Almost all of the characters herein are from A Certain Magical Index and its related series, all written by our lord and savior, Kamachi Kazuma.

Surprise update!

Before we start:

Joker, Ace, Deuce – It was supposed to be a reference to the three protagonists of the main series (Touma, Accelerator, and Hamazura respectively). I thought the pattern was clear in context, but I guess Misaka's title confused everyone. Damn.

Gokusai Kaibi – Ayu doesn't remember our girl in the dress because, unlike Yumiyan who was in Ideal with her, they only met once, and Kaibi was trying to kill her at the time. I don't even think she knows Kaibi's name.

That should be all. On with the story!

Chapter 2 – The Many Billiard Balls on the Table

Part 2

There was a knock at the door, and all three of them froze.

"No one should know this address." Mitori said quietly. She reached for her knife, and crept close to the door. Dolly, too, stood, and flanked Mitori, standing ready on the door's other side. A single spark leapt from her fingers, and she nodded at Mitori.

"Who's there?" The purple-haired operator called.

Meanwhile, Ayu only took out her phone cautiously. I doubt that that's someone coming to rescue me, she thought glumly.

"Err…" A hesitant voice said from behind the door. "I'm Kitakaze Miyuki? I'm looking for something?"

Mitori and Dolly exchanged a look. The two of them glanced at Ayu, who shook her head. It wasn't a name she knew.

"What?"

"Huh?" The muffled reply came.

"What are you looking for?" Mitori elaborated. The knife was still in her hand.

"I lost my doll."

What?

"It's about 15 cm tall. With long blonde hair, wearing like a witch's hat and eyepatch. It's a unique design!" The person on the other side continued. "And it can talk and move by itself. Have you seen anything like it?"

This, Mitori thought to herself, must be one of the weirdest stories anyone has ever made up to try and get into someone's home. "Nope," Mitori said. "Haven't seen anything like it."

"Please!" The person on the other side begged. "I followed its GPS tracker to this place. It's very important to me."

"How did you get this address?" Mitori asked directly. If this really was an ordinary student looking for a lost belonging, they would probably be thinking that this place was quite suspicious by now.

"I told you, I followed its GPS tracker!" Frustration was evident in the speaker's tone. "Can't you just open the door? Are you hiding something illegal in there?"

Mitori ran through some quick calculations. If she actually goes to Anti-Skill, it might actually raise some problems. Nothing that Shokuhou can't brainwash away, but it'll still be troublesome otherwise. She gestured to Dolly to stand down, then made a vague motion towards Ayu.

Thankfully, her best friend got the message.

Dolly walked over and urged Ayu into her bedroom. "Stay in there for now. Sorry!"

"But why–" Ayu whispered.

"You're a wanted criminal after all." Hitsuji made a very good point, and the mental esper shut up.

Meanwhile, Mitori had opened the door. "Sorry about that," she said, in the best apologetic tone she could manage (while yet being completely unapologetic). "It's just, well, me and my friend don't really like people looking into our house."

"No, no, I understand. Sorry for the trouble." The girl at the door raised both hands in a placating gesture. She had long flowing silver-white hair, pale skin, and blue eyes. She was wearing tough-looking jeans and leather boots with a trace of fur. Over her plain white blouse was a camouflage jacket, but not with the usual greens and browns: it had varying shades of blue and teal, more suited for the sea or sky.

On the ground beside her was a long rectangular case that looked as if it held some sort of musical instrument.

A foreign beauty. Mitori thought. Come to think of it, she didn't sound like she's from around here.

"You said…a doll?"

"Yes." The foreign girl said. "About this tall," she made the appropriate distance in a gesture with her palms apart, "and long blonde hair, with a witch's hat and an eyepatch," she repeated. "And, like I said, it can walk and talk by itself."

"That's some fancy technology."

"Erm, yes, I guess." The girl appeared to not quite know what to say. "I don't suppose you can let me in to look around?"

