Toaru Hantā no Shuryō

A Certain Hunting of the Hunter

"Why am I doing this?" Kuroko asked herself, "why am I going on this ridiculous hunt?" At first it had been a simple coincidence, running across the first of the six. And it wasn't really her choice to bring it home instead of handing it over to Anti-Skill. Kuro had decided that for her, and through that decision made it impossible for her to give it to them later, lest even more suspicion fall upon her.

Kuro had done it out of curiosity and perhaps a bit of sentimentality, though she couldn't be sure if it was possible for her to feel that. She had recognized the signature and wondered, correctly in the end, if it could be the same as that of their childhood friend.

The second had been an easy one, both to retrieve and to justify. Those who had held it had been vicious mercenaries who had likely been the ones that had ordered the attack on her and her friends. She couldn't let people like them have the power of the capacity down.

Though Kuro could not read her thoughts she "saw" the memories that Shiro was pulling up, "felt" the doubt coursing through her, and she guessed that she was having problems with this. She knew Shiro well enough to know what was troubling her. You do this because you're too good a person to let this go by unchecked. You have experienced the abuse of this technology first-hand. You are simply protecting it from those who would abuse it.

"Right... I'm protecting it by putting it in my hands instead... because a nigh-psychotic schizophrenic with a superiority complex who becomes a literal psychopath when exposed to it is perfectly trustworthy," Kuroko spat bitterly.

Despite your sarcasm you are correct. You are trustworthy, more so than most anyone else. Because you admit that you aren't. You have no illusions that you can control this power and use it for good. And because of that you won't be corrupted by it. You are one of the few people that can be trusted because you are more afraid of yourself than you are of anyone else. That is why you will gather all of them and then destroy them. It is something only you can do.

"I am hardly that special," she remarked, but she had to admit there was some truth to what Kuro had said. And either way, she could hardly sit back and wait for someone better suited to the task to handle it. This was something she had to do... for the greater good. Either way it didn't matter now. She was at section 167 now.

She took the thing she had received from Riko out of her bag. She looked it over for how to operate it. It was weird, she had not seen something like it before. From what she could see the front of it was a speaker. Looking on the side of it she could make out two sets of grooves that would suggest that something inside. She found a button in between the two set in a groove of its own like a switch. She pressed the button and two extensions rose from the main body. One looked to be a microphone, the other seemed to be a USB plug, the purpose of which Kuroko didn't quite know. But it didn't matter at the moment. She flipped the switch up and down, but noticed no change in the device as a result. Pressing the button didn't make the extensions retract again either, so nothing she was doing seemed to be having any effect.

"Damnit," She swore, "why didn't he tell me how to work this damn thing when he gave it to me?"

A voice issued from the speaker, "well you left in quite a huff... I didn't have the opportunity. But you seemed to figure it out on your own. The switch turns the microphone on and off," Riko lied.

In truth it had been on since she had left the office and couldn't be turned off manually, only remotely from Riko's desk. The switch was a simple illusion of control, a way to lower the guard of the other person so that they might reveal some sensitive information. But the information he had come across during this particular eavesdropping was not exactly what he was expecting. He had been hoping to discover her reason for wanting the "Horns of Jericho" as they were called. He had been expecting her to be working for someone, someone skilled enough to evade even his detection.

The truth of the matter, if what he had heard was the truth, was surprising, to say the least, but it could be useful later on.

"He's going to a job, so he'll be in the back alleys to avoid detection. You should be able to see him from the top of that building 373.24 meters away at 12.41 degrees," He directed her. The Gaokerena he gave her also had a built in tracker making it quite an easy matter to point her towards her destination.

Kuroko rolled her eyes at his pointlessly exact coordinates but made her way to that point anyway, being used to far more complex geometry than that. From this spot on top of the building she could indeed see a tall black-haired man walking down the wide alley between buildings. He wore a trench coat and, slightly oddly considering that the light of day was waning, large, somewhat gaudy, mirrored sunglasses. He carried a suitcase that looked exactly like the other two.

"Is that him?" Kuroko whispered into the microphone.

"Indeed that is Jango, your target," Riko responded, "Now I've done my part, have fun with the rest." He turned off the microphone and got on with his other work, a deal with one miss Yashinko Honogun for the location of a certain teleporter from Tokiwadai Middle School.

