AN: Hello readers, I'm finally back. The first rotation is done and was actually a success. Let's see if that continues into the next one:)

With my return, this fic has actually reached over 20,000 views since the last update. Glad to see that I've reached that many people in passing, even if someone clicked on to click off right after.

So with that, it seems I've created a chapter with a fairly high word count (the highest in terms of upload but 2nd highest in terms of actual chapter length). I honestly didn't think this chapter was going to get this long. I nearly was going to split it up, but decided against it in the end, since it will be something nice to read within the next 3 weeks until this story comes back in the rotation, which will hopefully be during the week of 3/1.

Chapter 42 isn't as done as this chapter was before the last update, but it's probably about halfway, so it'll most likely be completed in time for that week, unless my schoolwork prevents me from working on it. I'm planning on ending Big Spider in Chapter 43 hopefully, meaning Poltergeist will begin at Chapter 45 after the Midsummer Festival unless I add another fun/filler type chapter before it.

Well, I think that's everything I wanted to touch base on. As promised during the last update, we finally get into the action of the Big Spider arc during this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy!

As always, please leave a review on anything you liked, think I should work on, or just any questions in general! I enjoy reading them and I will answer them at the end of the next chapter:)


Disclaimer: I do not own A Certain Scientific Railgun/Magical Index or any of its characters...the only things I own are:

1. My characters and

2. my ideas


Chapter 41: Capacity Down

July 31st, 12:40PM

Somewhere in District 10….

Great…this is going about as smoothly as I predicted it was going to go, Asher thought as she let out a resounding sigh.

Asher, Shirai, and Misaka had just arrived to the section of District 10 that was known as "Strange," a place known to be the area where those of Skill-Out resided. In comparison to other places they had been before, it was pretty rundown, though, none of the guys there seemed all too worried about it.

Asher had suggested that she use her ability to hide their presence to avoid any unnecessary attention from not only being high-leveled espers but also due to Shirai's involvement in Judgment. Shirai and Misaka, however, wanted to take a more direct approach and felt that they didn't need to cloak themselves for their safety.

They didn't realize that she was more or less cloaking them to lessen the amount of energy they were going to expend during this investigation, with the first hurdle right in front of their faces as various members of Skill-Out began to surround them.

"Well, this is such a great turn of events…." Asher said under her breath as she brought a hand up to her neck. "If only there was someone who had predicted that this would happen."

The sheer bluntness in her voice in something that could be seen as a sarcastic comment was enough for both Shirai and Misaka to sweatdrop beside her. They recovered quickly enough, however, for Asher or the guys in front of them to not notice.

"I don't know about you two, but this definitely doesn't seem like a warm welcome…" Shirai stated.

"Yeah, it would probably help our chances if you didn't have that armband on." Misaka said as she casually turned towards her.

Shirai stiffened up before she looked down at her arm, realizing a careless mistake that she hadn't even been aware of pinned on her arm. She was going to take off her armband and put on a disguise before they got here but got distracted when Misaka had insisted on both her and Asher joining her investigation and leaving to get here as soon as they possibly could.

Before she could voice this, a whistle sounded aloud, gaining the girl's attention. Asher's stoic gaze only narrowed, with Shirai and Misaka casually looking in their direction.

"Hey ladies." One of the guys said as he bent forward. "What brings you all to this part of town? Something that involves Judgment I'm guessing?"

As the others laughed at his remark, Misaka and Asher looked over at the teleporter beside them with a deadpan as she let out a small breath.

"I get it you two. You don't have to rub it in." Shirai quietly whined.

Asher turned around as she let out a low sigh. "Come on, let's go ahead and go somewhere else before this situation becomes more draining than it already is." She said.

Before either Shirai or Misaka could move, Asher was stopped in her tracks when a strong hand landed on her shoulder, with more snickering coming from Skill-Out behind her.

"Aww, you scared little girl?" The guy gripping Asher's shoulder asked as he tightened his hold. "The fun has only started, and it's too late for you and your friends to run off now."

Asher looked back at his hand with a disproving glance, looking back up at him with a disinterested look.

"I'm not trying to run anywhere, considering you all don't really pose that much of a threat for me doing so. But to say I have any energy to entertain this is another story, so I suggest that you remove your hand from my shoulder before the last bit of it runs out." "Asher stoically warned.

The amuse on the faces of most of the Skill-Out members, including the one grasping Asher's shoulder, slowly but surely began to darken considerably. Enough, that it even caused Misaka and Shirai to sweatdrop. They knew that if things got ugly that they would be able to handle a fight fairly easy. It was just a little ironic that Asher, who had been the one not wanting any altercations and actively had tried to diffuse a fight before it started, was the one who added fuel to the fire probably without realizing it.

Asher didn't even falter when the hand on her shoulder tightened again, remaining unfazed as his glare intensified.

"You espers are all the same. It's a shame really, with you thinking you can get out of this simply by intimidating us with power none of you should've had in the first place." He hissed. "You're always beating us lower levels down and using us as steppingstones as a means to keep you above everyone that you believe is weaker than you. Ahaha, well guess what. Even us level 0s are evolving to show you espers what it's like to have your asses in the dirt! So how about you fix your attitude and beg us for forgiveness, and we might just happen to forget all that you-"

His sentence was cutoff when his body stiffened out of nowhere, finding himself shaking involuntarily for some odd reason he couldn't quite figure out at first.

It wasn't until he met with Asher's eyes that he knew why.

It was almost like a light switch had been flipped for her stoic eyes to grow even more emotionally distanced than they already had been, feeling the air around both her and him resonating with enough contempt that everything in him was telling him to run away.

Telling him that the girl in front of him was no one he should mess with in this manner…

"Are you done? Because I'm on the brink with losing my patience with you." Asher said coldly as all of the emotion in her voice faded instantly. "I'm never all that fond of my time being carelessly wasted with illogical people who never make strides to try and figure out what they're dealing with before they try thinking they know what they want to believe about them. So, last time I'm saying this: let go before you make me feel inclined to make you. And that's something that you and those other annoyances wouldn't be able to deal with at any capacity."

Her eyes eerily began to grow an eerie violet that caused the hairs on the back of the Skill-Out member's neck to stand up. It took only seconds for him to realize who this girl was, finding himself petrified enough to take an instinctive step back as sweat poured down his face.

None of his friends behind him could see this, causing confusion to grow on their faces as their fellow member started to pale as much as a ghost.

However, Shirai and Misaka on the other hand could only guess what had happen, with Misaka herself sensing gravitons that were hardly there before beginning to rise and become more concentrated within the air around them.

Asher was angry….

Very angry, considering he had hit 2 big nerves almost simultaneously with getting in her personal space unprovoked and also wasting her time by making her repeat herself that ended with the underlying threat of his well-being.

Asher wasn't ever the one to go on the offensive first in most situations considering she usually opted to use her ability defensively. She tried to avoid altercations and always tried her best to warn her attackers to not engage her.

Though, when her efforts were ignored or someone purposefully provoked her into doing something she didn't want to waste energy on, she tried her best to make sure that those involved all regretted that decision entirely.

"I-It's you…." The Skill-Out guy barely got out as he moved away, with both Misaka and Shirai flinching from knowing the words that were going to come out of his mouth. They could tell that Asher knew as well from how much the shadows over her eyes had darkened in that moment, seeing her entire form go deathly still.

"Y-You're the Calam-"

Before he was able to finish that sentence, most of the members of Skill-Out looked over and saw a man coming from behind the girls in front of them. Misaka, Shirai, and even Asher noticed this, just now hearing footsteps come to a stop as they turned and saw a man with wavy red hair holding a Musasino milk in his hand.

"Hey now, picking on young girls, are we?" The mystery guy said in amusement. "It would probably be in your best interests to leave them alone, considering at least one of them seems to be a lot more threatening than any of you." He paused and took a large sip of his drink, looking back over at them with an amused smile when he was finished. "Either way, it won't go well for any of you if this continues."

Misaka and Shirai looked over at the man with confusion on their faces as some of the guys behind them let out a small laugh. Asher, who had just been ready to deal with all of them, found herself about as confused as her friends, prompting a sigh to come out of her mouth as her irritation faded about as quickly as it had came a few moments ago.

She could tell that the man was a Level 0 with barely to nothing fluctuations coming from him. He seemed to just be a regular guy, though a spark of danger did shine in his warm gaze.

