All-right, I think my schedule is finally getting to the point where I'm running out of reasonable excuses. I'm going to try and build up a backlog before I commit to weekly updates again, but for now I'm hammering out what I can. Once summer rolls around and I'm just working full time hours and not more (AHAHAHAHA oh gosh what is my life) things should improve. I'm going this between marking papers over reading week, as something a little more entertaining to do. Note that editing may be a little slack this chapter, because I've corrected enough grammar in the last 100 hours to last me a lifetime.
One thing I did have time for was to finally make an image for the story, but that was a while ago. It should already be visible; for those wondering, yes, those Kanji actually mean something. They do not QUITE read "Holiday Season" as that would be too short to look right. Instead, I managed to insert what I think are my first ever puns in Japanese. I'll give away one element, because the second might be spoiler-ish slightly (Assuming I did it correctly): I used a Kanji that can mean both "Season" and "Opportunity". Dwell on THAT one!
Ah, anyway. We left off with our heroes approaching the situation at Westfield mall in their own unique ways. Let's see how things can spiral out of control from here!
Chapter 7
3:37 P.M., December 26th: London: Westfield London Shopping Centre
In the darkened room, a radio softly buzzed. Two figures paused their journey, flashlight beams sweeping one last time down rows and rows and rows of shelves. Like minutes before and the last dozen times, nothing but merchandise filled the cavernous warehouse, stacking up three floors up to its shadowed roof. Finally a brief burst of static preceded a terse message.
"...Check in, Patrol Group D?"
One of the shapes reached up to his chest and depressed a small button.
"We're here, all quiet. What's up, control?"
"Groups B and E have gone silent ahead of schedule; missed their last check-in. Pull back down to the extraction zone, we're regrouping for tighter patrols."
"...All right, we're moving."
The radio died. After a short silence the two shapes took an abrupt turn, footsteps echoing as they made for the storage room's inner wall.
Suddenly one fell.
He stumbled, shouting, grasping for his partner but missing as he went down. He landed hard on his back in a crash that could not quite mask the soft sad squeak of the dog toy he had tripped on.
The dust soon settled and they continued. Rubbing himself gingerly. the man who fell coughed once, then again, before muttering aloud.
"Wouldn't have fallen, if it weren't so dark. ...Why is it so dark in here, anyway?"
"Relax, we have torches." [1]
"Yeah but I mean, people work here, right? When they're not evacuating, I mean. Why didn't they just install more lights? It's like, every hundred feet, one big lamp, then nothing."
"Probably cheaper."
"They ought to have been more considerate. People can get hurt."
"Look, we're the one's breaking in here, I don't really-"
The girl hanging magnetically from the ceiling decided she'd waited long enough.
She let herself drop lower, with practised ease laying a hand on their parallel shoulders. A brief surge of power quieted their bickering.
"Seriously... How can criminals these days be both so organized and so incompetent?" Mikoto shook her head in wonder as she scanned the room cautiously. Well, it doesn't matter if they're already know something is up. Just so long as no one can pin it on me. The radio chatter she could pick up on so far had not mentioned a young Japanese girl skulking about. As far as covert operations go, it was one of her smoothest. It helps that the security tech here is equivalent to hiding your diary under a mattress.
The esper stalled only long enough to slide their bodies out of sight before heading deeper into the mall. She had gotten a good enough sense of their destination, heading now towards a pair of large service doors. They were cracked open, a dim glow spreading from within. With a light leap and a gentle flip she pulled herself upside down to a metal cross beam just about the portal. As she dangled her head could just peer down into the next room.
The room was smaller, it's ceiling well lit and exposed. It seemed to be a secondary storage area, cardboard boxes stacked haphazardly and in varying heights. Their contents didn't interest her, but a closed door across from her did. The presence of an annoyingly alert thug made it only more appealing. His alert gaze swept patiently across the room, but he could not sense the electrical charge building with his name on it. If it's just him, I can easily-
"Got a 2?"
"Nah. Go fish."
"**** off. Again? You *******..."
Mikoto hesitated. She let the charge dissipate before carefully leaning further down. The new voices came from deeper in the room, and with a better angle she could just see two additional guards sitting at a table, diagonally offset from both her and their companion. Yet they were still close enough to see him, forming a rough triangle amid the scattered boxes. And no matter how she planned it, there seemed no way to get the drop on all three without at least one staying conscious long enough to notice her first.
