Chapter 28: The Final Stage

As the elevator doors opened onto the sixteenth floor, I felt like I was stepping into a mirror world. Once again, I was in a space as cavernous as the third floor. Except, instead of a grand and opulent theater lobby, this was a grim and spartan warehouse. Steel columns rose up like trees, supporting the ceiling above us, as well as individual platforms that span the divide. Each of the higher levels stopped short from the façade, allowing a shaft of free space to reach down to our floor. Everything was painted with a dull grey hue, including a lonely set of stairs that led all the way to the upper floors.

All of the lights had been turned off, so the front façade provided the only source of light. Thanks to the free space, every floor was illuminated, but only to a certain extent. The rest of the floors were shrouded in darkness, so no one could see what lay deep inside. The sixteenth floor itself was empty, except for a strange metal table that sat along the centerline, closer to the façade so that it could receive the lion share of daylight.

Index made a beeline towards the table, and as we followed her, we could see more details about the strange device. The midday sun cast a white light along its surface, revealing how it undulated like an ocean wave, with the crest near the foot and the trough near the head. A wide groove was carved out along its length, contoured so that a person could lie comfortably inside. At the far end, there was a shallow bowl with two metal prongs protruding from either side. Finally, a computer terminal had been built into the corner, near the table's foot. A keyboard and trackpad were embedded into the raised metal desk, while dual monitors were held up via a long metal arm.

Among this brutalist backdrop, the clay vase sat as a glaring contrast. It was wrapped in string and covered in black candlewax. The skull of a small animal adorned the exterior, while a large black candle, still burning, protruded from the vase's mouth. Index hovered over the strange object like a bloodhound and examined it closely.

"Hm-hm, Naru-hoto," She pondered out loud. "Machigai-nai! This must be where the Zombie astral are stored. If we break this device, then we can free the zombies from the Bokar's control."

"Bokar?" I asked, "What's that?"

"A witch doctor," Index responded, "One who performs magic based on Haitian Vudu. "In other words, this is what is controlling all the people who went to school here."

Stiyl Magnus sighed. "I'm not familiar with Haitian or African magic, but I believe it's some sort of spiritual control. Unfortunately, I don't understand it well enough to identify the conjurer."

"Well, whoever it was, he's gone now." Oni-chan growled, "I hope he was satisfied with toying with the lives of hundreds of people. Anyway, that's not important right now. With my right hand, I will destroy this illusion."

He touched the vase with his right hand, and Immediately, the candlelight snuffed out. Then, the strings started to unravel, and slowly, large cracks spread out on the vessel's body. At last the vase broke apart and crumpled into a heap of brown dirt.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then our radios crackled to life, and Yomikawa-sensei's voice came through. "This is Gatekeeper to Image Breaker! What's your status?"

Oni-chan tapped his earpiece and responded. "This is Image Breaker!" he called, "We have located and neutralized the device that were controlling the students and staff members. I hope that did you some good."

"Indeed, it did," Yomikawa's voice crackled through the radio, "Good job, Image breaker! Whatever you just did, it worked! The injured students have all come to their senses and have stopped their struggle against Anti-skill. We should be able to get them to safety!"

"You-gatta! That's very good to hear." Oni-chan sighed in relief and then turned to us. "Alright, let's split up. Stiyl, I understand that you want to look for Aureolus Izzard, correct?"

The fire mage nodded. "Obviously, finding him in person is a sweetener, but at the very least, I want to know what he's been up to, and where he has gone."

Oni-chan grunted. "Okay, Index and I will help. Uiharu, I'm assuming that you're staying here to access the GROUP database."

"Hai!" Uiharu-san said, "The data here may be valuable to Judgement-related investigations. It could even help us find all the missing students in Academy City."

"That's the plan," Oni-chan smiled and then turned to me. "Otohime-chan, stay with Uiharu. Saten-san and Shirai-san will watch over you, got it?"

I nodded, "Hai! Wagari-mashita!"

At once we split up and went our separate ways. Uiharu was already plugging her laptop into the computer terminal. Once the devices booted up, she plugged in her laptop and started to crack into the encrypted Interface.

