False Error (Arc 3 Science Side)

Iresia merely stared at the offered dagger like the foreign object it was, trembling at the idea of using it against someone. Would she fall down to the level of those researchers that didn't give a damn about human lives as long as they achieved their goal? Was it justified to stab someone who offered it as the alternative to trust them?

Was it reasonable for one to even think about a child ever making that kind of choice?

(This city...) Iresia swallowed heavily and exhaled ever so slightly in anxiety. (...is just too weird...)

Yes, it was weird. Researchers who pretended to be kind would use people as guinea pigs without second thoughts and people with dubious motives would put their lives on the line to gain trust. Did Renavin hide anything so that she would think that he was indeed trustworthy, or was he being at his sincerest?

People were just too hard to figure out for this small child who had no one to guide her.

“...The dubious nature of giving a dagger to a child aside,” Natsumi commented after a few minutes worth of heavy silence had passed. “continue standing around if you want more children to get killed. But if you don't then can we cut this short?” Truly, this girl was the definition of an insensitive jerk, but perhaps not for the worst.

Iresia deeply breathed in as she moved backwards, hesitantly making a decision as she refused the offered weapon.

“...Nagatenjouki Academy. I don't know what the experiment was about; we were suddenly moved from our elementary schools to laboratories over a weekend without explanations and were explained that it was because it would help us develop our Esper abilities, I only know we were transferred there.”

Natsumi's eyebrows flew up in surprise. That Nagatenjouki Academy would actually shamelessly welcome child errors to experiment on them?

(...Did they get desperate over their lack of Level 5s?)

...Well, she wasn't as surprised as she felt she was. Just because Tokiwadai didn't participate in dubious experimenting, due to their already grand success of hosting two Level 5s, didn't mean other schools wouldn't get involved with such things. Especially a school like Nagatenjouki, in direct competition with Tokiwadai due to their sheer difference in Espers.

"So." Natsumi turned towards Renavin. "Are we to raid one of Academy City's elite schools or do you have a better idea that won't condemn us to certain death, though I doubt the student body is aware of what's been going on."

Renavin noticed the girl was shaken, as she was presented with an opportunity to kill the very man she believed was nothing but a fake. Right now though, she needed to decide, whether he was just still acting, or stupidly trusting in her at the moment. There was a difference between completely destroying him and stabbing him to slowly watch him die as well.

However, the dagger was not pushed through his skin and plunged into his heart, however the girl sighed to relieve her anxiety and kept her hands for away from it.

“...The dubious nature of giving a dagger to a child aside,” Natsumi commented after a few minutes worth of heavy silence had passed. “continue standing around if you want more children to get killed. But if you don't then can we cut this short?”

Renavin looked up at Iresia at this moment, seeing that she had fully rejected the weapon, and looked down solemnly to answer them.

“...Nagatenjouki Academy. I don't know what the experiment was about; we were suddenly moved from our elementary schools to laboratories over a weekend without explanations and were explained that it was because it would help us develop our Esper abilities, I only know we were transferred there.”

"Nagatenjouki? That's a private educational center, isn't it?" Renavin, having lived here for some time, has been familiar with the city enough to know that is was kept in high regard. He didn't think the school harbored facilities underground to conduct experiments on children. Even Natsumi seemed surprised at that, but perhaps for other reasons. "...This might change our plan a bit. Discretion will be essentail..." Renavin muttered to himself as he took the dagger, and holstered it. "We'll have to conduct a raid before the students wake up the next day..." He nodded to himself, as there would be plenty of reprocussions if they did it during school hours.

Renavin finally smiled down at Iresia as he nodded his head in thanks. "I know it must've been hard to come to that decision to help us. Thank you, Iresia-chan. Kin is still in the hospital, and I recommend you stay there until tomorrow. Anti-skill will take care of you." Renavin would turn to Natsumi and out of no where give her a big hug and start spinning her around like a doll. "NATSUMI-CHAAAAAAAAAAAN! You were such a big help!!" Renavin would quickly let go before she might get angry and hurt him. "Now that we have the location, we will raid them and evacuate the children before the sun comes up. I'm hoping you can join in the fight, considering you've been bored all day with nothing to do~." Renavin smirks as he takes out his phone to send a text message to certain people.

KIIIIIIIIIIICK!

The sound of a shoe colliding heavily with a body resounded in the mostly deserted street as Natsumi roundhouse kicked the annoyance that had shamelessly clung onto her in the back. “Who said you could breach my personal space?” She stated as she glared at Renavin, fireballs starting to dance in the palm of her hand.

“Umm... Uuu!” Iresia raised an interrogating hand at the bizarre scene unfolding in front of her, but held herself back from asking anything at the sight of the Esper ability as she slowly moved backwards in fear.

Turning around with a raised eyebrow, Natsumi discarded the fire she had conjured and looked at Iresia, who slowly pointed her lifted hand towards the hospital building for the action to speak for itself.

“Just search the general area of where the room was destroyed, I'm sure you'll find your friend at some point. Or ask the hospital staff if they fancy listening to you before taking you in and sedating you.”

(...Wawah?! Sedated!? Is she just messing with me? I-I guess that would make sense if they sensed I was walking danger, but I really don't want to be sedated before I find Kin!! Uuuu... T-They don't need to know who I am, right?! But what if they figure it out... I mean there's no way, right? Have we had any kind of media coverage about us?!!)

Iresia looked on, perplexed and truly bothered by her internal conflict concerning the sedating part, but still silently turned her back to run towards the hospital, praying that the girl was just messing around with her and she wouldn't have to bomb another building just to avoid needles.

The girl still doubted their words and she wanted to confirm Kin's safety for herself more than she wanted to know what would become of Nagatenjouki's 'raid' as the man had put it.

If they were going to come after her anyway then the raid really didn't matter for her; Kin did. And if they were telling the truth and making sure the researchers wouldn't come after her, then her problems were solved.

As the back of the little girl retreated towards the grand building, Natsumi turned around towards Renavin with a pensive look on her face.

(...Now what.)

She questioned if she would get involved further than necessary, though without really looking at anything specifically. The topic of whether Nagatenjouki was just that desperate to produce better Espers did interest her even though she already knew what the answer would be, it's just that she hadn't thought a school would so openly partake in those activities.

(...Though I guess some school or another would support Accelerator. Somehow choosing Tokiwadai as my middle school doesn't feel like such a bad choice these days.)

As she thought so, Natsumi started moving. The 18th District was thankfully close to the 7th one, so it wouldn't take long to reach Nagatenjouki Academy seeing how the night had just arrived.

“I guess it's worth seeing why Nagatenjouki would get involved in this kind of mess. I believe that school is in the 18th District, so let's get moving.”

While Renavin did try to hop away out of danger, he still received a roundhouse kick from the shy (Aggravated) pyro, losing all the air in his lungs and nearly collapsing on the dirty asphalt and concrete in the possible. “Aaa...That was rude, Natsumi-chan...i was just happy to have your support~. Itetete…” Renavin went back to his annoying smart alec attitude as he straightened his posture with a relaxed sigh.

With the location pinpointed, the actual operation may begin, but Renavin did wish to be there in person to aid in the assault. Though he never expected a it would be a school full of teenagers that would be harboring these kids. They most likely weren’t aware what was under their noses, but Renavin didn’t need to worry regardless.

“Patience Natsumi-chan~. I had already contacted my superiors. The mercenaries will be here any second now~.” This is the first time she’d be hearing that he had hired outside help, as soon an Anti-skill Amored transport vehicle came driving down the road and immediately parked up against the side walk, opening the back hatch as two Anti-skill officers came out.

The vehicle carried at least a dozen people, including the crew driving and running the equipment inside. Their equipment seemed to match that of anti-skill, right down to the uniforms. This was so that even if the public finds out, and they will find out, everyone would think anti-skill officers ran the operation, not hired mercenaries. Good way to cover tracks. As an extra precaution the vehicle had a mobile jammer built into it instead of a radio, sending off signals to disrupt camera footage on the street lamps and corners.

