Disclaimer: I do not own Index or Railgun. They are the property of J.C. Staff. This is just a fanfiction.

A CERTAIN AMERICAN HOWITZER

Chapter 1

Murders in Paradise

Sunday, September 27th, 20XX, 9:58 a.m. In the skies above Academy City is the large blimp that's constantly flying around with the weather report or various announcements for all the city. This morning though is the live morning news broadcast that's nearing its end. A female reporter appears on the screen about to give the final report of the day.

"And finally this morning, astronomers and other various scientists are eagerly anticipating the 'bullet burn' flyby of the Smith-Minamoto asteroid at the end of October. The 1.5km (1 mile) wide stony asteroid, which was discovered a little over a year ago and nicknamed 'The Jack-o-Lantern' asteroid by some, is set to pass by Earth on October 31st. At a close distance of approximately 120,000km (75,000 miles), the asteroid will pass Earth at roughly one third the distance to the moon. For all you amateur astronomers out there, you'll easily be able to watch it fly by with a telescope or even a strong pair of binoculars at 19:00 (7:00pm) on the evening of October 31st. It should be quite the show. Well that's all from us this morning. We'll be back for this evening's news broadcast." the reporter ends her broadcast.

As the blimp's screen returns to scrolling announcements a scream can be heard in the air. "AHHH!" *SHOWOOSH!* "AHHH! Shirai-san! Please stop!" *SHAWOOSH!* "You know how I hate Teleporting with you at such high heights!" yells a young girl with flowers in her short black hair as she's being "dragged" along by a multi-twin tailed pinkish-brown haired girl. *SHAWOOSH!* "Just bare with it a little longer Uiharu! Konori-sempai said it was urgent! *SHAWOOSH!* "I know! But can we please do it at a LOWER ALTITUDE!?" *SHAWOOSH!* "Just hold on! We're almost there!" *SHAWOOSH!* *SHAWOOSH!* *SHAWOOSH!*.

Within moments the two girls land on the sidewalk close to the entrance of an alley way that's sealed off by Anti-Skill tape and several Anti-Skill vehicles with their lights flashing and Anti-Skill guards keeping a crowd at a distance. *SHAWOOSH!* "Judgment members Shirai Kuroko and Uiharu Kazari reporting as requested. Konori-sempai, what's the situation? You said it was very urgent we get here." says Kuroko as she lands. Uiharu falls onto her butt with dizzy eyes and making a slight "dizzy" moan. Mii Konori, the buxom, glasses wearing, second year high school girl and chief of the 177th branch of Judgment, is leaning against the wall of the grayish-white building next to the alleyway looking visibly upset, but just short of crying.

"Konori-sempai?" says Kuroko a little more timid this time. "Oh. Shirai-san. Sorry. I'm just a little upset at the moment." stumbles Mii as she wipes her right eye. "Konori-sempai, what's happened?" asks Kuroko. Mii takes a couple of seconds to gather herself. "Do you remember one of the three girls I was training for Judgment, Takanashi-san?" asks Mii. "Shima Takanashi, the Human GPS? Yes, of course." responds Kuroko. "Well, we received a frantic call from her roommate Chigusa this morning saying that Takanashi-san never came back to her dorm last night. They had talked on the phone and she had said she was only 15 minutes away, but she never arrived. Chigusa mentioned that Shima had said she was going to cut through some alleyways to get home." describes Mii.

By this time Uiharu has stood up. "We and Anti-Skill concentrated our search in the alleyways, and that's when we…. found her." says Mii. "Found her?" asks Uiharu. "Her body… she's been murdered." THAT shocks both girls. "Murdered!? How!?" says Kuroko in shock. "We're not sure yet. But it appears to have been by another esper. We found no signs of attack or wounds on any part of her body." describes Mii. At that moment a couple of Anti-Skill coroners appear wheeling Shima's body, draped by a sheet, on a stretcher as one of the Anti-Skill guards lifts the tape. The three girls watch as the coroners load the stretcher into a van and drive off.

