Mikoto: So, what are we going to do now?

Touma: I think the bigger question is, how is this chapter being written without the author?

Accelerator: A lot of people asked, don't worry about it.

Motoharu: Doesn't matter Kami-yan, let's answer a couple questions. Geust's Account, it wouldn't be Kami if he doesn't do something with the magic side. Maybe after the Kakine arc settles down.

Pierce: knight6398 , if he admitted he had a harem and acted like a playboy, all the girls here would be in his bed by sun down.

Mikoto: No we wouldn't.

Lessar; I would.

Misaki: Eh, I don't want to be left out.

Shizuri: Frenda would join.

Frenda: MUGINO!

Yuna: I would push Hanabi to join.

Mikoto:…

Pierce: See.

All girls: Wildarms13, that is the stupidest idea ever.

Motoharu: AxelLord20 has a couple questions. Let's just let the girls answer, they have more interesting reactions. Kami-yan changes his preference to younger girls.

Misaki: Best day ever.

Lessar: Finally

Mikoto: I approve.

Seria: No, that won't happen.

Misaki: Old ladies should go and take their naps.

Touma: I didn't see the death of the author, sorry.

(())

(In a certain Hospital)

Heaven Canceller: You know, we normally don't allow our patients to have alcohol in the hospital. You really have to do something about your drinking problem.

Me: I don't have a drinking problem, I'm pretty sure I figured it out. The only problem is when I run out.

HC: You are in a full body cast and can't move your arms, how did you get all these bottles? The floor is littered with them. Plus, it has to be tough to actually raise the bottles to your mouth.

Me: naruhinasakufan1 bought me a liquor store so I feel better and… straws.

HC: Sigh, anything else you need?

Me: I passed my writing duties off to another person, but can you type my answers to a couple of people's questions? Including our conversation.

HC: I guess, I don't have any patients needing me right now.

Me: Cool, laptop is there. Okay people, let's try to answer some questions.

Handsomistic1, let's see, Yes, definitely, when Touma remembers, there is always interference from Aleister.

Guest: Sorry, it's been awhile and there are a lot of guests. There are a lot of really good fanfictions on this site, each has their own unique style. A new road of misfortune, a certain holiday season, A certain virtual world conquest, Memories are a fragile thing, and a certain world of darkness are all really good. If Eve or Adam is not the leader, which means someone else is pulling the strings. Maybe? That will be addressed in a couple chapters. She was a no named side character, who disappears into the background once again.

Salishious: I would replace Shizuri with dark matter or Mikoto. They have more versatile abilities.

Syko-Soldier963: Everyone knows he is the number 6. Don't tell her I answered for her, but she would totally hang out with both. Misaki just pretends not to like them. Dark Matter is an unknown matter that does not exist in the normal world. It should be noted that the term "Dark Matter" is not to be confused with the true "Dark Matter" which is among the components of the universe. In addition, 'unknown matter' here does not mean matter that has not been discovered by humans but matter that did not exist until it was created by Teitoku. It is matter and energy that is not bound by our laws of physics. In a way, Accelerator's wings could be a type of dark matter.

Agent Nine: Accelerator.

Guest: 'Something something dark side makes a lot of money in movies.

321jaz: Terra is dead, but Vento could make an appearance. I also never said we were done with Fiamma and Acqua.

(())

(In a space between worlds)

Adam: Eve, what are you doing?

Eve: I was asked to write something.
Adam: I swear, if it's more of those My Little Pony fics, I'm going to hurl.

Eve: For your information, I now control the outcome of fate. Once I settle some boring science side problems, I can have fun and then we can win. Now go away, or I'll tell you who dies next on Game of Thrones. I read the books.

Adam: I'll take my leave.

Disclaimer: Random people do not own Toaru Majutsu no Index or any of the characters. Reading this story may cause you to burst out in laughter or start yelling at fictional characters. This may cause nearby people to assume you have gone crazy. Please read responsibly. Magic Gods own all so they can do what they want.

The dragon let out an earth shattering roar that shook Teitoku to his very core. The colors of its scales were shifting in the light. The core color was green, but there was shifting blues, black, and even colors Teitoku did not recognized. This gave him a brief moment of confusion as he tried to process the sudden turn of events, but he had more pressing concerns. The monster's eyes were blood red and full of malice. He stared into them and it was like looking into the face of death itself. The only reason he had time to think, was the dragon did not appear to be attacking him yet.

What the hell is this? Teitoku thought, as the force of the dragon's roar pushed him back in midair. Its very sound was endowed with unbelievable force. A monster like that shouldn't… can't… exist. How is this even possible? His ability is negation, so there's no way he could have a creation ability similar to my dark matter. This isn't some bullshit manga where he can negate reality itself. His eyes darted to his two enemies below him. Touma was being forced back as the creature continued to grow from his arm. Shizuri, a monster now in her own right, had jumped backwards and created twenty orbs around her, but a single roar of the beast caused them to shatter.

"Enough of this crap," Teitoku growled to himself. "I control power that doesn't exist in this world. I won't be afraid of some myth." His six wings extended forward and shot toward the monster like blades. Teitoku was infusing each one with enough dark matter energy to pierce through even the strongest metals designed by Academy City. The monster's head was looking at Shizuri, so he had the perfect opportunity to strike at its neck. "It's time for me to gain the title of Dragon Slayer," he laughed. He could not have been more wrong. There is an old saying, never poke a sleeping dragon in the eye, and he just learned why.

The dragon wasn't alone.

Seven other dragon heads, all of them different but almost as fearsome as the first, were emerging from the stump of Touma's severed arm.

One was covered in bright red and orange flames, but did not appear to have any skin under underneath them. Its very body appeared to be made of unusual fire that did not move according to physics, flowing together in single motions like waves. The second head had a white underbelly and looked like it had a light blue back, but that was really just the blue feathers. The feathers extended further away from the body near the head, almost like small wings. The third head had a light brown under belly and a dark brown back covered in spikes. Two long horns protruded from the side of its head like a bull, but had no eyes. The fourth head was a brilliant green color, lighter on the underside than the top. Its head had an expanded hood, similar to that of a cobra, of the same color. It had only a single eye.

The fifth head was a dark royal blue with a slightly lighter blue under its jaw. Its entire body appeared to be covered in jagged fragments of some kind of mineral. The sixth head seemed to be completely covered in segmented black armor. Two rows of jagged spikes went parallel down its back. It's four eyes stared out unblinking. The last one was covered in dark purple scales with a long jagged horn protruding from its forehead. Each one was vastly different, but they all emitted the aura of fear and destruction as the first one. None of them were as big or looked quite as terrifying though. Six of the seven heads turned toward Teitoku and their mouths opened. They lunged forward and their razor sharp teeth bit down into the unknown dark matter. A gruesome ripping sound filled the air as his wings were torn asunder. Losing control of this dark matter, Teitoku could no longer keep himself afloat and fell with a crash into the ground below.

This is insane, he thought, stumbling to his feet. The dragon heads didn't seem to be paying attention to him and the six heads that had devoured his dark matter wings were now stretching out toward his explosive. Each head open its mouth of razor sharp teeth again and tore off huge chunks from the bomb, causing the matter to disappear into oblivion. There was no heat, no energy, or anything else that would set off the combustible material. His very dark matter was being feasted upon by these monsters that should not exist. Chunks were disappearing as the heads continued to gorge on it with their insatiable appetite.

Meanwhile the first head and the seventh head turned toward Shizuri. They opened their mouths and flanked her from either side. For a second, Teitoku believed these monsters couldn't even be controlled by Kami and were going to devour friend and foe alike. This gave Teitoku a sliver of hope and he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small vile with a needle. I've been made a fool of long enough. If she was able to surpass her limits, then I'm going to do it too. He shoved the needle into his arm and injected himself with the drug, feeling his body grow hot. Something started to well up from deep within him. it wasn't mana, nausea, or emotions. It was somehow…

Inorganic.

Meanwhile, the two dragon heads that were swarming Shizuri had reached her. Touma's eyes widened and he tried to pull his arm back, but to no avail. The dragons' mouths revealed their long sharp teeth, their soulless dark eyes had no trace of mercy. They bit down upon Shizuri and ripped something away, but it wasn't her flesh. Instead, the glow around her body seemed have been pulled off of her and through the air into the beast's mouths. Her wings made of the same energy as her beam attacks were torn off with their razor sharp teeth. How they didn't pierce her flesh with the size of their mouths, no one knew. As her overloading power was separated from her, her mind became clear and she was able to comprehend what was happening.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! she thought, her eyes widening. Even knowing about magic, the thought of something like this existing was mind boggling, yet she was seeing it right in front of her. She turned her head toward Rikou was seemed to be pressed up against a building, fear etched on her face. Shizuri couldn't blame her, the weight of the dragon's presence was pressing on her from all sides, threatening to overwhelm her, but she refused to let it control her. The heads didn't seem to be interested in eating them, only devouring their abilities. Is this the source of his hand's power? Her eyes darted to Touma, who looked relieved, but his he also appeared slightly dazed and confused. The red stains on the back of his shirt were growing. Fuck he's bleeding out. Before she could do anything to help, she noticed Teitoku. "He's getting up, send those... things… to stop him!"

