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 IV: After a Mission is the Most Dangerous
Kiyama's worn down eyes struggled to keep from betraying her true emotion. Her thumbs traced over the tips of her fingers over and over again. I could see her resist licking her lips. She had started to breath more slowly as of late. Even her hair was on edge with a few strands of the wavy locks slowly straightening out.
Lain was now standing on her own now. She was dressed in a grey shirt that covered her body. Her dead eyes gazed up at Kiyama. I could see her hair start to stand on edge. The girl kept her face entirely blank. Lain's hands had formed fists, obscured somewhat by the cuffs of her shirt.
Alice had retreated back a bit. She covered herself in shadow away from the main action. Her eyes were mixed with fear and anticipation. She'd clutched her hands over her heart. There was a disturbingly sadistic look to her lips.
The doctor's greeting still seemed to hang in the air around us. I saw Lain's lips twitch just slightly. Kiyama's face shot up with pain; her right leg gave out in a painfully awkward fashion, forcing her to take a knee. The girl twitched again, this time with most of her head. This time the doctor let out a grunt of pain. She buckled over onto her hands and knees before Lain. Blood started to drip from the lips prostrated woman. The red ooze slowly clamored down to the sewer's main way.
Lain walked over to the humbled woman. The pads of her bare feet barely made a sound. Despite her short stature, Lain was able to tower over the doctor. Kiyama struggled to look up at Lain. "So will you be the one to pass judgment on me?" she weakly asked. "Well if anyone here does it's you." She was lurched up off of her hands. Despite the mask of bravado from earlier, she was very much afraid.
I could see the doctor's eyes. They gazed upon Lain with a sense of awesome that harkened back to the original meaning of the term. Her face was resigned, awash with defeat and the price that it demanded.
"You are a despicable woman, Harumi Kiyama," Lain spat. Her voice was steeled with anger. Lain cupped her right fist in her left hand just above her chest. True, unabated contempt skewered into Kiyama's face from the girl's eyes. Kiyama didn't react to it, though why remained unclear. I suspect it was fear of further assaults.
"I know Lain and—"
The woman's plea was cut off as she was forced back into submission. Her hands smacked the concrete so hard that the echo rang for a few extra seconds. Even Alice flinched in pain at the sound.
"I remember everything you did to my sisters, and to my friends, and to me! Now tell me what you have to say for yourself!" Lain shouted. I took a step away from Lain.
The doctor pressed her forehead into the ground. "I never meant for this to happen, Lain. I wanted to get you away from here. Yes I hurt just about everyone you know. I've done uncountable terrible things to men, women, and...children. Those things will haunt me to until the end of my days," Kiyama confessed. It was hard to tell if she was sobbing or not. If she was, I couldn't imagine who they were for.
Kiyama's confession had finally stopped. "So Lain, will you judge me?" the doctor asked in a whisper.
I saw a Lain clone emerge from the shadows behind Kiyama. It stooped down and began wrap its hands around the woman's face. The fingers moved down to her throat like a giant spider landing on its helpless prey. There was no remorse in the clone's eyes.
The doctor could feel what was about to happen. She relaxed her shoulders and closed her eyes. No prayers were offered nor pleads for mercy. Nothing but silent acceptance for Kiyama.
My heart twinged at the sight. I shot my hand to Lain's shoulder, landing squarely on the slender target. "Don't do it Lain!" I shouted. Lain turned to me. Her dead eyes burned with living passion.
"Why not? What has she done to deserve our mercy?" Lain barked. I kept calm, slowly removing my hand from her shoulder. "Well?" Her lips were twitching. Her hair was starting to stick out a bit even more.
"Because it is not our place," I answered. I saw the Lain clone rush towards me with a cocked back fist. It missed me by only a couple centimeters. A small explosion erupted behind me, leaving a small crater on the wall in its wake. Alice walked over to the crater. She ran her hand over the stone's new wound, plenty of impressive cracks splitting the stone. Her eyes switched their gaze between Lain and the hole. Each move brought more and more horror to her.
Even Kiyama looked amazed at the sight. She slouched back, bracing herself with her arms. I swear I heard her whisper "What did we do?"
Lain's face struggled to find and hold the correct expression to display her rising rage. "Not our place? We're the victims Mikoto!" Lain shouted. A strange wind began blow around us as Lain's fist clenched. I nodded my head at a placating speed.
"Yes we are, but they have a system in place to punish her. She will get justice," I pointed out. The wind died down.
