Warning: Fanfic rated M: for Megabadass Mikoto. Please mind the rating and genres.

Fall into the Depths

CHAPTER 14:

"Uiharu!"

"Shirai-san?!"

Kuroko switched the phone to her other hand and vaulted over the railings across the building's edge to sail down through the air.

"I need to talk to Saten-san right now!" She yelled over the screams of the wind. She heard Uiharu squeal in protest at the loudness of her voice, but there was no time to apologise for such petty things. "This is important!" She teleported to the ground, landing elegantly before proceeding to run down the street. She brushed past a crowd of people who gave her disgruntled grunts as she passed by.

"Sa-Saten-san?" Uiharu sounded surprised at her request. Then her voice became upset. "She… She left already."

Kuroko frowned, sensing that something was amiss. From the other end of the line, she heard a quiet sniffle. It suddenly occurred to her that the girl might have been crying.

Ah… Of course, she hadn't exactly left Uiharu's room on a good note earlier. She felt ashamed. It seemed she had been doing all the wrong things in the last few weeks without even trying. Worse, she hadn't noticed how this was affecting other people around her.

"You okay, Uiharu?" She asked more softly.

"I-I'm fine…" Uiharu sniffled again before continuing in a worried voice. "But is everything alright on your end?" Her tone grew more panicky. "D-Did something happen to Saten-san?!"

Kuroko hesitated. There was no need to worry Uiharu needlessly right now. Saten-san was most likely fine as long as she stopped drinking that product. While it was highly suspicious, there was nothing to say that the drink was the exact cause of all the recent troubles.

She chewed her lower lip. It was better to be safe than sorry though.

She jumped up and teleported back into the air. A change of plan. She was originally going to head to the Judgement office, but finding Saten-san was a more pressing concern right now. She landed solidly on the rooftop of a skyscraper and peered down over the maze of streets, scanning the area for any black-haired girls. She grimaced. There were way too many. Looking down from above like this, there was no way she'd be able to spot Saten-san. She wondered if it would be better if she went through the security cameras from the office, but then dismissed the thought. Uiharu was more efficient at using such technology; Kuroko had a feeling she would only waste more valuable time trying. Besides, it wasn't like she had permission to go through all the security cameras. Receiving authorisation to do that would take too long.

But how was she supposed to find Saten-san in a city full of people? She had no idea where she might have gone.

"Shirai-san?!" Uiharu's panicked voice reminded her that she was still on the phone.

"Everything's fine, Uiharu," Kuroko assured her as calmly as she could. "I just wanted to speak with her, that's all."

"Are you sure…?"

"Yes. Do you know where she might have gone?"

"I… I don't know," Uiharu sounded even more upset at this. "And I realised just a short while ago that I can't call her right now because she doesn't have her phone."

"That's okay," Shirai said quickly. "Get some rest, Uiharu. Don't worry about anything. I'll talk to you again later."

"Wait-"

Kuroko ended the call. More secrecy, but it was necessary.

She turned her hardened gaze down to the streets below. As a friend and as a Judgement officer, she had ensure she warned Saten-san before events had any chance of spiralling out of control.

XXXXXXX

Drip.

The final sweet drop landed on her tongue. Ruiko savoured it for as long as she could. Nothing good ever lasted though. The taste faded away too quickly, leaving her tongue feeling numb and cheated.

She looked up at the opening of the can with squinted eyes. She waited patiently, but there was no sign of another drop coming out. It was empty. All gone, with nothing left.

With gritted teeth, she threw the useless piece of aluminium away. It clattered against the building wall and fell to the concrete ground with a loud clang.

"Hey, don't litter the streets!"

Someone yelled out to her, but Ruiko ignored them. They could shout at her all they wanted. She was annoyed too. Besides, what was the point of having those cleaning robots roaming around the districts if they had nothing to do? She was doing them a favour.

She walked along the street, feeling completely drained and as empty as the can had been. The inside of her mouth felt strangely sticky and dry. Why was it so hot all of a sudden? She took off her jacket and fumbled with the zipper of her bag. Whoever invented zippers was an idiot. It was so difficult to open…

Finally figuring out the zip, she opened the bag, dumped her jacket inside and took out a can of the original drink. If she couldn't obtain more of the limited edition, she'd have to make do with these. She was so thirsty, she was pretty sure she could drink about ten more of them.

"Saten-san, that much soda can't be good for you if you drink it every day."

"Silly Uiharu," Ruiko muttered. She opened the can and gulped down half of its contents in one swig. Good, but it wasn't as good as the special edition. It wasn't cold or sweet enough.

"Dammit… This is so stupid…" She drank the rest of it and was about to toss the empty thing behind her when something caught her eye.

A slim figure with short, chestnut brown hair that barely reached to their shoulders was leaning against a wall just a short distance away. The girl looked as if she was waiting for someone. Ruiko's eyes slowly widened at the sight. Wasn't that Misaka-san? Her breaths quickened as her heart thudded wildly between trembling lungs. No way… It couldn't be true…

"I saw her the night I woke up again," Uiharu's words haunted her. "She came to visit me."

The aluminium can crackled between her squeezing fingers. So it was true? Misaka-san had never left?! While Ruiko suffered all alone, she had been here the whole time, after feeding them those lies?!

