Author: Man, the science in this chapter was a ridiculous pain in the neck. And I only took a glimpse of it, a snowflake at the top of an iceberg, no heavy calculations that'd take weeks, hell, months, to do.
Nightmare
"Hahahaa..." Tempus laughs a little with what energy he has left. But the true voice is revealed to be that of a female, a young woman by a good estimate. Her mask's bottom half is completely broken off but the top half hides continues to hide her eyes. "Good job heroes, you beat me in battle. But, you haven't won yet."
"What do you mean?" Touma asks.
"I can tell you that what I had planned to destroy the city with will be activated soon," Tempus answers. "Can you tell me the time?"
"Why?"
"It's only a few minutes until 10 pm," Stiyl informs, putting his cell phone back in his pocket.
"That soon?" Tempus sounded surprised. "I was expecting at least a few more minutes worth."
"What have you done?" Touma's voice becomes harsher.
"You'll see," Tempus answers. "In time. Hahahaa... I suppose I should tell you what's going to happen since it'll start very soon. I've set up special points all around the city. It took a week to get them set up properly, but now they're ready. I just need the right alignment of lights."
"Alignment of lights? You mean like stars?" Touma looks up, it was partially cloudy today. "I don't think you're going to get what you want with this sky."
Mikoto also looked up, curiously, while putting her mask aside to get a better look.
"Who said I was using the sky?" Tempus smiles.
All the lights in the city suddenly go out. Then only certain lights turned back on.
"Huh?" Index feels a great surge of magical power flowing through the area. "This is...! There's no way!"
"What is it Index?" Stiyl asks.
"The Wrath of Olympus," Index looks up.
Everyone follows her gaze. A very, very large ball of energy begins forming above the clouds.
"It's a gathering of power from every god on Oylmpus," Index begins to explain. "Every negative feeling they have for the human race gathered in one place. Once it's done, it will drop slowly until it's about 1 kilometer off the ground, then the powers of every Olympic god will be unleashed into the city, all at the same time in every direction."
"Why would it drop slowly?" Touma asks.
"Those gods have very big egos," Index answers. "They want their victims to know what is happening. Apparently this guy has the ego of all the gods combined. But that barrier is still up. No one knows about this but us."
"So that means it's up to us to stop it."
The noise of someone dropping to their knees catches everyone's ears.
It was Mikoto, her limbs were limp as she started upwards, there was a great fear in her eyes.
"No no no no no..."
"Misaka?" Touma is understandably worried.
"This can't be happening, this can't be happening..." Misaka hangs her head and holds it. "This is a dream right? It has to be. No, I got hurt, I felt it. But maybe I was dreaming I was hurt. Quick! Someone hurt me!"
"Huh?" Touma is rightfully confused, as is everyone else but one.
*CHOMP*
"Yeeaaaoow!" Mikoto unconsciously let out a wild blast of electricity, shocking Index through her teeth.
The Esper Fried Nun twitched in pain on the ground unconscious.
"This isn't a dream," Tempus called out to Mikoto. "Your city will fall, there's no stopping it now."
"Unless," Stiyl starts. "Bug Zapper, do you think you can fire this guy like your rail-"
"NO!" Mikoto protested loudly as she got up suddenly, her legs wobbled. "Not that, please, not that." Mikoto drops to her knees again.
Touma walks over to her and gets down on knee. "What's wrong, Misaka?"
"I-it's nothing," Mikoto answers in a very shaky voice. "I just had a very bad dream last night."
"Um, can you share it with us?" Hyouka cuts in.
"Hyouka!" Touma protested.
"I agree with her," Stiyl steps up. "You're the only one that can stop that." Stiyl points up, the ball of energy continues to grow larger. "And she's the only one that can send you up there."
"Dreams can be precognitive," Tempus suddenly speaks out. "What you saw in your dreams could very well happen in the future." Tempus gives out a slight chuckle. "But if you're worried about it now, then that future just might be here."
"You're going to have to be quiet now," Stiyl demands.
