Disclaimer: I don't own the To Aru or the Prototype series. All characters besides my own original characters belong to their respective owners.

School District 10 – Abandoned Factory

"Is this really the power you say defeated the ranked first Level 5? Don't make me laugh!" cackled the she-witch as she fired her death beams at me. I leaped off the ground and started running across the wall to evade, only for several miniature warheads to come into sight, forcing me to throw myself to the floor to dodge.

"Give up, you are super dead." said a calm, almost monotone voice before a fist came down towards my head, only missing by a hair as I moved in time. Her fist, while small, left the type of crater you'd expect to see see if a ton of lead was dropped out off a skyscraper.

"Come on, don't just run! I want to see you fight a little before we kill you!" exclaimed a far more energetic voice as I saw that I had rolled into an area covered in explosive tape in my attempts to avoid injury. The sound of a fuse indicated that I only had a split second to move, which I gladly took as I was blasted forward by the shock wave of a massive explosion.

I slammed face-first into a wall, a bit dazed by the turn of events.

"This is some shit we've got ourselves into." my other self muttered as I got to my feet.

"No kidding." The problem was getting out of it. As I finished my thoughts four more lasers shot through the wall, nicking my shoulder and burning holes through my chest, left arm, and right leg that thankfully quickly healed. I couldn't stay in one place, I had to keep moving. The Booster had a hole burnt through it after their preemptive strike on my person. This means a few things. One, I can't teleport my way out. Two, I have to deal with them using only my Blacklight abilities and close combat skills. Three, I'm a sitting duck at this range. Until I can get close enough to take them out one by one I'm as good as dead.

How the hell did I get into a fight with the laser-happy ranked fourth Level 5, a damn near sociopathic Level 4 that can match me in raw strength, and their blonde-haired bomb-crazy friend?

Sakugawa Middle School

Let's go back to the beginning. The day started like any other at school. The usual annoying teacher was absent yet again, we instead had a substitute who liked to pick on the students who spaced out. This happened quite often as it's easy to find a lecture about the development of esper abilities and quantum theory dull.

"Additionally, as far as the Power Development Curriculum goes, the most important thing is attaining your Personal Reality. Basically, attaining your own reality. This is the very foundation of your powers as espers. Furthermore, there is one thing you must understand in order to attain your Personal Reality, quantum theory, based on Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. What quantum theory and Personal Realities have in common is that both of them are rooted in probability..."

I lost interest in everything else he said afterward as it was basically straight out of the textbook. I entertained myself in the meantime by twirling my pencil between my fingertips. I stopped about thirty seconds later as I heard a tapping sound from the teacher's desk.

"Saten, Saten Ruiko!" barked the teacher.

"Y-Yes!"

"You seem to have everything written down. Would you like to explain the last thing I just said?"

"Right!" she began browsing through her book, "Let's see... Let's see..." You've got to study Saten!

The bell rang before she could come up with an answer. "You're getting off easy today. Just remember to study up on Personal Realities for next class."

I got up and began to leave, but Saten was still in her seat writing notes.

"Saten, class ended. You know we can leave right?"

"I know, but I have to finish this."

I began reaching into my bag, "I could lend you mine."

"No no, it's fine. Thanks for the offer though."

"Well, if you say so. Say, Uiharu was absent today. Did something happen to her?"

"Yeah, she called and told me that she's sick with a summer cold." A cold?

"Did she have any strange lesions or weird changes recently?!" Please tell me that I didn't somehow infect her and turn my friend into a monster!

"Relax, it's just a cold. I could hear her sneezing but she sounded just fine otherwise."

"Oh, I was just..."

"I remember, your grandpa is a doctor right? He must have rubbed off on you."

"Yeah... heh heh." I replied with a nervous laugh. I hope Saten is right about this.

"I'm going to go get some medicine for her. Wanna come?"

"I'd love to... ugh."

"Did something come up?"

"I have a literal mountain of paperwork to go through at the office." Not exaggerating here. If you were to lay it out on the floor you could swim through it.

"That's no fun, just do it tomorrow!"

"Sorry, but if I don't start today it'll probably never get done."

She pouted, "Are you sure you can't just take another day off? This is Uiharu we're talking about!"

"Chief Konori will kill me if I don't get there on time. Besides, I'm doing Uiharu's part of the paperwork too. She's lucky she won't have to lift a finger today."

"Oh fine... But you better make it up to us later!"

"You don't have to worry about that. Tell Uiharu I said get well soon!"

She simply smiled back as I teleported out and towards the Judgment office.

Judgment 177th Branch Office

I was then at the office for the next three or four hours doing nothing but paperwork. When I signed up for this job I expected paperwork, but not freaking towers of it! To make things worse, Kuroko chose today of all days to take off, leaving me with half the load!

"I'm so bored... Are you done yet?" He asked for the two hundred and thirty first time (yes I counted). However I didn't bother to scold him because I was just as tired as he was from all of these papers. Aside from his incessant whining he was surprisingly well behaved today, something I took full advantage of.

"Hold on, almost done." After finishing one last property damage form I threw down my pen and got up to stretch in celebration.

"Finally!" I turned to Chief Konori, "May I please go out on a patrol now?"

"You don't want a break?"

"No, all I need is some fresh air. I don't like being cooped up in places for too long."

"With Shirai-san and Uiharu-san out there's not much I can do to stop you. Go ahead, and thanks for helping with the paperwork."

"Yes! Thank you!" I immediately darted out the door and jumped down the stairwell to find something interesting to do before I exploded from boredom.

