Disclaimer: I do not own Railgun or Index. They are the property of JC Staff. This is just a fanfiction.
A CERTAIN AMERICAN HOWETSER
Chapter 3
Target One Destroyed
September 28th, 6:15 pm. It's taken Kuroko, Justin, and Travis almost 45 minutes to reach the area of the terrorist attack by Taxi. And even then all the chaos has caused the streets for blocks around to come to a grinding halt. Off just a few blocks away they can see the smoke raising over the city in the waning light of dusk. A few Anti-skill officers are trying desperately to direct traffic, but things are so chaotic the traffic is barely moving in any direction. "I don't think we're going to get there by car." says Travis. Kuroko and Justin glace at each other and come to the same conclusion without saying a word. "Looks like we'll have to go the rest of the way in by foot." adds Justin.
The three get out of the taxi, pay the driver, and begin running to the scene on foot. "What do you think happened?" asks Travis as they continue running. "I don't know, but it looks like a building may be on fire near to the windowless building. Maybe a bomb went off and has set a few floors on fire." suggests Kuroko. "Damnit. If I didn't have to drag these two monkeys along I'd be there by now." says Kuroko to herself as she wishes she could just teleport there. Thankfully she is still in shape to run the rest of the way. It takes the three another 15 minutes and six congested blocks to reach the scene. As they get closer they notice that all power in the area seems to have been cut, as there are no lights on in the nearby buildings or the traffic lights. All they can see are the flashing lights of emergency vehicles and ground search lights coming on ahead.
They finally reach the scene, but what they find when they arrive makes them wish that it was just a building on fire. Instead there's no building there to be on fire. All they find is a large pile of rubble sunken mostly into a giant hole with a massive amount of smoke billowing out from it. Anti-Skill, Fire departments, Paramedics, Judgment, and other emergency responders from all around the city seem to have descended upon this scene of massive devastation and are in the beginning stages of a massive rescue operation. "My God! What the hell happened here?" says Justin in amazement. Kuroko thinks the same thing. "Oi! Shirai-san! Justin-san! Travis-san!" comes a call from ahead of them. They look up and see Mii waving at them to come over.
With her they can see Inspector Takano along with Lieutenant Yomikawa and Sergeant Tsuzuri alongside her. They quickly run up to them. "Ah! So I take it these are the two American Judgment members?" asks Inspector Takano. "They are." answers Kuroko. "Hello. I'm Travis Clinton." "And I'm Justin McNeil." say the two boys as they introduce themselves. "It's nice to meet you two. I'm Inspector Hiroki Takano. I wish our first meeting were under better circumstances though. This is Lt. Aiho Yomikawa and Sergeant Tessou Tsuzuri." says Takano. The two women give a short bow. "Sorry we can't properly introduce ourselves, but as you can see it's pretty chaotic right now." says Lt. Yomikawa.
"What the hell happened here?" asks Kuroko. "We're still assessing the situation Shirai-san, but right now our top priority is trying to get a rescue operation going. We've confirmed that there were people were still inside." explains Lt. Yomikawa. "Which building was this and how many people were inside?" asks Kuroko quickly. "It's the headquarters of F.I.X.E.D. corp. and according to their last security system log that was sent to Anti-Skill before the building suddenly collapsed, it said there was 286 people still inside." describes Lt. Yomikawa. "That was F.I.X.E.D. corp!? Their building was 28 stories!" says Kuroko in shock. "It is. It's a miracle this suspected attack took place when it did. There's usually over 3,000 people inside at any given part of the work day." explains Sgt. Tsuzuri.
"What is Fixed?" asks Justin. Kuroko turns to him. "You know, the Fujitsu International eXperimentation for Esper Development Corporation. They are the largest company in Academy City dedicated to the research and development of Esper abilities! They have company buildings in all the other satellite cities. Don't you have one in America?" asks Kuroko with some shock. "Oh, them! We just call them Fujitsu corp." says Justin. "Oh that's right. They call themselves Fujitsu corp. overseas don't they." says Mii. "So does anyone know exactly how the building fell?" asks Justin next. "No not yet. We're only in the beginning stages of rescue operations since that takes priority. We do know that there were people in the top floors so we're going to try and start with them first. After that we can begin the investigation." says Inspector Takano. Travis speaks up. "Sir. Then let me and Justin help. I'm sure our powers can be of help." he says.
