This work is based (mostly) on the work of Kazuma Kamachi and other writers. I claim no ownership over the characters or plot points used in this work, just the scenarios they are written in. Please Read, Review, and enjoy.
"…ten-san… Sa…san…"
Saten suddenly squirmed out of unconsciousness and into a state of semi-consciousness as he heard a voice that was obviously calling out his name accompanied with hands shaking him. In the darkness of his semi-consciousness state, Saten realized that the person who was calling out to him, and most likely shaking him, was Tomohisa. The second that Saten realized this, the panic that he had felt from being woken up in such a way vanished.
... Ah… It's just Tomo-chan isn't it… I have probably fallen asleep in class again… Ah well… Might as well sleep some more so that I don't fall asleep in the next class.
Saten waved off Tomohisa's hands from his body, and maneuvered his body into a much more comfortable position so to drift off back into sleep. However, almost instantly Tomohisa's voice called out to him again, louder this time, and the hands renewed their shaking of Saten's body.
"Saten-san… Saten-san…"
Come on Tomo-chan… Can't you let me sleep for a little while longer? I don't get a lot of sleep as it is, so what the problem with getting a bit of sleep when I can?
Saten shook off Tomohisa's grasp on his body and rolled over to try once again to go back to sleep. However Tomohisa's hands returned to Saten's body to continue shaking him, this time with a large amount of force. Tomohisa's voice was practically yelling at him now, causing Saten's head to hurt like he had a migraine.
"Saten-san! Saten-san!"
Saten slowly began to open his eyes with a grimace on his face, and he rolled over to look at Tomohisa.
"Tomo-chan… Why are you doing this to me? Don't you know how-…?"
The second that Saten's eyes got used to the sunlight that was shining down on him, he realized that he was lying on the hard concrete ground, a place that was unideal to sleep. Saten squinted his eyes in confusion.
"How… How in the world did I get down here? What… What was I doing that got me-…!?"
At that moment, all of what had happened before Saten had fallen into unconsciousness came rushing back to him. He instantly rocketed up from his lying position and into a sitting position, doing it so fast that his head began to pound in pain. Saten quickly held both sides of his head in a feeble attempt to control the pain in his head, and as he did so he found that one side of his head was wet with some liquid.
Pulling the wet hand away from his head, Saten found that it was covered with the red sticky substance known as blood.
Saten felt a sudden queasiness in his stomach as more blood began to trickle down the side of his face, dripping down onto the concrete.
"Wha-… What in the world happened when I was out? Did some sort of crazy party happen when I wasn't looking?"
Saten heard a loud and exasperated sigh from his side, and when he turned to look at who it was that was doing it, he saw that it was Tomohisa.
Tomohisa looked cut up, with scratches all along his arm and on his face. Blood had yet to start flowing from Tomohisa's injuries like Saten's, but there was a distinct redness to his wounds that made sure to show that blood had been drawn.
Tomohisa glared at Saten with an annoyed glare before punching his friend in the shoulder.
"For fuck's sake Saten-san! You gave everyone a heart attack because of how much of a fucking idiot you are! I mean really… How in the world do you get so scared that you trip over nothing, fall over and hit your own head on a railing, and knock yourself out!?"
Saten felt his face slowly begin to turn a very dark shade of crimson as he recalled everything that happened when the explosion had gone off. He had indeed gotten scared from the explosion, he had indeed tripped over absolutely nothing, and the last thing he remembered before waking up was the sight of a metal railing rushing up towards him.
Saten remembered all of that happening to the letter as Tomohisa had recited it, yet Saten could only feel anger towards Tomohisa for pointing everything out.
"Well sorry for panicking at an explosion going off, but what in the world would a normal person do when a bomb goes off right next to you!? I should be happy that the worst thing that happened was that I got knocked out, instead of having a random piece of metal sticking out of me, or worse, be dead."
