Chapter 21: Mind Play

The red lamp on the wall was flashing soundlessly; obviously her entrance had been noticed.

"Aah, I got a little fired up, sorry." Mikoto sighed and rubbed her neck. She was standing in the middle of the reception room, in front of the rubble that had been the door and the wall it had been attached to before she fired her railgun at it.

She hadn't planned to do it that way, exactly. She could have entered the building in a number of different ways. It might have been better to sneak inside, or make an appointment. It's not like I didn't try something like that though…

After having been lectured by the school board about how they would leave it all to Anti-Skill and so on, she had done a fine job of penetrating the firewalls around Anti-Skill's databases and Branch V's private network to scour for information. There was a row of cases in the Anti-Skill database where this Branch V was mentioned – child abuse, incomplete reports about their experiments, attempted bribing – and they were all locked without being solved. This, coupled with the fact that Branch V was present at Tokiwadai last night, led her to believe this place might be the right spot to start searching for clues as to what the hell was going on lately – and specifically, what had happened to Hitomi-san. However their private network yielded no results beyond the realm of spice research, which meant she'd have to go here herself to check things out.

So she told her teacher she didn't feel well and was allowed to leave for her dorm, and then tried to call the number on the business card she had been served last night by that lady (her name was Kagusa Anita, according to the card), but she had just hit voicemail. After waiting for close to an hour for the woman to call back, she decided to come here pretending to have an appointment instead – however the woman that answered the call phone outside insistently told her "Kagusa-san"had no appointments today. And when Mikoto tried to convince her, she was abruptly cut off.

While the electronic lock on the door was easily traversed, it was locked with some kind of mechanic lock too, and that left her with two options; try to sneak inside using another entrance, or use a little force.

And so, the door was broken. Frankly, they could only blame themselves.

"I guess I won't be able to ask nicely where Hitomi-san is…" She sighed while scratching her temple, one hand on her waist. A few terrified employees had squealed and ran off when she entered, so asking them was out of the picture either way.

She looked around the reception, seeing nothing that would make this place look like anything other than a perfectly legal research facility. They didn't even care to have proper security; was it really just an effort to look innocent? Though there's really no reason to assume they're doing anything else than researching spice, so far. Even if they're acting really suspicious while doing it.

Well, she wasn't here to uncover some secret conspiracy to take over the world or the like. As long as she could find out where Hitomi-san was, she'd have no problem leaving this place in Anti-Skill's care. In any case, even if she couldn't find a hint on Hitomi-san's whereabouts, she had a feeling she might find some other clues to this entire incident.

When she had just decided on her next course of action, a couple of security guards came dashing out the door in front of her and stopped abruptly, glaring at her with sweat shining on their foreheads.

"You have breached security, intruder! Lie down on the floor and put your hands on your head!" They might be grown adults and trained guards, even armed with stun batons and equipped with safety vests underneath their shirts, but this middle school girl had just smashed the entire front entrance without breaking a sweat; their nerves must be pretty strung up.

In any case, it seemed like they actually did have security guards. Mikoto gazed at them contemplatively. While she felt like the whole group deserved to be jailed up, there was still a possibility that not all of the employees were in on the dirty stuff. For instance, the guards might be leased from a security company, and not actually employed by Usan Research.

She sighed deeply. "Honestly, such a pain… I'd like to avoid fighting if I can help it though."

The guards gritted their teeth and pulled out the stun batons from their belts. The one at the front barked again; "You have been warned! Any resistance will be answered with force!"

She looked at him with a solemn expression. "Do you happen to know anything about a girl who was kidnapped? She might have been brought here." As if she was just a passing stranger asking for directions to the subway and not someone who had just broken into their building.

"Lay down on the floor!" The man commanded, raising his stun baton threatingly. His eyes were wide and shining with fear and determination both. Perhaps it was his first time facing any challenge at all in his job as a security guard.

Mikoto was hardly fazed. "What, do we not speak the same language?"

He stepped forward, shouting; "I said lay down on the – GUAH!" He was promptly interrupted as the baton in his hand suddenly exploded with electricity and knocked him out cold. Mikoto sighed again.

"That repetitiveness is just annoying." She looked back up at the other guard. "So? Do you feel like talking, or...?"

The remaining guard was shivering, clutching his baton desperately, though seemed very little keen on moving forward against her.

"P-please cease all resistance!" He stammered, the high-pitched voice hardly fitting with his tough-guy looks. "T-this thing shocks you with one million volts; you better –"

"Heeeh?" Mikoto gave a lopsided grin, which made him wince. "One million volts, eh, that'd leave a nasty burn if you're unlucky. But did you know even one volt could kill you if the current is right? Or wrong, depending on your viewpoint." She raised her hand and a ZZAP sound of an electric crackle left her fingers; the man whimpered and stepped backwards. "It is true higher voltage is more likely to hurt you, but strictly speaking it's the current that makes the difference." She continued, raising her hand higher. "If one volt travels through your heart, it's just as liable to stop as if it were a thousand volts." She scratched her head and gave him a nonchalant look. "Do you get it yet or do I need to cover the details?"