"No. The rubble and ground are still unstable right now. We have to shore up the area around it before we can implement any heavy machinery to start lifting rubble. Besides you two don't have any training in disasters like this." answers Inspector Takano. "Sir. I can manipulate magnetic fields in metals and Travis here can control the element silicon. There's plenty of steel reinforcement and concrete in that rubble for us to move heavy pieces out of the way while you try and get the machinery ready. Combining our powers we can continuously lift just over 9,000 Kilos (10 tons). And if anything should become unstable we can keep it stable. Also we HAVE been trained for this kind of situation. After 9/11 all law enforcement, emergency responders, firefighters, and the like are trained for search and rescue in collapsed building situations. That includes us Judgment members. And also doesn't every minute count in this kind of situation?" explains Justin. Inspector Takano grunts with a small grimace on his face.
"He's right sir. Every minute does count and their powers would be a tremendous help. The more time we spend here discussing it the less time survivors in the rubble have." explains Mii. Inspector Takano sighs in defeat. "Okay fine. You're right. BUT you're not going in there without proper protection first and there needs to be some emergency personnel with you to help pull out victims." explains Takano. "Yes we will need protective gear, but there's no need to risk more people. Shirai-san you should come with us." says Justin. "What!? Why me!?" she nearly shouts in surprise. "Your teleportation power would be more useful than rescue personnel trying to pull someone out. Any victims we find or people trapped under some rubble that's too heavy to lift, you can get them out much faster. Plus you'll be able to move some of the smaller rubble out of the way faster." explains Justin. Kuroko hesitates for a second because she'd have to work with boys, but quickly relents. "Given the circumstances I can't argue with you. People's lives come first." she says.
After quickly dawning some fire retardant clothes and some breathing masks, the three quickly head over to the rubble pile mostly sunken into a giant hole. They take a quick glace around to see what their best approach should be. Some fire fighters are already near the end spraying down the pile. But smoke and dust still billow out of the pile and it's everywhere, hampering their visibility. However they can make out that the hole itself looks to be a jagged square that runs around what use to be the building's parameter. There are several large cracks on the edge of the collapse, but nothing looks like it'll collapse further. They can also make out that all the power cables that run underground have been severed. "Well no wonder the power is out in the area." mentions Travis. Justin however notices something else.
"What is it Monkey number one?" asks Kuroko as she takes notice. "I'm not sure. Does the pattern of the debris seem strange to you?" he asks. Kuroko and Travis look but can only see a massive mess of concrete, twisted metal, and pulverized glass. "Not really. Why? Is there something wrong?" asks Travis. "I can't tell. But something just looks off to me. It doesn't quite look like something a bomb would make. It's probably nothing. Come on we need to get in there." says Justin. The three find a good stable spot and Kuroko teleports them onto the top of the pile. After taking a minute to discuss how they're going to go about removing rubble without compromising the pile's integrity, and where to place the rubble, they begin the long and argues task of digging for survivors.
Thankfully F.I.X.E.D. had its own parking lot behind its headquarters building, making for a perfect place to set the rubble they remove. Using their esper powers, Justin and Travis begin lifting and moving the larger pieces of the rubble pile while Kuroko teleports the smaller pieces. It's slow going, but still faster than waiting of heavy machinery to do the job. However after an hour of slow digging they realize that Justin was right, something was wrong about the pile of rubble after finding no victims yet. "I'm beginning to think you're right Justin." says Travis. "What's with this!? We should have found signs of the top floor by now!" complains Kuroko. "I knew it." says Justin. "What's 'IT!?'" argues Kuroko. "Look around you Shirai-san. All we're finding and moving are reinforced wall pieces and stairwells. This isn't the top of the building as we thought, but are its walls. The main structure of the building fell first and THEN the walls fell in on top of it. No bomb did this! At least not one." explains Justin. "What does that mean?" asks Kuroko. "I'm not 100 percent sure yet, but I do have a theory. But I'll need evidence to prove it. However we should still concentrate on finding victims first." explains Justin.
