Chapter 2: A Certain fight in the Streets
Akeno was in the Occult Research Club, finishing up report she had to turn in due to her status of in-training. Akeno sighed; why couldn't she have become a high-class devil like everyone else? She wasn't complaining (much), but the paper work, the physical and mental training by Rias, and finally trying to understand where she fit in was a bit much at the moment.
Due to her being 'in-training', she had to fill out several forms that gave the other devils (most notably the 72 Pillars) an idea of where her allegiances lied. She made sure they understood she would back Rias, despite being unable to do so in the usual manners at the moment and that if anyone tried to pit her against Rias that she would never comply.
The physical training was harsh, to say the least. Rias rarely trained her peerage members to the point of exhaustion, but Akeno saw Rias was pushing her harder than ever. Rias said that this was because after a chat with Heaven Canceller, Akeno's queen wouldn't take her seriously if she wasn't strong.
She would've continued to think had it not been for Rias walking in.
"Hello Akeno," Rias said politely. "You ready to meet your queen later today; I got word from Heaven Canceller he should be able to leave today or tomorrow."
Akeno nodded, deciding to make some tea to relax herself. As she made the tea, she held the conversation with Rias.
"I am as ready as I am ever going to be," Akeno said. "I just am curious if he is going to believe me when I tell him he is a demon." Rias nodded, understanding the issue at hand.
"Well, he is, from what I know from Heaven Canceller, extremely intelligent, but he is rational. So he will probably outright deny it, unless you can prove beyond a doubt," Rias stated. "I am more concerned by him following you; he has never had a reason to follow, believing himself to be strongest all of."
Akeno poured her and Rias a cup of tea, before sitting down, comprehending this information. If Accelerator demanded both proof that he was a devil and that she was his king, then that would mean…
"What exactly do you propose I do?" Akeno asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, you are asking me to take a very self-assured and powerful person to submit their will to me. If that isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is."
"That's true," Rias started. "But I wasn't going to suggest you try and break Accelerator, that would only get you on the wrong side of him. No, rather give undeniable proof that you're a Devil and that he is as well, and explain the fine details of his newfound situation. It may not be as bad as you are expecting, but it won't be without its problems."
"Such as?" Akeno asked. Rias sighed.
"For instance how a 'new born' Devil like him will need to accept that, while his ability gives him unprecedented power over most people, he will need to obey the orders of the Maous," Rias provided. "Or how, despite how tempting it might be, he can't severly injure or outright kill any Angels or Fallen Angels without a form of consent, and you know what I mean."
Akeno nodded; the war between the three factions could be liken to the cease fire between North and South Korea. While on paper at peace with one another, the three factions were actually on a knife's edge, where any incident deemed 'too aggressive' by any of the factions would be cause for a new war. Akeno would need to ensure that Accelerator didn't get himself involved, as while he was a Devil now, his actions would reflect back onto Akeno's, and for the time being, Rais's standing. Akeno didn't want to be hunted down because Accelerator got himself involved in the Russian Roulette that was the tension between the three factions.
"Alright, but would you mind helping me out with this? Last thing I need to do is to cause undue tension between my future Queen and I," Akeno requested politely to Rias. The red head nodded.
"Of course, after all Accelerator will be for a time my queen until you ascend," Rias responded. "That said, we should leave soon, I wish to speak to Heaven Canceller before you broach Accelerator with the subject of him being a Devil."
Accelerator was lying down on one of the hospital beds, lying on his side, as he pondered how he survived. He didn't buy the bullshit story about him reflecting the bullet as it entered his brain for even a moment. No idiot with even a sup-par understanding of the anatomy of the brain would.
The bullet would've hit his prefrontal cortex, one of the most important parts of the brain for a person's personality. If the bullet did damage, then he would've been left brain dead, and he would've been bled out to death. The reason is that all esper abilities rely on personal realties so if the person was shot in the prefrontal cortex, they wouldn't be able to access their personal realty.
But even assuming he survived the damage and was able to reflect the bullet after it hit his prefrontal cortex, the likely hood of him being able to reflect the bullet after it hit the prefrontal cortex was next to none. The reason was incredibly simple; if a person is sent through tremendous pain, regardless of their ability or their esper level, then they could lose momentary control over their ability. If he lost control of his ability due to the inevitable pain of having a bullet beginning to pass his brain, he would lose his ability to control vectors for a short moment.