The man seemed keener on staying at a safe distance from her rather than indulge in conversation, as he merely stepped backwards again. He kept holding the baton in front of his chest as if it were a shield, hands shaking all the while (it was probably mere instinct).

"I-I'm warning you-!" He stuttered.

Mikoto sighed again; this guy was either very stubborn or just plain dumb. "Aah, I guess I'll just make it really simple for you." She put her hands back on her waist. "Do you want me to use one billion volts to take you out, or one?" She looked at him pointedly, wondering if he would take the hint now.

"Kh-kh—" He was obviously trembling now, gritting his teeth in pure fright. "K-khuaaaah!" With something resembling a war cry, his courage finally failed, and he turned and ran out the door and down the corridor with all the speed he could muster.

"Jeez, you make me look like the bad guy, you know?" Mikoto sighed as his footsteps disappeared down the corridor. Well, in any case, the annoyance was taken care of for now.

She turned toward the door on the wall to her right, which had been her initiate target before those guys showed up. She'd studied the overview map of the building before entering, but it hadn't had a convenient red arrow marked "look for clues here!" oddly enough. However, there might as well have been. There was one place not even her hacking skills could penetrate – and she'd bet her entire quota of game arcade coins she could find something in that place. Beyond this door was the staircase to the second floor – as well as the elevator to the basement.

Authorized personnel only, eh…

The door was equipped with a safety measure in the form of a card reader and code box; only those with the right entrance cards and the correct PIN would be able to enter. Theoretically, at least. Mikoto gazed at the device for a moment, analyzing the electromagnetic fields in less than a second, and then manipulating them with just as much ease. The door beeped open and allowed her to enter a short hallway with a staircase on the left – and the elevator right ahead. She walked up to it, seeing a similar safety measure as on the door.

Sometimes they ought to rely on plain old-fashioned keys. She sighed at the lack of challenge. Within a few seconds there was a small ping; the elevator doors opened, and she entered. Using the same trick on the box on the inside, the elevator soon headed downwards, its top modern machinery not making any noise at all in its decent.

They sure are paranoid though. Mikoto gazed at the high tech security camera that overlooked the inside of the elevator. It was equipped with heat and motion sensors and could silently trigger the alarm if something was off. It was currently offline though, due to a disturbance in its power feed.

XXX

The basement was hardly what you'd expect; it consisted of tons of rooms, corridors and dead ends. Having no particular idea of where to go, Mikoto passed by several rooms, gazing into the windows to see whether they looked like a plausible place to search for clues. Most of them looked like hospital rooms or the like; a few were utterly empty, and some scattered with toys (which made her insides wrench with unease – she knew they used children in their taste development program, but still…).

She kept walking until her senses suddenly picked up a familiar sensation in the air; the workings of computers. It came from the room directly ahead, in the end of the corridor she was currently in; a pair of double doors barring her path. She walked up and touched them, and was somewhat surprised to find them unlocked. Well, it's not like I'm about to complain… She pushed open the doors and entered a new room.

The room was rather large, and looked like a surveillance room; on both sides the walls sported huge windows that showed empty rooms that would probably serve as test labs, and the computers in here were humming and buzzing, hooked to big monitoring machines. What was more interesting though, was the fact that there was already someone in here.

A man looked up from his frantic typing on a keyboard when she entered. He stopped and stared at her, quite obviously not believing his eyes. He was wearing a white lab coat, open at the front, his hair seemed unkempt and greying, and his face was cold and aging. A black-haired woman stood right behind him; Mikoto recognized her from last night, and frowned. In contrast, the woman's eyes grew wide when she saw Mikoto.

"M-Misaka-san!" She exclaimed.

"What are you doing here?" The man shouted. "What do you think you're doing in my lab?"

Mikoto gazed at him. "This is your lab?" She threw a look around the room. Why would they be here while their colleagues were busy evacuating upstairs? Trying to secure their data's? It must be valuable data indeed. She wondered if it included the whereabouts of Hitomi-san.

"Don't you ridicule me!" The man spat, standing up so abruptly the chair he had been sitting in rolled backwards and hit the next table with a clatter. "What exactly gives you the right to force your way into this place?" His face was furious, his eyes livid.

"Ah? I didn't force –" Mikoto's comeback died on her tongue, as she realized she had just blown apart their front entrance. For a second, she felt guilty. That won't look good later, will it? But forget that; right now she had to serve him something believable.

"Aaah – I'm in Judgment!" She declared, putting her hands on her hips proudly. "Your dirty deeds have been sniffed out, mister! If you surrender right now, I'll make sure your arrest goes by without pain!"

"Judgment?" The man sneered, reaching behind his back – the woman threw him a glance and then screeched: "Professor, no -!" – But he had already pulled out his weapon, and aimed the gun directly at Mikoto, a furious look on his face.

"I won't let some self-justified brat come here and destroy my lifework!" He roared, and pulled the trigger.

The gunshot reverberated through the room; Mikoto didn't really comprehend what had happened at first. For one thing, nobody had ever pointed a gun at her before – the feeling was quite unsettling. No matter what level she was at, a gunshot would kill her if it hit the wrong place. She also wondered where'd he'd gotten that gun – guns were prohibited in Academy City, only Anti-Skill and certain other instances of law and force were allowed to wield them. Before she could process any of these thoughts though, the shot was already fired, and something zoomed past her midriff, pulling at her school jacket.

