"One's Second Start"

August 25, 2020

As Frenda pressed the dubious button on the supposed detonator, the ground transport of the garbed gunmen disappeared in a ball of flame. The explosive device that was positioned under the driver's side wheel detonated and sparked the gasoline and oil tanks to ignite. A massive fireball erupted and engulfed those unfortunate enough to be in the vicinity of it. Destruction came with the fireball - the front fender and lower body kit was destroyed, the axels were irreparable, windows moulded by the intense heat and the bonnet missing in action. It was a scene of chaos. It was a scene that Frenda relished.

The result of the explosive fire was two of the eight gunmen that were near the vehicle incapacitated, downed by flames. Their clothes were lit up and burnt furiously, quickly engulfing them in fire, smoke and pained cries. The dark outfits they wore were made of polyester, a composite material that burns rapidly. Though the rate in which it burns is alarming, the worst aspect of the composite material is that as it burns, the residue it leaves melts and sticks like quick-dry cement. It effectively creates an extra layer of irremovable, scorching skin on the victim. The sight of their painful deaths was masked by the blackened smoke of the burning vehicle - their cries and cursing by the sound of gunfire.

In the insuring insanity of the explosion, Shiage and company began their defiant struggle. Frenda did as instructed and opened her door but stayed put in the backseat. Immediately, Shiage piled out of his door and used Frenda's as a shield. It covered the majority of his body. The only part of him that was exposed were his shins and his grotesque head when it popped up like a game of wacka-moles to take a shot. As Shiage was, initially, the only viable target, the four soldiers who had a line of sight at him opened an intense line of fire. The door held admirably against the barrage.

Yet Frenda's shield was slightly less reliable.

Although the vehicles doors were reinforced against gunfire, the windows were not. Frenda was letting poorly aimed pistol shots loose from within the four-wheel drive through the back window. She was obviously an amateur in firearms - her form was terrible and she was no way near to hitting the broad-side of the ban. The only semi-accurate shot was the first, before recoil and stress became a factor. The glass cracked from the first bullet, obscuring vision for further shots and later shattered. The two enemies who didn't have a shot at Shiage began opening fire on Frenda.

Frenda squealed when the bullets came her way. Thud-Thud-Thud-Ting. The sound of bullets being imbedded in the leather seat and clipping the back door gave a wryly relief to the blonde. So far her cover was holding. Barely. Six inches of leather backed by iron was only so strong. It was only a matter of time before a bullet slipped through the weakening materials and penetrated the seat. The vibrations the bullets made on the seat were more powerful each time they collided. Frenda hastily fumbled with her magazine as she slid the spent .45 out and shoved the new one in. In her unorthodox crouched position, she attempted a round of blind fire. When this had no effect on the amount of bullets contacting her seat, Frenda all but lost hope.

The four dark shadows focusing Shiage began to move in-between shots to attempt to flank him. They moved closer to the facility and away from the road. This would be Shiage's left, his unarmoured flank. He'd soon have to retreat into the car if they moved too quickly. If they managed to do that, Shiage would have a much harder time dodging their fire from within the vehicle, let alone retaliating.

Not that he was getting much time to take a shot anyway. The second one of his oily yellow hairs popped above the battered door a bullet almost took it clean off.

He was suppressed. There was a reason why suppressive fire is generally the most desired tactic in warfare - it simply allowed you to control the battlefield. Move your troops as you pleased without fear of counterattack, keep all your boys alive and make sure all of theirs are dead.

The opposition was surely an effective force. These were soldiers slightly more organised than the rag-tag mercenaries working for a pay check that Shiage and company were used to dealing with.

The scenario was looking bad. And was slowly getting worse.

Rikou was curled up in a ball, responding to every bullet impact on the vehicle with a full body shake. Frenda was pinned, although she was useless since the first explosion anyway. Shiage, the only person really capable of something in the situation was completely pinned and on the verge of being overrun. That left Saiai. With a concerned look on her face she looked at the grief stricken faces of her comrades.

She had to act now. Later wasn't an option. She quickly countered the amount of canisters that were in her pocket. Two - Not enough to survive three minutes. She had to pray that Shiage would be able to finish them while she drew their fire. Her ability, "Offence Armour" is like how it sounds - A good idea at first, but then easily countered. It is like a tank - a shock and awe weapon. However, it doesn't take long to figure out what you need to do in order to stop it.

Saiai cracked a canister canister and threw it outside of her window. After a few seconds she casually opened her door and stepped out in a gentle manner. With a childish demeanour, she stood in the middle of no man's land with a grin on her face.

"Nyah! You can't hit me!"

"Hey little bro, how you going? Look, I've got something I need to you to do. You see, someone's cheeky cat snuck into somewhere where he shouldn't go. And it's not my call, but she needs to be punished."

"…Ok, I'll tell Yuriko he is not to go there anymore."

"No… No, it's not quite that simple. See, she angered this starving dog. It hadn't eaten in a month and then Yuriko walked on by. She made him… mad…"

"Yuriko is a boy.

"Mm? That doesn't matter. Anyway, now this dog can't let Yuriko get away with what she did. She needs to be punished."

"I'll do it then, I told you."

"No! The dog needs to! The dog will show Yuriko the full extent of her mistakes…Or…"

"You can kill the dog, save her from her punishment."

"…I won't…"

"Not even If Yuriko might be killed?"

"…! That's not…"

"Oh but it is. It is! Here, see for yourself…"

"…!"

"Kill the dog, Accelerator and save Yuriko. Otherwise…"

"No! I don't want to!