"Sorry, but the house is a bit messy." Mitori said. "I'd rather not do that."

"It'll only take a moment!" The girl looked quite desperate.

"Mi-chan, what's going on?" Dolly chose to show herself in the doorway at that moment. "You can't come in," she said unhappily, addressing the visitor. "Mi-chan was being polite, but I think it's quite rude to be this insistent and not respect our privacy."

Mitori was taken aback. "D–Hitsuji, you can't just–"

In the background, there was a muffled shout, and Mitori looked back in worry. Dolly, however, did not let up. "What school are you from?" she demanded.

"Shidarezakura Academy." The foreign girl seemed to fumble at the pronunciation.

"You can leave your email address with us. I'll get in touch if we see this doll of yours around." Dolly said. "I'm sorry, but that's all we can do for you."

"No, it's okay. I understand." The girl held up her hands placatingly again.

"How did you know that it's on this floor, anyway?" Mitori asked.

"I've been knocking at this apartment on every floor." The girl's reply was instant.

"Right. Stupid question." Mitori pushed some hair from her forehead. "Good luck with your search."

"Thank you." The girl bowed, and Mitori closed the door. She then flipped around and leaned with her back against it, before sliding to the ground and exhaling in relief. It's been so long since I had to deal with an ordinary person being this pushy. It appeared that her old tendency of smiling and playing along with others, as she had back before she got to know Dolly, was still with her. Especially if I don't consciously tag them as a target or a Dark Sider, huh?

She felt something, and looked up; Dolly was patting her head in a soothing kind of way, with the expression of a mother doting on a young toddler. "There, there."

"Oh shut up." She got up instantly, switching back to business mode, and ran through the conversation in her head. Something did not sit right with her.

"I've been knocking at this apartment on every floor." No denial, no hesitation. A pre-planned excuse? Or am I just being paranoid? Also, what on earth is Ayu doing? If that girl wasn't suspicious of us before…

"We should move." She told Dolly. It galled her: she liked this apartment a lot, and the two of them had even spent a little bit of time decorating it, but at times like this she just didn't feel comfortable. "I know it's weird, but…" Her words came to a braking halt as her eyes fell on Ayu, who was gripping something in her hands.

"Greetings." The doll with a witch's hat spoke.

~~[z]~~

After being unceremoniously shunted into Hitsuji's room, Ayu made to listen with her ear at the door. Several thoughts were still running wild in her head.

An insistent tapping was prevented her from concentrating on eavesdropping, and she turned to the source, the window–

To see a familiar face on a very tiny body on the windowsill, next to a bemused-looking crow.

Pain lanced through her head. Images of carnage. Painful memories from another time, another place.

Somehow, while gripping at the forehead, she managed to stagger over to the window, unlatch it so it could be opened a crack. The bird stayed, but the rider entered, scurried along to land on a table.

She seemed to be saying something, but Ayu couldn't hear her. With a hand over an eye, she instead spoke words of her own, her mouth seemingly moving of its own accord.

"You…why are you here?"

Aren't you a god? Can't you just do anything you want?

"I see." The doll said. "Your unconscious self seems to recognise me, even if the memories are too fragmented for you to recall in any real capacity."

The sharp pain in her head seemed to be diminishing. It was receding into the back of her mind, reducing to a dull throbbing. "Who are you?" Ayu finally said. "How do I know you?"

Why have you been showing up in my dreams? What did you do to Touma?

"I am…" The Norse God of war, deception, and tactics considered her words carefully, "in short...someone that needs your help."

The fifteen-centimeter tall girl in front of her felt familiar. Yes, there was threat, but there also was a bit of gratitude, as well. A strange, twisted, mixed feeling suffused her.

"Don't give me that." Ayu slashed a hand across the air. She wanted to grab it, squeeze it until it broke. "Who the heck are you, really?"