"Eh?" She blinked and looked down. There was a tear in the uniform right above her waist, as the bullet had grazed the lining and left a small wound in the cloth. A few more centimeters, and it would have hit her body instead.

"What…?" Shock settled in her system. He… really fired. Fear crept into her mind, and completely paralyzed her. The bullet had just been so fast; there was no way she could have dodged it. Even if she did feel it approaching, it had already passed before she could comprehend it.

That was her first reaction. And then, another thought followed the first one. He fired, and missed. Seeing his surprised expression as he stared at her and then at the gun, there was no doubt he had meant to hit her. He had actually tried to shoot her. Just like that, he'd fire without even trying to talk? He'd fire, without a care for what could have happened?

She gritted her teeth, and her hair fluttered in the static that suddenly erupted from her body, blue lightning crackling from her skin. The man and the woman both stared at her in terror, and then they scurried out of the way, stumbling over their own legs – the woman screeched as she tripped and fell to the floor, and the man tossed himself down right beside her, just barely avoiding the lightning strike that tore across the floor and hit the computer behind the one they had been sitting at. The machine made a loud whine and then exploded in a fireball that rose to the ceiling, and the sprinklers above them suddenly clicked to life, a fine spray of water pouring out of them in an effort to put out the flames.

"I'm sorry!" The man wailed, covering his head with his arms. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to fire; it just went off!"

Mikoto didn't pay his words any attention, as scalding hot anger tore through her body, covering up the fear, electricity striking into the air all around her. She was barely mustering the presence of mind to control the currents, lest they tore up the entire room and killed those maggots. They cried in terror and got to their feet, stumbling towards the other door –

"Like I'd let you!" Mikoto roared, and they were both promptly electrified. Even without water to help the electricity travel through the air they would have stood no chance, and now, only more so. The two of them fell to the floor in a smoking heap, and Mikoto breathed deeply trying to regain her composure, water trickling onto her head in a steady stream, the electric currents calming down before dissipating completely.

The blood that had rushed to Mikoto's head slowly receded, though her mind was swirling with terror still – the tear in her school uniform felt as if it was searing against her skin. She straightened up and drew a deep breath. It had been way too close for comfort, but he had missed. She was still alive, and he was unconscious. No reason to panic.

The water was soaking her uniform by now, and her hair was already flattened by the drizzle. I suppose hoping they were considerate enough to install a hairdryer in a convenient distance from this room is asking too much… she sighed, feeling her heartbeat slowly calm down. And now I can't ask them about Hitomi-san either. Jeez. She just had to go and knock them out cold. Why did it feel like she had been doing that a lot lately?

XXX

Kuroko reached out and grabbed a heavy folder of papers from the bookshelf on her left side, then turned and threw it with all her might in the direction of her opponent. Thanks to the numerous papers on the floor it was possible to determine his approximate location at least; however the folder was merely knocked away without doing much damage, and he was still storming towards her.

Kuroko gritted her teeth, teleported to the other end of the room and turned, sweat pouring down her face. Pulling out the last four spikes from her belts, she breathed deeply, trying to calm her mind. Asanuma-san was standing in the open office door nearly biting her fingers off in anticipation.

"RAAAAAH!" Kuroko's invisible opponent charged forward again, feet stomping over the papers on the floor, sending them flying in all directions.

There. Concentrating, she could imagine his feet in her mind, see where they landed, lifted, and landed again. This is it! Eyes widening, she thrust her hands forward as if trying to blast the guy with a magical spell – the spikes disappeared from her hands and reappeared, one by one in a wobbly line, in the floor, passing through paper and carpet both – four in a row, and yet he was still charging at her with the same speed as before. They all missed? She barely had time to be surprised before his hand hit her face squarely, and her back was forced into the wall. "Ack –"

"Got you, bitch! HAHA!" He punched her in the stomach, and she doubled over in pain.

"Shirai-san!" Asanuma-san cried again, nearly biting her nails over by the doorway. Kuroko coughed, saliva filling her mouth. Spikes… But as she grasped for more spikes, her fingers hit nothing but air; the leather belts were empty. She had tried too many times, and dropped too many spikes in the fray.

"Haha out of ammo! You lose!" The guy pulled her forward by her collar and slammed her into the wall again; she winced as her head hit the wood and bursts of stars filled her vision. Forcing one eye open, she glared at the air in front of her where his face should be. The only thing she could see was the other end of the room, as if he wasn't there at all. His hand was real enough though, gripping around her throat, and she was starting to feel dizzy. She looked sideways; and suddenly she saw it. Just within her reach. A last glimmer of hope.

Now… concentrate… while her right hand shot up and grabbed his wrist, her left arm flung out over the wall, grasping for the metal object. The guy laughed wildly, but she ignored him, concentrating intently on that one thing – there! Her left hand tightened around the spike. While any severe distraction would usually hinder Kuroko from using her ability properly, something as simple as this minor pain was not enough to make her waver. She could continue the fight long after being injured; she was able to ignore pain to impressive lengths. And doing just that, as well as quenching the insecurity and the swirl of thoughts, she forced her mind to relax – and teleported the spike out of the wall.

