A/N: Been a while, but I thought I do a little piece featuring Uiharu as the main character. It's not connected with any of my other little pieces and I'm choosing to ignore anything post Othinus arc in the LNs, since there's a fair bit of ongoing narrative that leavings lots of the setting very much up in the air. Using plenty of the New Testaments era cast through, so spoiler ahoy if you're an anime only reader.
Chapter 1: Contact
Uiharu bite her lip as she adjusted her floral hairband. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about relying on its more recent addition... but Xochitl was skilled and highly professional according to Misaka Mikoto.
"You ok Uiharu?" Asked Konori-senpei from behind her, making Uiharu almost jump out of her skin
"Co-course!" Uiharu nervously stammered out in reply as she turned to face her Judgement senior. "Just a bit nervous, ha ha ha!"
Konori-senpei smirked before saying "You've done a lot for the 177th Judgement Branch since you joined, it's only right your hard work gets properly recognised and rewarded."
"I just feel Shirai should be doing this, not little old me." She replied without adding especially the parts you have no idea about…
"Nonsense. Shirai is a great in the field, but it's your detective work around those poor Child Errors being abused that's got the Boards attention."
You really have no idea…
"On that note, it's time for you to get moving. The whole board, besides the Chairman, are taking thirty minutes out of there very busy schedules to give you an Academy City Special Services Award, so let's not be late."
Uiharu stepped into the lift, alone and uneasy. As it slowly ascended upwards, she interlaced her fingers, pulled her bottom lip back slightly and took a deep breath. It was time. As the lift came to a stop. She straightened her back, relaxed her hands and put her best 'Polite Judgement Officer' face on.
"Hello there, I'm Uiharu Kazari. I believe you have been waiting for me?" She said as she walked through the lift door.
"Indeed, we have." Said an older suited man who was sitting in the centre of line of very comfortable looking occupied chairs behind tables. The other chair's owners were also smartly dressed and older, through mostly female. Scattered around the room were several strong looking young men in suits who almost certainly were armed security.
"You're a very talented young lady Miss Uiharu, especially with electronics." He continued.
"Is that why you made sure I had none with me when I entered the room?" She replied with a slightly cheeky tone. He gave a hearty laugh at that.
"Well it's not like your Esper power has got you this far, though I find it hard to believe hacking alone got you all the results you achieved... it was almost like a rather high powered Electromaster was helping you from the shadows and letting you take the full credit..."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, but you do, and you're not leaving this room till we get the -full- story"
"And if I don't talk?"
"We will make you talk. This is Academy City and we are the Board of Directors. We have far more elegant and certain ways to make you talk than mere torture if you think you can 'tough' your way through an interrogation. Through if you keep up this defiant attitude, maybe little Miss Saten Ruiko will end up having a tragic accident after we are done with you."
"Then I guess I'll have to tell you the full story. But only if you promise to leave Saten out of this, it's not like she knows anything anyway…"
He gave a little nod. "If you explain fully how you became such a pest to the secret projects, then I'll promise not to let your little friend get dragged into your consequences"
"So, you promise Mr…?"
"Mr Hirata" He replied with an arrogant tone. "And yes, I promise to leave your friend alone, through only if you start talking about what you've been poking your nose in."
Uiharu nodded.
"Then I best start at the beginning, the day I learned of this city's dark underbelly…"
Uiharu was out on patrol when she received a call from Konori-senpei.
"Hey Uiharu, you're near the arcades in our patch, right?"
"I am... why?"
"We got reports of two little girls playing on the sort of horror game that only High School students should really be playing, can you find them and point them towards something more age appropriate?"
"Oh sure, easy enough!"
And with that she set to find the pair, mentally readying her 'Why you shouldn't really be playing such a game yet' speech. But before long she heard her voice…
"So, we now need to find the keycard to get the blue door open, explains Misaka as Misaka continues her heroic quest to stop the zombie plague!" Said a voice that sounded an awful lot like a certain young girl with an ahoge….
"Also, we absolutely need to find blankets or something for all these girls we've saved, they seemed to have lost most of their cloths in the chaos of the outbreak." Said an unfamiliar, but also rather young sounding voice. "I mean what if some pervert walked in here after we stopped the outbreak? Those girls would absolutely be embarrassed!"
Uiharu sighed deeply. At least she knew which white haired guardian she needed to find after this. He would also need a chat on the topic 'keeping your charge away from inappropriate content'. With that thought she walked around the corner and towards the voices.
As expected, one of the voices was indeed the young Misaka.
"Ahh hello again Uiharu of Judgement says Misaka as Misaka casually makes a one-handed headshot using the simulated firearm with oddly no recoil. It's nice to meet you again, and by the way this is my friend Fremea, says Misaka as Misaka motions towards the blond with her free hand."
The girl in question was indeed blond, with blue eyes and features that suggested she had at least a fair bit of western blood in her veins, if was not completely of western decent. Age wise she looked younger than the young Misaka by a year or two. Cloth wise she seemed to be rather fond of the colour white and pink, with frilly and fluffy stylings. She was also wearing a cute little beret.
The pair of them were currently stood on a little chair they were using to gain the height they needed to play on an arcade machine, with the art on the machine proclaiming it to be 'Night of the Zombies, Save the Babes and Build Your Harem!'
