"Are you sure you're alright, Misaka-san?"
"Yeah. I'm fine, I think. Whatever he did seems to be wearing off. A bit."
Kazari nodded making sure to keep an eye on Misaka-san as she walked. She was moving more easily now, but the way her face tightened with every step told her she was still struggling. She must have been in pain, but fussing over her at this point wouldn't help them get out of the facility any faster. Once they were on the surface though, she was going to make sure Misaka-san got the medical treatment she needed - whether she liked it or not.
"Just a little more, Misaka-san," Kazari urged with a forced smile. "Once we get out of here you can rest as much as you need."
"Thanks, Uiharu-san. That really does sound nice." Misaka-san smiled faintly and then winced, gripping the bruise where the needles had been forced into her arm. "I haven't stopped in months. I thought that if I just kept pushing myself I could do it; I thought I could get stronger." She shook her head. "Guess that was a bad plan."
Kazari stayed silent, lost in thought. The halls were still dark, but now with Misaka-san at her side they didn't seem quite as threatening. She was still anxious though, her body running almost purely on nervous energy. She was exhausted, and wouldn't feel truly safe until they were both back on the surface and away from all this madness.
"I don't know," she said, rubbing her arms. "I'm… I'm not like you, Misaka-san. I'm not strong. I don't have your drive. I don't think I can say that pushing yourself was the wrong thing to do. But I do think you need to learn that it's important to stop. You're an amazing person, and the most incredible esper I know, but I think even you have your limits."
Misaka-san ran her fingers over another bruise on her cheek, limping steadily down the hall.
"Yeah. I'm learning that, I think. I've always just charged straight forward. Every time there was an obstacle in front of me I just pushed through it. I thought that it would be the best approach here too, but in the end I think I just didn't know what else to do. It's the only way I know how to tackle problems."
She pushed the sweaty locks of hair out of her face and shrugged. "Well, there's no point moping about it right now. Come on, let's go find Kamui-sensei and then get out of here. Anti-Skill can handle Corrin. I'm done with him and I'm done with this place."
Suddenly the entire facility shook, a heavy rumbling sounding from deep within. Kazari stumbled and Misaka-san fell forward onto her hands and knees with a grunt. Kazari reached out to her, but the shaking made it hard for her to stand.
All of a sudden it stopped and Kazari found her footing. She moved quickly to help Misaka-san back to her feet. The rumbling echoed down the halls but was replaced with the crackling of a speaker overhead.
"Ah, there we are." A familiar voice filled the hall and Kazari shuddered. He sounded just as nasty over the speaker as he did in person. "I must admit, I'm surprised, Misaka-san. I honestly didn't expect anyone to come for you. The director and I worked rather hard to make this facility difficult to find, and after your little rampage yesterday I would have thought no one would think there was anything here left to find. I certainly didn't think you would tell anyone. You're far too much of a loner for that, aren't you?" The speaker whined and his voice became more distorted, tinged with an electric hum. "To be honest, I'm surprised you have any friends at all. I assumed those girls you play with just hung around you because you're the famous Level 5."
"Bastard!" Misaka-san growled. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Don't listen to him, Misaka-san!" Kazari pleaded. Misaka-san's face was thunderous and Kazari could almost see the electricity raging behind her eyes as she glared up at the speaker. "It's not true! We aren't your friends because you're famous or because you're a Level 5! We're your friends because we like you! We would never abandon you!"
"Yeah." She took a shuddering breath. "Yeah, I know. He's just trying to push my buttons." Misaka-san grit her teeth and the floor tiles at her feet began to buckle and groan. "Dammit though. It's working."
Corrin carried on, his voice light, almost jovial. "I will admit, for a moment I was rather worried. You are an important part of my operation. But! As any good scientist will tell you, it's important to have a backup plan. And it just so happens that I have one. You might have gotten away from me, but it doesn't matter anymore. I have a complete map of your AIM field, Misaka-san. With this I don't even need you. I can continue Academy City's transformation as intended. It might not be optimal, but it will certainly do in a pinch."
The facility shuddered again and the pounding in Kazari's head returned with a vengeance. She winced and gripped her head in her hands with a whimper. How could this be happening? She'd saved Misaka-san. It wasn't fair.
"Uiharu-san! Are you okay?" Misaka-san was at her side, and Kazari felt the static building in the air. "Dammit. I can't believe that creep. Why won't he just give up?"
Kazari shook off the pain and let out a few shaky breaths. The throbbing was persistent, but she'd gotten used to it once already. She wasn't going to let it stop her. "I-I'm fine, don't worry. But we have to do something, Misaka-san! If this keeps up there won't be anything left of the city!"
"I know." Misaka-san's teeth ground together like flint and she glared back at the speaker. "I know."
"You see?" Corrin's voice was marred by static but the manic glee in it was still crystal clear. "In the end, you're disposable too, Misaka-san. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to oversee the genesis of my new world. Feel free to come and stop me, if you think you can."
The voice cut off just as Misaka-san let out a rage-filled scream. Lightning flashed and the speaker exploded in a hail of melted plastic and molten metal.
"That's it," she growled. "We don't have time to wait for Anti-Skill. One way or another I have to stop this."
"Misaka-san…" Kazari trailed off and chewed on the inside of her cheek. She was right. There was no time. They had to put a stop to it now. "What do you plan to do?"
"I'm going to take him down." Misaka-san stared back down the darkened hallway, back towards the room that had served as her temporary prison. "He manipulated me, hurt my friends, used me to hurt hundreds more. If he's going to show all his cards, then I'll do the same."
"It sounds like a trap."
"Yeah, it does." She rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck. "But we're out of options. I've learned my lesson where he's concerned. This time, he won't get the best of me. That's a promise."
Her voice was hard as steel and Kazari wanted desperately to believe her. She was still bruised and exhausted, Kazari could see it in the way she held herself, the way her left leg shook ever so slightly and her chest rose in an uneven rhythm. Determination was the only thing keeping her standing now, and Kazari knew that there was nothing she could say that would prevent Misaka-san from going after Corrin now. She wasn't even sure she wanted to.
"Alright. Then we need to move quickly. The sooner we can end this the sooner we can make sure things on the surface aren't getting out of hand."
Misaka-san turned towards her, a small smile on her face. "Thanks for helping me so far, Uiharu-san. But this is where we're going to have to split up."
Kazari felt as though she'd just been dunked in ice water. "W-what? But you said-!"
"And I meant it," Msaka-san said, cutting her off. "We are a team, Uiharu-san. I promise, this isn't me dismissing you. But if I go in there with you, then there's no telling what could happen. If this really is a trap, then I need to know I can cut completely loose if I have to. I need to know he doesn't have someone else he can target."
Kazari was near tears. She really was just getting in the way, wasn't she?
Firm hands took her by the shoulders and she found herself meeting Misaka-san's eyes. Her arms tingled at the contact, but she didn't pull away.
"I need you to do for me what you do for Kuroko; I need you to be my backup. Find Kamui-sensei and get her out of here. If it looks like things are getting out of hand, bring in the cavalry." Her grip tightened and Kazari was struck by just how serious she looked. "Please, Uiharu-san. I know I promised we would do this together, and we will. But this is the kind of teamwork we need right now, okay? Please."
Kazari swallowed her arguments. Misaka-san had never made such an earnest request of her before. She looked into her friend's brown eyes, and in place of the storm that had been raging there just moments ago she saw clarity and determination. That was enough to reassure her, if only slightly; Misaka-san wasn't just being stubborn this time, at least.
"Okay, I'll do it," she said at last. "B-but you better be careful, okay? I don't want to be the one that has to tell Shirai-san if you get yourself hurt. W-well, more hurt, anyway."
Mikoto chuckled. "I've got a feeling Kuroko's going to be a terror when all this is over no matter what happens, but point taken. Alright. I promise not to be reckless." Her smile faded. "That's what got me into this mess in the first place. It's about time I start learning from my mistakes, I think."
