.

Misaka Mikoto may want to fall on her own. But Accelerator knew – if they were any like each other like she so said they are, then she would need to be saved, too.

Chapter 9:

Her vision shut off with only the sight of Accelerator and his white hair and frantic red eyes as its last. Black atoms trailed up her body and clawed at her skin, ripping her apart with every bite, sinking into flesh and bones. Mikoto scratched and tore at them in despair but to no avail, her clothing crumbling away in bits and pieces at the baring force of its power. It wasn't a dream anymore, she can't wake up from this. And the realization was a cold, chilling crawl slithering up her spine.

I'm sorry. Oh God I'm so sorry.

It was the only thought she had before the monster finally engulfed her whole.

Accelerator cursed as another wave of black energy whipped out and swept around, at which he ducked and then blocked. His mind quickly solved the calculations in reflex – the substance was strangely thick and alien, but it clung to the girl like a second cloak of skin, thus he can still sense the familiar surge of power lying beneath.

How to shake that encaging energy awake was another thing, unfortunately.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Amidst the falling debris, he looked around for the source of the voice and found Kihara Gensei standing from afar on a charred rock in his white washed lab coat, looking on at the sight in front of them in great interest and satisfaction.

"You sick freak," Accelerator spat, and meant every word of it. "The fuck you think you're doing?!"

"Always so feisty, Number One," the man commented dryly, before tearing his eyes away to stare back at him. "Just finishing what I was set out to do in the first place here. You could have made it too, you know, but you chose to cower away and leave, instead. I'm quite disappointed, to be honest."

"So you poured it all on the Railgun's head instead?" he snarled. "I should just rip you to fucking shreds."

The man only chuckles humorously and shook his head at the threat. "Misaka-san was never the back-up plan, Accelerator-san. If you haven't known already, there's a reason she's always been Aleister's favorite – "

And at this he reached back into his lab pocket, before holding out a remote.

" – and I'll show you exactly why."

There was a hallowing scream ripped through the night, and the girls immediately whipped their heads around to look at its source. Last Order whimpered, and Worst cradled the little girl closer against her body, glaring up at the bright lightning that shoots across the dark night sky. Their heads echoed even more painfully than before.

"Uh, that doesn't sound good," Saten said, and swallowed.

"Do we just wait it out?"

Uiharu asked uneasily, nervously fumbling at blue the cell phone in her hand. She's already called Judgement, but doubted there was much ANTI Skill could do in this case by then, besides evacuating the civilian population around them.

There was another loud blast, and another layer of dust flooded over them as the left side corner of the building fell apart.

"That's it," Kuroko announced as soon as the air was clear again. "I'm going in."

"Shirai-san, please. We don't know what's going on in there."

"I don't ca…"

"Wait!"

The girls stopped in the middle of their argument, and turned to look at the platinum blonde standing a few feet away from them. Misaki was having her eyes closed, brows furrowing tightly in concentration but her voice rang loud and clear nonetheless.

"Don't go in," she told them, almost smiling. "I've got help."

I've got him.

In her mind, she stared through the other girl's eyes, and allowed herself a small grin when the familiar mop of black hair welcomed her view.

"It's been a while, hasn't it…"

The boy stared at her in confusion, eyes ever blue and bright. Despite her wish, Misaki felt her heart do a little jump inside. She coughed and unconsciously fixed herself straight to look at him again. This time somber and serious.

"Touma-kun."

It all happened so fast. One moment the girl was just standing there, seemingly trapped in whatever-the-fuck that thing is, and the next moment horns and some ribbons-like whips have started protruding out from the mass of compressed powers. Accelerator barely managed to dock before they shot forward and took out a chunk of debris with them.

Mikoto's hair was swept back and her fingers were turning sharper, morphing into claws. There was nothing left to recognize her besides a wallowing scream that was ripped out of her throat before the energy shut her off again.

"At 53% of this her mind would be distorted into that of something from a different dimension, while at 100% her mind and body would be destroyed as they exceed their limits," Kihara explained breezily, as if he was looking through a simple testing experiment and not some destructive catastrophe.

"I knew what that Imagine Breaker and the Level 5 Gemstone acting as a stimulus could do to this transformation, but to have you here, on the other hand…"

And at this he grinned (the sick, twisted bastard, the things Accelerator would do to bash his face in), before inclining his head and simply pressing a button on the remote – something Accelerator realized with dread that he's probably used it to infest the Misaka Network and took control over the Railgun's frail state of mind.

