Kuroko had buried her face into Mikoto's pillow, quietly crying after Mikoto had left with a slam of the door and a barrage of harsh words. Kuroko felt like her heart had been stomped on, and she had no idea what to do. She had resigned herself to crying herself to sleep, as pathetic as it made her feel.
A ring of her phone interrupted that train of thought. Pushing herself up with an unhappy growl, she grabbed her phone off of the table at the center of the room, looking at the caller ID. That was an Anti-Skill Dispatch Center. She wiped her face and composed herself before answering.
"Judgement Officer Shirai Kuroko." She answered formally, having regained her calm as she focused on being in her Judgement mindset.
"This is Anti-Skill with a request. There has been unforeseen circumstances at the forensic lab, and it has been requested that you return to the scene of the suspected terrorist for an additional blood sample, if possible." The man on the other end of the phone said. Something about his voice was very grating to her, it reminded her of a snake, but she pushed it out of her head. Odd request, but… frankly, she appreciated a chance to get her mind off things. Even if it did have her returning to a site of her failure.
"Acknowledged, I will do so immediately." She answered, which got her a response of a hung-up phone. Rude. Even after asking her to break her school's curfew. She sighed as she slid her green Judgement armband on, strapping on her black straps on each thigh filled with her metal spikes. Spinning toward the window, she looked outside it and vanished.
Uiharu hummed cutely as she walked along the outdoor hall to her apartment, carrying a small plastic bag from the convenience store just down the road. She'd just needed a few things and it was the first chance she'd had with how busy she'd been with Judgement. She tried not to focus on the attacks, she just needed to push it out of her mind. Dwelling on it wouldn't be of any help. And she was sure Anti-Skill would take care of it.
She fiddled with her keys and unlocked the door, stepping inside. "I'm home!" She called out to Haruue Erii, her roommate. Haruue was a girl her age, with short brown hair with a small stretchy band usually at the side of her head with a cute tuft of hair, but at the moment, the girl was in her pajamas, sitting at the table in their bedroom. Uiharu froze as she got a few steps inside as she saw her roommate, who was sitting at the table, staring at her. No, not at her… just… staring into space. There was no thought behind her unblinking eyes. She was so still it was frightening.
She opened her mouth to say something before she felt something press against the back of her head. Her heart began to pound in panic before a electronic beep was heard behind her.
"Shirai Kuroko called you to meet at your Judgement office. You're running late. You were just about to leave." A pretty voice she didn't recognize said. In a trance, she found herself echoing the words.
"Shirai called me to meet her at the office. I'm running late. I was just leaving." She droned out, dropping her bag onto the ground and turning toward the door, walking past a figure that was indistinct and featureless to her eyes, and yet, she saw the faint hint of a smile. The figure's presence did not bother Uiharu for some reason.
A giggle from this figure marked Uiharu's departure.
Kuroko arrived at the destination with an odd feeling. Something seemed… off. She scowled and chalked it up to her rattled nerves after her fight with Mikoto. She walked toward the alley she had seen the suspect, and just as she got to the entrance of the alley where she'd last been and had seen the suspect at the other end of the alley, she froze. Lying on the ground was an Anti-skill officer in full armor, surrounded by a massive pool of blood. Kuroko flashed over to the trooper, reaching down to look for any sign of life.
She scowled deeply as she felt no pulse, his back riddled full of what looked like bullet holes, reaching down to roll the body onto their side, and just as she lifted it, she heard a distinct 'click' resound. She paused for a second of thought, and in a moment of instinct teleported her maximum distance straight up. As she stared down at where she previously was, two thoughts occurred at once. She was fairly certain she'd shot up well over a hundred meters past her maximum, and the second thought was consumed by the massive explosion from a detonating bomb that vaporized the Anti-Skill officer's body and would have certainly done the same to her.
"What the hell…!?" She gasped out, feeling gravity taking control as she started to fall, quickly teleporting down onto a nearby rooftop. Down below her, she heard several pairs of boots running on the ground.
"Spread out, kill on sight. Remember, no witnesses. Watch your six, she'll teleport into your blind spots." A cold and remorseless voice said, garbled through some kind of synthesizer. Kuroko felt her heart beat pounding in her ears. A quick glance over the roof allowed her to see no fewer than eight heavily armed, black clothed and armored gas-masked and helmeted figures, automatic rifles and submachine guns all at their shoulders, laser sights moving about as they spread out in pairs, constantly moving in a pattern that watched the others back. They were here for her. She felt panic rising in her chest as she wrapped her head around the notion that people like that were after HER SPECIFICALLY.