"Um, so, do you think you can tell us?" Hyouka pries deeper. "We might be able to help."
"I guess," Mikoto lets out a deep breath. "I need to get this off of my chest anyway. Basically, it's something similar to this. This big attack coming from the sky, and this guy is the only one that can stop it. There were a lot more people in my dream, I can only recognize some of the ones from Academy City, like the number 1 Accelerator and the number 4 Meltdowner. There were like a hundred or so nuns, some tall woman with a really long sword, some red headed guy with a barcode on his cheek, and some more."
Stiyl and Touma take all this in silently, knowing who she was talking about, the rest of Necessarius. Hyouka was just confused but just continued listening.
"The attack was coming," Mikoto continued. "Somehow, we knew that it was going to do something before it even hit the ground, or it wouldn't even move from where it was up there, it didn't matter. We had to get this guy up there somehow. That's when someone suggested that shoot him like I do my coins. Of course, I panicked at the thought. I wasn't given enough time to make the proper calculations, we had to do it quickly. But, something messed up, I might have done the calculations wrong or I forgot an important variable. I was able to fire him into the attack and he stopped it. But he didn't live through it. I caught his falling body, and it was... it was too horrible to describe. He was... barely alive... and then... he died... in my arms..."
Mikoto couldn't hold back the fear any longer, she leaned towards Touma and started pounding on his chest. "Why why why?" Tears begin to swell up. "Why was I the one that killed you? Why did you die? Why couldn't we have found another way?"
"It's alright Misaka, I'm not dead."
Everyone lets Mikoto cry into his shoulder a little.
"Are you done crying?" Tempus breaks the atmosphere. "The attack is finished gathering. It's descending as we speak. From about 40 kilometers up, I'd wager about 30 minutes before it reaches the correct height to destroy the city."
Mikoto forces herself to calm down. Touma gets up silently and walks over to Stiyl.
"Hey, do you think you'll be able to fly me up there?"
"Are you kidding me? I have enough trouble flying by myself. Besides, your right hand."
"Right," Touma looks at his hand.
"Can't you have that girl throw you up there?" Stiyl points to Hyouka, who was poking the unresponsive Index corpse.
"No, not her," Touma replies. "My right hand again." Touma avoids going into details.
"So in the end it's back down to Bug Zapper," Stiyl and Touma turn to Mikoto, who still has her knees on the ground watching the attack push through layers of clouds.
"I didn't want to put this on her after hearing all that," Touma sounds regretful.
"Circumstances dictate action," Stiyl tells him. "Under this circumstance, we need to take action now. If you won't talk to her, then I will, and it won't be pretty."
Touma nods before he silently walks back to Mikoto he stretches out his arm, "Come on Misaka, let's do this."
"No," Mikoto falls back and scurries away a little. "Please, no. I can't! I already told you I can't! Not without killing you."
"I won't die," Touma tells her calmly as he slowly moves closer. "I promise you that."
"Don't lie like that!" Mikoto tears up again. "I hate it when you lie."
"When did I ever lie to you?" Touma stretches out his hand again.
Mikoto meekly stays silent, recalling everything that had happened between them. Looking for something to counter him with. She could come up with nothing, even if there really was a time that he lied to her, she couldn't find it.
"But why?" Mikoto asks, terrified. "Why? After what I told you, even though you know I'll kill you. You still-"
"I believe in you, that's all there is to it."
Mikoto fell silent, and frozen. His words just now really messed up her brain and her emotions. Before she knew it, she was standing up, holding his hand. She nervously jerks her hand back and turns around. She takes a deep breath to calm herself down.
"20 minutes!" Tempus calls out randomly.
"Alright!" Mikoto breaths deeply again and slaps her cheeks. "Let's do this."
"Um," Hyouka steps forward. "I can help if you want me to."
"Thanks," Mikoto smiles. "Now, let me think. We're going to need... these things and some of that."
Mikoto magnetically grabs a bunch of metal sheets and other metallic objects and gathers them around her.
"Jack O'Lantern! We'll need your help!"
