Chapter 29: Unto the Darkness

Crack!

There was a spark of light as Shirai-san activated a glow stick, and the faint light showed her to be standing at the foot of the strange metal table.

"Otohime-Chan?" She called to me, "Are you alright?"

"Hai!" I nodded and walked over to her.

She clipped the glow stick to her green Judgement jacket, before handing me a spare. I followed her example, and soon, we were the only points of light in that darkened warehouse.

Crack! Crack!

Two more beacons of lights appeared, revealing the location of Uiharu-san and Saten-san. They were standing close together, near the computer terminal.

Shirai-san beckoned me closer before barking at the others. "Oi! You two, come to me, quickly!"

Uiharu-san and Saten-san moved away from the console and joined us near the foot of the metal table.

White metal darts appeared between Shirai-san's fingers, just as Uiharu-san pulled out her stun baton, and Saten-san took out her metal bat. Following their example, I pulled out my own weapon, and readied myself for a fight.

Suddenly, I heard a crackling coming from my own ear before Oni-Chan's voice came through. "Is everyone okay?"

"Yeah," Shirai-san said, "We're all here and safe. What about you?"

"Alright so far," he said, "But something's wrong! I can't seem to reach Yomikawa-sensei through the radio! I think we're being jammed from the outside world, though we can still talk to each other."

"Sounds like they're isolating us from the rest of the building." Shirai-san sighed, "Well, it's not like we haven't faced such situations before, haven't we?"

"Of course, it isn't for the two of us," Oni-Chan said, "But I'm not so sure about the rest of you. Besides, there's no telling what that dynamic duo has in store. If what they say is true, then…"

Suddenly, he stopped speaking, and we could hear other voices, strange and mysterious.

"We've got company!" Oni-Chan's last feed cut off, but the strange noises persisted. In fact, they seem to come from everywhere.

Wincing, I activated my abilities, and just like that, the world lit up like a Christmas tree. Everywhere I looked, red blobs were moving towards us. Some were emerging from the upper levels, while others were crawling like monkeys down the steel columns.

"They're coming!" I exclaimed, "We're surrounded!"

"Where?" Saten-san cried, just as something dropped down in front of her.

The creature looked human, yet it crawled on all fours. Its dirty blond hair covered its face, obscuring everything, except for a dark purple eye. It let out a shrill scream and pounced towards us like an animal.

"Ahh!" Saten-San screamed as she swung her bat around, easily clocking the creature in the head. The creature flew to one side and fell in a heap, and its long blonde hair parted, revealing the face of a little girl.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Saten-San gasped as she stared, "Febrie?"

More of the same creatures dropped down from above us, all of whom had the same faces as the first.

"Stop! Febrie!" Saten-san cried desperately as she backed away, "We're your friends, remember?"

But the girls didn't respond to her pleas, except to lunge at her with murderous intent. Saten-san swung her bat around again, but this time, her swing was feeble and shaky.

One of the girls easily caught the bat and wrenched it from her grasp. Defenseless, the poor girl crouched down and cowered, just as the attacker came at her for another blow.

At once, Shirai-san teleported over to the attacker and savagely dropped kicked her in the head. Then, as she landed, Shirai-san twisted around and delivered a low side kick that sent the second attacker tumbling to the ground. Once the enemies were incapacitated, Shirai-san bent down and picked up the metal bat. "Saten-san, are you okay?"

The level 0 girl nodded meekly, before taking back the metal bat. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"I know," The twin-tailed girl said as she patted Saten-san on the shoulders, "You have a strong bond with that little girl, but she isn't here right now. I need you to stay focused on the present, okay?"

Saten-san nodded, and her expressions hardened into renewed determination. "I won't let you down again!"

Suddenly, more doppelgangers dropped down in front of them, and I had just enough time to warn them. "Saten-san! There are two right in front of you! Shirai-san, one on your left!"

"Thanks, Otohime-Chan!"

"Arigato!"

Quickly, the two friends turned and fought off the doppelganger girls. I turned back to see another group drop down in front of me and Uiharu-san. "Uiharu-san! There's more in front of you!"

"Thanks, Otohime-Chan!"

Together, we fended them off as best as we could, with our stun batons at the ready. Again, and again, I had to jab my weapon into the flesh of another creature and watch them collapse before my very eyes. All the while I had to fight off the panic welling inside of me. My stomach was roiling, and I retched.

"Saten-san," Uiharu-san was saying as she fought off the attackers, "I don't think these are Febrie or Janine. Rather, I think these are a newly created group of Chemicaloids!"

"What?" Saten-san said as she backed away from another foe, "I thought STUDY was defunct, and they were only capable of creating those two!"

"Then Aritomi-san must have gotten more funding for his work," Uiharu-san replied, "Maybe the money is flowing through his new partner, or maybe he has other sources!"

"He must have been freed after the data bank collapsed, or he was even released earlier by the people in power at the time," Shirai-San said as she fought off another attacker, "We will have to investigate this matter thoroughly, but first, we need to get out of here alive."

She turned and saw me. "Otohime-Chan, are you okay?"