Touma barely moved and Shizuri wondered if he could hear her.

Teitoku had stood up, his wings reforming. "I don't know how you created those monsters, but don't think for a moment this battle has been decided." His winds exploded outwards away from his body. They had begun to glow with an eerie white light. The wings had always been made of dark matter, material which did not exist naturally in this world, but now they felt even more so. They felt almost mechanical, unnatural, but still gave off an otherworldly aura. The kind of substance the weapons used by gods and angels would have been made of. Teitoku grinned, feeling the unprecedented power explode from within him. "I knew if you could surpass level 5, someone like me would be able to. I wield the power of creation and magic. I will never retreat from the likes of you."

He had perfectly mastered his power and no longer feared the dragons.

Either his words or his new power caused the dragons to turn and converge on his location, their mouths opened, earsplitting roars echoing down the street, and their teeth flashing. They were planning to devour the source of the disturbance. As they approached him, Teitoku created enough wings to stab each one of them, He was confident his power would be more than enough to stop these mindless beasts that a single person created out of his arm. Teitoku had surpassed what could be considered mortal and knew he had transcended into a new realm. He did not feel fear. He would not recognize defeat. He would not lose.

The smell of rust filled the air.

How…? Teitoku thought. He was lying on his back, his blood soaking the ground around him. Their exchange had lasted only a second, but he had been completely annihilated. The seven dragons had ripped, torn, and devoured his wings. The main head was the worst. Teitoku's wing that had struck it shattered into pieces against its scales and its eyes focused on Teitoku's body. The beast did not know mercy, it did not know restraint, it could only eat. More fear had coursed through his body in that moment than he had felt in his entire life. The dragon's teeth began to close on him, his blood seeping out of his body and soaking his clothes. All of his defenses were useless. He might as well not even have had them. I'm only alive because of his weakness.

Right before the monster could tear him into pieces, Touma had stepped forward and yelled out a single desperate word. "No!" The dragon stopped and fell silent, dropping Teitoku onto the ground, and the heads retracted back into his arm, before disappearing into nothingness. For a moment, there was something, something powerful that overwhelmed the dragons. Teitoku could feel its presence, but was too busy focusing on himself to give it much thought. He could not feel his ability or even move. Pain flooded his entire body and he wasn't sure what was going to happen next.

"So," Ricane's voice sounded in his ear. "You lost to them."

"That monster was not of this world, was it?"

"No. Its very existence is only spoken about in legends. That boy is a very special piece to Aleister. You should never have challenged him. This is why you were always considered a backup plan."

"I am no one's backup plan," he told Ricane. "Why didn't you warn me?"

"I was too busy watching Accelerator wreak havoc among your clones. He seemed to have discovered a new kind of strength. Also," there was a pause. "I no longer need your assistance. You gave me all the research I needed and one of your associates succeeded in bringing me my new toy. You usefulness had ended and now I don't have to eliminate you personally. You should die there and save us all the trouble."

"You bastard!"

"You were always a spare plan and at most, a time killer. There is still Rensa and the Security Network for me to use." There was a short laugh and the line went dead as Teitoku raged silently in his mind.

Shizuri was the first to move and took advantage of the dragon's disappearance. She dashed forward quickly and knelt down next to Touma, checking his vitals. "He's losing too much blood through his back," she muttered. "Get over here Takitsubo!" she roared and Takitsubo hastily ran over to her. "His hand was destroyed by my atta… What the fuck? I clearly remember his hand was blown away." They both looked down at Touma's right hand, which was connected seamlessly to his wrist. It was like it had never been severed.

"…It regenerated," Rikou said, surprise showing on her normally passive face.

"Kamijou has a lot of explaining to do," Shizuri growled, standing up. "Perform field first aid and stop the bleeding." She turned around and took a couple of steps.

"…Where are you going?"

"To finish this." Her tone was ice cold and Rikou shivered slightly. Shizuri walked over to Teitoku, who was breathing slightly and appeared to be whispering to someone, but otherwise motionless on the ground. "So," she stated. "You survived those things. That's surprising."

"He's weak," Teitoku replied. "He will never last in our world. His power though. What is it?"

"Hard to tell," Shizuri said, several green orbs appearing around her. "I'll let you know one thing, his power is not an ability developed in this city. Now, any last words before you see if there's an afterlife?"

"No mercy huh?"

"Would you have shown me any?"

"I suppose not."

Shizuri held out her hand, but hesitated for a fraction of a second. If Kamijou finds out about this, he's going to hate me, but he is just too soft for this line of work. Kakine would just come after us. She flicked her finger and fired her green beams from the orbs. The beams connected and the explosions engulfed Teitoku. Shizuri turned around, not bothering to see the bloodshed her attacks caused. She heard the continuous sounds of drops of blood hitting the hard asphalt and the occasional thud of larger parts. She walked over to Rikou. "What's his status?"

"I slowed down the bleeding," Rikou informed her. "But he lost a lot of blood. If we don't get him to a doctor soon, it's over for him."

"Tsk," Shizuri said, looking around. "We are too far away from 'his' hospital. We could get him to that apartment pretty quickly I suppose. There are some medical supplies we keep stored there. I can contact 'her' and she should be able to treat him. She's good enough for this."

"You normally don't like us all to use that one," Rikou pointed out, as she and Shizuri leaned over and picked Touma up under his shoulders.

"Shut up," Shizuri snapped. "It's an emergency. This bastard saved us, so let's make sure he doesn't die at least."

I feel like she's not being completely honest with herself, Rikou thought, but she was smart enough not to voice her thoughts out loud.

"What is that metal?" Shizuri said, suddenly, turning to Rikou. They both paused and took a second to look around them. While the area right around them was clear, the ground, debris, and some of the buildings further away was covered in a smooth black metal. Rikou shrugged and they kept moving. There was no time for them to be worrying about non important things.

That was unexpected.

Jason was sitting alone on the roof of a building, looking down at the carnage, as Shizuri and Rikou dragged Touma's lifeless body away. He had arrived shortly after the second magic strike from Teitoku's Gregorian Chant. While he had been watching Touma fight off Teitoku, he had been more interested in watching Shizuri's transformation when Rikou finally managed to stabilize her AIM field. Jason remembered he had specifically told Shizuri that using her powers might cause some unintended consequences, but she didn't listen to him and engaged another level 5. One thing for sure, he was immensely pleased with himself for getting there early enough to see the dragons erupt from Touma's hand. He had only been able to get a glimpse of it in Italy.

Everything is going exactly like I planned, Jason thought triumphantly. Touma looks hurt, but he should survive if Mugino works quickly. Mugino managed to survive too and the transformation appeared somewhat stable near the end. It's significantly different then Shokuhou's though, which raises as many questions as it answers.

You mean about the twisted Telesma?

It's can't be Telesma. Shokuhou managed to absorb Telesma through her mental link with the knights she controlled. This required a constantly connection for her to absorb it and would explain why everyone was able to feel it. Mugino's ability is emission based, so she will only fire energy outwards. Besides, there isn't any source of Telesma around here to absorb. Jason smiled. A two dimensional being wouldn't be able to comprehend a three dimensional being's existence. They have no concept of a third axis. A third being couldn't comprehend a fourth and so forth. I think the Telesma us magic uses feel is us trying to take something we can't truly comprehend and compare it to something we can. Which means, when a level 5 starts their transformation, they are surpassing their mortal bonds, just like how Telesma is formed when magicians trespass into God's domain. What we feel is the science version of trespassing. I wonder what the extent this transformation can reach will be.

Your science abilities really distort the reality of this world. Even staying with you, I continue to see more interesting things then I could ever consider possible. In such a short time, your science is reaching the pinnacle of what magic can do. You should be careful, you don't want to be seen interfering.

Aleister most likely put this area under complete blackout. No one should be able to see this place accidently. How about you answer my questions instead? What are those dragons?

I told you before. It is the Dragon Emperor.

That doesn't tell me what it is.

Its existence is an anomaly older than time itself. Many have gone mad trying to understand it. I cannot give you that information. The other dragons would be what Christianity and many other religions call demons, fallen angels, or devils. They are depicted as the enemy of god and his angels.

You never truly answer my questions or even give me good advice. Jason sighed and shook his head, slightly annoyed.

That is not true. I give advice to solve the current problem as quickly and efficiently as possible. You just have a qualm about ending life. Yet, you work with the most scrupulous people. Many of who would murder in an instance if it furthered their goals.

I work with those who have what I need, Jason thought, watching Shizuri and Rikou turning near the end of the street. I should be able to go down in a minute.

Why do you suppose they became solid? That has not happened before.

The only thing I can think of is it was able to materialize in the AIM fields when two level 5s clashed. Mugino was surpassing her limits, so that could even have helped. Kakine was creating a lot of energy and matter after his magic attack was stopped. This discovery…. It's beyond anything I could have predicted. Seriously, how could that creature exist inside Touma's arm and yet be able to physically materialize itself. I wonder how much Aleister knows… knowing him, he probably wanted this to happen. Plus all that Shadow Metal formed around their clash. The city should be happy about this.

This did not occur in Italy when two of your acquaintances transformed.