“The vehicle is a bit cramped, but it’ll get us there sooner, and we’ll have everything set by then.” The mercenaries didn’t say anything, just simply letting the two in. It seems Renavin really planned everything ahead of time, considering how fast the vehicle had got to them. “Now...Time for the show to begin…~.”

………..

The armored transport had stopped, and the hatch would suddenly open in the back as the anti-skill impostors fumbled out into the night, currently right outside small wall surrounding the school. Upon exiting there was a total of 5 able fighters, not including 2 to stay with the vehicle. Renavin and Natsumi were bother going to be part of the assault team.

“Dax, start hacking the gate. Try not to make a of noise.” The squad leaders spoke among his troops, giving orders to each soldier so that when that gate opens, there won’t be any mishaps. “Shock rounds only. There shouldn’t be any faculty out this late, but better safe then sorry, but once we’re in the hive, weapons free. All security guards are Kill on sight. Science Teams are kill on sight as well. Anything else is up to your discretion, though the kids are the only ones we’re bringing back.-”

Renavin leaned against the wall as he vaguely listened to the CO, hearing the plan vaguely before tuning himself out to look at Natsumi. “Ever done something like this before? Quite interesting to see them talk in such a robust way to be honest.” Renavin smiled at the middle schooler, wanting to talk to her before the operation kicked off. In a nutshell, the infiltration team would split into two. One group finds and extracts the test subjects safely, while the other team moves toward data storage, copying and destroying anything collected from the experiment. Natsumi and Renavin were tasked to stay with Alpha, who will be searching for the children.

“Mercenaries, huh...”

One could have been vastly surprised at the troops Renavin had gathered for the operation; but that was hardly anything Natsumi wasn't accustomed to. Nonetheless she raised a curious eyebrow at how someone who very clearly felt like an outsider could gather such forces in mere minutes via a cellphone.

Academy City proved itself to be far more welcoming towards anything it could use than she had thought, and she wondered what kind of organisation would be able to support the destruction of one of the city's projects without repercussions.

(I guess there are extenuating circumstances as to why the city wants this experiment gone? If they only wanted to silence the children to carry on the experiments in secret then none of this would have happened, surely.)

After they had arrived, Renavin talked to Natsumi as the team worked on infiltrating the academy.

“Ever done something like this before? Quite interesting to see them talk in such a robust way to be honest.”

“It's a sharp and concise way of talking; no words lost so that even in the most urgent situations messages can get across.” She dully noted as she observed each of the individuals composing the team. “But still, this is Academy City, the city of science standing twenty years ahead of the rest of the world. You'd expect a few cocky Espers around instead of manual workers.”

Deep inside a pristine white lab, sterile in the extreme, documents were pored over, chemicals were mixed, tested, created, and disposed of, hypotheses were formed, and experiments were carried out. This continued incessantly, without the slightest regard for the position of the sun outside. The lab’s sole tenant never left its doors, and ceased her constant toil only to obtain the bare minimum of sleep and nourishment. Even that was only to ensure that she was in the best possible condition for her work. Almost no contact was made with the outside, and what little communication was required of her by her new ‘employers’ and the workers she had somehow gained the right to command was curt and to the point. To her, every moment not spent working was a moment wasted, so even those small distractions were seen as thorns in her side by her.

She had lived this life hardly befitting a human for as long as she could remember. She had cut all ties with her fellow family members in preference of her studies, driven off all assistants offered to her with words of scorn and derision, and finally obtained the solitude within which she could work as she pleased. And in the end, without anyone at her side to help or even care, she had the fruits of that effort which she valued as much as her own life taken from her without any power to stop it. As Kisue watched the academy’s security measures be breached one after the other from her connection to the school’s main system, it seemed like history would repeat itself. They would come storm her lab, take her research, and attempt to be rid of her once more.

The Kisue from before would have ignored the signs, trusted in her lab’s defenses and its isolated database, and simply resumed her research. No, that’s not quite right. More likely, she never would have bothered creating any sort of connection to the outside in the first place, and would not have noticed the infiltration until it was too late. However, small but significant changes have taken place within her since then. She had taken her work to the extreme, she had taken her prejudice to the extreme, and in the end she nearly took her downfall in the same measure. But extremes were not all she was capable of. She had been forcibly exposed to the world outside of her research, and learned.

Before, she saw all others as too far below her to even reach her knees. Rather than ants, who at least had the virtue of organization, she could only view them as swine who couldn’t do anything but wait to be slaughtered. But she was forced to revise her opinion. To put it simply, she had created one more category to place them under. Pests. Troublesome, irritating, and worth noticing. And yet, if she were to let them be, they would fester and destroy even the sturdiest of castles. And so, she did something that the Kisue of before would never have even considered.

She began preparing to exterminate them.

---

“Is the other one with you?”

“I assume you’re referring to Keima? Indeed, I successfully retrieved him. We returned just now.”

Almost immediately after she’d returned from her errand, Gina’s phone had rung, and that wonderful voice was what answered her after she picked it up. There had been no hellos, no greetings, and no form of pleasantries whatsoever. Merely a curt question, seeking an equally terse reply. But even if she was treated in such a manner, responding in kind would merely lower herself to her level, so she took the higher ground and responded in the proper manner. Even if she was having difficulty restraining the urge to crush her phone in a vicegrip.

“...Did you enter through the front entrance?”

“No? We came in through the back.”

She tilted her head at the odd question, audibly confused and seeking clarification. She hadn’t known this woman long, but she knew that she wasn’t the type to be fazed easily. So that short pause before her question informed her that there was something going on. Something important. And in all likelihood, that something was coming in through the front gate.

“Good. A group of intruders are preparing to enter through the front. Let them in, and then exterminate them with Keima. I will leave the means to you. I assume you can accomplish at least that much?”

Her pleasant smile cracked. It visibly cracked, but she didn’t dare allow it to show in her voice. She wouldn’t allow verbal abuse of this level to phase her… And besides, this news was indeed urgent as she had guessed. A group of intruders trespassing on school grounds… That was obviously against the rules. And since she of all people was requesting that they be exterminated of all things, it was easy to guess what kind of group they were. If nothing else, she would recognize that that girl had sense in sending her out to deal with them. However, before she began, she wanted to ask about why she wanted her to let them enter the school.

“Of course. I wi-”

And now, she found herself wondering if it would be too crude of her to use them to vent her anger..

---

“Of course. I wi-”

That had been enough. Having heard the affirmation she wanted, Kisue had hung up on Gina mid-sentence. There was no need to converse any longer than that, after all. Any further time spent was time wasted. And she wanted to use every second she had to prepare. She was sending dogs to fight pests, after all. Both were animals, she couldn’t trust either to fulfill her expectations. So she would be ready when they failed, as was more than likely. One of them, Eto, had already done so, after all. Even though she’d tried contacting her, there was no reply, and she’d been forced to give up on the idea of utilizing that one.

But for now, she had to get ready. Turning off her phone, she turned her back on the computer where she had stored her new research and begun the preparations. She would remind those pests of their place.

---

No answer. She had tried calling back immediately, but it didn’t even ring.

“She turned it off…!?”

After a half-whispered exclamation of incensement, she shrugged off her indignity and turned to address Keima. His help would not likely be necessary, but it would be best to inform him of the situation anyway. It wouldn’t do for him to wander about school grounds unaware of the situation, and he’d already heard himself be mentioned in the conversation, even if not by name, so he was doubtless curious about what that was all about.

“It seems some trespassers have entered school grounds. Kihara-san wants us to exterminate them. She left the methods beyond that to us. In any case, I don’t believe I’ll require your assistance, but before I head out, may I ask you something?”

