[SS] Lighting the Fuse

Contrary to her usual long-winded sighs, Mikoto decided to simply take a very, very deep breath before saying anything because she had a feeling she needed to learn how to keep her nerve in check around him sooner than later.

Because he certainly wasn't going to go easy on her whether she decided to learn self-control or not.

“Let's... put aside your mistaken sense of wonder for a minute.” She simply muttered with a palm pressed for her face, lightly rebutting herself for expecting any normal reaction out of him though she herself had been numbed to Academy City inventions long ago. “The Daihaseisai wouldn't work out; all you'd be advertising is bloodlust between schools that're trying to prove their superiority to each other and outsiders are allowed to visit so they'd see what the city has to offer for themselves anyway.”

Landmarks were probably out of the question, that much was clear. If there was a landmark, Academy City had already advertised it and any more than that would be mindless redundancy. But it's not like they could go and photograph Academy City specific birds either, not that that existed.

...She hoped, at least.

In a rather pensive manner, Mikoto gazed at the structure that seemed to never be there yet always be there and took a certain amount of focus to be truly acknowledged. Her shoulders considerably slumped after a few seconds. This exercise had proved to be quite a difficult one and if these girls were anything to go by then randomly asking would not help.

Turning towards Guy in a somewhat desolated manner, she simply pouted as she spoke. “No good. I have absolutely no clue of what they could mean by the city's “spirit”. Why such an occult-sounding word in the first place? It's not like there are individual things that define Academy City that haven't been advertised to death already. The technology, the superior curriculum, the Esper abilities, the landmarks, the individuals... If it can be advertised it's already been. I'd know about that last one specifically” In the end, she could only be left rambling to herself in a slowly degrading volume.

He prodded her in the forehead as he passed.

"You're overthinking things. It's just some buzzword. The whole point is to make it seem exotic and exciting. At the end of the day, some executive is going to sit down and look at these before picking out whatever he thinks looks the best. That's all there is to it. It's not a Zen koan or something." He shook his head as if in disbelief. "Honestly, you're taking my job more seriously than I am." The young man muttered to himself.

"Well, thanks for the help. I should keep looking anyway. I was going to check out the district 15 first if you want to tag along." Guy considered slipped the map out of his pocket and unfolded it. It already had several markings over it, all indecipherable to anyone but him. He considered his other options. The Judgement training centre might be interesting. Perhaps he would catch a drill or training exercise in action. If attracting tourists was the goal then perhaps the visitor's accommodation would be worth a look. For parents and prospective students then something like the School Garden would give a good impression. More industrial sectors were less enticing.

In and of itself, the entire situation was perfectly in their hand. As Frenda took care of the technological aspect, Mugino would just fold her arms while leaning against one of the dimly lit space’s walls. Her expression bore neither signs of boredom, nor those of joy. To put it bluntly, she was entirely thoughtless this entire time.

This entire advance had been all too eventless.

Neither had they been dragged into another confrontation with the enemy’s forces, nor was there any complication up ahead. Not that complications would actually do much of a change with her around, but still, right now everything was left at nothing.

The cold metal walls, the giant actually rather silent machinery and dimness of the light. It was a tranquil scene. Only the tip-tap-sound of Frenda’s fingers running across the key board of the control panel posed the hint of a change. However when even that fell silent, the space was entirely dead.

«Let’s go.»

In reply to her comrade’s confirmation, Mugino immediately set into motion, brushing her hair into order yet again. The two of them would head through the lower of two doors, right into an even darker area. Maintenance lights never were the truly powerful kind, meaning that they’d only weakly illuminate their surroundings, especially now that the entire pump had been locked into maintenance mode. With darkness crawling around them from all around, it was only natural for Mugino to forge an orb of green light for it to float a few centimetres above her palm while advance deeper into the construction. While there were still shadows enveloping nearly everything, at least a bit more of them were driven away by the green light.

Ahead of them it awaited them. A gigantic rotor, a few times their body sizes was just ahead, spinning its final rounds slouchily. The gate that’d finally allow for them to step into the armoury.

*clonk*

The sound of a tiny metal object colliding with the floor, bouncing off and landing right in their middle. An occurrence forcing Mugino’s body to tense up immediately.

From behind…?!

And before their eyes were even able too seek it or its source, their tranquil world of green and black was annihilated by white and noise.

Their eyes too adjusted to the dark and their ears too little harmed by the silence made easy targets for that sudden burst. It was the brunt in its fullest.

It went without saying what it was, had it been an all too common thing to begin with.

But that’s what made it so dangerous. That’s what was the worst about these rotten flash bangs. You’d just use them and in 9 of 10 cases the result went above positive.

Mugino shouted something, yet it remained unheard.

«You ready do die you fucking pant pissing sissy?!»

Even Academy City’s #4 fell powerless for a single instance.

Entirely defenceless, disoriented as she was, even her recovery would eat up at least a second or two of time.

Even if she was just a moment away from flinging around her hands, firing beams even though aimlessly, that was enough.

A gap had been created.

In just that short gap of time, the enemy could strike. They could move through the darkness. Pour their gun’s barrels empty, strike from close range or unleash whatever calamity they had been prepared.

And they would strike. From the white void they would come, the unseen hunters ready to finish their prey.

Or would…?

It was time for the mad dash to begin. That was what Frenda had expected to happen. Mugino would blow through the rotor and they would blaze a trail forged by Meltdowner beams to make their way to the vacuum control panel in the armory and shut it down. That was what Frenda had expected to happen. Who could blame her? After all, the two of them had been tearing through the mission in a blaze of explosions and beams without too much effort before.

Frenda was unwilling to admit it, but the lack of resistance was enough for her to partially let her guard down. Under normal circumstances, she would have been far more aware and far more likely to react in time.

The high-pitched, instantaneous sound of metal bouncing off of metal reverberated from behind Frenda.

It was an all too familiar sound to Frenda. It was the sound of something small being dropped to the ground—an explosive.

The girl quickly pivoted about her foot to face the sound and saw what it was that dropped. It was a cylindrical device with a loose handle and multiple holes within its body.

There was only one thing it could be. It was an object she knew all too well.

Stun Grenade.

With the hand that was ready over her skirt, she hastily grabbed a pair of earplugs and tossed one towards her left hand. However, as she pulled her right hand up, her left hand missed the toss. The ear plug it the tip of her fingers before bouncing off and rolling somewhere in the dark.

There was no time to react. She simply had to make do with the tools on hand, so she slammed her left hand over her ear, hastily attempted to stuff the other earplug in her right ear, and shut her eyes.

In tandem, a thundering bang roared and a bright whiteness filled the entire pipe. Despite closing her eyes, the white light pierced through, smashing into the rods and cones within. While the sound was muffled in both of her ears, the simple act of covering her left ear with her hand was nowhere near enough for the 170 dB intensity to be cut to a safe amount.

As the detonation ceased, she pulled out her earplug and opened her eyes while struggling not to stumble. All she could see was a pure white that was beginning to fade.

«You ready do die you fucking pant pissing sissy?!»

Using Mugino’s angered shouts as a metric, Frenda could tell that her right ear had lost some of its hearing capability but was mostly functional while her left ear’s functionality felt like a complement to the right’s as it was somewhat functional but all sounds that entered were much weaker in intensity.