"Oh yeah? And who are you?" One of the Skill-Out members asked as he pushed the one who had yet to stop shaking out of his way. "Trying to look good in front of these girls, are we?"

The mystery guy didn't take much thought in his question, walking in between both Misaka, Shirai, and past Asher to approach him. He smiled over at each of them, telling them that this would be all over in a second or two before he looked up at the man who didn't seem all that impressed by his appearance.

His smile all but faded away, however, when the man knocked his milk out of his hand. Asher let out a sigh from next to him, knowing that was probably the last illogical move that the group could make before their luck ran out. She casually walked away as shouts and groans of pain sounded from behind her.

When she got next to Shirai and Misaka, she looked over at them with a sideways glance. "Do either of you know who that guy is?" She asked, seeing the both of them shake their heads. "Thought so, just a random occurrence it seems."

"Good thing he showed up when he did though." Shirai said with some semblance of relief in her voice. " I think this is more preferable in comparison to if you had ended up losing your cool."

Confusion slightly came over Asher's face when she heard that. "What do you mean by 'Losing my cool,' Kuroko?" She asked. "I don't think I lost any of it…"

As Shirai looked over at her in disbelief, it faded somewhat when Misaka let out a small laugh beside her. "It's a saying. She means that you nearly lost your temper with that guy earlier." She explained. "I don't think I've seen anyone other than Kuroko get under your skin that quickly in a while."

"I actually understood what she meant, MK. I may be logical, but that doesn't automatically mean I'm also literal in the same sense." Asher sighed as the fighting intensified behind them. "I honestly don't know what you two are going on about, though, considering I don't ever remember losing or nearly losing my temper."

Realization came over both Misaka's and Shirai's respective faces as they sweatdropped, noticing that Asher was legitimately confused on what they were even talking about as if the last minute hadn't happened.

She's really serious about this, isn't she? They both thought as Asher casually looked up at the clouds, paying no attention to either the fight or the girls right next to her.


A little while later…

It didn't take long for the fight to end with Skill-Out, with the mystery guy in question beating them down into submission by himself. It went to the extent that they even went to go and buy him another carton of milk for him to drink to replace the one they had damaged, allowing his smile to return on his face as they decided that it was probably in their best interests to leave at that point.

As soon as they were out of sight, the mystery guy turned around and looked over at them as if nothing had happened, taking another large gulp from the new carton of milk that was in his hand.

"Mmmmm, this is always some good stuff." He said mostly to himself. "When it comes to milk, it has to be Musasino."

"Hey you," Misaka called out, gaining his attention. She crossed her arms as soon as their eyes met. "It's funny. I don't remember any of us asking for your help."

"Oh! Hehe, sorry about that." He apologized with an amused smile. "You just reminded me of someone else whose chest wasn't bigger than any of yours. I also couldn't walk away and let your friend get her hands dirty from their ignorance. So, apologies on my part."

Misaka and Shirai looked at their respective busts, weirdly finding themselves not feeling all that insulted by his remark while Asher only sighed from off the side. When they looked up, they saw that the mystery guy was walking off somewhere, leading Misaka to go in pursuit with Shirai and Asher following along with her.

Even though Asher was reluctant to follow a stranger they had just met, she could honestly say that she didn't regret going where he took them, finding herself on a rooftop that gave an amazing view of Strange and Academy City from afar.

He called it a secret spot where you could escape the streets and the hectic noise that came from the city more often these days. It was a place to put all of that in the background and lose yourself in what was around you, something Asher herself could say she would seek out at times whenever she went to places even higher than this one.

Just as he did, she also found walking around the streets suffocating at times, finding herself always feeling a sense of unease whenever none of her friends were around.

Even though no one talked to her during those situations, they didn't have to for her to know she was unwelcomed at times if they happened to know who she was, almost about as much as she did whenever she was at school or roaming the Garden of Learning.

Isolation always seemed to be an escape for her even before she had met Misaka, finding comfort from herself more than if she was around others she logical concluded wouldn't ever want her there. This was especially apparent to her whenever she knew Silas was around, always deciding to keep to herself in her room in order to avoid any of his ridicule or insults whenever she could.

Rooftops like the one she was on now always provided her a level of safety and the comfort she lacked for most of her life, feeling closer than ever to the clouds she had always adored even now as she felt she understood them more than people at times.

It was also a place, though, where she found that isolation didn't always have to be the answer to feel that. Misaka had been the one to fill the void that she hadn't even realized was there, slowly taking away the hollow feeling of loneliness little by little each day.

It was sort of odd for her to find herself reminiscing over these things in a place she could honestly say was foreign to her. Even if the Strange District didn't seem like any part of the city she had been to before, it didn't make it any less a part of Academy City to any capacity due to this view.

Even if it was for just a moment that she was caught up in these feelings, she looked over at the others who almost seemed lost in it as much as she had been.

The mystery guy who had taken them there let out a calming sigh, taking in a deep breath as wind rushed through his wavy red hair. "Well look at that. The view of Strange isn't any different than how it was 2 years ago." He said as he leaned his arms on the railing, gaining all of the girl's attention.

"I don't get it, though, why is it that Skill-Out chooses to be somewhere like this?" Shirai asked.

Some form of sympathy fell in the man's gaze, looking back over to the city as the smile on his face fell ever so slightly. "It's not something probably any of you would under-"

"It's a place to escape all the unwanted noise from others within Academy city, right? Almost like this rooftop in a way." Asher stated, surprising everyone there due to how quiet she had been just moments before. "To escape higher level espers, more specifically, in order to escape the reality pushed onto them as Level 0's of this city."

The man looked over at her with disbelief in his eyes, before smiling at her words. "Correct. The system of this city is broken. Enough, that it made us give up on living up to the nonexistent expectations that those in Academy City have of us. So, we left it behind in order to escape a place where basically everyone is judged based off their ability." He looked over at Asher with some form of admiration in his eyes, something that she wasn't able to narrow down whether it was for himself or her. "It's surprising to see that an esper of your caliber gets that so quickly."

He may not have said it directly, but Asher knew what he was alluding to, only letting out a sigh in response.

He must have been watching before he approached us from before, she thought as she leaned further onto the railing in front of her.

"Well, let's just say that even though I don't understand that specific feeling in particular, I can say that I've felt something similar to it before." She stated as some emotion seeped into her voice. "No matter what level you are, no one can fully say that they're free from that kind of judgment. They're some that use their energy to deal with it, while…they're others that allow it to consume them. Either way, it's inevitable and won't ever change no matter where you go or how you try to stop it."

Asher missed the look that Misaka gave her, not able to see the mix of shock and confusion on the Electromaster's face. She had a feeling she knew what she was talking about, but she didn't understand why she would compare her circumstances with Skill-Out of all people. She found that correlation to have no real basis to it as she knew she was nothing like the ruthless guys she knew Skill-Out to be.

The guy let out a small hum from Asher's explanation, hearing enough sincerity in her words to know that her words were genuine even from the stoicness portrayed in her voice. "That's one way I guess you could see it." He said. "From ours, trying to use our esper abilities is almost like touching the sky. It's too far out of our reach just as the alleys of this city are."

"Well whatever the reason may be, Skill-Out is still just Skill-Out. Individuals may be different, but as a group, they're still doing awful things." Misaka stated as she crossed her arms.

"That's kinda harsh don't you think?" The man loosely joked. After a while, a level of seriousness that hadn't been there before gradually appeared in his eyes as he narrow his gaze at the girls beside him. "So…what did you three come here to do, anyway?"

"Oh right!" Shirai said aloud. "We're here looking for an organization known around here as Big Spider."

His look narrowed even further before he turned to leave, looking back at the girls with a stern gaze. "I caution you all not to drop that name around here so casually. It may stir even more trouble in comparison to before."

"Well, have you ever heard or have any information on their leader, Kurozuma Wataru?"

"Nope. I'm afraid not." He answered, almost too quickly to seem normal as he walked away. "You three have a safe trip home."

When he was out of sight, a small scoff came from under Misaka's breath, prompting a sigh to come out of Asher's mouth since that usually meant she was irritated by someone or something.

"Something wrong MK?" Asher asked as she kept her eyes on the city ahead of her.

