Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Seventy Eight: Malevolent Biohazard: New Management II
Beta:
Naru's teleport - The blonde having taken the lead on that front since unlike Kuroko, she knew the way. - deposited Mikoto and her roommate in a lab. The place was nondescript as far as labs went in Academy City and was indistinguishable from the hundreds of similar places, but with a few glaring exceptions. One was that the place was wrecked. The other was the cause of why it was in the state that it was, namely the firefight that was raging within.
A fight that involved Kurozuma-san and a squad of Maniple paramilitaries on one side and a colossal arachnid, as gargantuan as an elephant on the other. Said monstrous bug had a head with six distinct deep blue eyes, a gray exoskeleton that was covered in intricate red patterned gaps through which liquid magma, which might be its blood, could be seen. A creature that left a trail of fire behind it as it moved and which was spitting fireballs at the paramilitaries as they cowered behind the dubious cover of some overturned tables and abandoned scientific equipment.
"Kuroko, put that thing's fire out!" Mikoto ordered and without missing a beat, her roommate ran her hands over a set of nails she'd strapped to her thighs under her skirt.
Nails that teleported into the monstrous magical spider's body and exploded into clouds of liquid nitrogen that promptly began to freeze the arachnid solid even as it turned its attention towards the new arrivals.
"Onee-sama, I'm out of Cryo Nails." Kuroko warned even as she looked at Naru expectantly.
"Don't worry about it, Kuroko-chan. I've got this covered." The [Elemental Empress] reassured them as she took a deep breath before breathing out a cone of frost that proceeded to complete what Kuroko's Cryo Nails had started and transformed the flaming spider into an ice sculpture.
"It's smashing time!" Kurozuma-san shouted at the sight and before anyone could stop him he ran out from behind his cover and swung a Powered Suit and Power Fist assisted punch that proceeded to shatter the frozen spider monster into innumerable icy chunks.
"Meh, six out of ten." Naru harshly judged, making the floofy redhead stagger.
"Oi oi, don't go judging me by your insane standards. We regular folk aim for average goals."
"Punching a frozen fire spider is average?" Mikoto couldn't help but ask with a deadpan.
"It is for me." Naru said with a shrug, much to the [Railgun]'s exasperation. "Anyways, Kurozuma-san, report!"
"Aye." He said with a playful salute. "We managed to find that weasel of a scientist, but we got intercepted by a blonde lady. She practically stole him away and left us with the playmate you girls just helped us handle."
"And where are they now?" Kuroko asked, scanning the room and finding no sign of either the scientist or the woman that Kurozuma-san had mentioned.
He pointed towards a door behind the shattered remains of the spider monster. "They ran that way. You ladies are going after them, right? Need me and my team to support you?"
"We'll be fine." Mikoto reassured him, cutting Naru off before she could give any orders otherwise. If they were dealing with a Magician like they all suspected then having Kurozuma-san and the Maniple troopers around wouldn't be a good idea. Against an unknown magic using lunatic, they would likely just be liabilities. "You and your team can head back to base."
Naru shot Mikoto a frown at this and even Kuroko looked uncertain with her decision, but the Number 5 remained firm. She refused to put these men, her nominal subordinates, in danger.
"You sure, Sparky-jouchan?"
"I'm sure." Mikoto affirmed.
Kurozuma-san frowned and turned to Naru for confirmation.
"We'll handle it. Check on the wounded if you have them and keep the area cordoned off." The blonde said with a halfhearted nod.
"Gotcha," Kurozuma-san said with another salute. "Happy hunting, little ladies."
"You sure you can spare the effort to help me, Kazari?" Ruiko-san asked Kazari even as her best friend began throwing data from her intelligence network at her computer so that she could help her make sense of it.
The amount of information that Ruiko-san can dig up on things surprises me every time. Kazari thought, impressed as she always was by the demonstration of her best friend's abilities. Though it's really a shame that she's so bad at making sense of it.
Then again everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses. And she was more than happy to help her friends make up for any of their weaknesses with her own strengths wherever possible. She was thus completely honest as she answered Ruiko-san's question.
"Of course!" Kazari said as her fingers flew across her keyboard in a show of masterful dexterity. "My drones are still en route to the fight with the Magician. Traffic is being a bitch. And even when they do get there, I'll probably only help Kurozuma-san with securing the area. As per SOP (Standard Operating Procedure), we're letting Naru-san take point since our opponent is a Magician. So it's not like I have anything to do right now."
"All true, I suppose. Though I still feel a little bad at having to ask for your help with this." Ruiko-san said with an embarrassed smile. "I mean, I have a whole team of analysts backing me up now, but I still end up asking you for help."
"I'll take that as a compliment, Ruiko-san." Kazari said with a grin. "That I'm equal to or better than a 'whole team of analysts'."
"Ah, Kazari and her budding ego. Does that mean you are wearing bolder panties now?" Ruiko-san teased, making the flower crown wearing girl blush.
"R-Rui-Ruiko-san!" She squeaked, she could never pull off the bold and stylish panties Kuroko-san and Naru-san dare to wear! But at the same time… Ruiko-san wasn't entirely wrong either. She was wearing a pair that was a lot more mature than she was used to today, even if it was just a plain red pair. At least it wasn't covered in flowery print or emblazoned in anime characters like she used to wear. "A-Are you peeking under my skirt again!?"