Frenda slammed a fist into her leg as she used the pain to counter the feeling of disorientation caused by the fluid in her eardrums being rattled by the stun grenade.

She had to regain her orientation quickly. There was only one reason for someone to be using a stun grenade. Those few seconds in which the target was left disoriented was always a perfect opening. In order to take out someone like Mugino, disabling her was a wonderful strategy.

But, there was one issue with the enemy’s plan.

*click*

There it is!

It was muffled, but Frenda was certain she heard it—the sound of a weapon being cocked by the enemy.

Stuffing both hands into her skirt, she pulled out a single anti-tank warhead with one hand and a number of small pyramids with her other hand. It was a large bomb and a cluster of small bombs best used at close range. In actuality, there was zero compatibility with those two bombs. They were merely bombs Frenda had pulled out at random. One was designed to create small explosions and larger shockwaves while the other was designed to pierce through and annihilate tanks in a rain of flames.

But, compatibility did not matter. She merely needed to gain time to let Mugino regain enough of her senses to tell where the incoming attack was coming from. She threw out the five pyramid shaped bombs first, leaving them to scatter in mid-air before firing the warhead towards the center.

As the warheads and bombs exploded, a great wall of light and shockwaves erupted.

In the end, there was truly one chink in the enemy’s tactic. They had neglected to take into account the reliable support that was Frenda Seivelun.  

The five seconds that had passed had been enough for the effects of the stun grenade to wear off for her and Mugino was likely regaining her senses as well.

“Mugino! Gunman in that direction!” She said, pointing to the general direction of where she heard the click coming from.

Mikoto's cheeks puffed up into a small pout. “There's something wrong with you not taking your job properly. Ah, right, I'll have to take care of that tonight...” The sight of Guy's map, though she had no clue of what the markings were supposed to represent, reminded her of her own set of maps and other "official" papers that she made use of during the experiment and had yet to hide away or discard entirely, so as she thoroughly analysed the mentioned districts, she made a mental note in the form of a mutter without realising it.

“But that's not a bad idea, coming from you. The city advertises Esper abilities enough already so putting some focus on more physical and diligent activities could convince reluctant parents.”

She straightened at once with a hand on her hip as she hummed in satisfaction to herself, wearing a small and awkward smile as she followed up with what may have felt like a joke but also painfully sounded like reality as she scratched her cheek. “I'd call Kuroko for some pointers since she's a lot familiar with that district than us, but I'm not sure I want to deal with all the explanation that'd come with it, so I think we'll have to pass on that. Come on, let's go.”

And perhaps it was simply because she was just that bored, but it never occurred to her a single time that she didn't have to tag along with him. She simply walked on in the most natural of matters, as if feeling compelled to do so.

"What explanation?" He seemed clueless about what Kuroko might have against the idea but didn't press for an answer as they continued walking. The teleporter was one of a growing list of enemies he'd made since his arrival in the city. While not the most dangerous on that list her proximity made her more of a threat than most. She always seemed close enough to cause him harm even when she was out of his sight. Especially when she was out of sight, as he'd learned on the numerous occasions the girl had appeared to deliver unexpected punishment for some transgression.

A lesser man might develop paranoia.

He glanced at the girl walking next to him. If he didn't know better he'd never have suspected that she'd survived an encounter with not only the world's strongest Esper, but also the city's own dark underworld. After countless brushes with death and the stress and trauma of her experiences it was remarkable that she could return to her previous self.

"You seem pretty relaxed." The observation was unexpectedly innocent and free from the sarcasm, flippancy or gentle mockery that usually accompanied his words. "For a while, I thought you might go grey from all the stress. But it seems like you're back to your old self." He observed. It was as if he was asking her to confirm his belief. After all, no matter how observant he might be, he had no idea what she was actually thinking.

A sudden blow of shockwaves from up front. It went without saying who had been attacker and who victim. Smirking mischievously, Mugino felt the quickness of their recovery. But that was hardly unexpected. They were ITEM after all.

«Perfect, Frenda. Perfect~»

And as the two of them had recovered from the surprise attack by actually fending any further advances off, time had also been bought. And with time bought, her senses also arrived back in town unsteadily and a bit awkwardly.

«Mugino! Gunman in that direction!»

Even though dull the words finally dug their way into her ears and with the hazy silhouette’s finger point she knew all there was to know. Vision wasn’t necessary, aim wasn’t necessary, it just needed a hint of focus and the job would be done.

Already done with charging up, her attack launched immediately.

A barrage of spears launched into the commanded direction. Linear strikes of green light arrived consecutively, not aimed, just thrown ahead violently, wrecking absolutely everything there was with no mercy. Ignoring both the safety of walls and armour the beams would indiscriminately dig through absolutely anything in their paths. Probably wandering many metres deep into the building’s structure they’d just wreck it all, covering anything there was in hell of blazing heat all over again.

«Have a taste of this you low life coward shit eating fucks!!!»

It seemed unending, but after a long 30 seconds that monster finally ceased venting off.

Breathing in and out for a bit she’d finally turn around, not minding the beautiful work of abstract art she had left with the molten metal and concrete that used to be the only way back.

She had noticed. Even for someone like her this amount of violence had gone a bit too far beyond the boundary of the usual. Boiling over just a bit more extreme than usual, she had gone too far ahead with her violence. Trying to push this realisation a bit deeper into the back of her mind, she’d step forward. However she just couldn’t shake it off. This environment, this strategy…somehow she just couldn’t avoid recalling that mission from back then.

«I guess they dropped dead. How wouldn’t they, though? A shame we couldn’t see the suffering written all over their faces. Then again, who’d bother with such low life thugs…I guess they were just that…fucking mercenaries…?»

Throwing about another overly confident comment, she’d return back to her usual self. Or rather, she tried to seem as much as that as she held the power to. She had been forcing herself and was trying to cover it up as much as she could. But that was fine, wasn’t it? Looking at how rough recent times had been on her. This outbreak hadn’t been the first of its sort either…

Once Frenda had signaled the assailant’s location to Mugino, the die was cast. The brilliant light that emanated Mugino shot towards the general direction Frenda had pointed towards. With the flashing of light, the thunderous roar of metal and concrete being torn by Mugino’s Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannon resounded throughout the pipe structure causing even the rotors to creak from the pressure.

If there was one word to describe such an event, it would definitely be overkill. Nothing she had seen this entire day could compare to the brutality of what had occurred in those long 30 seconds. Overkill truly was the only label she could attach to such an event.

After all, such ruthlessness was far more than what was necessary for any single assailant.

But, it seemed that Mugino was venting out a large well of emotions that had accumulated. It seemed to be an amalgamation of anger, impatience, and…uneasiness?

That was definitely a rare emotion for Mugino, of all people, to possess. Was it the stun grenade surprise, the frustration from the moments of helplessness she was forced into, or was it something else entirely?

She faced the now distorted space which was the landing ground for her spears of light. In a sense, that area was almost reminiscent of that one mission. Perhaps, it was frustration from being forced into a similar annoying environment to that one mission that got to her and if it was, Frenda could not blame Mugino for that feeling.

«I guess they dropped dead. How wouldn’t they, though? A shame we couldn’t see the suffering written all over their faces. Then again, who’d bother with such low life thugs…I guess they were just that…fucking mercenaries…?»