Accelerator opened his eyes from the scene of his past to an all too familiar picture - someone standing over him, examining him and the sound of gunfire. It was like he was thrown back in time.

Yet, he was alive. Somehow.

What had occurred was that after the woman had stuffed her mouth full of the green liquid, she then proceeded to drag the unconscious child from whence he came. The ooze she kept in her mouth was ahighly refined variant of hydrogen oxide, water. To allow the organism respiration via gas instead of liquid, essentially to prevent drowning, the boiling point is body temperature. It re-enters the blood stream, becomes waste and leaves the body via the urinary tract, becoming a liquid again. As most of the nutrients and additives are removed, it appears as a filthy black sludge. Inside the tubes, the sludge is heavier than the hydrogen oxide, thus falls to the tube's base. It is then filtered and returned to into the tube as this refined hydrogen oxide. The cycle continues and the organism is able to survive, completely independent to the situation outside of its minute habitat.

Nutrients and body stimulants are added to the liquid and it is this that gives the liquid the dark-green tinge. Essentially, these are what accelerate the growth of the clones. They are what transform a single man-made zygote in a human being.

Before she made it far, a massive chain of explosions was heard from the front of the facility. It had been Frenda performing her obsession. Unbeknownst to her blonde locks, this obsession saved the life of the psychopath and his target.

The sunlight trickled into the dark facility and the woman trudged to its origins. The second she felt a breeze blow against her she spat out the remaining, unabsorbed liquid immediately. Oxygenated-air was now filling the facility at a much quicker rate than when Accelerator entered, simply because the gap Frenda made was much, much larger. She placed the child within passive breathing range before frivolously removing all of the liquid from her mouth, going as far as to claw her tongue and cheeks for residue. She exhaled a monotonous sigh of relief after removing any remnants of the liquid.

From there, she checked his vitals and confirmed he was still with the living. She sighed again with the feint pulse she discovered. Upon discovering Accelerators current status, she experienced a surge of acute pain in her joints. She gritted her teeth for the duration of the experience. With the sounding of a loud cracking noise she wiped away the tears that welt up in her eyes from the pain.

" "Primary target is still alive. Locating co-ordinates for subject drop off… Unable to connect." Says MISAKA in a confused manner." The clone murmured, staring at the disabled Accelerator.

The mimic was dressed in a Tokidawain school uniform. Tokidawai was a middle school. The Last Order doppelganger looked in her late twenties, at the least twenty-three. She stood two inches taller than other clone counterparts and her womanly assets were much more prominent. The drenched middle school uniform barely hid her "natural" body. The skirt acted like a mini variant and her blazer and undershirt clung to her body, partially because it was soaked and partially because it barely covered her chest.

The liquid was a stimulant for growth. Nine days previous, 7054, this particular clone's serial number, had been a fifteen year old mimic of Mikoto Misaka and the sole survivor of an independence enhancement experiment gone wrong. The nine days she spent in the micro-ecosystem of the tubes had aged her a decade.

The ghast let a series of coughs and gasps for air as light drew into his eyes. His first sight upon re-entering the world was one that filled him with temporary rage.7054, the LAST ORDER mimic was standing over him, with a typically clone-like blank expression. Accelerator's rage subsided, as he immediately found this to be an oddity. He recalled everything about LAST ORDER - her mannerisms were anything but similar to the plastic ones this woman was displaying. Though by appearance they seemed identical, they were obviously not the same person.

Her bland voice warned the child of his current predicament and her foot tried to reaffirm it.

" "Do not resist, or you will be killed. You are to come into the custody of the RADIO NOISE project." Says MISAKA as she takes the authoritative stance to complete her mission." Accelerator titled his head while lying flat on the ground in response. Her voice was identical to the emotionless clones he had butchered previously, nothing like LAST ORDER. It seems their similarity ended at appearance.

The clone attempted to slam her left heel into his chest to reaffirm here proclamation, though it is repelled. She was suddenly overwhelmed with shock - she held knowledge that he was an important reason for her creation though did not know his abilities, weaknesses or limitations. Her disconnection from the RADIO NOISE had left her without this valuable information.

"Pathetic. A whole army of shits armed to the fucking teeth can't stop me. Why do you think you can?" Accelerator declared, grinning slightly.

The grin didn't last long before it was wiped off his face by the thoughts that ran through his mind while he was unconscious. 7054 stared blankly at Accelerator as he slowly helped himself up. She was trying to formulate a new approach to capture Accelerator with the new info she was processing.

Accelerator turned to see the familiar charred bodies of the deserted facility. The foreign, ill sensation he experienced when first seeing them overwhelmed him again. Things like this never bothered him before, but since joining GROUP, he had slowly been becoming human in his perception of death. It was a bother for a monster.

The voice of the being that Accelerator had narrowed the blame of this human-isation rang in his head.

"Thank god you're alive. We were worried we had lost you. Awaki is on route to take over your mission. You've been reassigned." LEASH tuned in with new orders. Accelerator didn't respond, instead immediately denied LEASH access to his thought again. He didn't need something giving him orders like some obedient dog. He didn't need anything to change his perception of reality anymore. He needed a win. That was it. He needed to get back on track to being the "Big Dog" of Academy City.

And he wasn't going to get there again with the help of some disembodied voice. He got there on his own once, he can do it again.

Or so he thought.

" "MISAKA acknowledges force as a means of capture to be impossible. MISAKA realizes that perhaps a womanly touch may be in order for capture." Says MISAKA as she creates a euphemism for sexual persuasion." 7054 then declared, removing an item of clothing. She continued to remove the wet and tight clothing, although Accelerator remained fixated on sounds of something in the distance. A fight.