"Such a pitiful waste. She was such a kind girl with so much potential." says Mii with sadness in her voice. The head Anti-Skill detective in a bullet proof vest, riot helmet and shield approaches the three girls. "Konori-san I presume. I was told you're the chief of the 177th Branch of Judgment and was training the victim to be a member of Judgment." says the large male detective. "Yes. That is correct." she responds. It's a little hard to hear Shima being referred to as a "victim" but she knows he doesn't mean any insult by it. "I know you already gave your statement, but there are a few other questions that I need to ask you." he says. Mii watches the van turn a corner in the far distance and go out of sight. "Certainly." Mii turns to the two girls. "You two stay here and make sure no one approaches the scene. I'll be right back." she says. "Yes ma'am!" responds Kuroko.

As Mii walks away with the detective, Kuroko and Uiharu turn around and begin talking to each other. "Murdered… I can't believe it." says Kuroko. "Yeah. There aren't that many murders here in Academy City even though it can be dangerous." states Uiharu. "That's NOT what I meant. I mean I can't believe Takanashi-san was murdered. Who would want to do such a thing to a girl like her?" says Kuroko a little forceful. Uiharu takes a step back in recoil. "Ah. Sorry. I didn't mean in that way. I'm shocked too. And we just spoke to her yesterday too." she says. Kuroko puts her hand to her chin to think for a moment. "Uiharu, did you notice anything about her demeanor that seemed to indicate that she was concerned or upset about something?" asks Kuroko.

"Nothing. She seemed just fine. She was a little upset that she had to be held past curfew because of training, but that wouldn't be unusual." describes Uiharu. "Yeah. Same with me. I didn't notice anything unusual about her either. If I had to guess this wasn't a planed attack on her but more of a crime of opportunity." says Kuroko. "We don't know that for sure Shirai-san. She could have been followed without her knowledge, or she could have been targeted on purpose." describes Uiharu. "Hmm. That's true too. Well, speculating about it at this point without looking at the evidence first isn't going to get us anywhere. We'll have to wait for Anti-Skill's report and findings before going on with this investigation." concludes Kuroko.

The two girls hear Mii and the Anti-Skill detective approaching again from behind them. "Thanks for your cooperation Konori-san. We'll get back to you with our findings later today." he says. "Certainly. Anything I can do to help. And thank you." Mii responds politely. "By the way… Would you like us to handle telling her closest relatives for you? We know this is a difficult situation for you." says the detective politely. Mii looks slightly down and away in a moment of thought. "…No. I'll do it. I was the one responsible for her. I should be the one to tell her relatives. But I thank you for offering." she answers. The detective nods his head in understanding. Suddenly he gets some static and a call from Anti-Skill HQ on his helmet comms. "Excuse me for one moment." he says as he turns around to listen.

Mii turns to the two girls again. "So what did he have to say?" asks Kuroko. "He's not making any conclusions yet, but he says it's definitely an esper on esper attack. He's gotten a good look at… her body… and says there may be signs of internal trauma, but he says he's not sure. We'll have to wait for the autopsy report. He mainly was just asking me questions about when she left, where she was headed, and if I had seen anything or anyone suspicious that night." describes Mii. "Hmmm." Kuroko think hums. "WHAT!?" nearly shouts the detective. The three girls all turn around in surprise. "Another body!? This time in District 15? Right. We're on our way!" says the detective as he finishes getting the report.

He looks over at the girls. He knows they heard. "Sorry. I guess you heard that. Anyway we've got another body in District 15 and we need to head over there. It appears it might be the same attacker." says the detective. Mii instantly responds. "Detective! Let us come with you!" she says. "Huh? Sorry but that's out of Judgment branch 177's jurisdiction." he responds. "Sir! If it's the same attacker and MO then it's related to this case as well. We HAVE to investigate it if it is!" retorts Mii. The detective gets a slight annoyed look but relents. "Fine. I guess you're right. We're leaving immediately so get in that van over there." says the detective as he points to a nearby van.

Mii quickly turns to face the other two girls again. "Kazari-san, you stay here and gather what other information the other detectives here gather on Takanashi-san's murder." she orders. "Right!" respond Uiharu with a salute. "Shirai-san! You're with me." orders Mii again. "Yes Ma'am!" response Kuroko with a salute. Mii and Kuroko quickly pile into the van with several other members of Anti-Skill, already on Shima's murder scene, also headed to the second scene. The van pulls away leaving Uiharu behind.