"Nice to meet you Fremea." Uiharu said in friendly tone before switching to her best 'reasonable authority figure' tone. "But Misaka, don't you think the two of you are a bit on the young side to be playing a game like 'Night of the Zombies, Save the Babes and Build Your Harem'. I mean I be surprised if either of you even knew what harem was yet... why don't we go over to the section more aimed at your age and see if they have 'Gekota Saves the Day Seven' in yet?"
"Ahh your being ageist against us because were small says Misaka as Misaka casually clears the room of the undead in a humane and efferent way as she talks. We played 'Gekota Saves the Day' one to six in a single afternoon and completed them all on the first time further explains Misaka before Misaka adds, Gekota may be cute, but his games are super easy."
"Also, we absolutely know what a harem is already." Fremea added defiantly. "It's when a boy has lots of friends who are girls, who are friends with him because he helped them through some really bad troubles"
"Like Kamijou, Misaka adds as Misaka runs up the stairs to create space between her and the zombies!"
"So, we absolutely want to play games that are more challenging." Fremea further explained in a tone that suggested 'I'm very much in the right, thank you very much!'.
Uiharu sighed. Defiant small children were all too common in Academy city, she suspected it had a lot to with the higher level of independence that living in a mostly student city granted them, there wasn't as many adults around to tell them off when they crossed lines.
"I get the you want challenge. But games like this aren't too good for you." Uiharu explained in a reasonable tone. "There lots of blood and other horrible things that can cause you nightmares."
"Oh, those sorts of things don't bother me says Misaka as Misaka jumps down from the landing while shooting. Violence in video games is always unrealistic, and the dead bodies never look right, Misaka explains as Misaka reflects on the bodies she seen in the past via the Network."
"Wait what?" Uiharu replied as she tried to digest what she had just heard.
"Last Order you absolutely mentioned the Network in your third person comments again." Fremea explained before adding to Uiharu. "It's one of those subconscious things she not really aware of."
"But bodies, you seen bodies?" Uiharu asked in a slightly panicked tone as she directed the talk back towards the most important detail.
"Not directly Misaka admits before Misaka adds, but the memories are clear as my own, and just as real."
"Er?"
"Back in the Experiments we were told 'we' was a 'I' explains Misaka before Misaka adds with regretful feelings, but after losing 10031 units in the name of 'progress', we realised 'I' was joining of many 'I's to form a 'us'. We love Kamijou for saving us and forgive Accelerator for falling for the same lies as us, Misaka further explains before Misaka finishes with quiet deep-rooted anger, but we will not forgive the system that thinks that so much death, murders and lies is acceptable to push their goals forwards."
The little Misaka stood there in front of the game in silence for a few long moments, having cleared the room of zombies in the game she had been playing with a shocking amount of skill for a little girl.
"And?"
That was Fremea. She sounded and looked serous.
"And we will drag Accelerator out of his pit of shame, we will dry the Original tears and we will earn the respect of Kamijou by creating a world of smiling faces and happy hearts Misaka shouts as Misaka shows her defiance of the corrupt system that runs this city!"
Fremea nodded. "No more dead loved ones."
Uiharu on the other hand had no idea on how to initially react. She wanted to say 'stop making up such silly stories', but the two little girls in front of her did not sound like fools or tricksters. The events of that day she had first met the little Misaka and Accelerator had more than suggested that she wasn't exactly living a normal life…. and in the context of what she was saying, Accelerator's actions made a lot more sense. While Uiharu didn't know all the details yet (and she would get them all), Accelerator had acted like a man haunted by the guilt of misdeeds, and it didn't take a large leap of logic to consider that maybe he didn't consider a little girl forgiveness enough to wipe his slate of guilt truly clean.
Her uncertainty came to an end.
"I'm going to help you create that world." She declared. "That I swear."
"And that's how I learned that there was something very rotten in this city." Uiharu stated as she finished her story.
"So, you learned about the 'Radio Noise Project' from the clones themselves, and decided to go on a crusade of justice to put things right for them?" Mr Hirata said with a rather nasty sort of smirk.
"I'm not so simple or crude in my sense of justice. I wasn't so naive to think the 'Radio Noise Project' would be the only dark murderous project active in this city. The existence of the 'Agitate Halation Project' didn't take much digging to find"
"Because Fremea told you about it?"
"Indeed." Uiharu replied with a quick nod. "But I needed evidence and proof past the say so of a pair of minors if I was going to put all of you rotten abusers of trust in the cold hard jail cell you belonged in."
She said that last bit with a little self-assured smile. It had the intended effect.
"And you really think you can put us all in jail little girl?" Mr Hirata replied with the expected hint of distain in his voice. "Academy City operates under a system were those who get caught, get cut away and knowledge of their crimes denied. If we have to let a few scientists face the music, we will. But the system of aggressive pursued progress will continue, and a few sacrifices are nothing for the rewards of progress."
"If your idea of progress includes getting results by creating pile of corpses while hiding from the consequences, then your understanding of histories mistakes is very lacking. No one can run away from their deeds forever." Uiharu explained sternly.
"Consequences can be managed." Mr Hirata replied sharply. "Through it seems that's a skill you have failed to developed. So why don't you explain a little more about your allies before Miss Saten becomes an involved party?"