"Kamijou Touma's Understander." Othinus tried a different tack. How trying, to have to deal with human whims yet again. But I suppose this is part of the punishment, as well. "My name is Othinus. I need your help because Kamijou Touma might be in danger."

At mention of Touma, Ayu's heart skipped a beat. At the thought of Touma being in danger, her stomach turned. But then another possibility occurred to her, and she grew angry.

"Kamijou Touma? Do you really think saying his name is enough to get what you want from me?!" She advanced on the table, towered her full height over the palm-sized magic god.

Othinus was unfazed. "I do truly need your help. And there is no one else in this city whom I know, who I can rely on for this."

No one else…

"Liar!" Ayu shouted. It's all the same, isn't it? People just telling me what I want to hear so I'll go along with them. "Me? Help? Isn't there another person in this city, who also knows Touma, who has my ability but better in all ways? Why didn't you go to her, instead?"

Come to think of it, isn't it a little too convenient that Touma 'can never remember' Shokuhou? I bet at the end of it all she's going to show up and go "Oops, did you actually think you have hope? That story was a complete lie⭐" with that smug face of hers.

Othinus chuckled. "So you truly think so little of yourself? You would reduce yourself to your mere ability? Open your eyes, Mitsuari Ayu. Even if what transpired before was a mixture of a fluke and my own oversight, you have more potential than you think you have."

Bits and pieces, tiny shards too broken to piece together…

Warmth on her lips, a wish and a prayer…

Ayu couldn't find a retort. In lieu of words, she reached out and seized the magic god with a single hand, not even she herself knowing what she would do next.

"But that isn't much relevant to our present situation," Othinus pressed on. "You see, Kamijou Touma is at his limit. I do not wish any more harm to come to him, not while he is still recovering from the horrors I inflicted upon him, both directly and indirectly. That means I am doing my utmost to keep him away from any incidents, and that means I require your help to shelter me until my pursuer is dealt with."

"Fine, then." Ayu finally relented. Whatever. I'll just play along for now.

Hitsuji chose that moment to open the door. "Ayu-chan? Is everything okay?"

Othinus looked at the the two other girls. "Greetings," she said, per face perfectly straight.

~~[z]~~

At the foot of the apartment block, the girl who had identified herself as Kitakaze Miyuki put down her black case, and looked up from where she had came.

I am pretty sure those girls are hiding something. 'Miyuki' thought to herself. She recalled the muffled shout coming from the back room. The third girl was missing, too.

I've been following the tracking spell all day, and Othinus' location has intersected with their path several times over.

The city's law enforcement were after them, which means they probably aren't usual students.

She considered her options.

I destroyed their pursuers so I could track them to their home base, and once again Othinus is found in the same place.

Sighing, she picked up her case again.

I did not want to have to do this. If only they had let me search the house…

One did not hunt an animal by approaching it head-on.

But if something was blending perfectly into the background, the best way to reveal it was to startle it and get it to move.

~~[z]~~

Mitori was flabbergasted. So there actually was some strange doll hiding in our house? Then the girl… "Where did you get that?"

"She came in by the window." Ayu said tonelessly. "Anyway, I'm going to keep her for a while."

"There's a person looking for her." Mitori said. "She was literally just at the door. Actually, come to think of it, can't we just–" she strode over to the door.

"Do you want to run the risk of getting killed by simply being involved?" Othinus' cutting voice interrupted. "Those are the kinds of threats we are dealing with."

Mitori turned and blinked, as if she couldn't believe that the palm-sized human figure was actually speaking to her. "I'm sure if we explain nicely, everything will be fine." Even as she said the words, she already knew that it was useless.

Hitsuji had walked up to Ayu and was now poking at Othinus with a finger. "Are you really, you know…" She scratched under the god's chin.

"I am not–!" Othinus took a breath, and calmed herself. "It's not very comfortable to be touched like that." She rebuked the electric esper's actions. "I am a hu–well, I have human senses, for what it matters, and the intellect surpassing one."