It was silent for a while as Misaka tried to form her answer, frowning slightly as she put a hand on her hip. "I don't know. It's just something about that guy bothers me is all."

"Awwww! No!" Shirai said in disbelief as she put her hands together. "I don't think I can take you being hot and bothered by a guy you just met!"

Asher didn't even have to move or say anything related to Shirai's "fears" over Misaka's presumed love life, hearing a small shout in the air when the Electromaster instinctively punched her on the top of her head before looking over in her direction.

"You heard it, too. Right Z? That he hadn't been to this place since 2 years ago."

"Yeah. It lines up with the time that Big Spider began expanding and using the black market to acquire weapons from what Uiharu told us at the Judgment office." Asher replied as she turned around. "Sort of a weird coincidence on the surface, at first. Raised some flags after thinking on it for a while, though."

"Hmmmm," Shirai hummed after she had recovered, bringing a hand up to her chin to think on the matter. "You two are right, it does seem kind of weird."

"Maybe we should go look around more to see what we can find." Misaka suggested. "Someone here has to know the main location of Big Spider's Hideout. All we need to do is to find said person and the three of us are probably more than enough to fight them by ourselves."

Shirai and Asher glanced over at each before looking back at Misaka and sent her a nod. They followed her down the stairwell to finish their investigation, keeping the warning that the mysterious stranger had said to them from before in the back of their minds.


One hour later…

Asher was walking through the alleys of District 10 alone, using her ability to cloak herself in an effort to move around unseen. It took some time to convince the Electromaster, but she was able to convince Misaka to agree that it would be more efficient for her to roam the inner areas of Strange alone like this while she and Shirai ventured around the outskirts of the district. It would give them more opportunities to find someone who had information on Big Spider's main headquarters while also limiting the chances that the leader would be warned of their presence or goal.

She had been walking around for a while, listening in to conversations that gave her some leads, though came up short of revealing the location entirely. Skill-Out was being very tight lipped about it, while also not going into much detail about the weapon that Uiharu had warned her to keep an eye out for. All she knew at this point was that it somehow gave them some leverage over espers, allowing them to overwhelm someone with numbers and left the esper defenseless.

She came around another corner and paused, seeing two guys conversing with each other out of the corner of her eye. The one who had slicked black hair and wore an orange hoodie seemed to be in some type of distress, prompting her to bring a hand up to her Amps and disengage the limiter slightly in order to hear what they were talking about more clearly.

"I'm telling ya Richie, I'm pretty sure that Kurozuma is starting to l-lose it!" He stated aloud with a small tremor in his voice. "He nearly took my head off this morning just for giving him intel on why some of the others hadn't returned due to this random guy taking us out left and right!"

Richie, a teen of average height, blonde hair, and wearing a black leather jacket, quickly brought a hand up to his mouth. "Calm down, Kenji!" He shushed. "Someone might hear you! Take a deep breath before you cause yourself to pass out." He paused and waited a moment for Kenji's breathing to steady before he moved his hand away, still seeing stress and fear displayed on his face.

"I don't know what to do anymore, man." Kenji stated as he brought a hand up to his face. "It was great for a while by using whatever he got from whoever to take out those out damn espers. But now with the guy I've heard that's hunting us down as well as Judgment and maybe even Anti-Skill rumored to be looking into us….It's getting to be too much for me to handle."

"You could join up with my pals if you'd like." Richie suggested. "My faction may not get as much backing as you all in Big Spider do, but we still get things done as Skill-Out always does. I bet that they would even welcome ya with open arms."

It looked as if Kenji hesitated to act on that thought, looking away with a small frown on his face and wariness in his eyes. "I don't know if that's a good idea. Kurozuma would pin my head to his wall if he found out that I was thinking of deserting. Imagine what he would do if I actually did. He may even come to kill you all too just to make a point on who rules this place."

"Well whatever you decide, I'm all ears. Kurozuma isn't the only one who has friends in high places. You just need to be the biggest bidder to get whatever you want in that dump of a city." Richie stated as he laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. He then turned around and waved as he departed. "Well, I'm off now. See ya later, Kenji."

Kenji remained silent as Richie went out of view, punching the wall next to him in some sort of frustration. He didn't know what to do because no matter what he decided, things could and most likely would end badly for him either way.

"Damn it all…" He said under his breath.

Asher chose that as the best time to make herself known to him, letting out a sigh as she uncloaked herself. "Probably not the best thing you should do with your anger. Though in comparison to a certain girl I know, it's more preferable in my book and doesn't come at the cost of an entire city block being shut off on occasion." She said, remaining unfazed when Kenji nearly jumped in surprise.

His face faded into a scowl not too long after, though, putting on a face of intimidation that Asher more or less ignored or didn't notice. "And what the hell are you doing here? Don't you know where you're at, girl?" Kenji spat before a small chuckle came from his lips. "It isn't wise for a girl like you to be roaming these streets by yourself in Skill-Out territory."

"I've already been warned of that, though, didn't see much logic to actually follow through with that idea." Asher sighed before she narrowed her eyes. "However, what I am interested in is what you were just talking about before: something connected with Kurozuma Wataru and Big Spider's main base. With you being a member, there's logically a 99.9% chance that you know where both are, correct?"

Kenji stiffened from hearing that, with the intensity of his glare increasing nearly every second. He took a small step back, something that would probably be unnoticeable to most from how much he was trying to hide it. Though, Asher could tell right away, knowing he was preparing to run or retrieve some back up.

"Tch, so you were spying on my conversation." He concluded. "Pretty brave of you to admit that so casually. Especially since you're either an esper, some sort of helper for either Judgment or Anti-Skill, or just plain stupid and ignorant of what you're getting into."

"Those first two are correct, but that third one I'd say partly is for you if you don't answer the first question I asked before." Asher stated as she began to walk towards him. "It's only logical that you do since I did spend energy unnecessarily to answer yours."

He didn't comment on that and only turned to run away, knowing he would most likely be powerless to stop this esper by himself if he didn't get any backup. It may hurt his pride for doing so, but at least in the end it would lead to this girl falling to his feet and regretting her choice of not only messing with him, but also assuming she would beat him into submission to gain what she wanted from him.

Asher only let out a sigh at the sight and came to a stop. Kenji looked back and smiled that she wasn't trying to pursue him before he crashed into something that flew him backwards to the ground.

"Owwww," He groaned, looking up angrily to see who or what had just ran into him. He paused, however, from not seeing anything was there. He got up and brought his hand out, reaching until he felt something repel gently against his hand with not as much force as before. "What the hell…" He said mostly to himself before realization came on his face, snarling when he remembered that the girl behind him had admitted to being esper.

He turned around and saw that she was looking away from him, seeing her hand pressing something that he just realized were in her ears. She was talking aloud as if she was in some sort of conversation, with little care for him when he was still there due to her underhanded trap.

"Yeah, I think I found someone." She said aloud as she brought a hand up to the back of her neck. "He's not being all that cooperative, though. But I should be able to get something from him at some point." She paused for a moment before another sigh came out of her mouth. "If that would be more helpful in your opinion, Kuroko, then I'll bring him to you two in a little while."

Kenji impulsively charged at Asher, hoping to overwhelm her with his strength, throwing a punch at the back of her head where she casually stepped to the side to dodge. He was sort of shocked considering she hadn't even turned around and was able to sidestep his attack with ease as she continued her conversation with whoever was on the phone.

"You just want me to go where we were before we spilt up?" She asked, dodging again when he swung at her side, where he nearly tripped to the ground due to not being able to control his momentum. "I don't think I'm too far from there. So, I can if that's what you both prefer me to do. He shouldn't be all that heavy since I can just lower the gravity around him to some extent."

"GRGH, quit screwing around with me and talking as if I'm not here!" Kenji yelled, punching towards her again where she ducked towards the ground. He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, pointing it towards Asher's head. He couldn't see her face, but he could only imagine what was on it due to how she paused in response to what he did, letting out a small laugh under his breath as he dug it further into her blue-streaked blonde hair. "I didn't want this to get ugly, but you left me no choice. Drop the phone or whatever it is in your ears before I blow your head off!"

Silence rang out in the air where only a sigh came from Asher's mouth. "I'm going to go ahead and go Kuroko. It seems this situation is going to be more draining than I thought it was going to be." She said calmly and stoically enough that it caused Kenji to flinch.