Saten heard another sigh from the side opposite Tomohisa and when he turned to look to see who it was, Saten saw that it was Kuroko that was leaning up against a tree, in a similar sort of state as both Saten and Tomohisa. A blood trickle was running down the center of his face, and any uncovered flesh had a scratch across it.
Kuroko smiled over at Saten and nodded his head in an acknowledging manner.
"You can thank me for the fact that you aren't in a worse position by the way. If I hadn't acted when I did… There might not have been enough of you and Tomohisa left to even make one body."
Kuroko gestured to a space that was directly across from the group, and Saten, after a bit of a struggle to stand up due to the amount of blood he had lost, looked at what Kuroko was gesturing at.
The group was across the street from where they had been, and where they had been now looked like what one would see on the news in a warzone.
The metal shutters which had been down in front of the bank's front door had been blown open from an internal explosion. The opening was now framed on either side by large blazes of fire and twisted, distorted steel components from the shutter. Glass shards which were originally part of the windows of the bank lay scattered around the sidewalk, and from the inside of the bank large black plumes of smoke were billowing out, obscuring any view of the interior.
Saten shivered in fear at the sight that was laid out before him, and felt a slight stirring in his stomach at the idea that he could have been caught up in that if it hadn't been for Kuroko. Luckily there had no one else who had been in a similar position as Saten and Tomohisa, so there were no injuries aside from the three boys, but as the three looked on they saw that bystanders were already gathering around the blown open bank front.
As he looked over at the bank, and saw all the bystanders slowly gathering, Kuroko let out a sigh of depression.
"Why does my day seem to get worse and worse by the minute? First Aneki runs off on one of his bullshit tantrums, then he attacks one of my friends for no good reason, and now this… Tomohisa, did I do something recently to deserve this?"
Saten had nervously grinned at Kuroko throughout his rant, but as soon as the Judgement agent was done, a flash of panic raced through Saten's gut.
"Speaking of the crazy dwarf… Where in the world is he? Did he run off at the first sign of danger like a normal person would, or did he…?"
"Oh you don't have to worry about me. Kuroko had the decency to pick me up and teleport me out of danger like he did with you. But I do have a… slight problem with where he put me."
Saten looked towards the source of this voice, and found that the source was one rather annoyed looking Makoto, who was hanging upside down from the tree Kuroko was leaning against via a cloth strap which was tied around his ankles. Makoto was hanging there, arms crossed and glaring down at Kuroko with a fearsome gaze.
"Kuroko… Why did you decide to hang me from a tree? Did I do something to offend you recently?"
Kuroko sighed and waved away Makoto's concerns as he stopped leaning against the tree. The Judgement agent stretched out in preparation for getting to work.
"Well Aneki… Why don't you just hang out there and think about that question while I sort out this mess? I probably won't have the opportunity to stop you if you decide to go out of control again, so it would be better if you just stay out of the way… Oh look. There are the latest pains in my neck right now."
At that moment, almost on Kuroko's que, another group of people emerged from the smoke covered interior of the bank, the clear perpetrators of the current situation.
The man at the head of the new group, the apparent leader of them, was a man dressed in a complete outfit of leather, with a black leather jacket with metal spikes on the shoulders, black leather pants, and a pair of black leather boots. The leader had a red patterned bandana over the lower half of his face, and a giant duffel bag hung over his shoulder which was obviously filled with cash from the bank.
On either side of the leader were two similarly dressed goons, both of them carrying a duffel bag each and with cocky grins across their faces. The fourth member of the group was hanging back behind the other three, and he was dressed up in a long beige colored trench coat, and they were looking around with a definite twitch of worry.
The leader scanned the area quickly, as if he was looking for any indication of danger towards them, and finding none, the leader smirked. The leader then gave a slight gesture towards his goons, and as one the four criminals began to run off down the street without anyone stopping them.
