A CERTIAN AMERICAN HOWITZER

by BigFics2

Two members of the Judgement American Branch come to Academy City in pursuit of an extremely dangerous and deadly esper convict. One whose power does more than just kill everyone it affects. Judgement member Kuroko Shirai is assigned to assist them. How will she deal with having to help and constantly be around two boys? One of whom rivals her Onee-sama's Railgun abilities.

3. Railgun vs Aurora Canon

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

A CERTAIN AMERICAN HOWITZER

Chapter 2

Railgun vs. Aurora Canon

September 28th, 4:00 PM. At Academy City's International Airport and test airbase in Terminal 3A, Judgment member Kuroko Shirai is standing near the gate looking out the window. She's watching as a large private jet from America taxis to the loading and unloading gate. She has a very irritated look on her face. "Good grief. Why did I get stuck with this job? Why do I have to babysit two Americans?" she says to herself in disgust. She thinks about what happened yesterday that lead to this point.

24 Hours before at the Anti-Skill coroner's office. As Mii and Kuroko enter the office located next to District 7's Heaven Canceller's Hospital, an Anti-Skill guard directs them to the meeting room. They follow his directions to a room that's the fifth door on the left. As they enter they notice about 30 theater chairs in three rows of ten spit in the middle by a few carpeted steps, set up in stadium seating style. They all face two very large windows. On the other side is the Autopsy Room with two bodies on tables, both draped in sheets, with only their feet sticking out. Each one has a name tag on their right big toes. Mii turns away as she sees the name on one of the body's. "Takanashi, Shima." Hanging from the ceiling directly in the middle of both windows is a large viewing monitor. As they enter the room they hear a familiar voice.

"Well hello. Nice to see you two again." says the voice. The two look over to the right and see the Inspector from the murder scenes earlier today standing with the familiar frog eyed doctor, Gaeshi Meido. The Inspector walks up to the two girls. "Ah detective. It is a pleasure to see you again. I take it you were also called here?" asks Mii. "I certainly was. The doctor here said it's quite important. And please it's Takano. Inspector Hiroki Takano. I guess we didn't properly introduce ourselves last time." he responds. "We'll it's pleasure Inspector Takano." says Mii politely. "So how goes your side of the investigation?" asks Inspector Takano. "Better than expected. We watched the videos from both scenes and found that the person the witness saw was in the area of both murders and, in fact, entered the alleys that would have put him at Takanashi-san's murder scene. Our other team member is putting a report together right now and it should be sent to Anti-Skill very soon." says Mii.

"Really!? So soon? That's impressive! We'll be able to send the info to the satellite cities worldwide this afternoon!" says Inspector Takano. "Ahem!" comes a cough from the doctor. "Ah. Sorry Doc." says the Inspector. "Dr. Meido it's nice to see you again." says Mii. "Nice to see you two also. Ah Shirai-san. And how are your wounds coming along?" asks the frog eyed doctor. "They're doing just fine. I'm not feeling anymore pain from my gunshot wound anymore, and there's barely a scar too. I am glad to finally be out of that wheelchair. Thanks for asking." says Kuroko. "Wait? You were shot?" says a stunned Inspector Takano. "Yeah. I got into a fight with another teleporter. She beat me pretty good and even shot me. I nearly lost my left kidney, but the doctor here saved it." answers Kuroko. Inspector Takano lets out an impressed whistle. "Excuse me but we need to get started." says Dr. Meido.

The Inspector and two girls take their seats on the second row as the lights dim. Dr. Meido stands under the viewing monitor with a remote and pushes a button. The monitor turns on and shows the scans of two brains. "Ahem. I called you all here because after I was asked to perform the autopsies on both victims by Anti-Skill because of the mysterious ways they died, and the urgency to find out how, I discovered something disturbing with both victims. After cat-scanning both victims first we quickly discovered something wrong with the victims' brains. I extracted both brains and discovered several heavily bruised areas." describes the doctor. "Bruised? You mean like after taking a blow to the head?" asks Inspector Takano. "No. As there was no external head trauma to either victim, and the bruising is vastly different from a concussion, that can be immediately ruled out." responds Dr. Meido.

"What's remarkable about the bruising is that, despite very minuet differences, they are identical in both victims." says the doctor. "Identical? How?" asks Mii. "I have no idea how, but it's more than likely related to your suspect's power. But that's not the disturbing part. When I took samples of the bruised areas and looked at them under a microscope, I found this." says Dr. Meido as he pushes a button on the remote. The monitor then displays pictures of something the others can't tell of what. "What are we looking at?" asks Kuroko. "These are brains cells, or more precisely what remains of them." answers Dr. Meido. He pushes another button and a picture of a healthy brain cell appears alongside the other ones. "As you can see all the neurons from the victims' brain cells are gone. Cut, teleported, I can't tell." says Dr. Meido.