"The top Level 5 and the on-going Level 6?" Kihara said through his grin, before disappearing behind the falling rubbles.

"One can only hope for so much, don't you think?"

"Come back here you rotten piece of shit," Accelerator growled, and tore through the debris with a vector enhanced jump. "I'll fucking tear you out from limb to limb."

It was a mindless threat then, because before he could chance a run for the mad scientist, the Railgun, no, creature, creature let out anther hallowing scream again, and shot its claws forward to come straight at him.

Accelerator did a quick math, and quickly dissolved the charges with his powers, cursing in a long, steady stream.

"Wake the fuck up, you stupid brat!"

He yelled, to no avail. And it didn't just stop there. For whatever reasons, the thing seemed to bear conscious thoughts and have managed to make use of everything around them. It tore the metal rails out from the concrete walls, and flung them at him, aim wild and angry. When that didn't work, it sucked those back up with magnet and compressed it into large chunks of metal balls to throw. Not to mention the electric charges shooting here and there for added effect. Accelerator would have been totally impressed if he wasn't so busy trying not to get smashed in the face.

It could not go on like this forever, he thought with disdain, and took a vector enhanced leap back to create some distance between them. There had to be a loophole somewhere, it's happened before and it's been stopped before. He just had to figure out how –

Accelerator probably would have missed the call had his cell phone not been in his pants' pocket, constantly vibrating like its life depended on it. Taking a duck behind a concrete pole, the monster still kind of bristling its head out behind him, he lingeringly whipped it out, and stared at the stranger's number on the screen in utter disbelief.

"What the fuck is this?!"

He barked into the speaker, and almost took a reel back when the other line finally talked.

"I take that you're a little occupied right now, huh?"

Kamijou Touma either had the best, or worst timing ever, and Accelerator didn't know whether to put this time into which case.

"Is she there?" the other guy asked calmly, and Accelerator thought the worst fucking timing ever, before stifling a rather colorful insult back into his throat.

"Depends on your definition of 'she'. What the fuck's that black mass covering the brat?"

"No idea. Tell me what she looks like right now."

This had to be some kind of messed up prank, but Accelerator paddled through the ridiculous request nonetheless.

"Horns, some kind of whips around her, claw-like hands and feet, and fuck – I think that's a fucking halo on her head. What kind of a sick joke is this?!"

"Oh," the guy said, seemingly deflated, "That's not good. That's very bad, actually."

"What?"

"That's her second transformation, and if she gets past that…"

"She'll turn into an actual alien, right?" Accelerator muttered, in false hope.

"I wish," Touma snorted on the other line. "But no, she'll die, Accelerator."

That would definitely be very, very bad. Accelerator sobered up immediately.

"How long does it take before you get your ass here?" he asked – the ever important question.

"I'm kind of having my hands full right now with something too, actually," the other guy chuckled nervously, and Accelerator removed the cell phone from his ear to stare at the device in disbelief.

"The Railun is on the brink of killing herself. And what the fuck did you just say to that?" he said, bristling.

"You're not the only one getting caught up in a catastrophic mess, bastard."

The guy said seriously, and as if on cue, a loud blast exploded through the line loud enough to make Accelerator lean away from the speaker. Index' familiar screaming of Touma's name could be heard from a distance.

"Magic?" he sighed.

"Magic," the Level 0 somberly agreed. "These people are freaky, man. Even for my standard!"

"...You don't fucking say."

"Look, I'll try to deal with this fast and come there as soon as I can. But if she's transforming that quickly, you'll have to figure out something to stop her first yourself. Your reflecting ability is a lot more useful than my arm back then though, in my opinion."

"Fine, how did you do it last time, then?"

There was a short pause on the other end. "Uhh, I wasn't sure what happened much, actually. There were dragons, and I think kinda bumped her head later when I removed the mass. Got my right arm ripped off though, that was a scary moment."

"Got your what now?!"

There was a crash, and then a grunt as something hard made impact with a fist.

"Oh it grew back later don't worry," the guy said easily, and Accelerator thought murder. "Listen, the key is not the thing itself, but it's Misaka. Tear through its coat, reach for her mind, wake her up. It frays away if it doesn't have control over her conscious."