Kuroko watched the group of criminals run off with a sad smile on his face and sighed out in a disappointed way. Reaching into his pocket the Judgement agent pulled out a pair of black leather gloves and the green armband with a shield that represented Judgement. Kuroko gestured towards Tomohisa and pointed towards the people who were looking at the black smoke spewing bank or the criminals who were running off.
"Tomohisa… Please try to do some crowd control with these people so that they don't get involved with this stupidity? Just try to keep them out of the way. Also call Anti-skill so that they can get here sooner rather than later. Taking the damage into consideration, I would say that we would be dealing with a Level 3 fire esper at the very least. I would like some backup if I can get it."
Tomohisa nodded and also pulled out and affixed his Judgement armband onto his sleeve. He then pulled out his phone and dialed the number for Anti-Skill, while at the same time starting to direct people away from the entrance of the bank.
Kuroko sighed again and turned to look over at Saten, who was still absolutely at a loss of words due to the speed things were happening at.
"Ruriko-san… Sorry to spring this on you, but… could you please watch over Aneki for me while this is happening? Even in his current condition I am still hesitant to leave him unsupervised."
"… Kuroko one of these days I'm going to hurt you. I'm going to be standing over you one morning with you tied to your bed and I'm going to break your fucking legs!"
Kuroko looked up at Makoto, who was raging in his restraints, and sighed.
"Really now Aneki… Now you are just saying things that sound kinky to me. Are you trying to rev my engines a bit before I have to work?"
Makoto facepalmed and continued to hang from the tree in silence with a look of annoyance on his face. Kuroko sighed again and gestured towards the hanging Level 5 while he addressed Saten.
"So then Ruriko-san… Again could you look after mister 'raging bag of puberty' here? This will probably be… well… A while at least, but…"
Kuroko's plea droned off as he realized that he had nothing else to add to it, while Saten was looking up at the still scowling Makoto. After a few moments of this, Saten sighed and nodded at Kuroko while gesturing towards Makoto.
"I guess I'll do it… well I'll-…!?"
Kuroko grabbed the hand that Saten was using to gesture with and shook it in an appreciative manner.
"Great Ruriko-san! I definitely owe you one!"
At that moment Kuroko released Saten's hand, and disappeared with a little pop, indicating that the esper had teleported away.
As Kuroko exited the eleventh dimension with another small pop and was back onto the street, he sighed as he distinctly felt his stomach rumble in response to him teleporting.
Really now? I was certain to take all of my regulators this morning, yet I'm still getting stomach problems… Should I talk with Sensei about getting new pills or…?
"Oi! Kid! Get the fuck out of the way now!"
Kuroko turned to look at the source of the voice with a curious look on his face, and instantly saw the source was the group of criminals running towards him. Kuroko couldn't help but smile at the fact that he had landed his teleport almost perfectly to where he had wanted, and he grabbed ahold of the green armband to show the criminals.
"Judgement desu yo! Please stop where you are and submit to-…!?"
Kuroko did not even get to finish giving out his warning as the leader of the criminals gestured to both of his goons, and the two goons ran ahead of their leader with grins on their faces. The faster of the two goons threw a punch towards Kuroko once they got close enough, while the lagging goon aimed a kick at the Judgement agent's shins.
"Sorry Mister Judgement but…!"
"We've got to get by right now!"
Kuroko looked between the two goons, sighed and instantly completed the calculations to reenter the eleventh dimension, jumping to a point just above the two instantly confused goons. As Kuroko did a bit of midair adjustment to line up his attack, he could not help but smile when both the goons turned to look at their boss in a spooked manner.
"Like I said…"
One of the goons must have heard what Kuroko had said, because they looked up towards the Judgement agent's rapidly approaching foot. There was a distinct crunch as Kuroko's foot sunk into the goons face, and when Kuroko jumped off the goon's face like it was a spring board, there was a shoe print on their face.
The goon with the shoe print on their face toppled backwards and slammed face up on to the pavement while Kuroko landed on his feet with a smile on his face. The second goon, now aware of Kuroko's presence, threw a punch at the judgement agent with a furious grimace on his face.