I can think of a lot of reasons for that, Jason thought as he stood up and extended his shadow into wings. He leaped into the air and started to glide down. Misaka and Accelerator were on the same side, so their AIM fields weren't clashing. The air might have been too full of magic or this city is so saturated with AIM fields Mugino's transformation pushed it over the limit. Either way, this may cause me some problems. Understanding the Imagine Breaker was just a side project, but now this could have serious effect on my true experiment. Touma is too important. I started researching legends about his hand but now, his eyes narrowed and a dark smiled appear on his face, it's time to get serious. You promise you can release the restraint for a minute?

If it's just one, it will be no problem.

Accelerator's black wings faded when the remaining clones broke apart and disappeared. He looked around in confusion. He had been slaughtering these clones effortlessly, but there was a limit to how fast he could destroy them. They only attacked in small groups, and could dodge his wings from a distance. He had to change forward and attack the ones closest to him. He felt like he had killed over a thousand of them, but their numbers seemed endless. He had just slammed three into the wall, when the other's all stopped moving, their flaming wings vanished, and they broke apart into a white dust like substance, before they finally vanished into nothingness.

"Did he give up?" Accelerator mumbled, kicking a small pile of remains before they too disappeared. "If so, what a coward."

"In a matter of speaking." The voice of the person, who Accelerator only knew by the Doctor, came through the hidden speaker loud and clear.

"Great," Accelerator groaned. "You're back. What do you want?"

"I bet your wondering why the Kakine clones broke apart," the Doctor stated. "You know you didn't kill them all."

"The thought crossed my mind," Accelerator sneered. "But I figured being in my presence made him rethink their lives. Knowing he couldn't win, he took the cowards' way out by suicide."

"Your ego is as big as Kakine's," the Doctor sighed. "Think about it logically."

"Did he finally die?" Accelerator asked, with a mixture of hope and disappointment. I kind of wanted to be the one to end that bastard, but that would be the only viable explanation. I don't think the ones I killed were the real ones, so it had to be someone else.

"He was killed by Meltdowner."

"HAHAHA!" Accelerator roared, clutching his side. "I can't believe that idiot lost to her. Did he underestimate her or something?"

"Two unusual things happened which I hoped you could enlighten me on," the Doctor said. "But let's start with how he lost. It seemed like he would have won, if not for the interference of another individual, the level 5 known as Kami.

The hero? Accelerator thought surprised. If she was in trouble, I suppose it makes sense he interfered. He is always in the right place at the right time, or the wrong time, depending how you look at it. "So he lost to two level 5s?" Accelerator asked, shrugging. "Well, he wasn't in the same league as me, so it makes sense."

"Kami's negation ability was interesting," the Doctor commented. "But that alone wasn't enough to stop Kakine. Kami's power was formidable, but lacked defenses against certain physical objects."

Accelerator was silent, knowing what he meant. Touma could negate abilities, not a rock, pole, or something similar. If Teitoku realized this, he would be able to fight Touma. I wonder if I the hero's hand could negate dark matter. It didn't work on the princess's Curtana debris. The fifth rate… heh… should be able to handle normal materials. I wonder where he is going with this. Something told him he wanted to listen and know what happened, so he didn't speak his mind yet.

"Meltdowner was able to make up for this flaw," the Doctor continued. "So they made quite a team, but then something happened." He paused and Accelerator felt his interest growing. "There was… a transformation."

"A transformation?"

"I looked like those black wings you revealed a moment ago. Meltdowner seemed to have developed something similar, but at the same time unique. Dark green energy materialized into petal like wings on her back and her output was several times greater than before. There were also other noticeable differences, but I digress. What can you tell me about those wing-like things?"

She managed to generate wings? Accelerator thought stunned. He thought he was the only who could do it, but then he imagined the transformation Mikoto had performed in Italy. She had ribbon like objects, which weren't really wings, and some physical transformations. He said petal like wings for the fifth though. Is each transformation for a level 5 different? The fourth had some kind of transformation in England too. What is causing this? He took too long to answer and the Doctor spoke up again.

"Your expression betrayed you. You were never good at lying. Part of being too powerful means you never had to manipulate people to get what you desired, you could just take it. You know something about these transformations, I can tell. Now why don't you tell me? I'm sure I could give you some interesting information in return."

"What kind of information could you possibly give me?" Accelerator asked, trying to sneer. "But let's clear something up. These wings I have are mine and mine alone. Whatever the others have, is nothing like me. I use these wings when I get tired of trash like the second getting in my way. When I find you…" he reached out a hand and closed it, "… I'm going to rip out your heart and show it to you."

"How terrifying," the Doctor replied in a bored voice. "However, you did verify something for me. It's unique to only the level 5s and each one should be different because none of you are exactly alike. I suppose I should keep my side of the bargain." He paused. "What do you know about…. dragons?"

That one word caused Accelerator's eyes to widen and his body to freeze. The thought of Italy swarm clearly to his mind. The events leading up to the incident were blurry to say the least, but he remembered IT. The monster that emerged from Touma's bloody stump of an arm after the Herald cut it off was something he would like to forget. IT was strong enough to release the hold his black wings of madness and hatred had on him, do the same for Mikoto and her transformation, and crush the Herald. If this guy knew something about dragons and Touma was involved, that could only mean one thing. "What happened to him?" Accelerator demanded.

"So you do know," the Doctor said softly, his voice having the trace of glee now. "His arm was blown off and eight dragon heads emerged. Dark Matter and Meltdowner were both neutralized. They never stood a chance. However, the drone I was using to observe never indicated any AIM field from Kami, only the other two. Someone tried disconnecting all information feeds from that area to any outside source. Interesting, don't you think?"

So it's true, Accelerator thought. This guy knows what happened when the hero loses an arm. "I wouldn't know or care about that," Accelerator lied. "Unless it opposes me, I couldn't care less."

"We won't get anywhere if you continue to lie to me," the Doctor pointed out, sounding slightly annoyed. "I suppose it is a little too much to ask you to betray your friend. Never thought I would see the day when the great number one actually found someone to spend time with. You were always labeled a loner."

"I can't wait to find you," Accelerator snarled, opening and closing his hands. "I'm going to enjoy watching the life flow from your body." There was silence and the Doctor must have cut their connection. Accelerator spat on the ground and started walking back up the stairs. I'm going to find that damn hero and rip the truth from him. He's got a lot of explaining to do.

"We're back!" Kuroko called out, as she and Mikoto entered Kuroko's Judgement Office. "Man I'm tired. Today was a long day."

"We just got back ourselves," Ruiko said, sticking her head out of Kazari's work area. "With everything settling down, we didn't need to stay at the other branch's office."

"Seems like whoever called Kagere-san about the robberies were right," Mikoto sighed. "They got the device, even though we captured their boss. Still, that girl's power was really terrifying. Changing how we observe her was unsettling."

"She could never capture your true beauty, charm, radiance,,, ouch!" Mikoto had hit Kuroko on the head to stop her overabundance of compliments. "Anyway," Kuroko continued, walking up and turning to face Kazari on the computer. "How did everything go on your end and what's the current status Uiharu?"

"Well," Kazari said turning around, but then she noticed Kuroko's condition. "Shirai-san, you're hurt." Kuroko's head was wrapped in a bandage, along with one of her arms.

"Just some minor bruises," Kuroko replied, dismissively. "One of the guys hit pretty hard, but it's nothing to worry about." They did hurt a little, but it wasn't bad enough to warrant staying in a hospital bed all day.

"She argued with an Anti-Skill officer who wanted her to visit a hospital," Mikoto added, a small smile appearing on her face. "This was the compromise."

"Classic Shirai-san," Ruiko said. "At least it's something."

"The other lab was broken into too," Kazari explained to Kuroko and Mikoto. "It seemed like it was supposed to be a covert operation. The guy was a really good hacker and a level 4 psychokinetic. It seemed like he was just after information, rather than equipment. The laboratory was purely automatic, except for a golden retriever with a backpack and two electronic arms."

"A dog was left alone there?" asked Mikoto. "That sounds cruel."

"By the equipment on its back," Kazari continued. "I thought it might be a guard dog or allow the supervisor of the facility to monitor and repair the lab remotely. I think the dog is used only for observation, because it only followed the intruder around and didn't even bark once."

"Doesn't sound like a guard dog," Kuroko agreed. "What kind of information was the intruder after?"

"I didn't look," Kazari said, keeping her face passive as she lied. "I was too busy trying to keep the encryption codes changing to prevent him from accessing the information. I also fixed the cameras he sabotaged so his face would be available to Anti-Skill. I didn't have any way to keep him locked up in the facility from my location and could only delay him, until Jason showed up and knocked him out."

"Don't be so modest," Ruiko pipped up. "She took over the entire lab to keep the guy locked up. He even had the ability to turn invisible and would have gotten away if Uiharu didn't think of using the sprinklers to reveal him for Kagere-san." Kazari turned pink at the praise, but Ruiko continued. "She also got an unintended glimpse of something nice." She smirked and gave Kazari a thumbs up.

"SATEN-SAN! I told you that didn't happen."

"Uh huh," Ruiko said sarcastically while Mikoto looked between them, confused at what Ruiko was talking about.

