Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Fifty Seven: Aletheia Shines Through
Beta:
Naru fidgeted impatiently as she stood on the tarmac of Academy City's airport as the private jet containing the guests she'd been asked to shadow for the duration of their stay in town came to a stop.
I really hate having to do this.
Yeah, yeah, I know! You've only said so like a dozen times in the past hour alone! Kurama said, sounding thoroughly annoyed. It's your own fault for getting into the siscon's debt in the first place.
Well, someone had to help cover up all the magic that was thrown around during the Mercenary Terrorist Incident and loathe as I am to admit it that Hawaiian shirt loving ass is the best in the business.
Then if you hate it so much, get your bestie to pay him back. You owe him because of her don't you?
You think he'd go for that? Naru shot back with a mental roll of her eyes. As much as he'd love to get one over Rui-chan, he'd never willingly give up on me owing him a favor either.
True that. Kurama conceded. Alright, enough chit chat. Your 'clients' for this babysitting gig are here.
"Necessarius agents, welcome to Academy City." Naru greeted the quintet of magicians from the Anglican Church politely.
"By the way, I recognize Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori, but who are the rest of you?" Naru asked, eyeing the three girls dressed in witch outfits following behind the two infamous Necessarius heavy hitters.
"They're apprentices assigned to me for this mission." The redhead Stiyl said, actually looking a touch embarrassed.
"Ah, apprentices? I didn't think of you as the teaching type Magnus, but nice. Plus they're super cute to boot." Naru complimented the girls. It was true, while they weren't her type, she wasn't one to deny it if someone was cute.
The girls seemed pleased by the compliment, if not a wee bit embarrassed.
"I'm not." The man said as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes and pulled out a cancer stick. "Since this is supposed to be a simple mission, the higher ups thought this was a good chance for them to get some field experience. I only have them for this one mission."
"And that's to check up on a budding idol for sainthood?" Naru asked, raising her eyebrow skeptically.
"Miraculous phenomenon has been attributed to this idol's music lately. Phenomenon normally attributed to a Saint or Saint-class magic. Considering how it is gaining in popularity, we need to ascertain if this Meigo-san is the real cause." Kanzaki explained. "Hence this observation mission."
Personally I think you guys just want some modern pop culture in your corner, but whatever. Naru thought with a mental eyeroll.
"Of course, just be aware we will not be happy with any aggressive actions while you are here. So standard for whenever you visit." The Level 5 warned sternly, eying the older mage and Saint of the group.
"Yeah, we know. Where is Tsuchimikado?" Stiyl asked as he looked around for what was the usual Necessarius contact in the City. "Why are you being our minder this time?"
"He's busy. His sister is sick and he's taking care of her." Naru told them with a shrug. "He called in a favor and asked me to sub for him."
"He got the [Laughing Joker] to substitute for him?" Stiyl said with a raised eyebrow.
"Yup," Naru said, smirking.
"So we traded a weasel for a monster?" Stiyl said with a sigh. "Just our luck."
"Hey, you don't have room to talk." Naru shot back pointing at Kanzaki Kaori. "You're the ones who have a Saint on their team. Having a Level 5 being your shadow is just evening up the odds."
"We-"
"Stiyl, enough." The previously mentioned Saint said with a chiding glare at the redhead priest. "Let's stop squabbling and just get this mission started."
"I'm with the Saint," Naru said with a nod to the tall, scantily clad swordswoman. "Let's get going."
"Fine," Stiyl said with a sigh. "Let's go start spying on an idol then."
Later that evening, Naru and the Necessarius group found themselves watching Meigo-san and [Imagine Breaker], who she'd befriended during the course of the day, from the top of an overlooking skyscraper as the two chatted in the middle of one of the City's parks. With the park being empty and its elaborate fountain as a backdrop, Naru noted that it had quite the romantic atmosphere.
"Why don't we just attack her?" The long green haired girl with the cat ears hood and a revealing caped outfit that left most of her front side exposed, barely covering her breasts in the process, named Jane Elves that was one of Stiyl's apprentice said. "I mean being in combat is one of the best ways to force someone to reveal their magical potential."
"That's true," Her fellow apprentice, Mallybath Blackball, a girl with shoulder length wavy brown hair dressed in caped, loose robes and breeches topped off by a bowler hat with a ribbon on top. "A person's magic does tend to manifest when they feel they are under threat."