"She could escape! How many like her have escaped before? Dozens, hundreds? I won't let this one worm away so easily," Lain barked.
"Perhaps, and if she does she'll still have to live with her crimes. Killing her will do nothing more than prove that we are a threat to them. Everything that Kiyama did will be hailed as pioneering and she will become a martyr for a cause she wants nothing to do with," I responded with as much diplomatic decorum as I could muster. "We're not gods Lain. We can't pretend otherwise, even if it means risking a trial. That's all I can promise."
I could hear Kiyama's breaths become sharper and less frequent. Her fingernails were digging into the concrete floor, dulling them down to ugly nubs. Streaks of sweat started to run down her hair. Alice was looking around, eyes alight with anticipation. Her lips were curled into her mouth which were gently chewing.
Another explosion rocked the chamber. Bits of dust and rubble fell to the ground. The new hole was just above Alice's head. Alice had crumpled down to her knees and covered the back of her neck. The debris bounced around her.
"I'm trusting you, Mikoto," Lain hissed. She turned about, pulling a small storm out of the area with her. Alice gave me a nervous parting glance and followed after Lain.
Kiyama spent another half a minute sitting hunched over. She'd calmed down a bit. I walked over to the doctor. My thumb ran over my fingertips before I offered my hand to Kiyama. It made me...uneasy to do so. Was the doctor worth the effort? I wasn't sure. But I'd made the effort to spare her from Lain's wrath.
The doctor looked up at the hand. She hesitated only a moment but finally grabbed it, weakly squeezing it. Kiyama smiled at me. It was about as dead a smile as one could give, made more so by the slow trail of blood rolling down from the edge of her lips. "Perhaps you should reconsider your proclamation of not being a god. You've saved me twice today," she said once back on her feet.
"Don't even joke about that," I grumbled.
"I'm not."
I let out a sigh. "Sometimes I wish I never decided to become level five, you know?"
Kiyama shook her head. "Don't dwell on past decisions, Railgun. Such speculation will only consume you in the end," she said. She squeezed my shoulder and walked back to the main room. Her words didn't stick because my thoughts went back to the day I dedicated my life to being the best I could be.
It was...third grade. My teacher was explaining the history of Espers to us. The tale was toned down, but the stories of persecution and fear that erupted in the wake of the discovery of the Esper phenomenon still made most of us scared. Most of my class missed out on that, being discovered in the early days of Academy City. Those lessons made many of my classmates scared of the outside world.
Not me. I wanted nothing more than to show the outside world they had nothing to fear. I would go out as the most powerful Esper ever and prove them wrong about us. I would be a hero to all, not by saving the world but by example. Just because I had these powers didn't make me any different than a normal person.
But now the seeds of doubt started to stir. I saw a small teenage girl freshly awakened from a coma nearly murder a grown woman with nothing more than her mind and a will that had no qualms about doing so. I had just toyed with some expensive military hardware for the hell of it.
Those people on the outside, they had every reason to fear us; and I hated that. I wasn't looking for their adoration mind you. Just their respect. It would be impossible after what's just happened.
My elbow started to itch, pulling me out my retrospective analysis. I mindless sent my left hand to deal with it as I started back. As my fingers started to curl, I wasn't getting any feedback.
I looked down to see what was happening. It turned out that my fingers were inside my elbow. Literally poking through the skin like it was a hologram or something. I poked it a few times to similar results. The last poke failed to go through.
Everything started to shake around me. Something flashed in front of me. I strained hard to see what it was. A figure, with long brown hair was standing. It was that of a girl, frowning at me. Avri?
The cold ground beneath me beckoned. I collapsed to my knees. "Avri?" I whispered. "I'm sorry!"
Tears dripped to the ground. What the hell was going on in my head? Was I finally slipping into mental disease? I prayed that it wasn't so. If I snapped and did something to my friends!
"Misaka?" a voice asked. I looked up to see Saten peering down at me with a concerned look in her eyes. "Are you okay?"
I nodded my lie with sincerity. "Yeah, I think...think so," I answered. My eyes locked with hers. "Saten, do you...hate me?"
That question caused Saten to step back. I stood up in her momentary confusion. "What kind of question is that?" she asked. I shook my head.
"My powers, do you hate them?" I rephrased the question, a strange desperation gripped my voice in the process. Now Saten's brow scrunched together. Her lips rocked right to left as the words were processed in her head.