Even when she pressed a button on whatever was in her ears and looked up at him, she didn't seem afraid. There was hardly anything he could read from her stoic face, causing him to sweat bullets as if she was pointing the gun at him. The sight ended up strengthening his resolve after a while, however, rationalizing it to be just her putting on a brave face.

"Now that I have your attention, do what I said and drop whatever is in your ear on the ground as well as whatever is around us." Kenji commanded with a smirk. "If you do that, I might even forget what you did and only leave you with a small punishment or warning."

"Can't and don't feel all that obligated to." Asher answered as she rose up to her feet, surprising Kenji as he still kept his aim on her.

"Wh-What?" He stuttered, before putting both of his hands on his gun as he took off its safety. "What do you mean by that!?"

"The 'whatever' I was talking on isn't a phone. It's something that helps control the amount of sound that comes into my ears. I have a hearing sensitivity and with how much you're yelling, taking them off would probably end up giving me some type of headache or migraine that I don't really want to deal with right now. And if I take down my barrier, you'll just run off somewhere and tell them I'm here, which would just give me more trouble." Asher stoically explained.

"Well, I don't give a damn! Do what I say or else!"

"Or else what? It's not like you're going to actually shoot me with that, right?" Asher questioned as she moved closer to him, causing him to take an instinctive step back as his hands began to shake. "Not like you can anyway since I'm not in much of a mood to go to the hospital today. I've been there too much as it is these last few weeks. My Doctor might actually get mad if he sees me again before my next appointment and who knows what MK or Kuroko would do if I allowed someone like you to beat me so easily. Even I have some type of reputation I need to maintain no matter how much energy is probably wasted on it."

"Stop! Or I'll shoot! I really will!" Kenji shouted as he took a couple more steps back. When she wouldn't stop moving towards him, determination fell in his eyes as he scowled in her direction. "I warned you!"

He pulled the trigger only to be surprised when Asher's body faded into the air like some type of mirage. His bullet only ran into the barrier that Asher created around then, with its momentum slowing down almost instantly as it fell lightly to the ground.

His eyes widened in disbelief as the trembling of his body came to a halt, staring right at the spot that Asher had just been before. "Wh-Where did she-"

"Huh, you actually did it. Seems that was a small miscalculation on my part." Asher said from behind him. "Reading others emotionally isn't my strong suit, so it's not all that surprising, I guess."

Even though her stoic voice sent chills down his spine, he quickly turned around to point the gun towards her again. He was only able to do it for a second before she quickly disarmed him and elbowed him hard in the stomach, propelling him a couple feet away from her.

He was left breathless on the ground as she looked down at his weapon with disinterest and some inkling of anger in her eyes. "Guns, always seem to find them in the hands that shouldn't have one in the first place. Just makes it even more logical for me not to be so fond of them." She sighed as she emptied the bullets out of its chamber. She then used gravity to crush it to the point that it was unusable and tossed it to the side.

Kenji recovered and got up to his feet and retreated towards the end of Asher's barrier, pounding on it repeated in an attempt to get at least one person to help him. "Help! Someone! Anyone!"

"Sorry, but that's not going to work. It wouldn't be logical for it to be that easy to escape this space considering I laid out the dimensions myself." Asher remarked. "I dictate what does and doesn't happen here, an authority that requires massive amounts of force to break and even then it might not be enough. And considering I don't want any more of my time spent here or have any unwanted annoyances joining our mostly one-sided discussion, the only sound that happens within this space will also just be kept inside of it. Meaning that not only can't you leave or be seen, but also no one from even inches away from my barrier would be able to hear what happens inside of here. So, your cries for help will literally fall on deaf ears in a sense since no one can hear them."

A sense of helplessness fell deep inside of Kenji's heart, finding himself in a position where it almost felt like Asher knew his every move even before he made one. It was like she was reading his mind somehow, thinking of all the possible outcomes that could've happened in this situation and came up with solutions for every one of them.

He couldn't win and knew he probably couldn't beat her. But that was something he would never admit to some wretched esper like her. So, he turned around in one last ditch effort to actually land a hit on her.

"Go to hell!" He yelled.

Asher just blankly stared as he approached, not even moving to dodge his attack while her eyes shifted into purple. His fist came millimeters away from making contact with her face before he stopped, with Kenji himself surprised as it wasn't of his own control.

He couldn't move. He couldn't move no matter how much he struggled. The only parts of his body that seemed to work were his eyes, mouth, and nose with the rest completely frozen as his fist remained suspended in the air. It was like the air around him weighed heavily down on his body, encasing it with that feeling entirely.

"If you listened to anything I said before, you would understand that there wasn't any logic in a useless attempt as that one, unless it was to break my concentration with your illogical behavior." Asher said. "Again, I'm both connected and have complete control over the dimensional space around us due to the dimensions I laid out within the area. Meaning, the only reason you were able to even move before was because I allowed it."

"H-How is that even p-possible?" Kenji barely got out. "You can make shields, mirages, read minds, and control a space even down to whether sound can be heard? What kind of ab-ability even is that? Y-You can't possibly have more than one can y-you? It should be impossible!"

"That's a question that even I'm looking to find an answer for. Though, I can tell you at least now that I only have one main ability that just has a lot of applications to it. Logic goes a long way to analyze situations like these and combine that with my intelligence and basically indefinite hold over gravity, you tend to pick up a couple tricks " Asher remarked as she began to turn around. "Anyway, this whole thing has gone on long enough. I'm going to go ahead and take you to where my friends are and hope that you're a little bit more cooperative when we get there."

When he didn't respond, she looked over her shoulder and saw a familiar look in Kenji's eyes, seeing them wide in fear as if he had seen some sort of ghost.

"No….no, no, no, no. You can't be. You c-can't be her! How didn't I realize th-this any sooner?" Kenji muttered fearfully, flinching as a massive shadow began to grow over Asher's eyes as she remained silent. "You're the Level 5 GravShift aren't you!? The Calam-"

He wasn't able to say anything else when the heaviness on his body instantly intensified out of nowhere, weighing him down so much that he was unable to form anymore words. He could only look helplessly at the girl in front of him, seeing red ringing the purples of her eyes within her angered expression before she closed them as she let out a sigh to calm herself back down.

"You just don't know when to quit, don't you? Just pointlessly pressing into my patience, just to piss me off, right?" she said under her breath, not caring for his answer as she didn't want to hear it. "First, you try to shoot me even though I told you it wasn't going to work and now you call me by that name that you only heard that was connected to me. Not because you have seen that side of me personally. It's illogical to the point that part of me is amused by the thought itself. The larger part of me, however, is really trying not to make you regret what you nearly said just now."

She turned around as Kenji grew about as pale as a sheet, feeling some sort of barrier bring them up to the sky and as it moved them to wherever she wanted to go as he was powerless to stop her.

"Small piece of advice. Or more like a warning really. Be careful what you call someone, as there's a chance it may end in a way you don't want it to." She said darkly. "There has only been a few that have seen the girl you know as the Calamity of Tokiwadai. Hopefully it stays that way, but I know it won't if people like you keep reminding me about it…"

"Just keep it in mind," She continued turning back around to look at him over her shoulder. All Kenji was able to see were her eyes shifting to red as an inkling of a smirk came over her face.

"If you don't, there's no telling what could happen."


15 minutes later…

Asher made it to the rendezvous with Misaka and Shirai with Kenji in hand, unfreezing him to where he spilled everything on the location of Big Spider's hideout instantly without any fuss.

As he did, Misaka noticed that Asher was sort of off to some degree. She kept on zoning out, which was something that wasn't all that unusual, but the amount of times she did it seemed to be excessive. Her eyes were clouded as if her mind was caught up in some type of fog or memory, with the latter making her somewhat nervous if she was right.

She didn't want her to be blindsided by a flashback when they confronted Big Spider, knowing one of two things could happen: she could go into panic mood or turn on those around her, becoming a threat to both others and herself depending on what she saw.

Before they decided to leave, Misaka took Asher off to the side alone to ask if she was alright.

Some confusion appeared on Asher's face when she did. "Yeah, I'm fine, Mikoto." She stated. "But what brought that question on all of the sudden?"

"It just doesn't feel like you're all here right now." Misaka explained as she laid a hand on her shoulder. "I just wanted to make sure that you're okay before we go to a place where there's more than likely going to be some type of fight. Do you think you're still up for it?"

