A/N I'm back! Sorry this took so long, Uni got ridiculously busy and I've only just finished exams about a week ago. But, I've finally got this arc finished and now I can start uploading it. I'll try to keep the gaps between arcs as short as possible but as I'm writing and redrafting entire arcs at a time, there may still be gaps there. Alas, it is time for the chapter. I hope everyone enjoys it.

As Kamijou and Misaka enjoyed the rest of their holiday in Paris, Shiage Hamazura was stuck a lot further north, in the freezing cold Arctic. Why did he have to be here? He could have been in the nice, warm summer heat that Academy City was currently experiencing. He could be sunbathing next to the pool with his girlfriend, Rikou Takitsubo. Or sitting on the sofa, watching TV with his girlfriend, Rikou Takitsubo. Or he could be going on a date with his girlfriend, Rikou Takitsubo. In short, he'd rather be spending time with his girlfriend than be freezing his ass off in the middle of the freaking Arctic, dragging along a sled filled with heavy equipment.

He swore, the next time he saw Accelerator, he was going to rip off that electrode battery and beat him to death with it.

"Move it, Hamazura! I want to get this done as soon as possible." screamed Shizuri Mugino, angrily from up ahead.

"I'd like to see you lug around all this crap; see how quickly you could drag them all by yourself." grumbled Hamazura, quietly. He made sure not to let her hear him, though, she was angry enough with him already and he wasn't prepared to get into another fight with her. He may have beaten her a few times before, but he wasn't stupid enough to believe he'd win every time, he feared she was due a win for their next fight, so he tried to avoid it at all costs.

"Hamazura!"

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Hamazura retorted as he started picking up the pace to catch up with the rest of the group.

The group itself consisted of Hamazura, the fourth ranked level 5, Shizuri Mugino and a young level 4 named Saiai Kinuhata, all from ITEM. Joining them was a blonde, spiky haired boy named Motoharu Tsuchimikado, a sorcerer that Hamazura had nearly shot multiple times on this mission already.

The group were noticibaly missing a member. Hamazura's aforementioned girlfriend, Takitsubo, was currently unavailable for missions due to Hamazura himself. The level 4 who used the AIM stalker esper ability who was normally part of ITEM was currently in Academy City looking after a young girl named Fremea, the younger sister of an old member of ITEM who had been killed nearly two years prior. Experiencing the conditions as they were now, Hamazura was glad Takitsubo wasn't there. The cold was bad enough but add in the possibility of violence and Hamazura decided he'd rather keep her well away from that.

Mugino, on the other hand, wasn't so keen to keep Takitsubo out of the fight. She wanted ITEM at full strength when they were on missions, no matter how few of them they got sent on these days. Losing Takitsubo's AIM stalker ability was a massive blow to her. She, of course, blamed Hamazura, who was the cause of Takitsubo's absence. His fear of Mugino was only overcome by the need to protect the woman carrying his child.

He had been elated when his girlfriend gave him the news, however, that elation lasted approximately half an hour. They had told Mugino with smiles on their faces and she had responded by trying to kill Hamazura. She had hunted him round Academy City for about a week and she used all of her resources to do so, which, whilst she was in her current position, were considerable. He had to beg Touma to let him hide in his apartment until she calmed down. Remembering that week caused Hamazura to shudder from more than just the cold.

However, Mugino still hadn't let it go. It was currently summer in the Arctic meaning the temperatures ranged from 0 to 8 degrees Celsius, meaning they could survive easily. They could still feel the cold, though, and it could still affect them. The group had been issued Academy City thermal clothing to wear underneath their regular clothes, so that their movements wouldn't be dulled by the cold. Mugino had 'accidentally' destroyed one. One that just so happened to fit Hamazura. And so, he was stuck freezing cold and shivering whilst Mugino and the rest were fairly toasty.

As Hamazura caught up with the rest of the group, he started to recall what Accelerator had asked them to do. He had received an alert from a mysterious research outpost in the Arctic. The alert had been sent to Aleister and had been redirected to him, but he hadn't heard of this outpost before. The new Chairperson, Accelerator, elected to investigate the alert from Academy City and had instead sent another level 5 to investigate the outpost.

That level 5 was Mugino. Misaka would have been the better option considering her data gathering abilities were second to none now. However, she was already on her way to Paris with Kamijou when the alert came in, so he decided Mugino would be the next best option. He also sent Tsuchimikado with them as magic support. He would be useful if the any remaining attackers used magic, a field Mugino was by no means an expert in, so she accepted his help. Kinuhata had decided to tag along and Hamazura had been threatened with his life and so had no choice in the matter.

They then made their way to Svalbard in Norway and were escorted several kilometres north by some of the locals using large off-road vehicles, before completing the final two kilometres on foot. They didn't know what, exactly, they'd find there and so didn't want any of the locals to be with them when they reached the outpost.

The group kept going for another few minutes before their objective was finally in sight. The outpost was fairly small, with four grey buildings surrounding a tall pylon-like transmission tower with a large dish at the top.

Three of the buildings around it seemed a little uninspired, just grey boxes that had two doors and a few windows each. The one behind the transmission tower was only a little better. A large pentagon-shaped building, with a large dome roof protecting its inhabitants from the snow.

A thin, chain link fence was constructed around the buildings that reached 5 meters tall, doing almost nothing for security from invaders. It could have been electrified but Hamazura couldn't see any sign of that. There were a few turrets scattered around, that offered a small amount of security but all of them had large plumes of smoke coming from them.

At the front of the outpost was a metal gate, as tall as the chain link fence surrounding it and only a little thicker. It was currently folded in on itself as if someone had thrown a wrecking ball at it. Looking at it, the group shared a single thought.

