The following is a non-profit, fan work based off the respective works of Kazuma Kamachi and Ryūtarō Nakamura
All rights belong to the original creators, J.C. Staff Co., Ltd.; and Triangle Staff
The Bluefire Phoenix presents...
A Chapter of The Epsilon Protocols...
Layer II: This was Supposed to be a Safe Place
The full moon was beaming down on Academy in all its glory from the inky black sky. A salty gust blew in from the gulf, bringing with them a blanket of clouds to cover the city. Nonetheless it was nice to be outside. I had been awake for well over a week, and most of that time had been spent sneaking in the sewer looking for a new location for our base, then moving our stuff to said base. It was made harder by the addition of motion sensors and other traps. Saten and I made quick work of them though. We were set up quick and ready to hunt for Kiyama. But first there were things needing to be tended to.
That's why I was on a mission with Kuroko. Uiharu had hacked into Anti-Skill and found a supply shipment that was coming in and we needed it. We were in constant need of food and water. There was only so much anyone up top could do for us without being drawn in. Several of our classmates were basically under twenty-four hour surveillance. The easiest way around this was to simply steal what we could whenever supply was running low.
There were plenty of restaurants we could have hit, but they ran on an as-needed-basis. That meant that most of the food was locked away offsite. So that meant tangling with Anti-Skill.
We were not on the most glamorous of missions, but it needed to be done. I created a magnetic grip to climb up a building. Kuroko teleported up to the top. We were dressed in black, of course. Below was a small contingent of Anti-Skill guards were on patrol around several large canisters being unloaded from a large truck. There were eight of them, each about seven feet tall and five feet wide. They were being unloaded via a crane onto a heavy lift.
Kuroko's brow ruffled a bit. She looked at me with a worried glance. It was not what she was expecting. Or me for that matter. Either way the plan had to go through. The pink haired girl popped down below, giving a quick tap on the shoulder before teleporting across the plaza and gave him a quick wave. She then disappeared. Most of the guards gave chase. Two stayed behind for me to deal with.
I dropped down to the ground and approached. The guards turned around raised their weapons. They fired on me without so much as a word of warning. I charged up to deflect the oncoming projectiles.
My problem was I was expecting bullets. What they fired weren't bullets. They were in fact four Taser electrodes. The electrodes hit my electric field. A nasty electric storm was kicked up in the aftermath of that contact. I was barely able to shield myself. Some of my clothing was singed. The poor guards however. Well they were collapsed heaps on the ground.
A siren sounded, putting me on edge. But the source was coming from the strange canisters rather than some alert. I heard a hiss. The canisters opened up like metal curtains lifting up like part of some robotic stage.
Inside the canisters were these massive suits of armor. Intrigued, I approached. My heart filled with a certain level of dread as I gazed at them. They were steel titans with a strange helmet. Two black eyes stared down at me with cold, mechanical dispassion. A strange rebreather was attached where the mouth should be with a heavy hoses coming out of the left and right. Their massive shoulder pads had hooks for lifting up. The torsos had a special horizontal bar.
I took a step back. A chill crawled down my back as the machine's gaze bore into me. Kuroko popped back in.
"Lost them, what do we have…"
She was cut off by the sight of the armor. "I think we should go," I quietly whispered.
"What are they?" Kuroko asked. She took a step towards the suit.
I grabbed Kuroko by the arm and yanked her away. We fled back to our escape route. Once safely in the sewers, we took a deep breath. "That's not what I was expecting," she said. I nodded in agreement.
"More importantly: why does Anti-Skill have those things?" I asked.
"Power armor does seem like overkill for a city crawling with all sorts of technical goodies and superpowered children," Kuroko added. She pulled off her gloves as she started walking down the way back to base. "I mean seriously, are they expecting some kind of uprising?"
"If they are it wouldn't be too surprising that they're keeping it a secret at this point," I said. I followed her down. Uiharu mentioned something called the Epsilon Protocols. One or more of them were activated during my escape from Root Headquarters. Those protocols were probably why I wasn't able to get away. Kuroko purposed that it was a taylormade set of tactics to fight me. The plastic weapons, the rubber bullets, and the suppressor all made a good case for her position. Until we had further evidence though it was all speculation.
We arrived at our makeshift camp. Uiharu and Saten were deeply engaged in a chess match, Alice sitting on her knees to the side as the game's original spectator. Saten was shaking as sweat poured from her brow. She was running low on material pieces. Uiharu was sitting pretty with a few more piece and checkmate coming up.
Saten picked up her last remaining knight. Her hand twirled around a moment before she set it back down. Taking a deep breath, the girl smiled. "I guess this one is yours too," she sighed. Uiharu shook her head.