Then her cocky opponent was suddenly in the air again, and his invisibility once again came off as he hit the floor harshly, revealing a shorthaired guy with a crazy look on his face.

Holding the spike in front of her, Kuroko gazed at him with burning determination in her eyes; blood trickling from the corner of her mouth, her newly bought clothes ruffled and worn and her body sore and tired.

"I got you… jerk." And she teleported the spike directly into his right hand.

"AAAAH!" He screamed and trashed, but his hand was stuck to the floor, and he rolled over, grasping his wrist with his left hand, crying still. Kuroko stepped forward and gazed down at him mercilessly. Her breathing was harsh and her body hurt, but she was strangely calm.

"This," she said, "is what awaits those who go against Shirai Kuroko."

XXX

"Heh, I knew it."

"Huh?" Mikoto looked up at the sudden voice and was faced with two girls standing in the doorway on the other side of the room, safely out of range of the water sprinkling from the ceiling. One was tall, with her brown hair tied up in a ponytail, and the other was slim and elegantly poised, long, black hair falling around her shoulders, a small smile on her face.

"Unabara-san and Fasu-san…?" They were both wearing the Tokiwadai uniform, so there was hardly any reason to ask. The questioned stemmed from her surprise over seeing them here.

"Such a flashy entrance could only be the ace of Tokiwadai, Misaka Mikoto the Railgun." The tall Unabara-san grinned. "Why would you take the trouble with coming all the way here? Don't tell me it was just to have fun with these morons?" She threw a haughty look at the unconscious forms on the floor, still smoking despite the water soaking their clothes.

Mikoto gave a slight smile, ignoring the cold tremble in her body. "Heeeh. You know, I was prepared to have this turn into a total miss, so it's pretty convenient to have you suddenly show up. Maybe you'll be nice enough to just tell me where Hitomi-san is too." She wouldn't mind avoiding any more confrontations. While she never lost confidence, that gunshot had definitely shaken her insides up just a little.

"Oh, so that's it? Come to get Hitomi Aika, have you?" Unabara-san said smugly. "The high and mighty Railgun-sama coming to save a poor little girl on a glorious white horse." Mikoto frowned; but the third-year suddenly huffed. "As if!"

"Hah?" Mikoto asked, puzzled by the sudden change of tone.

The older girl sneered. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me that's actually your reason? Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Heh." Mikoto stomped down her annoyance with an easy laugh. "For carrying out a kidnapping right in front of someone else you don't really give off the impression of a genius."

"Oh, so you've found Reiko." Unabara-san tsk'ed. "That airhead just had to intervene right at the end."

"Well, you didn't exactly try to hide her, Ryoko." Fasu-san said, her pleasant voice calm and level. She looked over at Mikoto. "However with the fact that you came this far looking for her, I suppose it means somebody didn't do their job right yesterday…"

Mikoto gazed back at her solemnly. She had never even heard Fasu Niba speak before, only ever seen her and Unabara-san walking side by side with Asanuma-san in the halls of Tokiwadai, throwing haughty looks everywhere. In any case, with them showing up here, there was no doubt to her she was at the right place.

Unabara-san sighed. "He said he'd knocked out the pursuers, but seems like he failed to mention just who the pursuers were. Honestly, he's so useless." She scratched her temple tiredly, looking let down.

"Where is Hitomi-san?" Mikoto asked, not caring much for this kind of small-talk.

"My, you sure are impatient." Unabara-san sighed, looking back up at her and putting her hands on her waist. "I've always gotten the impression you're a calm person." Suddenly, she grinned. "Did you really show up at that facility yesterday without being able to take out Gimei?"

Reminded of her failure back there, Mikoto felt a stab in her chest, and gritted her teeth. Her patience was already running thin. "If you won't tell me where she is, I'll just tear this place apart and find her myself!"

Unabara-san merely kept smiling. "Yes, of course you will. That's how Academy City's number three deal with all kinds of problems, isn't it? By blowing them up." She tossed a meaningful look at the unconscious forms on the floor and the wrecked computer on the table.

"Wha – if that's what needed to –"

"Isn't that just a grotesque instinct you can't control?" Unabara-san asked, still smiling.

There was another stab in her chest. "S-shut uuup!" She screeched, and the electricity lashed out around her, wildly smashing into the monitors and computers; small explosions racking the room and smoke collecting by the roof despite the drizzling water. Breathing heavily, a last few sparks left her temple. Then her eyes widened suddenly. Did I just-?

"I rest my case." Unabara-san said, and she looked up again; the girls were still standing by the door, and just as she watched, a sheet of glass melted back into the form of a window in the door beside them. They shielded themselves…? Glass was an insulator, and of the right thickness it could easily stop an electric charge.

Somehow, this made her even more furious. "Stop beating around the bush and tell me where Hitomi-san is!" She commanded. Water drizzled everywhere, dripping from her bangs and uniform, but those two by the door was still dry and smug.

"Hitomi-san, Hitomi-san, is that all you care about?" Unabara-san said, removing her hand from the door. "I know you play the sweet, innocent girl at school, but your real colors are quite different, neh?" She grinned down at her, annoyingly confident. "You don't need to keep up the charade here. Be honest; you're not actually concerned about Hitomi-san, are you? You just saw the opportunity for tossing your powers about for a bit, didn't you?"