It takes about ten minutes though city traffic to reach the second scene in District 15. It's located behind a low-scale restaurant. Several Anti-Skill vehicles are already on scene. As the van pulls up and the people disembark, a lower ranking Anti-Skill officer approaches the detective. "What's the situation?" asks the detective. The lower ranking officer salutes. "Sir. The body is still being examined by the coroner. It's a young male. His identification card has him as one Kira Ryusaki age 15. He's a well known level 4 esper from Nagatenjouki Academy. The manager says he was a regular here on Sunday mornings for breakfast and leaves via the back alley." reports the officer. "Ryusaki?" says Kuroko. "You know him?" asks Mii. "I know OF him. He was a prominent competitor in last year's Daihaseisai. I watched him play when his team went up against Tokiwadai's. I think his ability was called 'Iron Splinter.'" describes Kuroko.

"Oh! I've heard of that. It's an ability to cause anything with iron in it to shatter into smaller fragments right?" says Mii. "Not exactly shatter, but more like break apart with an explosive force. He was able to explosively shatter a column of concrete if it had steel reinforcement in it." retorts Kuroko. The coroner finally appears from around the corner of the restaurant and approaches the group. "So doctor, what have you got to report?" asks the detective. "He's been dead for just over two hours. It appears to have been the same method of attack as the first one that I got a report about. I won't know anything more until I get his body back to HQ and have a proper autopsy done." he reports.

"I knew it. It was the same attacker." says Mii. "So that puts his death at around 8:00 am this morning." says the detective. He then turns to the officer again. "Were there any witnesses this time? It is pretty crowded for breakfast at about that time." he asks. "We're still canvassing the area and interviewing people, but so far nothing. No one heard any screams or calls for help, or saw anything or anyone suspicious so far." reports the officer. "Hmmm." Kuroko once again puts her hand to her chin in thought. "This could only mean one of two things. Either the culprit is able to murder them so quickly that the victim has no time to call for help before they're dead. Or their power somehow prevents the victim from calling out while the murder happens." she says aloud.

"If I may…" says the coroner. "I do believe it's the latter." he says. "What makes you say that?" asks the detective. "I won't know for certain until the autopsy, but it appears that the victim was still alive for a few minutes after hitting the ground. Had it been a quick kill the signs, like the liver temperature, would have been different by a few degrees. Plus there were no signs of a struggle either on the victim or in the vicinity. Even if it was quick there would have been signs of the victim trying to get away or seek out help, which there are none." describes the coroner. "So we're more than likely looking for an esper whose power or side effect of said power can paralyze or otherwise incapacitate their victim." says Kuoroko. This time it's Mii who goes into thought. "Hmm. Something doesn't add up here though." she says. "What doesn't?" asks Kuroko. "I'm not sure… Why would the perpetrator attack these two? Was it random, or was it planned? I don't know but something just doesn't feel right about this. Ever had that feeling that something small will eventually lead to something really terrible?" asks Mii.

"Not really." answers Kuroko. "Hmm. It could just be nothing. Woman's intuition I guess." says Mii. "I guess that's something science will never be able to explain." says the detective with a grin. Suddenly another lower ranking Anti-Skill officer approaches the group and salutes. "Sir. We may have found someone who might have some information." he says. "Really!? That's great! Show us to him." says the detective. Within a moment the group walks around to the back of the restaurant to meet up with this "witness." It's a young male, about 18, and he's one of the restaurant's busboys. The lower ranking officer approaches him. "Ok young man, this is the lead detective on the scene and a couple members of Judgment. You need to tell them your information." he says. The young man nods.

"So young man, you have information about the murder?" asks the detective. "Well… no not the murder itself. But I did see someone suspicious before the murder. Though I'm not sure it'll be much help." says the busboy. "Every little bit of information helps. Go on." says Mii. The busboy nods. "Well we opened up at 6:00 AM this morning with the big Sunday breakfast crowd coming in at about 6:30 onwards. After about an hour we accumulated a few bags of trash. So just before 7:30 the boss tells me to take out said bags of trash to the dumpster out back." The busboy then points out the large dumpster just around the corner of back of the restaurant's rear exit, to a back way "T" shaped alley. The cross of the "T" being the main alleyway that runs along the side of the restaurant that leads out to the main street where everyone had been. And the strait part of the "T" being a narrower alleyway that contains the dumpster and leads out to a side street.