"My God. What kind of power could do such damage?" asks Inspector Takano. "I do not know. I've never seen nor heard of this kind of ability before. This is beyond my experience. There's one last detail though. The bruised areas of each brain are located in the areas of the brain that deal with memory. Long term, Short term, and even Instinctual areas, all of them were pretty much destroyed." says Dr. Meido. Mii speaks up. "So what you're saying is…" "Basically, the massive damage caused their brains to essentially forget to live. And by the severity of the damage I can tell you it was probably extremely painful. A horrible way to go." says Dr. Meido with a sad expression and tone. This last bit of information upsets Mii though she holds it in. Kuroko on the other hand punches her hand. "I'd do anything to get my hands on that bastard responsible for this." she says in an angered tone as the lights come back up. Dr. Meido turns to Inspector Takano. "All this is in the report I handed you earlier. I also sent on a copy to Anti-Skill HQ." he says.

Thanks Doctor. I appreciate it." says Inspector Takano as his cellphone goes off. He checks the text message on its screen and turns to the girls. "That was Anti-Skill HQ, they just told me that the report your teammate was working on just got delivered and they're going to be sending out APBs to all the satellite cities around the world very soon. Hopefully we'll get a response soon." he says. "Well that's good. Let us know when you get any responses and if there's anything we can do to help." says Mii. "That's right. We feel we HAVE a responsibility to help catch that perpetrator. Takanashi-san was a friend and we want to help." adds Kuroko. Inspector Takano is impressed. "I admire your dedication. I'm sure we'll be able to find something you all can help with." he says. "Thank you for your time doctor. We appreciate all you've done." says Mii as she and Kuroko bow to him. "It's my job. Just be sure you three catch the person doing this. I don't want to see any more young people on these corner's tables." says Dr. Meido. "Right!" says Mii as all three salute and then leave.

6:30 PM. Mii and Kuroko have already been back at the 177th Judgment office for a while, when Mii's desk phone rings. She quickly answers it. "Hello? Oh hello Inspector Takano…. REALLY!? That quickly!?... Hmm?.. Alright." she says. She waves at Kuroko and Uiharu to join her. As they join her Mii pushes a button on the phone and hangs up the receiver. "Ok Inspector, go ahead." she says. "Can you all hear me ok?" he asks over speakerphone. "Yes sir." answers Mii. "Good. I have some good news. We've already gotten a response to our APB from the American Anti-Skill branch. They've identified the suspect as Damien Mitchem. He's a level 4 esper who escaped prison almost four months ago, and they've had a nationwide manhunt for him ever since. He was convicted on several accounts of murder and acts of terrorism. They don't know how he got to Japan, but they warned us that he is extremely dangerous because he can kill by simply touching someone. They have given us permission to shot him on sight if need be." says the Inspector.

"Kill by touch? How?" asks Uiharu. "I don't know, they didn't give me any details." answers Inspector Takano. "Well that's it then. If he's as dangerous as they say he is, then this will strictly be something Anti-Skill has to deal with. Judgment can't get involved in these kinds of cases." says Mii with a downed look. "Not necessarily. As we talked with Anti-Skill America they said they were immediately sending over the two people who caught him last time as experts and active members in the search. And get this. They are two young men from the American Judgment branch." he says. "JUDGMENT!? Two member's of Judgment caught this guy?" asks Kuroko in amazement. "Yes. I was a little shocked too when I heard it. They are both level 4 espers too. Which brings me to the point of why I called you. We've decided to have a member of Judgment be our representative and guide while they are here." says the Inspector. "I wonder who they got to do that job." asks Kuroko to herself.

"Shirai-san was it?" asks Inspector Takano. "Yes?" responds Kuroko. "We've decided that YOU will be that representative." says the Inspector. "WHAT!? ME!?" she says in stunned disbelief. "Yes. We've already cleared it with Judgment HQ." says Inspector Takano. "But why me? I'm sure there are more qualified people!" says Kuroko. "Not really. Both the Judgment members from America are about your age anyway so someone of their age would be better to work with. Also, your records show that you have excellent grades in English and have shown to be very fluent in the language. You're the perfect candidate from the 177th branch for this job. And besides, you impressed me earlier at the coroner's office. You said you had a need to catch this guy for your friend who he killed. Well, here's your and the 177th branch's chance to do so. They'll be arriving at the airport at around 4:00 PM tomorrow afternoon. Please be there to greet them. Good luck." says Inspector Takano as he then hangs up. Kuroko is left standing there in disbelief with an extremely stunned look on her face. She then facepalms and moans.

Back in the present Kuroko has facepalmed in the exact same position. "Me and my big mouth. Why do I have to do this and be around MEN no less?" she says. She looks up as she hears some people coming down the unloading gate. After a few businessmen walk out with, who she can only guess to be their wives or secretaries, two young men enter the terminal. When Kuroko first sees them she thinks the same thing as most Japanese do when they first see Americans. "Americans sure are tall." she thinks to herself. They have to easily be a full head to a head and a half taller than she is. They're obviously with Judgment. Wearing the uniform of the only Junior High School in the satellite city in America, brownish-green kakis with white dress shirts, and the American Judgment armband on their sleeves, they stand out pretty well. The armband isn't all that different from Academy City Judgment's version. But instead of it being green with white stripes, theirs is blue with white stripes. And the shield emblem is faced in the American flag. Kuroko never understood why Americans had to put their flag on everything they made. They use it more like a logo.

