Chapter 13

The next morning, As Coro stepped onto the bridge in human form she saw a Rabbit sitting on the ship's wheel and a sparrow on the front window, comically looking through a pair of binoculars. Coro couldn't stand it and burst out laughing. As Tery walked onto the bridge and saw Coro on the ground in tears from laughing, Ashitaka came in through the door, as a rabbit! Trying to contain himself, Tery got a bucket of cold water and dumped it on all of them.

After everyone was changed back into human form, Coro walked to the speaking tubes and yelled, "Harrow! Come to the Bridge immediately!"

Within moments, Harrow walked onto the bridge and faced Coro.

"Harrow, we're going to have a competition to see who can get the new crew member the fastest. Tery will stay here with everyone else and take care of Sky." Coro explained to him.

"First off, Who am I getting and where are they?" Harrow asked confused.

"Misaka Mokoto, and we're racing in there." Coro replied as she pointed out the window at the city in the distance.

"Time limit?" Harrow asked for clarification.

"Two months at most." Coro told him before thinking, 'he always takes so long.'

'I might make it three months.' Coro heard Tery add mentally.

"On your mark! Get set! Go!" San counted down before they raced out opposite doors and launched off Exile.

"We might as well set up shop here." Tery sighed as he set Sky gently down on the ground.

…

Harrow jumped off Sky and soared over the ground. As he entered the city limits he heard a girl cry out from below min in one of the back alley streets.

'I may as well help, it'll take even Coro several days to find her target in this city.' Harrow thought as he dropped onto the ground around the corner from where the girl was. Casualty, Harrow walked around the corner and saw a guy holding a girl who was sparking off electricity.

"That won't work on me girly. I can turn my body to stone and negate your shock." Harrow heard him say as he held the girl against the brick wall.

"Hey! Let her go and pick on someone your own size!" Harrow yelled at the man.

The man turned and looked at Harrow, "Scram! Unless you don't know what's good for you!" the mugger yelled at him, dropping the girl and stood his full height to look down on Harrow.

"I know what's best for me and that girl there." Harrow said before he tried to punch the man in the jaw. The man stopped Harrow's punch by grabbing his hand, with a smirk harrow turned around and hurled the guy over his shoulder and into a brick wall at the end of the ally.

"You'll pay for that you punk!" the man screamed a second later as he charged back at Harrow. Slowly, Harrow pulled out a quarter from his pocket and aimed at the man thinking, 'Man it's a good thing I practiced all of my powers on Sky.'

"Ha! You think you can hurt me with that! Only one of the Level fives can hurt me!" The man mocked as he charged Harrow.

"But I'm not a level five." Harrow replied back calmly and venomously as Volts of electricity covered him in an arching dome. Releasing all the power at once though his arm, Harrow watched as the quarter was lifted off his hand and blasted towards the man. The discharge from the shot expanded out in a massive blast of electricity and light. As the electricity dissipated, Harrow looked around, the man was nowhere in sight, one of the many dumpsters lining the walls was melted to the ground, and in front of Harrow's foot was a five foot wide scorch mark that narrowed to a point several hundred feet farther down the alley.

Standing still, Harrow remembered the girl behind him and turned around to find her. She was curled up in a ball next to the brick wall. Harrow slowly walked over to her and gently touched her shoulder and asked, "Are you ok? The man's gone now."

...

The girl flinched as she felt him touch her and had the strange feeling of power leaving her, while at the same time entering her body. She uncurled and stood up facing him a fet feet away, holding a silver coin on top of her fist.

"Get away!" She yelled at him before arching the coin towards him with all her power. The coin from the girl's hand launched with far less power than Harrow's had done, zapped towards him. Harrow reacted instantly and held out his hand in front of him.

As the electricity faded, the girl was surprised to find Harrow still standing in front of her but, was even more shocked when he held out his hand towards her and asked, "Here, do you want this back?", calmly opening his hand, revealing a slightly melted silver coin.

...

Harrow watched as the girl's legs buckled. Racing forward, Harrow just managed to catch her in his arms as she collapsed.

"We need to get you somewhere safe." he said to himself as he picked her up and walked out of the ally. Looking around, Harrow spotted a sign to his right, pointing down the road three miles for a hospital.

