Chapter 6 Skill Out Rising

The promise still fresh in my mind, I started the new day with only one problem on my mind, how do I get stronger?

This ability I have, it's so versatile. Yet, why can't I think of a solution? What can I use on a monster that simply reflects everything?

Pyrokinesis is useless, Electricity is useless, Telekinesis has proven to be useless. Telepathy? What good will that do? Vector Change? He's a Level 5, it was pure luck that I actually managed to redirect him, I doubt I'll be so lucky the next time. Teleport? Maybe, but I can't teleport.

No, sitting here and wracking my brains for a solution isn't going to get me anywhere. And I'm hungry.

Maybe... If I use nothing but Vector Change for the next few days, I can find a weakness that I can exploit.

Better than nothing.

Should I tell Misaka about the clones...? No, she'd never believe me, and it's not as if I can just find one and drag it to her saying, "Yo Misaka, I just found this clone of you, I wonder what it's for?"

I doubt there's that many clones anyway.

Walking down a secluded alley to find breakfast, I turned a corner while still preoccupied with my thoughts and bumped into someone.

"Hey! Watch it you runt!" he yelled, shoving me back.

Looking up, I counted, 1, 4, shit, 7 of them? Wait, Skill Out?

"Hey guys! I think we just found ourselves an Esper!" another one yelled, drawing the attention of all 7 of the Skill Outs.

"Uh, don't mind me, I'm a Level 0 so..."

I don't think they have any way of testing whether people have Esper powers so maybe if just bluff my way through I can get out of here.

"Level 0, then why the hell are you wandering around alone?" one of the guys behind asked.

"Wanna join Skill Out?" a guy wearing an orange jacket and white beanie asked.

"Uhm, Uh, no thanks, can you just please let me through?"

"Hey, what have you got against Skill Out Eh?" the guy I bumped into asked, pulling me to my feet and shoving me back again.

Looks like I'm not getting out of this without a fight... Vector Change... Online... Now calculating vectors for reflect...

"Listen kid, you have no way of protecting yourself from Espers if you don't join Skill Out." one of the guys said, a high pitched ringing noise suddenly echoing through the alleyway.

"OI you idiot! Why did you turn it on? This guy's a Level 0! Huh...?" the guy who tried to recruit me asked, suddenly noticing me hold my head in pain.

This noise... It's echoing my head... My ability!

"Eh Eh, this guy's an Esper after all! Let's get him!"

Watching as the guys closed in on me, I started to prepare for the worst until the first guy hit me.

His hand broke.

No way, reflect is still working?

Pointing a gun at me, the Skill Out pulled the trigger, only to have his gun destroyed.

One by one all the Skill Outs tried to attack me all of them failing. The last guy standing, ran out of the alley and the sound stopped, with what sounded like a van driving off.

Lying on the ground, the ringing noise in my head finally gone, I simply laid there wondering how I survived.

Reflection is passive? That would explain how Accelerator reflects objects that even he is not consciously aware of...

But i didn't calculate the return vector. So why did it reflect?

In order to compute a reflect, one has to select what one wants to reflect. Last time I selected "everything" I also reflected gravity. Not fun.

After selecting what to reflect, the calculation has to be made. Using myself as coordinates (0,0) I then need to enter what vector I want to change the incoming vector to.

Normally I would use a randomized vector to save myself some time. But in my hurry instead of entering a vector like [ay^2+4c/y] I simply entered [-x].

Is this a shortcut?

Why have I been calculating a return vector? I could just reverse the incoming vector.

Damn I feel stupid now.

Man this floor is hot.

Hearing the sound of footsteps I started to worry that those thugs had brought backup until I saw the familiar uniform of Tokiwadai and extremely seductive underwear.

"Judgment desu no." Kuroko said, holding out the armband for emphasis.

"Hello Kuroko-san." I said, looking up at her from the floor.