Streets of Academy City

If you're wondering why I didn't ask for a break, here's my explanation. Kraft may be the energetic one, but I need mental stimulus. As much as I want a breather from my ridiculous life, something about me makes me unable to simply sit around and do nothing. It's almost like how a rat refuses to sit in the center of a field as it knows its being watched. I gradually get more and more uncomfortable and twitchy when I'm idle, just waiting for something to happen. When I was younger it eventually escalated into getting ready to break the nearest (usually expensive) object(s) I can find when I was forced to sit still for longer than a few hours. The only things that could stop me when I'm on one of these tantrums are:

1. A very stern look from Jii-chan

2. A quick and thorough ass-kicking from Mr. Heller (but it could only happen when I visited the States during summer vacation for lessons involving my powers).

3. Both.

Of course, I've obviously gotten a lot better since then, but I was nearing my limit. Getting your rear handed to you every few hours by the man powerful enough to defeat and consume your abomination of a father tends to leave an impression after all. I'm pretty sure this trait was passed on to Kraft considering his rants about breaking things all the time.

"I can hear you! I don't rant! It's not my fault, I can't do anything when I'm stuck in your head all day! How would you like it if you were forced to watch someone do stuff all day! It's freaking boring in here! Come on, go do something already!" Yeah, ranting.

Moving on, it only took a few minutes after I left the office for me to run into an issue. Not a particularly violent one, but still an issue.

The issue in question was a woman of Japanese descent I came across looked to be in her early twenties. She was quite attractive looking, with long black hair tied up in a ponytail that went down to her ankles and fair skin that made her look like royalty. There were two problems though. The first was her clothing. She was wearing a white t-shirt tied up so that her midriff was bare and tight around her... assets. She was also wearing a pair of jeans with the left pant leg sawed off, making it resemble a pair of short shorts. The second was the fact that she was holding a two meter long nodachi. I thought that ridiculously long Japanese swords like that were only found in manga. Worse, she and her sword stood head and shoulders above me.

I tapped her on the shoulder, only for the woman to draw her sword so quickly I could barely block the blade with my left arm as the edge neared my neck.

"Miss, could you please put that sword away?" I asked in an attempt to resolve things peacefully.

She complied before speaking, "What is your business with me?" she stated in a taciturn and cold voice.

"Um, you're sort of breaking two laws in this city."

"Is that so, then what might these laws be?"

"First of all, the way you're wearing your clothes is... provocative to say the least. I'd like to ask that you cover yourself a bit more adequately. The second is that you're carrying a lethal weapon around in broad daylight. Would you mind finding some place to store it? I'm a law enforcement officer here and it's my job to report things like this."

"I'm afraid I cannot, these are the only clothes I have at the moment." A woman with only one set of clothes? She certainly doesn't seem like a tourist.

"Okay... Then about your sword-"

"I cannot put this away either, it is very important to me. I apologize for cutting you. I'll leave before I cause any more of an issue than I already have.

A sudden, powerful gale then blew between us before she vanished without a trace. Was she an esper?

Regarding her sword, it cut deeper into my skin than it should have. It was also taking longer to heal than I expected. On top of that it looked like she was barely trying. Who is she?

"Hey, did that lady have a nice rack or what?" interrupted my little brother/other self with his usual tact and subtlety.

"Are you kidding me? I'm in the middle of analyzing what just happened and that's you come up with?"

"I am analyzing! Only in a different way. Heh heh."

My palm met with my face with a loud crack. What am I going to do with him?

I couldn't find anything worth mentioning for the rest of my patrol, but I continued to patrol the streets for an extra half hour. By the time I got back to the office Chief Konori was done with her share and now relaxing with a cup of coffee.

"You're back. Did anything happen?" she asked as she looked up and met my gaze with her motherly eyes.

"There was a lady dressed dressed in rather revealing clothes, but she vanished before I could do anything."

"Vanished?"

"There was a gust of wind and she disappeared as it ended. It didn't sound or look like the teleportation Kuroko and I use, so I'm not sure if it's an ability or something else."

"That is peculiar. Was there anything else strange about her?"

"She was carrying a sword as long as she was tall, meaning taller than me..." Why am I so short? I mean, my Dad wasn't that tall, but at least he was tall enough to be intimidating!

"I see. You've helped so much today, so I think you should-" A notice appeared on the computer screen.

"What is it?" I asked as my superior turned to read it.

"Apparently someone just reported that they found a weapons stockpile in School District 10."

"Weapons stockpile? I'm pretty sure that's a job for Anti-Skill, why would they send it here?"

Her gaze narrowed as she thought over it, "That's what I was wondering. I'm sorry to bother you again but could you check it out?"

"Of course! It's what I signed up for after all."

"Just call if you need backup. I'll contact Anti-Skill as soon as I can."

"I don't think you'll have to, but I'll keep that in mind."

As I prepared to leave once more the Chief stopped me, "Just make sure you don't bite off more than you can chew. It's always better to leave unharmed than find something and get hurt for it."

"You don't have worry so much, I'll be fine. Thanks for your concern though."

"Overconfidence can lead to disaster. Do you remember the story I told you about Kuroko and that bank robbery?"

"She rushed the robber only to be caught by another one. I understand, but I've taken on a group of gang members no problem. Surely a few armed mercenaries won't be much harder right?"

"I guess... but it's my job as your senpai to make sure you're alright. So I order you to return safely!"

"Will do!" I saluted with a smile before running out the door.

Streets of Academy City

"It's a fucking obvious trap, you know that right?"

"Of course I do. I have a job to do though so I don't have much choice." To be honest I was feeling a bit anxious at the fact that I knew nothing about my opponent(s).

"What are you going to do then?"

"Go in, kick the crap out of whoever set me up, and walk out. I thought I'd mix it up a bit."

"I like the sound of that!"

""I just want you to be ready in case the fight goes south."

"I'm always ready! Let me at em'!" I then heard sounds that indicated he was shadow boxing in anticipation. At least he's enthusiastic. I then began my run towards School District 10.