I know I can just walk in and shock them all, but I've been doing so well! I'd rather not get seen now... Her irritation grew in the minute she spent listening to their card game's next few hands. I'll go all-in if I have to soon, but what I really need is-
Something heavy moved behind her.
Mikoto whipped around, but there was nothing. Nothing to vindicate what she had felt. Yet in a moment, she realized the truth.
That wasn't... That was nowhere near... The esper looked again, but this time with her magnetic senses, fields pulsing out into space. There was nothing moving in the room, but amazingly she felt a different source of power, something else fluctuating in the electromagnetic spectrum. It matched nothing she had ever felt, no esper or machine she's seen producing such an effect. And it was somewhere on the roof above her, peering down.
And no sooner did she feel it was it gone, shifting so suddenly straight up that it left a hole in Mikoto's perception. Now she was focused, intently following it in her mind's eye. But then it was gone, a strange mass of metal that she could not quite place.
She realized with a start that she was readying to follow it, torn now between curiosity and her sense of duty. Glancing back down into the next room it was clear no one inside suspected anything. Surely if I just quickly break through to the outside I can come back and-
There was a light rumble, and a box in the room fell with a crash.
Her plans derailed again, Mikoto froze. The card players stood up, playing cards fluttering to the floor as their comrade raised his rifle. For a minute no one moved, though all eyes were turned to the far side of the room. Nothing else came.
Sharing a glance, the pair slowly shuffled towards the sound's origin, drawing their own weapons. It lead to the far wall, packed with boxes that had been hurriedly shoved aside to make space for their guard station. The two criminal's closed in, circling and cutting off the intruder's escape. The leading searcher cleared his throat.
"Allright, the jig's up. Come on out, you!"
He was met with silence, but his partner picked up the slack.
"No one's gotta get hurt. Just come out, nice and easy. No sudden movements."
Still there was nothing. Their certainty began to falter.
"...There's no door behind there, right?"
"Nah, man. We pushed those boxes ourselves. So how-"
"Just get in there and look, you *****-*****!" [2] Cringing under their ally's criticism, the leading searcher lowered his gun and began to pull boxes clear, forming a path.
The mall shook suddenly, harder than before, and the leading searcher threw down the box he carried. But after a moment, and to Mikoto's surprise, he and his card partner shared a nervous laugh.
"Wow. Didn't think we'd feel that from here."
"Just get back to work." Their superior's scowl sent them back to work, but he did spare a moment to check a watch.
Mikoto was at a greater loss. And now what the heck was that!? I know I was distracted but I should have felt something. But the source of the rumble was too far away. I guess that's a problem for later. Though now I'm really considering giving up on the whole stealth thing, if it means I'm missing the real action...
The guard's made quick progress dismantling the blockage. Under both Mikoto's and the door guard's careful gaze no one snuck free. Soon there was only one place left to hide: 3 boxes, stacked in a rough pyramid that formed a small hidden cavity against the wall.
Cautiously now, the criminal crept towards the sanctuary. His arm twitched; pausing, he unholstered a side arm, holding it in his free hand. With one hand and all eyes on his back, he pushed on the topmost box.
Something skittered underneath it, bumping against a lower box.
He darted back, but held his voice. Nothing else happened. Finally, under the impatient but tense look of his comrades, he inched closer and closer. Before suddenly swiping hard at the topmost box.
It fell, and all three recoiled, aiming down iron sights.
But nothing happened. The room was filled with steadying breathes.
"...So what the Hell?" The door guard finally asked, shaking his head. "No one could fit in that space."
"Something is in there! You all heard it! Right!?" The first guard gestured, gun waving at the two remaining boxes.
"Oh, for... Get out of the way, George. Christ, no wonder you suck at cards..." The second searcher moved forward and, with the barrel of his rifle, slid the last obstacle aside.
A hush fell over the room. Mikoto's leaned as far as she dared, but one of their back's stymied her view. She reached out with senses but felt only a tiny bit of oddly familiar metal.
One of the leading guards made to shuffle forward, but his companion whipped out a restraining hand.
