Between the lines: Love, Thunder, and Railgun
One fine morning in Academy City, Mjolnir and her creator, Marian Slingeneyer was walking through District 7. After the death of Chairman Aleister, the passage of magicians into the city had become much easier. Under the new regime of Accelerator, it had become a safe haven for many thousands of mages. On that day, Marian and Mjolnir had just finished decorating their new apartment, and now they were relaxing in a nearby park.
They were sitting next to a fountain when a pair of very familiar people came running by. One was a spiky haired boy who wore a blue school uniform. Chasing after him was a chestnut haired girl in a tan blazer. When he saw them, he stopped immediately, and the girl bumped into him.
"Gremlin…" He muttered, and the girl stiffened.
Marian got up slowly and help out her hands. "Peace between us, Imagine Breaker!" She said, "Gremlin have all disbanded, so we're all on our own now. We're all just trying to find a safe place to live."
The boy hesitated, "It's not that we don't believe you, but…"
He glanced at Mjolnir nervously, "Is Thor here right now?"
"Do not speak of that traitor!" Marian growled darkly, "He has naught to do with us anymore. Besides, we lost all contact with him after the wars, and I don't really care to keep in touch with him."
"Isn't that dangerous though?" the boy said, "I mean, he's a total trickster who loves to play games on people. It's only a matter of time before he grows bored and starts something."
"That's true," Marian mused, "And he acts more like Loki than Thor. Still, he is closely connected to Mjolnir, so I don't really doubt his identity. If only I could sever the bond…" Trailing off, she stared at Mjolnir for a few seconds, then at the girl, and back at Mjolnir. Suddenly, her face lit up.
"I got it!" She exclaimed. "If I could find someone who is worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, I could reassign the name of Almighty Thor to someone else! It's like how a wireless receiver will always receive the same signals until you change its frequency."
"It's an interesting idea, I guess," the chestnut haired girl said, thinking out loudly, "But how would you find such a person?"
"Well," Marian grinned as she glanced at the girl, "She would have to be a strong fighter with a restless spirit…" Slowly, Marian walk closer and closer to the girl, "…with similar powers to the old Thor. She would have to be familiar with the Magic Side and be willing to try new and dangerous things!"
By the time she had finished speaking, Marian was face-to face with the girl, who had stiffened considerably. "What was your name again?"
"Uhh…et-to…Misaka Mikoto," the girl said, trying desperately to push Marian away. The Dvegr laughed and backed away.
"Well? How 'bout it?" Marian said, "Wanna give it a try?"
Misaka, still unsure, looked to the spiky-haired boy, who sighed, "I think it's worth a try. If it can keep Thor away from Academy City, then all the better."
Marian rolled her eyes. "I'm not talking to you, Image Breaker! If a girl wants to do something, she doesn't need a guy's permission."
"At least you can call me by my name," the boy grumbled, "It's is Touma, Kamijou Touma."
"I-I-I think I can give it a try," Misaka said, "Certainly, I don't have as much experience with your side of things."
"That's fine." Marian laughed, "Mjolnir can help you along."
Mjolnir nodded enthusiastically, but then realized that no one could see her. Quickly, she morphed into her traditional T-shaped hammer form and wiggled her handle so Misaka could pick her up. Touma held onto Misaka's hand.
"Wait!" He exclaimed, "Let's not do that here. There are a lot of innocent people around, and they could get hurt."
Misaka nodded, but Marian growled. "Again with your controlling ways!" She snarled, "Can she do nothing without your input?"
But Misaka defended him, saying, "Touma doesn't control anything I do! We are friends, and that means we trust each other! Besides, he has much more experience than I do when it comes to these things. If he says that what you want me to do is dangerous, then I am inclined to agree with him!"
As she said this, her hands instinctively clasped his tightly. "I know a place where we can practice," she went on, "We can keep the people out of harm's way."
Fifteen minutes later, they were in a deep wide pit at the center of the City. Originally, this was the foundation for the Windowless Building, where the government headquarters were housed. The space around them were littered with powered suits that were left over after the building's demolishment. They were now completely abandoned.