Asher seemed to hesitate to answer that question, looking off to the side as she remained silent for a few moments. "Yeah, I think so." She said after a while. "You two are going to be there anyway, so I'll have someone to keep me grounded if need be."

She casually walked out of Misaka's grasp, while Misaka just stood there. She was conflicted, finding herself both unconvinced though knowing that what Asher had said was mostly genuine since she didn't even try to deflect any of the attention off of herself. She decided to just keep a close eye on her when they got there, considering she knew that Asher could take care of herself in a fight and Shirai was here to back them both up if need be.

They dragged Kenji off and threw him in front of the members of Big Spider that were in front of them when they arrived to their hideout, seeing the looks of both confusion and agitation on all of their faces.

"What's going on here?" One of them asked.

Shirai turned and pinched her sleeve, showing off the armband that was worn by all Judgment members. "We represent Judgment!"

A chorus of laughter filled the area as the crowd split to reveal someone who was walking up from behind them. He had styled black hair and pinpointed onyx eyes. A small scar outlined the side of his face, nearly meeting with the mustache growing on his lips. He wore a black leather jacket with a blue-green shirt underneath it and matching black pants.

"Judgment huh?" He grumbled. "What the hell do you want with us?"

"Kurozuma Wataru right?" Shirai asked.

"And what of it?"

"We're here to arrest you due to your involvement in influencing the rise of violence with the recent attacks against espers." Shirai explained.

"Arrest me?" Kurozuma asked in amusement. "That's funny. I don't have any time to waste on babysitting a couple kids like you and your two little sidekicks."

As he backed away and both Misaka's and Shirai's eyes narrowed in his direction, Kenji quickly rose up to his feet and whispered into Kurozuma's ear, seeing his attention pulled over to Asher who was standing right next to Shirai.

"Ohh, I see. You brought me a great catch today it seems." He said as he turned to look back at his men behind him. "It's a great day today boys. It seems that not only has Judgment graced us with their presence but also a Level 5 has lowered herself to come confront some 'helpless' Level 0s like us and take us all out." He announced.

Asher's eyes only narrowed as both Misaka and Shirai looked over at her, hearing nothing but contempt directed fully on Asher. Even though she knew she wasn't the one being targeted by that statement, Misaka decided it was best for her to be the one to step up and be revealed as the Level 5 among their group. Before she did, though, Asher subtly sent her both a look and small wave to dismiss her idea, knowing they would end up finding out who she was anyway and decided to keep Misaka's identity a secret for now.

Misaka knew what the gravity esper was thinking but was also reluctant to just go along with the act, conceding after a while when Asher raised her head towards Kurozuma.

"Yeah, so? How's that going to work in your benefit?" Asher asked. "If you know who I am, then you probably came to the logical conclusion that your luck has finally ran out. It would be logical for you to do what my friend says and come with us without a fight."

"I think we both know it's not going being to be that easy, Miss GravShift." Kurozuma said with a smirk as a couple chuckles came from his mouth. "It's almost ironic and hypocritical that something like this is happening to me, since your kind is one of the very reasons that we exist. I'd say your past crime was a lot more damaging and violent in comparison to mine where we just roughed a couple of espers. You nearly wiped the city off the map just to get others to submit to you and failed. You're the one who should be on Judgment's and Anti-Skill's radar and should be rotting in jail instead of whoever took the fall for your sorry ass…"

"We in Big Spider may be ruthless but at least we didn't want to commit mass genocide on everyone in the city. The only reason we can't get away with what we're doing now and that you did is because of your value as a high leveled esper while we're scrapping the bottom of the barrel! This is all the more reason why we should show you and other espers why you should be the ones groveling in the dirt at our feet!"

Many vocalized their agreement with Kurozuma's words with a collective shout, with Asher stiffening up at every word he had spat towards her as she lowered her head. Misaka's expression turned into one of restrained anger as she crossed her arms to hide the electricity trying to spark around her palms.

"You're not very polite, are you?" Misaka asked as a shadow came over her face.

"Honestly, I'm trying to be as nice as I can and explain things nicely to you, even with Little Miss Calamity in your midst." He explained as his men began to surround them. "But…if you won't listen then, we can make you each understand the hard way."

As Asher and Misaka prepared themselves to fight the guys that crept towards them, Shirai blocked them both with her arm. She looked over and sent them both a determined smile.

"Stay back you two." Shirai lightly ordered as one of her metal pins appeared into her hands. "I can take care of all of them on my own without any issues. You both may have come here with me. But remember that you two only came to aid in a Judgment officer's investigation."

"Wait now, don't get too ahead of yourself." Kurozuma amusedly warned with a wide smile. "Cause now we've got a secret weapon on our side."

At the mention of that, Asher widened her senses in an attempt to detect where this "esper weapon" that they all had been warned about in order to disable it immediately. It had to be some sort of esper enhancement that allowed one or multiple of them to use their esper ability to disorient high leveled espers like them that should give off something that she could sense.

It could be the second coming of the Level Upper, or maybe even something else entirely.

As all of these possibilities ran through Asher's head, she found out that it was the latter and regretted that she had widened her senses so thin when a mind-numbing sound pierced all of their ears, with her letting out the loudest of the winces that also came out of Misaka's and Shirai's mouths.

"Nrgh, wh-what the," Asher winced.

"What is that horrible sound?" Misaka completed for her as they all covered their ears.

This sound was so loud to them that it almost felt like it was reverberating inside of each of their heads, causing great pain to all of them, with Asher being affected by it the most. It was so intense to her that it was like the Amps inside of her ears weren't there, wondering if the frequency of the sound was somehow negating the limiter that controls the amount of sound that can come into her ears at a time.

Which was something that she thought was impossible, until now, since it shouldn't have been that easy to pinpoint it so fast without her knowledge.

D-Damn it, she thought as she put her Amps on the lowest setting. Even though she should be nearly deaf right now, she could still hear the sound, sending her mind in disarray by how it wasn't allowing her to concentrate.

My l-limiter isn't working. I-It's not stopping. It should b-be able to st-stop this…..

I'm n-not...

F-Feeling so good.

She started to progressively feel sick, finding herself unable to block any of the fluctuations from being attracted towards her or limit the amount of gravity she was unconsciously connected to as those feelings gradually increased tenfold. It was almost like her control over her ability had just vanished, finding herself unable to regain it it back to stop whatever Kurozuma had just done to them with this horrible noise. She kneeled down to the ground in an effort to ground herself and prevent her from getting lost in the nauseating waves trying to overtake her senses.

She started panting, loud enough that it caught Shirai's attention as she was directly next to her. It wasn't like Asher to show her pain so easily considering she was known for having a high tolerance for pain. To see her kneeling on the ground in such a way, however, seemed just wrong in her eyes, never once seeing the esper seem so weak in just a few short moments other than when her motion sickness was aggravated.

She could tell that Misaka was struggling just as much to stay steady on her feet, knowing this situation was starting to spiral to the point that their lives were potentially in danger if both her and her Level 5 friends were were being affected this much. This thought pushed her to at least teleport them away somewhere while she came back to take these guys down. But when she tried, she just found herself in the same spot as before, leaving her confused and in disbelief.

"Well, why aren't any of you fighting?" Kurozuma asked after seeing Shirai's misfire of her ability, sending a hard kick in her midsection to send her to the ground. "I thought that you said you were going to be able to take us out all by yourself!"

Asher saw this and immediately strained to raise her hand, narrowing her eyes in concentration as a shaky field of gravity began to slowly collect in her palm. Before she was able to collect enough of it and send it towards Kurozuma, however, she was blindsided by a hard kick to the side of her face that sent her to the ground.

She saw black spots in her vision almost instantly, unable to move for a few seconds as her vision tried to go back into focus. That was when she was paralyzed for a few more seconds from being in too much pain due to the crippling noise increasing out of nowhere, realizing just then that her Amps were out of her ears. They must have been jostled when she hit her head on the concrete below her, prompting her to search and force herself to move towards their location no matter how much pain she was currently in.

She reached out to them before she saw them shattered before her very eyes, straining to look up and seeing Kenji smirking down at her with her Amps in pieces at his feet.

"I told you that I was going to punish you for what you did before, you wretched girl. And this," He said as he brought his foot back and kicked her in the stomach. "Is only the beginning!"