"Why you little…!?"
The second goon followed through with his swing at Kuroko, only to have their arm fly through open air as the Judgement agent again teleported away from harm's way. Kuroko grinned as he continued his commands to the criminals.
"I am a member of Judgement, so please stop where you are and…"
Kuroko emerged from the eleventh dimension right behind the other goon and took the opportunity presented by the panicking man to punch him in the side of the face with a gloved hand. The second goon was sent flying to the ground, leaving Kuroko as the only person standing. He smiled as he looked down at the dazed goons with a smile.
"Submit yourself to detainment while we sort out you getting arrested by Anti-Skill."
The leader of the criminals clenched his fist in a rage before he gestured to the third goon, the one in the trench coat. The trench coat wearing goon nodded his head nervously before they turned around on the spot and ran off in the opposite direction of Kuroko. The leader of the criminals sighed before he began flexing his hands as he smiled at Kuroko from behind his bandana.
"Really now… Has Judgement decided to take a more aggressive approach towards your guy's training? Here I had thought you Judgement guys just served as glorified hall monitors or crossing guards, not martial artists."
Kuroko chuckled for a bit before shrugging back at the criminal leader.
"Well… Of all people you should know that checking for hall passes and making sure kids cross the street safely is a very dangerous thing to do now a days. Judgement has decided to beef up their forces in response to tackling these very dangerous tasks."
The leader of the criminals chuckled back at Kuroko and lifted his hand up so his empty palm was level with his face.
"Ahh… Really now? I must admit you Judgement guys must have it hard. I'm sorry to say this but…"
Suddenly there was a spark of fire in the palm of the criminal leader's hand, and then it began to grow until there was a fireball hanging in the air just above the palm of their hand. The criminal leader smiled at Kuroko as he winded up what was clearly a toss towards the Judgement agent.
"I'm going to have to make your day a fair bit worse!"
The criminal boss threw the fireball that was in his hand directly towards Kuroko, and the fireball flew through the air on an almost perfect trajectory for Kuroko's head.
Kuroko sighed as he watched the fireball flying towards him, before quickly doing the calculation to teleport half a meter to the side. The fireball soared through the air where Kuroko's head had inhabited a second before, eventually colliding in an explosion of sparks.
Kuroko looked at the explosion of sparks with a somewhat bored expression before he sighed and looked back at the criminal boss.
"I have to ask you something… How in the world is that supposed to be-…!?"
Kuroko was cut off as he teleported to another spot to avoid another fireball, and then quickly again to dodge yet another fireball. This pattern continued and intensified for a few more seconds until the criminal boss snapped and started yelling at Kuroko.
"Stop flashing around you showboating bastard! Stand still and accept your fate like a man!"
Kuroko did not pay any attention to the criminal boss's demands at all as he was dodging all of the fireballs flying at him. What he did do was meditate on the nagging feeling in the back of his head.
… This guy… What in the world is wrong with this scene? I he's the only person who has displayed the esper power's necessary to blow open the front of the bank… but this power level is a bit-…!?
Kuroko quickly moved his head to the side in order to dodge a fireball that got dangerously close to him before he could calculate the dimensions needed to teleport. As he felt the heat of the fire go past his face and a bit of his hair get singed off, a switch flipped in Kuroko's head so that he was entirely focused on what he had to do.
… Well then… I guess it's time for me to get a tad bit more serious about this.
The criminal boss did not seem to notice the change that came over Kuroko, as he smiled over at the Judgement and made a gesture of victory while he prepared another fireball.
"Ha! Take that you bastard! The next one is going to go right through your-…!?"
The criminal boss was cut off when Kuroko's foot sunk into their stomach. The teleporter had jumped directly in front of the criminal boss, and now used the respite he had gained from kicking the criminal boss to sigh and glare at them.
