Chapter 3 Hand of Judgment
"Ryu... oh Ryu... Can you hear me..." Len's voice said, reaching me through telepathy.
"For god's sake Len shut up, stop talking every hour." I moaned, trying to reach Len via telepathy and obviously failing.
"Ryu... I need you..." Giving up and reaching for the phone, I slowly dialed Len's number, my fingers still sluggish from fatigue and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello, Len speaking."
"Goddamit Len! Shut up and let me get some sleep! I'll meet you when I've slept enough and not a minute before!"
Hanging up with an angry huff, I quickly put the phone back on the floor and slept for a few more hours, before the sunlight shining into my room woke me up for good.
Meeting Len and Tsubaki at the park, my breakfast in a bag from a restaurant on the way, I yawned while rubbing my left eye, "Len, you had better have a dam good reason for contacting me every bloody hour."
"I did it Ryu! I finally got my telepathy to work over long distances! Isn't that awesome? The level upper really works!"
"Wait, when did you two stop using honorifics? And what happened to your arms" Tsubaki asked, her gaze shifting between Len and I.
"Since this moron started contacting me every hour on the hour since 5am, and totally not using honorifics after my name." I muttered darkly, glaring at Len, "And my arms got uhh... Sunburned."
"Sunburned? Their a bit too red for that, wait, how would you get sunburned and only on the arms?" Tsubaki yelled.
"No clue. Should heal by today so no worries, I already put ointment."
"Well whatever, check out what I can do!" Tsubaki said, motioning for us to sit down around the table.
Closing her eyes, Tsubaki started to concentrate, her arms not moving like they usually do when she moves objects. Moving your arm as you use telekinesis is an obvious way to boost the control over the ability, not only are you able to visualize the actual moving process, it makes entering the information into one's Personal Reality easier as well. Breathing faster and shallower, Tsubaki opened her eyes again while starting to lift every object in the area that wasn't heavy or bolted down.
"Whoa!" Len exclaimed, gazing at Tsubaki in pure awe.
Slowly lowering all the objects again, Tsubaki took a deep breath as she wiped the sweat from her brow, "Well boys, what do you think?"
"Level 4 at the least." I said, nodding as I smiled.
"That was awesome! I knew you'd get better!" Len said through telepathy.
"Umm, Len, you should be telling Tsubaki. Not me..."
"I know! I can now contact multiple people now! I swear, if we listen to this thing for a few more days, we'll be level 5 for sure!"
Sitting down and practicing our abilities, I found that Tsubaki and I actually used different methods in our telekinesis. While she simply visualizes the objects moving, I enter quick equations to move the object. Same principle but her method seems to allow for movement of several objects while I tend to be more precise.
Damn I hate maths..
When practicing got boring, Tsubaki and I took turns to touch Len's shoulder, causing him to spin around and look for the person who touched him.
Oh yeah, I nearly forgot what I came here for.
"Len, I think you should delete the level upper." I said, my tone suddenly serious.
"What? Are you crazy? Look how much better we've gotten! You should try it too!" Len exclaimed, surprised at my suggestion.
"Len, right now, all level upper users are being offered protective custody by Judgment. The website that contains the level upper has also been blocked..."
"What? Why?" Tsubaki asked, her face a little paler than usual.
"Right now, users of the level upper across Academy City, are falling unconscious. The cause is unknown, the scans of all these patients is normal. But the only thing that all these people have in common, is the level upper."
"N-no way, that can't be!" Len gasped, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Len, have you seen Hanako-san lately?"
"My cousin? She's at Kirigaoka girls academy right? What about her?"
"She fell unconscious last night."
"No..."
"You should go see her." I said, standing up to leave.
Taking a walk down the route to school, I stopped by a small building run by the 132nd Judgment branch office.
"Yo guys..." I said walking through the door only to be cut off by the only girl inside, "Yo Ryu-kun! Here to hack the bank again?"
"Need any help with anything?" I asked, glaring daggers at Iwanami.
"Ah Ryusuke-san good timing! We've got a bit of outside work to do, you mind handling it?" Kuromaru said, looking over his computer screen.
Maybe I should explain the conversation.
