[SS] Lighting the Fuse

“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?”

"What makes you think they're making them for themselves? The city has plenty of allies who would pay good money for cutting edge weaponry." He said, hypothesizing openly about the politics involved in the city's outside dealings. Of course, there was no question that Academy City would keep the most advanced technology for itself. At best their 'allies' might see obsolete versions while the city hoarded its newer developments like animals preparing for winter. And they could forget anything about Esper research. That was Academy City's 'ace in the hole'.

Guy recalled an old fable about a cat and a tiger. Some secrets must be jealously guarded to maintain the 'proper' order of things. But if they truly were hoarding their research for 'winter', it begged the question; just what threat were they preparing against? He kept this thought to himself. He didn't need to add any more fuel to Mikoto's paranoia.

The truth was the city already had plenty of Weapons of Mass Destruction. They just happened to look like teenagers and children. And with the right training they'd only need to be pointed in the right direction...

Yes. At Guy's last rough estimate, the city already had around 2.3 million WMDs just waiting for the order to fire.

Weapons Testing Unit No. 61: Thanatos.

Alias: Classified.

Members: Classified.

Data Backlog: Classified.

General Information: A unit recruited by us a year ago. Originally they were a mercenary unit, however under request of Kaizen Satoshi they were hired to become full-time employees, assuming the role of a weapons testing unit. As such they are to explore the limits and usefulness of our newest prototypes. Their specialty is the usage of single person weaponry, namely rifles, grenades and various other assistance tools. We even provided powered suits and various other vehicles to them, however their true focus is still on appliances for field soldiers.

Personality Assessment: Thanatos are an impossible to predict unit. Looking at the tendencies we have gathered throughout their test-phase, we discovered a strong affection towards violence, brutality and rogue actions. They might not follow orders or even begin to rebel against the corporation in case a better offer might is made. Their entire structure appears unstable, is there hardly any reason to be found in any aspect of their actions. Since all reports on their past are classified, it is not possible for me to further elaborate on their background. However I do consider them a threat, not only for our internal security, but also for our public image, are their methods way too gruesome for us to accept.

Capability Estimate: They stand at the top of the world’s military ranking, making it into the top 100 of all mercenary units world wide. Their average member has fighting capabilities on the level of an elite soldier, as confirmed by our tests. Their forte are stealth attacks, urban warfare and usage of tertiary tools like explosives, drones etc. They oftentimes use the surroundings and their own numbers to gain advantages over other units. It has been shown in previous missions that they have a tendency of swarming around single targets before moving onto the next. Granting them access to advanced technology has increased their efficiency by 100%. If further adjustments are made, considering their current tendency, it might rise to 1000% over the course of the next few years.

Final notice: The idea of hiring Thanatos is still questionable, considering their personality. We can’t possibly predict their future behaviour, is there no indicator of loyalty. Adding their current skill-level and its future development into the equation, I arrive at the conclusion that the Iwakura Corporation should sever its ties to the group over the course of this year. Anything else is unaffordable.


A rain of metal canisters, blinding light and deafening pitch. Not from a single direction but from everywhere around, not in unison but with short intervals in between. It was devious, gruesome, sadistic and plainly unfair.

In average combat scenarios maybe one or two of those items came to use. But here a single girl was truly showered by flash bangs, followed up by a raging storm of bullets from all sides.

It was lethal, entirely.

In any ordinary scenario the enemy unit would have fallen immediately, not even being given a chance to resist, no matter their size, no matter their ability, no matter their assets.

«Fucking cowards!!»

Mugino Shizuri hadn’t expected an offence of that level. A single flash bang was the usual trade, two the safe method and that number utter overkill. She’d closed her eyes and leapt aside on the sound of the first impact, but as the number increased as well as the angles covered, she’d been hit by the full brunt. Blinded, deafened, stunned and wide open.

It could have very well been the end.

Clicking her tongue she made her comeback nearly immediately, swinging around her body she took aim nearly immediately, launching her next attack. But to where? Neither could she see, nor hear, entirely disoriented. Nothing was certain, nowhere was correct. Where were the enemies? Where was anything? All was white. All was gone. Her perception entirely. Or was there something she knew about?

Below.

Sinking to her knees quickly, she’d immediately invoke her ability, creating a mass of green light underneath her feet, eating directly into the ground. Not melting it, but erasing it entirely. Quickly anything in her path was erased, digging a hole deep into what was below, just the moment the barrage was unleashed.

Concrete? Metal? Steel? Whatever there was in its path it wouldn’t last for even a second. Centimetres, metres and then just air. Just as she’d predicted.

Immediately cancelling out the continuous effect of her Meltdowner, she braced for the rough landing on iron floor. Her heels creaked, one broke off entirely. She clicked her tongue, as she flung it away reflexively. Breaking off the other side’s to regain balance.

Still unable to see or hear, she simply guessed the fall had been about three to four metres. Looking at how thick the floor must have been, the ceiling may have been right above her head, maybe 30 to 40 centimetres away, furthering the deduction she’d made a moment before. Another maintenance shaft? Most likely to handle the electronics and machinery of the armoury’s shelves.

The area was a long narrow tunnel, splitting at the exact same places where the intersections above occurred. There was no light. All darkness. Likely there were all kinds of cables and pipes embedded into the walls, but it was nearly impossible to make anything out in that darkness. Not that she could in her current state.

The after effects still weighing on her heavily, she’d simply pick the best option: to trudge forward supporting herself with the closeness of a wall. Hurrying to avoid both the slow paced waterfalls of molten material and possible follow up grenade strikes.

«…shit. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. You think I’d just leave it at that…? Just you wait…»

Indeed, she wasn’t retreating. Grinding her teeth, she’d move onwards, buying herself enough time to recover, changing her path at every second intersection, attempting to shake off likely pursuit. Those enemies weren’t amateurs, that she knew. They were experts, filled with experience and rich of guts. They’d likely come after her, no matter what. Not because they thought her to be powerful, but simply for they were the kind of bastards to confirm their victims’ deaths with their own eyes, even after hammering an RPG straight into their mouth.

But that was fine. That’s how it should have been to begin with. After all, anything else wouldn’t be satisfying. Not any more.

Mugino Shizuri’s sinister smile intensified, raging in bloodlust.

It was just like back then, wasn’t it?


The hall was gigantic. It was the size of many football fields, building up a gigantic complex. A complex both empty and dark. With hardly anything but shelflike structures spread all over it was a labyrinth in the most basic of all shapes. Looking down at it from above there was truly no other impression given off by it.

A labyrinth for rats to run through.

Rats perceived by an eye from above.

A single eye to overview the entirety of the complex obstacle course.

A single eye to perceive everything there was, every movement, every change, everything in all kinds of perspectives. Infrared, thermal, electrostatic and plenty of other visions. Nothing could escape, nothing remained hidden, all was seen.

That blonde girl running for the goal line was no exception. That eye had turned on her as it floated across the space above the shelves.

It wasn’t human, but there might have very well been someone to control it, someone close or maybe far away.

Everything was perceived. Everything was noticed. Everything was there. Right there.

A clicking sound, too far away to be heard.

Then a shot.

A single one, powerful, aimed in a straight line to intercept the predicted route.

Then another one.

And another.

Two seconds between each of them. Taking aim, firing, reloading, taking aim again. The machine wouldn’t cease its function, continuing on mercilessly.

KS Damocles-22
A remote controlled arial combat device, namely a drone. Equipped with about 10 different rotors, both small and large it holds advanced three dimensional movement capabilities. While its armour isn’t the thickest, the focus is on the device in the centre. A semi automatic high precision sniper rifle capable of easily piercing even armours over a distance of about two kilometres. To assist the one controlling the drone via a remote internal systems have been installed to balance out the flight, working against both the recoil and obstructions that might arise due to movement. Furthermore the integrated AI is also capable of providing targeting assistance, lowering the margin of error to a minuscule value. However due to the designer’s choice the AI’s sole function is to assist humans, not to take over their work. Therefore it is an utmost requirement for someone to control the drone using the control kit.