"I um…n…ye…I don't know. Sometimes. I see and hear things that make me terrified. But at the same time we're friends. I know you wouldn't hurt me or anyone," Saten answered. She smiled a little nervously. I nodded a bit.
"Sometimes I wish I could be you. Then none of this would've happened," I admitted.
"Yeah, but then Caiaphas and Kiyama couldn't ever be brought to justice. Our current situation may suck, but we know the truth now," Saten pointed out. "And that has to count for something right?"
In this city the truth will only end up imprisoning you.
I remember those words from what felt like the distant past. They were Kiyama's words. A warning that seemed like they were becoming more and more true with each day.
"Maybe," I whispered. Saten grabbed my hand and brought it clutched in her hands to her chest.
"It does, Misaka. We'll figure out away. Don't worry," she insisted. "Now come on, we're deciding on our next move."
Saten dragged me back to our main base. Lain and Alice were as far away from Kiyama as manners would allow, mostly keeping themselves. The doctor was examining her fingernails with a passive interest, squirming away whenever someone took a look at her. Kuroko and Uiharu were sitting near the center. They were quietly discussing things quietly between them.
Saten and I joined Kuroko and Uiharu. "Alright gang, I think it's time to make our big move," Kuroko announced. "And I'm not talking about just relocating. With the doctor and her evidence, we can make our case to the public."
Alice nodded. "I agree, we should move quickly before Anti-Skill bears down on us," she said.
Kiyama looked up, her face unimpressed. "Sure, but you'll have to do more than post a video on the web. A sustained media barrage is what's needed to win public support. Without that the corporations that have pumped resources into the city over the years will do what it takes to stop you," she pointed out. There was a coldness to her words. "This place has been a gold mine over the last few years. They'll defend it as hard as they can."
"We can release a video and corresponding paper a week for a while. They may brush the first few off but if we keep at it, it will become impossible for them to deny all of them!" Uiharu declared.
"Okay well we still need to get off the island or figure out a way to get access to the Internet from here," I pointed out.
"Yes, and I have something in mind for getting out of here," Kiyama informed. "The emergency evacuation system in the northwest of the city."
"Is that still a thing? I thought they ditched that after the storm protocols were started?" Saten asked.
Kiyama nodded. "Technically no. But the system is still intact. A final failsafe in the event of "total catastrophic failure." What that constitutes now I haven't a clue. But it's still useable and that's all that matters at the moment," she explained. She crossed her arms.
"Well why not try an get access to the Internet here?" Alice spoke up.
"Because that would require an assault on Root Headquarters. After recent events, I doubt Railgun is up for that," Kiyama rebutted. I nodded in agreement. Such a plan would end well for no one.
"Alright, all in favor of using the emergency evacuation system?" Kuroko asked. Everyone but Lain raised a hand. "Okay we're decided. Let's pack up and head out."
Uiharu and Saten started collecting the loose pieces lying around the place. Lain began to pace around the perimeter of the alcove. Alice started to help a little. Kiyama watched with a bemused smirk. I took a deep breath and followed Lain.
"I know this isn't optimal," I whispered to her. "But things are really looking now."
"You should have let me end her," Lain hissed.
"Come on, Lain. You're not a monster," I told her. Lain twirled to me and grabbed my collar.
"Aren't I? Misaka they put in my head a command that renders me entirely helpless! Why else would I have that if I weren't a monster," she pointed out in a colder than usual manner for her.
I grabbed her hand. "That's just what Caiaphas and her lackeys want you to think. You are better than that," I insisted. "You're as human as the rest of us."
Lain ripped her hand away. "Don't lie to me. I know what I am and it's not human," she barked. She looked utterly wounded.
"Don't say that! You know what I am, where I came from. You're lying when you say that. I'm a machine put in the guise of a girl; a bunch of chips and wires hooked up to some grey matter," Lain retorted. That hit me square in the gut. I reached out and wrapped my arms around her.
"It's not a lie, Lain. You are human. Maybe not entirely in a physical sense. But you are one regardless, and I don't care what you think," I whispered. Lain felt cold. The top of her odd hair brushed the skin under my jaw.
I could feel Lain tremble in my arms. "Hey, it'll be okay. We're going to be okay, understand," I whispered.
"Misaka, I don't want them to control me anymore," she said.
"We'll figure it out. I'll free you, I promise," I swore.
"You're making a lot of promises. Are you sure you can keep them?"