Before approaching them she takes a moment to look them over. You can never be too careful around monkey men. One of them has neatly combed brown hair and dark brown eyes. His uniform shirt and pants seem to be neatly done, like trying to make a good first impression. He looks rather average though and he seems to have a calm demeanor about him. However his companion… not so much. He has longish blonde hair done in a shaggy style parted bowl cut making his hair hang halfway down his ears and he has sunglasses on. The top button on his shirt is undone exposing the very top of his chest. He seems to be rather excited and is pointing out various objects that she can't really trace to where. "Well might as well get this over with." she says to herself.

As she approaches the two, they both notice and face her. The blonde one has a rather goofy yet flirty grin. "He's going to be trouble I bet." she says to herself. She clears her throat and begins speaking in rather good English. "Welcome to Academy City gentlemen. My name is Kuroko Shirai and I'll be representing Academy City's Judgment branch while you are here." she says rather well. She thinks the first thing that they're going to say is a compliment about how well she speaks English. But she's in for a shock. "Ah thank you Shirai-san. We appreciate you coming here to greet us." says the brown haired American in perfect Japanese! Kuroko's eyes are wide open in surprise. "Heh. I don't think she was expecting us to be speaking Japanese." says the blonde American, also in Japanese. "Oh sorry about that Shairi-san. But since Academy City is the first esper city, all the other satellite cities are required to teach Japanese as a foreign language." says the brown haired one.

Shaking off her surprise she once again puts on her rather cold serious look. "I see. Well that will make things easier. Might I have your names please since we will be working together?" she asks. "Oh certainly. I'm Justin. Justin McNeil. I'm 13 and it's a pleasure to met and work with you Shirai-san." says the brown haired American as he extends his hand out. She knows he wants her to shake his hand, but she keeps her arms crossed with the same serious expression. His voice though has an interesting accent to it. She recognizes it as being a southern American accent; probably from the Appalachia region. Justin slowly and awkwardly pulls his hand back.

"Wow. Cold reception dude." says the blonde American. Kuroko looks his way with the same cold stare. His accent obviously like that of an American west coast surfer, slang and all. "Well I'm Travis. Travis Clinton. I'm 14, and might I say you are a cute one." he says with that flirty grin and his fingers to his chin. "Yep. Trouble." says Kuroko to herself. She glances at Justin and he has that "Not again!" kind of expression. Travis however leans in a little closer. "Say Miss Shirai. What do you say you and I have dinner later this evening? I'm sure you know the best restaurants around here for dating." he says as he pulls down his sunglasses revealing, not blue eyes as Kuroko expected, but bright emerald colored eyes.

Kuroko's anger vain appears and she's in the right mind to flip him over with her teleportation powers and have him land on his head. She HATES being hit on by a man. She's about to do that when Justin grabs Travis' shoulder and pulls him back. "Ok. That's enough Casanova. Hitting on the local girls is not why we're here you know. We have more important matters to attend to now." says Justin calmly but firmly. "Oh lighten up Justin! You know I've always wanted to date a cute Japanese schoolgirl. I thought I would start now." says Travis in protest. But before Justin can stop him, Travis once again leans in towards Kuroko. "So Miss Shirai, what do you say?" he asks again. Kuroko holds up one of her signature spikes in front of his face. Travis looks right at it when it disappears. "Oh that was a neat little trick! Is that your esper power? Making things disappear?" he asks with a curious flirtatious smile.

Kuroko then points down. Travis looks down and, there though the crotch of his pants, is the spike, having barely missed some… vital areas. "HOLY SHIT!" he screams as he jumps back. "You're a freaking teleporter!? What the hell!? You almost hit something important!" he shouts in shock. "Before you say anything else, even I know the importance of continuing the species though procreation, but I'm only going to warn you ONCE. If you EVER hit on me again, the next one will skewer all three parts that make up your reproductive system. GOT IT!?" says Kuroko in a serious an angered tone. Travis takes a step back. "Man you are one crazy chick!" he says out loud. "I tried to warn you man." says Justin. Justin then turns to Kuroko. "I apologize for my friend Shirai-san. Please excuse him. If you could please take us to your branch office we can get started with our investigation and search." he says politely.

Kuroko lets out a sigh. "At least one of these monkeys seems to have a set of manners." she thinks to herself. "Fine. Come with me." she says. They all get into a taxi outside the airport and take a 30 minute ride to the 177th Judgment branch office. They make their way up the steps and Kuroko opens the door. "I'm back." she calls out. "Welcome back Shirai-san." says Mii. Mii sees to two boys enter the office. "Is this them?" she asks. "Yes." says Kuroko still with annoyed look. "Oi Kuroko, I've been waiting for you." comes a familiar voice from the small seating area. From around the corner a short brown haired girl comes into view. "ONEE-SAMA!" says Kuroko with relief as she sees Misaka Mikoto. *SHAWOOSH!* She immediately teleports over to Mikoto and wraps her arms around her waist. "Oh! Onee-sama! It's been terrible! I've had to put up with these two monkeys ever since the airport! The blonde one even tried to hit on me!" complains Kuroko.

