"You're late."
"Had to catch up some lost time," said John.
"Well, I brought my sister like you asked," said Misaka as she walked to the side and revealed 10032. "She's the oldest one. She'd know more about Electrokinesis than any other sisters."
"I know," said John. Misaka clicked her tongue and watched John walk towards 10032. 10032, on the other hand, was confused whether to greet this monstrosity or run away from it. But, after how Misaka interacted with him, she decided to stay.
"I'll just call you Sanjuni-chan. Of course, if that's okay with you."
"Misaka is Misaka, says Misaka as—"started 10032.
"No, I was being nice. I'm still gonna call you that even if you reject."
10032's left eye twitched. "I see. Then please do as you wish."
John smiled. "Sorry for my rudeness. I'm John Smith. That's not my real name, of course, but I don't have a real name, so I can go with anything. You can call me shit if you want to."
"Oi, geezer," said Misaka, "You're awfully nice compared to the time I met you."
"Well, you're conceited little middle school girl, but she's behaved and nice. What can I say? You sow what you reap."
"It's the other way around," said Misaka, smiling in a crooked way, "and what did you say about my personality?"
"Now, back to business!" said John.
"Don't change subject!"
"So, Sanjuni-chan," said John, "I can't tell you anything because your information is being relayed to nearly 10,000 different supercomputers. So, I'm sorry but I blocked all radioactive interference within half a mile radius."
10032 emotionlessly nodded. "I see. That's why I couldn't contact the other Misakas since earlier."
"On top of that, when I'm done with you, I'm going to erase your memories and tell this middle-school brat here—"
"Come again?" said Misaka a little louder.
"—and teach her how to teach. If you have any problem with that, I can just leave now."
"I have no problem with an immature older sister teaching me," said 10032 with a faint but jokeful smile.
"You're on it too now?" yelled Misaka.
John let the two fight a little. He watched Misaka grab her sister's shoulder and swing her back and forth. 10032 simply joined into the shake and let Misaka show her tsundere characteristics.
"That's enough fighting," said John. "Let's get down to business."
John pressed his temples and looked at 10032. "Right now, I have three powers: psychokinesis, Electrokinesis and vector manipulation."
Misaka twitched at the last power.
"The rule of my power dictates that if I use a power, I can use it to a Level 6's capacity. I can also simultaneously use five powers on a Level 5's level."
10032 blinked.
"I can use 25 powers at level 4 capacity, 125 at level 3's capacity, 625 at level 2's capacity, 3125 at level 1's capacity and of course, no power at level 0's capacity. Why? Because they have no power."
"…It is the exponential of 5?" asked 10032.
"Yep. Long time ago, I could only use…oh, why am I telling you this? The point is, I am currently holding three level 5s' powers. So, you can think of battling me as battling three Accel-chans at the same time. Got that loud and clear?"
"I believe so," said 10032, "but I cannot understand the reasoning behind all your actions and explanations, says Misaka as Misaka tilts her head to the left. Is your reason for your explanation to make me a formidable esper or is it to boast on your powers?"
Misaka pffted, but John didn't move an inch, or change his smiling face. "Nope. I'm just saying that you should be careful of what's to come next."
"What do you—"
An extreme powerful magnetic wave surged through the empty lot. The ground was somehow electrified and glowing. Only the places Misaka and 10032 were standing were dull. Misaka knew what this was, so she didn't move a step, but 10032 carelessly tried to move out.
"Nope!" yelled John, who grabbed 10032's foot using psychokinesis and pushed it back in place. "Outside that circle is gravity twenty times the original. People are dying outside."
"WHAT!" yelled Misaka. 10032 also gasped silently.
"Nah, just kidding. The gravity alteration is within only .3 miles or something like that." John giggled and looked at the stones crushing each other out and eroding into sandstone. The container boxes barely managed by their contents, but even that was still going to burst soon.
John eyed the sand. They were nearly powdery. "Okay, that's enough." John clapped. The lights faded and the heavy air dissipated.
Misaka sighed and fell on her knees. "I'm always shocked on how good you are at this. I can only bring out three times the gravity and even that gets my head fussy."
"You just opened your power tomorrow, you know." John smirked. "That sounded weird."
Before 10032 could analyze what any of them were saying, John ran towards her and stopped at her feet.
"So, this is how it goes," said John. "I'm going to now alter your cell structure in a way that makes you not only live longer but also more powerful. It's going to make your electricity flow better and stronger. Question is: do you want this?"
10032 nodded. "I wish to be a need of onee-sama."
John snorted, almost rudely. "This isn't about her. This is about you. Are you ready to lose your life over some teenage fights and adult issues?"
"Yes. I was ready to offer my life for much less, says Misaka as—"
"Sanjuni-chan," said John, now with a little upset face, but still with his smile, "I couldn't give the iota of my little care that I have left. I don't care about your past as much as I do with mine. And tell me, do you think people could care about others when they don't even tend to themselves?"
