DISCLAIMER; I DO NOT OWN [PROTOTYPE], PROTOTYPE 2, A CERTAIN MAGICAL INDEX, A CERTAIN SCIENTIFIC RAILGUN, OR THE COVER ART FOR THIS STORY!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Explanations/Clarifications section has some pretty important stuff today. This chapter might cause some confusion during a certain scene (it's a normal scene, don't worry) so I want to clarify any confusion as soon as possible. I highly suggest you read it so that you understand why this or that happens. If you don't, you might run into future confusion that could have been avoided.

Chapter 10

Search and Destroy

Siren pulled up his hood as he exited the mall, the shouts of the crowd of grateful people still audible to him. He didn't exactly understand their reaction, but now was not the time to ponder such things. Right now, he had a job to do; kill a certain someone.

He jumped toward the side of a nearby building, effortlessly sprinting up the side as though it were nothing more than an average sidewalk. The building wasn't very tall, so he reached the top rather quickly. Once he was sure he was away from prying eyes, he pulled his cell phone from its biomass cocoon within his chest. He quickly brought up his contacts list, which currently consisted of only one name; Mikoro. He tapped the number, and brought the phone to his ear. After a few seconds, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hello?"

"Mikoro, hey, it's me. Listen, do you remember me asking you to hack into the city's surveillance cameras a while back?"

"Uh, yes…why?"

"I need you to get on your computer and start looking through those cameras. I'm looking for a magician, and she's looking for Touma. She's already shown that—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Siren, wait up! What the heck is going on? Magician? What magician? I—"

"Mikoro," Siren said firmly. "We don't have time for this. Look, there's somebody who's controlling a small army of these…Golem things, and she's after Touma. I don't know why she's after him, but she is. She's already shown that she's willing to cripple and kill others to get to Touma, so we need to find her, fast."

"I—uh—alright, fine, but you owe me an explanation after this. What does she look like?

"I have no idea. Just look for somebody suspicious. Use the surveillance cameras to check everything. Check any place that would make a good hideout to start off."

"Siren, you need to give me more info than that, it's just not enough to go off of!"

"We don't have any more info! Look, time won't wait for us, and that woman won't either. She's after Touma, and at this rate, she'll get him. She's already made this mistake of ticking me off, so the first thing I'm going to do is deny her the prize she's trying to find; Touma. Call me if you find anything or anyone, and hurry; we don't have a lot of time. I'm going back to hunting for her."

"Um…ok. Alright, I can do that. Good luck Siren…don't get yourself killed."

Siren silently nodded at her words; a gesture she obviously couldn't see. He hung up, and tucked the phone back into its biomass cocoon, before putting it back into his chest, the tentacles closing around the cocoon. He quickly ran to the end of the rooftop, before jumping off the side, crashing into the street bellow. Several people saw him, but at this point, he didn't care. He had no doubt that the news of his presence in the city would spread fast; there were hundreds of people in the mall who saw him. There was no way this would stay quite.

He began sprinting around, looking for anything that would be a decent hideout. He made his way onto the streets, jumping over cars and trucks alike, frightening dozens of people every minute. Before long, his sensitive ears picked up on the sounds of fighting. He gritted his teeth as he realized that there must have been more Golems on the loose. Despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to find the magician and turn her into his next meal, he turned from the street he was on, running towards the sounds of fighting.

As he got closer to the commotion, he ran to the sidewalk, jumping onto the wall of a business building. He began running along the wall, going higher as he neared the fight. As soon as he saw the Golems, he jumped, and allowed his body to begin changing. He hardened his biomass, increasing its weight and dived toward the ground at incredible speeds.

*Page Break*

Accelerator grunted as he sent another one of the stone giants flying. He was getting fed up with these things, and it seemed that there was no end to them. They may have been easy to kill, but whoever was controlling them seemed to have an endless supply. Almost everyone in the area had already fled, leaving him, the stone creatures, and a few other espers who were strong enough to fight them, or at least distract them as Accelerator destroyed them.

One of the stone giants threw a nearby car at him, but he blocked it with his Reflection ability. He turned to face the creature, but stopped as a bolt of pale-green energy hit it. He looked over to the esper who shot the creature, the esper nodding to him. The esper than began sprinting toward the fallen creature, intent on finishing it off. Accelerator turned and noticed that several of the stone giants had attempted to surround him. He smiled as he stomped on the ground, using his abilities to generate a shockwave that knocked the giants off their feet.

He prepared to finish them off, but before he could, he heard a loud crash above him. He looked up in time to see a figure jumping off the side of a building and dive to the ground, a strange red mist trailing behind his body.

The figure neared the ground at incredible speeds, and Accelerator was sure the guy was trying to commit suicide with that kind of fall. However, just as he neared the ground, the figure turned upright, landing in a kneeling position with his right hand planted on the ground. However, the landing generated a massive shockwave, much like Accelerator's attack. However, while Accelerator's attack had been controlled and suppressed, this shockwave sent everything flying. Esper, cars, the stone giants, everything was flung away from the figure; Accelerator was the only one who wasn't affected by the newcomers' entrance.

Accelerator narrowed his eyes. At first, he assumed that this was the leader of the stone giants, but quickly threw the idea away. When the leader asked for Touma, the voice that was projected from the creatures was definitely female.

The figure slowly straightened out, his eyes scanning the scene. The pulled up hood cast a deep shadow over the figure's face, obscuring the upper portion of his face. Although, one could clearly see two odd blue and grey eyes peering out from the shadowed face.