Marian set Mjolnir down in the center. She and the boy stood on the sidelines as Misaka approached.
"What even are you?" She asked, "You look like a small lump of metal, yet you change your size, and you can interact with people."
Wanting to speak, Mjolnir allowed her mouth to surface. "I am a human, reshaped into this form by Marian. She gave me a new purpose, to be the strongest and toughest thing in the world. My body is made of a special platinum-iridium alloy that works well with magic. Thanks to Marian's modifications, I can change my shape into whatever I choose."
"Platinum and Iridium huh?" Misaka said, "Resists tarnishing and twice as dense as lead."
"They're also leftovers of neutron-star collisions," Maria said, "It fulfills the material criteria that the original Mjolnir was forged from dying stars. We used the same proportions of those used in the International Prototype Kilogram."
"I see," Misaka, said, "So what if I did this?"
As she spoke, lightning shot out of her finger and enveloped Mjolnir. Then, Mjolnir felt herself being lifted off the ground. It was similar to how Thor used her, but this was more delicate, more graceful. Quickly, Mjolnir changed into a metal ball and went flying around the pit.
"Whoohoo!" she cried as she barreled into the abandoned powered suits. Those metal contraptions posed no resistance as she went through. Mjolnir flew back around to the Electromaster, who twisted around as she passed and kicked her like a soccer ball. That sent her careening through more powered suits until she was nearly touching the pit walls. At the last moment, Misaka gave her a tug, and Mjolnir sprung back like a yo-yo on a string. She flew towards the girl, who then gave a well timed bicycle kick, sending her high above the area. All the people were as small as ants, and Mjolnir could see the whole city laid out around her. Misaka kept her aloft and sent more electricity into her, so she was sparking like an old-fashioned arc lamp.
As she hung in the air, Mjolnir could hear the people below speaking.
"Hey Misaka," the spiky haired boy was saying, "Why don't you try your railgun on her?"
"Are you sure?" Misaka asked dubiously, "Wouldn't she burn up in the atmosphere?"
But Marian wagged her finger, "Non-non! You see, Mjolnir is a Gemstone, and this is her power! She has complete control over thermodynamics and can absorb and redirect any form of energy at will!"
"Hmm? Is that so?"
Misaka looked up at Mjolnir, who looked back down with confusion. Then, she felt the electric force leave her, and she fell back down. As the earth rushed up to meet her, she could see Misaka strike a Karate pose, holding one hand out with her palm forwards and pulling the other back and forming a fist. Suddenly, she understood.
At the last moment, Mjolnir changed into her spear shape with her butt-end flared into a large impact plate. Misaka's fist made contact with the impact plate, energizing Mjolnir and pushing her through a long magnetic track. A millisecond later, Mjolnir was traveling at three times the speed of sound. Quickly, she changed the butt-plate into fins, allowing her some control in the flight. She booked it all the way to the pit's dirt walls. The blistering heat caused by air friction threatened to melt her down, but Mjolnir focused all of the energy into her spearpoint. All of the energy was released on impact, creating a six-meter wide hole on the side of the pit. Then came a rush of wind as the shock wave she created finally caught up to her.
It was the most exhilarating ride she ever taken! Not even Thor could do so much!
Actually, was he even Thor? Mjolnir thought as she lay in the rubble. The way he acted ran counter to every story she had known about the Norse god of thunder. Thor was supposed to be the biggest badasses of the Aesirs, and their Thor was a trickster type who caused pain and suffering for his own amusement! Meanwhile, this Misaka girl was the kind of person she had liked the most: noble, principled and loyal to her friends.
Mjolnir felt the electricity pull her out from the rubble, and she turned back into a cylinder as she floated back to the gang. She let her mouth surface again. "That was so much fun!" she said, "I can't wait to do that again!"
"I know right?" Misaka laughed, "That was faster, farther, and so much stronger than anything I had ever tried with my Railgun!"
"Ha ha! I knew you'd like her!" Marian laughed as she picked up Mjolnir again, "Tell you what, why don't you give me your phone number? Then we can meet up again some other time, and you can play with Mjolnir again!"