It takes another four long hours of slow rubble removal before they finally find signs of the roof. They manage to find the crushed remains of the AC and heating units, ventilation shaft hoods, and the roof gravel. By now the rescue operation is fully underway and the heavy machinery has finally come in to help. There are more rescue workers on the pile working hard to find survivors also. After almost another hour of slow work the rescuers finally reach the remains of the first floor. "This is the floor where the President of the company and the other executives worked. They were supposed to be having a board meeting this afternoon according to some of the workers who escaped. They were on the east side of the building, so if you're going to find any survivors, that would be the place to look." explains Inspector Takano over the radio. With the combination of Justin and Travis' powers with the heavy machinery they manage to uncover what's left of the Executive board room, and it's not a pretty sight.
There is blood and smashed body parts all over the place. As hard-nosed as Kuroko is, she can't stand the sight of it and turns away. "Looks like no one on the Executive board survived." says Travis coldly. Justin turns to Kuroko. "Shirai-san I know you may not like it, but we need you to teleport these bodies up to the waiting recovery personnel. We need to keep searching." says Justin. Kuroko slowly turns back around and nods her head. She may not like it but she does have a job to do. The families of these victims will at least want something to have a funeral with. She walks over to some of the male bodies, removes one of her gloves, and places her hand on it. She grimaces a little at the feeling of the blood on her hand. Instantly the body is teleported out of the pile and onto an awaiting gurney. The body of the male victim then gets draped over with a sheet. Kuroko looks at the blood on her hand for a second realizing now this may no longer be a rescue situation, but a recovery one. She then teleports the blood off her hand and moves on to the next body.
After 15 more minutes and seven more bodies Travis and Justin move another large piece of debris when they both receive a shock. There is another body of a male, but with no apparent injuries, say a few scrapes and bruises, having somehow landed in a space of a small cove. "Sheesh. What a horrible way to go. Survive the collapse of a building only to suffocate to death." says Travis shaking his head. Justin however notices something odd. He takes off his glove and feels the person's neck. First off his notices he's still warm but then feels something else. "THIS MAN STILL HAS A PULSE!" he shouts. One of the rescue paramedics runs over and feels his neck and confirms there's a pulse. "Shirai-san! Get this man to some paramedics NOW!" orders Justin. "Right!" she shouts back. She grabs one of the man's arms and *Shawoosh* they both teleport out of the rubble and appear next to a couple of awaiting paramedics.
"This man's still alive!" she shouts to them. With the assistance of the two paramedics they place him on a gurney and roll him into an awaiting ambulance. "Will he live?" asks Kuroko. "We don't know yet. It's obvious he's breathed in a lot of smoke and dust, and it's possible he has some internal injuries, but we'll do all we can." says the paramedic shortly before he closes the back doors of the ambulance. Its siren goes off and it begins to pull away. Kuroko's eyes feel dry and she rubs one with her hand. She pulls out her cell-phone and checks the time. It is now September 29th, 12:05 am. She puts her cell-phone back into her pocket and teleports back onto the pile.
Rescue operations continue for another two hours and only another four bodies are found. Kuroko is starting to feel a little groggy when Justin and Travis happen to come upon another body, this time of a woman. "Ok Shirai-san. She needs to go up too." says Justin sadly. Kuroko lays her hand on the woman's body… but nothing happens. "Huh?" says Kuroko to herself. She looks at her hand for a second and then tries again. Still nothing. Getting irritated she double slaps her face a couple of times and then concentrates really hard. This time the woman's body teleports. Unfortunately it misses the awaiting gurney on stable ground by a foot and falls with a thud into the ground. "Ah damnit…" she mutters as she puts her hand to her masked face. "Shirai-san I think it's about time you take a break and get some rest." says Justin.
"What? No! I'm still good to go." says Kuroko aloud. "Miss Shirai your stomach has been growling for more than an hour. We can even hear it over the heavy machinery. You also look exhausted." says Travis. "And I'm telling you I can still work!" she shouts at him. "Shirai-san that little teleportation mishap you had just proved that you're too tired to think of teleportation calculations. The last thing we need down here is someone who's too tired to think clearly. That's just asking for trouble. You need to get some food and rest up for a bit." says Justin. Kuroko again can't argue with his logic. "Ok fine!" she shouts in angered defeat. "But what about you monkeys? Aren't you going to come up?" she asks. "We're still good here. The recovery people down here can handle your job for now." says Justin.