"Anyways," Kuroko said, stepping in. Based on the information dealing with sprinklers and getting a glimpse, she had a good idea what happened, but she didn't know if she could hear it right now. She was still kind of off from being hit with Measure Heart and remembering what she promised herself. "What about the riot that happened in the park."

"Anti-Skill has taken around half into custody," Kazari confirmed, typing something on her computer. "Looks like the other half scattered, but their faces and AIM fields have been registered, so they should be found easily enough. From what Anti-Skill found out, these guys were asked by an unknown individual to demonstrate their newly leveled powers to the city. It was supposed to be away for them to get their message out to all the low levels about how the city was purposely holding them back."

"So it really was a distraction," Kuroko mumbled. Someone is on top of this and definitely used Jason to stop this group from succeeding. Did they know he was with us when they contacted him? She saw Ruiko and Kazari share a significant look. Am I missing something? Mikoto was the one to voice her concern though.

"What else happened?" she asked. "You two are looking really serious."

"Well," Ruiko said slowly. "You don't happen to be able to change the color of your electricity, can you?"

"Huh?" Mikoto asked, confused at the unexpected question. She glanced at Kuroko who shrugged, looking equally confused. That's the last thing I would expect them to ask. There's no way I could change… She stopped when she remembered there was two times her electricity changed from blue-white to pitch black. The first was during the level 6 shift after the festival last year and, more recently, their trip to Italy. She had partially transformed and was able to create black electricity. She didn't think that information should be brought up again, so she decided not to mention it to them yet. "No, why would you ask?"

"We thought so," sighed Kazari. "After everything was being resolved, something strange happened. Clouds began to gather over a small section of the city and unleashed torrents of lightning. What was strange was the clouds disappeared right after the lightning struck. It happened twice before disappearing completely. A couple of buildings were destroyed."

"You knew onee-sama was with me, right?" Kuroko asked. "She wouldn't have had time to go somewhere else."

"That's why we didn't think it was her," Ruiko agreed. "But there was a small chance with your teleportation you might have been able to reach the location fast enough."

"What color was it?" Mikoto asked. "You asked if I could change my electricity's color, so I assume it wasn't normal."

"It was dark red," Kazari said, shivering slightly. "Even the clouds had a red tint."

"That is weird," Kuroko agreed. "What about witnesses, anyone nearby, cameras? There should be something to give us a lead. Maybe it was some new ability user."

"I thought that too," Kazari confirmed. "But then it gets even stranger. That area had a lot of businesses and office buildings. It is not normally the busiest part of the city on weekends, but there should have been a fair number of people there. Everyone who should have been there was found several blocks away. I saw a report from Anti-Skill saying the witnesses couldn't remember why they left."

"Couldn't remember?" Kuroko and Mikoto asked together.

"I said that too," Ruiko said with a shrug.

"They were thinking someone with a mental ability might have cleared out the neighborhood before the fighting started," Kazari continued slowly. "The problem is there are a limited number of students with a powerful enough ability. One of them would be…" She paused and looked uncomfortable. She really hated mentioning that one of her friends might be involved in something shady.

"Shokuhou," Mikoto finished the sentence for her. "You think she might be part of this?"

"There's no way she could be involved in something like this," Kuroko pointed out, but then paused. "Though, you said they all left before the fighting. It's possible she tried to protect them from whatever was happening."

"That makes sense," Ruiko nodded. "I thought there might have been a reason if she was part of this."

"I don't think she was involved though," Mikoto pointed out, causing all three heads to turn to her.

"Why?" Kazari asked.

"It's too sloppy for her work," Mikoto continued. "She would have put in a false memory about why they had to leave. Even in an emergency, she always covers her tracks. She has had way to much experience with this." Mikoto wasn't the biggest fan of sticking up for Misaki, but Mikoto never wanted someone to be blamed for something they didn't do.

"Hmm," Kazari said thoughtfully, leaning back in her seat. "You know her better than we do. If we assume she didn't do it, the other option is a level 4 did it, but that might be a little tough for them to control so many people at once." She sighed. "Seriously, I thought today would be fun and it turns into this."

"Someone wanted to hang out with a guy," Ruiko said with a wink, causing Kazari to blush. Kazari gave her a knowing look and Ruiko turned slightly red, before looking away. Ruiko also wanted to spend time with a guy, but that hope had been interrupted. Kuroko looked between them, knowing what they were thinking, and sighed while shaking her head. None of them had a verifiable lead to point them in the right direction. It was only because of this, Mikoto pulled out her phone, took a deep breath, and dialed.

"Misaka?" asked Misaki's sickening sweet voice. "Whatever do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"I need to ask you something," Mikoto said, aware the other girl's eyes were on her.

"I figured it would be something like that," Misaki replied. "You never call me to just spend some quality time together. I'm rather hurt by that." She sounded slightly pouty, but Mikoto ignored it.

"After we left this morning," Mikoto said. "What did you do?"

"You mean after meeting Eve?"

"Yes."

"A lot happened actually," Misaki replied. "My dear Touma was quite worried when he heard Eve was after his friend, so he was planning to scour the city until he found her. …I wish he would do that for me… Anyway, I volunteered to help him. As you know, I have an extensive network, throughout the city, that is all willing to help me for no other reason except for my gratitude."

"Sure…" mumbled Mikoto.

"Anyway," Misaki continued. "I wasn't having any luck on my end, but he did. Turns out his friend was with Index and were safe, so no harm done. The last thing I knew was he was going to call and talk with her. After that, I went to my favorite tea shop to relax with my clique. It has been a rather long day."

"Anything else?" Mikoto prodded.

"Oh yea," Misaki added cheerfully. "He and I shared a long passionate kiss before I left. He didn't want me to leave his side."

"That never happened!" Mikoto yelled, causing the rest of the girls to jump in alarm. They looked at her, but Mikoto was busy focusing on her conversation. "Did you force it on him?"

"What happened?" Ruiko asked, but Mikoto ignored her.

"You're so clever Misaka," Misaki laughed. "Before you would believe everything I said until I told you I was messing with you. I gave him a quick goodbye kiss, he never saw it coming, but I know he enjoyed it." She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. Mikoto's face turned red, but Misaki couldn't see it, though she had a pretty good idea how Mikoto's reacted to her words. "How about you stop beating around the bush and come out with your real question? We both know you want something."

"There was an incident," Mikoto explained. "Which may involve us at some point. Not long ago, strange red clouds were seen over a neighborhood accompanied by red lightning. There was a lot of collateral damage. The weird thing was all the residents who should have been in the area mysteriously decided to leave and wait a couple blocks away before the storm started. None of them could explain why they did it."

"So there will be some suspicion you and I were involved," Misaki said thoughtfully. Mikoto was glad she caught on so quickly. "Whoever controlled those people did a sloppy job. They should have modified their memories at least a little to have a reason. I suppose since you are contacting me, you didn't causing the lightning. I also have never seen you produce electricity in red before."

"You confirmed my suspicion you weren't involved," Mikoto said. "You wouldn't happen to have any ideas who might have been able to control a large group of people, would you?"

"Hmm," Misaki said thoughtfully, pausing for a moment. "A level four might be able to do that, if given enough time. You made it sound like they were evacuated immediately before the storm hit, so they sound related. Remember, we know of other things outside our abilities. Creating storms and messing with memories is a trivial thing for them."

"We didn't think of that," Mikoto said slowly. "Thanks." She hung up and turned to the other girls.

"What did she say?" Kuroko asked nervously.

"You seem to be worried," Ruiko added.

"Shokuhou didn't do it, but she gave a good explanation," Mikoto told them. "We know of another power that could explain all of this." She gave the other girls a look and their eyes widened. They all said the same word in unison.

"Magic…"

"Of course," Ruiko said, smacking her forehead with a hand. "It was so obvious, and we had just met Eve. Why didn't we think of that?"

"I suppose because we had just been dealing with ability users," Kazari said reasonably. "I still find it hard to switch my mindset from abilities to magic. It would explain why that weird weather was specific to a single location. The question now would be, who did it?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kuroko asked. "Eve's in the city and she's the only one with power like that." She stopped and frowned. "But this poses a big problem. Most of the city doesn't know about magic, so there might still be the problem with onee-sama and Shokuhou-san taking the blame."

"Well," Kazari said. "We have evidence Misaka-san was with you, so she should be okay. Shokuhou might be a little harder to defend, but I doubt they have enough proof to place the blame solely on her."

"Could you ask Kagere-san if he knows anything about it?" Ruiko suggested, but Kazari shook her head.

"Every since he left that research lab, his phone has been turned off. I feel like he knows something happened, he might even have been dragged into it, but Anti-Skill work can be classified from Judgment."

"Then maybe we need to take matters into our own hands," Mikoto said, with a devious smirk. "Uiharu has anyone from Anti-Skill or Judgement investigated the neighborhood?"

"No," Kazari said. "Since everyone had been evacuated and only collateral damage occurred, they quarantined the area and most of their members are busy dealing with the riots. I tried to see what happened, but none of the cameras in the area are working. It's like they were disconnected. It's a complete black out zone."