Her vision swirled in an angry vortex of red. Everything surrounding the distant figure casually standing without a care blurred. It was as if the world had shrunk to that humanoid shape of a girl. Nothing else mattered.

Her feet marched forward, and in a blink of an eye Ruiko found herself standing in front of the familiar girl. She looked the same as Ruiko remembered her - those bright brown eyes, that white hairclip, the shoulder length hair, the glossy lips. They stared at each other for a long moment. There was a confused expression on her old friend's features.

It only increased Ruiko's ire.

"Misaka-san!" She barked at the girl who cowered away. The bewildered expression turned into fear. Good. She may be a Level 5, but Ruiko wasn't going to back away. She would show her that a Level 0 wasn't to be messed with.

"Why are you here, Misaka-san?!" Ruiko shouted at her. She grabbed the girl's shoulders and shook them viciously. "You shouldn't be here! You left without a word, dammit! Why are you here?!"

Misaka-san's eyes grew wide in terror.

"W-What? Excuse me, but who are you?"

Ruiko's jaws grinded together at the confused response. What was this shit?! So she was pretending she couldn't remember, was that it? Playing the idiot card to get out of trouble?

She sneered. "I told Uiharu she was seeing things, but it turns out she was telling the truth. This only proves that I'm right about you though. How could you abandon us like that, Misaka-san?! How could you lie to us?!"

Ruiko saw her try to back away, but she was trapped against the wall. Misaka-san shook her head frantically. "I don't know what you're talking about! You've got the wrong person!"

"Still playing dumb?! It doesn't suit you, Misaka-san." She scrunched the aluminium can furiously between her palms and tossed it at her feet. With a lopsided grin, she raised her fists in a threatening gesture. "Want me to knock some sense into you?"

"Please, this is wrong! Don't hurt me! I don't know what's going on-"

"Begging to a Level 0 now? Aren't you the great Level 5, or do you not remember that too?"

"I'm not a Level 5…" Misaka-san looked confused again. "I'm telling you, I'm not the person you think I am!"

"To hell with that!" With an angry growl, Ruiko threw a fist. Before it could make any contact however, someone roughly grabbed her from behind and held her back.

"Whoah, steady there. You shouldn't go around throwing punches on the street, young lady."

"Get off me!" Ruiko struggled, but the steely grips around her arms were too firm.

"Please, I mean no harm," the smooth male voice said. "If you have quarrel with this other young lady here, shouldn't we talk over this more calmly instead?"

Ruiko blinked. Talk over it calmly? She felt some of her built up anger ebb away as she stared at the frightened face of the electromaster in perplexity. The girl looked to be trembling, but maybe it was Ruiko who was the one shaking. The edges of Misaka-san's face blurred and faded, eroding away bit by bit. Slowly, her vision dissolved and distorted to reveal a different person standing before her.

This wasn't Misaka-san. This was another girl, a complete stranger.

The hands around her arms loosened as Ruiko grew limp in confusion. She barely noticed though; she was too busy staring at the unknown person.

"You… kinda look like her," Ruiko commented vaguely. She blinked again, leaning forward to take a closer look. She brushed a finger against the flinching girl's soft cheek. Her skin felt nice. But no… No, she wasn't like Misaka-san at all. Her hair colour was the wrong shade and the eye shapes were different. Not to mention this girl was so much shorter than the Level 5. This was definitely not Misaka-san.

What was she doing? Did she really just think this person was Misaka-san? She hiccupped a laugh at the bizarre thought. It was bewildering to think she had mistaken this stranger for her old friend. She had known Misaka-san so well… but then maybe not.

"Uhm…" the girl before her spoke up cautiously, "are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, sorry…. I thought you were… somebody else…" Ruiko clutched her head as a weird feeling of whooziness rushed past.

"Young lady, you don't look so good."

"I'm fine…"

The man grabbed her arm again. "You don't look fine to me."

Ruiko looked up. Her vision was blurring but she saw a vague outline of a man smiling down at her. At first, she thought he didn't have eyes, and then realised he was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. She wondered if they helped with the ridiculously intense heat.

"Allow me to take you to the hospital. I think you need help."

He brushed a hand against her shoulder. At that moment, she felt something sharp prick into her skin.

"Oww!" She roughly pushed him away. The spinning was becoming worse. It was too bright and her eyes hurt. Squeezing them to a squint, she turned to the nearest alleyway and stumbled towards it. It looked dark and inviting. The shade would certainly prevent her from becoming fried in this horrible heat.

"I'll get her to the hospital, so don't worry…" She distantly heard the man assure the Misaka-lookalike and other onlookers.

She entered the narrow alley and slumped against a wall. She wiped the rivulets of sweat that stung her eyes as they ran down from her brow. An icy strand of breeze blew across her shivering frame as she fumbled to undo the top button of her blouse. It was cooler here, but still too hot for her liking. She wondered why the asphalt wasn't melting in the ferocious heat.

With glazed, feverish eyes, she stared up at the fluffy white clouds passing between the fringes of the surrounding buildings. So Misaka-san had really left after all. She felt both disappointed and relieved at the same time. She didn't know what she would do if she really saw Misaka-san again. What she had almost done to that poor girl on the streets frightened her.