She took a deep breath and let go of Kazari's shoulders. "Okay, let's do this. Do you remember where to go?"
Kazari shook her head clear of cobwebs. "Yes. I memorized a map to the complex, so I shouldn't have any trouble getting out." She bit her lip. "At least, not as long as none of the corridors have collapsed."
"Okay, good. You be careful too, okay, Uiharu-san?"
Kazari nodded and Misaka-san stepped back, tension lining her face. She must still have been in pain, Kazari realized.
"Good luck, Uiharu-san. I'll meet you back on the surface."
"Ah… good luck, Misaka-san."
Misaka-san flashed her a grin that was almost convincing before she began to jog down the hall, moving with only a slight limp. Kazari watched her go for only a moment before she took off back towards the surveillance room she'd passed earlier. Misaka-san would be fine. She could handle anything; Kazari had always believed that. She just had to trust Misaka-san to handle this too.
The halls rushed by in a haze and soon she was back at the security room. She paused for a moment, steadying herself. It hadn't sounded like Corrin was still there, but she couldn't afford to just barge in and get herself caught. She was trying to help Misaka-san, and becoming a hostage would be the worst way possible to do that.
Heart in her throat, Kazari pressed herself against the wall and peeked inside. Corrin was nowhere to be seen, and instead she was greeted by the sight of the woman, Kamui, still bound to the chair and now on the floor, struggling furiously against her bonds.
"Ah! Hold on, I'll help you!"
Kazari rushed in and knelt down, undoing the gag. Kamui shook her head and coughed. "Thanks," she said once she'd managed to get herself under control. "You're that girl from before, the one I saw in the hallway. I take it you're responsible for getting Misaka-san out of that thing?"
"Y-yes," Kazari stammered, undoing the rest of the woman's bindings as carefully as she could, fingers fumbling with the knots. The skin beneath the cord was red and raw, much like Misaka-san's had been. "Well I mean, I had some help."
"Good." She let out a sound close to a growl. "The next time I see him he's going to pay for what he did."
Kazari pulled at the knots for another minute until she finally managed to get Kamui out of her bindings. She stood, a little unsteady,and rubbed her wrists, hissing in pain. "Dammit. I should have known that bastard would try something tricky. He knew exactly what I'd do, and he played me." She threw the last of the rope down in disgust. "Come on, we need to get out of here. Where's Misaka-san?"
She limped towards the door and Kazari followed behind, somewhat anxious in the presence of this woman. Misaka-san had vouched for her, and she had helped her in the first place, but she didn't know this woman, and the circumstances of their meeting were far from ideal. But there wasn't any time for reservations. Misaka-san had given her a task and she was going to complete it.
"She's gone back to stop the man in the lab coat, Corrin."
Kamui staggered and Kazari rushed to aid her. "She's what?" The doctor let out a curse that had Kazari blushing. "That girl is going to get herself killed. Or worse."
She tried to hobble back in the direction of the room Kazari had found Misaka-san, but Kazari grabbed her hand.
"I-I'm sorry, Kamui-san, but I have to get you out of here. I'm a member of Judgment and this is an emergency situation." She paused and took a deep breath, continuing before Kamui could interrupt her. "Besides… Misaka-san asked me to get you out of here, so t-that's what I'm going to do."
"But-"
"Please!" Kamui blinked, startled. "We don't have time to argue. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can send Misaka-san real help! Neither of us… neither of us is in any condition to help her right now."
Kamui stared at her in silence, and Kazari willed herself to return the older woman's gaze. She couldn't afford to let herself be intimidated. Both as an officer of Judgment and as Misaka-san's friend, she had a job to do.
Then Kamui shook her head and sighed. "Misaka-san always struck me as a stubborn girl, but I thought it was just her. Maybe her whole generation is full of hard-headed girls that won't listen to sense." She pushed her matted and grimy blonde hair out of her face and started walking back towards Kazari, towards the exit.
"Misaka-san will be fine," Kazari said, following after her. She allowed the older woman to stabilize herself on her shoulder and accepted her mumbled apology. "She's… she's different now. I don't know if I can really explain it, but I can feel it. She'll be okay. She's strong, and determined. He won't get her again."
Kamui frowned. "That's only part of what worries me." The facility shook again and Kazari picked up the pace, the pale fluorescent glow of the hall lights leading her on. "Corrin is… he's really insane. I thought at first he was just overambitious and cruel, but that's only part of it. I've seen it in his eyes. He's reaching for something I can't even see, and that's what makes him so frightening."
She paused to wipe the sweat out of her eyes and Kazari slowed, fidgeting, anxious to keep moving.
"I don't know what he'll do, but as much as I hate him he is brilliant. He may yet have more tricks up his sleeve."
"Misaka-san is brilliant too though," Kazari pointed out. "You have to be, to be a Level 5. And Shirai-san told me she gets the best scores in Tokiwadai even though she doesn't study all that much."
"But she is still a child, Level 5 or not." Kamui's face was hard. "I've watched her over these last few months, seen her when she's really angry. There's a ferociousness in her that frightens me. A monster lurking inside. She keeps it well hidden, but it's there."
Kazari said nothing. She wanted to argue, really she did. All the time she'd spent with Misaka-san and she'd never seen anything that would have made her scared of her. But then she'd never really seen her pushed, had she? And the look in her eyes when Corrin had spoken over the speakers…. She shivered.
"Don't worry, it's not that I think she's going to turn evil or anything," Kamui said as though reading Kazari's thoughts. "But she's dangerous and emotional, and I fear that this confrontation with Corrin could do more harm than good, even if she comes out on top. The way she was the last time I talked to her… she might really kill him."
The words sent a shock through Kazari's system and she stopped in her tracks. "She wouldn't!"
Kamui stopped as well. "How can you be so sure?"
Kazari's shoulders shook. "I don't care what you've seen, you don't know Misaka-san if you think she would ever do something like that, not when there's any other choice!" She stared firmly up at Kamui. "Misaka-san is kind, and generous, and has only ever wanted people to be happy! She hated the idea that people were getting hurt because of her. She wouldn't… she wouldn't do something like that if there was anything she could do to prevent it."
For a long moment the only sound was the buzzing of the lights and the distant creaking of strained metal. Kazari set her jaw and clenched her hands into fists, no longer shaking and the pain in her head fading into the background.
"Misaka-san will do the right thing. I believe in her."
The lines in Kamui's face relaxed, if only slightly. "Misaka-san is lucky to have a friend like you. I'm not sure she knows just how much." She straightened, pain flashing across her face for only a moment. "Alright then. I'll trust your faith in Misaka-san and leave this to her. Let's get out of here."
A sense of relief washed over her Kazari and she nodded. "She'll take care of it, you'll see. I'm sure this whole mess will be over soon."
"We found three more passed out near the second-year classrooms. One of them appears to have suffered a broken leg and another may have internal injuries."
"Move them to the field, carefully. Have Ayaka-san tend to them immediately."
"The cafeteria is nearly clear. There may be students trapped under the collapsed northeast corner."
"Get anyone that can be spared to help search. Until we can get proper medical personnel on the scene don't try to move the rubble unless it is absolutely critical."
"We have word that an Anti-Skill van and ambulance are nearing the school grounds. Approaching from the South."
"Direct them to the athletic field as soon as they arrive. Make sure they know which students are in the most serious condition first."
One by one the men and women - some teaching staff, some volunteers, and others she had dragged along with her ability - ran off to their assigned tasks and Misaki sighed, massaging her forehead.
What a mess this was turning out to be. She still didn't know the cause of it, and by the time she'd managed to make it back to Tokiwadai the school had looked like a warzone. The cafeteria had half collapsed, one of the main buildings was on fire, and students lay unconscious - either from their own overloaded abilities or falling victim to someone else's - all over the school grounds. It had been a more horrible sight than she'd ever expected to see at the normally pristine and sunny school.
