Disclaimer: I do not own the To Aru or the Prototype series. All characters aside from my own Original Characters belong to their respective owners.

The next thing I remember after collapsing in the alleyway was groggily waking up in a hospital bed surrounded by various pieces of medical equipment. Tubes and needles going into my arms, pads on my chest connected to where my heart should be, and a breathing mask on my face. Remembering what happened the night before I quickly looked at my hands. Much to my relief they looked completely normal. However, I clenched my head in pain at the memories of those soldiers and their dying breaths. What happened last night wasn't a dream. I knew I killed them, that I'm a murderer.

"So you're awake." I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

Whipping my head around to see who it was, I saw a kindly looking bald old man with a frog like face. He also wore a white coat. The same one doctors wear. The doctors that experiment on you. The doctors that torture you. The doctors that kill you.

I practically leaped out of the bed, pulling or tearing out all of the appliances attached to me before I backed into the corner. "Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me. Please don't hurt me." I muttered over and over as I curled up in fear.

I could still remember what the doctors directing the soldiers said with gleeful smiles on their faces. "Get the boy. It doesn't matter if you have to take off a few limbs. We need him for our experiments." As they said those words flashes of memories went through my mind of the people who were cried in pain at the excruciating and vile experiments conducted by those men.

The old man in the lab coat only looked confused at my behavior for a moment before he walked over and put his hand out. "I'm not going to hurt you, my job as a doctor is to help heal people."

I could only stare at him shocked. "But doctors experiment on people, hurt them."

He eyebrows furrowed at my words before relaxing, "You can trust me, I'm not that kind of doctor."

"But I killed people, I'm a murderer."

"That doesn't matter. Any patient in my hospital is treated as such until they leave. I promise to help you until you leave this place for good."

"Really?" I asked with caution. I sought confirmation the only way I knew how at that age. I stuck out my pinky finger in a childish gesture. "Promise?"

He returned the gesture, "I promise."

My Room – Heaven Canceller's Hospital

"That dream again." I said to myself as I got up to the sound of my alarm clock once more. I tend to dream about old memories rather than wild fantasies as I sleep. I don't know why, but I just do. That particular one was the first time I met and talked to Jii-chan.

After changing into my uniform, brushing my teeth, and washing my face I checked on Ina again. She was still sleeping peacefully, a peace I didn't want to disrupt. I quietly closed the door before heading down to the lobby. Jii-chan still wasn't home. As a result I went about my usual "make sure I have everything I need for school then mix blood smoothie for lunch" routine I've done everyday since fourth grade in almost total silence. Afterward there was nothing left to do but leave for school.

Class 7-A – Sakugawa Middle School

The sky was miserably gray and full of clouds, but the weather forecast says that it would clear up later in the day after a brief shower. The weather forecasts here in Academy City aren't really forecasts since they are one hundred percent accurate thanks to Tree Diagram, the world's most powerful supercomputer. It is aboard the satellite Orihime #1 and calculates the exact movement of particles in the atmosphere for an entire month in minutes. It's pretty handy, but you'd think there are more useful things to do with such a powerful supercomputer right?

Anyway as I entered class there was a lot of chatter going on about the unexplained property damage that occurred last night. Uiharu and Saten were talking about it as well as I sat down at my seat and began unpacking.

"Good morning guys." I said as I pulled out my notebook.

"Good morning Sieg-san. Did you hear about the property damage last night?" said Uiharu.

"Who didn't? Everyone here is talking about it." I said rather nonchalantly.

"You're not that into gossip are you Sieg?" Saten said while pouting. Comes in the territory of lacking much of a social life.

"I guess I'm not, did anything interesting happen?" Though I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened.

"They said there were dumpsters, trash bins, and rocks everywhere! One street was filled with broken glass! Another one had a gas explosion! It took hours to put out the fire!" Uiharu said excitedly.

Yup. That was my run last night in a nutshell.

"I suppose that is sort of a big deal, but don't these things happen all the time here?" I asked trying to change the subject. I don't really want people talking about my escapades.

"I guess so, but still you have to admit it's exciting!" I admit being chased by the strongest Level 5 as he tries to murder you and your friend's clone is very exciting (and freaking terrifying/dangerous).

"I guess it is." I then remembered my Judgment armband, my surefire way to change the subject.

"Say do you know what else happened last night?"

"Eh, what do you mean Sieg-san?"

I brandished my armband with a toothy smile, "I got accepted as an official member of Judgment."

"Ehhhhh!" said both of them shocked.

"But how? Uiharu said you have to go through at least four months of training before you can join!"

"I beat Major Armstrong in a fight, so his older sister acknowledged me and let me join early."

"You beat Major Armstrong! How is that possible!"

"Who's Major Armstrong?" asked Saten, completely unaware of who he is.

"He's a Major in the Amestrian military! They say that he and his older sister General Armstrong can fight Level Three and Four espers!" replied Uiharu.

"Plus he's really buff and tall, so his punches hurt." I added.

"I remember hearing something about Amestria in social studies class. It's a country in Europe right?"

"It's an Eastern European country that prides itself on its military accomplishments led by a Fuhrer like Fascist Germany."

"I see, so fighting and winning against someone from there is really tough."

"Yeah, he pounded me into the pavement before I could beat him."

"So um, I'll see you after school at the Judgment office I guess."

"Wait Uiharu, don't you remember that Misaka-san and Shirai-san invited us to the Garden of Learning!"

"That's right! I totally forgot!"

The Garden of Learning is a part of Academy City full of shops and stores as well as housing the five most prestigious girl schools in Academy City, including Tokiwadai Middle School. Entry is strictly regulated and monitored with gates and a countless number of security cameras. Above all boys aren't allowed in.

"I guess it'll just be me and Konori-senpai at the office then."

"Eh, you met Konori-senpai?"

"She gave me directions to the Training Center."

"Oh I see." The bell then rang.

"Alright class, it's time to begin." And so we sat through another day of school.

Judgment 177th Branch Office

After school we went our separate ways. They went to the Garden of Learning while I headed to the Judgment Office, which thankfully wasn't that far from school. The office was filled with boxes of all kinds, probably filled with files. The cubicle dividers made it seem crowded, but it's actually pretty spacious and large enough to for several people to work in comfortably.

As I walked in I saw Konori-senpai at her desk sifting through paperwork. I wasn't really sure what to do in this situation so I just knocked on a nearby cubicle divider. She looked up at her paperwork with a surprised look on her face.

"Eh, Sieg-san, what are you doing here?"

"Um, reporting for duty I guess." I showed her my armband as proof.

"You mean you cleared training in one day!"

"Uh, yes."

She paused for a moment before continuing, "Well it's always good to have another helping hand here. Since Shirai-san is out can I trust you with today's morning patrol?"

"Yes ma'am!" I said saluting.

"I almost forgot," she as reached into her desk and pulled out a small earbud like device, "don't forget your com link. You'll need it in case you need to contact the office here or Anti-Skill."

"Thank you." I said taking it from her hand, "I won't let you down!"

"I'm sure you won't."

I saluted once more before I left the building.