"Do I need to?" Ruiko-san asked pointedly. "Did you forget your panties and are going commando again?"
"I-It was the one time!" Kazari shot back, her face crimson. "B-Besides, it's not a good time for me to try that right now."
Ruiko-san shot her a look at that.
"Red aunt is visiting?"
"She might, if my cycle is consistent." Kazari replied without shame. She was talking to her best friend. There was nothing to be embarrassed about by discussing her menstrual cycle with Ruiko-san. They were both girls at that age after all.
Ruiko-san nodded and they worked in companible silence for a few minutes before the Number 3 piped up. "See anything useful?"
"Maybe," Kazari said as turning one of her monitors towards Ruiko-san, she pulled up a file on a woman named Adelise Canopy on it for the Level 5 to get a good look. "Everything seems connected to her. Most of the scientists who've disappeared did so shortly after being contacted by her or one of her proxies. And all of them who switched jobs legitimately went over to work for her too."
"I noticed that," Ruiko-san nodded. "But correlation does not equate to causation."
"True, but there's a preponderance of circumstantial evidence. Too much to just dismiss out of hand." Kazari countered. "Besides seemingly recruiting a ton of former Parasol scientists, she's also simultaneously been buying up a whole bunch of former Parasol assets world wide. All things considered, it's quite suggestive."
Ruiko-san hummed thoughtfully at that as she considered what Kazari had said as the Level 1 waited expectantly for her to make up her mind. Did they follow this lead or not? It seemed a little too obvious to be honest, but at the same time, the mountain of evidence pointing towards Adelise Canopy at least being involved with what was going on was too high for them to dismiss it entirely either.
She was pulled from her wait when her computer screens started flashing through a vast number of tabs and apps in quick succession. Rolling her eyes at this, she reached over and smacked Ruiko-san lightly on her arm. "Geez! Ruiko-san, don't go around hijacking my PC like this! At least ask first!"
"Ehehe, sorry. It's a reflex by now." Ruiko-san said even as she kept at it.
"Geez, Mikoto-san doesn't do it and manipulating electronics is one of her primary abilities."
"I know, I know, I'll ask fir-'' Ruiko-san said, cutting herself off, her eyes widening before she abruptly teleported away.
Kazari sighed as she looked at the suddenly empty chair that her best friend had occupied just a second ago. Seriously, Ruiko-san was so frustrating at times. Couldn't she have at least told her what she'd discovered before rushing off like that!?
"Then again she wouldn't be Ruiko-san if she wasn't like this." Kazari said with fond exasperation as she turned back to her PC and began typing away at her keyboard. The answer to what had set her best friend off was on it somewhere, she just needed to go through all the files she'd viewed and decipher what it was. It would probably take a while but…
"That just means I better get cracking."
"Clear!" Mikoto heard Kuroko shout back from where she was peeking around the corner of the hallway that the ex-Parasol scientist and the "blonde lady" that had rescued him from Kurozuma-san and his men had fled down.
Without missing a beat, Naru grabbed Mikoto's shoulder and teleported to Kuroko's side before she nodded towards a door to a room ahead.
"It's empty." Naru assured them even as she let go of Mikoto's shoulder and teleported to it, before sealing it shut with a slab of earth she pulled out of the ground with some geokinesis. "I didn't sense anyone in there, but better safe than sorry."
Mikoto nodded even as Kuroko touched her arm and teleported both of them to join Naru. "How far ahead is the scientist?"
"If I remembered this place's floor plan that Rui-chan sent us correctly, they should be crossing the loading/unloading bay now. We're almost there ourselves." Naru said, looking further down the hallway. "We should be able to catch them there."
"We better, I'm raring to go here." Mikoto said as she bit back a snarl and electricity arced around the crown of her head.
"Onee-sama, I normally tell you to ease up on the collateral damage, but here? I'm all for you going wild." Kuroko told her even as she teleported them about halfway down the straight length of the hallway and brought them into view of some sort of airlock at the other end.
"That's the doors to the loading/unloading bay." Naru informed them as she teleported directly next to the doors and turned to Mikoto. "Shock and awe or just guns blazing, Senpai?"
It was a totally loaded question, since the blonde had already started forming orbs of lava around her.
This girl… Then again, when you have a pocket nuke…
"Shock and awe. I want to see the fear on their faces." Mikoto hissed darkly, her hands tense as they curled to fists, her knuckles white. Her electrical output amping up as she prepared to blitzkrieg these monsters.
"Engage." Mikoto told her blonde kohai.
"And fire." The Usagi grinned wickedly as the orbs of lava flew forward and struck the doors. The lava was so hot, it melted right through, quickly turning the door to slag. Even as it did, Naru conjured powerful, freezing winds that flash cooled the molten metal and made it safe for them to step out through the ruined lab door.
Their dramatic arrival certainly caught the attention of their quarry and the lab coat-wearing but otherwise nondescript scientist screamed at Naru's formidable display of power. His companion however just frowned.
"Matsushima-sensei, please stand back." The barefoot, blonde woman said as she stepped fearlessly towards them, reaching behind her back for some reason. "I'll handle this."
"This is your only warning." Mikoto said, glaring at the woman who looked to be in her early twenties as a storm of electricity arced around her. "We're not going to let something as vile as Parasol see the light of day again and won't hesitate to go through you to stop it."