She groaned and attempted to massage her neck before walking back towards the athletic field. She'd had several of her thralls turn it into a makeshift triage center - not the cleanest site but better to get everyone out in the open where nothing was likely to collapse on them - and already at least three dozen students were laid out in varying states of consciousness.
Well, if there was one small silver lining to be had it was that there had been no classes today. She shuddered to think what might have happened if all those espers had been crowded together in classrooms. There would be a lot more blood on those walls, that was for sure.
"Shokuhou-san!"
Misaki turned as a pudgy man in an ill-fitting tracksuit jogged up to her, breathing heavily. She vaguely recognized him as one of the assistant P.E. instructors. He wiped his brow and stood up, catching his breath before speaking.
"Anti-Skill is here, and they want to talk to whoever has been organizing the rescue effort so far."
"Tell them I'll be right over," she said. It was hard to keep the strain out of her voice. Whatever was affecting the other espers was still trying to get into her head, and the effort of keeping it out while at the same time shutting down any esper whose AIM field started to spike was starting to wear on her. "I have to check on the group in the dormitories first."
"Yes, uh… is there, ah, anything else I should do?"
Misaki resisted the urge to snort. "You know basic first-aid, at least? Then help out with the students in need of medical attention."
He nodded and took off at a slow jog towards the Anti-Skill vehicle that had just pulled in through the front gate. Useless.
At least the staff had recognized that she was the only one that was going to be able to manage any amount of people in this situation without things devolving into further chaos. She hadn't even had to use her ability to get them to fall in line and with the help of the civilians - most of whom she didn't even need to waste energy controlling at this point - they'd managed a decent rescue effort so far. The reprieve they had gotten helped as well, and Misaki had been able to rally herself enough to be able to shut down any espers within range that began to show the now familiar signs of a haywire ability. It wasn't without cost, however - she was barely able to stay on her feet.
She wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to head towards the dorms. She hadn't been there in person yet, but what she'd managed to catch from some of those under her influence indicated that things weren't pretty.
Another spike from somewhere in the library popped up and Misaki let a growl slip as she quashed it, sending the girl into what she hoped was blissful unconsciousness before she could do any damage. If this kept up she was going to collapse before things cleared up.
At this point, all she could do was pray that didn't happen.
Blood thundered in Mikoto's ears. She stalked down the hall of the facility, a predator closing in on her prey. Fury rose in her gut, a whirling tempest of heat that almost made her want to double over. But instead she embraced it, let it push her forward. She hadn't really wanted to send Kazari away, but it was better this way. It would be just her and Corrin, just like she wanted it. He was going to pay for everything he had done. To her, her friends, and everyone else.
There was no stopping now, no walking away. She'd tried ending it peacefully and he'd chained her up. She'd tried leaving without a fight and he'd raised the stakes yet again. There was no reasoning with a man like him. All that she could do was put him down, and there was a part of her that was looking forward to it. He'd made her into a joke, and she wasn't going to let that slide.
She pushed past the large steel doors leading to the main test chamber. They warped and groaned in her wake, the metal twisting in the door frame as her power latched onto them and pulled. It felt good, letting herself go, and she grinned in anticipation. She was furious and exhausted, but her power was still growing. She could feel it building, as though it had taken on a life of its own and wanted to be set free.
Yes, Corrin was going to pay. Lightning lashed out and she let out a predatory growl. If he was so determined to push her, to see what she was really capable of, then she was going to show him. She'd show him just what she could do, just like-
She faltered, a half step away from the chamber entrance. Electricity was snapping from her body, eager to find something, anything, to strike out at. Her heart was thundering in her chest and her breathing was labored, but she shook her head, trying to derail her train of thought.
No, this wasn't right. It felt… wrong. It felt like the night before, when she'd fought Anti-Skill. When she… when she had hurt Saten-san.
Her anger dissipated, leaving her feeling deflated, and her exhaustion doubled. With a deep breath she pulled in her power, getting it under control as best she could. It still resisted her control, but it was no longer jumping off of her at random, content to instead run along her skin in jagged white-blue ribbons.
'I can't let something like that happen again,' she thought, eyes closed and hands clenched tightly.
It was her anger that had gotten her into this mess in the first place. From the beginning she'd been using her anger and frustration to guide her actions, but all it had led to was pain. She just hadn't been able to see another way.
Uiharu-san's heated words came back to her and her grimace turned to a small smile. Well, she wasn't going to make that mistake anymore. She had people she could rely on. She needed to remember that, and to handle this in a way that would make them, who were willing to go so far for her, proud. It was the least she could do after everything she had done already.
With one final deep breath Mikoto pushed open the door and stepped into the massive chamber. It looked even more chaotic than she remembered. Several of the specialized ceiling tiles had come loose and collapsed onto the floor, carving deep grooves into the concrete beneath the floor panels. Debris and loose wires were scattered about, and in the center of the room the giant construct she had been bound to trembled with the force of its output.
It felt strange, like bugs crawling under the surface of her skin, and she stared at it, watching the power flow. It shone like a beacon to her electrically-attuned eyes, almost blinding, and the feeling of unease it gave her was growing by the second. It was almost like when she encountered one of her sisters for the first time; It felt like she was sensing herself, but not.
"I had wondered when you would be joining me, Misaka-san."
Mikoto's head snapped back down. Corrin was there, stepping from behind the machine, a serene smile on his face. His lab coat was stained with oil and grime, and his hair was a mess, but otherwise he looked exactly the same as always. The mere sight of him was enough to send her blood racing. The urge to attack almost too much to resist, but she managed, somehow.
"Corrin." Her voice was a low, dangerous hiss, and she stalked forward through the scattered mess. "This ends now."
Even at a distance she could see him roll his eyes and her anger spiked. "Well obviously. This is my endgame, Misaka-san, my magnum opus. My child, if you will forgive a more sentimental metaphor. This is the end of the path I started upon the moment I learned I would have access to such a wonderful specimen." His smile stretched wider. "And I must say, Misaka-san; you did not disappoint, even here at the end. I can practically feel the power radiating off of you from here. Simply marvelous."
"That's enough!" she snapped. She didn't want to hear any more of this. His words were like poison, seeping into her body and making her ill. If she had to listen to much more of his voice she thought she might really go mad. Her power was starting to break free of her control again, sparking from her body at anything it could latch onto.
He continued as though she hadn't even spoken. "The only real regret I have in all of this is that you couldn't see the beauty of what I'm trying to achieve. Kamui as well. You both are so limited in your thinking. For such capable women, it's truly a shame." He shook his head and sighed dramatically. "Alas, it seems I am truly alone in my vision."
"Damn right!" Mikoto's arm cut a line through the air in front of her, trailing lightning. "Your "vision" or whatever you're trying to do here is insane! If you can't even see that you're going to ruin countless lives, then I'm going to put a stop to you, here and now."
The ground beneath her feet shook as lightning lashed out like a whip, cracking against the floor. "I'm tired of you, Corrin. I'm tired of your crazy plans, and I'm tired of being used. I've fallen for your tricks for the last time."
For a long moment he simply stared at her, not saying a word. Then he put a hand to his head and chuckled. The sound echoed across the room, audible even over the roar of the machine as it grew into a full on laugh. Soon he was cackling like a maniac, and goosebumps rose across Mikoto's arms.
He was insane. She'd suspected when she met him, and her belief had only grown stronger the more time she spent with him. But she'd thought he was merely unhinged, a little off, like Kiyama-sensei. But that wasn't right at all. He was more like Telestina - completely obsessed and willing to destroy the whole city if that's what it took to get his way.
It took him a moment to calm down, and when he finally did his calm expression had been replaced with a mad grin.
"I'm sorry, I don't usually lose myself like that." He pushed the stray hair out of his eyes, tilting his head back and staring up at the machine. "I appreciate your conviction, Misaka-san, I really do. But that's not how this is going to end. You're not the hero to my villain, and this is no story with a fairy tale ending. Now please, fall for one more of my tricks, won't you?"