"Oi! Get off me! That's partially why I'm here!" says Mikoto as she tries pushing Kuroko off of her. "Well that explains a lot." says Travis in English still with his big goofy smile as her realizes why Kuroko seems to hate men. "Monkeys?" says Justin to himself. "What do you mean?" asks Kuroko back to Mikoto. "I mean Ryoukan is VERY upset with you right now. After all you left a note for her telling her you were going to go pick up a couple of boys and may be back late. Especially right after school." says Mikoto. "I specifically wrote on the note that it was an assignment from Judgment that I was taking them to our branch office to help on a case." says Kuroko. "Well you know how she is. Always jumping to radical conclusions." says Mikoto. Kuroko lets out another sigh. "So it's only you three at this branch?" asks Justin. Mii and Mikoto are also a little shocked to hear one of them speaking perfect Japanese. But Mii responds anyway. "Um no. She isn't part of Judgment. She's Shirai-san's friend. We do have a third member, but she had to stay behind at her school today to make up a test she missed last week when she was sick. Her name is Uiharu Kazari. She should be back tomorrow." she explains.

"Is this them?" asks Mikoto. Kuroko nods her head. "Hmm. Hello then. I'm Misaka Mikoto. Nice to meet you. So you're American espers huh?" says Mikoto. "Misaka Mikoto? Now where have I heard that name before? I know I've seen her face somewhere too." says Justin to himself. "And I'm Mii Konori. I'm the Chief here." says Mii. "It's a pleasure to meet you both." says Justin. Travis approaches Mikoto. Then he does something unexpected… or expected, however you want to see it. He grabs Mikoto's left hand and kisses the back of it. Kuroko's hair goes all frizzy in shock. "Hello there Miss Mikoto. I'm Travis Clinton. And might I say you are a beautiful woman. Would you like to go out on a date tonight?" asks Travis. Mikoto's anger vein appears this time. Justin sees trouble coming. "Um Travis you might want to-" *SHAWOOSH!* *WHAM!* *CRASH!* "DON'T FLIRT WITH MY ONEE-SAMA!" screams Kuroko as she teleports and dropkicks Travis in the side of the head causing him to go flying over to Kuroko's desk, crash headlong into her office chair, and hit the ground hard.

Justin facepalms at his friend's "mistake" while Kuroko breaths heavily in anger. As Travis slowly gets up, while moaning and holding his head which has a large bright-red whelping knot on the side of it, Justin FINALLY remembers the name Misaka Mikoto. "Damn Miss Shirai, you hit hard. But there was no need to do that." says Travis. "Well consider yourself lucky Travis." says Justin. "And HOW is THIS lucky!?" he blurts out as he points to the knot. "That girl you were just flirting with is Misaka Mikoto." says Justin. "Yeah? And?" asks Travis. *Sigh* "She just happens to be third strongest of the seven level 5s in the city and the strongest Electomaster in the world. A.K.A. 'The Railgun.' You're lucky you only got a kick to head instead of being fried to a crisp." says Justin. Travis's mouth opens in shock as he faces Mikoto again. She holds up a finger and a few small electric sparks zap out from it. "Uh… right… I'll remember that next time." Travis says in a goofy tone while nursing his sore head. "All right then. I think that's enough violence in here Shirai-san. Ok. Don't you think you two should formally introduce yourselves now?" says Mii.

"Ah. Right." says Justin as Travis slowly makes it way over to him. "I'm Justin McNeil. I'm a level 4 esper from the American Judgment branch. You can just call me Justin since it's easy to pronounce. I can control magnetic fields in most metals. I'm looking forward to working with everyone here, and I hope we all get along." finishes Justin. "Well you already know my name now. I'm Travis and I'm also a Level 4 esper. My ability is called 'Silicon Slip.' I can control anything with the element silicon in them." says Travis. He holds out his hand to the sink and a drinking glass hops off the counter next to it and flies over to his hand where it begins to 'orbit.' "I hope we work well together as well." he says with a two fingered salute. Travis makes the glass set back down on the counter. However the words "can control magnetic fields" gets Mikoto's attention. "Justin-san, you said you could control magnetic fields?" asks Mikoto. "Yes. In most metals. I can lift and throw heavy metal objects. Pull metal towards or away from me or even crush them too." explains Justin.