"Now then… Please…"
Kuroko followed up his kick with a punch to the criminal boss in the stomach, and when the criminal boss wound up to throw a retaliatory fireball at him, he dodged to the side. Kuroko continued to glare at the criminal boss as he readied his fist to punch again.
"Calm…!"
Kuroko swung and followed through with his punch the criminal boss on the side of their face, knocking the criminals head sharply to the side. Kuroko dodged yet another fireball thrown in retaliation and prepped his fist for one final punch.
"Down…!"
Kuroko swung his fist up in a vicious uppercut that landed squarely on the criminal boss's chin. The criminal boss flew backwards from the force of the punch and landed face up on the pavement with a loud thud. Kuroko shook his head with a sigh and rubbed his now sore hand.
"… And wait for Anti-Skill to come get you."
"… Wow… That was… amazing… To say the very least about it…"
Saten could not help but say this with wide eyed wonder after witnessing the spectacle of Kuroko's fight with the criminals. The whole engagement had taken up less than a minute, and Kuroko didn't even seem distressed from all of the fireballs that had been tossed at him during it. He instead calmly began to look at the three criminals on the ground with an expression of distaste before looking over at Tomohisa.
"Tomohisa! Have you gotten ahold of Anti-Skill yet?! I don't know how long these guys are going to stay down for!"
Tomohisa lowered his phone from his ear a replied back to Kuroko without even batting an eyelash at the sight that the criminals had already been defeated.
"Their already on their way Kuroko, but it seems that they're going to be a bit late due to the closest team having respond to another incident."
Kuroko sighed and began to stretch out in what could be a considered an attempt to relax. He looked down at the dazed criminals and shrugged.
"Well I guess I should do all I can to make you feel comfortable since you are going to be here for a while. Wouldn't want anyone to say that Judgement treats their detainees unfairly."
With that Kuroko produced three pairs of handcuffs from his pockets and prepared to properly detain his detainees.
Saten began to shake his head as he continued to stare at Kuroko in admiration, even looking over at Tomohisa with a new sense of understanding as the second Judgement continued to direct people to stand away from the scene.
"Really now… Judgement people like Tomo-chan and Kurokochi really have it hard. I've heard all about the stuff that they have to do but… seeing it up close really makes it clear to you."
"… So your one of those kinds of people that gives people nicknames once they earn your respect, huh?"
As soon as he had heard their voice, Saten was going to respond to Makoto's question with a remark on how his nicknames for him weren't born out of respect, but then he heard the sound of arching electricity which caused Saten to look up in surprise.
Saten was just in time to see the falling form of the third Academy City level 5 fall to the ground, the binding on his legs burning up into ash as he fell. Makoto laid on the ground for a few moments with a pained expression on his face before standing up and dusting himself off. The level 5 then looked over at Kuroko, who was too busy putting handcuffs on the two goons to notice the fact that Makoto had gotten free. Seeing this, the Level 5 grinned in what could only be described as a malicious way.
"Well now… Since Kuroko is so focused on his job… I might as well get out of here while I have the chance!"
Makoto started to move in an attempt to run away from the scene and escape, but he only got two steps far before Saten sprung out in front of him, arms spread out in a clear attempt to contain him.
"Hold on now there chibi. As much as I know you want to go out and ruin some person's day, I'm going to have to have you stay here for now. Without Kurokochi here I don't trust you to be by yourself."
Makoto clicked his tongue and fixed Saten with a glare that was filled with pure rage. If they hadn't been surrounded by people, Saten had the feeling that he would have been shocked by a burst of electricity.
"Listen here you stupid bastard. Get out of my way now or we are going to have problems. Particularly the problem of how crispy you are going to be when I'm done with you!"
Saten felt a bead of cold sweat roll down his neck, but he returned the Level 5's glare with just as much ferocity as was directed at him.
"Now, Now dwarf. No need to be so angry about having to wait for your babysitter. Just let me keep you company for a-…!?"
"You… You stinking bastard!"