She curled up against the wall and pressed her palms to her eyes. They stung. She felt so dizzy and weak, she thought she would pass out if she moved.

Even when she heard footsteps approach, Ruiko had no energy to look up.

XXXXXXX

Her phone sung out a jaunty tune. Kuroko quickly brought it to her ear, not bothering to check the caller.

"Saten-san?! Is that you?!"

"Ehhhh?! Does this mean you still haven't saved my number on your phone, Shirai-san?!" The familiar, haughty voice sounded indignant. Kuroko cringed.

"What is it, Kongou? I'm really busy at the moment," she said in a clipped tone.

"Will you at least hear me out, or do I have to call Judgement?!"

That caught Kuroko's attention. "I AM Judgement," she snapped. She paused for a moment before speaking again in a more friendly tone. She couldn't let the stress get to her. "Is something the matter?"

"Well, it's- aaaargh!"

"Kongou?!"

There was a loud whooshing sound accompanied by a thump that forced Kuroko to bring the receiver away from the ear with a flinch. When the noise seemed to die away, she brought the phone back up and spoke urgently.

"Kongou? What's going on?! Kongou?!"

For a long moment there was no response, except for the sound of static. The anxious wait was relieved when Kongou finally spoke again in an unusually drained voice.

"It's Wannai-san," she coughed out her friend's name and spluttered as if tasting something foul. Kuroko immediately knew this was something really serious. She had never heard the boisterous Kongou sound so desperate like this. "I don't know why, but… she's trapped in- Ow!"

"Kongou?!"

"Ghh… Hurry! We're at Kisuno Park in District 7!"

Kuroko stopped, momentarily stunned.

"Are you actually asking me for help?!"

"I-It's not like the great Kongou Mitsuko can't handle this on her own!" The prideful girl immediately retorted. Then her voice became small and uncertain. "But I don't want to hurt Wannai-san. And… I think some people might be injured. You were the one person I thought of first that I could trust."

Such an admission was rare, coming from someone like Kongou. Kuroko's hand tightened around the phone. If that was the case, and there were injured civilians involved, then this was no time to joke around. She didn't know what was going on, but if her friends and other people needed her help, she had to be there.

"You got it. I'm heading your way now."

"Hurry!"

The line ended.

Kuroko changed direction once again to head towards the park.

'I'm sorry Saten-san, but you'll have to hold on for a little while longer.'

She only hoped Saten-san could keep out of trouble while she sorted things out over there with Wannai-san.

XXXXXXX

"Die, die, you bastard!"

Mikoto cackled and shot two more rounds at Accelerator's stupid face. His pale features contorted and cracked into a million pixels, but she saw none of this. Instead, she felt the electromagnetic waves that signalled his presence splatter into smithereens with her perfect shots.

Wait and feel the enemy. Strike with brutal efficiency.

She sensed the pixels twirl around her, formulating various images that she could picture in her mind, but none of them were Accelerator yet. They were simply distractions to throw her off and make her miscalculate. But she wouldn't be fooled. If she shot at the wrong targets, it would be game over and she would lose.

There, behind her to the left.

She sensed the slight shift in the programming that was a dead giveaway. Accelerator was about to appear. Spinning around on her toes, she delivered a shot, using the electromagnetic waves her body naturally emitted to guide the metal bullet straight through the centre of his chest. The collar still restricted her from using her powers actively, but she had figured out a way to get around the hitch by simply pulling and pushing on the pre-existing magnetic fields. Even before her enemy could materialise properly, she felt the perfect shot shatter him into tiny pieces.

"Faster!" Mikoto snarled. "This is too easy!"

The program whirred in response. The electrons humming in the air were roaring as if to accept her challenge. The codes of the program prepared to deliver multiple Accelerators. A large grin split her lips as Mikoto reloaded the gun with practiced ease. She adjusted the blindfold over her eyes to make sure it wouldn't fall off in the next round of the game. It had been a brilliant idea on her part to request the enemy targets be customised in the appearance of Accelerator. Although she couldn't see his stupid face blindfolded, it just made this exercise so much more entertaining and satisfying, knowing that she was killing him over and over just as he had her.

Three Accelerators appeared in a flash to her left, front and right sides. She swung in a wide arc, firing double shots at each for good measure. With perfect control on the multiple bullets, she sniped out his eyes. All three pairs of them. She imagined the bloody mess it would have made had the Accelerators been real. The images that popped in her head made her smile.

As the defeated Accelerators sizzled away, five more appeared above her, leaping down to counterattack. Mikoto rolled away and brought out her second gun from its holster with a savage grin. It was party time. She shot four of them down in a consecutive sequence, but then felt the last one's presence fade away before she could defeat it. Swearing under her breath, she fell into a low crouch and reached out with her electromagnetic senses. She was going to lose at least ten points from her perfect score for that mistake.

She sensed him just a few milliseconds before the stray Accelerator jumped out from below where she had been standing. Without hesitation, she fired her guns at him, but he faded out again before the bullets could properly hit. Fuck. What was up with this one? Was it a glitch in the system?