10032 didn't answer. Misaka looked away.
After all, she had all his memories.
She knew what he was talking about.
"I'm going to give you a choice," said John. "First option: you can just stay as you are and die as you are. You're going to have a comfortable death, I can assure you that much. Well, it's assuming that you accept my request."
John glanced at Misaka and smirked when he saw her troubled side. "She could be considerate for a brat," murmured John.
"What was—"started 10032.
"Second and the only other option," said John. "You can die in a horror. I will not protect you, I will not help you, and much less will I stop you. Instead, I'm going to give you a way in which you can become a level 5."
10032 just blankly stared at John without emotion.
"I will make you able to do what I did just now and much more. I will make you able to defeat Accelerator without a single drop of sweat. I will make you stronger than any other electromasters in the history…well, besides me and her anyway, and make you join in the fight that you have no chance at all to win."
Misaka bit her lips.
"Plus, let me throw you a little secret." John unbuttoned the top buttons of his hoodie. Before anyone said anything, he took them off. Misaka would've normally acted embarrassed and spit electric bolts to his bare chest, but since she knew why he was doing this, she kept quiet.
10032, on the other hand, simply opened her eyes a bit wider.
"This is the price of receiving the power of God," said John.
There were scratches anywhere, and many of them were bullet holes. He had his arm sewed back in and his chest had a big scar in the pulmonary area. His nerves were clearly visible and seemed like they would pop any second.
"I fought and fought and fought and fought and fought," said John. "If it were against humans, I'd understand it, but it was against myself. My body simply couldn't withstand the stress of having basically a deity in his body. Plus, there's some moral code onto this thing, so if I try to use my power for my own good and only my own good, I would get weaker. Not my power, but my body."
John covered himself back up and continued with a serious face.
"My actual power is omnipotence. I can change three laws of physics by stagnating my heart. So far, I've used two. I had to stagnate my heart so slow that I had to get a replacement. Still, the contract lives, so I can only use it one other time, and I prefer it if it were for the better future."
10032 simply listened with wide eyes.
"It's not only for me. It's the same for any of you. Accelerator has only five more years to live assuming that he doesn't use his power during that time, and if he does use his power continuously, he'll only live for about two years more. Every powerful esper gets their heart stagnated through some sort of curse. If I do what you want me to do to you, you'll live on for ten more years, but if I do my job well, you will only have six months."
Misaka's face darkened.
"So, here's the deal. If you say yes, you're basically throwing away your freedom. The freedom that you achieved and longed for, whether you knew it consciously or not. Are you going to accept it and make what that spiky womanizer did for you an absolute and utter useless effort? And, on top of that, you're also throwing away your life for a chance higher than the moment. It'd be about .5 more percent."
10032's lips twitched. John took a deep breath and sighed out.
"Are you willing to pay the consequences?"
"I will do it," said 10032, a little too simply compared to the speech John just gave her.
"Gah…" muttered John. He stepped away from 10032's face and walked around with his hands tugged in his pants. "I hate middle-school girls."
"Wow," murmured Misaka. "After all that, your excuse is that?"
"I'm having a moment, Misaka-chan," said John. He looked down at the silt-filled ground, his eyes no longer calm and his lips no longer bent upwards.
He was upset.
"But I have no choice, huh…" murmured John.
The two girls looked at each other. John closed his eyes tightly once and opened them. They were calm as before, gray-filled as if he had the Milky Way in his eye—deep and vast.
"Okay," said John, turning around with the smile. "Let the class begin."
"First, let's see what you've got," said John. "Attack me with all your strength."
10032 hesitated. "Can I really?"
"Sure you can. Who do you think I am?"
10032 sighed. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Several bolts started to crackle around her. Then, she clenched her right hand and waved her arm. John simply took the attack head-on.
"That wasn't that bad. About 700 volts, I'd say? That's enough to fry up a meal. By the way, I usually don't mean things sarcastically. Just take them the way they are said."
"I didn't detect sarcasm from your statement, so there's no problem, says Misaka as—"
"Okay, Sanjuni-chan," said John. "Now I'll need you to stay still."
Sanjuni-chan twitched and stared at John for a little while. Then she turned to Misaka who was looking at her with a worried look. When their eyes met, Misaka twitched and alleviated her expression. "Don't worry, he's good at what he does."
10032 smiled a little and closed her eyes.
"So here comes the difficult part," said John. "I already got your DNA map from the lab that I hacked some time ago. By the way, you're welcome."
"I didn't thank."
"Now then!" said John quickly changing the topic. He breathed out and sipped air in through his teeth. "I haven't done this ever since, so it's going to be amateur, but I can do things that geezer can't do, so here I go."
10032 twitched again.
"It'll be fine," said Misaka, although carrying a doubtful expression herself. John grabbed 10032's face and closed his eyes. He ran EM wave through her ears but not strong enough to melt her brain.