Streets of Academy City

As far as I know a patrol is simply walking around the city checking for any crimes in process before taking care of them/reporting them to Anti-Skill. Given the trouble magnet I am it really didn't take that long for me to run straight into trouble.

"Someone help!" I heard a voice yell as I walked by the park. After tying on my armband I rushed towards the sight of the commotion to see a purple haired woman in her early twenties wearing bunny ears. Her eyes were heterochromic, one blue, one red, and she otherwise wore a fairly normal outfit consisting of a loose white jacket and a black dress. She was being attacked by a bunch of delinquents with bats and other weapons. But as I looked more closely at the scene I noticed something was off. The delinquents' eyes were glazed over and their faces were blank, as though they were hypnotized.

"You there please help!" It's not like I have much choice, it's my job after all.

"Freeze! I'm from Judgment!" They didn't, instead they turned to me and began to attack!

Learning from the last time I fought a gang, I didn't play around in this fight. Aiming for the one in front, I landed a spinning high kick on one side of his head before quickly kicking it back on other side, followed by a kick to the back of his head. This is a Tae Kwan Do maneuver called Hwechook. It utilizes centrifugal force and its sequential nature in inflict maximum damage by knocking the target's head between the attacks which doubles the force of the strike. As I expected my target crumpled on the floor unconscious.

The next two rushed me together. I took a horse stance and grabbed them both by their faces the way you'd grab a bull by the horns, stopping them completely. I then knocked their heads together pretty badly, though not enough to seriously injure them. The sound of footsteps behind me indicated that the other two were trying to flank me. I let them try to tackle me to make sure they were in range. Grabbing them both with one arm each, I then performed a German suplex to knock them both out instantly. I suppose my moves were a bit flashy and slow but they got the job done.

"Thank you young man! You saved me from a lot of trouble!" said the rabbit eared woman as she came over while I dusted off my hands.

"Say, you didn't use your esper power did you?"

"No, I suppose not."

"You don't know what your esper power, is that the truth?" I felt my brow furrow. How did she know that?

"I've been watching you for a while, and I think I know what it is."

"IF you know then what is it?"

"Come and I'll show you." I could tell that something is off with this lady, and it's not just her rabbit ears. Still a chance to learn my true espers powers could prove pretty handy, so I decided to play along for the time being.

She led me over to an empty area under a bridge and pulled out from her jacket a rather ornate yet futuristic white, silver, and black gauntlet with a gray jewel inside.

"Put this on. It's called the Booster. It will let you use your powers to their fullest." I hesitated at first, expecting some kind of trap, but I eventually put it on. Despite its somewhat bulky and restrictive appearance it was actually pretty light and easy to move my hand in.

"Now imagine yourself having Misaka Mikoto's powers." Huh? Is she suggesting that I'm an electromaster? Still it couldn't hurt right? I closed my eyes and tried to envision having lightning and electricity crackling at of my fingertips. I opened them as I heard the familiar sounds coming from my gloved hand, electricity dancing in my palm.

"Whoa!" I could only marvel at the spectacle of watching lightning crackle and twist right in front of me and completely at my command. I began experimenting with it, shaping it and controlling its movements with my fingers. I even managed to playfully imitate the Raikiri from a certain ninja manga. Eat your heart out Kakashi!

"Now why don't you try shooting it?" How would you shoot lightning? I ended up just trying the fling it the way you'd fling a fastball. Sure enough a bolt of lightning shot out of my hands into empty space under the bridge. Suddenly I felt kind of tired, but it's nothing that a blood packet or two couldn't fix.

"Interesting. You only put out about two hundred million volts as your max, a fifth of the Railgun's maximum output, but still impressive." Wait, did she just say I threw two hundred million volts worth of lightning? That's crazy! At least enough to power a house for a month or short out a city block if fired at a power plant!

"I have an arcade coin here, do you mind trying to imitate the Railgun?" She wants me to try and pull of Misaka's signature move? Can you even pull that off with two hundred million volts? It's worth a shot. I flicked the coin into the air, imagining a bolt of lightning being channeled into my thumb. I then hit it with my thumb the same way you'd open a can of soda. Sure enough the coin flew at an incredible speed in an orange line before vanishing into dust. It didn't wear me out as much as last time, but I could still feel a loss of energy.

"By my calculations that only went at the speed of sound, and only a range of twenty five meters. Not as effective as the Railgun's but still but good enough."

"Now try to imagine yourself teleporting onto that bridge." Wait, what? Whatever I did just now seemed to indicate that I was an electromaster. I gave an answer yesterday to that annoying teacher that espers could not have more than one power.

"But aren't I an electromaster? I don't think you can have more than one power." I asked with a questioning look on my face.

"Don't think, just do! I don't have the time to be talked back to!" This woman sure is bossy, fine let's humor her.

I then tried to imagine myself being suddenly transported onto the bridge. I would have tried to work out the 11-dimensional spacial coordinates, but we didn't get to that in math class yet nor have I ever practiced doing so before. Much to my surprise, I suddenly found myself landing on the bridge as the rabbit eared lady expected. But this shouldn't be possible. What the heck is going on?

"Let's try one more. Try to emit an electron bean from your hand." An electron beam? Is she asking me to shoot a laser? I tried imagining a laser shooting out of my palm, but nothing happened.

"This confirms my suspicions. Your ability is to imitate powers you're familiar with up to Level 4, with Level 5 powers being scaled down to their Level 4 versions. I dub it, Imagine Shadow! My hypothesis was almost completely correct!" she cheered, finishing with a noblewoman's laugh of "Oh, ho, ho, ho, ho."

So I don't have two powers, just an ability that lets me imitate other powers that I'm familiar with. This could be pretty handy. The name for it sounds pretty badass too.

"Now that we're done testing, you'll become my servant!" Her voice began to echo and vibrate almost like a choir in a church. This was the catch I knew I had coming.

I began to feel kind of sick (a virus feeling sick, ha) at the sound of her voice. I put my fingers on my temples as though I were having a headache. My head felt tingly but pressured as if someone was trying to force their way into it.

"You will know no master other than me! You will do as I say!" the rabbit eared woman continued.

The feeling, however, passed. Hypnotism and mind control don't work too well on me for three reasons. One, I don't really have a human brain to control, so whatever attempts at controlling my brainwaves tend to fail. Second, my dad is living in my head too. Should anything try to influence me and by extension him, he'd start thrashing around in my mind pretty quickly. Third, I refuse to be anyone's servant. I don't mind working for people, but only if it's voluntary. Anyone who tries to pull what she just did is going to have to face the music.

"Sorry miss, but your little trick just failed."

"That's not possible!" She began to back away slowly, shocked at the ineffectiveness of her technique.

"Now, tell me what exactly you were trying to do." I said in a low, inhuman growl, "Depending on your answer I may spare you."

She began to try and flee, but I turned my left arm into what my Dad and Mr. Heller call a whipfist. I used it the same way you'd use its namesake, quickly wrapping around her leg and pulling it out from under her.

"Now let's try this again. You can tell me what you were trying to do and everything you know about my power. Your other option is to be consumed by me and I can find out that way. I'll give you five seconds to make your decision."