"Hey! Careful." He spoke in a harsh whisper. "You'll scare the poor thing!"
Puzzled, Mikoto drew in even closer. Luckily the door guard was similarly distracted.
"W-what is it? George, Drew? What-"
"Keep your voice down, Steve!" Chastising at a volume far louder than the offender, the thug turned back to their quarry. "Aw... It's okay, don't be scared, pretty little thing... Look, it's started shaking!"
"There there... come... come here! Come here!" Together, the Frank and George made soft cooing sounds, guns discarded at their feet.
Steve's control broke, and he strode purposely from his post. "All right, that's it! What the Hell have you got over..." He paused as he leaned over their shoulders. Finally his arms went limp. "...Is that a cat?"
"Yeah... Don't know how she got here, but look! She's just sitting there, facing the wall, all quivering-like. Shame... Think she's got a home?"
"George!"
"Oh, don't give me that, Steve. I'm not saying we have to take it in to the crew-house or anything, but, you know, maybe just for a bit-"
"Grk!"
"All-right, Steve, I get it! But, I mean, we can at least... Uh, St-!?" Despite turning as soon as his comrade hit the floor, the George and Frank never saw the shock coming.
"Huh. That works I guess." Waving away the light smoke that drifted up from their stilled forms, she glanced at her unlikely ally with a wry smile. The cat remained facing the wall, but it was no longer shaking. I thought I recognized that zipper. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Othinus finally turned, carefully making her way over the bodies. As she went, she took a moment to kick one hard on the nose. "Do you think you could do that to them again? Call me 'pretty little' again, why don't you..."
"Sensitive issue, huh?" That earned Mikoto a sharp glance, whose aim quickly drifted a foot down from the esper's face. It took the target a moment to blush furiously. "H-hey! What-"
"Don't make this a thing, esper."
Pushing down on a tirade, Mikoto swallowed. "Y-yeah, my bad. We're allies now, after all." She prayed her forced chuckle didn't sound too awkward. "I mean, we're in this together right?"
Othinus stiffened, before glancing down at her own form. Just as Mikoto realized what she implied, the Magic-God shrugged. "...Guess so."
Searching for anything to break the silence that she had inadvertently produced, the esper grasped the bodies by their metallic buckles, moving them behind a few conveniently placed boxes. "Right! That's dealt with! S-so, what are you-"
"Trying to get to you. Imagine Breaker figured you would be around, raising a ruckus."
"Hey, I know how to be subtle! ...When I absolutely have to!"
"Hah. You make that sound so forced." Othinus laughed as she caught up, sending yet more blood to Mikoto's face. " But the Magic-God paused. "But I suppose I understand your position better than most. It's hard to be circumspect when you have unlimited power."
"Right? I mean, I could tear this whole building inside out if I spent a few minutes." They moved out through the once guarded door together, Mikoto unconsciously following the Magic-God's lead. "But instead, because this isn't Academy City, I have to be careful. The power grid here probably isn't as quickly repaired, and there's all this political crap."
"Please. At my prime I could have destroyed the very concepts of 'hostages' and 'crime' altogether. In fact I did. Several times. Just having to move a physical form about three dimensions of limited space is a distraction I'm not used to having."
"R-right." I keep forgetting there are scarier people than Accelerator out there. "I guess when you've got a really big hammer... Heheh..." Even Mikoto knew her joking allusion was awkward, but she didn't expect to see melancholy on the Magic-God's face. "...Eh?"
"...Everything looks like a nail."
They walked on in silence. The room had opened out into a thin hall, wide enough only for one. It wound back and forth in the spaces between stores, with occasional offshoots and ladders. Othinus lead them with confidence, apparently working from memory. It soon became clear that there were no further guards, the rest having fallen back further into the mall. The remaining radio chatter was unclear on that front, but Mikoto could tell they were well aware of the new element in play.
"...It's strange that they don't think we're police or something."
"What are you talking about?"
Mikoto glanced down at her companion before giving her a confident smirk.
"Ah, I can pick up their radio transmissions. Though I haven't been seen once, they seem to know I'm not actually a secret police raid taking them out from behind. They're taking about an "unknown quantity" and stuff like that."
