Vacations started. Nice! Although I didn't do it well on my last exams :(
Answers (thank you everyone for the more than 50 review. It truly makes me happy):
TO venom rules all: Thanks for the reviews you always make. Nice to have your constant support. Hungry you said? Hahahah! Chapter 17 right now!
TO RPGFanatic: Thanks for your support. I knew people would find it at least surprising. In Marvel Universe people tend to die. Realistic. While in To Aru, no. Unrealistic. That's my main reason. I hope you like this chapter.
TO Guest: Thanks for the review and recalling that for me. OMG! I forgot she could also use her density increasing for defense the same as for offensive. Although, remember that Multi-Man was using adamantium bullets and Harpy had adamantium claws. Adamantium can like almost cut through everything, so even if she increase her resistant, it isn't a good idea to let that hit her.
TO cloud666: Thanks for the review. Hahahahahahahaha! Yes, sorry. Hahaha! The truth is I have been using that joke too much. I admit it.
Disclaimer: I don't own To Aru Majutsu nor Spider-Man, just this fanfiction.
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Chapter 17 – The team
"I can't believe you can actually cure bullets wounds," Peter said, amazed as he checked the bandages that Kuroko applied before to his body. At the same time, he rolled the two adamantium projectiles between his fingers that the girl extracted from him before.
"Well, it's my first time fixing that level of injuries. It surprises me that you didn't need to go to the hospital," Kuroko commented as she finished fixing Touma's wounds. "Ape… I mean, Kamijou-san, where did you get this wound on your shoulder?"
"Oh, this? I think I cut myself when I was running in that base," Touma replied cheerfully. 'No, I got this when I jumped over that guy Venom's back. He did this to me with one of his tentacles. Hmph, either way, it's not important now.'
"And the next news…"
"I think they're going to talk about the incident," Mikoto said. She was looking the TV expecting to hear what Academy City was going to say about the explosions and the deaths that occurred that same day.
The six young people, after leaving the abandoned base, now in ruins, had moved to Peter's dorm. They didn't call Anti-Skill or reported back to the Judgment, except to Uiharu, in order to tell her that they were in safe conditions. The sky had been already covered by darkness.
"Today, an abandoned research facility was victim of a tremendous explosion…" The woman on the TV continued about specifications that weren't much important until… "Anti-Skill has determined that there was a gas leak within the abandoned equipment and, fortunately, there weren't anybody inside the place. So, there weren't any wounds or deaths…"
Mikoto turned off the TV. Unbelievable.
"They didn't say anything about the Electro Upper users!" Peter shouted infuriated. "They're hiding it! Besides, what about Koujun!?"
"I asked Uiharu to look for him on the database. If his body was found, she would know, but…" Kuroko looked at the other teens. "She didn't find any extra information. Like everything was fine."
Nothing was fine. Three people had died in front of the members of Judgment, Peter, Kuroko and Kitty. A fourth was probably in the same state, but nobody could find him because there wasn't any report about that boy being in troubles.
"What the hell is BOOK?" Kitty muttered clenching her fist.
"It seems... It's an organization with power." Mikoto bit her lip. It wasn't her first time seeing something like this.
Touma, Peter and Mikoto exchanged glances. They knew that the dark side had enough power to do something like that.
"It's like the organization of Therestina Kihara," Kuroko said. "Remember, Onee-sama?"
"Hum? Oh, yes. Sorry, I wasn't listening."
Kuroko frowned for a second before speaking again. "So, we're dealing with a powerful organization that doesn't listen to ethics or law and Anti-Skill can't stop it."
"Looks like it," Touma said shyly. He wasn't very comfortable in this situation, because only Mikoto and he were the only espers of the group that were completely aware of the great darkness existing in Academy City.
On the other hand, Kuroko and Kitty hadn't touched that realm. Luckily for them. The pigtailed girl, finished fixing the unlucky boys' body properly and took the word to begin the interrogation. "Kitty, Peter and… Marian Carlyle-san, right? I want you to tell me everything. Who're you exactly and what're you doing in Academy City."
"My name is Kitty Pride, alias Shadowcat. I'm a mutant from the X-Men organization and came to Academy City for a mission."
"Kitty!" Marian Carlyle, alias Rogue shouted. "Why are you telling this to the esper?"
"Relax, we can trust Kuroko-chan and Mikoto-chan. About the spiky haired… Well, Peter said it was okay."
"So you belong to the X-Men." Mikoto said in a low tone. She had heard about that organization. She had read in the web sites that she had checked before for no more real reason than mere curiosity that the X-Men was the only legal mutant aggrupation of the US.
"Am I the only one feeling solid tension in this atmosphere?" Touma commented, trying to take away the tension with a useless comment. He already knew that Marian was a mutant. Although, he didn't expect Kitty to be one too.
"Are you also a mutant?" Kuroko asked Rogue.
The brunette with a single lock of white hair crossed her arms. "Hmph. What if I'm one?"
Kuroko glared at her. "I can arrest you."
Marian replied with another glare. "Try."
"You two please calm down," Peter said, trying to prevent a fight.
"Yes, please," Touma added, wondering if he would have to use his Imagine Breaker.
"And you, Peter!" Kuroko pointed at him. "What're you?"
"Handsome."
PRACK
"Don't teleport tables over my head! It's my table by the way!"
"Are you going to take this seriously, or should I teleport instead a fridge?" Kuroko's eyes glowed red.
Peter thought about his safety. "Understood. First of all, I'm not a mutant. I wasn't born with my skills. Rather, I received them by… accident."
When he said that, the espers, except Touma, wore an unpleasant expression. "So you got a powerful skill because of some random accident? That's unfair if we think about the Level 0, who spent most of their trying to improve their skills." Mikoto crossed her arms, thinking especially about the teens she came into contact in the Level Upper incident.