Meanwhile the man had stopped walking. He rotated his head from side to side to work out a crick in his neck then reached into his trench coat. Kuroko watched closely, unsure if she should attempt to talk with him first or simply snatch it away stealthily. But she soon discovered that the choice wasn't necessarily hers to make when a small chunk of the building's roof near her foot was shot off followed by a fairly loud 'ptt' noise. On reflex she teleported down to the ground behind the man, but he wheeled around quickly. Now the gun was pointed directly at her. From her limited knowledge of weaponry she guessed that it was a 9mm with a silencer on the end of it.

The man looked over the rim of his sunglasses for a moment. "Oh, it's just a kid..." He remarked dismissively, severely irritating Kuroko. Still, though he now knew was facing nothing more than a twelve year old, he did not lower his guard at all, nor did he lower his weapon. Years of training taught him to never underestimate an opponent. "Why don't you go and pretend that this never happened, understood?"

Kuroko shook her head and said, "I'm afraid I can't do that. I need that capacity down, and I'd prefer if you just hand it over."

"I'm afraid I can't do that little girl. This is a powerful weapon, one I intend to use for justice, one only I am capable of wielding. I'm not going to hand it over to you just because you asked," he said as he tossed something onto the ground and suddenly he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, "I'll give you one more chance to run or else," he trailed off as he fired a warning shot that just barely missed Kuroko's cheek.

Kurok dropped low to the ground and quickly, but quietly, ran forward, circumventing the smoke to get to his rear. She couldn't see him through the smoke, so couldn't use her needles to paralyze or pin him. But neither could he see h- Another shot missed Kuroko by inches. However this time the miss wasn't intentional, he was really trying to kill her.

Kuroko kept low and on the move, constantly shifting her speed so he couldn't lead his shot.

4.

The smoke cloud didn't seem to be hindering him at all it seemed. Logically it should obscure his vision as much as it did hers, yet all his shots were just barely missing.

5.

She looked at her own options. The smoke was big, too big to guess where he was within it. But it was also quite small, the smoke seemed to disperse-

6.

-quickly ,vanishing entirely before it got above the roofs of the buildings, this also meant that it didn't uncontrollably stretch too far outwards.

7.

Teleporting herself away wouldn't solve anything, and would simply give him a chance to escape while he was out of her range of vision.

8.

There was no cover other than the smoke to hide in or behind, nor anything thick and big enough to protect her from the bullets.

9.

She was getting too far away from Jango but knew she shouldn't risk slowing down to turn around. So instead she switched her orientation from one direction to the other and began running back.

10.

That one was way off target due to her sudden teleportation. Grinning, she got an idea. She began teleporting sporadically. A few feet behind her, a foot to the left, two feet to the right and so on.

11.

Perfect, another shot gone wide. The smokescreen was beginning to fade as well. Now there was only one more thing...

12.

That was it, the last bullet. Now she could see him as well, or at least his neck. She stopped in her tracks then teleported behind him, moving her hand to the nail bands on her thighs for ammunition.

Then Kuroko's hand stopped in its tracks. She heard a crack echo throughout the alley, ringing in her ears like a clap of thunder. She felt a stream of thick liquid run down her lower stomach and back. She saw smoke issuing from a hole.

It took her around a half a second to piece together what had just happened. The second she felt the strength sapping from her legs as white hot pain shot through her. She found herself stumbling backwards then falling as her legs gave out altogether. She landed on her rear propped against the wall, eyes wide in an odd sort of disbelief as she watched her pristine beige vest was slowly tinged red.

Jango walked over. "Don't worry," he said, "that wound is completely non-fatal. You could lay here all night and not bleed to death, the chance of infection is very low as well. It hurts enough to keep your powers in check though, so listen up," he crouched down , "I don't know why you want this thing, and I don't particularly care. But you shouldn't get wrapped up in these grown up matters. And don't worry, I won't hurt you any more if you don't come after me. I'm not evil, in fact I had a little girl myself." he peered over the rim of his glasses to look the girl in her eyes. They were as cold as death and as blank as the void. Then he felt a small hand close tight around his throat.

Kuro lunged forward, pushing Jango onto the ground. She pinned one of his hand with her free one and his other with a foot as the other foot was placed firmly on his hip, keeping his legs in place. Now, completely in her mercy, she tightened her grip around his throat feeling as the muscles spasmed in their frantic bid for oxygen. He began struggling to free himself but the pin that Kuro held him in was strong, even a small girl like her could keep him down.