She grinned widely. Well no matter, she would take this Accelerator down just like the others. Which part of him should she take out this time? His heart? His kidneys? His manly parts? She laughed brazenly at the thought. It was true she was improving, after all. Not only was she getting better shots with the weapons, the continuous use of the blindfold forced her to utilise her electroperception in new ways. She had to fucking give her thanks to Gensei. She could certainly see the advantages of being creative while handicapped.

Ten Accelerators suddenly surrounded her. Before she had any chance to react, one landed a punch square in her gut while the other kicked at her legs. She fell with a winded yell, firing the guns at where she could sense him whizzing around. She could almost hear his sickening laugh, close to her ears. Mocking her, threatening her. Wanting to rip her apart.

She gritted her teeth.

"I'll kill you again and again and again and AGAIN!"

With each repetitive word, she fired multiple shots. She laughed and laughed and laughed as she sensed the multiple Accelerators shatter all around her. Finally, there was some justice in the shitty world! She spun to her right as she sensed the Accelerator that had eluded her before appear there, lunging towards her. She held out her guns to pull the triggers and smash that ugly face-

The hum of the buzzing electrons in the air abruptly vanished, taking Accelerator with them. She froze for a moment before the realisation of what must have happened hit. With an angry growl, Mikoto tucked one gun back in its holster and tore off the blindfold with the free hand.

The sudden light slapped her eyes, making her grimace. When she slowly adjusted to it, she found herself standing in an empty room just as she predicted. Her hazel eyes roamed towards the door where she found a tall woman standing there. She couldn't remember if she had seen her before or not, but she didn't care either way. There were too many of them working for the old man to keep track, and scientists were all the same.

Rage painted her vision red. Before the woman could take another step or open her mouth, Mikoto pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The fired bullet sped through the air at ten times its normal speed, pushed by Mikoto's grip on its magnetic field. The metal object struck the woman dead centre in the chest and proceeded to drill through in a spiral, grinding most of her pumping heart into mince.

The woman crumpled to the ground like a stuffed doll. There was a shocked expression on her face, as she gurgled out a puddle of blood. Mikoto watched with mild interest as the pool of red grew out from the wound through the woman's chest. She walked up to the scientists and kicked her head.

"Hey, you still alive?"

The brutal force of her assault snapped the woman's neck back. Her blood-soaked tongue hung out from her open mouth, glassy eyes staring up at Mikoto with an unseeing glaze.

"Eh… How boring."

She sighed, twirling the gun between her fingers as she looked at the grotesque sight as if unimpressed.

"At least give me a good show if you're gonna interrupt." She stretched out her arms and walked out of the door, stepping on the corpse carelessly.

"Misaka-kun, I would appreciate it if you refrained from killing my colleagues. They are an important part of our project too."

Mikoto looked up to the source of the new voice and scowled as ferociously as she could.

"That whore friggin' shut down my game!" Mikoto seethed. "I was up to killing that bastard 11,354 times! I still have a debt to pay, dammit!"

"You're such a child, Misaka-kun." Gensei smiled.

"I am NOT!"

"How many times of killing Accelerator would satisfy you in the end?"

"The number doesn't fucking matter. It's the principle of killing that counts!"

Gensei laughed and clapped his hands together as if she had just shown him something merry. "Indeed, Misaka-kun. Your puns are impressive."

Mikoto's lips twisted into a sour expression. She hated being mock-praised by him, no matter how significant or small it was.

Gensei peered at the corpse of the scientist lying sprawled on the floor.

"What a mess," he tutted. "I dislike wasting resources, but I suppose it cannot be helped. Shame there is more garbage to throw out." He turned to Mikoto with squinted, smiling eyes. "I asked her to tell you that your next session is ready."

Mikoto glared back at him with a lifted chin, crossing her arms in a defiant manner.

"So?"

"After this, you can use your powers freely and resume your hunting of the last two strays."

"Heh~?" A grin spread across Mikoto's lips as a gleeful light lit up in her eyes. "Is that so?"

She barked out a laugh as Gensei nodded.

"Excellent. Let's get to it then, old man. I've been sick of not being able to use my ability. It's about ready to burst!"

XXXXXXX

From the sky, Kuroko could immediately identify something was wrong down below at Kisuno Park. Something that looked like a large, rippling sphere was spinning in the air near the fountains. Scattered dots that could vaguely be discerned as people littered the area. She surmised that they must be the injured Kongou had mentioned. With a determined nod, she teleported down rapidly in a series of quick calculations. She eventually spotted Kongou and Awatsuki standing together. As she landed close to them, she noticed how battered and desperate they looked.

"Kongou! Awatsuki-san!" Kuroko yelled out to them.

As they looked towards her, a sudden barrage of what looked like fine needles hit them. They missed Kuroko from her position, but the other two girls were not so lucky. Distracted by Kuroko's yell, they had lowered their defences. The sharp translucent needles scraped their skin, ripping bits of fabric from their uniforms. The needles were so fine that they only left thin cuts where they touched, but judging from their loud yelps, the attacks were no doubt very painful.

Kuroko glanced around and immediately spotted the source of the attacks. It was that large orb she had seen from above, although from this close, she could tell it was a swirling mass of water. She glanced at the empty fountain it was hovering above and realised all the water must have been taken out from it. The fine needles that had attacked Kongou and Awatsuki must have been droplets of water fired at high speed as the large orb rotated on a vertical axis.