"Hmm. Interesting. Do you have any signature moves?" asks Mikoto. "Well I uh… actually I do, b-" "Are you kidding!? This guy's gotta move similar to your railgun, Miss Railgun. In fact it may be even stronger! Isn't that right Justin?" asks Travis interrupting Justin. "Uh, yeah but-" "Very interesting." says Mikoto with a smirk on her face. "You're damn right! And you should see this guy when he has to fight. He becomes downright scary!" says Travis as he arm-necks Justin. "Come on Travis. Enough. I don't think they want to hear my life's story." says Justin. But before he can pull away from Travis' arm-necking, Mikoto smirks. "Ok then Justin-san!" she says as she points to him. "I challenge you to a duel!" she says out loud. Both Justin and Travis look at Mikoto in stunned confusion. "Huh?" they both say in unison. "You said that you can control magnetic fields in metals. Well I want to test your skills against mine in a duel!" says Mikoto with authority.

Before Justin can even react to her challenge, Kuroko speaks up. "ONEE-SAMA! Are you SERIOUSLY challenging someone to fight you, right in the middle of a Judgment branch office, and right in front of Judgment members!? You know fighting is illegal! And even if you did fight what would happen to that beautiful smooth clean skin of yours!?" shouts Kuroko. "Eh…" Mikoto mumbles. "How many times do I have to tell you Onee-sama, that you're going to get into a lot of trouble with the law if you keep challenging people to fight you!?" Kuroko gets closer and points at her. "I only wanted to test my powers against his!" Mikoto tries to counter. "That's not the point here! I can't count how many times you've challenged someone to fight you just so you could, 'test your powers!' You're going to end up in really big trouble if you keep doing so!" says Kuroko back. "Who are you to dictate who I can and can't challenge!?" says Mikoto. "I can because I'm a member of Judgment!" fires back Kuroko.

Justin can see this little argument could quickly get out of control and thus speaks up. "Ok then Misaka-san! I accept your challenge!" he answers. This shuts both girls right up and it's Kuroko who has a face of shock this time. "Eh!?" she mumbles with a "what the hell did he just say?" look on her face. "But Shirai-san is right. Fighting is illegal. However if all you want is to test my abilities, I'm sure you have testing facilities here in Academy City where we can COMPARE our abilities against one another without having to fight." says Justin. Mikoto looks at him for a moment then stands up strait, puts her hands in her hips, and smiles confidently. "Alright then, that sounds good. You're on! And I know just the place!" she says as she gives a wink.

30 minutes later Kuroko, Mikoto, Justin, and Travis are all standing in front of the front gate to Tokiwadai all girls' middle school. Evening is quickly coming and the school is bathed in an orangey glow. Travis lets out an impressed whistle. "So this is the most prestigious school in all of Academy city? And it's an all girls' school to boot. Heh. Maybe I can find a nice rich Japanese girl here to be my girlfriend." he brags. Kuroko grimaces hard at that statement. "Will you please not try and flirt with any girls you see here? You were incredibly lucky that you got permission to even enter the Secret Garden area of Academy City. It's even rarer to have boys be allowed on the premises of the school. Please try not to spoil your once in a lifetime opportunity to even be here and embarrasses us." Kuroko demands. Travis glances over at her and can see she's dead serious. "Okay. Okay. I'll keep it under wraps Miss Shirai." says Travis with a shrug.

As the group enters the school grounds Justin speaks up. "So Misaka-san, where are we going?" he asks. "The pool." she responds. "Why there?" asks Justin in a bit of surprise. "Well despite having some of the best testing facilities in Academy City, even Tokiwadai finds it difficult to test level 5 espers. The only place on the school grounds where I can go to test my railgun is the pool where there's enough water to absorb the impact." she explains. "I see. Makes sense. I just hope there's enough to absorb my ability." responds Justin. Mikoto looks at him with a little disbelief. As they head to the pool an announcement comes over the intercom. DON DON DON DOON! "Attention all students in and around the sport facilities. Misaka-san will be testing her railgun abilities in just a few moments at the pool. Please be prepared for loud shockwaves and a strong concussion force in the area. And please take the necessary precautions to lock down all lose items and equipment in the area. Thank you." finishes the announcement.

"I guess you have to warn the school when you're going to be practicing huh?" says Travis. "Yeah. I don't want to scare the jeepers out of everyone in the school when I do. Unfortunately warning everyone has a side-effect." says Mikoto. It takes them a couple more minutes to reach and pool, then everyone sees why there's a side-effect. There behind the fence is a group of about 25 girls all waiting to see Tokiwadai's ace fire off her signature move. At first they cheer when they see her, but quickly quite down when they see the two boys with her and Kuroko. Whispers begin to spread around the group. "Why are those boys here?" "Who are they?" "Why are they with Misaka-san and Shirai-san?" go back and forth through the group. The group of four enter the pool area.

"This is where we'll be testing our moves against each other." says Mikoto as she points to the pool. Justin gives a small grimace. "Hmm this may not be enough water for my ability." he says calmly. "This is an Olympic size swimming pool! It easily catches Onee-sama's railgun tests and she has the strongest attack out of anyone here! It's more than enough!" berates Kuroko. "Yeah! Don't under estimate our ace!" "She's amazing! How dare you think yourself better than her!" "I've seen her tests! If you think you can beat her you're sadly mistaken!" come shouts of disagreement from the crowd of girls. Justin relents. "Okay. Okay. Fine! I didn't mean any insult. We'll have the tests here. Ladies first." he responds as he motions to the pool to Mikoto in a gentlemanly way. Mikoto smirks. "Thank you!" she says.

