A/N: You thought it was a dead fic, but it was really me, Dio! Also I work in healthcare. Special shout out to Hadijulianto and Rob Has, who sponsored my story onto TVtropes, which has led to a spike of activity, I do believe! Now I just need to keep working on this series until it's big enough to get its own Tropes page! I appreciate all of you and your patience. I am eternally grateful for your support.
Enjoy, my faithful friends.
E/N: I love filling scenes with believable technobabble and snark.
"Saten-sa- wait-!" Misaki called out, pursuing Ruiko as she stormed out of the room. Mikoto turned to follow after her. The room swam as her headache and natural balance issues combined to assail her with a massive wave of vertigo. She felt a pair of gloved hands slide around her from behind.
"Mikoto!" Kuroko pulled her back upright, steadying her against her chest. Mikoto carefully leveraged herself around to look Kuroko in the eyes. Her worry was painfully obvious, the familiar sight of Kuroko thinking hard about next steps a cold comfort when she was just adding to the jumble of concerns they already had about that… about Frenda. And now about Ruiko on the warpath too...
Mikoto didn't want to worry her, she opened her mouth to say she was fine, that it was just a headache.
She did not expect the scream of pain to escape her mouth. Her vision focused again just in time to seeKuroko schooling her expression, trying to conceal the fear that was so obvious from her body language and felt a pang in her heart. Gotta stop... worrying Kuroko... She tried again to offer some reassurance. It didn't come out. In fact... Why can't I feel myself screaming?
Strangely serene despite the bizarre circumstance, she saw her view shift as she slid to the floor, understood that Kuroko eased her fall while shouting something, but it was like she was a passenger in her own body, just an observer watching through the eyes of Misaka Mikoto.
Why? Why couldn't she move? Why did she feel so out of place? Where was this pain coming from, and why couldn't she feel it? It was like a veil was thrown over her consciousness, blocking her, trapping her… protecting her.
And with that thought, she knew where to look, mentally pushing against the thin "mist" that separated her from most of the Network with a flex of her AIM. And very quickly, she understood why her sisters were trying to isolate her.
The mindless agony that was rocking through the network, a ten thousand-strong chorus of screams that clawed at her sanity. A small girl's voice amidst the torment, crying out as she vainly lashed against the fiery pain that burned through the collective.
It was too much. It was just too much-!
Clack clack claclaclaclaclack clackety clack
The staccato drumbeat of precision mechanical keys filled the dark room, Kazari pushing her hands to their physical limits in the world's most high-stakes CTF. Her gaze strayed to where Mikoto had been moved to the couch, before jerking back to the laptop on the low table in front of her.
This was a nightmare. In more ways than one, with a premature celebration of victory over Indigo like he wasn't the type to layer plans within plans or be motivated by childish spite. Taking every liberty, she rapidly bypassed Misaki's careful protections to check on the Sisters around the world. The pattern became clear depressingly fast: young girls, the spitting image of her own friend, crippled and writhing in pain. Her eyes darted over the top of the screen to watch Misaki's continued attempts to help Mikoto, perspiration beading across her porcelain skin as she fought to create psychic shields from the pain the Network was blaring into the Railgun's head.
Their eyes met and Misaki shook her head in response, wincing as she pulled away from Mikoto, who was seemingly starting to get her bearings once again as the headache began to subside and the psychic shields began to do their work. Kazari pushed a bit of concern/support/appreciation/love through their connection and frowned at the mixture of annoyance/sadness/resolve that came back. Kuroko gently helped Mikoto sit up, and suddenly all eyes were on her. A touch of encouragement came her way, preventing her from freezing under scrutiny and she cleared her throat.
"The Sisters are… their conditions are all like Mikoto, but worse. Cross referencing the onset timing, city power distribution bulletins, and wide spectrum EM telemetry from some satellites, I found a major power spike in District 19 with a novel wavelet modulation carrier," Kazari explained to them, fidgeting on the ground from the anxious energy pouring through her body.