"Does anyone know where their leader is? The sooner we take her out, the sooner these Golem things stop coming," shouted the hooded figure.

The esper in the area took a second to rise to their feet, dusting themselves off. Quickly, the shook their heads, before taking fighting positions as the creatures, or Golems, as the hooded figure called them, rose to their feet.

The Golem closest to the hooded figure took one look at him before the voice of the woman from before echoed from the Golem's throat. "You! You don't give up do you? What the hell makes you think you stand a chance against me? Do you not see the army I have at my disposal?"

Accelerator frowned. This woman was getting on his nerves, and apparently, the hooded figure thought so as well. He walked over to the Golem, and Accelerator's eyes widened as the figure's hands transformed into claws.

Wait! Is this the clawed esper?

The clawed hand of the hooded figure gripped the head of the Golem. With a squeeze, he crushed the head, allowing the body to crumble to the ground as the creature fell apart. Several of the weaker espers took a step back, expressions of slight fear on their faces.

"Look, the sooner we clear this street of these things, the sooner we can find their leader. Hurry, and get killing!" With that, he jumped into the air, his hands transforming into what looked like giant spiked boxer's gloves. He then performed and elbow slam, his body plummeting from the high in the air and crushing another Golem with ease.

Accelerator wanted to question this clawed guy, but decided that the issue at hand had to be dealt with first. "Come on! Let's get this over with!"

His voice seemed to snap the other espers out of their daze, and the group went back to fighting. He turned around and faced off against a Golem that had crept up behind him. The massive creature swung an oversized fist at him, which he simply leaned away from. He touched the Golem's hand and, with the help of his abilities, sent it flying toward one of its comrades.

He looked over and noticed the hooded figure dodging and weaving as the majority of the Golems attacked him. Accelerator didn't know why the Golems seemed to be targeting the same enemy, but for reasons he didn't yet know, they were. He considered helping the hooded figure, but noticed that he was doing just fine on his own. The Golems seemed incapable of landing a solid blow on him, but in turn, he was crushing them under the oversized boxer glove things that his hands had become. Accelerator also took note of the fact that the hooded figure seemed far more flexible than any human he ever saw. The figure's arms and legs would often bend at wrong angles to land hits on Golem's from uncommon positions.

No human should be able to move like that. What's with this guy? And the agility, this is something that's beyond the human body. Is he manipulating kinetic energy to allow his body to move like that? But that still doesn't explain why he can bend his limbs the wrong way…

Accelerator decided that his questions could wait until the Golems were dealt with. He went back to destroying the creatures, the other espers doing so as well. Within the spam of a few minutes, the entire group had been wiped out, but a few of the weaker espers were lying on the ground, their strength spent. The most the other esper could do was distract the Golems while Accelerator and the boxer fist guy finished them off.

A single Golem remained on the ground, its body falling apart, but the creature was still alive, or as alive as a stone giant could get. Accelerator noticed the strange hooded esper walking toward the Golem. In one fluid movement, he grabbed the Golem by the throat, holding it up in the air.

Accelerator blinked in surprise. Given the giant's size and earthly composition, he deduced that it should be pretty heavy. There should be no way this esper could casually pick up the Golem without a second thought, unless he was using more abilities. Accelerator frowned. What with the amount of different abilities this esper seemed to have, he must have been of a decent level. The fact that Accelerator never heard or seen this guy made him wonder if this guy had been in hiding. If so, what was he hiding from?

If he's a rogue, this might become an issue.

Accelerator began walking towards the hooded esper as he flipped the Golem over his head, smashing its head into the street. As Accelerator got closer, the hooded esper turned to him, focusing those odd blue and grey eyes on him. Again, Accelerator wondered what kind of abilities this guy had, especially if they were influencing his appearance. Nobody he knew had grey sclera and irises that glowed. He knew there were conditions that resulted with people having grey spots on their sclera, but not an entirely grey sclera without any white areas at all.

"Hey, I have a few questions for you buddy, and I suggest you answer them because right now, I 'aint in the mood to deal with any more shit. Best case scenario, you answer a couple questions, I leave, we all walk away happy. Sound good?"

The esper said nothing and merely looked towards the sky. "No."

Accelerator narrowed his eyes. "Look, friend, I wasn't asking. I was telling you that you're going to answer a few questions. I told you, I 'aint in the mood to deal with any more of this shit, so let's just do this nice and easy. I don't feel like wasting too much time here; I've already spent enough," he said in a threatening tone.

The hooded esper turned his entire body to face him. "What part of 'no' was so difficult to understand? That bullet to the head must have left you with some hearing impairments."

Accelerator blinked. "How the hell do you know about that?" he snarled.

The hooded esper cocked his head. "What? Surprised? Please, I know a lot more than you think. By the way, a word of advice; next time you participate in an experiment that has you murder a couple thousand little clones, tell the people involved to better guard themselves. Finding them wasn't too hard."

Accelerator grabbed the figure by the throat with his left hand; his right was still supporting himself through the use of his cane. This guy knew way too much to just be an esper with unusual powers. "Who are you? What else do you know?!"

Several of the other esper were beginning to shout at him, telling him to put the hooded esper down. "Shut up!" he screamed at them, causing them to back off. He turned back toward the hooded esper he held. "I'll ask you again; who are you? If you know so much about me, then you should know that I could kill you in an instant."

"If you knew anything about me, you'd probably rethink that statement. Besides, you were defeated by a Level 0, weren't you? One would think that would teach you to not underestimate people; kind of like what you're doing now. Do you really think you can kill me as easily as you could a clone of that weak little electric esper? Give me a break; anyone can kill a defenseless girl."