“She did leave just one specification. That she wanted us to let them in first. Do you have any idea why that might be? She hung up on me before I could ask.”

An explosion. After locating the entrance to the underground facility, they had breached the main entrance, smoke and sparks flaying out toward a couple security guards, who left to guard the entrance from unauthorized personnel. Sadly, they were not informed of the anti-skill imposers in which breached through the door and lit the unsuspecting guards up, and mowed them down.

"Move in!" The CO ordered the squad as the mercenaries ran in and started the clean house, Renavin and Natsumi would soon follow. As they began securing the entrance hall and clearing a couple rooms, a young blond child suddenly came running in behind, and without warning, had jumped up behind Renavin and kicked him in the back.

"GAK!!" Renavin yelped in pain, as soon he'd realised there was a rather angry looking child standing behind him.

"Grrrrrrr!! Why did you leave me alone with that idiot only to let me get knocked out anyway!! I know you didn't do anything to stop them!" She was furious, as she was made a fool of by the most insufferable drama queen she had ever seen.

"Itetete...Well, it was basically to help confirm the whereabouts of their master. Whether they were operation inside or outside the facility, but it seems they are currently inside." Renavin sighed, rubbing his back as it ached. Laetitia just pouted as she had restocked herself with more water bottles, looking over to Natsumi.

"Hope things went well with you, I don't appreciate being used as bait..." She sighed, as they all went deeper into the facility as the mercenaries would continue to clear the rooms out, but with surprisingly low resistance.

"......" Renavin felt something was off as they continued down the many halls, the fact that they haven't met a strong opposing force yet. They were only finding a handful of security guards and greedy scientists, each getting shot down or non-lethally subdued.

Keima, still visibly upset of how everything turned out, only merely looking at Gina in boredom as he inspected the grounds of the school he was condemned to serve for the rest of his life.

“I don't know. I guess she just wants to have fun with her prey by making them think they could get anywhere; researchers like her are twisted like that.”

__

On the other side of the entire conflict stood Natsumi, who was proceeding to infiltrate the school with likely more caution than anyone else on the team. If there was one school that represented a danger zone is messed with, other than Tokiwadai due to its location in the School Garden, it would definitely be Nagatenjouki.

However, all discretion seemed to have been thrown out the window as a familiar blonde-haired girl who quite looked like an aristocrat at times by the way she dressed and combed her hair literally ran and jumped onto Renavin, though for certainly no affectionate reasons.

"Grrrrrrr!! Why did you leave me alone with that idiot only to let me get knocked out anyway!! I know you didn't do anything to stop them!"

“...You again?” Natsumi sighed at the sight of the water user she had met just this week.

"Itetete...Well, it was basically to help confirm the whereabouts of their master. Whether they were operation inside or outside the facility, but it seems they are currently inside."

"Hope things went well with you, I don't appreciate being used as bait..."

“Ahaha, this is why water element users are absolutely useless~” Natsumi chanted as she clearly stated her opinion of which was the superior element; obviously hers.

But the time for jokes clearly went away as they progressed more and more into the building, suspiciously poorly guarded.

(...Did they just abandon the place? This is a school, for God's sake. Security isn't supposed to be that incompetent and those mercenaries aren't exactly the representation of the top-notch competence Academy City can offer.)

Going as far as to walk as silently as she could, Natsumi still had doubts as to what would happen. Hopefully, something even she could manage despite the lack of association... proven competent fighters.

“I don't know. I guess she just wants to have fun with her prey by making them think they could get anywhere; researchers like her are twisted like that.”

So he didn't know either. There was no helping it, then. It'd bother her for a while, but she'd just have to ask the person herself about it later. She'd have plenty of time to, after all. For now though, disciplining the intruders would take priority. She'd show them that being so unruly had consequences.

"I see. Very well, I suppose it can't be helped. If either of us could guess at what goes through her head, that's actually be even more worrying."

Leaving those as her parting words, she turned her back on Keima and went towards the gate of the school to await the arrival of her visitors. She'd calmed down somewhat, now, and the only trace one could notice of her earlier discomposure was that she was walking at a slightly faster pace than usual. She was the Silver Queen of Nagatenjouki Academy, after all; it wouldn't do to show her subjects her unsightly side.

So when she heard the explosion from the gate, all she did was move the tiniest bit faster.

---

It didn't take long for her to pinpoint their location. The sound of gunshots meant she heard them coming long before they arrived, after all. On the way, she stopped by a classroom and borrowed a teacher's desk. It was a shame what would likely happen to it, but she assumed that making sure the desk's owner would still a workplace the next morning would make up for the inconvenience.

Carrying it one-handed by using her ability to reduce its weight to a manageable level, she steadily walked toward the origin of the gunshots. And after she turned one last corner, they were there. Suddenly in sight. Without hesitating for an instant, she sent the desk flying so that it would hit as many of the gun-toting men as possible in one blow. At a glance, they seemed like Anti-Skill, but a glance at their faces instantly dissuaged that thought. Those were not the faces of teachers. Therefore, whatever she guilt she might have felt was snuffed out before it could truly take shape.

Hardly even waiting for the desk to make contact with its targets, Gina began waving her hands at the other men, sending them flying as well as she calmly observed the group as a whole.

"Oh, it's you again? I can't believe you're back up so soon. Have you not learned your place yet?"

Upon seeing the blonde girl from earlier, she allowed a slight smirk to crawl up her face. She was here to oppose her a second time; it appeared that the difference in their levels hadn't been made sufficiently clear the last time.

This was a fine opportunity to remedy that.

It didn't take long before the group separated into teams of four each. Alpha team consisting of Renavin, Natsumi, and two mercenaries, and Bravo Team consisting of Laetitia and the rest of the mercenaries. They were planning to try and hit both targets at the same time so they can mop up the operation before things get messy. Even if they are underground, things are bound to wake people nearby, who may potentially start recording everything happening from their windows.

Laetitia followed the three mercenaries from behind disgruntled from the previous conversation with her supposed superior. She didn't like him one bit, and that annoying girl he was with got on her nerves even more. Clearly water beats fire! It's true in real life and in video games, so why does she think it's any better than the very thing that destroys it!!?

Though she almost forgotten what Renavin had said earlier to her before splitting up.

"Don't worry Laetitia-chan~. I have my eyes on everyone throughout the operation. If you're in trouble, I'll know.~...Not that I will be able to help you though. Teehee~!"

Laetitia instinctively looked at her surroundings, wondering how exactly he would be able to see her. There was security cameras but the mercenaries just shoot them as we walk by. The less information the security personnel have the better. She did manage to deduce that Renavin has some sort of power among animals in which he can sense everything his minions sense.

"What a freaky esper power..."

"GUAAAAAAH!" Right from the corner of the blonde's eyes, a desk came flying from the hall randomly, and collided with the group of mercenaries as they rounded the corner. Their bodies would fumble and contort as they rolled on the ground, seeming unconscious and thoroughly beat from a single blow.

"W-what the hell was-"

"Oh, it's you again? I can't believe you're back up so soon. Have you not learned your place yet?" Laetitia would turn, and suddenly her eyes were turn of that of a demon, as her teeth bared fangs at who she saw.

"Ah! You're the annoying pretty girl from earlier!!!" Laetitia was furious, as the last time she had fought with the most fabulous girl in Nagatenjouki, it ended after it wasn't even a fight. It was basically being forced to bow her head to this woman until she was knocked out. "I won't be made a fool by you or that stupid red head this time! I'll be taking you on for real!!" She sounded somewhat childish, announcing her plot to get revenge for the utter humiliation she had endured as she pulled out one of her water bottles and catching it in her hand.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the dimly lit corners of the hallway, sat a regular spider, slowly moving and watching as Laetitia prepared for her fight.

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

"....My hair is beautiful..." Renavin suddenly started moping a bit as he heard Laetitia make fun of his hair, not that he was really hurt.