"I see." The Magic-God took the analysis surprisingly seriously. "Perhaps that's connected..."
"Connected?"
Othinus half-nodded. "In that box filled room earlier, I thought I..." But after a moment she shook her head. "Well, I could be wrong. I barely felt anything, and this IS England. Magical residue is all over the place."
"Uh-huh..." Why does that seem... "Wait, I-"
"Hold on." A tiny raised hand was enough to bring silence. "We're just beside them now."
"Oh. Good." Mikoto glanced about, sensing through the thin gray walls. "Well, judging by the belt buckles and jewelry, that's about 20 or so? Not too many hostages. And I only sense 5 firearms: that's-"
"Are you sure? There were far more people than that."
"No, I can tell. And where are we now, anyway? I don't recognize the layout of that room."
"The art display. They did move some things around."
"Did they also open up a huge hole in the ground?"
"No, they did nothing of the..."
Confusion turned to surprise. Then understanding. Finally, frustration. In perfect time, they slapped their foreheads.
"What did that Idiot DO!?"
!~~~~~~~~!
Flashback to 3:37 P.M., December 26th: London: Westfield London Shopping Centre. Simultaneous to a certain Railgun's approach.
"Index, how are you still hungry?"
"What?" The little nun glanced up, snapping alert. "Did you say fo-... I-I am not hungry! Why would you assume that!?"
"I can hear your stomach growling from here. And after all we ate... You know there's no way-" Touma felt the rumble again, but he paused mid-lecture. Now that he was ready for it, he realized the sound was not coming from his ward after all.
She realized it as well. "Hey, that wasn't me!" Delighted, Index pumped a fist before it instantly turned into a wagging finger. "See!? Don't jump to conclusions! Rude!"
"Well, if not you-" It sounded again, louder this time. Nearby hostages began to feel it too, their worry spreading. "-then what is that?"
The rising commotion caught a guard's attention. He stomped over, once again singling out Touma as he brandished his sub-machine gun. The boy shoved Index behind him reflexively, despite her protest, and the hostages evacuated a clearing as best they could "For the last time, stop being-"
The floor caved in beneath them both, amid one last loud rumble. They dropped like humans; that is to say, with a panicked cry.
A huge plume of dust roared up in a foaming geyser, ruining forever at least one priceless piece of art and drowning out any further shouts. The hostages fell to coughing and wheezing, making even more space as they scrambled clear. The remaining guards kept them contained despite their own obvious surprise, but hesitated to move forward.
The smoke soon settled, but the hostages remained paralysed. Though one voice preached calm in precise if worried tone, no one bothered to care. Instead there ears were glued to the chasm.
From the depths a single voice was heard.
"Whoops." A pause. "All right, Susan. It WAS another 10 meters."
!~~~~~~~~!
"God damn idiots. This was the one job your team had!"
"Sorry."
"I damn near broke my neck! All you had to do was come up with the tunnel in the next room!"
"Sorry."
"...Just get them down there before I decide to put you with Group S!"
"Right, right. Sorry." That final threat inspired some action. Other members of his team were already hard at work, clearing the drill they used to dig up from the basement below. As hostages watched with apprehension, a ladder was shoved up into the hole. "Okay, okay. Get moving. One at a time, unless you want to jump."
Index was among the first to be ushered down; she nearly took the criminal up on his speedier offer. She hit the ground below, eyes scanning nervously. They had been forced into a grubby underground, clearly part of the mall still but dust-laden from disuse. Those ahead of her had been shuffled into a corner, where they were covered by yet more thugs.
"Touma? T-touma!?"
A dust covered head straightened up, and the unlucky boy half-turned. "Ah. Hey, Index."
"You fell! Are you okay!?" Giving him the once over, she saw no wounds or scrapes.
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I landed on the one of thee criminals."
"R-really?" Index choked back her surprise. "That's actually kinda lucky."
"Not really." Giving a sad grin, the boy turned completely to reveal a swelling black eye. "I think I landed on the one named... 'Susan'? And on her... softer parts."
"Wait, so..." The nun blinked, before her face twisted in anger. "...TOOOOUMAA!"
"No! No, now look, that couldn't possibly be my fault! NOT THE OTHER EYE!"