Mikoto's eyes narrowed in confusion before she noted with alarm that Corrin had slipped a hand into the pocket of his lab coat. Adrenaline surged in her veins but before she could even think about attacking something slammed into her psyche like a crashing wave. She staggered backwards, grasping her skull and crying out in agony. It was the same as the feeling she'd felt when strapped into the machine but twice as potent, threatening to split her head in two.
She stumbled over a piece of detritus and fell to the ground, instinctively curling up into a ball, her whole body twitching. The storm inside her had grown in strength and she felt like a balloon ready to pop. It clawed at her insides, seeking release. She could feel herself cooking from the inside out and she gasped for breath, her vision wavering. Her AIM field was twisting, stretching, growing thinner and more brittle by the second. She'd never been so aware of it before but now it felt as though it were attached to her with nails and spikes driven directly into her brain. She didn't know how much more strain it - and she - could take before it snapped.
She didn't hear him approach. She didn't feel anything except the strain of electricity racing under her skin until his boot connected with her ribs, sending her rolling with another cry. She skidded to a stop on her back, staring up at the ceiling with bleary eyes. Her side throbbed horribly and lightning erupted from her pores, tearing its way out of her body. She turned her head just enough to glare at Corrin, standing a few feet away with a clown's grin plastered on his face.
"I just love how easy you make this, Misaka-san! I need a test subject and you plop right down in my lap. I put you through every test I can think of and you keep coming back. I set a trap and you walk right into it. Twice! Honestly, it's like you want this to happen. Or are you actually just a fool?"
He laughed again and pulled a small white box, crisscrossed with black lines that almost seemed to glow, out of his pocket. "I don't know why you thought I was out of tricks, Misaka-san, but I had one more, made just for you."
He turned the device over in his hand, his thumb caressing it almost affectionately. Mikoto struggle up onto her elbows, teeth clenched tightly and sweat pouring down her face. Every muscle ached, her stomach felt like it was on fire, and her head like it was caught in a vice.
"This little toy was something I was working on on the side, for if you ever got a little too… rebellious, shall we say." He gave Mikoto another kick, driving the air from her lung and sending a spike of pain radiating through her torso. "Youko-chan - did the two of you ever meet? - was the one whose power gave me the inspiration for it. Well, she was the inspiration for this whole project really."
He knelt down beside her and Mikoto would have struck out at him had she been in less pain. Sparks of lightning snapped at him, but he barely even seemed to notice.
"You see, Misaka-san, Youko-chan is a very unique girl. Not unlike yourself. Her power is strange, even by Academy City's standards." He stood back up and turned towards the machine. Mikoto felt her blood boil. Was he dismissing her as a threat?
"She has the ability to see another esper's AIM field, to grab it and mold it, provided she knows what she's trying to make. With her help, I was able to use the AIM field you so graciously provided to try to make the espers of this city stronger, better than they were before." He chuckled. "Although in this case I'm simply using a simulation of her ability to disrupt your AIM field. Not terribly effective on weaker espers, but it seems to be having quite the effect on you."
Mikoto hissed and managed to get onto her hands and knees. This was all sounding so painfully familiar. "You sick son of a bitch… what is wrong with you?!"
"Not a thing!" He pressed a button and the heat inside of her increased, sending her into spasms so strong Mikoto was barely able to keep herself from collapsing again. "My mind is clear, Misaka-san! I've watched for years as the so-called scientists in this city scrape along, never daring to challenge the status quo, never bothering to push the true boundaries of science. But no more! I knew that I had to be the one to break this cycle, to push us forward before this bright and shining beacon that was meant to drive us towards a future full of promise faded and crumbled into dust!"
His voice rose in pitch as he spoke, lost in madness and driven by a singular purpose. Her AIM field was twisting violently, pulling her psyche along with it and threatening to break her body and mind in half, but she held on, if only by a thread.
Corrin whirled, his eyes shining with mad glee. "Don't you see, Misaka-san? This, this is how we change the future! How we evolve our species! I knew what needed to be done, and with you as my unwitting puppet we are now moments away from Academy City's rebirth!"
"I-I'm not… not your puppet," Mikoto growled. His words echoed around in her head, a physical force threatening to break her. She couldn't fail again. She wouldn't!
"Oh, my dear, dear, Misaka-san. You are so terribly naive it almost pains me to use you like this." He shook his head. "Don't you realize? You have no choice in the matter. You signed away your freedom the moment you signed up for the ability development program. No! The moment you set foot inside Academy City it was already too late!"
Power continued to surge up through the machine and the floor beneath her shook again. Her arms trembled and her vision swam. At this rate, she wasn't sure what was going to give first; the facility, or her own body.
"Espers are simply pawns, don't you understand that? Surely you figured that out when you learned of the Level 6 Shift? The lives of espers, of every man, woman, and child in this city - they all exist for experimentation! This city is a laboratory, my laboratory, and you are all my test subjects! The only thing that matters here is results! Power, as much as we can grasp!" He turned his mad eyes on her and Mikoto felt sick, pinned under his gaze.
"You understand that, deep down. You must." The words came quickly, tumbling from his mouth in a rush. "That's why you came to us, to me. You knew that you needed power and you were willing to do whatever you had to to get it! That's the nature of this place, and why this will - has to happen! Academy City will evolve and when the dust settles a new breed of power will emerge! You may not survive, Misaka-san, but take solace in the knowledge that you will have helped this city and everyone in it serve their true purpose!"
"That's not… that's not right…" Her thoughts were a mess. Electricity burst from within her, erupting from her skin like tiny geysers of power. Metal screeched above her and more of the ceiling tiles fell to the ground, sounding like bells where they struck. And all the while Corrin smiled, grinning down at her, eyes spinning with mad glee.
"People aren't… aren't your toys," she ground out. Her whole body screamed at her but his words had sparked something in her gut.
Academy City wasn't everything she had thought it would be, all those years ago when she'd come, bright-eyed and full of wonder. She had been tricked, her DNA map wheedled from her when she was too young to know better. Her sisters had been born only to die, disposable dolls in pursuit of the same power Corrin strove for. Level 6, Evolution; it didn't matter what they called it, it was all the same. People were willing to kill, to use people as lab rats, just for something like that.
She struggled to her feet, her whole frame trembling with the effort, and glared at Corrin, her breaths short and ragged.
"There's more… there's more here than just a bunch of rats for you to toy with!"
And there was. She had seen it. There was darkness in Academy City, more than she had ever imagined, but that wasn't all there was to it. There were people here, doing their best. Saten-san, who didn't have an ability but still pushed herself past her limits to help. Uiharu-san and Kuroko, who spent all their free time working with Judgment, determined to keep peace and order and make Academy City a place where everyone from Level 0 to Level 5 could live together happily. Even that Idiot, who pushed himself way too hard and did the impossible for complete strangers… Academy City was their home, not just some scientist's playground.
"What are you talking about?" Corrin's smile had fallen and he was glaring at her. He spread his arms out in a grand gesture. "Of course there isn't! Progress, Misaka-san! That's all this place is! A cocoon, a place of grand metamorphosis!"
"No!" Mikoto growled, eyes narrowed. "You're wrong. You're wrong, and I'm going to stop you."
Steam rose from her skin, new burns appearing even as she wrestled her ability back under her control. It felt like it was going to tear her apart, like at any moment it could all explode outward, leaving her little more than a smear on the floor. It was more power than she'd ever felt; nothing came close save what she'd felt during the events of the Daihaseisai. It was spiralling out of control, but it was still her power, and she refused to let it rule her.
Corrin's smile had vanished completely, replaced with a twisted scowl. "I grow tired of your babbling, Misaka-san. You've already demonstrated you lack the vision to see this through, and now your inane prattle has irritated me. You will be silent, child."