"You have a little girl and yet you would shoot another with so little provocation? You so readily eliminate those who disagree with your sense of justice and yet you call yourself incorruptible? You think yourself righteous but you are nothing but a corruption to the ideals you used to hold so close. You aren't worthy of the breath you draw," Kuro said these words of fire in her voice of ice as she began hitting his head against the hard ground of the pavement until he slipped from consciousness.

He was still alive, the damage probably wasn't even that major, but he would be unconscious for a while. She stood up and looked down at herself. The bullet wound, though painful, did indeed seem to be fairly minor. Which was good because she had no first aid kit and no wish to go to a hospital. She would wait until she got home, but that still left the matter of the bloodstain. It was quite visible against her brown shirt. If she didn't want to attract attention then it would be better if she covered it up. She glanced at Jango and decided that the trench coat, though too big and not exactly inconspicuous, would at least hide the blood. So she took it off of him and draped it around herself. She noticed that under the coat Jango was wearing what looked to be body armor, though a type she hadn't seen before. It wasn't the standard Anti-Skill issue.

She also picked up his sunglasses. They were too big for her but she was slightly suspicious and so she looked through them to see if she was right. It turns out she was. The glasses seemed to be some sort of infrared detector. That was how he had seen her through the smoke, and why he had looked over them whenever he needed to see her. She dropped them back onto the ground. They were too big and thus useless to her, even if they were quite interesting. Then she picked up the suitcase. It seemed heavier than the other two had been and the inside of the handle had a button which Kuro accidentaly pressed as she picked it up. When pressed it activated the Capacity Down and when pressed again it deactivated it.

It seems that on this one you don't have to do it manually. Shiro pointed out.

"It seems not. I'm guessing it was a personal modification by him, it seems like it would be easy enough to set up, and quite convenient in the context of a fight."

… Are you okay?

"I'm fine."

You're not fine.

"I will be until we get home, then I'll treat the wound and clean the stain."

Is the pain bothering you at all?

"I feel it but it is not bothering me in the slightest. The whip was worse. I'll just take some of the pain medication when we get back, there's still some left." Kuro said as she left the alley and began walking home. It would be a long walk. she attempted to stick to the alleys and backstreets as much as possible, not caring to attract undue attention and hopefully avoid any conflict.

Having arrived at the spot designated by Honogun-sama, Kai sat down and waited, along with her three "colleagues", 'because apparently it takes 4 people just to capture one single person,' she grumbled internally. It was ridiculous that she had to be sent with so many people, they would do nothing but slow her down and steal her glory. She could handle this on her own.

But of course Kai couldn't exactly go against Honogun-sama's orders. That was not the road to a long and happy life, as evidenced by the less than warm dismissal that the last two members to fail her had gotten. She especially felt sorry for Hayami. Such a sweet little girl who made a single mistake and Honogun-sama had almost killed her. But Hayami didn't seem to care about that anymore. She popped those anti-anxiety pills of hers like candy and they made her about as mellow and forgiving as a girl could be. The other one had kind of deserved it, she was a royal bitch at the best of times.

'Of course I'm not exactly being a saint here either.' Honogun-sama's orders had been to "persuade" a student called Shirai Kuroko to come to a designated location. It had been quite vague but the underlying meanings were clear. Shirai Kuroko was the girl who was always hanging around Misaka, who STORM was simultaneously fighting and attempting to get to join. Considering it had been Kai, who's power would allow her to disorient people(making someone like a teleporter completely unable to use their abilities), who had been sent and considering Honogun-sama's choice of words, it was fairly obvious she was being sent to capture, or kidnap rather, this Kuroko girl. With someone so close to Misaka in STORM's grasp they had a number of options available. It was a deplorable tactic, but orders were orders.

The others of the group were not so casual as Kai though. There were two first years and one second year. She knew why they were on edge, or rather she knew the rumors that had been putting them off. Kuroko was quite… infamous at their school for a variety of reasons.

The first were the rumors about her closeness to Misaka. This is what was annoying the second year, who was among the several girls who were infatuated with the level 5. During the first year of school Misaka had been quite "popular". Tokiwadai, after all, was a high class school where most relationships were those of convenience. It was probably the knowledge of this that caused Misaka to be so distant. She would be as courteous as could be but never allowed people to be close to her. So, despite being surrounded by people, she had no friends.