"That makes it easier," Mikoto said, rubbing her hands together.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko reprimanded her sternly. "You can't go admitting you are going to trespass into a restricted area."

"It's not trespassing if I am drafted into helping a Judgement member in an investigation," Mikoto pointed out.

"You know I would do anything for you," Kuroko said. "But I can't do this. Why are you so interested in going anyways?" Mikoto was silent for a moment, a little embarrassed about the reason, but she decided honesty would be the best policy in this case. It had been gnawing at her, since she hung up with Misaki.

"If something magical is happening in the city," Mikoto told them. "Who do you think is going to be in the middle of it? You know, the person who always seems to get involved." All three girls looked at each other again, and Ruiko and Kuroko smacked their foreheads.

"Touma would head straight into that mess if he recognized it as magic," Ruiko said, shaking her head. "It's just like him if he thought someone was in trouble."

"He needs to think more before he does something stupid like that," Kuroko added.

"Tell me about it," Mikoto muttered. "So will you come with me? With your teleportation you should be able to get us in and out without being seen."

"It's a quarantined area," Kuroko protested. "We can't just waltz in there. If you had evidence someone was in trouble, but this is just speculation. Besides, it's under Anti-Skill jurisdiction and Judgement can't get involved unless they specifically request our help."

"Actually," Kazari spoke up, looking at her friends. While they had been arguing, she had been double checking the files on the quarantined area to verify something. "I just checked and it's only closed to the public for safety reasons, collapsing buildings and upturned streets mostly. Technically, Anti-Skill hasn't done a formal investigation of the area. Therefore, it's not classified under their jurisdiction yet. Let's say, a Judgement member and a helper did a quick look to check for anyone who had not been able to evacuate, it would be a perfectly reasonable endeavor."

"You're the best Uiharu-san," Mikoto said, reaching over and shaking her hand enthusiastically. "That settle's it Kuroko. Let's go." She reached over and grabbed Kuroko's hand.

"But…" She stopped and sighed. She did enjoy holding Mikoto's hand. "Fine, but just a QUICK look around." Mikoto nodded and they left the building. Once outside, Kuroko gripped Mikoto's hand tightly and they started teleporting across the city.

"While what you said was true," Ruiko commented, turning to Kazari, after she saw Mikoto and Kuroko leave from the window. "It's not like you to help others bend the rules like that if someone wasn't in trouble. I think someone is rubbing off on you." Kazari turned slightly pink.

"I can easily tell you're worried too," Kazari pointed out.

"That's true," Ruiko admitted. "I wish there was something I could do." She put her hands behind her head and kicked the floor. "You did so much intel work for everyone, while I just sat nearby. If something like this happens again, I'm going to make sure I do something to help.

He was alive.

Even with his blood, flesh, and organs scattered down the street, Teitoku Kakine was still alive. Shizuri's Meltdowner had disintegrated part of his body and the explosions sent his remains scattered in all directions. While his clones were made of dark matter, his body had still been made of flesh and blood. The pain of being torn apart was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was as if his entire body had been on fire for a moment, before it was destroyed. Luckily, Shizuri's attacks had not destroyed the most important piece of Teitoku. It was the part that held an insurmountable amount of hatred and rage at his predicament. It was the part of him he subconsciously protected with a layer of dark matter after the dragon had removed the rest of his defenses.

His brain was still intact.

His brain was located in the middle of the street, surrounded by a dark red blood stain. He couldn't see and the only other thing he could feel was pain. However, he could still think and his thoughts kept repeating in a circle. How am I alive? That bitch destroyed me. Kill her and everyone close to her. How am I alive? This is the bastards fault. Kill him and everyone close to him. How am I alive? The bitch destroyed me… The same thoughts just kept repeating over and over.

If he was able to think rationally, he would know how he survived. His powers returned a moment before Shizuri's blasts hit him. While unable to consciously do the calculations he needed to create dark matter, his body's self-defense instinct kicked in. He subconsciously wrapped his vital organs with a thin layer of dark matter, just enough to protect them from Shizuri's onslaught. Thin microscopic connectors then connected his organs together and he created artificial cells to flow between them, just managing to keep them operational. This normally shouldn't have been possible, but something had changed within him during his battle with Kami. The new power that welled up from within him was still there, he could feel it.

He felt a slight vibration on the street, just enough to break into his circular thought pattern. He couldn't see what it was, but a flicker of fear went through his mind. Here he was, one of the most powerful ability users in Academy City, now completely defenseless. All he could detect around him was contrasts between light and dark. He wasn't even sure how he could tell, since he didn't have eyes anymore, but it most likely involved his ability combined with the nerves at the end of his brain and other organs. In his weakened state, his protections were just enough to keep him from dying, nowhere close to what he used to defend himself from Shizuri's attacks. A very weak force could destroy his brain, one such as a shoe stomping down hard. So this is how it ends, in this sorry state to a pathetic ending. He 'saw' a dark shape standing over him and he braced himself.

Nothing happened.

Well at least nothing immediate. Teitoku was unable to discern what the stranger wanted. It didn't seem like they were going to kill him, but they were moving around and probably examining the scene. He felt greater vibrations as the person stepped near some of his remains and Teitoku could tell the stranger was speaking out loud. Teitoku couldn't process what was being said, he didn't have ears anymore. He could only feel the vibrations and then a peculiar feeling in the back of his mind, but he ignored that. All he could hope was the person would assume he was dead and leave. No one would expect someone in my condition to still be alive. Now if this piece of trash would leave, I could concentrate on repairing myself. His mind was actually clearer now and he could think about his predicament.

It's not nice to insult someone who just wants to help.

If Teitoku still had a completely functioning heart, it would have attacked him. He heard a young male's voice in his mind, as clearing as if the male was whispering into his ear. The tone was curious, with just a hint of a mocking undertone. This person was able to communicate directly into his mind, even in this state. Are you a mental ability user?

No, I'm using a rune card. You probably have a bunch of questions, but make it fast. I'm planning to get you out of here before Anti-Skill arrives.

Why are you interested in helping me?

I need your ability. In exchange, I'll help you recover and give you the power you were seeking. Whoever helped you obviously only gave you the bare minimum.

RICANE! Teitoku mentally roared as he remembered. He left me for dead. I'll kill him first and then slaughter the Meltdowner and her boyfriend.

Ricane? The voice said slowly. So it's true… Anyway, I'll get you out of here if you agree to my conditions.

What makes you think I will trust you?

I never said for you to trust me. If you don't agree to my demands, you can stay here and die. The choice is up to you. I lose nothing, but you will lose everything. This way, you still have a chance. He paused for a moment. Pledge your life to me, and I will make sure you obtain the power you desire.

A thought flickered briefly in Teitoku's mind as he processed the stranger's words. The way the stranger said pledge your life threw up warning bells in his head, but that worry was pushed out of his mind as he remembered Shizuri, Ricane, and Kami. Hatred overwhelmed all rational thought. How dare trash treat me like this? They should have trembled at my very presence and begged to serve me, not unleash unknown powers that surpassed what trash should have been able to use. The decision was almost instantaneous. He desired power and would sell his soul to the devil if it meant acquiring it.

I agree to your terms.

Excellent.

For a moment, something cold flowed through his remains. It was as if he lost something important, but he had no idea what it was. The feeling passed as quickly as it came. The light around him faded and was replaced by darkness. He could feel all of his remains being carefully brought together. Whoever he had made a deal with, was certainly no amateur. As he felt them begin to move, another feeling passed through him. It was regret. The regret wasn't at his action in trying to kill the others, he didn't care about that. The regret dealt with the deal he just made. Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

"What's with all that metal?" Kuroko asked, pointing to a good part of the street covered in black metal. "It looks like the Shadow Metal Jason mentioned before." She and Mikoto were standing on the roof of a nearby building overlooking the destruction.

"Yea…" Mikoto said slowly, looking around. She suddenly had a sense of déjà vu. The last time she had seen this much of the black metals, she and Sogiita Gunha had fought. She had been forcefully transformed into a monster to see if she could surpass level 5. She had nearly killed him and Touma. Touma saved her and she vaguely recalled a dragon, but she wasn't in her right mind at the time, so she thought she imagined it. Now she realized it was probably that creature in his arm. After Italy, it didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, so she let the subject drop.

"Didn't Saten-san mention this was caused by ability users clashing?"

"Kagere said he didn't know, remember?"

"True."

"This place really is a mess," Mikoto said, trying to move the subject away from the metal, "You can easily tell where the lightning hit."

"Be careful," Kuroko warned, for what felt like the millionth time to Mikoto. "We are only here to look, so don't do anything drastic unless someone needs help."

"I know, I know," Mikoto replied, rolling her eyes and Kuroko teleported them down to the street. "Even the street's been ripped up," she added, looking around. "You would think someone like Accelerator would have passed through, but he can't create lightning."

"The important part is over there," a girl's voice said, and they both jumped in surprise. They turned around and saw Misaki, leaning up against a mailbox, waving to them and then gesturing down the street while spinning a remote in her other hand. "I was wondering when you two would get here."

"How did you beat us here?" Mikoto asked, but Kuroko asked the more important question.

"How did you know to come here?" she asked. "I didn't hear onee-sama give you the location."