"And, who are you again?" Kuroko asked, looking down at me, "Ah, don't tell me, you're one of the apes chasing after onee-sama?"

"No, that ape is another guy. Mind helping me up?"

Placing a hand on my shoulder and teleporting me back to my feet, I fell back onto my knees, unprepared and now nauseated from the sudden change in spatial orientation.

"So just what happened here Uhhh...?"

"Ryusuke. Ryusuke Isha."

"So what happened here Ryusuke-san?"

Skill Out attacked me, there were 7 of them. One of them fled.

"So you used your ability to beat them up?"

"Actually, I'm surprised I managed to. They used some sort of sound device that prevented me from using my ability..."

"..."

"Kuroko-san?"

"I'm calling Anti Skill. Can you walk?"

"I... Guess so..." I muttered, slowly getting to my feet and hobbling to the alley entrance.

A few minutes later after giving my statement to the Anti Skills as well, I was sent to the hospital for a quick checkup before being released.

Well, that certainly was troublesome, my morning got burned.

Hearing my cellphone play a ringtone I used for Len, I quickly pulled out my handphone and flipped it open, "Yea Len, what's up?"

"Ryu, where are you?"

"The hospital at district 9. Why?"

"Tsubaki's been attacked! She's in the hospital at district 4!"

"What?"

"I don't know about the details myself but I'll meet you there ok?"

"Sure." I replied, terminating the call.

It took me a few minutes to find a bus that went to the forth district, my head was still ringing and I did not want to try any abilities until it's gone.

Finding Len in the receptionist area was made easy by the exceedingly loud shirt he was wearing.

"Hey Len, where's Tsubaki?" I asked, walking over.

Not saying a word, Len beckoned me to follow, leading me into one of the ward rooms where Tsubaki lay, badly bruised and still unconscious.

"Those bastards, picking on Espers. Since when is 6 on 1 a fair fight?" Len growled, his fists clenched in anger.

"Calm down. We'll get to the bottom of this. Did she use her ability on them? An injured perpetrator would narrow down the suspects."

"Before she fell unconscious she told me there was some noise and she couldn't use her ability."

So it's the same people no doubt.

"Len, leave this to Judgment and Anti Skill. I'll head over to the branch now and see what info I can get." I said, laying a hand on Len's shoulder for reassurance before walking off.

I'll have to make this quick. Knowing Len, he's going to do something rash in less than an hour.

After a quick stop by the 132nd Judgment Branch, I had a basic idea of what was going on.

Skill Outs were attacking Espers, to prevent Espers from using their abilities, some kind of sound was used as the medium. Using this, Skill Out has attacked several Espers so far. The group of Skill Outs responsible, is an organization called "Big Spider" and their base is in District 10.

What I wouldn't give to not find Len there.

While I rely on Judgment for information, I'm sure Len has his own set of underground contacts. He never talks about his information sources, yet he has never gotten any wrong info.

Pity he only does it in Tsubaki's absence. He would make an excellent information source for Judgment.

Maybe I should come up with a counter strategy to that stupid noise... So far I can only think of two abilities that can block it... Vector Change and Energy Manipulation.

I could use Vector Change to reflect the sound, but the reflection won't exactly be specific, I'll be reflecting everything sound related.

But Energy Manipulation... Hmmm...

Tailing Len as he made his way down to district 10, Len seemed to be preoccupied, ignoring all the delinquents on both sides of the street.

This moron, at least if you plan to sneak into a place like this, don't wear your school uniform you idiot!

Indeed, Len was catching quite a bit of attention in his school uniform though he was ignorant of it, even walking by an alley with two Tokiwadai girls without even looking up.

Wait a minute, Tokiwadai girls?

Rubbing my eyes and looking around the corner I saw two familiar profiles.

Misaka and Kuroko.

Well, I'd jump in but they probably won't need me seeing as both of them are capable of downing the whole pack of idiots around them solo.

Wait, I'm supposed to be tracking Len!