Hitsuji looked at her with a considering gaze for a few moments longer before to Mitori. "Can we keep her? I don't really feel comfortable handing her over to that other girl. Plus, she's cute!"

Yep, I knew this was coming. Damn it.

Mitori looked from Dolly's hopeful eyes to Ayu's curiously flat ones, and sighed. "This better not get us killed."

As if it had been waiting for that exact moment, an explosion shook the apartment.

~~[z]~~

From a rooftop across the street, 'Miyuki' lowered her weapon. "That should do it," she muttered.

Putting it back in its case, then slinging said case over her back, she stepped forward to the edge, bracing herself, one hand touching the ground, the other in the air.

"And now the chase."

She kicked both feet over the edge–

–and, with a single hand against the wall, slid down the building's side with blinding speed.

~~[z]~~

"Cough, cough!" Clouds of dust rose into the air, and somewhere in the apartment, there was a thud of something falling over.

"You have to be fucking kidding me." Ayu, who had instinctively dove to the ground in a crouch, felt a shadow over her disappear as Mitori dispersed her shield of liquid metal with a curse. In seconds it had reformed into a familiar humanoid figure, and was diving into the room, throwing things into a bag at breakneck pace. "Dolly!"

"Here!" The clone greeted, perhaps a tad more cheerfully than suited the circumstances. She was back as Ayu first saw her, newsboy cap over her long tea-colored hair. "By the way," Hitsuji continued, as they made their way down the stairs, "what are we supposed to call you?" She addressed the fairy that had settled in on Ayu's shoulder.

"Othinus." Othinus said simply.

"That's a bit hard to say. Do you mind if I call you Othi-chan instead?" Hitsuji chattered along.

The former magic god closed her eyes.

Don't call me that! Even if you understand me, that's getting too friendly, human!

"I would rather you not." She said eventually, reopening her eyes. "And you are…"

"Right." Dolly looked a tad disappointed, and adjusted her cap. "I'm Sakami Hitsuji, and the girl with the purple hair is Kouzaku Mitori."

"I shall be infringing on your hospitality, then–look out!"

Wind carved a gash into the concrete as Dolly held up her arms at Othinus' warning, stopping Ayu and Mitori both from walking into an untimely death.

"Hand her over." A cold voice said. The girl from earlier was striding up to the foot of the stairs, radiating a palpable aura of hostility.

Phone in her hand, Ayu did not hesitate.

He who strikes first wins!

"Take my side! Mental Stinger!"

Gweeeeeeeeeeeeeen!?

An odd noise filled penetrated her senses, but it was not that of the vibration of the air.

"Magicians have a countermeasure against external mental interference!" Othinus explained in her ear. "Your ability won't do more than cause a bit of disorientation!"

The snow-white girl was already moving. A crescent of wind sliced apart an incoming tendril of Liquid Shadow, gouging more lines into the ground. A bead of sweat slowly trickled down Mitori's face as she directed her puppet to both evade and protect.

Well, she personally would have began with negotiating and then waited to slip in a sneak attack, but Ayu had went on the offensive immediately.

"Stay here!" Dolly grabbed Ayu and pushed her towards a less noticeable spot.

"But, Hitsuji-san–"

"That type of enemy is dangerous." Hitsuji wasn't having any of it. Something was ticking in the back of her mind. A putrid mass. Ten spheres. The stench of death. Stolen memories of death.

She scattered bits and pieces of metal in the air, and electricity gathered.

Wait for it…

The girl flipped into the air, avoiding a sweep from the Liquid Shadow.

Wait for it…

The girl blasted aside a hook from the Liquid Shadow.

Wait for it…

Three pointed tendrils arced above, left, right, converging on the girl's location. As the girl jumped, twisted her body to slide between the wide, obvious opening–

Now! "Railgun!"

Dolly's hair formed several rails, accelerating the metal scraps to a deadly velocity. They glowed white-hot with heat, and singed locks of the girl's flowing hair were clipped, sent floating in the breeze.