"Go on." says the detective. "Well as I was tossing the trash in the dumpster I noticed someone down the narrow alley. He looked a little suspicious just standing there leaning against the wall about half-way down the alley." says the busboy. "Suspicious how? Can you describe him?" asks Kuroko. "Well I didn't get too good of a look at him given the distance." says the busboy. "Please. Anything will help." says Mii. "Well. I could tell he was wearing a white T-Shirt, blue jeans, and I think either brown or black shoes; again I really couldn't tell. He had really long dark hair that covered one eye. I think it was black actually. But I could tell that he was also white." describes the busboy. "White? You mean he was a light skinned Japanese?" asks the detective.

"No. White. Um gaijin white. What do you call it again?" asks the busboy. "Caucasian?" says the detective. "Yeah! That's it! He definitely wasn't Japanese." answers the busboy. The detective crosses his arms. "Well that sure complicates things." says the detective. "How so?" asks Kuroko. "If we're dealing with a foreign esper here, then we'll have to vastly expand our search criteria beyond just Academy City." he answers. "I see." says Kuroko. "There's one other thing about him that I noticed that caught my attention most of all." says the busboy. "What do you mean 'most of all?'" asks Mii. "It was his mouth." says the busboy. "His mouth?" asks Kuroko.

"Specifically his mouth's expression. He glanced over at me and then walked out of the alley. But before he did I saw the creepiest smirky-grin I have ever seen in my life. It felt really cold and, to be honest, it scared me. So much so that I tossed the rest of the trash into the dumpster in one go and ran back into the restaurant. I didn't see him after that. It wasn't until I heard one of our female cooks scream when she went out for a smoke and saw the body lying there, that I thought of him again." describes the busboy. "I see. Well thank you for your information. At least we have something now." says the detective. "Sure." nods the busboy. He then goes back into the restaurant though its back entrance.

"Well it really isn't much to go on. The person he saw may not have been the perpetrator given how long he had left before the murder." says the detective. "He could have come back you know and it's all we have to go by for now until the autopsy reports come in. We can also check any security cameras in the area to see if any of them spotted this guy. Also do you think we should warn the public about this?" asks Mii. The detective only takes a second to think. "Not yet. We need to find out who we're dealing with and what his powers are first before we send the city into a panic." rules the detective. "Well what do you suppose we should do? Judgment can't act on a murder case without Anti-Skill's permission." asks Kuroko with her hands on her waste.

The detective only takes a second to think again. "Well for now, you two should head back to the 177th Judgment office. You won't be getting anymore information from this scene than what's already been said, so you should head back and wait for our findings and the autopsy reports. I give you permission to look into finding any evidence or clues to the first murder scene which is in your jurisdiction. If you manage to find anything that might help then please notify us. Is that sufficient?" he says. "Alright. That sounds like a good idea. And thank you for giving us permission. Do you mind if we look through the security camera footage in this area as well?" asks Mii. "I don't see why not. Go ahead." answers the detective.

"OK then. Thank you. Shirai-san we should head back now." says Mii. "Do you two need a lift?" asks the lower ranking officer. "No thanks. We can get back just fine. Right Shirai-san?" says Mii. Kuroko grabs Mii's left forearm. "Right. Thanks guys. If we find anything we'll let you know. Bye." says Kuroko. *SHAWOOSH!* *Shawoosh* *shawoosh* The two teleport away. "Man I am never going to get use to crazy powers like that." comments the detective.