She heard a thump as Awatsuki fell onto her knees, panting with exhaustion. Kongou had blown away the last barrage of needle attacks with her Aero Hand. Kuroko felt her heart drop when she suddenly realised Wannai was nowhere to be found nearby. Looking around, she saw some unconscious people scattered across the park. Others were limping or trying to crawl away. One appeared to be calling someone on the phone – probably Judgement or Anti-Skill.

'I'll finish this myself before anyone else gets here,' Kuroko thought. She ran up to the duo, who had countless cuts on their skin, tinged with blood.

"Where is Wannai-san?!" Kuroko asked them urgently. As soon as she asked the question, the answer clicked in her mind and she immediately looked towards the spinning water orb with wide eyes.

She knew Wannai-san was a Level 3 Hydro Hand, with the ability to control bodies of water.

Surely, it couldn't be… Could a Level 3 have this much control? But then, where was Wannai-san?

"She's… in there," Kongou said in a strained voice. "She surrounded herself with that water barrier and we can't seem to break through. We think her power must have gone out of control and she must be trapped." She rested a gentle hand on Awatsuki's shoulder, who sat catching her breath.

"We don't… want to hurt her," Awatsuki added softly.

Kuroko looked at the spinning water orb. It looked volatile. Angry. She couldn't imagine what had possessed the kind and gentle Wannai-san she knew to create such a phenomenon. Did her power really go out of control? If so, how? She shook her head. Right now, the reasons didn't matter. She had to focus on controlling this situation. The answers would have to come later.

"Watch out, it's going to attack again!"

Five huge blasts of water swept out from the orb, twisting like horizontal tornadoes. The three girls managed to dive under them, but were pinned there as the water tornadoes continued to swirl around the orb like the tentacles of a strange sea creature. Kuroko saw one sweeping low towards them and acted fast.

"Quick! Don't let go of me!"

She grabbed the two girls and teleported as far as she could into the air. As soon as they appeared however, a thick blast of water shot from the orb, forcing Kuroko to teleport again onto the ground. Cold sweat ran down her back. Was that thing targeting them? Did it have a consciousness, or was Wannai-san controlling it?

A series of multiple blasts attempted to push them off their feet, and Kuroko had to make more jumps with the two girls on tow in order to avoid them. It was tiring to teleport at such a rapid pace with others at her side. She was working at her limit. The calculations were much more complex when she had to factor in their spatial existence in eleven dimensions as well. One mistake could result in grievous injuries or even be fatal if she failed to account their entire three-dimensional physical coordinates into the calculations.

"Shirai-san, watch out-!"

Awatsuki's warning came too late as another waterspout sneaked in from the side as soon as they teleported to the new location. It slammed into them with great force, sending them flying away before crashing down onto the grassy earth.

Kuroko spluttered out a mouthful of water and shivered as she pushed herself to a sitting position. The liquid was cold and her clothes and hair were now soaking wet. This was not a condition she wanted to be fighting in. The extra weight of her soggy clothes was going to slow her down.

Quickly taking off her waterlogged jumper, she glanced across at the sprawled forms of Kongou and Awatsuki. They looked worse than she did and thoroughly beaten. Even so, they were bringing themselves to their feet with determined looks. She did the same. Whatever was going on here, they had to work together to subdue this wild rampage. This amount of power couldn't be the work of Wannai alone. She was a Level 3 after all, and this display was almost on par with a high-end Level 4. It did not help that the power appeared to be going out of control, and the water sphere did not show any signs of wearing out any time soon. The faster they got the job done, the better it was going to be for all of them.

Kuroko looked out towards the fallen people. First things first, she had to get them out of the way.

A loud roar rang out and Kuroko snapped her eyes towards the sphere. It seemed to be growing bigger somehow; perhaps it was picking up more water from the atmosphere. She tensed as the thing began to spin towards their direction.

"Kongou, Awatsuki!" She shouted. "I need to evacuate these people first!"

Kuroko dived to the side as tiny droplets of water erupted at super speed from the orb to create needles once more. The barrage continued to follow her like a machine gun, and a few sniped at her arms. She grimaced. The tiny things really did hurt. She rolled away and ran. From a quick glance to the side, she realised Kongou and Awatsuki were receiving the same treatment.

"Don't worry about us, Shirai-san!" She heard Awatsuki yell back. "Do what you need to do!"

"I'll be back, just hang in there for a minute!"

"We'll occupy its attention for as long as we can!" With the yell, Kongou shot a blast of air to counterattack, pushing the water assault back at the sphere.

Kuroko wasted no time observing any further. She spun around and teleported to a nearby civilian's side. In quick succession, she efficiently took the trapped people as far away as she could. A few times, she almost got hit by bursts of water, but managed to dodge them by narrow margins. She instructed the conscious and the less injured people to help the others or move away to better safety.

'All done,' she thought with relief as she rescued the final injured girl. She looked across the field. She saw Kongou and Awatsuki-san still giving their best to keep the sphere under control. They appeared to be holding on quite well although the sphere was lashing out viciously.

"What about you, Miss? What are you going to do?"

Kuroko glanced at the young boy who had asked the questions. He had a large cut across his leg that was bleeding quite badly. He would need treatment soon before it had a chance to be infected.