"I actually just heard about the unusual lightning a few minutes before Misaka's call," Misaki explained. "I was planning to investigate from a distance, but since it was obvious you were planning to come here, I decided to meet you."

"How did you sneak past the quarantine?" Kuroko asked.

"Do you really need to ask that Shirai-san?" Misaki asked. "They let me in without an issue."

"Of course they did," Mikoto sighed, while Kuroko looked like she wanted to say something about Misaki using her powers on Anti-Skill. Before she could say anything though, Mikoto continued. "So what's over there?" she pointed to the direction Misaki had indicated. "Does it have something to do with the destroyed building?"

"Kind of," Misaki said, as all three of them walked down the destroyed street, moving diagonally to step onto the flatter parts to avoid climbing over all the debris. "The first is this." She gesture to the ground around them after they came to a section of the street that wasn't completely torn up. "What do you make of this?" Mikoto and Kuroko frowned as the leaned over to examine the ground.

"The entire area is stained," Kuroko said, turning her head around. "But with that?"

"Is this...?" Mikoto said, bending a little closer, before holding her hand to her mouth. "Dried blood?" Kuroko gasped.

"That's what I thought," Misaki said solemnly.

"If this is really blood," Kuroko said, looking at how much of the area was covered by the stain. "How badly would someone have to be injured to lose this much?" Mikoto and Misaki didn't answer, none of them wanted to think about that. There was an issue Kuroko noticed due to her Judgement training that the other two missed. "It only seems to be concentrated here, with a few splotches sprayed into the distance. There's no sign of a corpse, or any sign of it being dragged off. So what could have happened to it?"

"It seems to be originating here," Misaki said, pointing to a crater in the middle of the street. The stains started at this crater and the vast majority of it spread out in one direction. While only Kuroko had Judgement investigation training, basic physics allowed Misaki and Mikoto, both of whom were extremely gifted, to infer were the stain originated. While they thought it was blood, there was no evidence of any body, so they were hoping it wasn't. "Do you think that lightning hit someone?"

"I hope not," Mikoto said seriously, looking around for any other sign of what happened or if Touma had been there, when something caught her eye. While most of the street had been uprooted, scorched, and crushed, one spot stood out. She turned and walked through a forest of light posts that seemed to have been uprooted and speared into the ground and then a ravine that looked like it had melted asphalt and concrete in it before it cooled. She stood at the spot and looked around.

"Onee-sama!" Kuroko called out to her. "What did you find?"

"I'm not sure," Mikoto admitted. "Come over here and tell me if this seems unusual." Misaki and Kuroko walked toward her and looked around. They were standing in roughly a two meter radius circle of smooth road. A pile of debris was on one side and the ravine ended several meters away.

"Seems like nothing happened here," Misaki commented.

"And that's what's unusual," Kuroko said, hitting her fist into the palm of her other hand. "That area is covered by building debris, outside this circle the ground is burnt slightly by the lightning, and there's destroyed street and lamp posts that way, but this spot is clear, as if the area was protected." Her eyes drifted around and she frowned. It all seemed really familiar to her, like she saw something like this before. "I remember, it happened so long ago I almost forgot. It's just like the graviton bombing in the seventh mist. An area was untouched while everything else was destroyed. Everyone thought onee-sama protected Uiharu and the civilian, but you said you didn't."

"It was Touma," Mikoto acknowledged. "I bet he blocked one of the lightning strikes here."

"We all know he doesn't have the power to cause this much destruction," Kuroko said. "And based on his character, he probably ran in blindly and tried to stop whatever magician was here."

"There could have been an ability user," Misaki pointed out. "Don't you need one to make that metal?"

"How did you know about that?" Mikoto asked, shocked. Does she know how Shadow Metal is made?

"I saw you two arrive on the building and I read Shirai-san's mind because I wasn't sure how much time we had."

"Hey," Kuroko said, instinctively raising her hands to her head. "Don't go reading my mind without permission." Mikoto sparked slightly in anger. She hated when Misaki threatened to use her powers on Kuroko and the others. While Mikoto didn't think Misaki would do anything to hurt them, there was always the possibility of using them to annoy her.

"Sorry," Misaki said, making her favorite cutesy pose. "I wasn't sure how long you would take and this way we saved a lot of time."

"I guess," Kuroko admitted.

"So what do you think happened?" Mikoto asked. "We don't know any ability users who could create red lightning storms. Yet, I thought you need abilities to clash to create the Shadow Metal."

"Hmm," Misaki said, putting a finger to her cheek. She had been thinking about it while they talked, and she came to a very unattractive conclusion. "If we assume the lightning was caused by magic, then the only ones we know who are powerful enough to do this is Eve or that Cain guy. As a vampire, he's supposed to have extraordinary magic, right?" Mikoto nodded. "Now, if that black metal indeed requires powerful ability users to clash, then we need to say at least two other people were here. Well, at least before Touma arrived."

"Sounds alright so far," Kuroko agreed. "Do you think both of the ability users were fighting Eve or Cain?"

"I hope not," Mikoto said worriedly. "It took an army to fight Eve and Cain's obviously almost as powerful. It wouldn't be good for anyone to face him."

"True," Misaki agreed, before continuing. "But Cain's a vampire. Doesn't a bite from a vampire turn you into one of them?"

"That or food," Mikoto said, a slight shiver going down her spine. I hope this day doesn't turn into a horror movie.

"What if he turned someone into a vampire and had them fight another ability user?" Misaki asked. "Maybe Eve needs this metal for something."

"What would Eve need this for?" Kuroko asked. "Jason said it was used to dampen AIM fields…." Her eyes went wide. "Kazakiri-san!"

"Eve must be setting this up then," Mikoto said. "Do you think that blood stain might be Cain turning someone into a vampire after fighting someone?"

"There is that possibility," Misaki nodded solemnly. "The question is, who was fighting him? Who would be strong enough to generate Shadow Metal in a fight? If this metal could form when any two people with abilities fought, we would have it all over the place." They all looked at each other with a knowing look and said a single word in unison.

"Accelerator."

"That would explain the destruction," Kuroko mumbled. "Overturned streets, light poles ripped out of the ground, and destroyed buildings."

"Touma must have seen the fight and stepped in," Mikoto concluded.

"There's one way to check," Misaki said, pulling out her phone. "If he showed up, everything probably ended well. " She pushed the speed dial she kept Touma's number on and waited. "Hmm, it went straight to voice mail, his phone must be off." She left a quick message and hung up.

"I'll try Accelerator," Mikoto sighed. "It's not like he's that found of any of us." Misaki and Kuroko nodded in agreement. The phone rang twice and Accelerator's gruff voice answered.

"What do you want third rate?" Mikoto wasn't sure how to word her question. She could ask outright, but the phone lines in the city could be hacked pretty easily, so she probably shouldn't say anything to revealing.

"When Eve left," Mikoto said slowly and deliberately. "After the rest of us went our separate ways, did you happen to go and have a… fight… with another individual who might have a weird ability." She hoped she wasn't too specific or too vague. Kuroko looked a little confused, but Misaki gave her a reassuring nod, letting her know her wording was okay.

"How the…?" Accelerator asked, sounding stunned. "Actually, never mind. You know people who have connections and it doesn't even matter anymore. It's all taken care of."

"So you did…?"

"It's taken care of third rate. That is all you need to know." He hung up the phone. Mikoto turned toward the others.

"I think he might have been the one, but you know he's never in a talkative mood."

"If we assume it was him and Cain," Misaki said, processing the information. "Then that just leaves the last person. Whoever it was would have to have an ability that can rival him."

"That's going to be a narrow list," Mikoto told her. She frowned as she looked at some of the burnt damages. While most of the damage could be explained by Accelerator's vector manipulation, the burns were unusual. Mikoto had seen Accelerator create plasma before, but it wasn't something he normally used. Besides, these burns were more focused… like beams. When she thought this, her mind immediately turned to the one person who could have done this much damage with their ability. Mugino.

"We need to get going," Kuroko said, turning her head and looking down the street. "It looks like someone is coming." She grabbed Mikoto and Misaki and teleported away before they could discuss the matter any further.

Where am I?

Touma opened his eyes and stared at a white ceiling. Am I in the hospital? Something told him he wasn't, the bed was way too comfortable. He tried to sit up and his back was wracked with pain and he stopped. He blinked several times until everything began to swim into focus. He tilted his head and looked to his side. There was IV attached to his left arm with what looked like an almost empty bag of blood, along with a heart monitor, but no other equipment. I'm definitely not in a hospital.

He saw a TV on a desk and a partially open door that led to a closet. There were two chairs in the corner of the room and a small pile of male clothes in one of them. Touma took his right hand, winced slightly, and pulled back the covers. He was wearing a pair of baggy pants, but no shirt. His entire torso was wrapped in strong hospital grade bandages. Besides that, the rest of his body looked okay. He took a deep breath and tried to remember what happened. The last thing he could really remember was stopping Mugino's last attack and then everything got blurry. The one thing he was sure of was the dragon emerged from his arm and defeated Teitoku. I was saved by it again, but is Kakine okay? He's not dead, is he? He managed to sit up, when he heard a couple voices.

