A Certain Scientific Enigma
Chapter I: Academy City - City_of_Science.
"God damn it, of course this would happen to me of all people!"
A boy of about highschool age with abnormally spiky black hair yelled as he was running down the sidewalk, looking behind him would make one understand his situation. Behind the boy were six guys of about the same age chasing after him while yelling threats and profanities.
"Get back here you scrawny bastard!" The boy's six pursuers who could only be described as delinquents and they were quite pissed off for some unknown reason.
"After we're done with you they're gonna be finding bits of your body all over the damn city!"
Of course it was early in the morning and everyone was making their daily commutes to work and school, so why wasn't anyone stepping in to help the poor boy? The answer was quite simple really, no one had the courage to help him or just didn't care. For some reason though, nobody felt that the boy's life was in any real danger.
"At this rate I won't be able to lose them without being late for class! I am already at risk of repeating this year, I can't afford to miss any more classes."
Yes, the boy's concern was not about his well being and safety, but about his attendance at school. Many people would believe that he had his priorities backwards, but he believed that his life would be in more danger if he were to be late for class and end up failing the semester. To avoid such a fate he decided the quickest way to lose his assailants would be to run through the maze-like alleyways in between the buildings.
He turned into the nearest alley with his pursuers close behind him. After a few seconds, the people watching the whole ordeal then heard a crash from inside the alley accompanied by the sound and glow of electricity coming from the alley, this was followed by the yelling of a comedic phrase that didn't suit the situation at all.
"Damn my rotten luuuuuck!"
As the sounds of hurried footsteps grew fainter and fainter everyone returned to their own business, with no care whatsoever for the fate of that unfortunate spiky haired boy.
On the opposite side of the street from the alley the boy ran into, a girl stood with an amused smile on her face. She had short black and red hair that reached just above her shoulders, blood red eyes, and was wearing a school uniform that consisted of a short gray skirt, white short sleeve button down shirt, and a brown blazer, along with black stockings that faded into red towards the bottom and a black choker around her girl then came to her own realization.
"Class starts in 5 minutes and I am still 10 minutes away from school and the system scan is today which I definitely can't miss. Oh well that won't be a problem for me." The girl thought to herself as she shrugged her shoulders. "She seemed to be having fun though, but that won't last when she ends up being late for class, it's her fault after all."
She sighed, "Never a dull moment in this city." She said aloud and with that her body was quickly distorted like a glitch in a video game and she was gone, with nobody around her noticing the strange occurrence.
Academy City, created from the underdeveloped land west of Tokyo, is an independent city-state that is about one third the size of Tokyo. The city is surrounded by massive walls, and for good reason, the technology in Academy City is 20 to 30 years ahead of the rest of the world, so it is only natural that it is well protected. With a population of about 2.3 million people it is by no means a small town, but one of the things that sets this city apart from others is the fact that eighty percent of that population is made up of students.
As the name suggests the city is filled with elementary schools, middle schools, highschools, and universities, as well as many research institutions and laboratories. Aside from the futuristic technology and advanced education system, the most amazing fact about the city is that the students partake in the power development program. An experiment the students undergo when they take up residence within the city. This program utilizes the introduction of specific drugs, electrical stimuli, and sound waves directly into the brain to bring forth the students personal reality and manifest it into the physical world. This physical manifestation is known as an AIM field or "an involuntary movement". The students who undergo this program are known as Espers.
Children are filled with many delusions when they are young. They play as superheroes, cops and robbers, and many other games where they delude themselves to take on a specific role and at the time they believe it. What if there was a way for those delusions to be made into reality? Say you had a box of chocolates and you were asked to guess what would come out if you took one out. You would guess that a piece of chocolate would come out. Now say a child was asked the same question and they said a skittle would come out, that would be impossible. But what if a skittle did come out? This is what an Esper is, someone who can use their own delusions or personal reality to affect the larger world around them.
These Espers are categorized into six levels, with level 0's having no power, up to the level 5's who possess the greatest power in the city. Only 8 Espers have reached this prestigious level. But there are currently only 7 now.
In a standard looking school hallway a girl with blood red eyes appeared in the middle of the hallway out of nowhere.