«Indeed. WMDs still dominate the popularity rankings in the arms industry. Not only allied institutions, but also other countries are rather interested in the products manufactured in Academy City. Be it household goods, cars, computers or weapons, especially those actually. Powered Suits and guns can gain us a lot, but WMDs are both expensive and quite easy to sell. Plus we can avoid any troubles occurring from that, since we are only selling outdated models to which we do own all blueprints and therefore know fully well how to counter them.»

The girl was smiling as she explained the ugly truth in a way that made it seem entirely casual, yet still factual.

«Besides harbouring such destructive force keeps problematic individuals away as well. Which nation would dare to mess with a place that could easily annihilate them with technology beyond any of their imagination?»

That was the logical conclusion she arrived at in the end. Academy City was on par with other world powers, that hadn’t been a secret, however the reasons may have been, no matter how obvious they have actually been. The world was a simple place at the end of the day. Maybe not entirely as simple as she made it out to be, but what did it matter to waste time elaborating and delving even deeper. This wasn’t a thesis paper presentation after all.

Not to forget that things had come astray quite a bit. Looking at the two of them and the serious mood they had ended up getting swallowed up by, Satomi came to another conclusion.

«It occurs to me that I may have been holding the two of you up for too long a while. I thank you for the pictures I have been enabled to obtain, therefore I do owe you for both, the pictures and the time I stole. Therefore h-h-h-ho—what does someone say in this situation…again…?»

Suddenly her all too fluent, casual yet factual tone was disrupted by heavy stuttering, as her head began to emit smoke from the ears. She seemed to be at loss for words entirely. She paused, fell silent and began something that could only be described as the sight of intense thinking.

«Ah I got it! Correction: How about I invite the two of you to a cup of co—…—???—!!!—la?»

Wrong word.

Splitting up was far from a reason for Frenda to ever let her guard drop. Even if Mugino was taking on the horde of mercenaries, there was no reason for Frenda to simply assume that things would go easily for her.

“She’ll be fine on her own.”

For Frenda, that was an absolute statement. Regardless of the firepower of the enemy, those flesh and blood fools who dared to anger and confront the Number 4 would eventually fall to her as unrecognizable hunks of meat. That was the absolute, hard reality of the situation no matter how much those mercenaries tried to resist.

In the end, I have bigger problems to deal with.

Right now, she was the chess piece dashing straight towards checkmate. She may not have been the all-destroying Queen like Mugino, but underestimating a Knight or Bishop’s presence was definitely something only a fool would do.

At this point, there were a few options that the enemies could take to eliminate the potential threat she was. The first was have a group splinter off the Mugino assault group to go after her. While unlikely, it was something to keep attention on.

The second was something that Frenda remembered from the initial data she and Mugino was given.

Damocles, was it…?

Given the size of the place, it was plausible that something like a drone would be flying around under the cover of darkness waiting for the opportune moment to snipe. She would not know she was being sniped at until it was already too late. She could not simply toss bombs around and hope that she knocked it out of the sky.

But, there was one key flaw that she could mess with.

The Damocles was human-operated. In other words, someone would be taking the enviable position of sitting from a comfortable position and shooting remotely. Communications would be continuously flowing between the operator and the Damocles.

Frenda picked up five small devices—jamming cores. When activated, they would output a jamming signal that interfered with the lag of all communications within fifteen meters. The lag would be randomly altered to range from the near zero of regular real time communications to an unbearable five seconds. Even with the targeting assistance…No, especially thanks to the targeting assistance AI, it would never hit.

She activated one and slammed it against a nearby shelf before continuing to run. Eventually, she came to 40 meters from the previous one and activated the next one.

Sure enough, the sound of the first shot rang out and missed spectacularly. The second shot came closer. The third was a bit more distant. There were only two seconds between each shot but by this point, the operator would have likely realized that their shots were all missing.

Following the sound of the rifle fire, she aimed one of her cute-faced warheads at the sound and fired away while continuing to beeline it to the site of checkmate.



The group that had remained to focus their assault on the Number 4 only needed to give a quick look at the results to know that she had found an escape to their onslaught. She was not dead. In fact, she was likely unscathed and making her way through the piping to circle around, recover from the stun grenades’ effects, and then ambush them.

“She will run into them soon.”

The one going by the moniker, Rick, pulled out a smartphone from one of his pockets and opened an app simply entitled ARGOS, with an icon that seemed reminiscent of multiple eyes.

Connecting to Argos Core…

Connection established.

As soon as that line was displayed, it disappeared, leaving a map of the maintenance shaft the Number 4 had escaped into along with numerous green dots, with a few dots turning red in sequence.

Ks-Argos-Infinity
The watchful sensors that infallibly detect the presence of life. By, taking into account various measurements such as heat mapping, the Argos sensors can calculate out whether or not there was a human presence within a range that can be set by the user. Each of these sensors are too small for any human and even most trained professionals with night vision to notice under darker conditions. Originally, the design concept for the unit involved the use of night vision cameras, but the idea was scrapped due to difficulty in creating cameras that could be hidden combined with the server overload  and a need for constant oversight that such a device would invariably create. The current methodology is far easier on the servers, stays hidden better in the cover of darkness, and allows for much more leeway, including the integration into other technology and programmed activations.


Under the gaze of the eyes of Argos, the Number 4 would continue to run and no matter where she went, the gaze of Argos would continue to fall onto her until she hit one of the many traps that lay on every conceivable path.

“She’s heading to point C-15. Exit 6C is next to that point.”

At Rick’s words, the ambush group followed over to the 6C which lay just beyond the indicated point and hid, while surrounding that entrance, a trapdoor.

If she got past what was another set of KS Fury 104s laying 20 meters from exit 6C, Rick’s group would simply toss the shrapnel and normal grenades the moment the door was opened…or melted down. All they had to do was wait.

(I have the ominous feeling that all this wouldn't be needed if every country wasn't actively hiding behind the convenient “just in case” excuse, though...)

Despite the two's vague attempts at reassurance, Mikoto's scepticism barely left her and though she was confused and slightly surprised at how easily “understanding” Guy was, what only came was the sense that arguing further would be meaningless so she only let a little unnoticeable sigh escape her.

Not to mention it was still entirely possible she was still being on edge and fully paranoid, actively needing to work on that before it'd impact her relationship with others. Suddenly worrying about that specific part, Mikoto slightly bit her lip and looked up in surprise at the shorter girl upon her peculiar suggestion.

“Well...” Finding herself somewhat bemused by the social awkwardness that seemed to accompany every researcher she'd ever met, she glanced at Guy quickly as if to ask his thoughts. “We've been walking for a while, so I guess it's fine? Or do you plan on running off again or something?”

«It occurs to me that I may have been holding the two of you up for too long a while. I thank you for the pictures I have been enabled to obtain, therefore I do owe you for both, the pictures and the time I stole. Therefore h-h-h-ho—what does someone say in this situation…again…? Ah I got it! Correction: How about I invite the two of you to a cup of co—…—???—!!!—la?»

"Huh?" Guy leaned closer to the young researcher, tilting his head when she stuttered out her words. "Did we break her or something?" He cast a confused glance to Mikoto and shrugged. Normally girls waited until he'd made a pass at them before reacting this way. He'd not even had a chance to flirt, much less say anything worthy of a 'blue screen of death'.

"Well... We've been walking for a while, so I guess it's fine? Or do you plan on running off again or something?”

He snapped his fingers in front of the stuttering and awkward girl like he was testing the reflex response of an unconscious body. He moved his finger back and forth in front of her eye to see if they followed the movement. "Sure." He stood back up to his full height. "I mean, even if I ran it's not like I could get very far in my condition anyway. And I need my dependable bodyguard to protect me if I run into trouble." He played up the act of the 'poor, injured innocent' a little by flapping his cast-bound arm up and down.

Of course, he was exaggerating, and he wasn't just being polite either. If he was lucky, perhaps their new friend would lead them to something interesting. As blase as he was about this assignment, he really could use that money...

"Where do you suggest? I'm guessing your lab's out of the question if you're involved in ~secret research~." He waved his fingers to add a mock 'spookiness' to his words. "And forgive me if I'm wrong, but this district isn't exactly thriving with cafes and restaurants." He gestured at their surroundings.

Bit by bit Mugino’s capacities and awareness recovered. Still forced to lean on the wall for support she at least found herself able to freely produce an orb of green light as she proceeded. The tunnel network was large, vast and yet at the same time predictably ordered. Maintenance shafts had to serve their point of making each necessary location reachable after all.

