2:15 AM: District 7
Stiyl Magnus is running away from a hospital to avoid being caught by the Academy City authorities. Though he successfully escaped, there was still one problem. He was still wearing a hospital gown and there was a small cat digging it's claws into his back. He really stood out; he needed to get new clothes before he was noticed. Stiyl stopped abruptly as he passed a store. He backed up, and looked through the glass window. Clothes were on display on manikins and piled neatly on tables. Then he looked at the ceiling and saw several security cameras. There was one on the back right corner of the ceiling, and another on the front left corner, making a straight full linear surveillance view of the entire room. It was going to be difficult going in without getting his face caught on tape.
"God forgive me for the unholy act I am about to commit..." He prayed.
He put the cat down and closed his eyes.
To prevent the cameras from seeing most of his face, he lowered it, placing his chin on his chest. He placed his hand on the window, which began to glow red. Melted glass began dripping to the floor and a small hole in the window appeared. Stiyl was careful not to get burned, his own fire may not harm him, but molten glass surely would.
When the hole was large enough for a person to step through, he put one foot in and entered sideways and turned his head to the side, so the cameras could only get a partial view on him. He neared the closest table and took whatever clothes his hand happened to land on. He had to be quick. When he felt that he had gotten what he needed, he fled the scene. Little did he know, that all surveillance camera's had motion detection. A silent alarm had notified Anti-skill and Judgment. Whether either law enforcement group would actually make it in time is another story.
Stiyl ran to a corner and looked at the stolen goods he had acquired. Unisex shorts and a pink v-neck T-shirt with a heart on it. He also acquired a pair of flip-flops.
"..."
There was no turning back, he had to use what he had.
2:15 AM: District 6
Bluish white apparitions in the shape of a horse, ox, lamb and lion were running through the streets of District 6. They jumped through walls and buildings like spirits. They forms made out of pure mana controlled by a magician called Abbondino of the Vatican Church. He was looking for Last Order.
The magician known as Abbondino sat legs crossed on top of a towering building of District 6 known to have many recreational facilities and an Amusement Park. He looked at the four chess-like figurines that he used to manifest the apparitions. The one that resembled a lion was shaking.
"Hmmm?"
2:15 AM: SOME KIND OF SHOP IN DISTRICT 6
5 girls that all looked exactly the same stationed themselves in a shop. The structure's purpose was most likely a diner since there were tables and booths. Last Order was lying down in a booth and several sisters were on guard with military grade assault rifles.
Outside of the building, 5 other sisters had stationed themselves in other buildings with sniper rifles. They found the sniper rifles in hidden compartments in the area. Due to the sudden closure of the Level 6 Shift Project, areas that were going to be potential battlegrounds had not been cleaned up, thus leaving lethal weapons hidden throughout the entire city.
"Has the enemy been spotted anywhere, asks Misaka 10342 holding her position."
"No enemy has been spotted, says Misaka 18945 giving her current status."
"None spotted, says Misaka 14050."
"Wait, there is something. There is a figure in the shape of a lion that is quickly approaching the location at 12 O'clock, says Misaka 15067 urgently. Misaka will engage the target."
She fired a sniper round at the apparition, but the bullet seemed to go through the target.
"!"
In the restaurant the Sisters were stationed in, a bluish-white figure in the shape of a lion appeared through a wall as if it leaped through it. All the Misaka Sisters backed away from it and aimed their rifles at it.
The lion roared loudly, and everything in the room including the ground shook like an earthquake.
The Misaka Sisters opened fired on the being, but all of their bullets seemed to go right through it. The lion roared again, and dissipated like a flame being put out. The Sisters stood battle ready with their rifles still aiming at the spot the lion was in.
It seemed to be an eternity of silence, until a white glowing ball formed in the spot the lion was standing in. The Sisters held their rifles tighter. The ball exploded into a blinding light like a flash bang blinding everyone in the room. The light disappeared and revealed a man dressed in pure white robes. All the sisters covered their eyes trying to recover from the sudden flash of light. Abbondino smiled and swiftly walked to where Last Order was lying. He picked her up, threw her on his shoulder and disappeared again.
The girls finally recovered from the temporary blindness and looked at their surroundings. There was no sign of an attacker and Last Order was gone, again.
"We have lost Last Order again!? Misaka asks while panicking."
"The enemy had used cunning tactics to recapture her, says Misaka 19090 observing the situation."
"Where is the control now? Asks Misaka 14050."
"She disappeared along with the enemy. Misaka cannot even use the network to learn their location, says Misaka 10032."
"The situation is not good, says Misaka 10032."
DISTRICT 7 SKILL-OUT TERRITORY
In a room with a pentagram made of candles, Galeazzo Giordano paced back in forth restlessly. His shoulder was healed using holy water blessed by the Pope himself. One could not even tell he had been shot, from the looks of the wound.