Within two minutes Mii and Kuroko arrive back at the 177th Judgment branch office. Uiharu is already back inside waiting for them. "Ah! Welcome back you two." she says from her computer table. "Kazari-san did you get any more information from Takanashi-san's murder scene?" asks Mii. "Not much I'm afraid. There wasn't really any other evidence of the murderer besides her body. What about you? Did you get any more information from the second scene?" asks Uiharu. "Maybe. Someone did see someone suspicious hanging around the area before the murder, but right now we don't have much to go on besides a basic description and a time gap between him being seen and the murder." says Mii. "Uiharu. We have a job for you. The detective on scene gave us permission to access the security camera recordings around the area of the second murder scene. We need you to access all of them in the area around a lower end restaurant in the 15th district near the corner of 4th and 11th streets." says Kuroko.

"Is that all? That's a little boring to do, but ok." says Uiharu nonchalantly. She intertwines her fingers flips them backward and pops them then sets forth typing rather quickly on her keyboard. Within 30 seconds she's accessed the cameras in the said area, but then frowns a little. "Well this may not be much help I'm afraid." she says. "What's wrong?" asks Kuroko. "It appears the fiber-optic cables in that area were being worked on at that time. Out of the 24 closest cameras, only three were recording." describes Uiharu. "BLAST!" yelps Kuroko as she punches her hand. "Well bring up what you can Kazari-san. Which one was closest to the crime scene and was recording at around 7:30 this morning?" asks Mii.

Uiharu taps a couple of keys. "This one. It's down and across the street from the rear alley way exit that goes behind the restaurant." she says as she brings up the recording. "So it doesn't look directly down the alley to the murder scene." says Kuroko. "Nope. Sorry. And it's a couple of buildings down as well." says Uiharu. "Play it anyway. We might be able to see the suspicious person the witness saw." says Mii. Uiharu taps the mouse and the video begins to play. A few people walk by and even a couple of cars go down the side street for a couple of minutes before there's finally some activity from the alley's exit. A young man walks out of the exit and begins walking towards the camera's direction. "That must be him!" points out Kuroko. "Uiharu can you zoom in on him when he gets the closest to the camera?" she asks. "I can try, but it's an older camera. We may not be able to get much detail." responds Uiharu.

She skips the video forward about 20 seconds to when he's the closest and does her best to zoom in. "This is the best I can get it. There's still not much detail of him though." says Uiharu. The video is still grainy but they are able to see him clearer. "Dark hair, a white T-shirt, and blue jeans. And he's definitely a white foreigner. That's the guy the witness saw alright." says Mii. "Does this camera show him coming back to the alley at any time before 8:00?" asks Kuroko. Uiharu fast forwards the video until it reaches 8:00. "No I'm afraid. But according to the District 15 map there are two other alley entrance points to get to the rear of the restaurant. But there weren't any working cameras at the time covering either one." says Uiharu. "Well this is a dead end. This video doesn't prove this person did anything but loiter around an alley for a while." says Mii.

Kuroko has her hand up to her chin again in thought. She thinks for a little bit then hesitantly starts to speak. "Konori-sempai, what I'm about to suggest may be a little upsetting to go though for you, but please don't take it personally ok?" says Kuroko. Mii looks at her in slight confusion but sees her serious look. She has an inkling of what Kuroko might suggest next, but nods her head anyway to give the go ahead. "Uiharu, I need you to bring up all the camera recordings in this area between the 177th branch office and Takanashi-san's dorm. Then narrow it down to the alleyway where she was found murdered and all the alley entrance and exit points to that alley for around 10:30 last night. We're going to follow Takanashi-san from when she left here to when she was murdered as best we can." says Kuroko.

Uiharu turns to look over at Mii. Mii nods her head. "Go ahead." she says calmly. Uiharu turns back to her computer and begins typing. And again within 30 seconds she's brought up all the camera recordings from the night before between the 177th office and Shima's dorm. Then she quickly narrows down the list to the ones covering all the entrance and exit points to the alley and connecting alleys. "Ok, there are a total of 30 cameras covering the various points between here and the alley, and another 23 covering the entrances and exits. But sadly there are no cameras in the alley she was found in and very few in the others." says Uiharu. "Well at least this time we might get somewhere. Even though it's dark we may be able to spot something." says Mii.