Mugino had given off one of her regular confident comments. At the very least, that’s what it was seemed at first. But, the punctuations in her words almost seemed like a form of exasperation.

Perhaps, this really was getting to Mugino.

“Are you feeling all right, Mugino?”

They were simple, innocuous words of concern for her partner in crime. But, as soon as she finished speaking, Frenda remembered despite the momentary distraction that they were still on a time crunch. After all, they had only about 18 minutes left before the pumps would be active again.

The nervous girl shifted her attention from her partner back to the large rotor. It was only a matter of time.

Deciding to bypass any explanation of what she meant by explaining anything to Kuroko, lest he picks up on why it's a problem and never lets it go, Mikoto however paid full attention to his question and gave it a lot of consideration. Especially since he was lacking his usual annoying tones.

“Does it look like I'm faking it?” Finally deciding to speak up, Mikoto let a few seconds pass before continuing. “I know all happened ages ago now, but none of this still feels real to me.”

It couldn't be said that everything had returned to normal, it was very likely that she could never go back to her old, ignorant self now that she had witnessed the horrors the place she once called home bore. Nor did she want to, if it meant the experiment would have been completed.

But at the same time, it felt horribly cynical to simply leave it at that and conclude that everything in this city was rotten, so Mikoto couldn't say that she was just faking any positive emotion to hide deep hatred. There certainly was a sense of hatred and regret lingering in her, but not enough to taint her view of the city, it was targeted towards the exact people who started the mess everyone had risked their lives sorting out over anything else.

“I don't think people can go back to their old selves after those kind of experiences, but since I'm trying to make a point to those girls that life is a lot more than just doing “what you were born to do”, I figured I shouldn't be a source of worry for them and an example instead. Try to aim for an “elder sister” act and show them how it's done, I guess? They do call me "onee-sama", after all. I owe them that much.”

In a way, not even she knew the answer to his question and where she was at, so she based herself off what she should rightfully do as a starting point. As she realised that, she suddenly rummaged her hair in a violent manner and groaned.

"Ahh! Not good, I'm still feeling weird about the whole thing..."

“Does it look like I'm faking it? I know all happened ages ago now, but none of this still feels real to me.”

He glanced at her with a peculiar expression of surprise. It had been maybe two weeks since the incident had come to an abrupt and violent end, and here she was talking as though it was the distant past. Perhaps it was just a matter of youth. Time seemed different when you were younger. Hours had a way of seeming like days. Days seemed like weeks and anything beyond that was too distant to care about. Though only a few years separated them, he couldn't help but envy that outlook.

“I don't think people can go back to their old selves after those kind of experiences, but since I'm trying to make a point to those girls that life is a lot more than just doing “what you were born to do”, I figured I shouldn't be a source of worry for them and an example instead. Try to aim for an “elder sister” act and show them how it's done, I guess? They do call me "onee-sama", after all. I owe them that much.”

He laughed despite himself when she suggested being a good onee-sama for her 'Sisters'.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. Really." He composed himself after the outburst, raising his hand to ward off any strikes she might send his way. "But you shouldn't worry about being a role model or anything. If you worry about stuff like that you really will go grey." He waited until she was finished ruffling her own hair before delivering a gentle pat to her head. "Besides, I'm sure you'll be a great sister, no matter what you do." He said something like that so easily and without even a hint of self-consciousness or shame, like he was a character from a manga or VN.

«Are you feeling all right, Mugino?»

She flinched in surprise, only to bury any trace of said reaction underneath her usual cold-cool mien.

«What should be wrong with me? Have you ever seen something that got to me? No. See. Now let’s move on.»

After the short pause a quick and sharp retort followed, as she quickly turned away from her comrade and the grave of the enemy. Her goal had been made clear immediately, as she had not only turned towards it but already closed the distance between her and gigantic rotor that was still blocking their path.

Unlike before however, she did not create a number of orbs of green light or throw about a raging tantrum of destruction at it, but simply placed her right hand on it, rather softly.

«We really need to got moving…don’t we…»

Following her announcement spoken in a way too soft tone, the metal in her hand started to change. It did not change in the sense that its form or colour altered, it simply disappeared. To be precise the material was slowly being dissolved, disintegrated, molten apart until there would be nothing left but air. And as it dissolved, a shape made from green light slowly started spreading along its form, until a rather large portion had been eaten up. Once it was done and her hunger saturated, it ceased and Mugino moved forward.

«What are you waiting for? We need to move.»

Throwing about just another comment that forcefully tried to appear just like her usual self, she casually continued down the shaft.

Her mind had been quite occupied with thoughts that were entirely hard to shake off, but she was gradually managing to. As her way of talking slowly took a turn towards the more natural, she seemed to be close to having recovered from that memory.

About one or two minutes later they arrived at a larger lattice structure, the cover of the ventilation shaft. While large and made from sturdy steel, it was just another obstacle she quite easily disintegrated using her powers. And once she had eaten through that last barricade, what awaited before them was the armoury.


Just like the maps described it, it was a large space, the size of many football fields with the height of about 12 metres or such. However, unlike the production hall this space was filled to the brim. Like towers large structures of metal dominated the entirety of what was before them. Their order and the way they were build was reminiscent of bookshelves in a library and if you actually checked the files they served a similar purpose: They were the containers in which the merchandise was stored.

These large shelf like structures reached about 7 metres high and contained the items of the armoury, of course ordered and some of them stored in sub containers. According to the data it was possible to access each of them via terminals that were attached on the outside. Those terminals would give information on the contents as well as allow to retrieve items, by operating the internal system. It was probably similar to a vending machine with robotic arm that would deliver the customer the item they selected.
Upon closer inspection it was revealed that along their outside shell there were also walkways of metal, for the usual maintenance purposes.


From the ventilation shaft it seemed to be like 8 metres towards the ground, a height that likely would cause instantaneous death on a fall. No joking matter. However it easily gave the ITEM duo the chance to overview the entire scenery a good bit.

These shelves were everywhere, building up a rather complicated labyrinth that seemed way more frightening due to the fact that the lighting had been reduced to a minimum. LED lights here and there were all that was left to fight the shadows and with only that it was hard to make out any details about the new environment.

Taking a glance upwards, one could see some higher rise walkways towards the roof area. They were numerous, but they all led into a single direction, the centre of the room. There in the distance, a gigantic shape reminiscent of a stadium’s roof screens rested. With that being the center point and taking into account its high rise position above all else, it was quite easy to guess what kind of place this was.

«So that’s the finish line? Looks a bit too easy to miss.»

Spitting her ironic comment, a small grin manifested on Mugino’s face. Of course the #4 would read something so obviously simple as a trap and thus a good challenge.


According to the plans there was only a handful of ways to make the way to the armoury’s control room. One would be to use the elevators, stairways or ladders installed into the walls to access the high rise walkway along the ceiling, the other would be the central elevator in the center of the armoury that’d lead right towards the control room.

However, neither sounded as promising.

If the intruder side knew, how unlikely was is it that the defenders didn’t?


«Let’s get going.»