"So I went from being several minutes late to being several minutes early, how crazy is that." The girl said aloud to nobody in particular. She was just outside her first period class and decided to go in and sit down so she could rest her eyes a bit before class starts.
There was nobody in the class yet so she simply walked to her seat in the back corner of the class next to the window and sat down.
"Now I just have to wait for class to begin." She thought to herself without much emotion. To her, class was extremely boring. She was endowed with extreme intellect since she was born, many called her a child prodigy and they would be right. She would never brag about her intelligence to anyone but she was still annoyed by how easy her school's curriculum was, and the other students noticed her attitude and were annoyed with it. Since Tokiwadai middle school was one of the most prestigious schools in Academy City, the other girls who attended the school had to work hard to get in and were jealous of how natural everything came to her.
"Ha, even though this school is full of sheltered rich girls they are still able to feel jealous of someone who has something they don't, how interesting." She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the classroom doors opening and the other students entering.
Everyone eventually took their seats and their homeroom teacher walked into the room to take attendance and explain the schedule for the day. As the teacher was calling off the names of the students she called a certain student.
"Mikoto Misaka", no reply.
"Though I'm not really surprised she is late I would have expected her to be on time on such an important day as this." The teacher spoke in disappointment.
Just as she finished talking the door slid open with great force and revealed a girl standing in the hallway panting extensively. The new girl had short chestnut brown hair that reached to her shoulders, a hair pin on the right side of her head, some of her hair pushed behind her left ear, and dark brown eyes.
"huh...huh...huh, sorry I'm late teacher. I got caught up in something on my way here. She said sincerely.
" I understand, but for future reference make sure you arrive in a more timely manner from now on or I might have to have a chat with the dorm supervisor."
At this the new girl now known as Mikoto Misaka stiffened and one could see a slight hint of fear in her brown eyes.
"That won't be necessary, I will be more careful from now on."
"Good, now take your seat Misaka so we can finish attendance and go through today's events."
"Yes ma'am." She replied and walked over to her seat that was in the back row right next to the girl with blood red eyes.
"Wow, Mikoto got here faster than I thought she would. Well knowing her I shouldn't be surprised she was able to make it." She thought to herself looking at the exhausted girl through the side of her eye.
The teacher continued through the attendance with no other absences and she reached the last name on the list.
"Zenith Stryker."
"Here." The red eyed girl stood up announcing the fact she was present before sitting back down, in her seat.
" Perfect, everyone is here so we won't have any issues with make ups." The teacher said with gratefulness.
"As you all should know summer break will be starting soon so as usual you will be having your system scans today." At this the class got excited and the other girls began talking about how they couldn't wait to see how much or if they improved their abilities.
"Settle down, I know you are all excited for this but we need to go over what you need to do first." At this the students grew quiet waiting for instructions.
"You are going to change into your gym clothes and then head to the fields where the organizers will then call each of you to your designated testing locations where you will complete your system scan."
"That is all, and I wish you all good luck."
"Thank you teacher" the class said in unison, bowing as they took their leave and left for the locker room.
On the field the students waited for their names to be called so they could take their system scan. A system scan is how Academy City periodically measures improvements in the students Esper abilities. Depending on how much improvement an Esper shows they might be moved to the next level.
Stryker was standing alone wearing her gym uniform that consisted of white and red shorts and a sleeveless top of the same color. She was waiting for her name to be called when a certain girl approached her from behind.
"Hey Zenith!" the girl greeted in a happy tone, walking up and standing beside her.
"Hey Mikoto, you were cutting it pretty close today. I'm surprised you were able to make it as soon as you did." She said in a teasing manner.
"What are you talking about, I wasn't that late." She said with embarrassment written all over her face.
"Well then you must have taken care of those thugs really fast then huh." Stryker said with a grin on her face.
"WAIT YOU SAW! You didn't even bother to help me get to class on time!" Misaka said, embarrassed and annoyed.
"I'm pretty sure the whole street saw the lightning coming from the alley." At this, Misaka's face turned bright red from embarrassment.
"I do feel bad for the guys that ran in there and met you though, speaking of which, why did you electrocute them anyways? I doubt you would just shock random people like that."
"O-Of course I wouldn't, That Spiky haired idiot ran into me and continued running without seeing if I was even okay so I shot some electricity at him, but he got away." She said with a pout on her face.