Saten was cut off when suddenly the criminal boss sprung back up while Kuroko was struggling to put hand cuffs on him. Kuroko teleported backwards to get clear of the criminal boss, an annoyed look on his face as he glared at them.
"Really now… Could you please just sit down while Anti-Skill gets here? You should already know how impossible it is to-…!?"
The criminal boss, while running on pure rage and adrenaline, began to summon his fireballs yet again. Only this time the fireballs, which previously would have fit in the palm of the criminal boss's hand, were almost three times that size. Kuroko could only blankly stare at the now giant fireballs before sighing.
"Well… I guess that proves that you were the one who blew open the front of the bank… That should help Anti-Skill put you away for a bit."
The criminal boss only responded to Kuroko with a low animal like growl before throwing the giant fireballs with a fury born of his current condition. Kuroko instantly dodged the fireball, and watched as it the pavement in a huge explosion of fire and sparks. Once the flames cleared away somewhat, everyone could see that the concrete pavement had been melted somewhat by the fireball.
Kuroko looked at the melted pavement and sighed before stretching out again, his face a clear expression of the focus he had.
"Well then… guess I'll have to work that little bit more, huh?"
Kuroko and the criminal boss then launched back into their fight, but Saten did not get a chance to observe the fight for more than a few seconds due to the fact that Makoto used that opportunity to slip away from Saten. Saten quickly began to chase after him, though he instantly realized that it would be hard to catch him.
Makoto ran in the direction opposite of Kuroko, and dove into one of the many alleyways that made up Academy City. Saten followed behind the Level 5 rapidly, and finally caught up to Makoto once the two boys reached an intersection in the alleyways. Saten grabbed ahold of Makoto's arm by the wrist to stop him from going any further.
"Now come on chibi! Could you please just calm down for a few seconds and just stand somewhere so you don't worry someone's day!? How much do you want to-…!?"
Saten instantly let go of the Level 5's arm when he heard the sound of arching electricity and felt all of the feeling below his elbow disappear. Makoto grimaced at Saten and rudely gestured at the Level 0 as electricity arched off of him like some sort of tesla coil.
"Listen here you annoying bastard! Leave me alone right now, or the next time you get in my way I'm going to fry you like a bloody potato!"
Saten slowly felt the felling return to his arm before he glared at the Level 5 with a rage that could only have been born from a Level 0.
"… This is why I can't stand all of you goddamned high level espers! You're all so stuck up and abuse your powers so quickly… I just sickens me to-…!?"
At that moment a person ran in between Saten and Makoto, causing the two boys too look at them rather than continue with the fight that was clearly going to break out between them. It was when Saten focused on the person now running away from him that the Level 0 recognized them.
The person running down the alleyway was the fourth member of the criminal group that was currently being detained by Kuroko, the goon who had been wearing the long trench coat. The expression on the goons face was that of a pure panic, and it was completely clear that they had not even noticed Saten or Makoto in their flight of terror. For some reason the goons was running slower than what one would expect, as if they were carrying a huge weight as they ran.
Saten continued to track the goon as he ran to the mouth of the alleyway before he gestured towards them, looking at Makoto, who had an annoyed expression on his face as he watched the criminal run away.
"Hey… Shouldn't we report him to Kurokochi so he knows that he missed one? I don't think it would be good to have him running around would it?"
Makoto glared over at Saten, clearly still angry about the confrontation they were going to have. However after a moment, Makoto smiled over at Saten and gestured for him to continue.
"Oh please go right ahead. That an absolutely wonderful idea. You can go and tell Kuroko about that guy, and I'll get out of yours and everyone else's way to go and do something more productive."
Saten grimaced at Makoto and sighed while he continued to track the trench coated goon as they ran away.
"Is your IQ as small as your fucking stature? You know full well that I'm not letting you go on your merry destructive-…!?"
Saten stopped talking at that moment when he realized why it was that the trench coated goon was running so strangely.
