Trinity of Tokiwadai

by Engineer4Ever

Three very different girls. Each a powerful Esper in the miraculous city of superhumans, Academy City. Together these heroines and their friends explore the wonder and mystery of their City and its Dark Side as the Trinity of Tokiwadai.

74. Chapter 74

Disclaimer : I don't own Naruto or Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/Toaru Majutsu no Index

The Trinity of Tokiwadai

Chapter Seventy Four: The Trouble with Doppelgängers

Beta:

---

It was late at night on an uneventful autumn day and Kuriba Ryouko was busy refining the schematics for her mother's cybernetics in her lab in the Eden Corp HQ in School District Three. Normally, the district housed accommodations for authorized outsiders but somehow Kiyama-sensei and Kaiba-sama had managed to purchase one of its skyscrapers for their company headquarters. Supposedly, it was so that their foreign investors could more easily drop by and whatnot, but all Ryouko got from it was that Eden Corp was super well placed. It mustn't have been easy to get around the City's zoning regulations.

Her efforts, both her wandering mind and her work on the schematics, were both pulled up short when suddenly an alert on her computer went off. It was like a fire alarm siren and just kept howling, causing her to pale as she slowly, hesitantly turned to face the machine's monitor dreading all the while what she'd find when she did.

She knew full well what the alert was for. And that it had gone off could mean nothing good.

Gulping, the middle school aged scientist saw on her computer monitor exactly what she feared: there had been a security breach at her previous employer.

"Please don't let this breach be because of what I think it is," Ryouko begged to whoever or whatever might hear her as with shaky fingers she typed away at her computer and accessed the backdoor into her previous employer's systems that Saten-sama had installed and pulled up their security feeds.

"Shit!" She cursed in a moment of uncharacteristic profanity as she saw her worst fears play out on her monitor as the hacked security feeds showed her robotic doppelgänger use her superhuman strength to make her escape from the lab.

"No, no, no! This can't be happening now!" She lamented even as she desperately looked around her work area for her phone. "It's too soon! I haven't developed a way to destroy the soul yet!"

Realizing her phone had been in her skirt pocket all this time, Ryouko hurriedly pulled it out. In her haste, she almost dropped it but with some fumbling managed to keep a hold of it. With the device firmly in hand, she dialed a familiar number with all the desperation the situation warranted.

"Hello, Kuriba-san, what is-"

"Saten-sama!" Ryouko shouted, cutting her employer off. "Help! You've got to help me!"

---

As Kuroko, Uiharu and the Trinity settled into seats scattered around their group's - She absolutely refused to call them an outfit like she knew many Dark Siders had started to. That was a Dark Sider term and she would not lower herself to embracing their lawless culture even in this small way. - command centre in the labs under the Kiyama household, Kuroko turned to the source of their late night gathering: the slightly older girl with strange striped hair, Kuriba Ryouko.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming on short notice." Saten-san said, offering them a curtsy of all things. It would've been weird if not for the fact that her yearmate was actually dressed in a fancy burgundy A-line, V-neck, knee-length formal dress whose collar was decorated by a pink translucent bowtie and had light beige three quarter illusion sleeves.

"It's no problem, though Rui-chan why the hell are you dressed so fancy anyways?" Namikaze-san asked the question everyone in their group was wondering, even the visibly panicked Kuriba-san was looking at Saten-san oddly.

"I was trying out stuff in my wardrobe when Kuriba-san called. Since it was urgent, I decided to not bother changing into something more casual before calling everyone together." Saten-san said with an elegant shrug.

"And since when did you have something like this in your wardrobe?" Onee-sama asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Aren't you more of a blouse and skirt combo kinda girl?"

"I think the dress is very cute and makes you look very pretty." Uiharu said loyally in defense of her best friend.

"Thank you, Uiharu." Saten-san said, offering Kuroko's Judgement partner a grin. "And Sempai, I am expanding my horizons a little."

"Or you're just buying into the need to be more ojou-sama like." Namikaze-san said with a sigh. "You know you don't have to take Misaki-sempai's critique quite so seriously, right?"

"Oh, I know." Saten-san said with a graceful nod. "But I find I enjoy it."

"And there's nothing wrong with being an ojou-sama! Especially when Saten-san is one now." Uiharu insisted, her eyes shining with loyal defensiveness for her best friend and satisfaction at finally having an actual ojou-sama for a friend.

Oh, Uiharu. Kurko thought with a mental sigh at her partner's obsession with all things ojou-sama.

"Well, if you're happy about it, I guess I can't fault you." Onee-sama said with a resigned sigh. "Just don't go too overboard, okay, Ruiko?"

"I won't." Saten-san agreed. "Even Shokuhou-sempai advised moderation."

"That's good to hear." Kuroko cut in. "But that's enough of the tangents for now I think. Saten-san, why did you call us here?"

"To explain that, Kuriba-san will need to give a bit of a history lesson." Saten-san said, gesturing to the girl with the two toned hair and patches of what looked like grafted on skin to step forward. "Kuriba-san, if you would?"

"Um, thank you, Saten-sama." The young scientist said with a nod. "So, um, I dunno if everyone knows who I am, so I'm-"

"Kuriba Ryouko, inventor of Indian Poker and one of the City's top cybernetics experts." Namikaze-san said with a dismissive wave of her hand even as everyone nodded. "We know who you are, so skip the introductions."

"Uh, right. Sorry." Kuriba-san said, gulping nervously. "Okay, so, um, you see, some time ago, in order to gather data to help develop cybernetic prosthesis to help my ailing mother, I participated in what was called the Total Human Cyborg Replacement Project. It was an experiment where my body was split in two and had the missing parts replaced with machinery to create two separate cyborgs."

That's possible!? Kuroko thought, her eyes widening in shock and she exchanged a look with Saten-san who just nodded.

Seriously, what can't the City do!?

"After a year of us living apart," Kuriba-san continued, oblivious to the shock her statement had caused Kuroko. "The two of us were recombined into one, with no split personalities or rejection, and retaining the memories of the time we were split apart."

"I take it you were trying to test the compatibility between the cyborg technology and the human body?" Onee-sama asked, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "To improve the prosthetics for your mother like you said?"

Kuriba-san nodded.

"And what did the lab want from the experiment?" Namikaze-san asked. "I'm betting it was more than just that."

"It was." Kuriba-san agreed. "I hadn't known it at the start, but during the course of the experiment, the lab had decided that they wanted to observe a possible side-effect - the creation of a 'soul' - and at its conclusion had assembled the removed cybernetic components into a mechanical doppelgänger, which believed herself to be me and the researchers considered to have a soul. I only learned of this doppelgänger after my own surgery to be made whole again and immediately warned the other scientists of the potential risks."

"Potential risks?" Uiharu asked, her eyes narrowed.

"I fear what might happen if the container, an imperfect, unnatural, mechanical vessel was broken. In such a circumstance, unlike in the cases of a natural body, the soul might not just pass on." Kuriba-san said ominously. "Instead, it might just be released, free to possess and seize control of anything it could come into contact with. Potentially even the entirety of Academy City."

Namikaze-san scoffed and Saten-san shook her head.

"And I betcha they laughed it off." Onee-sama said with a tired sigh. "You might be a genius researcher but saying something like that... They probably wrote what you said off as the superstitious thinking of a little girl."

"It didn't help you'd just got out of surgery and probably wasn't in the best condition." Kuroko agreed with a nod. "I can't imagine them believing you."

"Except she's right in this instance." Saten-san said, putting a reassuring hand on Kuriba-san's shoulder. "Even if her prediction is far grander than the likely reality."

"Yeah," Namikaze-san said, chiming in. "According to centuries of magical research, free souls, even artificial ones, can at best become minor phantoms. There's no way it would be as dangerous as what you came up with."

"That said, a rogue phantom in the City would still be pretty dangerous." Saten-san added.

"Exactly," Kuriba-san said, nodding in agreement. "I didn't know magic existed back then, but even then I knew a potential risk when I saw one. But unlike you guys, the lab just completely ignored my worries."

"And now, let me guess, this doppelgänger's escaped and you want our help recapturing it before that doomsday scenario of yours plays out?" Kuroko said with a sigh.

"Yes," Kuriba-san said, bowing deeply. "I have no idea what the doppelgänger, what the artificial soul, even with an undamaged vessel is capable of, but I fear whatever it is can't be good. Particularly since its mechanical body is capable of remarkable strength and speed."

"Yeah, we've already dealt with one artifical soul running amok. Let's not have another." Namikaze-san said, to confused looks from Kuroko and Uiharu. "You two were busy having some Judgement training. We had to fight an evil tree and an artificial soul wanting to become a magic god."

"Argh. Don't remind me." Onee-sama groaned. "But maybe this one is just trying to escape life as a lab rat."

"That might very well be true but it is a potentially dangerous unknown," Namikaze-san argued. "We should at least locate it and bring it into custody. For its own protection if nothing else, since I can betcha tons of people would want to get their hands on something like this."

"And this situation with the doppelgänger is what caused you to create Indian Poker?" Kuroko asked curiously as she pieced together the full context of the situation. "Were you somehow trying to recruit someone with a solution to the problem of the doppelgänger using it?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to describe it as 'recruiting'," Kuriba-san said with a shake of her head. "Indian Poker allows one to share information and skills via dreams, through this sharing it was my hope that it could raise the common denominator of the City's abilities and that a solution, a means to destroy the potentially dangerous artificial soul, would arise from that somehow."

"A roundabout, desperate attempt." Saten-san said with a sigh. "One that did not take into account how sensitive information might leak out from what might be otherwise innocuous dreams shared by Indian Poker users."

Kuriba-san blushed at that rebuke. "Yes, I had overlooked the possibility that what one person might consider an unimportant detail might be seen by others or the organizations they are affiliated with as being confidential."

"Thankfully Rui-chan stepped in before your little toy leaked something really important and got you into deep trouble." Namikaze-san said with a smirk and a pat on Saten-san's back.

"We're getting distracted," Onee-sama said, rolling her eyes in exasperation at the tangent their conversation had taken. "We need to focus on the runaway doppelgänger and how to contain it."

"Uh, should we be talking about the doppelgänger like it's a thing? Doesn't it think it's Kuriba-san? A person?"

Everyone shifted uneasily at Uiharu's question, all except Saten-san who just nodded.

