Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index
The Trinity of Tokiwadai
Chapter Ninety: World War Three - Demons in the City
Whilst Naru and Ruiko were both off in Russia and the world descended into the chaos of a conflict that the media was already dubbing as World War 3, Mikoto found herself stuck in Academy City and waiting in the Conference Room in the Maniple base as representatives of various Dark Side groups arrived for a briefing on a joint operation that had been hoisted on them by the Board of Directors.
As the Trinity's subordinate organizations, with her involvement, Big Spider and Maniple were naturally counted amongst the forces seconded to this operation as well. Just as naturally, they were represented by their leaders, Kurozuma-san and Ylva-san. And since this was the latter's base and the former shared it, they were the first there, having beaten even Mikoto on that front.
The next to arrive had been Kazari-san, who had arrived with Mikoto, who was there as her drone army was being tapped for this operation too. Which, like the involvement of the Trinity's subordinate organization, was to be expected. The [Goalkeeper] was the Trinity's close friend after all and it was only natural for her to assist them. That Kazari-san seemed to see doing so as a way to make up for her inability to go searching for Ruiko when she dearly wanted to had certainly helped in convincing her to participate. Not that much help was needed for that in the first place.
This op wasn't just a purely in-house affair though as other Dark Side forces were ordered to support them too. Of them, Claes Johansson, the leader of the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency and their representative today, had arrived a few minutes after Mikoto and Kazari-san had. Which left only the representative for the freelance Dark Siders missing.
And speak of the Devil. Mikoto thought with amusement as Naru's acquaintance, Ishiwata Chikage, hurried into the room.
"Sorry! I'm not late, am I? I got a little lost driving here." The blue eyed blonde twenty something said as she took a seat and received a series of negative replies in response. She just brushed them aside however and just continued to ramble. "But man! First-rate Dark Side outfits have access to really bullshit resources! You guys even have your own bloody base! With its own conference room no less!"
"Would you rather that the top-tier in our business operate out of some under equipped facility?" Kurozuma-san retorted, shooting the Level 3 an unimpressed look.
"No, of course not." Ishiwata-san refuted with a chuckle. "If that were the case, then solos like me and lower tier outfits would have to operate with nothing at all and that would just suck!"
"If that's the case, Ishiwata-san, what are you complaining about?" Mikoto asked, annoyed with the woman.
"Oh, I'm not complaining." Ishiwata-san said with a smile and a shake of her head. "I'm just making an observation is all~!"
Kurozuma-san chuckled at this and Mikoto rolled her eyes.
Science! How in the world does Naru get along with this woman? Then again… Naru has a teasing personality too, so maybe they get along because they are similar in that way?
Mikoto shot Kazari-san a questioning look but her hacker friend just shrugged.
I guess she's as surprised as I am. Mikoto concluded just as Ylva-san coughed loudly to catch everyone's attention.
As they all turned towards her, Johansson-san, who was seated next to the sniper, spoke up. "We should stop joking around. We are here for something serious, so let's take it seriously."
Ishiwata-san just smirked at the reprimand. "Johansson-san, did you seriously just ask us to be serious?"
The joke had Kazari-san in giggles, made Kurozuma-san groan, Mikoto facepalm, and prompted Johansson-san to shoot the teasing blonde with an unimpressed deadpan look. For her part, Ylva-san just sighed and tried to get things back on track.
"It's almost time for the briefing to start." She reminded them.
As if on cue, the door to the Conference Room slid open and Oyafune-sama walked in. And much to Mikoto's surprise, Ishiwata-san immediately turned serious with the smile on her face vanishing and replaced by a look of disciplined attention.
"Good morning, everyone. Thank you for coming." The Director greeted the room as her eyes panned over its occupants. "Before I begin, might I check if all of you know why you are here?"
At the question, Kazari-san raised her hand like she was in class and an amused Oyafune-sama gestured towards the Judgement agent. "Go ahead, Uiharu-chan."
"We're here because we and the organizations we represent, if any, have all been tasked by the Board of Directors to work together to defend Academy City against attacks whilst World War 3 continues to rage."
Oyafune nodded. "With the majority of the City's military forces deployed overseas fighting the war at the moment, I am afraid that we need your help, ladies and gentleman, to keep the City secure against threats in these turbulent times."
"Do we have credible intel of an upcoming attack?" Johansson-san asked probingly as she leaned forward in a clear demonstration of her interest in the matter.
Oyafune-sama shook her head before suddenly turning to Mikoto meaningfully. The [Railgun] was startled for a moment by the unexpected prompt but she quickly gathered her wits and clearing her throat, replied. "According to our analysts, there is enough chatter to suggest one but unfortunately nothing specific."
"These analysts, they are part of the intel department created by Saten-sama?"
"Yeah. Ruiko hired all of them herself." Mikoto confirmed. "She might not be around to lead and supplement their work at the moment, but I'm confident in their ability."
"I can vouch for their ability too." Kazari-san added.
"As do I," Oyafune-sama added. "Their findings have also been corroborated by independent analysis on the part of my own intelligence analysts and those of my fellow Directors as well."
"It's good then." Ishiwata-san said with confidence even as Johansson-san nodded in agreement.
"Then everyone's on the same page." Kurozuma-san noted.
"Indeed." Ylva-san said as she looked at Oyafune-sama expectantly. "Are there any specifics on how we should go about protecting the City?"
"Since we have no specific, actionable intelligence, we will unfortunately have to take a defensive stance." The elderly woman said, sounding resigned.
"And what would that entail?"
"That means, Johansson-san, that for now, the Board would like for your forces and those of everyone here to be on call to react to any attacks 24/7. Something that you can best accomplish by organizing yourselves into shifts."
Ishiwata-san hummed thoughtfully for a moment before speaking up. "So the reason we are gathered here is to decide which shifts we are taking?"
"Yes," Oyafune-sama confirmed. "Is that alright?"
The Dark Siders exchanged looks before collectively turning back to face the Director and nodding.
"Thank you all." The matronly woman said as she offered them a grateful bow.
"No need for that, Oyafune-sama." Kurozuma-san assured her as he shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. "We're just doing our jobs."
"Kurozuma-san is right, Oyafune-sama." Kazari-san said, offering the Director a sweet, comforting smile, before she turned to address the rest of the room. "So, un, everyone, are you okay with letting me pick my shifts first? I need to work them around my Judgment shifts."
Mikoto sighed in exasperation at her overly responsible friend. Seriously! Here she was being tasked with playing a key role in the City's defense and she was still thinking about fulfilling her, comparatively far less important, responsibilities as a Judgment agent!?
"Sure, Uiharu-chan. Go ahead and go first." A smiling Ishiwata-san offered. "I don't think anyone has objections."
A chorus of negatives followed that observation.
"Thank you, everyone." Kazari-san said honestly and with a grateful smile before she turned to Oyafune-sama expectantly.
Smiling at Mikoto's friend, the Director toggled some commands at the computer station at the head of the Conference Room and soon brought an image of a schedule on the smartboard that dominated a whole wall of the room. Thus, with Kazari-san taking the lead, the group of Dark Siders proceeded to select their shifts for being on call to defend the City.
The very afternoon after the meeting to settle their shifts, Mikoto found herself on-call with the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency and to facilitate their easy deployment should the need arise, she had decided to hang out with the Agency team that she was supporting. Thus here she was seated at a coffee table in a lounge in the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency building, a surprisingly normal if well appointed Child Error facility that belied its nature as the headquarters of a major Dark Side outfit. Seated across from her was the leader of the Agency, Claes Johansson, as they nursed cups of hot chocolate and watched four of the latter's sisters that were also part of their team as they played Mario Kart on the lounge's game console.
She was set up to be on the same shift with the Agency team because it had been decided that she would team up with whoever was on shift so she could provide heavy firepower should the need arise. It meant she was on more shifts than anyone and on-call all the time, but as the lone Level 5 among the defense force it was unavoidable.
"You know, Johansson-san." Mikoto said as she leaned over the coffee table and whispered to the teenage Caucasian girl with fair skin and long, straight, blue-black hair and purple eyes. "I'm honestly surprised how normal you and your sisters are. From what I know about Giarraputo cyborgs like you, namely how you all have pretty dark pasts, I expected you to, you dunno, be more moody?"
In response, Johansson-san laughed before she replied. "What did you expect? If we dwelled on our pasts, we would've gone mad."
Without so much as looking away from her game, Hilshire-san, whose enhanced hearing must have allowed her to pick up Mikoto's whispers, piped up. "Plus most of us can't even remember our so-called dark past anyway. Take myself for example, I know from my file that I was the victim of a snuff film that was saved when the Agency raided the Dark Side studio where it was being made. But thankfully, I remember none of that experience."
Mikoto was aghast at hearing the story that the young teenage girl with tanned skin, long blond hair that she wore in two high pigtails and light blue eyes had just told her. She had not known the exact details about any of the Giarraputo cyborgs' past outside of it being dark. Ruiko had flagged them as being something she should not read unless absolutely necessary and she had heeded her friend's warning. Before she could act on her terrified shock, Ogino-san, who like Hilshire-san did not look away from her game, spoke up.
"Triela isn't the only one of us with a past like that, you know?" The young girl with fair skin with short, black hair dressed in a very feminine dress said. "I did too. In my case, I was the only surviving member of a brutal home invasion that also saw me viciously gang raped before being left for dead. I was sent to the City for medical treatment under the auspices of the Agency and taken into their 'care'. And I definitely do not want to remember my pre-Agency experience!"
Mikoto could only gape in horrified disbelief, again unable to reply before someone else spoke up. This time she was beaten to the punch by Matsumura-san, who like her sisters before her joined the conversation without interrupting her game.
"My past was not quite as bad but it was still pretty bad." The young girl dressed in a long-sleeve shirt with pants said, causing Mikoto to turn to the pale skinned girl with long, straight, dark hair, with box-cut bangs that framed her face, dark gray eyes, and a small ribbon headband just above her bangs. "I was almost killed in a hit-and-run accident staged by my father to collect the life insurance he had on me. I was sent to the City for medical treatment under the auspices of the Agency and taken into their 'care'. Sadly, unlike my sisters I remember my life before my conversion into a cyborg, something that I honestly wish was not the case. Though, I suppose recalling my past so that I can properly hate my father and know to be rightfully distrustful of men in general is a good thing."
As if they were taking turns, it was Seki-san's time to join the conversation. Though only after she had received a gentle nudge from Ogino-san. Though she did so, not by adding to the recitation of horror stories but by instead addressing Matsumura-san.
"You don't hate men as much as that, Angelica!" Seki-san, a petite young girl with a pale complexion, black hair which she wore in a hime-style cut that exposed her ears and similarly black eyes, said, removing one hand from her game controller to point at her sister.
Matsumura-san scoffed. "I don't hate men, I just distrust them. There is a difference."
Rico hummed thoughtfully. "Okay, I guess you're right there. I'm pretty manly and you manage to get along with me well enough."
In response, Matsumura-san rolled her eyes. "Just because you favor masculine clothing and are rather androgynous, that doesn't make you manly, Rico."
"Yeah, and as your roommate, I can vouch for the fact that you're definitely a girl."
"What do you mean by that, Ogino-san?" Mikoto asked.
Were Ogino-san and Seki-san lovers or something!?