As he reeled backwards in pain, the general exodus downstairs halted. Dusting off stubborn bits of plaster, the criminal in charge held back the next hostage.
"All right, that's enough. Take them on ahead, and follow the plan. No more screw ups."
"Yep." The drilling team had already packed up their tools and disappeared inside deeper shadows, through an artificial doorway drilled in an otherwise unblemished wall. At a guard's gesture a thin line of hostages went through as well. Though Touma craned his neck back to see where those remaining upstairs were taken, he was knocked forward and forced to follow.
He quickly moved close to Index, and together they passed through a short, thin tunnel leading down at a steep angle. It emerged into a large room, bifurcated by large trench running down its centre. On the far side there was a lot more room: this side was taken up by another complex drilling operation that was still ongoing, this one aiming directly upwards. Sure enough, a large plank was quickly lowered over the gap, and the leading hostages were shuffled over.
"There's no way they dug all of this, so where are we now? I can't see that well any more..."
"We're in the Underground."
"Well, I guess that's true, Index, but I was looking for something more specific."
"No, I mean the subway!"
"Subway? Are you still hungry-"
"TOUMA! The metro! Underground trains! THAT kind of subway!" [3]
As her blows rained upon his shoulder the boy was just happy their current guards were too distracted to care. Though a few still kept general watch over the diminished but still substantial group, others were fussing over a large set of machinery. "This might be the time to escape, but... I have no idea where to go."
The room didn't quite look like an old subway station: if anything it looked more like a storage depot, over two stories high. On the side they arrived from there was a large set of double doors, blocking what might have been a storage elevator. There was also the now obvious rail line running in two directions into large tunnels, but none of the other exits looked to lead upstairs. Even if they had, there were yet more guards in front of them. The last major feature was a large box-like observational room jutting over the station, its broken windows lined high on the far wall. So like the other hostages forced to cross the tracks, Touma and Index merely clustered beneath that box and waited, watching the criminal's arcane efforts.
"There sure are a lot of them. What kind of operation are these people even planning...?" As Touma scratched his head, Index's own perked up.
"I don't know, but based on where we are this looks like a unused parallel track running along the Central line." [4]
"Oh really? Good to know, I guess." Is there a sign somewhere I missed?
"Lately London has been trying to move away from using some of the older subway lines, especially those which suffered extensive damage during the disturbances of the last few months. It's particularly troubling to those in nearby communities, as before it's closure the Central Line west of the London Eye offered one of the more direct routes for commuters out of the city core. The Municipal Transit Authority promises that its replacement, the safer system of monorails recently constructed with-" As she spoke, Index's eyes glassed out. It took Touma shaking her by the shoulder to break the spell.
"How do you know all this!? And why are you talking with such class!? We've been here a day, don't tell you're already infected with high society values! I can't afford that lifestyle!"
"No no, it's not that!" She squirmed away from his grasp and pouted. "The Church only has public access television, so all I've been able to watch is News. There aren't even any Christmas cartoons on! It's just one channel with old boring people talking, and the worst thing is I can't forget any of it!" She rubbed her head and pulled at hair, her twitching eye giving Touma pause.
"R-right, I'm going to assume you're fine." Even if he wanted to, it seemed there wasn't going to be much time. The drilling had finally stopped, the machine slowly moved out of the way. And as it went, a rumbling grew.
"Not me! I swear! Not me this time" Index bounced up and down as the noise grew louder. A rush of air announced the arrival of what could only be a train. There was only one problem.
"Didn't you say this track was shut down? Unless-" A heavily modified rail car pulled up to the landing. "-They actually repaired the line!? Are they civic minded or something!?" The train came to a surprisingly efficient stop, considering it's size. But there were only three cars: the engine, a passenger section, and a strange flat-bedded trolley. And on the end of that trolley was a large crane, bolted down and counter-weighted for large freight. A man on board waved to his colleagues on the opposite station, who were finally clearing the site of their large upright drill.
"I can hardly see, but that hole going up... What are they drilling for anyway?" No one could answer, but the last remaining criminal clambered up a quickly erected ladder. With practised ease she placed something in holes drilled, trialling wire as she scooted back down. It didn't take long for Touma to understand.
"Oh, this is going to hurt."