"Oh, I'm sure of that." The woman said with a smirk as the sound of a zipper filled the underground area that was the defunct lab's loading/unloading bay as the woman pulled down the zipper of her dress. "And I've always wanted to test myself against a Level 5."
"Well, today's your lucky day. You're facing two of us." Naru shot back as the remnants of the lava from earlier swirled in streams through the air around her.
Mikoto was about to order Kuroko to go secure the scientist whilst she and Naru dealt with this presumptuous woman but the words died in her throat when the woman slipped off her dress. It wasn't because she was feeling prudish and was shocked by the other woman's nudity. In another situation, she might have blushed and sputtered at that. But in this one, her reaction was one of shock and horror. Emotions that stemmed from the woman's true nature. For, as she stepped out of her discarded dress, her lower body was revealed to be insectoid and her previously normal looking legs transformed into two pairs of equally bug-like limbs that ended in razor sharp points. The monstrous woman even sprouted a pair of butterfly wings from her shoulders.
"Whoa, whoa, that's certainly a new one!" Naru whistled, even as Mikoto and Kuroko both blanched at the sight of the inhuman woman. "Nice rack by the way. Are you sure you want to fight with it all hanging out like that though? Can't you, I dunno, put on a sports bra?"
"So much cheek! And why should I cover up? They are perfect. If you have it, flaunt it. Unlike you, mosquito tits."
"...Bug jokes? Really?" Naru said, her eyes narrowed to slits. "And bitch, my tits are perfect too! I'll let you know my girlfriends love them. They are perfectly cupable!"
Naru, now is the time to get into a breast-off! Mikoto snapped in her head, but took the distraction for what it was and shot a dozen bolts of electricity at the bug woman with the admittedly nice boobs.
The woman has bigger and better shaped breasts than I do! And I used Bust Upper! There is no justice in this world! Mikoto couldn't help but think distractedly as she turned to Kuroko.
"Kuroko, wait for your chance." Mikoto informed her roommate, even as the bug woman evaded the electric bolts by leaping into the air and taking flight on those wings of hers. "Let me and Naru test out what this woman can do first."
"How are you flying? Those wings are too small to possibly provide enough lift to keep you aloft, much less give you the maneuverability to evade our attacks like that!" Naru whined as she shot the last of the lava like arrows at the bug woman, who performed some fancy flying that allowed her to avoid taking a hit.
"Magic," the woman retorted with an amused smirk as she conjured a green magic circle form which shot forth a burst of dozens of three centimeter-long insects that gleamed with a steely radiance that had V-shaped bodies and bore a strong resemblance to a rifle bullet. "Bullet Bug."
Naru quickly summoned a wall of earth out of the ground that shielded them and retaliated by shooting a brace of vacuum blades at their opponent. An attack that Mikoto, inspired by the bug woman, supplemented with a salvo of iron sand bullets of her own. Sadly, despite their efforts, the woman evaded their latest barrage as easily as she had their earlier attempts.
"And how the hell aren't your boobs swinging all over the place!?" Naru complained as their opponent performed some fancy flying but her ample bosom still somehow remained perfectly still like she was sporting the best bra in the world.
"Magic!"
I hate Magicians!
"That's cheating!" Mikoto shouted back as she sent a lance of electricity at the bug woman that distracted her enough for Kuroko to teleport a set of Explosive Nails into her flesh.
The resultant blast sent the monstrous woman crashing into the ground but even as she did, Mikoto knew something was off. The force of the impact was too low, like its mass was a lot lower than it should. She was proven right when it was revealed to only be some kind of discarded exoskeleton that soon crumbled to dust.
The real bug woman revealed herself a second later as with a buzzing sound she dropped out of whatever bullshit magical high speed movement technique she used, Mikoto was sure it wasn't a teleport because she could track the disturbed electrons in the air she'd created by moving so fast, and reappeared behind Kuroko. Before Mikoto or Naru could do anything, the woman pricked the Teleporter's shoulder with a dagger-like growth of chitin that had sprouted from her right arm and blurred away.
"Kuroko!" Mikoto shouted as she rushed to check on her roommate, who had collapsed to the ground, out cold.
"She's just unconscious." The bug lady said as she reappeared on the other side of the underground loading/unloading bay, the blade growing from her arm visibly retracting back into her body. "The drug I injected her with should wear out in a couple of hours and she'll be right as rain."
"She better me." Naru hissed as ribbons of bubbling acid started to swirl around her. "If there's even a hint of something else. I'm not going to kill you."
"Oh?"
Naru's usual blue eyes flashed blood red as her canines sharpened. "Yeah, because I'll make sure you live as I dissect you piece by piece."
"Huh, I actually felt a tingle of fear from that. You may actually be a threat."
Naru fired her acid in a stream with the force of a fire hose at the freak against nature. "I'm far more than just a threat to some amateur reprobate of a half-baked chimera!"
In response, a single massive centipede appeared out of another green magic circle under the bug woman and rapidly wrapped itself around her, shielding her from Naru's acid. It was an imperfect defense and plenty of it still ended up falling on the blonde chimera's skin but instead of melting off like Mikoto thought or even blistering, the acid just flowed off it like it was water.