"I can guess what you're thinking, Misaka-sama, and no, Rico and Henrietta are not lovers." Johansson-san said with an amused smirk. "Etta is just referring to the fact that Rico has the most extensive collection of soft toys in the whole Agency."
Mikoto blinked in surprise at this and turned towards the frankly very boyish cyborg and received a sheepish nod from the blushing girl.
That honestly surprised me. I guess I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, huh? Mikoto thought as she turned to look at Johansson-san appraisingly. On another note, how did Johansson-san figure out what I was thinking?
Mikoto was about to ask but before she could, Hilshire-san rounded on her boyish sister. "Rico, we all shared our pasts. You should too."
"Claes didn't!" Seki-san retorted without missing a beat.
"But I would be happy to." Johansson-san said with a smile as she turned to Mikoto. "You see, Misaka-sama, how I ended up here at the Agency is pretty similar to Angelica. I had shitty parents too. In my case, they abandoned me in Academy City after a traffic accident left me paraplegic and my City appointed caretaker handed me over to the Agency."
"Claes~! Did you have to tell her? Now I'm going to have to too!" Seki-san whined.
"Everyone else did." Ogino-san reminded her sister.
"You don't have to if you don't want to, Seki-san." Mikoto offered soothingly.
"It's not that she doesn't want to, Misaka-sama." Matsumura-san said whilst shooting her recalcitrant sister a glare. "It's just that she's lazy. Rico's past isn't all that bad really."
Hilshire-san nodded in agreement even as Ogino-san nudged her roommate.
"You guys are meanies." Seki-san said childishly as she pouted, but nevertheless obeyed her sisters' demands. "So, Misaka-sama, my past is like this: I was born with major birth defects that left me bedridden since birth and abandoned in a hospital. I was eventually sent to the City for medical treatment under the auspices of the Agency and taken into their 'care'. That's it."
"Was that so hard to say, Rico?" Johansson-san asked, offering her sister a teasing smile.
"No," Seki-san admitted with a sigh, before forcibly turning away from them to focus all her attention on the Mario Kart game she was playing with her sisters.
Mikoto frowned at this and turned to the lead cyborg. "Johansson-san, why did you just dump all that information on me?"
The other girl just smiled in a way that reminded Mikoto of Ruiko whenever one of her sneaky plans came together or Naru when her pranks or teasing hit their mark. It brought a tinge of loneliness and worry for her teammates to her heart, but the [Railgun] shoved the feeling aside as she listened to Johansson-san's reply.
"We are working together, aren't we? Taking that into account, letting you know us better is a good idea. If nothing else, it helps to build trust between us."
Mikoto frowned at the sneaky tactic but couldn't help but nod. She could see Johansson-san's logic.
"In the interest of building trust like you say, can I be frank with you, Johansson-san?"
"Of course. What do you want to say?"
"Honestly? I find it disgusting that Child Errors with terminal conditions like you and your sisters were converted into combat cyborgs as the price for saving your lives. If cyborg conversion could save you, I am sure it could be carried out without having to turn you into killers."
"Is that all you have to say, Misaka-sama?" Johansson-san said, nonplussed by Mikoto's scathing critique of her very existence and that of her sisters. She even looked amused by it!
Mikoto frowned, unable to understand Johansson-san's reaction at all, before adding. "No. I'm also confused by how you girls seem to be totally okay with your lot in life."
"I'd, all of us, would have died if the Agency didn't save us." Johansson-san told her seriously. "They were the only ones who cared. I didn't come to the City as an orphan, but by the time I was in hospital after the accident, I was. By that point the only people who remotely cared for me were those in the Agency."
"But they turned you into-"
"An assassin. Yes, they did." Johansson-san agreed, cutting Mikoto off in the process. "But considering the other option was a slow lingering death, I'd take this life over it. Thank you very much."
"But some of your sisters lost their whole memory from be-"
"And we're glad for it," Ogino-san cut in harshly. "Weren't you listening when we told you our stories, Mikaka-sama!? I was the victim of a home invasion that saw my family killed before my eyes and myself gang raped. Triela was a victim of a snuff film. That's just the two of us. All of us have tragic memories we're happy to have forgotten."
Mikoto quailed at both the petite cyborg's tone and words, unable to think of anything to counter the girls' arguments. Thus an uneasy silence settled over the lounge, though it was only really uneasy for Mikoto as the Giarraputo girls just carried on as if nothing happened at all. Something that frankly just made Mikoto even more uncomfortable.
It was thus almost a relief when all their phones suddenly burst to life with the sound of an alarm indicating an attack.
It's time for action! I can think about the right and wrong of what was done to these guys another time. Right now, it's time to kick some butt!
Mikoto's shoes pounded on the ground as she and the Agency team rushed to the group's personal transport vehicle. It looked like what most Dark Side outfits used, a fairly inconspicuous but no doubt armored RV. And once she took a seat and buckled in, she glanced at the utilitarian interior, the contrast with the overly luxurious interior of Naru's transports when she first met, causing her heart to tighten at the fact that she couldn't tease Naru until she got back.
Shaking her head to dismiss the distracting thought, Mikoto turned to the Agency team leader and asked, "What's the cause of the alarm?"
Johansson-san quickly toggled the smartboard on one end of the personnel component even as, almost in tandem with her actions, the transport began to move off. As it turned on, it began showing them multiple feeds from across the City. Feeds that showed various people working alongside what looked like monsters to attack things at random.
"It seems the City is under attack by a cult of Demon Tamers." Johansson-san said with just a hint of annoyance in her tone.
Of all the things to run into! Demon Tamers? Ugh, where's Naru when you need her. Oh yeah… Mikoto bemoaned since dealing with the Magic Side was far more the Usagi's wheelhouse. That baka-blonde didn't even tell her all that much about going up against Magicians and stuff! Mikoto was practically going in blind!
"Nah! I don't need her. She'd just beat them up. Ugh! That meathead." Mikoto huffed in annoyance. And no, it was not a hypocritical statement, no matter what anyone said!
Johansson-san glanced at her, amusement dancing in her eyes as she began to speak.
"According to the intel," The leader continued, only for Mikoto to interrupt her.
"Wait, when did you even get a chance to receive intel? Isn't this happening in real time?"
Hilshire-san sighed, "Look, Misaka-sama, it's thanks to Claes' Esper ability, Quantum Entangler. It allows her to maintain data connections with appropriately tuned devices at all times. And of course all of us Agency cyborgs have such devices installed as part of our cybernetics. So while she was chilling with us in the lounge and with us here in the transport, she is still linked to our sisters that are monitoring the situation."
Mikoto turned to look at Johansson-san in surprise and received a nod in confirmation.
"Wow!" Mikoto said, genuinely impressed. "Your ability to multitask reminds me of Ruiko."
"Thank you for the compliment." Johansson-san said with a pleased smile. "Now, as I was saying, it seems the Demon Tamers have tamed various yōkai from Japanese folklore and demons from other mythos, and have activated multiple sleeper cells in the City."
"And how did they get into the City in the first place?"
"They were deep, deep undercover." Johansson-san said with a shrug. "Considering they are Magicians, some magic is probably involved too. However they got in, they have deeply infiltrated all segments of the City's society. Most of them are researchers but some of them are even Espers."
"Espers!?" Mikoto gasped. "How? Based on what I know about magic, using it isn't a good idea for Espers."
"Agreed. It's often fatal." Johansson-san nodded. "From what we can tell, the Esper Demon Tamers are using the powerful regeneration or healing that their tamed Demons can grant to fix the damage they receive from using their magic."
Ogino-san wrinkled her nose at that. "It's just gross that these guys are using Demons of all things. I'm just glad we have our guns so we don't have to get too close to them."
Matsumura-san snorted, "At least we aren't in a hentai."
All the girls nodded at this.
Mikoto, meanwhile, could only lament that- This is my life now.
Shaking her head to dismiss that depressing thought, Mikoto addressed Johansson-san. "Was the City really caught off guard by these sleeper agents?"
"Not quite." The leader of the combat cyborgs admitted with a sigh and a shake of her head. "The City had known about a good number of them ahead of time but refrained from removing them under the idea that a spy known is a spy neutralized."
Seki-san snorted. "So, another case of the City being happy to ignore things until shit hit the fan?"
Ogino-san shook her head in exasperation as she added, "Yeah that's true, but I'm more interested to know if the Esper Demon Tamers have any advantages we need to be aware of?"
Johansson-san nodded, gesturing to the smartboard which quickly zoomed in on to a specific video that showed one of the Esper Demon Tamers who was using what looked like Pyrokinesis and who was paired up with a pixie which alternated between healing her master and throwing around what looked like bursts of kinetic force and lightning, even as his ears bled or he coughed up blood.
"Those two really just had to go halfway across the world at a time like this." Mikoto clicked her tongue as she watched the feed, pissed she had to be saddled with the homefront. She however, quickly shook her head and turned her focus back on the matter at hand. "So where are we going? To beat up that Esper Demon Tamer?"
Johansson-san nodded again, "There are likely more sleepers waiting for a more opportune time to strike, but for now we will have to focus on the current attackers. We can hunt down the remaining cells later."
"Right, so who else is being mobilized?" Mikoto asked, waving her hand at the smartboard. "I doubt it's just going to be our little team up that can handle all these jerks at once, right?"
Johansson-san quirked her lip, "Yes, while we've been talking I've already had the rest of the Agency's teams mobilized. They will be assisting us with taking out the other attackers as our group will be aiming for the most dangerous ones."
"Gotcha," Mikoto said with a nod. "So where exactly are we go-"
Before she could finish her sentence however, the smartboard began beeping to indicate an incoming call.
"Who would be calling us now?" Hilshire-san asked with a suspicious frown.
"Oh, I have a fairly good idea who it is." Johansson-san said with a smirk as she accepted the call.
"Greetings, ladies of the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency, Misaka-sama." The familiar helmeted face of Zero-san, leader of the Black Knights, appeared on the screen as the video call connected and he offered them a dramatic bow, complete with a sweep of his cape.
His costume is seriously over the top! I really wonder how Shirley-san can stand him. Mikoto thought with a shake of her head as she thought of how exasperated the man's second-in-command and wife/fiancée must feel at his antics.
Where Mikoto felt exasperation, Johansson-san was instead amused if the smirk she wore as she returned the greeting with a nod was any indication. "We greatly appreciate your Black Knights' support during this current crisis, Zero-dono."
Zero-san chuckled. "Couldn't you have at least let me make the offer first, Johansson-san?"
"Was there a need to do so, Zero-dono?" Johansson-san retorted with a shrug. "We are pressed for time. Taking that into account, will your bucketheadedness be taking charge?"
Mikoto and Johansson-san's sisters began to chuckle at the Agency leader's joke which was more than could be said for Zero-san as he seemed to ignore it entirely.
"I would gladly do so. However, shouldn't you be the one to take the job instead?"
"What makes you think so?" Johansson-san asked with an arched eyebrow.
"Well, you have proved your worth by discreetly ousting your handlers in the Agency and assuming control of the entire organization, did you not, Johansson-san?" Zero-san offered. "And not only that, even when threatened with termination of yourself and your fellow cyborgs by the City's Directors if you fail to keep up the Agency's Dark Side operations, you've done your best to make it a force of good by continuing to recruit new girls who would otherwise die or live terrible bedridden lives forgotten by the world? Having achieved a feat like that, you have certainly demonstrated your leadership ability, no?"