Accelerator gritted his teeth. "Who the fuck sent you? Answer me!"

"Who sent me? I guess you could say it was the people who created me. Although, it doesn't matter; you are of no concern or threat to me, there's no reason to come after you."

A wild grin spread across Accelerator's face. "Oh, I'm of no threat to you?! You know, that's a pretty bold statement! I told you I could kill you in an instant, and the only reason you're still alive is because I'm trying to figure out who sent a creep like you here, but hey, if you're not going to comply, I could end you here and now!"

"As much as I'd like to fight somebody who can actually survive the first punch, I have other things to do," the hooded esper said his voice rising. "So I'm going to say this once; fuck off."

Accelerator felt something snap inside of him. Without thinking, he squeezed with all his strength, attempting to crush the hooded figure's throat. He allowed his cane to slip from his right hand, and once it was free, he placed it on the hooded esper's stomach. Instead of trying to reverse the esper's blood flow, he plunged his hand into the esper's stomach, and using his abilities, threw his organs into turmoil, which resulted in blood and strange black mass to explode from the esper.

Accelerator panted slightly, holding the esper still. He could hear one of the other esper vomiting behind him, but he didn't care. "I warned you," he whispered, a smile creeping onto his face.

"So did I."

Accelerator's eyes widened as he felt a cold hand grip his neck with astounding force.

*Page Break*

"Touma…"

Touma froze as he heard Mikoto's voice. She sounded very unhappy.

The last of the Golems in the area had been defeated and apparently, Mikoto decided that now was the time to scold him for something that he probably didn't know about to begin with.

"Where's Siren?"

Touma felt his heart rate increase. "W—what? I—I—I have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Listen, I already know. Kuroko said she heard YOU say his name, and I can tell by your reaction that you know him. So I'll ask again; where is he?"

"Biri-Biri, I think you're making a mistak—"

"Touma, I'm not trying to be his enemy. I want to talk to him," Mikoto interrupted.

Touma glanced around, desperately looking for something to distract Mikoto with. However, he found nothing of the sort, and was faintly aware of the sound of lightning cracking as Mikoto's patience began wearing thin. He gulped as he looked back to her.

"I—alright, alright, I'll tell you this; I know who he is, but I have no idea where he is right now. More than likely, he's fighting Golems right now, or maybe even fighting their leader."

Mikoto frowned. "Do you know where he'll go afterwards?"

Touma nodded. He knew that Siren didn't want to work with Mikoto, but he thought that she deserved a chance.

"Good. After this, take me to him," Mikoto said, crossing her arms. "But right now, we've gotta find the one leading these things."

Touma nodded once more. "Any ideas?"

Mikoto frowned and brought a hand up to her chin. Shortly afterward, her face brightened and she snapped her fingers. "I got it! We'll ask Mikoro to look into the city's surveillance cameras and locate the leader like that!"

Before Touma could say anything, Mikoto pulled out her phone, franticly looking through its features before coming to the contacts list. She quickly found Mikoro's number and tapped the screen. She brought the phone up to her ears, silently praying for Mikoro to pick up.

After a few seconds, Touma heard a faint "hello" on the other end of the line. Immediately, Mikoto's face brightened up and a smile touched her lips. "Mikoro? Hey, it's me, Mikoto. I have a favor to ask…"

*Page Break*

A certain blond magician sat in her stone throne as she looked through the eyes of her many, many minions. She gritted her teeth as she realized that the last of the Golems close to Touma had been defeated, by him and by the Railgun herself.

She flexed her fingers as a new idea came to mind.

I was hoping to avoid something like that, but it might be the only path to victory here. If this last wave of Golems is defeated, well then, I GUESS I'LL HAVE TO BRING OUT THE BIG GUNS!

*Page Break*

Accelerator tried to pry the cold fingers from the choker around his neck, but to no avail. He relinquished his grip on the esper's throat, attempting to use both hands to try and break the esper's grip. Again, the cold hand didn't budge. He didn't dare try to use any abilities, because if he did, the choker might be destroyed by this esper. That would spell game over for him.

He looked down at the esper's torso, expecting to see some kind of barrier around it, or maybe something that could have cast an illusion of some sort. Instead, he found exactly what he would find on a corpse; a middle section that looked as though it had been mauled by a hippopotamus. His eyes widened. How could somebody have survived that?!

"I warned you, didn't I?"

He looked back toward the face of the esper. He was met with the cold glare of a killer, not an ounce of sympathy was present in the esper's eyes. "If you only knew…If you only knew how many times I've dealt with injuries far more severe than this. If you knew, you would have taken my earlier advice and gone home." He shook his head. "It's pathetic really; YOU of all people should understand the consequences of underestimating somebody."

Accelerator attempted to cough as the esper's grip tightened. He tried kicking the esper, but nothing came of it. Despite the fact that he was able to land a few solid kicks on him, the esper showed no signs of pain or agony. In fact, the surrounding material that was ripped from the esper began climbing back towards him. It began reattaching itself, and his body began healing. Within a few seconds, he looked good as new.

Accelerator's kicks became more frantic as his vision began fading, the lack of oxygen becoming more of an issue. The cold glare he was receiving from the esper didn't change, and Accelerator was certain that this esper planned on killing him.