He twisted a dial on the device in his hand and Mikoto staggered, the force of the power inside her building ferociously and her AIM field stretched to its limits. Her knees threatened to buckle and she gasped for air, but even as the energy rose around her, the air thick with steam and the smell of burning air, she stayed standing.
"I… I am Misaka Mikoto," she panted between breaths. Everything felt hot, hotter than a sauna, but she could feel it; the threads of energy were slowly bending to her will, following the paths she chose. Lightning struck, the thunderclaps echoing around the room, and Corrin took a staggering step back.
"I am… the strongest electromaster in Academy City!" Electricity flowed over her like a second skin, no longer biting but leashed and obeying her commands, even as the power continued to build. "I won't be... be beaten by my own power!"
"W-what do you think you're doing? Stop that this instant!" There was fear in Corrin's eyes now, fear that she'd never seen on the man's face before, and it filled her with satisfaction.
"I already told you, I'm stopping you, here and now." Lightning raged around her like the spindly limbs of a great blue arachnid and Corrin stumbled further back.
"You're wrong about Academy City," she repeated. Corrin was frantically pressing buttons on his device, but now Mikoto felt only a brief spike of pain before she redirected it into the ever growing spiral of energy around her. "The people here have their own hopes, their own dreams. They live their own lives and they aren't just tools for you to use as you please! Academy City isn't just a giant petri dish, it's our home, and I won't let you use me to destroy it!"
"You… you can't stop me, Misaka-san! Why would you even want to?! Everyone, you, me, this whole city! Everyone is a subject! It doesn't matter who they are, they're a part of one giant experiment! You have to understand that!" Lightning was snapping off of her body and Corrin stared at her, fear and apprehension written clearly on his face. "You're not going to change anything, doing this! Someone like you… you must know you'll always be isolated. Your power will drive people away, always! This is the only way to change things!"
The air around her was alive with static, and her hair danced in a storm of her own creation. Lightning arced up into the ceiling, and there was a constant roar in her ears. The pain in her body was still there, but the more she directed her attention to controlling her raging ability the more it faded. But still, Corrin's words reached her ears, and she smiled, a sad, solemn smile.
"Yeah… I thought that too. I thought that since I was the strongest, I was supposed to do everything on my own. I thought it was my job to protect everyone, no matter what it took." Her eyes grew hard and she stepped towards Corrin, arm extended. Electricity jumped out and struck him in the arm, causing him to let out a yelp and drop the remote in his hand.
"But that wasn't right," she continued. Her gaze moved passed the trembling scientist and to the machine behind him, still humming with its stolen power. "I was wrong. I made a mistake by not trusting the people around me. I thought I was isolated, but in the end I was just driving them away. I made that mistake more than once, even when they told me I was being stupid. And in the end, I hurt the people that I tried to protect."
"Then watch the birth of the new world, Misaka-san!" Corrin seemed to have found his voice again, and he was staring at her with wide eyes. "A few more moments and you won't have to worry about what other people think or feel ever again!"
"Idiot!" Mikoto silenced him with a sweep of her hand, sending an arc of angry energy tearing through the air and knocking him onto his back. "That's not what I want! It was my fault, my mistake! Well I'm done! I won't make the same mistakes again. They're my friends, and I'll trust them. I won't leave them in the dark and I sure as hell won't let a snivelling little rat like you push me around ever again!"
The last was punctuated with a ferocious cry as she let the energy that had been building inside her, that had been begging to be let loose, pour out of her. Corrin screamed, shielding his face as the room was flooded with light and sound.
"This is my power, not yours! It's mine, and I'm going to use it to do what's right!" she cried, stretching her arms out and spreading her power through the room, up into the machine and into the sky above. It flooded out of her, a limitless well pouring without constraint. She gulped down mouthfuls of boiling air, her whole body aching, but she kept pushing. "You wanted to see what I was really capable of, what I could do if you pushed me far enough? Fine! Then I'll show you everything!"
With one final scream Mikoto let the last of her restraints drop, and unleashed every ounce of energy she had into room.
"The structure has gotten a lot more unstable than it was the last time I came through here."
Kazari looked over her shoulder, peering through the darkness at the woman behind her. The lights had gone out a while ago; probably they had entered part of the facility that wasn't powered by the backup generators. She was using the light from her phone as a guide, the pale electronic glow illuminating twisted metal and shattered concrete poking out from behind the thin steel wall panels.
"How long were you down here?" she asked, ducking under a bundle of stray wires hanging like vines from a hole in the ceiling.
"It can't have been that long. I haven't slept any, though I can't say I've been entirely in my right mind the whole time. Are we getting close?"
"I think so. Look." Kazari lifted her phone, shining the light on a broken stairway, littered with debris. "I think this is the stairway I came down."
Kamui sighed behind her. "What a mess. I'm going to have a hard time fitting through some of that. And that's assuming it doesn't shift and come down on top of us."
"W-well we don't really have a choice. Come on." Kazari bit her lip, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice. The truth of the matter was she was scared by the possibility as well. Getting crushed to death under a pile of broken concrete was high on her list of things to never do, ever. But it wasn't like she knew another way out, and it had seemed stable enough when she'd come through before.
At least that fear was giving her something to focus on other than her nerves and the pounding in her head. It was growing more and more urgent and her palms were almost steaming. Keeping herself moving was taking more focus than it had before, but more than that she was worried about Misaka-san. If this was still a reaction to the Power Pox then that meant that Misaka-san hadn't been able to shut down the machine yet. That could mean any number of things, and most of them weren't good.
She shook her head and dismissed the thought. Worrying about it got her nowhere. She needed to focus on getting them out.
Without another word from either of them they began to pick their way up the stairs, the passage growing ever more narrow. Kazari squeezed under a twisted beam, pulling Kamui behind her. The older woman slipped through with a grunt and they continued. The air was thick and heavy, the closeness of the passage and the heat of her own body stifling. Kamui was struggling along behind her, and after a few more minutes she finally managed to glimpse light pouring through a crack above.
"We're almost there!" She pushed forward, calling out. "Hello! Is anyone up there?"
The sound of boots on gravel reached her ears and she saw Chida peer down through the hole with a grin.
"Hey! You made it! Here, come on I'll get you out of there." She shouted something over her shoulder and a moment later she was joined by several more Anti-Skill agents. They worked quickly, moving the debris aside and clearing the entrance. Kazari crawled the rest of the way to the entrance and Chida reached down, hauling her up by her arms.
"Woah!" She nearly dropped her, gloves steaming. "Damn, that's hot. Are you alright?"
Kazari shook her head in an attempt to clear some of the clinging fuzziness. "I-I'm fine, don't worry. Just… just need to focus on keeping things together and I'll be okay." She turned back to the hole in time to watch a couple of agents pull Kamui out. One of them shouted for a medic and within moments she was seated on a collapsed piece of wall, a medic shining a light in her eyes.
Anti-Skill was bustling around, at least a full squad worth of agents working to secure the scene. A barricade was being set up around what was left of the building, and she heard indistinct shouting as armed agents moved in and out of what parts of the structure were still accessible.
"Is it safe for them to be doing that?" Kazari asked.
"Hm?" Chida followed her gaze. "Oh. Well, no, not really. The structure has shifted a few times since you went down - that's why we needed to clear the stairs again - but we need to check for any injured. Plus if you were right about this place being the center of all this activity then we need to make sure we investigate it thoroughly while we have the chance."
She shrugged. "We'd have more specialized teams do this normally but right now this is everyone that could come. The rest of Anti-Skill is running around the city trying to keep things from falling apart. We had a bit of a breather maybe twenty minutes ago, and that's when I was able to get through on the comms. Don't suppose you had anything to do with that?"
"Maybe… well, actually that was Misaka." Kazari frowned. She hadn't thought to look for her before coming back out. "Did she come out yet?"
Chida shook her head. "Not that I saw. So far it's just you and that woman over there. Who is she anyway?"
