Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Thirty One: Malevolent Biohazard - Nightmare on Parasol Avenue
Beta:
Mikoto looked nervously at the countdown she'd set on her phone for when the City would irradiate the Colony and kill everything in it. Watching the ticking seconds on the precious twelve hour time limit made her throat tighten up. How did her life come to this? She was just a pre-teen and now she was dealing with a bioweapon outbreak of all things.
Academy City seriously needed to get its shit together.
Then she remembered, Oh yeah, it wasn't there to begin with.
As they passed through yet another of the airlocks in the single working funicular down into the Colony, Mikoto couldn't help but give voice to her doubts.
"How in the world are we going to pull this off?" Mikoto whined. "Not only do we have to try and save all the survivors in these habitats but also recover the DNA Map we came here for in the first place! That's just too much!"
"Onee-sama, you must be confident and believe in the you that believes in the us that believes in you, says Misaka with unwavering confidence." Sentai-chan said with sparkling eyes that were so adorably innocent.
Trying to get her head around the confusing phrasing, Mikoto offered a bewildered nod, "Uh, sure?"
Sentai-chan gave her a thumbs up.
Why are they all so weird?!
Am I weird too? Is this the result of something in my DNA? It would explain why Mama is so crazy…
"On a more practical note, Misaka cuts in while shooting 14091 a chiding glare." Conspiracy Nut said while doing as she said. "Parasol must have some way to control their bioweapons. We just need to secure it and use it to stop the outbreak, Misaka continues."
"Agreed, Misaka nods." Military Otaku said with the barest of nods. "Since any such control system is almost certainly in the research habitat, Habitat Zero, alongside our original target, it should not be too difficult to acquire both while there, Misaka reasons."
"We don't have a direct route there though, not with all the damage to the transport networks." Mikoto replied, deeply concerned on how this would affect their already tight time limit.
"Don't worry Onee-sama, we're already plotted out a route remember? Misaka says with pride." Genki Girl reminded her.
They had indeed spent some time reviewing all they knew about the potential routes to Habitat Zero and plotted the quickest way there. If all went well, they would have plenty of time.
Setting her doubts aside, Mikoto clenched her fist tightly in determination, "Right."
Though, I wish Saten or at least the Usagi was here. They're used to this sort of thing after all. Mikoto shook her head at the thought, No, I can do this too. I can't rely on them every time something gets tough.
They passed another airlock as a soft light broke into the elevator. Taking a look, Mikoto got a bird's eye view of the habitat's interior as the lift travelled the remaining distance to its ground level. Before her spread a cityscape that might have once looked beautiful. Lit up by a beautifully detailed artificial sky and with lush green spaces that seamlessly blended into futuristic architecture, it reminded her of some of the most picturesque areas of Academy City's aboveground districts. The image however was ruined by the many fires and other signs of unrest that had afflicted the underground town.
"We'll stop this, Misaka says reassuringly." Tsundere said, giving Mikoto's shoulder a comforting squeeze.
Mikoto could only nod in grim determination even as a part of her worried that by the time they were done there would be nothing for them to save.
"Welcome to Habitat B. Please be sure to take all your belongings with you and have a nice day." The voice of a cheerful woman said as the doors to the funicular opened into the transport and processing hub that served as the entry point into this section of the Colony.
"Thanks." Mikoto muttered dryly.
"This way Onee-sama, the light rail station we're looking for is this way, Misaka directs the group." Mecha Girl on point said over the external speakers of her Powered Suit as she stepped off the lift. "Stay in formation and follow me, Misaka reminds."
The Sisters and Mikoto did as such, staying in their formation as they walked into the extensive reception section of the building.
Screams and screeches could be heard in the distance.
"Where's everyone?" Mikoto asked aloud as she surveyed her surroundings, studiously ignoring the sounds of distant chaos. As much as she wanted to rush off to help, they couldn't afford the distraction from their mission.
Her question was soon answered, but Mikoto dearly wished it wasn't.