Meanwhile, my eyes followed Oni-chan as he raced up the stairs with Index and Stiyl Magnus. I saw them pop up on the upper level before they stopped to catch their breath. Oni-chan pulled out two glowsticks and offered them to Stiyl and Index. The latter accepted it gratefully, but the former politely refused. Instead, Stiyl pulled the glowstick from Index's mouth, and helped her break the inner core. At once, two points of light sparked into view, and I watched them disappear into the heart of darkness.

"Yosh! Haitta!!"

Uiharu-san's sudden outburst stole my attention away as the computer terminal opened onto a tiled interface, with a neat grid of icons. Uiharu-san pulled up a program with a graphical representation of the table. A text window also popped up, and she read through it carefully.

"Hm-hm, Naru-hoto!" she said, "So a person is needed to retrieve these files. So, what if I…"

As she spoke, Uiharu clicked on a button, and then a large table of files appeared. Suddenly, there was some mechanical noise, before a curved piece of glass sprouted out of one of the prongs on the table, near the shallow bowl. The screen arched over the bowl and locked into the prongs on the other side, so that it formed a curved viewscreen. Then, it lit up with bluish-green light, and I could see letters and characters popping up.

As we watched, a virtual card slid onto the screen. It was rectangular with rounded corners, light-colored with a slightly darker strip running down along one side. A dark brown rectangle was inscribed on the card face and depicted a series of concentric circles.

"I see," Uiharu-san said as she turned back to the terminal, "So it's just like Indian Poker! Only, all the cards are virtual, and are stored in the servers."

"Oh, is that so?" Saten-san grinned mischievously, "Then, even I can help with retrieving the data. After all, you can say I'm an Indian Poker connoisseur!"

"There's so much on this database, though!" Uiharu-san said as she scrolled down the list. "I doubt that a single person could go through all of this in one go!"

"Oh?" Shirai-san said, "How much data is there?"

"I can only give you a rough estimate," Uiharu-san responded, "Let's just say that there's enough data here to create a multi-seasoned, multi-anime franchise."

All of a sudden, the screen froze, and a large black window appeared. Then, it brightened up to show a classroom backdrop, and a tall, lanky college student with round-framed spectacles walked into view.

"Yo!" He said, folding his arms, "Welcome adventurers! Congratulations on reaching the end of your quest."

"Aritomi Hiroki! I knew it!" Shirai-San growled, as Uiharu-san and Saten-san gasped at his sudden appearance.

Suddenly, telescreens began popping up all over the place, and they were all broadcasting the same video. Aritomi's voice echoed through the cavernous space as he went on. "Unfortunately, your princess is in another castle. I commend you for making it this far in your journey. And you shall be amply rewarded!"

Then, another person walked into view. He was a few years older than Aritomi. Pale, with green hair and cold grey eyes. He wore a well pressed white suit, which contrasted neatly with the darker shirt and tie. He too watched aloofly through the camera and spoke to us haughtily.

"I hope you liked my adorable Zombified pupils! it's a little trick I picked up in Haiti, during my long sojourn around the world. Consider it a gift from an old friend," He laughed, "Of course, I'm speaking to you, Image Breaker! And you, Necessarius! Who else could break the curse and free those poor unfortunate souls? But that was just a taste of my true power!"

"As expected of you, Railgun. You've certainly fostered a healthy group of meddling kids!" Aritomi went on to say, "I'm not surprised to see the friends of the great Ace of Tokiwadai digging through our files like termites digging into a house! You are no doubt seeking the data locked in these servers, and as I've said, your efforts will be rewarded, but first we have one more challenge for you."

"Indeed!" The green-haired man chimed in, "Survive this final challenge, and the database is yours. Of course, that's assuming you're even smart enough to know how to use it! Good Luck!"

The two men continued to laugh, even as the video concluded.

At first, nothing happened, and we exchanged confused glances. Suddenly, there was a loud mechanical noise. At first, we didn't know what was causing it, but then, Saten-san pointed to the great façade. There, we saw large metal screens moving steadily together. Slowly, our only source of light dwindled into a sliver. Then, the last rays of the sun were shut out, and we were plunged into the darkness.

Between the lines: Aftershock

Thor escaped before Misaka could even charge after him. Without warning, he stepped onto the rooftop ledge and leapt into the open air. Then, there was a sudden earthquake, and he was already landing on the building nearby. In the end, Misaka couldn't chase after him without leaving Mugino to suffer. Even with Thor gone, the fourth strongest esper in Academy city failed to get up, and that made Misaka worry.