If I don't use my abilities, he'll kill me. If I do, there's a chance I might survive…

Accelerator prepared to begin using his esper powers, despite the risk. But just like that, he felt the grip loosen, and he was suddenly thrown toward a car. He hit the vehicle with a pained grunt, and fell to the street beside it. He quickly began picking himself off the ground, but was stopped as he felt a foot slam onto his chest. He grunted as the air was knocked out of him, but stayed conscious.

The esper loomed over him, the sun obscuring any details, leaving only a silhouette. The only thing he could clearly make out was the strange pair of glowing eyes that stared down at him.

"I told you before; I don't need to kill you. You are of no threat or concern to me. However, if this happens again, you can expect a slow, agonizing death. If I consumed you, it would practically fuel my evolution. Honestly, you're of more use as a part of me, rather than as a living human. Ponder this day well, Accelerator. If you have another like it, it will be your last."

Accelerator grunted. How did this guy get past his Reflection?! Was he using the same technique as Kihara?! Did this guy know enough about him to outsmart his Reflection?! And consuming?! What the fuck did he mean by consuming?!

"By the way, Last Order was looking for you. She's back at that mall that you were at not too long ago."

Accelerator felt anger rising within him. "You bastard! If you did anything to her I'll—"

"Calm down. I didn't harm her. If it's of any consolation, I tried to help her find you. I even defended her, along with half the mall, from some of the Golems. Listen to me, right now, we're not enemies. You're just somebody who made the stupid mistake of attacking me. I know where you're coming from; I'd probably tried to kill somebody if they started talking about my past when it's supposed to be classified. Anyway, I suggest you clean yourself off before she gets back to your place. The kid might panic if she sees you covered in dirt and blood from being thrown around."

Then, he began walking away as if nothing of interest happened. Accelerator stared at his back, noticing the strange red, glowing, wing-like symbol on his back. It looked like this guy was similar to him in more than one way. If the hooded esper's past was classified, that meant this guy might have been part of some elaborate experiment to create a powerful esper, just like what he had gone through.

Accelerator slowly began pushing himself off the ground, coughing lightly as he did so. "Hey," he called out. The esper stopped moving. "You got a name?"

The esper turned his slightly, his face still mostly obscured by the hood. "Why does it matter?"

Accelerator grinned. "Few people are worth remembering. One of the exceptions would be people who are strong. So, I'm asking you; you got a name?"

The esper said nothing for a few seconds, then, he spoke. "It doesn't matter. If you meet me again, whether as an ally or as an enemy, I'll tell you then. Oh, by the way, if you come to me as an enemy, my name will probably be the last thing you here. Reflection won't save you; not from me."

"Tch! Fine then! I'll just call you Esper!"

This brought out a short chuckle from Esper. "What makes you think I'm an esper?"

Before Accelerator could respond, Esper jumped to incredible heights, and began running up the vertical wall of a building.

"Still callin' you Esper," Accelerator mumbled, but then the importance of Esper's last question hit him like a truck.

"WAIT, WHAT?!"

*Page Break*

Siren was not very happy at the moment. Sure, it was an interesting experience; talking and fighting Accelerator, but he had wasted a lot of time there. Even so, it would have taken far longer if he hadn't known how to overcome Accelerator's ability. Now more than ever, he was glad that he had taken the time to consume some esper specialists and learn about their abilities. If anything, Siren was a scientist at heart, and with the amount of information he had gathered on espers in general, coupled with his own understanding, he figured out how to beat Accelerator's Reflection ability.

However, despite this victory, he clenched his fists in frustration. He was still infuriated with the woman controlling the Golems and he was still dead set on killing her. The problem was, he had no idea where to look. He wasn't used to fighting creatures that couldn't be consumed for information, so this situation was something new to him. Luckily, he had Mikoro on the surveillance cameras looking around, but that still left a pretty big job ahead of them.

As he reached the top of the skyscraper he had been running along, he flipped over the edge, landing on the roof with a thump. He looked around, as had become his habit, making sure that there were no unwanted onlookers. This may not have been an area swarming with Infected and Blackwatch, but he had never bothered breaking his habits of looking for danger even in the safest of places. Satisfied that he was alone, he began pacing around the rooftop, wondering where someone with an army on the surface would hide. He began thinking about the districts that he knew of within the city, the memories of hundreds of back alley thugs and scientists alike beginning feed ideas to him.

This went on for a few minutes before he felt a familiar vibration in his chest. With speed that would have made a martial arts master jealous, he pulled his phone from its biomass cocoon, checked the caller ID, and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Siren, listen! I think I found out where the leader is hiding! I found a subway station with an odd hole in the ground, which is being guarded by a few Golems!"

By the time Mikoro began explaining the location of the subway station entrance closest to the hole, Siren had already jumped over the side of the roof and was halfway down to the ground.

*Page Break*

Mikoto gulped before speaking. "So, Siren is going to show up here any minute?"

Touma shrugged. "Hey, you were the one talking to Mikoro, not me. What did Mikoro say?"

"That she'll call Siren and tell him to come here. She also said to wait for him here…"

"So that's what's going to happen. Don't be nervous, he won't attack you out of the blue if he just sees you standing here," said Touma.

Mikoto felt a vein pop in her forehead. "Is that so? You think I'm afraid of him? Ha! No way am I afraid of that guy!"

Touma rolled his eyes. "Is that why you're nervous about him showing up?"

Mikoto crossed her arms. "No, I just don't want this meeting to go like the last one between us."

"So, you mean you don't want him to toy around with you and then catch your railgun again?"

Mikoto delivered a swift kick to Touma's knee, causing him to yelp in pain. "I told you, I'm not afraid of him. I just don't want to waste time fighting him."