"What is that boy's body made out of? I've seen wounds heal quickly, but without an ability, I'm surprised he is even alive with that blood loss, let alone stabilized already." The voice was female and definitely older than him.

"That boy is anything but normal," Shizuri's voice agreed. "But isn't his rapid recovery a testament to your skills?"

"You only flattery me so I'll keep working for you," the woman said. "Probably because I'm one of the few doctors who makes house calls and can keep my mouth shut."

"And you're one of the top three specialists in the city."

"Top three? I'm definitely number two. Only the Heaven Chancellor is better and I doubt he's even human. Seriously, I've seen him bring people on the verge of death back to life with common household items."

"I didn't have time to get to his hospital," Shizuri explained. "Besides, this situation needs to be kept under wraps. Your normal payment will be transferred to your account."

"Anytime as long as you got the cash. I know I never meet you in the same spot twice, but I do prefer this luxury suite instead of some of the rundown apartments in the past."

"Good bye," Shizuri told her, in a tone saying she was overstaying her welcome. A door in the distance slammed shut, before Shizuri spoke again. "Hamazura, Takitsubo and I are going out, I need some explanations. You are in charge until Frenda and Kinuhata get back. Don't let anyone else in and don't you dare think about letting Kamijou leave if he wakes up. He has a lot of explaining to do."

"Y-yes Mugino," the voice of Shiage said shakily. Touma heard the door slam shut again before thinking.

Who is Mugino after? Touma thought. Shouldn't she be resting? He looked out the window and the sun was beginning to set. He must have been out for a couple hours at least or it could be the following day. He didn't know how much time passed while he was unconscious, but he needed to find out. He sat up, ignoring the sharp stabbing pain in his back. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. He moved and sat at the edge of the bed, before disconnecting the IV. This wasn't something anyone could do, but Touma had left hospitals suddenly more times than he would like to admit. He got shakily to his feet and took a few careful steps.

He looked in the mirror and turned to look at his back. The bandages looked cleaned, but he couldn't be sure how bad it was underneath. He did recall being stabbed several times. There was no real reason to remove the bandages, so he grabbed the shirt from the chair and put it on. He flinched slightly when he raised his arms, but kept going. He spent a moment stretching to try to keep the pain in his back to a minimum and then opened the door leading to the rest of the apartment. It led to the main living room and Touma could see a hallway on the other side leading to more rooms. A large and fancy kitchen was connected to the living room. It really was a high class apartment, one Touma would normally never be able to even spend a single night in.

"How are you up?" Shiage said, turning around on the couch when he heard Touma open the door. He had been watching TV. "You were nearly dead when I arrived after Mugino called me."

"I'm pretty tough," Touma said hoarsely. "Where am I?"

"It's one of our hideouts," Shiage explained. "We don't use it much, because we can't be seen going in and out of a high class apartment too often. Mugino brought you here because it was the closest place."

"Who was the person who was just here?"

"That was the doctor who attended your wounds," Shiage said, watching him closely. "Mugino and Takitsubo were also in pretty bad shape, but they wouldn't tell me what happened. Frenda and Kinuhata are still out on another mission."

"Okay," Touma said, glad everyone was alright. "I need to get going now. Thanks for the hospitality." He didn't want to overstay his welcome and Shizuri already did more than enough for him. He was definitely going to thank her the next time he saw her. He started to walk toward the door when Shiage blocked his path.

"I can't let you do that," he said sternly. "Mugino was very clear. You can't leave until she returns. Even without her order, you are in no shape to travel. I don't even understand how you are up and walking."

"I have a lot of misfortunate things happen to me," Touma said with a weak chuckle. "So I'm built pretty tough. I bet tomorrow I'll be back to my old self."

"You sure you don't have an ability?" Shiage asked suspiciously and Touma shook his head. "I suppose it doesn't matter. You really can't leave though. Just wait until Mugino gets back and try to convince her. I rather not be on the receiving end of her anger."

Touma looked at the determination in Shiage's eyes and realized he had a point. Shizuri was not the kind of person to overlook someone ignoring her orders. If he left, Shiage would get beaten and then Shizuri would come after him. The best bet was to do as Shiage suggested. I really don't want to impose, but I guess I should thank her for paying for a doctor for me. I'll have to find a way to pay her back. "Okay," he sighed and Shiage looked relieved. He sat down gingerly on a sofa chair, mindful of his back, and relaxed for the first time since before Eve appeared.

"Here," Shiage said, handing him a bottle of pills and Touma's cellphone. "Pain meds if it gets too bad," he explained.

"Thanks a lot," Touma replied gratefully, taking a couple and pocketing the bottle. He turned his cellphone on and saw several messages, most from Mikoto and Misaki. They obviously knew he was up to something, but they didn't go into details, only wondering what he was doing and if he was okay. He sent them a quick reply and set his phone on silent. He wasn't sure how to explain this to them and decided he shouldn't worry them. He probably shouldn't say too much while in one of ITEM's bases anyway. He looked over at Shiage, who also appeared to be tired. "You look pretty warn out too."

"I was helping Frenda and Kinuhata on their mission," Shiage shrugged. "It got a little hectic but we took care of it. Then Mugino called me not to long ago and here we are."

"Long day too huh."

"Definitely." They looked at each other and laughed. Two guys, who seemed to get boss around by others a lot, finally met someone in the same position as themselves. They may have been enemies in the past, but they were quickly becoming good friends. They watched TV for a bit, before Shiage turned to him. "I got a question for you."

"Shoot."

"How did you get Mugino and Frenda to speak so highly of you?" Shiage asked.

"Huh?" Touma asked, completely surprised. "Where did this come from and what do you mean highly? I don't think Mugino has ever really complimented me without some kind of mocking tone."

"Maybe that's how she is," Shiage shrugged. "They usually tell me I need to act more like you in missions." I wonder if they speak well of me when I'm not there. He scoffed. I doubt that. "Anyway, the reason I asked was because I wanted to ask your advice. You see, I really like Takitsubo, but I don't know how to go about telling her."

Touma's mouth fell open. This was probably one of the most unexpected things he ever encountered. At school, his friends always made fun of him for having a harem, but most of the girls they said liked him were obviously just thanking him for helping them out of some kind of trouble. He knew Mikoto, Ruiko, and Misaki liked him, but they were also his friends, so it made things awkward, but he had never gone after them. In fact, he had never pursued anyone for a relationship. With his horrible luck and all the problems he got involved in, he never thought he would have time for a real relationship. It would put them in trouble and he would never be able to live with himself if they got hurt because of someone after him. "I'm not sure I'm the person to ask," Touma said, rubbing his head. "I've never really asked anyone out and I don't have a girlfriend. I have some friends who might be able to help."

"Really?" Shiage asked, raising an eye. There was a small amount of disbelief in his eyes. "I thought… never mind. Humor me. What would you do if you liked a girl?"

"I would probably just try to be honest," Touma shrugged. "If you try to make yourself out to be something you're not, the relationship won't last. You can't make it on lies. When you feel the time is right, confess. If she says no, at least you asked, right?"

"Great," Shiage sighed. "That's going to be nerve wrecking. Thanks for the advice." They sat in silence when the movie they were watching became intense, but Touma wanted to know something and figured now would be the time to ask.

"Do you all go to school?" Touma asked. "It seems like you do so much, even during school days."

"Eh," Shiage said nonchalantly. "I dropped out. School just wasn't for me and I learned a lot of skills to survive on the streets. The others technically go to school, but a higher up in Academy City makes it easy for them to get excused from classes whenever it's needed. Mugino, being a level 5, has a lot of freedom."

"Lucky," Touma muttered and Shiage laughed. "I almost failed a semester for missing too many days. I had so many supplemental classes." They argued about the importance of school, Shiage against and Touma for, before moving to other topics like TV shows, video games, and other guy things. Before long, they were talking like they had been friends for years. Shiage was happy to have another guy to talk to, who wouldn't insult him at every opportunity, and Touma was glad to have someone who didn't keep telling him to embrace a harem that didn't exist. He began to feel drowsy, probably from the pain meds. Hours passed and the sun had set before the girls enter from behind them.

"He's up already?" Frenda asked. "Basically, I thought you said he was on death's door."

"…He was," Rikou said, wide-eyed.

"So he's up," Shizuri said, staring at him. "I knew you wouldn't be the type to lounge around in bed all day. Good job at keeping him here Hamazura."

"So are you finally going to tell us what happened?" Saiai asked. "I super want to know."

"Tomorrow," Shizuri told her, without turning her head. Her eyes were narrowed at Touma. "I'm not in the mood to discuss it right now." Touma shivered and he figured whoever Shizuri went to meet, didn't give her the news she wanted. She wasn't completely furious, so there must have been good news sprinkled in. Shizuri of course wanted to talk about what happened against Teitoku, but she needed to get her thoughts organized before that. The memory of those dragons still sent involuntary shivers down her spine.

"Dang," Saiai said, putting her hands behind her back. "Well, if we aren't going to learn what happened between you two and Kakine, then I'm super going to get cleaned up." She tugged at her dusty and torn sweater dress. "So much dirt because Frenda couldn't control her explosives." She started walking toward the hallway.