School District 10

School District 10 is one of School District 7's neighboring districts, so it didn't take long to head there thanks to a mixture of parkour and teleporting. If you remember my run in with Big Spider, School District 10 is not the nicest place to be in Academy City. Anti-Skill and Judgment presence is virtually non-existent here, leading the place to have the single highest concentration of delinquents and Skill-Out members out of any of the twenty-three districts. As a result of this, aside from gang hierarchies the concept of social order is nothing but a fantasy for those who are unlucky/stupid enough to live here as a result of the low land prices. Add the fact that Academy City's nuclear energy research facilities and only cemetery are located in this district, it's hard to not hate the place.

"Basically this is the shittiest of shitholes in this shithole of a place." There's no way I'm going to stop him from swearing is there?

"Pretty much." There's really nothing I could say that could point to the contrary. Now, where is that factory?

"Your left, thirty eight meters." He was right on the mark yet again.

"I have got to learn how to do that."

"It's a s-e-c-r-e-t!"

"It's also one of the few things that make you useful."

"Hey!"

"Relax, I'm only teasing. Come on, let's go meet with the culprit."

The shutter door was wide open, interior of the building itself unlit and pitch black despite the fact that it was just past six. The atmosphere of the place screamed that it was a trap set just for me. The only way to make it more obvious would be to have a flashing neon sign pointing to it. Curiosity however, took hold as I wondered who would be willing to pick a fight with me.

Was it a Skill-Out gang? If it was there really isn't much they could do to me. Blackwatch? They were still stalking me but it'd be a while before they had the guts to take me on in combat. They would be an issue if they brought a few super soldiers and thermobaric tanks, but nothing I couldn't handle if I planned out my moves accordingly. Accelerator is probably the biggest possible threat, since I don't know the full extent of his powers and the fact that his ego won't be getting in the way next time.

Whoever it was, it's my job to take them down. No questions left over, I walked inside alert and wary. As I expected the door behind me shut as I did so. Not an issue, I could probably smash it open if I needed to. As I prepared to turn on thermal vision to scan the area, a green beam of light shot through the darkness faster than I could react, cleanly burning a hole right through my right hand. More importantly, it burned a hole through the Booster.

Shit.

I tried to check the Booster to see if it was still functioning with a simple spark test, but not even a single volt of electricity was emitted from my fingertips.

The lights turned on, revealing four individuals who seemed to have been waiting for me. Directly in front was the oldest looking one, presumably the leader, had soft tea color hair and eyes the color of topaz. She was fashionably dressed with a lavender blouse worn with black stockings and white suede shoes. She had the appearance of a model, but her expression was that of a predator looking down on its prey.

The second was a girl with a lethargic appearance with shoulder length black hair and a bored expression on her face. Wearing a pink track suit, she looked like she had just gotten out of bed and almost disinterested by the scene going on around her.

Enemy number three was a short girl, probably around my age or younger. Her brown hair was cut short, her eyes a chestnut color. Her garments consisted of an orange button up hoodie over a white t-shirt and really short shorts. She wasn't expressive, but in spite of her obstructive hood I could tell that she she was staring intently at me, as if she was trying to calculate my next move.

The last one was probably the weirdest of them all. She was clearly a foreigner, with blonde hair that went past her shoulders and mischievous blue eyes. She was dressed like a Barbie doll, wearing a black sailor top and pleated white skirt along with black high heels. She looked far more energetic than the other three, her gaze indicating that she had all sorts of schemes waiting in store for me.

"So you're the one they say defeated the ranked first Level 5? she said mockingly, probably to try and provoke a reaction.

"What if I am?"

"I was expecting someone in high school at least. Instead I find a middle school brat snooping around playing police officer. This is rich!" She then punctuated it with a hearty, malevolent laugh.

"Are you done?"

"Snippy aren't you?"

"Perhaps, call it a coping mechanism for dealing with people like you."

"Do you even know who I am?" So apparently she's someone famous/important, at least in her own mind.

"I'm afraid I don't. Enlighten me."

"Alright brat, I'm the ranked fourth Level 5, The Meltdowner." So she is someone important.

"What are we waiting for Mugino? Let's just kill him and get this over with!" cried the blondie out of impatience. Why are people always so eager to try and murder me?

"Frenda, be quiet."

I decided to screw with them a little, "You and your friends are sounding a bit arrogant Meltdowner. Do you really think you have what it takes kill me?" I asked while imitating Accelerator's insane grin.

That drove Frenda up the wall, "Don't talk down to us you scrub! Mugino has tons of combat experience. She's so experienced that she's been through years worth of combat! Don't think you'll be able to-"

"Frendaaaaaaaa!" the Level 5 growled back, shutting up her compatriot in a hurry.

"With friends like those, who needs enemies?" I shrugged and shook my head to annoy her.

"Ha, I could take care of you all by myself. Don't get cocky!" She launched two beams at where I stood, which I dodged with a quick back step. If I remember correctly her max is four beams, meaning that she's only testing me.

"Is that so? Then why don't you, Miss Level 5?"

"Do you take me for an idiot? Your abilities are tailored towards taking on people in single combat. Your trick might have fooled the Railgun, but I'm not as childish as her."

"So you've done your research. Learn anything else about me?"

"Only that your bullshit copying ability is based on that glove of yours. Without it you only have your other ability."

"Are you wondering how I got them? Because that's a secret." I'm going to let her believe that I have the impossible Dual Skill for now.

"I couldn't care less. It's an easy job and the pay is the best I've seen in ages."

"Who hired you?" This certainly sounds like a declaration of war from Blackwatch to me.

"I don't pick the jobs, a liaison does that for us. All you need to know is that either we either kill you and bring the client your corpse or you come with us to the client. Which will it be shitty brat?"