"Exactly," Elves agreed with a nod. "So let's just attack her. If we do then we'll know if this Meigo girl is really a Saint or not and save us all this trouble."
"There is logic in that argument." The last and leader of Stiyl's apprentices, Marie Spearhead, added. She had long wavy blond hair which she styled in such a way as to leave a portion of it to hang down to cover the left side of her face. She was dressed in what was the most stereotypical witch outfit among the three apprentices with a pointed witch's hat with a ribbon around its base, a dress that exposed a good portion of her ample cleavage and was carrying around a broom with a cat charm attached to it.
"Maybe, but no." Stiyl shot back. "It's a bad idea. If we just attack an Academy City civilian on nothing more than suspicion then we'll be risking our alliance with them. It's not worth it."
"Stiyl is right." Kanzaki said with a nod. "We cannot act until we have solid proof that the girl is truly a Saint. Only then we can act to recruit her into Necessarius as per our agreement with Academy City."
"Which is why we are observing her." Stiyl said, taking a puff from his omnipresent cigarette. "To get the proof we need."
"Besides with [Imagine Breaker] down there- And how the hell does that guy always get involved with persons of interests!?" Naru said, with a shake of her head, even as both Stiyl and Kanzaki nodded in agreement with her exasperated statement. "Anyways~! As I was saying, with [Imagine Breaker] there, any attack would just likely skew any observations you'd make. You might as well wait. Not that I support your idea to attack one of the City's civilians, mind you."
The three apprentice witches frowned and shot each other looks, before suddenly nodding.
"Glad you girls can see reas- Hey!" Naru said, cutting herself off to shout in annoyance as the three witches leapt in complete defiance of everything she and their mentors said towards Meigo-san and [Imagine Breaker].
Elves swung her fan at the fountain behind where Meigo-san and Kamijou-san stood, creating a gust with her wind magic to send a wave of water flying towards the two that Spearhead used her own water magic to freeze portions of into small ice lances.
Acting on the bullshit danger sense that he had developed, the [Imagine Breaker] grabbed the idol and leapt out of the way of the attack. Though that only put him in the way of a blast of earthen buckshot that Blackball shot their way by stabbing her feather pen focus into the ground.
"Fukou da~!" Kamijou-san shouted loudly enough for Naru to hear without enhancement all the way up from her skyscraper roof perch as he barely leapt out of the way of the earth magic user's attack, still carrying a furiously blushing Meigo-san in his arms like a princess.
"Are you two just going to sit here?" Naru said, glaring at the two senior Necessarius magicians. "Go rein in your bloody apprentices!"
"Yeah, yeah," the chain smoking, fire wielding magician said with a tired sigh as he leapt after his apprentices.
"Stiyl can handle it," Kanzaki said distractedly. "I need to focus on Meigo-san. Skewed or not, observations from this skirmish might still prove useful to our mission."
"Well, don't cause trouble. 'Cos I'm going down there to make sure that this doesn't escalate too badly." Naru said as she leapt down into the madness below, barely catching the Saint nodding in agreement as she fell towards the ground.
It seemed that in a bid to cow his wayward apprentices, Stiyl had summoned his pet fire monster Innocentius. It was working even as they had immediately stopped attacking at the sight of it. Unfortunately, its appearance couldn't exactly scare the laws of physics into obedience and the elemental attacks the witch girls had unleashed continued flying towards a surprised looking Kamijou-san and the idol he was carrying around in his arms.
Thankfully, the flaming monster in the shape of a floating humanoid upper body smacked Spearhead's water pellets out of the air with contemptuous ease, the liquid making them up evaporating upon contact with the intense temperatures of its flames. That still left the lance of earth that Blackball had shot at [Imagine Breaker] though.
"You're lucky I'm here too, you lazy ass." Naru growled in annoyance as she teleported in front of the earthen projectile and shattered it with a chakra-enhanced punch.
"Meh, had to leave you something to handle." Stiyl said dismissively before turning to face his apprentices who he promptly started to berate for their recklessness.
"Uh, Namikaze-san?" Kamijou-san asked tentatively, looking around the scene in confusion. "What's going on?"
"Long story," Naru told the legendarily unfortunate boy with a sigh. "Just hope that you don't need to find out more."
"Knowing my luck-"
"Yeah, you'll probably end up needing to know but you can ask your Anglican friends over there later." Naru said, pointing in the direction of Stiyl and the witches. "'Cos I'm in no mood to explain things to you."