Seemingly drawn by the sounds of their group's presence a humanoid form stumbled around the corner to face them. The thing had been a woman once. Judging by the remains of a uniform that remained on its body, she had been a member of the transport hub's staff. Unfortunately, that was all in the past now for her uniform was bloody and torn, exposing large areas of grotesquely warped flesh with various different types of fungal growths jutting out. In particularly, this poor woman's face looked like it had been replaced by a giant toadstool even as her right breast had been ripped off and replaced by a set of bracket fungus.
The [Railgun] felt her heart freeze over for a brief moment as she looked at the creature.
The abomination felt no such hesitation though and somehow let out a loud warbling cry despite its lack of a discernible mouth before charging the group.
Military Otaku reacted immediately and blew its head off with a shot from her railgun rifle, but the damage was done. Attracted by the first creature's cry, more of its ilk came. Hundreds of them. Men, women, the young and old. Fat and slim. These things came in all shapes and sizes. Worse yet, like the first creature judging by the clothes they were wearing… they were likely, no, they were the habitat's civilians.
Zombies, freaking zombies! Mikoto roared in her mind, What on Earth were they thinking? This is like some B movie!
"Mow them down, Misaka orders!" Military Otaku announced and the Sisters did so without hesitation.
The front ranks of the charging horde fell like bowling pins under the sustained accurate fire of the Sisters, but the zombies pressed on undaunted by the death of dozens of their comrades.
"They keep coming, Misaka cries out worriedly." Tsundere cursed as she reloaded her rifle.
"Just keep shooting! Misaka orders." Military Otaku shouted back sternly.
There's too many of them, we need to try something else. Mikoto realized as she began fishing out one of her Dark Matter tokens.
"Which way do we need to go? Left or right?" Mikoto asked as she flipped the token into the air and used her powers to construct the barrel for her signature attack.
The fast calculating Sisters answered in a heartbeat.
"Right!" The clones barked in unison, before adding unnecessarily. "Misaka says."
As soon as the coin fell, Mikoto flicked it left. The railgun shot cut through the zombies in its way like a hot knife through butter as it streaked towards the roof of the hallway leading left. It struck its target with an explosion so intense that it seemed to shake the whole world, or at least the whole building, and easily collapsed the passageway.
That cut the flow of zombies by half, but there were still plenty of the tragic monsters streaming towards them from the right.
Thankfully, Mikoto had a plan for that too.
Clenching her fist as a mnemonic, Mikoto built up a large electrical charge which she released in a powerful burst to their right. The powerful attack instantly blunted the advancing horde and fried hundreds of the zombie at once.
They were predictably replaced by more but the [Railgun] met these with another electrical burst.
This is just like electric fishing, just with fried zombies instead of dead fish, the Number 5 thought to herself grimly while fighting the urge to puke.
"Move, move! 11132, bulldozer, Misaka orders!" Military Otaku declared as Mecha Fan started to advance, using her Powered Suit to push her way through the already thinned zombie swarm.
The hulking frame knocked aside the infected bodies as Mikoto and the Sisters stayed in formation behind her as they continued their advance. The others, Tsundere and Conspiracy Nut in particular using their weapons to take out any zombies that got too close but otherwise conserving their ammo and leaving the job of clearing their path to Mikoto's electric bursts.
They kept to this winning strategy as they advanced down the hallway to the light rail they needed. They arrived in the boarding station a few minutes later, only to find a massive horde pacing around, with even more inside the thankfully waiting train.
"We're going to have to clear the train before we use it," Mikoto noted with a heavy heart.
The Sisters just nodded.
Even as her heart ached painfully at what needed to be done, the Number 5 pushed aside her unease.
"Let's do this," the [Railgun] said reluctantly.
As the tram finally left the platform, Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief. Having thoroughly cleared the train, the group was fairly sure they were safe for now. This meant that they could, at least for now, enjoy a temporary breather.