"B-but!"

"Five."

"That's unfair!"

"Four."

"You're leaving me no choice!"

"Three."

"How could I possibly-"

"Two."

"Bastard!"

"One."

"Fine!" she cried, yanking on her rabbit ears. "I'll talk."

"That's better." I said, returning my voice to normal.

"My name is Usamimi. I've been following you for the past few days. I realized your power when I analyzed your brainwaves and AIM Diffusion field with my device. It was extraordinarily adaptive and matched any esper you were around with for a long period of time. From this I inferred that you'd be able to copy the power of any esper you are familiar with. I lured you here to test my theory! I just wanted to know all about your power! That's all I swear!" At this point she was cowering on the floor on the verge of crying.

I guess I was a bit harsh wasn't I?

"Sorry for being so harsh, it's just that I really don't want to be anyone's slave. As long as you don't do anything wrong I don't mind working with you."

She looked up at me the way a pleading child would, "Really?"

"Yeah, really." she looked joyful for a moment. "But I have to set some rules."

Her face fell a bit. "First, you can't stalk me. It's creepy. Second, I'll let you test my ability when I get a new power here. I'll have to make an appointment with you first. So you better not just pop out of nowhere and ask me! Third, you can't do anything illegal or otherwise harmful to other people. As long as you follow these rules I'll gladly work with you."

She suddenly went tsundere on me, "But a helping hand is only held out to the incompetent." she said pouting and turning her head. She's like an eight-year old.

"I guess you don't want my help then..."

"No, no, no I want your help! Pleeeeeeeease!" she pleaded with puppy dog eyes.

"Alright, alright." I said while trying to get the excitable woman to calm down. She cheered again like and danced happily before realizing how she was acting and returning to her previous haughty persona.

"Then everything went according to plan." What kind of plan involves crying on the floor like kid?

"But I have to ask what was the other ability of yours was."

"That's a secret." I said playfully with a single finger on my lips.

"Why you... Because of that I'll find out for sure!"

"If you care about your safety then don't. It's not good for your health." I said abruptly with complete and utter seriousness.

Her face could only be described as completely perplexed as I left the park.

Judgment 177th Branch Office

My newfound esper power made patrolling so much less time consuming. Being able to copy Kuroko's teleporting ability saved me a lot of walking. Though it's a bit tiring to do so and I still don't have full control over it. As a result I can only reliably teleport to places within my line of vision. The last time I tried teleporting backwards I ended up missing my target and crashing my head into a side of a three-story building before falling onto pavement. Needless to say, it hurt. Practice makes perfect I guess. I also have a lot of trouble using my powers without the Booster that Usamimi gave me. I guess she wasn't lying about its effects then. In addition, I can't use two powers at once, so I can't teleport while shooting lightning everywhere. Oh well, it's still very useful.

When I finished my patrol I walked into the Judgment office again only to see Uiharu and Kuroko.

"Konori-senpai I finished my patrol. Eh, what are you guys doing here?" Weren't they supposed to be at the Garden of Learning with Saten and Misaka?

"We were called here to investigate a string of assaults with a stun gun on Tokiwadai students. It's on our day off too." Kuroko explained. "Ow." she added after being hit of the head with a folder again.

"I told you no complaining." said our ever-responsible Konori-senpai.

"Yes, yes. Konori-senpai, you were going to show us what happened to the unconscious victims."

"There are photos but..." the Chief trailed off, "they're bad." How bad could it be?

"If you want to see you have to make sure you're ready."

The atmosphere suddenly became tense, with Uiharu and Kuroko gulping. After a long silence Kuroko was the first to speak up.

"I was ready since the day I joined Judgment." Uiharu nodded in agreement.

"If that's the case..." Konori-senpai turned her laptop around for Kuroko and Uiharu to see, who gasped in shock at the sight.

"How bad is it?" I asked expecting a beaten face or something as I walked over to get a better look. What I found was something I did not expect.

All of the girls who were targeted had extremely thick and funky looking eyebrows drawn on their faces with black permanent marker. I raised an eyebrow at this. Why would you go through all of the trouble of using a stun gun if you're just going to draw on their faces?

As I looked to Uiharu and Kuroko they were trying to cover their mouths to hide their laughter.

"Come on you two, it's not that funny." Regardless they still continued to laugh despite their best efforts.

"He's right. We need to stop these attacks now. I'm sending you two in, but Sieg-san has to stay since he's a boy." Are you serious? Leaving me out just because I'm a boy... I just got an idea.

"Wait, what if I tell you I can make myself look exactly like a girl in short time?"

"Eh?" said my more experienced team members, surprised at my statement.

"Let me just go into the bathroom for a second." I entered the bathroom for some privacy as I'm not sure how they would react to my transformation.

To be honest, I've never tried changing my appearance without consuming someone first. It's to literally change into someone else without knowing what they actually look like or how they act. It still couldn't hurt to try.

I began thinking of about the appearances all the girls I know well in order to imagine a convincing feminine look. After I finished brainstorming I began the transformation. My appearance basically broke down into its basic form, a mass of black tendrils vaguely resembling a human shape. The tendrils then reassembled themselves, forming hair, skin, and eyes. I looked in the mirror at my finished appearance.

I was wearing a Tokiwadai uniform (skirt and all) along with socks and sneakers. My black hair was as long as Saten's with a red highlight but wavy at the ends like Kuroko's. My eyes were the same shape as Ina's but a light blue instead of her brown with thin eyebrows and long eyelashes. I also noticed that I was wearing a hairpin shaped like a carnation that resembled Uiharu's flower hairband. Satisfied, I opened the door and walked out.

"How do I look?" I asked in a higher sounding and more musical voice than I'm used to.

"Wow! You really look and sound like a girl, and a pretty good looking one at that." said Konori-senpai

"How did you do that?" asked Uiharu, curious at my change in appearance.

"It's part of my ability. It let's me shapeshift. But keep it a secret okay, I don't want people asking me to turn into famous celebrities or something."

"Alright then. But you better not use this ability to do anything perverted to Onee-sama!" growled Kuroko at the potentially lecherous things I could do with my ability.

"Trust me I won't." That's your job isn't it?

"So, we can't call you Sieg-san while you look like this can we."

"I suppose not." I quickly worked through possible names before settling on one. "Call me Alexis Greene." Although I'm a bit uncomfortable using Elizabeth Greene's last name (she was a living virus factory and the mother of Pariah) I thought it'd be a good name to avert suspicion towards my real identity. I think you guys all know where Alexis comes from though.

"Alright, I'm dispatching Shirai-san, Uiharu-san, and Greene-san to the Garden of Learning to conduct an investigation. Dismissed."

"Yes ma'am!" we all replied dutifully before leaving.

Tokiwadai Middle School – Garden of Learning

After we got through the gates on the grounds of Judgment duty (and Kuroko fabricating a story to explain why I don't have an ID card) we entered the Garden of Learning. If Academy City is meant to be the future of cities thirty years from now, the Garden of Learning looks like one of those cities you see in paintings. Instead of asphalt was paved stone. Instead of skyscrapers were rustic buildings that would not have looked out of place in Italy. With the fountains, stores, and art the city was full of eye candy.

