A large explosion broke the bricks of the wall into crumbs. The bits were flying into air and she can sense it, the metal, the people and their pulses but what was once a comforting defense that magnified her power was now magnifying her pain. The Capacity down was breaking her mind. She felt that her power was turning against her. Not much has been said with the item but rumors were that it hurts a lot more the higher the power level. She felt her mind breaking. How long had she been subjected to this? It has only been seconds, but she wasn't sure at all, she couldn't even count.
Hundreds of students were on the floor. The Tokiwadai dorm has a large gaping hole. Espers were carried by the terrorists and they saved her for last.
"Ku-ro-ko?", she managed to whisper.
Lifting her head, she saw her. She was gagged and tied, a lot of the espers were. They were planning a quick raid and escape, taking the DNA of multiple espers before the cops were alerted. It has only been a minute, she was sure Anti-skill were coming but they were about to leave, they just weren't fast enough. What were they going to do with the DNA? Will they experiment on it themselves? No, they are not scientists, they're hired work. They will probably sell it. A rare thing like this can give them millions of dollars.
"This is the other Level 5", a man said.
He kicked her face, living a reddening mark.
"How does it feel to have no power? See I'm not gonna kill you but I am gonna pump blood out of your body like cattle and sell it and they can do all the stuff they want with it. Thanks for the money, kiddo", he kicked her again.
They always had a personal vendetta against her despite her not knowing them personally. Thoughts flashed her in mind about the sisters and she realized that it could happen again. They'll do atrocious things willy-nilly. They won't care for anybody. Will they use her blood for cloning and killing? For making espers then killing them? No. She will not let that happen. She can't let that happen. She will not make the same mistake. She has the power to do something now. She's not weak anymore. She's not dumb anymore. The Capacity down was placed in the metal truck. She just needs to bend the metal and crush the mechanism.
They brought a struggling woman right beside her, blonde hair and gold eyes. Shokuhou? Why is she here? She looked dead and she choked at the thought. Her blood run cold, what did they do to her? There were small reddening marks on her body, her hair was frizzy and her body, although usually unathletic, looked utterly lifeless. There were small streaks of blood on her arm, they must have extracted her DNA already. Just then, her remotes were crushed by the men. The sound of destruction must have startled her as she coughed and slowly opened her eyes. Misaka was thankful as she realized she was still alive. Despite the small joy, Capacity down was rendering her nearly unconscious.
"…tsss", they inserted the needle onto her and her thoughts broke, all she can manage was a small sound.
She needs to do it now or she'll be weak from blood loss later. With all her power she reached out her hand and closed it into a fist, making the truck rattle.
"Boss, she's using her power, she's breaking the truck!", a man shouted.
People scattered and they proceeded to stepping on her arm and choking her, threatening her to stop what she's doing this instant or they'll kill the espers but she couldn't make sense of what they're saying. All she needs to do is to stretch her arm out more and focus all her power into making the metal at least move or toss itself. She felt like the metal was fighting so hard to crush her. Her mind was pounding, and her sight was seeing nothing but the truck. The man pulled out a knife and when she saw it, thoughts rushed into her mind. She wished for Kuroko to teleport her to safety, but they knew she was a teleporter, they stuck a knife to her leg too and her eyes blurred at the sight as she saw it Her friend was wounded, and a knife was lodged into her shoulder before she could register it.
She didn't focus at it though. She gazed at the truck and garnering all her strength for a last push before she was too weak, she reached her limit. A little bit more, she crushed her fist totally and the truck destroyed itself.
She can breathe. She feels the electricity pulsing now. A small jolt shocked the man holding her. She didn't even have the strength to use a railgun so she opted for the most electricity she could muster to cover the whole area that the men were stepping on and they fell to the ground. She was going to fall into the ground but Shokuhou slowly stood up. She barely managed to stand, shaking the remnants of the Capacity down out of her body. She was unsteady, but she clutched her, just in time for her to fall into her body, eyes shut and unconscious.
"The knife, someone demolish it!", she shouted with so much ferocity to the gagged students until a pyromancer burned it to ash.
She knew that every drop of blood could lead to another demise, another Dolly. She would not let that happen.
Anti-Skill arrived as so as reporters. This will be in the news tomorrow, all over the world really. The fact that a terrorist group has wormed their way into the city and rendered the third-ranked Level 5 incapacitated will surely make headlines.
Shokuhou was tired but her eyes were incessantly roaming for potential dangers, shouting to remove all traces of her and Misaka's DNA. She could trust nobody but the shared terror of exposing their very foundation of power, their DNA, gave her a small trust to the shaken students at her side. By the sheer paralysis some students have acquired, she guessed that this was the greatest brush of fighting they experienced. She looked on to the containers where they kept their loot.
"Burn it, disintegrate it", she told the pyromancer as she kept looking at it.
Meanwhile, the Railgun was slipping in and out of consciousness and all she could register was that she was clutching "The Queen". Kuroko then appeared and teleported her and her Onee-sama to the infirmary. The blood loss was finally catching onto her and she fell onto a bed.
Shokuhou Misaki was not even supposed to be at the dorms outside the Garden but today was a day where she was supposed to meet a guest soon to arrive. Her clique was behind her, awaiting her mundane tasks like fetching cake and drinks for her hunger.