Kazari bit her lip, unsure of how much she should say. "Ah… she's-"
A blinding flash of light followed up by a thundercrack that left her ears ringing cut her short.
She staggered, vision speckled with spots. Beside her, Chida's cursing cut through the ringing in her ears. "The hell was that?!"
Kazari shook her head. All around them people had stopped moving to stare up at the rapidly darkening sky. The ground began to rumble and the spell that held everyone in place broke. Anti-Skill agents came running out of the ruined building while others shouted into their comms. Chida grabbed her by the shoulders and began to guide her forcefully towards the Anti-Skill vans.
"God dammit! What is it this time?!"
"I-It's Misaka-san!" It had to be. It was the only explanation for the sudden storm. Kazari stared up at the clouds, black and roiling, light flashing within. This wasn't like anything she'd ever seen from Misaka-san before. She knew she was strong, but this…
"Chida-san!" A voice cut through her thoughts and and a young man in Anti-Skill armor ran up. "All our equipment is getting scrambled! The radio van just fried and we can't get a message to any of the others!"
"Get everyone as far away from here as you can," Chida shouted over another thunderclap. "We don't know when-"
The sound of screaming metal cut her off mid sentence and Kazari clapped her hands over her ears. The newcomer shouted something Kazari couldn't quite hear and she turned, following the direction he was pointing. Behind the wreckage of the facility was another building, a giant metal antenna jutting out from the roof. She hadn't even noticed it before but now it was wrapped in electricity, lightning spiking between it and the clouds. It was listing, the structure glowing white-hot with the constant flow of electricity.
Her hair was standing nearly on end and she watched in fascinated horror as the lightning in the clouds seemed to converge above the antenna.
'Lightning isn't supposed to do-'
"Down!"
She couldn't even finish the thought before she was tackled to the ground and an instant later she heard a tremendous crash, light and heat and sound rolling over her like a tsunami.
The first breath Mikoto took when the dust began to clear scorched her throat and burned her lungs. The air tasted foul, chemical and burned, and she pulled her shirt up over her mouth in an attempt block the dust and heat. Every pore in her body felt singed, and the smell of burnt hair and fabric filled her nostrils even through her shirt.
A gentle breeze brushed by, lifting the smoke higher and higher, up above where the ceiling should have been and up into a clearing sky. She blinked. The heavier dust was settling but she kept her eyes directed upwards, shielding them with her hand.
The machine had been obliterated. There was less left of it than there had been of the railgun she'd fought against. Only the barest traces of its foundations remained, still glowed bright orange and dripping molten metal onto the shattered floor tiles. What sections of the floor hadn't been ripped up by the force of the blast had been scorched black. The debris that had littered the floor before had all been pushed up against the walls, some of it hard enough that it had been embedded in the metal plates.
The damage on the floor wasn't nearly as impressive as above though, and as the last of dust cloud drifted off into the sky - the sky - Mikoto stared at the results of her outburst, torn between fear that she'd unleashed enough power to do this kind of damage and satisfaction that she'd finally put an end to Corrin's scheming.
The domed ceiling was gone, incinerated in a single super-charged bolt of lighting. No, that wasn't even right. At this point, she could hardly call it a lightning strike. It was still electrical in nature, but the sheer density of it… it must have been closer to one of the beams that insane woman had thrown at her back when she'd first tried shutting down the Level 6 experiment.
It had carved down through layers of dirt and stone and building foundations, incinerating everything in its path until it had hit its target. The hole it had left was at least thirty meters deep - were they really that far underground? - and as many across, if not more. Bits of dirt and concrete shifted and fell, and water poured from pipes shorn clean.
Waves of heat still distorted the air, carrying what steam and smoke was left up into the sky on artificial thermals. As the sky above cleared, sunlight streaming down through cracks in the thinning clouds, Mikoto finally let herself relax a little, tension easing from her shoulders.
'I really have gotten stronger.'
She wasn't sure how to feel about that. She'd expected to be happy, or at least satisfied. That was what she'd wanted, right? To be stronger? But instead, all she felt right now was tired. She was going to sleep for a week as soon as she got the chance.
Exhausted as she was though, she could still feel the power inside her. It was no longer raging or pushing for a release, but it was still there, a bottomless well of energy that she was starting to realize she'd only just begun to tap into. More power than she'd expected. Was it enough? Enough, maybe to force a change? Could she really, finally do what she'd set out to do at the start?
"Misaka-saaaaaaan!"
The voice cut through those thoughts, leaving them dust in its wake, and Mikoto smiled. She craned her neck further, squinting in the brightness of the sunlight. The warmth felt wonderful on her face - it seemed like ages since she'd been in the sunlight. Uiharu was waving down at her from the edge of the crater, someone in an Anti-Skill uniform keeping a firm grip on the back of her uniform.
She waved back, a sense of relief washing over her at the sight of her friend, alive and unharmed. No, this was the path she would follow. She wouldn't look back anymore.
Uiharu turned and said something over her shoulder that Mikoto couldn't catch, and a moment later Anti-Skill agents began rappelling down into the ruined test chamber.
'It's really over, isn't it?' she thought, wanting nothing more than to sag to the floor and pass out. It was finally over.
She turned her eyes downward settling her gaze on the unconscious form of Corrin. Hate surged in her chest at the sight of him, but the metal plate pinning him to the floor and way his leg was twisted at an odd angle brought her a certain sense of satisfaction. She should probably feel bad about that, but right now she couldn't work up the energy to feel anything but pleased with the man's predicament. He would live. Even at a distance she could feel his heart beating.
Mikoto shook her head even as boots hit the ground and agents swarmed around them both. He was their problem now.
"Misaka-san!"
Uiharu nearly tackled her to the ground. Mikoto's body groaned under the sudden embrace, but it wasn't unwelcome.
"I'm okay, Uiharu-san. Really. I'm just… really, really tired."
Her friend pulled away, a smile on her face and tears sparkling in her eyes. "I was so worried! When that lightning hit I… I didn't know what to think. I'd never seen anything like it before!"
"You've got that right. What the hell was that? I didn't think even espers could manage to punch holes in the ground that big." A woman with short-cropped hair stood behind Uiharu, helmet cradled under her arm.
"Ah…" Mikoto wasn't really sure how to respond. "Yeah, that's… well, it's a bit of a long story."
"No doubt." The woman grinned. "Ah well, you'll have plenty of time to go over it with my superiors I'm sure. As for me, I'm just glad to be shut of this mess. Clean-up duty is gonna be a hell of a drag but it's better than driving through tornadoes and earthquakes."
She clapped Uiharu on the shoulder and the she jumped. "Good job by the way. I knew you you could manage it, Judgment girl.
"T-thanks."
"But damn. This was a little more intense than I was expecting. You girls always get into messes like this?"
Uiharu blushed and Mikoto let out a tired laugh. "More often than I'd like, to be honest."
"Well, looks like the worst has passed. Whole thing was a bit of a headache, but it seems like things could have been a lot worse." She turned and motioned for them to follow her. "Come on, let's get you both over to medical. Your friend's already over there and it looks like both of you could use at least a look over." She nodded towards Mikoto. "Especially you."
Mikoto resisted the urge to tell the woman she was fine. She could only imagine what she looked like right now. She certainly felt like she'd been run over by a truck, and she had the feeling she didn't look much better.
Uiharu moved to help her walk and Mikoto accepted the assistance with a gracious smile. "Thanks. You feeling okay, Uiharu-san?"
"I'm alright." She smiled. "I didn't have it as bad as a lot of espers must have; I suppose there are benefits to being Level 1 after all. All I really got was a bad headache and some dizziness. And I think I must have been running a pretty high internal temperature too. Chida-san felt the heat through her gloves when she pulled me out."
Mikoto nodded, relieved, then cocked her head to the side. "Chida-san?"
A brief look of confusion was replaced by comprehension and Uiharu nodded towards the Anti-Skill agent they were following. "Oh, that's Chida-san. She helped me find you when things… when things started to get a little crazy."