"It's unusual for someone to be able to get away from you, anyway, what about the other six guys? Stryker asked, looking for a conclusion to Misaka's story.
"When I was on the ground they saw me and thought that they could hit on me and get me to go with them." She said with an annoyed look on her face.
"Probably the biggest mistake of their lives. Anyway I shocked all of them unconscious and realized that class started soon so I had to jump across the rooftops to get here on time."
"Wow you were able to make it here quite fast doing that." Stryker praised.
"Oh please, nothing is fast compared to you Zenith. Teleportation is one of the most amazing abilities in the city." Misaka said with a tinge of jealousy in her voice.
"How many times do I have to tell you my ability isn't teleportation. And your ability is nothing to sneeze at either."
"I know it isn't teleportation but that is the closest thing I can compare to that one skill of yours. As much as I hate to say this about her, Kuroko's teleportation doesn't even hold a candle to what you do."
"Really you have known me for 6 years Mikoto, and teleportation is the closest thing you can compare to my ability?" Stryker said, raising an eyebrow.
"I don't know, I just don't understand your ability at all no matter how many times you explain it to me." She said with a defeated look on her face.
Before they could continue their conversation the announcement speakers turned on.
"Zenith Stryker, please proceed to testing area Alpha, and Mikoto Miaska proceed to area Beta."
"Well I guess that is our cue," Misaka said.
"Guess so."
"Well good luck, see ya after this is over then."
"Yeah, good luck," Stryker replied.
And with that the two friends went their separate ways to see where they stand in this city of science.
Stryker entered the testing area and looked around. The area was about 300 feet in diameter with paint on the dirt at set intervals with distance measurements. At the center there was a circle with several white cubes next to it and she was instructed to stand inside the circle. Looking to her left she saw tables with a ton of machines and measuring equipment. Her eyes narrowed and felt anger and disgust when she saw the researchers operating the machines but ignored it. Through a megaphone she heard the researchers giving her instructions.
"Miss Stryker, we are going to have you perform three tasks so we can accurately measure the change in your AIM field since the last scan." Their voice sounded very analytical, like they were just doing a routine check up on a machine.
"First, use your ability to transport seven of the cubes to the designated locations throughout the testing zone. Begin whenever you are ready." At this the researchers prepared to gather information on what happens next.
"Are they serious? Aside from them not telling me where the designated locations are, this is basically a teleporter test. Besides I have already located the underground markers for where the cubes should go. Might as well get this over with." Stryker sighed and instantly moved all seven cubes to the designated location using calculations that would throw off some of the greatest minds on the planet but were child's play for her.
"Speed- 0.000001 seconds. Precision- off by 0.0000001 millimeters, negligible." The machine said via text to speech, at this the scientist let out disbelieving gasps at the speed and precision of Stryker's ability and this was only the first test.
"Well then, Miss Stryker, we will begin with the second test. For the next test use your ability to Conceal yourself from as much detection as you can and walk as far as you can to the edge of the testing area. We will be using various sensory equipment to detect you. Begin when you are ready."
"So now they decide to get creative, this could get tricky, if I don't account for a detection method that they are using then they can find me, and I don't know how many methods they have. I'll just activate all my concealment methods then." She said as a smirk grew across her face.
Then she disappeared. For a normal person this is all it would take to hide from them. Sure there are people that could hear her footsteps, or they could see the dirt shift under her foot or even sense the vibrations from her stepping on the ground. But Stryker made sure they couldn't use those detection methods on her. She even accounted for the researchers using radio waves to detect her and even detecting the radiation she gives off.
In short, Stryker didn't exist in the world. She made herself undetectable to every detection method she could think of, which was everything Academy City tech could do.
As the scientist waited for her to be detected by their scanners, Stryker was walking at a brisk pace to the edge of the testing arena, and in a few seconds she made it and deactivated all of her cloaking fields.
The researchers took their notes after realizing she finished the test when the detectors went off and they saw her at the end of the testing area yawning. A few of the researchers were clenching their teeth in anger as they were getting annoyed at Stryker's attitude towards them.
One of the scientists then announced the final test.