"My explosives were perfect," Frenda huffed. "Basically, you just didn't dodge correctly." She decided to follow Saiai because she too wanted to wash up. She knew the two boys would be busy with Shizuri there and they weren't going to gather the courage to peek. Saiai must have been reading her mind because she stopped and looked back at the boys.

"Hamazura," She warned. "I'll kill you if you peak. Kamijou, if you want to peak at Frenda, I know she would enjoy it."

"Kinuhata!" Frenda yelled. "If he tries anything now, I'm getting a nude picture of you and sending it to Accelerator."

"You wouldn't dare." They continued to argue until they entered the shower room. Shizuri waited until they were gone and then turned to Shiage.

"You can go Hamazura," Shizuri told him. "You'll be compensated appropriately." Her tone was cooler than normal and Shiage figured it was best not to argue.

"Catch you later," Shiage said to Touma, before leaving the apartment. Shizuri, Touma, and Rikou watched him leave.

"So, umm," Touma said, rubbing his head. The silence was a little awkward and he wasn't sure what to say. "Thanks for getting me medical treatment."

"I don't normally like to admit this," Shizuri told him, crossing her arms under her chest. "But you did save me and Takitsubo, so the least I could do was pay a medical bill."

"I suppose you want to know what happened," Touma stated.

"That's obvious."

"Can you tell me about that transformation?" Touma asked.

"It's late and I'm tired," Shizuri said. "Plus you look like you are about to crash. Tomorrow morning, we are going to discuss this in great detail and you will tell me everything. Understand?" She took one of her fingers and pressed it against his chest, while looking at him straight in the eyes.

"Yes," Touma gulped. Tomorrow is going to be another long day.

"You understand what is going to happen if you try to escape in the middle of the night?"

"Yes."

"Good," Shizuri said, turning around and walking to the bathroom. "Takitsubo, give him something to eat if he wants it. I'm getting cleaned up." She stopped for a moment. "I hope you don't mind we threw your old clothes away. They were ruined beyond repair."

"It's fine. I expected as much." Great, another thing I have to buy, Touma thought. Rikou microwaved him some kind of rice dish and he ate in silence. He knew he could ask her questions, but nothing came to mind. Rikou rarely initiated conversations, but would generally answer any question directed at her. She ate a little bit, but continued to stare at him or, more specifically, at his arm. Touma knew why and he dreaded the following morning. He yawned and his back wasn't hurting as much anymore. The pain medicine was really helping, but he was going to fall asleep soon. About this time, Shizuri returned, changed into more casual clothes.

"You can use the same bedroom," Shizuri told him, gesturing to the room he had woken up in. "I'll make sure Frenda doesn't get any ideas tonight." It may have sounded like she was doing this out of the kindness of her heart, but she knew Touma would try to flee if they tried anything. She glanced at Rikou. "You should get washed up to. We don't have anything else going on tomorrow." Rikou nodded and left. Touma put his plate in the sink and turned to look at Shizuri.

"Thanks for everything," he said. "But you really don't have to go this far. I could just meet you somewhere tomorrow."

"I will repay my debts," Shizuri told him, not taking her eyes off of him.

"You don't…," Touma started to say, but Shizuri increased the strength of her glare. "Okay, I get it. Thank you." She appeared slightly mollified by his response. Touma walked to the bedroom, aware of Shizuri's eyes following him, and entered, closing the door behind him. Part of him was nervous about sleeping under the same roof as several very attractive girls, but he figured Shizuri wouldn't let them do anything while he was injured. He turned his phone on again and set it as an alarm. He laid down on the soft bed, carefully to avoid stressing his back, aware of how nice it felt. The stress of the entire day finally caught up to him and he felt it all at once. Added to the doziness he felt from taking the pain medicine, he closed his eyes and was out like a light in only a few minutes.

About thirty minutes passed when the door to his room opened. Shizuri walked in wearing a semitransparent nightgown, with very exotic underwear visible from underneath it, something that would make eve Kuroko's jaw drop. It was the kind of sleepwear a girl would use to seduce a guy but, with Shizuri, it was her normal every night type of clothes. She waited until she was sure he was asleep and the other girls had gone to their room. All of them were exhausted and crashed earlier than normal. Shizuri, however, had other things on her mind and wasn't able to drag herself to bed. Instead, she found herself heading towards Touma's room.

Ever since she had called the doctor to patch him up, after she and Rikou gave him basic first aid, she had been feeling something strange her chest. She couldn't get Touma out of her head and no matter what she did, her thoughts kept turning to him. She had planned to go and interrogate Jason about what happened, but the most unusual thing happened. Rikou couldn't pick up his AIM field. It was like he was suddenly able to hide it. Perplexed by this, they went and picked up Frenda and Saiai, with all of them discussing what occurred, with heavy omissions. Even then, she still kept thinking about Touma and the desire to return back to his side quickly. When they arrived, she felt relief flow through her body when she saw Touma up and relatively fine. Her mind and body were feeling all sorts of emotions she never had felt before, and it confused her, but she knew what she had to do.

I have to do this, she thought, as she closed the door silently behind her. She walked up to the bed silently and stared down at Touma's sleeping form. She put a hand over her heart, which had begun to thump wildly, and she took a deep breath. This was completely unnatural for her, but her body was screaming at her to do it. When did I fall for an idiot like this? I want to hit him and hold him at the same time. She sat on the bed lightly and laid down next to him. She felt better than she had felt for a long time and found herself falling asleep before she knew it.

Wow, I feel great. Those pain meds really helped.

Sun was streaming through the window and, even those his eyelids were closed, he could tell it was morning. He sat up, not wanting to open his eyes, and stretched. That's when he noticed something was wrong. His body felt heavy in the wrong places and he wondered if it was a side effect of the drug. He opened and his eyes and now had definite proof something was wrong. He wasn't in the same bed when he fell asleep. In fact, the entire room around him was completely different. He recognized the decoration and knew where he was, but that should have been impossible.

It was the Tokiwadai Middle School dorms.

Touma took a deep breath and counted to ten. Okay, I'm hallucinating. Stay calm and think rationally. He pinched himself and it hurt, so he wasn't dreaming. He opened his eyes and looked down. He was sitting up in a bed with gold sheets, but what really got him was the fact he wasn't looking at his body anymore. He was looking at a female body wearing a pink semitransparent nightgown and the chest was extremely prominent. He closed his eyes again and immediately thought of Jason. I swear, if he did this again… but he didn't transport me into another location the other times. How did I end up here then? No one besides Mugino and her group should know where I was. He opened his eyes and looked around, before his mouth fell open in shock when he saw a mirror.

Misaki Shokuhou shocked face was staring back at him.

He bolted out of bed and ran to the mirror. He ran his hands along the side of his face and the mirror copied his every movement. He grabbed some of the long blonde hair and held it out, looking at it. He might have panicked and passed out, but since Jason had done something similar, he was a little calmer than he should have been. This shouldn't be possible, but it's not a dream or a hallucination, which means, it has to be magic. I don't think Jason would do this now, too much stuff is going on, so who….. EVE! He remembered her words when she mentioned her Chaos Magic.

Anything can happen and I don't have control of what the outcome is.

If I'm in Misaki's body, he thought. Does that mean she's in my body? That means she's at Mugino's apartment and injured… I got to find her phone quickly. He looked around her room. It was a good thing Misaki kept her room tidy, or it might have taken a long time to search. The table and chairs were clear, so that really only left her desk. Sorry Misaki, he thought as he rummaged through her desk drawers before noticing her bag under the desk. He bent over and picked it up, trying not to look down at Misaki's semi revealed body. He rummaged in the bag for a moment before pulling out her cellphone. Please don't be locked. To his relief it wasn't and he scrolled through her contacts until he found his name. He dialed and held the phone up to his ear, while pacing back and forth. He heard it click as it was answered.

"Hello?" he heard his groggy voice say.

"Don't panic…"

Feel free to leave a review, comment, suggestions, or ideas, I (Eve) love reading them. If you have a question you wish I ask and would like a quick answer, feel free to message me directly. I try to respond to those within a day or two. Comments, I tend to respond to in the next chapter.

Eve: Yes, I have total control of everything that happens.

Touma: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS?!
Mikoto YEA! It should have been m…

Misaki: I suppose I'm okay with this. My body is for him and him alone.

Touma: There is no reason an arc in this story should be like this.

Eve: Chaos Magic, I just pulled it out of a hat. The hat has all the ideas the author, his friends, and readers suggest. Whenever he's bored or in a slump, he pulls out an idea. I just copied that.

Accelerator: Hah, this is great.

Jason: Don't laugh. We got hit by this too. You could be anyone. I bet Misaka-san.

Mikoto: Eww. I don't want to think what he would do in my body.

Kuroko: Please don't let me swap with you know who.

Jason: Voldemort?

Kuroko Shut up.

Ruiko: Didn't we have an odd number of people? So does that mean one of is safe?

Motoharu: Got to be you Saten-san, author supports you and doesn't let bad things happen to you.

Ruiko: Hey, I want to participate as much as the others.

Eve: Okay if you insist, let's mess with the chart of body swaps again.

Accelerator: Let's just kill her.