Accelerator held nothing back as he flung himself towards the safe house. When he arrived, he ran in without either caution or stealth.
"KIHARA! 37! WHERE ARE YOU?" he yelled as he stormed into the living room, making his way towards the back hallway. He ducked his head quickly into the bathroom and his room before seeing 37's door left open. He stepped inside and saw it was a mess.
"This must have been where he found her. He wrecked her room knowing it'd piss me off." He searched the room for anything Kihara left behind. He was about to walk out when he noticed 37's desk. It looked nearly untouched despite the condition of the rest of the room. On the desk he found a present that had been hastily opened and torn. Next to the box, he saw an old worn-out stuffed bear whose head had been nearly ripped off. An envelope rested against it, which Accelerator grabbed as soon as he saw the thick black writing across the front.
"Aww...too bad. You know where we'll be, Vector Boy... Midnight."
"GAAAARRRHHHH!" Accelerator yelled as he wrung the envelope into his fist and shoved it into his pocket. "Damn right I know where you'll be, you son of a bitch! What better place to finish this than where it all began." He glanced once more at the torn bear before taking off again. He didn't even attempt to go through the doorway as he left. He blew off the side of the building as he rushed towards the Special Abilities Institute.
Accelerator arrived at the SAI shortly before midnight. He glanced upwards, There's only one place that arrogant bastard would want to meet. He ran towards the front of the building and jumped up against the side wall, activated his vector ability and propelled himself straight up the wall. He went over the top of the building and landed rather gracefully on the rooftop.
"I know you're up here Kihara, show yourself and get this over with!" He started to walk around the rooftop when he heard a noise that sounded like a party favor. Several spotlights turned on, momentarily blinding him as the noise stopped and a familiar voice followed.
"Happy Birthday Vector Boy... I gotta say, most people don't keep my interest for long. I have no use for friends or loved ones. To me, once you've served your purpose you may as well be disposable. Just like your little friend here." He gestured to a section of the roof that was partially in the shadows. Accelerator could barely make out 37, tied up and gagged.
"37! Let her go, Kihara! She has nothing to do with the shit we have between us!"
"Ha ha ha... See what I mean kid? She's useless for everything but getting you riled up! I never expected this from you. All that time you spent caring for nothing but gaining power. Why bother to save her? She serves no purpose for you, and don't tell me it's because she's your friend. Monsters like you and I aren't capable of friendship. We're only capable of manipulating and using others. We destroy the good around us, kid."
"My reasons for being here are my own. Despite the scum I've become, I'll be damned if I let you drag her down to Hell with us! Let's finish this now!" Accelerator used his ability to attack Kihara, who used his Deviant ability to redirect the attacks back towards him. Accelerator barely dodged them before coming face to face with Kihara. He threw a punch, but Kihara's ability pushed his hand back towards himself.
Dammit, nothing I've tried is working on him. Everything I do gets redirected back to me. Shit this is frustrating!
"Aww c'mon kid, I thought you had more fight in you than this! Guess you didn't expect me to have a stronger ability than you though did you? Wish I could have seen your face when you saw the Esper rankings!"
Accelerator continued sending his Vector Redirection towards Kihara but soon began to notice his ability start to weaken.
"What is this... My Redirection isn't working right!" Just as he finished speaking a piece of rubble struck him and knocked him off his feet. The impenetrable forcefield that constantly surrounded him had failed. He lay there stunned as Kihara walked up and kicked him in his side.
"Noticing your ability getting a little weak, Vector Boy? Guess I can go ahead and tell you why now that you're not going anywhere. You recall what the SAI was ultimately formed to develop? Dual Skill. We wanted to prove that Espers were capable of developing more than one ability. And thanks to you and all the other guinea pigs, several dual skills were created. Yours truly is one of them. My main ability is Deviant, which redirects any forces sent my way wherever I damn well want them to go. My second skill nullifies my opponent's ability as long as I'm actively fighting them. So go ahead kid, let loose!" He kicked Accelerator again, when the young Esper attempted to fight back he was struck again, whether by Kihara directly or by the vectors that were intended as defense.