Kuroko, unexpectedly, stayed quiet and Touma only said: "It must have been difficult."
Peter eyes widened. "Yes, who did you know?"
"It's not something very hard to figure out if you think about it carefully. I can easily imagine a regular boy suddenly discovering that he can do… what you do. That can change his daily life for real. Not such a pleasant situation."
Peter smiled seeing how his friend empathized with him. After all, that guy was Kamijou Touma. A person who could see the goodness even in the worst villains.
'Although, my life was kind of better after I got bitten up by the spider,' Spider-Man thought as he remembered his last year.
He got his superpowers and started to feel more confident, met lots of good people and felt that he was doing something in the name of his uncle: helping the innocent with his great power. 'Great power brings great responsibility, no?'
"Very well," Kuroko said, putting her hands together. "And what're your real purposes here, in Academy City?"
Peter and Kitty, at the same time, bit their respective lips. Peter couldn't reveal that he was Spider-Man. He swore to himself to never drag someone else into his battles. There were people who knew his identity. Those were his Aunt May, Gwen, MJ and his comrades with superpowers. However, he knew these people for more time and had a lot of trust in them.
He also trusted Touma, Kuroko and… He didn't know much Mikoto, but he got the feeling he could trust her. He held his breath and spoke. "The truth is this… back in America… I'm a superhero..."
The espers' eyes widened just as he pronounced those words. " " "No way!" " "
"Yes, I'm. I don't have to tell you to maintain it as secret, right? Good. As I was saying, I'm a superhero. Yes, I have a mask and a cool looking suit. However, let's say I didn't do it very well and the veterans thought it was a good idea to have me going through a sort of, don't laugh, 'superhero's training'… I told you not to laugh! Rogue! Kitty? But you already knew about this!"
"Yeah… Hahahahaha! I know, but… Hahahahaha! Sorry I-I-I can't help it but laugh! Hahahaha!" Kitty continued like this for an entire minute.
Meanwhile, Marian was on the floor hugging her gut. "No way! Hahahahhahaha! Parker, you truly are an unlucky one! Hahahahaha!"
Peter sighed and Touma put a hand on his shoulder. They understood each other regarding many subjects, especially when it came to misfortune. Kuroko and Mikoto were looking at the older girls with a mixture of uneasiness and a small amount of amusement. Five minutes later they resumed the talking.
"First I thought guys like Iron-Man, Captain America or Thor would be training me. Yes, Touma, Thor is the brother of Loki, the guy that infiltrated into the city some time ago. I thought that, but, in the end, they decided to send me here and make me a member of the Judgment."
"So you truly didn't go to that Judgment Training facility in the US." Kuroko looked at him with scolding face.
Spider-Man could only scratch his neck to her statement. Then he looked at Shadowcat. "Kitty, did you know that Rogue was here?"
Kitty scratched her cheek. "The information wasn't confirmed in the first place. Professor X told me that other mutants, Marian between them, could be being held here over their will. My mission was to confirm if this wasn't a false alarm and, then, act according to the situation. I didn't tell you that a person we know could be trapped here because I was sure you would do some recklessness."
After she finished talking, her gaze moved to the espers of the room waiting for their reactions. Mikoto seemed surprised, but also curious. Touma was showing worriedness, but probably because he was thinking that she was in danger just for being in Academy City in the first place. After all, mutants were hated in here.
Meanwhile, Kuroko looked thoughtful. "Kidnaped mutants in Academy City. I don't see why anyone would kidnap mutant."
"You truly can't think of a reason?" Marian asked harshly as she opened her hands. "It's obvious they want to do some experiment with them. They're eager to have more lab rats!"
"Marian!" Kitty tried to calm down her acquaintance.
Kuroko had a vein popping out of her forehead. "Lab rats… you say? I see… the barbarian with superpowers is clever in her speaking."
"Kuroko!" Mikoto tried to do the same as Kitty.
The four girls stood up off the floor and chairs. Two of them about to jump at each other, two of them attempting to stop them, but unsuccessfully. It was the moment for the guys to intervene.
"Kitty, Rogue, it's enough." Peter grabbed the two (carefully touching Marian on the covered part of her skin) and sat them again.
"Misaka, Shirai. Let's stop this. This nonsense about the hate between espers and mutants isn't important."
When things settled, Peter spoke again. "Let's rewind to the events that brought us here."
The group recalled what happened to them that day. The encounter of the Judgment members with the Electro Upper's users, what led Touma to infiltrate the villains' base, when Mikoto saw an explosion and decided to investigate it and, finally how Marian got involved.
"Fine, get off my back, Pryde. I'll talk. In America, after leaving the X-Men, I got involved with other mutants organizations. While I was working for them, I got some info about a friend I thought dead."
"And that info was…"
"That he could be trapped here and being used for experiments. Actually, I received a hint that led me to investigate more. With that investigation I could confirm that he was here."
"So you infiltrated in the city just like that?" Peter asked inquiringly. "Isn't entering here like 100 times harder than trespassing the frontier of Mexico to the US?"
"I… used some contacts. Some dark contacts I made".
Kitty then asked the most important question. "Who's this friend of yours?"
Marian eye-contacted her old friend with seriousness printed on her face. "You know him."
"That isn't very specific."
"Indeed. (SIGH). You won't believe me."
"Try…. After all… We're friends, right? Old friends." The mutant girl gave a small smile.
Marian turned her gaze somewhere else and speak in almost a whisper. "Yes."
She explained. "Time ago, he went on a dangerous mission on his own. I discovered about it and tried to communicate with him, so I could lend him some help. However, when I finally managed to hack into his communicator from my location, I didn't get any answer. Later I discovered he was already dead."