"Uiharu is right," the [AIM Sovereign] said. "I cannot be sure whether this doppelgänger has a soul. I'm no magician and my understanding of soul magic is rudimentary at best-"

"Same. That type of magic is a well kept secret, for good reason. But I know a little." Namikaze-san added with a thoughtful frown. "And if the doppelgänger can think of itself as a person then there's a good chance it's got a soul."

"Which means we need to rescue it before someone unscrupulous captures it for their own ends." Kuroko said, to nods from everyone.

"That or stop it before it copies Issac Rosenthal and goes all kaiju on us." Namikaze-san said with a sigh.

Go kaiju!? What by Science did we miss when the Trinity last dealt with an artificial soul?

---

About half an hour after their meeting to outline the situation, Mikoto found herself searching some warehouses in District 17 for any sign of the doppelgänger. The machine had somehow managed to evade Ruiko's surveillance net, much to the other Level 5's excitement, and thus forcing them to try and find it the old fashioned way.

Honestly, why the hell is Ruiko so pleased that the doppelgänger is evading her spy network? Mikoto thought with a shake of her head as she thought back on how her kohai had eagerly jumped at the challenge of figuring out how the doppelgänger had managed it.

Mikoto had honestly expected her to be more angry about it, especially since the exact same thing had happened and led to disastrous consequences during the Mercenary Terrorist Incident.

Guess, she's cooled down a little since then.

Anyways, whilst she tried to puzzle together how the doppelgänger had slipped her net back at their command center, Ruiko had sent the rest of them out to the likely locations where the android had gone to search for it. Apparently District 17 was not only where Kuriba-san's apartment was but also where a number of the outdoor experiments for the Total Human Cyborg Replacement Project had been conducted. Which meant it was likely that the doppelgänger would be here either to attempt to hunt Kuriba-san down or just to return to somewhere familiar.

"Okay, the warehouses are a bust." Mikoto said under her breath into her handsfree headset for her phone. Why they were using their civilian phones on an operation was a mystery to Mikoto, but Ruiko had assured her they were secure so she trusted that they were. "I'm going to head over to Kuriba-san's apartment."

"Roger, Sempai." Ruiko said to her via some long distance audiokinesis as Mikoto used some manipulation of electromagnetic fields to launch herself into the air and towards the district's residential area. "Be advised I've spotted a possible Dark Side outfit operating in the area. They might be after the doppelgänger."

"A Dark Side outfit? Who?" Mikoto growled as she leapt out of the warehouse area and latched onto the side of a skyscraper that overlooked it and spotted a square on its other side where a fight was going on. "Nevermind, tell me later. I see them and they're fighting the doppelgänger."

Mikoto cursed as she saw a girl in an oversized bear suit of all things bash a carbon copy of Kuriba-san around. That had to be the doppelgänger. It might not look like a stereotypical android like it did in the photos Ruiko showed them earlier but with the uncanny similarity to the scientist with the stripped hair, there was little doubt to what it was.

She must've gone and acquired artificial skin and what not to blend in better.

"And I'm blind in the area. Be careful, Sempai."

"I will." Mikoto reassured her kohai as she leapt towards the battle even as the girl in the bear suit tried to punch the downed doppelgänger again only for the robot to catch the fist and somehow cause it and the entire strange set of oversized armor to literally flow off its user before forming around itself in a misshapen mass instead.

"Naru!" A girl with long black hair dressed in a simple seifuku and a short skirt shouted as using whatever Esper ability she had, she skated along the ground at high speed and picked up the now naked pinked haired bear girl, narrowly managing to do so before the doppelgänger used the massive bear fists that it now commanded to squash her like a bug.

"Seike! Get her out of there!" A girl in a loose square neck blouse, black spats and a large brown newsboy cap shouted as she tossed a set of vials at the doppelgänger which proceeded to explode and cover the android in a large cloud.

"What the hell are you trying to do?" Mikoto demanded as she landed between the Dark Siders and the doppelgänger. "Kill it?"

"It will take a lot more than just this to kill me, Misaka-san." The doppelgänger said in a voice that was a dead ringer for Kuriba-san as the smoke from the girl with the newsboy cap's attack cleared, revealing that it had used its suborned armor to protect itself. Though it looked frosted over in some places and melted at others.

"Misaka Mikoto!" The last of the Dark Siders, an elementary school aged girl with short red hair, and wearing a white flu mask with two dark crossed hands printed on it, a short-sleeved shirt, shorts, mismatched black tights, a backpack and with a arm in a sling, all but screamed in horror.

"Yeah, that's me." Mikoto said, shooting the girl and her teammates a glare. "And what the hell are you four doing attacking someone unprovoked."

"They were sent to retrieve me by the lab I imagine." The doppelgänger said with a shrug that looked decidedly odd considering the misshapen armor she still wore.

"You are, aren't you?" Mikoto asked, glaring at the Dark Siders heatedly.

"W-We are," the elementary schooler agreed. "B-But the android is dangerous! We need to bring it in and-"

"I cannot allow that." The doppelgänger said in a determined voice. "I will not let anything stand in the way of my mission."

"Mission? No, that's not important." Mikoto said, with a shake of her head. "Look, um, Kuriba-san-"

"I am not Kuriba Ryouko!" The doppelgänger shouted. "And I know what you want, Misaka-san. I know Kuriba Ryouko works for the Trinity now. You want to bring me in and place me under your protection, correct? I am sorry but I can't let that happen."

"But-"

"I appreciate the sentiment, I truly do. But I have a mission to accomplish and I cannot do so in your custody. As such, now that I know that Kuriba Ryouko is not here, it is time for me to take my leave."

"Wait!" Mikoto shouted, calling on the iron sand in the area and forming a cage around the doppelgänger. "You don't know what you're saying. If you keep running around on your own, soon it won't just be these guys coming after you."

"I am aware." The doppelgänger said coolly as it used its stolen armor to smash through Mikoto's half hearted attempt at a cage. "But I doubt my mission will take me long. Not long enough at least before the City escalates and sends one of the Level 5 teams after me. Well, barring the Trinity of course."

"If you know then-"

"Oh, stop talking and just knock the damned thing out already!" The girl with the newsboy cap said as she sprinted past Mikoto and tossed another set of vials at the doppelgänger.

"Yakumaru! What are you doing!?" The elementary school kid screamed in horror, even as her teammate's vials exploded and created a nice little icy prison that trapped the doppelgänger.

"Stopping the damned thing from running away, Leader." The other girl said with a shrug. "That way either we can capture it or the [Railgun] can talk it down or whatever. Better than letting it just walk off."

"Yakumaru, get away!" The girl in the sailor fuku shouted as she activated her ability and the newsboy cap wearing girl spun towards the icy prison she'd created just as it exploded, sending icicles flying everywhere.

Mikoto got to the girl in spats first though and caught her as she flew through the air due to being hit by a chunk of ice and shielded them both from more of the frozen debris with a iron sand barrier, before placing her gently on the ground, her long brown hair splaying out on the tiles of the square like a halo now that her cap was knocked off.

"Move!" The girl in the sailor fuku shouted in warning just as a large chunk of the earth that the doppelgänger had somehow ripped from the ground and tossed their way seemingly telekinetically would've crushed them.

Mikoto had sensed it coming though, courtesy of some pieces of rebar and other metal stuck in it, and picking up the injured girl as gently as she could, pulled them both away with her Electromastery.

"Don't stop!" Mikoto shouted back as she sensed more chunks of the earth being separated from the ground by the snapping of the rebars that should've been holding them together. "She's tossing more boulders!"

"I see them!" The girl in the sailor fuku shouted back as she skated around the boulders being tossed her way and back towards her two other teammates, picked them both up and carried them like sacks of potatoes under each arm whilst desperately avoiding being crushed by the rocks tossed at them. "You keep Yakumaru safe!"

"I've got her!" Mikoto shouted back reassuringly as she pulled off the best Electomastery assisted gymnastics she could whilst carrying an injured, unconscious girl as she too evaded the rocks hurled her way.

And damned if her breasts weren't being a pain and swinging all over the place!

Bloody hell! I need a better sports bra! Mikoto thought irritably as she pulled an Olympics worthy gymnastic move to avoid the latest boulder thrown her way. This is super uncomfortable.

It almost made her regret using Bust Upper. Almost.

The doppelgänger kept up her barrage for a good five minutes, practically ripping the top layer of earth entirely off the square in the process, before finally relenting. Though that likely had more to do with her barrage having already served its purpose of covering her escape than her having mercy on them.

"I-It's stopped?" The sailor fuku wearing girl asked between tired pants as she unceremoniously dropped her teammates and all but collapsed to her knees in exhaustion.

"Yeah, she got away. No point keeping it up." Mikoto said as she landed next to them and gently laid the girl she'd been carrying down as the naked girl with pink hair patted her exhausted teammate on the bank comfortingly as she struggled to catch her breath.

"Misaka Mikoto-sama," the girl with the arm in a sling said, stepping forward. "Thank you for saving us but I must know what you intend to do now? And would you be open to cooperating with us?"

"Leader!" The girl with pink hair said, looking at the elementary schooler in shock. "You can't be serious! After what happened last time-"

"Naru, Misaka-sama doesn't always work with the Trinity and even if this is a Trinity op, at least Accelerator-sama isn't involved." The outfit's apparent leader said sternly before looking at Mikoto warily. "He isn't, is he?"

"No," Mikoto confirmed. "Though if things escalate to a certain point, Ruiko will call him. He is her boyfriend."

The girl with the sling gulped but nodded. "T-That's good enough. So, would the Trinity be willing to work with us?"

---

"Yeah, before I answer that, mind telling me who you guys are?" Naru heard Sempai ask as she teleported onto the scene. Her eyes caught Scavenger looking rigid and nervous. Well, the conscious ones at least. It seemed the girl with Mix Master was out cold. "I remember you guys from the Necromancer Incident, but I have no idea what your outfit is about."

"Yo, Sempai." She casually greeted, padding up to her like a good kohai, making Scavenger look ready to pee themselves. Again. "They're Scavenger, a bunch of second stringer Dark Siders. We met them during the demon tree mess."

"Naru" Sempai said with her 'please stop talking' look. "You are really obsessed with the tree part."

The blonde beautifully ignored her ignorant Semapi in favor of looking at Scavenger's tiny leader. "Alright Little Red, what are you and the brat pack doing here?"