Alpha team was currently on an elevator to one of the lower floors, having dealt with most opposition on the first. The kids were bound to be on one of the lower levels, the sound of the elevator warring down, as the number blinked over and over as they continued to move down to next.

(Think, think...) The boy breathed in as he gathered his backup set of weapons to make up for those that he had lost during his previous encounters, his uncertainty slowly growing to disturbing levels after the princess-like girl had departed to meet their enemies.

What should he do? What could he do? How had things derailed so much, and why had Nagatenjouki done this? He hated the sight of child errors suffering and had been forced to take part in it? Just how sick could Academy City show itself to be towards him?

The school was being invaded in the hours where no students would remain, certainly a feat by the people he had met earlier. Unlike him, they had resolve; unlike him, they didn't doubt.

He was uncertain as to whether he should let them do as they pleased or not.

As Nagatenjouki's personal pawn, or dog if one wanted to be more accurate, it was his duty to defend the school from those who had not received permission to step in it and had gone as far as to breach its entrance.

But his uncertainty had him frozen in place, his P.I.R.A.G in hands.

"..."

He breathed in, strongly clenching the weapon that appeared to be a gun. And then, Keima finally willed himself into moving to meet with the girl who was probably dealing with the intruders right about now.

(...I can't let this go on.)

Thankfully, it hadn't taken long to find them once he followed in the obvious path the girl had taken. Keima called out to Laetitia as he stepped out from the darkness to stand next to Gina.

“I think it's payback time for the burn and situation I got in because of you.”

**

"....My hair is beautiful..."


“?”

Natsumi questioned with raised eyebrows; who had said anything about his hair? The girl feared she had been stuck with someone even weirder than their new teacher.

But putting the oddities aside, Natsumi sincerely hoped she wasn't in for a situation she couldn't control... “I don't think things will continue to go this smoothly. I hope you have at least the slightest idea of whom we may be against here?” She asked, trying to gather as much information as she could as they slowly but surely approached the rooms where the children could be detained as the elevator's numbers went down...

"Ah! You're the annoying pretty girl from earlier!!! I won't be made a fool by you or that stupid red head this time! I'll be taking you on for real!!"

"Aha, you're still talking so big. You really didn't learn your lesson. I'll have to be sure to teach you thoroughly this time. To not trespass on school grounds, to not destroy school property, to not ignore the law like it doesn't even exist, and most of all... Not to defy me."

With a calm, confident, and arrogant smile on her face, Gina raised her hand in preparation for an assault. She was calm and confident; like a general about to send her forces to rout a vastly inferior enemy. She would drive the girl into the ground with no effort at all, render her completely powerless, and drive obedience into her bones. But before she dropped her hand like like an executioner’s guillotine, an unexpected character entered the stage.

“I think it's payback time for the burn and situation I got in because of you.”

Oh? Come to think of it, you did get beaten pretty badly by this one earlier. I suppose I can understand your feelings. Unfortunately-

Abruptly cutting off her own sentence midway, she imperiously dropped her raised hand, as if giving the command for an invisible firing squad to rain down lead. And though no lead did fall, everything else around Laetitia, including the girl herself, did. They fell to the floor, crushed by an oppressive weight that left no room for resistance or rebellion.

“As you can see, what I said before stands true. I alone am more than enough.”

---

Standing in the elevator, there was nothing for them to do but wait as the machine slowly carried them to their chosen destination. One mechanical beep followed the other, repeating as tirelessly as only a machine could as it bore them ever deeper into the earth towards their chosen destination. Locked within that steel box, there was nothing for them to do but wait to arrive.

When the numbers on the wall indicated they were about to reach the floor whose button they had depressed, they prepared to disembark. However, when they reached their destination, they heard an eerily familiar sound. It was yet another beep as the elevator began to descend yet further. The machine, which was supposed to do nothing but faithfully follow the commands it received the buttons displayed within was completely ignoring all input. The buttons would all light up when pressed, but none had the slightest effect.

But despite their relative powerlessness in this situations, there were no ominous rumbles. No sounds of tearing coming from above, no spontaneous sparks from the circuit boards, and no sudden free fall. Whatever had seized control of this machine, it seemed to have no intention of harming them with it. And so with no foe to oppose, they were left with nothing to do but watch as they finally arrived at the bottommost floor.

And then went one deeper still.

---

When the elevator doors opened at last, what awaited them was a sterile laboratory; there was no way for them to mistake it for anything else. Tables covered with countless beakers and vials filled with chemicals of kinds, papers littered everywhere with writing scratched on them which could likely only be understood by their original writer. Great machines of esoteric purpose, and monitors covered in graphs and charts. But the one thing they noticed before they had the opportunity to take any of this in was the smell.

It was something immediately recognizable by anyone who had ever used a stove before. Natural gas. That extremely flammable, extraordinarily dangerous substance was sitting thick in the air of the room. The small pocket of clean air from the elevator was quickly subsumed, and the doors closed on their own when they left. There would be no fleeing from this danger zone.

And in the midst of that hell that could break the mind of even the most hardened soldier, a young woman in a lab coat sat calmly atop a lab bench, completely ease as she twirled clear vial of some unknown substance between her thin fingers. She was clearly the master of this place, completely at ease no matter what the conditions within it were. And on the bench beside her laid a young girl, not even old enough for middle school. She was unconscious and breathing heavily; even an amateur could conclude with certainty that she was not well.

“So you’ve arrived. Did the dogs get put down? Did they completely fail in sniffing you out? Or did they run off? Well, they failed like I thought, so it doesn’t really matter.”

Sliding off of her perch, she planted both feet on the ground and regarded them with eyes of obvious disgust.

“Just looking at you makes me want to puke, and speaking to you makes me just want to die, so be grateful that I’m lowering myself so far. This is for your sake as much as mine, after all.”

Snorting as she reflected on the ridiculousness of the situation, which she never in a million years thought she’d find herself in, she continued her explanation motivated by neither fear nor concern, but rather by a complete lack of faith in their capability to make even the most basic assumptions. That was simply how much she looked down on them.

“Listen well, vermin. The air here is filled flammable gas. You light so much as a single spark, and we all die. So unless you trash have some sort of death wish, I suggest you watch yourselves. Even a tardigrade tries to cling to life; I suggest you hold yourself to at least that standard.”

Tomokota Renavin leaned against the wall as he waited patiently for the elevator to go all the way down. He clucked his tongue a bit as he realised both espers have gone to intercept Laetitia's team and it was currently stacked two vs one espers and three disoriented or knocked out mercenaries. "This is probably part where we might have to improvise..." He spoke toward Natsumi and the mercenaries, as the elevator finally dinged once they reached the designated floor.

However the doors never really opened, but instead the elevator suddenly started moving again, downward. At first the mercenaries were somewhat alarmed, thinking someone either accidentally hit a button, or someone had just trapped them in the elevator.

"...I didn't want to be right with this one...it seems we're in someones trap..." He sighed, as he took out his dagger at one point and shifted position in the elevator. Instead of simply dropping the elevator through the shaft or leave them stuck in the metal box for an unknown amount of time, the elevator continued to go down, despite one of the mercenaries trying to fiddle with the control panel. Nothing would work.

As soon as the elevator stopped, and the doors open, the Mercenaries pointing their guns in first, the immediate waft of gas suddenly hit their nostrils, and the mercenaries halted themselves from firing their guns straight at their target as soon as they realized it. The supposed mastermind behind the experiment was sitting on a lab bench, with a child laying right beside her, looking fairly unhealthy, while she spun a strange vial in her hand.

The mercenaries immediately put their rifles on safety and slung them away, as Renavin and Natsumi would most likely exit some time after. "Hmmm..." Renavin pondered as he plugged his nose and assessed the situation, it seems on the child and the fairly young looking scientist was the only one present in the room, and due to the fact that gas had filled the room, it'd only be a matter of time before breathing would become very difficult and life threatening. To top it off, it seems that the scientist has potentially poisoned the child, or perhaps she was unwell to begin with.  "Oh my...this is quite the pickle you forced us into..."