Mikoto gritted her teeth again, refusing to bite at her bait."Why did you even bother showing yourselves? Were you planning to just stand there and chat?" She forced out a small smile. "Are you stalling for time, or trying to avoid a fight?"

"And what are you going to do about it if we are?" Fasu-san suddenly asked. "Are you going to attack us next? My, the Railgun turns out to be quite amusing." She hid a small giggle behind her hand.

"Haah—" Mikoto gave a deep sigh, even though the annoyance was building up in her chest. How come these guys seemed to be more interested in being irritating than actually do anything? "Why are you making this so difficult? You've already been exposed; there's nothing to gain from being stubborn."

"To be honest, I've always been interested in finding out what kind of person you really are." Unabara-san seemed annoyingly amused, and continued to ignore her queries. Her grin was nauseating. "You just don't give the proper vibe of a high level esper. You always seem so cheerful and carefree; yet, despite being one of only seven level fives in Academy City, and really popular at our school, you're still as lonely as the most hated cockroach. Does that never bother you?"

"Gh—" Mikoto bristled, gritting her teeth even harder.

"Being at the top of the food chain brings its own troubles, Ryoko." Fasu-san said pleasantly. "I guess you would have to be pretty hard-headed to cope with it."

Unabara-san grinned even wider. "Yet there's no way she hasn't noticed." She said. "People are scared of coming too close, and the only ones who take the chance are those that want to bask in the glory of her status." She kept looking at Mikoto, grinning steadily wider. Mikoto's chest tightened up, as if she couldn't breathe properly. "All the smiles, greetings, friendly chatters – it's all fake, and you know it." The other girl continued. "Yet the only thing you can do is play along and smile sweetly. All that stress and anger building up inside every day, every time you see carefree friends enjoying their time together, lovers sharing a kiss or holding hands, classmates having a friendly, real chat, and knowing you won't ever have it because of your own ridiculous power level… It must be frustrating, neh?" Her grin was showing of all her teeth now.

Mikoto was shivering all over. Even though she was cold from the water pouring out of the sprinklers, the air in her lungs felt as hot as fire. Her hands were so tightly fisted her knuckles were starting to hurt.

Unabara-san continued on: "In desperation, all you have left is your own power – to destroy. Letting your anger out on random misfits in the back alleys of Academy City, leaving them knocked out on the ground – and in the end, it only serves to scare people even more; in essence creating a wheel of misfortune you're unable to break out of."

"Stop –"

"Ah, but you can't deny it, can you?" The other girl smirked. "Even now, you've wrecked half of this facility within a few short minutes and even knocked out the top bosses without a second thought. It's in your very genes! And for what? You say it's for saving some girl you can't even call your friend – you know it yourself; she's nice to you because that's the kind of girl Hitomi Aika is – nice to everyone! But if you don't do this, people will look at you and be disgusted; they'll say that even though she has the power, the ace of Tokiwadai doesn't even try to help her own classmates. It's almost enough to pity you."

"Stop saying those random things!" Mikoto shouted, electricity popping around her in pure agitation. The only reason it didn't travel along the water drizzling from the ceiling to electrify everything around her being she consciously held it back. No matter what, these two were still the closest thing she had to a lead on Hitomi-san's whereabouts. If they did force her to knock them out though, she'd gladly tear apart the rest of the building to find her.

Unabara-san gazed at her with a humored smile. "They're not random at all. Can you honestly say you have even one true friend?"

Mikoto's eyes widened. It felt like someone had just driven a nail right through her heart. Even… if it's only one… her breath hitched. A face flashed by her mind, and her gut clenched; …I even called her my best friend, yet… That stupid underclassman, she wasn't quite sure where she had her. One moment she'd be calling her a moron and act totally annoying, the next they'd have a somewhat normal conversation. But was that really how a friend was supposed to be? Was she just like all the others, in the end? Why had she gone and said such an embarrassing thing in the first place! And why was this jerk trying to put her off by bringing it up?

She gritted her teeth again and clenched her hands, shaking all over. Her head felt like it was close to burst open; electric currents emitted from her temples in furious charges.

Unabara-san grinned contently. "I can see it in your eyes – how you'd like to strike us down with your electricity. You can't fight it; you'll always lose to the instinct in the end. No wonder people are scared."

"Ghh—" Electricity continued to crackle around her. She was so mad it felt like her head would explode any moment, and she tried to force herself to calm down. "If you're finished talking now, I'd like to move onto the main topic." She said levelly, her entire body strained in trying to keep herself still.

Unabara-san's smile only widened even more.

"If you won't answer me, I'll just force the answer out of you!" Mikoto yelled, the calmness gone in an instant, and electricity striking into the walls around her.

"Oh yes, I suppose you will," Unabara-san said, while Fasu-san lifted one hand in her direction, "then let's see you try, little Railgun-sama."