"Easier said than done, dumbass."

"Stop calling me names, dammit!" Touma shouted, obviously at a loss of breath, before sighing. "Look, I know you're not exactly into this whole saving thing, and you and Misaka obviously have some personal grudges goin' on…"

"Don't even fucking go there, you assh…"

"But she needs help," he plowed on, completely unperturbed. "It's nothing heroic or worth praising over. You're just doing something you think is right."

Another wail ripped through the loud crumbles, and Accelerator didn't even try to hide anymore when a claw shot out and cracked the concrete he was standing behind apart. He turned to finally look at it through the layer of dust surrounding them.

Misaka Mikoto was already gone from its surface, with only the shell of her fears and sorrows manifested left standing. And it was crying for blood.

"So do all of us a favor, One," Touma said on the other end of the line. And if there was a trace of a grin in his voice Accelerator refused to acknowledge it.

"And try to save the both of you."

"How did it go?"

Uiharu asked uneasily, watching as the blonde slumped down next to them.

"He's…occupied. But I've explained the whole thing to him already and he said he'd try to reach Accelerator and show the guy how to stop her," Misaki sighed. "So I guess we can only pray for the best right now."

"Or prepare for the worst."

The older Misaka clone snorted, nursing her still stinging head. Her other two Sisters were also looking worse for wear, while the rest of the girls were just exhausted, but all were sitting on edge. The thunderous lightning still hasn't creased, but at least the rubbles have stopped falling.

"Do you think they'll make it?"

She wasn't meant to ask, but the words slipped out before Saten could realize. The ravenhead could only wince awkwardly before turning away.

"I don't know about Onee-sama," Worst shrugged at the girl. "But I know Accel. He's a foul idiot, but he knows his stuff. He'll come back."

In her arms, Last Order whimpered, and curled herself closer against her. Worst stroked the girl by the hair, and tried not to sway away at the stinging headaches. If there were one thing she could do best, it would definitely have to be holding themselves together. Not just for herself. But their home. His home.

"Both of them will."

It's too dark.

Her vision is blank and useless. Mikoto could only hopelessly wish it were the same case with her ears. A voice, deep and malicious, was closing tight around her, saying, whispering, asking. Telling her the deepest and darkest moments within. Unraveling her whole with every word. The bite of its power a chilling coat against her naked skin.

It's futile to resist.

If there was a time to die, it has to be now. This sick, suffocating, wretched whole that weighed upon her, sucking the air out of her lungs and draining her tears dry. The pain has long turned to the point of numbing, and by then she could only curl against herself and plead for everything to go away. Doesn't even want, and can't even afford to even feel. It's hell within hell.

I'll destroy it whole.

"Just try and save the both of you."

Fucking asshole. Accelerator thought with spite, swiping away another electric charge. Who the fuck did he even think he is – telling him to go save the fucking brat by himself? Arrogant, troublesome, waste of fucking brain cel –

The creature howled as another of its arm was cut off. Accelerator can't even see the Railgun in that mass anymore, now it was just an alien mixture of claws and electricity with a body and a temper that could give his old psychotic killer self a run for his money.

Accelerator would have been impressed, had he not been so busy fending off strikes after strikes while figuring out how to break a crack in that armor. Screaming and calling it with creative, foul names had been less than effective, and him defending its attacks had only managed to piss it off further (which was kind of ironic, if he were to entertain himself, usually it would be him that was always the impatient one).

"You're being controlled, you fucking dumbass. Wake yourself up!"

The only reply he got was a metal rail to the face, which he angrily deflected back. Accelerator gritted his teeth.

Fine.

Using the crutch as a stepping stone, Accelerator jumped up, tore through the debris, and swung a well-aimed vector punch at the creature. It's sent reeling back at the sudden hit, and that was when he saw it, the tiny crumbles that frayed away at the edges of its head, revealing thin strands of brown hair.

Found you.

The plan was perfect, complete, full-proof – the fact that the Railgun was mentally unstable and suffering from her last transformation was only an added bonus.

What Kihara Gensei did not see coming, was the Strongest of the Level 5 jumping in and interfering with it.

It's as bad as when Kamijou Touma and the Sogiita Gunha came to the rescue – their powers conveniently serving as a wall that restrained her growth. But it's somehow more different this time. Accelerator and his vector control was doing wonders to the growing creature, not just holding its destructive charges back but also skimming near at its core conscious. He was coming close enough to reach and save Misaka Mikoto.