Against her primary expectations, however, nothing actually did occur. No encounter, no ambush, nothing so far. As it seemed she’d reach the exit from this uncomfortable confinement in no time. Yes, in no time. That was ideal…or wasn’t it?

Suddenly something occurred to her, leading her to halt.

It had been just like back then. She’d been in that confined area, at heavy disadvantage and threatened by a simple man from close by. It had been annoying, infuriating even.

The faces of those self-serving bastards, those pricks, that despicable scum, they flashed through her mind yet again. She remembered all of it and as she did, she felt the urge to grit her teach, shout and shatter something. She was furious, entirely. At them from back then and them from right now. How would they dare to.

But that wasn’t the point right now.

What would those from back then do right here and right now? Would they come charging in on her after all they had seen or would they lay a sure kill trap knowing where she would move? Estimating her position and the most likely paths to take was easy for anyone specialised, especially if you had access to the blue prints. Even if they couldn’t pinpoint an exact one, their numbers were sufficient to cover a large majority. Ideal, wasn’t it?

She clicked her tongue, then grinned.

They could only suspect, but what they had she also head. Quickly she’d bring forth her own phone from her pocket, operate the interface a bit and then open the same files Frenda had before. She’d quickly skim through the many useless ones, until she found what she’d been looking for: The layout of that shaft system. Spinning the map around a bit, analysing everything and ordering her thoughts she’d remain there for only a moment longer, then lift her hand casually.

Meltdowner had never been an ability for close combat purposes, hell even midrange didn’t suit her entirely. Where Mugino’s strength lay was all alone long distance artillery. It just needed Takitsubo to direct her to the targets’ location and the rest would be dealt with in a single shot. But with her not here she’d have to compensate that lack with calculations and predictions of her own. Not entirely foolproof, but it was always bad to underestimate her combat skills.

«Now then, die already, will you?»

A single beam piercing through it all in mere moments. No matter how thick the layers, no matter how far the distance, it would follow the path directed by her hand perfectly, straight for the exit she had still to travel plenty of metres for. 20 metres, 100 metres, even a kilometre, where was the problem? Just an instantaneous strike to cross all of that. Just one to bring ruin over anyone anywhere. And to make matters even worse for those fools daring enough to oppose her, she’d hold up the beam for just a little longer to mindlessly slice the area all around until she was sure there was no possibility of survivors; then just for fun she’d fire a few more.


The fireworks illuminated the dark hollow space from above. It was a sign of their defeat. A heavy blow in all manners there could possibly be.

The mercenary referred to as Ben gulped as he watched it from his high up position on one of the large shelves. He immediately kicked the equipment before him away, discarding the idea of having further use for it, now that the core device had been destroyed.

It had gone quickly, way too quickly. At first something had interfered with the connection, triggered a delay and thus three misfires, then immediately after the counter attack in form of a rocket had come, perfectly aimed even. It had been too perfect, it had happened way too quickly.

«That little bitch…»

Quickly altering his plan, he’d descend the large structure again, all the while switching his communicator to the right channel yet again.

«That was unnatural. No matter what the fucking fuck you tell me, I won’t believe this is just jolly good luck. They’re likely having access to the files or somethin’. How they came until down here, how they dealt with Fury and now Damocles. You know what that means, right?»

«Yesssss. We gotta do what we do bessssst.»

A rough female voice answered.

«You got it. Let’s show ’em what Thanatos is really made of! Discard the equipment, just get the best stuff. No fluff. Raw and nasty.»

Speaking his orders, his feet hit ground and he’d immediately hurry to a sports bag he’d deposited in the shadows. It was filled to the brim with tools, guns and explosives. However the most he didn’t even bother to look at. All he took was a single rifle, a few hand-fit metal cylinders and a small PDA like device, the rest was left behind as he hurried onwards.

KS Paris-003
The star among Kaizen Satoshi’s works. While it might have the looks of an assault rifle, the lengthened scope and barrel make it reminiscent of a sniper rifle. In actuality that impression isn’t too off the mark, is the KS Paris-003 indeed a sniper rifle. Lightweight, compact and equipped with one of the best digital scopes on the market it is the ideal tool for any sniper in any situation, be it the typical assassination scenario or a heated battlefield where quick movement and reaction time are mandatory for survival. Due to specifically built recoil dampeners it is possible to fire from all positions even while in movement and quickly in succession. The rifle still remains semi automatic, yet has a magazine size of 22 rounds, usually permitting constant pressure, all the while still having the accuracy and power of the feared classic. All in all the realised version of the fantasy rifle seen in many games.

Their goal as simple. The girl would no longer be stoppable, so it wasn’t necessary to hold her down anymore. She’d reach her goal in no time, thus they’d simply have to expect her there. Nancy, Sam and Jake had also grabbed their best guns, circled around elsewhere and sought positions for themselves.

All was drawn to a single point. At the centre of it all a high rise structure rested, a tower, or rather an elevator shaft, fortified, yet thin and simple. From the looks of it about 25 people or maybe some heavy equipment like powered suits could be fit in there. In front of the closed doors stood a terminal with key card slid that’d likely be the only way gain access. That was all there was. Besides the elevator there remained nothing. In a perimeter of about 10 metres the area was entirely empty, devoid of anything, be it humans, boxes, structures or machines, just open field.

Of course they were also there, somewhere. Nancy and Sam had taken cover in the corridors, behind a box and a small vehicle that’d allow traversing the giant complex quickly; Jake was resting on top of one of the shelves. They all held their assault rifles at the ready while waiting. A single trace of the girl and the battle would begin. They would pour the bullets down like a thunder storm, from all possible angles, not leaving anything uncovered. Of course while they would, Ben would pick the ideal path to begin his quick long distance sniping assault exploiting all that confusion in order to become the one and only true threat.

Thus the game was set. The final battle of the armoury would commence.

As if really awakened by the finger snapping and vision tests, the girl’s awkwardness fell apart entirely, having finally overcome the invisible hurdle of not knowing the processes of regular life. It seemed in the end everything had worked out for her, somewhat, somehow. She smiled at the two of them, before spacing out yet again.

But for just a little moment.

«Oh right right. Where was I? Cola. Where to.»

Ignoring the rest of the conversation between the two, as well as that boy’s rather impolite gestures entirely she immediately jumped to the next topic, taking up on his next words.

«Indeed, the lab would be a rather bad idea…But you are in the wrong in your assumptions over this district. In fact it does offer quite a variety of establishments for its visitors. They would be letting a good target audience slip their fingers if they’d simply leave it un-tackled. I’ll show you. Come follow me.»

Spoken nearly entirely factual only a slight hint of oddity had snuck itself into the words she had spoken, or rather the way she had let her emotions speak. For just a short sequence her upbeat yet factual tone had been disrupted by something that may have actually been worry. Yet while it may have been that, she’d skilfully swept it away by keeping the rest entirely the same.

Before any further words could fall, blue haired fluffy pigtails lab coat girl Satomi Mayuso had already taken the lead, charging forward like an undersized conquerer about to run over the next neighbouring country.

…

«Annnnd here we are. Our destination. NuTrend.»

Flinging her arms around awkwardly like a presenter at a variety show her overly long sleeves swayed here and there. What she was trying to showcase spectacularly, though, was only just like any other place in the district. Grey, unremarkable and hardly even noticeable to outside eyes. Basically it was a plain establishment with large windows that allowed a first peek to the cramped insides. A few colourless benches, a counter with a fridge right behind it, a waitress in a grey blouse and skirt, just the usual cafe only way plainer than anywhere else in the city.

That was NuTrend, one of the many hidden cafes and restaurants to be found in District 2. The audience weren’t flashy people: mostly Judgement and Anti-Skill members as well as the occasional scientist and technician, not some overly self important high school clique. Targeting especially Anti-Skill and Judgement, due to their training facilities’ closeness, the key point of the entire merchandise was healthiness and richness of nutrients. Be it smoothies born from strict scientific research, special prototype energy bars or the military brand nutrition pills, NuTrend’s entire palette was rather Academy City like.

If Rick had to describe the end result of the ambush plan, it would have to be one single word: “disaster”.