Sityl just realized that he's still wearing the ridiculous pumpkin head, he sighs hard, especially at the fact that he can't take it off yet. "Touma Kamijou. Make sure that Tempus doesn't move." Stiyl makes his way to where Mikoto is.
"'Doesn't move', he says," Tempus chuckles a little as Touma sits down right next to the half masked time traveller.
Touma just watched the unmoving body carefully, without a word.
"Aren't you going to ask me something?" Tempus speaks first.
"To be honest," Touma scratches his head. "I don't even know what I want to ask."
"Why don't you start with something simple?"
"Alright, are you a male or female?"
Tempus laughs a bit, "That is simple. I'm female. These masks were made to disguise my voice. It makes it easier to disguise myself against Anti-Skill and Judgment. It really helped that they were looking for a 'man' with a mask, then a woman without one."
"Then, what's your name?"
"I told you, Tempus 951."
"Okay, what's your real name?"
"Youngest Princess Dragon God."
"Huh?" Touma gives a dumbfounded look.
"That's my name."
"What kind of name is that?"
"What kind of name is Index?"
"..."
"..."
"Alright, if you didn't want to tell me your name you could've just said so. At least tell me why you're doing this."
"'I am that which saves through time.'"
"'Saves' through time," Touma repeats. "Whoever it is that you want to save, do you really need to destroy all of Academy City to do it?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Why else? That death was because of the Science side."
"Who's death?"
"Hahaha," Tempus laughs. "I think I'll keep that a secret for now."
"..."
"Hey, I have an idea. Let's make a bet."
"A bet?"
"If we're both alive and conscious after the attack hits. I'll tell you everything. My real name, the person I was trying to save, even how I travelled through time."
"The attack won't hit," Touma clenches his right fist. "I won't let it."
"Let's bet on that then," Tempus tells him. "It will be your right hand against the wrath of every god of Olympus. Do you really think you can stand up to dozens of gods? That reminds me. TEN MINUTES!"
"SHUUT UUP!" Mikoto yells back as she and Hyouka holds two pieces of metal together while Stiyl welds them.
"What the hell is that?" Touma finally looks at what they're making.
"What is it? I can't move my head."
"It looks like that same thing that you made in the sky."
"Is that so? So she's making an electrocannon. It's no railgun, but at least your chances of living are significantly increased."
"There's more, I see some kind of giant, metal gazebo?"
"Huh. Didn't think she'd do that. Oh wait, I think I get it."
"Hey!" Mikoto calls Touma over. "Hurry up!"
"Good luck, hero," Tempus says as Touma jogs away.
Touma takes a good look at what they made. A very, very tall electrocannon, two thirds of it is made with debris from the fallen building and the last third uses the building under construction. There's some kind of metal gazebo bullet. There was a place to put his feet in, possibly to keep him in place while it flies, those were placed to the right of the center pillar so that he can hold onto it with is left hand.
"Let's do this," Mikoto tells him. "Get on."
"Alright," Touma puts his feet (shoes included) inside the slots. With his left hand he holds the I-beam at the center. He hears footsteps behind him, Mikoto had also stepped on the platform. "Misaka?"
"We do this together," Mikoto declares with a look of determination. "Got it?"
"Okay," Touma nods.
(Alright,) Mikoto thinks to herself. (This is it. Since I don't think I can strengthen him with electricity because of his power, I had to think of something else. Using a railgun type launcher is too risky, even with his body. By using a gradual takeoff instead of an instantaneous burst, the negative effects on the body from the G forces will be reduced. This cover will shield us from wind resistance and friction as we fly. Then I can use my magnetism to keep us steady while still propelling us forward. It's now or never.)
"FIVE MINUTES!"
"Would someone PLEASE shut that guy up!" Mikoto yells out. She then takes deep breathes to calm down and think. "I need to concentrate, there's a lot of calculations involved here and I can't afford to mess this up." Sparks fly out of her head and make their way around the cannon. Soon the whole cannon is covered in electricity, rings of bolts rolling upwards across its frames.