The scientist refrained from breaking the remote in his hand in half, bristling. He did not wait for another chance like this only to have it destroyed again by some rebellious, careless scum. Stepping back to shield himself under the dark shadow – standing a floor above where the other two Level 5 were and safely hidden in the security camera room, he moved his fingers deftly, pressing on the red button of the remote.

A scream was ripped out from where they were sitting. The girls all quickly turned around to see the older of the Misaka clone slumping forward and holding her head, crying frantically. The little girl in her lap writhed and uncurled herself, tears in her wide brown eyes and her hair stuck to her sides wet with sweat.

"It's the virus," Misaki shouted to them, two fingers on the groaning 10032's forehead. "It's spreading wider!"

"Call the ambulance!" Saten cried, running towards the other two girls and holding them steady.

"No need for that."

Kuroko said grimly, before bending down and picking up Last Order by the arm, who whimpered at the movement.

"Just…," Kuroko sighed, before tearing her gaze away from the crumbling building. Uiharu stared at the teleporter in shock.

"Keep an eye on her."

The Level 4 didn't even wait for a reply, just turned around and disappeared into thin air, the little girl slumped against her in exhaustion and pain.

"Shirai-san," Uiharu whispered, eyes stinging. But she had no time to ache as another painful cry erupted from the ground.

"Hang in there, please."

Saten muttered, holding the golden-eyed girl by the hand. "She'll be back soon and she'll take you to the hos…"

"No," groaned Worst, gripping the other girl's hand tight. "N…o, I have to be here…"

"…I have to stay…for…"

But it was all that came out of her mouth, before the older clone suddenly exhaled and slumped forward, now completely unconscious. Saten caught the girl before she could hit the ground, and looked up in wonder at the blonde kneeling next to them. The Level 5 had managed to approach them without her even noticing, two fingers lingeringly placed on Worst' left temple.

"She's asleep for now," the blonde sighed. "But that virus is still tearing into their minds. I'm going to try and see what I can do to push it out. But for now, all we can do is wait."

Saten stared at the girl, before nodding softly. Over her shoulders, she caught Uiharu stroking an unconscious 10032, the clone's body still trembling at the harsh mental assault.

Misaki exhaled, before dropping down on her knees and slumped back on the rocks behind them. As much as she hated it, going through minds after minds could take a tool as hard as any physical exercise can. Her head ached and her hands were scraped, stinging red, the pretty white lacey gloves long abandoned.

But no time to rest, she told herself, and crouched up to try and reach for Misaka Worst again, digging through another's state of mind.

Please, she thought in despair, as blood and black electricity filled her vision again.

Let it be over soon.

Accelerator barely managed to stifle another curse as he glued himself into the ground, a baring force suddenly shaking the ground awake again as the creature cried out. At the side of its temple where there was just a few strands of brown hair just seconds ago was now being covered back with its black crumbles of power again. It's crouching now, bent forward as if a massive wave of pain just flooded over it, and Accelerator gritted his teeth.

Sick fucker's watching, he thought in fury, swiping his head around to look for the source although to no avail. The walls around them have started falling down again. He narrowly avoided a giant rock that shot down and broke open right from behind.

It's grating and frustrating. Whatever that was swallowing the Railgun was impossible to break through, even with his AIM shield. His knuckles thrummed painfully from where he used to punch the thing. Accelerator didn't need to look to know it was probably bleeding and torn at the skin, obvious static burned. He figured he should be aggravated at the physical pain, but there was no time for that.

His head ached even worse than before now, the virus that was eating at the Misaka Network was affecting them whole. No, he couldn't tear through it just from physical attacks, the Network was useless now, there was only one way to reach her mind at this rate, and Accelerator knew it was going to break them both.

Gritting his teeth, he backed up and scratched at his already dead choker to rip it off from his aching neck. Accelerator dropped his cane, and resigned himself to the desperation, the blood and the pain that engulfed his whole. His back burned from the searing hot pain that shot up his spine, and at the corners of his eyes, two white wings were slowly protruding out.

In front of him, the Railgun screamed as the creature held out a black sphere of energy in its claw. Accelerator growled, and felt his whole body shudder at the newly awaken powers.