His kick was so strong that Asher either heard or imagined something popped in that location as pain immediately spread from the impact, leaving her gasping for air from being blindsided by this assault that had just begun.

"Kuroko! Zierdan!" Misaka yelled. It angered her to see both of her friends being targeted by these guys. She turned to Kurozuma and tried to send electricity towards him, hoping that if she took out their leader that the others would think twice in attacking them and stop. However, when blue sparks flew from her hair as she discharged her electricity, she was surprised to see that her attack didn't even land, seeing it barely scorch a pillar meters away from him.

"What's happening? Why can't I aim or use my full power?" Misaka said aloud as she looked down at her hand.

"Having some technical difficulties?" Kurozuma asked. "Maybe you should've came here with more in-depth information of the handy new weapon we have." He pointed over to a couple speakers sitting in the back of someone's car trunk. "That thing over there is called a Capacity Down System. I don't know about all the science or mechanics involved, but what I do know is that it essentially jumbles up the arithmetic capacity of the brain. It doesn't work on anyone here in Skill Out. All we hear is a high-pitched sound. Though annoying, it's harmless."

"C-Capacity down?" Shirai said as she unsteadily rose up to her feet. "Where did they even go to get s-something like that?"

As this was going on, Asher was curled in on herself, trying her best to protect her midsection as Kenji continuously sent slow, hard kicks into it. No matter what she did, she couldn't even slow down his onslaught, barely able to focus on anything with her ears being raided by this horrible noise and hardly able to breath due to a foot being planted into her ribs every couple of seconds.

She couldn't think. Couldn't concentrate and figure out how to get her and also the others out of this mess. Couldn't do anything as she was unable to orient herself enough to do so.

N-No, I need to do something and quickly before th-the others get hurt. she thought, imagining being forced to watch or even hear her friends going through something similar to what she was going through now.

But I also ne-need to do something b-before I c-can't keep ahold of my thoughts anymore. I could end up losing control and become a hindrance to both Mikoto and Kuroko ...Or end up threatening the lives of everyone that is here, including those two.

Come on Zierdan! You have have to do something other than illogically lie here.

There isn't much t-time left. I c-can already feel myself slipping away no matter what I try to do to keep myself grounded. I can't even focus enough to connect to Mikoto's gravity or her natural EM barrier.

I can't...

D-Do anything right now and it's really starting to piss me off.

She could feel herself starting to grow anxious, trying her best to suppress that feeling as it would end badly if she couldn't. She had been in these types of situations before where someone wanted to beat her down because of what she did, allowing them at times to do so. She would usually be able to put the confrontation back on her terms, however, using her ability at some point to make quick work of said person or group to leave herself with only minor injuries.

But right now, she couldn't because she was unable to control the situation and put it into her favor, knowing that this guy wouldn't stop any time soon from how much he was enjoying himself from seeing her so vulnerable at his feet.

All she could do was lie there and hear a sound that she couldn't block out. A sound that the longer it wrecked her senses, the more familiar the sound seemed to become. It didn't take her long to realize that it sounded nearly identical to the device that Silas had used on her during WaveInflux, finding herself believing that what was being used even though she knew it was something else entirely.

It was at this very moment that she lost her hold on reality and was overcame by the overwhelming number of memories that came out of nowhere, finding herself not in District 10 or even with Misaka and Shirai at Big Spider's headquarters…

Finding herself in Silas Wright's research facility instead, during one of his trials that she had apparently failed.

"Hmph, no wonder they lowered your ranking in favor of Railgun. She and the others above you actually have the drive and control it takes to be considered a Level 5 of this city. While you only have a highly destructive and dangerous ability that you can hardly control because of that pitiful excuse of nonexistent willpower inside that hollow heart of yours." Silas said in her mind, with his words echoing within her head enough to believe he was actually there.

"You really think that foolish excuse of a trial deserves to be looked over? Think again, because we're definitely going to discuss this more in detail at home after you redo all of the trials that we did today that were about as subpar. This will show you why you shouldn't keep making these careless and illogically foolish mistakes. And don't worry, we'll have all the time in the world to determine your punishment with Himari currently out on a business trip. Maybe I'll even be able to at least get a few more words out of you in comparison to the last times you've forced my hand..."

Even if that flashed in her mind for seconds and left as quickly as it came, to Asher it was almost like an eternity. It felt too real for her to notice that it wasn't currently happening, already finding herself caught up in another flashback about as fear-inducing as the last.

The light gradually faded from her eyes as her body started to tremble, starting to hyperventilate loud enough to cause her attacker to pause for a few moments in his assault. He reached down and grabbed the collar of her shirt and saw only massive amounts of fear on her normally stoic face.

He took amusement in it and believed that she finally understood why she should fear him, missing how her dull eyes stared right through him and saw someone else that terrified her more than he ever could.

"Come on is that all it took for you to regret what you did?" Kenji asked with a smirk borderlining insanity as he reveled in the thought of beating the girl into submission just as she had done to him. His goal was to make her feel about as helpless as he had before, finding it the least bit amusing that it looked like she was already tapping out before the fun had even began. He walked over and brought her up into the air and pushed her against a wall. "You can't quit on me now! I've barely scratched the surface of what I'm going to do you!"

The smirking face of her stepfather appeared in Asher's eyes, upping both her fear and anxiety so high that she couldn't speak for a few moments. "I-I'm sorry. I know I messed up and failed. I promise I'll d-do better, so please give me one more chance. I don't….I-I don't want to be punished. I-I….I'm sorry!" Asher whimpered, loud enough for both Shirai and Misaka to notice.

Misaka's eyes widened from the amount of distress inside of her voice and on her face, forgetting about Kurozuma and running over to help Asher. She recognized almost instantly what was happening, only knowing just one instance that would make her sound so desperate.

She didn't get too much closer than she already was as those of Big Spider blocked her path and pushed her back. She tried to use her electricity to knock them away but she was only able to target one of the guys standing there who was quickly replaced with two more as soon as she did. Her anger intensified when she noticed that she couldn't do much more other than watch Kenji abuse Asher from not even a few feet away from her, gritting her teeth as she still tried to push her way through no matter how much the numbers were currently against her.

"Stop messing with her!" Misaka yelled, seeing Kenji look over at her. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"Oh, I don't? I definitely do. Are you even aware of who this girl is!?" He asked as he threw Asher back to the ground, seeing her go back into a fetal position as she mumbled incoherently to herself. "This right here is the girl known as the Calamity of Tokiwadai…No! The Calamity of Academy City! I bet they're tons of people who would line up to see her get the punishment she deserves for what she nearly did to all of us!"

Shirai looked over at what was happening in shock and concern. This sound was hurting her and even Misaka, meaning whatever Asher was hearing was probably 100x's worse due to her sound sensitivity. She tried desperately to teleport over to her friend or take out whoever was attacking her, only feeling the pain in her mind increase and nothing else.

"When are you going to learn, girlies, that you espers aren't the ones in charge around here?" Kurozuma asked as both Shirai and Misaka sent him a glare that would stop anyone in their tracks. "You may be safe in Academy City, but here in Strange, we're your judge, jury, and executioner to how we see fit. As the leader, however, I may change my mind and stop this if you get down on your knees and say 'Please forgive us Mr. Kurozuma.' Maybe then I'll find some sliver of sympathy to save that friend of yours or at least promise that her injuries won't be too extensive for a Doctor to fix."

"Oh, really now? You didn't happen to say that your name was Kurozuma, right?"

Kurozuma, or the guy they all knew to be Kurozuma Wataru, immediately stiffened at the sound of the voice and the question it asked, looking up and seeing a man he considered to be dead standing there as lively as ever.

Every sound faded into the background as some of the guys around him called out his name and told him that he had been the man who had been going around and stopping all of his men from doing the job he set them out to do. He watched on and barely blinked when he saw the man unplug the Capacity Down device and stopped the sound that was going off in the area, walking up to all of the girls to see if they were all okay.

Misaka and Shirai recognized him almost instantly as the guy who had come to assist them before, seeing him walk over to Asher who had yet to move from the huddled position that she was in.

He looked down at her with pity in his eyes from seeing how petrified she seemed to be with tears slowly falling from her eyes. There was no question that she was having some sort of attack, staring blankly into space as if she wasn't aware of what was happening around her. She was mumbling something in between her rushed breaths that he couldn't understand, only knowing that they were for whatever she was seeing at this moment and not for the man who had been assaulting her before.