"What the hell?" Naru gasped. "That acid should be caustic enough to melt through the latest composite armor we use on our tanks! How the hell is it that it doesn't even blister your skin!?"
"I am honestly as surprised as you are," the bug woman said as she looked at her unharmed skin even as she casually flew around the lightning Mikoto likewise distractedly shot her way. "Oh, wait, my patron is explaining things… What!? Seriously? That's nice."
"Patron? Oh sweet fuck." Naru cursed and that was never good.
"Naru?" Mikoto asked, glancing out of the corner of her eye at her friend without fully taking her eyes off her opponent.
"This just got ten times harder, Senpai." The blonde said, face cool and collected as she tensed up. "If she has a patron and can communicate with it real time like this then-
"I am a living Idol," the bug woman explained. "Basically a conduit for a supernatural entity. In my case that's the Demon Lord of the Inferno, Beelzebub. And it seems because of that he's granted me a portion of his demonic durability."
"I hate being right. That explains the Ars Goetia symbology in her magic circles."
And all that just flew over my head save she's got a devil on speed-dial. Because of course a devil is a real thing too! I hate magic.
"Indeed," the literal devil woman said with a smirk as the giant centipede that had wrapped around her body repositioned itself so a portion of its body was wrapped around her right arm and the rest of its body hung off it like a whip. A whip that she proceeded to crack at Mikoto and Naru.
"You think a whip is gonna be better than the bullets you tried earlier?" Mikoto asked incredulously as she used some iron sand to catch the centipede whip before it could hit either her, Naru or Kuroko whilst simultaneously using it to cut the bug to pieces.
"No, not really." The blonde abomination said with a shrug as she tossed aside the remains of the dead centipede as it disintegrated into black motes of energy. "I just thought it would be a waste to not use it for something after summoning it so just decided to have some fun with it."
"You're having fun!?" Naru hissed as she teleported behind the airborne chimera, who had stayed in the air for almost the entirety of the fight so far save for her attack on Kuroko, and lunged at her with a sphere of swirling chakra in either palm. "Are you forgetting who you're fighting!? Twin Spiral Force!"
The annoying bug woman just used her shed carapace and high speed movement trick again, evading Naru's attack and causing the destructive chakra spheres to destroy abandoned chitin.
"Hm, wondering just how much energy are you draining to pull off that switch?"
"Beelzebub keeps my reserves topped up so I never run out." The infernal woman replied with a shrug even as she evaded Mikoto's questing iron sand tendrils, the [Railgun] having decided to make use of all the iron sand she'd gathered together to deal with the centipede earlier.
"Ah, tapping into your sugar daddy. Can't do much without him leading you by the nose, huh?" Naru scoffed as she fired off a set of wind bullets that started to harass their opponent from multiple angles.
"He's having fun and I'm benefiting from his patronage, it's win-win." The bug woman said with another shrug as she conjured a couple dozen magic circles and used them to summon and shoot a couple dozen giant pill bugs like cannonballs at Naru and Mikoto. A few intercepted and negated Naru's wind bullets whilst the others were deflected by Mikoto's iron sand. "And you accused me of having fun with this earlier and I'll admit it. I am enjoying this. But so are you, aren't you, [Laughing Joker]? After all, you only ever behave like a shounen character and shout out your attack names when you're enjoying a fight, right?"
"I'd make an innuendo, but amongst the abominations I've dealt with, you aren't too bad. Only a little though!" Naru accused with a pointed finger.
"Naru!" Mikoto snapped.
"What? I'm being honest!"
"You two have such good chemistry." The Magician said with a wistful sigh. "Now I want to see what it's like when the full Trinity is together. I'm sure it's even more entertaining to watch."
"We didn't ask you!" The senpai and kohai said in stereo.
"Just adorable!"
Mikoto and Naru's response was to try to smother her in tsunamis. Mikoto's was made out of iron sand and Naru's was out of actual water that she freshly condensed from the air and conjured from her mouth. With massive waves hurtling towards her, Mikoto was sure that the bug woman had nowhere to escape even with that bloody high speed movement technique of hers. And their opponent knew it too if the frown that graced her face was anything to go by, but instead of surrendering to the inevitable she instead threw her arms to her sides and with a magic circle popping into existence below her insectoid legs, she conjured a bubble of green energy that shielded her from the impacts of the two waves that had been sent against her. Her desperate defense held if only barely and by the time that the waves petered out, it was spiderwebbed with cracks.
"This is over!" Naru declared as she teleported directly in front of the bug woman's barrier and pulled back an arm, partially manifesting the arm of her Panzer Demon Frame. "Sudden Impact!"
The piston built into the arm slammed down, giving even more strength to the already immense raw force that the construct created by her chakra was capable of and proceeded to easily shatter the barrier like it was glass, much to the insectile woman's shock.
She was so surprised in fact that she did nothing as Naru raised her other arm, her chakra already shaping itself into another copy of the arm of her Panzer Frame to deliver the finishing blow. But at the last second dozens of paper thin barriers formed between the devil woman's face and Naru's fist, absorbing the attack and giving the monstrous blonde the chance to flutter back on her wings before blurring away with her high speed movement technique.
"Rui-chan, why did you do that!?" Naru whined as she turned to Ruiko who had appeared at some point and was standing next to a very pale and very nervous looking Matsushima-sensei. "I was going to be all epic and nail her to the wall like a cheap bug under a glass frame!"