"I am Judgement," she replied simply, "I need to go help my friends. Stay here until the ambulance arrive."

Before he could reply back, she vanished and reappeared near Kongou and Awatsuki. They were both standing balanced on a large piece of broken tree bark. Kongou was trying to push back the sphere with wind again, while Awatsuki helped increase the force by using her buoyancy powers on their makeshift platform. There were large puddles of water on the ground, deposited from the sphere's attacks. The water blast attacks had created the perfect environment for the Level 3 Float Dial to work in.

"Kongou, Awatsuki-san!" Kuroko called out to them.

"Shirai-san!"

"I need to get close to that sphere!" She avoided another onslaught of water by rolling out of the way. She tried to ignore the fact that she landed in a muddy puddle. Washing her clothes later was not going to be fun. But then, she could always buy new ones. "I'm going to try and get into where Wannai-san is, but I need to work out the inside structure of that thing first."

"Got it! Hop on!"

Awatsuki and Kongou sailed on the tree bark raft towards Kuroko like a speedboat. She teleported onto it in front of Kongou in a crouch, managing to keep her balance even as the floating object wobbled dangerously for a moment. Kongou deflected the blasts of water with her Aero Hand, her expression of utmost concentration. As they zig-zagged between the water tendrils, Kuroko kept her eyes trailed on the sphere ahead, looking for any signs of Wannai inside. For a moment, she thought she saw a glimpse of wavy, light brown hair, but then the twisting water obscured it from view.

It was dangerous to just try and teleport inside without knowing what was going on within. The sphere was huge by now, but Kuroko couldn't discern how thick the wall of that thing was. If she calculated wrong, she could be caught in the swirl of the waters or even teleport where Wannai-san was. She shuddered at the thought. That wouldn't end well at all. Teleportation was a dangerous ability, even for a Level 4 like herself.

"Shirai-san, can you bring us up on one of those waterspouts?"

The request by Awatsuki surprised Kuroko. "Eh? Are you sure?"

"Yes." Glancing back, Kuroko saw Awatsuki's eye gleam with a fierce resolve she had never seen before on the soft-spoken girl. "I think I'll be able to control our float along one of them-"

Pssshhhhh!

A large gust of wind from Kongou's outstretched hand diverted a rush of water from above, sprinkling them with harmless drops.

"-I think I can read the flow of the water now. I can take us straight to the orb following one of those spouts!"

"Alright then!" Encouraged by the Level 3's confidence, Kuroko picked out the largest tendril of water she could see and made some quick calculations.

They appeared on the swirl of water, and they almost toppled over from the torrential force that suddenly pushed them back. All three of them fell into a crouch, gripping each other and the edges of their craft for dear life.

"Hold… ON!" With a great yell, Awatsuki righted their tree bark boat and it began to move against the water torrent, gradually picking up speed.

"Ahhh, it's following us!" Kongou screamed. Kuroko quickly glanced back to see what was happening. The great tendril of water had doubled in on itself, its end splitting out like long fingers to chase after them.

"Kongou-san!"

"Kongou Mitsuko of Tokiwadai never lets her friends down!"

With a yell, Kongou stood up to her full height and let loose bursts of air from her hands in quick succession, pushing their pursuers back. Some of the finger-like liquid protrusions splattered from the powerful force, blown away to vapour. Kuroko looked at her, impressed despite herself.

"Nice shots, Kongou."

The Aero Hand glanced back at Kuroko with her trademark confident grin.

"You only just noticed? I've been trying to tell you this whole time; my ability is far superior!"

Kuroko grinned back. "Actually, I take it all back."

As she faced the front once more, her grin dissolved into a frown at the sight of the sphere angrily rotating ahead. They were rapidly approaching it now, with Awatsuki powering their raft at full speed.

"Wannai-saaan!" Awatsuki suddenly shouted out. "Can you hear meee?!"

A large wall of water suddenly erupted ahead, blocking their path. Before they could collide with it, Kuroko quickly teleported them beyond the obstacle. The wall twisted up like a large serpent and began to lunge at them with the ferocity of a mad cobra. Awatsuki weaved their makeshift boat between the strikes as Kongou fired gusts of air to break off the water attacks. The only thing Kuroko could do was hang onto the raft as tightly as she could and hope that she wouldn't be thrown off or their bark boat torn to pieces. She had to rely on the other two girls to divert the attacks, because her teleportation ability was useless in this situation. Her part in this team effort was to focus on getting inside that sphere.

"Sometimes, you can't do things alone."

Konori-senpai's words echoed in her mind and she smiled for a moment. Maybe her Senpai was right. This wasn't so bad from time to time.

They were now about three meters away from the sphere. From this close, Kuroko could see there was a ring of water spinning around it like a weird shelf. Its appearance reminded her of one of the outer planets in the solar system. She decided it would be the perfect place to observe the orb more closely.

"I'm going to take us up there!" She shouted over the barrage of water meeting the howling wind.

"Yep, I'm ready!" Awatsuki replied. Kuroko teleported them onto the ring. Spikes of water continued to chase them as they spun around and around the orb. From here, they could almost touch the spinning sphere, but Kuroko did not dare lest the powerful torrents cut off her fingers. This thing was deadly, and frustratingly enough, she couldn't discern its inner structure even from this close. The water was too volatile to see through.