Suddenly, a light erupted in front of her eyes; it shone with a force several times that of a floodlight, and filled her line of sight with a blinding flash – Mikoto shadowed her face, but it was already too late. The flash lasted only a second, but it had the same effect as a stun grenade. Guah – I can't see! She desperately blinked her eyes, but there was no way to make the whiteness go away; she was totally blind. She heard footsteps up ahead and aimed her lightning attack in that direction, but the feedback told her she hit the wall.

Laughter flowed back to her ears as it disappeared down the corridor; she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes shut. Even the inside of her eyelids were white as day. Of course, she could still sense her surroundings, but taking on two obviously high level espers while unable to see was stupid no matter who you were.

She lowered her head and waited for the whiteness to subside. Trying to put me off with those things-! She seethed inside, her teeth gritting, yet her gut was coiling uneasily as well. As if I'm… it's not like I don't have friends, it's just that – they get bullied for being close to me. How can I let anyone experience that? It's better for me to be alone! She couldn't really blame anyone either; her ability development had just seemed to shoot past everyone else's. She'd always felt detached from the rest of her class, even in elementary. The few friends she did make seemed so brief, like just a passing thing. Of course they'd be…

Something wet ran down her cheek, different from the cold water sprinkled from above. She furiously wiped her eyes, forced herself to draw a deep breath, and slowly tried to open her eyes. It was still brighter than normal, but at least she could make out her surroundings. That was good enough. She moved on to the door in front of her, ignoring the knocked out forms on the floor and the tremble in her limbs, determined to keep going. They can say whatever they want; I'm still going to get Hitomi-san out of here.

XXX

Kuroko collapsed to her knees, finally able to gather her wits and heave for breath. Asanuma-san entered the room at last as well, warily approaching them.

"So, you are Gimei." Kuroko said in-between breaths. Every bone in her body was hurting, but she knew she was merely bruised. Bruises such as these would not stop her.

The man was still grasping at his nailed hand, crying openly. Having a spike stuck in your hand probably wasn't the most pleasant of feelings, though Kuroko had been hard pressed; she didn't want to risk him being able to continue the fight.

"Where is Hitomi-san?" Kuroko asked of the crying guy. She could ask him several things – about the robberies, about stalking Asanuma-san, about Usan Research and his role in this place – however all that could wait. Right now, finding Hitomi-san was top priority. She could not count on Misaka-san to solve everything, assuming she was even here.

However, the man merely cried and ignored her question completely. Kuroko sighed and rubbed her chest to appease some of the pain; Asanuma-san gazed at her for a moment, before kneeling on the floor beside the man and leaning forward over his body.

"Kino…?" She said softly, and the man almost instantly stopped fidgeting and turned towards her voice. Asanuma-san pulled back slightly, hesitated a bit, and then went on: "Kino, you remember me, right? Please tell me where Aika is."

Kuroko looked at her in surprise. "Kino?"

"Asanuma-san…" The guy said, his voice a lot calmer now. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. "It hurts…"

"I know, but you have to help me." Asanuma-san said, leaning forward again. "I need to find Aika. I promise it will all be better afterwards."

Gimei bit his lip and clenched his eyes shut, shivering. "Ryoko… Ryoko told me."

Asanuma-san looked surprised. "Told you what?"

"She told me I should stop doing whatever they wanted… she told me I could be like everyone else, I could get a girlfriend, like Asanuma-san…" Gimei gasped for breath, while Asanuma-san's eyes widened. "She said I should give you presents and show you I was a real man… she said you would like me if I helped you be re-elected."

"So it was you who sent me those things…" Asanuma-san seemed quite disturbed.

The guy whimpered; "I love you…" His left hand reached up to stroke through the dark hair that hung past Asanuma-san's face. "I love you…"

Asanuma-san gritted her teeth.

Kuroko looked at this display in shock. "Asanuma-san… you know this guy?"

Asanuma-san sat back, but kept gazing at the man. Her face was twisted in a grimace. "I did." She said; her voice was trembling slightly. "Kino was one of Ryoko's friends at Jousei Care. I have not seen him in four years; I thought he left Academy City. However…"

Kuroko's throat thickened. "They took him here…" Having his profile in the database changed and then using him for experiments… How was this even possible? It shouldn't be possible! She felt revolted, to say the least. If this place burned to the ground, she would not shed a single tear. Rather, she would laugh with joy. This hunt for finding Hitomi-san had helped them uncover a hideous place – it was disgusting beyond anything she had imagined.

Asanuma-san gritted her teeth and bent her neck downwards. "This is not Kino at all… it's not… it's just… horrible…" Her shoulders shook.

Kuroko was too shocked to say anything. She'd never imagined anyone could manage to pull of something like this; it seemed impossible that something like this could happen in Academy City. She gritted her teeth, feeling a rage grow in the pit of her stomach.

"Were you the one who made that bus crash on purpose as well?" She asked at last, sounding surprisingly calm despite the feelings burning inside.

"Ryoko… Ryoko…" the guy muttered, staring dazedly into the air.

Kuroko snapped. "You better tell me right now!" She roared above his face, still on her knees. "Did you steal from countless citizens and injure our students in a traffic accident? Were you the reason two girls were almost hit by the bus, giving Onee-sama no choice but go to the trouble to blast the bus off the road? DID YOU KIDNAP HITOMI-SAN?"