"What makes you think I am in charge of the Agency?" Johansson-san asked with a growl.
Zero-san just shot her a blank look, somehow managing it even with that helmet of his. Considering his mask was almost featureless, it very effectively conveyed how unimpressed he was.
"Oh, don't be too upset, Claes." Matsumura-san piped up. "As much as you try to hide and deny it, it's pretty much an open secret you're in charge of the Agency."
"Angelica is right, you know that right, Claes?" Hilshire-san added with an agreeing nod like she had known Johansson-san's secret all along even as Ogino-san nodded along, a look of mild surprise on her face. It seemed she at least hadn't figured things out. And the reaction of the last of the Agency cyborgs there, Seki-san? Well, the boyish girl just looked nonplussed by the whole affair.
As for Mikoto's own part, she already knew this. It was in Ruiko's initial briefing about the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency.
"Fine~! So I am the Agency's leader." Johansson-san confessed with a huff of annoyance. "But even if that's the case, what I've achieved is nothing. I am only able to help girls."
"I would hardly take such a pessimistic view of things." Zero-san countered. "You are limited to girls only because as your fellow first generation cyborgs discovered, male cyborgs and even older women tended towards developing megalomania due to the conversion."
"Be that as it may be, my and the Agency's accomplishments pale in comparison to your building your own organization from scratch, no?"
"Hardly." Zero-san said, waving that response aside in an overly theatrical manner. "Subverting and repurposing a pre-existing organization like you did is more impressive in my opinion."
"Opinions are subjective." Johansson-san retorted. "If that's your argument then I can just cite my opinion that you are the superior tactician. We might often be compared as equals in that regard, but I freely admit that you're superior. Considering that we are about to head into battle, I would think the superior tactician should lead us, no?"
"You are thoroughly against leading us aren't you?" Zero-san noted with a sigh and Johansson-san nodded. "If that is the case, then I'll have to accept. However, I would like to say that you'd have been just as good as our leader, Johansson-san."
"Hey! Is no one even going to consider me for leader?" Mikoto asked with a pout.
"Suck it up, Misaka-sama." Johansson-san said with a roll of her eyes. "You're not a tactician or strategist and that's what we need right now."
Instead of being assuaged, Mikoto's pout merely deepened. "What about Ylva-san or Kurozuma-san then?"
"Neither of them are on duty, Misaka-sama." Zero-san pointed out. "And, more importantly, do you think that they would prefer to be in charge?"
"No…" Mikoto admitted. She knew the leaders of Maniple and Big Spider well enough to know that they would probably defer to someone else, they could take charge if they needed to, but they tended to prefer someone else take charge in major operations like this.
"So are we agreed on Zero-dono being our strategos?" Johansson-san asked, receiving nods from Mikoto and Zero-san. "Then, Zero-dono, what should we do next?"
"First of all, your team should continue to head over to deal with that Pyrokinetic and his pixie for now. In the meantime, I will mobilize all friendly forces not on duty and reorganize our teams to handle the attacks. There are more of them than our initial planning accounted for. At the same time, Misaka-sama, as previously agreed in the discussions that Oyafune-sama organized, you will act as our heaviest gun, rotating where you're needed as a quick response unit."
"I'm good with that." Mikoto said with a nod. "But you're mobilizing everyone?"
"Yes," Zero-san confirmed. "The Agency alone might have the resources to handle this bout of attacks but there is no telling when the other sleeper cells biding their time will choose to strike. There is every chance that they are waiting for the Agency to be fully engaged and thus be unable to redeploy before they choose to launch their own attacks."
"Zero-dono is right." Johansson-san said, nodding in agreement. "I had considered that as a possibility but had worried that mobilizing our forces might tip them off and push them to act all at once, overwhelming us."
"I share that concern. However, it would be better to have all their forces ready to act and adapt to situations based on that then be caught flat footed by still trying to mobilize whilst the enemy is already on the attack."
Mikoto nodded in agreement with that reasoning however Johansson-san in contrast frowned. "I disagree. I think the risk of triggering the enemy into taking action in a way that we cannot deal with is too great. However, as per our agreement for you to be our leader, I will defer to your judgment."
"Thank you, Johansson-san." Zero said with a grateful nod. "You're almost at the site of the Pyrokinetic and the pixie's attack, so leave coordinating our overall response to me for now and focus on the fight ahead."
Johansson-san nodded and exchanged a look with Mikoto and the sisters on her team, receiving nods from all of them.
It's time to rumble! Mikoto thought to herself, taking a page from Naru's book as she psyched herself up for the upcoming fight. She missed her little hyper Kohai.
The fight against the Pyrokinetic and his tamed pixie had been surprisingly easy. The duo had both gone down after being struck by a simple lightning bolt Mikoto had called down from the sky and the [Railgun] left it to Johansson-san and her sisters to clean up the admittedly large number of other thankfully non-Esper Demon Tamers involved in that particular attack. They generally had imps, of various different types, as their familiars and despite the elemental attacks they tossed around, they and their masters were easily taken down by the experienced combat cyborgs. Mikoto had barely needed to help them at all and she guessed that the only reason Johansson-san and Zero-san had even bothered to have her help with them was the sheer number of them involved in the attack, it seemed the sleeper cell in question had been operating under the guise of a Skill-Out gang that numbered in the dozens.
Thus she had been at the lab where said fake Skill-Out gang had been rampaging for a mere twenty minutes before a Black Knights transport had come to pick her up to take her to the next fight where her help was needed. Which was why she now found herself seated in the personnel compartment of the aforementioned transport with Alice-san, Nishikigi-san and Inoue-san as they made their way to the Experimental Airport in School District 23 to fend off the latest Demon Tamer attack, and almost wishing she was still teamed up with the Agency girls instead.
Sadly, Johansson-san and her sisters were still mopping up the last of the fake Skill-Outs and Zero-san had said his elite team needed her help. The ride since she had got on though was thoroughly uncomfortable. Oh, Nishikigi-san and Inoue-san were cordial enough when they greeted her but Alice-san was, for whatever reason, tense like a spring and the couple was busy trying to soothe their teammate and had no time to entertain Mikoto.
"Alice-chi! Seriously, relax. Zero-sama has things under control." Nishikigi-san assured her twintailed fellow blonde. "Don't you trust him?"
"With my life!" Alice-san shot back immediately. "But-"
"Not with Nunnally-sama's?" Inoue-san asked knowingly.
"What's this about Nunnally-san?" Mikoto cut in to ask.
Alice-san shot her a glare at the question before looking away from her to glare at the far wall from her seat instead as she began biting the nail of her right thumb in agitation. Nishikigi-san sighed at her teammate's response and continued to try to soothe Alice-san in hushed whispers.
In the meantime, Inoue-san turned to Mikoto and explained the situation. "One of the Demon Tamers' attacks is in School District 13 and only a stone's throw away from the daycare where Nunnally-sama works."
Mikoto stiffened at that. The daycare where Nunnally-san worked was where Janie-chan and Febrie-chan attended!
"Do not worry, Misaka-sama." Inoue-san reassured her. "Zero-sama has deployed Shirley-sama and a large contingent of our forces to handle the situation. He also has Maniple on call to provide further support if need be."
Mikoto breathed a sigh of relief. "If there is an attack in School District 13 that's threatening his sister and the preschools and kindergartens there, why is this attack on the airport more important?"
Surprising her, Alice-san was the one who answered her question. "It's because the airport houses the drone interceptors that are a key part of the City's air defenses. If they get taken out, our enemies in World War 3 like the Russians could launch a bombing run on the City."
"The City has other air defenses, doesn't it?" Mikoto said with a frown. "Besides, wouldn't the Russians have to get through Japanese airspace to get to us?"
"Yeah, the City does have other air defenses. But all of them are under attack by the Tamers right now. The airport is just the one which is most likely to fall." Alice-san explained. "Besides, there is intel to suggest that the Russians have an experimental submarine aircraft carrier lurking in the Sea of Japan and well within strike range."
"The Russians have a submarine aircraft carrier!?"
"Why not?" Inoue-san said with a shrug. "The City might have a good handle on its technology but it's not a perfect grasp. Plenty of tech have slipped out and besides-"
"Other powers like the Russians haven't been sitting idle either." Nishikigi-san continued. "They've been working their butts off to narrow the tech advantage the City has. The Russians, for example, have been working especially hard to fix their notoriously lackluster naval tech and by what I've read about their efforts, they've been wildly successful."
"As for the Japanese, they might try to contest the Russians if they send out a bombing run but if what the intel says about the aircraft complement on that sub carrier is even vaguely accurate, they have nothing that can stop it if it's deployed against the City. Their pilots would be shot out of the sky by the Russian jets and that's even if they could detect them." Alice-san said dispassionately. "Russian aviation tech has improved immensely in recent years too."
Mikoto just nodded. She didn't have a head for things like this. This was more Ruiko's wheelhouse than hers. All she needed to know was that if she failed to stop these Tamers at the airport then the Russians had a good chance to bomb the City and that was good enough of a reason for her to go fight them.
Since that had already been communicated and her resolve stoked, she took the time to look out of one of the transport's windows instead and admired how the dipping sun was acting as a backdrop and painting everything in pastel oranges and pinks. The pretty sight was in stark contrast to how the City was still going to shit.
"What's the plan when we get to the airport?" Mikoto asked. "Go after the Magician or demons? Both seemed to work fine for me the last time I tangled with them, though some of the hardier demons-" At this Mikoto thought back to some of the earth element imps that some of the Skill-Out Tamers had used and which had taken obscene amounts of the Agency girls' bullets to take down. "-can be pretty tough to put down."
"I say that we just act like we're in a JRPG!" Nishikigi-san said enthusiastically. "Go for the squishy caster and we won't have to see the gross monsters anymore."
"It may not be that easy, Chisato." Inoue-san pointed out. "Even if we knock the caster unconscious the demons could linger."
"We should just kill the Tamers." Alice-san said with a dismissive shrug. "They are a threat to the City and should be dealt with as such."
"Alice-chi~! We don't need to do that!" Nishikigi-san chided. "Everyone deserves a second chance."
"What? You know that I don't subscribe to your bleeding heart, second chance philosophy, Chisato." Alice-san shot back defiantly.
Nishikigi-san pouted but Alice-san was unmoved.
Deciding that she should throw her own two cents into the ring just to defuse the rising tension if nothing else, Mikoto spoke up. "On my part, I say we take out the Tamers first. Even kill them if necessary. If any of the demons linger then leave them to me and I'll vaporize them."
Alice grunted at her words, seemingly unwilling to thank her despite Mikoto agreeing with her.
The [Railgun] rolled her eyes at the girl's stubbornness but did not chide her for it instead choosing to glance back out the nearby window. As she did, she saw the tarmac of the Experimental Airport in School District 23 backlit by the setting sun. It was honestly a beautiful sight but that beauty was marred by the sight of swarms of winged monsters rampaging through the place, attacking staff and defenders whilst destroying equipment that was no doubt worth millions of Yen.
"Looks like we've arrived at our destination, ladies." Mikoto reported as she tried to identify the various demons she was about to fight.