"Then." Kitty urged her friend to continue.
"As I had hacked his communicator, I managed to get his location. I was planning to go and help him after all, no? It didn't matter if he was on the other side of the world. In that moment I had in my power a sweet-ass plane. Yes, I stole it for one of the organizations I belonged before."
Peter smiled wryly and Kitty put her hand over her forehead.
"So I got his location, but, as I said before, I couldn't contact him. Soon, I lost the signal of the communication device. The coordinates pointed here, to Academy City."
"Okay, now I know that, but, tell me, who is this so much important friend you want to rescue."
Marian took a huge breath before speaking. "You found his arm on Savage Land."
Kitty first frowned when she heard the question, but then her expression experienced a massive change. Her face denoted an astonishment that gave the other people in the room a strong feeling of uneasiness.
"It's… impossible… you can't be talking…"
"After he was defeated by Magneto, before you found his arm, Academy City extracted his body from Savage Land. That, at least, is the conclusion I came up with." She said it. "Logan is here, in Academy City and, I confirmed it, he's alive."
Everyone remained speechless. The Japanese teens because they couldn't understand the situation enough well and the Americans because their minds were in a state that they just couldn't form words in their respective mouths. The then world detonated.
"No way! Wolverine, Logan, is alive!" Peter shouted full lung.
"I-I-I found his arm! His arm and blood on the floor! We reached the conclusion that Magneto blew the adamantium inside him." Kitty couldn't keep her voice from going insanely loud.
"I spent some time in the city, escaping from the law and investigating. I found information about BOOK, but just they soon managed to capture me. After that I was transferred from prison to prison, until this guy found me and saved my ass." She pointed at Touma. "What's today's date?"
They told her. "Fuck! So I actually spent four months with those guys? I'm surprised they didn't rape me or something. Boy, let me say it again. Thanks for saving my ass back there."
Touma gave her his typical kind smile. "No, it's okay. I did it by my own will."
Mikoto rolled her eyes and a few sparks flew out of her hair. She muttered: "And another appears."
"Biri-biri, are you saying something?"
"N-no-nothing! W-what're you implying?"
"Biri-Biri keep down the lighting!"
"Don't call me Biri-Biri!"
"Can we return to the point!?" Kitty shouted with a vein popping in her forehead. "Mikoto-chan… You can kill him later." She ignored the boy's shivers and turned to Marian, who backed off because of the sudden killing intent that her old friend was emitting. "Continue. Do you know where he is?"
Marian showed a dejected expression. "I don't know. Brock told me Logan was alive just to bother me. However, he didn't tell me his location."
"Why exactly do you think they kidnaped Logan?" Peter asked, thinking carefully of the possibilities.
"Probably to use his body for experiments."
"Hey, Pete, remember that guy Multi-Man? Yes, that guy. He shot you with adamantium bullets. And that girl Harpy. Her claws were reinforce with adamantium. There's the proof! Oh, gosh! Wouldn't they…?"
Marian took a second to understand what did Kitty was trying to say. "You have to be kidding! Those mad geeks! To do that to him! I'm so going to kick their asses and faces when I…"
"Explain! What're you two implying?" Peter asked, not knowing the exact situation.
"They probably are using his living body to make some adamantium farm."
"What!? No way!"
"Can you fucking explain to us what are you three talking about!?" Mikoto couldn't hold more and burst in screams. She hated to be left behind. "Who's Wolverine/Logan? What does he have to do with the adamantium?"
"He's a mutant like Marian and me who was really close to us. A few months ago, he went on a mission alone and never came back. I went to find him, but the only things left was his arm. We gave him for dead. Now, Marian is telling me that she discovered that he's alive and trapped. By the way, he has a powerful regeneration skill and adamantium in his body."
"So he's being used like an adamantium mine," Touma concluded. "That doesn't look nice."
"Marian, what're we going to do? Don't you even have a clue?"
"I managed to get some information about their many bases, but now I'm not sure in which could be him, Kitty. Shounen," Marian called Touma. "I took a picture of the information with your phone. Let me borrow it. Thanks. Kitty, see."
"That's a bunch of location. Do we have to look in each of those?"
"Kitty, Rogue. I think you're forgetting something."
The two girls turned their gaze to Kuroko, who just spoke.
"I'm a very loyal member to the Judgment, you're also part of it. The same goes for Peter. The correct thing to do would be to report you to Anti-Skill and arrest you all."
The silence took over the room again.
"However, I won't do it."
" " " " "Eh?" " " " "
"Really?" Kitty asked, confused. She thought the pigtailed would be very problematic to deal with. "But what about the laws?"
"After considering your situation, I can't help, but let you off the hook."
"Hahaha! That's our Kuroko!" Peter said cheerfully, not noticing of the pigtailed strong blush.
"Nice to know you won't be on our asses, girl." Marian didn't speak kindly, but it wasn't harsh.
"Sometimes is okay to break the law in order to…"
"Shut up, Ape!" Kuroko interrupted Touma's philosophical moment.
'Such misfortune.'
"The truth is…" The pigtailed began to say. "I… Sometimes I feel… That I also have a friend… a close friend trapped in the darkness."
Mikoto barely stopped a tremor that would go through all her body. 'Sorry, Kuroko.' She hated herself when she decided to push away her closest friend out of the dangers involving the Sisters' experiment. But, she would hate herself even more if that girl was hurt because of her.
"If your friend is in trouble, you should help him," Kuroko finished and Mikoto couldn't do anything, but lower her gaze.
"Thank you, Kuroko-chan. Now, Marian, what's the plan?"
"Yeah, what're we going to do next?"
Touma was victim of five confused glances. "I mean, I just can't let you fight this powerful organization alone. I won't!"
"Haaaaa!? You already did enough!" Marian said with a glare.