He shrunk away from her, though not too far, since his hand was still stuck to the floor. She wanted to grind her fist into his face and dig out some answers from his very brain. But she knew what the answer was. This guy was obviously unstable; judging from Asanuma-san's words, he wasn't acting normal at all. Most likely he would be easily influenced to act in any way as long as he believed it would make Asanuma-san fall in love with him. Perhaps the only thing you'd need to say was something along the lines of "unless Asanuma-san is re-elected, she will never love you; let us make her foul opponent retreat by showing them how serious we are…"…or perhaps it was enough to tell him how Hitomi-san was Asanuma-san's girlfriend, make him jealous?

Her hands fisted themselves, shaking with straining feelings. So who was to blame for all this?

The name formed in her mouth on its own. "Unabara-san…" Everything tied to her. Everything.

Gimei merely continued to cry. Asanuma-san stared at him for a second, before she turned her gaze to Kuroko.

"Shirai-san, something is very wrong here. I can't… I can't believe Ryoko would ever do something like this; putting her friends in danger, using Kino like this – that's not how she is!"

"There is no doubt she is doing it, though." Kuroko said, still gritting her teeth. "How would you explain all this if she's not the culprit?" And how can you still call her a friend?

Asanuma-san's gaze turned even more serious if possible. "There is no doubt Ryoko is doing it. But… Ryoko is a kind and caring person. Though she might seem prickly and cold on the outside, she always did her very best to please those she cared for. If you ever saw her with the children at Jousei Care, you'd see what I mean. It's so sweet it's almost sickening!" She shuddered, and looked back at Gimei; the guy was still crying, soaking the papers beneath his head. Her face grew solemn again. "No, this is impossible. It's not her."

"In that case, I assume you have an explanation." Kuroko said, settling back and trying to calm down. She hoped the other girl wouldn't start rambling about some evil twin or something of the sort. That might very well make her snap.

Asanuma-san turned to look at her; she had a determined look on her face now. "This is Atomics' doing."

Kuroko stared at her, wondering if she'd gone mental. Even saying Unabara-san had a split personality disorder would have made more sense. "How on Earth –"

"I think those girls have something against Aika!" Asanuma-san rudely interrupted her. "There is no secret Aika doesn't care much for them; I think they are the ones who would want to get rid of her!"

"I might understand that if you were saying Unabara-san and Fasu-san was working for the faction, however where in this setting does Unabara-san's apparent irregular behavior fit in?" Kuroko asked, expecting a rather incredible explanation if there was one.

Asanuma-san drew a deep breath. "There is someone in our school who has the ability to influence people's minds," she said, "someone who can even control people's actions. That person has been influencing Ryoko all this time, making her do these things, I am certain of it. Atomics has a lot of her followers in it; they could easily ask her to help. It is the only explanation."

"And who is this 'someone'?" Kuroko asked dryly.

Asanuma-san looked squarely at her. "The level five with the ability called 'Mental Out': The Queen of Tokiwadai."

Kuroko looked at her for another moment. "Eh?"

XXX

There was something up ahead; she could see the light from the sun. Outside? Still wet, cold and slightly shook up, Mikoto stepped through a doorway, and found herself in a small room with measurement instruments and computers, like the observation room she'd been in earlier. It was separated from the next room by metallic plates and windows, easily allowing the light inside.

Looking into the next room, she realized it was indeed still inside; the surface she was looking at was glass. The walls, the floor, the ceiling – it was all made of glass. Like a giant, empty greenhouse. The outside was hard to see due to the thickness of the glass, but she was certain what was filling the room with light was the actual sun.

There was nothing else stationary in the main room. No computers or machines or monitors. There was, however, someone on the middle of the floor, someone who was bound and gagged and hunched over.

"Hitomi-san!" Springing forwards, she forgot all caution as she reached the blonde girl. Hitomi-san looked positively frightened, and mmpph'ed something through the gag in her mouth.

"I'll get you out, don't worry…" Mikoto placed a hand on the gag and was surprised; it was made of glass as well. "How…" There was no doubt an esper who was the culprit behind this. Someone who could manipulate glass? Her eyes widened. Unabara-

"Right into the trap!"

She turned around, electricity already sparking from her bangs, and the floor around her wobbled and suddenly shot up into the air. She stumbled backwards, crashing into Hitomi-san, and watched in rising horror as the glass around them formed a cage – an airtight cage of glass as thick as an arm and no bigger than a couple of meters across. It was barely big enough to allow her to stand upright beside Hitomi-san.

"No way…" She breathed. Her electricity wouldn't be able to affect the thick glass by itself. She would have used iron sand to slash it apart, but there was no ground to extract iron from here; it was all glass. Gritting her teeth, she dug a hand into her pocket and pulled out a coin, aimed it at the glass wall in front of her and –

"Woah, you really gonna do that with Hitomi-san so close?"

The brown-haired girl was suddenly standing beside the cage, grinning smugly. Mikoto's eyes widened, the electricity around her dying down – as the blood that had rushed to her head subsided, she could hear the terrified whines of Hitomi-san at her back. The cage was too small for her to fire a railgun without risking to hurt Hitomi-san in the process.