'This doesn't look like an Academy City outpost at all.'

The group decided to split into two teams. Tsuchimikado and Kinuhata would go through the front and investigate the two closest buildings to the gate. Meanwhile, Mugino and Hamazura would circle round, cut through the fence, and investigate the remaining small building and the large one with the domed roof.

Hamazura then went to the sled that he had been hauling this entire time. From that he took out a number of guns. The first two were handguns that he passed to Tsuchimikado and Kinuhata. Tsuchimikado couldn't use magic without hurting himself and his level 0 ability wouldn't be much help in a fight. Kinuhata's ability, Nitrogen Armour, excelled in defence and allowed her to perform superhuman feats of strength. However, recently she had started using handguns to give herself extra options when her opponent was out of range, especially when dealing with sorcerers, who played by different rules than her.

Finally, Hamazura took out a large, futuristic looking rifle for himself. He preferred having at bit of extra firepower, as he knew he would need it if he came up against someone with any abilities on the level of Kinuhata or even Mugino. Mugino was a level 5 monster, someone who could take on an entire army with her bare hands and come out on top. She didn't need a weapon.

The guns were some of the latest models to come out of Academy City, with a reduced lethality mode that decreased the force the bullets were fired from the gun, in order to still stop the opponent but reduce the chance of killing them. It had been designed for Anti-skill, to give them extra options when dealing with out-of-control espers, but Hamazura was given one by Accelerator. Of course, if used the wrong way or if the user aimed for certain points of the human body, it could still be lethal or cause permanent effects, which is why everyone who had one of these guns still had to be trained, including Hamazura, Tsuchimikado and Kinuhata. The guns had a stronger mode, in case it was absolutely necessary, but Hamazura tried to stay away from that.

Hamazura threw a few handgun magazines at Tsuchimikado and Kinuhata and then took out a small backpack with ammunition for himself and slung it over his shoulders. He then buried the sled with all of the equipment in it and set a marker about 30 metres west of it. They couldn't bring the equipment with them as it would get in the way if they had to fight, but equally they couldn't let it be stolen. Placing the marker in a position that allowed them to find the equipment rather than on top of it made it harder for others to steal but still easy enough for them to find.

The two groups started making their way towards the outpost, heading to their respective entry points. Mugino and Hamazura headed to a part of the fence in between the two buildings, both on high alert. Hamazura had his rifle up, ready to aim at any target that came into view and Mugino had her hand open upwards with three balls of white light spinning round in a small circle. When they arrived at the fence, Mugino used one of her meltdowner beams to cut a hole in the fence. They had no proof that the fence was electrified but equally, they had no proof that it wasn't, and they'd rather not lose time checking.

Mugino cut a large hole in the fence, big enough for each of them to get through easily. They then hurried to the door of the small building. Hamazura checked the handle and, surprisingly, it opened immediately.

Inside was a single corridor that ran the length of the building. At the other end was another door leading back outside and there were five dark green doors on each side of the corridor.

Rifle levelled, Hamazura went to the first room on his right and signalled to Mugino that he was going in. Once again, the door was unlocked. The room was small with a single bunkbed to the left, a sink at the back and small cubicle beside it. This must have been where the people from this outpost slept.

Hamazura entered the room as Mugino stood guard outside in case anyone tried to ambush them. He searched the place thoroughly for anyone possibly hiding in there but found no one. There were a few small suitcases under the bed but right now, they weren't interested in what happened here, just if there were any survivors or anyone who might be waiting to attack.

Satisfied that that no one was there, Hamazura silently exited the room. When he joined Mugino outside, the two switched roles with Mugino searching the room and Hamazura standing guard. They kept swapping roles for each room with Hamazura searching the rooms on the right and Mugino searching the rooms on the left. It may not have been the quickest method, but it meant there was less chance of being shot in the back whilst looking under a bed.

The first eight rooms that they searched were almost identical to each other and Hamazura was starting to get sick of it. The final two rooms appeared to be shower rooms, each with four showers each. There was nowhere to hide here so the searches were a lot shorter than the previous rooms.

The returned down the hallway and exited through the same door they came in, now heading towards the large building. Once again Hamazura opened the door and, gun raised, headed in first. He only got a few steps in when he realized what had happened to the outpost.

In the middle of the large room was a clearing, and there were the bodies of all the people from the outpost.

A/N And there we go. What did you guys think? What worked? What didn't? As always, any and all constructive criticism is fully appreciated. I hope the wait was worth it, but at least it will only be a week until the next chapter comes out. I'm honestly quite happy with this arc, I feel like the pacing has improved and hopefully it will improve further as I write more. Now, TO THE COMMENTS.

GG Vegito: Thank you. I'm always so happy to see that people enjoy what I write and I hope you enjoy this arc and the rest of the story as well.

Blanklow: Appreciate it. More conflicts will open but I'm keeping track of them and I hope I can close them in a way that satisfies everybody when the time comes.

fencer29: Thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, I don't have anyone who can beta read for me, but I do try to leave it for a while before reading over it again to look for mistakes. I was actually quite angry with myself for letting those mistakes past so I'll try to do better in the future. Right now, I'm leaving Sundays free to look over chapters again so that I'm not writing and reading chapters on the same day. Hopefully that will help a bit.

Guest: With the way I'm wanting to take this story, I don't think I'll be doing anything on Jeanne d'Arc but if I can think of a good story that involves her, I might try to write it.

And that's all for this week. I hope everyone has a good week and I'll be back next week for the next chapter. Bye.