"I think I'll take a third option, win and leave alive and well." I tensed in preparation for the inevitable onslaught.

"Too bad, you would've saved yourself a lot of pain!" Here it comes!

Four beams of green light shot down towards me, which I promptly dodged. I don't think anyone wants to get hit by someone whose ability is called Meltdowner (officially Atomic Destruction). Even I can't bounce back from such a power if every atom of my body is disintegrated.

"Finally!" The blond-haired girl pulled out a pair of what appeared to be electric igniters as her frown of boredom quickly turned into her previous scheming grin. She threw them, hitting the ground at my feet. I was confused for a split second before looking down to see that I was standing in a circle explosive tape they use for demolition. The tape led to several dolls that were strewn around the place. From my experiences in the past few days I already knew exactly what they were.

Bombs.

The dolls detonated with force comparable to the graviton bomber, sending me flying from the combined shock wave. Thus my fight with the mercenary group ITEM began with a literal bang.

Back at the present, I was still trying to dodge all of the miniature warheads and laser shots the long-ranged pair kept sending at me. How does she keep so many rockets under that skirt of hers?

"We can't just run!"

"I know! But I don't have any long-ranged attacks to deal with them right now! Even the whipfist wouldn't do a thing because she can just disintegrate it!"

I was cut off by the hooded girl as she prepared to land a punch aimed at my face. I was running too quickly to stop short and dodge, so I met her fist head on with mine. I was pushed back slightly by some kind of invisible force, as if I was punching some kind of invisible trampoline. In fact, it was almost like she had super strength! Nevertheless I followed through with my attack, managing to overpower the girl and knock her through several pieces of machinery.

"Kinuhata!" I heard the Meltdowner cry as she saw her teammate tried to shake off the effects of my attack.

I refused to let the girl catch her breath, I leaped towards her, converting my right arm into a hammerfist. I smashed the ground next to her with it, sending the girl careening across the room. She hit the wall unmoving, but alive. One down, three to go.

"Bastard!" She starting firing again, this time her sadistic playfulness was replaced with pure malice. As a result her accuracy jumped by leaps and bounds, and I was running out of biomass to heal off the damage with. At this rate I'm going to look like Swiss cheese in a matter of hours.

I kept trying to use the shadows and walls to try and give myself time to think, but she somehow always learned my location and blasted straight through whatever objects I was using as shields. Eventually I ended up just tearing open an elevator shaft and jumping straight down, landing on the basement floor and scurrying off to kill their line of sight.

"So what's the plan? I say go in and trash em'!"

"Honestly," a laser burned through the ceiling, barely missing my head, "I haven't a clue right now. Running in is suicide since they have the obvious firepower advantage, but out here I'm just begging to be shot at." The real problem was the fact that they seemed to know where I am at all times. Given that they don't know the reason behind my powers, it means that it definitely isn't some new viral detector. What are they using to track me?

"Hello? You have super hearing. Just listen in on their conversation damn it!"

"That's nice, but all of the sounds are being eaten up by the freaking explosions!"

"Then take out the Al-Qaeda wannabe first so we can listen!" Well, it's as good as a plan as any. The issue now is getting close enough to incapacitate her without getting shot full of holes by Queen Laser Bitch. Ugh, Kraft has been rubbing off on me.

My train of thought was interrupted by a doll that fell from the ceiling and promptly exploded in my face.

Again.

Does God want me to be blown to pieces or something? I mean, I can get back up from anything short of a cluster bomb but still...

"Stop being a baby!" Yeah sure, wonderful advice from the kid who's reduced to a whimpering wreck every time I threaten him with lightning.

"But lightning is scary! It fries you and leaves you feeling all numb and-"

"And bombs don't?"

"Well, they do but... oh for fuck's sakes why are we arguing about lightning and bombs!"

"You're the one that started-" Wait, lightning and bombs? Bombs have wiring so... I looked down to see an entire patch of the explosive tape that hadn't gone off yet.

"Wait, you can't use your powers without the stupid glove remember?"

"I know that. It's just that I remembered something. That blonde girl sets off all of her bombs via explosive tape, so if we were to cut them..." I severed the tape several feet from my position as a test. Sure enough the sparks stopped short, leaving the bomb they were meant to set off nearby intact.

"You stopped the bomb, woo hoo. There are still a half-ton of them in this goddamned building!"

"I know that too will you let me finish! A bomb can be changed if you rewire it the right way. So..."

"You're going to sneak it in and blow them apart with it!"

"I plan on using it non-lethally so I can take down that lazy looking girl."

"A more boring way of doing things, but why are we going after tracksuit and bob?"

"She's the only one not preoccupied with trying to disintegrate me or blow me to pieces, so that girl has to be the one tracking me."

"So you can't just blow them to pieces and be done with it?"

"If I do that, I won't find out who sent them and why. Better yet, if I can confirm that they were hired by Blackwatch I'll have enough blackmail material to get them off my back permanently."

The idiotic voice in my head paused for a moment in thought, "Good point. But you might want to look up."

This is going to suck, isn't it?

I looked up to see yet another intricate array of explosive tape hanging above my head, all arranged around the roof's supports.

Oh, and the fuse was just about done working its way through the main beams.

Well, crap.

"You might want to run." No shit Sherlock!

I took off as fast as I could towards the exit, rewiring the bomb as I went. "This wire should go here, and the black one there, then you move the ignition there..."

I was halfway done when yet another set of beams shot through the ceiling, this time nailing me in the shoulder and severing my left arm clean off.

Not again.

I sandwiched the doll between my arm and torso, freeing my hand to pick up my left arm just in time to duck under a yet another barrage of lasers aimed for neck. Hey, I might not have a brain, but getting my head cut off still hurts like hell land takes a while for me to get back up from.

Yeah, it's happened before. I'm not going into any details.

