Welcome back to the last of our interrupting interludes. There will be one more, but it'll function as more of an epilogue to wrap up the side-plot completely. Note that the timing of the first section doesn't matter too much, so don't sweat when it happens per se: it's after the Spell is first cast, but before the final fight began.

I've been reading the reviews, and it's incredibly difficult to refrain from getting to excited about an idea and incorporating it. At the end, I'll give a quick nod to every idea that I've used or tacitly had to engage with, but for now just know I appreciate them. I also like when people try to figure out my spells. It gives me a chance to make sure I've described them well, and to see if there are flaws or mistakes in my initial reasoning. One comment in particular made me realize that a latter chapter didn't describe something clearly enough to make sense, based on the correct interpretation it gave. So thanks!

For now, though, we're taking a quick hiatus from the battle. See you on the flip side!

Interlude 4:

Flashback: 1 hour before at 10:25 P.M., December 23rd: Yomikawa Aiho's apartment, Academy City

"...Damn it. Why isn't anybody home to feed Misaka? The food's gone cold."

"There is always the microwave! Says Misaka as Misaka tries to helpfully brighten the mood and distract from our failure…"

"It's not a distraction if you say so right afterwards, you stupid... Agh, never-mind. Misaka is exhausted. Arguing is for when there is energy: that lazy bastard is right about that at least." The two clones sat in silence at the kitchen table of Aiho's apartment, thoroughly defeated by the Christmas season. Worst finished reading the hastily scrawled note left by their landlady, crumpling it up with a scowl. "At least that woman is probably suffering right now, working on her day off. Hah! Now that is something that brightens Misaka's night up."

"Don't do that; pass the note, I want to see what she said!Misaka pouts, as Misaka secretly hopes that she can be allowed to stay up late and wait for them both to return." Answering the smaller girl's request, Worst pitched the balled up note directly into Last Order's forehead at brutal speed. "A-ah! That is not how Misaka Misaka reads! Misaka states tersely, even as Misaka is aware that lots of information for her does enter directly through her skull…"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, brat. At least Misaka beat that dumb-ass home… We still have a chance to figure out what the Hell to do about this mess." The sound of Worst's fingers drumming on the tabletop were momentarily lost in the beeping of the microwave, now finished heating Last Order's plate. The little girl had to stand on a chair to operate it, but was proud of the accomplishment regardless: her temporary ally ignored it all. "Perhaps Misaka can just lie low for a week or two…? No, Tou-san holds a grudge. Plus he would just come and find Misaka if he got mad enough. No, that won't do. We actually need a solution to this ~~~~ing holiday mess." The older clone dropped her head hard onto the table, narrowly avoiding the edge of her lukewarm meal, as she replayed their final efforts to get Accelerator a Christmas present.

The plan had always been to mooch as many free things as possible from Worst's various associates, capitalizing on her intimidating charm to get gift options. The clones would together pick out the best of what was collected, or just wrap up everything if it came to it: Worst was confident quantity countered a lack of quality despite Last Order's misgivings. That method might have worked at any other time of year, but all the bars and hangout spots the girl frequented were completely off limits to Last Order. Those that were accessible to a preteen girl were closed, it finally getting late enough that even the extended holiday hours for most places were ending. It wouldn't fit the persona Worst had developed to actually call up any of her contacts for a favour like this, so instead they had resorted to wandering around the streets looking for an easy mark to convince into "charity".

That had also failed before it began, for some kind of disturbance was ongoing elsewhere in the city. Normally Worst was on top of these hidden developments, but she had been so distracted lately she neither saw it coming or cared about the details this particular evening. She also ignored the curfew which had been imposed, but sadly few others had. Nearly every store was closed, and it didn't seem likely she could mooch anything valuable off of an Anti-Skill officer or a vending machine. With each successive failure the pair had grown more and more moody, until at last a general retreat back home was called. There they sat, stewing in their own misfortune, and still lacking any sort of present. The only sound was Last Order's chewing until Worst finally verbalized her mounting frustration.

"AAGGHH! It's so stupid to fail at something this simple and obvious! Me, Misaka, world champion moocher, bully, and lay-about, defeated during the season when everyone else needs to be generous and kind!? What a ~~~~ing joke! If only Misaka could laugh at her own annoyance and not just someone else's, it would be hilarious." She lay her cheek down against the false wood of the table top and sighed heavily. The food left out for them looked as unappetizing to her as always, but Last Order had already finished her own portion. The little girl jumped down from the chair and wandered away into the next room, predictably forgetting to put away her dishes. Worst hardly noticed, but did see the smaller clone return a few minutes later from the corner of her eye. Carefully unfolding and smoothing out the note that had been tossed at her, Last Order placed the pack of markers she had retrieved from her other toys onto the table and began fidgeting. Annoyed at the motion felt but only vaguely seen, Worst lifted herself lethargically back up. "Oy. What are you doing?"