"All right then. But I'll be back soon. I'm only going to get something to eat and rest for a little while. I'll be back down here within the hour." she says sternly. She quickly turns around and tries to teleport out… but can't. She mumbles something under her breath and heads over to a nearby ladder to climb out while Justin and Travis continue moving large pieces of rubble. Kuroko didn't want to admit it but she is feeling hungry since she didn't have any dinner, and she's tired. She takes off the fire retardant clothing and finally takes off her breathing mask. Her face is flushed red after working in hot and sweaty conditions. She fluffs out the dust and dirt from her twin multi-tails. She then sniffs her wrist. "Ack. I need to take a shower when I get back to the dorms." she says to herself. "Shirai-san!" she hears someone call.
She looks over and see's Mii approaching. Mii had been helping to direct other judgment members in what jobs needed to be done with their power set. "Taking a break?" she asks as she reaches Kuroko. "Yeah. The monkeys down there pretty much forced me out. I'm going to grab something to eat, rest for about half an hour, and then go right back in." says Kuroko sternly still a little upset about being forced out. "Well all right then. Make sure you get some good rest." says Mii as she continues on with her duties. "Right." says Kuroko calmly. She heads over to a wash station and washes off her face and arms and then heads to a chow tent that's been set up to help feed all the emergency personnel that's on the scene. She grabs a plate of curryrice and sits at one of the fold out tables. She eats quickly because there's a rotation of workers constantly streaming in and there's only a limited amount of space at the tables.
After she finishes, she sets her plate on the dirty dishes pile to be washed and then heads over to the side of the tent to sit in one of the fold out waiting chairs to rest a little longer. She leans hack in the chair a bit to stretch out her legs and relax her sore muscles. She closes her eyes for a moment to think about what she's going to say to the monkeys when she gets back onto the sight. Maybe something about not underestimating her.
Kuroko opens her eyes again only to find her view is sideways. Under her head is something soft. She sits up trying to make out what happened. It takes a few seconds before she realizes where she is. She's still in a large tent, but she's lying on a cot with a sheet over her and a pillow at the head. All around her there are other people lying on cots, asleep. She then realizes what had happened. She fell asleep. She quickly gets off the cot, folds the sheet and rushes out of the tent. She's immediately greeted by the bright light of the sun. She can still tell it's morning though. "Oh no. How long was I asleep!?" she says. She pulls out her cell-phone and checks the time. Just past 7:00 am. "I've been asleep for almost five hours!? Man I'm going to hear it from those monkeys now." she says to herself. "I see you're finally awake Shirai-san." says a female voice.
Kuroko looks over and see's Mii coming out of the chow-tent that's right next to the rest tent. "What the hell happened?" asks Kuroko in confusion. "You fell asleep. After you didn't come out of the chow-tent for an hour I was asked to check on you and found you fast asleep in a chair." explains Mii. "Why didn't you wake me up!?" complains Kuroko. "I tried! I called out your name, I shook you, but you were out cold. So I carried you to the rest tent and laid you on a cot." explains Mii. Kuroko facepalms. "Damnit. How could I have been so careless?" she says to herself. Suddenly, "Oh Shirai-san. Finally awake I see." says a familiar male voice. She turns and sees both Justin and Travis coming out of the chow-tent. Both of their clothes are covered in dust and such. "Good morning sweetie!" calls out Travis. "DON'T CALL ME SWEETIE YOU PERVERTED MONKEY!" she screams back as a softball sized anger vein pops up.
"Yep. She's fully awake all right." jokes Travis. "Grrrrrrr!' Kuroko growls as she starts to reach for one of her spikes. "Hey yo! I'm only kidding with you!" says Travis has he puts his hands partly into the air. "Well don't!" growls Kuroko again as she pulls her hand away from her spikes. Kuroko takes a deep breath to calm down. "So. Anything happen while I was asleep?" she asks the three. "Well about an hour after you left we found another survivor. A woman this time. She was badly injured and was barely alive. Doctor's don't know if she'll survive or not." says Justin. "Yep. And that's the reason I was asked to check on you, so you could teleport the woman out of the pile. But you were asleep and we had to get her out the old fashioned way." describes Mii. Kuroko frowns a little believing she let people down.