Whilst Naru was more than happy to bend the rules around what counted as classified information when the need arose. This wasn't exactly such an instance. More importantly she didn't exactly like the condescending ass who constantly looked down on people and intervening in Incidents even when he wasn't needed and being all preachy whilst doing so enough to play nice with him unless she had to. Especially when he was getting himself in yet another Incident!
"But Stiyl's busy."
"And you aren't cleared to know jack all." Naru told him bluntly. "So stop asking. Some of us are paid to deal with this stuff. Last I checked, you aren't on the payroll. So butt out, you nosy busy body!"
A put out looking Kamijou-san was opening his mouth to say something, to keep arguing with her probably, but a missile barrage slammed into Innocentius and released a crowd of freezing gas that smothered the flame elemental.
"Who is it this time!?" Naru shouted and stomped her foot in frustration as this already annoying mission gained yet another complication.
Her annoyance only grew as she recognised the closing tricycle-like Mobile Weapons as those that belonged to the Black Crow Unit.
Mobile Weapons that were still raining missiles down upon them. Missiles that released knockout gas as they detonated, which when combined with how they were clearly targeting the magicians made clear their intent.
"Oh, for the love of Science!" Naru said facepalming as she prepared to put a stop to this insanity.
Just throwing it out there, but those freeze rays you were experimenting with might be pretty useful here. Kurama suggested even as Elves used her wind magic to blow the knockout gas away.
I think you have the right idea. Naru said, with a nod. But let's try the heat rays first.
Putting that thought into action, Naru molded her chakra into the right way and sent a beam of searing heat shooting through the sky, detonating the latest wave of incoming missiles.
And like usual they're a total waste. A fireball barrage or plain ol' chakra bullets would've done just as much good for less effort. Kurama said with a tired sigh. Just stick to the freeze rays like I suggested.
Naru pouted but she couldn't deny the evidence. Even in her experiments back at the lab, the effects of the heat rays she could conjure weren't worth it. Trying them now, out in the field, contrary to her hopes just validated that finding.
I really wanted them to work. I want heat rays like Superman damnit! Naru whined, earning a snort of amusement from her inner demon and she shaped her chakra in preparation of shooting some freeze rays.
She never got the chance though before suddenly leaping down from the sky, Kanzaki Kaori leapt down on top of the lead Black Crow Mobile Weapon her nodachi thankfully sheathed. Her wires definitely were not however and with a twitch of her hand, they cut the machine into ribbons just as she leapt off and its pilot ejected.
"Kanzaki! Don't go around destroying City property!" Naru shouted at the Saint who had the good grace to actually look apologetic, even as she used the same bullshit wire technique - She must be using magic somehow to amplify it, 'cause there was no way normal wire worked like that! - to prematurely detonate a new barrage of knockout gas canisters fired their way.
"Why don't you tell our attackers to stop attacking first?" The Saint asked as she leapt to stand by Naru's side. "They were the ones to initiate hostilities after we'd already calmed things down."
She has a point there.
Yeah, for like a second or two. Kurama countered. You think your girlfriend's Crows had enough time to notice? They're probably still reacting to the idiot apprentices' attack earlier and the Saint wrecking one of their tricycles ain't helping their case.
They're professionals! They should be able to read the situation.
Well, I doubt your girlfriend caught that memo. Kurama replied, radiating amusement as Shu-chan's custom Mobile Weapon leapt onto the scene from atop one of the rooftops overlooking the park, launching dozens of rare earth disks as it did.
Disks that landed in a neat circle around Stiyl and his apprentices and which as her machine landed, Shu-chan shot a set of wires from her spider tank into. These allowed her to channel her Esper ability into the disks which promptly detonated, creating a wall of flames around the troublemaking apprentices.
"Shutaura! You're not helping here!" Naru shouted at her girlfriend in irritation, resisting the urge to facepalm.
Apparently ignoring her, Shutaura addressed everyone present through the speakers of her Mobile Weapon.
"Stiyl Magnus, Kanzaki Kaori, Spearhead Marie, Elves Jane, Blackball Mallybath, you are all under arrest for-"
"You can't arrest them!" Naru shouted, using a freeze ray to immobilize Shutaura's spider tank just in case her overzealous girlfriend got any stupid ideas. "They're here with the Superintendent's permission. They're his guests."