"H-How?" The Level 5 stuttered out as she desperately tried to maintain her cool in the face of the lull. "How did they manage something as horrible as this?"
She couldn't break down yet. Not when they were still in a zombie apocalypse. However, at the same time, the reprieve from constant attacks was giving her too much time to think and that was playing hell with her nerves.
"This was the result of using a special mutagen, Misaka explains in a quiet voice." Tsundere whispered softly. "From our research, it is derived from studying Namikaze-sama's regenerative qualities, Misaka says as she gnaws at her lower lip uncomfortably. It was used to create various powerful bioweapons, such as this Cordyceps derived zombie pathogen, Misaka explains. However, it seems the research went out of hand somehow, Misaka says with a nervous glance outside."
Righteous fury welled up inside Mikoto. Her fists tightened until her knuckles were white. The mere thought that someone would abuse Namikaze's own healing ability to create such monstrosities… it was the creation of the Sisters all over again.
How can they turn something as beneficial as healing into a weapon? Every time I think something good happens in this City, it just turns around and makes two more atrocities.
"Don't think too much about it, Misaka advises." Military Otaku said while looking at Mikoto with concern. "Just focus on doing what needs to be done, Misaka tells Onee-sama sympathetically. If you think too much, you'll break down, Misaka informs her worriedly."
"Yeah, thanks." Mikoto nodded as she tried to push the information into the back of her mind. She had a job to do and it was to save as many as she could.
"You sure we can unlock the tunnel here?" Mikoto demanded as the group cautiously infiltrated into a security centre next to the tunnel that connected Habitat B and their next destination, Habitat C.
"The data suggests as such, Misaka confirms." Conspiracy Nut replied as she blew the head off a zombie that had tried to ambush them from behind a closed door before stepping aside to allow Mecha Fan to block off the door and unleash the full fury of her laser gatling on the dozen or so zombies lingering within.
"Apologies Onee-sama, Misaka says feeling deeply embarrassed." Military Otaku. "Misaka did not expect that the tunnel would be locked down, Misaka admitted. Misaka hopes this detour will not delay us too long, Misaka expresses her earnest worries."
"Relax, I'm not blaming you." Mikoto reassured the leader of the Sisters. "I understand full well that no plan survives contact with reality."
"Ah, good, Misaka sighs in relief as she wanted to look cool and professional in front of Onee-sama."
"Suck up, mutters Misaka out loud." Tsundere huffed.
"Care to say that again 10287? Misaka demands menacingly." Military Otaku growled.
"Hmph! Huffs Misaka, not wanting to look at her fellow Sister."
"Stop it, both of you! Misaka demands." Mecha Fan said, as they walked into what was clearly a control room. "We're here, Misaka declares."
In reaction to their entry, the dozens of zombies inside the room, all of which were still dressed in the uniforms of the habitat's security staff, charged at Mikoto and the clones. With well oiled military precision, the clones took down the hostiles with clinical precision. On Mikoto's part, she did her fair share as well by electrocuting the two zombies that were still dressed in combat armor.
"Clear! Misaka reports," Mecha Fan declared as she finished sweeping her laser gatling cautiously from left to right and presumably announced the readings of her Powered Suit's sensors.
Striding forward, the Number 5 started to hack into the system of the banks of computers that filled the room. Multiple previously idling screens came online as she sifted through the information. As she did so, she froze as she caught the glimpse of some security footage that her hacking had inadvertently brought up.
It showed a group of humans that were on the run from a pack of zombies. They hardly stood a chance as they were caught and met their horrific ends. One in particular made Mikoto wince as a yankī girl was tackled to the ground. The zombie responsible immediately bit down on her stomach, gripping what seemed to be a belly button piercing and ripped a good chunk of her stomach out. If that wasn't bad enough, the monster then proceeded to vomit inside of the dying girl's stomach.
Her eyes remained glued to the screen as using the zombie's vomit as a starting point, parasitic fungus began to grow at an unnatural pace and sealed up the bleeding stomach. Once the zombie got off of the victim, the yankī l girl stumbled to her feet as mushrooms grew out of her midsection and readily joined the horde as it continued to chase the few survivors.