"Ooh, that's a lot of tumor," murmured John. 10032 twitched again.
"Like I said, don't worry," said Misaka, even more doubtful than previous.
John first killed all the tumor cells with his power—he used teleportation instead because electricity could be tricky—and moved on. He sled down through 10032's neck. She made a silent moan, and Misaka blushed, but held onto her anger. She was basically in a surgery.
John then moved lower and touched her arms. He then grimaced and ordered: "Lift your arms up."
Both 10032 and Misaka twitched to that order, but no one said a word. 10032 complied.
John slowly grasped 10032's chests and smirked. "There it is."
John pressed his temples. He turned himself into a level 5.9 electromaster and still kept his 5.1 plane camouflage.
"Okay…let's see…it'll hurt, by the way."
"What did you—"started 10032.
"What did you—"started Misaka.
John started.
The lot was filled with crackling noise. 10032's eyes shut open. She faced the sky and howled silently, since she couldn't use her vocal cord properly thanks to the immense pain.
John didn't even blink. Misaka blocked her ears and closed her eyes.
John altered the tissue of the heart. He excited some of them and discarded the rest. He then charged her heart with intense electricity. Misaka tightened her grip on her ear.
10032 could shout now, but she closed her mouth and eyes. She held onto the pain.
John smirked. "Good girl," he managed. He could barely speak from the calculations he was inputting into his head.
Next was to discard the dead blood. John charged electricity on his nails and cut 10032's under arm. The cut wasn't too deep, but black blood gouged out of the wound.
Then John closed the wound.
John was sweating now. He tackled 10032's body and put her on the ground. The sand gently supported her, but 10032 could feel nothing to begin with.
Iron sand started to be drawn into the patient and the doctor. John clicked his tongue.
"Misaka! Get them off me!" yelled John.
Misaka was, unfortunately, covering her ears at the moment. John wiped his sweat. He couldn't use his third alter here.
He had only one choice.
He concentrated and plowed the area with his power. The changed elements of the iron sand poured back into their origin and moved nevermore.
"There we go," murmured John. He moved into her abdomen. He pushed out the dirty medicine out of 10032's lungs by the same method and opened her diaphragm back to its original position. Next were legs. John moved under 10032's legs and grabbed both her thighs. Neither 10032, Misaka nor John felt a speck of shame.
John charged and ran through her complete muscle system. He corrected and fixed the coiled muscles and flexed the "hot" ones. He charged them with electricity and ran their bodies alive again.
Now she could literally spit electricity from her muscles.
And the last, to prolong her life was—
"Time for DNA shift," murmured John.
He had already analyzed and memorized the components of his body when he was Imagine Destroyer. If he could somehow code the heart to his heart, then…
John concentrated. "不幸だ", murmured John. Instantly he remembered everything. He forgot everything but the codes needed and started to alter the DNA.
"Please, that guy up there who likes screwing me up," murmured John, amazingly, with a smile. "Do me a favor and help this girl for once."
A blinding light swallowed the entire lot.
"How is she?" asked Misaka.
"She's okay," said John. "All memories erased on top of that. Now let her practice Electrokinesis as you did when you levelled up, and turn her into level 5."
"What's her level right now?" asked Misaka.
"Level 4," said John. "It's more like 3.9 really, but I'd like to boast a bit about how I levelled up nearly an entire number in just thirty minutes."
"Good thing the sun set long back," murmured Misaka, looking at the moon. "It'd have been disastrous to have people gather around a possible sexual assault."
"Whoa, now," said John, "I don't expect an appreciation, but I don't want an insult."
"Thank you," said Misaka. "I owe you one."
John stopped his next sentence that started with that's why I hate br… and looked at Misaka, who was in a verge of tears. John scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I really hate middle school brats."
"I never noticed," said Misaka with a smile.
Silence fell.
"You didn't really mean any of that, right?" said Misaka.
"I don't know what you're talking about," said John, looking at the moon.
"You wanted her to stay out of the plan, so you made her anxious of her decision. You wanted to protect her. I find that very interesting."
John snorted. "Like hell. I just wanted to make sure that she made the absolute right choice."
"Heeh~?"
John smiled. "I really hate brats."
He put his hoodie hat on and looked around. "This place needs cleanup. You care to help?"
"Like that's gonna happen," said Misaka, "but I guess I'll help just today."
She smiled and turned around, when—
"I'm sorry," said John. Misaka immediately turned out of surprise, but John's left hand was waiting for her.
"I'll seal your memories," said John.
"WAI—"
…
…
…
Academy City.
It is considered…
"Ah, who cares," murmured John. He didn't change time this time around, but he did go away from that ruin.
At this point, that lot was not fit or preserved enough to be called a lot.
"So…this makes it 20.5% now," murmured John. "Let's go make it 25.5%."
And, with his hands tugged in his hoodie pocket, John walked towards Saten's room.
