported both of them to that alley, and when they landed she further noted that the young man seemed to have been charred by electricity as there was still remains of it escaping from the boy's clothes along with smoke. (Did Onee-sama... but wait...)

Then realisation hit her as well and for the first time since they had met, Kuroko and Natsumi spoke in complete unison.

“That barbarian...”

“That cretin...”

**

Unsure of how to go about judging the situation after they'd finally stopped looking at Guy like he was the representation of how stupid mankind could be, Natsumi approached the corpse while squatting and gently poked it with her phone.

“No response. It's really a corpse.” She noted in boredom until the idea of one of the best ideas to shake someone into consciousness came to mind and made her grin from ear to ear. Kuroko merely looked on with impatience while tapping her foot on the ground, she did not have the time to stand around here yet she could not abandon a civilian, and especially not one that could help her locate Mikoto, no matter how much she disliked said civilian.

But returning to Natsumi, the girl was slowly lifting her hand... And unleashed a festival of slaps on the poor boy's face, half for the purpose of waking him up and half for the purpose of revenge.

(Hahaha, this is oddly satisfying!!!!!)

She had seen it the moment she used her goggles, the incoming metal beam which would act as her path to escape but she also saw the original. The goggles allows her to see in the dark and including electrical/magnetic fluxes which included Mikoto Misaka. But her concern at the moment was to survive as long she could in her experiment to try and achieve her goal of overcoming Accelerator. She knew it was inevitable that she would die, but this doesn't mean she couldn't try to survive.

That was the purpose wasn't it? To learn and adapt over the many experiments through the Misaka network to give Accelerator a much harder fight each go.

All so that one can achieve level 6 and Misaka along with the other sisters never truly thought about what that actually meant. What had it all come down too? To achieve something far more powerful then Level five the sisters had became cattle to the slaughter. They walked into the experiments each and every time knowing that their fate was sealed. She wasn't the only sister to think about this as 10031 realized the intentions of the original and dropped herself off the metal beam before it collided in the metal container. It had slowed down enough for her to do this and while the metal beam fell away from herself she slammed into container hard.

She stirred with pain but opened her eyes as she looked back in the direction she came from. For the first time in probably forever her eyes widened out of shock when the sister fully realized the original's intentions.

"The fastest way for the test subject known as Accelerator to achieve level six, he had to do battle with another level five which was Misaka Mikoto the Railgun. Tree Diagram determined that Accelerator killing Mikoto 128 times would allow him to achieve Level 6, but we sisters was created because 128 Railguns cannot and was later determined killing 20,000 sister clones in 20,000 battlefields would alllow Accelerator to achieve level 6 says Misaka as her eyes narrow towards the two facing each."

"Tree Diagram had predicted Onee-Sama would lose on the 128th turn explains Misaka 10032 who understands the situation. She is trying to break the predictions and throw off the experiment says Misaka 10032 who questions what to do now."

Neither of them knew and nor does the Misaka network entirely. This had happened once before but things felt very different here. There purpose was always to act as what the original couldn't, they had more lives then she and provided the city what they needed for their experiment. They were slimes, products to be used until there was non left. And she still could be reproduced with the push of a button with memories in tact from the Misaka network

But there was only one original, one Misaka Mikoto and she couldn't be replaced. This with in mind the city has tried many times, the sister noise project was a clear attempt and it failed. Their Onee-Sama cannot be reproduced at the push of the button and even if that was possible her memories would be lost forever. What made her who she is despite her many flaws and stubbornness.

Natsumi wrote:“Do you really not want to surpass the circumstances of your births in a cage within this cage and see the world outside of your confinement? Mankind is natively wingless, yet still aimed for the sky and managed to reach it even without growing proper wings."

She would be gone.

She and the rest of the sisters didn't fully understand what this actually meant.

But...

"But... Says Misaka as she struggles to her feet." What was this strange feeling? It was alien and it only made her feel horrible. And though her face still didn't show much emotion initially a look of distraught could be seen as the sister actually shouted out.

"Onee-Sama! shouts Misaka with the utmost concern. Please... don't die...!" This was the first time she truly shouted in such a way, it was like more then just this sister was saying these same words. But all of them in the network and they truly didn't want their original one to perish.

Surprise and anger registered just briefly on Accelerator's face as his prey was torn from his grasp. Just as things were getting exciting, too, he thought. But seeing the new contender approaching, Accelerator's grin spread unchecked.

“Accelerator. This time, I'll definitely stop you.”

That had made him laugh, a dismissive cackle that cut through Mikoto like a knife. He wasn't worried in the slightest.