"Waiting for them to come home. Misaka announces, as Misaka deliberates what colour to outline her drawing in."

"…Not that I care about your sleeping habits, but Misaka'll get an earful or worse if you don't get to bed soon. I'm not your damn keeper, but it's always somehow Misaka's fault…"

"Misaka Misaka cannot sleep under these conditions! Misaka defiantly argues, while Misaka contests the mean one's selfish reasoning! We still need to come up with a gift idea! Misaka says, as Misaka hopes her determination is clear despite feeling an urgent need to yawn." With that proclamation she began her doodling, ignored the roll of Worst's eyes.

"Sure, sure. Look at how hard you're thinking. Of course, this means it has become Misaka's problem again. …Hmmm…" The taller clone pondered for a second, staring directly into the plate before her. Within seconds her forehead hit the table again. "Nope. Misaka gives up. I can't even pretend to care anymore."

The silence stretched out in the room, broken only by the light squeaking of a felt marker rubbed across paper. Worst tilted her head the other way to avoid even glimpsing the pointless colouring, now facing towards the living room. The Christmas tree glowed in the corner with a mocking intensity: the girl averted her eyes with a scowl. That was when she noticed a different light, blinking red on and off along the far wall.

"Eh? What's that over there?" Neither expecting nor receiving a response, Worst squinted her eyes to get a better look at the odd shape. Finally she recognized it. "Is that Tou-san's cane? Why is it still here? Misaka saw he had it in the mall earlier…" Last Order finally responded after putting the finishing touch of a moustache on her masterpiece. Having glanced over in forced interest, the little girl shook her head.

"No no, Misaka Misaka points out, that is his spare on the charger. Misaka announces with confidence, since Misaka watched him take his usual one out tonight before he left."

"Ah. Right, right."

The two clones gazed with tired empty eyes at the offending cane. It leaned there, pristine and white, propped up against the wall. It was rarely used, so there weren't even the scuffs and marks associated with constant use that the other one had. In short, it was plain and boring, devoid of any personality at all, as if emulating the public persona of its owner. The silence drew out while two sets of mental gears frozen in place finally began to thaw and turn. Finally, a voice was heard.

"…Hey. Misaka has an idea."

"…Misaka Misaka thinks she shares it. Misaka says, as Misaka uncaps her favourite colour with new-found purpose."

!~~~~~~~~!

11:25 P.M., December 23rd: Academy City, Several blocks from the Dianoid's main entrance.

"…Damn it. This is getting worse by the minute. What kind of progress are we getting on the drilling machines?"

"W-well, they seem to be running okay. The trouble is the same as before…" Tessou's hesitant response brought another sigh to Aiho's lips. Things had been going so well until this new round of problems had cropped up. Chief among them was the creeping feeling of exhaustion which was slowly spreading over the besieging force. At first they had brushed it off, just evacuating the civilians further away while teams continued drilling. It was only once officers began to pass out that a general withdrawal was executed. The normally flawless efficiency of those under her command had been sluggish, but they had managed to move back safely.

Yet distance wasn't enough for long. They had already moved again, and were now barely within sight of the mall. The many buildings around the Dianoid were empty for the night, but even so Aiho had been forced to call for a quarantine of the area. So far the greater perimeter was secure, but it was unknown just how far this strange power would spread. She couldn't risk the general public falling under whatever effect was at work here, so they had first established a city-wide curfew and next cleared the district itself out to a kilometre. Yet civilians weren't her only concern.

"The robot's remote operators are still falling asleep, huh? The caffeine isn't helping, then."

"It is, Aiho-sempai, but it's not enough. I don't get it: we know we're outside that effect's current range, but anyone looking through the robot's sensors feels it anyway. As if they were right there alongside them…"

"Well, at least that completely rules out our heavier-than-air gas theory. All right, keep rotating fresh people in. We need to get SOME sort of intel on what's going on in there soon. First we lose contact with the remaining civilians in the upper floors, now this…" It doesn't make any sense at all. How is it reaching them sixty floors up and forcing us blocks away at the same time without anybody being able to tell what is actually happening? And why am I fine here, but as soon as I go to use one of those robots I nearly fall over? Is what ever happening… somehow sensory based? But then why can we use binoculars… Oh, this makes no sense. "Oy. Try to get our squads to turn off first the video, then the audio feed. Have them operate using only tactile sensors."