Her tone held the authority as one of the leading Dark Side agents in the City.

It should have had Scavenger snapping to attention and spilling the beans like she'd ordered. Instead, the second stringers quickly huddled together and exchanged worried and panicked whispers before finally pushing their leader up front.

"W-Well, Namikaze-sama, yo-you-!" The mask wearing girl stammered, sweat beading on her forehead. "We're here to recover the, uh, doppelgänger. One of the scientists from the lab where it was made got in contact with our liaison and hired us to secure it with minimal damage."

Sempai had her grumpy frowning look now, the one that made her look adorable.

"Weren't these the ones that Ruiko had Accelerator beat the shit out of because she had a grudge against their boss-"

"Rui-chan has a grudge against every major Dark Side organization," Naru reminded her with a snort. "She's my best friend and I don't want to say anything bad about her but she's got a list of grudges a mile long. She can never let things go."

"True that," Mikoto-sempai agreed with a sigh. "But the point I was trying to make was that you think working with them is safe? They might hold a grudge against us for the trouncing Accelerator gave them. Shouldn't we be worried they might stab us in the back?"

"They wouldn't dare. Right, Scavenger?" Naru asked, looking over at the Dark Siders with her eyes glowing an ominous crimson.

"O-Of course not!" The little punk that was Scavenger's leader assured stutteringly, even as her teammates nodded in vigorous agreement. Even the girl with the long brown hair that the naked girl - And seriously why didn't she put on some clothes already!? - had just awoken with some smelling salts.

"They're being honest if you two didn't know. They're absolutely terrified of Level 5s now after what Accelerator put them through." Misaki-sempai of all people said as she sauntered onto the scene. Something that Naru noted with amusement caused Scavenger to almost piss themselves. Again!

"Why are you here, Shokuhou?" Mikoto-sempai demanded with a glare.

"I did some research into the origins of Indian Poker since it had elements derived from research done at the Clone Dolly Workshop and found out that Kuriba-san had worked briefly on it. I got curious from there."

"And then you decided to keep an eye on the doppelgänger because you were worried it could cause problems?"

"Pretty much," Misaki-sempai admitted with a casual shrug. "So you girls need some help?"

"Not from you and your fake boobs," Mikoto-sempai said, crossing her arms angrily.

"Says the girl who used Bust Upper to actually grow a bust." Misaki-sempai shot back.

Oof, shots fired. Naru thought with a twinkle in her eye. Sadly, letting her two Sempais verbally spar as was their wont whenever they crossed paths was not a good idea at the moment, it would take too long, so Naru instead addressed her bestie.

"Rui-chan, what do you think?" She said to thin air.

"Let Shokuhou-sempai help if she wants," Rui-chan replied from afar using her audiokinesis. "It wouldn't hurt."

"Is the Number 3 deliberately trying to be creepy!?" Misaki-sempai asked, shuddering.

"The bad part? No, she isn't." Mikoto-sempai said with a sigh, looking tired and needing a nap. "She just doesn't get that some of the things she does are straight out of a horror movie. Don't get me started on the neck twisting thing she used to do."

Misaki-sempai and Scavenger all shuddered. On her part Naru just chuckled. Honestly, her bestie just got the best reactions out of people.

"Anyways," Rui-chan said, unperturbed by the cool reception she was getting tonight. "Shokuhou-sempai, if you'd be so kind as to ensure Scavenger isn't playing us for fools, I'd like to have their leader use her advanced Clairvoyance to help track the android. It should bypass the City's surveillance system which the android has compromised with a virus thus rendering my own tracking ability blind."

"Ruiko, you have Clairvoyance too." Mikoto-sempai stated with a tilt of her head.

"Yes, I do." Now Rui-chan sounded petulant. "Sadly, my Level for it is pretty low. Too low to track a single person in the vastness of the City."

Mikoto-sempai looked put out by this, but she woman'd up and nodded. "Fine, I don't like it, but if they can help us, I'll take them. Plus Shokuhou will be with them to make sure they don't even think of double-crossing us."

"Oh my, Misaka-san~ Such underhanded ability~ I knew we'd make you one of us." Misaki-senpai giggled daintily behind her gloves.

Scavenger just looked as if they were heading for the gallows.

---

"And we're sure the doppelgänger is here?" Mikoto asked as she held onto Naru who was transporting her and Scavenger to the location of the lookalike.

It was a big abandoned factory with broken windows and litter scattered everywhere and overgrown weeds sticking out of the lot it sat on. The place didn't even look like it had squatters about either.

"Yes." Scavenger's leader grunted in annoyance.

"Still kind of miffed that Misaki-senpai decided to ditch us to chill with Rui-chan back at base." Naru complained, looking petulant as she dropped them an inch from the ground. The two of them being the last of their little group to teleport there.

"I get it, I'm not happy about it either." Mikoto agreed with her kohai, patting her on the head reassuringly. She was more unhappy about how [Mental Out] had so happily used her power to plant the suggestion to not betray them into Scavenger's heads.

Talk about an abuse of power.

"Speaking of. Oi, Ruiko, you're not joining us on the frontlines? You found out what was messing with your surveillance network already, right?"

"I would, Sempai, but sadly I'm on my period."

"Didn't stop you last time." The chestnut haired girl snorted at the lame excuse.

"It's a joke Sempai, I'm not on my period. It hasn't been that long since my last one."

"Then why aren't you here?"

"Hey Sempai! Stop being so hard on Rui-chan." Naru said, loyally defending her best friend. "She's probably busy helping Ui-chan clean out the doppelgänger's virus from the City's systems. Right, Ui-chan?"

"Yup. It's tough working on that and also coordinating my drones so I appreciate the help." The [Drone Queen] said from one of the half dozen drones that had met up with them here after they'd pinned down the doppelgänger's location.

"I'm sure you'll manage." Kuroko assured her partner as they moved as a group into the warehouse and came to a stop as they found the doppelgänger now looking even more inhuman than before courtesy of an added layer of armor around her body seemingly made of random debris, padding about, looking aimless and confused.

"Doppelgänger-san!" Naru shouted as she stepped forward. "Stop this madness already and come with us!"

"Doppelgänger?" The android said, sounding amused. "That is a fitting name. Yes, I think you can call me that."

"Glad you like it." Mikoto said, taking her turn to try and reason with the machine girl. "So are you willing to come with us?"

"I'm afraid not, Misaka-san. As I said earlier, I have a mission to accomplish." At that the entire bloody warehouse suddenly seemed to come to life. Metal beams bent free of the scaffolding that kept the building standing and floated into the air. Glass shards from the broken windows and the random junk littering the floor all levitated into the air too. The corrugated iron siding of the building ripped free of the walls and joined them as well. Even chunks of the earth that they were standing on tore themselves out of the ground and looked poised to fly at them.

"Whoa, she's got quite an arsenal!" Naru yelped as she sliced through multiple debris with blades of chakra, only for the smaller debris to arc back around and come up at them again. Tsking in irritation, her blades changed to a deep purple color allowing her to disintegrate whatever she cut.

Between that and the interception fire of Uiharu-san's drones, they were mostly safe. Though, a lot of that had to do with Mikoto's contribution to their defense too.

"I've got the metal covered." Mikoto replied as she used her Electromastery to hold the metallic parts of Doppelgänger's barrage where they were. "Someone go knock her out or something!"

"I've got it, Onee-sama!" Kuroko shouted as she teleported a set of her nails into the android's neck, triggering the all new electroshock needles' built in tasers that proceeded to send electricity arcing all over the machine girl's body.

"I'll have you know that my artificial skin is shockproof, Shirai-san." Doppelgänger taunted as she used the supersized arms of her makeshift armored suit to rip a piece of ground free and toss it at Kuroko.

"And you'll need to try better than that." Kuroko countered as Naru disintegrated it with her chakra blades and she teleported another set of nails into Doppelgänger.

"Oh, you tried to teleport that set directly through my skin! And into my spine no less." Doppelgänger said, sounding impressed. "Too bad my body's systems aren't quite as centralised as a human's nor are they as lacking in redundancies. Oh, and since you like your nails so much…"

As she trailed off, suddenly every nail in the place - And there must've been thousands of them - shot towards them. Each one of them aimed at some vital or another.

Sweet Science that precision is no joke! Mikoto thought as she prevented them from getting nails right into the base of their spines and other deadly places.

"Eat this and take a nap, you crazy robot." Yakumaru-san taunted as using the distraction of the fight she'd let Seike-san, who Mikoto belatedly learned was actually a crossdressing boy, carry her into range whilst he skated at high speed using his friction manipulating Stick Slip ability.

She tossed dozens of vials at Doppelgänger which proceeded to explode and unleash a large cloud of cryogenic gas around the android. Gas that Kuroko and Naru added to by using her own cryogenic nails and by breathing a literal stream of frost at it respectively. Even Uiharu's drones joined in, a good number of them having been equipped with freeze rays for precisely this reason. In the wake of which, Doppelgänger found itself frozen inside a chunk of ice the size of a tiny glacier.

"That should do it," Naru said, theatrically wiping her hands against each other.

"As expected of Level 5s, fantastic work." The little redhead gave them a thumbs up.

"Yeah yeah, no need to suc-" Naru stopped, eyes turning away from the ice statue to look skyward, her ears perking up as if she'd heard something.

"Naru! Kuroko! Teleport us out now!" Mikoto shouted urgently as she sensed a massive something flying towards them through her electromagnetic sense.

Without even waiting to ask why, the two teleporters acted and began to teleport them all out. They were all barely safe when suddenly a massive sphere slammed down on the warehouse they'd just been in and exploded.

"What the hell was that!?" The pink haired paper user said, now thankfully dressed in a fresh set of clothes made out of the paper she held together through her Perfect Paper Esper ability, her eyes wide as they all looked at the fiery hellscape that the explosion had created.

"That was one of the City's industrial fuel storage containers!" The stoic crossdresser of Scavenger said.

"Yes," Uiharu said as one of her Hover Drones flew over. "It came from the fuel storage facility at the edge of the district."

"I think Doppelgänger might have been hanging out here while whatever she is using to imitate her poltergeist power seized control of it." Ruiko opined. "Oh, she got away by the way."

"How?" Naru asked with a frown.