"You again, huh? I hope you've come up with something a bit better than flicking a coin at me this time." He stood lazily. He would accept her challenge, but that didn't mean it was worth any effort. Obviously the mere Number Three hadn't learnt her lesson the first time. This time he'd have to take her apart piece by piece to show her exactly where her place in the hierarchy was.

He wondered if he'd need to repeat the example on the rest of the Level Fives as well.

"Come on then, give me your best shot." He opened his arms wide, leaning towards her so that his head was a clear target.

"I get it. I get it." Guy groaned, reaching out to grab Natsumi's hands. "I'm awake." He opened his eyes. It was remarkable that he was conscious yet, let alone able to move. "Looks like I wasn't able to convince her." He said, placing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it. He lay there for a moment, inhaling a deep breath and breathing out two thick plumes of smoke from his nostrils.

"Well, no time to lie around now." He laughed bitterly as he pushed himself shakily to his feet. He took off down the alleyway, staggering along the tunnel as feeling slowly returned to his limbs. His clothes smouldered, smoking lightly where they had been singed by the electric current.

"It's just not my day..." He sighed, nearly toppling into the wall of the alley as his legs gave way underneath him.

“You're the one making your day that way...”

Natsumi approached the boy and squatted, glaring as she snatched the cigarette away from him and crushed it before incinerating it. She shot a quick glance at Kuroko telling her this would not take long, to which Kuroko could only reply with a groan unwilling to let go of what could possibly get her closer to Mikoto's location.

“I'm confused; why would you force yourself up when you've no real reason to?” Natsumi stopped for a minute and put her hand on her chin as she pondered. “Although, I guess I'm not the one you want to explain that to.” Natsumi rose a finger, slowly going from pointing to Guy to pointing to the twin-tailed Judgement member.

“She didn't leave long ago, did she? I expect she hasn't reached Accelerator just yet, so I suggest you make your arguments towards Misaka's personal "guardian" solid if you want her to take you there in your state.”

Guy scowled as the cigarette was snatched away callously by the younger girl.

“She didn't leave long ago, did she? I expect she hasn't reached Accelerator just yet, so I suggest you make your arguments towards Misaka's personal "guardian" solid if you want her to take you there in your state.”

"Well I was out cold so I can't say for certain, but looking at the time it could only have been a couple of minutes." He said, propping himself up on the brick wall. He looked close to collapsing. "Towards the waterfront. If you hurry, you can catch her before she does something stupid." His eyes met Kuroko's and there was an understanding. They both knew that taking him along would slow her down. Her abilty had limits after all. Three people would far exceed her maximum load and they couldn't afford repeat trips.

"I'll see you there." He said, and watched the two vanish from sight before he straightened up, shaking out his limbs and breathing deeply. No time to rest. The last appearances of haggard exhaustion shed as he set his eyes on the path ahead and started to run.

At the sight of his determination to get there on his own, Natsumi only rose from her squatting position as she sighed and returned to Kuroko's side with a nod.

A mere second later and they were already gone. “It has been quite difficult to keep civilians in check as of late...” Kuroko uttered a complaint as she repeatedly teleported them towards the primary source of her complaint, the other one already being out of sight.

**

Mikoto's legs shook at the sight of Accelerator, who had adopted a provocative posture daring her to do anything to him even knowing that, in the end, she couldn't really do anything. She had arrived with the resolve to die, yet there was something about Accelerator that naturally made her feel afraid, much like how a prey without natural defences would always fear their predator. That was the kind of presence the strongest Esper in Academy City had.

(What should I do? I need to make this seem like a fight at the very least, but he's not going to be vulnerable to any kind of collateral damage, let alone direct damage...) The girl nervously wrecked her brain as she grabbed the coin tightly between her fingers. However, when she felt she was about to lose her mind to all the thoughts that raced through it, an unexpected event occurred causing Mikoto to finally clear her head for a second and gain the boost of motivation she needed.

That event was a shout from the person she was trying to protect. ""Onee-Sama! shouts Misaka with the utmost concern. Please... don't die...!" Mikoto smiled one of the most sincere smiles she had made since being aware of the experiments.

(But I can't just let you die, now, can I?)

With the flame of her resolve burning bright once more, Mikoto took a more serious stance to stop her shaking and quickly changed the trajectory of the coin to the water and shot her railgun. The water burst upwards as a result of the coin's violent impact, only to slowly shower back down on the two Level 5s.

This water burst was meant to be used as slight distraction while iron beams flew above Accelerator's head.