Mikoto could spot humanoids with feathered wings for arms that could only be harpies and dragons- Drakes? No, they had wings for arms so they were wyverns. Ugh, mythology was so confusing! - but the others were lost on her. One of the two types of creatures that Mikoto didn't recognize were owls with a single leg and a human face, whilst the other were lion sized blue feathered roosters with a reptilian, almost draconic, tail. The last of which was actually turning people into stone!
"Oooh! Wyverns, basilisks, takuhis! And pretty harpies? Not that accurate, but okay." Nishikigi-san gushed, her face pressed against the glass of another of the transport's windows.
"Chisato, focus!" Inoue-san chided her lover as she pulled the red eyed blonde away from the window.
"Hai~, Takina-chan~!" Nishikigi-san sang just as the transport pulled to a stop.
And as it did, Alice-san turned to Mikoto. "So what do they do now? You're the leader for this rodeo, Misaka-sama."
That was news to her, but Mikoto just rolled with it and proceeded to give her orders. "Okay, I want you ladies to focus on the Tamers first. Starting with those commanding the basilisks if you can single them out. We need to take their petrification off the field ASAP!"
"And what about you, Misaka-sama?" Inoue-san asked even as she did a final check on her pistol.
In reply, Mikoto smirked. "Well, besides negating the lightning those harpies and takuhis are throwing around, I'm going to be a distraction."
"What do you mean by that, Misaka-sama?" Nishikigi-san questioned, sounding worried for her.
"Just wait and see." Mikoto said whilst still smirking and began ushering her three temporary teammates towards the exit of the now stopped transport. "I'm sure what I have in mind will leave you impressed."
As they got closer to the battlefield on the tarmac of the Experimental Airport from the safe distance where Tamaki-san had parked their transport, Alice exchanged a look with her teammates and Misaka-sama. Chisato-san and Takina-san nodded back immediately, signaling their readiness, the blonde even offering her a cheeky thumbs up. Alice couldn't help but roll her eyes at that and missed Misaka-sama's nod. She did not however miss the [Railgun] popping out of the cover they had been using to sneak closer to the fighting to unveil the distraction she'd been touting since they got off the transport.
"Yo! Get out of my city you stupid demons!" The Level 5 shouted at the top of her lungs. Seriously, was Misaka-sama some kind of delinquent? The Level 5 certainly came off as a natural one.
Sadly, her shout alone wasn't all that effective to be honest. Not when her voice was drowned out by the sounds of fighting that filled the airport but the way she used her Electromastery to redirect the lightning some of the demons were throwing right back at them and in some cases at their conjurers too, vaporizing the former and shocking the latter into unconsciousness certainly was. Though, she was helped in sending those unfortunate Magicians to lala land by the backlash they seemed to have suffered from the forceful dispelling of their familiars. At least, that's what Alice gathered from the way even those Demon Tamers who the Level 5 didn't directly shock but who lost their demons all suddenly seemed to be having seizures.
"That Level 5 is crazy!" Alice hissed as she used hand signals to order Chisato-san and Takina-san to follow her as she stealthily led them away from Misaka-sama and further into the battlefield. Considering how the [Railgun]'s brash entrance had the bulk of the enemy turn their attention towards her, that was ironically the safer option.
"Misaka-sama isn't crazy." Chisato-san pointed out cheerfully even as in the background Misaka-sama and her opponents were exchanging a truly epic amount of lightning blasts and other more esoteric attacks. "She's just brimming with a woman's confidence!"
"She's overflowing with something alright." Takina-san commented dryly as she checked her gun. "But maybe let's not waste the opportunity our team leader's given us by attracting the enemy's attention and actually do something useful with it?"
"Agreed." Alice said with a nod as the three of them came to a stop behind the burned out remains of one of the buses that the airport's staff used to get around their extensive workplace in a timely manner. A piece of cover that was located in a position that divided the battlefield into two roughly equal halves. "I'll take the right and you girls take the left?"
The couple nodded in perfect unison
Damn they're in sync. Alice couldn't help thinking even as replied. "Good hunting!"
"You too, Alice-chi~!" Chisato-san offered whilst Takina-san nodded and without even bothering to look from behind her cover, poked her pistol out and fired a shot that Alice knew invariably took out one of their enemies. Her raven haired teammate's Perfect Lock and absurd accuracy just made her that bullshit!
Then again she was just as, if not even worse, in that category. She was a Level 4 after all! Something she proved by forgoing a further reply in lieu of activating her Esper ability, The Speed, 'burning one of her charges' and modifying the gravity being applied to her body. The end result of which granted her a speed that rivaled even the best Olympic athletes and which she used to race off to the right side of the wrecked bus and into the fighting beyond. And as she zipped from the cover of one piece of abandoned or wrecked machinery that had been strewn across its surface with her incredible speed, she took shots that took out every Tamer that got within the sights of her gun.
Honestly! For sleepers, these guys are standing out like a sore thumb right now! Alice couldn't help but gripe as she aerated the skull of a man in a lab coat. Couldn't they change into something less conspicuous!? They are the only ones in civvies here!
That might have been a little unfair since Misaka-sama was still in her Tokiwadai uniform but everyone else there, Alice and her teammates included, were dressed in recognizable combat outfits or uniforms! In the sea of airport uniforms or those of the various City paramilitary and military uniforms that responded to the attack, the Tamers' attire made them easy targets.
Thanks to that and her insane speed, she dropped a dozen Tamers in the time before the strain on her body got too much, or as she called it 'her charge ran out', and she was forced to take cover behind the burning wreck on an APC (Armored Personnel Carrier). As always the use of one of her charges on her body left her panting hard and aching all over but she wasn't worried that the enemy would capitalize on her moment of weakness. The idiots were all so distracted by Misaka-sama that she doubted many of them even so much as noticed her part in the decimation of their ranks or her crazy teammates once more literally dancing through the enemy's ranks, as Alice had seen them doing out of the corner of her eyes, whilst they did the same.
If nothing else, the Level 5 was very distracting! Lighting up the entire place with massive lightning bolts did that.
She had just finished that thought when out of nowhere a massive gust slammed into Alice's cover, forcing her to dive out of the way to avoid it crashing her as it flipped over. A fate she only narrowly avoided.
Though that just put her in the unfortunate position of being confronted by what had managed to flip a whole APC, namely a wyvern. Specifically a winged lizard which was gathering flames in its reptilian mouth for a fireball or flame blast that she was sure was aimed at cooking her alive.
Crap! She cursed as she activated another charge and used it to blitz forward. With her enhanced speed, she narrowly avoided the fireball and got behind the unnatural creature which had spat it at her so that she was right in front of who she presumed was the thing's Tamer. A fool of a middle school girl who was just standing out in the open like some idiot.
Without any hesitation, Alice put a bullet into the girl's brain, killing her. She was younger than her, but she felt no regret or hesitation, she wasn't Chisato-san or Misaka-sama. She wasn't a bleeding heart that had sympathy for her enemies. If they posed a threat to her or those she loved, especially Nunnally, then, in her book, it was entirely right that she ended them. Permanently.
I guess I was right about the idiot being the wyvern's Tamer. Alice thought in satisfaction as she watched how as soon as the girl became a corpse, the winged lizard popped out of existence.
Sadly, the brief fight was more than enough time to catch the attention of a nearby Tamer and Alice found herself having to use the remainder of her thankfully still active charge to avoid a cloud of sickly green and likely poisonous gas breathed her way by what a glance told her was a basilisk. Even as she evaded it though, she spotted its Tamer and using The Speed, she enhanced a shot and fired it at the guy.
The man had good instincts though, or maybe he just wasn't a fool. Whatever the case, he had his basilisk interpose itself between the bullet and him. He even had the monster attempt to use its petrification ability on her if the way its eyes lit up with a malevolent light was any indication.
It wasn't enough though, Alice was moving too fast for the monstrous rooster to get a good enough look to activate its magic and turn her to stone. Even worse for it and its master, Alice's gravity assisted bullet easily blasted straight through the monster, dispelling it, and, more importantly, blew the man's head away.
Just one charge left. Alice noted as breathing heavily, she came to a stop behind a City tank and amidst a group of friendly infantry similarly sheltering behind it, the strain on her body proving too much and forcing her to drop the speed enhancing effects she'd granted to it with her ability.
"Ma'am, you okay?" One of the soldiers asked worriedly.
"Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine." Alice assured him as sweat built on her brow. "J-Just give me a minute to catch my breath and I'll be ready for another go at those pesky Magicians."
"I don't think that's gonna be necessary, Ma'am." Another of the soldiers said from his spot looking past a corner of the tank where he was observing the battlefield. "I think the [Railgun] has everything in hand."
Alice glanced at him questioningly and he just pointed skyward. Frowning, the Level 4 looked up and her eyes widened at the swirling thunderclouds that had gathered overhead. Clouds that with an earth shattering boom of thunder proceeded to unleash hundreds of lightning bolts.
Oi! That's overkill! Alice thought as her curiosity got the better of her and she poked her head out from her cover to behold the devastation Misaka-sama had wrought. And what devastation it was! It seemed that the Number 5 had managed to either take out the last of the Demon Tamers and their pets or otherwise send them fleeing in terror! In one attack!
"Level 5s are just bullshit!"
The next morning after a whole day of helping her allies put down Demon Tamer assaults that had dragged on even late into the night, a sleep-deprived Mikoto arrived at an abandoned mall in School District 19 that was being used by the Demon Tamers as a safehouse to reinforce a beleaguered combined force of Maniple troopers and Big Spider agents that were struggling to dig out the Demon Tamers from their little dilapidated stronghold.
Scratching at her hair, hoping her bed-head wasn't too bad, she walked into the open plaza at the center of the ruin that was the abandoned mall and headed over to a tent surrounded by a circle of sandbag pillboxes that she was being guided to by a Big Spider agent. Stepping into the FOB (forward operating base) that was functioning as the operation's command center, Mikoto quickly spotted Kurozuma-san and Ylva-san busily commanding their subordinates as they were heavily engaged with the Tamers' demons in the distance.
Demons that consisted packs of monsters from Hindu mythology that according to the intel pack she had read on the way here were called Pisacas, humanoid monsters with a orange skin covered in lines, a fang rimmed mouth that spanned the length of their torso, and a pair of obscene looking eyestalks; which were also being backed up a smaller number of flaming serpentine lizard-like Salamanders.
Damn! This thing is super heavy! Mikoto couldn't help but think as she adjusted the straps of the backpack reactor that she was wearing. A prototype micro generator given to her by the Board of Directors that was designed to supplement her substantial, but still finite electrical reserves. The latter being the bane of all Electromasters. Why the hell did Zero-san suddenly insist that I bring it with me to all my fights with the Demon Tamers today? And how, by Science, did he even know I have it!?
"Yo~! Sparky Jou-chan, it's good to see you!" Kurozuma-san greeted her loudly as he spotted Mikoto.
"Yes, it's good to see you, Misaka-sama." Ylva-san agreed with a welcoming nod in her ever professional way. "We could use your help."
"Really? 'Cause it doesn't look like it." Mikoto said as she gestured in the distance where a group of Maniple agents took down a Salamander with a sustained barrage of cryo bullets whilst Big Spider agents in Powered Suits and armed with various melee weapons mobbed the half dozen Pisaca that it had been supporting.
Ylva-san nodded. "I can admit we are dealing well enough with the demons charging out from where the Tamers have holded up. It's dislodging them from it which is proving a challenge."