However, this period of pause would mean his complete and utter death. The reason is that assuming he regained his ability after just a sec the bullet collided with his prefrontal cortex, the bullet in that span would penetrate his skull in one one-thousandth of a second, much too fast for him to react. The bullet would have time to punch through his prefrontal cortex, his thalamus, and finally his medulla, causing an instant death.
So how the hell did he not only get up and attempted to lunge at Amai Ao, but also use his ability long enough to prevent him and Yoshikawa from bleeding out? Logically, he should be sitting pretty six feet under the ground with not a single person giving a fuck about his passing. But here he was, in the hospital, clearly alive.
His thoughts were interrupted by the person on the other hospital bed in the room.
"'Misaka is also counting on you!'" Last Order begins to shout. "Says Misaka as Misaka makes her request." Accelerator tilts his head, wondering what the hell Last Order, now dress in a blue dress with white polka dots, is yelling about.
"'No wait, Misaka wants to do something too! I can't just stay here and do nothing!' says Misaka as Misaka…" At this point Accelerator had enough of the little brat's yelling.
"Hey!" he barked out. "Be quiet! What the hell are you mumbling to yourself for?" Last Order turns her head to face him, wondering for a moment what cause that outburst.
"Huh?" She begins. Then she realized that she was speaking out loud and not in her head. "'Nothing!' says Misaka as Misaka covers her mouth."
Accelerator clicked his tongue in annoyance, hoping nothing would come out of this. But he had to admit, his curiosity and boredom were getting the better of him.
"Aren't you going to answer me?" Accelerator demanded, his thoughts now wondering what was the source of the way one conversation Last Order was having.
"'If you must know, remnants of the Tree Diagram supercomputer have been recovered' Misaka states after Misaka decides it be for the best if you intervened." Last Order states, hoping that Accelerator would be willingly to intervene.
"Oh, why is that?" Accelerator asks, rolling over to his other side to look at Last Order's reaction. Unlike the other sisters, Last Order actually displayed her emotions, thus making it actually possible to gauge the validity of her statements based on facial expressions.
"And better yet," Accelerator continues. "Why would you want me to intervene, if there is anything to intervene over?" Last Order frowned, thinking Accelerator might not do anything.
"'But you need to intervene!' Misaka exclaims loudly, as Misaka hopes to keep Accelerator attention long enough for him to agree. 'Failure to intervene might lead to the Tree-Diagram being reconstructed and thus lead to the revival of the experiment!' Misaka states urgently."
Accelerator felt a minor headache growing. If the Tree-Diagram was rebuilt, then the higher ups in the city would most likely make a move to have him move through the paces of the experiment, thus condemning either the remaining ten thousand sisters or beginning from scratch with another twenty thousand.
But as far as Accelerator cared, the level 6 shift experiment could go to hell. He already had been beaten by a Level 0 esper, thus invalidating the experiment. He wondered how 'the hero' was able to get past his reflection, when nothing else had. If it was as he thought, the hero simply negated his reflection, then it didn't matter if he became Level 6 as there would always be him to counter his ability.
"Tch, what a pain," Accelerator said. He slowly got up, swinging his legs off the bed. "So, who the hell has the Tree-Diagram remnants, and where are they?" He saw Last Order's eyes widen in surprise.
"'You really are willingly to help?' ask Misaka as she verifies what she is hearing." Accelerator mentally wondered if there was a sister that didn't have, so some degree, this annoying speech style.
"Hehe, I am helping myself out more than anyone else," Accelerator said. "I don't need some bloody experiment to tell me I am the strongest, if anyone gets in my way, I will show them that fighting me is a one way road to hell."
Accelerator begins to smirk as Last Order begins to fill him on the location of the Tree-Diagram. He looked forward to a good fight, having been cooped inside this hospital for too long. He turned and left, going to the most likely location of the person with the Tree-Diagram.
Akeno and Rias appeared in the office of Heaven Canceller, and Akeno was surprised by Heaven Canceller. He wasn't this overly imposing and impressive man like Rias's described. In reality, his face was frog like, he was balding, and he seemed shorter than most people his age.
"Hello Heaven Canceller," Rias said, shaking the man's hand. "I know you know me, but as courtesy, this is my former queen and high-class demon in training Akeno. Akeno, this is Heaven Canceller."
"Hello Heaven Canceller," Akeno said, extanding her hand out. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," He said. "If it wasn't for you resurrecting Accelerator, then I would have to be dealing with three corpses in the morgue." He paused, thinking of something. "But I suppose you aren't here to conduct simple talk, are you?"