"Alright Miss Stryker for the final test return to the center of the testing area" Stryker complied and instantly teleported herself to the center and the researcher continued.
"Now then for this final test, projectiles will be launched at you at increasing speeds and force and your task is to stop them from hitting you. We will stop the test when either you are hit or the projectiles reach a state where they will cause extreme or lethal harm. We have medical personnel on site to provide medical attention should it be necessary.
"Well this is gonna be boring again." She thought, realizing that the last test was the most creative they could get when measuring her ability.
"Raise your hand when you are ready to begin the test." Stryker raised her hand instantly and the test began.
Several contraptions that looked like missile pods came up out of the ground. Stryker noticed these when she first located the markers for the first test. The pods then opened and began launching rods at her when they came into contact with her AIM field they stopped in mid air before falling straight to the ground. She concluded that the rods were made of a soft material that would crumple when it hits a target to minimize damage, convenient for a test like this.
As the test continued, more and more rods were getting launched at her with more force behind them as well. Eventually her entire vision was obscured by the amount of projectiles coming at her, and at her feet lay a pile of hundreds of rods in perfect shape, as if they didn't hit her at all.
"Damn I'm getting bored, have we reached the lethal stage yet?" She thought to herself with no care for the potentially dangerous situation she could be in. Then she heard yelling from over where the researchers were.
"What do you mean they are malfunctioning!" one of the senior researchers yelled.
"The weapon system isn't responding to our external inputs and it will continue to fire projectiles faster and harder until it runs out of rods."
Before the senior researcher could reply they all heard a deep bass-like sound followed by a loud screech.
When they looked back over to the testing area they found Stryker standing in the center and the missile pods at the ends of the area were completely gone without a trace. The only thing that was there were black tear like shapes in what would have been the middle of the pods and those disappeared in moments.
Stryker looked over at the researchers with an indifferent look in her blood red eyes and said
"Are we done here, 'cause I'm bored."
All of the adults present felt a chill go down their spine and then the Machine spoke up.
"Zenith Stryker, overall ranking level 5."
Stryker shrugged her shoulders and walked off back to the school to change back into her regular uniform, with the researcher's gazes following her until she was out of view.
As Stryker was walking back to the locker room she passed several other students who looked at her with disgust as she walked by, she didn't pay any attention to them though.
Then everyone heard an explosion and saw massive columns of water rising from the pool area, of course Stryker knew who was the cause of this.
"Seems like Mikoto is going all out in her system scan." She then continued walking towards the locker room, completely ignoring the girls who were staring at her moments before who fell down from being freaked out by the explosions.
After arriving at the locker room Stryker began to change out of her gym clothes and put on her normal uniform, opting to skip taking a shower because she deemed it unnecessary due to not even sweating during the system scan. Just as she finished changing Stryker noticed a familiar presence enter the locker room.
"How did your system scan go Zenith?" the girl said in a friendly tone.
"One of the tests malfunctioned and the idiot researchers didn't know what to do so I took care of it. But other than that same as usual, ranked level 5. How about yours?"
"Same as usual, how many people did the explosions freak out?"
"Two girls who were walking past me hit the ground when they heard the explosions." Stryker replied with a smug smirk on her face.
"It's annoying that that is the only way they can accurately measure my ability, but can't do much about it." Misaka replied, shrugging her shoulders.
"Anyway, Kuroko told me that a judgment member she works with wanted to meet me so she organized a time and place for me to meet her and I wante-"
"No..."
"I didn't even finish." Misaka responded with a pout on her face.
"I already knew what you were gonna say, and my answer is no." Stryker said with a sharp look in her eyes.
After hearing Stryker's adamant refusal Misaka decided to try another approach to get the girl to agree to come with her. She walked up behind Stryker, put her hands on her shoulders and leaned in close next to her and began to talk to her in a soft and caring voice.
"Look Zenith, I know that you hate being around and talking with people but you can't just avoid the entire population you know. And I know that you have a hard time trusting and not thinking that people just have bad intentions but I will be there too so you don't need to worry." She said with a soft smile on her face.
Zenith looked at the other girl and muttered under her breath "Ok,fine, I'll go with you."
"Great! Kuroko scheduled us all to meet up at Joseph's in an hour so just make sure you are there." Misaka said with a bright smile.