Regardless, missing an arm really isn't convenient when you're trying to rewire a bomb to use as a grenade.

"Kraft, reattach my arm."

"What?"

"You heard me, reattach my arm. Being burned off I won't regenerate it normally until I can peel the cauterized part off. If you can literally put eyes in the back of my head this should be a cinch."

"That was a joke!"

"I'm not exactly joking right now. You said you could do it so do it. It's a best idea I've got so get to it."

"So you don't care if I screw up and make it some fucked up appendage?"

"Please, I can grow a new one later, so just reattach it damn it! We don't have a lot of time!"

"Okay, just don't blame me if anything goes wrong."

I shoved my left arm into its socket, the stinging from having it severed vanished, replaced with strange numbness as feeling gradually returned to it. I flexed my fingers to make sure everything was still in working order, only for my arm to turn black and start swelling up!

"That's not supposed to happen!"

"Thanks for clearing that up Captain Obvious!"

"I'm working on it damn it!"

"Well, work faster!" My arm was beginning to distend into a weird shape that vaguely resembled what it should look like. Meanwhile my fingers were growing thinner, lengthening and sharpening so that they all resembled an upside down miniature version of my Blade.

Oh, did I mention that it felt like it was about to pop like a rubber balloon?

"Hey, manipulating genetics isn't easy!"

"Well if this keeps up my arm is going to explode and I wouldn't be surprised if half my torso goes with it!"

"I'm telling you I'm working on it! Just shut up and let me think!"

At this point I didn't have as much an arm as I did a... I don't even know how to describe it, a thing. A strange, bulb shaped thing where my arm should be with spears in place of fingers.

"Any time now!"

"I think I've got it!" For once he actually did get it right, my arm stopped swelling. Problem is, it didn't deflate. So I was still stuck with a bulbous mass for an arm.

"Um, I don't know how to fix that. You might have to pop it."

"Wait, you're saying I need to squeeze my arm like a zit?"

"I tried my fucking best, so get off my ass!"

"I'm just saying, it sounds stupid." Needless to say, I was feeling squeamish about it.

"You're the zombie apocalypse damn it! Something like this should be natural for you!"

I turned my right hand into a Claw in preparation. This is going to be gross isn't it?

Luckily for me, I didn't have to do it. The Meltdowner did it for me by shooting another set of four lasers through the ceiling straight through my arm.

Of course, this did have its consequences.

If I had poked it open, it probably would have gushed out. With the four lasers shooting through it forcefully from different angles, it ruptured.

Here's the English translation: I got covered with my own insides.

Yeah... if I had a gag factor and the ability to throw up I probably would have done so right there and then, but thankfully I have neither.

Unfortunately, I found out that my insides smell worse that a dumpster full of rotten garbage. Now that it was all over me... well connect the dots. I was able to reabsorb most of it, but some of it still remained at my feet.

On the bright side, my arm was back in working order. Mostly anyway. My fingers were still sharp and spear-like, but at least they were functional enough.

"So uh, back on the run!" I once again started rewiring the bomb while dodging falling dolls and an increasingly frequent rain of lasers. I cut as many lines of tape as I could while running in the maze of hallways, but there always seemed to be at least one or two more of them to replace any dolls I defused. They failed to leave any lasting damage, don't ask me how, but the threat of getting hit by even one of them kept me on my toes as that last event used up most of my remaining biomass.

Finally, after what felt like hours I was finally finished. With the way I rewired it the bomb would now detonate from a strong enough impact. Meaning if I threw it at the floor it would explode instantly, exactly what I needed.

So where's the next exit out of here?

That's when I realized something.

I was lost.

Badly.

Crap.

What should I do in this situation?

Let's see... Thermal Vision is nice for finding targets, but they're at least a floor or two above me. Plus it won't show me any exits. So that's out.

I could probably smash my way out, but the falling debris would set off the bomb and thus screw over my chances of getting close without getting shot.

That leaves... Hunting.

It's a bit complicated to explain, so I'll just say it works like a bat's echolocation and gives me a pretty good idea of the layout of my surroundings.

I took a deep breath while working out the optimal direction to aim at. An ear-splitting screech escaped my lips, venturing straight down the hallways and beyond. Normally I hate using it, especially in close quarters, simply because it hurts my ears. At least the information I get out of it is useful, particularly in a situation like this.

When the sound waves came back a few evil ideas popped into my mind. The emergency exit was just a few hallways down, a distance I could cover in under half a minute at full speed. The more interesting tidbit I found was that the three mercenaries were directly above me, probably trying to land a killing blow as usual. But right above me meant that they were right above a major support beam holding the ceiling up.

I modified my right arm so that it would be bulked up with a hammerfist at the end, slamming it into the beam hard enough to make it buckle noisily. There was only one thing left to do now.

I deployed my Shield before taking a few steps back. "Bombs away!"

I threw the doll as hard as I could against the beam, and it worked exactly the way I wanted it to. It exploded with all of the force it had originally, causing the beam to break and the ceiling above it to collapse.

I managed to stand my ground and remain unharmed thanks to my Shield but the trio didn't seem quite as lucky as the floor collapsed under their feet.

"Ow, ow! What the hell was that!" I heard Frenda mutter amidst the smoke and debris, probably while rubbing her head or something.

Perfect.

I rushed at them with my full speed as they struggled to make sense of what happened, an opening I was more than willing to take advantage of.

"Oh! Oh! Let me!" I let Kraft aim my leg straight at Frenda's face, though minding to limit the force to avoid taking her head off, we ended up kneeing her dead center. Much like her friend earlier she careened across the floor until she hit the wall with a bloody nose and completely unconscious.

I turned to tracksuit girl next, striking her solar plexus the way I would with most of my opponents, knocking the wind out of her instantly. Not the fighter type I see.