"That's fucked up!" Mikoto could not help but scream in horrified anger as she backed away from the terrifying footage. "How depraved do these sick scientists have to be to come up with fucked up ideas like this! Much less actually test it out!"
The fact that they had gotten away with this just made Mikoto wonder how far Academy City was willing to go before they stopped. Could anything stop them though?
I need to talk to Saten. Maybe if we work together, we would be able to shut these asinine experiments down. I can't let them keep using Namikaze either, it's insane. Everything they do just seems pointless and wasteful of life. Oh, and completely lacking a moral compass!
She was brought out of her thoughts as the tragedy playing out on the screen reached its climax as the handful of survivors found themselves trapped by a large fence and they became a smorgasbord for the horde, including many of their previous fellow survivors.
"Onee-sama, Misaka calls out to Onee-sama as she shakes her from her stupor. We have finished the hacking, Misaka happily informs." Genki-chan chirped.
Mikoto could only numbly nod, her eyes still glued to the gruesome end of the survivors which included horrible fates such as a pregnant woman being eaten alive, and most heinously her baby being ripped out of her womb and devoured by a zombified man that moments before had been fighting with his all to protect her. A man that Mikoto's traitorous mind told her was possibly her husband and the baby's father.
Bile wormed its way of her throat but she grit her teeth and pushed it down. No, she would not falter at this, she couldn't! She could still save some people!
"L-Let's go!" Mikoto forced out as she turned away from the screen. "We need to end this."
The Sisters looked at each other worriedly but nodded. Determined to end this nightmare, they all moved out.
The team were traveling through Habitat C via its local light rail, when midway through their trip they found that the tracks of the line they had chosen was blocked by a derailed train. They were thus forced to ditch the train and switch to another line.
Worse yet, they were facing a further delay as they had to deal with the cause of the derailment namely a massive zombie elephant whose back was covered in gaping wounds that had been filled in by various fungal growths including several large trunk like structures growing out of its back like a row of dorsal spines.
"Out!" Mikoto screamed as she blew off the doors of their train and led the Sisters in jumping out just moments before the elephant trampled the section of the train where they had just been standing.
"I'm sorry, but is that what I think it is?" Mikoto couldn't help but ask as the sheer ridiculousness of the situation caught up to her.
"It's a zombified elephant from the Habitat's zoological research labs, Misaka clarified confused by Onee-sama's surprise." Genki Girl replied even as she recovered from their jump and got into a half kneel to fire a shot of her railgun rifle that created a nice little hole through the mutated pachyderm's head.
"Why the hell is there a zoo for a space habitat simulation?" Mikoto asked aloud as she watched the zombified elephant let out an angry trumpet call and began charging at them.
Everyone immediately opened fire on the rampaging abomination.
"Ah, so that is the cause of Onee-sama's confusion, says Misaka as she gains understanding to Onee-sama's worries. Zoos are nice, Misaka answers." Tsundere pointed out as if it was obvious as the group was forced to scatter to evade the creature's charge.
Fortunately there weren't any zombies in the area to capitalize on their preoccupation with their elephantine counterpart.
Maybe it's a higher food chain zombie? Do zombies even have a hierarchy? Or is Parasol actively controlling them to keep away? If so… Then why are they allowing a massacre like this!?
"That and they serve as places for experimenting with domesticating new food animals, Misaka adds helpfully." Military Otaku added as they regrouped and she tried to take the elephant down by shooting out one of it knees to no avail as it turned around for another charge.
"Ew, says Misaka as she sticks out her tongue in repulsion." Genki Girl wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue as she took another shot at the behemoth zombie and taking out its eye, not that it did much to the creature beyond annoying it as demonstrated by its infuriated grunt.
