Chapter 4: Warehouse J372
Stiyl had led the three other teens into the small, dark, and decrepit room. Like the rest of the warehouse it showed it's lack of use with dust and cobwebs choking the corners, however this room, while abandoned, it was not quite as hollow like the rest of the building. The room was filled with a new clock upon the wall and a simple wooden chair in the corner. Wallpaper peeled off the walls.
Stiyl stood around a custom-made fire pit in the middle of the room. He inhaled and blew out a trail of smoke.
"This is how this'll work. We take turns answering questions. Each person asks me one thing and I, in return, ask them a question. Deal?"
"Deal," Touma replied.
"Great. Now, I-" Stiyl began.
"Hold on, 'Deal' was a question, wasn't it?" Touma inquired.
"Yeah, so was that. My turn again."
"Dammit..." Touma muttered.
"Question 1. What are you guys doing here?" Stiyl questioned, blowing smoke in their general direction. Mikoto held back a cough and the urge to shoot him with a railgun.
"We're investigating a man named Suzaku Tanaka, he runs an organization called CLASS," Ren answered, "So, what is Necessarius? It's strange having to ask twice."
"An organization that works outside of Academy City, but is aligned to it, amongst others."
"That's all?"
"Sorry, you only get one question per person. You, girl, what is CLASS and what do you know about Suzaku Tanaka?" Stiyl interrogated.
"What do you want to know? What CLASS is, or what I know about Suzaku Tanaka? You can only ask one, remember?" Mikoto mocked.
"Suzaku Tanaka. Coincidentally, that descision also counted as your question, which means I get to go again when you're done. You people should focus more on answering my questions and less on trying to be clever," Stiyl criticized. Mikoto snarled at him. Electricity bounced around on her head. Stiyl smiled.
"You look like a plasma ball without the glass surrounding it."
"Stiyl, this really isn't the girl to be making fun of," Ren warned as Touma backed away.
"You wanna know how a railgun works, Mr. Stiyl?"
"Railwhatnow?" Stiyl asked, taking a precautionary step back.
"Basically, by creating an electric current-"
"Did I ever say I wanted to know? No. No. Not ever. Tell me about Suzaku Tanaka," Stiyl ordered. Mikoto whipped out an arcade coin.
"Okay, this is not the place to do this, we just got out of a fight, remember?" Ren pleaded. Mikoto aimed. Stiyl blew smoke in her face.
"That's it! To hell with the explanation, here it is!" she shouted, shooting the railgun. The projectile shot by Stiyl's head, missing by centimeters. His cigarette was extinguished as it raced by. The wall behind him was hit by the railgun and collapsed, revealing a passageway. Ren and Touma stared at the hole in the wall. Stiyl lit a new cigarette.
"I missed on purpose," Mikoto revealed.
"I know you did. I just needed someone to open the wall behind me." She gritted her teeth.
"And you couldn't just ask nicely?"
"I could have, but this was so much more fun," Stiyl said, turning and walking into the downward slanted hallway. Touma looked at Ren and Mikoto.
"I'll follow Stiyl and see why he's here. You two take a look around and see if anything is worth noting," Touma said, heading down the hallway after Stiyl.
"Oh, I see how it is. You can order me around as much as you want, but if I want to, it's completely taboo," Ren started to complain.
"Can't hear you, running!" Touma shouted back.
"You're like, 3 meters away!" Ren shouted at him. What followed was Touma's attempt to make it seem like he was too far down the tunnel to be heard. This effect was lost due to him being all of 5 meters away. Ren looked at Mikoto.
"Is he always like this?" Ren asked.
"Not... always. Just whenever he feels like being annoying."
"Which is...?"
"Most of the time. The idiot." Ren looked away, appearing to be deep in thought.
"Would you stop reading into things?" Mikoto asked, annoyed.
"Who said I was reading into things?" Ren questioned indignantly.
"Okay, what WERE you doing?" Mikoto asked.
"Wondering what they'll find down there. I'm kind of curious," Ren answered.
"Right, so what is it really?" Mikoto questioned. Ren looked at her with a deadpan expression.
"Is it so weird to be curious?" Ren asked.
"No, but it is wrong to lie."
Touma and Stiyl strode down the dark hallway that was barely illuminated by the fire in Stiyl's hand.
"You never told us what you were doing here," Touma observed.
"Official magic business. You and your friends are going to stay out of it," Stiyl reaffirmed.
"Why? What is Necessarius hiding?" Touma asked.
"Nothing. It might surprise you, but the last thing I want on a mission report is dead children," Stiyl replied.
"So you're doing something dangerous?" Touma asked further. Stiyl stopped walking.
"You could say that," Stiyl said, raising his hand, moving the light of the fire over a pile of skeletons. Atop them sat a few corpses with flesh still clinging to their bones.
"Oh god..." Touma murmured.
"Don't throw u-" Stiyl was interrupted by Touma turning around and throwing up. Stiyl took a few steps toward the pile of bones and examined them closer.
"Some of these bones are REALLY old. Especially these ones near the bottom. They're at least a year or two old." Touma looked at him.
"How can you not lose it with that smell?" Touma asked.
"Dead bodies are a common occurence in the magic business. You get used to it," Stiyl explained.
"Did... Suzaku do this?" Touma wondered. Stiyl grimaced.
"It appears so. He's already killed more than what Necessarius predicted," Stiyl said.
"So, you ARE after Suzaku?" Touma asked.