Back on topic, we entered the Judgment office at Tokiwadai about ten minutes after we entered the city. To our surprise Misaka was already there.

"Misaka-san, what are you doing here?" I asked.

"Eh, do I know you?" Well shoot, I forgot I was undercover as a girl. Better start acting.

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Alexis Greene, a Level 4 Electromaster and your biggest fan!" I said excitedly. Kuroko growled at the mention of biggest fan but I ignored her.

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you."

"It's an honor to meet you too. Do you think I could have your autograph?"

"Sure, but not now. Kuroko do you have any leads?"

"All we know is that it's a Tokiwadai hunt."

"A Tokiwadai hunt? Oh, then it's because she's wearing our uniform." I began to wonder who "she" is before realizing that an unconscious Saten was resting on the couch with a wet towel on her head. She must have been attacked, all the more reason for me to take the culprit down.

"How is she?" asked Uiharu.

"Physically, it's nothing serious. She should be fine after she lies down for a bit. It's just..." Uiharu looked troubled at the thought.

"Do you have any suspects?" asked Misaka.

"Not yet. It appears to have been an esper with a tricky ability."

"Tricky how?"

"They were invisible." answered Uiharu.

"Eh?"

Uiharu then showed us a video of a questioning between an Anti-Skill officer and a Tokiwadai student. The student was holding a fan in front of her face (probably to cover her eyebrows).

"It's true!" said the student, "I didn't see anything."

"Um, but still according to the surveillance camera images..."

The student pounded the table with her fist, startling the officer, "I don't care! I really did not see a thing!"

The video feed then cut off.

"A culprit who goes unseen by their victims..." pondered Misaka.

"At first we suspected an esper capable of optical manipulation." said Kuroko.

"There are forty-seven registered espers in Academy city who are able to make themselves disappear completely. However, each one of them has an alibi." finished Uiharu.

"They showed up on the surveillance cameras before, right? Maybe it's somewhat different than optical manipulation."

"It could be."

"Oh, a dove!" said Uiharu turning her head towards the window.

"Eh?"

"Shirai-san, you didn't notice it?"

"I didn't notice anything."

Misaka had a look of realization, "You didn't notice?"

"Uiharu-san, there's something I'd like you to check."

A few minutes later, Uiharu had a hit. "Here it is. The ability is called Dummy Check. It's the ability to impair the very awareness that a person is looking at a subject. It only corresponds to one person."

A picture was brought up of a girl with brown hair tied up in two buns with long bangs that covered her eyebrows.

"Jufuku Miho, a second-year at Sekichu Middle School."

"That's her!" yelled Kuroko as she jumped to a conclusion.

"But she is just a Level 2. Her test data says that she does not have the ability to completely conceal herself."

Misaka sighed, "I thought we were on the right track."

"I..." said Saten softly as she tried to get up from the couch.

"Saten-san!"

"Take it easy... oh." The three girls at the desk then began to giggle while covering their mouths.

"Eh?"

I sighed. Am I the only one who is going to be serious while on the job?

"Um, Saten-san, I think you should take a look in the mirror."

I handed her one from the desk. As she saw her reflection she screamed loud enough to be heard across the entire school, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"W-w-wha?!" stammered Saten as she tried to comprehend what happened to her.

"Saten-san, get a hold of yourself." said Uiharu as she tried to comfort her friend, only to burst into laughter once more.

"It must be a shock, huh?" said Misaka (no pun intended).

"If you at least had bangs like she does, you could hide them." said Kuroko in a teasing manner.

"Bangs?" asked Saten before she walked over to the computer.

"That's her!" she cried in a mix of shock and anger.

"You mean, you saw the culprit?" asked Kuroko.

"Yes... when it happened I'm sure that's who I saw in the mirror."

"Mirrors and surveillance cameras, so that's how it is. She's limited to those looking at her directly with the naked eye, as far as making you unaware of her." said Misaka thinking over the facts.

Saten began to laugh evilly, "I'm going to get her back for what she did to my eyebrows! Let's do it Uiharu!"

"Yes?" said Uiharu rather confused and concerned at her friend's demeanor.

Uiharu then began to type at an insane speed, reading five computer monitors at once.

"That's pretty amazing." noted Misaka.

"If I don't do it like this the terminal won't be able to keep up with the processing. But never mind that, the Garden of Learning isn't under the 177th Branch's jurisdiction. Are you sure we should be doing this?"

"I've just been granted permission from higher up." said Kuroko as she got off the phone.

"All right! Uiharu, give it all you've got!"

"Right. Right... go!" she hit the enter key on the keyboard.

A ton of windows opened up, each showing a live feed of a different part of the Garden of Learning.

"I've connected to all 2458 cameras in the Garden of Learning." we all marveled at the feat of programming/computer work.

"Just you wait bangs-girl, we're going to flush you out!" said Saten a little too excitedly.

"Don't forget the cake you promised me." reminded Uiharu.

"I don't care if you have three or four after this!"

"Yay!"

"That's too many." interjected Misaka.

"Eh, where's the harm in that?" cried Uiharu.

"She isn't talking about cake. Uiharu, ignore Areas E through H as well as Areas J and N."

"Okay." The sections of the map that Kuroko indicated went black.

"Those areas are the farthest from Tokiwadai. As a result our students rarely go over there."

"Then we can ignore the high-traffic areas, as well." added Misaka.

"Why is that?" asked Saten.

"The culprit's clothing would stand out in the Garden of Learning don't you think?" Misaka is pretty smart too. I guess she didn't get the title of Ranked 3rd Level 5 for just power.

"Are you saying she always uses her ability if there are people around?"

"Probably, however she can't go on using her ability forever."

"Then she has to go somewhere to catch her breath where she won't be seen."

"Exactly!"

"That means..." Uiharu then narrowed down the cameras to a mere four areas.

"Alright we have our target area, let's go apprehend the culprit!" said Kuroko as the leading Judgment field agent in the room. We moved out into our designated positions.

Alleyways – Garden of Learning

I ended up waiting in an alleyway with Saten close to where Miho was last spotted.

"So, Greene-san, what's it like being in Judgment?"

"Eh? Oh, I'm kind of new to this myself." For once this was a truth.

"I see. Do you know my friend Sieg? He just joined today."

"Oh sorry. He must have been on patrol when I reported to the office today."

"That's kind of disappointing."

"It is, I suppose. What do you think of him?" I felt a bit guilty to ask this as I was technically manipulating Saten by using my currently female identity. Still, it couldn't hurt to know right?

"What do you I think of him... Well he acts weird and scary sometimes." I guess my outbursts would disturb people. Social skills are not my strong point.

"But he's a great friend you know. He's really strong but always goes out of his way to help people and never looks down on them. I'm really glad that I got to meet him." That's what she thinks of me? It really makes me wonder how she'll feel if she finds out what I am.

"But don't tell him I said that! It'd be really embarrassing if I just gushed all of a sudden."

"Don't worry I won't." "Alexis" won't need to anyway.