"The exact other side of the city from where that freak is trying to send us." Mikoto observed as she rolled through the map of Academy City in her head, small sparks crackling around her hair.
"Right. Which tells me he's trying to buy time, likely to finish whatever he's hoping to accomplish by attacking the Misaka Network." Misaki observed, tapping her chin with her remote. "Though I have no doubt that they will kill Frenda if we don't play along… but it's equally likely they will kill her regardless."
"A network attack..." Kazari looked back down at her screen with a dark expression. "Uniform attack surface…" She had a nasty thought and began typing furiously, narrating her thought process. "Is it just a DOS? No, too much commitment and stalling doesn't help much there. Higher level supervisor nodes are the goal." She scanned lists, eyes dancing across terminals like a prima owns the stage. "Shit, it's kind of like the old SCADA hacks? So all we need to do is find…" tapped the table nervously, waiting for an aggregator script to run. The execution finished. "...her." She hammered the return key triumphantly, and leaned back into her Queen's bosom. Everyone leaned in to stare at the camera feed revealing a tiny girl, like a youthful mini-Mikoto, currently sitting slumped against a wall at the entrance of an alley.
"Last Order," Kazari declared. "The top level administrative node in the Misaka Network. She's the key." "If we can get to her, we can-" She felt a shift of displaced air. "-aaand they're gone, aren't they."
She looked over at the blank spot where the pair had been just moments ago before craning her head back to meet Misaki's somewhat helpless expression.
"I suppose we ought to have seen that coming," she sighed.
Ruiko felt a bead of sweat roll down her forehead as she ran down the streets, heart pounding as she grappled with what she was even doing. She was just reacting- acting on impulse and not letting herself doubt. So she ran, keeping a white-knuckle grip on the duffel bag hanging off one shoulder to keep it from bouncing around too much. She felt the heavy, stiff school bag tied tightly to her back, quietly wondering if its contents would be enough.
It didn't matter. It didn't matter what she was told, or what had been demanded of her, or what was logical. She was going to save Frenda, no matter what-
Her thoughts were abruptly cut off as she jinked to avoid a car drifting around the corner. It stopped right in front of her. She tensed, unwilling to flee but not quite ready for a fight.
Then the tinted window rolled down. Leaning on the wheel and looking at her was Hamazura Shiage.
"Get in."
Her expression tightened.
She hopped in the back.
Shiage tore off down the road like a bat out of hell as soon as she latched the door. It was a bitch of a thing, keeping her balance as the car began to weave through traffic.
She opened the duffle bag and pulled out several items, shimmying around to change into something more appropriate and useful.
"Why are you helping me?" she finally asked.
They passed a few more cars and hit the on-ramp of the highway, accelerating further. "If you have to ask that, why did you text me telling me what happened?" He asked in response, invoking another few beats of silence between them.
"You texted Frenda's spare phone that she left in my room, asking her what happened. I assumed you didn't know-"
"Which I didn't."
"-So… I dunno, I just told you. I'm not exactly thinking this through."
"No shit?" Shiage snarked at her, looking at her through the rear-view mirror and quickly averting his eyes away when he realized she was still half-naked. There was a heavy pause before Ruiko spoke up again.
"How did you find me, anyway?"
He unleashed a put-upon sigh that wouldn't have been out of place from a man twice his age.
"Please, kid, if you're gonna to start mixing it up with the city's dark underbelly, you gotta start taking some precautions. I'm a chump at this hacking stuff but I still tracked your phone through the local network." Shiage explained, weaving through some more cars, earning a great many honks and probably curses. Ruiko had to catch herself against the door as she nearly smashed her head into it.
"...I just want to help Frenda." Ruiko said quietly as she pulled the belt tight into her pants.
"Yeah, same." Shiage replied softly. She hesitated, taking the chance to tie her hair.