She and Kuroko walk over to the edge of the pool while the boys stay under the covered stands to the right of the pool. Kuroko carries an umbrella alongside Mikoto. "You can do it Misaka-san!" "Show him who's boss!" "Make him pay for thinking he is better than you!" come calls from the crowd. Mikoto smirks again as she pulls out one of her tokens. She takes a breath and then closes her eyes to concentrate for a moment. She opens them and flips the token high into the air. Everything seems to slow down as electrical sparks pulse out of her body, mainly from her extended right arm. A noticeable hum goes through the air as she rapidly powers up. The token begins to fall back down. The hum rapidly indentifies as more and stronger pulses of electricity flow into her arm. Finally the token reaches her hand again and she thumps it hard.

*KASHAWWWWW-KASPLOOOUUUURSH!* A bright orange beam seems to shoot from Mikoto's hand and a split second later impacts the water with a mightily blast sending a massive geyser rising about 30 meters into the air. Supersonic shockwaves pulse out from the beam and a large gust of wind fills the entire area causing all the girls behind the fence to hold down their skirts and hair. The ground also shakes from the impact. The shaking and shockwaves quickly pass and Kuroko opens up the umbrella and holds it over herself and Mitoko. A second later and mini rain storm falls from the sky and ends a few seconds later. A collective cheer comes from the group of girls behind the fence. Justin and Travis both look on with impressed expressions. "Quite impressive. I can see why she's the Number three Level 5." says Travis.

*BUZZZZZ* "Initial muzzle velocity 1032 meters per second. Charge time 1.2 seconds. Test level, Level 5." comes a computerized voice announcing the results. "Slightly over 3,700 KPH. A little over Mach 3. Not bad." says Travis. "Indeed. The downside is now there's less water in the pool to absorb the impact of my ability." says Justin. "Don't worry. If any pieces of concrete and dirt fly out, I'll make sure it stays contained in the pool." says Travis. Mikoto takes a deep breath of confidence and turns to the boys. "How about that!? Think you can really best that?" she shouts proudly as she places her hands on her hips. "You tell them Misaka-san!" "Yeah!" comes more shouts. "We'll see." says Justin back. As Justin and Travis head down as Mikoto and Kuroko head up to the stands, Mikoto pulls out one of her tokens. "Need some ammo?" she asks confidently. "No thanks. I brought my own." Justin responds. Kuroko hands over the umbrella to Travis with a sour look on her face. "This guy just keeps insulting my Onee-sama! If it wasn't for the fact that I have to work with him to find this Damian, I would have stuck a spike though his lips already." she says as she grinds her teeth a little.

Justin and Travis take their positions where Mikoto and Kuroko had been. It's now that the girls behind the fence realize these are no ordinary foreigners. Foreigners are nothing new to Academy City; in fact it's commonplace. Many of the girls of Tokiwadai are foreigners themselves. But it's now that they notice they're from the American Judgment Branch by their armbands. Seeing members of foreign branches of law enforcement in Academy City IS rare. Then more whispers begin to float around in the crowd of girls. "What are members of the American Judgment Branch doing here?" "Do they know Shirai-san?" "Is one of them her boyfriend?" "No that's not possible, she likes Misaka-san remember?" "Maybe one is Misaka-san's boyfriend." "Fool! Don't go saying that! She's too good for them!" comes some whispers from the crowd. Justin just ignores it while Travis can't help but give a big goofy grin.

Justin then turns around and speaks to the girls. "You girls may want to get some distance from me. This is going to be big and I wouldn't want anyone to get hurt or soaking wet." he says. Many of the girls then begin to laugh. "Who is this guy?" "Who does he think he is thinking we'd get hurt from a weaker attack!?" "I think we'll be just fine thank you!" come shouts back. Justin shrugs. "Alight then. I did warn you. Whatever happens is your fault." he says. All he gets is more laughs in return. He then turns back, reaches into his pocket, and pulls out a clear plastic baggie of some kind that's tied at the top. He reaches in and pulls out what looks like a shinny marble about ½ inch in diameter. "What is that?" asks Kuroko. "Whoa… This guy uses some serious ammo. That's a chromium-steal ball bearing. Heh, this may be more interesting than I thought." says Mikoto with a smirk.

"Now let me clarify something first Shirai-san. This school does have insurance in case some of its property is damaged during esper testing correct!?" asks Justin with a small smile. "Of course it does! But I can't see how that would apply to you!" she shouts back in irritation at such a question. "Good grief he sure sounds confidant that he can beat you, doesn't he?" says Kuroko to Mikoto. Mikoto just shrugs. Justin holds out his hand and the ball bearing begins to the float above his palm. He then balls his fist and extends his index finger, to which the ball bearing then floats over to the tip. He takes a breath of concentration and begins to focus. The ball bearing begins to spin parallel to his finger, though at a distance you couldn't tell because of its mirror finish. "Tsk!" Mikoto feels a sharp pain in her head as a few small electric bolts buzz through her hair. Justin notices and immediately grabs the ball bearing out of the air. The sparks coming from Mikoto's head immediately stop.