That's three, where's the last-

A familiar sound alerted me to what was about to happen. I craned my neck backward just barely in time to keep the beams from cutting straight through and separating my head from my shoulders. It did graze me however, which would have rendered me mute if it weren't for my regeneration ability.

"That was a nice trick you pulled brat. But unfortunately for you I was able to slow my fall with the recoil from my ability."

How you would slow your fall with lasers, note a form of energy without mass and almost nonexistent force, is beyond me. Then again, it's Academy City, anything can happen.

"That's nice and all, but it's one on one now. What do you think your odds of winning are?"

"I admit, you know how to fight. But don't think that will give you a one in a million chance of beating me, you brat!"

I sighed, "Enough with this brat business. You're making yourself sound far older than you really are. Then again, you are pretty old for an an ability user. I wonder if old hag would suit you. Well, compared to the rest of your ragtag bunch it would work just fine."

Aunt Dana told me the three things you never tell to a woman.

First, never tell her she gained weight.

Second, never insult her sense of fashion.

Third, and most important of all, never tell her she's old.

Boy, did she explode.

"Don't dare make fun of ITEM! Don't you dare make fun of me!" She began firing with even greater bloodlust than earlier. It's kind of funny how she's more pissed about being called old than seeing her friends get beaten into the pavement. Still I have to wonder about something.

Why do I have a habit of purposely pissing the off worst kinds of people?

Must be something I inherited from Dad.

Anyways, I leaped upward through the hole I made with my little explosion to avoid them, before taking off towards a more open space where I could dodge more easily.

Namely, our starting position.

To my surprise, she arrived only a few minutes later, returning to the pile of crates she greeted me from at the very beginning of this damned fight.

"There you are!" she growled as murderously as ever.

"You got here quickly. So, are you ready for round two?"

"Aren't you acting a little cocky?" So she took my advice and dropped the brat bit.

"Maybe, but if the ranked first went down in one hit, why not the ranked fourth?"

"Let's see you get in range first!" Damn it. She has a point.

I immediately had to sidestep her beams again as our banter finished. I mean, they're rather thin but how long can she put this out? I feel exhausted after a few seconds of my max electric power, but she's still going strong and I'm pretty sure we've been going at this for hours. At least my innate abilities don't tax me nearly as much.

I think her calculations are getting better, since she's been getting closer and closer to hitting me as time passed. How am I going to get close enough to finish her if all I can do is dodge?

My answer came with a sudden and abrupt change to the scenery.

The lights went out.

"Alright! Go on and rape her ass before they turn back on!" That sounded plain wrong when put out of context. When did he learn video game lingo anyway?

Still, he had a point. Now would probably be my best chance to actually close the distance and knock her out before I could take any more damage.

Still there was yet another problem with that.

I took an explosion to the face.

Again.

How many of these goddamned bombs are there?

As I recoiled backward from the hit I could hear the sound of the crates falling. That's when it hit me.

Every one of those crates has a bomb in it and she can detonate any one of them with a single beam.

Well, crap.

I turned on Thermal Vision to locate her, only for it to be clouded by the heat given off when the bombs detonated.

She didn't even have to aim! At this point she was just sending all of those crates my way and blasting them just to see if I was hit or not. I ended up using my remaining biomass to deploy my Armor just to handle all of these bombs, which happened to be practically endless. I think that Osama bin-Laden would have been proud of blondie for the sheer number of explosives she brought to one facility.

Through the explosions her maniacal laughter rang in my ears, an enduring reason to slap her across the face a couple of times once I'm done with her.

I didn't have enough biomass for any weaponry, so my only choice was to simply brave the fires caused by the explosions and hope for the best. Dad took a nuke at practically point blank range, so this should be easy.

Right?

Sadly, wrong. As I was about to get in range to finally end the fight, I saw the glimmering of a silver card with triangle patterns all over it.

She saw this coming hours ago.

I could only see a green flash as she directed her power into the card, disintegrating it but splitting the four powerful beams into an array of dozens of smaller but just as deadly lasers, all hitting me at point blank range and blasting me all the way into the steel shutters blocking the way out.

Yeah... having dozens of lasers burning through probably fifty percent of my body hurts.

Note to self, stop picking fights with Level 5s!

I could barely twitch, let alone move as she sauntered over to me to see if I was really dead.

"Not so tough now are you? Did you honestly think you could pick a fight with me and win?" She loomed over my fallen form, prepared to destroy my body and get rid of the evidence of her kill.

Too bad I wasn't quite dead yet.

It's been a long time since I've been this injured, and my fight or flight instinct was finally deciding to kick in, releasing some much needed adrenaline into my system, restoring just enough feeling throughout to move, a fact I did not take for granted.

I used whatever was left of my arms to push myself off the floor, launching my battered body straight into her. My last ditch effort at a reversal knocked us both to the ground where I used my superior strength to get her in a hammerlock.

"How the hell are you still alive!" she grunted as I increased the pressure on her shoulder.

"That's a secret I can't tell you." Though between you and me, the fact that I lack vital organs certainly does help.

"Are you some kind of mon-" I smashed her head into the pavement hard enough to give her a severe concussion as she tried to finish. I already knew what she was going to say though.

A monster. It's a pretty good summation of my existence, isn't it?

Meanwhile Kraft was cackling away so loudly it sounded like he was on a sugar high with a cocktail of stimulants on the side.

"She actually fell for that! Oh... god! Is she fucking retarded or what? You put that cocky bitch in her place!"

She was definitely arrogant, but hardly an idiot. If I were human I would have been dead hours ago. I've got to keep working at keeping my skills sharp, lest I run into something like this again.

Well, it's time to call in the cavalry I guess, or at least the clean-up crew. My right hand was mostly intact, so I used it to dial for Anti-Skill to check the place out.