It all happened far too quickly for the group to react and take no damage and minimal damage was still catastrophic. If there was one regret that Rick could say he held, it was the fact that he had neglected to properly assess and take into account his enemy.

She had broken through the floor into a maintenance shaft, after all. There was no reason to not have predicted that she could have blasted and pierced through the walls.

Yet, he failed to do so. That was the undeniable reality that was playing out before him. All he could do now was stand and watch as the remainder of the unit that was not killed by the swinging beam so far was vaporized.

“No.”

Grabbing his smartphone, he pulled up the ARGOS support app once again and connected to the mines that were set as the trap in front of the entrance.

“I’m ending it here.”

Regardless of what the others did right now, Rick would take that last step and finish his great last ditch effort to snuff out the invader.

He pressed a single button and with that, a blazing inferno enveloped the entirety of the maintenance shaft. The mines that he had detonated were connected directly to a flammable gas line that lay underneath the maintenance shaft. The result was fairly obvious.

She would be swallowed up by the erupting hellfire.

---

As she traversed through the armory, Frenda began to see the tall structure that stood out from the rest of its surroundings—the control room, or at least the tower on which the control room was atop.

As she continued to press forward, there was an eerie silence. All she could see after she had shot down that drone was the sound of her feet hitting the ground as she made her way to the key point.

As soon as the path between her and the open area that surrounded the control tower became a line, she ground to halt and glanced at the time before staring back at the space that was now 30 meters away.

Uwaaaaaah...it’s like they’re not even trying to hide the fact that they’re going to ambush me. But what’s it going to be…? CQC? Sniping? Bombardment?

There were multiple options. But, the worst possible option was definitely…

Sniping…

If they were sniping, then it was fairly obvious that waiting at the elevator or even moving into that space would be a moment of sudden death. She would be left completely exposed.

She reached into her magical skirt to grope around at the various tools that were kept in that magical, forbidden space.

She just had one simple plan. She just needed to obscure herself. Press the elevator button and keep herself obscured until the elevator door opened.

Five warheads and eight smoke bombs.

That would definitely be enough.

Without hesitation, she set the course on the warheads before quickly firing and then ran straight through the corridor until she was ten meters away before activating and tossing the smoke bombs. Under the cover of the explosions and smoke, she covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and ran straight to the elevator to press that button and get under cover.

Though she wanted to believe she wasn't a person as prompt to judging at first glance as many others, the terrible truth she was forced to admit currently was that she was indeed such an individual.

By itself, the building had nothing specifically sketchy or suspicious about it, but its blandness in comparison to this city of cutting-edge technology and often similar to peculiar Akihabara cafés couldn't make her feel anything but awkwardness and even a bit of terror about it. It seemed like the kind of building she could be brought to, only to get involved in yet another headache-inducing situation like the typical problem-seeker she was.

Luckily for the boy standing besides her, he hadn't been the one who had brought her here.

Otherwise his fate would have been much more terrible than anything he could ever imagine.

In the meanwhile, he was simply given a confused and perplexed side-glance by a Mikoto trying her best to restrain her apparent terror of what would happen to the rest of her day lest she set a foot in there. “Um... Is this the place...?” She asked hesitantly to the young researcher that had led them here, bearing no clue of whether she should take any initiative or if there was any to be taken in the first place.

Guy looked about at the interior of the plain and sterile room. It might have offered all the services of a regular cafe but there was no denying it, this place lacked any sort of charm. There was nothing worth photographing, certainly nothing that would fit in a tourist brochure. It was a place so devoid of character that it might even dissuade visitors rather than entice them. He could only imagine the kind of caption that might accompany such an image.

Come. Enjoy our featureless and depressing food and beverage serving stations. Guaranteed to adequately meet your nutritional requirements.

The words that came from his mouth told a different story, however. It would be rude to turn his nose up at this place without at least giving it a try. And he didn't want to offend their adorable new tour guide.

"This place is pretty cool." He took a closer look at the wares offered behind the counter. There were a few rather suspicious sounding flavours and what remained gave the impression that they might somehow be worse. "Can you recommend anything?" He asked, almost impressed by the effort it must have taken to seem so bland.

A heavy shock erupted through the entire facility. The ground tore at places and some of the gigantic structures simply sunk into the now ripped open marble concrete. It spread far and it all happened instantaneously. The amount of destruction was in no way possible express in simple words or numbers.

That had been the full extent of Thanatos’ wrath.

The full extent of their blinding despair.

But would that be the end for a certain girl that was an avatar of destruction herself?

Who knew…


Ben couldn’t even focus on what had happened as he hurried to reach his new position. Everything had gone up in flames, but that was nothing to concern himself with. His comrades or whatever they were fighting? Who gave a fuck. Looking at how far it had gone, he felt as if whoever their enemy was, it didn’t matter anymore. Nobody would get away from that.

Besides he had an enemy of his own to take care of. An enemy that had just tipped them off as much as the other.

The moment he’d arrive at clear sight to the target location, was perfectly aligned with the big surprise fireworks. An orchestra of heavy explosives and smoke screens to envelope the big area. A tactic both simple and highly effective to cut their eyes off for the time being. Of course she’d gun for something of that kind. It was one on four after all.

He didn’t hesitate.

The KS-Paris was in his hands immediately, his finger on the trigger and his eyes taking aim. Three presses. Three shots. All lethal, all perfectly aimed, then he quickly danced to the sidelines disappearing behind cover again.

The first would blindly cross the area where he assumed the elevator’s control panel to be, the second was right on the door at the height of a middle schooler’s stomach and the last one hit the ground just below.

He didn’t see anything. He didn’t know anything. He knew it was the same for his other comrades lying in wait. There was no possible way to perfectly predict that girl’s route. However while there wasn’t a sure kill method, they could still take guesses.

What was she after? What was her goal? How would she grasp it? What would be the best time to?

The elevator control panel. Get into the control room. Use the obstructions she’d caused to gain a timely advantage. Right now.

What was the best counter?

Large scale pressure.

Their rifles cried out. From three directions the heavy gunfire would envelope that small area in front of the elevator’s doors. It was neither aimed well nor in any way predictable. They just tried to cover as much space as possible, creating a zone of absolute death with no blind spots.

It didn’t matter how long it would last in the end. They just had to wait out for the air to clear up. Until then they would pour everything. Fire until the ammo ran dry, throw in explosive grenades, flash-bangs, incendiaries, acoustic bombs, reload, resume fire.

The inside was even plainer than the outside. There was air conditioning, but the temperature they’d encounter was neither as chilling as a refrigerator nor meltingly hot like a sauna; if at all it was entirely average. To top it all there was no nice and welcoming smell being pumped in through the vents but something hospital like: the all too sterile scent of disinfectants that had spread everywhere.

But that was fine in Satomi Mayuso’s eyes, had she already become somewhat like a regular at this place.

Absorbing the enthusiasm of the man while fully blind to the rather perplexed reaction of the Railgun, she’d keep holding the lead of the charge.

«Can you recommend anything?»

The question she had predicted to arrive eventually.

«But of course! Recommendations are a mandatory operation for one who is the expert for the area, therefore it would be rather rude for me not to give any. Taking into consideration the fact that we have come here to consume an already specified beverage there is only one approvable suggestion.»

Again her overly cheerful but factual tone filled with the typical awkwardness of that girl that was stuck between being a scientist and a somewhat cute teenage girl.

«MCCF-NX19-Cola. Unlike most brands of Cola this one truly stands at the pinnacle of science. They spent 16 months attempting to produce the ultimate beverage that’d not only have a sweet taste, but also all kinds of healthy nutrients that aren’t just among the average choice of vitamins. A single can is said to contain a day’s worth dose of Magnesium, Choline, Calcium and Fiber. Naturally the taste is even superior to the world wide known brands, at least to me. I guess according to a rather not well respected health care magazine the MCCF-NX19-Cola is heavily addicting; however that is just some false rumour. Even if it was reality, it is proven to be extremely healthy so why should growing addicted be a malus to begin with?»

Having wrapped up her recommendation turned drawn out presentation of the item, she finally decided to get in line. Yes, in line. Even if the place as plain as it is might not catch that big a crowd there was indeed a customer occupying the counter that very moment…

Furuhashi Gou was currently playing a lethal game of choice.