"Yep. Why're you getting involved in other people's problems?" Kitty closed her arms enforcing her statement.
"I'm also not letting you do this on your own."
"You too, Parker!?"
"Don't worry, Marian, Pete is okay."
"Touma can be really helpful is we have to fight espers." Peter defended his friend. "So it would be good to have him on our side. He has… skills against the supernatural."
"That's true." Mikoto's face reddened a little when she said that.
"My power doesn't affects him…" Marian couldn't forget that. "So it would be the four of us against BOOK?"
"No way, I'm also into." Mikoto wanted to help them, but her most important reason was another. Because, she knew that the clones they mentioned were here beloved Sisters, she needed to know more about this organization to be able to protect them.
"Onee-sama? Well, if Onee-sama is getting involved in this dangerous adventure, me too."
"So… In the end, we're six. A six person team."
"As you're saying, Rogue," Peter commented as he considered that he this team had a lot of pros. "Anti-Skill nor Judgment won't take part in this, right?"
Kuroko nodded. "This organization seems to have huge political power, so it must have some kind of control over the forces of the law. I dislike that. That's why I want to expose them and bring them to justice."
"I feel the same way," Mikoto added.
"Long time ago, I lost someone important," Peter began to say. "After that, I promised that I would protect everyone with this power I accidentally received. It's my duty to don't let anyone die. Regardless if they are good or bad people."
He clenched his fist. "BOOK… Those guys killed three people in front of my eyes and another behind my back. I won't let them kill another person."
"Oi," Touma called their attention. "They probably already know we're alive. I don't know if they will target us or leave us be with the idea that we're very afraid to talk."
"The second one, indeed," Marian said, confirming the situation. "Something I noticed while this group maintained me as their prisoner is that they are confident. I remember hearing the guards saying that they shouldn't worry about a small amount of information leaking to the outside."
"If that's true, why that Harpy and Multi-Man came to tie up the 'loose ends'? I'm talking about Kaitabi and his band."
"Maybe those guys were important loose ends," Peter replied seriously. "After all, they were using the Electro Upper for their own purposes. If they were discovered and captured, this invention could be revealed. BOOK must have wanted to maintain it as a secret."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Hey, Kitts, what happened to that contact of yours," Peter asked her.
"You mean, the contact that never contacts? Don't know."
"Contact?" Marian wondered.
"The Professor put me in communication with some contact when I first arrived here. However, that guy has almost never sent me a message or a similar thing. And all those times he has, he only sent me useless hints."
"Hmph. You're making me feel like I was in some sort of spy movie. Don't you think, Kuroko?"
"I have been feeling in the same way, Onee-sama."
"Are we getting tuxedos?" Touma joked.
"That would be kind of cool."
"Peter…"
"Hello everyone!"
"Kyaaa!"
"What!? Who turned on the TV?"
"Not I!"
"Where's the remote?"
"There! Faraway of us!"
"If you're wondering why the TV is on, it's because I hacked your SmartTV from my location and now I'm transmitting this message to you all."
"Oi! Peter! Why do you have a SmartTV while I only have one from 2008? Not fair!" Touma yelled out, grabbing his head with both hands.
"People! Can't you notice what's happening right now?"
Thanks to Mikoto's call, everyone returned their gazes to the TV. There, they could the shade of a person with a dark background.
"Now that I have your attention," began to say the unknown person. There seemed to be some kind of audio transformer machine, because his voice was similar to the one of a robot. "I'll present myself. I'm…"
"You're my contact!" Kitty declared, pointing at the screen.
"Thanks for the presentation, Pryde," the voice almost seemed cheerful when he said this. "There's no need for more presentations. I know all of you. Peter Parker, Kamijou Touma, Misaka Mikoto, Shirai Kuroko, Marian Carlyle and Kitty Pryde."
All the teens shivered when they heard their respective names with the modified voice of this unknown. Peter took the word. "Who're you?"
"Just some guy who would like to help you all those kidnaped people. It's good that you made a team. I'll lend you my help in this case."
"Why so sudden?" Kitty asked angrily. "You haven't helped me until now. And how the hell do you know we're forming a group? Do you have cameras in here?"
Peter's eyes widened. "No way! What!? In my room…!? I feel so violated…"
"Cameras? Hahaha!" The figure on the screen replied. "I just have ears. Good ears. Hahaha! Either way, I'm going to send you a file to each one's phone."
The six checked their respective phones when they heard the message tone. Marian was the first one to yell out.
"Woah! There's a BOOK's facility in District 7!? Where exactly?"
"Oh, sorry. That's the best information I could get? Until now. I'll send you the exact location as soon as I find more Intel. Now, mina-san, I'm cutting…"
"Wait!" Peter stopped him with a shout. "Who're you? Do you think we can trust you if you don't tell us who you are?"
"Hahahaha!" Another cheerful laugh. "Sorry, mina-san, but that's something…"
Then a different sound reached the team's ears from the darkened screen. It was melody and its music didn't look as it was affected by the voice modification. The melody is made up with a girlish voice singing some anime opening.
Touma stood up. "Wait a second, I know that ringtone… Oh, come on!" The spiky haired rushed out from the room.
"Where're you going?" Peter asked, founding the behavior of his friend very strange.
"I'll be back!"
Five people remained in the room. From there, they could hear Touma running to the stairs, climbing them, and moving on the floor above them. They heard a door being opened, some struggling and, finally, the steps of the boy returning. However, it seemed that he was dragging something…. Or someone.
Touma appeared in the door frame holding another boy from the collar of his neck. The boy was wearing sunglasses even if it was nighttime. He was using a Hawaii open-shirt that showed part of his torso, something that made the girls from Tokiwadai go flustered.
"T-T-Tsuchimikado!?" Peter's eyes widened at the unexpected turns of events.