"Oh! Sorry Misaka-san. I forgot to mention that when I alter the magnetic fields in metals, it tends to disrupt the electrical flow that nearby Electromasters produce from their bodies. I recommend that you concentrate all your electrical energy to your feet and ground yourself. I've found out that's what helps Electromasters the most." explains Justin. "Alright." she says calmly. In a couple of seconds some small sparks appear around Mikoto's feet as she grounds herself to the metal reinforcement in the concrete of the viewing stands. Justin once again has the ball bearing float in front of his finger and it begins to spin again. This time Mitoko doesn't feel a thing…. except surprise. Unlike most other Electromasters she can actually see magnetic fields. And what she's seeing is amazing. "Whoa…" she mumbles. "What is it onee-sama?" asks Kuroko. "He wasn't kidding when he said he can manipulate magnetic fields in metal objects. He's actually tightly focusing the magnetic field of the ball bearing into one spot just in front of his finger and then twisting them. Not even I can do that!" says Mikoto in astonishment.

Kuroko looks back at Justin with an equal amount of astonishment. "Now the magnetic field is spiraling around his arm!" says Mikoto with her eyes wide open. After a few more seconds, everyone else is in for another surprise. Around Justin's wrist and elbow, two cone shaped colorful displays begin to slowly spin in brilliant colors of red, green, and blue. "Auroras!?" shouts Kuroko in surprise. Everyone in the crowd behind the fence is now silent with amazement as they look on. The Auroras begin to spin faster and faster and extend further up his arm eventually merging into one long cone shaped light display extending about six inches above his skin. While all the girls are mesmerized by the light display, Mikoto herself is even more astonished because she can see the magnetic fields spinning in ways and speeds she never knew was possible.

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, Justin lets the ball bearing fly. *SHAW-KABLAOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUSSHHHH!* There's a flash of bright white light followed almost instantaneously by an almighty blast on a much greater scale than the one from Mikoto's railgun. The ground shakes violently from the impact and Kuroko nearly gets knocked off her feet. Many of the girls behind the fence though do get knocked off their feet. There are screams and yells of absolute fright coming from the crowd but are drowned out by the hypersonic shockwaves. After several long seconds the shaking and shockwaves dissipate and Travis quickly puts up the umbrella. As the girls behind the fence try to gather themselves, they're suddenly inundated by what can only be called as a cross between a monsoon and a Tsunami of water. More yells and yelps quickly follow. After a few more seconds the falling water stops to reveal that everything within a 30 meter radius of the pool not under a roof has been completely drenched, including all the girls behind the fence.

Justin and Travis, still relatively dry thanks to the umbrella, turn around to see if they can help anyone. Justin quickly spins back around when they both notice many of the girls' clothing have now become see through. Travis, however, doesn't spin back around. "My. My. What a wonderful sight this is." he gloats. The girls, realizing their clothes' now see-through condition, scream, cover themselves, and quickly begin running away in the direction of their dorms. "Ah. What a shame. It was a nice view." says Travis. *Shawoosh* *KERPUNCH!* Travis gets knocked onto his butt then Kuroko comes teleporting in and punches him in the side of the head. "PERVERTED DUMBASS!" she calls out. Travis thrusts his fist in the air from the ground. "WORTH IT!" he calls back. *Clap Clap Clap* Justin looks over to see Mikoto coming down from the stands doing a modest clap.

"That was quiet impressive Justin-san. I underestimated you. I admit that was far more than anyone expected." she says as she reaches the others. *BUZZZZZZ* "Initial muzzle velocity, 3403 meters per second. Charge time, 25.7 seconds. Rank Level, Level 4." comes the computerized voice. "MACH 10!? You fired that off at mach 10!? How is it you're not a level 5 esper with that!?" shouts Kuroko in flabbergasted shock. "Simple." says Mikoto. "It's his charge time." she adds. "Indeed. I'm sad to say my charge time is way too long. I've been stuck at level 4 because of it. I've tried so hard to improve my charging time, but I can't get it below 25 seconds. Even though Misaka-san's railgun is slower and less powerful than my Aurora Canon, she can fire hers off at eight shots a minute, compared to my messily two shots at most." explains Justin. "Aurora canon?" asks Mikoto. "Yeah, it's what people call it because of the Aurora Borealis that forms around my arm as I'm preparing to fire." explains Justin.

"Speaking of which what caused those to form?" asks Kuroko. "Well, I'll have to explain how my Aurora Canon works first." says Justin. "You know what sunspots are right?" he asks. "Yeah. They're areas on the sun of intense twisted magnetism." says Mikoto. "Exactly. And as you must know when these twisted magnetic fields snap, it causes a massive amount of energy to be released in the form of a solar flare or even a coronal mass ejection." says Justin. The two girls nod their heads.