'Well, at least it isn't four miles.' Harrow thought to himself as he walked. Passing several restaurants as he walked, Harrow suddenly heard a gasp from the nearest restaurant, before three girls ran from it and blocked his path.

"Who are you and what are you doing with Akia?!" one of the girls yelled at him as he stopped a few feet in front of them.

"I'm taking her to the hospital. I just stopped a guy from mugging and beating her up a few alleys back." Harrow explained cautiously to the trio.

"Lier! Akia is a level four railgunner. She doesn't need any help defending herself!" they yelled in protest.

"Hi guys...Please believe this man." the girl said weakly from Harrow's arms, startling him.

" ..you need to rest, I'm taking you to the nearest hospital." Harrow told her before he turned to the trio of girls, "Sorry, but I need through."

With three large strides, Harrow jumped over the girl's heads and continued to walk quickly to the hospital. As he arrived an got the girl checked in, the nurse pulled out a card from the girl's purse and swiped it through the machine.

"Akia Benjite, level four, relative of Misaka Mokoto, level five railgunner. Sir, if you could please sit over there and wait we'll have someone bring you to her room after the checkup." the nurse read off the screen.

Several minutes passed before a nurse walked up to Harrow and took him down the hall to a room where the girl was laying in a bed. As Harrow entered the room, the girl opened her eyes and saw him before sitting up. As Harrow sat down on the bed next to her's and took off his hat the girl kept staring at him with a curious look in her eyes.

"Who are you?" she asked quietly as she layed back on some of the pillows.

"My name is Harrow Sharp, I'm the engineer in my friend's ship….I take it that you're Akia?" Harrow said back as he rested his chin on his hands, while his hat sat smoking lightly on the bed next to him.

"Your hat...it's smoking. How?" she said as she caught sight of the hat.

"Nice change in subject. I was going to tell you, but you didn't answer my question." Harrow replied with a smile at the girl's way of avoiding questions.

"Yeah. My name is Akia Benjite and I must say, thankyou for saving me." She said with defeat.

"There, that wasn't so bad now, was it." Harrow said with a smile as he picked up his hat and placed it in her hands.

"This hat uses steam from my heart to smoke, the more emotion I have, the more steam comes out." Harrow explained happily with a feeling of trust in Akia. For several minutes they both sat there in silence with Harrow watching Akia, and Akia shifting her eyes between the hat and Harrow.

"I take it you have a question." Harrow told her, taking the improv.

"Um...I'm a level four railgunner, one of only twenty in the city, and seven of those are level fives. They are the strongest in the city with their esper powers, and yet, here you are with a railgun ability that makes mine look peuny. So, what level are you?" She hesitantly asked Harrow.

"First off, what are 'esper powers', and what are levels?" Harrow asked her, knocking her off guard.

"How can you not know what esper powers and Levels are? The whole world practically knows." Akia replied incredulously before realizing, "Unless...you're-"

"Not from this planet." Harrow said interrupting her, "Well, dimension is more like it. I'm just one of a few crew mates who can travel between them. Currently we are looking for our crew members, people chosen to help protect these dimensions, I was interrupted in my search to save you."

"So you must enroll in my school to see what your power levels are!" Akia told him as her friends burst into the room.

"Akia! Thank Goodness!" they said as they sat down on the end of the bed Harrow was on.

"Guys, meet our new classmate, Harrow sharp!"Akia explained happily to them, "He's going to help us win in the tournament against Misika!"

"What's this tournament about?" Harrow asked worriedly.

"two school grades fight against each other in an annual game. The field is two miles long and a half mile wide. The goal is to knock down poles on the opposing teams side. If we win, we get to ask one person on the other team to do anything we want!" Akia and her friends explained.

"But first we need to get you registered and tested tomorrow. By the way, where is he going to stay?" the girls asked among themselves.

"He cant stay with us." the three explained.

"I guess I'm stuck with the short straw." Akia said with a sigh.

"Hey! what is that supposed to mean?" Harrow asked with a grin.

"Akia, your good to go." A nurse told them as she walked by the room.

…