"Yo! Pete-yan! Haha! How're you?"
The teen didn't reply and, then, Kuroko spoke. "Who's this guy?"
"His name Tsuchimikado Motoharu, he goes to the same school with us and live on the upper floor," Peter explained to the whole group who didn't know the guy.
"Tsuchimikado, tell them what you told me up there," Touma asked his old friend. "Or should I say… Mysterious Contact-san?"
!
"What!?" Peter turned his gaze to the screen and found that the darkened room was now lightened up and showing a room similar to his.
"I recognized that melody," Touma said. "It's your ringtone of Maika singing, you siscon."
"Tsuchimikado? Are you Kitty's contact in Academy City?" Peter asked, feeling the confusion growing in his head.
"Hai. My name is Tsuchimikado Motoharu-san and I was requested by Professor X to aid Pryde in her adventure in Academy City."
"Eh? You know the Professor?"
"Only by telephone –nya." Then he added: "I have maaaaaaany contacts outside Academy City."
"Like who?" Peter asked, feeling uneasy about the fact that this idiot addicted to the imotous wasn't what he claimed to be. He noticed that Touma wasn't looking surprised. He would have to ask his friend later.
"Like who? Like who? I just work from time to time for some organizations."
"A few examples?"
"The X-Men, the Avengers, the Ultimates, SHIELD, Latveria, Atlantis, Hydra, HAMMER… Oi! Pete-yan! Why're you suddenly putting those webs around my wrists!?"
Peter spoke coldly. "You're under arrest."
Kuroko had a vein on her forehead. After all, she respected the law very much. "Should I take this guy to Anti-Skill or we're going to beat him up first."
"Maa, maa. Calm down everyone –nya." Tsuchimikado was in a difficult situation, but he was smiling amused.
"Is okay, Peter, we need him." Touma tried to break Peter's webs.
The American teen growled, but he helped his friend in the labor, because it was impossible for a regular high school student to break that substance with only his physical force.
"I can't let you go off the hook!" Kuroko took her Judgment handcuffs from her belt. "This guy is working for many organizations from outside the city. He's a traitor to Academy City!"
"I also work for Academy City."
"What!? What kind of triple-spy are you!?" Kuroko stood up and pointed her finger at the blond boy with rage drawn on her face.
"Maaa, maaa. Don't worry." Tsuchimikado waved his hand casually. "Also, Railgun-san, don't point your lighting to my face, please."
Mikoto had been letting sparks from her fingers since the boy first put a foot in the room. She reluctantly stopped the current of electricity.
"Nice, nice." The smirk never left Tsuchimikado's face. "I'll keep myself investigating and send you more information. Till then, see you!"
"Oi! Do you think you can't just leave like that!?" Kitty stood up clenching her fists. "After all the mysterious crap I had to go through this last two months."
"Kitty, leave him."
"But Marian…"
"Kitty, is okay." Marian turned to the blond boy. "It's the first time I see you, but… after hearing all those things from you… I can tell you have the freedom and skill to move through the darkness of this city. We need your help. We need all the Intel you can get. That's the only reason that trio of the Judgment is letting you go."
Peter looked away and Kuroko clenched her fist with anger. But only that. They didn't try to stop him. Tsuchimikado left the room and went to his apartment.
"That guy… He always do what he wants…" Touma muttered, making sure nobody could hear him.
"Onee-sama, it's getting late," Kuroko talked to Mikoto. "We should hurry if we don't want to summon the devil… I mean, if we don't want to upset the dorm supervisor."
Mikoto shivered at the possibility of that event taking place. "It's true. Let's go."
"Marian," Kitty called her old friend. They also needed to leave the place. "I'm going to talk to the Professor if he can find a way to have secure while you stay in the city. We should find you a place to stay and enroll you to my school."
"About the school, I don't mind," Rogue replied. "But, in the case of a shelter, I already have that cover up."
"How so?"
"Do you have a roommate?"
"Mmmh… No… Why?" Kitty couldn't stop feeling some insecurities when the other girl asked that last question.
"Because I'm going to free-load in your dorm."
"…. Eeeeeeh!?"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Soon, Touma and Peter found themselves on their own. Before the girls left, the group accorded to lay low for a while and be aware of any danger. BOOK could be targeting them.
Peter asked an important question. "Dude, what the hell is with Tsuchimikado? He's a spy, right? And you knew about it?"
"Let's say I found out in a difficult way. Hear me out. Even if he looks as a mysterious James Bond… he's not a bad guy." Then, Touma added. "I trust him. Besides, before I brought him here, we had a small chat."
Peter leaned against a wall and wait his friend to continue.
"He told me he was expecting that the six of us would decide to form a team. Why? He said that in this way we can keep an eye on the girls."
"What're you talking about?"
"In his words: The Railgun, with the information she has now, won't stop trying to investigate on BOOK. Even if Shirai helps her, the power and intelligence of this organization can be more than what she can take –nyaa. The same goes for Pryde and Carlyle -nyaa."
"Please, Touma, stop with the nyaa."
"Sorry. As I was saying…" The spiky haired continued imitating the blond boy's voice. "If you form the team, the six will be aware of each other's activities –nya… Sorry. Ehem. The point is, what I understood, that we can keep a track of each other, in order to prevent any of us from getting hurt."
"So, you're saying he forced this union because he thinks that having backups will be safer when we resume our fight against BOOK."
Touma nodded. "That's what he told me. Dammit. I truly hate to bring people into my fights."
"Remember this isn't your fight. We, Kuroko, Kitty and I, were the first to encounter BOOK. Well, Rogue was taken prisoner first. Either way, you and Misaka are the one who are getting into our fight without permission."
Touma could only roll his eyes to that statement. He was going to say something, but Pete spoke again.