The grey haired delinquent like student in the typical white short sleeved shirt with black pants uniform was currently standing in front of the counter of a place called NuTrend. It had been rather close to the training facility he had attended as a Judgement member — yes even though he looked like some stone faced thug the green band he wore on his sleeve made him out as a disciplinary committee member — so he had dropped by.

It was his first time at the place, since usually he would just go along with his own rations he’d usually carry around in a coolant bag.

However since someone had told him that carrying around such a thing wouldn’t impress girls, especially not a certain girl, he’d settled on changing up a bit. Namely instead of going with the usual not so popular approach he’d headed for a popular hotspot like someone who lived the amazing life of an amazing teenager in their amazing prime. Amazing.

«So you can guarantee that the GCKBE-NX18-EnergyBomb tastes quite similar to GreenerƔ? I am rather fond of the latter, so it’d be bad if there was a difference. I mean, for a gourmet there can be nothing worse than a product failing their expectation or taste. You can relate, right?»

His glance was serious, his entire get-up tense. When he looked the clerk in the eyes he was pinning her down like a detective a fugitive criminal caught in the act. Furuhashi was no fool after all. This matter was serious. Way more serious than just buying a sandwich or a convenience store bento. It was about faith, belief, religion, a life’s worth of dedication.

«Uuuh…»

And it seemed the pressure he’d been placing on the poor woman in her bald grey get-up was truly cornering her, did her usual cold demeanour crack here and there for her to break a sweat.

As Frenda’s hand slammed onto the button, the sound of metal colliding against metal resounded within that smoky terrain. Only a few centimeters right from where her hand had hit.

Sniper fire. She had been lucky enough that the smokescreen was covering her and that the shockwaves and heat from the explosives caused erratic airflow.

Without a moment to spare, she sidestepped, letting the two next bullets burrow into just barely right of where she was. Whoever the sniper was, they were likely keeping perfect view of the front of the elevator and estimating her vital points since one was pointedly aimed towards her abdomen.

Stifling the urge to pull out her warhead to attack the sniper based on a risky estimate and reveal her position, she began to spread her pyramid bombs around the area two-by-two, covering that large circular space with 16 of those pyramid bombs.

Everything was falling into her predictions. The enemy was acting in a laughably predictable manner. In other words, if she was right, their next move would be to spray their arsenal of bullets and explosives until either they ran out or the smoke dissipated.

If she was right, she just needed to keep using explosives to counter any other explosives and create a space of pure turbulence. Bullet paths would be altered in an unpredictable manner, meaning she would have to rely on luck as she waited down the few seconds the elevator door would take to open.

As the bombs detonated two-by-two, Frenda immediately got down onto her knees and watched as the bullets began flying around. A couple of strays grazed her clothes, much to her dismay. This was hardly going to be a perfect victory but so long as she made it through this with just scratches, she would at least be partially satisfied.

NOW!

As the door was open wide enough, she immediately bolted in, planting herself on the corner closest to the buttons and pressed the ‘Close Door’ button, while looking around the elevator for an escape hatch, just in case she needed it.

Though she felt a similar feeling to whenever Uiharu was blabbering on about electronics in a way Mikoto could barely decipher despite her own knowledge, this young girl's rant on the health benefits of a carbonated drink made her feel that she was indeed fit to be a researcher.

Or, at the very least, definitely not an advertiser. That girl would be the most terrible and least appealing marketing-person that the world had to offer.

“T-That's a good question, hahaha...” She laughed awkwardly as she desperately tried to pretend she'd been paying attention to the overly detailed rant on what should be a simple and quick order. In a way, she felt freed the moment the girl had stepped away and was almost going to express that feeling to Guy.

...That is until she heard a peculiar voice, one that made him forget the older boy almost entirely.

One that sounded strangely familiar, yet not in a way she'd categorise as “pleasantly”.

«So you can guarantee that the GCKBE-NX18-EnergyBomb tastes quite similar to GreenerƔ? I am rather fond of the latter, so it’d be bad if there was a difference. I mean, for a gourmet there can be nothing worse than a product failing their expectation or taste. You can relate, right?»

Dreading what they would encounter, Mikoto's eyes only slowly and carefully started glancing towards the checkout, only to find a certain grey-haired boy seemingly pressuring the clerk into accepting his opinion. That boy, though she had not met him often, had certainly left a very strong impression upon her when they first met.

It was indeed one she would never forget, yet not in a way she'd categorise as “pleasantly”.

“Geh!!! That's...!” She audibly expressed, quickly smacking a hand over her mouth and taking an anxious step backwards as she realised her critical mistake.

Guy casually listened in on the one-sided conversation occurring in front of him and raised an eyebrow.

"Man, this guy's really taking this seriously, isn't he?" He uttered quietly to Mikoto beside him. Strangely, something about this overly earnest boy bothered Guy slightly. Did he know him from somewhere? Something about that voice rang a bell.

A student of his perhaps? No. As bad as he was with names he still recognised his students by appearance. An angry boyfriend to one of the girls he flirted with? It was possible, but he felt that would have left more of an impression on him. He vaguely recalled a brief scuffle with a green haired delinquent a while back, but he remembered that event well enough and a quick glance at the boy's wrist told him that it definitely couldn't be the case.

No. Something about his voice...

“Uhhm. Hey mister…"

The memory was fuzzy, as though glimpsed through a layer of static. Parts of a conversation (?) faded in and out.

"…I know I warned you to stay away from here... danger... now.
...protocols aren’t against…
...as you can see,... injured people... a criminal... taken care of..."

Guy squinted, trying to focus the blurry image in his mind's eye. For him to be having such trouble remembering, it was either an inconsequential meeting or something had actively affected his memory of the event. Perhaps a heavy night of bar crawling? Or a head injury? Some sort of black out related trauma maybe?

"While I am a member of Judgement...
I think... common sense... rules and even the law would tell you so…

…would you please mind actually…helping!?”

Of course! This boy had been there during the incident with Iresia and that explosion! Guy felt a sense of satisfaction at piecing the puzzle together. So he'd survived that blast too? That was good to know. He glanced back to Mikoto and noticed her curious pose.

"What's up with you?" He asked, oblivious.

The drums of explosives were joined by even more of the same kind. Bullets rained here and there. Destruction ruled everywhere. Ben however had been a sharp mind. Sharp enough to see the true face of the enemy. They hadn’t just fallen victim to it and they hadn’t just ran in there recklessly. He could tell that the pattern of explosives didn’t match with his group’s own usual strategy. Obviously others had been mixed in. But why would she throw them just so close to her? Nobody in their right mind would expect a close combat strike from an enemy under these circumstances.

Thus, there was only one possible solution.

«That bitch’s interfering with the bullets’ paths and the explosions’ shockwaves. Talk about smart.»

She was by far no amateur. Even someone with as great a combat experience level as him could only whistle in astonishment at the amazing plays that girl performed. However that was all. Amazing enemies were his favourite prey. No, Thanatos’s entirely.

Slay them, destroy them, ruin them, all in the finest of ways.

He felt blood thirst welling up inside. He could taste it, was it overflowing, enveloping his entire being. Defeat, that was all he would bring, for he held the ultimate trump cards right in his hands.

The others wouldn’t cease what they were doing, that was for the best. He didn’t need to tell them about his suspicions nor request any change of plan just on the whim. That way the girl wouldn’t know until it was too late. She wouldn’t even know what was coming her way. She wouldn’t even know she’d face defeat up until she was dead. That was the best kind. The best way of ending it. That was their style.

Quickly the mercenary brought forth one of the cylindrical vessels he had taken along before, opening it without hesitation. They were all made in a similar fashion, round, thick metal, featureless, much like grenades. Yet unlike those the amount of technology expended to make them shockproof was quite something to look at. However that was completely logical considering the contents.

A single item, the size of a finger.

KS-Paris-APLN
A special bullet made to work with the KS-Paris class sniper rifles. The number of actually produced units is slim considering their fairly limited field of application. The bullet itself is rather normal from the outside, on the inside however there rests a core of specifically modified C4. While the bullet is covered by a shock dampening shell, the tip is manufactured to function as a the trigger unit. Once it strikes the target head on it will immediately blow up taking down any possible misses in close vicinity, basically increasing the sniper’s chances in situations where their aiming ability might be obstructed by unexpected circumstances..