"Not exactly. A couple years a go there was an Academy City project codenamed Project Divinity. According to the public, it was an operation to get Child Errors off the streets and into Child Error Facilities. Anyone actually working there knew it was actually a plan to create a Level 6 using Child Errors. It was decomissioned a few years ago and was replaced by Project Radio Noise. However, what Project Divinity was in reality was an attempt to create the perfect soldiers to combat Magic. At least, that's what Necessarius's sources say. You can see why this sparked a cause for investigation," Stiyl informed.
"So Suzaku Tanaka was a product of Project Divinity?" Touma asked. Stiyl nodded.
"Suzaku Tanaka is one name we've recovered from the destroyed data. Another is Hideaki Tsukuda. We have a third name, but only the last name, Suki. As far as we know, there weren't any other survivors, not that it matters much," Stiyl continued.
"What? How can you say that?" Touma asked, shocked.
"Touma, they're dangerous criminals that killed all these people. The less their are, the better the world is off," Stiyl replied.
"They're still people and I'll still destroy that fucked up illusion of theirs." Stiyl shook his head.
"These were people too, Touma, and now they're dead because of them," Stiyl replied.
"Right, so obviously the only way to fix murder is to murder more people, right?" Touma shot back. Stiyl looked away.
"Go back and make sure your friends are actually doing something productive," Stiyl growled. Touma left, not saying anything. Stiyl drew another breath in and blew smoke.
"Fuckin' kid..."
Touma walked into the room just as Mikoto shot another bolt of lightning at Ren.
"Take it back!" she shouted as Ren dodged unsuccessfully.
"Okay! I'm sorry already!" Ren shouted.
"What the hell is going on?" Touma asked.
"You shoudln't say stuff like that, it's embarassing!" Mikoto stuttered.
"How the hell was I supposed to know you'd take offense?" Ren asked. Touma sighed.
"Wow, you guys are ignoring me again. This gonna become a common thing?" Touma asked.
"Use your brain! Think about what you're saying before you say it!" she shouted.
"How can I use my brain if you'er always shooting lightning bolts at it?" he shouted back.
"It is, isn't it?" Touma sighed.
"I'm sure you can come up with something!" Mikoto argued.
"Fine! Just STOP already!" Ren begged.
"You know what? I'm gonna go back down there where there are dead bodies," Touma said.
"Wait, what?" Ren asked, looking at Touma.
'"Oh, NOW you care."
"No, he's just curious. It's sort of his thing," Mikoto said.
"How many? Do we know how they died? Did CLASS kill them?" Ren started to ask. Stiyl walked up behind Touma.
"Again, you're asking far too many questions to be answered," Stiyl criticized.
"It's simple, I ask all three questions, you answer all three questions, it saves time!" Ren replied.
"It doesn't."
"Okay fine, just answer them."
"What were the questions?" Stiyl asked. Ren took a deep breath.
"I hate you," he said through gritted teeth.
"Just tell me what the questions were, you Tsundere," Stiyl smirked.
"Oh, that is IT!" Ren shouted, about to slice the air. Stiyl got a card ready. Touma stepped in the way.
"Now is not the time, guys," Touma cautioned.
"Did he just say now is the time?" Stiyl asked.
"That's what I heard," Ren replied.
"Stiyl, stop being such a fucking instigator and help us take down Suzaku!" Touma shouted at him. Stiyl was taken back for a moment. Ren looked uneasily between Touma and Stiyl, eventually relaxing and putting his hand by his side again. Stiyl sighed. He put his card back into his cloak.
"Getting involved with these people is suicide. Especially for you guys," Stiyl said.
"So it's not suicide for you?" Touma inquired.
"It is. But my suicide is better than yours," Stiyl said.
"What a bunch of bullshit. You can't stand there and say your life isn't worth anything," Touma replied.
"It's worth something. But only as a soldier. A soldier's purpose is to die. All of you are just bystanders. Students who happened to stumble upon something bigger than yourselves," Stiyl explained.
"Wow, you're a little prick, aren't you?" Ren criticized. Stiyl looked at him.
You're just pretentious as fuck and want to seem cool so you're giving us the 'I'll go in alone' speech like a fucking idiot. Has it ever occured to you that if these guys were actually made to fight against magic, then a magic user might not be the best choice?" Touma criticized. Stiyl drew in a breath of smoke. He thought for a moment, then blew the smoke away from them.
"Fine. But I hope you understand what you're getting yourself into," Stiyl warned.
"Never do, never will," Touma replied.
Suzaku and Hideaki stepped out of the station. Hideaki blinked in the harsh sunlight.
"Forget about Nakajima, I have a plan to get rid of him. From now on, your focus is Misaka and Kamijou," Suzaku ordered.
"Well, it won't be difficult to focus on her," Hideaki smirked. Suzaku looked at him.
"She's the 14 year old that stomped your face into the dirt. How can you find that attractive?" Suzaku asked, amazed. Hideaki shrugged.
"She has nice legs and I got the whole Dominatrix vibe from her, y'know?" Hidaeki answered. Suzaku looked at him, still clearly worried.
"You're kinda fucked up," Suzaku decided.
"What? As long as it's human older than 13, it's completely legal," Hideaki stated as a-matter-of-factly. Suzaku sped up his pace.
"Just meet up with your new guys at District 7 and coordinate with Yumiko to get rid of them. I don't caer if you kill them or not, just make sure they're out of town when Endgame occurs," Suzaku finished, quickly widening the gap between himself and Hideaki.
"Should I know what you plan to do with Nakajima, boss?" Hideaki asked. Suzaku stopped.
"Not an hour ago I threatened to detonate a bomb inside your stomach. Guess." He continued walking.
"Er... whatever you say, boss." Once Suzaku was out of ear shot from Hideaki, he opened up his phone and called Frances.
"Get another bomb set up. Target the Garden of Learning."