Mikoto shot her a skeptical look at that statement.
"It's true, Jou-chan. Take a look for yourself." Kurozuma-san assured her and nodded at the fighting. "Now that we've taken out the latest enemy attack, one of our squads will attempt a push soon."
He had barely finished, when true to his word, a different group of Maniple troopers and Big Spider agents from the one which had taken out the last group of Pisaca and Salamander demons, moved from the positions they had been holding at and began cautiously advancing deeper. However, they had barely made it ten feet when they were forced into cover by a horizontal tornado of black colored fire that filled much of the corridor they had been advancing down.
Frowning, Mikoto turned back towards Kurozuma-san and Ylva-san. "Why were the men diving for cover over something as minor as that? Am I missing something about those flames? The Maniple troopers I can understand. Their armor probably isn't fireproof but surely the Big Spider guys' Powered Suits are capable of withstanding the blaze, can't they?"
"It isn't the fire that's the problem." Kurozuma-san said with a sigh. "You're right, our Powered Suits can manage those just fine. It's the strange properties mixed in with them that's the problem."
Strange properties? Mikoto thought as she arched her eyebrow and looked at Kurozuma-san and Ylva-san expectantly.
"It seems the Pisaca are mixing the dark magic their kind are said to have with the Salamanders' fire to create those dark flames." Ylva-san explained. "As a result of that, anything caught in it has, for a lack of a better descriptor, their lives seemingly burned out of them."
"Yeah." Kurozuma-san said with a shudder, rubbing his arms together. "The only good thing is that the Tamers can't seem to produce the dark flames with regularity and are reserving it to stop any attempt we make to advance towards the abandoned department store further in the mall where they're holded up."
Mikoto nodded in understanding as back on the frontline, the Tamers followed up their defense of their position with an attack. A fresh pack of monsters that neatly blocked any attempts by other Maniple and Big Spider teams who might've wanted to capitalize on their dark flames being on, as it were, cooldown.
"Ok. So I've been called over to essentially be a siegebreaker and unleash an overwhelming amount of firepower and allow your men to breach the enemies' lines?" Mikoto asked as she gathered electrical energy around her, something which took the form of arcing bolts of lightning that proceeded to surround her body.
Ylva-san and Kurozuma-san both nodded.
Nodding back, Mikoto turned away from both of them and began walking out of the FOB and towards the direction of the Tamers' little stronghold.
"Is the area beyond the target clear?" She asked the two Dark Side commanders over her shoulder.
"Yup. My guys have cleared out two whole blocks around the mall."
"Two blocks. Got it." Mikoto returned, modulating her computations for what she had planned accordingly.
As she did, Mikoto found Naru unconsciously coming to her mind. The Chibi would totally be on my case for having no subtlety right now and calling me a meathead for going straight for such an extreme option. But considering this was what Kurozuma-san and Ylva-san asked for and presumably what Zero-san intended when he sent me here, she can go shove it… That was if she was here.
The last thought filled her mind with a tinge of loneliness, but she ignored it and reached into the pocket of her Tokiwadai skirt and fished out a Dark Matter coin. Raising her arm into her iconic firing pose, she began using her Electromastery to create the electromagnetic fields she needed for her signature technique. And as she did, Mikoto rolled the coin that Ruiko had gifted her between her fingers and shuffled it into firing position.
The reminder of Ruiko sent another shot of loneliness through her psyche, though it was accompanied by a surge of anger. Damn you, Accelerator, for kidnapping her!
Taking a deep breath to dismiss these distracting thoughts, Mikoto finished the final computations for her railgun, further ignoring as she did how the enemy seemed to have decided to throw a whole swarm of their Pisaca and Salamander demons at her in a bid to interrupt her, only for her Maniple and Big Spider allies to intercept them. Instead, focusing on the task at the hand, the [Railgun] promptly unleashed a shot of her namesake technique that had been precisely calibrated to utterly obliterate the entire segment of the abandoned mall where the enemy had been bunkering down but which did only minimal damage to the empty street beyond and none whatsoever to the buildings across it from her target.
The move probably killed her targets and Mikoto normally would've felt terrible for doing so, but considering these Tamers had rampaged through a hospital and killed a whole bunch of hapless patients and the medical staff that had been caring for them before Maniple and Big Spider had run them to ground here, she wasn't feeling all that guilty.
Instead, it was with a small smile of satisfaction that she turned to Ylva-san and Kurozuma-san.
"Handle the clean-up, could you, Ylva-san, Kurozuma-san?" Mikoto said with a yawn, patting a hand over her mouth to not seem rude. "I need to catch some sleep."
Officially, Kuroko should not be helping Onee-sama when she was working with Dark Siders. Doing so not only went against the code of conduct for a Judgment agent like herself, but beyond that, it also went against her own moral code to work with deplorable criminals. However, she was willing to make exceptions. And working with them to defeat the Demon Tamer terrorists that were attacking the City was one reason to make such an exception. As was the fact that one of the 'Dark Siders' that was involved in the fight that Onee-sama and her were teleporting in to support was her very own Judgment partner, Kazari-san.
Though, it was not Kazari-san or one of her drones that greeted Kuroko and Onee-sama as they teleported into one of the growing areas for the grapes used by the Botanical Ethanol Fuel Plant in School District 3 that was under attack to make their biofuel. Much to Kuroko's annoyance, as they materialized into the room full of brilliant neon purple lights and large vines of grapes, they did so next to a Dark Sider that the Teleporter had been introduced to as Ishiwata Chikage-san.
Meeting the twenty-something blue eyed blonde woman with her resemblance to Naru-san vaguely reminded Kuroko of her friend and that reminder caused a tinge of worry for her friend to fill the Teleporter's mind. I hope she's alright. We haven't heard from her since she set off for her mission to Russia…
"Ishiwata-san, what's the situation?" Onee-sama asked without preamble, reminding Kuroko that they were here on business and she should not let her mind wander. She thus pushed her concerns away for later. Besides, Naru-san was the Number 2 Level 5, she could take care of herself.
Her rank didn't stop her getting kidnapped by the Shinobi that one time nor did Ruiko-san's stop her from currently being a kidnappee. Kuroko's mind retorted unbidden, only for her to swiftly squash that line of thought. She had more important things to worry about right now.
"Misaka-sama, Shirai-san." The Dark Sider greeted with a nod before immediately launching into the requested update on the situation. "We basically have a hostage situation here. The familiars of the Demon Tamers attacking the plant are eagles with the heads of women that are supposedly sirens, and the Magicians have used the alluring voice of these demons to enthrall the plant's staff who they are then making help them plant explosive charges around the facility."
"We can't let those explosive go off." Kuroko hissed in alarm. "This plant isn't just one of the City's primary sources of fuel, but there is a sizable fuel storage in the plant that if blown up will result in a devastating explosion."
Ishiwata-san shot Kuroko an unimpressed look at the observation. "Thank you for stating the obvious, Shirai-san."
The Teleporter had the grace to admit to herself that it was a fair judgment of what she had said but that was with as much grace as she could muster. She certainly wasn't about to admit to the gaffe to a Dark Sider of all people.
Was Kuroko being a hypocrite by being so hostile to Ishiwata-san for being a Dark Sider despite being close friends with many others walking on the same side of the City? Definitely. Did Kuroko care? Not at all. The Trinity and the other Dark Siders who Kuroko were close to were her friends first and Dark Siders second. The blonde woman had no such privileged position in Kuroko's maidenly heart.
Oblivious to her thoughts and ignoring her tense interaction with Ishiwata-san entirely, Onee-sama kept her focus on what was important. "I take it that sirens' brainwashing voice can be negated by your audiokinesis, Ishiwata-san, and that it also doesn't work over audio receptors? And that's why it's you and Kazari-san who are handling the situation here?"
"Right on all counts, Misaka-sama." Ishiwata-san agreed with a nod. "Now are we done getting up to speed? We need to hurry up and stop this place from getting blown up."
At this reminder of the urgency of the situation, Kuroko flushed with embarrassment. They were faced with a time critical crisis and here she was wasting time trading barbs with a Dark Sider? How unbecoming!
No more! I can't keep making a fool of myself in front of these criminals. Kuroko promised herself as she nodded alongside Onee-sama.
"Alright. Let's move out. Lead the way, Ishiwata-san."
The blonde woman nodded at Onee-sama's order, but before they could take more than a few steps, one of what must be the sirens that Ishiwata-san mentioned earlier barreled its way through one of the room's doors whilst being pursued by a hail of gunfire from a pair of Kazari-san's Hover Drones. The ball-like flying drones were trying to shoot the demonic avian down with unrelenting streams of bullets, but they were bouncing off the monster's unnatural feathers to little effect.
"Shit!" Ishiwata-san cursed even as she immediately brought the harmonica that Kuroko had noticed she had been clutching this whole time to her lips.
Despite the woman's haste however, she was still marginally slower on the draw, as it were, than the siren whose voice filled the room and Kuroko's mind with the desire to follow its every whim, to please it by obeying it without que-
Thankfully, the demon's magic was unable to gain a firm purchase before the room fell utterly silent and Kuroko's mind cleared. To her horror however she found that even though the lapse of control was brief, it had been enough and she found her hand had already strayed to the belt of nails at her thigh, a couple of the explosive variants of which were missing from their holsters and their remains were embedded in the wreckage of one of Kazari's Hover Drones.
Damned magic! Kuroko cursed in an uncharacteristically unladylike manner. Her fury at both herself for the lapse and the invasive power of the demon's magic overpowering her ingrained etiquette.
Onee-sama was thankfully not so easily distracted and even as Kuroko was stewing in her anger at her moment of failure, the [Ace of Tokiwadai] had taken out the monster with a static bolt. In fact, the Level 5 was so unfazed that she barely glanced at the avian monstrosity disintegrating into particles of light to confirm her kill before she turned to Ishiwata-san.
Nothing can faze Onee-sama. She is so cool! Kuroko could help but think fawningly at her roommate's latest feat.
However, as was sadly often the case, Onee-sama ignored Kuroko's adoring look and addressed the blond. "Thanks for negating the siren's song."
The audiokinetic waved the thanks away as she pulled her harmonica away from her lips before adding. "I'm just glad that I was able to nullify it before it mind controlled you, Misaka-sama. If it did then we'd be in real trouble. These Demon Tamers are dangerous enough without a Level 5 to back them up."
"You don't have to worry about that, Ishiwata-san." Onee-sama assured her. "I don't think the siren's song will work on me. It seems to work by manipulating a target's brain chemistry to control them and that's similar to how Mental Out works and I can counter that. I've had plenty of practice."
"Maybe, Mikoto-san. But it's better not to take the risk." Kazari said through her remaining drone as it floated over. "It's why Ishiwata-san waited to meet you and Kuroko-san, instead of me just leaving a drone instead. She can nullify the siren's song and protect you from the demons' mind control."
"A sensible precaution. We shouldn't take unnecessary risks." Onee-sama said with an approving nod before turning unexpectedly towards her. "Kuroko, how many tranquiliser nails do you have?"
Kuroko quickly ran her hands over her holstered weapons, feeling over the distinctive markings across each of them and sorting out her available supply for each of the various specialized nails she had belted to her thighs.
"Two dozen." She reported less than a minute later.
"Kazari-san, how many people are we going to need to knock out?"