"Honestly Saten, after this many games: you should have won by now," Uiharu said. Saten shrugged before turning to the two of us. Her face was clearly disappointed by our lack of supplies.
"I take it things didn't go so well, huh?" Saten said. I nodded. "We'll try again tomorrow, okay?" The girl cocked her head to the side with a confused look.
"What's wrong?"
"There were these suits of...like...power armor being delivered," I said. I couldn't believe I just said that. It sounded ridiculous. But I was a girl whose arm could be considered a weapon of war when holding a quarter so it's all relative I suppose.
"Power armor?" Saten repeated. She turned to Uiharu who looked surprised.
"I don't know, maybe they are testing them against what grads can do?" Uiharu speculated.
"Yeah, but why move them to Academy City? It would be cheaper to take a bunch of Espers to the armor than vice versa," Kuroko countered.
"Let's just put this off till tomorrow, okay?" Saten requested. "So, let's just get some sleep. I'll take first watch." There was brief silence followed by everyone nodding. We had some time to figure out why they were here. I curled up in my makeshift cot near Lain. My mind began to drift into the realm of dreams, despite some nervousness on my part.
That feeling was justified as I was once again plagued by a nightmare that had followed me since I was freed. I was in a white chamber, not unlike the place I had met Avri. Lay before me was a sleeping Lain. Everything about her was at peace. It all seemed so soothing really.
But the feeling evaporated as a growing black storm formed on the other side of her. It rushed forward like the legions of hell to swarm all around me. I could feel anger and frustration from some distant place eat at my skin. Whispered curses lashed at me yet I couldn't really understand them. There was nothing I could do ease the pain I felt chew at my body and soul.
I was only released from that horrid existence by a gentle nudge. Uiharu was standing over me. She looked concerned. Probably a reasonable response considering the wretched cold sweat I felt encasing my body. She offered me a hand. I grasped it and was lifted up. "Are you going to be alright?" she asked.
I nodded. "Just a bad dream," I answered. I walked over to the perch we used to watch for anything that might endanger us. My shift was last.
The time seemed to fly. About an hour in, something caught my eye. Alice had taken a seat next to me. She was looking at the palm of her hand.
"This was supposed to be a safe place, you know?" she whispered in an almost ethereal tone.
"Yeah," I rather cautiously agreed. I kind of narrowed my eyes at her a bit. I hadn't been back for that long, and this was the first time Alice talked to me without the others around. "That's what my parents told me. When I was a little and living on the mainland, there was new kid in my class. She always looked sad but whenever anyone asked her what was wrong she'd just brush it off." Alice's posture was relaxed, eyes glazed and distant. Her feet began to dance a bit.
"Then one day, I accidently grabbed her hand and I saw what had happened to her. I told my mom and the next thing I knew, I was on a plane to Texas. The last thing she said to me was that I was going to be safe here," she continued. Her head slouched back, head rolling over to look at me. There was a vacant expression on her face that sent the hairs on the back of my neck crawling. "Now look at us. On the run from the very people who claim to protect us after learning the horrors they secretly inflict upon us."
Alice started to rather maniacally snicker. It never reached full on laughter but stopped just short of breaking down into sobbing. The girl just faded out while curling into a ball.
"I'm sorry Alice. I didn't mean for this to happen to any of us," I said. It was weak and we all knew it, but what else could I have done? Alice shook her head.
"Whatever future I might have had, even on this rock, was lost when Lain entered my homeroom class for the first time," she explain. She uncurled a bit and crawled over to me with an strangely cat-like gait. Alice shoved her face into mine. I could see tears building just under the surface of her eyes. "You see, I fell in love that day."
My eyes blinked a couple of times. "Look I'm fine with that, really. But it isn't like that...between...us," I rather awkwardly stammered out. Alice simply smiled at me and shook her head. She then locked eyes with me.
"It doesn't matter now. You are Mikoto Misaka. You'll move Heaven and Earth for Lain, whatever your relationship. I am Alice Mizuki. How can I compare to you, whatever I feel?" she mournfully whispered.
"Alice, if you...please I didn't mean to-"
The girl put a finger to my lips. She shook her head. "Even if you didn't meet Lain, we could never be. I'm not stupid, Misaka. It didn't take me long for me to figure out that she isn't like the rest of us, whatever that means here," she said.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, somewhat nervously. I saw the glimmer of tears form in Alice's eyes. Some drops rolled down her cheeks and splattered onto to the ground and hands.
"I've been keeping it in for months, and I can't take it anymore. I was locked away and told my feelings were delusions," Alice let out between sobs. She regained some control and returned her attention to me. I gently grabbed her hand. "I wanted to tell you because you are way closer to Lain than I ever can be. Keep her safe for me. Please."