I then saw a familiar girl with twin buns and bangs moving walk through an alleyway that crossed the one we were hiding in. "Wait... Saten-san. I think that's her."

"You're right!" she began to exclaim.

I put my finger to my lips to get her to quiet down, "I'll take her from the front, you get her from behind."

She nodded silently in response and crept up behind Miho silently. I ran outside of the alleyway and tried to take her from the front. However, by the time I arrived Miho was already gone.

"Darn it! I was too slow, she's gone."

"She really disappeared!"

"This is no time to be impressed! Go after her!" Uiharu scolded over the com link.

"Ah, right." the both of us said while Saten straightened the hat which covered her eyebrows.

We ran out of the alleyway after Miho.

"Sorry, coming through!" Saten bumped into a bunch of girls in Tokiwadai uniforms holding crepes, coating them with cream.

"Hey!"

I rushed past them as well, "Sorry about that!"

We followed our target with instructions from Uiharu.

"Take a left down the alleyway and then go on to 3rd street."

"Take a right down 4th street and take the alleyway on your right."

"Go down 2nd street and take the alleyway on your left."

We couldn't catch her, but we definitely heard her tired breaths as she continued to try and flee us, only to be blocked off at every turn.

Uiharu continued to give us directions while she hummed cheerfully, probably thinking about cake if I know her well enough by now.

Eventually we cornered her in a park near the center of the Garden. She eventually faded into view to catch her breath, only to gasp in shock as she saw Misaka waiting for her on the swing. Kuroko and Saten arrived on both sides of me.

"Our little game of tag... is over." said Misaka to Miho.

"Why won't my Dummy Check work?" the girl with bangs asked.

"Who knows?"

"That's why I hate you Tokiwadai girls!" the culprit cried while revealing a stun gun. She then proceeded to activate it and charged at Misaka. It made contact with Misaka's shirt with an audible, "Bzzzt." Miho seemed smug for a moment, but the look on her face turned into shock once more as Misaka looked completely unfazed by the attack, as if she barely noticed it at all. It isn't really surprising as the Railgun is known to channel millions of volts of electricity casually. A five thousand volt stun gun isn't going to do much to her.

"Too bad. Things like that don't work on me." Misaka said as she created a small electric spark between two of her fingers.

"Um..."

Misaka then touched Miho's arm with her pointer finger, leading the unfortunate girl to let out a "Kyaaaa!" before collapsing unconscious. Misaka is a walking stun gun herself. I know first hand.

"I went easy on her, understand?"

"Uiharu," called Kuroko, "Tell Anti-Skill that we apprehended the target."

"Good work."

Miho was laid on a bench so that she wouldn't be on the ground and getting dirty while she was unconscious. Saten had other plans for her though.

We looked on cautiously as Saten began to laugh somewhat evilly, "Now then... what kind of eyebrows should I give you-"

As Saten lifted Miho's bangs she found a pair of of short, thick, but tall eyebrows.

Miho then regained consciousness and realized that her eyebrows were seen, "No!" she cried.

"Um..."

"They're weird right?"

"Huh, um..." I don't think anyone here had a clue what to say.

"Go ahead and laugh! Just like that guy did!"

"That guy?" I have a feeling this is leading to a flashback of some kind.

"It was spring and I was dozing off in the glorious sunlight." Miho began recounting some traumatic past experience.

"I naively believed that these days of bliss would continue on forever."

"But then... Spring came to an end."

"Why? Are girls from Tokiwadai that much better?" she cried, apparently talking to the boyfriend who dumped her.

"It's just that.. your eyebrows are weird." he apparently replied. Her bangs then suddenly flew back for no reason as her face took an utterly shocked and heartbroken expression.

"I hate the boy who had cast me aside, and I hate the girl who took him from me, and most of all..."

"I hate all of the eyebrows in the world! That's why I decided to give everybody weird eyebrows!"

"Uh..." How do you even respond to a confession like that?

"Sorry, but we lost you about halfway through." said Misaka, who was just as confused as I was.

"What's wrong?" asked Miho to Saten, "What's the matter? Come on, laugh at me!" she said while showing off her eyebrows.

"Um... They're not weird." replied Saten. "They're not too.. that is... Yeah! They're a charm point! I really like them!" Now she lost me. How could one find eyebrows that look like they came straight out of an exorcist manga to be a charm point? Whatever the reason the compliment was apparently enough to warm Miho's frozen heart as she began blushing at the compliment.

"What a tease." noted Kuroko. Saten, shocked by the rebuttal of her attempts to comfort Miho replied with an, "Ehhhhhh!" There's too much screaming going on around here.

When Anti-Skill came Miho willingly stepped into the vehicle, but not before turning to Saten and asking, "Um, is it okay for me to send you a letter?" while still blushing from Saten's flattery.

"Sure." Saten replied while nodding politely. After she was taken into custody Misaka brought up another conversation.

"So, she was able to make herself disappear completely, huh?"

"Come to think of it, she was supposed to be just a Level 2. That is odd." replied her number one fan.

"You don't think the information in the database was wrong, do you?

"That's impossible!" It brings up another question though. If the database isn't wrong, then how did she get a power spike to Level 3 in such a short amount of time. I brushed it aside though, thinking nothing of it for a while. It would later come back to haunt me.

Back to the present, we walked to the Italian pastry shop that Uiharu and Saten were talking about. All of the pastries looked as good as they sounded. I took my wallet out of my pocket and decided to buy a fruit tart for Ina, a slice of blueberry cake for Jii-chan, and a strawberry crostata for me. It was a bit pricey coming out at over two thousand yen, but I think it's worth it considering this shop's apparent reputation (and the fact that I'd probably never be able to come here again).

I looked over at Uiharu, who was happily digging into several slices of various cakes and pastries that Saten had promised her.

"Are you sure you can finish all that Uiharu-san?"

"I told you it'll be alright!"

"Okay then, don't complain if you have a stomachache the next day."

Kuroko suddenly had a deviously mischievous look on her face, "Say, Greene-san, are you going to tell Saten-san and Onee-sama your little secret?"

The two of them turned to me, "Eh, what secret?"

"I thought I'd told you to keep that on the down low!" I said with a stern face. Is she just trying to embarrass me like that teacher at school?

"Come on, what's the harm?" she said teasingly. She planned this all out didn't she.

"Ugh, fine. Kuroko you're evil." She began to laugh somewhat haughtily with a hand over her mouth.

I went into the bathroom and locked the door. My appearance broke down once more as I began reverting it back to normal. Once I finished I looked in the mirror to make sure I didn't suddenly disfigure myself. Good, nothing out of the ordinary. I then unlocked the door and walked out.

"Hi guys." I said in my normal voice while scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

"Wait, that means..."

"Yeah, I used my ability to take the appearance of a girl so I could help investigate. Though I didn't really do much in the end."

Saten then blushed, realizing that she had gushed to me earlier before running over and slapping me.

"Don't you ever trick me like that again!"

"I didn't really want to... it was out of necessity. I promise I'll never do it again."

"Fine, I'll forgive you this time." she pouted, still blushing.

"You better not do anything funny with an ability like that." warned Misaka with a few arcs of lightning around her head.