Touma hissed as he rubbed his injured knee. "Was there a reason to kick me?" he asked innocently.

Before Mikoto could reply, she saw Touma look up at something behind her with a look of surprise on his face. She quickly turned around and saw what he was looking at. In the sky, a figure was gliding hundreds of feet above the ground, a red mist trailing behind his body.

"Whoa," Mikoto heard Touma whisper. "He told me that he could glide around like that, but this is the first time I'm seeing it…man, and to think that he carried Mikoro around like that…"

Mikoto was slightly annoyed at that last statement. She was very protective of Mikoro, seeing as the clone was a gentle person and a sister-like character to Mikoto. Earlier on, Touma had let slip that Siren actually knew Mikoro and that she was even helping him. It caused Mikoto to frown in annoyance when she thought about the fact that Mikoro had kept something like this hidden from her.

Mikoto was pulled from her thoughts as she noticed Siren rapidly descending. His arms, which were spread out only moments ago, were now stretched out behind him as he allowed his body to drop like a stone toward the ground. As soon as he landed, dust and debris were sent in every direction, forcing Mikoto and Touma to shield their eyes.

The moment he looked up, Mikoto noticed the change in his eyes. The once grey irises were now a brilliant ice-blue and seemingly glowing. The sclera had lost its white color; instead, it was now a shade of grey that was similar to the original color of Siren's irises. She considered asking him what had happened to his eyes, but stopped when she noticed was that those eyes were glaring at her.

"What are YOU doing here?" he snapped.

Before Mikoto could reply, Touma spoke up. "Siren, listen, she's not here to fight you. She's been fighting the Golems to help combat the threat. She's not here to fight us, she's here to fight alongside us."

Siren glared at the black-haired teen, the ice cold glare only intensifying. Before the two could start an argument, Mikoto stepped forward. "I know that our initial encounter was…violent, but I promise you; I'm not here to fight against you. Right now, our main concern should be to take out these Golems and their leader, then I can talk to you."

Siren frowned at her. "There's nothing to talk about. Once we finish off their leader, we're done. You go your way, I'll go mine."

Mikoto shook her head. "That's not happening. I'm not going to stand by when there are threats that could destroy the world looming on the horizon. I don't care if you want my help or not, you're getting it."

Siren crossed his arms. "I don't need you, nor do I want you. There are enough people involved as it is, and I don't want this group to grow anymore than it already has. Just forge—"

"I can't! I can't forget! I've seen experiments that should never have been performed, I've seen people try to play god with the lives of others; using them as test subjects, creating clones only so that they can die a horrible death! I know you know Mikoro. Think about it; there were 20,000 Misaka clones, many of which were killed just so…so Accelerator could become stronger! You said you've seen things to which that experiment can't even compare to! If there are still people out there who play god like that, I can't stand by and let them do so."

She bowed her head slightly, her bangs covering her eyes. "If I can help it, people like that will be too afraid to ever try something so horrible again. That's why I want to help you. To stop a threat and to take down the people who perform such horrible experiments. We're all human; nobody has the right to treat anybody else like nothing more than a test subject to be studied and injected with drugs…But if what you say is true, there might not be a world left for humanity to exist upon. You said that there were weapons that threaten to destroy the world. I'm going to help you destroy them, whether you like it or not."

As she finished her speech, she was only met with silence. She looked up to see Siren's unchanged expression. A few seconds after their eyes met, he sighed and looked toward the entrance to the subway. "Before anything else, we have to take care of the situation at hand. After that, we can talk."

Mikoto felt a triumphant smile creep on to her face. Siren seemed to notice this as well because he directed a glare toward her. "I said we could talk. That doesn't imply that you'll be tagging along."

Mikoto let out a short giggle. "Yeah, whatever," she said with a smile. Siren rolled his eyes before he looked down toward the entrance to the subway. "So, let's get this over with."

With those words, the trio began their descent into the subway, unaware of the challenges yet to come.

*Page Break*

Mikoro gulped as she watched her friends descending into the empty subway. The surveillance camera she had hacked provided a good view, and there were several other screens displayed on her monitor that showed different views of the subway. She was happy that Siren seemed to be getting along with Mikoto…to an extent, but she was still worried about what the trio might face.

She bit her lower lip as she watched Siren. Not too long ago, she saw his face through one of the cameras. She immediately noticed the change in his eyes and a feeling of uncertainty had quickly built up within her. She didn't know what it meant, but she prayed that it wasn't something bad. She might not have known Siren that long, but she still cared for him.

Her fists clenched as she saw her friends approach the hole the probably led to the hideout of the leader of the Golems. The two Golems that stood by the hole began walking forward as the trio neared them. Both groups looked prepared to fight, but nobody more so than Siren. If Mikoro was honest with herself, she'd say that Siren looked like he was about to kill somebody. Despite knowing that Siren wouldn't attack her, she found herself a little intimidated by his current behavior. He looked like he was absolutely serious about this, as though he didn't plan on showing mercy to anyone or anything.

She gulped once more. Things were about to get complicated.

*Page Break*

Touma flinched as one of the Golems was relentlessly crushed by Siren's Hammerfists. He didn't have time to attack the second one because Mikoto had already taken care of it. She was now looking toward Siren with a curious expression on her face. "What are those?" she asked, gesturing toward his Hammerfists.

"Hammerfists," replied Siren.

Mikoto cocked her head in confusion. "Hammer…fists?"