"I've got them all tagged and am tracking them all in real time so give me a minute to check…" The drone replied. "Okay! It looks like we have two dozen targets."
Thank Science that the City's facilities are so heavily automated. If a biofuel plant of this size was located anywhere else, its staff would've numbered in the hundreds! Kuroko thought with relief even as she pulled out her phone.
"Kazari, send that data over to my phone. I'll use it as a reference and teleport Onee-sama and Ishiwata-san around the plant so we can telefrag them. Between the latter nullifying the demons' song, and with my tranquiliser nails and Onee-sama tasering them to take our targets out, we'll be done in no time."
Onee-sama looked to Kuroko in shock and even the way Kazari's drone spun on its axis to level its camera at her conveyed her partner's similar surprise.
"What's the problem?" Kuroko hissed defensively, feeling flustered over the sudden attention. Did she make a faux pas?
"Nothing." Onee-sama said with an amused shake of her head. "It's just I'd never have thought you would ever use a word like telefrag."
"It seems Naru-san has been more of an influence on Kuroko-san than I thought."
"Namikaze-san does tend to have that effect on people." Ishiwata-san agreed with a chuckle that she abruptly cut off before continuing in an annoyed tone. "But are you ready to go, or not!? Unless you've forgotten ladies, we've a bombing to stop and we don't have infinite time to do so."
"Sorry!" The three middle schoolers all chorused, their heads bowed in apology. Even Kazari's drone had tilted its camera eye down in emulation of the gesture.
"We're ready, Ishiwata-san." Onee-sama continued, to nods from Kuroko and Kazari-san's drone. Well, the latter approximated a nod by bobbing up and down in the air once anyway.
Ishiwata-san nodded in satisfaction and turned to look at Kuroko expectantly. "When you're ready, Shirai-san."
"Any other attacks that you need me to help with, Zero-san?" Mikoto asked over the phone after the fight in the Botanical Ethanol Fuel Plant, which just as Kuroko predicted had ended quickly and easily enough once they started telefragging the Demon Tamers and their mind controlled pawns, concluded.
"Not at the moment." The masked paramilitary leader informed her over the video call. "I'll let you know if that changes. In the meantime, why don't you take a breather?"
"Thank you. I think I'll do that." Mikoto replied. "Check in with you later."
Zero-san just offered her an overly dramatic bow before he cut the connection.
Rolling her eyes at her friend's - And she did regard the older boy a friend. - theatrics, Mikoto began putting her phone away.
"Misaka-sama, did I hear correctly? You're taking a break?" Ishiwata-san asked as she walked over with an inviting smile.
"Yeah, you did. Why do you ask?" Mikoto asked, eyeing the older woman warily.
"Well, I was just thinking of heading over to a cafe and getting a drink. Since you're free too, I thought why not ask you if you'd like to join me."
Mikoto considered the matter for a moment before replying with a shrug. "Sure. Why not?"
Turning to Kuroko and the nearest of Kazari-san's drones, she added. "You girls want to join us?"
Kuroko, unsurprisingly, looked interested but before the Teleporter could say a word, Kazari-san cut her off.
"We can't." The [Drone Queen] said apologetically. "We have a shift at the 177 Branch Office in twenty minutes."
"That's a shame." Mikoto said with a disappointed frown. "Then I guess I'll see you soon, Kazari-san. And I'll catch you tonight back at the dorm, Kuroko."
The tech wiz had her drone nod even as Kuroko addressed Mikoto in a chiding tone. "I better Onee-sama. I would rather not see you return to our room in the wee hours of the morning and collapse onto your bed like you did two nights ago."
Mikoto just rolled her eyes at the scolding. "Tell that to the Demon Tamers, Kuroko. Maybe if they attacked at more reasonable hours then I wouldn't have to pull all nighters."
The back and forth had by this point left Ishiwata-san giggling like a schoolgirl, though both roommates didn't pay her any mind and just kept going.
"I'll endeavor to do that the next time I run into these miscreants, Onee-sama, but for now I better get going. Farewell, Onee-sama."
"Yup. Seeya later, Kuroko." Mikoto said with a wave.
Kuroko returned the wave before teleporting away, prompting Kazari-san to offer her own goodbyes.
"I have to go too, Mikoto-san. Catch up with you soon. Bye!"
"Sure." Mikoto said with a nod. "But before you go, could you have one of your drones take my backpack reactor and return it to base? I won't need it whilst having a drink at a cafe and the damned thing is heavy."
"Of course!" Kazari-san happily obliged as one of her sturdier drones moved over and took the bulky backpack that Mikoto handed it.
"Thanks again, Kazari-san."
"Don't mention it, Mikoto-san. I'm happy to help. See you soon."
"Yup! Bye!" Mikoto said with a wave before she turned to a still waiting, and giggling, Ishiwata-san. "Ready to go?"
The older woman took a moment to compose herself but eventually nodded. Taking that as her cue, Mikoto began walking which prompted the blonde to fall in step beside her.
"So, do you know any cafes around here?"
"Not a clue. I don't visit School District 3 all that often." Ishiwata-san confessed. "But I'm sure we'll manage to find something soon. There are cafes practically everywhere in the City."
"True." Mikoto agreed. "If we can't, we can just use a map app to find one nearby."
"Technology sure is convenient, eh?" The blue eyed woman said with a smirk.
Mikoto hummed in agreement before changing the topic. "So why did you ask me to join you? anything in particular that you wanted to talk to me about?"
In response, the model playfully tapped her chin for a moment in mock contemplation before nodding. "I just wanted your opinion about what it's like having Namikaze-san as a teammate, Misaka-sama?"
What's it like having Naru as a teammate? Mikoto mused thoughtfully. I've never really put what I felt about Naru into words have I? So, how exactly do I feel about the Chibi?
"Naru is a menace most of the time," Mikoto said after a long moment of thought on the matter. "But she's one of my dearest friends. And because she seems to be such an idiot so often, I frequently feel like I have to teach her to not do dumb things. Really, in a lot of ways Naru reminds me of my little sisters, if a lot more of a social butterfly and a hyper extrovert."
And I can't help but wonder where she finds the energy to be like that.
Mikoto has been forced to be in social interaction mode ever since the other Trinity members left the City and she had to work with other Dark Side outfits to keep it safe from the Demon Tamers and even though it's only been a few days, she was already exhausted.
How that girl not only manages to run her faction and engage in all those other society events for the City she always seems to be involved in, I'd never know.
"So you're saying that you think of Namikaze-san the same way that you see the Sisters?" Ishiwata-san asked, sounding a little astonished.
"It's not 100% the same, but yeah."
The blonde nodded, still looking surprised.
"How about you, Ishiwata-san?" Mikoto returned. "From what I've heard, you've worked plenty with Naru haven't you? Based on that, what do you think of her?"
"To me?" Ishiwata-san asked, continuing only upon receiving a nod of confirmation from Mikoto. "Well, I guess I see her as a cute little acquaintance. Like a friend's kid or distant niece or cousin. Someone I occasionally run into and am friendly with and want to spoil."
"I find it hard to believe that Naru would let anyone spoil her except maybe her girlfriends."
"She doesn't exactly let me. She's a little tsundere like that. But I try regardless. She's just too cute not to."
Mikoto couldn't help but twitch uncomfortably at the use of the word 'tsundere', much to the blonde woman's visible amusement, but managed to otherwise not react. Instead, she continued the conversation as if the accursed word had never been uttered.
"Yeah, I think you've described Naru to a tee."
It was at this point that the two women finally exited the expansive Botanical Ethanol Fuel Plant and as they did, Ishiwata-san steered their chat in a new direction. "Enough about Namikaze-san for now. What do you think of Saten-sama, Misaka-sama?"
The mention of both her teammates in one sentence caused Mikoto to feel a tinge of worry and loneliness. Both of them were off in Russia somewhere doing Science knew what, leaving her behind. And, most importantly, they were without her to back them up! If anything were to happen to them…
No! Don't think like that! Ruiko and Naru will be fine! They will be! Mikoto thought to herself as she shoved her worries aside and answered Ishiwata-san's question.
"Ruiko is a murderous bundle of neuroses at the best of times but even then she's my best friend outside of Kuroko. I'd stand with her come hell or high water and I know she would do the same for me."
Ishiwata-san suddenly stopped and looked at Mikoto, causing the [Railgun] to likewise come to a stop."Do you really trust Saten-sama that much?"
"Of course. I trust her with my life."
"I see." Ishiwata-san said with a hint of disbelief in her tone even as she pulled out her phone and activated a map app. "Before you ask, I can't really say much about how I feel about Saten-sama. I've not worked with her much. But I can say that she is probably the best info and power broker I've ever worked with. She's always fair with her prices and dealings."
Mikoto nodded. "Ruiko tends to be scrupulously fair so long as you don't hurt what she loves."
"Which is entirely fair." Ishiwata-san said before suddenly crowing in victory. "Found us a nice cafe nearby. It's got four out of five stars on Gurunavi."
"Sounds good." Mikoto said with a smile. "Lead the way. We can continue talking over some tea and snacks."
"Yup." Ishiwata-san said with an exaggerated nod of excitement and began leading them in the direction that her app indicated.
Another day and another Demon Tamer attack. Mikoto thought wearily as she found herself once more with the Agency girls and were seated in the girls' transport as they headed to District 10. And as they made their way to this latest act of terrorism, Zero-san's masked face loomed large on the smartboard of the transport's personnel compartment as he briefed them on how it seemed like this latest group of Demon Tamers were attacking the City's Nuclear & Bacteriology Research Center located there.
Targeting our nuclear energy research facilities? These Demon Tamers sure are taking a page of the Islamic Magicians' book aren't they? Mikoto thought with a frown. Are all Magicians this insane? Are they really willing to set off a nuclear catastrophe just to take us out!? Aren't they afraid of the fallout, both literal and figurative, from that!?
With the existence of magic and Magicians now a known quantity and its conflict with the Magic Side public knowledge as well, the City wasn't even hiding the fact that it was under attack by the Demon Tamers. They were certainly censoring the scale of the attacks to avoid panic and a possible resurgence in the mostly defunct Recovery Movement but the Board were being surprisingly open about the attacks actually happening. Thus if a nuclear disaster did take place in Academy City, everyone would know who to blame. Were the Demon Tamers really willing to take that kinda heat just to defeat them? Was their hatred of the City that deep?
As with so much of her deeper musings of late, Mikoto pushed the disturbing thoughts away for contemplation later. She was about to enter into battle and had no time for them at the moment. Instead, as Zero-san finished his briefing, Mikoto tried to ease the tense mood that permeated the transport in the face of a potential nuclear disaster should they fail to stop the Magicians with some snark.
"The City should really beef up security there. If that goes, who knows how many lives we will lose."
Zero-san shook his head. "They already have. If they had not. the City would already be an irradiated wasteland. The improved security was sadly never designed to deal with an army of demons."
Johansson-san looked up from her tablet where she had been examining the footage of the ongoing battle in District 10 and added in a snide tone. "It's an oversight that I'm sure the Board will rectify in short order."