"Naru-chan, I know you were about to score a big hit, but things change. I promise we can spar later to get all that combat junkiness out of you." Ruiko said and patted Naru's head.
Was Usagi nuzzling the hand giving her the headpats?! She'd note that for later but that wasn't the current issue!
"Ruiko, what are you doing!? Why did you save the monster?" Mikoto demanded, turning to glare at the Number 3, electricity arcing around her dangerously.
"Stopping Naru from doing something that will get her in trouble with her boss." Ruiko said with a shrug. "Nothing Adelise-san-"
"The bug woman has a name?" Naru interrupted, sounding honestly surprised.
"Of course, I do!" The monstrous Magician said with a snort as she landed beside Matsushima-sensei, causing the ex-Parasol scientist to breathe a loud sigh of relief. "Why in the world did you think I wouldn't? My name is Canopy Adelise. It is nice to meet you, Namikaze Naru-san, Saten Ruiko-san, Misaka Mikoto-san."
"It's nice to meet you." Mikoto replied reflexively despite the situation. Tokiwadai's ojou-sama training was just that good. Though she was outdone by Ruiko who outright gave the devil woman a curtsy as she too returned the greeting.
Shaking off the ingrained reaction and her exasperation at Ruiko's ever growing ojou-samaness, Mikoto pressed the matter at hand. "What the hell do you mean, Ruiko!?"
Naru snickered for some reason, but Mikoto ignored her. She'd probably said something that tickled the Usagi's funny bone but with how easy that was to pull off, it could've been anything and she was too focused on more important things to worry about figuring it out right now.
"As I was saying," Ruiko replied dutifully, though not before sharing an amused smirk with Naru. "Nothing Adelise-san has done is illegal. Shady and under the table, but not illegal. And more importantly, the General Superintendent has just issued an order to stop all attempts at interfering with her."
"That's dumb." Mikoto responded to the information. "No, just utter bullshit."
"Eh, even if what she's done is technically legal, it's still sorta kinda evil and needs to be stopped. Just so you know, Adelise-san." Naru pointed out, being the rational one here!
"Oh? But can't a lot of what you and friends have done be considered the same?" The insectoid woman said without missing a beat as her wings retracted into her body and a slit opened up on the carapace on her lower body, in a place that Mikoto's traitorously over observant mind noted was analogous to the placement of a vagina on a human woman, and she reached inside it.
Ruiko spoke up again, tone firm and arms crossed under her generous bust. "If you two continue to attack Adelise-san, the City will see it as us, the Trinity, in the wrong and punish us. Optics, ladies."
"This op was greenlit by the Superintendent." Usagi sharply reminded Ruiko, though Mikoto found herself unable to look at either of them. Not when her eyes were invariably drawn to Adelise-san as the monster pulled out a ziplock bag out of her own body and the slit in her carapace sealed itself back shut.
"He changed his mind." Ruiko retorted even as Adelise-san opened the bag and pulled out a fresh dress from within that she began putting on, her insectoid legs fusing together into perfectly human legs as she did. And as the new dress covered the unchanged chitin of her lower abdomen, the bug woman looked indiscernible from a normal if remarkably attractive young woman.
Did she… She hides her changes of clothes in her vagina!? Mikoto couldn't help but think, her mind looping back to the memory of Adelise-san pulling the dress out of her body. What the hell!?
Naru held up a finger, "One moment. Let me give him a call to check." She pulled out her phone and tapped the haptics and frowned. "Hello sir, did you change your mind mid-op? …What do you mean you texted me, I was in combat! Oh! You knew I was in combat, don't lie to me!"
As Naru got into a strange argument with her boss/guardian, Mikoto turned to Ruiko, the semi-sane one of the trio.
"Did she-"
"Yes, there is an empty space inside Adelise-san's lower body where a normal woman's reproductive organs are. She apparently uses it for storage." Ruiko explained helpfully even as Naru continued her argument with her boss over the phone.
"It's convenient and it's easier to reach inside there than pull things out from a pocket reality with magic," Adelise-san said with a shrug. "The latter requires a lot more focus in our reality than most since it involves the manipulation of Phases. I have it easier since almost all my magic revolves around it, being a summoner and all, but even then it's not trivial. Much easier to just carry things around."
"Yeah, but inside your va-"
"I don't have a vagina." The demon woman said firmly. "I am not human, Misaka-san."
Tell that to monster fetishists.
"Actually Adelise-sama, if I remember Murakami-san's research correctly, don't you have mostly human DNA?" Matsushima-sensei piped up, his apparent curiosity on this point overwhelming the fear that had kept him quiet till now.
"Yes, that's why I have a mostly human appearance, but I'm different enough that I do not count myself as human. My reproductive organs for one are more insectoid than human."
"Parthenogenesis?" Ruiko asked, sounding as curious as the ex-Parasol scientist.
"Yes," Adelise-san nodded as she had blades grow out of her arms, one of which she'd used earlier to stab Kuroko and inject her with the drugs that were still keeping her unconscious. "I lay eggs using these ovipositors. I've only ever used them to birth my summoned insects but I know I can lay eggs that will grow into proper children of mine if I choose to."
"Fascinating," Ruiko said honestly as Matsushima-sensei nodded in agreement.
"You-" Mikoto began worriedly, only for the bug woman to preempt her even as she retracted her ovipositors.