"Yes," Siren replied, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Touma sighed as Mikoto nodded. If she wanted to get on Siren's good side, she was doing it wrong. He didn't have time to say anything because the group was already approaching the hole that the Golems were guarding. The hole was a couple of meters in diameter, and they couldn't see the bottom.

"So…any idea how we get down?" Touma inquired.

"I'll jump. Once I know what's down there, I'll come back up here for you two."

"Wait, you're going to jump?" Mikoto asked in disbelief. "How? We don't know how deep it is! You could end up dying!"

Siren shook his head. "I don't have bones or anything of the sort. A long fall won't kill or harm me in any way. I've jumped off skyscrapers back in New York; this is nothing."

Touma chuckled at Mikoto's baffled expression. But before either he or Mikoto could object, Siren made his way toward the very edge of the hole. "If it's not safe, don't come down. I'll come and get you once I've made sure the coast is clear."

Mikoto frowned. "We're not useless; we can fight, you know."

Siren rolled his eyes. "I know, but you can't survive a fall this long. If there are enemies down there, I'm going to kill them, not crawl up these walls to try and get you out while they attack me. Look, I'll come get you when the coast is clear. Just wait here."

With that, Siren jumped into the hole, his form disappearing into the darkness.

*Page Break*

After a few seconds of plummeting, Siren landed with a loud thump. It was pitch black down in the hole, even by his standards. However, before he could activate a visual power to help improve his vision, the room flooded with orange light, revealing what looked like a simple cave. He blinked in surprise at the change, but immediately, his eyes widened at what he saw.

Surrounding him were more several dozen Golems, each in a combat position. There had to be close to a hundred of them, and each looked like it was making some sort of last stand. There was a hole in the wall on the far end of the room, but between that hole and him, were close to a hundred Golems.

Looking around, he noticed torches on the walls that were lit. How they were lit, he had no idea. The only thing he was thinking about now was the most efficient way to rip these pushovers apart.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here."

Siren's head snapped toward the sound of somebody speaking. There, standing between several Golems, was a young woman. She had tan skin and golden hair, along with a pair of eyes that matched her hair in terms of color. A pair of red glasses rested on her face, along with a sadistic smile. She had black pants and a yellow shirt, covered by a brown leather jacket. She looked just like any ordinary person, minus the sadistic smile of course. She put her hands on her hips as she looked him up and down.

"So then, the great hero comes to face off against me, how cute. You're trying to save a single boy from the clutches of a power hungry woman, and you'll jump into the belly of the beast itself to fight for him."

Siren narrowed his eyes. "I think you're misunderstanding the situation. I'm here to kill you. Why? For personal fulfillment."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What could you possibly gain from killing little 'ol me?"

"You remind me of somebody; somebody that I despise. Now I'm here, and you're the enemy that I have been hunting down. It's time to die and trust me; it's going to be slow and painful."

This time, the woman frowned. "You know, I'm starting to think that you're not the hero I thought you were."

Siren chuckled. "No, I'm not. I'm just a science experiment gone wrong. I'm just a monster that was released into this world. You just happen to have picked the wrong person to try and hunt down."

The woman smirked. "I'm not just trying to hunt him down, I will hunt him down. The moment I find him, I'll take him with me. That power in his right hand is of far greater use to me than to him. Oh, I know that it cancels out magic and other powers, so I can't transfer his power into my body. But, I can make a weapon that has the power of Kamijou Touma's right hand in it!"

Siren shook his head. "Is that what this is about? Power? Please, somebody like you is meant to stay weak."

"I'm meant to stay weak? What makes you say that?"

"If you were meant to become strong, you wouldn't have met me. If you were meant to become strong, you would have died later on in life, not so early, and especially not by my hands."

The woman let out a chuckle. "What makes you think I'm going to die here? You think you can kill me?"

Siren craned his neck. "I know I can." He spread his arms out, tentacles writhing across his body.

"I am a creature far beyond your comprehension. I am a creature that won't age, that won't die. I am the embodiment of what all of humanity dreads; the apocalypse. If the world comes to an end, it will be because of BLACKLIGHT and REDLIGHT. If this world comes to an end because of BLACKLIGHT and REDLIGHT, it won't be me specifically that destroys this world, but it will be someone who is very similar to me. I can guarantee that. Essentially, I am a walking nightmare; one that is far worse than anything a horror film can portray."

The woman stared at him in shock as his body changed and writhed before her. The Golems, lacking any emotion, seemed to stand still, despite the creature before them. If they were aware of what they faced, they might not have been so willing to fight.

"You want power? Do you even know what that is? What you have is not power. It's only minor strength. What I have is the virus. What I am is BLACKLIGHT. If you knew what that meant, you'd know why I can say that I have power. Creating a few weak little puppets to fight for you is not power. Being able to bring an entire race to its knees is power. All I have to do is infect. If I wanted to, I could reduce humanity to nothing more than mindless animals. All I have to do is spread the virus. If you have anything else up your sleeves, now is the time to show it because after this lot of puppets is gone, you're next."

The woman stared at him in confusion. "What is wrong with you? Virus? What virus? What the heck are you talking about, boy?"

Siren shook his head. "It doesn't matter; you won't live long enough to understand."

Despite his attitude, he wasn't acting cocky just because. He was doing it to provoke the woman into joining the fight. If she did, he could single her out and kill her quickly, rendering the mindless Golems harmless. Besides, if he couldn't get to her, he could simply wipe out everything with a single, powerful attack.

Alright, I've consumed enough people as of late to pull off a few Devastator Attacks. If the first one, by some miracle, doesn't wipe out everything here, I can still perform a few more.