Despite everything that happened, and all the pain Mugino had put her through, Misaka couldn't abandon the girl. Whether it was a sense of duty or a special favor for a rival, she didn't know, but here was someone she had to save.

Carefully, Misaka rolled Mugino onto her back and propped her feet up to improve circulation, and then she inspected the older girl for signs of injuries. Mugino's breath was erratic and labored, and she winced when taking a breath. Opening the beige jacket and lifting the undershirt, Misaka could see that a purple bruise had formed. Gingerly, she pressed around the wound, and Mugino winced at the sudden pressure.

"Oi! That hurt" she snapped, "You're going to pay for that, you bitch!"

Misaka sighed in relief, at least she was awake. "You're going to have to take it easy for the next few days. I suspect that you have some internal injuries and maybe even a cracked rib."

Mugino growled, "Who died and made you a doctor?"

Too weak to resist, Mugino watched as the younger girl inspect her for more injuries. Her eyes spied the little T-shaped necklace, and she wondered at it. It dangled from the long end, like a hammer hanging on a tool rack, and its surface was etched with intricate lacework.

"That thing looks new," She remarked, "I haven't seen you wear any kind of jewelry before."

"Huh?" Misaka looked down at where Mugino was pointing and brightened when she noticed the necklace, "Ah! It's a gift from a friend I just made. I keep her with me at all times just in case I get into some trouble. There's never a dull moment in a city like this."

"Hmm? So-desu-ka?" Mugino eyed the pendant closely, wondering who the gift giver was. She pondered about Misaka's choice of words and how she referred to the object as "her" rather than "it". "I suppose, such practices are common among younger girls like herself," She concluded, "Well, it's got nothing to do with me."

When at last, Misaka was satisfied, she pulled Mugino to a seated position. "I'm going to have to move you downstairs," she said, "That way, Anti-skill can pick you up and take you to the hospital. Now, upsidaisy!"

Carefully, she helped Mugino to her feet and guided her towards the rooftop ledge. Together, they sat down on the low wall, and Misaka placed her free hand on the metal frame that made up the building's exterior. Wrapping another hand under around Mugino's torso, Misaka leaned back and pulled them both over the edge.

By energizing the metal frame, Misaka kept them both from plummeting to their deaths. Instead, they fell slowly and comfortably, as if they were riding an elevator and not falling down the side of a building. It wasn't long before she landed on the tenth-floor balcony, where Anti-skill were still busy patching up the survivors.

Even as she landed, Misaka could tell that something had changed. The victims of this whole affair were no longer fighting back against Anti-skills and had surrendered to treatment. In fact, many of the injured had already been carried off, some by officers and some by EMTs. She spotted two Anti-skill officers watching her in surprise and approached them with Mugino in tow.

"Please take care of this one. She's sustained injuries to her abdomen and possibly her rib cage. She needs medical attention, immediately."

The Anti-skill officers nodded. "Okay, we will keep her safe, until the medics arrive."

Misaka smiled. "Thanks, you guys!"

Once Mugino was safe and in good hands, Misaka sighed and turned to face the open skyline. Soon, she thought, this will all be over!

She tapped her radio and spoke. "Railgun to Gatekeeper! Meltdowner is safe and secure. The enemy, Thor has escaped, and his whereabouts is unknown."

"I copy you, Railgun," Yomikawa-sensei's voice chimed through, "Thanks for the help, but we still need your help."

"Yes?"

"We've lost contact with Image Breaker and his team! They've just breached the sixteenth floor, and some reason, our signals are being jammed. There's little to no knowledge about what's beyond that point, and I'm worried about their safety. We need you to re-establish contact with them ASAP!"

Misaka sighed. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

She turned looked up at the building façade. "Ma-taker!" She thought out loud, "Yet again, I have to save your sorry ass from certain disaster!" she smiled playfully, "Honestly, what would you do without me?"

She pulled out her Getoka phone and dialed a number.

"Moshi-moshi! Marian-san?" she said, once the call connected, "I'm sorry for calling you out of the blue, but I need your help! Could you send me my special package? I need a ride!