Dashing after the only school uniform in probably what would be the entire district, Len finally arrived at a rundown building.

Is this "Big Spider's" headquarters?

Looking around, I found a good vantage point behind a nearby wall overlooking the entrance.

"OI you bastards! Come out here Assholes!" Len yelled, his hands in his pockets.

"Huh? Who's that brat outside?" a man in a leather jacket drawled, flanked by half a dozen goons.

Is that the leader?

"Outta my way! I'm here for Kurozuma Wataru!" Len yelled, pulling his hands out of his pockets, a pair of brass knuckles on his hands.

Oh great, this is gonna get ugly real fast.

"I'm Kurozuma Wataru you little twit!" the man yelled, pushing Len back with ease.

"You son of a bitch! I'll teach you to mess with my girlfriend!" Len yelled, rushing at Kurozuma.

At least take care of the peons first before going for the leader!

Doing the calculations in my head, I only managed to shove two of the goons backwards before the others closed in on Len, forcing him to retreat.

"This brat's an Esper! Quick! Turn it on!" one of the goons yelled.

Turn what... Oh shit!

There's no way of contacting Len without blowing my cover... Looks like I'll have to step in. I can't keep attacking them from here, that sound will make it impossible for me to aim at them from this distance.

With a small click of a switch on a nearby van, the sound started blasting from the speakers, causing Len to double over from the pain.

"How do you like it huh Esper?"

"My head..." Len groaned, unable to stop the sound from reverberating in his mind.

"This thing we have here is called 'Capacity Down'. I don't know the details but it screws up an Esper's brain function." Kurozuma said, giving a vicious kick to Len as he was crouched on the ground, sending him sprawling on the ground several feet away.

After hearing the sound once, I know how to block it with Energy Manipulation. But I can't block it fully, I'm not that proficient in using this ability.

Meaning... My aim is really gonna suck.

Walking in while trying to keep a low profile, one of the goons spotted me almost immediately,

"Hey you! I don't recognize you, who are you and why are you here?"

"Oh sorry sorry! I'm just here to fetch this guy, you see, he's a bit delusional, living in his fantasies. Did he tell you he has a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, so what's it to you?" Kurozuma replied.

"The thing is, he hasn't had one for 6 months now, it's getting a little worrying. Sorry if he's caused you any trouble, I'll just take over now ok?" I said, dragging a fetal position Len away slowly.

"You punk! You think we can just let him insult us and walk away?" one of the goons I had attacked yelled, running at me, his fist pulled back.

Ignite.

Focusing what was left of my concentration on the point where I estimated his fist would hit, I was slightly off as his fist came in contact with my face, sending me flying backwards from the hit.

The guy who attacked me wasn't left unscathed as half his fist had been burned, blisters already popping out of the peeling skin.

"An Esper!" all of the delinquents cried out simultaneously.

"You bastard, how can you still use your ability?" Kurozuma yelled, surprised as well.

Standing up and dusting myself off, I sighed as I pointed at the van, "That thing your using, you called it Capacity Down right?"

"So what?" Kurozuma replied.

"Do you mind explaining how it works?"

"Why the hell would I explain something like this to an Esper?"

"Aside from screwing up an Esper's brain function, what else do you know?"

"Enough talk! Get him!"

As soon as Kurozuma said this, his pack of 6 guys (minus one) all rushed at me at the same time, all wielding an assortment of weapons.

Damn that Capacity Down, my reflect can only cover a third of my body right now...

The first attacker using a baseball bat took first degree burns to his face before staggering backwards and retreating.

"S-stay back!" a delinquent said, pulling out a knife and holding it to Len's neck, Len already unconscious.

"We've got guns! Use them!" another delinquent cried, pulling out his gun and firing at me.

This noise is making it hard to do calculations... But... I should be able to reflect one bullet. If they all shot me, that would be really problematic.

The bullet barely making contact with my skin, was reflected right at the guy who was holding Len hostage, the bullet shooting right through his ugly hairdo.