I nodded my head. "Don't worry Alice, I will."
Alice smiled a bit then slipped her hand out from under mine. She retreated back to her sleeping bag. I remained at my station until breakfast. It was a rather quiet affair. We were going to have to start rationing if we didn't get anything tonight.
Uiharu was back on our computer. She was very much in the zone. I was hovering over Lain. A strange buzzing, like a whisper in a blizzard, filled my ears when I did this. I constantly strained to hear the words. Nothing was ever made out but I kept at it.
"No freaking way," Uiharu chimed. I turned around. She motioned for me to join her. I sat down by her and looked at the screen. Uiharu had pulled up a video clip from a security camera. It was paused on a picture of Kiyama being escorted through a security checkpoint. Behind her was that Anti-Skill hatchetman, Persephone.
Uiharu hit the play button. The two women started walking more into the frame before a moment of static. It cleared of any trace of the women. "Where did this come from?" I asked.
"The video itself was flagged by an Avri a couple of days ago. The flag was then passed up the system all the way to a Root tech. He wrote an email to his boss since he couldn't find a reason for this…glitch. Where the camera actually is…I'm going to start looking through the directory. Fortunately the Root tech gave us the Unit designation, so it won't take me long to find it," she said. "What should we do when I get it?"
"We should talk this out as a group," I said. Uiharu and I quickly rallied everyone together. We rewatched the video.
Kuroko started to chew her lip. Saten scratched the back of her head. Alice looked like she was about to flip out.
"What are you thinking Sissy?" Kuroko asked. I rubbed my lips a little bit. It was risky, but my gut knew Kiyama could help Lain. But this had all the hallmarks of a trap.
I didn't want to unnecessarily risk anyone. "I'm going to get her out," I quietly answered.
"No!" Alice screamed. Everyone turned to her. Alice's eyes were wide. She had brought her teeth to bear. Her chest heaved up and down, letting wave after wave of anger seethe from her lips. "We can't. Not after everything she's done to us!"
Saten nodded in agreement. "It's too risky as it is," she added.
Kuroko looked at Uiharu. "Do we know where she's being held?" she asked. Uiharu nodded and pulled up a window on her machine.
"The incident happened in Red Hall," Uiharu said in a somewhat dejected tone. I agreed with that sentiment.
"Oh, hell no," Saten said. She crossed her arms over her chest. "We might as well walk up to an Anti-Skill officer in the street and ask to be arrested. That should save us some time."
Back before Academy City was built, Red Hall was the dormitory for the support staff on the island. Now it was the main apartment building for most of the teachers. Which meant now it might as well be Anti-Skill's second base. I was more sure than ever that this was a trap.
"Now hang on, we've been hitting Anti-Skill for a while. I think we can do it," Kuroko pointed out.
"I actually agree with Saten on this one, Kuroko. There is a difference between attacking an isolated group of officers and attacking the place they live," Uiharu said.
The group fell into a heated argument. Voices we raised and tempers flared. I used the growing rhetorical storm as cover to slip away. I was tired of this whole existence. The powers that be were certainly conspiring against us, thinking that they could keep us down forever. It was time for them to know that there were forces in this world they couldn't control.
I reached an access point that led up to District One. Now was the time. I climbed up and left the sewer, greeted by an overcast morning. The grey sky looked so beautiful. Ominous thunder in the distance seem vindicate my decision.
District One wasn't as bustling as it usually was, seeing as most of the residents were already at work in the city proper. The industrial pragmatism of the district's architecture felt more ominous than ever. The stoic grey buildings bore down with palpable sense of oppression. Even the air felt choking to breathe.
Red Hall was near the border of the district. I stepped out onto the street and kept my head down. My hair fell over my face. I stuffed my hands into my pockets.
My trip to Red Hall was unmolested. The few people that saw me stayed away. I wasn't sure why. Hopefully it was the aura of anger I tried to project.
Red Hall was probably far cry from what it originally was. It was a giant, thirty story building. The front looked more like the entrance to a fancy hotel than an apartment complex. The only sign of protection for the place was a couple of Anti-Skill officers who looked like they were freshly on duty.
The officers approached me. "Excuse me, Miss. Are you lost?" one of the officers asked. We were about ten meters apart. They were still walking towards me. My fists clenched. Sparks began to fly around my body. The heat felt rather refreshing.
I focused my concentration onto the officers. My electricity engulfed the, send volts and volts through their bodies. Not enough to kill them. But they would be unconscious for a while.
I drifted past them without a glance back and entered the lobby. It was a fairly decorative place. There was a myriad of colors inside that stood in contrast with drab exterior. The few people inside started to back away from the storm around me.