Rias nodded, and Akeno followed suit. Akeno was trying to push aside all the anxiety of meeting the most powerful esper in Academy City. But the various thoughts of the possible outcomes of meeting him were getting the better of her. She didn't want to face him in battle.
"No, we are here to finish our discussion from early," Rias said. She leaned on the wall, still maintaining eye contact with Heaven Canceller. "I understand you had something to add earlier when it came to Accelerator's need to train?"
"That is indeed the truth," Heaven Canceller said. "Despite the points you made, the Board of Directors will interfere with you plans of moving Accelerator to Kuoh Academy as a student. As you and I both know, they still see him as invaluable to the city."
Rias sighed, knowing that nothing short of manipulating the 12 Directors of the City, which in of itself was an idea so stupid that it rivalled some of the talks about reengaging the war between the three factions, would allow Accelerator to attend Kuoh Academy, if nothing more than to shield Accelerator's true purpose of training. She however saw that Heaven Canceller had an unspoken plan.
"Than what would you propose?" Rias asked. Akeno meanwhile was paying slight attention to the sound of someone walking out. By the sounds of it, the person was requiring a crutch, as she heard a 'click' followed by a shuffle of feet. Putting that distraction aside, Akeno saw Heaven Canceller nod.
"Indeed," he said. "The Board of Directors aren't able to stop your training of Accelerator should you choose to come to the city. There are plenty of place to train him in his duties, and since he doesn't have the life of a normal student, it wouldn't appear that anything is amiss, at least to the Board. It however would mean someone would have to come into the city."
Akeno could tell that this wasn't going to be good for her, as Rias was calculating the risks and rewards of, most likely, sending Akeno into the city. Akeno knew that her Devil powers would attract a lot of unwanted attention, so if she was in the city, then she would need to be careful as to not get attacked.
"I see," Rias said after a moment. "Would Akeno be allowed into the city? I have other duties to attend to, and while it would be most amusing to see Akeno training Accelerator, I can't afford to be in the city."
"That would be possible," Heaven Canceller said. "However, she would need to be careful; we wouldn't want some research groups, say the Kiharas, catching wind of your hierarchy and try to get ahold of some Devils to perform their experiments."
"I agree," Rias said, having done some research into Academy City beforehand. She was most disturbed by the Kiharas, as they were unnaturally intelligent, methodical, and held no qualms about ending a person's life, so long as it suited their purposes. She would have to instruct Akeno after her meeting with Accelerator to tell her about this particular threat.
"Anyway, I talked to that person like you wanted me to," Heaven Canceller continued. "She has agreed to take that position at Kuoh Academy, as she was left unemployed by the recent events. She couldn't come to this meeting as she is meeting with a friend to discuss living arrangements for both Accelerator and Last Order, but she seemed a bit relieved that you were offering."
"That's good to hear," Rias said. "However, I suspect that we should meet Accelerator now, shouldn't we?" Heaven Canceller nodded.
"Yeah, I suppose there is no time like the present," he said. He got walked out of his office, leading the two devils to Accelerator's room. However, when he opened the door, Akeno saw there was only a little girl in a blue shirt with white dots on it.
"Oh, Last Order," Heaven Canceller greeted. "Have you seen Accelerator?" Last Order glanced at Akeno and Rias, before nodding to Heaven Canceller.
"'Yes' Misaka states before Misaka remembers some important information. 'Misaka asked for Accelerator to help the sisters out' Misaka states as Misaka realizes you probably need to talk to him."
Akeno found Last Order's verbal pattern, while lengthy, to be quite cute. That said, at the look of Heaven Canceller's slightly depressed face, something was wrong.
"And where is Accelerator and when will he be back?" Heaven Canceller said while sighing. Last Order shrugged.
"'Within an hour' Misaka states as Misaka calculates the time it would take to get to the most likely place for the thief of the Tree Diagram's remnant and back. Misaka apologizes for any inconveniences."
"It's alright," Rias said. She turned to Akeno. "Last Order, could you give Akeno here the most likely place for Accelerator to be?" Last Order nodded, and quickly gave the GPS coordinates for Accelerator's most likely place to Akeno.
"'Is there anything else?' Misaka inquires as Misaka tries to determine your purpose."
"Nothing else at the moment," Rias said while smiling at Last Order. "My friend and I here have to have a word with Accelerator, so while I chat with you, I figure my friend could find Accelerator and bring him back." Akeno was about to object, but she saw that Last Order began to engage Rias in conversation, and Heaven Canceller sighed.
"Well, I guess I will see you out," heaven Canceller said. He led Akeno back to his office, and began to speak while searching his desk for something.