"Next one goes through your head." I snarled, trying to hide my nervousness.

That was a bluff. I was trying to go for his shoulder but I missed.

Thank goodness I didn't hit Len, I'd be in a whole lot of shit if I did.

"So? What will you do now? Guns don't work, I can still use my ability. I'm not interested in fighting, I think I've already made myself clear on that. Will you let me take my friend, and walk?"

You can practically see the screws in Kurozuma's head working.

"Tch, take him and screw off!" Kurozuma roared.

Picking up Len and lifting in a classic fireman's hold, I slowly made my way out, moving the Vector Change area to my back.

Right on cue, a gunshot rang out through the area, along with the sound of a gun breaking. I expected as much.

Dropping Len off at a nearby hospital, I sat down and tried a few breathing exercises. My heart was still in overdrive from that encounter with Big Spider. I was seriously knocking on death's door over there, too many unknowns, too many chances for mishaps.

All I needed to do was screw up once, and Len and I would both be dead.

Once I was assured by the doctor that Len would be fine, I made my way back to District 7. There was a lot to do and no time to waste, the guys back at Judgment are still waiting for me to return and I need to report on the situation.

Using my handprint to open the door, Kuromaru stood up as soon as he noticed me walking in, "Oh good, you're back. How did it go?"

"I don't ever want to go back there again, seriously." I said shakily, the shock of facing live weapons only hitting me now.

"Calm down, tell us what happened." Iwanami said, sitting down next to me and placed her hand on my head, the feeling of a cool breeze suddenly blowing on me despite this being a closed air conditioned room.

I guess that's her way of calming me down. Still, telepaths are cool.

"I encountered Big Spider in District 10 by following a civilian to their hideout. The leader of Big Spider is a man named Kurozuma Wataru, he's extremely bad tempered so be careful when handling him. The civilian challenged Kurozuma to a fight and was injured, I took him to a nearby hospital."

"Ok, did you get any details on the sonic device Big Spider is using?" Kuromaru asked, pausing in his note taking.

"It's fixed into one of Big Spider's vans, the van is painted purple with Big Spider emblazoned on the side. Kurozuma called it 'Capacity Down', he himself says he doesn't know the details and I have a feeling that he doesn't. In my opinion, this is too smart for a group of Skill Out, coming up with something like this would require smarts. Science smarts, and Skill Out doesn't look like they have their own R&D department."

"Any more facts and details or do I have to read your mind for them?" Iwanami muttered, her hand still on my head.

"I'm getting to it. Capacity Down is a sound at exactly 8147 Hz, to Level 0's like Skill Out it's just a high pitched noise. But to Espers, it distorts their Personal Reality by interfering and resonating inside an Esper's Reality, preventing them from doing the necessary calculations. The easiest method to counter this is by blocking the sound from reaching your ears, earplugs are one way."

"Thanks for the heads up Ryu, I'll pass this along to the other branches." Kuromaru said, typing

what was on his notepad out on the computer.

"I'm heading to the hospital to see Len and Tsubaki, call me if you need anything. Oh, and here's my new number."

"What was wrong with the old one?" Kuromaru asked, looking at me quizzically.

"Uhhh... It broke."

"How?"

By an EMP Burst...

"I dropped it."

"Man you gotta be more careful next time. Well, see ya."

Guess I'll had to the hospital now.

Should I walk or take a bus?

Half an hour of indecision later, I stood at the entrance of the hospital, having debated internally whether to walk or take a bus all the way there.

Damn, I just absentmindedly wandered here already, oh well, no time like the present.

Opening the door to Len and Tsubaki's room, I stopped almost immediately after taking one step into the room.

Len, with his shirt off; Tsubaki, leaning over Len and...

"Ryu!" Tsubaki yelled, leaping off of Len and rushing for the door.

Slamming the door shut and hearing a dull thud on the other end as what sounded like Tsubaki slammed into the door.