She’d say before she jumped. The shelf right in front of them may have been a bit lower than their current height, but the distance was still a thing. Ignoring the numbers mentioned in the plans, their eyes would quite easily tell them that the distance was about 5 or 6 metres. And still that girl had taken the jump, not with taking a run-up, but by making a single leap.

With a heavy thud, she landed on the walkway installed on the shelf’s side.

Not bearing any trace of the pain this fall should have obviously caused, the girl tilted her head back towards her comrade, speaking up just like she usually would.

«Hurry up, Frenda. Time’s running~»

Mugino was definitely putting a front. No matter how much she tried to hide the fact with sharp retorts and bravado, it was super evident that Mugino was feeling quite unsettled. Still, no matter how much she may have wanted to try and allay the feelings of anxiety her leader/comrade seemed to be harboring, there was nothing she could do.

Even as Mugino continued to walk, disintegrate the obstacles that stood in her way, and progress, Frenda could not help but let the multiple feelings of unease coalesce into a great mass that rumbled the pit of her stomach.

But, there was nothing she could do aside from continuing on behind Mugino, staying ready in case of another round of idiots attempting an ambush.

«What are you waiting for? We need to move.»

“R-right.”

Even as Mugino was pulling up that front, all she could do was make that simple response. Luckily, it had only taken a few minutes to make it to the armory, or at least the ventilation shaft’s exit into the armory. Looking through at the great space that they were about to enter, Frenda stifled the urge to whistle out of amazement at the size and shape. From where she stood, the place almost looked like a great library of armaments and parts.

Even if it was unlikely to have any explosives that she could make use of, it was still quite an impressive facility to behold. This was despite the fact that she had already seen the maps. It was such a shame that it would end up in tatters once they were done with it.

«So that’s the finish line? Looks a bit too easy to miss.»

As Frenda looked up at Mugino, she could see the girl’s regular arrogant grin. Frenda, seeing that Mugino had at least suppressed whatever unease she had, gave off a quick, but warm smile. Mugino was back in form. She was well aware that they were walking straight into an obvious trap. But, she was giving off the grin of her overconfident self. It was definitely not a front.

So, Frenda turned back to face the armory with an equally confident grin. They would be fine. She was sure of that much.

She gave another quick look at all the possible entryways into the control room in the center. She could not help but wonder what type of traps they had in store. However, her contemplations fell flat at the sound of a thud.

«Hurry up, Frenda. Time’s running~»

As she looked down to where Mugino’s voice and the thud came from, she noticed that Mugino had jumped town onto a nearby pathway that was 2-3 meters below the shelf they were on. Even if they were eight meters above the ground of the armory, there were multiple gradations of height they could pass down on in order to not end up having to do the suicidal eight meter jump, much like the process of controlled combustion that cellular respiration was.

Mugino was already eager. Then again, the two were definitely on a time crunch, so Frenda had to be eager as well.

“Understood.” Frenda affirmed before leaping down to next to Mugino, carefully making sure to land on her feet and not fracture her legs from the compression stress caused by impact.

Looking back to the control center, she made a quick suggestion. “Mmm…I want to just straight up blow apart that center, but…” Frenda pouted, annoyed at the caveat. “In the end, I’m not sure whether there will be any issues caused by trying to destroy the center while they try to reboot the vacuums.”

This was either something he was doing on purpose, or that man truly had no active understanding of what would come out of his mouth when he spoke. Mikoto had this dreadful feeling it was the latter, and had to actively restrain from facepalming her reddened face at that realisation.

A massive blush had spread over her face while he said that, and she could barely reply with anything but a broken, stuttering answer. “I-I-Is that so?” In an attempt to protect her (admittedly long-since-shattered) dignity from suffering blows coming from her easy embarrassment, though, she quickly covered it up with a pouting expression and threw the question back at him for a slight subject change.

“But what about you, Mr. “I defeated Academy City's Strongest”? I doubt the higher-ups could cover the rumours that must've been born from that. No one had ever seen Accelerator with a bloodied face before, not even him, so your popularity must've gone quite up?” She spoke in a teasing tone, well-aware that the popularity one would gain from that wasn't the pleasant type of popularity anyone would wish for.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" He replied, refusing to elaborate in an uncharacteristically enigmatic display. It seemed difficult to imagine him fighting off violent Esper attacks, especially given his current condition. All past indications seemed to point towards him being hopeless at fighting. An idiot who always managed to scrape by through sheer dumb luck. Guy reached for the cigarettes in his pocket.

As though sensing her doubt, he shook his head and struck his lighter.

"Well, I'm pretty good at running away, remember?" He laughed to himself. "And failing that, I'm very good at talking my way out of trouble." That seemed almost more remarkable than him fighting, in a way. The kind of people who would be looking for him were not the kind to be reasoned with.

And yet one way or another he was still standing.

It wasn't long before they arrived at the edge of District 2 and the Judgement Training Center was in sight. He stopped, using his fingers to frame the angle of a shot.

"I guess now I just need to find the right place to get a good look. I guess we should check around and see what we can find." He suggested.

«Mmm…I want to just straight up blow apart that center, but…In the end, I’m not sure whether there will be any issues caused by trying to destroy the center while they try to reboot the vacuums.»

«Can you ever think about something besides blowing things up blindly? We still need to sniff out the main control room after all. And chances are best that we can get data on that up there. So behave yourself, yes Frenda~?»

The scold Mugino loved to give, was the kind that’d usually lower others so much, it hurt. And once it hurt she would finish it off with a rather sharp and threatening tone of voice somewhere mixed into the usual playful tone she’d put on. All in all, it was both ironic and terrifying.

Taking the lead of the group, she made the decision to head for the ladders integrated into the storage unit’s side. However, she made the opposite decision to heading upwards — which in itself may have seemed like the more rational decision, considering their goal was up at the ceiling.

With a heavy thud and the heels of her refined boots creaking, she landed after having slid down the iron ladders, the quickest way of descend. At least, even while seeming rather casual in her elegant way of walking, she showed signs of being in a hurry here and there.

At least up until they were back on the ground. From there onwards she wouldn’t allow for speed to ruin what seemed to be a casual stroll through a dimply lit underground maze. The greatest joy to every refined lady’s heart.

The LED lights here and there didn’t do all too well to fend the deep darkness of this already dark place off. Since most of the structures were either black or an extremely dark tone of grey close to black, it all seemed to blend together. Only the smooth concrete floor and occasional shiny metals were willing to reflect the sparse yet at least colourful lights spread all over. Of course she’d use her powers to help herself once again, taking up the company of an orb of green light floating above her palm.

«This sure is a long distance. If we don’t hurry up we might end up missing our deadline. You have an eye on the time, right Frenda?»

Talking casually while walking casually, she didn’t seem all too impressed with their surroundings, even though danger could be lurking around the next corner. As far as she was concerned there was nothing to worry about, though. One of the reasons she had made that decision. Another was the safer footing this choice offered: They wouldn’t have to keep jumping from shelf to shelf or try to find other ways across. Beyond that it was just plain obvious how good a target they would give off if they had decided to keep travelling along the upper levels; being visible to both enemies from above and below surely didn’t sound like it’d make the best scenario — especially if you added the rather likely presence of sniper rifles into the play.

All they were left with now, was worrying about what would expect them ahead, behind, from the sides, or maybe who was eying them from above.

That’s what she had thought, until a strange beep resounded upon her next step.