A massive flurry erupted, silencing the lighting in the room. Screams of panic cried out and I felt a rush of people pass by me. The fear was flushed out with them. I stretched out with my power. I was able to detect the computer inside the office.
Hacking wasn't my domain, but I had one trick up my sleeve that even Uiharu couldn't match. I entered the office and barred the door. I placed my hand on the monitor. My mind began to clear. A gentle flow of electricity passed through the monitor. It followed the path of the wiring inside. The river came to a head at the HDMI cable that connected the monitor to the computer. It poured down the cable into the console below.
With each drop entering the CPU, the world around me began to break away. A new world attempted to rise out of the rubble. My will forced the new world into focus, allowing me to step into a digital world.
My mind rationalized billions of shifting ones and zeros into a cathedral. My vision was overlayed with some sort of black and white filter. The world stabilized and I walked out the main door into a sort of nineteen-twenties city scape. My assessment was boosted away by the dress of the few people on the sidewalks and the models of cars parked in the street.
I refocused my mind. I needed to find the Avri for the area. It would have to be around here right? I began wandering the street looking for it. My search had to be cautious though. Last time I encountered an Avri, I ended up meeting the entirety of Avri. Which probably explains why Anti-Skill found me last time, as having the program you have monitoring your network focus in on one spot is probably a dead giveaway.
This time, I just needed to get a little information out of it. That was part of the Avri Units' job so it shouldn't be too hard. And Lain wasn't here to trip them up. I felt pretty good about the situation actually.
The unit was only half a block down. It was running the front of a radio shop called Sonnie's. It looked the same way it did last time, a young woman in a black school uniform and odd long hair. The program moved from radio to radio in the shop, carefully listening to what was being said. The noise sounded like useless static to me. The Avri got something out of the jumble of noise because it would nod its head and mark something on a clipboard.
I cleared my throat. The Avri stopped its work and looked up to me. The program retained its familiar blank expression. Though I swear there was a glimmer of recognition in its "eyes."
"We remember this one," the Avri said in a dry monotone. That made me take a step back. I wasn't surprised that it did remember me per say. More by how bluntly it said it. "Can this we be of assistance?"
I nodded. "This one understands that this unit flagged some security footage a few days ago," I said. I tried my best to mimic the Avri Unit's speaking style. From my last encounter it didn't seem to matter. What I was hoping was that it would look like two Avri Units were talking as to not draw the attention of other units or Root.
"Yes we sent such a flag. No feedback has been received to resolve what happened. This unit has only received instructions not to throw any similar flags until that one is resolved," the unit responded.
"How many of those type of flags does this one have left to process?" I asked.
"Two more."
"May I see them?"
The Avri actually looked like it was nervous. Its eyes shifted around and it shuffled a bit. "We cannot share those records with you, We will send this request up the chain," it said. The program started towards a telephone tucked away in the corner.
I grabbed the program's "wrist." With a single yank of my arm, I forced it to turn around. I placed my hand on its "head." Power surged forth from my fingers into the program. For a flickering moment there was something like fear on its face. My lips curled up into my mouth for the duration of that look. I finally released the program and took a step back.
It handed me the clipboard in its hands. I grabbed it and quickly went through the pages until I found what I was looking for. I pulled out the sheet of paper and started to back away. The Avri looked rather confused at the whole situation. I finally bolted through the door all the way to the cathedral. The world began to crumble around me as I got closer to the alter.
My eyes opened. My body was pressed face first on the ground. A massive gulp of oxygen felt life saving I pushed myself off the ground and dusted off my clothes. If the Avri's information was correct, Kiyama was on the sixteenth floor. I scrounged around the office for a moment to collect whatever bits of small metal there was. A few coins and some paper clips were around.
With those filling my pockets, I unblocked the door and grabbed hold of the handle. I took a deep breath.
To Be Continued...
A/N: You've probably noticed that my output has been slowed as of late. I apologize for that. With school starting up and my news addiction kicked into high gear thanks to the elections here in America heating up (#AnyoneButTrump), my writing time has become limited as of late. Plus I've started moving my stuff onto Google Drive, so some of my drafts have gotten mixed up in the shuffle. The rest of this is just me discussing themes and story crafting, so if you're not interested in that, leave a review and I'll see you next time.
There are a couple things I'd like to talk about this order starting with what happened at the end of the chapter and working my way up. I tried to portray what Misaka did somewhat ambiguous from a moral/philosophical view. Your opinion will probably be driven by how you feel about AI and if the Avri Units count as one.
Next is Alice. One of the things that irked me about TSE was that I didn't have time to really develop her. I'm working on fleshing her out a little more here and there through the rest of the series.
Please leave a review and follow, thanks!