The woman, much to his annoyance, began laughing. "You know what, I call your bluff! I bet you're trembling in your little shoes even now! How about this; if you kill every Golem here, I'll show you my trump card! Although, I doubt you'll get past every Golem in here."

Siren blinked. Trump card? Oh great, this was going to get annoying. Before he could do anything, the woman smiled and waved at him, before disappearing into the hole in the wall. As soon as she disappeared into the darkness, the hole seemed to close as stones on the ground began forming a wall in front of the hole.

He quickly memorized the location of the hole and began focusing on the approaching Golems. The creatures were slow and heavy, so he a single attack that focused on one enemy was useless. Instead, he decided that an attack with an area of effect would be the most efficient choice. So, he waited for all the Golems to get close enough.

He waited.

And waited.

…

Now.

As soon as the thought entered his mind, his body began twitching and thrashing violently as tentacles began writhing around him at incredible speeds. He felt the pent up rage he felt for the woman building up inside him as the tentacles writhed around him. Within seconds, he knew the attack was ready. He spread his arms out to either side of him, his body bent over slightly. The moment he took this stance, everything turned to chaos.

The noise was deafening.

*Page Break*

Mikoto was pulled from her thoughts as the ground beneath her feet began shaking and the sound of rock being ripped apart filled her ears. She dropped to the ground, thinking that this was an earthquake.

The shaking continued for a second or two before suddenly…

Nothing.

She blinked in surprise, looking over to Touma, who had also dropped to the floor. She asked the question that was on both their minds.

"What the heck was that?"

*Page Break*

Siren stood dead still with his arms still outstretched. Hundreds upon hundreds of tentacles, both small and large, were extending from his body in almost every direction. Not all of the tentacles had torn through the Golems, but even so, every Golem in the room was little more than a pile of rocks now, some still standing. The entire roomed was lined in a web of black tentacles. Spikes that varied in size protruded from each tentacle in various places, creating a deadly net of viral matter.

Parts of the walls had been shredded by the tentacles that had impaled themselves in them. Other tentacles were stuck to the floor, ceiling, and whatever else that got in their path.

Siren heard a noise like stone falling apart coming from the far side of the room. He looked over, noticing that the makeshift stone door was falling apart, exposing the hole in the wall once more. From that hole emerged the woman from before. She walked out, yawning as she did so.

"What's all this commotion? You dead alrea—"

Her jaw dropped at what she saw. She looked around, trying to contemplate what had happened. She yelped and jumped back as each tentacle in the room began moving around, before all of them began slowly retracting into Siren's body. The tentacles slowly dislodged themselves from the walls, ceiling, and floor, all while slowly dragging through the crumbling bodies of the Golems. Had the Golems been real people, the room would have been painted with blood and organs by now. The tentacles eventually all completely retracted into Siren's body, leaving the woman to stare at the carnage left behind by the viral creature that stood before her.

Siren slowly turned towards her, his face an emotionless mask. Without hesitation, he began walking towards her at a slow pace. She gulped and took a step back, before her expression hardened.

"I don't care what you did, you haven't won this. If you can cause this much destruction, it's no secret; I can't beat you when in this form."

Siren blinked. This form?

"However," the woman began. "I can beat you in my other form. My dear," she gestured toward her own body. "You have served me well. But, your body is no longer of use to me. You may return to your own life. I hope it's a miserable and painful experience."

With that, the woman collapsed and black energy began seeping from her body, directly into the ground itself. Right before Siren's eyes, the girl seemed to age backwards. Her body shrunk slightly, and her hair shortened, but only a little. Within a few seconds, the woman was replaced by a teenage girl who looked exhausted to the point where one could mistake her for dead. Her breathing was shallow, and her face wore a pained expression.

Siren didn't have time to react before the ground began shaking; a lot. Before thinking, he sprang forward, grabbing the girl. He rushed to the edge of the room, planting both feet on the wall and running up the wall of the hole through which he jumped down. He sprinted up the side, the walls and the ground itself seemingly shaking harder and harder.

Along the way up, he slung the girl over his shoulder, allowing tentacles to wrap around her waist, anchoring her to him. He didn't know who she was exactly, but it seemed as though she was being controlled. If need be, he could consume her later on for more information.

Eventually, he made it to the top of the hole and vaulted over. He was greeted with the sight of a very confused Touma and a very annoyed Mikoto.

"Siren, wh—AAH!"

Mikoto's sentence was cut short as Siren grabbed both her and Touma and began sprinting towards the stairway that led to the surface.

"Siren! Wh—"

"Shut up," he snapped at her. "Right now, we're getting out of the subway. After that, you can ask all the questions you want."

Mikoto, despite Siren's words, continued shouting at him, which he ignored with a roll of his eyes. Eventually, the girl figured that this was getting nowhere and opted to simply glare at him while he sprinted. Before long, the trio, plus the blond passenger, made it out of the subway. As soon as they were out, Siren skidded to a halt, setting Touma and Mikoto on their feet.

He then turned around and set the blond girl on the ground. Of course, 'setting somebody on the ground' equated to tossing them with minimal force in Siren's book. The moment he did so, Mikoto glared at him.

"Siren! Don't do that! You could hurt her…um, who is this?"

Siren shrugged. "She seems like she was being controlled by the one who is controlling these Golems."

While Siren explained this to Mikoto, he noticed that Touma was staring at the blond girl in surprise. "Wait, I've seen her before! I ran into her not too long ago!"

Siren turned to Touma. "Do you know her on a personal level?"