Ever since this pattern was broken by that teleporter, rumors had been popping up and spreading as to what exactly was going on. One rumor said that Kuroko had blackmailed Misaka into a relationship. This was popular amongst those like her second year colleague who didn't want to believe that another person had so easily succeeded doing something that they couldn't. Among others, especially those who didn't like Misaka or were jealous of her ability, the most popular rumor was that they were more than just friends. Of course this theory enflamed Misaka's admirers even more, though they denied any possibility of it being true. Those 2 rumors were the source of a great deal of hate for the teleporter.

Among the first years, however, there were rumors of a different kind. Kai was aware of the fear that many of the first years and even the second and third years had of Kuroko. Whereas last year Misaka's lunch table was full of adoring fans, now it was empty, save for her and that teleporter and a few more that Kuroko approved of. There was an aura of menace around her, a lingering threat that hung in the air and warded off most people. Similar to what Honogun-sama had. Though, from what she had heard, Kuroko's could affect even her, sending the great Honogun-sama scurrying off with her tail between her legs with just her presence and a few words. If it was true it was quite amusing and Kai was sorry to not have seen it.

Though that was a bad move on Kuroko's part, it seemed. Kai knew that half the reason for this mission was some sort of revenge. That was why she had selected the other three members of the group. Not for their abilities, which would be next to useless against a non-disabled teleporter, but because each of them hated Kuroko. It was also why their mission orders had simply told them to bring her to the location alive and in one piece, saying that she didn't care what condition she was in when she got there. Kai didn't care much though, it was simply a job that she needed to do, let the others have their fun, she wouldn't stop them, but she wouldn't participate.

Kai began hearing footsteps echoing down the alley. It seemed that it was time to begin.

Kuro walked down the alleyways, trying hard to avoid people and conflict. So far she had been successful in doing so, but as she turned down this alley she was confronted by the sight of 4 girls, all in Tokiwadai uniforms.

Instantly her mind began trying to form an explanation. This region wasn't exactly a place that such high class girls would be likely to visit, even less so considering they were in a random, dank alley. Which means that they were there for another reason. Since it was unlikely that she had just stumbled upon them by accident, which meant that she was probably the reason they were here. Among school she had many enemies, but they had never actually attacked her. Something was going on to have emboldened these girls.

One of them stepped forward, the tallest, oldest looking one. "Hello. You're Shirai Kuroko correct? Well we're members of STORM and we would appreciate it if you came with us. Peacefully if possible, we wouldn't want you getting hur-"

Kuro knew from Shiro's experience as a teleporter that nothing was more important than being the first to draw and fire. Shiro had only survived so long because she didn't give her opponents a chance to attack her, and Kuro wouldn't either. So before she even finished her sentence she pressed the button on the handle of the suitcase, activating the Capacity Down, incapacitating all of the girls and making them fall to their knees.

Kuro walked up to the tall one, who she guessed was the leader and pushed her with her foot down onto her back. Then she stood over her, her foot putting just enough pressure on her neck to make a point. "I don't care who you are or what reason you have to try and abduct me. But let me make this abundantly clear, you do not threaten me, ever. Is that understood?" she asked, her voice holding no anger or hate or hostility even as she was grinding her foot into the girl's neck. She couldn't talk, but the look of sheer terror in her eyes was answer enough. So she stepped off of her and continued walking down the alley, the loud buzz of the capacity down ringing in the air until she turned it off a fair distance away.

You terrify me.

"You terrify yourself more than I ever could. Besides, you know the power of fear. Those girls, and likely no other STORM member will ever mess with you again."

You still went too far, it was complete overkill and it could end up coming back to haunt me. Remember that I have to clean up the messes you make.

"I know, and I apologize, I am simply trying to protect you, as I have always tried to do."

I know you are… but you're doing it in a very brutal manner, one that could cause a lot of trouble if you overdo it,Then there was a pause and Shiro changed the topic, They said they were STORM. That's the faction from school correct? I wonder why they wanted me.