"I most certainly can!" Shutaura shot back defiantly. "They attacked an citizen of Academy Ci-"
Leaping on the frozen Mobile Weapon, Naru crossed her arms and glared down at the cockpit.
"Shutaura, come out. We're having this conversation. Face. To. Face!" Naru demanded, tapping her foot in frustration.
"And the rest of you Crows better not do anything while we sort this out or I'll be pissed." Naru added warningly as she glared at each of the three other Black Crow Mobile Weapons in the area in turn whilst she noticed that Stiyl had used his own fire magic to put out the flames that had surrounded him and his apprentices.
"Yes, Naru-chan? What do you want to talk about?" Shutaura asked, looking just as annoyed as her as she popped the lid on her machine.
"Why in the name of Science did you and your Black Crows escalate the situation when I was just about to calm things down?" Naru demanded, angrily.
"They were attacking a City civilian, a person of interest no less." Shutaura shot back.
"And you didn't need to! I had things under control! I was deescalating things."
"It didn't look like it," Shutaura countered, crossing her own arms. "The fire mage still had his familiar out and ready to attack."
"Deescalating things takes time!"
Shutaura looked ready to argue but stopped herself before sighing.
"Sorry," she admitted, looking away. "I miscalculated and jumped the gun."
Naru blinked in surprise. "You're admitting you're wrong?"
"You say that like I don't ever do it." Shutaura said with a slight pout.
"No, no." Naru said, waving her hands in denial, but memorized the pout for her daydreams. "But you gotta admit you don't usually do it."
"I suppose," Shu-chan said, still pouting slightly. "I'm sorry I'm so stubborn."
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You know I like you as you are even if you're stubborn at times." Naru said, putting both her hands on Shu-chan's shoulders and giving them a comforting squeeze.
Shu-chan offered her a smile. "Thank you, Naru-chan."
"Um, not that I mind but why are you being so emotional today?" Naru asked, honestly a little confused by her girlfriend's behavior. She was on a mission and usually the straightlaced older girl was super serious when on those.
"This is the first time we've fought each other since we became a couple." Shu-chan told her. "I was conflicted. Of course, I'm a little emotionally compromised."
"Oh," Naru said as she realized that her girlfriend was right.
Sure she and Shutaura rarely opposed each other in the past, they were after all both part of the City's security apparatus and tended to be on the same side. That said, it had happened on occasions when Ladylee's interests clashed with those of the Board of Directors. This was however the first time it had happened since they'd become girlfriends.
"Naru-chan, I need to go. I'm still on duty." Shu-chan said with a smile.
"Oh, um, right." Naru said as she leapt off Shu-chan's Mobile Weapon. "Sorry."
"See you later," Shu-chan said with a small wave even as she closed her cockpit and in a flex of her spider tanks' legs, she had it break the ice that restrained it.
"Black Crows, we're retreating. It looks like Namikaze-san has the situation under control." She said over her machine's speakers, presumably more for the benefit of the onlookers than her own men who surely she could have contacted over a secure connection. "Magicians, watch yourselves. We'll be watching."
Kanzaki and surprisingly, to Naru at least, Stiyl actually gave Shutaura a respectful nod at her warning and the three apprentice witches even looked chastised.
Shu-chan paused, as if surprised they were taking her seriously before with a flex of her machine's powerful limbs she sent it leaping onto the roof of one of the overlooking buildings as it made its way back to whatever patrol or whatever Shu-chan was supposed to be on. Her Black Crows followed after her like little ducklings.
"Uh, so, Namikaze-san, you're dating Sequenzia-san?" Kamijou-san asked when the machines were out of sight, all whilst looking at her curiously with everyone there shooting her similar looks.
"Yeah, it's all over the Level 5 gossip media." Naru said with a dismissive wave. "It's old news."
"And she conveniently got involved in all this?" Stiyl asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's awfully suspicious."
"Sometimes things just happen." Naru said with a shrug. "Now you five, let's get out of here. Before that though, Kamijou!"
"Yes?" [Imagine Breaker] asked, looking a little perplexed at being put on the spot.
"Go escort Meigo-san home," Naru ordered. "I'll make sure these five don't cause more trouble."
The magicians frowned at that but did not protest.
"Uh, okay. If that's alright with you, Meigo-san?"
"O-Of course," the idol said with a nod.
Naru waited until the two high schoolers had walked off before she turned to the magicians, her eyes glowing a malicious crimson.