Somehow, I managed to give her a thumbs up, but she noticed my fatigue and sighed. Quickly, she climbed on to the strange metal table and then pulled me onto it. "Listen, you're tired. You are in no shape to fight anymore. Frankly, it's a marvel that you've lasted this long."

"I'm okay," I insisted, "Besides, it wouldn't do for me to just sit around and do nothing! I just want to help everyone out as best as I can!"

She smiled and ruffled my hair. "You've been such a good girl, and I'm so proud of you. Right now, though, I need you to help me with something else. We need to re-establish communications with Anti-skill. Can you try and contact the gatekeeper station?"

I nodded. "Okay, I can do that!"

Shirai-san grunted with approval and slid back down to fend off the horde of enemies.

Left alone, away from all the fighting, I opened a channel in my radio and talked desperately into it. "Moshi-moshi? Gatekeeper? Is Yomikawa-sensei there? This is Otohime! Can anyone hear me?"

Again, and again, I tried calling the basement station, but all I received was static.

All of a sudden, there was a loud "Clang!", and a golden beam of light shot through the giant metal shades. That was followed by a dozen more, piercing through the steel sheet like it was tin foil. Then, the steel curtain crumbled away, and my eyes were immediately stung by the midday sun. I winced and shielded my eyes to the glaring light, and that's when I saw it.

A giant shadow crash through the glass façade. It resembled a flying spider, bristling with long metal appendages. From its very center, a lone figure dropped from the flying contraption, and as it landed, jets of electric fire raced out in all directions. At once, all the hordes of clones were laid low while others fell from the steel columns and landed in a heap on the ground.

The lone figure stood up, revealing herself to be none other than Misaka Mikoto. She looked back at us and smiled. "Hey, you girls! Did you miss me?"

"Ooonee-samaaaa!" Shirai-san gushed as she teleported over and glommed onto the Electromaster. "We are saved, thanks to you!"

At the same time, Anti-skill officers came pouring through the destroyed window. Quickly, they abseiled down to the other floors and subdued all the remaining foes.

"Omatase-dana!" Yomikawa-sensei's voice boomed from above us, and when I looked up, I saw her lowering herself from a cable and speaking through a megaphone at the same time. "We're here to relieve you!"

I sighed in relief and collapsed on the metal table, and Uiharu-san and Saten-san cheered at the newcomers.

But our respite was cut short when we heard a sudden explosion high up above us. Looking up, we saw a lone figure leap out into the open space between the balcony and the façade. Blue jets of flame leapt from its outstretched arms and, like thrusters on a spacecraft, slowed its descent down to a more survivable rate. As they came closer, I recognized the flaming red locks of Styl Magnus, along with the billowing white habit of Index, who was clinging onto him.

At that very moment, another figured emerged from the fourth floor. Even as I watched, the lone figure vaulted over the banisters, and twisted his body around to land on the wrong side. Quickly, he shimmied down the side, just in time to avoid a large throng of powered suits, which broke upon the railings like a wave, leaving it buckled, though still intact. Then, they turned and tried to squeeze through the narrow staircase.

"Oni-Chan! Gam-ba-te!" I cried out, just as he swung his body over to land on the floor below. He turned and gave me a hearty wave, before continuing down the stairs, ahead of the stream of powered suits.

At that moment, Misaka-san quickly glanced at Shirai-san and said, "Kuroko, would you mind?"

"Of course not!" Shirai-san said.

Within seconds, she had teleported them high into the air.

Oni-Chan emerged from the staircase and saw Misaka-san hovering in the air. She had just pulled a coin from her skirt pocket and was now waiting for him.

Taking the cue, he sprinted towards the railing, just as the powered suits emerged. He leaped up and grabbed onto the balcony railing, tucking in his legs as he pulled himself over.

At the same time, Misaka-san flipped the coin in the air and charged up her hand like a loaded gun.

As the second floor started filling up with dangerous powered suits, Oni-Chan fully cleared the railing. Then, he was falling, and his legs extended, ready for the landing.

Misaka-san's coin was falling too, and as it reached her outstretched hand, she gave it another flick. Then, suddenly, the coin became a brilliant beam of molten metal as it sped forwards at three times the speed of sound.

It punched through all of the powered suits in an instant, but it was the air blast that did most of the damage, shredding through all the metal and glass.

At the same time, Oni-Chan landed on the ground floor, and as he did so, he rolled along his back, redirecting the downward fall into horizontal speed. Within seconds, he had sprinted towards us, and had collapsed on the ground, exhausted but otherwise unhurt."

"O-tsukale-sama," Shirai-san said as she and Misaka-san landed nearby, "Good work, partner."

Oni-Chan laughed, "At least I don't have to go to the hospital today."

Styl Magnus grunted. "Unfortunately, there was no sign of the enemy."

"I figured as much," Oni-Chan said as he stood up, "Luckily, we got what we came here for. Hopefully, we can extract as much information as we can from this machine." As he spoke, he pounded on the metal table, which had remained intact in spite of everything that occurred around it.

Misaka-san looked over at us and smiled. "Sa! Kai-rou-ka?"