"Gladly!" Misaka pulled out her phone. Marian did the same, and the two exchanged contacts.
"Excellent!" Marian said after she added Misaka's number, "Well it's getting late, and we need to meet with our new school supervisor."
"Okay then," Touma smiled, "Good luck!"
"Yeah! See you!" Touma and Misaka waved them goodbye.
Marian smiled and turned away in high spirits. As she walked up the ramp, one thought crossed her mind.
"This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship!"
Chapter 21: Storming the Castle
The arcade coin glinted in the morning light as it tumbled in the cold crisp air. As it dropped down to Misaka-san's outstretched hand, Misaka-san energized it with her electricity. Then, she gave the coin another flick, and it shot out in front of her in a brilliant beam of light. Seconds later, it struck the main entrance of Yotsuba's school of Performing arts, and the glass door shattered into thousands of tiny shards. Another moment later, hundreds of powered-suits came boiling out, triggered by the sudden attack. Kanzaki Kaori and Itsuwa-san charged in towards them, and made quick work on the mechanical hoard, slicing and stabbing through them easily.
As they and Misaka-san charged in together, Shirai-san, Saten-san, Takitsubo-san, and I followed in a slower pace. Overhead, two Anti-skill helicopters passed by, carrying Oni-chan, Index-san, Fukiyose-san, Yomikawa-sensei, Stiyl Magnus, the Dean, and a troop of Anti-skill officers up to the tenth floor. Behind us came another cohort of Anti-skill members, many bearing stretchers to recover the brainwashed people trapped inside.
As we inspected the powered suits, we found all of them empty with nobody inside.
"But how is this possible?" I asked, "They're suppose to be powered suits, right? They're meant to let a person power them inside, right?"
"I wonder…" Shirai-san rummaged inside and found a long case made of some kind of purple glass. Inside, there was a single strand of blonde hair. Saten-san gasped at the sight of it.
"This seems all too familiar," Shirai-san said wryly. "If those people are involved in all of this…"
"But it can't be!" Saten-san exclaimed, "Those girls should still be overseas right now! Nunotaba-San promised us that she would keep the girls safe!"
"I hope you're right," Shirai-san sighed, "I hope there's some other explanation, but…"
We pressed on towards the entrance. I asked Saten-san what the matter was, and she told me about Febrie and Janine, and the Chemicaloid experiment that threatened the entire city.
"Luckily, we managed to stop it in time," Saten-san said, "We thwarted what surely would have been a disaster to the city."
As we stepped through the entrance, we heard our radios crackling. Then, we heard Uiharu-san's voice come through.
"I just went through Anti-skill's records," she said, "After the Bank shut down, Anti-skill had to release all those they had detained for criminal delinquency. Since we started our census on the population, all of STUDY corporations's ex-members were accounted for except for Aritomi Haruki! If he is involved in this…"
"…Then GROUP has another powerful ally," Oni-Chan's voice appeared amid helicopter noises. "It means that GROUP has somehow combined Science and Magic in a powerful union!"
"I'm not exactly sure what you mean," Misaka-san's voice also chimed in, "Are you saying that mixing the science side and magic side makes both sides stronger?"
"In certain combinations, yes," Oni-Chan said, "Like how Marian created Mjolnir by combining shape-shifting magic and material magic with Mjolnir's own Gemstone abilities. If the GROUP liaison was able to hire both Aureolus and Aritomi-San, then they would be a force to be reckoned with."
"It makes a lot of sense if this person could combine an alchemist with a scientist. Alchemy is the closest branch to the Science Side," Index-San said, "Sir Issac Newton was both a scientist and an alchemist, and he made great strides on both sides!"
"Hold on!" Shirai-San said, "Why are we talking about Thor's hammer? What does it have to do with our situation right now?"
"Nothing," Oni-Chan said, "I was just giving an example of combining Science side and Magic side abilities."
Misaka-San, Kanzaki-San, and Itsuwa-San had already gone on to the upper floors. In their wake, they had left a large trail of chaos. Injured students and staff members lay writhing on the floor, and powered suits were in heaps of scrap metal.
