Chasing a dark shadow

[ACMI: Academy City]

Frenda got back to Saten as Joule and Uiharu were eating lunch.

"Can't say much." The text that Saten forwarded to Joule read "All in all a lot of super secret-y spy stuff going on. I can tell you that we weren't involved in the sniping though. Actually-"

And then Saten said she hadn't texted things for a few moments. Then Frenda came back with a follow-up.

"Okay, the boss says it was probably just a distraction for something else. You can all be fairly safe if you stayed where it happened then, there's no way that they'd act in the same general area they set up their distraction."

Saten had thanked her and Frenda said she'd keep them in mind if anything came up.

Joule told Uiharu and she nodded.

"That makes sense at least, the issue though..." She glanced at Last Order who looked raring to go "...is that we can't stay here."

"He's on the move!" Last Order declared "He's to the east, let's go!"

East could mean a lot of places though, and it would be very hard to catch up with Accelerator if he was on the move. Last Order had even remarked that he'd been moving all through lunch. That meant he was probably eating in a vehicle. If he had transport and they didn't know what it looked like, there wasn't really a way to catch up to him.

"I guess we could take a train?" Joule suggested.

And so the next hour went, riding around on the public rail network, trying to get close enough to where Accelerator was that they could at least spot the transport he was using. No luck there though, they'd been dragged around a bit.

Now the trio was waiting at a cafe in district 18.

"Do you think he could be involved in everything that's been going on today?" Uiharu asked. She was on her phone, quickly typing. She'd apparently got a personal request to look into something on Academy City's networks. Something about a break in the security of a "Virus Isolation Center." Uiharu wasn't at the computer though, so she wasn't doing as well as she could be.

"Probably." Joule said. Last Order pouted as Joule continued "The chairman gave him a job offer, maybe it was something to do with joining a group in Academy City's darkside?"

"But that's so dangerous. Misaka complained." Last Order noted.

...She was talking about Accelerator, the greatest Esper in the city, right? Honestly Joule was more worried for whoever he was fighting.

Uiharu sighed and put her phone away "Today's been messy."

"Anything new?" Joule prompted.

Uiharu shrugged "A breakout at the Reformatory, I don't have all the details of it. It's a good thing a new one is being worked on."

Joule nodded before pausing "Where is the Reformatory?"

"District 10?"

Joule paused and pulled out a map of Academy City. While she did, she asked Last Order "Where is Accelerator now?"

"South. Notes Misaka as she insists they head off in that direction."

...School District 10 was south of them too. Well, Accelerator might be involved there, he would probably be there a while too.

Probably not long enough for them to catch up with him though.

Joule sighed as a text arrived.

"Who is it?" Uiharu asked as Joule opened the text.

Joule read it briefly "Saten, she's got something from Frenda."

"What?" Uiharu asked.

Joule pulled up the text's attachment, a screenshot of another page of texts.

"Hey, is your teleporter friend able to come pick me up?"

Saten had asked why and Frenda had continued.

"I'm being followed by someone I'm fairly sure wants to hurt me, or worse."

There was then a pause in the texts before Saten replied.

"She's busy with everything else today. I can see if I can send someone else?"

She didn't get a reply.

"Frenda?"

No reply again.

"Frenda, are you okay?"

Finally something had come through.

"District 18, please, hurry."

And a photo from an alley. The angle was low but it pointed out from the alley onto the street.

...You'd need to be on the ground to take this picture, was Frenda hurt?

Joule stood up quickly. They were in district 18.

"Uiharu, can you find this alley?" She sent the picture to Uiharu who reacted to the serious tone in Joule's voice.

She pulled out her phone to check as Joule opened her own copy of the messenging app. She had Frenda's account here after all.

"We're on our way."

As Joule finished typing, Uiharu nodded "I've got it, there's a sign in the background. Follow me."

She ran off, almost forgetting Last Order. Joule grabbed Last Order's arm as she followed after Uiharu.

While they ran, Uiharu asked "What are we getting into?"

Joule shook her head "Best case, Frenda's being overdramatic, worst case we might need to apply first aid and call the hospital."

No, that wasn't strictly the worst case scenario. There was something worse.

Joule's phone pinged. A text, Frenda was still alive.

"Thank you."

Hopefully she'd stay that way until they got to her.

End of chapter.

I needed to end this before we get into the many things that will happen after this.

I will say that timeline wise, this is near the start of the stuff that goes on at the prison. ITEM's base hasn't been attacked yet. People should understand why that's good news.