My lip curled into my mouth. "Maybe, but I'm going to do my best alright?" I assured her. I looked up from Lain to see Uiharu and Saten were finished packing. Lain and I broke off our embrace. We each took some of the load.
Our small band made its way through the sewer system. There was an ominous air to the whole affair. We were quiet throughout the proceedings. No one dared breathe out of step.
Occasionally an unknown sound would bring us to the edge. Only the return of reassuring stillness would allow us to continue. Saten and Kuroko took point throughout. Uiharu and Alice along with Kiyama occupied the middle, hauling most of our gear with them. Lain and I took up the rear. The two of us ready to intervene in at a moment's notice.
We stopped about two kilometers short of our target. Most everyone else had started to make our camp. I took a stroll around the edge. Kuroko followed me. She kept a good half a meter behind me. "You haven't talked much with me in a long time, Sissy," she said. I sighed a bit waiting to be berated. "I just wanted to make sure everything is alright between us. I know that I can...irritate you."
I turned around, giving her a small smile. "You do and I'm sorry about the whole no talking thing. There's just a lot on my mind," I replied. Kuroko nodded. "But I'm proud of you. You've kept this ragtag band of fools going. We're going to need that on the mainland."
"Will it be enough? Getting the files and videos out?" she asked.
"Yeah, I think so."
"And what happens, to...well us? The students, I mean," Kuroko asked with a very nervous tone.
"I don't know. Hopefully they'll just clean house and we can go on like things used to be," I answered. It wasn't very satisfactory but it was all I had at the moment. There was so much uncertainty and it was all getting to us.
Something tingled in the back of my mind. My heart stopped for a moment. I put up a finger to silence Kuroko and sent out and electric field far off into the sewer pipes. Indeed something was disturbing it. "Kuroko, grab what you can and run," I whispered.
Kuroko bit her lip and nodded, silently sneaking back to our camp. My fingers curled up in anticipation. I began to creep forward, towards the intruder. There was a stillness in the air. I slowed my breathing down to as low as I could.
Sweat started to drip down from my hair. I could hear something rattle in the distance. A low mumble of voices meandered down the hall. The hair on the back of my neck stuck up. I stopped at the corner.
My breathing slowed up. I created a layer of sparks around my body and turned the corner. Several maintenance were working on some interior structure work. They looked at me, eyes widening with each passing second. One of them broke off and ran towards the exit a few meters behind the main group.
I backtracked behind the corner and broke into a sprint back to base. The group was packed up. "Split up, meet at the evacuation tomorrow night," I said. I looked at the ceiling. "I'll hold their attention."
I didn't hear their response because I'd already rushed for the nearest ladder up. The northeast of Academy City was home of most of the elementary schools and special needs students. So there wasn't too much of a surprise when I came up to find a flock of children on their lunch break. They were surprised though. I stumbled past them, shielding my eyes from the sunlight.
A security camera stationed on a lamppost drew my attention. I walked over to it and gazed into its eye with an unimpressed grimace before I raised my hand. A klaxon sounded from the camera and the lamp began to flash red. I created a charge inside the device and sent a bolt of lightning into it.
The camera fried under the voltage. Someone screamed and panic set in. The children began to stampede as teachers emerged to maintain some semblance of order. A couple of Anti-Skill officers approached me, pistols out and aimed squarely at me. I took a deep breath as they unloaded into me.
It felt...odd. The bullets flew towards me and no fear flooded my veins. No survival instinct kicked in as the lead flew towards me, ripping into my skin.
To Be Continued...
A/N: There is one platitude that's always sort of bugged me, the phrase "the truth shall set us free." Maybe it's the abuse the phrase has taken over the years thanks to conspiracy nuts or some philosophical quibble of what truth or free means. Sure knowing what is true is useful and generally good, but anything beyond that always seems to lead to woo land. I'm personally in the Veritas Vincit, truth prevails, camp; that is what is true (i.e. statements that correspond to reality) will eventually become accepted given time. Perhaps naive, but seeing our progress as a species over the last couple hundred years, I think I have some justification.
Back on topic. If Moses speaking to the burning bush is my favorite scene in the Bible, the "temptation" of Eve has to be my second (for the record the zombie march after Jesus died is my third). I mean the phrase "and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" is perhaps one of the most famous lines in English. I find it an interesting line, especially when considering the role of gods in just about every mythology I can think of: their role as judges of humanity. This is why I rather enjoyed writing Lain's judgement of Kiyama. It creates a nice contrast with Misaka and her internal struggles.