In the pentagram a white ball of light appeared and eventually formed into the shape of a man. Abbondino stepped out from the pentagram and put down Last Order gently on the floor.
"I seriously don't find what was so hard about that." Abbondino said.
"It was a much different story for me, than it was for you." Replied Galeazzo grimly.
"Whatever. We should get ready to get out of this dreaded city now."
"No, not yet. The Misaka network can track us down if we don't do something about Last Order. We'll seal her output to the network."
"Right... Pope said something about that."
"That is why the church gave us these."
He went into a bag and pulled out two electrodes.
"I have no idea what those are..."
"Neither do I... But he said we just need to place these on her temples and that would seal her thoughts from getting out."
Galeazzo placed the two electrodes on her temples. The two looked at her.
"Did it work?"
"Don't ask me..."
2:15 AM: DISTRICT 7 WEST SKILL-OUT TERRITORY
A pile of steaming and beaten thugs lied in front of Touma and Misaka. Due to their bickering, they attracted quite a bit of unwanted attention. Misaka and Touma were huffing and puffing after defeating what seemed to be endless waves of idiots trying to attack them.
"Oi, Misaka."
"What."
"We should... get out of here... before more of them come."
"Yea... sounds... like a good idea."
The two stepped over the countless bodies of those stupid enough to challenge them. Touma bent down and picked up a baseball bat and patted it on his hand.
"This will probably come in handy." He said
2:30 AM: DISTRICT 7 EAST SKILL-OUT TERRITORY
Tsuchimikado and Awaki were walking coolly through the Skill-Out territories. Behind them was a trail of unconscious delinquents. Several of them were now running away in fear and one was trying to crawl away. Tsuchimikado picked him up by the collar and lifted him slightly above the ground.
"I'm going to ask again, have you this person?" He held his phone which had a picture of Abbondino to the delinquent's face.
"NO, R-R-REALLY I H-HAVEN'T. I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE LIKE THAT BEFORE. I-I-I-II-I'M SORRY OKAY?! P-PP-PLEASE L-LET M-M-ME GO." Stuttered the delinquent.
"Tch." Tsuchimikado dropped the delinquent back on the floor who was literally crying in fear.
As they walked past the delinquent who was wallowing in self-pity, Awaki mercilessly kicked him in the stomach.
" Guess they're not in this area..." said Tsuchimikado
" Ah, the only thing here are these worthless scum " Said Awaki coldly.
Tsuchimikado pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
"How can I help you?" Asked an overly polite voice.
"Unabara, I need you to scan the area again."
A satellite in space orbiting earth turned. A couple parts moved and turned.
"You've checked the entire area already. They're not there."
Tsuchimikado closed his phone and looked at Awaki.
"Looks like our friend is going to run into them first." He said
2:30 AM: JUDGMENT OFFICE
Uiharu had finally given in to a break. Her eyes were blood-shot from the amount of work she had been doing. She had given the job to another Academy City hacker in another office as she ate some cookies and drake tea. It was a well-deserved rest.
"Haaa... Dorm supervisor is going to be upset with me. I'm just going to have my precious onee-sama explain things to her for me tomorrow since I'm going to be caught up in another meeting. I hate to burden her though..."
Then Kuroko's phone buzzed. She looked at the notification. It read, 'SHOP LIFTING IN SCHOOL DISTRICT 7'. She plugged her phone into her computer, which brought up footage of the shoplifting.
A man with red hair in a hospital gown was melting a hole through a glass widow. The camera couldn't show his face, only small parts of it. The man in the footage proceeded in taking clothes from a table, but it didn't look like he was really looking at what he was taking. He grabbed a pink t-shirt, shorts and a pair of flip-flops and fled.
Kuroko sat in her chair stunned. It was an extremely unusual sight. She looked at the location, then at the time.
*sigh...
"Uiharu-san, I'm going out for a bit. There's been a robbery."
"But, it's 2:30 in the morning, why don't you have someone else do it."
"No, this is my district and I am still on duty, so it's my responsibility." She said making sure her Judgment band was still pinned to her arm. "See you in a bit."
Before Uiharu could even say a proper goodbye, Kuroko teleported out of the room.
2:30 AM: SOMEWHERE IN DISTRICT 7
Styil Magnus is wearing a pink v-neck t shirt, shorts and flip-flops. He looked extremely odd. Sweat drops dripped down his face. A small cat was balled up in his short's pocket.
I am doing it for the sake of that girl... This will all be worth it... Eventually...
Styil disposed of the hospital gown in a near garbage can. He came to a phone booth and went inside. He picked up the phone, but realized that he needed change to operate it. He closed his eyes in irritation and slammed his hand on the machine. When he hit it, it must have loosened something inside because coins began pouring out it.
He put a some money into the machine and dialled a number.
"Hello?"
" Tsuchimikado, it's Styil. I've just escaped a hospital. Have you found Index yet?"
"No."
"WHY NOT?!"