No, no. She couldn't panic. And she couldn't run. They'd murdered an Anti-Skill officer and by the sounds of it will kill anyone they'd come across. If she ran, who knew how many people would die. She reached down and felt her fingers barely brush against her spikes before they teleported up in front of her face, grabbing three out of the air with her other hand. She furrowed her brow and focused herself. She wouldn't lose again.
A quick glance up over the edge of the roof again helped her establish where each target was, currently spotting only four moving down some of the alleys. Glancing up, she teleported herself across to another rooftop, about a foot above the ledge of the roof- she always gave herself some margin for error- landing down and quickly teleporting two spikes downward into one of the automatic rifles of this particular pair of assassin's. To her surprise, the second her feet firmly landed, both froze and twisted up at her, meeting her wide eyes with a barrage of automatic fire, though one tossed his gun down, pulling a handgun. She quickly teleported away as she felt a bullet whizz just inches from her face, landing on another rooftop.
"Over there!" She heard one yell, which was briefly followed by feet moving and then a metal dinking sound as a round object landed on the roof. A grenade. She vanished again quickly, pushing her limitations and teleporting a good hundred and seventeen meters to another roof as the grenade peppered shrapnel over her previous hiding spot.
"How are they finding me!?" She gasped out, her heart pounding. She gave it some rapid thought, and realized they'd spun on her the second she landed. "Motion detectors." She growled, looking up over the roof, seeing the troopers moving quickly in her direction. They likely had them set to ignore their own motions, which meant they had an advanced linked system and likely a heads-up display on those helmets. Which meant they had technology they likely got in the city. Kuroko scowled and thought quickly, counting her spikes on her thighs. She didn't have enough to disable all their weapons…
She vanished, appearing a solid thirty feet in the air behind them, one of the soldiers noticing her and twisting around, starting to yell, which was cut off as she sent two spikes at him, one piercing his wrist and another his knee, the man giving out a strangled cry as he hit the ground. The assassin's slid to a stop, spinning around, but the time they needed to ascertain her location was the time she used to teleport once more, flinging herself directly above them. Two more spotted her in their rapid search, and she felt bullets whizzing up in the air past her. She tried to block out feelings of panic and fear, grabbing three more spikes. She couldn't make out their distinct body locations, and her survival instinct kicked in as she sent all the spikes at the two firing at her, neither making more than a strangled gurgle as they collapsed on the ground.
Kuroko felt an intense weight of guilt and panic rising up in her chest. She'd teleported them directly into their brains. She had murdered them, before they could murder her. The rest had spotted her and were training their guns, forcing another teleport out of their line of sight. She collapsed against a rooftop ledge, hidden from view, but was almost certain they had detected it. She had only seconds to respond, and her body had decided now would be a good time to hyperventilate.
"There! Fire in the hole!" She heard one yell, her eyes widening as she tried to focus on teleporting, but was too panicked, and on a moment of impulse, leaped up out of cover. She spotted one soldier with his arm pulled back, another grenade at the ready, and let instinct take over. She sent three spikes through his arm, causing him to cry out as it was suddenly paralyzed, the primed grenade landing on the ground. There was a shout for cover as several tried to dive away, before her vision was obscured by the bright flash of the explosion.
She dove down as she felt hot shrapnel flying near her, staying crouched in cover for a long time as the blast echoed through the air. Finally, she looked up, surveying the sight. She didn't spot any movement among the mangled bodies down below. Teleporting down, spikes raised and on shaky legs, she glanced around, hearing a groan of pain. She spun around, spotting one man trying to crawl away, lurching over to him and grabbing his collar.
"Who are you! Why?!" She demanded in a rage, her mind racing from intense adrenaline. From behind the gas mask she heard a half-choked laugh.
"F-fucking unbelievable… beaten by some stupid brat…" He choked out, before gasping in alarm. Kuroko saw movement reflected on the lens of his helmet and teleported herself out of the way, facing toward the assassin. There was a brief scream of fear followed by a sickening crunching sound as an enormous metal monstrosity landed on top of the man, gore splattering the machine and pavement.