Touma shook his head as he continued to stare at the blond in worry. Suddenly, the ground lurched forward as if pushed by an unseen force. The movement threw the trio off balance and left them lying on the ground. Siren was the first to get up, springing to his feet, his hands quickly transforming into Claws.

"Get ready! Something's coming!" he shouted over his shoulder toward Mikoto and Touma. As if on cue, the earth began shaking more violently than ever. The ground around the entrance to the subway station began cracking before it completely split apart, creating a massive crater in the streets. The ground continued breaking apart as a massive, grey hand began tearing through the crater. The hand rose high into the air before slamming down on the ground, hauling the giant out from beneath the earth.

A rounded head poked over the edge of the crater. This head was easily the size of a car, with massive, window-size eyes peering at the group. The 'eyes' looked like giant, empty sockets, but they emitted a brilliant gold light.

Soon, the entire giant had hauled itself onto the surface, the eyes still peering at the group. The giant must have been as tall as almost a dozen Hunters if they were stacked on top of each other. If one were to stack school buses in a vertical position to try and measure the creature, they'd need several to just reach the head.

The creature looked to be composed entirely of grey stone, with cracks running along its body and plants growing on various locations such as the elbows and shoulders. The head looked like a human head that had been flattened out a little, kind of like half a sphere. To Siren, it looked like a bigger, better version of the previous Golems.

A deep laugh escaped the creature's mouth, but this time, it wasn't a projection. Whoever was laughing must have been inside that thing. The laughter sounded vaguely feminine, and Siren deduced that whoever was controlling this thing was indeed female.

"What were you saying earlier, boy? Something about me not having power? Well look at me now. If there's one thing I have, it's POWER!"

The creature swung a massive fist toward them. Before Siren could react, Touma jumped forward, extending his right hand. The moment the massive fist came in contact with his hand, the creature began falling apart, crumbling at their feet in a pile of massive stones. Siren narrowed his eyes.

She came here looking for Touma. She wanted his Imagine Breaker. There's no way she's not prepared to actually fight his Imagine Breaker. She must have a backup plan…

Sure enough, the stones began levitating in the air, seemingly pulling themselves back together. Or rather, something must have been pulling them back together. Within a few seconds, the giant stood before them again, laughing hysterically.

"You think I wouldn't be prepared to fight the Imagine Breaker? Please, I came here for it didn't I? I know how to fight it! No matter how many times you destroy this body, I can always pull myself back together. Face it kids, YOU'RE FINISHED!"

With that, the creature swung a fist at them again.

Explanations/Clarifications

Siren vs. Accelerator: OK, this might confuse some people who haven't played the Prototype series. First off, like I mentioned many times in this fic, Siren lacks bones and organs. Thus, Accelerator's ability to kill people by reversing their blood flow or destroying their internal organs is useless against Siren. Now, you may be thinking, if Siren has no heart or organs, why does he have blood? That's a good question. The reason why the Prototype has blood was never officially explained in the series (or maybe it was and I somehow missed it), but the way I see it, the body of a Prototype acts like a sponge when it comes to holding blood. When Siren (Or Alex) consumed somebody, I thought that their body would hold the blood like a sponge would hold water. Anyway, back to the topic of Siren vs. Accelerator. In my opinion, Accelerator's abilities are hard to explain, but they can be outsmarted. If you want to watch it, episode 19 of A Certain Magical Index II gives a great explanation of how Kihara was able to fool Accelerator's Reflection. Siren uses the same tactic as Kihara (basically, he stops short of an attack and lets Accelerator's Reflection do the work for him, which I know is vague, but like I said, the episode explains it slightly better, even though I thought it was still vague). As far as I can see, there won't be an actual Siren vs. Accelerator battle in this fic (don't worry, there are PLENTY of far more powerful enemies that Siren will face in this fic), so I won't bother explaining what a detailed battle between the two would be like. Anyway, I didn't have Accelerator use his abilities here because for one, Siren had his hand on Accelerator's choker thing. If that broke, Accelerator is screwed. Also, I wanted to show that neither of these two are particularly friendly to strangers, so logically, they wouldn't be very friendly to each other.

The Giant Golem Thing: No, this is not the Goliath from before.

The Devastator: In the Prototype series, the player's most powerful attacks are the Devastators. Basically, after accumulating enough mass, the player can release a 'devastating' (haha) attack, and then there's no more anything. Seriously, if anything is within range of the Devastator attacks, it's annihilated, but this depends on the Devastator being used. In [Prototype] the Groundspike Devastator (I don't know it's official name) was better against tanks than the Tentacle Barrage Devastator (that's the one Siren used in this chapter). Finally, the Critical Pain Devastator (the one where Alex, the main character of [Prototype], shoots out extremely fast tentacles toward a single target) was a Devastator that was great for ripping apart a single, powerful, target.

Siren's Reaction To Mikoto: Remember, he doesn't hate her or consider her his enemy. She's basically an annoying esper to him, but he's willing to listen to her.

Can Siren Infect People And Mutate Them Into Monsters?: Short answer; yes. Long answer; he can do so because he has consumed to many Infected that their DNA has allowed him to spread the infection (and yes, he can control whether or not they become Evolved or mindless Infected, hey, you never know, that ability might be exploited in this fic ;). Oh, and no, you're not going to see Siren become a carbon copy of Prototype 2's Alex Mercer. So that means, no crazy, I'm going to take over the world schemes from Siren).

Siren Mercer—A Scientist At Heart: Why is Siren a scientist you ask? Well, don't worry; it will be explained in later chapters.

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