'What can we do at this stage?'

She briefly considered recklessly just teleporting into it, but tossed it aside with a grimace. Nope, she didn't particularly have a death wish. She was here to rescue Wannai-san, not get injured herself.

"Wannai-san!" It was Kongou who called out this time. "Can you hear us in there?! Wannai-saaaan?!"

The only reply they got was the howl of the water as it continued to assault them.

"Awatsuki-san." A sudden thought struck Kuroko's mind. "Do you think you can affect the water of that orb directly?"

"Huh?" The Level 3 looked surprised at her request. "Well, my ability is to do with buoyancy so I mostly use it to guide objects on water."

"But theoretically, shouldn't you be able to affect the density of the water as well, according to the buoyancy force equation?"

For a long moment, Awatsuki-san stared at her. It was only when she realised their raft was teetering dangerously on the edge of the sphere's ring that she broke out of the trance and hurriedly corrected her lapse in concentration.

"You might be right, Shirai-san. I've never actually tried before, but it makes sense when you put it that way."

"Usually, the water's density changes due to temperature. But the reverse might also be true. If you can decrease the density to the point it freezes-"

"I don't know if I can change the density of that huge thing," Awatsuki interjected, eyeing the sphere doubtfully. "And to the point of freezing? I've never done this before."

"Awatsuki-san, I know you can do it!" Kongou panted as she blasted away bullets of water. "Wannai-san would have believed in you too!"

Kuroko nodded. "And I only need you to freeze just a portion of the sphere so that I can see where Wannai-san is. We don't want to freeze her in there anyway."

At this, the Level 3's expression grew determined. "Alright, I'll try. It'll be difficult for me to keep the raft along this ring while doing it though."

"I'll put us back on the ground," Kuroko said without hesitation. "Kongou, I'll need your help getting close to the thing afterwards."

Kongou nodded in understanding. Kuroko flashed her a quick smile. Despite their longstanding rivalry, Kuroko was glad they were now close enough to communicate quickly on this level.

"Let's do this!"

Kuroko teleported them away back onto the ground at a safer distance. Awatsuki stepped onto the ground with a look of great concentration, facing the sphere. Kongou continued to deflect the waterspouts valiantly. She looked worn out, and was puffing with exhaustion, but there was a new fire in her eyes that Kuroko found admirable.

She turned to the rotating sphere and watched as Awatsuki-san got to work. The Level 3 was no better off in appearance than Kongou was, but her jaws were tightly locked with renewed determination. Her fists were clenched, her shoulders quaking with tension as she became locked in a mental struggle with the sphere.

'Come on, Awatsuki-san,' Kuroko encouraged with her thoughts.

"Argh!" Kongou's wind shield flickered out for a moment and sharp needles of water broke through. They scraped against the girls' skins, drawing blood, but Awatsuki-san did not even flinch. Kuroko also stood still despite the pain, not wanting to destroy the other girl's concentration. Kongou gritted her teeth and recreated more air blasts to fend off further attacks.

Kuroko watched as the swirling sphere appeared to slowly shrink and slow down on its axis. She turned to Awatsuki in wonder. The plan appeared to be working. The girl looked pale and in a lot of pain, but the determination on her face never wavered.

"Just a little more!" Kuroko encouraged. "You can do it, Awatsuki-san!"

"Ghhhh… Khhh... AAARRGGGHHHHHHH!"

An uncharacteristic roar erupted from Awatsuki's open mouth. Kuroko could scarcely believe her ears and eyes as the top part of the rotating sphere came to a sudden halt and froze over. Its edges were slammed by the swirling water around it, but the blanket of ice stood firm like a shiny crystal.

"There! I can see her!" Kongou shouted out excitedly.

Sure enough, there was a distinct outline of Wannai-san. It was difficult to see any further details, but it looked as if she was standing still inside a small space surrounded by the torrents of water.

"I can't hold the ice in place for much longer!" Awatsuki grunted through clenched teeth. "The water is too strong and it's going to break soon!"

Kuroko didn't pause to waste anymore time.

"Kongou!"

The Aero Hand blasted an onslaught of water and quickly spun around to place both hands behind Kuroko's back.

"Go, Shirai-san!"

A great blast of wind launched Kuroko into the air and sent her sailing towards the sphere at great speed. Kuroko took a mouthful of the cold wind, focusing on the outline of Wannai-san that she could see through the frozen part. From this angle and height, it was easier to understand the orientation within the sphere. Cracks were already spreading through the ice; Awatsuki-san had been correct in saying it wasn't going to last long, but Kuroko now had the coordinates. All she had to do was carry the task out as quickly as possible with extreme precision.

"Wannai-san!"

With the greatest focus she could muster, Kuroko executed her calculations and vanished.

XXXXXXX

"District 7 Area 2 reporting. I have successfully secured the target."

"Good. You're the forty-fifth one to complete the mission out of the one hundred and twenty-six areas, so you'll get a pretty decent pay."

The man barely managed to keep himself from swearing out aloud. He had wanted to be one of the first ten because that was a double bonus. He groaned inwardly in disappointment but then sat up at a thought. There was still a good chance he could cash in extra if some of the other agents failed their mission. He felt a little more optimistic at this.