At least, I tried to.

The usual dial tone was silent, and I apparently lacked reception. So the phone lines are down.

Wonderful.

Not only am I a bleeding mess and full of holes but I can't even finish the job I was assigned to do. It'd be pointless to handcuff them with one of them having some sort of super strength and the Meltdowner there. That means they get away with this scot-free.

Just lovely.

The Chief is going to kill me tomorrow, as if I wasn't dead enough already. All I could do was get ready to leave and hopefully be able to patch myself back together with a few extra blood packets.

Of course, Kraft had to put his two cents in, "Can we do that again?"

"No."

"Please?" Oh now you're being polite!

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

As he continued to beg in the most annoying manner possible I crumpled the steel shutter in my grip to open the door before heading back out into the city, hoping that no one would see me and scream bloody murder as I began dragging (metaphorically) my bleeding self (literally) back home.

Heaven's Canceller's Hospital

He continued to whine and beg all the way home. The painfully long trek was only lengthened by the fact that the damage done to my legs reduced my walking speed to a limp. To add insult to injury, it wasn't just District 10, most of the city was in the middle of a blackout. Meaning I had to navigate my way home in almost complete darkness, which wasn't as much of a problem for me as it would others, but still annoying.

"Please?" he asked for the hundredth time as I got past the hospital gate.

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"For the last time no!"

He shut up for a single second as I made it to the automatic doors.

"Please?"

"God damn it, shut up already! We finished hours ago, learn to enjoy a little peace and quiet for once!"

"But I'm bored again!"

"Well deal with it! Not everything is about violence!"

He made a pouting noise, "Why can't it be?" I give up, he's just... ugh. I can't articulate in words how annoying it is to be practically arguing with yourself over a stupid matter like this.

I did my best to ignore him as I limped inside. The red lights around the lobby entrance meant that the emergency generators were on, and the fact that no one was inside means that everyone was evacuated as a precaution. At least there's no one here to wonder why there was a blood trail heading into the hospital that did not involve the ER.

Finally, after ours of trudging through the School District with barely functional legs I made it to the fridge where all of the blood packets were kept. I opened it to expect to see the packets which have literally become my lifeblood over the years. Instead of relief, I found the exact opposite.

All of them were missing.

Again.

I felt like giving God the middle finger for this crappy day.

"Does anything want to go right today!" I hollered at the top of my lungs (metaphorically, I don't have them after all) to vent my anguish over just how horrible this day was overall.

The sound of a flashlight clicking on made me jump to see who it was, only to see my adoptive grandfather looking straight at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Jii-chan! You scared me!"

"That should be my line. I walk in here from the basement to see my grandson looking like a walking corpse straight out of a horror film." He turned the reflective side of the surgical tray he was holding towards me, revealing the full extent of my injuries.

It was nothing too major or life-threatening of course. My left arm was hanging on by a few threads of tissue with burns all across it. As I said earlier, my legs had holes all over them, I counted four or five on my thighs and another two that went straight through my shin and heel. My right arm was somehow unscathed by the whole mess, but my shoulder looked like it made out with a heavy machine gun. To complete the surprisingly fitting zombie apocalypse victim look, I could see straight through where my left eye, my heart, and part of my stomach should be, a makeover courtesy of the Meltdowner.

"Well, technically I'm the walking corpse of a walking corpse... but that's not the point! I know this may sound crazy but I have a perfectly reasonable excuse for this!"

"Oh, this I'd like to hear."

"At the end of my shift I had to go investigate an abandoned factory in District 10 due to an anonymous report of a weapons stockpile. It was there, but the whole thing was set up so that a group of four mercenary girls could try to either kill or capture me, one of them being the ranked fourth Level 5. After a rough fight I managed to take down all of them except for the leader. At that point I was running out of biomass so I just sort of rushed at her with my Armor on. She pulled out a card which let her burn all of these holes in me. I managed to play dead long enough to get the jump on her and knock her out, but I'm out of biomass so I still have all of these wounds to prove it."

To my exasperation he raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "It's the truth!"

He sighed, "If anyone else were telling me this I'd direct them to their nearest psychologist for chuunibyou." Did he seriously just call me delusional?

"But knowing you it probably did happen. So I assume you wanted an extra blood packet or two in order to put yourself back together?"

"Um, yeah. Where are they? The fridge was fully stocked this morning."

"I moved them downstairs and put them in a tub of ice since the power is gone. They won't last the night in this heat, so you'll have to drink them all soon."

"At least that's something." I'll be able to look at myself in the mirror tomorrow without cringing!

He cracked a smile in a weirdly sympathetic yet teasing way, "You've had quite the day haven't you?"

"You don't know the half of it." Between the oceans of paperwork, the mysterious woman, and that furious foursome I've had enough for a whole week. I'll probably have to do something again tomorrow too.

"Yes, I understand, trouble follows you everywhere. Regardless, you know the routine."

"Of course, eat dinner, do homework, then go to bed. Since I feel like dropping dead right now I'll just get going."

"Please do. You're bleeding all over my nice clean floor." I looked down to realize I was leaving a growing puddle of blood on the floor. Quite frankly I'm amazed I haven't bled out yet, but I barely understand how my body works anyway.

I let out another sigh, "I'll... get the bleach and a mop on the way back up from the basement."

His smile grew a little wider, "Good night, Sieg."

"Good night." He then left for his office, probably to go through some more paperwork before hitting the hay like I would in a few hours or so.

Once I managed to hobble downstairs I immediately saw them siting on the floor. Despite, or rather because I was practically on the verge of falling apart, I practically dove for the tub of blood packets before tearing them open and drinking them one by one. They tasted nasty of course, but who cares if they heal your wounds and eliminate your fatigue?