“So you’ve arrived. Did the dogs get put down? Did they completely fail in sniffing you out? Or did they run off? Well, they failed like I thought, so it doesn’t really matter. Just looking at you makes me want to puke, and speaking to you makes me just want to die, so be grateful that I’m lowering myself so far. This is for your sake as much as mine, after all. Listen well, vermin. The air here is filled flammable gas. You light so much as a single spark, and we all die. So unless you trash have some sort of death wish, I suggest you watch yourselves. Even a tardigrade tries to cling to life; I suggest you hold yourself to at least that standard.”

Renavin and the mercenaries eyed her movements as clearly she had brought them here to potentially swindle herself, or something else out of the situation, as there was no way to effectively get her without accidentally lighting a spark, her pulling a lighter, or anything rather. She had set up the situation so that whatever they might try, she only needs to do one quick action to silence everyone in the room. "Setting up a scenario in which your attackers cannot effectively attack or restrain you...tch...how disappointing. And we came all this way. Not that I don't mind having a lovely conversation on how you plan on getting out of this~...I'm guessing you want to negotiate your way out to us 'vermin'~?"

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

Laetitia suddenly found herself on the floor as soon as the gravity in the room had shifted, as she tried to pull out her water bottle. She only managed to uncap it, before being pinned to the ground, as the water exploded out of the bottle and all over the floor around them. Not only that, but in fact all her plastic water bottles seeming to fall out of her bag exploded from the pressure. The weight of an average man can make the bottle blow open, but a pressure much greater than that of a human, made the water disperse all along the floor, soaking the princess's beautiful shoes.

The pressure felt tremendous, it felt like she had just got tackled by giant football players, as she couldn't even lift her body off the ground with her small arms. She was in a very vulnerable position as she glared up at the princess of Nagatenjouki, as even the mercenaries that were still alive were moaning and groaning in pain, although one of them was unconscious.

"Ghhhhh...!!!" She almost growled in frustrations, as even her hand slipped under the water for a moment trying to resist gravity. However, she soon realised something, and stopped resisting against the pressure. She felt the cool liquid soak on her fingers as she soon noticed that her water has actually spread throughout the hall, in which she can manipulate. And some of it was right under the princess. "You shouldn't...underestimate...me!!!" She yelled as suddenly the water slid among the floor, and right into Gina's small little safe zone around her, lurching forward toward her face as the water began to circle around her face, and essentially encased her head in water, in order to attempt to suffocate or knock her out, but at least potentially break her concentration for just a moment.

"Stop talking all high and mighty, just because you have a fancy trick or two and thinking you're some invisible Goddess..!"

Her question had been naturally answered as the elevator began acting against their wishes, clear sign that someone had been meddling with it. (There's no way the elevator just broke on us like in a manga.) She thought, fairly reassured that she was right as they finally reached their updated final destination; the room that likely hosted their main enemy.

Yes, she openly preferred the idea of fighting someone rather than being stuck in an elevator with a weirdo.

But details aside, the stench upon arrival would have likely disgusted Natsumi had she not grown a certain amount of habit to it. She was however a fire user with a certain habit for unfavourable situations, so she merely sighed in annoyance from her familiarity with gases that worked against her in a closed room.

“So you’ve arrived. Did the dogs get put down? Did they completely fail in sniffing you out? Or did they run off? Well, they failed like I thought, so it doesn’t really matter.”

She observed the laboratory they had arrived in as she slowly stepped outside the contaminated elevator, not even sparing a glance to the woman giving her speech nor giving a damn about what she was saying. Naturally, the child was of little interest as well.

“Just looking at you makes me want to puke, and speaking to you makes me just want to die, so be grateful that I’m lowering myself so far. This is for your sake as much as mine, after all.”

Finally, after she had taken her surroundings into account, she granted them her bored interest as she observed the two girls with a raised eyebrow.

“Listen well, vermin. The air here is filled flammable gas. You light so much as a single spark, and we all die. So unless you trash have some sort of death wish, I suggest you watch yourselves. Even a tardigrade tries to cling to life; I suggest you hold yourself to at least that standard.”

Cocky people; certainly the one thing every person in Academy City was used to whether they were delinquents or high-level Espers. Everyone in this city had at least once encountered someone on a different power level than them who dared to defy them in hopes of declaring themselves as the superior person, whether they succeeded or not.

"Setting up a scenario in which your attackers cannot effectively attack or restrain you...tch...how disappointing. And we came all this way. Not that I don't mind having a lovely conversation on how you plan on getting out of this~...I'm guessing you want to negotiate your way out to us 'vermin'~?"

And so she only smiled in amusement as Renavin spoke. It was true her situation would be deadly if managed poorly but she didn't care about the woman in front of her; and she didn't even care about her own survival..

All she cared about was seeing the end result of the situation this boring person, who hadn't even been properly supported by the dark side so as to avoid this meeting in the first place, had instilled.

No one said she wasn't cocky herself, after all.

**

Keima stepped ever so slightly backwards at the sight of Laetitia's attempts against Gina, pulling the girl along out of the water sphere that attempted to choke her as he pointed his P.I.R.A.G at the blonde-haired girl, hesitantly pulling the trigger to inflict a headache caused by "silent" sound upon all of those who wouldn't be equipped similarly to him.

However, he hadn't gone all out on attacking his enemy for there was something he wanted to know above anything else.

“Why would a princess like you go out of your way to infiltrate this academy?” He questioned Laetitia with a frown, still pointing the weapon at her and moderately pressing the trigger in readiness to to rip her eardrums if it came down to it.

"Setting up a scenario in which your attackers cannot effectively attack or restrain you...tch...how disappointing. And we came all this way. Not that I don't mind having a lovely conversation on how you plan on getting out of this~...I'm guessing you want to negotiate your way out to us 'vermin'~?"

Negotiating? With them?

The idea disgusted her in the extreme; she felt she might actually gag at the prospect. However, when she breathed in the air, she forced herself to retain her calm. She wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, true, but if one rushed through a plan, it would inevitably fail in the end. There was absolutely no advantage to rushing forward and taking the initiative. That would only serve to vent her anger; it had no actual benefit. And in the first place, the idea of voluntarily going to them was…

Less than attractive.

“A negotiation? Repulsive words from a repulsive mouth, I see. There will be no such thing. I have demands, yes, but I will be having those met regardless of whether yours are. Or to be more explicit, this is nothing so two-sided. I will simply be one-sidedly taking what I want, and you will simply be giving it to me. Your desires are of no consequence.”

She walked to the side toward an adjacent table, and began slowly running the fingers of her free hand across the sides of the beakers and vials. As she did, her agitated expression calmed almost immediately, and was replaced by one of near utter serenity. It was a far cry from the disdain she had shown a moment earlier; as if an inquisitioner had suddenly been replaced by a Buddhist monk.

“The child there doesn’t have long, so I’ll be succinct.”

Finally turning to address them again after having turned her attention to her chemicals, she spoke her demands calmly, without the rancor that had accompanied her words before.

“First, all but one of you will die. Next, the one who remains will tell me everything about why they came here and who commanded them. And last, they will die as well. You may refuse if you wish, but I will obtain what I want regardless. And of course, if it takes too long…”

Her demands were ridiculous, but she stated them anyway. To Kisue, the very idea of a counter-demand was incomprehensible, as was the idea of accepting one. She simply stated her desires, and that she would obtain them, one way or the other. And the glance she gave to the child after she finished made it all too clear what she was referring to when she mentioned time.

“What are you waiting for? Do it.”

It was impossible to tell whether she actually believed they would listen or if she was just goading them on.