One of the flaps on the goon's trench coat flapped open to reveal that the goon was carrying a small child underneath it. The child was maybe four or five, and they had tears born from fear in his eyes as he was clearly being kidnapped.
As the goon rounded the corner to the alleyway and disappeared from view with the child, Saten's body began to move almost instinctively after them. Almost instantly Saten found himself stopped when someone grabbed his arm by the wrist.
"What in the world do you think you are doing you idiot? Don't you think you should go report that to Kuroko instead of running off and making things worse?"
Saten whirled around to face Makoto, the person holding onto his wrist, and began to yell at him in a fury.
"What do you mean go tell Kuroko!? By the time we go and tell him that guy will probably get away with the kid! We need to rescue him before that happens!"
Makoto sighed and gestured in the direction where the criminal had run away with a serious look on his face as he did so.
"Well what in the world do you plan to do when you catch up to him? What happens if that guy happens to be an esper, or he happens to have a weapon of some sort? I doubt you have any training to deal with that sort of thing… So again, what the hell are you going to do?"
Saten glared back at Makoto as the Level 0 continued to gesture towards where the criminal had run away to.
"Why are you acting like this has nothing to do with you!? You're a Level 5 aren't you!? Why don't you use those powers of yours to beat the crap out of the guy so we can rescue the kid!? Surely that has to be a more constructive use of your powers than just attacking random people!"
Makoto sighed and shook his head, looking at Saten with an overly annoyed look on his face.
"I'm acting like this is none of my business because this is none of my business. When I zap 'random' people, I usually do it because I have a good reason to do it, not because it is what someone else wants me to do. If you want to have me zap that guy… then you're going to have to make it worth my while."
Saten glared at Makoto, who was returning the glare from the Level 0 with one of his own.
"So let me get this straight… You won't do anything to help that kid unless I make it 'worth your while'? Is that what you are saying to me right now?"
Makoto nodded towards Saten, sighing as he did so.
"Of course that is what I'm telling you. Why in the world would you expect me to do-…!?"
Makoto was cut off when Saten's fist slammed into the center of his face. The Level 5 was sent sprawling to the ground as the Level 0 looked down on them with an expression of pure rage.
"Fine then… If the person best suited to saving the kid won't do it, then I guess I'll do it myself! I don't care what you do anymore! You can go fuck off for all I care!"
With that Saten turned away from the Level 5 who was sprawled on the ground and instantly took off after the trench coated goon with the child. He moved mostly off of fury and anger, so he did not even begin to think about what his plan for saving the kid was until he was outside of the alleyway.
The criminal with the kid had not gone far, being only a few meters away from the exit of the alleyway when Saten came out of it. The goon was busy with trying to break open a car door that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings or the kid at all, keeping only a single hand on the collar of the kid so they would not run away.
Saten watched from afar, not wanting to get to close and spooking the criminal. He waited his brain coming up with a very simple plan for him to do.
… I've just got to grab the kid, run, and not worry about anything else. If I can just get them away…!
At that moment the trench coated goon let go of the kid, obviously to finish up whatever thing he was doing to open up the car and Saten used that moment to its fullest potential.
Saten broke out in a full run, reaching out and grabbing the kid before the trench coated goon could even turn to see the middle schooler running towards them. Once his target was safely in his hands, Saten began to sprint as hard as he could, looking for a safe place to escape from the goon.
The child in Saten's hands looked up at him with a fearful expression on, point back at the goon with an intensity that was strange for one of his age.
"M-mister! That bad guy! He-… He…!"
Saten smiled back at the child and waved his hand back and forth in an attempt to make the kids worries disappear.
"Don't worry about it little guy. Once we get far enough away, that guy won't be any-…!?"
Before Saten could finish speaking, from behind him there was a sound of a single gunshot. Directly to his side a window on a car shattered, and the combination of that and the gunshot caused the middle schooler to tumble to the ground. He had the good sense to fall so that he would take the most of the damage from the fall, rather than the kid.