The 132nd branch is in charge of the area around my school dorms, but due to the small area assigned to then they also receive requests to help out elsewhere. However, the Espers in this office all possess abilities ill suited for combat, a telepath, a mind reader, and a lightning rod. All between level 1-2. When it comes to Esper related matters, this branch is heavily reliant on Anti-Skill. While this is what Judgment IS supposed to do, Anti-Skill simply do not have enough time to cater to every need of one single Judgment branch. So this branch started accepting volunteers to do their outside work for them. They may be trained in unarmed combat but this is Academy City, Esper powers are the norm.
"So what's the job this time?" I asked, lazily lounging in one of the chairs as Kuromaru stood up.
"The 177th Judgment branch has asked for help in dealing with the Level Upper distribution points that have popped up all over the city."
"I thought you guys already blocked the download site?"
"We have, but now we are getting tip-offs that people are now selling copies of the Level Upper."
"One problem after another eh?"
"Yeah. I owed the person who passed me this a favor so I was really hoping someone would help us with this."
Looking over the list's format I recognized the style immediately, "You owe Gatekeeper a favour?"
"Yeah, we had some hacker problems and the firewall she helped us with really keeps them out so..."
"Consider it done." I replied, taking the list and giving it a look over, "Mind sending the details to my phone? It'll be a bit hard to carry this report around."
"Sure, I'll send it to you after this. Oh and here's your Judgment armband so you don't get arrested as a vigilante. You remember our rules right?" Kuromaru said, handing me a green armband with white stripes and a shield emblazoned on it.
"Give them a warning first, don't attack unless in defense and don't go for the kill. Honestly, how would a Level 2 kill anyone?"
"And don't use unnecessary or extreme force! Handcuff them if you have the chance no need to knock them out cold, I have enough reports to wrte already."
"Got it." I said, pulling on the armband and walking out the door.
Now I feel like I'm the riot police... And someone just armed the mob. -Sigh-
Heading to the abandoned buildings in District 9 I heard sounds of a scuffle around the corner and prepared to jump in until I heard a voice, "Hahaha, so how many ribs did I get?"
Someone's in trouble!
Looking around the corner to gauge the situation, my jaw dropped at what I saw. Two thugs out but recovering quickly, two civilians, one is Ruiko and the other one badly injured and one thug now treating Shirai as his own personal punching bag.
How exactly is she control of the situation!
Pulling out my phone and dialing Anti-Skill, I was surprised to hear my PE teacher on the line, "Anti-Skill, what seems to be the problem?"
"3 Espers involved in assault, one Judgment has already taken out two of the Espers and is still fighting the third. The Judgment is going to need backup."
"Wait a second, this voice... Aren't you..."
"I'm at the abandoned lock of buildings in the 9th district, please hurry." I said quickly, cutting the call before Yomikowa-sensei recognizes me.
Shirai and scumbag number 3 are busy doing the tango inside the building so I guess it's up to me to wipe the other two out for good.
Taking off the Judgment band before Ruiko thinks that I'm in Judgment, I ran around the corner faking surprise at what I saw, "What's going on here?"
"Ryu-kun?" Ruiko said, turning to look in my direction.
"He's a friend if yours?" the injured kid asked.
"Yea I am. C'mon let's get you guys out of here." I said, hoisting the guy to his feet with a short grunt.
"We can't leave yet!" Ruiko shouted, causing me to nearly drop the guy in surprise.
"Why not?"
"Shirai-san's still fighting inside! We can't just leave her in there!"
"The only thing WE can do is not get in the way!" I retorted only to notice the thugs getting up again, "Oh shit... I was hoping to be out of here before you twits woke up."
"Ugggh my head..." the one with a split mustache said from behind me, getting to his feet.
The man I was facing, apparently up first, glared at me as he sized me up, "You looking for trouble kid?"
"I'm only here to get my friends out. Just let us walk." I replied calmly, staring him straight in the eye, my legs shaking slightly.
It's two against one and I have no idea what their abilities are, all it has to be is a non physical ability or one that I have to plan against and it's all over.
Shirai took then out easily enough but that victory was only because she was grossly underestimated, these two don't look stupid enough to make the sane mistake twice.