---

"You shouldn't...underestimate...me!!!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Gina saw a flicker of motion, and realized all too late that there would be nothing she could do upon realizing that it was some form of attack. She was not currently exerting her power on an area, but rather targeting Laetitia specifically using her hand motions, so there was no dead zone for her ability, but that also meant that the focus of her power was entirely on the blonde-haired girl. All the water that had flowed away from her was completely free from the restrictions of her ability.

"Stop talking all high and mighty, just because you have a fancy trick or two and thinking you're some invisible Goddess..!"

With those words, her vision nearly went white with indignant anger, but the feeling left as quickly as it came when she felt Keima pull her out of danger.

“Why would a princess like you go out of your way to infiltrate this academy?”

Now having returned to safety, she was free to vent her anger as she saw fit. There would be no need for holding back or restraining herself. She would simply squeeze whatever devils had possessed her to take such thoughtless action right out of her with her ability. She increased the strength of the pressure still further, and spoke.

"I, too, would like to hear this. I do hope you have a very good reason~"

“A negotiation? Repulsive words from a repulsive mouth, I see. There will be no such thing. I have demands, yes, but I will be having those met regardless of whether yours are. Or to be more explicit, this is nothing so two-sided. I will simply be one-sidedly taking what I want, and you will simply be giving it to me. Your desires are of no consequence.”

Renavin listened to her words carefully as she seemed to be very displeased at the idea of working with them. Especially with her life literally on the line. Though Renavin figured she wasn’t right in the head as the situation just shouted psycho, being in a very suicidal situation. Gas in the room, bargaining chip at heaven’s gate, and 5 v 1 opposition. It was truly a hopeless situation.

And yet…

“First, all but one of you will die. Next, the one who remains will tell me everything about why they came here and who commanded them. And last, they will die as well. You may refuse if you wish, but I will obtain what I want regardless. And of course, if it takes too long…”

Here this girl, or perhaps woman, was, going off about her ridiculous demands. She wanted them to essentially kill themselves and one of them to relay information toward her about who exactly is responsible for this assault.

There was a feeling clenching at Renavin’s gut, almost grabbing at his organs fiercely. This sense of sudden urgency crept up Renavin’s back as he waited in anticipation what she would say next, but then suddenly, his emotional rush came right out.

“What are you waiting for? Do-”

”PFFFHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” He let out a loud burst of laughter, the ridiculous demands, her possible failure to recognise the situation and her actually having some expectation that they would actually listen to her. How could he not? Though the mercenaries gave him a look through their riot masks, surely they somewhat understand why he would be laughing. He clutched at his abdomen until he could finally breathe again. ”Hahaaa...you either must be either really smart or really ignorant about your current situation, but i will at least thank you for letting this vermin laugh, even if you are a silly bottom feeder~.

Renavin finally regained his proper posture and cleared his throat, as he put on a kind, or rather devious smile, looking at Kisue with great confidence. ”While i do care deeply for the child’s health, sadly, if i can’t save her and complete our mission, she will become an unfortunate casualty, but not by my hands. Plus, even Kin, a child you experimented on believed if he sacrificed himself, he could save the others. I’m sure this girl is deathily afraid, but she would understand~. Also...We’re all expendable unlike you, so wouldn’t that mean i could just light a match and ignore your foolish banter~? It doesn’t matter what you want, or even who you have to help you, now that the school's secret lab staff that were hired to support you are done with.~” Renavin could see it, the students in which defeated Laetitia beginning to realise what exactly they are doing. While there is no guarantee they will help them, they most likely won’t help the Kisue anytime soon.

”So now what does it make you? A parasite without a host. A bottom feeder without nutrients. A powerless girl who thinks just because she’s more insane then all of us, makes her able to defeat us. This isn’t a negotiation, as you said.” As he spoke he walked closer to Kisue, roughly two and a half meters away, holding his dagger in his hand. ”It is your unconditional surrender...or your grave~. Would you rather i said, a tactical decision to submit temporarily as you seem to hate being looked down on by ‘vermin’, right~?” Renavin may have bluffed a bit, but it was true that no matter what she does, the situation won’t change. The experiment will stop. The data erased. And the only changing factor is life or death for herself.

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

Laetitia gave a rather annoyed expression as with Keima nearby, she can't properly subdue her completely, as he got up from the floor and prepared her water whips in her hand, giving a menacing glare toward the two. She seemed even more riled up when they asked a rather stupid question in her opinion.

"A reason...?" She growled, as he hands almost clenched the water in which was in her hands. Were these two stupid or just completely dark in their hearts. She would think the reason of anyone trying to stop the experiment, who wasn't involved with rather shady people, would be pretty much obvious. Yet these two ask away, with Gina giving a rather teasing tone, as if she wanted to laugh at the very reason she had come.

"...I should be asking you those words...why are you even involved? Why do you even help what's going on? It's either you're two are more ignorant than 8 year old denying that the tooth fairy isn't real, or are just another mole on humanity's record...You want a reason? Why don't you sit through the kids' experiments for one day, then imagine going through it every day, of every month, constantly tortured until you're tossed away like the garbage you're made out to be, as your brain fries and your nervous system slowly breaks down. Don't FUCKING ask me the reason I'm here, as you're the psychopaths for trying to stop ME!"

Laetitia felt completely furious at their attitude toward her, acting as if they were no way involved with what experiments took place under this school. They were nothing but bottom feeders to her, sucking up whatever they are offered, whether it's money, status ect. These two probably didn't even give a shit about what they were doing, so long as there was a nice benefit for them, right?

Laetitia didn't care anymore, as Gina's gravity tugged her forcibly, trying to bring her back to the floor, feeling her knees bend to the weight. She had an idea how to counteract it, but the idea was a bit nuts. She hasn't tried something she had in mind before, and if it will help at all is her guess. She violently stretched out her long whips of water, attempting to strike down both of them, flinging one after another, knowing Gina will only increase the gravity to a point of potentially crushing her entirely.

(OOC: Focusing on the Gina side until all Kisue side issues are solved)

...Why don't you try, she said?

He had barely even tried to avoid the water whip that collided harshly against his body as he opted to fiddle and throw something on the ground near Laetitia instead. It was something very childish that a lot of students loved to have in Summer time: a lighter and... firecrackers of about 30cm in length.

“Cover your ears, Ishida!” He shouted before he ignited and threw them, causing the firecrackers to go off only a bare metre away from him as he amplified their sound to match that of a tank's shot round, only being truly spared by his protecting equipment and even then wincing himself as the noise crackled on...

A switch in Keima had flipped once she pronounced those words that held a very twisted meaning to him, his face slowly contorting into raw anger. “Don't talk like you understand what they're going through, princess. If you did then you would have never approached that child like you did.” The words were spoken slowly as the noise died down, but every single syllable was filled with venom that wasn't necessarily directed at her.

Laetitia tried to get what attacks she can out, as the pressure of gravity increased and increased. There was no way to escape Gina's ability to her knowledge, and her only hope to her was to attack them until they either ran away, get knocked out, or somehow she got lucky and disorient Gina specifically to escape. She however did underestimate the importance of Keima's abilities as she didn't notice him pulling out a firecracker and lighting it. He threw it over by her feet, and it almost puzzled Laetitia until he spoke to Gina.

"Cover your ears, Ishida!" It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was about to do. Gina was safe at a farther distance, covering her ears the best she can, however Laetitia was right next to the firecracker.

"I won't let yo-...!!!?" She tried to cover her ears or at least try and to cover water over the fuse, but the pressure of gravity kept her hands from raising up and the fuse was just high enough to stay away from the water below it, as gravity kept the water from rising to the fuse with her ability.

BOOOM!

The sound, as powerful as a tank shot, reverberated throughout the hall, as Laetitia yelped in pain, her ears throbbing as a constant ringing. She felt energy left her body and collapsed forcibly on the floor again, feeling her head ache in just the tremendous sound wave her ears transmitted to it.

“Cover your ears, Ishida!”