"Kuroko said the same thing to me earlier today." as I slumped over at the accusations. Why does every girl think I'm a pervert? Everyone in the store began to laugh at our antics. I couldn't help but crack a smile as well.

"Well I guess it's time to go." I said, pulling out the Booster and putting my right hand into it.

"Since you had the audacity to embarrass me Kuroko, it would be wrong not to return the favor." I put my pointer and middle fingers on my forehead like a salute. "See you later, everyone!" I said before teleporting out of the shop, noticing Kuroko's shocked face as I left.

Main Lobby – Heaven Canceller's Hospital

I ended up teleporting the rest of the way home. As a result, it only took about ten minutes. Granted I was a bit out of breath by the end (you try working out all of the coordinates to accurately plot a mile trip while teleporting), but otherwise I was completely okay and in one piece, cake included.

"Jii-chan, I'm home!"

"Late again Sieg, what was it this time?"

"Don't worry, I have a good excuse." I reached into my pocket again, pulling out my Judgment armband once more. "I had Judgment duty!"

He sighed, "You also have a good excuse to charge into dangerous situations now too." I'm worrying him again.

I frowned at my grandfather's pessimistic attitude. Remembering my esper power, I decided to show him. "I picked up some new tricks though, take a look." I held out my gloved hand and let the electricity dance across it.

"I found out what my esper power is, it lets me copy the abilities of espers I'm around often. But only up to Level 4." I ended up shaking my hand a bit to get the lightning to vanish.

"I still need some practice, but so far I can use a Level 4 version of Misaka-san's powers as well as teleport. So don't worry so much Jii-chan! I'll be fine."

He smirked a little at my attempts to reassure him. "You're always full of surprises aren't you Sieg."

"It's what I live for!" I looked around, noticing Ina's absence. "Speaking of surprises, I brought home some pastries to surprise you and Ina, where is she?"

"If you're talking about that girl, she left an hour ago. She said she didn't want to bother you."

This is one of those times where you have to go, "Oh crap." I was the one to start worrying now. Putting down the pastries and grabbing a blood packet out of the fridge I began running out the door.

"Sieg, where are you going!"

"I'll be right back!" I poked a hole in it and sucked all the blood out of it in about three seconds before running off into the night after her. I have a feeling I know exactly where she was going, and I hope I'm not too late.

Alleyways – Streets of Academy City

I returned to the alleyway where I first bumped into Ina, the debris still littering the ground. She wasn't there but I could still feel her presence somehow. Maybe it was because of my new electrical powers, but I didn't care at the time. All I knew was that she was here, and that she wasn't too far away.

I turned on thermal vision to hopefully catch a glimpse of her. Unfortunately, I didn't see much aside from people inside their homes. However, what caught my eye was an out of place fire a few blocks away. Unless there's a new arsonist on the loose I'm sure that's where Ina is. I quickly made my way over there via teleportation, where I found the albino menace at it again. Ina was crumpled on the floor unconscious, her attacker slowly sauntering over to her.

My face twisted into a scowl, "What the hell do you think you're doing Accelerator!"

He turned around, "So it's the shitty brat from last night... did you come here to die too?"

"Get the hell away from her you psycho!"

"What are you going to do about it? Last time you couldn't even touch me, much less hurt me. If you walk away with your tail between your legs I'll forget this ever happened."

I managed to calm myself down a little. Getting agitated wasn't going to solve any of my problems right now. (though it does solve a lot of them for me). "I've figured out your ability strongest one. It's Vector Manipulation isn't it?"

"Bravo, are you expecting me to applaud you or something?"

"Didn't think you would, but I can hurt you now. That means I can kill you now."

He began to cackle maniacally once more with his hand on his face, as if he was being challenged by a child. "Then why don't you come and prove it then!" He stamped the ground, causing the road to explode upward, showering the area with sharp chunks of asphalt.

I transformed my arm into its blade form, slicing through the debris while making my way towards the bastard who dared to hurt Ina. But first, I needed to test something. I tried to teleport half a dozen of the shards past his barrier straight into his limbs to incapacitate him. However, what happened in the end was that the debris I teleported was sent right back, being teleported straight into my torso, arms, and legs instead. So teleportation is still considered a vector, and that barrier reverses every vector that comes towards it. That confirmed my theory, so I know exactly how to hit the son of a bitch now.

"What's wrong? I thought you said you figured out my ability. Surely this isn't the best you can do!"

"You're right, it isn't." I replied while pulling the shards out of my body, which quickly repaired itself. I then gave my own burst of sadistic laughter, "Oh god, it's hilarious how high and mighty you think you are! Strongest esper my ass. You have to hide behind that barrier in order to even last in a fight." I couldn't wait to wipe the cocky smirk of that dirt bag's face.

"What kind of shit are you trying to pull?"

"You may be powerful, but your ability has so many holes in it I'm surprised no one figured it out yet. So you know what strongest one, let's make a bet. I bet that I'll be able to wipe that smug look off your face is the next ten seconds. If you win, I'll let you kill me too. If I win, both Ina and I walk away. Got it?"

"Getting cocky aren't we? Have you forgotten who burned off your arm last time?"

"My arm is back isn't it? Answer my question, do we have a deal?"

He scoffed at my seemingly reckless proposal, "I couldn't care less. We have a deal, but you better say your prayers since I can't wait to see you grovel on the floor for mercy!"

"Don't worry, you won't see anything. You'll be on the floor faster than you can blink."

"I'd like to see that-" I teleported right in front of him.

I began to throw a punch right at his ugly mug. Confident in his abilities, he didn't bother to dodge. It was the worst mistake he made in his life.

"Take a dirt nap ranked first Level 5!" I pulled my arm back suddenly with great force, only for his barrier to read the vector and reverse it, bringing my fist straight into Accelerator's formerly smug face. His expression turned into one of shock as my knuckles made contact with his jaw. He was sent cartwheeling backwards onto the pavement. Even though I said ten seconds he didn't even last one.

Despite my boast I ended up holding back again because I wanted him to live with the shame of being defeated by a "shitty brat". I walked over to his prone form and kicked him in the shin and spat on him to make sure he was really unconscious. He didn't move, but I could still feel his pulse, so he was alive. Perfect.

I then rushed to the side of Misaka's little sister. She was alive, but not doing well. Her breaths were heavy and quick, her pulse faint. I began administering CPR immediately. As much as I didn't want to risk infecting her, it was now or never. I lightly pressed down on her chest thirty times the same way a paramedic would before checking her airway and pressing my lips to hers to try and give her air. I repeated this two more times. There wasn't much improvement, but her breathing stabilized at the very least. I checked her with infected vision to make sure I didn't accidentally infect her, which I thankfully didn't.

"I'm sorry I let this happen to you Ina." I whispered in her ear as I picked her up gently before I began teleporting back home to rush her into an operating room.

Heaven Canceller's Hospital

"Jii-chan we have a problem!" I yelled as I rushed through the doors of the hospital.

'Sieg what is-" he stopped as he saw Ina clearly injured in my arms.

"I managed to stabilize her breathing but her pulse keeps growing more faint."