The sounds of gunfire drove Accelerator someplace where he'd rather not be. His past. Gunfire usually wasn't an instigator for flashbacks with Accelerator, yet it came with his permission or not. All he could do was watch them flow back to him.

"See? Was that so hard? That's all you had to do. Poof. You barely moved a finger, but I guess it was too little too late, huh?"

"…Uwa…ah… Yuriko…"

"Well, what did we learn? Sure you killed the dog before he killed poor thingo-mo-bob here but the important thing is that we learn a lesson? What was that lessons?"

"Why do you kill him, big bro…?"

"Haha! "Big bro", classic! Accelerator, if you were listening, it was to teach you a lesson. What was that lesson? It's an easy one. You can do it. "Big bro" believes in you, haha!

"That you are mean and unfair! Even though I did what you said you killed Yuriko anyway! You're a monster!"

"No, you are a monster! I'm just trying to help you see that. See, the world is unfair. The world is mean. The world will take everything you love and cherish and destroy it if you don't turn on it first! Kill before it can retaliate, don't let anything stop you."

"…I wish I could kill you… You're the monster!"

"Say that all you want kid, I'm not the science-born abomination. You don't think I'm not doing this for your benefit? Everyone is going to want to kill you. E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E. They're going to want to restore the balance of power. You're just lucky I don't - I'm all you got. That cat there probably would have killed you too if it could. But it knew it couldn't, that's why it was so nice to you. It was using your affection as a shield. If it got the power to kill you overnight, it would have. Trust me."

"Ah…"

"So, what will you do next time something wants to get close to you? Something wants to be your friend? What are their ulterior motives?"

"…"

"It's kill or be killed, Accelerator. We live in a dangerous world, and it'll get that little bit more dangerous every day you are in it."

"Accelerator? Accelerator! I need the mark!" a fiery voice from an equally fiery red-head snapped Accelerator from his catacomb of thoughts. Perhaps "catacomb" was too lenient of a word for the swell of emotions Accelerator's memories of his childhood were causing to rise in him. The memories of a time before his power. The memories and childhood ideals he buried in order to act like the murderous monster he had become. They were sickeningly pitiable.

Awaki was standing between the fallen stairs twenty feet below the entrance of the facility. She had come as LEASH disclosed earlier. He simply looked at her questioningly. How was he going to get 7054 down to her without killing either of them?

"Just throw her over, I'll Move Point her to safety. It'll be fine." Awaki called, beckoning him to do what she required of him.

"Sure. You heard her. Jump or I throw you." Accelerator said. He turned to the clone and flicked his head in the direction over the ledge. He slid his hands into his pockets while gesturing with his head and leant up against a half destroyed cinder wall, waiting for the clone's response. She remained blank, still searching for an option that would allow her to complete the rudimentary objective of capturing Accelerator. Time ticked as both of them refused to move. There was a screeching noise to be heard on the street, like someone had lost a tire in a car race and was continuing the race on the rims.

"Shit- that fight is heating up. There's gonna be Anti-Skill here anytime, maybe even reinforcements from both sides. I need her now and you need to get moving." Awaki cried.

"One condition."

"You want to bargain with me in the middle of a battlefield!"

"Sure. I'm not going to die, so you'll probably be eager to accept."

Awaki groaned. Not loud enough for Accelerator to hear twenty feet away without specific tuning, but by the pause in her speech, he assumed she had moaned - or something to that extent.

"You and Shades let me in on everything you know about LAST ORDER. No more shady business."

"Yes! Fine! Whatever! No secrets. Just hand her down already!"

Upon getting the panicked reply he wished, Accelerator pulled his hands out of his pockets and trudged over to the mimic. The woman remained defiantly blank at his approach. He leant into the woman, despite her being taller than him and aggressively whispered to her.

"Last chance." He whispered.

" "Mission status: Failure. END TRANMISSION out of range. Course of action: Suicide." Recites MISAKA" The child spoke. Accelerator grit his teeth at her robotic response and shoved the woman into the jagged, damaged wall.

"Stop screwing around you brute! You've got somewhere else to be too you know!" Awaki screamed. She was getting impatient. Although a self-proclaimed ace thief and spy, she didn't respond well to the sound of gunfire. Perhaps because of the size of bullets, she would find it hard to Move Point them.

"Hmm? Somewhere to be? First I'm hearing of this." Accelerator grabbed the nude woman by her arm, which offered futile resistance and approached the ledge again to look down at Awaki. Awaki was showing signs of anxiety. She had already pleaded for him to hurry once and was slowly losing her mettle the longer Accelerator procrastinated the transfer.

"You don't know! I thought your personal psychic would have told you! Look, you've got my job. I'm taking her instead. You need to meet up with Motoharu! Now hurry, please! I'm begging you!"

"Tch. Since you are begging…" Accelerator pushed 7054 over the ledge whilst returning his attention to the increasingly loud battle he could barely see. A mild squeak came from the woman he pushed before Awaki professionally Move Pointed her to her side. It wasn't until the woman standing next to her that Awaki realised she was naked. She removed her jacket and placed it on the now reserved woman. Awaki's face was covered with disgust for Accelerator.

"Accelerator! She is naked! Don't tell me you…!" Accelerator jumped down from the ledge mid-sentence. When landing he rushed in front of her, intercepting a bullet. A rifleman had taken a shot at Awaki. She had attracted a few straggling soldiers with her audacious pleas. Accelerator then saw two others turn from their current target in the road at to him. He reflected a light volley of fire by means of his passive shield. Awaki stood behind him, paralysed by the knowledge of how close to death she came.