Mikoto used magnetism to cling onto the flying beams as she took off the ground. Their final destination was only a few metres away as they lodged themselves in a straight line, creating a barrier that wouldn't budge with human strength alone. This would keep the Sister away until she had successfully carried out her plan.

Then, Mikoto lifted her hand as soon as her iron beam wall had landed and conjured a powerful lightning strike that would most likely kill the average person, and could possibly send most of the city into a complete blackout. She hated having to settle for such an ouput, but humane ways couldn't possibly get her anywhere with him.

As the maddened lightning forming in the sky rained down on Accelerator, Mikoto could only wonder if this kind of brute force would even get her anywhere, as she prepared herself to evade any backlash.

"Eh?" Accelerator looked displeased. Was she seriously taking the time to protect that lab-rat? "Distractions? Barriers? You're wasting time with that crap." He spat as the air around him started to tingle with static. He looked up at the growing cloud overhead that rumbled with the threat of rain just as that cloud started to flash and spark.

The arcing bolt of elemental lightning burned a pillar down from the heavens and split the night with a sound like a million crashing cymbals.

"I told you..." Accelerator spoke. "you're wasting your TIME!" He burst from the blinding flash as Mikoto's eyes recovered and swung his fist at her. It wasn't a hard punch or even a fast one. It looked lazy and unskilled. But it had enough power to fling her across the docks if it landed and maybe break a bone or two.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about your own neck, rather than an insignificant fleck of dirt?" His shoulders jerked in a dry chuckle.

Mikoto clenched her teeth in pain as she received the blow that would hopefully help her throw off Tree Diagram's predictions.

Yet there was no way this blow would kill her so easily, and she cursed internally as she realised that and braced for impact. (I was hoping it'd be a one-shot, it might disrupt my plan if this takes too long...!) However, the harsh impact that would've most likely left her coughing up blood never came, instead colliding with a much warmer object.

«Onee-sama!!» Mikoto opened her eyes wide at the voice she felt she hadn't heard in decades, even though it was merely a matter of a few days. The “object” she had crashed in was the odd teleporter named Shirai Kuroko. «…Onee-sama…why do you always have to run off so recklessly…?»

“Kuroko...?! What are you doing here?!” She shouted to her friend as they flew in the air with a look of pure horror on her face. She wasn't supposed to be here; she would definitely be disposed of now that she interfered! “It's too dangerous here, you idiot!!”

They had landed a mere fifteen metres away from Accelerator. Mikoto felt like chewing her nails from the anxiety that slowly overtook her rationality, what would she do now? Heck, could she even do anything at this point? Not only was this likely to be a serious, unrepairable liability to her plan, but Kuroko would most certainly die!

Accelerator rolled his head back with a despairing groan.

"Another one?" He continued walking at a casual pace. "Looks like she's been slacking off." He muttered, glancing out the corner of his eye for Mari. It didn't matter though. Whoever this interloper was it made no difference to him. She just bought her 'Onee-sama' a few more seconds. If that.

"I guess it makes sense that the Railgun has a lackey or two." He called out to them both, a snarl of disgust twisting his face. "I was going to take my time with you. So that your name becomes a warning to everyone who even thinks about stepping up to me." His grin returned, wider and more crazed than ever. "But if I have to listen to any more of this sentimental bullshit I'll puke." He rolled his neck, his head lolling to one side to stare at the two girls.

"So just die!" A single step propelled him towards them and he came to a stop in front of the two girls. Accelerator punted at Kuroko with his foot in a movement that resembled flicking raindrops off his shoe. He turned back to Mikoto.

"Don't worry about saying your goodbyes" He loomed over the other Level Five. "You'll see her again soon enough in the next world." His voice cracked in a sadistic cackle.

Mari hadn't thought anything of it when she was arriving late for work.

In any other circumstance, she'd make it her top priority to get to work, ensuring that she managed to avoid a scolding from her boss, and get full payment.

However, considering the fact that she was keeping an eye on the most powerful esper in Academy City, Mari had figured that her involvement wouldn't be that necessary. The terms of her job were loose as heck, and she assumed that no one would be stupid enough to take on a monster like Accelerator.

Her faith in that assumption wavered as she witnessed the scene before her. Metal beams were sticking out of the dirt, and the ground was scorched all around Accelerator.

She noticed the Railgun with a headset while she was coming in, so the real one must have been the one standing alongside the twin-tailed girl.

Arriving just in time to catch Accelerator in a particularly bad mood with the two intruders, Mari decided to keep her distance for now. Staying out of sight could cost her the job, but it’s well worth the price of avoiding the wrath of an excited Level 5 like him.