"As for you five," she said in an angry growl. "I think you need a reminder on why we don't go around starting fights in someone else's city."
Mikoto was currently busy working with Kuroko and Uiharu-san inside the 177th Judgement Branch doing Ruiko a favor.
The Number 3 had asked them to do research into Meigo Arisa-san's involvement with the Orion Spaceplane Incident with a particular interest towards any potential connection to Ladylee Tangleroad.
Who was apparently an immortal magical loli.
Only in Academy City could that be normal.
Personally, Mikoto felt that Ruiko was being a touch paranoid. She didn't find anything suspicious about the budding idol, but to ease the seemingly ever growing paranoia of her friend, the three agreed to look into Meigo-san.
Though she didn't buy Ruiko's excuse for not doing so herself. Did she seriously think they'd believe she was asking them to do it solely because they were better detectives than her? She probably just wanted them to do the legwork while she went off on a date with her boyfriend.
She could've just been honest. We'd have helped anyway. Mikoto groused as she helped the two Judgement agents by using her Electromastery to hack into yet another confidential server containing information associated with the Spaceplane project.
"Thanks, Misaka-san." Uiharu said distractedly, as she combed through the files with her various analysis applications. Many of which Mikoto were sure she'd designed herself. "We'd be so much slower without your help."
"Onee-sama is the best," Kuroko said, shooting Mikoto a proud grin before diving back into reviewing the mountains of data they had uncovered.
"Found anything suspicious?" Mikoto asked as she took a sip of the can of juice she'd been drinking whilst the agents worked. Her assistance being minimal, she was more there for moral support than anything.
"Nothing yet. Just the standard corruption." Kuroko said with a huff. "A bureaucrat skimming some funds off the top here or there. I've marked it all down for reference to Anti-Skill for potential follow up. But as for anything on Meigo-san herself, nothing."
"Sa-" Uiharu began, only to cut herself off as a series of blueprints of the Orion flashed across her screen. "That's strange."
"What is it?" Mikoto asked, as she and Kuroko gave the computer wiz her full attention.
"The Orion," Uiharu said as she began running the blueprints through some kind of comparison. "Some elements in its construction triggered some strange results from my pattern recognition software."
"Strange, how?" Kuroko asked as she walked over to Uiharu's workstation to have a closer look. "Wait! Are those what I think they are?"
"What is it, Kuroko?" Mikoto said as she joined her two friends. "Are those magic circles!?"
Uiharu nodded. "It seems the Orion was riddled with a multitude of patterns designed to invoke a magical effect. Considering how many matches I'm getting, this isn't a coincidence."
"And by how deeply embedded some of these circles are... They were incorporated from the very beginning of its design." Kuroko added. "Tangleroad-sama's company were the ones who developed the Orion, correct?"
"Yes," Uiharu agreed, distractedly as she looked at the data about the matching magic circles that her programs had identified. "Death. All death!?"
"Uiharu, what do you mean by that?" Mikoto asked, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead as she dreaded the answer.
"The circles," Uiharu explained, looking pale. "They match with spells in the Bank known to be designed to directly cause death. All of them."
"You can't be serious?" Naru shouted into her phone, horrified by what Mikoto-sempai had just told her. "You sure about this? Ladylee raised Shu-chan after her father died and she was orphaned. She's like her mother. And now you're saying she's the one responsible for killing him during the Orion Spaceplane Incident?"
"Yes," Sempai said with cold certainty. "We don't know why Ladylee did it, since she was on the Orion when it exploded and the magic went off but we're sure she set the whole 'accident' up. We've even cross-checked our findings with Ruiko. She agrees."
"That's-"
"You mean the Science side didn't know Ladylee did that?" Magnus said as he lounged on the sofa of the safehouse they were currently occupying.
"You knew!?" Naru asked, incredulous.
"It's common knowledge on the Magic Side," the Necessarius magician said with a shrug. "That crazy immortal is obsessed with killing herself. The moment she started up the space exploration and development initiative, we knew it was nothing but a front to find a way to kill herself."
Naru frowned. She had known about Ladylee's obsession with committing suicide which in hindsight did make the whole Orion Incident seem odd.
"Then why adopt Shu-chan? She developed sympathy for others all of a sudden when she's been happily killing innocents in her futile suicide attempts for the last thousand or so years?"