«Oh. Now that’s bad news. Frenda~? You might wanna check this out. Freeee~nda?»

She could tell that she had stepped on something. Her foot wasn’t touching the slick even ground after all. Whatever it was it rested on felt a bit roundish, hard, robust and neatly shaped. Her first guess would have been that it was some sort of device, also indicated by the beeping sound. Enough impressions for someone with her experience to head for the worst case scenario right away.

A mine.



Not any kind of mind, but one designed by the genius weapons designer Kaizen Satoshi and produced by the famous Iwakura Corporation. That preset alone meant it was not just any ordinary mine, but a highly modern piece of military art.

The KS Fury-104 was actually a construction made up of five units. Four of which were tiny disk shaped explosives which could be placed onto the ground or attached to walls or ceilings, while the fifth was the actual trigger positioned in the centre. Usually the idea was to place the trigger unit somewhere on the ground and surround it by the explosive ones. Once someone would step on them, a short beep would announce its presence and the activation of the force sensor. Would the force weighing down onto it from above lower or disappear in any way, the explosives were triggered, blowing the target away. Equipped with a minimum of an AI control system, the four explosive units would usually adjust the output points of the explosion into the direction of the trigger unit, ensuring the lethalness of the attack.

While many would expect the KS Fury-104’s main purpose to lie in the usage on inexperienced or hotheaded soldiers, who didn’t pay attention to their surroundings as much, the true purpose was to trap careful experts, since the trigger unit did quite well blend in, especially if buried underground or simply hidden by the shadows in a dark place. The moment the target would notice, they would be forced to surrender, unless death was their preference.



She was trapped. It had been as simple as a single misplaced step, but that had been enough to bring Academy City’s #4 down. She had been careful when moving, yet she’d never imagined the most straightforward of methods. Hell, maybe she had considered it, but rendered it impossible, just remembering the fact that anything like that would have been all too visible and obvious with the smooth flooring.

Either way, right now she couldn’t move. A bad thing, because of both the time running down and the enemy’s nature.

With what had happened before, she was sure: That was just their opening play.


District 2.

In comparison to District 7 the atmosphere was entirely different. It felt cold, stricter and much heavier. It was immediately after passing the borders that the surroundings became a lot more restrained and orderly.

Still, with the Judgement Training Centre being in close view, there remained a faint aspect of the familiar warm and laid back touch of the normal school districts like the 7th.

A tranquil silence lingered all around. Unlike a few minutes ago, the presence of students had grown rarer, likely linked to the fact that the facilities present seemed to be of an entirely different kind. What were stores, corner cafes, family restaurants in the other district was watered down to monotone and uninviting building fronts, with the occasional convenience store sticking out somewhere along the road. That was all. Beyond that any building could be classified as some sort of administrative facility like a larger Anti-Skill station, minor laboratory or apartment block. And that was yet just the borderlands. In the distance high rise metal and concrete structures fought their way into the landscape. All in all, very much like a world of adults.

«OH MY GOD! IT’S TOKIWADAI’S RAILGUN!!!»

And yet, that shout broke it all.

Just like the voice announced, the next instance an excited teenage girl came running. Her advance rather clumsy due to the lab coat being too long and oversize in absolutely all areas. She nearly fell over the instance she arrived before them, but somehow managed to catch her balance.

Blue hair tied to fluffy pigtails, thickly framed oval shaped glasses and the body of middle schooler, but a few centimetres below the standard example’s height. Her clothing, except the super oversized lab coat was ordinary, just a blue t-shirt, grey skirt and stockings, covering her legs in an act of insuppressible shyness.

«To think I would ever get the chance to see that person from up close in my life?! I should take notes…no! pictures…no! record this on video! How exciting! How very intriguing!!!!»

Not leaving the other two any chance to retort, the shy-stockings and lab coat girl quickly began rummaging her pockets for her phone or maybe actual video camera?!

«Can you ever think about something besides blowing things up blindly? We still need to sniff out the main control room after all. And chances are best that we can get data on that up there. So behave yourself, yes Frenda~?»

Frenda struggled to hold back tears from Mugino’s razor-sharp scolding. Even if it was normal for Mugino to give scoldings after hearing something she deemed stupid or out of line, she could never get used to it.

But, even so, she bit down her tears and kept on following behind Mugino. Keeping up behind Mugino’s subtle rush, she matched Mugino’s pace until they were finally on the ground and Mugino finally decided to saunter around at her own leisure.

Unfortunately, Frenda, did not feel too comfortable with that. The two of them were walking through a maze of containers and shelves and even if they were able to evade quick visual detection, they were definitely sacrificing a valuable resource that was time.

«This sure is a long distance. If we don’t hurry up we might end up missing our deadline. You have an eye on the time, right Frenda?»

“Mm-hmm.” Frenda nodded.

Despite the cavalier attitude Mugino seemed to be showing towards the impending time limit, Frenda continued to fret over the ever uncontrollably decreasing resource.

Ten minutes. At this point, that was all they had left. They needed to make it through the maze of containers, reach the control room, disarm any possible traps, and shut down access to the vacuum in that small amount of time. In retrospect, the original estimate only gave the illusion of a large amount of time. But, that illusion had long since collapsed in on itself to Frenda, at least.

She could only hope that there were no unforeseen circumstances that would drain—

*beep*

«Oh. Now that’s bad news. Frenda~? You might wanna check this out. Freeee~nda?»

Of course, the fates would never let things be that easy. Even if Frenda was not the type to grow complacent, she was still disappointed when they had already fallen into a trap. Their already dwindling time was about to get drained by an unwanted obstacle.

Frenda got down on her knee and turned the flashlight on the back of her phone on. As the light illuminated what Mugino had stepped on, she recognized it immediately. It was one of the pieces of weaponry that was listed in the database that they were given.

“KS Fury 104.” She muttered. This was quite the find. Any explosives lover would be drooling if they got their hands on one of these. Under normal circumstances, this super advanced type of landmine would have been a wonderful thing to play around with. But, now was not the time for that. Frenda needed to figure out a way to disarm the mine. She quickly stood the phone up on its side using attachments on the case and pulled up the schematics for the weapon while trying to go through various options. “Just stay in place, Mugino.”

Could Mugino jump and block? It was unlikely considering the 360 degree nature of the mines.

Could Frenda damage the explosives themselves? That method would be super unreliable as she would have to find each mine and make sure she damaged them sufficiently. Too much of a time sink.

Damage the detonator itself? The signaling mechanism would immediately detonate the mines the moment the signal was lost now that the detonator and by extension, the explosives, were active.

Wait! I got it! Frenda moved her fingers across a couple of points in the schematic. That should allow us to walk off scot-free and sound-free.

After looking for proper landmarks on the mine’s detonator, she pulled out her metal-cutting tape and spark pen. She marked off rectangular section with the tape and dropped the settings of the pen to a small spark well below default and tapped at the tape. While Frenda used that combination of objects for multiple reasons, it was rare that her end goal with it was its intended use. The spark cut through the metal, creating a nice portion that simply was knocked to the side as Frenda tapped it with her spark pen.

She peered into the convoluted mess of wires now visible under the phone’s flashlight and gave off the deep sigh. The process would be much like a neurosurgery procedure, incredibly precise and with zero room for error, it was definitely possible and could be done quickly as soon as she found the wires she needed to rearrange and cut off.