"Get her into the operating room, I'll take it from there." I listened to instructions and laid her carefully on the operating table.

"Get well soon Ina." Jii-chan was already in full operating gear with an array of surgical tools at the ready. I knew that even if I tried to help I'd probably just contaminate the tools, so I left Jii-chan to do his work. I went off to get my homework over with as Jii-chan would scold me if I procrastinated, even though it was a Friday. Despite my attempts to assure myself that nothing would go wrong I continued to worry about Ina the whole time.

I had total faith in Jii-chan, after all he's probably one of the best if not the single best surgeon in the world. There's a reason why they call him Heaven Canceller. Regardless I still couldn't help but worry about her. Ina is a lot like me in many ways. She is an artificial life form created in a lab who was never meant to exist, a lot like the virus I was born from. Like me she was hunted down by madmen for the sake of experimentation. In addition, she has a famous "original" who was known for doing amazing things, a lot like my dad. I was snapped out of my thoughts I saw Jii-chan walk into my room.

"How is she?"

"Who do you think I am?" he smiled, "You can relax. She's isn't quite out of the woods yet but with all likelihood she'll make a full recovery."

I felt my worry and anguish in my chest dissipate as I sighed with relief.

"I must admit it's quite a miracle she even survived her ordeal. Broken ribs, a ruptured lung, torn muscles, several lacerations, and a large amount of blunt force trauma to the head. What I found really odd was that she was clutching this toothbrush in her right hand the whole time." As Jii-chan opened his palm I saw the toothbrush I had given to her last night.

"Oh, I gave that to her last night."

"Is that so? Would you like to tell me the full story? I don't believe that most girls treasure their hygienic tools." Uh oh, he caught me. Again.

"I guess I'll tell you the whole story then. Last night I went for another one of my walks after I got my Judgment armband in the mail. After arresting a man for purse snatching I bumped into Ina. Her official name is Misaka 9980, a clone of Misaka-san."

Jii-chan's eyes narrowed upon hearing the phrase clone of Misaka-san. "Then what happened?"

"She was being chased by the ranked first Level 5, Accelerator, for the Level 6 Shift Experiment. As you can guess the experiment involved killing Ina and many other clones like her to get Accelerator to become a Level 6. I eventually figured out that his ability was Vector Manipulation, but at the time I couldn't even land a single hit on him. I grabbed Ina and began to flee but he gave chase. She tried to dissuade me from helping her by explaining her origins."

I knocked myself on the head lightly with my knuckles, "Of course, given how hard-headed I am I helped her anyway. When Accelerator caught up he fired a beam of plasma at the two of us. I managed to deflect it slightly with my shield, but it burnt off most of my left arm in the process. After Ina told Accelerator that killing me may ruin his chances of becoming a Level 6 he fled. I then brought her here to keep her safe. I named her so I wouldn't have to keep calling her Misaka 9980 all the time. She didn't know how to brush her teeth so I taught her and let her keep the toothbrush."

"Then what happened today is a follow up to that."

"Er, yeah. When you said Ina left I had a gut feeling that she'd go back to the experiment again. I bolted out the door to go save her."

"And it looks like you succeeded. But what happened to Accelerator?"

I punched my left hand with my right in a triumphant gesture, "I kicked his ass!" I said rather excitedly with a grin.

Jii-chan gave me another one of his glares as if to say, "Language."

I felt embarrassed again, "Sorry. Anyway that's the full story."

"Well, I can certainly say you've been doing your fair share of good deeds lately. If I didn't know any better I'd say that the toothbrush you gave her reminded her of you and gave her a reason to keep on living. It's a bit superstitious but it's a nice thought to have. Enough of that, it's almost midnight Sieg. Go to bed soon. You'll be able to talk to her in the morning." He then left the room, leaving me all alone to think.

I'm not one who enjoys meditating and contemplating my navel so I'll keep things brief. The closest thing to an introspection I can give at the moment is what I'm worried about most, that is my friends figuring out that I'm not quite human. To quote my dad, I'm something less than human, yet something more. I have incredible physical abilities beyond any human on top of an extremely cool esper power. Heck I even punched out the strongest esper in the city. In hindsight I've been acting kind of like a superhero lately.

But yet these powers also make me a monster like few the world have ever seen. If I were to go off the deep end like my dad did I could potentially end human civilization as we know it. I drink blood just to avoid eating people, I constantly pick fights just to sate my bloodlust, and I have trouble interacting peacefully with others outside of my few friends. I'm even not sure if I should be called a person. What would you call me? Because of this, sometimes I wonder why I help people. Is it some sort of guilt factor for being different? Do I have some sort of psychological need to do so, (I think it's called chronic hero syndrome)? Maybe my life is just one messed up story for some all-seeing being's amusement. Sigh, I think that's enough for one night. I hit the hay not long after my long winded introspection of sorts.

In My Mindscape

It took all of ten minutes for me to wake up in my mindscape again. My dad had his back turned to me again, but he seemed more calm and less predatory than usual.

"You didn't even give me a half hour of sleep Dad. What do you want to talk about?" I said with a yawn.

"I have to say kid, what you did tonight was impressive." Wait, did he just compliment me?

I raised an eyebrow at this, "Are you feeling alright Dad?"

He scoffed at my comment, "I give you praise for once and you give me that for a response. You're an ungrateful little brat you know that?"

That means he sincerely meant that compliment, wow.

"It's not that, it's just awfully out of character for you is all. I mean the last time you gave praise was when Mr. Heller consumed you, and even that was a little sarcastic."

"What, do you think I'm so evil that I won't give credit and praise when it's due?"

"To be honest, yes until now. You really are nice under that cold and murderous exterior Dad."

"Don't let it go to your head. This is a one time thing since you actually put your foot down and proved your superiority."

"You don't need to worry about that. There's always the other Level 5s to put me in my place if I do. Plus I could still spar with you in here."

He turned to me, "Damn straight. Are you feeling up for one now?"

"I'm a bit sleepy, but we haven't had one in a while. Sure, why not?"

"I was hoping you'd say that." He then morphed his arms into claws. I responded with the same.

"You better not have gotten complacent with those esper powers of yours. Here I come kid!" he remarked before we then lunged at each other the way two competing hunters would in the wild.

We tore at each other in wild, primal fury, enjoying every moment of it. As much as I'd hate to admit it, these little fights I have with my Dad are probably the times where I have the most fun with my powers. I can just cut loose, no need to worry about killing or infecting anyone, just pure, violent fun. I guess you could call it our version of father-son bonding. Yeah my life is weird like this.

After we traded blows for a while, my dad got tired of me aiming for his joints all the time and quickly covered himself in armor made of resilient black biomass. It made him look almost alien, as despite its coloration it remained biological in appearance, as if it were crafted out of some large insect's carapace.

"Hey, no fair! I still haven't figured out how to do that yet!" I whined rather childishly.

"Everything is fair in love and war kid, and I'm positive this counts as war!" his voice echoing from within his helmet. He then crouched briefly before leaping at me to get a swipe my neck.