"My Aurora Canon works much in the same way. I'm able to concentrate the magnetic field of a piece of metal into one point the size of about five microns. I make it spin to twist the fields together. As the magnetic fields get twisted faster and faster it super-charges the electrons in the air atoms and causes them to flow away from the ball bearing and up my arm. But since no one's arm is one smooth form they tend to get disrupted and give off energy when they go over my wrist and elbow. This disruption causes them to release that energy in the form of a photon which causes the auroras. As the twisting gets stronger and the magnetic pressure builds higher, the flow of electrons gets faster and thus the auroras get bigger until they cover my entire arm. When they meet I know I have enough magnetic energy built up to fire the ball bearing." finishes explaining Justin.

"That is really impressive! I might have to try something like that one day." says Mikoko. Travis finally gets up off the ground. "Maybe, but as you can see the energy released is phenomenal. And the resulting damage is not exactly easy to clean up." he says as he points. The group finally turns to face the pool to see the impact of the Aurora Canon. The pool's storage building is the first thing they notice. All of its windows have been completely blown out and its door has been caved in pretty badly too. Some of the fencing has been bent and even some windows on the nearby Gymnasium have been blown out as well. But it's obvious to everyone that the pool took the brunt of the damage. Almost all the water has been blasted or vaporized out of the pool. All around its parameter are large cracks. And not just cracks in the paint, but long, deep cracks in the foundation and walls. But the biggest damage is a meter wide crater on the bottom edge on the opposite side of the pool with spider web like cracks spreading out from it. It still has steam, and dust wafting out of it with what's left of the water in the pool draining out through it. "I knew there wasn't enough water." says Justin.

"Ha Chaaa. Mrs. Unabara isn't going to like this." says Mikoto as she places her hand on her head. "I think you over did it dude." says Travis with mild concern. "Well what was I supposed to do? Throw the match? I don't think Misaka-san would have liked me doing that." says Justin. "Damn strait." retorts Mikoto. "Besides, they told me this school has insurance in case of property damage." adds Justin. "Just because we have the insurance doesn't mean we like to use it!" banters Kuroko. There's a momentary silence before the group giggles at the good point Kuroko just made. "By the way…" says Travis. "Who won the match?" he says. "Well that's easy. Onee-sama got level 5 on her results, but monkey number 1 only got level 4, so Onee-sama is the winner." states Kuroko. "I don't know. When it comes to sheer destructive power, Justin has me beat." says Mikoto. "Maybe, but you're able to rapid fire your railgun, which would put me at a distinct disadvantage if we actually did fight." says Justin. "Draw?" says Travis. Mikoto and Justin look at each other and grin. "Draw." they both say in unison.

Travis then checks his watch. "Whoa. Look at the time. We need to head back to our hote-" as he looks to his right he notices something and he stops mid-sentence. "Hey… Do you guys notice that column of smoke rising over the cityscape?" he asks as he points into the air. They all look and sure enough a large blackish-brown column of smoke is rising from somewhere in the city. "I wonder what's going on." says Kuroko to herself. Suddenly her phone goes off. She answers it on the second ring. "Hello?... Yes Konori-sempai?... WHAT!?" nearly shouts Kuroko. "Right!... Right!... We'll be there as soon as we can. We'll meet you there." She quickly hangs up and turns to Travis and Justin. "There's been a terrorist attack in the city. All law enforcement has been called in. That includes you two. Come on!" she orders. "I'm sorry Onee-sama! I wish I could stay with you longer, but this is an emergency!" she lovingly laments. "Yeah. It's fine. Just go." says Mikoto with a sweat drop. "Well it was a nice match Misaka-san. And it was nice to meet you too." says Justin. "You too. I'm going to want a rematch one day." she answers. "Right. Hopefully next time I can match you better." says Justin. "HEY! Monkey number 1! Hurry it up!" demands Kuroko coming back to the gate. "Right!" he calls back. The three exit the pool area and begin running to the school gate.

End of Chapter 2

To be continued in Chapter 3: Target One Destroyed.

Story Note: Help has come from America to help track down this Damian Mitchem. What powers does he posses, and how will this help be able to stop him? One of them has incredible destructive power to rival and even surpass Mikoko's railgun. What's in for our threesome of Judgment members and what's happened at this "terrorist" attack? Look for the next chapter soon to find out!

Author Note: Ok I'm not going to make any excuses here. I've been very distracted by life and have had little urge to actually write more fanfics. HOWEVER do not take this as a sign that I'm quitting fanfiction, I'm not. But with less urging to write there will be fewer chapters released from me in the future. Maybe a max of 3 chapters a year. As such I have discontinued several of my stories and have put others on hold as I write this one. Please deal with my less productivity for a good while. And don't expect the next chapter in the next couple of week, but please look forward to it.. See you next Chapter!