The plan was to mess with the connections in the wiring so that the processor inside the mine would believe that it was constantly detecting the current pressure it was detecting at this moment, even if Mugino took her foot off. As long as the AI felt there was no decrease in force, the explosives for the mine would not detonate. There were a surprising number of ways to go about this. Fiddling with the operational amplifier connections, removing the processor’s time dependency, or altering the inputs for the wires that would take in the pressure sensor’s signal were all feasible options.

She just decided to go for the simplest. Using the pressure sensor’s original wires as the reference point, she quickly traced along the wiring to find the ones she needed and switched her spark pen to only generate heat so she could quickly cut and re-solder the wires she needed to. In under forty seconds, she switched the positions of the wires and cut off what was necessary. After taking another five to make sure everything was in the right place, Frenda picked up her phone and put the rest of her tools back into her skirt.

She wiped the sweat forming on her brow before looking back to Mugino.

“Basically, the mine won’t detonate anymore. It will keep thinking that you’re on it even if you move off. So, let’s go. We have barely over eight minutes left.”

Unsure of what to say to Guy's evasive answers, Mikoto simply stared at him with a small frown, also visibly displeased by the sight of him casually lighting a cigarette next to her.

“You might be okay with ruining your health like that, but don't you feel the slightest amount of guilt of risking mine as well? Second-hand smoking is a lot more dangerous than actual smoking, you know?” Ever so incidentally, the cigarette would have found itself blowing up depending on the man's answer. Would have. Had a peculiar encounter not occurred to stop her.

«OH MY GOD! IT’S TOKIWADAI’S RAILGUN!!!»

There wasn't even any surprise or shock, just sheer exasperation she tried her best to conceal as she mechanically turned her head towards the source of the outcry; a young girl clad much like the scientists that had displeased her sight as of late. Attracting the attention of scientists certainly wasn't a first for her. Though she seemed to be on the much more childish and casual side than any she'd encountered before even if they were quite odd themselves. 

«To think I would ever get the chance to see that person from up close in my life?! I should take notes…no! pictures…no! record this on video! How exciting! How very intriguing!!!!»

“Eh?!” Mikoto cried out herself and took a step backwards, extending a stopping hand towards the young girl as she sent a look of distress towards Guy. “W-Wait, wait! No recording, or anything! Who are you?!”

The sound of a camera shutter whirring greeted Mikoto's ears. If it was pictures the girl wanted then this one was on the house.

"Now, now. Is that any way to talk to one of your fans?" Guy appeared beside her with a hand on her shoulder and smiled pleasantly towards the labcoat girl. "She's just shy, that's all." He explained in a way that was sure to irritate the Tokiwadai girl. "But I'm curious too. Who are you?" He raised an eyebrow. "You look a little young to be a researcher. Don't tell me they're hiring straight out of middle school these days?" He laughed. "I mean, even if you were a genius or something, that's too much." He waved off the notion as just another foolish thought of his.

Not that it would be the strangest thing he'd witnessed in this city. Maybe she was related to Tsukiyomi?

Dripping tension. Even Mugino Shizuri could feel it get to her, as her comrade had laid down working on the electronics on the mine’s inside. No, she wasn’t worried about Frenda’s success, nor was she worried about the time that was slowly running down. But still, she was worried about the thing she knew was closing in. She’d heard them. She’d heard that sensation from somewhere deep in that hollow darkness.

Steps.

They were coming.

«Basically, the mine won’t detonate anymore. It will keep thinking that you’re on it even if you move off. So, let’s go. We have barely over eight minutes left.»

She didn’t even perceive the words properly, as just that moment something shone in the darkness. It was just a reflection, a trace somewhere in the abyss. That was enough.

With the notion of her regained freedom she made her move just a split second quicker than that finger on the trigger. The storm of death was set free. Beams pouring into the dark alleys, illuminating them and revealing the shadows hidden among the shadows.

The clash didn’t even last a moment. With the powerful surges in play everything else was wiped out, even the sound of the assault rifles’ bursts.

«An attack from up front~?! Who does this scum believe that they are~!?»

Gradually her tone had changed once again. Caught up somewhere in her usual playful mood and the over boiled raging inferno that was her true face, Mugino was in the weirdest of all states. Both arrogantly laid back and raging.

But who could blame her? What the enemies had done was an outright insult to anyone on a battlefield. Trapping them only to dare a frontal attack. How much greater a humiliation could there be? How much lower could a soldier sink?

She’d step forward, quickly, close to charging, while keeping up the fire of her own. She knew they weren’t dead. She knew, these enemies had been prepared. She heard them. Their steps in the dark maze. They were running, stopping, positioning, only to be chased away again by her merciless assault.

«Come, come, come. Why won’t you come? You scared? What happened to your balls? Weren’t you about to play a game just a moment ago~?»

Green light. Taunt. More green light of death. That was how she’d answer their invitation.

Time limit? Frenda? What about those? Right off the bat it had begun again. What originally was just intended to be an act of chasing the opponents away, evolved into a violent chase.



Just like their enemies, there were two of them. One for each of the girls. One for the taller, sexier one and one for the small cute foreigner. Originally their plan had been to lure the pair into a trap using one of the toys at their disposal they had placed across the area, only to then walk up to them from up front and plant a bullet in each of their heads simultaneously. That’s how simple it should have been. Even when dealing with high class elites they had applied that method and it had always worked out. Their faces filled with grievance and humiliation, that was the sight they always got off to. The best sight in the world. Victory, the dark kind, the rotten kind, the worst kind, the best kind.

However, that was only how it should have been.

Right now they both sat covering behind walls, many metres apart from each other, while an endless storm of those all destroying beams was chasing them. Their combat suits of advanced fibre with the latest type of bullet proof wests were entirely useless, the night vision devices covering their faces were pointless and the lightweight heavy caliber high-tech assault rifles were nothing but playthings if compared to the high output attacks of that girl. Even with the grenades and mines they carried at their belts it seemed that none would pose a close to efficient means. Right now all they were was action figures, seeming all badass while not even able to hurt a child unless it tried to swallow them.

They realised. They knew. But in the end, they still were no cowards. That’s what their kind was like. That’s what their group was like.

So they would move.

It didn’t go well up front. Therefore the best solution was the opposite.

With the attacks being so blunt and predictable as they were, the two could easily retreat deeper into the darkness, split up and use the maze’s character to their advantage. Occasionally something would blow up behind them, yet they wouldn’t bother as they would proceed. They would sneak, their guns’ barrels at the ready in order to somehow circle around the intruder’s force only to then strike from behind. Again the same strategy. Again the same idea. Two bullets. Two heads.



«Where~did~you~go~?»

The playful sing-sang amidst the eye of the storm.



It was just about a few steps away.

Guns ready.

Fingers on the trigger.

Assault.


«W-Wait, wait! No recording, or anything! Who are you?!»

«EEEEEEEH!? No photos…?! Bu-bu-but!»

Most certainly the amount of disappointment at being shot down so blatantly was a bit too unnatural, especially if you considered the words actually worked rather well on her, much like a wall blocking any attempt whatsoever off immediately.

