Misaka's legs suddenly buckled, unable to hold her up. I had to prop her up and support her weight with one arm.
"Still too tired from using your powers?"
"Yeah. Still recovering. My head… little fuzzy."
Holding her up, we made our way towards the other exit. I burned open the lock with a small jet of plasma.
"She's disoriented, still looking for us." I told Misaka, she nodded.
"Let's get outta here. Umm… I'm good, I can walk now." I might've blushed. I let go of her immediately. It's a platform we were walking on, there was some kind of heavy machinery down there. A slight humming was heard from this height, probably generators. A thick mysterious mist covered all the machines, only a dim red light shone through.
"Meltdowner? She wasn't coming for us." Misaka asked.
"I don't know, let's just go."
"I suddenly thought of something, why didn't this place have any protection on its own? I know you disabled the alarms." I asked.
"They wanted to lure us in, so they got rid of security robots and stuff, Frenda was the first line of defense. They didn't know you were coming, if I was alone, Frenda might've actually repelled me."
"You know the way out?" I was just curious.
"Yes." In silence we made our way to the end of the platform, the rest felt a little blurry. Jamming motion sensors. Making our way through even more dark, metallic hallways. We took a few turns that I will never be able to remember. I'm not even planning to come back, hell no. Finally, we reached the exit. I pushed the door open with ease, because we were opening from the inside out.
The moment my face felt the faint breeze, I nearly passed out. I was so relieved, it felt good to be back. I do remember though, we still have one more place to take care of.
"Hey, your friend. What's her name again?" I asked.
"Shinobu, and yeah I suppose she can be my friend."
"She's gonna be alright. It's okay."
"The remaining lab is quite far, we need to hitch a ride, and also just to look less suspicious walking alone."
"I got this." We walked to the main road. I looked back. From this angle the place actually looked like a huge lab instead of a factory. A modern looking disc shaped structure with curved windows stood out. A huge building supported it, and when I looked at the top, I saw a column of smoke rose up. I also saw a little light, something's on fire. We did it. What's gonna happen to us afterwards? Any legal trouble? I started to think about it.
Minutes later, a taxi stopped right before us. Late night taxi.
"You guys okay?" The driver asked. I wasn't surprised, considering how bad and worn out we looked. I probably had a little soot on my face. I brushed it off.
"She's injured." I replied immediately.
"Well get in!" The driver said. I opened the yellow door and we sat at the back.
Misaka pulled out a normal map and gave it to me.
"Get us to here please." I showed the driver the map and pointed at it.
"That's not the hospital though, it's a research center if I recall." He stated.
"I know, it's no normal wound, she knows a friend working there." Is he gonna believe two teenagers? I mean, it's a weird city alright. Things like this happens, so it shouldn't be too hard to believe. I know I was lying, but we have to get there and not be seen. As expected, he hit the gas and didn't say another word.
It was a smooth ride, I let my eyelids drop and got a little sleep. Misaka sat beside me, and was deep asleep. She's tired out, doing the same things for several nights straight. The taxi stopped at lights, and kept moving, then taking rights, lefts. Orangish-yellow light from road lamps gently brushed the car, leaking through the windows. It was comforting. Then I woke up to a faint voice:
"We are here." Misaka said, she woke up first.
"Thank you so much." I said to the driver, reaching into my pocket.
"No, it's fine. I'm done for the night, it's the last ride. I'm going to park this going on this route. Get your friend medical help ASAP."
"Thanks." We got out of the car. I closed the door and waved the driver goodbye.
We stood there and waited until the taxi went out of sight.
"How are we doing this?" I asked.
She looked as if she had recovered more. Me on the other hand, felt a little sluggish. The ability overloading effects had worn out, and I have bad feelings about taking another pill right now. A familiar buzzing sound was heard, smoke bellowed from the door security system, but when Misaka tried to open it, it didn't bulge.
"This lock is more advanced, my powers don't work on it."
"Lemme try." I willed air to heat up and compress. To my surprise, hot plasma still formed. I used a small jet to cut through the metal on each side of the gate. The center portion of the gate collapsed with a huge "Clank!." The two sides I cut through glowed red hot.
"Careful." I reminded her, as we stepped in. It's a huge area, a well decorated front yard. We came in through the front gate, we might be detected. This area likely has the heaviest defense.
"Mugino might have her fourth member waiting here, we need to act quick, before she tracks us down and surrounds us." She warned.
We walked on a trail through the front lawn. Yeah right, "research" center, as the driver said. Apparently he is one of the many left in the dark. It's a good thing, at least he doesn't have to worry beforehand what's gonna happen to this place.
"What the hell was...watch out!" Misaka told me. propeller blade sounds was heard, they got louder. Several drones flew across, with blinding searchlights shone at us. We were detected.
"Someone's expecting us."