Time to fight fire with fire.

It hurts. It hurts so much. And it's every bloody where.

Every inch of skin on her felt like it was on fire. Her knuckles bled and split open, her hair frizzy and charred. She doesn't even understand what's brought her to this point anymore, where her eye sockets felt so dry they were burning into her eyeballs, her mouth thick and stuffed like cotton and her head rang like just that close to exploding itself up.

The screams and cries were threatening to burst her ear drums and Mikoto curled herself even tighter in the dark shadows, feeling alien against her own naked, parched skin. Pleading desperately for everything to die away. Hoping helplessly for a death to come fast and swallow her sick, maddening self whole.

"You fucking idiot."

She barely managed to look up from her knees before she was suddenly thrown against a wall, her back slamming against solid ground hard enough to bite at her spine. Mikoto coughed and looked up in confusion, and choked on her own breath at the crazy, wild red eyes that drilled into hers.

"…Accel…"

"Shut your fucking mouth."

Accelerator roared, digging his nails even harder into the girl's stinging skin. On the outside, he was tackling the creature and holding it down with his stronger vector control, their already connected minds making an easy access for him to enter the other's state of mind.

His back scorched where the wings were fluttering and his head is filled with the black, tainted powers twisting in the girl's head. He took a quick runover of the girl in front of him, and suddenly felt sick to his stomach at the scratched, scarred naked skin she was trembling in, the creature having managed to rip her off of her everything and leaving only the broken shell of the girl left. He slowly creased his hard grip at her limp arms.

"You have some balls, you know that," he said instead, muttering harshly. "Getting me to this stage. I'm gonna seriously make you pay once this shit is over."

The girl blinked up at him, half her face still covered by the crumbling black mass. She shook her head in disdain.

"No point in that, Accelerator and you know it," she said, and her voice was rough and chalked, like nail on a wooden broad.

"There's only one way to stop me now."

He knew what she meant right away, and the fact was enough to make him take a reel back, jolting his hands away from her arms as if burned.

"I won't do that. Not again." He told her. It's true then when he held the little brat and tried to force air back into her lungs, and it's still the truth now. And it would stay that way, as long as he lived.

But for once, the girl didn't get it. The brown hues of her eyes have already darkened in a seamless black pits by then.

"I'm dying. It's destroying me whole, can't you see?!" she snapped angrily, spreading out her arms as if to make a point. Her skin was red and mauled in countless scratches and slices, black crumbles sticking to it like a barnacle. He's seen some serious gory horror that could leave countless men traumatized for life but this, this sight right here of the girl, dear fuck – Accelerator refused to trail his eyes downwards any further.

"I'm as good as gone…"

She whispered. And just like that, he was pushed out of their minds.

Mikoto crumbled back into the ground as soon as the pale figure was whisked away from her field of sight. There was another bile rising in her stomach again, and she scrambled uselessly around for something to hold on to before the harsh truth got slammed back into her thoughts. She bent forward, and heaved and retched in abject misery – a shrieking, haunting voice taunting in the distance.

Please. Please let it end.

Her mind cried helplessly, only for the darkness to hear. It's degrading and torturous, that she can't even die in her own mind and body. Somehow trapped between inception and reality. There were patches of skin that were scalding away at her flesh, especially at where they've touched. The horrid shame and disgust twisted in her stomach was enough to clog at her throat and bleed at her eyes – letting someone see her so unraveled, so exposed ate away at her insides. And it's a cruel, biting chill against her skin. She wanted to curl back into herself and rot away. She wanted to spread her mind wide open and let him come back again and finish off what they started. It didn't even matter who it will be this time. She just wanted to leave this hell and never rise again.

Death will be a soothing blessing, by now.

The growl that welled up from the creature was enough to make his eardrums quiver, and Accelerator immediately jumped off and took a few leaps back, both mentally and physically. His mind automatically sucked itself back from the latter and he was thinking in his own head again.

Not by much, and not for long, either. He knew exactly where this was going, and if he can't find a way to jump back into the Railgun's corrupted head and shake the stupid wench awake soon Academy City would very well end up with two very murderous, very crazy Level 5's at their hands.

His palms burned at where their skin made contact. His mind was a jumbled, incoherent mess, he's just gripping into tiny shreds of consciousness by now – the unavoidable price of the 'Awaken'. It wouldn't be long until he lost it, too.