"Naked?" Accelerator turned to a frozen Awaki with a voice and gaze of stone, unamused at whatever accusations she was making. Despite the coldness of Accelerators presence, Awaki became relieved of her immobility via his gaze. When feeling and motion returned to her legs, she nervously nodded and ran with her new captive through the destroyed fence.

As Awaki and her jacket's shadow disappeared into one of the numerous side streets surrounding the partially dismantled facility, Accelerator turned his attention to his frivolous attackers. Clad in black, they had dug in and were using particles of the destroyed facility wall as makeshift sandbags. As they fired upon Accelerator, he could hear fewer gunshots being fired further down the road. There was still a fight going on down the street, yet it was winding down. Accelerator was eager to find out the other participants and their reasoning for being in such a deserted place. Obviously up to no good.

Despite his eagerness to learn of this new information, he ambled towards the makeshift fox-hole. After entering a 20 metre radius of the foxhole the three defiant gunmen's ineffective suppressive fire halted. Three canisters appeared from behind the cover. Similar canisters were the result of his downfall before. A surprise attack works only once.

"Not this time!"

With a small stomp against the ground, a wall of earth appeared before him. The canisters collided with the wall on the opposite side of Accelerator. After the tinging of the aluminium containers colliding with the ground, a series of intense flashes of light appeared above the raised earth. The earth prevented Accelerator from receiving whatever nasty concoction that the flash bangs contained, its contents dispersed above, around and on the wall of raised earth.

This was all speculation, however. About the flashbangs' potency. Accelerator linked his temporary removal of his ability to the flashbang he was struck with by LAST ORDER. Whether or not these grenades had the deadly anti-psychic mixture was indistinguishable. It was just proper combat practice not to take that risk again.

He continued his ambling pace towards the foxhole, moving around the pillar of earth. In the corner of his eye, he could see three shadows scurry away from the defensive position and along the street. The shadow and booming noise of a helicopter was soon cast over him as he pursued his attackers. It seemed to be lowering its altitude towards the direction the soldiers fled to and where the last remnants of the combat were occurring.

He looked up at the UH-60 and rethought his current agenda.

'I don't want to kill them' Accelerator thought to himself. 'I only want one of them. Just her. The rest aren't my problem. You don't flog a beaten horse.'

As Accelerator was returning to consciousness and conversing with his GROUP colleague, on the street in the midst of battle, Saiai had stepped directly into no-man's land. She was purposely in the firing lines of all the assailants. Her shorter-than-short short-shorts and stylishly oversized jumper made her legs seem longer than they actually were. It was either these deceptively long legs or her irritable remark of "Nyah, you can't hit me!" that drew the attention of all the enemies currently pounding on the vehicle of her comrades.

The antagonists all turned to quickly take down the seemingly moronic child. Before they could open fire, Saiai crushed one of the capsules she held in her hand and simply taunted her opponents with a poked tongue and stretched lower eyelid.

When the soldiers adjusted fire to the girl from Shiage and Frenda, Shiage was able to lodge a bullet into the face of one of his flankers. The bullet, being a 7.76 round entered the cloaked clone's mouth, destroyed the teeth and gum tissue and fragmenting the jawbone. The bullet continued through the soft flesh and into the steel signpost behind it, then a few more inches before finally losing momentum. Had the bullet not hit the brain stem, the girl would have died an agonizing death from blood lose and a cease in motor functions from the destruction to the cerebral cortex. She would have been paralysed as she watched the blood pool around the ground where her head finally rested.

Five girls remained of the original eight that began the assault from the vans. Three of them now concentrated their fire on Saiai and one kept Shiage suppressed. The last was currently missing in action. Saiai, whom was standing still behind the vehicle, received full magazines from all of the soldiers firing upon her. When the volley came to an abrupt halt, Saiai smiled precariously as over a hundred shells which had been floating around her, shells that were crushed close to a point of singularity, dropped to the ground. The sound of the metal casings making contact with the road pavement reminds one of rain upon a tin house in a violent storm.

"Geez, done already?" Saiai gloated. Her pride was soon interrupted by a cry from inside the vehicle and the sound of gunfire behind her. The cry came from Rikou in the car. Her door was being assaulted by the missing girl, attacking from the side of the road opposite to the facility. Shiage was in no position to turn his back on the current opponent he had and Frenda was out of ammunition. It was left up to Saiai.

Saiai turned immediately to chase the new threat. When she turned, the other shooters had finished their reload and began firing on Saiai again. More and more bullets were being blocked, yet the efficiency in which they were was deteriorating. Saiai's ability allows her to draw upon nitrogen in the air and use it as a shield. However, since nitrogen is not in unlimited supply in a certain space, it can only be so long before it is used up. This is why Saiai used the capsules filled with nitrogen. She used them to add more pure nitrogen to her zone of proximity to sustain her shield. This was her defensive capabilities. Her defence was rock-solid, yet it was not infinite.

Her offensive works in much the same way that it uses nitrogen, yet the amount is significantly different. Saiai is able to manipulate the nitrogen to replicate a sort of super human strength, capable of lifting a train of its track. This power only exists within direct touch of her body and uses vastly more nitrogen in a smaller space of time – roughly a third of a capsule.

Saiai determined by the depth of penetration within her shield of each bullet that she had 20% nitrogen left from the original capsule. She would have to crack her last canister in order to defeat this threat, yet that left her with no time to defend against the other four.