"Why?" She wasn't even sure why she was asking. He blew through an interchange and dodged a slow truck in the right lane. Just when she thought he'd ignore it, he answered.
"Because I've got two gals on the brink of death, laid up in bed, who owe their lives to Frenda-fucking-Seivelun, even though she's usually a smug selfish-ass bitch. She saved their lives and mine." He lit up a cigarette and took a drag, blowing it out a cracked window. "I dunno, maybe- just maybe- she's not as bad as she thinks she is." Shiage answered, his grip tightening on the steering wheel.
Ruiko finally crawled to the front of the car. Her cargo pants were strapped to her legs with belts to keep them from moving around too much, and she had a tight black top underneath a bomber jacket. Long, tight-fitting black gloves disappeared up the sleeves of the jacket, large studs along the knuckles marking them as weapons more than armour.
Shiage chanced an appraising glance to his left. "...Leftover Frenda junk?"
"Mostly. The gloves are something she gave me for training." She flexed her fingers and rolled her wrist slowly. "Does she leave her tools just lying around at your place, too?"
"If by 'tools' you mean stuff like that old MP7 that's been chilling on the kitchen table for the last two months or the blasting caps sharing a dish with the candy?" Shiage said, a small smile spreading to his face. Ruiko couldn't help smiling too.
"I'll mark that down as a solid 'maybe', then," she grinned cheekily, but it was a brittle thing, and the facade of humor soon crumbled.
"We'll find her." Ruiko whispered- though to Shiage or herself, she wasn't sure.
It was… nostalgic? Yeah, probably nostalgic. The familiar feeling of suddenly being somewhere else. Mikoto leaned heavily on her crutch, releasing Kuroko's hand to massage her face. A familiar feeling, but evidently one she would need to get used to once more.
"It's been awhile since we've done that…" Mikoto admitted, smiling at her confident and amazing Kuroko. She looked up and around, blinking in surprise at the industrial decay that made up much of the surroundings. "Wait… are we already in District 19?" Her smile grew. Kuroko's way too amazing. That's halfway across the city in one shot. "I'm impressed."
"Yes, uh, well, can you get a bearing on that EM source Uiharu told us about?" Kuroko was pretty clearly a bit elated at the compliment, but she managed to brush it off and refocus on their task with aplomb. Mikoto reached forward to take her hand once more, kissing the back of it before pointing in a direction that was "giant neon albatross" levels of obvious to her senses.
"About... 1400 yards that way." Mikoto pointed with her crutch for a moment, before putting it back on the ground and looking at the girl she loved so much. Yeah, not taking chances on this one. It was the work of a moment. Kuroko blinked in surprise (but didn't pull away) as Mikoto fed a bunch of energy into the maw of Kuroko's pocket dimension.
"Look, as much as we both may hate it, I can't beat that clone. You can. You trump her and you've already learned some new things since you last met. But I wanted you to have some insurance. when you get through, let that out on the back of her neck, that should take her out." Mikoto said softly. "While you dance with her, I'll keep the freak off you. I'm pretty sure I can take him solo." Kuroko looked to Mikoto, her eyes betraying her worry. Mikoto gave her a reassuring smile, feeling that surge of pride and confidence that she didn't think she had anymore. That certainty in her own abilities as the Railgun.
Mikoto leaned forward and planted a kiss on Kuroko's lips, holding it for a moment before pulling away, Kuroko's eyes still closed as they parted. Fluttering open, Kuroko regained her composure and gave her a smile as she looked into Mikoto's visage.
"For luck." Mikoto gave her a wink before squeezing her hand and nodding. Kuroko gave a nod in return as her own grin widened.
"For luck." Kuroko echoed, before they both vanished once again.
Shiage killed the engine and lights and coasted to a silent stop in an abandoned construction site... somewhere. Some run-down industrial district somewhere in the urban sprawl. Ruiko was too keyed up to really care.
"See that?" He carefully pointed at a building across from them by a safe distance. "That's SCHOOL's main base."