The machine turned on its six heavy metal legs, the enormous machine that filled half the back street by itself. Its shape reminded her of some kind of strange spider, with an enormous pentagon shaped abdomen attached to what would approximate a spiders thorax. Its 'face' was flat, with four tiny red glowing dots in the metal shell staring down at her. The most pressing concern was the unmanned dual-barreled turret with some type of rotary loading system that she was fairly confident was used to load and fire grenades.
To say Kuroko was terrified at that very moment would be an understatement. What had she done to earn this level of violence? This amount of resources?
"SHIRAI!" The familiar voice heard over the earpiece she didn't even remember putting in her ear- it was practically reflex at this point when doing Judgement work- broke her out of her trance in time to teleport down the street, a grenade hitting where she'd previously been standing and blasting a hole in the road.
"Uiharu!?" She called over the earpiece. What was she doing here?! Did they call her in too?
"Sorry I'm late! I rushed over as soon as you called!" She said, the sounds of Uiharu tapping away at her computer undoubtedly ringing through the Judgement Office room.
"Called you-?" She blinked and teleported again as another grenade was launched at her, blowing another hole in the road.
"I've got the camera's and I'm taking control of security bots in the area. They were all locked down from an Anti-Skill Dispatch Center for some reason!" She said, prompting Kuroko to blink in shock, teleporting out of the way again, further down the road. She was now a fair distance from the machine which had paused in its assault. The abdomen on its back began to raise up until it was perpendicular to the ground.
"Uiharu, it's doing something…" She said anxiously. The machine's abdomen suddenly opened up, much like a platform, showcasing four smaller automatons docked inside of it, all of which leaped out one after the other, landing on eight legs and starting to rapidly scurry toward Kuroko.
Kuroko's eyes went as wide as dinner plates as she was charged by horrifying spider-robots. This was quickly growing into the single worst night of her entire life.
"GOT IT!" Uiharu's voice called out as security robots seemingly poured out of the woodwork and charged the robots, intercepting them and smashing violently into the spider-bots.
Kuroko didn't have long to appreciate the sudden small victory as she heard something that sounded like a jet engine, and a blur of movement drew her eyes upward, where a large black shape was rapidly descending down at her. Leaping back quickly, she narrowly avoided the six-legged monstrosity that had carried the spider-bots, which had abandoned the abdomen docking bay and somehow managed to leap all the way down the street, into the air, and crushing the ground where Kuroko had been standing.
"Something that big has no right to jump that high!" She objected, pulling metal spikes from her thigh to her hands. "Uiharu, any ideas on how to deal with this thing?!" She leaped back as the machine fired several grenades in rapid succession, teleporting and running as fast as she could as it devastated the area around it.
"Uh, eyes? Optics! Go for its optics! The red glowing things on the front of it!" She shouted over the mic, clearly distracted with her own battle, which she seemed to be struggling with. The security robots were made for non-lethal apprehension, and were clearly not equipped to deal with the spider-bots whose legs seemingly were made of blades.
She saw the grenade launcher spin at her again, and quickly teleported herself once more, landing on top of a parked car before launching two of the spikes at the red glowing orbs, managing to pierce them horizontally, all four lights flickering violently as the circuitry inside was impaled. The machine stumbled for a moment before a red light lit up on the grenade turret. An idea struck her as it switched optics. She held up the other two spikes and waited, staring the machine down, focusing on it, focusing her eyes on the rotary system. Both began to rotate and she launched both into the barrel's of the turret, spiking through it and blocking the barrel as both grenades launched and struck the spikes, detonating in a rather glorious explosion that blew the turret and upper half of the robot apart, one of its metal legs going flying off and crushing a car window.
The machine heaved and groaned before it collapsed onto the street. The four spider robots rather suddenly dropped down onto the ground as well. Apparently they were slaved to it. Silence echoed through the night with the exception of the burning landscape caused by all the explosions.
"Shirai? Are you OK?" Uiharu asked with a frightened, shaking voice. Kuroko had to take a moment to compose herself before answering.
"Y-yeah. I am." She said, panting as she slowly approaching the burning wreck of the massive machine. She jumped as the front panel of the robot suddenly blasted off, causing her to leap back. A small monitor stared back at her that was clearly previously hidden behind the face plate, partially pierced by one of the spikes. The screen flickered and unleashed some static before coming to a plain black screen, partially ruined by destroyed pixels on one corner, with a single blinking block. Text began to scroll across the screen.
"BACK OFF. ONLY WARNING. -INDIGO"