"She tunneled through the ice and underground while you guys were teleporting out." Shokuhou informed them via Ruiko's audiokinesis. "You were busy getting away but those of us back here in base saw it through Uiharu-chan's drones."

"Damnit!" Seike-san cursed.

"Well, at least we know she's still alive." Naru said with a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, and running around willing to toss around enough fuel to burn whole districts to the ground as weapons." Kuroko pointed out with a frown. "Onee-sama, we need to find her ASAP."

"I know. Scavenger's leader-" Mikoto began only to be interrupted.

"I have a name you know!" The little girl griped, looking irked. "It's Iizumi Rita! You don't have to keep calling me 'Scavenger's leader'."

"Yeah whatever," Naru said with a little dismissive wave worthy of an ojou-sama. "Just tell us where the doppelgänger is going."

"Right!" Iizumi-san said as she covered her right eye and activated her ability. "She's headed north-northeast."

"There's a high-density of school dorms in that area. Maybe she's trying to blend in amongst the residents?" Uiharu suggested through her combat drone.

"No, that doesn't make sense." Kuroko countered. "Did you see how she looked just now? There's no way she can hide in a crowd. Besides, this late at night almost everyone would be indoors anyway."

"Shirai-san is right," Ruiko added. "She's after the radar station next to the dorms."

"But why?" Uiharu asked, expressing everyone's confusion.

"She's after the data behind the experiment which created her." Shokuhou chimed in. "It's contained in a secret data center located on a blimp flying a randomized flight path over the City. One that's packed with enough stealth technology that it's practically invisible."

"But then how would the data be accessed?" Uiharu asked, before hastily adding. "No, no, that's not pertinent now."

"The airship passes over a specific point every month and certain institutions use a laser to access the data onboard." Ruiko explained anyway.

"She's after the data?" Scavenger's leader asked with a frown. "Why?"

"To destroy it, I imagine." Ruiko told them. "That's what she did to the data at the lab she was created in before she escaped. Don't know why she'd want to do it though."

"Maybe destroying the data behind her creation will affect the diffusion of her soul?" Shokohou suggested. "What do you think, Kuriba-san?"

"Maybe?" The hesitancy of the scientist was clear as day even through Ruiko's audiokinetic recreation.

"We can ask her the real reason once we've caught her," Kuroko declared. "Right now, let's focus on that."

"Agreed," Mikoto said, clenching her fists and letting a few sparks arc off her body. "We know where she's going, so let's go cut her off."

"Wait!" Iizumi-san said as they were all just about to move out. "Can we direct her to the warehouse zone next to the radar facility?"

"You lot just want to go there so you can finish your mission." Shokohou said, sounding annoyed. "Isn't your dropoff point upon securing the doppelgänger supposed to be Warehouse 8086 in that very zone?"

"Yes," the young Dark Sider admitted. "But that area is mostly abandoned and awaiting redevelopment. The only people there are a bunch of Skill-Outs squatting in the empty warehouses. If you redirect the doppelgänger there, it'll be safer than fighting it in a more populated area."

"She's got a point there." Ruiko said, reluctantly.

"Let's do it." Naru urged. "The less people we get involved in this the better."

"Alright." Mikoto agreed with a sigh. "Kuroko, Uiharu, you two go handle evacuating the Skill-Outs. Use your Judgement authority. Naru, Scavenger and I will see about redirecting the doppelgänger."

"Hai~!"

---

"Yo, Doppelgänger-san! What's up?" Naru greeted the android with her deformed armor cheekily as she teleported above the robot with Mikoto-sempai in tow. As she did, she released the [Railgun] who promptly used her Electomastery to pull off a landing behind the robot even as Naru herself managed one in front of it.

"The [Elemental Empress] in addition to the [Railgun]?" Doppelgänger asked with a bemused grin. "My, my, aren't I popular?"

Even as she said this, the android tucked her shoulder in and charged at Naru in an attempt to bullrush her.

"Yeah, sorry, we can't be having this fight here." Naru said nodding at the residential area they were in even as she swung her arms forward dramatically and channeled her chakra into the air around her, using it to manipulate the wind currents and conjure a massive spontaneous twister that proceeded to sweep Doppelgänger up and carry her off towards the warehouse zone across the river where Scavenger was waiting for her.

"Kya." The Doppelgänger exclaimed in a weirdly stoic, deadpan surprise.

"Naru, hurry." Sempai said as she rushed over. "I doubt Scavenger can hold her for long."

"Yeah, yeah. You worry too much, Sempai." Naru said, rolling her eyes as she put a hand on her upperclassman's arm and teleported the both of them in pursuit of her twister.

They were just over the river and barely inside the abandoned industrial zone when suddenly an entire warehouse ripped itself off the ground and flew into Naru's twister, smothering it with its sheer mass alone and allowing Doppelgänger to somehow float to the ground amidst the building's torn foundations, even as its remains rained down around her.

"You were saying?" Sempai said pointedly as Naru teleported them a short distance away from the android. "You honestly think the second stringers can handle something which can do that?"

"Uh…"

She's got you there, Naru.

Grr, shush you! It's not my fault Scavenger's useless in a real fight.

Before Naru could come up with a better response, Scavenger arrived on the scene atop a paper plane construct created by Sakuragi's Perfect Paper, Yakumaru dropping some of her vials on Doppelgänger whose contents she had violently explode courtesy of her Mix Master ability to cover their landing.

"Did you honestly think that would be effective?" Doppelgänger asked, sounding exasperated even as Scavenger landed and leapt off their paper plane, the construct transforming into Sakuragi's bear themed battle armor as they did. "You four really need to do better than that if you want to be more than an annoyance."

As if to prove this point, dozens of golems with a vague resemblance to Kuriba-san and Doppelgänger made out of whatever random junk was around suddenly pulled themselves out of the ground like zombies rising out of the grave and rushed at the four of them.

The four second stringers screamed in horror at that and panicked, with Sakuragi forgetting that she shouldn't attempt to touch anything Doppelgänger 'possessed' and punched one of the golems only to have her armor once again stolen for her. This left her needing to be rescued by Seike who used his Stick Slip to skate quickly around the questing arms of the golems and cut Sakuragi out of her armor with a long knife he'd pulled out from under his skirt before Doppelgänger's 'possession' could reach her body. Yakumaru, their only real ranged combatant, should have been covering him with her explosives but she was panicking so badly at the sight of the zombie-like golems that she was tossing them around without any care in the world and screaming her head off whilst doing so. Which was still better than Iizumi who just stood there being useless.

Whilst this was happening, Doppelgänger hadn't forgotten about Naru and Mikoto-sempai and had sent their fair share of golems their way too. But unlike Scavenger, they handled it with far more aplomb.

"I see you like your horror movies," Naru commented with a grin as creating a pair of machetes out of her corrosive chakra she began hacking away at the horde of golems heading her way, with Sempai covering her with ranged support in the form of bolts of lightning.

"I had very little to do after being put back together." Doppelgänger said suddenly as using the now massive arms of her armor she swung herself over her golems and Naru towards Sempai. "They were as good a distraction as any and Kuriba Ryouko always liked them."

"You could've said that you always like them, you know." Mikoto-sempai replied with a frown even as she leapt back a short distance from where she'd been standing and avoided being crushed as Doppelgänger landed, simultaneously sending a bolt of electricity at the robot as she did.

Said robot girl just blocked it by shifting some of the mass of her misshapen armor around so that a shield of earth grounded the attack, even as two long tentacles made of some of the paper she'd stolen from Sakuragi earlier in the night sprouted out from it that lashed out towards Sempai like whips. The [Railgun] was unfazed though and just created a cyclone of iron sand around herself that shredded the android's tentacles.

"But those memories, those preferences are not my own." Doppelgänger insisted as she pulled a chunk of the earth free from the ground at her feet. It looked like it might have been an attempt at a sword or maybe an axe, but whatever it was, she proceeded to pick it up with a new oversized arm she forged out of her armor and blocked Naru's attempt to attack her from behind. "They are Kuriba Ryouko's. And I am not Kuriba Ryouko."

"We can go watch romcoms if you want?" The Number 2 offered as she was knocked back by the unexpected parry. "I mean, we could also watch whatever you want. I don't have a preference as long as it's good."

"Oi, Naru, focus!" Sempai scolded her for having a light conversation. Honestly, how prudish.

"I would like to watch a comedy if I could." Doppelgänger confessed freely even as she started to draw mass from all around her into her body, spinning her massive axe-sword around her in a wide arc and forcing both Naru and Sempai back as she did. "Maybe they'll help lift my maudlin mood."

"I have recommendations for that." Naru said, trying to connect with the Doppelgänger even as she watched with growing curiosity as the mass around the android started to grow to the size of a small hill. "And seriously what are you doing?"

"I saw this in a movie I really liked after my separation." Doppelgänger as the hill split open like some kind of cocoon and from it stepped out a gigantic dinosaur shaped kaiju taller than a multi-storey building made out of concrete and whatever other random material that she could get her hands on.

"Huh. Neat." The younger girl commented and craned her neck to look up.

"Sweet Science." Sempai muttered as she used some Electromastery assisted gymnastics to land next to her. "Naru, do you have a Frame that size to fight it?"

"I focus on technique, not raw size. That'd be an utter waste of my chakra." Naru answered on auto-pilot even as she teleported both of them out of the way as the massive thing tried to stomp them with its bus-sized foot.

Okay, I admit, you might need to go to my old form if you want to fight that.

You're just saying that because you want to get out and have a fight. Naru shot back as they rematerialised on a rooftop of one of the many derelict warehouses in the area.

...No.

Naru raised a mental eyebrow.

Look, I haven't had a good fight like this in a while. I really want to go kaiju. Please?

Unwittingly channeling Naru's inner demon, Sempai echoed his sentiments.

"Yo, let me handle this." She said as she began amassing a massive amount of iron sand into a vaguely humanoid shape in front of them and using her Electomastery leapt into the rapidly forming colossus. "You and Ruiko got to go kaiju this summer already, it's my turn now!"

Oh come on! She can fight but we can't? You are such a buzzkill.

"Sure, Sempai. Have fun!" Naru said, waving happily at Sempai as she reared an arm of her colossus back and socked Doppelgänger's kaiju with a powerful right hook that sent it staggering.