Tempus can feel Mikoto charging up. "Even if you move at the speed of sound, it takes 3 seconds to fly a whole kilometer. But get too high and the atmosphere turns against you. You only have one shot to pull this off and time is running out. Can you really go up against all the gods of Olympus, Past Mikoto Misaka?"
Touma feels the platform levitate slightly. The energy output from Mikoto to the cannon increases steadily, the bottom part of the cannon starts glowing from all the electricity.
"Kazakiri," Mikoto calls out. "Can you give me an estimate of how high it is right now?"
Hyouka looks up and stares at the ever enlarging orb, adjusting her glasses. "It's about... 3 kilometers away. We have about 2 minutes left until it hits the 1 kilometer above the planet."
"Alright," Mikoto calls out. "I'm going to launch this thing in a minute thirty. Hey, idiot. I'm just going to fly this thing into that attack, you have to get your powers ready on your own. I'll give you a signal."
"Understood," Touma says without turning around, he smiles confidently.
Mikoto lets out even more electrical power to the cannon. Touma sets himself up to be comfortable, holding onto the center pillar with only his left hand.
Stiyl quickly changes his cigarette while still wearing the pumpkin head, (If we get out of this alive, I don't know how I'm going to report this situation. Something tells me I shouldn't reveal to anyone what really happened here.)
"Here we go!" Mikoto lets out more power, the platform vibrates. "Three... Two... One...! FIRE!"
They accelerate, exponentially increasing speed as it climbs the cannon. Touma and Mikoto feel powerful forces press against them as they climb. At the top of the cannon, they rocket out with an extremely loud BANG. As soon as they lift off the cannon, Mikoto struggles with the platform. Keeping it steady while still exerting force to push it onward.
At this speed at and at the target's altitude, it will only be a few seconds before they collide. But to Mikoto, every second felt a whole lot longer. Even when she's concentrating very hard on her calculations, her mind is full of doubt and worry. Will we able to stop it? Will we die? Will he die? With each passing moment, with every closed distance, those fears grow. She struggles with herself to find the strength to carry on, but there's been too much put on her shoulders.
"I believe in you."
His words suddenly echoed in her mind, erasing all the negative thoughts she had. Her face now displays utter determination, and a smile. Her power seems to have gotten a mysterious boost in strength and control.
"NOW!" Mikoto yells at the top of her lungs.
"OWAAAAA!" Touma clenches his right hand and beings it forward as hard as he could. The Wrath of Olympus eats through the metal covers, and collides with Touma's right hand.
The sphere shatters into countless pieces, flying in all directions across the sky, and gently falling like snow.
Touma holds onto what's left of the center pillar, seeming to admire the view. He felt a jolt, like an elevator. The platform was descending slowly.
"Listen, Misaka."
"Not now," she cuts him off. "Wait until we reach the ground. This could take a while though."
XXX
"Phew," Kazakiri sighs as she observes the falling lights.
"Now it's truly over," Stiyl breathes out some smoke through his mask. He walks over to the half masked time traveller. "You're coming with me."
"I'm sorry," Tempus tells him. "I'll be long gone before you could even take me to the airport."
"What do you mean?"
"Better to show you first," Tempus replies. "Take off one of my gloves."
Stiyl spreads some cards around the half masked time traveller, then kneels down next to an arm.
"Hahaha... If I was capable to doing anything, I would've done it."
Stiyl pulls out one of Tempus' gloves. Several small lights fly out of it and fade away into the air. The lights are slowly flowing out of Tempus herself. Her body seems to be disintegrating somehow, half of her hand had already turned to light and vanished.
"What is this?"
"This," Tempus begins. "Is reality rebuilding itself."
"What?"
"Let's wait until they arrive," Tempus tells him. "I made a bet, his right hand against the wrath of the gods. Since I lost, I will explain to him everything."
"Alright, but you better not vanish until you reveal everything."
"Haha... I'm trying not to," Tempus jokes. (That's right, you deserve to know everything, don't you...)
(Brother Touma...)