Somewhat hurriedly, Gina stepped two steps back and hastily covered her ears. And none too soon, for the firecracker Keima had thrown went off just a short moment after. If she had been closer, it would doubtlessly have shaken her inner ear enough to keep her on the ground for a long while, and at the same allowed Laetitia to get up back as the lapse in her concentration would have caused her ability to fail again.

However, that was of little consequence to her compared to the conversation she now found herself listening to. She didn’t show it, but she was practically hanging on their every word, half-afraid she’d miss a vital piece of information if she didn’t devote her total attention.

‘Constantly tortured’ and ‘thrown away’, hm…

Despite the girl’s idealistic words, there was no doubt that she was a member of the dark side. Her invading the school in the dark of the night with those fine gentleman disguised as Anti-Skill left no doubt about that. So there wasn’t necessarily any reason to believe her words. However, Keima’s reaction meant that she couldn’t just ignore the issue. If the experiments Kihara was running were anything like they seemed to be implying…

There was a bad taste in her mouth, but she couldn’t do anything about it. If she openly questioned it and found it was the truth, then she would be the one in a bad position. None of that was any reason for her to help the girl in front of her, however. Whether she was spouting lies or the truth, the fact that her hands were stained remained unchanged. There was no need to give her any consideration.

And yet… Yes, she could see an opportunity in this. A way to try and elucidate the truth, or at least gain more information to work with. Most likely, someone was going to be interrogated at some point, but that would likely be by Kihara. She would want to get her information, of course. But if they conducted the interrogation… Well, this one seemed like the passionate sort.

“Keima, do you have anything to restrain her with? I’d like to ask our ‘princess’ here, as you called her, a few questions. Seeing her accompanied by those nice men over there, I somehow doubt her motivations are actually quite as altruistic as she says~”

The attack had the effect Keima intended, it had completely rendered Laetitia's attacks useless against the two high-level Espers no matter how much of a good Esper she was herself from the sheer impact of the noise.

“Keima, do you have anything to restrain her with? I’d like to ask our ‘princess’ here, as you called her, a few questions. Seeing her accompanied by those nice men over there, I somehow doubt her motivations are actually quite as altruistic as she says~”

The boy complied as he lifted the disoriented girl from the puddle of water she was taking advantage of, restraining her arms behind her as he slowly lifted her above the ground. His tightening grip was a warning not to try anything lest he would properly rupture her eardrums this time.

Laetitia could hardly hear anything at the moment, as her ears had a constant ring. She didn't know what her foes were talking about at the moment as one of them approached to pick her up. She felt like she had no energy left in her body. Is this what it's like when you're physically fine, but your brain doesn't want to do what you ask? She felt a multitude of sensations as her body slightly shook, her head throbbing in pain, and only having the energy to breathe and vaguely look around. The weight of gravity and the amplified sound had completely put her out of it.

"Hnn...mm..." She let out a slight groan, wanting to say something. An insult, a cry for help, a scream, anything to just say what was on her mind, but only moans of pain came out. Her muscles ached, and her legs were nothing but exhausted from trying to resist the gravity that forced her down like a magnet. She would've laughed if Keima had said his warning verbally, as she wouldn't be able to hear her.

Soon enough, though, everything went black in her vision.

...Okay.

It seemed they had been a bit harsh on the girl and they would not be able to gain any informations. Yet in the event she would find a final strand of strength to fight back, Keima didn't release her grip on the teenage girl who had tried her best to fight despite her disadvantages and her being outnumbered.

“...Ishida.”

Keima solemnly called out as they successfully fulfilled their task. The two had never truly talked but it was then that Keima decided to act what was perhaps for the sake of his prison that was Nagatenjouki Academy.

“Is this really okay? Do you understand what's going on?”

Once he was sure that the girl would no longer move, he gently placed her down in a place where he could still keep an eye on her. It was likely that even if she was barely conscious she wouldn't be able to hear anything so Keima hardly worried about eavesdropping.

“Do you remember the children that were welcomed in the school a little over a week ago?” Keima said, not yet facing Gina as he changed the battery clip for his P.I.R.A.G. and slowly breathed in to continue his perhaps oddly long explanation.

“That day the school welcomed students from a Child Error orphanage for some reason, I didn't know why even though I should have. Over the course of the next few days they suddenly disappeared and the next thing we knew the news were reporting multiple incidents of bombing without being sure if it was a terrorist attempt or not.”

A pause.

“...Those children they brought in were experimented on, and two of them fled in the confusion after bombing the laboratory they were held in.

That's when I was dispatched to locate the girl first as she's the source behind the various explosions they've been showing on the news... I think it's because the experimentation fucked around with her personal reality, and likely the other children as well, so much that it's just too unstable to produce anything but explosive results.”

Finally, he turned towards Gina as he stared at her straight in the eyes and asked:

“Are you really okay with that twisted woman, who's using Nagatenjouki's funds and resources to conduct sick experiments on orphans, ordering us around like we're her dogs while acting like she's above everyone else despite depending on us almost entirely?”

To him, Kihara Kisue was currently depending on Nagatenjouki to get herself anywhere; this very school was her hideout and if the school's administration agreed that enough was enough if the involved students rebelled, if that very link was cut then she likely would not have anywhere to run because of the simple fact that she wasted the school's resources and caused a week's worth of mess as a result.

If they turned against her, even if she fought back it would be hard for her to continue this charade.

So Keima prayed on the small, unreasonable hope he had that Gina had enough of a kind heart despite her superiority complexed personality to allow these children to finally be at peace.

***

She barely cared about or even heard anything Renavin said as her brain ran at full speed to imagine this researcher's circumstances; her eyes were deeply focused on the scientist who, by the second, only proved one thing to the younger girl

Vermins? One-sidedly taking what she wants?

“Ha...haha....”

A small laugh escaped her lips as Renavin stopped his major speech, soon erupting into a full-blown maniacal laugh.

“Hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahah!!!! Ahahahahahahaha!” It wasn't the laugh of someone who realised how dire their situation was, nor was it the laugh of someone having fun in front of a comedy show. It was a laugh that mocked the very existence of whatever she was laughing at.

Pathetic, miserable, laughable, pitiful, saddening... That's how  this scientist appeared to be to her.

“Hahahahaha... ha... haaaaaaaaaaaaaah...” Soon, however, the laugh derailed into a long-winded sigh that hinted at the boredom that had taken the place of her previous twisted entertainment.

“Seriously, are you aware of how shit you are? I can't believe you're what this city's come down to; maybe it's time for it to self-destruct while it still has some glory to show off.”

It wasn't even an insult, to her Kihara Kisue was the saddest thing she had seen the dark side of Academy City offer. What had happened to this city if this was the best they could provide for researchers behind experiments? What was this experiment even about, anyway, for it to fail so spectacularly?

“What we're here for? Giving you informations before dying?” A smile broke out through her face as she stepped forwards in front of the mercenaries, an arm spreading to show the miserable lab they were standing in; a mere room hidden away from the rest of the school.

“Why should I have to obey someone who was rejected by Academy City itself?”

That was true to her; if Academy City's twisted side had supported these experiments fully, not only would she not have made it to the lair of the enemy so easily but Iresia would have never escaped in the first place.

Failure after failure after failure.

What had been accomplished in all of this anyway?

That woman was merely feeding off the resources of those who were willing to hold a belief in whatever her experiment was about, but Natsumi was sure that even that would crumble soon because the results of her experiments were unstable children causing havoc across Academy City and people breaching inside one of its elite schools.

That was enough for anyone to cut their losses, wasn't it?

“You're hiding all alone inside a secret floor in Nagatenjouki, and you dare talk to me like I'm inferior to you? You, the woman incapable of even covering up your failures like a proper scientist of this city would?

Ahh, whatever, it doesn't matter. I still have to thank you for showing me a new low in how saddening people can be, so do me a favour and continue spouting your self-entitled shit you bitch. Show me how right Academy City was to laugh at you and discard you like the useless piece of shit you are!”