"You can relax, Misaka-san. I did not plant any eggs in Shirai-san. Like I said earlier, I only injected her with some sedatives. She'll be fine in a few hours."
"We can book an appointment with Heaven Canceller later today and have him give her a checkup to be sure." Ruiko assured Mikoto, who nodded. She didn't trust this devil woman one bit! She wouldn't relax until Kuroko got cleared by the frog faced doctor. "But for now, why don't I go wake her up. I've been scanning her and I should be able to formulate a counteragent with Dark Matter that'll wake her up in a few seconds."
Mikoto nodded her agreement and Ruiko moved over to Kuroko to administer the antidote to the sedative keeping her unconscious.
"Okay, I got confirmation. Rui-chan's right. My boss has given Adelise-san here the right to operate in the City. We can't touch her without becoming criminals." Naru said unhappily as she stomped over. "Adelise-san, my boss said if you'd just asked for permission before showing up in the City he'd have given his okay and all this trouble would've been avoided. Why didn't you?"
"Ah, forgive me. I think in the rush of your dramatic entrance I forgot to inform you I got the okay from the Superintendent minutes before you rudely attacked us."
"And you didn't ask for permission to act before entering the City because?" Naru pressed.
Adelise-san laughed nervously at that. "I didn't actually know I needed to. It wasn't until you busted up that meeting the other night that I realized I probably should. Getting the actual permission after that took time."
"I still think we shouldn't let her get away with this," Mikoto said with a frown. "I don't care what the City says, letting her revive Parasol is a bad idea."
"Are you really going to risk pitting us against the rest of the City?" Ruiko asked reasonably as she walked back over with a groggy looking but awake Kuroko leaning on her for support.
"I'm sure we can take any punishment the City could dish out."
"Are you so sure about that, Misaka-san?" The familiar voice of Tsuchimikado Motoharu suddenly said, causing Mikoto, Kuroko and Matsushima-sensei to turn to the opening entrance to the underground loading/unloading bay in surprise. "I mean, Little Miss Teleporter here ain't half as special as you Level 5s. You all get special treatment, but her? If the City comes after you guys and swings its full weight around, it's your little friends that pay the price. You'll just get to watch~"
"Dick move, Siscon Sargeant." Naru clicked her tongue.
"Eh? Nami-chi is being hurtful as usual!" The horribly dressed teenager whined, fake sobs escaping him.
Kuroko bravely moved to reply, probably to retort that she could take whatever the City threw at her, but Ruiko and Naru cut her off with a look.
"Trust me, Kuroko-chan, you can't." Ruiko said sternly. "The things the City can do… It doesn't bear thinking."
"Kuroko-chan, don't even try to be brave. You'd be lucky if they end you fast."
It was hard to admit it, but Mikoto had to agree with them. If Kuroko had been subjected to half the things they had learned about in recent months… The horrible things the Dark Side could do to people… Mikoto couldn't imagine her roommate surviving that.
Kuroko knew it too as she gulped and swallowed her tongue without responding.
"And I think it is time for me and Matsushima-sensei to take our leave," Adelise said, cutting into the tension. "Tsuchimikado-san, I believe you are here to pick us up?"
"Yup." The blonde Magician-Esper hybrid said with a nod. "The car is waiting outside. The Silver Star is expecting you. Something about wanting to lay down the ground rules to you personally?"
"Yes, the Superintendent did mention that." Adelise-san said with a nod before she turned to the Trinity and Kuroko. "It has been a pleasure ladies, but I must make a move. Till next time, adieu!"
With a curtsy, she turned and walked over to Tsuchimikado-san, a once more pale Matsushima-sensei trailing behind her leaving Mikoto and her friends to watch her go.
The sight made Mikoto's blood boil a little and she turned to Ruiko unhappily. "We need to talk."
"I expected as much," Ruiko nodded. "Let's head back to the 177th Branch Office."
"You couldn't have shown up a second later? So Naru could've at least given that witch a good punch?" Onee-sama accused Ruiko-san with a sour frown. From what Kuroko could see, she wasn't that angry, thankfully, but the fact that the chance to prevent the revival of Parasol had slipped from their fingers was deeply frustrating to her and she needed to vent.
"Do you remember what Parasol did?" Onee-sama demanded, her eyes dulling and her tone growing at once colder and more horror struck with each word. "How they murdered thousands of people in the Colony just for the sake of showcasing the bioweapons they'd created? What kind of abominations those bioweapons were? How they abused my DNA Map to make some of them? Did you forget LeBeau and how he used their tech to create his personal harem?"
"I remember," Ruiko-san said dully, closing her eyes and with a look of pain on her face.
"Then why!?" Onee-sama said, raising her voice. "Why did you stop Na-"
"Mikoto-senpai, sorry about this." Naru-san said, cutting in, before without any other warning she teleported in front of Onee-sama and slapped her hard enough to twist the [Railgun]'s head to the side and sink back into her seat.
For a moment everyone sat there stunned at what the Number 2 had done until Ruiko-san teleported out of her seat and next to Onee-sama, where she hastily proceeded to press a cold pack conjured via Dark Matter against the older Level 5's rapidly reddening cheek.
"Naru-chan, did you need to hit her so hard!?" Ruiko-san said, shooting their blonde friend a frown.