She quickly returned to reviewing the footage after getting her word in, ignoring how Ogino-san and Matsumura-san giggled at her joke or how Hilshire-san rolled her eyes. In fact, of her sisters only Seki-san seemed unmoved by her attempt at humor, though that was likely because she was too focused on finishing a last minute check on her sniper rifle to have heard the joke in the first place. For her part, Mikoto just let out a rather unladylike snort of amusement that would surely have gotten her a chiding look from Ruiko if she'd been there, what with her teammate's recent obsession with all things ojou-sama.
This moment of quiet, mostly shared amusement was broken however when suddenly both Zero-san and Johansson-san let out a thoughtful hum.
Mikoto opened her mouth to ask what they were thinking at the moment, but snapped it shut once her eyes caught the live footage from District 10 that was being patched through beside that of Zero-san's on the smart board. Said feed was currently showing a large bipedal mech as it used a set of impressive thrusters to literally jump into the large empty field next to the District's main nuclear lab where the Demon Tamers were fighting Anti-Skill and started assisting the latter in engaging the Magicians and their demons. The latter of which seemed to consist of a mix of all manner of yōkai that ranged from kitsune to tanuki to jorōgumo. The mech had a torso that looked like the conical front section of a World War 2 bomber, had large missile packs on its shoulders armed with containment foam missiles and a pair of large ultrasonic riot control cannons in the place of hands that were tuned to a frequency that as it quickly demonstrated were powerful enough to shatter concrete.
"Who the hell is that?" Mikoto couldn't help but gasp.
Academy City was a place of technological wonders, but who in the name of Science had a mecha like that!? It looked nothing like anything Mikoto had ever seen!
"Patching us through to the pilot now." Zero-san informed them.
As a video feed was established with the mecha, Mikoto was surprised to see that Kuriba-san, of all people, was the pilot of the machine. Seeing the dual toned haired girl with mismatched skin tone was the one controlling the weapon was a shock for sure. A shock that was only amplified by how sexy the scientist looked in the skintight pilot suit she was wearing. It certainly beat out the frumpy look she usually had going and showcased that under that unassuming exterior was a beautiful girl.
"Greetings all! Myself and Doppel-chan are here to help." The inventor of the Indian Poker cards said with a hesitant smile.
"Doppel-chan is there with you?" A flabbergasted Mikoto asked, thrown once more by the fact that Kuriba-san wasn't acting alone but had seemingly roped in her personal ghost in her bid to become a mecha pilot.
"Yes, Misaka-sama. I wouldn't be able to pilot this Timber Wolf without her. It's thanks to her possessing its artificial muscles which we developed from the 'possession'-type slime mold that Doppel-chan used in the past that it can move at all." Kuriba-san informed them as her shoulders jerked to the side as she moved her mech.
The mention of the mech being made operable through the use of what amounted to necromancy vaguely reminded Mikoto of the Coffins the Trinity had fought during the Necromancer Incident. I wonder if this Timber Wolf mech was made using similar principles? She's good, but I don't see Kuriba-san pulling this out of nowhere after all.
Zero-san cut in. "Hm, well as interesting as the mechanics behind this mech is, we don't have time to discuss them."
Johansson-san nodded, "Agreed, though with Kuriba-san's help, Anti-Skill seems to have the situation in District 10 in hand."
"Yup! You and your allies can go help out elsewhere. Leave things here to me and Anti-Skill, Misaka-sama! We've got it covered." Kuriba-san assured them as she used her Timber Wolf's jump jets to have it leap out of the way of what looked like a massive ball of webbing that a group of jorōgumo had worked together to weave before tossing it at the mech, presumably in a bid to restrain. A move that sadly only earned them a blast from the twin sonic cannons mounted on its arms that proceeded to squash them like the bugs they were.
"Excellent, that means your squad can head to District 12 instead. Our forces there could use a little help." Zero-san agreed and Mikoto felt the transport vehicle shift left suddenly and they were off.
Their target was different but it looked like they still had Demon Tamers to put in their place after all.
Said Demon Tamers needing to be taught a lesson were a lot more numerous than Mikoto would've liked, which frankly speaking was none at all but still! Having to deal with three different cells in a row was really trying her patience. Thus she could be forgiven for starting to get annoyed with her opponents.
"Seriously! Why the hell does magic seem to just follow its own rules and ignore all the laws of physics!?" She grumbled unhappily as she used some Electromastery assisted gymnastics to evade the kanabō swung by a horned, red skinned humanoid yōkai popularly known as a oni. "Because summoning demons out of thin air is just bullshit!"
Said Oni was only one of a dozen of said demons that the latest group of Demon Tamers commanded as their familiars, And much to the [Railgun]'s relief, a quick glance as she landed after blasting the head off the oni that almost squashed her with a railgun to the face revealed that whilst she had been distracting their demons, Johansson-san and her sisters had succeeded in knocking out and securing the Tamers responsible for summoning them thus depriving the magical creatures of their anchor to this Phase of the world and dispelling them.
"Are we done here, Johansson-san?" Mikoto asked as she turned to look at the tall girl with natural, as she was surprised to learn, blue-black hair and purple eyes.
"Yes, it looks like we are." The leader of the Giarraputo Social Welfare Agency replied after taking a moment to survey the area.
"Sorry to burst your bubble, Claes, Misaka-sama, but we've got company." Hilshire-san cut in. "I'm spotting a girl approaching with my Clairvoyance."
"Maybe she's just a curious student coming to investigate what's going on? We're in a university after all." Mikoto suggested hopefully as she gestured around her and at the wrecked lab in Takasaki University that they were standing in.
"I don't think so." Johansson said with a frown, bursting Mikoto's faint hope. "Judging by the girl's mannerisms that doesn't seem to be the case."
Even as she tensed at the prospect of a new fight, Mikoto couldn't help but think that Johansson-san's ability to sync with her sisters with her Esper ability was both amazing and creepy and yes, she was fully aware of said ability's similarity to her own sisters' Radio Noise.
My sisters didn't have a choice when it came to Radio Noise, but the Agency girls volunteered to install quantum entanglement arrays as part of their cybernetics just so Johansson-san can use her ability to link to them and their senses. All in the name of greater combat effectiveness!
Mikoto just couldn't wrap her head around that logic. Nor the kind of trust the Agency girls must have in their leader to give her that kind of access to their minds and bodies.
As the entire area around the Level 5 and her allies spontaneously caught fire, Mikoto shoved the thought aside for later. Something that she depressingly was doing a lot lately. Such was the fate of someone on the frontline however and like it or not, and Mikoto hated it, she had made her peace with the necessity.
"What by Science is going on?" She shouted with narrowed eyes even as she and the Agency girls clustered together defensively in preparation of what their new opponent had up its sleeves.
"I have no idea, Misaka-sama, but I think we're about to find out." Hilshire-san said as she leveled her rifle meaningfully at the door to the room.
A door that moments later burst into flames and burned away in seconds to allow an emotionless looking, high school aged girl with shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes to step over its ashes.
"This fire is my doing." The new arrival said in lieu of a greeting.
Exchanging a look out of the corner of her eye with Johansson-san, Mikoto frowned as she received a nod in response but nevertheless honored the unspoken request and proceeded to act as their group's spokeswoman.
"Who are you? And why are you attacking us?"
"My name is Kashiwagi Mai, an Incarnation of the Shinto god Kagutsuchi." The girl replied without hesitation and in a voice so monotone that it reminded Mikoto uneasily of Ruiko at her worst when she was rightfully called the [Robot]. "I am attacking you because I have been hired by the cabal of Demon Tamers known as Atlus to be, in their words, their trump card."
"Well, uh, that's pretty frank of you." Mikoto noted with some surprise. "Don't Magicians normally love their secrets? Especially about the source of their powers?"
Kashiwagi-san shrugged, "I see no logical reason to hide things from people who are either going to kill me or that I'm about to cremate."
Matsumura-san gave an uneasy smile at this even as she seemingly couldn't resist commenting. "That's a little too practical, isn't it?"
Kashiwagi-san just shrugged once more, "It's worked for me so far, but enough chatter. It's time to fight."
Before she could even do anything however, the rhythmic popping of gunfire filled the air as Johansson-san, Hilshire-san, Ogino-san and Seki-san opened up on her with their assault rifles. Despite the suddenness of the attack however, Kashiwagi-san effortlessly responded by conjuring a wall of white flames in front of her that was so hot that it literally sublimated the bullets shot her way directly into gas.
Mikoto gasped in shock even as she used her Electromastery to pull anything she could together to create a hastily constructed barrier to shield against the flames. A barrier that ended up being constructed from everything that ranged from iron sand to random bits of metals to rebars literally ripped from the walls. An impromptu shield that was soon sorely tested as it was heated up to the point of melting almost as soon as Kashiwagi-san's flames slammed into it.
Science! The flames she can conjure are insane! Is this the power of a god!?
Suddenly, there was the sound of a pistol shot and an almost emotionless cry of pain just as the wall of white flames seemed to just blink out of existence.
Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, Mikoto promptly disassembled her makeshift shield and sent the molten remains hurtling at the source of the pained cry. A move that had the unintended consequence of saving Matsumura-san from Kashiwagi-san's fiery retaliation as a number of the molten pieces shot through and dispersed the fireball that the self-proclaimed Incarnation had shot the cyborg's way
This however seemed to annoy the pyromaniac who whilst clutching the shoulder that Matsumura-san had shot, now turned to glare at Mikoto with such intensity that it very nearly pinned her in place. The Level 5 was made of sterner stuff though and she had seen plenty in her time on the Dark Side of Academy City, so as unsettling as the high schooler's glare was, Mikoto brushed it off easily enough.
Sadly, the aforementioned opponent just as easily ignored the bits of debris from Mikoto's barrage that would have struck her, instead using some kind of directed heat effect to melt into nothingness anything that might've remotely been on a trajectory that would've hit her.
At least it's not an automatic defense like Accelerator's Redirection, otherwise Matsumura-san's bullet wouldn't have found its mark.
"You like hurling things, do you? Then try being at the receiving end of it!" Kashiwagi-san shouted, sounding annoyed as she conjured dozens of fireballs around her and shot them at Mikoto in a conflagration of death.
Realizing she could not take this opponent lightly considering the power she'd displayed so far, Mikoto tapped into the reservoir of power that was the fancy prototype reactor backpack that she'd gotten when the Trinity turned official and never previously used. She could see why Zero-san had insisted she lug it around during all of her fights with the Demon Tamers since the second day of their attacks. Having extra power on hand was just too useful for an Electromaster, even for a Level 5.
Metaphorically leaning into the massive surge in power, Mikoto created a dozen precise low yield railguns out of random magnetic debris around her. Railguns that she fired in the kind of perfect interception fire that only the superhuman computations of a Level 5 was capable of.
That buckethead must have suspected this Incarnation was around and erred on the side of caution just in case she showed up. That's why he was so heavy handed about me having the generator pack.
As Mikoto had come to that conclusion, Johansson-san and her sisters had ran across the no man's land between the [Railgun] and their flame wielding opponent, guns blazing. Their bullets rained down on the Incarnation, yet each metallic shell sublimated into superheated gas that appeared to be unable to harm the older girl well before they could find their mark in the fire user's flesh. Sadly, it seemed like Kashiwagi-san's directed heat effect was just as effective as her fire wall at dealing with bullets.
At least at first. However, that situation soon changed when the Agency girls started spreading out and shooting at Kashiwagi-san from multiple angles.