Placing it in the rifle’s chamber he made sure to take aim immediately. No matter what she would do, her final goal was the elevator; fortunately it had been the sole safe area as well. How likely was it that she was seeking cover inside? Or rather how unlikely was it she wouldn’t?

He couldn’t destroy the entire thing and was sure enough that at least one such explosion was in the domain of endurance for the structure. Therefore all was perfectly aligned. He’d just have to land a hit inside of the door, giving his all to lower the graveness of possible obstruction, fire and confirm the kill. There was no way she would be able to flee it this time. There was nowhere to hide if he hit. There was no way she could see it coming even with the data. After all how would she be able to check under all this pressure?

His finger on the trigger. His eyes on the target. His mind calculating the best course to take. His excitement mixed with nervousness at their peak.

One shot. All would be over.

Steady pressure, quick weight, squeeze.

A sudden flash of green light enveloping both the rifle and the hands holding onto it. When it passed, both were gone.

«AaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaAaaaaaaaaAaAaaAAAAaaaaaaaAAAaAaAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!»

A shout of suffering, pain, agony. Where there had been something completely normal just a moment ago, all there remained were stumps of burned flesh, black and red. It hurt, both physically and mentally. He couldn’t endure. He collapsed.

Laden with the overload of everything, his heart pounding like a drum of its own, he lay there, facing nowhere in specific. He heard steps. Even amidst those bursts of gunfire and explosions he could hear someone step. Steps. Steps coming closer. Steps haunting him. Steps drawing in.

He knew this was it. He cursed them as he suffered. He cried. He pledged. He arrived at that point…


Just one step away from hell.

After her overly vicious counter attack she was sure they were done for. Nothing could escape a wipe like that with any skill there could possibly be. She had annihilated them with what was to her just an easy play. Piercing through the walls for hundreds of metres, slashing around until there was no blank spot anymore and then just adding a bit more — that was overkill and thus extremely effective.

However, she hadn’t expected them to have a final means of annoyance.

Explosions erupting at the far end of the corridor.

«Don’t tell me…? The gas line?!»

She found herself capable of quickly assuming, due to the experiences she had in a similar maintenance shaft network once ago. A certain man had played a quite similar card. And she could tell: The entirety of this underground network was ornamented with gas lines that’d reach everywhere. If they were smart they would link it to a set of mines or remote controlled explosives to wipe out anybody and anything down there, basically an easy ticket for a sure kill.

It’d take mere seconds for her to go down. With the speed of the echoes drawing ever closer, she didn’t even need the map to deduce the final result.

3 to 4 seconds maximum.

Clicking her tongue she made quick adjustments to her usual calculations.

Then following up immediately after she lifted her hands, firing an all powerful beam through the ceiling, not even minding to check the rate of her success.

1 second.

She could feel the earth shaking, the explosions quickly following after one another. There being all kinds of blockades to slow the progress of such a situation she could call herself lucky. Yet how lucky in the end?

She grit her teeth as she produced calculations again. Incomplete ones, messy ones. Her power seemed neither stable nor useful at this point. But that was fine. After all what she required was neither aim, nor stability, just brute force.

An explosion unlike any other, powerful, merciless, raw.

The damage didn’t matter was the area consumed by the raging hellfire just an instance later. What truly mattered was the opposite of the line. The recoil. It had sent her flying in the most literal sense of the word. She’d used her power’s downside for her own advantage, launching herself into the air straight through that slim hole she’d created a moment ago.

She hadn’t known if it would truly work out, nor had she ever considered the opposite as possible. That was simply the strength of belief she held into her Meltdowner.

Flying like a bird or rather a stone fired by a slingshot, she’d freely travel through the air until he point where gravity would demand her back. What’d follow might be a rough landing, yet nothing she wouldn’t be able to work against.

And once that was over…things would move on.


Slowly Mugino lowered her hand, cracking a smug grin at the melody that was the scream. She was simply moving towards her target, not even waiting for the moment he collapsed. She had just hit him and with that all was over. Not that she had expected to miss in the first place. She was the #4 after all. That alone made it her very own right to always succeed.

«The trash is dealt with, Frenda. Now go handle the rest.»

A faint bewitched whisper into the microphone to deliver the message, then she’d already arrive at her target’s place of rest. She could see his chest moving up and down, implying that he was still breathing. Erratically at that, a sign of panic. Well who wouldn’t panic in a predicament like that?

She crouched down before him, blocking his entire line of sight, not minding that he may cast a glance underneath her skirt.

«Now look what we have here. A little enemy pig, yes? So where do we start off? I mean, which would be the most pleasant and exciting view for your friends? They need to get the chance to learn what expects them to warm up for all the fun, wouldn’t you agree~?»

Her dress was torn at the skirt, blackened by the burns here and there, the heels of her boots were both missing while the pure white of their colour had been washed away by dirt. Yet even here her hair remained perfectly glossy as did the marvellous skin of her face. She smiled at him in a way that was neither charming nor safeguarding. There was no mercy. There was no escape. There was no hope at all.

The smile of an immortal god toying around with the defenceless mortals.

Calamity.

Not minding the other two Satomi Mayuso was the first two actually act. She had been an idiot in her own right or maybe she was just oblivious to threatening situations due to her line of work. Whichever it was, she simply stepped forward, not only claiming her position in the queue but actually approaching the one blocking the path.

«Excuse me Sir, but would you please hurry up? I have company and little time to expand. Besides everyone knowledgeable in this domain knows that the original flavour designers of GreenerƔ were actually hired by NuTrend to create a better product, the GCKBE-NX18-EnergyBomb or in colloquial language GCKBE-EB. Therefore your position as a gourmet should actually demand that you honoured the makers of your favourite. Wouldn’t you agree?»

Again the long talk, again the entirely straight forward attitude all coated in her very odd kind of cuteness. She didn’t mind anything. Not common sense, not logic, not anything that was written down in a handbook for proper behaviour. Just like that the lab coat fluffy twin tails girl did what she always did, hoping for the best of all outcomes.

«Huh? You…»

When he had noticed someone’s surprised voice his reflexes had told Gou to turn around naturally, following the usual process of scanning the area before reacting to anything else. What he found before himself however was something that actually ticked off further instincts right the very next instance.

«Shirai’s owner.»

He mumbled, referring to the fact that he wasn’t sure of his dear colleague should either be classified as a human or that girl’s pet; the stronger tendency laid quite open.

Then however his glance met the second part of the group. The boy. Something in his mind twitched as much as his eye did, but connecting the dots took more than just a second and thus too long for him to make it in time.

As the third member of the group made her move before he was allowed to do anything else. An obvious researcher speaking up in the way of an obvious researcher. Her explanation was long, drawn out and absolutely accurate. He didn’t do anything but listen to it all, absorbing it entirely with all of his focus. Then he fell silent only to nod after a few seconds of time.

«I see. Thank you, Miss. I’ll hurry up then. Sorry to have bothered you and your friends.»

Just like that the situation had been resolved. It seemed like those two had gotten along perfectly, did Furuhashi Gou neither react in his typical way or even criticise her. No, he just nodded, thanked, placed his order, received his item and moved away from the counter. Fair, quick, simple.

Not expending any further words, sentence or thorough glances.

Just who was that Satomi Mayuso?

All she could do was wait. Within the resounding of explosives and resulting ebb and flow of smoke, all she could so was wait until the elevator door began to close. Until then, she was a sitting duck.

Come on…

The bloodthirst was almost palpable. Whoever had sniped her had likely not given up yet. After all, they had an arsenal of weaponry at their disposal. Even sniping failed, the data sheets showed numerous weapons that could be used against her in this state. 

Come on…

And the elevator door began to close. Time seemed to dilate for her as the critical last moments began to flow. 

And then, a single saving grace came to her over her headset. 

«The trash is dealt with, Frenda. Now go handle the rest.»

It was evident what Mugino had meant. All outside threads had been eliminated. As the tension and ever present fear of attack melted away, so too did her perceived dilation of time as the doors seemed to close almost instantaneously. 

"Understood."