Right then, a destructive noise shot onto her ears and she wasn't focused enough that a man quickly snatched her bag and knocked her to the ground. Forcing a needle before she could even register it, she was submitted to a cruel fate as she watched all the other espers in the ground. A large explosion then tore through the building and outsiders came from all directions to subdue the espers trying to fight by knocking them unconscious. Before she could even try to reach for her power without her remote, a feat she has not done in a long time, a man hit her in the head.
Remembering what happened made her head hurt. She looked to the bed beside her and Misaka was laying at it, still asleep. A worker was rubbing ointments at the forming bruises. Nurses were running around the room frantically, catering to different students. She, herself, had a needle sticking to a dextrose. There were probably more than 50 students in this room and besides small wounds, they were all right. Although, they look really shaken up. Compared to other students, a lot of the others have never even fought in a serious conflict where they could have died.
"Shokuhou?", Misaka was slowly waking up.
She turned her head to the student, "Yes?", with her usual playful tone. "Thank you for holding onto me", Misaka smiled with pure honesty that it was blinding her impure heart.
"Oneee-saaaammmaa!", before she could even reply, Kuroko jumped into Misaka and cried. She was fussing how she could have been killed. Despite the girl having a blade on her leg a few seconds ago, she sure springs into action quick. Well, that was the power of an unhealthy adolescent lesbian crush.
"Get off!", Misaka was trying to push her off physically but seeing that she wouldn't budge with those kissy faces, she shocked her a small bit that made her finally stop.
With the pause, Misaka noticed the teachers coming on to the room. They were making announcements and redirecting the students. They were advised to spend the night on the infirmary and for the next 2 days, the students would have a quick and temporary move to the School dorms inside the Garden of Education. Patrols would be present not only on the dorms but also the whole garden itself. They even mentioned that there would be numerous patrols in the infirmary for the night. There would be a quick rebuilding of the destroyed properties in her old dorm and with Academy City's technology, it would be done in no time. Right now, purchases were being made to add additional beds on the Garden's dorms for tomorrow.
"Guess we'll be staying at the Garden huh?", she muttered to Kuroko.
Kuroko then went into a dramatic scene of declaring her love and unrelenting wish to be her roommate even at the Garden dorms. She could only sigh but a small smile was present as she saw the energy her best friend had.
"Well, now's a time to sleep then", Kuroko teleported quickly to her side but it resulted into an electrified Kuroko slowly walking back to her bed.
"Now that I realized it, the dorms here are incredibly posh", Misaka rubbed her bandaged arm.
"Well, of course Onee-sama , this is the dorm inside the famed Garden. The flowers on every corner, the lavish carpet and the intricate decorations are all made to cater to those students who grew in a neighborhood like this in their youth. I mean, most of the students here are very rich, Onee-sama", Kuroko lectured with her index finger even pointing at the items.
"Anyway, where are the directories for the rooms anyway?", Misaka interrupted Kuroko's droning about how she should uphold her status here by acting like a lady with more mature taste on undergarments.
"Right at the lobby Onee-sama", Kuroko pointed at the frame and marched on to the designated area.
They looked in the framed directory of names and room numbers. It looks like they never jumbled the rooming but instead, add a person per bedroom with the original people residing in there.
"So they just added beds in the crammed room huh?", Misaka questioned out loud but she was ignored as Kuroko was dramatically laying on the carpets, flapping her arms around like a drowning snow angel.
"Honestly, what even are you doing?", she asked.
Kuroko slowly sat up while bawling her eyes out and waving her arms like a candy was stolen from her. She then teleported at her arms and cried about not having the same rooms.
"Well, they're only adding a student per bedroom and only a few instances are made where two are added in extra-large rooms and they're doing it with people on the same years like normal", she sighed.
Kuroko was definitely over-reacting now. She was clutching her uniform and shouting about the cursed numbers of their different rooms.
"My love has leapt through the small hurdle of age in rooming before and my love shall not fail me again. Kuroko will find a way to mend the gap between us, Onee-sama!", she declared.
"Kuroko, don't even think about it. Besides, we're only doing this for 2 days so stop whining or I'll shock you."
Alas, the day ended quick as they didn't even have classes and were only discharged in the afternoon. After eating dinner, she walked to her room with Kuroko latched onto her like a koala and even threatening the nice girl that was to be her temporary roommate when she opened the door. Well, a quick shock was a remedy for that.
Sitting on the bed on the farthest right, she studied the room. It was incredibly clean, and the decorations were intricate. There were flowers on the desks and geometric tiles that may have been personalized by the ones living here but what caught her attention was the extra bed at the side.
"Okino, is there another girl residing here?", she asked.
Okino Atsuko, a second-year student like her, was a level 3 esper that she meets in most of her classes. She looked onto her from the desk chair and was about to reply when the door flew open and 2 girls were outside, but they were not entering. They seem to be chatting and laughing.
She stared at them and they felt awfully familiar. She stood up and was just about to walk over the door ask on why they were here when golden hair suddenly stepped into her view. A third person emerged into the middle, legs with long white stockings, a bag on the shoulder and a confident aura, she didn't even need to see the face.
"Shokuhou Misaki?!", she stared on the girl's golden eyes as they winked.