"She adopted a member of the Miracle 88?" The redhead asked, rubbing his stubbled chin thoughtfully. "That's unusual for her… Unless… What Esper ability does that girl have."
"Nothing that would be special. Not to Ladylee." Naru said, wincing at downplaying her girlfriend's ability even if she was just being honest.
"Then…" The magician said, rubbing his chin even harder. "What if it's not an ability we are aware of. Kanzaki! What do you think?"
The scantily dressed, sword wielding Saint standing by the floor to ceiling window narrowed her eyes in thought for a moment before they widened in shock.
"She's incomplete." She gasped. "That would explain why her power fluctuates so strangely."
"Shu-chan?" Naru asked, confused.
"No Meigo Arisa," Kanzaki said as she began to explain. "But yes, also Sequenzia Shutaura. If what I'm thinking is correct-"
"They're two halves of the same Saint." Stiyl finished for her, his eyes wide in shock. "She must've used her power during the Orion Incident and that somehow caused her to become two people."
"Meigo-san did just appear out of nowhere after the Incident." Naru agreed with a worried bite of her lower lip. "But isn't this too far fetched? Can a Saint's magic do something like this? Create a person from nothing."
"Not from nothing," Kanzaki agreed. "But from parts of themselves? Yes. If they were powerful enough and if our research is correct her domain is Miracles-"
"Which is plenty powerful enough." Stiyl nodded. "Your girlfriend. Did she radically change after the Orion?"
"Yeah," Naru said tentatively. "Her Bank profile said she developed some kind of deep aversion to music in all its forms even though she was an accomplished singer and pianist before it. But they chalked it up to the trauma."
"Meigo-san is an accomplished singer and pianist." Stiyl said with a shit eating grin. "It fits. Looks like your galpal split that from herself and turned it into an idol somehow."
"It also explains why Ladylee has recruited Meigo-san to perform at the opening of Endymion. If she can position both halves of the Saint of Miracles in the right places when she triggers her ritual-"
"It might just actually work the miracle she wants and finally kill her." Stiyl said, finishing Kanzaki's statement with an annoyed click of his tongue. "We need to secure both halves of the Saint quickly before Ladylee can do whatever harebrained suicide scheme she's come up with this time. Come on Kanzaki, we need to make plans."
Even as her charges began planning their operation, Naru could only sit there in numb shock.
"Naru, call Shutaura-san now! Get her away from Ladylee ASAP." Mikoto-sempai suddenly shouted from over the phone, Naru only now realizing she hadn't yet ended the call. "We'll contact Anti-Skill, Ruiko and- We'll get the ball rolling on stopping whatever scheme that witch has planned."
"Right," Naru said, snapping to her senses with a jolt. "I'll do that right now!"
When she had received the call from Naru telling her about what Ladylee-sama had done, Shutaura's immediate reaction was to dismiss it. And if the revelation had come from anyone else that's probably what she'd have done. But she trusted her girlfriend and so whilst skeptical she'd listened. And as she heard more, as she compared what she'd heard against what she knew… It began to make a disturbing amount of sense.
If there was one thing that Ladylee-sama wanted above all, it was a way to die. That she'd been on Orion and that it had suffered a accident, fit perfectly in the pattern as one of her employer's many, many suicide attempts. If that was all, Shutaura could've let it go. After the Orion, Ladylee-sama had practically raised her. She owed her that much. But… If she was responsible for the Orion then that meant-
She was responsible for Father's death.
Shutaura's father, Daedalus, the last family she had left in this world, had been the pilot for the ill-fated commemorative test flight of the Orion and the only casualty of the disaster it became. A disaster that could very well be Ladylee-sama's fault. If he had been taken at the whims of an immortal child just wanting to die. That was something she could not forgive!
"Greetings Ladylee-sama," Shutaura said to the immortal child politely as she was led into her office by the golem shaped like a well dressed blonde haired man that served as one of her two automaton personal bodyguards.
"Hello Shutaura," the immortal greeted in reply as she sipped from some tea. "You must be busy overseeing the security for Endymion's opening, so whatever brings you here must be important. What is it, dear?"
"I am here to know why you were on the Orion during its commemorative test flight. Was it another of your suici-"
"Oh, so you finally figured it out?" Ladylee-sama- No, not "sama". She no longer deserved that level of respect from her. Not after what she'd just admitted to. "Yes, it was. And yes, that means I am responsible for your father's death."