"Huh, nice place. Frenda's in there?"
"I'd bet my left nut on it-"
"TMI, dude."
"- Dark Matter's scary but predictable enough. There's nowhere else he'd keep her."
"And if he's still in there?" Ruiko asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We die horrifically."
"Fantastic." Ruiko replied dryly, taking a deep breath. "Hokay, let's do this. How're we getting in?"
Shiage paused and looked at her, but for once it seemed someone wasn't going to question her resolve. He flipped his cigarette out the window, started the car and revved the engine.
"Buckle up tight, sweetheart-"
"Not your fucking sweetheart!"
"-and keep an iron grip on the 'oh shit' handle because your life probably depends on it!"
"...wait, whaaaaaaAAAAAA!"
The two guards standing outside smoking only had a moment of warning before they noticed the car flying at the large glass front entrance to the building, speeding across several construction lots. Drifting toward them, Ruiko did her best to focus on her goal instead of the painful sounding collisions as the sedan blasted through them and the glass walls.
The car slid across the lobby of the office building, hitting a few more guards as everyone inside scrambled in the sudden chaos. Ruiko let out a small cry as they smashed into a pillar, bringing them to a sudden stop.
"BAIL OUT!" Shiage yelled at her as he smashed the driver window to pull himself out of the car, his door too destroyed to open. Ruiko managed to kick her door open on an adrenaline rush, the door popping open with a loud screeching sound as it bent. Damn it, she needed to be careful or she'd-
That thought remained unfinished as she hit the floor, barely avoiding a barrage of gunfire as the guards began to regroup. She pulled her duffle bag out with her, the rectangular school bag firm on her back. Any normal teenage girl would be freaking out and panicking, in this situation.
Evidently, Ruiko wasn't so normal anymore.
Because all she knew was rage at the people who'd hurt Frenda and had the gall to videotape it and send it to her. She was going to make them pay dearly for that mistake. She dipped a hand into the duffle bag as one of the guards leaped from behind the back of the car, pulling a compact machine pistol on him.
He had enough time for the surprise to reach his eyes before he took a burst in the chest and collapsed to the ground. Ruiko didn't even pause. It was like her body was on autopilot, run by madness and adrenaline.
"SHIAGE!" she called.
"SHIT! SHIT! FUCK!" he responded. He was pinned down trying to get to the trunk.
She rifled through Frenda's bag of goodies and tossed a shotgun in his direction. "Catch!"
"Thanks!" He yelled as he turned and blasted some poor sod, who'd finally had the bright idea to go around and shoot the unarmed guy, with a load of 00 buckshot. Now armed, he was instantly calm. Unlike Ruiko, he was focused and in control of himself. He didn't need rage or adrenaline to enter into a focused killing state.
Both of them scrambled for the nearest decent cover outside of the killzone that was the center of the lobby. Shiage managed to find his way behind a support pillar while Ruiko tossed herself behind a staircase that sat to the side of the room heading up.
Bullets continued to hit against their cover, scattering small bits of stone, or ricocheting off the metal stairs. Shiage and Ruiko could see each other from their respective covers, but there was no chance they'd be able to communicate over the cacophony of gunfire and yelling from the guards they'd just picked a fight with.
Shit, now what? Okay, assess the situation: men with guns want to kill us. That didn't help her much, so she did the next best thing and dug into her giant bag, looking for something useful. She palmed a round object and tugged it out, holding it up for Shiage to see. His wide-eyed expression and furious nodding told her it was exactly what she thought it was: a grenade.
So naturally, she tossed it to him. Shiage's expression shifted to a flash of terror, lurching forward and catching it before diving back against the pillar, mouthing an exasperated "Really!?" at her. Ruiko could only give a shrug and nervous smile in response. If I live through this, I'm buying, borrowing, or stealing all the Indian Poker cards for weapons I can get my hands on.