'Like, one problem at a time.' she thought.

Saiai cracked the canister before leaping at the missing soldier. By now she was out of range of the other gunners and they turned their attention back onto the car, realising assaulting her would have no effect. The faceless grunt turned and attempted to fire a barrage of bullets at point black at Saiai, but it proved ineffective. She was so close to the gun that the bullets were unable to leave the rifle, and the barrel lightly self-destructed in the soldier's arms when one round impacted with another. Saiai grabbed the attempting-to-flee enemy with her right hand, dragged her into the road and proceeded to throw the now ragdoll body of the weapon-less soldier at one of the troopers firing on the van. The body flew close to fifty metres at over two-hundred kilometres an hour. It was like she was pitching in baseball with humans.

The corpse barely missed the intended target, slamming into the disabled van behind her instead. It was impossible to tell what actually happened to the body. Suffice to say, a fine red mist was all that was left on the burnt out metal of the van.

Saiai raced back to the van to guard it. Whilst guarding with no ulterior plan, she heard a screaming Frenda cry out to her over the sound of battle.

"What do you plan to do! There is too many of them!" Asked Frenda. She appeared to Saiai only as a disembodied voice.

"I super don't know! I don't think we can get them all!" She responded.

"PUSH!" screamed Shiage as he awkwardly shifted his body and rifle around the wheel in the driver's seat.

"Push!" Saiai asked.

"Push the car! Gettus' up that road and away from here!"

"What about that helicopter, Lackey? It just made another pass and it looked like it was going to land up there!" Frenda interjected.

"Like, one problem at a time! I can't last another super minute out here.

Upon request, Saiai began pushing the 4x4 along the road and away from the well-entrenched attackers. Although the tires were flat as a tack, Saiai pushed the van as far as she could take it with her ability. The rims and axis screeched the whole way, leaving a metallic smell lingering in the air, along with scratch marks on the asphalt. Saiai made about three-hundred metres until the nitrogen surrounding her was completely used up. She turned to see three of the soldiers pre-occupied with something at the facility whilst the last one gave chase up the road. She quickly made her way back into the van with Frenda. Everyone in the car acknowledged Saiai's feat in silence. Shiage stepped out of the 4x4 and took down the pursuing enemy with three shots to the chest. First shot missed all vital organs, second took the left lung and third the right lung. The stopping power of the vintage weapon would have debilitated the girl in one shot, three was for good measure.

"Out, now. We need'a better defensive position." Shiage spoke as he quickly abandoned the vehicle and helped a foetal Rikou out of the car before spouting orders to the others. "Frenda, grab t'ose bins and put them in a semicircle over 'ere. Saiai, grab anyt'ing hard you can find and fill t'ose bins. Rikou, stay hidden. It's all going to be OK."

Frenda crossed the abandoned street and grabbed the almost prehistoric aluminium bins. She made two daredevil trips and retrieved 5 bins. While she was doing that, Saiai filled the bins with the broken concrete and tar of the derelict road and surrounding buildings. Shiage covered whatever holes in this temporary defensive position by breaking off the doors of the 4x4 and tearing out the front seats. Once satisfied with the position, the entire posse hid behind it. It fell silent before Saiai shared some of the bad news she found out before pushing the car.

"Guys, like, I don't want to super scare you… but I'm pretty sure that 'Excel' guy is still alive."

"Shit, what? So Rikou was right? Man, those goosebumps in my legs are coming back. Shizuri is going to kill me!" Frenda lamented. She looked a Rikou, slumped behind the cover and then placed her face into her hands before grunting loudly.

"Howdya' know?"

"Well, like, those guys running past us now aren't running from us, are they?" Saiai pointed out. All of them looked over the cover to see the three enemies who hadn't pursued them initially run past them. Shiage whipped his rifle out and took down the three retreating soldiers with ease. He quickly went and retrieved the weapons of two of them and the three extra magazines he could find on their bodies before returning back to the cover. He handed a rifle to both Saiai and Frenda along with the magazines and gave them a quick tutorial. He looked down the crude and rusted iron sights of his rifle and mimicked pulling the trigger with his right index finger.

"Aim and shoot."

After waiting in silence under cover for close to ten minutes, nervously gripping the weapons they held, the sound of a single pair of feet could be heard walking past the now dismantled car. It stopped after examining the car and then a voice could be heard.

"Ahh, what do we have here? Rats hiding? Come out and play with the cat before I get the poison out." Groaned a sinister voice from close to the car. No one dared to respond or move to the voice. They all knew too well who it was – Accelerator. He would have recognized the removed parts of the vehicle in the temporary barricade the three girls and monster had established.

His deathly slow approach was interrupted by a call of challenge from the untraversed part of the street.

"Accelerator I guess? Your reputation proceed you. You did well to kill first unit. However. I afraid you might have little trouble with me. Revenge is powerful motive." called a woman. Her skills with the language were barely conversational, often using wrong verbs and missing conjunctions. Her accent also quickly identified her as foreign.

"Eh? You are…? You don't look like the rest of these goons, so what are you doing here." He responded. He referenced the girls in Tokidawain uniforms and green goggles that lined up behind her. There were seven in total. Ten if you included the three dead garbed clones now resting at his feet. These new opponents must have come from the helicopter that was flying overhead earlier.

"Stephanie Gorgeouspalace. Do you remember man name is Chimitsu? He was sniper that you kill!"

"Sorry doll face. I don't remember the people I've killed. Only the ones I can't."