For her part, Naru-san just shrugged and teleported to take Ruiko-san's vacated seat. "Not really, but Senpai being all pretentious was grating."
"Yeah, I was." Onee-sama had the good grace to admit. "I was falling into my hatred of Parasol and pinning it all unfairly on Ruiko. Thanks for helping me snap out of it, Naru."
"Ah, Senpai's back to normal. I might have to do that more often~"
"Oi! That was a one time slap! Next time it'll be your bottom if you try that again!" Onee-sama snapped even as she gently took the cold pack from Ruiko-san and took over the task of pressing it against her bruised face. "Thanks, Ruiko."
"Oh! Kinky!" Naru-san replied with a smirk even as Ruiko-san just offered Onee-sama a smile and leaned back to give her space.
"Ugh, you are such a perv!" Onee-sama shot back at Naru-san.
Really, Naru-san just knew how to send Onee-sama into a tizzy. She didn't dispute that stepping in to stop Onee-sama before she said something she couldn't take back was necessary but did she have to be so violent about it!?
"That's not news," Kazari observed with a giggle.
"No, I suppose not." Onee-sama conceded. "Though rein it in, Naru. Be like Ruiko. We all know she gets up to all kinds of kinky BS with Accelerator but she doesn't go around flaunting it all over the place."
"Not any more," Kuroko couldn't help but correct. "Which honestly begs the question… Ruiko-san, what changed?"
"I'm an ojou-sama now and a real lady doesn't kiss and tell." Ruiko-san said with a smirk.
"Well, at least something good has come out of her recent obsession with being the perfect ojou-sama." Kuroko said with a sigh.
"A lot of things did, Kuroko-chan." Naru-san corrected, wagging a finger at her. "Her fashion sense has got loads better as a result for example."
"Her new dresses are really pretty." Kazari agreed, her eyes twinkling as she no doubt imagined Ruiko-san all dolled up and looking the perfect picture of an ojou-sama.
"I know what to get for my next present for Kazari at least." Ruiko-san said with a smile.
"Like you weren't already going to spoil her with a new fancy wardrobe." Naru-san countered with a roll of her eyes.
"She's got you there, Ruiko." Onee-sama said with the barest hint of an amused smile. "And I'm fine now guys, we can talk about things again."
"You sure, Senpai?" Ruiko asked Onee-sama worried.
"Yeah, if you aren't we can keep shooting the breeze a little longer if you need more time." Naru-san insisted. "Or get you some Calmnex."
"I'm sure," Onee-sama said with a determined nod of her head.
Kuroko exchanged looks with Kazari, Naru-san and Ruiko-san at this but they all ultimately nodded, deferring to Onee-sama's decision. If she said she was okay to continue then they'd trust her. If she had a panic attack or her anger got the better of her again or she otherwise began to react badly then they'll respond to it when it happens.
"Good! Then Senpai, let me just say that I shouldn't have to spell it out to you what would happen to all our friends if we end up enemies of the City, do I?" The blonde asked with a dramatic sigh. "I mean, I could but that would probably leave them with nightmares for the rest of their lives."
"Yeah, like I have nightmares about what happened in the Colony." Onee-sama said bitterly.
"Onee-sama…" Kuroko said as she looked at her beloved roommate worriedly. She'd seen some of those nightmares and they weren't pretty. They were so bad that the Teleporter wouldn't wish it on anyone else, not even her worst enemies.
"Mikoto-san, that's an unfair comparison." Kazari chided. "Naru-san was just using a figure of speech."
"Yeah, I know." Onee-sama conceded apologetically. "Sorry, Naru. You too, Ruiko, for unloading on you earlier."
"Apology accepted." "Don't mention it." The two younger Level 5s said, accepting Onee-sama's apology without fuss.
"About that," Kazari chimed in, causing everyone to turn to her. "About you getting angry with Ruiko-san I mean, Mikoto-san. Well, tangentially anyways. Based on the video of the fight I saw, you were, comparatively speaking, a lot more angry with her just now then you were when fighting Adelise-san. Why?"
Onee-sama thought about this for a long moment before frowning. "You know, I didn't actually notice that until you pointed it out, but you're right. And I guess it's because as we fought I associated her less and less with Parasol."
"Because she used magic?" Kuroko guessed.
Onee-sama nodded. "Parasol is all about biological monstrosities created by Science and while Adelise-san definitely meets the first part of that… The way she used magic… It just made it hard to see her as anything related to Science, you know. Instead, I just saw her increasingly as just another Magician."
"I get ya, Senpai." Naru-san nodded. "It's like there's a disconnect between what we know she is, both a product of Science and a Magician, and the real deal when you actually fight her where she's pretty much a pure Magician."
"A product of Science and a Magician? What does that even mean? What is Adelise-san anyway?" Kuroko couldn't help but comment, hand to her chin in thought.
"A boob stilling cheater of course." Naru-san said with conviction, only to get bonked to the head by Onee-sama.
"I keep telling you, you could use Bust Upper if you're that envious."
"Whose envious?!" The blonde denied with a hiss as her twintails whipped around in a frenzy courtesy of the wind her irritation had conjured.