Ruiko peeked around the corner of her cover, trying to remember all the lessons that Frenda had beaten into her. Scope out your battlefield... A quick scan when the shots lessened got her eyes on about ten men who looked super pissed. Their gestures suggested they were going to push in. Figure out who's trying to kill you- that one's easy: everyone. react. SimplOH SHI-
She nearly didn't cover her ears and eyes in time, the dark grenade that Shiage "passed on" to the guards blending into the rest of the debris remarkably well. Ruiko fell over as the shockwave washed over them, coughing from the intense pressure in the air squeezing her chest. She forced herself to open her eyes, but couldn't see a damn thing through the smoke and dust that had been kicked up by a much larger detonation than she'd expected from such a small package. How like Frenda. Her ears were still ringing, hands groping around for the bag, pulling it to her chest as she felt it.
She rather suddenly felt a pair of hands on her arms, causing her to almost lash out. Mercifully, she just barely made out Shiage's face in front of her, shouting something she couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears.
"Wha- what? Can't hear!" She pointed at her ears to get the point across. Comprehension dawned. He huffed like a teenager and started dragging her to her feet. "Ah, asshole!" Ruiko groaned and jerked her arm back, trying to keep her balance.
"-on! ! Come on, you dumbass!" Her hearing was coming back just in time for dire . "We gotta move, that fuck's gotmore than just those rent-a-thugs!" He shoved Ruiko forward, causing her to stumble again. She steadied herself on the railing of the staircase she'd been hiding behind, quickly going up it as she tried to figure out what exactly had spooked him. A swirling motion from within the dust cloud was all the warning she had to juke left, a throaty cannon-like sound heralding the sudden appearance of a ragged hole through the staircase where she'd just been about to step, stone shrapnel cracking as it fell. The dust swirled from the spin of the projectile, revealing some bone-white lumbering figure roughly humanoid in shape but plated in metal.
"FUCK!" was the only word that came to mind as she leaped over the hole in the stairs and dashed up, trying to get away from this monster.
She tried to mimic Shiage, who was keeping low and pressed against the wall of the mezzanine to stay out of the line of sight of whatever the thing was stomping around below them. He grabbed a potted plant and chucked it hard over the edge and they slid into a hallway in the opposite direction.
"What's the plan!?" she wheezed as they legged it for their lives.
"If we're lucky, the plant distracted it. If not, we try to lose it in these hallways, then double back, hit the stairs down to the basement levels and look for Frenda there," he called back at her as he continued to run. Ruiko hissed in irritation at his words, clenching her jaw as she tried to keep her mind focused.
"We don't have time to fuck aroun-" She was interrupted by the floor beneath her bursting open with a spray of shattering stone and cement and Ruiko feeling something squeeze her leg tightly. She yelped in surprise as she was pulled down with the anchor around her ankle, slamming into the ground with a painful grunt.
She struggled back to her feet and turned to face her assailant: a large humanoid figure, easily eight or nine feet tall, dressed like some kind of knockoff Kamen Rider,a leathery jacket on top and bulging chitinous plates beneath it. It's face was mostly covered in this beetle-like armor, two sets of bright eyes glowing behind the organic helm.
The brief moment to look was all she got as she ducked a huge haymaker swing of its club-like fist, stone shattering as it smashed into the wall. Ruiko quickly jumped back onto her feet, leaping away from it but was suddenly pulled back by her bomber jacket and lifted off of the ground.
"TRES-. PASS-. ER." The creature rumbled out as it manhandled her. Ruiko… had no fucking time for it. She threw her arms up, sliding out of the jacket, grabbing onto two knives she'd stashed on either side of the jacket's lining, twisting around and letting out a war cry as she shoved both blades into whatever approximated this creature's kneecap. The first blade deflected off of armor beneath it, but she felt the other sink into something meaty, and quickly gave the blade an upward twist before diving away, just narrowly avoiding a two-handed hammer slam down where she'd just been standing.