Then again there was plenty for it to be irritated at, what with Mecha Fan burning its skin with her laser gatling; Tsundere, Conspiracy Nut and Sentai-chan pouring lead into its flesh; Military Otaku and Genki Girl trying to take out its vitals with their railgun rifles; and Mikoto herself trying her best to fry it with increasingly powerful bolts of electricity.
The onslaught of their attacks rent and tore at its haggard hide, leaving deep wounds that bled gross black liquid for a brief moment before being sealed by hyper accelerated fungal growth that created new masses of the animating fungus all over the poor mutated beast's body.
Maybe I should just use my own railgun? Or would that be too much of a waste of ammo?
While Mikoto was considering her options, the elephant seemed to decide it had enough of being a target dummy. Seeing its charges just weren't working, the team easily scattering whenever it closed often using a little of their electromastery to aid them in their evasion, it stopped stampeding all around and inhaled deeply.
"What the hell is it doing?"
"Not letting it! Misaka roars in defiance." Mecha Fan shouted even as she charged the large zombie apparently intent on tackling it.
Mid-way to her target, she was sent flying back by a spray of the disgusting black liquid that had become the zombie's blood courtesy of its trunk.
"Don't let it touch you! It's how the zombie infection spreads!" Mikoto warned as she sent a relatively weak electrical charge surging through the area, it wasn't enough to actually cause any damage but it allowed her to reach out and through her mastery of electromagnetic fields grab ahold of a large amount of the ferrous particles in the area. At her command, these particles rose up and swarmed around the Level 5 and her clones. The makeshift barriers, protecting them from the deadly black liquid as the elephant began breathing out repeated blasts of the substance.
She really hoped Mecha Fan's Powered Suit was airtight.
Setting that aside to worry about later, she used a burst of calculations and application of will to break out a portion of the iron sand shielding her and formed it into a sword that softly vibrated in her palm. The loss mass weakened her defenses quite a bit and Mikoto could feel the shield increasingly struggling against the elephant's repeated blasts of the zombifying liquid.
"Where does it keep all that stuff." Mikoto mused distractedly, even as she tightened her grip on her newly constructed weapon and prepared to go on the offensive. "Whatever! Time for a different tack. Let's try this!"
Reeling it behind her, Mikoto flicked the iron sand sword forward much like a fishing pole. The tip extended and it lashed out at the mutated elephant's legs. The chainsaw-like vibrations tore through its hide easily and in a single slash took all its limbs out, sending the beast crashing to the ground.
"Ah, Onee-sama's Iron Justice Slash, so cool says Misaka with sparkling eyes." Sentai-chan gushed, giving Mikoto an awed look.
"Make fertilizer out of it, says Misaka as she opens fire!" Military Otaku announced as she and the rest of the Sisters unloaded on the monstrous elephant which was struggling to get back on its feet thanks to new fungal replacements to the lost portions of its limbs. The shotgun equipped Sisters put a stop to these attempts though, advancing closer to the struggling behemoth under the suppressive fire from the rest of the team to use the wide spread of their weapons to tear apart the creature's spongy attempts to regrow legs it could stand on.
They nevertheless kept a safe distance to avoid both the zombies' trunk that lashed out in attempts to keep them away and the spray of black liquid that was sent flying by the barrage of attacks it was being subjected to.
"Keep it up! Misaka orders. We've almost got it! Misaka encourages." Military Otaku shouted, as the time wore on and the elephant slowly began to succumb to its injuries. The fungus across its body that filled in its wounds, did so at a slower and slower rate until finally the beast let out a cry of anguish and finally stopped moving, slumping to the ground.
Just to be sure, from what she knew about zombies, Mikoto whipped her sword again, slicing off its head.
"Ah, always double tap, Misaka nods in understanding." Military Otaku looked at her with pride.
"Yeah," Mikoto wiped some sweat from her forehead. Ugh, she was so going to burn this uniform later. Hell, when they got back up the hazmats would probably demand it from her along with everything she and the Sisters were wearing. She honestly couldn't blame them.