Deciding that Sempai had the kaiju fight well in hand, Naru teleported over to where Scavenger were still being swarmed by Doppelgänger's golems. She might not like the second stringers all that much, but they were her allies on this op and she wasn't about to let them get killed. So enhancing herself with a little chakra, she blitzed through the remaining hordes of golems and using her machetes cut them to pieces.

"Thanks for the save, Namikaze-sama." A battered and bruised Seike said with a sigh as he collapsed in exhaustion next to a shivering Yakumaru who was being comforted by Sakuragi.

"Don't mention it," Naru said as she noticed Doppelgänger wasn't creating anymore golems.

No surprise. I think she's a little too busy at the moment to bother with the small fry. Kurama commented as out of the corner of her eye Naru saw Sempai fire off a supersized railgun from the arm of her iron sand colossus that blasted an entire arm off Doppelgänger's kaiju off. Sadly, the limb didn't even hit the ground before the android used her 'possession' to pull it back into her massive construct's body and with the addition of a little mass from their surroundings repaired the damage.

And even as she healed her kaiju, she had it spin around and slam its weighty tail into Sempai's colossus, smashing through its torso and sending large amounts of the iron sand that made it up flying even as Sempai pulled more of the material together and repaired the damage.

"Um, ah, Namikaze-sama, what about our mission?" The midget leader of Scavenger asked nervously with her hand raised like she was asking a question in class, pulling Naru away from the kaiju fight to look at her.

The cocky brat was covered in dust, scuffs and even under a healthy dose of terror radiated damaged pride. She was better off than the rest of her little gaggle of teammates, who were all looking a lot worse for wear.

Are they still here?

Looks like it. Looks like I have to play PR with them.

"It's a failure." The blonde bluntly told them, making Kurama snicker in her head. "No way around that. I'll make sure the Trinity vouch for you though so you won't be penalized. But don't be too sad, you can spin you working with us to improve your rep. Aren't I kind?"

Iizuma frowned at that and looked at her teammates who hobbled in her direction so they could have a huddle and discuss things. The Level 5's ears picked up a few things; like having more funding, ranking boosts and the like. Things that made the twin tailed blonde frown at them.

"It's either this or you'll just become a joke. And we all know what happens to joke groups on the Dark Side, don't we?" She purred with cat-like delight as she saw the group flinch at that.

"Y-Yes, Namikaze-sama. Thank you for your kindness!" The masked redhead bowed her head, but Naru could hear her grinding her teeth behind her medical mask.

The chakra user was about to add a teasing remark, but she felt a shift in the air, and spun around to see Doppelgänger have her kaiju rip a massive chunk of earth out of the ground - The damned thing probably massed as much as her kaiju itself! - and tossed it straight at Sempai's colossus.

I could have done that, if only someone wasn't stingy. Kurama gripped even as the [Railgun] wisely chose not to test her own construct's durability in the face of that and simply had it fall apart into a twister that flowed around the massive earthen projectile before slamming into the twisted dinosaur Doppelgänger had created and began cutting into it.

Now is not the time, Kurama! Naru shot back as the robot girl responded by having her construct literally explode.

Scavenger screamed but Naru acted. Pouring her chakra into the air, she accelerated the wind currents around the warehouse zone and had them transform into a massive twister that sucked the debris skyward. Even Rui-chan chipped in from afar as she threw up a lattice of barriers to contain the explosion, though since she was acting from long distance they were incredibly weak. Not that it proved necessary.

Huh? This is strange. Naru thought with a frown as she noticed that the material her winds were picking up was almost entirely… Dust? Why would Doppelgänger-

"Oh no." Naru hissed as she figured out what Doppelgänger was doing.

Tch, she's using the sand as a means to locate the data airship. Kurama grumbled in her mind.

I know! Geez! Can this girl get any more annoying? She's evolving faster than what her other half thought is possible!

As if to prove her point there was a sudden rumbling from the massive boulder that Doppelgänger had just tossed and as Naru spun towards it, she was greeted with the sight of a portion of the mass flowing like water as it reshaped itself into the shape of a giant bird that shot into the sky and towards the airship that had been revealed by the cloud of dust that now filled the City's skies.

And now she can fly. What can this girl not do? Naru had to question with a shake of her head as a railgun shot from nearby blasted one wing off Doppelgänger's latest construct, sending it crashing towards the earth but not before the robot girl leapt off the thing's head and onto the top of the airship.

That machine girl… Kurama trailed off as Naru heard Scavenger collectively gasp in shock at the latest turn the fight was taking.

Huh? What about her? Naru asked her partner, ignoring the second stringers.

Before she jumped off, she directed her bird thing to crash into the water. Kurama said as just like he said, the now discarded construct crashed into the nearby river with a large splash.

Naru could only blink in surprise at that. So she did...

"Naru," Mikoto-sempai said as she used some Electromastery to pull herself over to where Naru and Scavenger were. "She made it to the airship. We need to get up there now."

"Right." Naru agreed, reaching out to grab her Sempai's arm and began making the calculations to teleport them in pursuit of Doppelgänger.

I can try to figure out what the hell Doppelgänger is up to later!

---

The wind whipped at their hair as they rematerialised atop the airship. Naru landed them on the ship without worry but Mikoto hadn't accounted for the strong winds at this high altitude. Her kohai stood there unfazed, her feet glowing with the faint light of her chakra and stumbling slightly, Mikoto took a page out of her book and followed her example and using some good ol' magnetism secured her footing on the blimp's metallic surface.

With the risk of being blown away eliminated, Mikoto turned to look towards the airship's other balloon where Doppelgänger stood with an annoyed but resigned look on her face. She looked different too. Gone was the misshapen armor she'd been wearing before she'd hidden inside her kaiju, instead she was wearing a dress made from pale threads. Her hair had gone all white too and her skin had lost the two tone hue she had shared with Kuriba-san, instead adopting the darker of the two colorations across her entire body. In her right arm she was holding onto what looked like some kind of drill sword and all around her purple, plant-like growths that based off their matching coloration looked like they were made out of material she'd ripped from the envelope of the balloon she was on writhed around her threateningly.

"Yo Rui-chan, have you figured out what Doppelgänger-san is using to fake her power of 'possession'?" Naru asked, crossing her arms and shooting the android with an unimpressed look. "Not knowing is starting to bug me."

"Based on the samples of the 'possessed' matter I've been able to get my hands on," Ruiko replied with her long distance audiokinesis. "Doppelgänger is using some kind of specially engineered slime mold to fake her 'possession' powers."

"Ah, to be able to deduce my method so quickly, as expected of the Trinity and its Level 5s." Doppelgänger said with clear admiration in her usual deadpan tone.

"Eh? Does that make her a slime whisperer or something?" Her blonde kohai innocently asked.

Mikoto's brow twitched at that. Seriously?! We have a serious situation and she brings that up?!

"That is a correct term to use, Namikaze-sama." The doppelgänger nodded.

"Okay, that's one puzzle solved." Naru said with a nod. "But here's another. Why are you doing all this Doppelgänger-san? I saw what you did with your bird construct just now. When Sempai shot it down, you deliberately had it change its course as it crashed so it would land in the river instead of in the residential area. You went out of your way to prevent people from getting hurt."

The doppelgänger shifted uneasily at that as she dropped out of her combat stance. Even the tentacles surrounding her seemed to relax, their writhing slowing to an almost rhythmic swaying in the strong winds.

"That speaks to me of good intentions. Someone that cares for others. So why are you doing all this? What do you want?"

"Naru is right, Doppelgänger-san." Mikoto added. "I was about to shoot your bird into dust with a couple more railguns. I would've managed it before it hit anything, but thanks to you I didn't need to. Because you didn't want to risk me not being able to, right? Because you were worried that if I couldn't people would get hurt, correct? If you're that kind then why do what you're doing?"

Again all Doppelgänger-san did was fidget nervously.

"The doppelgänger is acting the way it is because it's deduced that it doesn't have a soul!" Kuriba-san spoke up suddenly via Ruiko's audiokinesis. "It wants to commit suicide!"

Mikoto was shaken to the core by that and she turned to the doppelgänger and exclaimed.

"Is that true?"

For a long moment, Doppelgänger-san said nothing before nodding.

"Please, you don't have to do this!"

'You don't understand," Doppelgänger-san said as she shook her head. "Tell me, if you suddenly learned one day that you were a counterfeit covered with a layer of fake skin, would you have the confidence in yourself to maintain your identity? If you think simply continuing to operate is happiness for a machine, then that's your human ego. Continuing to exist in this form, where I am reminded ad nauseam that I do not possess a soul, is torment all by itself. So please..."

"But you do have a soul!" Mikoto insisted.

"By what metric?" Doppelgänger-san asked dubiously.

"Magic! Magic says you have a soul." Mikoto argued desperately, her chest tightening. Why couldn't Doppelgänger-san understand! It was so simple!

Doppelgänger-san just laughed. "Magic doesn't exist."

"It does!"

Mikoto would've said more, tried harder to convince the android to change its mind, but Naru put a restraining hand on her shoulder, fingers digging into the shoulder tightly.

"You want to destroy the research data surrounding your creation stored on this airship before you end yourself, don't you?" Naru said with a sympathetic frown. "You want to eliminate the chance of someone using it to recreate something like you."

"Yes," Doppelgänger-san admitted. "And if need be I'll destroy all of Academy City to prevent that."

"W-What do you mean?" Mikoto asked, as she glanced at the City far below worriedly.

"My mold has infiltrated several large fuel depots. Enough that should I detonate them, I can level the City."

"Y-You won't do it," Mikoto said, shaken by the threat. "Kuriba-san wouldn't do something like that and you're based off her so you won't do it either."

"But I am not Kuriba Ryouko," Doppelgänger-san said with a sad smile that did nothing but rip at Mikoto's heart.

"But you're just as kind hearted!" Mikoto shouted desperately. "Just look at what you did with your bird earlier!"

"Sempai is right." Naru added. "Doppelgänger-san, you don't have to do this."

Doppelgänger-san just shook her head sadly one more time and swung her drill sword to the side just as there was a large explosion behind her.

"Don't make me follow through on my threat." The robot girl said, looking at them with determined eyes. "I don't want to do it but if you force my hand, I will carry it out."

"Doppelgänger-san…" Naru said with her own sad smile. "You know what this means…"

"I do." Doppelgänger-san said with a firm nod.

"Naru?"

"Sempai, as one of the City's chief protectors I cannot let a threat to its survival like this live." Her kohai said, her tone bleeding sadness but yet simultaneously full of determination to do her duty.