"You know where to deliver the target, yes?"

"I do, Sir."

"Excellent. Do so promptly."

"Understood."

The radio tuned out. He twisted in his driver's seat and peered over his sunglasses at the figure sleeping in the back seat. The black-haired girl almost looked peaceful, although there was a slight frown marring her forehead. The anaesthetics he had chosen to use this time round had worked perfectly on her.

"Maybe I'm supposed to feel sorry for you," he muttered to the unconscious girl. "But unfortunately, I'm not the heroic type who takes damsels in distress to hospitals."

The man had no idea what would happen to the girl once he delivered her to the designated place, but he didn't care. This was routine for him and he was used to it. Kidnapping people was his job and how he earned money. Caring for his targets only got in the way of that, so he didn't do it.

Life was that simple.

He turned on the engine and straightened his sunglasses with a dry smile at his reflection on the rear mirror.

It was just how the world worked. Or at least, how Academy City worked.

XXXXXXX

"Are you certain, Sir?"

"Absolutely. Close down all branches of the Shikuden company and terminate any links immediately. We no longer need that fake brand. The goods for us to obtain the final set of data should arrive soon, and I've heard they've made some excellent catches."

"Very well then, Sir. Any other requests?"

Gensei paused for a moment, tapping against the metal desk thoughtfully. "Ahh, how is the other task on that working out?"

"We're… We're still working on it, Sir," the man's voice suddenly sounded nervous. "The security system is extremely complicated and we've run into various firewalls and other protective mechanisms. It will probably take us another few-"

"If I had more hours in my day, I wouldn't even bother with fools like you."

"Sir, we're really trying our best-"

"Yes, yes, of course. Keep at it," Gensei said smoothly. "I'll take over when you die from old age."

With that, he cut the line with a smile. Well, the delays on that side project didn't really matter for now. Once he was less occupied, he could focus on that himself rather than leaving it to the incompetent fools. At this point, there were bigger things to take care of.

Right on cue, there was a knock on the door. He already knew what it would be about.

"Come in!"

A stout woman walked in, holding a clipboard and looking rather out of breath. While he couldn't remember her name, he knew she was one of the newest members participating in the project. She was probably excited about what was to come. He couldn't blame her. Despite having being in the field of research for more than a few decades, there was a wild anticipation tingling in his nerves as well.

The prospect of potential new discoveries never lost its splendour.

"Kihara-sensei, the goods are starting to arrive." She was practically squealing.

"Excellent," he smiled at her. "Thank you for letting me know. I'll be down once I take care of some work here. I had already given instructions so you know what to do."

"Yes, Sensei," the woman beamed back with great energy.

Ah, the youthful days. He almost envied her, but it wasn't as if he felt old. No, he still had years and years on him. He could go on researching forever, until one of his breakthrough experiments destroyed him. That would be his ultimate end. The thought only excited him. It would be a fitting way to go for a genius scientist like him.

As the woman left and closed the door behind her, he spun back on his swivel chair to face the desk once more.

The hired goons had managed to obtain fifty-eight healthy samples thus far, from what he had last heard. There would possibly be more incoming, although he had already heard reports of failures, like the one near Kisuno park area in District 7. The more samples the better, but it didn't particularly matter now. Fifty-eight should be plenty to gather the final sets of data and components to make adjustments on Misaka-kun's pills.

It had been a painstaking process of obtaining enough data sets for drug trials on girls around Misaka-kun's age since last year. It was vital to gather enough information on the effects of the substances before he actually included them in Misaka-kun's medications. This was based on clinical drug trial models that some pharmaceutical companies used around the world to guarantee safety of their medicines. In their case, the end target was to produce safe and effective drugs for sick patients, but they ensured there were no unforeseen issues by trialling them on normal healthy volunteers first. In Misaka-kun's case however, Gensei simply had to observe the effects on healthy females around her age. Every time he gathered more evidence, he updated Misaka-kun's drugs, but not before he was absolutely certain that the effects wouldn't kill her.

Killing Misaka-kun was very far from his goals.

The fake brand of Shikuden had provided a good shadow to work under. With the help of hired professionals, any traces to the trial products were meticulously covered up. He had also taken great care to include largely varying amounts of the testing substances in order to confuse anyone who might be on their trail with inconsistencies. Hours after hours, files after files, he had spent all his efforts recording data on side effects and toxicity through hacked hospital records and brief kidnappings of the samples. Now, with this final leg of the race, all of that hard work was going to boil down to perfection at last.

Misaka-kun would finally receive the completed version of the drug. And his wonderful, exotic specimen was going to love it, whether she wanted to or not.

However, there was still a long way to go before the end of the project. He knew this better than anyone else. Patience was the key to any successful research, and he had plenty of it to see this through till the very end.

Reaching out towards the dashboard, Gensei flicked on the numerous switches of the controls. Multiple screens came to life across the wall, and sounds filled the room. One of them was connected to the testing room.

He turned on the volume to maximum on that feed alone and relaxed back on his chair with a smile, his squinted eyes trailing along the moving images.

All was going well indeed.

Through the intercom, Misaka-kun's delicious screams resounded.