"Ok i'll be there."
And with that Misaka left Stryker to head to the showers to clean herself off leaving Stryker sitting in the locker room by herself.
"Seriously, how is she so good at getting me to agree to things?... Who am I kidding of course I know why." Stryker thought to herself with a light blush on her cheeks.
She got up from where she was sitting and just as she was about to leave the locker room she heard Misaka yell from the showers accompanied by the sound of crackling electricity. "GET OFF ME KUROKO, YOU FREAKING PERVERT!" Stryker then left the locker room closing the door behind her thinking about how to prepare for the meet up in an hour.
Misaka and Kuroko were sitting at one of the larger booths at Joseph's waiting for the others to arrive. The two of them were sitting on the same side with Kuroko on the inside. Misaka began to tap her fingers on the table at a quickening pace. "Are you worried that Stryker won't show up, Sissy?" Kuroko asked in her usual tone of voice.
"It's not that, I know she will show up but she is just taking a long time, and your friend should be here in a few minutes." Misaka replied.
"Does it really matter if she shows up late or not, as long as she eventually shows up isn't that all that matters?"
"Yeah I guess you're right, especially if it's her we are talking about."
"Sissy, I still don't understand why Stryker is so opposed to socializing with other people. It can't be healthy for her that you are literally the only person she opens herself up to, Stryker and I have known each other for about a month now and she still barely talks to me."
"She is...complicated to say the least, but rushing her to be social would be an extremely bad idea so the best we can do is just ease her into being in more social situations, and today will be the first step." Misaka said, looking at Shirai with a smile. She then noticed two girls passing by the window, they both had black hair and one had a hairband made of an assortment of flowers, they noticed her as well. Shirai noticing Misaka looking out the window, turned around and saw her Judgement colleague, she then waved at them from behind the window telling them to get inside.
The two new girls arrived at the table and took their seats with the flower girl sitting on the inside . The shorter girl with short hair and flower hairband was obviously excited and was practically jumping in her seat. The other girl with long hair and a flower hairpin on one side of her head however was looking at Misaka with a critical stare as if trying to read her mind but Misaka didn't notice. Shirai then spoke up to the two newcomers. "We are still waiting on a friend of ours to show up so we should wait a few more minutes before introducing ourselves so we don't need to do it twice."
As if on cue, to the side of the booth a vertical black line formed from the ground to a bit above head height and then split open into an oval with red light flashing around inside and a girl with short black and red hair and red eyes stepped out with the mysterious portal closing behind her. The girl then sat down next to Misaka and looked around, noticing the people at the table staring at her.
"What?" she said in her usual monotone voice.
"Don't you think that was a bit extra Zenith?" Misaka deadpanned.
"I guess?" Stryker replied.
Shirai then spoke up "Well now that we are all here we should get to the introductions. After getting through everyone Stryker was the last one that needed to introduce themselves. "I'm Zenith Stryker, nice to meet you two." she said in a calm voice.
"Nice to meet you Stryker." the two new girls replied. Stryker learned that their names were Kazari Uiharu and Ruiko Saten. She took note that Saten didn't seem like she wanted to be there, but for a different reason than herself. Stryker herself was feeling very uneasy, as she usually felt when with other people, but she wasn't letting it show on her face.
Uiharu couldn't contain her excitement any longer and began to barrage Misaka with questions about being a level 5 and going to the prestigious school that is Tokiwadai. Misaka was doing her best to keep up with the questions, but Stryker could tell that even she was having trouble keeping up. Uiharu then turned to her and began to ask her questions.
"So what is your ability Stryker and what level are you? How did you meet Misaka and Shirai?!" She asked with her eyes practically sparkling.
"Uhh… M-my ability is Warp Gate, and my level is 4, and for how I met these two, it's quite a long story. She replied in an unsure tone while lying about her ability and level. Misaka and Shirai both looked at her.
"Zenith and I have known each other for about 6 years and We have known Kuroko for about a month." Misaka added to take the attention off of Stryker.
"Wow, so you two must be really close, right?" Saten asked.
"Yeah, you could say we are close." Misaka replied, glancing at Stryker.
"Wait if you 3 all go to the same school then why are you not wearing the school uniform Stryker?" Saten asked.