"I'm as good as gone…"

Everything in Accelerator tightened in rejection. Damnit, no. That was not happening. He's spent so long killing and regretting and loathing himself, it can't just go around and around like this forever. For once in his life, he was given a chance, and for once he was going to bust his ass off to keep it.

The Railgun was in there – under that maddening, pungent pile of alien being twisted with haphazard, aimless wants and needs. And he would drag her out of there even if it's the last thing he'd do, kicking and screaming when it went down because they were them and there's no peace or harmony between that, just endless fights and a sick, maddening circle of loathe and self-hate. It's a bloodbath in a bloodbath. He would soak it dry taking her with him this time. Not that pathetic, shivering doll hidden under that coat – but the girl who gave him acceptance and the gratitude and everything that he would spend the rest of his life trying to pay it back.

The creature before them howled and whipped out its claws again. The black mass of energy flailed in the air and compressed itself into another ball above its palm. Accelerator stayed and let the wings on his back harden, before charging forward again – snapping his mind bare and ready.

She didn't expect any more visitors, so when a loud crash exploded in her ears and she whipped up to look, the last thing Mikoto saw was a blur of white before she was tackled onto the ground again.

"…Wh…at?" she coughed violently at the surprise assault, and widened her eyes once the blurring face finally morphed into view – looming right above her.

"I should just fucking end you for this, you know."

Accelerator spat angrily, blowing a falling white strand out of his vision. Mikoto was a speechless, shocked figure under him. He's sitting on her now, straddling her immobile – knees digging firmly into her arms and hands planting at the ground on either side of her face. The angle and position was extreme, but none of them was paying attention to that right now. Mikoto's fists curled against the cold floor.

"Go ahead then," she breathed harshly. "Do it. Anything's better than what I have right now."

"So that's it? Some sick psycho fucks with your head and you're just gonna give up already?"

Mikoto glared up at him, her head flaming up at the contact of consciousness. "Yes! Look around you, does any of this deem salvageable to you – "

"– It's tearing through me from the inside. And it won't stop. Not until I do."

The guy frowned, staring down at the girl. The familiar stubborn, hardened spark in her eyes then looked all kinds of jagged and wrong with the whites darkened and the brown a shade morphing closer to black. Accelerator swallowed back a sore bile in his throat. Misaka Mikoto's made up her mind. They've hit the dead end. She wanted to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

So this was how it ended. They've taken turns destroying each other over and over again, and this was where they stopped at. Struggling against each other, forever encaged in the darkness that haunted their whole beings.

"Why?" he croaked, voice rough and grated. "Why's that, huh? How can you just go and give away every bit of yourself like that and wind up wanting to kill yourself in the end? For other people? Because you feel guilty of their suffering?"

Because you feel guilty of mine?

The girl didn't respond, and the answer sank down heavily on both of them.

"You'd die for all of us?"

"Yes," she said simply, unwilling to think about which question she's replying to, or perhaps if she meant both all at once.

"Bullshit."

She blinked at him, and flinched when the hands on either side of her temples slammed down hard at the ground, the impact made her head sting.

"That's a fuck load of bullshit," Accelerator spat, and tethered above her. "You're deluding yourself. Everyone has their problems, and you can't expect to shoulder it all and rot on your own. Forget whatever the fuck they taught you your whole life. Titles are just titles. Just because you can do this or that better than them doesn't mean you have to bend over backwards and serve like some kind of role model. You wanna know why you're actually dying? Because all you've been doing is asking for lighter burdens instead of boarder shoulders."

The girl looked up at him – eyes wide and opened. Accelerator didn't even know what he was doing anymore, besides the sudden, baring realization at the position they were in (he really did not think this through when he slammed himself into the thing). The heat of her bare skin is searing hot through the rough layer of his jeans, there's freckles of those black rubbles all over her skin, patching these parts here and there but still way too little to be considered even remotely decent. He's kind of petrified to look down anywhere lower than her neck, so he stuck stubbornly to her face instead. The words pouring out of his mouth on their own. His heart thumping loud against his ribcage. His blood running hot and rapid in his veins.

But for whatever its worth, it was working. The hands under his knees have slowly unclenched themselves, and she was looking at him like that same night when she knocked at his door at 5 in the morning and admitted her mistakes to finally, finally ask for help.

