Chapter 10

"Shirai-san, how do you feel?" Uiharu was the owner of the voice which had sounded the moment Kuroko opened her eyes. A moment's surveying of her surroundings told Kuroko that she was lying down in what was most likely a hospital bed.

"It seems as though I can't move my body very much." Kuroko finally responded but even this response delighted Uiharu.

"Thank goodness! Oh, the numbness is the after effect of the toxin which was in the dart you were shot with. We analysed it but there were no clues as to who shot it." Uiharu quietened a little as she reached the end of her summary.

"Also Misaka-san is still missing. We think she was taken hostage in connection with what happened."

"Onee-sama was kidnapped?!" Kuroko tried to sit up but barely lifted her head before flopping back onto the pillow.

"You shouldn't try to move around too much, Shirai-san. You'll recover faster if you rest and let your body take care of the toxin." The timbre of the male voice was instantly recognisable and Kuroko turned her head to look behind Uiharu where Alfred was sitting in a chair. A bandage was wrapped around his forehead, pushing up the front of his hair to hang over it.

"What happened?" Kuroko asked the boy but he had no real answer.

"You went down and they got me with one of those darts but I'm highly resistant to most toxins alien to my body for whatever reason. So instead they snuck up and smacked me in the back of the head but I saw them seal the Rai in some kind of container. It was as if they had prepared for it beforehand."

"Rai? Do you mean that monster?" Kuroko inquired and Alfred looked surprised for a moment before he remembered that she had been unconscious up to that moment.

"Ah yes, I had forgotten that you haven't seen the report yet. Uiharu-san has it. They've termed those things 'Rai'. It means 'lightning.'" Alfred stood up and Kuroko saw that he was uncomfortable with the movement but refrained from making a comment about it. She was in no position to point out someone else's physical condition.

"I'll read it to you, the doctor said you mustn't do anything and just rest. I think it would be hard to read from that position anyway." Uiharu rustled around in her bag for her PDA which had t he report on.

"I'm going to head off; there are a few things I want to take care of. Just rest up and get better quickly, we've got quite a lot of work to do." Alfred flashed her a reassuring and yet carefree smile that instantly warmed Kuroko up.

"Are you going to look for Onee-sama?" Kuroko asked him. The boy stopped but did not turn around to face her which was answer enough for her. "You mustn't, Grey-san. It's too dangerous to search by yourself. Let Judgement and Anti-skill take care of it." She pleaded with him.

"I have some contacts whom I can ask for information. I'll be back soon once I've asked around, don't worry." Then he exited the room.

"Ah, here it is. Are you listening, Shirai-san?" Uiharu asked Kuroko who nodded absent mindledly, her mind on how Alfred had avoided responding to her specific plea.

*****

"Is the subject in place?"

"Yes, sir. The staff in range are all wearing the appropriate equipment."

"And the source?"

"Also in place, sir. The circuit is complete; all that is needed is for the switch to be put into place."

"Proceed then."

"Yes, sir."

Mikoto was dimly aware of the conversation that was going on between whoever was in front of her and another person whose voice was distorted due to its sounding from a headset. Her eyes had yet to open so she could not see what was going on around her so she had to rely on her ears.

There were slow, clunking footsteps which were always preceded and proceeded by a mechanical whirring sound which was familiar but Mikoto could not place it, her brain barely functioning properly. She could hear mostly one sided conversations, announcements via what must have been loud speakers and various other sounds which she had no idea about.

"Beginning experiment in 10 seconds."

Mikoto's eyes finally opened and her first observation was that her feet were not touching the floor. As she had not been able to feel most of her body she had not realised that she was suspended from the ground by thick metal bands running around her wrists and ankles that were then bolted to the wall. Her next observation was that there were several large suits facing her and she realised that the whirring sounds had been these moving. Men were inside the suits, mostly holding electronic pads with fingers poised as they watched either her or the machines lining the walls of the room.

"Subject is awake; continue with the experiment, sir?"

"Do so."

"Beginning experiment in 5 seconds."

Memories began to rush back and Mikoto remembered the sharp pain in her neck before blackness and coupled with the numbness in her limbs she deduced that she had been drugged with something. She tried to struggle but nothing happened, her body just didn't move.

"Beginning experiment. Extending the couplings."

There was a metal clang then a whirring sound which was followed by another metal clang as two objects hit each other to Mikoto's right where she could not see.

"Coupling accomplished. Lowering switch. Circuit completed."

A ripping pain seared through Mikoto's body and she opened her mouth to scream but nothing came. Her body convulsed and shook of its own accord. She had no control over herself and yet she felt every bit of the pain that roared through her limbs and mind. She could feel the voltage in the air that was beyond anything she had ever felt and that was what was leaving her body; greatly diminished in comparison to what was being forced into her.

"Magnetic field strengthening."

"Signs of damage to vital organs. Continue with the experiment?"

There was a pause as the pain coursed through her, a pain so extreme that she could not even faint, forced to consciousness to endure it.

"Continue until damage nears critical."

The emotionless voice belonged to whoever was overseeing what was being done to her and even in the midst of the pain Mikoto felt a burning hatred for the owned of the voice but she couldn't concentrate on that, the pain was too much, all consuming.

"Damage to the heart is nearing life threatening."

"Break the circuit, stop the current flow."

There was a click; a whir and then the pain stopped for a moment before the aftermath came rushing back. Thankfully Mikoto only felt it for a moment before the world went black again.

*****

Alfred mounted the steps from the avenue up to the small square where the latest episode had started and where Mikoto had last been seen. He wasn't surprised to see someone familiar sitting on a bench, watching over the square with eyes that weren't really seeing anything. Alfred joined him and for a few minutes neither of them spoke, he wasn't even sure if the boy next to him had noticed his arrival.

"Do you think this has anything to do with the Accelerator?" Touma finally spoke. He looked and sounded like he hadn't slept very much and had the gaze of someone who was seeing the past over and over again.

"It might do. We don't know anything yet but it had something to do with that monster."

"The lightning thing?" Touma asked, finally focusing and turning to face Alfred who continued to scan the faces in the crowd for no real reason.

"Yeah, that's right. Whoever took her also took that thing. They must be connected. Why did they only take one of us, not all of us? Why only Misaka-san? There must be a reason why. If we can work that out we can find her." Alfred thought aloud in attempt to bring out the nagging feeling he had which was screaming it knew the answer but he couldn't hear it.

"That thing was made of lightning, right? Isn't that why? Maybe they thing she had something to do with it so took her too?" Touma suggested and Alfred nearly smacked himself for not seeing the connection earlier.

"You're right. I can't believe I didn't see that earlier." He turned to look at Touma who could only be described as haggard.

"Go home and get some rest, I'll follow up. If there's anything at all that you can do or help out with I'll get you a message." Alfred promised and Touma nodded his head, rubbing his face with his hands to try and wake himself up.

"Thanks. I'll do whatever I can so just make sure you call." With that he walked away and left Alfred to muse over his findings. After a long brainstorm he pulled out his phone and flipped it open, dialling a number from the contacts list.

"You're part of the team cleaning up the cloning debacle, right?" He demanded without a greeting. There was a stunned silence for a moment before the other person answered his question with an affirmative. "I need some information so listen carefully."

*****

"So basically we know nothing about what happened?" Kuroko summed up the report and Uiharu nodded her head sadly.

"The cameras in the area were knocked out and none of the witnesses saw anything before the Rai appeared. So far the forensic team hasn't found anything except the marks from your battle with it. We'll have to wait until we find a clue."

"If we find one."