"Patience Stiyl. Kami-yan and I are thoroughly searching through Skill Out territory right now."
Stiyl gritted his teeth.
"Stiyl, do you have any rune cards with you?"
"...No."
"Then you can't cast any spells... Stiyl, you will need to stand on standby until further notice."
"..."
"Stiyl, you can't cast any spells. The only think you have right now is brute strength. You will only get in the way of things if you try to help."
"...I understand."
Stiyl hung up the phone, walked out of the phone booth and disappeared into the shadows of Academy City.
2:35 AM: DISTRICT 7
A shop with a large hole in the center had been robbed. Kuroko had just arrived at the scene and was investigating. She entered the store and inspected the shelves, floor and cameras. She noticed the placement of the cameras and how difficult it would have been to avoid having your face seen by them. She quickly realized they were not dealing with any normal person. This person was experienced and knew exactly what he was doing. There was minimal damage, very little evidence and no facial recognition. Then Kuroko noticed on the floor was a foot print made from dirt. The person had broken in with nothing but a hospital gown.
Kuroko took a picture of the print and sent it back to Uiharu. She came to the final conclusion that the robber was most likely an esper. But since he was wearing a hospital gown and had red hair, could he had been the suspect she heard about an hour ago that was arrested at a hospital for vandalizing a teacher's home.
Kuroko could only wonder; there was not enough information for her to come up with a solid answer
2:50 AM: DISTRICT 7 WEST SKILL-OUT TERRITORY
Touma and Misaka walked around the area avoiding as much attention as possible. They narrowly escaped several intrusions on some drug and weapons dealing in abandoned buildings. On one of them Touma had to grab onto Misaka and jump out of a three story building. Misaka used her magnetism to bring them to the ground softly, but she blushed madly and scolded him telling him he didn't need to do that. Touma only sighed and kept walking.
As they were going through an open are, Touma felt a sudden vibration in his right hand. He took one step forward and a long white line suddenly appeared under Touma's feet. It spanned for at least a kilometer. It disintegrated like dust and blew away with the wind.
"What was that?" Misaka asked.
"I don't know, but it's definitely magic."
The only thing in front of them was a large building in the distance, at least a kilometer away. They headed in that direction.
Abbondino and Galeazzo were packing up their things, but stopped when they noticed that their barrier had suddenly been lifted.
"What was that?"
"An intruder!? That's impossible, our barrier is undetectable." He said.
He looked at the pentagram and saw that the candles on the left side had been put out.
"They came from the west."
Then a bang was heard on the door. They both stood guard.
Outside, Touma was kicking at the door. The bolts and hinges were slowly tearing out from the walls loosening the door more and more, but it was taking a long time. Misaka pushed him over to the side and pulled out the bolts from the hinges using magnetism. Misaka looked at Touma with a 'In your face look' and kicked the door open. Inside were Galeazzo Giordano, Abbondino Rossi, an unconscious Index and Last Order who had two electrodes placed on her forehead were in the room.
Abbondino and Galeazzo dropped their things, while Touma had a baseball bat in one hand and Misaka shot sparks from her bangs.
YOMIKAWA'S RESIDENCE
Accelerator sat on a couch, charging his choke-collar device. It was about 30% complete; a full charge would last him about 30 minutes of battle time. 30% charge would only last him about 9 minutes. Misaka Worst laid on the floor looking up at the ceiling, bored. Then Worst shot up from her position, her eyes widened.
"What the hell are you so excited for?"
"Misaka has just stopped feeling any signals from the Control."
"Huh? Don't tell me..."
Misaka Worst looked at Accelerator, and then almost flinched backwards by the awful expression Accelerator wore.
"Misaka guesses that you plan on doing something?"
"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM! I'M GOING TO KILL HIM AND THE PEOPLE IN CONTROL OF HIM; ALL OF THEM!"
"But Misaka doesn't even know the location of her."
"Tch."
Accelerator unplugged his choke collar device and picked up his cane. He went to a locked drawer, opened it and took out a couple of handguns. He tossed one to Worst and pocketed the other.
"You may not know her location, but I have some old connections that I hate having. Let's go, we're getting that brat back!"
CHAPTER END
This chapter was a bit wordy and not much action. But it's building up, or at least I hope I was successful at doing so. Tell me what you think in the reviews. Thanks for reading. See you next time.
And about a comments about Accelerator being really weak at the end of the fight. Well here's my explanation (I hope I am right). Accelerator nearly drowned to death and just survived an exhausting fight. From the lack of Oxygen being transported throughout the body and brain for a period of time, you ought to be exhausted. Anyways, thanks for criticism and that sort of stuff. Lemme hear more of em. Anything you find that bothers you in the story or any plot holes or bad character portrayal, tell me.
Oh and that tip on quoting thoughts was great. I would've never known
THANKS EVERYONE :D
BTW, seriously anyone want to illustrate this story?
And thx to my beta reader, PokeRescue18