"Heheh, I survived!... Ow!" I said, with a total moronic laugh, my head slamming into the door as if it had a mind of its own.

"That hurt Tsubaki!" I yelled at the door, only to hear my own moronic laugh, girl version.

"Never... Mess... With a... Telekinetic!" Tsubaki said, her fit of giggles preventing her from talking properly.

Seriously, my eyes are rolling.

With a flick of my hand, Tsubaki let out a mild scream of surprise as her own head hit the door.

"Never mess with a Telekinetic huh?" I muttered, walking out of the hospital since Tsubaki and Len seem fine.

The familiar message ringtone I had assigned for incoming messages rang from the new phone in my pocket, it was a message from Kuromaru, "Anti Skill is conducting a raid on District 10 to counter Esper hunting activities. Their requesting Judgment help by keeping civilians out of the area in order to minimize casualties. Do you want to represent our Branch?"

Just what I was waiting for.

One word reply, "Yes."

Before Anti Skill wipes Big Spider out, there must be some way to make sure that they don't go out for their Esper hunting activities, otherwise all Anti Skill is going to arrest is a couple of hideout watching morons.

Taking out the vans that Big Spider uses should do the trick.

A few hours later, a shadow slowly made its way to Big Spider's main hideout.

Well not as awesome as a real shadow, just me hiding behind a badly built wall of iron sand.

If this stupid wall doesn't give me away, my heart will, it's hammering away none stop as adrenaline flows through my blood.

In order to sneak in undetected, the abilities I could use were clearly limited, I can't use electricity or pyrokinesis outright or I might as well toss a signal flare and draw everyone to me, and I can't take the whole of Skill Out on by myself. A small mob can be swiftly taken out, but anything more than 4-5 is out of my league.

And even an adrenaline fueled frenzy isn't going to save me.

Reaching the van without incident, (I'm not that good, they're just that dumb), my hopes crashed as

I counted at least ten guys around the vans enjoying the evening air.

Maybe they aren't THAT stupid...

Now what do I do? A blitz attack might work on half of them, but the rest would simply take me out before I can finish them off...

Getting close to the vans with them around is definitely not going to happen...

A few of them pulling out cigarettes, 4 of the figures supposedly guarding the vans walked off to have a break elsewhere leaving 7 or 8 of them behind.

I need another distraction.

Looking around for some sort of solution to my problem, a stack of steel beams nearby caught my eye.

I won't be able to lift it, but shifting it slightly should not be too difficult...

Calculating the approximate amount of force I'll need to move the beam while taking a guess as to how much it actually weighs, I set my calculations in motion only to hear the stupid thing move only a slight bit.

Oh come on!

Doubling the equation rather than recalculate, I thrust my hand out again, only to have the beam move twice as much and still make no sound at all.

You gotta be kidding me!

Entering the maximum amount of force I could manage without hurting myself, I thrust my arm out yet again to see the beam slide slowly but surely off the beam it was on, and still not fall off.

Knocking my head into the wall while barely holding myself back from screaming out, "Are you kidding me?", some rocks from the wall crumbled off and fell to the ground making a crackling sound as gravel met gravel.

"Hey, you three, go check out what's going on over there." what seemed to be the leader of the guards said, with three grumbling shadows making their way over to me.

Oh crap. So now... Do I run? Or take them out?

Decisions decisions.

Hiding behind the wall as their footsteps got closer I focused on the two abilities that I had which could detect blood flow.

With Energy Manipulation being more sensitive than aquakinesis, I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing in order to focus my power on the three approaching threats.

The theory is to sense the blood flow of the carotid artery which brings blood to the brain and lightly punch the artery. By limiting blood flow to the brain, the brain will start shutting down functions not important for survival.

Consciousness being one of them.

Pinching three carotid arteries, I heard the familiar thump of a person losing consciousness.

That's one.

Another thump.

Good that's two.