''Doll face' he says? She must be a real looker. Movie star quality, maybe? Might have to check this broad out…' Shiage thought to himself upon hearing Accelerator's response to the woman. However, he quickly rethought his actions when he caught Rikou staring at him, waiting for him to slip up.

"Doll face! I am not doll face! You are killer that I must catch! If you live, you cause pain to world. I, be a mercenary, not let you do!"

"Hired gun, huh? That explains a little, I guess. The guys you are with are just as bad, so you're kinda hypocritical, you know? Anyway, look. I'll be frank – I'm not looking for blood today. You've caught me on one of my good moods. All I want is a woman named LAST ORDER. Tell me where I can find her and you won't have to die here today. Them neither. Think of it as a wise investment into your career as a sellsword."

"They bad, you worse. The boss say I catch you, money receive and revenge obtain. I not tell you where she be. The man put listener on me. I tell, I no money receive." Stephanie looked at the emotionless girls behind her when she said "they bad" and turned to Accelerator, as if to emphasis the "you worse" part.

"Man? What did he look like?" His interest piked. Perhaps she means Amata.

"I say, no tell."

"Right. Talking to you is like smashing glass against a cat pinned to a chalkboard. Well, thanks for the "help". I'll be off, whatever your name is. I've got other business to attend to."

"No! You stop here!" Stephanie screamed in an oddly toned passion. Her poor use of tone was due to her lack of knowledge of the language.

Those were the last words before what seemed like a massive shockwave struck the entirety of the battle. Shiage experienced a sensation much alike to a sudden burst of gale winds. It winded him for moments. Frenda looked as if she felt a similar experience, gasping quietly for air.

Accelerator quickly collapsed after experiencing it and the clone grunts behind Stephanie dropped her weapon and began to wander aimlessly. Saiai and Rikou too both began to act oddly. Saiai dropped the weapon she held and her eyes lost all signs of life, becoming dull and blank. Rikou quickly fell unconscious.

"Saiai, Rikou, can you hear me?" Frenda said, trying to keep her voice down but still attempting to be heard by the two spaced out girls. She received no respond. She put her weapon down and slapped Rikou's cheeks in an attempt to wake her up.

"T'ey're out, look."

Shiage and Frenda poked their heads over the barricade and looked on in sheer wonder – the entire battlefield, though in the middle of negotiations, seemingly came to a halt. The only soldier left armed and standing on the battlefield was Stephanie. Shiage saw the 'doll face' for the first time as he poked his eyes above the inadequate shield.

She looked her late teens, early twenties. Shoulder length blonde hair. Dreamily deep- sea-blue eyes. Sported a pair of round, gray rimmed aviators, though they rested on her head. She wore a light green-tee and covered it with a snow camouflaged winter jacket and track pants. It wasn't a particularly cold day, so it was perhaps her combat uniform. In her hands laid a massive machine gun - twice the size and weight of Shiage's rifle, easily. It had an air-cooled barrel and was belt fed ammunition in a medium sized box. It would easily hold 200 shots.

"Useless! Pick weapon up! Fight! Be up!" Stephanie cried at her grunts to try and get them to snap back into action. She kicked a dropped stock standard rifle of the clones, which were the several generations successor of the F2000, towards an irresponsive girl. Her words ultimately proved useless, as every single one of them began chanting the same line in monotonous glory.

" "MISAKA disconnected from RADIO NOISE NETWORK. Field commander not identified. Discontinuing activities." Says MISAKA… Says MISAKA…"

"Fight or kill!" Stephanie roared at one of her troopers, holding the machine gun to her stomach. The clone continued to spout the same monotonous words over and over until Stephanie finally tore the girl apart with her machine gun.

Shiage looked on in simple awe at the weapon's destructive power and Stephanie's aggression. If she realised they were hiding behind the makeshift cover, that weapon would have no worries tearing it to pieces. And there is no doubt she would, if they were found.

"What do we do, lackey…?" Frenda asked Shiage, pulling a now convulsing Saiai closer to her as to not let her injure herself. Frenda seemed worried about her two non-cognitive comrades. Saiai hit Frenda in the face in her convulsion rather hard, enough to bruise the morning after.

"Stop Saiai from moving. Give her a knock on the head, if t'at'll do. We're gonna leave by foot when we get t'e chance, alright? Drag her if you have to. I'll carry Rikou." Shiage determined, stroking Rikou's hair and observing the scene unfolding in front of him. Stephanie continued to demand a response out of the unarmed girls and brutally massacred them if they didn't respond. One of the disoriented clones convulsed violently, as if she was being electrocuted and collapsed. Dead. This happened to two others. Their fates were a scary sight, yet a far cry from Stephanie's brutality. The machine gun she had literally chewed the flesh and bone of the victim. Massive holes were left on the bodies of the clones unlucky enough to be chosen to fight. The bullets would take chunks of flesh and organs from the victim. It was truly a horrific weapon.

It was curious to think that Stephanie was perfectly OK with destroying her unit, yet unwilling to reveal LAST ORDER's location. Perhaps the clones were what Stephanie thought were "bad" about the RADIO NOISE group.

"Shit" Frenda curses. "I can't hit Saiai, she's got her passive barrier up."

"T'en wait 'till she has no nitrogen to knock her out." Shiage responded. Frenda gave a wryly smile in response.

Stephanie had all but annihilated her presumably loaned troop when Accelerator began to groan. She finally turned her attention to him and called to her prone opponent.