"Huh." Mikoto regarded the woman. Well, that might explain why she'd been acting so chummy.
The medical truck had been joined by a more typical ambulance by the time they'd managed to cross the lot to the corner they had set up for triage. A young man in a paramedic's uniform ushered both her and Kazari swiftly to one of the trucks and before Mikoto even had the chance to process what was happening there was a light shining in her eyes and a barrage of questions being fired at her.
"Well I'd better leave you girls to your treatment." Chida's voice sounded amused. "I've got to file my report as the first on the scene and I imagine I'll be required to do a few debriefings as well. You'll both have to give your testimony at some point, too. Hopefully we can get an idea of what the hell happened here."
Uiharu nodded and thanked Chida before the woman walked off with a backwards wave. Mikoto tried to return the gesture but winced, the motion pulling at the tight, burned skin on her neck and shoulders. The man treating her gave her a sharp look and Mikoto put her hand down, sheepish.
'I wonder if this is how that Idiot feels all the time,' she wondered. He certainly made enough trips to the hospital. Then again, maybe that meant he was used to it.
Mikoto sat still while the medic applied bandages and burn salve to the areas most affected while Uiharu hovered behind him, dancing from foot to foot. Finally he seemed satisfied and gathered up his kit. He gave Mikoto another once over, told her to wait for the commanding officer to talk to them, then took off at a jog.
Mikoto sighed and scratched at her bandages. The ointment was soothing the pain of her burns, but it was already starting to itch. "These are going to be a pain."
Uiharu giggled. "Try to bear with it, Misaka-san. Shirai-san said something like that when she got patched up last time, too."
"Yes, I'd like it if you would take medical advice seriously, for once."
Mikoto's head snapped around and she grinned. "Kamui-sensei!" She blanched when she saw the woman's condition. Her arm was in a sling and bandages covered her right eye, angry bruises poking out from beneath the cloth. She was clearly favoring her left leg, and dried blood traced a line from a split lower lip. "What happened?"
Kamui smiled and shrugged. "Corrin had a bit of a temper. It seems he didn't much appreciate me interfering with his grand plan. Not much of a scientist if he couldn't handle one unfavorable peer review, I must say."
Mikoto snarled at the thought of Corrin laying his hands on Kamui. "That bastard," she growled.
"It's fine, Misaka-san." Kamui's voice was gentle; tired, but relieved. "It's not a big deal, really. I'm a little banged up but I'll recover. It was worth it to see his plans foiled." She let out a laugh. "Really, I wish you could have seen his face when he found out you were gone. Absolutely priceless."
Mikoto let out a breath guilt gnawing at her stomach. "Yeah. At least it's done. I just wish you hadn't gotten hurt."
"I know that tone." Kamui's voice was stern and Mikoto looked up to see a serious expression on her face. "Listen here, young lady. I had the chance to avoid this if that was all I'd been worried about. Corrin was quite interested in recruiting me to his plan. I refused, and that was my choice. Because I wanted to do what was right, and I couldn't stand the thought of him using you. It was my idea to go back and try to talk to him. So you'd better not be thinking that what happened to me was your fault. If anything, I should be the one taking the blame."
"But that's not fair!" Uiharu cut in before Mikoto could retort. "You didn't… you didn't want Misaka-san to get hurt. You didn't want anyone to get hurt."
"No, I didn't." Kamui rubbed the bridge of her nose and winced, pulling her hand away. "It was never my intention for anyone to get hurt. But people did. You, Misaka-san, the espers in the city - even the director, disgusting man that he was. He didn't deserve what he got."
The memory of the man, lying motionless in a pool of blood, with none of the crackling energy she could feel in living things, made Mikoto shiver.
"People were hurt, and I have to take responsibility for that." She smiled a small, sad smile. "That's part of being a grown-up, I'm afraid. When you're an adult, you have to be willing to acknowledge your mistakes and take responsibility for them, no matter what your intentions were."
Uiharu stared at the ground, fidgeting with her fingers. Mikoto knew how she felt. It wasn't fair. It just wasn't, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. All she could do was follow what Kamui said, and accept her responsibility.
"If that's the case," she said, taking a deep breath, "then I'm just as guilty as you are. I should have known there were risks. I knew some of the things that people here will do for power. I sought out this place because it was off the radar of the authorities. I should have known that I could be getting involved in something I shouldn't. I just didn't think.
Kamui chuckled and gave her a gentle pat on the head. "That's a good lesson to have learned, I think. But regardless of what I said, the fact of the matter is that you, Misaka-san, are not an adult - not yet."
Mikoto flushed and opened her mouth to argue but Kamui shook her head.
"No, listen. You're mature for your age. You're brilliant as well - I know a bit about the kinds of calculations espers have to do to use their abilities, and what it must take to do that at your level. But you're still learning. There are things that you can only learn by experience, and I'm afraid this is one of them. I won't say that you shouldn't face any consequences for your part in what happened, but asking you to share the same level of responsibility as me, an adult with years of experience that should have known better, is unreasonable."
She was silent for a heartbeat. "Now I just hope we can convince Anti-Skill of that."
Mikoto nodded. She was glad it was over, but she wasn't naive enough to think that meant everything was going to go back to normal. The city was probably a mess, and there was no telling how many people had been hurt, or worse. And… she'd lied to her friends. Hurt them, even. She was going to have to deal with that.
She glanced at Uiharu, who gave her a smile and stepped a little closer. The weight on Mikoto's shoulders lightened just a bit. Well, she wouldn't have to deal with it alone. At least this time she knew that.
Voices drew her attention and a pair of medics rushed through, carrying a stretcher. Mikoto caught a glimpse of Corrin's face and clenched her hands into fists, her heart pounding in her ears at the mere sight of him.
She forced herself to calm down. It was over, and the last thing she needed to do now was escalate it even further. It didn't matter what he deserved. It wasn't her place to deal out his punishment. She had stopped him, and that was enough.
"What's going to happen to him?" She nodded at the stretcher as it was loaded into the back of an ambulance and Kamui's face turned sour.
"Prison, I expect. I don't know if you were aware of just how illegal what we were doing was, but it's not the kind of thing you walk away from with just a slap on the wrist."
The doors on the back of the ambulance closed and and the engine revved to life before driving away, carrying the first person she'd felt real boiling hatred for since…
She shook her head. 'I have to let it go.'
"I don't have a lot of faith in Academy City's officials to do the right thing when it comes to people like him," she said.
"What do you mean?" Uiharu asked. "There's got to be tons of evidence showing what he did. And the damage alone should be enough to bring him up on charges, right?"
"Oh, absolutely," Kamui said. "But Misaka-san's concern isn't entirely misplaced. I may not be much more than a physician, but I know a thing or two about the darker aspects of this city. Tends to happen when you get blacklisted and need to get creative to find work."
Mikoto cocked an eyebrow. Now that was a story she hadn't heard.
Kamui continued, "But I don't think you need to worry this time, Misaka-san. Academy City may turn a blind eye to some rather dubious practices, but Corrin was acting alone by the end. I don't think the oversight committee is going to be too pleased with the damage to the city, and human experimentation is supposed to be illegal without consent. That may not always be enforced, but the results this time were too out in the open for them to not do anything about it."
She grinned. "And besides, Corrin might have been clever, but he wasn't the kind of brilliant anyone is going to pull strings to get out of trouble. I have the feeling he's going to make the perfect scapegoat for this disaster - or, he would, if it weren't actually all his fault. I wouldn't expect to hear from him again anytime soon."
Uiharu looked thoughtful, if a little unsettled, and Mikoto let out a breath. "I guess that's a relief. I really don't want to have to deal with that man again." She cocked her head and looked up at Kamui. "But what about you?"
"Me?"
"What are you going to do now?"
Kamui's smile turned sad, her shoulders sagging slightly. "I said that this was more my responsibility than yours, and that involves accepting my share of the consequences. I'll talk to Anti-Skill, give them whatever they need for their investigation. Then I expect I'll spend some time in the penitentiary."