The third however, started to gag and splutter.

Uh oh, make that two carotid arteries and one windpipe.

Creating a small force on by spatial calculations what I assumed would be the back of my unfortunate victim's head I heard the third thump as the third person fell.

Now that they are unconscious...

With a spine chilling click, a gun barrel was leveled to my head, "Why are you here?" an angry Skill Out demanded.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." I quietly whispered, trying to be as quiet as possible.

What happened next was definitely the only thing that went right in my favor so far this evening.

With my Reflect on, I was ready to deflect the bullet.

With Energy Manipulation active, I was ready to silence the shot.

All that's left is to... Pull the trigger with telekinesis.

"What the...?" the Skill Out gasped, feeling the trigger move as if it had a mind of its own.

With a silenced 'bang' the bullet exited the chamber and barely touched my temple before reflecting and shattering the gun.

Turning and striking the back of the Skill Out's head with telekinesis, I slowly lowered him to the ground to prevent another sound of a falling body from alerting what was already mission impossible.

Heading the long way around while the remainder of the guards came to check why their scouts were taking so long to return, I quickly snuck close to the vehicles, severing their brake line, loosening the crank shaft and adding sugar to the fuel tanks before sneaking off without a trace.

The next morning at exactly 10am, the raid on District 10 was carried out by Anti Skill, with Judgment lining the perimeter to make sure no civilians entered District 10.

Paired with some telekinetic called Tonyo from another Branch, he was constantly trying to break the ice by talking about every use telekinesis has under the sun.

Now I'm not one to shy away from ability discussion, but this kid really needs to accept opinions that aren't his own.

"... So you see, by applying fine control over telekinesis, one could..."

And I zoned out again, thank goodness this kid's not really astute. At least I can ignore him without having to feign actual attention.

"Squad #26, couple of stragglers headed your way."

I knew Anti Skill couldn't close up all the escape points. I picked this spot precisely because of this.

Let's see if this guy's practical is as good as his theory.

Sure enough, no less than 7 Skill Outs ran around the corner wit panicked looks in their eyes.

Understandable, nobody can watch as all their friends get arrested and still stay calm, especially when you're next.

But when people become stressed they tend to be irrational, and irrational people armed with live weapons... Tend to use them.

"G-get out of the way!" one of the Skill Outs yelled, pulling his gun arm up and firing, the rest of his peers doing the same.

Reflect on...

"Watch this!" Tonyo yelled, a sudden fluctuation of AIM in front of him indicating he was projecting something from his hands.

A majority of the bullets were stopped by the telekinetic wall thrown up by Tonyo.

Holding a hand in front of his face, I deflected a bullet meant for his face and several that would have peppered my chest back at the offending guns causing them to shatter.

"Don't do something like that on your own. We work as a team, your antics nearly got us killed."

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Tonyo gasped.

"Save it for later!" I yelled, tripping two of the Skill Outs whose guns were not destroyed.

Swiftly downing the Skill Outs, a small group of Anti Skills arrived to take them away while I deactivated my Reflect.

"So how did you do that?" Tonyo asked, still in awe.

"Same as you. Telekinesis." I replied curtly.

I can't say I control multiple abilities to someone like him.

"But how?"

"Using the same concept as you. Your weakness is that even though you are well aware of what to do in theory, you simply do not apply it practically."

"What?"

"You visualize. That's how you control your telekinesis. It's a shortcut and makes using your ability easy but removes any chance of fine control over it."

"But..."

"Don't argue. To create a wall like that it would take an incredible amount of calculations. The fact that you let bullets through shows that you were simply making guesses where the bullets would fly and make adjustments accordingly. Without eyes fast enough to track each individual bullet, you let some through."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry, if you work at it I'm sure you'll understand your own theory someday."

With nothing left to say, I started paying more attention to the radio chatter, with the sound of a Railgun going off in the distance.

Well at least Misaka is having fun...

-End of Chapter 6-

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