"Why?" She demanded of her employer. Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry right now. Her heart thundered with such rage that she felt the world could crack if she let it explode out.
Those ancient blue eyes stared at her, as if she was an idiot.
"Why, to die of course. What other reason would I have for creating something as elaborate as a spaceplane disaster for other than the hope that my curse would not reach me in the heavens themselves?"
"...I'm going to kill you." Shutaa declared in a plain tone.
"Oh my sweet, I wish you could, but it's just not within your power to do so. Not yet at least."
Shutaura had no idea what the monster meant by that and she honestly didn't care, instead proceeding to pull out her holdout pistol from its holster on her hip and emptying the entire clip into her former employer.
Ladylee just laughed. A wheezing, bloody laugh but a laugh nonetheless.
"You'll have to do better than that," the immortal said even as her body healed and she waved at her automatons."Seize her."
Moving at speeds that were well beyond normal human abilities, the two well dressed automatons charged towards her from where they had stood silently until now on either side of Ladylee. All whilst the immortal child finished regenerating from her bullet wounds behind her expensive, antique desk.
Shutaura broadly understood the capabilities of both these automatons well. They were some of Ladylee's most constant bodyguards and having served as her security chief for years, she had been informed about what they could manage. As such, she knew she had no time to reload her gun, so she dropped it. Likewise she knew to be wary of the relatively stronger male magical based automaton and thus moved to avoid its powerful haymaker instead choosing to engage the female automaton.
Just because the female automaton was relatively weaker than its male counterpart that did not make it weak by any measure. As such Shutaura danced around the android's kick. Just because she was pulling off an evasion though, did not mean she was not able to attack and so she reached out with a hand, running it over a section of the robot's thigh. Her eyes glowing and with the contact serving as a medium, she activated her Esper ability.
"Oh, you caused the rare earth in the android to explode?" Ladylee commented, sounding amused even as the female automaton collapsed, significant portions of its circuits destroyed by Shutaura's Earth Palette. "I didn't expect you to be able to detonate them when you had not previously stored any energy into them."
"The energy behind the explosions comes from me triggering the energy stored inside the molecular structure in rare earth elements." Shutaura shot back as she dodged the rapid fire series of punches that the male golem were throwing her way. "That's always there. Storing more energy in them just makes them more powerful."
"Hmm… In hindsight, you're quite right." Ladylee nodded. "Not taking precautions against that was an oversight on my part."
"Indeed," Shutaura said as she finally danced around the golem's relentless attack and slammed one of her rare earth disks into its chest, triggering an explosion and sending it staggering back.
Not letting this opportunity go, Shutaura reached into her hip pouch and palmed another half dozen rare earth disks and tossed them at the golem causing it to stagger back. The explosions she could create were honestly relatively weak, however that was why she had to rely on using quantity to trump quality. Something she put into practice by throwing another dozen rare earth disks, which created a combined explosion powerful enough that it blew the entire golem's upper body away.
"Now Ladylee," Shutaura said as she turned to face the immortal. "Time for you to- Argh!"
"To get what I want?" Ladylee said with a smirk as Shutaura writhed on the ground as she lowered the pistol she had just used to shoot the Esper. "I really love this City and the gadgets it comes up with. Electroshock bullets? Inspired. I wonder what they'll come up with next."
"Y-You w-won't get away w-with this." Shutaura wheezed out as her vision behind to darken.
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I will." Ladylee said, breaking out into a laugh.
Naru, save me. Shutaura thought as she finally lost consciousness with the monstrous immortal's malicious laughter ringing in her ears.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And here we go, movie time folks! And one I really liked too. From witchy apprentices, to spider tanks and more, we've added our own spin to it of course. Plus, big development with Naru and Shutaura as a couple. Will this make or break them? Stay tuned for that!
Nameless: Silly observation, but a lot of guns were used in this chapter. That was pretty unintentional on our part. Which is generally kinda rare in an Incident. Most parties involved tend to prefer to use magic or Esper abilities. It just kinda happened. Odd. Still I think it does show that guns do work and have a place even in the insanity that is Academy City's Dark Side.
PAID FANART COMMISSION REQUEST! Okay, dear readers, some of you might have realised that we've started cross-posting this fic over on AO3 and that platform allows us to post fanart in the body of the story. In light of that, I've found myself feeling like commissioning some fanart. I am willing to pay for it, so if anyone is interested please do contact us.
E4E: You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!