Truth be told, she hadn’t really cared all that much. She was in charge of protecting the strongest esper in the city, stronger than her, and stronger than anyone else. To her, this actually seemed like it would be one of her easier jobs as long as she kept her head down.

Still she kept herself poised for action, next to one of the containers. Anything that indicated even the slightest hint of trouble could get ugly fast with a walking atomic bomb like Accelerator.

The moment she saw that the girl was a Teleporter was hen she acted. She didn't know how Accelerator handled them, but she knew very well how difficult they were to deal with.

Without thinking, she kicked up the container next to her, gripped it with both arms, and sent it flying at the small girl. She didn't take the time to aim, but Mari didn't care. Accelerator could handle whatever wreckage came his way, if any.

The other two on the other hand... well, she'd see.

Maybe.

Probably not.

“Kuroko, don't!!” Mikoto screamed at the top of her lungs in utter fear of the result of Kuroko's recklessness. Could Accelerator be stopped with just a mere teleportation trick? If he couldn't then the twin-tailed teleporter would most likely end up losing her life for naught.

As said twin-tailed girl was about to carry out what she believed would be a successful attack against the albino boy, a barrage of successive fireballs came hurling her way causing her to teleport further away to avoid getting hit by them. Though she was angry someone had intervened, what Kuroko hadn't known was that something was coming her way, and the moment she had teleported away; a container crashed right into the water at abnormal speed as if someone bearing super-strength had thrown it. And someone had, in fact, thrown it with those attributes.

Things wouldn't have been pretty if she had been hit with that and then sent in the water with it...

“What...?!” Was there another enemy? Accelerator couldn't have possibly done this; he clearly hadn't been anywhere near the thrown container. As she analysed her environments after landing on a container crane, she noted the presence of a stranger whose dark outfit left no hints as to what their gender could possibly be. "Who are you?!" She shouted at the mysterious figure.

Mikoto, who was relieved by the last-second save though utterly confused by what was happening, looked in the same direction as Kuroko and anger mixed with shock appeared on her face as something clicked when she remembered the person with the odd getup. "You...!!" That was the person that had casually dismissed the importance of the lives of the Sisters back when the 9982nd experiment had ended...

She hadn't expected much, just randomly throwing the metal container without thinking, but that didn't mean she was disappointed with the results when it happened.

Greatly, I totally missed, and now they can see me, She thought, as the girls looked at her. Great, I've still got two headaches to deal with... so long as Accelerator lets me keep my head.

She crosses her arms as she sees the Railgun looking at her, as she was about to wonder where the fireballs came from.

"You...!!"

Oh boy, she remembers... Taking a look at her charge, Mari decided that a conversation wouldn't be best.

But maybe a not so subtle hint about the current situation would get her to leave before things got more complicated.

"So, you're still at it, huh Railgun? Everything you can just to stop all this," Mari stated, pointing at the battered clone,

"It's funny... all that power in the palm of your hands... and it's all useless against him, isn't it, Number 3? All that, and not even you can take down the Accelerator..."

Maybe you're in over your head, and should just forget all of this, huh?

She turned to her charge, "Want me to help, or what?" It felt a bit weird to ask this considering who she was talking to, but she was being paid to do a job she figured she should at least see if she'd need to.

Most likely not, but being polite never killed anybody... and Mari had a good feeling that this would be the last peaceful gesture made tonight.

«The one that’ll see the next world is you, if you continue to further threaten Onee-sama’s and those girls’ lives!!!»

"Huh?" Accelerator blinked slowly, rolling his eyes to glance at the girl he thought he had dealt with. She was still standing, it seemed. Their eyes met with mutual contempt as Kuroko launched her offensive.

It was an attack across the 11th dimension. An attack that should have been impossible to avoid, let alone counter. It was an attack that should have finished the fight in one move. She didn't have time to confirm the hit as the air around her roared with scorching gouts of flame, forcing her to move quickly to avoid being caught.

Shirai Kuroko felt a sharp sting in her body. A strange, nauseating feeling as though something foreign had driven itself into her body. Two metal spikes lodged into her leg and arm.

Accelerator turned away.

"A teleporter? Seriously!? Are you some kind of idiot? It doesn't matter if its the 3rd dimension or the 11th. It's useless!"

"You...!!" The Railgun's attention had been drawn to Accelerator's 'overseer', Mari and as he drew next to Mari she spoke.

"Want me to help, or what?"

"Do what you want." He said with a surly growl. His piercing red eyes were locked on Mikoto. You can have the others, but leave the Railgun to me. He seemed to be saying.