"Do you want me to start from when she left here?" asks Uiharu. "Yes. If she was being followed then the 'stalker' may have started when she first left here." says Kuroko. "OK let's see. She left here at about 10:20 PM last night correct?" asks Uiharu. "That sounds about right." says Mii. Uiharu taps in the time and the video from outside the 177th branch office begins playing. The girls watch for about a minute before Shima enters the frame carrying her school bag over her shoulder. "There she is." says Kuroko. "Uiharu can you program these recordings to play as she leaves one camera's view and enters another?" she asks. "Simple!" says Uiharu. Uiharu's fingers type madly across the keyboard. It only takes a minute for the videos to line up in rows in order.

She hits play once again and the videos start. The girls watch as Shima walks rather quickly from camera frame to camera frame. The videos are dark but they can make her out rather decently due to the city's lights. It takes her about ten minutes before she reaches the entrance of the alley she was found in. She stops for a moment and closes her eyes. "I see. So she was looking for a short cut back to her dorm because it was already past curfew." says Kuroko. "That seems to be the case." says Uiharu. They watch as Shima opens her eyes, shifts her bag on her shoulder and starts walking again rather quickly down the alley before it becomes too dark for the camera to make out. "And that's the last any of the cameras saw her." adds Uiharu.

"I didn't see anyone following her either." says Kuroko. "Besides the occasional person walking on the street no one was following her as far as I could tell either." adds Uiharu. "Uiharu, can you bring up the cellphone GPS tracker to her phone? If I recall it was at this time when Takanashi-san got a call from her roommate." says Kuroko. Uiharu again types on her keyboard and again within a couple dozen seconds brings up Shima's cell phone records and GPS tracking data. "I take it you want me to trace her last steps with the GPS data?" asks Uiharu. "That's right." says Kuroko. Within moments Uiharu brings up a map of the area and matches it up with the GPS data to run a simulation with Shima represented as a blue dot.

Uiharu plays the simulation and they watch as the blue dot quickly makes its way down the alley before it suddenly slows and comes to a stop. "10:33. That matches up with the time her phone records getting a call from her roommate." says Uiharu. After a couple of minutes the blue dot moves again. It turns right down a forked alley and suddenly comes to a stop. Uiharu stops the animation. "And that's where her body was found." she says. "So it stands to reason that's where she ran into her killer." says Kuroko. "I would say so." agrees Uiharu. "Hmm." Kuroko thinks for a second. "Ok. If her killer was in this alley to the right, can you extrapolate which alley entrance he or she had to go though to get to this point?" asks Kuroko. "That may be a problem. We have no idea how long he or she was waiting for Takanashi-san or which entrance they used to get to this point. It could be any number of 23 possible points." says Uiharu.

"That is true, but this is all we have to go on right now. If the perpetrator had also been walking down this alley at the same time we could possibly narrow down the entrance points given the time it would have taken to meet Takanashi-san at this point. Just do it." says Kuroko. "Alright." says Uiharu. She types on her keyboard and within seconds two possible paths get highlighted in red. "Taking into account the average walking speed for a person and distance traveled, these two paths are the only entrance points they could have used to reach her at this point." says Uiharu. "Good. Very good. Now are there any cameras that cover these two entrance points?" asks Kuroko. Uiharu types away again. "Yes. There's one across the street from the one on 13th street, and one that looks down the sidewalk of other on 10th street." Uiharu answers.

"Bring them up and set their time index to 10:15." says Kuroko. With a few taps on her keyboard once again, Uiharu brings up both camera recordings. With a nod from Kuroko, she plays both recordings at the same time. The girls watch for several minutes with no activity from either camera besides an occasional car going by the 13th street camera. Then at 10:24, "THERE!" Kuroko nearly shouts. "On the 10th street camera! Someone's coming!" she points out. The person in question has his back to the camera as he approaches the alley's entrance, but the clothes look VERY familiar. "White T-shirt, blue jeans, and longish dark hair. This could be the same guy from the restaurant witness's description. If only we could see his face." says Kuroko. The person stops in front of the alley and then takes out a slip of paper and looks at it, then to the alley entrance, and then back to the slip of paper again.