Shirai-San sighed exasperatedly and spoke through her radio, "Onee-sama! How can you be so cruel to these people? You know they're only being controlled by someone else!"
"Sorry Kuroko!" Misaka-San responded guiltily, "We tried to go easy on them, but there was just too many! Itsuwa-San says she tried to dispel whatever was controlling them, so they shouldn't be any trouble."
Shirai-San sighed again. "Fine! But now I have to clean up your mess! You owe me big time Onee-Sama!"
"I said I am sorry!" Misaka-San said with slight annoyance, "I'll make it up to you!"
"Oh, I'll make sure you do!" Shirai-San grinned as she ended the call. Turning to us, she exclaimed, "Alright everyone, let's get to work!"
Saying this, she rummaged through her jacket pouch and pulled out some more bandages. She tossed some to Saten-san, saying, "Saten-san, go help out the Anti-skill members. If you see anyone with open wounds, make sure to dress them up properly. Otohime-chan, you're staying with me. I want you to watch and learn."
"Hai!" I said.
"Ous!" Saten cried.
We split up and tended to the injured. I watched as Shira-san instructed a boy to keep his broken arm folded across his chest. Then, she wrapped it in a triangular cloth, creating a sling. Meanwhile, two Anti-skill officers walked by with a stretcher carrying another unconscious boy. His left leg had been immobilized with a splint and the right leg was kept bent at an angle. Shirai-san moved to the next victim, who had cuts all over her body. Shirai-san explained to me that there were side-effects when Espers were forced to use magic.
As I helped Shirai-san dress the girl's wounds, I couldn't help but think about her story of how she and Oni-chan became partners. I ask, "Shirai-san?"
"Hmm?"
"This morning, you told me about your story of how you use to hate Touma-oni-chan, but what happened next? What made you trust each other so much?"
Shirai-san sighed. "Well, in short, we were forced to work together. After the fiasco of my reporting Kamijou-sempai to internal review, Konori-sempai sent us on joint missions to foster camaraderie and trust. She sent us to the various new religious private schools to gather information for the census. It was an ordeal for the both of us…because of the things I did."
Side-story: Kuroko the Atheist
All of the students attending these schools had remained unaccounted for, as the schools jealously guarded their rosters. Thus, a task force of Judgement officers had to somehow retrieve this crucial information. Unfortunately, all of the officers had come up empty, and all of the attempts had gone nowhere. Many of them got into literal fights with the staff members, and some of them disappeared from the school, only to reappear elsewhere with little to no knowledge of how they got there. Thus, we were given this unenviable task of contacting eight schools, all of which were scattered across the city.
Our first mission was in District 19, with the Sunflower Samurai School for traditional Japanese culture. It spanned two city blocks and was built in the traditional fashion, with black-tiled roofs and white-washed walls.
Insisting on being the first to go in, I trudged ahead towards the main entrance through a traditional Japanese garden, all the while loudly proclaiming my presence as a member of Judgement and demanding an audience with their leaders. Yet as I neared the doorway, the garden gave way to a bamboo forest, and the further I walked, the farther away the entrance seemed to be.
Soon, the entrance all but disappeared behind the bamboo and I ended up lost in the forest. Worse, when I turned around, Kamijou Touma was nowhere to be found. I spent the rest of the time wandering around, calling out for Kamijou-sempai or anyone. Suddenly, a long red dart pierced my shoulder. At first, all I could think of was the blinding pain, but then, the shoulder went numb, and I felt very sleepy. As I collapsed on the forest floor, I saw a tall man with wild hair walking into view. He was carrying a great jagged sword and was decked out like a gangster or skill-out member. He crouched down and spoke in my ear.
"Leave this place, and never return."
That was the last thing I remembered about the school. The next thing I knew, I was sitting on a swing in a playground, without any idea of how I got there. To my great embarrassment, Kamijou-sempai was sitting in the swing next to me watching over me.
"You-gata!" He cried, "That was dangerous! I'm glad Tatemiya-san could understand!"
