"Stop, Accelerator! You can't go face him now; you'll only get hurt!" 37 yelled as she sprang up from the couch.

"Not a chance 37, my mind's made up, and no one is going to stop me," he replied angrily as he kept going to the door.

37 didn't know what else to do. There's no way we can physically stop him with his ability... Think dammit, what can we do? Ahh, I know! It'll hurt, but I have to do it for his sake... She brought up her right arm and directed it towards Accelerator. A faint ripple effect appeared around her hand, and once she was ready, she forced it in his direction.

"Huh? What the hell is this?" A strange force suddenly enveloped Accelerator, causing him to stand still. He glanced back to 37 and saw she was controlling it. She's manipulating the gravity around me! That's okay, all I have to do is...

Before he could change the control of gravity around himself, she negated the gravity around him and threw him up into the ceiling. He fell back down to the floor unconscious as 37 yelled, "Forgive me Seiji, but I can't stand back and let your hatred for Kihara consume you."

"37, what did you just do?" Yomikawa asked as she started to approach Accelerator.

"I... I used Gravity Swing on him. It's the last stolen ability I had, and I know that he has to consciously let gravity affect him. So I took control of the gravity around him and knocked him out before he could leave. Hopefully now he can be a little calmer and rational before...he... AHH!" 37 screamed out in pain and collapsed to the floor.

Accelerator had just started to regain consciousness when she collapsed. "What was that 37? Hey... what happened to her?!" He yelled at Yomikawa, who had rushed back to 37's side. The back of her bodysuit grew wet as blood soaked through in a foot long diagonal line across her back. He started to approach her when Yomikawa stopped him.

"Stand back Accelerator; she can't take the chance of you coming into contact with her if she's already injured. This cut must have come up when she used that ability on you. I'll take care of the wound. It looks like I won't get back to HQ right away after all," she said as she carefully lifted 37 up and brought her into her bedroom.

Not sure what else to do, he resigned to take a seat on the couch. How stupid to use that ability knowing it would do this. Why would she do that just to stop me, I would have been fine going after Kihara on my own.

37 woke up as Yomikawa was peeling back the bodysuit, revealing the long gash across her back. "Oww, as much as this has happened, I still can't get used to the pain. Is he still out cold or did he leave?" 37 asked as she laid down on the bed, her face half-nestled in her pillow as she gripped the sides tightly.

"No, he woke up right as you collapsed. He didn't look like he'd be going anywhere now, but that was still no excuse to risk hurting yourself. This looks like a clean shallow cut. I should be able to stitch it closed myself. Will you be okay with me doing that here?"

"That's fine; you'll probably take care of it better than the SAI did with the other ones. I just couldn't think of any other way to keep him from leaving."

Yomikawa nodded, "I can understand that, but I'm curious, why are you so concerned about him? Is it just because you're both from the Institute and you want to look out for him, or is it something else?"

37 thought for a moment before answering. "Well, I suppose it's because I want to fix what's broken."

"You think he's broken?" asked Yomikawa, interested in what she meant. She had begun to stitch together the wound, trying to cause as little discomfort to the girl as she could.

"We all are in some way. That's what life does sometimes. There are people in this world that break, and there are those that fix. Kihara is a breaker, obviously. You're a fixer, even right now for taking care of me. You asked me what it is I wanted to do with my life. I want to fix. And that includes people."

...

It's sure taking a while, maybe I should check on them. Accelerator stood up and stretched before walking back towards her bedroom. The door was left partially open, and as he approached, he could hear the two ladies speaking. Ahh, she's awake, that's a good sign. He paused before stepping through the door though, as he heard them talking about him of all things.

"So you think that the way Accelerator is now needed fixing?"

"It's not that I want to change him, I like who he is. I'm just afraid that he's going to get carried away and get himself hurt. He relies on his ability too much. Yeah, it's convenient to have but look what we found out about Kihara having a counter ability. I fear that he'd be left defenseless if Kihara gets the upper hand and takes out his Reflection."

She's worried about me? No one's ever done that for me before, but for her to say that I'd be defenseless... How am I supposed to take that? It's like she's saying I'm weak... He looked into the room and saw Yomikawa finishing up the stitches on the cut across 37's back. He stepped through the doorway and greeted the two girls.

"Hey. I see you're all patched up now, so I guess there's no need to worry about you anymore. So how about you stop worrying about me and let me do what I'm good at. Unless you think I'm too weak to take care of Kihara..."

"What? I never said that about you, why would you think that?" 37 said as she pulled her blanket around her as she sat up on her bed gingerly.

"Don't play dumb now. I heard what you said earlier about me being defenseless. You don't believe I can handle Kihara, do you?" he grew angry as he continued. "But that's okay, I'm sure once I prove how wrong you are and get rid of the bastard you'll realize your error in judgment."

"I never called you weak! If you had really listened to what I had said, I was talking about what could be possible if you underestimate him. I know you're a strong Esper, everyone does. But Kihara also knows all about you and is very good at exploiting weaknesses. He made you believe there wasn't a counter to your ability to give you a false sense of security. I was just worried that you'd rush into a fight without thinking of a rational plan for dealing with him." 37 attempted to rise from her bed, but the pain from her back made it hard to stand.

Yomikawa grabbed one of her hands to help steady her as she stood up. "You shouldn't be moving around, you may break your stitches."

"Listen to her 37, don't bother trying to stop me again," Accelerator said as he walked out of the room.

"Do you think I should go after him?" said Yomikawa as 37 reluctantly turned back to her bed and laid down once again.

"No. He's angry, but he isn't driven by that blind rage from earlier. I can't believe he completely misinterpreted what I said though."

"Well, he's still young, most normal nine-year-olds wouldn't have to deal with a situation like this. I have a feeling he wasn't sure how to handle you showing concern for him. The kid hasn't exactly been living in an environment that fosters caring and empathy."

37 nodded her head in agreement with Yomikawa. "True, but that just makes me want to fix what they broke even more. I know he's capable of kindness and compassion. They've just been too strong of an influence on him."

Yomikawa nodded as she sighed deeply, "I'm sure he is, and if anyone can help him it's you. But you need your rest right now, so just focus on healing. I'll make sure that he's okay in the meantime." She smiled at the girl and walked out of the room. She walked into the living room just in time to see Accelerator leaving the safe house. She yelled out for him to stop, and he paused at the threshold.

"Don't worry; I'm not going after Kihara just yet. Just do me a favor and keep an eye on 37, don't give her a chance to do something stupid like getting hurt again. She's been through enough pain as it is, but I'll make sure I'm strong enough to put an end to the cause of that pain." Without looking back, he continued through the door.