"Alright, let's head down the other line. This one's ruined." Mikoto instructed, getting nods and a salute from her clones.
Getting back into formation, the team moved off alert for any threats.
Their caution proved warranted as they were repeatedly attacked by small bands of zombies as they walked through the ruined streets of Habitat C. There weren't any more swarms like the one they encountered when they first entered the Colony, Mikoto thanked Science for that, but that didn't make the encounters with them any less harrowing especially when some of the zombies started projectile vomiting their zombifying blood at them from range. Fortunately, their aim was crap and the team was more than able to avoid getting touched by the stuff, largely due to Mikoto's vigilance and her iron sand barriers.
Now though, the [Railgun] found herself facing what her gut was telling her would be a even more unsettling experience. With a knot twisted inside of her stomach, Mikoto gazed up at an elementary school. One that the team needed to cut through.
It's the fastest way to the rail station. Just, just go through it.
Finally getting her hands to stop shaking, Mikoto said, "Let's go, but let's not make too much noise. Just… Just in case."
All the Sisters looked at Mecha Fan.
"What? Misaka asks while clearly knowing why she is receiving looks."
"Enough," Mikoto whispered harshly as she started moving, forcing the Sisters to follow suit. "She can't help that the Powered Suit is noisy."
"At least Onee-sama is understanding, Misaka huffs. Not like the other Sisters, Misaka adds angrily." Mecha Fan whispered, though the speakers of her suit still made it sound like she was speaking at close to a normal volume.
A series of annoyed looks were sent at Mecha Fan by the other Sisters and the girl in the Suit quelled, though by her mulish expression she wasn't happy at being silenced.
I wonder how they got her to keep quiet so easily. Their looks aren't that intimidating. Hmm… Did they scold her over their AIM network, I wonder?
"Fine, fine, Misaka tries her hardest to whisper."
"Ssh, Misaka says harshly." Military Otaku said as they stepped into the building. "Does anyone hear that? Misaka asks warily."
"It sounds like classical music, Misaka observes." Conspiracy Nut said in agreement. "Camille Saint-Saëns' 'The Carnival of the Animals', Misaka clarifies."
"Misaka does not like this, Misaka says as she holds her rifle tighter." Tsundere whispered to Mikoto. "Why is it playing over the PA in a zombie apocalypse? Misaka asks rhetorically. It's creepy, Misaka insists."
"It was probably for nap time or something." Mikoto added. Praying that the children were at least asleep when the zombies got them or if they were still hiding out somewhere in the school that they were asleep and unaware of the horror show their home had become.
"Would the noise not draw more zombies, Misaka retorts with a nervous gulp."
"It's too soft or the soundproofing of the building is too good, Misaka observes. We didn't hear it from the outside, Misaka adds." Sentai-chan pointed out. "The dastardly monsters couldn't hear the music, Misaka reasons."
Despite that reassurance, some of the Sisters still seemed to be looking at every shadow, as if expecting a child zombie to lurch out of them.
Mikoto was in the same boat as she fingered a Dark Matter token, ready to fire it just in case of a nasty surprise.
"Wait, can you hear that? Underneath the music? Misaka asks," Mecha Fan asked, tilting her head towards a hallway that led to the left. "It sounds like humming, Misaka adds."
"I'm not hearing anything like that, maybe it's the Suits sensors? But if they're humming… Survivors?" Mikoto asked hopefully.
"Misaka does not think that is likely, Misaka thinks going over the statistics." Military Otaku began only to hastily backpedal at the crestfallen look Mikoto gave her. "Still, we need to go left anyways, so we might as well check it out, Misaka concedes."
"But we need to be ready in case it's not survivors, Misaka adds." Conspiracy Nut said ominously.
Mikoto gulped nervously, aware of what the clone was implying. That in all likelihood whatever was humming wasn't human, at least not anymore, and that they would be forced to kill it.