"Coward kill man on ground. Coward kill man with no weapon. Get up, die like man." Stephanie criticised, perhaps referring to Accelerator's disposition of her comrade. Accelerator formed no tangible response outside of gibberish. If anything, it sounded similar to a computer reciting code.

"Heh, if she kills him, it's like two birds with one explosive, hey lackey? He was fated to die anyway." She whispered. Shiage didn't respond. Frenda returned to watching the events unfold in front of her whilst waiting for Saiai to passively eat up the nitrogen around her.

Following the indistinguishable rambling, Accelerator was hoisted from the ground like a marionette with a cerebral palsy manipulator. He jittered, rising until he was left dangling inches above the ground, levitating. His limbs and head hung unassisted in the air. He was unconscious, being controlled by something besides coherent self.

"Now we run?" Beret-sporting lady questioned in the tone of an order. She was clearly being scared by the scenario.

"Aye." The monster replied, lifting Rikou into his arms. Frenda followed Shiage, dragging a convulsing Saiai with difficulty. They fled down the road in the way they came initially from. When getting into Stephanie's sight lines, they heard her cry out to them.

"Stop or die, criminal!"

Stephanie reached to her machine gun and aimed at the slowly moving Frenda. Frenda, though a good hundred metres away, stared past the floating Accelerator and directly down the, by perspective, miniscule barrel of the gun. She had nowhere to run - she was caught in the open and the only side street available to hide in was a good twenty metres away. By rushing to it without Saiai, she would maybe dodge the shots and live, leaving her friend to die and forever feeling the guilt of her friend's death. Try to escape with her friend in tow and she would become target practice. It was lose lose. Frenda decided on an admirable death.

Stephanie pulled the trigger on the behemoth. Frenda closed her eyes and awaited the impact as she tensed her body. A large thud impacted on her stomach and she relinquished her grip on Saiai.

Crouching to the ground, she worriedly moved her left hand to the spot that resonated pain to feel the wound. Panting heavily she anticipated the sickly disgusting feel of blood on her palm and fingertips.

Yet she could feel no blood.

In a sort of ecstasy, she searched for a source that damaged her. If not the bullet, then what? She found the cause to be a lot more friendlier than foe.

Saiai, in her uncontrollable convulsing state, had struck Frenda hard with her fist. Due to her ability and Frenda's anticipation of a bullet, the strike felt like a bullet impact. Not that she knew, of course, but it was what she assumed a bullet impact would feel like.

This then raised the question, 'What stopped the bullet?'

Perhaps Stephanie is unable to aim that weapon at a distance?

Or was the divine intervention the act of anything but a divine individual?

Frenda left those kinds of questions for the world to decide and concluded it would be best to flee in good health than stay and risk death again. With Saiai still struggling in her glazed state, Frenda continued after Shiage and Rikou, escaping the facility's proximity unharmed.

After Stephanie drew her gun and shot, the body of a levitating Accelerator veered into place to intercept the rounds. Reflecting off him, one of the burst of bullets returned and struck Stephanie in her left shin. It positively shattered the shin. Stephanie collapsed on it under the sudden surge of pain and inability of the damaged leg to support her weight.

Accelerator floated closer to Stephanie, oblivious to the fleeing members of the unit that almost killed him earlier. Oblivious to all, really. When Stephanie came out of her mental pain prison, she reached for a flashbang canister inside of her artic jumper. She pulled the pin on the container and threw it in front of her. She turned to block her vision as it blew up in the face of Accelerator.

The second the flashbang exploded, Accelerator's consciousness returned. He fell from his levitated position and collided into the ground with a heavy thud. He could feel a burning sensation in his eyes and a screeching in his ears.

He had little idea where he was. His last memories of Earth were that he was speaking to a hired gun. Nothing after that. Nothing he'd want to share, anyway. He suspected LAST ORDER's trickery.

As the ringing soon faded, he could hear the shuffling of someone with a broken leg hobbling around. He tried to open his eyes, yet the sheer sensation of the burning he felt kept them closed.

The shuffling stopped with the sound of a relatively light metal object crashing to the ground, almost on top of him. Glass shattered afterwards, with a few shards falling on him. He attempted to open his eyes again, each time being able to keep them open a little longer. Moving wasn't yet an option.

Stephanie had taken one of the 4x4's doors from the cover Shiage and company were using and placed it in front of the pain-paralysed-prone Accelerator, with the window facing the sky. She smashed the remaining glass in the window and placed her machine gun in between the frame. She then carefully lined up a shot at Accelerators right arm. She ducked her head behind the door and pulled the trigger.

Stephanie had taken extra precautions for dealing with Accelerator. She knew the canister would disable his ability, yet was doubtful enough to prepare for the worse-case scenario. It was this doubt that probably bought Accelerator enough time to survive this encounter.

Due to the injury she had unexpectedly suffered, she slowly shuffled around the empty battlefield to acquire the car door to shield herself from any reflection. This gave enough time for Accelerator to moderately recover from the flash bang - partial sight and full hearing.

Accelerator felt a bullet enter his arm and fragment on the asphalt underneath him, spewing back into the wound and scattering. It was a feeling he had gone so long without that it felt almost completely foreign. The pain shot his eyes wide open. Almost full sight returned with the pain. The pain of seeing the world was there, but was less than taking another bullet. If he didn't act now, he would die for sure. Adrenaline began coursing through his veins - another experience he hadn't felt since he was able to control his hormones via vectors.

This all spelt the familiar story to the Accelerator of late - he was temporary without his powers.