"Ah, that hit the spot!" I was finally able to happily cheer as I wiped the last drops from my lips. It's nice to be able to feel good as new when you're mutilated and/or maimed in practically every big fight you get into. When I checked my reflection in the now empty metal tub I was looking better as well, the only remnant of my injuries being the light ring around where the laser shot through my eye.

I had gone through at least twenty to thirty of them, roughly ten liters or about the amount of blood in two adult men. I won't have to worry about getting hungry for at least a week as long as I pace myself when using my powers. For some reason my body is a lot more economic than Dad's or Mr. Heller's. They need to eat a person a day to sustain themselves, which wasn't really in an issue when New York was a war zone.

On the topic of powers... what am I going to do about the Booster? A single laser was able to fry it and render it inoperable, and I doubt Rabbit Ears is going to be happy about it. Can you even fix something like this? How does it work anyway?

There's way too many questions I need answering.

Still, it's not my problem at the moment. I still have a floor to clean up after all. We have enough urban legends in this city, and new one about someone dying a bloody death in my home is the last thing I need deal to deal with.

I went to the sink and began mixing water and bleach together in a container to create a disinfecting solution. Tracing my steps I carefully poured the solution all over each and every bloodstain. Unfortunately, according to official regulations set by the CDC, Academy City, and... ugh Blackwatch I had to let it sit for twenty minutes in order to make sure the floor was completely cleansed. I ended up letting it sit for an extra ten just in case.

I kind of makes you wonder if they'd just throw bleach at me rather than go through the trouble of manufacturing bullets and tanks to kill me. Then again, I've never dropped bleach on myself, so I wouldn't know if it would work or not.

"Bored again..." Kraft yawned, "Can't we do something else?"

"If you're tired go to sleep and stop bothering me. Kids need plenty of sleep anyway."

"I'm not a kid! Stop... treating... me... like..." He really did sound tired.

"You've had your fun for today. Who knows what kind of crazy stuff we'll get into tomorrow. If you want to break some more stuff you'll have to be awake to do it."

"If you put it that way... then maybe a nap... wouldn't... hurt..." He then went quiet, much to the relief of my eardrums. With the childish, annoying, and destructive voice in my head asleep I can finally have some piece and quiet!

"Heh... fuck you..."

I then took my time mopping, making sure to get every last bit of blood. An ounce of prevention now saves a lot of effort stopping a zombie outbreak later.

With that finished, I ended up doing the usual, homework, checking on all of the patients, taking a shower, before heading back to my room and collapsing on the bed.

What a day. It'd be nice if I could just lie down and relax like this for more than a few hours.

Too bad the day after was an even bigger pain.

Q & A #1

Hey, everyone! Sieg here. The author noticed that there have been quite a few questions about this story because it's a crossover between two series filled with techno-babble. So I'm going to start trying to answer your questions the best I can without spoiling too much of the original stories.

So far the most common question here is: Will my powers stop working if Touma touched me with his right hand?

The answer is no.

Here's the reason: According to him it negates any supernatural phenomenon. The thing is, my main abilities are all natural (sort of) in that I was basically born with them. Since they're not in the same class as esper powers, they wouldn't be negated since they are a (once again sort of) natural super power since it came with as part of the evolution of the Blacklight virus (namely me).

To make it a bit clearer I'm going to use an example.

He negated that explosion a chapter ago because it was generated using the Bomber's ability and it could not and would not happen normally, thus rendering it a supernatural phenomenon.

Compare that to let's say a Powered Suit, which is basically a big exoskeleton that is used to assist in construction. It enables the user to perform superhuman feats of strength thanks to the machinery, but it is still perfectly plausible by normal human physics in my version of the universe thanks to Academy City technology. Thus it is not supernatural and thus can't be negated.

So yeah, that's it for this round. If you've got any other questions feel free to ask them!

That's all for now, see you next chapter!

Sorry for the wait guys! Life gets in the way of hobbies and this chapter was no exception. It's kind of hard to think up of a challenge for Sieg given his incredible current and potential power, so I decided to tone it down for the next few chapters.

Yeah, I've read your reviews. I take them all seriously. They're basically the whole reason why I wrote this chapter anyway. You're right, he is pretty overpowered against normal opponents, so I hope to keep the story interesting and fresh by removing his esper powers for the time being and pitting him against something tougher.

I've also realized that I've spent way too long in the Level Upper Arc, and I plan on moving into either the Poltergeist or perhaps even the Sisters Arc by Chapter 14 at the latest.

I also wanted to ask you guys about the Q & A section. I took inspiration from the Arrancar Encyclopedia of Bleach as a means of answering recurring questions without making it too much of a boring info dump. Did you like it? If not, how do you think I could improve it? Should I remove it entirely? I'm leaving it up to you guys to decide.

As I said in my other story, Heroes of the Past, I would to ask a request from you guys. If you have the time, please tell me one thing you liked and one thing you didn't like about this chapter in your reviews. Your support is greatly appreciated, but a pat on the back doesn't tell me how I can improve. Some of you are already doing this and I thank you. I'm going to remind you guys again that I do read every review and message you send me and I will never take them for granted. If you have something you want to say, go right ahead. You don't even need to sugar coat it. I'm old enough to take harsh criticism (and profanity if you feel that strongly about it), so there's no reason you should feel the need to hold back in your thoughts.

Thanks for reading everyone. I hope you had as much fun reading this chapter as I did writing it, and I hope to see you guys again for the next one. See you next time!

P.S. If you've got a better name for the Q & A section, shoot it to me in a review or a PM. I'll be more than happy to credit you with it.

P.S.S. I know it's way past Halloween but I plan on posting a Halloween chapter for this story featuring guest appearances by my favorite vampire story by December at the absolute latest. I hope you enjoy reading it as well.