The thing about armor is that while it makes my dad all but invincible to anything short of an anti-tank rifle in power, it makes him a lot slower too. I ducked under his claw and grabbed him, judo throwing him to ground before I tried to slicing open his armor with my claws. Unfortunately, they could only make a scratch before my dad threw me off with his superior strength.

"Darn, almost had you there."

"Not even close, kid. You've got to do better than that."

"Alright then, you asked for it Dad!" I morphed my arms into blades before charging them with electricity, vibrating the edges with the electromagnetic forces. I got the idea from the fact that Misaka is known for using iron sand like a sword by rapidly moving the particles back and forth like a chainsaw. Could the principle apply to my blades too?

This was as good a time as any to find out. I charged straight at my dad at full speed, slamming into him with shoulder before I began lashing out at him in a frenzy of attacks. Sure enough my blades ended up cleaving right through the armor like I wanted it to. This is a new trick I could use.

But my dad isn't one to take things like this lying down, morphing his arms into hammerfists he caught me during a lag in my attacks and launched me backward with a single blow, slamming me into the wall.

I rubbed my head to get rid of the pain caused by the shock of the impact. "Ow... nice one Dad."

"Not bad with that electric trick, but that alone isn't enough. Ready for round two?"

"You bet!" I settled on my muscle mass power for close combat, my arms hulking out and turning pitch black.

He took the initiative and came at me head on, slamming the ground where I stood, just barely missing my legs due to a timely back step on my part. I then let out a flurry of blows to try and push back his assault. Noticing a slight pause in his attempts to block I threw a punch at his face, sending him flying backward much like he did with me not too long ago.

"Nice punch kid, last time it barely moved my head." he remarked while rubbing his jaw.

"I've been working out!" I joked while flexing a bicep.

He chuckled at that one. It's times like these that you often forget that you and your dad are superhuman juggernauts capable of causing the zombie apocalypse.

I then felt myself trip and hit the floor hard. Looking down I saw that my dad had wrapped his arm (in whipfist form) around my leg. Turning my left arm into a whipfist myself, I extended it and managed to grab him by the shoulder and pull him to the floor. His then armor dissolved, I guess he didn't feel like just blocking anymore. He then turned his free hand into a blade and cut off my arm to untangle himself. I ended up returning the favor, both of us recoiling from the loss of a limb.

"I didn't know that dismemberment was allowed."

"I never really avoided it unless I had to."

"Good point. It still stings though."

"Can't argue with that."

I shook my hand as if it were on fire as it regrew with a stinging sensation, the feeling of pins and needles all over. Losing a limb really sucks, even when you can regrow it with relative ease. My dad was more nonchalant about it and simply watched his regrow.

When we finished healing it was my turn to try and blitz my opponent as I rushed at him with claws at hand once more. My dad apparently saw this coming though, as he deftly dodged my strikes before tripping me again with a leg sweep. I knew what was coming was going to hurt, so I instinctively built my shields on my arms in attempt to block whatever was coming.

What I didn't expect was for him to grapple me to the floor and pull my shields out of the way with his own muscle mass power. He then started a no-holds barred beatdown as I pitifully tried to block his attacks with my arms.

"Hey, this is child abuse!" I quipped as my dad continued to beat me to a pulp.

"Then you shouldn't have gotten yourself caught in this situation!"

I braced myself for each blow as they came down like a cascade of sledgehammers. This is one of the few times that I'll say that something really hurts. Then suddenly the blows stopped hurting as much, heck I barely felt them. Opening my eyes I saw that my vision was tinted a faint black. Looking at my arms and chest I saw that they were covered in a familiar looking hard, black substance. With the reduced pain I managed to think clearly enough to throw my dad off with my legs and get back on my feet. To my surprise my movements didn't feel all that restricted. In fact, the armor felt like it weighed nothing at all. To test my range of movement I ended up bending and twisting around to get a good look at the rest of the armor, which looked slightly thinner than my dad's but otherwise identical. I had trouble doing things like bend head over heels but it otherwise felt just fine.

"Awesome, my armor finally works!" I said as I marveled at my new ability.

"Took you long enough. What I can't believe is that it took a beating from me for you to figure it out." He really enjoys bursting my bubble doesn't he?

"You didn't figure it out on your own either! You had to get a parasite out of your body!"

"Whatever, it looks like yours is less restrictive than mine. Now let's test out its durability!"

He turned his arm back to a blade and rushed at me with his trademark Blade Frenzy technique, lashing at me with lightning speed as I guarded with my arms to make sure they didn't hit potentially vital areas. His blade managed to scratch my armor in several places, but otherwise it was intact.

Despite how amazing and potentially useful my armor is, I dismissed it as I got into a fight ready stance again. While it didn't restrain my movements that much I certainly felt a bit slower than usual, something I can't afford against someone who can outrun a speeding car with ease. I turned my arm into a blade once more as my dad threw himself at me for what we call an Air Slice. A word of advice if you ever happen to piss a Blacklight being off. When one of us is in the air with their blade out you should probably want to dodge. Want a good reason? My dad and Mr. Heller made extensive use of it to cleave entire tanks in half in one strike.

I dived to the floor and rolled out the way in time as my dad swung at empty air. I quickly brought my the edge of my blade arm up next to my dad's neck as he did the same. We both relaxed and returned our limbs to normal.

"Thanks for the fight Dad, it really helped me blow off steam."

"Anytime, kid. It's boring as fuck just watching you from in here."

"I'd imagine it would be. I should probably just let you go out for a day sometime. Maybe for Father's Day."

"As much as I'd like to take you up on that offer the world would panic if Alex Mercer suddenly returned to the realm of the living."

"I guess so." We both broke out laughing at the thought of the mass hysteria my dad would cause.

When we finished my dad delivered some dreadful news, "It's morning kid, you should probably get up."

"God damn it already? But it's Saturday!" I whined again. Who wants to get up early on the weekend?

"The feeling is mutual, but the old man will have your head and mine if you get up too late. Besides, don't you have a girl to say good morning to?" Come to think of it, in the heat of the fight I completely forgot about Ina.

"You're right. Thanks again Dad, see you around."

He silently replied with a small but genuinely friendly smile as he turned around again. My vision was then completely flooded with bright white light.

My first chapter that's over ten thousand words long! This was another fun chapter to write. What do you guys think of Imagine Shadow? I took the idea from the mobile game where the player character has such a power. I put some restrictions on it that were not seen in the game but also opened up a lot of options too (in the game you could copy any power, but only by invoking the corresponding cards which I did away with) for the sake of balance. The gender-bending idea came into my mind as I realized that Alex probably took the forms of several women during his stealthier exploits as well as his time as King of the Infected. Though I do feel that I made the fight with Accelerator was somewhat anticlimactic, I hope Sieg's fight with his dad made up for it.

Please review as much as possible. I like to find flaws in my writing ASAP so I can fix them. Keep it constructive though, the closest I've gotten to that was a death threat should I pair Sieg and Ina. I have to admit it was entertaining though.

Please critique and give me a favorite if you want to see more of this story. Even if you don't like the story, review anyway so I can make it better. That's it for now, thanks for reading everyone!