After taking a moment to collect herself, the [Railgun] nodded to show she was ready and the group proceeded deeper into the school. It looked like a stereotypical elementary school. In fact it looked a lot more neat and tidy than most, so much so that Mikoto could almost forget she was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse.
That was if they didn't have to occasionally walk pass patches of dried blood and around puddles of zombifying black goo. Though even those were being cleaned up by cleaning robots that thankfully ignored their intrusion.
As they walked further and further in though, pass empty classroom after empty classroom, the humming became more and more obvious until they reached a set of doors with the words auditorium printed in bright rainbow colours in kataka across them.
"The humming is coming from inside, Misaka says nervously." Mecha Fan confirmed.
"Maybe it's survivors after all?" Mikoto asked. Who was she trying to convince? The Sisters or herself? All of them knew, just knew, that they wouldn't find any survivors inside… But what if they were wrong? It was this tiny sliver of hope that had Mikoto opening the doors unto a scene straight out of hell.
Standing in the auditorium in a series of concentric circles were the school's students and staff. All of them zombified. All of them humming and swaying to the sound of the classical music being played by an audio player set up in the centre of the room. The sound of the door opening disturbed whatever they were doing however and as one, the room full of zombies turned their heads to look at the team.
Seeing them all, Mikoto felt a part of her die inside. Not even the horrendous scene from the cameras had affected her like this. Mikoto told herself she'd stare into the abyss, just like her kohai could, yet...
Saten, Namikaze… I-I don't think I can do this. Mikoto thought as the 'abyss' was now staring back at her through each and every one of those milky white childish eyes. Even the Sisters seemed shaken as they all collectively took a step back in horror.
One of them let out a shrill shriek, the Level 5 couldn't tell who. And as if that were a command to attack, all the tiny monstrosities charged at them as if they were party clowns.
"Fire! Misaka orders." Military Otaku announced, breaking Mikoto from her horror-stricken state. Alongside her, the Sisters began unloading the full weight of their arsenal on the horde while Mikoto herself unleashed bolts of electricity without even bothering to aim, she just threw them at the zombies. All the while, the childish shireks echoed in her mind and ate at her soul.
A creature that at one point might have been a pair of little twin girls if the similarity of their surviving features were any indication but which had been fused together by the fungal mass they was controlling them, scampered pass the withering fire of the team, even ducking down to crawl on all fours of their remaining limbs to avoid a shotgun blast from Sentai-chan and made it into the middle of their formation. Despite her shaken spirit, Mikoto had enough fight inside her to react quickly and released a powerful burst of static that fried the creature and hopefully released the girls' from their torment.
"Grenade! Misaka warns." Tsundere shouted as she tossed a couple of fragmentation grenades overhead and into the slobbering hordes.
Mikoto reached out with her powers and created a wall of iron sand that shielded the team from the relatively close explosions and their sharpnel. Inspired by the latter though, the Number 5 followed up by sending the iron sand she'd gathered out in a storm of deadly bullets that took out the remainder of the zombies.
In the aftermath of her attack, an eerie silence filled the room, one that was only broken by the music that continued to play in the background.
At least it did until Mikoto sent a blast to destroy the audio player.
Silently, the [Railgun] walked across the room to the emergency exit on its far aside that had been their goal in coming here in the first place, the Sisters worriedly following her. Mikoto barely made it out of the auditorium before she began retching onto the floor, emptying her stomach contents.
Genki Girl ran up to her, running her hand up and down her back much like how Mama would when she got sick at home.
"Onee-sama, w-we can stop here, Misaka says, worrying for Onee-sama's status after these grueling events. Misaka highly recommends it, Misaka says pleadingly."
Using her wrist to wipe her mouth clean, the original shook her head, "I'm good. Just needed to get it out of my system."
Gritting her teeth, Mikoto stood up and took a deep breath.
"We need to finish this," the Level 5 said, a fire burning in her eyes. "We can't let Parasol get away with this. This has to end."
The Sisters all nodded in nervous agreement.
"This the station?" Mikoto asked tiredly as they stood in front of a once fancy building that was flooded.