The others took note of her attire, Stryker was wearing a tight fitting black top that exposed her stomach, an unzipped white jacket with red accents, black short shorts, and her black and red thigh highs with black and red street shoes.
"Oh, well I'm kinda known for getting into trouble so to preserve the school's reputation they don't want me wearing the school uniform outside of school." Stryker said as she scratched her cheek.
The looks she got from Uiharu and Saten gave the impression that they didn't 100% buy her story
"Shit, I can't have them find out the real reason so I'll just leave it at that. It wasn't entirely a lie."
Before the conversation could go any further Misaka intervened.
"Well now that we are all acquainted how about we all go out and walk around, how does that sound?" She asked the group
"Yeah that works for us." Uiharu said with Saten nodding in approval.
The group of five then paid for the drinks they ordered and left Joseph's.
The girls were walking around the city looking for something to do with Misaka and Shirai in the front, Uiharu and Saten in the middle and Stryker in the back. Stryker was lost in her own thoughts as they walked.
"They seem normal, like really normal. Uiharu seems like your typical fan girl who is obsessed about high class living, and Saten is just average in all regards and probably a level zero by the way she was observing Mikoto."
She was listening to the two converse about their new friends.
"Misaka is so amazing isn't she? I bet she is way different than how you were imagining her to be, right Saten?" Uiharu said with a triumphant tone in her voice.
"Yeah, I guess she is a lot more normal and down to Earth than I expected. I expected her to be some arrogant rich girl, but I guess my usually perfect intuition was proven wrong."
"Stryker seems pretty cool as well, right?" Saten asked.
"She is really cool also, did you see how that portal just appeared out of nowhere and she just casually stepped out of it, that was so amazing!" Uiharu responded, gushing over Stryker's use of her power. Misaka then spoke up from the front of the group.
"Hey guys, there is a crepe stand just over here. How about we get some." The girls nodded in approval. "Ok let's wait at this bench here and I'll go and get us some, who wants to come with me?" Misaka asked.
I'll go with you" Saten declared. After hearing what everyone wanted except for Stryker, who didn't want one, the two girls got in line to get the creps.
After conversing for a bit the two ordered the creps for everyone and Misaka paid for them. They returned to the others with creps in tow and passed them out and began to eat. Since Stryker wasn't eating anything she occupied herself by looking around and noticed that a bank had its security shutters closed even though it was still business hours, which piqued her interest.
"That Bank over there is being robbed right now." Stryker said casually.
"Huh, what?" Everyone else replied in confusion.
"That Bank over there is boarded up when it should be opened, there are 7 people in there on their knees and 4 other individuals standing up, three are the Thieves and one is the teller and they are handing over the money to the thieves right now." She stated as if giving a report on an experiment.
"How are you sure?" Uiharu asked.
"Don't worry about it Uiharu, call Anti-Skill and-" Before Shirai could finish talking a loud explosion rang out as the metal shutters exploded outwards. The shockwave knocked Saten and Uiharu over and freaked out the other students passing by. Uiharu and Saten got back up and the group saw 3 males running out of the building and heading to a car.
Uiharu and Shirai put on the Judgement armbands and began doing their job as Judgement officers. Uiharu called Anti-Skill and Shirai teleported over to apprehend the criminals.
"What can I do?" Misaka asked, looking for a way to help even though she knows Shirai doesn't like it when she gets involved in Judgement issues.
Just as Uiharu was about to respond, a lady in a uniform came up to them.
"Judgment, we need help. We are missing a child from our tour bus." The lady said, worry evident in her voice.
"On it! We will help you find the lost child." Uiharu responded and turned around to face Saten, Misaka, and Stryker. "Lets get looking for the child, try to stay away from where Shirai is dealing with the criminals."
"I was originally planning on not doing anything but finding a lost child in a situation like this is something I can't ignore I guess." Stryker thought to herself.
"I can take care of this, I'll find them" She spoke up with her usual tone. She then used her ability to locate the child in the space around them. She found the child but noticed that there was a larger figure next to the child, when she checked on Shirai she noticed that she took out one of the criminals and was dealing with the second one, so that means...
"Shit!"