"Ha! You think we'll just let you go? Those two are Level 0's and can't help you at all. We just got our asses owned by a little girl and we were about to take it out on someone, curse your misfortune kid!"
"Watch out! He's a telekinetic!" Ruiko yelled.
That narrows down what he's about to do.
Watching him raise his arm and thrust it forward, I quickly tumbled to my right, avoiding several pieces of debris that shot to the space I was in before dodged, hitting the guy who was trying to sneak up behind me.
Taken aback by his mistake, the man thrust his arm forward again, aiming at the spot that I was now crouching in.
Using telekinesis as well, I did the necessary calculations: [x+y^5 - 6[ab x c] + yx^3]: Tilt 5 degrees to my right.
Rolling to my left and conveniently avoiding the attack.
"Tch you freaking grasshopper, how long do you plan to dodge?"
Not replying his question, I prepared my mind for the next attack which came less than a second later.
[x+z^4 - 5[xb/c] + ya^3]: 10 degrees down angle, hit the ground early.
Hopping backwards to dodge again, the bricks I had tried to dip suddenly turned towards me!
Shit!
5![ay^5 x 0]: All bricks reverse direction
Not able to reverse the full momentum of the bricks I was temporarily winded as the bricks landed a few solid hits on my chest causing me to fall ungracefully on my ass.
"Ha! You think I won't predict where you will roll? Come! Dodge more! I'll make short work of you brat!"
Slowly getting back onto my feet while trying to refill my lungs with air, I grabbed a thin metal pole about a meter long and flexed my arm, testing it's weight.
"Gonna attack me finally! Come!"
This pole is a bit heavy, but with telekinesis I should be able to move it fast enough. If not, I'll have to stop all active abilities and start using the only Level 3 ability in my arsenal.
"I'm not gonna give you an opening!" the man yelled, throwing more fallen pieces of junk at me.
I don't expect you to!
Swinging the pole like a baseball bat, I managed to knock away the projectiles, not back at the man, but only deflecting them behind me to minimize the arc of my swings.
Eventually, he'll run out of junk. And when that happens, that's my chance so for now...
"Eh?" the man muttered, feeling no more items to throw behind him.
"Think you're so clever eh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Did you think you'd win when I run out of things to throw? Well you're WRONG!" the man screamed, drawing his arms back, pulling back his arms.
Now! [xy^c 8|4*5 - ct/f| + yx/ab + c]: everything converge 10 meters in front of me.
Hitting the floor as the junk flew over me, they kept going along the path I programmed right into the man as he frantically tried to stop his own attack only to have all the junk slam into him like bullets. Lifted several meters into the air, the man slammed down onto his back out cold.
"Wow, Ryu-kun that was so cool! Don't you have an ability though? Why didn't you use it?" Ruiko asked, standing as she walked over.
"It's not suitable for fighting." I replied, hearing the building start to shake.
"The building is about to collapse! Get out of here!" the kid shouted, running as fast as he could away from the alley as the rumbling noise got louder and louder.
Splitting up from Ruiko and running in a different direction, I saw a column of smoke rise from the building Ruiko and I were at before and breathed a small sigh of relief as I gave myself a small pat on the back. Two civilians saved and two thugs knocked out, I'm sure Shirai will take care of them, and Anti- Skill should be there by now.
If only Ruiko wasn't there, I wouldn't feel so bad about going all out. I wouldn't have slept well after flashing my ability in front of her who clearly feels ashamed of having no ability. That and I can't have too many people that know me knowing what my ability actually is.
Stopping by a few more meeting spots, I settled most of the Level Upper sellers by shocking them with several hundred thousand volt blasts akin to how tasers work to paralyze them long enough to confiscate the mp3 players.
It was quite sloppy, I could practically feel them recovering as I leave and had to make a run for it, despite all my experience from Misaka, I'd say my control is still at Level 2.
Returning back to the Judgment branch to drop off the spoils and the armband, I decided to have a nice dinner and call it a day.
Taking a shortcut through an alleyway that I knew quite well to a good chicken place on the other side, I paused as I heard the sound of footsteps.
The footsteps are uneven and heavy, not a good sign.
Turning to the source of the sound, a girl in Tokiwadai uniform came hurtling around the corner and tried to make a staggered limp for the alley's exit. Wait a minute, I know her! Misaka Mikoto!