As the fight continued, 37 struggled to free herself. She glanced over and saw that Accelerator was seriously hurt. This wasn't a fair fight to begin with, she knew. She knew Accelerator wouldn't give up, but even so, he wouldn't be able to last much longer. She frantically fought to free herself, and as she was just able to get one of her hands out of the ropes, she saw Kihara begin another violent assault against Accelerator. She quickly freed her other hand and pulled the gag off of her mouth.
"Stop it! You'll kill him!" 37 yelled as she loosened the ties around her feet.
"That's the idea girlie. He wanted a fight, and now he's getting what he asked for!" Kihara yelled back, still pummeling the boy. He reached down and grabbed Accelerator's hair, yanking him up to his feet. "It's truly a shame kid. You had so much potential, but you're of no use to me anymore. So now it's time I finished disposing of the trash!" He wrapped his hand around Accelerator's throat and lifted him up off the ground. Accelerator started to thrash about wildly, struggling to free himself, but Kihara held him tight. The wheezes and gasps the young boy made grew weak as his kicking slowed.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" 37 ran towards Kihara, pulling the glove off of her right hand. She kicked Kihara's arm, causing him to drop the boy. She then swung her right arm up and slapped Kihara as hard as she could with her bare right hand. A nearly electric reaction sparked when she made contact. She drew back her hand and began to feel a deep pain burning in her chest. She began to cough roughly, sputtering up blood as she fell to her knees clutching her chest, gasping for air.
Accelerator watched helplessly as Kihara stood there, speechless for once. He brought a hand up to where 37 had slapped him as if checking to see if it happened. He attempted to use his ability, but nothing happened. With one slap in the face, she brought the strongest Level 5 down to a 0.
"You stole it! All that power... You stole it with that weak slap you stupid bitch... I'll kill you!" He kicked 37 in the ribs with such force that she landed dangerously close to the edge of the roof. He started towards her when the ground beneath him ruptured and forced him to stop. He looked towards Accelerator and saw the boy made it to his feet and had regained a small amount of his ability. Kihara faced the boy as they circled each other. When Kihara had made it back to the middle of the rooftop he stopped and started clapping.
"I may be an arrogant bastard, but I know when I've been beaten. Though I have to say, you shouldn't take all of the credit, Vector Boy. That sneaky little bitch did all the hard work for you. But it looks like the physical reaction to stealing a level 5's ability is painful, possibly even fatal. Which makes me feel a little better considering I won't have nearly as much fun without my abilities. But a good man always has a backup plan..." He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a hand-held detonator. "You may want to keep an eye on your girlfriend, Accelerator. It'd be a shame if you can't find all of her pieces after this!" He set off the detonator and almost immediately several explosions went off on the rooftop. "You're a resourceful kid. I'm sure we'll meet again. I'll look forward to finishing what we started here!" Kihara yelled as he disappeared through the exit.
"Dammit KIHARA!" yelled Accelerator as he turned back towards the direction 37 had been. She was laying on her side, barely conscious with blood running from her mouth. A tremor shook the foundation and caused the roof to split between them. 37 slid down towards the edge of the roof. Her nearly limp body had just gone over the edge when someone grabbed hold of her gloved left hand. She looked up to see Accelerator holding her as she hung over the side of the building.
"I got you 37, give me your other hand and I'll pull you up!"
She looked at her free hand, the one she had stolen Kihara's Esper power with and shook her head. "I'm sorry! I can't do that!"
"WHAT?! Come on 37, just give me your hand! I can't use my power to help you up right now! You can do it, just reach out!"
"NO!" she replied as she shook her head. "I won't take your ability like I did Kihara's!" Her coughing grew worse as she spat up more blood, her vision blurring. Whatever damage stealing Kihara's power had done, it had wounded 37 mortally.
"Is that what you're worried about, my power? I don't give a shit about it! Go ahead and take it, just give me your hand, NOW!" His grip on her was starting to weaken.
"I'm sorry! It wasn't supposed to end like this... I was supposed to fix you!" She yelled as the building shifted once again, causing Accelerator to lose his grip on her hand.
"I refuse to break you, Seiji!" were the last words he heard her speak. A chunk of the building struck her, rendering her unconscious as she fell to the street below.