Kuroko could empathize. As much as she approved of Onee-sama's new improved figure, especially because of the confidence boost it gave her, the Teleporter also couldn't help but be somewhat aggrieved at the very existence of Bust Upper. Something that could so easily pervert nature's course like that had no right to exist! And no! She wasn't saying that because she was suffering from breast envy over her comparatively tiny bust and was too proud to stoop to using artificial means, no matter how 'natural', to change her body. She was just angry on principle! Just don't ask her what that principle was…
"May we stay on topic, please?" Kuroko asked, weary of getting stuck on the topic of their breasts. Considering how that almost always devolved into an argument of some kind over Ruiko-san and Onee-sama's use of Bust Upper, even if it was never too heated, she would rather avoid it if possible.
Ruiko-san went to speak, but Kazari held her finger up to silent the brunette. "Nope! I didn't get to do much during this Incident so far, so it's my time to shine!"
The Number 3 looked amused and nodded, whilst Kuroko exchanged amused looks with Onee-sama and Naru-san at how easily Kazari could get her best friend to do what she wanted. Seriously, outside of Accelerator and her family, Kuroko imagined there was no one else who had as much influence over the [AIM Sovereign] than Kazari did.
"Thank you, Ruiko-san!" Kazari said with a brilliant smile, oblivious to just how much of a hold she had over one of the most powerful persons in the City. "So according to what I've been able to dig up, Adelise-san was originally an experiment created by Parasol some time before the Colony Incident. She was the prototype for a magic using bioweapon, though considering her inhuman appearance she was still just a proof of concept more than anything else."
"Tch! A bioweapon capable of using magic? Making something like that would've crossed the line. Those Parasol idiots are just lucky they destroyed themselves before people found out about it or they'd have everyone from both the Science and Magic sides after them for breaking the taboo on crossing the streams." Naru-san reasoned. "Though if she is a mere experimental prototype, how did she end up taking over what's left of Parasol?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems Adelise-san has been working on it since the Colony Incident."
"But what could this artificial woman even give to the Superintendent to gain the impunity to operate in the City like she has?" Kuroko couldn't help but ask. Truly, only Naru-san seemed to have any idea how the mysterious Superintendent worked. And from what she understood he felt rather random at times.
Kazari frowned, pondering deeply. "I'm not sure, and frankly I don't really want to know that."
Ruiko-san sighed and added some information she no doubt managed to dig up. "That's a good idea most of the time but in this case, it's rather innocuous. She gave him Parasol's data on what they called the 'Methuselah Project'. Essentially, their research on biological immortality."
"Ah! Then no wonder that boob monster got the okay so fast." Naru-san nodded, arms crossed with a look of perfect understanding on her face. "Immortality is one of the things the Superintendent finds interesting. Whelp, she's green lit for now."
"So wait, we can't do anything about Adelise-san and her revived Parasol then?" Onee-sama asked as she nibbled her bottom lips. Ah, if it wasn't such a bad habit to start, Kuroko would have found it sexy!
"No, not really." Ruiko-san frowned thoughtfully. "We were able to target her before now because as an outsider, her activities were illegal. But now that the Superintendent has granted her permission to act within the City, we can't touch her without being at fault. But if she causes another Incident on the other hand…"
At that, a wicked smile spread across Naru-san's face, one that promised many, many dark things even as she finished the sentence that her bestie had left hanging. "...then they're fair game."
"And then we'll crush them like the cockroaches they are." Onee-sama said, punctuating her oath by punching a fist into her waiting palm.
"Ah, that's good." Kuroko agreed with them, but still… She couldn't help but worry that Onee-sama was being a little too bloodthirsty about this.
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And so, Parasol has been given a second life, but how long will it stay that way?! Will Adelise mess up and be squished? Or will she become a respectable Dark Sider? We will see! Still, overall I hope you enjoyed it. It was a fun fight to make even if it ended up more as a stalemate since it didn't get overly serious for both sides.
Nameless: Since we got a bit confused by this point at times whilst writing, we'll explain it here in case our readers follow in our footsteps. Adelise isn't strictly speaking reviving Parasol. She's starting a company that is essentially a spiritual successor and using former Parasol assets to do so. To borrow from the Resident Evil franchise that inspired this whole subplot, Adelise's company is TRICELL to Parasol's Umbrella.
Though I will say, our running gag with Bust Upper continues to tickle our funny bones. Cannot get enough of it.
Nameless: It totally does. The best part, in my opinion at least, is that it totally fits the dynamic of the quintet's relationship. What do I mean? Well, to explain that I'll need to explain the joke and spoil it, so if you want to avoid that, stop reading now… Okay, if you're still reading I imagine you don't care so here goes… As E4E described it, at one point all five of them had solidarity in having relatively meager/normal busts but thanks to Bust Upper that changed. Now, even if it's not a deal breaker, there is some strain to the friendship that comes from two of them breaking with the mold. Strain that comes from resentment, even if subconscious, by Naru, Kuroko and Kazari at the betrayal. And of course the jealousy. Can't forget the jealousy. ;) And before anyone asks, I'm explaining it here instead of in-story because the girls realistically don't get the reasons behind their feelings. They just know they aren't too happy with Ruiko and Mikoto using Bust Upper. This makes explaining it in the story hard and considering it's a joke… Well, we're not going to put too much effort into creating a scenario in-story to allow us to explain. Plus jokes are almost always ruined if you explain it.
And the joke, much like the natural busts, must be preserved! XD
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!