Every step he took shook the ground like a minor earthquake. A rumbling that built with each stride to the sound of creaking and rattling metal. At this rate the entire dockyard would be shaken apart. With a final strained shriek the crane above Mikoto gave way, scattering its load of iron girders and construction materials to rain down on the two Level Fives.

"I told you. It's Useless!" He snarled, winding his fist back and taking a long, striding swing that brought him towards her like a rocket.

Trapped and with nowhere to run, she now had to contend with not only the debris that cut off her escape and threatened to crush her but also the monstrous albino that swept aside that debris like falling leaves from a tree. They were face to face and Accelerator lifted his right hand like a hammer, swinging it down at Mikoto's shoulder. Another wild swing came from the side, and another, and another.

"Useless, useless, useless, USELESS!" He repeated with rising volume until he was yelling at the top of his lungs.

When at last he let her fall to the ground, Accelerator stood over his 'nemesis'. Reaching to one side he tore a loose piece of rebar from the fallen rubble and lifted it high into the air.

"I'm going to make you an example to all the other morons out there not to fuck with me!" With all the effort of a painter stroking his brush down a canvas, Accelerator dropped his hand. But to Mikoto each strike felt like a car crash. The rebar whipped through the swirling dust from the crumbling rubble that surrounded them, stirring it into a choking cloud. The dull thuds sounded through the waterfront.

Until the loud crash of metal against metal rang out. And the dust began to settle. Accelerator's thin lipped grin contorted into a sneer of disappointed frustration. Standing in front of him was not the Tokiwadai girl he had been fighting, but a young man, perhaps a little older than Accelerator himself.

Their eyes met.

Guy stood over the barely conscious girl, the steel rebar braced against the back of his forearm. The clash had jarred through his entire body and he felt his shoulder strain as though it was about to pop from its socket. His knees shook as he kept them from collapsing under the sudden, impossible strength of Accelerator's attack.

“Sorry I took so long.” Guy said, holding a defiant smirk despite the effort. Though it wasn't clear to which of his students he spoke.

“Get. The. Fuck. OUT OF MY WAY!” Accelerator lifted his makeshift club to deliver another swing that would surely cut the teacher and student in two...

What can be done here? What needs to be done? And how would the others make it out of this without meeting a horrible fate. Those were the thoughts which was running through 10031s mind as the events unfolded before her eyes. She would intercept the others, she would try to stand in there way between them and Accelerator. Since this wasn't supposed to happen, this wasn't according to the plan set out for the experiment.

She was supposed to fight Accelerator and die before him like the sisters that took on Accelerator in the past. What was this feeling, this cruel sense of acceptance of her fate she doesn't understand. Her left hand struggle to the middle of the chest as her heart beated rapidly. Even now she has accepted she alone couldn't do anything to stop what was happening before her eyes. She was in pain, but nothing she wasn't used to all that the sisters hadn't experience before herself. The Misaka network has shared all the memories and experience each one had felt. You can say 10031 had experienced dying 10030 times and she was destined to experience the 10031st.

But everything wasn't going to plan and she herself couldn't understand why these people. These unique individuals who cannot be replicated unlike herself was risking their lives against the strongest Esper in the city.

Why? She alone didn't understand the answer and even when connected to the Misaka network with all the sisters seeing what is occurring. None of them, not a single one understood why this was happening. So with a step forward to the side of the ongoing scene, she tried to move her broken body towards the others. 10031 couldn't just stand still, she had to understand and try to help them.

That's the least she could do for now.

Moving with remarkable speed the young man dove aside into a roll, scooping the fallen esper and tumbling gracelessly along the ground. The rubble and girders shattered and crumbled beneath Accelerator's titanic blow, peppering the teacher's back with first sizes chunks of jagged concrete and metal. He felt something lodge in his right shoulder blade.

He landed beside Kuroko, his expression betraying the pain as he gripped the shrapnel that had pierced his body.

Accelerator was turning to face them. He was burning with white hot fury at these buzzing insects that were swarming around him. He uttered something that Guy couldn't hear and slammed his first into the enormous twisted steel girder that need from the floor. Lifting it high, it rose into the sky like an antenna.

Mikoto was out of action. Kuroko was injured. And no one else stood a chance against whatever monstrous power Accelerator wielded. There was only one option remaining.

"We're gonna have to run." He said to the Level 4 beside him. "Think you can get our Ace to safety if I hold that bastard off?" He grimaced, rising to his feet. His arm dangled by his side. He shook it off, flexing his hand. "Make it quick." The odds of him presenting any meaningful challenge to the rampaging Level Five were scarcely worth measuring. "I don't want to take too long with him." His grimaced turned to a cruel and confident smile.