"Yes, Onee-sama, Misaka informs helpfully." Genki Girl confirmed while pointing to the sign on the building's side identifying it as the Fujiwara Station and Aquarium.
Well, at least that explains why it's flooded. The exhibits must have sprung a leak in all the chaos. Now we just have to pray for no zombie sharks.
"We'll need to be careful, Misaka warns." Military Otaku said as they began moving through the waist deep water and into the ruined building. "There might be things hiding in the water, Misaka clarifies."
Those words proved to be prophetic a few minutes later. By this time, they had been about halfway through the building when a human sized creature lunged at Tsundere from out of the water.
Tsundere reacted admirably and unleashed a hail of bullets from her assault rifle at the thing even as it dove back into the water and quickly swam away, avoiding the retaliatory fire from the team.
"What was that? Misaka asked in horror." Genki Girl asked, suppressing a shiver.
Mikoto had no idea. The thing had only been on the surface for a moment and all the Tokiwadai student could make out was its pale slimy skin and legs that sickeningly looked liked human arms.
"Misaka is just glad they don't bleed the black goo, Misaka says with a sigh of relief." Conspiracy Nut said while pointing with her shotgun at the trail of thankfully normal looking red blood that the creature left in the water as it had fled.
This observation sent a wave of relief over the whole team. None of them, except Conspiracy Nut apparently, had realized it but fighting zombies in water when their infection vector was some kind of liquid was tantamount to suicide without sealed suits. That they weren't in such a situation was something that all of them were incredibly thankful for.
"Onee-sama! Unusual electrical buildup detected!" Mecha Fan shouted suddenly.
Mikoto had felt it too, as a Level 5 Electromaster, she didn't need a fancy Powered Suit's sensors to detect a basic electrical buildup, and had spun in the direction of its source.
There on what had been the counter of some kind of kiosk was another of the creatures, which on a more detailed inspection looked like someone had crossed a salamander with a human and came up with some kind of monstrosity. It had a salamander's general body shape, including a long serpentine tail but its legs were shaped like slender feminine looking human arms, a plethora of tentacle like growths along its front shoulders, and a strange recessed head with no neck that rested directly between the creature's front shoulders.
Beyond the single visible creature, Mikoto could detect about a half dozen others scattered in the water all around them as well. All of them building up an electrical charge, presumably preparing to unleash it against them.
Monsters with electromaster? With the output they're pumping out they can't be more than Level 2, but with their numbers that's still dangerous. Mikoto analyzed tactically even as a corner of her mind reeled at what bioweapons with electromastery likely meant.
"We don't have time for you pipsqueaks!" Mikoto roared, ignoring her worries, as she overwhelmed the amphibious monstrosities with her own electricity and charred them black.
Huffing and puffing, electricity crackling around her, Mikoto looked to the Sisters, "Let's get onboard."
"Yes, Onee-sama! Misaka says." The Sisters answered in reply.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
Man, this just gets harder and harder for Mikoto. As the 'human' element of the Trinity, this rips at her soul. Now, while this is not going out on Halloween, this is still our Halloween special. So I hope you are enjoying it!
Nameless: Okay, horror monster identification time! First off, the zombies we're using here are based off those in the Last of Us, namely the Infected. Though in our verse the infection spreads via a black liquid, the nature of which will be explained in the next chapter. The zombie elephant was inspired by a similar boss in Resident Evil Outbreak File #2. The conjoined twin zombies in the elementary school was inspired by the Twin Victim from Silent Hill 4: The Room, while the elementary school scene in general was inspired by the scene in a school in the second Resident Evil movie. Lastly, the salamander things were based off Albinoids from Resident Evil CODE: Veronica.
Well, with that shop of horrors done, let's see just how far Mikoto can go without breaking.
Nameless: She is a particularly determined, or should we say stubborn, person. So she'll power through it I'm sure. The aftermath though is where she's really going to hurt.
You know what to do, smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!