"Naru, you can't be suggesting-" Mikoto began only for the android to offer them a sincere smile, pulling her up short.

"Thank you."

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about all this." Naru said, looking genuinely saddened. "But I can't take the risk that you won't go through with the murder portion of your murder-suicide plan."

"Naru! Don't do it!" Mikoto shouted, half-heartedly.

Mikoto knew it had to be done and she wasn't squeamish about death. She'd seen enough of it already to be able to handle it. Heck, whilst leery she wasn't above killing if she thought it was truly necessary. And she knew it was, in this case. They simply could not take the risk that Doppelgänger-san might carry out her threat to blow up the City. But… That didn't mean she had to like it.

Her eyes stung, not from the strong winds, but from the ache in her heart.

"We don't have a choice." Naru said solemnly. "It's either we do it or the Board, once they realize the City is endangered, will order the airship shot down. If we do it, at least we can ensure it's quick."

"If you want to die then why not just do it yourself!" Mikoto screamed at the robot girl, tears leaking out from her eyes. "Why make us do it for you!?"

"My safeties prevents me from being able to harm myself. If they did not, I would not trouble you."

"Kuriba-san!" Mikoto shouted suddenly, grasping onto the last sliver of hope that might save Doppelgänger-san. "If you want to prevent your recreation you'll need to ensure she's dead wouldn't you?"

The android just shook her head.

"Saten Ruiko-sama and the rest of the Trinity would never condone my recreation." The suicidal machine being said with a sad smile. "You all will ensure that my tragedy is not repeated."

"But-"

"Enough!" The android said, raising its voice for the first time since they'd met it. "Do it! Or I destroy the City!"

To emphasize its threat a large fuel tank exploded in the distance.

"I truly am sorry," Naru said as she ignited the air with white hot flames, destroying the airship's propeller systems and setting the balloons themselves ablaze. The mold Doppelgänger-san used was easily destroyed by the furious flames as they licked its way towards her, finally reaching Doppelgänger-san.

As they did, she closed her eyes, a smile of bliss on her face as she was devoured by the directed blaze.

Sobbing hard at the tragedy that had just taken place, Mikoto barely registered as Naru grabbed her and teleported them onto the roof of a nearby skyscraper. With her vision blurring from the tears freely flowing from her eyes, she watched as the accursed database blimp erupted into an explosion that illuminated the night.

Doppelgänger-san, rest in peace.

---

On the ground, Misaki, Saten-san and Kuriba-san stood before the head of the cybernetics lab the inventor of the Indian Poker cards had previously worked at. With everything coming to light, they had decided it was high time to confront the man about all the misery his experiment had caused.

"Ryouko-chan, surely you see the value in pursuing this line of research!" The old man stressed, looking at Kuriba-san with a grandfatherly look. Though the thoughts running through his mind at the moment were anything but. All he was thinking about was how much money he'd make if he could just crack the secret behind the human soul. "If we decipher how to create, to manipulate, the human soul we could work miracles! So let's do it! Help me create a new doppelgänger and we'll-"

"Why don't you just be honest eh, Sensei?" Misaki said, shaking her head and pressing a button of the remote she'd leveled at the old man.

"I don't care about any of that." The man said, even as he was horrified by what he was saying and the fact that he was unable to stop talking. "All I want is the money that this line of research will yield. If Kuriba won't help me, I'll just have to use Child Errors and try to recreate the success of her experiment to achieve results. I don't care how many of them I have to cut in half and stitch back together. All I care about is the money. All that matters is the money."

"S-Sensei, y-you-" Kuriba-san said, sounding disgusted as she pulled a pistol out from the holster she wore under her skirt - A sensible precaution, in Misaki's opinion, that she'd taken to carrying since she'd started working for Saten-san. - and fired a shot at the man. A man who at one time she'd respected and regarded like a grandfather.

The bullet was deflected off a barrier however and embedded itself harmlessly in the roof of the man's office as Saten-san wrapped her trembling employee in a comforting hug.

"Do not sully your hands with this scum's blood, Kuriba-san." The Number 3 said softly to the sobbing girl. "If you do, you'll live to regret it."

The scientist just cried harder.

"Shokuhou-sempai, can I leave the rest to you?" Saten-san asked as took a moment to look away from the shaking Kuriba-san.

"Yeah, I'll give him a suitable punishment." Misaki told her kohai. "You go take care of your employee."

Saten-san nodded and teleported away, taking Kuriba-san with her.

"You know for someone who started out only wanting to develop medical technologies to alleviate the plight of medical refugees you disappoint me, Sensei." Misaki told the man who had tried to sneak away whilst she'd been talking to Saten-san as she immobilized him with a click of her remote. "I guess human avarice can twist even the noblest of ambitions. I think resetting you back to when you were still driven by good intentions is a fitting punishment. Let's see you claw your way back to where you are from behind square one."

With that she clicked another button on her remote to modify the man's mind accordingly even as she nonchalantly strolled towards the door of his office.

"See you later, Sensei." She said tauntingly along with a mocking wave as she exited the room, leaving its owner to collapse to the ground unconscious behind her.

---

"Anything that might be recoverable, Uiharu?" Kuroko asked as she and her Judgment partner's combat drones combed the airship data centre's wreckage. Due to their proximity to the crash, they had fortuitously ended up on the scene first. A state of affairs they would happily take full advantage of.

"I don't think so," The computer expert said through the nearest drone to Kuroko. "Most of these data drives look pretty much unsalvageable but it's better safe than sorry, right?"

"Agreed." Kuroko said with a nod. "Fire away."

"Yes ma'am~!" Her partner replied teasingly even as her drones opened fire at anything in the wreckage that remotely looked like it could've been computer equipment.

"Oh! You girls are already cleaning up?" Namikaze-san said as she teleported in with Onee-sama. "You really needn't bother. We could've got a subordinate organization to handle it."

"Well, we got here first. So why wait?"

"Onee-sama, is something wrong?" Kuroko asked as she noticed her Onee-sama was more subdued than usual.

"It's nothing Kuroko," Onee-sama said with a brittle smile.

"Nothing a good night's sleep and some time won't fix." Saten-san said as she teleported in. "Sempai has bounced back from worse than this. Don't worry Shirai-san. By tomorrow she'll be well on the road to being normal."

That rang alarm bells in Kuroko's head. Just what had happened on top of that airship.

"Yeah, Misaka-san is resilient." Uiharu chimed in. "But if you need anyone to talk to-"

"I know where to find them." Onee-sama assured them. "So, um, can we go? I would rather not be here. Not right now."

Kuroko exchanged a look with everyone else.

"Pack it up Ui-chan. Leave the rest to my clean up crew." The blonde said as she put away her phone. "I've already mailed them. They're on their way."

"Okay Namikaze-san," Uiharu said, as her drones stopped their search and destroy mission and regrouped. All that is but the one that she had been using to talk to them. "So where should we go?"

"It's almost dawn." Saten-san noted with a look to the brightening sky. "If we teleport, we can probably still make it to Lookout Seven in District 21 and enjoy it. It has the best views."

"That sounds wonderful."

"Onee-sama is right, it is." Kuroko said, eyeing her beloved roommate worriedly. "Shall we?"

"Let's." Namikaze-san said as she touched Uiharu's de facto communication drone and teleported away, followed swiftly by Saten-san.

"Onee-sama, shall we?" Kuroko said, offering Onee-sama a hand.

"Yeah, let's go." The [Railgun] said with a grateful smile as she took it.

---

It had been a couple of days since the Doppelgänger Incident and the Level 5s of Tokiwadai had converged together upon their school's tennis courts. Misaki herself however was not enjoying a game at the moment and was instead staggering over to a bench off to the side and all but collapsed on it, drenched in super gross sweat.

"You really should work on your physical fitness, Misaki-sempai." Naru-chan chided from her seat next to her and offered a bottle of water that Misaki greedily accepted.

"It was one game and you're already dead on your feet." Her kohai said, radiating amusement.

"You and your friends just have crazy exercise ability," Misaki grumbled as she put the bottle aside after a long drink and joined Naru-chan in watching Saten-san and Misaka-san face off on the court.

"Hey, it's not like we do this every time we hang out."

"Then what do you lot usually do?" Misaki asked, genuinely curious as to what the infamous Trinity got up to when they weren't solving one Incident or the other.

"We go to cafes a lot. Ui-chan has a sweet tooth a mile wide."

"Why didn't we do that then?" Misaki asked with a pout.

"Well, Ui-chan isn't here. She and Shirai-chan have Judgement duty."

Misaki pouted, crossing her far too sweaty arms. "Okay, what else do you do then? Besides this, this exercising."

Naru-chan chuckled at her aversion to exercise and Misaki sorely wished her ability worked on the Number 2. She really wanted to wipe that amusement off her adorable kohai's face right now.

"Well, Mikoto-sempai likes to go to the arcade so we visit those quite a lot. Shirai-chan also likes shopping like me, so we do a lot of that too. And I dunno if this counts as not being exercise but when she's not asking us to play tennis, Rui-chan likes to visit batting cages so we hang out there sometimes. She likes to swing things."

Misaki looked at Naru-chan with disappointment. "Your hobbies are all so unladylike. I'm sorely disappointed by the Trinity of Tokiwadai."

"We never did say we were the school's mascots." Naru-chan said with a shrug.

"Yeah," Misaka-san agreed as she came over. "And tennis is a very feminine sport."

Misaki just gave her a skeptical look.

"Finished your game?" Naru-chan asked.

"Yeah, Ruiko won. Again." Misaka-san said with a pout. "She's cheating. I just know she is."

"Nah," Naru-chan said with a shake of her head. "She's just more used to her new knockers than you are. She's got them longer so she's more used to how they change her center of gravity and what not, so she's performing better than you."

"Really?"

"Yup," Naru-chan assured her, gesturing to Saten-san who was still on the court and practising her swings. "I'll go beat her and show you. You know she'd beat me normally if she wasn't off her game. Not that it says much since tennis isn't even my forte."

"You can go beat up overconfident fools in an MMA (mixed martial arts) octagon when it's your turn to pick what we do. For now, just go beat Ruiko for me." Misaka-san encouraged and Naru-chan playfully shot her a salute before skipping off to challenge her best friend to a game.