"Hey don't look that way Shirai-san. You were up very early yesterday morning, you were working extremely hard teleporting people and debris for almost eight hours strait, and you hadn't had anything to eat since lunch yesterday. No one blames you for falling asleep when you did." explains Mii. "Well it doesn't make me feel any better, but I appreciate your comment Konori-sempai." says Kuroko. "Anything else?" she adds. "We managed to pull another 13 bodies out of the pile after that, but no more survivors. Inspector Takano has switched the mission over to recovery from rescue about two hours ago." says Justin with a small bit of sadness in his voice. "I see…" says Kuroko looking away too. That little bit of news would upset anyone.
"So I'm guessing Inspector Takano has given you monkeys a break and you'll be heading on to your hotel to get some sleep now? I'm pretty sure you two are quite tired after that long night." assumes Kuroko. "Yes we're tired, and we will be going to bed later, but not now. We slept on the flight over here so we've only been up for 15 hours; the advantage of jet lag I guess. We just had some breakfast with Konori-san here and we're about to go and ask Inspector Takano for a favor." says Justin. "A favor for what?" asks Kuroko. "I want to ask for permission to go down into the foundation tunnels right up to the F.I.X.E.D. foundations." he answers. "Are you crazy? It's still dangerous around here, especially underground. What could you possibly want down there?" asks Kuroko with some amazement.
"Evidence." says Justin. "Evidence?" says Kuroko with confusion. She thinks for a second before she remembers something. "You mean to gather evidence to support your building collapse theory you mentioned when we were working on the pile?" she asks. "Indeed. If I'm going to find my evidence, it'll be down there." says Justin. "Good grief. You're dead set on going down there aren't you?" says Kuroko with slight disbelief. Justin nods his head. "Okay fine. But don't think you're going to go down there alone. I'm coming with you. I still have to make up for my carelessness for going to sleep." says Kuroko with stubbornness. Justin and Travis both can immediately tell they'll never be able to talk her out of it. "Okay then. I guess we could use an extra pair of eyes to look for evidence." says Justin.
The three spend a few minutes looking around before they finally spot Inspector Takano and approach him to discuss their plan. "Absolutely not!" he barks. "The basement and foundation tunnels are still a mess and, not to mention, they are still full of smoke. I haven't even been able to send any personnel to check and see if there are any survivors down there." says Inspector Takano. "Sir I'm sure you know the faster we figure out how this building fell, the faster we can figure out why and who caused it. Any evidence up here would have been destroyed or deformed by the collapse of the building itself. However the building's lower levels would have less distance to fall and thus could still be useable. And the longer we wait the higher the chances are that the evidence could be compromised." says Justin.
"Look I appreciate that you want to help investigate this case, but you're only here to help catch that Damien person and bring him to justice, not to investigate random acts of terror." explains Takano. "Sir I have reason to believe that these two cases are linked. And if my theory is correct, we'll need to move fast before another attack happens." explains Justin. Inspector Takano raises and eyebrow. "You really believe these two cases are linked?" he asks. "I don't know yet sir. That's why I need to find some evidence. Again any evidence up here would already be destroyed or damaged beyond usefulness. And it's going to take days, if not weeks, before we dig down deep enough through that pile to find any. And by then more attacks could happen." explains Justin more fervently. Inspector Takano crosses his arms and lets out an annoyed sigh. He also taps his foot in thinking irritation.
"All right! All right! You can go. HOWEVER, I'll be going with you as well. Terrorist attacks are under the jurisdiction of Anti-Skill. And as lead investigator of this case, any and all evidence discovered down there will be collected by me. I'll let you look it over when we collect it. If it is connected to your case I'll let you analyze it as well at our labs." explains Inspector Takano. "That's reasonable. Agreed." responds Justin. "Ok then. We'll meet up at the west entrance to the foundation tunnels a block away. I'll have everything ready for us when you get there." says Inspector Takano. "Okay then." responds Justin.
As said the three head over to the west entrance to the foundation tunnels after an hour where Inspector Takano is waiting for them. There are several other emergency personnel and firefighters set up there as well. "Ok. Before we go in I need to tell you that the east tunnel entrance is completely caved in, so this is our only way in. First we'll need to dawn some firefighting gear, just in case we run into anything on fire, plus it's very hot down there too and these will protect us from the heat." says Inspector Takano. Kuroko is a little annoyed that she'll have to wear these stifling clothes again, but she promised she'd go down with them. The four put on the fire gear and breathing masks. Once they're ready, an engineer opens the large gate via its battery backup unit since the power cables were cut when the building collapsed. It opens slowly. Thankfully there's no back blast like some firemen feared, but there is a large cloud of smoke that billows out of the tunnel. "You still sure you want to do this Justin?" asks Kuroko. Justin nods his head. He's sure Damien had something to do with this.