"What?" Index looked around for the source of danger. "What will hurt?"
"In confines like this, even a controlled blast is going to seriously rattle our ears. Cover them up."
The nun did so, but opened a crack to ask another question. "How do you know that?"
"I've been through a lot of explosions. Oh, get ready, she's readying the trigger."
Index nodded, but hesitated, dropping her hands. "Wait, did you say explo-"
The shock wave nearly knocked her down, but it was even worse for the criminals who scattered to escape. As the rush of dust filled the room, Touma shook his head, eyes closed as the wave hit him. They didn't even wear safety equipment... Wait a minute!
His hand snaked out, grasping his gasping nun. She dragged her down a path he vaguely remembered seeing, narrowly brushing past its cursing guard. They exited the dust cloud into an dead end, save for an old door. It surrendered quickly to his shoulder, and they climbed the stairwell it hid.
At the top was the observation centre they were under moments ago, an empty table and a wall of unlit control panels their only company. Touma pulled them both low as individual voices finally emerged from below.
"G-God damnit! The Hell!?"
"How much charge did they pack in there!?"
"QUIET! QUIET!" A man rose his voice above the others. "Just get the damn thing loaded already! It'll be hard for them to stall now above ground!"
Loaded? What are they... Risking their safety, Touma peeked up through a broken window, unconsciously keeping Index from doing the same with a free hand. The dust was still clearing, but a crew had already hitched their crane to whatever it was had dropped down through the ceiling.
He squinted, but at first could only make out a large cube. It clearly weighed tonnes, leaving a shallow crater in the concrete floor from it's drop, but the criminal's crane proved strong enough. It was only when the metal object landed on the trolley with a deafening clang that Touma finally recognized it.
"Really? Oh, neat. This's a first for me."
"What is? Touma, let me see!" Index squirmed, finally bringing her head up high enough. "Is that a... Vault? An entire bank vault!?"
"Yep. It was a bank heist this whole time. Finally, it makes sense."
The nun seemed less convinced. "...Does it?"
"I don't even know anymore, really. But at least now we know what's actually going on. And now I see why they have the passenger cart." They watched as the hostages were crammed onto the train at gunpoint, followed by most of the remaining criminals. "I guess these guys really want to play it safe, if they are taking all those people with them. They must have somehow slipped into this line and have another station somewhere."
"That's terrible! Touma, we've got to do something!" The vault was secured now, the last of the criminal shuffling inside the passenger car.
"Right, okay. When it starts moving, I'll jump onboard. Index, you stay and tell-"
"No! Touma, I'm not-" The train began to move, and Touma dove back down the stairs. "Touma! Not again!"
The boy made it back down to the station level just as the passenger car slid into the tunnel. With time to spare he jumped onto the trolley, crouching hidden behind the vault. Well. That was simp- He had barely let out a sigh of relief when his breath caught in his throat.
Index was in mid leap behind him, a look of mild surprise registering the fact she wasn't going to make into aboard. As she passed over the lip of the platform and above the electrified rails her expression turned to panic.
"T-TOU-!" His left hand snaked out and caught her, Imagine Breaker grasping the crane's arm just in time. His jump from the train carried enough inertia to swing the crane out, dangling them both just feet above the now rushing ground. "W-whoa! That was close! I'm-" The hand that was originally around her waist shifted to her face as he pulled her closer to the crane.
"Sshh! Seriously, they have guns! They'll just shoot us, and I don't have a walking church! Speaking of which, would that fall have even hurt you? And why did you jump anyway!?"
She looked bashful now, trying to avoid his sharp whisper and stern gaze. When he twisted his head around to get her attention she squirmed the other way. Finally he succeeded in locking her down.
"Tell me, why-"
"Whenever I go away or stay behind, bad things happen to you!"
She pouted in trademark fashion, but a red tinge crossed her cheeks. Baffled, Touma had to lean back a second. His brow furrowed, and Index was left to imagine the deep thoughts brewing under the surface.
Vibrating with tension Index's blush grew. "...Well!? Say something already!"
"...That's nice of you, Index, but... Don't bad things happen anyway? ...N-now wait, Index, if you bite me they might hear us, we might fa-Agaaaagghh!"