Her trembling gradually began to still as red came into her eyes, surprisingly, almost as if something was trying to take over or had just calmed her down. He let out a sigh and looked over at Misaka and Shirai with a light gaze. "Hey, your friend over here needs some help. I'll take care of these guys so don't worry." He set his milk down in front of Asher and laid a comforting hand on her head, feeling her flinch though relax under the contact somewhat before he rose up to his feet.

He sent a stern glare over at Kenji when he tried to approach again, tripping over his own feet when he took a small step towards him as a shadow came over his face. "Mess with that girl again, and I promise that there will be hell to pay. You'll be the one who I end first if you think about going towards her, got it?"

Kenji didn't respond and only decided to run off in fear, something that "Kurozuma" didn't take much notice of and still had his attention on the man that was walking towards him.

"Hey Hebitani. It's been a while." The man greeted with a smile, seeing his former friend he knew to be Hebitani Tsuguo looking right back at him in disbelief.

"No i-it can't be." Hebitani stammered under his breath as he took a few steps back. "You di-died. You've been dead for two years now. You couldn't have possibly survived after what happened that day!"

"If you want to think that way, then yes, I'm a ghost." The man said sarcastically with a smile.

"A gh-ghost?" Hebitani said under his breath, trying to convince himself that the man who was in front of him was just some imposter. "That right…He isn't alive anymore and you CAN'T be him!" He yelled. "You are not Kurozuma, I am! So, it's time for you to go back to the grave that you shouldn't have crawled out from in the first place!"

He looked around at his men, quickly waving his hand in their direction. "Go men, pummel this jerk into the ground! He's just one guy and we're all armed, so we can do this! Fight like hell and make sure he understands who he crossed today…that he crossed the Skill-Out of Big Spider!"

The man who was truly Kurozuma Wataru smiled at his statement. "What a shame, Hebitani. You've truly changed, haven't you?" He said. The smile on his face faded about as quickly as it came as he ran forward, striking down the first man in front of him to upstart the brawl.

Shirai looked over at him in disbelief as he took guys out left and right, not even giving one of them a chance to use their weapons as they were almost defenseless in the wake of his brute strength.

Misaka saw this too out of the corner of her eye as she ran over to make sure that Asher was okay, seeing her staring off into space just as Kurozuma had before almost like she didn't even notice she was right there next to her. Her eyes still contained almost a perfect combination of both blue and red, seemingly growing in intensity as time passed.

"M-Must...I-I...mu-must..." Asher softly moaned.

"Z? Zierdan?" Misaka said aloud as she gently shook her shoulder, trying her best to keep the panic from creeping into her voice. "Please snap out of it. You're alright. You're okay. Me and Kuroko are right here with you."

Asher didn't even respond and only continued mumbling the words she had been trying to say before, prompting Misaka to stop in her tracks and listen.

"I-I...must...p-protect…h-her." Asher mumbled weakly. "I h-have to…She n-needs me. W-We need each ot-other….She c-can't….She won't h-help…us…."

Misaka looked down at her with some confusion on her face, wondering if she was talking about her or someone else entirely. It was enough to make her pause for a moment before she shook her head, realizing that now was not the time to question it. She brought her right hand and concentrated to make at least a small spark in her palm, ignoring the pain in her head as she strained to focus on her calculations. The side effects from the Capacity Down system may have lessened during the time it had been shut off, but she was still unable to use it at its full capacity and needed to be careful to not accidentally full-on electrocute the girl below her.

After a couple moments of concentrating on her hand intensely, she was able to make a couple sparks that only served to make Asher feel something familiar and pull her out of her of whatever she was going through.

It seemed to work after a while when she saw some light appear in her eyes, seeing the red fade completely as she looked over at Misaka sitting beside her a few moments later. Her eyes were fully dilated in some sort haze, seeing them filled with both confusion and fear.

"M-Mikoto? When did you get here?" Asher asked shakily as she sat up, looking around somewhat fearfully at her unfamiliar surroundings. "Wh-Where is here anyway? What's going on?"

Misaka's face fell slightly, hearing it in a voice alone for how afraid she actually was. She could tell that Asher was still disoriented due to what had just happened and had yet to fully come out of it. Nothing could really be done to speed up the process of getting her back to being aware of what was happening.

According to Asher's Doctor, the best thing to do was to make sure to keep her calm and relaxed. It could be minutes up to hours for her mind to fully clear, and she needed to make sure that there weren't any stressors to delay that process.

"It's alright Z, relax." Misaka said with a smile as Shirai came over to sit beside her, joining along in what the Electromaster was doing.

"Yeah, Sissy's right Zierdan." Shirai stated. "We're currently in the part of District 10 known as Strange. You and Sissy came with me to help with an investigation related to Big Spider, remember?"

Asher took a moment to think, only to come short on that piece of information. She shook her head, though regretted almost instantly from causing a splitting pain to surge through it, clutching it as she cringed slightly under her breath.

"N-No I don't. Everything is just really fuzzy a-and my head hurts. A lot a-and…." Asher said before she paused, looking over at Shirai in some semblance of confusion. "Um w-wait, who are if you don't mind me asking?"

Shirai flinched before she let out a nervous laugh. "Huh? We may not have known each other that long but I didn't imagine that it would be possible for you to forget me, the one and only Kuroko Shirai of Judgment, a close friend of both you and Sissy. " Shirai stated, trying her best not to look hurt by the lack of recognition that remained in Asher's eyes.

"Kuroko Sh-Shirai?" Asher mumbled mostly to herself, trying her best to power through the massive haze over her mind. She had nearly grasped at something that she believed to be connected with the girl that seemed to know her only to lose it about as quickly, feeling herself starting to panic. "I can't…I don't. Why can't I remember, ev-even though it sounds so familiar to m-me?"

"Hey it's alright! Don't push yourself." Shirai insisted from seeing how genuinely upset Asher was becoming.

"You're going to work yourself up again, Zierdan." Misaka comforted as she laid both of hands on her shoulders. "It will come back to you in time so don't worry."

She couldn't tell if she heard what she had said as she didn't respond or look over at her. She was shaking way too much to the point of concern and looked pale enough that she looked like she could faint at any moment. She didn't even have to ask to know that her anxiety was at an all time high, seeing as she was having a hard time managing it from what it looked like.

She then looked at the patch of skin on the side of Asher's forehead that was beginning to bruise, wondering if that hit she had sustained gave her a small concussion or if it was just her face blindness acting up from all the stress she had just endured for her to remember her but not Shirai.

As they sat there, they hadn't realized that Kurozuma had beat down every member that had been there except for the ones who had ran away, including Hebitani. He walked over to the girls and kneeled down to their level. "I'm all done. Is your friend right here doing okay?"

The expression on both Misaka's and Shirai's face was more than enough to answer his question, looking back at Asher who hadn't seemed to notice him sitting there. She looked exhausted, most likely due to her body falling off the high of adrenaline that had probably rushed into her system a small time ago.

His eyes fell slightly before he tapped Asher on the shoulder which seemed to gain her attention. He smiled when he saw her blue eyes look over at him, hoping it would dispel some of the fear still there. "Hey there. I have a small trick that may help, if you're having trouble thinking or clearing your head at the moment. Just close your eyes and count to ten in your head while taking in and breathing out deep breaths. Repeat until you feel relaxed enough to stop."

Asher seemed to hesitate before she nodded her head and did as he asked. After a minute or so, her body began to pitch forward where Misaka was there to instantly slow her descent into her chest. She was somewhat concerned before her worry faded when she realized that Asher had just fell asleep, seeing her face completely relaxed.

"Wow, that was fast." Kurozuma stated aloud as he rose back to his feet. "Didn't expect her to go out that quickly."

"What was that?" Misaka asked as she handed him back his milk, with Shirai carefully teleporting Asher to lay her back comfortably against a pillar.

"Just a relaxation technique I've learned over the years. Give her maybe 30 minutes to take a power nap and she should be all nice and relaxed when she wakes back up. Anyway, are you both starting to feel a little better now?"