"BOOK… This organization… It has much power…"
"It's seems." Touma showed an unsatisfied expression. "I don't like it. They can come for us at any moment."
"The plan is to lay low for a while with the belief that they'll leave us alone if they think we're too scared to talk. That's the best we can do now… I would be happier if I could only rush into their base right now. But that wouldn't be a good idea. Even I can understand it. They have strong members."
The image of Multi-Man, Harpy and Venom came to Peter's mind.
KNOCK KNOCK
Peter gazed the door. "She's here."
Touma, who was the closest to it, opened the door. In front of the teens' eyes, two girls wearing the Tokiwadai Middle School's uniform made their entrance. The two girls not only looked equal in the way of dressing, they looked the same in everything. In everything except the expression.
Well, one of them had a bandage surrounding her forehead and was carrying a small black kitten in her arms. They were the #3 Level 5, Misaka Mikoto and one of her several clones. The girls went through the door frame and sat on the nearest couch.
"I deceived Kuroko and told her that I forgot something here" Mikoto explained to the boys. "It was hard, but I made her go to the dorm by her own. I contacted with her on the way."
When the six of them were together, the Judgment members explained the situation of those "unknowns" clones which were being used to enable the Electro Upper. Of course, the ones (Touma, Peter and Mikoto) who knew about the Sisters didn't say anything. The group had determined that those clones weren't very much important compared to the organization of BOOK itself.
"We have something important to discuss," Peter announced.
"Misaka 10032 have already heard from Onee-sama about the emergency involving the Misaka Network, explains Misaka with a simple summary to avoid wasting time."
The Sister said those words in a tone that didn't show any emotion. But those three persons that were listening, they knew she and the others had emotions, even if they didn't show them.
"Misaka has consulted with the other Sisters to confirm it and Misaka have only heard a single answer. As Misaka 10032, the other units weren't aware of the problem. We never detected any irregularity in the Misaka Network."
"How so? Isn't that net connected to their brains? How didn't you notice?" Peter asked, dumbfounded, but with relief to know that the Sisters weren't involved by their own will.
"What can we do?" Mikoto asked, glancing the floor. Nobody could see her expression, but you could tell she was frustrated and worried. These clones were her little sisters, after all. "How can we get rid of that… virus or whatever is that?"
Misaka Imouto didn't reply shortly after that because she was mentally discussing with the other remaining 9969 Sisters dispersed around Academy City and the entire world. After a while, she said: "The Misakas have reached the conclusion that we should do a clean-up in the network, says Misaka, implying the importance of this decision."
"Clean-up? You mean you're going to do a massive search for that hacking problem?" Touma wondered scratching his head.
"Yes, confirms Misaka."
"It won't be dangerous, right?" Mikoto took the hand of her Sister. "I mean, they won't discover you and try to harm you all…"
"Misaka doesn't think the probabilities are high, explains Misaka. Necessary precautions will be carried in order to perform this."
"..."
"Misaka and the other Sister have accorded to respond like this for the sake of the whole Misaka Network. It has been declared as the best course of action."
"But what about contacting Doctor Gekota?"
" "Doctor Gekota?" " Peter and Touma printed confusion on their faces. Then the spiky haired remembered it. "Oh, you're talking about the frog faced doctor."
"Right now all the Misaka units have taken the choice of checking the network before contacting other, explains Misaka to reassure Onee-sama."
Mikoto sighed and nodded. Now that everything was settled, Misaka 10032 announced the beginning.
"All the units must check their ports and send the information through the network, announce Misaka. Then we must navigate using our skills in order to detect any intruder in the network or another class of harmful entity."
Misaka Imouto didn't even close her eyes. However, everyone noticed. She was concentrating in order to make the necessary calculation to perform her duty. All the Sisters in the globe were doing the same. Seconds passed. Then minutes passed.
"Did she fall sleep?" Touma stretched his hand to the clone.
"She's concentrating!" Mikoto grabbed the spiky haired. "How can you be so problematic?"
"Hai, hai. I'm not going to do anything. Don't get so angry."
Mikoto looked away. She wasn't planning to be that rude. It just came from her throat. 'Maybe I shouldn't have been so mean…' She started to blush. 'Okay, I'm going to apologize…. But it'll be quick! Just a short… a short…'
"I'm s-s-s-sorr…"
"Biri-Biri why're you still holding my hand?"
Mikoto couldn't understand at first what he was talking about. "What do you m-m-m-me-mean!?"
Then she realized she was until now holding the boy's hand instead of just letting it go. If her blush was 10 before, now it was 100. Her skin was similar to a fire extinguisher. She began to release some smoke from her ears.
Peter saw this and, in a high display of his intelligence, made a joke. "Yeez, at least wait till I go to sleep, you lovy-dobies."
Touma only glared at his friend and separated hands with Mikoto. On the other hand the girl's skin became a very attractive target for furious bulls. And…
"Misaka! Don't just shoot a lighting spear at another's person face…! Aaaahh!" Peter rolled in order to avoid another dangerous attack.
"O-oi! Why're you also targeting me!? If it was Peter's joke!" Touma decided it was a good idea to cover himself with his Imagine Breaker.
"Shut up! Both of you!" The infuriated girl shouted.
'And she said that we should remain quiet…'
"Aaah!"
Suddenly, a short, low, but painful scream resounded in Peter's room. The three teens turned to the source of the noise: Misaka Imouto. The young clone that had been quiet since she immersed in the labor of detecting the hacking from BOOK, as the other Sisters in the world.
"That sound she just made…"
Mikoto stood next her Sister. "Are you okay?" She asked with clear worriedness in her voice.
"Aaah…. Aaaaaah… Aaaaahh… AAAAAHHHH!"