The four enter the tunnel and start heading down the incline that leads to the tunnels. After a few minutes of slowly making their way down, they reach the tunnel intersection and head in the direction towards the F.I.X.E.D. building rubble. The light from the tunnel entrance soon becomes obscured so they have to switch to flashlights. The power is still down so all the red emergency lights are on. The eerie red glow through the smoke makes it seem like it's a completely different world. Kuroko can't help but feel creped out by the sight of it. "Man it's hot down here." says Travis. "Yeah. Too hot for an unprotected person to survive for this long." says Justin lamenting. Both Inspector Takano and Kuroko agree.
Soon enough though they reach an area that has obvious signs of damage. The four stop when they see it. "I don't like the looks of this. This area could be very unstable and could be too dangerous to head in any further." says Inspector Takano. "Hang on we'll check." says Justin. Justin and Travis both head over to the nearest wall. "What you are you two going to do?" asks Inspector Takao. "Did you forget what our powers are? Travis is going to feel out the concrete while I feel out the steel reinforcement." says Justin. "You can actually sense stress forces in the concrete?" asks Kuroko with a little amazement. "To a point yes. Enough to determine if there's too much damage to continue or if it's safe enough to move on." says Justin. Kuroko for once is impressed. Then again her Onee-sama can sense all sorts of magnetic and electronic stuff.
Justin and Travis put their hands on the wall and concentrate. After a minute or two Justin speaks up. "Any problems on you end Travis?" asks Justin. "I can sense several foundational cracks and damage, but nothing that would indicate anything will fall on us. It seems stable enough. What about you?" asks Travis. "Same here. I sense some broken reinforcement bars and several areas of buckling, but it seems to be holding the load just fine." describes Justin. The two turn back around to Inspector Takano and Kuroko. "So?" asks Kuroko. "There are some signs of damage and cracking, but nothing that indicates anything is ready to collapse. It's safe." says Justin. "Impressive. OK let's move on then." says Inspector Takano.
After another five minutes of walking they suddenly reach a dead end. "Did we take a wrong turn or something?" asks Travis. "I was afraid this happened." says Inspector Takano. "What is it?" asks Justin. "It's the emergency bulkhead. There's a sensory network that runs through the foundation tunnels. If it detects a fire or a collapse from an earthquake or something, it'll drop these emergency bulkheads to seal off the affected area so to keep the damage ot fire from spreading." describes Inspector Takano. "Is there any way to open them?" asks Justin. "Not from here. We'd have to go two levels up to just under the surface to reach the emergency override panel. There should be a door along the right wall here with stairs that'll lead us to it." says Inspector Takano. The four shine their flashlights to the right side wall and within seconds, spot the door.
Inspector Takano lightly touches the door knob. It's cool so there's no fire on the other side. He turns the knob and pushes. The door doesn't budge. He then shoulder rams it and it budges a bit. He pushes as hard as he can and it grinds and squeaks slowly open. The four enter the stairwell and point their flashlights up. "Well so much for that idea." says Travis. What they see above them is that the stairwell is completely blocked by debris. "Do you think you could teleport through that Shirai-san?" asks Justin. "Impossible! I can only teleport a max distance of 40 meters. If I try teleporting through that, I could wind up encased in concrete. And that would put an end to this endeavor really quick." says Kuroko. "Well I guess that's it then. We'll have to leave and hope that there's some recoverable evidence after the rubble is all cleared." says Inspector Takano.
As the four reenter the tunnel, Justin hits the wall just outside the door with his fist. "DAMNIT!" he shouts. As he hits the wall he drops his flash light. It hits the floor and goes rolling. When it stops, its beam reflects off something shinny. "Hey… What's that?" Kuroko asks. The other three turn and see something shinny as well. The group heads over to the object in question along the wall. It's a piece of broken rebar with some concrete still stuck on it. Justin points his flashlight up at the ceiling. "Well that's odd." he says. "What is?" asks Kuroko. "Look. There are no holes in the ceiling where this could have fallen out of." explains Justin. The other three look up and sure enough, despite being smoky and a few cracks here and there, there are no large chunks missing from the ceiling. "Ok. So where did this piece come from then?" asks Travis.
