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Sweaty palms, flushed cheeks, heavy breathing. Running. Anybody who knew of his prowess would never use those words to describe Accelerator. And yet, Academy City's strongest Level 5 Esper was actually fleeing from something. To regulars of the city, that would have sounded like some bad joke that should never be uttered.

He ran through a switchyard with all his might. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since he started his flight but it was already dark. He looked back for a moment before his already tiny pupils shrunk in size. He jumped around the corner of a shipping container and activated his ability for the first time in hours. He kicked off his foot dashed down across the container as the side of it was devastated by a strong gust of wind.

He looked back again for a second before redirecting his gaze ahead. As he sped, the end of the container seemed to get farther and farther.

At the end there was a figure with it back turned. It slowly turned around and revealed a faceless, spiky haired boy about the same height as Accelerator. Two glowing white circles slowly opened where his eyes should be. While raising his right hand, he increased in size until he was over thirty feet tall. He slammed his hand down on the ground. Accelerator skidded to a halt in front of the hand but was blown back by the impact.

He rolled across the ground for a few meters. Accelerator stared at the large tenager with contempt and dread.

"Stay back!" He shouted with a blood around his nose and mouth. "Stay away from you bastaaaaaaaaard!"

He sense a terrifying pressure from behind him. Normally, when an organism is faced with a threat, their heart rate increases because of a chemical called adrenaline. It is secreted throughout the body in preparation to combat the threat or flee from it, coined the fight-or-flight response.

Academy City's #1 could count on one hand how many times he experienced that feeling. But never before has he felt this sense of urgency, of futility.

Of fear.

Death.

The pale young man turned around. A massive red fist was heading his way. He put his hands up and pushes back against it. The world around him seemed to disintegrate. The sound of wind being cut caught his attention as a massive right hand headed towards him. He brought up his other hand to stop it but his arm was snapped in the process.

He sweated profusely as the massive fists slowly closed in on him. He could only hear himself scream for a moment before he was crushed to bits.

Accelerator quickly sat up and gasped. He looked around to find that he was in a familiar looking hospital room. He looked out of the window on his left to capture a bird's eye view of Academy City. His view focused on the city for a few seconds before he sucked his teeth and hunches forward as he clenched his fists.

"Ah, so you're awake."

Accelerator turned to his right to see Heaven Canceller, also known as the Frog Faced Doctor, holding a clipboard in his right hand. Accelerator leaned back into his pillow.

"Well, aren't you captain obvious," he said with unneeded derision.

He then quickly touched the electrode choker on his neck. He realizes he never turned it off before blacking. The fact that it turned on indicated that somebody, probably that froggy bastard, turned it off beforehand. He switched it back off as there was no further reason to keep it on.

"Perhaps you would like to discuss this little incident that landed you here in the first place?"

"Tch. Fuck off."

Accelerator pulled a cell phone out his back pocket goes to his contacts. After pressing the call button, he put the phone up to his ear.

"Yoshikawa."

"Ah, hello Accelerator."

"How is Last Order?"

"She hasn't spoken since she got in the car. Something like that, especially at her developmental stage, is pretty hard to recover from. Oh, and really? A garbage bag?"

"It was better than nothing. What is she doing now?"

"Sitting in the back seat of the car looking down. Would you like to talk to her?"

"Back seat? What the hell?"

"Yeah, we've been stuck in this nasty traffic jam for a while now."

"Tsk. Don't forget to get Last Order some new… equipment."

"Heh. That almost sounds like doting."

"Whatever."

*Beep!*

Accelerator pressed the hang up button on the phone. He noticed the time. 1:23 PM. He closed his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. He sat on the hospital bed with a slightly hunched posture. The Frog Faced Doctor stared at him with a neutral expression that reminded him of the caped bald man responsible for placing him in the hospital in the first place. Reminding himself of his humiliating defeat, he turned his head to the side as if to purposely ignore the man's presence.

"Accelerator."

The city's most powerful level 5 esper gritted his teeths and slightly squinted his after hearing his name.

"Well, I can't help you if you won't allow me to. I'm a very busy man and if you're not going to respect my time then I see no reason to place the burden of me being in your presence. You should be fine. You haven't suffered any injuries at all, unsurprisingly, and your oxygen levels are normal. You can leave any time. Although I do advise that you to avoid whatever got you here in the first place."

Afterwards, the frog faced doctor turned around and left the room. Accelerator was now faced with the melancholy of his own thoughts. For example, the fact that there was somebody in Academy City that even he couldn't even hurt. No matter how hard he tried to wrap his head around it, he was still in shock that someone administered the same feeling of powerlessness and even dread that he has delivered to far too many people in his short span of life.

(Heh. Maybe this is just some cosmic form of poetic justice.)

He entertained the thought that maybe that defeat was part of the process of atoning for the sins he has committed against humanity.

After thinking about it for a moment, the skinny, pale boy scoffed.

(Yeah right. Like the universe gives a shit about punishing a villain like me anyway.)

With that, Accelerator grabbed the cane on his right and placed his legs on the floor. He noticed a tray of snacks consisting of crackers, an oatmeal cookie and grape juice on his left but decided to leave it.

(I guess there really are monsters out there more terrifying than me.)

Accelerator left the hospital with a sadistic looking smile. His path to vengeance had not yet ended.