"Misaka-san, what's wrong?" I asked, finally noticing the blood dripping from her forehead as she collapsed.
Blood... Dripping from her forehead...
Freezing like a deer caught in the headlights, a shiver ran down my spine as I felt a presence approaching.
This presence, it made all my hair stand on edge, and goosebumps to appear on my arms, this aura, is an aura of death.
Staring in horror at who, no, at what was coming down the corridor, I broke out in cold sweat at the figure slowly approaching me almost in a lazy manner. Out of 7 Level 5 Espers in a population of 2.3 million, one Esper stood above them all.
Accelerator.
The power to control vectors. How he does it was never stated. But to have an absurd ability like that, and to be Level 5...
The term "monster" would be appropriate here.
Misaka, nearly half dead at my feet, and death incarnate approaching, the only logical thing to do would be to run right? I wouldn't be faulted, a Level 2 running from a Level 5, it's the only logical choice. Too bad Misaka, self preservation first if it's either you or me I'd definitely save myself first.
But even so, why does Misaka have such a small AIM field, I can barely sense it, AIM fields don't change regardless of how badly you're injured. Her AIM field should be on the scale of Accelerator's.
"R-run." MISAKA says, urging the bystander to take an act of self preservation.
"What?" I could only reply to the girl who spoke in a weird emotionless tone.
"Get away from here." MISAKA says weakly, repeating her previous warning with more urgency.
Before I could react, Accelerator spoke up, "Man, I'm just supposed to kill clones, so why the hell are civilians showing up in the middle of the experiments?"
AIM field replicated, Personal Reality 43% compatible, now adapting to my own Reality.
Stepping out of the shadows, Accelerator looked at me with a mad gleam in his eyes, "And what's this? Some third rate loser? No witnesses are allowed. You know what that means right?"
This guy, can kill me without a second thought and sleep like a baby after that, come on legs, move! Get me out of here!
Taking one step before running to dash out of the alley, the ground below me shattered like glass as a fountain of rocks shot me into the air, landing me in a crumpled mess, deeper in the alley.
"Oi oi, don't give me extra work, bad enough I have to kill you, I don't want to have to chase you as well." Accelerator sneered as what can only be described as the sound of bone crunching along with a scream of pain from Misaka could be heard.
"This is to stop you from running away while I deal with the third rate over there."
Turning to face me again, I could literally count the seconds as he slowly walked towards me, I may have been on my feet again, but fighting against Accelerator? I might as well be lying down.
Personal Reality adapted to my own. Now emitting AIM field to test ability.
As soon as I immersed myself in Accelerator's Personal Reality, a flood of calculations and numbers came flooding into my mind, the amount of calculations needed to use this ability is staggering.
"If you aren't going to attack me, I'll just start first!" Accelerator yelled, kicking the ground and sending another hail of stones and broken pieces of pavement hurtling at me.
How am I supposed to use this ability?
Entering numbers and figures at random, it had practically no effect on the rocks, only lessening the impact as I was peppered from head to toe by rocks as big as golf balls to baseballs.
Visualization apparently doesn't work with this ability.
I need to get out of here, NOW.
If I put the vector under my foot to forward at maximum velocity, that would shoot me forward right?
Wrong!
Setting the calculation in my head into action, the forward vector under my foot cause me to shoot backwards like a gun out of a barrel down the alley.
I swear I am never doing this again.
As the alley came to a quick end, I braced myself as the last thought that went through my mind was...
Fuck
Crashing through the wall into a restaurant kitchen, food was the last thing on my mind as I pulled my battered body out of the kitchen and onto the road before collapsing.
But even the distance I had made between myself and Accelerator couldn't stop the bloodcurdling scream that echoed through the alleys and into my ears.
That girl, according to Accelerator, was a clone of Misaka. That clone, just died at the hands of a murdering psychopath. As my visioned darkened, only one thought lingered in my mind, regret. Regret for a clone, a human life, Lost forever.
Deep down inside, something died inside me as well, the illusion of a perfect Academy City. The "all is good and happy" attitude I had up until now.
This, is the Dark side of Academy City.
-End of Chapter 3-
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