She took a single deep breath as the elevator made its way all the way to its only other stop. 

As the door slowly opened, she pulled out a compact mirror aimed it to see outside the door with one hand and gripped one of the explosives in another.

...Was she hearing right?

Had he called her Kuroko's owner?

Or was it simply that the distance between the two was making her hear nonsense in stead of what might've been a normal mutter, even if she highly doubted it?

In order to not unleash enough electricity to short-circuit the entire district. though not without gritting her teeth as she felt irritation would soon take over her better judgement again, Mikoto decided to settle with the least likely option. She quickly answered Guy though without much care in her words to distract herself from what she'd heard.

“Ah, uh, it's nothing.” Considering the already bizarre relationship they had formed, in their rapid encounter, as anal-retentive Judgement officer and troublemaker Level 5, Guy would certainly poke fun at what situation had met them to meet in the first place if she ever dared to mention it.

She therefore found herself reasonably concerned at the idea of explaining anything to him.

Interestingly enough, however, whether it was Satomi who had shown enough charisma to quell that rabid dog of the 177^th Judgement branch by a simple affirmative exchange of knowledge, or whether it was simply Furuhashi Gou himself who had decided against going on a rampage to question every move she would and could do, Mikoto was left rather dumbfounded that the grey-haired boy was dropping her case after only a simple, even if bothersome, mutter.

She'd expected him to approach her asking what kind of infractions she was causing now, and that led her to, for a brief moment, question whether his hair was a natural colour or whether his personality highly prone to stress had done his potential colour in.

But due to past experiences with him, she certainly knew better than to ever seek out an answer to that question or provoke him at all when there was such a display of good faith from his part. As such, waiting for Satomi to return with a hopefully normal order, though she doubted it from the sounds of the names that were being thrown around, she beckoned Guy to follow her with a small head gesture and proceeded to sit at one of the blandest tables she had ever laid eyes upon.

“Still, I find it amazing how you're willing to compliment anything as long as the person who's inviting you has pretty eyes... Or what, is this actually your idea of a nice date or something?” Mikoto muttered under her breath when she gave the matter a little more thought, her day having already drastically changed from what she had intended to make of it.

Which was fascinating in itself, considering she hadn't even planned anything.

“Ah, uh, it's nothing.”

"Nothing, huh?" He shrugged, an amused expression crossing his face as he watched her slink away from Satomi and the boy. While Gou and Sayumi conversed (at extraordinary length) he had taken to flipping a coin in his free hand, rolling it over his fingers and flipping it again.

“Still, I find it amazing how you're willing to compliment anything as long as the person who's inviting you has pretty eyes... Or what, is this actually your idea of a nice date or something?”

His amused expression deepened as Mikoto beckoned him over like he was a pet dog. For a supposed 'lady' of Tokiwadai she could be pretty abrupt. Not that he minded. He found it rather entertaining. Fascinating even. He followed her over to the table and took a seat on the opposite side.

"I mean... I've had worse." He looked about at his surroundings with another shrug, catching the coin on the back of his hand. "But you noticed it too. she does have pretty eyes, doesn't she?" He asked with a devilish smirk, knowing the comment would get a rise out of the girl sat opposite him. "What can I say? I'm a sucker for pretty girls. They can make me do anything with a smile and some fluttering eyelashes."

«I wonder what you’ll think of me then~❤︎»

A mature woman’s charmingly rough voice coated in adult sweetness. There was a lot odd with it, yet at the same time it seemed kind of reminiscent to a lonely evening at the bar around the corner.

However if the intrusion wasn’t perceived as charming, the sight most likely wouldn’t be either.

Fluttering the lashes of her single eye, a rough faced woman entered the vicinity of the pair’s table. Her skin pale, her shoulder length hair black like ash and a gaping hole instead of a left eye. She wasn’t wearing an eye patch but just leaving the thing stand out open as if it were the most normal thing to do. She was muscular and clad in the typical Anti-Skill gear, yet for some reason the attire of a good-doing teacher didn’t suit her at all.

Right next to her, on both sides there stood men in the same get-up with the same contrasting impression.

But one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover right? The rumours and talk had it that Anti-Skill was not just a group made from ordinary teachers, but actually born from military experts gathered from all over. Of course you wouldn’t see those examples outside this district for public image reasons and all that. However, could those three really be the living proof?

«Anyway, we’re not gonna disturb your little forbidden talk-time date or whatever. Just the usual questions, you’d usually expect: Have you seen or noticed anything suspicious today? There have been reports on equipment malfunctions and gunfire and jazz, just so you know.»

The one-eyed woman tried to smile in a friendly manner, yet it didn’t quite make it to be the caring one of a school counsellor popular with their students, ending up in the complete opposite direction.

It didn’t help that all three of them were heavily armed.

Really, was this the kind of personnel assigned to District 2?

"What can I say? I'm a sucker for pretty girls. They can make me do anything with a smile and some fluttering eyelashes."

Naturally attracting delinquents and full-blown teenage psychopaths alike, the boy standing in front of her was one that the masses would qualify as “unlucky”. Even if they toned down the scale slightly and only looked at his daily interactions rather than his feats, he could still be only qualified as “unlucky”, though not exactly “undeserving”.

After all, if you provoked someone with a knowledgeable short-temper and easy embarrassment issues, then surely you couldn't only blame them for acting on it but yourself for not tiptoeing around it, however messed up the need to do that in the first place was.

“Will you stop constantly being such a goddamn perv-!” With a blush at how shamelessly he had admitted to it, Mikoto had started to exclaim as she slammed her hands on the table, completely forgetting about her surroundings as streaks of electricity ran along her straightened arms.

«I wonder what you’ll think of me then~❤︎»

Yet, for all the misfortunes he seemed to attract, it seemed that for once he would be saved by the bell as the two were approached by what she would find to be a... more than peculiar individual.

«Anyway, we’re not gonna disturb your little forbidden talk-time date or whatever.»

“W-W-We're not on a da-!!!” Mikoto abruptly turned her head towards the person who had appeared so suddenly, and took a step backwards in surprise at the sight as her almost offended cry was cut short; it was seemingly not the time for her tsundere antics all things considered.

«Just the usual questions, you’d usually expect: Have you seen or noticed anything suspicious today? There have been reports on equipment malfunctions and gunfire and jazz, just so you know.»

The woman who had interrupted them to exhibit her own eyes... only actually had one. The other socket was as empty as it could possibly be, and such a sight without the slightest hint of an eyepatch had truly taken her aback.

But not as much as the sudden sight of Anti-Skill officers; far too many for a simple and bland café. Between this and the earlier WMD talks, Mikoto had a growingly gnawing feeling that there was something very, very wrong even if the officers seemed to try and imply otherwise in the most casual manners despite bearing a rather considerable amount of weaponry.

“No, I don't think so... have you?" She looked at Guy with a confused expression as she replied.

«I wonder what you’ll think of me then~❤︎»

He turned, matching her gaze as best he could, given her missing eye and replied with an easy smile. If he felt any shock at the woman's grizzled appearance he didn't show it.

"That's not fair. You already know my weak spot." He tilted his head disarmingly when she fluttered her eyelashes at him, his smile becoming more languid as though he were genuinely falling for her charms. "And I don't know anything about you..." He sounded like a playboy on his first date with a new paramour, probing her for information about herself.

«Anyway, we’re not gonna disturb your little forbidden talk-time date or whatever.»

He braced himself for the response he was so certain would follow...

“W-W-We're not on a da-!!!”

Bingo. He craned his neck around to smile knowingly at the rose tinted younger girl.

"We're not? Huh. I wish someone would have told me." He said with a subtle sarcasm before returning his eyes to the powerful looking woman before them both. He let his attention drop to the coin in his hand, flipping it over the back of his hand absent mindedly.

«Just the usual questions, you’d usually expect: Have you seen or noticed anything suspicious today? There have been reports on equipment malfunctions and gunfire and jazz, just so you know.»

Gunfire? She dropped the term so casually into the conversation it only made it seem more suspicious.

“No, I don't think so... have you?"

"Can't say that I have. Well, nothing more suspicious than usual at least." He flicked the coin up in the air and cast another glance back at the most conspicuous person at the table. The person who appeared wherever there was trouble and seemed (in his mind at least) to be the cause of it more often than not. Guy reached his hand out to catch the falling coin and stuff it in his pocket.