But just when that fluffy twin tails researcher had crashed into the invisible wall like a bird into a window, the sound of a camera’s shutter reawakened her spirit, showcasing that the rule she had just discovered was something that hadn’t actually existed.

«She’s just shy, that's all.»

That was all it had taken and in the next instance there was a small camera in that girl’s hands. It was not the kind of professional one that boy held in his hands, nor was it one of the phones that nowadays replaced any need for anything else; it was the classic digital camera that used to do quite well at sales only a few years ago when the phone boom still wasn’t that big a thing. And once that camera appeared, the girl seemed all too eager to shoot picture after picture, from angles that were rather weird if we talked about human matters or tastes. But it wasn’t anything in the sector of beauty and the arts in the first place. It was entirely scientific.

«But I'm curious too. Who are you?»

Every angle, every perspective, from the side, from behind, from above, from below, all of it.

«You look a little young to be a researcher. Don't tell me they're hiring straight out of middle school these days?»

The finger hitting the button more quickly than the output rate of an assault rifle.

«I mean, even if you were a genius or something, that's too much.»

And then suddenly she stopped. All data recorded.

«Oh right. Right. Apologies. I had to complete the data first. Ah, yes, where were we? Top down, depth first? Yes yes.»

Having finally ordered her thoughts the girl quickly spun around on her heel in a cutesy clumsy yet clockwork like manner, taking on a whole lot calmer demeanour, which was both audible and visible.

«I go by the name Satomi Mayuso. And yes, I am a researcher working here in District 2. Currently I am considered the head of a small research group, working in the field of quantum mechanics.»
Not grasping the straws she should have, the girl simply kept speaking facts in a truly factual tone, yet wearing that strangely cheerful smile as she went on, oftentimes casting the camera in her hand’s screen a glance, even when the conversation focussed on that man before her. But that was also part of her nature it seemed. After all, what seemed to have her this upbeat right now was that Level 5’s presence – or rather the data she had just obtained.

And while it was that way, she didn’t even seem to realise how indecent her very own behaviour had been.

She didn’t even wait one second before unleashing hell in the end…

She was not even mad. This kind of absurdly quick action was par for the course for Mugino, though she was more than likely rubbing her itchy trigger finger in this case. Frenda could only be glad that she had finished when she had. With how itchy Mugino’s trigger finger was and how close they were to being sprayed with bullets, the possibilities of what could have happened if she was even slightly slower were, while endless, not very pleasant.

Frenda followed silently as Mugino continued to arrogantly take step after step forward while blasting everything in sight.

But, her Meltdowner party had not ended with scaring away the assailants. Whoever they are had likely escaped before taking any damage, based on Mugino’s angry taunts, meaning…

She’s signaling our location completely. They’re just going to attack from a different angle.

It was far from an ideal situation.

No, that was an understatement. In that storm of flashing lights and metal being torn, they were continuously pointing out where they were at any time. Any moron with a view of the situation could probably predict their movements at this point. It was like walking while waving a vibrant light at a disco ball.

This is bad…

Frenda reached out to try and tap Mugino’s back to try and get her to calm down, but her arm stopped part of the way out and her hand halted, merely a centimeter from Mugino’s back before the gap continued to widen and widen.

Sighing, she let her hand down. There’s no way she’ll listen in this state.

Instead, she readied herself to grab at any of the bombs hidden in her skirt as necessary as she heightened her focus.

Surely enough, she caught sight of human silhouettes in a different direction. Without hesitation, she reached into her skirt and pulled out a plethora of explosives.

Five pyramidal bombs and two portable warheads.

For two flesh and blood bodies, that amount should have been more than enough. The shockwaves and shrapnel would be enough to pin two humans in place while the warheads had explosive payloads that could destroy tanks. Not to mention, the sound of the explosives would be more than enough to tell Mugino where to aim next.

She quickly threw the pyramid bombs towards the shadows and with a second of delay, she activated the propulsion systems of the warheads, causing them to fly, leading to a chain of seven brilliant explosions burning through and lighting up the area.

Already used to more than... "peculiar" body builds within Academy City, Mikoto elected to ignore the girl's curious and overly youthful appearance for her field of work.

“Satomi Mayuso...?” Mikoto slowly repeated, still distraught from the amount of photos that had been taken of her from both parties as she tried to recall if she had ever heard such a name. The name, however, didn't ring any bells so all she could return was a small, cautious and very stuff smile at the girl's peculiar “data” wording.

She thoughtfully looked around her for a brief moment and turned back towards Satomi, unable to contain her sceptical expression. “A researcher in the field of quantum mechanics working in this district, huh... What are you researching?” The tone was perhaps a bit biting, she realised, but it would take quite a lot of work on herself to not talk nastily to researchers for now.

And everyone knew Mikoto was very poor at self-control in the first place. Her curiosity and interest for information was making her openly forget of Guy's presence right next to her.

It was a fair question, he supposed. Something to do with law enforcement would be the obvious guess. But he couldn't think of many applications for Quantum Mechanics in riot control. He'd heard theories that Quantum Computing could be useful for crime prevention, though. But it all sounded like Minority Report style conspiracy theories.

Which made it about normal for Academy City.

"I'd be surprised if she could tell us." He offered. "If it's around these parts it's not your usual research project, right?" The young man raised an eyebrow. "And you're thinking it's something sinister, aren't you?" He plainly voiced Mikoto's thinly veiled suspicion before turning to her with a shrug. After all, being cagey about this sort of thing was pointless.

War. It had been his profession. The thing he was best at. The thing he had chosen to pursue with all his body’s might. He’d been on many battlefields and fought and fought and fought. He’d seen calamities far greater than what any movie could depict. He’d struggled, he’d suffered, he’d sullied himself. In the end he’d become such a calamity as well.

However this was on an entirely different level.

That monster of a girl, no matter how hot and sexy, she was just brutal. He’d fought tanks, attack helicopters and even drones, but never in his life such a thing. Academy City. Espers. He’d expected them to become a challenge, an insane one even, but still nothing compared to the «real world». Yet this. What on earth was this?

He was scared, the finger on the trigger was sweaty, his breath heavy. He and Fred by his side had gotten into position, they were taking aim. He told himself that what they fought may have been a monster. He strongly believed that it was a being so out there, yet nothing impossible to beat. They were proud warriors, strong warriors. Soldiers. Mercenaries. Monsters. Devils far worse than that person. So how would they fall?!

They took aim, fingers tensing up, ready to strike that fiend down. Ready to hammer reality into that insanity’s head.

However, just in a moment’s flash, he noticed the other girl he’d entirely ignored for a moment.

«Aww shit!»

His reflexes beyond the ordinary, his body honed to the absolute limit, his experience giving him the ability to figure out what to do next. He quickly loosened his grasp, taking a dive straight to the back and side at the same time, seeking cover behind the structure they had just circled around. Only a second late, he dropped himself heavily on the ground, feeling the full brunt of the fireworks hitting straight into him. Shockwave, shrapnels, heat, noise. Even if he had just taken the quickest measure to dodge, he felt their brunt get to him.

However, it hadn’t done enough. However, it wasn’t the time to lay down just yet. However, this just meant the beginning of it all.