"It's quite obvious isn't it? It's because you have information that could be used to ruin Yashinko's reputation and quite possibly get her and her father into a lot of trouble. Not only that but you flaunted the fact that you had that information in front of her face, embarrassing her and showing her that you are perfectly willing to bring that information to light. The fact that they hadn't gone after you before now and the fact that it was such minor opposition simply shows how lucky you are, or rather how prideful Yashinko is, that she would avoid using her family's mafia resources."

If that's true then what happens now? If what you said is true, that STORM won't attack me, that means that the only person who she has left to call upon will be those mafia resources. Or maybe I'm being too arrogant… I'm far too high risk for them to bother attacking. Not only am I a high-class student, but I am a member of Judgment as well.

"You are probably right but there is still a risk. But Yashinko is not one to forgive a slight, and she will defend her pride to the death. So depending how much Yashinko can influence her father, you may be at more risk than you think." When she finished speaking she heard a noise. Listening carefully she sighed when she realized what it was, "another distraction it seems," she said to herself as a few raindrops fell on her head.

After dealing with the distraction and making it all the way back to her dorm without another, she put what she had retrieved in a safe place and headed to the front door. She had discarded the trenchcoat a while ago (after looting it's pockets, much to Shiro's chagrin). The rain, which was had been pouring down fairly hard, had mostly washed away the bloodstain. The red was still visible but it was much lighter now, easily able to be mistaken for something else, and the hole in the fabric was so small as to be nearly unnoticeable, especially amidst the red spot. Now all she had to do was open the door, walk in, and head back to her room.

That was the plan anyway, but very few things today had gone according to plan. In the main hall, seemingly waiting for her, was the Dorm Mistress. Her face was drawn in a big frown, her eyes, narrowed into an intimidating glare, roared with that mix of anger and disappointment that seemed to be her default. She slowly walked over to Kuroko, a lion approaching its cornered prey. And as she walked she spoke in a slow harsh voice full of malice and threat, "I have suspected that you had been out late recently, now it seems I have proof. You know this dorm's rules, you know its curfew time, there is no excuse for this behavior." She spoke as judge, jury, and executioner in Kuroko's mock trial, sentencing her without remorse, compassion, or understanding. and now that Kuroko had been sentenced, she would deliver her punishment. She reached for Kuroko's head and twisted the neck with strength that the casual observer would never think of her possessing.

But Kuro was not intimidated by any of this. Much like with herself, the dorm mistress's weapons were fear, brutality, and mercilessness. Kuro would not be swayed, she knew that there was no threat here. As she walked up to her she remained perfectly still, no tremble or quiver in her stance. And as she attempted to snap her neck she pivoted on her feet, going with the motion rather than resisting it. She twisted 360 degrees, and broke out of her hold, now standing beside her. She walked forward towards the staircase calling back, "Give me a demerit if you wish but I have no time for a lecture and no patience for such a pointless show of force." She made her way back to the room, uninterrupted by the now enflamed dorm mistress as she dealt with the other late students who showed up shortly afterwards.

When she got back to her room she saw that the pereskia was still asleep, which was very good.

She made her way to the bathroom, stripping out of her uniform and examining the wound. Though small it was deep, having pierced through her entire body, which was actually pretty lucky, considering it meant that she had no shrapnel lodged in her. However it meant that she did have two different wounds to deal with. She took some pain medication and sleeping pills first and waited for it to kick in before treating the wound with antibacterial medicine, letting the liquid literally pour through her body from one bullet hole to the other to make sure she wouldn't suffer from an infection. Then she placed a pad of gauze on each side and wrapped a bandage around the wound. She also washed her uniform to get the bloodstain out fully, leaving it hanging up to dry for tomorrow morning.

Having finished with that she put got into her pajamas, checked that the pereskia was asleep, and then climbed into bed with her. The day had exhausted her and the sleeping medication was kicking in so she was soon fast asleep.

Author's note: Ahh... the simple elegance of sheer brutality. The biggest advantage Kuro has over Kuroko is her willingness to beat her opponents until they can't stand up anymore with a ruthlessness only a true psychopath is capable of. Of course she's still weaker than Kuroko (for now) due to having no powers, but she's far scarier, no?

On a side note, I discovered the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun character songs just the other day. They're brilliant, they really are. They fit so well with my fanfic it's weird. I mean one of them is called Desu no! Black and White. And Gira Gira Now is even closer. If you haven't heard it check out the lyrics and you'll see what I mean.