"What-!"
Mikoto was silenced before she could say more, Kamui's arms wrapped around her. "It's okay, Misaka-san. I'll be fine. You can even come visit me, if you want. But this is the right thing to do, and I need to accept that it needs to be done. Please understand."
Her anger evaporated and Mikoto deflated. She returned the embrace, resting her head on Kamui's shoulder. After a few moments spent in silence, Kamui pulled away, this time sporting a genuine smile.
"I'm okay with this outcome, Misaka-san. Everyone has to atone in their own way, and this is mine. I'm sure I'll see you again."
Mikoto nodded, not trusting herself to speak, and watched as Kamui turned and walked towards the Anti-Skill vans.
"Are you okay, Misaka-san?"
Uiharu's voice caught her off guard but she smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine, Uiharu-san. I just… I feel like there should be a happier ending for her, is all. She was only trying to help me."
"It's not fair, is it?" Uiharu sounded almost uncertain, and Mikoto shook her head.
"No, it's not. But if I want to be the kind of person that can trust her friends - and deserves their trust - then I need to accept that." She grinned at Uiharu. "I think I have you to thank for that as much as her. I really needed some sense talked into me, and I don't think anyone but you could have done it, Uiharu-san. Thanks for coming to my rescue."
The color of Uiharu's face by the time she finished made Mikoto break out in peels of laughter. The girl was certainly cute. She was starting to see why Saten-san liked teasing her so much.
"How did you know where to find me, anyway?" She scratched at the bandages on her arms. "I know I made something up to tell Kuroko when she wanted to know where I was, but I don't think I ever actually mentioned this place to anyone."
"Oh!" Uiharu clapped her hands together. "I didn't, actually. Your sister told me how to find you."
Mikoto nearly swallowed her tongue. "W-W-What? My sis...ter?"
Uiharu nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I think she was. She didn't really want to answer any questions and we didn't have a lot of time, but she looked just like you! And she said her name was Misaka, so I don't know who else she could be. She even had a Tokiwadai uniform!"
"I s-see. That's ah… that's-"
"She sent me a message with the address, and then helped me find you in the tunnels. we had to split up so we could take care of the generator and rescue you at the same time," Uiharu continued, blissfully unaware of the cold sweat that had formed on Mikoto's brow. What the heck had one of the Sisters been doing here? How had they even known about it? No, that was probably a stupid question. They had a knack for getting into trouble that rivalled her own, and half the time she was at least looking for it. It probably had something to do with how many of them there were.
"Ah!" Uiharu's eyes were wide with startled realization. "I completely forgot! We split up in the facility, but I haven't… I haven't seen her anywhere since we came out! Oh no, she might still be in there, she could be hurt she could be trapped I mean I felt the explosion and-"
"Uiharu-san, calm down, it's alright!" Mikoto smiled and Uiharu seemed to get herself under control. "I'm sure she's okay. Th- she knows how to take care of herself. Trust me."
"She just- she disappeared and I didn't even think to look for her." Uiharu worried her lower lip. "If she was okay, shouldn't we have heard from her by now?"
Mikoto resisted the urge to roll her eyes. If there was one thing she'd learned about her sisters since the end of the Level 6 Shift, it was that they had just has much of a knack of getting themselves out of trouble as they did of getting into it in the first place. Maybe they took after her in more than just appearance.
The thought warmed her somewhat and she closed her eyes, reaching out with the extra sense her ability granted her. It was dangerous, letting her power off the tight leash she'd been keeping it on, but it felt tamer, less like a storm and more like a river. It should be enough for this.
There. Just a tickle, a feather-touch on her mind, but it was there. A familiar sensation. The first time she'd felt it she had been alarmed, frightened even, and run all over the city until she'd tracked down its source. This time it was a comfort, and she smiled.
"Misaka-san?"
"It's nothing." She opened her eyes and leaned back on the arm that didn't hurt so much. "But you don't have to worry about her. She just doesn't like to get involved in this kind of thing if she can help it." She chuckled, waving her hand at the assorted emergency personnel running around. "She's actually a pretty shy girl, though you might not guess it from the way she acts. Or talks. I don't think she would have liked the attention. I'm sure she's around though, I can usually tell when she is."
Uiharu nodded, but her expression was curious. Finally she said, "Why didn't you tell us about her, Misaka-san? You know we would have loved to meet your family."
Mikoto flinched and scratched her cheek. "Yeah… I know. It's just that, well. There was a lot going on. With me. And her. It's… not something I'm really comfortable talking about, and she's been through a lot. I thought it might be kinder of me to just, I don't know, keep my distance."
She sighed and pulled a few strands of hair from her face. "I also didn't want to subject her to Kuroko."
Uiharu giggled at that. "True. I can only imagine what she would do if she knew there were two of you." Her expression sobered somewhat. "Still, I wish you would have told us about her. We're your friends. We want to share in your life, Misaka-san. Even if parts of it are uncomfortable."
It was a little more than that, Mikoto thought. But Uiharu was right. If she was going to trust her friends, she needed to do it all the way. "I know. Or at least, I do now. I'll tell you what. Once we've gotten everything settled a bit I'll see about introducing her to you guys, formally. How's that sound?"
"Great!" Uiharu beamed and Mikoto couldn't help but match her smile.
"Hey, brats!"
Mikoto turned to see Chida waving, jogging over to them.
"We're gonna be shipping you girls off to the hospital," she said. "They want this area clear before they do any more digging into the facility. And I've got the feeling you two could use a little bit of a break."
Uiharu nodded. "I think so too. Ready to go, Misaka-san?"
Mikoto looked out over what was left of the facility she had spent the last three months training in. The gaping maw of the crater she'd left was still smoking, if only slightly, and the front of the main structure was completely gone.
Seeing it was somehow bittersweet. She'd had such high hopes, those many weeks ago. She'd thought she was doing the right thing. And maybe, in a way, she had been. Maybe what she'd set out to do was the right thing and she'd simply gotten twisted up in something she couldn't have foreseen. The results hadn't been pretty, and she was going to have to live with that. But she'd grown, and not just her power. That was worth something, right?
"Yeah. I think I am."
A/N: Well. That's it. That's the story. Save for the epilogue, which I will be getting out in a more timely manner than this chapter, this is the end. The main story is concluded, hopefully to the satisfaction of most readers. The epilogue will serve the purpose of wrapping up and giving us a better look at where everyone sits in the wake of this whole mess. Mostly character stuff. I'm looking forward to it, really.
This chapter is the longest one yet, and perhaps that is fitting for the conclusion. It isn't perfect. There are a lot of things that I might have liked to do a little differently, but that are currently beyond my skill as a writer. I can only hope to continue improving. I like to think I've improved over the course of this story, but it can be so hard to see from within. I am, overall, satisfied with it though.
A quick apology if there are any mistakes in this one. It was beta'ed by the lovely and talented Cun, but I personally did not read through it as many times as perhaps I should have. After a point, I found that i was simply beginning to get frustrated with it. I do like the chapter, but going over it again and again at this point I think would only make it worse, and I'm ready to be finished with it.
The climax is an attempt to keep in line with the themes of the series. I do like to deviate from them, but in general I wanted this story to feel like an arc from the show, and in keeping with that there needed to be a lesson learned at the end. Mikoto learned hers, and she did it without having to actually break character and kill the fool. Hopefully it all feels appropriate without losing that climactic feel I was going for.
As always, please leave me a review if you enjoyed this! Or even if you didn't. If you got this far and didn't like it, I would really like to know why. I strive to improve in my writing endeavors, and the people who read it are a big part of that process. I'll also try to answer any questions I might receive at the end of the epilogue, so if there's anything you'd like to know, feel free to ask.
Thanks to everyone who has read and stuck with me, and I hope to see you again for the final chapter of Big Sister's Responsibility!