"I know that you devils have your own codes of conduct and your own sense of justice," he began. "And I also know that you are probably wondering how the hell you are going to explain this all to Accelerator. Don't try and get him to obey, instead approach him as an equal. State you point logically and give proof of your statement. Accelerator, despite being extremely powerful and quite arrogant before his accident, is surprisingly open to other people's input. Don't be discouraged by his mask of indifference; he had to make one for himself after his training under the Kiharas."
"That the second time I've heard of that name, what are the Kiharas?" akeno inquired. Heaven Canceller frowned.
"They are a family that delves into all sorts of scientific fields, most notably the Esper programs. That said, they are highly unethical, have little to no morals, and are only concerned with the end, not the means of the end. If killing a city meant they could gain more insight into the nature behind Esper powers, they wouldn't even hesitate."
Akeno felt a little sick after that description. She couldn't think of many parallels that could adequately be applied to that family, if they really were like that. Perhaps a family full of Joseph Mengle-esque scientist, but it sent a chill down her spine. She didn't want to know what Accelerator had gone through if he was trained by said family.
She walked in silence with Heaven Canceller, her mind a scrambled mess. She hoped that her first impression didn't cause any problems with her future queen.
Musujime Awaki, shaken from her battle with Kuroko Shirai, began walking to the main street. Her mind was scrambling after everything was falling apart. The organization to which she was going to hand over the remains of the Tree Diagram to was being taken down by what she assumed to be Anti-Skill, and without a doubt her face was plastered so that every Judgment and Anti-Skill officer will be looking for her.
"What should I… what should I do?" she questioned herself, glancing around. She got out of the alley and began to walk across the street, dragging the remnants behind her when she heard clicking. She turned to the source of the noise, and began to panic.
Approaching her was Accelerator, limping with his crutch in his hand. He seemed bored to her, and that caused her to seize up. How could someone be so powerful as to be bored encountering a Level 4 teleporter?
"I'm sure you know…" Accelerator began, walking closer to Awaki. In his mind, she looked weak, pathetic. Tsk, I got out of the bed for this, he thought to himself.
"I got out after going through quite the hassle. And what do I see? Some needless looking loser."
Awakie stares at the albino, her mind not comprehending the danger in front of her.
"It can't be…" she mutters to herself. "The Accelerator? The strongest Level 5 in Academy City that even the Railgun is no match for?"
Accelerator stops to stare at Awaki. He knew that most people expected to see some intimidation from the strongest person, but Accelerator knew that having a bored look before approaching the fight seemed to have the same effect. It caused the opponent to over question why he was bored; did he think they were so pathetic that it wasn't even a fight?
"It's impossible!" Awaki stutters. Her eyes widen at the appearance of the strongest in front of her. "There's no way… absolutely no way I can go up against someone like that!"
Acceletrator meanwhile looks on at Awaki, still feeling bored and annoyed that this little red head was what caused Last Order to beg for his intervention. Seriously, besides that Level 0, was there anyone worth his time?
However, before he could ponder about possible contenders (the most prevalent being the rank 2 of Academy City) he heard Awaki beginning to laugh.
"I know!" she exclaims after her short laugh. Accelerator stares at her, wondering what caused the change in attitude. However Awaki remembered an important detail that had it not been for Accelerator's resurrection would've proved useful.
"On August 31st, you should have lost your ability! That's right… You don't have any processing ability you had before! You don't have any of the former power you used to possess!"
Accelerator stared at her for a moment before sighing. He began to speak while cracking his neck.
"Pathetic," he started. "If you actually believe that, then you're so pitiful that you deserve a hug. It's true, I received damage to my brain that day. Now I have my processing done externally. But you see… just because I'm weaker, doesn't make you any stronger, DOES IT?!"
Calculating the vectors quickly, Accelerator slams his foot onto the concrete, causing it to rupture and crack all around him. Awaki in the immediate path of the cracking road, teleports to on top of a light post. However, this did her no good, as Accelerator had also calculated the force need to shatter the windows in the surrounding buildings.
Seeing the falling glass Awaki panics, knowing that if she doesn't do something now she will be pelted by falling glass. She quickly teleports to a point above the street, knowing that while falling in the air she won't be hit with glass. However, she quickly pukes, as the injuries of the accident and the quick 'double tap' teleporting cause a reaction.
Accelerator meanwhile begins to cackle and he calculates 4 different vectors to give himself the ability to fly. He launches himself at Awaki, whose eyes widen in fear. She barely had time to place the suitcase in front of her chest as accelerator punches it, shattering the remains that were inside.