"Look, I know it's exhausting. It burns at your insides and makes you feel dead and done for. I get it," he continued then, suddenly fueled. "But you have people out there, alright. People you can trust, rely on. And they're waiting for you to return just right out there – "

"So get this through your thick ass skull and do all of us a favor, brat. Snap the hell out of this."

And come back.

It took a few quiet, endless moments. But then the girl blinked, stared up at him, before nodding softly. A black piece of crumble fell away from her face, and he can finally see brown, steady irises again. He quickly eased off her, silently offering a hand when she slowly pushed herself up. Mikoto blinked up at him, before that familiar tightness came back to her eyes. Real and alive and her again. Accelerator allowed himself a smirk at the girl, just this once.

She took his hand, and everything changed in an instant.

The screaming suddenly faltered, and Uiharu whipped her head back right away to look at the building again.

"Guys, is…is that what I think it is?"

Saten muttered, staring in shocking wonder as the lightning finally creased from the sky and the waving black atoms around them dimly flickered out.

Misaki, who was slumping on the ground in exhaustion, Worst and 10032 long gone – now lying in the hospital after she's managed to subdue the virus thanks to the remote she had with her, looked up and immediately leaned her head back to stare at the night skies, which was finally empty of lightning and thunder. Relief naturally coursed through all of them like a rush of adrenaline.

"…They've made it."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

Kuroko muttered, smirking lightly at them, holding her phone in one hand, the Judgement armband holding up proudly on the left sleeve of her shirt.

"Time to finally do what we're here for."

Mikoto's hands were still trembling, bangs sticking to wet forehead but her face was grimly set. Accelerator felt the black rubbles around them quiver and fade. He took a long careful look at the girl, which she replied with one of her own, and gave her a little nod, smirking a little, before whisking his mind away. Their words and agreements long met.

The air was strangely thick and silent when he returned back into his body. And Accelerator wasted no time in stepping back and away from the creature – which was now tethering and howling, crouching over itself, its claws pawing and scratching at the ground – looking oddly like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Accelerator sucked in a breath, his wings discarded and disintegrated into thin air after he's finally gained back control over his mind. He's done his part, grand speech and moral support and a few physical injuries here and there (which fucking burned holy fuck), and now it was up to the Railgun. She'll have to crack its shell apart from the inside on her own, and then he can take care of the rest.

You can't get rid of me.

I'm a part of you.

Not for long, Mikoto gritted her teeth, and tore away at the atoms that try to crawl up her skin. They crumbled away under her fingers, and she plows on – face, arms, neck, stomach, legs…at every inch of skin she could reach; tried to gather her banging head into one solid piece, and fumbling through the darkness for a dent in the shadows. A spark of electricity flared up from a finger, and Mikoto smirked in victory, gripped at the darkness, and ripped it away. This time letting the voice' hallowing scream soak into her mind.

Kihara Gensei watched the creature tear itself open, and finally lost it.

It can't be. It can't be. Not again. Never again.

It didn't matter how much he repeated the chant in his head, the cameras' screens were still displaying the awful, horrifying truth. The – the thing was destroying itself, taking the falling building with it. The black crumbles were actually fraying away, and he could see inches of pale skin and chestnut hair under it already – the deftly fingers moving fast to peel at its skin.

All those years of studying, researching, killing were not going to be for naught, and he will make sure of it. Not this time then another and another and another, because he's still a Kihara. And if there was one thing he knew about the Kihara's, it was that he wouldn't be one without planning or back-ups.

Cracking the remote open, he flipped the cap off and reached inside for a tiny button – his back-up, in case when every other methods didn't pull off. And it was time to put it to use. He looked up to stare at the screen for one last time, before grinding his finger on the tiny button again – and turned around to leave. Kihara's made a big mistake letting Accelerator walk out of the Level 6 intact, but not this time.

If Misaka Mikoto wanted to leave like that too, then she would leave bringing this whole place down with her.

It was working. It was working so well. She was halfway out of the shell already when that horrible buzzing came out of nowhere and burst back into her head.

"Brat? Oi, what's u..?"

"Don't," she yelled through the debris, fear creeping back on the base of her throat. "Don't come any closer!"

Accelerator faltered on his steps. He frowned, watched as the girl's eyes flickered back and forward from brown to black. It was so confusing and sudden, and he took a double take around them in immediate alarm.