With obvious anger, there was an outward explosion of wind, and the girl landed gracefully like a ballerina after a pirouette. Electricity arced from Hitsuji's feet as she anchored herself to the ground with the force of magnetism, and she held down her hat with one hand as the overpressure wave threatened to blow it away.

"Who are you, magician?" Ayu shouted. "What do you want with Othinus?"

So you know her name, esper? And you know of magic? "I told you. I'm Kitakaze Miyuki." There was a twisted smile on her face, a grimace like someone recalling a bad joke. "Magician? I'm simply an ordinary esper. Level 3 Aero Hand."

"My butt you are." Mitori retorted. Her puppet reformed itself, returned to place itself firmly between her and the self-proclaimed 'esper'. "No Level 3 is that powerful."

"Really? I guess I'll start saying I'm Level 4, then." 'Miyuki' tugged at her hair. "But that aside, return me my doll, and we can call it quits."

"Sure." Mitori said. "After you…pay me back for destroying my apartment!" The Liquid Shadow surged forward, axe-head and spear-point the end of both its arms.

An irritated look came to the foreign girl's face, and she leapt into the air. There was a blast like a shotgun, and a hole opened up in the puppet's side. Another surge of wind, and suddenly the girl was right next to Ayu, her outreached hand barely a foot away–

A cleaning robot, magnetically summoned, intercepted the grab, and Ayu stumbled backwards, only saved from falling on her behind as her back hit the wall.

With none of her tools, with nobody to control, she could only watch as the magician righted herself in mid-air, parrying another Liquid Shadow strike, and shot forward once again at her.

"Haaa…hah!" With a yell, Hitsuji had somehow moved in an instant, placed herself between them, and delivered a powerful right cross. It connected with the white girl's shoulder–

–or it appeared to, as the air seemed to solidify, forming a veritable barrier. It still sent the girl spinning backwards, where she again recovered with grace. Orange sparks of friction shot up by the magician's boots as she skid to a halt.

That was…Ayu's could only stare in shock, not just at the close shave, but also…

Hitsuji was still determinedly placing herself between Ayu and the foreigner, still in a fighting stance, but she was now clutching her wrist. Small arcs of electricity danced over her skin.

"I do not know how you know of Othinus, esper, but she has much to answer for." The girl looked past Hitsuji, directly at Ayu. Her eyes seemed to be glittering sapphires, radiating a palpable coldness, mirrored in her icy tone. "She broke many, many promises, spat upon the wishes of hundreds. And she got off scot-free, and now lives a comfortable life besides someone who understands her. It makes me sick."

A ballistic knife was fired, and the white-haired girl avoided it with a simple step. With a whittling sound, it made a slow U-turn, before it was sent flying back at Mitori with a gale, who only narrowly evaded it with a rip on her blouse and jacket…and a bloody gash on her upper arm. A quick follow-up blast of air sent her the purple-haired esper tumbling away.

Ayu desperately urged her feet to move, but it was as if her muscles had turned to stone.

"What lies did you whisper in her ear, One-Eyed?" The girl moved addressed the shrunken god directly. "How did you convince someone else to throw away their life for you yet again!?"

You gave up on making your own dreams come true, you forced those dreams on someone else, you turned a blind eye to the pressure that put on her, and now you're blaming her for failing!? To hell with that! It shouldn't have been me standing by her side. It should have been all of you! There were fifty or even a hundred of you and yet not even one of you managed to reach this point, so stop trying to act like you're any better!

The words of her Understander came back to her.

"I…" Othinus seemed to be at a loss for words. She closed her eyes.

"Nothing to say? Then face my judgement!"

Yes, Dolly remembers the Necromancer Arc from Accelerator, because Misaka Network osmosis. Or something.

Also, Othinus finally appears. Let's see how she is as a fairy without Touma by her side.

Review please!