"Sorry!" he growls. "There's only one road to proceed from here on out!" He coils his right arm back, preparing for one hell of a punch. "Cuddle quietly up, tremble in fear, and go back to your former nest!"
He throws the punch forward hitting square on Awaki's nose. She flies back several hundred feet into a building. She then falls another dozen feet, before resting on a chain link fence. Accelerator chuckles as he lands. As he goes to pick his crutch up, he begins to talk to himself.
"Well…" he begins. "With the state I'm in now, I might have to consider retiring as the strongest in Academy City. But still… I've decided to claim myself as the strongest in front of him. Damn it all."
He begins to walk back to the hospital, when as he looks up to the skyline, he sees a familiar person, staring right back him. He recalls her as being the person that handed him that weird card, and he narrows his eyes at her. What possible reason did she have to stare at him?
"Oi, who are you?" Accelerator asked. "Are you some representative for some research group, the sister or girlfriend of some punk I defeated, or are you looking to face a similar fate as that bitch back there?"
He saw the young woman sigh, before she jumped down to the street to face him.
"The name's Akeno Himejima," the young woman introduced herself. "And we need to talk." Accelerator snorted; who the hell did this idiot think she was.
"Oh, and why's that? Is it because I served that foolish idiot a lesson in kinetic physics?" Accelerator asked. To his immense surprise, Akeno shook her head.
"No, although I'm a bit…concerned you saw fit to trash a road and shatter all the nearby windows," Akeno said, grimacing at the destruction that Accelerator unleashed in under ten seconds. "No, rather we need to discuss, along with Heaven Canceller and…a friend of mine, the circumstances surrounding the fact you're alive." Accelerator quirked an eyebrow.
"Oh, are you an esper that aided him in healing me?" Accelerator inquired. "If so, then lead the way, but it doesn't explain how I survived a gunshot to the head."
"I'm not an esper, but I will explain more when we return to the hospital," Akeno informed Accelerator. "Just wait and most if not all of you questions will be answered." Akeno turned to leave, with the number 1 esper in Academy City clicking his tongue in annoyance. Why did he have to deal with people who didn't reveal their intentions until it was too late for him. The Kiharas, the people behind the Level 6 shift, and now this Akeno, when would he get a person who was fucking open about their intentions; oh wait, there was that shitty hero, but he didn't count because Accelerator had yet to figure out how that bastard got around his ability.
"Fuck it, I might as well see what this girl and her friend want," Accelerator muttered to himself. "Can't be much worse, considering I got shot in the head."
Author's Note: Ah, nice to see that many people have returned to this work, and again, the wave of people in the reviews pointing out flaws in the story are back at me. But this time, I'm preparing to weather the storm, and hopefully find a peaceful balance between the two stories' lore, facts, and development so that way I don't have angry people coming after me with pitchforks, but just a few things to discuss, as most of the things mentioned in reviews will be covered in future chapters.
1: In ACMI, a person can't be a magician and an esper (the only exception is Motoharu, and that's because his esper ability heals him partially to allow him to do magic, though is always damn nearly kills him), and I agree. However, for Accelerator to be a Devil, I thought about Magic in DxD and noticed that very rarely if at all did magic follow Idol Theory like it does in ACMI. Therefore, I decided to have Accelerator be a devil while retaining his esper ability. That said, he won't be using Devil Magic because, amongst other reasons, his ability is pretty damn powerful as it is. I decided to make him get sick (varying depending on how much he uses) when he uses Magic in the sense of DxD; he will be gravely injured if he tries to use ACMI's magic.
2: The angels; argh, is there no perfect solution? I remember my first attempt how people were furious with how I dealt with the angels, and this attempt is better, but people are still upset. I don't know what I can do to calm you guys, because until the couple of Arc before the WW3 arc, angels don't play a huge role in ACMI (the only exception is when Index instructs the loli-teacher how to use magic and the Arc that involved the Russian Orthodox Church as far as I remember), and therefore I don't have a lot of knowledge about Angels in ACMI. Sigh, guess it times to hit the wiki up and study up. Perhaps by next chapter I will have a workable workaround.
That is it for now. Sorry for being late by 17 days, but I've been sort of busy. I wouldn't expect a chapter for two months, as it will have to be done from scratch, research must be done, there are episodes from both series to be watched, and then there are my other stories which are in need of updating. But until the next chapter, please, read, review, follow, and favorite, and I will see you guys next time.