He told me about the genjutsu they had placed on me, basically trapping my mind in a prison of my own making. All the other judgment members must have fallen into similar traps. I was one of the luckier ones.
Then, he told me about the Amakusa church and how it was a secret sect of Christian, Shinto, and Buddhist teachings hidden from the rest of the world. He told me about the Samurai who smelled like Sunflowers, who was the founder of this school, and who was murdered for his faith during the Tokugawa Shogunate.
"Please forgive them!" he begged, "They were only trying to protect their own, and they're quick to protect each other from persecution."
Honestly, I was more surprised and confused that Kamijou-sempai new so much more about this school than I did. In fact, nobody in Judgement or Anti-skill knew more about these schools than he did, but no one bothered to ask. Afterall, he was just some upstart level 0 wannabe hero who got lucky. When he gave me a copy of the roster from the school, I resented him even more. I didn't even care for his concerns about names of people who had gone missing. He wanted to create a city-wide register so these people could be identified and recovered, but I shot him down and dismissed him for being distracted from the real work.
By that time, I just couldn't stand him any longer. Impulsively, I decided that we would work on each school separately. I told him that this way was easier since we could canvas more schools quicker. In truth, I just wanted to get away from him as soon as possible.
So, we divvied up the schools between us. I sent Kamijou-sempai to the Buddhist temple in district 13, the new synagogue in district 15, and the new mosque in district 18. Meanwhile, I took the more high-profiled schools, including the new Anglican Church in district 5, the Russian Orthodox school in district 6 and the interfaith protestant college opening outside of Academy City's borders. I had as much luck with those schools as I had with the first one. Looking back on it now, I realize it was because of my own attitude, that I wasn't exactly being civil with them.
At the Anglican school, I was marched out of the premises by private security. At the Russian Orthodoxy school, the entire building looked like an abandoned ruin, and nobody but ghosts would meet with me. In the end, only the interfaith school bore some fruit when the lead director, Orsola Aquinas, agreed to meet with me, yet even then, getting a copy of the roster was a chore. There was no copy machine, so she had to write all of the names by hand…with an old fashioned quill pen. She insisted in writing them in alphabetical order, but she kept making mistakes, misspelling names, scratching them out, realizing too late that she had scratched out the wrong names, and writing them down again!
By the time I came back to District 7, it was already midnight. The only thing I had to show was this ink-splotched piece of paper I got from Orsola-san. You can guess how happy Konori-sempai was to see me when I came back to the office, carrying that worthless piece of paper.
Oh yeah, that's right! Orsola-san had given me the wrong document.
Worse, when Konori-sempai asked about me, Kamijou-sempai had told her about my decision to split up. She was besides herself when I told her what happened, desperately digging for some excuse. "I bet you were acting like a pretentious snobbish Oujou-san to these people, weren't you? Going in like you owned the place? It's a wonder why they didn't kick you out sooner!"
She spat out the word Oujou-San like a glob of phlegm. "Luckily for you, this day hasn't been as bad as it seems. You can thank Kamijou-kun for wiping your sorry ass! While you were traipsing around the Russian Orthodox school, he had gotten all the rosters you had assigned him to. Every. Single. One!"
I objected to that, saying how Kamijou-sempai wasn't even at the office. That was the wrong thing to say to her, as Konori-sempai chewed me out some more.
"Unlike you, Kamijou-kun turned his assignments in, early! The only reason he isn't here right now, is because he has to cover for your failures! He has gone back to the Anglicans and the Russians because of you!"
As she said this, there was a knock at the door. Kamijou-sempai came in with the Russian Orthodox school's roster and the list of names that Orsola-san was supposed to give to me. He had also tallied a list of missing persons and asked Konori-sempai if he could create some sort of register for both Anti-skill and Judgement. She of course praised his work and agreed to look into such a database.
As for the Anglicans, he had brought not a piece of paper, but a person.
This was the first time I had met Index. As it turned out, the Anglican Church were particularly Puritan about keeping their rosters confidential, so they didn't write it down like everyone else. Instead, they had Index memorize all the names. This level of security proved fruitful, however, as unlike the other schools, there were no missing students.