"Mostly. Though, still not back up to full power yet. I'll be fine in a bit." Misaka responded as she stretched out her shoulder. She rose up to her feet and looked straight at Kurozuma. "So that guy….I think I overhead you calling him by a different name. Meaning, he's not Kurozuma, isn't he?"

"Correct. A long time ago when we hung out, he went by the name of Hebitani. Nowadays, it seems he prefers to be called Kurozuma, though."

"The real Kurozuma is actually you, right?" Shirai asked.

"I guess you can say that, since I've been called that before." Kurozuma said as he took a large sip from the carton in his hand. "Mmmm," he hummed when he finished. "When it comes to milk-"

"It's gotta be Musasino."

Everyone there, including Kurozuma himself, flinched at the voice they just heard. He didn't have to look to know who it was as the girls in front of him did, seeing the looks of surprise come across their faces.

"Konori?" They both gasped.

Silence fell between all of them for a while before Kurozuma decided to break it, turning around to look at the woman that he hadn't seen for 2 whole years. "It has been a long time…"

"Hasn't it Mii."


Word Count of Chapter: 13383 |Page Count: 21 pages |Reviews: 195 | Followers: 106 |Favorites: 92


You probably know the drill by now, here's an update on the current poll results: The names "Sora" and "Rehsa" have actually tied for first place. There's also a second tie between "Ame" and "Sky" after "Sky" made it onto the board a few weeks ago it seems.

As always, you still have time to participate if you want to. For those thinking of voting or who want to stay neutral, the results of the poll will be finalized sometime during the Poltergeist arc:)


Review Replies

Blankow: Alright, that's good to hear. This first rotation went fairly well, so hopefully this and my other stories will at least have a steady schedule for uploads.

Thought it was probably time to show Maika, considering she is a close friend to both Misaka and Asher even before Shirai came into their lives. You're right, she is another possible way that Asher could meet Index. It would probably be a lot more formal than Asher just meeting her at a time she's stuffing her face full of food lol.

For once, the "odd fluctuations" isn't Touma's fault. It's actually something else, most likely a little less interesting than your idea, but will make sense in the long run later. Unlike Misaka and similarity to Accelerator, Asher is able to ignore most things that naturally come into contact with her gravity field. Some things are still able to slip through the cracks at times, however, mostly due to the extent of how much her gravity is grounded to the dimensional space around her at times. You probably already knew that, but you will learn what she's actually sensing soon.

Dang, the Grim Reaper being added to her harem would probably just be an automatic win though a loss at the same time considering her ability wouldn't be as effective in negating death as Touma could. A oneshot of a time where Asher actually died during WaveInflux or sometime later would be both depressing though also would probably be interesting, since that sort of route has fairly low chances of happening within CSG and would end the series unless another OC took her place. Those events, however would probably end up breaking some like Misaka for how much some truly care about her T.T

Thanks for the site recommendation for how I could read the later light novels. I'll be sure to try it out when I have more time to be able to dive into them.

You do have a point about that being a possible way that Frenda could live. Asher and Shokuhou working together hasn't been seen yet but would probably go a little smoother in comparison to the first time Shokuhou and Misaka teamed up with each other. So, I'll think about it.

I would say that due to Misaka's efforts, Asher has gotten better at reading social cues of those close to her and doesn't give herself more credit than she should give herself. She doesn't notice at times when she actually helps others from her words, usually just seeing it as a logical thing to say at that point in time.

As a lot of people have guessed, it probably wouldn't be hard for her to notice Touma not being himself even in the short time they've really known each other. I just don't know if something like his amnesia should be revealed that early, since she definitely can't hide much from Misaka for too long. He may have luck on his side and not fully reveal it upon their first meeting. Though it would be only a matter of time before she found out at that point, with the biggest Tsundere probably in the entire world not too far behind her.


Guest10032: Oh, sorry lol. It was pretty early even for me in CST. I'll try to do updates closer to noon, unless I'm really wanting to pump out a chapter before the sun comes up or at midnight lol.

Thanks for adding onto Blankow's recommendation of using baka tsuki. Sounds like I have a whole lot of material to read up on during the summer.

Asher + energy drinks usually equals to either her anxiety increasing or lowering the effectiveness of her meds to combat the damage that has been done to her brain. She can still drink them, but the risk worsens depending on how much she drinks at one time. She usually avoids drinking them since she doesn't like them all that much, meaning she's pretty desperate at the moment.

Seems we have another tally in the Saten column for Asher's shipping situation. But you never know, Asher could be the antidote in curing Misaka of her tsundereness though it would be hilarious to see her and Saten team up and tease Misaka into oblivion. I guess only time will tell who will be the victor out of all the potential candidates.

A scene where Misaka is caught buying Musasino Milk? That sounds easy enough so I'll most likely be able to implement it sometime during this or even the next arc.

Hmmm, the Deep Blood arc….

I actually hadn't planned doing that with what I've planned to happen at the end of the Poltergeist arc and with Sisters' around the corner. Though, it could be possible that I could do something for it during that chapter for that particular day, but we'll see. It will probably make sense as to why I say this when it gets to that point in the story.

I wanted to end the Big Spider arc next chapter, but with what I have right now for Chapter 42, it seems it's probably going to be pushed back to the chapter after that. Hopefully it'll just be a 3-4 chapter arc, but I know it will definitely not get to the chapter amount that the Level Upper arc is.

Thanks! And a war between Touma and Asher's respective harems would probably mean for the end of the world as we know it, lol. The Toaru universe can take on many things, but I think it would meet it's match if that ever happened…


LostNeko120: Well, hopefully this long chapter makes up for the shortness of the last. You're right that it was a good thing that Maika didn't tell the Head Resident. She may have a soft spot for Asher at times but that doesn't let her off from punishment that easily. I hope you enjoyed the route I took when it came to Capacity Down. Really goes to show how debilitating her sound sensitivity really is.

The Midsummer Festival is definitely an opportunity for Asher to meet both Index and Touma without any memories of her. I'm conflicted if I want the revelation to happen that early, so we'll just see.

You're welcome! And now I understand the bolded dialogue. My eyesight isn't all that great either so I can relate to that a lot. Hope you continue to have fun writing your own stories:)


Misaka Phenex: Huh, Takisubo x Asher (I think that's what you're referring to) is a fairly interesting combination. They have some similarities and quirks to their respective personalities and their differences would probably make for a funny experience from both their and other's perspectives. I don't know if I could bring myself to kill Hamazura off, though, lol. With Asher's connection to both magic and science, they'll most likely meet at some point, though I don't know if their relationship would get to that point.


Ghost of Los Angeles: Welp, with this chapter Asher is very much affected by Capacity down. Even with failsafes installed in her amps to prevent sound from overwhelming her, her hearing sensitivity can flair to the point of bypassing them completely. And with being sleep deprived, handling Skill out's illogical behavior, and just going through the last couple weeks in general, it's a recipe for disaster to her current stress level.

I thought about going the route of Asher not being affected by Capacity down for a while, even to the extent of her being slightly weakened and the other outcome that Misaka feared could have potentially happened. It would have been interesting, but probably would have ended Skill Out then and there if they had angered Asher enough. It should help prepare for the long run for this and the next arc.

I agree that Saten probably noticed something regarding the struggles that Misaka endured within Sisters'. Asher involvement is probably both a benefit and detriment to Misaka overall mental state, considering she hasn't gotten over her own guilt regarding what happened. Asher has began to try to move past it while she's just ignoring and pushing down those memories and emotions. Misaka snapping would probably get all of the Railgang's attention. I'll think more on the idea of them actually finding about the Sisters' project though. It's interesting since mostly only Kongou (I think) is probably the only one out of her group of friends that knows of a clone, but not other ones or the project itself. All I can say at least right now is that friendships are definitely going to be tested during that arc, so be prepared.

I've been wanting to get to Sisters' since probably chapter 1 to be honest with you lol. Though I don't want to rush to it and ruin whatever excitement you all have for it, so I've been holding myself back from doing so T.T. The Capacity down coma route with Asher was technically already seen when she fell into a deep sleep during the Level Upper arc. Big Spider and Poltergeist are shorter arcs in comparison to both Level Upper and Sisters' so hopefully it will take little time at all to get through them.

You're welcome and thanks! I'm glad that I'm still able to impress. Banri and Haruue have now been put into the shipping bag as well:)


Bornkiller9: Thanks!


Thanks for your reviews!

-PurpleClover99