The clone grabbed her temples and let out a big scream. What was happening? She let another scream. Her body was trembling, her eyes forcefully closed. If she hadn't left the kitten on the floor before, it would have run away in fear. She lost her balance and Mikoto rushed to support her.
"What's going on!?" The middle schooler held the face of the clone in her hands. "What's happening to you!?"
She couldn't understand it. Why was Misaka Imouto… suffering? She said everything was going to be fine. Nothing should have happened. 'So why is this happening!?' Mikoto embraced the trembling clone as the tears began to fill her eyes. Touma and Peter only could look. There wasn't anything they could do.
Suddenly, Misaka Imouto spoke. However, her voice sounded different. It was even more serious and robot-like than always. It was clipped, like a damaged voice recording. "T-t-t-this… i-i-i-issssss… a-a-aaaa… w-w-wa-war-war-ning… Y-You… shshshshshs…. shouldn't…. have-have-have-have-have-h-h-ha-have… gotten…. In the… in the… in the… way… of… in the way of… of-of…"
Spasms went through her body. Her arms and legs began to move uncontrollably. And she finished her phrase. "…of… BOOK…" And the girl lost consciousness.
The three teens were left with stupefaction written in their faces. "What the fuck was that?" Touma raised his voice as he checked the clone's body with precaution. "BOOK… What kind of thing…? How did they…? How much powerful!?"
"That clean-up… It must have triggered some defend whatever thing BOOK managed to introduce in the Misaka Network. That's what I think at least." Peter couldn't know what exactly happened, but he had the belief that it was close to his answer.
Mikoto didn't say anything. She just added more force to her embrace and the tears succeeded in leaking from her eyes. The girls maintained the contact with each other for a few minutes until Misaka Imouto regained her consciousness. "Onee… sama? ….Are you crying? …Why're you crying?" She asked the Original.
"That doesn't matter! What the hell happened!?" For tears fell from Mikoto's eyes. Meanwhile, the boys had decided to back away and let the girl control the situation with the Sister.
Misaka Imouto didn't speak until she finished exchanging information via the network with the others. "Our maintenance protocol was repelled, explains Misaka with seriousness. We successfully detected an infiltration in the network. However, when we tried to analyze it further, in order to solve the problem, there's the chance that we had triggered a defense system that affected all the units"
'I knew it.' Peter thought while he witnessed the situation in front of him.
"Are you okay?" Mikoto asked.
"Misaka 10032 hasn't received any damage."
"And the others?"
"…"
"…" Mikoto's eyes widened in fear. "H-h-how're the others? Tell me right now, please…"
"…" The Sister looked at her Original to her eyes. "Onee-sama, it isn't your fault…"
Mikoto knew something bad happened. "Speak."
"Misaka 13440, currently located in the Academy City's facilities of Belgium… has stopped functioning."
It was like time was stopped. Nobody moved a single muscle. They didn't even breathe. The noises you can always hear from the street, even at night, disappeared. This was a moment that Touma, Peter and Mikoto couldn't process. It was just impossible.
When people are victims of this level of shock, they normally look for other answers. They escape from reality, at least briefly. Nevertheless, this trio were people who could take by the front even the toughest attacks. That's why they were able to recover.
"Stopped working… You mean… she's…" Touma had to swallow his saliva before ending the question. "… dead?"
"….. Yes, confirms Misaka."
Mikoto fell to her knees and dropped her gaze to the floor.
"Misaka…" Touma thought hardly of any word he could use to comfort her. "…"
Suddenly, the girl stood up with her gaze still on the floor. "BOOK." She murmured. "Now, this is… personal." She turned to look at the 16 year old boys in the room. "We have to stop this group from whatever there are doing."
Touma clenched his fist. "We will."
Peter showed a serious expression. "Those guys won't escape from justice."
Mikoto nodded, picked up her Sister and, together, they walked to the door frame. "Definitely, we'll defeat BOOK." With those words from the Original, the two of them left the apartment.
When the girls were out of sight, Touma shouted infuriated and Peter cracked a section of his wall with his fist.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts…"
In a hospital room, in a certain hospital, a girl with short brown hair and an age of about 10, murmured those words as she held her head with each hand.
"It hurts. It hurts. It hurts… says Misaka as Misaka try to swallow the tears."
This girl was called Misaka 20001, the Last Order. She could be considered the leader of all the Misaka units and was the one who held more power over the Misaka Network.
Just a few minutes ago, she was having a mental discussion with all the other Sisters. The motivation of the talk was to decide what course of action they would take in order to prevent the infiltration from doing any damage to the network.
The conclusion that was reached by unanimous vote was to do a massive check of the network. In a few words, a very deep clean-up. They would be checking every section in the search of finding the infiltration. Then, they would try to eliminate it.
It didn't go as planned. They succeeded in finding the infiltration in the network, but they didn't realize until it was too late, that it had defenses. In the moment they tried to attack it, a counter-attack was released through the whole network. It was unstoppable.
Every Sister in the world suffered a strong and sudden headache. They held their heads and begged in their interior that somebody could stop it. When it finally came to an end, they quickly checked the network and the individual units with the objective of confirming whether one of the 9969 Sisters had any serious problem.
Each one of them reported as fine. They didn't have any psychological or physical injury. But there was an exception.
'Misaka 13440, report your situation.'
….
'Misaka 13440, report your situation.'
….
'Misaka 13440, report your situation.'
….
They couldn't contact her. They took another decision. Search for her brain waves. That only served as confirmation. Misaka 13440 had stopped functioning. She hadn't fallen into a coma nor anything alike. It was because her body didn't work anymore. Probably, a human would use a specific phrase to describe the situation: She was dead.