!~~~~~~~~!
Near-about the same time: December 26th: London: Westfield London Shopping Centre, Art Gallery
"Right, so where is he? A-and the nun, I'm also here for the nun. And all the hostages." Though she blanched further at ever one of her consecutive gaffs, Mikoto saw her luck held. Othinus was too busy pondering the very same questions.
"I don't know, they were both right there, next to the cart full of my supplies."
Mikoto followed the Magic God's pointed finger, leaning further in despite the wobbling it caused. They were carefully perched on an unused shelving unit, propped up in the hall against the wall to look down into the room through a quickly removed vent. Now their faces were both squished up against the breach to peer inside, whispering to each other.
"Well, you don't need esper abilities to tell they're not here now. And of course, I'm sure they went down into that hole, because that's the least convenient place for them to be."
"That's likely true. Speaking of abilities, can you tell what's down there?"
Mikoto shook her head, forcing Othinus to bat her short hair away. But then the girl paused, right as a man in the room below stiffened. But where she looked quizzical he only smiled.
"That's the signal. Let's move 'em out boys, boys." Most of the hostages shrinked away, but one stood firm.
"We should just do as they say; there is no use in opposing them now." He spoke in precise and measured tones, and gestured broadly. "They haven't hurt us yet, and they always say you should not try to fight your hostage takers. Please, let's just do this peacefully, to avoid suffering." His calm demeanour carried the day, and in moments the mass was assembling. Two guards moved on ahead, and Othinus tugged on one of Mikoto's locks.
"Allright, this should be easy... Hey. Hey!" In response, Mikoto shook her head again, this time nearly throwing the Magic God to the floor below. "S-stop that! And why are you stalling, Esper? Tactically this is our best chance!"
"Because they're going to the police anyway." As Othinus' confusion grew Mikoto merely tapped her temple. "I caught that signal he was talking about: this group is going up to stall police forces through a hostage release. Which means..."
"...The other group is the important one. I suppose it's handy they didn't leave any guards on that hole, then."
"Yep. Even these guys don't have that much manpower." The room was empty, museum-quiet and still. It was a second of work to magnetically rip a gap in the thin plaster walls large enough for them to enter. Climbing to her feet and dusting off the wreckage, Mikoto gave the hole one look before dropping wordlessly in.
Othinus followed, startling the esper by landing directly on her shoulder. When she turned to look, the Magic-God just shrugged. "It's faster. Go, already."
The dash through basement and tunnel was short, ending abruptly in the underground station. They took a second to survey the damage, peering upwards into the darkness.
"What was up there?" And why does it smell like an explosion went off?
"This isn't the time Esper. Which way did they go, can you tell?" The tugging on Mikoto's hair was incessant.
"My powers don't work like that! Gah, Magicians... Just give me a second, something off." The girl leapt forward, heedless of danger. She dropped into the trench, and without pause grasped the live "...That's what I thought. There's an active train running in this subway. Heading... West."
"That's strange. This place looks mothballed. Why would... You suspect that train houses the criminals?"
"Well, let's find out." Mikoto grinned, and thin arcs of current multiplied through her hair and down along her arm. Affronted, Othinus jumped clear back to the platform proper. Brushing down static from her fur, she glared at the now motionless esper.
"What exactly are you doing?"
"What does it look like? Bringing them back."
"Is that a good idea? There might be hostages-"
"Don't worry, I got a feel for the train itself through the connection I've made. It's got a passenger car or something attached, everyone inside should have plenty of time to hang on. The criminals shouldn't have any idea what to do."
"Fine. How far away are they?"
"They got about 2 miles out, but aren't moving that fast. Well, they weren't, anyway. I'm accelerating them back now. We should see them in a few seconds."
Instead of seeing anything, they both heard something instead, fading their confidence.
"...Is that screaming?" Othinus nodded, looking thoughtful.
"Yes, but why does it sound so... So..." She snapped her fingers before rubbing her chin. Mikoto tilted her head, until each arrived at the same conclusion.
In unison they turned. "Familiar...?" [5]
"...ssssllooooooooowww ddddDDOOOOOOOWWWNNN!" From the darkness the unmistakable cry of an unfortunate boy echoed, but it was soon lost amid a rush of wind and the shriek of straining metal. The train barreled down its track, its lights dangerously close to the unused underground station.