"I thought you were the only meathead in the Trinity, Misaka-san," Misaki said with a sigh as she watched Naru-chan serve and start her match with Saten-san. "But it seems like all three of you are."

"At least we aren't going to collapse after just a short run."

Misaki glared at the Electromaster at that. Even if her kohai was just being honest, it was hurtful to say so!

"If you keep demonstrating your ability to be rude, see if I'll ever hang out with you three ever again."

Misaka-san snorted. The gall of her!

"Yeah, you say that but the next time you need our help with something you'll come running."

Misaki pouted, a running theme today it seemed. Did the [Railgun] have to be honest about all her faults!?

"But seriously, thanks for helping with the Doppelgänger Incident." Misaka-san said, looking solemn like she always did when the subject of that Incident came up. "I dunno if we actually needed it but we appreciated it either way."

"You're welcome." Misaki said with a small, honest grin.

---

"Um, Saten-sama, Namikaze-sama, is this a good idea?" Frenda fretted as she followed her two Level 5 friends - And wasn't the idea that she could actually be friends with Level 5s amazing in and of itself!? - towards the quaint little cafe where they were supposed to meet with the [Railgun]. "I mean, the last time we met we got into a fight…"

Just thinking of her fight with the [Railgun] again during the Level 6 Shift Incident had Frenda wincing. Not just because it made this meeting extremely awkward. But also because it reminded her of being defeated by the Number 5 and needing to be saved by Mugino. Her boss had not let her live that down. Nagging her about it for a whole week afterward and still occasionally bringing it up when she felt like needling her.

Mugino is a bitch. Frenda thought not for the first time. If the pay working for her wasn't so good…

"Relax, Frenda-chan." Namikaze-sama reassured her with a grin. "Sempai is very forgiving. All you need to do is apologise and everything will be fine."

"Apologise?" Frenda asked, blinking in confusion. "Why should I apologise? I mean it was a job."

"Sempai won't see it like that." Saten-sama explained with a bemused shake of her head. "As much as she's considered a Dark Sider like us nowadays, Sempai still very much has a civilian mindset."

"Really? Still?" Frenda gasped and received nods in reply. "How?"

"She's pure hearted like that." Namikaze-sama said with a shrug. "It's her charm point."

"And one of us has to be." Saten-sama said with a sad smile. "So we do our best not to spoil it."

"Yo Naru, Ruiko over here!" Misaka Mikoto said as they walked into the cafe's outdoor sitting area, waving at them and smiling pleasantly though that faded as she spotted Frenda. "And hello to you too Seivelun-san."

Frenda made to return the greeting but her friends beat her to it.

"Yo, Sempai, wait long?" Namikaze-sama asked as she skipped over to the table where the [Railgun] was sitting and snagged a seat of her own.

"Gokigenyou, Mikoto-sempai." Saten-sama said with, of all things, a curtsy. Though the teasing smirk on her lips told her this was somehow part of a joke or tease.

Though it nevertheless had Frenda looking at her friend funny. Sure, Saten-sama was technically an ojou-sama now, what with Eden Corp and everything. She also had the looks and, when she wanted to, the poise to pull off the vibe too. But it just seemed so unnatural for her. Yet… It was also so fitting. It was just strange. Nice but strange.

Oh, and for some reason that Frenda didn't understand, it had her blushing.

The [Railgun] didn't seem to feel the same way though as she just rolled her eyes.

"Ruiko, you are really milking your being a proper ojou-sama now for all its worth, aren't you?" The Number 5 asked as the aforementioned raven haired girl guided Frenda, who had frozen in shock for a second at her going all ojou-sama, to the table with a hand on the small of her back.

A hand that Frenda, for some reason, was hyper aware of and was causing her blush to go atomic red.

"Yo, Rui-chan, go easy on Frenda-chan already." Namikaze-sama said with an exasperated sigh. "You flirt with her anymore and she'll have an aneurysm from all that blood rushing to her head. Act like an ojou-sama, not a cat in heat."

"I'll have you know, Naru-chan, that I am not flirting at all. Where did you even come up with that?"

Where indeed? Frenda thought as she struggled, and mostly succeeded, in getting what she belatedly realised was her runaway libido under control. A reminder to it that Saten-sama was Accelerator's girlfriend did the trick. Even her ovaries knew messing with anything that was the Number 1's was a one way ticket to an early grave. Even then though, she couldn't completely get rid of her blush as Satan-sama, acting at once gallant and graceful, pulled out a chair for her.

"I am just being friendly." Saten-sama continued, oblivious, Frenda hoped, to her thoughts.

"Eh? Maybe I should be friendly too then." Namikaze-sama said suddenly as she dragged her chair closer and wrapped herself around Frenda's right arm, pressing her whole body into her side. Including those small but perfectly shaped breasts of hers.

Frenda couldn't help it, her blush went atomic all over again!

"Don't the two of us just look uber cute together?" Namikaze-sama asked as she took out her phone and snapped a selfie of them in their mildly suggestive pose. "As expected, blondes are just better~ Hail the Euro-blooded and our superior genes!"

"Ja." Frenda answered in her native Norwegian as she suffered a minor mental meltdown.

"Now, who's being flirty?" Saten-sama scoffed as she daintily took her seat. "Should I tell Sequenzia-san and Meigo-san you're flirting with other girls?"

"Ah, I don't want Frenda-chan to be sniped again, so I'll ease off. I can't have my blonde buddy get hurt." Namikaze-sama said as she, sadly, let go and scooted her seat back.

Whilst her friends were tormenting Frenda - And damn! All this teasing was going to take hours of flicking the bean tonight to work off all the sexual tension! - with their flirting, inadvertent on Saten-sama's part and very deliberate on Namikaze-sama's, Misaka-sama was just looking on in fond exasperation.

"Will you two just stop it? Especially you, Naru. At least Ruiko doesn't realise what she's doing. What's your excuse?"

"What am I doing?" Saten-sama asked, blinking in confusion.

"We already told you, if you don't get it you'll have to figure it out yourself." Namikaze-sama said with a shrug. "And sure, I'll behave, Sempai~"

Saten-sama frowned, shooting Frenda a questioning look.

Frenda just hastily shook her head. Namikaze-sama was right. If Saten-sama didn't realise what she was doing then either she was just genuinely being friendly and sending the wrong signals. Or she was interested in her and didn't realise it yet. Either way, she had to figure it out by herself.

The [AIM Sovereign] pouted at this and turned to her Sempai.

"Sorry, Ruiko, but honestly sort your feelings out yourself."

"My feelings? What do they have to do with anything?"

"Think on it, you'll figure it out." Namikaze-sama assured her best friend before turning to look at Frenda sharply. "In the meantime, Sempai, Frenda-chan has something to tell you. Don't you, Frenda-chan?"

"Right!" Frenda said quickly, realising an order when she heard it. Apparently her friends didn't want to touch Saten-sama's confused feelings with a ten foot pole. Frenda could commiserate. She, apparently, was the subject of them and didn't want to either!

So instead of walking through that minefield, it was time to rush through another one.

"Er, Misaka-sama, I just wanted to apologize for the whole Sisters thing a few weeks back. It was nothing personal, but I hope we can say water under the bridge?" Frenda asked, a big goofy smile on her face that she knew could melt the hearts of people and make them feel sorry for her.

"Fine." Misaka-sama said, her face working into a tiny frown that puckered her face like a frog. "Just don't try to blow me up with those rag doll bombs of yours ever again."

"I-I won't, beklager." Frenda apologized. Ah, she'd mixed up her languages! Curse her doki doki heart!

"Hm." Misaka-sama huffed, staring at her with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed. Frenda felt some sweat trickle down her neck in anxiety. She knew Saten-sama and Namikaze-sama wouldn't let her get hurt, but it was still nerve wracking to get glared at like that by a Level 5!

At long last the [Railgun] sighed and pressed her elbow on the table to prop up her chin in her palm before finally continuing. "I guess I can forgive you. You only thought someone was destroying a lab you were hired to protect and weren't told what was going on I bet. So I guess I can forgive you. Just try not to get in trouble in front of me again, got it?"

Eh? EH?! That's it? She can't be serious?! Frenda thought, feeling dumbstruck.

"Frenda-san, remember what I said about Sempai's pure heart?" Saten-sama said, leaning in to whisper into her ear.

And damn if she didn't smell nice! What shampoo and body wash did she use to get that wonderful floral aroma? Frenda couldn't help but think even as [Multi-Skill]'s close proximity had her blushing all over again.

"She's a sap like that, but that's not bad." Namikaze-sama whispered in her other ear.

Ah! What are they doing to me with their breath on my ears?! My ears are my weak point! Frenda thought as she shifted her legs uncomfortably as she felt herself grow a little wet down there from all the flirting. Especially from Namikaze-sama, who deliberately leaned in closer so her breath could blow over Frenda's ear and stimulate her even more! The teasing minx!

"M-Mercy~" She whimpered as she pulled back from the two Level 5s pleasantly tormenting her, trying to make herself smaller than she already was. "I can't take it anymore!"

Namikaze-sama pulled back immediately and giggled at her expense. Saten-sama did so as well but sported a thoroughly confused frown. Misaka-sama for her part just sighed in exasperation, apparently used to their antics.

"These kohai, I swear. Sorry about them, they can be a pair of idiots despite how smart they are." The chestnut haired girl apologized.

"I-It's okay." Frenda said as she struggled to get her runaway breathing under control. "At least it's not Mugino threatening to kill me because I forgot to buy her favorite breakfast spread when it was my turn to order our groceries."

"...I know we aren't supposed to poach-"

"Actually, Sempai, we can poach. We just can't kill them willy nilly." Namikaze-sama corrected with a Cheshire grin.

"Oh? Well, Frenda-san, if you want to ditch that Harpy, we have room in the Trinity's team for you."

"It's not that bad." Frenda said with a dismissive wave of her hand. Though the offer was kind of shocking, she'd keep it in mind for the future. "Mugino is mostly just bluster. She might shoot one of her lasers at us from time to time when she's super pissed but mostly she's all bark and no bite. Plus I like working with Kinuhata and Takitsubo."

"Well, if you're sure." Saten-sama said with a worried frown.

"I am," Frenda reassured her. "Though I'll keep your offer in mind for whenever I need it."

"You do that," Misaka-sama said with a firm nod.