Last Order, as her comrades, had suffered the attack. Moreover, as she was the command center of the entire network of all the Sisters, the temporal physical damage she received was, at least, five times what the others received. She was the one who felt the biggest pain.
The small girl was the leader of the 9969. It didn't matter if she was the last to leave the incubator. Her brain was the most important and the one who could reach every unit. That was the technical side.
On the emotional side, she felt as the responsible for all the clones. She thought that she should be the one guarding them. That's why she couldn't stop the tears when she didn't reached Misaka 13440. A Sister was dead because she couldn't come with a better solution.
The messages from all the other Sister were reaching her. Messages of consolation and reassure. They were telling her that it wasn't her fault. All of them took the decision. None of them could know that it would lead to such sad ending.
"It hurts. It hurts…"
However, Last Order was more worried than sad. She was worried that "he" would see her in that state. She knew that if he did, he would put himself in danger. He would go recklessly against others. He felt he was the strongest. But he was weak.
"Brat?"
Last Order felt a hand resting over her head. He heard her. He heard her cries.
"Brat?"
"…" Last Order couldn't look up. If she did that, he would see she was suffering and there wouldn't be turning back.
"Brat."
The hand exerted more force. But it didn't hurt the girl. She could actually describe as similar to the hug of a mother who saw her small son just after almost being swept along by a train. A strong hug. That was what she felt. Of course, the one applying the force wasn't crying. He sounded dead serious.
The hand raised the girl's small head up. She eye contacted him. Last Order was face to face with the #1 esper of Academy City, Accelerator.
"Brat. Who's doing this to you?"
"…" She looked at him. Accelerator's expression denoted seriousness and deep anger. Deep, but strong anger.
Accelerator put more force and, even with that, he wasn't hurting her. "WHO the fuck is doing this to you?"
Last Order looked at him. She sighed and said a single word. Accelerator's hand left her head.
"Go to sleep, brat."
The #1 left the hospital room and went to his. There, he looked at his hand. That hand had killed and hurt thousands. And he had just used to pat a little girl.
"Tch, it doesn't matter," he murmured, getting rid of those thoughts. There was something important to think about. "She said BOOK. I don't know who these guys are, but I'll take them all to the worst hell."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Okay, this chapter had its problems. After everything it was almost like a summary of all the events of the Electro Upper arc. This OC arc was the interlude to the fight against this strong organization named BOOK. I need to apologize, because I'm really bad writing conversations and this chapter was only a big talk. 0 action, sorry. Next chapter there'll be some.
Explanations:
Some big discoveries here. First, in this AU cross-over of mine, Wolverine is alive. A big surprise, doesn't' it. In the comics, he was killed by Magneto in Savage Land. The adamantium in his body was blown up. Since I first read that, I thought it was weird because Wolverine has one of the best regeneration in all the Marvel Universe. He should have been able to restore even after that. The battle against BOOK is also about rescuing him and the other previously mentioned mutants that this organization has in its power.
A team was formed. I know that many people think that Touma is a complete loner, but that's not true. Proofs: In the Aqua of the Back arc, Touma stayed with the Amakusas as guards. Another one. In WWIII, Touma spent a lot of time traveling with Lezar, even if she's a very pervert loli (LOL). To this point, Kuroko had gotten into the dark side in a very different from the novel. Don't worry, she won't know anything of the Sisters. She'll just start to recognize the city as how it is.
What do you think of this team? Six people. 3 characters from To Aru and 3 characters from Marvel. 2 boys (main characters) and 4 girls. I thought this could be really cool. I already have the name for it, but I just don't know in which point of the story to discover it to the readers.
Accelerator is joining the fight against BOOK. I have been wanting to add Accelerator in the plot of this fic since a lot ago. He's back. Of course, you should know how it works. The team of the Misfortune Duo will be having their battles on their side and Accelerator on his side. They won't cross paths even if they fight the same enemy.
Tsuchimikado. I really like this character and I wanted to put him more in the plot. It turned out that the mysterious contact from Kitty was this boy. You remember he said that he worked for many organizations. Well, I gave a list of them.
BOOK. This organization is, as I have shown it, very powerful. They have control over the media, Anti-Skill and Judgment. They covered up the situation regarding the Electro Upper very well. Until now we only know three official members of this organization: Multi-Man, Harpy and Venom. Kaitabi and his group were part of it, just in the lowers levels. That's why BOOK decided to get rid of them when they started to cause troubles. What's their objective? Only they know…. For now.
Where this story is going? I have the feeling that, since the Sister Arc, this fic has gone a little down. Some of you may agree. I promise I'll do my best to break that and make thing exiting like that arc again. I was first planning to jump the Orsola Aquinas Rescue arc in the same way I did with the Angel Fall. But now I have decided to add it. Why? I want to have some Touma and Peter tag team battles before going into group battles and that.
After this arc, which is not going to take me more than 2 chapters (at least that's what I think) we'll be facing the Tree Diagram Remnant Arc. This'll be having a lot of importance for the plot. Besides, a character from Marvel that you have been asking since long ago will appear briefly. The arc will have its differences, but after all the plot will be the same. Recovering the Remnant from Awaki.
Deaths. Something I feel I must mention is that we have seen some deaths in the last two chapters. This may be kind of hard to accept for some of you, considering that in To Aru there aren't almost any deaths. The only kind of actually important death is that certain blondy. Besides her, all the few death are from extras. On the other hand, in the Marvel universe, death is everywhere. Most superheroes lose their friends and we always see SHIELD agents and policemen being killed. I want to add more reality into this fic showing that characters can die.
I think I have added all the explanation I need. Finally, I can upload the chapter. Tell me what you think of the story so far and if it still hooks you up. With this chapter we'll have passed the 100K words. Hurray! So all I have left to say is: Fav, Follow and most important: REVIEW Sebaspe out!