...So that was what was going on.

The pieces all fit too well for her to doubt the picture they made. Everything from the new students, to the explosions, to the very personality of the researcher in question. She hated to say it, but... She had most likely been tricked. She'd been told that the experiments were to give the children more useful abilities, and if that was the case, then it was truly a great thing. The city gave the students their abilities, so they had a duty to pay it back, after all. But if those experiments were as inhumane as Keima described, then even if the goal was true it had obviously overstepped its bounds. Ignoring all laws, codes of conduct, and morals; even if the city itself condoned such a thing, she wouldn't.

And the very reason she'd been convinced in the first place... Was because Nagatenjouki was supporting her. Had Kihara tricked the school? Or, had the school known full well what it was doing? This was a rabbit hole of unknown depth, but now that she'd seen it, she couldn't simply step away. She would have to jump right in and discover what lay at the bottom.

"I see. So that's what's going on."

Her words were plain, but she made no attempt to hide the raw emotion behind them. Disgust that such an experiment existed, anger that she'd been tricked, disappointment in the school she'd chosen to attend which had allowed such a thing to go unpunished...

"Of course not. I don't intend to let this pass. Now, I believe the lab was on the bottom floor, but what do we do with our 'princess' here?"

---

To their words, to their scorn and laughter, and even pity, she no longer showed any reaction. She had hardened herself at last. She simply looked at them, looked down on them, and prepared herself for the moment they would arrive before her as she pocketed the antidote and gripped the vials she had previously stroked. She was a parasite? Perhaps. Pitiful? That was likely.

After all, she had devoted her entire nineteen years of life to her research, and nothing else. She had given everything she had, gone to the absolute greatest extreme she could to see how far she could go. And as she did, she also watched the efforts of others. She saw them strive, and she saw them fail. She saw them take half-measures, and she saw them give up. She saw how humans' greatest efforts could only take them to such pitiful heights.

And at the same time, even as she rose head and shoulders above the rest of them, she saw those same traits in herself. She may have been superior to them, but no matter how much she worked there was one horrible premonition that she couldn't escape. That in the end, she was just like them. A human. She was rising and rising, but some day she would plateau, and then she would fall. She would reach her limits, and be forced to give up. So she went to the utmost extreme, in the hope that she would be able to break through that plateau by giving up on absolutely everything else.

And one day, it finally happened. It was from a source entirely unexpected to her, however. Rather than reaching her limits, others had interfered. Instead of falling on her own, she was dragged down.

She experienced the act of falling, for the very first time. And after, she learned what it was like to flee from danger. And after, she learned what it was like to search for safety. And now, she learned what it was like to defend. Every single action was a first for her, who had done nothing but research. So she would have to learn how to do every last one, with nothing but the knowledge she'd accrued to assist her.

"Hah, you may be exactly right. Perhaps I've become a parasite. Perhaps I could be called pitiful. Perhaps I am useless."

Those self-defacing words were as different from those that had preceded them as oil and water. But, they were accompanied with laughter. She laughed, at herself, at them, at everyone in the world. Looking down on them all with the most extreme disdain.

"But if you believe you're even the slightest bit superior to me, then you're not merely trash, you're delusional."

And just now, for the first time, she had hardened a resolve to not lose.

"But if you do believe that... Then come. You will have the wonderful privilege of taking oh so many of Kihara Kisue's firsts."

Renavin looked upon the descendant of the name 'Kihara' as she seemed unphased by the mockery, and even accepted some of it without much restraint. As he thought, even she realised how distasteful the situation is, and how desperate she had become, but it seems she had a much more extreme superiority complex that can even trump the princess of this school.

"Hah, you may be exactly right. Perhaps I've become a parasite. Perhaps I could be called pitiful. Perhaps I am useless. But if you believe you're even the slightest bit superior to me, then you're not merely trash, you're delusional."

He didn't snicker this time, as it seemed that she had no intention of giving up everything she had worked 19 years for. Not he knew how far she went to get to the point she is, but it was obvious that she breathed her own scientific success as if it were her life line. Should she fail now, she might as well be dead.

"But if you do believe that... Then come. You will have the wonderful privilege of taking oh so many of Kihara Kisue's firsts."

"...Kihara Kisue, what a lovely name~." She had finally uttered her name. While Renavin and the mercenaries had no idea the significance of the name 'Kihara' was, it didn't stop him from acting accordingly. She was taunting them into a fight, and sadly even if they were to, the natural gas was still present in the air. They were on borrowed time. While Kisue is small and will suffer from Monoxide poisoning sooner then those bigger than her, the kid laying on the bench would probably be the first to stop breathing. Should Renavin clash with Kisue with his dagger, the chances of a spark being made from his dagger hitting metal or a scalpel was high, the room would be drenched in fire and smoke.

"Sadly, this is not exactly a great situation to actually have a fight, to be honest I would rather we settled this with a card game...but I don't think you'd be the one to like games." Renavin smiled as he crossed stretched his arms casually as he glanced at the elevator oddly enough, before looking back toward her. "As much as I would love to take the honor of fighting you, I rather not get everyone killed. Instead, I think I'll just talk to you until you choke from carbon mo-...mon...What's that gas poison called again?...." He whispered slightly worried toward the mercenaries and Natsumi, seeming to forgot the name 'carbon monoxide poisoning' in which would soon effect everyones health in a matter of minutes. "Anyway, you can talk to Ren-chan in the mean time~~~!"

Though he didn't show it both because he was a trained dog of the academy and because it would be the lamest thing for a boy to do so; reassurance flooded Keima as Gina openly stated her ignorance about the truth of this project.

Keima had wondered for a split second what she could have possibly been told to indirectly cooperate with such cruelty but that question was answered as soon as he consciously noted it; he was used to manipulation.

"Of course not. I don't intend to let this pass. Now, I believe the lab was on the bottom floor, but what do we do with our 'princess' here?"

Turning towards the still collapsed Laetitia, Keima observed her intensely before sighing and looked towards Gina again.

“I don't think she'll cause much trouble even if she wakes up. Besides, I think we should deal with this fast enough for her to not have time to do anything anyway so that we avoid attracting attention."

Though he had taken a decisive step towards the means of accessing Nagatenjouki's lower floors, because he had finally decided could and would save those child errors from the clutches of the scientists if he had any say in it, he abruptly stopped and turned towards Gina once more.

“Let's split up for a bit. I don't think it'll be good if that woman knows we're both after her especially if she's set something up.”

**

"As much as I would love to take the honor of fighting you, I rather not get everyone killed. Instead, I think I'll just talk to you until you choke from carbon mo-...mon...What's that gas poison called again?...."

…

…

Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

Natsumi loudly sighed in annoyance as she took another sniff at the admittedly dangerous gas surrounding them by habit rather than to make sure of its origin.

“...Where the hell do you come from and how did you even get in Academy City?” She complained and scratched her neck as she continued as she went on to give Renavin a short but concise lesson on the origin of the gas currently filling the room.

The lesson would go to show that this situation may have been unfavourable to Natsumi in more than one way.

“There's nothing burning here, is there? This isn't carbon monoxide but natural gas that may be in quantities large enough to... Ahh, well, I guess it's close enough at this point...”

Indeed, a high concentration of natural gas in an isolated room was not only a bomb but under circumstances it would also eat away at the room's oxygen, rendering people slowly incapable of breathing correctly...

Unless the seemingly suicidal woman named Kihara Kisue had managed the gas levels to avoid this issue, they would have to settle the situation and fast before everyone collapsed in a highly comical matter, and had their brains shut down in a lesser comical manner.

So, just in case, Natsumi brought up the possibility in order to ascertain these new risks.

"If that's the case, which of the heart or the brain will fail from lack of oxygen first for each of us, I wonder?"