The control room was a vast space. It contained many terminals and desks, designed to harbour at least a dozen of workers, even though realistically spoken it would usually have two or three at most, leading the setup to function for single person operation. The space was darkened, except for some of the computer screens strewn about no light was on.

It seemed empty on first glance.

However that was incorrect. A young woman in lab gear sat in a corner cowering. She was showing clear symptoms of a panic attack; an understandable fact considering the state her surroundings were in. Blood was everywhere. Corpses were spread all over. About six or seven people had died here, sieved by bullets.

They had been ordinary people, simple administration workers, engineers, scientists, security guards. None of them had anything to do with the world of violence that had broken out down here, yet in the end the intruders hadn’t minded.

And that woman…had seen it all…


Silence. The sign of war having come to an end. However could that be called an indicator of peace or was there yet more to come?

Laurie wasn’t all too sure.

Clad in the typical black combat gear of her unit, the last remaining member of Thanatos was currently waiting in the armoury’s control room. Her short black hair and thick framed glasses gave off a nerdy vibe, yet the thick muscles visible under the skin tight clothing clearly made her out to be a combatant, or at least someone of that type. In fact, though, she was the group’s tech expert, which was part of the reason her weaponry itself solely consisted of the small handgun resting in her hands, as she crouched down behind a desk observing the screens right across showing the security camera footage from the elevator.

She was using the advantage her current fortress held, yet in the end she still didn’t feel confident. Thanatos had been wiped out by that pair, she was the only one remaining. If it was Ben who had survived, she’d believe he’d make it. But herself?

She shivered, gathered her thoughts, prepared herself mentally.

It would only be a few more seconds.

Empty. That was the perfect word to describe what she saw at first glance. Not a single hint of a living person seemed to even remotely stand out in the control room. As she scanned the area, she could only see lights emanating from the various LED screens in the control room.

Nobody’s here to monitor the situation…?

Frenda narrowed her eyes.

Or is it too dark for me to see anything?

One more quick scan of the area led to an identical result. No lights on aside from the control room’s various screens.

It felt too much like a trap. Frenda was 98% certain that someone was lying in wait to ambush her. This felt like too much of a key point for the enemy to just leave unattended and the lack of workers in sight also meant that they had been cleared out, through some way or another.

The important question to ask was how to go about smoking whoever was lying in wait without damaging any of the equipment. Warheads were obviously out of the question here.

Placing the bomb she had been holding back in her skirt, she looked up to the security camera in the elevator before furtively picking out the trusty stun grenade, a smoke bomb, and a pair of earplugs from her skirt.

The answer was obvious. The one lying in wait likely had a sufficient view of the security
footage, meaning they were able to gaze upon at least one of the screens that were lit up. Unfortunately, that was all she could narrow down.

Throwing out the stun grenade, she quickly put her ear plugs in, pocketed her mirror, and counted down the three seconds it would take to detonate.

3..

2..

1--

As soon as her brain hit one, she tossed the smoke bomb and dashed out of and towards the other side of the door while covering her eyes with her hat. If her enemy tried to throw any attacks in that direction where she was, they would likely just barely miss.

The light flashed and a loud, deafening, and disorienting sound before she had fully escaped, and continued to flash for another two seconds. But, the detonation show was far from over. As soon as that two second limit had passed, Frenda uncovered her eyes and ears as she watched the smoke bomb fill the entire floor with smoke and begin to rise.

After that, all that was left was to determine the existence of a possible assailant and their next move.

Laurie had seen it all. From beginning to end she had been following the confrontation with the opposing party through the countless cameras hidden everywhere. She had seen the most of her comrades fall, she’d seen the strategies those two had used, she had seen how they had accessed the data, she had seen absolutely everything there had been to see.

Therefore she probably knew best what to expect.

When she saw the blonde preparing two sets of explosives, she could already deduce her next steps.

First the stun grenade, then the smoke screen.

She’d quickly shut her eyes and stick her fingers into her ears – a rudimentary, yet not entirely useful method. However, even as the room was showered by the sense killing explosion, she’d at least remain unaffected by its worst ploy: Surprise.

Once the shower was over, the thick framed glasses mercenary girl hurriedly made her move: She’d reach for the smartphone stored away in her pocket, pressing one of its sparse buttons in a way resembling some kind of frequency. A code?

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A shrill pitch enveloped the entire area.

It was both nasty and annoying, disturbing and ruthless.

It was the exact kind of noise you occasionally heard at stores, meant to scare away teenage boys and girls. That tone only those of a certain age could perceive. Right now it was blasting from all corners of the room, from every audio output device linked to the main system, full power.

That had been the trump card Laurie had come up with having witnessed everything. She wasn’t as skilled as Ben, Nancy or Fred, nor did she have the guts Jake had had; all she was was smart and even that could be rivalled by someone else from her unit. However what she had had on her side was time and observation. She could tell neither of the intruders was an adult, thus she simply had to apply a plan that could work against them exploiting their age.

By weakening that girl’s ears she had originally hoped to make her presence less known. With the smokescreen spread all over, though, the situation had been more than fortunate. She could hardly been seen or heard once applying her well trained stealth ability, enabling her to move freely while becoming a ghost. Occasionally switching covers and waiting for her ears to recover, she got ready.

One step. One sound.

That was all she needed to anticipate and take aim.

Bang! Bang!

The gun’s hammer would signal the end.


«That’s not fair. You already know my weak spot. And I don't know anything about you…»

«Oh dear, but isn’t exploration what man craves the most~? And we’ve only just met~time’s still young~»

The outgoing playboy on offence and the mysterious flirty woman with unique kink. Like a situation ripped straight from an adult novel, the raunchy kind, this conversation between the two was slowly but surely raising its stakes.

However it shouldn’t outgrow the bar, had her words triggered the unfortunate third.

She’d chuckle at what turned out to become a short emotionally burning outburst only prevented last second by what seemed to be the sight of her own face. Defying expectations though, the one-eyed woman didn’t seem to mind at all, no matter how offensive such an engrossed reaction could be perceived. Had she grown used to it? Or was she actually rooting for it? That strangely satisfied smile on her lips threw upon even more riddles.

«I see. So nothing suspicious at all, huh? Then we sincerely hope that we did not end up making you overly worried or anxious. The streets are safe with us around, of course. Just forget about the stuff I just mentioned, until you notice something. If you do, just run to an Anti-Skill station and you’ll be helped. Yes, yes. They’ll help you good.»

The two in her company, both stern and scruffy, nodded whilst wearing the most fake smiles you’d not even find with salesmen nowadays, desperately aiming to express «Anti-Skill»’s reliability on the matter.

They were an odd trio, but in the end it seemed except for their entirely gloomy out of place atmosphere, they wouldn’t bring any harm. With the conversation finally off the table, the two in her company slowly made a move towards the entrance, becoming harbingers of their departure.

And yet that mysterious flirty woman with unique kink Anti Skill officer remained at their table, smiling as though her mouth was smeared with honey.

«Oh right, riiiight, I can’t let this go without at least leaving you my name, can I, Mr.~?»

Concluding the sentence with her most seducing touch, her lonely eye seeking contact would serve as the lance of temptation…

«Call me…Marybeth~❤︎»

The clink of shattering glass tore apart the sticky adult movie atmosphere.

After a long period that had been ordering and waiting for said order – super scientific cola for all three of them – to arrive, Satomi Mayuso had finally made her way back to the rest of her group, with a smile expressing how greatly she was looking forward to continuing the chat slash open field study. However that smile’s innocence was torn apart much like the three bottles she’d brought along when the metal tray had slipped from her shaky hands.

Her cute gem like eyes opening wide, as the innocent kindness was ravaged by shock.

«…No…this can’t be…? Already…?»

Stammering, with her entire body shaking, the panic she felt at the sight of that woman became clear as day. She would have screamed had the sudden pressure allowed her. Frozen just like that she’d face her, no all three of them.

«…how did you…find me…that quickly…»

Even now she was forcing her lips to move, somehow seeking an anchor to reality within her words.

«…Thanatos…?»

Hearing the ring of that name the one eyed demon’s smile twisted into pure malice.