Justin thinks for a minute. "Inspector, do you think it's possible this was blown out here during the collapse before the bulkhead closed?" asks Justin. "I can't see how. The network is sensitive. When it detects something starting to collapse it immediately drops the bulkhead." says Inspector Takano. "Then that means just one thing." says Justin. "What is it?" asks Kuroko. "It means this piece of debris was blown in here during whatever caused the building to collapse." responds Justin. Kuroko and Inspector Takano open their eyes in shocked realization. "So that means it was blown in here by the explosives that brought the building down!" says Inspector Takano. "Hmm. I don't think explosives brought this building down. Something feels odd about this piece of steel rebar." says Justin. "What do you mean?" asks Inspector Takano.
Justin points his flashlight at a certain area of the steel rebar. "Look here. You can see fracture cracks running down the steel rebar. This kind of fracturing doesn't happen to steel during explosions." says Justin. "Hey you're right! And the concrete looks intact where the fracture meets the steel." says Travis."So if it wasn't explosives, what caused those fractures?" asks Kuroko. Justin reaches for the rebar. "STOP!" calls out Inspector Takano. "Remember, any evidence found can only be picked up by me." he adds. "I wasn't going to touch it. I was going to use my powers to analyze the rebar's structure." says Justin. "I wouldn't recommend that. If you use you magnetic abilities on it, it could affect the steel's properties and thus ruin it as evidence." says Inspector Takano. "Actually I was just going to do a passive magnetic scan to analyze its structure. I won't place any sort of magnetic field onto the rebar, I just detect its magnetic properties and it gives me a picture of its structure. It's sort of like an x-ray for metal. It won't affect it at all." says Justin.
"You can do that?" asks Inspector Takano. "Yeah. It's the same method I used to sense the structure of the tunnel, just on a smaller level." says Justin. Inspector Takano thinks it over for a second. "Ok go ahead. But if this evidence is deemed to be useless after this, it'll be your head." says Inspector Takano. "Right. Trust me it'll be fine." says Justin. He puts his hand over the piece of rebar and concentrates. As he scans it, a picture of the internal structure forms in his head. He then notices something strange. "Whoa. That's odd." he says. "What is it?" asks Kuroko. "I've never seen something like this before. It's like someone's torn apart the molecules in the rebar." describes Justin. "How do you mean?" asks Inspector Takano. "Well, the carbon atoms in the steel are right where they should be, but the iron… it's like the iron atoms just exploded. No… not exploded… this pattern almost reminds me of how a Prince Rupert's Drop will explosively shatter when you nick it." says Justin.
Kuroko and Inspector Takano look at each other. The phrase "explosively shatter" gets their attention. Justin turns around. "Inspector, didn't you mention that one of the espers Damien killed had the ability to cause iron to shatter explosively?" he asks. "Yes. Are you saying that Damien had something to do with this?" asks Inspector Takano. "He more than had something to do with it, he WAS the cause of it." says Travis. Inspector Takano and Kuroko look at each other again in surprise. "What do you mean?" asks Inspector Takano. "I think it's about time we get all law enforcement on this. Inspector I need you to call for an emergency assembly meeting for all of Anti-skill and Judgment for this afternoon. And please bring that piece of rebar with you and have your labs examine it. You can bring me the results to the meeting. They should confirm everything I've found. It's high-time everyone knew what we're dealing with. Travis and I will explain everything then." says Justin very serious.
End of Chapter 3
To be continued in Chapter 4: Memories Past Part 1.
Story Note: Things are starting to heat up and Damien appears to have already put his plans in motion. But why target this building and its people? What plans does Damien have in store for Academy City next? Look forward to the next chapter to find out. See you then!
Author Note: Whew. Three chapters of fanfiction in less than a week. As you may know I've started ANOTHER story. A fanfiction of the series RWBY. I haven't had this kind of motivation to write AND continue writing in years. And after this weekend, after the final episode of the series my fansub group is doing for this season ends, I'll have a nice long week break to concentrate on writing more chapters. Look forward to seeing them then!