"The third criminal is taking the child hostage." After saying that she disappeared, and the others began to look around for where she teleported to and found her standing on the side of the road, they also noticed the criminal standing about 10 feet away from her holding the child trying to bring the boy with him.
"If you know what's good for you, let the kid go." Stryker said calmly.
"Who the hell are you?" the criminal replied in an annoyed tone, he was dressed like the rest of his accomplices, all black leather with spikes and a bandana covering his face.
"It doesn't matter who I am, just make this easy for yourself and let the kid go."
"Like hell! If we have a hostage then it vastly limits what Anti-Skill can do to apprehend us and besides, I doubt you can do anything."
"Alright, hard way it is then." She said with amusement as a smile formed on her face, and before he knew what happened the kid disappeared and he was sent flying backwards and crashed into a car parked about 20 feet back on the side of the street. The girl didn't even move an inch.
"What the hell! That hurt like a bitch, she's gonna pay for that!" The criminal got back up and got into the car he crashed into which happened to be the group's get-away car. He floored the gas heading straight towards Stryker.
Stryker was comforting the kid after teleporting him next to her when she heard yelling from Uiharu.
"Stryker, look out!"
All she did was hold the boy close to her body and the car crashed into her… or it should have, but she and the boy were both unscathed with not even a hair on either of them out of place. After teleporting the kid to Uiharu she then stood up and turned around facing the car which was still moving forward but at the same time not going anywhere.
"Alright you piece of shit." Stryker said, her voice cold as ice. "I wouldn't really care if you just tried to run me over but you didn't care at all that you were gonna run the kid down too." She again didn't do anything but the car then exploded, not in a destructive way but in a way where it looked like the car just disassembled itself. At this point the guy was on his rear scooting away in a pile of car parts as Stryker continued to approach him.
"You know what the thing I hate most in the world is? Here I'll tell you, it's people like you who disregard the lives of innocent people and take advantage of that innocence. So I'm gonna teach you a lesson you piece of shit ." She said with a sadistic smile and narrowed eyes.
"Zenith stop!" A voice from right behind her yelled, it was Misaka. She put a hand on Stryker's shoulder and her face softened in response.
"Nevermind I got bored." Stryker said, with her usual calm tone.
"Wait, I just now realized it! You're Zenith Stryker, the second ranked level 5 "Enigma", The Demon of Tokiwadai! You freak do you even know how much of a hyp-" He didn't finish his sentence as Stryker's foot crashed down on his solar plexus with enough force to knock him unconscious.
"Asshole." Stryker said through clenched teeth. Misaka then embraced her and whispered into her ear.
"Don't worry about him, he doesn't understand anything... Nobody does."
The Chaos finally calmed down, Shirai finished off the last criminal and Anti-Skill arrived to take the Delinquents and get reports from Shirai and Uiharu, the boy was returned to the bus and the tour guide thanked them all for their help. After Anti-Skill left the scene the girls got back together and Saten and Uiharu looked at Stryker.
"What was that guy talking about, I thought I heard him call you the second ranked level 5, Enigma?" Uiharu asked. Stryker Had a conflicted look on her face as she internally debated if she should tell them the truth about her identity. After a moment to debate she resolved herself and spoke up.
"He did, that is because it's true, I am Enigma, Academy City's second ranked level 5." The two girls looked at her in shock at the revelation.
"But why did you tell us that you were a level 4 then?" Saten asked her.
"I don't like people knowing i'm a level 5 and especially the specifics that i'm Enigma because of the rumors associated with me." She said looking down at the ground.
"But isn't that all they are, rumors. We dont think differently of you because of some rumors." Saten said. Stryker's head shot up and wide eyes looked at the two girls who she thought for sure would hate her when they found out who she really was.
"And we don't hold it against you that you lied to us, because we understand why you did it. We just want you to know that you don't need to be afraid or hide things around us!" Uiharu said with a smile as Saten nodded in agreement.
"Thanks, it really means a lot to me that you guys think that." Stryker said with tears building at the corners of her eyes.
"See, I told you they were gonna be good people, Zenith." Misaka told the girl.
"Yeah I guess you did." Stryker said with a smile that underneath hid an ocean of darkness that nobody noticed except for Misaka …
"If only they knew that the rumors aren't even close to as bad as what actually happened…"