She was sweating all of a sudden, her eyes huge with horror. She'd acted on pure instinct, and even a second later, it would have been too late – in her haste of destroying the cage, she hadn't thought about Hitomi-san at all. Then what could she do? They were trapped. Her only means of getting them out was restrained by the size of the prison. If she took the chance and fired anyway, and Hitomi-san was hurt…

Her arm fell to her side, the coin hitting the glass floor with a plinging sound. Her chest felt constricted and she found it hard to breathe.

"I knew I was right." The brown-haired girl said confidently from outside the cage, muffled by the thickness of the glass between them. Mikoto could barely hear her at all, yet her words still reverberated into her mind. "Faced with an obstacle, you instinctively turn to destroying whatever bars your path – regardless of who might be hurt."

That's not true! She wanted to scream it out, but it hurt in her chest – hurt, because that was exactly what she had been about to do. Is that really… how it is…? She clenched her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, shoulders tensing in a sudden sob.

"Awww, did I hit a nerve? Haha!" The girl outside the cage laughed. "Look at Hitomi-san, so terrified. You really think she's happy you're here? You, who are a danger to your own surroundings?"

Her words stabbed Mikoto harshly in the chest, yet she couldn't move at all. Couldn't open her mouth to yell back. Couldn't turn to look at Hitomi-san. No wonder people are scared…

"Mmpph, mmmmmpph!" Hitomi-san could say nothing else. Mikoto didn't know what she was trying to voice. Her head felt heavy, as if it was filled with too many things. She was cold, and her body shook.

"You know, I could kill you now if I wanted." The voice continued. "I could make the glass walls crush you to death, for instance. But I like taking things easy; after all there's no rush... so, how long do you think there will be enough oxygen in there for the two of you?"

Mikoto sank to her knees, feeling completely burned out. If she'd been alone, something like this wouldn't hinder her at all – but with someone like Hitomi-san here as well...

"What'll you do, Railgun?" Unabara-san laughed. "No-one's coming to save you, you know. It's all in your hands!"

Note:

What's this? Mikoto's point of view! Oh my, how did this happen? At first I was a bit reluctant at doing it, but I feel like it is important to understand Mikoto's side of things as well. Aaah, my perfect "Kuroko and Kazari's point of view only" is ruined! Can you ever forgive me?

This chapter is heavily inspired by the Railgun manga (especially chapter 34 I think). It was hard to write - every word seems to count just as much, and I tried my very best to create the exact mood I wanted to have. I wonder if I even succeeded, after working with this thing for 8 hours today... (I would like to say I need a hobby, but this is my hobby xD). I was having a bit of trouble with the timeline as well, as Kuroko's confrontation with Gimei and Mikoto's adventure into the basement happens simultaneously (the start of this chapter takes place right after the 'explosion' in the last chapter). Timewise I wanted to put the end of the fight together with the part where she tries to interrogate Gimei, however I thought about the cliffhanger from last time and… tried to make a glorious middle way. I think it came out allright? Maybe?
Though I am certain I could still make changes here and there, I don't really know if it would be better or just different. And if I don't post it now, I might be stuck trying to figure out how to make it perfect, which would be impossible. So I leave it up to you to decide; if you like it, or feel something was off anywhere, please let me know!

Now, I could write a page or two about this topic, but to make things comprehensible; what would you want next? – A: one looooong chapter (10,000 words +), or B: two normal length chapters (5000-ish)? (As a pointer, this chapter counted 8000 words. It's even longer than the previous one.)
One loooong chapter may result in a slightly slower update and of course in the completion of the story one chapter faster, and it might be a long read, but whether that's bad or good is up to you, I guess. Two normal length chapters would make me able to work more on part 2 after reading the reviews on part 1 (which would most likely lead to it getting longer, for good and worse), and would probably be easier to read. As the author, this is what I would choose. I think. And then again, maybe not. I dunno. Which is why I'm asking in the first place. One or two?

Failure to collect a coherent solution to this question within the timeframe of when the next chapter is posted will result in major brain wrenching and possibly coin flipping to decide the outcome (and not the kind that is followed by a beam of light; though it would be rather awesome if that happened - and seriously frightening!). Normally I wouldn't ask, but I thought long and hard about it and in the end decided to give the ones who are reading this thing a chance to decide. It's like democracy; somewhat effective as long as people care to vote. And just like in democracy, you don't have to vote. You are of course welcome to voice your opinion about the chapter even if you can't be arsed to care about this huge problem which will not be a problem at all once the chapters are posted, at which point you may ignore this entire note and keep on reading ;) And even if you can't make up your mind, rest assured that I will flip that coin and the chapter(s) will be posted.

(I rewrote this note to make it shorter, but somehow ended up making it longer… I think I've found the core problem in my writing style… hmmm… *deletes the rest of the story* Oh, look: It's much shorter now!)

In other news, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Next time: Kuroko is still the main character.

To Rob (once again): Thanks again! Don't worry, I'm fairly confident in my English, but I know there's room for improvement, and the only way I can learn now is, I think, by having people point out what could be worked on. I appreciate it! The "fabric" thing is definitely one of those things I probably would have never known about. As of the moment, I'm working on the flow in my writing, hopefully making it more of a pleasure to read. I hope you'll continue to enjoy it!