"What's with the piece of paper?" asks Kuroko. "I don't know. An address maybe? Directions?" suggests Uiharu. The man then turns to head down the alley. "Come on. Show us your face, show us your FACE….. THERE! STOP!" orders Kuroko. Uiharu taps a key and the video stops. The video has stopped on a side profile of the subject's face. His long bangs also hiding his left eye from view. "That's the best we're going to see it I guess. But a good profile of his face I guess will do too." says Kuroko. She then notices something but can't make it out very well due to the shadows. "I wish we could see his face better. There's something odd that I can't make out." she adds. "Here. Let me adjust the video a little." says Uiharu. She adjusts the hue and saturation along with the brightness and contrast. "There." she says. The person's face is a lot clearer and brighter now. Now Kuroko spots what caught her attention and it sends a chill down her back.

His mouth. The grin on his face is creeping her out. "Wow. The witness was right. His grin is scarily creepy." she comments. She shakes the creepy feeling off. "Ok. So we know he took this alley. Is there any way to know which alley he exited from?" she asks. "No. At this point he could have taken any route out." says Uiharu. "Then I guess we'll have to watch them all." says Kuroko. Uiharu hesitantly nods her head and types on her keyboard. The 23 remaining camera views that cover all the alley exits get put into rows of four. "We'll take them four at a time. Is that ok Shirai-san?" asks Uiharu. "Do it. And start at around 10:35." Kuroko responds. Uiharu programs the time in and plays the first group of camera recordings. It plays and the girls watch it to 11:00, but no sign of the suspect. "This is taking too long. Uiharu for the next five groups double the play speed. Otherwise we'll never get through them all." says Kuroko.

Uiharu nods and programs the speed in. For the next hour and a half the girls watch intently at all the videos. Finally the last group ends. "Nothing!? Nothing at all!? Don't tell me this guy hung around in these alleys until early morning." says Kuroko in disbelief. "It's a possibility. Or maybe he's a Teleporter like you. It could explain how he's able to kill the victims so quickly." Uiharu suggests. "I doubt it." says Kuroko. "How come?" asks Uiharu. "Well for one we've proven he had to walk down the alleys to get to Takanashi-san in the time allotted. And two, even if he did get the drop on them, there would have been signs of some kind of struggle at both crime scenes. There wasn't any." explains Kuroko. "I see." says Uiharu. Kuroko thinks again for a second. "Uiharu, can you estimate how long it would take someone at normal walking speed to get from here to the crime scene in the 15th district?" asks Kuroko.

"Easy." says Uiharu. She types on her computer and a mathematical formula pops up and takes into account walking speed, traffic details during the night and early morning, and the quickest route from all the exit points. Within moments it lists several different results. "The average time comes out to be about two hours and 15 minutes." says Uiharu. "So for him to be at the second crime scene by 7:30am he had to leave by no later than 5:15am. Ok Uiharu, program the cameras from that time and run them backwards. Maybe we can catch him coming out in the early morning." says Kuroko. Uiharu does just that and once again the girls begin watching the videos but in double speed reverse.

Four more hours go by as they watch all the videos back to midnight, but still he doesn't show. "DAMNTI! Where the hell is this guy!?" shouts Kuroko as she slams her fist on the desk. Uiharu nearly jumps out of her chair in surprise. "Calm down Shirai-san. Let's think first. Do you think he changed clothes before leaving?" she suggests. "Not possible. No one person came out of any of the alleys. And the witness at the restaurant saw him wearing the same clothes we saw when he entered the alley." says Kuroko. "Maybe he came out later and ran all the way to the second scene." says Uiharu. "Doubtful. If he ran all the way he would have been too tired to commit any murder. How the hell did this guy get to the second scene without any cameras spotting him?" Kuroko thinks aloud.

A thought instantly pops into her head. "Uiharu! Are there any other ways to leave the alleys!? Like a walking bridge that connects two buildings or some kind of underground tunnel!?" asks Kuroko. "Let's me check." answers Uiharu. She types on the keyboard again and soon up pops a map of the alleys again overlaid with a blueprint of the area. "Let's see….. there's no footbridge that connects two buildings… AH! But there is an emergency evacuation tunnel with an access door connected to a building that runs along one of the alleys!" says Uiharu in shock. The doorway gets circled by a red circle. "That must have been how he got out! Uiharu where does this tunnel lead!?" asks Kuroko. With a few taps on the keyboard the tunnel gets colored in yellow and traces itself to its end.