As Saten looked back at the criminal, he saw that the person who had shot was the same trench coated goon. The goon was holding his pistol with quivering hands, and his face was twisted in an expression that was half fear and half power induced confidence. The goon smiled at Saten before putting the middle schooler in their sights.
"Listen here… you little punk. That kid… is our group's backup plan for if any of us got caught. You know… ransom and that sort of thing. So… could you hand him over to me?"
The child that was in Saten's arms instantly began to cry, holding on to Saten for dear life because of the fear the goon had instilled in him.
"Mi-Mister! Don't give me back to the scary guy! I don't want to be kidnapped!"
Saten clicked his tongue and glared back up at the goon, who was still smiling down at Saten with an expression that was part terrified and part cocky.
"You god damn bastard! Why can't you just let us go since you've already abandoned you friends!? I won't tell the Judgement guy that you are here, so-…!?"
The goon's trigger finger began to twitch, a small movement that caused Saten to instantly shut up. The goon chuckled at this and put on an expression that was now full of his smugness.
"Well… I guess I'm not completely heartless. So I'll give you a choice. Either you give me the kid, or you are going to have to take-…!?"
"Spark of Justice!"
From behind the goon, there was the clear sound of arching electricity and a bolt of bluish white electricity hit the goon directly in the head. The goon's eyes rolled back into his head and their body flopped down onto the floor like a puppet with all its strings cut.
Saten looked at the goon who was now face down on the floor for a good few seconds before looking up to look for the person he knew was going to be there. They were there, though they were completely different to what Saten had expected.
Misaka Makto, the Level 5 esper who had said the saving the child from being kidnapped, was now standing there, posing like some cheesy actor in a Saturday morning special, with what appeared to be half of a cheap plastic mask hung over the top part of his face.
The Level 5 laughed heartily and switched poses so that he was pointing at Saten and the child who had almost been kidnapped.
"Well Good citizen! You were quite lucky that I was passing by! I hope that criminal scum didn't do anything to hurt you!"
Saten glared at the Level 5 who was now acting like a gigantic idiot with a look that could only be described as annoyed confusion. Makoto instantly began to sweat under the scrutiny of Saten, and began to twitch the moment that Saten opened his mouth to obviously question the Level 5.
"Chibi-san… What in the world are you-…!?"
"A Guardian Ranger!"
Saten was cut off when the kid, who had been bawling his eyes out seconds earlier, jumped out of Saten's hand and ran up to examine Makoto, who instantly beamed up when his poor excuse of a cosplay got noticed.
"That's right young citizen! I am one of the guardians of Justice, the mighty-…!?"
"Aneki…"
Makoto and Saten both jumped in surprise when they realized the Kuroko, who had several pretty obvious burn marks on his clothes from his battle with the fire wielding esper. The Judgement agent was blankly staring at Makoto with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
Makoto instantly began to panic under the stares of Kuroko, waving his hands around in a useless attempt to explain with gestures.
"Kuroko! This is… It's not what it looks like! I… Uhm…"
Kuroko sighed and shook his head, slowly raising his fist that was clearly clenched in anger.
"You god damn…"
Kuroko punched Makoto directly in the stomach, causing the Level 5 to keel over in front of the Judgement agent. Kuroko then followed this up by grabbing ahold of the sides and began applying a great deal of pressure on Makoto's unfortunate head.
"Eighth Grade Syndrome suffering bastard!"
All that escaped from Makoto's mouth at that time was a wordless groan of pain, while at Kuroko's side the kid that Saten and Makoto had saved was shaking Kuroko's arm, trying to keep the Judgement agent from hurting Makoto.
"Don't hurt them mister Judgement guy! He saved me and mister over there from the real bad guy!"
Kuroko of course did not listen to the child and continued to apply pressure mercilessly to Makoto's head. Saten, in the meanwhile, could only sigh and look up to the sky with a confused look on his face.
Really now… What a strange day I have been having today…