...Directly towards Mikoto, still squatting in the train's path not 100 feet away. Her eyes widened, but she fought the instinct to dive for safety.
I got so distracted I forgot to decelerate the damn thing! Gritting her teeth, she magnetically slammed on the brakes every way she could. Its wheels bound tight to the rail, glued by invisible force, and the strength of her magnetic push raising the train at the joint connecting the trolley car. The near end of the passenger car scraped against the roof of the tunnel, sending a shower of sparks over the heads of cowering hostages. They held on for dear life, but not as hard as one unfortunate boy.
The train was going to stop in time, but the end of the crane leading the now reversed train swung around, propelled by momentum to swing low through the trench of the subway. The arc of its sweep passed straight through a wide-eyed esper. She reached out to stop it but saw with horror who and what was attached to it.
Imagine Breaker rang out, and with a thump Mikoto, Touma, and Index were launched into the ceiling to bounce off its cheap plaster before falling down amidst dusty shelves and boxes. The train came to a gentle stop now on its own, inertia killed. As it did, a few guards staggered off, blearily looking for a target.
"W-what the... How? What even could do that!?" He shouted back to the subway's engine, and a woman's head peeked forth.
"I don't know! The control panel here isn't responding, this thing's motor is shot to Hell and back! Maybe it glitched out or something!?"
"Crap, now what..." As the criminals regrouped and the hostages wretched, a battered trio groggily returned to life behind an accidental barricade of wreckage.
"...Everything hurts. All of me. Such misfortune."
"You hit me with a crane. A CRANE, you Idiot..."
"I feel fine. What are you two... Never mind."
Index quailed under their combined stare, but Touma soon broke it off to peer over at the train, knocking out debris lodged in his ears. "Well, that wasn't what I expected, but it worked. For now." Some criminals were shepherding their charges from the now defunct locomotive, while others looked about anxiously for answers. Behind him, Mikoto pumped a fist in triumph.
"And best of all, they don't know what happened or who did it to them. My cover is still intact!" Her joy evaporated when she noticed what lay on the flat-bed trolley car. She had to fight to keep to a whisper. "...Wait, this was all just a BANK ROBBERY!? That's so boring!"
One of the thugs broke off, desperately paging his hand radio for a contact. "All-right, now that's they're out of options, it's time to-" He finally got through to someone, and as they conversed Mikoto once again hesitated, catching signals that she didn't quite understand.
"Boss, the train... Yeah, yeah, it... Right. Right, okay. Plan B it is."
"...Wait. Misaka, did he say Plan B?"
!~~~~~~~~!
[1] The British term for flashlight. I've been avoiding throwing in a guy with a thick-as-dirt Cockney accent, but I will absolutely use regionally correct terminology when I remember (From last chapter, "mate" is not exclusive to Australia, by the way. Commonly associated, but not exclusively. A-ahem.)
[2] True fact, I remember when I first wrote this line that I thought it would be amusingly hard to determine what swear he was actually using here. Cue me 3 days later not remembering what swear I wrote! It's funnier this way I feel.
[3] I was actually going to take this joke one step further: there's a big chain of grocers in Canada called Metro, but I decided that might be too obscure for this international audience.
[4] All right, potential Londoners, hear me out. I'm aware that the Central Line has no parallel tracks running alongside it at this part of town (Though it does run very close under this mall). What I'm assuming is that in the RailDex world, there is. The implication here is that the underground was used as a simpler shipping solution for a time at Westfield Mall, but when the magical events happened like the English Civil War and WW III (events that never seem to come up again, despite the mass damage and panic they caused), infrastructure was damaged and the area was closed for safety. Central Line itself was rendered inoperable, prompting the shift away from it. It doesn't have to make a whole lot of sense logistically: If you want to really pretend, you can imagine that it was initially intended to be a major stop on the Central Line but politics made that impossible, so they re-purposed what was already there. But do you really want 500 words of political backstory fleshing out London's Underground?
Y-you do?
Is there a sub-genre for locomotive-based fanfiction? And no, I don't mean Thomas the Tank Engine.
[5] Both should be intimately familiar with this sound.