John:
"I'm gonna message Shinobu. Either she wants to come here to regroup with the American side or she wants to go back to Academy City, as she is helping gaining information." Stated John, talking in their American English tongue. Accelerator stood with them.
"Trust me, you have work back in AC. You wouldn't be staying here for more than a month." Answered the scientist. They have arrived at the HQ of their research group. Los Angeles CA. They were staring out a skyscraper. The tallest and the newest. "Talking about overdevelopment, first world problems." John chuckled to himself. They haven't done much in the casino, it was a nice and memorable stay. They did go visit a few nice places though. The scientist and Jimmy sorted out a few "financial problems." And as soon as they got to HQ they gave the Level 6 Researcher a job.
"I like this place, nice pay for STEM jobs, nice climate…"
"Coke, weed, and gang violence. Bloods and Crips, biker gangs, just try to count all the criminal families on your fingers and toes."
"The only criminal organization is us." The scientist answered playfully. "No, kidding. We only go against factions Academy City, not useful factions like ITEM. As I said, good or bad, doesn't matter. We keep other powers in check." It was a quite empty floor just to relax. John had his favorite drink in his hands. Coffee.
"What is our next move before I return?"
"As far as I know we need to construct a spider diagram, as we know more than the government does. The big guys always get deceived easy. For Russian or Chinese leaders, they have other goals to start supporting AC. They will be the ultimate figures behind the spider diagram."
Mugino interrupted.
"Okay, my girls are waiting and I have to go back. They've taken the yacht back, Shinobu is alone on the island. You signalled for her to come here or go back to AC did you?"
"Yep."
"Well you promised to tell me everything, I'm sure as confused as hell." Mugino demanded, looking at the scientist.
"Let's go to a lower floor." The glass elevator took them down floor by floor. Each layer different, but looked like all office that it did not seem like a research lab. They passed working places, cafeterias, there were security guards carrying rifles or submachine guns. "I know what you are thinking, I've founded the corporation with help. Even though I'm the founding CEO, I'm just a mediocre businessman who wanted to exceed in research, not just visualize the company future. My board of directors basically run things, they are not involved with Academy City in anyway. I've invested successfully in the construction of several labs in at least seven states, this is not the biggest."
"You have a lab here?"
"Underground yeah, that's where we are about to go. Back to the topic, once you have everything to survive, enough food and shelter, you pursuer bigger things. Money isn't a problem to me, I can just cut my share."
"Why did you do this? Is it for your own country?"
"I care about US. So now I try to prepare for the worst, for AC is about to go rogue."
"Everyone's nationalist. I mean I don't mind, you can't focus on the interest of the globe. By becoming powerful you keep other powers in check, that is the only way to maintain harmony, with little tension. You can only focus on your country."
"Well. Many of you say AC is becoming fascist, but the government wanted full control of Esper powers' artificiality. They focused on the redistribution of abilities. The reason for that is that the people felt being oppressed, dominated by Espers. Their victim mentality. Ending oppression and anti ability sentiment. Now that is towards the left." Stated the American.
They walked out of the elevator and out to the underground lab.
What a sight the lab was, however the labs in Academy City were described this was just the same scale. Linings, pipes, machinery, then beautiful clean metal walls. The new recruit Level 6 director also got a director's position here. The Esper studies can rival Academy City, except that the world thought only Academy City has such advanced technology, which is clearly a misconception. This is a private owned industry, not official, the dark side. They walked into a research quarter, showing a huge diagram of the DNA.
"Now let's talk seiously." Offered the American. Mugino nodded.
"I'm just doing what's good for my country. I do not care as much regarding AC, as long as we are able to come to an agreement. I'm just a right wing redneck. One smart, educated redneck. But I'm the one trying to fix all the conflicts within. The outside world would be the second priority. My money laundering is only good for the long run, I mean everyone's gotta eat, so does my associates. This is the US, you can't just bribe people and escape taxes."
"Gun totin' redneck."
"I mean I focus on bigger problems. Gun control, free market economy, not what I discuss. I guess you can say I'm about defending American interests."
"You mentioned Academy City would not be a right wing state."
"There will be a dictatorship, A revolution. They would only accuse Espers being the trouble, taking up scientific studies, dominating politics, there will be human right violating policies, calling first world countries enemies when we all know there is a potential threat."
"Anti Esper sentiment, treating them like the problem. That's still quite fascist, they organize people based off of identity, not class. Ain't nothing like socialism. And they want to gain full control of Esper powers themselves."
"Maybe that's correct, but I don't want to talk about fascism or socialism. I mean, I don't want to measure Academy City based off the standards of fascism or socialism. Those concepts are just the residue from the past, the by-product of rapid industrialization, the alleged solution to a crumbling society and economic problems, the perfect fabricated reason to wage war when the fire of prejudice was ignited. Hitler gained power that way, and he used his ideologies as the engine to drive his his conquer of the remains of Europe. Look at today. The first world is long past the age of industrialization, halfway through the transitioning into the age of data, the era of thought. Esper abilities make humans look like God, and the world would go full circle back to ancient mindsets, claiming to be in power just because they are Espers, the rightful legacy of God. Just like the Roman Civil War, people in favor of the plebeians fighting people in favor of patricians. Disunification eventually led to a necessary dictatorship, like Augustus. But the Romans devoted themselves to God"
"So you are not necessarily trying to be a hero."
"No. I'm not, same for you guys. Being a private company, I help my country, but if this situation is a game of chess, I would be a player.
"This is not an ancient mindset, we won't go full circle back to the Romans." John chuckled. "Ancient people feared God. We don't. We can only become God, we rule this world. God has died."
"You'd better be joking."
"I want to know more about John." Mugino demanded. Everybody except for her laughed.
"He is an associate, he doesn't actually work for me. We figured he would help us infiltrate Academy City to gather information. He's not a clone or a chemicaloid. Many of you might think that, but for the sake of the infiltration we installed a memory blocker so there's no way he can give information away. As soon as the mission is accomplished the memory blocker wears out and his mind is restored."
"What is mission accomplished? How do you define his success?"
"We gave him temporarily the right personality, which also wears out. We gave him a trace of a heroic mindset, and he also cares about Misaka and other Espers. This makes him active and nervous when it comes to Esper threats, wanting to help. To start, by fighting big spider at the very beginning he knows the vice of that place. By attacking the level 6 lab, people would think he is with Misaka Mikoto. No, all he's doing is that he's getting much more information compared to other infiltrators." The scientist gestured John, who stated all the details of the project as if there was a hard drive implanted in him, which there probably is. The scientist continued: "the biggest success of his mission is that he persuaded the strongest Esper alive, they even became friends. And he is standing right here. Oh one more thing, his powers echos Accelerator's. His brain was altered, he was designed to level up. Achieving level 6 is no coincidence."
"How does he know it's done?"
"By seeing my face as a cue. This turns off the memory blocker and deactivates his injected personality."
Mugino then turned to John and Accelerator standing side by side. "What are your true goals then?"
"To end conflict in the Esper world. We hope for the best that the Esper world, AC, can act as a buffer state between the strongest global superpowers. To be autonomous. Even if it means fighting an internal conflict in Academy City or getting rid of the Board, I would do it for the sake of Espers who are on our side. We have the power, we will fight a war with other Espers against us, for it will truly be the war to end all wars. We, and you ITEM, work together. We stand for the Esper world."