"RUN RUIKO!" She heard Shiage yell above her on the level she'd dropped from, and she didn't need to be told twice. She dashed away as she heard a few shotgun blasts behind her, her ears picking up on that now familiar sound of ripping stone just in time to act on reflex. She twirled around, swinging both her fists sideways, howling in rage as she caught a giant piece of stone debris in the nick of time, slamming the rock onto the ground in pieces. The creature paused as it seemed to struggle to process what it had just seen, and Ruiko was more than happy to let it ponder that as she spun back around and sprinted away.
Misaki and Kazari had less convenient ways of traversing the city, instead having to pile in a car with Nokleben driving, the Professional (with a capital P) moving through traffic with a practiced ease that Misaki privately appreciated as she sat, legs crossed, in the back, reflexively trying to maintain the poise and dignity of a lady even as anxiety bubbled up and clogged the drains of their house. Kazari was less prone to hiding her emotions, her nervously bouncing leg betraying her tension.
Logically, there was no reason for them to be on edge. All they had to do was get to Last Order, and then get her somewhere safe before something happened. Like exposure to the elements or a petty thief. At this point they were mostly just covering all their bases. But Mikoto and Kuroko…
"All we can do now is trust them." Misaki said softly, reading her mind as easy as breathing. "Those two amazons won't go down easy… and they won't have to protect us this time." She wasn't wrong. Their presence had made it extremely difficult for those two to act at their full potential. Kazari nodded slightly as they settled into an uncomfortably silent drive.
It felt like both an instant and an eternity then the car suddenly stopped, Kazari blinking as she escaped her thoughts, the door opening for her, followed quickly by the door for Misaki, both spilling out of the car and looking around. A busy commercial street filled with people immediately greeted them, forcing them to avoid crowds to not get trampled.
"Where is she?" Kazari asked quickly as she ran around the car to Misaki, Nokleben closing the door behind her as she did. Misaki, to no surprise, had little patience to look. She pulled a remote out and clicked a button, the crowd parting like a red sea with passive expressions, clearing the way to the alley where the Mini-Mikoto was slumped against the wall. The pair ran up to the girl, Kazari bending down to grab at her.
"Unconscious…" She muttered as the small girl let out a weak moan of pain. "Airway is clear, pulse thready, pupils very dilated..." Kazari began to shift the small body around to pick her up in a fireman's carry. She faltered, her attention stolen by a cry of pain and she looked up just in time to see Nokleben get thrown halfway across the street into a table.
"Oh no..." Misaki whispered in quiet horror as she turned to face the source of their new problem, Kazari looking up with wide, terrified eyes.
A cruel, smug man casually strode toward them, six ironic angelic wings fanning out from his back as Dark Matter sneered down at them.
"I'll be taking that."
Indigo could not help but smile up at his work in satisfaction. The crackling of electricity running up the massive spire in front of him, a building forged for the express purpose of hijacking the Network. It was a bit of a gamble, not something he wanted to use if he could avoid it due to the… unique... power source it required, but so far, it was working exactly as planned. Inless than an hour he'd have complete control of them all… and by proxy, control of that troublesome girl. And through her… that disgusting teleporter.
He glanced over at the once more masked and quiescent clone of Accelerator that had served him so well, despite the occasional glitch. He'd made some adjustments after that little hiccup at the school so that little incident should not repeat.
"Soon… soon I will have exactly what I-"
"HEY JACKASS!"
Indigo felt his pulse quicken as he turned quickly around. That sounded like- There! Looking down from the catwalk that encircled the structure, on the ground, he met the baleful twin glares of Railgun and her little pet, who seemingly appeared out of thin air. He opened his mouth to say something, to buy himself a time to think-
No moralizing, no words of judgement, nothing. At last, he received their full respect.
In that Railgun leveled a rifle round at him and fired it off with unrestrained fury, a shockwave of booming sound shattering glass across the neighborhood, the rage of the Railgun aimed squarely at him without a moment to consider the completeness of his mistake.