Fucking Kihara. He thought in disdain, but they have no time for that now. The black crumbling pieces where the girl has managed to tear away have started to patch themselves together again, promptly covering her up. Accelerator refused to panic, but the bile was rising up in his throat again and he realized with a sinking feeling that the choker was already dead along with half of his brains and calculating abilities.

"Wait…"

Cried Mikoto as the black started to creep over the whites of her eyes again. Accelerator made to step forward, but a vice whipped out from her torso again and slammed down just an inch on his right, cracking the rock he was standing on in half.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Accelerator swore to himself, making a duck out of the claw's way. The black atoms that disintegrated just moments ago were starting to reform again, and he looked on with dread at the sudden realization of what's about to come. It was self-destruct. And it was going to take down everything with her in the final bang.

Either he needed to get some fucking batteries, or the Railgun could somehow manage to wrench back some control, or they were all going to be dead. Soon.

"'Don't be so pessimistic, Accel-chan' says MISAKA as MISAKA makes an attempt to cheer Accelerator!'"

The addressed guy almost choked on his breath, and immediately whipped around to look for the source of the voice.

"Last Order?" he whispered, and felt the air being sucked back into his lungs, just a little bit.

"Who else,"

A chuckle thrummed in his mind, and Accelerator tried very hard not to release a huge sigh of relief. Maybe Worst and her stupid, sarcastic cackles weren't that bad, after all. Just a bit.

"'Yep, we're here' MISAKA says happily, 'The virus is gone, and we got a small upgrade for the Network!'"

"We're all here," Worst added seriously, and Accelerator doesn't need to ask to realize who 'we' were – the other SISTERS' presence has managed to quickly register in his mind.

"…How's this possible?" he asked in actual wonder, because huh, last time he saw the two girls they were writhing and crawling on the ground in pain, which was another horror to never relive again as far as he was concerned.

Unbeknownst to Accelerator, just a few feet away from the building was a bunch of girls hurdling together – with Misaki Shokuhou in the middle and Misaka Worst, Last Order back on either side of her (thanks to Kuroko), her trusted remote in her hands and her fingers skimming their temples.

"Courtesy of the Mental Out," Worst said. "But it's not gonna last long. Look, use our Network right now and do the math."

"'We're here with you, Accelerator' says MISAKA encouragingly'"

"'10032 reporting in, MISAKA says'" another voice croaked in, a little rough and thick but familiar nonetheless. "'I'm ready.'"

"'10039 here' agrees MISAKA, 'So am I'"

"'10046'…"

"ANTI Skill is in position. Ready for your order, Captain."

"On my command," shouted Yomikawa from afar. "No firings until I say so."

The number went on for a while, and Accelerator thought he was going to collapse. If there was a reason to live for, this is it. Of home and familiarity. Of hope and connection. His brains mushed, but he could feel them flowing back in already – his strength and abilities running through maps and patterns like they were never gone. His whole body suddenly felt weightless, and he took a second to let it all sink in – feeling the vectors coursing through the air, light and heady, ready to move at the smallest flick of his wrist. And for once in his life Accelerator can't bring himself to hate the overwhelming presence of so many people around.

A hallowing scream ripped through the air, and he opened his eyes to stare straight at the creature again. It has managed to patch itself up as much as it could, but the Railgun was not going down without a fight either. It held a claw out, a little shakily at the latter's internal struggle, forming atoms on it. He caught the girl's eyes again through the falling debris, which was blending black into their sockets. Misaka Mikoto reached out a hand, and screamed his name.

"Please,"

She cried, just in time the black mass of ball on her other hand exploded, and Accelerator threw caution to the wind and shot himself forward.

(TBC)

A/N: So first of all, I am so sorry for the delay. This was supposed to be uploaded on Monday but apparently my laptop suddenly decided to be an absolute prick and managed to delete half of what I wrote so yeah, I had to start over. If any of you still want to kill me please go right ahead, I'll die over going to classes any day man.

On the other hand, yeeeeesss guys, we're coming close. The next chap will unfortunately be our last. Thank you so much for all your lovely reviews, favorites and following - really keep me going, honestly.

On another hand, because I'm Asian and red envelope holiday is in ma blood, happy Lunar New Year people /says as I type this out at 4AM/