Immediately after he’d fallen and been hit, he quickly built up all the strength in his arms and legs, forcing his muscles to their limit, forcefully getting on his knees to throw himself forwards even more. Just in time to avoid the sudden burst of green lights ravaging the area behind. The cover, even if it was constructions of steel, was just reduced to mincemeat, annihilated entirely.

«Fucking shit…»

Normally it would have been a breach of the commandments to even raise your voice even once in such a situation. However, he was well aware of that and didn’t care any longer. Panic was enveloping his entire body, nervousness was. For the first time in years he had been afraid. For the first time in so many years he had actually felt the challenge get to him. He was wounded, he knew, he felt it, even in that state of adrenalin rush, but the darkness didn’t allow him to check properly. Besides, there was no time for him to…

He’d have to move forward, retreat, regroup with Fred.

Hold on, Fred. Where was he? Had he been on time or…?



Mugino clicked her tongue in annoyance. Slowly she lowered the hand she’d just lifted at the sight where only destruction was to be seen. The large shelve like structures, the thick and robust concrete floor and a portion of the merchandise had been completely torn apart, now molten and deformed. Besides the explosion had also left a small crater here and there. Within that weak light of glowing deformity a shape could be made out. The body of a human, or whatever was left of it after being wrecked by the explosives and cut apart by her beams.

The body of a single one.

«One down. How many more were there? It’s at least another one, right? So where did you go little piggy~? Did you run away with tail between your legs~? Did you piss your pants finally~? Did you~? Come here little piggy~come~come~»

Just as she was about to slowly step forward into the exact opposite direction of their ever pressing goal line, she suddenly stopped to cast Frenda a glance from the side. It was a glance that spoke more than worse, yet was hardly visible under the weak lights of the flames and melting metal.

«Frenda, it’s obvious they will be ordering reinforcements in now, sooo the best course of action now would be to split up. I’ll keep their forces busy while you take care of the control room. Time is running, right Frenda?»

It was a straightforward announcement none would dare to overturn. Mugino was that type of person. A tyrant ruler. Obsessed with combat and challenge. And this was a promising one in both regards.

Casting no further glances towards her ally, she simply stepped forward, past the traces of destruction, straight into the darkness.

As she did, a new smile formed on her lips.

Humming merrily she signalled her ever growing mood.

May the games begin…



He was resting, leaned against one of those eternally high structures. The adrenaline rush was fading, his body growing heavier. It was far worse than he had expected, but he was still alive. Clinging to the assault rifle in his arms, he was waiting. For the predator that was sure to go after him. For the reinforcements he had just called in from his unit.

Thanatos.

Originally they had been a unit of mercenaries, infamous for their merciless and cruel execution of missions. They had been the kind of group to only be hired by those that had no other means to grasp. Their missions were the kind to make one shudder, both disgusting and inhuman. No ordinary military unit would ever dare to step into their domain. They were monsters, yet not as malicious as those monsters that hired them.

They were gods of death.

Bringers of nothing but dismay.

He smiled as he thought about it.

He laughed as he went through their records.

He was fully convinced that they’d be successful here.

After all, Thanatos was beyond anything and anyone. There was no darker abyss than them.

The underhanded combat group that ignored all rules, conventions and ideals.

The Weapons Testing Unit Thanatos

«The field of my research? To be honest, I am not permitted to talk about it all too much. Company regulations etc. But let me just say that I am working on the field of WMDs.»

She spoke these absurd words all the while switching through the pictures she had taken with her camera, checking each individually with utter thoroughness and a big smile on her face.

«It would be unnatural for Academy City not to pry into this domain. Both building those items just for research purposes and of course acquiring the means to counter their effects are fields that are ever necessary for scientists to explore.»

Her voice stood both joyful and entirely factual. It was a weird combination, but the cute middle school student in the worn out oversize lab coat was that kind of strange image. It was likely that she was the only one not to notice, as he was drooling over her just acquired fan-girl data.

«Not to forget that this is the most important area of quantum physics nowadays. Getting access to a proper laboratory and team of researchers is not the easiest accomplishment, especially at my age. Recognition is hard to gain in this day and age.»

Only then did Satomi Mayuso’s voice lower a bit, her smile losing strength entirely. Her joy was tainted by a truly unpleasant thought…

Though there was a corpse of someone who had been brutalized and maimed by explosives and beams, it was only one corpse. Regardless of how much it was unrecognizable as what could formerly be called a human, there was only one left.

Even if Mugino was going to use whatever enemy they were fighting as a means of venting her frustrations, the method was now at a point where things were far from efficient.

The worst of it was the fact that they would likely send in reinforcements. If even one of them survived, they could gauge the two of them and make a counterattack, or at least attempt one.

The situation was far from ideal as they needed to beat the clock in time and the situation was hardly one in their control.

«Frenda, it’s obvious they will be ordering reinforcements in now, sooo the best course of action now would be to split up. I’ll keep their forces busy while you take care of the control room. Time is running, right Frenda?»

As those words rang through Frenda’s ears, she could not help but grin like a madwoman. It was such an enticing plan, after all. Mugino could cut lose while Frenda secured the checkmate and beat the clock. It was an efficient, yet simple strategy that seduced the greedy explosives lover.

“Understood.”

That was all she needed to say before she ran through the pathway now still from the interception of the first wave. Within a few seconds, she was already gone from the site of the ambush, moving en route to the control room.



As the blonde girl ran off, a lone member of Thanatos, Rick, whispered into his microphone on the headset.

“We only need a small number of people going after the blonde one. Jake. Nancy. Sam. Ben. Go after her.”

Rick stared back at the demon who had been shooting laser beams earlier while the four others split off in the darkness to go after Frenda.

“Now then…”

In his hand, no in the hands of five of the Thanatos forces were five cylindrical containers with pins on them. Anyone in the industry who saw those would know exactly what they were.

Flash grenades.

These objects would disorient the target and rob them of two out of five senses for a short period of time. One could almost worry about how prevalent they were for opening moves, but there was no point in fixing what was not broken. After all, it was rare that anyone could figure out a way to counter them when they were unprepared.

Truly, there was nothing better than the standard.

Without even worrying about communication, the five pulled the pin on the flash grenades while another five held their weaponry ready to fire.

At the sight of flashing, a rain of bullets began to fall.

“...” Only barely remembering his presence here as she'd lost herself in her rather unpleasant impressions of the matter, Mikoto gave Guy a stern look, almost as if wordlessly asking him if she was really so wrong to feel suspicious of this city's research objectives. The taste of the city's nastier aspects only told her that what she was witnessed was merely the tip of an iceberg, after all, and she reckoned the same went for him as well.

Even then, perhaps in a spurt of much-awaited maturity, she didn't voice her concerns too openly, figuring that being too hot-headed from the get-go would work against her as it always did, and so only kept those concerns to that eye contact she broke quickly after to focus on Satomi once again.

“You say that, but what does Academy City need those for, anyway? It's not like Judgement or Anti-Skill actually makes use of lethal weapons to enforce the law, and it's not like the city's at war with anyone, so would hiding away mass-murder items be of any use?”

To be honest, she was somewhat surprised that after all she had found out about this city, they had just started tackling WMDs, but she still asked while trying her best to keep her previously biting tone down. Though nature was hard to quell so she couldn't help a mostly annoyed frown from darkening her expression.