From what Mikoto could parse as she watched carefully, it seemed like her heat effect was line of sight based and with shots coming at her from all over, including her blind spots, Kashiwagi-san simply could not use it to shield herself. Though it seemed their opponent realized this just as quickly too and with a wave of her arm, she conjured a circle of white hot flames around her. Lucky for them, the high schooler had been slow in doing so, letting a couple of shots get through. They were however somewhat off target as thanks to reacting with a frankly preternatural reaction time and twisting her body into honestly unpleasant looking contortions to evade the gunslinger girls' fire, the Incarnation ensured that the shots only managed to graze her.
Okay! Damn, these Agency girls are good. I'm the Level 5 here and even though I've tapped into my trump card, I'm not the one dealing the most damage against our opponent. Mikoto thought as she capitalized on Kashiwagi-san's focus being on the Giarraputo cyborgs to fire off a lightning bolt at the Incarnation.
First, Matsumura-san tricks her into talking to her and thus allowing her Esper ability to activate and filter her out of Kashiwagi-san's perception which she then exploits to kite around her and hit her from the flank. And now they exploit the weakness in Kashiwagi-san's heat effect ability after figuring it out from one use to score a few good hits? Calling them good might be an understatement.
Mikoto's glowing mental appraisal of Johansson-san and her sisters was punctuated by her lightning blasting straight through Kashiwagi-san's flaming circle and slamming into the Incarnation. Normally such a bolt would have only enough power to shock a target, but Mikoto was currently being powered up by her backpack and with the additional power it offered, she'd amped the bolt up to the point that it was more akin to one of [Meltdowner]'s Particle Waveform High-Speed Cannons than the standard lightning she usually flung around. It thus had enough kinetic force behind it that it actually sent Kashiwagi-san flying straight into and through a wall. Or three.
"A little excessive, no? Misaka-sama?" Ogino-san asked with a wince as they all took a breather and looked in the direction where Mikoto had sent their opponent flying.
Before Mikoto could reply, Hilshire-san shouted a warning. "Watch out!"
That and the [Railgun]'s electromagnetic sense spiking were the only warnings that Kashiwagi-san gave them before shooting a massive laser their way.
"Move!" Someone Mikoto didn't catch shouted.
Thankfully, heat was just another expression of the electromagnetic force and whatever magic bullshit was behind Kashiwagi-san's powers didn't change that, so the laser was still an electromagnetic phenomenon. A phenomenon that Mikoto could manipulate with her Electromastery and redirect safely away from herself and her allies.
Reaching out to the electromagnetic waves, Mikoto grunted with effort in an attempt to redirect the attack. It was not easy whatsoever! Kashiwagi-san's laser was ten, no, a hundred times more powerful than anything the Number 6 could have pumped out. And Mikoto wasn't even sure if she was exaggerating with that observation.
Despite that, she managed in the end. Somehow. And the massive laser beam shot skyward, blasting a hole straight through the floors above and the roof of the university building they were fighting in and into the upper atmosphere. Mikoto wasn't paying attention, but she'd bet it hit the thermosphere before it lost its coherency.
But as scarily powerful as the laser was, that was frankly not Mikoto's biggest worry at the moment. That honor went to the way Kashiwagi-san just used the nearest portion of the flames next to Mikoto as a medium for her to teleport in. Considering she'd bathed the battlefield in fire even before she'd first stepped foot onto it, this let her appear practically right next to Mikoto. A sudden appearance that caused the [Railgun]'s spine to tingle, nervous sweat to roll down her face, and her adrenaline to spike.
"So this is the source of a good chunk of your power, huh?" The physically pristine but now mostly naked Kashiwagi-san, most of her clothes having been burned off by Mikoto's super lightning bolt, said as she reached out towards Mikoto's backpack reactor with her hand shaped like a claw.
"Misaka-sama! Ditch the backpack!" Johansson-san shouted in warning. Thankfully, Mikoto didn't need the warning. She could tell that Kashiwagi-san was gunning for it all on her own and so had already hit the emergency release button for the harness that kept it secured to her back the moment the Incarnation began reaching towards it.
She combined this with a desperate dive away from the pack that she helped along by using her Electromastery to attract her to some rebar in a wall in the direction she wanted to go thus allowing her to move much more quickly. Even with all that she only barely avoided being burned as Kashiwagi-san's reaching hand was surrounded by flames in the shape of a giant claw as she swiped it at Mikoto's reactor backpack, disintegrating the thing in a single blow.
"Hey! That's a prototype, you know! Replacing it won't be easy!" Mikoto shouted indignantly as she rolled back to her feet whilst the Agency girls covered her with bursts of frankly useless gunfire aimed the Incarnation's way.
"You think I care, you privileged ojou-sama!?" The Magician snarled as ignoring the hail of lead directed her way, she plowed forward to continue her assault.
"Hey! Who are you calling privileged!? I might go to Tokiwadai, but I'm a perfectly normal girl. I'm not an ojou-sama!" Mikoto shot back defensively as she began hurling static bolts at the Incarnation, only to be shocked when the older girl just conjured some kind of ornate shield decorated with the designs of some kind of cross between a firebird and a dragon which was made of fire, because everything she used seemed to be made of fire, that orbited around her and deflected all of the electricity that was shot at her.
"Oh? As if I care whether you attended Tokiwadai or not!" Kashiwagi-san angrily clarified. "No, all the Espers of Academy City are living in undeserved privilege in my opinion! They get superhuman powers and can live in the luxury of their utopian city whereas I had to go through hell! Become an emotionless automaton! Accidentally kill everyone I loved! All for powers I never wanted!"
Mikoto felt a swell of sympathy surge within her for the other girl. Especially as she doubled over and began to weep as she finished her rant, but more importantly…
As their opponent sobbed, seemingly forgetting they were even there, Mikoto glanced at Johansson-san and asked, "Is it just me or does it seem like the more she uses her power, the more emotional she gets?"
Johansson-san nodded. "Based on my observations and what my sisters back at the Agency have found out about Incarnations? That's how things work for them. Outside of the times that they use their powers, their ability to feel emotions is practically non-existent and they are essentially automatons driven purely by logic."
Seki-san chimed in, "Is she a Demon Tamer?"
Johansson-san shook her head, "She isn't, but her ability to channel and summon the power of Kagutsuchi is close enough for the Tamers apparently."
"And for me," Kashiwagi-san said as she straightened, her voice once more the monotone she had used when she first made her appearance. It seemed like her crying jag had reset whatever twisted restraints on her emotions her powers had shackled her with. "They pay well enough to earn my loyalty."
Wait! Her loyalty is bought? Then that me-
Before Mikoto could even finish her thought process, Johansson-san was already acting on the revelation.
"If that's the case, then how well must the City pay you to buy out your contract?"
Kashiwagi-san paused at this and tilted her head to the side in consideration for a moment before replying.
"The completion bonus for my current contract is $100 million US Dollars. Between my monthly salary and the varying kill bonuses I receive for eliminating targets, I usually earn $10 million a month. Double that and I will defect."
Johansson-san winced. Apparently that was too much for her. Frankly, it was too much for Mikoto too and that was factoring in the money, which she could not touch until she became a legal adult, she was now earning from Eden Crop. But, Mikoto had someone who could afford it on speed dial.
"Hey, just give me a moment. I need to make a quick call." Mikoto said, fishing out her overheated phone.
Kashiwagi-san looked at Mikoto skeptically, but confidently gestured for her to proceed.
Next to her Johansson-san sighed and asked, "Are you really going to call her?"
Mikoto nodded and made the call.
The phone barely rang twice before Oyafune-sama picked up the call. Thank Science for that.
"Yes, Misaka-chan, how can I help you? Aren't you supposed to be in the field?"
"Yes, I am, Oyafune-sama." Mikoto hastily replied and was pleased to see the Incarnation react to the mention of the Director's name. Apparently the fire user knew who she was and that she could likely meet the price she was demanding. "And we, uh, kinda need your help. You see we've come up against an Incarnation-"
"Kashiwagi Mai-san is working with Atlus after all?" Oyafune-sama said with a tired sigh. "I had hoped that the intel was wrong."
"Well, she's right here." Mikoto replied, not even surprised that the Director knew what an Incarnation was or which of said special Magicians they were up against. "And she's offering to defect but-"
"But she's demanding an exorbitant price?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
Oyafune-sama sighed, "Misaka-chan, please hand the phone over to Kashiwagi-san."
Warily, Mikoto obliged and held the device out to the Magician.
Kashiwagi-san took it from her with an unconcerned air and rapidly began speaking to Oyafune-sama.
Mikoto exchanged a look with Johansson-san and the other Agency girls.
"What do you think? Will Oyafune-sama do it?" Mikoto asked the group.
"She will. If not to save us from a fight we may not win, then due to Kashiwagi-san's difficult past and situation. That woman has a bleeding heart. There isn't a person with a sob story that's crossed her path that she hasn't gone out of her way to help."
Mikoto nodded in agreement.
"Oi, Ojou-sama!" Kashiwagi-san called out, getting Mikoto's attention.
I'm not an Ojou-sama, damnit! Mikoto couldn't help but think reactively.
She let none of her irritation show as the high schooler handed the phone back to her however. The situation was delicate enough as it was, she didn't want to set the powder keg that was the Incarnation off. So she just warily accepted her phone, which after being subjected to Kashiwagi-san's inhumanly high body temperature was looking worse for wear and ready to be scrapped soon.
"So, are we still enemies?"
The brown haired woman shook her head. "Nope, it seems we're on the same side now. Try not to slow me down."
Mikoto and the Agency girls breathed a sigh of relief. If the fight kept going, they probably would've managed a win. Somehow. But it wouldn't have been easy and would've probably come with some kind of injury. An opponent of Kashiwagi-san's caliber was not someone who you got into a fight against without coming away without at least a third degree burn or two.
In light of that, having the opportunity to avoid a fight altogether was a massive relief. Especially since the price for it was not being paid by them. It was about time that the Directors paid the bill for keeping the City safe themselves!
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
And there we have Mikoto running around AC to put out as many fires as she can. She's learning that Naru and Ruiko do a lot around AC, especially regarding Magicians. Especially them. At the same time, she's also dealing with the loneliness she's feeling without her Teammates/buddies/kohai there when she could be out helping them, it really builds up her character in my opinion. Along with her having to work with a lot of different Dark Siders and get to know them more.
Nameless: If you're wondering why we gave Russia so much credit in this fic, considering what contemporary events (aka the Ukraine War) has shown about its military capabilities, recall this is set in an AU of our world. RL!Russia's capability does not really factor into TOT!Russia's. More importantly, we want to give events a degree of danger and a good way to do that is to give the City's enemy (aka Russia) capabilities that threaten it. These are the reasons why we made TOT!Russia as capable as it is.
My favorite part has to be just Mikoto talking about her two fellow Level 5s and her relationship with them. While in my OG version of ACUB; Naru and Mikoto were very sisterly, in this fic it's grown to be the same, but in the more butting heads ways of being sisters, which I love frankly.
Nameless: As for her relationship with Ruiko, it's a little more distant. Oh, don't get me wrong, they are still super close. As Mikoto said, she'd trust her with her life. However, unlike Naru who is rather lacking in familial support, surrogate or otherwise, Ruiko has that in spades. As a result, Mikoto hasn't needed to fill the sisterly niche with Ruiko like she has with Naru. They are still besties though!
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!