"R-really? All right. They can do it, but it'll be hard and really slow things down."

"I know, but it might give us more time than rotating half-asleep operators every 15 seconds. Let me know how it works."

"Okay! I'm on..." The junior agent turned to leave, but stiffened suddenly after receiving a call on her personal line. "Ah, hold on. I'm getting a report… I-I'll patch you through! This is important!"

"All right." Accepting the call, Aiho opened up her own channel while maintaining a steady gaze on the mall's entrance. The robots were drilling away, just barely audible hundreds of feet away, but the crackle of her headset quickly drowned them out.

"-got a pair of them, unarmed, but there's nothing we can do! We can't even get close like this! And t-they're both heading deeper in!"

"Aiho here. Report agent, where are they?" Cutting into his panicked broadcast, Aiho listened with increasing surprise at his information.

"T-they're below ground, two male figures. In the subway station, already well past the pass-out line! They must've come through one of the closed subway tunnels on foot: we didn't expect anyone to try and come that way ignoring the system shutdown! They must be heading towards the Dianoid, but just realized that interior station had been completely shut off by the Dianoid renovations, so they doubled back to the outer entrance… But who would even be-! Ah, according to our motion sensors, they've just left the station and should be heading up in front of your position now!" The Anti-Skill Captain had been fiddling for her binoculars the whole time now had them raised, struggling to get a clear image of the subway exit hundreds of feet ahead. It was just within Aiho's range, but poorly lit.

"…I think I see them." Sure enough, two shady forms stumbled up and out of the entrance. Momentarily pausing, the one in the rear fell away from his partner for a second before slumping to the ground. The leading shape, leaning lightly on a thin stick, paused before bending over his prone ally. Within seconds they were both on their feet again, and moving purposefully over to the front doors. "…What the Hell are they doing, can't they tell…" Wait. Is that snow, or is that one's hair…And that cane... "No. No, it couldn't be. …There's no way he'd bring a friend along." …Does he even have one?

!~~~~~~~~!

"...The ~~~~ is all this ~~~~?" Accelerator muttered darkly, eyeing the Anti-Skill robots on the steps in front above them with distaste. To him they were a minor irritation: blocking out their annoying grinding would mean he couldn't hear Hamazura's directions. To the level 0 in question, they portended something far more significant. The worry he had been feeling since his temporary partner dragged them both down the unused subway tunnel had finally been vindicated. Unsure of how to broach the subject, he stammered out what he hoped could be his saving grace.

"S-so, my f-fr… my c-com… A-Accelerator, u-uhm… You also don't any idea what's going on then? Because I just see drilling machines and a mall in lock-down, and that seems bad. I think we should turn back! The store must be closed! Something bad must be happening! We can always try again tom-"

"We're going in." Though he half-expected the albino's response, Hamazura's readied did little to prevent his spiking heart rate.

"Ah! A-ah, are-are you sure that's a good idea? Won't the authorities not appreciate us getting involved? And how would we even pay-"

"~~~~ the authorities. I don't care." The unlikely duo had finally reached the Dianoid's entrance proper despite Hamazura's intermittent bouts of sudden exhaustion. Accelerator could counter the effects on himself without trouble, not recognizing but just barely grasping the strange vectors at work around the Dianoid. To assist the level 0 next to him was less automatic, and the protection seemed to wear off after a few minutes anyway. It was become an increasing bother having to stop constantly to retrieve the level O's consciousness, but he couldn't afford to ditch his guide yet. So for now Accelerator played nice. [1] "They're trying to get in anyway. It's just taking too damn long."

"W-well, I guess that makes-HOLY ~~~~!" Hamazura reflexively covered his face, but the shards of the carbon shutter we all directed away from him and Accelerator. The other boy had simply stretched out his free hand and blew the entire structure apart: the robots nearby continued to drill into empty air for a moment before whirring to a satisfied stop. "P-p-puh...P-please! G-give a guy some warning!" Ignoring the admonition, Accelerator stepped inside dragging his guide along.

"Shut it. Go find the store."