"It goes for five blocks west and exits onto 20th street just outside District 15!" Uiharu responds. "Are there any cameras that cover that exit?" asks Kuroko. Uiharu types furiously on her keyboard. "YES! It faces right at the exit!" she says with authoritative excitement. "Bring it up! Let's see if we can catch him!" says Kuroko. Within a minute the video pops up and they start the video at 10:50pm. As the girls watch intently it soon reaches 11:30pm. Finally some activity. The door slowly opens. A head pokes out and looks around and finally the person exits quickly. "THERE HE IS!" says Kuroko. Uiharu stops the recording as he faces directly in the direction of the camera. She zooms in and makes the necessary adjustments and a full on frontal shot of his face appears. "WE GOT YOU, YOU BASTARD!" shouts Kuroko.

They've done it! They now have proof that the same person the witness saw at the restaurant was spotted both entering and exiting the alleyways where and around the time when Shima was murdered. "Konori-sempai we need to get this information to Anti-Skill at once!" says Kuroko. Mii, who had been quite all this time, looks noticeably upset though. "Konori-sempai?" says Uiharu. "I knew it… I knew I shouldn't have let Takanashi-san go all by herself. It's all my fault." says Mii looking like she's about to cry. "Konori-sempai. Don't think that way. You had nothing to do with this!" says Kuroko firmly. "But I should have accompanied her! I shouldn't have allowed a student to walk back home all alone like that. I should have at least called a taxi." says Mii. Kuroko gets a little upset. "Konori-sempai STOP IT! Do NOT blame yourself! You are a member of Judgment! You taught me that as a member of Judgment we have a duty to the preservation of peace and justice! We have found the person most likely to have killed Takanashi-san, and for her sake we MUST bring this person to justice! Blaming ourselves will get us NO WHERE! Now snap out of it!" says Kuroko with authority.

Mii sniffs for a second while looking at Kuroko's determined expression. What was she thinking!? Kuroko was right. As a member of Judgment she has a duty… no a need to bring Shima's killer to justice. She HAS to see this through. She wipes off her eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry for that…. Kazari-san! Put together a report including all the video evidence we've discovered about this suspect, and send it on to Anti-skill as soon as you can. They'll need this information ASAP." orders Mii. "YES MA'AM!" Uiharu responds. She quickly begins typing on the keyboard. "Shirai-san…. Thank you. Hopefully with this we can bring Takanashi-san's killer to justice." says Mii. "Think nothing of it. You would've said the same thing to me." says Kuroko. But as Mii goes to sit down and Kuroko turns round to watch Uiharu work on her report, something bothers her in the back of her mind. "Those emergency tunnels, they can only be accessed by Anti-Skill or Judgment personnel. How the hell did he get access to them? Something doesn't feel right." Kuroko thinks to herself.

As Kuroko thinks a phone call comes though on Mii's phone. She answers it. "Hello. 177th Judgment branch." She listens carefully. "Really!? You want us to come down right now? Weren't you going to have us wait for the reports?... Really!? That is odd. Ok sir. We'll head down there right now." says Mii. She hangs up. "What was that all about?" asks Kuroko. "That was the Anti-Skill coroner's office. They want us to come down immediately. They seem to have discovered something very disturbing that might be vital to the case." describes Mii. "Now? It must be really important. It's not every day that ordinary Judgment members like us get called to the coroner's office." says Kuroko. "Kazari-san you stay here and finish the report and send it when you're done. Shirai-san you're with me." says Mii. "Yes Ma'am!" come the duel replies. "I wonder what they could have found." says Kuroko with a little concern.

End of Chapter 1

To be Continued in Chapter 2: Railgun vs Aurora Canon.

Story Note: Two Mysterious murders, one creepy suspect. What's in store for our members of Judgment, especially Kuroko? How did their fellow member die exactly and what powers does this new enemy possess? Read soon to find out.

Another Note: So much for Chapter 1. This chapter went WAY longer than I had expected it to. I hope to get Chapter 2 out soon because I REALLY want to work on this fanfic more than ever. My brain won't let me stop thinking about it. So I hope it'll be good! See you all next Chapter!