He looked up from the ground to see the blurry image of the machine gun retract from the car door window. He gave it no thought. He stood to his feet, clumsily might it be added, and ran behind the dismantled vehicle he was adjacent too. He cut her sight lines initially before he heard Stephanie taunt him.

"Coward much like snake. Take fangs and they run like cockroach in light."

"Yeah?" Accelerator mussed. "So which one are you?" A poor response. He was panting and clutching his wound, trying to prevent further blood loss. Normally he would be able to direct the blood flow away from the wound, yet his loss of ability made this impossible.

"You lucky, today. Boss want alive. I can do that. I am best at alive." Stephanie announced. She was only on the other side of the car but didn't move. She had no reason to. She had the weapon and following around tight corners with her injured leg would be a recipe for disaster. She could easily pick him off if he was to run away or charge her.

"Alive, huh? Heh. So what's with the dead clones I see over there? They don't look very 'alive'." Accelerator quickly peeped through the vehicle to see Stephanie standing with her gun in the travelling position. She was definitely nursing one leg. In view behind her were the bloodied corpses of several Tokidawai uniforms.

"I have heart of gold. I'm doing the world favour by kill them. Why can you not do same? You have power. Make the world good! But you make it bad, worse! Why?"

Accelerator didn't respond. He recollected his memories he encountered in his unconscious state. Stephanie fired several shots in the air to spook an answer out of him.

"Answer!"

"I didn't want to!" he screams back, jutting out of his reverie.

"Liar! I seen video! You happy when you kill innocent!" Stephanie immediately responds.

"It's… just the way it is. I wanted to be a hero but…"

"Stop lie! Hero do not kill good man! Hero stop villain. Villain be people who threaten innocent. You be villain!"

"Well how could I not! He morphed me. I couldn't help it. I was made into a monster. Constantly examined, probed and operated on. Forced to kill, forced to think of life as insignificant – not even God could stay true. It's like a mental home… You don't have to be insane when you go in, but when you come out, you are just as batty as the rest of them." Accelerator retorted, on the verge of tears. None would develop, though.

"This you know, but why still kill innocent?"

"It's only come back to me recently. I had forgotten, repressed it long ago. I don't want the blood anymore. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of lurking in the shadows." Accelerator looked at his black dominated shirt with white particles. Blood from his arm ran over both shades equally. The blood did not discriminate between the black and white.

"Man deserve second chance. Monster do not." Stephanie said as she finally gave up the waiting game. She began to shuffle around the car with the machine gun braced at shoulder height. She began to take a wider circling motion to prevent Accelerator from ambushing her around a corner. However, since she was moving so slowly, by the time she uncovered where Accelerator was resting, he was nowhere to be found.

She looked in and around the car, but could find no trace of him. It then occurred to her, the only other place he could be hiding – the cover where she took the 4x4 door.

She hobbled closer and closer to the cover. Realising how poorly defended it was, she fired a volley into the garbage bins before approaching closer again.

She was within two metres and could yet see anyone inside of it.

One metre came and she peered over with gun at the ready. She could see a mass of blood staining the back of the boy's shirt. His unmoving body laid flat on the ground, arms underneath him. She looked around inside the cover and saw one gun lying on the ground. She stepped over Accelerator from the front of the cover and then to his left hand side.

She nudged him with her bung foot.

He didn't respond.

She couldn't hear him breathing.

She crouched down and placed her gun to the side before she rolled him over.

As she rolled him over, she saw he was gripping one of the clone's guns in his good hand.

Accelerators eyes opened.

He fired the weapon sporadically.

Stephanie fell backwards, outside of the cover. She received a shot to her leg, midsection and cheek.

Accelerator dropped the weapon and took in a series of deep breathes. He checks one of the new wounds he received with his hand.

"So… Stephanie…?" Accelerator panted after catching a majority of his breathe.

"How…?" she wheezed back, coughing up blood from the serious injury to her stomach.

"What do you call … the character that tries… to kill the Hero…?"

"Villain…"

Accelerator wearily chuckled at her answer. He closely examined his new wounds he received from Stephanie's careless shots through the cover – two hits on his lower back and one on his left shoulder blade.

"He's still there sir! Accelerator? Where have you been? You've been off the chart even before the RSPK. Your power isn't registering - I had to locate you by your thought patterns! What's going on?" It was LEASH, invading Accelerator's privacy with it's out-of-character panicky questions. \

'Heh… I'm a little fucked at the moment… You reckon you could get me out of this bind?' Accelerator thought in response. In actuality, he was pleased to have this invasive creature for once meddle in his affairs.

'Awaki is one her way...' LEASH began but Accelerator interrupted it.

'I'm afraid it's the 'I need medical attention or I'm fucked' kind of fucked.'

'Okay. Is ITEM still sniffing around?'

'Who…?'

'I'll take that as a no. Okay. Sending an EVAC now. It's a Black wagon. I've cancelled your meet with Motoharu. He'll have to recruit the new member by himself.'

Accelerator looked up to the sky and noticed his vision blur again. This blurring was not from the flashbang, but from the lack of blood getting to his head. That blood was draining out of him at a dangerous rate. He placed his hand on the old wound on his arm, then flopped it into the pool of blood underneath him.

"Stephanie…?" he called out to the girl he had shot.

No response.

He pulled the same hand he just moved out of the blood and raised it to see the maroon colour of his blood. He remembered here that, he too, was human to a degree.

"Alone in a pool of blood…"

He began to fall unconscious due to the blood loss. The sirens of ANTI-SKILL could be heard in the distance.

"How… nostalgic…"

"One's Second Start"

END