"Ah! Right, right. U-h, uhmm… I-it was on one of the first 5 floors, I'm sure! If I can just look at that handy map-" Though he tried to move away to look at the information kiosk, Hamazura soon woke up lying on the cold carbon floor. Yet another time, he found himself looking up into the baleful expression on the Level 5's face who had just countered again whatever strange power was at work. Choking back his thanks, the level 0 cultivated a respectful silence and what he hoped was a blank expression. Oh God my hour has come. Sometime tonight I'm dead aren't I? Man oh man oh man. M-maybe I can-

"Let's go. Now." Though Accelerator normally had nowhere near the strength to haul the other boy upright, he had flicked the switch on his neck-device earlier to counter the strange field they had entered. As such, he simply gripped Hamazura's shoulder and pitched him deeper into the mall, following shortly after. However, the unwilling projectile stumbled back quickly, having seen what lay further down the hall. Darting behind the one who was technically an ally, he agreed to whatever would keep himself alive another day.

"Right, right! NO problem! S-so… What about those armed guards, t-then?"

"…What about them?"

"You know, t-them? The ones shouting at us to stop? A-and raising their weapons!?"

"…Yeah?"

"…Please don't make me an accessory to murder; I've really been trying to clean-"

"Just shut up." The first wave of high powered rounds slammed into Accelerator's shielding, but predictably they were useless. The criminals kept up the assault for a few seconds, until one by one they sporadically trailed off. Soon, individual conversations could be heard amongst the enemy as a superior came from deeper within, clearly hearing the commotion.

"What the hell is going on over here, why is there gunfire!?" He heard no response from his squad, which seemed as one paralyzed in fear. "What has gotten into you all!? Is Anti-Skill… Wait, who is… Oh. Oh! …Oh, no." The unfortunate squad leader nearly dropped his radio, but with fumbling hands he brought it to his lips. "S-s-s-s-Sarge? S-Sarge!? …W-we've got a problem, here! A "Number 1" sort of p-problem!" Yet there was no time to listen for a response, for the terror of Academy City was already approaching. The man quickly ended his communications, eager to not look rude and make a deal. "Look, we're sorry, we don't want to fight you! J-just tell us what you want, and we'll get out of your way! No harm, no foul, r-right!?" His associates all dropped their weapons and vigorously nodded their assent: it was not worth any amount of abuse from Sergeant to tango with Accelerator. Yet when they finally got a response, it was even more surprising to them than the boy's sudden appearance.

"… I'm here to do some Christmas shopping." As one, the guards froze in their quaking.

"…"

"…"

"…Really?" Disbelief was clearly the wrong reaction, but it was hard to blame the thug. It was as you had just received a Valentine's Day gift from Godzilla: your first thoughts weren't like to be about what sort of White Day gift would be appropriate. The corporal regretted his question precisely as long as he remained conscious, which was to say less than a quarter-second. The entire hallway, all their defensive structures, even the criminal's armour and weapons were blown apart in the immediate and terrible wrath of Accelerator. The last thing Miller wondered before bouncing of a nearby storefront was exactly why he had thought that the level 5 had been joking.

As the smoke cleared, Hamazura coughed as demurely as he could before following the stiff form of his captor forwards into the mall. Sparing a glance for the guards, the young man could tell two things from their faces: they were all pretty clearly not legitimate security, bearing the familiar look of hardened callousness that he recognized in criminals. Secondly, they would all live despite the fury of the explosion, though likely not without serious regrets about their life choices. Before they could get very far in their journey, however, they both felt then heard a loud rumble. It rocked the Dianoid far above them, and the level 0 hoped fervently that it wasn't the gravity machine in the basement having problems already. [2] It normally kept the mall stable and floating above the ground on a cushion of air, but even it shouldn't have been damaged by that relatively small outburst. Still, Hamazura soon realized from his considerable experience with such things that it sounded more like a concentrated explosion than a shaking building. Though Accelerator didn't slow his pace, the boy he had dragged along felt the need to clarify a sudden worry he had.

"…That one wasn't you, right? Because this whole building is kinda unstable sometimes. Let me tell you, I was here a few weeks ago and-"

"Just find the store."

!~~~~~~~~!

[1] Nice can be a relative term. Nicer than a swarm of wasps, for instance, or nicer than a divorce suit. Also, the bit about Accelerator being able to only temporarily dis spell the effect on Hamazura is not because he isn't strong enough. It's because he just forgets after a few minutes to reflect the power, because he doesn't care at all about the level 0, and he doesn't want to admit that's why it keeps coming back. It's tough being the Ham.

[2] See NT 12 if you want more details, but remember that the Dianoid does have that arbitrary plot machine below, always creating an issue. Hamazura is intimately familiar with it, having be forced to hold it together before it exploded last time. Will such a problem come up again? WHOOOOOOO KNOOOWWWSSSS… Oh wait. I do. Tee hee.