It took a while for Index to regurgitate all 300 plus names to Konori-sempai, who had to log them all into the computer by hand. Index even helped with the spelling, as some were foreigners who had immigrated to Academy City. That was news to me! I had no idea there were so many new faces!
Later, I learned that Index also taught at the school. "Sunday school is free for anyone!" She told me, "We cover everything that isn't covered by the normal schools. There's history and literature in the mornings, and Religion and Philosophy in the afternoons. Anyone could attend."
Anyway, once that was done, and Index went home, Konori-sempai sat us down together. Her words were short and to the point. "This assignment has been far more successful than I imagined, but that is mostly thanks to Kamijou-kun's efforts. You've gone above and beyond the call of duty and all of Judgement should follow your example. Shirai-san, I expected better performance from you."
She got up and pulled out the last file.
"Your last assignment is the renovated Cathedral in district 7, in the Garden of Learning. Unfortunately, the Catholics have been the most belligerent faction. Unlike the others, they have openly defied us, even using their strange powers against us."
Kamijou-sempai sighed. "That isn't surprising, considering their history and their place on the world stage. I'm not surprised that they have such a chip on their shoulders."
"Exactly," Konori-sempai nodded and pulled out a little white card. "Kamijou-kun, I'm going to give you permit for entry, keep this with you at all times and you can enter the garden at will. You may keep it for your own use too. Consider this as your reward."
"Yat-ta! Arigato-Gouzai-masu!" Kamijou-sempai laughed as he examined the little card, "Oh this is sweet! Aogami and Tsuchimikado are gonna be so jealous when I show this to them!"
"Then don't show it to them!" Konori-sempai laughed, "Knowing them, I bet they will try and steal that card as soon as they see it!"
"Ha-ha! I know right?" Kamijou-sempai slipped the card into his wallet.
Then, Konori-sempai sighed, and all the laughter left her. "Now, I must emphasize that you two must work together!"
Her icy blue eyes bore into me, as if trying to x-ray my insides. Perhaps she really was. I felt very small. "Shirai-San, this is your last chance. I'm sorry to do this to you, but if I hear any word of you acting like a lone wolf again, I will ask you to turn in your armband."
It was a punch to the gut. All this time, I was looking down at my feet, still resentful of Kamijou-sempai's success and especially at his sudden invasion into my inner sanctum. Was there no place I was safe from him anymore? But her words drove all those thoughts out of my head. I looked up and felt dizzy.
"K-konori-sempai?" Weak…small…and pathetic—even now, I can still remember my own voice.
By the way she glared at me, I knew she was serious. Her voice was cold and unfeeling, "Shirai Kuroko, your employment with Judgement is contingent with your behavior tomorrow. Should you fail on this mission, you will thenceforth cease any involvement in any Judgement-related activities. Am I understood?"
I felt a lump in my throat; I could feel myself start to cry. Never had she spoken to me like that before. I knew she wasn't in any mood for objections, and all I could do was swallow my pride.
"Hai, I understand."
Takitsubo-san had already gone ahead to look for Hamazura.
Meanwhile, Shirai-San continued tending to the dozens of people lying about. Nearby, Saten-san was doing the same. Outside, I could see a long caravan of ambulances carrying the injured to hospitals all across the city. Curiously, I noticed that some of the ambulances had white crosses on red fields rather than the usual red ones on white. I pointed this out to Shirai-San, who smiled.
"Ah, yes," she said, "Did I mention that some of our hospitals are now privately owned? Those Knights of Malta have some of the best medical care in the world!"
"Well?" I said, "What happened next?"
But as I said this, the Anti-skill commander called out to us. "The ground floor is all clear! Alpha-team, go and secure the stairwell in the back! Beta-team and Charlie-team, there's another set of stairs outside! Go and secure them as well! Everyone else follow me! We're going up to level 2! Move out!"
"I'll tell you later," Shirai-San said. She stood up and hollered, "Saten-San! Let's go!"
"Hai!"