"Okay, the Number 6's insanity aside." Namikaze-sama said, her face cringing with disgust at the mere mention of Frenda's boss. Something that the Scandinavian honestly couldn't blame her for. She knew how intolerable [Meltdowner] was. "Frenda, what did you hear about the recent Doppelgänger Incident? I'm curious what info got out there."

"If you're worried about anyone salvaging anything on making a scarily advanced android like Kuriba-san's doppelgänger then don't worry, the robot did a very thorough job scrubbing all the data on that." Frenda said with a reassuring smile. "Though, by Science, how did she and that lab ever manage to make that thing anyway? I got hit up by a few magician friends of mine asking about it and they were all flustered about how the City had managed to make something with a soul."

"They are?" Namikaze-sama asked, blinking in surprise.

"They are." Saten-sama agreed. "I've had at least a dozen enquiries from magical associations asking questions along those lines."

"So did it?" Frenda asked curiously. "Have a soul, I mean?"

"Well," Saten-sama said, smiling coyly and forcing Frenda to rub her thighs together as the sight sent a shiver of pleasure down her spine. "If what Kuriba-san has been reporting as experiencing lately is anything to go by then she did."

"Her smile alone makes you hot and bothered?" Namikaze-sama asked, leaning in to once again whisper directly into Frenda's ear. "My, my, you've got it bad, Frenda-chan~!"

You don't need to tell me that! Frenda thought with a whimper even as she squirmed at the renewed stimulation to her sensitive ear. And you're not helping!

Thankfully, Saten-sama was unaware of the reaction she caused. She was too preoccupied looking worriedly at Misaka-sama who upon hearing what she'd said had adopted a crestfallen look. Something that when Namikaze-sama noticed had her, despite being the super duper tease she was, immediately reaching across the table to cup one of Misaka-sama's hands and give it a soft squeeze. Frenda would admit, the kind, sweet smile she gave the [Railgun] was heart melting.

Man, the Trinity really does it different and better than us, huh? Frenda thought with an internal sigh. She was only a bit jealous that Namiakze-sama gave Misaka-sama her tender smile. She after all had a smile already saved to her mental folder that would entertain her quite wonderfully tonight.

"Remember Sempai." The Number 2 told the [Railgun]. "We only did what she wanted."

"And if what Kuriba-san says is accurate, Doppel-san is actually quite happy with her current state of being."

"Saten-sama, is it just me or are you talking about the android like it became a ghost?" Frenda questioned, wondering just why they were talking about some mission they did right in front of a member of a rival Dark Side Outfit.

"Who knows?" Saten-sama said, smiling mysteriously before turning to Frenda. "And it's because we trust you. You won't tell anything you learn from us to anyone else without good reason."

Suppressing a shiver at the prospect that ghosts were real and the fact that Saten-sama had been reading her mind, Frenda desperately tried to change the topic. Hoping against hope as she did that the [AIM Sovereign] hadn't been doing so the whole conversation. If she'd heard what she'd been thinking about her… She'd never be able to talk to her with a straight face ever again!

"S-So, uh, you think Kuriba-san's research will be used like that again? To create another advanced android? I mean just because the data on her old research is scrubbed doesn't mean it can't be recreated, right?"

"I just hope that Kuriba-san's research won't be abused again." Misaka-sama sighed, her grip on her drink tight.

"Who needs hope?" Namikaze-sama said with a cheeky grin. "We'll make sure it won't."

Saten-sama just nodded in agreement.

If anyone could make such a bold promise and keep it, it'd be you three. Frenda felt a silly smile on her face. The Trinity really is cut from a different cloth. How lucky for them.

"Okay! Enough of this dreary talk." Saten-sama said, clapping her hands together playfully and shooting Frenda and Namikaze-sama a grin that was as bright as the sun. "We've been sitting here for a while and haven't even placed our orders yet. Frenda-san, Naru-chan, what do you want? My treat."

"The usual for me." Namikaze-sama said dismissively even as she shot Frenda with a knowing smirk.

One that was well deserved as Frenda was so enchanted by Saten-sama's sheer beauty and elegance in that moment that she was struggling to string words together.

"Uh, um, matcha tea a-and, um, a blueberry m-muffin?" Frenda said distractedly as she filed away the latest image away for tonight's mental fodder. She was going to be very busy between the sheets tonight that was for sure.

"A muffin~?" Namikaze-sama suggested with a wink.

Frenda just turned red again.

Saten-sama just blinked in confusion at Frenda's reaction which was just adorable in the Scandavian's opinion and was about to say something that would probably turn her into mush, but thankfully the Level 0 was saved by Misaka-sama stepping in.

"Ruiko, just go place the orders." She said with an exasperated sigh. "Before you make things any more awkward."

"Okay," Saten-sama said with a pout that Frenda had to physically restrain herself from kissing away as she stood and went to do as Misaka-sama suggested.

"Frenda-san," Misaka-sama said after Saten-sama had left. "Remember, Ruiko has Accelerator already. And they are raising kids together. Don't be a homewrecker."

"Though I think Accelerator can be convinced to share." Namikaze-sama said airily. "He'll do whatever Rui-chan asks him. But you'll need to get her to pitch it to him. With the way Rui-chan's reacting, a mistress wouldn't be too much. Just if you're serious about this, be careful. If he finds out before Rui-chan has had a chance to talk to him… Yeah, it won't be pretty."

Misaka-sama nodding in agreement to that assessment of things had Frenda gaping at them in shock. What were they saying!?

"I-I don't know what you two are talking about!"

"Sure you don't, Frenda-chan. Sure you don't." Namikaze-sama said, shooting her a look that was too knowing for Frenda's comfort.

Frenda could only gulp.

I'm not trying to court Saten-sama, right? I'm just a friend, right!? Right!? Yes, she did save me that one time and I've thought she was super ever since. I've been finding her extra pretty since then too. But that didn't mean anything, right? Right!?

A quick glance at Saten-sama as she waited at the counter for their order to confirm her feelings and the accompanying happy fluttering of the butterflies in her stomach and her heart going all doki doki put lie to her desperate denials.

Shit! I am falling for her!

"So do you want tips?" Namikaze-sama offered with a Chesire grin that officially ruined her pantyhose for the evening.

---

Kuriba Ryouko snuggled into her desk pillow, passed out to the world around her and with only her subconscious as her friend. Her mind filled with a dream of being at a train station and preparing to head home to present her mother with the latest cybernetic prosthetics that would greatly improve her quality of life. It was her most heartfelt desire fulfilled and she was looking forward to seeing how the dream would play out.

Sadly it was not to be.

"Wake up, you lazy lout!" Someone shouted in her ear and Ryouko screamed in alarm as she jerked awake.

"Huh? What? Who? Science?" The young cybernetics genius mumbled as she swung her head from side to side to see who woke her up.

"It's me," The translucent body of Doppelgänger said from her right, her arms crossed and looking at her disapprovingly. "Who else could it be?"

"Did you have to do that, Doppel-chan?" Ryouko whined. "I was having a good dream~!"

The ghost of her dead android double just shrugged unrepentantly.

"Suck it up, Ryouko." The specter said harshly. "I'm supposed to be haunting you. You're lucky I'm just being irritating and not trying to scare the living daylights out of you."

"I know." Ryouko said with a frown. "It's all my fault you ended up like this. I'm so sorry my thoughts made you think you didn't have a soul. If I had known, things would've been different."

"That's the 138th time you've apologized." Doppel-chan said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. "It's enough already."

"It'll never be enough." Ryouko insisted. "You died because of my mistake."

"Need I remind you that I committed suicide?" Doppel-chan said with a roll of her eyes.

"Because you were operating on faulty assumptions you inherited from me, so it is my fault."

"Assumptions I chose to act upon." Doppel-chan countered. "And seriously! Stop with this guilt already. It's getting tiresome. What's done is done. Just focus on the present and future, not the past."

"But-" Ryouko began only to be interrupted as Kiyama-sensei peeked her head into her lab.

"Ah, Kuriba-san, please stop talking to your pet ghost and get cleaned up. Your uniform looks askew and you have some drool on your face." Her boss - And wasn't it mortifying to have been caught in such a state by her employer! - informed her before leaving, closing the door behind her as she did.

"Y-Yes Kiyama-sensei!"

"Eh, as if that sloppy woman has any right to speak." Doppel-chan scoffed, even if their boss couldn't hear her. "If not for her children and Shinobu-san, she might forget to breathe or chew her food."

"Please don't make antagonizing comments to our boss, Doppel-chan."

"I have no contract here. I can say what I want, hmph."

"Just be glad she can't hear you." Ryouko said with a sigh as she got up and picked up the small bag of toiletries and change of clothes she kept in her lab for when she pulled all-nighters.

"If she could, I'd tell her how wrong she was in the last meeting about the prototype prosthetic marketing idea. Not have you awkwardly point it out. You suck at public speaking!"

"Yeah, I do." Ryouko acknowledged as she stepped out of her lab, earning her odd looks from a couple of her coworkers as she seemingly talked to herself. "Now please stop talking. I don't want my colleagues to think I'm more of a crazy person than they already do."

"Like that's difficult." Doppel-chan said with a snort even as she nevertheless dutifully fell silent trailing after Ryouko as she made her way to the ladies' changing room where she could get cleaned up.

This is my life now. Ryouko thought with a mix of frustration, resignation and strangely... happiness. And, for some reason, I like it.

---

Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!

Now that was a mega chappy huh guys and gals? I love this arc, it's just got so much going on that really makes it pop. We have soul talk from the Science side of things, robot girls, fights and mother flippin' Kaiju battles! Seriously, when I read that in the manga I was hyped if they would ever animate it. And just the ending of Doppel was heartbreaking, but really pushed home that she too was just a person that didn't want another to suffer like she had. Here's to Doppel folks.

Nameless: Yeah, I like this arc too. I especially liked the tragedy of Doppel's story. All she wanted was to be free, even if that was the freedom of death, and in the end she got what she wanted but it ended up being a mistake. Because as the chapter shows and canon implies the reason she wanted to die (her lack of a soul) was untrue. She had a soul all along. She just didn't think she did because she was operating under the OG Kuriba Ryouko's assumptions that led her into thinking that she wouldn't.

The tragedy of a single misunderstanding. Tis sweet, yet sour.

Nameless: Do you mean bittersweet?

Yeah, that.

You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!